Something awesome is happening at Public Assembly in Brooklyn this Friday: The ambitious event planners behind Unsound Festival New York will host live performances by a lengthy list of excellent DJs and producers from around the globe—including Lone, Appleblim, Kink, Kode9, and, featured here, Sepalcure (pictured above). The duo of Praveen Sharma and Travis Stewart (a.k.a. Machinedrum) give School of Seven Bells‘ “Babelonia” a deep house rinse for their remix, one that relies as much on atmosphere and texture as it does overwhelming sub frequencies, upbeat dancefloor grooves, and subtly tweaked vocal melodies. We eagerly anticipate hearing more of those same kinds of smooth and bouyant sounds when Sepalcure takes the stage as part of Unsound on April 8.
Young London-based DJ/producer NKC will soon release his latest offering, a two-track 12″ (pictured above) for hometown record label Awkward Movements. The limited-edition record drops on April 11, and features two of the tunesmith’s ‘post-funky’ tracks, including the tropical-tinged “Marie” and the hard-stepping “Ghettotechno.” You can preview both of NKC’s forthcoming jams below, and pre-order the vinyl here.
“Marie”
“Ghettotechno”
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The longstanding Mute label has just taken German sound artist Apparat under its wing, announcing that it will release his fourth full-length album late this summer. This track, “Ash/Black Veil,” comes from that as-yet-untitled LP, and exhibits the kind of vocal-driven, ambient pop that has come to define producer Sascha Ring’s sound. Plucked string instruments skitter from left to right, broken piano melodies plink away in the distance, and a slow-growing swell of electronics rises from underneath the composition to join Ring’s airy croon. More live instruments gradually fill out the remaining space in Apparat’s driving single, which gives “Ash/Black Veil” an air of UK radio rock without ever feeling like a half-baked pastiche. The artist will soon be hitting the road for a tour with his full live band, the dates of which you can check out after the jump.
28 May – Düdingen, Switzerland – Kilbi Festival, Bad Bonn 2 June – London, UK – Roundhouse (opening for Moby) 4 June – Graz, Austria – Springfestival 18 June – Barcelona, Spain – Sonar 30 June – Augsburg, Germany – Modular Festival 2 July – St Petersburg, Russia – Stereoleto Festival 9 July – Amsterdam, Netherlands – Pitch 15 July – Graifenahnichen, Germany – Melt Festival 26 August – Katowice, Poland – Tauron Nowa Muzyka Festival
A veteran producer of eclectic electronic sounds and delectable dance music, John Tejada just announced that he is teaming up with another giant in the scene for his next single and album, the illustrious Kompakt label. The Cologne-based imprint will release Tejada’s “Unstable Condition” b/w “The Living Night” 12″ on May 2, which is described as “resonating the melodic vastness of Aphex Twin’s classic sounds of Polygon Window.” On June 20, Kompakt will unveil a full-length album by Tejada, called Parabolas. More info on the hotly tipped releases will be released in the coming weeks.
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This mesmerizing clip for the latest tune to leak from Gang Gang Dance‘s forthcoming Eye Contact LP, “MindKilla,” feels less like a plain ol’ music video, and more like experiencing some sort of telekinetic laser light show controlled by aliens. Surrounded by pitch black, two glowing orbs flicker, vibrate, and sway in the void—sometimes looking like vacant eyes, other times like dancing UFOs—while the band charges through the light-footed rhythms and rubbery synth hooks of its upbeat dance jam. Eventually, all sorts of other light patterns join the orbs to create an even more vibrant and colorful display. It won’t actually kill your mind, but under the right circumstances, it could possibly blow it. If you’re feeling Gang Gang Dance’s new track, you can download it for free here.
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In late 2009, XLR8R tabbed Dorian Concept as an Artist to Watch, despite knowing relatively little about the Vienna-based producer other than the fact that his synth-warping “Trilingual Dance Sexperience” single had pretty much blown our minds. More than a year later, not much more information has surfaced about Dorian Concept, although he has released a new EP, Her Tears Taste Like Pears, via Ninja Tune. Later this week, he’ll also be making his first trek to the US, taking part in the ridiculously stacked Bass Mutations event this Friday, April 8 at Public Assembly in New York. Also featuring the likes of Kode9, Lone, Sepalcure, Appleblim, KiNK, Chancha Vía Circuito, and others, it’s just one of the can’t-miss shows happening during this year’s edition of Unsound Festival New York, which kicked off last weekend and runs through April 10. As for this mix, it finds the classically trained Dorian Concept indulging his penchant for both jazzier, pastoral sounds and frenetic, herky-jerky beats paired with hyperactive, pitch-bent synths. If his live show at Unsound is anything like this, those in attendance are in for quite a treat.
