Stream Leon Vynehall’s ‘Rosalind’ EP

After we profiled Leon Vynehall as part of our Bubblin’ Up series last year, the Brighton-based DJ/producer suddenly fell relatively quiet. Thankfully, that will soon change with the forthcoming release of Vynehall’s Rosalind EP, a three-track record which you can now stream in full exclusively on XLR8R before it drops next week via Well Rounded. Across his EP, Vynehall further explores the loose production style that drew us to his 12″ for George FitzGerald’s ManMakeMusic label, pulling together weathered textures and dusty percussion to fortify his soul-tinged house hybrids. Before the Rosalind EP officially sees a release on February 4, you can give it a spin in the player below.

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Modeselektor and Apparat Announce Sophomore LP as Moderat

The three Berlin artists best known as Modeselektor and Apparat have announced they will finally release the follow up to their 2009 collaborative debut as Moderat, calling it simply II. Along with the announcement of its forthcoming album, the trio shares in a press release, “Moderat as a fusion of Modeselektor and Apparat is a mutual path that hasn’t been and will never be easy. Well, it’s simply more than ‘just’ making music together. It is, again and again, an experiment of exploring our similarities and differences, and to interlace them to something new and exciting.” Details are slim at the moment, but we do know that Modeselektor’s Monkeytown label will release II in both standard and deluxe-edition CD and LP formats on August 2, which will be followed by a world tour. So far, only a few of those dates have surfaced, which you can check out below while awaiting further details about Moderat’s next LP.

August 3 Eastern Electrics Festival, London, UK
August 10 SonneMondSterne Festival, Saalburg DE
August 16-18 Lowlands Festival, Amsterdam, NL

Hi, Doctor Nick! – How to Make Things Happen, Regardless of What City You’re In

There’s no stopping Nick Hook. This week, the good doctor is in Los Angeles, and even after spending a long night in the club, he made sure to sit down and put together some advice for the XLR8R massive. For the uninitiated, he does this every Thursday, tackling questions about music, DJing, production, travel, romance, studio gear, and more. He can help you, so send your questions to doctornick@xlr8r.com and let the wisdom flow.

Hi. It’s 3 a.m. My editor Shawn is gonna kill me, but it’s hard being a doctor sometimes. Shout out to Gaslamp Killer, Daddy Kev, Nocando, D Styles, and Nobody for having me out to Low End Theory tonight. It’s such an honor to be able to be a part of something that special. To everyone who writes in and wants to know how and why to do things, research their story. They started from scratch, played what they believed in, stuck with it, and it worked. It’s amazing.

LA has been great. I went to the Innovative Leisure Boiler Room last night. Rhye was awesome. Nosaj Thing was awesome.

NAMM was nuts. Someone needs to make a documentary about the parking lot—that’s where the action is. The Ableton Push is gonna be crazy. It’s incredible. I saw a bunch of other cool stuff too.

Anyways, here are some questions. Don’t forget to send in your questions. Let’s keep this interesting.

Hi Doctor Nick,
In an earlier column, you responded to someone trying to cultivate a DJ career while living in the middle of nowhere, but I’m wondering what your advice is for someone with similar aspirations who’s living in one of the most saturated EDM centers in the country—Los Angeles. I make and mix syrupy trap house and know there is an audience who appreciates it—given my limited performances at parties and underground bicycle events over the past two years—but I’m not sure where to direct my energy in 2013. I liked your suggestion of handing out thumbdrives to promoters at the club, but with Low End Theory, A Club Called Rhonda, and a million other great parties I’d love to open for, I’m just not sure where my vision of drag music fits in, or where to start.
Justin

Okay. I really think you should move to Houston. Maybe they will understand your music more.

Furthermore, there’s a trap house, but there’s no such thing as trap house… unless it’s trap playing in the house that’s the trap.

Seriously though, I think you need to worry less about genres and stuff and just get started. Look at Low End Theory. They were just like you, fed up with everything and thinking they had something new to share. They picked a weird club in a remote location downtown, assembled a crew of five, and got started. It took a minute for things to really get going, but they stuck with it. Now, the party is traveling around the world and people come to hear every record that every dude plays. It’s incredible. Everyone successful I know has done the same thing, going from unbookable loser to the person everyone wants to be a down with.

