Los Angeles Party Fast At Work Launches Imprint With Debut EP from Carré 

Today, Los Angeles party Fast At Work launched its label arm with the debut from co-founder and resident Carré.

The EP, titled Soft Fascination, lays out the Fast At Work ethos across five tracks; that is to say, it’s a fast, intricate, and wholly psychedelic exploration of modern bass-focused dance music. Carré delivers three originals on the EP, backed by remixes from longtime Fast At Work allies and party alumni Priori and Black Rave Culture’s James Bangura. 

Fast At Work was created by four friends as a way to provide the same transportive experiences of some of the world’s most coveted parties in their own backyard. The party has been operating in the LA underground for two-and-a-half years, acting as “a platform for our crew and community to experience the left-field music we love in uniquely produced environments that exude a sense of DIY creativity,” Carré says.

In its relatively short run, the party has hosted LA debuts and flagship sets by Livwutang, Darwin, Mama Snake, Spekki Webu, AQUARIAN, Ayesha, Priori, Black Rave Culture and more. It also made its London debut this past summer.

The EP, which is set to arrive on March 1, can be pre-ordered here, with clips streaming below.

Podcast 836: DJ Sneak

DJ Sneak is the alias of Carlos Sosa, a legend of house music and one of only a few names who can claim to be been pushing the genre since its earliest iterations. Originally from Puerto Rico, he moved to Chicago in the early ’80s and gravitated towards instrumental music because he couldn’t speak English. He became came inspired by warehouse parties and “old school” mix tapes from the early pioneers: Farley “Jackmaster” Funk, Marshall Jefferson, Ralphi Rosario, Steve Hurley, plus the local radio station shows played on WBMX. Through the ’90s, Sneak brought his unique funky, disco-influenced house to clubs around the world, releasing music on Derrick Carter‘s Classic Recordings, Strictly Rhythm, and 83 Wes. After a break during the pandemic, during which he re-evaluated his relationship with music, Sneak is now back making killer tracks. In December, he released Back to Love, four cuts of energetic Chicago house music, on Amsterdam’s Heist Recordings, and we’re told that more music is on the way. Ahead of it, Sneak has stepped into the DJ booth for a long over XLR8R podcast, recorded on the fly before at the turn of the year and with the sumptuous DJ Sneak groove.

01. What have you been up to recently
Well it all started with time off during odd times in this world. The reset was real and now I’m back to making my favorite music; I have started to release music back on vinyl which is my main purpose.

02. What have you been listening to?
I’ve been listening to myself the most. I dropped all the noise around me which has helped me focus in music once again.

03. Where and when did you record this mix?
At my humble home where house music Lives. It’s a well crafted mix with a great selection of modern house music.

04. What setup did you use?
The set is composed of Pioneer DJ equipment plus a couple of mint Technics turntables.

05. How did you go about choosing the tracks you’ve included?
I’m an organic and freestyle DJ. The years of experience have served me well and it’s as easy and brushing my teeth in the morning.

06. How does it compare to what we might hear you play out live?
It’s a very accurate description of what a DJ Sneak set live would feel like, always fresh and funky and full of Chicago style house selections.

XLR8R Subscribers can download the podcast below. If you’re not an XLR8R subscriber, you can read more about it and subscribe here.

Tracklisting

01. Robert Frederick “Beatnik” (East Village Mix)
02. Kyodai “Breaking” (’90s dub) (Local Talk Records)
03. Dam Swindle “That’s Right” (Heist Recordings)
04. Alek Soltirov “Ultrafunkula” (Straight Up!)
05. DJ Sneak “Bounce More” (Purveyor Underground)
06. Oliver Dollar “Braeburn” (Refuge)
07. Greg Van Bueren “Coming Atcha” (Frappé Records)
08. Hotmood “Legendary” (Over The Top)
09. Dexagon “The Bump” (Jason Hodges Remix) (SOUP)
10. Mike Dunn “Can You Feel It” (Defected)
11. Barbara Tucker, The BCrew “Grace” (Dub) (BStar Music Group)
12. Eric Kupper, k Scope “Planet K” (Tribal)
13. Oliver Dollar “Dope Tool” (Refuge Recordings)
14. Mo’Funk “Groove With Me” (Only Cuts Records)
15. DJ Sneak “Full Cycle” (Heist Recordings)
16. Stranger Danger “Jazz Dreaming” (Dustpan Recordings)
17. ColorJaxx “Sing the Sound” (Large Music)
18. Daniel Steingberg “Silk” (Arms & Legs)
19. Rhythm Staircase “Afro Party” (House Tribe Records)
20. Justnique “To Greek Street” (Lisztomania)
21. DJ Sneak “Pockets” (Heist Recordings)
22. Joey Chicago “Rock the Groove” (Cruise Music)
23. Gina Breeze “Ur Body, My Soul” (Edible)
24. JT Donaldson “What I Got” (Hudd Traxx)
25. Dj Sneak “Love Can Make it Happen” (Heist Recordings)

Squarepusher’s New Album is Inspired by Lockdown’s “Eerie Silence”

Squarepusher, otherwise known as Tom Jenkinson, is releasing a new album.

