Pop-leaning experimental house producer Mano Le Tough is set to inaugurate a new imprint with fellow Irishman The Drifter, called Maeve. The label will kick off with a two-track EP from Berlin producer Baikal, entitled Just You and Me (artwork above), which is due for release on July 30. According to the label, “In an age of endless releases and labels, Maeve aims to release beautiful, special records that will last in the hearts of the public.” Stemming from their successful club night in Berlin, Passion Beat, the Irish duo have embarked upon this project as an extension of their DJing and set selections. A clip of the EP’s title track is streaming below, or you can take a look at the podcast Mano Le Tough helmed for us earlier this year for a glimpse into the type of sounds that will likely feature on the new Maeve imprint.
FACT has unleashed its latest mix, this time from Manchester-based techno stalwart Claro Intelecto (a.k.a. Mark Stewart). The hour-long session is divided into three parts, all of which showcase Stewart’s own productions under the Claro Intelecto moniker, his “integrated project of moving images, graphic design, and music.” The opening section, a “radio-style” portion that features four of Stewart’s tunes played in full, is followed by a live set he performed at Berlin’s Panorama Bar and then an “ambient” closing segment. You can stream or download the mix, which premiered here, as well as peep the tracklist, below.
01. Second Blood 02. Untitled / Zooloft Records (Claro Intelecto Remix) 03. It’s Getting Late 04. Old Station Park ………………………… (Live Mix from Panorama Bar) 05. House Crew Pt1 (dub edit) 06. House Crew Pt2 (shit edit) 07. New Life / Raid (meg’o mix) 08. Ignore 09. Dependant ……………………….. 10. Blind Side ……………………….. Ambient End 11. Winter Hill 12. Still Here 13. Quiet Life
Detroit techno mainstay Robert Hood has announced he will release the third installment of his Nighttime World series toward the end of September. Called Motor: Nighttime World 3, the LP was inspired by the 2010 documentary Requiem for Detroit?, and features 12 cuts dedicated to the Alabama-based DJ/producer’s hometown. Roughly 12 years after the second installment of the Nighttime World series was released on Hood’s own M-Plant imprint, Belgian label Music Man will drop Motor on September 17. You can take a look at the artwork and tracklist before then, below. (via Resident Advisor)
01. The Exodos 02. Motor City 03. Better Life 04. The Wheel 05. Black Technician 06. Learning 07. Drive (The Age Of Automation) 08. Torque One 09. Hate Transmissions 10. Slow Motion Katrina? 11. Assembly 12. A Time To Rebuild
Vancouver is a hotbed for electronic music, and one of its practitioners, HxdB (pictured above), has provided a remix for the new record from Max Ulis & Self Evident, Eastsiders. Out soon via Tenpin, HxdB’s remix of the record’s title track is a bewildering trap door of a dance tune that seems to take advantage of not only the stereo field, but a vertical aural axis that drops frequencies in and out with startlingly smooth precision. One can almost picture an endless hallway out of a Lewis Carroll novel guiding the tune’s progression, sounds flying by the listener’s peripheral vision as the eternal-yet-blissful chase for meaning continues. This is indeed a DJ track, but a refreshingly off-kilter and zoned-in one at that. Be sure to check out the other remixes accompanying the Eastsiders EP, including jams from LuckyMe‘s Prison Garde and Fade to Mind‘s Cedaa, after the jump.
In his review of New Jack Techno, the recently released compilation from Tiga’s Turbo label, contributor Andrew Gaerig referenced Gingy & Bordello‘s “Iron & Water” as a “standout track” from the 10-song record. The same tune both kicks off and names the production duo’s new EP, and is paired with two other equally solid cuts of forward-looking techno. Before the Iron & Water EP is released on July 9, you can take a listen to the whole thing in the player below. And be sure to keep your eyes peeled for the follow-up EP of remixes, featuring reworks from the likes of Locked Groove and Bubblin’ Up producer Kevin McPhee, which will drop on July 23 via Turbo.
