Iain Howie has released Reporting Fires, a gorgeous new EP.
Born and raised in Vancouver, British Colombia, Howie is the brother of Tom Howie, one half of Bob Moses. He aims to shed “new light” on an “over-saturated dance scene” with an “vocal-driven take on deep house music.”
Reporting Fires follows a string of EPs on Needwant Recordings, most recently’s 2019’s Living & Dying.
The two tracks mark the beginning of a “big shift” into song-writing territory, Howie tells XLR8R. He’ll be following the release with a full-length in the first half of the year.
“This EP marks a turning point for me. It’s going to get a little more personal, and little more raw,” Howie says. “New ways in which we interact with our world have been grabbing me and inspiring me to write—from how the modern social landscape is affecting us, to mental illness, to toxic aspects of the music industry. It’s easy to feel uncomfortable in our own skin. I am here with you in solidarity.”
Alongside the release, Howie shared a a lyric video for the title-track, which is streaming in full below.
Sama’ Abdulhadi, the 30-year old Palestinian DJ, has been released on bail by Palestinian authorities following an eight-day detention in a Jericho jail.
Abdulhadi, who plays as SAMA’, was detained on December 27 following a private event created for a pre-recorded performance series titled The Residency for Beatport. The location for the event, Maqam Nabi Musa in the West Bank, is in part still used as a place of worship but was also declared an attraction for tourists by the Ministry of Tourism in 2019. It’s available for hire, and many non-electronic musical events have taken place there.
Abdulhadi’s detention led to huge international support for her release from the electronic community of artists and DJs, as well as musical icons like Brian Eno and Roger Waters. A Change.org petition was created asking for her release and has had over 100,000 signatures.
In late 2020, Abdulhadi was commissioned to film a four-part, one-month residency for Beatport with the intention of showcasing the growing music scene in the Middle East.
The third location of the residency took place in the courtyard of a hostel on the property of the Nabi Mussa historical, tourist, and cultural site. It was approved to Abdulhadi in writing by the General Director of the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, she says. The recording was private with a total of 30 friends and working crew in attendance, but it was ended early by a group who burst into the venue and told guests to leave, claiming it wasn’t right for the recording to be taking place in a religious site.
Abdulhadi was released on bail on the basis of a cash bond and a restriction of travel order outside of Palestine. She remains subject to further investigation on the charges of desecrating a holy site and religious symbols, plus the violation of Covid-19 emergency measures. She faces up to two years of imprisonment if indicted, pending the Attorney General’s decision whether the charges will be pursued or not.
Abdulhadi is now safely with her family. “I am safe and well and would like to thank everybody who has spoken out in support of my situation and called for my immediate release,” she says. “I am overwhelmed by the support from my fellow musicians, artists, activists, and the entire music community. I want to thank anybody and everybody who has made me feel so supported. At this moment, I just want to spend time with my family.”
Abdulhadi, originally from Ramallah, rose through her powerful Boiler Room event which was streamed from the city on June 22, 2018. The broadcast has received over six-million views. Her goal has always been to put Palestine on the musical map and use her status to support the growing number of musicians at home. You can read more about her in her XLR8R podcast here, nearly three hours of high-octane techno.
To learn more about the Palestinian music scene, read William Ralston’s featured for the BBChere.
Power House is one of several residencies hosted at Paloma, a grungy space with sweeping views across the platforms of Kottbusser Tor U-Bahn, Berlin. It was launched in 2017 by Finn Johannsen, a German DJ, producer, and writer, whom we’ve featured on the XLR8R podcast before. An expert in feel-good club selections, Johannsen kick-started the bi-monthly event in 2017 as a means to show his “anti-shoegaze house music,” which is to say anything that leans towards the more pumping side of house and techno. This, as you’ve probably realized, explains the night’s name.
Over the past two-plus years, Johannsen has welcomed a slew of guests, but the most regular has been DJ Pete, the longest-serving employee at Hard Wax, the German capital’s most infamous record store. (Johannsen has worked there for several years too.) In this capacity, DJ Pete has developed a bustling collection and driving house and techno music, which he delivers at Power House and at various other nights across Europe. Outside of this, he’s a prolific producer, releasing music as Substance on Chain Reaction and Ostgut Ton, to name a few.
The highlight of most Power House nights is Johannsen and DJ Pete’s back-to-back, where two of the world’s best-known diggers go head-to-head, pushing each other in all sorts of curious directions and prompting an assortment of musical surprises. With clubs across Germany closed, Power House is on indefinite hiatus, but both used the opportunity to record a special, one-off XLR8R podcast. Recorded at Paloma one Saturday evening in October, it has all the hallmarks of a Power House night—rare cuts and driving curveballs—just without the crowd.
01. What have you both been up to recently?
Johannsen: Mostly spending as much time as possible with my wife and daughter, family, and friends. I have been constantly DJing and working on a lot of other things for years, and I used this unexpected time off to take a break, but I am also catching up with all the books and films I gathered for some occasion, and other interests I had to neglect due to too little time or too many distractions. I have not played a club gig since March. As I am a seasoned DJ, I sometimes wondered how it would feel to retire at some point, and I guess I know now, and I realized that I am not yet ready for it. I still buy as much music as I can afford, and I do radio shows and podcasts with it, and I try to be up to date with what is still happening. Generally, I am trying to act as responsibly as I can by making the best of a bad situation.
DJ Pete: My girlfriend moved in and we used the unexpected time off to settle down. I am also still working at Hard Wax once a week, and I practise my daily Yoga routines. As far as DJing is concerned, I’ve played a few open air gigs that met the necessary regulations. But only until the beginning of November.
02. How has lockdown been for you both?
DJ Pete: I could never really develop some kind of lockdown routine. It just felt just too absurd to spend almost all of your life indoors, in your own space. Like not being able to meet friends where and when you want, to visit a restaurant, cultural activities, and so on. But we try to adapt to it, and make the best of what we can still do.
Johannsen: A lot of what I have been doing for decades fell apart within a very short time, and that was frightening. But Macro, the label I run with Stefan Goldmann, did not stop, and most importantly I did not have much to brood over the situation because Paloma, the club I have been doing the booking for in the past few years, shut down in March as it went into crisis management mode. We organized a successful crowd-funding campaign, a series of exhibitions, and a quarantine podcast. We also set up a label, and we are constantly thinking about other ideas to keep the club going and support our network. So thankfully I’ve been quite busy, and I still am. Hopefully, this will keep up until things swing back into action, and I kind of ignore the possibility that they might not!
