NYC Favorite Toribio’s Funky House Jams Next on The Jazz Diaries

Up next on The Jazz Diaries is a four-track release from NYC favorite Cesar Toribio (a.k.a Toribio). 

Toribio grew up playing Dominican percussion instruments and has been a staple DJ in the NYC circuit for the last seven-plus years. His productions fuse his Dominican roots, afro-cuban Latin rhythms, and ’90s hip-hop. 

Capicua follows Toribio’s Gator Boots 12” for Soul Clap. Its name is an expression Dominicans yell as they slam the last domino of a certain hand. “It means you win on both sides of the table no matter which way you look at it,” Toribio explains.”This is my musical way of saying it in a Dominican style. I won on both sides with this record.” 

EP opener “Get Up”  hits you with a nasty dose of p-funk over a bed of live and programmed house rhythms. The record showcases Toribio’s penchant for the funky yet rhythmically inquisitive. This trademark sound permeates the record and continues its way through the acid-tinged “Make Your Mark,” where Byron the Aquarius steps in on remix duties. Toribio rounds off the EP with a cover of “Household” by Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs. 

Tracklisting

A1. Get Up

A2. Meet Your Maker

B1. Make Your Mark (Byron The Aquarius Midnight Dub Mix)

B2. Household

Capicua! EP is out June 14, with “Get Up” streaming below. 

Spanish Composer Manu Dia Signs to TOKiMONSTA’s Young Art Records

TOKiMONSTA has signed Spanish composer and producer Manu Dia to her Young Art Records label. 

Growing up between Brussels and the Aragon Region of Spain, Manu Dia has been shaped by a diverse exposure to vibrant cultures, architecture, and natural landscapes. Surface, his debut release, weaves conventional pop tropes amidst a glitchy electronic soundscape. The six-track project is embellished with glistening jewels of electronica, and moves between an eclectic range of genres and stylistic devices. 

“Kids In America,” the EP’s lead single, is bursting with shimmering synths and buoyant summer melodies. “It’s a song about being young and embracing the experiences of your youth,” Manu explains. “Something that will make you feel like you are on a perpetual sunset ride home.”

TOKiMONSTA launched Young Art Records in 2014 with the release of her Desiderium album. 

Tracklisting

01.  Surface

02. Kids In America (ft. Panama)

03. Stranger

04. Tailwhip

05. Sign (ft. KOLE)

06. Ways Of Seeing

Surface EP is out June 14, with “Kids In America” feat. Panama streaming below. 

Point Blank Music School China is Now Open for Enrollment

Point Blank Music School China is now taking enrollment. 

Following schools in London, Los Angeles, Ibiza, and Mumbai, Point Blank China was announced last year in partnership with the Chinese company NetEase FEVER. The new campus is due to wrap construction in the next few months and is now open for enrolment, with the first phase offering six types of courses with 16 different pathways to choose from. These include everything music production, sound engineering, DJing, singing, music industry courses, and much more. 

The school will run parallel to Point Blank’s London school and feature the highest standard of teaching using state-of-the-art equipment, including a DJ classroom, music production room, music industry classroom, practice room, recording/mixing room, performing area, and more. Lecturers will include Ableton-certified trainers and industry experts who are fully equipped to teach the ins and outs of music production, DJing, music industry practice, and more.

You can check out Point Blank China’s full line of courses and enroll here, and once you’ve decided on which course you’d like to take, you can contact a Course Advisor at PB China in Hangzhou via this email: [email protected]

Hunter/Game Explore Meditative Soundscapes on New Album

Hunter/Game have presented Silence, a 10-track LP exploring free-form structures, meditative soundscapes, and avant-garde compositional techniques. 

Silence follows a series of EPs and 2016’s album debut that have consolidated the Milan duo’s position as a crucial voice in the realm of experimental techno. It’s described as a spiralling voyage into the depths of blissful ambience and visceral melancholy. “By treading the line between light and dark, Hunter/Game create vast, peculiar sonic worlds, allowing the imagination to wander to the outer reaches of the corporeal,” the label explains. 

Silence could be considered a departure from the duo’s more dancefloor-focused productions, but it remains concerned with exploring the same strands of minimalism, ambience, and tension that can be traced through their discography. Floating pads are left to drift out into a sea of effects, with swirling melodic leads and hypnotic distortions. Unlike much of their previous work, however, vocals feature a number of times. 

The album will be followed by a remix EP. Radio Slave turns “Dead Soul” into a marching ground of melodic techno; Inland breathes robotic life into “Crashed Sounds,” and Wrong Assessment levitate “Fragments” over murky waters. Closing off the vinyl is Jamaica Suk’s restructuring of “Reaction.”

