If you’ll remember with us, it was some time late last year when we posted a surprising new tune from London/Bristol-based newcomer Drop/Dead, and thankfully, the young producer born Jay Donaldson hasn’t let up—most recently delivering a stellar DJ set for FADER. In addition to his Dollars to Pounds mix, which contains excellently blended tunes from the likes of C.R.S.T., Joy Orbison, Lone, Pangaea, T. Williams, Ramadanman & Appleblim, Drop/Dead himself, and others, Donaldson also talked with the magazine a bit about his musical studies in college, the bands he used to be in, the mix he crafted, and more topics. You can check it all out here, and stream the audio below.

Donga & Blake – Grown Ups
Hypno – Over The Top
Sines – Crazy (Zoltan Remix)
Joy Orbison – BRKLN CLLN
C.R.S.T – Cervantis Riddim
C.R.S.T – Need You
Kerri Chandler – The Dark Past
The Hundred In The Hands – Dressed In Dresden (Kyle MF Hall Remix)
Drop/Dead – Make Me Feel (One Hour Demo)
Pangaea – Won’t Hurt
Drop/Dead – Always Love You
Sines – Love Becomes She
Josif – Clones
Sorrow – Chimes
T. Williams – Heartbeat (Mosca Remix)
Ramadanman & Appleblim – Justify
Littlefoot – Sell My Soul (DJ Dom Remix)
Lone – Re-Schooling

Class B Band, the collaboration between Spaniards DJ Bea Tricks (perhaps better known as one half of the Dollz at Play duo) and beatboxer/multi-faceted vocalist Beatmaster G, has announced they are set to follow up the 2010 Bea at Risk EP with their debut LP, Movie T. Recorded in the mountains of Ibiza, the LP finds the duo crafting 15 tracks that pit Bea Tricks’ hard house-leaning production against Beatmaster G’s ever-changing vocal stylings. Between the duo there are a variety of influences that come together for this collaboration (from hip-hop to punk and new wave) and they navigate through them with the dancefloor always in mind, even throwing in a touch of humor here and there to keep things lively. Movie T is set to be released March 28 via techno producer Mathew Jonson’s Wagon Repair imprint. You can check the album’s artwork and tracklist below.

Tracklist
01. Introwalk (Intro)
02. Drain Age
03. Ginko Biloba
04. Cats Nightmare
05. Morgan X
06. Electric Elf
07. I’m Electric
08. Chale Guinda
09. Radiochanga
10. Sillycatto
11. Panfletto
12. Masterplan (Intro)
13. Horrendous Master Plan
14. Barracko Reversi (Intro)
15. Don Simon & The Class B Band

The collaborative effort between veteran DJ/producer Mark Pritchard and singer Steve Spacek, Africa HiTech, is set to release its debut album on May 10 via Warp. The 11-song 93 Million Miles LP follows closely after last year’s Hitecherous and Blen EPs, and is said to be “an unflinchingly ambitious product of international globe-trotting that carves a new faultline into the rapidly expanding terrain of ‘bass music.'” Below, you can hear a fresh example of those kinds of sounds in the first single to leak from Africa HiTech’s forthcoming record, “Out in the Streets,” and check out the album art and tracklist for 93 Million Miles, too. You can also pre-order the record here.

01. 93 Million Miles
02. Do U Wanna Fight
03. Out In The Streets
04. Future Moves
05. Glangslap
06. Our Luv
07. Spirit
08. Light The Way
09. Foot Step
10. Cyclic Sun
11. Don’t Fight It

