The XLR8R Office Top Ten Album Picks, June 18

Gui Boratto “Hera (The Field Remix)” Kompat
Whether it’s nu-trance or techno or banging ambient, it’s amazing. When Sweden takes on Brazil, the result is a repetitive, hypnotic taste of what dance music needs to sound like–dark, monotonously banging, and sublime.

VariousFabric 35: Ewan PearsonFabric
Pearson has been producing records for the Rapture and Tracey Thorn, but it’s nice to see the dude back on the mixing end of things. Any one man that can infuse Jahcoozi’s dubstep with Snax’s Konrad Black remix and eventually fall into Liquid Liquid’s percussion paradise deserves scene points–and a gold star.

SpoonGa Ga Ga Ga GaMerge
With their latest LP, Britt Daniel and Company haven’t exactly pushed into new terrain. Sure, they get a little Motown here and Billy Joel there, but in the end, this album sounds as minimal, precise, and poppy as any Spoon album. Why ask for more?

VariousWe Love…IbizaMinistry of Sound
It looked like this comp was headed straight to the XLR8R trance graveyard (a.k.a. the big box of shit in Ken’s office). That was until we noticed that Riton and Serge Santiago did the mixing, and that the tracklist was full of tweek-house (Cajmere) and percussive new disco (Cosmo Vitelli). We still don’t love Ibiza, but we sure love this mix.

DatA Aerius Light EPEkler’O’Shock
If all electro-house is one giganticc homage (well, rip-off) to Daft Punk, then Paris’ DatA is up there with the best of them. With plenty of ’70s arena-rock organ arpeggios, filtered synths, and robot funk, Aerius Light isn’t just another group of bland “blog-house” tracks–it’s dancefloor devastation from start to finish.

Nusrat Fateh Ali KhanThe Final Studio RecordingsSony
We thought it was bizarre that Rick Rubin would produce the most famous Qawwali singer in the world, so we gave this collection a listen. Halfway into the second disc, the driving tabla rhythms and insane vocal improvisations had us feeling like Woody Harrelson after 72 hours in Goa. It was rad.

KramesDishwasher SafeSelf-Released
Baltimore club was made for sweaty summer nights, and out here in foggy San Francisco, we’re ready for a few of those. On this unmixed comp, Richmond, VA-based DJ Krames takes on everyone from Yello to Sir Mix-a-Lot to Cajmere before spitting out a barrage of often clever, but always pounding b-more remixes.

Various Ova Looven: 58:34 RemixesArtikal
A few weeks back, Managing Editor Ken Taylor found Ova Looven’s Gravity Has Expired and almost lost his shit with excitement. This week Associate Online Editor Fred Miketa discovered the 58:34 Remixes and found himself in glitch and synth heaven. Not unlike the members’ prior band, Antarctica, Ova Looven can make chorus-effected guitars and synths sound hella sweet.

BlacklistS/T Self-Released
Speaking of Antarctica, ex-drummer Glenn Maryansky and XLR8R videogames editor Ryan Rayhill’s new band Blacklist is equally killer. These dudes sound like Sisters of Mercy, but with the guy from The Psychedelic Furs singing alongside Peter Murphy. Is it a typical XLR8R pick? Not really. But coldwave this gnarly deserves its own magazine.

Morgan PackardAirships Fill the SkyAnticipate
Ezekiel Honig’s Anticipate imprint is going big with Morgan Packard. For his solo debut, Packard fuses deep techno kicks with the buzzing of a plethora of digitized instruments (saxophone, accordion, cello), and beeps his way through the least-boring ambient music to come across this office in a hot minute.

Daily Download: Antony B “Just Can’t Live That Way”

Anthony B is a veteran producer, but none of his 12 previous albums sound as clean as his latest, Higher Meditation. Produced by Maximum Sound’s Frenchie, “Just Can’t Live That Way” is the live-instrumentation gateway into a revolutionary and righteous lifestyle. With shining guitars and his passionately gruff voice, Anthony B has just made the Greensleeves catalog that much more esteemed. 

