Lokiboi has supplied us with a steady stream of tunes over the past few months, and with each successive track, he consistently proves himself to be a tough artist to pin down. On his latest offering, “Ghetto Bitch,” the Russian-born London resident crafts a bass-heavy sound you could reasonably label as house. Heavy kicks stomp underneath the steady tap of cymbals as Lokiboi flips a raunchy-yet-infectious sample that intones “ghetto bitch.”
UK disco-house stalwart Daniel Berman has recently enjoyed a surge in acclaim for his Red Rack’Em project. His tracks under that alias are simultaneously classicist and experimental, moving with a bumpy grace that recalls the fêted house scenes of Detroit and Amsterdam in equal measure. With the amount of emphasis on Red Rack’Em, it’s easy to forget that Berman first made his name on a string of edits his Discogs page refers to as “naughty pirate soul.” His work as Hot Coins—a moniker last heard from in 2009—is distinctively slower and more low slung, filtering those edits’ influence into cushioned modern disco tracks. Geek Emotions (Remixes) represents Berman’s first effort to revive the name, though its choice of remixers hews much closer to the Red Rack’Em sound.
With no original to complement these remixes, Berman leaves the listener in the dark about new Hot Coins material. It does apparently offer a wealth of possibilities, at least in the able hands of Ajukaja and Gerry Read. Ajukaja (a.k.a. Raul Saaremets) might be a new name, but he’s evidently well established in the Tallinn, Estonia scene, running parties and recently releasing a 10″ alongside Maria Minerva. His take on the title track builds on a raw pound, swiftly introducing vocal chops and an organ motif that repeats throughout the piece. The latter plays like a homespun take on Maya Jane Coles’s “Little One,” its descending melody both catchy and considered enough to remain perpetually in the foreground. The organ gets progressively scratchier until it’s broken up into wisps, while the vocal develops into a calm monologue which implores, “I need your help to work out who is who.”
Gerry Read’s take is similarly blunt, though considerably less hooky. Apart from sporadic stops and starts, the track’s rhythm remains straightforward, leaving space for the producer to slide a variety of wonky elements into the mix. Read most noticeably deploys an acid line throughout much of the track, but rather than resorting to the typical tweaks, he uses it as a bassline, keeping its gurgle smothered. To augment this, he adds a frantically wobbling synth, background static, and corroded pads, as well as clips of the same vocal sample that Saaremets uses. If it weren’t for its sturdy rhythm section, the track would constantly threaten to collapse, as its sounds seem forged out of the most unwieldy debris Read could find. Both he and Saaremets make heady use of “Geek Emotions,” and while Berman’s original remains a mystery, it’s hard to quibble with such inventive previews as these.
Top Billin-affiliated artist Wolfhaus has an EP dropping in the coming weeks called Sons of Asgard, which sounds largely in line with much of the hip-hop-influenced beats we’ve been hearing lately. “Bowl of Trax,” however, plays on the lighter side of the genre, as it’s characterized by layers of smooth and melodic synths, quick hi-hats, and a minimal bassline. And although the track is primarily soft around the edges, it does reach moments of intensity, like when some Ikonika-style synth chords break into the mix. After getting your fill of Wolfhaus’ new tune, you can check out his secondDubbed & Screwed mix, after the jump.
Last week, we introduced the world to our new advice columnist, Nick Hook. His weekly dispatch, Hi, Doctor Nick! begins in September, but we want to remind the XLR8R faithful to send in their questions before his inbox becomes hopelessly overstuffed.
Remember, Nick Hook is one of those guys who’s been almost everywhere and knows almost everyone. He can talk gear. He can talk DJing. He can talk production techniques. He can talk fashion. He can talk romance. Quite simply, the guy can talk. That’s why we hired him.
If you have a question, inquiry, or old-fashioned cry for help, send it in to Doctor Nick as soon as possible. (Side note: yes, we’re well aware that Nick Hook is not an actual doctor.) Drop him a line at doctornick@xlr8r.com and just wait for the knowledge to flow.
Ahead of the release of his newest EP, Supaplex (artwork above), Russian beat-scene stalwart Pixelord (a.k.a. Alexey Devyanin) has given away an exclusive VIP edit of one of that record’s tunes. The track is a mellower and more subdued take on “Freeze the Star,” opens with vocal stabs, light piano keys, and heavy 808 rhythms before shifting into an ethereal duet between pitched-up R&B couplets and heavily treated hip-hop samples. You can also stream a preview mix of Pixelord’s Supaplex EP, which drops on September 17 via Civil Music, after the jump.
