The latest film to appear as part of Resident Advisor’s excellent Real Scenes documentary series takes an in-depth look at the current state of Tokyo’s club scene—specifically, its fight against Japan’s “morality law,” Fueiho. With commentary from the likes of Goth Trad, DJ Sprinkles, and a comprehensive assemblage of the city’s most innovative DJs, producers, and promoters, RA’s 30-minute doc provides an illuminating view into Tokyo’s dance music scene as it struggles to find spaces to legally allow people to dance and to continue tapping a diminishing youth population. Real Scenes: Tokyo can be watched in its entirety below.
Just today, Brooklyn-based veteran DJ/producer Alexi Delano released his new single “My Busted SH-101” via Ghostly’s Spectral Sound imprint, which includes a shadowy remix of the title track by Swedish techno mainstay Jesper Dahlbäck (a.k.a. The Persuader). And to celebrate that record’s arrival, we’ve been given a full stream of both of its sides. Described as “an ode to the beloved and portable synthesizer made by Roland in the early ’80s,” Delano’s latest production occupies a retro-leaning realm of dark techno, and aptly pays tribute to his beloved and influential instrument. “My Busted SH-101” and its accompanying remix can be both heard in the player below, underneath which a handful of Delano’s upcoming tour dates can also be found.
March 1st – Spilt Milk – London, UK March 15th – Freedom Festival – Medellin, Colombia March 21st – Visionquest presents Super Pleasures – Miami, US March 30th – WMC Drumcode Party at Space – Miami, US
Elusive UK pair Various Production has announced it will issue one of its sporadic releases later this month, pairing with the 12″ a companion iPad app. Set to drop on February 24, the upcoming single will feature two new efforts from the outfit, “Checking On” and “Your Move,” the latter of which can be streamed in full below.
In addition to the upcoming 12″, Various Production has collaborated with Code Computer Love to create an interactive iPad app which presents various “audio/visual puzzles to discover exclusive music tracks and videos” from the pair’s hardware music project. The app will be available to download for free via the iTunes App Store on February 19. In the meantime, Various Production’s “Your Move” can be heard using the player below.
20-year-old Fort Lauderdale producer Nick León is setting out to self-release his upcoming Mexico EP in the “not-too-distant future,” sharing a download of the passionate record closer “IIII. Palenque (Mind)” in the meantime. With some emotionally evocative vocals from Faeryteeth, the misty production offers an array of starry synths along with a foreboding bassline to cohesively form a range of beautiful and dark sounds. Finely tuned vocal distortions shroud Nick León’s new track with an air of mysticism that acutely matches the single’s abstract artwork.
Just before the weekend, we were tipped off that LA-based house specialist Marc Kinchen (a.k.a. MK) was next in line for BBC Radio 1‘s Essential Mix series. The two-hour broadcast aired this past Saturday—chock full of the mixmaster’s unreleased remixes for the likes of Disclosure, Hot Natured, and others—but is also now available to stream in full. Boasting 30 eclectic tracks spanning the spectrum of pop-inflected dance music (or dance-inflected pop music), the latest Essential Mix is a quality document of where MK’s classic sound fits in with the new crop of artists he may have directly and indirectly inspired. BBC Radio 1’s broadcast from this past weekend can be streamed and downloaded below, where its lengthy tracklist can also be found.
