HD Music

REVIEW: MINUS – 95 (Local Records)

August 2nd, 2010

We got mail from Local Records advertising their new release and discovered a label that shares a lot with us in terms of vision and musical taste. So far, Local has signed Romanian artists such Alien Pimp, Bogdan, Candlestickmaker, Cosmin TRG, Cristi Cons, Discoballs, Inner, Makunouchi Bento, Minus & Ion, The Model, Poor Relatives, Silent Strike, Sillyconductor and Suie Paparude and expects to add a new artist every month.

Here’s a short version of the story in their own words:

“In the past couple of years, our homegrown community of electronic musicians hasn’t been shy on inspiration. Bubbling like a volcano underneath Eastern Europe’s post-communist facade, what this huge creative delivery needs is an external output for its artistic intent.

LOCAL RECORDS wants to create an artistic community based on shared interests and to discover a new Romanian sound by encouraging producers who currently don’t have the stimuli to persevere and reach the next level. LOCAL RECORDS is an atypical label because it does not sell music, it just promotes it.

We don’t work with money, we work with enthusiasm. Enter this beautiful new world in which music wants to be free and money flows through other opportunities. LOCAL RECORDS is working along the Romanian Organization for User Rights (ORDU), an NGO that fights for free internet sharing and the use of open licensing. This is why LOCAL RECORDS works under a Creative Commons license. The LOCAL RECORDS releases will be digital, for the general public, available for download on www.localrec.ro, and in limited hard copy, available for promotion.”

What can be more refreshing than this? Let’s get to the point, erm, music and see/hear what is all about:

Juggling easily with bass, glitch and synth funk reworked live, Minus has been present on the Romanian scene for the last 5 years with music ranging from Game Boy tunes to dub, hip hop, skweee or even to psychedelic improvisations along Ion. After releasing 3 EPs at the Romanian netlabel Arhiva 7 and notable performances at Red Bull Music Academy and Sonar 2010, his biggest joy is his spectacular evolution rather than his accomplishments.

Well said and well done so far, but all these words make sense when you start listening…

18 minutes of pure blissed out sample magic disco hop dubbed out extravaganza that shapes a distinct and personal sound outlining a sense of humour similar to Mr. Scruff and Mylo. We haven’t heard any tunes with a Maxx or a Jennifer Rush sample that can sound so good. When you enter the soundscape of Minus get prepared to have some vivid flashbacks from random summer moments with a possible timeline between the late 80s and mid 90s. It’s like the sound triggers a synaesthetic deja vu into a whirlpool of mixed and distant memories, rearranging and putting them in a new frame more appropriate for the present times. All about the uplifting pads and vintage synthsounds that made the music back then so catchy and even more about the dubbed out wonky beats and liquid feeling that makes it work so well.
A definite favourite this summer!

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MIX: Dubase – Babalonia @ Radio anonimTM

August 2nd, 2010

Radio AnonimTM goes on air on the internet each Tuesday for some years now showcasing a healthy dose of fresh music played by local djs.

Recently it hosted a Babalonia guest mix courtesy of Dubase. He throws an exotic dancehall cocktail with many coloured layers of cumbia digital, moombathon, balkan beats and tropical bass that includes one of the forthcoming HD Music releases by Readymate. Tune in if you’re up to some swinging vibes to add up to any boiling summer day.

Dubase-Babalonia Show @ Anonimtm Radio 20.07.2010 by Dubase on Mixcloud

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Tracklist:

1.tippa irie & the far east band-horns man blow
2.el remelon feat. lido pimienta-basta ya [todos somos inmigrantes]
3.choc quib town-san antonio
4.fat freddy’s drop-the raft [jet jaguar remix]
5.gnawa diffusion-ya laymi
6.laroz-have some fun feat. suhell nafar
7.el fata-el fata ina the dancehall
8.anakronic electro orchestra-why is it funny
9.boom pam-alakazam
10.bo marley-mofa fahren
11.major lazer-hold the line [frikstailers remix]
12.bxp soundsistema-snoop haiducu’
13.soulico-el nur feat.ghostface killa,saz,tomer yosef and riham
14.fagget fairy’s-oci
15.datsik-firepower [munchi moombahcore remix]
16.heartbreak & munchi-aponte a nao
17.atropolis-guepa je
18.sono rhizmo-soledad
19.willie colon & hector lavoe-la banda [whiskey barons edit]
20.steepah huntah-eu quero ver
21.readymate [hd music]-wildflower
22.dj shepdog-dare man
23.major lazer-hear the bassline [toddla t remix feat. serocee and mr. versatile]
24.faroff-brazilian star wars
25.comunidade nin-jitsu-funk da vuvuzela
26.subcarpati-hora fericirii

FESTIVALS IN ROMANIA

July 17th, 2010

2010 will most probably be remembered as one of the hottest summers of this century at least for the Romanian electronic music scene. These are our favourite festival picks for this year. Wicked line ups assorted with some incredibly beautiful venues make these events a must for anyone that wants to break away from the hot city pressure.

