Darkside was formed in 2011 and released only one studio album, Psychic in 2013. Jaar and Harrington disbanded in August 2014, and since then they’ve both pursued various other projects.
In 2020, Jaar released three albums: 2017-2019 as Against All Logic, plus Cenizas and Telas. Harrington’s newest record, Tura Lura, is a collaboration with Jeremy Gustin and Spencer Zahn. It’s set in the New York experimental underground where his career began in the late ’00s.
Jaar and Harrington quietly reconvened in 2018 to begin writing new music. After a year of work, they completed Spiral, the second Darkside album, in December of 2019.
The record has been mixed by Rashad Becker, mastered by Heba Kadry, and will be released this spring via Matador Records. In the meantime, you can stream “Liberty Bell” in full below, and hear Dave Harrington’s XLR8R podcast here.
In November, Jaar and Harrington released an archival Darkside live album, recorded at Belgium’s Dour Festival in 2014.
Ryan Elliott has shared a new mix, recorded live for KMA60 in Berlin.
There’s no information about the mix, other than that celebrates the third release of Elliott’s Faith Beat label, by Bruce Ivery.
Launched in 2019, the label plays home to music that is thoughtful and loose. Elliott describes it as an “organic extension” of his passions as a DJ, producer, and voracious record collector.
Elliott grew up as a DJ in Detroit, but came into his own in Berlin, and his sets expand on each city’s styles. He’s a resident DJ at Berghain and Panorama Bar, and he refuses to be aligned with just techno or house, instead highlighting their optimal overlaps.
Check out his XLR8R podcast here and stream his latest mix via the player below.
For those unfamiliar, XLR8R+ is a member-supported music community and curated music experience. Every month, XLR8R+ members will receive exclusive access to at least three previously unreleased tracks—most often more—by a wealth of amazing artists that XLR8R has supported over the years, as well as access to the member’s area, where you can submit tracks and DJ mixes to be showcased in a new feature series and to the XLR8R+ community. We are also implementing a forum for members to connect and collaborate on projects or to just share ideas, thoughts, and music.
Members also gain access to fast-tracked editorial content, podcasts and mixes, weekly track downloads, streaming playlists, and much more—most of which are only available to subscribers. You can find out more here.
Further to that, as a holiday gift to our members, we’ll be releasing an exclusive Best Of XLR8R+ compilation featuring over 20 tracks from the archive, some of which were only available to subscribers for one month and have since been taken offline. All gift recipients will receive the compilation on release.
You can now gift a one-year, non-recurring XLR8R+ subscription for the producers, DJs, and music lovers in your life. One year of XLR8R+ is $50, and once the year is up, we will contact the gift recipient and provide them with options to continue their membership, should they wish.
All you need to do is HEAD HERE to input your name and email, plus the name and email of the recipient. We’ve also included a check box to add a gifting message and an option for the gift to be emailed on a specific day.
Once the process is complete, you and the recipient will receive details and a code to redeem the subscription. The purchaser will receive the email straight away and the recipient on the specified day, if a date is added.
XLR8R+ is a valuable resource for any producer, DJ, or music lover; a gift that will allow them to discover new artists and music and for their music to heard and discovered by an engaged and dedicated audience.
A young Kirk Thompson began his musical adventures from a council estate called Knowle West in northern Bristol. While in school, he’d familiarize himself with underground music culture through “Wild Style,” an American hip-hop film, and through pirated radio. Through the late ’80s, he would sneak into warehouse parties, exposing himself to an assortment of sounds. It was a rich time for musical discovery.
As part of collective Fresh 4, Thompson made his recording debut in 1989, with “Wishing On A Star,” which paved the way for a collaboration with Roni Size for Full Cycle Records, a legendary label. He became Krust in 1993 and began the most prolific period of his career; over the next 15 years, Thompson created many essential solo works, collaborations, and remixes, gaining recognition as an envelope-pushing artist with an expansive sonic repertoire centred on long, drawn out bass textures.
Alongside his Krust output, Thompson has released as Gang Related, Glamour Gold, and Kamanchi, ranging from deeper, jazzier tunes to more serious bangers. As part of Reprazent alongside Roni Size, Die, Suv, and MC Dynamite, he won the 1997 Mercury Music Prize for New Forms, out on Giles Peterson’s Talkin’ Loud. He departed music in 2008, suffering a breakdown.