UK producer FunkinEven has been relatively quiet in 2012—he’s only released a single 12″ on his own Apron Records imprint—but that hasn’t diminished the enthusiasm for his vintage-flavored and occasionally acid-drenched creations. Granted, he’s experimented with various sounds and styles since first emerging in 2009 with the “Kleer” single on Eglo, but acid has often been one of FunkinEven’s calling cards. As such, we thought it might be interesting to pick his brain and see if he could put together a list of some of his favorite acid cuts. With any luck, he’ll pull out a few of these tunes at the XLR8R-sponsored Dimensions Festival, which is happening in September and features a stacked line-up of performers. Until then, we’ll have to content ourselves with these YouTube clips and FunkinEven’s thoughts about each selection.
Jaquarius “Love Is Happiness”
This is probably my favourite acid tune, complete madness. It sounds like an experiment recorded “in the moment,” messing around with a few knobs, vibing out, [and] making the clouds thunder. This is a very rare, expensive record, released in 1988 [and] written by Jaquarius. Chicago!
Phuture “Acid Tracks”
The birth of acid house using the Roland TB-303 the proper way and not for its failed history as a guitar accompaniment. This song is deep and progressive. It’s perfect on the dancefloor after 3 a.m., [when] it traps you in its bassline and [the] squealing frequencies that you hear from the resonance and cutoff 303 knobs tweaking. This one takes you on a real journey! Released in 1987 and written by Herbert J, DJ Pierre, [and Spanky]. Chicago!
Marcellus Pittman “There’s Somebody Out There”
Absolutely love this track, it kind of reminds me of Phuture’s “Acid Tracks.” [There’s a] similar arrangement and vibe, [it ‘s] real deep! As it says on the tin, “There’s Somebody Out There.” Yes! It feels like a communication to another dimension, a morse code to another planet or other beings! Released in 2007, written by Marcellus Pittman. Detroit!
TNT “New Love”
This is a straight-to-the-point, raw acid tune. I love to play this out, it works all the time. [There’s] a long drum intro, then all of a sudden, a loud, aggressive 303 line drops in and pulls the crowd to scream! DOPE! Released in 2007, written by TNT. Detroit!
Marcus Mixx “Psychousic”
This man really knows how to work Roland gear, especially the TR-707. Anything he does is real “nuts” and you have to have real “guts” to play his shit. The first time I heard Theo Parrish play this at Plastic People, my mind exploded. I had to have this 12″ immediately. Recorded in 1987, released in 2007, and written by Marcus Mixx. Chicago!
Violet is a Portuguese producer and former Red Bull Music Academy participant with a penchant for smooth, Detroit-styled house music. On this remix by newcomers Photonz, however, the dark, sensuous touch of Violet’s original “Palmas” is dabbed with a touch of woozy-eyed gravitas that sees strings, pads, and vocoder synths detuning in a wave pool of heat-addled hysteria. The track is anchored assuredly by Photonz’s slamming four-by-four beat, which crisply propells the remix through seasick passages, tropical sunrises, and a few closing moments of pure early ’90s grooves. “Palmas (Photonz Remix)” is off of a new EP from Violet, called Collective Data, which dropped digitally today by Ukrainian imprint Wicked Bass. Have a listen to a preview of the EP after the jump, and check out the tracklist while you’re at it.
1. Guincho 2. Black River 3. Palmas 4. Palmas (Photonz Remix) 5. Palmas (Cardopusher Remix)
“Honey Badger,” the lead track off Metahuman, the debut full-length from Eprom, is articulated, tight, shiny, and round; a morning flight through a Vancouver psilocybin skyscape, a crispy dip into a cascading waterfall of thoughtfully hacked 0s and 1s underscored by a bucephalus bouncing ball of sub-bass. Much nicer than the cutthroat African animal (and YouTube sensation) from which its name derives, the track is a sensational intro to an album that dabbles in various popular flavors of the moment (dubstep, trap, 8-bit) while succumbing to the clichés of none. If these 13 tracks have anything in common besides a love of low end, it’s a mostly glossy sheen on the highs—the California sun bouncing off a candy-painted car creeping into the sunset at the end of the world.
