Details of the upcoming EP from Vienna-based, Brazlian producer/DJ/vocalist Joyce Muniz are sparse at best, but the “Mysticdub Mix” of the title track has bubbled up to help give us some idea of what’s in store. This version of “Drop in Pressure” is a deep-house roller sprinkled with pockets of silence that accentuate the starbursts of sound and add to the head-nodding hypnotism of Muniz’s jacking beat. Her three-track Drop in Pressure EP will be a available on vinyl as of September 24, and will see a digital release on October 1, both via 2020 Vision.
While not many developments in the way of brand-spanking-new gear appeared on our radar this week, we still managed to discover a pair of free sample banks and an in-depth Ableton tutorial from Detroit pioneer Mike Huckaby to add to the few bits of news that came down the pipeline over the past seven days .
First, in the land of software:
– As of late, Berlin-based Native Insturments has not been shy when it comes to rolling out new products, both updating its Maschine controller and teasing a new mixer in the past month. This week brought along the announcent of NI’s latest endeavor: a high-end, hardware-emulating set of plug-ins complete with two EQ modules and a “boutique” compressor, called the Premium Tube Series. You can check out the introductory video below.
– Propellerhead’s Figure app for the iPhone and iPad recieved a welcome slew of updates earlier this week—including the addition of a grid to the app’s performance pads, an atonal/chromatic scale mode, and the ability to copy audio from Figure to iOS apps compatible with Audio Copy. Propellerhead also unveiled the incorporation of wireless sync-start techonology, making it possible to simultaneously start and sync Figure along with another iOS compatible device. Best yet, the app is still just $.99.
Two entirely free sample packs made their ways onto the web:
– To celebrate hitting 10,000 likes on his Facebook page, sound designer/DJ/producer Francis Préve offered up a free sample pack (optimized for use with Ableton’s Simpler) of different patches and tones taken from his very own Prophet-8 (a renowned analog synthesizer designed by Dave Smith Instruments). A download of the complete kit and a brief explanation of the various patches buried within can be found here.
– For better or worse, the folks over at the trade magazine/website Music Radar have put together a free sample library of what they’ve deemed as “jackin’ house samples.” While the publication may be far from a reputable authority on house music in general, there’s still bound to be something worthwhile in the pack’s 326 pieces of audio. Right? You can download the zip file of high-quality, WAV-formated drum loops, bass hits, synth stabs, and FX here.
And lastly, a bit of education:
The New York-based Dubspot production school has once again shared an informative tutorial from Detroit legend Mike Huckaby. This time around, Huckaby demonstrates how to create program/patch changes on Native Instruments’ Pro-53 and Massive soft-synths inside of Ableton Live. Let the lesson begin, below.
We’ve got some exclusive premieres, record streams, high-profile remixes, well-crafted DJ sets, unreleased tunes, and more in this week’s edition of Press Play. Take a look after the jump for streams and downloads from the likes of UK darlings The xx, Night Slugs boss L-Vis 1990, The Weeknd collaborator and Jacques Greene affiliate Zodiac, Bulgarian house artist Kink, techno veteran John Tejada, Hotflush signee Sigha, and Brainfeeder’s Lapalux, among others.
This radio rip of Four Tet‘s excellent remix of “Angels” by UK hush-pop trio The xx showed up on Radio1 recently, and is more or less taking over the internet right now.
Posted with the dubious announcement “forthcoming sometime,” this heavy, “submarine” tune premiered on Bok Bok’s recent Rinse FM appearance, and comes from fellow Night Slugs head L-Vis 1990.
Techno veteran John Tejada unleashes his latest LP for Kompakt, The Predicting Machine, as a stream on LA radio station KCRW.
Before he drops his second EP for Brainfeeder, Essex beatmangler Lapalux gives us the first leak from Some Other Time, called “Forgetting and Learning Again,” as a stream and download.
Check out our premiere of a 12″ set to drop on November 24 via Pinch’s oft-reliable Tectonic imprint, V.I.V.E.K’s bass-addled “Against the Tide” b/w “Trinity”.
The latest signee on Jacques Greene‘s Vase label, Zodiac (a.k.a. The Weeknd collaborator Jeremy Rose) previews each of the five moody cuts on his forthcoming self-titled EP.
Here’s a mix from Bulgarian house patron Kink that just landed on our radar, one which the DJ/producer crafted ahead of his appearance next weekend at Parisian club night Social Club.
Burgeoning London minimal technoist Sigha streams the first leak from his forthcoming debut LP for Hotflush, Living with Ghosts.
Magda’s collaborative imprint with March Houle and Troy Pierce, Items & Things, announces the impeding release of an acid-heavy EP from Brazilian duo Click Box, along with this preview of all of its tracks.