In November, Thompson unveiled The Edge Of Everything, his first solo long-player in 14 years. Helming the record is a reinvigorated producer brimming with ideas. Having informed himself about consciousness and creativity, he zoned in on his time in Bristol to make a record shaped by his immersion in it. In this month’s Influences mix, he takes a moment to reflect on the key records that have shaped him over his life, from Gary Numan and The Beatles to Ghost Face Killah and Public Enemy.
“This mix reflects my experiences growing up in Bristol, going to house parties, warehouse parties, cellar parties, and blues jams, and feeling for the first what it was like to experience those records. I grew up in a time when eclectic music was the norm; we’d listen to anything from punk rock and classical to funk breaks, jazz, and experimental pop. This is what made me into the artist I am is today. It has shaped my musical landscape, and opened up a prism in my mind with a kaleidoscope of textures and velocity. It set fire to a young boy’s imagination with curiosity and wonder.“
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 below. 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. Ghost Face Killah “Iron Maiden” (Epic Records) 02. King Crimson “21st Century Schizoid Man” (Island) 03. Liquid Liquid “Cavern” (Mo’ Wax) 04. Fatback Band “Wicki Wacky” (Polydor) 05. Led Zeppelin “Dazed and Confused” (Atlantic) 06. Afrika Bambaataa & The Soul Sonic Force “Planet Rock” (Tommy Boy) 07. T La Rock “It’s Yours” (Def Jam) 08. Gary Numan “Films” (Remastered 2009) (The First Recordings) 09. Liquid Liquid “Optimo EP” (99 Records) 10. ESG “UFO” (99 Records) 11. Cerrone “Rocket In The Pocket” (Extended Breaks) (Breaks & Beats) 12. The S.O.S. Band “Just Be Good to Me” (Taboo Records) 13. Talking Heads “Once In a Lifetime” (Sire) 14. Kraftwerk “Tour de France” (2009 Remaster) (Parlophone) 15. Yellow Magic Orchestra “Firecracker (1978) (Alfa) 16. Ghost Face Killah “Incarcerated Scarfaces” (Loud Records) 17. Wally Badarou “Mambo” (Island) 18. Gary Numan “Cars” (Remastered 2009) (The First Recordings) 19. Nitro Deluxe “This Brutal House” (Cooltempo) 20. Hashim “Al-Naafyish” (The Soul) [It’s Time!] (Cutting Records) 21. Section Vingt Cinq “Oyo Achel Ada” (Factory Benelux) 22. ESG “Moody” (99 Records) 23. Nicolette “The Dove Song” (Shut Up And Dance) 24. Adamski & Seal “Killer” (MCA) 25. Carlton “Do You Dream” (Acapella) (FFRR) 26. Adonis ”No Way Back” (Vocal Mix) (TRAX Records) 27. Fingers Inc. “Can You Feel It” (Jack Tracks) 28. Philip Glass “Facades” (CBS) 29. Mtume “Tie Me Up” (Epic) 30. Section 25 “Hit” (Factory) 31. Public Enemy “Rebel Without a Pause” (Def Jam) 32. Death Grips “Inanimate Sensation” (Harvest) 33. Suicide “Ghost Rider” (1977) (Red Star Records) 34. The Beatles “Eleanor Rigby” (Parlophone) 35. Eurythmics “Sweet Dreams” (Are Made of This) (RCA) 36. Boney M “Rasputin” (Hansa) 37. Wu Tang Clan “Triumph” (feat. CappaDonna) (BMG) 38. The Beatles “Tomorrow Never Knows” (Apple Records) 39. ESG “Dance” (99 Records)
Mica Levi has released their debut solo album, Ruff Dog.
Levi, a British experimental artist raised in Surrey, England, is known for their work scoring films “Under the Skin” (2014), “Jackie” (2016), and Alejandro Landes’ “Monos” (2019). Earlier this year, they scored “Sirens,” a short film created by photographer Nan Goldin.
They’ve put out five full-length albums with their band Good Sad Happy Bad, formerly known as Micachu and the Shapes. The band features CJ Calderwood, a multi-instrumentalist who featured in a recent XLR8R podcast. Levi is more commonly known under their stage name Micachu.
Ruff Dog is Levi’s first album under their birth name. It spans 11 songs of gritty, experimental electronics, spanning shoegaze and raucous punk, with Levi’s vocals over the top. Tracks “Wings” and “Pain” come with music videos, which you can watch below.
