Jabu, Planet Mu, Bok Bok, and Ikonika Leave Radar Radio After Harassment and Abuse Allegations

London’s Radar Radio is facing a wave of walkouts in relation to accusations of sexual harassment, abuse, and mistreatment.

Earlier this month, former presenters Pxssy Palace issued a statement via Instagram outlining their issues with the station and reasons for leaving, including “a string of disappointing experiences” which included tokenising “women, feminism, queer and trans culture, and Black and other people of colour, for capitalist purposes whilst making little to no effort to practise intersectionality within their own organisation.”

Radar followed with a short and generic statement on Friday before former show producer Ashtart Al-Hurra released her own blog post titled ‘I’m a Woman of Color Who Was Mistreated at Radar Radio – Their Reaction to Pxssy Palace’s Leaving Statement Was Absolute Trash. Here’s Why.’ In the piece, Al-Hurra details her experience at the station, including being “sexually harassed, like, fucking tonnes, by dickhead dj dudes” and co-workers spreading rumors that she was sleeping with many people at the station.

With the mounting allegations gaining public traction, many artists, labels, and former producers have cut ties to the station and resigned, including Planet Mu, Ikonika, Jabu, Bok Bok, and many more.

You can find Pxssy Palace’s statement below, with Al-Hurra’s here.

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Wendy Bevan ‘Falling’

Wendy Bevan is an LA-based artist who fuses cold wave-inspired electronics with ethereal songwriting. Her debut album, Rose and Thorn—released late 2016 on !K7/Kwaidan—weaves vivid sonic tales full of haunting vocal work, driving basslines, and Bevan’s own “broken, psychic odysseys and hallucinations.” Upon release, the album, which also features live strings from the Balanescu Quartet, received praise from publications such as Spin and Love is Pop, and a number one slot in the European alternative chart in 2016 for album cut “Love From the Moon.”

Bevan’s latest outing, a standalone single titled “Falling,” is being offered as today’s XLR8R download in the lead up to an official release on Unknown Pleasures Records in June. Produced and mastered by Robert Harder, “Falling” is an entrancing slice of left-field pop driven by Bevan’s gothic storytelling and moody aesthetic.

“Falling” can be grabbed via WeTransfer below.

You can follow Wendy Bevan on Instagram here or via her website.

Falling

Novation Announces Bass Station II Beat and Bytes Livestream

Novation‘s next Beats and Bytes stream will feature the Bass Station II.

Going live at 4 p.m. PST on April 19, the latest Beats and Bytes episode will introduce the sounds of the Bass Station II—a powerful two-oscillator analog monosynth with dual-mode filters, modulation, effects, and step sequencing—and show users how to build a patch, including how to write an original sequence. You can also have your questions about the Bass Station II answered live by Novation’s product specialist.

Beats and Bytes is a monthly livestream from Novation featuring demos of flagship products such as the 64-pad Ableton grid controller Launchpad Pro, the Circuit sequencer, synth, and sampler, the Peak, Monostation, the Ultranova, and the Launchpad XL, among others.

You can find out more here.

Richard Chartier Preps Mika Vainio Homage, Shares Track

Los Angeles-based sound artist Richard Chartier will release Central (for M.Vainio) via his Line imprint on April 20.

The two-track release will be Chartier’s first of 2018, following on from last year’s Removed LP on Ash International and a two-hour collaborative piece alongside Eleh on Line. Central (for M.Vainio) is a homage to the work of the late Mika Vainio, a hugely influential artist in electronic music and one of Chartier’s biggest inspirations, as he explains:

“I think about the work of Mika Vainio almost every day since his sudden and untimely passing on April 12, 2017.

His work as one half of Pan Sonic and his solo work under his own name and as Ø and Philus were and are incredibly influential to me. It was partly one of the reasons I began working with sound again in 1997 after stopping for almost 4 years, central to the evolution of my own listening.

His sounds and arrangements were always elusive, otherworldly, unreal, strange, unsettling, often abrasive, and at the same time expressed a sheer unrelenting beauty. They seem to represent a push and pull between states, warmth, and cold, silence and fury, future and past, life and death.

I was fortunate enough to perform with and for him (in the audience) and despite his being a man of very select words, to share conversations with him. The prospect of a new release by Mika always thrilled me. I am still saddened to think that there will not be more of his work to be heard each year.

These two pieces pay homage to Mika and the subtle and unquiet gifts he gave all listeners.”

In support of the forthcoming release, Chartier has offered up a full stream of the title track, a haunting 44-minute drone piece, available via the player below.

You can pre-order the full release here.

Photo: Robert Eckhardt, 2018

Audiobooks Next on Heavenly Recordings

Heavenly Recordings will release a new EP from Audiobooks, a duo comprised of producer/mixer David Wrench and fine arts student Evangeline Ling. Alongside this news, they have premiered their immersive debut track “Gothenburg.”

Though new, the duo have already started to gain cult momentum in the UK for their dynamic and unparalleled live performances. This will be their first official release.

Evangeline studies fine art at Goldsmiths College, working primarily with paint and pencil, as seen in the artwork for Gothenburg. David is best known for his work as producer and mixer for the likes of Frank Ocean, The xx, Goldfrapp, David Byrne, Caribou, FKA Twigs, and many more artists pushing the boundaries of contemporary pop music.

