Alloy ‘Rumpin”

Next month, Lefto will team up with Serato to release a collaborative vinyl LP entitled My Friends Make Music Too.

The VA—which will drop as a double LP with Serato control records—will feature new exclusive music from some of Lefto’s favorite artists, dancefloor ready tunes from Alloy, Henry Wu, Mono Poly, Cid Rim, LTGL, and, of course, Lefto himself—expect left-field tunes built for adventurous DJs that like to steer clear of the obvious bangers.

In support of the upcoming release, Lefto and Serato have offered up “Rumpin’,” a much coveted track from an old side project of BadBadNotGood drummer, Alex. “Rumpin’,” a heavy stripped-back cut that first popped up on Lefto’s Brussels Boiler Room set, can be grabbed via WeTransfer below, with My Friends Make Music Too dropping in select stores and on the Serato site mid-February.

Rumpin’

Fabrizio Lapiana ‘Again’

Fabrizio Lapiana will soon release a debut LP, Intraverso—described as a “journey in that momentary ‘inbetween land’ that many of us experience sometimes.” It’s said to “explore the turmoil of feelings of when one gets stuck in the middle, floating in between ambition and complete stillness.”

Fabrizio Lapiana is a well-known name on the contemporary Italian techno scene. He has been involved in music since the ’90s when he started DJing in his hometown Rome. To date he has releases on labels such as Figure Jams, Arts, and M_Rec Ltd—as well as his own imprint, the well renowned Attic Music, founded in 2008.

Intraverso is Fabrizio’s debut album, set for release on his label. The record is a” very personal journey,” according to the artist himself. You here find him examining different territory than where he usually heads within his productions. The album, which consists of nine tracks in total, was composed between April 2016 and February 2017 in his studio in Rome. Written in a state of “introspect,” the album shows “an artist in motion.”

Ahead of the February 23 release, you can download “Again” via the WeTransfer button below. The track, number seven, sees “the expedition” continue through the dancefloor, albeit “in a deeper landscape where flickering extraterrestrial sounds watch you go along.”

Tracklisting

A1 / 1. Early Morning Waves
A2 / 2. Bret
A3 / 3. Onironauta
B1 / 4. Intraverso
B2 / 5. Lost In Negative Thoughts (reshaped)
C1 / 6. Distance
C2 / 7. Again
D1 / 8. Backlit
D2 / 9. Freckles (beatless)

Again

Point Blank’s New Video Gives an Insight Into a Masterclass with Todd Edwards

Point Blank‘s latest video gives an insight into a masterclass with Grammy Award-winning producer and DJ Todd Edwards.

In the video, recorded at Point Blank Los Angeles, Edwards shares some invaluable advice and anecdotes with attending students, including glimpses of his DAW projects and insights and stories about the less glamorous side of old-school sampling techniques.

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

Alex Augier ‘Germination’

Paris-based experimental artist Alex Augier will release his first solo EP, Germination, on DAC Records.

The new EP from Augier follows last year’s Franck Vigroux Rapport sur le Désordre with three mind-bending originals and a remix from Subtext co-founder Roly Porter. Augier’s penchant for sound exploration is on full display on Germination, which flows through sonic terrain that is at once fragile, cavernous, and claustrophobic. Like the originals, Roly Porter’s remix creates a alien-like world with wall-shaking bass tones and rippling textures.

In support of the release, Augier has offered up the EP’s title track as today’s XLR8R download, available via WeTransfer below.

You can pre-order Germinationhere.

Germination

The Micronaut Shares Stunning Video; Watch it Now

Leipzig-based multi-instrumentalist and producer Stefan Streck (a.k.a. The Micronaut) has shared a self-produced music video for “Prism,” one of the tracks from his latest full-length album, Forms.

Streck shot and edited the entire film himself, matching spellbinding visual elements with the track’s heady concoction of melancholic beauty. To Streck, visuals and sounds are intrinsically entwined and shape not only the album but also his identity as an all-round artist, and this ideal permeates throughout his sonic work, which has strong synesthetic qualities.

The music video, which can be streamed in full via the player above, sets the tone for The Micronaut’s forthcoming EP, Contrast, which will be released on February 16 via Freude Am Tanzen Records.

Jeff Mills Releases Soundtrack for Japanese Film ‘And Then There Was Light’

Jeff Mills has released a soundtrack album titled And Then There Was Light.

Haunting, aggressive, and serene, the soundtrack essentially acts as an additional character in the Japanese film of the same name—directed by Tatsushi Omori and based on the novel Hikari by Shion Miura—which weaves a tale of love, jealousy, and revenge. During the creative process, Mills tried not to relate to any of characters in the film, which helped him keep a distance in terms of the usage of the chord structure and important note configurations, ensuring every sound element has its purpose.