Tracklisting
01. Ruff Dog 02. Kind of Strange 03. Wings 04. One Tear 05. Cold Eyes 06. Flower Bed 07. A plain clothed Jimi Hendrix drives me to Newcastle. For some reason the trip will take 3 days and he is going to do it for £150. He drives really smoothly and only listens to one album which is by someone with Joy in their name 08. Chains Baggy 09. Hi Gene 10. Pain 11. Ride Till We Die
Ruff Dog LP is available now. You can stream the album in its entirety below.
Solomon is known for his saxophone work with HAIM, and Logan Kane, a bassist, has shared the stage with acts such as Joel Ross, Jon Bap, and Chris Potter. He released Nope,science, his latest solo album, in March.
The pair sit at the forefront of a young and exciting Los Angeles jazz scene, and Outside World 2 is their new collaboration, and their first as Outside World. Their previous collaboration, Outside World, which they released in March 2018, came under their birth names.
Alongside the announcement, the pair have shared “Hits!,” the album’s lead single. It’s an energetic, hyper-pop-meets-jazz exploration in the vein of Flying Lotus and Kneebody. It features Louis Cole on drums and Dennis Hamm on keys, known for their work with Thundercat.
The album launches Good Question, a Brooklyn label that will be focusing on experimental-yet-accessible artists across a range of genres.
01. Sunflower Patch (feat. Paul Cornish & Benjamin Ring) 02. Really Slow Fox (feat. Louis Cole & Dennis Hamm) 0. Absence Mission (feat. Paul Cornish & Benjamin Ring) 04. It Gotta Be Like That (feat. OPEN EYES THE BOY PHOENIX) 05. Hits! (feat. Louis Cole & Dennis Hamm) 06. Interlude (feat. OPEN EYES THE BOY PHOENIX & Civil Bear) 07. Left Behind (feat. Paul Cornish & Benjamin Ring) 08. Great Lengths (feat. Paul Cornish & Benjamin Ring) 09. Keep Your Cool (feat. Louis Cole, Dennis Hamm & Benjamin Ring) 10. Evening Meditation (feat. OPEN EYES THE BOY PHOENIX & Civil Bear) 11. Paul S Groner [Bandcamp Exclusive]
Outside World 2 LP is scheduled for January 26 release. Meanwhile, you can stream “Hits” below, and pre-order the album here.
Following on from the release of Parallel Action and Charlie Boy Manson’s twisted hedonistic 10/10 single, released last week, London labels C7NEMA100 and Loose Lips have shared the track’s instrumental, just over four minutes of heavy acidic sonics. It’s exclusively available to full XLR8R+ members via the link below.
The track drops us into a psychedelic arcade, cranking the bass valve up a notch; expect a cocktail of grimy dystopian vibes, trip-hop breaks, and warping bass. You can hear the full track with Charlie Boy Manson’s burning lyricism here.
Parallel Action is a new project from producer and composer Jude Greenaway, better known as Scanone. Taking inspiration from Greenaway’s audio and visual work, this new approach combines downtempo, trip-hop, jazz, and electronica with cinematic atmospheres. At the heart of the project is a desire to collaborate with a range of innovative vocalists, storytellers, and talented musicians, creating a sound that is emotionally engaging and seeping with dark intensity.
As the year draws to a close, we’re back to present the latest roundup of submissions through the XLR8R portal. As with previous editions, we’re happy to present music from artists who have featured on XLR8R before, including the ever-colorful WalkPalmer, but November’s list is brimming with new musical talents that we’ve only just discovered. Among the standouts are OWANJ, a collection of three friends who’ve just recored their album in Spain; Lun Moonatik, a rising Croatian artist; and the freakishly funky beats of Rollover DJs. Footwork lovers will likely appreciate the submission from Canada’s HomeSick, and there’s some drum & bass from Sunchase, who should need no introduction for lovers of the genre. In terms of mixes, Blume, from Argentina, has delivered a personal brew of odd melodies and dancefloor-shattering breaks, and there’s plenty more to choose from.
Editor’s note: we’ve made a point of linking each artist’s name to their social media page, or a place where you can buy their music, and we encourage our readers to support these independent artists by buying their music. Let’s keep independent culture alive.
For those unfamiliar, XLR8R+ is a member-supported music community and curated music experience. Every month, you will get three exclusive tracks—sometimes more—by a wealth of amazing artists that XLR8R has supported over the years, as well as access to the member’s area where you can submit tracks and DJ mixesto be showcased in this feature series and to the XLR8R+ community, as well as exclusive editorial content, mixes, FREE passes to music festivals and events, playlists, and more.You can find out more here.
