Thibaut Machet (a.k.a Lamache) has been a regular on XLR8R pages for some time, first appearing with a feature about his crippling anxieties that for so long had been holding him back. Today, though, he’s a prolific touring DJ, a regular at Europe’s leading venues without a release to his name—an achievement to which few can lay claim. Not only is he a dedicated and gifted artist but he also heads up Discobar, releasing work from Zendid, Federico Molinari, Digby, and more. Now we’re delivering one of his latest mixes, recorded live at Hoppetosse in Berlin earlier this month. Expect just under three hours of warped-out, groove-laden minimal cuts. For more information on Lamache, check out his official XLR8R podcast here—but XLR8R+ subscribers can download the new mix below.
We’re back for the latest edition of our submissions roundup series, this time looking back at March. As per, we welcomed back several familiar names—MSTRBLSTR, Tima Fei, and Stature included—but we also said hello to a host of others. The sooting cosmic jazz of Brisbane-born producer Jordan Hankins, better known as Interface Palm, struck us hard, as did the delicate piano work of Uppeach, born Enrico De Lucia, from Italy. If you like that you’ll also enjoy Peter Vogelaar’s gorgeous “The Last Embers Of Us,” but if you want something more potent head for “Endz,” a dancefloor jam that blends vocal samples and gun-finger energy, by Cartin. If that resonates, we’d also suggest “Cavern,” a future-garage tune from CVL. Thanks for your support and submissions. We’ll have more for you next month!
For those unfamiliar, XLR8R+ is a member-supported music community and curated music experience. Every month, you will get three exclusive tracks—sometimes more—by a wealth of amazing artists that XLR8R has supported over the years, as well as access to the member’s area where you can submit tracks and DJ mixesto be showcased in this feature series and to the XLR8R+ community. There’s also exclusive editorial content, mixes, FREE passes to music festivals and events, playlists, and more.You can find out more here.
Fresh off the back of a debut Boiler Roomperformance at AVA Festival, plus releases on Extended Play and Rudimentary Records, Derry’s own Cartin has unveiled a two-track EP spanning electro-breaks, and glitch-driven techno on Plain Sailing. “Endz”, the second track, is an in-your-face bass-heavy banger that blends vocal samples and gun-finger energy into a mutation of electro, breakbeat, grime, and punk. Across its five-minute run-time, it underlines Cartin’s ability to seamlessly blend genres while remaining distinctive. Check out the EP opener, “U Got My Number?’ a bass-driven cut of percussive techno designed for peak-time play, here.
Interface Palm is the alias of Brisbane-born producer Jordan Hankins. Taking influence from his collection of cosmic jazz, left-field boogie, and dusty house, his productions skirt the line between jazz, house, and broken beat. After relocating to Melbourne a few years ago, he signed with local label +Romantics and now, on Broken District, he’s set to release his first mini-album. “Readymade,” the record’s standout moment, kicks off slowly with a moody piano, before Hankins adds a catchy bassline and blends it with uplifting keys. The full release is out on May 13.
Stature is the alias of Connor Harrison, a producer based in Nottingham, United Kingdom. Having studied music production since a young age, he now makes energetic beats with a focus on dance. We’ve featured several of his funky jams in our roundups before, and now he’s back with “Qena,” another outing in synthy garage. We’re stoked to hear more.
Uppeach, born Enrico De Lucia is a sound designer from Italy whose work has appeared on Disney, Sky, and Netflix. Since 2010, he has been making hip-hop instrumentals but more recently he’s released “Itaca,” a delicate piano jam with sumptuous vocal work.
Originating as an improvisational acid house and techno artist during the 1990s, MSTRBLSTR learned to move crowds at illegal rave parties held in shady warehouses, and at full-moon parties in the Arizona desert. He’s now based in Queens, where he has a studio of hand-built gear that he uses to produce music to “work its way deep into your mind and make your body move,” he tells XLR8R. “DNA,” the latest release on his own Ill Acid Records, is a hypnotic, driving techno workout. One of his earlier tracks, a collaboration with Toy Opulent label boss Worldline, featured in our January roundup.
