XLR8R Seeks Web Marketing Intern

XLR8R.com is seeking an online marketing intern who knows the difference between Junior Boys and Boys Noize, techno and electro, lazer bass and drum & bass to start immediately in our San Francisco office.

Duties include:
-Assisting in the marketing of XLR8R.com by maintaining a relationship with and sending content updates to websites, publications, and blogs

-Assisting with the management of XLR8R.com’s MySpace and Facebook accounts

-Maintaining and updating the XLR8R.com PR database

Internship is unpaid, and requires a commitment of 8-10 hours per week for 4-6 months. Eligible applicants will have excellent communication skills, knowledge of Microsoft Office, and be email and internet savvy. Knowledge of Adobe Creative Suite and HTML a plus.

To apply, please send your resume/cover letter to [email protected]. No phone calls please.

M83 To Tour U.S. Again

Fresh off a sold-out tour from May and June, Anthony Gonzalez is set to return to the U.S. for another round of dates in support of his latest M83 release, Saturdays = Youth. The Frenchman who makes the prettiest shoegaze this side of Ulrich Schnauss dropped the album this past April, and has been busy touring every since. Catch him this fall in one of these cities:

11/13 Washington, DC: Back Cat
11/14 New York, NY: Webster Hall
11/15 Philadelphia, PA: Starlite Ballroom
11/16 Northampton, MA: Pearl Street Nightclub
11/18 Boston, MA: Middle East Downstairs
11/19 Montreal, QC: Studio Juste Pour Rire
11/20 Toronto, ON: Opera House
11/21 Chicago, IL: Bottom Lounge
11/22 Minneapolis, MN: Triple Rock Social Club
11/25 Seattle, WA: Neumo’s
11/26 Vancouver, BC: Richards on Richards
11/27 Portland, OR: Doug Fir Lounge
11/28 San Francisco, CA: The Fillmore
11/29 Los Angeles, CA: Henry Fonda Theater

Deerhoof Releases Single as Sheet Music

Forget remix contests. This week’s award for most creative promotion of an album goes to the members of Deerhoof, who are releasing the first single off the forthcoming Offend Maggie as… sheet music.

Fans are asked to download the score to “Fresh Born,” record their own version of the song, then upload it to their webpage or blog and post the link on the band’s website. No one’s promising any prizes, but you can listen to other people’s tracks and who doesn’t want a hand in helping a band craft and shape its sound? Offend Maggie, meanwhile, will hit stores on October 6 in the U.K. October 7 in the U.S.

Behold, the aforementioned sheet music:

Download a pdf of the score here and get recording.

Photo of Deerhoof by Daisuke Shimote.

Pon Di Wire: Bounty Killer, Busy Signal

The Alliance Crew’s “Warlord,” a.k.a. Rodney Pryce or DJ Bounty Killer, was arrested for profanity after his set at Sumfest in Montego Bay, Jamaica last weekend. In recent years, Jamaican authorities have come down hard on “indecent language,” which, apparently in Bounty’s case, was sparked by a negative crowd reaction to his performance on July 19.

Rapid-fire lyricist Reanno Gordon, better known as Busy Signal (pictured above), has had chart-topping dancehall singles throughout 2007-08. Hip-hop-tinged tunes like “Jail”, “These Are The Days”, “Unknown Number,” and “Wine Pon Di Edge” earned the DJ both critical and commercial success, which should be amplified by his sophomore album Loaded, in stores September 9. The aforementioned hits are all included as well as new tracks “People So Evil” and “Curfew.”

One of Jamaica’s most important ska and rocksteady-era singers, Roy Shirley, passed away last week. Known as the “High Priest,” Ainsworth Roy Rushton Shirley was born in 1944, recorded for Leslie Kong in the mid-60s, and founded vocal trio the Uniques with Slim Smith and Franklyn White. Shirley moved to London, where he owned a record shop in Dalston while continuing to record and tour. His last appearances were in June 2008 at the Sierra Nevada World Music Festival.