HomeSick“Like This 2020”
While Shaun Lodestar, better known as HomeSick, is based in Calgary, Canada, he studied in France at the Red Bull Music Academy. When seeking inspiration for his stylings, Lodestar turns to DJ Rashad, Traxman, Yves Tumor, Death Grips, and Throbbing Gristle. As part of his explorations into the artistic applications of machine learning technologies, he’s shared ISOLATION TAPE, which was generated in part by artificial intelligence. We’ve picked “Like This 2020,” a slick juke track with masterful rhythms, to showcase here but we recommend checking out the full-length.
Michael Keever is a vocalist and producer from north London, and his music is inspired by the record digging in charity shops that consumed his youth. He’s recently started to meld samples with his own instrumentation and vocals, and “Fear the Real Virus,” which comically reflects on the ongoing pandemic with a relaxed swagger and lyricism, is one of his latest works.
Sunchase “Step Outside”
Alexander Pavlenko (a.k.a Sunchase), a key figure in the European drum & bass scene of the 2000s, has returned with Timeline, his long-awaited second album. The Ukrainian’s works took their rightful place in catalogs of such legendary labels as Moving Shadow and Metalheadz. Timeline, released earlier this month to open Vera Logdanidi’s Kashtan label, has a melancholic tone, and while drum & bass sits at the core, its sounds go deeper into bass music and dub, and there’s even some IDM. “Step Outside” is XLR8R‘s pick, but check out the entire album.
Italy’s Rollover DJs have a passion for house, disco, new wave, ’70s funk, and afro-beat, and all this feeds into everything they do in the studio. They run their own Balearic-inspired edits-only label, Anything Goes, and count the likes of DJ Harvey and James Murphy as supporters of their work. In November, they returned with Power To The People, an EP featuring a remix from Boombass (Cassius’ Hubert Blanc-Francard) and cover artwork by the mysterious Milanese artist TATUAGGI MALE. The EP’s closer, “Tequila Sunrise,” is a more horizontal tune with sunset vibes and lush guitars lighting up the arrangement with subtle funk. It has an eclectic sense of soul that will melt any heart—and drive any dancefloor.
Arthur Song (a.k.a. FORM NULL) is a Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia-based sound designer, music producer, and teacher. He spent his formative years in Australia, and has been producing for most of his life. He is fascinated with the degradation of sound, and the immersive nature of soundscapes and its ability to transcend both concepts of time and space. He draws his inspiration from brutalist architecture, tape machines, dystopian themes, and the human condition. Song is currently taking a step back from performing and is focusing more on teaching, content creation, and his creative projects. Earlier this month, he released FORM NULL. “Relic,” our pick, plays like a film score, with deep, dark, textures and brooding pads that conjure desolate spaces.
Sickarone is a beatmaker from Turin, Italy who makes music using his worn-out MPC 1000. He began releasing deep dubstep as Sick, but he’s now experimenting with sharp jungle and lo-fi hip-hop. “Callipher,” one of his newest tracks, is a “hardware-made footwork joint,” he says. With its bass-heavy groove and flirting vocal chops, it’s a cut begging to be played on a soundsystem.
Lun Moonatik, from Rijeka, Croatia, uses hardware synthesizers to create sonic interpretations of the world around him. His musical choices are selected through “subconscious and spiritual decisions,” he says. “I let the moment guide me while I sail on the waves of inspiration that bounce back and forth between the physical and the metaphysical.” “Enjoy Wrong” is taken from Manifesto, Moonatik’s new album. Like all his music, it’s warm, colorful, and carefree, produced with subtlety and finese.
Basile3‘s music is hard to pin down. Each of his projects points in different directions and explores new sonic palettes. In October, he debuted on InFiné Music with Ciel Rouge, moving through southern US hip-hop, dubstep, house, and various abstract forms of electronic music, imbuing every style he touches with a signature flair. The French artist envisions his music as the soundtrack to unwritten stories, with “imaginary characters and places,” and across the EP, rich textures and complex, angular melodies set a scene of contrasts. On the title track, spiraling synths and thumping bass complement the work of vocalist Simili Gum, resulting in an outsider R&B jam that’s somehow both coldly surreal and hopelessly romantic.
OWANJ is a collection of three friends who share a passion for exploring the world through sound. Their style draws upon a diverse range of influences, from samba grooves and ethereal electronic spaces to folk traditions, whilst pushing into more abstract and haunting visages. The group was seeded in London and brought to life in the coastal mountains of Andalucia, Spain where they recorded their first album, AZUM. The release reflects the group’s experience of lockdown and seeks to offer some solace in a time of uncertainty, and every sound across it was recorded and collected in the local area. On “AMANECER,” the album’s seventh track, you’ll hear steel pans alongside birdsong and serene vocals, which dance upon a dubbed-out groove and sound design that feels alive.
