Just before 2013 came to a close, Actress unexpectedly dropped a new 12″, “Grey Over Blue” b/w “Wee Bey.” Now, the record’s gloomy a-side cut has received an accompanying video. Originally produced as part of last year’s St John’s Session multimedia performance alongside visual artists Eddie Peake and Nic Hamilton, the “Grey Over Blue” video takes its title very much to heart, as the seven-plus-minute clip utilizes slow-moving shots of a number of grey-streaked landscapes, and appears to simultaneously incorporate real-world textures along with healthy doses of artistic manipulation. Furthermore, the patient pace of the video appropriately matches Actress’ production, which is certainly one of his darkest and most dramatic to date.
“Grey Over Blue” b/w “Wee Bey” is out now via the Londoner’s own Werkdiscs, and will soon be followed by the forthcomingGhettoville LP when it’s released on January 27.
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It’s looking like 2014 is already off to a fine start, especially when one considers that it’s two days into the new year and already Lone has elected to give away a free track. “Dream Ache” is a half-time sonic adventure steeped in the type of galactic waves and misty star dust that frequently mark the London producer’s tracks. During the three-plus-minute tune, Lone lets loose a stream of laser-sharp synth melodies, tight hand percussion, and (right after the three-minute mark) some deliciously detuned synth chords—all of which help the slow-moving shuffle continually push forward. Though not a brand-new track (“Dream Ache” was actually first heard in Rustie’s 2012 Essential Mix), this previously unreleased production from Lone is certainly a good way to start off the New Year.
Benjamin Curtis, an American musician best known as half of the Ghostly-affiliated School of Seven Bells band (which he founded alongside sisters Claudia and Alejandra Deheza in 2007), has passed away after a year-long battle with cancer. Diagnosed at the beginning of 2013, an outpouring of support and fundraising efforts from the music community immediately followed and continued to appear throughout the year, but Curtis was ultimately unable to overcome the terrible illness. He passed away on December 29.
At this point, no details of a potential memorial service have been shared, but School of Seven Bells’ official statement on the young musician’s tragic passing can be read in full here, while the Ghostly label’s heartfelt words on the loss can be read here. Furthermore, an excellent and in-depth eulogy for Curtis appeared on Stereogum today, here.
It’s now nearing three years since the release of SBTRKT‘s excellent self-titled debut LP, and though no official details of the anonymous DJ/producer’s follow-up album have yet appeared, some of its unreleased music has found its way online. We don’t know if the latest bit to appear from SBTRKT, “r u n a w a y,” will feature on his next record or not, but we’re enjoying it nonetheless. The extremely brief and delicate production features the anonymous artist collaborating with Jessie Ware and fellow Young Turks affiliate Tic, with “a sprinkle of Sampha from two years back.” Whether it’s merely a snippet of something larger or a wistful ditty, SBTRKT’s minute-plus “r u n a w a y” tune can be streamed below.
Following a year which saw him release a handful of high-quality records via Aus and his own Graded label (not to mention grab a respectable spot on our list of 2013’s best tracks), London DJ/producer Harry Agius (a.k.a. Midland) turned in a brand-new mix to welcome 2014. Agius says of his 66-minute session for Resident Advisor, “Whenever I record a mix, it’s not about finding the newest and most exclusive music, but digging for interesting music that I believe has aged or will age well. With this mix, I had a slightly scuffed aesthetic in mind when selecting music for it.” Some of those selections include tracks from Maximillion Dunbar, James Holden, Kyle Hall, Four Tet, Norman Nodge, Tangerine Dream, and Maurice Fulton, among others, all of which can be heard here, where a quick Q&A with Midland is also available.
The free music just keeps on coming: This time, it’s eccentric Hyperdub artist Scratcha DVA handing over “demos, VIPs, drafts, [and] remixes” under the title Junk in the Trunk Vol. 1. As FACT points out, the collection of 50 tracks spans the London producer’s forays into grime, UK funky, and beyond. A preview of what’s on offer can be streamed in the player below, with the sizable collection available for the price of a “like” over on Scratcha DVA’s Facebook.
Nearly a full year since releasing his first 12″ for Clone‘s Jack for Daze imprint, NY-based house artist L-Vis 1990 will issue another EP with the label, the four-track Dance System EP. Officially labelled as L-Vis 1990 presents Dance System, the Night Slugs co-owner’s new record is said to offer “more wild jacking tracks,” including one collaborative tune with Chicago house veteran and Dance Mania stalwart Jammin’ Gerald. L-Vis 1990’s debut release under the Dance System moniker is scheduled to drop on January 13, but previews of its four cuts can be heard before then in the player below.
