Page 339 – XLR8R

ATTRAKTTA “Memoryhouse”

Focusing on low-slung IDM, acid, and atmospheric electro with nods to krautrock and ambient sounds, Steve Hyland’s ATTRAKTTA project now gets an extended outing on the FILM label. Across eight tracks, Hyland—one of the founding members of AI Records and subsequently Concrete Plastic, explores vibrant synthesis and intricate drum programming, with the music arriving at a sweet spot between home listening material and club-ready workouts.

Eschewing straightforward synth sequences in favour of blissed out sonics, we’re told that Hyland “transmits a curious psychedelia” on his debut LP. The label describes it as a “colourful, exquisitely composed LP that riffs on a timeless production aesthetic with considerable style.”

Echo Principle will land on August 10, with “Memoryhouse,” a digital bonus track, available for download now via the WeTransfer button—or here for the EU readers due to temporary GDPR restrictions.

Tracklisting

A1: Pulse Echo

A2: Distance in Ultrablue

A3: McMurdo Sound

B1: Stay Frosty

B2: Echo Principle

B3: Boom Halo

B4: Pastel Acid

Aphex Twin Details New EP, ‘Collapse’

Warp Records has shared first details of a new Aphex Twin EP, titled Collapse.

The UK label posted a cryptic message on Twitter yesterday after mysterious 3D Aphex Twin logos began appearing in London, Turin, Los Angeles, New York, and Tokyo.

Although the announcement appears to confirm that an EP is on the way, it’s hard to decipher any further information; not even the full transcript below makes much sense.

Reports indicate that the first audio from Collapse will air during Adult Swim at 1:30 AM EDT on Monday night, August 6.

Aphex Twin last released an EP in 2016 with Cheetah, while the last album dates back to 2014’s Syro via Warp.

Watch a Tutorial on Harmonic Mixing

Point Blank‘s latest video dives into the world of harmonic mixing.

Following a recent update to the flagship harmonic mixing software Mixed In Key, Point Blank’s lead DJ Instructor Ben Bristow gives a short tutorial on how best to use the software in your DJ sets. In the video, Bristow details the basic principles of Mixed in Key, utilizing the circle of fifths—the theory that the first and fifth notes in a scale tend to sound good together—and the key codes that the software generates to see what tracks fit snugly together, or ways to move from two tracks without any jarring transitions.

You can watch the video in full via the player below, with more on Point Blank here.

Mayan Warrior Makes its Los Angeles Debut Tomorrow

Tomorrow, August 4, Mayan Warrior will make its West Coast debut in Los Angeles.

The Mexico City-based Burning Man staple will host a party at Grand Park in the heart of LA, bringing the full art car experience with the sets from the Mayan Warrior crew and special guests. The LA show will be the last stop of the Mayan Warrior tour, following an acclaimed East Coast debut in New York at the Brooklyn mirage featuring Pachanga Boys—you can watch the entire Pachanga Boys set via the player below. All proceeds of the event will go to towards funding the art car’s journey from Mexico City to Burning Man, including the collective of artists, craftsmen, photographers, designers, technologists, and architects involved in the production.

Mayan Warrior features a sophisticated new sound system comprised of 24 d&b subs and two full-range line array speakers totaling 20 on the car.

Tickets to the event, which runs from 4 p.m. to 12 a.m., can be purchased here.

Planète Delivers Debut EP, ‘Continuum’

Melbourne producer Dion Tartaglione (a.k.a Planète) has today released his debut EP, titled Continuum.

Planète has built a strong following over the years, standing out as a unique artist within Australia’s growing electronic music scene. Continuum arrives soon after two other two-tracks earlier this years, and as one complete session, separated into five tracks/movements.

The EP is released alongside an accompanying visualiser, created by Melbourne-artist Tristan Jalleh.

