Motionless is Maher Daniel’s first step into the world of being a record label owner and a confident step at that. The EP, which is actually a prelude to a forthcoming album, marks the opening of The Other Side—a new project from the California-based musician, who has been involved in many other endeavors (working with the No. 19 Music or serving as resident for Montreal’s Stereo Club), and now has one to call his own.
The two-tracker features two versions of the same cut; first up, the original—Daniel’s first new solo material for several years. Consolidating on his most recent output with All Day I Dream, he provides a purposeful roller. Tune it at different points and you’ll find a different production. The opening half of the tune feels serious, busy with tension-building electro noises and an undulating bassline; the latter, on the other hand, is all about its sentimental vocal section, complete with hands-in-the-air breakdowns. It will more than likely rouse dancefloors across the world, though out of that context it feels slightly artificial.
The flipside is a remix by Mandar (the alias of Lazare Hoche, Malin Genie and Samuel André Madsen), which holds little resemblance to the original. Doing what they do best, the trio revamp the track and inject it with clarity. It’s a simple recipe—skippy percussion, chopped up vocals and warm pads. By taking things back to basics, they fuse together a classic slice of grooving house that suggests a great deal of promise from the fledgling label.
Unknown Archetype is a new collaborative project by Amsterdam-based Czech Oliver Kucera and British conceptual artist Roxy Tripp. The concept was born last year, following years of working separately on solo projects. According to the imprint, three-tracker Tripp is an “abrasive, visceral EP” that moves between techno and breaks.
The record follows hot on the heels of other recent releases on the Belgian imprint by the likes of Alex Smoke, Lone and Lakker.
Tripp will be released on January 29, 2017. Check out a video for the title track below.
XLR8R Couldn't find the embed function for type: "vimeo" and source: "<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/159319784?color=ffffff&title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>".
Unknown Archetype is a new collaborative project by Amsterdam-based Czech Oliver Kucera and British conceptual artist Roxy Tripp. The concept was born last year, following years of working separately on solo projects. According to the imprint, three-tracker Tripp is an “abrasive, visceral EP” that moves between techno and breaks.
The record follows hot on the heels of other recent releases on the Belgian imprint by the likes of Alex Smoke, Lone and Lakker.
Tripp will be released on January 29, 2017. Check out a video for the title track below.
The list of nominees for the 59th Grammy awards have dropped and feature an interesting mix of electronic music artists.
The nominees for Best Dance/Electronic Album are Flume’s Skin, Jean-Michel Jarre’s Electronica 1: The Time Machine, Tycho’s Epoch, Underworld’s Barbara Barbara, We Face A Shining Future, and Louie Vega’s Louie Vega Starring…XXVIII.
Elsewhere, David Bowie’s Blackstar, Bon Iver’s 22, A Million, and Radiohead’s A Moon Shaped Pool are up for Best Alternative Music Album; Raster-Noton co-founder Alva Noto is up for Best Soundtrack for The Revenant alongside Ryuichi Sakamoto, with Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein of SURVIVE also nominated for Stranger Things; Bob Moses’ “Tearing Me Up” is nominated for Best Dance Recording; Jamie xx’s video for “Gosh” is up for Best Dance Video; and finally, Timo Maas and James Teej are nominated in the Best Remixed Recording category for their rework of Paul MCartney & Wings’ “Nineteen Hundred Eighty-Five.”
You can check out the full list of Grammy nominations here.
Chilean artist Francisco Allendes will head up the 52nd release on Desolat. Titled Efisema, the four-track EP will be the Ibiza-based DJ and producer’s fourth outing on Desolat since first releasing on the label in 2012. Outside of Desolat, Allendes has released on, among others, Crosstown Rebels, Cadenza, and Little Helpers, all standout outings that have found favor with selectors like Ricardo Villalobos, Steve Lawler, and, of course, Desolat label head Loco Dice.
Efisema finds Allendes serving up his typically infectious grooves across the four tracks, from the wonky rhythms of the title track to the tribal-infused “Tacedillo.” In support of the EP’s release, Allendes has offered up bonus cut “Cloud Elements” as today’s XLR8R download. Like the tracks on Efisema, “Cloud Elements” focuses on a chunky groove and warped vocal chops.
