In keeping with celebrating brutal culture, XLR8R writer Fred Miketa and company launch their music and lifestyle website, Chronic Youth, with a night of live insanity and spoken word performances at Santo’s Party House in Manhattan this Saturday. Partnering with the folks at Heartworm Press for this particular bout, Heartworm #37 will feature the scuzz offerings and white-noise sacrifices of NON, Prurient, and Cold Cave, while Genesis Breyer P-Orridge (Throbbing Gristle), Jamie Stewart (Xiu Xiu), Kid Congo Powers (The Cramps), Chris Leo (Van Pelt), and others also appear throughout the night to lay down some sick spoken word. In honor of this special event, the Heartworm camp is offering a download of its latest spoken-word compilation of exclusive material from almost the entire Heartworm #37 roster here. Advance tickets can be purchased for $20 on Ticketweb or $25 night of. Festivities kick off at 7 p.m.

pictured Prurient

If any audio company could be said to be candy flipping, it’s Germany’s Native Instruments. NI has an amazing knack when it comes to developing its digital processing “instruments” for cross-promotion, cross-pollination, and cross-genre shenanigans. Latest to augment the synergistic effect is MASCHINE Drum Selection—20 full drum kits pulled from the banks of the previously released MASCHINE groove production system. This $59 library features “a practical assortment of gritty urban kits, heavily processed acoustic drums as well as vintage analog samples for various electronic music genres,” and is a hybrid standalone/plug-in instrument powered by the KONTAKT engine. What this means is NI can pimp two potential expansions at once, and hopefully hook you for more! There are included soundshaping controls, a graphical step sequencer, and sounds come in additional formats for direct use within KORE 2, KORE PLAYER, and BATTERY.

Also being introduced is Evolve Mutations, a $119 KONTAKT-powered instrument intended for movie-, TV-, and game-sound designers. This 275-instrument collaboration with designers Heavyocity features a 2 GB “arsenal of highly expressive instruments, rhythms, and ambiences that can add profound depth and impact to any dramatic piece of music,” and is organized into thematic categories to add rhythm, percussion, transitions, tonality, and more. Again, some envelope and filter controls are included, and samples are compatible with the full version of KONTAKT 3 for advanced editing.

Finally, because every good pusher knows the first taste is free, NI has released the complimentary KONTAKT PLAYER. PLAYER provides universal playback functionality, a graphical library browser, and convenient manipulation options for “all regular KONTAKT-format libraries as well as all generations of third-party KONTAKT PLAYER instruments, including KOMPAKT and INTAKT formats as well as Native Instruments’ AKOUSTIK PIANO, ELEKTRIK PIANO, and BANDSTAND instruments.” It has 64-bit/multiprocessor support, performance views, comes with 50 supportive sounds, and much more, just omitting the editing functions. Mmmm, ear candy.

Top Billin’ member Sir Nenis and DJ Pushups (here as Sharkslayer) just released a rad new Palms Out Sounds mix. Running the gamut from Baltimore club to breaks to bassline house, the mix is sure to bring summery Helsinki grooves your way, and while you’re at it, check out where the Top Billin’ crew spends summer time in their home city.

pictured Sir Nenis

Mad Decent is making it a yearly affair with its second installment of the Mad Decent Block Party, taking place on Saturday, August 15, in Philadelphia. Seeing as how last year was so much fun, it is almost guaranteed that the second go-round will be even better. Featuring Major Lazer, Blaqstarr, Maluca, DJ Sega, and more, the free, community-oriented street fest and carnival runs all day, and features all sorts of fun for kids and adults.

The Mad Decent Block Party II will take place on Saturday, August 15, on the block of 12th St. and Spring Garden St. in Philadelphia.

The autumn brings two new treats from Planet-E founder and Detroit techno wizard Carl Craig. In September, C2 will be re-releasing the four EPs that he recorded under his 69 moniker on his own venerable label; including such instant techno classics as “Desire” and “My Machines,” the four-disc vinyl-only boxed set will be released in an edition of 500, and 100 of those come with limited 69 t-shirts. Meanwhile, October sees the release of Parisian Etienne Jaumet‘s first proper solo album, Night Music (Domino), which Craig produced. Adding his own techno-hypnotism to some already engrossing loop-based synth workouts, C2 certainly brings Jaumet’s sound fully into the club, and along with his regular DJ sets and worldwide appearances, seems like our man from Detroit won’t be getting much sleep after the summer’s over!