Podcast 832: Rubi

The life of Rubi, who has been dancing to electronic music ever since she turned 18, took a turn in 2013, when two friends approached her, wanting to organize events in bars. They mentioned that they liked her taste in music and suggested that she join them. Being a curious person, she immediately went for a “hell yes” approach, she says, and started learning the ropes while putting a collection together. She played her first gig on vinyl when she owned a total of 30 records, bringing literally all of them to the event.

“Since then, I’ve kept founding and joining new collectives, moving countries, and turning lots of my life upside down several times, but music and DJing have always remained an anchor in my life,” she tells XLR8R, from her current home in Berlin.

Today, Rubi is perhaps best known for co-founding Barcelona event series Kommuna and the vinyl-only label Kommuna Tapes, one of the Spanish city’s most respected imprints. But as a DJ she has been touring across Europe for years now, earning a reputation as a connoisseur of forgotten music, and in 2020 she joined the Rings of Neptune agency. She curates Rings of Neptune’s own Feedback Waves, a reissue label to give standout releases from the past their first appearance on vinyl, and on Refuge Worldwide she co-hosts the monthly show Musical Autobiographies, inviting fellow artists to share their life stories through 10 tracks which influenced their journey.

Irrespective of location or time, Rubi’s sets are a testament to her dedication to discovering hidden gems. For her XLR8R podcast, she melds ever-evolving rhythms, unconventional drum patterns, and immersive melodic elements, all taken from Bandcamp either for free or for a small fee. Press play for a late festive treat—a captivating journey through the uncharted territories of electronic music.

01. What have you been up to recently?
After quite a lot of gigging over the summer, I have been using the colder (and light-deprived!) months in Berlin to spend more time in the studio lately. Together with my studio partner, Ben Flock, we’ve been lucky enough to sublet a beautiful space for the winter from Baby Vulture and have been finalizing our first EP under our joint moniker, Flubi Doo. It was supposed to be our goal for last year but issues with our previous studio and both of us being out and about have delayed the project quite a bit. Now I’m excited that a new space and fewer distractions have helped us to get it together, and we’ll be in a position to put our first EP out into the world soon!

02. What have you been listening to?
I have been listening to a lot of ambient and downtempo music lately, preferably with a cup of nice tea in my hand and some candles to avoid winter blues. Based on my mood of the day, I’ll alternate between more soft and bubbly artists like Dub Tractor, ISAN, or Iso68, to more classic hip-hop or trip-hop tunes on labels like Jazz Fudge and G-Stoned, to very ambient music by Opiate or H. Takahashi. And yes, all of these are also categories in how I classify the downtempo music that I play out!

03. Where and when did you record this mix?
I put the selection together and recorded the mix over a couple of evenings in my living room. Since I also work full-time, it’s not always easy for me to find time and space for creative inspiration after an entire working day. Luckily, life around me has quieted down a bit recently, which has done wonders for finding musical inspiration.

04. How did you choose the tracks you’ve included?
I actually chose a concept I had in mind for a long time and have been wanting to put out into the world. This mix is comprised entirely of tracks that you can get on Bandcamp either for free or for a few Euros. I have been wanting to do this kind of mix to showcase just how much you can put together with a lot of dedication to digging, but with fewer access to resources.

While I love playing vinyl, and have a large collection at home, I also find vinyl-only culture too limiting sometimes, and too exclusive for many parts of the world. Next to my vinyl collection I have a stash of CDs at home, which especially for downtempo and IDM can really expand your musical availabilities, and I spend a lot of time looking through Bandcamp. There are a lot of great producers which put their music on this platform, and I like that most of the money you spend on there goes directly to supporting the artists. So for this mix, I decided to take the opportunity and showcase just how far you can get with a few Euros, a lot of time, and an account on Bandcamp.

05. What can the listener expect?
I’d say you can expect a bubbly and trippy journey through danceable electronic music at some 126BPM, with a little downtempo outro to softly send you back into the outside world. There’s loads of pads coming your way, a few vocals, some almost-nasty-but-I-love-them sounds and interesting rhythms, made some time between the mid-’90s and now!

06. How does it compare to what we might hear you play out live?
I’d say it’s actually quite similar to music I play out, and many of the tracks have been “turning in my bag” (a.k.a on my USB) for a while. My approach to dance music has always been on the slightly softer and immersive side, so I’d play this kind of music out at peak-hour-adjacent slots!

