Sam Shepherd, the artist better known as Floating Points, will release a new album in September.
Cascade was devised as a follow-on from Crush, his second album, and it’s aimed and allowing him and his audience to experience Floating Points in its traditional form on a dancefloor once more.
We’re told to expect “sumptuous sonic chasms to lose yourself in again and again.”
This is also a record forged in an adolescence spent in Manchester, “discovering the mind-expanding power of electronic music in all its forms.”
Though devised as a continuation of Crush, it pushes Shepherd’s sound forward into new places.
“The nine songs here are allowed to smolder and spark for up to eight minutes at a time, allowing for more expansive exploration of sounds and grooves than before,” we’re told.
The album arrives almost a decade since Elaenia, Shepherd’s debut album.
Alongside the announcement, Shepherd has shared “Key103” which comes with visuals continuing his ongoing collaboration with Tokyo-based artist Akiko Nakayama.
Tracklisting
01. Vocoder (Club Mix) 02. Key103 03. Birth4000 04. Del Oro 05. Fast Forward 06. Ocotillo 07. Afflecks Palace 08. Tilt Shift 09. Ablaze
Cascade LP is scheduled for September 13 release. Meanwhile, you can stream “Key103” in full below.
DJ Loser is the alias of Terzoglou Pantelis, an enigmatic Thessaloniki, Greece-based DJ-producer. He began making electronic music as a teenager, “fascinated by the freedom of expression the field has to offer,” he says, and since then he’s been jumping between styles and genres “based on my current needs each time.” “For me it’s more about the character and essence of feelings in the music which can be expressed and feel the same in whichever electronic style,” he continues. You’ll find the majority of his recent work on Magdalena’s Apathy (including his 2020 album, Blissful Dementia Fist), the label which has the same focus as the music that he makes: contemporary club music with a nostalgic touch. Over recent years, he has been a resident at Stegi.Radio, where he presents an array of contemporary monthly mixes, and for this week’s XLR8R podcast he has delivered another one. Dial in for one hour of hard-groove techno and unhinged, psychedelic grooves.
01. What have you been up to lately? Mostly doing music for upcoming releases and a fashion show, and playing Shadow of the Erdtree.
02. What have you been listening to? Mostly podcasts.
03. What is it that appeals to you about dance music? The ability dance music has to provoke and combine feelings that are mostly in contrast in other music formats. And the dancefloor, it’s some sort of a ritualistic experience.
04. Where and when did you record this mix? Last month in my home in Thessaloniki, Greece.
05. How did you go about choosing the tracks? I acted instinctively.
06. What can the listener expect? It depends on the listener but it is energetic and emotionally versatile.
07. What’s next on your horizon? Liveshows late summer onwards and releases mostly on my label from artists from around the globe.
XLR8R Subscribers can download the podcast below.If you’re not an XLR8R subscriber, you can read more about it and subscribe here.
Pacific Rhythm has released a new album from ZG, a collaborative effort from Zansika Lachhani and Grant (a.k.a Tony from Frank & Tony).
Out Of The Unknown is the followup to the duo’s first self-titled LP that landed back on New York label Scissor and Thread in 2022.
Over the course of seven tracks, ZG takes their sound “a step further,” we’re told, building rich, deep, and complex rhythm patterns with the voice of Lachhani.
For more information on Grant, check out his XLR8R podcast of swinging house here.
Tracklisting
01. Feels Like Home 02. Good Feeling 03. Meet You There 04. Call To Mind 05. Left Outside 06. The Rising 08. Believe If You Can See
Out Of The Unknown LP is available now. You can stream it below and order it here.
Ross From Friends, the artist otherwise known as Felix Clary Weatherall, has returned to Brainfeeder under his new Bubble Love alias.
On Love Divide / The Knife (Bubble Love Remixes), Weatherall breathes fresh life into two Ross From Friends tracks: “Love Divide,” from 2021’s Tread album; and “The Knife” from his 2017 debut,Family Portrait.
We’re told that Weatherall “retains all of the emotional heft of the original whilst ramping up the four-to-the-floor elements to deliver a peak-time remix.”
Bubble Love was conceived as a way of bridging the gap between the energy of the Ross From Friends live shows and the late-night club DJ sets Weatherall was enjoying playing. Much of the initial music that would eventually become Bubble Love was written spontaneously and fast, which is in stark contrast to the meticulous production that goes into the mainline Ross From Friends output.
