Radian are no strangers to deconstruction. Through past albums like 2002’s rec.extern and 2004’s Juxtaposition, the Austrian trio has taken apart every aspect of their band—rhythm, melody, and songwriting—and rebuilt themselves into a glitchy, experimental post-rock outfit that defies categorization. Five years later, Radian has set out to dismantle the rock band on their latest release, Chimeric, an album built on the foundation of distorted textures, piercing feedback, and cut-and-pasted drum patterns made from recordings rearranged and reimagined to fit their syncopated rhythms. Ten-minute epic “Feedbackmikro/City Lights” is a standout journey through pattering percussive noises, inverted guitar textures, and atmospheric elements that eventually coalesce into a fully realized composition. Simply put, Chimeric ups the ante for inventive instrumental music.
LA-based tech-house label Culprit has announced the 2010 line-up of its famed summer rooftop parties, and this season looks to be as slamming as those of the past. Kicking off on April 11 with Konrad Black and Martin Buttrich, the label will also host the inimitable Henrik Schwarz, Dyed Soundorom, Matt Tolfrey, Heidi, Hot Natured, and many more. Check the label site for more information!
The French mega-producers in Air are joining forces with London music technology company RjDj to make a nifty little app for your iPhone, and hopefully promote their latest album, Love 2, in the process. The music-making program, called “Love by AIR,” gives fans (who are also AT&T customers) the experience of mixing ambient soundscapes and their own voice into Air’s music all in real-time. In launching the iPhone app, RjDj and Air are holding a contest, which takes the age-old idea of making a mixtape for someone you love and joins it with the ease and customizing abilities of their new technology. Check out more details on “Love by AIR” and the contest here.
New York’s familial tech-house duo The Martinez Brothers are set to release the follow up to their last single, “Debbie Downer.” TMB’s new EP, entitled Don’t No Yet, comes to us March 16 from Objektivity after nearly a year-long hiatus, and just in time for their performance at WMC. The three songs featured, “Broke in the BX,” “Won’t Somebody,” and the title-track, all come complete with the Brothers’ trademarks—classic drum sounds, slow-burning intensity, and soulful melodies in their synth work. Check out the artwork and tracklist below.
A1. Won’t Somebody B1. Don’t No Yet B2. Broke in the BX
The grimey garage of London’s Jammer gets seriously pumped up in this remix from Milwaukee’s Lorn, whose reputation as a member of FlyLo’s Brainfeeder crew precedes him. The crunchy bass stems of the original are brought way up in the mix, frenetic secondary percussion is added, and the backing beat is more in line with contemporary bass than the danceable grime of the original. With its truly sick breakdown that artfully incorporates the epic strings of Jammer’s track, Lorn’s remix is bound to get clubs burning this spring.
It’s not just the name of the track that makes “Curtain Call” sound like the last salvo from Little Brother‘s final album, LeftBack. Amidst shimmering synth flourishes, a boogie-indebted bassline, and a shuffling drum-machine beat, Phonte and Rapper Big Pooh declare, “this is it, the last monologue/last act in the play, you could say the epilogue,” and then list off their thank-yous as the track fades out—sounding less like an acceptance speech than the end of a memoir.
Somewhat confusingly described in their press materials as a “jazz trio,” Zelienople may share Bohren & der Club of Gore’s fixation on Angelo Badalamenti’s Twin Peaks music, but they cut that dreaminess with wandering clouds of guitar-nourished despair. It gives the proceedings a smudged and inconsolable soiled-American vibe similar to Steven R. Smith’s music, with a few formal nods to ambient electronic. Give It Up‘s drift is fuzzy without being particularly warm; while Bohren could pass as perverse dinner-party music, Zelienople has created something much more solitary. The album’s slight menace challenges the equivalence between ambient music and thoughtful domestic life; this seems to have less to do with tea than extinction.
We’re not sure exactly who else could get away with announcing an album with no title, no artwork, and no single to be heard, but we’ll certainly let it slide for James Murphy and his LCD Soundsystem. Today, the DFA label head told the world that he is indeed releasing a follow-up to his sophomore effort, Sound of Silver, and that it’ll be released May 18 on DFA/Virgin. There isn’t much else to share other than the album was recorded at The Manshun in Los Angeles (peep videos on all that here), and written and produced by Mr. Murphy himself. Check out the album tracklist below.
Dance Yrself Clean Drunk Girls One Touch All I Want Change Hit Pow Pow Somebody’s Calling Me What You Need
The sweet soul sound of The Phenomenal Handclap Band‘s “Baby” is definitely contrasted by the track’s dark video, but London’s Clock Opera artfully combine both the video’s menace and the track’s throwback sunniness in this remix. Beginning with pulsing kicks, deep bass, and jagged guitar riffs, the song builds to a shadowy apex, then suddenly becomes a dreamy near-disco track replete with lush synths, softer guitars, and flute flourishes. Taken from the upcoming Gomma release, which also features remixes from Black Strobe and Daniel Haaksman.
When it came time to commission someone for the Chicago edition of our City Guide podcast series, we here at XLR8R spent weeks brainstorming and tossing around possible candidates, many of them legends in their own right. After all, we were talking about Chicago, the birthplace of house music. But then we received an email out of the blue from Ghetto Division, an energetic crew of young Windy City DJs and producers whose roll call includes founders Rob Threezy, Maddjazz, Charlie Glitch, and Rampage alongside newer members Lorenzo Vektor, D-51, MoonMan, M-Dok, Sigma, and Louie Cue. The guys were actually volunteering to tackle the Chicago podcast, promising to do justice to their city’s rich house music history while also incorporating the newest Chicago sounds. We’d heard amazing things about Ghetto Division’s Southside Shakedown parties, and their passion for their hometown and the podcast was convincing to say the least, so we took a bit of a risk and handed it over to them. And boy, did they deliver—this mix is MASSIVE, covering 90 tracks in fewer than 70 minutes and running the gamut from acid house classics and Chicago legends like Cajmere, Fast Eddie, and DJ Funk (to name a few) to the newer, bassier, and occasionally Latin-flavored sounds of the crew’s own productions. If this is the future of Chicago, the city has nothing to worry about.
