The XLR8R Office Top Ten Album Picks, March 5

Young Galaxy S/T Arts & Crafts
Young Galaxy is a Canadian force to be reckoned with. Like their retro-pop peers The Warlocks and El Perro Del Mar, Stephen Ramsay and Catherine McCandless create lo-fi ethereal tracks that have us psyched.

VariousTelefon Tel Aviv: Remixes CompiledHefty
New Orleans’ Telefon Tel Aviv has given us seven years’ worth of production on this eclectic palate of remixes. This collection of melodic, glitch-heavy reworks include tracks ranging from Nine Inch Nails to Apparat to American Analog Set. Like the saddest sci-fi movie ever, Remixes Compiled will rain all over you.

Novak/Drouin AuditoriumDragon’s Eye
Auditorium is an ambitious look into the realm of drone. Jamie Drouin and Yann Novak are two sound artists hell-bent on exploring space through this epic 48-minute track of reverb-heavy, fuzzed-out sonic destruction.

Venetian SnaresPink + GreenSublight
Aaron Funk is back with another EP of ravey, blast-beat, breakcore blasphemy. We’re not entirely sure, but this hardcore veteran may have just released his most brutal endeavor yet. With a track entitled “Sporto Fucking Sellout Cocksuckerface,” you know that homeboy is on one.

VariousFabriclive.33: Spank RockFabric
B-more club revivalists Spank Rock show that they know a thing or two about electro music on their uber-mash-up mix for Fabric. Featuring chopped-up and reworked hits from acts like Yello, Rick Ross, Yes, and Daft Punk, the newest installment of Fabriclive is hotter than ever.

The Chinese StarsListen to Your Left BrainThree.One.
Forged from the ashes of epileptic rockers Arab on Radar, The Chinese Stars may be one the dirtiest dance-punk bands around. Complete with a slew of drug references and the grittiest synth sounds around, Listen to Your Left Brain is destined to be the soundtrack to very, very late nights.

Gudrun GutI Put A Record OnMonika
While I Put A Record On is Gudrun Gut’s first long-player, it is in no way an amateur effort. The label-head of Monika Enterprise and Einstürzende Neubauten collaborator creates mid-tempo minimal techno with evocative vocals and instrumental experimentation that’s beyond distinctive. For a lesson in writing a unique record, look no further than Ms. Gudrun Gut.

VariousEd Rec Vol.2Vice
France’s Ed Banger Records returns with their second compilation for Vice. As expected, it’s filled to the very brim with new tracks from the label’s staples like Justice, Uffie, and Busy P. But it’s So-Me’s remix of Klaxons’ “Atlantis to Interzone” that reminds us just how consistent the label has proven to be.

NadjaTouchedAlien8
Brutality has many faces, and Nadja is one of them. The Canadian duo thrives on feedback, strings, guitar distortion, and electronic drumming, which makes for some of the most atmospheric drone this side of Godflesh. Did we mention that this is heavy? Really heavy.

StrategyFuture RockKranky
It’s been three years since Strategy’s last record, Drumsolo’s Delight, and the wait’s been well worth it. Comprised of deep dub bass, resonating guitar swells, and catchy drums, Future Rock is the poppiest offering from one of Kranky’s most innovative artists.

Recent Office Top Ten Album Picks
February 26
February 19
February 12
February 5

Video: OOIOO “Umo”

As previously stated on xlr8r.com, leftfield Japanese outfit OOIOO will be heading to the States shortly, to wow crowd with their punked-out brand of art rock (whatever that means).

First though, the folks at Thrill Jockey have been nice enough to share the video for the band’s track “Umo,” which features, perhaps predictably, strange creatures beating drums and dancing around a blinding white backdrop. Perhaps we can expect the same for the live show.

See it now, along with hundreds of others, at XLR8R‘s Video Section.

Soulwax On Tour

Those who live to have fun at all costs, take note. That crazy Belgian production team Soulwax will be on the road this spring, back in the States due to popular demand.

Soulwax, a.k.a. 2 Many DJs, a.k.a. brothers Stephen and David Dewaele, Stephen Van Leuven, and Steve Slingeneyer, unleashed Nite Versions last year, a selection of their own tracks reinvented specifically for the dancefloor. Conceptually the album was a success, and anyone standing (or dancing) in the audience of the San Francisco show last fall would agree the group lives up to its label of being one of the most innovative acts in that dance-rock genre everyone seems to be trying these days.

