UK’s Joseph Higgins Returns to Batu’s Timedance as Metrist

Joseph Higgins is back on Batu’s Timedance as Metrist. 

Pollen Pt. I is the first part of a trilogy of records showcasing Metrist’s latest developments in twisted beat-science. The release combines four tracks of electro swagger, off-kilter vocal chops, and imaginative groove. 

Higgins, a UK producer, last appeared on Timedance in 2015 as L.SAE, and has since released on Where To Now?, Neighborhood, and Opal Tapes. “Here he refines his sound palette even further, striking a unique balance between the avant-garde and dancefloor,” the label explains. 

Artwork comes courtesy of Harry Butt.

Tracklisting

A1. OL Face You Got

A2. Qaqq Ata

B1. OB Lopes

B2. Closer The TV

Pollen Pt. I EP lands June 21, with opener “OL Face You Got” streaming below. 

Podcast 596: Lenzman

We’re back to drum & bass with this week’s podcast, this time coming from Lenzman, the alias of Teije van Vliet. The Dutch artist began his explorations of the genre over two decades ago, initially just playing records in his bedroom and trying to replicate these sounds with a basic laptop-based production setup. It wasn’t until 2007 that he first shared any of this material, his debut coming in the shape of a two-track 12″ on the UK’s Spearhead Records. Within two years, and several releases later, he had enough booking requests to pursue a full-time career in music. 

An enduring love of hip-hop, jazz, and funk gives Lenzman’s work a soulful feel, equally melancholic and uplifting, often with warm melodies and emotive vocals. Nowhere is this more apparent than on Looking At The Stars, his album debut on Metalheadz that featured collaborations with the likes of DRS, Martyna Baker, and Steo. 

After returning to Goldie’s leading label for various 12″s, in March Lenzman delivered his second album, Bobby, inspired by nostalgia for his own childhood and the birth of his first child. Although more jazz-influenced than Lenzman’s past records, it’s similarly raw and emotive, and once again features a long list of vocal collaborators, among them Konny Kon and Tyler Daley’s Children Of Zeus.

In celebration of the release, Lenzman has compiled a rare studio mix for XLR8R, made almost exclusively of unreleased and unheard material. Lenzman chose the tracks over the past month while on holiday with his family before mixing it on his return. It’s made up of his own music, some music forthcoming on his label, some old gems, and a few tracks that he’s just feeling right now. Grab it via the WeTransfer button below. 

What have you been up to recently?

After a very hectic few years in which I set up and developed my own label, had my second daughter, and finished my second album for Metalheadz, I gave myself and the family a little break. So I was on holiday in the Caribbean for three weeks. I’m back now and it’s straight back into a very hectic schedule for gigs. I’m just touring the album and doing label events around Europe.

When and where was the mix recorded?

I selected the pool of music while on holiday out in Curacao and then recorded it when I got home to Amsterdam last week.

How did you select the records that you included?

I just wanted it to be a representation of what I’m about as a DJ and music lover. I have played some of my own music, some music forthcoming on my label, some old gems, and a few tracks that I’m just feeling at the moment. I always find myself trying to keep it soulful, playing tracks that invoke a certain emotion, or groove. I do enjoy reaching back to older tracks a lot. There’s so much amazing stuff there that the current generation of ravers probably doesn’t remember. I get a buzz from playing these tracks, and to a lot of people in clubs, they’re like new tracks.

How does it compare to one of your club sets?

I’d say in terms of the sound and where I’m coming from it’s pretty similar. I used to get caught up in deviating from my game plan in clubs sometimes. I think it was just a lack of experience of confidence. I think as I’ve been doing this long enough, people know what to expect and sure, I might play a few hard-hitting tracks here and there to switch it up, get people’s attention, but I’d say I stay true to my vision these days.

What’s next on your horizon?

I’m recharging the creative batteries at the moment. I’m not one of those people that has endless drive to write music. It comes and goes with me. It might take me a little while to find that urge again. I have done a couple of remixes recently. And I’m doing a few production things for vocalists too. But other than that I’m just focussing on working with some amazing people on my label. I love A&Ring, working with guys on their projects. FD is dropping his album Better Days on June 7, and I’m really proud of that project.

Due to issues regarding the GDPR, EU readers can download the podcast here.