Parts of And Then There Was Light came out digitally last year but the CD, released on Mills’ Axis Records, contains additional music and 16 tracks in total.

You can pick up And Then There Was Light here, with a video clip streaming in full via the player above.

Artwork by Plástica.

Tracklisting:

01. A Secret Sense (2:58)
02. Islands From The Lost Sea (3:26)
03. Raindrops Of Truth (3:38)
04. Parallelism In Fate (3:20)
05. The Revenge Of Being In Lust (4:29)
06. The Bond Of Death (4:06)
07. The Trail Of Secrets (2:52)
08. Consequences (3:04)
09. Danger From Abroad (2:59)
10. The Little Ones (2:55)
11. Landscapes (2:56)
12. Trigger Happy Level (0:14)
13. The Players Of Consequence (0:22)
14. Lost Winners (4:06)
15. The Hypnotist (Hikari Mix) (4:28)
16. Incoming (3:22)

Khruangbin Con Todo El Mundo

It’s thanks to the diggers of our world, the selectors, tastemakers, and bloggers of unearthed sounds, that once unheard-of global sounds are becoming more integrated into our listening habits. One such genre is the traditional Thai Molam sound, which, thanks to reissues courtesy of Finders Keepers—and the success of such acts as The Paradise Bangkok Molam International Band, The Whitest Crow, and Khun Narin (bands worthy of your attention if you’re fans of Khruangbin)—is becoming a scene within itself in Western circles. One of the biggest adopters of the Thai style is Khruangbin, whose psych-rock, chill-out credentials are massive and near inescapable.

The predominately instrumental trio from Burton, Texas consisting of Laura Lee on bass, Mark Speer on guitar, and Donald “DJ” Johnson on drums, came together with a vision of playing global surf rock. Speer’s love of Thai music came about after discovering the blog Monrakplengthai (“I love Thai Music”) and going on to create a new, westernized style of Molam. The band’s name was actually taken from this, translating to “engine fly” or “aeroplane” to symbolize the international set of influences that shaped their music.

Khruangbin’s music has gently been creeping into the global airwaves for the past five years. From having the track “A Calf Born in Water” featured on Bonobo’s 2013 Late Night Tales, the band went on to release their debut LP The Universe Smiles Upon You in 2011—an album that became a ubiquitous feature in psych, soft-rock, and chill-out playlists alike. The soft, gentle guitar-based melodies found their way into many a DJ set thanks to set of remixes by Futureboogie, Maribou State, and Session Victim, along with hypnotic performances at festivals such as Magnetic Fields, Dimensions, and one of the most memorable appearances on Boiler Room. They’ve also garnered themselves as credible and well-versed tastemakers thanks to a progressive series of playlists, and regular slots on NTS.

The new album takes flight from its predecessor; sharp drums, smooth reaching guitar licks, and subtle, harmonic basslines weave like a soft sea breeze, whispering tales of exotic love and dreamlike adventures. Recorded together in their hometown of Burton, the LP begins with “Como me quieres?” (How much do you love me?) a question asked by Lee’s grandfather—to which she would answer, “Con todo el mundo” (with all the love in the world). It’s a tender, exquisite instrumental, passively paced, with gentle keys, whistles, and ambient prayer-like humming.

The laid-back “Friday Morning” is the LP’s love song and is crying out for a Dan The Automator makeover with MF Doom at some point in the near future. It takes the record’s pacing even slower, hinting at the record’s leanings on American music, as brought in by Johnson’s previous background as a choir organist.

Con Todo El Mundo takes more upbeat trajectories with the eastern-funk heavy rhythm of “Maria Tambien,” a track resplendent with breakdowns, handclaps, and hook-laden riffs, which is already getting support from Gilles Peterson, James Blake and other radio jock-types. With a more composed feel, there are incandescent Mediterranean vibes, such as the bouzouki influence in “Evan Finds the Third Room,” along with Turk-psych influence on the aforementioned (and standout single) “Maria Tambien.”

But the Molam vibe is inescapable, as Speer drives the East-Asian riffs throughout the album’s 10 tracks. Con Todo El Mundo never breaks from the bluesy-Thai spirit, resplendent with harmonious choruses, pad-like percussive undertones, and rife with riffs. The attention to artistry, love, and harmony bleeds passionately through this album, reflecting the current tone and trend for contemporary global-psychedelia (see Goat, Tame Impala etc.), while addressing positivity and balance with it’s overall, good-natured vibes.

