A few years ago, long-time West Coaster Monty Luke packed up and moved to Detroit, taking a position as the label manager of Carl Craig’s Planet E imprint. Now, he’s gone ahead and started a label of his own, Black Catalogue. For now, the label will be vinyl-only, with the first release, Monty Luke’s own Tomorrow EP, slated for September. Also in the works is an EP from Australian outfit The Carter Bros and a Black Catalogue label sampler. We’ll definitely be keeping an eye on what Black Catalogue is up to in the months ahead, but in the meantime, take a look at the artwork for the Tomorrow EP. It’s posted below, along with the complete tracklist.
Sampladelic. It’s a pretty cringe-worthy way of describing anything serious, but as far as the music of Magic Touch (a.k.a. Damon Palermo of Mi Ami) is concerned, its anachronism is entirely appropriate—and meant with positive connotations. Take “I Can Feel The Heat,” the San Francisco artist’s first release, out today on LA’s 100% Silk label. Featuring cameos from Miracles Club‘s Honey Owens and Corrine’s Joshua Anzano, “I Can Feel The Heat” acts as a sort of aural history lesson on the touchstone moments of classic underground dance music. As a way of introducing his sound, Palermo has offered up “Clubhouse,” and like his other tracks—as well as the tracks of label and Mi Ami bandmate Ital, who we coincidentally reviewed just this morning—it strives successfully to insert itself before the hard boundary of linear time via a dizzying application of interpolation, simulacra, and samples. Download “Clubhouse” below, and head here to listen to the entire three-track release.
Atlantan bass specialist Distal is next on the list to release a record with Sinden‘s growing Grizzly imprint. The UK label will drop the up-and-coming producer’s ostentatiously titled Boss of the South EP on September 12. Distal’s record will feature two original tracks, the title cut and “Coke Bottle,” along with remixes from label boss Sinden, Capracara, and Wheez-ie, the sounds of which lie “somewhere between techno, juke, and rap with sinister synth lines.”
Today, the relatively unknown New State Music will release Hard to Find: Classic and Rare Remixes, a two-disc compilation collecting deep-cut 12″ remixes from some of dance music’s pioneering names. With liner notes from Bill Brewster (the author of disco and house bible Last Night a DJ Saved My Life), Hard to Find will feature the likes of A Certain Ratio, Neneh Cherry, Arthur Baker, St. Etienne, Andrew Weatherall (pictured above), and tons more, presenting, as expected, some rarely heard takes on their classic tracks. Of the record, Brewster writes: “With Hard to Find, we’ve sent our vinyl archaeologists to sift through the wreckage of acid house, throwing aside the Alison Limerick double packs and long-forgotten Shamen promos to bring you the gold (the only fool’s gold we’d permit would be by Stone Roses). But not only are these the very best of the remixes from the most creative period of house music, we like to think they define it, too. As if that weren’t sufficient, many of them have never been made available on CD before.”
Check out the artwork, tracklist, and a taster of Weatherall’s mix of St. Etienne’s “Only Love Can Break Your Heart” below.
Tracklist
CD 1 01 William Orbit – Water From a Line Leaf (Underwater Mix Part One) (Remixed by Underworld) 02 It’s Immaterial – Driving Away From Home (Wicked Weather for Walking) 03 Beloved – The Sun Rising (Deeply Satisfying) 04 Neneh Cherry – Buffalo Stance (Nearly Neue Beat) (Remixed by Arthur Baker) 05 A Certain Ratio – Won’t Stop Loving You (Norman Cook Remix) 06 Saint Etienne – Only Love Can Break Your Heart (A Mix Of Two Halves) (Remixed by Andrew Weatherall) 07 Bassomatic – Fascinating Rhythm (Claudio Caniggia Mix) (Remixed by Renegade Soundwave) 08 The Grid – Floatation (Sonic Swing Mix) (Remixed by Andrew Weatherall) 09 Hall & Oates – I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do) (Ben Liebrand Remix) 10 ABC – The Look of Love (US Remix) (Remixed by Trevor Horn)
CD 2 01 A Tribe Called Quest – I Left My Wallet in El Segundo (Norman Cook Independence Mix) 02 Simply Red – Something Got Me Started (Steve ‘Silk’ Hurley’s Club Mix) 03 Definition of Sound – Moira Jane’s Café (E-Smoove’s Groovy Mix) 04 Sub Sub – Space Face Techno Todd Dub (Remixed by Todd Terry) 05 Leftfield Lydon – Open Up (The Chemical Brothers Remix) 06 Sheena Easton – 101 (Def House Mix) (Remixed by David Morales) 07 D:Ream – UR The Best Thing (Sasha Full Mix) 08 Stereo MC’S – Step It Up (Stereo Field Dub) (Remixed by Leftfield) 09 Roxy Music – Same Old Scene (Glimmers Remix) 10 Frankie Goes To Hollywood – Welcome To The Pleasure Dome (Fruitness)
Frequent DaVinci producer and SWTBRDS collective/label crew member Al Jieh has teamed up with pixel artist Max Capacity for a video that takes scrambled “Skinemax” to the next level. First appearing on SWTBRDS’ recent Drums & Ammo Vol. 1 comp, “Love Mind” is a beat that, in the producer’s own words, “sounded like an old porno song,” so it seems only right that the video should feature two young ladies straight-up going at it—in a tastefully colorful, pixelated artistic-style kind of way, of course. After checking the video, you can download the Drums & Ammo compilation for free here.