The Bay Area show aside, it’s unfortunate only after the band was safely home taking some much needed R&R did buzz amongst the non-hipster crowds begin, but those bemoaning the fact they missed Soulwax first time around get a second chance this April, when they head Stateside with FIXED party residents JDH and Dave P in tow. Forget new rave. This is where the real party is.

Tour Dates
04/14 Philadelphia, PA, Transit
04/16 Washington, DC, 9.30 Club
04/17 New York, NY, Hiro Ballroom
04/18 Brooklyn, NY, Studio B
04/19 Montreal, QC, S.A.T.
04/20 Toronto, ON, Opera House
04/21 Chicago, IL, Metro
04/25 Seattle, WA, Chop Suey
04/26 Vancouver, BC, Caprice
04/27 San Francisco, CA, Mezzanine
04/29 Indio, CA, Coachella

Schneider TM Skoda Mluvit

There are two Dirk Dresselhauses-the brilliant lap-pop wunderkind, and the self-impressed packrat. Sure, the former indie boy and German Pro Tooler occasionally stumbles over outright brilliance (as he did on the spit-shine remix of The Smiths’ “There Is a Light…” on 2000’s Binokular). But just as often, the Schneider TM mastermind gets lost in his own clutter and abstraction. On his latest, Skoda Mluvit, both Dresselhauses show up. The single, “Pac Man/Shopping Cart,” is his most inspired work since Zoomer, but the rap-happy “Blacksmith” and slogging album-opener “More Time” are alternately embarrassing and useless.

Si Begg featuring Epcot Hard Like Funk

Whether it’s glitch-hop, electro breaks, or abstract electronica, you know electronic renaissance man Si Begg/Buckfunk 3000/whoever he decides to be that day is gonna deliver. This joint takes rapper Epcot and pastes him over an uptempo break-house beat with enough off-key, twisted turnarounds to keep it from being a run-of-the-mill roller. Killer.

Various Artists Colombia! The Golden Years of Discos Fuentes

Frenetic and kinetic, chaotic and cathartic: For pure passion, there’s little out there in the musical world to challenge the likes of Colombia! The Golden Years of Discos Fuentes, a collection of recordings from the ’60s and ’70s vaults of Discos Fuentes. The words are familiar: salsa, cumbia, fandango, and rumba. Some of the sounds will tickle your memory-Lito Barrientos’ filmic “Cumbia En Do Menor” might be from one of Jim Jarmusch’s long, panning cityscapes; Afrosound’s “Pacifico” lilts like West African highlife given a Masters at Work live-percussion treatment. But the tireless drive apparent through Colombia!‘s 20 tracks-each as emotionally heavy-hitting, and as foot-numbingly danceable as its neighbor-makes this a thoroughly fresh, if rough, ride.

Love Birds Modern Stalking

Written by Sebastian Doering and Vincenzo, this one starts off with a boogie bass and classic chord action but in a real downtempo way, which surely will get people interested. It follows with full bass strings to set the mood. I can definitely hear myself dropping this in the late-hour sets when people are in full chill mode.

Various Artists Ed Rec Vol. 2

Run by Daft Punk manager/DJ Pedro Winter (a.k.a. Busy P), French label Ed Banger mostly goes for concise, maximalist dancefloor impact, without being monolithic about it. Here, potential breakout artist Uffie pushes ghetto-debutante electro rap for people who think Peaches beats around the bush. Justice’s three-day-stubble-ruff tech-electro is the comp’s most DJ-friendly specimen, its thuggish glam funk extrapolating on Homework’s template, as does Mr. Flash with more Glitter Band girth. Ed Banger is essentially about high and low frequencies-the ones that reflexively inspire you to raise your hands and lower your morals. Like its predecessor, Ed Rec Vol. 2 is bravura party music with a lewd yet charming French accent.

Sinden Beeper

You might not have heard of him yet, but you will soon. He runs with Switch, Herve, Jesse Rose, and those Dubsided cats, and as a club and radio DJ he delves into dancehall, baile funk, and all manner of weirdness, like a British Diplo. As a producer, he brings twisted ghetto house, a hip-hop attitude, and a swing to make the laziest hips sway and the shyest shoulders get their shuffle on. Watch him grow.

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