Gabo Rio, real name Gabriel Saborio—born in Nicaragua, based in Miami has launched Impresión, his own label for house, minimal, techno, and breaks of all flavours. In March, he curated and released IMP005 V/A, a various artist compilation featuring originals from Discosexo and Nightdrive, among others. That standout, though, was “High Feels,” the release’s opener, supplied by himself. A fun and groovy minimal jam.
Following on from the energetic Bubblegun, CSV (a.k.a Chris Speed Visuals), an audio-visual artist and DJ working at the intersection of new technology, takes the tempo down a notch with this deeper future-garage tune. “Cavern,” available now, aims to evoke the feeling of falling into an alien landscape before returning home to the light.
Demetae is the alias of Powerful Recordings boss Robert Woodward, launched in 2014 to explore the extremities of cerebral techno. In his sets and releases, you’ll also hear elements of jungle and breakbeat, which come together to form a heady concoction of mind-melting sonic hedonism. In March, he released HANGRY, a collection of five tracks of dancefloor wizardry. “RESIGN,” the EP’s closer, is a track of intriguing, mangled sampling and minimal acid licks
Kixeagle is the alias of Karim Ahmed Helmy, an Egyptian artist who first released in 2020. In March, he released “Nasty,” a powerful bass track with flavours of his love for EDM and trance. It follows singles like “The Level” “Red City,” while more recently he’s released “Incoming.”
“The Last Embers Of Us” is the first new music that Irish producer Peter Vogelaar has shared since his Inner Creatures album in 2020. As with the album, it’s a delicate and arresting piece of work that’s both immersive and adventurous. Conceptually, the track is about the melancholy and resolve required to move from one chapter to the next, and looking at a bigger picture.
In January, Tima Fei, a DJ-producer based in Chicago, compiled a drum & bass set that we featured in our roundup. More recently, thought, he’s compiled a mix of uplifting vocal-laden house that’s perfect for that sun-soaked dancefloor this summer.
Through his slick studio work, enigmatic Berlin-via-Rome producer Christopher Ledger is an artist who continues to demonstrate complete dedication to his craft. You’ll hear his work sprinkled on Brouqade Records, Meander, and Amphia, but also his own CL Series. For this roundup, however, we’re featuring one of his DJs sets, recorded for Recorder.13 in Ukraine. As you’d expect, it’s stacked with unknown jams and lesser-known classics across deep house and haunting, percussive techno. Tune in for a master at work.
Bondy is a DJ-producer based in Brooklyn, New York, and XLR8R+ subscribers will likely already be familiar with his work. In December 2020, we closed a tumultuous year with a collection of transfixing dub and downtempo that included Bondy’s “Poison The Well” plus a collaboration with Opheliaxz called “Dust On The Floor.” Alongside Exael, Pontiac Streator, and Huerco S., he forms part of a tight-knit crew of producers that came together in Kansas, where they began sharing their work through Terry Radio, a semi-functioning internet radio station. Today, they flutter around labels like West Mineral Ltd., Experiences LTD, and Lillerne Tapes.
Created in 2020, this collection is a “startlingly intimate and personal body of work worthy of the self-title,” we’re told. All six tracks capture a “tender moment” in Bondy’s artistic timeline and together form a diary.
“Every sound on this record is a piece of my heart—moments I savour on the tip of my tongue—sweet, bitter, confusing,” Bondy tells XLR8R. “Something that made itself without me knowing it was happening. Something I had to look back on to taste.”
Earlier this year, Bondy put out Camo on Good Morning Tapes. For more information on his work, check out his XLR8R podcast here.
Artwork comes from Martin Tzonev.
