Matrixxman Readies ‘Nubian Metropolis’ EP for Dekmantel, Shares Previews

Matrixxman (a.k.a. Charles McCloud Duff) will supply Dekmantel with its final release of 2014. Appearing on the Dutch label for the first time, the forthcoming Nubian Metropolis EP caps an already prolific year for the San Francisco-based producer, who (in addition to delivering an XLR8Rpodcast) has racked up releases for Delft, Unknown to the Unknown, Spectral, Kraftek, and his own Soo Wavey imprint. This latest 12″ is said to deploy “choking synth sounds, itchy bleeps, and meaty drum programming” across its four tracks, which can be previewed below (along with a complete tracklist) before Nubian Metropolis drops on December 16.

A1. Sermons
A2. Cybernetic Implant
B1. Siamese Twins
B2. System Blackout

The Lowdown: This Week’s XLR8R Top 10 with Jamie xx, Mr. Oizo, Beats in Space, and More

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. The latest edition of Ask the Experts featured Mr. Oizo (pictured above), who answered a bevy of questions submitted by the XLR8R audience.

2. In recognition of the show’s 15th anniversary, we put together an extensive oral history of Beats in Space, which included insights from host Tim Sweeney and a number of the characters that have featured prominently on the program throughout its run.

3. Jamie xx, Four Tet, John Talabot, and Koreless all contributed original pieces for the soundtrack to a new short film entitled Continuum. The piece can now be viewed online and all of the productions are available to be streamed and/or downloaded.

4. This week’s XLR8R podcast was delivered by Berlin-based producer Shifted, who put together a special ambient mixtape for the occasion.

5. The latest Essential Mix was delivered by UK producer Jon Hopkins.

6. James Blake revealed an upcoming single for his 1-800-DINOSAUR label and shared a preview online.

7. Floating Points shared news of a new 12″, Nuits Sonores, which will arrive next month via his Eglo label.

8. We inaugurated a new interview column, Jackie’s House, which found Honey Soundsystem co-founder Jackie House taking on Panorama Bar resident Steffi during an unorthodox scuba-diving trip to the bottom of the Amstel River.

9. XLR8R premiered a stream of a track from UK producer Max Cooper‘s upcoming Kindred EP.

10. In conjunction with the release of his new LP, we put together a list of 10 things everyone should know about German producer Lawrence.

An expanded version of the The Lowdown is also available via a weekly email newsletter. Those interested in an even more in-depth round-up of XLR8R content should sign up by entering their email address below.

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Watch Mr. Oizo’s Intense New Video, Directed by Eric Wareheim and Featuring the Glorious Return of Flat Eric

Just a few days after answering a slew of reader questions for our Ask the Experts series, Mr. Oizo has unveiled a wild new video for “Ham,” a track from The Church, his recently released new album on Brainfeeder. Directed by Eric Wareheim, the manic clip stars John. C Reilly and a handful of others, all decked out in fat suits and made to look as grotesque as possible, and documents a harrowing battle over Flat Eric, the loveable puppet who helped put Mr. Oizo on the map back in 1999. The complete video can be viewed below.

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Hi-Five: Graze Shares the “Bittersweet Electronics” That Helped Shape the Duo’s Sound

Graze burst onto the scene with a flurry of quality material in 2013, dropping a stellar self-titled EP and quickly following it up with a solid debut LP, Edges, prompting us to name the Canadian-born duo the year’s best new artist. 2014 has been a little quieter for Adam Marshall and Christian Andersen, although the pair has still managed to release a handful of singles and a second LP, Soft Gamma Repeater, which dropped just this month. Graze’s sound is a unique one, as the duo combines the sensibilities of the UK’s hardcore continuum with a more techno-oriented framework, a hybridized approach that probably speaks to its members’ varied histories with electronic music. Curious to hear more about the sounds that shaped their combined musical outlook, we got Marshall and Andersen to put together a list of tracks they described as “bittersweet classics for after the club.” When asked to elaborate on the theme, the pair clarified that it was talking about “the early techno and jungle that mined the territory between sadness and decay and hopeful futurism.” And though the Hi-Five series usually only asks for five selections, the boys of Graze felt inspired enough to choose a couple of extra “bonus tracks” for good measure.

