Maxmillion Dunbar will return to the L.I.E.S. label—who issued the DC-based producer’s Everyday EP back in 2011—with an upcoming 12″ effort under a new alias, Dolo Percussion. The rhythmic and, yes, percussion-focused project will debut on a forthcoming L.I.E.S. 12″ said to be available very soon, possibly as early as tomorrow according to the label’s SoundCloud. In the meantime, a cut from the forthcoming record, “Dolo 4,” can be streamed in full via the player below. (via Juno Plus)
Lowb (a.k.a. Andy Barlow, one-half of UK pair Lamb) is prepping his first outing as a solo producer, with his debut album Leap and the Net Will Appear set for release via Distiller on June 3. A week prior however, Lowb will be releasing an EP based around the forthcoming album’s lead single “Inward Outburst.” The tune’s languid chill, however, might be in even better hands with Synkro, whose rework begins as bleary-eyed as one might expect, with shimmering, oceanside chords trading places with a windswept synth pattern. All the tricks of Synkro’s trade are out in full force—miles-deep low-end, longing female vocals, and the likes fill out the track—but in a surprising turn, the real standout element Synkro employs is a bit of enticing percussion, which gradually grows more fierce as the tune rolls on.
Of the myriad releases being issued by R&S sub-label Apollo as of late, Boozoo Bajou‘s Jan Mayen EP (out now) is easily one of the most atmospheric and wistful, relying mostly on spacious soundscapes and airy hints of rhythm. The title track from the German duo’s latest record sets that tone from the start, and the animated clip which has been paired with the billowing music somehow manages to fit the sounds to a tee. Nebulous blobs of color, jittery lines, speckled orbs, and all other sorts of shapes and doodles create a kind of microcosm around Boozoo Bajou’s loose instrumentation, wafting melodies, and field recording of a crackling fire. It all works together perfectly with the wispy character of “Jan Mayen.”
Forming an unexpected dream team of sorts, fast-ascending London duo Bicep and electronic music veterans Simian Mobile Disco have joined forces on the forthcoming Sacrifice 12″. The record comes with very little information as to how and when the group began working together or whether the upcoming release will be the only output to result from the two group’s collaborative efforts—though a B2B set between Simian Mobile Disco and Bicep is on the bill for Los Angeles’ FYF Festival. The Sacrifice 12″ is set to drop in vinyl form on June 10 and as a digital release on June 24 via Simian Mobile Disco’s own Delicacies label. The full a-side cut can be streamed below; snippets of the two “beatless” remixes which appear on the record’s flip side can be heard here.
The UK house phenom and recent interviewee in XLR8R‘s “Ladies on the Mic” feature, DJ/producer Maya Jane Coles has been an active member of the dance-music community for roughly five years now, but only just today has she announced the imminent arrival of her first-ever full-length album. Word of the 12-track Comfort LP arrives a week after her Essential Mix hit the internet as a free download, and will feature contributions from the likes of Kim Ann Foxman, Tricky, and Miss Kittin, among others. As Resident Advisor reports, Coles is responsible for producing, engineering, and mixing her debut album, and she also put her own vocals on two tracks and designed the artwork. The artist has also shared a new single from comfort, called “Everything,” which can be streamed in the player below, where the LP’s tracklist and a video for the single can also be found before the whole thing is released on June 28 via Coles’ own I/AM/ME label.
