London label PMR—a platform for UK talents such as Disclosure, Jessie Ware, and Julio Bashmore—has announced the launch of a new sub-label, PMR Beat Club, and revealed details of its inaugural record. According to a press release, the imprint will aim to “cherry-pick fresh sounds by young music makers pushing things in new directions,” starting off with Klaves. Following a string of dates supporting Nicolas Jaar, the young Polish producer’s forthcoming 12″, “People” b/w “Oh No” is described as “a perfect example of the label’s forward-thinking mission statement,” combining “complex chords, vocal samples and everything from saxophone lines to classical strings.” The single is due to arrive on October 10 in digital form, with a vinyl run available beginning October 27. Ahead of its arrival, lead track “People” has been made available to stream in full below.
In the build-up to Wonder Where We Land (his upcoming sophomore LP for Young Turks), SBTRKT has unleashed a steady stream of album cuts, last week sharing hip-hop-leaning tracks “Higher” and “Voices in My Head”. Now, the London producer has unveiled “Look Away,” a moody new tune which features Chairlift‘s Caroline Polachek.
Led by Polachek’s impassioned vocal performance, “Look Away” is a dark and dramatic production which builds upon a bed of gloomy piano chords and digitally manipulated rhythms. The new track can be streamed in full below, or one can head here to watch SBTRKT’s interactive video for “Look Away,” which attempts to follow the viewer’s eyes as they watch; Wonder Where We Land sees its official release on October 7.
Marreck is the work of UK sound artist Michael Hann who has also released under the name Rejections and is responsible for overseeing the fledgling Reject and Fade label. Under his Marreck alias, Hann will next week issue the Thirteen Losses EP, which is said to collect four pieces of “soundsystem brutalism” including “False Martyr,” the record’s closing cut. An uncompromising composition, “False Martyr” is the kind of track that sounds like it is content to just let the machines run wild. A brooding analog pulse leads the production, appearing loosely tide to a rhythmic pattern, though it is constantly the result of manipulation. On top of this, Hann eventually layers a piercing, siren-like sheet of noise which grows as the electronics below become more and more unhinged. “False Martyr” and three other tracks not for the faint of heart will see their official release on September 22, when Marreck’s full Thirteen Losses EP drops via Bomb Shop.
Punish, Honey, the new LP from Vessel (a.k.a. Sebastian Gainsborough), is apparently dedicated in some way to England. So says the press release: “Combined with an interest in notions of national identity, Vessel asking himself the question ‘What does “Englishness” in music really mean?'” At first read, that excerpt makes it sound like the Bristol producer might be half-baking a college thesis. Does the record really explore “Englishness”? It would probably be easier for an English person to answer that, but sure, once or twice it veers in a BBC Radiophonic Workshop direction. The track “Black Leaves and Fallen Branches” drums up a glum, eldritch, prototypically English atmosphere with its title and has a sound to match, a limp procession of metallic echoes and droopy, modular-sounding flute melodies. Even including this example, however, Punish, Honey is never as over-the-top English as something like the Ghost Box label. One could argue that some of the album’s rhythms might be an homage to Jamaican soundsystem culture in the UK, but that’s as far as it goes. Vessel has already proven himself too inventive to overindulge in conscious retro-ism.
Another note from the press release indicates that Gainsborough prepared a variety of instruments before he began the music-making process: “sheets of metal as percussion, sawing up bikes to make flutes and creating harmonic guitars all by his own hand.” The record accordingly has a unique palette, one that’s kind of sepia-toned, made of iron and tin, and abrasive but slippery. In this approach, it does call to mind some English antecedents like Zoviet France and Coil, both of which incorporated homemade instrumentation into their post-industrial explorations. Pieces like “Red Sex” evoke Coil in spirit as well; its grinding, dogged march and crazed portamento lead line are surreally aggressive in a similar way.
Despite its many nuances, Punish, Honey remains a cohesive effort; the portamento from “Red Sex” pops up again on the sputtering finale “DPM,” where it’s deployed in more of a “final” way, in tandem with a hoover-esque synth sound. “Drowned in Water and Light” is another LP highlight, its staggered lurch creaking and heaving toward a towering apex while channeling the sounds of the Far East.
Earlier Vessel records emphasized a disattention to the grid, and while most of these new tracks are a little more taut in their construction, there is enough entropy going on to ensure that the album isn’t a complete departure. But it is still a departure. There is nothing nearly as ethereal as the vaporous “Aries,” a standout from Order of Noise, Gainsborough’s last LP. The closest he comes is on the cyberpunk roll of “Anima,” as the song’s ghostly, brooding synth feels of a piece with, or at least like an immediate descendent of, his looser past work. On Punish, Honey, Gainsborough has stepped up his sound design, but he’s done so with a newly brutal approach. One hopes that he hasn’t entirely abandoned his earlier, more atmospheric sound, but as career turning points and transformations go, this album is an accomplished one.