The Jamaica Music Hall of Fame has announced its first 12 inductees. Among the greats recognized by the Hall were Skatalites Don Drummond, Roland Alphonso, and Jah Jerry, plus Mystic Revelation of Rastafari’s Count Ossie, Derrick Morgan, and record producers Clement “Sir Coxsone” Dodd of Studio One and Arthur “Duke” Reid.

View clips from the excellent two-hour reggae music documentary, Reggae: The Story of Jamaican Music at video sharing site Daily Motion.

A hard-hitting new documentary titled Jamaica Nuff Problems takes on the sticky issue of bauxite mining in Jamaica’s rural parishes. Although the commodity, which is a primary component in aluminum production, is vital to the island’s economy, the environmental and health costs from mining are high. The documentary explores the human and environmental toll and highlights the need for better corporate stewardship.

Also on the “green” consciousness tip–The Reggae Festival for Climate Protection is an all-day environmental awareness reggae concert taking place July 26 in Mohawk, NY. Performers include “Police In Helicopter” singer John Holt, Ed Robinson of John Brown’s Body, Dave Hillyard & the Rocksteady 7, Trumystic, and more.

Livity vegetarian restaurant in Jamaica will present an “earthdate” concert honoring Ethiopia’s Haile Selassie, with proceeds benefiting a local school. The event recognizes Selassie’s 116th birthday and is slated to include music by Tarrus Riley, Queen Ifrica, Etana, Bushman, Ken Boothe, Jimmy Riley, Sugar Minott, Lutan Fyah, Tony Rebel, Mikey General, and Empress–a tremendous lineup!

Reggae Vibes Revive Top Ten From July 1978
1. Tapper Zukie “She Want A Phensic” (Frontline)
2. Enos McLeod “By The Look” (Hawkeye)
3. Willie Lindo “Midnight (Black Wax)
4. Gregory Isaacs “John Public” (Hawkeye)
5. Linval Thompson “I Love Marijuana” (Attack)
6. Janet Kay “I Do Love You” (D-Roy)
7. The Chantells “Waiting In The Park” (Phase One)
8. Sheila Hylton “Don’t Ask My Neighbour” (Island)
9. The Royals “My Sweat Turns To Blood” (Ballistic)
10. Dr. Alimantado “Conscious Man” (GG)

Fight Bite “Widow’s Peak”

This track catches the ear immediately with its combination of staccato synths, breathy vocals, and ghostly reverb that all appear within the first thirty seconds of the song, and it’s a good introduction to what the listener is in for with Fight Bite. The Denton, TX-based band–formed only late last year–combine founding member Leanne Macomber’s pension for sad love ballads with the songwriting capabilities of Jeff Louis. The latter has a knack for weaving melancholy harmonies around and multi-instrumental layers around Macomber’s original work, adding a keyboard strain here, a xylophone there, and a few drum machines as well. Minor chords reign supreme here, and if you’re not in tears by the end of this track, you must truly be dead inside.

Fight Bite – Widow’s Peak

Labels We Love 2008: Part 1

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 take an in-depth look at Feedelity’s avant-pop experimentalist, Dominique Leone. Vivian Host and Ken Taylor

View more photos here.

Feedelity / Strømland
Lindstrøm spreads his wings from Norway to San Francisco.

Founder: Hans-Peter Lindstrøm (with Joakim Haugland for Strømland)
Location: Oslo, Norway
Best-known artists: Lindstrøm, Six Cups of Rebel, Plague the Kid
Funny story: [Our best known artists are] all the same person!
Favorite label: Smalltown Supersound
Happy-hour spot: Tim Wendelboe Coffebar in Grunersgate. Simply the best coffee in Scandinavia!
Label mascot: Jesus Christ in bright neon colors.
Biggest disaster: There haven’t been any… yet.
Upcoming: The new Lindstrøm album comes out this month, and the debut album by Christabelle might see the light of day in late 2008.

~scape
Pole’s unstoppable dub-tech team.

