♫♪  Chocolate Grinder Mix 69 - Uranium Enrichment Program for Peace and Prosperity in 2013: The Nuclear Fusion of Date Defined Music

This mix is about fusion. It represents the splicing of two years in music by revolting against deadlines and cutoffs determined by whatever date a particular record was distributed and how it is consequentially responded to. This mix is about bringing together a cacophony of styles, compositions, and ideas, allowing them to ferment through sidestepping the significance of a single digit that marks the end of one chapter and opens up another. This mix is the confinement of smoldering plasma, the merging together of substance used to create something entirely harmonious, without a smidgen of unchecked aggression on the part of its deviser, honestly — I give you my word.

The process begins with some voluptuous exploits by james matthews, where loose-fitting R&B rough cuts mutate into part of an SLF bookend, melting a gorgeous pop flurry from Toro Y Moi — whose new album Anything in Return is due out January 22 — into a selection of SUSAN BALMAR’s rickety spliced beat distortions. Innercity’s A Lion’s Baptism went largely unnoticed via Further Records’ virtual distribution channel in October 2012, though physical copies have been pegged for a mid-January re-release this year. The haphazard knee-jerk whirring and seductive glitch audacity of “there with the boxer…” makes for an irresistible segue into the panoply of ambient and experimental tones that come next.

Persuasive Barrier by Three Legged Race got an early December release and has unfortunately received very little coverage. “Locked Eyes” could even work as the soundtrack to a nuclear physicist going about his daily routine, developing a new system in a lab or transporting sensitive material from one environment to the next; it also makes for an appropriate platform for launching into some stunning field sample treatment with Nite Light and a glistening sonic wave of buoyancy from Heathered Pearls, both of whom dropped equally sensational albums a few weeks back.

The final triad of tracks constitute a distinct selection of what 2013 has in store while maintaining a curious bond with the months that came before it: all three artists released material in 2012, with LPs and EPs also due in the not-too-distant future. Grouper’s bleak and heady The Man Who Died In His Boat is tipped to hit the shelves soon, as is Prayer for the Unborn, the second release to come from Chelsea Wolfe in wildly rapid succession.

I decided to sign off with an artist who laid down two astonishing records last year. Arrington de Dionyso’s Malaikat dan Singa have physical editions of Open the Crown slated for April 20 on K, and the convoluted shakedown of “I Feel the Quickening,” with its Safe as Milk meets Funhouse swagger, seems like the perfect fusion fuel to let the preceding tracks simmer in, melding and permeating with nothing but the most peaceful and cordial intentions.

Stream below, and subscribe to our podcast here.

[00:00] james matthew - “tell you (luv u)”

[00:45] Toro Y Moi - “Cola”
[04:01] SUSAN BALMAR - “CCG”

[06:24] Innercity - “there with the boxer the fog and pale queens in white panties dance”

[09:14] Three Legged Race - “Locked Eyes”
[11:59] Nite Lite - “Equinox Reflections”
[14:40] Heathered Pearls - “Left Climber”
[19:08] Grouper - “Vital”
[23:14] Chelsea Wolfe - “Echo”
[26:12] Arrington de Dionyso’s Malaikat dan Singa - “I Feel the Quickening”

Chocolate Grinder

CHOCOLATE GRINDER is our audio/visual section, with an emphasis on the lesser heard and lesser known. We aim to dig deep, but we’ll post any song or video we find interesting, big or small.

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