Rasasvada is a brand new label from London DJ and producer Maia Lee. It kicks off with a three-track EP that showcases her deep and sultry style.
Born Sophie Lee, Maia Lee has spent the last eight years honing her craft and picking up residencies at parties from the west to the east ends of London as well as parties in Ibiza and Dubai. Her broad style is couched in house music but takes cues from funk, soul, and deeper pockets of the musical spectrum. As a producer who has graduated from Point Blank, her first foray into beat making is the Kodiak EP.
Taken from the EP, “Livl Helper” is available for download below—a track with clacking hits, buried deep kicks, and freaky vocal murmurs.
Lisbon’s leading dance music record shop Carpet & Snares Records is set to launch a label of the same name.
First up on the label is André Leiria who “completes his journey from wide-eyed customer to a fully-fledged producer,” explains the label, with three “reflective” and an outer-space dub from Mosaic boss Steve O’Sullivan.
Tracklist:
A1. Raining Sun A2. Raining Sun (Steve O’Sullivan’s drifting dub) B1. Fear Of Death B2. Not The Way
Fear Of Death EP is scheduled for June 9 release with “Raining Sun” streamable in full below.
The Bristol-based artist has released a wide breadth of music over the last five years for labels like Secretsundaze, Hypercolour, and his own Elastic Dreams label. Two acclaimed albums—namely Dream Ritual and Elasticity —as well as 15 EPs have appealed to those who like their techno without frontiers, taking in blistering 140BPM techno, breakbeat IDM, and ambient dub with ease. Vanishing Point is his second release on Hypercolour and “displays signs of crossover appeal at long last,” explains the label.
Two original tracks—namely “Vanishing Point” and “The Pathway”—are accompanied by a remix by Matrixxman, who pushes the original down a long dark tunnel for a growling and reverberating techno overhaul.
Tracklisting
01. Vanishing Point 02. The Pathway 03. The Pathway (Matrixxman Remix)
Vanishing Point EP is scheduled for June 16 release, with the Matrixxman rework exclusively streamable below.
On the May 26, Norwegian producers Craig Wells and Mathias Loose will release a new EP under the Perfume moniker via Hot Gem.
The new project finds the pair working in new pastures, combining atmospheric field recordings with dubby effects, groove-led beats, and deep basslines in a complex mix that nods to the work of the LA beat scene’s leading labels such Stones Throw and Brainfeeder. Using custom-made instruments and a focus on sound design, the duo craft rich tapestries that shrug genre constraints and suck the listener in with seductive warmth.
In support of the release, which can be pre-ordered and previewed here, the duo have offered up the EP’s opening cut, “Moonspeed,” as today’s XLR8R download, available via WeTransfer below.
Later this month, Polish producer B.YHZZ—who is a co-founder of the Intruder Alert collective alongside KRY, IMMUNE, and GRAŃ—will drop his latest EP, Via, on Infinite Machine.
The EP follows up his 2016 debut, Contra—which was also released on Infinite Machine—with four pulverizing tracks in his confronting, idiosyncratic style. Alongside the original cuts, the EP includes remixes by the NON co-founder Chino Amobi, Hyperdub’s Endgame, and Imaabs.
With the announcement of the EP, B.YHZZ has also shared a video for “Rinnoji,” a deep and meditative cut that arrives coupled with mixed visuals from his personal archives, as he explains:
“The video is my footage from Japan mixed with some footage from our club nights and my Unsound performance last year, it reflects the main idea of EP which is finding the balance between the ‘spiritual/meditational’ side and the ‘club’ side of my music.”
You can watch the video in full via the player above, with the EP arriving on May 26.
Giegling artist Prince Of Denmark has announced that the project has ended, revealing the news via two separately posted SoundCloud mixes early this morning.
The mixes, both “untitled,” were uploaded to two accounts associated with the mysterious producer called “Prince Of Denmark is dead” and “planet uterus.” No news has been shared about the state of Prince Of Denmark’s other aliases, Traumprinz and DJ Metatron.
Each of the mixes features a single track looped eight times, perhaps in an ode to Prince Of Denmark’s 2016 LP—titled 8. One of them comes with the following message:
“The story that I was trying to tell here has been told. It’s very last paragraph is about the letting go of something. Beyond that, personally, it is both a caring embrace as it is a testament to a ten year long chapter at giegling, that, with all I’m doing, had been coming to an end for me. Times which I feel thankful for, though by waking up from a deep dream, what I can tell now, that over time I must have lost touch with it somehow and finally decided to move on into something unknown. Thank you deeply for what seemed like a wonderful journey to me, we’ll meet again.”