Of the release, Tartaglione says:

“I’ve had the idea of creating a continuous and seamless playback style EP for quite a while. It isn’t a new idea but it was new for me to try. The EP is centralised on the theme of a thought process and it’s relationship with consciousness. The themes in the undercurrent of the tracks play out as a succession of this process pulling together internal and external patterns. The way in which the EP is themed is a direct relationship to the approach I took whilst making it.“

Tracklisting

01. Rising Thought

02. Res Cogitans

03. Outsight

04. A Stillness

05. The Unfold Of Unison

Continuum is available now, with a full stream below.

Ableton Reveals Further Program Details for Loop 2018

More artists and events have been confirmed for Ableton’s music-maker summit in Los Angeles this November—before ticket registration closes next week.

Dub pioneer Scientist will perform live on his custom-built sound system. Producer and engineer Ebonie Smith will share insights from her work at the legendary Atlantic Records alongside the likes of The Roots and Lauryn Hill. Renowned journalist and author Simon Reynolds will reflect on music’s past and imagine its possible futures. And Argentine folktronica innovator Juana Molina will take part in an onstage exploration of the records that shaped her own music.

Live performances this year will include Sotomayor, a Mexican dance music duo who fuse the rhythms of afrobeat, cumbia, and other Latin American sounds with electronic forms like juke and reggaeton. And South Korean finger-drumming artist Sowall will perform as part of an improvised collaboration.

There’ll be further opportunities to learn from artists close-up, with workshops on sampling, songwriting, sound design, and more from the likes of South African production talent Esa Williams, singer and multi-instrumentalist Patrice Rushen, and sonic sculptor Richard Devine. Further artists will be revealed in the coming weeks. Full details of the latest program are on the Loop site.

Loop takes place from November 9 to 11 in Los Angeles, with more information here. There’s just one week left to register for tickets for the event, with registrations closing August 10.

Launched by Ableton in 2015, Loop is three days of performances, talks, and interactive workshops aimed at exchanging ideas at the cutting edge of music, technology, and creative practice. Bringing together artists, technologists, educators, and other creative thinkers, Loop is described as “a collective exploration of what it is to make music today and what it could be tomorrow.”

Edamame “Oil”

Next week, Chicago-based producer Edamame will drop an eight-track EP titled Nightlights on Abandon Building.

The new EP follows BASK, Edamame’s 14-track album released last year on Gravitas Recordings, with another collection of stunning beat cuts of deep worldly beauty. The album looks to the post-party comedown for its inspiration, offering a set of dreamy and introspective outings to guide “conversations and meditations into exciting new places.” Edamame has a knack for balancing delicate melodies with head-nodding beats and this in on full display across the EP’s tracks.

In support of the release, Edamame has offered up “Oil,” a sleek and expansive track, as today’s XLR8R download, available below.

Nightlights drops August 10.

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

Helios Signs to Ghostly International

Keith Kenniff (a.k.a Helios) will release a new album on Ghostly International.

On respective edges of America—Oregon and Maine—Keith Kenniff records quiet music at night. “When things are calmer,” he says. “My mind is less distracted when I know that everything is dark outside.” Kenniff has housed dozens of ambient releases under the name Helios since 2004, alongside postclassical output as Goldmund, shoegaze pop with his wife Hollie as Mint Julep, and commissions for film and television. Kenniff mostly lets his music breathe free of explanation, open to interpretation.

Veriditas will be the sixth Helios full length but the first on Ghostly International. We’re told that it introduces unusual shapes and landscapes to the Helios catalogue. Whereas past songs have followed traditional structures—discernable bell curves with beginnings, arcs, and ends—the focus here is texture and harmony. “I wanted to explore emotionality within something more static.”

Tracklisting

01. Seeming

02. Latest Lost

03. Dreams

04. Eventually

05. Even Today

06. Harmonia

07. North Wind

08. Toward You

09. Upward Beside the Gale

10. Row the Tide

11. Silverlight

12. Mulier

Veriditas LP will land on August 31, with “Seeming” streaming in full below.

