Wilhelm “ODB”

18-year-old, Leeds-based producer Joshua Scarbrow (a.k.a. Wilhelm) has offered up his latest cut, “ODB,” which shows off his taste for heavy percussion and submerged house sounds. Set at a decidedly quick tempo, Scarbrow’s tune veers into a smeared techno sound through its warped pads and lo-fi kicks. The finely tuned and thoughtful dance track flows through smooth instrumental textures, passages of motorik rimshots, lilting breakdowns, and interwoven down-pitched vocals, all of which makes for a satisfyingly hybridized track from the young artist.

ODB

Alight Iridis EP

Alight is a new undertaking from Ross Tones, who is perhaps best known for his difficult-to-characterize Throwing Snow moniker, and who just this year released a debut full-length—A Small Murmuration—as one half of collaborative project Snow Ghosts. (He also works in tandem with his brother under the name Vellico.) Alight’s debut release for Local Action finds the active producer operating in a form that is no less diverse than usual, but the Iridis EP is characterized by a decided jungle influence. However, rather than simply revisiting jungle as an exercise in ‘hardcore continuum’-fetishizing nostalgia, the EP sees Tones fusing the harsher, more mechanistic sides of drum & bass with a liquid junglist sensibility and a techno backbone. Injecting plenty of baroque weirdness into proceedings, Tones has produced four original tracks—the EP also includes a remix from Bristol producer Ziro—that are heavy on space and atmosphere, and surely represent the deep end of the recent jungle revival.

Opening track “Opelisk” is the most immediate of the bunch, with a crisp, bouncing techno beat underpinned by crunched, dynamic sonic hiss. This background scree has the effect of making the track feel nicely off-balance, as if its slick rhythms fell together accidentally, and could just as easily fall apart. Almost predictably then, in the middle of the track the beat disappears and is replaced by a string section before the song’s newly scattered bass and kicks thrillingly reassemble themselves. “Darqa” is a brooding dubstep number whose spectral vocals and bird noises establish an appropriately eerie mood, and is notable for its immense, cavernous bass and stepping rhythms. However, it is the title track—which reportedly started as a version of Throwing Snow’s “Too Polite”—that serves as the obvious highlight. With its looped, muffled vocals and stuttering, heavy-hitting kicks, the tune at first seems to be a solid example of bass-heavy house. However, it gradually dissipates into a wall of noise before the track is unexpectedly torn apart by shuddering, time-stretched, tech-step breakbeats. The remaining tracks round out the EP nicely, with the cinematic, cello-based “Caligo” providing a reprise of the release’s recurring baroque strings and Ziro remixing “Obelisk” into storming, club-ready techno. Iridis is an exciting opening statement from the Alight project, not to mention another signal that its producer is someone whose talents are perhaps only just beginning to truly unfold.

Minor Sick & Roman Rauch “Shame”

Frequent collaborators and fellow Vienna residents Minor Sick and Roman Rauch (pictured above) have offered up the plushly hypnotic “Shame.” The duo’s house tune is made up of bubbly vocal samples and warbling pads that skate across bell tones and broken rhythms. Minor Sick and Roman Rauch flirt with a heavy climax as their production slides into a surprising-yet-subdued key change before a pitched organ leading “Shame” to its sudden conclusion.

Shame

West Norwood Cassette Library 8 Track Cartridge EP

At present, there’s no shortage of dance music mining the sounds of classic house, garage, and jungle for inspiration. West Norwood Cassette Library—the alias of West London producer Bob Bhamra—could be filed into this category, but his work also offers a refreshingly skewed take on dance music’s past. Straying from some of the more obvious revivalist modes doing the rounds right now, Bhamra instead hones in on numerous points of collision, exploring the areas where house bleeds into breaks and where the sleek, classicist sounds of US garage meet the rough edges of UK garage. 8 Track Cartridge is a double-12″ odds-and-ends collection that sees Bhamra pulling together an appropriately diverse set of gems that he’s produced over the last couple of years. What’s immediately striking is his production style; marked by brittle drums, funky basslines, and jarring transitions, the music is bathed in luminous strains of bright, analog scuzz. In contrast to the dominant strain of garage-house that’s currently flooding the UK with big, anthemic chords and rounded bass notes, West Norwood Cassette Library offers a welcome change of pace.

8 Track Cartridge‘s opening track—the misleadingly named “Acid Jazz”—pairs Todd Terry-style breakbeats with an acid-house bassline, and while some elements of the tune are a bit derivative, the overall pastiche is so compelling that it hardly matters. Bhamra revisits UK garage circa 1997 on “We Have to Live in the Future,” which sees rolling basslines and dusty, reverb-drenched piano chords evoking the slow-burning classics of that era. Less derivative is “Roots,” an eight-minute-long tune where Bhamra once again utilizes plenty of acid house squelch, but this time, it’s in service of ambling breakbeats. Halfway through, however, the track undergoes a massive shift, speeding up considerably and taking the breakbeats into a kind of drum & bass overdrive. 8 Track Cartridge is never short of compelling—and a large part of this stems from Bhamra’s refusal to stick to one style—but it also never really moves beyond its influences. Despite this, there’s a real inventiveness to some of the productions on the EP, as well as an endearing restlessness, that makes the release a compelling entry in the current landscape of retro-leaning house music.

The Lowdown – This Week’s XLR8R Top 10 with Four Tet, Burial, our Best of 2013, and More

Throughout the week, a whole lot of material gets posted here on XLR8R. And while we know—and love—that some hardcore readers will eagerly pour over every single news story, interview, podcast, video, and MP3 download that appears on the site, we also realize that for most people, it’s impossible to see everything, which means that some quality XLR8R content is likely to get missed in the hustle and bustle of everyone’s daily lives. In the interest of making it easier for everyone to catch up, every Friday we present The Lowdown, a weekly wrap-up of the top 10 tidbits from our site.

