At the risk of appearing as if XLR8R is in the midst of a “FaltyDL Week” of sorts, the New York producer who delivered our most recent High Five feature just today has let loose with a full stream of his XLR8R Pick’d Hardcourage LP. Over on SoundCloud, the 10 songs which make up FaltyDL’s new album—out now via Ninja Tune—are now available to listen to in their entirety. It’s an experience we highly recommend, one which can be accomplished simply by heading here.
Following his Shift 002 split-release with German producer Iron Curtis, Chicago-based producer and Coral label head Ultrademon is back with a quick ditty called “Lucky Cat.” Clocking in just under three minutes, the tune is a race to the finish from its onset, the throbbing four-to-the-floor beat dominating the soundscape while it’s reinforced by an energizing pattern of hi-hats and claps. An ecstatic synth melody pulsates alongside percussive vocal sputters, resulting in a layered composition fit for sci-fi soundtracks and dancefloors alike.
Splitting his time between faceless film-score work and the distinct personality he’s built around the Lusine name, Seattle’s Jeff McIlwain has settled into a cozy production schedule, offering up a new album every few years. Taken from the forthcoming The Waiting Room, his first album since 2009’s A Certain Distance, the Ghostly stalwart’s “Another Tomorrow” follows in the footsteps of vocal tracks like his previous album’s “Two Dots.” To be sure, Lusine has good taste in vocalists and melodies, yet it’s also clear that there’s a thin line between well-considered IDM-pop and weedy fedora music à la Frou Frou. Lusine’s production skills are largely responsible for keeping things grounded, paying equal amounts of attention to dance-music details and narrative arc.
The original “Another Tomorrow” is the busiest version found on the EP, but not distinctly the best. Combining filter-swept, undemonstrative vocals, a flickering synth line, and precision-tooled drum programming—with a few neon stabs and other electro kinks thrown in for flavor—the song contrasts deadpan precision and underplayed emotion. In a rare occurrence, the song’s alternative version bests the main mix. Lusine adds three kicks per bar to make a murky, 4/4 pulse that the vocals scrape against and worm into; the technique builds a ravey sense of momentum that seems exaggerated next to the original, but ultimately ends up being more memorable. Jon Convex‘s remix raises the bar even more; keeping things in the pocket with a spotless UK funky beat and vocals pushed behind a vocoder, he finally unleashes a piping arpeggio—a relative of the one that ran through Instra:mental’s remix of Commix’s “Japanese Electronics”—that reinvigorates the track’s by-now-familiar materials. Hanssen‘s remix, however, is by-the-numbers millennial chillout. It pulls apart the original and dips it in jacuzzi water, adding the requisite steel-pan drums and good-natured disco bassline without arriving anywhere memorable. Balearic detours aside, the record goes, quietly and impressively, from strength to strength.
The increasingly prolific UK producer Lil Silva has announced that he will soon be dropping a new record through his own LSWhites imprint, premiering a stream of its two tracks with us before its release next week. Returning to his own white-label imprint for the first time since its debut 12″ appeared in the spring of last year with the brash club sounds of “Gobble That,” Silva will add two slippery, bass-filled tunes—”The Split” and “Venture”—to the label’s run of pristine pieces of white vinyl, limited to 500 copies. You can stream “SoundCloud Edits” of both cuts below, and expect to see the 12″ in stores on January 28.
Burgeoning UK producer Dauwd has just announced that his next release will be a four-track EP called Heat Division, which is set to arrive in the coming months courtesy of his longtime label home Pictures Music and veteran electronic outpost Ghostly. Dauwd’s latest will drop over a year from his most recent record, and is touted as being “uniquely poised between the mechanical automations found in contemporary techno and the warm and texturally organic compositions we have come to expect from [Dauwd].” Word of the record also comes with a stream of its closing track, the deep and percussive “And.” Below, you can stream that song and check out the tracklist and artwork for Dauwd’s Heat Division EP before it’s released on March 12.
1. Heat Division
2. Aqueous
3. Silverse
4. And
Just after Space Dimension Controller announced his forthcoming Welcome to Mikrosector-50 LP, the enigmatic artist has made its first single, “You Can’t Have My Love,” available to stream in full. The tune sees the producer born Jack Hamill indulging in plenty of his usual outer-space and sci-fi themes—not to mention funky techno grooves—as a narrative unfolds between a girl and guy in a club setting. Seeing as how Space Dimension Controller has an unwavering penchant for all things cinematic, you can imagine that his latest track is merely a single scene in the sprawling, overarching story that is Welcome to Mikrosector-50. You can stream “You Can’t Have My Love” before R&S releases it with the rest of the new Space Dimension Controller album on March 4, below.
Burgeoning UK imprint Shifting Peaks is set to celebrate its second year of existence with the release of a new volume of the Nasty Rips and Shifting Peaks compilation series. The forthcoming five-track 12″ (and 17-song digital sampler) features tunes from a number of up-and-coming artists in addition to this rework from Hyperdub affiliate Walton, which serves as the record’s closing cut. Keeping in tact many of the Alicia Keys vocal samples and dark mood of the original, the Manchester-based remixer brings “Keep On” into deeper and denser territory, filling out the tune with a number of ethereal synth patterns and intricately assembled piles of percussion. After giving Walton’s remix a spin, you can check out the full tracklist for the digital package, as well as preview the rest of Nasty Rips and Shifting Peaks Vol. 2, before its release on February 14, after the jump.
Warp-signed outfit Darkstar has shared its video for “Amplified Ease,” which offers an upclose and aquatic portrait of the band taking a dive in the same water tank used by the Skyfall filmmakers. To be sure, the video for “Amplified Ease” is more psychedelic than the latest 007 film, with the band engulfed in a sea of its signature color palette: turquoise, marigold, violet, crimson, and all. But the bright colors ultimately fade, and the visual side of “Amplified Ease” ends on a dark note. The song is taken from the band’s forthcoming News From Nowhere LP, which is now available to stream in its entirety before Warp drops it on February 5.
In the second installment of Portuguese label Enchufada‘s Upper Cuts series, Milan-based DJ/producer Elisa Bee (pictured above) is offering a free download of dancefloor heater “Beggin.” The series began last week with Buraka Som Sistema co-founder Branko‘s collaborative tune with Njena Reddd Foxxx, “(One More) Silly Bitch,” and promises a steady stream of free singles in the coming weeks, with a vinyl release to encompass them all after six months. You can stream and download “Beggin” below.
The Think and Change box set is still over a month from seeing its release via Boddika‘s Nonplus label, but more tunes from its enticing tracklist continue to bubble up online—namely, the latest production from match-made-in-heaven Boddika & Joy Orbison. “&Fate” is the first tune featured on Think and Change, and apparently starts the collection off on exactly the kind of deep, rough-edged house you’d expect from the auspicious pairing. Before Think and Change arrives on February 25, give Boddika & Joy Orbison’s latest a spin in the player below.
