The NYC-based duo of Eamon Harkin and Steve “One Auff” Raney (collectively referred to simply as Harking and Raney) are set to return with the pair’s second contribution to the Throne of Blood label, the Shakes On EP (artwork above). Here we have the release’s opening track, an eight-plus minute piece of deep house that does its title justice. Similar to the pair’s last outing together for the Rapture-headed imprint (the Word to the Wise EP), “Workin’ & Steamin'” finds the producers coming together somewhere between classic house and precision techno, but this time meeting in a much more sinister place characterized by tribal, drum-machine percussion, dark, ethereal pads, and an array of pulsating synths. The Shakes On EP, which comes complete with this tune, the title track, and a remix from Naum Gabo, sees its release today.
New York cyborg-rock trio Battles just recently dropped one of our favorite records this year, the baffling Gloss Drop, and is already gearing up to release more tireless polyrhythms and melodic gymnastics on the world in the forms of a new single and a US tour. The limited-edition 12″ for “My Machines (feat. Gary Numan)” (pictured above) will be available on August 15, and will feature the original tune along with an instrumental version and brand-new cut “A.M. Gestalt.” Then there is the tour, which will kick off on July 15 in Chicago, IL at the Pitchfork Music Festival. You can check out the full list of upcoming dates, as well as a stream of Battles’ “My Machines” single, below.
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July 15 – Chicago, IL – Pitchfork Music Festival July 16 – Madison, WI – UW Madison Memorial Terrace July 17 – Iowa City, IA – Blue Moose Taphouse July 18 – Lincoln, NE – Bourbon Theater July 19 – Denver, CO – Bluebird July 20 – Salt Lake City, UT – Urban Lounge July 22 – Victoria, BC – Sugar Nightclub July 23 – Vancouver, BC – Rickshaw Theater July 24 – Seattle, WA – Capitol Hill Block Party October 1 – Asbury Park, NJ – All Tomorrow’s Parties October 2 – Boston, MA – Royale Nightclub October 3 – Montreal, QC – Le National October 4 – Toronto, ON – Phoenix Concert Theatre October 5 – Cleveland, OH – Grog Shop October 6 – Pittsburgh, PA – VIA Festival October 7 – Chicago, IL – Vic Theatre October 8 – Minneapolis, MN – Fine Line Music Café October 10 – Edmonton, AB – Starlite Room October 13 – Portland, OR – Wonder Ballroom October 16 – Pomona, CA – Glasshouse October 17 – Los Angeles, CA – Mayan Theater October 18 – Scottsdale, AZ – The Venue October 20 – Houston, TX – Fitzgerald’s October 21 – Austin, TX – Emo’s October 22 – Dallas, TX – Grenada October 24 – Nashville, TN – Exit In October 25 – Birmingham, AL – Work/Play October 26 – Tampa, FL – Crowbar October 27 – Miami, FL – Grand Central October 28 – Atlanta, GA – Masquerade October 29 – Ashevill;e, NC – Moogfest October 30 – Washington, D.C. – 9:30 Club October 31 – Philadelphia, PA – Theater of the Living Arts
Brooklyn-based producer Travis Stewart has never been content to sit still artistically. In the decade-plus time he’s spent carving his own niche out of the amorphous realm of electronic dance music, the prolific artist has jumped from label to label to label, dropping loads of releases that all flirt with an array of disparate genres and yet sound inextricably linked in production style and quality. Whether making music as Neon Black, Machinedrum, or with Praveen Sharma as part of the Hotflush-signed Sepalcure, Stewart is constantly evolving, expanding his sonic palette to include elements of house, techno, juke, electro, ambient, hip-hop, IDM, and beyond. Now, years after he released the last proper Machinedrum LP, the glitchy Want to 1 2?, Stewart returns with a brand-new solo album for Planet Mu called Room(s), and it’s no surprise that it sounds unlike anything he’s done before.
“I think, as far as Want to 1 2? is concerned, it had more of a focus on bridging the gap between experimental electronic music and pop, so it ended up having a certain kind of sound,” says Stewart over Skype from Berlin, where he’s staying for the summer. “And a lot of pop music in general is a bit more in-your-face than other music, because that’s the style of it, especially with modern pop music. As far as [Room(s)] is concerned, I feel like it can definitely get in your face again, but in a different way. It’s kind of smoothed out a bit more with the atmospheric stuff I’ve been getting into and the melodic aspects that pull it back from being overwhelmingly drum-heavy.”
“Let It (feat. Melo-X)” from Want to 1 2?
Calling his record “drum-heavy” is somewhat of an understatement. Room(s) is first and foremost about rhythm. It’s a dance record through and through, but there’s an inherent introspection and tenderness in the songs that was rarely present in Stewart’s previous solo material. Tracks like “She Died There” and “U Don’t Survive” put skittering 808 beats, chopped percussive sounds, and cyclical, footwork-referencing vocal hooks at the core of their hot-footed grooves, but Stewart softens the edges with delicate synth tones and a lingering layer of gauzy atmosphere, which adds to the versatility of the songs being appropriate to hear at home, on a club’s soundsystem, or in headphones. You can’t help but think of Sepalcure in the midst of listening to it.
