Lindstrøm “Ęg-gęd-ōsis (Lemonade Remix)”

We’ve been waiting patiently for the second album of 2012 from Oslo’s Lindstrøm (pictured above) since we discovered it was on the way (and heard its first leak) back in August. Though Smallhans won’t be released via Smalltown Supersound until November 5, we’re treated to Brooklyn trio Lemonade‘s remix of “?g-g?d-?sis,” today, which finds the band infusing Lindstrøm’s new tune with a pretty flare, a boost of bass, and some piping synths. The Norwegian producer has also announced a few US gigs before the release of his next LP; you can peep those tour dates after the jump.

Oct 11 – Miami, FL @ Electric Pickle
Oct 12 – Washington, DC @ U Street Music Hall
Oct 13 – Chicago, IL @ Smart Bar

Eg-ged-osis (Lemonade Remix)

Eg-ged-osis (Lemonade Remix)

Video: Monokle “Swan”

St. Petersburg-based producer Monokle has just released the video for his new track “Swan.” The tune is the single off his forthcoming Saints LP for Ki Records, as well as the Swan EP, from which the Daisuke Tanabe remix we posted last week is lifted. While Monokle’s video is likely nothing you haven’t seen before, it still pairs well with his spacey, up-tempo track, as it features an interstellar CGI trip filled with kaleidoscopic images, spiraling planets, and astrological formations. If you’re feeling “Swan,” look for the aforementioned EP to drop on October 15, with the artist’s Saints album arriving on November 5.

Clicks & Whistles to Release EP via Symbols; Preview it Now

Charlotte duo Clicks & Whistles is set to release its latest EP, called 2 Much Higher, via Kastle‘s Symbols label. The record features four original productions and a remix by Berlin up-and-comer XI. As you can hear in the EP preview below, all of Clicks & Whistle’s tunes manage to retain the duo’s usual high-energy sounds, only this time featuring deeper sonic elements such as moaning vocals, swelling synths, and snappy break-beats. XI’s remix of the title track seems to be the only cut with any kind of half-time vibe. Look for 2 Much Higher to drop on October 23.

01. 2 Much Higher
02. Hightower
03. Waiting 4
04. 2 Much Higher (XI Remix)

Video Premiere: Fulgeance “Square”

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After we shared the French producer’s solid “Wet” track last week, avant-garde beat maestro Fulgeance is now premiering the video for his track “Square,” lifted off his forthcoming Step Thru LP (read our review here), on XLR8R. The piece only furthers our appreciation for the artist’s off-kilter sensibilites, which are vividly portrayed here. Despite what you may think, the footage was not digitally altered; each layer of imagery was shot individually and later collaged together to form the dream-like and spacey sequence. After indulging in this trippy piece, make sure to stream the rest of Fulgeance’s new album before it drops on October 15 via RX:TX, below.

Sei A, Synkro, and More to Feature on Model 500 Remix EP

Last year’s powerful “OFI” single from Detroit techno/electro supergroup Model 500 (pictured above) is about to get a new batch of remixes from the likes of burgeoning UK producers Sei A and Synkro. The five-track OFI (Apollo Mixes) is scheduled to drop on November 12 via R&S sublabel Apollo, the tunes from which are said to “act as a perfect showcase of the contemporary Apollo sound—from woozy, opiate soundscapes to chugging, small-room gems via soulful electronic oddities and bright, driving dancefloor bangers.” Before the record drops next month, you can check out its artwork and tracklist below.

A1. OFI (Sei A Mix)
A2. OFI (Synkro’s Slow Jam Mix)
B1. OFI (Colonel Red Drunken Masta Mix)
B2. OFI (Indigo Transmission Mix)
B3. OFI (Shadowchild and Horx Mix)

Bubblin’ Up: The-Drum

Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood is home to much of the city’s Latino population, but with its ample dive bars and affordable rents, it also attracts a significant cross section of Chicago’s artist and musician community, a small number of which seem to gather regularly at the home and studio of leftfield R&B production duo The-Drum. Made up of roommates Brandon Boom and Jeremiah Chrome, the pair of twenty-somethings often plays host to a number of electronic-music-making peers. On a recent visit, a girl who has performed as a back-up singer and dancer for Grimes and one of the members of glitchy juke outfit Sich Mang were sitting idly, surfing the internet on laptops, and Boom mentioned that Austin Keultjes of Supreme Cuts, another Windy City duo crafting R&B-inflected chillout beats, had just left.

