Houndstooth will release a compilation of warped, experimental, and deconstructed club music titled Alterity.
Alterity, defined as a state of being “other” or outside convention, aims to push the idea of “radical otherness” and outsider culture to the fore, embracing its vitality for creating, maintaining, and enriching society. It’s fuelled by a desire to dissolve borders and transcend perceived norms to promote the existence of alternate viewpoints, lifestyles, and identities.
E-Saggila, Odete, AMAZONDOTCOM, Hyph11E, and many others feature across the compilation, documenting a journey through amorphous techno wormholes, caverns of industrial beat science, and colossal panoramas of glistening hyper-stylised trance.
The cover art is a manipulated image of a city, and captures an ordinary urban landscape remodelled as a heterotopia, a world, which mirrors our own, with more layers of meaning and relationships to other places than immediately meets the eye. Much like Alterity, it hints at an endless, borderless, macrocosm concealed within.
Tracklisting
01. 33EMYBW “Medical Fodder” 02. Gooooose “We’ve All Been There” 03. LYZZA “Rifle” 04. AMAZONDOTCOM & Siete Catorce “Absent City” 05. AYA “DaRE u to sour lips with me” 06. Hyph11E “Owl Whispers: 07. E-Saggila “Shd” 08. Debit “Primal Use of Wind” 09. Core Self “Suspiria” 10. DRVGジラ “Funeral Flowers” 11. Osheyack “SAF E” 12. Deena Abdelwahed “Abbrejiyeytar” 13. Lila Tirando a Violeta & Lighght “Ritual For Rusting Metals” 14. Slikback “Shogai” 15. Odete “Epilogue For A Banshee Cry”
Alterity LP is out on August 28 on CD, vinyl, and digitally. Meanwhile, you can pre-order here, and stream an album trailer below.
Nazar has released a music video for “Bunker,” taken from his debut album, Guerrilla.
The video reconstructs a scene of politically-motivated violence during the nearly three decade-long civil war that took place in Nazar’s native Angola. It’s directed by Rob Heppell, and shot in October 2019 at Studio GKZ, Somerset House, London, and animated while under lockdown in China and the United Kingdom.
The making of the video comes from Nazar’s need to “materialise the concepts” behind the album, which comes from his practice of what he calls the “artistic digitalisation of memories into soundwaves,” which is an audio narrative of his family’s experience of the Angolan war, in which his father was a general, fighting while his family lived in exile in Belgium. “I wanted to take it further, to build these memories into animated imagery,” Nazar says.
The track, which features Shannen SP, is written from the perspective of perspective of someone barricading themselves within the Tropico and the Turismo hotels in Luanda, Angola that accommodated the opposition parties staying in the capital for the 1992 election. When the election erupted into violence, the guests were forced to barricade themselves in their rooms to hide from the government army squads sent to kill them.
“I wanted to create a line of flight through this situation. Initially I tried to create an accurate reconstruction of the actual spaces within the hotels, but through the process this changed,” Heppell explains.
Through researching the Angolan civil war, he wanted to create something that would create the emotional context for the song. “A claustrophobia of ruptured rooms, skeletal remains of luxury hotels, the transformation of personal space turned into political no-man’s land through extreme violence, the shifting centre of an infinite war. The camera moves as the memory of a soul on the breeze through a city experiencing a coup after an election.”
Nazar is a 26-year-old Angolan music producer. In 2018, he coined the term “rough kuduro” to describe his vibrant music which is his own “weaponized” interpretation of the Angolan music and dance style kuduro, a beat growing in popularity throughout the world.
On Guerrilla, released through Hyperdub, Nazar used “rough kuduro” to examine his family’s collective memory and Angola’s past, threading together oral histories, political realities, and most significantly re-imaginings of direct horrors. Each track documents his personal story of the war and its aftermath in a detailed and episodic manner.
Guerrilla LP is available now, with the video streaming in full below.
Dream Boundary is a short suite of five tracks that were made during the same period as Outland, but seemed to fall outside the album’s remit.
