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RAMP Recordings



Last Updated: 11/17/2009

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Country: UK
Signup Date: 10/28/2005

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Friday, November 13, 2009 

Finland isn't the first place you would automatically associate with the dubstep scene, but after releases from Tes La Rok and Clouds, combined with an ever expanding scene in Helsinki, Finnish dubstep is not only on the rise, but has developed its own unique sound in the process.

Desto has been making waves in the scene recently, championed by the likes of Joker and Vex'd, not to mention lots of airtime on Rinse.fm. Desto's music is heavily driven by C64 based melodies, and crushing electronic bass lines. With new releases coming out on both Ramp and Noppa, now was the perfect time to chat with Desto about his releases, and the scene in Finland as a whole.
 
How did the dubstep scene in Finland kick off?

A handful of people were into it in '06. It kicked off with a few squat parties in Helsinki and moved to a couple of slowly growing club nights like Slam It! run by Tes La Rok and Dead-O of Clouds and Alas run by Teeth & RRKK. 

Some of the guys were attending Forward and DMZ parties at this early stage and brought back some of the vibe which was then reinterpreted in Helsinki nights. Early on we had N-Type, Chef and Pinch over and these were some of their very first gigs outside the UK. 

A big part of the crowd early on was producers and DJs who were into dubstep and the DJ / producer scene kicked off nicely out here. Notably the Finnish dubstep forum, Step Ahead, brought people together to share information and vibe off the sound which I feel has had a positive influence on our scene. Right now dubstep is getting more mainstream, new event organizers moving into the field from other genres. Production-wise Finland has a very nice level and loads of young producers coming up.
 
How has Finland developed its own style of dubstep?

I'd say the Finnish dubstep sound is the way it is because we've always made sure that the nights include all styles instead of just throwing in the most popular banger after banger. Back in '06 dubstep was the genre that invited producers to build around a loose framework of 140bpm and sub bass and bring in their own musical influences which appealed to us. Nothing in dubstep was "big" or "dirty". It was about the sound really. We just like to keep it diverse as we come from different musical backgrounds and histories.
 
Who were the earliest influences on your style of music?
 
I started listening to Kraftwerk's Computer World on my big brother's Walkman when I was three. That album is like nursery rhymes for me and I have a very strong bond with those songs. We also had the Commodore 64 that I nowadays use for my music, so C64 games were a big influence. I used to tape the tracks to cassette as a kid. As for dubstep, I come from a background of hip-hop, mid-to-late 90s jungle/DnB and IDM so hearing Loefah, Benga and the Mystikz tunes in '06 really had a strong impact.

Looking forward to the new releases?

I'm excited that the releases are finally coming out. The oldest tune on the Noppa release, Cold VIP, was signed two years ago so I guess the saying all good things take a little time applies here! It's cool to release on Tes' label as he's a very old friend and I've been feeling Ramp's output for some time. 

I like the fact that both releases have extra effort put into the graphic design of the records too and the fact that they're vinyl releases is very important to me. I'd never go for a digital-only release. 
 
Excluding Clouds and Tes La Rok, any other Finnish dubsteppers we should look out for?

There's a lot of good up-and-coming heads that will hopefully be heard of in years to come but right now Late and TMU are making music that really moves me.
 
Words: Joe Goldsworthy
 
Disappearing Reappearing Ink / Broken Memory is out on Ramp on November 30th while The Desto EP featuringGremlinz / Wizard Of Wor / Dark Matter / Cold VIP will be released on Noppa in December.
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Wednesday, November 11, 2009 
INTERVIEW: Tokimonsta [Ramp/Brainfeeder]


If you've listened to Mary Anne Hobbs' Radio 1 show of late you'll have more likely than not heard the beats of Tokimonsta, her productions have littered the tracklists since the West Coast Rocks special back in January. An affiliate of the Brainfeeder camp, she's a big part of the LA beat scene and kindly offered to put together a mix for us in exchange for a few words ahead of her UK tour later this month...

Sonic Router: Can you provide those who may not know you with a bit of background info? 

