The dance-music outsiders of LA’s 100% Silk label have made an enjoyable habit out of uncovering nascent producers, and introducing their community of followers to the tweaked versions of house, disco, and techno those fringe artists create. We recently discovered the solid debut 12″ by New York producer Shams, Piano Cloud, and today, we’re treated to a new record by another up-and-coming Brooklyn artist, Alex Burkat. Though Burkat already has a 12″ for Mister Saturday Night under his belt, his new release will be his largest yet. Called Tarot, the EP offers four cuts of thumping, atmospheric dancefloor music, not unlike the record’s title track that appeared last month. It can all be streamed via the player below before 100% Silk releases Tarot on June 11.
The forthcoming Hot Inside EP from prolific Berlin resident Jimmy Edgar is set to serve as the first release for Ultramajic, the producer’s recently announced imprint co-owned by Jets collaborator Machinedrum, but before that record officially drops next week, Edgar has shared a full stream of the EP’s title track. “Hot Inside” finds Edgar continuing to fold his love for ’90s dance music into the trademarked crisp, glowing bits of house he’s cultivated over the years. Complete with diva vocals, piano stabs, and plenty of bass weight, this one is clearly aimed at the dancefloor. Below, “Hot Inside” can be streamed before Ultramajic’s three-track inaugural outing drops on June 10.
There’s something special about Bristol. The UK city has consistently been a hotbed for new electronic sounds over the past two decades, and more importantly, it’s a place where the scene marches to the beat of its own drum (or perhaps we should say drum patterns), offering music that is simultaneously highly innovative and intensely local. This tendency is certainly true of Peverelist (a.k.a. Tom Ford), along with the small cadre of artists and labels that have sprung up around him since the mid ’00s. As head of the Punch Drunk label, Ford played an essential role in the blossoming of dubstep, and in more recent times has provided a steadying hand as the genre has fractured and mutated into new bass-heavy forms in the hands of a younger generation of producers. It’s tempting to use terms like “elder statesman” to describe him, but the fact is that Peverelist’s own output continues to be just as exciting as that coming from Bristol’s new faces. Of late he’s taken to collaborating with guys like Kowton and Hodge, and his vinyl-only Livity Sound imprint has proven to be an intriguing adjunct to Punch Drunk. With this sort of resume, we were thrilled to have Peverelist put together an exclusive mix for the XLR8R podcast series and true to form, he’s delivered something that celebrates the latest sounds of his hometown. The mix is heavy on tunes from the aforementioned artists and a few other Bristol up-and-comers; over the course of an hour, there are lots of drums, lots of bass, and plenty of reasons to listen intently.
Modeselektor‘s 50Weapons imprint has a handful of exciting records ready to drop this summer—including new music from Addison Groove, Bambounou, and the German label heads themselves. First up, a 12″ single for Modeselektor’s collaborative tune with Sound Pellegrino Thermal Team—which will also appear later this month as a part of Sound Pellegrino‘s SND.PE Vol. 1 compilation—is scheduled to arrive on June 21 with a fresh remix from Bambounou. 50Weapons’ annual compilation 50Weapons of Choice will see its third installment on June 28, featuring highlights from the label’s discography—such as singles by Cosmin TRG, Marcel Dettmann, Atoms for Peace, and Benjamin Damage, among others—and unreleased tracks by Truncate and datei42. Lastly, Bristolian pair Addison Groove and Sam Binga have a collaborative EP (artwork above) in the works for a July 26 release. Previews of music from all three records can be found below.
Following the release of his debut full-length, Skylight, Seattle’s Kid Smpl has put together two volumes of remixes, the second of which sees a release today and features reworks from Ceeda, Deebs, and many other budding production talents. Chicago’s Different Sleep (pictured above) was enlisted to take a crack at Kid Smpl’s “Escape Pod” for the collection, reinforcing the sprawling tune with a thick assemblage of chugging drums and sharp percussion—essentially building a new framework on top of which to place the lush synths and distant voices of Smpl’s original. Both volumes of Skylight Remixes can be picked up for free via the Hush Hush label’s Bandcamp.
Famous freak Harmony Korine once said that he doesn’t try to find meaning in his strange films, but instead abides by the law of the gut, producing weirdo art propelled by impulse. It’s a similar philosophy that guides 22-year-old producer D33J (a.k.a. Djavan Santos). While attending an LA screening of Trash Humpers, an odd film that seemed to either confuse or disgust most viewers and critics, D33J was struck by comments made by the director during the Q&A session when Korine called out an audience member who was particularly frustrated by his film. “Harmony was totally fucking with this guy who was trying to analyze his movies, and I really liked that,” D33J says with admiration. “I really feel that vibe [when] you don’t necessarily know what you’re doing, or go into it with a certain intention.”