As a whole, it doesn’t divert too much from the band’s debut offering, yet it’s ability to keep you enamoured without being loud or egregious is phenomenal. Background music was never meant to be this good. There’s no doubt it will become the soundtrack to every refined coffee house in your district, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. With a European tour already selling out, this vagabond troupe of chill-out misfits are about to become the next hippest thing since The XX, without the lacklustre pedantic vocals attached.

As a record, Con Todo El Mundo won’t change the world, but it will make your day brighter. Once you’ve maxed out playing records by The Budos Band and Bonobo, then Khruangbin should be next in your selection.

Tracklisting

01. Como Me Quieres
02. Lady And Man
03. Maria Tambien
04. August 10
05. Como Te Quiero
06. Shades Of Man
07. Evan Finds The Third Room
08. A Hymn
09. Rules
10. Friday Morning

Volruptus ‘Fjandsamlegar Geimverur’

Volruptus is a Berlin-based Icelandic electro producer. His sound draws on the mutant techno-futurism of Underground Resistance, the warped melodies of Rephlex, and the high BPMs of Miami bass and Detroit electro. He is highly regarded for his hardware-based live set and is widely considered a rising name in underground circles. He’s released records on esteemed Icelandic label bbbbbb, Nina Kraviz’ Trip imprint, and digital label Sweaty Records.

Today, he’s offering up a new and unreleased cut, with no strings attached—titled “Fjandsamlegar Geimverur.” Grab it now via the WeTransfer button below.

CTM Festival Kicks off Tonight with Celestial Trax and Dengue Dengue Dengue

CTM Festival will begin proceedings tomorrow with opening night at Berghain, featuring performances by Dengue Dengue Dengue, Celestial Trax, RAMZi, and Boys Noize, among others.

Running from January 26 to February 4 at Berlin venues HAU Hebbel am Ufer,
Berghain, YAAM, Festsaal Kreuzberg, SchwuZ, Club OST, and Kunstquartier Bethanien, this year’s edition—its 19th—is centered around the theme of turmoil and looks to explore the state of music and sound practice in the face of a confusing and critical present.

Just like in previous years, the festival has enlisted performances from a collection of intriguing names operating in the experimental music world, including Colleen, Born in Flamez, Flava D, Pixelord, Ikonika, Laurel Halo, Equiknoxx, Jlin, Holly Herndon Ensemble, and Special Request, among many others.

You can find the full schedule and more info on CTM Festival here.

Her Damit Confirms Full 2018 Lineup

Her Damit Festival has announced the lineup for its fourth edition, taking place from June 8 to 10 in Freudenberg, 50km outside of Berlin.

The main focus of the annual event has always been on the music making it an intimate yet intense three-day-party for techno and house connoisseurs. On the schedule this year are Bambounou, Konstantin Sibold, Shifted, Roman Flügel, and more, with a full lineup listed below.

In advance of the event, we also spoke with Melanie, one of the event founders to learn more about what to expect for this year’s edition.

How old is the festival?

It’s our fourth year already but at the moment it feels much younger to us. Last year we had to find a new “home.” The former “Kraft durch Freude”—building in Prora, a relic from Nazi Germany, was bought up by investors and redeveloped and unfortunately converted into luxury flats. Near Berlin, we found a former bunker complex from the GDR times that seemed perfect for us. So, we moved from the island of Rugia to Freudenberg—into “exile.” The local community and the residence of Freudenberg greeted us with open arm. What started off as an “exile” location has now become our home. However, like with every move, change comes with it. So it was unavoidable for the Festival not to change but we have adapted to the new surroundings.

How did the festival come about?

One could say that Her Damit is a personal continuation of another failed project with friends. It took place in Prora, too. When we discovered the location a few years back, we shared a vision of a festival. We spent nearly two years with the planning, organization, and eventually the realisation of it. It took all our heart, soul, strength, and passion. Unfortunately, our cooperation did not function very well. When it was over, we were faced with the shards of our shared vision and also our friendship. This weighed very heavily on me—in many ways. I wanted to quit it all, never do a festival again, and leave everything behind me. However, luckily there were people close to me who pushed me and motivated me so much that I pulled myself together and gathered my remaining energy together once more—and continued this journey on my own. I shaped a new concept based on my very own vision and that is how Her Damit was born. Above all, I am very ambitious to break new musical ground in the German festival scene.

What does He mean? How did you come up with the name?

In the previous project we had played with that expression in our PR (in English it would mean something like “bring it on”) over and over again. I always found it very powerful and applicable in many ways, and I liked it very much. To name my new festival this way also comes down to nostalgia. I am a very emotional person, and it took me a very long time to get over being sad about the failure of the former project; maybe some part of me didn’t want to let go of it at that moment. However, the expression also fits perfectly to what I would like to express; I connect the name “Her Damit” with pure energy.

