Bad Looks “Twist (5kinandbone5 vs. Matrixxman Remix)”

Today, San Francisco-based production duo Bad Looks is releasing its Twist EP, a collection of hyperactive house tracks which boasts two original cuts and two remixes by Strict Face and Eras. Not included on the EP, however, is a bonus remix by the confusing pair of West Coasters 5kinandbone5 and Matrixxman (who—in addition to having been a commenter in our recent Welcome to… the Internet feature—is also half of 5kinandbone5). This particular remix stands out amongst the EP’s fast-paced, more danceable tunes as a slower, darker, techno-leaning production that never really builds, but instead keeps things at a paranoiac level with creeping percussion and an ever-looming bassline. After giving “Twist (5kinandbone5 vs. Matrixxman Remix)” your undivided attention, be sure to listen to snippets of the rest of the Twist EP, which you’ll find after the jump.

Twist (5kinAndBone5 vs. Matrixxman Remix)

!!! to Release Fifth LP Via Warp

The dance-punk-funk stalwarts of !!! have taken to their website to announce their next album, a nine-track LP cleverly titled THR!!!ER. The record will mark !!!’s fifth long-player of its career, the fourth released via Warp. Guitarist Mario Andreoni shares some insight into the record’s title, saying, “Thriller didn’t merely come to represent the selling of a lot of records…it became synonymous with an artist(s)’ and/or genre(s)’ artistic high-watermark. INXS’ Kick is the Australian Thriller… Alanis’ Jagged Little Pill is the Canadian Thriller…Wham!’s Make It Big is the blow-dryer’s Thriller…every recording by the 13th Floor Elevators is the dosed-man’s Thriller…”Sister Ray” by the Velvet Underground is the Thriller of musical fever dreams. One day at the studio, Nic [Offer, vocalist] drew THR!!!ER on a napkin and I liked it…then we made our THR!!!ER.” Before !!!’s next album arrives on April 29, you can take a look its artwork up top, and check out its tracklist, as well as preview one of its tunes, below.

01 Even When the Water’s Cold
02 Get That Rhythm Right
03 One Girl/One Boy
04 Fine Fine Fine
05 Slyd
06 Californyeah
07 Except Death
08 Careful
09 Station (Meet Me at The)

Podcast 280: Ulrich Schnauss

Although XLR8R covers many different corners of the electronic spectrum, it’s fair to say that we haven’t been paying a whole lot of attention to drum & bass as of late. That being said, we still have a soft spot for the genre’s heyday, and it appears we’re not alone. Ulrich Schnauss may be best known for the serene, shoegaze-flavored electronic soundscapes he’s been turning out for more than a decade, but when we asked the German veteran to participate in our podcast series, he elected to eschew his signature style and instead delve into his past. The result? A 78-minute offering he’s calling Drift to the Centre: Deep Atmospheric DnB from the Golden Age, a mix which also happens to represent the largest spotlight XLR8R has shone on drum & bass in quite some time. In fairness, before Schnauss began releasing music under his own name in the early ’00s and cooking up melody-rich pieces of pastoral electronic pop, he was crafting ambient drum & bass as Ethereal 77 and View to the Future, making this podcast a sort of return to his roots. It’s a bit of an unexpected left turn, but given that his new album, A Long Way to Fall, is arguably Schnauss’ most varied effort to date, it seems that the producer has perhaps reached a point where he’s looking to surprise people. The new LP—his fourth overall and first in six years—won’t see the light of day here in the US until February 12, but this mix should help to tide everyone over until that day arrives. As its ornate title suggests, the podcast is full of mid-’90s classics; it’s a celebration of the pre-techstep era, a time when drum & bass world—or at least a sizable portion of it—celebrated deep, soulful grooves and rolling jazz rhythms. It may not sound like Schnauss’ modern-day output, but its chilled vibes and relaxing effect are certainly similar.

01 Photek “T-Raenon” (Op-ART)
02 David Holmes “Gone (PFM Remix)” (Go! Discs)
03 Mental Power “Unknown Intelligence” (Formation)
04 Saint Etienne “The Sea (PFM Mix)” (Heavenly)
05 Lee & Gwange “2 Deep” (Legend)
06 Motive One “Life” (Certificate 18)
07 Neil Trix & Danny Mills “Pearls” (Bang-In Tunes)
08 MI5 “Experience” (Lucky Spin)
09 Odyssey “Expressions” (720 Degrees)
10 Source Direct “Secret Liaison” (Good Looking)
11 Seba “Planetary Funk Alert” (Looking Good)
12 Ethereal 77 “Somnambulism” (Dubplate)
13 DJ Crystl “Sweet Dreamz” (Dee Jay)

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Snasen “Failing Upwards”

Norwegian producer Robin Snasen Rengård (who makes music simply as Snasen) may be new to the sphere of electronic music, but the man has history buried deep in the roots of punk and hardcore. Trading mosh pits for beatmaking, Snasen first started out in the now-defunct Amulet, but he now spends his time weaving his angst-ridden musical past into his solo, electronic output. The title track from his forthcoming Failing Upwards EP finds Snasen creating a deep, glacial number, dewed with deadened snaps and hollow percussive samples. A slowly moving bassline and some grim vocal cuts eventually overtake his production, plunging the track further into a heady and emotional place. You can hear more of Snasen’s solo work once the Failing Upwards EP is released on February 15 via Sellout!, which precedes a purported debut full-length slated for release later this year.

