On August 7, LA-based label Leaving Records will release All In One Peace, a Laraaji retrospective featuring three re-issues of seminal works by the new age musician.
All In One Peace will feature three pieces of work—Lotus Collage ’78, Unicorns In Paradise ’81, and Connecting With The Inner Healer Through Music ’83—which haven’t been reissued in full since their original release. Originally released on cassette, the reissue will offer Laraaji’s music in its original form, and also digitally, a format which wasn’t around at the time of the recording.
All In One Peace can be preordered here before its August 7 release date.
Over at the Rappcats website, Madlib hinted a while ago at a new studio album with a yet-to-be-identified MC. Now the Stones Throw label artist has announced—in the Rappcats newsletter—that he is dropping a track later on this week and presenting the limited 12-inch EP in Chicago and Los Angeles.
The upcoming record presents three vocal tracks, plus bonus beats and instrumentals—9 tracks in all. Sleeves are hand-printed by Hit & Run, with artwork by Gustavo Eandi and Jeff Jank, who have designed around 10 variations of each sleeve.
On Friday, July 17, Madlib will perform at The Mid in Chicago, where he will eventually be joined onstage by the secret album guest for a big reveal of their identity. The Rappcats website is keeping everything very hush-hush, and they are adamant that the guest will not be who you think it is. Hit & Run, the world’s premier live screen printing crew founded in 2005 by Los Angeles artists Brandy Flower and Mike Crivello, will be live-printing the sleeves at the gig in Chicago. Then in Los Angeles on Saturday, July 18, Rappcats will have these records along with everything else on the Madlib Invazion catalog in a one-day record store pop-up! The records will be numbered, with 150 up for grabs in Chicago, and 150 in LA. Another few hundred are currently being printed and will be available on Rappcats website later this summer. The Chicago show will be followed by Freddie Gibbs & Madlib at the Pitchfork Festival in Chicago on July 19.
You can find more information about the unnamed ablum by visiting the Rappcats website, and you can find out more about these two special dates by clicking here.
07/17: Chicago. Friday, July 17. The Mid Chicago, 306 N Halsted St, Chicago, IL 60661. 07/18: Los Angeles. Saturday, July 18. Rappcats, 5636 York Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90042 12PM-4PM.
Later this week, Astral Black will present young London-based producer Drae Da Skimask‘s debut release, ‘95 Mindfulness.
The 19-year old producer has already racked up productional credentials for hip-hop artists such as Piff Gang, Jesse James Solomon, and Onoe Caponoe, and recently toured Western Europe, playing alongside the likes of Kahn & Neek, Hannah Faith (Soulection), Grems, and Loom.
On ‘95 Mindfulness, Drae present 11 lo-fi-tinged instrumental hip-hop tracks that stylishly ooze through the speakers, locking you in for a hazy, smoke-filled ride.
’95 Mindfulness is available now on limited edition cassette—with only around 10 copies left—via the Astral Black Bandcamp page, with the digital dropping at the end of this week here. In the meantime, you can stream the laid-back “Theta Wave” in full below.
Following on from releases on One Records, Drumma and Get Physical Music, and with upcoming releases already signed to Visionquest and Air London, UK-based producer Jack Wickham is quickly building a reputation for delivering word-class releases infused with his stylistic swagger. Next up for Wickham is Into Adeja, a four-track EP to be released on Tough Luck Records which lands backed by remixes from Nikola Gale and Jonny Lawrence—with two digital exclusives also included. One of those exclusives has been offered up in support of the release, the highly textural and classy house cut “Oxhot,” which opens up with tumbling percussion before unloading a plethora of synth work and sound design across its near seven-minute run. “Oxhot” can be downloaded for free below, with the full EP available to purchase here.
Festival season is in full swing—has all the action worn you out yet? Of course you’re not—with so much great music and fun times, there’s no way you’re going to let sunburn, ringing ears, a case of sleep deprivation or a depleted bank account get in the way of having a great time. Especially not right now, when one of the biggest and best electronic-music fests of the year is just around the corner. We’re talking, of course, about Dekmantel, held from Thursday, July 30 through the following Sunday, in the idyllic surroundings of the Amsterdam Bos—you can camp right on the site if you like—with daily excursions into the city center. And what a lineup! Kosmische-musik maestro Manuel Göttsching and Autechre open the proceedings with a night at the Muziekgebouw; Andy Stott, DJ Harvey,Luke Vibert, Surgeon, and Derrick May are among the groundbreaking artists playing Melkweg; and Four Tet, Ben Klock, Squarepusher, Ricardo Villalobos, Shed, and Motor City Drum Ensemble are just a sampling of the DJs and producers rocking the rhythms in the Bos itself. And let’s not forget the DJs most associated with Dekmantal, Thomas Martojo and Casper Tielrooij—better known as Dekmantel Soundsystem. The pair are much more than a couple of guys who spin tunes: Martojo and Tielrooij are the the men behind the beloved Dekmantel label, and the force behind the the three-year-old festival itself, among many other claims to fame. But they are very good DJs as well, of course, as you’ll discover via this sprawling set that takes in everything from Liaisons Dangereuses and AFX to the Nick Straker Band and Paul McCartney. In the run-up to the big party, Martojo was kind enough to take some time out to answer a few questions about the mix.
