Keinemusik Kick off US Tour

Adam Port, &ME, and Rampa will kick off Keinemusik‘s three-stop US tour tonight at The Great Northern in San Francisco.

The tour—which also stops in Los Angeles and St. Cloud Friday and Saturday, respectively—is in support of Keinemusik’s recent album, You Are Safe, which was released late last year and featured the three aforementioned artists alongside DJ Reznik and painter/visual artist Monja Gentschow.

You can find dates for the US shows and subsequent European dates below.

US Dates:

February 1 – The Great Northern, San Francisco
February 2 – 1720, Los Angeles
February 3 – Dirtybird Campout, St. Cloud

European Dates:

February 16 – Robert Johnson, Offenbach (Germany)
February 17 – Tenax, Florence (Italy)
February 18 – HAïKU, Paris (France)
February 19 – Fuse, Brussels (Belgium)

Watch Ski Oakenfull Deconstruct Maze’s “Twilight” in New Video

Following the release of Arturia’s DX7 plugin in January, Point Blank invited lead-course developer and deconstruction expert Ski Oakenfull to breakdown and recreate Maze’s “Twilight” using sounds created with the plugin.

In the video, Oakenfull gives a brief theory lesson on FM synthesis before recreating the track layer by layer, in turn showing off the DX7’s wonderful presets and functionality.

You can watch the video in full via the player above, with more on Point Blank’s courses here.

The Skull Eclipses Ready Debut LP

The Skull Eclipses have announced details of their debut LP.

The Skull Eclipses is the collaborative mantle of Austin producer Spencer Stephenson and Philadelphia emcee Raj Haldar, known respectively as Botany and Lushlife. While Botany is known for his devotional, free-jazz-influenced sample-based music, and Lushlife for hip-hop, together they have created a darker record that musically pays homage to the late ’90s and early ’00s, with jungle, breakbeat, drum & bass, trip-hop, and electronic. We’re told that the project is “more than just a one-plus-one combination of their individual sounds.” This self-titled LP will be the duo’s first offering.

Broadly, The Skull Eclipses LP is a post-hip-hop album that harmonizes tropes of mid-90s electronic genres—ambient, downtempo, jungle, and trip-hop—under a hauntological umbrella. Up close, however, the album is “a peek into the shadows by two figures who are not content with blending into the tapestry of modern music.”

The title The Skull Eclipses was originally given to a demo that Stephenson sent Haldar in 2014, but it quickly became apt for the darker subject matter and emotional tone.

Tracklisting 

01. Yearn Infinite I
02. All Fall (feat. Def Rain)
03. Angels Don’t Mind
04. Pillars (feat. Baba Maraire & Felicia Douglass)
05. Take My
06. Encyclopedia
07. Gone (feat. Open Mike Eagle)
08. Gun Glitters (feat. Lojii)
09. Pushing Up the Hills
10. Yearn Infinite II (feat. Laraaji)
11. Spacecrafts in Rajasthan

The Skull Eclipses LP will land on March 9, with “Pillars” (feat. Baba Maraire & Felicia Douglass) streaming in full below.

Friend Within ‘Better Looking’

Friend Within has recently shared Love Defined, his highly anticipated first extended solo project.

Speaking on Love Defined, Friend Within says:

“Love Defined is me exploring my love of house music. I’ve created a body of work that I hope represents me as an artist and producer. It has been 18 months in the making and mastering but some tracks started life at the very start of Friend Within nearly six years ago. Other tracks are right up to date and with each and every tune in between I’ve tried to do something different. Even though the music was made at different times and even in different studios with different gear there is, for me, still a cohesion that allows the whole playlist to work as one entity.”

Out via his own imprint, He Loves You, the tracklisting is both diverse and cohesive. Rejecting the standard static album format, Love Defined is instead presented as a playlist with tracks to be added to it as time goes by. It is an ever-evolving body of work with a purpose to help define and provide a bigger understanding of Friend Within as an artist.