03. Which artist and/or labels have caught your eye recently?
Johannsen: I’ve been quite happy with the way UK garage has come back; there is a lot of interesting fresh new stuff on labels like Instinct, Dr. Banana, Vitamin D, and many others. On a disco tip, I think Javi Frias, Snips, Very Polish Cut Outs, and the Sound Metaphors camp are doing mighty fine edits.
In terms of house music, I think labels like Must Be On Wax, Blaq Numbers, Random Mind State, and Distant Horizons are well worth checking out. As a loyal soul, I still cling to artists like Jeff Mills, Nature Boy, Kai Alcé, Dave Lee, Hanna, Boo Williams, Pépé Bradock, and friends like Dynamo Dreesen, SVN, SW., Fett Burger, Lowtec, and the whole Workshop posse. They all keep on delivering. But, as many others, I spend more time with music at home now, and therefore I am mostly listening to old soul music and new hip-hop, and according mentions would definitely blow up this frame.
DJ Pete: I still dig what old friends are doing, like Sleeparchive, Shed, or Surgeon. I also enjoyed current releases by Ploy, the Zenker Brothers, and Leibniz. The recent albums by Autechre and Actress also blew me away.
04. With clubs closed, this period has been difficult for DJs. What do you make of the government’s response?
Johannsen: Well, this period has been difficult for almost anybody. In hindsight, a lot of decisions about how to handle the pandemic were obviously too late and probably too hesitant. The virus hit hard because practically only few goverments were at least a bit ready and equipped to handle such a situation, and more often than not they were simply overwhelmed with the quick rise of infections and how it affected the whole system. Some countries were run by incompetent politicians that had no real clue how to answer it, and still don’t. The fact that there were so many populists in charge sure did not help either, and that they had so many supporters that believed them.
Rather expectedly, the cultural sector was the first to go down, and will probably be the last to come up again. But we are also aware that Germany was not affected as badly as so many other countries. There were fundings and help programs early on, where in a lot of other countries people in creative professions were just left in the cold. But we understand if people in said professions get frustrated with how financial help is distributed, or when they get official advice to work in other fields or to apply for unemployment benefits, because what they have been doing for all their lives is just way down on the priority list. And on top of it there is the threat that many institutions and locations will just vanish, and nobody knows how they ever will be replaced, if at all. It is important to keep all this alive, but it is also important that the ones demanding support step out of their bubble and ask themselves if what they want to keep doing is a potential threat to many others right now. The virus is just very contagious, there is no cure as of yet, and reason and patience are key.
05. Where and when did you record this mix?
Johannsen: The mix was recorded live at Paloma on the evening of October 16 this year, using our usual setup of two turntables, a TR-909 drum machine, and a delay unit.
06. Can you talk about some of the artists that you’ve included?
DJ Pete: A Power House night is a perfect opportunity to play music by artists I have really internalized over the years. With the selection for this set, I wanted to express my love for Detroit music, as I often do. But in the process of preparing a Power House set I also often discover certain artists all over again. This time that was the case with Eddie Fowlkes.
Johannsen: In the past, we often dedicated Power House nights to certain topics, but this time I just wanted to play some records that I had not used yet. In my case, it turned out to be mostly pumping US ’90s house, just because I was in the mood for it. The sound of these records is quite representative of what I play when I opt for that direction, and the overall sound was also more vital than the individual artists. But of course you can hear some people that often pop up in the Power House canon, like Masters at Work, Tony Rodriguez, Eddie Perez, The Melillo Brothers, Jason Nevins, Scott Kinchen, and Eddie Maduro.
I’d also like to give a shout out to the La Mona family in France for providing a rather obviously fitting intro track, and Hans Nieswandt, who gave the fledgling Paloma imprint a glorious unreleased track from the ’90s that is just working hard.
As for the outro, you have to keep in mind that Power House nights at Paloma usually go on for eight hours, and the last bit is often reserved for early morning bliss and odd ones out, and here we condensed it a bit. The Blaze acapella is blowing a kiss to our beloved crowd; we indeed were wishing you were there, and the last record is a kind of relief ending, and I cannot tell more about it than that it is a Japanese record I found in a bin and I’ve loved it ever since.
07. What made this mix so memorable?
Johannsen: Playing music together again, and doing it where it all began, and like we always do. Of course, we missed our dancers, but it felt good to realize that our dynamics can be activated in any context.
DJ Pete: I wallowed in the memories quite a bit. Our nights together offered so many, and it all came back. Finn is a friend, and a selector capable of coming up with musical surprises. We swing each other up. And it felt great being able to use our setup of the delay unit, and mixing my live 909 beats with Finn’s acapellas. That combined makes it even more fun, and I think you can hear that.
XLR8R has now joined Mixcloud Select, meaning that to hear the podcast offline you will need to subscribe to our Select channel to listen offline, or subscribe to XLR8R+ to download the file. The move to Mixcloud Select will ensure that all the producers with music featured in our mixes get paid. You can read more about it here.
Full XLR8R+ Members can download the podcast below.If you’re not an XLR8R+ member, you can read more about it and subscribe here.