Gothenburg is out now, with a stream available below.

Kutiman Lines Up New Album, Don’t Hold Onto The Clouds

Isreali psychedelic, new age, afrobeat, jazz, house, and ambient producer Kutiman will release a new album in July, titled Don’t Hold Onto The Clouds.

Born Ophir Kutiel in 1982, Kutiman released his last album, 6AM, in 2016, and it found him leaning upon the production style of David Axelrod to create what The Guardian described as “a modern amalgam of African flavoured psychedelic rock that nods historically to exotica, soul, breakbeat and jazz while recalling the diverse likes of Cinematic Orchestra, Air and Antibalas.” Don’t Hold Onto The Clouds is comprised of just four tracks—the shortest of which, “Lucid Dream,” still clocks in at almost eight minutes. It orbits within reach of, among other styles, ambient, electronica, minimal, and new age, but “refuses to settle on merely one,” the label explains.

After being discovered during the Myspace era by a small German label, Kutiman released his first, eponymous album in 2007. Despite a strong international reception, however, the LP was soon overshadowed by music he uploaded two years later onto YouTube. For “Thru You,” as he called the project, he meticulously cut and pasted together clips he found on the video platform of amateur solo musicians to create seven, original, intricately arranged songs. These new videos swiftly went viral, and so remarkable was the execution of his concept that it earned a place in Time magazine’s list of “The Fifty Best Inventions of 2009.”

We’re told that Don’t Hold Onto The Clouds emerged from time spent alone in his studio “pursuing his instincts.” It reveals his appreciation for Terry Reilly, Moondog, Alice Coltrane, and William Basinski, in addition to a growing love for Indian music. The label describes the release as “‘meditative and enigmatic, like nothing he’s done before, and like little anyone else has done either.”

Don’t Hold Onto The Clouds LP will land on July 6 on Kutiman’s own Syial Music, with “Lucid Dream” streaming in full blow.

M€RCY ‘Rain’

M€RCY, the collaborative project of Esben Valløe and Tim Panduro, will soon release a new EP on Tiefschwarz’ Souvenir imprint, titled Black/Rain.

The Danish duo last visited the label with their Tunnel EP which immediately brought their opaque sonic vision to clubs worldwide with wide-reaching success, including support from Tale Of Us. This follow up is described as “a double-header of brand new tracks which are guaranteed to damage the dancefloor whilst lurking hauntingly in the gloom.” It’s accompanied by two remixes by Mathame and Skudge.

In support of the release, which lands May 11, you can download “Rain” below, a M€RCY original. Keeping true to their dark and wicked intentions, the track dives down into deep foggy valleys and provides a track which is equal parts cinematic and a versatile dancefloor cut.

Rain

mmph Shares ‘Facade’ Video

Seoul-born, Boston-based producer mmph (a.k.a 24-year-old Sae Heum Han) has shared a new video in support of his debut EP for Tri Angle Records, Dear God, out now.

Dear God comes alongside mmph’s involvement in serpentwithfeet’s forthcoming album, soil, and recent production work Lauren Auder and David Byrne on his latest album. Having previously shared the video for lead track “Sun God,” mmph has another video for the following track, “Façade,” also directed by Maria Constanza Ferreira.

Classically trained since childhood, Sae Han first came to Boston to study Cello performance at Berklee College of Music before turning his concentration towards electronic production and design and starting his project as mmph. We’re told that Dear God marks “a turning point” in his career, described as “a merging of his classical training, sophisticated composition, and unique sound design.”

Tracklisting

01. Sun God
02. Façade
03. Past Lives
04. Wilting
05. Blossom

Dear God EP is out now, with “Façade” streaming above.

Evan Baggs Details Two New EPs

Evan Baggs has two new releases on the way—one a solo EP on Time Passages; the other a collaborative EP as Ek Box alongside Katsuya Sano.

The first of these, titled Atonement, will be Baggs’ second appearance Binh’s label, following 2017’s Neu Rochelle, the label’s fifth EP. Atonement, a three-track EP, follows EPs from Metamorphic Interface, Omar, and Binh himself.

Meanwhile, Ek Box’ Mitsuboshi EP will be Cabaret Recordings’ 17th EP and the collaboration’s second appearance, following 2016’s Session 81 and then the Tidelly Locked EP. The B1 includes a production credit to Etienne.

Release dates for both EPs remain unconfirmed, though clips are available below.

TracklistingAtonement EP

A1. Atonement
B1. Right Underneath
B2. Coconut

Tracklisting—Mitsuboshi EP

A1. Mitsuboshi
A2. Mukacho
B1. Takikomi
B2. Shoganai

Christian Jay Preps EP for Idle Hands, Shares Track

Christian Jay is up next on Bristol’s Idle Hands.

The release, titled Katalox, is Christian Jay’s second 12″ for Idle Hands, following on from his stellar 2016 debut, Contrail, and represents the second 2018 offering from the Bristol label—Dan HabarNam’s Draw Your Pattern dropped last month. Like Contrails before it, Katalox finds Jay presenting his signature blend of swinging UK-influenced minimal with understated subtly and class.

Katalox drops on April 20 and can be pre-ordered here, with the titled track streaming via the player above.

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