At the same time though, he found himself struggling with what he felt was the “hollow” nature of making music this way.
“Quite a massive part of me eventually found making things disposable like that really meaningless,” he says. “I felt like I was abandoning a side of me that loved spending time working on details, and loved to try and think really hard about certain parts of tunes.”
Fortunately, he found a way to reconcile these conflicting feelings whilst whiling away some of the hours on a long train journey.
“I came up with an experiment,” Weatherall explains. “I told myself, ‘let me try making a tune as if there was a digital character instructed to carry out the very first idea that came into my head.’ For example, if I had the idea that I wanted a horn section, seeing as that was the very first idea that came to my head, as per the rule, I had to carry it out without any judgment. It might sound far-fetched, but I love coming up with these kinds of games when I’m in a bit of a creative rut, and eventually I found myself just absolutely firing away making tunes like this. It was almost like a total epiphany—I realised I could bypass any self-doubt and confused voices and replace them with this character who was just mindlessly carrying out all of these tasks for me. Like I could just set up this algorithm and let it run.”
As Weatherall started making more and more stuff like this, that digital character started to become clearer and clearer. It started gaining actual characteristics, a voice, a personality. Whenever Weatherall would make a creative decision he’d quite literally imagine this little character carrying out these tasks for him, and it just became more and more vivid.
“As the character kept growing, that hollowness associated with making music in this disposable way started to lift, and it actually started to gain all this meaning,” Weatherall says. “It’s like I could now allow myself to enjoy making music in this way if I imagined it wasn’t me doing it. It’s easier to picture this digital geezer just pressing all the buttons instead.”
That digital geezer is Bubble Love. “He’s extracted all of that drunk, decisive, hedonistic energy I’ve got somewhere in me and spat it into my music,” Weatherall adds.
Tracklisting
01. Love Divide (Bubble Love Remix) 02. The Knife (Bubble Love Remix)
Love Divide / The Knife (Bubble Love Remixes) is available now on Brainfeeder. You can stream it in full below and order it here.
Tama Gucci—the Miami-raised, New York-based singer and DJ-producer has a knack for pushing the envelope. What began as a bedroom SoundCloud project to cover and remix popular songs soon evolved into something far greater and Tama began to write, produce, and perform his own music and became enamoured with his hometown’s queer underground rave community. The breakbeat-heavy sound of the city’s bustling warehouse parties rubbed off on his music, morphing it into an immersive blend of the ’90s R&B and ’00s pop he grew up loving, and the jungle and drum & bass music that fueled his nights out. The South Florida rave scene also brought Tama closer to his Jamaican roots, as electronic music was built on the foundations of dub reggae and, since its spaces uplifted both queer folks and people of color, he found community there. Next month, he’ll release Notes to Self, a collection of intoxicating electronic melodies and nostalgic pop-punk ballads that make up his debut album. Ahead of its release, XLR8R touched base with Tama to discuss where he’s at and where he’s going.
01. Describe your surroundings right now. I’m home with my moody blue lights, the air conditioning is blasting and I’m arranging my closet to Sade. So my room is a mess but progress is being made!
02. What’s the most fun thing you’ve done lately? I downloaded this tennis game on my phone. It’s silly but I’ve been having such a good time playing against random people online .
03. What’s the last thing that made you laugh and why? The last thing that made me laugh was a bktidalwave collage video on Instagram. She’s just so funny; there will never be another internet icon who is that outspoken and loved!
04. What’s the last thing that made you cry and why? The last thing that made me cry was when my dog who was 13 years old died. Her name was Mo and she died on Mother’s Day in her little dress, sleeping in her bed. I was mostly sad that I wasn’t there to say goodbye.
05. My understanding is that you’re drawn to spirituality. What can you tell us about this? I think we are all spiritual people. Some people have such a dark introduction to spirituality based on what they’ve seen in like movies or their upbringing if raised in a religious household. I encourage everyone to look into what about being spiritual scares them and to dive into understanding it. I promise you’ll be drawn into it too and can take from it what works for you.
06. How does this manifest itself in your music? It’s a sort of confidence that being spiritual brings; it gives me the sense of relief knowing that I’m making music mostly for myself and as long as I love it my supporters will too!
