Vaagner Label to Reissue Rare Tape from Acronym and Korridor

Berlin’s Vaagner label will reissue a rare two-track tape from Acronym w. Korridor in November, titled Untitled. 

Acronym and Korridor have made names for themselves via meticulously molded ambient techno releases with emotional sound design. The latter, real name Fabian Kempe, released his debut album via Northern Electronics earlier the year; the former co-founded the label and has appeared on it several times.  

Some time ago, the pair teamed up on an untitled tape, self-released and limited to just 20 copies. Those who have stumbled across tape rips have noticed the tape’s explorative nature: the entire A-side is conceived of a 15-minute track that swerves through melancholic ambient pads juxtaposed against industrial, drone, and noise elements. The B-side features a moving ambient techno piece more reminiscent of some of the duo’s solo work, before slowly fading into a brooding ambient soundscape. 

Vaagner aims to track down rare and illusive cassette releases and work with the artists behind the music to have it remastered and released on vinyl, making the music available to a new audience that may not normally have come into contact with the cassette release. The reissues feature full cover artwork, a printed insert, and a download code—which often marks the first proper digital edition for the release. The label launched earlier this year with a double-vinyl version of an OAKE live recording, Live In Marseille, and returned with some material from UK producer Zen Zsigo (a.k.a Cremation Lily). 

For this particular reissue, the label worked closely with Acronym and Korridor, who decided to edit the B-side of the release, omitting a portion of the final track and replacing it via the inclusion of an unreleased track that the duo conceived during the same time period. 

The vinyl edition is limited to 300 copies. 

Tracklisting: 

A1. Untitled

B1. Untitled

B2. Sscending

Untitled EP will arrive towards the end of November/early December. 

James Holden Teams Up with Moroccan Musician Maalem Houssam Guinia on Live EP

James Holden has released a collaborative EP with Maalem Houssam Guinia via Border Community. 

The EP pairs Holden’s modular synth work with a style of Moroccan ceremonial music called Gnawa, performed by Maalem Houssam Guinia, son of the late Gnawa legend Maalem Mahmoud Guinia. While Holden busies himself with an array of synthesizers and electronics, Guinia and his band cycle through a trio of call-and-response grooves. “The resulting record is a thrillingly energetic combination of the analog and the digital,” the label explains. 

Holden originally recorded with the older Guinia in Marrakech in 2014, which later became the Marhaba EP that Eglo and Border Community put out in 2015, and then when Holden played together with Houssam and his band, it turned out that Houssam had upheld the family tradition well. 

The new music was recorded almost exactly two years ago when Maalem Houssam Gania was in London with his band to play a concert with Holden for the Barbican Centre at LSO St Luke’s. The day before the event, they went to Holden’s studio to rehearse and record, and recorded three versions. 

“My favorite is the version of “Pass Through The Fire'”(from the Animal Spirits LP) which was inspired by Gnawa in the first place, so to have Houssam spot its similarity to “Bouri Bouri Manadabo” and weave the two together felt really special, something coming full circle,” Holden explains. “And Houssam, though thrust into the spotlight at a young age by the passing of his father, is a phenomenal player—the solidity of his rhythm puts him up there with the best. I feel lucky to get to play with this band, I hope you all enjoy it.” 

Tracklisting

01. Pass Through The Fire + Bouri Bouri Manandabo 

02. Youmala 

03. Baba Hamouda

Three Live Takes EP is out now. 

Premiere: Hear Iron Curtis’ Sophomore Album in Full

Later this week, Johannes Paluka will release his sophomore album as Iron Curtis.

Under the Iron Curtis moniker, Paluka has released a set of high-quality outings on labels such as Uncanny Valley, Morris / Audio, Mule Electronic, Hudd Traxx, and Midnight Shift Recordings, while also releasing as Achterbahn D’Amour alongside Jool (a.k.a. Edit Piafra), Moon with Johannes Albert, and SMPL with Liam Schewski (a.k.a. Leaves). Since launching the Iron Curtis moniker in 2009, he has pushed a melodically rich deep house sound full of chunky low-slung grooves and ethereal atmospheres, and his debut album is his most accomplished and complete statement yet, featuring 12 warm, dream-like cuts. From the opening cut’s alien-like sound design to the mesmerizing grooves of “Werc Werc Werc” and the muted rhythms and eerie atmospheres of closing cut, “Mt. Gordon,” Upstream Colour is a work of beauty that is full of emotional depth and introspective dancefloor gems.

