Brenmar “Let Me Know (Tasting) (5kinAndBone5 & Vin Sol Garage & Patio Remix)”

Anyone who checks out XLR8R with any sort of regularity has probably noticed at least a few of the approximately 234 posts we’ve done about Brenmar over the past couple of years. Admittedly, we love the Brooklyn-based, R&B-obsessed producer and his seemingly endless well of hooky tunes, but today’s Brenmar-related shine should actually go to San Francisco producers Vin Sol and 5kinAndBone5 (pictured above). The duo has reworked the title track of Brenmar’s freshly released EP on Grizzly. Smartly keeping the original’s exceptionally catchy vocal intact, Vin Sol and 5kinAndBone5 have effectively paired it with an upfront garage rhythm, thick basslines, steppy snares, and a R&B feel that’s surprisingly UK in flavor.

Let Me Know (Tasting) (5kinAndBone5 & Vin Sol Garage & Patio RMX)

Tokimonsta Drops Fresh Mix For Oki-Ni

Online boutique store/art-and-culture hub Oki-Ni is continuing its exclusive mix series with a new collection of tracks from Brainfeeder beatsmith Tokimonsta. The LOVEWITHSOUND mix touches on everything from LA compatriots Baths, Mono Poly, Ras G, and recent Bubblin’ Up-featured artist Jonwayne to a few of her own originals (including a remix of Telepopmusik’s “Just Breathe”) and even a slowed-down Tupac instrumental. In her own words, Tokimonsta has set out to craft a mix which has a “lightly odd romantic vibe, traveling through different genres of music that still maintain this eerie romantic feeling,” which is really a more artsy way of saying expect 40 minutes of mellowed-out bliss-hop complete with the occasional, well-placed head-nodder or ambient excursion sprinkled throughout. You can stream LOVEWITHSOUND below or over on the Oki-Ni site.

XLR8R Couldn't find the embed function for type: "mixcloud" and source: "<embed src="http://www.mixcloud.com/media/swf/player/mixcloudLoader.swf?feed=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mixcloud.com%2Fokini%2Foki-ni-presents-lovewithsound-by-tokimonsta%2F&amp;embed_uuid=dfbbe3e1-f13b-45a3-ba36-e9259bab7c63&amp;embed_type=widget_standard" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="300" height="300">".

Oki-ni presents LOVEWITHSOUND by TOKiMONSTA by Okini on Mixcloud

Video: SBTRKT “Wildfire”

A week away from the release of his debut full-length, UK DJ/producer SBTRKT shares this strange music video for the record’s first single, “Wildfire.” While Little Dragon vocalist Yukimi Nagano belts out the sultry hooks of the infectious tune, the woman onscreen seems to become possessed by some unseeable power taking over the room she’s in. We’re no detectives, but the mask that’s hanging on the wall looks like it might’ve had something to do with the strange happenings. Or maybe it’s just the power of the music? We’ll never know.

Greie Gut Fraktion to Release Remix Album

Last year, the multi-talented poet/producer Antye Greie (a.k.a. AGF) and Berlin experimental-music pioneer Gudrun Gut got together to work under the banner of Greie Gut Fraktion. The fruits of that collaboration were realized with the release of the eclectic and avant-garde Baustelle, their first LP. Now they’ve enlisted the help of friends like Alva Noto, Mika Vainio, Soulphiction, Jenifer Cardini, and Wolfgang Voigt to create ReKonstruKtion, an album comprised entirely of remixes of tracks pulled from Baustelle. The album comes out August 26, but in the meantime check out the album art and tracklisting below.

