Last Mood “Tell You Something”

Rotterdam producer Last Mood is set to drop his latest effort, the Warehouse EP (artwork above), in the coming days, and has passed along “Tell You Something” to serve as our first taste. Clearly, even the Netherlands is rightfully infatuated with the classic Detroit sound, and Last Mood does an admirable job folding that influence into his work, as the swimming electric piano, rounded bassline, and grooving swing employed here have their roots in the classic Midwest sound. “Tell You Something” will appear alongside four other original tunes and a pair of remixes when the Warehouse EP drops June 18 via the Dirt Crew imprint.

last mood_tell you something

Disclosure The Face EP

Brotherly duo Disclosure has been on quite a run over the past two years, offering an output of singles and remixes that seemed to get better with each new edition. Now, the pair of young Londoners has issued the first extended document of its production talents, The Face EP, which, across four tracks, proves that songs like recent a-side “Tenderly” and the duo’s super-slick Jesse Ware remix were no flukes. Disclosure has found an almost irresistible middle ground between pop-minded club music and house-indebted bass music, and—with this EP as our most substantial indication yet—the duo’s flood of quality material appears to be holding steady.

Initial efforts found Disclosure’s stylistic aim morphing and evolving with each release, but more recently Disclosure appears to have settled into a sound. Granted, a few hints of the post-dubstep influence that marked the pair’s early productions remain, namely in the form of click-clack, swung percussion, chords touched with a palpable sense of mood, and the occasional pitched vocal snippet. But beyond that, very little of Disclosure’s past remains on this EP. The first three tunes float between 119 and 125 bpm and utilize a four-on-the-floor kick drum to anchor the proceedings, while the final cut, “Control,” lays down a funky, 2-step drum pattern and pushes the tempo just beyond 130 bpm.

While The Face‘s drum programming is nothing short of stellar (especially when Disclosure flexes its talent for assembling intricate percussion patterns), it is really the musical aspects that make these tunes so rewarding. Whether it’s an effortlessly natural gift or a methodical process that developed over time, Disclosure has an undeniable knack for crafting infectious songs that are simultaneously soulful, jazzy, and remarkably accessible. In particular, the chords and bass on The Face stand out as the pillars of this hybrid sound—opener “Boiling” lets its bassline roll and turn in the open slots as floaty chords circle above, while “What’s In Your Head” and “Livid Up” present much more syncopated rhythms between their warm organ chords and rounded basslines. Due to the strength of these progressions (and their occasional melodic accompaniment), Disclosure bears comparison to fellow UK bass/pop-smith SBTRKT, in that both acts have found a way to mix what works in the club with what works for a larger iPod-oriented audience without sacrificing their stylistic integrity. In doing so, Disclosure seems likely to be a group that acts as an intermediary between the two worlds, serving to bring a crowd of people to the UK bass and club-music world that otherwise may not have ended up there.

That said, this EP is not flawless, meaning that there are still a few bones worth picking with The Face. First of all, one can’t help but notice how similar these four tracks sound—they share almost identical sonic elements (housey organs, gliding chords, smoothed-over bass) and a similar mood that exists somewhere between soulful liveliness and R&B-style contemplation. In fact, if this EP had gone beyond its 20-minute run with another track along the same vein, it may have been too much of the same. Fortunately though, Disclosure keeps it short and sweet, preventing those similarities from feeling overworked or needlessly redundant before the EP is through. The vocal contributions which bookend the EP are also a bit underwhelming; although Sinead Harnett’s appearance on “Boiling” and Ria Ritchie’s contribution to “Control” don’t take away from the songs, they also are not particularly engaging, leaving one to wonder how effective they’d be over tracks that weren’t so strong to begin with.

Regardless of these minor issues, The Face EP is as strong of an official debut EP as any group could ask for. In truth, Disclosure has put together an effort on which every song is likely to receive its share of dancefloor spins for grateful audiences, all while still leaving plenty of room for the duo’s talents to keep growing. Oh, and given that the two brothers’ collective age still doesn’t add up to more than 40, it’s safe to say that Disclosure’s future continues to look bright.

