Check Out a New Mix from Silent Servant

A Southern California-based techno producer and former member of the now defunct Sandwell District collective/label, Silent Servant (a.k.a. Juan Mendez) has shared a new mix. Appearing as part of London shop (and online retailer) LN-CC‘s ongoing mix series, Mendez’s new session finds him laying down bits of dark electro, EBM, subterranean proto-techno, and other murky electronic forms across its 70-plus-minute run time. Sadly appearing without a tracklist, Silent Servant’s latest mix can be streamed and downloaded in full below; XLR8R‘s 2013 In the Studio feature with the prolific artist can be read here.

SBTRKT Streams New Single, “Higher”

A full stream of “Higher,” the latest single from SBTRKT‘s upcoming sophomore LP for Young Turks, has surfaced. Featuring Stateside MC Raury, SBTRKT’s new track takes shape as a dark, stripped-down production led by swelling chords and a slightly sunken hip-hop beat. Set to appear on the London producer’s forthcoming Wonder Where We Land LP (which includes further collaborations with Sampha, Koreless, and Jessie Ware, among others), “Higher” can be streamed in full using the player below. SBTRKT’s sophomore full-length has received a new release date, and is now currently set to be available beginning October 7.

Download Jacques Greene’s Edit of The Weeknd

Originally produced in 2011—around the time both artists were first breaking through—Jacques Greene‘s bootleg edit of The Weeknd‘s R&B anthem “What You Need” can now be downloaded for free. “Put together while the now NYC-based producer was residing in Montreal, Greene’s rework of “What You Need” adds a new rhythmic framework, sleek bass, and doses of active synth lines to the downtrodden R&B track. Appearing in a number of his mixes from the time, Greene’s mood-soaked re-edit of The Weeknd can now be downloaded for free via the player below.

Listen to Simian Mobile Disco’s ‘Whorl’ LP in Full

Officially out today via Anti-, a full stream of Simian Mobile Disco‘s Whorl LP is now available. Joining the stream of the 12-track, hour-plus album is a hypnotic set of visuals that follow along the lines of the VHS-style color and pattern manipulations which appeared in the group’s earlier videos for LP singles “Tangents,” “Dervish,” and “Jam Side Up.”

A synth-heavy adventure made from—at least partially—the material which Simian Mobile Disco performed live in the desert of Southern California, the UK pair’s Whorl LP can be streamed in full below, where we’ve also included the record’s tracklist for those who wish to follow along.

1. Redshift
2. Dandelion Spheres
3. Sun Dogs
4. Hypnick Jerk
5. Dervish
6. Z Space
7. Nazard
8. Calyx
9. Jam Side Up
10. Tangents
11. Iron Henge
12. Casiopeia

True Lust “Paranoia”

The project of Denver musician/producer Dillon Morton (with help from collaborator Robert Sands), True Lust concerns itself with the darker and more eccentric ends of interstellar disco. Set to serve as the title track to True Lust’s debut LP, “Paranoia” presents a spiraling array of reverb-washed drum machine hits, MIDI piano chords, and heavily effected guitar strums. Underneath it all, one can faintly detect the presence of cavernous synth bass notes, which echo beneath the mesh of spacey sonic layers to give the track its ominous edge. Though no exact release date for True Lust’s debut full-length has been shard, the record is said to be forthcoming soon.

Paranoia

Stream Call Super’s Upcoming Debut LP for Houndstooth

A former Bubblin’ Up artist and recent XLR8R podcast contributor, Call Super is set to drop his debut-full length via London’s Houndstooth label next week. Before then, the Berlin-based artist’s Suzi Ecto LP is now streaming in full.

An 11 track effort, Call Super veers away from the dancefloor on the majority of his debut album, instead using the extended platform to stretch out into refracted electronic compositions full of free-flowing synths, off-kilter percussion, airy textures, and a few bits of live instrumentation. Officially set to arrive on September 15 via Houndstooth, Call Super’s Suzi Ecto LP can be heard in full now here, courtesy of Pitchfork Advance.