Tracklisting
01. Lea Lisa feat. Rich Medina “Imagine That” (Mona Musique) 02. Out Of The Blue Pres. Rosa Russ “Keep Lovin’ Me” (Keep Dubbin’ Me) (Wheel Records) 03. Brand New Heavies “Close To You” (Masters At Work Remix) (FFRR) 04. D’Pac With Terrance FM “I Wouldn’t” (The Revamped Dub) (Prescription) 05. Norm Talley And Doc Link “Sexy” (Third Ear Recordings) 06. Brian Transeau “Relativity” (Carl Craig’s Urban Affair Dub) (Deep Dish Records) 07. DJ Linus “Gedankengift” (Compose Records) 08. Brothers’ Vibe “Frying Pan” (SOM Underground) 09. The People Movers “C Lime Woman” (Instinctual Boys Edit) (The Dub) 10. F.S.T.R. ”Basic Track” (Un-Restricted Access) 11. Dee-Vious “Xperiment” (Subwoofer) 12. Servo Unique ”Let’s Swing It” (Luxury Records) 13. DJ Pete Vs. 909 with Leroy Burgess “Miss Thang” (Accapella) (Konkrete Records) 14. Hans Nieswandt “Groove Y’All” (Paloma) 15. The Jason Nevins Movement “Into My Life” (Sneak Tip Records) 16. Random Noise Generation ”Falling In Dub” (Original Mix) (430 West) 17. De Lite Featuring Osca Child “Wild Times” (Mayday Mix) (ASAP) 17. Eddie Flashin Fowlkes “C.B.R” (Eddie Flashin Fowlkes Remix) (Tresor Records) 18. Kitchen Sync “Serious Work” (Serious Club Mix) (Strictly Rhythm) 19. Many Moods Of Black feat. Calvin Rock “You Deserve” (Dub 1) (UMD) 20. Join Three “Movin’ On” (Club Mix) (Marcon Music) 21. Rhythim is Rhythim “Emanon” (Transmat) 22. Mind Storm “Tracer” (Vice Nightvision Mix) (Trance Fusion) 23. Stenny & Andrea “SEA” (The Time Gate) (Ilian Tape) 24. Jerry Melillo/Ricci Melillo “Just Can’t Get Enough” (Groove-N-Stuff Recordings) 25. Smooth “Move” (Full) (Mo’ Hop Records) 26. Body Moods “Agitate It” (Jazz-N-Groove Deep Mix) (Bass Line Records) 27. Infiltrate “C’mon Now” (The D’Pac 905 Dub) (KMS) 28. Kenny “Dope” Gonzalez “All I’m Askin'” (One Records) 29. The Wildchild Experience “Bring It Down” (Distorted Dub) (Loaded Records) 30. Blaze “Wishing You Were Here” (20:20 Acapella) (Slip N Slide) 31. GML “Comment Te Dire Adieu” (Technodelic ’80s Mix) (Tokuma Japan Communications)
As we close the curtains on 2020, we’ve decided to dedicate this edition to a tight-knit crew of artists whose downtempo explorations have been a source of solace to XLR8R through these tumultuous months. There’s exceptionally little known about them, but their origins lie in Kansas, United States, where they began sharing their work through Terry Radio, a semi-functioning internet radio station. Today, they flutter around labels like West Mineral Ltd., Experiences LTD, and Lillerne Tapes.
Yet the DIY ethos of these early years remains. Releases, which sell out quickly, are rolled out without promotion and the artists’ tendency to switch aliases means it’s impossible to identify who is who.
So we handed Pontiac Streator, one of the collective’s key members, and a recent contributor to the XLR8R podcast, the reigns to XLR8R+, and instructed them to deliver some of the group’s newest material in the form of a compilation and some mixes. He’s delivered a collection of six tracks and two mixes, spanning downtempo, dub, and ambient, from those close to him.
To protect identities and stay true to their style, we’ve swerved the usual artist profiles—but this month’s edition comes from Exael, Ben Bondy, Dj Dre, and Opheliaxz, plus Pontiac himself. As Monkey20, Pontiac has also shared a collaboration with Autobouncer620, an alias for Huerco S.
Moreover, Pontiac Streator and the crew have reimagined the XLR8R zine, turning it into the “thotty EDM magazine they always dreamed it could be.”
There are also exclusive podcasts from Benjamin Bondy and Special Guest DJ, another member. (You can hear Pontiac Streator’s XLR8R podcast here, and Exael’s here, for those who want to dig in even deeper.)
As requested by Pontiac, this is all the information you’ll receive, so dive in and hear for yourself.
The music, two PDF zines, and wallpaper art can be downloaded once you SUBSCRIBE HERE. If you’re already a subscriber, head to the member’s area to download the package.
Tracklisting
01. Exael “L-theanine” 02. Pontiac Streator x Dj Dre “Rain Pod” 03. Opheliaxz “Dripped Honey” 04. Autobouncer620 x Monkey20 “Brek (Zoner Why)” 05. Ben Bondy “Poison The Well” 06. Opheliaxz x Ben Bondy “Dust on the Floor”
Extras
01. Benjamin Bondy XLR8R Podcast (Scheduled for 2021) 02. Special Guest DJ XLR8R Podcast (Scheduled for 2021)
Thanks for your continued support, and have a merry Christmas.
By forcing the closure of live venues across the world, Covid-19 eradicated one of the primary forums to experience and promote club music, which makes up a large chunk of the electronic music landscape. In turn, this has shaken up label release schedules and radically changed our listening habits. Why make music for dancing if there’s nowhere to dance to it?
To some degree, music will always reflect what’s going on in the world and, in line with this, the popularity of downtempo music has grown this year, and 2020 has been exceptionally strong for releases in these slower sonic realms. Certainly at XLR8R, our attention has been drawn to music to actively listen to, and so we’ve swerved anything that feels too formulaic in favor of more contemplative work that’s perhaps not so instantly rewarding but more compelling and comforting. We’ve been fortunate enough to have found some records that will sit with us for a long, long time.
These are just some of those that have stood out over the past 12 months. This list could have been much longer, but we’ve whittled it down to our favorites. There’s sure to be something for everyone, whatever your taste.
LA Timpa Modern Antics in a Deserted Place (Halcyon Veil)
One of our most fascinating finds this year was Modern Antics In a Deserted Place, an album of outsider pop and experimental electronics released via Halcyon Veil by Nigerian-born songwriter LA Timpa, now based in Canada. Recalling left-field icons such as Daniel Jonson and Ariel Pink, the LP was memorable for its fascinating rejection of any one style, genre, or scene; instead, it seemed to live in its own bedroom-style dreamland as a pure and affecting creative outpouring.
CS + Kreme Snoopy (The Trilogy Tapes)
Snoopy was the fourth release from CS + Kreme on The Trilogy Tapes and their murkiest to date—and they released their fifth outing for the London label, howwouldyoufeelwithoutthatthought, last month. Across eight lengthy cuts, the duo, made up of Melbourne’s Conrad Standish and Sam Karmel, deliver a set of narcotic dub cuts that are as intoxicating as they are unnerving; and like most intoxicants, brace yourself for a comedown post-listen!
