Podcast 739: CiCi

CiCi, the alias of Claire Cavanagh, is one of Britain’s most exciting musical taste-makers. You’ll hear her playing radio shows and clubs across the UK, Italy, and Ibiza, where she currently lives and holds a residency at Pikes for Cosmic Pineapple. Before the pandemic struck, she played the main room at Fabric and was also touring through Europe and Asia alongside some of her favorite artists: ItaloJohnson, Mr G, and Luciano. Then, during the pandemic, she released her EXTRANEOUS, her debut EP, on Warehouse Music, the London label of Mella Dee. (Her second EP will land next month on on Man Power‘s Me Me Me, with Warehouse Preservation Society and Zillas on Acid remix duties.)

Growing up in Dublin, Ireland, Cavanagh studied fine arts and dance, but she also found herself absorbed by artists like Björk, The Smashing Pumpkins, and Nine Inch Nails. Before she was even a teenager, she’d bought Daft Punk’s Homework, and this opened the door to electronic music. By 2009, she was not only promoting her own parties across Dublin but spinning records at them too, playing the sort of stuff she’s become known for today: breakbeat-driven bombs, percussion-led groovers, and soulful house. It wasn’t until 2015, though, that she began to produce, eager to express herself further. She taught herself Ableton before borrowing synths on rotation from friends who produce. She sent some of her first sketches to Ryan Aitchison, better known as Mella Dee, who snapped them up for Warehouse Music.

Recorded in her bedroom in Ibiza in the middle of February, Cavanagh’s XLR8R podcast is a collection of the tracks she’s dying to play out as touring picks up again—and it makes us excited to see her perform soon. Across its one-hour run-time, you’ll hear fizzing breakbeat and bumping house but also electro and techno stompers, from artists like Monophonik, Daniel Troberg, and Inigo Vontier. All of this is mixed smoothly and seamlessly, and infused with Cavanagh’s psychedelic energy, making it a heads-down mix that’ll have you pining for the dancefloor.

01. What have you been up to recently?
I’ve been touring and working on new music mainly, and making the most of some downtime before the summer season. I live in Ibiza which is so lovely at this time of year, because it’s just before the clubs open and there’s perfect weather for enjoying swimming and exploring around the island. I’ve also just got back from a mini fashion week tour in Italy which was super fun.

02. What have you been listening to?
I listen to OpenLab radio a lot, at all times of the day and evening. I also have a monthly show called Curiosities on the station where I play more experimental styles. This show is always fun because I get to play a lot of alternative stuff I wouldn’t normally play in the clubs!

03. How was the lockdown period for you?
It was tough in many ways, as I’m sure it was for everyone, but I did use the time to get my head down and focus on music, plus start to think about the next steps once we were allowed out again.

04. Where do you spend your time nowadays?
I’m based in Ibiza but I frequently travel to the United Kingdom and Italy a lot for shows.

05. Last year you put out Extraneous, your debut EP, on Warehouse Music. How did the release come about?
Ryan Aitchison (a.k.a Mella Dee) liked the tracks and so it was exciting for me to release on Warehouse Music as I’m a big fan of his sound and there are also so many other bomb releases on the label.

06. Where did you record this mix?
From my room in Ibiza.

07. What setup did you use?
On the Pioneer XDJZX that I flew over, which is so handy for being able to record straight to USB.

08. How did you go about choosing the tracks that you’ve included?
I really wanted it to reflect exactly the vibe I’m on in this present moment, and I think I did.

09. How does it compare to what we might hear you play in a club?
You would definitely hear me play some of these tracks in the club. So I guess the mix journeys into the club.

10. What’s on your horizon for 2022?
Festivals, festivals, and more festivals! I have such a busy summer ahead with lots of great shows in the pipeline on top of my Ibiza residencies. I’m really excited to be on the road again and be part of some really fun parties around the world.