“[Sepalcure] is definitely an influence in what I do, but I could pretty much say that with any record I’ve ever done,” he admits. “Whatever I’m surrounding myself with at that time is going to inevitably influence the sound I’m creating. The stuff that I’ve done with Praveen has definitely been a big influence on [Machinedrum’s] current sound.”
But past production work and side-projects aren’t the only elements at work within the 11 touching cuts that make up Room(s). The record is very much about being in the moment. It’s the sound of Stewart recording ideas as they hit. He explains: “A big part of capturing that inspiration is trying to get a song as complete as I can during that first session, so that it becomes extremely difficult to accidentally take it in any other direction when I revisit it again in the studio.”
That immediacy would come to dictate, in a big way, how the new album was written. “[The method] was more or less something that I discovered on my own just from working on the road a lot,” says Stewart. “Having limited time to sort of jot down ideas, I want to be able to get as many out in a short period of time as I could. Otherwise, what was happening to me was I would start working on a track, and would spend too much time working on one element and would not actually have an opportunity to revisit that same song until maybe even a month later. So, the track essentially becomes something completely different. I wanted to avoid that as much as possible.”
“Sacred Frequency” from Room(s)
That “of the moment” energy drives Room(s), and sets it apart from the rest of Machinedrum’s discography. Songs like the deep, emotive “Lay Me Down” and pensive album closer “Where Did We Go Wrong?” sound like Stewart contemplating his wants and desires directly through music, while less somber productions—like “Sacred Frequency” and “Come1″—are pure party tunes that owe as much to dancefloor classics as they do navel gazing. It all makes for an even-handed and enticing record across the board, but as Stewart tells it, Room(s) is basically a personal scrapbook of his own handmade sounds, which could in turn make it that much more of a rewarding listen.
“I felt like the songs sonically, stylistically, and aesthetically fit [together],” he says. “They all seemed like they were brothers and sisters of each other, and I felt like each song together made a whole piece, like a house in a way… It’s a collection [of music] from a period of time in my life.”
Although Denver may not have the most renowned reputation as a haven for electronic music producers, it’s hard to argue that the city has been producing some unique sonic adventurers as of late, including one Drew Englander, who has been crafting his brand of hybrid electro-pop under the name R E A L M A G I C in Colorado’s capitol city for a few years now. Here we have the cleverly titled “Crip Tics,” one of two tracks available as a free single from the Heart Music imprint, and on it we find Englander running through a smattering of ideas with a string of dusty, sun-drenched melodies to hold it all together. Complete with blistering, pseudo-IDM drums, Englander’s own vocal manipulations, and even a bit of playful wobble, “Crip Tics” is a nice primer to his hybrid approach, which seems to incorporate a bit of everything from Leaving Records-style tape music, blissful chillwave, and any number of club-friendly, bass-centric stylings. After taking a listen to the track below you can head here to grab a free download of “No Things Left,” the other track to be had on on R E A L M A G I C’s new single.
No matter how many times people say that grime is dead, it’s pretty clear at this point that there’s no killing Wiley. The man is a seemingly endless source of conversation-starting antics, whether he’s beefing with rivals, dumping huge chunks of unreleased material online, delivering stream-of-consciousness diatribes from Jamaica via UStream, or unveiling incredibly bizarre online advertisements. That said, the amount of water-cooler chatter devoted to his actual music, as opposed to his larger-than-life personality, has undoubtedly declined in recent years. Given Wiley’s notoriously unpredictable behavior, it’s interesting that Big Dada has elected to release 100% Publishing; it’s a safe bet that the imprint isn’t especially thrilled that he has elected to surround the release of the album with more free giveaways, including a new mixtape with DJ Whoo Kid and another full-length, Chill Out Zone.
Antics aside, there’s no denying that 100% Publishing is on the whole a fairly consistent effort. Although entirely produced by Wiley himself, the record is remarkably focused and free of bloat—its 13 tracks clock in at just over 40 minutes. Sure, there are a few stinkers on board—the circus melody of “Boom Boom Da Na” is particularly abhorrent and “Pink Lady” veers too far into goofball territory—but overall, the album sports a fairly high success rate.
Grime often gets into trouble when its MCs spit over more traditional hip-hop beats, but Wiley does admirably over the Neptunes-esque boom-bap of “Talk About Life” and the clubby claps of “Yonge Street (1,178 Miles Long).” Same goes for stompy album opener “Information Age” and the infectious first single, “Numbers In Action,” which oddly recalls the party-rap vibe of songs like Fabolous’ “Young’n.” “Wise Man and His Words” is another standout, a bass-infused, R&B-flavored song that teeters on the edge of cheese without ever crossing the line. Those seeking some of Wiley’s vintage eski stylings can take refuge with “One Hit Wonder” and the album’s title track, both of which prove that his classic grime formula still has some legs.