07. What’s next on your list?
A very exciting project actually! We’re currently in the final stages of getting ready to distribute the first release of Feedback Waves, a joint project with Cleymoore and Nies under the Rings of Neptune umbrella. It’s a reissue label to give standout releases from the past their first appearance on vinyl, and our first release will be the iconic Trill from Palomatic, a beautiful nine-track album originally released in 1995. I have excitedly been playing out the test pressings for some weeks now, and can’t wait to hold the final copies in our hands!

XLR8R Subscribers can download the podcast below. If you’re not an XLR8R subscriber, you can read more about it and subscribe here.

Tracklisting

01. Weith “Sonic Clickbait” (Touched Music)
02. Esem “noulli et” (deFocus)
03. Selffish “Aftertears” (Lagunamuch Records)
03. Tony Rainwater “Shower of Blossoms” (Dance All Day Records)
04. Omega Forest “Larka Island Race” (Dance All Day Records)
05. Glen S “To Infinity and Beyond” (Haws)
06. Biodive “Centrific” (Inch by Inch)
07. Setrus “Wek Tepid” (Goddezz)
08. Too Smooth Christ “Forbidden Bubblegum” (Self-Released)
09. nihilist__ “The Habitat” (Self-Released)
10. Laars and Cosmic G “End Point” (Goddezz)
11. VICARI “Weekore” (Self-Released)
12. Mouldy Soul “Whine and Shine” (UK Glitch Hop)
13. EU “Fenn” (Self-Released)
14. Fields of Mist “Don’t Worry” (Infinite Pleasure)

XL Recordings Teases New Burial Music

XL Recordings has teased new music from Burial.

Yesterday morning, XL shared a 14-second audio clip via X (f.k.a Twitter) with the XL and Burial logos layered over one another. Another clip with different audio was shared to Instagram. No other information is available.

The Hyperdub signee has previously worked with XL Recordings on his Four Tet and Thom Yorke collaboration, Her Revolution/ Rope, which came out in 2020. He’s also released on fabric Originals and Nonplus.

Marco Shuttle Launches Label with New EP

Marco Shuttle will release a new EP next month.

MSP01 is the Italian DJ-producer’s first release on MSP, short for Marco Shuttle Productions, a new platform for his more dancefloor-oriented productions. It comes after a relatively long break following more downtempo and abstract endeavours on his album on Incienso.

For more information on Marco Shuttle, check out his XLR8R podcast here.

Tracklisting

01. On A Razor’s Edge
02. Bella di Giorno
03. Endless Vanishing Point
04. Hovergroover

MSP01 is scheduled for January 18 release. Meanwhile, you can stream “Endless Vanishing Point” in full via he player below and pre-order the release here.

Alex Albrecht is Back on Australia’s Analogue Attic

Alex Albrecht will returns to Analogue Attic Recordings for the Australian label’s inaugural release of 2024.

Allambie is an immersive exploration spanning house, downtempo, and ambient genres. While it’s characterised Albrecht’s trademark field recordings and enchanting piano motifs, the release integrates new hardware and synth sounds to his palette.

Albrecht is perhaps best known for his work as part of the duo Albrecht La’Brooy—a collaboration with Sean La’Brooy. Aiming to showcase “the gentle side of electronic music down under,” the pair have been putting out a bewitching hybrid of techno, house, ambient, experimental, and jazz for nearly a decade. Most of this has come through Analogue Attic, the label they share, but their two albums—Tidal River in 2018 and Healesville a year later—have come through Apollo, the ambient division of R&S Records. 

As a solo artist, Albrecht has put out music on Analogue Attic but also A Strangely Isolated Place and Scissor and Thread.

Tracklisting

01. Rail Bridge
02. Green Shade
03. Minak Reserve
04. Could It Be You
05. Drysdale Road
06. Paddy Track Dub
07. Allambie

Allambie LP is scheduled for January 18 release. Meanwhile, you can stream “Rail Bridge” in full via the player below and pre-order here.

Podcast 831: CEZAR

Over here at XLR8R, we have covered the Romanian hypnotic minimal community extensively—check out our overarching feature here, plus our podcasts from Cristi Cons (and an interview), Amorf, Priku, Dubtil, and Dan Andrei. Plus, there’s a studio feature with Vlad Caia.

