Young South African pair Luc Veermeer and Sebastiano Zanasi (a.k.a. Christian Tiger School) have made waves of late with their LA beat scene-inspired melding of the sounds of their homeland with influences ranging from hip hop to ambient and jazz. The pair’s debut album is due in the summer, ahead of which Vermeer and Zanasi have shared with XLR8R the video for a glowing, fleet-footed album track called “Chorisolo.”
On the video, directors Christopher Bisset and Ross Hillier break the cardinal “never work with children or animals” rule. “The cast … was made up of friends’ dogs,” Bisset explains. “The trickiest thing, technically, was trying to train the dogs to keep time with the beat and to stop looking at the camera. Lots of retakes.” The surprisingly disciplined results can be viewed below ahead of the release of Chrome Tapes in the summer on Tommy Boy Entertainment.
As reported over on RA, LA producer Suzanne Kraft (real name Diego Herrera) has a new album coming soon on Jonny Nash’s Melody As Truth imprint. Following on from releases in varying styles on the likes of Running Back, Young Adults and Noise In My head, the Talk From Home LP finds Herrera heading into relaxed, sun-dappled Balearic territory. Snippets from all of Talk From Home‘s seven tracks can be streamed on the player below ahead of the album’s full release in July.
Today, French producer Quiet Dawn will release his debut album The First Day, a concept album of sorts centered on the “first day in search of love.” The album sees release on First Word Records and is a collaborative amalgamation taking in jazz, hip-hop, and broken beat influences. The collaborators include Miles Bonny, Oddisee, and Sarah Gessler, among others, all adding their unique talents, with Quiet Dawn effortlessly forming a cohesive whole across the 12 tracks.
The First Day will be available on vinyl and digital here, with four of the album cuts streaming in full below.
Alex Paterson and Thomas Fehlmann (a.k.a. The Orb) will release Moon Building 2703 AD via Kompakt on June 22. The latest outing will follow up their 2005 album Okie Dokie It’s The Orb On Kompakt, with another genre bending psychedelic LP. Alex describes the album as “a solid piece of music that mutates into an eight legged lunar Land Rover and takes off into a cosmic horizon of a million sounds, patterns and textures. It spins the listener on his/her head, rewiring their brains to maximum capacity, then brings them home, sweet home.”
Moon Building 2703 AD will be release on vinyl, CD, and digital on June 22, with full formats and tracklisting below.
Formats and Tracklisting:
180 gram vinylLP: A. GOD’S MIRRORBALL – 14:44 min B. MOON SCAPES 2703 BC – 14:40 min C. LUNAR CAVES – 13:06 min D. MOONBUILDING 2703 AD – 13:06 min
Limited deluxe vinylLP: A. GOD’S MIRRORBALL – 14:44 min B. MOON SCAPES 2703 BC – 14:40 min C. LUNAR CAVES – 13:06 min D. MOONBUILDING 2703 AD – 13:06 min E. DILLA’S MOON QUAKE (The Orb’s tribute to J Dilla) – 10:39 min F. MOON QUAKE (slice of silver) – 08:44 min MOON QUAKE 6 – 04:22 min
CD & download: 1. GOD’S MIRRORBALL – 14:44 min 2. MOON SCAPES 2703 BC – 14:40 min 3. LUNAR CAVES – 13:06 min 4. MOONBUILDING 2703 AD – 13:06 min
Download deluxe: 1. GOD’S MIRRORBALL – 14:44 min 2. MOON SCAPES 2703 BC – 14:40 min 3. LUNAR CAVES – 13:06 min 4. MOONBUILDING 2703 AD – 13:06 min 5. MOON QUAKE (slice of silver) – 08:44 min 6. MOON QUAKE 6 – 04:22 min
French producer and live act Olivier Mateu (a.k.a. Rodriguez Jr.) released “Persistence Of Vision” on Mobilee Records almost a year ago. The typically melodic and soulful track become a key part of his live set and was the perfect accompaniment to last summer. Now a year on, we’ve been gifted a dub mix of “Persistence Of Vision,” a deep and throbbing cut which was produced to give Mateu a darker option in his live sets. “This remix of ‘Persistence Of Vision’ has been created especially for my live performances.” Mateu says, “My aim was to translate the original track, which is kind of housey and melodic, into something for darker rooms. It’s been a great tool so far, as all of my sets really take off when I drop this bassline.” You can check out a video of one of Mateu’s live sets below, recorded at the recent Desert Hearts festival, along with a free download of the dub mix of “Persistence Of Vision”.
A Terence Fixmer original, “Aktion Mekanik Theme,” has been given the remix treatment by Berlin techno mainstays Marcel Dettmann, Norman Nodge, and Kobosil, and is due out this summer on Ostgut Ton. The track was originally released as part of Fixmer’s EBM compilation for Music Man in 2003; a press release states that it was “as much a landmark release for techno as the whole Aktion Mekanik compilation was for EBM as a genre.”
