Bruno Pronsato Next on Foom with New Album

Bruno Pronsato will release a new album on Foom.

Rare Normal is Pronsato’s “most adventurous and ambitious” work to date, we’re told.

While immersed in the work of Charles Ives, Pronsato, real name Steven Ford, produced all eight tracks over the past 12 months.

The album grew out of a period spent experimenting with mixing dissonance and consonance, and experimenting with tone rows and serialist/twelve-tone theory on several of the tracks.

He wanted to achieve “a sort of artificial dissonance, one that I was possibly unable to achieve through inspiration,” he says, “but at the same time still human and caring without being washed of emotion…and it had to groove.”

Pronsato released Do It At Your Funeral, his latest studio album, on Perlon in 2021. Before that, he released US Drag on Foom, the Berlin label of Benjamin Freeney.

Tracklisting

01. Above The Launderette
02. Perfume Saint
03. Statues Disfigured
04. Fifty Years Valiantly
05. No Chairs No Dancing
06. Like Hannah
07. Cops Are Weird
08. The Cast Crowds The Curtain

Rare Normal LP is scheduled for May 3 release. Meanwhile, you can stream “The Cast Crowds The Curtain” via the player below and pre-order here.

Podcast 841: Ceri

The life of Ceri Owens, the English DJ-producer better known as just Ceri, changed when she bought a one-way ticket to Ibiza on a whim. Having graduated from university, where she’d fallen in love with house and techno through nights out in Fabric and Plastic People, she couldn’t think of a better way to spend the summer. “I remember my first trip to DC10 feeling like I had arrived home,” she says. It was during that summer, watching Ricardo Villalobos, Richie Hawtin, Luciano, and Sven Väth that gave her the inspiration to DJ and learn to make music.

Upon her return to England, Owens enrolled in a Music Production Course and offered to play for free around smaller clubs and bars in London. Over time, this evolved into paid gigs and multiple residencies, including at Jaded, the capital’s longest running after-party held at Corsica Studios, where she would play for nine or 10 hours. “It was during this residency I had a chance to fully express myself,” she says.

Her sound today draws inspiration from the classic timeless sounds of Chicago and Detroit, and she balances her DJing work with Find Your Own Records, her own label, which features her own originals with remixes from her favorite producers. In September, she shared I Need You to Make Me Sweat, which features a remix by Mr. G. More recently, she released two more originals with two remixes from D’Julz: Can’t Pay My Bills.

For this week’s XLR8R podcast, Owens has revisited her debut at Panorama Bar in Berlin, where she played alongside Gerd Janson, Cinthie, nd_baumecker, and more in October. She planned a deeper, dubbier set, but when she arrived the energy was in a higher place, and she could feel that a lot of the crowd had been there all night, so instead she wanted to “keep the vibes high and happy and housey,” she says. So, press play for just over an hour of feel-good, vocal-filled house, with a bit of garage thrown in for good measure. “Even though it’s one of the coolest clubs, it’s can also be really fun and playful upstairs too,” Owens says.

01. What have you been up to recently?
Last week I released the latest EP on my label, Find Your Own Records, which I am excited about. With two originals from me, and two remixes from D’Julz. I also recently played my second set at Panorama Bar which was a beautiful soulful amazing experience, plus a good 12-hour (sober) rave dance marathon. I played a warehouse party in Paris, alongside house legends Kerri Chandler, Chez Damier and DJ Deep. And I even managed to fit in a spa day too!

02. What have you been listening to?
When I was at Panorama Bar, I was lucky enough to catch Rob Manga, Soundstream, PARAMIDA, and Zombies in Miami who were all amazing and kept me and my mates dancing for hours. And I also popped to Barcelona brunch the other week as well to hear Mr. G, Minx, and Moodymann who really brought the groove the funk and the soul. I have also been listening to a lot of Paul Rayner, who is an amazing producer, and I included one of his tracks in the mix, as well as listening to a lot of Fred P; and Kerri Chandler just gave away 73 free tracks on his website (which you may still be able to grab if you’re quick!) so I’ve been listening to them too. On a non-music tip, I love listening to meditations by Steve Nobel and Liz Findlay to help calm, ground, cleanse and protect my energy.