Intro Fast Eddie “Hip House 89′” (DJ International) Julian “Jumpin” Perez ft Kool Rock Steady “Ain’t We Funky Now” (DJ International) Maurice “This Is Acid” (Trax) Cajmere “Coffee Pot (Percolator)” (Club House) Armando “100% Dissin You” (Warehouse) Cajmere ft. Derrick Carter “Wet Dream” (Cajual) MD3 “The Pressure Cooker” (Underground) Mike Dunn “Magic Feet” (Westbrook) Mike Dunn “So Let it Be House” (Westbrook) Mr Fingers “Can You Feel It” (Trax) Mr. Fingers “Washing Machine” (Trax) Mike Dunn “Life Goes On” (Westbrook) Debo “South Side” (Dance Mania) House Master Boys “House Nation” (Dance Mania) Adonis “Were Rocking Down the House” (Trax) Mr. Lee “I Cant Forget” (Trax) The Outhere Bros “Pass the Toilet Paper” (Af-Ryth-Mix Sounds) The PJ Project “Nice-N-Fast” (Power) Cajmere “Chit Chat” (Club House) DJ Sneak “Work It” (Defiant) Farley “Give Yourself to Me” (Trax) Tyree “Acid Crash” (House Musik) DJ Deeon “Freak Like Me” (Promo) The Mixmasters “In The Mix” (DJ International) Fast Eddie “Clap Your Hands” (DJ International) Fast Eddie “Git On Up” (DJ International) Z-Factor “Fantasy” (Mitchball) Fingers Inc. “Mystery of Love” (DJ International) Tyree ft Chic “I Fear The Night” (Underground) Fast Eddie “Make Some Noise” (DJ International) Kool Rock Steady “Let’s Get Hyped” (DJ International) Fast Eddie “Acid Thunder” (DJ International) Pierre’s Pfantasy Club “Got the Bug” (Trax) Ralphie Rosario “You Used to Hold Me” (Hot Mix 5) DJ Funk “Funk Me Right” (Dance Mania) Paul Johnson “Feel My MF Bass” (Dance Mania) DJ Hyperactive “Venus” (Missile) DJ Funk “Pass It Around” (Dance Mania) Cajmere “Jungle Jazz” (Cajual) Dajae “You Got Me Up” (Cajual) DJ Tragic “Wasted Time” (UC Music) Dance Works “Dem Rats” (UC Music) The Outhere Brothers “Boom Boom Boom” (House Nation) DJ Sneak “Flip It” (Relief) RT “Can We All Just Get Along” (Cajual) Dajae “Brighter Days” (Cajual) Cajmere “Conflict” (Cajual) Cajmere “Coffee Pot (Percolator)” (Club House) CZR “Ghetto Muzik” (IHR) Green Velvet “Lalalalala” (Cajual) Jammin’ Gerald “Pump That Shit” (Dance Mania) Jammin’ Gerald “Pump On The Floor” (Dance Mania) Steve Poindexter “Compter Maddness” (Muzique) Lidell Townsell “Get With U” (Mercury) Eric Martin “Fire Alarm” (Dance Mania) Fast Eddie “Big Ol Booty” (IHR) CZR “Seizure” (IHR) Blaxican “Bounce Dat Booty” (IHR) Tyree “Dat Ass” (Renegade) MCM-13 “Big Fat Juicy Booty” (Jasper Stone) MCM-13 “How To Run A Train” (Jasper Stone) The Kix “Feelin You” (UC Music) DJ Bam Bam “Da Hard Beats” (UC Music) Kevin Halstead “Hands Up” (UC Music) Alex Peace “Let Your Mind Be Free” (UC Music) Kevin Halsted “Hands in Da Air” (UC Music) Dance Works “Burnin'” (UC Music) Rick Garcia “The Predator” (IHR) Rick Garcia “The DJ Rocks” (UC Music) Stacy Kidd “Get with It” (Titled) Johnny Fiasco “Zig Zag” (Hot Trax) DJ Jes “I Gave You Love” (Fresca) CZR “Southside Chicago” (IHR) Hispanic Syndicate Empire “Strong Feeling” (IHR) Stacy Kidd “Give It To Me” (Dance Mania) Rampage & Nader “Get Up” (Ghetto Division) M-Dok “Busta” (Ghetto Division) Maddjazz “Jack Move” (Ghetto Division) Jose 2 Hype “Closet Freak (Charlie Glitch Remix)” (2HYPE) Bingo Players “Devotion (M-dok Remix)” Rob Threezy “La Chalupa” (Ghetto Division) Jose Zaragoza “Shindigin’ (Charlie Glitch Remix)” (Deep Hype) Rob 3 “All My Time” (2HYPE) Louie Cue “Feedback (M-dok Remix)” (Ghetto Division) Charlie Glitch “The Talk” Maddjazz “N2 The Music” (Ol’ Head) Knuckles “Headfones (M-dok Remix)” Maddjazz “I Don’t Play” (Ghetto Division) Charlie Glitch “Chambermaid Swing” D-51 “Mi Trompeta” (Ghetto Division)
