Virgo Four Split Revealed

After re-emerging as a duo in 2010 thanks to a Rush Hour reissue of its seminal self-titled 1989 album, Merwyn Sanders and Eric Lewis (a.k.a. Virgo Four) have enjoyed a new career as a revered production outfit from Chicago house’s salad days, releasing some retrospective material while also maintaining an ongoing live show. However, towards the end of 2011, Sanders (pictured above, right) actually decided to split ways with Lewis (pictured above, left) in hopes of pursuing a solo career—a task he says has been hindered by the fact that his departure was not publicized and that much of Virgo Four’s current promotional material continue to use his name and image.

As Resident Advisor reports in its comprehensive coverage on the newly revealed split, Sanders had decided to leave the group in June of 2011, agreeing to fulfill a handful of already scheduled live dates, two of which he later rescinded on and so was replaced by Terry Ivy (Lewis’ cousin). Since that period all live performances have included Lewis and Ivy, yet many have been touted as featuring the original Virgo Four and often used the departed Sanders image and name to accompany promotional efforts. “This past year I have done a few releases as Merwyn,” Sanders told Resident Advisor. “Some mistakes were made with the releases adding Virgo Four to my name but that is why I started posting ‘formerly known as Virgo Four’ on everything I could, so people would think, ‘formerly?’ and realize Virgo Four has split. It has been an uphill battle for me to get people to know we split and to refer to me as Merwyn.”

Resident Advisor’s full article on the now two-year-old split can be read here. The pair’s XLR8R podcast—turned in before the eventual split of Sanders and Lewis—can be heard here.

AKRA x Flilppo Rocco “PVC”**

Teng is yet another fledgling imprint currently lounging in a bit of obscurity, biding its time while it builds up a sizeable amount of cred, pushing the tunes it has to offer as hard as it can. The approach has worked before and with right combination of quality work and luck, eventually, something has to make its way to the forefront. From the sound of it, the label’s mostly likely candidate to succeed is London-based analog maestro and rising star for Teng AKRA, whose been making exceptionally punchy, yet crystal-clear house tracks that don’t hold still on a hook for too long. The one-off effort, “PVC,” done in collaboration with Cardiff producer Filippo Rocco, runs onward for seven minutes, constantly trading rising keyboards riffs and Carpenter-referencing synth counterpoints while keeping the thick low-end persistently funky the whole way through. AKRA’s next EP, Tunnelvision is due June 10 via Teng.

PVC

This Week in Music Tech: Mount Kimbie, Four Tet, Carl Craig, Traxman, and More, Plus an In-Depth Mastering Lecture

This week brings a star-studded roundup featuring gear-related videos and interviews with Mount Kimbie, Four Tet, Carl Craig, Traxman, Robert Owens, Raffertie, and KiNK. All of that, plus RBMA’s lecture with veteran mastering engineer Herb Powers Jr., makes the latest edition of This Week in Music Tech an essential one.

Before its sophomore LP drops next week via Warp, Mount Kimbie opened up its rehearsal space in order to take us through the process of how the pair translates its productions from the studio to the stage, letting us take a peek at its arsenal of gear in the process (spolier alert: they have a Tempest). The full interview can be read here.

As part of the current Red Bull Music Academy, Four Tet broke down his live set-up, explaining the individual components and ways in which he tweaks and extends his songs during performances.

Veteran footwork producer Traxman took on Tim and Barry’s 10-minute beat challenge for Don’t Watch That TV, utilizing an MPC and a few records to build a track live on the spot.

Native Instruments caught up with legendary producer and DJ Carl Craig while in Amsterdam, and had the man explain how he uses the Maschine to craft and remix tracks.

Bulgarian producer KiNK became the latest producer to step up to FACT TV’s Against the Clock challenge, building a track in 5 minutes using a variety of table-top analog devices, a turntable, and a mixing board. Though the clip does ride the line between crafting a track live and simply performing one, it does at the very least provide a nice glimpse into the producer’s process.

London’s Point Blank school recently had both house veteran Robert Owens and Ninja Tune affiliate Raffertie on site for a joint masterclass. The highlights from the session—which covers vocal mixing and treatment techniques, among other topics—have been compiled in the video above.

Of the many RBMA lectures which have surfaced in the past few weeks, one particularly interesting one came in the form of an interview with Herb Powers Jr, a seasoned mastering engineer with decades of experience and a seemingly limitless well of knowledge to share when it comes to the somewhat mysterious—but utterly essential—process of mastering music. Watch the full lecture here.