Sebastian Mullaert Launches Circle Of Live Imprint with Eitan Reiter Collaboration

Sebastian Mullaert will launch his Circle Of Live imprint with a joint EP with longtime collaborator Eitan Reiter.

Circle Of Live is a brand new, live act only event series concept and record label curated by Sebastian Mullaert to “honour the values of spontaneity and improvisation.”

The duo previously met on the 2014 album Reflections of Nothingness, borne out of a week-long jam spent together at Mullaert’s Röstånga studio. Following the album’s release, they arranged two live shows at Ozora festival in Hungary. For the first year, the collaboration was mostly based on Mullaert’s music with Reiter adding jams on top. For the second year, Reiter felt inspired to set up a more improvised live set, enabling a more spontaneous performance. Then, unexpectedly, Mullaert lost all his gear on the flight and the live show took a completely different turn. This time, the show relied more on Reiter’s music, with Mullaert jamming on top. Eitan had prepared simple sketches to jam around, similar to the way in which Sebastian plays. One of the sketches, “Loop for Today,” later became one song on Reiter’s Give it Life album—and Reiter asked Mullaert to remix this song.

Mullaert accepted the remix invitation with the request to continue honouring improvisation and creativity, but instead of a normal remix, it became an adventure out to the Dead Sea after Mullaert’s gig at the Block Festival 2017. Reiter invited Ben Kirschenbaum to take care of the cameras and two more friends to carry gear and PA. As a result, the remix is an on the spot jam out in the desert—one take while the sun is going down. Back in the dense Swedish woodland, Sebastian made two more remixes under his Wa Wu We moniker.

Circle Of Live will also see an expertly curated collection of today’s leading electronic live artists traverse Europe’s nightlife venues. Each live experience will be unhindered from any formal structure, allowing both performers and audience to explore the boundaries of improvisation in all of its raw beauty. Confirmed artists so far are: Âme (Live), Aurora Halal, Dorisburg, Eitan Reiter, Johanna Knutsson, Leafar Legov, Ljudbilden & Piloten, Mathew Jonson, Neel, Sebastian Mullaert, Steevio & Suzybee, The Mole, Tobias.

Tracklisting

01. Loop For Today (Sebastian Mullaert Live By The Dead Sea Remix)

02. Loop For Today (Wa Wu We Live In The Woods Remix 1)

03. Loop For Today (Wa Wu We Live By The Clouds Remix 2)

Eitan Reiter’s Loop for Today (Sebastian Mullaert & Wa Wu We Remixes) will land on September 14 via Circle of Live, with clips streaming below.

XLR8R’s Top Downloads of June

It’s that time of the month again—that time when we check the stats and compile the favorite submissions to our ever-popular downloads section and present them in one file, available for download. June saw DJ Spielberg return—and return to the top of the pile—with “Glam Sharing. Featuring in the chart, too, is an Alfie edit of Childish Gambino, some melancholic electronica courtesy of Simon Hinter, and an array of forward-thinking tunes—ranging from dancefloor weapons to haunting ambience and cerebral beat-driven outings. That’s enough talk for now: June’s 10 most popular XLR8R downloads have been assembled into a list below and can be grabbed for free by following their respective links. In addition, all 10 tracks have been compiled into one convenient file, which can be downloaded via WeTransfer below.

Due to temporary issues regarding the GDPR, EU readers can download the top 10 here.

01. DJ Spielberg “Glam Shaming”

02. Dark Circles “Dropmyre” (House Mix)

03. Childish Gambino “Redbone” (Alfie Edit)

04. Tulioxi “The New Acid Funk”

05. Alexander Kowalski “And So I Watch You From Afar” (5 am Mix)

06. Abayomi “Aleph”

07. Piero Umiliani “Discomania” (Lele Sacchi re-edit)

08. Aleksandir “Dreams”

09. Harrison Morris “Steady Drip”

10. Simon Hinter “Created”