Though they’ve worked individually as Stickman and Elsewhere, Tom Neilan and Gareth Kirby have more recently joined forces as the curiously named Alan Johnson, a duo which is clearly no stranger to the murky sonics of battered dub. Here, the production outfit has remixed Sandman’s “No Prisoners” tune, transforming it into a deep well filled with clattering percussion, unfamiliar jungle sounds, and dingy vocal snippets. Not unlike they do on the recent “Goron Sound” b/w “Fickle” single for upstart label Blank Mind (artwork above), Neilan and Kirby feed off the all-but-forgotten fragments of early dubstep, and give the arrangement of “No Prisoners (Alan Johnson Remix)” a looseness that feels like stumbling through the darkness.
Well over a year since his most recent release, Retina Waves, experimental Belgian producer Cupp Cave (a.k.a. François Boulanger, Ssaliva) has announced that he’ll soon issue another record via RAMP. Very little in the way of a description or detailed information is available for the five-track NVMB EP, but we do know that it precedes a debut full-length from Cupp Cave—set to arrive early next year—and will drop on October 21. It’s artwork and tracklist can be perused before then, below.
1. Everlastic 2. Insight 3. NVMB 4. Through Tired Eyes 5. Tomb Face
In the latest edition of our weekly round-up, we watch London mainstay Roska make a beat in his home studio, check out updated products from Pioneer and KRK, dig into the unique MTRX-8 hardware sequencer, and check in on the long-developing Bitwig DAW. From boutique gear nerds to beginners in the world of DJing and production, we’ve got something for everyone in the latest This Week in Music Tech.
Veteran UK producer Roska was the latest to step up to FACT TV‘s Against the Clock challenge, using Logic to build a beat in his home studio in under 10 minutes.
On Thursday, Pioneer announced the forthcoming release of the DDJ-WeGo2, an updated edition of its consumer-aimed DJ controller which works with the iPad or iPhone. The new version of the compact, portable controller will be available in October for an estimated price of $429. In the meantime, a video explaining the unit’s features can be seen above.
Boutique French instrument designer Julien Fayard has unveiled the forthcoming MTRX-8, a hardware sequencer that boasts eight steps of sequencing power (with four seperate presets which allow it to become a 32-step sequencer), a hi-resolution rotary encoder, and plenty of other smart and useful features unique to this piece of hardware. Essentially, the unit appears to be one of a kind, and best yet, it’s set to hit the market at a cool €199 when it begins shipping on September 10 via Fayard’s Fyrd Instruments company. The walkthrough video above gives a good idea of what the unit is capable of, and those interested in learning more are encourage to head over to Create Digital Music to read an explanation of the MTRX-8’s features from the designer himself.
Speaker brand KRK has announced the upcoming release of the third generation for its Rokit series of studio monitors, the appropriately branded Rokit G3 speakers. In a press release sent out this week, KRK boasts that the new generation of speakers “achieves outstanding dynamics” and uses a “unique tuning process that treats the woofer, cabinet, and port as a single, integrated whole [which] provides extreme vocal clarity with extended bass response”—though the announcement comes with little in the way of specific technical information. The Rokit G3 speakers are expected to begin hitting stores next week.
Though it has been on its way for some time now—frustratingly so for many who have followed its development—the team behind the Bitwig DAW software teased the program again this week, floating a new video onto the web that shows off the extensive modulation capabilities the program (which appears to have a striking similarity to Ableton Live) plans to include. A video demonstration can be viewed above, and again, we advise those interested in learning more head to Create Digtial Music, where the video and possibilities of Bitwig are broken down in-depth.
Hamburg resident and pop-inclined house producer Tensnake (a.k.a Marco Niemerski) has announced an extremely brief string of North American performances for fall. Word of Niemerski’s tour arrives soon after the release of his latest two-track 12″, sharing four dates that will find the DJ performing in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Brooklyn through October and November. The list of upcoming dates and locations can be found below.
