Sepalcure
Sepalcure
Release Date: Nov 21, 2011
Genre(s): Electronic, Club/Dance
Record label: Hotflush
Music Critic Score
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Album Review: Sepalcure by Sepalcure
Great, Based on 10 Critics
Based on rating 4.5/5
On the heels of only three EPs together as Sepalcure, it's hard not to get caught up in the gimme fever for Praveen Sharma and Travis Stewart's debut album under the moniker. Stewart's already released one of the year-end stalwarts as Machinedrum in Room(s) and Sharma reinhabited his Braille guise for another stellar EP of haunted step-house for Hotflush, but a new album on Scuba's imprint is in and of itself always a calendar-marker. As the dubstep/bass music continuum continues to splinter, recombine and reinvigorate itself via open-armed embraces of British yesteryears and current curios like 2-step, grime, jungle, footwork, ambient recline, big-eyed rave and house, Sepalcure—unsurprisingly, given the duo's history both collectively and in separation—seems to string all of these timbres and sub-sub-genres into a physically and emotionally bewitching take on post-everything dance music.
Based on rating 4.5/5
Review Summary: An unashamedly no nonsense garage release, Sepalcure's long awaited debut LP triumphs on just about every levelIf Untrue was the little dubstep album that could, that genre defying triumph that drove so many outsiders to it like moths to a flame and showed the world just how impressive a grass-roots movement could be, then Sepalcure’s self-titled LP quite rightly feels like this decade’s answer to that rather impressive monolith. Sepalcure already has the online community eating out of the palm of their hands, thanks in no small part to some rather remarkable EPs that signaled the return of a much more intelligent strain of garage more efficiently than Lazarus arising from the grave. Their rather unique take on dubstep is the kind that eschews brains over brawns, more interested in flexing its creative tendencies over any cliched stereotypes than your favorite mis-informed friends might be able to conjure up when thinking of the genre.
Based on rating 8.4/10
Bass producers tend to treat innovation like daily prayer: If not duly performed at regular intervals, some ill-defined Very Bad Thing will happen. The thirst for innovation is such that some scene-watchers have likened current bass music to post-punk, stratifying its sounds in search of growth. Previous British dance movements-- drum'n'bass and garage-- found such terrifying end-games that the bass scene has made a constant effort to never stop swimming.
Based on rating 4/5
SEPALCURE play the Drake on December 27. See listing. Rating: NNNN Three EPs heightened anticipation for a full-length project from Sepalcure, the cerebral rave piece from Machinedrum's Travis Stewart and Praveen Sharma of Braille. Warm 90s house, quick-tempo Chicago juke, drummy, soca-inspired UK funky and dubstep esoterica coalesce on the self-titled record.
Based on rating 8/10
Even as they’re busy with equally provocative electronic records in separate solo side projects, New York City producers Travis Stewart and Praveen Sharma deal an aurally dense and lively full-length as Sepalcure in 2011. They one-upped progressive breakout four-songer Love Pressure with an absorbing EP called Fleur earlier this year, and the self-titled LP follows strongly the ambient house/bass-driven beat sound they’ve been turning out since 2009. On their own, Stewart and Sharma reference the winning, inventive aesthetic for which they’ve become known as a duo, with notable and compelling productions under separate solo monikers Machinedrum and Braille, respectively.
Based on rating 6/10
It has been a busy year for New York’s Travis Stewart and Praveen Sharma. Stewart released the full-length Planet Mu LP Room(s) as Machinedrum to all-round praise earlier this year, while Sharma occupied himself with two garage-house crossover EPs for Hotflush and Rush Hour under his Braille moniker. The union of these two musicians for their debut album as Sepalcure produces almost exactly the effect you would imagine - the lines between dubstep, garage, funky and house are blurred into one cohesive sound fitting of the Hotflush imprint, albeit a sound that is explored to exhaustion and beyond on this release.
Based on rating C+
American electronica producers Travis Stewart and Praveen Sharma have been making music in solo projects (Stewart’s Machinedrum and Sharma’s Praveen & Benoît) for over a decade combined. More recently, in tandem, Stewart and Sharma have perked ears with their Sepalcure project’s slinky atmospheric bass music, a distinct contrast with most American-made EDM these days. As young as the project is, Sepalcure’s first, self-titled full length fleshes out its sound from a handful of singles and EPs released only a year ago The resulting product fits nicely between Hotflush Recordings label mates Mount Kimbie’s distant bass rumble and Joy Orbison soulful stutters.
Opinion: Excellent
Mariah McManus The eager tunefulness of Mariah McManus’s music almost gets in the way. So does the crisp songwriting, which is judicious with word choice and emotional delivery. But Ms. McManus is more complex than all that on the beguiling “Nice To Meet You” (Catcher and Rye). That’s ….
Opinion: Excellent
A frequently fantastic, weighty, clever and emotionally involving LP from the NYC duo. Rory Gibb 2011 Over the last 18 months or so, the absorption of outside influences into dubstep’s template has reached critical mass. Gradual assimilation of house, techno, 2-step and Chicago juke has collapsed boundaries, resulting in the array of 'bass music' forms currently hogging dancefloors.
Opinion: Very Good
Over Thanksgiving weekend, Scuba’s Hotflush label posted “another good review” of Sepalcure’s self-titled debut album, the label’s latest release. Sepalcure has attracted praise since its inception in 2009, when U.K. producers Praveen Sharma (Praveen And Benoit) and Travis Stewart (aka Machinedrum) started to mix together out of boredom. The duo has received nods from the U.K.