London producer Liil Silva will debut on the True Panther label in August with the Mabel EP, a record which is said to prominently feature the beatmaker’s own voice along with a pair of collaborations with LA vocalist Banks. Having begun his career with a focus on UK club tracks, releasing the Night Skanker EP via Night Slugs in 2010, Lil Silva has more recently begun shift his aims towards the more pop-inclined side of electronic production, as evidenced on 2012’s Patience EP and his collaborations with the likes of Sampha, and—most notably—Stateside pop act Banks. Mabel is said to continue finding Lil Silva moving in this direction, with his “warm and rich” voice leading three of five tracks on the upcoming effort.

Serving as our first taster of the EP is title track “Mabel,” a smooth and hazy slice of club-rooted pop that utilizes multiple layers of the producer’s own vocals to create thick harmonies as the track’s sharp but subtle percussion stirs the current underneath. “Mabel” can be heard in full below before Lil Silva’s next effort drops on August 4, a collaborative release between True Panther and London’s Good Years imprint.

01 First Mark
02 Kimmy
03 Don’t You Love (feat. BANKS)
04 Mabel
05 Right For You (feat. BANKS)

New York-based trio—and former XLR8Rpodcast contributors—Lemonade have revealed the details of Minus Tide, the outfit’s forthcoming LP for Cascine. Described as a “collection of songs that contemplate the sync of natural cycles, the eternal allure of wide open spaces and the belief that freedom can still be experienced within the confining grids of urban life,” Lemonade’s forthcoming LP is led by “Stepping,” a slippery production which brings together the trio’s knack for emotive, synth-soaked pop with nods to the forward-thinking ends of contemporary club music.

Serving as Minus Tide‘s lead single, “Stepping” can be streamed in full below where the full tracklist for Lemonade’s forthcoming album can be found before the record officially lands on September 9 via Cascine.

01 Stepping
02 Durutti Shores
03 Clearest
04 Water-Colored Visions
05 Reaches
06 Awake
07 Orchid Bloom
08 Come Down Softly
09 OST
10 Minus Tide

Record live during a set at Paris’ Concrete nightclub back in April, a two-hour session from legendary techno jock Robert Hood is now available to stream and download in full. Initially shared by French magazine/website Trax, the set finds Hood tear through a pummeling array of techno workouts, stringing together a bevy of machine-minded cuts with more soulful bits while rarely easing up, except for the mix’s final minutes. Appearing without a tracklist, the live-recorded two-hour mix from Detroit pioneer Robert Hood (who recently sat down with XLR8R for a 20 Questions session) can be streamed and downloaded in full below.

A staple of the American Northwest’s electronic music scene, Portland’s Dropping Gems label/collective has announced plans to issue the fourth edition in its Gem Drops compilation series. Set to drop late next month, the collection brings together new tracks from regulars of the Dropping Gems crew such as hometown talents Phillip Grass and Rap Class, Seattle’s DJAO, San Francisco producer Devonwho, and the ascending Natasha Kmeto (who herself recently shared the first single from her upcoming sophomore LP). In addition, Gem Drops Four has also enlisted an impressive mix of contributors from the label’s outer circle, with The Range, Anenon, Pixelord, and Marley Carroll all offering new tracks on the effort.

Summed up simply be the label as “21 tracks from across our field of view, tracks we believe in, artists we care about,” Gem Drops Four will see its official release in both digital and cassette formats on July 29. In the meantime, the collection’s full tracklist can be peeped below, where “Shadow,” DJAO’s leading contribution to the record, can also be streamed in full.

01 DJAO – Shadow
02 Anenon – Actions
03 Gouda Hoop – Range For Harry
04 Vandetta – Falling
05 Ghost Feet – Give Me Something
06 The Range – Rayman
07 Rap Class – Jenny @ Da Pie Shop
08 Shawn Don – We Do
09 Philip Grass – Wmn Too
10 M. Constant – Funes
11 Bone Rock – Souler
12 Swrvy – Creepin
13 Devonwho – Sunder
14 Free The Robots – Frownin (Robot Edit)
15 Pixelord – Mist
16 Natasha Kmeto – Last Drop
17 Braxton/Palmer – Krycek
18 Qloq – Disappear Here
19 Time Wharp – Duke 6
20 Marley Carroll – Layer Rush
21 Big Sigh – If I Could

An artist we first crossed paths with at Red Bull Music Academy’s 2011 session (and subsequently highlighted as one of the “Fresh Faces” from that year’s class), vocalist/producer Andrea Balency will issue her official debut release later this month, a five-track affair whose first single was co-produced by James Blake collaborator Airhead. The Walls EP will introduce the 22-year-old part-Mexican, part-French Balency across a number of emotive productions which ride the line between alt R&B and pop-lined electronics.

Set to see its official release on Monday, June 23 via the Bataille label, a lyric video for Walls‘ lead single, “You’ve Never Been Alone,” can be watched/heard below, where the artwork and tracklist for Balency’s debut release have also been included; another EP track, “Adieu Cre?ature,” can also currently be streamed over on Stereogum. Furthermore, Airhead himself announced plans to release a new solo EP via the 1-800-Dinosaur label next month, the details of which can be found here.

01 Crystals
02 You’ve Never Been Alone
03 This Wall
04 Adieu Créature
05 You’ve Never Been Alone (TEPR Remix)

San Francisco-based guitarist and ambient composer Christopher Willits will return to the Ghostly label with Opening, a seven-track album and a seven-part film set to drop this fall. “For years, I’ve imagined the work I do in music, photography, video/film, immersive audio, and meditation all coming into one space,” Willits explains of the roots of his upcoming audio-visual project in a press release. Comprised of footage captured over four years of traveling around California, Hawaii, Japan, and Thailand, a 45-minutes of imagery will be paired with “widescreen ambient music” to result in the Opening film. “There are no actors or dialogue in this film,” Willits further explains, “The audience and their perception is the main character, and everyone’s imagination is going to create some meaning that’s relevant to their own experience. My intention is to create a space where people can open up and expand into, relax, and recharge.”

Officially set to land on September 2, a trailer for Willits upcoming visual album can be watched below, where the artwork and complete tracklist for Opening can also be found. Furthermore, the release of Opening will also coincide with the launch of Willits’ own music delivery subscription service via Drip.fm; more details on that can be found here.

01 Vision
02 Clear
03 Ground
04 Now
05 Connect
06 Wide
07 Release

A mesmeric new dance video from FKA Twigs and collaborator Tom Beard has surfaced via London-based platform Dazed. Shot in an industrial warehouse space, the video is soundtracked by a glitchy rework of “Ache,” taken from the British experimental artist’s 2012 EP1, and shows three dancers, herself included, locked in slow-motion contortions. FKA Twigs recently announced a debut full-length for Young Turks, LP1, but until the album drops in mid-August, her updated version “Tw-Ache” can be found below.