03. Where and when did you record this mix?
At my friends’ Jemma and Goris’ house in Ibiza, in their living room, which casually has a Funktion-One sound system in it! They are beautiful souls who, I love dearly. Sadly, Jemma injured her leg skiing, so she was dancing on her crutches as I recorded it. All my records are in the UK and I’m currently in Ibiza, so I have been slowly digitizing my collection, so I can bring them with me anywhere. It’s a never-ending but fun job.

04. How did you choose the tracks that you’ve included?
This mix was inspired by my set at Panorama Bar a few weeks back. It was a four-hour set, so it was hard to encapsulate everything I did in the mix. I did play some naughty tunes there that I didn’t include here, but I included some of my faves.

05. How did it compare to what we might hear you play out live more generally?
I am quite a versatile DJ so I can play differently to this too. I guess this stems from playing such long sets. I can happily play a deep, dubby set, a banging house set, or a (soulful) techno set, at the right time and I also love to show my garage roots as well. For me, my sound is whatever feels right in that moment, which can vary, but hopefully it’s always groovy, timeless, and has soul.

06. What’s next on your horizon?
I am planning the next releases on my label. I am playing Drumsheds in London for the BBC Radio 1 party, as well as Audio in Geneva, Switzerland on Easter weekend. I also have gigs coming up in France, Ibiza and Germany I can’t announce quite yet. I’m looking forward to catching up with family and friends in London and running my music production Masterclass again in April to help up-and-coming producers improve their music, and making more music myself too.

XLR8R Subscribers can download the podcast below. If you’re not an XLR8R subscriber, you can read more about it and subscribe here.

Tracklisting

01. Ceri “Can’t Pay My Bills” (D’Julz Remix) (Find Your Own Records)
02. 2 in a Room “Take me Away” (Junior Vasquez Remix) (Cutting Records)
03. Masters of the Monotonal Groove “Gotta Keep On” (3 Beat Music)
04. Original Nutter “Soulful Garage” (Club Mix) (White Label)
05. DJ Pooch “Burning Up” (Unknown)
06. IND “We Will Rock” (Funkin Records)
07. Unknown “Unknown” (Unknown)
08. Vengaboys “The Vengabeat” (Breakin’ Records)
09. Dynamix pres Tina Ann “Don’t Want Another Man” (Peter Doesn’t Want Another Mix) (Star 69 Records)
10. Ruff Drivers “Deeper Love” (Ruff Driverz Ruff Mix) (Inferno)
11. Mr Roy “Something About You” (Deerstalker Dub) (Mocca)
12. Paul Rayner “Say i’m in love” (Extended Mix) (Unknown)
13. Liquid “House (Is A Feeling)” (Original Mix) (XL Recordings)

Machinedrum to Release 11th Album

Machinedrum (a.k.a Travis Stewart) will release a new album on Ninja Tune.

Stewart’s journey to making 3FOR82 began, fittingly, on March 4 last year. For his 41st birthday, he ventured out to Joshua Tree National Park, California, to seek clarity and inspiration for a new album.

“I’ve been to Joshua Tree many times and I’ve always felt a great sense of clarity every time I visit,” he explains, “and I knew that I should, at some point in my life, go out there to work on something creatively.”

In the quiet vastness of Joshua Tree, Stewart combed through old hard-drives full of his late-’90s beats: many of them were made on Impulse Tracker, a rough freeware programme that lay untouched for the better part of a quarter-century.

“That’s really where I cut my teeth in electronic music-making,” he remembers.

Although he’s been a committed Ableton Live user for years, “there’s been a yearning for me to tap back into that older self; the software is super limiting, and there’s a unique creativity that comes out of limitations.”

After finding a DOS emulator that would run Impulse Tracker, he recorded himself playing and riffing off these beats to build 3FOR82.

We’re told to expect 12 high-intensity, ruminative tracks that “thread the needle between his past, present and future selves.”

The album builds on the vocalist-centric, genre-blending songwriting of the last Machinedrum album, 2020’s A View Of U.