On the other side of Romania – in one of it’s most eastern points – lies the small village of Sfantu Gheorghe, where the Danube meets the Black Sea in one of the wildest and most beautiful settings we ever saw. If you’ll ever get there you will understand why we are so ecstatic when we talk about it. It’s the perfect spot for a summer holiday where you can reconnect with nature, out in the wild on deserted beaches. We’re more than glad Delta Music Fest is revived and brings some of the freshest local artists to play. There’s more in the programme than music and cherry on top – the entrance is free!

O pen F est invites you on 30/31 July to spend a quality time in the west of Romania – close to Arad on a wonderful sandy beach at lake Ghioroc. We’re keeping our fingers crossed as this is the first edition and hopefully a lucky start for the promoters. The line up looks promising and brings together both internationally acclaimed artists and local talent.

Somewhere near Bucharest in an enchanted forest is the place where you will find One Love Festival. Another fine example of an event that doesn’t exclusively rely on blingy headliners and aggressive marketing. It’s all about the love of nature, positive vibrations and genuine human interaction that’s somewhat starting to be hard to find in the big cities. Go and find yourself!

GET OUT celebrates it’s second coming and comes with an extended line up this year. It takes place between 5 and 7 August in a fairytale setting close to Targu Mures. Besides a dreamy line up and the wonderful landscape you’ll have plenty to do in this open air setting that lays in the heart of Transylvania and preserves a true mystic vibe.

All aboard!

FREE DOWNLOAD: Zgomot – Digital User

July 16th, 2010

We just stumbled upon a fresh tune from Radu Dumitrescu, the man from Arad that calls himself Zgomot. If his name sounds familiar it’s also partly because of his ”Gypsy Step Redux” single we released last year. His output is rather random but the results are pleasing every time. As he put it on a forum, his ethos is plain and simple – making music for fun in his spare time and share it with the world without any commercial or ambition driven pressure.

Thought to share this with you as we’re digging his mellow trippy vibes. “Digital User” is another brick laid over the foundation of his signature sound which grows stronger with every tune. The atmos builds up to drop that introduces a drum pattern that reverberates, a deep and humming bassline complimented by some midrange elastic trickery. Even though it still needs some finishing touches, all in all this is a healthy slab of after hours business.

digital user 2.0 by zgomot

HD Music at Summer Break

June 30th, 2010

In case you were wondering why we’ve been so quiet lately – you have the answer above. We’ve been giving a helping hand to Skunk Predatorz to make the most of this year’s edition.

Summer Break Festival is round the corner as we speak and this year looks hotter than ever! It takes place in a new venue, which is bigger and looks better than the previous two.

We’re talking about the 5 hectares park of Gyulay Ferenc Castle which will host the Summer Break village.

You don’t have any excuse to miss the three days of fun in the sun and bass in yo’ face – starting Thursday 8 July and ending on late Sunday afternoon.

There are two stages summing up more than 50 kW of power and 40 artists that will pop out your earwax and mash up your brain cells. Main Stage is bringing some of the hottest and most wanted international acts with support from the local villains while Wonderground Stage will showcase a tight selection of some of the freshest up and coming local talent, backed up by some of the scene’s veterans.

We’re proud some of the HD Music artists will represent! Thursday, Mesmer and MOFO are blessing the decks, among other fine young lads at Wonderground Stage. Friday, same spot, sees the Galaxi bass assault squad – Pake & LMK and Radio Space Pop’s ethereal frequencies while Keywords shakes the Main Stage at sunrise. Saturday it’s Readymate’s turn to twiddle with the knobs at Wonderground Stage and showcase some of his latest tunes.

Here’s some free ear candy from the boyz we’ve been talking about.

Hiten + Hazee – Let Me Tell Ya – Pake’s ReBass by HD Music

LMK – Kripi by HD Music

Radio Space Pop – Fixed by HD Music

Readymate – The Pressure by HD Music

You can find all the details regarding the line up, venue and tickets on Summer Break’s homepage, available both in English and Romanian.

Review: Compilation – Van Graph 5 Ani

June 1st, 2010

VanGraph Cafe is a select establishment in Timisoara that promotes good music and local producers/djs. This year they reached their 5th year of existence and they thought to celebrate this by releasing a free cd compilation that features some of the best alternative music bands and producers in the area. It comes in form of a free cd (available on the spot) and a free download continuous mix (link below). AnonimTM, one of the pioneers of the post ‘89 dance music scene in Romania gave a helping hand to make this possible.

The compilation summons a diverse array of sounds, spanning from experimental electronica to deep house, funk, nu jazz, a pinch of indie for the good measure and jungle/drumandbass. Tracks are produced by already established artists like BAU , Makunouchi Bento, Leizaboy, Persona or Daniel Dorobantu and also showcases up and coming talent. Timisoara is the city where the Revolution started and also a renowned melting pot of good music. You’ll get a musical update of what’s happening on the alternative scene production-wise.

Things definitely look promising!