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. Robert Ames & Ben Corrigan “Citadel of Kicks” (Modern Recordings)
02. Dalfie “Forest Fresh” (Gruuv)
03. DOTT “Spacey Mango” (Jugaar Records)
04. Inigo Vontier “Maquina” (Calypso Records)
05. Hooverian Blur “Square Jazz” (Sneaker Social Club)
06. Harvey Sutherland feat. Dâm-Funk “Feeling of Love” (Martyn Bootyspoon ‘with tongue’ mix) [Amidst]
07. Coloray “Line Break” (Sam Goku Remix) (Atomonation)
08. David Agrella “Walking Loud” (AGRELLOMATICA)
09. David Holmes feat. Raven Violet “It’s Over if We Run Out of Love (Working Men’s Club remix) (Heavenly Recordings)
10. Monophonik “Downstream” (Qilla Records)
11. Daniel Troberg “Stomach Acid” (Tilliander remix) (Acidchicken & Cutt Records)

Richie Hawtin’s Plastikman and Chilly Gonzales to Release Collaborative Album

Richie Hawtin will release a new Plastikman album in collaboration with Grammy-nominated composer, pianist, and vocalist Chilly Gonzales.

Consumed In Key is a reworking of Plastikman’s 1998 album, Consumed. The project began to take form when Gonzales heard the original album for the first time, around its 20th anniversary, in 2018. Interested by the loose use of melody and unique time structure and flow, he set about creating piano-led counterparts to the tracks. “To hear Consumed, to hear the freedom in how it was made, and to hear the confidence within which it stands behind so few elements was almost like a threat I had to respond to,” Gonzales said in a statement.

A bunch of these demos were sent to Tiga, who recommended that Gonzalez contact Hawtin to see if a “sonic conversation” was possible. The new version sees “one composer instinctively reacting to, and finding space within, another composer’s already completed work,” we’re told, and it’s “not a remix.”

As with the original, Consumed In Key features 10 tracks of atmospheric techno but it also includes new piano pieces composed by Gonzalez. The album lands on Turbo Recordings, and label boss Tiga is credited as an Executive Producer.

The artwork is a reinterpretation of the original album’s, flipped to black and white and with the cutout size transposed to the exact dimensions of a piano key.

Tracklisting

01. Contain (In Key)
02. Consume (In Key)
03. Passage (In Key)
04. Cor Ten (In Key)
05. Ekko (In Key)
06. Converge (In Key)
07. Locomotion (In Key)
08. In Side (In Key)
09. Consumed (In Key)
10. Passage Out (In Key)

Consumed In Key LP is scheduled for April 1 release. Meanwhile, you can stream “Contain (In Key)” in full below and pre-order here.

Xyla Delivers Slice of “Hope-Inspired Crunk n’ B” on Leaving Records

Xyla, the alias of Alyx Henderson, has shared “On & On,” a new single, via Leaving Records.

Growing up in Houston, Texas, Henderson circled hip-hop, R&B, and classical music, but little of what she listened to really made her move. Towards the end of 2019, she visited Berlin, intent on digging deeper into dance; while there, she’d attend gigs and parties alone, only to explore genres, and she’d spend her time at home delving deep into her favorite labels’ back catalogs. All of this informed her own palette and she began to craft her first dancefloor compositions.

After returning to San Francisco, where she’d been living since 2013 to continue her examination of the French horn, she released Ways, a patchwork quilt of sounds and genres, rich in IDM and footwork, on Matthewdavid‘s esteemed Leaving label. “On & On” is Henderson’s first outing since Ways. She describes the tune as “hope-inspired crunk n’ b.”

For more information on Xyla, check out her XLR8R podcast here.

Tracklisting

01. On & On

On & On is available now. You can stream it below and order it here.

Saoirse is Back with a Three-Track EP

Saoirse will put out her second EP on her own TrUst Recordings.

Two Bruised Egos is the first release that Saoirse, real name Saoirse Ryan, has shared since her debut, 2021’s Trust. As always, there’s a sense of fun and playfulness to the productions, and all three tracks are “primed and ready for those big dancefloor moments,” we’re told, from the euphoria of “Gentle Romance” and vibrancy of “Can’t We Just Have Fun,” to the “bouncy, mind-melting anthem” that is “Chubby.”

The release follows the debut edition of Body Movements, a celebration of queer bodies in electronic music where Saoirse is the co-founder and musical director. She’s also recently completed her month-long Phonox residency, which featured guest appearances from Peach and Andrew James Gustav, and her debut BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix.

TrUst Recordings, launched in 2021, is about being able to “trust in one’s own ability.” It’s a platform for “music made for dancefloors,” coming from Saoirse, her friends, and her most loved producers, either solo or as collaborators.

