Sound Pellegrino has announced a new label endeavor called Expect No Less, a vinyl-only imprint headed up by Orgasmic (pictured above, left)—who runs the Sound Pellegrino operations alongside Teki Latex (pictured above, right)—”founded with the purpose of releasing only tools and secret weapons for demanding DJs.” The new record hub’s first 12″ will see a release this Saturday for Record Store Day, and features four cuts by an unnamed artist under the simple title XPNL 001. A preview of that 12″ can be heard below.
We are told to expect more music from the label sooner rather than later, and that “future [Expect No Less] releases will feature many confirmed talents and long-time friends and partners including—of course—Orgasmic himself, [as well as] split EPs and collaborations.”
Vintage videogame graphics (from the old Amiga game Another World, for those who don’t remember the early ’90s) meet futuristic beatscapes in this video from mysterious Toronto-via-Barcelona producer Braqueberry. In the words of the video’s director Aleix Pitarch, the video imagines a world where “having a Commodore Amiga is like having a Lamborghini or a Ferrari: Groupies appear around you by spontaneous generation.” Indeed, the video has a carefully crafted air of sexual malevolence, with pixelated images of bikini babes juxtaposed with more sinister and abstract imagery, which perfectly compliments the dystopian beats on “Blaque Won.” Braqueberry’s Wemen EP (out now through Brilliantine) is streaming in full on SoundCloud, complete with excellent remixes from Ghosts on Tape and MikeQ & Divoli S’vere—the latter of which gave XLR8R an alternate version of their rework, here.
The former frontman of now-defunt indie outfit Czars, John Grant has received a remix treatment from Andy Butler’s Hercules & Love Affair project (pictured above). This fresh version takes the original track’s bouncy, sparsely produced disco sound and fleshes it out with a throbbing bassline, claps, and, of course, plenty of cowbell. Butler’s work results in a slice of campy, big-room disco, with enough of a sturdy house undercurrent to give the song plenty of legs in the club. In support of John Grant’s new album, Pale Green Ghosts (out May 14 through Partisan), he will be embarking on a tour of the US and Canada, the dates of which are listed after the jump.
April 25 New York, NY Le Poisson Rouge June 17 Los Angeles, CA, The Echo June 18 San Francisco, CA, The Chapel June 20 Seattle, WA, Barboza June 21 Portland, OR, Doug Fir Lounge June 22 Vancouver, BC, Media Club June 25 Minneapolis, MN, The Dakota June 26 Milwaukee, WI, Turner Hall June 27 Chicago, IL, Schubas June 29 DC, U Street Hall July 03 Toronto, Drake Hotel
Forward-thinking Brooklyn artist Laurel Halo has shared the details of her next release for Hyperdub, a four-track EP called Behind the Green Door. As FACT reports, the music on the forthcoming record is said to be “a hardware-only proposition, with its roots in Halo’s recent touring set-up and a general emphasis on ‘stripped back’ sounds.” Laurel Halo’s new record is set to drop on May 20; the artwork and tracklist can be found below, along with a stream of Behind the Green Door‘s lead track and some of the artist’s upcoming tour dates.
A1. Throw A2. UHFFO B1. NOYFB B2. Sex Mission
25th April – XOYO – London – UK 26th April – Donau Festival – Krems – Austria 27th April – Trafó – Budapest – Hungary 28th April – Festsaal Kreuzberg – Berlin – Germany 7th May – RBMA New York @ Glasslands – Brooklyn – NY 27th May – Melkweg – Amsterdam – Holland (with Animal Collective) 28th May – AB – Brussels – Belgium (with Animal Collective) 29th May – Trianon – Paris – France (with Animal Collective) 1st June – Mutek, Nocturne 4 @ Metropolis – Montreal – Canada
In advance of this Saturday’s Record Store Day happenings around the globe, XLR8R has put together a week-long series of features devoted to taking a closer look at some of our favorite record-selling outlets from around the world. Check out the entire series here.
Los Angeles is associated with many things—sunshine, traffic, Hollywood, etc.—but quality record stores rarely make the list. Sure, there’s an LA branch of Amoeba and the city boasts a handful of shops specializing in a variety of sounds, but for those looking to purchase electronic music, particularly of the house, techno, and experimental persuasion, the city has felt like a bit of a dead zone for quite some time. That said, a major ray of hope emerged last year with the opening of Mount Analog, an impeccably curated shop in the city’s Highland Park neighborhood. Though it has only been open for less than a year, the store has quickly made its presence known, and already feels like an integral part of the LA music landscape.