Fade to Mind affiliate Massacoormaan delivered the music hub’s second mix in an ongoing series, a 49-minute DJ set that leans heavily on inflated tempos, undulating bass, heavy percussion, and wild sound effects.
The latest offering from rising Turkish talent Biblo (a.k.a. Pinar Uzeltuzenci) wasn’t on her recent Slave to Love EP; in fact, “Redundant Ambience” was released in March, but it only just received the remix treatment from fellow Red Bull Music Academy alumnus Yosi Horikawa (who you may remember from our recent post of his “Bubbles” tune, and is pictured above). As he is seemingly wont to do, the Japanese producer infused Biblo’s track with aquatic vibes, from the watery chords to the submerged vocal samples to the warm ambient crackle that sounds like quiet rainfall. “Redundant Ambience (Yosi Horikawa Remix)” has a lapping beat anchored by bass tones that seem to eminate from plucked strings, which makes the production rock steadily, like it were bobbing on waves in the sea.
As album openers go, one can’t do much better than “Darker Than East,” from Dusk + Blackdown’s 2008 LP, Margins Music. The duo of Dan Frampton and Martin Clark, respectively, didn’t hesitate to put the listener in the scene: “There’s a police siren going perfectly in the background,” Roll Deep’s Target said, introducing his corner of East London as music gradually takes shape around him. Four years after its release, it’s still a bracing gesture, a snippet of audio vérité plunging the listener into the context behind grime and dubstep—styles that, by the time of the album’s release, were already showing signs of deracination. Four years later, it’s a fait accompli: styles originating in hyperspecific situations circle the globe, their social content having been politely effaced. Blackdown’s work as a music critic and blogger is of a piece with his audio output, using deep respect and learning to fuel his creativity. Finding a balance between commentary and originality is a rather involved tightrope walk, one that’s even more impressive for seeming effortless, as it does on records like DJ Sprinkles’ Midtown 120 Blues. Dasaflex, Dusk + Blackdown’s sophomore full-length, might be expected to follow a similar path, but the London duo has instead opted for another route.
Simply put, Dasaflex is on a very different vibe than its predecessor. Its creators have wisely steered clear of trotting out the same South Asian samples—like the ping-ponging tablas and gashes of tambura on “ConFusion”—that fortified the first album’s grime and dubstep framework. In contrast, Dasaflex is a light, even watery album in search of an original take on funky. Those in search of bass weight and urban dread in 2012 would be well advised to seek out Keepers of the Light, an album from the LHF collective released earlier this year on Clark’s Keysound label. (An imprint where the catalog numbers begin, naturally, with LDN.) Unexpectedly, Dasaflex feels like it has its roots in the ether—specifically the duo’s monthly show on UK institution Rinse, where some of the album’s tracks were debuted. Rinse listeners will have more of a grasp on the bouncy brand of bass music Dusk + Blackdown are pursuing here than those who remain tied to their debut LP. Unfortunately, that show offers a more coherent state of the union for bass music than Dasaflex, which also gives few clues as to where the duo are at creatively.
It’s hard to tell where album opener “Lonely Moon (Android Heartbreak)” is meant to go. Vocals by Farrah are a neat callback to her appearances on Margins Music, but the track introduces the album on a weary note. Dusk + Blackdown twist her voice into shiny braids as sub-bass and cold handclaps look for a way to tie everything up, but even after seven minutes, no compelling answer emerges. It’s a moody, post-club stumble home, robotically going through the motions before collapsing into bed. The album gains some momentum after a few interstitial tracks with “Wicked Vibez,” whose choppy snare fills, throbbing bass, and background siren noise sound like a rave heard from a room over. The title track also delivers the party with some restraint, a big, goofy timpani pattern and neon synths punctuating the chopped-up vocal sample. But on “Next Generation,” the only track to feature an MC rapping rather than providing sound bites, is a preachy misstep, humorless and self-consciously “conscious.”
Dusk + Blackdown could only have made Dasaflex by letting go of their earlier collaboration. It sounds like they’re doing what comes naturally, as opposed to looking back. But even when approached with no expectations, their second album lacks a distinct identity. If the last four years were a journey through the night for these two, the dawn on the other side is all loose ends, with only a few engaging moments here and there.
Kompakt co-owner and veteran DJ/producer Michael Mayer has just announced the dates for his upcoming world tour. His string of performances coincides with the impending release of the German artist’s highly anticipated sophomore album, Mantasy. Extended sets are planned for Barcelona’s Nitsa and London’s Fabric, both of which are clubs that have had a serious impact on Mayer’s life and career, and appearances will also be made in Helsinki, Sydney, Copenhagen, Paris, and beyond. Before the “Mantasy” world tour gets underway on October 13 in Köln, you can check out the rest of the tour dates below.
