The state51 Conspiracy

New Ghost Box 7″: Listening Center with Pye Corner Audio – Study Series 09

admin — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 14:31:52 +0000

Ghost Box will be releasing their ninth ‘Study Series‘ single at the end of the month. Pressed on heavyweight vinyl and contained within the usual luxurious Julian House packaging, this 7″ is another great addition to the rapidly expanding series.

New York’s Listening Center enrol for Study Series 09, presenting a powerful analogue electronic epic, “Titoli”. Pye Corner Audio appear on the B side and take Listening Center’s “Town of Tomorrow” for a spin across the dusty dancefloor of a deserted dance hall.

Study Series 09: ‘Projections’ is out on June 28th, when the release will be made available from a number of record stores worldwide including Ghost Box’s very own Greedbag store (TIP: pre-orders are now available directly from Ghost Box - click here to ensure you grab a copy before they fly out the door!)

* If you’re an independent record store or vinyl stockist wishing to get hold of these, please get in touch with us at support@state51.com

Greedbag Spotify Playlist

admin — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 16:39:30 +0000

We’re happy to announce a new Spotify playlist for our Greedbag Store. The playlist will constantly be updated with the latest releases coming through our stores.

Make sure to give it a listen and follow us!

Carter Tutti – Coolicon

admin — Fri, 17 May 2013 11:37:30 +0000

Just look at this wonderful piece of purest green… The limited edition 10″ is available to buy direct from Carter Tutti’s store.

For the first time since their sell out show at the I.C.A. in 2011 Chris Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti will be playing their acclaimed CHRIS & COSEY live audio/visual set in London on the 19th May - Heaven, London. More news on the website.

The Focus Group – The Elektrik Karousel [on Ghost Box]

admin — Wed, 08 May 2013 14:17:35 +0000

New sounds from Ghost Box are due to hit the shelves this Friday and The state51 Conspiracy are proud to announce that we will be selling the 12″ and CD’s to stores worldwide. Here’s the lowdown…

The Elektrik Karousel is the new album from The Focus Group, the alias of graphic designer and co-manager of Ghost Box records Julian House, and it’s the most sonically rich, enjoyable and psychedelic so far. It’s an evolution of the Cut-Up experiments of the earlier albums where House developed a musical style that mirrored his collaged design work. House’s graphics are familiar to millions through his work for Broadcast, Oasis, Primal Scream and Stereolab, amongst many others.

On Elektrik Karousel House, with help in the studio from Broadcast, weaves his samples into a rich tapestry of electronics, fuzzed guitar and processed exotic instrumentation together with fractured skipping rhythms and submerged melodies.

There’s a weird alchemy at work that manages to distil essences of jazz, psychedelia and soundtracks into something utterly unique. For a clue to its moods, think Czech animation, Italian Giallo, early Radiophonics, HP Lovecraft stories,1960s underground cinema, Lewis Caroll and baroque psych.

Given House’s design credentials, it will come as no surprise that GhostBox places great importance on physical products and has tweaked the formats this time round to produce a luxuriously packaged super heavyweight vinyl LP (complete with free download codes) and a highly desirable 8 panel digipackCD package. The design is heavily inspired by 1960s underground press and conceived as a kind of mind altering DIY board game.

The Focus Group – The Elektrik Karousel is set for global release on Friday 10th May 2013 and will be available from a number of outlets & online stores including Ghost Box’s very own Greedbag store (pre-order now available!)

The Verbrilli Sound – Anunnaki [on Upstairs Recordings]

admin — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 12:02:16 +0000

Don Verbrilli, aka The Verbrilli Sound releases his latest album of eclectic electronic and ambient works on Upstairs Recordings….

Anunnaki, which means literally “those who from heaven to earth came”, is an album of music inspired by the writings of Zechariah Sitchin, which more than anything has opened Don Verbrilli’s mind to the great stories, wonders, and mysteries of the many ancient civilisations which have risen and fallen on this planet. On this the fourth Verbrilli Sound album, Don Verbrilli has reached into his past and dusted off a wide range of instruments from woodwinds, keyboards, guitars, percussion, etc. Anunnaki may have the feel of an electronic ambient album but in reality it’s anything but just electronics — from the instruments to the recording process, the approach is truly analog. Using tube amplifiers, varied pre-amps, rich tube-condensers and smooth ribbon mics, Anunnaki is as much a voyage in recording and sound experimentation as it is an exploration of the ancient stories themselves.