01 Dorian Concept “Thank You All the Time Forever” (Ninja Tune) 02 John Coltrane “Your Lady” (Impulse) 03 Africa Hitech “Light the Way” (Warp) 04 Machinedrum “gbye” 05 Sam Irl “Safety Hertz (Cid Rim Remix)” (Fresh Minute) 06 FaltyDL “Tell Them Stories” (Planet Mu) 07 Manitoba “Paul’s Birthday” (Leaf) 08 Sixtus Preiss & The Clonious “Specimen from Springbing” (Affine) 09 Funboy “Time Hates You” 10 Dorian Concept “Trilingual Dance Sexperience (Live Version)”
Venezuelan DJ/producer Pacheko teamed up with the Shockout imprint, a sub-label of Tigerbeat6, for his latest release, the four-track Kosmicare EP (out today). His unique blend of contempoary bass music, acid house, and various Latin and tropical styles is showcased on three original tracks, with a remix from Argentinian tunesmith Nehuen closing out the record. You can check out the artwork and tracklist for Pacheko’s Kosmicare EP, and watch a teaser video for it, below
1. Every Day 2. Kosmicare (feat. Pocz) 3. Waiting For You 4. Waiting For You (Nehuen remix)
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A couple of years ago, a small group of London-based musicians took a trip to Kenya as part of what they call a “musical exchange,” and spent their time in the country living and collaborating with local musicians in Nairobi. The result of their jamming and recording sessions became the Owiny Sigoma Band, and the first release to come from that project is a two-track 12″ single for the song “Wires” (pictured above), which will be released by Gilles Peterson’s Brownswood label on April 16 as a part of the worldwide Record Store Day. On the b-side of that record is this remix by Detroit icon Theo Parrish, who manages to strip down the relatively simple composition to create an even sparser groove. The veteran DJ/producer utilizes only a few elements of Owiny Sigoma Band’s original recording—the upbeat drumming, the infectious bassline, and the warm vocal melody—to build the framework of his track, over which he lays a subtle dose of electronics and barely noticeable audio treatments. The effect sounds something like Parrish actually conducting a live band on the spot rather than simply toying with its recordings. You can learn more about the Owiny Sigoma Band, and listen to a teaser of its forthcoming self-titled LP, after the jump.
01. Gone Thum Mana Gi Nyadhi 02. Odera Lwar 03. Wires 04. Margaret Okudo (Dub) 05. Hera 06. Doyoi Nyajo Nam 07. Owegi Owandho (Solo) 08. Nabed Nade Ei Piny Ka (Rework) 09. Here On The Line 10. Rapar Nyanza
The latest release from Sweden’s Discobelle label is this collaborative effort from Berlin-based producer DJ Wool and South African leftfield electro-popper Spoek Mathambo, appropriately called Wool & Spoek. This strange video is for that record’s title track, “Kult Leader,” and pairs the thumping dance jam with some tense footage of man who seems to have had enough—enough of what, we can’t quite tell. He targets Wool and Mathambo in his bunker, makes a DIY bomb, straps it to himself, and heads out into the world. His journey across town finds him glaring with contempt at a variety of different people in different locales, until he arrives at his destination. You can watch what happens up top, and listen to more of Wool & Spoek’s Kult Leader record below.
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If Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor didn’t already sound slightly cartoonish during his vocal contribution on Win Win‘s “Interleave” (watch the video for that here), bi-coastal bass producer Kingdom (pictured above) makes sure of it on his remix of the track. Aside from pitch-shifting Taylor’s voice into a chipmunk register, the artist reformats the original song’s sullen vibes into a darker, brooding piece of three-dimensional club music. The smashing beat bounces along with a syrupy swagger, crystalline synth stabs twist and pop in the foreground, and sub-frequencies undulate below it all. We know better than to say Kingdom’s going “witch house” on us, but his remix for Win Win would certainly bode well in those circles. (via FADER)