On this EP, things are less calm but more fiercely hallucinated. We’re told that “contrasts are turned up and everything is covered in a layer of grime,” and silence is used with sometimes “disorientating aggression.”
Ital Tek is the alias of Alan Myson, an English electronic musician based in Brighton. He’s released six albums on Planet Mu, the latest, Outland, coming in May.
Tracklisting
01. Deletion Quarter 02. Dream Boundary 03. Wintered 04. Time Burns Heavy 05. Nocturn
Dream Boundary EP is available digitally on August 7. Meanwhile, you can stream “Deletion Quarter” in full below, and pre-order here.
Dave Harrington’s newest record, Tura Lura, is a collaboration with Jeremy Gustin and Spencer Zahn. It’s set in the New York experimental underground where he grew up attending shows at the old Knitting Factory and Tonic, and where his career began in the late ’00s. After attending Brown University, where he met Nicolas Jaar with whom he later formed Darkside, Harrington became a staple of the city’s improv scene, and also a member of several psychedelic, indie, and noise bands. After growing up as a bass player and studying jazz at the Harlem School of the Arts, he became a guitarist.
In the wake of Darkside’s success, Harrington’s profile blossomed and he went solo, releasing albums with his Dave Harrington Group—Become Alive (2016) and Pure Imagination, No Country (2019). He also dabbled in soundtracks for independent film and applied his freewheeling, psychedelic touch to the work of others.
With his latest work, Harrington has gone full circle: the bulk of Tura Lura was incubated in Bar Lunático, a local watering hole walking distance from his house, where he’d jam along with friends like Gustin and Zahn. They recorded the album in a house by the ocean, improvising without restraint. As with all Harrington’s work, the music moves fluidly between genres, without losing sight of abstract rock, jazz, and electronics. “We wanted to make music that spoke to the sociality and looseness that permeated our Lunático sets,” Harrington explains.
At one hour in length, Harrington’s XLR8R podcast tries to capture the same vibe as Tura Lura, in that it’s beautifully detailed, easygoing, and welcoming. It leans heavily on ECM Records, one of Harrington’s favorite labels, and it’s the first product of his new studio, featuring tracks that he’s been listening to during the lockdown period and those that inspired Harrington, Gustin & Zahn.
01. What have you been up to recently? I’ve been working on a new batch of solo music and experimenting with some new pieces of gear. Also this past week I moved and have been re-building my entire studio. And I’ve been cooking a lot.
02. Which artists, labels, or releases have you been listening to?
As you can tell from the mix here, I’ve been listening to a lot of ECM, as usual. That and a lot of Grateful Dead live stuff mostly. Also some of my friends have new releases, or have been working on new music or releasing live/streaming/improv things lately, so I’ve been listening to their stuff: TG Memory Foam, Nate Mercereau’s gorgeous and heady weekly guitar/guitar synth meditations, Tim Mislock’s With Love… series on Soundcloud, with its beautiful and emotional slow-moving intricate ambient music, and my old friend Andrew Fox’s demos for his next record, which sound amazing.
03. You just released Tura Lura. What makes the Harrington, Gustin & Zahn project so enjoyable?
Harrington, Gustin & Zahn is such a joy of a band to be in. I just love playing with those guys; it’s so effortless and everybody gets to do their thing and the music kind of just arrives. Making the record was a treat because Jesse Harris produced it and he has such a light touch but so much deep focus; he really had a huge impact on the record, and on the way I approached the guitar work specifically. And of course, having Phil Weinrobe engineering and mixing is a total treat. He and I have worked on so much together the last few years and we really have a shared language.
04. When and where did you record this mix?
This mix was made in my new studio. It’s actually the first thing I’ve done here, now that I think about it.
05. How did you select the tracks that you’ve included?
I just wanted to put together things I like listening to, really. I wanted to reflect the quality that the Harrington, Gustin & Zahn record has, where you can just kind of put it on and choose your own level of engagement; if you want to listen in headphones and really focus, it can support that, but if you just want to put it on while you’re making dinner, it won’t ever disrupt your flow. Details, but also ease.