07. Tell me about growing up in the US. What were your favorite memories? My favorite memories growing up in the US are honestly with my dad driving to school every morning and stopping to get his coffee and then stopping to get my breakfast from Burger King. Sometimes on Thursdays, which was his payday, we would stop so I could get some random thing that I said I needed for school from the department store but really I just wanted to buy a toy and he would always buy it for me!
08. What sort of records were you listening to? Beam Me Up Scotty by Nicki Minaj; “Cry for You” by September; “Apologize” by One Republic; and “Full Moon” and “Aphrodisiac” by Brandy, to name a few. I really loved music growing up!
09. You began producing music early, but when did you realize you had a knack for it? I realized I had a knack for it when I uploaded one of my tracks to Soundcloud not realizing how good it was and I got so many compliments on the beats. I was so proud. It’s nice to get direct, unbiased feedback on something you just started!
10. When was Tama Gucci born, and why the name? Tama Gucci was born when I needed a handle. I always collected Tamagotchi’s and dreamed of modelling for Gucci so I went and morphed the two together, and boom! Tama Gucci was born.
11. What’s your production process like, and how has this changed as you’ve matured as an artist? I used to write my lyrics first and make the beat second. Then once I had the skeleton I would freestyle the melody over the beat and match it up with the lyrics. But as of lately I’ve been making the beats first and writing second as I come up with the melody.
12. Your debut album, Notes To Self, is arriving soon. What can you tell us about it? It’s simply perfect. It was important for me to love it before I shared it with anyone. It’s sexy, it’s honest, it’s romantic, it’s heartbreaking. A little something for everyone to enjoy.
13. What’s the most-played track or artist on your Spotify/other streaming service? My most played track is “Save Me” by Nicki Minaj because it’s the first song I purchased digitally. I have so many demos also in my phone so I’m definitely the most played artist!
14. Whose music do you listen to for inspiration? I love love love Imogen Heap, Ellie Goulding, Nicki Minaj, Brandy, and Fefe Dobson.
15. What do you perceive to be your strengths and weaknesses as a producer? My strengths are that I can sing the melody I want before I’m able to get it down in the software. But my weakness is that I’m sometimes intimidated by Ableton since I’m fairly new to it but I still keep trying!
16. What advice would you give yourself 20 years ago? Never ever shrink yourself! Your flaws are not actually flaws; they are what makes you you and you are perfect!
17. What would constitute your perfect day off? A perfect day off would be a joint, my favorite songs on repeat, my boyfriend next to me, and a cozy couch or a bed to chill in with a cozy blanket. And it’s pouring outside!
18. Dead or alive, who is your dream person to go for dinner with? Grace Jones.
19. Where do you see yourself artistically in 10 years? In 10 years I see myself happy producing and writing chart-topping music for other artists I love.
20. What’s the first thing you’re going to do after answering these questions? I have a grape soda watching me as I type this so I’m gonna chug that and then watch “90 Day Fiancé.”
Self-titled SOPHIE, the album comprises unheard and previously unreleased material and will be released via her labels Transgressive and Future Classic.
It the first posthumous music since the Scottish artist tragically passed away in January 2021.
The album has been produced alongside Benny Long, SOPHIE’s brother and collaborator who has previously stated that there are “literally hundreds of tracks” that had not been heard by the public.
“When we, Sophie’s family, took our first steps towards bringing this project to fruition we contacted the dear friends with whom she envisioned the album. We wrote, ‘We have been finding comfort in the music Sophie left us, it is a gift that we truly cherish as we try to find a way forward, with Sophie forever at the centre of our worlds,” wrote SOPHIE’s family in a statement.
“This album has always told the story of Sophie’s musical journey, a cacophony of skill and creative vision eclipsing time and genre. Her unique sound world moves at an emotional level, encouraging the listener to intuitively embrace the ever-evolving landscape of light and dark, soft and hard, to the end of self-love and joyful self-acceptance.”
Alongside the album, a new track called “Reason Why” has been released, featuring Kim Petras and BC Kingdom.
SOPHIE LP will land on September 27. Pre-order is available here with “Reason Why” streaming in full via the player below.