Get a good crew, be organized, play dope music, and stick with it. You can do it.

Hi Doctor Nick,
I caught your afterparty set at the TNGHT show in Brooklyn a while back, much respect. I’m currently a freshman at Georgetown University with a huge passion for electronic music, yet I am trying to figure out how to get involved in the scene and really make a name for myself. I’ve been DJing and making beats for about four years now, and during this time I’ve been balancing being a musician with being a very diligent student who spends a lot of time studying. Still, I am increasingly finding that I really miss making music and kind of loathe the whole academic system. I’m originally from LA and I’m a product of the Low End Theory community there, and I am finding it increasingly hard to find a scene in Washington DC, where it seems like people don’t really know what the “beat scene” or even any other electronic music besides dubstep is. So here are my questions:

1) What do you think the importance of being in a music community is? I’ve really struggled to find like-minded people like myself at home and at school and I have been seriously considering transferring back to LA or to NYC where there are already established electronic scenes where I already feel safe and know connections. 2) If I choose to stay, how do I get a scene going here? So much of what you talk about is the importance of collaboration and mutual development, and I’m just looking for a way to get myself in that position and be involved in a thriving artistic community where I feel at home and that’s not on the Internet. 3) At school, here or elsewhere, I have been heavily considering studying some form of music (culture, business, musicology, etc.) and I was just wondering what your opinion is of the value of a college education regarding a job in the electronic scene. My goal right now is to be a person who could get behind the velvet rope at shows and stand on the stage while TNGHT is on stage very much like yourself, yet I just don’t really know how to get there, whether it be through my music, a label I start, music journalism, or some other way.

Many thanks for reading my long-winded question/comment and keep being an inspiration to kids like me.
Gabe

Dope. That TNGHT party was fun. I’m glad you liked it. I barely remember it.

Respect to studying. I back that. As for your questions…

1. I personally find it incredibly important. The energy you are around is what you become. In depressing cities, you become depressed because you feel that there is literally no way to make it. It’s easy to start thinking, “fuck this place” or “it sucks here,” just because it’s hard to be the positive one in a negative environment. Furthermore, people get mad in these non-communities when you get good gigs or success, because they feel that you are taking away from them. In New York, I feel like we have such positive energy, as new energies are always coming from different cities and we all support and actively help each other to succeed because we all know if one person wins, we all do, and we are taking each other along for the ride.

2. I think if you stay, you start small, take risks, and have fun. Throw a dope party at the smallest place. Make it fucking nuts. Isn’t Georgetown in DC? Look at Dave Nada and Tittsworth and all those guys. We’ve known them forever and they started from small and made it. There are plenty of young people—just make sure it’s dope. Furthermore, you can always take the bus to Baltimore, Philly, NYC, etc. Put in the work and there’s no reason it can’t work. It’s not like you live in a forest with five people, you live in a top-20 city.

3. I disregard college as a viable way to get yourself a job in music. Business happens after midnight. The reason I was standing onstage at a TNGHT show was because Dom from LuckyMe and HudMo came and saw Cubic Zirconia at SXSW in 2009. It was at this tiny party in a loft. We were going nuts and the whole place was going nuts and they happened to walk in. We had mutual friends. Then we hung out in NYC, London, Scotland… wherever the fuck we were together. We got wasted. We talked about life. We had fun. Somehow, it all happened for us. I still don’t even really know how. Sometimes, when I read these questions, I think everyone is taking it way too seriously. I mean, look at the LuckyMe dudes—they are from fucking Scotland. Pick a harder place to start. I can’t think of one. It was all just based on being dope. HudMo goes to the studio EVERY day, and it shows in his music.

Thanks for the kind words man. They mean a lot. Really, I’m just a dude from St. Louis who should really be living in my parents’ basement right now. Holler at me anytime.

Hi, Doctor Nick! appears every Thursday on XLR8R. Do you have a question for Doctor Nick? Please submit your inquires to doctornick@xlr8r.com. Nick Hook can help you.

