1 2 Lose U

October 20, 2013 6:33 PM

“Stylistically, I never had a plan – at the time, I was listening to a lot of intelligent drum ’n’ bass, but when I heard Squarepusher I was like, I can’t listen to normal jungle any more." Vapor City is the 9th album from North Carolina born, New York & Berlin based 'future jungle' producer Machinedrum. Illustrated by the grey-and-black industrial sprawl on the cover, (it) is about an imaginary metropolis; each of its ten tracks is devoted to one of its districts.

His Soundcloud page has a number of remixes from 2005-2010 available for streaming and download, including tracks by Missy Elliott, Boards of Canada, Phreshy, Theophilus London, and Aaliyah.

(you can download a 145mb .zip of all the remixes directly here)

posted by mannequito (20 comments total)

OK, I have to give anyone out to better Squarepusher a listen.
posted by Artw at 6:35 PM on October 20, 2013

"Gunshotta" is really nice. Reminds me of Burial, in the best possible way.

For a genre built on frenetic breakbeats, the more ambient side of D&B has proven to be fertile ground.
posted by escape from the potato planet at 6:49 PM on October 20, 2013

Nice to see him getting some recognition. He's been pushing out interesting albums for a long time now. Urban Biology used to be on non-stop rotate for me back in 2003. He never quite seems to be the leader of the genre, but he's always quality IMO.
posted by Hutch at 6:50 PM on October 20, 2013 [1 favorite]

Cheers, thanks for this!
posted by carter at 6:59 PM on October 20, 2013

Hey, he is the feature Podcast on Resident Advisor this week!
posted by Jake DeNiro at 7:04 PM on October 20, 2013

I really liked Gunshotta.

Where is he from in North Carolina?
posted by oceanjesse at 7:06 PM on October 20, 2013

i just installed a new car stereo and subs... just went ahead and drove around through downtown LA while blasting this. it's perfect for that. i think machinedrum has been really excellent at synthesizing the various strands of juke, footwork, dubstep, low-end-heavy-RnB and making something unique out of it...

the art direction for the whole "vapor city" project is great, the records (if you're into tangible things) look gorgeous. and the promise of a long-term roll out of singles, b-sides and other goodies is great.

here's the first bonus: a cold, bangin' remix of "gunshotta" by Om Unit of the esteemed drum-n-bass label, Metalheadz.
posted by raihan_ at 7:07 PM on October 20, 2013 [1 favorite]

Good catch DeNiro! Somehow I missed that despite linking to their album review.

Here's the podcast link - there's also a short interview.

oceanjesse, the mixmag article says he was raised in Hickory NC.
posted by mannequito at 7:07 PM on October 20, 2013 [1 favorite]

It is much more Burial than Squarepusher. That's okay though.
posted by fungible at 7:12 PM on October 20, 2013

Future jungle sounds like jungle sounds like proto future jungle, past tense.
posted by markkraft at 7:27 PM on October 20, 2013

Machinedrum is a genius, but I wouldn't really call him jungle -- he's really influenced by footwork, too. He's off in his own world.
posted by empath at 7:57 PM on October 20, 2013

I was in college in Asheville, NC around the time that Now You Know and Urban Biology came out now-defunct M3erck Records. My friends and I were big-time (it's embarrassing to use the term now, or I guess ever) IDM heads, and the rumor that this guy was from down the road in Hickory was always really intriguing, since most of the big names (Aphex et al.) were British.
posted by Rustmouth Snakedrill at 8:08 PM on October 20, 2013 [2 favorites]

Thanks for this! I've been thinking about sharing more about the wonderful fun that is Machinedrum, if nothing else than to promote the final track on his first album: "Jewlea." A BOC-like hazy IDM track, with more focus on the hip-hop like beat. Beautiful, beautiful stuff. Definitely his old style, but it's his origins.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:37 PM on October 20, 2013 [1 favorite]

Pretty thin interview.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 10:05 PM on October 20, 2013

empath: "Machinedrum is a genius, but I wouldn't really call him jungle -- he's really influenced by footwork, too. He's off in his own world."

I always feel like I'm about five steps behind in edm terminology so I just went with the safe choice, but out of curiosity I searched for 'footwork' and surprise! it turned up a result, so .... tag added! thanks.
posted by mannequito at 12:24 AM on October 21, 2013

The Machinedrum remix of Bonobo is one of my favorite songs of all time.
posted by empath at 8:26 AM on October 21, 2013 [1 favorite]

mannequito: I always feel like I'm about five steps behind in edm terminology so I just went with the safe choice, but out of curiosity I searched for 'footwork' and surprise! it turned up a result

Footwork, and its predecessor, juke, are interesting, and oddly found a serious following with Mike Paradinas' Planet Mu label. They've been at it for a few years, so they might be working on something new now.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:54 AM on October 22, 2013

cool. I still have some old Planet Mu sampler cds around somewhere that I got from a friend from Bristol who used to do promotional work for them, but they don't sound anything like this stuff. I guess they'd be from 2006/07-ish.
posted by mannequito at 12:40 PM on October 22, 2013

I'm digging Vapor City and the moment. Very old school.
posted by Artw at 1:30 PM on October 22, 2013

Oh, awesome. I'm a big fan of his previous album, Rooms, and I didn't realize he had a new record out. There's a really fascinating movement going on that fuses juke/footwork with more classic IDM styles - see also Ital Tek, who put out the massive album Nebula Dance last year and has a new album coming out next month. Also, one of the stalwarts of the Chicago juke/footwork scene, DJ Rashad, just released a fucking great album called Double Cup which I highly recommend.
posted by Frobenius Twist at 3:17 PM on October 22, 2013 [2 favorites]