Well Rounded to Drop 12″ by South London Ordnance

Known for releasing records from the likes of Julio Bashmore, Deadboy, xxxy, Hackman, and plenty more of the house-loving elite, UK imprint Well Rounded has announced its next realease will arrive courtesy of young London producer South London Ordnance. The artist who just recently premiered his tune “Shutter Island” with us (after which it became the 17th most downloaded track of May) will drop his “Trojan” b/w “Pacific” 12″ (artwork below) on July 2nd, and purportedly has more records on the way in the coming months.

Aria Rostami “Black Ring”

Aria Rostami is a young musician/composer/producer from San Francisco who is preparing to release a new EP by the name of Peter as the first offering from his Tomb of Two Women imprint. “Black Ring” closes out that six-track record, and caught our ear due to its compelling sound design, effervescent melodies, and subtly driving rhythms—evoking at times the delicate fantasy of Balam Acab’s Wander / Wonder while remaining firmly planted in the realm of preciously austere, finely crafted soundsystem music. You can listen to the rest of Rostami’s Peter after the jump.

Black Ring

Five Minutes at MUTEK with Blondes

As always, this year’s edition of MUTEK offered a potentially overwhelming number of shows, parties, workshops, panel discussions, and more. Amidst all the activity, XLR8R also wanted to take the time to sit down with a few of our favorite artists, both to get their impressions of the festival and to check in about what’s happening with their music. Brooklyn duo Blondes has hit the road pretty hard since the release of its self-titled debut LP earlier this year, and during the group’s first appearance at MUTEK, members Sam Haar and Zach Steinman sat down to tell us about their evolving gear fetish, getting lumped in with indie acts in the US, and why their music is so much more popular in Europe.

XLR8R: You guys put out an album earlier this year. Do you think of it as your debut album, since it was largely a collection of former singles?

Sam Haar: Sort of? [Laughs] Yes and no. I mean, it was in the sense that it was an LP, and we promoted it, and were touring on it, so it functioned like that. But, it was a collection of singles, so it wasn’t like a long-player “statement.”

Zach Steinman: But the making of it was a journey, the same way an album would be.

You’ve been touring, and most of that touring has been in Europe.

SH: A chunk of it, yeah.

ZS: Almost… all… of… it. [laughs] With the exception of playing here at MUTEK and Philadelphia. We played at Making Time in Philadelphia.

SH: We played a show or two in New York, if that counts.

ZS: We opened for Matthew Dear. And that’s just about it, we’ve been going back and forth.

Does it feel weird to have your music not catch on home, and to have to go to Europe to find an audience?

ZS: I kind of like that. Not to say that I wouldn’t like if it caught on [at home], but it is interesting. I’m not disappointed.

SH: I think it makes sense. The kind of music we’re making…

ZS: It might make more sense to European bodies.

SH: In general, people in Europe have been growing up with dance music. Here, there’s a smaller crowd of people that have been into it, and it’s starting that younger people are getting into it now, too. It’s still more niche—maybe not “EDM,” but [the rest of it].

In the US, do you guys feel like you get lumped in with more “indie” acts?

SH: It definitely used to happen. Honestly, I don’t know if it’s like that anymore, because we haven’t played in the US in awhile. [laughs] It definitely was like that.

ZS: I think it’s still true. I think it’s easier to categorize us that way for some people, but I don’t know why. It doesn’t necessarily make sense.

SH: I think it’s probably because we didn’t come out of the house and techno scene, which has been very established in the States.

ZS: We did come out of playing in noise venues or DIY spaces, so that’s probably where that whole following started.

Would you guys like to see more “proper” DJs getting excited about Blondes’ music? Do you guys like walking that line between worlds, or would you prefer to be part of the more established electronic-music scene?

ZS: I think walking the line is a really interesting place to be, rather than just trying to make really popular bangers. Next up, we’re going to try a bunch of different ways of playing and we’ll see what happens.

This is the first time you’ve played MUTEK. Were you aware of the festival before?

