CROOKERS”Gypsy P””Burritos and Buenos (DJ Barletta VDJ Crack Refix)”
It’s a blog sensation now (as well as an actual 12-inch on Warp), but the kwaito hit “Township Funk” came up via the ultimate un-Diggable source: cabdrivers in Pretoria. Kwaito is sometimes referred to as South African hip-hop, but that’s a rough translation at best—minimalist yet heavy, “Township Funk” has more in common with LFO’s sparse techno than anything on the B96 “Nine Most Wanted” countdown. Its cheap-sounding, hiccuping beat is dark and robotic; if it were EQ’d differently it could pass for dubstep. The DJ Nonsense mix on the flip ups the BPM, gets tribal, and turns the synths into what sounds like a black-metal foghorn. End-time twerk!
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METRONOMY”Heartbreaker (Discodeine Mix)”(myspace.com/discodeine)
Since Rye Rye is as close to a triple-threat MC as blog house has seen (she’s virtually unknown, from Baltimore, and a girl) and M.I.A. is supposedly retiring, “Tic Toc” looks a little like a passing of the torch, or the baton, or the neon-print leggings. M.I.A. makes birdy noises while something lutelike gently weeps, and Rye Rye sounds like a mature fifth grader with a Baltimore County curr in her voice. Though she’s been on some high-profile tracks since summer’s start (Diplo, Sinden), this is the best showcase she’s had yet.
Though he’s supposedly at the center of Canada’s lazer-bass explosion (I couldn’t make this shit up… but Sasha Frere-Jones apparently can), Poirier just dropped this mix of passport-to-the-world bump. He’s got good taste and has always leaned ragga-ward, but here he draws not just from the African diaspora but from the continent itself, giving us 75 minutes of continuous grind—and bolstering my theory that South Africa is this year’s Brazil.v