01. Comfort
02. Easier To Hide
03. Burning Bright feat. Kim Ann Foxman
04. Dreamer
05. Blame feat. Nadine Shah
06. Stranger
07. Everything feat. Karin Park
08. Fall From Grace feat. Catherine Pockson of Alpines
09. Wait For You feat. Tricky
10. When I’m In Love ft. Thomas Knights
11. Take A Ride ft. Miss Kittin
12. Come Home
Last week, we here at XLR8R kicked off a month-long series of special podcasts to commemorate our 20 years of existence. Obviously, a lot of music has come and gone in the last two decades, so we figured the best way to celebrate our own little milestone would be to highlight a few of the artists whose output has helped define the era. This week, we’ve enlisted Chicago house veteran Paul Johnson, a producer and DJ with an impressive resume that dates back even further than our own. Johnson’s first record dropped back in 1990—on the seminal Dance Mania label, no less—and in the two-plus decades that have followed, he claims to have issued more than 200 EPs, including efforts for Peacefrog, Cajual, Relief, Moody, Dust Traxx, and numerous other imprints. During that time, his music has unquestionably evolved; where Johnson was once a purveyor of raw, drum-machine-driven ghetto house, his tastes (and production values) have become more refined over the years, and he now tends to favor more soulful sounds. That’s certainly what’s on display here, as he’s assembled an hour-long session of deep and drum-heavy vocal house selections. It’s an exceptionally smooth listen, and yet another example of how we never know what to expect when a podcast mix shows up in our inbox.
01 Marc Evans “Closer (Risk Sound System 12″ Mix)” (Quantize)
02 Reel People feat. Darien “Sure” (Reel People)
03 Sai & Ribatone “Tonite” (Tribe)
04 Kimara Lovelace “How Much I Love You” (King Street)
05 TL Cross “Best Kept Secret (Pirahnahead Remix)” (Jack 2 Jazz)
06 Joy Jones “Over (Josh Milan Vocal)” (Philosophie)
07 Profound Nation “Walking Away” (Mofunk)
08 Ciappy DJ & Davide Murri feat. Russoul “Don’t Give Up” (Universe)
09 Lamone “Your Eyes” (Honeycomb)
10 Glenn Underground “Forgotten Art” (Strictly Jaz Unit)
11 EnaWadan “Forever (Timmy Regisford & Adam Rios Remix)” (Ocha Mzansi)
12 Crystal Johnson “Who Am I” (EFM)
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Set for release at the end of this month via Pets, Amsterdam-based producer Uffe‘s new EP, Times All (artwork above), is a downtempo-house hybrid, traversing the line between detailed electronic pop and club-ready four-on-the-floor modes. Here we have a remix from veteran Polish producer Envee of EP track “Valentine’s Card,” which spreads out the sparse and melancholic house chords of the original, infusing the remix with a particularly satisfying squiggly synthline and vocals buried deep into the mix. While Envee’s rework will not be included on the upcoming Times All EP, remixes by Jon Convex and Acid Pauli will be alongside a trio of Uffe’s original productions.
Eclectic DJ/production duo Optimo is made up of Jonnie Wilkes and Keith McIvor (a.k.a. JD Twitch), the latter of which is resonsible for mixing Optimo: The Underground Sound of Glasgow. And there probably couldn’t have been a better choice for the task, as the resulting compilation makes for a brilliant introduction to the diverse, unusual, and often underrated electronic scene in Glasgow.
On Underground, McIvor takes us through acid, house, and techno, occasionally leaning toward ’90s bleep and electro vibes, chugging disco rhythms, and Balearic sway. His mix reflects Optimo’s open-yet-discerning approach to dance music, even while the tracklist consists entirely of Glasgow-centric contributors. The music on Optimo speaks volumes about the creativity flowing through the Scottish city, but it also fearlessly and proudly references more traditional Glaswegian culture, opening with a traditional ballad before leading into a dancefloor rework of a collaborative track from veteran jazz musician Bill Wells and Arab Strap’s Aidan Moffat.
Generally, the names in the tracklist are largely unheard of, but there are a few recognizable artists peppered throughout. 6th Borough Project provides a big thrust near the beginning with “Do It to the Max,” a flailing disco-house tune. The warm, Afro-centric techno of Auntie Flo makes an appearance, and even gritty techno/house veteran Funk D’Void closes the proceedings with a triumphant effort. Cowbell rhythms and disco posturing mark Cronk Family Enterprises‘ “Tifit Hayed” before it perfectly segues into a beatless, Italo fantasy by Lord of the Isles. Planet Mu affiliate Konx Om Pax sings his only contribution to the mix in a jokey answerphone message, which is testament to the tightly knit relationships between Optimo and its hometown friends.
