Watch Masters at Work’s RBMA Lecture

With Red Bull Music Academy‘s first NYC session in full swing, we’ve gotten our hands on the exclusive video of last week’s two-hour lecture with East Coast house pioneers Masters at Work. In the course of the discussion, Kenny “Dope” Gonzalez and “Little” Louie Vega cover the history of their longstanding partnership—the two have worked together for over 20 years now—hitting on their approach to remixes (the pair is responsible for over 800 reworks and edits by this point), and their choice to embrace the converging worlds of hip-hop, house, funk, and disco early on. Along the way, the outfit also dishes out some helpful legal advice for budding artists and talk of the group’s sound looking forward before taking questions from the current crop of RBMA students. The full lecture can be watched below.

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Download Maya Jane Coles’ Essential Mix

London-based deep house connoisseur—and more recently, dance-pop producer—Maya Jane Coles took to the decks on BBC Radio 1’s Essential Mix series for the second time of her fast-rising career this weekend, and within hours made the entire two-hour affair available for download. Coles—who was spotlighted aside Natasha Kmeto, Holly Herndon, and others in our recent Ladies on the Mic feature—delivers a largely subdued affair her second time around, featuring singles from the mixmaster herself as well as deep tunes from Jordan Lieb, Paul Ritch, Frederick Aloso, and more. Maya Jane Coles’ second Essential Mix can be streamed/downloaded via the player below; the mix’s full tracklist is included below the player as well.

The Poet “Rain On April” (Yves Le Groove Mix) [OT Records]
Joe Stawarz “Suiteb” [Soma Quality Recordings]
[A]pendics Shuffle ft. Blakkat “Heavy Burdens High” (Safeword Remix) 6.32 version [Adjunct Audio]
Deep Guys “Roomba” (Oceanic Mix)
Francesco Rossi “Paper Aeroplane” (Original Mix) 7.18 version [D:vision]
Linus Quick “There shall be light” (Mike Mass Remix) [Wayward Music]
Anonym “I Can’t” [Vakant]
Jordan Lieb “Dreams From The Ghetto” [Superfreq]
J. Wiltshire “Closer” [Hypercolour]
Nick Galemore “Pt. I” [Kindisch]
Maya Jane Coles “Everything” ft. Karin Park (I/AM/ME)
Rodriguez Jr. “Satellite” [Mobilee]
Nana K. “Old’s Cool” [Red Eleven Recordings]
Weltenwandler “Departure” [Electrophil Records]
Mad Us “Hypnoze” (Luca Bear Remix) [Armonia]
Riva Starr & Rssll “Absence” (Adam Port Remix) [Snatch! Records]
Marbert Rocel “Small Hours” (Daniel Stefanik Remix) [Black Label 88]
Paul Ritch “Asteroid” (Original Mix) [Quartz Rec]
Juliano Silva “1000 Miles” (Original Mix) [EON5]
LPZ “Council Fonk”
Deetron “Out Of My Head” ft. Ovasoul7 (KiNK Vocal Mix) [Music Man Records]
Alex Piccini & Marka “Suite Yourself” (Original Mix) [Amazing Records]
Gianni Amoroso “No Matter How Far” (Original Mix) [Morning Mood Records]
Sivesgaard “In The Night” (BLOND:ISH Remix) [Eklektisch]
Frederick Alonso “96” (Tech mix) [Stab Recordings]
Paul Mad “Undes” (Alex Piccini remix) [Deep Beep Records]
Ella Fitzgerald “Blue Skies” (Maya Jane Coles Remix) [Verve]
Knox “Fault” [Last Night On Earth]

Robert Hood Remixes Benjamin Damage on Forthcoming Single for 50Weapons

Following on the heels of his XLR8R-picked debut full-length, Heliosphere, Berlin transplant Benjamin Damage is set to release a white-label single featuring two remixes of album track “Delirium Tremens.” The a-side will contain a remix from Detroit techno heavyweight Robert Hood while the flip will house an elongated version of “Delirium Tremens” from Benjamin Damage himself. The record will see a release on July 5 via 50Weapons. In the meantime, a short snippet of the single’s meticulous b-side can be streamed in the player below, and Benjamin Damage’s own XLR8R podcast from back in February can still be heard and downloaded here.

