San Francisco’s Dark Entries label—an imprint we profiled in the first edition of our freshly launched Get Familiar series—will release the second installment of its Bay Area Retrograde (BART) compilation next month. The compilation series aims to collect “underground music from San Francisco (and the greater Bay Area) made between 1978-1988,” with an emphasis on the “experimental and quirky new wave, post punk, and synthpop” which populated the Bay Area’s DIY music scene of the late ’70s and ’80s.
Furthermore, along with the vinyl release of BART Vol. 2, Dark Entries will also issue a CD edition of the series which combines both volumes of the collection. Both the vinyl and CD forms are set to land on October 15; in the meantime, the tracklist for Bay Area Retrograde (BART) Vol. 2 can be found below, while clips from the upcoming collection can be heard here.
01 Factrix – Night To Forget 02 Chrome – Meet You In the Subway 03 Red Asphalt – Red Asphalt 04 Tuxedomoon – Day to Day 05 Ki Di Me – Islamatic 06 Indoor Life – Gilmore of the Fillmore 07 Timmy Spence – Brand New Dance 08 Baby Buddha – Little Things 09 Human Being Men – Human Dub 10 Wonders Of Science – Let’s Start A Rumor 11 Zru Vogue – Nakweda Dream
Pulled from the outfit’s recent In a Dream LP for DFA, The Juan MacLean‘s “A Simple Design” single has received a video treatment. As the pop-flecked, synth-fueled track unrolls, Juan MacLean himself and vocalist Nancy Whang try their hand at a few art projects—pottery and painting, mostly—occasionally hiding behind their creations as the disco-indebted tune weaves through its different sections. The full video for “A Simple Design” can be watched below.
Soo Wavey, the label co-operated by Vin Sol and Matrixxman (pictured above), has always served primarily as a platform for the two West Coast producers’ own projects. That’s set to change, however, with a forthcoming EP from a new affiliate. Known simply as En, the anonymous artist’s Communication 12″ comprises three original techno cuts, plus a remix from the label’s founders. In their version of b-side effort “4U,” Vin Sol and Matrixxman deliver a “hypnotic, off-kilter reworking,” imbibing the track with “restrained Chicago jacking vibes” that toe the line between house and techno.
Communication is due out on October 6, and “4U (Matrixxman & Vin Sol’s Underground Railroad Mix)” has been made available to stream in full below, where we’ve also included the EP’s tracklist.
A1. Truth A2. And Realty B1. 4U B2. 4U (Matrixxman & Vin Sol’s Underground Railroad Mix)
A UK producer now based in Shanghai, China, Conrank will join the, well, ranks of the beat-focused Saturate label next week with his 7-track Exhale Therapy EP. Amongst the collection of new productions is “Gunspitter” a G-funk-laced effort which wraps bright chord stabs and gliding synth melodies around the track’s titular vocal sample and an ever-evolving set of booming rhythms. Set to drop on September 30 via Saturate, Conrank’s Exhale Therapy EP—which features a collaboration with turntable maven DJ Shadow on its title track—can be previewed after the jump.
1. Steam 2. Running This 3. Exhale Therapy (ft. DJ Shadow) 4. Two Step (ft. Subp Yao) 5. Gun Spitter 6. I Go In (ft. Goldfinger) 7. Beat Dough
Global music hubs Mixpak and Man have teamed up on an eclectic, club-geared compilation. Based in Brooklyn, Dre Skull‘s Mixpak imprint specializes in Caribbean music and names artists like Jubilee and Dubbel Dutch to its roster, while its Berlin-based counterpart on the upcoming EP, Man, is a self-declared proponent of regional electronic styles from the Southern hemisphere. The collaborative PAK MAN compilation finds producers from both labels pairing up, and features everything from grime and jacking house to dancehall and “power soca.” Billed as “global dance music for 2014—the product of unexpected collaboration and complete freedom,” PAK MAN will see an official release on October 28, and the EP’s complete tracklist has been posted below.