Yennek “Serena X (Carl Craig Inner Zone Mix)”

Adam Marshall: I bought this track as part of a compilation called Panic In Detroit, which was released on a Belgian label called Buzz in the mid ’90s. Almost all of the tracks on this compilation hit a very emotive, yet restrained note, especially this Carl Craig remix of Kenny Larkin’s “Serena X.” The compilation as a whole defined a certain mood/atmosphere for me, one which I have only rarely found again. With contributions from many of Detroit’s key second-wave artists, in addition to tracks from John Beltran and A Guy Called Gerald, this whole release really stands out—for me at least—as a great snapshot of where techno was going, outside the confines of the club.

Derrick Carter’s Sound Patrol “I’m Sorry (Clairvoyage)”

AM: Chicago was putting out some really forward-thinking house in the early ’90s, which was tough and bumping, but also quite deep and introspective. This cut from Derrick Carter on Organico, under his Sound Patrol alias, will always be one of my favorite tracks of that time. With heavy 909 kicks amongst a sad, delicate melody, the track trips through 10 minutes of tough, bittersweet grooves. It’s made for the club, but it has a certain emotional heaviness to it, which always works like a charm for an early-morning dancefloor refresh. Many of Derrick’s Sound Patrol tracks mined this vein of dance music, including the gorgeous “Trippin’ Among the Stars” and the slow and spacey “Rising And Falling.”

Alaska & Paradox “Shinjuku”

Christian Andersen: Only a small group of people were making high-production, extremely edited jungle with atmospheric elements while the “jump-up” variant of the genre was reigning supreme. With the days of amazing 2-stepping drum & bass like Krust’s “Warhead” firmly behind us, I was much more apt to have tracks on Paradox Music in my record crate, though this particular flavor was rare and I would often transition my sets between light-feeling tracks such as this and the dark and brutal sounds of old Biotic and Penetration releases.

Link “Arcadian”

AM: Anything off this second Artificial Intelligence compilation brings back cloudy memories of long, post-party drives from the Midwest back to Toronto. This Link track in particular, from Global Communication’s Tom Middleton and Mark Pritchard, perfectly formed a slow-moving, weightless bubble of sound that was the perfect soundtrack after a long and loud night out. The whole compilation could loop on repeat for hours, happily unnoticed, as we shared the driving duties.

B12 “Hall of Mirrors”

AM: The whole Electro-Soma album on Warp (which this track is from) perfectly bridged the emotional divide between idealistic hope and muted reality. This is some south-facing techno, with a distinctly introspective and dystopian flavor. I had an old cassette of this in a car that a friend and I drove across the Canada one winter, and as it was the only music in the car—apart from the AM radio—it’s firmly lodged in my memory as the soundtrack to the entire journey. It always seemed like a perfect accompaniment to a late-night drive along a snowy highway, where you feel like you’re zooming through the vacuum of space.

BONUS TRACKS

?-Ziq “Catkin and Teasel”

CA: The album Lunatic Harness was given to me in my teens by my then girlfriend’s older brother. He was a sometime collaborator with the likes of Knifehandchop, Belladonnakillz (RIP), and Skeeter and was a big part of my introduction to the noise/glitch/drill & bass/IDM/whatever culture here in Toronto during the ’00s. The album has been a sort of sonic codex for me since the first listen. This is a prime example of the playfully emotive sound that was much of my introduction to electronic music. The sampling techniques and emotive synths contrasted by the aggressive drum programming and often mind-bending rhythm manipulation was more inspiring to me than anything else I had heard to that point.

Dillinja “Silver Blade”

CA: This track always reminds me of the future that drum & bass conjured in my mind when I would listen to it back then. This simply is the genre in my mind. It is the Boymerang break at its finest. “Silver Blade” and “Deadly Deep Subs” were on heavy rotation in my youth and played a huge part in inspiring me to spend a king’s ransom on vinyl over the following years. Were it not for tracks like this, or maybe this track specifically, I may never have been inspired to play jungle, or DJ, and none of this may have happened.

