The Week Of Mweslee !
Eurocarne, the 2nd LP of the Spanish beat kid Mweslee, is coming out this week on Nod Navigators.
More info after the jump
To top that Mweslee is hitting up Sonar Festival as well. Alongside other Nod Navigator artists like Dizz1 and LuckyMe founding fathers The Blessings
Nod Navigators welcomes back Spain’s Mweslee, the Spanish production wizard responsible for the label’s second release. As one of his country’s foremost representative of the new beat generation he mashes together wide ranging influences and production techniques into a heady blend from his home-base of Vigo. One of the founding members of Spain’s Arkestra Collective, he was a participant at the RBMA in ‘05 and a performer at the Sonar festival in both ’06 and ’09, as well as this year!
His output has been rather slow since his debut, with key releases on Beat Dimensions and All City records, setting him up perfectly for a return to the fore with ‘Eurocarne’, an EP born of his desire to reflect a wider range of musical preferences that havehelped shape both his sound but also his producti on approach, from disco
to pop, R’n’B to experimental.
The EP kicks off with the ti tle track as live traditional bagpipes from Vigo combine with a menacing drone-bass to invite one and all to the dancefloor before giving way to an instant club anthem full of bounce and heavy on the swagger. This is his version of hip hop in 2010. ‘Nova Olimpia’ follows, a tribute to Vigo’s best, now defunct, disco as well as labels such as Tabu and Prelude. The Yamaha DX7 is put to heavy use, churning out colourful and addictive melodies for a Greco-Latin boogie party. The a-side ends with ‘Variations Pour CX Pallas’ a mellow, beatless number inspired by minimalist composers such as Terry Riley and Steve Reich. Recorded on cassette for added organic feel, its futuristic, sickly-sweet melodies stay in your head as the track builds but never drops. The b-side opens
with ‘Far Loop Era’, Mweslee’s humble take on ‘-step’ music as he callsit. With a happy vibe carried by hyper-melodic synth lines and traditional instruments it stands out by contrasti ng moments of silence with pure musical mess. ‘Pacifico’ brings things back towards hip hop territory. Originally written in ’07 for Surface Emp, it showcases a more sample-heavy, straightforward approach that links back to his debut. ‘Manana Calor’ seals the EP with a new-romantic pop mindset that holds the same vibe as people like
Thomas Leer and New Musik. However this is no mere pastiche, instead it’s infused with a personal touch and modern techniques that nicely show his
evoluti on from ‘06 to where he is today – his palette of sounds is wider, his production approach more refined but the result still as intoxicating.
‘The name Eurocarne just sounded good to me,’ says Mwëslee. ‘It sounded raw but stylish at the same time, which I think defines my music quite well’. Mweslee has more than earned his place among the new school of beat and electronic hip hop pioneers and with a new live show ready to hit the road, and an appearance at Sonar ’10 already on the books, if you’re looking for a unique sound amid the ever expanding clone army of thebeats, you’ve just found it.