Rising UK tunesmith Citizen just unveiled his latest music video, a clip for the title track from his excellent Room Service EP (out now via Love Fever). Featuring clips of scantily clad women being doused with milk and moving slowly to Citizen’s bubbling house tune, the images shown here—created by The Au—are as equally smooth and sensuous as Citizen’s deep grooves and certainly more graphic.
With previous releases on Hotflush and Planet E, Paul Woolford will soon add to his growing catalog with a record for Los Angeles-based label Halocyan. The Pursuit EP—described in the press release as “no-nonsense dance music in the house-driven bass idiom”—is set to drop on September 4 as part of the imprint’s ongoing 12” series, which has already produced records from the likes of xxxy and Chrissy Murderbot. The limited-edition vinyl release of Paul Woolford’s EP will feature the tracks “Pursuit” and “Crank Call,” while the digital version will include an extra tune, called “5meO.” You can stream clips of the two vinyl cuts, below.
The latest from Amsterdam’s fledging Audio Culture imprint taps Montreal producer Adam Hodgins (a.k.a. Iron Galaxy) for his debut single. Making use of a formula not too far off from fellow Montrealite Jacques Greene, Hodgins’ seven-minute “Attention Seeker” is a truly impressive debut that not only serves as the label’s strongest release to date, but also further reveals the depth of Montreal’s still-burgeoning electronic-music scene.
There’s nothing necessarily groundbreaking about “Attention Seeker” (which is a true single, having no b-side accompaniment). Listeners familiar with the more plush and sensual garage-indebted outings of Greene, Julio Bashmore, and the like will recognize many familiar elements—lush chords, bubbling bass, acid-tinged melodies, and re-pitched vocal phrases among them. Still, Hodgins’ track never feels too derivative, his personality shining throughout with a dip in tempo well below 120 bpm and a vibrant swing that marks the tune’s entire run. Essentially, the song can be broken down into three separate movements, which are not just breakdowns or rearrangements of elements, but genuine sections where new themes and rhythms are introduced. From the dense chords, swung snares, and bouncing bassline of the first three-and-a-half minutes, the tune effortlessly falls into an airy progression, landing on a more contemplative and blissful tone while the drums—now complete with rolling snares and clattering hats—keep the dancefloor involved. Finally, “Attention Seeker” winds down in its final minute with a deliciously acid-tweaked bassline, spinning around as the synths, melodies, and beat are methodically stripped back until the song is bare.
The beauty of “Attention Seeker” lies in how imperceptible and natural in their flow these transitions are, so much so that the almost eight-minute track feels like one cohesive piece of work. Each section is immensely dense and alluring, to the point that they’re easy to get lost in, but Hodgins still manages to pull the listener through the separate movements in expert fashion, never startling or revealing any glimpses of the machines at work behind the scenes. With “Attention Seeker,” Hodgins has offered up one of the most unexpected and distinct debuts of the year. And considering the tune is left to stand all on its own (even appearing as a single-sided 12″ for the vinyl junkies), Hodgins’ first release leaves us all the more wanting.
Finland’s Albert Swarm (a.k.a. Pietu Arvola) first wowed us last summer with his Held EP, a collection of productions that occupied a dimension between beat music, ambient, and classically minded sounds. Now, the Helsinki-based producer has given us an exclusive taste of his second offering, the seven-track Wake EP. “Things Fold Into Themselves” is a wholly genre-defying affair; its lurching beat pulses underneath a thick cloud of lush, emotive synth washes and flourishes. Keep an eye out for Wake, which will drop on September 4 via Brooklyn imprint Ceremony.
Next up on the release schedule of Scuba’s Hotflush label is a four-track 12″ (five-track digital release) from an anonymous pair of producers calling themselves NeferTT. The only information we have on the duo comes from the press release for its forthcoming Blue Skies Red Soil EP, which says, “Both producers have become synonymous with a distinct and versatile approach to music making. Between them, they have covered everything from hip-hop, dubstep, drone, UKG, soul, jungle, broken-beat and electronica in the body of their own previous productions,” before going on to say that the artists’ new work is more “dancefloor-oriented” and focused on “irresistible groove and lush melody.” NeferTT’s debut offering will drop on September 10.