Roam‘s UK-garage-influenced music tackles some of the most prominent themes of millennial life, such as loneliness and mental health. He released his debut album, REMNANTS, in 2018, and now he’s back with The Wraith, a narrative electronic album that navigates the emotions felt as we drift apart from our dearest friends. The title is a metaphor for the memory of the bond you had with someone and how it can haunt you before you move on, to become a wraith yourself, from someone’s past. Musically, it’s influenced by James Blake, Chilly Gonzales, and Moses Sumney, and you can hear that in its delicate pop sensibilities and aching beauty. “Old Ties…” is a sensual slice of introspective 2-step, and it captures the experience of realizing that you’ve become a ghost to someone.
Venture Silk, real name Ruslan Shyshniak, started to make music around 2005, around the time he also learned how to scratch and played as a local DJ in a metal band. He’s always been excited about late ’90s Detroit electro, breakbeat, and bass music, and so since 2009, he’s been playing across Kyiv, Ukraine. “I usually get excited about details which can be a drum sound, a baseline, or an ambient noise,” he says. “Whatever creates a goosebump on my skin is a good indicator to start developing my own idea.” His latest release is The Gateway and it features “Escape,” a dark and dreamy track inspired by Detroit electro. It’s out now on 2064年 Recordings.
Outside World is Henry Solomon, whose saxophone playing is featured in his work with HAIM, and Logan Kane, a bassist who has shared the stage with acts such as Joel Ross, Jon Bap, and Chris Potter. Together, the pair sit at the forefront of a young and exciting Los Angeles jazz scene.
“Hits!” is the first single off of Outside World 2, the pair’s debut as Outside World. It’s also the debut single of Good Question, a Brooklyn label that will be focusing on experimental artists across a range of genres. It’s an energetic, hyper-pop-meets-jazz exploration in the vein of Flying Lotus and Kneebody. This single features Louis Cole on drums and Dennis Hamm on keys, both known for their work with powerhouse acts like Thundercat. It’s a mind-bending piece of rhythmic mastery that we can’t get enough of—and lands with a fittingly trippy video by Pedro Bello.
After a host of EPs on labels such as Clergy, Mord, and Beard Man, plus an album on Skryptöm, Kmyle is a French techno artist to keep an eye on. “Artificial Body” is the closer of the WASTELAND EP on KMYLE Records, and, with its fragile emotion and aggressive drive, it perfectly encapsulates Kmyle’s work, which is at once hard-hitting and introspective.
WalkPalmer, a 27-year-old producer living in Århus, Denmark, was featured on XLR8Rin April 2020, with the first single from his awaited new album. Since then, he’s been working hard to finish the LP, titled Changes, which went live in October. The releases displays the works he created during lockdown and so change has been a driving force in its production. The album features various genres and moods, ranging from ambient to deep house and more techno-focused cuts, with inspiration drawn from lo-fi, percussive, and melancholic soundscapes. “Standing On Waves” captures this perfectly with its slo-mo groove and gritty synth work.
After releasing on labels like Brooklyn’s Wolf and Lamb, Moodgadget, and Satoshi Tomiie’s Saw, Niko Dalagelis (a.k.a One Of Them) has released his first ambient album, Sithabo, out now on his own Artificial Owl Recordings. Each track represents a moment inspired by Dalagelis’ past three years of touring, and they were all written, produced, and mastered by Dalagelis in New York. “Tomo.Me,” our pick from the LP, is influenced by the end of a panic attack after a night at Contact in Tokyo, Japan, and is an affecting piece of electronics that straddles the emotional divide between paranoia and euphoria. We recommend you check out the album, too.
TEFFEBU テフェブ is a new record label from Buffete that “seeks to unite hemispheres and harmonize societies through a synthesis of art, music, poetry, and theatre,” they explain. The label was inspired by a trip to Japan a few years ago and was created to exclusively collaborate with Japanese artists. The first release on the label is a four-tracker by rising Japanese producer Rio Kawamoto, and we’re featuring the rework of “Chabu” by V/N, which is a project by label heads Variancé & Nathan. The track, much like the rest of the EP, focuses on a dubby groove, with sultry pads and slicing synth work filling things out. It’s a dreamy dancefloor number that keeps us coming back for more.