Four Tet, John Talabot, Jamie xx, and Koreless Soundtrack Short Film; Watch It Now

London-based artist and poet Sofia Mattioli (who was behind the video for Jamie xx‘s “Sleep Sound” single earlier this year) and long-time collaborator Rebecca Salvadori have put together a new short film entitled Continuum, for which Jamie xx, Four Tet, John Talbot, and Koreless have contributed short original productions to serve as the soundtrack.

The eight-minute clip was reportedly created using an iPhone, the images from which Mattioli sent along to the four producers, asking each of them to write music to accompany the clips. “While the silent video plays,” Mattioli told the film’s musical contributors, “what I want everyone to do is go into their own space in their own head, and imagine the piece of music they would put with it.” The resulting film—which arrives via the Nowness website—can be watched in full below, while each producer’s contribution to the effort can be streamed and downloaded here. (via Pitchfork)

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Permanent Vacation Preps Debut LP from Lake People

Munich’s Permanent Vacation outpost has detailed plans to issue the forthcoming debut LP from Lake People. The German producer’s first full-length effort is said to find the artist born Martin Enke continuing to evolve the “meditative, somehow spiritual, yet powerful house sound” he has built his reputation on, particularly since the release of his Point in Time EP, which appeared in 2012 via the Krakatau label. Entitled Purposely Uncertain Field, Lake People’s debut album is described in a press release as a record which finds the producer adding “a certain mid-’90s electronica vibe and ambient-like soundscapes” to his 11 dancefloor constructions, ultimately resulting in a “cinematic” full-length effort.

For now, no audio previews have been made available for the upcoming record, which is set to see its official release on February 6 of next year. In the meantime, the artwork and tracklist for Lake People’s Purposely Uncertain Field LP have been included below.

01 Escape Velocity
02 Drifting Red
03 Entangled
04 Lamb Shift
05 Cooping
06 Orb
07 Illuminated
08 Blackpoint
09 Bora
10 Glease 29
11 Distance

Window “See See (Matrixxman Remix)”

Originally released in digital form in 2011 and 2012 respectively, Montreal producer Window‘s Immersed and Strands EPs are set to be combined into a single cassette release via Stateside label Crash Symbols, who have also collected a number of new remixes for the occasion. Set to join reworks from the likes of Aria Rostami and Gives, among others, is this remix from former XLR8R podcast contributor Matrixxman. An R&B-soaked piece of somewhat frantic beatwork in its original form, Matrixxman reshapes Window’s “See See” production into a lurching dancefloor affair, one bathed in icy pads and eventually led by a bouncing analog synth sequence. After grabbing Matrixxman’s extended remix below, the rest of Window’s forthcoming Strands/Immersed cassette can be streamed after the jump.

Strands/Immersed by Window

See See (Matrixxman Remix)

Stream Ike Release’s Upcoming Debut LP for MOS

Ahead of its release next week, Noir—the debut full-length from Chicago native Ike Release—can now be streamed in full. Due out via Dutch label MOS on December 1, the album follows from last year’s Dream Sequencer EP for the imprint, not to mention a series of hardware-driven house EPs and albums alongside Hakim Murphy as Innerspace Halflife. For this latest solo effort, Release characteristically employs the wide range of machines at his disposal—among them, Microkorgs, iPad apps, cracked soft synths, and borrowed Nord leads—to craft 10 deeply textured house constructions lined with percussive grooves.

“The aim with the album evolved from the time it was initially proposed,” Release says. “I was being pretty diligent about sending [MOS boss Steven] the tracks I was working on, and really, all I wanted to do was showcase who I am musically. Noir is what came about in the end—the title plays into a theme that runs through much of my work, which Steven helped me identify.”

Ike Release’s debut full-length arrives in digital and vinyl formats on December 1, but before then, Noir can be streamed in its entirety via the player below.

Ask the Experts: Mr. Oizo

Thanks to the Thanksgiving holiday here in the US, this month’s edition of Ask the Experts is arriving a few days early, but its rushed appearance doesn’t mean the knowledge being imparted by Mr. Oizo (a.k.a. Quentin Dupieux) is any less potent. The well-traveled producer and filmmaker is fresh off the release of a new album, The Church, which was recently issued by Flying Lotus’ Brainfeeder label. And while the LP’s surfacing has undoubtedly kept him busy, Mr. Oizo still made the time to sift through the avalanche of questions we received from XLR8R readers and answer the ones that most tickled his fancy. His responses touch on his songwriting process, studio set-up, and the relationship between his movie making and music making, but more importantly, they find him sharing some valuable wisdom and genuine insights into his artistic outlook.