Tracklisting

01. Gentle Romance
02. Can’t we just have fun
03. Chubby

Two Bruised Egos EP is scheduled for May 6 release. Meanwhile, you can stream the release in full below and pre-order here.

Web3 Wrap: pplpleasr Launches Shibuya, FWB Announces Product Roadmap, SXSW Event, and New Head of Brand, and More

This week’s Web3 Wrap includes pplpleasr’s Shibuya video platform and its stunning first series, White Rabbit, a new product roadmap, SXSW event, and Head of Brand from Friend’s With Benefits (FWB), Pianity’s $6 million seed round, The Willow Tree (TWT) DAO’s Keepsakes NFT collection, Bob Dylan and Miles Davis NFTs, and more.

Check it out below.

Friends With Benefits Announces Product Roadmap, SXSW Event, and New Head of Brand, Lindsay Howard

Across this week, Friends With Benefits (FWB) released its product roadmap, announced a SXSW event, and appointed Lindsay Howard as Head of Brand.

The product roadmap, which was released via Mirror, begins by offering a retrospective of the products that have already been built by the FWB product team. Firstly, the piece describes internal tools such as an automated onboarding concierge Discord bot; Pins, another Discord bot that tags messages with high engagement and sends them to a review channel for the FWB weekly digest; WalletLink, a bot that allows members to link a wallet and opt-in to member programs; FloorFinder, a bot that calls the floor price of any ERC-721 token; and DailyPaper, a tool that scrapes an inbox for newsletters and posts them to a dedicated channel as a PDF with a short description. Secondly, the piece outlines public-facing projects and tools made by the team, including Gatekeeper, a Web3 RSVP and ticketing system that has already recorded 6,400 RSVPs across three internal and four partner events; FWB.ART, an NFT gallery and marketplace; and Events, a token-gated events platform.

The roadmap then details the products being built that will be rolled out over the year, including FWB.Archive, a community tool to archive digital events; Upvote, a tool to allow more open discourse before proposals are taken to a Snapshot vote; FWB Bio, a “traversable on-chain identity” that will allow FWB members to “connect, grow, and move fluidly across the Web3 ecosystem”; and Gatekeeper SubDAO, a team focused on turning Gatekeeper into a white-label solution. 

Elsewhere, FWB announced a SXSW event in partnership with Zora, which will take place on March 12 at House of Medallion at Empire in Austin, Texas. Further details, including a lineup and RSVP link, will arrive on Monday.

Finally, it was announced today that Lindsay Howard, former Head of Community at Foundation, would be joining the FWB team full-time as Head of Brand.

You can find the full product roadmap here, with the other announcements on the FWB Twitter.

Sony and Universal Enter NFT Market with Bob Dylan and Miles Davis NFTs on Snowcrash Marketplace

Sony and Universal will be entering the NFT game, partnering with the upcoming Solana marketplace Snowcrash on Bob Dylan and Miles Davis NFT drops in 2022.

No further details have been released, although, as reported by Decrypt, Sony’s President of Global Business, Dennis Kooker, said in a statement that Sony is looking to “develop a range of opportunities for our recording artists with a focus on delivering accessible, user-friendly experiences for both creators and fans.” Universal music’s Michael Nash also commented, saying, “a critical part of UMG’s strategy in this space is to develop artist-focused, premium campaigns and fan-oriented collectibles with world-class partners, which will enable our artists and labels to advance their cultural influence at the forefront of innovation.”

You can read more about the launch of Snowcrash here.

Pianity Announces a $6 Million Seed Round Raise

Music NFT marketplace Pianity this week announced a $6 million seed round investment.

Since its launch last year, Pianity has reportedly sold 11,000 NFTs, with over 20,000 users on the platform. The announcement also noted that artists on the platform have collectively earned over $1.9 million from NFT sales. Some of the artists selling on the platform include Mathew Jonson, Guti, Dan Ghenacia, and Tolga Fidan.

The seed round was led by Digital Renaissance Foundation, Big Brain Holdings, and Longhash Ventures, with further participation from Sebastien Borget, co-founder and COO at TheSandBox, ArkStream Capital, and Arweave, among others.

According to the announcement, the investment will allow Pianity to increase its employee headcount, execute major partnerships, open offices in the US and Latin America, and “support the development of a mobile application and additional functionality for Pianity’s streaming services, such as creating an NFT playlist and building a library.”

