On the Wax: BLOC FESTIVAL

Check your pulse, the date, and that you are clothed. The day has arrived, the MS Stubitz has landed. BLOC BEGINS VERY SOON. Now is your time to scrawl out a list of the bands you want to see and avoid any clashes. The Kollektivnye team give our recommendations of who to keep an eye on at this year’s Bloc.

OBJEKT

He wants to make your feet wiggle to the likes of post windmill and gondola, Objekt is certainly not your conventional kind of musician. A head full of ideas and a wily sense of direction mean each step is wonderfully judged. To the extent, that many suspected Objekt was in fact the side-project on an industry veteran. Rather than Objekt’s youth impugning naivety, we find a stickler for genres, a critic of over-exposure, and a lover of Detroit House. A gradually-paced release of both OBJEKT001 and OBJEKT002 have allowed their reverberations perpetuate; through industrial clangs, to breakbeat snaps and rattles. Finally, something to savour. Notable remixes include SBTRKT’s Wildfire and a fascinating take on Radiohead’s Bloom. Berlin treats us once more.

ILLUM SPHERE

Since his debut ‘The Incoming EP’ dropped in 2009, Manchester born Illum Sphere (Ryan Hunn) has been consistently making and performing his unique brand of ominous electronic music and quietly becoming one of the most highly regarded young producers in the country. Not to say he hasn’t made a few waves in the process. Winning the BBC 1xtra Urban Music Award, invitations to play at FlyLo’s Low End Theory night in LA and the Red Bull Music Academy in London and remix requests from Martyn, Kuedo, Zed Bias and Warp Records to name but a few accolades. Anyone that has seen him DJ at his and Jonny Dub’s infamous Hoya:Hoya night in Manchester can testify to the fact that this is a man who can hold his own among the UK’s underground music elite. Initally labelled as ‘dubstep’, Hunn’s music has evolved with each EP, moving from hip-hop to grime to Ethiopian funk in a single track, all set within a bleak, industrial landscape. Expect pulsating, spiraling synth, glitchy percussion, fragmented and submerged in murky bass, and plenty of doom-laden techno beats. Like a piece of Harlan Ellison prose played through a fax machine.

PARIAH

Drawing comparisons with J Dilla, Flying Lotus and Burial after only his first double A side single; the incredible Detroit Falls/Orpheus, Scotland born Pariah (Arthur Cayzer) certainly set the bar very high for himself. Signed to the legendary R&S label, Cayzer’s debut earned him both critical acclaim from Mary Anne Hobbes, Pitchfork, and Resident Advisor as well as mainstream remix work with The XX, Bombay Bicycle Club, and Erykah Badu. Since his follow up, the Safehouses EP in 2010, Cayzer has gone from strength to strength, focusing and honing his craft, while also exploring new terrain. Expect impeccably produced ambient dubstep with a dark techno inflection. On the other hand, also expect chopped up R&B/soul nostalgia set to schizophrenic 2-step beats, with a scattering of 8-bit howls and yells thrown in for good measure. Described by Paul Lester as ‘if Eno was doing dubstep’.

DUSKY

dusk·y (d s k ). adj. dusk·i·er, dusk·i·est. 1. Characterized by little or inadequate light; shadowy. Rarely do we encounter clarity, simplicity and aptness in a name, but it takes such little thought to imagine the intended atmosphere of this music. Yet contrarily, Dusky strike a positive note, and beat to a bright, warm rhythm. Last year, the duo of Alfie Granger-Howell and Nick Harriman released their debut, Stick By This, and have taken quite some strides since then. An intriguing, classically-trained background means plenty of whirring melodies and a nod to dancefloor-friendly tempos. A collaboration with Janai and recent release of their Flo Jam EP have confirmed our chilled attendance.

REDINHO

Numbers’ Redinho (Tom Calvert) is a consistent innovator and pioneer. His early work – the ‘Bare Blips EP’ – recalls Aphex Twin, striking a balance between basement tracks like ‘Mo Brap’, club shakers like ‘Banger’ and ‘Bare Blips’, or the headphones-on, moody pieces like ‘Pitter Patter’. All done with style, an obvious sense of fun and a love for weighty kick drums. Listen to his latest release, the ‘Edge Off EP’ and, amongst a host of other styles, you will be treated to the funked up, talkbox utilising title track ‘Edge Off’, the simplistic house rhythm of ‘Power Look’ and the bass driven, otherwordly power of ‘Whips’. Multi-talented is a phrase that is tossed around regularly with regards to Tom Calvert, and with good reason. Encompassing a huge range of styles and genres, Redinho manages to leave his unique fingerprint on each, all the while creating some unbelievably danceable songs. So rather than us telling you to expect the unexpected, just pencil Redinho into your schedule.

By Peter Yeung and Jonathan Griffiths