Tokimonsta: In short, I’m a female beat maker repping Brainfeeder and all my LA-liens.

Outside of music who are you? What do you do on the daily? 

I have a strange obsession with cooking shows, documentaries, and cartoons. I wake up in the afternoon because I go to sleep at 6-7 in the morning... I have a tendency to work on music late at night, or would that be early in the morning...? Clothes, shoes, clever music gear and sick vinyl are my weaknesses.

How did you first get into making music? What was it that infected you to do produce? 

I was always a purveyor of music—you know, a bit of a music snob. One day a friend suggested I tried making beats of my own, so I did. BAM! That’s how I ended up where I am today. Now I get to create music I enjoy that other people can enjoy with me.

What’s your production set up like? 

Messy! I have my monitors, mixer, 1200s, handytrax, sp 404, computer, various midi controllers... etc etc. I can’t give all my secrets away :)

How would you describe your sound to someone zoning in for the first time? 

It’s strongly hip hop influenced, spiked with electronic sounds and a lot of spacey Asiatic/Latin jungle vibes.

..

What’s your take on being part of the LA beat scene? I bet it gets the creative juices flowing with so many quality producers in the community, is there a sort of friendly rivalry between you all? 

I love it! I don’t believe there is any rivalry because we’re all so different. Though we might have similar roots, we have branched out into our own unique sound. I always get to hear something fresh from my LA music fam.

Being picked up by Flying Lotus’ Brainfeeder label is very cool indeed, what do you have in store on that label for us all and what’s it like being the first lady of Brainfeeder? Do you get a crown or anything cool like that? 

No crown for me... I’m fine just knowing I’m associated with great people. I will have something out on BF, but not quite yet. I want that project to be personal and something special, so I will be taking my time. In the meantime, I will have other releases that will be out sooner and the rest of the BF fam will be putting their albums out - it’s going to be sick!

How did your live show come about, what’s the set-up like and what do you like about the freedom of having controllers to tweak as apposed to turn tables and all that? 

My set up varies, but most times it includes my laptop, a midi controller, audio interface, footswitch, and every now and then my SP404. I feel as though it’s not just the controllers that give me freedom, but the software as well. You can literally create new music on stage verses just mixing songs on a turntable.

What music are you feeling at the moment from inside and outside the scene? 

I love the new Kings of Convenience album. I have a thing for very spacey, soulful, and romantically-twinged music.

..

What other releases have you got dropping soon; I spy a Ramp Recordings plate on your myspace? 

Yes! I have an EP coming out on Ramp very very soon—maybe this month or the beginning of next month. Then I have a shared 10” on All City. There’s also the collab project with Suzi Analogue which will be on Jazzy Sport (JP) and I have another solo album in with Art Union (JP). Of course, I have my BF project as well, the date of that is TBA though.

You’ve got a UK & Europe tour coming soon, have you been to the UK before and what are you looking forward to the most? Apart from playing loads of awesome music of course…

Actually, I have never been to any part of Europe at all. I’m looking forward to the eats, people, architecture and culture. It’ll be great to see more of the world that has a richer history than the US, which is more an infant compared to other places.

Tell us a little bit about the mix you’ve done for us, what tracks did you just have to play? 

I threw in the type of joints I love... grimey, bangin’, dark, funky, dancey, soulful, nerdy, all of it! I just had to make sure I mixed them in a way that made sense. What’s the fun of only liking one type of music right? Plus, I actually want to see if people can manage to recognize the songs (so no playlist). Of course, I stuck my tunes in there as well.

Is there anything else you would like to tell us? Have you got any words of wisdom for our readers? 

Don’t let society tell you what you should or shouldn’t be listening to. If you dig something, just stick with it. Another good tip bit, a good dose vitamin B helps prevent or alleviate a hangover from too much boozing... just thought a few people might appreciate that. ;)

::

UK residents can catch Toki at the Ramp Recordings showcase at the Lightbox in Vauxhall, LDN on the 25th November, Donky Pitch in Brighton on the 26th, New Bohemia in Leeds on the 27th and Hoya Hoya in Manchester on 28th.