Dettmann reportedly approached Fixmer with the remix project after hearing the original version played out by Kobosil in a club. “Marcel suggested to give this track a new life through remixes,” Fixmer is quoted as saying. “The Kobosil one injects an amazing energy with a great sound, I wish I would have done such a version at that time. The Norman Nodge version could be a track done in ’89 or ’90, it sounds so much New Beat, very Belgian, like another original. And Marcel uncovers the core, the essence of the original—it has much suspense, it’s dark and atmospheric.”
Aktion Mekanik Theme Versions will see an official release on June 8, and the EP’s complete tracklist is posted below, along with an unofficial stream of Fixmer’s “Aktion Mekanik Theme.”
Jamie Roberts, the British techno producer better known as Blawan, has announced the start of his own label, TERNESC. While largely occupied with building his Karenn project with Pariah over the past few years, Roberts is planning to inaugurate the imprint with his first solo material since 2012. As he explained earlier today on Facebook (and Resident Advisor reports), TERNESC is named for his London club night by the same name and will serve as the main platform for his productions under the Blawan moniker. The upcoming EP, entitled Warm Tonal Touch, offers four modular techno tracks and is slated for release on May 12; a follow-up record will reportedly arrive “not long after.”
Ahead of the release of Warm Tonal Touch next month, clips are available to stream below, where the EP’s complete tracklist has also been included.
01. Talatone 02. Fentanyl 03. Slow Mick 04. Blue Bottle
Naming your mix-CD compilation series Future Disco probably made a lot of sense when the premiere installment came out way back in 2009. Those were the heady days of the nu-disco movement, when the idea of cross-pollinating house, Balearic-tinged rhythms and glitterball beats still seemed shiny and new. (Never mind that the sound had basically been around since…well, since disco producers first discovered drum machines, which was a long time ago.) But that’s all beside the point, as the “disco” half of the moniker always seemed more of a suggestion than a rule—tracks like the subdued Koze remix of Mount Kimbie’s “Made to Stray” (from last year’s Future Disco 7) or Bot’ox’s “Blue Steel” (from 2010’s third edition) have a pretty tenuous connection with what most people traditionally think of as disco, anyway. The only thing that matters is if the compilations are any good—and if you’re at all into warm, moderately paced four-to-the-floor grooves with a generally optimistic feel, than the Future Disco series has been very good indeed. (Fans of, say, Lustmord might have a differing opinion.)
From the outset, it’s clear that Future Disco 8, released on the Needwant label, will not disappoint: Opener “Your Life,” from Australian producer Andras Fox, is a treat, its synapse-ticking chords and gentle orchestral stabs getting the mix started with a dose of warm-breeze-in-the-bright-sun cheer. The Tuff City Kids Acid Over remix of the Working Elite’s “Freedom” anchors dollops of lilting 303 bleeps with a percolating bassline and modulated piano; the James Zabiela version of Hot Chip’s “How Do You Do,” one of the more somber and grander tracks of the mix, marries spacious cathedral chords to its syncopated kick and claps; and Rob Basejam’s “Dippin’ In” is the kind of dream-state roller-skating jam that, to quote the great Vaughn Mason, will make you wanna “rock left, rock right, to the end of the groove.”
There are a few cuts that might divide listeners. Johnny Blake’s breathy voice on the Chopstick & Johnjon mix of Zoot Woman’s “Don’t Tear Yourself Apart” might annoy those averse to preciousness, for instance, though there’s little denying the beauty of the track’s cascading synths. Likewise, the vocals on the Gardens of Love remix of Vimes’s “Celestial” hue a little to close to Chris Martin’s oeuvre (definitely not a good thing)—though again, the song itself is utterly gorgeous. But those are minor complaints—this is a gem of a set, one that we think transcends categories, disco or otherwise. Bonus: a second CD with stand-along versions of some of the mix’s best tunes.
East London producer and Boxed regular Logos (a.k.a. James Parker) has shared details for an upcoming record on Different Circles, the label he and Mumdance launched late last year. The four-track Glass EP follows from Proto, his recent full-length with Mumdance on Tectonic, and features what is described as “an apocalyptic noise remix” from Berlin-based industrial techno producer Shapednoise. (It’s worth noting that all three aforementioned producers also work together under the moniker The Sprawl.)
Glass will see a vinyl release on May 18, and its title track can be streamed via Boiler Room Debuts below, where the the EP’s artwork and tracklist are also on view.
On Monday, Get Physical will release the 15th edition of the popular Full Body Workout series mixed by Seattle’s Camea. Alongside tracks from artists on the Get Physical roster such as Alican, Julian Ganzer & IOAKIM SAYZ, and Tom Peters, Camea has included two exclusives of her own; both of which you can preview below. Like the editions before it, the mix aims to present the sound and dynamic range of Get Physical, as well as the current movements happening in electronic music.
Camea will also be kicking off her new radio show concept, Neverwhere, which will air on the third Friday of every month on Digitally Imported Radio. The show will feature mixes from Camea, complimented by occasional interviews and guest mixes, which will set the stage for an eclectic mix of “dark, tech house grooves and spacey techno—stuff that takes me out there.”
Full Body Workout Vol. 15 will be released this coming Monday on Beatport, followed by all other outlets on May 8.
