In case you weren’t sure, there was at least one specific reason why Ariel Pink adorned the cover of our latest print issue, and that’s because the dude is releasing a new album with his band, Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti. Said record, Before Today, comes out in a week, but the LA Times ran a piece on the band today that featured the premiere of the forthcoming album streaming in its entirety. We’ve included the player for you below, and you can check out the whole article here.
Somewhere within the spectrum of next-level house, techno, and dubstep lie the sounds brought together by UK producers Al Tourettes (above) and Appleblim on the duo’s upcoming new EP, Lipsmacker, for Will Saul‘s Aus label. The three-track release features two original numbers from the production team, “Lipsmacker” and “Mr. Squishy,” along with a remix of the the funky house-centric “Mr. Squishy” by Linkwood, and a bonus remix of the title track by Deadboy, only available with digital downloads. You can cop the whole jam when it drops June 28.
Two years after Barcelona’s Pablo Díaz-Reixa (a.k.a. El Guincho) released his last album of Latin-flavored psychedelic pop music, Alegranza!, the producer is ready to bring the world more of his warped, upbeat analog soundscapes. His latest offering, an EP of classic and traditional South American songs rearranged to fit Guincho’s own style called Piratas de Sudamérica, precedes his full-length album, Pop Negro, coming out sometime this fall, and will be the first in a series of five-song EPs to feature collaborations with artists from around the world. Adrián de Alfonso and Julieta Venegas lend their talents to this first volume, which is available to stream down below.
This one comes to us courtesy of Night Slugs, the consistently impressive label headed up by bass afficionados Bok Bok and L-Vis 1990, and its taken from a recent white-label release by fellow UK DJ/producer Lil Silva. The grime-influenced youngster just released the Night Skanker EP—which can be previewed here—and while this track won’t be found on the record, it’s still pretty exciting. “No Hooks” is a perplexing title for the song, as it flexes one singular bass-synth melody for three of its four minutes and is one of the more accessible UK funky tunes we’ve heard in a while, but the track’s simple, infectious groove is definitely strong enough to stand without another sound added.
As the first event under wunderkind producer Joy Orbison‘s Doldrums label, this party should be a pretty awesome jump-off. On Saturday, June 19 at Plan B in Brixton, London, Detroit producer icon Omar S (the Best) and London’s Source Direct will headline a night of next-level jungle, house, and techno alongside equally interesting DJs and producers the likes of Kassem Mosse, Floating Points, Petchy, Josey Rebelle, The BPM, and Orbison himself. Check out the flier for the party below, and find more online info here and here.
When it comes to the production of wonky beats, Los Angeles and the UK are more or less the world’s power centers. Yet thanks to the efforts of Onra, Paris just might force its way into the conversation. This week, the soulful producer is releasing his latest album, Long Distance, via Dublin-based All City Records, and we’ve got an exclusive chance to preview the entire full-length here on XLR8R.com. With a sound that incorporates boogie, hip-hop, ’80s soul and R&B, washy synths, and rubber basslines, Long Distance is one potent listen. In fact, we advise that you simply stop reading this, peep the artwork, and listen to the album’s 21(!) tracks on the player below.
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Each year, on the Tuesday morning following Memorial Day, it’s a treat to peep the horrible pics of the suburban techno-hippies who took over Detroit’s downtown core the previous weekend for the DEMF (or Movement as it’s now called). This year’s news wrap-ups were noticeably short on said pics (maybe because the festival started charging for entry four years ago), but, hey, it’s worth a look anyway. And just cuz we like you, here’s some video of Plastikman’s live show, too. Anyhow, without further ado, the Detroit News and Free Press Movement round-ups.
DVA (a.k.a. Scratcha DVA) shows that he isn’t just some funky one-trick pony with this exclusive dub mix of “Freakout.” Though the funky, pseudo-tribal percussion is still present, the synths that ride atop are more akin to tech-house sounds of the mid-oughts, showing some of the eclectic influences that the UK funky culture has absorbed into its sound. What makes the track truly special, though, are the synth gurglings that subtly drone under the piece, a flourish that only a true composer would insert into such a dancefloor workout. DVA’s The New World Order EP comes out this week on his own label.
We caught wind of this new tune premiere from former XLR8Rcover star Cooly G over on FACT. If the minimal, hypnotic grooves and delayed synth work on “Digitally Deeper” is any indication, it seems like Cooly has been getting into a large amount of techno lately, maybe even some of those Kraftwerk tracks the guys made for Astralwerks back in ’03. ‘nother one for the ‘nuum.
Young Teebs is more than just another producer in Southern California’s über-fertile beat scene. The Chino Hills resident—who swears that he’s moving back to LA proper very soon—is not only busy putting the finishing touches on a debut album slated for release on Flying Lotus’ Brainfeeder label later this year, he’s also an accomplished skater, artist, and painter. Basically, he’s one of those dudes who’s seemingly good at just about everything he does. Like many of his musical brethren, he claims to have been originally inspired by trips to vaunted weekly club night Low End Theory, although we’re guessing that the fact that he also has spent time living with FlyLo and Samiyam certainly hasn’t stifled his development as an artist. Now he’s fresh off the release of his collaborative Tropics EP with UK producer Jackhigh, and about to embark on a summer tour with like-minded young buck Shlohmo, so we were lucky to pin Teebs down long enough to put together a mix for the XLR8R podcast. Stuffed with hazy, blunted beats, the mix nicely captures the spirit of the LA sound and also happens to feature a grip of unreleased and exclusive tunes.
01 Kutmah “Warm Like The Sunshine” (Poobah)
02 Million Young “Chlorophyl”
03 Jeremiah Jae “Money and Food”
04 Teebs “Arthurs Birds”
05 Teebs “Cook, Clean, Pay the Rent (2nd Edit)”
06 Kona Triangle “Mango Rubicon” (Porter)
07 Flying Lotus “Drips/Auntie’s Harp” (Warp)
08 Alex B feat. Harold “Seriously Again”
09 Flying Lotus “Satelllliiiiiteee” (Warp)
10 Dungen “Fretag” (Kemado)
11 Baths “Hall” (Anticon)
12 Teebs “While You Dooooo”
13 Juj “My Room” (Wedidit)
14 Teebs “Personal Winter” (Dublab Japan)
15 Flying Lotus “One for Kutmah”
16 Boards of Canada “Music Has the Right to Children (Oscar McClure Remix)”
17 Savath & Savalas “Te Quiero Pero Por Otro” (Warp)
18 Knxledge “Give Em Some Beats”
19 Knxledge “BB125.84”
20 Teebs “Why Like This”
21 Kutmah “Intro/Outro Shit”
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