How important is it for a producer to be a DJ also? Will it give them an edge in terms of the music they make? Did you produce first or DJ first?
Chris

I produced a lot of music before spinning records in clubs. When “Flat Beat” was everywhere, I wasn’t playing as a DJ. It was too scary for me. I guess it’s up to you. You can make great music without being a DJ.

How fast you can make an superb beat from nothing?
Igor

It is easy to create a first draft in 10 minutes. Anybody can do it. I play with some tools, I record stuff without thinking, I dig for new ideas. It is harder to finish something!

You’re well known for working with unusual synthesizer sounds. When you’re doing a track, do you create the sounds first and work around them, or start with an idea and incorporate your sounds into them?
HiFi Brown

There are no rules! It’s always different. I don’t have like a formula to make my tunes, I just try to surprise myself every time I produce something. Sometimes I just record some live synths, then I cut the best bits and create the track from that. (That’s how I did “Positif,” for example.) Sometimes I start with some samples. Sometimes I also sample my own music.

Your production skills come from your hip-hop background, and listening to your tracks, they involve a lot of sampling and programming. Do you use MIDI programming or sequence the audio? Do you use any MIDI controller with the software? Or do you chop with the mouse and launch your samples drawing the MIDI notes instead of using a controller?
Tito

I do everything with a small MIDI keyboard and the mouse.

What software or hardware did you used to produce your last album? Do you have any special piece of gear you always use?
Señor Ave

This album was made 98% with Logic 9 and 2% with Ableton Live. I only have a laptop, a small MIDI keyboard, two good speakers, and some vinyl. I have tried many things (analog synths, crazy controllers, 5899 plug-ins) and I realized something very important: tools can’t make music for you.

As an aspiring filmmaker in high school who wants to one day write and direct music videos and films for a living, what would you say is the best path to achieving these goals and becoming a successful filmmaker? Your work in film and music is a huge inspiration of mine, so thank you for taking the time to read my question.
M.M.

It depends. If successful means $$$$ and fame, I can’t really help you. If successful means being able to write and direct exactly what you want and love, then my only advice would be like the Nike commercial tagline: ‘JUST DO IT.’ Nobody’s waiting for you. Do your stuff, follow your instinct. Good luck!

What is your involvement in the making of the soundtrack for your upcoming movie Reality? Because I think I read somewhere that you did not want to get involved personally in the making of your future movies’ soundtracks. But maybe you have changed your mind…
Quentin

I haven’t changed my mind! I really think my music sometimes ruins my movies. It was fun to use 25 Oizo bangers on the Wrong Cops soundtrack because the movie was really rough and dirty, but I think I should not do that again for future projects. For Reality, I used only one beautiful piece by Philip Glass (Music with Changing Parts, 1971), nothing else. It works fantastically. Having a masterpiece like this on my movie is a big change for me.

I would like to know if one day you plan to play some of your tunes with a band, without electronic sound, only sound from “real” instruments?
Jona

I have no plan like that, but I would love to hear a band playing my tunes. There’s a rock band on YouTube who played “Cut Dick.” That is quite fun. I heard a studio version of “Flat Beat” also, but that was terrible.

Seafloor “Let Me Go”

Canada’s Infinite Machine label is set to wrap up its 2014 run with one final effort from increasingly active Brooklyn producer Seafloor, whose The Drift EP is slated to land via the imprint on December 1. Leading off the record is “Let Me Go,” a fast-evolving production which begins its run as a soul-swept slice of bass music, before alternating rushes of drum & bass and juke-indebted rhythms take over the procession, giving the tune a more sinister edge despite its lush chords and soaring vocal snippets. Ahead of its release next week, Seafloor’s forthcoming The Drift EP is available to preview after the jump.

1. Let Me Go
2. All I Need
3. Feelings Gone
4. Nothing Is Sacred
5. Let Me Go (Warsnare Remix)
6. Feelings Gone (Gillepsy Remix)

Let Me Go

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