A week before the release of Board of Canada‘s long-awaited new LP—its first since 2005’s The Campfire Headphase—the Warp mainstay will host a one-time live transmission previewing the forthcoming Tomorrow’s Harvest LP. So far Boards of Canada have only previewed the single, “Reach for the Dead,” and a few cryptic clips showcasing bits of the album, which may make the June 3 broadcast the only opportunity to hear the legendary outfit’s new record in full before it sees a release on June 10. The complete listing of broadcast times for each time zone can be found on the flier below, and more details can be found here.
New York producer Shams (a.k.a. Jonathan Coward) deals in nostalgia wholesale. Much like the majority of releases issued by 100% Silk, Coward’s debut EP, Piano Cloud (streaming in full here), comes across as immediately warm, recalling the spirit of a readily accessible disco record that was left lying undiscovered. With that in mind, it’s kind of remarkable that only one track on Piano Cloud—the delectably chilled “Wasted”—uses vocals. Built upon a hanging, bittersweet piano chord, the production sums up the entire EP’s m.o. in a tight four minutes. It’s an unapologetic pop tune, one that’s so light and sweetly constructed that it almost comes across as polite, consistently rewarding both in the moment and outside of it.
Piano Cloud is an easily digestible listen, which is both its biggest strength and drawback, but is at its best when Shams uses the titular instrument to push his tunes forward. Lead single “She Wanted to Watch,” another of the EP’s standouts, makes the most of the jazzy chords that kick off the tune before bolstering the riff with a funky bassline and some airy synth melodies. “Stare Into” begins similarly enough, but then peels off into house territory, piling on skittering synth stabs before smoothing them out. The opening title cut makes things a little more interesting, abandoning late-night jazz chords for rolling keyboards and filling the tune with drum fills every couple of bars before it works up into a four-on-the-floor stomp.
Strangely enough, Piano Cloud is at its least memorable when trying to be a more straightforward house record, even if those tracks do offer some interesting choices of arrangement. The flute-driven “Cloth” only has that instrument to distinguish it from other—and most likely better—100% Silk releases, and “Only If There is Nothing,” while a competent house tune, doesn’t really try anything fresh. That said, the strengths of Shams’ EP outweigh its weaknesses, as the record holds some understated brilliance. With some tighter editing and a few more risks, Shams could possibly churn out some exceptional music. In the meantime though, Piano Cloud stands as a solid debut.
Settle, the debut LP from London brothers Guy and Howard Lawrence (a.k.a. Disclosure), drops next week via PMR, but before then the 14-track effort can now be streamed in full. After months of track leaks, videos, and general hype surrounding the fast-rising, (somewhat controversially) chart-topping duo’s brand of house, being able to now hear the group’s debut LP in its complete form is a welcome treat. Settle can be streamed from front to back here via The Guardian.
This past week brought a new wireless DJ unit from Pioneer—the XDJ-R1—as well as an updated OS for Teenage Engineering’s OP-1 synthesizer. Those items, plus in-depth tutorials for Reason 7 and Korg’s Mini MS-20, a guide to getting a better bass sound, and an update to the Moog documentary can be found in the latest edition of This Week in Music Tech.
Pioneer unveiled the XDJ-R1 this week. The new wireless DJ system comes with two decks—complete with CD drives, but also support for audio from a USB stick or laptop—and features comprehensive iOS control capabilities. Before the XDJ-R1 hits stores in June (with an MSRP of $1,099), Pioneer supplied a complete walk-through of the new unit, which can be watched above.
Teenage Engineering released an update for its unique, handheld OP-1 synth. The update’s main enhancements come in the form of a new noise engine called DNA and the CWO frequency-shifter effect. More information can be found here, and a video showing the updates in action can be viewed above.
Following a few weeks after Reason 7 was unleashed into the world, Dubspot‘s James Bernard takes an in-depth look at the program’s new features and capabilities and how they can benefit users’ productions.
