A week ahead of its release, Tracer, the sophomore LP from Brooklyn house duo Teengirl Fantasy, is available to stream online now. We’ve already heard a few of the album’s wooshy cuts, including lead single “Motif,” forward R&B jam “EFX,” and the emotive “End.” Now, before the 10-track record—which features appearances from the likes of Laurel Halo, Panda Bear, and one-time Daft Punk collaborator Romanthony—drops on August 21 via True Panther/R&S, you can listen to Tracer in full, over on NPR.
After helping to reboot dubstep in 2008-2009 with a string of now-classic 12″ releases, London producer Untold (a.k.a. Jack Dunning) has gone on to carve out a pretty idiosyncratic niche for himself within the grey area of bass music. However, even that seems like an awkward descriptor for Untold’s productions these days, especially given his releases on Clone Basement Series and the just-completed Change in a Dynamic Environment trilogy of EPs on his own Hemlock imprint. Call it house or techno or maybe just a retreat away from anything dubstep, Untold’s new stuff may offer shock and awe of a more conservative kind than that of, say, “Anaconda,” but it’s no less effective. Last week, we caught up with Dunning via AIM and asked about his ongoing stylistic evolution; in the process, we also discovered that the real source of his inspiration might very well be happy hardcore.
As a part of its Infiné Exclusive summer compilation, European label Infiné has offered this Max Cooper remix of Agoria‘s “Panta Rei”. The track is an ambling journey of ascending arpeggiated synths with an undeniable groove and infectious energy imbued by the production’s hypnotic repetition. The tight synths pair with reverb-addled claps and a 4/4 kick pattern as the descending bassline helps keep the song well-balanced and structurally sound. The gradually rising “aaah”s and “oooh”s float atop Max Cooper’s mix, and characterize the airy nature of his song. Infiné Exclusive—which also contains remixes from Ben Klock, Sasha, and dOP, among others—is out today, and you can stream the whole thing after the jump.
By all accounts, 2011 was a good year for multi-aliased producer Eric Estornel. Working under his Maceo Plex moniker, he pumped out five singles and an LP, and, in the process, established his status as a serious producer of slick vocal tech-house. However, his wholesale adoption of the Maceo Plex identity came at the expense of a slowed-down release schedule for Maetrik, his older and more “proper” tech-house guise. In 2012, Estornel has attempted to make up for that slack by dropping The Entity EP in January, and now, Unleash the Beast, the first Maetrik release to find its way to his Ellum Audio imprint.
Much like The Entity before it, Unleash the Beast feels like a project of consolidation. Whereas in years past the Maetrik and Maceo Plex monikers could be almost lazily divided into either more techno or house-leaning projects, the new EP combines aspects of the two to arrive at a tastefully done hybrid of both that leans toward the latter.
For instance, “The Poem,” the EP’s big-room a-side, is a tightly controlled roller coaster that plays with the energy expectations of a large dancefloor. A sticky, bongo-accompanied four-to-the-floor pulls down nervous sampled pads seasoned with waves of unintelligible chanting. An infectious bassline—a Maceo Plex calling card—ties the mix together in time to make space for a resampling of “Dis Poem,”Mutaburuka‘s fierce invocation first canonized by Bobby Konders’ house classic “The Poem.” What starts as tracky tech-house becomes a creative homage in the best sense—it’s referential without being derivative.
The convergence between the two identities continues with the pop tech-house of “Walk Alone (Maceo Plex Revenge).” Estornel himself takes center stage, playing with the titular statement through characteristically club-ready and cool, Maceo Plex-like vocal riffs. In truth, it might as well be a Maceo Plex tune, the only thing hinting towards Maetrik being the song’s punctuating blasts of synthesized fog horn.
Of all the tracks on the EP, “To The Top” is the most Maetrik-like. Sounding like a direct sequel to The Entity b-side “Asteroid Funk,” that song’s deep-voiced character is reprised, this time accompanied by a coil of angular hits wrapped around the EP’s toughest sound palette. However, it’s still less dissonant and more accessible than its predecessor. Gone is the abrasive metal-on-metal techno undercurrent, replaced instead by a more dubby atmosphere with house drums fused to deadstock ’80s-electro cowbell.
Unleash The Beast might then mark a new direction for Estornel. Like some advanced stage of multiple-personality disorder, it seems as though his alter-egos have begun collaborating with one another. So far, that’s meant a move towards Maceo Plex-like club tunes, resulting here in three tracks that could each become as anthems in their own right.