Laila Sakini Vivienne (Total Stasis)
Laila Sakini’s hypnotizing debut albumon Los Angeles label Total Stasis sold out before we’d even picked it up. With seven courageous and tender earworms, focused on piano, vocals, and effects, the London-based Australian delivered a record drenched in profound a curious, lucid melancholy. Released in February, it was a fitting soundtrack to the year that followed.
SAULT UNTITLED (Black Is) + UNTITLED (Rise)(Forever Living Originals)
In the span of six months, music collective SAULT released two poignant alternative-soul and R&B full-lengths: UNTITLED (Black Is) and UNTITLED (Rise)—and both deserve a mention. The group is comprised of Inflo, Cleo Sol, and Kid Sister, plus various collaborators, and their work has become revered protest music. It displays a wide range in sound and poetic depth, and harks back to ’70s funk and soul. The project began in 2019 when the group released two album full-length albums in six months.
Jake Muir the hum of your veiled voice(sferic)
Recorded following a transitional move from Los Angeles to Berlin, Jake Muir’s sophomore LP, the hum of your veiled voice, is an immersive listen. Much like its dreamlike cover art, the album depicts a warped nighttime cityscape, fusing field recordings from his previous home base in California with enigmatic vocal samples and textures that seem to crawl through your senses, engulfing you in a blissful haze.
Jyoti Mama, You Can Bet! (SomeOthaShip Connect)
The musical genius of Georgia Anne Muldrow continued its expansion with Mama, You Can Bet!, her first album as Jyoti in seven years. The gorgeous cosmic jazz and avant-soul record has been programmed to echo emotional states Muldrow visits into sonic locations, “because the art of music production has a mirror-like quality that encourages that,” she says. It comes on her SomeOthaShip Connect imprint in partnership with eOne Music, and features rising New York-based sax player Lekecia Benjamin. The album’s beauty is amplified by two Charles Mingus covers.
Prophet Don’t Forget It (Stones Throw Records)
Until his debut album on Stones Throw in 2018, Prophet, an electro-funk musician from San Francisco, had only released a rogue LP titled Right On Time (1984, Treasure Records)—it did, however, gain him a nice following. Prophet then went missing for 30 years until Stones Throw’s founder, Peanut Butter Wolf, a long-time fan, met him by chance. He connected Prophet with Mndsgn, which resulted in them working together on Wanna Be Your Man, released via Stones Throw in 2018. His sophomore album followed this year, titled Don’t Forget It, and it displays his many funk-fuelled sounds across a staggering 16 tracks. Highly recommended listening.
Ulla Tumbling Towards a Wall (Experiences LTD.)
In a year full of high-quality ambient releases, Ulla’s Tumbling Towards a Wall stood out high above pretty much everything. Hypnotic and utterly spellbinding, the release employs gauzy textures, stoned beats, and loose, swaying instrumentation to soundtrack a year of self-reflection. Tumbling Towards a Wall was the painkiller we all needed this year. We can’t stop listening to “Soak” and “i think my tears have become good.”
Mica Levi Ruff Dog (Self-Released)
Following a handful of acclaimed film scores, and landing more than a decade on from their first release as the lead member of Micachu & The Shapes, Mica Levi released their debut solo album, Ruff Dog, just a week ago but it’s already etched itself deep within our psyche. A scuzzy collection of shoegaze punk, Ruff Dog is strangely alluring and cathartic, and it’s undoubtedly one of the most confounding releases we heard this year from an artist that revels in weirdly wonderful outsider music.
Lyrical futurist and poet extraordinaire Rory Allen Phillip Ferreira released his first full-length album as R.A.P. Ferreira in March, having previously worked as Milo. Mixing hip-hop, live jazz-instrumentation, and beat poetry, Purple Moonlight Pages features Los Angeles trio The Jefferson Park Boys (Kenny Segal, Aaron Carmack, and Mike Parvizi), plus hip-hop heavyweights Open Mike Eagle and Mike Ladd. It came on Ferreira’s own Ruby Yacht label.
William Basinski Lamentations (Temporary Residence Ltd.)
William Basinski’s Lamentations LP follows in the form of other records in his canon, by utilizing old tape loops. Released on longstanding label Temporary Residence Ltd. this year, Lamentations is the latest brilliant addition to an already legendary legacy, constructed with the kind of soul crushing weight of Basinski’s most recognized work, The Disintegration Loops. It follows his On Time Out of Time solo LP from 2019, and arrived shortly after his collaborative debut with Preston Wendel, Sparkle Division.
Squarepusher Be Up A Hello (Warp Records)
Squarepusher, real name Tom Jenkinson, has been releasing ground-breaking music since the ’90s and his legacy pushed forward in 2020 with Be Up A Hello, his first album in five years. Available on Warp, the record is downright explosive, showcasing some of Jenkinson’s finest work in years. In abandoning the self-designed instruments of his previous album for creaking analogue synths, Jenkinson refreshed his creative palette and revisited the methods of making electronic music that made him fall in love with the genre all those years ago. There’s nobody else making music like Jenkinson, and Be Up A Hello underlined his legacy. (A special mention must also go to Lamental, the album’s follow-up EP, which reveals a contemplative side to the British artist’s work.)
For more information on Squarepusher, check out his in depth feature for XLR8R here.
Maarja Nuut & RuumWorld Inverted (Ounaviks)
World Inverted is the second album collaboration of Estonian natives Maarja Nuut and Hendrik Kaljujärv (a.k.a Ruum), and it’s full of the same interesting textures and moods—it’s also arguably their deepest record to date. That being said, it possesses a softer and lighter touch than Muunduja, their previous record, while still embracing a dark and otherworldly ambience. World Inverted is a journey of hazy groove, laced with fragility and hope, but one certainly worth taking.
Armand Hammer Shrines (Backwoodz Studioz)
Armand Hammer, the hip-hop duo of Elucid and Billy Woods, released Shrines in June on Backwoodz Studioz. Expect vivid, raw lyricism backed by lush, vibrant production. The two assembled an array of pioneers from this era, including Quelle Chris, Moor Mother, Earl Sweatshirt, Navy Blu, Kenny Segal, and R.A.P. Ferreira, across 14 tracks of sizzling, alternative hip-hop. It’s the pair’s fourth album together.
