Hackurr's Music Blog

  I feel like this one has been a LONG time coming. In today's blog post, I'd like to show my appreciation for French electronic music duo Daft Punk - who over the course of 28 years changed electronic music and released a string of incredible albums, each with their own unique styles which are equally appreciated not just by Daft Punk's fans, but across the world. I first discovered the robots' incredible music when I was about ten years old, in 2019 - I had been on a huge binge of  well known electronic music artists at the time (The Chemical Brothers, Fatboy Slim, The Prodigy, etc) and after I started getting into modern house music (most of which I can't remember now) I discovered their first album Homework, released in January 1997. I immediately fell in love with the album - it's funk filled nature and groovy beats hooked me instantly and it introduced me to house music properly at a time when I was beginning to break out of my shell musically. My favourit...

  Hey, fellow readers of my blog! I've decided to start a new section for this blog named "The Story Behind" which is meant to detail how and why some of my own musical work was made, along with various interesting bits and anecdotes from the production process. To start this section off, I have decided to write about my first EP Sugalumps, which is turning a year old next week. INTRODUCTION: The entire EP was produced on ProTracker 2.3, a music program from January 1993 built for the Amiga (a series of computers that became popular with musicians and creatives in the late 80s and early 90s) and ProTracker is known for its limitations - 4 channels of mono 8 bit audio, only 31 samples are allowed and there are barely any mixing controls provided. To add, it also relies entirely on different counting systems and complex commands. I wanted to make an EP using ProTracker to challenge myself, as I had been making music for two to three years using various music programs such a...

  Started by graphic designer and music producer John Zobele in May 2013, Business Casual (known as Business Casual 87' until 2014) has become one of the most well known and praised labels to come out of the internet music scene as a whole since the label's founding a proud eleven years ago. For those that don't know - Business Casual specializes in "internet music" - this can range from vaporwave to future funk to sweet nostalgic pop to underground late night jams (and the odd bit of electronica in some weird cases - even jungle!) so there's something for everyone in the label's extensive catalogue of over four hundred releases, making it a goldmine to explore, listen and discover new and awesome things. To provide examples, BC initially started out as a small vaporwave label, with contributions from artists such as architecture in tokyo, REVERB LITE and even John Zobele himself under the name christtt. Over time, the label developed and some interesting ...

  Released on Future Retro London in December 2023, prolific jungle producer Phineus II's first solo release on the label is regarded by many fans and fellow producers as a modern jungle classic - filled with samples, tough breaks and the distinctive edge that many rave releases of the early 90s had. Spread over two 12" vinyl and eight tracks is a sonic journey through the mind of one of the underground's most loved and respected producers. Recorded over the span of a decade in his home somewhere in England, every track captures the distinctly different and interesting style he is able to capture in his music and this album demonstrates that brilliantly thanks to heavy tracks such as the seminal E Takes Me (a track recorded when he went under the name "Squatski) and heavy rollers such as Selector Sayz (my personal favourite on the album, however it sure is hard to pick!) All of the tracks on this album were sequenced, recorded and mixed using classic hardware that man...

  Released on Brighton based label Savona in early 2017 and classic Hong Kong label Neoncity in April 2019, Fibre's only compilation album to date comprising of various singles has since been regarded as a future funk classic and is heavily praised for its unique sound, production style and eclectic, interesting ideas. This album is how I came across the Romanian producer's work a few years ago while looking for new things to bump - and since then it has been a staple in my listening for a variety of different reasons, all of which will be explained in this review. Throughout the twelve tracks featured, Fibre is able to demonstrate with ease his instantly recognizable style of production, complete with dominating melodies and exciting yet wistfully nostalgic ideas, pieced together with hard hitting beats and an irresistible club-fueled nature. This is predominantly evidenced throughout tracks such as "Don't Stop" and "My Lady" (respectively tracks one an...

NOTE: Hey, everyone! I've been busy for a little while (and still am) so I apologize for the lack of reviews lately. Here's an older one for now while I stock up on new ideas. :) Released in October 2023 commercially via Bandcamp, this selection of singles spans multiple genres with ease, full of breaks, hip hop mashups and PlayStation game inspired rave music.  The compilation opens with Far Away, a synthesizer led jungle track which with its high energy beats and rave stabs creates a fantastic track which to me feels designated for clubs and raves.  Track two of the compilation California Bomberman is a rave/hiphop mashup combining the opening to critically acclaimed PlayStation game Bomberman World and 2Pac's hit single from 1995 "California Love". Both tracks work extremely well together and when combined create a very dreamy rave track which ticks all of the boxes for textbook rave music.  Samples are a common theme throughout the rest of the compilation, wit...

  Released in September 2015 after a string of successful singles and an appearance on the Polyvinyl label in June, Skylar Spence's debut album is a fantastically produced debut oozing with nostalgia, upbeat tonality and brilliant writing.  The first album length release from Ryan DeRobertis since his stellar long player Hit Vibes under the moniker SAINT PEPSI, this release under acclaimed label Carpark has since become flagship for not only DeRobertis himself but also the underground future funk and pop scenes, with hits such as Fiona Coyne amassing an incredible 21 million streams on Spotify and instrumental grooves such as "Bounce is Back" having 2 and a half million streams since the album's release. This album shows DeRobertis stepping in new directions for his music with the welcome addition of him singing - establishing the New York based producer as a sampling god, a fantastic singer-songwriter and producer. Examples of this are littered throughout the album, ...