Between drum & bass, hip-hop, jazz, R&B and juke, Stewart weaves in a crew of collaborators. Jesse Boykins III, the album’s co-executive producer, leads with various contributions. Then, Tinashe, KUČKA, Duckwrth, AKTHESAVIOR, Mick Jenkins, Ezri, Tanerélle, Deniro Farrar, Topaz Jones, deem spencer, aja monet, ROZET, Will Johnson, and Ian Maciak all feature.

Tracklisting

01. ORACLE feat. aja monet
02. RESPEK feat. Topaz Jones & Ezri
03. WEARY feat. Mick Jenkins & Jesse Boykins III
04. H0N3Y
05. HEAL feat. AKTHESAVIOR & Deniro Farrar
06. ILIKEU feat. Duckwrth
07. U_WANT feat. KUČKA
08. BLESSD feat. deem Spencer
09. RISE feat. ROZET
10. ZOOM feat. Tinashe
11. KILL_U feat. Tanerélle
12. GODOWN feat. Jesse Boykins III

3FOR82 LP is scheduled for May 24 release. Meanwhile, you can stream “ZOOM” feat. Tinashe in full via the player below and pre-order here.

Photo: James King

Podcast 840: Seven Davis Jr.

Last month, Seven Davis Jr.—the Texas-born, California-raised singer, songwriter, and DJ-producer—returned with Stranger Than Fiction, a new album. Since 2012, Davis Jr. has put out music on Secret Angels, the label he launched in 2016, but also Classic Music Company and Ninja Tune, which is where he released his debut album, Universes, on which he gave a nod to all the different genres of music that have affected him, ranging from classic pop, funk, and soul, to soulful house and jungle. On Stranger Than Fiction, he collaborates with John Cale, Luke Solomon, and Jon Dixon to deliver an album that’s soulful and futuristic, and drenched in groove. And it’s precisely this essence that Davis Jr. has captured in his XLR8R podcast, which he recorded on the fly earlier this year. Featuring tracks from Satoshi Tomiie, Bambounou, and Jason Hodges—plus of course some Seven Davis Jr. originals—it’s a mix of four-to-the-floor jams that’ll seduce even the most stubborn of hips.

01. What have you been up to recently?
I’ve just released my new album, Stranger Than Fiction, and relocated to Los Angeles after spending most of last year in the mountains pretending to be a vagabond. Trying to get a grip on my nomadic ways and stay put in one city this year.

02. What have you been listening to?
I’ve been listening to God.

03. You’ve just put out a new album. What can you tell us about it?
It’s a blend between hip-hop and soulful house with an ode to ’90s music. Done in the spirit of that era when it was all about humble songs with fun beats.

04. Where and when did you record this mix?
I recorded this mix in Calabasas, California about two weeks ago.

05. What setup did you use?
I live recorded the mix at my friend’s studio on his CDJs right before we had a session with an artist named Gavin Turek.

06. How did you choose the tracks you’ve included?
I made a folder of all these tracks I wanted to put in the mix at first. Then my car died and my laptop died, all in the same week. So I said fuck it, and I felt like playing to let off some steam. In this mix I just picked tracks that I was vibing with in that moment. It’s a vibe sesh!

07. Where do you imagine it being listened to?
As with everything I do, I hope it can be listened to anywhere. At home, in the car, at a party, on a hike…whatever you’re at.

08. What’s next on your horizon?
I don’t know. And that feels oddly good. I’m in a healthy place, letting things happen naturally. But I should probably mention that I’m accepting bookings these days and playing more this year. I’m playing my first live show in a while at The Jazz Cafe in London with Girls of the Internet on March 9. I’m looking forward to that. It will also be my first time in London for almost a decade. I don’t remember pretty much any of my former years spent overseas, so I’m looking forward to having a fresh experience.

XLR8R Subscribers can download the podcast below. If you’re not an XLR8R subscriber, you can read more about it and subscribe here.

Editor’s Note: A track listing for this album will be added once it’s available.

Appleblim and Dot Product (a.k.a Wrecked Lightship) Debut on Peak Oil

Wrecked Lightship has debuted on Peak Oil with a new album.

Comprised of Laurie Osborne (a.k.a Appleblim) and Adam Winchester (a.k.a Dot Product), Wrecked Lightship shares a fascination with destabilized rhythms, smudging dub, drum & bass, and kinetic sound design.