1. Drilling an Ocean [Drilling Frrrmmm Remix]
2. Betongiessen [Rubberboots Mix]
3. Wir Bauen Eine Neue Stadt [Freiland Klaviermix]
4. Drilling an Ocean [Mix]
5. We Matter [Mix]
6. Make It Work [Mix] [Bass Heiko Voss]
7. Mischmaschine [Late Dub]
8. Cutting Trees [Mix]
9. Make It Work [Get It Down Mix]
10. Baustein [He’s a Man Mix]
11. Make It Work (Built It Up Interlude)
12. Wir Bauen Eine Neue Stadt [Remodel Edit]
13. Cutting Trees [Space Place Mix]
14. White Oak [Sombrero Albo Remix]
15. China Memories [Ambient Remix]

Westone 4 True-Fit Earphones

The Westone 4 ($449) is not only the world’s first three-way, four-driver, universal-fit in-ear monitor, but also a refinement of the company’s many accomplished balanced armature earphones, resulting in an uncolored soundstage that could be both the first and last word at its price point. With two bass drivers, one mid-range, and one high-frequency driver per ear, the Westone 4 delivers vividly articulated tonality integrated fluidly. Details extend dynamically from airy to throaty. First and foremost, however, energy is accurate. Bass is tight, not subwoofer force, yet it offers enough for the huskiest low-end fiends. On the opposite spectrum, grain and hiss are undetectable. I can’t heap enough hyperbole on how unexaggerated these earphones are, efficient whether amped or right from the headphone jack. Presentation is excited, but uncongested. Short of custom-fit monitors twice the price, an active producer won’t find more textural clarity and intimacy for on-the-go mix auditioning. And the broad fit kit, contoured housing, and braided cable assure an unobtrusive feel throughout lengthy listening sessions.

Spoek Mathambo Signs to Sub Pop, Offers Free Download

Word has come that South African rapper/producer/DJ/all-around musical globetrotter Spoek Mathambo has penned a deal with the Sub Pop label and is readying a new digital-only EP, Put Some Red On It, slated to be the first release to result from the new partnership. Furthermore, the good folks at Sub Pop have offered up the EP’s title track, a brimming slice of futuristic boom-bap co-produced with current Copenhagen resident CHLLNGR, for free download. You’ll find that in the widget below, along with the full tracklist for the EP (scheduled for a late July release), which includes four remixes from some like-minded producers. Rumor also has it that Mathambo is in the midst of preparing a full-length to come out some time in the not-too-distant future on his new label, ensuring there’s no need to worry about a shortage of Afro-futuristic raps anytime soon.

Tracklist:
1. Intro
2. Put Some Red On It
3. Put Some Red On It (Shabazz Palaces Remix)
4. Put Some Red On It (Machinedrum Remix)
5. Dog To Bone (Telepathe Remix)
6. Dog To Bone (Rashad Remix)
7. Outro

Presk “and Cut” b/w “Mold”

At this point, “bass music” has become a pretty nebulous term. And although it’s a useful catch-all for today’s low-end-centric musical happenings, that doesn’t change the fact that an increasingly disparate array of sounds is somehow being lumped together under a single umbrella. Whether that speaks to journalistic laziness or simply that many of today’s producers are cribbing notes from across the musical spectrum—in all likelihood, there is some truth in both assertions—the fact remains that the bass-music world continues to turn out interesting new permutations of dance music.

Take Presk, a relatively unknown producer from the Netherlands whose first single has been released on the brand-new, Ramp-affiliated Fourth Wave label. The two-track 12″ finds him mixing and matching styles, most notably UK funky and techno, although hints of more traditional house and dubstep pepper the record. A-side “and Cut” is the livelier offering, a steppy, dancefloor-minded tune with stuttering snares, punchy chords, and a hooky vocal sample leading the way. There’s a lot going on, which makes things a bit disjointed, but “and Cut” never wanders too far away from its groove. On the flip, “Mold” goes deeper and mellows out the proceedings. The beats still shuffle and snap, but they’re lower in the mix and Presk has put the track’s rubbery techno synths front and center. The song’s melodies and vocal snippets may not be as sticky as those found on “and Cut,” but “Mold” remains a quality production nonetheless.