Founders: Stefan “Pole” Betke and Barbara Preisinger
Location: Kreuzberg and Prenzlauer Berg, Berlin, Germany
Best-known artists: Pole, Deadbeat, Jan Jelinek
Funny story: Pole was supposed to play a late-night show at a big festival. He arrived shortly before his set and the bouncer wouldn’t let him in, saying that there were at least three or four Poles already in, and the real Pole would now have to buy the day ticket, which was 50 pounds.
Favorite label: There are so many other labels that we love and respect.
Happy-hour spot: Club der Visionaere. It’s very nice to sit on the water having a cool drink and meeting people.
Label mascot: Our little Hawaiian palm tree.
Biggest disaster: On the Staedtizism 4 compilation, one of our artists referred to a track by Fatback Band as a tribute and we got sued by the publisher. We had to call the whole release back shortly after street date and lost a lot of money–though Staedtizism 4 was a great record.
Upcoming: Reissues of Pole’s 1, 2, 3 trilogy, a few 12”s by Pole, and a new Round Black Ghosts compilation in late fall.

Innervisions
Lush house and future funk from Sonar Kollektiv’s lovechild.

Founders: Dixon, Matthias Bombach, and Frank and Kristian from Âme
Location: Friedrichstrasse, Berlin, Germany
Best-known artists: Henrik Schwarz, Château Flight, Tokyo Black Star
Funny story: A certain DJ keeps on losing his mobile phone all over this planet and spends hours getting people to send it back to him. Well, actually it is Matthias who has to do this for him… It’s a neverending story and far from being funny anymore. Fact!
Favorite label: All the labels that really care about the music, take risks, and don’t release things that they don’t dig.
Happy-hour spot: The little Italian sandwich and coffeeshop across the street. Heavily supported!
Label mascot: Niko Bellic and Darth Vader!
Biggest disaster: We manufactured a special package for our Muting the Noise CD. It’s a high-quality, debossed linen book with 60 pages that contain nothing at all. We muted all the noise! In addition, we successfully managed to hide the CD and make it as hard as possible for people to get out. You should see the faces of the people who open that package!
Upcoming: New music from Âme (with Henrik Schwarz & Dixon) and Laurent Garnier, and a Toyko Black Star album.

4Lux
Dutch downtempo fiends top our list for future jazz grooves.

Founder: Gerd
Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Best-known artists: Gerd, Amplified Orchestra, Delgui
Funny story: Syrafin had to do a remix. It was 2 a.m. and the remix would be picked up by courier at 9. He had no inspiration, so he wanted to smoke a spliff–he had loads of weed but no papers. Desperate, he took his only 50 Euro bill from his wallet and rolled a spliff with it. What followed was his most expensive, and dopest, remix ever: “The Game is Mine (feat. JTodd)”
Favorite label: Too many to mention.
Happy-hour spot: Bootleg Café at the Mauritsweg in the center of Rotterdam. A place where the cocktails are delicious and the ladies are fly.
Label mascot: Our neighbor’s cat, Fenna, who naps on our studio couch while we are in a recording session. Lazy creature!
Biggest disaster: Syrafin and I were traveling to a show in Belgium. While queueing outside of the train station’s bank, there was a huge explosion. Somebody had bombed the bank’s wall. Police drew their guns and an immense fire fight followed. We ducked on the floor while bullets flew around our ears. The robber got out of the bank and passed us before he was shot in the knee. There was money still floating in the air. Before we knew it, we were on the train counting our Euros. We bought ourselves two Mac Powerbooks with the loot, compensation for our tragic adventure.
Upcoming: Aqeel’s “Wake Up” (feat. Shafiq Husayn of Sa-Ra), the 4lux Sub Soul Sampler, and [d]’s The Greatest Never featuring Elzhi of Slum Village, Guilty Simpson, Muhsinah, and Buff-1.

Hyperdub
Low-end theories from the best in dubstep and future hip-hop.

Founder: Kode9
Location: Camberwell, South London, U.K.
Best-known artists: Burial, Kode9, The Bug
Funny story: Burial made a couple of albums. She didn’t like having her picture taken. Everyone wet their pants.
Favorite label: I’m more interested in following specific artists, but I do seem to have a lot of amazing music from Terror Danjah’s Aftershock label.
Happy-hour spot: We don’t have an office. We’re never happy. We don’t drink. We don’t have spots.
Label mascot: The shower gets a lot of love.
Biggest disaster: Our operation is so smooth, you can hear it purr.
Upcoming releases: A King Midas album with remixes by Flying Lotus and Dabrye, twelves from LV, Samiyam, and Zomby, and new Kode9 & Spaceape and Burial albums lurking on the horizon.

