Freddy K will release 1995, an EP comprised of three tracks extracted from his album Rage of Age.
Rage of Age landed in 1995 on ACV Records, home to legends of Rome’s rave scene like Robert Armani, Leo Anibaldi, and D’Arcangelo. You can see the original release here. The tracks on 1995 featured on the CD version but were omitted from the vinyl version, and they’re impossible to find on the net.
Last year, Freddy K, real name Alessio Armeni, started his vinyl-only radio show on Red Light Radio, while he’s also been busy travelling through Europe, playing the likes of Berghain, De School, Bassiani, and Dekmantel. He began Key Vinyl, his label, in 2011, and has since put out material from Shapednoise, Cinthie, himself, and more.
Tracklisting
A. Mac-Beth B1. Electro K All Night Long B2. Love Trax
1995 EP is out February 14 on vinyl. Meanwhile, you can stream “Electro K All Night Long” in full below.
Nicolas Jaar has shared a new mix of unreleased music as A.A.L (Against All Logic), streaming below.
Jaar shared the mix via NTS Radio on January 27, and has since uploaded it to the Soundcloud page of his Other People label. It’s just over 50 minutes in length.
The mix announces a new A.A.L EP, titled Illusions, out this Friday, January 31, and featuring the work of Lydia Lunch and FKA twigs. Jaar co-produced the latter’s MAGDALENE album in 2019.
Jaar’s latest release as Against All Logic came in 2018 when he shared 2012—2017, a compilation of house and disco edits. He wishes for his own picture to not be associated with the project, instead requesting that Against All Logic be represented by “any picture of a military man holding a cellphone.” The reasoning for this is unclear.
Little Dragon will return with their new studio album, New Me, Same Us, out March 27 on Ninja Tune.
New Me, Same Us is entirely self-produced and recorded at the band’s long-term home-built studio in Gothenburg, Sweden, and it sees them going back to basics and falling back in love with their instruments: drums, bass, keyboards, harp, guitar, and voice, to produce some of their “most focussed and inarguably best music to date,” the label explains.
Having played together since their school days in Gothenburg—where they’d meet up after class to jam and listen to records by artists like A Tribe Called Quest and Alice Coltrane—the band is fronted by vocalist Yukimi Nagano, with multi-instrumentalists Håkan Wirenstarnd and Fredrik Wallin on keyboards and bass respectively, and Erik Bodin on drums and percussion.
“This album has been the most collaborative for us yet,” they explain, “which might sound weird considering we’ve been making music together for all these years, but we worked hard at being honest, finding the courage to let go of our egos and be pieces of something bigger.”
The record is said to find them in a reflective mood, with Nagano’s vocals musing on transitions, longing, and saying goodbye. “We are all on our own personal journeys,” they say, “full of change, yet still we stand united with stories we believe in, that make us who we are.”
The artwork is produced by award-winning Swedish director, producer, screenwriter, and animator Johannes Nyholm, whose short film “Dreams from the Woods” was used as the music video for Little Dragon’s “Twice.”
Little Dragon’s last album came through Because Music, titled Season High, in 2017.
Following a sold-out headline show at London’s Printworks in 2019, the band will return to O2 Brixton Academy, London on March 26 as part of a run of dates across Europe and North America. You can find more information here.
Tracklisting
01. Hold On 02. Rush 03. Another Lover 04. Kids 05. Every Rain 06. New Fiction 07. Sadness 08. Are You Feeling Sad? 09. Where You Belong 10. Stay Right Here 11. Water
New Me, Same Us LP is out March 27 on Ninja Tune. Meanwhile, you can hear new single “Hold On” below and pre-order the album here.
Kranky has unveiled Allegiance and Conviction, a new album from Windy & Carl, out March 27.
Allegiance and Conviction is the Dearborn, Michigan ambient duo’s first album since 2012’s We Will Always Be. Written and recorded across six years, the songs swirl between shoegaze minimalism and stargaze drift, over which Windy [Weber] whispers veiled poetic narratives of transformation, isolation, and escape.
