Inbox: Joyo Velarde

This week, XLR8R Inbox shoots the breeze with a very pregnant Joyo Velarde. The soulful Bay Area hip-hop queen (and Lyrics Born’s official main squeeze) gets juiced on Depeche Mode, bossing friends around on the playground, and her impending picture-perfect family life. Look for her funky fresh debut full-length, Love & Understanding, this November on Quannum.

XLR8R: What are you listening to right now?
Joyo Velarde: I’m just now getting into them, but I caught a PBS Soundstage performance of Death Cab for Cutie, after which I immediately purchased their album. Love the writing! I’ve also been listening to a phenomenal band from New Zealand: Fat Freddy’s Drop. Heavy vibes; hi-tek, dubby soul.

What’s the weirdest story you have ever heard about yourself?
Can’t say that I have. Guess that’s a good thing!

What band did you want to be in when you were 15?
Depeche Mode—no-brainer.

Worst live show experience?
If we’re talking about myself as a performer, it would have to be a Chicago gig we did a few years ago on a Lyrics Born tour, where I’d been battling the flu and just about passed out on stage. Being on the road is work enough, but to have to perform when you’re sick absolutely bites.

Favorite city in which to play?
Top 3:
1) Sydney, for the surroundings
2) Austin, for the energy
3) Home sweet home, for the commute

What is it like working with Lyrics Born (or being married to him, for that matter)?
The thing I love about working with him in the studio is that he knows exactly what he wants, whether in the production process of a track or getting the right performance out of you. Getting to tour/travel with him is obviously a huge perk—take in the local color, do a show, and have someone spoon you at the end of each night? Super-delicious.

What is your favorite thing that you own?
Our home.

Name one item of clothing you can’t live without.
Doesn’t exist.

If you could reduce your music to a single word, what would it be?
Developing.

For what did you always get in trouble when you were little?
Bossing around all my playmates. I’ve always liked to delegate things.

What other artist would you most like to work with?
Sam Sparro, Kanye West.

What’s the last thing you read?
Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri.

Complete this sentence: In the future…
I can see our firstborn (due in October!) running around our backyard while I finally get to harvest the vegetable garden I’ve always wanted to grow, and Daddy’s chillin’ in the shade drinkin’ his favorite adult beverage of choice.

Stupidest thing you’ve done in the last 12 months?
According to my husband, it was the purchase of two patio chairs that have managed to remain in the living room.

What’s next?
Baby, album, one more baby (God willing), more albums to the infinite degree…

Koushik Tell Me What You See

It’s a strange, though novel, idea to release albums of independent production music. The genre, also referred to as “library music,” is meant as a royalty-free resource for use by radio and other media outlets. Here, Stones Throw sub-label Miserable Beast has commissioned Canadian producer Koushik to craft Tell Me What You See, music for a film-noir project that exists only in their minds. He’s not the first to write a soundtrack for a movie that will never exist, but the difference on Tell Me What You See is that no story develops through the music. While solid production work is found throughout, particularly on jazzy numbers like “Wutucint,” the beat-centric “Brasil Beat” tracks, and the slow funk of “Groove Awhile,” you can’t really approach this collection of songs as a true album. Yet as a showcase of eclectic and creative studio work, Tell Me What You See is an interesting suite of carefree tracks that remind us of how music used to sound.

New Tortoise Remixes Drop Mid-August

Given the success of the Tortoise remix series of the ’90s, Thrill Jockey is releasing a new limited 12″ featuring two new remixes of tracks from Beacons of Ancestorship. “High Class Slim Came Floatin’ In” gets the remix treatment from Japanese freakout artist Eye of Boredoms fame, and techno pioneer Mark Ernestus of Basic Channel dubs out “Gigantes.”

Beacons of Ancestorship Remixes comes out August 18th on Thrill Jockey.

Free Mix From ~scape’s Barbara Presinger

~scape Records co-founder Barbara Presinger just released a killer podcast of beautifully dubby techno and house for our friends over Bleep43.com , which should usher you nicely into the weekend. While you’re at the site, check out the amazing Detroit Beatdown Mix, too, featuring old-school Motown techno heads Delano Smith, Mike Clark, and Norm Talley.

