B-Tracks Inaugurate Regular Expression Label with New EP; Preview It Now

The Boston duo of John Barera and Soren Jahan (known together as B-Tracks) has announced plans to drop a new four-track EP, Work It Out, later this month. The release will be the first on new Berlin label Regular Expression, and deals in the same kind of airy, sweeping house that’s characterized B-Tracks’ previous outings to date.

Work It Out follows hot on the heels of Barera’s and Will Martin’s collaborative Graceless LP, which garnered a good deal of praise in our review of the album earlier this week. Snippets of the B-Tracks pari’s forthcoming EP can be streamed via the player below, where we’ve also include the record’s tracklist ahead of the Work It Out”s full release on October 27.

A1 Work It Out
A2 Meanwhile
B1 Anytime
B2 Downstairs

Jacob 2-2 “Central and Mountain”

Earlier this week, Brooklyn-via-Atlanta producer Jacob 2-2 returned to the King Deluxe label with a new EP. Entitled The Rec, the eight-track effort sees Jacob 2-2 offering six funky ADD-beat hybrids while Muta and Stephen Farris have been enlisted to rework a track which first appeared on the Brooklyn resident’s Herbivore LP, which also dropped via King Deluxe last year. Pulled from The Rec is “Central and Mountain,” a somewhat stoney production which laces its thick hip-hop rhythms with breezy chords and a number of vintage-streaked synth melodies—a run of crystal-like bells, MIDI flute, and gliding Moog-style leads among them—before eventually sneaking some slap bass into the mix. (As an extra treat, Jacob 2-2 tags a nice bonus beat onto the end of this one too). While “Central and Mountain” can be grabbed below, a fantastically toy-based video for the producer’s “Constuxon Time Again” track by animator/filmmaker Adam Brown can be watched in full after the jump.

Central and Mountain

Labels You Love: The Top 20 Labels, As Voted by XLR8R Readers

All week long, XLR8R is presenting its annual focus on Labels We Love. Click here to check out the rest of the series.

Over the past four days, XLR8R‘s editorial staff has been touting all of its favorite labels, and while we appreciate people’s willingness to check out what we have to say, it only seems fair that we also let our audience weigh in with its thoughts. As such, we’re once again wrapping up the Labels We Love series with Labels You Love, a list of the top 20 labels, as voted by XLR8R‘s readers. Since the polls opened last week, we received thousands of votes, and we’ve taken the time to count each one and compile the results. (For those who might be wondering, there has definitely been a significant amount of turnover since last year.) We’d like to thank everyone who took the time to participate, and without further adieu, we invite everyone to have a look at the labels you love the most.

1. Warp
2. Atomnation
3. Hyperdub
4. L.I.E.S.
5. Houndstooth
6. Hivern Discs
7. Erased Tapes
8. Brainfeeder
9. Ghostly
10. Crème Organization
11. The Trilogy Tapes
12. Lobster Theremin
13. Ninja Tune
14. Glacial Sound
15. Kompakt
16. Local Action
17. Night Slugs
18. Mood Hut
19. Innervisions
20. R&S

Vakula Preps New Album Inspired by 1920 Novel

Ukrainian artist Mikhaylo Vityk (a.k.a. Vakula) has announced plans for a new album named A Voyage to Arcturus, inspired by the 1920 David Lindsay book of the same name. RA reports that the album will feature 16 tracks named after the book’s chapters, and quotes Vityk, who has previously released on Dekmantel and Firecracker among many other imprints, as saying that the album will be “more like a soundtrack” than a conventional album. The LP will be released on Vityk’s own Leleka imprint “soon,” though an exact date has not yet been confirmed. The album’s artwork and full tracklist can be found below.

A1 The Seance
A2 19 hours Prior To Arcturus
A3 Maskull’s First Day On Tormance
B1 New Sensations
B2 Joiwind
C1 Oceaxe
C2 The Wombflash Forest
C3 Surtur’s Sounds
C4 Maskull’s Keyhole
D1 Liquid Opal
D2 Matterplay
D3 Haute
E1 Sullenbode
E2 Crystalman’s Empire
F1 Barey
F2 Muspel

Medlar “The Camberwell Beauty”

With the 2014 edition of the annual Amsterdam Dance Event festival in full swing this weekend, “music discovery service” 22tracks and file transfer service WeTransfer have decided to mark the occasion by putting together Transfer Tracks Vol. 1, a—you guessed it—22-track compilation. Nestled between productions from the likes of Jacob Korn, Sisterhood, and Julien Mier, among others, is Medlar‘s “The Camberwell Beauty” (one of a number of tunes exclusive to the collection). A warm, sample-based excursion, “The Camberwell Beauty” piles heavenly harp runs and jazzy Rhodes chords atop an array of lively percussion loops and shuffled snares. Medlar’s entrancing contribution to Transfer Tracks Vol. 1 can be grabbed below, while the full compilation can be downloaded for free here.