Ahead of the release on September 28, you can pre-order the album here, with a full stream available via the player below.

Veronica Maximova Next on VOITAX

Veronica Maximova will release her debut album on VOITAX, titled Computerlove.

Maximova is a performing artist, producer, and composer, who left Moscow for Ghent, Belgium at an early age. She’s studied music for “as long as she can remember,” but it was only after moving to Berlin in 2014 that she focused her energy on writing and releasing music. Earlier this year, she self-released her first EP, Mirror Me, on digital formats, followed by the synth-wave EP New World Being, made in collaboration with her band project, Sönder.

We’re told that music is her way of expressing the discomfort of our society. Both sonically and conceptually, contrast is a primary theme to Maximova’s music; she aims to “strike a balance between light and dark, optimism and pessimism, human and machine, revolution and peace.” Her sound often layers dreamy vocals and obscure spoken word upon a backdrop of synthetic and acoustic sounds, “painting vivid memoirs of her childhood in Moscow,” the label explains. 

Computerlove is out on November 19 on Berlin electronic label VOITAX.

Goeran Meyer “Only Voices”

Earlier this month, fledging label MYR released its 10th release, a new EP from label head Goeran Meyer.

Titled Closed Circle, the EP, which features two deep dancefloor cuts dripping in style, represents the fifth release from MYR this year, following outings from Juli Lee, Oldrich Sic Jnr., Fell Reis, and a various artist EP featuring cuts from Discase, Kaiser Waldon, Fallen, and the label head himself. Opening the EP, “Face Away” is an exercise in deep, emotive techno, while “Only Voices” goes down a more trippy route, employing textural sound design and searing synth lines to great affect.

Closed Circle can be grabbed here, with “Only Voices” available via WeTransfer below.

Due to temporary issues regarding the GDPR, EU readers can download the track here.

dBridge Details Sophomore Solo Album, ‘A Love I Can’t Explain’

dBridge will release his second solo album next month, titled A Love I Can’t Explain. 

The English drum & bass artist, real name Darren White, last released a solo album 10 years ago with The Gemini Principle. Since then, he’s released collaborations and projects as part of the Autonomic Movement, Module Eight, and Heart Drive. 

We’re told that A Love I Can’t Explain is “the sound of dBridge making music for himself.” As a man, he finds himself in a new phase of his life—in love, married, and a father that is “no longer concerned with previous constraints and this has led to a new freedom in creation.”

Tracklisting

01. Gen 19

02. Broadcast Pain

03. Depersonalised

04. Syncofated

05. Monitored Meanings

06. They Loved ft They Live & Poison Arrow

07. Violent Circuit Autonomy ft Lewis James

08. Your Bit Crushed Heart

09. Nachtlus

10. Lost In A Memory

11. Filtered Scenes

12. Wij Zijn ft Kid Drama

13. UR A Star (Reprise) ft Alia Fresco

A Love I Can’t Explain will land on October 20 exclusively via Exit Records, with clips streaming below. 

Sublee Debuts on Meander with ‘Irealis’ EP

Sublee has dropped a new EP on DeWalta’s Meander imprint, titled Irealis.

The Bucharest-based producer, real name Stefan Nicu, has previously appeared on Baumbaum Label and Raresh’s Metereze, to name a few. This is his Meander debut. 

We’re told that leading track “Irealis” “plays tender soundscapes with beautiful melodies reminiscent to John Beltran’s work on Peacefrog from the golden 90s”; “Continuum,” meanwhile “goes into a deep Rhadoo-esque rhythmic mind-space,” while “Electica” takes you “on a long, intelligent dancefloor journey to other dimensions.”

