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Novation Releases Bass Station II x Aphex Twin Firmware Update

Novation has released the latest firmware update for its Bass Station II mono synth.

The firmware v4.14 update includes AFX Mode, a radical notion dreamed up by electronic music legend Richard James (a.k.a. Aphex Twin) that assigns a discrete set of synthesis parameters to each note of the Bass Station II. The parameters could be variations of a “seed” patch, or disparate sounds designed to constitute a chimeric whole. Put simply, it lets users modify a Bass Station II patch on a key-by-key basis to introduce subtle changes to a sound as you play up and down the keyboard. Users can also divide the keyboard into multiple zones, each playing its own sound, or create entire drum kits in a single preset for triggering manually or via the arpeggiator.

Other updates include the addition of fixed duration envelopes, which allows the sustain segments of the envelopes to be set to a fixed length and moving on to the release stage regardless of when the key or trigger is released; extended sub-oscillator control, which gives the ability to set the sub oscillator to any non-octave tracking interval and knock it out of tune for creative effect; oscillator glide diverge, allowing users to slow down the glide time of Oscillator 2 relative to Oscillator 1 by a variable amount; and envelope retrigger count, which opens up the possibility to adjust the number of times the envelopes retrigger.

Novation’s firmware update v4.14 is available now.

Kamran Sadeghi Next on Amphia with ‘Ritual Signal’ LP

Kamran Sadeghi will release a new album on Amphia later this month, titled Ritual Signal.

Ritual Signal was recorded between 2014 and 2017, and includes live experiments and musical exercises that build up gradually, inviting you to explore the melodic and percussive cycles that allow for the imagination to create its own meanings. It’s Sadeghi’s fourth solo album, following 2015’s Approximation, but his first on Amphia. (Some of the tracks first surfaced on Sadeghi’s brilliant XLR8R podcast here.)

Outside of his solo work, Sadeghi was a performing musician with Soundwalk Collective, and has played live with Patti Smith and Jesse Paris Smith for the project Killer Road.

Amphia is the label of Cristi Cons and Vlad Caia. Its discography includes Petre Inspirescu, SIT, Amorf, and DeWalta, among others.

“This release is perhaps summing up a period of music for me that may never be repeated in the same way. I’m not working in a factory and I’m not really interested in repeating a formula. If I stop learning and discovering, it usually has very negative affect on my mood. I try to approach everything I do with attention and engagement for that specific time and project. If there is a genuine energy it will find its way into the music. I don’t think about who is going to hear it later or if it fits in a specific genre, if it’s going to make me famous or relevant. It’s the only way I can really capture that musical moment and I think the listener can feel and hear that.” —Kamran Sadeghi

Tracklisting

A1: More Than Tomorrow

A2: Today

B1: Water Me

B2: Who New

C1: Rise

C2: Mayday

D1: Surface

D2: Decay

Ritual Signal LP lands May 2, with a teaser trailer below and pre-order here.

Bleie Remembers Oakland Fire on New Album for Last Faith Studio

Sarah Bly (a.k.a Bleie) will release her second album, The Adept, via Last Faith Studio next week.

The album gets its title from the concept of a student of a spiritual path, called an “Adept.” In this case, it refers to the journey of being led from darkness into enlightenment.

All nine pieces were created as a kind of cathartic burst just after the Ghost Ship fire in Oakland which took the lives of several of Bly’s closest friends. “Many in our circle experienced live performances of this music as we stepped out to gather together, after the tragedy occurred,” Bly explains. “To some, this music served as a way of releasing built-up tension, sadness, anger. Tears were shed, needed smiles of enjoyment were sparked.”

The concepts of transpersonal counselling psychology, alchemy, Sufism, and the power of altered consciousness influenced Bly’s production. “Following the fire, many experienced a period of reckoning with notions of mortality and reappraisal of our way of living and values,” she explains. “The music here grew out of this process.”

We’re told that dark, beautiful environments are populated by deeply evolving tonal instruments, roiling percussion, hazy distortion, and pinpoints of crisp sound design. It was recorded in live performance and blends the heavy energy of techno with a depth of feeling and texture. “First and foremost, this is heavy, gloriously weird, heartfelt, spooky techno that bears repeated listenings in different environments,” the label explains.

The album follows 2018’s Persona Arcana, Bly’s album debut.

Last Faith Studio began as a studio for Cherushii (a.k.a Chelsea Faith) and David Last. Since the Ghost Ship fire, it has become a Bandcamp label. This will be only its second release.

Tracklisting

01. And You, What Do You Seek?

02. Will of the Abyss

03. Susurrus

04. No Generation Without Corruption

05. Abyss of the Deity of No Origin

06. Cross/Body in Balance

07. Glass, Nest, Furnace

08. Peradam

09. The Unseen

The Adept LP lands April 24, with “Will of the Abyss” streaming here alongside pre-order.

