A new festival will take place in Portugal this summer.
Waking Life‘s debut edition will be a four-dayer, set to take place this August near the medieval town of Crato, Portugal. The arts and music festival is a joint project by Weimar-based collective Giegling and Return (Solid AM booking agency’s party arm).
So far, Giegling stalwarts DJ Dustin and Konstantin are booked in, as well as Sebastian Mullaert (who will perform live), DeWalta, Nthng, and Robag Wruhme. The event, which will be spread across three stages, also seeks to reduce environmental impact as much as possible and increase awareness about the ecological context of proceedings.
Waking Life will take place August 17 -20. For more information and tickets, head to the festival’s site.
“Rattle,” made in August 2016, is one of today’s free downloads—and was a Carl Cox favorite over the summer. “I made “Rattle” and sent it to Carl Cox who heavily supported the track in his final season in Space and also on his South American tour,” says Greene. “I’ve decided to give this track away to celebrate the New Year.”
“Rattle” (Original Mix) is available to download below.
Brian d’Souza (aka Auntie Flo) has released a new two-tracker, titled The Soniferous Garden.
The EP sees d’Souza bring together an international group of musicians to explore musical differences and celebrate shared visions, “drawing together the introspection of Pharaoh Sanders’ classic “Harvest Time” with the rhythmic complexity of Thomas Mapfumo,” explains the press release.
Produced and arranged over an intense, collaborative two-day session at the Santuri studio as part of the Ugandan Bayimba arts festival in Kampala in September 2015, the project draws on Senegalese Sabar drumming, the plaintive notes of the Adungu (a Ugandan 10-string harp) and the vocals of Gio Kiyingi, underpinned by d’Souza’s arrangements and drum programming.
The title The Soniferous Garden is taken from the writings of Canadian composer and environmentalist R Murray Schafer, a concept he defines as “a garden or place of acoustic delights”—an aural space of retreat from the oppressive overabundance of acoustic information that characterizes the modern industrial world.
The two compositions are a response to this idea—drawing the listener into meandering, ever-evolving themes that weave in and out of a rhythmic base that is equal parts traditional percussion and electronic production. The title track showcases the virtuoso Adungu playing of erstwhile Burnt Friedman collaborator Hakim Kiwanuka, and vocals from regular Highlife World Series contributor Giovanni Kremer Kiyingi while Rainfall on red earth (inspired by the vivid colors of the landscape around the studio) pushes the talking drum of Mama N’Dieck Seck Thiam to the fore.
The EP is available to purchase now, and streamable in full below.
Joakim will release his fourth full-length this March.
The French producer’s next album, Samurai, is about the his journeys between New York City, Paris and Tokyo, and cites Mishima’s Hagakure: Samurai Ethics & Modern Japan as a key influence. Set to drop on his own Tigersushi imprint, the 13 album tracks also take inspiration from home-made electronic and “new age”’ style music.
Ahead of the album’s release, Joakim has shared a video for first single “Numb.” The Adrian Yu directed film gives a nod to the Japanese tradition of Kabuki make-up, as well as parodying the YouTube phenomenon of make-up tutorials.
Samurai will be released Marc 17. Watch the video for “Numb” below.
Tracklisting:
01. In The Beginning 02. Samurai 03. Numb 04. Late Night New City 05. Green Echo Mecha 06. Cannibale Pastorale 07. Exile 08. Through The Prospect Park Arch 09. Time Is Wrong 10. Mind Bent 11. Jocho 12. Not Because You’re Sad 13. Hope / Patience
Following the first two releases from Lyssna label heads Adam Stromstedt and Flord King, the Stockholm-based imprint has announced its first VA compilation, ZNA001.
This time around the label will invite two more artists to the fold with Levi Verspeek—fresh off releases on labels such as Apollonia, raum…musik. and Lazare Hoche Records—and newcomer Peshka supplying tracks alongside the label owners. As you can expect from the artists involved, the tracks presented lean towards the minimal end of the spectrum, deep cuts that will slide nicely into groove-led sets.
ZNA001 will be released late next month, and in the meantime, you can stream Levi Verspeek’s “256” in full via the player below.
On his DJ style, Eric Cloutier has been quoted as saying that he aims to keep things “really body-oriented.” It’s a sentiment that will register with anyone who has caught him spinning plates in the past. The Detroit native has been honing that style for over two decades now, slaving away behind the decks and in the crates, in an ongoing pursuit of those deep, visceral dance tunes—a project that has paid off in regular gigs across the world, from The Bunker New York to Berghain.
From his adopted home of Berlin, Cloutier has been broadening his horizons with a series of his own releases over the past couple of years, via his new imprint Palinoia, Mosaic and Semantica amongst others. The tight, tasteful strain of techno is exactly what we have come to expect of a man with such high standards. It’s a calibre that he comfortably meets in this weeks podcast: digging as deep as usual, Cloutier offers up a pristine two hours of house and techno—a session to get lost in.
Ahead of the podcast, we had a few questions for him:
How and where was the podcast recorded? What setup did you use? Thanks to the amazing folks at Tresor, I was able to pop in to Globus on a Wednesday evening and use the booth there to record this in a super comfortable, very familiar place. While I do love having a studio in my home to record and relax with (though I currently am sans-setup at my flat), having the club vibe, albeit lights full on and entirely empty, was really nice. It was a standard setup for me—two Technics 1200s, two CDJ.2000s, and an Allen + Heath X.One:92, all done on the glorious Void Audio setup in the upper room of Tresor. Many thanks to Diana and Ron for letting me crash the place before opening hours!