For most everyone, approaching an MS-20 Mini can be a daunting task, with its array of small knobs and mini patch cables. Fortunately, Korg has done its best to help us navigate its lastest analog synth, providing a new tutorial which explains the basic controls and signal flow of the MS-20 Mini.
London’s Attack Magazine recently shared a wealth of advice for budding producers looking to build better bass sounds into thier producitons. Broken down into 10 essential tips, the article covers a host of techniques from using the right bass synths and samples to compression and much more. The full article can be read here.
To celebrate what would have been the 79th birthday of American inventor and synth designer Robert Moog, the Moog company uploaded a 2004 documentary focused on the life and accomplishments of the late Bob Moog. Though the film has existed on YouTube for some time in other not-so-legitimate forms, a new official stream is now up and running. The first section of the three-part documentary can be watched above, with the rest of the film available to view via Moog’s YouTube channel.
In case you some hadn’t heard, fast-rising brotherly duo Disclosure will be dropping its debut LP, Settle, next week. In anticipation of the forthcoming release, album cut “When a Fire Starts to Burn” has received a video treatment featuring a fiery preacher and his devoted congregation. As the preacher and his flock dance, heal, and just about lose their shit, Disclosure’s sleek house tune unfurls, its sole vocal sample hitting home as the preacher attempts to exercise demons from the brave souls in the crowd. The full clip can be watched below.
Seeing as how we’ve got some some exclusive premieres, record streams, interviews, visual pieces, unexpected remixes, and more from artists like Juan Atkins, Tim Goldsworthy, Jacques Greene, DJ Rashad, Traxman, Throwing Snow, Zed Bias, and How to Dress Well, among others, today’s edition of Press Play is simply an offering of music that can’t be missed.
Juan Atkins and Moritz von Oswald share their first leak from the forthcoming Borderland LP for Tresor, the patient and dubby “Mars Garden.”
Chicago footwork dons DJ Rashad and DJ Spinn team up on the wild “Double Cup” tune, which apparently will appear on the forthcoming thirteenth release issued by Teklife.
In this recent video interview with FACT TV, How to Dress Well and Jacques Greene discuss their upcoming collaborative single for LuckyMe.
Little Boots gets a deep “Dance Dub” remix of her “Broken Record” single by DFA affiliate Tim Goldsworthy, who also produced the electro-pop chanteuse’s brand-new Nocturnes LP.
Maybe one of the oddest pairings we’ve heard of recently, indie darlings Animal Collective get remixed into oblivion by Chicago footwork vet Traxman.
Snow Ghosts is the latest project from busy UK artist Throwing Snow, who just dropped his ethereal new single with singer Augustus Ghost, “Secret Garden.”
Veteran DJ/producer Zed Bias shared his stomping version of Benin City’s “Faithless”
Check out this trippy slice of reggae-touched vibes from E.m.m.a., Wil LV, and Rebel MC, a next-level dub remix of “Jahovia.”
Brooklyn producer Datalog has given us the premiere of his murky and intriguing Haarp EP, which is now available to own here.
Stalwart signees to Glasgow’s High Sheen label, HaHaHa is giving away an “electro-tinged club weapon” to help celebrate the outpost’s first ever birthday.
From El Remolón’s new Boxeo Constitución, listen to the smoothly swinging “Boxeo (feat. Lido Pimienta)” and then download it for free here.
Before it releases on June 3, Vester Koza’s gritty Out of the Blue EP can now be streamed in full.
It’s become a bit of a cliché when describing house music, but it’s truly hard to avoid characterizing the music of South London producer Pyrenees as “retro-futuristic.” The budding tunesmith seems to have a Lone-inspired approach to house, one which indulges in its share of bit-flattened synth tones and nostalgic drum breaks. But by the same token, tunes like “RNA2″—a cut from the man’s recently self-released RNA EP (artwork above)—also touch on something celestial in their run, allowing Pyrenees’ work to turn a regular old dancefloor cut into a galactic voyage of sorts. Pyrenees’ five-track RNA EP is currently available as a name-your-price download via Bandcamp.
