Serbia’s Exit Festival has locked in its plans for the upcoming 2018 edition, featuring the likes of Nina Kraviz, Carl Craig, Rødhåd, Ben Klock, and many more—all of whom will play the Dance Arena.
Last year saw the Dance Arena celebrate 15 years of existence with a new stage design and light show, and this year’s lineup looks similarly full of big names. Thursday, July 12 will see performances from Richie Hawtin, Adam Beyer B2B Ida Engberg, Ben Klock, Amelie Lens, and Anastasia Kristensen. Regional and local support will include DJ Jock, while Dušan Nikolić and Runy, the hometown duo from Novi Sad, will all join. Added more recently are Nina Kraviz, Solomun, Maceo Plex, Tale of Us, Carl Craig, Rødhåd, and Boris Brejcha, all of whom have confirmed. The arena will also host local techno artists Filip Xavi and Vladimir Aćić Avoid, with names to be announced soon.
EXIT festival will be held from July 12 to 15 at the Petrovaradin Fortress in Novi Sad, Serbia and, outside of the Dance Arena it will present some of the best international, regional and domestic music stars such as Ziggy Marley, Fever Ray, Alice Merton, Jax Jones, Ofenbach, Mahmut Orhan, Sevdaliza, Madball, Brujeria, Dog Eat Dog, Slaves, Idles, Asphyx, Bombers, and many others. Tickets are sold via exitfest.org, while the official tourist agency of the festival, exittrip.org, offers tourist packages containing tickets, as well as accommodation and transport options.
Meanwhile, more information, including the full lineup, can be found here.
Since debuting in 2012, Seattle artist Andre Delgado (a.k.a. Homemade Weapons) has been leading the charge in pushing drum & bass forward in exciting new ways. His tracks are volatile and fierce, and stripped back to the key elements that make dancefloors move: drums and bass. By perfecting the genre’s obvious ingredients, Delgado has infused his music with ferocious intent and a freewheeling attitude to rhythm. Via early releases on Citrus recordings and Samurai Music, Delgado’s moody rapid-fire style started to turn heads in the scene and the wider electronic landscape; and by the time his debut album, Negative Space, dropped, everyone was hooked. A string of EPs followed last year on Samurai, Dispatch Recordings, and his own Weaponry imprint, further cementing his name as one of drum & bass’ most exciting producers.
Delgado’s DJ sets, too, are powerful and exhilarating. His minimalistic approach to music allows for dynamic blends and interlocking rhythms; and this side of his craft is on display on our latest podcast, a lively 70-minute mix of essential drum & bass.
Your debut LP, Negative Space, made quite a splash last year—did you think it was going to be so well-received?
No—as a producer and DJ, there’s a fine line between making what you think people want to hear and being true to yourself and doing you. My goal was to make some music that I would enjoy playing out, and that I would be able tolerate listening to a few years later. That aside, I’m incredibly pleased with the response and grateful for all of the support I’ve received for the LP.
How long had you been working on the album?
I kept writing after the Clarion Call EP. Some of those ideas evolved to make the final cut, but many did not. Overall, the process took most of February through July of 2016.
Outside of the album, how was 2017 for you?
I took some time off after the LP but eventually got back into the swing of things and put together the Heiress EP. I also did some traveling, played a few shows, and tied up some older projects.
What have you been up to recently?
Not resting enough. Aside from my own productions, I have several collaborative efforts and new names I’m working closely with that you’ll start to see more of later this year.
You’ve been recognized as leading the charge in new strains of drum & bass—where do you see the genre heading?
That’s quite a statement! I had not heard that one, but thank you. The foundation has been there for decades now just like rock, rap, punk, etc. I think it will continue to redefine itself with new sub genres. There’s an audience for everything, and if there’s not yet, there will be.
When and where was the mix recorded?
Last Sunday in my home studio.
On what equipment did you record the mix?
For this recording, I primarily used Traktor and also Logic for some post editing.
Was there a particular idea you were looking to convey?
Not really. I aimed to put a recording together that I’ll enjoy listening to down the road if it shuffles on.
How did you select the records you wanted to include?
Carefully. I always put a lot of time into planning my studio recordings. I think the flow and transitions are just as important as the tunes themselves. This recording consists of unreleased material from Weaponry, Samurai, and a few others.
What else do you have coming up this year?
At the moment, I’m finishing some new music with The Untouchables, Last Life, and Torn. I’m wrapping up some other projects with fresh talents to the Weaponry roster that will be unveiled in the coming months. Pretty excited about that.
Thanks for the opportunity.