Better Looking

Premiere: Hear a Deep New Remix From Steve Rachmad

Tomorrow, Davide Squillace’s label This And That Lab will kick off its 2018 release schedule with a new EP from G Flame (a.k.a. The Advent).

The EP, titled Fever, features two G Flame originals and two remixes from Dutch artist Steve Rachmad, who delivers reworks under both his given name and his STERAC alias. As is the case on This And That Lab, all four cuts are aimed squarely at the floor, from G Flame’s rolling, stripped-back grooves to the dubbed-out Steve Rachmad remix and STERAC’s dark and atmospheric techno interpretation.

You can pre-order the EP here, with Steve Rachmad’s remix streaming in full below.

Yakamoto Kotzuga Lines Up New Album

Italy’s Yakamoto Kotzuga has a new album on the way, Slowly Fading.

Yakamoto Kotzuga (formally known as Giacomo Mazzucato) was born in 1994 in Venice, Italy. His debut release arrived in 2013 with an EP, Rooms Of Emptiness, out for Bad Panda Records, and was followed a few months later by Lost Keys & Stolen Kisses, for the French label Highlife Recordings. Applause from critics led him to sign some productions for some well known Italian rappers along with numerous remixes and several collaborations, among which the choice of its “Your Smell” as the soundtrack for a variety of reportage to Vogue Fashion Week Paris. He released his debut album, Usually Nowhere, on March 24, 2015 for La Tempesta International / Sugar.

He’s now about to release an 11-track release lands three years after Usually Nowhere. It’s born from an A/V performance in collaboration with visual artist Furio Ganz and commissioned by the Venice Biennale. The release as it stands is split into two parts— “Fading” and “Faded”—for a total of 45 minutes of music.

We’re told that the release is “a reflection on the idea of temporality and its emotional consequences.”

Tracklisting

1 / 01. This Will Always Be The Best
1 / 02. Existential Angst
1 / 03. She Said
1 / 04. Until We Fade
1 / 05. Shouldn’t Be Here
2 / 01. Suffer & Hold
2 / 02. Inner God
2 / 03. New Singularity
2 / 04. Emotional Complexity
2 / 05. Impermanence
2 / 06. Remember Nothing You Don’t Have To

Slowly Fading will be released by La Tempesta International on March 23, with a video for “Until We Fade” streaming in full above.

Viberate Announces Collaboration with Imogen Heap

Viberate has announced a collaboration with Imogen Heap, an early adopter of the blockchain technology.

Viberate is a crowdsourced live music ecosystem and a blockchain-based marketplace, where musicians are matched with booking agencies and event organizers. The aim is to list and map the global live music industry, deliver more transparency, increase payment discipline, and enable under-the-radar artists to gain exposure.

Heap and Viberate will work creatively towards empowering those in the live music segment in listing and mapping the global live music ecosystem by building a database of profiles for musicians, venues, agencies and event organizers. The project’s goal is to set a standard for the live music industry and connect the stakeholders in a way that they will be able to get in contact and do business with one another directly on the platform.

Vasja Veber, Viberate’s co-founder and COO, says that Imogen Heap is the best celebrity ambassador they could imagine: “Influencer marketing has been a hot topic lately and as a music service we are always on the lookout for partnerships with famous musicians. Imogen is not only one of the best artists out there and an inspiration to many of today’s superstars, she is also widely known for getting on the blockchain train before it was cool. We respect that and that is why we are so excited to have her on board.”

The vision of the two-time Grammy Award-winning artist is a sustainable music industry ecosystem. With her Mycelia Creative Passports project, she is working on new potentials for music makers and the services who interact with their works in light of the distributed ledger technology and smart contracts. She says: “Blockchain has become the long overdue catalyst for the music industry to update its policy and business models toward music makers and to provide quicker and seamless experiences for anyone involved in creating or interacting with music.”