What kind of vibe were you going for on this mix? We’ve tried to include most of our musical interests in this mix. We have the most fun DJing when we can have a bit of variety in what we play, setting different moods and having a bit of a storytelling element to it. We’re not so much interested in making perfect and seamless mixes; it’s all the more about taking people on that little journey with us. We did need close to three hours though—a one-hour homemade mix between the two of us just proved to be impossible!
What is it about the kind of music that you play that appeals to you? We enjoy playing slow boogie groovers just as much as we enjoy playing vigorous techno bangers. There’s not one kind of music we’re into. That being said, what all music we love does have in this in common: It’s outspoken in some way. We prefer music to be a bit in-your-face—and we guess what it comes down to in the end is the character in music, really.
How does this mix compare to what you would play in a dancefloor or festival setting? We haven’t recorded a mix at home together before and we did need a few tries before we got it right in all honesty. Thing is, we’ve been out DJing every weekend for nearly a decade now, and especially when playing together we’re very conditioned to feeding off of a crowd and anticipating on the atmosphere. It was interesting not to think about a crowd for a change—and the bonus side is that this mix includes a few tracks which we cant always get away with when playing on a dancefloor.
01 Brian Eno “Blissed” 02 Mim Suleiman “Mingi” 03 Psyche “The Saint Became A Lush” 04 2AM/FM “Maiden” 05 Liaisons Dangereuses “Avant Apres Mort” 06 Osman Ismen “Ara Muzigi” (Baris K edit) 07 Saada Bonaire “You Could Be More As You Are” 08 John Ozila “Funky Boogie” 09 Carl & Carol Jacobs Jacobs “Robot Jam” 10 Nenad “Bell” 11 Roman Flügel “Spiritual Enhancer” 12 Larry Heard “25 Years From Alpha” (Larry Heard edit) 13 Fatima Yamaha “The Creature From Culture Creation” 14 Milton Nascimento “O Que Voce Ser” (Aroop Roy edit) 15 Wally Badarou “One Day, Won’t Give It Away” 16 Gary Bird & The G.B. Experience “The Crown” (instrumental) 17 Paul McCartney “Secret Friend” 18 Buari “I’m Ready” 19 The Nick Straker Band “Straight Ahead” 20 Chilly “For Your Love” (Todd Terje Re-Edit) 21 DTR feat. Marilyn Sareo “Perfect Essence” 22 Pleasure Zone “Fantasy” 23 M-D-Emm “1666” (Pyro-Maniac Mix) 24 Raudive “Romantic Robot” 25 Gemini “Psychosis” 26 Gesloten Cirkel “Feat Liette” 27 Shiver “Oiled Love’ 28 Forgemasters “Track With No Name” 29 Alexander Robotnick “Dance Boy Dance” 30 Arthur Russell “See My Brother, He’s Jumping Out (Let’s Go Swimming #2)” 31 Oltre La Morte “Aia Azure” 32 The Egyptian Lover “Party” 33 Drexciya Lardossen “Funk” 34 DJ Qu “Circuit” 35 Legowelt “Clap Yo Hands” 36 Juju & Jordash “Down To the Roach’ (dub) 37 Jackmaster Hater ‘Drum Track” 38 J.P. Buckle “One For Da Laydees” 39 James “Jack Rabbit” Martin “Only Wanted To Be” 40 Joey Anderson ‘Amarna” 41 DJ Hell “Totmacher” 42 DJ Fett Burger & Luca Lozano “Telegronn” 43 Martyn ‘Hear Me” (Zomby mix) 44 Suburban Knight “Collaboration Alpha” 45 AFX “XMD5a”
Today, just-launched Australian label Fifty Records released Austin-based hip-hop artist D.R.O.‘s debut full length, DRO EP.
Although it’s titled DRO EP, the release is a full length album, with 10 raw and atmospheric hip-hop tracks written, produced, and mastered by D.R.O. himself. The young Texas artist weaves a deep tapestry of smoky sound design, melancholic samples, and rickety beats, forming a bed on top of which he spits his rolling vocal lines. With full creative control courtesy of Fifty Records, D.R.O. also choose the brilliant artwork, further honing in on his artistic vision.
Back in March, electronic music duo Grandbrothers—consisting of Erol Sarp and Lukas Vogel—released its gorgeous debut album, Dilation, on German imprint FILM.
Drawing on Erol’s Jazz pianist roots and Lukas’ background in constructing synthesizers, the pair perform on a remarkable, custom-built set up that utilizes the grand piano in astounding ways. It’s really something that needs to be seen to be believed and, luckily for us, it’s on full display in the new video for album cut “Arctica,” as the duo explains: “We use a system of self-built hammers that trigger all parts (metal, wood, strings) of the grand piano in order to create all the sounds you hear including percussions. On stage that looks like an open heart surgery on the grand piano with a lot of cables attached. We wanted to visualize that with the new video for Arctica.”
