Press Play: Nicolas Jaar, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Kyle Hall, FaltyDL, and More

Today’s installment of Press Play equally features heavy hitters and enticing obscurities from across the spectrum of electronic music. The eclectic collection of tunes below contains bits of hard-edged techno, delicate production work, bubbling house grooves, never-before-heard remixes, and plenty of sounds inbetween, courtesy of artists like Nicolas Jaar, Citizen, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Gavin Russom, FaltyDL, and Matmos, among others.

In a seemingly unlikely pairing, New York wunderkind Nicolas Jaar reworks Cat Power’s new single, “Cherokee.”

An edit of “Power” taken from Fantastic Mr. Fox‘s forthcoming 12″ for Black Acre.

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London’s Citizen delivered this stellar DJ set of funky house and techno as part of Dummy‘s ongoing mix series.

Kyle Hall‘s and Funkineven‘s collaborative project, Funkinevil, shares the sinister “Night” cut from its forthcoming 12″ for Wild Oats.

Multifaceted NYC tunesmith FaltyDL shares his excellent new remix of “Thrown” for Icelandic techno duo Kiasmos.

A hefty bit of analog madness from NYC’s Gavin Russom in the form of an instrumental remix for Alice Cohen‘s “Mauve Mood.”

Belgian experimental record hub Vlek shares the latest installment of its free digital release series, courtesy of German producer Tiga Bakso.

Our first taste of the strange new material on its way from Baltimore sound wranglers Matmos.

Chicago’s Kranky label unveils the airy first leak taken from Loscil‘s forthcoming Sketches From New Brighton LP.

A drum-heavy version of DJ Hilti‘s “Feel So Good,” courtesy of Kansas City remixer Norrit and French label B.Yrslf Division.

Indian Wells‘ entry into a Bon Iver remix contest features plenty of moody vibes and crisp, bubbly rhythms.

Robot Koch & Rain Dog “Never Will”

The title of Berlin beat maestro Robot Koch‘s upcoming release, Cosmic Waves (artwork above), derives from the concept that everyone and everything is connected, and the production process behind the record demonstrates that the name is apt. Robot Koch sent half-finished tunes to artists both on and off the Project: Mooncircle roster, asking them to fill in the blanks, the results of which exhibit two styles—no matter how different—joining together as one. Some names on the Cosmic Waves tracklist, such as Kuhn and Submerse, might be instantly recognizable to you, and, if you’ve been diligently keeping up with XLR8R for the past month, you’ll probably recognize Rain Dog, too. The young London-based tunesmith’s “Think of You” ranked as our most popular download in July by an absolute landslide, and now, “Never Will,” his collaboration with Robot Koch, features more of the spacious production style we’ve come to expect from him. Here, the duo lays down an energetic, garage-tinged shuffle, which they smother in ample servings of atmospheric synths. After nabbing this track, you can stream a preview of the rest of the EP before it drops on August 31, after the jump.

Never Will

Otto Von Shirach Supermeng

Otto Von Shirach was always one of breakcore’s and glitch’s most memorable icons (which was no small feat in a genre full of big personalities). Though that scene has sort of burnt itself to a crisp, he’s risen out of the ashes of the ’00s with both his strange sense of humor and his bass face firmly intact, as shown both by the mix he put together for this week’s XLR8Rpodcast and Supermeng, his new album for Modeselektor’s Monkeytown imprint. In a little under 45 minutes, the latter finds the Miami-based producer peacocking his way through a trunk-rattling selection of leftfield Miami bass, dubstep, and moombahton tunes on a truly bizarre ride to the center of the sexyverse.

Latin flavors are central to everything Otto does, and this album sets the tone with “Salpica (Miami),” a spicy cutlet of 808s and Cuban slang that gives Magic Mike and DJ Laz a run for their money. This track does for Miami bass what Diplo’s “Express Yourself” did for New Orleans bounce—it pays tribute to a classic genre, it boasts an infectious video, and it’s designed to get all the skanky girls p-popping on the dancefloor. In fact, the best moments on this album are those that recall the 1980s in Magic City, like “Breathe the Beat,” with its Kraftwerkian touches and choppy breaks, and “Supermeng,” where CX Kidtronic and Mr. Feathers get all Afrika Bambaataa over a beat that will have the old-school heads pop-locking into the stratosphere.

