Awkward is back with a new alias and a new album. The self titled album from Kibble was created entirely in February in a creative spurt for the RPM Challenge 2013. Stream or download it here:

Perhaps a little early but I've compiled a list of my favourite albums of 2012. I'm not usually so organized but this year these albums stood out and didn't seem to be getting enough attention.

#1. Sun Araw & M. Geddes Gengras Meet the Congos - Icon give thank
As a big fan of Sun Araw's work (and to a lesser extent LA Vampires) and the Congo's classic "Heart of the Congos" I nearly dropped my bong when I saw this collaboration had happened and it was out already. Then I heard it. And now it's my #1. Jah love/


#2. Alex Under - La Maquina De Bolas
Came to this with no knowledge of Alex Under and no expectations and just love this record. Stunning minimal techno dub or something.
Bola 6.2

#3. Julia Holter - Ekstatis
Heard about her before I heard her so had some expectations for this one but on a couple of listens this album really got to me. There are 2 versions of this track on the album, it was hard to pick which to include.


#4. Animal Collective - Centipede Hz
Initial I found this record hard to like but I slowly came to love it. This track was the first I heard and is still my favourite. This record has a great energy to it and flows beautiful track to track.


#5. Portico Quartet - Portico Quartet
Some dark english jazz. Not much to say about it except it's brilliant, just listen.

Honourable mentions for: Lukid - Lonely at the top, Grimes - Vision, Why? - Mumps, etc, Bat For Lashes - Haunted Man, Moon Duo - Circles, Nathan Fake - Steam Days

Dub Techno fans rejoice! Recycled Plastics keeps up its run of quality releases with this wonderful album, available to stream, free download or buy as a limited edition CDr with bonus tracks for $8.

Current favorite track Iceberg.


Hear the whole thing here: http://recycledplastics.bandcamp.com/album/echoate

And check their site for more releases http://www.recycled-plastics.net/

Update:
Awkward was inspired to produce a remix of the track 'Once In Time' under his direwolf alias:

Back in January Awkward and Lucid Rhythms quietly put out a 20 minute continuous split EP called 'Furtive Infinite Parallel Lines'. Put it in your ears.

You can now stream the Adequate Remixes EP via awkward's soundcloud page.  To hear the tracks in all their full, non-compressed glory, you can still grab the limited edition, handmade double-CDr release of the remix EP + the original Adequate EP from awkward's website.  Plus, you'll get 2 extra mp3 remixes when you buy the record, so it's a pretty sweet deal.  Better get on it.

Adequate Remixes by awkward

We've been talking about the physical release for awkward's "Adequate" for at least a year now and it's finally available to order as a limited edition handmade double CDr! Disc One contains the original 7 tracks released via the Futonic Records digital release and Disc Two is the album remixed by Chris Moss Acid, Cubus, Cats On Earth, awkward, Milieu, Lucid Rhythms and Beak. The package is priced at a very reasonable $7 USD and is limited to only 40 copies, so get it fast or spend the rest of your life in a deep, dark well of depression, lamenting the missed opportunity. Everyone that orders the album will also receive 2 extra exclusive mp3 remixes by Pink Space and Lucid Rhythms.

Listen to a short sampler of the Remixes disc after the break.

What's up everybody?!  If you're a regular visitor to the site then you may have noticed some changes happening, so I'm here to get you hip to the new style.

There are more share options for each post now - like on Facebook, share on Facebook, re-Tweet, Blog This, email, share on Google Buzz, etc.  If you like a post, please share it and help us spread our tendrils across the world.  We support a lot of great artists here and they definitely deserve all the additional promotion they can get, so help a brotha out!  It only takes a second.

We scrapped the event calendar, which I actually liked, but was just too annoying to keep up and in its place you'll notice our shiny new Facebook widget.  If you haven't added the Gravity Halo Facebook page yet, you probably should because not only do we post up content that doesn't go on the blog, but we're also using the page to promote shows by our featured artists all around the globe.  If you don't use Facebook (WTF?), you can always browse our posts for more content using said widget.

The other thing you may have noticed is the lack of new releases.  Believe me, it's not by choice.  We're eagerly awaiting projects in the works by Mumkai, Mummyshroud, Awkward and Sendy...but while we're waiting for them to finish their masterpieces our slate is pretty empty, so any artists that would like to put something out on our imprint feel free to email us a demo!  We're always on the lookout for new music, so don't be scared, homie!