Roche “Love You Crazy (Livestyle Version)”

With an ever-expanding digital back catalog, Roche is a San Francisco-based artist that we’ve been following for some time now. The last we heard from him, he had remixed “Age” for Bay Area production duo Wav Dwgs. Since then he’s been releasing a steady stream of tracks online, one of which is the excellent “Love You Crazy (Livestyle Version).” Moving through the claustrophobic and paranoid dreamscape of Detroit beatdown, Roche constructs tight deep house in the best sense of the word. The track has actually been sitting on his soundcloud page for more than six months, and we don’t generally make a habit of posting older tracks on XLR8R.com, but given that it has less than 150 plays to date, we figured that the song is still new to 99.9% of the population and an exception to the rules was in order. For something fresher, check out the similarly well-crafted “The Morning After,” which Roche only unveiled a couple of weeks back.

Love You Crazy (Livestyle Version)

Casual Fridays: Summer Essentials, Part One

Our resident stylist Andrew Porter waxes casual on men’s and women’s must-haves.

With summer “officially” in full swing here is Part One of my Summer Essentials list. A wrap-up of some past items and some new one’s that you might have overlooked. Take in the vitamin D…

Hanes White T-shirts
I may write a lot about colorful tops, but at the end of the day nothing is better than a crisp Hanes white t-shirt—a real summer essential. The tagless crewneck is the move. Leave the V-neck to the fedora-sporting guy in the drapey summer scarf. I recommend buying these at the dollar store. They always have “slight imperfections,” but don’t we all?

Go-To Shorts
Printed shorts are great, but most days I don’t want to draw a lot of attention to myself. For this reason, I always keep a pair of go-to shorts on deck. I like J. Crew shorts. They’re affordable, unassuming, and fit well. Get a basic blue or khaki pair and you can pretty much roll out of bed everyday and throw them on with whatever—no thought necessary. Heck, you can probably sleep in them and hit the town without looking like too much of a bum. (Been there. Done that).

Vans Authentics
I was off the Vans team for a few summers, but now I’m back on. White Vans Authentics with boat-shoe laces are my current tops, with the red ones coming in a close second. They come in every color of the rainbow, so get loose and express yourself.

Seersucker Something
Seersucker is pretty much as summer as it gets. I have an old LL Bean rainbow-striped seersucker shirt that I keep in heavy rotation. I can also stand by seersucker shorts or even seersucker pants—if you feel like getting really Great Gatsby on it. I found this rainbow jammer for $10. As far as I’m concerned, this is a deal you can’t pass up!

The Beach Blanket
Obviously, the beach is a summer must, thus, the beach blanket is a summer essential. My incredibly chiseled physique attracts a lot of attention on the sand. For those of you sans abs of steel looking to attract a little beach attention of your own, I would like to recommend the serape-as-beach-blanket move. Bright, colorful, tasseled, and guaranteed to turn heads. Added bonus: You can sushi-roll yourself up in one of these if push comes to shove and you need to sleep on the beach.

Soosh “Rainbow Hiccups (Lapalux Remix)”

Two up-and-coming forces in the ever-evolving world of electronic music—FUSELab‘s Jumble imprint (also responsible for this cut) and Essex-based producer Lapalux (who we’ve been excited about since his Pictures Music debut)—combine their respective powers with those of UK newcomer Soosh on this remix from the rookie’s debut, self-titled EP (out now, pictured above). As he is wont to do, Lapalux chops up the entirety of “Rainbow Hiccups” into a gauzy mess of broken hip-hop rhythms, distant synth washes, and half-audible field recordings that sounds like it could fall to pieces at any given moment. That kind of fragility gives this remix an inherently tender vibe despite the powerful boom-slap of its beats, and makes for some truly sublime electronic music.

Rainbow Hiccups (Lapalux Remix)

Page 2266 of 3781
1 … 2,264 2,265 2,266 2,267 2,268 … 3,781