Video: Twigs “How’s That”

Reclusive London-based singer/producer Twigs made a quiet splash last year with a number of leering tunes and visually confounding videos that eventually culminated with a low-key, four-track EP (simply titled EP). Given the project’s output so far, it makes sense that Twigs would now enlist experimental beatmaker Arca to help produce “How’s That,” Twig’s latest effort featured in the clip above. The London artists vocals here are almost impossible to fully separate from the tune’s deep bassline—one of Arca’s deepest yet—as they play an exceptionally tense game of sexual call-and-response. In that spirit, the Jesse Kanda-directed visuals are exactly what they need to be—a liquid female figure endlessly shapeshifting and reforming at a dizzying, double-time spin compared to the pace of the twilight-tinged tune itself.

Toro y Moi Announces Summer and Fall Tour Dates

Chaz Bundick (a.k.a. Toro y Moi) seems to have been on a neverending tour since dropping his third full-length, Anything in Return, earlier this year—a record he talked to us extensively about the making of in our ongoing In the Studio series. Now Bundick has announced further plans to take his live ensemble around the globe beginning in late May and continuing throughout much of the summer and fall. Most of May and June will find Toro y Moi trotting around Europe before returning for a comprehensive list of dates all over North America in July, October, and November; though, somewhat strangely, only two performances will bring Bundick and his crew to the West Coast. The full list of upcoming Toro y Moi live dates are included below.

May 27 George, WA – Sasquatch! Music Festival
May 30 Helsinki, Finland – Tavastia
May 31 Vilnius, Lithuania – Loftas Festival
June 2 Dublin, Ireland – Forbidden Fruit Festival
June 3 Paris, France – Cabaret Sauvage
June 4 London, UK – KOKO*
June 5 Brighton, UK – Concorde 2
June 6 Bristol, UK – Thekla
June 7 Birmingham, UK – Academy 2
June 8 Glasgow, UK – The Arches
June 9 Manchester, UK – Parklife Weekender
July 11-13 Mariaville, NY – Bisco
July 12-14 Louisville, KY – Forecastle Festival
July 15 Millvale, PA – Mr. Smalls Theatre†
July 16 Cleveland, OH -Grog Shop†
July 17 – Detroit, MI – Magic Stick†
July 19-21 Chicago, IL – Pitchfork Music Festival
July 23 Honolulu, HI – The Republik
August 3 Morrison, CO – Red Rocks Amphitheatre‡
September 7-8 St. Louis, MO -LouFest
October 8 Tulsa, OK – Cain’s Ballroom§
October 15 Nashville, TN – Exit In§
October 16 Atlanta, GA – Buckhead Theatre§
October 17 Athens, GA – 40 Watt Club§
October 18 Columbia, SC – Columbia Museum of Art§
October 19 Charleston, SC – Music Farm§
October 25 Boston, MA – House of Blues**
October 26 Montreal, QC – SAT**
October 27 Toronto, ON – Phoenix Concert Theatre**
November 1 Milwaukee, WI – Turner Hall Ballroom§
November 2 Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue
November 4 Omaha, NE – Waiting Room§
November 7 Aspen, CO – Belly Up§
November 10 Vancouver, BC – Vogue Theatre§
* with Ryan Hemsworth
† with Toxie
‡ with Thievery Corporation
§ with Classixx (live)
** with The Sea and Cake

Jorge Takei “Aretha (Vocal Mix)”**

One-half of Cologne-based house duo JTRP (a group who has frequently appeared on T. Williams’ Deep Teknologi imprint) Jorge Takei has released records of his own via Suruba and Kolorit which have slipped largely under the radar. “Aretha (Vocal Mix)” is one such production; initially made for a well-known white-label series, the sample-heavy track is now being offered up here for exclusive download. The edit of—you guessed it—an Aretha Franklin song, draws ample inspiration from the current wave of UK producers who are keen to explore the intersections of house, bass, and R&B—utilizing a slick low-end-oriented pulse to underpin the edit’s classic, hands-in-the-air vocal sample.

