Jamie Lidell
What do hypersoul crooner Jamie Lidell, futuristic beatsmith Flying Lotus and psychedelic math-rockers Battles have in common? Aside from their shared penchant for turning traditional forms inside out, and the ability of all three artists to combine experimental-music rigor with refreshing good cheer, they all make their homes on Warp, the iconic U.K. label that turns 20 this year. Despite a roster heavy on electronic agents provocateur like Aphex Twin and Autechre, no single sound dominates Warp's catalog, which ranges from bleepy electronica to mind-bending hip-hop to smart, snappy rock 'n' roll. Here are 10 Warp artists you need to hear now.
1. AFX
Released as a pair of vinyl-only EPs in 2005, Hangable Auto Bulb found Richard D. James shelving his Aphex Twin alias to pursue even darker, weirder material as AFX. Jungle's slice-o-matic beat science dissolves like a mercury spray of skittering beats and beatbox hiccups. Wags called it "drill 'n' bass," but that only held true if you considered tools of the Fisher-Price variety: the keening synth melodies and rubberized cadences never lost sight of Aphex Twin's most playful instincts, even on charcoal-coated, church-choir rave-ups like "Wabby Legs." This is one of experimental dance music's undisputed classics.
2. Squarepusher
Among his labelmates, Tom Jenkinson is in the running for more than a few superlatives: best beard (definitely), best name (maybe) and best slap-bass technique (infreakingdubitably). In keeping with its all-inclusive title, 2006's Hello Everything tosses together ideas with cartoonish aplomb, resulting in a cheeky and invigorating blend of jittery breakbeats, melodic synths and Weather Report-like jazz fusion. Just a Souvenir, from late 2008, generally has a slimmer, trimmer profile (with the exception of the odd noise-rock rave-up), the better to show off its nimble electric bass workouts and curious electro-acoustic sound design.
3. Jamie Lidell
What does it say about Warp that its most widely appealing artist -- he toured with Elton John, for crying out loud -- is also one of its weirdest? On stage, Lidell is a deranged entertainer who loops his own beatboxing into towering, top-heavy assemblages of postmodern soul. On record, he's a demure crooner channeling the spirit of Sam Cooke for the post-techno generation. Co-production from Feist collaborators Mocky and Gonzalez explains the sweetness of his 2008 album, Jim; the manic charm is Lidell's alone. Multiply Additions, meanwhile, collects remixes from Four Tet, Herbert and others along with two live recordings of Lidell at his unhinged best.
4. Flying Lotus
Warp has flirted with hip-hop over the years, but with Flying Lotus the label takes it to a very different place indeed. The L.A. musician (and nephew of Alice Coltrane) clearly owes a debt to Dilla in his off-kilter beats and unkempt sonics, and his zooming synths suggest affinities with dubstep's bass warriors. But the weird, wrinkled textures of Los Angeles are FlyLo's alone. A haze of static hangs over everything, with jazzy chords and Moog leads congealing in limpid pools. It's been a long time since hip-hop sounded this far out.
5. Prefuse 73
If you ask Guillermo Scott Herren what kind of music he makes, don't expect him to blink before saying "hip-hop." But his music (as Prefuse 73, Savath & Savalas and still other names) has never sat comfortably within any one corner of the genre. Flecked with filmic interludes, 2005's Security Screenings flows like a mix tape, though the only guest spot on this mostly instrumental album goes to fellow avant-beatsmith Kieran Hebden, aka Four Tet. Beats crumple like paper bags beneath zipping synthesizers and ragged samples sourced from jazz, folk and soul: it's head music for cobwebbed minds.
6. Battles
To gauge how far Warp has come from its early days pressing up acid-house white labels, look no further than Battles, a powerhouse quartet combining muscular playing and clever electronic manipulations into the 21st-century equivalent of progressive rock. Former Helmet drummer Jon Stanier provides the band's formidable backbone, while Tyondai Braxton, son of jazz legend Anthony Braxton, gives it an avant slant via slippery vocal modulations. (Post-rock veterans of Don Caballero and Lynx fill out the lineup.) Their debut album, Mirrored, is brute force meets high concept, with passages of hip-heavy boogie exploding into confetti-like clouds of tone.
