As a general rule, XLR8R reserves the Downloads section of the website for the newest, freshest tunes. But when a certified techno legend like Carl Craig offers up a selection from his back catalog for exclusive download, we’re willing to bend the rules a little bit. Taken from his Just Another Day release, “Experimento” is a slow-burning exercise in dub techno that will rumble your speakers in all the right ways.
Perhaps Mr. Craig is in such a giving mood because he’s excited about his upcoming appearance at New York’s Unsound Festival. We were already really hyped about the festival, but then we saw that on February 5th Craig will be doing two live performances accompanying screenings of Andy Warhol’s Blow Job. He’ll be joined by Berlin duo nsi, who will be soundtracking Warhol’s Kiss. Both Craig and psi will be performing on modular synths and analog gear.
All the details are here and tickets are on sale today for both the 7:30 and 9:30 shows.
The first video released from mix-master RJD2‘s forthcoming album, The Clossus, takes the age-old “bull in a china shop” metaphor and runs wild with it. “Let There Be Horns” features a day in the life of a manic-depressive, pill-popping Minotaur who can’t stand his job, obsesses over his co-worker, and ends up going on a tirade in his local antique shop while the shop owner (portrayed in a cameo by RJ himself) roots on a soccer game unaware of the destruction. The story ends on a bit of a cliff-hanger. Sequel maybe? Only time will tell. Check out a whole mess of RJD2 tour dates below.
Sat. Jan. 9 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club # Sun. Jan. 10 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle # Mon. Jan. 11 – Charlotte, NC @ Visualite Theater # Tue. Jan. 12 – Savannah, GA @ Live Wire # Wed. Jan. 13 – Orlando, FL @ The Social # Thu. Jan. 14 – Tampa, FL @ Crowbar # Fri. Jan. 15 – Tallahassee, FL @ Club Downunder # Sat. Jan. 16 – Atlanta, GA @ Masquerade (Heavan Room) # Sun. Jan. 17 – Birmingham, AL @ Bottletree # Mon. Jan. 18 – Chattanooga, TN @ Rhythm and Brews # Tue. Jan. 19 – Knoxville, TN @ Valarium # Wed. Jan. 20 – Asheville, NC @ Orange Peel # Thu. Jan. 21 – Charlottesville, VA @ Jefferson Theatre # Fri. Jan. 22 – Morgantown, WV @ 123 Pleasant Street # Fri. Feb. 5 – Newport, KY @ Southgate House #@ Sat. Feb. 6 – Columbus, OH @ Sully’s Music Diner #@ Sun. Feb. 7 – Louisville, KY @ Headliners Music Hall #@ Mon. Feb. 8 – Nashville, TN @ Exit In #@ Tue. Feb. 9 – Memphis, TN @ Hi-Tone Cafe #@ Wed. Feb. 10 – Oxford, MS @ The Lyric Oxford #@ Thu. Feb. 11 – New Orleans, LA @ Tipitinas #@ Fri. Feb. 12 – Baton Rouge, LA @ Spanish Moon #@ Sat. Feb. 13 – Austin, TX @ Emos #@ Sun. Feb. 14 – Denton, TX @ Hailey’s #@ Mon. Feb. 15 – Tulsa, OK @ Cain’s #@ Wed. Feb. 17 – Kansas City, MO @ The Record Bar #@ Thu. Feb. 18 – Columbia, MO @ The Blue Note #@ Fri. Feb. 19 – Grinnell, IA @ Grinnell College – Harris Center #@ Sat. Feb. 20 – Urbana, IL @ Canopy Club #@ Fri. Mar. 5 – Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church #& Sat. Mar. 6 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg #& Sun. Mar. 7 – New York, NY @ Highline Ballroom #& Mon. Mar. 8 – Boston, MA @ Paradise #& Tue. Mar. 9 – Providence, RI @ Jerky’s Music Hall #& Wed. Mar. 10 – Montreal, QC @ La TuLipe #& Thu. Mar. 11 – Toronto, ON @ The Mod Club #& Fri. Mar. 12 – Detroit, MI @ Magic Stick #& Sat. Mar. 13 – Chicago, IL @ Metro #& Mon. Mar. 15 – Minneapolis, MN @ Triple Rock Social Club #& Tue. Mar. 16 – Madison, WI @ Majestic Theater #& Thu. Mar. 18 – Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop #& Fri. Mar. 19 – Millvale, PA @ Mr. Small’s Theater #& Fri. Apr. 2 – Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater #$ Sat. Apr. 3 – Durango, CO @ Strater Theatre #$ Sun. Apr. 4 – Phoenix, AZ @ Rhythm Room #$ Mon. Apr. 5 – San Diego, CA @ Casbah #$ Tue. Apr. 6 – Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey Theatre #$ Wed. Apr. 7 – San Francisco, CA @ The Independent #$ Thu. Apr. 8 – Eureka, CA @ Red Fox Tavern #$ Fri. Apr. 9 – Portland, OR @ Dantes #$ Sat. Apr. 10 – Bellingham, WA @ The Nightlight Lounge #$ Sun. Apr. 11 – Seattle, WA @ Neumos #$