Optimo flows unquestionably well, and it’s impressive how JD Twitch has managed to assemble such a variety of talents into a cohesive work that rings with the bubbling, slightly wonky atmosphere of the best Glasgow warehouse party imaginable. It proudly, even smilingly speaks to the amazing hotbed of talent and enthusiasm right under the UK’s nose, and does so without ever coming off as overly contrived.
As of late, it seems that most producers who are on top of their game at an early age have little trouble getting noticed, but 18-year-old French DJ/producer Baadman (a.k.a. Arthur Dutil) has surprisingly remained a hidden secret, even with his first EP, Stab, out now on Kitsune. At the very end of the up-and-comer’s debut six-track effort, Italian house duo BS1 takes EP cut “Gambetta” and gives it a few extra surprises; at first pushing the production into overdriven house territory before breaking the sonic pallette wide open with beautifully laced synth chords. At its core, BS1 ‘s take is very much a hardened tune, but a sweet interlude in the middle provides just the right touch to soften its impact.
Six LPs into the career of prolific British producer Stephen Wilkinson (a.k.a. Bibio), and his palette seems to have solidified. Any fan knows what to expect on a given Bibio record: Pastoral English folk processed through analog tape, chopped up and threaded into a canvas of warm pop, carefully constructed melodies, and beat experiments. Silver Wilkinson, the artist’s latest album, continues to refine the aesthetic; the record fits neatly in the progression of his two most recent efforts, the disjointed Mind Bokeh and 2009’s excellent Ambivalence Avenue. But while Silver Wilkinson is mostly more of what’s come to be expected from the artist, it manages to sound more like a true psych-pop record than Bibio has ever come before.
Opening track “The First Daffodils” is elegiac, with plucked strings drifting across tape crackle. It evokes visuals of plants rising from the soil and maturing in fast, high-frame-rate motion—which is a fitting intro, as bucolic imagery abounds on Silver Wilkinson. (Even the cover art is a floral decoupage.) From there, Bibio meanders into more folk-oriented landscapes, with “Dye the Water Green” showing off his gift for composing sweet, dusky melodies. Wilkinson is an effective singer when he wants to be, and mostly is when he’s in a frictionless, AM-radio mode. As he urges us to “skip a stone” and sings that “somebody longs for you,” it begins to feel as if the track exists wholly out of time. It’s easy to imagine Bibio’s audience making daisy chains as he strums the music in a lush meadow. “Mirroring It All” broaches similar territory with help from some reverb-heavy percussion. Together, the two make for a good microcosm of Wilkinson’s current headspace; he’s plainly more interested in mellow ditties than his Dilla-indebted beats of yore.
Though Silver Wilkinson is Bibio’s calmest record, there are a few moments that explore more energetic sounds. The album’s most most upbeat track, “À tout à l’heure” (French for “a moment ago” or “in a moment,” depending on the context), is also one of the album’s near misses. Its funky groove and schlocky synths never quite stick the way they’re meant to. “Business Park” is another strange detour, an instrumental synth cut that doesn’t seem to know quite where it’s headed. For an 11-track LP, it’s unfortunate that Bibio spends so long treading water. “Look for Orion!,” on the other hand, finds him returning to his bread & butter. The seven-and-a-half-minute track is beautifully constructed, and recalls the Boards of Canada-inspired fare with which the producer made his name on earlier albums. It’s wonderful hearing how Wilkinson can turn even the most understated beat into a preternaturally calming (but far from boring) soundscape. Like some of the best of Bibio, it’s the sort of song that might be best listened to during a summertime jog through the park.
While there are few surprises on Silver Wilkinson, the record itself is a pleasant listen—so much so, that it’d be easy to forgive the lack of risks Bibio has taken. It’s clear that Wilkinson is accomplishing exactly what he wants, even if his decision to fully embrace folk and AM-radio pop may leave some listeners wanting more in the way of beats. It’s a better idea to approach the album for what it is: a pretty, if somewhat slight take on sun-saturated psychedelia.
