This one has been in the works for a long time. Back when XLR8R tagged Mexican cumbia-bass maestro Toy Selectah as an Artist to Watch in early 2009, the veteran DJ/producer was already at work on his EP for the Mad Decent label. While waiting for its release, Toy has certainly kept himself busy, taking tribal guarachero crew 3Ball MTY under his wing, traversing the globe as a DJ, and even remixing the likes of Vampire Weekend. Next week, all that waiting will come to an end, as his EP will finally see the light of day. Entitled Mex Machine, the eight-track release has its share of low-end heavy cumbia, but also finds the producer exploring other tempos; for instance, “La Ravertona” clocks in above 150bpm. He’s also collaborating with artists like Mumdance, DJ Blass, and Isa GT, not to mention enlisting 3Ball youngster Sheeqo Beat for a remix. The Mex Machine EP will be released on March 8, but the artwork and complete tracklist are posted below. And for the extremely impatient among us, Toy’s also put together a minimix (very mini, we’re talking five minutes long) preview, which you can also find below.

1) Sonidero Compay feat. DJ Blass
2) Ani Riddim feat. Mumdance
3) La Ravertona
4) No Pasma feat. Isa GT
5) Half Colombian Half Mexican Bandit
6) El Sabanero Raver
7) Sonidero Compay (Sheeqo Beat 3BallMTY Remix)
8) Half Colombian Half Mexican Bandit (Bonus Beats)

While in Hawaii over two weeks ago, Dutch moombahton DJ/producer (and former Bubblin’ subject) Munchi suffered a seizure caused by an intracerebral hemorrhage that hit the artist completely out of nowhere. He was subsequently rushed to the hospital, where he spent nine hours in a coma and 11 days in recovery. With medical, travel, and prescription bills piling up, a few of Munchi’s DJ compatriots—Dave Nada, DJ Ayres and Tittsworth—decided to help. Vowing to match all donations, the trio set up a Help Munchi page on GiveLoop, and the money, much of it coming from the DJ community, quickly began to trickle in. Amazingly, many of the goals set early on have been met, but most of those estimates were overly conservative and help is very much still needed. Donations are still being accepted, and if you’re looking to help out, we suggest giving to the General Donation category, so funds can be distributed to the necessary areas at will. While you’re at it, remind yourself of why you’re helping out Munchi in his time of need, and check out this remix Crookers did of his “Shottas” tune with Mr. Lexx, below.

Kudos to FACT for tracking down this one: With just about zero fanfare, Nottingham’s resident excavator of classic Detroit techno and old-school rave sounds, Matt Cutler (a.k.a. Lone, who was just featured in our last issue), has prepped a brand-new EP that further explores that club-appropriate sound palette. Echolocations follows only months after the release of 2010’s spotless Emerald Fantasy Tracks, and is a six-song, double-12″ record that is scheduled to drop on March 28 via the illustrious R&S label. Cutler recently featured two of the tracks, “Dolphin” and “Blossom Quarter,” on his mix for Bleep x Bloc, but you can stream previews of all six before the release date, here. You can also check out the record art and tracklist below.

Coreshine Voodoo
Explorers
Dolphin
Approaching Rainbow
Blossom Quarter
Rapid Racer

On Monday, March 7, XLR8R editor Ken Taylor will host a Red Bull Music Academy Session in San Francisco, an event open to all who are interested in applying for this year’s big Tokyo event (RSVP here or here). Taylor will be conducting live interviews with Tim Sweeney (of DFA and the Beats in Space radio show/club), the creator of the LinnDrum drum machine and the MPC, Roger Linn, and Dave Smith (a.k.a. “the godfather of MIDI”). After the session at Public Works, there will be a party taking place just around the corner at the SOM club with performances from Sweeney, Trackademicks, B. Bravo, and others. The flier for that shindig is below, and you can find further info on the live interviews on Facebook, here. Other RBMA Sessions are going down across the US in places like Los Angeles (tonight!), Austin, Seattle, San Antonio, and Omaha, all of which you can check out the details of here.

