Blakmoth has shared Deathshead, a new EP of transportive drone and ambient.
Blakmoth, real name Jack Smith, is a rising producer and bassist based in Maryland, United States. While much of his music tends to lean towards lighter ambient, he also uses modular synthesis, field recordings, and tape loops to paint deeply moving soundscapes with dark, brooding atmospheres. It’s what he calls “Doombient.”
“The idea came about because I wanted to push ambient into a darker space,” he says. “Be the complete opposite of bleep bloops and plucks.”
Deathshead, with five tracks, is Smith’s latest addition to an extremely busy year in terms of production. In August and September, he released Offerings and Omens respectively, and in June he put out The Space Between, a new album. NINE, another album, surfaced in January.
Tracklisting
01. Wake From the Chysalis 02. Acherontia Lachesis I 03. Aphothic Fluent 04. Lucent Inarticulate 05. Acherontia Lachesis II
Deathshead EP is available now. You can stream it in full via Bandcamp below, and order here.
Lou Phelps, real name Louis-Philippe Celestin, has shared “Nike Shoe Box,” the first taste of his impending mixtape, Extra Extra!
Extra Extra! sees Phelps laying lyrics over beats from tek.lun, LAKIM, and his brother, Louis Kevin Celestin (a.k.a Kaytranada). Across seven tracks, he takes an introspective look at the highs and lows of rising to stardom.
Like the single itself, the video for “Nike Shoe Box,” streaming below, resides in a relaxed atmosphere, with Phelps going through the motions of the celebrity photoshoot.
A longtime fixture of the Montreal music scene, Phelps started making music in 2011 with Kaytranada as part of The Celestics. As a solo artist, he’s developed a reputation for creating tasteful and danceable hip-hop music. In September 2018, he shared his sophomore album, 002 / LOVE ME, via Last Gang Records, with Kaytranada as executive producer and guest spots from BADBADNOTGOOD, JAHKOY, Planet Giza, and Pony.
Tracklisting
01. Must Be (prod. Kaytranada) 02. Party In LA (prod. LAKIM & Jasper) 03. Nike Shoe Box (prod. Kaytranada) 04. Fire (prod. Kaytranada) 05. Smiling (prod. Kaytranada) 06. New Friends (prod. Kaytranada) 07. Dynamite (prod. tek.lun)
Extra Extra! is scheduled for October 30 release. Meanwhile, you can pre-orderhere.
The four artists were drawn together to remotely create collaborative music reflecting this uncertain moment in history. This transition from negativity to positivity serves as a central theme of the record, which is inspired by Celtic mysticism, outer space, and New Age, we’re told.
“We are going through some extremely difficult times so there is no way that this project has not been influenced by that,” Ardizoni tells XLR8R. “I find that with writing music during difficult times you don’t really become aware, sonically, of the impact of that time until you listen to it way down the road. Writing this kind of music has always been a means of transmuting my pain into joy so that the listener can experience that by proxy.”
Streaming below, closer “The Sun Will Rise Again” glistens and ends the record on a positively ebullient note of optimism. It’s described by the Los Angeles label as a “transcendent vision of hope and things to come.”
According to Ardizoni, the track “acknowledges and validates the feeling of melancholy that comes from experiencing this suffering while being able to maintain the awareness that it will be better again some day.”
Tracklisting
01. Living Space Station (Bad Dream) 02. Super Passiflora 03. Moon Ferns 04. The Sun Will Rise Again
Galdre Visions is scheduled for October 23 release. Meanwhile, you can stream “The Sun Will Rise Again” and pre-order the record here.
The five-track EP, titled Chain Reaction At Dusk, pulls from archival recordings originally initiated for the Merzbow, Kelly Moran, and Prurient United States tour.
Moran’s three tracks on the A-side were recorded at her home in the fall of 2018 and showcase her haunting prepared piano style of psychedelia; whereas Prurient’s two cuts on the flip were composed at the former Berlin studio of Guy Brewer (a.k.a. Shifted) with a collection of analog synthesizers and sequencers, before utilizing “crude telephone dictation manipulation” to complete the tracks with Kris Lapke in New York.
Moran and Prurient originally met in 2018 while supporting Oneohtrix Point Never’s “Myriad” show at the Park Avenue Armory in New York—Moran played keys in the performing quartet—and the two bonded over their working methods of prepared piano, drone, and noise synthesis.
This is the meeting of “psychedelia and anxiety disorder,” we’re told, filled with “classical doom electronics.”
Tracklisting
01. Kelly Moran “Red Storm” 02. Kelly Moran “Helix III” 03. Kelly Moran “Hymn” 04. Prurient “Tokyo Exorcist” 05. Prurient “Help If I May Ask”
Ahead of the EP’s release on December 4, you can stream one cut from each of the artists via the Bandcamp player below. You can pre-order Chain Reaction At Dusk via the Hospital Productions Bandcamp page.