SH: Yeah. I came here five years ago. I studied technology, art, music technology, so it was like a field trip. [laughs]

Were you excited to play, especially since you’re not coming from the traditional techno world?

SH: Yeah, it’s cool to be recognized by people who are really into hardcore electronic music.

Are you working on new material, or do you have any releases planned?

SH: There’s nothing formed yet. We’ve been busy playing, and then we’ve been taking a break because we’ve been working a lot the past year.

When you’re onstage, there’s no laptop. Have you always been so gear oriented?

SH: Yeah, the project has been defined by that a little bit.

ZS: Initially, we tried with a computer, but it was [not good].

SH: We started producing stuff at first when we were, like, “Let’s do a dance-music project.” It was just really bad. [laughs] We’d always played music together, we’d just jammed when we were in college, so it was, like, “This doesn’t make sense.” I feel like working on a computer is more individual, and then we’d [have to] pass it back and forth, or something.

Over the years, it seems like your live setup has grown, at least it seems like there is more stuff on stage. Have you developed a proper gear fetish?

ZS: I think we’re about to evolve that even more.

SH: It’s slowly evolving, where we get a piece of gear here or there.

ZS: It’s actually stayed fairly consistent, and I think we’re about to change that.

Do you have your eye on anything in particular?

SH: Some analog drum machines. I feel like the gear fetishism has always been curbed by the fact that we really like to have the same setup in the studio and live, so it has to be really practical. It’s like, “Oh, that looks a little too big,” or fragile, “I don’t think we can travel with that,” or [it ‘s too] heavy. Maybe if we had tons of money, sure, [we could] build up a really nice studio and then only take some of it. But a lot of it, it’s like, “Can we travel with that?” or “Does it fit in the cases we have?” [laughs]

Stylistically, your music has a really heavy kick drum, but there’s almost a serene sort of quality to it. Is that something you strive for?

ZS: I think we’re attracted to those sorts of sounds—serenity. I think we’ve evolved the kick drum to be bigger.

SH: That’s a product of playing club systems. It’s really satisfying, to be at Ministry of Sound with a big, nice kick.

ZS: Ministry of Sound was incredible. That soundsystem… just dropping the bass was…

SH: During soundcheck, we were just cutting the bass out and putting it back in, for like 20 minutes. [laughs]

Have you ever experimented with making shorter songs or things that have a less epic scope?

ZS: We have not really approached writing in that way.

SH: A lot of our tracks have been made as singles, so you want it to be a nice thing on its own.

You make singles, but they’re not really hook driven. It’s more of a journey. Is that by design?

ZS: Yeah.

SH: There are some things that we consider the “hooks,” like a piano loop or something. I think whenever we make something that’s more hooky, we say, “That’s too cheesy, we can’t use that.”

ZS: Sometimes we’ll have something that’s really stripped down and we’ll think it’s really hooky, but then it’s like, “This sounds cheesy. We need to add more layers.”

Morcee “It’s You (Lakosa Remix)”

Spaciously ominous and referential of many facets of the UK bass continuum, Lakosa‘s remix of “It’s You” by East London producer Morcee employs garage’s swinging shuffle, dubstep’s ever-present low end, and the late-night appeal of old-school rave tunes to make for a deliciously amalgamated production. This version arrives from the Birmingham-based tunesmith along with the original track and another remix by Majora, all of which is out now via Four40 and can be streamed after the jump.

It’s You (Lakosa Remix)

Body High Preps Debut EP from Floyd Campbell

A few months back, LA label Body High offered up Visions, an all-dubs mix showcasing the talents of a mysterious newcomer by the name of Floyd Campbell. The mix seemed to indicate that Campbell had some serious production chops, a postulation that will soon be put to the test when the LA-based producer drops his debut EP later this month. Entitled Drifted, the six-track effort (artwork above) will be released on June 19. In the meantime, Body High has shared a streaming preview of the EP, which has been posted below along with the complete tracklist. Furthermore, Campbell will be performing live tonight in Los Angeles, as Body High will be teaming up with Bersa Discos‘ Tormenta Tropical party (full disclosure: Bersa Discos is a label co-run by XLR8R editor Shawn Reynaldo) for a joint event. All of the details on that can be found here.