1. Murlo & Wildlife! – Control 2. Poirier & Douster – We Champion 3. Dre Skull & Daniel Haaksman – Split Screen 4. So Shifty & Milangeles – Dembele 5. Schlachthofbronx & Jubilee – Go Deh
In the rapidly evolving world of electronic music, it’s all but impossible to keep track of every new artist, label, party, and genre. At the same time, certain names will inevitably pop up again and again at the XLR8R office, some of which we’ve only given passing mention to on the site. In an effort to get our readers up to speed with some of the things—both new and old—that we’ve been digging lately, we recently launched a new feature series called ‘Get Familiar,’ which aims to shine a spotlight on subjects we think are worthy of a little more attention. When putting together this particular edition, we honestly had no idea that the folks at Resident Advisor were planning a similar feature that would appear just two days before our article was scheduled for publishing. The RA piece is well worth a read, but we’ve put together our own take, and we’d like to think that Giegling is good enough to warrant the extra attention.
Giegling is a lot of things, but it began as a club and venue in Weimar, an East German city rich in culture and history. After the club’s first owners abandoned it, a group of friends took the spot over, and with the help of a borrowed soundsystem, began hosting their own parties. Shortly thereafter, these friends began pressing their own records, and Giegling the record label was born. But Giegling is more than just a record label—it’s a collective, a tightly knit group of friends and musicians (including Prince of Denmark, Matthias Reiling of Session Victim, and Vril, amongst others) who, over the course of five years, have developed their own idiosyncratic sound: a dusty, emotive, and soulful take on minimal house and dubby techno that is slowly but surely making its mark around the globe.
“Giegling is our story. Something like a diary,” says Konstantin (a.k.a. Herr Koreander, and half of Kettenkarussell, the project that launched the label). “It’s an ongoing story about friendship, exploring life, making mistakes, falling in love. Musically speaking, there’s always a melancholic touch that goes throughout the releases, but also an infantile happiness that makes you smile, and at the same time feel a little bit ashamed.” It’s precisely this human touch that separates Giegling from the pack. The crew’s closest ancestor is the microhouse sound of the early-to-mid aughts, an influence Konstantin recognizes: “We have great respect for labels like Perlon, who managed to keep a vibe for that long and come up with fresh material. I think the difference is that our stuff is a little bit more vulnerable and not so cool.”
Listening to Kettenkarussell’s new album, Easy Listening, it’s easy to hear what Konstantin is talking about. The album opens with a sample of Bruce Lee, his distinctive, accented voice exhorting the listener to “express oneself honestly,” blending seamlessly into “Drama,” a lush, sylvan vision of Krautrock-inspired guitar and gently syncopated beats, sounding futuristic and atavistic at once. Throughout the album (and throughout other releases on Giegling generally) samples of real instrumentation abound: snippets of jazz, drawn-out horn samples, and gentle drum breaks make everything feel grounded, natural, and human, a far remove from the microhouse of the past. As Konstantin says, “I think an interesting aspect [about Giegling] is that most of what we bring out is pretty much imperfect and has something super realistic to it. Something you already did yourself at home, or could have done, or have always wanted to do. All in all, I’d say it’s all about rhythm and blues.”
Recent Giegling label night at Gaswerk in Weimar
But Kettenkarussell and the minimal house sound are only part of the Giegling picture. There’s another side to the label, one that trades playfulness, youthfulness, and microhouse for mystery, reverence, and deep dub techno. This is perhaps best represented by the Staub (German for “dust”) series, which launched with Vril’s first record. (To date, there have been seven Staub records, all of them white labels bearing stamps of mathematical and occult imagery, a stark shift from the naturalistic images decorating Giegling’s earlier releases.) “My music is inspired by spirituality, machines, and a ‘feeling’ of techno—not a ‘thinking’ of techno,” says Vril. His sound may be rooted in the dub-techno blueprint of Basic Channel and its many followers, but there is a mystical, otherworldly touch to his productions that distinguishes him from the pack. For Vril, “minimalism” means minimalism in the Steve Reich or Terry Riley sense; dubby, fuzzed-out chords seem to rotate endlessly in his tracks, the force of repetition imbuing them with a hypnotic quality.