06. What’s next on your agenda?
I’m gonna keep chipping away at this solo music, read “The Incal,” and I’d like to re-watch “The Ninth Gate.”
XLR8R has now joined Mixcloud Select, meaning that to the podcast offline you will need to subscribe to our Select channel, or subscribe to XLR8R+ to download the file. The move to Mixcloud Select will ensure that all the producers with music featured in our mixes get paid. You can read more about it here.
Tracklisting
01. The Neville Brothers “A Change Is Gonna Come” (A&M Records) 02. Brian Blade & The Fellowship Band “Improvisation” (Verve Records) 03. Joshua Abrams “The Ladder” (Eremite Records) 04. Charles Mingus “Oh Lord Don’t Let Them Drop That Atomic Bomb On Me” (alternate version) (Atlantic Records) 05. Jon Hassell “Solaire” (ECM Records) 06. Stefano Battaglia “Pasolini” (ECM Records) 07. Marc Ribot “Black Trombone” (Tzadik Records) 08. Secret Chiefs 3 “Netzach” (Tzadik Records) 09. Nils Petter Molvaer “On Stream” (ECM Records) 10. Jeremiah Cymerman “Against The Grain” (Self-release) 11. Grateful Dead “Drums (live 5/6/81)” (Grateful Dead) 12. Ricardo Villalobos & Max Loderbauer “Reblazhenstva” (ECM Records) 13. Daniel Lanois “JJ Leaves LA” (Epitaph Records) 14. Bill Frisell “A Change Is Gonna Come” (Nonseuch Records)
Since the release of her debut album, Pies Sobre la Tierra, meaning “Feet On The Ground,” Fratti, a Mexico city-based Guatemalan cellist, has been non-stop writing and recording. She released Aire, a new single, last month, which opens the EP.
Birthed from a small loop of harmonics, Aire was composed in 2016, in a friend’s apartment in Monterrey, México not long after Fratti had moved there from Guatemala. Fratti has been playing live for years, but she never recorded it until now.
Reconciling Fratti’s steps throughout her musical past, the release features pop and experimentation that reflects on her time working amongst the improv scene in Mexico City. It features Gibrana Cervantes on violin. “When I wrote the lyrics, I thought of someone feeling they have a ghost inside them,” Fratti tells XLR8R.
You can read more about Fratti in her XLR8R Bubblin’ Up interview here.
Tracklisting
01. Alguien Detrás De Mi 02. Desde El Amor También Podemos Despedirnos / El Sol Sigue Ahí (feat. Gibrana Cervantes 03. Aire (feat. Gibrana Cervantes)
Se Parece A EP is available digitally now. You can stream it in full below, and order here.
Temperature High (Benjamin Freeney Versions), available on July 17, comprises two cuts for the dancefloor and one ambient interlude.
Freeney, a UK artist based in Berlin, rearranges the rich source material of the original—metallic field recordings from the New York subway, Peter Gordon’s original Korg bassline, and Tim Burgess’ ethereal vocal—and fuses it with new percussive and melodic elements.
The original track was featured on Tim Burgess & Peter Gordon’s Same Language, Different Worlds album from 2016, with contributions from Arthur Russell’s close collaborators Peter Zummo and Mustafa Ahmed, as well as Factory Floor’s Nik Void. You can stream the original here.
You can read more about Freeney in his XLR8Rpodcast.
Tracklisting
01. Temperature High (Benjamin Freeney Cold Light Dub) 02. Temperature High (Benjamin Freeney Interlude Dub) 03. Temperature High (Benjamin Freeney Warm Blood Dub)
Temperature High (Benjamin Freeney Versions) is out on July 17 on vinyl and digitally. Meanwhile, you can pre-order here, where you can also stream the release.
Príncipe has released a label compilation featuring many of the label regulars, including DJ Marfox, DJ Lycox, and DJ Nigga Fox.
We’re told that the 32 tracks are “culled from an ever expanding realm of fresh and archive material,” and that the release “demands reflection” and “calls for hope.”
One hundred percent of proceeds from the album and any of the limited edition album and t shirt packages will be distributed equally between the contributing artists. “What we do would never become a fact without them, their drive, imagination, and talent,” the label continues. “Let’s keep focused on change.”