Download this song as an MP3, or preview a week’s worth of tracks at the XLR8R Podcast. Subscribe using iTunes, or with an RSS reader of your choice.

The Tape Vs. RQM Public Transport

RQM has soul. The sweet smile of the longtime Brooklyn (now Berlin) MC reflects in his flows, but you can also hear heartache in his distinctive voice. Public Transport is RQM at his most introspective, written as a mixtape for suicidal lovers, traversing many topics that intersect with that mysterious emotion. Producer Robert Koch of Jahcoozi creates a perfectly complimentary soundtrack, guitars and beats glitched-out but always in consort with both RQM’s flows and the vocals of the women who serve as his Greek chorus. Both the newly in love and the jilted lover will find something here, and the album wears its heart on its sleeve, emotionally ragged and touchingly sweet at the same time.

Avey Tare and Kria Brekkan Pullhair Rubeye

A bad idea is a bad idea-even when it’s borne of the best intentions. So when indie super-couple Avey Tare and Kria Brekkan (of Animal Collective and Múm, respectively) decided to reverse every track on their already-obtuse debut Pullhair Rubeye, the world cringed. Still, it’s a shame many critics have been too caught up in finger-pointing and idea-damning to notice that, forwards or backwards, the textures and melodies of this album tend towards transcendent. So when the “beat” unfurls clumsily underneath Brekkan’s vocal trapeze act on “Sis Around the Sandmill,” try not to correct it mentally (or manually, as some idle hands already have). Instead, stop to marvel at the occasional beauty of a stupid, stupid decision.

Liars “It Fit When I Was a Kid (Crystal Castles Remix)”

Liars have been blowing minds for a hot minute now, and on the band’s newest self-titled rock record chucks all the noisy art-school stuff out the window. In honor of the band’s new record, our friends at Mute hooked us up with this insane Crystal Castles remix for your downloading pleasure.

Liars – It Fit When I was a Kid (Crystal Castles Remix)

Brother Reade Rap Music

Declaring “I know you want to live in the past/But right here/This is where you’re at/So let’s go,” fluid MC Jimmy Jamz sets the tone for the fresh, rough-around-the-edges debut of this L.A. hip-hop duo. With a loose approach and adolescent-like swagger, the pair possesses back-and-forth chemistry and unforced lyrical ability, with Jamz casually commanding the mic. Producer DJ Bobby Evans’ assured, lo-fi production slinks by, the booming beats often setting up a one-two shuffle recalling a grittier Nicolay fiddling with budget-bin synths. Back-to-back jams “The Marcie Song” and “Work Ain’t for Players” bubble up with gooey, elastic melodies, while “Everywhere I Go” slowly grinds.

The Week In Music, June 15

What ever happened to Gorillaz cohort Jamie Hewlett? Well, he’s currently working with sex toy company Jimmy Jane on producing a series of luxury vibrators called the “Ultimate Members” collection, based on the Gorillaz characters. If you’ve ever really, really liked the band, prices start at $275. The whole, erm, package, is just under two grand.

Rumor has it, Matthew Dear (above) is actually a cleverly engineered techno robot, which might explain why he even puts Madlib to shame in terms of being prolific. If touring non-stop as Audion isn’t enough, then surely starting a band would be enough. Not for him. Mid-July will see the release of a new album, 2007, under his False moniker. Where Audion explores the spirit of old school Detroit, False is a taut, futuristic guise, enamored with both subtlety and texture.

Gay-rights activist Peter Tatchell is working to promote tolerance within the reggae community. He wants people of all creeds and colors to feel welcome at music events, and free from fear of violence. Beenie Man and Sizzla are among the artists who have signed the accord brought to them by Tatchell, but as of yet several others have not. That list includes all the usual suspects–Elephant Man, TOK, Bounty Killa, Vybz Kartel, and Buju Banton. Here’s hoping.