Jane Child – All I Do (MK Dub) Hannah Wants & Chris Lorenzo – Girls (Shadow Child Remix) Angel Haze feat. Sia – Battle Cry (MK Remix) Reese & Santonio – How To Play Our Music Danny Tenaglia – Bottom Heavy (Danny’s Bottom Heavy Remix) Tim Baresko & Tee Dunky – In The Morning Florrie – Little White Lies (Shadow Child Remix) HAIM – If I Could Change (MK Regrets Dub) Shadow Child feat. Takura – Friday (MK Medicine Dub) Jodeci – Freek ‘n You (MK Dub) Storm Queen – Look Right Through (MK Dub III) Disclosure feat. AlunaGeorge – White Noise (MK Remix) Luxury – J.A.W.S Honey Dijon feat. Dajae – Until The Day (Alex Kenji Remix) K.E.L.S.E.Y. – This Way (MK Deep Dub) The Nightcrawlers – Push The Feeling On (DJ S.K.T 2013 Remix) Sam Smith – Money On My Mind (MK Remix) Hot Natured feat. Anabel Englund – Reverse Skydiving (MK Remix) Victor Ruiz & Dashdot – Obey Thee Cool Cats – Hand On The Pump Paloma Faith – Can’t Rely On You (MK Remix) Lee Foss & MK feat. Anabel Englund – Ghost In The System Unknown – What You To (white label) Le Youth feat. Dominique Young Unique – Dance With Me (MK Remix) Happyhead – Digital Love Thing Reese & Santonio – Truth Of Self Evidence Sub Focus feat. Kele – Turn It Around (MK Remix) Wankelmut & Emma Louise – My Head Is A Jungle (MK Remix) London Grammar – Hey Now (MK Remix) Lancelot feat. Anthony & Cleopatra – Givin’ It Up (MK Remix)
It was an exciting day late last month, when Norwegian disco cosmonaut Todd Terje unveiled the details of his debut album It’s Album Time. And though that record still has well over a month until it drops via the DJ/producer’s own Olsen label, we’ve just been treated to one of its brand-new, never-before-heard cuts, the big and boisterous “Delorean Dynamite.” Terje’s latest single is described as a “motorik space-disco thumper” with “raging stabby synths” and “a lush coda,” and can be heard in its entirety before It’s Album Time drops on April 7, below.
Over the past several years, Manchester producer and Hoya:Hoya co-founder Ryan Hunn (a.k.a. Illum Sphere) assembled a fairly impressive resume for himself, even before he was signed to Ninja Tune. Still, the venerable British label—responsible for over two decades of underground staples, and more recent standouts from the likes of Machinedrum, FaltyDL, and Slugabed—took something of a leap of faith by bringing Hunn into the fold, as he had yet to prove himself with a full-length. It’s also debatable whether Ninja Tune is an appropriate home for Illum Sphere, whose music holds little of the playful, dub-inspired vibe that stamps most of the label’s releases, and instead takes itself rather seriously.
Since 2009, Hunn has trickled out a handful of EPs; most notably, two companion-piece releases called The Plan is Dead and Long Live the Plan via Manchester record store Fat City‘s imprint, as well as some 12″ cameos for 3024, Tectonic, and Young Turks. His debut full-length, Ghosts of Then and Now, follows the somber hip-hop stylings of his past work, but ups the production value while employing diverse live instrumentation and oblique rhythms. There are hints of real ambition, but Hunn ultimately prevents things from becoming too willfully weird or uncompromising, instead resigning himself to gorgeous, yet relatively static set pieces that aren’t particularly risky in terms of songwriting and overall album narrative. Unlike the hyperactive mantras of The Plan is Dead or the stark sci-fi percussion of Long Live the Plan, Ghosts of Then and Now suffers from minor stage fright with an LP-sized canvas. Here, the songs aren’t especially dynamic or adventurous; they establish one looping piece of music and then layer over it, but never really evolve past that initial idea, resulting in what sounds like a series of detailed sketches.
By itself, Ghosts of Then and Now‘s conventional song structures wouldn’t be a problem if the instruments riffed within those limitations in a captivating way. However, after the stubborn refrain of the Mai Nestor-voiced “At Night” and the frigid step sequence of “Sleeprunner,” the arrangements start feeling predictable. That isn’t to say that there aren’t some transcendent, charming moments on the album—”One Letter From Death,” in particular, is more off-the-cuff and immediate, with treated bass guitar and a gritty low-end synth freewheeling over layers of unquantized percussion. “Near the End” relies upon infectious, circling rhythms and overdriven organ licks that grow in intensity, making for the most jazz-inspired piece on the LP. These exceptional minutes show Hunn’s undeniable potential as an artist, displaying a musicianship and energy that make other tracks feel a little sluggish in comparison.
