Downtempo electronic folk creator – Maps – has been nominated to compete for the prestigious Mercury Music Prize for We Can Create. The album was released on June 19th and has been so successful that James Chapman, aka Maps, may take home the Mercury Prize when the award show is broadcast live on BBC TV on 4 September. ([More →])

Environmental campaigns seem to go hand-in-hand with music events. Live Earth is a fine example. Many bands are using their tours as platforms for environmental education and recycling programs, like Linkin Park, Cheryl Crow and the Beastie Boys. But nothing sings about environmental doom and destruction like a carefully chosen documentary soundtrack. Finally, someone has matched planetary doom with the perfect soundtrack of doom metal and dark ambient electronica! I feel I have finally found a single category of music to describe many of my favorite bands – a class of music that I haven’t been able to summarize with a single name until today – Music For Environmental Doom! It’s perfect! What other category could so perfectly link Khanate with Gas, Brian Eno with Arve Henriksen, and Mogwai with Sigur Ros or Lamb? I’d love to own a soundtrack with this music, especially if it were on gatefold double vinyl! ([More →])

Rupert Parkes composes music that you have probably listened to without considering who or what created it. He composed the theme song for the popular tv show “Six Feet Under” and the music that accompanies action scenes in movies like “Invincible” and “The Italian Job.” But Parkes is much more well known for his compositions as Photek, music that could be found in most record bags being lugged around by drum and bass djs in the late 90′s. Photek came into the drum and bass scene when it was thriving, and fell in love with the energy in the music as it was thumping out of huge soundsystems at renegade warehouse parties in the UK. ([More →])

Holy Bjork, Synth-Fans! I have been hyping the reactable electronic music instrument to anyone who would listen lately (and here I am doing it again), but I had no idea that Bjork is using one and had it at the Glastonbury Music Festival! Reactable is basically an electronic synthesizer, only it has no keys. Instead, it uses a more intuitive and visual based interface with the musician. Before I try to write 1000 words, let me show you a reactable in action: ([More →])

What a great combination! M.I.A. will open for Bjork on September 11th at the Fox Theatre in Detroit, Michigan and at her two concerts in Nimes, France August 21 and 23. ([More →])

What’s this? A good-old-fashioned soundclash for the betterment of humankind? It must be a Dubraizer! Thursday (tomorrow), Londoners get a chance to hear amazing dubstep while making a difference in the community. Corsica Studios is hosting Dubraizer! to benefit an urban youth group – CJ S Media Workz – that are working to build an arts and media academy for disadvantaged kids. Think Beat Street and get over there tomorrow to get down with your city. You won’t find such a lineup of professional bass scientists anywhere else for a mere £5! ([More →])

I found a remarkable story on the Village Voice today. Part mystery thriller, part treasure hunt, part news. It concerns the discovery of some “new” talent, a pair of electronic musicians who collectively go by the name of Tuss, but who individually call themselves Brian Tregaksin and Karen Tregaskin. Tuss released Confederation Trough in their early days, then the prestigious release that caused electronica enthusiasts to sit up and take notice – Rushup Edge on the elite UK publisher Chrysalis.

The article in the Village Voice mostly reviews this epic album, but seems stuck on the idea that the Truss is no rookie electronica act. The writer instead forwards the notion that has been circulating through lists and forums – that this is another eponymous work by the elusive Richard D James, a.k.a. Aphex Twin. ([More →])

Some of the hottest musicians in the US’s electronica/ mash-up/ breakcore/ jungle scenes are being reunited this weekend in Boston. Bouncement 2 brings together DJ/rupture, DJ Flack and Wayne And Wax! It’s quite a homecoming for many of these fellas, and well-deserving of a party – Flack is returning from tour down unda, Wayne and Wax recently returned to Bean town after living in Chicago for a bit, and DJ/ rupture started his musical career as a youth in Mass. Unfortunately, noticeably absent from the lineup is long-time Boston resident and Beat Researcher, DJ C who recently moved to Chicago. Nonetheless, this party is going to blow the roof off of the Great Scott! If you are in the area, you can’t afford to miss this much music history being made for a mere $5. ([More →])

When I needed some fresh music today, I headed over to one of my favorite music streaming sites – the ever clever Podington Bear. Podington makes incredibly sweet, fun electronica music and makes it easily accessible in a stand-alone music player or podcast subscription. Well, quite unsuspecting of the momentous occasion I was about to encounter, I clicked over to PBear’s online den and LO and Behold! Today, Wednesday July 25th, Podington Bear posted his 100th hand-made track of 2007! That’s right, the prolific little bear has hand-crafted 100 songs since the first of January. He posts a new song every other day, despite being on the road pretty much constantly. ([More →])

Bjork’s Innocence remixes album was released everywhere except the US this week. Here is the tracklist and artwork: ([More →])

Fans of extreme music, experimental electronica, ragga and grime – I have a fantastic treat for you! There is an excellent interview with The Bug over on the french DubStep website. Kevin Martin (The Bug) talks about everything – how he first got involved in music, his time spent working with Justin Broadrick (Napalm Death, Jesu) as Techno Animal, his brief stint with Warner Brothers, and a whole lot more that has led up to him being a brilliant pioneering musician that blends ragga, breakcore, dubstep, dancehall, electronica, and extreme noise into totally original music. ([More →])

Anybody here love remixes? How about a whole album of remixes of Bjork’s “Innocence”? ([More →])

Noise enthusiasts in the EU – great news! It looks like Wolf Eyes is extending their travels round Europe in the Fall! ([More →])

Wizards of lush electronica, Underworld are in the midst of a creative blitz! They recently reworked a few tunes into studio masterpieces, and the flow of ideas and collaborations continues to gush as they try to decide what to use on their forthcoming album… ([More →])

Enjoy some gas. Not the globally warming CO2 gas that is already in excess, but pure oxygen! The microscopics label has re-mastered and re-released gas 0095 as the premiere release on their “new” label. ([More →])