Taken from the first release to arrive from the new label founded by Austrian music hub and party organizer Disko404, “Going To” is a quality example of the style of bubbling and tasteful club sounds you can expect on Sun People‘s and Franjazzco‘s brand-new split EP (artwork above). The production is one of two which Austrian tunesmith Sun People contributed to the release, and boasts a smoothly melodic background over which the skittering beats and repetitious vocal samples quickly and gracefully play together. You can find out what the rest of Disko404’s first 12″ sounds like by diving into the player embedded after the jump.
Barcelonan producers Cardopusher and Nehuen have joined forces on a new enterprise, a record label by the name of Classicworks, which will soon be officially inaugurated with a split EP from the two artists. The six-track Split 01 (artwork above) is scheduled to arrive on July 23, and will feature two original productions of “twisted, retro-futuristic club music” from each of the label heads, along with remixes from NYC tunesmith Nick Hook and the Hyperdub affiliate DVA. Before Classicwork’s first record drops, you can check out a teaser video and preview streams of Cardopusher’s and Nehuen’s EP, below.
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Over the years, many artists have been tagged as shape-shifters, but few have taken it as far as Rene Pawlowitz. Known primarily as Shed, the German producer has been blurring the lines between techno, house, and dubby exploration for nearly a decade. On July 27, he’ll be offering up his third full-length album as Shed, The Killer, via Modeselektor’s 50 Weapons imprint, but that hasn’t stopped Pawlowitz from continuing to release music under a variety of aliases, something he’s done throughout much of his career. Curious about the motives behind all these pseudonyms, we recently sat down with the reclusive artist and asked him to break down his various personas in his own words.
Shed
It’s the main artist name, probably because it’s the first one. I don’t know why I chose this name. It’s kind of funny, but it’s okay now for me. It comes from Shedding the Past, the first album. It was a model for me, to leave the past behind me. That’s why it’s Shed.
Rene Pawlowitz
There are no releases with my real name. [Some of my tracks are listed on Discogs] as “produced by” my real name, but it’s not an artist name or a name for a project or something.
Head High
There was a record two years ago, the first one. It was actually just [a vehicle for] making good old music from the ’90s, banging house music. That’s why the name of the label is Power House. At Hard Wax, I was talking with DJ Pete about early-’90s techno with a powerful bass drum, [people like] DJ Duke from New York, or a lot of records from the Netherlands from this time. We always called it “power house.” I thought, “I have to do it—power house.” Why I chose the name Head High, I don’t know.
WK7
There is no difference between Head High and WK7. For the second record, I chose another name. I don’t know, just to make something new so people don’t just think it’s another Head High record. WK7 was a district in Schwedt, a city I lived in during the ’90s. In Eastern Germany, WK is for wohnkomplex, which means “living district.” So it was Living District Number 7.
STP
That was actually just the abbreviation for Shedding the Past. I think there was only one record [with that name], The Fall EP. I made this new sub-label for Soloaction, Subsolo, so that’s why I thought I needed to do another alias. There was no reason, as always.
EQD/Wax
It was in 2007, and the first [EQD] record sold really well for me. Too well, because I didn’t think anyone would be into this music that much. It was hand-stamped and kind of mysterious, and it was fun, because nobody knew who it was. It was more fun than doing a record as Shed, because everyone knew [those records were made by] me. EQD was something special for me, and it was very exciting. Half a year later came Wax. [I made a plan:] on Christmas I would do an EQD record, and in summer a Wax record. Now, I’ve stopped EQD. I think I stopped, I’m not really sure. I made this CD, Equalized #111, and I think it’s a good end.
Wax was more for raw, very simple house tracks for the dancefloor. Just for making good music for DJing. There was no trying to do something new or whatever, it was just making raw beats for the floor. In the end, Wax is more house music, and EQD was techno. I didn’t choose each alias for a different style. There was no plan, it just ended up that way.
The Panamax Project
That is my worst-selling record. I had changed my distribution, I was going through ST Holdings in the UK. I thought, “This is really cool, I’m at the right point for this kind of music,” but it wasn’t. I don’t know why, I like it a lot. It’s my view of dubstep or a bit of UK garage or UK bass music. But it wasn’t going very well, so I decided to stop it before I do another one. Maybe later.
The Traveller
I made a very quick decision to release a 12″ on Ostgut Ton. There was another artist who was late with their music for this [particular release] slot. I was sending Nick [Höppner, the label manager,] some files that I thought would be good for Ostgut, and he said, “[They are good], and we can do [the record] now.” With the [next] Shed LP coming out on 50 Weapons only four months later, I thought it wouldn’t be cool to have a Shed record on Ostgut Ton. I wanted to have a cut between these two things, and that’s why [I released it as] The Traveller. I’m not sure if there’s going to be anything else [under this name]. I don’t think so.
Other Names?
I know some more, but you don’t. [laughs] Maybe people do know, I’m not sure. I won’t talk about it. It’s nothing special. There are some more. Maybe two, three.
Foxes is London-based singer Lousia Rose Allen (pictured above), whose latest single, “Warrior,” gets the remix treatment here courtesy of forward-thinking garage producer T. Williams. As opposed to the original track’s anthemic, piano-driven sound, this remix does away with just all of Allen’s dramatics—exchanging the instrumentation for sticky basslines, snappy dance rhythms, and plenty of spaced-out atmospherics before Williams settles snippets of the vocalist’s hooks into his infectious grooves.
The We Jostle EP is the second release from the UK blog/online magazine Sonic Router, which has elected to build its catalog by moving in a completely different direction than its inaugural release, offering a four-track EP of percussive, stripped-back club tunes from newcomer Wattville.
