Torkelsen is both the production moniker and surname of Kristian Torkelsen, a 22-year-old artist and self-proclaimed “crate digger” living in Fredrikstad, Norway. Following a split 7″ the tunesmith recently dropped with South Carolina beatmaker Hard Mix via Norwegian imprint Sellout!, Torkelsen is set to release his first album in the beginning of next year. “Lavkarbovår” is a cut from that forthcoming self-titled LP, and shows off the type of jazzy, smoothly off-kilter beatscapes the producer is so fond of creating.
There are some obvious similarities that pop out when comparing Coracle with last year’s self-titled debut LP from Walls. First, there’s the uncannily similar artwork—a swirling mess of reds, purples, and blues. Then, there’s the fact that both releases have a tracklist of exactly the same length, comprised of a mere eight songs (although this LP does run about 10 minutes longer). And let’s not forget that both Walls and this, the duo’s sophomore LP, represent some of the more adventurously uncharacteristic outings on the venerable Kompakt imprint. But most of all, there’s the music, and even that really hasn’t changed much, as Alessio Natalizia (perhaps better known as Banjo or Freakout) and Sam Willis are still using their collaborative project to explore the possibilities of richly melodic, indie-tinged techno. The only major difference is that this time around, it all seems even better.
Where Walls had a number of solid gems mixed with its share of forgettable tracks, Coracle is a more focused effort, one in which the pair builds all of its songs around the same basic formula of tender electronics, processed guitar, and non-lyrical vocal layers. These fundamental elements are then infused with a variety of influences, yielding diversely worthwhile results. On songs like album opener “Into Our Midst” and lead single “Sun Porch,” Walls come off as a less cerebral Teengirl Fantasy or a more tender Blondes, moving in what seems like an at least partially improvised fashion between dense instrumental landscapes to that eventually peak at with moments of compelling dance music. A few of the usual sonic suspects can be found here, with touches of Krautrock appearing in the LP’s most meandering tunes, “Il Tedesco” and “Ecstatic Truth,” while “Heat Haze” gets as close to any sort of chillwave reference point as the duo is willing to venture. And, of course, no Walls record would be complete without a few selections dedicated to swelling, emotive ambiance, represented best on the gushing mess of bright melodies and crackling percussion deemed “Vacant.” But for all the aforementioned attempts, “Raw Umber/Twilight” is where Coracle‘s message rings truest, seemingly bringing together the best parts of the album’s other explorations and condensing them into one potent, memorable slice of gloriously warm techno.
Throughout Coracle there is a steady ease with which the songs flow, and, save for the occasional dip in momentum, it is this effortless movement which holds the album together, so much so that—to its credit— if you don’t pay attention, the songs can really pass by without much notice. In doing so, Walls has created an album that resonates on a number of levels. Whether as background music for one’s day-to-day or as a receiver of one’s full attention, it is truly an enjoyable record that is prepared to fill whatever space is asked of it.
Continuing with our celebratory playlistcuration on behalf of the first birthday for social music service Rdio, we shoulder-tapped pre-eminent NYC dance-punkers The Rapture to hook us up with a mix of some of their current favorites. The DFA stalwarts—having recently dropped their third LP, In the Grace of Your Love—obliged, and sent over a fine selection of classic tunes and obscure gems. You can check out the trio’s playlist, coupled with a little Q&A we did with Gabriel Andruzzi, below. (You can also stream the music on Rdio, here.)
Tell us a little about your playlist. These are some tunes I enjoy. I hope you do, too.
Name one or two of your favorite songs you picked, and why. My best friend’s mom used to listen to “Strokin'” all the time. In fact, the whole family did. We used to put this one on and dance around the dining room. “Strokin'” is an American classic, really, defining our culture and history as a whole.
What was The Rapture up to during its five years in hiding? Hiding? We weren’t hiding. Y’all just don’t pay attention unless we have a new record out. You are totally welcome to hang out with us while we are writing, crying, fighting, making up, drinking tea/coffee, recording tunes, laughing, and eating pain aux amandes.
What are some of your favorite tunes on In the Grace of Your Love? The whole record is my fave. We are a band that makes albums. We enjoy the journey, experience, and implied narrative of listening to and making albums. The same goes for our live shows and DJ sets. I’m not saying we are always entirely successful at it, but we also enjoy the accidents and mistakes as well.
What’s going on with Throne of Blood these days? Throne of Blood is cooking right now. We pretty much have monthly releases with no end in sight. I’m really stoked on Throne of Blood, the music, and the family we are creating.
Yesterday, London-based DJ/producer Rohan Walder (a.k.a. Randomer, pictured above) dropped a fresh 12″ via Super, a record that features four original productions from the up-and-coming artist. Though “Somebody” is a joint production that Randomer did with his occasional collaborator Fife, it still boasts the kind of skipping dancefloor beats and revelatory synth melodies that make his solo work so enjoyable. You can check out Walder’s new Obtuse EP here.