10/31/13 – Mezzanine, San Franciso with The Magician 11/03/13 – Day of The Dead, Los Angeles 11/07/13 – Concord Music Hall, Chicago with Simian Mobile Disco 11/09/13 – Verboten, Brooklyn with The Magician
We don’t really need to try very hard to sell this edition of Press Play; the names behind the audio and video in the players embedded after the jump speak for themselves. So, if fresh sights and sounds from the likes of Boards of Canada, Bondax, Lee Gamble, Mano Le Tough, Breach, John Talabot, Zed Bias, Nicolas Jaar, Egyptrixx, Claude VonStroke, and Deetron seem like a winning proposition, we suggest that all interested parties get to pressing those play buttons ASAP.
Check out this playlist of Boards of Canada-approved fan videos, featuring music from the Scottish duo’s forthcoming vinyl re-issues for Warp.
In this snazzy player, fans can listen to the first 11 minutes of the upcoming LP from Nicolas Jaar’s Darkside band with guitarist Dave Harrington.
Scrufizzer’s forthcoming “Kick It” single for Black Butter (out Oct 6) gets a big remix treatment from veteran 2-stepper Zed Bias—who actually produced the original version of the track, too—and we’re pleased to be premiering today.
Greco-Roman boss Joe Goddard dropped a stream of his melodically shuffling remix of Bondax’s “Giving It All” single this week.
Immediately after we discovered that John Talabot and Pional would be releasing a brand-new collaborative track under the name Lost Scripts for Young Turks’ new 12″ series, we’re treated to a full stream of the smooth and bubbly “I’ll Be Watching You.”
At the behest of Self-Titled, PAN artist Lee Gamble recently delivered this intriguing, hour-and-a-half mix to stream and download.
Canadian producer Egyptrixx came seemingly out of nowhere this week, uploading an elastic cut of rough techno called “Water” to his SoundCloud.
Though Claude VonStroke’s latest single has been available to preview for a short while now, it only became available as a free download this week.
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Swiss DJ/producer Deetron had a busy week, releasing his “Count on Me” single as the 50th record issued by the Aus imprint and announcing the full details of his sophomore LP, Music Over Matter.
Another premiere we’re pleased to present today is Hivern affiliate New Jackson’s funky and bouncing remix of “Please” from Mano Le Tough’s 2013 LP, Changing Days.
Here’s an exuberant remix of Breach’s latest breakout single, “Jack,” from East Coast partystarters Tittsworth and Alex Eljaiek, which can be downloaded for the price of a “Like” on Facebook.
Earlier this month, rising Australian producer Oscar Key Sung released the <3 Symbols beat tape, a five-track effort made up of “tape-loop beats, [all] made with a four-track, a delay pedal, and a reverb pedal.” “B Good (Vocal City)” serves as the collection’s opening tune, with its loose-jointed rhythms enhanced by a set of deliciously funky chords and a hypnotically looped vocal sample. At times, the beat sounds like it’s just about to completely fall apart, but the track never ventures too far off the rails—and in the end, is probably better for it. Oscar Key Sung’s entire <3 Symbols beat collection is availbile now as a name-your-price download over on Bandcamp.
Mark Fell is a busy man. Apart from his work as one half of long-running duo SND, he’s the guiding force behind Sensate Focus, a sometimes collaborative “house” project, and on occasion, he also operates under his own name. N-Dimensional Analysis is the latest product of what’s been a flurry of activity for Fell, but because the veteran producer always uses a simple selection of elements, which rarely change from record to record, his signature is instantly recognizable. There is little more here than a selection of kicks, hi-hats, and claps, along with a perky, pervasive synthesizer that squirts out from each beat. Owing to this economy and his dexterity at slicing up a track, Fell has often been called clinical, the implication being that his is music for the mind, rather than the body. On the contrary, there is a high degree of spontaneity here, but the shifts happen so frequently that they blur together and are likely missed by the casual listener. Granted, this seems natural when one considers that the music is coming from a producer who has previously worked to coax audio from actual microscopic particles.