The gradual expansion of dance music’s global stage to include the third world has unarguably been a positive thing. From the challenging rhythms of kwaito to the insistent shake of cumbia, producers working in areas previously incommunicado finally have a voice. Of these places, South Africa has proven an especially fertile ground for new music, with a rich supply of regional styles and talented artists. One such talented individual is Jumping Back Slash, a South African producer whose music resides at the intersection of future garage, kwaito, and straightforward, old-school techno. After dropping a well-received 12″ on Pollinate (see the video for a-side “Kwai Sneakers” here), he’s now set to drop the third installment in their Nectah series. In anticipation of that release, he’s put on offer the infectious and danceable “Want (Your Touch).” Plundering liberally from the cannon of dance music, “Want (Your Touch)” sounds like a Mayday remix of skittering African garage, where chopped tribal vocals meet the stop, start, pause, reverse anti-flow of late-’80s Detroit.
The range of music (and now multimedia art) that is set to be presented at this year’s Moogfest in Asheville, North Carolina has expanded to include an even wider list of artists with the announcement that the godfather of ambient music, Brian Eno, will exhibit his stunning 77 Million Paintings visual/audio art project as part of this year’s festival. Eno’s “constantly evolving sound and image-scape” has been heralded as an incredible piece of modern multimedia art since it was first displayed in San Francisco back in 2006, and now it finally sees a return to the US after touring around the world for the past few years. You can add that to the already overwhelmingly impressive list of artists scheduled for the three-day festival (taking place October 28-30), which includes names such as Moby, M83, Kode9, Battles, Tim Hecker, Matthew Dear, Toro y Moi, Gold Panda, Oneohtrix Point Never, and many more. You can check Moogfest’s full line-up here, and watch a video with a brief explanation of the 77 Million Paintings project from Eno himself below.
Brighton’s Donky Pitch imprint is nowhere near stopping its efforts to bring skweee to the masses, and with songs (and accompanying videos) like “Superfluid,” from V.C.‘s forthcoming The Trick EP, we’re nowhere near asking them to stop. The Helsinki resident’s synth-soaked, surefire head-nodder of a track gets a proper video treatment from Antony Barkworth-Knight, who unleashes a host of visual treats and even some abstract symbolism revolving around what appears to be the houses from a Monopoly set. You can check the artwork and tracklist for the EP, which will see its release in next month, below.
Tracklist: A1 A Kind of Bad A2 The Trick A3 123 B1 Superfluid B2 Silly Dope B3 Duece Dues
Just last month, the young Texan producer LDFD dropped his debut EP, Outtracontrol (artwork above), for Daedelus’ Magical Properties imprint. Now the title track from that release has been given a reworking thanks to another young producer from the Southern half of the US, Arizona’s DJ Clap, who’s been busy putting together a nice catalogue of footwork-leaning tracks for the past few years. If this remix is any indication, DJ Clap makes footwork tracks like The Field used to make techno tracks—melodicly rich, super repetitive, chopped to all hell, and bizarrely catchy. Is Arizona the new home of burgeoning footwork? No, probably not, but DJ Clap has definitely soaked up some distinct influences and turned them into something rather intriguing.
The R&S imprint is set to yet again break new sounds from an up-and-coming UK outfit, this time tapping Sam Ricketts and Tom Clarke, collectively known as Cloud Boat, for their debut release. The pair of producers have been building quite a reputation over the past year, being utilized by like-minded purveyors of bass music James Blake and Mount Kimbie as support for their respective tours, and now Cloud Boat will debut their work in recorded form with the “Lions on the Beach” b/w “Bastion” single. You’ll find preview clips for both sides of the forthcoming release (out August 29 for vinyl and September 5 for digital) below, along with the accompanying artwork. We’re told to expect “Steve Reich vs. Mala sprinkled with a little Thom Yorke and some light-fingered Burial along the way.” If the single ends up being even half what that description claims, we’re in for another solid release from the legendary Belgian imprint.
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