D33J has taken that sentiment to heart, describing his dreamy beats as an “emotional 808,” driven not by any lyrical narrative but a particular mood or feeling. “I like to leave room for the audience’s interpretation. You can draw your own conclusions. The creative process comes from a guttural place, not a hyper-analytical place. I think there’s beauty in leaving room for openness.”
Born and raised in Los Angeles, D33J studied guitar and electronic music at Hamilton High’s renowned Music Academy, a fairly selective program that counts rising stars Groundislava (Friends of Friends), Syd the Kid (OFWGKTA) and Baths (Anticon) among its alumni. Encouraged by his Intro to Electronic Music class, Santos picked up the basics of the keyboard quickly and dove into making his own beats. “[When I started] it sounded so fucking stupid—like really shitty Postal Service beats.” He eventually discovered Daedelus and the Microphones, two artists who heavily influenced his personal style. “[The Postal Service] was a gateway for me, and then it went off after that. I liked a lot of weirder production stuff, like the Microphones—I like that weirder zone between the two.”
After graduating, D33J enrolled at the San Francisco Art Institute, opting to study design over music. “But not practical design,” he says. “I still don’t know how to make a website.” He took classes on interactive installations and video and sound production, both at SFAI and in Germany, where he completed an artist residency. But his experiments with electronic music continued outside of the classroom, and eventually, his friend and roommate Shlohmo inducted him into the Wedidit collective, a group of young producers—including RL Grime and Groundislava—who have backed Santos’ audio and visual work ever since. With the slogan “Professionally unprofessional since 1990” and an inclination to stick peace signs and smiley faces on just about everything, the group’s sense of humor and aesthetic has earned them a near cult-like following—not to mention a dedicated group of detractors. “You either you get it or you don’t,” says D33J, who often performs in a ’90s-era, neon Goosebumps snapback. “Take it or leave it.”
Under the Wedidit banner, D33J released a number of R&B-tinged remixes of artists ranging from Drake to Doseone to Taylor Swift. “I fuck with a lot of old pop stuff,” he says. “Like all these weird Drake melodies that stay in my head, or how Taylor Swift sounds pitched down. Those are weird, beautiful moments in pop music, and I like to strip those out and use them in my own production for a remix to make someone who hates Drake start liking Drake.” On the strength of D33J’s stack of remixes, he’s performed all over the country, often alongside his old high school friend Baths and members of the Wedidit crew.
D33J recently finished his degree, returned to LA, and signed to Anticon—a label managed by fellow Hamilton alum Shaun Koplow, who he met after playing a show with Shlohmo. “It felt right because before we did any business, we became friends. And so it was this other relationship outside [of the music]. It just felt comfortable with [Baths] there.” His first official release for the label was a collection of his older work, a five-song EP he initially self-released while living in San Francisco. Recorded in 2011, Tide Songs was re-mastered by Leaving Records boss Matthewdavid and reissued via Anticon in April. Unlike D33J’s remix work, Tide Songs is quite mellow, eschewing the heavy R&B influences for a more chilled-out, melodic vibe. (“Park (Tape Version)” is a solid example of that.) “It wasn’t really nostalgic, but I had this weird optimism about moving to a new place, being in an unfamiliar location [and] a positive mode,” he says.
A new EP called Gravel is on the way, and is set to be released this summer. But D33J says the new record comes from a much different place—a darker place than Tide Songs. “I was still in San Francisco and moved into this dark-ass warehouse, with no natural light [and], like, 20 people living in it,” confesses Santos. “And it had this crazy vibe. No regrets, of course, but I cherished alone time. So this album was made when I wasn’t surrounded by all of those people, and it’s meant to be heard at home, not in a club.” That said, the young producer has more than personal reasons for his musical growth. “[My music] has always been in flux, always changing as I listen to new stuff,” he adds. “I take things in and try to process them in a new way. I don’t want to have a stagnating sound.”
It has been over four years since Jon Hopkins‘ Insides was released, and from the opening moments of Immunity, it’s easy to hear why. Hopkins is from a school of production that values craftsmanship over most everything else, and it’s conceivable that producing electronic music with the attention to detail that can be heard on his fourth full-length requires a considerable amount of time.