Failing Upwards

Hot Coins The Damage Is Done

There is some common ground covered by Danny Berman’s work as Red Rack’em and his latest project, Hot Coins, but they are without a doubt two very distinct efforts, each with its own separate aims and musical guidelines. Unlike the edits and deep-house tunes credited to Red Rack’em, Hot Coins’ productions can hardly be considered “dance music”; instead, they take shape as disco-minded excursions into nostalgic avant-pop, pulling inspiration from the post-punk, synth-wave, and experimental disco sounds of the ’70s and ’80s while attempting to explore a new creative voice.

There are two facts that become fairly obvious as one listens to The Damage Is Done. First, Berman has an affection for the sounds—particularly the synth tones—of those aforementioned eras and genres, one that leads him to appear dedicated to re-enacting them to an admirable degree. The second is that Berman, and perhaps his occasional vocal collaborators, had some “demons” to deal with and this project/record appears to be the vehicle through which they’ve done that. The songs are not rendered “dark” or even emotional because of this fact though; if anything, the lyrical content catches the listener off guard when phrases such as “Crash and burn every night/Something just don’t feel right/My friends think I am stupid/They laugh at me all the time,” are delivered in a purposefully monotonous and almost ambiguous fashion above pieces of slightly bubbling music. The seeming opposition between the feeling of the words and the underlying tracks is just one of the ways that The Damage Is Done seems to thrive on bizarreness. At times, the songs can seem as if they are intentionally at odds with themselves, and seemingly clashing musical elements are often juxtaposed against each other. For example, on “The Only Way,” a straightforward pattern of kicks and claps and a slow swung bassline are met with flashes of eerie synth pads and a slightly abnormal run of distorted guitar; on “New Beat,” a Human League-reminiscent underbelly is topped off with a flurry of fuzzy synth leads and a dubbed-out trumpet. These combinations aren’t necessarily jarring, but they can make the listening experience a bit uneasy—which feels like it was likely Berman’s desired effect.

Still, most of the cuts on the LP have trouble landing on any ideas that really take hold for an entire song. The uptempo funk of “Freestyle Lover” and the upbeat lounge of “Confined” are initially quite intriguing, but fail to turn into much of anything, while “Leathered” is just a dud, sounding akin to one of Art of Noise’s failed experiments. The Damage is Done does deliver a bit of light at the end of the tunnel though, as its final three songs—”Blizzard,” “Roadtrip,” and “I Ching” (all instrumental)—serve as the record’s most fun and enjoyable passage while sinking further into soulful boogie territory than any other portion of the LP. In the end, it’s hard to completely knock Berman’s desire to expand his creative palette, but, quite frankly, there just isn’t much here for anyone who isn’t as infatuated with the synthy post-punk, funk, and disco of the ’70s and ’80s as Berman himself is.

Somepling “ThirdCriminal”

French hip-hop alchemist Somepling (a.k.a. Olivier Rousseaux) has been toiling in the background for two years now, creating hard, introspective tracks with a melodic and detailed approach to beatmaking. “ThirdCriminal,” a new cut taken from NY label Ten Million Sounds’ Finding Time compilation, is much more laidback than his usual work. Using his own Rhodes and flute for the foundation, Somepling juggles a series of soaring string and vocal samples, often weaving them together, with an Endtroducing…-styled breakbeat gliding the track forward. Simply put, it’s gorgeous stuff, and it shows why the producer was tipped by DJ Shadow in last year’s “Shadow Propaganda” remix contest. The rest of Finding Time is available now for a “name-your-price” download, featuring cuts from 12 other forward-thinking beat heads, but you can also stream it in full after the jump.

Ten Million Sounds – Finding Time – 09 ThirdCriminal

ThirdCriminal

Doubleheart Roots EP

Doubleheart is the working guise of two of Scotland’s most idiosyncratic dance music personalities, J.D. Twitch (a.k.a. Keith McIvor) of the legendary Optimo duo, and Neil Landstrumm (a.k.a. Neil Sutherland), pioneer of “wonky techno.” On paper, the two may seem an odd pair, as McIvor has perhaps a less frenetic touch than his counterpart, but they’ve nicely complemented each other on editions for Nonplus and Shipwrec. Essentially, Doubleheart’s tracks are less wild than one might expect from Sutherland, and sit a lot closer to the kind of odd, driving electro likely to be found on an Optimo mix. Roots, the pair’s third EP and first for the High Sheen imprint, exemplifies this formula.

