Derrick May and Jimmy Edgar Team Up for ‘We Love Detroit’ Comp

Detroit techno godfather Derrick May (pictured above) has teamed up with new-school star Jimmy Edgar to put together a compilation that highlights the history and influence of their city’s legendary scene. The collection, aptly called We Love Detroit, combines May’s classic picks with some fresher selections from Edgar, and, as a result, the tracklist features cuts from innovators like John Beltran and Carl Craig alongside rising artists from around the world like Kyle Hall, KiNK, and Lando Kal. We Love Recordings won’t release the record until December 3, but in the meantime, you can check out the artwork and tracklist for We Love Detroit below.

01. John Beltran “Synaptic Transmission”
02. Yotam Avni “Pentimento”
03. Petar Dundov “Distant Shores”
04. KiNK “Hand Made (Dub Mix)”
05. Kai Alce “Power Thru Pt. 3 (Mush’s Sax Dub)”
06. Deep’A & Biri “Hova”
07. Carl Craig “Sandstorms”
08. Frederico Grazzini “Nova”
09. Benny Rodriguez “It’s a Spiritual Thing”
10. Andres “New For U”
11. Jimmy Edgar “Let Yrself Be”
12. Lando Kal “Clockin'”
13. Jimmy Edgar “Semierotic”
14. Magda “Late Night Woodward”
15. Kyle Hall & Kero “Zug Island”
16. Coyote Clean Up “Mount Babe Bricks”
17. Noel Jackson “That You Love Me”
18. Darling Farah “Body”
19. Magic Touch “Niks Groove (feat. N Dawson)”
20. Kris Wadsworth “Connection”
21. Axiom Crux “When Summer Doesn’t Come”

Offshore “Breeze”

London beatmaker Offshore flirts with mainstream hip-hop territory on his new song, “Breeze,” which sounds more like 2010’s “Round and Round” than his recent “Summer Hits” tune. Here, the producer’s wavering synth sounds tumble up and down the scale while more pronounced horns lay out a stately melody, but even with rapidfire hi-hats and punchy kicks working out the subdued dirty-south groove, the song still manages to feel sparse. “Breeze” is the lead cut from Offshore’s forthcoming 14-track mini-LP for Big Dada, called Bake Haus, which you can preview more of before it’s released on November 27, after the jump.

Breeze

Breeze

Listen to Lukid’s New LP for Werk Discs

The week before London sample wrangler Lukid drops his Lonely at the Top LP via Actress’ Werk Discs imprint, you can listen to all of the 12-track album. Lukid’s collection of smoky, hypnotic house and techno sounds right at home on Darren Cunningham’s label, as its cyclical rhythms and mangled samples bring to mind moments from both Hazyville and Spalzsh (even tracks like “U.S.S.R.” and “Snow Theme” touch on the subtle beauty of R.I.P.), but certainly aren’t without their own unique flourishes. Before Lonely at the Top is released on October 22, you can hear it in full over on Resident Advisor.

Video: Dam Mantle “RGB”

Glasgow-based producer Dam Mantle (a.k.a. Tom Marshallsay) has just released the video for his song “RGB,” another track lifted off of his recently released Brothers Fowl LP for Gold Panda’s Notown label. The video appears to be as delicate and fragile as the tune itself, showcasing an array of blurry footage of a distraught couple separated by some unknown circumstances. We see the man in a shirt and tie, nervously smoking cigarettes in and around a city while the woman travels from the concrete surroundings to the beach. As the clip plays on, we wonder more about why the pair is separated when the occasional subtitle begs questions like, “Where did you go? Where are you? Am I dreaming?”

Kid Smpl “But I Don’t”

Ahead of his upcoming debut LP, Skylight, 22-year-old Seattle producer Kid Smpl (a.k.a. Joey Butler) sent over its first leak as a preview of what to expect when the album drops on November 12 via Hush Hush. Much like Butler’s previous tunes, “But I Don’t” is quiet and meditative, with sparse claps and light hi-hat ticks firing off over the top of a subtle kick pattern. Perhaps the most striking element of the tune, however, is the heartbreaking vocal samples. Kid Smpl seems to know it, too, as he makes those sounds glow brightly from underneath sullen strings and a broad layer of bass frequencies. You can check out the details of Kid Smpl’s forthcoming album after the jump.