While sold as just two 11-minute sides, N-Dimensional Analysis is actually a series of smaller pieces spliced together. However, one would have to be really engaged to tell where one ends and another begins; Fell’s palette is that stark, and the frequent changes are that minute. Throughout it all, his piston-like drums fracture the watery synthlines, making them jut and bounce like mercury beads. The empty space in the a-side’s stop-start beginning is eventually filled by these remnants as the beat subtly changes direction. Fell has never really been a bassline guy, but early on the b-side he pairs two lines in different octaves, lending the section a bit of lower-end heft. It’s locked in with a prominently rattling hi-hat for a few minutes before the arrangement switches off again. There is a wealth of needly detail in Fell’s pieces, but at no point do these mutations jar the pristine, kinetic whole.
RBMA alumni Naphta is set to drop the Valley Queen EP on October 1, but before it arrives via Car Crash Set—a digital label with a track record for picking out talented producers early on—the Polish producer has shared “Seduction” as the record’s first preview. Despite what impression the EP’s artwork and title might leave, “Seduction” is certainly not a light-hearted affair. Sure, it has its share of tropical-tinged chords and melodic flourishes, but at its core, Naphta’s production is a solidly built shuffler with plenty of rhythmic power to keep the dancefloor’s attention.
In 2013, jacking, vintage-tinged house has been anything but in short supply. Still, with their first collaborative EP as Trumpet & Badman, UK mavericks DJ Haus and DJ Q are enthusiastically adding to the growing number of Jersey-swung, organ-fueled house numbers, and for good reason—they know how to do them right.
Love Keeps Changing‘s four efforts are hardly forward-thinking—in fact, the productions offered here are downright formulaic—but as DJ Haus and DJ Q together prove, this is not always such a bad thing. Each of the EP’s tracks are essentially made from the same basic elements: a jacking beat heavy on kicks and hi-hats, a series of chords played through house’s ubiquitous organ patches, a bouncing bassline, a handful of vocal chops, and (somewhat ironically) the occasional MIDI saxophone melody. The title cut proves to be the record’s standout, with its slinking chords and skipping drums enhanced by bits of understated percussion, rising string drones, and the infectious, chorus-like vocal sample from which the song takes its title.
The EPs remaining cuts are a bit more tool-like than “Love Keeps Changing,” focusing less on creating movement between sections and instead slinking into steady grooves with few other adornments or distractions. While “Bang Dis”—the EP’s second cut—certainly isn’t a disappointing effort, the following “Go” and “I Got the Love” outshine it; the former revolves around a syncopated, UK funky-esque organ pattern (something both DJ Q and DJ Haus have separately proven adept at utilizing before), while the latter dives into the deeper end of Jersey house, even rolling out bits of cheeky turntable scratching to make sure things never get too serious.
It’s doubtful that the Love Keeps Changing EP will prove to be a timeless record, but it’s also doubtful that was Trumpet & Badman’s aim or concern. In the end, the pair’s debut is a solid record through and through, and one that supplies four useful dancefloor options for any DJ interested in the more playful ends of house. Keeping this one a vinyl-only release will likely prove to be a smart move as well, ensuring that the slew of johnny-come-lately digital jocks don’t over-rinse these tunes before those who actually know what to do with cuts like these have a chance to give them a spin.
The pairing of John Talabot and Pional has been a somewhat regular oocurence in the past two years, with the two artists collaborating on key tracks for Talabot’s formative ƒIN LP and working together to bring that record to the live arena following its release early last year. Now, the two Spanish producers have announced plans to release a new collaborative track under the collective name Lost Scripts, which is set to appear on the inauguaral release for Young Turks‘s new 12″ series. Lost Scripts’ “I’ll Be Watching You”—an effort Juno Plus describes as a “brooding slice of skipping, warm, vocal electronics”—will serve as the forthcoming record’s a-side, while Koreless‘ “Sun” (which first saw a release on the UK producer’s Yugen EP) will serve as the vinyl’s flipside offering. Young Turks’ ongoing 2013 12″ series will launch on September 6.