Tracklisting

01. FD “Deadly Styles” (The North Quarter)

02. Unknown

03. Unknown

04. Unknown

05. Anile “Back On Days” (The North Quarter)

06. Calibre “Vice” (Creative Source)

07. Sub Focus feat. Mnek “Close” (Ivy Lab Remix)

08. Unkown

09. Unkown

10. Koherent feat. Charli Brix “Voices” (Shogun Audio)

11. Calibre “Key Flicks” (Signature)

12. Unknown

13. Unknown

14. FD “Got A Feeling” (The North Quarter)

15. Random Movement “Police State” (Understand) (Liquid V)

16. Unknown

17. LSB “Space Between” (Footnotes)

18. FD “Bottles” (The North Quarter)

19. Unknown

20. FD feat. Cecily “Sycamore” (The North Quarter)

21. Atlantic Connection “Water” (Advance/d)

22. Zero T feat. Steo “Can’t Hide” (Integral)

23. Ivy Lab & Alix Perez “The Last Light” (Critical)

24. Lenzman “My Heart” (Metalheadz)

25. Marcus Intalex “Vintage”

26. Halogenix feat. SOLAH “Out Of Line”

27. Unknown

28. Dogger, Mindstate & Liam Bailey “Broken Home” (1985)

Lenzman is playing Gottwood Festival in Wales this coming weekend.  More information and final tickets can be found here. 

Arno Völker (a.k.a Einzelkind) Drops Alias for Solo Album Debut

Arno Völker (a.k.a Einzelkind) will serve up his debut solo album on Brouqade as Arno. 

We Perfectly Understand Each Other Until We Start to Talk is the first album on Dana Ruh’s Brouqade. It’s also Völker’s debut on the label, after appearances on his own Pressure Traxx, Playhouse, Aku, and Kindisch, among many others. Back in 2010, he released a collaborative album with Christian Burkhardt, but this marks his first solo LP.  

We’re told to expect “classy dancing music that is laced with emotion and is designed for cosy and intimate clubs and cultured crowds.”

Tracklisting

A1. Drum XTC

A2. Inserts PL88

B1. Guernica

B2. Sacre Bleu

C1. Head Straight

C2. Start Making Sense

D1. Dipset

D2. Set Me Free

E1. Empire State Open

E2. Half A Vibration

F1. Cleopatra Jones

F2. Glaser

We Perfectly Understand Each Other Until We Start to Talk is scheduled for June 17 release on vinyl only, with clips below. 

Little Snake EP Next on Flying Lotus’ Brainfeeder

Credit: Bryan Dellosa 

Up next on Flying Lotus’ Brainfeeder is a new EP from Little Snake, real name Gino Serpentini. 

Little Snake debuted on Brainfeeder last year with ENTER, his second EP. We’re told to expect a fresh collection of DJ tools expressly built to turn dancefloors upside down and inside out, “drawing on math rock, textural noise, acid techno, and jungle the label explains.” 

Residing in Calgary, Alberta, Little Snake’s music balances intricacy and explosive bass weight, and has become a staple in Flying Lotus’ DJ sets. FlyLo described his productions as “fkn insane” and promptly signed the 20-year-old to Brainfeeder in 2018 to release ENTER and also contribute to the label’s 10th anniversary compilation, Brainfeeder X.

Tracklisting

 01. USER1111333 

02. YDTA 

03. MESSAGE 

04. SEEN  

05. JEEEEEVEESS 

LOST IN SPIRALS EP is out on June 21, with “MESSAGE” streaming over at Bandcamp. 

Gene On Earth Drops Album Debut

Gene On Earth has dropped his album debut, Local Fuzz.

Gene On Earth is an alias of Eugene Albert, a young San Francisco-born DJ-producer, now based in Berlin. As Yooj, he began releasing music in 2012 and garnered supporters with his release Mademoiselle, before a relocation to the German capital led him to explore house music’s past. 

His more recent output has come as Gene on Earth, a project started with 2012’s Lazybones, and since followed with three more EPs. The common home for these wonky minimal outings has been Limousine Dream, his own vinyl-only label. These records tend to sell out extremely quickly, and the album is unlikely to be any different. 

Tracklisting

A1. The Golden Escalator 

A2. Marvin’s Garden

B1. Now 2045 

B2. Beyond The Reef 

B3. The Ace From Outer Space 

C1. Turbo Island 

C2. Bionic Beat 

D1. Hatchback 

D2. Lunchbox Music 

Local Fuzz LP is available now via Limousine Dream, with clips below. 

Joey G ii “Working Aspirations” (ft. Klein Zage)

The fourth release on New York’s Orphan. Records comes from label co-founder Joey G ii, who delivers four club tracks that explore his teenage years of South London and current days in Ridgewood, Queens. It follows the release of Or.003, Klein Zage’s Womahood EP, in March, and comes with a remix from Whities mainstay Reckonwrong. 