Nineteen-year-old Matthew Evans (a.k.a. Wattville) cites Afro-Caribbean rhythms as a major inspiration for this EP. (First exposed to these sounds as a child, they continue to enter his life, in large part due to the markets found around Evans’ current place of residence in London’s Elephant & Castle neighborhood). The influence is fairly obvious to pick out, as two of the three originals offered on We Jostle predominantly feature various patterns of hand drums, timbales, shakers, tambourines, and the like. However, Wattville does not build tracks merely by sampling global rhythms; instead, he uses their sounds as a jumping-off point to delve into a more modern, club-oriented context. For instance, the title track restricts the percussive elements to a strict grid and joins them up with a heavy kick as well as crisp claps and hats, before eventually lacing the tune with a sequence of detuned synth bells, which run up and down in a slightly atonal pattern. Later on, “Clan” presents a similar concoction, amassing timbales, shakers, and hand drums, with a precise quantization that is only reinforced by the inclusion of skittering hats and a 4/4 kick to fill in the low end.
Even when Evans sheds his tendency for layerings of real-world percussion, as on “Etching,” the result is still a no-frills approach to efficient UK dance music. Fortunately, the We Jostle EP largely works on this front, leaving DJs with a welcome choice between using the tunes simply as tools for transitions or as proper tracks in their own right. Wattville is no doubt under the impression that, at times, less is more on the dancefloor, which is likely why he largely stays out of the way of the way once his potent rhythms are in full swing. This proves to be a wise decision.
Possibly in an attempt to balance out the sparing productions presented before it, the Archie Pelago trio is enlisted to rework “Clan.” Adding a funky bassline and helpings of orchestrated woodwinds to the mix, the Brooklyn outfit continually lands on intriguing, Ethiopian jazz-style chords, making for an appropriately fleshed-out antidote to conclude the EP.
Released today, Outliers, Vol. 1: Iceland is a 19-track compilation/soundtrack which accompanies a collaborative film based on the countryside of Iceland and its inhabitants. The film was created by Chicago collective Scenic, but its musical counterpart involves a wide array of producers, including Shigeto, Asura, Eskmo, Sweatson Klank, and, featured here, LA-based artist Deru. “Titles” is one of six contributions that the producer born Benjamin Wynn composed for Outliers‘ soundtrack, and exhibits a crunchy and tense kind of melodic electronic music that one could imagine pairing ideally with black-and-white footage of Iceland’s gorgeous landscape. And if you happen to be in the Chicago area tomorrow evening and would like to check out the premiere of this multimedia, audio/visual project, you can check out details for the event and grab tickets here.
Over the past few weeks, the internet has been abuzz with excitement over the launch of weekly Boiler Room sessions in the US, with episodes alternating each week between New York and Los Angeles. One of this summer’s first LA installments was headlined by the unofficial debut of Sons of the Morning, a collaborative project from Teebs and Prefuse 73. Given that the duo has yet to release any music, this performance offered the first real chance to get a glimpse of what Sons of the Morning actually sounded like. Before today, the set was only seen by those who watched the show live, but now, video of the performance is premiering here on XLR8R. As it happens, the next round of the Boiler Room LA will be happening next Tuesday, July 10; the complete lineup and all the details can be found below.
It looks like Squarepusher isn’t the only one preparing for the Bloc festival this weekend, as UK production duo Hot City just unleashed a free “bootleg” featuring a bit of old-school jungle madness to celebrate tonight’s events. Appropriately called “Bloc Phuture Era” (we think), this hyperactive jam deals exclusively with hard-hitting Amen breaks, punishing low end, and erie movie samples—effectively giving Hot City’s tune a decidedly stripped-down and classic vibe.
NYC’s dark industrial outfit Nihiti dropped its For Ostland record back in May via Lo Bit Landscapes, and adds to that offering of ominous techno explorations a remix which follows in a similar vein. From producer Womanhattan, this version of “Ghosts and Lovers” is cold and rigid to the core, subsisting purely on tense, shadowy atmospheres and mechanic pulses as monochromatic as For Ostland‘s cover art (pictured above).
No matter what your thoughts are about whichever incarnation of Squarepusher UK mastermind Tom Jenkinson is currently pushing, chances are you once loved the man’s music the most when he was making mutated jungle and IDM tunes. It’s a love that prompted our recent High Five feature with the veteran producer, and it’s likely the same love that prompted London’s Bloc festival to ask him put together a mix of Squarepusher material from 1996 through 2002 before he brought his astounding new live show to its weekend event. Yes, this exciting trip down memory lane compiles highlights from classic releases like Feed Me Weird Things, Big Loada, Hard Normal Daddy, Go Plastic, and beyond. You can stream the whole thing for a limited time, courtesy of Bloc, in the player below, where you’ll find the tracklist as well.
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1. “F-Train” / from Do You Know Squarepusher / 2002 2. “North Circular” / from Feed Me Weird Things / 1996 3. “Problem Child” / from Port Rhombus / 1996 4. “Carwreck (Squarepusher Remix)” (orig. by Funky Porcini) / from Carweck EP / 1996 5. “50 Cycles” / from Ultravisitor / 2003 6. “The Exploding Psychology” / from Go Plastic / 2001 7. “Massif (Stay Strong)” / from Big Loada / 1997 8. “Chin Hippy” / from Hard Normal Daddy / 1997 9. “Kill Robok” / from Do You Know Squarepusher / 2002 10. “Anstromm Feck 4” / from Do You Know Squarepusher / 2002 11. “The Modern Bass Guitar’” / from Hello Everything / 2006 12. “Metteng Excuske v1.2” / from Go Plastic / 2001 13. “Journey To Reedham” / from Big Loada / 1997 14. “My Red Hot Car” / from Go Plastic / 2001