You can read the full announcement here.

The Willow Tree Releases Keepsakes NFTs

The Willow Tree DAO (TWT) has released a new collection of NFTs, titled Keepsakes.

The Keepsakes collection, as its name implies, looks to offer a permanent memory of nightlife, in this case, memories and content from TWT’s inaugural event, which took place in January of this year. The collection features three one-of-one NFTs, featuring a visual piece and a 30-second audio clip, which is a sped-up version of a DJ set recorded at the event. Owners of the NFTs will also have access to the original wav file recording of the mix attached to their NFT. Notably, 66% of the sales will go back to the artists who performed and helped with the event.

The artists featured in the collection include DJs Not Telling, Dan Peplow, and James Collard, who were paired with visual artists Rose Draper, Kes Inkersole, and Dozier, respectively.

The Keepsakes collection is up for auction on objkt.com on the Tezos chain, with bids starting at 100 XTZ (around $326 at the time of writing). You can check out the collection here.

Pplpleasr Launches Shibuya Video Platform

Emily Yang (a.k.a. pplpleasr) has launched a new video platform called Shibuya.

Shibuya, according to Yang, is “a web3 video platform allowing users to engage, fund, vote on the outcome, and become owners of long-form content.” The platform will use a crowdfunding model, via NFTs, to fund and produce films, an idea which stemmed from Yang’s history in Hollywood—she lost her job due to the loss of funding for a project, leading her down the crypto rabbit hole—and her help in crowdfunding the Ethereum documentary via a series of NFTs. 

Shibuya was launched with White Rabbit, an animated feature series by co-founder, artist, and director Maciej Kuciara—Kuciara is known for producing concept art for Marvel, The Last of Us, the live-action Ghost In The Shell, and more. White Rabbit will combine Yang and Kuciara’s love for “anime, Black Mirror, Love Death + Robots, and web3.”

The White Rabbit series will allow NFT “producer pass” holders to vote on and guide the direction of the series (the producer passes sold out in the first few hours). The series went live with the pilot episode, which features a protagonist waking in and searching an achingly beautiful and awe-inspiring animated environment. At the end of the pilot, the character ends up at a crossroads moment, which then allows NFT holders to vote on which way the character will go. NFT token holders can vote once they stake their NFT, which also earns them $WRAB and represents fractional ownership of White Rabbit.

You can read more about the project via Yang’s Medium article here, and check out the platform and pilot here.

What to Join and Who to Follow:

Whitelights: Web3 artist, producer, and engineer.

Pixelord: forward-thinking electronic producer and Web3 artist.

ASEC: techno artist and Zora product lead.

Answer Code Request, Setaoc Mass, and Etapp Kyle Contribute to ‘Save Ukraine’ Compilation; Donate Now

Answer Code Request, Setaoc Mass, and Etapp Kyle are among the names to have contributed to a various artist compilation to raise money for the people of Ukraine in their ongoing war with Russia.

The release, compiled by Julian Muller over at U4E in Brussels, Belgium spans 20 tracks. Featuring, besides the names above, are Rebekah, Tommy Four Seven, Marcel Dettmann, and many more.

“After speaking with some friends on the ground, it came in my face that they need donations as soon as possible to support them defending their country and their life,” Muller tells XLR8R. “For this reason, I contacted artists to be part of a fundraiser compilation. After two days of work we managed to get it out quickly.”

All funds raised by the release will be donated to Save Life with a weekly recap of the donations available over here, on Instagram.

Alongside the release, there’s the following text: “In support of Ukraine. The people have shown extraordinary courage, but the reality on the ground is that they are in urgent need of funds to keep defending their country and have a chance to save their lives.”

Tracklisting

01. Answer Code Request & Jan Wagner “For U”
02. Cressida “Morning Echo”
03. Ben Klock “Putout”
04. Phara “Fix”
05. Answer Code Request “Light”
06. Parallx “Ikarus”
07. Christoph Faust “Wake Up Now”
08. Chlär “Yellow and Blue”
09. Marco Bailey “Insert”
10. Fadi Mohem “Supply”
11. Tommy Four Seven “UKR”
12. Marcel Dettmann “Formula”
13. D. Carbone “Something in Your Eyes”
14. MRD “Higher”
15. Partiboi69 “Dazed”
16. Raär “Login”
17. Rebekah “Unsanctioned”
18. Setaoc Mass “Standing”
19. Julian Muller “Answer”
20. Etapp Kyle “Back to Artek”

Support Ukraine is available now. Buy it here, with a donation.