Through her vibrant, bass-heavy sets, Kampire has become recognized as one of East Africa’s most exciting DJs and a core member of Kampala, Uganda’s Nyege Nyege collective. (Her Boiler Roomset from 2019 has nearly one-million views.) She grew up in Zambia and journey in music began in 2014, when she visited Sauti Za Busara, a festival in Zanzibar, and through that she met some music community who would later coalesce around Nyege Nyege, the festival she helped found. Around the time of the first edition, in 2015, she played her first DJ set, although she didn’t know how to mix. “I was playing one song after the other,” she recalled to Dazed. “It was in front of a combined community of friends, or friends of friends, so a warm, welcoming crowd—but I was definitely shocked by how well people responded.” She was hooked. In the years since, she’s learned how to mix and developed a reputation for her energetic DJ gigs, which she fills with a full range of African music styles, from the ’70s and ’80s to the present day. In 2019, she toured the US for the first time and a few years after that she joined BBC Radio 1‘s as one of their Residency host DJs, giving her an even bigger platform for showcasing her favorite sounds. Next month, she’ll release a new compilation for Strut Records and in this week’s XLR8R podcast she’s delivered a taste of what we can expect. Tune in for 60 minutes of African rhythms: classic soukous, South African bubblegum, kwaito, bacardi, coupe decale, zouk, as well as the more contemporary genres they inspired”
01. What have you been up to recently? I recently returned home from playing a few Europe dates at the beginning of the summer which was super fun. I also got to play around East Africa and a couple of times in South Africa this year which I am super grateful for.
02. What have you been listening to? I played in Johannesburg and Cape Town earlier this year which is always inspiring for me because I love South African music. In addition to gqom, which is always in rotation at my house, I’ve been listening to a lot of Bacardi, and classic kwaito and bubblegum so you’ll hear a bit of that in this mix.
03. You have a new compilation coming. What can you tell us about it? Yeah I’m excited it’s finally coming out because I’ve been working on it with Strut Records for four years. It’s a tribute to the sounds of my childhood which form the foundation of the sets I play today. A bit of Zambia kalindula, East African soukous. I wanted to pay tribute to the female vocalists of soukous/rumba because I feel they too deserve their flowers!
04. Where and when did you record this mix? I recorded it at home in Kampala. The day I planned to record it there was no electricity at home the whole day which happens frequently enough that you would think it would teach me not to leave these things to the last minute!
05. What setup did you use? My Pioneer XDJ-RX2 in my home office.
06. How did you choose the tracks you’ve included? I wanted to preview some of the tracks in the upcoming compilation and the rest spilled over from there. I was reminded of a conversation I had with a promoter some years ago; we were talking about ambient music and he asked me what I listened to when I had electronic dance music fatigue, which was the first time I understood this context for ambient music to be honest. Mainly because when I’m tired of listening to doof-doof dance music I listen to soukous or soukous-inspired African pop music from the ’70s and ’80s. It’s still very danceable and upbeat but it’s a completely different headspace especially when it’s recorded live. So this is really the core of the mix, lots of nostalgic tracks and classic African songs, some set staples but of course a few newer tracks to keep things flowing!
07. Where do you imagine it being listened to? On a sunny day, sitting in some grass, preferably near a body of water!
08. What’s next on your horizon? There are some shows at the end of the summer which I’m looking forward to: Dekmantel Selectors, Brunch Electronic in Barcelona. I’m also looking forward to playing more in East Africa, and hoping to invite some DJ friends from Europe to join me on some lineups.
XLR8R Subscribers can download the podcast below.If you’re not an XLR8R subscriber, you can read more about it and subscribe here.