Trevino and Marcel Dettmann Remix Dark Sky on Upcoming Single

Dark Sky will return to Modeselektor’s Monkeytown label with the “Rainkist” single, which is set to arrive next month and will feature remixes by veteran producer Trevino (a.k.a. Marcus Intalex) and techno stalwart Marcel Dettmann (pictured above). The news comes not long after the trio of Matt Benyayer, Thomas Edwards, and Carlo Anderson released their debut full-length, imagin, which (as we reported last month) explored an array of bass-focused club music permutations. “Rainkist”—which appears in its original form on imagin—is described as a “modern soul ballad,” while Trevino’s rework reportedly works in “sci-fi synths and electro snares and claps,” and Dettmann’s finds the Berghain resident pairing the tune’s harmonic vocals with pumping sub-bass.

“Rainkist” is officially due out on October 10; its artwork and tracklist have been included below.

A1. Rainkist
A2. Rainkist (Trevino’s Heartbeat Remix)
B1. Rainkist (Marcel Dettmann Remix)

Hal Floyd “All Ventures Overboard”

Growing Portland-based outpost Blankstairs will welcome a new name to its roster of budding talents when Sydney producer Hal Floyd (who has previously been seen releasing material via Chicago net-label Don’t Trust Humans) drops his two-track Water Colors EP later this month. Leading off the upcoming digital effort is “All Ventures Overboard,” a patiently engrossing production that fits within the “delicate and emotional techno” the artist has spent the last few years crafting. Spanning just over six minutes, the track assembles an array of airy, wistful textures to sit atop its chugging rhythmic base, adding dreamy and heavily processed melodies and increasing layers of tasteful percussion as the tune progresses. Floyd’s debut outing for Blankstairs, the Water Colors EP lands on September 30.

All Ventures Overboard

Ital Endgame

Daniel Martin-McCormick’s experimental music resume is as varied as it is impressive. Membership in the bands Black Eyes and Mi Ami long ago proved the DC-born artist’s chops in the fields of hardcore and electronic-infused punk, and in his time he’s also offered up abrasive, oddball electro-sleaze as Sex Worker. As Ital, he’s been catching our ears with his curveball house since 2011, first via a quickfire series of EPs on 100% Silk and then with two albums during 2012 for Planet Mu, Hive Mind and Dream On.

On those LPs, Martin-McCormick channeled a degree of quintessential Planet Mu-ness through staccato manipulation of vocal samples and restless percussion, though these elements were consistently leavened by recognizable house structures and tender emotional textures. Endgame hasn’t completely ditched the slightly skittery aesthetic that colored much of his early Ital work, as its opening salvo of cut-up and distorted female whispers, “Beacon,” faintly recalls Hive Mind‘s opener, “Doesn’t Matter (If You Love Him),” before being deftly repurposed as Endgame‘s most zen-like ambient interlude.

However, the sound Martin-McCormick most regularly drives at on this album, as well as on the EPs for Workshop and his own Lovers Rock label that immediately preceded it, is a subtly pulsing brand of intricately melodic house and techno that evokes, at various moments, the likes of Kassem Mosse, Silent Servant, and Sandwell District.

“Relaxer” opens the record at the spacier end of this spectrum, its soothing pads blanketing an array of mechanical noises that shimmer and sparkle in the distance rather than clanking in the foreground. “Whispers in the Dark” is a different iteration, its pinball percussion and bass throb gradually upping the album’s energy level, while “Endgame” sits between these two stools, its soporific bass hum barely present as music-box chimes and hats cavort in the foreground.

Endgame finds a multitude of ways to express its quietly febrile aesthetic, but for all of the album’s gently thrumming subtleties, it is by no means a record on which Martin-McCormick has foregone his desire or ability to go hard. Mid-album highlight “Coagulate” offers a huge, Drexciyan bass groove that eventually unfurls itself, serpent-like, out of an eerie, fathoms-deep pool of sonar bleeps and foggy pads. “White II”—Endgame‘s last ‘big’ moment—is another standout; a booming, repetitious slab of whirring techno, the track seems to take some cues from Factory Floor’s most metronomic and immersive live digressions.

“Black Dust” and “Oche” are virtual companion pieces that bring the record back to the same sort of glimmering, tender mood in which it began; moreover, they represent a pleasingly full-circle close to an album whose tastefulness and craft never compromise its intrigue.

