Pawcut - The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of (2012)

Pawcut is from Germany, but you wouldn't necessarily know that from listening to their music. Their new record, The Stuff that Dreams Are Made of, is a choice bit of downtempo hip-hop that could accompany a late night drive through a headlight illuminated city.

Just knowing that this was a German act brought to mind groups like 13 and God, which contained members of the Notwist and the Anticon crew. With its gentle piano lines and driving basslines, Pawcut have created a nice slice of instrumental music that should reach a larger audience. Thus far, my favorite track is Elegy, but since the whole record is free to download, there is no reason not to hear the rest.

Downtempo from the Dollar Bin

Another fine 12 inch record I picked up in the dollar bins of Amoeba Records in San Francisco last year. While I know a bit about dance music culture, the sheer number of unknown releases put out by international labels I have never heard of, can be daunting when rummaging through releases. Most of the records in the bins don't have printed labels, let alone covers. So when I grabbed this Snooze's "Quiet Alone," it was solely based on the fact that it had a cover that grabbed my attention. I learned later that Snooze is a well known French electronic musician, but this was my first introduction to his music. This single was released on Crammed Discs in Belgium.

When I returned home and put it on the turntable, I was happily surprised by what came out of the stereo. A very smooth downtempo track with soaring female vocals (provided by Jazz singer Deborah Brown) and sparingly accompanied strings traced the deep bass line throughout the track.