Throughout the week, a whole lot of material gets posted here on XLR8R. And while we know—and love—that some hardcore readers will eagerly pour over every single news story, interview, podcast, video, and MP3 download that appears on the site, we also realize that for most people, it’s impossible to see everything, which means that some quality XLR8R content is likely to get missed in the hustle and bustle of everyone’s daily lives. In the interest of making it easier for everyone to catch up, every Friday we present The Lowdown, a weekly wrap-up of the top 10 tidbits from our site.

1. Once again, our Best of 2014 series dominated the week, and the most popular installment was our list of the year’s 15 best releases.

2. Not surprisingly, the previous day’s Best of 2014 list, which began the releases countdown by cataloging our favorites from #30 to #16, also garnered a lot of attention.

3. Another Best of 2014 installment focused on our selections for the year’s best new artists.

4. After two weeks primarily focused on artists, tracks, and releases, our Best of 2014 series finally shined a light on the year’s top labels.

5. UK producer Midland elected to give away his highly sought-after bootleg remix of Boards of Canada’s “Olson.”

6. Spanish act Henry Saiz revealed plans for an upcoming EP and shared a stream of the title track.

7. Nina Kraviz (pictured above) posted a stream of “IMPRV,” a song from her newly launched ???? label’s inaugural release; the track is also set to appear on her forthcoming DJ-Kicks mix album.

8. Red Bull Music Academy posted the video of its lecture with UK selector/producer Floating Points, who was interviewed during the most recent Academy in Tokyo.

9. Scottish producer Lockahgave away an eight-track collection of bootleg remixes that included his dancefloor-ready versions of tracks from Oneohtrix Point Never, FaltyDL, Girl Unit, and others.

10. The latest edition of BBC Radio One’s long-running Essential Mix series was put together by the crew from Warp Records.

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The end of the year is a great time for people who love free music. Over the past few days and weeks, many artists and labels have taken the opportunity to give their fans a bit of an early Christmas present in the form of a free track, a previously lost remix, or something else of the sort. Now, Stateside beatmaker Lee Bannon has offered up something of his own for the holiday season, giving away two new productions, “Telaporthrª” and “Untitled.” Together forming a digital single, the pair of tracks find Bannon operating at a much dreamier wavelength than his Main/Flex EP did when it dropped in early November.

Both the ambient “Telaporthrª” and heavenly “Untitled” can be streamed in full below and downloaded for free via Bandcamp, here. In addition, Bannon’s free digital single comes with a brief end-of-the-year message from the artist himself: “Shout out to Mikey, Teklife, Actress, Joey Badass, Uno, Nicolas Jarr, Massive Attack, Julia Willinger, Cibo Matto, Bel, the entire Ninja Tune crew, Trash Talk , 916, junglists all over, Dan O, Goldie, and every loyal fan… Why I do this shit.”

Set to wrap up a rather impressive 2014 run—hence why we included the label in our Best of 2014 coverage—Andrew Morgan’s PPU imprint has shared audio from a forthcoming single-sided 12″ credited to an artist by the name of MIX-0-RAP. Described as “stripped-down South Carolina street beatz” and something “strictly for thugz,” the slithering tune comes drenched in hiss and eerie tones that build and subtract throughout the course of the tune’s plodding six minutes.

While test presses of the record appear to currently be available via PPU’s website, the DC label’s next effort, MIX-0-RAP’s “For Thugz” single, is set to see its official release on January 1 (otherwise known as New Year’s Day) and can be streamed in full below.

In a new 20-minute film presented by the John Peel Archive, longstanding UK producer Mala is invited to dig through the record collection of legendary British radio DJ and broadcaster John Peel. Over the course of the film, Mala discusses his musical roots, touching on how the work of Augustus Pablo inspired him early on, before eventually picking out a number of pieces of wax key in the development of his sound and style as an artist.

“It was a privilege to be invited to explore John Peel’s personal record collection,” Mala wrote on his Facebook page. “Honestly, I haven’t seen anything like it… over 100,000 records I’m told,” he continues, “I had just a few hours to go digging, I did my best but barely touched the surface.” Still, the UK veteran managed to select 19 choice records—including cuts from Tom & Jerry, Goldie, The Ragga Twins, Loefah, and his own Digital Mystikz production outfit—throughout the course of the session, telling what made each record standout to him along the way.

The second in an ongoing series from the John Peel Archive, Mala’s installment in the film series can be watched in full here, where an informative breakdown of each record he has selected can also be found.

Carl Craig‘s own Planet E label is preparing to reissue his 1996 track “Country Boy Goes Dub,” featuring a remix by Berlin techno mainstay Marcel Dettmann. Set for release in early 2015, the track originally appeared on The Secret Tapes of Dr. Eich album, which Craig produced under his Paperclip People alias. The forthcoming record will include the Detroit pioneer’s original version of “Country Boy Goes Dub” on its a-side, with Dettmann’s rework—featured on the Berghain resident’s Fabric mix from earlier this year—rounding things out on the flip.

Country Boy Goes Dub sees an official release on January 19, with the first 500 copies pressed onto red vinyl. Until then, the record’s artwork and tracklist can be viewed below. (via Resident Advisor)

A1 Country Boy Goes Dub
B1 Country Boy Goes Dub (Marcel Dettmann Remix)

Damiano Von Erckert is giving away an unreleased track as part of UK magazine Stamp the Wax‘s advent calendar. The offer of “Soul Grooves” as a free download also happens to correspond with the Ava. label head’s birthday, and comes aptly described as “a cheeky house roller dripping in funk with all the right trimmings.” “I’ve made this track here at my studio in Cologne,” Von Erckert says. “First I thought to put it on my upcoming album in 2015 but it think it’s a good one to give it for free to the people. It has groove and is crowd approved! Have fun!”

“Soul Grooves” can be streamed and downloaded below, or nabbed as a pay-what-you-want download via the Stamp the Wax Bandcamp page. All donations from the advent calendar will be routed to Tomorrow’s People, a charity helping the long-term unemployed back to work.