Lorenz Brunner has unveiled Dwell, his first full-length as Recondite on Ghostly in five years.
Dwell sees Recondite return to the tonal template of 2013’s Hinterland, his last album on Ghostly, after which he began touring around the world and releasing music with labels such as Hotflush, Innervisions, and his own Plangent Records. The flip-side of this success was “a shadow of pressure that widened over time,” he explains, and now, after careful consideration, Brunner rejects the notion that artists must creatively pivot elsewhere with each new project, opting instead to use the icy Hinterland as an aesthetic for a “like-minded map of evocative compositions.”
As with Hinterland, Brunner incorporates a subtle range of field recordings to intensify the textural atmosphere. While he worked at home on “Mirror Games,” Brunner noticed the buzz coming from across the room, where his wife was using an electric toothbrush, naturally harmonized with the track. He decided to push that frequency further and record the device directly, syncing vibrations for added urgency across the propulsive piece as well as parts of the ambient “Interlude 2.”
Windswept, moody, and melodic, we’re told that moments on Dwell linger with emotional resonance, all built around mirage-like pads and clipped drum programming.
“Dwell is not a return to form, it is a further study of the shapes, the modes, and the structures Brunner has trademarked,” the label adds.
Tracklisting
01. Dwell 02. Nobilia 03. Black Letter 04. Interlude 1 05. Mirror Games 06. Cure 07. Interlude 2 08. Surface 09. Moon Pearl 10. Wire Threat 11. Equal (Bonus Track)
Dwell lands January 24 via Ghostly International, with pre-order here. Meanwhile, you can stream “Cure” below.
Maayan Nidam is up next on her own Hellium label with HELL02, featuring three tracks of abstract techno.
Nidam, a regular on Perlon, where she released a new album earlier this year, launched Hellium to highlight “obscure techno and ambient,” she has explained. The label released an EP from Hubble in May, and now Nidam steps up with her first outing since Sea Of Thee.
Hellium is also the name of Nidam’s residency at Tresor, where she focuses on “curating and advancing future sounds in club culture.” Earlier this month, she took the event series to Fabric for the first time, playing alongside Cosmin TRG.
For more information on Nidam, read her interview here.
Tracklisting
01. Untitled 02. Untitled 03. Untitled
HELL02 is out February, 2020. Meanwhile, you can stream clips below and pre-order here.
Vista Recordings is back with a new release, this time inaugurating a compilation series with some old and new faces, namely Depuratumba, Tobey,Torteval, and M.lee & Tobey. Across four tracks, the label, based in Buenos Aires, Argentina, aims to give us a “hint” of what to expect in the future.
With the release, the label continues its search for a hybrid sound, where rave, house, dub, and breaks merge. “Metallic and harsh sounds blended with moments of delight. Oceanic and subtle melodies combined with intense rhythms. All coexisting with a deep sense of homogeneity,” the label adds.
XLR8R is offering XLR8R+ subscribers free passes to the upcoming Circle of Live event taking place at the famous Dehors Brut venue in Paris, France on Saturday, December 21. Tickets are limited and will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.
Created in the summer of 2018, Circle of Live is the work of Sebastian Mullaert, the beloved Swedish artist known for his cerebral techno soundscapes. Recruitment for the project, which focuses on live improvisation and spontaneity from a continually rotating cast of members, began soon thereafter with the likes of Âme (Live), Johanna Knutsson, Mathew Jonson, and Leafar Legov. Circle now comprises 19 artists, all identified and selected by Mullaert.
For December 21, the lineup is a special one, consisting of Âme, Laurence Guy, Matt Karmil, and Mullaert himself. Learn more about Circle of Live via the ARTE video below, and listen to their XLR8R podcast from earlier this year.
For those who haven’t yet, just SUBSCRIBE HERE and email your full name with “Circle of Live: Paris” as the subject to [email protected] to claim your FREE pass. For those current subscribers, simply email your full name and “Circle of Live: Paris” as the email subject.
The 17th edition of XLR8R+ is here featuring cuts from DeWalta, Öona Dahl, and Alci. You can subscribe here and hear snippets of the tracks below.
A lot has been written about Öona Dahl over the past few years, much in thanks to releases on Lee Burridge’s All Day I Dream and, more recently, Hallucienda, where she released her debut album in 2017. Back in mid-’00s, as she was beginning to play around Florida, United States, Dahl caught the attention of DJ Three who began doing some digging. “One night, I just happened to stumble upon her Soundcloud and came across a playlist of about seven tracks, but these weren’t just any tracks,” Three recalls. “These were exceptional, proper songs that reminded more of the ambient vocal stylings of This Mortal Coil or other early 4AD label stuff.” Encouraging her to expand upon her eclectic instincts, Three signed the more left-leaning tracks, and these formed the spine of her Holograma LP, available now.
