For those people (ourselves included) who are still patiently awaiting the next official single to arrive from UK bass wrangler Mickey Pearce, well, we don’t really know when that record is going to come. But we have just been handed the next best thing: a beat tape offering 30-plus minutes of “tracks, loops, and live jams” from the DJ/producer, which is available now as a free download. Courtesy of Loefah’s Swamp 81 label, the nine-track Up West is available to anyone willing to share their email address. Everyone interested in doing so can head here for the free download, and Mickey Pearce’s new beat tape can be previewed before then below, where its tracklist is also included.
Although we here at XLR8R generally like to keep our focus on the music, it’s also become clear that our readers have a genuine interest in how exactly that music gets made. Our In the Studio and From Studio to Stage features regularly take in-depth looks at artists’ production lairs and live set-ups, but we figured that it might also be helpful if some of our favorite beatmakers simply compiled a list of their favorite pieces of gear. Our first subject is none of than UK producer Untold (a.k.a. Jack Dunning), whose excellent Black Light Spiral LP just dropped via his own Hemlock label. Dunning’s move toward an increasingly techno-oriented sound has been well documented in recent years, but a significant part of that process has stemmed from his embrace of modular synths. Now that his new album has found its way into the world, he’ll be spending much of 2014 on the road with a new, gear-centric audio-visual set. In the midst of preparing for that, we asked Untold to detail the most critical pieces of his on-stage rig.
I’ve chosen five bits of gear from my live show I’ll be touring this year. They are all modular synth units in the Eurorack format. I’ve included some photos of my main rig and the smaller 3U touring box that contains modules resembling a Klaxon-type dub FX unit, gated and filtered noise, and drums. I link these up to a looper and a drum machine and patch together sounds on the modular when I need them.
Main rig
Touring box
The nice thing about touring with a modular is it can be whatever you need it to be—a synth for basslines, a Roland drum machine clone, a sample mangler, etc. It’s really opened my eyes to the possibilities of making fully realized music away from the computer.
Snazzy FX Chaos Brother Harnessing chaotic sequences for musical means has become an obsession lately. My Chaos Bro creates controllable patterns that range from simple, predictable pulses all the way up to dense clouds of turbulent noise. I use the patterns to trigger drum fills and bring unpredictability to my synth lines.
Addac Filterbank This is a filterbank, and it allows me to isolate, mute, and control eight frequency bands, from sub-bass up to very high treble. I usually route some white noise into it and use the kill switches to sculpt percussive sounds. With this, I can make anything from snare drums to high hats, or create a telephone voice effect.
Intellijel Plog Ever since maths class, the stiff-upper-lipped allure of Boolean logic has been hard to escape for me. The Plog is a logic gate that says “yes,” “no,” or “maybe” to each note of a pattern that comes its way. The take-out here is you can make breakbeats with it.
Mutable Instruments Braids This is a synth voice that has similarities with the ever popular Native Instruments Massive Synth. It’s got a very clinical digital sound and can do all those ‘boinggrrrrbow’ bass stabs that I play around with, and much, much more.
Doepfer Dark Time This is an analog sequencer that I hook up to a drum machine, and use to send a fixed tempo to the modular rig. I create the patterns for drum beats using the two rows of switches, but what makes this thing unique is the way you can randomize and change the length of the patterns on the fly. It’s like a supercharged Fruity Loops with wood paneling.
Championing the Hawaiian scene, budding Honolulu-based producer Jacuzzi just released his Seppuku Pt.1 EP, a two-track offering detailed as part of an “ongoing collaboration project between Jacuzzi and fellow Hawaiian producer Mr. Carmack.” Featured here, lead cut “Twilight” is a grooved-out, slowmo tune that emphasizes a trap-referencing beat largely comprising hollowed percussion mashed together with stray vocal snippets. For those who are curious to hear more, Seppuku Pt.1‘s flipside track “Torture” can be streamed in full after the jump.
The latest offering to arrive via TAR’s free digital-release series comes from SoCal producer AbJo, whose airy “Torn Asunder” kicks off the brand-new DSTRN EP. Built around a bobbing procession of kicks and crisp layers of percussion, the production is a pleasant voyage through understated beatwork, one marked by chords which bring to mind Lone’s dayglo productions, a particularly wistful lead melody, and a decidedly lethargic bassline. “Torn Asunder” and two other efforts from San Diego artist AbJo can be picked up for free—along with the rest of TAR’s ongoing digital EP series—here.