Featuring all of Vicari Jnr’s hallmarks, Soft Machinations is full of swinging drum-machine rhythms, tripped-out synth lines, and wall-shaking low-end grooves. For those keeping a close ear to the house scene, or more importantly videos emanating out of the recent Sunwaves, you would have noticed the massive C1 cut, “MOY LALLY IN D,” doing the rounds.
Soft Machinations is set to drop in the next few weeks and can be pre-ordered here. Ahead of the release, you can stream the glistening “YOVEREVE PT 1” in full via the player below.
Alex Christopherson (a.k.a. TÂCHES) is the English-born, Mallorca-raised artist who counts releases on a slew of reliable labels from the likes of Nervous, Kitsuné, CR2, Desert Hearts Records, and more. In recent years, TÂCHES’ popularity has risen in melodic house and techno circles, becoming known for his laid-back, relaxed production aesthetic. Christopherson has also released several collaborative projects with artists such as KAASI, London-based duo Eli & Fur, and the rising Bristol producer SØNDER.
TÂCHES has recently announced details surrounding his next collaboration, this time with Los Angeles-based vocalist Anabel Englund. The Hot Natured member, who recently ventured into solo work with her ‘London Headache’ single on Defected, will soon release a two-track EP with Christopherson. In the meantime, the two are scheduled to perform at the second Gari Safari warehouse event on Friday, which will also feature resident artists Matt Ossentjuk, Mont Blvck, Human Life, and Desert Hearts member RYBO. Tickets for the party can be found here.
In anticipation of this weekend’s event and their forthcoming release, TÂCHES and Englund have offered up the alternate “Velvet Version” of EP track “Cha Cha.” The track is available to download via the WeTransfer button below.
Sam Gellaitry’s most recent record—Escapism III—landed on April 7 via XL Recordings. The release was the third part of the trilogy, arriving after two well-received initial installments of a similar cinematic yet experimental sonic mold.
Gellaitry, now 20, started producing at the age of 12 Scotland where he has spent much of his youth. Having been influenced by a wide-range of musical genres, he “used his imagination” and “love of nature” to begin creating eclectic soundscapes—and it wasn’t long before he finished school at the age of 16 to enroll in a local music course and invest more time in these endeavors.
Subsequently, L.A. label/collective Soulection signed him up for his debut EP in February 2015; and, since then, he’s established himself as something of a prodigy: a splendid Boiler Room set and various other DJ performances have helped, for sure; but the delicate and graceful nature of his releases—all of which have since landed on XL—has captured the attention of the global music media and an ever-growing set of fans. His first two EPs on the label were streamed over four million times on Spotify alone. It’s certainly been a busy few years for the rising Sterling-based artist.
Up now, he steps into our 20 Questions series, answering questions on just about anything.
Sam Gellaitry is performing at this month’s Lightning In A Bottle Festival, which takes place May 24-29 in Bradley, CA. Gellaitry will be performing alongside Bob Moses, Bonobo, Stephan Bodzin, Ivy Lab, Fakear, tINI, Leon Vynehall, Guy J, Monolink, Julia Govor, and many more. You can grab tickets to LIB here.
1. Describe your surroundings right now?
I’m at home in Stirling where it’s an overcast day. It was an amazing day yesterday so I’m hoping it brightens up again soon.
2. You grew up in central Scotland. Where are you based today?
I’m still based in Stirling. It’s a very friendly place with a great blend of rural and urban landscapes.
3. Where is your studio room and what’s it like?
I’m currently in my room which looks out to my garden and is also where I produce all of my tracks when I am not on the move. There is quite a lot of clutter just now, although that never gets in the way of my creative process so it doesn’t phase me much.
4. What’s your earliest memory of music? Do you come from a particularly musical family–or how did you get into it?
I guess my earliest memories are listening to the radio in my family car and also being immersed in soft play areas as a child. I remember the music in the soft play areas being very trancey and euphoric which I have incorporated into my tracks before such as “Odyssey” and “The Gateway.” I also remember associating music with color for the first time at around the age of five: I recall hearing Junior Senior “Move Your Feet” and thinking it sounded like a deep red or brown color, then hearing OutKast “Ms. Jackson” and seeing a light blue color.