It sounds like techno for the Berlin winter. Did you have a particular concept in mind when you put it together? How did you pick the records for it? Ha! While the overall vitamin D deficiency of the populus of Berlin definitely creates a gloomy demeanor overall, I was opting for a snapshot of what I would typically do in a four or more hour set, though slightly leaning towards the headier afterhours vibe. Like all mixes I’ve done, this is a one-take recording with no editing. I don’t subscribe to the sync button or splice method of recording so, much like me as a human, the mix has some flaws and I’m more than comfortable with that. I’ve always prided myself on being able to weave house and techno, old and new, together in a seamless, coherent way. So, with this one I spent a fair amount of time digging through nearly everything on my shelves and on my hard drive, to come up with something that really sounds unique, but distinctly “Cloutier.” There were a couple of moments when I was laughing about knowing exactly what record I wanted to play, and then kicking myself for remembering it’s still in my storage unit back in Brooklyn, which has given me a lot of momentum to finally drag those final 700 pieces of wax over the Atlantic.
What have you got lined up for the new year? Though January was a quiet month for me, beyond that looks to be fairly busy and steady. I’m really looking forward to playing more and more this year—back to Asia at least once, the always enjoyable Concrete in Paris, a debut at Analog Room in Dubai, a long overdue and discussed back-to-back with one of my favorite DJ’s, Jane Fitz, at The Pickle Factory in London, and NeoPop festival in Portugal, to name a few. But when I’m not on the road, I’ve got a firm plan to be quadruple productive in the studio (pun intended), on top of keeping my new label, Palinoia, on the shelves of stores. I’m putting the final plans in place to hopefully get three to five records out this year, and I’ve confirmed releases from Exercise One, Andu Simion, Orbe, and Gabriella Vergilov, but I’m still sifting through some demos people have sent me so there could be more than that on the way.
Have you any of your own new music on the way? There should be some remixes I finished up last fall trickling out somewhat soon, and I’ll appear on a compilation for Index Marcel Fengler in the fall. As for my own production, I’m really knuckling down and hoping to have something special to deliver on my label later this year. I’m doing my best to speed up with my creative output, but I’m a believer in a “quality over quantity” stance when it comes to my own releases.
What else is new? One of my new year’s resolutions was to delete my Facebook account and, I gotta say, it’s amazing how much free time you suddenly gain. I found it to be a liberating experience, especially in the wake of the political situation in America, which I find to be largely distracting and depressing, keeping me from actually focusing on my music in any capacity. And, pro-tip : your phone battery lasts about 30% longer when you don’t have that dumb app installed.
Lyon’s Nuits Sonores festival has revealed its daytime plans for this year’s edition—the annual event’s 15-year anniversary.
Once again, organizers hand the day programming over to some of the leading artists of electronic music—namely The Black Madonna, Nina Kraviz, and Jon Hopkins this year. A Day With is one of the main programs of the annual event. Each and every year, the festival invites three artists to curate a day of the main stage’s music in La Sucrière by inviting guests and friends along with them to perform before, after, or even alongside them.
In addition to this, and to celebrate its 15th birthday of Nuits Sonores is inviting passionate musicians and socially-engaged street artists from Lisbon to join the event.
The schedule for this year is as follows:
Thursday, May 25: The Black Madonna
Salle 1930
3pm—5.30pm: Honey Dijon 5.30pm—7.30pm: Derrick Carter Does Disco 7.30pm—10pm: The Black Madonna B2B Optimo
Le Sucre
3pm—5pm: Rahaan 5.15pm—6.15pm: Mark Ernestus’ Ndagga Rhythm Force 6.45pm—7.45pm: ESG 8pm—9pm: Rahaan
Yesterday, January 23, Italian artist Michele Di Martino (a.k.a. Astrea) dropped his debut LP, Sleeping With Her, via Fabio Gianelli’s Perpetualis imprint.
Over the last few years, Martino has been carving out his own unique brand of murky and melodic electronica, records released on, among others, Cologne’s Traum Schallplatten, Offenbach’s Connaisseur Recordings, and Claudio Coccoluto’s The Dub.
Sleeping With Her features an array of raw and emotive compositions that focus on otherworldly atmospheres, tight drum programming, and body-moving bass tones. Martino’s vocal work also features on the record, soaring over his instrumentation at one turn and buried as faint murmurs at the next.
In support of the LP, you can download the album’s title track via WeTransfer below.
Martin Gretschmann (a.k.a. Acid Pauli) has announced his sophomore album, BLD, to be released via his own Ouïe imprint on March 24.
Following on from his 2012 debut album, Mst—released on Nicolas Jaar’s Clown and Sunset—BLD explores “a number of moods and emotions, from dystopian carnivalesque vibes to moments of high intensity, through to deep melancholia and synth laden ambience.” Turning away from the dancefloor somewhat, the album will focus on the ambient breakdowns and interludes, as Gretschmann explains:
“My new album BLD comes from an idea I’ve been carrying around for years, which was to mix a DJ set only consisting of techno and house breaks, the parts which lack the main beat, the kick drum. The result was to sound more like ambient, but it has a very unique thrill, thanks to these breaks always striving for the moment where the kick drum returns. The suspense is basically ramping up constantly. Nicolas Jaar was so stoked about the idea after I told him about it, that he said: Make an album out of it. And that, in turn, convinced me.”
Ahead of the March release, you can stream a snippet of album cut “Abbebe” below.