The release is said to be “something of outlier” in the Windy & Carl’s catalog in that they songs are shorter than on most on their previous releases.
All of the tracks are saturated with Carl Hultgren’s signature guitar work, intimate constructions of murmurs, drones, and his trademark layered filigree, gently amassed into alternately lighter and heavier than air atmospheres.
Tracklisting
01. The Stranger 02. Recon 03. Moth To The Flame 04. Alone 05. Will I See The Dawn 06. Crossing Over
Allegiance and Conviction LP is out March 27. Meanwhile, you can stream “Crossing Over” in full below, and pre-order the album here.
Photonz is the main musical alias of Marco Rodrigues, a Portuguese DJ-producer who has become an important figure in Lisbon’s flourishing electronic music scene. Rodrigues began releasing music in 2006, beginning with Ronin through London label Living Records, and has since put out music on Andy Blake’s Dissident, Príncipe, DJ Haus’ Unknown To The Unknown, and Violet’s Naive, among others. A decade-plus of production culminated in 2019’s Nuit, his first album on Dark Entries and the most pronounced realization of his bold, acid-tinged electro sound.
Rodrigues was championing his Portuguese cohorts long before the scene really blossomed. Before a short stint in London, he set up One Eyed Jacks, where he’s put out music from several of his friends, and alongside Violet, he also co-hosts Radio Quântica, an independent radio station founded in 2015 as a “communal haven” for the fearless experimental acts that surround him. After that came mina, a queer-friendly party harnessing the dissociative potential of intense raving to create a temporary safe space away from cultural expectations.
The growth of these platforms has corresponded with Rodrigues’ swelling reputation as a DJ, recognized for his knack of digging deep to create little pockets of euphoria without following formulas. He recorded his XLR8R podcast earlier this month and based it around two tracks he felt compelled to include: gayphextwin’s “Where Is My Prairie Son” and an Ex-Terrestrial remix of Jeigo’s “Fluerella.” Around these, he’s selected tracks that best represent where he’s at musically, many of them coming from friends, to compile a set of intense acid-fuelled electro and booming techno that’ll have you coming back for more.
What have you been up to recently?
I’ve been enjoying some holidays in the Azores after returning from my first trip to China. These last few months were some of the most exciting times for me in regards to gigs and visiting new places, etc. Magnetic Fields in India, for example, was incredibly special, Australia was also pretty unforgettable, Italy also, and many others.
How was 2019 for you?
2019 was a bit of a rebound year for me after a weird 2018. I managed to make better choices when it comes to the lifestyle that surrounds DJing and touring, etc. Also, Violet’s progressive recovery from her leg injury inevitably brought a growing sense of positivity to things back home.
Release-wise, I dropped music that I’m really proud of, specifically the Angel Heart EP on Naive and my debut album, Nuit, on Dark Entries, which were both hugely meaningful to do in partnership with Inês [Violet] and Josh [Cheon]. The album was also a big deal for the added reason that I’ve been releasing music since 2006 and had never found the right opportunity to put together a whole album before.
Unrelated to music, I’ve developed a rampant book obsession which, however enriching, potentially does take time and space away from the studio. Traveling to Asia, Africa, and Australia for the first time was also a huge highlight for me last year.
If you had to pick three releases that stood out for you in 2019, what would you say?
Coil’s The Gay Man’s Guide To Safer Sex + 2 release on Mental Groove; Anunaku’s Whities 024 on Whities; and Violet’s Bed of Roses album on Dark Entries really opened up some mental avenues for me while also remaining infectious as fuck.
There’s a lot spoken about the Lisbon music scene at the moment. What’s going on there at the moment?
The city sort of imploded over these last two years under the weight of crushing tourist hype. Artistically, we have been surfing this positive wave with cool developments in the underground, such as Príncipe, Rádio Quântica, the growth of a more radical queer rave scene, the noise and experimental scenes, loads of new labels, artists, and collectives. Now we’re at a crossroads where all this progress is jeopardized by a clueless Mayor who gives free rein to Airbnb, tech-bros, and silly tourism, pushing all the fun away to places like Almada and Barreiro. Every place in Lisbon is a “tapas bar” now, whatever that means in the Lisbon context.