Billowing is the latest EP from Daysailer a project by Richmond, Virginia producer and songwriter Charles Taciturn. The release follows three previous albums on Barcelona-based label xenonyms and is a stunning collection of wind-swept ambient—it’s also Tactiturn’s first foray into a more gentle and restrained style of music under the Daysailer moniker. From the release, we’ve chosen “Bring Me Joy,” a five-minute piece of melancholic introspective ambient with a heartbeat-like kick.
Atlanta native Tito Mazzetta has been an obsessive digger for over a decade, and he finds himself threading different genres together, challenging himself to see how far a tangible story can be told through the mixing medium. A staple of Tito’s formula is rinsing fresh finds, old and new, into these sonic stories; from ambient and minimal techno to rare disco and electro, nothing is off the plate when it comes to what he plays. “Tales of Sub 131” is one of his latest studio mixes and is a perfect sumation of what you can expect with a Tito set. With a solid groove at its core, the mix threads together deep house, broken-beat steppahs, Detroit techno, and more than a few hard-to-pin-down gems—all at 131 bpm.
Sam Young ‘One Circle Around The Sun With You [Mixtape]’
Amsterdam’s Kendu Bari (f.k.a. Sam Young) produces an ambitious form of electronic music that came together from styles like breakbeat, drum & bass, and ambient. His compositions are often lengthy, multi-part epics which are composed more like miniature soundtracks than typical club cuts. His latest project is a mixtape called “One Circle Around The Sun With You,” which he made as a celebration of love, and it features all the tracks that have piqued his interest the most of the last years, running through Skee Mask’s breakbeats, head-swirling ambient from Oneohtrix Point Never, and ending on a score-like wonder from Nathan Micay. With this mix he hopes to can “bring some warmth to the people during these grey times,” he says.
Blume “Sleep Oddities”
Blume’s music is a personal brew of odd melodies, dancefloor-shattering breaks, and unconditional devotion for all things acid. She originates from Buenos Aires, Argentina but is now based in Amsterdam. The mixes she performs, records, and releases don’t focus on specific genres but on elements in them that she appreciates, such as the track’s groove, beats, or obscure melodies. She prepared “Sleep Oddities” for Bristol’s Noods Radio in October, and it features tracks from Autechre, Steffi, Global Communication, and Boards of Canada. It’s a wonderfully sourced and compiled mix that has been on repeat in the XLR8R office since it was submitted. Take note, Blume is one to watch in 2021.
Palestinian producer MC Muqata’a will release his fifth album on Simone Trabucchi’s Hundebiss Records in February.
Kamil Manqus combines sounds from local radio, drum machines, synths, and field recordings into harsh beats and abstract tones. Muqata’a drew upon an ancient Arabic science of combining numbers and alphabets to communicate with the unseen. “Samples of memories are being fragmented and restitched through each track,” he tells XLR8R.
Kamil Manqus, meaning “whole imperfect” or “perfect imperfect,” references Muqata’a’s way of working that sees errors not as mistakes, but as possible breaks in an otherwise closed system.
The artwork was made by Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme.
Muqata’a is an electronic musician and MC based in Ramallah, Palestine, and a co-founder of the Ramallah Underground collective. He’s known locally as the “godfather” of Ramallah’s hip-hop scene. His last solo album, Inkanakuntu, landed in 2017, and he also composes film scores and has worked on several compositions for dance performances.
Laila Sakini has released Into the Traffic, Under the Moonlight, a set of songs woven from the same fibre as her sublime Vivienne album.
Into the Traffic, Under the Moonlight expands on Vivienne‘s minimalist palette of piano, voice, and effects to include some percussive samples, cello, bass clarinet, flute, and hand claps. “Listening to that album, followed by this one, feels a bit like emerging from a small room—curtains drawn— into the outside world for the first time in a while,” Sakini explains.
The album features Brian Allen Simon on bass clarinet and a sample of Bernardo Risquez’ cello. There are 150 cassette editions.
Sakini is a London-based Australian DJ, curator, and musician, recognized for her sensitive and minimal musical landscapes. Each of her songs is courageous, intimate, and wildly hypnotic. Vivienne, available now on Los Angeles’ Total Stasis, was her debut album.
Sakini released Strada, a deliciously mysterious round of smudged trip-hop and spiritual jazz, for Boomkat’s Documenting Sound series in September.
Tracklisting
01. Talk My Way 02. Wade High 03. Into The Traffic 04. Easy Does 05. Metro 06. Hold It Heavy 07. Hold It Without a Beat 08. Night Emotion
Into the Traffic, Under the Moonlight is available now.