The title track’s weaving, whispering groove is laced with a vocoder, which ends up dominating the track. Like many of the best uses of the instrument, it’s virtually wordless, becoming a kind of vocal-toned synthesizer, and at one point repeating in such a way that it almost resembles a guitar. “Bruise” follows up that track’s ominousness with a stepping arrangement, replete with jacking claps and gargantuan bass drops. A recurring, shrilly icy Kraftwerkian melody is complemented by computerized blips and cascading strings, while Doubleheart makes sure no part stays too locked down. While the pace on “Ghent” is a bit slower, it allows the duo to let its more playful instincts surface. Opening with stabs straight out of Master P’s “Make ‘Em Say Uhh!,” the track a converges a variety of arcade-game-style synthlines. Finally, “Blast” ups the speed again. Its rhythm is mostly nondescript, and once again, zany stabs make an appearance. But its main discombobulated synthline is undeniably the highlight, twisting helix-like through the track’s central plateau. Roots changes on a dime, offering a sometimes bewildering range of sounds, but it would be silly to expect otherwise from two artists who have based their careers on just that.

Actress White-Label 12″ to See Wide Release

It felt almost like an early Christmas when news arrived in December of 2012 that enigmatic techno manipulator Actress quietly released a white-label 12″ called Silver Cloud, but it was probably more disappointing when fans realized that the limited-edition record sold out almost immediately. Today, however, we’re told that the artist born Darren Cunningham is giving that three-track record a wide release via his own Werkdiscs label. If you missed it the first time, the Silver Cloud 12″—from which the ambling “Voodoo Posse Chronic Illusion” is lifted—is once again available for purchase, with the digital package arriving on February 4. You can watch the video for a snippet of the aforementioned Actress track before then, below.

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James Blake Announces North American Tour, Promises New Album in 2013

The divisive producer, songwriter, and singer James Blake has announced two months’ worth of North American tour dates for this spring, also confirming that his sophomore full-length album will be released later this year. The as-yet-unnamed LP is set to appear via the Republic label in the coming months, and—from the sound of the press release—is most likely completed, as Blake is now in the process of “preparing to unveil the details” of the forthcoming record. In the meantime, the UK wunderkind has a rather extensive tour planned throughout April and May, as well as an appearance at this year’s Coachella festival, the full dates for which you can check out below.

4/16 San Francisco, CA, The Mezzanine
4/17 San Francisco, CA, The Mezzanine
4/18 Santa Cruz, CA, Rio Theater
4/23 Seattle, WA, Neptune
4/24 Portland, OR, Wonder Ballroom
4/25 Vancouver, BC, Commodore
4/27 Salt Lake City, UT, Depot
4/28 Denver, CO, Ogden Theater
4/29 Kansa City, MO, Liberty Hall
5/1 Minneapolis, MN, First Avenue
5/2 Chicago, IL, Metro
5/3 Detroit, MI, Majestic Theater
5/4 Toronto, ON, Danforth Music Hall
5/6 Montreal, QB, Metropolis
5/8 Boston, MA, House of Blues
5/9 New York, NY, Terminal 5
5/11 Philadelphia, PA, TLA
5/12 Washington, D.C., 9:30 Club
5/13 Chapel Hill, NC, Cat’s Cradle
5/14 Atlanta, GA, Masquerade

Simian Mobile Disco to Release Live Album

UK producers James Ford and Jas Shaw (a.k.a. Simian Mobile Disco) have announced their first live album since 2008’s Live in Japan. With the unambiguously simple title Live, the album features a handful of tracks from last year’s dancefloor-friendly and XLR8R Pick’d Unpatterns LP, all recorded in a single, unedited take at a Philadelphia performance from early last December. As the pair is undoubtedly applauded for its outstanding live shows, Live will purportedly capture the trademarks of SMD’s techno-driven, analogue-heavy sets, with on-the-fly reworkings of some of the outfit’s more well-known numbers—such as “The Beat,” “Hustler,” and “Cruel Intentions.” You can get a taste of SMD’s live sound in the clip from last year’s FYF Fest embedded below, where you can also view the album art and tracklist. You’ll have to wait until April 15 for Live‘s release via the duo’s own Delicacies imprint.

1 – Your Love Ain’t Fair / Run Theme
2 – A Species Out of Control
3 – Unfixed
4 – Supermoon
5 – Cerulean
6 – It’s the Beat
7 – Skin Cracker
8 – Hustler (Jam)
9 – Aspic
10 – Wooden
11 – Seraphim
12 – Cruel Intentions
13 – Interference
14 – Put Your Hands Together
15 – Sleep Deprivation

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