Congratulations to Ballake Sissoko and Vincent Segal, whose 2011 release, ‘Chamber Music’ on Six Degrees Records ended up on several “best of” lists. Bob Boilen named ‘Chamber Music’ one of the top 11 albums of 2011 and also one of the top live performances of the year, NPR, Pop Matters, Wall St. Journal and the Boston Globe also placed ‘Chamber Music’ on their lists for top record of the year. 

The French-pop, Paris based duo, The Dø have gotten nothing but stellar reviews on their new album Both Ways Open Jaws, and recent live performances. “A late contender for album of the year.“- The Times (London)

UK newspaper, The Independent album review said, “their multi-layered space-pop is as boundary defying as it is breaking…on the evidence of this one can safely say that The Do are the best French/Finnish duo in pop. Listen to ‘Dust if Off’ for proof”.  

Below is the music video for ‘Too Insistent’ and after you fall in love you can buy the album here.

Producer, multi-instrumentalist and visionary Janaka Selekta returns with a new collaboration called Gods Robots, including this amazing video for the track “Stay” that Blinking Peacock Productions made. Impressive! Like Gods Robots on Facebook for a free download of the EP.

More info after the jump.

The seamless blend of catchy English lyrics, classical Indian instrumentation and underground rhythms defines the unique Gods Robots sound. It is the sound of an infinitely interconnected world where borders are becoming increasing meaningless.

Gods Robots exciting stage show highlights their dynamic blend of cross cultural songwriting, energetic and infectious performance using cutting edge technology and old school musicianship. Elements of drumstep, dubstep, hip hop, dub and even drum n bass shine as singer Taamara effortlessly moves from soulful and bluesy English lyrics to classical Indian vocal melodies. Their upcoming album especially produced for Bittorrent features virtuoso Sarod player Alam Khan in a rare non-classical Indian music context and Mike Pipes on flute and guitar.

Their radio release song STAY garnered the attention of BBC Radio 1 host Nihal who described the song as the “most exciting” pick out his top 5 songs, and that Gods Robots is the sound “to watch out for”. [Courtesy: BBC World Wide Service; The Strand]. They are also regularly featured on a number of BBC Radio 1 and Asian Network shows.

Championed by Rolling Stone India, Gods Robots is been featured 3 times in articles that discuss their 2010 India tour, their use of technology to create music whilst the two core band members reside on different continents and producer Janaka Selekta’s critically acclaimed album ‘Pushing Air’.

Bangin’ new mix from Six Degrees’ artist David Starfire
For more info, check his site.
Full tracklist after the jump.

1. Revival-Beats Antique (David Starfire Remix)
2. The Prototypes-Cascade (Cutline Remix)
3. R U Ready-Calvertron
4. Plan B-Love Goes Down (Doctor P Remix)
5. Just Be Good To Green-Professor Green feat.Lily Allen (Camo & Krooked remix)
6. In the Groove-Urban Assault (Drumstep Mix)
7. Come Together-Beatles (David Starfire Drumstep Remix)
8. Son Of Kick – Playing the Villain
9. Road to Cairo-Little John (David Starfire Remix)
10.Moonlit Horizions-Desert Dwellers (David Starfire Remix)
11.Batkallim -Natacha Atlas (David Starfire Remix)
12.Slip n Slide-Bass Science Ft. iCatching (David Starfire Remix)
13.Take It Back-The Qemists (The Prototypes Remix)
14.Know Us-Jillian Ann & Love and Light (David Starfire Remix)
15.2 Bad-Roksonix
16.Load-David Starfire (Love and Light Remix)
17.Get up Stand up-Bob Marley (David Starfire Remix)

Buy your album here from itunes!

DOWNLOAD Compilation here : Generation Bass Presents MoombahLuV Volume 1

We all know DJ Umb doesn’t sleep, how else could he and the good people at Generation Bass keep up the continuous output not only on their blog, but with their new label as well. Just this last week they shared the laidback mixtape MoombahLuV and released the new EP from DJ Sabbo (Tel Aviv). Enjoy the music and check after the jump for tracklist and more info.

Generation Bass presents: Sabbo – Freaktion EP from Videomit on Vimeo.

