One of the crazy things that happens frequently as I'm researching tunes to put on the station is that I find some random stuff that I've never heard of that is just a hidden gem.
I think I first heard Urchin probably about ten years ago on the Winter Chill compilation which included the track Candlelight. It's a dark, mysterious track with some deep instrumental trip hop influences and though I loved the track at the time, for some reason I didn't follow up at the time to see if their other stuff was any good.
Flash forward to 2011 and on a whim I decide to check out their eponymous album which came out back in '99 (put into perspective how long ago that was...Hanson was big then) and of course the damn album is dope. Now I feel like an idiot that I didn't know about it sooner.
Composed of producer Jez Coode and DJ Nic One, this album's calling card is sinister beats and samples reminiscent of DJ Krush, DJ Shadow and Portishead. I even hear one of my favorites in there, namely Teargas & Plateglass, which is really too ill to get much play on this station. Think dark menacing beats that get into you skull and get your head bobbin and the boots knocking. This stuff is addictive, albeit best in small doses.
I've included the songs The Peddler and Ice Cream Van on the playlist this week. You've been warned.