::

DOWNLOAD: Tokimonsta – Sonic Donky Mix*

..

No tracklist, sucker.

Link:
www.myspace.com/tokibeats

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Tuesday, November 10, 2009 

Maryland resident MAXMILLION DUNBAR caught our attention on a desperately limited 7” last year on his own Future Times imprint. Swerving the current contrived reference points, B-Boy Max forges his own path mixing a kaleidoscope of boogie, electro, hip hop & analog soul.....


Max’s first EP for RAMP starts with Bare Feet clipping sparse soul loops with epic flourishes, Loveloop/Socket Bonus marrying cascading synths and 808’s, Wouldn’t Matter chops up a relentless boogie loops and epic disco strings, and WAVS draws the EP to a close with 80;s beat boxes and ramshackle synth lines.


Check out Maxmillion Dunbar live HERE


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Tuesday, October 20, 2009 

On November 25th 2009 RAMP Recordings are set to take over the Lightbox in London with their first official event. Newly signed Tokimonsta drops her exclusive London show, SBTRKT & Sampha do us their debut live P.A. together. DJ support from P.U.D.G.E, who makes the journey over from L.A. for his debut and exclusive UK show, RAMP homeboys Shortstuff, Slugabed, and the boss man, Tom@RAMP.




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Monday, October 05, 2009 
Somewhere at the interstellar crossroads of Sun Ra, DJ Spooky, Strata East, and Lee “Scratch” Perry lies the incomparable musical mind of L.A. native Ras G (né Gregory Shorter, Jr.). Though he often affixes the group moniker “The Alkebulan (or Afrikan) Space Program” to his name, Ras G (a composite of his first initial and a testament to his belief in Rastafari) is the sole captain and crew of this spacecraft. Along with a 21st-century moxie, his collective influences make up what he describes as ghetto sci-fi—an extraterrestrial soundwave transmission of dub, white noise, glitch, off-kilter boom-bap, and sound bites. Incorporating healing tones (specific sound frequencies that are purported to have profound effects on the spirit and body), modal jazz, and ancestral inspiration, Ras G has managed to concoct a sonic brew that defies conventional musical categorization. “As opposed to riding trends and waves, I try to bring forth the music that I really feel,” he explains. “It’s my offering to the world.”Tracing his fascination with the art of beat-making back to a relative who owned an E-mu SP-1200 drum machine/sampler, Ras G began gravitating towards other area hip-hop hopefuls for inspiration in the late 1990s. Most times, his passion was unrequited. “A lot of them weren’t into the music and the gear as tough as I wanted to be,” he remembers. “Or they were producing music on quality gear and the music wasn’t sounding as good as I thought it could sound. I felt like I could do something better with that stuff.” And with his influences in tow, his present-day cosmic creations can be interpreted as drum & bass being sucked into a black hole (“In Coming”) or celestial binary code (“Desert Fairy”).In 2005, underground L.A. music scene impresario/producer Carlos Niño helped to launch Ras G’s career as a producer by tapping one of his productions for legendary jazz vocalist Dwight Trible’s acclaimed experimental album Love is the Answer. “That was like the lift off,” Shorter recalls. “But it was all kind of weird to me, because that was like one of the fifth or sixth beats that I’d ever made.” Remarkably, Ras G had only just purchased his first beat machine, an MPC-2000XL, the year before. Capitalizing on the buzz surrounding the Trible record, Shorter increased his output and began moving in a new circle of kindred spirits at a monthly soundclash safe haven called Sketchbook at L.A.’s Little Temple Bar.“Flying Lotus, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Dibiase, and everybody who’s doing it right now on the L.A. scene used to gather there,” he reflects. “We would play beats, b-sides, and crazy stuff. So I used to make beat CDs for the parties so we would have something to listen to when we were outside smoking.” Since then, he’s been featured in the documentarySecondhand Sureshots and has released a slew of albums and EPs for Poo-Bah Records that have garnered him a devout following from Japan to the Netherlands. And since being inducted into FlyLo’s L.A.-based artist collective/label Brainfeeder, which Ras G dubs “the X-Men of future music,” it’s apparent that he’s bound for the exosphere.“Everybody loves Brotha From Anotha Planet, but that’s something I did last year in the summertime in my kitchen,” he reveals about the creation of his latest album. “So the vibes of that kitchen were recorded on that project.” And though Ras G has enough recorded material for two full-length releases, he’s wary of predicting what vibes his next album will transmit. “Ain’t no telling where we’re going with this music. The inspiration changes quickly—that’s the Afrikan Space Program. We just do it.” - XLR8R
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Wednesday, August 19, 2009 

