The venerated radio host and DJ Mary Anne Hobbs announced yesterday that she’s leaving the BBC after 14 years to pursue other work. Her final BBC show will happen September 8. Hobbs made the announcement on her MySpace page.

Yesterday I resigned from BBC Radio1, after an amazing multi-dimensional 14-year career.

The great freedoms the BBC have given in me as a broadcaster, have allowed me to help break so many confrontational artists as diverse as Slipknot and Skream, and of course, the whole genre of Dubstep in recent times. My current Experimental show is in peak condition, it’s never been stronger. And although it’s a very emotional decision to leave the show that I love so much, it’s also an optimum moment to bow out, at the very top of my game. My work for Radio1 on the Breezeblock, Rock Show, many fascinating documentaries about everything from David Bowie to Dubstep, on daytime, at festivals and award ceremonies, has been exceptionally rewarding. These have been glory days not just for me, but for all the artists who have shared my BBC platform, and of course, the listeners everywhere from Beijing to Berlin, Baltimore to Blackpool, who shared a great passion for future sound. I will continue to DJ live, work in film, and curate at Sonar festival in Barcelona. I have also accepted a new job mentoring and teaching students at the University of Sheffield’s Union Of Students radio station, TV station and the newspaper that operate out of their superb Forge Media Hub, which presents me with a really exciting new challenge. My last show on BBC Radio1 will be broadcast:
September 8th>>9th … Wednesday night >> Thursday morning… 2-4am
www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/maryannehobbs

Thank you so much for listening…

New York-based music download hub RCRD LBL got its hands all over one of the three remix EPs Tiga has been releasing after last year’s Ciao! album. From the Overtime Remixes EP, a treatment of “Overtime” by Germany’s Motor City Drum Ensemble was just offered as a free download on the website. We’ve embedded the player below, and you can also stream the whole release, as well as Tiga’s Gentle Giant Remixes EP and a ton of other sexed-up electro goodies from the Canadian producer, here.

Before his sophomore album, Outside the Box, is released August 9, dubstep mainstay Skream is giving away handfuls of free tracks, announcing the downloads via his Twitter page. He’s already hooked up two batches of tunes, and just announced the lastest installment, Freeizm Vol. 3. You can guiltlessly download those songs here.

Two masterminds of our era’s most eccentric, forward-thinking indie groups, Xiu Xiu and Shearwater, have come together on a new project of unprecedentedly strange pop music. Jamie Stewart (pictured above) and Jonathan Meiburg are Blue Water White Death, “a pair of reclusive eccentrics making music in a derelict mansion, perilously balancing beauty and horror with the absurd,” (says their press info). The duo’s debut self-titled album was written and recorded in a week (!) with producer John Congleton, who has worked in the past with Modest Mouse, St. Vincent, and Black Mountain, and features such wonderful song titles as “The End of Sex” and “Song for the Greater Jihad.” Blue Water White Death will be released October 12 via Graveface. Check out the tracklist and artwork, below.

1. This is the Scrunchyface of My Dreams
2. Song for the Greater Jihad
3. Grunt Tube
4. Nerd Future
5. The End of Sex
6. Death for Christmas
7. Gall
8. Rendering the Juggalos

Berlin/New York-based party-starting music hub Nightshifters is finishing up work on an upcoming compilation of its favorite singles from its discography, along with a few brand-new ditties thrown into the mix, too. Entitled Nightshifters Selections One, the release features 16 tracks culled from the past two years, including jams from Rob Threezy, AC Slater, Rampage, Hostage, Udachi & Jubilee, and label head DJ Donna Summer. The whole thing will be released on September 7, and you can check out the full tracklist and artwork for Selections One below.

1. Rampage – Big Breath2. Hostage – Valhalla (Momma’s Boy remix)
3. Rob Threezy – The Change Up (Jokers Of The Scene remix)
4. AC Slater – Night Shift
5. Rob Threezy – Dark Night
6. Udachi & Jubilee – Paypur
7. Rampage – War (Blatta & Inesha Remix)
8. DJ Donna Summer – Wood
9. Proper Villains – Rave Juice
10. Hostage – Achtung!
11. Udachi & Jubilee – Paypur (Catchdubs Remix)
12. DJ P.O.L. Style – Vampire Killah
13. Momma’s Boy VS MikiX the Cat – Party Rock
14. Rampage – Reactivate (Proper Villains Remix)
15. Rx – Bumble (Naifian Remix)
16. DJ Donna Summer – Raw (Hostage DNB Remix)

Hot on the heels of its latest record from label head L-Vis 1990, London’s Night Slugs is dropping That Mystic, a new EP from NYC’s Kingdom. The five-song release showcases Kingdom’s love for pulsing house grooves punctuated by off-kilter percussion and plenty of chopped and/or pitch-shifted R&B vocal snippets. It’s heady dance music, to be sure, but it’s also well suited for folks who excitedly track the latest jams on BET’s 106 & Park. The EP comes out next week, but you can listen to the first three tracks here on XLR8R.com.

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