Dahl’s story begins in New York, but she moved to Florida to study sound design at The International Academy of Design and Technology for Digital Media and Recording Arts. She began making electronic music in 2009, solo and as Slumber in collaboration with her friend Amber Cox. Slumber, with its dark and moody aesthetic, debuted in 2013, shortly before Dahl’s HEAR.FEEL.HEAL.REPEAT EP and “High Eyes,” a 2015 contribution to an All Day I Dream summer sampler, which led to bookings at the much-loved party series where she established herself as a regular, entrusted with closing many of the bigger events.
In the time since Let The Light In, her second outing on All Day I Dream, Dahl has started to exhibit her versatility as a producer, well beyond the deep dreamscapes that underpin the All Day I Dream niche. The earliest signs of this experimentalism came with Wait Lifted, a five-track EP of cinematic ambience, vocal electronica, and cosmic house that set the stage for Holograma. Across nine tracks, Dahl stepped away from the dancefloor and pushed her songwriting prowess to the forefront, weaving through floating ambience, psychedelic techno, and pop-infused pastures with her vocals featuring throughout. It reflected an ability to connect with the listener without following deeply-ingrained cues in music, which is something often said about her DJ sets, which employ isochronic tones, sumptuous melodies, and strong grooves to induce a dream-like state.
Now based back in Florida, Dahl is working on an EP with DJ Tennis for Life and Death and her second album for Hallucienda. Most recently, she contributed toXLR8R+ with”15 Years Old,” an ambient track that she uses to open her XLR8R podcast. Recorded on the fly in her home studio, it’s a snapshot of what Dahl is playing now, full of her favorite tracks including work from Sei A, TERR, and DJ Metatron. Expect “vocal textures, vintage pastures, acid rhythms, and the spaces in between,” she explains.
Öona Dahl features on ‘XLR8R+017,’ delivering an engrossing ambient track, alongside cuts from DeWalta and Alci and a range of content. Check out the package here.
What have you been up to recently?
Hello. I had a couple weeks off to work on my second album and to create a music video for my new release with Kirsty Hawkshaw, “Love Is All We Need.”
The music you’re making has evolved considerably over the past few years. What’s driven this change?
My music tends to be all over the place. I think it’s just a matter of what people heard first based on what labels they came out on. I’m always creating my own thumbprint on the full spectrum of sound.
How close do you think you are to finding your strongest musical expression?
So close I can hear it, and then it evolves.
What can we expect with this podcast?
The mix has a couple original tracks, the first being “15 Years Old” which was just released on XLR8R+ and another under my alias as Slumber titled “Antidote.” I incorporated a lot of music I’ve been playing in my sets lately and even some tracks from the Hallucination Limited catalogue. Expect vocal textures, vintage pastures, acid rhythms, and the spaces in between.
When and where did you record it?
Had a jam session at home before I left for Art Basel in Miami.
Is there a concept to it?
Sparkle and fade…
How does it compare to what you’d play in a club set?
I played a handful of the tracks in the mix a few weeks ago in Denver, United States at Meow Wolf’s Dark Palace.
How did you choose the tracks that you included?
When analysing music for a mix, it’s important to me to incorporate what I’m currently playing, something that resonates with me from the past and original sounds.
What are your ambitions in music?
Creating a sound and visual space where people are able to unite on a similar vibrational frequency that may play a roll in expanding their consciousness.
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.
Lawrence will debut on Giegling with his new EP, Moonlight, out December 19.
As with all Giegling releases, there’s no text around the release and it’ll be available on vinyl only. Lawrence, real name Peter Kersten, has put out much of his own work on his own Dial, including last year’s Illusion LP. His first outing on Giegling forms the Weimar label’s 27th release, following Edward’s Lost in Paradise 12″.
Recordat will celebrate two years of operation with an event in Berlin, Germany on December 14.
Recordat is a series of recording sessions, a collective, and a record label—still to launch—for electronic music producers and DJs from across the Mediterranean, including Jordan, the Palestinian territories, and Egypt. In these sessions, the platform aims to highlight some of the best electronic musicians from these regions. Since its launch two years ago, Recordat has hosted events in Jordan and across the Palestinian territories. It debuted in Berlin in February and now returns for its 16th session.
Scheduled to play are two innovative artists who are “changing music from the Mediterranean as we know it,” Recordat explains.
Muqata’a, a hip-hop artist who sparked a whole new generation of artists in the region, will bring his new live set to Berlin for the first time, and he’ll be joined by 3Phaz, an up-and-coming coming Cairo, Egypt-based artist who will reinterpret traditional wedding music Mahraganat by infusing it with bassy techno and gabber beats to create what he call post-Shaabi. Setting the mood for the session will be Berlin-based artist Shins-k.
The event will take place under the U-Bahn of Schlesisches Tor, 10997 Berlin. More information, including the full lineup, can be found here. Meanwhile, you can stream a recent Muqata’a session below.
Nicole Popkhadze has signed to Marco Shuttle’s Eerie imprint for her debut EP, Inside.