Taken as a whole, Ghosts of Then and Now is simply too content to tread on well-worn stylistic ground, which is unfortunate, because this style of cinematic bass music is clearly ready for reinvention. Hunn’s talent is obvious, but he tends to overthink the songs, instead of allowing his imagination to wander to a more peculiar place. Rather than trying to beat established artists at a game many have already pivoted away from, it would do Hunn well to force more urgency into future work, and turn inward to inspire a more personal style. Illum Sphere’s debut LP may be an elegantly produced collection of noir beat vignettes, but his next one could be a whole lot more.
When we get ahold of Tom Banks (a.k.a. Lockah) via Skype, he’s in the final stages of packing up his flat and moving away from Aberdeen, Scotland, the city he’s called home for the past 28 years. He’s headed for Brighton, England, to be close to his label Donky Pitch, and to have easier access to a larger scene. “I’ve been gradually getting money from gigs that’s almost acceptable,” says Banks, who recently quit an IT job he dreaded showing up to. Fortunately for him, it’s looking less and less likely that he’ll have to return to an office. After successful releases over the past few years on labels like Mad Decent’s Jeffrees imprint, Mishka, and the aforementioned Donky Pitch, he’s about to release a new 12″, “If Loving You Is Wrong, I Don’t Want to Be Wrong,” which will quickly be followed by his first full-length, a Miami bass-, electro-, and rave-inspired LP called Yahoo or the Highway that’s set to drop in April.
As good as things look now, Banks didn’t just stumble onto sudden success. In fact, his origins as an aspiring producer go back to when he was just eight or nine years old. “I had a gramophone from a dead grandparent with shellac discs, the ones that actually shatter,” he remembers. “I actually used to scratch on those things as well. It was horribly misguided.” Aside from his early attempts at spinning records, Banks tried his hand at playing other instruments. “I also used to have a drum kit and a Casio keyboard and this Fisher-Price tape recorder. I would record things on that. I know lots of people are going back to this lo-fi aesthetic now—I might have to reinvest in this classic gear,” he jokes, while shooting over a photo of the model he owned.
Banks’ early fascination with vinyl soon lead to an interest in dance music. “I bought some jungle records when I was not much older—probably still in primary school. Some acid and techno stuff, which was probably falling out of fashion at that point,” he says. In high school, went on to play in rock bands, mostly due to fact that no one else seemed to share his interest in hip-hop or electronic music. “I didn’t really exist in an environment where people were into that sort of thing,” he says.
At 17, Banks moved out of his parents’ house and began producing music in earnest. “All of a sudden, I didn’t have space to make music. People complained when you made loud noises in a flat, so maybe out of necessity, maybe out of curiosity, I got back into learning how to DJ,” he says. His first purchase was a pair of turntables. “In 2005, I certainly didn’t know anyone using Serato at that time. I just wanted to buy any vinyl I could find from charity shops and car boot sales. I bought anything that I could try and sample: old soul and funk records, even cheesy lounge tracks and instrumentals.” Banks also sought out online forums and shops like Turntable Lab to educate himself. “They were big on editorials. They had a lot of deadstock and would kind of explain why it was a good record, or why it was useful. It was really cool learning how to keep things in context, even if they weren’t from the same time or the same style of music.”
It wasn’t until early 2010 that Banks adopted the name Lockah, an alias he picked almost arbitrarily. (“It sounds like a lot of other artists that were big at the time,” he says with a laugh.) Around the same time, Banks also co-founded Tuff Wax, a label that he runs with fellow Aberdeen producers Bones & Money. “We had our own club night in 2009. At that point, there was this complete mix of all sorts of rap beats, grime, dubstep, and UK funky. If you could shoehorn in something that wasn’t really from that scene, but you could make it work, that was very cool to me.” His first physical release as Lockah was a 7″ titled Aberdeen Truth Vol?.?1, which he isn’t particularly happy to revisit. “It sounded really bad,” he laughs. “These were not good productions, even when they were coming out. The aim was just to have something tangible.”