Van Graph KFÉ, 5 Year Anniversary by dudu/anonimTM

MIX+FREE TUNE: PAKE – Underground Soul Music

May 11th, 2010

Straight out of the gloomy industrial city of Galati arises another bassline soldier with a mission to spread low frequency love to the world. A little bit of grime, a little bit of dub and definitely much love coming from the one called Pake who serves us his own productions in this treat of a mix that doesn’t trick. We’ve been chewing on this one for almost a week and we realised it’s time to do a proper introduction.

Listen or Download

Pake’s been flirting with sick basslines for more than 3 years and delivered us – alongside LMK the Blaze a Lot EP last year in April and he’s also done a remix for Mesmer’s “Fine Wide Spread” (Scarcity Records). In the meantime he’s been busy making tunes and playing constantly in his home town with the infamous Galaxi Crew.

We’re giving away as free download his take on Hiten & Hazee’s Let Me Tell Ya, one of the first releases in our catalogue.

Hiten + Hazee – Let Me Tell Ya – Pake’s ReBass by HD Music

FREE TUNES: Mofo – The Steps EP

April 30th, 2010

Mofo has been building a good reputation in the past two years as a drumandbass dj by playing some epic sunrise sets at big events like Summer Break Festival and Solid Like Rock (Brasov). He’s pushing a deep and dancefloor oriented mix between neurotech and sexy liquid that got him bookings at parties in Bucharest, Timisoara, Cluj Napoca and of course his hometown – Deva where he is a regular infamous entertainer.

The Steps EP marks his recent taking on production. Although he still has a long way ahead to develop his sound there are definitely some good ideas and good vibes inside. A certain minimalistic direction in the veins of SpectraSoul, Lynx or Instra:Mental is obvious, you know what to expect – simple dubbed out breaks, nice atmos and some trippy voice samples. If there’s a favourite to pick “This Is It” does it for us.

As a side note, it’s really exciting to see how many people started producing in the past year in Romania and it can only get better. Besides Dan Habarnam, BAU, Deevision, Alien Pimp and Shull there is not too much home-brewed drumandbass that’s worth mentioning.

Listen on Soundcloud or Download

FEATURED ARTIST: LMK

April 26th, 2010

Bobby for his friends, LMK on stage and our featured artist this month. He stirred our curiosity to further find out more about him after he delivered an interesting HD-02-MIX and a fresh EP to our catalogue.

LMK started to make music around 2006 under the guidance of his older brother who’s a renowned 4/4 producer with many international releases. They even released tunes and remixes together – on the prog house/goa trance tip – in 2008 on labels like Elektrax, 4 Stroke, Guilhotina or Gardenia. After experimenting with different tempos and styles, from house to drumandbass LMK managed to gradually define his trademark sound which is a grimey cross between dubstep and techno.

In 2009 HD Music released Blaze A Lot an EP co-produced with old time friend Pake. One year later HD Music is proud to introduce you his first 3 track EP called “Tapes”. What you get is a complete taster of what’s under his sleeve: deep basslines, grimey atmos and bouncy beats that sit somewhere between techno, garage and dubstep. Looks like heavy industrialized cities have a special vibe going on, you can almost feel it.

artwork by CaineVerde

Who are you / what do you do / where do you live?

Sandu Alexandru aka LMKey born on 17 March ‘88. I currently live in Romania – Galati to be more precise.

When did you start to produce music and why?

I started to get to know the urban underground movement around 2005 and in time I developed my own sound signature in which I believe and hope it will pay back some time in my life.

Which are your musical roots?

It all started from hip hop tapes, got through cds with drumandbass and jungle and now got to my own stuff.

What music/artists/labels are you following/playing?

Prime Audio, TEMPA, Rottun recordings, EX7, Transistor Recordings… I wouldn’t name any artists, it’s hard to sum it up…

What setup do you have? (hardware/software) Which is your favorite plug-in/instrument and why?

If you’re asking me about software FL Studio and Cubase are essential to what I do; combined with VSTs like Surge, Discovery, Albino and Vanguard. A studio mixer, a nice synth and a better sound card would definitely be useful at any time as hardware.

What’s better for you: producing or djing?

Both of them, although I prefer producing to some extent.

How could you describe your music?

Music you can listen on your couch or with your friends while smoking some joints

Where do you get inspiration for writing music?

Playing with sounds, fx and drum patterns. Sometimes the nature inspires me, the industrial area in Galati or local parties. I believe the most important thing is to learn to accept and understand every sound.

Who are the badboy producers from Galati?

Me and Pake, naturally

What should we expect from you in 2010 in terms of music?

Something new for sure and a new musical direction. Dunno what to say, I hope it will work.

LMK – Kripi by HD Music

DOWNLOAD: Cosmin TRG @ FWD>>Rinse

April 21st, 2010

Thanks to Matter’s soundcloud we can now have an audio glimpse of the damage Cosmin TRG has been doing lately on soundsystems worldwide. This set is recorded in 29 January when he was touring UK to support his new EP for Tempa – Now You Know.

Needless to say there’s a certain drooling feel to have been there any time we hear this rather superb selection of future garage, 4/4 and other bass heavy mutations in between.

CosminTRG – FWD>> + Rinse, January 2010 by matterlondon

Alternative download link.