Elsewhere, Otto proves he can make wobble basslines and Dutch squeaks good enough to comepete with the big-name rave jocks, but refuses to stick to any formulas whatsoever. “The Blob” and “Quasar” are dubstep tunes rife with the kind of talking basslines and skanking drums that Skrillex and Flux Pavilion have built careers out of, but Otto cuts into the nu-metal seriousness of it all with geeky B-movie touches, including odd samples, bleepy robot melodies, and some of his own intergalactic vocals. “Graviton,” a moombahton-meets-bounce track with enough glow to rock the next rave massive, can’t resist defying convention with weird breakdowns and thousands of vocal samples flying into your ears from all angles; “When Dinosaurs Rule the Earth” is an infernally bleeping, Munchi-inspired moombahton banger… about dinosaurs… with screeching digital pterodactyls in it.

Not one to leave any stone on the beach of vibes unturned, Supermeng also features some futuristic surf punk songs with an uplifting and supernatural bent. “Mind Power” is a “Hey Mickey” for a shifty sock hop on the moon, a New Agey-yet-technological update of “Rock Lobster”-era B-52s. “Ultimate Universe” is a terrific outerspace rockabilly anthem helmed by a cartoon superhero hoverboarding through the galaxy high on Adam Ant’s hair gel and Nintendo power-ups—seriously, folks, this one will really get you pumped in the morning.

Supermeng is a hyperspeed cockfight—an album so frenzied and spastic and brightly colored it’s hard to imagine where one might listen to it apart from a dancefloor. Overly cool and polished music for graphic designers this isn’t—but its twisted art-school aesthetics might mean it’s too out there for the candy kids as well. Whether or not you can rock with the Schirach, he deserves acclaim for remaining a rave provocateur, for starting weird and staying weird. In a landscape polarized between overly serious post-genres and overly obvious Beatport bangers, it’s refreshing that someone is not afraid to paint outside the lines, meng.

Rap Class “Brothers Superhero”

When Southern California’s beat scene eventually rooted itself in their Pacific Northwestern stomping grounds, the members of Portland’s Dropping Gems collective quickly established themselves as some of the West Coast’s foremost purveyors of spacey instrumental hip-hop beats. Now, with the upcoming release of Rap Class‘ Greatest Hits, the label will be taking listeners on a trip into its early history, a period stretching from 2006 through 2009, when Rap Class (born John Kammerle) and label head Aaron Meola were college students living in Olympia, WA. Even back then, the Dropping Gems collective showed promise; just listen to record closer “Brothers Superhero,” one of the oldest tracks on the release. The drums and the vocal sample (which were entirely created and arranged on a Korg Electribe) are relatively understated, allowing the wistful tones of the persistent flute lead to resonate throughout the mix, making for a fitting farewell at the end of a trip down memory lane. You can nab Greatest Hits, which drops on August 22, through a “name your price” download over on Dropping Gems’ Bandcamp.

Brothers Superhero

J. Bevin “Deep (feat. Marisa)”

With only a couple releases on T.Williams‘ and S.E.F’s now-defunct Deep Teknologi label from years past, London producer J. Bevin finally has some new stuff in the works. One of the latest productions to surface from the artist is “Deep (feat. Marisa),” an appropriately titled track with a deep, soulful dance groove that’s filled with funky drum patterns underlining the otherwise synth-heavy instrumentation. Singer Marisa’s voice is mostly chopped and looped, but nonetheless evokes a vibe reminiscent of the ’80s and complimentary to J. Bevin’s neon-hued melodies.