Times are good for those who like a little overlap in their 2-step diaspora. The Sons of Anarchy EP finds a marquee grime producer soundclashing with a UK funky torchbearer on one of the UK’s premier labels, a development that’s far more encouraging than surprising. Since joining Hyperdub’s ranks, Terror Danjah has grown increasingly colorful with his beats, envisioning grime as a continuously eclectic, adventurous, and straight-up playful genre. Here he’s linked up here with Champion, a funky stalwart and someone who actually works with Terror Danjah’s Hardrive label. Beyond that, Champion is an artist who has stayed true to a once-trendy sound while reinforcing and boosting its strengths with his genre-splicing efforts.
The producers’ individual styles shine through on their respective solo tracks for the EP. Terror Danjah’s intensely bright “Sam Cro” leans on an almost chirpy bassline that occasionally seeps over into acid distortion; the breakdowns are cleverly fluid, even as the brittle hi-hats and squelching claps crackle and scatter underneath. It sounds a little raw when juxtaposed with Champion’s “Bowser’s Castle,” a deceptively spacious anthem that hides any aggression under a blanket of NES nostalgia. Still, the song’s 8-bit throwback melodies and tuba-wobble bass bring out the sharper, more intricate qualities of Champion’s drum programming; this is a track that demands different agendas of the feet and waist.
It’s the collaborative productions that prove to be the main attraction, though, and for good reason: as collaborators, labelmates, and cohorts, vet Terror Danjah and on-the-rise Champion operate toward similar ends. Their first two team-ups take winding basslines and beats down two entirely different paths, demonstrating that where one artist ends and the other begins is less relevant than what they do together. “Glide” ricochets from streamlined funky rhythms to dense, hammering grime in a way that might clash a bit more loudly if it wasn’t so expertly tied together by a deep, chameleonic bassline that warps to fit the pattern or occasionally jab back at it. “Stone Island” is relentless in the way it builds up, breaks down, pushes forward, and rolls back its intricate interplay of liquid snares, hi-hats, and upfront kicks. But it’s “Explode” where the pair’s sensibilities really mesh into something seamless. The elements of Terror Danjah’s chromed-out grime excursions and Champion’s versatile pop/underground funky-house hybridization fuse into a big, shameless dancehall banger that drips with sweat, roils with the energy of a festival crowd, and shows off nearly every rhythmic and counter-rhythmic trick the two producers have in their arsenals. Even their respective drops—Terror Danjah’s badman chuckle and the eponymous “Champion sound!”—sound like they’ve always belonged together.
Tom Trago has revealed that he will return to the Rush Hour label with his his third LP, The Light Fantastic, later this year, preceded by a 12″ album sampler in the coming weeks. Trago’s forthcoming full-length is said to have been the result of many months locked away in his Amsterdam studio, and will include collaborations with Panorama Bar resident Steffi, UK house maven Breach, and fellow Rush Hour labelmate San Proper. Before The Light Fantastic LP drops though, a three-track 12″ from Trago will first see a release, letting loose the Steffi-co-produced “Two Together,” the Breach-featuring “True Friends,” and non-album cut “Avenido.” All three tracks can be previewed here.
With the release of his debut full-length, Emptier Streets, just over a week away, Finnish producer Desto has offered up an alternate take of that record’s closing track, “Healing.” In its reconfigured form, the tune is quite a brooding endeavor, one where tuned 808s and rolling hats and snares are met by ghostly synth lines and detuned island bells. In the end, the track lands somewhere amidst the sound of labels like Fade to Mind, but with an extra bounce and skip more similar to Desto’s own Rwina labelmate Eprom. The forthcoming Emptier Streets drops on June 10 via Rwina; its full tracklist and artwork can be found after the jump.
