Leif Invites You to “Peacefully Reconnect with the Living World” on New Whities LP

Leif will release his third album on Whities next month. 

Loom Dream consists of six tracks, each named after the Welsh producer’s favourite flora, including “Yarrow,” “Mimosa,” and “Pteridium.” They’re presented in two 17-minute pieces, inviting us to “peacefully reconnect with the living world,” according to the UK label. We’re told to expect “warm chordscapes, glistening synths, and loose live percussion, weaved together with field recordings and ambience.”

Accompany the album announcement is an interactive mini-game in which you can collect knowledge of each plant referenced on the record. The game, which can be played here, is accompanied by a short clip of “Myrtus.”

Loom Dream follows 2015’s Taraxacum, out via UntilMyHeartStops, the label Leif runs with fellow Freerotation resident Joe Ellis. He’s also released on Galdoors, Fear Of Flying, and Idle Hands, among others. 

Tracklisting

01. Yarrow

02. Borago

03. Myrtus

04. Mimosa

05. Rosa

06. Pteridium 

Loom Dream lands June 14, with the Side A streaming in full below. 

Stockholm Sound Artist Ellen Arkbro Locks in New Album for Subtext Recordings

Ellen Arkbro will soon release CHORDS, a new album on James Ginzburg’s Subtext.

CHORDS follows the experimental Stockholm composer’s highly acclaimed long-player debut, For Organ and Brass, and sees her adopting a more minimalist approach. Focus is on the immediate qualities of sound and expanding the tonal capacities of acoustic instruments using precise, subtle synthesis. It stretches, extends, and obscures the timbral character of the instruments it is performed on.

The release is divided into two tracks. “CHORDS for organ” was first envisaged in Stockholm’s Västerort Church but recorded in Malmö’s St. John’s Church. With an interest in tuned intervals and chords, Arkbro sought out particular harmonicities before synthetically supplying additional harmonic content and texture. 

In the corresponding “CHORDS for guitar,” Arkbro applies her process to a more widely accessible instrument. The track places the listener at the center of a cyclically repeating complex of harmonic strings in wave-like motion. 

We’re told that the work allows for a form of listening that goes beyond the mere reception of outer stimuli by letting the listener experience their role as active, and as embodying the sound itself. 

Tracklisting

01. CHORDS for organ

02. CHORDS for guitar

CHORDS LP lands June 7 via Subtext Recordings, with an edit of “For Organ” streaming below. 

Low Island “In Person” (Matthew Herbert’s Eat The Sun Dub Remix)

Electronic outfit Low Island have shared details of In Person: The Remixes, a three-track remix package featuring reworks of their latest single from Matthew Herbert, Krywald & Farrer, and themselves. 

Matthew Herbert is first up, delivering a bass-led, stripped-back Eat The Sun Dub Remix, warping the vocal over a driving bassline. Next up are Krywald & Farrer, bringing the eclectic spirit of their Percolate brand to their bouncing, cosmic rework. Rounding up the package are Low Island, who serve up an energetic, late-night edit.

Speaking of the remixes, Low Island say: “We started thinking about putting a remix package of In Person together after we’d been playing our own edit in DJ sets. It would get a great reaction so we decided to release it alongside a couple of other reworks.” 

Low Island is a collaboration between DJ-producers Jamie Jay and Carlos Posada, bassist Jacob Lively, and jazz drummer Felix Higginbottom. Co-produced with Miles James, “In Person” is the Oxford outfit’s latest single, available now, and fuses ‘70s-style analogue recording with the paradox of drifting apart from people in an increasingly connected world. 

In Person: The Remixes lands May 22, and in support of the release we’re offering Matthew Herbert’s remix for download via the WeTransfer button below, or here for EU readers due to GDPR restrictions. 

Lee Gamble’s UIQ Signs HXE (f.k.a HEX) for Industro-Dancehall 10″

HXE (f.k.a HEX) have signed to Lee Gamble’s UIQ label for a hard-edged quartet of tracks in the space between sound designer techno and polluted megatropolis vapour noise. 

INDS lands three years after the enigmatic London-based duo’s debut with Liberation Technologies, and follows a debut album on Ukraine’s Filth Antifur. We’re told that it’s loosely structured around the practice and aesthetics of modern, large-scale industry, and that its four tracks are brutalist in resolve and construction, with pummelling bass and screeching vocaloids. 

It comes accompanied by artwork and a video in collaboration with Paris-based sculpture artist Anita Molinero, whose process of salvaging and irreversibly deforming industrial objects and materials is supposed to mirror the process and abrasive nature of HXE’s music.

The EP follows Zuli’s Terminal and Nkisi’s 7 Directions album on UIQ. 

Pressings are strictly limited to 300. 

Tracklisting

01. Shiver 

02. Rozay 

03. Spill 

04. Worm

INDS‘ lands May 17, with clips over at Boomkat. 

Frenquency Continues his Footwork Explorations with New Black Marble Collective EP

Frenquency will release a new EP on Los Angeles label Black Marble Collective in June.  