AD 93 Welcomes IVVVO for Album of Experimental Rock and Grunge

AD 93, the label formerly known as Whities, will release Bleached Butterfly, a new album by Portuguese multi-disciplinary artist IVVVO.

IVVVO is the alias of Ivo Pacheco, based in London and also known for his work in Bastet. As a solo artist, he has put out work on Opal Tapes and Halcyon Veil, where he delivered his ambitious debut album in 2019. Bleached Butterfly is his first appearance on Nic Tasker’s label, though he did release Greatest Hits, Archive 2010-2015 for Lith Dolina, AD 93’s sub-label, last year.

There’s little information known about Bleached Butterfly itself, other than that it spans experimental rock, grunge, and techno across 10 tracks. It also features Abyss X.

To accompany the announcement, Pacheco has shared the following statement:

“CONFUSION AND SIMULATION
feeling of disorientation
a HYPERMODERN hym
For posthuman ontology.“

Tracklisting

01. Bleached Butterfly feat. Abyss X
02. Ceramic Chaos
03. Freedom
04. I’m Not Dead
05. TRANCE
06. You Know You’re Just Like Me
07. Drugs
08. E.T.
09. Bleached Butterfly (PROTEST! Version)
10. WORLD

Bleached Butterfly LP is scheduled for April 8 release. Meanwhile, you can stream the title-track featuring Abyss X in full below.

Lila Tirando A Violeta Next on N.A.A.F.I with New Album

Lila Tirando A Violeta has unveiled her new album, Desire Path, on Mexican label N.A.A.F.I.

Lila Tirando A Violeta, real name Camila Domingue, is a project defined by a uniquely eclectic catalogue. Her releases over recent years range from lush vaporwave anthems to grinding industrial rhythms.

With her N.A.A.F.I. debut, Limerencia, released in 2020, she drew extensively from the folk patterns of her home in Montevideo, Uruguay, combining club sounds with ambient interludes. The eight-track release capped off a string of stellar releases dating back to 2016 across labels like New York’s Illuminated Paths, England’s Dream Catalogue, and Belgium’s Dreamshore.

The project also served as a meditation on Domingue’s struggles with a debilitating neurological illness. With her second album, Domingue “pushes her contemplative experimentation further,” we’re told, but with her chronic illness becoming more manageable and less physically hindering, it “surges forward with vigorous inventiveness.” It features the work of Merca Bae and Nicola Cruz, to name a few.

You can read more about Lila Tirando A Violeta in her XLR8R podcast here.

Tracklisting

01. Lila Tirando a Violeta & Nicola Cruz “Cuerpo que Flota”
02. Lila Tirando a Violeta & Sayveeyun “Whirlwinds”
03. Lila Tirando a Violeta “Tungsten Tears”
04. Lila Tirando a Violeta “Flores del Mal” (Dengue Dengue Dengue Remix)
05. Lila Tirando a Violeta & Loris “Caminos del Deseo”
06. Interlude
07. Lila Tirando a Violeta & Merca Bae & PRJCTN “Twenty Seven”
08. Lila Tirando a Violeta & Sueuga “Aplaudir el Desastre”
09. Lila Tirando a Violeta & Verraco “Aguas Violentas”
10. Lila Tirando a Violeta “Brief Glimpses of Happiness”

Desire Path LP is scheduled for April 22 release. Meanwhile, you can stream the opener, “Cuerpo que Flota,” in full below and pre-order here.

Music Submissions Roundup: January

Welcome to the first submissions roundup of the new year, and, yes, we have some gems for you. To kickstart 2022, we’re showcasing music from far a wide: there’s some hypnotic filth from Miss Represented, a little-known Edinburgh artist, and also Discosexo a Miami-born artist, for starters. If this cosmic psychedelia is not for you, then Tima Fei has shared a sublime drum & bass mix and Driftwood., from Australia, has delivered a curious slice of R&B. Then there’s Verdance, the new alias of British artist Jake Brown, who has shared a glorious slice of cerebral electronics from his upcoming album. (If you like that, you might also like the submission by Marco Tracks, a DJ-producer from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil). We’d also like to give a shoutout to Asta Hiroki, the alias of Brighton artist Alex McCall, whose dreamy soundscapes continue to impress everyone the XLR8R HQ. We could go on, but needless to say you’re bound to find something to take with you. Please, dig in!