Since the announcement of the sophomore LP to come June 7 from the three NYC genre defiers in Battles (via Warp), the anxiousness for hearing what the insanely innovative outfit has created is palpable, but now, we’re offered just a bit of relief. Battles is hitting the road in the months before Gloss Drop, uh, drops, playing almost exclusively in “small venues.” Starting on April 1, the trio will be trekking across Europe, Japan, and North America until just a few of days after its album release. Some of the dates have already sold out, some go on sale this afternoon, and some are available now. You can find all links to purchase tickets here, and the full list of dates below.

APRIL
01 OSAKA, JAPAN – ZETTAI-MU
03 TOKYO, JAPAN – SONAR SOUND
08 ROTTERDAM, HOLLAND – MOTEL MOSAIQUE
09 LUXEMBOURG – OUT OF THE CROWD
10 BERLIN, GERMANY – FESTSAAL KREUZBERG
11 BRUSSELS, BELGIUM – DOMINO FESTIVAL
12 LILLE, FRANCE – AERONEF
20 LONDON, UK – ICA
26 BOSTON, US – BRIGHTON MUSIC HALL
27 NEW YORK, US – LE POISSON ROUGE
29 TORONTO, CANADA – HORSESHOE
30 CHICAGO, US – LINCOLN HALL

MAY
02 LOS ANGELES, US – ECHO
03 SAN FRANCISCO, US – BOTTOM OF THE HILL
04 PORTLAND, US – DOUG FIR
05 SEATTLE, US – CROCODILE
27 BARCELONA, SPAIN – PRIMAVERA SOUND
28 DUDINGEN, SWITZERLAND – KILBI FESTIVAL
31 MARSEILLE, FRANCE – ESPACE JULIEN

JUNE
02 POITIERS, FRANCE – CONFORT MODERNE
03 BRIGHTON, UK – CONCORDE2
05 DUBLIN, IRELAND – FORBIDDEN FRUIT FESTIVAL
04 MANCHESTER, UK – O2 APOLLO
06 LEEDS, UK – COCKPIT
07 GLASGOW, UK – THE ARCHES
10 DORTMUND, GERMANY – FZW
11 MUNICH, GERMANY – FEIERWERK

This may seem odd to many people, but seeing as how we here at XLR8R HQ deal with the constant inundation of MP3 streams and downloads, most of which can squeeze easily between three and five minutes, it’s quite out of the ordinary for us to offer our readers the first sounds to be heard from Gang Gang Dance‘s forthcoming fifth studio LP, Eye Contact (out May 10 via 4AD, pictured above), in the form of its 11-plus-minute opening track, “Glass Jar,” which you can now stream, below. The quintet builds its song ever so slowly and from nothing but a voice that confoundingly states, “I can hear everything. It’s everything time.” Continuing on, the man speaks unintelligibly underneath a growing swell of woozy synth tones, washes of pattering cymbals, understated piano melodies, and other handcrafted atmospheres—allowing “Glass Jar” to waft inside of its self-imposed receptacle for over four minutes before breaking out into full song once the pulsing rhythm section and Lizzie Bougatsos’ inimitable voice usher it in. Gang Gang Dance continues to go through multiple movements within its epic first track, and effectively create one of the most ambitious and exciting introductions heard of late, which is all too appropriate for an album that is likely to stand as a consistent list-topper come 2011’s end.

Getting music for free from the internet is no new concept (even doing it legally, too), but it’s still fairly rare that you’re offered a full-length record for absolutely no monetary cost. And yet here we are: South Carolina’s burgeoning beatmaker Hard Mix just released his debut album, Defaults (pictured above), via Dovecote Records, and you can have it all for free right now. Of course, there’s a slight catch. You can get your own digital copy of the 10-song record after you “Like” Dovecote on Facebook, here, and if you’d like to get to know more about the man behind the music, Noah Smith, there’s a little video piece on the artist below.