Tracklisting
01. Everything I Can’t Be 02. Wish 03. A Place I Know 04. Dream Bleed 05. Butterfly Chair 06. The Only Part of You I Ever Really Needed
Ben Bondy LP is available now. You can order it here and stream it in full below.
Wilted Woman is the primary music alias of Elizabeth Davis, a musician based in Berlin, where she can regularly be found broadcasting her favorite experimental oddities as DJ Puddle across Cashmere Radio. Since around 2014, she’s also been sharing her rhythmic electronic music, defined by modulating, mutant melodies and stuttering syncopations, across labels including Alien Jams and Phantasy Sound, where she’ll release a new EP soon. She also collaborates with Silvia Kastel as Shakey, with Christoph de Babalon as Suds.
Though she’s based in Europe, the punk ethos that underlines Davis’ work is a product of the DIY scene she immersed herself in while growing up in New York. She learned to make music using a micro-cassette recorder that she would use to record violin and piano tones and assemble them into sketches. Slowly, as she discovered 8-bit and noise, she veered towards more electronic sounds, enchanted by the the idea that music-making is accessible to everyone. Using a cracked version of Reason, then, she made her first electronic sketches before ditching it in favor of physical machines. Despite moving country, her processes have remained the same.
“I loved experimenting with the unexpected kinds of tones and textures you can coax out of something,” she says, “like a super cheap and cheesy groove-box when you turn the tempo to extremes or finding rhythms in feedback loops.”
Ahead of her Phantasy return, Davis has compiled her first XLR8R podcast. Recorded in her bedroom during a rough bout of flu, it begins with deep sludgy vibes but, by the time you reach half-way, you’re into glitchy analogue sounds, jittery electronic workouts, and wonky synths. Press play or 70 minutes of freewheeling curveballs from an artist on the rise.
01. What have you been up to recently? I am enjoying springtime with my dog who is very happy to see everything turning green these days.
02. What have you been listening to? I’ve had the new Yasuaki Shimizu record on repeat for the last month, and I still can’t help listening to it at least once a day.
03. What is it that appeals to you about making music? I’ve been playing music since I was small so it’s hard to imagine life without it. Music, maybe more than other creative practices, rewards a certain naivety and open-mindedness on the part of both player and listener that’s very dear to me.
04. When and where did you record this mix? I recorded this mix at home while recovering from a heavy flu. That probably comes across in the mix, as deep sludgy vibes gradually dissipate into brighter and faster sounds and songs.
05. How does it compare to what we might hear you play out? The way I DJ is pretty dependent on the context. I got into DJing 10 years ago through doing radio and, despite playing a lot of parties since then, my style and attitude has stayed very informed by a freeform sensibility. So depending on what the crowd, the club, and my mood are like, it could be exactly like this, 50 percent more Italo tunes, or anywhere in between! That being said, I’m more of a live performer than a DJ so most likely if you hear me play out something entirely different is going on.
06. What’s next on your horizon? I’m very excited to have two new releases out very soon: an EP for Phantasy with an incredible remix by Kim Ann Foxman, and a split tape of weirder poppier stuff with Intel Mercenary on Do You Have Peace?, Amos from Jabu’s label. I’m also really looking forward to playing more live sets again in the next months, something I’ve been missing lately.
XLR8R has now joined Mixcloud Select, meaning that to hear the podcast offline you will need to subscribe to our Select channel to listen offline, or subscribe to XLR8R+ to download the file. The move to Mixcloud Select will ensure that all the producers with music featured in our mixes get paid. You can read more about it here.
Full XLR8R+ Members can download the podcast below.If you’re not an XLR8R+ member, you can read more about it and subscribe here.