According to our friends at Pitchfork, Service’s member Tristan Bechet got butt-ass naked during the duo’s last song while opening for The Faint in Omaha, Nebraska. As the city is God’s country, an off-duty po-po jumped on stage, swooped up Bechet, and before you know it, there were a grip of men in blue, covering up the wild man’ s privates. Bechet was released early this morning on $450 bail. Will A Touch of Class Recordings foot the bill or is that the sort of thing a band must pay for itself?

Milanese: Birmingham Bass

Birmingham, UK’s reputation as a bombed-out, concrete wasteland is slowly changing, but you’d never know that listening to the music of Steve Milanese. After leaving London in favor of the birthplace of Judas Priest, Godflesh, and Duran Duran over three years ago, Milanese and his friends found themselves desperate and miserable. “I wrote a lot of angry music here ‘cos I was broke,” he says. “And when I had to finally get a job it really sucked. But I think I had to go through all that to write Extend.”

No one knew quite what to think of Extend, released on Planet Mu in 2006. Sitting on the fringes of countless post ‘ardcore spin-off genres, the tracks were both physical and mental assaults–dead pressure bass slammed through multiple layers of fractured breaks and grit. Milanese calls the template “digital grimecore.” Pretty fucking Nathan Barley, but the title is apt–the music recalls both grime and dubstep in tempo and structure, but the end result is far too militant to fit into the square pegs of either scene’s rank and file.

Luckily, tastemakers like BBC DJ Mary Anne Hobbs and Miss Kittin began championing Milanese tracks while everyone else was scratching their heads. Hobbs went so far as to match Milanese (who also records as Mr. Ion and Billy Hologram) up with grime crew Virus Syndicate for the collaboration “Dead Man Walking,” a track later featured on Hobbs’ Warrior Dubz compilation. All this new exposure made earlier Milanese output (like 2004’s brilliant 1-Up EP) a hot commodity, and Birmingham legend Justin Broadrick (Godflesh, Techno Animal, Jesu) even began referencing the man as spiritual heir to the Techno Animal aesthetic.

As with the music of Techno Animal, layering is a huge part of the Milanese sound. “All the drums are compressed together with the rest of the track [so] everything reacts to everything else; drums forcing down other sounds… all fighting to get out,” Milanese explains of his technique. “[It’s] lots of plug-ins, lots of layers of sound. Each snare or bass drum is built up from several samples. A bass drum might have one kick for the sub, another for the pop, and one for grit.

Milanese’s attention to detail might sound like some heavy-metal-transposed-to-dance-music-virtuoso shit, but the man insists otherwise. “I got to this point from a different path: the jungle/techno pirates in London when I was a teenager, and studying sonic arts in school. [But] I was into a lot of grunge and guitar stuff, [and I] still am–like The Faith Healers and Daisy Chainsaw. Not Sabbath-type stuff so much.”

Milanese may not be a metal dude in grime’s clothing, but not everyone can make beats this gigantic. “I just did a show in Belgium with Vex’d and Mary Anne Hobbs [and] the gig was mad” says Milanese. “The bass on the stage was making my vision shakey. I couldn’t even see what I was playing!”

Apple Hosts the Midnight Mix In-Store Series

After hosting a stellar live in-store with Blonde Redhead, Apple continues dabbling in the events world with several renowned DJs crashing its Fifth Avenue store in Manhattan for the Midnight Mix series. Mark Ronson kicked things off on June 1, and tonight sees an appearance by Wave Music founder and dance legend François K.

The Midnight Mix series features a different act behind the decks on select Friday nights throughout the summer and into the fall, allowing potentially drunken maniacs and compulsive technology shoppers access to the store from 12 to 2 a.m. The series might just be an excuse to buy some extra RAM during partytime.

The Apple Store is located at 767 5th Avenue in Manhattan.

Midnight Mix Dates
Friday, June 15, 2007
François K

Friday, July 13, 2007
Diplo

Friday, August 3, 2007
T&T (Tim Sweeney and Tim Goldsworthy)

Friday, September 21, 2007
Spank Rock

François K plays the Apple Store tonight.

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