Admittedly, we were first drawn to Mount Analog after hearing whispers about its house and techno selection. One can only be told something along the lines of, “Seriously, this place has so many cool records, you have to go” before they’re eventually going to check a place out. And, truth be told, the rumors were true. There aren’t many shops in the US with section dividers for artists like Shed and Anthony “Shake” Shakir, let alone racks that are actually stuffed with their releases. Even for those who don’t make a habit of buying vinyl, a visit to Mount Analog is almost certain to elicit multiple outbursts of “Whoa, I can’t believe they have this.”
“There are a lot of DJs that shop here,” says Zane Landreth, who co-founded the shop with partner Mahssa Taghinia. “That was a really important thing for both of us. LA club culture is going really strong right now… [but] there was no home for those kids… [a place where] you walk in and you’re like, ‘This is great. I know that they’re going to have my titles, and if they don’t, they can order them for me, and I don’t have to spend all of my money at Boomkat or Juno and $30 on shipping.'” He continues, “We wanted to bring that to LA because it was something we were really interested in and all of our friends—and us—were spending all of our money buying records on the internet. I don’t want to buy records on the internet. I want to flip for my records.”
Zane Landreth and Mahssa Taghinia
Apparently, our experience of being surprisingly compelled to purchase records at Mount Analog was not a unique phenomenon, as Taghinia adds, “I feel like we’ve unearthed an entire population of people that were dormant record buyers, that are now excited that there is a place where they can be instantly gratified and not just wait for their monthly Boomkat package to show up. They can get their fix here.” That said, although Mount Analog did recently open its own web store, its owners aren’t truly looking to compete with the internet, which Taghinia refers to as an “infinite beast.” Keeping the shop’s walk-in customers in mind, she and and Landreth are working to limit the lag time between when new releases are announced and when they actually arrive in the store’s racks. It’s more of a process than an event, but the gap is slowly closing, as Taghinia says, “Every single day, I’m getting in touch with new labels, or artists directly, or labels directly, trying to make more direct connections, to get records in quick, to get records in fast. That’s the beauty of what a small record shop can do, is develop relationships with labels directly.” Her efforts are already paying off, as hotly tipped labels such as L.I.E.S. and Hospital have begun regularly sending large stacks of their new releases to Mount Analog, often without the store even having to order them.
Taking a step back, it’s important to note that Mount Analog is much more than just a place for house and techno diehards. The store’s name is inspired by René Daumal’s bizarre early 20th century book, Mount Analogue: A Novel of Symbolically Authentic Non-Euclidean Adventures in Mountain Climbing (with an obvious play on analog/analogue, of course). Yet the connection goes further, as Taghinia sees the store as a place guided by, “a sense of adventure and exploration and not knowing what you’re getting into.” She continues, “I think we capture that spirit pretty well, in terms of coming in here and learning about new things and getting into new music or new books, or checking out cool artwork or whatever.” Knowing that, it makes sense that the shop would adventurously carry such a wide selection of sounds, including darkwave, Italo, electro, acid, goth, minimal wave, EBM, industrial, new beat, disco, psychedelic, Krautrock, hardcore, punk, post-punk, folk, Americana, funk, soul, hip-hop, R&B, dub, reggae, noise, experimental, and more. Not content with solely relying upon standard genre tags, Mount Analog’s owners have also come up with clever groupings of their own, including Now Sound (new releases), Then Sound (classics and vintage gems), and Out Sound (which Taghinia says, “comprises psychedelia, Krautrock, library, new age, Kosmiche… genres that aren’t focused upon or touched upon by other record stores in LA.”).
