Page 234 – XLR8R

Japanese Sound Designer Yosi Horikawa Launches Label with New Album

Tokyo sound artist Yosi Horikawa will launch new label Borrowed Scenery, a collaboration with Daisuke Tanabe, with the release of his second full-length, Spaces, on May 31.

Spaces is the anticipated follow-up to 2013’s Vapor on London’s First Word. Like Vapor, Spaces leans on field recordings, vibrant electronic layering, and organic rhythms. We’re told that it has a range of stylistic touch points: “the fluid intricacies of hip-hop, the precise efficacy of IDM, the euphoric physicality of dance music, the humanity of acoustic instrumentation.”

Horikawa will offer the 11-track album on CD, 2LP, and digital platforms on May 31. Its release is preceded by single “Swashers,” which can be streamed here.

Tracklisting

01. Timbres

02. Vietnam

03.Crossing

04. Chiba

05. Swashers

06. Moldy Vinyl

07. Mine

08. In The Wind

09. Fluid

10. Longing

11. Nubia

Nina Kraviz’ трип Details PTU’s Album Debut, ‘Am I Who I Am’

Next up on Nina Kraviz’ трип (“Trip”) is the debut album of PTU, titled Am I Who I Am.

PTU is the collaboration of Alina Izolenta and Kamil Ea. Despite a sparse discography, they have over a decade of experience “delving into the strangest depths of analog hardware and jamming on obscure synths.” They followed a 2016 appearance on трип concept album When I Was 14 with “A Broken Clock Is Right Twice A Day,” a standout on Kraviz’ fabric 91 mix that became the title track of their 2017 EP debut. Now they’ll present their singular take on electronic music across a full-length.

Across 12 tracks, Izolenta and Ea chop their way through frenetic marching drums and spiralling acid leads. “The album boasts a vast spectrum of bizarre ideas, often introduced at high velocity, each one executed with restraint, summoning energy from microscopically detailed arrangements,” the label explains.

Tracklisting

a1. doc 22

a2. pursuit of a shadow

a3. castor and pollux

b1. after cities

b2. former me

b3. how does it feel

c1. over

c2. copper mines, new machines and the future conspiracy

c3. which word is the coldest

d1. sirocco

d2. skyscript

d3. i heard you breathe

Am I Who I Am lands on June 17, with pre-order here and “Over” streaming below.

Grant is Back with Four Raw House Jams

Grant will release a new EP next month via his own Grant label.

Grant first appeared as a mysterious project on The Lauren Bacall, a label he started with Francis Harris as a way of producing anonymously using old Hollywood names. (Grant is named for Cary Grant.) After four years of releases, the mysterious producer and live act revealed his identity to be French producer Anthony Collins, formerly of the Brooklyn-based duo Frank & Tony. He’s released three albums, the latest, Perception, coming in 2017 on Duke’s Distribution, while he continues to self-release EPs of raw, swinging house cuts via his own Grant label. 006, the latest, comes in June, almost a year after 005, once again on vinyl only.

We’re told that GRANT 006 encapsulates a broad range of sound, featuring classic New York-inspired house, tribal rhythms, and dreamy ambiances. The A2, a dub techno cut, is in collaboration with studio partner Dan Piu.

Listen to Grant’s XLR8R podcast here, and read his Get Familiar interview here.

Tracklisting

A1. KC106

A2. Stellis feat. Dan Piu

B1. Rising

B2. Viewpoint

GRANT 006 comes in mid June, with clips below.

French-Congolese Afro-Punks TSHEGUE to Release New EP

French-congolese afro-punks TSHEGUE will release their new EP next month.

TSHEGUE is the collaboration of Congolese singer Faty Sy Savanet and French-Cuban producer Nicolas Dacunha. The band’s name is a slang word for the boys who gather on the streets of Kishasa, Faty’s home before she moved to Paris. Only a few weeks ago, they released “The Wheel,” their first new music since their debut EP, Survivor, in 2017. The single came with a video for “The Wheel” and a DJ Marfox remix.

