Taking place in Bologna, Italy early next month, the roBOt Festival has unveiled the line-up for its upcoming six-day gathering. Now in its seventh year, the Italian festival appears set to present a wide array of electronic sounds, with artists like Moodymann (pictured above), Ricardo Villalobos, Lone, Legowelt, Fort Romeau, Mathew Jonson, and Jackmaster representing the more dancefloor-oriented side of the bill. In addition, a number of more adventurous acts will be on display including Actress, Jon Hopkins, Dorian Concept, Torn Hawk, FaltyDL, Factory Floor, and the Livity Sound crew, among others.
Taking place from October 1 to the 5, the full line-up for Bologna’s roBOt Festival (which is also set to incorporate a number of A/V performances and film screenings into its run) can be found here, while more information on the fast-approaching event can be found here.
Ahead of the release of Toronto duo Electric Youth‘s (pictured above) Innerworld LP later this month via Secretly Canadian, the outfit has passed along this remix from London beatmaker Maths Time Joy. A lush, M83-indebted song in its original form, “Runaway” is transformed into a neon-laced beat in the hands of the UK artist, who laces the tune with a slew of skittering rhythms while chopping its vocal into geometric patterns that fit tightly between the remix’s fast-paced hats and snapping snare drums.
Brooklyn trio Lemonade has shared a saturated new video for “Durutti Shores,” taken from the outfit’s latest LP, Minus Tide. Directed by Oscar Boyson and shot in Venice, the video follows the former XLR8Rpodcast contributors across heat-hazed beaches and through Venetian canals, in keeping with the washed out, synth-pop feel of the track. Minus Tide dropped yesterday via Cascine; full details of the album are available here, and the video for “Durutti Shores” has been posted below.
Given that the indulgence of the ’90s has been an overriding theme in Groundislava‘s work thus far—from old-school R&B and hip-hop to overblown trance and techno (not to mention retro technology)—it’s no surprise that he chose to walk us through a selection of his favorite rave anthems for the latest edition of our Hi-Five series. “The shit that really got me hooked on electronic music was uplifting trance during my days as a middle school kid with a 5 GB, first-generation iPod,” says the LA producer, whose third full-length album, Frozen Throne, is due to arrive later this month via Friends of Friends/Wedidit. “Been listening to a lot of those tunes again lately, so I wanted to make this list sort of an homage to that real real rave shit.”
ATB “Don’t Stop”
This shit is one of my favorites of all time, and is definitely an absolute classic when it comes to trance music. I still remember hearing this shit when I was going to raves in high school (2006-2008), which is pretty wild considering it came out in 1999. It’s shit like this that got me fucked up as a kid trying to make music, because I’d be putting 909 snare rolls and build-ups into every track, even like, chill-out shit. The classic ATB guitar sound is one of my favorite synth sounds of all time as well, and definitely inspired me to appreciate all the “real instrument”-type patches on my Yamaha SY77 and DX7.
Rank 1 “Airwave”
I don’t think I would have gotten obsessed with dance music as a kid without this track. One of my best homies in middle school, this kid Sean Fujiyoshi (shout out if you’re reading this bruh) gave me this compilation called Best of Velfarre Cyber Trance 2000. The whole compilation was the shit, but this track was FIRE. The chord progression is so emotional yet uplifting. When the filter finally opens up and the synth becomes 10 miles wide in that breakdown, I get chills. It’s crazy to think I first heard this like, 13 years ago or something. I still have my iPod with the moving wheel from then, and I remember pulling this up so many fucking times on that thing. The alternate mix he did with Dutch Force definitely goes a bit harder, so I put that one there too.
Ferry Corsten “Beautiful”
I know this one is corny as fuck, but I remember hearing this at a rave in like, 2007, and just going so wild. I think it was a Together As One (LOL) event where he played with Deadmau5 (peep “Faxing Berlin” and “Not Exactly”, he was actually making some great tracks around this time!) and Sasha and John Digweed. When he dropped this track, the room went so fucking wild. I rarely listen to this song anymore, it’s ironically much more dated sounding than the ATB and Rank 1 tracks I mentioned, but whenever I think about trance music and raves and that whole culture, that night and this song pop into my head. The melody is really great too.
Guru Josh Project “Infinity 2008”
So this is a remake of the original from 1990(?), which is definitely the more classic track… but since this is MY list I’m putting this one. I’d be lying if I said the other one wasn’t before my time. All that matters is that fucking saxophone and it’s in both versions. This song is still fire. I feel like this is the definition of an ANTHEM.