FaltyDL returns to RAMP after the painfully deep ‘To London’, and his acclaimed ‘Love Is A Liability’ album on some other label earlier this year, with a new 12” of sleazy 2step vibes. “Party” gets things moving with DL’s most organic production to date, resonating in your brain like the jaded memory of an uncomfortable lap dance from an impromptu trip to the future. Flip the wax for the warm fuzzy minimal garage vibes of “Alpafun”, a tune that Mr. Lustman hates so much and never wanted it to see the light of day. Just to spite the cocky New Yorker, we are putting it out.


Watch brother Lustman making Sushi HERE!


FaltyDL - Party/Alpafun (Ramp)Ahead of next month's excellent Bravery mini-LP on Planet Mu, the planet's favourite garage-style dubstepper Drew Lustman returns to _Ramp with the low-slung popping rhythms of 'Party'. Falty DL's debut album Love is a Liability (spanked over in AD006) announced the advent of a master of vocal sample manipulation and that skill is pushed to the fore once again here, the repetitious 'party' call aided and abetted by non-verbal coos and exhalations, synth tones dropping into the mix like quicksilver sinking into murky water.AA-side 'Alpafun' foregrounds the more abstract elements of Lustman's palette, a dry snare clothed in snatches of fuzzier rhythmic tremors, the low-end providing a structural rumble above which shimmering keys waver like flickering stars. And if all that leaves your yen for Lustman unsated still then you can check him out talking about the similarities between beat quantization and sushi here. - Drowned In Sound









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Wednesday, August 19, 2009 

1. The Wind Speaks… (Press 1)....

2. 1derful Beings....

3. Time Will Heal…....

4. Lisa Bonet....

5. Spacewayz !

 

Ras G returns to RAMP after last year’s extrasolar remix of Clouds’ “Timekeeper”, and recent output on BFF Flying Lotus’ digital-only Brainfeeder label with a fresh EP of speaker popping rasta flecked hip hop sickness.....

Residing in the left coast, Ras has been godfather to the new post-Dilla instrumental hip hop movement, releasing various vinyl releases on his own Poobah label as far back at 2005. Being one of the most innovative and crazy characters in the scene, Ras’ dusty bass humps are still bringing the realness in a massively stagnant field.....


West Coast psyche-hop head Ras G trips his astral ambitions on a properly abstract vector with the 'Destnation There' EP. Much like his Brainfeeder mixtape, there's something wonderfully intimate and lo-fi stoned about his productions here, from 'The Wind Speaks (Press 1)' sounding like some mad matinee sci-fi soundtrack, to the grainy bass rumble and slack snares of 'Time Will Heal' or the bathroom reverbs of 'Lisa Bonet'. There's a welcoming glow of laidback armchair vibes about this release that will appeal to all the skunky head nodders and any hiphop day trippers with an afternoon to spare. For fans of Flying Lotus, Daedelus etc. Highly recommended! - BOOMKAT






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Tuesday, July 28, 2009 

Hailing from a sect of French God-fearing refugees, Shortstuff is generally a nice lad, but hides a jaded past of taunting old couples, purely for his own amusement.....


DJ SUPPORT FROM MARY ANNE HOBBS, EROL ALKAN, SINDEN, DIPLO, ONEMAN, MUMDANCE, CLOUDS, BRACKLES....