Applescal “Spring and Life”

Despite “Spring and Life” being a decidedly dancefloor-friendly production, its glittering, lightly textured synth melodies are never overshadowed by the techno-inspired bassline, and ultimately help drive the song forward. Netherlands’ Applescal—an artist we highlighted as part of Bubblin’ Up Week 2013—certainly has a knack for making polished, balanced dance music, and takes his time in doing so. The producer born Pascal Terstappen spent three years finishing his forthcoming Dreaming in Key LP, from which “Spring and Life” is taken. “I’ve been trying to create something special, something diverse,” Terstappen said in a press release. “An album where each track speaks for itself and is part of a complete story at the same time.” In that vein, “Spring and Life” feels like one piece of a larger narrative, the rest of which Terstappen will release via his own Atomnation imprint on February 5.

Spring and Life

Various Artists Dovercourt EP

In the last year, Montreal’s Turbo Recordings, Tiga’s long-running stable, has reinvented itself into a purveyor of what it calls “New Jack Techno.” It’s actually, sadly, just techno, with nary a Keith Sweat reference to be found. But most of its creators are “new jacks,” just releasing their first records, or at least their first techno records, having made the move from other genres. Nevertheless, some respected heads have offered their support for this largely Canada-based group of producers. Martyn, for one, has assembled some of the Toronto faction for the Dovercourt EP on his own 3024 imprint, and the results are, predictably, mixed.

Kevin McPhee‘s early releases were brilliant, finding offbeat territory between sub-led garage and sentimental slow house, but he’s been less consistent lately. “Version 5” takes inspiration from the Chicago house of the 1990s, as its constant clap patterns and simple, metallic melody (though this is so processed it could probably also feature on a Mark Fell record) harken back to the era. The track struggles to stand up—it’s less rawly powerful than the originals or even some of their modern knockoffs, and far less complex and heart-tugging than McPhee’s finest moments. Gingy tends to work with counterpart Bordello, but here, the producer cuts “Swirlie” solo. It’s the most noticeably “Berlin” track here, sounding uncannily like a Shed piece in its athletic pummel and sheets of rave chords. It’s a well-calculated tribute, but offers little more than tinges—the reverses in between sections are a nice touch—as innovations. Next, Nautiluss (a.k.a. Graham Bertie) offers “Zero Gravity,” a comparatively romantic piece, anchored by subdued organ drones, pitched-down vocals, and an acidic bassline. It coasts from somber beginnings into a second half that’s both twinkling and upfront percussive. Finally, the digital release features the debut of producer Bruce Trail. “Beatrice” features a similar blend of filtered organ, wispy vocals, and acid, though the acid is given more of an intensely spiraling presence. It doesn’t develop in such a dramatic way, however, and the focus is left more on the rhythm. Like the rest of the EP, the track is calculated and functional, and may lose as much as it gains as a result.

Full Crate x Mar “Nobody Else (Club Edit)”

Amsterdam-based producer Full Crate and singer Mar—or, more succinctly Full Crate x Mar—sent over this “Club Edit” of their recent collaboartive tune “Nobody Else.” Much like the material heard on the duo’s Conversations With Her EP, this track finds Mar laying down a classic, soulful vocal melody, which appears to have been sampled and warped to Full Crate’s liking. “Nobody Else (Club Edit)” balances the pitched hooks with a bouncy beat that plays with warm synths and a heavy bassline to help secure the tune’s club-ready status.

Nobody Else (Club Edit)

Synkro Acceptance

Ah yes, the elegiac mode in UK electronic music, elegantly pining for fugitive raves past or childhoods overgrown with lush Radiophonic vegetation. In a hauntological landscape peopled by standbys like Burial, the Ghost Box label, and more recent phenomena like The Death of Rave imprint and Lee Gamble’s ghosted jungle-mixtape collage Diversions 1994–96, the comparatively artless emotion of Synkro‘s music stands out, even while cautioning that it might not age so gracefully. Where the artists mentioned above, in the way they return to various strains of electronic music to mourn and attempt to recover the unrecoverable, might be accused of navel-gazing through the lens of a critical apparatus, Synkro does so without the same built-in conceptual safety net, calling forth feelings both more obvious and more pressing.