5. Are you still studying or do you play/produce music full time?
I DJ and produce full time and luckily never had to have any other job to support that. I left school at 16 and studied sound production at college for a year and then my Soundcloud got a lot of attention as soon as that summer hit.
6. What came first–DJing or production?
I was producing way before I started DJing. I first started sampling music when I was 10 then I started to muck around with FL Studio two years after. I learned to DJ in preparation for my first ever show in XOYO for a Soulection night which also happened to be the first club night I ever went to.
“My music is pretty layered, melodic, and usually bright sounding; I try to make people listening feel joy.”
7. How would you describe the music that you make?
I find it very difficult to describe my music which always gets in the way when people ask what I do for a living. I describe it as electronic music because of its many sub-genres which I associate with but couldn’t really attach it to just one of them. My music is pretty layered, melodic, and usually bright sounding; I try to make people listening feel joy.
8. On the production front, you seemed to arrive on the scene seemingly out of nowhere with four standout EPs. How many tracks would you say you produced before releasing your first record?
I had been writing my own music for six years prior to the first EP coming out so I had made hundreds of tracks in the run-up to the releases. My computer is full of unreleased ideas and I’m sure a lot of them won’t ever get heard mainly because I am obsessed with creating new tracks.
9. You first released on XL Recordings in 2015. How did your relationship with the label come about?
XL contacted me directly—which was an honor because I had been aware of them for a long time. I remember seeing their logo on the back of my Prodigy and Basement Jaxx CDs when I was younger. They have an amazing legacy which I’m proud to be a part of.
10. You’ve just released the third chapter of your Escapism Series. What is the common thread in all this material?
All the songs from the series have a similar foundation and structure. Each track is my take on the current state of hip hop and each Escapism EP follows on from the one before. I guess what I like about the EP’s coming out as a series is that you can hear the changes in mood and where my mind was at: Escapism II is the tracks I made for the club in mind whereas Escapism III is much more influenced by nature and my surroundings.
“It’s very important to me that the music sounds good without there being drums present.”
11. When writing music, what comes first, the drums or the melody?
The melody. It’s very important to me that the music sounds good without there being drums present. The majority of my tracks start without drums anyway so it’s a good way to start the process—with the same technique.
12. What is your studio setup like?
I have a studio set up in my room which consists of my laptop, monitors, a few vintage racks, a microKORG, a Korg sv1, which I use for MIDI, and a bass and electric guitar. My main component is the laptop for FL Studio.
13. How do you approach production–are most tracks pre-conceived or do you spend a lot of time just jamming?
I’ve been working with the same software for so long now that it’s pretty subconscious when it comes to creating new ideas. Most of the time I just let it happen and create chords or sounds which I add layers too. I rarely create a track where I have a clear idea of what the end result is going to sound like; it’s mainly just experimentation.
14. Do you have any pre-gig rituals or superstitions?
No, not at all. I pray before every show but that’s about it. Usually, I am pretty comfortable pre-performance which is something I’m very thankful for, although I remember messing up my first ever sound check for the XOYO show I mentioned and the nerves then were indescribable. 10 minutes before I performed that night I got such a buzz and huge rush of adrenaline that the show felt like it lasted for about five minutes, it was such a surreal feeling.
15. What’s the best piece of advice you have been given in regards to your music?
I don’t actually get given a lot of advice. But the best advice I could give someone else would be to find your own way of doing everything.
16. Besides music, what is your favorite hobby and why?
I’ve recently got really into photography. I like the contrast of capturing an idea rather than creating one. I also like to be outdoors so it’s an opportunity to do both. I invested in a little Fuji XT10 and I’m loving it so far. I started shooting with an old Canon AE1 film camera but the Fuji is perfect for my impatience because I can see the photo immediately, although I do prefer the feel and the grain which film gives off.
17. What was the last full-length album you listened to?
Thundercat’s Drunk.
18. If you had to listen to one record for the rest of your life what would it be?
Flying Lotus Cosmogramma. To me, it is the perfect album.
“The only problem I had with the age association is I didn’t want it to be the reason that people were impressed with my music.”
19. Do you feel a pressure having found success in music at such an early age?
The only problem I had with the age association is I didn’t want it to be the reason that people were impressed with my music.
20. What’s the first thing you’ll do after answering these questions?
I’m heading out to my friend’s studio to work on some music.