Editor’s note: we’ve made a point of linking each artist’s Bandcamp page, or a place where you can buy their music, and we encourage our readers to support these independent artists by buying their music. Let’s keep independent culture alive!

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 mixes to 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.

Susul “Where’s My Baby” (Demo Version)

Though he put out Contemplations, a deep, meditative journey through deep house soundscapes, Susul’s music is characterized by electro, breaks, minimal, and fun samples. This month, the mysterious producer, based in Berlin, submitted “Where’s My Baby?,” a recent studio jam that falls perfectly in this bracket. We suggest you check out his older work too.

Listen/Buy

Discosexo “Therapy“

Discosexo is a Miami-born artist known for her queer event series, Octopussy Lounge, but she’s also released a string of EPs, some solo and others with Gabo Rio as Mata & Mala. “Therapy,” a Bandcamp exclusive released last year, is currently her most popular solo track and we loved it, too—it has a sensual groove and atmosphere that will have you swaying in a dream-like state.

Listen/Buy

Marco Tracks “Tower“



Marco Tracks, a DJ-producer from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, has a deep passion for ambient, dub, and house music. “Tower” is one of his latest tracks and, with its low BPM, pulsating bass, and wistful melodies, it delivers a contemplative vibe. Drift off to this one if you’re traveling.

Listen/Buy

BEAT SICARIOS “Sabinin 101.1“

https://soundcloud.com/fxbox/sabinin-1011

BEAT SICARIOS is a music production collective based in Houston, Texas. There’s nothing else known about them, but “Sabinin 101.1” is a dark techno roller that’s sure to have you shuffling.

Miss Represented “Leviathan“

Better known as Gayle Black, Miss Represented has, to quote Thomas Sontag, “lived her life on the dark side of Scotland’s acid house scene.” Nowadays, as a budding musician based in Edinburgh, she’s put out music on Canada’s Party Central and, more recently, Paradise Palms Records, a platform for emerging local artists. Disco Baws and Love is her latest outing and “Leviathan” is the standout, with its trance-soaked sequencers, hypnotic filth, and pulse-driven bass that hits you deep in the chest.

Listen/Buy

Driftwood. ft. Still Greedy “Bremfields“

Driftwood. is a rising producer and singer-songwriter from south Sydney, Australia. Since his debut release in 2015, he’s become known for his R&B and soul cuts, including last year’s “20 Blocks.” On “Bremfields,” his latest single, he has teamed up with London’s Still Greedy to craft a driving R&B song about “the idea that there could be subterranean energies and other factors operating within other paradigms of consciousness,” he says. The visuals are directed by Driftwood. and represent the “push and pull of energies which are manifested within the material world,” he says.

Listen/Watch

Elijah Nang “E C L I P S E“


Elijah Nang is a London-based experimental artist who, through his lo-fi hip-hop albums, pays homage to East Asian culture by incorporating Japanese influences. It’s a sound he describes as “Japtronica.” “E C L I P S E,” the perfect encapsulation of this style, is taken from Gaijin 3000, a sci-fi audio adventure he released last month that is an absolutely stunning merging of concept and sound.

Listen/Buy

AnnaOtta & Robin Flux “Don’t Complain” (Robin Flux Remix)

Robin Flux is a German DJ-producer based in Copenhagen, Denmark. In October, he prepared a remix package of AnnaOtta’s iconic tracks “What if” and “Don’t Complain,” turning the European duo’s originals into danceable versions of themselves without losing their distinctive and memorable sound. Expect two dreamy trips of deep house and UK-inspired broken beats. We’re playing the remix of “Don’t Complain” here, though we recommend them both.

Listen/Buy

Asta Hiroki “Double Rainbow”

Brighton artist Asta Hiroki has just recently presented “Double Rainbow,” a new single, on his own Folded Music label. Across its three-minute run-time, the track showcases what makes Hiroki’s dreamy soundscapes so absorbing, with its lo-fi aesthetics, heavenly vocals, and orchestral elements. At times, the textural interplay reminds us of Teebs, which is the biggest compliment we can give. Hiroki is writing his second album, which will follow on from last year’s Entropy.