EROL ALKAN's TOP 10 FOR JULY

1. Waves / Death Suite - Erol Alkan & Boys Noize (BNR)
1. Who’s There? (Inflagranti & L-Vis 1990 Mixes) - Riton & Primary 1 (Phantasy)
1. Power (LP) - Boys Noize (BNR)
1. Gummiband - Siriusmo (Grand Petrol Recordings)
1. My Cat (A Mochi Remix) - Julien Jewel (Figure)
1. Got Your Thing (Original & Jesse Rose Mixes) - Drums Of Death (Greco Roman)
1. Retro/Grade - Moda (CDR)
1. Flash Back 2 - Unknown (CDR)
1. Peanut Club - Brodinski & Noob (Turbo)
1. Hold The Line (Skream! Mix) - Major Lazer (Mad Decent)
1. Freak For You - Thriller (Thriller)
1. A Rustling - Shortstuff (Ramp Recordings)


Shortstuff is usually spotted alongside cohort Brackles, but he's going it alone for this deadly little release on Ramp with two left-of-centre post-garage movers. First up is 'Rustling', mixing a hard clipped garage riddim with scrunched 8-bit piping locked into strange African influenced melodies. 'Stuff' on the flip steps it up another gear with demented editing skills applied to a feverish 2009 style riddim built from churning low end and tuff syncopated patterns with the sort of finish you'd hear on an Untold production. Heavyweight wares, keep an eye on this man, massive twelve. - BOOMKAT


Hitting out at the world with his first solo 12-inch release--after outings alongside production pal Brackles on Berkane Sol, Pollen and Planet Mu--Shortstuff, known to his gran as Richard Attley, has lined up two suitably bastardized slices of dubstep on the ever dependable Ramp Recordings. Heavily infected with dubstep's current flirtations with the new UK breed of percussion-laden funky house, Shortstuff manages to pull a little of its riff-reliant influence, but flips it with a whole bunch of his own synthetic technicolour style.

Crayoning a kind of fractured calypso soca roller, "A Rustling'" bristles from the off with tumbling stabs of melody that seem to totter on the edge of the drums. Seeping their memorable patterns through the cracks as the post-garage rhythm clip clops its way atop the swooning low end, it aptly holds its own throughout the reams of background drones and drum-heavy breakdowns. "Stuff" again draws upon the bump-heavy swung drum explorations of 2-step as Attley sweeps his grainy keyboard synthesis across the canvas of snatched vocal "partying crashing" samples. In the process, he ends up painting the sonic equivalent of a purple and green magic eye chart that slowly merges to form a 3D picture of a frollocking unicorn complete with high top Nikes and a dookie gold rope. - RESIDENT ADVISOR

Shortstuff - A Rustling

OUT AUGUST 10TH



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Tuesday, July 28, 2009 

Once upon a time, there was a band called The Cure, who had a front man named Robert Smith. Robert was an emotional being, who was always looking to test his boundaries and search out new experiences. After touring the Germany in the early 80’s with his band of eyeliner encrusted over-emotional Goth-men, Robert began a non-sexual but intensely intimate relationship with Florian Schneider, front man of Electro forefathers, Kraftwerk. The unlikely couple decided to experiment with the then new science of gene splicing. After a few horrific failed attempts, they finally managed to successfully cross their DNA into the vessel of a baby boy. Months past, and it became disturbingly apparent that they two men, who at the time were at the peaks of their careers, had created a being of pure evil. They decided to enlist the help of the 4’2 purple sex-pest Prince to drown the young baby in a sea of colours and tears, and endeavor to move on with their lives alone, ever trying to forget the horrific experiences the child had graced upon their lives.....

 ....

For many years, the baby’s soul circled the earth, crying pixels and watching women get undressed in locker rooms and stuff, for he is just a soul, and invisible to the human eye, and can get away with that kind of thing. The child found out there was a way to come back from the dead in some kind of Hellraiser type puzzle themed ritual, and hark, the boy (who was now a man) did indeed rise from the dead, and yes, he did once again walk the earth with the sole intent of wrong-doing.....

 ....

That boy is Zomby, and this is his new EP.....

 ....

 ....

RADIO SUPPORT FROM ANNIE MAC, MARY ANNE HOBBS, ROB DA BANK, GILLES PETERSON & BENJI B....

CLUB SUPPORT FROM MARTYN, KODE 9, ONEMAN, SINDEN, DIPLO....