BUY FROM: iTunes | Boomkat | Google Play | 7Digital | Bleep

New single on Jalapeno Records: Kraak & Smaak – The Future Is Yours

admin — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 12:58:45 +0000

Kraak & Smaak are preparing for the release of their new studio album and have never been in better shape than they are now. In 2011 Let’s Go Back was an enduring club staple and last year Hold back Love hit # 1 in the bestsellers of 2012 Charts. In 2012 they headlined UK and European festivals with their live band, had releases on Solomun’s DIYnamic label and Sander Kleinenberg’s This Is label as well as releasing Mixed Feelings (a compilation of their remixes) on their home label Jalapeno and generally laying waste to every dancefloor they visited.

For 2013’s first offering the boys have teamed up again with Ben Westbeech to deliver a house bomb with a classic touch. When Westbeech is in full flow, his voice is as strong as any of the soul greats and with a cool classic production from K&S to work with it was a day and a night of house magic in the Kraakers Leiden studio. Remixes come courtesy of fellow Dutchman Tom Trago whose techno version adds a deeper twist to the original. Londoners Futurizm put the bass in the place with a slo-mo version that has been getting DJ’s twitchy since it was inadvertently debuted on Rinse FM in 2012. Finally XLR8R fave Ambassadeurs delivers a leftfield bass twister that shows why he is one of the most hotly tipped producers of 2013.

“The Future Is Yours” is now available exclusively from BEATPORT (25th March on all other stores).

Reso – Tangram Remixed [Out now on Civil Music]

admin — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 11:53:28 +0000

Since the latter half of the last decade, Alex Melia aka Reso has been blending heightened technological futurism with dancefloor prowess to create a densely cinematic musical universe. ‘Tangram’ Reso’s much anticipated debut album was released in Nov 2012 and received heavy support from Mixmag (Album of the month), XLR8R, The Guardian, FACT, RA, NME, as well as other key musical luminaries such as Liam Howlett, Skrillex, Skream & Benga, DJ Food, Salva, Rusko and more. A landmark thirteen track odyssey that reaffirms the place of the ‘album’ within modern electronic music, Tangram cemented Reso as one of the worlds most forward thinking producers

“Tangram Remixed” opens with KOAN Sound tackling ‘Axion‘, pushing the tracks rhythmic possibilities yet further the OSWLA signed duo switch the glitching beat complexities into halftime stepping bliss. Remixer extraordinaire Om Unit perfectly balances ‘Simple Pleasures‘ rich pads and dreamlike atmosphere with a slowfast footwork flux while Neurofunk god Billain delivers an exquisite and rare remix, a highly twisted take on the bass mechanics of ‘Half Life‘. Doshy closes the 12″ with his unique neck snapping electro and trap infused rework of ‘Coronium‘.

The digital package also includes revisions of ‘Check 1,2‘ by Philadelphia’s Starkey (Amen breaks and 8 bar grime), 18 year old D&B prodigy Emperor, Munich’s Danny Scrilla (Sub heavy dark, sparse ‘slower than it feels’ 85bpm O.G ’06 bass) and Japanese 2 x DMC world Champion DJ Kentaro (beat-juggling, electro-workout with more edits than you can count) Plus remixes of ‘Ishimura‘ by NYC’s Drop the Lime (Dark shuffling techno) and Atlanta’s Evol Intent (hard hitting D’n’B with a half time feel).

BUY FROM: iTunes | Beatport | Amazon | Google Play

Mystery Plays Records: Tristan Coleman – Still Life With Sounds

admin — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 14:19:20 +0000

‘Still Life With Sound‘ is the debut release by Melbourne based composer and multi-instrumentalist Tristan Coleman, brought into the world by cult East-London label Mystery Plays. The EP, a collection of four densely layered and intricate pieces, melds upfront rhythms and unique instrumentation with Coleman’s rich, soulful voice to create something truly other-worldly.

The simplistic ear worm brilliance of EP opener ‘Good Money‘; the chattering and bustling movement of ‘Rituals (Part 3)‘, an exotically jazzy 5 minutes of darkness; the eerie buzz and growl of ‘Precious Ghostly Metals‘; the wide-open, widescreen spaciness of EP closer ‘Bad Money‘ – this is music for a desert bar, a Dune-like sci-fi landscape.

Listening to these complex musical postcards (from a dark star), the sheer depth and genuine cleverness of arrangement shining through, it comes as no surprise to learn that Coleman is a classically trained composer and player, and one with a passion for Javanese music. Having honed his craft in Australia, Coleman’s interest in the music of South-east Asian music led him to Indonesia where he collaborated extensively with composers and performers from Yogyakarta, including a residency and performance tour of Java involving the creation of new works for Western and Indonesian traditional instruments combined with electronics. Combine this wealth of experience and musical adventure with a personal love for some of the worlds finest electronic music artists – notably Thom Yorke, Bjork, Twin Shadow and Flying Lotus – and the result is this brave and fascinating EP.