Which artists or collectives are impressing you at the moment?
I’m continuously inspired by Portuguese collectives and parties like Suspension, Çirca, Kit Ket, Troublemaker Records, Instrumental Violence, as well as other crews abroad like Room 4 Resistance, Lecken, Mamba Negra, Maricxs. Absolutely loving the music of Bergsonist, Morah, Bill Converse, Odete, Shcuro, gayphextwin, LSDXOXO, Lake Haze, Ilana Bryne. There are too many to mention!
Where are your favorite places to dig for new music?
I love Bandcamp and I also pick a lot of stuff from Beatport and Juno Download, but my absolute favorite is buying CDs from charity shops and second-hand stores. I use Discogs a little bit as well. I like to buy CDs that came with old issues of music production magazines like Future Music because they always have a little demo section and sometimes it’s gold and no one knows those tunes! Other than that, I love going through my promo emails even though it’s a lot of work, but I do a lot of it while reading and drinking tea, so it’s cool.
When and where did you record this mix?
I’ve recorded it at home last week during one of the rare occasions when we have the Radio Quântica DJ setup at home. It was used at a mina party and this was right before setting it up at the station studio again.
How did you go about choosing the tracks that you included?
I had a few super special ones I really wanted to include, like that gayphextwin tune on Naive and the Ex-Terrestrial remix, so I gathered a bunch of those and then built a sort of playlist around them with some old favorites and new stuff I’m excited about playing. The playlist was way too long and didn’t really have a pre-imagined order by that point. Then I hit record and winged it all, improvising it a bit so it would keep a more spontaneous stank, a few nice mistakes, and a non-linear logic.
What’s the concept to the mix?
It wasn’t that conceptual to be honest. I wanted it to express abstract musical truths and spontaneous connections that usually happen when you’re just playing out and in the zone. I made sure all the tunes connect deeply with my sensibility, in a sort of Photonz way, and that they could make sense as a continuous yet varied transference of energy from the beginning until the end. There were a few different BPMs to the tracks so I kinda grouped them roughly according to that.
Where do you imagine it being listened to?
I really enjoy listening to mixes in my headphones while I go for a walk at night or, alternatively, in the nature during the day. I think it would work well for that purpose.
What are your goals for 2020?
Reading a shit-ton of books that I’ve been buying and am really curious about. I also, obviously, want to keep DJing, making music, and traveling, if possible, because it keeps me alive and sane. It would be cool to play more B2Bs with Violet as I feel something special happens when we do. I’m also looking forward to continue contributing to Radio Quântica and the mina parties, in Lisbon, as those things connect me to people I love and have been the reason behind some of of the most special moments and feelings of realization I’ve had in recent years.
XLR8R has now joined Mixcloud Select, meaning that to download the podcast you will need to subscribe to our Select channel. The move to Mixcloud Select will ensure that all the producers with music featured in our mixes get paid. You can read more about it here.