Not surprisingly, this kind of diversity is reflected in the owners themselves. Landreth spent most of his adult life as a band manager and tour manager, often spending months at a time of the road. Describing himself as a former “punk kid with a goth streak a mile wide,” he eventually wound up in LA and began throwing parties, including a coldwave/minimal-synth night called Killing Spree. It was actually at a Killing Spree party where he met Taghinia, who was working as a bartender. That said, Taghinia had a significant musical history of her own. Growing up in Columbus, Ohio, she later spent several years in New York before eventually landing in Los Angeles. She also promotes parties and runs her own label, Finders Keepers, but unlike Landreth, she actually spent most of her pre-Mount Analog years working in record stores. As she explains, “It’s the only day job I’ve ever had. It’s the first day job I ever had. It’s the only day job I’ve had since.” And though she’s quick to admit that she and Landreth “balance each other out,” she’s clearly the one with the nuts-and-bolts retail know-how. Speaking about her motivation for opening Mount Analog, Taghinia explains, “It just felt right… I had a really clear vision as to what we could stock, what we could carry that would fill—I don’t want to say a void—but could add to and emphasize what makes LA pretty awesome.” Landreth adds, “We were [both] doing things that were really successful, but there wasn’t a home for either of them. It just kind of felt correct that it was time that we made a home for the interests that we had that we knew other people would enjoy… [we wanted to] make a space that everybody could come together and share.”
Although they’re both transplants, both Landreth and Taghinia are bullish about their adopted hometown. Landreth excitedly claims that LA is “the best dance-music town in the country,” and revels in his ability to “make LA the LA I want it to be.” Taghinia adds, “I think that’s the only LA that exists—the LA that you want it to be. I think that’s what makes the city great.” People from New York may look down their nose at LA, but the duo behind Mount Analog isn’t buying it. Taghinia elaborates, “LA is destinational. You have to make an effort to be somewhere… You make a conscious choice to be in a certain place at a certain time. Wherever you go, when you know that people chose to be there, I think that makes things a bit more special. It’s not an accidental happening… seeing events that are well attended, shows that are well attended, record stores and bookshops that are busy, I think it’s awesome because it’s showing that people are wanting to go to these places. It’s one of those things that sets LA apart from NY… there’s an underlying conscious effort that’s going into being a part of the scene, being a part of the fabric of this city.”
This outlook carries over to Mount Analog, as Taghinia observes, “People are choosing to come here. It’s not because they can walk by and it’s convenient.” Given that, she and Landreth are doing their part to make the shop as much of a viable and interesting “destination” as possible. For instance, the store frequently plays host to in-store DJ sets and live performances. Since the shop opened last July, guests have included Demdike Stare, Ron Morelli, Steve Summers, Secret Circuit, Pharaohs, Juan Mendez, and Silent Servant, amongst others. (This curatorial prowess also extends to events outside the shop, the most prominent of which is the store’s Nuit Noire series, which has played host to artists such as Andy Stott, Kangding Ray, and Mutant Beat Dance.)
Apart from all the quality music, the store itself also excels in terms of layout and design, something that was realized with the assistance of Kyle Garner of Brooklyn-based gallery/creative agency Sit and Read. Walking into the shop, it’s hard not to be drawn to its front counter, a smartly assembled, Tetris-esque mish-mash of vintage speakers, which amazingly have been wired together and actually work. Zandreth gushes, “That’s what we use for in-stores. If we have a DJ in the store, it plays out of the speaker wall.” Beyond that, Mount Analog is littered with interesting decorative flourishes, from its two stylish listening stations to the vast array of knowingly weird and kitschy books, movies, art, and other miscellany that covers many of its counters and shelves. There’s an ever-expanding cassette section, including a cassette-tape listening station and an entire wall display devoted to oddball tape label Burger Records. Even gear heads have something to do at Mount Analog, as San Francisco outlet Dijitalfix has been enlisted to populate a sector of the store with headphones, speakers, a assorted music-making devices. It’s clear that a lot of thought has gone into the shop’s appearance and aesthetic, which likely explains how, even with all these minute details, Mount Analog never looks cluttered.
“Every single piece of this store has been analyzed and dissected and argued about for about a million hours on end,” says Taghinia. “I always had this idea about a retail space feeling like a living room… you think about friends that have cool book collections or cool record collections or cool whatever collections. You go to their house, and you see that things are so well placed on their shelves, and you just go look at it. You always gravitate to somebody’s bookshelf. You flip through people’s records. I wanted the shop to be inviting in that same sense, so it could feel like a model living room.” Surveying Mount Analog, it’s hard to argue that her vision hasn’t been brought to life.