Verão Dark Hope, meaning summer of dark hope, also features the likes of DJ Danifox, RS Produções, and Niagara, and many others. You can see a full tracklisting below.
The release is mastered by Tó Pinheiro da Silva, and artwork comes from Márcio Matos.
Tracklisting
01. DJ Lycox “Estrela” 02. Puto Márcio “Diesel Massacre” 03. Nuno Beats “Esse Verão” 04. Lilocox “Greatness” 05. PT Musik Prod “Hot Girl” 06. Puto Anderson feat. DJ NinOo “Secrety History” 07. DJ Kolt (BNM) “Tarrafoda” 08. Deejay Poco “Diviinnn” 09. Mixbwé “I Miss Galopz” 10. Allaas G “Nº44” 11. Farucox “Havaiana” 12. DJ Perigoso (BNM) “Solidão” 13. MaBoOkinho “V No Zoo” 14. DJ Firmeza “Mesmo Sem Dinheiro” 15. DJ Nervoso “Conga” 16. DJ Marfox “Tshuma” 17. K30 “Meu Estilo” 18. Bubas Produções “Zanzan” 19. DJ Narciso “BOB” 20. DJ Noronha (BNM) “Tristeza Alegre” 21. Nídia “Up” 22. DJ NinOo “Hip Hop vs Tarraxu” 23. Niagara “7648” 24. RS Produções “Reflexão” 25. DJ Nigga Fox “Sofrimento É De +” 26. DJ Bebedera “Tarraxo in Messier 31” 27. DJ Maboku “Originais do Guetto” 28. DJ CiroFox “Load” 29. A.k.Adrix “Ninja Beat [IIIII]” 30. DJ Bboy “Porrada do Xandy” 31. PML Beatz “Clássico” 32. DJ Danifox “Dark Hope”
Verão Dark Hope is out digitally now. You can stream the release in full below, and order here.
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Gregor Kraemer, the man behind Club der Visionaere and its sister venue, Hoppetosse, has spoken to Scott Monteith (a.k.a Deadbeat) discussing the club’s history and looking to the future. This is his first ever interview, and it comes in support of the Save CDV campaign.
Over the last 20 years, Club der Visionaere has become one of the city’s most beloved music institutions, and a de facto home for the more minimal, cerebral strains of Berlin techno. Each year it holds the legendary May-day party, inviting the likes of Sonja Moonear, Ricardo Villalobos, Sammy Dee, Margaret Dygas, and Zip to play by the Spree. Deadbeat himself is also a regular.
Kraemer, with a background in jazz, founded the venue in 2001 and has championed electronic sounds both locally and globally, having curated regular events and residencies with likeminded artists from Romania, France, Japan, Canada, and the US, to name but a few.
Having already suffered a fire at Club der Visionaere late last year, the pandemic restrictions have left Kraemer fighting to keep the club alive. In this vein, he’s launched a crowd-funding campaign, which has already received huge worldwide support, raising more than €45,000 at the time of publication, and he’s spoken to Monteith about the club’s history and his visions for the future.
You can hear the unedited conversation below, and download it here.
Leslie García (a.k.a Microhm) will release Fire Rituals, her second EP on Mexico’s Static Discos.
Fire Ritual focuses on the body as a territory of exploration. In shamanic traditions, a fire ritual is a ceremony dedicated to the release of unnecessary energies, and the EP’s sensory potential offers listeners the possibility of creating their own ritual, through a catharsis sponsored by rhythm.
García recorded all six tracks in the summer-autumn of 2019 between Mexico City and Berlin. They were mixed in Los Angeles and mastered in Mexico City during the spring of 2020.
García is an experimental sound artist associated with Static Discos, where she released her debut album—oscillating between noise, minimal wave, ambient, and techno—in 2018. last year. Raised in Tijuana, Mexico, she went on to study integral design, a strange hybrid of industrial and graphic design, but left the career early to begin working in the media arts domain. You can read more about her in her XLR8R podcast here.