Tracklisting
01. Wilted Woman “Corrupt” (Self-Released) 02. Wojciech Rusin “Wash Out” (AD93) 03. Tim Blake “Lighthouse” (Egg) 04. Minua “Order of Instants” (Warm Winters Ltd.) 05. Anton Bruhin “nadder nodder nooder” (Black Truffle) 06. Metametal “Garaje Hermético” (Ediciones Capablanca) 07. Yasuaki Shimizu “Shiasate” (Palto Flats) 08. Trans Volta “Disco Computer” (RKM) 09. Intergalactic Gary & Pasiphae “Disconnected” (Bio Rhythm) 10. aya “tailwind” (Hyperdub) 11. Bill Laswell “Digitaria” (Sub Rosa) 12. Gavsborg “Domestic Termites Love Rock Music” (EquiknoxxMusic) 13. Surprise Barbue “Cerf-Souris” (zamzamrec) 14. Junior Loves “Yantlet (First Passage Version)” (5 Gate Temple) 15. Benzokai & Tont “Rap Music Rocks” (Serious Serious) 16. Die Welttraumforscher “Die Eule Hinterm Ofen” (A Colourful Storm) 17. Khaki Blazer “Comfortably Grey” (Hausu Mountain) 18. Bass Clef “Maze 3” (Frequency Domain)
We’re ready to announce the 37th edition of XLR8R+.
This month’s edition, which is delivered in partnership with Ableton, aims to shine a light on Nairobi, the Kenyan city where a new generation of artists are bringing a palette of fresh sounds to a region once dominated by benga, a type of pop music that emerged in the 1940s. While electronic instruments have long been part of Kenyan music production, it’s only recently that fully electronic tracks have found a local following, and this in turn is encouraging younger artists to join in, stretching boundaries and inciting experimental expression that once seemed unfathomable.
“This community has not existed before,” says Jinku, one of the artists at the center of this scene.
To celebrate this community, and to shine a light on some of the talents that exist within it, we’ve asked Jinku to present two artists on his radar.
Besides providing two of his own tracks, which open up this edition with moody beatscapes, including a woozy, psychedelic jam session, he’s brought in two friends that he met on Soundcloud. First up there’s Nu Fvnk, a prolific local artist, who delivers “GWIT,” an R&B-style beat that’s common in his DJ sets, and “When You Love,” which is inspired by the autotune in Kanye West’s 808s & Heartbreak album. Closing the edition is RVMP with two tracks, “Ethiopia,” an atmospheric bass cut; and “Bamburi,” a more subtle counterpart, both of which lean heavily on sampling and will have you nodding your head to their grooves.
The artwork and NFT this month comes from Jebet Naava, a self-taught visual artist based in Nairobi, who has been working as a graphic designer for just over six years.
And, as an addition to this package, Jinku has provided a breakdown of the production behind his “Barda” track. There’s even a download of the track’s Ableton project!
We hope you enjoy your music.
The XLR8R Team.
The music, PDF zine, and wallpaper art can be downloaded once you SUBSCRIBE HERE. If you’re already a subscriber, you can download the package below.
Editor’s note: the subscriber NFT will be available next week and a note will be sent out to subscribers.
TSVI and Loraine James have teamed up for an EP for AD93, formerly known as Whities.
053 was recorded in a two-week stint during the depths of the last lockdown while the pair were cohabiting and sharing a studio in east London. Even with the limited assortment of an out-of-tune piano, a cheap microphone, their phones, and Ableton, 053 is an “energetic, visceral EP,” the London label says, “bubbling with the spontaneity and energy the lockdown robbed them of.”
“Each track name and the EP as a whole represents our state of mind and shared feelings at that current time during isolation,” TSVI says. “We lived together in a warehouse space in Hackney Wick. We made those tracks during the last part of the lockdown. We’d go to my studio with no pressure to make anything.”
The release follows James’ ambient release on Ghostly as Whatever the Weather.
TSVI, the alias of London-based Brazilian Guglielmo Barzacchini, last released with the SognoEP in 2021 on Nervous Horizons. Before that, he enlisted James to deliver a remix of his “Thought Experiment” track with Object Blue, which formed part of the Hyperaesthesia EP.