1. No More 2. DS Theme 3. Move It (feat. Jammin’ Gerald) 4. Flash Drive
The end of the year is a busy time for just about everyone, including us here at XLR8R. Throughout December, we’ve primarily been keeping ourselves occupied by looking back at all the music that surfaced during the past 12 months. More specifically, we spent time creating an entire series of lists devoted to the Best of 2013, for just about every category we could imagine. Over the past month, we’ve tackled our favorite releases, tracks, labels, new artists, and more. We tallied up the top 100 most popular downloads of the year, and we even conducted an official readers poll to see what our audience had to say about the year gone by. In truth, the whole thing was a lot of work, but it was also a lot of fun; regardless, the holidays have arrived and we’ll be taking a little break for the remainder of 2013. New posts will resume on Thursday, January 2, but in the meantime, we encourage anyone who hasn’t already checked out our Best of 2013 lists to go ahead and do so; to make it easy, we’ve gone ahead and posted links to the entire series after the jump. Apart from that, enjoy the holidays and have a happy new year. We’ll be back in 2014.
It’s nearly Christmas, which means that LuckyMe‘s advent calendar of quality free tunes is about to come to an end. We’ve been able to nab some new music from the likes of Jacques Greene and Rustie over the past few weeks of its run, and the latest highlight to appear is a revved-up jam from none other than Hudson Mohawke. Called “Structure,” the Glaswegian DJ/producer’s brand-new cut arrived over the weekend (just after his TNGHT co-producer, Lunice, dropped one of his own), and features loads of the speaker-busting beats, blippy synths, and other club-ready sonics that he’s gradually built his name on. Hudson Mohawke’s tune can be streamed in the player below and downloaded for free here.
All month long, we here at XLR8R have been indulging in our usual round of end-of-the-year fun, turning out list after list detailing what we think is the Best of 2013. Based on the response, it seems that most of the the XLR8R audience has enjoyed the process; still, after digesting three solid weeks of our editors’ opinions about the past year, we figured that many of our readers would want to have their say. With that in mind, we asked them to vote for their choices in many of the same categories that we’ve already published our own lists for, and the final results are fascinating, to say the least. As always, it’s interesting to see where the audience’s opinions have diverged from our own—although that has happened less than usual this year—and we can’t help but laugh when some of the same records appear in both the “Best Releases” and “Most Disappointing Releases” categories. This is the final article in our Best of 2013 series; we’d like to send out a huge thanks to everyone who voted, and we can’t wait to hear what our readers will have to say in 2014.
Best Releases
1. Jon Hopkins Immunity (Domino) 2. Burial Rival Dealer (Hyperdub) 3. Oneohtrix Point Never R Plus Seven (Warp) 4. Boards of Canada Tomorrow’s Harvest (Warp) 5. Machinedrum Vapor City (Ninja Tune) 6. DJ Koze Amygdala (Pampa) 7. Darkside Psychic (Other People/Matador) 8. Moderat II (Monkeytown) 9. Disclosure Settle (PMR) 10. Daniel Avery Drone Logic (Phantasy Sound)
Best Tracks
1. Jon Hopkins “Open Eye Signal” (Domino) 2. Burial “Come Down to Us” (Hyperdub) 3. Sophie “Bipp” (Numbers) 4. Lone “Airglow Fires” (R&S) 5. Machinedrum “Gunshotta” (Ninja Tune) 6. Paul Woolford “Untitled” 7. Kingdom “Bank Head (feat. Kelela)” (Fade to Mind) 8. Mount Kimbie “Made to Stray” (Warp) 9. Holden “Renata” (Border Community) 10. Moderat “Bad Kingdom” (Monkeytown)
Most Disappointing Releases
1. Daft Punk Random Access Memories (Columbia) 2. James Blake Overgrown (Republic) 3. Disclosure Settle (PMR) 4. Mount Kimbie Cold Spring Fault Less Youth (Warp) 5. Four Tet Beautiful Rewind (Text) 6. Burial Rival Dealer (Hyperdub) 7. Boards of Canada Tomorrow’s Harvest (Warp) 8. Zomby With Love (4AD) 9. The Knife Shaking the Habitual (Mute) 10. Moderat II (Monkeytown)
Best New Artists
1. Jessy Lanza 2. Kelela 3. Sophie 4. FKA Twigs 5. Akkord 6. Graze 7. Ten Walls 8. John Wizards 9. Mssingno 10. MGUN