If news of the forthcoming Liars album, Sisterworld, wasn’t exciting enough for the super-fans, maybe their announcement of an expanded edition of their fifth album will be. The special version of Sisterworld will include a companion disc of remixes and reinterpretations from such luminaries as Thom Yorke, Alan Vega, Tunde Adebimpe (TV On the Radio), and Bradford Cox (Deerhunter/Atlas Sound). On his band’s foray into the world of remixing, frontman Angus Andrew said, “We wanted to help develop and expand the role of the remix, particularly to engage artists less acknowledged for their work in the field. They were asked to ‘re-interpret’ the song by any means necessary and the result is definitely the most exciting collaborative effort we’ve been involved in.” The LA-based trio has also announced a tour of North America in support of their new record, which comes out March 9. Check out the dates below.
4/10/10 – El Rey Theatre @ Los Angele 4/14/10 – Rock & Roll Hotel @ Washington, DC 4/15/10 – Bowery Ballroom @ NYC 4/16/10 – First Unitarian Church @ Philadelphia 4/17/10 – Paradise @ Boston 4/18/10 – Music Hall of Williamsburg @ Brooklyn 4/27/10 – Slim’s @ San Francisco 4/29/10 – Hawthorne Theatre @ Portland, OR 4/30/10 – Venue @ Vancouver, BC 5/01/10 – Neumos @ Seattle
The boys from Radioclit are unabashed lovers of African dance music—between their work with Esau Mwamwaya as The Very Best and their Secousse party in London, they’re pretty much running the new-school African club game. Now they’re adding to their resume by curating the Saga Africa compilation, which features their song “Tutule Dance” alongside tracks from French producers Douster, Lazy Flow, and Myd. The latter’s “Train to Bamako” is a joyous romp, filled with singing African children, warm tones, and just enough bass bump to best Radioclit at their own game. The Saga Africa EP is available for sale at Beatport.
Taken from the latest album by Brooklyn-based DJ/producer Nickodemus, “The Love Feeling” gets treated to a classic techno burner of a remix by Germany’s Christian Prommer. His work, along with treatments from the likes of J.Boogie, HIRD (who’s worked with Fever Ray and Little Dragon), and EarthRise SoundSystem, will be featured on a reworked version of Nickodemus’ album Sun People.
While Copenhagen-based bandleader Jakob Skott has been quietly producing music as Syntaks for the better part of a decade, Ylajali represents an important new step for the project—not only is it the first Syntaks full-length on Ghostly, it’s also the band’s first album as a duo, as one-time guest vocalist Anna Cecilia has officially joined the group. Her addition is certainly welcome, adding some human warmth to the fuzzy drone of Skott’s Boards-of-Canada-meets-Cocteau-Twins soundscapes. Album opener “Twentytwohundred” and the distortion-bathed “She Moves in Colors” are two melodic gems and most of the album operates in similar sonic territory, albeit with significantly sleepier results. Yet although Ylajali may leave some listeners reaching for their pillows, at least the dreams it inspires will be sweet ones.
This is just some straight club heat. ZZK compatriot and XLR8RArtist to WatchDouster has flipped ATL rap hero Gucci Mane‘s “No No No” and stuffed it full of party-starting crunk-rave synths and stomping hip-hop beats. Mad Decent dropped this today as a bonus track from the forthcoming Gucci Mane mixtape, which also features production work from the likes of Diplo, Zomby, Salem, Memory Tapes, and Flying Lotus. The FREE mixtape, entitled Diplo Presents: Free Gucci (Best of The Cold War Mixtapes), drops next Monday. (via Mad Decent)
In the heyday of disco, if you were a young, out-of-pocket group looking for quality recording and production work, there was one go-to studio and one in-house producer to rely on: Bob Blank and his Blank Tapes studio. The man produced a ton of groups—from the influential to the unknown—between the mid-’70s and mid-’80s, including Gladys Knight, Sun Ra, and Charanga 76, and now, thanks to the Strut label in conjunction with DJ History, Bob Blank is getting the retrospective he deserves. Slated for release on February 2, The Blank Generation: Blank Tapes NYC 1975-1985 highlights the best and biggest productions to come out of the New York studio with Bob behind the boards, and also comes with an extensive interview with the producer along with rare photos from his personal archive. More info on the forthcoming retrospective can be found here, and make sure to check out the online video interviews with Bob Blank chronicling his creation of Blank Tapes and all the music made there. Album artwork and tracklist are below.