Popkhadze, who performs and releases as Nicole, holds a residency at the legendary Tbilisi, Georgia club Cafe-Gallery, and, despite her young age, she has cultivated her own personal approach to DJing and gained a strong reputation for her energetic sets.
Energy and emotions are also the driving force behind Inside, her first official release, which consists of four tracks, although they should be regarded as songs, that subtly blend Detroit and IDM elements in a modern way, resulting in a sound that is deep, personal, modern, and mature.
Eerie Records launched in 2012, initially as a platform for Marco Sartorelli, known as Marco Shuttle, but it has slowly opened its doors to other projects like Healing Force Project, Domenico Crisci, and Anxur, the collaboration between Shuttle himself Donato Dozzy. The label philosophy is to approach electronic music in an experimental and challenging way.
Tracklisting
A1. Inside A2. Save Me B1. Snow B2. Look Up
Inside lands January 28 on vinyl, and February 5 on digital.
On January 1, 2020, Phil Moffa will launch Butcha Sound Records with two albums totaling five hours of ambient, abstract, and noise.
Album number one, Meditations for Peace, consists of over two hours of ambient pieces intended to “manifest peace in your life and the world around you,” Moffa says. The songs are intended to serve as a focal point for your meditation practice or drifting off into the greater subconscious.
“I came up with the idea for this collection after getting home from the memorial held for David Mancuso in February, 2017,” Moffa adds. “I thought about his message, the therapeutic power of music, and bringing people together through sound and environment. I realized the importance of making and playing music with intent, and I was incredibly moved by what I experienced that night and at The Loft the times that I’ve been.” That evening, Moffa recorded tracks three and four, “David’s Memorial” and “Diverse People Dancing Together for Social Progress.”
The second album, Pieces for Painting, is a noise-based head trip and is more rough around the edges. Moffa writes: “Speaking to my painter friends over the years helped me to realize this project. These are pieces I imagine would be interesting to have on in your art studio while you work.” This includes two hours of equipment abuse and misuse, late-night journeys into the abyss, and the audio component of several art installations.
The covers were conceived by Moffa’s longtime friend and collaborator Greg MacAvoy, who created the watercolor, gouache, and ink paintings. Limited edition 12” x 12” photographic prints are available from the Butcha Sound Bandcamp page, as well as 2xCD for each album.
Future releases on Butcha Sound Records include several EPs by Moffa featuring his own collage art as the covers.
Tracklistings
Meditations for Peace
01. Harmony for Disarmament 02. Tape Meditation #17 03. David’s Memorial 04. Diverse People Dancing Together for Social Progress 05. Lower East Side Meditation 06. What Are Clouds? 07. Lakehouse Meditation 08. Legend No. 1 09. Neither Rain nor Snow 10. Oscillation #7 11. 3 A.M. In Tunisia 12. Reverb Summit Theme 13. Rhodes Meditation #21, Pt. 1 14. Rhodes Meditation #21, Pt. 2 15. Tape Meditation #19
Pieces for Panting
01. Feedback from Anywhere 02. What Is Heard 03. Operator #1 04. Tension 05. Hill of Mirrors 06. Resonator Experiment #3 07. To the Furthest Depths 08. Vertigo 09. Dimension of Imagination 10. Micro Cosmic 11. ENO-UGH (Recital) 12. One for the Angels 13. Rhodes Reversal 14. Warm Wave Ambience 15. Psycho Glitch 16. The Amplifier That Plays When No One Is Around 17. Trans4mation Speaker #4 (Radio Edit) 18. Tape #18 19. Lowdown 20. Planetarium Experiment #5
Meditations for Peace and Pieces for Painting are out January 1, 2020.
Kaytranada has unveiled his new album, Bubba, out Friday, December 13 on RCA Records, a subsidiary of Sony.
Bubba is the Canadian artist’s second album, following his breakout debut, 99.9%, out via XL Recordings in 2016. There’s no information around the album other than that it includes Pharrell Williams, Tinashe, GoldLink, Charlotte Day Wilson, Estelle, VanJess, Masego, Mick Jenkins, SiR, and more.
Ahead of the album’s release on Friday, Kaytranada has shared “10%” featuring Kali Uchis, streaming below.
Tracklisting
01. DO IT 02. The Music feat. Iman Omari 03. Go DJ feat. SiR 04. Gray Area feat. Mick Jenkins 05. Puff Lah 06. 10% feat. Kali Uchis 07. Need It feat. Masego 08. Taste feat. VanJess 09. Oh No feat. Estelle 11. What You Need feat. Charlotte Day Wilson 12. Vex Oh feat. GoldLink, Eight9fly, & Ari PenSmith 13. Scared To Death 14 Freefall feat. Durand Bernarr 15. Culture feat. Teedra Moses 16. The Worst In Me feat. Tinashe 17. September 21 18. Midsection feat. Pharrell Williams
Bubba LP is out December 13. Meanwhile, you can pre-order here, and stream “10%” below.
