Frank Omura “Juggernaut Audition”

IDM’s sonic palette has expanded since the genre was born in the early ’90s, so that it’s no longer reserved for dark, faceless albums on labels like Warp and Rephlex, but also encompasses gauzy guitars, hip-hop beats, and releases with names like The Unshaven Face EP (well we think it’s kind of a funny name). Producer Zach Saginaw made the latter under his Frank Omura guise, and there’s a lot in this particular track–from the sweeping string arrangements to the unpredictable tempo–that harkens to the emotional side of dance music. This one was up for grabs courtesy of Moodgadget, a label that appears to be further broadening the scope of IDM with tracks like this.

Frank Omura – The Juggernaut Audition

Tobacco Readies Sinister Full-Length

Tobacco is well-known as head honcho of Pittsburgh-based neo-psych outfit Black Moth Super Rainbow, but avid his fans know that he doesn’t sit at home twiddling his thumbs when the band takes a break. Hence, Fucked Up Friends, his debut full-length under his solo moniker and next up on anticon.‘s release schedule.

Analog synths and tape machines about here, as do distorted hooks and the occasional lyric that’s been manipulated beyond comprehension. And even though we can’t understand the words, a definite sinister air hangs over the entire release, hardly surprising when one names their his debut Fucked Up Friends. Prepare for darkness on October 14.

Fucked Up:
01 Street Trash
02 Truck Sweat
03 Hairy Candy
04 Hawker Boat
05 Side 8 (Big Guns Version)
06 Yum Yum Cult
07 Berries That Burn
08 Get My Nails Did
09 Dirt feat. Aesop Rock
10 Gross Magik
11 Little Pink Riding Hood
12 Backwoods Alter
13 –
14 Tape Eater
15 Pink Goo
16 Grease Wizard

Labels We Love 2008: Part 2

If you’re reading XLR8R you probably already own ’nuff albums on XL or Domino, Def Jux and Lex artists have repeatedly rocked your headphones, and you know what’s coming out on Minus or Stones Throw before we do. So this year–our seventh time loving on labels–we focus on labels we’ve (mostly) never quizzed before. For the next six weeks, we’ll catch up with brash new dancefloor igniters Fool’s Gold and Dress 2 Sweat, techno champions Mobilee and Traum, and the dubstep damage squad: Hyperdub, Tectonic, Hot Flush. We’ll revel in cosmic disco from Ghent and New Jersey, and applaud local pride from Los Angeles to Dublin. And since some of the labels we love are more obscure than, say, Sub Pop or DFA, we’ll feature a new artist each week from one of the selected labels. This week talk to Fools Gold’s irreverent Canadians, Jokers of the Scene, who’ve somehow made trance cool again. Vivian Host and Ken Taylor

View more photos here.

Fools Gold
Clever rap + catchy remixes + cute artwork for the new-gen urban dancefloor.

Founders: DJs A-Trak and Nick Catchdubs, along with resident art genius Dust La Rock and life coach Dave1
Location: Brooklyn, baby
Best-known artists: Kid Sister, A-Trak, Kid Cudi
Funny story: All the really good stories will get us in trouble. What happens in Canada stays in Canada.
Favorite label: Polo
Happy-hour spot: You can find Dust dropping BMX knowledge at East River Bar, right down the street in Williamsburg. Odds are the rest of us are ripping open an Emergen-C at home.
Label mascot: Sammy Bananas’ mustache.
Biggest disaster: Five giant boxes of Fool’s Gold x Dim Mak tour shirts arriving in New York after we’re already halfway done with the tour.
Upcoming: Debut singles from Treasure Fingers, LA Riots, Nacho Lovers, and Trackademicks, Kid Sister’s album, a label remix CD through Scion, temporary tattoos…

Mad Decent
Big party personalities blur the lines between dancehall, blog house, B-more, and more.

Founder: Diplo
Location: A former mausoleum at 12th and Spring Garden in Philadelphia
Best-known artists: Diplo, Bonde Do Role, Blaqstarr & Rye Rye
Funny story: After a Blaqstarr performance you can find him on the floor moving watches and even sedans from Baltimore.
Favorite labels: Soul Jazz, Pop Art
Office happy-hour spot: It’s always happy hour at the office but we spend a lot of time on the corner, too.
Office mascot: “Snitch” the magical turtle and Squiggly Dancer Guys 1 and 2.
Biggest label disaster: Starting it!
Upcoming releases: A Santogold x Diplo mixtape, EPs from Crookers and Boy 8-Bit, and Paper Route Gangstaz’s Fear and Loathing in Huntsvegas.

Mobilee
Longtime Berlin party people hold it down for the new-wave minimal movement.