Antiposition both “refines and refracts” the project’s vision, we’re told. It follows Oceans And Seas, the pair’s 2023 album, on Midnight Shift Records.

Across six tracks, the UK pair moves between “haze and hyperspace, mythos and mystery,” the Los Angeles label continues. “It’s less deconstructed than reconstructed, fashioned from galactic debris and congealed by the gravity of outer spheres.”

Tracklisting

01. Hex
02. Bizarre Servants
03. Antiposition
04. Sunken Skies
05. Diminished Ark
06. Sounding Bodies

Antiposition LP is available now. You can stream it in full via the player below and order it here.

Download: bvdub & Inquiri “Please Let Go and Let Me Hold You”

Late last year, Brock Van Wey and Lacey Harris, known as bvdub and Inquiri, respectively, released the Destroyesterday. album.

Although mostly ambient, the album has its roots in the California rave scene of the ’90s.

Like many in the electronic lexicon, Van Wey and Lacey entered the scene as ravers and DJs, with Lacey still regularly playing today. Comprised of four 20-minute tracks, the LP could be seen as a fitting soundtrack to a post-rave cab-ride home; a rain-speckled introspective wind-down.

But it’s more than simply a morning-after zone out; it stands on its own as an emotive hauntology of the reasons why many of us end up in the rave scene in the first place: to “overcome the debilitating prisons of our pasts,” as Van Wey states in the linear notes.

Across each track, which play out like acts of a play, filled with chapters that ebb and flow leading the listener through the grander vision, Van Wey sequences complex melodies with textures that feel intentionally hand-stitched. Harris’ vocals explore similar terrain, floating in and out of the sonic bed with varied intensity. It’s a cathartic experience that offers an escape and release of emotions and is the work of two deeply connected artists.

Last week week, Van Wey released a new album, titled Leaving—in between he also managed to squeeze out another album, Asleep in Ultramarine, an 80-minute piece of engulfing ambient.

Leaving picks up where Destroyesterday. left off, comprising another set of four 20-minute tracks, this time with floating breaks and fractured rhythms accompanying his signature melodic distortion.

In celebration of both releases, Van Wey has offered up a download of “Please Let Go and Let Me Hold You,” the third track from Destroyesterday., and a perfect encapsulation of the album and his recent work. Across its 20-minute runtime, synths swell and swirl in unpredictable waves, interacting with Inquiri’s heart-arching vocal lines as the song dances toward an all-encompassing crescendo.

The download is available to XLR8R subscribers as an mp3 below. Head to the bvdub Bandcamp to support the artist and download the music in your high-quality format of choice.

XLR8R Subscribers can download the track below. If you’re not an XLR8R subscriber, you can read more about it and subscribe here.

Nick León and Coral Morphologic Collaborate on New Album

Coral Morphologic and Nick León have collaborated on a new album.

Coral Morphologic is the Miami duo of marine biologist Colin Foord and musician J.D. McKay. Since 2007, they have used multimedia projects to generate environmental awareness of marine biodiversity.

Nick León is a linchpin of South Florida’s electronic scene, with releases for Future Times and N.A.A.F.I.

As an album, Projections of a Coral City delivers five news tracks. “The tones are watery, the mood elegiac, the colors a washed-out pastel,” we’re told.

You might detect resonances with other aquatically minded works: Jürgen Müller’s Science of the Sea and Dr. Roger Payne’s Songs of the Humpback Whale.

But ultimately Projections of a Coral City creates the impression of a world unto itself—”a hauntingly beautiful space at the meeting point between sorrow and hope,” we’re told.

The album lands on Balmat, the label of Albert Salinas and Philip Sherburne, two friends living in Cardedeu, Catalonia, and on the Balearic island of Menorca.

Balmat grew out of Lapsus Radio, a weekly show born almost 10 years ago. Its mission is “to foster new ideas, expand upon personal obsessions, and put enveloping sounds out into the world.”

Tracklisting

01. Deep Call
02. Hearts Aflutter
03. Discovery
04. Precipice
05. Reach Out

Projections of a Coral City LP is scheduled for April 5 release. Meanwhile, you can stream “Deep Call” in full via the player below and pre-order here.

