XLR8R
Big article by Raji Sohal in the latest XLR8R with all the homies (Megasoid, Rustie, Hudson Mohawke, Glitch Mob, Nosaj Thing, Lazer Sword) in it.
Lazer Bass : Crunk To The Future !
Excerpts :
The French (Canadian) Touch
The scene is still in its infancy, explains French-Canadian DJ and producer Ghislain Poirier. “It blew up last year,” he offers, but with the caveat that “there’s not enough thought behind it for it to last long. We’re all just into a similar sound right now. It’s a vague association of producers in just [a few] cities, and now it’s come to light.”
In Poirier’s native Montreal, the scene coalesces around two parties: his own Bounce Le Gros and Megasoid’s monthly Turbo Crunk party. The names themselves–”fat bounce” and aggressive techno-rap on overdrive–have proven to be good descriptors of the DJ/producers’ sound, which involves tweaking popular hip-hop acapellas over experimental, off-kilter hip-hop-speed beats, and sometimes augmenting them with rappers and dancehall MCs. Megasoid is the backbone of the Montreal scene, often performing with collaborators in the Turbo Crunk posse, including rising lazer-basser Lunice, whose music has morphed from sample-based, Dilla- and bossa nova-inspired stuff into minimalist hyphy. “Megasoid makes the marriage of Detroit techno and hip-hop impossibly entertaining,” Squire explains. “We’re more and more concerned with heavy bass.”
Poirier, who has a background in leftfield beats (he released on Toronto label Intr_Version and Chocolate Industries before linking up with Ninja Tune for his latest album, No Ground Under), has also been central to the formation of the bass scene. His Bounce Le Gros night at Montreal club Zoobizarre mashes together all manner of dancehall, reggae, and hip-hop, and draws an entirely diverse crowd to a low-ceilinged cave of a joint that, as Poirier says, “you can pack full of sweaty people ready to party without much notice.”