Tracklisting
01. Robert Dietz “Woke Up Like This” (Dissolute) 02. Cute Heels “Price of Joy” (Photonz Remix) (Dark Entries; unreleased) 03. Louis Marlo “Voice” (Merriware) 04. 2AM/FM “Maiden” (Spectral Sound) 05. Photonz “Final Earth” (Naive) 06. Photonz “Battle Mode” (New York Haunted / Oramics) 07. Claro Intelecto “Two Thousand” (AI Records) 08. 2AM/FM “Motherfuckers Don’t Know” (Spectral Sound) 09. Vytamin “Outer Rim” (TerraFirm) 10. Duran Duran Duran “The Truth Of The Matter” (Tripalium Corp) 11. Logic1000 “Baddie Part Two” (SUMAC) 12. Matt O’Brien “And Through The Other Side” (Off-Key Industries) 13. Jeigo “Fluerella” (Ex-Terrestrial Remix) (air miles) 14. Grienkho “Ritual Dance” (XCPT Music / Time Horizon) 15. Robert Dietz “Shower Party” (Dissolute) 16. gayphextwin “Where Is My Prairie Son” (Naive / Jacktone) 17. Morah “Aphrodite Wants Me To See Her Light Tonight” (brokntoys) 18. Terrence Fixmer “Ton Espoir” (Planete Rouge) 19. Generation Next “Gold Scorpion” (7 Days Entertainment) 20. Quirke “Vatied City” (Whities) 21. Alma Construct – Overlay Reverseint (Power Vacuum) 22. Consulate – In The Throne Room (Art-E-Fax) 23. Dark Comedy “Clavia’s North” (Art Of Dance) 14. Vromm “Stargazing” feat. Om Unit (Cosmic Bridge)
Bowditch and Dawson, friends, collaborators, and recording artists in electronics and jazz respectively, recorded A Thin Veneer in The Loft, Southend, Essex between August 2017 and December 2018. It’s entirely improvised using the following setup: Moog Sub Phatty, Digitech Freqout, Boss ME70, TC Electronics HOF, MXR Carbon Copy, Red Panda Tensor, Arturia Minibrute, Squier Jazzmaster, iPad mini, Teenage Engineering OP1, Samplr, Animoog, Meris Ottobit, Landscape FM Stereo Field, Maschine, and Ableton Live.
The duo’s only previous work as Furrows came with “Fragments Of A Portrait,” a 2015 contribution to a V/A compilation on U.K. ambient label Hibernate.
Tracklisting
01. Soon We’ll Be Outmoded 02. Untethered 03. Once Planted Never Moved 04. Watching It Burn 05. I’mpossible 06. Lag 07. The Disappearance Of The Things We Loved 08. Salve 9. A Thin Veneer of Civilised Modernity
A Thin Veneer LP is out February 3, 2020, with pre-order available here.
As Triptease, Topper, Francesco, Jacopo, and Hugo have become stalwarts of Berlin’s Club der Visionaere and Hoppetosse, known for their lengthy collaborative live performances that include analog gear as well as live instrumentation. For each performance, they bring almost the entirety of their studio for long range jams that contain a mixture of prepared material and a hefty amount of total free form improvisation. Often they’ll also invite other musicians to join them.
In their words, the album, their first release, reflects “a concept we like to use to indicate an approach to making music and art in general, inspired by spaghetti western aesthetics and ’60s lysergic emancipation put through the lens of modern technology and science fiction.” They translate that approach into long improvisational jams where they try to feel music as “something alive that can and must change from time to time and also within the same performance.” Their word for this is Mescaleros.
The group recorded the album at various locations, including Tenerife, right under the Teide Volcano, the secret mountain of Guanche mythology.
Tracklisting
A1. Drumses III A2. Bobby Peru B1. Tony Little Something B2. Pseudomartyrs C1. Duodular C2. Lo Siento D1. Song with No Name D2. Teide featuring Greg Paulus DIGI. Cuore Matto DIGI. Goodvibe Lenin DIGI. Teide
Mescaleros LP is out April 3 via Visionquest on vinyl and digitally. Meanwhile, you can hear a Triptease jam below.
PLEASE NOTE: ALL PASSES HAVE NOW BEEN ALLOCATED AND THIS OFFER IS CLOSED.
XLR8R is offering XLR8R+ subscribers free tickets to the upcoming Origins party at FOLD, London on Friday, January 31.
The classy lineup includes Irish artist Or:la, known for her masterful control of the dancefloor. She’s supported by one of the rising talents in a busy pool of Dutch DJs, Identified Patient. We saw him in October for his slamming performance in De School’s dungeon-esque basement at Amsterdam Dance Event and enjoyed it so much we included it in our list of best DJ and live acts of 2019. In addition to this, Origins has enlisted genre-defying Spanish selector JASSS.
After inception in a cellar bar in Bath, Origins now encompasses a label and has hosted some of the crew’s favourite sounds across the south-west of England, London, and Shanghai, China. They’re now established as one of the U.K. capital’s go-to parties with consistent bookings of the finest talent. Don’t sleep on this offer because tickets are limited and it’s sure to be a memorable night.