Dostrotime is the British artist’s first album since 2020’s Be Up Hello. In the years since, he’s released an EP, Lamental, and remixed artists such as GoGo Penguin and Danny Elfman. It’s inspired by the “novel, eerie, sublime silence” of lockdown.

“The cancellation of all live commitments meant the prospect of a year’s worth of itineraries, airport security, hotels, and no sleep was erased, and for some time I experienced a simple happiness not familiar in my adulthood,” Jenkinson explained. “In a way it reminded me of being a child, where one knows big and awful stuff happens on the horizon but the current moment is a blissful sanctuary.”

For more information on Jenkinson, check out his XLR8R feature here.

Tracklisting

01. Arkteon 1
02. Enbounce
03. Wendorlan
04. Duneray
05. Kronmec
06. Arkteon 2
07. Holorform
08. Akkranen
09. Stromcor
10. Domelash
11. Heliobat
12. Arkteon 3

Dostrotime will land on March 1 via Warp. Meanwhile, you can stream “Wendorlan” in full via the player below and pre-order here.

Photo: Caspar Stevens

Peter Van Hoesen to Release First Album in 10 Years

Peter Van Hoesen will release a new album in March.

Towards the Center of Time and Surrounded by Spirits is the Belgian producer’s first album since 2013’s Life Performance on Germany’s Tresor label. It lands on Vlek, in Brussels, Belgium, and comprises nine tracks of dense, obscure, and metallic techno.

Along with the likes of Rrose, who delivered an XLR8R podcast last year, Peter Van Hoesen produces, releases, and performs an exquisite and psychedelic breed of techno. For more information, check out his XLR8R podcast here.

Tracklisting

01. Eeica
02. Time To Regress
03. Schemerzone / Voor JMH Berckmans
04. Disco Discourse Disaster
05. Ebbinghaus Shuffle
06. Theme From Late Checkout
07. Nirvana Short Circuit / Listening to Cells
08. Fringe Operation
09. Twilight Static Dilemma

Towards the Center of Time and Surrounded by Spirits LP is scheduled for March 1 release. Meanwhile, you can stream “Twilight Static Dilemma” in full via the player below and pre-order here.

Yussef Dayes Shares Live Album, Recorded in California

Yussef Dayes will release a new live album.

The Yussef Dayes Experience (Live from Malibu) features music from his debut solo album, Black Classical Music, released last year on Brownswood Recordings, and more. Across 19 tracks, the album was anchored by Dayes’ distinctive drum licks and Rocco Palladino’s bass.

Across eight tracks on Live from Malibu, Dayes is joined once again by Palladino, plus long time collaborators Venna, Elijah Fox, and Alexander Bourt. The set was originally shared as a live-performance video filmed in the Malibu mountains last year and is available on YouTube.

Dayes was also one half of Yussef Kamaal with keyboardist Kamaal Williams.

Tracklisting

01. Istanbul feat. Elijah Fox
02. Tioga Pass feat. Rocco Palladino [Live From Malibu]
03. Tidal Wave [Live From Malibu]
04. Portrait Of Tracy
05. Black Classical Music feat. Venna) / Afro Cubanism [Live from Malibu]
06. Malibu
07. Mountain Steppa
08. The Colour Purple

The Yussef Dayes Experience (Live from Malibu) is scheduled for January 26 release. Meanwhile, you can stream “The Colour Purple” in full via the player below and pre-order here.

Doc Sleep Returns to Dark Entries

Doc Sleep, real name Melissa Maristuen, will release a new album on Dark Entries.

Cloud Sight Fade is Maristuen’s first album since Birds, her ambient and IDM-leaning debut album.

We’re told to expect seven tracks sitting between “muscular New York house, Berlin twilight techno, and funky West-coast breakbeats.” They draw heavily on her years of queer clubbing. Production began in the Bay Area and was completed in Berlin. Maristuen says that this work became a “love letter to the West Coast’s magnificent natural landscape, the light of the Pacific sunrise.”