Ahead of the release, “Observe” and “Trust” are now available as a double single via all platforms and the vinyl is available for pre-order. It will be available at other stores over the coming weeks.
Mastering comes from Kassian Troyer, with artwork designed by Dimitri Erhard.
In April, AD93 put out an album of experimental rock and grunge from Portuguese experimental IVVVO.
William Montana (a.k.a Sweely) will soon serve up Closer Energy, his debut album on Butter Side Up, the London- and Leeds-based label of Hamish Cole and Hugh Bailey.
Sweely is an often overlooked gem of the French electronic music scene, known for his jazz-tinged, swinging house jams. For the 32nd edition of XLR8R+, he delivered two tracks, “Always a Problem” and “Love Program,” which both feature in his live set. Closer Energy sees him continuing to explore these sounds, but with more Detroit techno and electro.
Closer Energy follows Sweely’s recent Danc’n In The Garage 12″ on Limousine Dream, though he’s previously put out music on Mulen Records, Lobster Theremin, and its sub-label Distant Hawaii. He put out the Private Navigation EP on Butter Side Up in 2019. This is the label’s first full-length.
Tracklist
01. Hello Goodbye 02. Not Part Of It 03. Keep On Rock’n 04. Call Me Tonight 05. Techy (la) Sunrise 06. When You’re In Love 07. MiniLook 08. Security (Get The Fuck Out) 09. Energy Bars 10. Closer Energy 11. Outro
Closer Energy LP is scheduled for June 6 release. Meanwhile, you can stream clips below and pre-order here.
Carsten Jost is the production and DJ alias of David Lieske. Alongside Lawrence (a.k.a Peter Kersten), he heads up the mighty Dial Records which, since its inception in 1999, has left an indelible mark on the European electronic music landscape with seminal works from the likes of Efdemin and Pantha du Prince. While the label might most commonly be pegged as a bastion of moody, minimalist deep house, its discography stretches into the realms of folktononica and even indie rock. Together, the pair used to run the Mathew Gallery in Berlin.
Jost is very much the product of Hamburg, “a melancholic city” he says, where his devotion for house music was dampened by a frustration at what he was hearing. “There was a lot of music going on in Hamburg, but there was something missing…,” Lieske toldRA. “And that’s underground house music. It was much weirder, and much slower, and much more unhappy than the music that was popular at the time.” Alongside Kersten, then, he began throwing parties and eventually launched Changing Weather, The Golden Pudel’s first house night, where they would refine their craft by playing to a small but loyal audience. They also met many of the artists that would later come to release on Dial.
Jost began releasing music on the label in 2000, and his early work was sparse and glitchy, offering a colder, darker take on the micro-house sound that was popular at the time. By the middle of the 2000s, though, his music had evolved into a more melodic deep house, but always with the same melancholic undercurrent. Since then, he’s drifted in and out of the public conscience, returning with a dark drone album titled Deathbridge in 2016 and his sublime but typically somber second solo album, Perishable Tactics, in 2017. And now he’s back with his third album, La Collectionneuse, scheduled for release next month. Much to our excitement, he offered to celebrate it with an XLR8R podcast.
Recorded on a gloomy and rainy Good Friday afternoon, Jost’s mix goes to the heart of Dial’s musical identity: expect deep moments of melancholic beauty with a hypnotic groove. Across its 100-minute run-time, it features several gems from Lieske’s collection, including contributions from Swiss producers lb honne and Ben Kaczor, all of which standout. To open and close the mix, he pulls extensively from the ambient leanings of Los Angeles label Jungle Gym Records, hoping to capture the peculiar atmosphere of an early Spring day when there is so much excitement in the air.
01. What have you been up to recently? The tennis clay court season has just started and you can’t imagine how excited I have been to return to the outdoors after the long training hours on the indoor courts. Meanwhile, I have developed my own line of tennis apparel and I am excited to launch it soon. My third studio album, La Collectionneuse, will be released on May 20 and I have been working on a remix album for it too, with all my favourite producers involved!