Prins Thomas has been enlisted to remix a trio of productions off Vermont, the self-titled debut album from Danilo Plessow (a.k.a. Motor City Drum Ensemble) and Innervisions affiliate Marcus Worgull. Released via Kompakt earlier this year, the album found the two artists moving beyond the club-centric sounds for which they are better known and embracing Krautrock, freeform synths, and experimental electronics. On Vermont – The Prins Thomas Versions, the Norwegian nu-disco producer calls on techno, house, and dub reggae to “emphasize the rhythmic elements” of LP cuts “Dynamik”, “Elektron,” and “Macchina” without “betraying their laid-back vibe.”
Vermont – The Prins Thomas Versions is due out on October 13 in both 12″ vinyl and digital formats, and both the EP’s artwork and tracklist are on view below.
A. Dynamik (Prins Thomas Version 1) B1. Elektron (Prins Thomas Version ) B2. Macchina (Prins Thomas Version) [Digital Only] Dynamik (Prins Thomas Version 2)
A live disco/house group hailing from Brighton, Transformer today releases its Feel the Beast EP via London label Numerology. Included on the three-track effort is “Deepak,” an organ-fueled cut which laces its skipping, six-plus-minute run with tight guitar strums, wordless vocal murmurs, and a bevy of hand-played synth lines. Following a somewhat loose structure, “Deepak” feels more like a jam session than a strictly defined track, its elements allowed to evolve freely atop the track’s drum machine pulse. Out today, Transfomer’s new Feel the Beast EP can be streamed after the jump.
A new remix from Joy Orbison has unexpectedly appeared online, which finds the celebrated UK producer taking on a track by XL-affiliated duo and recent Mercury Prize nominees Jungle. In his first solo material set for release since spring of last year, Orbison transforms the lo-fi aesthetics of Jungle’s original (appearing on the pair’s debut album from earlier this year) into lush, subtly propulsive deep house.
According to FACT, “The Heat (Joy Orbison Remix)” will be available to purchase from September 22 exclusively via Beatport, but until then, the track has been made available to stream in full below.
Cocktail d’Amore, the Berlin party and label founded by veteran DJ/production duo Discodromo, Berghain resident Boris, and visual director Pindar (a.k.a. GoldNSour), will mark five years next month with an anniversary compilation, Nothing Matters When We’re Dancing. “What began as a gay monthly focused on bringing quality music into the alternative culture of Berlin has grown to be host to a diverse range of open-minded freaks, queers, and more seeking a carefree atmosphere,” a press release states. “The music we have compiled is a reflection of the variety of sounds our guests expect from the unique Cocktail experience.”
Lord of the Isles, Heatsick (pictured above), Young Marco, and recent XLR8Rpodcast contributor Willie Burns (appearing as Black Deer) all feature on the 12-track compilation, as does Italian producer Massimiliano Pagliara (the subject of last week’s Get Familiar profile), who joins with Discodromo’s Giacomo Garavelloni and Giovanni Turco in “Le bipolarisme n’est pas le cubisme.”
Nothing Matters When We’re Dancing will arrive as a triple-vinyl release on October 27, and we’ve posted its artwork and tracklist below.
A1 Lord of the Isles – Wilderness Three A2 Dorisburg – Under Vatten B1 Chymera – Rainbow Brite B2 J.E.E.P. – Rockefeller’s Punch C1 Luv Jam – Flyypost 971 C2 MASCARAS – Jukai D1 Discodromo & Massimiliano Pagliara – Le bipolarisme n’est pas le cubisme D2 Heatsick – #dionysos E1 Forever Sound – Floor Elevator E2 Bon Voyage – Presque l’Amazonie F1 Young Marco – Flying Navajo F2 Black Deer – Will The Cat Cross Our Path Tonight
Last month, Locked Groove announced plans to debut on Permanent Vacation with the Thesseus EP, following from a pair of records released earlier this year via We Play House and his own eponymous label. Ahead of its arrival, the Berlin-based producer has shared a stream of b-side track “Meditations in an Emergency,” an introspective, end-of-the-night effort that nods to early Motor City electro while maintaining the polished aesthetic found throughout Permanent Vacation’s catalog. The forthcoming three-track EP will also include a remix of “Meditations in an Emergency” from Italian producer Clockwork when it drops on September 26, and in the meantime, the premiere of Locked Groove’s original version can be heard below.
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. Bristol stalwart Addison Groove (pictured above) stepped in for the latest installment of Artist Tips and shared a few of his production secrets.
2. The second episode of RBMA’s Diggin in the Carts documentary series—which explores the history of videogame music—premiered this week.
3. Miami producer Danny Daze was at the helm of the newest XLR8R podcast.
4. Groundislava turned in a highly entertaining edition of our Hi-Five series, in which he detailed his five favorite “emotional rave anthems.”
5. SBTRKT shared a stream of “Higher,” another track from his forthcoming new LP.
6. XLR8R premiered a video from Melbourne producer and Mexican Summer affiliate Andras Fox, who released a new EP this week.
7. Jacques Greene went through his archives and found an edit he did of The Weekend’s “What You Need” from 2011, so he elected to offer it up as a free download.
8. Berlin-based producer Xosar announced that she will be issuing a new record via Opal Tapes’ Black Opal vinyl series later this year.
9. A new remix from leftfield grime producer MssingNo debuted on XLR8R.
10. Veteran artist Clark shared the details of his forthcoming new LP for Warp.
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.