Tracklisting
01. Ghost Warrior “Untitled” (n/a) 02. Homemade Weapons & Last Life “First Clip” (n/a) 03. Rainforest & Joakuim “Entheogenic” (n/a) 04. The Untouchables “Terrigen Mist” (samurai) 05. Shiken Hanzo “Courage” (hojo) 06. Brusten & Dyl “Stuck On You” (context) 07. Homemade Weapons “Nabilone” (samurai) 08. ? “Hollower” (weaponry) 09. Homemade Weapons & Red Army “Primary” (weaponry) 10. The Untouchables “Silence Your Ego” (samurai) 11. ?? “Phenomera VIP” (n/a) 12. Homemade Weapons & Red Army “Unavailable” (weaponry) 13. Torana “?” (weaponry) 14. ??? “Shamanism” (n/a) 15. Homemade Weapons & Torn “Specter” (samurai) 16. ???? “Acrid” (weaponry) 17. Es.tereo “Untitled” (TBA) 18. Homemade Weapons “Heiress VIP” (n/a) 19. Amit “Form & Dictate” (31) 20. ????? “Omen” (n/a) 21. Alex SLK & Underspawn “The Duel” (n/a) 22. Homemade Weapons “Ironhide” (n/a) 23. Ilk “The Heather” (warm) 24. Homemade Weapons & The Untouchables “‘Riddle” (weaponry) 25. Parallel & Relapse “Underthink” (n/a) 26. ?????? “Species Without Light” (weaponry)
Like the majority of his work, Innervision takes cues from the broken-beat sound of London while paying homage to the Parisian house dance scene. From the deep, gorgeous title track (which also features the vocal stylings of Wayne Snow) to the swung grooves of “Dance to Yemanja” and the closing cut’s haunting melancholic edge, each of the tracks on Innervision delve into a different side of Neue Grafik’s sound and forms his most complete statement yet.
In support of the release, Rhythm Section has offered up a full stream of “Dance to Yemanja,” available via the player below.
Benjamin Kilchhofer’s version of ambient music avoids convention. Instead, he invites the listener into a separate dimension where time is slowed and sounds are altered. For his third album, The Book Room, on esteemed electronic label Marionette—home to Max Loderbauer and Burnt Friedman among others—the Basel, Switzerland-based artist has fashioned a strangely organic album that bears few comparisons.
According to label owner Ali Safi, it’s an “extremely personal and intensely emotional project,” which is borne out by its heart stirring melodies and exquisite detail. The Book Room builds upon the tribal drums and psychotropic sensations of 2016’s Dersu album—and his previous work under the name Timoka—adding new components to the mix. “Anzu” sets the scene, with its sampled tropical bird song, and fuzzily distorted keyboard riff. “Varen” is a circular techno pattern that orbits around counter melodies, with only gentle chattering rhythms beneath; when a subtle pad is added to the mix, it opens a brief window on a panoramic scene, only to enclose us again in Kilchhofer’s hypnotic realm a minute later.
Kilchhofer’s skill is in invoking a kind of electronic pastoralism, vividly human and alive, but prone to moments of moodiness and occluded atmospheres. The dark synth bass and live percussion of “Leng” suggest a shamanic ceremony in which visions are one minute serene, the next nightmarish. “Chogal” is utterly different: cloaked in tape hiss, it’s a loop of distorted viridian synth and found sound that could only be the product of an artist who immerses themselves in the rhythms of the wild. “Durhi” is another echoic loop that gets under your skin, reminiscent perhaps of the most disquieting ambient work of Scottish mavericks such as Boards of Canada or Lord of the Isles—other artists who have translated their experiences in nature into sound. “Skimo” is a warm ascension of chords, marimbas, and gentle live drums, and “Nihic” is especially lovely, its detuned synths sounding as if they’ve been unearthed from some ancient cassette tape buried beneath the earth for centuries. “Topot” again foregrounds the live tribal percussion, before discordant touches of electronics take the track in a spookier direction. By contrast, “Uhta” is a lovely, emotive spiral of tones that brings to mind the work of early ’90s ambient classics by Global Communication/Reload, with a vivid electroacoustic aspect.
With the availability of soft synths and cheap technology now, there’s a tendency in electronic music for artists to sound alike. Only by fashioning unique signature elements can producers can stand out. Kilchhofer has done just this on The Book Room—with tracks such as “Thorron,” little more than a synth melody, benefitting from his contorted, overdriven production. He sounds like he’s in the room playing on a keyboard, rather than moving blocks about on a computer screen.
At 20 tracks, the record does feel somewhat long and would shine even brighter if it were cut a little. Still, fans of beatless electronic music will be mesmerised by The Book Room. Though it may have taken its author years to put together, the effort has been worth it.
Norwegian-born, Berlin-based duo Soft as Snow will release their debut album Deep Wave on April 6, via Houndstooth. It was created by Soft as Snow members Oda Egjar Starheim and Øystein Monsen, with additional mixing and production by WIFE of Tri Angle Records.
Deep Wave is the duo’s debut full-length for Houndstooth and sees a much rawer, free-form and realised expression of the duo’s creative collaboration. It follows two EPs for the same label—and as with those, the duo still avoid laptops, preferring analogue machinery, samplers, live drums and processed guitars—but this album marks a creative development, with their “sound now deeper, more detailed, and less simplistic than before,” the label explains.
“We’ve been experimenting with arrangements and production. The sound is rawer, more experimental and noisy,” the duo explain. “What maybe differs most from the other releases is that we decided to keep a lot of recordings from the initial jams. Several of the tracks are more or less kept in the original form.”