Prince of Denmark, the other major player in Giegling’s mystical axis, is perhaps the label’s best-known secret. His tracks have been charted and played out by some of the world’s top house DJs, and his penchant for blending old-school Chicago house flavor with cavernous, ghostly overtones makes his productions both accessible and idiosyncratic. He also maintains an alter-ego, Traumprinz, whose sound is much more in the classic Chicago house vein, often lifting acapellas straight from vintage soul and disco cuts. In an interview accompanying his superb Resident Advisor podcast, he described the Traumprinz persona as a “child,” while Prince of Denmark is a “man.” Speaking with us, he adds, “It’s good to have the freedom that these different personalities provide me,” explaining that “the main reason I said that Traumprinz is a child is that I try to keep hold of that free spirit, the feeling of being able to do whatever you want to do, and to do that with an open heart,” an attitude that’s readily apparent in the looseness and playfulness of his Traumprinz productions.
Ultimately, it’s talent that unifies everyone in the Giegling family. When asked about how he feels about his music on other record labels in contrast to how he feels about his music on Giegling, Vril sums it up nicely: “It really feels natural when I listen to the music from other Giegling acts. Giegling is my spiritual home. I don’t think you’ll find another collection of artists like this in a single label.”
Increasingly active Russian producer Kito Jempere has put together a collection of “unreleased demos and live takes” for Cassette Store Day, set to take place on Saturday, September 27. In anticipation, the burgeoning talent has passed along “A Mirage Seen at Buffalo,” a synth-streaked cut from the forthcoming tape. Spanning over seven minutes, the “demo” (though it certainly doesn’t sound unfinished) is a methodical expedition, one soaked in steely techno tones and led by a particularly entrancing motif which jumps octaves as the track steadily shuffles along. Officially out on Saturday, the rest of Jempere’s forthcoming cassette can be previewed after the jump.
NTS Radio broadcaster Alice Moxom (a.k.a. Moxie, pictured above) has curated a new compilation—her first to be presented as an official release—which is now available for streaming and free download. In addition to hosting her own show on NTS, the London-based DJ has also featured on Rinse FM and BBC Radio 1’s In New DJs We Trust and Residency shows. In the forthcoming Moxie Presents Vol. 1, she handpicks eight exclusive tracks from the likes of Livity Sound member Kowton and Hyperdub affiliate Ikonika. The collection spans from grime-inspired techno to hip-hop and UK funky, and is on offer below.
‘Real Talk’ is a series of artist-penned essays that appears on XLR8R from time to time, and our latest installment features LA producer Anenon (a.k.a. Brian Allen Simon). A few days after the release of his second LP, ‘Sagrada,’ via his own Non Projects label, Simon has put together some thoughts regarding the importance of performing live, and touches upon the increasing difficulty of securing solid shows.
There is not much else in this world like taking part in a truly great live music performance. Playing an amazing set and feeling the energy of the room cannot be paralleled by any other experience—it’s a true natural high that doesn’t need to be aided by anything other than good sound and an unspoken connection between audience and performer. During all of my best shows, there has been a sort of mutual and reciprocal trust that formed from the first note played. The audience accepted that they were along for the ride and I felt the power to take them wherever the sound took me. There was no doubt on either side. Nowadays, these experiences are beginning to feel few and far between.
In the the current musical climate, and as an electronic musician who doesn’t make straight-up club music, it is becoming harder and harder for me to find the ideal gig. I am very set on finding my own voice and not worrying about fitting into any particular scene. Creating works that fit snugly into the zeitgeist of today is pretty much of no concern. While I hold on to the idea that it is nearly impossible for inventiveness to exist in a vacuum, maintaining and evolving a singular approach to music and sound is my top priority. Playing live in proper situations helps me achieve this. While some may view this as a certain stubbornness, I simply see it as a respect for the masters of music who have come before me. I make electronic music, but I follow in the lineage of jazz musicians who studied the masters before going on to create their own musical worlds.