 ....

UK PR / ALL YOUNG KINGS....

US PR / BACKSPIN PROMOTIONS....


/CLASH/FACT/GODZILLA/TOO COOL TO DIE/PITCHFORK


Zomby finally follows up his Hyperdub doublepack with an album of future-shocking manoeuvres for Ramp, loaded with nine tracks of style surfing riddims and mind burrowing bleepage. In our books, this is one of the most anticipated and in-demand records of the year so far. His precocious productions since 2007 have taken R'n'B infected grime, dubstep and bassline as starting points before crumbling them with nimble digits and reassembling them in his own skunk smudged vision, practically instigating a movement behind him and seriously blazing a path into future rhythm construction. Any keen followers of the style will have noticed tracks from this album cropping up in places like Blackdown's Rinse show or in DJ sets from Kode 9 or Ikonika, most likely soundtracking those head-in-hands "WTF?!?!" type moments their recent sets have delivered. The scheme for 'One Foot Ahead Of The Other' is generally fixed around funkin' 4/4 patterns nudged, pushed and squeezed into constantly morphing shapes with a fizzing energy centre of UK rave spirit at it's core, picking up the baton from thousands of raves gone by and running headlong in the future, shooting lazers from every orifice and dripping psychoactive sweat all over the dancefloor. We'll shut up now and just let the music do the talking, but for what it's worth, this is one of the best records you'll hear this year. - BOOMKAT


Zomby’s critical appeal lies in his thinking outside of the dubstep box. His earlier 12”s ‘Spliff Dub’, ‘Mu5h’ and ‘Rumours and Revelations’ were practically cartoon versions of dubstep, sativa strings over goofy student-skank. Rapturously received within dubstep, perhaps in the way that folkies embraced the earliest Bob Dylan discs, these records seemed capable of perfectly encapsulating what people wanted their scene to be.
To pursue the Bob Dylan analogy - at the risk of inflating Zomby's ego to yet more absurd heights - what happened in parallel, and which subsequent path has come to define Zomby as an artist, was his creation of a new sound all of his own. Like the Dylan of Bringing it All Back Home he has become an artist in exile; one operating at a much more rarified artistic level than his peers. With the mind-bendingly beautiful ‘Strange Fruit’ and the stunning double EP on Hyperdub he ditched the clumsy digidub allusions, and atomised dubstep into a flurry of Super Nintendo arpeggios. A track like ‘Aquafresh’, where the lead line shifts pitch as though it were alive, raised the bar to preposterous levels. Where dubstep was almost always clunky and clumsy, these records were bright-eyed and fleet-footed.
The Zomby trademark, that halcyon sound of 8-bit trills made wet in a paradise of modern VST reverb, is a re-imagining of childhood, journalist Simon Reynolds accurately describing it as "a working-through of the music/popcult assimilated during infancy and early childhood". The vessel here is ganja, and the way it operates socially to perpetuate infantile desire, allowing the user to foster unnatural fixations, to refine and "vibe" on pleasurable effects in a way that betrays the systematic dedication of the adult. As an aside it's simple to see how weed-smokers (when the levels of THC they are exposed to are not as high as the better formulated strains of hydroponically-grown skunk) come to use dub reggae as a gateway music, before finding it not sufficiently fucked-up to mirror their head-space.
And Zomby must certainly be very high these days, still in that deliriously wonderful state where drugs offer acceleration and an effortless symbiosis with one's craft. The One Foot Ahead of the Other EP is one of those very special glimpses into the future, an organically avant-garde experience like Derrick May's The Beginning EP whose busy, racing lines it often unconsciously echoes. However, overlooking untouchable masterpieces within like the title-track and ‘Godzilla’, it also reveals our hero in danger of becoming too esoteric, abandoning the vestigial cheesiness and "choons" that ‘Strange Fruit’ made manifest. Furthermore, Zomby, in deciding to "keep it clean" has missed another trick: I for one would have liked to have heard more of the squalid, ear-melting disorientation of ‘Aquafresh’. How long, like Icarus, can he fly upwards towards the sun? - FACT