Basshunter “Dota”
So this track is realllllly cheesy, but I love it. What makes it an absolute necessity on this list, for me, is that it’s not only a classic rave anthem, but also about my favorite video game of all time, DOTA (Defense of the Ancients), which I’ve been playing for the better half of a decade. The video shows them playing the game and includes samples from the game as well (“I hear you mon!”). His other single from the same time, “Boten Anna,” is actually a better song in my opinion, but it’s not as close to my heart since it’s not also about DOTA. It does have a pretty cool concept regardless, with the lyrics talking about some girl he met in an IRC chat (Anna) or something like that. In the video they actually show him on an IRC chat client. If he put this out in 2014, he would be killing it on Tumblr and shit.
For some reason they remade both songs and videos a bunch of times, and made English versions, and they were NEVER as good. I don’t actually remember hearing these tracks getting played by DJs much, but man did these get rinsed on my fucking iPod while I played DOTA… LOL. Only fuck with the versions that I linked here, those are the OG ones.
Jimmy Edgar has shared details of a new EP, Saline, which is the third in a series of elementally themed records from the Ultramajic boss designed to “aid in the path of spiritual development.” While the series’ two preceding releases, Hot Inside and Mercurio, represented fire and water, this forthcoming effort is reportedly aligned with earth, alluding to the “earthly compound salt” and the process of desalination, which “helps to hone the third eye” and facilitates supernatural experience. The four-track EP also features the vocals of the late footwork producer DJ Rashad in “Walk Show.” Before Saline arrives on October 13, closing cut “Burn” has been made available to stream in full below, where a tracklist can also be found.
1. Burn 2. Decalcify 3. Walk Show feat. DJ Rashad 4. Who’s Watchin
LA transplant Sinden and his The Crystal System project recently dropped its “Got Me Moving” single, a disco-indebted cut which featured former Azari & III vocalist SYF. Along with the original production, The Crystal System’s single (which saw its release last month via the Sweat It Out label) boasted a handful of remixes, though the one featured here from London artist Moiré (who recently dropped his debut LP via Werkdiscs) was not included. On his rework, Moiré takes the pop-leaning track in the complete opposite direction, burying the original’s groove beneath sunken kick drums and unsettled percussion, reshaping “Got Me Moving” into a much more leftfield piece of club music.
Aquarian has shared details of a forthcoming 12″, which will see release through New York outpost UNO next month. The Brooklyn-via-Toronto producer has staked a place as one of the label’s more club-oriented producers—in the company of Arca, Mykki Blanco, Jacques Greene, and SFV Acid—with his debut Obsidian EP or last year’s “Fan Death” single drawing from Detroit techno, Drexciyan electro, and dubstep (think “breakbeats, belching TR-303 basslines, and stomping, rough-hewn kick drums.”) Aquarian’s forthcoming self-titled EP will deliver a similar breed of dark techno and drum & bass when it arrives on October 21, but until then, the video for lead cut “SOMA” can be watched in full below, where we’ve also posted the record’s tracklist.
01 SOMA 02 Artifact 03 Before I Forget 04 Event Horizon 05 SOMA (Throwing Snow Remix) 06 Artifact (Nautiluss Remix)
Intended as a follow-up to his debut LP, Alternate/Endings (which dropped via Ninja Tune in January of this year), Stateside beatmaker and XLR8R podcast alumni Lee Bannon will issue the Main/Flex EP this fall. Described by the producer himself in a press release as an EP of “aggressive material,” Bannon further explains that the tracks on the upcoming effort were written “as a direct result of current events, social injustice, and personal loss in my own life.”
Though exact details for the Main/Flex EP (i.e. tracklist, release date, etc.) are still forthcoming, we are told that hip-hop outfit Ratking, Teklife’s DJ Earl, and Charlie Benante—drummer for the metal band Anthrax—will all feature on the record. Before more information arrives, a new cut from Bannon, “Blood/Line,” can be streamed in full below.
Before The Juan MacLean‘s third album lands next week via longstanding label home DFA, the nine-track LP is now streaming in full. Titled In a Dream, the record finds Juan MacLean and longtime vocalist for the group Nancy Whang together crafting an array of dance-pop hybrids heavy on synths, sticky hooks, and disco rhythms. Officially set to land on September 15, the veteran outfit’s third full-length album can be streamed here (you have to scroll down a bit), courtesy of The New York Times‘ weekly Press Play program.
German producer Erdbeerschnitzel has quietly built up an impressive discography over the past few years, most recently turning in four soul-burnt efforts on The Ample Waters EP, his second outing in as many years for the Delsin label. Now, the man has joined the ranks of Cologne’s Rote Liebe collective, and to spread the word has shared a new track, “Treat.” Again, a production bathed in soulful tones, “Treat” places down-pitched vocals and an array of murky textures atop a series of skipping rhythms, which hold steady as the track slowly evolves into a dense mass of hazy chords and cavernous FX. Erdbeerschnitzel’s latest tune can be downloaded below, while his recent EP for Delsin can be streamed in full after the jump.
