Tag Archive: james blake

LWE 2Q Reports 2011: Albums

For LWE’s first 2Q Report of 2011, Jordan Rothlein rounds up five full-lengths that stand tall above their peers so far.

Little White Earbuds February Charts 2011

01. Drivetrain, “Lift Me High” [Soiree Records International]
02. The Oliverwho Factory, “Galactic Transit” (Recall Instrumental Mix) [Rush Hour Recordings]
03. Jamie Lloyd, “Cloud Hopping” [Love International]
04. Omar-S, “Here’s Your Trance, Now Dance!”
[FXHE Records]
05. D’Marc Cantu, “Set Free” [M>O>S Recordings]
06. James Blake, “I Never Learnt to Share”
[Atlas Recordings]
07. Steffi, “Mine” [Ostgut Ton]
08. Martyn & Mike Slott, “All Nights”
[All City Records]
09. Norman Nodge, “Convergence” [MDR]
10. Half Hawaii, “Bring Back the Love” [Perlon]

James Blake, James Blake

James Blake’s self-titled debut album has all the hallmarks, confused moments and false starts of someone trying to create their very first masterpiece.

LWE’s Top 25 Tracks of 2010 (15-11)

LWE’s Top 25 Tracks of 2010 (20-16)

LWE’s Top 25 Tracks of 2010 (25-21)

LWE’s Top 5 Artists Who Defined 2010

Little White Earbuds October Charts 2010

01. Marcel Fengler, “Rapture” [Ostgut Ton]
02. Mauser, “Blackman” [Synapsis Records]
03. Ripperton, “At Peace” (I:Cube Tape Mix) [Green]
04. Julio Bashmore, “Footsteppin'” [Ten Thousand Yen]
05. A Made Up Sound, “Rear Window” [Delsin]
06. Nebraska, “Arrondissement” [Rush Hour Recordings]
07. Elgato, “Blue” [Hessle Audio]
08. James Blake, “I Only Know (What I Know Now)” [R&S]
09. Seuil, “Nine Clouds” [New Kanada]
10. Chicago Skyway, “Resolution M” [Uzuri]

Little White Earbuds Interviews Mount Kimbie

With the markers of just what exactly constitutes dubstep in perpetual motion, Mount Kimbie have been doing their part to blur the lines even further. LWE sat down with Dominic Maker and Kai Campos to talk about influences, recording the album and the future of the duo.

James Blake, Klavierwerke

Unlike the blown-out R&B histrionics of his first R&S record, CMYK, Londoner James Blake takes the humble source material of his own piano and voice and stretches, chops, and dices it on follow-up EP Klavierwerke.

James Blake, CMYK EP

Drawing a line from the multi-textured sounds of the Detroit masters who orbited R&S Records during the 90’s and his own eccentric pop sensibility, James Blake maintains his focus across the CMYK EP‘s four varied tracks.

Mount Kimbie, Remixes Pt. 1

As befits two records firmly entrenched in the avant garde, the contributions to these two follow-up remix EPs are pure class, with some of Mount Kimbie’s closest contemporaries on the first and a few Berlin mainstays on the second.

James Blake, The Bells Sketch

I’m not exactly sure how to peg James Blake. But if dubstep professes to be music made for dance floors, then the young British producer almost certainly isn’t making it. His proudly unquantized beats (throbs of crunchy sound more than proper drum-hits) skitter in and out of the mix like confused cockroaches; his melodies, while warm, soulful, and usually ripped from records made in far simpler musical times, float over the proceedings like a minute-old ganja cloud — still pungently present, yet barely there. Despite sounding more than a bit like Untold, who’s championed his productions as labelhead at Hemlock, refashioned as a sleazy lounge act, Blake brings a strangely anthemic quality to productions which otherwise would probably be too experimental (or just downright blazed) for club consumption. Indeed, his latest offering, The Bells Sketch for the seriously in-bloom Hessle Audio label, has already attracted the attention of adventurous jocks like Dub War residents Dave Q and Alex Incyde, who managed to move floors (while simultaneously weirding them out, in a good way) when they each closed out recent sets with the A-side. It’s Blake’s most sophisticated record to date, but that doesn’t mean his dance floor credentials make a whole lot more sense.