01. Distanced
02. Static
03. Guardian
04. Nearing
05. But I Don’t
06. Escape Pod
07. I Think It’s Gone
08. Star Ocean
09. Promise
10. It Changed
11. Cura
12. We Fled
13. Left There

But I Don’t

Riton and Canblaster Team Up on New EP; Preview it Now

Club Cheval’s Canblaster and London DJ/producer Riton have recently joined forces under the moniker Symphony Hall to collaborate on a one-off EP for French label Marble. Called One Night Stand, the EP boasts two original productions, with vocals on the title track by Jay Norton, and is out now. Before copping the release, you can stream previews of the R&B-laced, synth-heavy tunes, as well as a fresh promo mix from the duo, below.

Dubbel Dutch Preps EP for Mixpak

The Austin-based DJ and producer Dubbel Dutch has announced the forthcoming release of his second EP for Dre Skull‘s Mixpak label, but it won’t be entirely available until 2013. Instead of releasing it all at once, Dubbel Dutch will begin to unleash his Self Help Riddims EP as a series of singles, starting on October 23. According to Mixpak, the record “draws inspiration from dub and dancehall reggae, ethereal grime, and pop music of the African diaspora,” and the producer has whipped together a “mini-mix” to showcase the various influences. The set, which you can stream and download below, includes two tracks from the forthcoming EP alongside several exclusive remixes.

Myrryrs – Falling Arps (Dubbel Dutch Edit)
Dubbel Dutch – Self Help Riddim
Dubbel Dutch – Make it Clap (2012 vers.)
Lady Saw – No Long Talking (Dubbel Dutch Remix)
Dubbel Dutch – Bigshot Stomp Edit
Dubbel Dutch – Rare Earth
Murlo – Quartz
Dubbel Dutch – Brukagyal
DJ Deeon – Face Down Azz Up (Dubbel Dutch Edit)

Hi, Doctor Nick! – Headphones, Analog Synths, and Building a Fanbase

It’s been less than two months since Nick Hook officially joined the XLR8R team, yet his Thursday advice column already feels like a well-established part of the site’s weekly repertoire. Hook may not be an actual doctor, but he’s got plenty of wisdom to share—about music, travel, production, DJing, romance, gear, and just about everything else. Week in and week out, throngs of readers write in to doctornick@xlr8r.com in hopes that the good doctor will kick down some knowledge to them. If you have a question of your own, don’t be shy—just send it in. Otherwise, read on and see Doctor Nick’s thoughts on building a fanbase, analog synths, and headphones.

Hi Doctor Nick,
What’s a good way to get your music out there when you have no fanbase whatsoever, but you know there are people out there who wanna hear that shit?
Starky

What’s good son? Is it dope? Send it to me. I’ll check it out.

Make that shit like Gremlins. Get one fan, turn it into two, keep it multiplying. But make sure you don’t send tracks out prematurely—just cuz you made something doesn’t mean you have to start a SoundCloud and start spamming all of us. Take your time. Listen to what you love. Is your music on that level? Is it bringing something new? If not, that’s totally cool, keep working. It’s our hobby anyways, right? I do feel that video content is more important than ever before. If you have a dope track and a dope video, then you are multiplying the possibility that someone could hear the track. I think Flying Lotus’ video for “Parisian Goldfish” made a bunch of people that would never sit through one of his songs sit through it.

After you have some shit, just get it out there. I don’t know where you live, so that factors in, but in New York, I’m always meeting some cats that have tracks. This kid rolled up to me with a USB key at the Fool’s Gold party. We all wanna hear new shit, especially if you deliver it to us in a way that is non-confrontational. Don’t make us listen to it in your presence, just say, “Hey, here are some tracks. It would be be cool if you peeped them.” If I don’t, don’t kill me, but maybe I will. Sometimes I get wasted and leave the CD or something at the club, but i always try. If I forgot, give it to me again. It’s all good.

Hi Doctor Nick,
How do I turn a Minitaur into a polyphonic synth? I don’t own one yet, but I will soon. It will be my first hardware synth. Thanks in advance.
Anthony

Okay. This is the illest question, so listen. Analog synths are analog for a reason. It’s real. It’s electricity. One oscillator makes one sound. It’s built by hand. Thats what the Minitaur is. Digital, on the other hand, can recreate anything—that’s why it’s polyphonic. Regardless, an analog synth is a great purchase for many reasons. I’ve been working with Moog since 2005—I have a Model D, a Voyager, and a delay pedal. They are the best.

I reached to my man Amos over at Moog and he spit out a few more tips:

Answer 1: You don’t, obviously. 🙂

But if you want to be clever…

Answer 2: Of course it won’t sound or behave anywhere the same, but you can sample the raw sound of the Minotaur and play it polyphonically using Ableton’s simpler or sampler instruments.

Answer 3: You should also try running polyphonic soft synths into the Minitaur’s external input, so you can warm up the sound by running it through the Minitaur’s Moog filter and amplifier.