For its latest wave of lineup announcements, UK summer festival Eastern Electrics has added a handful of top-notch names to an already packed scheduled which includes the likes of Richie Hawtin, Maya Janes Coles, Kerri Chandler, Moderat, DJ Koze, and others. UK DJ/production duo Bicep, techno veteran Surgeon, and the live performance team of Jamies Jones, Lees Foss, Ali Love, and Luca C (a.k.a. Hot Natured, pictured above) are among the new additions to the events set to go down between August 2 and 4 in Knebworth Park. There are over 100 more performers slated to appear at Eastern Electrics, the list of which can be perused here; tickets for the festival are available here.
It’s interesting that Roska has washed up on Tectonic’s shore. Five years ago, his coolly dangerous, itchy-legged broken house sent significant currents into the UK music world. Alongside the work of artists like Hardhouse Banton and Geeneus, the music was eventually dubbed UK funky, a sound which brought an incitement to body movement that was instant and irrepressible. In its wake, dubstep became more fractured and uncontainable than ever, never to be the same again. Since then, Roska’s rhythmic mission has increasingly gravitated toward big-room sounds, and its skipping agility has mostly been jettisoned in favor of ear-crunching roundedness and faster tempos. Interestly enough, it now offers something closer to Pinch‘s obtuse angles and industrial coldness.
On “Shoulda Rolla,” both producers let their hard-steel rhythms soften into a flawlessly low-down dubstep cut that could have been made five years ago. (In fact, the collaboration is a vintage one, but it only dates back about a year.) As tearing wipes of caustic bass pull like velcro across a beat composed of deftly sequenced yet amateurish samples, one realizes that it recalls the seminal debut of Skream’s Skreamizm EP series. It’s only Pinch’s subtle granulations and windswept atmospherics that key “Shoulda Rolla” into a more up-to-date timeframe, resulting in a track that slides like the dubstep classics of yore while surely delighting those who still crave that old skank.
“Asbestos”—a Roska solo effort—is a more mobile and agile stepper; it’s still pleasingly dated for the proper dubstep heads, though ardent modernizers will probably find it frustrating. Synths whizz electrically like a broken alarm over the sub hum and missile-silo ambience. Garage kicks are processed into a pristine, synthetic repetition that doesn’t bounce so much as stutter; the composition is retrospectively reminiscent of ’07-’08 dubstep this time, particularly both Benga’s cruel strength and Headhunter’s use of techno samples in a punishing half-step. This isn’t as forward-thinking as Tectonic’s output can be, but it’s hard to argue that Pinch’s label isn’t, as ever, an inspiring example of a constant artistic and curatorial prowess.
Over the weekend, XLR8R took a trip to the California desert for the first weekend of the annual Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, which we chronicled in a list of Winners and Losers earlier this week. While there, we had the opportunity to catch up with ever-rising UK duo Disclosure before the pair took to the Gobi stage late Sunday night. During our conversation, we discussed the outfit’s just announced forthcoming debut LP, the evolution of its live set, and what brothers Guy and Howard Lawrence make of their recent commercial success.
XLR8R: This will be your first time performing at Coachella, right? Guy: Yeah, this is our first time here ever.
Howard: We got in just last night.
Have you walked around at all or had a chance to see anyone yet? G: We walked around a bit earlier. We haven’t seen anything yet, but I’m going to try to watch James Blake, Rodriguez, Tame Impala, and Wu-Tang today.
You guys are essentially the closing act for the entire weekend. Is that a strange place to be in, considering that you’ll be wrapping up a day that’s included the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nick Cave, Vampire Weekend, Wu-Tang, and other artists of that ilk? G: It’s sick. [laughs] We couldn’t be happier about that.
You guys have been touring a lot in the US over the past year, but do you think this is the biggest crowd you’ll have played for in America? H: Yeah, probably.
G: We’ve done a lot of our own headlining shows, but this obviously has the potential for way more people. We played in Miami for Ultra, but that was [during the] daytime, so I think this will be much different.
Yeah, you’re starting as the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ set will be coming to an end on the main stage. G: Definitely will be a different crowd. [laughs] It should be fine. I’m actually a little annoyed we can’t watch them at all because we’ll have to be setting up by that point.
You guys have done a lot of touring in Europe and the US after starting out at the very beginning opening for people like SBTRKT. Has your approach changed or evolved as you’ve become headliners in front of bigger audiences? G: Not the approach, but the set-up has changed. The set is still built from the same idea—I have my own station where I control Ableton and play a lot of the percussion, drums, and vocal samples and Howard does all the chords, basslines, and singing—so that’s still the same. The production value has gone up massively though. We have all these screens now that do visuals and use the “faces.”