Founders: Anja Schneider and Ralf Kollmann
Location: The Mitte area of Berlin, Germany
Best-known artists: Pan-Pot, Sebo K, Anja Schneider
Funny story: Guess who this is: “Naaaa, und? Alles klar? Wie geht’s? Alles fit?” And who says this: “Ela, man!” Little hint. It’s not Dolce and Gabbana. Send the correct answer to Mobilee and you’ll get a special surprise package.
Favorite label: We’re pretty tight with Leena Music.
Happy-hour spot: The little pizza restaurant around the corner. We always order the Pizza Segantini and the waitress always gets nervous when we have some “famous” DJ friends with us. And the Lexington shop on our street has the best American cheesecake on earth served by the coolest American “dude.” Mobilee is getting fat!
Label mascot: Vincenzo! Sometimes he takes care of the whole office and studio complex eight days a week.
Biggest disaster: Anja’s birthday party ended up at a private apartment with 40 people. I think the guy had to move out a month later…
Upcoming: A new GummiHz 12” this month, Marcin Czubala’s first album in years next month, followed by a huge label party and new stuff from Sebo K and Pan-Pot.

All City
Clever boom-bap and quality reggae from Dublin’s one-stop hip-hop shop.

Founders: Olan and Splyce.
Location: Temple Bar area of Dublin, Ireland
Best-known artists: Heralds of Change (Mike Slott and Hudson Mohawke), Knowl3dge and Lenko, New Jack Hustle
Favorite labels: Cash Money Records–independent as uhf! And currently bugging out on the Numero comp of Detroit’s Big Mack label.
Happy-hour spot: Mulligans on Poolbeg Street. The best Dublin boozer fi old man pints with no music!
Label mascot: Dublin graf writer Cist. He’s grown up in All City–been here since day one!
Upcoming: Our 7-inch beat series continues with U.S. heads doing 45s, the Heralds of Change LP, and 12”s from our U.S. vs. Europe project.

Smalltown Supersound
Norwegian eclecticism, from ambient collage to future folk to leftfield disco trips.

Founder: Joakim Haugland
Location: Oslo, Norway
Best-known artists: Lindstrøm, Kim Hiorthøy, Bjørn Torske
Funny story: One of our first bands, Epikurs Euforie, had many strange ideas. One of the members wore all his clothes at the same time when going on tour instead of packing a bag, and then took them off as the days went by. They also tried to hypnotize the audience with a giant pendulum.
Favorite label: SST in the ’80s and the early years of Rough Trade were pretty magical.
Happy-hour spot: Bar Robinet. It’s run by our friend David. He keeps a copy of our Paal Nilssen Love and Mats Gustafsson record I Love It When You Snore behind the bar with a note on it that says: “Don’t throw away. For use against bad people.”
Biggest disaster: Thisyear at SXSW we missed a Motörhead show because we didn’t understand that 3 p.m. meant during the day. That was pretty bad.
Upcoming: Lindstrøm’s Where You Go I Go Too, Tussle’s Cream Cuts, Serena-Maneesh’s S-M Backwards, and The Meanderthals’ Desire Lines.

Featured Artist:
Jokers of the Scene

The latest entry on the scene some have nefariously called “blog house” are Canadians Linus “DJ Booth” Booth, 36, and Chris “Chameleonic” Macintyre, 27. For the last five years, the self-deprecating duo–one likes hardcore punk and greyhounds, the other embroidered jeans and hot tea–have been known for throwing Ottawa’s best monthly, Disorganised (it’s not really disorganized). Now the world is beginning to recognize them instead by their production alias, Jokers of the Scene (a.k.a. JOTS).

The pair of “mad music nerds” met in a record shop Booth used to own, so it’s not surprising their road-trip playlists run the gamut “from Brian Wilson to Godflesh to Arthur Russell to Alter Ego,” and they count techno pioneers like CJ Bolland and LFO’s Mark Bell as influences. Nonetheless, the predominate sound of many of their recent tracks is ’90s dance. A remix of Nacho Lovers’ “Go On” cuts up house diva samples with hollow Nightcrawlers-esque bass, while a take on South Rakkas Crew’s “Mad Again” disembodies ragga chat and pastes it over a panoply of skyward-stabbing synths and squelching key arpeggios even Paul Van Dyk could appreciate.

And then there’s “Baggy Bottom Boys,” a strobes-and-lasers rave up whose summer-of-’92 breakdown is full of Ecstasy pianos and crowds cheering. “The tune practically wrote itself and it really defined the JOTS sound,” says Booth.

With no less than eight releases issuing forth in the coming months, including remixes for Muscles, Destroy Disco, and Canadian homies Thunderheist, there are plenty of directions for JOTS’ sound to grow. But don’t expect the pair to get Oakenfold-size egos quite yet. “We came from a scene where not too much was going on in the first place, so we never really had any expectations of this growing beyond what it started as,” says Booth. “Any successes are always a pleasant surprise.” Tyra Bangs

Labels We Love Part 1

Tobacco “Truck Sweat”

Black Moth Super Rainbow doesn’t always make music you’d necessarily call uplifting, but Tobacco, the leader of this Pittsburgh-based five-piece, has delved into even darker territory on his debut solo album. The sinister quality of Fucked Up Friends isn’t achieved lyrically though, seeing as vocals are sparse, and when they do appear, they’re tweaked and twisted to levels beyond actual understanding. Rather, Tobacco relies on persistent analog noise that needles and synth hooks that hypnotize, so that the overall effect is akin to walking through some bizarre enchanted world where you never know who or what you might meet at the next corner. Spooky!

