Germany’s premiere veteran techno label Kompakt recently introduced the world to a forthcoming series focusing on extremely limited-edition CD and 12″ releases available exclusively online, called Kompakt.fm Exklusive. The label describes the venture as a chance to get back to the roots of what Kompakt was born of: “being an independent record store and label that is able to offer our fans directly a wealth of exciting new releases and lost tunes that folks aren’t able to find anywhere else.” A string of releases is already slated to launch June 25 with contributions from GusGus, Mugwump, Michael Mayer, Matias Aguayo, DJ Koze (pictured above), Wolfgang Voigt, and plenty more. More detailed information is available here.

The most recent champion for the genre commonly called post-dubstep, James Blake, shared a new and somewhat unlikely tune with the internet, called “Measurements.” We use the world unlikely because the track not only strays from the producer’s typical format of sub-bass melodies matching with shuffled rhythms and warped vocal sampling, but also primarily features Blake’s own lyrical performance front and center. The near-five-minute song pushes a particularly hushed gospel style, but trades the usual organ sounds for a bulbous synth and a proper choir for a host of dry and affected voices, all seemingly from the classically trained musician’s own mouth. It sounds like another step in Blake’s new direction, and we’d like to eventually hear these sounds mixed in with his already highly enjoyable dance tunes sometime in the near future. Stream “Measurements” below. (via FADER)

Erasure frontman Andy Bell dropped a new solo album yesterday on Mute, entitled Non-Stop. It certainly prompted a “That guy is putting out an album?” moment in the XLR8R office, but then we spotted that Bell had the good sense to tap UK producer and 2-step enthusiast Deadboy (pictured above) for a remix of the first single, “Call on Me.” Give it a listen below, and hear how Deaboy has twisted and turned Bell’s vocals into a silky smooth garage melody.

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Alex Georgopoulos, the multi-tasking musician and producer best known for his work with Tussle and, more recently, Arp, recently completed work on his sophomore solo album, The Soft Wave. The new work comes nearly three years after Arp’s debut record, In Light, and will be released on the same label, Smalltown Supersound, September 7. The Soft Wave was written and recorded during Georgopoulos’ recent move from San Francisco to New York, and is said to incorporate more varied live instrumentation (guitar, flute, piano, and even vocals) than its predecessor. The press release for Arp’s new album states, “Though Georgopoulos still has a knack for creating environments in which you want to recline, hammock-style, he’s also peppered The Soft Wave with soft blasts of blissed–out fuzz. Recorded to two-inch tape, its warm glow and blown-out formalism will undoubtedly appeal to a broad, sophisticated range of tastes.” A 12″ single of the record’s lead track, “Pastoral Symphony,” will precede The Soft Wave in August, along with remixes from Sweden’s Studio, Etienne Jaumet, and Mauve Deep. Check out the album’s tracklist and artwork below.

01 Pastoral Symphony: I. Dominoes II. Infinity Room
02 White Light
03 Alfa (Dusted)
04 Catch Wave
05 High Life
06 Grapefruit
07 Summer Girl
08 From A Balcony Overlooking The Sea
09 Silver Clouds

Now in its fifth week of celebrations for its 20th year of releasing independent electronic music, Ninja Tune has offered up this free download of DJ mix history. Back in 1991 on New Year’s Eve, two young DJ/producers named Alex Paterson and Thomas Fehlmann (who was recently featured in XLR8R‘s pages) walked into Coldcut‘s Kiss FM studios on Holloway Rd. in London to lay down a mix of now-old-school techno, ambient, house, and electronica. The duo, known best as The Orb, recorded this DJ set prior to releasing its chart-topping debut album, The Orb’s Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld. Matt Black of Ninja Tune and Coldcut recalls, “The Orb played a lot of abstract, cool, spoken word and cutup stuff, which seemed really impressive and weird… We were like ‘fuck, how did they make that?’ It was just quite arty and clever and odd… A lot of it was just done in a one-man live mix, literally running round the studio, turning decks on and off! Raw but fun. Those were the days.” The download is available for free, with the exchange of your precious email address, here, and will be there for six days.