1. All month long, we here at XLR8R have been looking back at the past year with our Best of 2013 series. As it turned out, this week’s most popular entry was the one focusing on the year’s disappointing releases.

2. We started off the week by putting together a list 2013’s Best New Artists, which listed the 10 producers and DJs we felt made the biggest impact with their arrival this year.

3. For the first time ever, our year-end coverage included a look at the more technical side of things, as our Best of 2013: Gear article listed the five best pieces of hardware and software that popped up during the past 12 months.

4. Thursday found us unveiling the first half of our top 30 releases of 2013. (The second half was published just this morning.)

5. After allowing ourselves several days to take in Burial’s intriguing new Rival Dealer EP, we put together our official review, which detailed exactly why we’re so enthusiastic about the new record.

6. Four Tet has kept himself very busy in 2013, and this week saw the UK producer suddenly releasing a batch of 15 unreleased tracks via Twitter. We selected our favorite of the bunch, “101112,” and posted it as a free download.

7. Machinedrum was also in a giving mood this week, as he offered up the Vizion EP, a collection of ambient tunes that were produced during the same sessions that spawned his acclaimed Vapor City LP.

8. Ableton got into the holiday spirit as well, giving away a free sample pack of drum loops to registered Live 9 users.

9. Ableton also released a new video this week, which paired Machinedrum with fellow expat producer Lando Kal and documented the pair working together in the studio.

10. New Jersey beatmaker Clams Casino elected to wrap up his trilogy of instrumental mixtapes this week by giving away the series’ final installment via Twitter.

An expanded version of the The Lowdown is also available via a weekly email newsletter. Those interested in an even more in-depth round-up of XLR8R content, including a complete listing of all the free downloads we’ve offered in the past seven days, should sign up by entering their email address below.

Subscribe to the XLR8R Lowdown

Actress Releases New 12″; Stream the A-Side Now

As per usual with enigmatic UK artist Actress (a.k.a. Darren Cunningham), details of a new 12″ release have just arrived completely out of nowhere. Back in early November, XLR8R reported the full details of his upcoming Ghettoville LP, which the press called a “bleached out and black tinted conclusion,” sparking rumors of it being his last release. Today, Cunningham’s “Grey Over Blue” b/w “Wee Bey” dropped via his own Werkdiscs imprint, and will be available to purchase in the US this coming Monday. Before then, gloomy a-side cut “Grey Over Blue” can be streamed in full below.

Tim Xavier “Memory Man”

Celebrating its 10th year in the business, the Wilde booking agency has put together a 16-track compilation to showcase the company’s talented roster. Including cuts from artists like Tiefschwarz and Ian Pooley, Wilde Liebe also features Tim Xavier‘s “Memory Man,” a percussion-filled and richly textured tune that has the man’s hometown of Berlin written all over it. Running just over six minutes, the production expertly walks the line between house and techno as it focuses on pulsing rhythms and the occasional slushy chord to push the momentum forward. Before Wilde’s forthcoming compilation drops on January 27, its artwork and tracklist can be found after the jump.

01 Pilocka Krach – Superboy
02 DIA – Spot On
03 Djuma Soundsystem – Chick
04 Daniel Wilde – Prairie
05 Lewis Boardman – Yeah
06 Daniel Dexter – Eclipse
07 Sierra Sam – House in my house
08 The Jaydes – Hidden Pleasure
09 Ian Pooley – Flash 78
10 Tim Xavier – Memory Man
11 Tiefschwarz – Voices
12 Atapy – Finding You
13 Christian Prommer – Betchugona
14 Chris Wood & Meat – Make it Raw
15 Acid Washed & Stuff – Move On
16 Kenny Leaven – Albin

Memory Man

Dubspot Production School to Open LA Location

New York-based production school Dubspot has announced that it will open up a West Coast campus next summer in Los Angeles. The school, which offers courses for everything from learning how to DJ to using specific programs and pieces of production equipment in the studio, has revealed plans to begin offering classes “in a brick and mortar space in Central Hollywood amongst a creative community in the heart of the media industry.” In an announcement which appeared on Dubspot’s blog earlier today, the school stated that the LA location’s faculty will include “some of our online instructors, as well as some new talented people,” and that the West Coast school’s courses would mirror those offered in Dubspot’s original New York location.

No exact dates have been shared yet for when the Dubspot LA campus will open, but we are told to expect more updates before the courses officially start sometime in the summer of 2014. In the meantime, Dubspot’s complete announcement can be read here.

Download a New Mix from Rolando

Techno stalwart Rolando has turned in a new hour-long mix for the Berlin-based Reclaim Your City podcast series, which is now up for free download. Over the course of the set, the Detroit-reared Underground Resistance member sounds in top form, moving seamlessly through an unrelenting cycle of chunky techno with only a few moments of rest sprinkled throughout. Unfortunately, the mix does not come with a tracklist to help us navigate through the veteran’s selections, but it can nonetheless be streamed and downloaded in full below.

Aashton “All U Need”

Releasing one final track before the year’s end, Brighton DJ/producer Aashton has shared “All U Need,” a grooving house tune which features hollow tom patterns and fuzzed pads over a funk-infused bassline. The artist unravels his new cut towards the end, balancing an ensemble of galloping percussion with recordings of a raucous dance party gone wild.

All U Need

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