For better or worse, Immunity makes little reference to the current landscape of electronic production. Isolation like this can be disastrous for many artists, but for Hopkins, this seems to be where he thrives; his unique ideas and ultimate execution are strong enough to exist outside of any particular trend or movement. It seems that Hopkins is only worried with building on—and gradually evolving past—his previous efforts. In many ways, Immunity revisits into the sonic world presented on 2009’s Insides; the hyper-detailed sounds and gorgeous space which made his past LP such a strong and memorable listen have been refined to even more polished ends here, though the compositions take noticeably different forms. Whether laying into long spurts of driving, textured techno on tracks like “Open Eye Signal” and “Collider,” or delving into melodic ambiance on songs like “Abandon Window,” the consistently pristine and largely unparalleled depths with which Hopkins’ tracks are presented create the sonic thread holding together his new album. There is also an Eno-esque atmosphere that appears throughout Immunity, a kind of angelic presence touching every track and even making Hopkins’ more brooding efforts introspective in a very powerful way.
After opening the first half of Immunity with rich, textured outings of techno-driven momentum on “We Disappear,” album standout “Open Eye Signal,” and the almost 10-minute “Collider,” Hopkins turns a corner with “Abandon Window.” The drumless composition’s melancholic piano chords and slow-building field of noise are the LP’s first step back, allowing the rush of Immunity‘s initial 30 minutes a chance to finally sink in. From there, Hopkins settles further into a withheld atmosphere—”Form by Firelight” applies an almost-hip-hop-indebted stutter to its piano-led movements, while “Sun Harmonics” (the LP’s longest outing at 12 minutes) hits a warm and dreamy stride that beautifully lives up to the song’s title despite only offering bits of hesitant melody. In the end, it makes for the record’s most spellbinding listen.
Even considering the somewhat underwhelming quality—at least in comparison to its exceptional counterparts—of the closing title track, Immunity is truly a masterfully made record, one that marries precise sonic sculpting with graceful musicality. Like much of Hopkins’ work, the LP is vividly cinematic; listeners will find it hard to take in its tracks without their imaginations conjuring distinct visual representations to match. Still, Immunity is not for everyone, especially those who come to electronic music merely for its club-ready, dancefloor offerings. But for those who listen seeking to peer into sonic worlds that might not otherwise exist, Hopkins has created one which is rich with gorgeous detail and worth fully exploring.
In preparation for the release of its upcoming record, Dawn of Midi has shared “Nix,” a persistent, grooving cut from the trio’s forthcoming album, Dysnomia. The outfit’s sophomore full length—which is due out on August 6 via the Thirsty Ear label—was recorded, mixed, and mastered twice purely out of taste; a testament to the group’s attentiveness and desire to carefully sculpt a unique sound. As a result, that’s the kind of dedicated approach one is bound to hear from “Nix,” which utilizes a deceivingly simple groove upon which Dawn of Midi attaches plenty of depth for those who listen closely enough.
The patten-helmed Kaleidoscope label has been quite busy as of late, unearthing an EP of reimagined live tracks from anonymous producer Orphan, sharing an entrancing video for that release’s track “Hours,” and now dropping a compilation of remixes for Orphan’s Retakes tape. Deemed simply Re:, the five-track collection is led by Datassette‘s reworking of “169/Understanding,” which buries the original tune under a tasteful assemblage of thick kicks and airy chords. The entire Re: collection—which includes additional remixes from Karen Gwyer, the label boss himself, and others—can be streamed in full after the jump and downloaded for free here.
Earlier this year, Mark Barrott stepped from behind the managerial desk of his International Feel label to release an EP as The Sonic Aesthetic. Tales from the Nocturn was a fine semi-debut (Barrott had a career in drum & bass as Future Loop Foundation prior to moving to Uruguay and starting a label), exhibiting a dusted disco-house sound that slotted nicely next to International Feel’s marquee acts. Now, Barrott is already back with its follow up, New Districts, which is set to be the first release for his new sub-label, also called The Sonic Aesthetic. Certain aspects of the record’s predecessor remain, but the mood is much less smudgy and romantic.
All three tracks on the EP are marked by acidic leads, sounds which often end up dominating the mix they’re deployed into. “Duke’s Cut” has a pulsing strut, and is marked by hand drums and lazy chords which mesh with the TB-303 centerpiece. The jacking “Earthworms” is a bit more playful, featuring a deep, resonant melody interwoven with an insect-like, high-octave line and some string stabs. But neither really ascend beyond simple “acid track” territory; they’re well composed, but lack any further panache.
Although it is shorter and not aimed at the dancefloor, the title track is the most successful here, as Barrott blends the patient acid with glassy chimes and low pads. The result is more in line with Tales from the Nocturn’s cosmic, beachcombing vibe, and indeed with the International Feel ethos as a whole. Overall, New Districts is not as distinctive as The Sonic Aesthetic’s debut, but it does make one wonder what other stylistic shifts Barrott might have in store for his new imprint.