02. What have you been listening to? I have been listening to a lot of ambient records lately, my absolute favourite being the album Reflections by V. Kristoff on Jungle Gym Records. I’ve also been listening to many other releases on this excellent Los Angeles-based tape label. Lawrence just released a new Music For Plants piece on our label, Dial, which is absolutely fantastic and so special. Dungeon-Synth by Secret Stairways and Black Metal by Lamp Of Murmuur have been very much an inspiration and steady companion as well. Also trippy techno is very much back on my mind. I have been enjoying many releases on the hyper-active and digitally resurfaced Axis Records.
03. You’re soon set to release your third album on Dial. What can you tell us about it? The tracks on the album were recorded over a period of about three years since I returned to Berlin from New York and had time again to work on new music. It’s difficult for me to really say something about my music in general as producing is such a highly intuitive process for me. I never set out to make a certain track; have an idea or place in mind that this particular piece would be for. Mostly I am just trying to create a pleasurable moment for myself with sounds and beats. Once I reach that place with the humble skills and equipment I have, it is usually when a track comes about.
04. How does the release compare to your earlier albums? I hope this isn’t a let down but I feel (and also kind of hope) that this new album is quite similar to my previous albums and releases. I haven’t changed much about my production process or equipment and I feel comfortable with the music I make. This album really works for myself, but of course as anybody else who does anything public I also have terrible doubts about this music doing anything for other people. But this is what I can do at this moment and of course I hope it spreads some pleasure.
05. When and where did you record this mix? The mix was recorded on a very gloomy and rainy Good Friday afternoon in my room in Berlin. I hope it transports the slightly peculiar and torn atmosphere of an early Spring day when it is still a bit cold and grey outside, but there is so much excitement and confusion (also worry) about what’s coming inside of you.
06. How did you go about choosing the tracks that you’ve included? During the last two years, I have been recording a lot of mixes, and I’ve released most of them on my Soundcloud. So I have gotten used to a certain routine of loading and unloading tracks in this way that I really enjoy.
The current mix combines mostly recent tracks from my favourite musicians and record labels like the earlier mentioned Jungle Gym Records or the outstanding De Lichting crew from Amsterdam. Almost every single mix of mine includes a track by Joey Anderson whose music I absolutely adore, and also Achim Maerz. The newish Swiss producers lb honne and Ben Kaczor, who both recently delivered outstanding albums, are also on the mix, both with two tracks).
07. How does it compare to what we might hear you play in a club? The club of my dreams would very much be able to accommodate exactly the music that I am proposing in this mix, but on a very high volume because I love loud music! In my mixes I always try to express a wide range of emotions and intensities and I think a good club night does that, too. I feel I will forever be the warmup DJ which is really what I love doing in a club most. When the night is still a blank canvas and I am allowed to set people off into this sparkling panorama that needs a solid ground.
08. What’s next on your horizon? Of course I am very excited about the release of my new album and the remix LP and also other things I have already mentioned. Above all, of course, the coming tennis season and hopefully improvements in all areas of the game.
XLR8R has now joined Mixcloud Select, meaning that to hear the podcast offline you will need to subscribe to our Select channel to listen offline, or subscribe to XLR8R+ to download the file. The move to Mixcloud Select will ensure that all the producers with music featured in our mixes get paid. You can read more about it here.
Full XLR8R+ Members can download the podcast below.If you’re not an XLR8R+ member, you can read more about it and subscribe here.