My World is said to shows off the Dutch producer’s musical influences from his travels, and begins with dance-driven tracks before harmonious chords and melodies are introduced.

Frenquency’s work is influenced by a blend of bass music, juke, footwork, ghettohouse, tropical, jungle, beats, and hip-hop. His 2017 Starfunk EP explored what happens when you take a harmonious route with footwork, and he continues these explorations on this EP. 

The seven-track release also follows the Greyscale EP on Hamburg-based Saturate Records and three EPs on Amsterdam’s Basserk Records. 

Tracklisting

01. U Want (Bankster)

02. My World (feat. BSN Posse Remix) 

03. Soundbwoi Dead (feat. Atactic)

04. Fluencia 

05. Tokyodesu 

06. Gamelan People (feat. Taro) 

07. We Lost Her 

08. Gone But Not Gone 

09. My World VIP 

My World EP lands exclusively via Beatport on June 14, with other digital outlets following on June 28. 

Synthek “Hands in Faith” (Von Grall Remix 2)

ASC, Nuel, Von Grall, and natural/electronic.system all recently remixed Synthek’s first solo full length, Transition Of Life—and Von Grall has now shared an alternative version of his first remix exclusively with XLR8R. The six-minute rework is as deeply introspective and hypnotising as the original. 

Transitions of Life is a 2×12” made available through Natch Elements, an introspective extension to the Natch Records imprint. Visual embodiment of the project is presented by Salar Kheradpejouh, with graphic work curated by Jacopo Saveritano, co-founder of Natch. 

Grab “Hands in Faith” (Von Grall Remix 2) via the WeTransfer button below, or here for EU readers, with more information on Transition Of Life Remixed here. 

Georgia’s Sophia Saze to Release Two-Part Album Debut on Francis Harris’ Kingdoms

Photo: Andres Sebastian

Georgian artist Sophia Saze will release her debut album, Self, on Francis Harris’ Kingdoms. The LP lands in two parts, with the first part dropping this coming June. 

Born in Tbilisi, Saze is the daughter of political refugees who spent her life living in numerous different countries before eventually finding home in Brooklyn, New York. Self is described as a “reflection” of her struggles at finding her own identity and a “memoir” of the different places she’s lived during her journey, including Georgia, Russia, USA, France, and Canada. We’re told that in contrast to her earlier EP, Solace, out via her own Dusk & Haze, Self is downtempo and features a medley of musical influences. 

The release comes in two parts on cassette. Part one was conceived during a sleepless yet inspired 48-hour studio session. Processed field recordings accompany samples from Saze’s childhood, such as soviet cartoons and intimate VHS recordings of her family. The result is a personal story portrayed in 14 tracks all mixed together.

“I feel the element of patience is somewhat of a lost commodity in our generation, particularly for albums,” Saze says. “We’re consumed by track to track interpretations and constantly searching for the next instant stimulation. With this record, I wanted to reiterate the idea that if you don’t have the willingness to sit through the whole thing, then you’re not stepping into it with the right mindset to begin with.”

Every artist who collaborated on the record is handpicked, such as vocalist Ricardo Rivera. The final production was also mixed by Francis Harris himself. 

Tracklisting

01. / A1. Salome (სალომე)

02. / A2. Bare

03. / A3. Tsminda (წმინდა)

04. / A4. Punches

05. / A5. Howl

06. / B1. Flower

07. / B2. Orbits

08. / B3. Volk (волк)

09. / B4. De Dios

10. / B5. Torn

11. / B6. Safe

12. / B7. Kera (კერა)

13. / B8. Mirror Mirror

14. / B9. Aliens

Part one of Self drops on Kingdoms on June 14, with the second part following on July 12. Meanwhile, you can stream “Salome (სალომე)” in full below. 

Upsammy Returns to Frankfurt’s Die Orakel

Photo: Elsa Groener

Upsammy will return to Die Orakel with Branches On Ice, an EP of crystal clear, multi-layered textures.

The Dutch artist, real name Thessa Torsing, debuted on the Frankfurt label last year with Words R Inert, a three-track EP that rounded off a solid year on the production front alongside releases on Whities and Nous’klaer Audio. Earlier this year, Torsing released Wild Chamber, an eight-track mini-album also on Rotterdam’s Nous’klaer Audio.  

Tracklisting

01. A Walk In Twilight

02. Bronze Goddess

03. Shaky Limbs 

04. Branches On Ice

Branches On Ice EP lands June 14 on 12″ vinyl and digital, with clips below.  

Podcast 593: Artefakt

It was a shared love for “melancholic, hypnotic voodoo” music that inspired Nick Lapien and Robin Koek to make music together in 2012. Lapien, whose infectious, swinging house cuts have featured regularly on XLR8R, was just beginning his career as a solo artist; while Koek, who designs his own artistic systems and teaches at dBs Music Berlin, had just earned a Master of Arts from Utrecht’s School of Arts, specializing in Sound Design and Composition. His works explore states wherein acoustic, digital, and analog signals intertwine and merge into one body of sound. Having crossed paths in the first year of university, Koek and Lapien now wished to adopt techno as an art-form rather than a genre. 