Listen/Buy

Verdance “Takuu“

Verdance is the latest project of Jake Brown, better known as Handbook. With his new alias, the British artist has made a swift departure from the comforting lo-fi hip-hop aesthetic he’s known for, to a sound that’s brimming with color and rhythmic flamboyance. After EPs of lush electronica on Stereofox and Aviary Bridge, he’s signed to Emancipator’s Loci Records for an album. “Takuu,” the lead single, is a glorious concoction of cerebral electronics, and we can’t wait to hear more. Expect soft synths, club grooves, and vocal snaps woven together into a melodic creation that reminds us a little bit of Bonobo.

Listen/Buy

Søulless “La Vie En Noir“

As Søulless, Francesco Presotto employs mangled metal percussions and harsh, saturated noise into unusual but lush electronic music textures. The music, Presotto says, is intended to target the listeners’ “wounds of trauma and sear them closed by offering a unique world of escapism.” “La Vie En Noir” is then from the Self Hatred EP on House of Reptile Records, released in October.

Listen/Buy

usr/friendly “Slice of Life“

Usr/friendly is the new iteration of Oketo, a creative collective consisting of longtime friends and creative partners Steven DeLair, Bradley Clevinger, and Karlee Reiss. On the delicious “Slice of Life,” taken from their This Is An Advertisement album, they exhibit their musical prowess and playful nature, but it’s even more enjoyable listened to as part of the full release.

Listen/Buy

WORLDLINE x MSTRBLSTR “INHALATION” 

Through the 1990s, Toy Opulent label boss Worldline and MSTRBLSTR appeared many times on the same stage at raves and full moon parties in the Arizona desert. More recently, they’ve teamed up for “Inhalation,” a slice of breathtakingly intense and energetic atmospheric techno we keep coming back to.

Listen/Buy

Tima Fei “Insights (di.fm) Episode #218“

In January, Tima Fei, a DJ-producer based in Chicago, compiled a drum & bass set for Insights, a series tailored for those looking to escape into another realm with the finest progressive, techno, electronica, and house music out there. It’s a frantic, refreshing listen, filled with tracks that we’d never heard before. We highly recommend it.

Gabo Rio “Live Acid Jam“

https://soundcloud.com/gaborio404/live-acid-jam?ref=clipboard&p=i&c=1&si=D7838F27A36146C78798B8DA2BB90A12&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

As part of “Jamuary,” an annual tradition where producers share their latest jams across social media, Gabo Rio, a DJ-producer based in Miami (whom we’ve already mentioned in this feature), compiled a live set with a few machines. What he came out with was 40 minutes of acid in its rawest form.

Podcast 738: Earthen Sea

Jacob Long has been making vaporous, lo-fi ambient music as Earthen Sea for nearly two decades, sharing albums across Nicolás Jaar‘s Other People, Imminent Frequencies, and Kranky, which is where he’s putting out Ghost Poems, his latest outing. Across 10 psychedelic tracks composed and recorded during the first wave of lockdowns in his home in New York, Long continues to refine his fragile, fractured palette into fluttering arrhythmias of dust, percussion, and yearning.

The roots of Earthen Sea’s work run back to Cleveland, where he was born and raised. As a young boy, he was encouraged by his parents to play violin and listen to classical radio, but he also took an interest in metal, grunge, and punk, in particular the work of Nirvana. He’d spend his free time scouring magazines for new music and, one day, he read a two-page spread in Details about ambient music, which pointed him towards artists like Phillip Glass, Dinosaur Jr, and Aphex Twin, kicking Long into the realms of electronic music. Almost instantly, Long knew this was where he belonged.

So, in the ’90s, Long bought his first four-track recorder and began experimenting with sound, though none of his early cuts saw public release. That changed after the turn of the millennium but it wasn’t until the early 2010s, after nearly a decade of developing his sound with a series of quietly impressive, low-key releases, that Earthen Sea really hit its stride. This was at least in part because Long’s dub-punk projects, Black Eyes and Mi Ami, had dissolved, sharpening his focus on his solo work. With An Act Of Love, his debut on Kranky, Long demonstrated a knack for foggy, idiosyncratic ambient music, as he sought to create the perfect soundtrack to walking around his then-home of San Francisco at night.