Coleman explains his musical tourism further;

“During my composition studies I took a subject in Balinese and Javanese Gamelan (Indonesian instrumental ensemble). The sonority of the ensemble, the tuning systems, the cyclical repetition punctuated by gongs, the ceremonial importance of the music all fascinated me…I am a composer and electronic musician, who is also schooled in acoustic composition, living in the Asia-Pacific in 2012. To me it seems obvious that as an artist this is the music I would be making”.

‘Still Life With Sound‘ sifts these worldly connections and sound collections through a mesh of contemporary music, mixing up the traditional and ancient with ‘living room music’-like percussion, travel diary field recordings, a love of asymmetry within symmetry, thick, melancholic vocals and the dark, dark hum of the souls engine room. This is an EP of unique and captivating music, a hybrid of pigeon-holes, and a sound totally off the map.

BUY FROM: iTunes | Google Play | Boomkat | Greedbag

New EP on Civil Music: Danny Scrilla – Fluxus

admin — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 13:36:20 +0000

Fluxus is Danny Scrilla‘s first transmission for Civil Music and the Munich based producer’s second release. Following on from 2012′s Flash Powder EP for Om Unit’s ‘Cosmic Bridge’ label, ‘Fluxus‘ sees Scrilla in expected fine form, and takes in four original neck snapping instrumental tracks plus two remixes from Japan’s Deep Medi member Goth-Trad and London producer and one to watch Deft.

On Fluxus, Scrilla’s productions run at 80-90BPM / 160-180 BPM exploiting slowfast halftime tempos yet these are all seemingly engineered from the sonic essence of ’06 OG dubstep’s dark sparse dreadnought sounds with waves of quaking bass growing under iced-out percussion, accentuated by toiling snares. Floating chords and hypnotic melodies drive skeletal riddims, sci-fi synthlines arc over the spacious heavyweight ruffage built for towering stacks and pitch-black rooms.

Fallout syncs tensile drums with stoic, pulsing sub-bass and glacial atmospheric detailing. Explosive claps sustain the heavyweight halfstep patterns until every atom within its proximity is quivering with kinetic potential. Thorium‘s dubbed out synth-funk takes in yet more melodic and muscular bass contractions. Widescreen visions and elastic subs are covered in waves of intricate and shimmering musicbox melodies.

Jolt‘s bass weight and precise drum clarity switches up Scrilla’s halftime tempos with a meaner, colder look in its eye. Out of the driving whipcrack clave rhythm, heavyweight plate tectonics groan before pulsing in and out of a bustling double-timed flex. The highly arpeggiated Magellanic Clouds opens slow and steamy. Perforated by explosive snares it drops out to a stepping high torque bounce and subtle triplet skank patterns as it plays on a dread, minimal halfstep bounce.

Remixes from Japanese Deep Medi member Goth-Trad and über talented young London producer Deft close the package. Goth-Trad’s distorted re-transmission of ‘Fallout‘ rumbles out of deep space, covered in with glitched detail and haunting melody alongside synthetic chords and layered melody to the already imposing arpeggiated leads. Deft adds pneumatic footwork rhythms to the icy dread of ‘Magellanic Clouds‘. Syncing busy drums with stoic sub-bass and precise atmospheric detailing he makes heavy with tribal body-warping bounce.

BUY FROM: iTunes | Beatport | Juno | Google Play

civilmusic.com

New from Jalapeno Records: Quasamodo – Can’t Hold Me Down

admin — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 12:55:20 +0000

Jalapeno Records welcome their newest addition to the label this week… Dimitris Nassios is no stranger to fans of funk, having released on the highly respected Freestyle Records as Q Orchestra and with Basement Freaks as Smokey bandits.

Under the Quasamodo name he has teamed up with singer Thaliah to deliver some uplifting soulful beats. ‘Can’t Hold Me Down‘ is a gloriously sunny and upbeat number. Shame it’s still cold and snowy, but hey it’s summer somewhere!

‘Change is Strange‘ also features Thaliah and is a more laid back and low slung number. The rest of the EP contains funky beats delivered by a young master of the game. ’Son of Shaft‘ has a familiar ring to it and ‘Funkenstein‘ is a pure heads down groover.

BUY ‘Can’t Hold Me Down‘ NOW, EXCLUSIVELY FROM JUNO

jalapenorecords.com