At the heart of this collective stands one individual we’ve been eager to feature for years: Cezar Lazãr (a.k.a CEZAR), the founder of Understand, a trailblazing label where you’ll find releases from Rhadoo, Amorf, Prâslesh, and more, and a co-founder of the Ourown vinyl distribution center based in Bucharest. Few artists can lay claim to having contributed more to the genre’s ascent.

Away from this, CEZAR heads up Algorhythm of Unknown, a label that fuses jazz and electroacoustic elements, resulting in a “transformative auditory experience that defies traditional genre boundaries,” he says. (Check out an album of his here.) He also teaches audio engineering to younger artists who more than likely have been inspired by his work as a DJ-producer, which leads us nicely onto that.

Through his releases, which are rare but worth waiting for, CEZAR specializes in crafting intricate minimal experimental techno. You’ll find his EPs on Understand, Amphia, the label of Cristi Cons and Vlad Caia, and Atipic Records, where he recently released a new EP.

And as a DJ you’ll find him spinning records and playing plenty of unreleased studio jams across Europe. Until now, that’s pretty much the only place you could hear his sets: “Until this year, I was a little bit conservative about sharing recordings of my DJ sets,” he told XLR8R recently. But after 20 years of playing, he thinks it’s about time to have more of his music online. That begins with this XLR8R podcast, recorded live at the ninth edition of Dor de Munte festival in Romania over the summer. Dial in for nearly four hours (Yes, this one’s a long one) from one of the masters of the craft.

01. What have you been up to recently?
My days recently have been a mix of DJing and studio sessions. The South American tour with Praslea was an incredible experience, sharing our mutual passion for music with new collaborators, artists, and fans. I’m excited about the positive reception to my latest EP just released on Atipic Records and a new album on my experimental label, Algorhythm of Unknown, featuring collaborations with fellow musicians. Balancing these musical endeavors with teaching audio engineering brings my professional life full circle.

02. How has your 2023 been?
The challenges faced by the music industry in 2023, with a two-year gap in events and various restrictions, led to a dramatic shift in the scene. Despite these hurdles, I navigated through by consistently traveling while keeping a strong focus on production. I’ve created a dozen new tracks and have been gearing up for live performances with my new formed band, Prismatic.

03. When and where did you record this mix? What made this particular set so memorable?
This mix was recorded during the ninth edition of Dor de Munte, which that took place near Brasov, on June 1, 2023. This annual event, organized by Sunrise and proudly made by us, holds a special place in our musical culture. Set against the backdrop of mountains, this breathtaking environment serves as a unique source of inspiration, making it a distinctive experience for performers and participants.

04. Can you talk to me about some of the artists and tracks you’ve included?
I consistently strive to achieve a harmonious blend of classic and contemporary tracks, balancing released and unreleased music. My primary emphasis during performances lies in storytelling, and navigating the challenge of improvisation across various genres within the framework of electronic dance music is both demanding and gratifying. Much like in a story where each detail holds significance, I believe that singling out just a few artists is unfair.

05. What’s on your horizon for the new year?
Exciting plans ahead! Releasing new material on the Understand label and preparing for the first Prismatic album, all while continuing my journey as a DJ.

XLR8R Subscribers can download the podcast below. If you’re not an XLR8R subscriber, you can read more about it and subscribe here.

Editor’s Note: There is no tracklisting for this podcast.

Thundercat to Release 10th Anniversary Edition of ‘Apocalypse’

Thundercat will release a special deluxe edition of his album Apocalypse to mark 10 years since its original release.

The new edition contains two previously unreleased tracks, “Before I loved myself ‘I’ pooped my ankles (true)” recorded with Austin Peralta and Taylor Graves, and “Paris” with Mono/Poly.

The deluxe LP also features special rainbow holographic artwork housed inside a transparent PVC outer slipcase complete with “x-ray” holographic skull print.

Packed with gems including “Heartbreaks + Setbacks,” “Lotus and the Jondy,” “Tron Song” and the all-out cosmic funk bullet “Oh Sheit, It’s X,” Thundercat brings a fusion of pop, soul, electronica, prog rock and funk with his signature basslines gliding sky high to meet Executive Producer Flying Lotus’ astral touch.

Thundercat will be back on tour in Europe in Spring 2024. The UK leg takes in Glasgow, Dublin, Manchester, Newcastle, Bristol, Wolverhampton, and culminates with a special four-night residency at KOKO in London.