Berlin techno producer and Berghain resident DJ Marcel Dettmann has just announced Conducted, his second official mix album, which is set for release on Music Man Records. This follows closely on the heels of last year’s debut LP, Dettmann, and is a spiritual successor to his celebrated first mix album, Berghain 02, from 2008. Conducted promises to contain a wide assortment of tracks from the overlooked to the bleeding edge. The mix comes out November 14 and will be preceded by two 12″ sampler EPs, but while you wait, check out the artwork and tracklisting below.
1. Sandwell District – Immolare (First) 2. Signal – Wismut 3. Roman Lindau – Sub Suggestion 4. Mono Junk – Channel B 5. Reel By Real – Sundog 6. Bluemoon Productions – Night 7. The Analogue Cops – Why You Love Me 8. Vril – V3 9. Milton Bradley – Don’t Phonk 10. Silent Servant – El Mar 11. Morphosis – Too Far 12. Redshape – The Lesson 13. Shed – Hello Bleep! 14. Cheeba Starks presents The Toupe Committee – GoGo Bop (A Trip To The Bodega) 15. O/V/R – Post-Traumatic Son (Ben Klock Wave Mix) 16. FBK – Nanomal 17. Answer Code Request – Escape Myself 18. Shed – 44A (Hard Wax Forever!)
12” sampler 1: A1. Bluemoon Productions – Night A2. Morphosis – Too Far B1. Signal – Wismut B2. FBK – Nanomal
12” sampler 2: A1. Cheeba Starks presents The Toupe Committee – GoGo Bop (A Trip To The Bodega) A2. Answer Code Request – Escape Myself B1. Vril – V3 B2. The Analogue Cops – Why You Love Me
Butterz label heads and UK grime know-it-alls (not to mention XLR8Rpodcast contributors) Elijah & Skilliam have been named as the next in line to offer a DJ set via Rinse FM‘s ongoing mix series. The DJ duo will release Rinse: 17 (pictured above), a 27-track mix that aims “to showcase the best of grime so far this year, alongside some of [Elijah & Skilliam’s] exclusive dubplates,” on November 14. Though we have no tracklist yet, tunes that have been mentioned include “Take Off” by Faze Miyake, Trim’s “I Am,” DJ Q’s remix of “Woooo” by S-X, a remix of Wiley by Royal-T, and a “producer battle” between Swindle, Wizzy Wow, Rude Kid and Terror Danjah.
The Beatport sales charts are often dominated by the latest international club smashes, but its vault of music runs deep and covers a wide variety of artists and sounds, which is why XLR8R has been asked to curate a special two-week series of Beatport charts by some of our favorite DJs and producers. When it comes to old-school NY house and garage, it’s hard to think of someone more influential than MK, who remixed everyone in the ’90s and is responsible for an impossibly long list of big tunes. After spending the past few years focusing on production for the likes Will Smith and Pitbull (no joke), MK has been moving back toward the dancefloor and DJing lately, and here he’s put together a list of 10 of his current favorites.
Listen to each individual track by clicking the song titles above, or go here to check out the entire chart. To see the rest of the charts in the XLR8R x Beatport series, click here.
A few months back, the Netherlands’ Incubate Festival invited XLR8R to curate three nights of parties during its week-long run. Last weekend, those parties—all of which featured almost unbelievably stacked dream lineups—went down at the Midi Theater in the city of Tilburg, located in the Southern part of the country. This is what we saw.
Night 1
Interestingly enough, the XLR8R-curated festivities began in a relatively non-danceable fashion with the spooky sounds of Holy Other. Just after 9 p.m., the Tri Angle Records artist climbed on stage, clad entirely in black with his head and face shrouded by a dark hood. Performing live, he effectively recreated the songs from his excellent debut EP and also slipped in a few new tunes, all of which treaded in the same lurching, R&B-influenced, and ominously psychedelic territory he’s known for.
Next up was UK duo Demdike Stare, who also performed live and showcased an absolutely impressive set of visuals. Much like the pair’s nightmarish videos, the live show was an unsettling combination of vintage found footage and creepy psychedelia, which only heightened the effect of the duo’s music. Alternately cinematic, dark, sexy, violent, and hypnotic, over the course on an hour Demdike Stare served up a head-rattling mix of booming drone, analog synth soundscapes, slowly pulsing techno rhythms, and clacking, machine-like drum sounds.
