Video Premiere: Raleigh Moncrief “Cast Out for Days”

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Sacramento’s Raleigh Moncrief doesn’t exactly have the typical XLR8R resume. He’s collaborated with drumming virtuoso Zach Hill, performs in Marnie Stern’s touring band, and worked as an engineer and co-producer on Dirty Projectors’ Bitte Orca album. This week, Moncrief released his own debut full-length, Watered Lawn, via the Anticon label, and although “Cast Out for Days” does have some indie-ish leanings that recall the psychedelic stylings of groups like Animal Collective, its warbly low end and woozy synths unexpectedly caught our ear. The video for “Cast Out for Days” was directed by Moncrief himself, and features a mish-mash of trippy, kaleidoscopic images, including a few peeks at the artist, if you look closely enough.

Five Minutes at ADE with Frankie Knuckles

While this year’s ADE festival had a lot to offer in the way of young, burgeoning talent—check out bothparts of our festival wrap-up for proof—it also brought some absolute legends to Amsterdam for the five-day event, including the “Godfather of House,” Frankie Knuckles. Amidst DJing two separate showcases on two different nights, and joining in a panel discussion with another electronic-music pioneer, Derrick May, Knuckles found a few minutes to sit down and talk us about where he’s been and what he’s been up to since reappearing on the scene, and also shared some passionate words on the current state of the US’ electronic music scene.

XLR8R: You’ve lived between New York and Chicago, where are you based now?
Frankie Knuckles: My primary home is in Chicago. I was born and raised in New York, moved to Chicago in ’77, moved back to New York in ’87 and we started Def Mix, and then I moved back to Chicago in ’99.

Why have those been your two main spots?
Well, it’s easy. I know the territory, speak the same language.

It feels like there’s been a resurgence of attention on the Midwest’s techno and house lineage. Have you felt that at all?
I’ve been more busy I think in these past three years. I had to take some time off for health reasons a little while ago, but I just dove back into it and it’s been non-stop ever since.

And you’re enjoying it?
Yeah, I sort of reinvented myself to a certain degree with Director’s Cut, [a production project] which I do with my partner Eric Coupler. We started off kind of small and just tried to stay under the radar and the product was coming out really really well. That began to accelerate and here we are now. It’s pretty non-stop, but I’m having a great time and I’m doing exactly what I want to do, working at a pace and level that works really well for me. Plus, I’m working with everyone I wanted to work with.

It sounds like you’re pretty comfortable with where you’re career is at now.
Yeah, it’s nice to go after something and have them say, “Sure Frankie, take it,” [laughs] versus, “Well, we’ll get back to you, we’ll consider it.”

You’ve been DJing around a lot lately, have you found time to keep producing?
I’m producing a lot. I had two singles out with Jamie Principle earlier this year. The first one, “I’ll Take You There,” which went to number one, and “Your Love” is still number one on the Classic House Charts. And several different other projects in between. I’ve worked with Human Life, on Defected, and several other smaller projects. I’m not going after the superstar projects, even though I won’t turn them down, but with Director’s Cut I’m trying to help along some other people that are trying to get their foot in the door. It’s always been my motto: the minute a door of opportunity opens up for me, I try to drag as many people in as I possibly can. Once they’re on the inside, they’re on their own. But everybody needs a little help along the way, and a lot of people helped me along the way, so I figure, why not? Not everybody has the money and nobody has money right now. In this particular end of the business, you’d be hard pressed to find a dollar right now. The only way the music actually survives is when we help each other, and so I make myself available for it.

So, you see what you can do?
Yeah, exactly. Maybe I’ll get a dime or two on the back end of something later on. [Laughs] Right now, the focus for me is to make sure the quality of music gets back, [the music] that’s coming from our side of the pond, because it’s been kind of poor and it’s been missing.