The Fat Beats chain of record stores was a legend in the hip-hop community, a legend that sadly came to an end last year when founder/owner Joe Abajian (a.k.a. DJ Jab) was forced to close the final two stores in Los Angeles and New York due to slow sales and a decision to focus on the label/distribution side of the company. Apparently, Abajian still has the bug to sell actual vinyl to people in traditional record-store fashion and has announced that Fat Beats will be hosting a monthly pop-up shop in its Brooklyn warehouse starting tomorrow, March 5. The kick-off event will feature appearances from vinyl-lovin’ veterans DJ Spinna, DJ Evil Dee, and Rich Medina, as well as some surprise guests, but the pop-up shop’s ultimate goal is to recreate the atmosphere of actually buying music in a retail store, interacting with other vinyl junkies, and being part of a tangible community where like-minded DJs, hip-hop heads, and music connoisseurs come together. The first pop-up shop will be taking place March 5 from 12 to 8 p.m. at Fat Beats’ warehouse, located at 110 Bridge Street in Brooklyn. You can watch a short video with Fat Beats founder Abajian below and head here to get more details.

On Saturday, March 12, Apple Pips boss and UK bass wrangler Appleblim will help take over Room One at London’s illustrious Fabric club with the likes of Shackleton, Ricardo Villalobos, and Craig Richards. To further excite everyone planning to attend the auspicious get-down (not to mention those of us who just enjoy really good music), the producer/mixmaster had a chat with the Fabric blog and also crafted a slick mix of tunes you’re likely to hear at his performance. Most of the jams mixed into Appleblim’s DJ set are unreleased or forthcoming tracks from the likes of Gatekeeper (the UK one), Arkist, Kidkut, George Fitzgerald, October, and the mix creator himself, among others. You can stream/download the Fabric Main Room Mix, as well as check out the full tracklist, below. Fabric’s interview with Appleblim can be found here, and you can get more info on his upcoming Fabric performance here.

1. Butahn Tiger Rescue – Beginner’s Waltz – excerpt (Kompakt)
2. October & Borai – I Didn’t Mean To (forthcoming Apple Pips)
3. Kowton – She Don’t Jack (Idle Hands)
4. Axel Bowman – Naomi (forthcoming Glass Table)
5. October & Appleblim – NY Fizzzzzz (forthcoming Smorgasbord)
6. George Fitzgerald – We Bilateral (forthcoming Hotflush)
7. Al Tourettes – Badger (forthcoming Bloc / Baselogic)
8. SCB – Loss (forthcoming Aus Music)
9. Pulsar – Coconut Shuffle (unreleased)
10. Sunday Roast – Choices (Soulserious)
11. Arkist & Kidkut – Vanilla Imitate (forthcoming Hotflush)
12. Phat Chex – Can’t Stop – (unreleased)
13. Paul Woolford – Let It Go – Komonazmuk & Appleblim Remix (forthcoming Intimacy Music)
14. Gatekeeper – Atmosphere Processor (forthcoming Apple Pips)
15. Gatekeeper – Let Us in (forthcoming Apple Pips)
16. Arkist – Fill My Coffee (forthcoming Apple Pips)
17. Gatekeeper & Kidkut – Alpha Apex (unreleased)
18. Gatekeeper & Kidkut – Code Red (unreleased)
19. Arkist – Rendezvous (forthcoming Apple Pips)

Minnesota’s resident weirdo-pop auteur and one-time XLR8R TV subject, John Maus, has another LP ready to be unleashed on the music world come this summer, and it bears the absurdly long, heady title We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves. The record will drop via Maus’ longtime label home Upset the Rhythm! in the UK and Ribbon Music in the US on June 27 and 28, respectively. We Must… features 11 tracks of Maus’ brand of vintage-inspired, lo-fi synth pop, all of which bring together “the shirt pulling and air punching of his live performance” with “a tender inner space that wasn’t as apparent on his previous albums.” You can stream/download what that sounds like on the album’s first single, “Quantum Leap,” while checking out the artwork and tracklist for Maus’ LP, all of which is posted below.

01. Streetlight
02. Quantum Leap
03. …And The Rain
04. Hey Moon
05. Keep Pushing On
06. The Crucifix
07. Head for the Country
08. Cop Killer
09. Matter of Fact
10. We Can Breakthrough
11. Believer