FOREWORD & TRACK SYNOPSIS BY NEIL QUEEN JONES

The foreword and track synopsis is by a man who I admire highly, Neil Queen Jones, one of the top Moombahton journalists in this scene.

Over to Neil:

Generation bass presents Moombahluv Volume One

You should never ask what Moombahton is, it’ll only be something new tomorrow. Moombahton is more than just a global bass genre, it’s a wide-eyed, infectious field project in EDM mechanics that relishes discovery. Dave Nada’s creation bears the bruises that come from repeatedly butting up against any limitation it comes up against: the tough bass rumble of moombahcore galvanised it, then moombahsoul proved that something deeper lurked beneath the playful exterior -and now Moombahluv Volume One shows what this thing is capable of – over 17 track, Moombahluv points the way forward.

1. Home – Phi Unit

Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes’ hypnotic, lilting anthem gets taken from the campfire to last-track-of-the-night, sun-rising status with this judicious workout. This is how uplifting needs to be done.

2. None Of Dem (Th0r remix) – Royksopp & Robyn

One of Moombahton’s strength is that it doesn’t seek to reinvent the wheel, it just happens to own a new set of tyres. Th0r’s exquisite repurposing of this slice of Scandinavian class pushes it jet-heeled towards the 108bpm dancefloor, without compromising the original’s potency.

3. Mouthful Of Diamonds (DJ 4Head edit) – Phantogram

When Dave Nada pitched down Dutch house, who knew it would’ve ended up here? Wistfully indie female vocals and guitar riffs are the latest components to be assimilated by the global bass hybrid – proving once again that Moombahton is a sound that confounds expectation.

4. Bob James – El Nomada

The breaks legend gets a serious mid-tempo global retread from El Nomada. This one’s perfect for kicking back and savouring the good life; a gentle bossanova is tweaked to form the distinctive Moombahton beat, flute lazily marks time and the percussion irons out any rough edges. Wonderful.

5. Everything She Wants (Thomas Blondet edit) – Wham!

This could so easily have gone badly wrong, yet now seems so logically right. At the hands of the glacially cool Blondet, George Michael’s finest moment gets the perfect Moombahton rub-down, retooled and ready for a liberated, hipster-allergic dancefloor. Effortlessly suave.

6. Another Girl (Kan Takahiko edit) – Jacques Greene

Pure tranquil bliss. Japanese producer Takahiko gives the highly rated Montreal producer Greene, a serious make over here with a sumptuous edit, one that shows that Moombahton is now comfortable in its skin. Stripped of excess, Another Girl allows the dembow to work in perfect unison with the music, building into a balaeric wonder.

7. 93 Til’ Moombah – Cabo Blanco

Moving quickly to shoot down the notion that a woman’s role in Moombahton necessitates a bikini, this dreamy serving of moombahsoul interlaces the beautiful female vocal with the wide-open expanse of the production to heavenly effect.

8. Sliding Scale – Doc Adam

Doc reins in his trademark jackhammer beats, this time tooling up with lavish strings and Q-Tip samples, yet his tight, gristle-free production style remains uncompromised. Sliding Scale proves that Doc Adam is not only of the OGs who commands respect, but one who’ll form part of Moombahton’s future, too.

9. Suave – Freaky Phillip

The tropical beats are in full working order here, as Freaky Phillip reps the Dominican Republic, stripping Moombahton down to its constituents; the dembow crunch, the Dirty Dutch riffs, the euphoric lifts – and sends them floating into deep space.

10. A Change – Elonious

Lasers and social revolution combine to devastating effect in this effort from Generation Bass’ own Elonious. Scathing Moombahcore hooks vie with old-school electro jabs in a battle for supremacy – but the listener is the winner, irrespective of the outcome.

11. Amor De Angeles – Arehouse

Monica getting a reverse screw may sound like an unfortunate turn of events, but in reality it’s Arehouse effortlessly proving that pitching up to 108bpm need not mean sacrificing any of the grace, soul or subtlety – in fact, this R&B number sounds as slick as ever.

12. What Have You Done – DJ Dice

This upbeat, minimal affair from DJ Dice effortlessly and purposefully steams into full flight, teasing a playfully childlike riff into an unlikely big room soundsystem scenario, proving again that moombahton is always full of surprises and curious intent.