J.Bevin – Deep Ft Marisa

Deep (feat. Marisa)

Video: LV feat. Okmalumkoolkat “Spitting Cobra”

Ahead of the August 27 release of its forthcoming album, Sebenza, London production trio LV has shared a new video for the slow, synth-laden album cut “Spitting Cobra,” a collaboration with Johannesburg MC and frequent cohort Okmalumkoolkat, who recently also teamed up with LV on the Get a Grip EP and bonus non-album cut “Inhliziyo Yami Izibozi.” The video, shot in black and white in Okmalumkoolkat’s native South Africa, isn’t much different from most rap videos we’ve seen (the cut features a heavy hip-hop influence, breaking away from the hybrid funky/kwaito rhythms that normally dominate LV and Okmalumkoolkat collaborations); it features the MC (who’s since ditched the high-top fade he sported in the video for his break-out collaboration with LV, “Boomslang”) hanging out in what appears to be a courtyard or a parking lot. It’s frankly a little underwhelming, especially after the lively dance moves and shots of downtown and southside Johannesburg that featured in the much more exciting video for “Sebenza,” but we’re happy to hear the new music nonetheless.

Check Out Two New Tracks From Robert Hood

Last month, we learned that Detroit techno legend Robert Hood was planning to release Motor: Nighttime World 3 on September 17 via Music Man. Now, the very first single from that record, “Torque One” b/w “Movement,” has been bestowed upon us. It’s been nearly 12 years since the last installment of Nighttime World dropped via Hood’s M-Plant label, and a lot has happened over that span of time, such as Hood’s move from Detroit to Alabama and the release of Requiem for Detroit?, Julien Temple’s 2010 documentary about the Motor City’s industrial collapse, which was a direct influence on Motor: Nighttime World 3. Below, you can stream “Torque One” b/w “Movement” before the 12″ drops on August 20.

Mala “Cuba Electronic” b/w “Calle F”

Mala‘s highly anticipated Mala in Cuba LP is still more than a month away, but the dubstep don has elected to let loose a couple of tracks ahead of its release. Crafted after the veteran producer traveled to Cuba and worked with local musicians while visiting the island nation, both “Cuba Electronic” and “Calle F” find him trying on a new sound palette, one that’s certainly more Latin, obviously, but could also be deemed more organic than past Mala efforts. That being said, the man’s talent for weaving together infectious drum patterns hasn’t dissipated, nor has his penchant for underpinning his tracks with heavy layers of sub-bass. In short, Mala may be trying some new things here, but he’s still Mala, and it’s hard to find serious fault with that.

Of the two selections, “Cuba Electronic” is the vaguely clubbier offering. It’s definitely the more dramatic number, pairing stop-and-start arrays of rolling tribal drums over a dense soup of low-end rumblings. Aside from some light synths, there’s not much in the way of melody, but there is one particularly unnerving element that repeats throughout the track; it could be a tweaked drum or horn sound, but in Mala’s hands, it’s more like the bellowing of a rudely awakened prehistoric beast. Combined with the song’s intense percussion and pulsing bass notes, it gives “Cuba Electronic” an especially dark and moody edge, and cements the song alongside some of Mala’s best work.

“Calle F” is much further afield, reflecting the track’s Cuban roots while also indulging in some distinctly jazz flavors. Punctuated by syncopated piano melodies and kinetic trumpet bursts, the production is built atop a jazzily swaying drum pattern, ultimately coming across as a smokey and soulful song that’s surprisingly relaxed, even with its subtly chunky bassline. While it’s unlikely to surface on many dancefloors, it’s not hard to imagine groove-oriented heads enjoying “Calle F” while tracing its roots back through the decades.

Alizzz “Cruel”

Following up his first release, Neon Lights, Spanish producer Alizzz has announced his second offering, a four-track record called Loud, which is out exclusively on Beatport today, courtesy of the MofoHifi label. The EP dances somewhere between the realms of dubstep, synth-driven ’80s music, and R&B, a sound which Alizz exhibits at full force on “Cruel.” The tunesmith packs loud kicks, layers of harmonic synths, snappy vocal samples, and high-pitched chimes into his rhythmic and wavy soundscape, somehow managing to not sound too cramped or overblown while Alizzz exercises his deft musicality.

02 Alizzz – Cruel

02 Cruel

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