Boom and Chrome like the company. Both have set aside other career aspirations to make music full time and a collaborative spirit runs strong in each of them, especially Chrome, who has already achieved some success with the Italo-disco projects Clique Talk and Valis, the latter of which he’s still active in. Wanting to branch out from synth-based dance music, Chrome approached Boom, at the time just a friend from the neighborhood, toward the end of 2010 about exploring what the two could do with rap and R&B production, specifically with the intention of producing for other artists. “Initially, it was never about making music to put out as our own records,” Boom says. “As soon as we started, it was like, ‘Oh, we’re literally nobodies, nobody is going to mess with us no matter how good the music is,’ so we’re like, ‘Let’s just cut up vocals, change things a little bit, and make it more interesting to put out as our own.'”

Heavy Liquid EP

The two also point to their complex productions as a sticking point with potential vocalists. “We run into a lot of trouble with not wanting to loop stuff that much or repeat the same parts that many times, which is what most beats are built on,” Chrome says. “Pretty quickly, things get so dense that it would have to be some really flexible singer to get on it, especially the early stuff, it’s almost claustrophobically a million sounds at once.” “I remember thinking, oh, this is going to be the most progressive rap track,” the fast-talking Boom adds. “But it’s like, ‘Well, no one could ever rap on this, so…'”

While the move to produce for MCs and singers has been laborious, they are starting to see some progress there, and the time in between has gone a long way toward helping the two hone in on what they want The-Drum to sound like, namely meandering, fluid, and spacey R&B that owes as much to Art of Noise and Philip K. Dick as it does artists like The-Dream and Chicago young blood Jeremih. After beginning 2012 with the excellent Heavy Liquid EP on Audraglint, The-Drum’s recently released Sense Net EP for music-loving New York clothing house Mishka just might be the greatest realization yet of the duo’s artistic vision. Sharing a similar headspace to Bladerunner soundtrack composer Vangelis, songs like “/BLD” recontextualize brooding dystopian atmospherics and cosmic Italo rhythms into syrupy crunk beats that ooze with reverb. Then there’s “/SYS,” which goes further into R&B territory with chipmunked vocal snippets echoing in and out of jittery double-time drums and waves of static warmth.

The EP is a glimpse into The-Drum’s forthcoming full-length, a sci-fi concept record. “Basically, there’s a universe that we created and in that universe there’s a company called Sense Net that’s a pharmaceutical company mixed with a hardware and software developer,” Chrome explains. “Imagine, like, a Videodrome thing where you put this thing on your head and it flashes all these lights and sounds and it’s like, ‘Oh, now I’m high,'” Boom chimes in. This gets to the core of the pair’s musical philosophy: “The primary thing,” Chrome says, “probably more than R&B and rap is the psychedelic-ness of it, trying to be an audio intoxicant. Instead of taking drugs, you can listen to this music.”

Boom and Chrome remain steadfast on applying this idea to tracks for other people. The duo is hard at work on a mixtape that tones down the sci-fi elements in favor of trippy, weightless beats and vocal riffing from, among others, Dave Robertson and Khallee, two up-and-coming Chicago singers The-Drum is keen to champion. They are just the tip of the iceberg, really. The-Drum has aims to approach—and in a few cases, continue to work with—a diverse array of artists, including voguing rapper Le1f, Cakes da Killa, and on a local level, the tough-talking King Louie and south side femcee Sasha Go Hard. Listening to them rattle off one admired MC, singer, producer or musician after another, the sense that these two would like to expand into a collaborative community looms large.

Yet even with like-minded acts like Sich Mang and Supreme Cuts so close at hand, they’re hesitant to call it a scene. “People want there to be a scene because it’s easier to market, but really, it just comes down to us hanging and just sitting around listening to tracks,” Boom says. For these guys, right now at least, it’s just about fostering opportunities to make cool music. “That’s the thing about The-Drum, it’s but a [single] facet of tons of music being made all the time,” Chrome says. “It would be fair to say that 10 to 15 tracks are made on a good week. We kind of figure out what they fit best into afterwards.”