13. Ya Ghali (Mendez edit) – Guitarra Band

The mutual global cosign continues, with this latin creation from the El Cuco stable reaching out east for a rare “Bellyton” joint. Mendez is a producer who matches a breadth of vision with well-drilled production chops, as this tight, hypnotic edit proves.

14. In The Zone (Boyfriend edit) – The Weeknd

The Weeknd plus Moombahton may seem like the result of a hipster focus group, but with Lithuanian producer Boyfriend’s ear for brooding melody, cavernous soundscapes and unanswerable beats applied to Abel Tesfaye’s plaintive urban love letters, any such argument is instantly proved pointless.

15. Goshen (Smash & Grab edit) – Beirut

This glorious edit shows how Moombahton is capable of more than throwing out bangers, it can also handle nuance, grace and sensitivity, as Smash & Grab show that melody and acoustics have no need to fear the dembow.

16. Caboclo – Frankie Grimes

While producers were trying to pick up the pieces in the wake of Munchi’s Firepower, Ireland-based Frankie took his own path, seeking out a more soulfully expressive sound. Caboclo shows where he ended up – in a refined and beautiful place.

17. Crawl – Stlkrfxxx

Love can come in many forms, and in the case of David Beltran, the other person doesn’t always need to know too much about it. Dragging witch house down to 108 level, this Moombahton taken to dark and exciting places.

Download the mini-mix:

Generation Bass Presents MoombahLuv Volume 1 – Excerpts Promo Mix by DJ UMB by djumb

DOWNLOAD Compilation here : Generation Bass Presents MoombahLuV Volume 1

Volume 2 is just around the corner!!!!

This sprawling, 14-track opus moves from dub, funk, techno, reggae, lo-fi electro to Middle-Eastern, Afrobeat, Rockers, Asian Massive and beyond. Trailblazers like Transglobal Underground, Six Degrees‘ Jef Stott, Dubmatix, EarthRise SoundSystem, Real World’s Syriana and Adham Shaikh rub shoulders with fresh sounds from Sub Swara’s Sharmaji, Four80East, Delhi 2 Dublin’s TSpoon and Rise Ashen. Remixtasy is out September 27th order your digital and hard copy here.

‘Outside the Skyline’ is an album that’s trademark Miguel Migs. Informed by house but no slave to metronomic dancefloor rhythms and tempos, it takes influences from jazz, reggae, soul and more, with a heavy emphasis on high-quality songwriting and equally high production values. Our very own bossa nova phenomenon Bebel Gilberto makes a special appearance on this album on the track ‘Zuzu” which you can stream above.
Order the album here!

Natacha Atlas – Mounqaliba – Rising: The Remixes comes out September 27th, 2011. Until then we have David Starfire’s remix available as a free download (above) and you can pre-order the album now and save a couple of dollars.

After two highly acclaimed string driven, predominantly acoustic projects, Natacha Atlas returns to the Global Dance-floor with Mounqaliba-Rising: The Remixes. Globally celebrated singer Natacha Atlas’ latest release Mounqaliba was a decidedly acoustic affair, recorded with a 20-piece Turkish ensemble and a chamber orchestra & integrating western and Arabic styles. Mounqaliba (which means being in a state of reversal’ in classical Arabic) was a stunning set of original songs & evocative interludes, which also featured a beautiful version of Nick Drake’s classic “Riverman”.

From her days singing with Transglobal Underground to her seminal solo releases,Natacha is acknowledged as a pioneer in fusing Middle Eastern and Electronica styles. Mounqaliba-Rising: The Remixes finds the vanguard of the global fusion world paying homage to one of the most distinctive & beautiful voices in modern music.

Remixers Beats Antique, Nickodemus & Zeb The Spy From Cairo, Cheb i Sabbah, Bombay Dub Orchestra, Syriana, David Starfire, EarthRise SoundSystem, Kaya Project, Radiohiro, Dogbeats, Zab Spencer, Another Fine Day, 310, EarthRise SoundSystem & Basha Beats take Natacha’s latest opus into new directions ranging from lush ambient journeys to dynamic rhythmic explorations.