Meander aims to “release carefully selected deep techno and adventurous house music on vinyl.” 

Tracklisting:

A: Electica 

B1: Continuum 

B2: Irealis

 Irealis is available now, with clips streaming below. 

Self Self “Conduit”

Following on from their debut release, UK-based DJ-production duo Self Self will return with a new EP, titled Fish Boy. We’re told to expect “three playful ideas” but something “a little bit different.” The EP will land on Self Self Records. 

In support of the release, you can download “Conduit” below, a bonus cut and great tool for warm-up sets—or here for EU readers due to temporary GDPR restrictions. 

Antigone Details Album Debut via Token

Antigone will release his debut album, Rising, in November. 

The French artist, real name Antonin Jeanson, has appeared on Token several times previously, most recently with last year’s Ostinato. He’s also released on Indigo Aera, Construct Re-Form, Concrete Music, and Dement3d. 

We’re told that Rising is an album “that exerts itself to stimulate the mind and the body simultaneously. As such, it’s a record that gives the dramatic illusion of having a physical pulse.” It sees Jeanson “oscillate between great ambient introspections carried by spacey synths and deconstructed rhythms, and elegant techno epics that are suitable for listening pleasure as much as for the pure abandonment of reality.” 

Tracklisting

01. Rising

02. Sands Of Time

03. Perchance To Dream

04. Lost And Found

05. Out There

06. Duality Of Mind

07. Infinite Limit

08. It Follows

09. Dume

10. Irreversible

11. Love Field

Rising LP will arrive on November 16, with “Dume” streaming in full via the player below. 

Lou Phelps Drops Sophomore Album, ‘002 / LOVE ME’

Montreal rapper Lou Phelps has shared his sophomore album, 002 / LOVE ME, out now via Last Gang Records. 

Lou Phelps is one of Canada’s foremost purveyors of club-rap cuts. He started making music in 2011 with his older brother KAYTRANADA, forming a future-rap group called The Celestics. Using the moniker Louie P, Phelps developed a reputation for creating tasteful and danceable electro-rap, releasing Supreme Laziness in 2014 and curating Cause I Wanna, an 80-minute DJ mix that featured tracks from DJ Rashad, RP Boo, and Kyle Hall. In 2017, Phelps released 001: Experiments, his debut project which racked up over one million plays on SoundCloud and featured appearances from Bishop Nehru, Innanet James, and KALLITECHNICS. 

This second album is “me telling relatable love stories that I have lived/Imagined/fantasized about, and it contains the good and bad and the ugly of a relationship,” Phelps says. It sees KAYTRANADA as executive producer, with guest spots from BADBADNOTGOOD, JAHKOY, Planet Giza, Pony, and Karriem Riggins. 

Anticipation for the record grew as Pheps dropped one track after the other, his latest being “Squeeze,” featuring fellow Canadian R&B singer JAHKOY, with production by ROMderful of Soulection. “This track was about a girl I was seeing at the time. The relationship turned out to be horrible but it’s all good,” Phelps says of the track concept. “Jahkoy has an amazing voice and a lot of flavor. I’m honestly glad he killed the joint like he did.” 

Previously, Phelps shared visuals for “Miss Phatty,” directed by longtime collaborator Christian Boakye-Agyeman. The song features production by BADBADNOTGOOD. 

“Come Inside,” available below, is the album’s first single that has been on heavy rotation since its drop in February, featuring Toronto rapper, Jazz Cartier, and frenetic cut, Want To (For The Youth). 

For more information on Phelps, read our feature here.

Tracklisting

01. Fun And Games

02. Come Inside (feat. Jazz Cartier) [Kaytranada Edit]

03. Squeeze (feat. JAHKOY)

04. 2 Seater (feat. Planet Giza)

05. Miss Phatty

06. Tasty (feat. Pony)

07. August Rain (The Reflexion Interlude)

08. Higher

09. GO! 

10. Want To (For The Youth)

002 / LOVE ME is available now via Last Gang Records.

  

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