Last, but not least - it's February 1st and that means The Carrier Wave's Rotation has finished.  Unfortunately for us (and him), Chris came down with a case of writers block, but hey...that's real.  The shit happens, even to the best of us.  Still, some interesting discussions were had and production concepts thrown about.  For the month of February, moto-SLAVE is helming Rotation 2, so check it out!

Big thanks to awkward for taking the time to upload the "Broken Pieces" compilation so that ye may preview it before ye download, listen on the go or just generally be in awe of its awesomeness wherever you may be.

Broken Pieces by Gravity Halo

Stream the album after the cut:

If you haven't grabbed awkward's last EP on Futonic yet, then you've got a new reason to head on over to the site and dedicate some bandwidth to it. At some point in the very near future the accompanying remix EP will be available on a limited run CDr, with hand-printed artwork by the man himself. Pricing and release date are still a mystery, but for now you can whet your appetite with this sampler.

If your ears are adept enough and you can spot the remixers (many of which you should be familiar with if you follow this blog) from these snippets, send your answers to awkward's soundcloud page and you'll win a free copy.

And of course, we'll let you know all the details on how to get it and when as the info becomes available. Enjoy!

Adequate Remixes Sampler by awkward

It's 4/20, bro. Here are a few festive tracks for you to enjoy from our Youtube channel.

EDIT: it's a playlist, btw...you can cycle thru it or just let it play.



Categories: gravity halo, 4/20, playlist, youtube, cats on earth, mummyshroud, dr. science, beak, awkward

If you haven't been tuning in to the Gravity Halo YouTube Channel, your missing some great tunes, you fool! I've been uploading a bunch of great tracks by Gravity Halo artists like Sendy, mummyshroud, moto-SLAVE, Cats On Earth, awkward and Beak - both new, exclusive tracks and classics from the vaults. Here are a few recently uploaded remixes for you to check out.

First up is one of the UK's hottest electro artists, Grum, remixed by moto-SLAVE:


And in celebration of his recently kicked off End of Irony tour, here's an oldie but goodie - Captain Ahab remixed by Cats On Earth:


In honor of the release of his new album "Mythology of the Metropolis", here's a classic Deceptikon track, also remixed by Cats On Earth:


And finally, here's one of the many times Beak and awkward have remixed each other, this one being awkward's remix of the Beak track "I Saw Two Of Me":


For more like this, be sure to subscribe to the YouTube Channel. Leave us a comment, say hi and enjoy!

Categories: gravityhalo, awkward, beak, moto-SLAVE, catsonearth, captainahab, deceptikon, electronic, music, idm, experimental, independent

As I've mentioned a few times before, most of the artists on this site are not new to the game. Many of them have been churning out tunes for 5, 10, even 15 years and have quite a few releases under their belts to show for it. So we've decided to dig into the vaults and begin re-releasing past records from the artists involved with the Gravity Halo Collective.

Beginning in March, the first Tuesday of every month will see the release or re-release of an album/EP from one of our many talented artists. Releases will be available to download as ZIP files including artwork, with streaming previews of select tracks to help you make your decision (as if you need anything other than my word!).

Up first will be a previously unreleased EP by awkward titled "awakened" from the magical year of 2005. I've heard it already and alls I can say is that it's fucking awesome, so be sure to check back on March 2nd for that. You can listen to it on your way to see William S. Braintree in SF that night!

The weekend is over and you're probably sitting at your desk wishing you were dead, but fear not! There is beauty in the world and you need to remind yourself of that before you end up losing it and possibly murdering somebody.

For that I recommend this wonderfully tranquil video by friend of the blog, Milieu, depicting the first snowfall of the season in his South Carolina home set to one of his unreleased ambient tracks.



Brian Grainger, better known by his many aliases, including Milieu, Coppice Halifax, Vhom, Pink Space, etc., has been prolifically releasing music for years and has already amassed a discography that most musicians would be lucky to hold a candle to throughout their entire careers and he shows no signs of slowing down. As the proud owner of many of his releases, I highly recommend you check his stuff out!

He remixed the Cats On Earth track "I'm Sorry We're No Longer Friends" for the "Le Debut Heureux" EP (downloadable @ that link) and will also appear on awkward's upcoming remix EP that is currently in the works, so stay on the lookout for that.

awkward
San Francisco, CA
IDM/Ambient/Hip-Hop