Silicon Scally Crushed (Self-Released)
The hits just keep on coming with Carl Finlow, this time with Crushed under his Silicon Sally alias. Crushed features 15 tracks that run the gamut from laid-back funky grooves to twisted electro breaks. As always, Finlow flashes some darker sounds along the way, but even in the darkness there are insatiable atmospheres and rhythms to dig into. There aren’t many producers that can so consistently push out albums of such high-quality, and Crushed is sure to get even the laziest electro lovers off their couch. Finlow went all-in on this one and it has barely left our speaker stacks.
Actress Karma & Desire (Ninja Tune)
The people’s choice, it seems, but Darren Jordan Cunningham’s seventh album is deserving of its accolades. The album’s cryptic pre-cursor, a self-released mixtape of compressed sonics, served as a stark contrast to Karma & Desire‘s gleaming low-slung house and reverb-laden piano jams. It features vocal contributions from the likes of Sampha, Aura T-09, and Christel Well, and is well worth a listen.
Mary Lattimore Silver Ladders (Ghostly International)
Los Angeles harpist Mary Lattimore released Silver Ladders, a collaboration with Slowdive’s Neil Halstead, in October. Recorded over nine days at Halstead’s studio stationed on an old airfield, the release comprises sprawling layers of harp accented by flourishes of low-end synth and Halstead’s guitar, and its intimate beauty lies in the contrast of light and dark. Listening through is an enthralling and nourishing experience.
Wylie Cable Shimmer, Then Disappear (Dome of Doom)
Los Angeles staple Wylie Cable shared his eighth full-length album in September, titled Shimmer, Then Disappear. It’s the Dome of Doom label head’s most complex, vivid, and futuristic electronic record of a stellar career, spanning IDM, downtempo, lo-fi house, jungle, modern classical, and even more. It’s an “encyclopaedia of 21st-century sound,” the label says. The release follows Cable’s Lemniscate album, released in 2019.
Session Victim Needle Drop (Night Time Stories)
Masters of deep groove, Session Victim returned in 2020 with their latest album, Needle Drop. This time, the duo—made up of German artists Hauke Freer and Matthias Reiling—experiment with downtempo and jazz, while paying homage to the trip-hop stylings of Portishead and the sample-based artistry of DJ Shadow and Nightmares on Wax. The album, although possibly surprising to many fans of the pair’s more straight house outings, is one of their finest; expect a chill-inducing collection of cuts that sound like the signature Session Victim sound has been melted down and put back together again at half-speed.
Check out Session Victim’s XLR8R podcast here, a session of all-vinyl.
Gaika Seguridad(N.A.A.F.I)
In July, Brixton, London favorite Gaika released Seguridad, a soul-shattering fusion of dancehall, trap, grime, and deconstructed club that he made while on tour in Puerto Escondido, Mexico. It lands on N.A.A.F.I, and features hard-hitting tunes made in collaboration with several members of the Mexico label, including Lao, Zutzut, TAYHANA, Wasted Fates, OMAAR, and Lechuga Zafiro.
Space Afrika hybtwibt?(Self-Released)
The latest mixtape from Joshua Inyang and Joshua Reid is a profoundly moving experience, both intensely captivating and insular. Somewhat swerving the Manchester duo’s experimental dub composition, hybtwibt is more cinematic, playing out like a series of lucid daydreams. It leans heavily on field recordings, and explicitly references the need for social action surrounding Black liberation. The pair recorded it in the early hours between May 31 and June 3, extracting material from a recent NTS transmission. Fittingly, all revenues are donated to Black Lives Matter causes.
Autechre SIGN + PLUS (Warp Records)
Rob Brown and Sean Booth are constantly redefining their sound with extremes in mind. Whether it be the number of discs across a release or with the methodical approach they apply when collaborating, the Warp mainstays always find a way to explore new sonic tapestries and take people on an adventure. Their first full-length of 2020, SIGN, was the latest step in this grand voyage and an amalgamation of decades spent dedicated to their craft. It’s also slightly more melodic and accessible than their previous material. They followed it with PLUS, nine more tracks of murky ambience pulled from the same sessions. How do you maintain such quality over such a sustained career?
Yves Tumor Heaven for a Tortured Mind (Warp Records)
Just how do you follow up the brilliance of 2018’s Safe In The Hands of Love? Sean Bowie answered that question with aplomb this year, releasing Heaven for a Tortured Mind, a new album of bonkers psych-rock as Yves Tumor. The record sounds fresh yet classic, and it’s both infectiously charismatic and entirely singular in its voice. “Kerosene” is a pick for the year’s best track. Yves Tumor can do no wrong.
Thundercat It Is What it Is (Brainfeeder)
Bass virtuoso and singer-songwriter Thundercat launched his new full-length album, It is What It Is, in April on Brainfeeder. Dominated by a deep love for video games, animé, and ’80s music, the release reminds us just how important Thundercat’s music is as the world continues to fall apart. The album was produced alongside Flying Lotus, and its features include Ty Dolla $ign, Childish Gambino, Lil B, Kamasi Washington, Steve Lacy, Steve Arrington, BADBADNOTGOOD, Louis Cole, and Zack Fox. It’s drenched in funk, and Thundercat’s first album since 2017’s Drunk.
Babyxsosa BabyXObama (1602599 Records DK)
In May, Virginia rapper BabyxSosa released BabyXObama, a cohesive display of her woozy, melodic hip-hop. Her angelic voice compliments her skills in rap, and she doesn’t seem to miss, especially on first track “Kobe.” And the closing track, “Down,” could make even the toughest onion cry. Once you hit play, you’ll forget that you ran through the EP 10 times already.
1988 is the follow up to Knxwledge’s official debut album, Hud Dreems, which he released in 2015. The album draws its name because it was created that year, and the beats were stored on floppy discs. Knxwledge, real name Glen Earl Boothe, revisited them at the beginning of the year, taking them to his studio where he finished them up and mixed them. Expect 22 tracks of skits and fine instrumental hip-hop.