Say Hello to Moshi Moshi’s 10th Year

London’s Moshi Moshi Records is celebrating its 10th year with a North American tour featuring three label favorites: lo-fi electro-troupe Casiokids (pictured), anti-folk songsters Slow Club, and post-rock bluesmen The Wave Pictures. The label’s eclectic roster continues to grow after a decade, and it is well worth checking out its latest sounds, no matter what scene you find yourself in.

Moshi Moshi’s 10th Anniversary Summer Tour

Aug 07 South Street Seaport, New York, NY *#$
Aug 08 Spaceland, Los Angeles, CA *#$
Aug 10 Bottom of the Hill, San Francisco, CA *#$
Aug 11 R Bar, San Francisco, CA #$
Aug 11 Doug Fir Lounge, Portland, OR *
Aug 12 Media Club, Vancouver, BC *
Aug 13 Crocodile Café, Seattle, WA *

* = Casiokids
# = Slow Club
$ = The Wave Pictures

Audion Releases New EP, Tours Europe

Matthew Dear is at it again under his Audion moniker, dropping two new EPs on Spectral Sound and touring Europe with a new audio-visual feast called Hecatomb. Featuring the wizardry of long-time artistic collaborators Will Calcutt and Eno Henze, Audion’s new live set marks a return to a synesthetic techno experience, pairing Dear’s dark electronic vibes with a blinding swirl of psychedelic pattern shifts. Appropriately, Audion’s latest EP is titled It’s Full of Blinding Light, and with its noisy builds and deep grooves, it is sure to compliment the eye candy quite nicely.

Audion European Tour Dates:

08.08 Zurich, CH @ Moving City (w/ Marco Carola)
08.14 Oporto, PT @ Antipop Festival
08.28 Glasgow, UK @ Pressure at Arches
08.29 London, UK @ Fabric

A Sunny Day in Glasgow “Ashes Grammar/Ashes Math”

Ben Daniels and the Sunny Day bunch get all 4AD Records on our asses with this shimmering beaut from their next album, Ashes Grammar. Heavenly voices, astral drones, and thick bass clash and orbit through a sky of pink and purple tones, which provides quite a breathtaking view.

17 Ashes grammar – Ashes maths

All Tiny Creatures “To All Tiny Creatures”

Wisconsin quartet All Tiny Creatures cruises up the Krautrock Autobahn, just as Cluster and Kraftwerk did before them, but this time the gears are locked on overdrive and the speedometer needle is bobbing into the red. Fortunately, the upcoming traffic is looking rather light.

02 To All Tiny Creatures

Numero Launches Eccentric Soul Revue

Chicago-based reissue label The Numero Group has spent the better part of the last six years enlightening the world on soul music that most of us have probably never heard, nor ever would had it not been for their intervention. Considering themselves a “cream of the crop” label, Numero specializes in an ongoing compilation series called Eccentric Soul, and even went so far as to bring the compilation to life back in April of this year with performances by a 17-piece band backing The Notations, Renaldo Domino, The Final Solution, Nate Evans, and Syl Johnson at Chicago’s Park West Theater. The evening of live soul went so well that the Eccentric Soul Revue is taking to the road, playing choice venues in Ohio, DC, and New York. Tickets for Columbus, Manhattan, and Brooklyn can be purchased here, while tickets for the Washington DC performance can be found here.

Monday November 9
Columbus, Ohio
The Lincoln Theater
With special guests the Four Mints and Marion Black

Tuesday November 10
Washington, DC
The 9:30 Club

Thursday November 12
New York, New York
Grand Ballroom
With special guest Missy Dee

Friday November 13
Brooklyn, New York
Music Hall of Williamsburg
With special guest Missy Dee

pictured Syl Johnson

Various Artists Soma Coma III

So, you took some pills and danced all night. As you emerge from the club, the sun is already high in the sky, but you still aren’t ready for sleep. What you are ready for is some healthy breakfast food and some cocktails to calm your nerves. You walk to a little spot that you know with your friends, and soon find yourself bobbing your head to some epic, synth-drenched chill-out music. Meanwhile, you cannot believe that your mimosa tastes so manna-like, or that your spinach omelet glistens such a vibrant green. Sound familiar? Then so will this surprisingly relaxed affair from Soma, featuring plenty of ponderous, jazzy electronic numbers from the Black Dog, Slam, Alex Smoke, and many of the other usual suspects from the veteran label’s roster.

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