Jim Carroll’s guide to future sounds

Hudson Mohawke: utterly spreadable album will be hip-hop's next big beat

The scenario may well unfold a little like this. Jay-Z, Kanye West or Rihanna (or one of their "people") will hear Butter, the forthcoming debut album from Glasgow's Hudson Mohawke, and go, "Holy beats from another dimension, Batman!"

Before HudMo knows what’s going on, he’s whisked away to produce that act’s next blockbuster joint and we’ll never see him walking down the street with a laptop under his arm again.

Far-fetched? Maybe. Likely to happen in the next 12 months? Most definitely.

With hip-hop and pop acts constantly on the lookout for the next big

beat that no one else has (look at Eve copping a feel of Benga’s dubstep at the moment), someone is going to figure out that the wonky hip-hop scene is producing monsters in that department. You can hear lots of them on the 7 x 7 compilation from Dublin’s All-City label or any anything bearing the name of Flying Lotus.

HudMo, though, is the man we're backing for the breakthrough. Buttermay be his debut album, but the Scottish kid born Ross Birchard has already accumulated a serious back catalogue of bangers.

Tracks like Oops, collaborations with Dubliner Mike Slott on the Heralds Of Change hook-up and this year's Polyfolk Dancemini-album have seen

him craft and sculpt that sound. These days, HudMo’s style is all about combining bold-as-brass bass bumpers, drums louder than bombs and Godzilla-sized electronic grooves for a 23rd-century class of rhythm.

HudMo describes Butteras "my attempt at a sort of prog rock meets vintage soul meets sleazy r'n'b aesthetic — Isaac Hayes' Hot Buttered Soul".

You can sure there will be lots of people willing to spread it around when Butterdrops in October.

* myspace.com/hudsonmo

Delorean: Sunny side up

Let’s be honest here: no one is likely to call an EP of gritty, funky, bubbling electro-pop after Michael Schumacher. It’s not going to happen.

But Ayrton Senna, the outrageously brilliant and charismatic Brazilian Formula One driver who lived fast and died young? Ah, that's a different matter.

The Aryton Senna EP is the new release from Barcelona-based Basque petrolheads Delorean. It’s pole-position stuff with every tune on it bubbling with energy and vim.

Back when Delorean were first revving their engines, though, they were a band with rock roots who wanted to be the new Jimmy Eat World. Man, even Jimmy Eat World probably don’t want to be the new Jimmy Eat World.

A few years on, and after a couple of albums which didn’t do much for them, the band have tasted the electronic pop kool-aid and everything is right and sunny in their world.

Indeed, the band say moving from the Basque country (where it rained all the time) to Barcelona (where it’s sunny nearly all the time) probably also contributed to that change in musical mood. As the new EP shows, Delorean version 2.0 definitely have the right tyres on as they prepare to leave the pit again.

* myspace.com/ deloreandanz

The Dispatches

Pearl Harbor
Hazy, lo-fi, slo-mo surf psych-pop from Los Angeles duo Piper and Syklar. Single due later in the year on Mexican Summer.
myspace.com/pearlescentharbour

Exxon Valdez
Dublin-based crew of MCs and producers pushing a brew of colourful, sunny hip-hop and drum'n'bass. Check their MySpace for a free mixtape.
myspace.com/exxonvalez

Gutsies
Scuzzy punk rock with darling choruses and killer hooks from a Brookyln band who were definitely caught by the fuzz. Oh Mary Louis the boom tune to make you giddy.
myspace.com/gutsies

Gentle Friendly
London duo picking up Health and No Age comparisons. Record to come in October
myspace.com/gentlefriendly