Autumn! LLS Verront
XLR8R stumbled upon Autumn! (a.k.a Twinuzis) last year through his ##R3 ##R3 EP, and we expected nothing less than heat with LLS Verront. The cover art, with its black and white simplicity and messages of fame, fortune, and police brutality, rounds off a powerful release of modern rap. It’s on songs like “Moncleez” and “Girl from the Club” that Autumn! exhibits such great finesse over all his cadences and flows, but you can feel a raw emotion across the full album.
Theo Parrish, a Detroit house icon, added to a bustling discography with another stellar album in September, following 2014’s American Intelligence. Its nine tracks are exactly what you’d expect: minimal, jazz-fused house jams of the very highest order that’ll make you want dance around your living room in your slippers, or just jam out on a lazy Sunday morning. This is how house music should sound, and we can’t wait to hear it in a club! “This Is For You,” with its killer Maurissa Rose vocal, is a standout.
Bulgarian producer and film-maker Yavor Zografski (a.k.a. SMYAH) has offered up a track from his recent album as an XLR8R download.
Featured in a recent XLR8R+ Submission Roundup, Zografski released his most recent album, Splitting Atoms, back in October.
The album, which features “Lithium,” a track we discovered and featured in the May Submissions Roundup, presents organic sounds and inspired bass-heavy grooves across 10 colorful tracks of beat science. There are also three songs in three different languages, with vocalists performing in English, Bulgarian, and Russian to demonstrate a “diverse sound that transcends barriers of language,” and to “challenge people to focus on the musical part of the journey, drawing in their own message and reaching their own conclusions,” Zografski explains.
From the release, he has offered up “Rivers of Wind” as an XLR8R download. One of the more chilled tracks on the release, “Rivers of Wind” features affecting piano lines, regenerative textures, and a broken-beat groove that will have you nodding your head and moving your feet.
The track is available as a download below, alongside a video for album cut “Realms,” which was written, directed, and edited by Zografski himself.
You can find listen and purchase links to the full album here.
Full XLR8R+ Members can download the track below.If you’re not an XLR8R+ member, you can read more about it and subscribe here.
Dawn Razor‘s NARA imprint has released its third 12″, NARA003.
The label’s latest record follows two solo EPs from Sonnen Blumen Kerne, both of which landed back in March of this year, with five club-ready cuts of varying intensity and style.
On the A-side, label head Dawn Razor and Archetech deliver two rave-infused breakbeat weapons backed by an equally hard-hitting remix by Shedbug. On the flip side, Ukrainian producers Yansima and Hooley venturing into deeper territory, with the former opting for a broken-beat groove full of swagger and the latter a heads-down techno outing.
We’re previously featured Dawn Razor, an enigmatic Russian techno producer, in our XLR8Rsubmissions feature, after he submitted music via the XLR8R portal. He’s previously released “Acid Funk” on R&S Records.
Tracklisting
A1: Dawn Razor & Archetech “Wonder Land” A2: Dawn Razor & Archetech “Wonder Land” (Shedbug Remix) A3: Dawn Razor & Archetech “Glides” B1: Yansima “Robbers Guys” B2: Hooley “Tempo Paradiso”
The release is available on 12″ and digitally and can be picked up here, with the tracks streaming below.
Making music is one of life’s great explorations, and 2020 was a good reminder that there’s a limit for how much gear one needs, or even has the capacity to use. During a period of strained product supply chains and limited personal finances, the best music production tools of 2020 were often those we had on-hand. Digging out old, neglected phones and dusty controllers, learning to better program software environments, and being able to refine ideas and workflows with existing tools was a blessing in this most indoor of years. Firmware updates brought new functionality to existing machines from Elektron, Moog, Akai, Arturia, Novation, and Native Instruments, providing reasons to dig back in and gather new inspiration.
Yet despite the external forces at work, a number of remarkable new instruments managed to make their way through production and out into the wild. So many, in fact, that it would be impossible to include all of the great tools that debuted over the past 12 months, from the wide world of modular to standalone hardware and software plugins. But we’ve picked a handful of our favorites, which have opened up new possibilities and workflows for music making in 2020 and beyond.
With their torrents of vertically-scrolling alphanumeric characters, music trackers remain an esoteric pursuit, but are a sight to behold—like something out of “The Matrix,” circa 1987. The compositional concept behind the workflow was conceived by Karsten Obarski in the late-’80s, and it debuted in the form of Ultimate Soundtracker for the Commodore Amiga; various iterations of this core idea have since come and gone over 30 years. Most recently, Polyend has taken these principles—long since relegated to computer screens—and applied them to a beautiful piece of hardware, with dedicated controls and a focused, efficient workflow.
Once samples have been recorded or loaded to the instrument’s memory from an SD card slot, they can be used for simple one-shot/looped sampling, chopped with a sample slicing mode, or processed via wavetable or granular algorithms. It’s still visualized as a manic, somewhat intimidating stream of vertically-scrolling data, and there’s a fair amount of menu-diving required, but Polyend’s Tracker feels like a deeply unified whole, and enables a programming style conducive to breaking old habits and exploring alternative approaches to composition.
It’s tough to argue with this one. SOMA‘s “organismic” Pulsar-23 drum machine is an unruly beast of a percussion synth: its four primary drum voices can be wildly warped and distorted using a slew of peculiar circuits and esoteric cross-modulation capabilities, and its built-in, experimental effects section brings an extra layer of creative possibility. With alligator clip cables to easily stack signals, Pulsar’s design also enables the user’s body conductivity to manipulate sound in tactile, gestural ways rarely seen in modern instrument design. To top it off, the machine easily integrates with MIDI and Eurorack devices via a host of handy I/O. It’s the latest in SOMA designer Vlad Kreimer’s line of distinctive instruments, and arguably the finest example to date of his ideas around what he likes to call “romantic engineering.”
Thanks in part to the flexibility of the modular format, the last several years have seen a surge in new hardware sequencers. Eurorack stalwart Make Noise‘s latest crack at things comes in the form of the 0-CTRL. It’s a purely analog sequencer, meaning there’s no MIDI, no pitch quantizer, and no “save” function. But its analog nature also means it can be used in a range of compelling new ways, the most interesting of which have to do with how its onboard sequencer interacts with both patching and direct, hands-on manipulation. Essentially, eight touch plates correspond to the rows of pitch, time, and velocity knobs above them; each of these tracks also outputs its own gate signals, which makes it possible to disrupt, alter, and distort sequences in real time and in wild new ways. With inspiration coming from Serge and Buchla designs of generations past, the 0-CTRL is an experimental sequencing sandbox, opening up creative new pathways for thinking about tone, time, and space.