Like Yoshi in the sky with diamonds, this record oozes, bleeps and pulsates for the souls of a videogame generation. And fear not, there is more than enough squelchy, digital bass in this piece to keep the stoned speaker-skankers happy—from the screw-faced gangster grime of “Prototype” to the android G-funk of “The Golden Planet” and the blown-out squat and wobble of “Sun Death.” But like West Coast beat-scene contemporaries Salva, Dnae Beats, and Low Limit, Eprom uses wobbles and LFOs simply as highlight colors in a palette chiefly composed of rubbery kicks, demanding claps, and lots of large, neon-hued synths. These elements comprise album highlights like the “Regis Chilbin,” a cybersonic wet dream of ping-ponging videogame bleeps, and “Can Control,” a Dirty South rap workout redone in a restrained Bladerunner stylee.
While the record showcases its heaviest hitters up front, the middle is fleshed out by a suite of computer love songs. “Floating Palace” and “Variations” are playlisted dance numbers for the Legend of Zelda wedding DJ; “Transparency” places baby-doll vocals over a 2-step beat so deconstructed it begs for the “future garage” tag; and “Love Number” is a beachy broken-beat bump ‘n’ flex with undulating synth melodies billowing in the silicon breeze. As singles, these tracks might lose their steam, but they provide a nice break from the rest of Metahuman‘s heavy pumping. Nonetheless, even the mellow numbers are rigorous drum workouts—deep house, this ain’t.
Eprom is named after a memory chip and that certainly shows on Metahuman—the record is full of crystalline computer soundscapes that are beautiful in their artifice and bracing like a hit of computer cleaner, clearing away dusty samples and dues paid. (Recent Lone and Rustie records act to similar effect.) Old-schoolers may balk, but this is music for the block, composed of blocks—there is nothing “classic” here, and there doesn’t need to be.
On the surface, “Gryphon Perc” by Savannah producer Cc (formerly C Powers) is a standardized exercise in contemporary garage: R&B vocals trace around a skipping beat, soft synths tease out of the rhythm, and bulbous sub-bass supplants the kicks to provide some dancefloor legitimacy. Dig deeper, though, and you’ll find a bevy of Hessle-like polyrhythms ricocheting through the tune’s skeleton, providing an ideal framework for the track’s rather looming and all-consuming sub to take control. The groove of the track is thus very deep, and as “Gryphon Perc” snakes its way through a jungle of percussive tricks, that incessant R&B vocal so common in underground dance music today becomes a desperate, cloyingly sweet marker of the song’s evolution from typical to twisted. The Up Wind EP is out now via JASS, and features seven tracks in total, including a remix from fellow Georgia boy Helix. Peep the official video for “K-Share,” another jam off of Cc’s EP, after the jump.
Stemming from the techno mecca of Berlin’s infamous Berghain establishment, “Analogical” offers a healthy dose of grinding, hissing machine sounds from the world of Ostgut Ton. This collaboration between Barker (a.k.a. Voltek) and Baumecker, sees two experimentalists smelting down elements culled from dub, techno, glitch, and ambient to create a breathing and organic production from the rusting remains of a forgotten factory. Barker & Baumecker‘s non-release track arrives ahead of a new LP from the duo, called Transsektoral, which will be available on CD and vinyl on September 10. You can check out the artwork and tracklist for that forthcoming record, after the jump.
01. Sektor 02. Trafo 03. Schlang Bang 04. Crows 05. Tranq 06. No Body 07. Trans_it 08. Databass133? 09. Buttcracker 10. Silo 11. Spur
