April 15, 2005 | Posted by Blair at 5:20 PM

I'm Populurrr...

ain't just nobody here...
"The Dixie Saga" by Populous

Okay, so again, I'm trying to step correct on the abstract instrumental beats steez. What is it? This time its my man Populous, an Italian producer, aka Andrea Mangia, coming off the new album, Queue For Love out on May 2nd on the Berlin-based Morr Music label.

The entire album was recorded at Mangia's house, and is laced with of quirky beats and lush samples - not quite as psychedelic as Nobody, but certainly atmospheric and full sounding - on top of this we get vocals from guests Dose One (on the track "My Winter Vacation") and Mathilde Davoli (on "Bunco" and "Clap Like Breeze"), who's vocal was recorded in the bathroom. Also contributing to the album were Jukka and Luca from Italian indie band Giardini Di Miro, via e-bows, classical guitars, etc.

The track I went with has some great strings - I really dig the Cello anyway, so when its used this way, with both pizzicato and bowed sounds, it gets under my skin - chirping birds, insects, and the solid yet shuffling beat to carry it through with this weirdly dark sense to it. Many cuts on the album feel almost like soundtrack music - not a bad thing in my opinion - but over all the tracks the presence of Hip Hop is felt at the core of the electronic sound. The beats really help keep the album from becoming too light and atmospheric, as they're always grounded with a strong rhythm - is abstract electronic, instrumental hip-hop coming back, a-la Mo' Wax circa 1996?

We'll have to wait and see. Order your copy of Queue For Love from our friends at Insound - it should be available in a couple of weeks. Enjoy your weekend everyone, Sprintime is in full effect here in NYC, so do something outside, you know? Its never to early in the season for a BBQ...

Comments

Cool, I'm looking forward to this one. You really can't go qrong with Morr; I think I own almost every release on the label.

Posted by: Bruce/angryrobot at April 16, 2005 6:54 PM

you can't go wrong with Giardini di Miro in da house

Posted by: at April 17, 2005 9:52 AM

I thought this was boring. Nothing changes enough for how busy it is. Nothing happens by the 4th minute that hasn't already happened in the first minute. ZZZZ.

=darwin
Boring Downtempo Hat0r ;)

Posted by: Darwin at April 17, 2005 3:09 PM

Loved the album, it's all about musical layers, not what changes!
Downloaded from bleep.com, would recommend.

Posted by: gamecat at May 4, 2005 5:55 PM

Hey, you should post up some more populous.

Posted by: Luis at August 29, 2005 10:18 AM
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