Sixtus Preiss “Samba Feelin Beein This (Cid Rim Remix)”

Sixtus Preiss is about to drop his new Samba Feelin Beein This EP (artwork above) on October 15 via Affine, but in the meantime, we’re treated to this remix of the topsy-turvy title track from fellow Viennese producer and LuckyMe affiliate Cid Rim (who, you may remember, dropped his own EP and music video a couple months back). Here, the artist born Clemens Bacher smooths out some of the rough and chaotic energy of the original production by adding a few layers of luxurious texture while leaving the jazz influences intact.

Samba Feelin Beein This (Cid Rim Remix)

Hi, Doctor Nick! – Finishing Your Tracks and the Evolving Role of the Producer

It’s Thursday, which means it’s time again for everyone’s favorite globe-trotting guru, Nick Hook, to do his thing and pluck a few nuggets of wisdom from his psyche for the benefit of the XLR8R massive. By now, just about everyone knows that Doctor Nick isn’t an actual doctor, but the man sure does keep busy. Just a few days ago, he dropped a free EP, and even though he’s been on his grind spreading the world, he still found the time to answer a couple of questions. Read on, and see his thoughts on how best to finish tracks and the role of the producer in 2012. And of course, those with questions of their own should always feel free to drop him a line at doctornick@xlr8r.com.

Hi Doctor Nick,
I make music nearly every day using Ableton and some analog instruments. However, I can never seem to get a track finished. Most of the time, I get stuck in an eight-bar groove. It seems great at first, but then I quickly lose interest after repeated listening. Any ideas how to move things along and get tracks finished? Is this just procrastination or am I missing something more fundamental? How do you go about the writing/recording process?
Ingy

Have you thought about working with someone else? It could be someone you pay to engineer your sessions, or a collaborator that you could either pay in songwriting credits or by name. For me, I know that I’m not a true solo artist. I grew up in bands, so I get a much higher rush working with people. When you get stuck, they can man the ship. It’s like, drinking alone is kinda cool, but drinking with all your friends is way cooler.

Two of my best production contributions were showing YouTube videos of turtles fucking and John Legend getting a boner onstage. It gets lonely in the studio. Some good energy can become kinetic and that’s when things happen. If that’s not an option, try finding a couple of friends whose opinion you value that can give you constructive feedback. Showing songs in a demo state is extremely difficult sometimes, but just one little suggestion can help so much.

As for my process. Hmmmmm… I wish it was always the same. It just depends what I’m doing and who I’m with. My favorite way to work is to come up with a part or parts, and to bring it into whatever situation so we can make it better. I know my weaknesses too, and I think that is the best way to decide who to work with. I don’t think you are procrastinating, you are probably just really good at certain stuff. Unfortunately, in 2012, we are told that we HAVE to know how to do everything. Back in the day, there was a producer, an engineer, an assistant engineer, an arranger, and now, we’re supposed to be all of those.

Hi Doctor Nick,
What’s your general take on the role of the music producer today? It used to be that there were different and important jobs in the recording studio, each with its own skill set, and now, it seems as though the producer is expected to have all of those skills. I’m wondering what’s better in your opinion: to specialize in one part of the process and hand off your work to the next guy/gal, or to be a jack-of-all-trades, master of none (or one, or some).
Patrick

I think the overall role of the producer is to bring the best out of the person you are working with. To me, that means first understanding the person I’m working with—what sounds make them feel things, what they want me to do, how I speak to them, how I let them get their best work done. Sometimes, it’s chilling in the far corner of the room and letting them do their thing, but also paying attention and leading them to where we need to get to. Other times, it’s programming ALL the drums or playing synths. I look at it as trying to be the ultimate teammate. That means suggesting ideas, and not taking it personal if they don’t like them. If I make you 1% better and you are killing the rest of the 99% and that’s all you need me for, it’s all good. If it’s 50-50, all good. If it’s me 99% and you 1%, all good. The roles switch so fucking fast, and it’s all about knowing how to adapt to them. I’ve slowly learned that every project is so different, and that’s why I love it so much. Recording is such an intimate process, and helping people stay focused and comfortable is really important.

I kinda feel like I suck at everything, but maybe tricked people or something. I’m not sure. There’s no right or wrong really. We are just capturing energy and trying to make it come out of a speaker. To me, it’s also making a snapshot of where life was at that moment for me or my band or whomever I am working with.