The Dutch duo first appeared with the Mirror Society EP on Field Records, before taking their nuanced, atmospheric sound to like-minded labels such as like Tikita, Prologue, and Deep Sound Channel. After releasing two EPs on the legendary Dutch imprint Delsin Records, Koek and Lapien presented their debut album, Kinship, cementing their aesthetic while showcasing its breadth. Their sound is pensive with deep, rich textures; long track lengths—often six-minutes-plus—give the duo an expansive framework in which to make small changes of texture and tone, creating cerebral, balanced atmospheres that absorb and engage, often meaning that you want the tracks to continue going and going. 

After a short period of reflection, Artefakt spent the first months of this year with the launch of their own imprint, De Stijl, and the release of their second album, Monsoon, out now on Semantica Records. They also continue to tour heavily, bringing their hypnotizing sounds to the club, as DJs or a hardware-heavy live set. It really is techno for the body and the mind. 

The duo’s XLR8R podcast is testament to this, but with a little more weight on the latter. It’s thought-provoking and intelligently constructed, with deft textures doing the work rather than anything direct. After 20 minutes it becomes a little bit more driving, hitting a peak around the 30-minute mark, before the full majesty of Artefakt presents itself with one-hour of artistic, cerebral techno of the highest order. 

What have you been up to recently? 

We have both been individually working on film scores and sound installation work recently. Together we have been spending dedicated time in the studio and beyond working on two new EPs for different labels which both take a different angle on our sound. Next to this, we are focused on finishing up the next release for our own imprint, De Stijl, due to come out early fall.

Your second album has just been released. How are you feeling about it? 

We are really glad we can finally share this with the world. It became a really personal atmospheric journey and we are very excited about the final work. The whole process of curation and artistic choices in the record felt very organic in our conversations with Enrique (a.k.a Svreca), and this has resulted in the final album being very close to us. The feedback so far has been great so we’re glad to see that people are tuning into this new path which might be more abstract to the previous album.

When and where was this mix recorded? 

The mix was recorded in Berlin in our studio with a few different takes over the course of April. 

Is there a concept or wider vision behind it? 

We really wanted to tell a story with this mix in the same vein as the Monsoon LP, following a more atmospheric notion of sound. So we focussed on tracks that resonated within this sonic framework as well as combining this with material from the album. 

How does the podcast compare to one of your club sets? 

In comparison to club sets, it has a different approach to the listener; although there are some driving peak-time, we wanted to create something you can really appreciate outside of a club context 

How much of the material that you make do you release? 

Most of the material we work on together tends to find its way into a release sooner or later, but at the same time, we also have an ever-expanding vault of sketches floating around on hard disks. Sometimes a sketch of two years ago can be the missing piece bringing it all together. The Monsoon LP is mostly based on new material, but it also contains a track like “Vertigo” which is an iteration of a sketch that dates back six years. 

What’s next on the horizon, looking forward? 

We have some exciting shows coming up next weeks in Smolna, Amsterdam, and in our hometown of Berlin. The latter is a Semantica showcase in Tresor with Svreca & Claudio PRC, and we are excited to introduce the sounds of Monsoon in a live context then.

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

Tracklisting 

01. Artefakt “The Lost Centre” [Semantica Records]

02. Artifical drm “human no name” [unreleased]

03. Refracted “Depth Charge” [BleeD]

04. Neel & natural/electronic.system [Tikita] “Percussiva” / Dorisburg “Gripen” [Hivern Discs]

05. Von Grall “Case History” [Planet Rhythm]

06. Amandra “Risque Papantla” [Tikita]

07. Artefakt “The Fifth Planet” (Forest Drive West remix) [Delsin Records]

08. AWB “Celestial Longitude (PVNV remix) [Taapion Records]

09. Claudio PRC “Atik #2” [Attic Music]

10. Artefakt “Ossature” [Semantica Records]

11. BNJMN “Hypnagogia Pt. 2” [Delsin Records]

12. Artefakt “Vertigo” [Semantica Records]

13. Artifical drm “Enigma” [unreleased]

14. Artefakt “Celluloid Dreams” [Semantica Records]

15. Jaap Vink “En Dehors” [Recollection GRM]

16. Versalife “MO5” [20:20 Vision/VIS312]

Subscribe to XLR8Rplus for a Free Ticket to London’s HOME End of May Bank Holiday Weekender

XLR8R is offering XLR8R+ subscribers free passes to the upcoming HOME party on Sunday, May 26, at Studio 338.

HOME is showcasing some of the finest Romanian talent as well as classy minimal artists from across the globe, with a lineup of Praslesh (Raresh B2B Praslea), Cap, LIZZ, Charlie, Vlada, DJ Masda, Dragos Ilici, e/tape, Timoti, and Pol Valls, plus visuals by Pareidolia. The London-based promoter is known for its excellent lineups and long parties, so expect a 17-hour marathon with endless grooves on a top class void sound system.

We’ve partnered with HOME to offer current subscribers of XLR8R+ and those who sign up before the event a limited number of free guestlist passes. The face value of tickets is £20 so this is an offer not to be missed.

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

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

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