Tracklisting, Silence

01. The Island (Silence Version) 

02. Crashed Sounds (Silence Version)

03. Silver (Silence Version)

04. Landscape (Silence Version)

05. Second Floor (Silence Version)

06. Tree Of Life (Silence Version)

07. Memories (Silence Version)

08. Reaction (Silence Version)

09. Evolution (Silence Version)

10. Dead Soul (Silence Version)

Tracklisting, Silence Remixes

A1.  Dead Soul (Radio Slave Remix) 

A2.  Crashed Sounds (Inland Remix) 

B1. Fragments (Wrong Assessment Remix) 

B2. Reaction (Jamaica Suk Remix)

Digital 1. Evolution (Vessels Remix)

Digital 2.  Reaction (Jamaica Suk Floor Mix)

Digital 3. Memories (Scissor Remix) 

Silence is available now with Silence Remixes landing June 7, both via Just This. 

Premiere: Hear Desert Sound Colony’s Garage Rework of Bushwacka!

The second release on Holding Hands sub-label Holding Hands Again is Sound As A Pound, an EP of three previously released Bushwacka! cuts plus a garage rework from label head Desert Sound Colony. 

Bushwacka!, real name Matthew Benjamin, is one of the main influences behind the main Holding Hands label. “His UK take out house and techno then led onto his groundbreaking labels Oblong and Plank that have inspired many of the generations that came after him,” Desert Sound Colony recalls. “I love those breaks releases and play a lot of them in my sets but my favourite of his cuts are actually his super early releases that he put out on his own label Sound As A Pound. Volume 1, 2 and 3 are packed with gems and sound just as original today as they did in the mid ’90s.”

These early volumes are highly sought-after, and so Desert Sound Colony has decided to share three of his favourite tracks from those releases. “I chose three that covered a broad range of sound,” he explains. “Loopy trippy house, techno with a ton of soul, and one straight up classic house banger.” The reissues have been freshly remastered for maximum boost. 

Holding Hands Against aims to put out banging tunes on black vinyl and get them to DJs who want to rinse them in clubs. 

In support of the EP, out June 14 on Holding Hands, you can stream Desert Sound Colony’s rework of “8” in full below. 

Tracklisting

01. 8

02. 8 (Desert Sound Colony Remix)

03. 11 

04. 5 

Vancouver’s Baby Blue Explores the Victimisation of Trans Women on Album Debut

Baby Blue will release her debut album, Death of Euphoria, on June 7 via Ascetic House. 

Baby Blue is a Vancouver-based trans DJ-producer best known for her euphoric trance-edits and a remix of Madonna’s “Music.” Her music aims to bridge the worlds of underground and overground to create “an honest electronic pop experience, non-existent in the mainstream today,” the label explains.

Death of Euphoria is said to take the listener on the esoteric journey of a young woman at war with the world and herself. The announcement follows the release of lead single “Visage Of Truth,” for which you can stream the video below. The video depicts the sexual and psychological abuse and torture that trans women face at the hands of men. 

“Everyone loves to talk about activism, the change of trans-representation in our world today. Well here I am, a trans-woman working in this male dominated music industry The album is about death and I wrote a eulogy to myself. This was my goodbye before the beginning of my journey as a trans-female. I hope that we stay conscious and awake to realize the importance of revolution, Aquarian unity, and visibility in 2019.” — Baby Blue

Tracklisting

01. Intro

02. DOG

03. Visage of Truth

04. Human

05. Tear Soaked Stone

06. Collapsed

07. I Hold U

08. How Far Will These Stone Feet Carry Me?

Death of Euphoria LP lands June 7 via Ascetic House. 

Cover art: JS Aurelius

Amelie Lens Delivers a Pair of Razor-Sharp Peak-Time Weapons via Second State

One and a half years after her last outing on Second State, Amelie Lens will return to the label with her new three-track EP, Hypnotized.

Hypnotized is the Belgian aritst’s first outing of the year, and follows her Basiel EP issued in 2018 through her own imprint, Lenske. We can expect a pair of razor-sharp peak-time weapons plus a nasty gabber-inflected remix from Belgian duo Joyhauser. 

Title track “Hypnotized” has triggered a massive response from fans during Lens’ sets over the last year, flexing the heavy kicks, brooding chord stabs, and cascading snares, with Lens’ delayed vox hooks. “Access” revs the engine up a notch further with its psychoactive synth waves. Adding their euphoric spin to “Hypnotized,” Joyhauser go all out with a rave anthem of a rework, built for warehouse-sized spaces.

Tracklisting

A1 / 1. Hypnotized

B1 / 2. Access

B2 / 3. Hypnotized (Joyhauser Remix)

Hypnotized EP lands June 28 on vinyl and digital formats, with clips below. 

FD Draws on Childhood Memories for Album Debut via The North Quarter

Freddie Dixon (a.k.a FD) will release his debut album via Lenzman’s The North Quarter label. 

Better Days was largely written in a three month window, and follows the Zurich-based, London-born Alone With Everybody EP on The North Quarter. It’s inspired and informed by FD’s early life—”nostalgia-infused wonderings of the mind to a care-free time without today’s online distractions”—hence the title. 

