The A.V. Club - Beat Connection

Music: Beat Connection: June 2010

Mon, 07 Jun 2010 12:35:00 -0500

In a macro sense, the news this time around—to me, and definitely late—is that beyond-dubstep is really circling all the way back to drum-and-bass. Many of the artists are young and grasp their place on the timeline that Simon Reynolds coined “the hardcore continuum” (of London-centric bass-oriented dance music.) It leads to a dual effect: the freshness of kids having their first real go at making music and willing to try anything, and a historical awareness that’s putty in their hands rather than a stone tablet. No wonder old guys like me love it. PARED DOWN. Just ...

Music: Beat Connection: May 2010

Mon, 03 May 2010 12:00:00 -0500

It’s another good month, especially in podcasts—the toughest batch to trim yet. Not to mention that F, Ikonika, Vex’d, and Starkey have helped me realize how consistently, and how soon, dubstep has brought recognizably individual voices to the table—individual instrumental voices, no less. That’s a pretty remarkable achievement; it makes the music seem even more like an umbrella than a genre. It’s turning into lingua franca so fast in part because it seems designed to mutate—like the number of variations it’s spawned only enhances the style’s core, rather than seeming fragmented ...

Music: Beat Connection: April 2010

Mon, 05 Apr 2010 12:00:00 -0500

Michaelangelo Matos is the rootin’est, tootin’est, shootin’est person east, west, north, and south of the Pecos. When he isn’t getting outsmarted by rabbits, he’s listening to techno, house, dubstep, ambient, downtempo, and every other kind of electronic music each month for Beat Connection, The A.V. Club’s guide to dance music, etc. Then it’s back to shooting up saloons and dealing with long-eared varmints. RHYTHM AND SOUND. Deadbeat’s Radio Rothko (The Agriculture) is an early contender for mix of the year. Comprising tracks either from or heavily indebted to Basic Channel/Chain ...

Music: Beat Connection: March 2010

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 12:00:00 -0600

This month’s roundup of new albums and mixes by electronic artists is heavier than usual on disco and post-disco boogie. That’s where club music has gone over the last couple years on vinyl, with CDs beginning to catch up. I didn’t aim for that to be the case, but I can’t say I’m sorry it is. CUT CREATOR. Mark E’s Works 2005-2009: Selected Tracks & Edits (Merc) is an eight-song overview of the English DJ whose re-edits—and original tracks built off samples chopped up further than on the re-edits—are the crème de ...

Music: Beat Connection: February 2010

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 12:00:00 -0600

There are more confusingly named electronic-music subgenres around than ever, and even the full-time, full-on culture dorks at The A.V. Club can’t figure them all out. That’s when they point to Michaelangelo Matos and shrug, “Ask him.” Beat Connection is the result: This monthly column sorts through “full-lengths” (or, as they’re known to normal people, “albums”), EPs (which are not, as so many 12-inch aficionados insist, two-sided singles with very long tracks, but three-songs-or-more items too short for albums), compilations, mixes, and the absolutely ridiculous array of free, downloadable DJ sets this fabulous interweb of ours ...

Music: Beat Connection: January 2010

Mon, 04 Jan 2010 12:00:00 -0600

I’m an inveterate list-maker, so below you’ll find a pair of 2009 Top 10s: My favorite albums, in order of preference, and web mixes, chronological by date posted. My original A.V. Club write-ups are linked where appropriate. The mixes were especially difficult to nail down—believe me, I could have included even more FACT and Resident Advisor mixes than I did. I hope you like them as much as I do. Enjoy, and have a great 2010. ALBUMS 1. DJ Koze, Reincarnations: The Remix Chapter 2001-2009 (Get Physical) Reviewed here. 2. 5 Years Of Hyperdub (Hyperdub) Reviewed ...

Music: Beat Connection: December 2009

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 12:00:00 -0600

CAMERAS READY, BEGIN TO FLASH: If you have issues with so-called “blog house”—the largely French style epitomized by Daft Punk’s Human After All and the Ed Banger label—I understand completely. Even for someone who enjoys Justice’s Cross just fine, coarse is one thing, blaring and tedious another. But the man who arguably started it all, Pascal Arbez-Nicolas, a.k.a. Vitalic, with 2001’s Poney EP (on International Deejay Gigolos), is still the greatest. Flashmob (Different/PIAS) works more variations on its seemingly limited formula than you might imagine. “See The Sea (Blue)” matches a dirty ...

Music: Beat Connection: November 2009

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0600

There’s simply too much house, techno, dubstep, downtempo, electro, ambient, and whatever the hell else they’re calling it all this week (Special 12-Inch Remix Dub Edit, of course) for even the full-time culture geeks at The A.V. Club to make sense of. So every month, we’re letting resident freelance beat-head Michaelangelo Matos sift through the teeming, overproductive world of post-rave electronic music to try and sort it all out. Beat Connection will attempt to keep on top of the albums, EPs, DJ mixes, and compilations competing for the attention of the glazed-eyed wannabe-androids who dance to ...