Running Touch – This Is Just To Say
Here’s another Australian young gun: Melbourne’s Running Touch has garnered his best reception yet with This Is Just To Say. Soulful, smooth, but bristling with attitude, it’s a minimal arrangement of mostly voice, driven electric keys, and fm bass that nevertheless packs a powerful punch. With support from Lavish, a promotional outlet of edm.com, I’m expecting to see a lot more of his work catch fire soon.
Check out Running Touch here.
JNTHN STEIN – Dreaming At The Function ft. Brasstracks
You may remember way back when we gave a shoutout to Ivan Jackson for his trumpet work on Distant Memories. Brooklyn’s one half of Brasstracks reemerges again here with this funky new stiff-upper-lip JNTHN STEIN collaboration, Dreaming At The Function. Ivan and Jonathan are the two founders of Candid Music Group, a music complex in NYC offering a slew of music production and design services. I strongly suggest you give a listen to the artists they’ve worked with. They’re some very unique and talented individuals, and we’re keeping a very close eye (ear?) on the music they’re pushing out.
Check out JNTHN STEIN here, Brasstracks here, and Candid Music Group here.
Kentaro & One T – Thank You
We’ve got the perfect Friday afternoon jam for you this week. Recently, LA’s Kentaro had his SoundCloud account removed due to some remix licensing issues. It’s now back up and running with a re-release of Thank You, his smoky R&B collaboration with vocalist and producer One T that was originally released earlier this year on, you guessed it, April 20th. So kick back and give this one a spin–happy weekend everyone.
Obsession – DrewsThatDude
Leveraging an education from Berklee College of Music in Boston, the now NY-based producer DrewsThatDude has helped produce for a handful of big hip hop names, including Tech N9ne and Lil Wayne on the last Carter album. While he’s a very talented arranger and session musician, his own personal productions are impressively detailed and memorable, and his newest Obsession is no exception. There’s a lot going on in this mix that you won’t catch until the second or third time around–one of those walk around the sound-garden kind of beats.
Check out DrewsThatDude here.
Electric Mantis – Infatuation
“Electric Mantis” is the perfect name for the incredibly sophisticated Oregonian producer Wyatt Pearson. Originally from Alaska, Electric Mantis’s charged sound is perhaps best showcased in his latest EP Braincase. Here at Black Sheep, we’re thrilled that he’s getting the recognition his craft truly deserves – including having his remix of Hear The Bells featured on Porter Robinson’s upcoming Worlds Remix album – and we can’t wait to see where he goes. This guy is the real deal.
Check out Electric Mantis here.
GRMM – Travolta Cool
More new ear candy from down under. This time we’ve got GRMM with Travolta Cool, aptly named and featuring a slack but smooth vocal hook and rebounding, slingshot synths. Benn Markos, the 24 year old Sydney producer behind GRMM, has seen a surge in popularity after recently hitting #1 on the Australian iTunes electronic chart with Electrify. Now a part of the Neon Records roster, (joining the likes of Gorgon City, Felix Jaehn, and Klingande) and busy finalizing his debut EP for release this week on October 2nd, GRMM is one we’ll be keeping tabs on.
Check out GRMM here.
RÜFÜS DU SOL – Like An Animal
As is now seemingly the norm, RÜFÜS DU SOL hail from the great city of Sydney, Australia. Perhaps best known for You Were Right off their sophomore album RÜFÜS, this upcoming trio is a Triple J regular and is quickly becoming a notable presence in indie-dance. We hope you appreciate Like An Animal’s soft vocals, and as always, enjoy Jack Vanzet’s stunning album artwork.
Check out RÜFÜS DU SOL here.
Whispa – Hamara
Damn. Whispa is back with Hamara, one of his recent “less club and more headphone” tracks. Kick off your shoes, turn down the lights and unravel your mind to London’s renowned ambient/trap producer. If you’re anything like me, you’ll have to listen to most of his songs more than once to fully appreciate the richness of each sub slap and vocal splice. Go deep.
Check out Whispa here.
sakuraburst – forest of the spirits
Be warned – this song is only for the brave. forest of the spirits is a sensational release off sakuraburst’s new EP blood orange. Not much is known about this UK artist besides their incredibly lush Japanese production chops, but get ready to go on a sonic journey. forest of the spirits is absolutely haunting, rapidly transporting listeners from moments of calm recluse to an incredibly tense synth-didgeridoo drop; hang on for the ride.
Check out sakuraburst here.
Froogle – Repose
Last month we gave a shout out to Texan electronic producer Froogle and his collaboration on Falling Down with Alexa Harley. I thought I’d bring a different side of his work to light, so here’s Repose, a bouncing instrumental centered around a simple but catchy lo-passed synth line. Another great piece for some R&R, though a little more representative of the diversity in his production talent.
Check out Froogle here.
Roses – Luke Christopher
Now I’ll be honest, we don’t post enough hip hop, so here’s a track that hasn’t let us go lately. Off 19 year old LA rapper-singer-producer-allaroundmusicman Luke Christopher’s mixtape, TMRW TMRW, Roses is an undeniably catchy track sporting a well-chosen sample of famous jazz pianist Erroll Garner. Luke is extremely talented as both a lyricist and a producer, and last week he released a two-part EP, TMRW YSTRDY, that I strongly suggest you throw on sometime this week. If you think Roses is as much of a jam as I do, you won’t be disappointed.
Check out Luke Christopher here.
ZHU x AlunaGeorge – Automatic
This is one of those rare songs that we can honestly say we’ve been counting down to. The internet’s exploding over Automatic, the new release from ZHU after about 9 months. After his inevitable astronomic rise post Faded, ZHU has stayed largely hidden until the announcement of his latest project “Genesis Series”. Despite both artists already having sizable followings, this twisted song needs to be talked about. After a seemingly dark Tarantino beginning (0:10 seconds in after the BBC 1 intro), Aluna lays down a sexy vibe that’s carried all the way to ZHU’s shadow falsetto. Outside of the electronic production, the duo’s use of the piano and midnight saxophone around 3:18 make this a perfect song to start your Fall.
Millesim – Fall In (feat. Sophie Galpin)
Millesim is a group of french DJs and producers with a budding reputation for nudisco-inspired remixes. But recently we came across their first original, Fall In, featuring Sophie Galpin on vocals (drummer for all-female rock band PINS and freelance musician). It’s a relaxed but melancholy, almost bittersweet tune perfect for end-of-summer introspection and sunset vibes.
Check out Millesim here.
MORRT – Dive Right In
Immerse yourself in weekend vibes with Josh Mortimer, the 21-year-old DJ behind MORRT who’s perfected his unique homage to early ‘90s groove. Built around infectious bass lines and juicy synth layers dripping from disco vocals, MORRT’s sound has already garnered quite a bit of attention abroad from BBC 1 tastemakers Hannah Wants and Pete Tong. Dive Right In, originally released this year on 4/20, represents another exciting milestone for this rising UK talent as it was released on his own label MRRT Records. The future looks bright for MORRT, and here at Black Sheep, we hope you’re as excited to follow his ascent as we are.
Check out more from MORRT here.
PYRMDPLAZA x Abraham Blue – Whatever You Want
While there’s a chance PYRMDPLAZA has come across your radar before, this was our first introduction to Abraham Blue, a 20 year old vocalist and producer from Belgium. The two happened upon the seed for Whatever You Want during a session at Red Bull Studios London, and this is what came of it–an amazing vocal hook that has been stuck in my head for a week now. The stereo Rhodes tremolo makes this one more than worth a headphone listen.
Black Sheep Music Blog 