Featured Artist:Dominique Leone

Dominique Leone, 34, is an inspiration to any unsigned artist at home twiddling with a four-track. Two years ago, the San Francisco-based music scribe (and lifelong musician) cold-called Hans-Peter Lindstrøm with the hopes the space-disco pioneer might dig his tunes. “I just really liked the singles that he was putting out at the time. So I wrote him and said, ‘I would really love if you would listen to my stuff and see if you’d be interested in doing a remix of any of it,” recalls Leone. “To my great surprise and good fortune he not only wanted to remix it, he wanted to release it.” The resulting album, Dominique Leone, came out in May on Strømland, the brand-new imprint from Lindstrøm and Smalltown Supersound’s Joakim Haugland.

Leone’s sound doesn’t exactly mirror the orbital bounce of his European pals–it’s a much more organic strand of collage pop that references Abba, Brian Wilson, prog-rock luminaries Magma, and noise bands like Japan’s Ruins. “I just kind of write what I write–I’m not really thinking I want to make a prog song, per se… but you can’t really escape where you come from, I guess,” he muses.

Leone’s a self-described “analytical” dude (“[That’s] probably why I wrote for as long as I did,” he says), and his music sounds like the product of someone who’s spent lots of time thinking critically about music. On kaleidoscopic tracks like “Duyen” and “Claire,” he sings atop swirling layers of organ and found sounds that recall Animal Collective’s twisted folk. These tracks predate Leone using a computer for production, but the 34-year-old producer recently netted himself a laptop and is burning through tracks. “Hopefully I can follow [this album] up with another one with newer stuff [soon],” he says. Joe Colly

Various And Votel’s Brazilika

Andy Votel is among the world’s most astute and versatile crate-diggers; he never fails to excavate a cornucopia of unjustly neglected treasures. Brazilika cherry-picks 26 songs from the Som Livre and RGE imprints, offering a revelatory highlight reel of equatorial freak rock. Votel rescues from obscurity (save for Os Mutantes and Azymuth) several groups the equal of their more fêted European counterparts. Following in Tropicalia’s wake, this sound is more neuron-blown, rhythmically explosive, and fuzz-toned than that movement’s figureheads. Artists like Os Brazöes, Trio Soneca, and Novos Baianos imbue proggy psych rock and lysergic pop with a phenomenal life force and quicksilver inventiveness that still sounds vital.

Nat Kendall Presents: Songbird Sing “All I Got”

Broken-hearted love songs can’t be pinned into a single genre, a fact that Paige Rasmussen and Nat Kendall are bound and determined to prove under their Songbird Sing alias. Pulling from hip-hop, R&B, soul, and folk, and using a blend of steel-stringed guitars, drum machines, and acoustic instruments, the S.F.-based duo waxes poetic about the highs and hells of love, and delivers a slow, sultry track in the process.

Nat Kendall Presents Songbird Sing – All I Got

Syclops I’ve Got My Eye on You

A riddle wrapped in an enigma, studded by motorik percussion and furled by kinked synths, this furtive project associated with Sheffield-based Maurice Fulton plays out like Claymation characters and silicon cowbells jamming to Herbie Hancock’s Future Shock with Arthur Baker at the boards. Whether recorded by a press-shy Finnish trio, or actually the work of the notoriously press-shy Fulton (choose which version of the ambiguous story you find most intriguing), this album of arpeggiated electro, boogie-down acid, and brooding 8-bit jazz-funk is both knotty and naughty, featuring Syclops’ previous a-sides and additional syncopated analog jams for widescreen beardos and cloistered ’70s sequencer weirdoes.

Page 2892 of 3781
1 … 2,890 2,891 2,892 2,893 2,894 … 3,781