Experimental UK producer Lee Gamble recently revealed plans to return to the esteemed PAN label with a double-LP in September, to be preceded by the Kuang EP later this month. Now, pulled from Kuang, Gamble’s “Mimas Skank” has received a stark video treatment courtesy of Dave Gaskarth. Accompanying the slinking, club-minded track is a series of animated cylindrical shapes, which are precisely cut apart, rearranged, and generally manipulated against a never-changing, jet-black backdrop.
The full video for “Mimas Skank” is premiering below before Lee Gamble’s Kuang EP lands later this month; the man’s soon-to-follow KOCH LP is slated for release on September 12.
When XLR8R tapped SOPHIE as one of 2013’s standout artists, he’d only racked up a handful of original releases to his name. One of those, however, was “BIPP,” which landed at the top of our list for the year’s best tunes. Now, the enigmatic UK producer has dropped a follow-up single for Numbers, “Lemonade” b/w “Hard,” sharing a full stream of its b-side cut in the process. True to form, SOPHIE’s “Hard” features schizophrenic arrangements and blindingly bright synth lines—along with a healthy dose of eccentric vocals—and can be heard in full below. The record’s hyperactive a-side, “Lemonade,” is also available to stream here.
The anticipated debut LP from London artist FKA Twigs, LP1, can now be streamed in full ahead of its release next week. Set to appear via the Young Turks label, FKA Twigs’ debut full-length has been described as the producer/vocalist’s “defining artistic statement,” offering 10 tracks of refracted R&B hybrids—a number of which have already received intriguing videotreatments in the weeks that followed the record’s original announcement. Officially out on August 12, FKA Twigs’ LP1 can be streamed in full now via iTunes.
Having formerly released under the name Baobab, North Carolina-based electronic musician (and author of philosophical texts) Phil Torres will release a new EP later this month under the name crowdsource. Pulled from his four-track Bit Rot Blues EP is “Gone Up,” a lighthearted production which gleefully plays around with the house formula. Pulsing around 110 bpm, the tune folds skipping hats, a simple clap, and a restless bass sequence into its run, eventually landing on bits of syncopated MIDI piano and an ever-evolving series of somewhat unconventional vocal samples as the breezy track moves along. An intriguing first peek into crowdsource’s artistic world, “Gone Up” will be joined by three other exuberant reinterpretations of house when the Bit Rot Blues EP sees its release on August 18 via Seattle’s ever-expanding Hush Hush label.
John Talabot’s Hivern Discs imprint has unveiled its first video, set to Pional‘s “It’s All Over.” The track originally saw release as an anonymous Blanc series single, but was reissued by the Barcelona-based label yesterday alongside a clutch of remixes by Belgian producer Locked Groove and Talabot himself. According to Dazed, the video for “It’s All Over” takes its inspiration from the documentary Ruta Destroy, which narrates the effects of early electronic music culture on youth in Valencia. Director pairing Manson reportedly “edited 2000 images together, printed each frame, applied watercolors, scanned them, and then re-edited them all together.” The four-minute animated video for “It’s All Over” can be watched below, and further details on the full It’s All Over Remixes EP can be found here.
Appleblim (a.k.a. Laurie Osborne) is an interesting figure. In the mid ’00s, the Bristol producer was best known as one of the co-founders of Skull Disco, the pioneering label he operated alongside Shackleton. However, following the imprint’s demise in 2008, he’s taken a varied path, starting up his own Apple Pips label and initially releasing a flurry of collaborative singles in 2009 and 2010 before temporarily going quiet on the production front. As Osborne detailed in our interview with him last summer, making music doesn’t come easily for him, but he’s gradually learning to accept his role as an electronic musician. 2013 saw the release of his first fully solo 12″, along with several joint efforts with fellow Bristolian Komon. The two producers have hit something of a groove, as this week saw the release of the pair’s latest effort (and second this year), the Motion Blur EP, which is being issued via Aus Music. Given this burst of energy, it seems safe to say that Appleblim is back into the swing of things, so the time seemed right to enlist his services for the XLR8R podcast series.
Even during the Skull Disco era, Osborne was never an artist who strictly adhered to notions of genre, and this mix seems to indicate that his passion for hybrid sounds remains intact. Over the course of 76 minutes, he touches upon house, techno, garage, jungle, and some skippy bass permutations that are all but impossible to classify. That description may give the impression that Appleblim has put together something scattered, but the podcast is actually rather coherent. There’s a narrative at work, one that’s dark, occasionally brooding, and very much rooted in UK bass culture. And with Appleblim at the helm, it’s a story that’s very much worth hearing.