Third on the bill was yet another live act, albeit one of an entirely different flavor—San Francisco’s Ghosts on Tape. The man doesn’t perform live often, so this was a special treat which found him manipulating his vintage samplers (which literally take floppy disks) and other bits of hardware into upfront house and techno, all the while touching on classic electro, old-school Chicago, vogue, UK funky, and Bmore. Throughout it all, Ghosts on Tape’s signature choppy drum sounds kept things moving, along with his consistently thick kicks and basslines. Even better, nearly every tune was unreleased, which hopefully means that some amazing new Ghosts on Tape music is set to be shared with the world, preferably in the not-so-distant future.
Arguably 2011’s top producer, Boddika maintained the hard-edged dancefloor vibe, dropping a DJ set that was heavy on crunchy synths and fat basslines, not to mention ’80s electro influences. The UK DJ/producer definitely dropped plenty of his own tracks, along with what sounded like several selections from the Swamp81 catalog.
Similarly hard-hitting was fellow UK artist Untold, whose impeccable mixing allowed him to smoothly offer up a hearty helping of big snares, tough organic drum sounds, 808 percussion, and sinewy synth melodies. Toward the end of his set, his did shift from the stutter of UK bass music into some jacking house selections, a move which won the Hemlock Recordings boss even more appreciation from the crowd.
The only lowlight of the evening came at the hands—or, better said, the voice—of a fat-faced “MC” who somehow weaseled his way onstage and grabbed the microphone, to the delight of absolutely no one. Apparently unaware that simply being British, wearing a Supreme hat, and knowing the names of the DJs is not a sufficient resume for MCing a party, the tubby lad seriously threatened to ruin the entire vibe of the party. Thankfully, he eventually realized that his repeated cries of “yo” and “this is the sound of the Untold” were generating far more scowls than cheers from the crowd, leaving him with no other option than to quietly slink offstage.
Rounding out the evening was none other than Loefah, the Swamp81 boss and DMZ co-founder. His impressive dubstep-oriented history aside, Loefah’s set was anything but nostalgic, as he put together a sonically rich collection of deep, futuristic sounds that touched on house, funky, garage, and more. That said, the bass sounds were unsurprisingly huge, although the music remained propulsive and melodic, particularly as he moved into steppier, snare-heavy garage territory as the set progressed, leaving the Tilburg crowd satisfied as the night came to a close.
Night 2
The second night of XLR8R‘s residency at Incubate was one for the DJs, and began with a set from none other than yours truly, which I’ll simply describe as “adequate” and move on from there.
Up next was another XLR8R-affiliated artist, the talented—and increasingly techno-inclined—Contakt. The TURRBOTAX® co-founder indulged his Midwestern roots, warming up the party with rich, melodic techno that offered deep, rolling beats, a steady rhythmic pulse, and drawn-out analog synth melodies.
At that point, the night was taken over by some of the top names in forward UK bass music, beginning with Blunted Robots co-founder Brackles. True to form, he kicked off his set with some classic house and garage, keeping things upbeat and fun as he slowly transitioned into the harder, percussion-heavy sounds he’s known for. With each cracking snare and grimey bassline, it became apparent that Brackles is one of the few DJs who has tastefully continued to carry the torch for UK funky, building upon its infectious drum patterns and moving the sound into the future.
The impressive DJing continued with fellow Rinse FM standout Oneman, who began things with a bit of a curveball, dropping a few straight-up wedding tunes to perk up the crowd before deftly moving into disco, ’80s electro, and breaky house and bass tracks. The 502 Recordings boss always brings unparalleled mixing skills to the table, inserting tiny flourishes that demonstrate both remarkable skill and a true dedication to his craft, something that’s often missing in the era of Serato and laptop DJs. On top of that, his set was undeniably fun and upbeat, with lots of vocal tunes. Plus, the genre-hopping only continued throughout his hour behind the decks, as Oneman touched upon R&B, hip-hop, dancehall, and more, all without sounding gimmicky or losing the crowd.
Girl Unit was the next artist to step up, and quickly took a completely different path from Oneman. Rather from hopping from one style to the next, the Night Slugs artist seemed to realize that he had a very distinct sound, and, more importantly, knew how to effectively operate within that sonic space. Regardless of the tune being played or the genre it was taken from, Girl Unit’s selections usually featured some combination of hip-hop/R&B drum patterns, bouncy basslines, warbling neon synths, vintage 808 sounds, and hints of ’80s electro. It’s a potent formula, and one he seems to be using to map out the future of hip-hop and R&B, at least from his own unique perspective. The crowd in Tilburg certainly wasn’t upset about it.
The final UK artist of the evening was another DJ extraordinaire, Hessle Audio co-founder and Rinse FM selector Ben UFO. While it sounds cliché, Ben UFO seems to appreciate the notion of taking listeners (and dancers) on a journey, steering away from would-be “big tunes” and technical trickery in favor of subtle shifts and impeccable track selection. On this evening, he combined tasteful, clacky house tracks with bits of soulful techno, both of which offered plenty of washy synths. He wasn’t flashy, but at some point during the evening, just about everyone gradually realized they were hearing an amazing set.