“The Wheel” and the Marfox remix appear on this new EP alongside three other tracks. Alongside the announcement, the duo shared “M’Benga Bila,” another track with a video shot by Sacha Barbin intended as a tribute to the classic scene from cult 1986 film “Mauvais Sang,” which features David Bowie’s “Modern Love.”

The track’s name means “call the police” in lingala, a language spoken in Congo, and symbolically embodies the point of rupture in dialogue as well as the fear of the difference.

Tracklisting

01. The Wheel

02. M’Benga Bila

03. Solola

04. Telema

05. The Wheel (DJ Marfox Remix)

Telema lands on June 19 on Ekleroshock, with the video streaming below.

Gareth Oxby pres. 4th Planet Side Steppers “Jovian”

Bosconi will present a new EP from Gareth Oxby‘s 4th Planet Side Steppers alias, titled Warning. The EP celebrates the UK sound of the ’90s, of which Oxby was one of the greatest exponents, where electro, dub, and breakbeat merge into the 4/4 rhythm. Oxby is also the founder of the Alien Funk Movement label.

In support of the release, out June 1, you can download “Jovian,” a previously unreleased slice of machine funk from Oxby, via the WeTransfer button below, or here for EU readers due to GDPR restrictions.

Tracklisting:

A1. Warning (7’06”)

A2. Anti-Matter (6’10”)

B1. Phaeton (9’15”)

Antwood Explores the Hurdles Faced by Modern Lovers on New Planet Mu LP

Tristan Douglas will release his third Antwood LP on Planet Mu.

Douglas has always used conceptual frameworks to facilitate the writing process, and Delphi is no exception. This time the Canadian artist worked with his girlfriend Olivia Dreisinger to develop a fictional character named Delphi around whom the album story develops. On a deeper level, Delphi represents the hurdles faced by modern lovers, and those felt personally by Douglas.

“Olivia and I started making the album cover as soon as I knew what direction Delphi was headed in,” Douglas recalls. “I took objects that had significance to me at the time of production and physically recreated them as ‘Delphi world’ objects, so that the album’s narrative and tracks are represented in the cover photo.”

Douglas ended up working on Delphi for over a year, and explains that it grew in parallel to his own life. “It became story-like, and I embraced the story-like quality of it,” he says.

The 13-track album is Douglas’ first solo release since 2017.

Tracklisting

01. Skype Ghost

02. Club Dread

03. Delphi

04. Queasy

05. A Hostile Message

06. Healing Labyrinth

07. Portal

08. First Delphic Hymn (To Apollo)

09. Cave Moth

10. Castalian Fountain

11. Ecstatic Dance

12. Delphi’s Song

13. Some Dust

Delphi lands on July 19, with “Castalian Fountain” streaming below.

Prague’s UP Festival Completes 2019 Lineup with Sonja Moonear, Andrew James Gustav, and More

Prague’s UP Festival has completed its lineup for the upcoming 2019 by adding Sonja Moonear, Andrew James Gustav, Anton Kubikov (live), and Denis Kaznacheev. They join a bill that also includes Ricardo Villalobos, Lamache, Margaret Dygas, Maayan Nidam (live), and many others.

Beginning on Wednesday, July 10, the festival will host a seminar on electronic music, followed on Thursday, July 11 with a Boiler Room session, details to come soon. The next day, on Friday, July 12, there will be a chill-out session at Vnitroblock, a creative space for designers.

The actual festival begins on Saturday, July 13. XLR8R will be hosting a stage during the day alongside UP Festival, and in the evening the Komiks stage will be open. Closing on Sunday, the UP Festival stage and XLR8R will both host a little matinée programme, after which the doors to the festival will be closed. There will be an after-party, details to come soon.

Final Names

Anton Kubikov (live)

Andrew James Gustav

Denis Kaznacheev

Sonja Moonear

This year’s second edition takes place from July 13 to 14, with more information and tickets here. Meanwhile, you can view the completed lineup on the flyer above.

