It’s been a very, very long time coming, but finally, everyone can listen to the new Boards of Canada album right now. As we reported at the end of last week, a live stream of Tomorrrow’s Harvest is premiering on the Scottish duo’s website at 4 p.m. EST today. There’s nothing else to say other than go listen to the long-awaited new LP by Boards of Canada here, and look for its release on June 10 via Warp. (Alternately, go straight to YouTube if the site is down.)
With a download of his most recent track appearing on XLR8R last month, the much-hyped London producer Stay Positive has dropped a new video for his collaboration with the inimitable Cooly G, “You Hate Me.” The track and video both are pure sensory overload with a ’90s-rave spin; the video’s erratic cuts and mediated shots of grainy rave footage on old television screens perfectly mirror the rapidfire, piano-driven breakbeat hardcore of Stay Positive’s tune.
UK dance/indie adventurers Hot Chip have announced plans to drop a new 10″ single via Domino next month, and have shared a stream of the forthcoming record’s a-side, “Dark & Stormy.” The driving, slightly sinister cut marks the outfit’s first recorded material to surface since its 2012 LP In Our Heads, and appears to find Hot Chip continuing to refine its own hybrid take on house-infused, indie-minded pop. “Dark & Stormy” can be streamed in full below before it sees an official release on July 22.
It would appear that May was the month remixes took over the XLR8RDownloads feed, but with producers like Nosaj Thing (pictured above), Lapalux, Synkro, Soul Clap, Bodhi, and more all offering up fresh reworks, we probably should have seen that coming. Rounding out last month’s top tier of free tunes were also a handful of efforts from some usual suspects—Slugabed, DFRNT, and fLako among them—and a sprinkling of new names in Keepsakes, Jorge Takei, and ManooZ. The complete list of the top 20 downloads from XLR8R last month can be found after the jump.
1. Jon Hopkins “Open Eye Signal (Nosaj Thing Remix)”
2. Tythe “Careless Woman (Lapalux Remix)”
3. Kill Frenzy & Sacha Robotti “I Like It (B-Ju Remix)”
4. Charli XCX “What I Like (Bodhi Remix)”
5. Robot Koch & Sieren “Melville”
6. Keepsakes “Kontaina”
7. Lowb “Inward Outburst (Synkro Remix)”
8. James Blake “Life Round Here (MANIK Ghost Pines Rework)”
9. Surfing Leons & Miss Eaves “Banga (GoldFFinch Remix)”
10. Uffe “Valentine’s Card (Envee Remix)”
11. Jorge Takei “Aretha (Vocal Mix)”
12. Holy Other “Held (Fort Romeau Remix)”
13. Mirror Kisses “Runaways (Spazzkid Remix)”
14. Slugabed “True Born”
15. fLako “What’s That Calling Me”
16. ManooZ “Last Night”
17. The Crystal Ark “Rain (Discodeine Remix)”
18. Mystery Roar “Mayhem (Soul Clap Remix)”
19. DFRNT “The Way You Look at Me”
20. Alizzz “Arista”
After a few well-received EPs on labels like Hotflush, Hemlock, and Discobelle, one-time Bubblin’ Up producer Guy Andrews will issue his first record for FINA with the techno-touched, bass-heavy house of the Annum EP. The record sees the UK producer adopting a sound that falls closer to straight-up house on most of its tracks, eschewing some of the rhythmic complexities and dubstep influence of his last single for Hotflush, “The Wait” b/w “Hands In Mine.” The Annum EP will drop on July 17, but in the meantime, the artwork and tracklist can be found below.
1. Divide (Original Mix)
2. 7AM (Original Mix)
3. Fixture (Original Mix)
4. Tapes (Original Mix)
LA resident Glen Boothe (a.k.a. Knx., Knxwledge) has been one the most quietly prolific producers to carry the torch for a new wave of West Coast beatsmiths—his Bandcamp currently features a grab bag of EPs, LPs, and random collections totaling about 50 releases. With his non-stop output, it’s been understandably hard for some to keep up with everything Knx. has put his name to over the years, but fortunately Leaving and Stones Throw have put together Anthology, a forthcoming collection which gathers “the essential instrumentals… from the forty-some-odd Knx. Bandcamp releases [between] 2009 – 2013.” “Hai[$100Nytemayrs]” is one of the 53 tracks set to be featured on Anthology, a stoney, lopsided beat that is as simple as it is easy to become wrapped up in. Boothe’s 53-track retrospective of sorts will be available as a digital download and a limited double-cassette on June 11.
Last week, Hamburg producer Tensnaketeased his smoky “58 bpm” single, which drops today via his own True Romance label. To mark the new release, Tensnake has shared a full stream of the record’s b-side, a characteristically slow-brewing remix from Mano Le Tough (pictured above). The vocal-led, ’80s-indebted “58 bpm” is entirely reimagined on Mano Le Tough’s version, as he gives it a four-on-the-floor punch from the onset and fills the production out with the sort of lush, melancholic chords heard on his debut LP from this year, Changing Days. “58 bpm (Mano Le Tough Remix)” can be streamed in full below, and limited copies of the single can be picked up here.
Berlin mainstay and former Panorama Bar resident Prosumer (a.k.a. Achim Brandenburg) has made a name for himself as one of Europe’s top house and techno DJs, but his latest mix shows off an entirely different side of his music taste. In addition to doing a spotlight set at Croatia’s Electric Elephant this July, the producer will be hosting a boat party for the festival on July 15, utilizing a strict “anything but house and techno” policy. Judging by the cuts on his new podcast for FACT, Prosumer is serious. The towering, 70-minute effort begins with a symphonic interlude, poetic monologue, and waves lapping against an unknown shore, and then dives into a concoction built on reggae, disco, pop, and other curiosities the DJ/producer can cram into his set’s runtime. There are virtually none of the usual dancefloor sounds Prosumer established himself with anywhere to be found, but the summery offering, aptly called Under a Palm Tree, can be streamed and downloaded here.
In anticipation of next week’s release of the full-length debut from the collaboration between Juan Atkins and Moritz von Oswald, the duo has made its eponymous Borderland album available to stream in full. Both techno legends in their own right—Atkins’ various projects helped kickstart techno in Detroit in the mid ’80s and von Oswald is a founding member of German minimal-techno innovators Basic Channel—this is not the first time the pair have worked together, with both having contributed to each others’ records in the early ’90s. The sessions that led to this release allegedly took place spontaneously in Berlin earlier this year, and the result finds the duo exploring long-form, bass-heavy techno. Borderland is out via Tresor on June 10, but can be heard in its entirety over at Resident Advisor in the meantime, here.
About two years after 2011’s XLR8R Pick’d Dedication, controversial producer Zombyannounced the sprawling, 33-track With Love, an album split across two CDs and three LPs. Now, the creepy, jungle-heavy first disc of that album is available to stream online. Courtesy of Pitchfork Advance, 17 tunes from With Love can be listened to here before they’re released along with the other 16 on June 18 via 4AD.