Do you see any places like Chicago, New York, or Detroit having a new crop of producers that can carry their cities?
Well, there’s a new crop of people and you have some of the champions that are still there. Seeing Kevin Saunderson last night, he sounded fantastic. It’s nice to see people like him and people like MK, all these people that are beginning to resurface again. I’m doing work with Joe Smooth back in Chicago. You know, Marshall Jefferson and all these different people are just beginning to float back to the surface. It’s nice because hopefully it will inspire and help along a lot of the new jacks, the guys trying to come along and do something. Show them to not limit their product to just a two-dimensional whatever, cause it’s just a track. If the song isn’t there, it’s just a track.

Giraffage “Moments”

“Moments,” the first track from San Francisco producer and multi-instrumentalist Giraffage‘s forthcoming full-length album, is a glitchy slice of bedroom dream-pop lushly constructed with layers of samples, sundry instrumentation, and tight percussion. Comfort, his first LP and the follow-up to this year’s Pretty Things EP, will continue the hazy romp through looping guitars, 808 thuds and clacks, and diced-up vocals when Giraffage (a.k.a. Charlie Yin) self-releases it on November 17.

Moments

Space Dimension Controller The Pathway to Tiraquon 6

If you follow the sci-fi saga outlined in the press materials, Space Dimension Controller is Mr. 8040, an inadvertent time traveller from the 24th century whose reality includes interplanetary warfare, alien invasions, and near-extinction for the human race. Back here on Earth, Space Dimension Controller is also the handle adopted by young Belfast producer Jack Hamill. Regardless of what timeline you choose to follow, recent years have seen a steady stream of cosmic tunes from Space Dimension Controller, songs powered by vintage synths, analog sounds, and a noticeably ’80s electro-funk vibe. His latest musical dispatch is The Pathway to Tiraquon 6, an extended EP meant to serve as a prequel to the forthcoming Welcome to Mikrosector-50 LP.

With 11 songs and a runtime that exceeds 45 minutes, Pathway offers a whole lot more content than the average EP. When a record’s backstory involves the human race searching for a new homeworld, the music had better sound cohesive, which Pathway certainly does, even as Space Dimension Controller delves into different styles, tempos, and sounds. While his past output has always displayed a cool-as-ice sensibility, this latest effort includes several moments of outright serenity, such as the synth-heavy and ’70s-educational-film-reminiscent “2257 AD,” the stark and ghostly “Floating Blind Through Blue Trails,” the somber and birdsong-adorned “Last Sunset on Planet Earth,” and the lightly chugging “Closing Titles.” On the other end of the spectrum, the record does have its share of dancefloor-oriented productions, including the tense breakbeats of “Pulsovian Invasion,” the dark, pounding techno of “Usurper,” the acid-tinged future-funk of “Flight of the Escape Vessels,” and the snappy, 808-driven “Triaquon’s Return (A New Home).” Other selections are a bit more abstract, at times evoking the experimental spirit of late-’90s Warp. “Max Tiraquon” pairs floating synth melodies with kinetic, stop-and-start percussion, while “Confined to Deep Space” is an excerise in slow-motion techno psychedelia.

It’s easy to label music as cinematic, but Pathway truly encapsulates the term. Space Dimension Controller has spun quite a tale to explain the story behind this record, and, as dense and out there as it might be, each track presented appears to have been specifically tailored to embody a small piece of the narrative. Like any good film, there are ups and downs, shifts in mood and tone, instances of drama and tension, and a solid through-line that holds the entire thing together. It’s an ambitious undertaking, and one that could have easily been an overwrought mess, yet Space Dimension Controller has delivered a fine collection of impeccably produced tunes while also expanding his sound palette. One can only hope the excellence—and the weirdness—continues when Welcome to Mikrosector-50 drops sometime in 2012.

Video: Chromatics “Kill For Love”

Portland-based group Chromatics has a new LP, entitled Kill For Love, due out in January via Italians Do It Better. A video for the album’s title track recently saw the light of day, pairing hazy, retro-styled footage of the band performing with the plain, honest vocals of lead singer Ruth Radelet. “Kill For Love”‘s lo-fi aesthetic is replete with reverberant strums of guitar and a pulsing drum line that takes a decidedly ’80s-informed tact. The “Kill For Love” single is out now, and you can check out the artwork and tracklist for Chromatics’ forthcoming album below.