Hi Doctor Nick,
What are the headphones that sound just like proper big club monitors?
Jonas

To be completely honest, I have NO idea of the answer to this question. The most “exciting” headphones I’ve owned are the AIAIAI ones. The bass is definitely extra loud and it sounds punchy. I’m that guy that’s had every pair of headphones and has then lost them at some point.

Maybe in the comments if people wanna chime in… a real doctor should be honest, right? If you don’t know, you gotta say, “Hey, I don’t know.”

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.

Benoit & Sergio New Ships EP

Though DC-based Benoit & Sergio first debuted their summery, feel-good electronic pop back in 2009, 2011 was the year that Benoit Simon and his studio partner Benjamin Myers (a.k.a. Sergio) officially arrived. Placing high on numerous year-end lists thanks to ever-present dancefloor hits like “Everybody,” a mildly progressive turn for DFA; “Let Me Count the Ways,” which melded both their soulful and techno inclinations; and, of course, “Walk & Talk,” the pair’s career-defining ode to a ketamine-addled girlfriend for Detroit/Berlin label Visionquest. Now, after a year that saw mostly touring and rumors of album work, the playboy producers return to the label that broke them with the New Ships EP, a subtle affair that thoughtfully furthers their position as purveyors of nuanced, pop-leaning house music.

Fully acknowledging where Benoit & Sergio’s biggest success lies, EP opener “Lipstick & Lace” recreates the elastic bass of “Walk & Talk” almost to a tee, clearly aiming to cash in once again. Nevertheless, in comparison to the foggy melancholy of “Walk & Talk,” “Lipstick & Lace” is brighter and more buoyant than its big sister. The song can almost be viewed as a continuation of the storyline, with Benoit & Sergio’s male protagonist coaxing his girl out of her k-hole, getting her dolled up, enticing her out, and bringing her onto the dancefloor. “I’m tired of getting by in this little room/I want to go out tonight and dance with you,” Myers sings, as Talking Heads-like ’80s synth flourishes burst intermittently over the rhythmic march of the drums. A simple piano melody eventually asserts itself, swelling in the track’s final moments with the addition of strings and guitar. It’s a sound that’s quickly becoming signature Benoit & Sergio, and while it is already very familiar here, the plot—for lack of a better word—of the song helps it avoid sounding tired or cliché.

“Lipstick & Lace” isn’t alone in sounding familiar. Swirling with a looped vocal in its slow-burning intro, “Not in Your Nature” immediately recalls the drawn-out crescendo of “Everybody,” but it’s a pleasant reminder rather than a rehash. The same hypnotic appeal is present, but “Not in Your Nature” sheds any potential progressive-house comparisons. Instead, it sets a pace somewhere between leftfield pop and deep house with its funk-groove bassline, intricate mosaic of warm accents, and Myers’ soft croon, which here is one element among many rather than a lead voice in the mix.

The EP’s title track, full of slinking guitar riffs, sunny keys, and blue-eyed soul, could be redubbed “New Yachts” for its nod to yacht-rock originators Hall & Oates. It captures the sentiment more so than being an outright light-rock track, obviously, but there’s still a hint of “Private Eyes” floating around in there. Throbbing with thick bass tones and keeping time with ever-present hand clapping, “New Ships” is a sleeper hit. Pooling Benoit & Sergio’s best qualities, it has all the makings of a rebellious pop tune, defying any of the scene’s tired formulas.

Across this EP, Benoit & Sergio seem comfortable in their own skin, and their own sound. Early work from this twosome didn’t exactly smack of attempts to perfectly recreate a sound, but a song like “Let Me Count the Ways” still comes across as what Benoit & Sergio sound like when they’re making techno, as opposed to simply being an example of what Benoit & Sergio sounds like. With the New Ships EP, the duo’s sound is more than the sum of a few of the producers’ varied influences—from Bryan Ferry and Paul Simon to the oft-referenced Ricardo Villalobos—it’s now something that’s cohesively Simon and Myers’ own. Benoit & Sergio are more decisive at the helm here, and no less ready to set sail on yet another sonic joy ride.

Ametsub “Cloudsfall”

Tokyo-based producer Ametsub just sent over the closing song from this year’s All is Silent LP. The glitchy “Cloudsfall” mixes a dreamy, atmospheric melody, delicate arpeggiations, and pitter-patter rhythms, with echoing horns and aquatic textures filling in the empty spaces. It all makes for a simple-but-moving closer for Amestub’s album, which you can hear more of in the player embedded after the jump.

Cloudsfall

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