In 2019, Maristuen released Cr​è​me Fra​î​che on Dark Entries. For more information on her work, or her label, Jacktone Records, check out her XLR8R podcast here.

Tracklisting

01. Professor Eucalyptus
02. Lemon Zest
03. Palm Reader
04. Echo Azure
05. Water Sign
06. Cloud Sight Fade
07. Enchanted Static

Cloud Sight Fade LP is scheduled for March 8 release. Meanwhile, you can stream “Professor Eucalyptus” in full via the player below and pre-order here.

Podcast 835: Wallace

After spending years running club nights in Edinburgh, Scotland, Jimmy Wallace (a.k.a Wallace) has put all of his energy into his own musical journey. When his degree ended, he headed back to his hometown of Shrewsbury, southern England, to start making and curating music. He does this through Tartan Records, his own label, and through his productions. Today, you’ll find his music in Sweden’s Studio Barnhus, Rhythm Section, Disco Halal, and Japan’s Mule Music, which is where he released Red, Yellow, Black, his debut album late last year. Spanning nine deeply crafted tracks, the album “represents moments of time I have spent in various outdoor spaces around the world, using sound to try and turn these experiences into musical format,” he says. It was a style rooted in his early years, when he was exposed to classical sounds by his mother, a music teacher, and became enchanted with the French touch movement, which motivated him to learn to DJ and start spinning four-to-the-floor grooves in local clubs. For this week’s XLR8R podcast, Wallace has delivered one hour of left-field house, inspired by a recent trip to Japan and the records he picked up while there.

01. What have you been up to recently?
Having some downtime by the seaside in Scotland, visiting the sensational Tartan exhibition in Dundee, fixing up this year’s releases and just surfacing from a fortnight long musical rummage.

02. What have you been listening to?
Froid Dub, Plastic Machine, Asa Tone, Plastic Machine, Jalen Ngonda, LITIA=LOE, Professor Oz, all unique incredible artists from various times and corners of the musical sphere.

03. Where and when did you record this mix?
This was pieced together over Christmas time in my studio at home looking out onto a frosty garden. A sonic hot water bottle for the cold winter.

04. How did you go about choosing the tracks you’ve included?
I’d just returned from Japan before recording this so it was loosely driven by those experiences and features some of the records I picked up out there. Thank you AZ Revelation Time and Don Disc Union.

05. What can the listener expect?
Club-leaning sounds ranging from 1989 through 2024 and 109-133bpm.

06. How does it compare to what you play out live?
Similarly. Some form of mood and energy arc is what I’m always seeking out over a set. Trying to select songs from various time periods and styles which sound coherent together. I love creating those magic little pockets in the mix where it’s as if a new song springs out just for that brief moment in time.

07. What’s on your agenda in 2024?
I’m putting out EPs with Rhythm Section and On Loop then playing Fabric for the first time next month and closing Panorama Bar in March. Aside from that, I’m looking forward to getting back in the studio and seeing what comes out.

XLR8R Subscribers can download the podcast below. If you’re not an XLR8R subscriber, you can read more about it and subscribe here.

Tracklisting

01. Salamanda “Mysterious Wedding” (Wisdom Teeth)
02. Antonio Testa “Spiritual Water” (Organic Records)
03. Buck “Untitled” (Leaf Recordings)
04. ススム ヨコタ “Zenmai” (Sublime Records)
05. Holy Ghost Inc. “The Dub” (Holy Ghost Inc.)
06. Walt J “Reborn 1” (DJ Qu’s Journey Towards Birth Remix) (Curle Records)
07. Franck C. “Free” (Original Extended) (Scream Records)
08. Trancesetters “Secrets Of Meditation” (Remix) (First Impression)
09. Jeff Mills “See This Way” (Axis)
10. Detroit In Effect “Work It” (M.A.P. Records)
11. Tom VR “Heart Can Still Somersault” (Ghostly International)
12. Mogwaa “Driven” (Mr. Ho Remix) (Gudu)
13. Wallace “Labyrinth” (Mule Musiq)
14. SHE Spells Doom “Soaked” (Egregore Collective)
15. Schatrax “The Almighty” (Schatrax)
16. 2 Troubles “Come Out” (Checco Boom Dub Mix) (Instinctive Records)
17. R-Factors “G-Explorer” (Touché)
18. Flexible “Somersault” (Offshoot)
19. Etienne de Crécy “Prix Choc” (Different)
20. Javen Souls “Planet Africa” (Nitedance Records)
21. Marvo Genetic “The Fourth Wave” (Vocal Mix)
22. Eden Burns “Quokka Rock” (Public Possession)

Moor Mother’s New Album is Coming in March

Moor Mother has unveiled a new album.