Speaking of amazing sets, one of the weekend’s definite highlights was the second night’s headliner, Detroit legend Theo Parrish. Spinning all vinyl and leaning heavy on his own rotary mixer, the man went deep and went soulful, digging into his record bag for one amazing tune after another. There was plenty of funk, soul, disco, and grown-up house music happening, but he also managed to play Steve Reich and make it work on the dancefloor. His set elicited nothing but smiles, and when the party wrapped at 3:30am, a particularly dedicated contingent of the crowd stuck around, chanting his name and singing what sounded like a soccer anthem, only with Theo’s name inserted in the lyrics. The love was palpable, and actually prompted Parrish to throw on an additional record—the weekend’s only encore.
Night 3
After the late-night revelry of the first two editions, the festival’s final day actually found the XLR8R festivities getting started in the late afternoon. TURRBOTAX® resident Rem Koolhaus kicked things off tastefully, putting together a lengthy set of NY house, mature bass music, and Underground Resistance-style techno. Without delving into hyperbole, the NYC DJ was similar in style to Ben UFO, insofar that he subtly assembled a session full of expansive, big-room tracks that sounded great without being over the top or resorting to easy crowd pleasers.
Speaking of crowd pleasers, Ireland’s Space Dimension Controller began his set with Phil Collins’ “In the Air Tonight” and stayed with the ’80s electro/boogie for the first 20-30 minutes of his set. Not that we’re complaining—the music injected some fun into the proceedings before he moved into washy, groove-heavy house, NY-style garage, and pounding techno. Over the course of his 90-minute set, Space Dimension Controller proved himself quite adept at moving between genres, weaving together a pastiche of fun styles and ultimately winding up back in ’80s territory with songs from Cybotron, J.J. Fad, and 2 Live Crew before all was said and done.
More serious was Germany’s Motor City Drum Ensemble, who also dabbled in bits of boogie, ’80s electro, and ’90s club sounds, albeit without seeming camp or pandering to the crowd. He also served up plenty of the soulful, mid-tempo house groovers that he’s known for, much to the delight of those on the dancefloor.
Julio Bashmore then stepped in behind the decks, and kept things soulful by starting off his set with a series of slower, deep-house selections. However, he quickly moved into more upbeat pastures, mixing in a number of contemporary tracks with several of his own productions and some choice house classics. Things increasingly gravitated toward the UK-bass world as he continued, although Bashmore never put on anything too grimey or stompy, instead electing to maintain the jazzy, piano-bar vibe (we mean that in a good way) he seems to thoroughly enjoy.
The final act of the weekend was none other than Jackmaster, the Numbers co-founder whose DJ skills have become the stuff of legend over the past year or two. With his first record, the night’s “party” feel immediately spiked, as Jackmaster threw on a series of vintage house and techno gems. In a bit of a surprise move, he elected to share the majority of his set with Space Dimension Controller, and the pair spent the hour trading off between newish UK tracks and an increasingly silly selection of old-school tunes. As the party wound down, the duo appeared to be digging deeper and deeper into their record bags, keeping things fun and just a tad goofy, wrapping up XLR8R‘s Incubate residency on a lighthearted note.
London-based artist Jack Dixon dropped this one in our inbox the other day with a note pointing out that “no one has it yet.” After hearing the first few moments of straightforward dance rhythms and vocal-sampled soul on “Out My Window,” we decided it was time for us to change that. We downloaded the bubblin’ house tune onto our computer and noticed it was labeled as part of an EP bearing the same name. We’re not entirely sure if that’s a forthcoming release or a record that sadly never saw the light of day, but we’re entirely pleased to be among the first to hear Dixon’s new tune. We think you will be too.
UK producer Altered Natives (a.k.a. Danny Yorke) certainly isn’t a shy man. From his candid interviews to his rough-and-tumble house productions, Yorke operates without paying much attention to particular music scenes or worrying about ruffling feathers. In the next few weeks he’ll be releasing a new album, Tenement Yard Vol. 2, a full-length which, much like its predecessor, features track after track of hard-edged, bass-heavy, no-frills house. Altered Natives’ music is mercilessly effective, an aspect that is readily apparent on this exclusive mix he’s assembled for the XLR8R podcast series. Operating as a sort of showcase for Yorke’s Eye4Eye imprint, the podcast features several tracks from relative newcomers while also placing Altered Natives firmly in the spotlight, as more than half of the mix consists of his own tunes—not that we’re complaining. It’s a safe bet that anyone who likes their dance music dark and dirty won’t be either.