Tracklisting

A1. Tenfold
A2. Heartbreaks + Setbacks
A3. The Life Aquatic
A4. Special Stage
A5. Tron Song
A6. Seven
A7. Oh Sheit It’s X
B1. Without You
B2. Lotus and the Jondy
B3. Evangelion
B4. We’ll Die
B5. Before I loved myself “I” pooped my ankles (true)
B6. Paris
B7. A Message For Austin / Praise the Lord / Enter The Void

Apocalypse LP is scheduled for March 1 release, with pre-order available here.

Press photo: Ariel Goldberg

Podcast 830: Mumdance

Mumdance, born Jack Adams, is behind some of the most innovative dance records of the last decade—including his collaborations with MC Novelist (“1 Sec” and “Take Time” released on XL Recordings and Rinse), a series of club 12″s with Pinch, and his 2019 album, Proto, in collaboration with Logos. His sound is one that twists grime, techno, avant-garde electronics and the UK soundsystem continuum into strange new shapes which is the same as what he presents from behind the decks.

Adams, who is based in the UK, is a DJ with extraordinary breadth, and this is something encapsulated by the Radio Mumdance project, a series of weekly radio shows on Rinse FM and NTS which saw him play back-to-back sets with the likes of DJ Stingray, Ben UFO, Josey Rebelle, and Nina Kraviz. After taking three years away from music in 2019, he returned invigorated in 2022, launching an extensive online archive of his work from the past 14 years and he returned to the DJ fold. After a busy followup year, Adams has delivered an XLR8R podcast to showcase his latest records, weaving together one hour of techno, grime, jungle, hardcore and more. “It’s a distillation of tracks which provoked a reaction within me, be it emotional, physical, or cerebral,” he says.

01. What have you been up to lately?
Going to bed early, getting up early, working a day job, reading books, opting out of social media, helping out where I can.

02. What have you been listening to?
Pretty much exclusively Woods of Desolation, especially the The Falling Tide and Torn Beyond Reason albums.

03. What is it that appeals to you about dance music?
It has always been a means of escape for me.

04. Where did you record this mix?
At Ten 87 Studios in Tottenham, London.

05. How did you go about choosing the tracks?
I tried to go on instinct and trust my taste.

06. How does it compare to what we might hear you play out live?
It’s a condensed version. When I play out these days it’s usually all-night sets; six, eight, sometimes even 10 hours!

08. What’s next on your horizon?
A hot black coffee and cold glass of water.

XLR8R Subscribers can download the podcast below. If you’re not an XLR8R subscriber, you can read more about it and subscribe here.

Tracklisting

01. Heinrich Schwarzer “Figur0_3-39” (Conditional)
02. 4-й энергоблок “Привыкай к земле” (Nv Rec)
03. ASA “We Need A Medic” (Raster)
04. Beton Brut “Shell Shock” (Coyote)
05. Jules Becker “Face Value” (All Centre)
06. Meta “Fault Line” (Henry Greenleaf Remix) (Unreleased)
07. Griffit Vigo “Felicia” (Yuku)
08. Zek “Jerk Off” (Unreleased)
09. Outhere Brothers “Don’t Stop” (Aureus)
10. Rhyw “Spritz” (Fever AM)
11. Minciisha Ieraksti “BOBO” (Unreleased)
12. Pruvan “Flagrant Vagrant” (Tectonic)
13. Josh Pan and X&G “Platinum” (6amsunset Remix)(Unreleased)
14. Lillia Betz “Evil” (Unreleased)
15. Soulchaser “Heartache” (Sync Records)
16. D3U5E & GAV “Went Back” (Of Paradise)
17. Beatrice M. “Call” (Hundert)
18. Szare “Raindrops” (Unreleased)
19. FIS “Wise Man” (Exit)
20. Amit “Flow Off” (Amar)
21. Last Life “Hidden” (Donato Dozzy Remix) (Samurai Music)
22. Raiden “Type 0” (Humanoid)
23. Genotype “Angry Business” (Renegade Hardware)
24. Technoist “Causal Loop Paradox” (Cocktail Party Effect Remix) (Grey Meta)

Seth Troxler and Phil Moffa Return as Lost Souls of Saturn

Seth Troxler and Phil Moffa will release a new album as Lost Souls of Saturn.