Joey G ii, real name Joe Gillick, founded Orphan. in 2015 with friends Sage Redman and Billy Meddleton. The three began throwing bi-monthly parties in Deptford, aiming to feature the unsung heroes of the crowded London club circuit. Come 2017 and the trio found themselves divided by an ocean: Joe and Sage moved to the United States and Billy to Berlin. Despite the distance, Orphan. carried on with events in each location, and it now encompasses a label, operating out of New York and Berlin.

In support of the EP, out July 5, we’re offering A2 “Working Aspirations” (ft. Klein Zage) as one of today’s free downloads. Grab it now via the WeTransfer button below, or here for EU readers due to GDPR restrictions. 

Tracklisting

A1. 2003, South London

A2. Working Aspirations (ft. Klein Zage)

B1. The Ghost

B2. Ridgewood B (ft. Alessandra)

B3. Ridgewood B (Reckonwrong Remix)

Northern Electronics Welcomes Toronto’s E-Saggila for New Album

E-Saggila (real name Rita Mikhael) will release her new album on Northern Electronics in August, titled My World My Way. 

My World My Way is created out of the Toronto artist’s live works, and so shows a lack of restraint that could only be “forged in the moment,” the label explains. We’re told that it’s well suited for the dancefloor with its high BPMs and storming mechanical rhythms that borrow from gabber, but that its chopped vocal samples and ambient sensibilities mean it’s also a pleasant headphone experience. It follows last year’s E-Saggila album for BANK Records NYC, and previous outings on Opal Tapes and for Canadian DIY label Summer Isle.

Varg and Anthony Linell’s Northern Electronics’ last release came in the shape of Varg’s emotive hardcore Sky City double EPs.

E-Saggila will debut her live set at this years Berlin Atonal. 

Tracklisting

A1 / 1. Aziza

A2 / 2. Crimson Liquescence

A3 / 3. Stars Dying in Succession

B1 / 4. Alia ft. Thoom

B2 / 5. Pattern Obligation

B3 / 6. My World My Way

B4 / 7. One Last Midnight ft. Oil Thief

My World My Way LP lands August 2, with “Pattern Obligation” streaming below. 

Ash Walker Signs to Night Time Stories for New Album

Photo: Dan Medhurst

London-based multi-instrumentalist Ash Walker’s third album, Aquamarine, is set for release on July 19 via Night Time Stories. 

Aquamarine follows Walkers 2016 album, Echo Chamber, and 2015’s Augmented 7th. A cosmic explosion of sound and color, rhythm, shape, and patterns, the album is described as “the take-off of an audial spaceship, a sound discovered in the grooves of thousands of records, united in one.” It’s designed to inspire good energy, and to bring a sense of calm and tranquility to the listener amongst the chaos of life.

It was recorded at home with the freedom of time and space, and combines analogue with digital, and a fondness for normally unwanted shapes and textures such as fuzz, hiss, and crackle. 

Featured across the album are trumpet and flugelhorn auteur Yazz Ahmed, bassist Marc Cyril, and renowned producer Jonathan Shorten. 

“My previous albums have felt to me more like ventures on land. This one feels more like a deep sea voyage into the subconscious,” Walker explains. “Living to dream with visions of grandeur. Manifesting a beautiful path to walk on. It was inspired by everything around me, from friends and family to art and design, engineering and architecture, movement and how we use our five senses. I love to try and push my own boundaries of what I perceive to be right and wrong, seeing mistakes as innovations, and obstacles as inspiration.”   

Tracklisting

01. Under The Sun (Feat. Laville)

02. Time (Feat. Laville)

03. Come With Us

04. Brave New World

05. Finishing Touch (Feat. Laville)

06. Aquamarine

07. Sanity (Feat. Laville)

08. I Need Money

09. Fat King Smoke

10. Ain’t Got You (Feat. Laville)

11. The Dagon’s Cashmere Jumper

Aquamarine LP lands July 19, with lead single “Under The Sun” (Feat. Laville) streaming below. 

Brazilian Jazz-Funk Trio Azymuth Release Two Volumes of Rare Archival Recordings

Brazil’s Azymuth have released two volumes of rare archival recordings with London-based label Far Out Recordings, titled Demos (1973-75) Volumes 1&2. 