Vocal collaborations come from Fox, Washington DC soul diva Cecily, and Ribs. 

The album is The North Quarter’s 10th release. 

“I’ve been wanting to do an album for quite a while now, but the circumstance never felt right. Once I started working with The North Quarter that all changed—it feels like being part of a team all pushing in the same direction, all supporting one another, all wanting to do the best for each other. Once we’d done the first EP together, for me, it was only a question of when.”— FD

Tracklisting

A1. Top2Bottom (Roller)

A2. Got A Feeling

B1. Not That Bad

B2. 99 Flake (Interlude)

B3. Foundations

C1. Deadly Styles

C2. Sycamore (feat. Cecily)

D1. Better Man (feat. Fox)

D2. Bottles (Prelude)

D3. Bottles

Better Days LP lands June 7, with “Not That Bad” and “Bottles” both streaming below. 

Georgia Anne Muldrow and Partner Dudley Perkins Celebrate the Unity of the Black Family on New G&D Album

Photo: Drew Gurian

Georgia Anne Muldrow and Dudley Perkins (a.k.a Declaime), collectively known as G&D, will present their latest album, Black Love & War, on August 9. 

Both life and musical partners, G&D have been together for over 13 years, even raising three children together. The album celebrates “black love” and the unity of the black family, but also delves into many of the socio-economic and racial issues that still have them at “war.” It features production from Oh No and Mike & Keys (Nipsey Hussle), and vocal contributions from Aloe Blacc, Latoiya Williams, Sean Biggs, and Ms. Dezy.

Black Love & War won’t surprise those who’ve followed Georgia and Dudley to this point. The Cali-bred, Nevada-based couple have always challenged listeners to stand tall in the face of tyranny, including on their two two previous albums as G&D, 2007’s Time ‎and 2008’s SomeOthaShip Connect. “The devil is working, and as scores of black people die at the hands of racist white law enforcement and MAGA followers emboldened by the U.S. president, now’s the time to prepare for revolution,” reads the press release. 

“We thought, ‘Let’s hit ’em harder, and not give a fuck about the industry,'” Perkins says about the album’s premise.

The first single from the album, “Where I’m From,” is now available. 

Later this month, Georgia Anne Muldrow will release VWETO II, her latest full-length album, via Mello Music Group

Tracklisting

01. English Breakfast

02. Where I’m From (Prod. by Mike & Keys)

03. Peace Peace (Prod. by Georgia Anne Muldrow)

04. That’s How We Do It (Prod. by Georgia Anne Muldrow)

05. The Power Of Your Brain (Prod. by Georgia Anne Muldrow)

06. The Battle (Prod. by Georgia Anne Muldrow)

07. Slave Revolt Soundtrack (Prod. by Georgia Anne Muldrow)

08. Protect Yourself (Prod. by Oh No)

09. Sunshine (Prod. by Oh No)

10. 187 (Prod. by Georgia Anne Muldrow)

11. Again ft. Latoiya Williams (Prod. by Georgia Anne Muldrow)

12. Jacob’s Ladder (Prod. by Georgia Anne Muldrow)

13. P.A.L. (Prod. by Georgia Anne Muldrow)

14. Smile ft. Aloe Blacc, Latoiya Williams & Ms. Dezy (Prod. by Georgia Anne Muldrow)

15. Fruitful ft. Sean Biggs (Prod. by Georgia Anne Muldrow)

16. Big Mel (Prod. by Georgia Anne Muldrow)

Black Love & War‘ is out August 9 on SomeOthaShip Connect / eOne Music. 

Blanck Mass Reflects on Our Losses to Consumerism on New Album

Blanck Mass—the solo electronic project of Scotland-based musician Benjamin John Power—has announced his new album, Animated Violence Mild, out August 16 on Sacred Bones. Alongside the announcement, he has shared new album track “House vs. House.” 

Animated Violence Mild was written throughout 2018 at Power’s studio outside of Edinburgh. The eight tracks are the diary of a year of work steeped in honing craft, self-discovery, and grief, the latter of which reared its head at the final hurdle of producing this record and created a whole separate album narrative, both for what Power has lost personally but also in a global sense, for what we as a species have lost and handed over to consumerism. 

Power has been making music under the Blanck Mass moniker since 2010. In 2012, “Sundowner,”  the second track from the self-titled Blanck Mass debut, soundtracked the London Olympics opening ceremony. Since then, Power has released two albums, 2015’s Dumb Flesh and 2017’s World Eater, on Sacred Bones. Animated Violence Mild is Power’s fourth full-length as Blanck Mass, and is said to be.his “most emotionally direct statement yet.” 

Tracklisting

01. Intro

02. Death Drop

03. House vs. House

04. Hush Money

05. Love is a Parasite

06. Creature / West Fuqua

07. No Dice

08. Wings of Hate

Animated Violence Mild LP lands August 16 via Sacred Bones, with “House vs. House” streaming below. 

 

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