7. Plaid
Greedy Baby, a 2006 collaboration between Plaid and the filmmaker Bob Jaroc, finds the ex-Black Dog duo burrowing down ambient rabbit holes reminiscent of tunnels dug by Biosphere, Sun Electric and Future Sound of London. Their shimmery touch is apparent on "The Launching of Big Face," with its Caribbean accents and bright, vigorous percussion; the web-crawling arpeggios of "Zn Zero" are typical of Plaid's balance of classic synth-pop (Kraftwerk, Yellow Magic Orchestra) with touches of modern-classical dissonance.
8. Nightmares on Wax
Maybe it's appropriate that Nightmares on Wax's music has such a vintage tint to it; the project, formerly a duo, has been working for Warp longer than any other act on the roster. (Their "Dextrous" was the label's second release, preceded only by Forgemasters' bleep classic "Track With No Name.") Originally purveyors of jacking, stripped-down acid house, Nightmares on Wax gradually slowed down and fattened up, taking on influences from Jamaican soundsystem culture and northern soul. On 2006's In a Space Outta Sound, tautly tucked guitar lines step and dusty boom-bap beats sketch the merest outlines, sopping up horns, keyboards and voices like watercolors in the empty spaces.
9. Broadcast
Inspired by a vision of unflappable retro-futurist cool, Birmingham started out on Stereolab's Duophonic label before moving to Warp. Their most recent album, The Future Crayon, brims with lucid vocals, tremolo flutter and layers of guitars as spongy and marbled as pound cake; '60s pop refracted through a tomorrowland prism, it's the perfect soundtrack for a monorail ride to the moon.
10. Maximo Park
Maximo Park suggest that beneath Warp's pulsing bleeps beats a traditionalist's heart. The Newcastle group revives jagged post-punk and power-pop jangle in short, sharp songs recalling XTC, Elvis Costello and the Jam. On 2007's Missing Songs, cuts like "A Year of Doubt" and "Trial and Error" show off songwriting far fresher than their retro sonics might suggest, while dizzying rhythmic changes give "I Want You to Leave" an unmistakably modern charge.
Released as a pair of vinyl-only EPs in 2005, Hangable Auto Bulb found Richard D. James shelving his Aphex Twin alias to pursue even darker, weirder material as AFX. Jungle's slice-o-matic beat science dissolves like a mercury spray of skittering beats and beatbox hiccups. Wags called it "drill 'n' bass," but that only held true if you considered tools of the Fisher-Price variety: the keening synth melodies and rubberized cadences never lost sight of Aphex Twin's most playful instincts, even on charcoal-coated, church-choir rave-ups like "Wabby Legs." This is one of experimental dance music's undisputed classics.
2. Squarepusher
Among his labelmates, Tom Jenkinson is in the running for more than a few superlatives: best beard (definitely), best name (maybe) and best slap-bass technique (infreakingdubitably). In keeping with its all-inclusive title, 2006's Hello Everything tosses together ideas with cartoonish aplomb, resulting in a cheeky and invigorating blend of jittery breakbeats, melodic synths and Weather Report-like jazz fusion. Just a Souvenir, from late 2008, generally has a slimmer, trimmer profile (with the exception of the odd noise-rock rave-up), the better to show off its nimble electric bass workouts and curious electro-acoustic sound design.
3. Jamie Lidell
What does it say about Warp that its most widely appealing artist -- he toured with Elton John, for crying out loud -- is also one of its weirdest? On stage, Lidell is a deranged entertainer who loops his own beatboxing into towering, top-heavy assemblages of postmodern soul. On record, he's a demure crooner channeling the spirit of Sam Cooke for the post-techno generation. Co-production from Feist collaborators Mocky and Gonzalez explains the sweetness of his 2008 album, Jim; the manic charm is Lidell's alone. Multiply Additions, meanwhile, collects remixes from Four Tet, Herbert and others along with two live recordings of Lidell at his unhinged best.