Tracklisting
01. DJ Polo, Breaka & Swordman Kitala “Dance Hall Again” (Instrumental) (Grid Records) 02. V-Mash “Naughty Boy” (Strut Records) 03. Aba Shante “Babe Babe” (999 Records) 04. Sandy B “Student Night” (Lion’s Drums edit) (Biologic Records) 05. Kamazu “Indaba Kabani” (Roy B Records) 06. Splash “P-Coq” (Original Mix) (Strut Records) 07. Groupe d’Animation U.F.P.D.G. “Tchatcha Tchatcha” (Secousse Records) 08. Oriental Brothers “Edi Special (Arn4l2 remix) (Palenque Records) 09. DJ DADAMAN “Xigubu” (2985574 Records) 10. L’vovo & Danger Sgubhu – iStyle (feat. DJ Tira & Trademark) (Self-Released) 11. DJ Mbuso “Soweto Funk” (Self-Released) 11. Sam Interface x Gafacci “Super Sunday” (Original version) (More Time Records) 12. Chamos “The Darbuka Song” (CHAMOS & YOHENKWART Edit) (Self-Released) 13. Mxshi Mo x Skream “Imali Yami” (More Time Records) 14. WEMA WEMA “KIHEREHERE” (Bugsy ReDrum) (Take It Easy Records) 15. Pembey Sheiro “Sala Mi Toto” (Strut Records) 16. Lilocox “SAMBAPITO” (OriginalGhetto) Príncipe 17. Nouvelle Generation de la Republique Democratique “Ma Cherie” (World Music Network Records) 18. Montparnasse Musique “Sukuma” feat. Muambuyi (Self-Released) 19. Meiway “Nanan” (Afiba Productions) 20. Arlus Mabélé & Son Groupe Loketo “Femme Ivoririenne” (Jamz Supernova & Sam Interface Carnival Edit) (Futurebounce Records) 21. Dj Eric “Instrumental” (Couper Decaler) 22. Kassav’ “Zouk-la sé sel médikaman nou ni” (Heavenly Sweetness)
Born in New York City, Solpara started DJing in the late ’00s when he was living in Montréal, Canada, and he later co-founded the Booma Collective, a label collective and event series focused on experimental techno, ambient, and house. Once back in New York, he spent a number of years as head buyer at the Halcyon record shop.
Melancholy Sabotage has been on his mind for a few years. He released the Swing EP on Other People in 2015 and was motivated to develop a full-length.
The album came to life while Solpara was living alone in a Brooklyn loft, collecting unemployment checks. He’d previously been forced to make music in odd windows between numerous jobs.
Free from obligations, he would wake up early to take Arabic lessons online, read Tracey Thorn’s autobiography, and skateboard the deserted streets, then come home and design sounds until he had a track that felt like it needed to be released.
Pushing through a tight mesh of widescreen ambient textures, slow-motion beats, dissonant guitar riffs, and saturated post-punk vocals, the album “confronts sadness head-on,” we’re told.
Tracklisting
01. Time to Hold Better 02. This Time Last Year 03. We Keep Us Safe 04. Melancholy Sabotage 05. Measures 06. We Don’t Owe 07. Breaking Points 08. Eviction
Melancholy Sabotage LP is available now. You can stream it in full below and order it here.
Sakini originally released Like A Gun digitally in 2019, and it marked the beginning of her solo work. It precedes her four solo albums: Vivienne, Into the Traffic, Under The Moonlight, Princess Diana of Wales, and Paloma; and a. string of EPs: Strada, and What I Got, Blip in the Bungalow.
Sonically, the release evokes a place that is “spacious yet secretive,” exposing a tale “fatalism, memory, and that gross feeling when reality hits.”
Now remastered, these two solo pieces will be available on a special limited edition 7″ vinyl.
The original cover art, by Sophie Gemmill, will also return, with a limited number of copies featuring an alternate painting by Gemmill.
For more information on Sakini, check out her XLR8R podcast here.
Tracklisting
01. Like a Gun 02. Life out Here Is Changing
Like a Gun EP is scheduled for September 10 release. Meanwhile, you can stream it in full via the player below and pre-order here.
LSDXOXO, real name RJ Glasgow, will release his debut album in September.
DOGMA consolidates Glasgow’s sound after a period of “healing and self-discovery,” we’re told.
Whereas his last release—2023’s Delusions of Grandeur (D.O.G.) EP—was created as a communication between DJ and dancefloor, DOGMA marks a shift towards the singer-songwriter and live show process.
Across 11 tracks, Glasgow meditates on fame, infamy, lust, and submission, as he rediscovers a “pure, unadulterated approach to music-making.”
Glasgow first garnered attention as LSDXOXO in New York with his Soundcloud edits. In 2021, he released Dedicated 2 Disrespect on XL Recordings. In 2019, he released “Zenon” via XLR8R+.
The album lands on Glasgow’s own Fantasy Audio Group (F.A.G.) label.