Tobacco – Truck Sweat

Various Traum 100

Riley Reinhold (Triple R) and Jacqueline Klein celebrate their label’s 100th vinyl release with a superb compilation of new and exclusive tracks. Traum is the current rendezvous point for the most seductive elements of Detroit techno, classic trance, ambient, and whatever their artists fancy. Equally interested in developing new sounds as banking on established talent (Dominik Eulberg, Fairmont), that diversity shows in 100. Minilogue and Thomas Brinkmann contribute a pair of dancefloor igniters against which newcomers Super Flu and Bukkador & Fishbeck more than hold their own. Broker/Dealer’s stunning new “Midnight” buries tribal drums deep inside bachelor-pad minimal, and Jesse Somfay offers up the best cello part this side of Apparat. Dreamy.

Daedelus Love to Make Music to

Daedelus, the postmodern Victorian gentleman, returns with more sonic splendor alongside a fresh entourage of cohorts. The curtains open to the snappy up-beats of “Fair Weather Friends” before the retro-mantic “Make It So,” featuring Michael Johnson, begins the eclecti-coaster ride of delight. N’fa (1200 Techniques) spits into the dark, sizzling “Twist the Kids” while Paperboy’s beat-locked lyrics navigate the filtered boomfest of “Touchtone.” Om’Mas Keith, Erika Rose, and Taz make their own contributions. The collaborative content is balanced by Daedelus’ kaleidoscopically edited instrumental tracks, ranging from warped techno fantasies (“I Took Two”) to acid-dipped showtunes like “Drummery Jam,” finishing with the disco extravagance of “If We Should,” recorded with his wife Laura Darling. Never a dull moment.

Free YR Radio Dates Announced

Two successful years at SXSW later, the Free YR Radio campaign is ready to hit the road.

Created by Toyota Yaris, and Urban Outfitters, the campaign is intended to raise awareness and support for indie radio, and has seen the likes of Simian Mobile Disco, Dizzee Rascal, Klaxons, and Sonic Youth roll through for the parties.

This summer and fall will see another slew of dates and artists co-hosting concerts along with local radio shows, not to mention sweepstakes to win a brand-new Yaris, and some fundraising action. A benefit compilation is also planned, featuring tracks by participating artists, and proceeds will go towards, yup, support for the stations. All shows are free of charge, but pick up an e-ticket for entry at the campaign’s site.

And here are the dates:

Tuesday, August 17
Where: Philadelphia, PA @ Urban Outfitters, 110 S. 36th St.
Music By: Dave P, The Secret Machines
Hosted By: WPRB

Sunday, September 7
Where: Omaha, NE @ Slowdown, 745 N 14th St.
Music By: Dan Deacon
Hosted By: KIWR

Wednesday, September 24
Where: Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Outfitters, 12 S. 400 W. St.
Music By: Tokyo Police Club
Hosted By: KRCL

Pictured: Tokyo Police Club.

Ghosts of Techno

The kind folks at Current TV recently laced us with this documentary that serves as a brief history Sam Valenti’s esteemed Ghostly International imprint. Between interviews with artists like Kate Simko, Todd Osborn, various staff members, and Valenti himself, the episode tracks the label’s evolution from a dance music imprint to one whose catalog encompasses everything from Matthew Dear’s minimal techno to Dabrye’s abstract beats, and experimental rock. Plus repeated showings of XLR8R 83, when Dear was on the cover.

Pit Er Pat Announces New Album

Pit Er Pat isn’t afraid to experiment. Over the course of three albums, an EP, and a 12″ all hyped between 2004 and 2007, the Chicago-based trio has constantly dabbled in numerous musical styles, disparate rhythms, and unusual melodies. 2008 finds them comfortably trekking the same course with the forthcoming release of High Time, on their longtime home at Thrill Jockey.

For the new album, which will drop October 21, the band holed up in its own studio with guitars, sequencers, and various beat-making machines, not to mention bells, chimes, bongos, kalimbas, gongs, and a boatload of other instruments that should make the release a pleasantly chaotic experience. We hope they release some form of a “making the album” Vimeo clip, because watching them record with all those sounds is probably as intriguing as the record itself will sound.

High Time
01 Anno IV:xx
02 Evacuation Days
03 Omen
04 My Darkers
05 Copper Pennies
06 The Cairo Shuffle
07 Creation Stepper
08 Trod-A-Long
09 The Good Morning Song

Photo by Melanie Schiff.

Momma’s Boy

P-Thugg and Dave 1 wander through some vaguely Al Hirschfeld territory for their latest video, which was done entirely in understated black and white animation. The song is off the duo’s Fancy Footwork release and features poppy synth and guitar hooks, vocoders, and the usual self-deprecating rhymes and jokes. One only need check the title to guess what this one’s about. For those that really like this one, head over to MTV and submit a review of the video.

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