Dr. Quandary is back from the desert with a dark slice of new instrumental work. Oneiric Field Mandala comes a week after the release of Full Spectrum 2, an epic single featuring Open Mike Eagle, Has-Lo and Zilla Rocca trading verses over Quandary’s signature production. This track occupies the transitory space between his recent Sigils EP and his mysterious next album, due sometime before 2019.
Oneiric Field Mandala is available as a free download on Bandcamp and Soundcloud. If you’ve somehow missed it, Dr. Quandary and the rest of the World Around roster dropped an album worth of new material last month…you can download We Are World Around Vol. 2 on Bandcamp. It’s a free “Thank You” project for all the fans & friends who made 2011 such a great year.
Louis Mackey has had a hell of a year in 2011. He released an epic concept album with Dr. Quandary, dropped a nihilist braggadoccio classic with Thirtyseven (most of which he also produced) and joined Algorhythms for the majority of their Love Supreme Tour. Now Louis is back behind the boards, working on the much-anticipated followup to his 2010 instrumental album, Destroyer of All Things.
This latest glimpse into his catalog has all of the tell-tale hallmarks of Lou’s production: big banging drums, languid funk guitar licks, and a laid-back downtempo groove which is guaranteed to cause some serious head-nodding. We still don’t have any official word on the timetable for the DOAT sequel, but if this track is any indicator, it’s going to be one smooth ride.
Everything, Everywhere, Always is available as a free download on Bandcamp and Soundcloud. We’ll return early next year with our annual compilation and more World Around Wednesday singles!
Earlier this year, Zilla Rocca made his World Around debut with the dark and stylish Bad Weather Classic EP, which served as a perfect soundtrack for the waning winter months. For the third round of our bi-weekly single series, Dr. Quandary hooked us up with his remix of the title track, which features visionary guest verses from Minneapolis rising star Mally and Zilla’s Wrecking Crew associate Curly Castro.
Contrasting the driving rhythm and epic vibe of Face One’s original beat, the Dr. Quandary version is violently ethereal, with the drone of heavy bass and plaintive guitars washing up against jagged, dusty percussion. A rough edit of the song first appeared on a compilation by the French label DEZORDR this fall, but this is the first time that Quan’s original final mix has been made available.
Bad Weather Classic (Dr. Quandary Remix) is available as a free download on Bandcamp and Soundcloud. We’ll be back later this month with another World Around Wednesday on December 21st, followed by our annual year-end compilation. Stay tuned!
Last week, Louis Mackey passed us this little gem that he recently produced for Humpasaur Jones. Apparently Jones banged out “The Patience” at Vault 46 during the final days of the No Humans Allowed sessions – and fans of that project will certainly not be disappointed.
World Around sound, and we build to suit
skills and truth, the foundation that fills the room
World Around sound, we build and we break
cuz we’re still willing to make all the illest mistakes
The Patience is available as a free download on Bandcamp and Soundcloud. Keep an eye out for our next World Around Wednesdays release, coming your way December 7th!
Gonna Doubt You is available as a free download on Bandcamp and Soundcloud. Keep an eye out for our next World Around Wednesdays release, coming to your ears November 23rd.
This summer, Philadelphia’s Zilla Rocca put out a clarion call on Kickstarter to fund his Nights & Weekends project – a plan which included an ambitious film project. Together with Has-Lo, their fellow Wrecking Crew member Curly Castro, and directors Justin Clowes and Joe Castro, Zilla headed to Asbury Park, New Jersey to shoot this gorgeous piece entirely on real-deal, old-school Super 8. The end result is a classic that stands apart from most of today’s hip-hop videos.
Last week, we received some new demo material from Louis Mackey and Dr. Quandary under the working title Order of the Sword and Pine (which appears to be a veiled Twin Peaks reference).
Check out White Nights & Black Days:
Unlike their past collaborative work, these tracks feature the two working side-by-side as a production duo. Anyone familiar with their solo stuff knows that Quan and Lou are both students of psychedelia, so they play off of one another naturally, to the point where we’re not even sure who’s doing what. What we do know is that these tracks are heavy, and we can’t wait to hear what’s next.
We’ve all been waiting patiently since August, and the time is finally here: thanks to the efforts of his Kickstarter cohorts, Zilla Rocca is proud to bring you his third solo album, the Nights & Weekends EP.
Inspired by late night 1980’s films staples such as Barry Levinson’s Diner and Martin Scorsese’s After Hours (see the video below), the EP serves up a helping of booze hounds, dive bars, and all the wrong women you chase in your 20’s.
The 29-minute album includes appearances from World Around’s Dr. Quandary, Has-Lo (Mello Music Group/ Wrecking Crew), Brian Brizzo (Lessondary Crew), Curly Castro (Wrecking Crew), Small Professor (Wrecking Crew) and more, as well as a bonus remix of the lead single “Full Spectrum” from our resident beat auteur Man Mantis.
From the Philip Marlowe credo on opener “Creme de Menthe” to the sticky ‘60s funk cover of D’Angelo’s “Devil’s Pie”, Nights & Weekends EP lives up to it’s namesake: it’s where all the action goes down. Download it or grab the CD today.
Just in time for the changing seasons, experimental Boston beatmaker Dr. Quandary has surprised us with a new collection of instrumentals called Sigils.
According to the good doctor, the album is comprised of ambient and minimalist material that he began working on during the Beyond All Spheres sessions. All of the hallmarks of Quan’s moody, organic style are present – dusty drums, haunting melodies and psychedelic samples – but with a raw, sparse edge that contrasts his other work, while complimenting it all the same.
As an added bonus, check out “Vienna” — a version of the song “Holographic Body” that features some gorgeous microphone work by our own Zilla Rocca, whose third solo album Nights & Weekends will be available September 20th. The impromptu crossover single was written, recorded and released in just two days.
Today we have a new cut from the Corrupt Novelist himself, Zilla Rocca: the lead single from his upcoming summer jaunt, Nights & Weekends.
“Full Spectrum” features Zilla’s fellow Wrecking Crew member Has-Lo of Mello Music Group, with a bass-heavy Dr. Quandary backdrop. Colorful dressings, vivid shades of cinema; solids for the winter, brightness in the summer.
Y’all fade to black — this is full spectrum:
If you enjoy the tune, please visit Zilla’s Kickstarter pagebefore July 31st — on top of printing CDs and shirts for Nights & Weekends, purchasing Super 8 film to shoot the official video for “Full Spectrum” is on the checklist. Get involved here.