Aretha (Vocal Mix)

L-Vis 1990 Delivers FACT Mix

Night Slugs co-founder L-Vis 1990 has been tapped to deliver the latest mix for FACT. Through both his own increasingly inspired productions and Night Slugs’ top-notch output, the English DJ/producer has, over the years, crafted a distinctive aesthetic based around raw loops and ghetto house-inspired production. That aesthetic is fully on display in his contribution to FACT’s regular mix series, which dropped today and features plenty of forthcoming Night Slugs goodness from the likes of Jam City, Helix, and Egyptrixx. L-Vis 1990’s mix can be streamed/downloaded over on FACT.

Hear an Unreleased EP from Huerco S.

Over the weekend, Kansas-based producer Huerco S.—whose forthcoming 12″ for the Future Times label was previewed just last week—shared an EP of tracks pulled from his “vaults.” The four-track EP is said to consist of productions completed in 2011 that are yet to—and may not ever—see a proper release. While the four tunes were originally posted for free download via SoundCloud, it appears Huerco S.’s account has reached its download limit, and so the EP is currently only available to stream. The 2011 EP can be heard via the player below, and each tune can be downloaded as individual WAV files by following the link located on their respective SoundCloud pages.

Paddy Fred “Pilgrims”**

Hailing from New Zealand, Paddy Fred is a new producer who has clearly soaked up the sounds of West Coast beatmaking over the years. “Pilgrims” is the kind of jazzy, smoke-laden instrumental capable of instantly triggering head nodding, moving in a variety of clever musical directions while never losing sight of the gently turning bassline or infectious backbeat. The tune offered here serves an impressive preview of what to expect from Fred’s forthcoming Laminate EP, which—as far as we can tell—will serve as the New Zealand beatsmiths debut release when it drops on May 10.

Pilgrims

Name in Lights “Naughty”

By all accounts, the past two years have been a relatively good time for vinyl collectors. Both brick-and-mortar and online retailers are flush with the fruits of a number of new labels which specialize in short-run, white-label 12″s. One of the latest entrants to this arena is Free Association, a shadowy Brooklyn-based imprint putting its first foot forward with “Naughty,” a track from Swedish disco-house trio Name in Lights. Between the original version and remixes from Axel Boman and Cameo Culture, the record offers DJs something functional, but nothing too far out of the ordinary.

On the a-side, “Naughty” rushes in excitedly, riding the crest of an analog wave of druggy, ’80s-inflected synth stabs and cowbell-heavy disco kicks. It picks up even more momentum thanks to a bubblegum-sweet vocal sample which repeats, “Let’s get naughty,” but the arrangement perhaps shows its hand too early, dropping into a breakdown before resuming with an added dash of funk guitar noodling. “Naughty” isn’t particularly inspired, but could fit well enough in the more abbreviated confines of a DJ set.

The arrangement issues of Name in Lights’ original tune are even more apparent when listening to Axel Boman’s remix on the b-side. His version takes a softer direction, playing with time and tension by waiting until the five-minute mark to finally bring the kick in. Prior to that, Boman lets things gently simmer in a kind of acoustic foreplay, dwelling on smooth chords and what sounds like a heavily processed re-interpretation of the aforementioned funk guitars. It’s the standout cut on the 12″, as it transforms the original production into something better suited for the demands of early-evening and late-morning play.

Cameo Culture rounds out the release by providing a bassline-centric rendition of “Naughty” that touches on a meeting point between the bounce of classic-era French touch and the sleaze of new-school, vocal tech-house. Like its source material, it’s fun, but plays things a bit too safe to be completely memorable.

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