Listen to a Reversed Version of Boards of Canada’s New Single

Yesterday, the world was treated to its first new Boards of Canada song in eight years, the quietly brooding “Reach for the Dead,” which probably would’ve been more than enough to old fans over until the duo’s long-awaited Tomorrow’s Harvest LP drops on June 10. But now, Warp has ever so cryptically shared a reversed version of that track’s music video for us to pour over. There’s not much else to say about the video that its title doesn’t already explain: colorful footage is paired with the Scottish brothers’ dreamily barren soundscapes, and it’s all ran backwards. We’re not sure if it “means” anything, but it’s satisfying all the same how natural Boards of Canada sounds in reverse. The piece can be seen below.

Lone Announces New 12″ for R&S

Nottingham’s purveyor of dayglo dancefloor sounds, Matt Cutler (a.k.a. Lone) has announced that his next record will arrive via R&S just a over a year after the release of 2012’s solid Galaxy Garden. “Airglow Fires” b/w “Begin to Begin” is said to see the DJ/producer “exploring a more considered and intimate sound alongside a rediscovered love of classic hip-hop.” As Cutler puts it himself, “I love hip-hop and house music when it’s at its rawest. To me, ‘Airglow Fires’ has that kind of ’90s basement vibe to it, where the lines between the two genres are kind blurred.” There’s no word on whether or not Lone’s upcoming 12″ foreshadows his next full-length album, but it will be released all the same on July 8.

Press Play: MK, Skream, Hyetal, Ryan Hemsworth, and More

A ton of great music appeared on the internet as streaming audio and video this week—more so than usual, it seems. We’re not exaggerating: We’ve got record streams, fresh mixes, free downloads, high-profile remixes, and more from artists like MK, Skream, The Miracles Club, John Tejada, Ryan Hemsworth, Koreless, Joe Godard, Natasha Kmeto, and Hyetal, among others. All of the sights and sounds of this week’s edition of Press Play can full enjoyed after the jump.

House veteran MK shared his sleek forthcoming remix of London songstress Sinead Harnett.

Infinity Ink’s recent “Infinity” received a jacking remix at the hands of Skream, which in turn received the restless video treatment seen above.

A pair of tunes from Hyetal’s forthcoming Modern Worship LP are set to appear on a single of their own next month via True Panther. To spread the word, Hyetal has made both synthy productions available to stream.

Candian production wunderkind Ryan Hemsworth let loose his Still Awake EP this week, making the four-track effort available to stream in full and download for free.

UK sonic explorer Koreless shared a stream of “Last Remnants,” a spiraling track from his Yugen EP for Young Turks.

The somewhat elusive Kassem Mosse popped up with a remix for Stellar OM Source’s “Elite Excel” track which appears as the b-side to a recent 12″ for the RVNG label.

Portland’s Dropping Gems label shared two new mixes from hometown outfits Miracles Club and Break Mode as part of its ongoing podcast series.

Speaking of Dropping Gems, from her forthcoming debut full-length for the label, rising producer Natasha Kmeto shared the slow-brewing, vocal-heavy cut “Idiot Proof.”

Experimentalist Nate Young will drop the Blinding Confusion LP via NNA Tapes next month, and shared the noise-collaging “When Nothing Works” to help spread the word.

Following last year’s Tipping Bowls LP for Kompakt, Taragana Pyjarama plans to drop a new EP of tunes on his newly formed Wyrd imprint. The warm, kaleidoscoping “RAR” serves as the first taste of his upcoming Nothing Hype EP, dropping June 24.

LA’s Halocyan label enlisted veteran DJ/producer John Tejada to put together a mini-mix made of the label’s releases so far, which the imprint has offered as a free download.

Recorded in Berlin, White Material cohort Young Male made one of his recent hour-long live hardware sets available to stream and download.

The budding Regal Safari duo shared a new production, the patient and enveloping “Closer.”

Hot Chip member and Greco-Roman co-head Joe Goddard shared the Mara Carlyle-featuring lead single from his forthcoming EP, Taking Over.

Weval “The Most (David Douglas Remix)”**

On the back of Dutch production duo Weval‘s (pictured above) debut release—the grainy, keyboard-led Half Age EP which dropped in March via Applescal’s Atomnation imprint—we’re offering up a dancefloor-oriented remix of EP track “The Most” from labelmate David Douglas. The slow-burning, jazz-leaning original track is transformed on Douglas rework into a streamlined, bass-driven house cut which moves with just a touch of slow-motion but benefits from plenty of build-and-release tension.

