MP3s: How to Dress Well's New "Just Once" EP

Yesterday afternoon, bedroom R&B revivalist How to Dress Well put up a new EP on this Bandcamp page. You could stream it for free, download a copy for a few bucks and/or pre-order the physical release.

Well I'm glad I acted when I did, because HTDW has since put an end to all the streaming and downloading business; pre-ordering is now your only option.

Along with being good, the EP is also pretty unique. Just Once is "comprised of 4 orchestral versions of HTDW tracks - a one-time-only approach to HTDW's sound." So what you're getting is three stringed re-imaginings of songs from last year's Love Remains (my second favourite record of 2010), as well as one new song, "Suicide Dream 3." Get 'em while you can...

EDIT:// Tracks removed by request.

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How to Dress Well - Decisions (Orchestral Version)
How to Dress Well - Suicide Dream 1 (Orchestral Version)
How to Dress Well - Suicide Dream 2 (Orchestral Version)
How to Dress Well - Suicide Dream 3 (Orchestral Version)

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MP3: The New Active Child/How to Dress Well Collab Kills

I'm a big fan of Active Child's debut EP and an even bigger one of How to Dress Well's debut LP--both made it pretty high on my Best of 2010 lists--so when I heard they collaborated on Active Child's new single, mind = blown.

"Playing House" is a pretty huge departure from the bedroom aesthetic of Curtis Lane, opting for a full-frontal R&B assault. Not sure if that's solely due to How to Dress Well's input, but I'm already clamoring for more; this track is a straight jam.

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Active Child - Playing House (feat. How to Dress Well)

From 2010's Curtis Lane EP...

Active Child - When Your Love Is Safe

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Learn From My Mistake, Don't Sleep on The Weeknd...

When I saw The Weeknd's "What You Need" get BNM'd on Pitchfork on Friday, I wrote it off -- Pitchfork rarely demands immediate listening and "The Playlist" is full of songs I already have or get around to snapping up later.

Well, turns out I'm an idiot. I know absolutely nothing about the project (though I love that P4K's Larry Fitzmaurice admits the same... #journalism?), but The Weeknd are not to be slept on. The collective have only released four tracks so far, but in those 16 minutes, they've demonstrated prowess in post-dubstep production, traditional sampling (of Beach House, natch) and the kind of R&B being repurposed by The-Dream and Drake.

But while The-Dream's making bangers for Kim Kardashian (?), these guys are putting out efforts that rival their contemporaries in style, substance, and sex appeal. Damn.

"He's what you want / He's what you want / He's what you want / I'm what you need"

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The Weeknd - What You Need

The Weeknd - Loft Music

The Weeknd - Wicked Games

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Artist Spotlight: James Blake Is All Sorts of Awesome

James Blake, London's 21-year-old wunderkind producer, has released four EPs since 2009 and his latest, Klavierwerke, is a micro-masterpiece. Blake is one of many UK exports touting skills in the dubstep/electronic genres, but while so many of his peers hover around four-on-the-floor rhythms, Blake's jams are much more challenging.

Let's start with the basics: Blake's music is normally rooted in R&B, soul, and avant-jazz. In only four releases, Blake's created his own recognizable style -- his songs are mid-tempo and cut between sampled/manipulated vocals (usually his own) and bass tics, stuttering cymbals, timid handclaps, and other nondescript electronics. The point being, Blake practices minimalism. His goal isn't to get you on the dance-floor; it's a exercise in digital subtly. The CMYK EP, released in May, is the most straigtforward take on Blake's warped R&B sound; think Autechre meets Burial.

His latest, the Klavierwerke EP, was released earlier this month. Each of its four tracks find Blake stripping down his slow-burn sound and relying more heavily on his piano. "Tell Her Safe" recalls the isolation of Bon Iver, while "I Only Know (What I Know Now)" turns electro-convention on its head, playing with silence and irrhythm more than sub-bass and snare-drum.

On top of all that, Blake just dropped "Limit to You Love," a Feist cover and the first we're hearing from his forthcoming debut LP. The track's interesting because A: It's a Feist cover by James Blake and B: We hear Blake's voice, free of any manipulation. The album cut is stirring in it's simplicity, shifting between Blake's voice and piano and skittering bass beats.

It's all headphones music for sure, but a little patience reveals an artist challenging what electronic music can be. Or maybe's he's just a overly-trained classical music major using Ableton as a pallet. That's for you to decide.

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CMYK - James Blake

I Only Know (What I Know Now) - James Blake

Tell Her Safe - James Blake

Limit to Your Love - James Blake

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