Into The Black
Kill For Love
Back From The Grave
These Streets Will Never Look The Same
At Your Door
Lady
Flashback
Running From The Sun
Dust To Dust
Birds Of Paradise
Electricity
Baby
The River

Manaré “Pearl (Chaos in the CBD Remix)”

Parisian producer Manaré‘s extended hiatus is soon to come to a close, with a new EP due out on Halloween via French label Youngunz, which promises three new originals alongside remixes from Chaos in the CBD (newly recruited to the Youngunz roster) and Marble Players, the collaborative production trio-cum-label of Para One, Surkin and Bobmo. To whet appetites for the upcoming release, Youngunz have proffered Chaos in the CBD’s remix of the title track. Beginning with the staccato chord progression of the original, the New Zealand-based duo flips the track into the kind of nebulous house music that seems to be so dominant these days—complete with sweeping chords, lilting R&B vocal samples, and a healthy portion of clattering percussion. That’s not to say that this is some cheap attempt to cash in on current musical trends, however; though they may be working within an established sound, Chaos in the CBD’s take on “Pearl” is certainly danceable, and the stuttering hits of not-quite-UK-funky drum sounds—bringing to mind the crisp rhythms of someone like Jacques Greene—provide excellent contrast to the round, open bass melody that populates the track’s low end. To get a sense of what Manaré plans to bring to the table with this new release, be sure to check out the preview video for the Pearl EP, as well. (via Discobelle)

Pearl (Chaos in the CBD Remix)

Download a New Tune from Nicolas Jaar

For a short time, Modular is offering a Nicolas Jaar (pictured above) version of Sneaky Sound System‘s “Big” for free download via the Modular Facebook page. “Big (Nicolas Jaar’s Always By Your Side Version)” is a lush, dubbed-out re-creation that finds the youthful producer taking pieces from the original and warping them into something akin to what appeared on his acclaimed debut, Space is Only Noise, from earlier this year. The track can be downloaded after one “likes” Modular on Facebook, or can be streamed below.

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Lazer Sword to Drop Two-Song 10″ via Monkeytown; Preview it Now

Multinational production duo Lazer Sword (a.k.a. Low Limit and Lando Kal) has announced it will soon release the first follow-up to its 2010 debut LP, Lazer Sword, with a two-song 10″ set to drop via Modeselektor’s Monkeytown label. The “Sounds Sane” b/w “Klock” record will be available on November 25 on limited-edition, colored vinyl. Before then, you can preview the two cuts of spaced-out beat work below.

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Check Out the 100% Silk Podcast/Feature on LWE

The LA-based, Not Not Fun-affiliated dance label 100% Silk is easily one of our favorite labels to emerge this year, and it would appear we’re not alone in the sentiment: Little White Earbuds just unveiled a fresh podcast from label artist Magic Touch (a.k.a. Damon Palermo of Mi Ami, who we featured talking with band/label mate Ital here), which is coupled with a lengthy Q&A with label founder Amanda Brown. While Brown goes into depth on the history of her new imprint, the process of selecting the music that 100% Silk releases, the label’s design aesthetic, and what’s on its horizon, Palermo drops almost an hour of house and disco edits from his arsenal of dusty dance cuts. We suggest you take a look/listen to it all, here.

Scuba “M.A.R.S. (Machinedrum Remix)”

As luck would have it, we’re able to bring you the premiere of the atmospheric Machinedum (pictured above) remix of “M.A.R.S.” by DJ/producer/Hotflush label head Scuba on the same day we review his awesome new mix album for the DJ-Kicks series. The original tune, which can be found only on that record, is described as a “deep, house-esque” highlight of the producer’s mix, and while this remix does have a certain amount of deepness to it, the track as a whole is more in line with the skittering-but-airy juke-isms Machinedrum shared on his 2011 album, Room(s).

M.A.R.S. (Machinedrum Remix)

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