Podcast 839: Khalil

The work of Khalil is heavily influenced by the multicultural fabric of London’s nightlife. His sets weave everything from hip-hop and R&B to soul, dancehall, and afro-beats, and they play between the lines of the expected and unexpected, bridging the old and the new, to create a distinct style and sound of his own. It’s a style that can be traced back to his childhood in London when he discovered reggae, hip-hop, jungle, and drum & bass, and he began playing house parties and then at bars and eventually clubs. From there, he hasn’t stopped. “I’m fortunate that I’ve kept going from there, and grateful that it’s taken me around the world,” he told XLR8R recently. Nowadays, he’s based in Brooklyn, New York, where he runs the BackToLife, KIM (Keep It moving), and Shapes parties. For this week’s XLR8R podcast, he has delivered a mix that showcases his versatility: it begins with smooth house, then gets a little headier as it moves through UK funky and garage and back down again.

01. What have you been up to recently?
It’s been a much needed slower start to the year after a hectic few months to close out last year, but things are now picking up with some travel dates in the US and Europe to come. A highlight of the year so far was the release of “The Kitchen” on Netflix. It’s a film I’d been working on for the past two years as music supervisor, and it was such a great project and team to be a part of. The feedback, especially for the music, has been really great, so I’m hoping for more of this kind of work moving forward!

02. What have you been listening to?
Kokoroko’s Could We Be More is still in heavy rotation, and I love NIJI’s Somewhere in the Middle, too. But also quite an eclectic mix of music. I been enjoying a lot of the CoOp Presents releases, Unknown T, P-rallel, 2000Black, Theo Parrish, Obongjayer, Odumodublvck, Sempre, Izco, as well as revisiting a lot of J Dilla around what would have been his 50th birthday.

03. What is it that draws you to electronic music?
I love so many different styles of music, but the thing I love most about electronic music is that it just has to sound great. It doesn’t need to be a hit record to play, it doesn’t need a hook people can sing along to. As long as it sounds good sonically, and the sound system is good enough to handle it, that’s all you need. I tend to lean towards percussion-heavy, bass-heavy electronic music, especially a lot of the UK genres like garage, jungle, and UK funky, but I also love some great sample-based house.

04. Where and when did you record this mix?
On a Sunday night at the start of February in my apartment in Brooklyn.

05. How did you choose the tracks you’ve included?
I wanted to showcase some of the music I’ve been playing at two of my regular parties: KIM (Keep It Moving), which I started last year and takes place monthly at Black Flamingo; and my more UK-centric BackToLife party which started when I moved to New York from London in 2015.

06. Where do you imagine it being listened to?
It’s a mix that could be enjoyed in the daytime while working, but you could also turn it up a little, make sure the bass is hitting, and get your dance on.

07. What’s next on your horizon?
I’m looking to get more involved in the music supervision world, so I’m continuing to have conversations around that, and I’m looking to find the right projects to get involved in. In terms of DJing, I’m really enjoying where, what, and how I play at the moment. Being more selective about the gigs I play has been a huge part of feeling this way, so I’m going to be continuing to work this way while finding the right ways to grow and elevate the events I produce.

XLR8R Subscribers can download the podcast below. If you’re not an XLR8R subscriber, you can read more about it and subscribe here.