Tracklisting
01. R. Pierre “Live At Non Plus Ultra” (Jungle Gym Records) 02. Twin Lakes “Orb of Night” (Jungle Gym Records) 03. Jordan GCZ “Burning Chrome” (Minimal Detroit Audio) 04. RDS “Dunes” (De Lichting) 05. Twin Lakes “Jewel of the Northwoods” (Jungle Gym Records) 06. lb honne “a means a” (Vorgott) 07. Ben Kaczor “The Fool” (KCZ / CZT) 08. Achim Maerz “Voices In My Head” (Self-Released) 09. Trux “Pulse” (Lowtec Remix) (Office Recordings) 10. Joey Anderson “Lavander Spaces” (Inimegrecordings) 11. Area Forty_One “Freefall” (Delsin) 12. Ben Kaczor “Passage” (KCZ / CZT) 13. Nathan Kofi “Pacemaker” (De Lichting) 14. Sten “Phantom” (Sushitech) 15. Pulso “Captain’s Inquest on the Bow of the Vessel” (Semantica) 16. Nathan Kofi “Candy Girl” (De Lichting) 17. E.R.P. “Ancient Light” (Solar One Music) 18. lb honne “untitled 09” (Vorgott) 19. V. Kristoff “Golden Pacific” (Jungle Gym Records)
Scottish electro producer Galaxian, real name Mark Kastner, will release his first album in over a decade.
We Are Power follows Galaxian releases on Helena Hauff’s Return to Disorder and Ilian Tape, plus a collaborative EP with DJ Stingray. Across 11 tracks, he ruminates on the confrontation and power clash between humankind and nature. What is authentic power? What is granted power? What is innate natural power? How is power accessed, wielded, utilised, and felt?
Sonically, we’re told that although the album is “quintessential Galaxian,” his blistering beats and razor-edged rhythms have been softened, his menace has melted, and the angst has “slightly soothed.” The album will be out as a label collaboration between Shipwrec and Berlin’s Foul-Up.
Known for performing in an aviation mask, Kastner melds polyrhythms, complex sound structures, and dark ambient textures to create what’s become a trademark take on Detroit electro.Repent, his latest album, landed in 2010.
Tracklisting
01. Out of Balance 02. Fields of Meaning 03. Without Form 04. Full Spectrum Resistance 05. Anatomy of a Modern Lie 06. Natural Energy 07. Messianic Delusions 08. In Reverse 09. Universal Truths 10. We Are Power (The Final Assault) 11. Code of Existence
We Are Power LP is scheduled for May 23 release. Meanwhile, you can stream “We Are Power (The Final Assault)” in full below and pre-order here.
ELLES has shared “Anthem,” the first track taken from her forthcoming debut album.
ELLES, real name Eleanor Pinfold, is a DJ-producer from London with releases on Naive, Naivety, and Dark Entries. Her first official release came as a celebratory string of female-only covers of acid house classics with Lisbon artist Violet for International Women’s Day in 2016. She is a resident on Rinse FM with a show that focuses on spotlighting female, non-binary, and queer talent. In DJing as in production, her influences are eclectic and far-ranging from pop, experimental, and ambient to post-punk, UK garage, and acid. You can read more about her in her XLR8R podcast here.
A Celebration of the Euphoria of Life will be the first album on Naive, and it’ll mark the fifth anniversary of the Lisbon label.
Written as a “love letter” to clubbing, the lyrics in “Anthem” take us through impressionist scenes of club abandonment. Glacial synths and dreamy vocal detailing make for the perfect backdrop for serotonin-glazed ecstatic pianos and slick house rhythms to come in and lift the song.
“Anthem is a track about details that linger and visions in the smoke and strobe,” ELLES tells XLR8R. “It’s about healing, finding hope, and the space that music and clubs can provide for processing it all.”
In 2019, ELLES released her debut solo EP, emo_ecstasy_everything, on Naive sub-label Naivety. Then, 2020 saw the release of Summers of Love, a four-track EP of garage-tinged club moments, on Naive.
Tracklisting
01. Out of office 02. Hope 03. Out 2 4get 04. I think I Feel Something 05. Coming Up is Such a Sweet Sorrow 06. Anthem 07. Toilet Talk 08. Dry ur Tears 09. Candyflip 69 10. Sex 11. Afterglo