October 13.10 – Köln @ Gewölbe 19.10 – Barcelona @ Nitsa Club 20.10 – Madrid @ Mondo 27.10 – Porto @ Gare Club
November 09.11 – Helsinki @ Adams 23.11 – Leeds @ Wire 24.11 – Liverpool @ Williams Tunnel 30.11 – Sydney @ Oxford Art Factory
December 01.12 – Melbourne @ The Prince Bandroom 21.12 – Offenbach @ Robert Johnson 22.12 – Genf @ Weetamix 28.12 – Kopenhagen @ Culture Box 29.12 – Paris @ Rex Club
San-Francisco based DJ/producer Wentworth is giving away his latest percussion-driven original tune, “Space Samba.” The production is lifted off of his Mother Records crew’s forthcoming compilation, an EP called Buff Tip. The four-track offering features more original music from artists Nil, Mountaincount, and King’s Ransom, and will available in its entirety on September 25, four days before the crew’s upcoming party at Raven on September 29. Wentworth’s contribution plays with the classic rhythms of samba, adding in futuristic percussion over the top and growling sub-bass tones underneath it all.
The latest offering from Pixelord (a.k.a. Alexey Devyanin), the four-track Supaplex EP, sounds as busy as the producer’s release schedule. The Moscow resident has pumped out at least three records per year since 2010, and Supaplex marks his third release in 2012. The EP bursts out of the gate at a breakneck juke pace with the skittering track “Been Lookin’,” and from there on out, Pixelord careens through cramped and paranoid moods with dark, bustling soundscapes, as if Devyanin was in a rush to show off a whole lot of sounds in the course of just a few songs.
The most troublesome word here is cramped, as the cuts on the Supaplex EP tend to sound overpopulated. It seems like there are noises flying out of every 16th note on “Been Lookin'” and “Paperball,” the EP’s other high-tempo offering, and even the slower songs are stacked with a jumble of sounds. It can sound a little overbearing and indulgent at times, as if Pixelord didn’t know when to stop adding to the mix. “Paperball” is alive with the berserk energy of a million sounds jostling for attention: ticking hi-hats, several different gabbering vocal samples, laser zaps, manic bass tones, trickling water drops, and buzzing synths are all firing off at once. Even “Freeze The Star,” which takes off at a relatively mellower tempo, is loud and crammed with brassy sounds that compete with one another, like coarse mechanical cranks and blasts of honking low end.
However, there are moments where Pixelord gives his tracks a little room to stretch out, particularly at the end of “Freeze The Star” and “Vibrate,” where most of the track melts away to show off a few well-selected components. The cacophony of “Freeze The Star” buries a pleasant, pattering hand drum beat until the end, when most of the louder sounds melt away. “Vibrate,” which builds from a dizzy and wobbling synth line not unlike that on Ramadanman’s “Core,” is the least packed song on the EP. The track isn’t overbearing, as it instead builds into a headrush of oncoming synths, drum hits, and pointed notes before falling off into craters of bass with sharp water droplets and pockets of silence.
Despite all the hubbub on Supaplex, Pixelord never sounds out of control. His productions may be crowded and sound a bit overstuffed at times, but the beats are sturdy and the multitude of elements are stacked precisely. Even when “Been Lookin'” is raining with cascading arpeggios, lurching percussion, and strangled vocal samples, it sounds like the producer is stretching himself to his limit—one wrong move and the whole song would tumble down a cliff, but Pixelord never swerves off course. Even at a reckless, full-tilt sprint, he remains nimble and airtight.
We can barely remember when LA beatsmith Nosaj Thing released his debut LP, Drift, though the internet reminds us that it was sometime back in 2009. Three years later (practically a lifetime on the internet), we’ve received word that producer Jason Chung has finished work on his sophomore album, and is offering its first single beforehand. The moody and ethereal “Eclipse/Blue” features Kazu Makino of indie trio Blonde Redhead, and will drop as a 10″ next month via Innovative Leisure. The record precedes the 2013 release of Nosaj Thing’s Home LP, which is said to be full of “signature cinematic soundscapes that explore the space from where Drift left off,” and can be streamed in full below.
The Philadelphia-based producer formerly known as Kid Queasy (a.k.a. Tim Shaw) has emerged with a fresh EP under his new moniker, Bombé. We last heard from Shaw back in July, when he contributed the dark, skittering “Spaces” to the Summer Crisis compilation curated by French outpost B.YRSLF Division, and this time he has offered up the title track from his brand-new Eclipse EP. The tune balances moodier sounds, like hooting notes and guttural bass tones, with lighter and prettier elements, like perky hand drums and glittering synth splashes. And if you’re digging the sounds of “Eclipse,” make sure to grab the rest of Bombé’s EP for free over on the B.YRSLF Bandcamp page, here.