H: Yeah, it’s the same approach, but it just looks better now. We tried to make the lights and visuals complement what we’re doing instead of distracting from what all we actually do on stage.
Getting back to Coachella, a lot of the acts have brought out special guests for a song or two during their performance—Phoenix had R.Kelly come out, The xx had Solange on stage for a song. Any dream guest performers you’d want to bring out during your Coachella set? G: J Dilla.
How about someone who’s alive and, who knows, may even read this? G: D’Angelo.
H: He could sing a cover of “Latch.” [laughs]
G: D’Angelo is the only person I reckon that could sing “Latch” like Sam [Smith].
D’Angelo is a pretty phenomenal keys player, too. Maybe you could have him help out on that end as well? G: I’d pretty much let him do whatever he wants. I’d just stop playing.
H: We’d probably just leave the stage and let him do his thing. [laughs]
And between all the touring you’ve been up to, have you managed to finish your debut LP? G: I don’t know how, but it’s done. There will probably be a week or so of final tweaks to the mixes once we get home, but essentially, it’s done.
Did you have to schedule time for both of you to work on the record considering how much travelling you were doing throughout the process? G: There were definitely times when it was like, “You have to work now,” even if we didn’t feel like it. It’s not like the old days. [laughs]
And you are still working out of the same studio above your Dad’s shop in London? G: Yeah, man, same exact place.
Do you record the vocal collaborators there as well? H: Sometimes. We also have a friend, Jimmy, who helps us write sometimes, and we’ll record at his space as well. We also recorded a few vocals at the Red Bull studios in London, too.
Was approaching the album process different than just making singles and EPs for you guys? G: We didn’t really have any guidelines when we were making the record—it’s not a concept album or anything like that—we just wanted to make a few club tracks and a few vocal tracks, and we tried to order it so it flows nicely. There’s not a story running through it really—I don’t think we’re old enough or good enough to make that yet. [laughs]
And you’re happy with how it came out? G: Yeah, definitely. For every release we’ve had so far, before it goes to a label or management, we play it for our mates and our mom. So far, that’s worked, and they like it, so I think it’ll be okay. [laughs]
I think it’s safe to say that the speed with which your music has taken off was unexpected, or has at least exceeded the initial goals you had for making music. Now that the Disclosure project has gotten to the place it is currently, are you still setting goals for yourself? Or are you simply rolling with it and waiting to see what else happens? G: We keep being told that we do this house/garage rejuvenation or revival—which I don’t necessarily agree with, because house has always been sick. I don’t think it ever went away. But in terms of it being in the charts, in the UK especially, it’s becoming more popular. It’s amazing to see our songs charting so highly, especially in a chart that is full of shit. I think we’d just like to keep doing that, really.
H: We don’t make music specifically to chart, it’s just a welcome byproduct.
G: When a credible artist like Todd Edwards or someone comes up to you and says, “I love your songs,” and then it also charts, what else can you ask for?
The Beat Generation of ’50s-era poets and artists continues to hold sway over musicians and artists today, as evidenced by the latest project from instrumental hip-hop outfit Almighty Sion, the production duo made up of Irish producer SertOne and Liverpool’s Bolts. Inspired equally by the Beat movement and the rich history of hip-hop beat tapes, Almighty Sion’s The Beat Generation LP will soon be available on cassette via Original Cultures. Standout track “Basket” is a meditative, sample-heavy slice of old-school production expertise which mines the two beatmakers’ shared appreciation for rich soul samples and the legacy of J Dilla. Before the limited-edition cassette version of The Beat Generation—featuring continuous mixes unavailable on the digital edition—drops on April 22, the album can be streamed in full, here.
At this point, we don’t really know much about Hugo Slime. The London-based producer has a good amount of promising tunes to be heard on his SoundCloud, and as of recently, seems to have geared his craft towards the deeper ends of house. Today though, Hugo Slime makes his first official mark on the electronic music world with the release of his debut EP, Ampige Connection 2.0, for the fledgling Fairplay label. In an effort to garner some good faith with the XLR8R readership, he’s passed along EP extra “Intuition,” a song with slinky acid touches and a steady groove which goes down rather smoothly.
