Little White Earbuds August Charts
Shortened list for more writing and more listenable tracks. No order, as usual. But because WordPress doesn’t allow Javascript to be embedded in its html (*shakes fist menacingly*) you will have to go here to listen to all of these tunes for free. Sorry for the hassle; this is the last time I’ll be using Imeem, I think.
01. Raz Ohara, “Whitmey Na” (Raz Vocal Nass remix) [Kindisch] (buy)
The first track on the list to betray that I’m very into vocal house, Raz cuts “Whitmey Na” to the bone and lets the skeleton do the shaking. Ohara’s weary vocals call to mind a less dramatic Thom Yorke, at least as he pertains to tracky house music, and float gently among the mnmlzd beats.
02. Serafin & Roman Bruderer, “The Move” [Mountain People] (buy)
If you need house music which hits you right in your ass and grabs on for dear life, meet the latest Mountain People release. Complicated isn’t in this tune’s vocabulary, because the accouterments of a snappy house beat, jangling percussion and a pacing synth pulse are more than enough. I’m getting a sneaking feeling Serafin might be a Mountain Person, or perhaps one in training, as this track takes heavy notes from “Mountain004” (the track). Also suspect Kerri Chandler is spending a royalty check somewhere right now.
03. Will Saul & Lee Jones, “Hug the Scary” (Partial Arts Remake) [Aus Music] (buy)
I feel like Al Usher and Ewan Pearson saw a shred of light-heartedness in the original and ran with it. Balanced on organic bass and bubbly synth movements, the intrigue stays in tact and is given a pop-oriented purpose. Not exactly the most underground track you’ll hear this year, but a good one nonetheless.
04. Ben Westbeech, “Hang Around” (Wahoo Main Mix) [Brownswood Recordings] (buy)
Another reason why I love house/techno is that my favorite producers always find great soul singers who I’d likely sleep on. Georg von dem Bussche and Steffen Berkhahn (aka Dixon) craft an effortless deep house monster here, it’s hard, pacing motif a perfect platform for Westbeech’s buttery pipes. Even better, they pull an Âme and utilize every inch of speaker for an overwhelming swell. If this doesn’t get big on its own, punters will line up for it once they hear it on Booka Shade’s DJ-Kicks mix.
05. Mathew Jonson, “Stop” [Wagon Repair] (buy)
Perhaps the best techno-pop break up track in recent memory, Jonson tells off his ex from the safety of a vocoders, a starstruck synth arpeggio backdrop, wielding his goopy melody like a weapon. Even while in volatile headspace Jonson is a consummate producer. Keep your chin up, mate.
06. SuperMayer, “Two Of Us” [Kompakt] (buy)
Have another look.
07. Molder, “Shruberry” [Galaktika Records] (buy)
Molder is a bit of an unknown, but “Shruberry” threatens to change all that. While the hook is well-worn enough, the clattering timbre gives it new life and plays well with the relentless percussive fleet shuffling below.
08. Osborne, “Outta Sight” [Spectral Sound] (buy)
Have another look.
09. Rekleiner, “Los Caminos” [Connassieur] (buy)
Subtlety is rather becoming on Rekleiner, especially on this 12″. It takes a bit to figure out where the beaty trail leads, but the elongated motif pays off in a total back-of-the head sort of way. If it bombs on a dancefloor, let them keep having it. Methinks eventually it will click into place.
10. Jichael Mackson, “The Grass Is Always Greener” [Musique Risquée]
Because well, if you’re going to use ominously de-pitched vocals, they might as well be soothing and from the lips of the Afro Hypnotist, Bob Ross. Nice pastoral melody in the latter half as well — a stark contrast to the murky dub drubbing of the first.
Little White Earbuds 
I’m a software developer and what you provide weither you realised it or not is an application. It has an interface, a function, and a workflow just like Microsoft Office or Google (granted most of the hard work is done for you). In the Industry we think hard before taking a feature away and when we do we make sure we do it as gracefully as possible.
I’m not against streaming music, but look what you did to your workflow. Before, one could just click the link and listen. Now one has to click a link unassociated with what they’re looking for, go to another unknown site and register, then I have no idea what happens since I didn’t register, but already your workflow is already convoluted. That happened on top of taking away a pretty big function, the ability to listen offline and with other hardware.
So anyway, my advice is if you are going to go streaming, make it at least as easy as the mp3s, an embeded flash player will probably be your best bet.
Agreed ^^^
Your site is so good but this imeem site is not the best. Still listened to a great selection of tracks and think I will buy 2 of em, but the other format was much better. Hope you can sort it out. Keep up the good work,
Kel
double agreed. i dont want to register for imeem. tis crap. kinda a pain to go to one site(lwe) to be directed to another so that i can listen to the tracks at the second(imeem) and go purchase them at a third(beatport etc). it be a lot cooler if i had time for all that.
thanks for all your hard work steve-hopefully you find a nice solution to your stream/host issue.
totally agree with above posters
i know out of experience that easyness is a key factor to get people frequent flyers at any site
the attentionspan of the average visitor only holds about one or two mouseclick
direct streaming or lower bitrates download would be my pick for sure
Thanks for your candidness, all. I will not be working with Imeem in the future, that much is certain. Expect mp3s up soon… until a new site is complete.
Nice picks
We must be on a similar wavelength as I own 7 of your ten – no need for samples for me.. 🙂
I haven’t listen to this new Raz song, but check out “Mr. Fireballs” if you like his vocals. Different to say the least…
Damn, you beat me to the mathew jonson track. Been digging it extensively. Anyway, I’m excited about the new upcoming version of Little White Earbuds, mate. Can hardly wait 🙂
Take care.
First I’d like to thank LWE for all the electro and minimal sounds that he has posted in the past. I’ve really enjoyed your musical taste!
Although I appreciate your hard work, I think the time has come for me to leave LWE and to move on to the competition. I don’t feel like stepping in your new system for different reasons as lack of time, loss of quality, etc. Of course there will always be proponents and opponents, but I prefered the old system. Nevertheless I respect your choice.
Thanks,
PeJa (Belgium)
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If you’re digging Ben Westbeech you might enjoy the video interview I recently did with him, check it out!
nice weekend and,
stay on-point!
cheers,
lloyd