Techno and club music is big business right now. It’s completely fashionable and many are jumping in. Many artists working within that framework are making truly inspiring work that I pay attention to, and I think that more people getting involved with music and the arts can be a great thing, but a lot of it tends to feel short-sighted to me. In booking and in music media, there seems to be more emphasis on any given current party scene rather than a focus on music that has some sort of emotional core. Don’t get me wrong; I like a good party with great music, but a lot of what I hear live and listen to on the internet feels simply like variations of techno and house templates to me—bland iterations without any real voice behind them. It’s ironic, because all of the masters of techno and club music that we collectively look up to completely transcend genre boundaries. We listen to them because they have their own voice and they lead the way, consistently taking risks. Whether or not they align with some consensus of what they’re supposed to sound like is never even taken into consideration on their parts.
The way I view techno and house is almost like the way that I view Indian classical music. I took some lessons in tabla (traditional Indian hand percussion) while in college, yet I have a hard time even sampling a tabla sound in my music. The tradition is so strong that it feels like a violation to not be 100% all in, completely committed. Berlin and Detroit techno have a certain lineage that makes it hard for me to imagine creating that music without completely immersing myself in it. The internet provides convenient glimpses into the culture, but we can’t kid ourselves into thinking that brushing up on our techno history on YouTube and SoundCloud is coming anywhere close to experiencing it firsthand. Strands of LA beat music find their way into my music frequently because that’s what’s been around me on a consistent basis for years. I’m an LA native who has frequented Low End Theory and performed at it a number of times, and I also interned for Low End founder Daddy Kev before the party even existed. LA beat music has always been about freedom and it’s completely in my blood at this point. I feel a connectedness to it, but I also feel the ability to stray and do my own thing whilst keeping it as just a reference point.
I really don’t want this to sound like some tired and jaded diatribe, because it’s not. I’m so completely obsessed with music and its wondrous possibilities and could not imagine my life without it. I’ve been highly fortunate to have taken part in some amazing shows across the globe since I began releasing music publicly in 2010. I’ve toured Japan with Matthewdavid, opened for Morton Subotnick in Madrid, and I shared bills with Julia Holter and Oval last year. I also played an amazing gig with a free-jazz quartet as openers in a picturesque Toronto church earlier this year. As well as being completely different life-changing experiences and artistic milestones in my career, these are all examples of shows and tours put together that I think successfully highlighted the contrast between the artists involved. Matthew and I both reside in Los Angeles and are both on some level associated with the LA beat scene, but our music sounds nothing alike. What we do have in common is a certain spirit towards creativity and pushing boundaries, and the organizers of that tour understood that. It wasn’t about cashing in on some current trend. It is also completely worth noting that many of these live opportunities for me were aided by extremely passionate promoters seemingly unphased by music business realities, going all out to make these shows happen. I understand the risks of shows potentially not turning out as planned, especially when travel and big budgets are involved. Sometimes it seems selfish to want more and more opportunities to do this, but to be frank, the music that I am making cannot grow without chances for proper live performance. Playing live informs my studio work and vice versa. To have a consistent dialogue between the two sides of my work is necessary and helps me grow faster, developing the music in new and uncharted ways, always expanding and always advancing. All I need is a venue.
UK producer Hudson Mohawke has shared a second cut from his upcoming Chimes EP for Warp, a beatless production titled “Brainwave.”The new effort comes in sharp contrast to the EP’s booming title track, a stream of which was shared with the record’s initial announcement back in July. With a brief runtime of just over two minutes, “Brainwave” focuses its efforts on spiraling synth work, which Mohawke lays atop a bed of vocal-like pads. Ahead of the Chimes EP’s official release on September 29, the Warp artist’s latest production can be streamed in full below.