For those who haven’t yet, you can SUBSCRIBE HERE to XLR8R+ and email your full name with “Origins” as the subject to [email protected] to claim your FREE pass. For current subscribers, simply email your full name and “Origins” as the email subject.
PLEASE NOTE: ALL PASSES HAVE NOW BEEN ALLOCATED AND THIS OFFER IS CLOSED.
The latest edition of XLR8R+ explores Portugal’s thriving dance scene with tracks and content from DJ Nigga Fox, RS Produções, BLEID, and Serpente, plus artwork by Márcio Matos. Listen to the tracks here.
Simone Gatto will kick off 2020 with his third full length album, Harmonic Resonance System 432 Hz, out February 14 on his own Pregnant Void and also through the Italian National Association of Art Therapy’s website.
The record marks the first time the Italian artist has leant totally on his music therapist activities, focussing on self harmonization and wellness through electro-acoustic music. It follows his Heaven Inside Your Frequencies Pt. 1 album and book, which formed a foundation of his music therapy work, and builds upon this work with “its perfectly mindful sounds made to support your body’s innate ability to self-heal.”
The multi-layered compositions are intended to enhance yoga, meditation, energy work practices, and relaxation. “It is music that should be played daily in order to relax, calm and stabilise yourself, and train the brain and nervous system to zero-stress levels,” the label explains. As well as solo sessions, the music can be used in listening groups or with a licensed therapist to overcome anxiety, insomnia, and depression.
The album employs sound frequency patterns that have been “clinically shown” to cause positive changes in consciousness, brainwave, and body function in different groups of patients as observable on brainwave mapping equipment such as EEGs. More information can be found here.
Tracklisting
01. The Art Of Listening ft Flora Paär 02. Balancing Your Emotions ft Tea Baldini Anastasio 03. 528 HZ Solfeggio—Theta Brainwaves Entrainment 04. The Golden Ratio: Genetic Music 05. Four Seasons: Inner Transformation 06. Delta State: Access To Unconscious Mind 07. Wakefulness w/ Isochronic Tones 08. Default Mode Network 09. Sarvesham Svastir Bhavatu Mantra ft Merialma Colucci 10. Chakra Tune Up
Harmonic Resonance System 432 Hz is out on February 14 via Pregnant Void. Meanwhile you can stream “Genetic Music” below and pre-order the alum here.
Wacław Zimpel will release his second album, Massive Oscillations, via Amsterdam-based label Ongehoord.
Massive Oscillations is the result of a nine-day residency at the Willem Twee studio in Den Bosch, the Netherlands. The album is not only a consolidation of Zimpel’s previous experiments, but is also driven by his curiosity and desire to explore new avenues and possibilities, and it’s inspired as much by jazz as electronics, minimalism, and roots music from across the world. All tracks are mixed by James Holden, who according to Zimpel “added his magic touch.”
Zimpel was quick to jettison previous ideas and set about using the studio’s array of oscillators, generators, sequencers, tape recorders, and filters, alongside his beloved clarinet, to capitalize on opportunities the facility offered him.
“I was looking for new kinds of sounds and had an idea of where I wanted Massive Oscillations to go,” he says, “but that all changed the moment I started playing with the studio’s collection of vintage synthesizers and electronic equipment.”
We’re told to expect a “hypnotic and beguiling work given to moments of subtle euphoria.” Gently rhythmic, repetitive but morphing grooves are decorated with elegant musical flourishes. “An exquisite vertical listening experience, tracks rev like ignition on a motor,” the label adds. “They swell, undulate, and breathe in a non linear motion, hovering more than moving, or steadily levitating heavenwards.”
The album follows Zimpel’s debut solo album, Lines, and collaborative releases with Saagara and Kuba Ziołek. Future collaborations with Shackleton and Rabih Beaini are also in the pipeline.
Tracklisting
01. Massive Oscillations 02. Sine Tapes 03. Random Odds 04. Release
Massive Oscillations LP is out January 31, with pre-order here. Meanwhile, you can stream “Sine Tapes” here.