Ever since Touch silently slipped into the bass music scene back in February, the decidedly mysterious artist has periodically put out tracks that seem to materialize from the aether. He (or she?) first caught our attention with two sparse works, “Lost” and “Scent,” and returns after some months (which the artist spent focusing on another project) with new track “Success.” It’s definitely proven something about the producer: Touch’s style is just as hard to pin down as its identity. “Success” is quite different from the tunesmith’s previous productions, but is no less bass-heavy. A hypnotic and catchy vocal melody forms the track’s core, anchoring the mix as heavy drums and various percussion elements rattle and tumble about.
This coming fall, Dre Skull’s Mixpak label is set to release the first volume of a new series titled Mixpak Pressure, which will pay homage to riddims—something the Brooklyn record hub is undoubtedly known for—with each individual volume focusing on a different theme and sound. Kicking off the series, Mixpak Pressure Volume One (artwork above) is dedicated to Southern Rap instrumentals of all variations, featuring tunes from beatmakers like Grizzly signee Melé, Club Cheval’s Sam Tiba, Philly-based producer Kreuger, and Brooklyn’s Sleepyhead. Before the 10-track compilation drops on September 25, you can check out the tracklist, as well as stream and download one of its tunes, below.
1 Melé “Stage 2”
2 Krueger “Trunkin”
3 Matt Shadetek “The Machines”
4 Lucid “Transet”
5 Sam Tiba “Dem Thirsty”
6 Dark Ages “Amnesia Houz”
7 Mr. Mitch “Badman Wheel”
8 ¡El Cucuy! “Thug Theogony”
9 Strange VIP “Black Mirror Infinity”
10 Sleepyhead “Hit Em”
In the six months since Germany’s Essáy put out his proper debut single, Morning Mountain, via the budding Glyph label, the 21-year-old producer born Simon Schilling has proven himself to be a skilled purveyor of what he calls “emotional electronic music.” He’s since dropped the free Distance & Lights EP via Cut, and now, he’s following it up with a new offering. Crying At Day/Night is due out on August 20, and features this “Alternate Edit” of one of the title tracks. On this track, Essáy’s self-proclaimed term for his musical style rings true without a hint of pretension; the production really is heavily steeped in feeling. As soaring, beautifully textured synths swirl overhead and slowly swoop down to envelop the mix, resonant claps propel the stomping beat forward into a realm far beyond descriptors such as “chill.”
In this recent interview, BBC Radio 1 DJ Heidi talks with longtime friend and techno icon Richie Hawtin about the artist’s life and musical career from his start as Plastikman up to where he is today living in Berlin. Listen below to hear the two reminisce on early times when Hawtin would dig through his father’s record collection, take frequent trips to Detroit to explore the record stores and clubs in the blossoming city, and how for him, starting to DJ was actually “sort of an accident.” Hawtin goes on to explain the reason for his move to New York, and also talks in detail about the early success of Plastikman, as well as his legendary warehouse parties in Detroit. The interview features appearances from Seth Troxler, a few Detroit legends—such as Jeff Mills, Carl Craig, and Juan Atkins—as well as Hawtin’s own father and brother.
After releasing the overly (and commendably) ambitious Six Cups of Rebel album this year, Norwegian space-disco veteran Lindstrøm will follow his LP with a new 12″ (and an album, purportedly) of what sounds like somewhat more typical fare for the producer. Featured here, the synth-heavy “Rà-àkõ-st” was mixed by fellow Nord and disco obsessive Todd Terje, and marks a welcome return to the kinds of expansive dancefloor music we grew to love on Lindstrøm’s early singles.
Pioneer—whose professional-grade mixers and CDJs have stood as the club-industry standard for years now—has introduced a new, wireless DJ system, the XDJ-Aero.
Apparently intended for the “home DJ,” the freshly announced units consist of two channels worth of digital control to be used with its main feature—the ability to wirelessly play audio stored on a number of devices such as a mobile phone, tablet, or laptop. This can be done using an existing wireless network, or if need be, the XDJ-Aero is also capable of creating its own wireless network. In addition to its Wi-Fi abilities, the XDJ-Aero can serve as a stand-alone two-channel mixer (which can be used with the more traditional CDJs and turntables) complete with the usual Pioneer FX and DJ tools, including the Beat Sync and Auto Mix features. Furthermore, DJs can also utilize the unit’s USB port to play WAV files from a USB stick on both channels of the device, and its various controls can be utilized as a MIDI controller for Traktor as well as an HID controller for other DJ softwares.
Of course, why a Wi-Fi-capable DJ system is all that necessary is a point ripe for debate, as it seems to bring about some questions regarding sound quality, the inherent issues of wireless networks, and, well, just plain laziness. It’s still however hard to argue with the fact that the XDJ-Aero does—at least technologically speaking—represent another step towards the future in the world of DJ equipment. Below, you can check a considerably ridiculous video featuring the XDJ-Aero to get a closer look at the shiny new unit.