Face the Facts is the first time that Linkwood and Other Lands, both from Edinburgh, Scotland, have teamed up on a long-player. The plan was simple: drop them into the mostly finished Athens of the North studio and see what came out.
The results are nothing short of spectacular, Athens of the North tells XLR8R, “but putting them into words is somewhat of a challenge.”
Folding modular textures, post-punk, electro, house, techno, and even some lush balearic business, the pair have moulded their years of experience and translated it into something new, we’re told.
According to the Edinburgh label, it’s easy to distinguish each of the artist’s respective voices across the album, which is to say Other Lands’ guitar work and Linkwood’s deep sense of rhythm and structure.
Tracklisting
01. Theme for City 02. First Take 03. Porty 04. Face the Facts 05. 3VSR 06. Meet in the Middle 07. Don’t Throw It 08. Gold Leith 09. Downright 10. Varial 11. Shapes 12. Silver Nows 13. Up Wrong
Face the Facts LP is scheduled for November 20 release. Meanwhile, you can pre-order here and stream “Theme for City” below.
“AIDOL 爱道” premiered at London gallery Sadie Coles HQ in 2019 and has since appeared in numerous virtual and physical art, film, and music festivals and exhibitions around the world. It tells the story of a fading superstar, Diva, who enlists an aspiring Artificial Intelligence songwriter to mount a comeback performance at the 2065 eSports Olympic finale. You can view the trailer here.
Lawrence’s accompanying soundtrack is a “delicate lattice,” we’re told, “complex, opaque, and entirely synthetic.” Diva’s yearning vocals, sung in English and Mandarin, cast classical melodies over billowing, intricately arranged songs. The instrumental tracks of the album, produced together with composer Seth Scott, are elegiac and beautiful, folding in patterns from game soundtracks and vaporwave.
Lek, based in London, is a simulation artist who uses computer-generated animation and video game engines to create films and virtual worlds. Outside of filmmaking, he has collaborated with Kode9 on the “Nøtel,” a simulation of a post-apocalyptic automated hotel, which began as a series of audio-visual performances and continues as a virtual reality installation. Lawrence has also released the soundtracks to five of his previous projects, most recently Temple OST earlier in 2020.
The vinyl release includes four new original prints of the “AIDOL 爱道” virtual world, and a downloadable bilingual lyric sheet in English and Chinese. A limited-edition USB card with a custom-printed case, with hi-res digital copies of the artwork and lossless versions of the tracks will also be available.
Tracklisting
01. Intro (My Single Isn’t Finished Yet) 02. Deep Blue Monday 03. In The Game 04. Chance Encounter (Jungle Theme) w/ Seth Scott 05. Call Of Beauty 06. Welcome To SoMA w/ Seth Scott 07. Unreal 08. Superstar 09. One Nation 10. Beware Your Fans, Diva 11. Call Of Beauty (eSports Reprise) w/ Seth Scott 12. Followers (Diva’s Theme) 13. Farsight’s Greatest Star 14. In My Prime (Bonus Track) 15. Apocalypse (End Credits)
AIDOL 爱道 (OST) LP is scheduled for November 27 release. Meanwhile, you can stream “Unreal” below and pre-order the record here.
MAST will release a new album on Alpha Pup‘s World Galaxy label in January.
Battle Hymns of the Republic is the fourth album that MAST, real name Timothy Conley, from Philadelphia, has released with the Los Angeles label, and all three previous outings have been funnelled through a conceptual lens. 2014’s Omni presents a sonic amalgamation of nature samples, acoustic instruments, and electronics; 2016’s Love and War_ was arranged in a three-act play structure exploring love and loss; and 2018’s Thelonious Sphere Monk is a cosmic journey reinterpreting the great Monk songbook.
In line with this, Battle Hymns of the Republic is a “dissident’s brew of critical environmental and socio-political issues of the day,” we’re told.
Scored by moving orchestral arrangements, poignant spoken word, impassioned jazz sensibilities, and angular electronic beats and samples, Conley reflects compositionally on our present day battles for unity, equality, facts, justice, and empathy for those in need. Each track, or “hymn,” addresses these attacks on not just who and what we are as a country in the United States, but also our responsibility to fellow human beings and the place we hold in the global society.
Like previous albums in the MAST catalog, Battle Hymns of the Republic features various members of the global music community. The group that performed compositions across the release consists of Luis Mascara (violin), Artyom Manukyan (cello), Dan Rosenboom (trumpet), Gavin Templeton (alto/bari sax), Brian Marsella (keyboards), Jason Fraticelli (upright bass), Anwar Marshall (drums), and Maxwell Hallett (drums).
Conley composed full band arrangements and added guitar, bass, keys, beats, and programming himself.