On Reality, we’re told the pair go “even further into the vortex” than on their first album, metamorphosing into sci-fi comic characters John and Frank who’ve explored the galaxy and returned.

Although Reality still possesses the “wigged-out conceptual brilliance” of their debut album, there’s “vividness amidst the mind-bending,” we’re told.

Where its predecessor was a murky exploration of weird and dark cerebral passageways, this album has a “dazzling clarity of sound,” we’re told, as if listeners are “beginning to crack the arcane codes, and reach for enlightenment.”

“It’s not commercializing, but maybe just reaching out a little more,” says Moffa. “We’ve done this as art, we’ve got to this point where really far-out people and museum creators and a few other people get it, but now we want to show everyone.”

A prime example of this is the chugging cosmic techno synth pop of “Mirage,” featuring the voice of Adam Ohr, which is the album’s first single and comes with remixes from Perel and Matthew Dear.

Elsewhere, passages of techno, dub, house, jazz, psych, and ambient are vapourised into “an expansive yet pleasingly concise series of morphing dream states.”

Fans of Air Liquide, Ravi Shankar, Carl Craig, Pole, and should enjoy.

Reality will be accompanied by an augmented reality graphic novel, which tells the origin story of John and Frank, created in collaboration with graphic novel artist Rob Shields.

For more information on Lost Souls of Saturn, check out their XLR8R Influences podcast here.

Tracklisting

01. Zorg Arrival
02. Scram City
03. Realization
04. This Foo
05. Click feat. Lvv Gvn
06. Metro Cafe
07. Mirage feat. Adam Ohr
08. Lilac Chaser feat. Protomartyr

Reality LP is scheduled for February 2 release on Holoverse Research Labs and Slacker 85 Records. Meanwhile, you can stream “Mirage” in full below and pre-order here.

Julia Govor Debuts on Semantica with New Album

Julia Govor will debut on Semantica with a new album.

On Laika And Ulka Were Here, Govor takes listeners on an “intergalactic journey,” we’re told.

The record invites listeners to set off on a “cosmic adventure” alongside Govor, her faithful dog, Laika, and her brave friend Ulka, as they explore galaxies in search of a new home.

As they travel from one planet to another, they cling to the hope of finding a signal that will guide them back to Earth or lead them to a new home. This EP is an exploration of themes such as companionship, resilience, and the search for a place to call home.

The inspiration behind Laika and Ulka Were Here stems from the poignant story of Laika, the first living creature to orbit the Earth. Through her music, Govor aims to raise awareness and evoke empathy for the plight of animals.

Sonically, we’re told to expect six tracks that showcase Govor’s “mastery of modern techno, cinematic harmonies, and intricate sound design.”

Tracklisting

01. Laika Was Here
02. Cold Shadow Of Jupiter
03. Close To The Sun
04. Space Dust, Born Trust
05. Manovra Di Gravità
6. Ulka Was Here

Laika And Ulka Were Here LP is scheduled for February 16 release. Meanwhile, you can stream “Close to the Sun” in full via the player below and pre-order here.

Christian Löffler Shares First Taste of New Album

Christian Löffler has shared a new single called “Roused.”

On “Roused,” featuring singer Malou, the German musician brings together powerful, punchy, and dreamy sonic musings to do what he does best: convey emotions.

Löffler’s driving beats are softened by Malou’s laid-back singing style. Vocals, beats, and arousing, spine-tingling textures climax together in the track, exploding in feelings of freedom and exhilaration.

“‘Roused’ marks a new beginning for me. It captures the transition into a more positive, hopeful sonic realm. It symbolizes the awakening of a sound that has resided within me for a long time but has seldom been employed in recent times,” Löffler says.

The track is the first taste of a new album called A Life, on which Löffler questions the influence of AI in music and his musical journey.

On creating his new material, Löffler says: “I wanted to forget the idea of polishing or perfection and really just make something very human, with passion, impulsiveness, and even mistakes.”

He adds: “With the new album, I wanted to free myself completely from all possible structures or rules. I was coming back to my roots and my teenage times when creating the music was all about having fun and nothing more.”

Growing up in Graal, the picturesque German outpost set on the Baltic coast, has undoubtedly shaped Löffler’s work, whether it be a conscious effort or not. You can read more about him in his XLR8R studio feature here and his podcast here.

Tracklisting

01. Roused feat. Malou

“Roused” is scheduled for December 8 release on Ki Records. A Life will land in April 2024.

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