Franck Vigroux Reflects on Ancient Culture’s Reverence for Emblematic Monuments on New Album

Franck Vigroux‘s latest album, Totem, will land in May via new label Aesthetical.

Over 10 tracks, the French artist reflects on ancient culture’s reverence for emblematic monuments. It follows 2017’s Barricades LP via Eroto Tox Decodings.

Vigroux’s music is comprised of tectonic tension, pulsating rhythms, and abrasive analogue textures. He has been is releasing solo records since 2002, and has collaborated with avant-garde musicians such as Mika Vainio, Reinhold Friedl, Elliott Sharp, Joey Baron, Zeena Parkins, and visual artists such as Antoine Schmitt and Kurt d’Haeseleer for his A/V performances. His work has appeared on labels such as Shapednoise’s Cosmo Rhythmatic, Leaf, Monotype, and more.

Tracklisting

A1 / 1. Tropiques

A2 / 2. Capaupire

A3 / 3. Chronostasis grand finale

B1 / 4. Cris

B2 / 5. Rhinocéros

B3 / 6. Baron

C1 / 7. Elephant

C2 / 8. Frontières

D1 / 9. Télévision

D2 / 10. Diaphane

Totem LP lands May 24 via Aesthetical, with “Capaupire” streaming below, alongside a video teaser.

A Sagittariun LP Next on Gerd Janson’s Incantations

Nick Harris’ (a.k.a A Sagittariun) third album, Return To Telepathic Heights, will come through Gerd Janson’s Incantations, a sub-label of the mighty Running Back.

The 10-track album chronicles the journey back to Telepathic Heights, a three-storey cultural space in Bristol, UK, Harris’ home town, “where dream telepathy has become the primary communicative tool amongst its peaceful and harmonious community who have opted out of the planetary war that continues to rage, seemingly with no armistice anytime soon,” the label explains. We’re told to expect a “space western soundtrack to the cinematic interpretation” of this tale that blends minimal and harmonic rhythms, industrial funk, dreamy synth-wave, and transcendental techno.

The album comes with original artwork by Johnny Bruck, taken from the legendary German science fiction novel series Perry Rhodan, which ran weekly from the early 1960s, and was the most successful sci-fi book series ever written.

A Sagittariun’s last two albums have come through his own Elastic Dreams.

Tracklisting

01. Once Upon A Time…

02. Watch The Skies!

03. Last Of The Crazy Baldheads

04. Zeus I, Prepare For Launch

05. Life Is The Illusion, Love Is The Dream

06. Lazer Battle At The O.K. Corral

07. Version Excursion

08. Dream Stealers

09. The Mild Mild West

10. The Final Scene (Fades To Black)

Return To Telepathic Heights LP lands June 5, with clips below.

Rambal Cochet “Cerebral Plumbing”

Up next on ИДА is Rambal Cochet, an alter-ego of Volta Cab.

The EP comes with three original rave hymns with a slowed, Goa trance vibe and psychedelic feel, plus remixes from Aristidez from Lima, curator of the famous Casalocasa; Panorama Channel, who provides a tough beat version of title track “Cerebral Plumbing”; and Panks, who revisits his trippy sound on the “Bulbulous Swirl.”

ИДА is record label from Moscow that grew out from the local club night of the same name.

Ahead of the EP’s April 29 release, with pre-order here, you can download title-track “Cerebral Plumbing” via the WeTransfer button below, or here for EU readers due to temporary GDPR restrictions.

Tracklisting

01. The Great Solar War

02. The Great Solar War (Aristidez After The War Remix)

03. Cerebral Plumbing

04. Cerebral Plumbing (Panorama Channel Remix)

05. Bulbulous Swirl

06. Bulbulous Swirl (Panks Trippy Mix)

Roche Returns to Jacktone with Three-Part Single Series

Jacktone welcomes back Roche this month for a three-part digital-only single series titled Integral Synthesia Sessions.

The Bay Area artist, real name Ben Winans, previously released on Jacktone in 2015 with the AXT 12″, but has focused more recently on material for 100% Silk, Mathematics, Perfect Location Recordings, Hobo Camp, and the newly formed Vinyl Dreams Records.

Integral Synthesia Sessions was recorded over the past decade at Roche’s home studio in San Francisco, and is a collection of meticulously-carved singular experiences of sound. We understand that it “creates a hallucinatory narrative, as well as a personal soundtrack to the moments that make up one’s life and remind us of our connection to the rest of the world.”

Each release contains two tracks, with Winans exploring a range of emotion and sonic content, upbeat salutes to his hip-hop past, patient and meditative sound worlds, as well as intense and anthemic waves of bass and percussion.

Jacktone Records is run by Doc Sleep and Darren Cutlip, and has been fostering electronic musicians in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond since 2013.

The first single in the series will be released April 16, with clips of the entire series below.

(Artwork will be added in due course.)