Soft as Snow’s sound can in part be attributed to Oda’s background in performance art, (which brings a raw intuitive approach to vocals) and to Øystein’s drumming for various noise rock bands in Oslo’s underground scene, which explains their abrasive, rhythmic energy.
Tracklisting
01. Black Egg 02. Snake 03. Drip 04. Deep Wave 05. X 06. Tropical Speed 07. Be My Babe 08. Pink Rushes 09. Dry 10. XX 11. Sleep / Slip 12. Låssbyn 13. Mass
Deep Wave LP will land on April 6 via Houndstooth, with “Pink Rushes” and “Snake” streaming in full below.
Space Afrika is the live hardware project of Josh Inyang and Josh Reid, two friends from high school. With their slow-stepping, spacious urban dub-scapes, Space Afrika harness ambient, Detroit techno and shades of early ’90s Sheffield with a fresh and open approach to composition—like dub techno stripped-down, sealed in a time capsule and sent back from the near future.
Friends for almost two decades, the two Joshuas formed Space Afrika after years of listening to music together, sequestered by harsh Northern winters and heavily inspired by the industrial architecture of North West England. With previous releases on Where to Now? and having represented NTS at 2017’s Mutek festival, they’re now set to release their debut album on local Manchester label Sferic, landing later this year.
In advance of the release, you can download “bly,” a gloomy, slow-burning dub techno cut, via the WeTransfer button below.
To celebrate the 20th release of his New Flesh Records imprint, Umwelt will return with a new LP, titled Abandon In Place.
We’re told that the album, Umwelt’s fifth, is “built like the soundtrack of a dystopian movie” and features “cinematic masterpieces half-way between electro and ambient registers.” It’s further described as a “gloomy journey through apocalyptic tones, slow yet deep basslines, industrial touches, cold and uncompromising emotions.”
The veteran French DJ-producer counts about 40 releases to date, raising him among the most prolific French electronic producers. He’s previously released on labels such as Modal Analysis, Shipwreck, Falling Ethics etc., and has collaborated with artists such as I Hate Models and Helena Hauff, among others.
Tracklisting
A1 / 1. Void Of Nothingness A2 / 2. Abandon In Place A3 / 3. Celestial Matter A4 / 4. Rogue Black Holes B1 / 5. The Last Nightfall B2 / 6. Journey To The End Of Time B3 / 7. Tres-2B Flowers B4 / 8. Galactic Wreck
Abandon In Place LP will land on March 28 via New Flesh Records, with “Journey To The End Of Time” streaming in full below.
Tresor Records will release a new collaborative album by Detroit’s Terrence Dixon and Berlin’s Thomas Fehlmann, titled We Take It From Here.
The duo came together in Detroit to produce this expressive album, and an avant-premiere live performance was presented at Tresor’s annual Detroit showcase in May 2017. It’s composed of six titles and explores a wide range of rhythms and emotions.
The label describes it as a “celebration of resilience, patience, creativity, and devotion.”
Tracklisting
01. Dreaming Of Packard 02. The Corner 03. Patterns And Senses 04. Strings In Space 05. Experiment 3 06. Landline
We Take It From Here LP will land on April 20, with “Experiment 3” streaming in full below.
Slovakian composer Lukas Bulko will release a beautiful debut album as Alapastel, titled Hidden For The Eyes.
This eight-track album of neo-classical grandeur, electro-acoustic production, and subtle folk undertones was eight years in the making and signals the arrival an original new talent. The album marks the first in a new Slowcraft Presents series created and curated by James Murray, focusing on “exceptional music offered in carefully crafted limited editions for people who treasure beautiful audio artefacts.”
For the physical edition, each heavyweight custom double sleeve is individually rubber-stamped and numbered by hand in a limited first edition of 150 copies. Every package includes a concealed handwritten download code, glass-mastered CD, and insert with original artwork by Silvia Bobekova and an individually numbered, handwritten dedication from the artist himself.
Tracklisting
01. Encounter 02. Seashell 03. Bride Of The Mountains 04. Frozen Lakes, Fog and Snow 05. Solar System For Nina 06. Tousled 07. Demon 08. Peaceful Soul In Calm Ocean
Hidden For The Eyes LP will land on March 9 via Slowcraft Records, with “Seashell” streaming in full below.
Last month, German imprint Empore Music dropped its second various artist release, Facetten II.
Based in the Baltic city of Kiel, Empore Music is a label curated by Marc Wolf, one half of Avidus. Over the last few years, the imprint has acted as a platform for artists associated to Luna Club, releasing records from artists such as Christoph Vogel, Jeremy Liar, and Avidus, some of which have garnered support from the likes of Mano Le Tough, Michael Mayer, Villanova, and The Drifter. The new VA opens up the label’s network further, featuring a deep and atmospheric collection of tracks from Patlac, Philipp Harms, Christoph Vogel, Valiete, Engyn, Odd Only, and Avidus.
In support of the release, Christoph Vogel has offered up his track “Alpha Fog” as today’s XLR8R download. The track, a bass-heavy breaks cut, lands ahead of an upcoming album on Empore, which is set to arrive later in the year.
You can pick up Facetten IIhere, with “Alpha Fog” available via WeTransfer below.