The Camberwell Beauty

Watch the Video for Lakker’s “Mountain Divide”

As we reported in August, Irish pair Lakker has just let loose its second EP for Belgium’s iconic R&S label. Now the duo has shared a new video for EP standout “Mountain Divide,” a track which finds Lakker in mesmeric, undulating form, with huge sheets of celestial noise washing over urgent but muffled beats throughout its eight-minute duration.

The video for “Mountain Divide” is unsurprisingly intense. Kicking off in the distant, flickering light of what might be a rescue searchlight viewed from underwater, it builds in tandem with the track, a man’s face periodically superimposed over all manner of flickering lights and shapes, as well as volcanic plumes of liquid that evoke the memorable visuals cooked up for Egyptrixx’s A/B Til Infinity live show last year. The video can be watched in full below, in an XLR8R premiere.

Listen to Objekt’s Upcoming Debut LP for PAN in Full

Before it lands via Bill Kouligas’ PAN imprint next week, the ambitious debut LP from Berlin producer Objekt is now streaming in full.

The upcoming Flatland LP finds the former Artist Tips contributor presenting his most comprehensive artistic statement yet, with 11 hybridized tracks taking shape as visceral pieces of warped club music completed with a highly detailed amount of sonic construction. Before it lands on October 20, Objekt’s debut full-length can be streamed in full here, via Pitchfork Advance. In addition, PAN label head Bill Kouligas’ new joint B2B discussion with Night Slugs co-founder Bok Bok can be read here, appearing as part of XLR8R‘s current Labels We Love week.

Watch the Final Episode of RBMA’s ‘Diggin’ in the Carts’ Series

After following along with Red Bull Music Academy‘s exceptional Diggin’ in the Carts films for the past five weeks, we have arrived at the documentary series’ final episode. Appropriately titled The End of an Era, the series’ sixth and final episode discusses the evolution of video game music with the arrival of the 32-bit audio platform, specifically focusing on the era of the original PlayStation and the Tekken series of games, whose composers site artists such as The Chemical Brothers, Goldie, and LTJ Bukem as the inspiration for the games’ soundtracks.

The final episode of RBMA’s Diggin’ in the Carts can be watched in its entirety below, while the rest of the six-part series can be found here.

M. Geddes Gengras to Release New LP of Modular Compositions

Following closely behind his recent LP for Leaving/Stones Throw, M. Geddes Gengras will release a new collection of modular compositions next month via the Umor Rex imprint. Intended as a follow-up to his 2013 LP for the label, Collected Works Vol. 1 The Moog Years, Gengras’ forthcoming Collected Works Vol. 2 New Process Music album is said to represent “a major aesthetic shift” for the Los Angeles-based artist, who can be found “fusing the long-form modular compositions he had been exploring on a bevy of small-run cassette releases with a new obsession with post-production editing” on the record.

Gengras’ eight track New Process Music album will drop in limited vinyl and digital forms on November 18. Before then, lengthy LP cut “The Last Time We Were Here” is streaming in full below, where the record’s complete racklist is also included.

1. Pure
2. Slider
3. Ricochet
4. Glass dance
5. The last time we were here
6. Relation
7. New process
8. Pure (reprise)

Lixo “Makes Me”

London resident Alexander Hislop certainly keeps himself busy—the man oversees the GETME! label, helms a regular show on NTS Radio, and produces tracks under the name Lixo. His latest tune, “Makes Me,” comes ahead of a Lixo EP which is currently in the works and likely to land sometime next year. A bulbous production, “Makes Me” is built atop a procession of choppy rhythms, the track’s thick snares, precisely tuned kicks, and crisp bits of drum-machine percussion serving as the bed to an array of manipulated vocal chops and gritty chord stabs.

Makes Me

Page 1207 of 3781
1 1,205 1,206 1,207 1,208 1,209 3,781