You can watch the video for “Arctica” in full below, along with a few more photo’s of the set up.
Droid Behavior continues to push forward-thinking music all around the globe with their intercontinental techno label Droid Recordings. Dirty Epic, an established group of event promoters out of Los Angeles, have been busy throwing shows all over the US this year including their annual Official Movement Closing Party that saw another insane label showcase, this time billed by The Bunker New York.
For their next show in the Anthology party series, Dirty Epic brings Droid Recordings back to their home turf for a label showcase that will include Raíz, Audio Injection (a.k.a. Truncate), and Berlin resident, Kyle Geiger. The mood of the evening will be set by DE’s own resident selector, Whipnotiq.
The show takes place in Los Angeles on Saturday, July 18, with pre-sale tickets and more information available here.
For your chance to win two tickets to this event, enter your email below. Winners will be contacted on Friday July 17 via the email provided. Terms and Conditions apply.
[mc4wp_form id=”95759″]
[infobox]
Terms and Conditions:
The promoter is, Dirty Epic and agent, XLR8R.com whose registered office is at 837 Traction Ave #304, Los Angeles, CA 90013, USA.2. Employees of Dirty Epic / XLR8R.com or their family members or anyone helping to set up the competition shall not be permitted to enter the competition.
There is no entry fee and no purchase necessary to enter this competition.
Closing date for entry will be Thursday July 16, 2015 at 11:59PM (PST). After this date the no further entries to the competition will be permitted.
No responsibility can be accepted for entries not received for whatever reason.
The rules of the competition and the prize for each winner are as follows: Only 1 entry per email address accepted Must be 21 years of age or older to enter Prize is for 2 guestlist passes to the ‘Dirty Epic Presents: Droid Recordings’ event taking place in Los Angeles.
The promoter reserves the right to cancel or amend the competition and these terms and conditions without notice in the event of a catastrophe, war, civil or military disturbance, act of God or any actual or anticipated breach of any applicable law or regulation or any other event outside of the promoter’s control. Any changes to the competition will be notified to entrants as soon as possible by the promoter.
The promoter is not responsible for inaccurate prize details supplied to any entrant by any third party connected with this competition.
No cash alternative to the prizes will be offered. The prizes are not transferable. Prizes are subject to availability and we reserve the right to substitute any prize with another of equivalent value without giving notice.
Winners will be chosen at random from all valid entries received and verified by Promoter and or its agents.
The winner will be notified by email within 1 day of the closing date. If the winner cannot be contacted or do not claim the prize within 1 day of notification, we reserve the right to withdraw the prize from the winner and pick a replacement winner.
The promoter will notify the winner when and where the prize can be collected.
The promoter’s decision in respect of all matters to do with the competition will be final and no correspondence will be entered into.
By entering this competition, an entrant is indicating his/her agreement to be bound by these terms and conditions.
The competition and these terms and conditions will be governed by English law and any disputes will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of US.
The winner agrees to the use of his/her name in any publicity material. Any personal data relating to the winner or any other entrants will be used solely in accordance with current US data protection legislation and will not be disclosed to a third party without the entrant’s prior consent.
Entries into the competition will automatically opt-in email for XLR8R.com weekly email newsletter, The Lowdown. User may unsubscribe at anytime.
Entry into the competition will be deemed as acceptance of these terms and conditions.
This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook, Twitter or any other Social Network. You are providing your information to XLR8R.com and not to any other party. The information provided will be used in conjunction with the following Privacy Policy found at https://xlr8r.com/legal.
CRSSD Festival—the newly shaped Goldenvoice music event that took place back in March—has now dropped a new lineup of indie-rock and techno for its second round of open air shows taking place over two days in October at Waterfront Park in San Diego, CA.
New Coachella alumni acts such as Jamie XX, Ben Klock, and Todd Terje are filling in the headlining slots, along with indie names like The Flaming Lips and TV On The Radio. The lineup is well rounded and offers some huge names as far as bands and producer acts are concerned, along with the dance music that a lot people are looking for when they see the CRSSD banner—minus a bunch of the deep and tech-house acts from the last event.
The event will take place on October 10 and 11 at Waterfront Park in San Diego and will be 21+. Tickets go on sale this Friday at 12PM PST on the CRSSD Festival website.
Later this month, Bumako Recordings will release its latest compilation EP, Sound Dig Series: Vol 3 Part 1. Featuring artists such as Wallflower, Jay Mond, Sean Bird and Introspective, Sound Dig Series: Vol 3 Part 1 presents the classic house sound the label is known for, with four deep cuts across traversing the house spectrum. In support of the release, label head, Jenifa Mayanja, has offered up an exclusive cut beautifully showcasing the classy, deep-house sound she has spent years honing in the NYC underground. “What A Strange Dream” melds jazzy flourishes, with gorgeous chords, synth phrases, and bumping beats, and can be downloaded for free below. You can also preorder Sound Dig Series: Vol 3 Part 1 over at the Juno records page.