Tracklisting

01. SAUL “The Light” feat. Allysha Joy (Rhythm Section International)
02. DJ Fudge & Hallex M “Simpatico” feat. Omar (Yoruba Records)
03. Scratchclart “BLACKMIRRORDANCE” (Self-Released)
04. OVEOUS & Don Kamares “Legacy” (Yoruba Records)
05. NEONE the Wonderer “RagJazz” feat. Hali Ray (UK Funky Remix) (Nathan Lawrence)
06. Donsurf “Dance With Me” (Dance Regular)
07. SAMIEL “Yes, OK!” (Roska Kicks & Snares)
08. Altered Natives “Rass Out” (Fresh Minute Music)
09. Omar & Zed Bias “Dancing” (Acapella) (Tru Thoughts)
10. EVM128 “Gamma Riddim” feat. Sticky Dub (IG Culture Remix) (CoOp Presents)
11. Tom Esselle “Lou’s Groove” (Rhythm Section International)
12. DONSURF “Beautiful People” (Broke Mix)
13. Jorja Smith “Little Things x Relax” (Bootleg Blend)
14. Groove Chronicles “Faith in U” (DPR Recordings)
15. Roy Davis Jr. & Peven Everett “Gabriel” (Edit) (Large Music)
16. Y U QT “U Belong 2 Me” (Self-Released)
17. Sempra “Play” (Future Classic)
18. G3 “I Prefer a French Exit” (Little Corner)
19. Gemi “WIFEY DUB” (Self-Released)
20. INSTINCT “Steppa” (INSTINCT)
21. Finn Irregular “Find a Way” feat. Rara Zulu (EVM128 Remix) (Tuckshop Recordings)
22. New Sector Movements “Bless” (Cengiz Remix) (First Word Recordings / CoOp Presents)
23. Obongjayar “Who Let Him In” (September Recordings Ltd)
24. Lordamercy & dego “What Does It Take To Come In First” (2000Black)

Kelly Moran Next on Warp with New Album

Kelly Moran will release a new album next month on Warp.

Moves in the Field moves away from the prepared piano techniques which defined Moran’s earlier works like 2017’s Bloodroot and her 2018 Warp debut, Ultraviolet. Instead, Moran “returns to her roots” using the natural sound of an acoustic piano.

We’re told to expect a “series of duets” for Moran and her Yamaha Disklavier, a technologically advanced version of a self-playing piano.

Moran began working with the Disklavier in early 2020 when she was commissioned to compose a piano duet for herself and composer Missy Mazzoli. Yamaha Music loaned Moran a Disklavier piano so she could hear in real time what her duet would sound like without another pianist there to perform with her.

After the pandemic hit, Moran composed in isolation. During a time when she was unable to play music with other collaborators, the Disklavier became her “beloved duet partner,” we’re told, removing the limits of physicality thanks to the instrument’s motorized existence.

The album is influenced by contemporary classical artists like Philip Glass, John Luther Adams, Olga Bell, Julia Wolfe, and David Lang, as well as alternative and electronic artists like Aleksi Perala, Telefon Tel Aviv, and Tori Amos.

Tracklisting

01. Butterfly Phase
02. Superhuman
03. Don’t Trust Mirrors
04. Dancer Polynomials
05. Sodalis (II)
06. Leitmotif
07. It’s Okay to Disappear
08. Hypno
09. Moves in the Field
10. Solar Flare

Moves in the Field LP is scheduled for March 29 release. Meanwhile, you can stream an album teaser below and pre-order here.

Hakuna Kulala to Release Masaka Masaka Album

Ian Nnyanzi, better known as Masaka Masaka, will release a new album on Hakuna Kulala.

Growing up in Uganda, Nnyanzi cut his teeth fashioning rudimentary hip-hop beats at a friend’s studio on Makindye, a hill that overlooks Kampala, Uganda’s balmy Murchison Bay, and realized that he wanted more.

“Out here, everyone seems okay to listen to the same thing,” he explains.

During regular commutes across the city, his mind was being cracked open by sounds from Dean Blunt, Slauson Malone, Arca, Jpegmafia, and Vegyn, and he knew he wanted to make something similar.

We’re told that Barely Making Much is a “sprawling, ambitious album that’s as sculptural as it is explorative.”

Nnyanzi wrote it over a two year-period at Nyege Nyege’s Kampala studio, and tapped into a jumble of interconnected sounds, from jungle and experimental hip-hop to techno and smoked-out ambient.

He was particularly absorbed by the loose, open-minded production style he heard from Manchester, England’s Sockethead, who makes an appearance on “Before I Go.”

Tracklisting

01. Mental Construct
02. Before I Go
03. Come With Me to Goma
04. Cut Right Through
05. 6pm Waiting on You
06. Days of Nothingness
07. Let Me Out
08. Elv8t
09. Barely Making Much
10. Gone
11. Nothing Makes Sense
12. NRG
13. Sacrifice
14. It’s Okay to Dance Alone

Barely Making Much LP is scheduled for March 22 release. Meanwhile, you can stream “Before I Go” in full via the player, plus a video, below and pre-order here.

Photo: Fama Oroko

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