Tracklisting
01. Affirmation 02. Call to Action 03. The Anti-Fascist Battle Hymn 04. The Golden Door (feat Andrée Belle) 05 .Nation of Immigrants 06 .Civil Disobedience 07. Benevolence (feat Dwight Trible) 08. Nation of Refugees 09. Their Fear of Diversity 10. All of The Colors (feat Jimetta Rose) 11. Hymn 12. I Pledge My Grievance to The Flag 13. Diaspora of Climate Change 14. Psalm For All Tomorrows
Battle Hymns of the Republic LP is scheduled for January 29, 2021 digital release. Meanwhile, you can stream “Call to Action” below and pre-order the album here.
DJ Ride will join Dome of Doom with Lightspeed, dropping at the end of the month.
DJ Ride, real name Oliveiros Tomás Oliveira, is an emerging talent from Portugal. He’s made his name as a two-time International DJ Association World Champion and renowned scratch artist, and has since expanded his instrumentation range to include synths, pedals, programs, and more.
Lightspeed, a nine-track cyclone of dynamic beats, is DJ Ride’s fifth album, following 2015’s From Scratch. The record embraces the fusion of experimental electronic, heady hip-hop beats, trap, drum & bass, and more. Guest spots include Stereossauro, Holly, Subp Yao, LoJ, Not Yes, Dead End, HØST, and Aagentah.
Most of Lightspeed was recorded at DJ Ride’s home studio in Lisbon, Portugal, over the last four months. Due to the pandemic, collaborations were conducted through file-sharing online.
Tracklisting
01. Intro 02. Lightspeed (feat. Stereossauro) 03. Gotta Act (feat. Subp Yao) 04. Luck (feat. LOJ) 05. The Champion 06. I Be Buyin (feat. Not Yes) 07. Bad Bitch (feat. Dead End) 08. Mudarsom (feat. HØST) 09. Láktisma (feat. Aagentah)
Lightspeed LP releases on cassette on October 30 via Dome of Doom. The album will hit digital platforms worldwide the same day. Meanwhile, you can pre-order here and stream “Gotta Act” feat. Subp Yao below.
Mark de Clive-Lowe will release Dreamweavers, an electro-acoustic album in collaboration with bass player Andrea Lombardini and drummer Tommaso Cappellato.
De Clive-Lowe’s stylistic signature is usually found in his role as conductor, producer, and manipulator of sounds behind his customized setup of intertwining synths and drum machines. With all but a grand piano and a few keyboards stripped away from him, and the production in Lombardini and Cappellato’s hands, Dreamweavers is the first non-self-produced Mark de Clive-Lowe album in 25 years.
Lombardini and Cappellato have been a consistent presence on de Clive-Lowe’s European tours for several years now, and it was during a road trip from Italy to Switzerland that the pair envisioned producing a de Clive-Lowe album themselves. The album was composed, for the most part, in Kaga, Japan, and brought into reality over a three-day recording session in Vicenza, Italy.
The record celebrates the sounds that de Clive-Lowe grew up loving, from Ryuichi Sakamoto’s meditative melancholy and Ahmad Jamal’s soulful playfulness, to the rhythms of broken beat, boom bap, and global rhythms. It features eight originals composed by de Clive-Lowe himself, plus “Strolling Down On Degnan,” composed by the late beat maker Ras G.
Tracklisting
01. Mizugaki Prelude 02. Birds Of Prey 03. Strolling Down Degnan 04. Motherland 05. Natadera Spirit Walk 06. Volta Ao Mundo 07. Dreamweavers 08. In Answer To Your Question 09. Kodama Shade
Dreamweavers LP is scheduled for October 23 release on Mother Tongue Records. Pre-order is available here, where you can also stream clips.
John Frusciante has shared a video for “Brand E,” taken from Maya, his forthcoming album.
Frusciante, known for his work as guitarist in Red Hot Chill Peppers, filmed the video in various areas of his hometown of Los Angeles, starring himself as the observer and Lee Bootee as the blind follower. It’s directed by Amalía Irons and is produced by Aura T-09. It features Tanya, a stand-in for Frusciante’s late cat Maya, to whom the album is dedicated.
Scheduled for October 23 release via Venetian Snare’s Timesig label, Maya is inspired by Frusciante’s favorite music, ’91 to’96 UK breakbeat hardcore and jungle.
“I tried to limit myself to a few machines per track,” Frusciante toldResident Advisor‘s Exchange podcast. “Like Suburban Base, a lot of those people had a sampler, a mixer or whatever or maybe one synth. It was a lot for someone back then to have one effects unit, one for reverb or echo. And I find I like the sound of that, when people are struggling to make the most out of a few machines.”
Read more about Mayahere, and stream the video for “Brand E” below.