Once she discovered Viberate’s mission, she felt excited about the opportunities Viberate could give to the music industry: “Anything that involves music makers being independent and having space where they can reach out to anybody who wants to make business directly with them is a really positive thing.”

XLR8R’s Top 10 Downloads of December

As is custom, every day of the week XLR8R releases at least one free track via our ever popular downloads section. Across any given month, you’ll find a constant supply of impressive tunes from all corners of the sonic spectrum, from bass-heavy beats to post-punk-tinged techno, sunny house, and everything in between. We then tabulate the download numbers every month and announce the 10 most popular tracks from the month prior. Now that we’ve hit the end of January and the last few tracks in December have had time to engage with our readers, it’s time to announce December’s 10 most popular tracks.

December’s top 10 was split down the middle in terms of original cuts and remixes; although, reworks dominated the top of the list, with five of the top six being remixes. Taking the top spot this time was Berlin-based artist Madalba with a of remix of Mattia Trani‘s “The Detroit Student,” a beautifully rolling techno cut. Lauren Lo Sung‘s interpretation of a Sade classic landed at number two, followed by ambient master Loscil, Synapse, and Swiss artist Phrex rounding out the top five.

December’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.

CLICK ANY IMAGE TO ENLARGE AND BROWSE THE TOP 10

1. Mattia Trani “The Detroit Student” (Madalba Remix)
2. Sade “Couldn’t Love You More” (Lauren Lo Sung Remix)
3. Murcof x Wagner “Avril 14th” (Aphex Twin) [Loscil Remix]
4. Synapse “Stealing Science”
5. DJ XTC “Functions On The Low” (Phrex Refix)
6. Francisco Lopez “Sonic Seeds” (Subsidence Collective mutation)
7. Punu “Phaedo”
8. Seanote & Ill Chill “Super Food”
9. Clarian “Tuxedo Beach”
10. Material Witness “Point of Light” (Instrumental VIP)

Parklife 2018 Confirms First Names

Manchester’s Parklife Festival has confirmed plans for its 2018 edition, including the lineup.

Taking place within the city’s iconic Heaton Park next on June 9 and 10, Parklife has built a solid reputation as one of the UK’s leading summer festivals which sees its music offering explore an inspired mix of hip-hop, grime, pop, indie, and electronic music. Each edition has sold out year on year and boasts an impressive total of 16 arenas spread across two days of music. For 2018, Parklife will celebrate its eighth edition and feature the likes of Sampha, Bonobo, Chvrches, Four Tet, The Black Madonna, Goldie, Nina Kraviz, and many more names.

This year’s edition takes place from June 9 to 10 in Heaton Park, Manchester, while the full list of first names is included on the flyer below. Meanwhile, you can find more information here.

General tickets (on sale Thursday, February 1, are priced at just £109.50 for a weekend ticket, and £65 for a day pass

TOKiMONSTA Shares Powerful New Video

Acclaimed Californian producer Jennifer Lee (a.k.a TOKiMONSTA) has today shared the new video for her single “I Wish I Could” ft. Selah Sue from her recent album Lune Rouge.

Directed by Mitchell deQuilettes (Childish Gambino, Flume, Frank Ocean) the arresting visual follows a junior doctor as she buckles under the emotional strain of her career. Providing a rich visual texture to the track, the video delivers a cutting commentary on the state of the U.S. healthcare system, a topic of particular significance to Lee.

“It means a lot to me to finally put visuals to a song that is so significant to me. After undergoing two brain surgeries and being unable to create, this song was the very first song I was able to complete upon my recovery.” — TOKiMONSTA

TOKiMONSTA started crafting Lune Rouge in late 2015 before being diagnosed with a rare neurovascular condition called Moyamoya. A year later, after two major brain surgeries and extensive rehabilitation, the album was finished. A smoky, patient, and cohesive 11-part offering, Lune Rouge mixes modern sensibilities with old-school sounds to make for a heady brew of moonlit music.

Lune Rouge is out now, with the video streaming above.

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