V.A. Winter Sampler Volume 1

Brand new music!!! This latest offering of unreleased gems played at Dope Jams' monthly parties features fresh and all-original tracks from some of NY's finest harbingers of electronic music. "Winter Sampler 2013 #1" opens with the jerky, post-punk nodding funk of "Emperor," from the promising and much hyped Brooklyn outfit Beige, an imminent anthem perched somewhere between house, techno and psychedelic pop---and superseding of all of it with its sheer scope, ambition and originality. Nifty, intuitive synth-work, extremely catchy vocals and a piercing lyrical wit filter through torrents of heavy tape delay and speed-dosed drum machines to form the perfect musical lament of post-modern futility. Next, Francis Englehardt, one half of Slow To Speak/Dope Jams, offers up his latest in a spaciously unfurled series of heady and challenging techno experimentations for the post-appocalyptic generation yet to be. "Leveling" forges a clearly singular and solitary aesthetic out of personal loss, pain and ultimate redemption---truly personal music that tests the limits and transcends the simple utility of mere body music. The sampler is rounded off with the first contribution to vinyl from newcomer Genoa, featuring the aptly titled "New Way," a well-freaked peak-time workout that recalls the energy and vibe of early 1990's vocal-sample laden house without getting bogged down in the stone-forming mediocrity of the lost-and-gone medusa's gaze. All and all, an EP of very much forward-leaning music that swells the ranks of groundbreaking new contributions to the field.