Artist Tips: Addison Groove Shares Five of His Production Secrets

Tony Williams’ Addison Groove project blasted into the dance music arena in 2010 with the massive “Footcrab,” and the Bristol-based producer hasn’t really eased off the throttle since. Over the past few years, he’s issued two albums, along with a flurry of singles and EPs, the most recent being last month’s ‘Turn Up the Silence’ for 50Weapons. During that time, he’s obviously been a key figure in marrying the rhythms of footwork to the bass-heavy traditions of UK dance music, and he’s also become renowned for his mastery of the fabled Roland TR-808 drum machine. Curious to find out more about some of the methodology behind his furious work ethic, we’ve enlisted Williams for the latest edition of ‘Artist Tips.’

Mixdowns
These should not take too long really. If you’re spending a week to make a hi-hat and a snare sit [together], then I very much doubt an EQ or leveling will fix it. It’s usually because the sample or sound you used just isn’t working. I try to start with high-quality samples when I start a track; that way, I’m spending less time making them work if they need repairing in the final stages of a tune.

For drums, I’m using mostly an 808 in my tracks; thankfully, this sound pallet is so strong that it requires very little work when mixing down. I own the real thing, but I have it all sampled, so I don’t really use the actual machine when making a tune these days. To get it sounding mighty, I record it through a Mackie desk and into a UAD Apollo through a preamp such as the API one. Once that’s all in my computer, it makes my music-making time a lot shorter and my mixdowns easier because the original source is of high quality.

If you don’t own an 808 or a UAD card and use Ableton but are struggling to make things sound good and loud, then maybe try using it in ReWire mode by using another DAW as a mixing desk. I use Logic and Ableton in ReWire because for me, I can get a decent sound. It’s fairly easy to set up and when you do, just make it a template so your workflow is quick.

Quality Control
Imagine you made a tune that was so good, every DJ out there needed it to play this weekend. Now imagine that for the last year or three, you’ve been busy learning to make your beats, and when you made a tune, because of your impatient excitement (yes, I used to have this too, I understand), you’ve been sending the tunes to the right people, but they are simply getting pissed off with seeing your name in their inbox because you send out every thing you make. Now, that huge tune you made will be unlikely to get picked up because you have given yourself a reputation as a serial emailer.

It’s important to control the quality of what you send out. If you have 10 amazing tracks, then they deserve to be heard, but the best way to get 10 tracks listened to is by sending out just one or two. With MP3s, it’s so easy to get music around the world now, but it’s also easier to not get noticed. Often I get sent demos and inside the ZIP file are 20 tracks. After 10, it all becomes a bit of a blur to listen to.

So my message here is: send out the best stuff you have. Even if you have a bunch of bangers, just send out a few. It will have a much higher strike rate of someone getting back to you with feedback or it being played in the clubs. I’m guilty of not giving feedback, but if the tunes are good, I’m sure I’d go out there and play them as much as I can if it’s fitting in my DJ sets.

Hardware
Although not necessary, it’s usually a good idea to own some kind of hardware equipment. Drum machines, mixing desks, guitar pedals, and just random sound generators give you a better idea of how music can work outside of the computer. One thing I like is to have my 808 and Juno always set up for a jam session. For some reason, having the freedom to move around when crafting something is quite liberating and you hear the music a little differently rather than being fixated on your monitor. Even a decent MIDI controller can give you this.

EQ
The most used processor in any of my tracks is the EQ. I’m forever trying to find the best one. But there are different ones for different purposes. Rather than explain in too much detail what my favorite ones do, below I’m going list my top three EQs to use.

1. UAD Pultec

Adds amazing color and character to any sound.

2. Waves Q4

Most transparent EQ I’ve heard in the box.

3. FabFilter Pro Q

Can be used as a regular filter as well as an EQ; very quick and this was my go-to before the Waves one replaced it.

Other Music
I spend 90% of my time listening to music that’s not easily found. On a usual day when we listen to the radio, we hear trap, R&B, house, hip-hop, etc., but radio stations don’t really dig much deeper unless you’re listening to BBC Radio 6 or some obscure student station, which we all can’t most of the time. I go through phases; one week I’ll be listening to some Angolan stuff from the ’60s, then the week after some jazz from ’20s. I do that because I genuinely like that music, but it’s also a way to not copy other people. I believe it’s important to keep up with what’s new, that’s part of my job as a DJ and as a music lover, but if I did that all the time, I’d find myself copying other people’s music. Take inspiration from other music and don’t make exact copies. Through your influences and tastes, your music will have its own character.

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