The ego is the thing. Learn as much as you can—I am obsessed with trying to become the best I can at all aspects. But when I can’t do something, I feel like it’s my job to call someone in that can do it better or work together with them. I can play bass, mix records, and do all kinds of shit, but that doesn’t mean I have to. Working with females is so different than working with males and to learn how they each work, how to bring the best out of singers, it’s all so fun to me. I kinda equate it to sports in a way—all the parts are so integral. Maybe sometimes one person gets the glory, but if you know you were a part of it, big or small, you don’t give a fuck if people know or not. You can hold that close forever. With every song I have ever been a part of, I can almost go back exactly to the take it was recorded and remember the moment.

Sorry, the doctor is rambling this week. It’s been fucking nuts. The Brainfeeder dudes got me wasted as fuck on Tuesday night, my record came out, I got drunk at the Boiler Room watching dudes get stomped on, and this other dude was just telling me about working with Kraftwerk while fixing my speakers that I blew. That’s life I guess though, right?

Download my shit. See you guys next week.

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.

MJ Cole “Crazy Love (Volta Cab Dub Remix)”

Volta Cab, whose track “Make You Mine” we posted a week ago, is back with a bootleg reworking of MJ Cole’s “Crazy Love.” On his “Dub Remix” of the classic UK garage tune, the Russian producer born Konstantyn Isaev maintains the original melody (strings and all), but adds in his own steamy beat work. Cracking hand claps and thumping bass kicks work out a dancefloor rhythm front and center, while hand drums beat on the sidelines and cymbals ricochet off the layers of synths pushing the classic ’90s vibes.

Crazy Love (Volta Cab Dub Mix)

Chrome Canyon Elemental Themes

The self-directed video for Chrome Canyon‘s “Memories of a Scientist” says everything one might need to know about the Brooklyn artist and recent Stones Throw signee. In the five-minute clip, Chrome Canyon (a.k.a. Morgan Z) paints himself as a frizzy-haired madman, albeit one who’s producing funky sonic experiments with vintage analog synths and mountains of old recording equipment in lieu of explosive chemicals and glass test tubes. The sound and look is a little goofy and dated, but it’s also an excellent study of synth masters from decades past—he draws heavily from Vangelis’ Blade Runner score, Wendy Carlos’ work on Tron, and Giorgio Moroder’s film soundtracks. Sharing their penchant for grand compositions, his debut full-length, Elemental Themes, is a collection of cinematic epics, all of them begging to be set to the kind of cult retro-futuristic sci-fi films he so admires.

Elemental Themes begins where our own world ends, as the synth-powered “Beginnings” feels like the theme to a post-apocalyptic nightmare, with haunting, ethereal vocals layered on top of pummeling live drums. “Legends” has a real Halloween vibe to it, but not in a scary-movie way; it’s more like what one might imagine soundtracking some cheesy b-movie starring mischief-making teenage punks terrorizing the town in sheets with eye holes cut out. The LP’s title track, on the other hand, is immensely creepy, as “Elemental Themes” opens with robotic vocals delivering a sad message of loneliness and isolation before the song dissolves into a jazzy saxophone solo.

“Carfire on the Highway” edges on spooky in a way not unlike Air’s The Virgin Suicides soundtrack. (This is not entirely surprising. Morgan Z employed mastering engineer Nilesh Patel on Elemental Themes, who previously lent his expertise to now-classic Air, Daft Punk, and Pulp albums. As it turns out, the Chrome Canyon LP was his last project; Patel passed away earlier this year.) The record’s booming soundscapes do occasionally give way to minimalist, eerie interludes, like “Cave of Light” and “Sacred Mountain,” both of which build up the emotional intensity of the Chrome Canyon’s intergalactic journey.

Elemental Themes is striking in that Morgan Z has created such a huge, otherworldly sound all on his own, using only analog instruments in his Greenpoint studio. But it’s hard to not feel a little cheated that it’s an audio-only release, particularly given his substantial directing talent and distinct A/V vision, as shown by his DIY music videos for “Memories of a Scientist” and “Branches.” Elemental Themes is a great movie soundtrack—the film just doesn’t exist yet. Perhaps one day, it will.

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