Even though Banks is hard on himself when it comes to his early output, his first releases did help raise his profile outside of the cloistered Aberdeen scene. “I had done a quite questionable remix of ”Let Me Love You Down” by Inoj and this guy messaged me on Twitter asking me to send it to him. Originally, I thought it was spam,” he recalls. As it turns out, the note came from Clayton Blaha, an employee at the PR firm Biz3, and Banks’ future manager. Blaha connected Banks to Jeffrees, where he released the When U Stop Feeling Like a Weirdo & Become a Threat EP, and, soon after, another EP titled Please Lockah, Don’t Hurt ‘Em—this time with Mishka. “At that stage, I was really trying to sharpen my production skills,” he explains. “Ultimately, I think those releases are a bit over the top, a bit hard, a bit of-the-moment. People were calling the Jeffrees thing a trap release! At the time I made it, nobody was calling any of that stuff stuff trap.”
The first release that Banks seems particularly pleased with in retrospect is Only Built 4 Neon Nites, which was released early last year via Donky Pitch. Described by Banks as “conceptual driving music,” the EP is a vivid collection of atmospheric synth-pop; it was also more subtle and less club-oriented than his previous work. (Banks is a huge hip-hop head and the title is an homage to Raekwon’s Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…, his favorite rap record.) “I did a lot driving when I was younger, so music and driving were very hand-in-hand with me,” he says. “It was like a mini concept, I guess. In my mind, it was quite deep for a four-track synth-pop release.” Banks followed the EP with a collaboration called Higher Learning with Taste Tester, a release he’s less fond of. “It was much less deep. It was overshadowed by Neon Nights in my mind,” he says.
Lockah’s upcoming album, Yahoo or the Highway, plays with some of the same ideas as Only Built 4 Neon Nights, but also expands the nostalgic palette that Banks has now made his signature. It’s also his first release that clearly incorporates his love of Miami bass, which is evident on the excellent, rave-oriented new track “If Loving U Is Wrong, I Don’t Want to Be Wrong,” two versions of which will be released next week on a new Donky Pitch 12″. “This 12″ is clearly aiming at the club for me,” says Banks. “I want this to be an odd record that people who aren’t into me pick up in a few years. I’ve mixed it in my sets with Miami bass stuff and it works.”
Like much of Banks’ music, the forthcoming album’s title has a nostalgic bent to it, deriving both from a misunderstanding in Banks’ youth and a longing for the early days of the internet. “When I was a teenager, I was buying this record from Arab on Radar, this noise-punk band, called Yahweh or the Highway. The guy at the local shop misread it and was like ‘Yahoo or the Highway,'” he explains. “I guess I also associate Yahoo with the internet in the ’90s. I didn’t grow up with Myspace or Tumblr. People who are bit younger than me have been discovering music since the instant they could appreciate it. I feel like I’m kind of running out of people to talk to about the internet in the ’90s. I do feel a bit lonely in that way.”
If the New Year’s resolution of UK producer Graphics was to be more generous, then he is well on his way to accomplishing that goal. Having already offered up the ghostly and soulful “Their Say” last month, the man returns to the XLR8RDownloads feed with “Steam and Paradise,” a deep-reaching cut which piles chopped breaks and industrial percussion atop its stream of sharp synths. In truth, this new freebie from Graphics does come with an ulterior motive—announcing the launch of the man’s PTC label. Though no exact release news has surfaced from the endeavor yet, Graphics explains that PTC will be “a very family-based label,” which aims to nurture unsigned artists. For now, “Steam and Paradise” will have to hold us over before Graphics’ new label effort gets into full swing.
Touted as an album which sounds “like the act of searching” and with special attention paid to “misdirection and unpredictability,” Churches Schools and Guns, the sophomore LP from Berlin producer—and last week’s XLR8R podcast contributor—Lucy, can now be streamed in full exclusively on XLR8R ahead of its release next week. Slated to land via Lucy’s own Stroboscopic Artefacts label on February 17, his 12-track album finds the artist using the steady pulses of techno simply as the backbone upon which to build imensely detailed collages of sonic abstraction. The exquisitely textured, 70-minute effort can be unpredictable, foreboding, and astonishingly immersive—sometimes all at once. Lucy’s Churches Schools and Guns can be heard in its entirety via the player below.