Tracklisting

Integral Synthesia Sessions Vol. I

01. Heartbeat (Lost and Found Mix)

02. Internal Forest Bathing

Integral Synthesia Sessions Vol. II

01. Burning Of The Laurels

02. Embrace

Integral Synthesia Sessions Vol. III

01. Aphotic Breakthrough

02. A Future With No Robots

Eluvium Returns with First Solo Piano Album Since 2004

Matthew Cooper (a.k.a Eluvium) has announced the release of his next album, Pianoworks.

Scheduled for release on May 31 with Temporary Residence Ltd., Pianoworks is Eluvium’s first solo piano album since 2004’s Accidental Memory In The Case of Death, and follows the ambient/modern-classical Shuffle Drones LP from 2017, also on the Brooklyn label. The album was recorded many times over across the last decade, designed to inspire children and be easy enough for novices to play.

Pianoworks comes in CD and 2LP formats, along with expansive 2CD and 3LP deluxe sets. The deluxe versions include the bonus album Pianoworks Vol. 2, a compilation of solo piano recordings that interpolates past compositions.

In conjunction with this announcement comes the Pianoworks sheet music book, a 76-page performance guide that features transcriptions of every solo piano song in Eluvium’s catalog.

Ahead of the album’s release on May 31, Temporary Residence Ltd. has released the album’s first single, “Recital.” The song is built around the theme of children’s piano lessons. Pre-order options for Pianoworks and the accompanied sheet music book are here.

Tracklisting

01. Recital

02 Quiet Children

03. Carrier 32

04. Inherent Mosaic

05. Transfiguration One

06. Masquerade

07. Underwater Dream

08. Vacuous Plenum

10. Transfiguration Two

11. Paper Autumnalia

12. Myriad Days

13. Soliloquy & Aside

14. Empathy For A Silhouette

Subscribe to XLR8Rplus for a Free Ticket to London’s Half Baked x UP Festival Easter Sunday Special

XLR8R is offering XLR8R+ subscribers free passes to the upcoming Half Baked x UP Festival Easter Sunday party at Studio 9294 in London.

The party takes place on April 21 with a lineup of: Dana Ruh, DeWalta B2B Mike Shannon, and Bruno Curtis B2B Sam Bangura.

Half Baked began 10 years ago and has become one of London’s most important party series, hosting the likes of Margaret Dygas, Raresh, Mathew Jonson, Voigtmann, Sonja Moonear, and Petre Inspirescu.

UP Festival made its debut in 2018 and is set in Prague, Czech Republic. After a strong response last year, they’re back again in July with artists such as Cristi Cons, Digby, John Dimas, Lamache, Zendid, and many more. More information on the event can be found here. This year, XLR8R will be hosting a stage, with information here.

We’ve partnered with Half Baked to offer current subscribers of XLR8R+ and those who sign up before the event a limited amount of free guestlist passes.

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

The tenth and current edition of XLR8Rplus, an Icelandic special with three beat-driven tracks, is here, with subscription details here.

Offer ends 1 pm GMT, Sunday, April 21.

Robag Wruhme Announces ‘Venq Tolep,’ His First LP in Eight Years

Robag Wruhme will release his new album, Venq Tolep, on June 7 via Pampa Records.

The 11-track album follows 2009’s Thora Vukk, also on DJ Koze’s Pampa. Its earliest tracks date back seven years, while the newest were recorded in 2019.

We’re told that while the album may speak the language of club music, with seemingly familiar soundscapes, layers, and arrangements, the tracks boldly verge on feeling like songs. “Is it techno pop? Pop techno? Pop ambient? Ambient pop?” the label explains, describing the album as “Wruhme’s first venture into pop music.”

With playful lightheartedness, Wruhme takes synthetic sounds and sampled noises, cuts them to fit, and turns them into beats without his music ever sounding pieced together.

Alongside the announcement, Wruhme has shared the album’s first single and title track, which draws on all the album’s various movements: the light, pensive mood, the subtle, driving rhythm in the mid-BPM range, the ambient-sounding layers of synthesised strings, and the percussive electric piano melody lines.

“‘Venq Tolep’ is the little brother of ‘Thora Vukk,’ but in contrast, the production on this album took me years to finish, instead of from one organic spurt. I was only able to work on it on and off, from time to time. Turns out becoming a Dad twice over is very time consuming. — Robag Wruhme

Tracklisting

01. Advent feat. Lysann Zander

02. Westfal feat. Lysann Zander

03. Iklahx

04. AK-DO

05. Volta Copy (Ambient Vers)

06. Komalh

07. Ago Lades

08. Venq Topel

09. Bézique Atour Feat. Oxia

10. Wata Alma feat. Siden Eldresen & Bugge Wesseltoft (You Might Say)

11. Ende #2

Venq Tolep LP lands June 7 via Pampa Records, with the title track streaming below.

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