01 Henry Liam Collins “Field Recording: East Prawle Seaside Carpark” 02 Echoes from the Temple “Body Memory” 03 Appleblim “Echos Retreat” (Aus) 04 Code 6 “Quad 1” (Nu Groove) 05 Bruce “Tilikum” (Dnous Ytivil) 06 October “The Gate to Yesterday” (Skudge) 07 Spatial “Recover” (Ultramajic) 08 t.s.s.k. “Burrs Tim” 09 Zenker Brothers “Mount Eleven” (Ilian Tapes) 10 Rhythmic Theory “Tales of Dystopia” (Idle Hands) 11 Carl Craig “A Wonderful Life” (Planet E) 12 Logos “Savannah Overlord” 12 Roxy “Watch Dis” (ShelfLife) 13 Addison Groove “Allaby” 14 Acre “Powerlines” 15 Kevin McPhee “In Circles (Kamikaze Space Programme Drum Tool)” (WNCL) 16 DVA “Mad Hatter” 17 Fracture & Sam Binga “Grippin’ Grain” (Exit) 18 Second Storey “Shamen Champagne” (Houndstooth) 19 Appleblim “Ignite” 20 Henry Liam Collins “Field Recording: Rain Drips”
The pairing of Parisian future-funk specialist Mr. Flash and UK producer (and member of the innovative Instra:mental duo) Jon Convex is a somewhat unexpected one, but the latter’s remix of “Midnight Blue” is certainly hard to argue with. On it, Convex (a former XLR8R podcast contributor) wraps the original track’s vocals around a robust rhythmic base that melds together a heavy house bounce with a broad helping of space-age percussion. Furthermore, the rework finds ways to fit pieces of Mr. Flash’s original in an airy space above the remix’s chugging rhythmic programming, which maintains a propulsive pace across the track’s five-plus-minute run. Convex’s remix is part of the Midnight Blue EP package (the track having originally appeared on Mr. Flash’s Sonic Crusader LP earlier this year), out now via Ed Banger/Because Music.
Pioneering German experimental duo Mouse on Mars is verging on its 21st year, and to commemorate over two decades of of near-constant creative evolution, group members Jan St. Werner and Andi Toma have revealed details for an anniversary compilation. Notable as one of the few German pop acts to gain international recognition (in the company of Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream, and Neu!), the forthcoming release, 21 Again, is reportedly not intended as to serve as a retrospective—which would constitute a major project itself, given the pair’s extensive discography and history of collaborative projects—but rather extends the Mouse on Mars sound continuum into a new decade, with the likes of Atom TM, Machinedrum, Modeselektor, and 20 other artists all making appearances.
21 Again will see official release on October 31 via Berlin-based outpost Monkeytown as a double CD, and both artwork and a full tracklist can be found below. A Mouse on Mars Jubilee Box Set, limited to 500 copies, is also in the works, which will include not only a copy of the new compilation, but also a CD of archival, unreleased material, a recording of “Paeanumnion,” an orchestral piece composed by Mouse on Mars and played by Klangfabrik Köln, an LP of the group’s four Peel Sessions, and texts by Chris Sharp of London’s Barbican and CTM Festival director Jan Rohlf.
CD1: Eli & Mark E. Smith: 21 Again Mouse On Mars & Cavern of Anti-Matter: Fertilized Mouse On Mars & Tortoise: Shoe Fly A Hawk And A Hacksaw & Balàzs Unger: Celebration Song Mouse On Mars & Errorsmith: Errormom Mouse On Mars & Eric D Clark: Lost And Found Mouse on Mars & Modeselektor feat. Mr. Maloke: Purple Fog Mouse on Mars & Siriusmo: Immer Kurz Davor Mouse on Mars & Scratch Pet Land: Splymogym Mouse on Mars & Dodo NKishi: Queen Für Erschein Mouse On Mars & Atom TM: Key My Brain AGF / Delay Team: 21 Momstars Mouse on Mars & Helado Negro: Carca Jadas Mouse On Mars & Laetitia Sadier: My Toe Is On Fire
CD2: Ingrid & Oswald Wiener: Wir möchten auch drauf sein Mouse On Mars & Schlammpeitziger: Ein Leben Wie Heu Mouse on Mars & Junior Boys: Putty Tart Mouse on Mars & Candie Hank: Metaloona Swamp David Michael Digregorio & Sung Huang Kim: We’re Glad You Are Born Today, Unless You Weren’t Born Today Mouse on Mars & Machinedrum – Juice Clr 9 Mouse On Mars & Mesak & Claws Costeau: Somiak Mouse on Mars & F.X. Randomiz: Fromm Prefuse 73: 90’s Mouse on Mars & Funkstörung: Bon Djerry Mouse on Mars & Yoshimi: NKANKA Mouse on Mars & Matthew Herbert aka DJ’s Collapse: Double Gum Mouse on Mars & Olivia Block: Pterion Mouse on Mars & Oval: Gitto Ski Mouse on Mars & Tyondai Braxton: Off Sea DJ Scotch Egg: Mouse On Egg (Happy Birthday!)
In the Wild, the eagerly awaited fourth LP from Brooklyn artist—and recent 20 Questions featuree—Drew Lustman (a.k.a. FaltyDL), is still a week away from seeing its official release via Ninja Tune. In the meantime, Lustman has let loose a full stream of album cut “Heart & Soul” to help hold us over. Flushed with jungle breaks, “Heart & Soul” sounds in line with much of what the NYC producer has revealed of his upcoming record so far. The track’s dynamic run is lined with dreamy textures and fluid jazz touches, while also featuring a very, well, heartfelt sample at its core.
“Heart & Soul” can be streamed in full below, where we’ve included the latest piece of video to surface from FaltyDL’s and Chris Shen’s ongoing video project for In the Wild, which officially lands on August 12.
Seattle producer Lusine (a.k.a. Jeff McIlwain) is set to release the Arterial EP tomorrow, a four-track effort that will see the electronic craftsman return to the Ghostly fold. In the build-up to the EP’s release, we were treated to a stream of the record’s title track, as well as an excellent stop-motion video which accompanied the pulsating tones of “Arterial” nicely. Now, Lusine’s full record has come into view, with its remaining cuts finding McIlwain lacing his precisely executed productions with breathy vocal contributions. Officially out via Ghostly on August 5, Lusine’s Arterial EP is streaming in its entirety below.
