Article
2012 Top 10s & 20s

Albums
Poppy Ackroyd
Mario Basanov
Ryan Blotnick
Peter Broderick
Celer
Débruit
Vladislav Delay
Taylor Deupree
El Fog
Forma
Masayoshi Fujita
Golden Gardens
Grouper
Mano Le Tough
Lusine
Yann Novak
Paniyolo
Strategy
The Swifter
thisquietarmy
Robert Scott Thompson
Christiaan Virant

Compilations / Mixes
Cambio
Hernan Cattaneo
Change The Beat
DJ Deep
Eskimonde
Full Body Workout 10
We Love Detroit

EPs / Singles
Andrew Bayer
Birds of Passage
Brancaccio & Bishop
Maya Jane Coles
Eskmo
Ether
Gerwin, Nuage & 2 Shy
Glacis
The Green Kingdom
H. Salut / Hopeless L. M. B.
Her Name is Calla
Herrmutt Lobby
Darren McClure
Oh, Yoko
Michael Price
Danilo Rispoli
Silencio
Phil Tangent
Widesky
Windsor for the Derby

Herrmutt Lobby: Haters Gonna Hate
Eat Concrete

Herrmutt Lobby throws down some serious low-end head-nod on its third release (one under the Bretzel Zoo alias) for the Netherlands-based Eat Concrete imprint. Lovers of Flying Lotus, Rustie, and like-minded producers will find much to like about Haters Gonna Hate, especially when its four cuts ooze such tripped-out beat science. “Alt Of Ctrl” sets the tone with five minutes of synth-drenched hip-hop, after which claps, skeletal beats, percussion, and echo-drenched noises lend “Computer Club” a blunted future-dub aura. “Major Grubert” transplants the band's sound from Jamaica to Africa in wedding bleepy synth figures and smears to a bumping tribal groove, and even manages to sneak in a smidgen of fusion in its melodic material. The cheekily titled “Camel Toe Hoes & Other No-No's” offers Herrmutt Lobby's twisted take on the samba; hijacked by jungle animal noises, the tune can't help but come off as the EP's oddest ear-twister. Hatched in 2005, the Brussels-based collective doesn't do things easily as it apparently uses “no loops, no sequences, no backing tracks and no groove machines,” preferring to do everything live. What results is a fresh and unpredictable hybrid of downtempo funk and hip-hop.

January 2013