Say what you will about the way that the anonymous producer Zomby has conducted himself on online social networks; his music has always seemed—to me anyway—to speak far louder and much more eloquently than his words. Signing an EP to Hyperdub is, in itself, no small feat, and the resulting self-titled double pack has since been used as a comparative yardstick, after Zomby blew the bloody and stumped doors off the dubstep rule book with an array of arrpegiated skwee-tronics and classic computer game-style synth hooks.
One Foot Ahead of the Other does much of the same, pinning erratic wandering "game over" melodies against solid 4x4 kick drums on "Pumpkinhead's Revenge," fusing sharpened minor key riffs around circulating haphazard bass on "Helter Skelter" and fusing similar 8-bit twisting melodies around crunching kick drums on "Bubble Bobble." But the real moments where Zomby's processes shine are on the tracks that sound noticeably richer and fuller, like the stop/start contorted pads of "Polka Dot," the bubble dream synths of "Godzilla" and the title track which pins sawing keyboards against a solid 2-step beat that comes complete with duel snares that clip/clop out of unison, giving the beat the essential swing it needs to worm into your subconscious.
"Firefly Finale" and "Expert Tuition" are superb examples of Zomby eschewing his trademark "halcyon coated arpeggio" in favour of some cyclical, sparse, keyboard-heavy 2-step. It's the sound of Zomby veering away from the noodlesome snatches of melody, as displayed (admittedly very impeccably) on "Mescaline Cola"—which comes complete with a snare that sounds like that last forced suck on a straw when your soda pop glass is emptying out—and into the solid, glistening production charm of someone like Martyn, who—much like Zomby—has a stylistic palette all his own. 
It feels like One Foot Ahead of the Other has a cunning plan, luring you in with the promise of what is essentially a collection of beautifully skewed and slanted Zomby beat sketches (the longest track is just 4:17), but with a powerful quintet of grown man productions included, the EP chooses instead to make your body work in conjunction with the music. Buy this, and you'll get probably the most complete peek into the hard drive of one of dubstep's most promising idealists to date.  - RESIDENT ADVISOR






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Monday, June 29, 2009 
HERE!

When we saw that fringe-dubstep renegade and sometime rave chronicler Zomby's track 'Helter Skelter' had appeared on Ramp Recordings' myspace, advertised as part of a new EP, our interest was piqued.
 
And when we say piqued, we mean through the roof. Anyway, now we have the word from Ramp: Zomby's One Foot Ahead of the Other EP will be released on the label in CD, 2xLP and digital format on August 24. No official tracklisting, but we'd wager it'll feature 'Helter Skelter' and 'Bubble Bobble' (which you can hear on Zomby's myspace) as well as 'Pumpkinhead's Revenge' (currently on the Ramp myspace) and 'Godzilla' (on ST Holdings'). Artwork is thus:
 
 
Image
 
 
Ramp have a shitload of new 12"s coming out in the near future, such as the following from Brackles' right hand man Shortstuff, Flying Lotus acolyte Ras G, new Werk Disc recruitNochexxx and Ramp favs Computer Jay and FaltyDL:
 
RAMP023: Shortstuff: 'A Rustling'/'Stuff' (12", August 3)
RAMP024: Ras G & The Afrikan Space Prpogram: Destination There EP (12", August 10)
RAMP025: FaltyDL: 'Party'/'Alpafun' (12", September 7)
RAMP026: Maxmilillion Dunbar: Bare Feet EP (12", September 14)
RAMP027: Nochexxx: 'Cola Duck'/'Carnival of Afro Souls' (12", September 28)
RAMP028: Computer Jay: 'Maintain'/remixes (12", October 5)
 
Oh, and that Computer Jay 12" features remixes from Mike Slott, FaltyDL and Ikonika. There's also a Ras G album in the pipeline titled Down 2 Earth (Standard Edition), a Computer Jay album titled Who Is Computer Jay? and EPs from FaltyDL and P.U.D.G.E.
 
And double oh, Ramp are looking for interns. You can apply here if you're interested.
6:49 PM 
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