{"id":3380,"date":"2014-02-10T07:23:20","date_gmt":"2014-02-10T06:23:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonicrampage.org\/blog\/?p=3380"},"modified":"2014-02-10T07:30:58","modified_gmt":"2014-02-10T06:30:58","slug":"sunday-sounds-machinedrum-the-king-of-jukejungledubstepidm-fusion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonicrampage.org\/blog\/2014\/02\/sunday-sounds-machinedrum-the-king-of-jukejungledubstepidm-fusion\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunday Sounds: Machinedrum, the King of Juke\/Jungle\/Dubstep\/IDM Fusion"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Berlin<\/a>
Berlin Winter Sun; image by Paul Sullivan<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For some bizarre reason, it’s taken me a long time to get into the amazing music of Machinedrum, aka Travis Stewart. <\/p>\n

If you are unaware of him, he is an American dj\/producer who has been based in Berlin for the last few years (I believe in Kreuzberg, which is much hipper than Wilmersdorf, where I live), and he makes an absolutely beautiful hybrid electronic music, combining bass-heavy juke<\/a> and jungle<\/a> influenced beats with the beautiful melodies and atmospherics more commonly heard in the music of downtempo artists like Boards of Canada or 76:14-era Global Communication. Or you could also say that his music is a bit like Burial’s, except fun to dance to. Thinking about it, what really draws me to his music is that it is in a sense like a hyper-modern update on that old atmospheric jungle<\/a> sound that I’ve always loved – strong beats, big bass, gorgeous melodies. <\/p>\n

Although I have been dimly aware of his music for a while, it wasn’t until I started listen to Om Unit a lot that I decided to also explore Machinedrum’s body of work. I’ve listened to more of Om Unit in the past six months than any other artist, and I’ve been greedily devouring everything I can find by him, because I just can’t get enough of his unique take on slow\/fast beats with tons of gorgeous electronics layered over the top. Anyways, Om Unit and Machinedrum did a one-off collaboration last year as Dream Continuum on Mike Paradinas’ Planet Mu Records, where they recast old skool hardcore using modern production techniques and juke-influenced beats. Honestly, I loved it, so from there I went on to buy Machinedrum’s latest album, Vapor City<\/a>, which is amazing, and then I got his previous album, Room(s)<\/a>, which is also amazing, and then I got a bunch more of his stuff, and then, well, here we are.<\/p>\n

Obviously, I can’t give a comprehensive overview of his music here, but I can give you a nice little taster, so here are a few of my favorite cuts from his two most recent albums, plus a few freebies and remixes that I also dig.<\/p>\n