The Great Bailout is the ninth album that Moor Mother, otherwise known as Camae Ayewa, has released, and her third on ANTI- Records.

Across nine new tracks, she dissects the ugly realities of British colonialism. The record features production contributions from Lonnie Holley, Mary Lattimore, Vijay Ayer, Angel Bat Dawid, Sistazz of the Nitty Gritty, Aaron Dilloway, and more.

“Research is a major part of my work, and researching history—particularly African history, philosophy and time—is a major interest,” Moor Mother says of the music’s focus on the effects of British colonialism. “Europe and Africa have a very intimate and brutal relationship throughout time. I’m interested in exploring that relationship of colonialism and liberation, in this case in Great Britain.”

Alongside the release, Moor mother has shared “Guilty” featuring Lonnie Holley, Mary Lattimore, and Raia Was—a tender, atmospheric song.

Tracklisting

01. Guilty feat. Lonnie Holley, Mary Lattimore, and Raia Was
02. All the Money feat. Alya Al Sultani
03. God Save the Queen feat. Justmadnice
04. Compensated Emancipation feat. Kyle Kidd
05. Death by Longitude
06. My Souls Been Anchored
07. Liverpool Wins feat. Kyle Kidd
08. South Sea feat. Sister of the Nitty Gritty
09. Spem in Alium

The Great Bailout LP is scheduled for March 8 release. Meanwhile, you can stream “Guilty” in full below and pre-order here.

Artwork: Sydney Cain
Photo: Ebru Yildiz

Jlin is Back with a New Album

Jlin will release a new album in March.

Akoma is Jlin’s first album since 2017’s Black Origami.

Across 11 tracks, she “sets a new benchmark” in her personal road map, according to Planet Mu, the label behind it.

We’re told to expect a new entry point into her sound and a new approach for both those who have been following diligently and those who are just now entering her world. It features guest appearances from Björk, Philip Glass, and Kronos Quartet, and folds classical, minimalist, and jazz influences into the 160 BPM rhythmic framework of Chicago footwork.

On Bandcamp, Jlin lists Philip Glass as one of her inspirations for the album, alongside Eartha Kitt, Nina Simone, Third Coast Percussion, and HBCU marching bands.

Tracklisting

01.Borealis feat. Björk
02. Speed Of Darkness
03. Summon
04. Iris
05. Open Canvas
06. Challenge (To Be Continued II)
07. Eye Am
08. Auset
09. Sodalite feat. Kronos Quartet
10. Grannie’s Cherry Pie
11. The Precision of Infinity feat. Philip Glass

Akoma LP is scheduled for March 22 release. Meanwhile, you can stream “The Precision of Infinity” feat. Philip Glass in full via the player below, and pre-order here.

Khruangbin to Release Fourth Studio Album; Hear a Single Now

Khruangbin, the group of Laura Lee, Mark Speer, and Donald Johnson will release their fourth studio album in April.

A la Sala, which lands on Dead Oceans in partnership with Night Time Stories Ltd., is the “purest distillation” of the Houston trio’s sound, we’re told.

The building blocks for the album’s 12 songs were jigsaw pieces found in Khruangbin’s creative past. Having stockpiled ideas originally set down as off-the-cuff recordings (voice-memos made at sound-checks, for example) they began fitting those pieces together in the studio. Which parts were apt? Which could be massaged and stretched out? Which inspired new sections or rhythms or musical interactions?

Once again, Khruangbin’s DNA kicked in. Layer-by-layer, the intimate work, rework and re-rework bore new fruit. They also brought back a strategy once foundational to their records: seeding an album with field recordings.

If 2020’s Mordechai, the last studio album Khruangbin made without collaborators, was “a party record,” A La Sala is “the measured morning after,” we’re told.

Over recent years, Khruangbin have released a number of live and collaborative projects including Texas Moon, their second collaborative EP with Leon Bridges. Its predecessor, Texas Sun, came out in 2020.

Tracklisting

01. Fifteen Fifty-Three
02. May Ninth
03. Ada Jean
04. Farolim de Felgueiras
05. Pon Pón
06. Todavía Viva
07. Juegos y Nubes
08. Hold Me Up (Thank You)
09. Caja de la Sala
10. Three From Two
11. A Love International
12. Les Petits Gris

A la Sala LP is scheduled for April 5 release. Meanwhile, you can stream “A Love International” below and pre-order here.

Photo: David Black

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