The Most (David Douglas Remix)

Mu-Ziq XTEP EP

According to the press materials for ?-Ziq‘s first studio release in five years, the XTEP EP finds Planet Mu boss Mike Paradinas abandoning “the furrow-browed quest for cutting-edge exploration” in favor of a creative process focused on pure enjoyment. It comes as little surprise, then, to find that the record—which arrives ahead of a forthcoming summer album—comprises five tracks of unabashedly carefree, nostalgic, and readily accessible electronic music. Fortunately, what ?-Ziq’s latest lacks in daring originality, it largely makes up in for in melodic joyfulness and sheer likeability.

Lead track “XT” is a collage of upbeat guitars, filtered piano chords, and retro synthlines spread across a disarmingly straightforward electro-pop beat. There isn’t a trace of the glitchiness or fuzz that often undercut Paradinas’ early output. Instead, the track unfolds to make a pleasant patchwork of major-key melodies and breezy rhythms. It’s XTEP‘s most obvious example of premeditated joyous experimentation, but probably the least engaging cut on the record.

Elsewhere, Paradinas touches on more traditional dancefloor territory. “Ritm” is built around an immensely likeable piano-house groove and an utterly euphoric, lo-fi synth melody—resulting in a track that wouldn’t sound out of place amongst 100% Silk’s faded nostalgia. “Pulsar,” meanwhile, comes across like a tribute to mid-’80s New Order with its dreamy vocoder outbursts and arpeggiating backbone.

XTEP‘s last two tracks manage to offer a few updates and provide the release with its highlights. “Monj2” brings a welcome bit of aggression to the proceedings, blasting dense kicks and a juke-inspired, drum-machine rhythm while still remaining rooted in the uplifting melodies that run throughout the EP. “New Bimble,” on the other hand, clears a bit of space amongst the vintage synths to make room for a garage-leaning beat and a meandering, slightly mournful piano riff.

Without any context, it might be easy to dismiss XTEP for sounding a little dated and being too reliant on simplistic melodic pleasures. But given Paradinas’ lifelong contributions to electronic music, if the veteran producer wants to have a little fun, we don’t find much harm in going along for the ride.

Chrissy Murderbot “Alright (Calculon & Austin Speed Remix)”*Hyperboloid*

On June 6, Pixelord‘s Russian outpost Hyperboloid will unleash the latest record from juke-obsessed partystarter Chrissy Murderbot (a.k.a. Chris Shively). The All Right EP, which comes on the heels of his latest album, Greatest Hits ?????, finds the Chicago native returning to his love of footwork and jungle structures, not the least of which is the bass-heavy “Alright.” A wailing R&B vocal soars over Shively’s taut kicks and trickling percussion, but the remix by San Diego producers Austin Speed and Calculon transforms the track into an even harder rave tune. On the pair’s rework, vocal samples rattle between the shuffle of hectic drum breaks, but the skittering beat soon gives way to a driving, 4/4 kick pattern and an all-out hands-in-the-hair synth melody.

Alright (Calculon & Austin Speed remix)

Sei A 10 EP

Often in his career, Sei A (a.k.a. Andy Graham) has been categorized as a tech-house producer, and while his earliest efforts may have fit that mold a bit better, the tag really does the man’s current work a disservice. Perhaps due to their brilliantly clean and direct production, Sei A’s tunes can lend themselves to a somewhat “techy” sound, but in the past two years or so, his efforts have taken shape as a consistently evolving hybrid between bass, techno, and house. Now, after a gap in releases, Sei A has reluanched his own Seinan imprint—co-run alongside Logan—with a muscular three-track outing that follows last year’s strong efforts on Turbo, Kompakt Extra, and Aus sister label Simple.

Graham’s proficiency with precise sonics only enhances the potency of the three tunes offered on the 10 EP. A-side “Wants” is a jacking bit of bass-infused, UK-style house with a sound that isn’t far off from fellow Londoners such as Breach, though it does put more of an emphasis on sophisticated and detailed production touches than club-ready girth. In truth, “Wants” is a rolling banger at its core, yet it isn’t bombastic by any means; Sei A tucks bits of machine percussion and careful atmosphere underneath its fortified drums and sub-bass, lacing the track with charming vocal chops that help it move without trying to take the lead.

In terms of production quality, b-side cuts “10” and “Promises” follow in suit, but they take more aimless paths. The title cut flirts with spacey synth chords and a slight shuffle as it pieces together its own hybrid shape, and the EP closer lands on a lush bed of fuzzy chords while a deliciously restless bassline coyly works around a steady machinist rhythm. It makes for 10‘s most enveloping listen, though all three of its cuts seem equally suited to shine on the dancefloor.

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