Perhaps the album’s only major drawback is its lack of jaw-dropping “wow” moments. It’s as though 100% Publishing is almost a little too consistent. Nevertheless, it’s hard to make the case that Wiley followers are lacking for excitement. As the grime king eases into his second decade of music making, we can only hope that he finds a way to get a little more of that excitement on his records.
Today, London-based tunesmith Jim Coles (a.k.a. Om Unit) inaugurates his very own label, Cosmic Bridge, with the release of its first record, a collaborative 12″ from Kromestar and the founding producer himself. “Merkabah (Moresounds Dub)” won’t be on that single, but properly represents the spacious, dubby style of bass music and experimental techno you can expect from the musical pairing. Download this bonus track here, and check out a preview of the “Solar Cycle” b/w “Merkabah” release after the jump. (via Dummy)
We honestly don’t know how he does it, but Wiley could very well be the hardest-working MC around. After a brief sabbatical following 2009’s Race Against Time, the eccentric UK grime icon released 100% Publishing (which was quickly followed by announcing the forthcoming Evolve or Be Extinct EP), a fresh mixtape he made with DJ Whoo Kid, and just today, a whole other album, called Chill Out Zone. The 11-track LP is available as a free download, here, and its details are below. Don’t ever say Wiley doesn’t love his fans, or himself for that matter. (via RWD Mag)
1. Music Is Calling Me Ft. Meleka 2. Seduction Ft. Alexa Goddard 3. Walk Away Ft. Sinead Harnett 4. Don’t Throw It Away 5. Romeo Ft. Cherri V 6. She Might Holla 7. Out The Box 8. Pengting Ft. Opium 9. Get Up 10. Music Is Calling 11. We Clicked
Considering his role as one of the later members in the legendary Funk Brothers Motown backing band and the string of hits to his name (including the classic song “Scorpio”, which has been sampled countless times in the hip-hop world over the years), any XLR8R readers who fancy themselves decent crate diggers (and we imagine that’s a lot of you) should be familiar with the work of Dennis Coffey. Earlier in the year, the Detroit guitarist saw his first album since the mid ’80s released through the Strut imprint, and now the self-titled effort is starting to turn up some remixes, like this one from fellow Michigan resident Shigeto (pictured above). As one might expect, Shigeto carefully molds “All Your Goodies Are Gone” into a slow-brewing piece of soulful downtempo, choosing to use Coffey’s original guitar work in lush spurts of backwards movement and, fortunately, keeping Mayer Hawthorne‘s vocal contributions to an unobtrusive minimum. A free remix collection of Coffey’s album, including additional reimaginings from the likes of Dabrye, Recloose, 14KT, Nick Speed, and more is said to be on its way soon.
Coming September 12, Carrier is the 10-track debut LP from elusive London-based producer Sully, which will be released by Martin “Blackdown” Clark’s and Dusk’s Keysound imprint. The record follows a long string of releases spanning four years or so, and is said to be “a short-but-sweet opus that embraces house, two-step, UK funky, purple synths, and juke, with a widescreen, epic vision and Sully’s trademark emotive vistas.” In fact, the whole second half of Carrier is chock full of the tunesmith’s take on Chicago’s now infamous footwork sound, which he deftly marries with the kinds of dubstep experimentation he’s gained his reputation for pioneering. Though some of Sully’s new productions may have popped up in mixes here and there (like his podcast for FACT, for instance), “In Some Pattern” is the only one to have been officially released (Keysound 2010). You can stream a portion of the song (it’s preceded by a preview of his remix of “The Loot” by J-Treole) and check out the full tracklist for Carrier below.
1. It’s Your Love 2. 2 Hearts 3. In Some Pattern
4. Encona 5. Let You 6. Scram 7. I Know 8. Trust 9. Bonafide 10. Exit
When we first received word about Tropics‘ Mouves EP a month or so ago, it came with a brief note that he would eventually be following up that release with a proper full-length. Now, before the EP even hits the streets, Planet Mu has announced that Tropics’ debut LP will see a release in only a few shorts months on September 20. Entitled Parodia Flare, the full-length will come with the two originals that make up Mouves (the title track and “Celebrate”) nestled amongst ten other warm and tender productions from the young English producer. Furthermore, the album is said to showcase Tropics’ talent as a multi-instrumentalist, finding him “playing drums, guitar, and a range of synths and electronic boxes,” as well as contributing his own voice to the effort. You’ll find the accompanying artwork and tracklist for Parodia Flare below, and, for a taste of what’s to come, peep the rather entertaining video for “Mouves,” which we originally posted earlier in the week.
Tracklist: 01 Navajo 02 Mouves 03 Parodia Flare 04 Going Back 05 Wear Out 06 Celebrate 07 Figures 08 Telassar 09 Playgrounds 10 After Visiting 11 Sapphire 12 On the Move