What are your backgrounds?

My personal “rave” career began when I was 16 years old—that’s 20 years ago now. My boyfriend at that time listened to Chicago house and techno, that’s how I got introduced to the music. However, professionally I took a different path back then. At the age of 29, I was a little bored of what I was doing at the time, so I started organizing parties at off-locations—just for fun, from time to time with some friends. Eventually, this resulted in founding a record label, too. At some point, I decided to turn my passion into my profession and began working as a booking agent, but today I only organize festivals.

What is the concept behind the festival?

The main focus is on the music. And secondly the light and visual effects and the sound concept. Decoration only plays a minor supporting role for a good reason. As we always have very unusual locations, we don’t want to cover up what the location has to offer but we want to embrace it, and for this, the lighting plays a huge role. The bunker complex in Freudenberg reminds me very much of old rave times, hence, I’m always saying that last year’s “Her Damit im Exil” was a homage to ’90s rave culture. The concept behind it was very stripped-down. About this year’s concept, I actually don’t want to give too much away yet— the surprise is important—but I can tell you this already, in some bits you might see a certain Studio 54 influences.

What is the vision behind the bookings at the festival? What is the type of artist you look for?

I personally was never much of a festival goer, because I found it hard to find a festival with a lineup I personally liked. This, of course, inspired me even more to do my own thing. Why not do my own festival, if my experiences so far had not been the greatest? Sadly so far I was never able to party at my own festival (yet).

In terms of bookings, it is a constant tightrope, because everything should be perfectly balanced out: house and techno, a mix of well-known DJs and new up comers. In general, I’m not only interested in booking big names, but rather go for variety. The lineups are based on an idea, some sort of a musical story I would like to tell our guests during their stay at Her Damit. Concerning the artists, is very important to me that they understand their craft and have the “rave heart” at the right spot. Artists who have their very own fingerprint and style always impress me a lot.

There is so much going on in Berlin, why is Her Damit worth a weekend outside?

You have to discover and explore Her Damit; it’s totally off the grid, just the travel to our new location is already an experience—very “trippy.” And then the location even on its own is also worth a visit.

Sure you can go to good clubs in Berlin every weekend, but our festival is only once a year, and from year to year things will improve and develop, and we will do more than our very best to keep things muy exciting and fresh.

Do you work with local promoters?

Not really. We have a special relation to some local crews, which is also reflected in our lineups, but all the promo, the realization, and everything else is done by our lovely team. Just for the light concept, we‘ve teamed up with the Lumito-Crew. They‘ve done an amazing job last year.

What are your plans for the future?

Yeah! We are about to launch our own vinyl label: Her Damit Tonarchiv. The first three releases are already in progress. This project is not supposed to conquer the international electronic music industry, we rather want to return a little something to our guests, friends, and family.

Before, Her Damit was more like a hobby/side project for me. It‘s still not about earning big money, more an idealistic thing, but to be able to continue and move things forward it’s now necessary to professionalize the whole project in many ways.

And of course, we are still figuring things out at the new location and we are still refining things.

Personally speaking, if there is one moment that defines Her Damit for you what would it be?

During nd_baumecker’s set on Saturday evening in 2016. I went on stage for the last 30-40 minutes of his set. It has been a huge stage and there was a massive crowd in front of it; the energy and the view was epic. He played a remix of Lana Del Rey’s “Video Game.” While Lana was singing “For you, for you, it’s all for you,” nd turned over to me with open arms, pointing at me, and singing along the lyrics. I immediately started to cry. The previous years have been so tough on me, but in that moment I knew: the whole effort was totally worth it! It’s the most memorable Her Damit moment for me and I will never ever forget it.

Lineup

Alex Lauter
Bambounou
Bleak – live
Candy Pollard
Cormac
Darwin
Doc Sleep
DJ BORING
DJ Yamaho
Edoardo
Eris Drew
Freddy K
Grizzly
Héctor Oaks
Helge Misof
I Hate Models
INNEN+AUSSEN (aka Jenus + nd_baumecker)
ItaloJohnson
Justin Strauss
K_arim
Karl Ferdinand
Kia
Kobosil
Konstantin Sibold & Leif Müller
Michael Nadjé
Mirella Kroes
Modig
Muallem
nd_baumecker
Nitam
Norman Nodge
nthng
Oliver Deutschmann
Regen
ROD
Roi Perez
Roman Flügel
Ron Blanco & TRP
Shed
Shifted
Sunny
Uta

Details

Start/End

Friday, June 8 from 10 am until Sunday, June 10. Guests can stay at the camping site until Monday. More information and tickets can be found here.

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