His latest release for R&S imprint Apollo, Acceptance, is a meaty, eight-track EP that does away with the interpersonal dynamic suggested by his earlier Broken Promise. Acceptance is Joe Synkro addressing himself: a solitary, introspective collection of prismatic 2-step shot through with the lonely and hard-won spiritual triumph of the jilted—vibe-wise, it’s easy to imagine it as a novella-length epilogue to Deadboy’s “U Cheated.” Even if we imagine, say, Burial to be a loner, his music has a kind of tribal nostalgia, the sense of being temporally and spatially separated from your brethren. Synkro’s sense of loss is personal, sentimental, and—as spelled out by the title—the source of what feels like a durable inner peace. Yes, this is new agey.

A bittersweet, soft-focus tone rules the EP, with moments whose basic sentiment might not be out of place in a life-insurance commercial. As tracks like the dulcet “Disappear” unfold, however, we also see him dig a little deeper, summoning a jittering riff made from wisps of guitar. The production in general is either cleaner or the feelings it meditates on more spacious—either way, these tracks feel unhurried and crisp, with a palpable sense of perspective. Elliptical vocals hover like an apparition over the relaxed drum patter of “To Be,” and feel like jigsaw pieces as they bob in the ethereal ambience of “Recognition.” Using vocal snippets in this way is far from unique, but rarely do they feel as much like bits of the past that don’t fit together any longer. But, like the songs on Broken Promise, these reflections are met by the opposing force of sinewy, snapping riddims, and Synkro generally does an excellent job keeping things from being merely pretty. “Mutual Divide (feat. Indigo)” suffers because drums are an afterthought to its post-rock guitars’ cautious, labored twining. Done right, those drums are a backbone sturdy enough to carry even something as immoderate as the Don Henley slide guitar of the concluding “Don’t Want.”

Richie Hawtin, Carl Craig, Ben Klock, Mala, and More to Play Movement 2013

Detroit’s annual electronic-music festival Movement has announced the dates of its 2013 event and unveiled the first wave of artists scheduled to perform at the auspicious occasion. Among the myriad DJs and producers set to appear in Detroit’s Hart Plaza between May 25 and 27 are Richie Hawtin (pictured above), Terrence Parker, Carl Craig, Mala, George FitzGerald, Onra, Maetrik, The Bug, Derrick May’s and Kevin Saunderson’s “Hi-Tech Soul Concept,” Dennis Ferrer, Tensnake, Hatcha, Ben Klock and Marcel Dettmann sharing a B2B set, and many others. Single tickets for Movement start at about $39, but $79 will buy you a three-day pass, here. Ahead of the iconic music festival’s 14th edition, you can check out more of the performing artists and a trailer teasing the whole event below.

Maya Jane Coles, Simian Mobile Disco, and Little Boots Team Up on New 12″; Preview It Now

In a trifecta pairing best described as “unexpected,” electro-pop singer Little Boots, London house phenom Maya Jane Coles (pictured above), and James Ford of Simian Mobile Disco have convened for a new single under the banner LB. Leeds label 2020Vision is set to release the outfit’s two-part Superstitious Heart EP—which finds the UK vocalist singing on both “Superstitious Heart” (produced by Ford and Coles) and b-side “Whatever Sets You Free” (produced by Baunz)—on February 18. The vinyl version apparently offers both original tracks with “Instrumental” and “Dub” versions from their producers, but the two-part digital package holds a grip of remixes from the likes of label head Ralph Lawson and Leeds duo PBR Streetgang. You can listen to clips of all of those tracks below.

Fort Romeau Readies 12″ for Spectral Sound, Streams B-Side

Though we premiered “SW9” by London-based producer Mike Norris (a.k.a. Fort Romeau) almost a year ago, Ghostly sub-label Spectral Sound will soon give the track an official 12″ release. The infectious deep-house tune will be paired with b-side “Love (Dub)” and Lowtec‘s remix of the a-side when the single drops on March 11. Before then, you can stream the lush, dancefloor-ready “Love (Dub)” in the player below.

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