Bastl Instruments’ Midilooper is neither a looper nor a sequencer in the traditional sense. Rather it takes elements from both to provide a fresh new way to compose in real time with electronic instruments, untethered from the computer. It takes MIDI data from a controller or sequencer, and outputs MIDI loops to two pieces of gear. Hit a button to start recording, and it’s off to the races; hit another, and you’re bending the racetrack back into itself. Analog inputs allow for the transposition of these loops via CV (this can also be accomplished by hitting the transpose button and playing a key on your keyboard), as well as for clocking and resetting said loops. It’s yet another thoughtful, unique design from Bastl, and one that expands the functionality of a MIDI format that’s now nearly 40 years old.
Sequential‘s Pro-3 Mono/Paraphonic Synthesizer is easily one of the most impressive synthesizers in recent (and not-so-recent) memory, and it’s name kind of says it all: three oscillators, three unique filters, three envelopes, and three versatile LFOs. Like Korg’s Minilogue XD, one of the Pro-3’s oscillators is digital, with user-customizable wavetables, allowing for tones and timbres outside the realm of traditional analog synthesizers. It’s technically a mono-synth, but it can function in paraphonic mode for three-note chords. A deep modulation matrix allows a wide range of signals to go in and out of its four CV ins and outs, allowing for direct interplay with modular gear, and its 16-track, 64-step sequencer has all the modern niceties like parameter locking, automation recording, and ratcheting. It’s a beast of a machine, and proof that Sequential founder Dave Smith is as relevant to the world of synthesis as he’s ever been!
Arturia‘s line of USB, MIDI, and CV controllers gained one of its most compelling additions yet this year, and it came in the form of the Keystep Pro. While bringing the versatility of its adjacent offerings like the Keystep and Beatstep Pro—plenty of CV and MIDI I/O, in particular—the Pro employs four polyphonic sequencer tracks, one of which also has a dedicated drum mode, and three of which have arpeggiators. This is not to say that Arturia is blowing any doors open in terms of innovation with the Keystep Pro, but with it they’ve created a powerful tool for playing and sequencing multiple instruments at once—and one that seems certain to find its way into studios and onto stages for years to come.
In terms of innovation, Matt Tytel’s Vital synth is blazing new ground in the arena of wavetable synthesis, with spectral warping features that enable powerful, advanced manipulation of waveform harmonics. Some amazing new timbres can be pulled out of these algorithms, with a sound that’s precise yet exciting and organic. Vital allows you to turn your own samples into wavetables, use its built-in wavetable editor to craft new ones from scratch, and even experimentally generate them from text. With advanced stereo modulation via a simple drag-and-drop interface, full MPE support, and great animations (all running at 60fps!), Vital is a powerful piece of software. Its flexible pricing structure is worth noting, too: while the Plus and Pro versions offer more presets and wavetables, as well as other perks, the Basic version is free and remarkably full-featured—making checking this one out a no-brainer!
Other Notable Mentions
Mutable Instruments Blades Extremely flexible dual filter from one of Eurorack’s most talented designers.
Waldorf Iridium Combines physical modelling, wavetable, FM, granular, and subtractive synthesis action into a single machine.
Eowave Quarantid Swarm Digital touch key synthesizer and sequencer with a two-pole analog filter, flexible LFO, and a built-in spring reverb.
Clank Chaos A powerful Turing machine, it employs six channels of individually controllable CV and gate probability with advanced looping options.
Acid Rain Maestro An attempt to bring DAW “automation lanes” into Eurorack, Maestro’s slate of clock-synced LFOs can be sequenced and performed in unique ways.
Korg Wavestate A modernization of Korg’s classic Wavestation, Wavestate makes the most of its unique approach to vector synthesis.
Dreadbox Typhon Compact analog signal path combined with digital effects in a highly-portable, highly-playable package.
Akai MPC One Akai’s most affordable full-featured production hub to date, the One integrates well with MIDI, USB, and CV synths and controllers.
Native Instruments Maschine+ After breaking ground by tethering the classic MPC workflow to a computer, NI’s Maschine has finally come full-circle as a full-featured standalone device.
Roland TR-6S Emulation of various classic Roland drum machines (along with an FM synthesis mode) in a powerful device the size of a paperback book.
Expert Sleepers Super Disting EX Plus Alpha The Swiss army knife of Eurorack modules gets even better. Additions include an eight voice polyphonic sample player, powerful stereo tape delay, and a dedicated WAV recorder mode.
Elektron Model:Cycles An immediate, highly-playable groovebox that combines a simplified FM synthesis interface with Elektron’s classic sequencing workflow.
4MS Ensemble Oscillator A throng of 16 oscillators are the foundation for this sound-shaping playground, with user-customizable scales and the ability to craft complex chord structures and textures.
1010 Music Bitbox Micro Bitbox’ touch-screen magic lets you do all sorts of sample recording, chopping, and sequencing—along with deep CV manipulation—right inside your Eurorack setup!
Bastl Ikarie Eurorack Module Bastl and Casper’s fantastic stereo filter packs an envelope follower, continuous high-low-pass filtering, and much more into just 8 hp.
With roots in the My Hollow Drum collective, Dublab, and Low End Theory, Mtendere Mandowa, or Teebs, is positioned at the beating heart of a thriving Los Angeles’ music community. In the past decade, he’s released multiple split albums and collaborative EPs with the likes of Daedelus and Jeremiah Jae, plus three albums on Brainfeeder, beginning with Ardour, a deliciously delicate classic in the label’s canon. To mark the record’s 10th anniversary, Mandowa recently shared a special edition reissue with artwork by himself.
Born in The Bronx, New York, Mandowa was raised by parents from Malawi and Barbados, who relocated the family to the cozy surroundings of Los Angeles’ Chino Hills. Mandowa had always been a keen skateboarder, but the calmer surroundings of America’s west coast cultivated his interest in art and music, and he began making beats at the age of 16. When some early demos prompted interest from Flying Lotus, he began to write a billowing brand of beautifully off-kilter hip-hop that captured Mandowa’s sadness at losing his father. This became Ardour, and he was only 23 when the album landed.
