SBTRKT - Wildfire (ft. Yukimi Nagano of Little Dragon)

I've had this song on repeat for a good 24 hours now.  It has literally consumed my music listening like a wildfire.

Listen at Live For The Funk.

The track is by SBTRKT (as in 'subtract') and features the lead vocalist of the band Little Dragon.  SBTRKT is an enigmatic British artist who specializes in drum and bass (DnB) and U.K. style dubstep music.

It's education time for all you triggas and snitches.  Dubstep isn't defined by face melting bass drops.  It can be traced to London producers during the mid 90's blending features of Jamaican dub, drum and bass, and British 2-Step into a new, creative style of music.  This is one of the earliest examples of dub music.  It has a sparse drum line; instead, the song's bass line drives the track.  Ultimately, dub gave rise to DnB music which is much more up-tempo and frantic.  A prime example of this style is seen in the opening scene of Ali G in da House.  Classic.  And finally, 2-Step garage music grew out of DnB, and is more or less dubstep's cousin.  Here is a sample of 2-Step that displays an increased use of electronica as well as more vocals.  It should be apparent by now how we arrive at music like that from SBTRKT.

Still reading?  Then you're also probably still playing 'Wildfire'.  SBTRKT has really shown us why less is more both in a name and in music.  The light drum beats, heavy bass melody, and nice topping of female vocals make a simple, yet perfectly constructed song.  He has said that he is a fan of FlyLo's Cosmogramma album, and those influences are obvious in his production.

Apart from deleting vowels, SBTRKT shares several more similarities with Toronto based singer The Weeknd (seriously, if you don't have his mixtape yet, you might be homeless).  They both inspire this sort of late night swagger and confidence that is difficult to put into words, but easy to feel when listening to their music.  Drizzy Drake has placed his approval on both artists, if that means anything to you.  His tweets were partially responsible for the buzz around The Weeknd and he was so kind as to drop some bars on 'Wildfire'.  Also, for all the secrecy surrounding The Weeknd's identity, at least we know his name is Abel Tesfaye.  SBTRKT may or may not be multiple people, and he only performs publicly while wearing a signature tribal mask.  To be honest, I didn't notice the eyes behind the mask when I first saw the picture above.  It kind of freaked me out when I realized it, and made the song that much more haunting, but awesome.

The Weeknd - House of Balloons (Mixtape)

Distractions.  Sometimes you're all ready to get focused on one task, but then things start to pop up and get in the way (I'm looking at you guys, Facebook and Twitter).  You get sidetracked.  I had a whole plan laid out for my posts for this week; it was beautiful.  When I'm prepping to write about an artist, I like to listen to a lot of their songs throughout the day so I can decide what to post and to try and catch any revealing personal information from their lyrics.  The lineup I had ready before, though, is on hold for now because I was listening to something else.  I'm sure basically everyone has had their weekday plans run off track by thoughts of the weekend, but this time it was The Weeknd that got me.

There's a bit of mystery surrounding what The Weeknd is exactly.  From what I've read, it seems it is a one man R&B/Soul act, probably by the name of Abel Tesfaye.  I'm pretty confident that there's a team of others, though, that handled production for this project.  I do know that The Weeknd (God! I keep typing the third e) is based out of Toronto.  He mentions being 20 years old, but his voice is strong and confident and complements the tight production well.  Neither side dominates; there are times for each to shine.

Here's the opening track:
The Weeknd - High For This by The_Weeknd

On my first listen, it sounded like a super smooth and seductive baby-making mixtape.  That was fine; I listened all the way through without skipping any tracks, which to me is a sign of a really good album.  After I found myself hitting repeat a few more times, however, I realized there was a little more going on here.  Sure, the common love song themes are there, but they're presented at a much more primal level.  I use 'love' in the sense of instinctive, possibly drugged up, urges.  It delivers the rawness that Jeremiah, Enrique, and Trey Songz and Drake only wish they knew how to express.  It's subtle, yet forceful.  This isn't your pump-up, pregame music, it's your after hours, make bad decisions but-who-cares music, and it's best listened to in the dark.

This is the closing track and one of my favorites:
The Weeknd - The Knowing by The_Weeknd

Make sure to download all nine tracks off House of Balloons.
Bring the 707 out...