4. Flying Lotus
Warp has flirted with hip-hop over the years, but with Flying Lotus the label takes it to a very different place indeed. The L.A. musician (and nephew of Alice Coltrane) clearly owes a debt to Dilla in his off-kilter beats and unkempt sonics, and his zooming synths suggest affinities with dubstep's bass warriors. But the weird, wrinkled textures of Los Angeles are FlyLo's alone. A haze of static hangs over everything, with jazzy chords and Moog leads congealing in limpid pools. It's been a long time since hip-hop sounded this far out.
5. Prefuse 73
If you ask Guillermo Scott Herren what kind of music he makes, don't expect him to blink before saying "hip-hop." But his music (as Prefuse 73, Savath & Savalas and still other names) has never sat comfortably within any one corner of the genre. Flecked with filmic interludes, 2005's Security Screenings flows like a mix tape, though the only guest spot on this mostly instrumental album goes to fellow avant-beatsmith Kieran Hebden, aka Four Tet. Beats crumple like paper bags beneath zipping synthesizers and ragged samples sourced from jazz, folk and soul: it's head music for cobwebbed minds.
6. Battles
To gauge how far Warp has come from its early days pressing up acid-house white labels, look no further than Battles, a powerhouse quartet combining muscular playing and clever electronic manipulations into the 21st-century equivalent of progressive rock. Former Helmet drummer Jon Stanier provides the band's formidable backbone, while Tyondai Braxton, son of jazz legend Anthony Braxton, gives it an avant slant via slippery vocal modulations. (Post-rock veterans of Don Caballero and Lynx fill out the lineup.) Their debut album, Mirrored, is brute force meets high concept, with passages of hip-heavy boogie exploding into confetti-like clouds of tone.
7. Plaid
Greedy Baby, a 2006 collaboration between Plaid and the filmmaker Bob Jaroc, finds the ex-Black Dog duo burrowing down ambient rabbit holes reminiscent of tunnels dug by Biosphere, Sun Electric and Future Sound of London. Their shimmery touch is apparent on "The Launching of Big Face," with its Caribbean accents and bright, vigorous percussion; the web-crawling arpeggios of "Zn Zero" are typical of Plaid's balance of classic synth-pop (Kraftwerk, Yellow Magic Orchestra) with touches of modern-classical dissonance.
8. Nightmares on Wax
Maybe it's appropriate that Nightmares on Wax's music has such a vintage tint to it; the project, formerly a duo, has been working for Warp longer than any other act on the roster. (Their "Dextrous" was the label's second release, preceded only by Forgemasters' bleep classic "Track With No Name.") Originally purveyors of jacking, stripped-down acid house, Nightmares on Wax gradually slowed down and fattened up, taking on influences from Jamaican soundsystem culture and northern soul. On 2006's In a Space Outta Sound, tautly tucked guitar lines step and dusty boom-bap beats sketch the merest outlines, sopping up horns, keyboards and voices like watercolors in the empty spaces.
9. Broadcast
Inspired by a vision of unflappable retro-futurist cool, Birmingham started out on Stereolab's Duophonic label before moving to Warp. Their most recent album, The Future Crayon, brims with lucid vocals, tremolo flutter and layers of guitars as spongy and marbled as pound cake; '60s pop refracted through a tomorrowland prism, it's the perfect soundtrack for a monorail ride to the moon.
10. Maximo Park
Maximo Park suggest that beneath Warp's pulsing bleeps beats a traditionalist's heart. The Newcastle group revives jagged post-punk and power-pop jangle in short, sharp songs recalling XTC, Elvis Costello and the Jam. On 2007's Missing Songs, cuts like "A Year of Doubt" and "Trial and Error" show off songwriting far fresher than their retro sonics might suggest, while dizzying rhythmic changes give "I Want You to Leave" an unmistakably modern charge.
- Portions of Album Content Provided by All Music Guide © 2008 All Media Guide, LLC.
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