Mandowa’s work since then has been equally compelling. Estara, released in 2014, delivered the same shape-shifting sonic canvasses but this time without the sadness of losing a loved one. In 2019, he released Anicca, his latest solo album, capturing the simple beauties of family life. Layered and endlessly lush, the Teebs’ catalog is a well of blissfully warm textures and expansive electronics that make you feel relaxed, curious, and perplexed at the same time.
Recorded one evening in December, Mandowa’s XLR8R podcast has the same effect. He’s filled it with some of his favorite records of today, plus some unreleased gems from those around him. In a moment of global chaos, with Christmas approaching and the pandemic ongoing, Mandowa delivers 60 minutes of calm and tranquility. It’s like a warm hug before the holidays begin.
01. What have you been up to recently?
Readjusting to this year’s life at home. Spending a lot of time helping my four-year-old daughter with Zoom classes and social distancing. Personally, I’ve spent most of the year painting and making demos, and in the last month trying out animal crossing.
02. How have you been finding the lockdown period?
A really bad blend of enjoyable and difficult times.
03. Has it been difficult not being able to tour?
At first it was really hard. I’d just finished my new album, Anicca, and was looking forward to bringing the music out to people again. Also, financially, touring is everything around a new release and it was scheduled for March through July. I ended up getting commercial work that softened the blow earlier this year, but I can only imagine how things would have been if this opportunity hadn’t come up!
04. What music have you been listening to?
Sudan Archives, Liv.e, Ahmad Jamal, Fatima, Burna Boy, Nissi, Anna Wise, Ebo Taylor, Grant Green, EyeDress, Jwords, DJ Lag, and whatever is in this mix really.
05. You’ve just celebrated the 10th anniversary of Ardour. How do you reflect on that record, and that period of your life?
In some ways that time reminds me of the chaos this year brought. I was broken from everything happening around me, but also grateful for what music was bringing me spiritually.
06. Where did you record this podcast?
Between midnight and 5 a.m. in headphones, next to my wife crashing from a long workday!
07. What can the listener expect with the mix?
Tranquility.
08. How did you go about choosing the tracks that you’ve included?
There should always be time to dive into calmness.
09. What have you got planned for 2021?
A few art shows and more music collaborations and maybe some releases, plus living with a five-year-old instead of a four-year-old. Listening to the new Madlib record sometime in January.
XLR8R has now joined Mixcloud Select, meaning that to hear the podcast offline you will need to subscribe to our Select channel to listen offline, or subscribe to XLR8R+ to download the file. The move to Mixcloud Select will ensure that all the producers with music featured in our mixes get paid. You can read more about it here.
Full XLR8R+ Members can download the podcast below.If you’re not an XLR8R+ member, you can read more about it and subscribe here.
Tracklisting
01. Laraaji “The Dance 1” (Virgin Records Ltd.) 02. Dimm Grimm “Pacific Draft” feat. Teebs (Unreleased) 03. Deem Spencer “The Bright Side” (Deem Spencer & the Flower Shop) 04. Nosaj Thing “Opal” (LuckyMe) 05. Oneohtrix Point Never “Chrome Country” (Warp Records) 06. Liv.e “I Been Livin” (In Real Life Music under exclusive license to AWAL Recordings America) 07. Arrangement “Coconut Mango” (Arrangement Entertainment Group) 08. Express Rising “Ice Stopped” (Numero Group) 09. Yuk “Sirklz” (Unreleased) 10. Kuniyuki Takahashi “Asia” (Music From Memory) 11. Yuk “Palawan” (Leaving Records) 12. Duval Timothy “Ball” (Carrying Colour) 13. Shida Shahabi “Pretty Plums” (FatCat Records) 14. The Sweet Enoughs “Dream Puppy” (Wondercore Island & Dreamlake International Visions) 15. Visible Cloaks “Wheel” (RVNG Intl.) 16. Dinner Party “First Responders” (Sound Of Crenshaw/EMPIRE) 17. 4×4 Traktor “Don’t Wana Stop Now” (Self-Released) 18. Tirzah “Affection” (Domino Recording Co Ltd.) 19. Marcelina “The Motions” (Self-Released)
Ahead of the Christmas holidays, we’ve compiled our favorite tracks from XLR8R+ into a one-off compilation, available to XLR8R+ members. Please consider it a token of our appreciation for your continued support.
XLR8R launched XLR8R+, a member-supported community and curated music experience, in 2018. Above all else, it was an effort to protect our independence in a challenging landscape for digital publishers. Instead of selling our editorial, we wanted to create a self-sustaining, ad-free platform to support independent music and culture, and all the artists within that lexicon—producers, DJs, journalists, visual artists, film-makers, etc.
In the two-plus years since launch, we’ve released exclusive and previously unheard works from Lawrence, Afriqua, Vril, DVS1, Roman Flügel, Convextion, Vladislav Delay, SIT, Kate Simko, Jenifa Mayanja, Amorf, Dan Andrei, and many more.
We’ve also handed the reigns to Bjarki, Tom Trago, Sebastian Mullaert’s Circle of Live, Príncipe, and Visionquest, to allow them to showcase the artists in their orbit. Accompanying each release has been exclusive artworks from some of electronic music’s most revered designers, from Palestine to Los Angeles, plus a slew of sample-packs.
As subscribers will already know, each release is available exclusively for a period of three months only, then we move on. So if you were late to the table, there’s a whole heap of great tracks that you’ll have missed out on, including early editions from Tom Trago, Fred P, Lapien, Wata Igarashi, and more.
We really appreciate your support. By subscribing, you’re supporting the artists but also XLR8R, and allowing us to continue what we’ve been doing for over 27 years: finding, curating, and serving the best electronic music out there, without paid influence.
So to say thank you, and simply because it’s Christmas and we all need a pick-up, the XLR8R staff have compiled their favorite 20 tracks from the back catalog and made them available as a one-off download. It wasn’t easy to whittle them down, but you’ll find a real feast of good music to dig into over the festive period. And there’s plenty more to come soon!