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After dropping a 75-minute mix late last month, up-and-coming Dublin duo Lakker is further teasing the release of its Containing a Thousand EP (set to drop on March 11 via R&S) with an abstract black-and-white video for the record’s title track.The minimalist piece was directed by Dara Smith and features ambiguous, CGI-rendered shapes and shadows of miscellanous futuristic structures, the close-up shots of which are artfully paired with Lakker’s glitchy and spacious production.
In anticipation for its fourth year, Croatia’s Hideout Festival—set to go down this summer on the Island of Pag—has announced its second wave of artists scheduled to perform. Among the artists named in the festival’s jam-packed lineup are house maestro Kerri Chandler (who recently contributed to XLR8R‘s Hi-Five feature series), tech-house giant Maceo Plex, Bostonian party-starters Soul Clap, and veteran UK DJ/producer Paul Woolford (pictured above), who will also appear under his Special Request moniker—all of which are scheduled to perform between June 30 and July 3 alongside the likes of Daniel Avery, David Rodigan, John Talabot, Joy Orbison, and many more on Zrce Beach in Novalja.
Though tickets for Hideout Festival are already sold-out, an opportunity to snag a limited number of unclaimed deposit tickets will be available on March 6, here.
Detroit’s Coyote Clean Up is surely one of the most prolific artists to bubble up through the ranks in recent years, with releases for a littany of labels—100% Silk among them—and any number of side projects to his name. One such endeavor is Kitkkola, the handle under which the Midwest talent has released a new 17-track cassette, entitled Sarah’s Rocks, just today via 1080p. Listening to album cut “Blue Winking,” it’s easy to hear how Coyote Clean Up has been able to maintain such a prolific run: He seems to know exactly when he has a good thing going. Here, the producer pieces together a track that is simple enough, with a set of floating chords and bouncing percussion chopped by the thump of a kick drum and a loaded bassline. It’s a solid base, and one which the producer smartly throws just a handful of extra FX tricks and melodic touches on top of in order to extend the runtime to four minutes—essentially proving that maintaining a solid groove really isn’t rocket science.
Since 2006, German DJ/producer Marco Niemerski has consistently crafted and released quality 12″s and EPs across a variety of reputable labels under the name Tensnake, but the pop-leaning house specialist has yet to issue a full-length album. That is all set to change next week, however, when Astralwerks releases Glow, the longstanding artist’s 15-track debut LP. Thankfully, Tensnake’s latest offering of bubbly, retro-minded, hook-driven dance music is now available to stream in full a week before it hits retailers.
Glow—which features guest appearances from Nile Rodgers, Jamie Lidell, Fiona, and more—can be heard in its entirety over on iTunes, where it is also available as an early download before physical copies of Tensnake’s first album can be nabbed on March 11. Furthermore, Niemerski is currently making his way through a North American tour, the dates of which can be found here.
Longstanding producer and master sonic manipulator Matthew Herbert was recently enlisted to put together a 30-minute radio segment for the BBC, in which the UK artist explored the art and science of the loop. Now—for those of us who can’t find BBC Radio 4 on the dial, or just happened to miss the broadcast—Herbert’s immensely informative program can be streamed in full online.
Over the course of the half-hour show, Herbert leads the way, bringing in a cast of various DJs and producers to discuss the elemental facets and uses of the loop, the history of repetition in music (as well as its place in nature), and the evolution of looping in modern production. Along the way, Herbert uses examples from his ambitious One Pig project (which made an entire LP from sounds recorded while following the life of a pig on a farm), before eventually waxing philosophical about the proliferation of looping software and whether or not music is reaching an “unhealthy state of permanent recycling.” Herbert’s full The Art of the Loop segment can be heard here.
After announcing the imminent arrival of her forthcoming debut album for Hyperdub, rising Brooklyn-based producer Fatima Al Qadiri has officially released the particulars of her Asiatisch LP. The 10-track record is set to land on May 5, and is said to present a “simulated road trip through an imagined China,” revolving around “the fantasies of East Asia as refracted through pulpy Western pop culture.” Oddly enough, Asiatisch‘s opening track “Shanzhai” is a cover of Sinead O’Connor’s “Nothing Compares 2 U” with “nonsensical Mandarin” lyrics.
The artwork and tracklist for Fatima Al Qadiri’s Asiatisch LP can be found below before it arrives in early May via Hyperdub.
1. Shanzhai (for Shanzhan Biennial) ft. Helen Feng 2. Szechuan 3. Wudang 4. Loading Beijing 5. Hainan Island 6. Shenzhen 7. Dragon Tattoo 8. Forbidden City 9. Shanghai Freeway 10. Jade Stairs