1. Taped
2. Multipass
3. Escalate
4. Close2
5. Drifted
6. Tajunga

Submerse “Pressure”

Continuing with a string of releases for all manner of record labels, the most recent of which was a 12″ for R&S sublabel Apollo, Tokyo-based producer Submerse will drop an EP via Berlin record hub Project Mooncircle on June 29. We’re treated to the wispy and buoyant “Pressure” ahead of the full unveiling of Submerse’s seven-track Tears EP, which will likely satisfy all cravings for crunchy dancefloor rhythms, disembodied vocal melodies, and emotive synthlines. You can check out a quick preview of the hard-working tunesmith’s forthcoming release for Project Mooncircle, after the jump.

Pressure

Oneman Unveils Details of ‘Fabriclive 64’

The rumors have been floating around for sometime now, but finally, the details of Oneman‘s offering to the Fabriclive mix series have been unveiled. Fabriclive 64 is a 24-track mix album set to drop on July 16 in the UK and August 16 in the US. The UK DJ and Rinse FM regular born Steve Bishop has crafted quite the tracklist for his set, saying about his selections, “I wanted the mix to primarily be a representation of what I would typically play at Fabric in current terms, so bearing that in mind, I decided to draw on a lot of new house crossover stuff.” That “stuff” includes some fresh and unreleased tunes from the likes of Mosca, Girl Unit, Joy Orbison, Boddika, Pearson Sound, Burial, Teeth, Lando Kal, March Pritchard, and many more. Below, you can check out the full tracklist for Fabriclive 64.

01 Mark Pritchard – ? [Ho Hum]
02 Fis-T – Night Hunter [502 Recordings]
03 Grievous Angel – Move Down Low VIP [Soul Jazz]
04 SBTRKT – 2020 [Brainmath]
05 Groove Connektion 2 – Club Lonely (Dem 2 Lonely Vocal Remix) [XL]
06 Mosca – Gold Bricks, I See You [fabric]
07 Lando Kal – Further [Hotflush]
08 Doubleheart – Salsa [Nonplus]
09 Pearson Sound – Untitled [Pearson Sound]
10 MikeQ – The Ha Dub Rewerk’d [Fade to Mind]
11 Nu-Birth – Anytime [XL]
12 Bok Bok & Tom Trago – Vector [Sound Pellegrino]
13 Joy Orbison – The Shrew Would Have Cushioned The Blow [Aus]
14 Distance – Feel Me [Chestplate]
15 Boddika – Soul What VIP [Swamp81]
16 Basement Jaxx – Red Alert (Steve Gurley Mix) [XL]
17 Girl Unit – Wut (Claude Vonstroke’s Butt Naked Mix) [Night Slugs]
18 Joy Orbison – Ellipsis [Hinge Finger]
19 Ce Ce Peniston – Somebody Else’s Guy (Tuff Jam’s Classic Garage) [A&M]
20 Teeth – Shawty VIP [502 Recordings]
21 Ed Case – Something In Your Eyes (Underground Solution Mix) [Red Rose]
22 Thefft – Switch [unreleased]
23 Youngstar – Pulse Y Remix [DDJ’s Productions]
24 Burial – Etched Headplate [Hyperdub]

Listen to Dusky’s ‘Henry 85’ EP

Next week, the UK’s Simple Records—a recently revived imprint headed up by Will Saul, who also runs the Aus Music label—will be releasing a new EP from London duo Dusky. Entitled Henry 85, the three-song effort (which includes two originals and a remix by Belgium’s FCL) combines clacking garage percussion with smoothed-out house vibes, placing it not far off from recent offerings by producers such as Jack Dixon and George FitzGerald. It’s a quality EP, and the whole thing is streaming exclusively here on XLR8R.

The XLR8R Music Player requires Adobe Flash Player version 9 or later. Click here to install.

Page 2020 of 3781
1 … 2,018 2,019 2,020 2,021 2,022 … 3,781