1. Debby Blackwell – Once You Got Me Going 2. Charanga 76 – Music Trance 3. Milton Hamilton – Crystalized 4. Sun Ra – Where Pathways Meet 5. The Necessaries – State of Art 6. Lydia Lunch – A Cruise to the Moon 7. James Blood Ulmer – Jazz is the Teacher, Funk is the Preacher 8. Bumblebee Unlimited – I Got A Big Bee 9. Mikki – Itching for Love (Unreleased Segio Munzabai M&M Mix) 10. Fonda Rae – Over Like A Fat Rat 11. Gladys Knight – It’s A Better Than Good Time (Walter Gibbons Mix) 12. Lola – Wax the Van (Jon’s Dub) 13. Aural Exciters – Emile (Night Rate)
The bevy of music bubbling out of the London underground still doesn’t have a proper name, but we here at XLR8R are happy to keep lapping up the infectious mix of house, garage, funky, and bass sounds being produced by artists like Shortstuff. With only a handful of proper releases to his name—albeit on top-flight labels like Planet Mu, Ramp, and Berkane Sol—Shortstuff (a.k.a. Richard Attley) also runs the Blunted Robots label (with fellow XLR8R fave Brackles) and has quickly risen to the top of this nebulous scene.
We’re not the only ones taking notice—this month Fabric is releasing Elevator Music: Vol.1, featuring new tunes from the likes of Julio Bashmore, Martyn, Hackman, and a slew of other hotly tipped producers. To celebrate the occasion, Shortstuff put together this exclusive podcast mix and will also be spinning this Friday, January 8th at Fabric’s Room Three alongside fellow Elevator Music artists Hot City, Untold, and Mosca, not to mention folks like Todd Edwards, Hudson Mohawke, Rustie, Jackmaster, 2562, Headhunter, and Joy Orbison, who will be filling the club’s other two rooms with similarly next-level sounds.
01 Joey Beltram “Upper” (Novamute) 02 Scratcha DVA “Natty” (Hyperdub) ?03 Martin Kemp “Wot U Got” 04 Shortstuff “Swine Time” (Ramp) ?05 Hem feat. Terrible Shock “On a Mission (Shortstuff Remix)” ?06 TRG “Tribal Flex” ?07 Deadboy “If U Want Me (Brackles & Shortstuff Remix)” 08 Brackles “6am El Gordos” (Brainmath) 09 Shortstuff “Galaxy” (Ramp) 10 Steve Poindexter “Work That Muthafucker” (Musique) 11 Mosca “Square One (Roska Remix)” (Night Slugs) ?12 Brackles & Shortstuff “Roots & Berries” 13 Doc Daneeka “Drums in the Deep” (Fabric) 14 Shortstuff & Hyetal “Crayola” ?15 Bok Bok feat. Bubbz “Citizens Dub” (Blunted Robots) ?16 Dizzee Rascal “Live O” (XL) ?17 Untold “Bad Girls” (Fabric) ?18 Geiom “Spiral Weave” ?19 Lauren Pritchard “Stuck (Guido Remix)”
Ultraviolet took three years to come out, but that duration only confronts the listener on “Pro Nails,” the Kanye-guesting acrylics jam that broke Kid Sister: it sounds not so much dated as simply known—a remarkable shelf life for a blog hit. Nothing here challenges its single potential, but Ultraviolet thumps throughout (courtesy of production from boyfriend A-Trak, XXXchange, et al.), equal parts anthem-house and straight-up joyrapping. But some of its best moments are not the party-rocking ones, as “Let Me Bang 2009” rides on a tip-toey keyboard loop and a chorus that slouches into place, and “You Ain’t Really Down” is Neneh Cherry-esque R&B, complete with Fairlight stabs. Turns out three years is neither too late nor on time.