After their debut album release in 1975, Azymuth rose to rank alongside the world’s greatest jazz, funk, and fusion artists. Their signature “Samba Doido” (crazy samba) sound ruptured the tried and tested musical structures of the day, resulting in an electric, psychedelic, samba jazz-funk hybrid.

Before they became Azymuth, Jose Roberto Bertrami (keyboards), Ivan ‘Mamão’ Conti (drums), Alex Malheiros (bass), and Ariovaldo Contesini (percussion) played backing band to just about every major artist in Brazil. At the dawn of the ’70s, fascinated by developments in improvisational music, the energetic young group were inspired and ready to move forward, and so any spare moment in which they weren’t in sessions and writing music for other artists, they would be carving out their own sound.

These previously unheard recordings took place between 1973-75 at Bertrami’s home studio in the Laranjeiras district of Rio de Janeiro. Record companies initially rejected all the demos before one was picked up by Som Livre, leading to the release of Azymuth’s seminal album debut. 

Only a handful of these demos were ever professionally recorded and released, making this the first opportunity to hear many of these early Azymuth compositions in their raw, original form.

“On every track the frenetic energy in the studio is palpable, giving the recordings a beautifully personal feel and a sense of the phenomenally creative vision Bertrami, Malheiros, and Conti were realising at the time,” Far Out Recordings explains. “50 years on, Azymuth’s earliest recorded music retains an ineffable, futuristic quality, standing amongst their most captivating and moving work.” 

Tracklisting

Volume 1

01. Prefacio (J.R. Bertrami/A. Malheiros/I. Conti) 4.26

02. Castelo (Version 1) (J.R. Bertrami/A. Malheiros/I. Conti) 3.42

03. Melô Da Cuica (J.R. Bertrami/A. Malheiros) 3.58

04. Xingó (Version 1) (J.R. Bertrami/A. Malheiros/I. Conti) 4.58

05. Laranjeiras (J.R. Bertrami/A. Malheiros/I. Conti) 7.36

06. Equipe 68 (J.R. Bertrami/A. Malheiros/I. Conti) 5.44

07. Unknown Jam (J.R. Bertrami/A. Malheiros/I. Conti) 1.58

08. Unknown Song for Mario Telles (J.R. Bertrami) 3.52

Volume 2

09. Duro De Roer (J.R. Bertrami/A. Malheiros/I. Conti) 4.14

10. Manhã (J.R. Bertrami) 7.04

11. Tempos Do Paraná (J.R. Bertrami) 7.42

12. Bateria Do Mamão (I. Conti)

13. Quem Tem Medo (J.R. Bertrami/A. Malheiros/I. Conti) 2.24

14. Xingó (Version 2) (J.R. Bertrami/A. Malheiros/I. Conti) 4.42

15. Juntos Mais Uma Vez (J.R. Bertrami) 4.54

16. Castelo (Version 2) (J.R. Bertrami/A. Malheiros/I. Conti) 6.03

Demos (1973-75) Volumes 1&2 is out now across CD, vinyl, and digital formats. Purchasing and streaming options are available here. 

Oren Ambarchi Renews Focus on Electric Guitar on New Editions Mego Album

Oren Ambarchi will release a new album on Editions Mego next month.

Simian Angel follows a trilogy of Ambarchi solo LPs on Peter Rehberg’s Vienna-based label, namely Sagittarian Domain (2012), Quixotism (2014), and Hubris (2016). It finds the Australian artist renewing his focus on his singular approach to the electric guitar, returning to the spacious canvases found on Grapes From The Estate (2004) and In The Pendulum’s Embrace (2007). 

Brazil’s Cyro Baptista performs across the entirety of the record, adding dexterous and rhythmically nuanced percussion that’s said to give Ambarchi a tonality unheard across prior releases. Equally new is the harmonic complexity of Ambarchi’s playing, which leaves behind the minimalist simplicity of much of his previous work for a constantly-shifting play between lush consonance and uneasy dissonance.

Editions Mego adds, “While the rich, swirling harmonics of Ambarchi’s guitar performance are familiar to listeners from his previous recordings, the subtly wavering, synthetic guitar tone you hear is quite new, coming across at times like an abstracted, splayed-out take on the ’80s guitar synth work of Pat Metheny or Bill Frisell.”

Earlier this year, Ambarchi released Patience Soup, a collaborative album with Phew and Jim O’Rourke via Black Truffle. 

Tracklisting

01. Palm Sugar Candy (16:03)

02. Simian Angel (20:14)

Simian Angel LP lands July 5, with an excerpt to stream below and pre-order here. 

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