Los Angeles’ Great Dane Explores the Importance of Self-Preservation on New EP

Dane Morris (a.k.a Great Dane) is back with the Respect: Self EP.

Respect: Self was recorded over the last year at Morris’ home in LA’s Highland Park. Its making served as a means to explore the importance of self-preservation. “Since these are all instrumental tracks,” Morris explains, “the title is really the only thing that can bind them together with words. Respect: Self started as a mantra for my own life that I began to utilize a lot over the past year, so when this music started to feel ready to release, it seemed like a perfect message to relay to the world.”

We can expect four tracks filled with unbridled character and soulful resonance. It continues to usher in a new chapter for Morris and his ADBC Records imprint, following his last full-length album, Gamma Ray, and the recent “Drop Top” single. It’s a sound Morris has described as closest to his truest sense of self and intertwines with his love for hip-hop and electronic music.

Respect: Self is out today on all digital platforms, with order here. A special release event will take place at Hypnothesis on May 23 in LA, a new residency Great Dane co-created that goes down at The Echo every month. A special line of EP-themed long sleeve tees and limited edition USBs will be available.

Tracklisting

01. Hyphy For No Reason

02. Me And You

03. Break Yo Self

04. Hypnopotamus

Subscribe to XLR8Rplus for a Free Ticket to Croatia’s Lighthouse Festival

XLR8R is offering XLR8Rplus subscribers free passes to the upcoming edition of Lighthouse Festival, taking place in Tar, Croatia from Wednesday, May 29 to Sunday, June 2.

Croatia has become a hotbed for music in recent years after hosting some of the most talked about festivals in the world. Of them all, Lighthouse is a best-kept secret for those in the know. It sells out in around an hour due to its beautiful setting, first-class sound systems, and quality lineup. Seth Troxler, Marcel Dettmann, Motor City Drum Ensemble, DVS1, Vril, Call Super, Francesco Del Garda, Nicholas Lutz, Pearson Sound, Larry Heard, and Ryan Elliot are all playing this year, among many others. The full lineup can be found here.

We’ve partnered with Lighthouse to offer subscribers to XLR8Rplus a limited amount of free guestlist passes to the event. All the ticket packages sold out in 90 minutes so this is your last opportunity.

For those who haven’t yet, SUBSCRIBE HERE and email your full name, subscription confirmation page, and “Lighthouse” to [email protected] to claim your free event pass. For those current subscribers, simply email your full name and “Lighthouse” as the subject.

The 11th edition of XLR8Rplus is here, with tracks by Kate Simko, Traumer, and Pola, and subscription details here plus snippets of the tracks below.

Hyperdub Welcomes Philadelphia’s DJ Haram

Hyperdub will release Grace, the new EP from Philadelphia’s DJ Haram.

Through her music, DJ Haram ties her New Jersey musical history with more recent involvement in the Philadelphia DIY noise scene, without forgetting her Middle Eastern roots. A close affiliate of New York’s Discwoman collective, she is also one half of 700 Bliss alongside rapper and poet Moor Mother, who features on this EP.

Haram began writing Grace after a family tragedy which led to “a transitional time of devastation and rebuilding.” In response, she began to create a “small mythological world that was a dramatized reflection of her own.” Each song is represented by a character, as seen on the EP’s sleeve, inspired by “types of Jinn in Islam, Quranic stories of angels, with some of the creatures coming from Haram’s own imagination.”

The music is guided by the rhythm of the Darbuka drums. “I usually write the Darbuka drum rhythm first,” Haram says. “If each track is a body, the drums would be the energetic component at the core of every bodily system, the invisible soul and feeling, and the melodies, effects, dynamics, pitch, all those considerations are like the flesh, organs, bloodstream.”

The artwork is by Samantha Garritano.

Tracklisting

01. No Idol

02. Interlude

03. Gemini Rising

04. Body Count

05. Candle Light (700 Bliss Remix)

06. Grace (K.O.D)

07. Candle Light (Instrumental)

08. No Idol (Remix)

Grace lands on July 5, with “Gemini Rising” streaming below.

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