Recorded last month in Long’s Brooklyn studio, Earthen’s Sea’s XLR8R podcast captures a similar vibe, as it moves through glitchy ambient and experimental electronics. Across its one-hour run-time, you’ll hear the Earthen Sea hallmarks—picturesque chords and drifting melody lines—and even its more beat-driven moments are underpinned by vast sonic and luxurious textures. Press play for a mix that’s sure to lull, blur, and soothe, the perfect accompaniment for a cold grey late afternoon or early evening in February, wherever in the world you are.

01. What have you been up to recently?
Mostly just been laying low, taking it a day at a time. I’m just working in the studio most days. Mostly working on learning to play the drums and painting. I’m working on some new music as well in fits and starts. Other than that, I just moved into a new apartment in the same neighborhood so I’m getting settled in there. I am trying to get out and skate every morning, weather permitting, as much as possible. I am keeping the winter blues away with activity or something like that…

02. What have you been listening to the last few months?
I’ve been listening a lot of ECM jazz records. I’ve been particularly diving into lots of piano trios but I kind of went on a collecting spree over the last year or so, so I’m diving into those. Beyond that, the newer stuff I’ve been jamming regularly would be: all the recent stuff on this mix, Sam Gendel and Sam Wilkes (together and their own projects, too), and I’ve been revisiting the first Sam Prekop solo record.

03. You’ve got a new album on the way. What can you tell us about it?
Yeah, I’m really excited that this album is on its way and I am really looking forward to having people hear it. It was mostly written in the summer and fall of 2020 and was mixed in November and December of 2020, so it has been in the works for a while. I’m still extremely pleased with how it has turned out, which maybe isn’t always the case after so much time, so I’m happy about that. It feels like a step in a slightly different direction for me which I’m excited to share, and once this is out there to explore further.

04. When and where did you record this mix?
This mix was recorded in mid-February in my studio in Brooklyn, New York.

05. How did you go about choosing the tracks that you’ve included?
I always keep a “mix” folder in my iTunes that I drop songs into that I think would work well for mixes as I’m listening to things, so I started by going into that folder and listening to a few things I’d dropped in recently and from there I got some ideas for what vibe I was feeling and kind of just filled out the tracklisting from there. I wanted to include a few things that friends had made so I picked those to work with everything else that was going on. Once I had picked enough tracks, I made a playlist with them and figured out a sequence that made sense to me for everything and made final cuts and additions to what songs I wanted to use.

06. What setup did you use?
I have a pretty basic Ableton “DJ” setup that I use to mix with. It’s basically just a virtual two-channel mixer. I loaded the songs into there and just did the mix on the fly!

07. What can the listener expect?
This mix captures a cross-section of a couple of vibes I’ve been into for a while. There are lots of glitchy, textural ambient electronics, some with percussion being the focus or at least mixed in. And on top of that some jazz-leaning sounds as well. Overall, it’s a low-key textural listening experience that felt perfect for a cold grey late afternoon or early evening in February in New York.

08. What’s on your agenda for 2022?
I’m looking forward to my new record finally being out, hopefully playing some shows at some point, and working on some new material sooner or later.

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. Romeo Poirier “Trace palmaire” (Sferic)
02. Vladislav Delay “Whistleblow” (alt take) (Self-Released)
03. Lifted “Trip Tonngue” (Future Times)
04. Eli Kessler “Late Archaic” (LuckyMe)
05. Sunun “Z.0” (Cold Light)
06. Topdown Dialectic “A2” (Peak Oil)
07. Laurence Pike “Rites” (Leaf)
08. AAVD Trio “You’re Soft Now” (Orb Tapes)
09. Jake Muir “On Occasions Of This Kind” (Sferic)
10. Nikolay Kozlov feat. Perila “Infinite Change” (Not on Label)
11. 9ms “Tome” (Squama)
12. On the Ifness “Slink Insomniac” (U-udios)
13. System “Red Click” (~scape)
14. Directions “Echoes” (Radio Edit 3) (Temporary Residence Ltd.)

Page 62 of 3781
1 … 60 61 62 63 64 … 3,781