You can download “Cloud Elements” via WeTransfer below, with Efisema dropping December 9.
Simon Green (a.k.a. Bonobo) has announced the latest cut to be shared from his sixth album, Migration.
“Break Apart” featuring Rhye premiered this morning on Vogue.com, along with an interview with Green. The song reportedly “illustrates the transitory nature of the album” in that its chord sequence was sketched out by Green on a flight, the vocals recorded by Michael Milosh (a.k.a. Rhye) in Berlin, the track’s horns were completed in London, with Green doing the final mixdown in his studio in LA.
You can hear “Break Apart” in full below, along with Green’s upcoming tour dates.
XLR8R Couldn't find the embed function for type: "spotify" and source: "<iframe src="https://embed.spotify.com/?uri=spotify:user:spotify:playlist:75dwLdmL07hDEDWqX17QeE" width="100%" height="80" frameborder="0"></iframe>".
Bonobo Tour Dates:
Apr 24 – Toronto, ON – Danforth Music Hall Apr 25 – Montreal, QC – Metropolis Apr 26 – Boston, MA – House of Blues Apr 28 – New York, NY – Terminal 5 Apr 29 – Philadelphia, PA – Electric Factory May 1 – Washington, DC – 9:30 Club May 2 – Richmond, VA – The National May 3 – Asheville, NC – Orange Peel May 11 – Aspen, CO – Belly Up May 12 – Denver, CO – Red Rocks May 13 – Lawrence, KS – Granada Theater May 15 – Columbia, MO – The Blue Note May 16 – St. Louis, MO – The Ready Room May 18 – Chicago, IL – Concord Music Hall May 19 – Milwaukee, WI – Turner Hall Ballroom May 20 – Madison, WI – Orpheum Theater May 21 – Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue May 24 – Vancouver, BC – Commodore Ballroom May 25 – Vancouver, BC – Commodore Ballroom
In any good night of house and techno music, the warm up and warm down will often be the most memorable times. Bookending the blur of a peak-time set, they are generally the periods when performers are given the opportunity to express something further out there; the more interesting, experimental ends of their record bags, perhaps.
This week’s podcast contributor is Vincent Casanova, an American DJ and producer whose bio reads: “warm-up lover, creator of tracky tracks.” Anyone who has heard the underground mainstay live will appreciate that this is a succinct but accurate assessment of his skills. His sets are the type to lose yourself in—woozy, meandering and dreamlike, all the while maintaining momentum with beat and groove.
Originally a Connecticut-based rock musician, Casanova found electronic music in the late ‘90s and never looked back. Now living on a peaceful Swedish island, he continues to work with the sound, constantly seeking to expand his musical horizons. After a few years break from releasing material, his effortlessly deep, stripped-back productions have landed on Archipel, Vibe Experience and Tzinah in recent times.
Fortunately, he doesn’t look to be slowing down anytime soon, so we can look forward to more from Casanova in years to come; in the meantime, this week’s mix should satisfy. A compilation of original productions, it traverses all sorts of moods and feelings—a taste of what one of the underground’s best kept secrets can do.
We caught up with Vincent ahead of this week’s podcast:
When and where was the mix recorded? The mix was recorded at my home studio on the Swedish island Gotland in the middle of the Baltic Sea under stormy, gray skies. The mix was recorded during November and I worked on actually creating many of the individual tracks from scratch in those very weeks. I would start work at 3am each day and, eventually, when all the tracks were ready I completed the mix.
What equipment did you record the mix on? I work mainly in Logic and use a wide range of software synths and plug-ins from Reaktor to the Waldorf PPG, to Waves plugins among many others- everything is done inside the box so to say. I used to use analog gear but sold everything when I moved overseas. The performance aspect of the mix was recorded on a Traktor rig using the native instruments X1 and F1.
Did you have a specific mood/ idea that you wanted to express? I wanted the tracks to grow quickly and spontaneously out of the energy I was feeling leading up to the mix. I played many of the parts in a span of just several days and was hoping to capture some loose, dreamy and psychedelic vibes which would be laid over quirky, dubby breaks and minimal house grooves. The mood is dreamy and airy with some nods to various genres for instance hip hop, dub, and even deep house.
How did you select the specific tracks that you wanted to include? I tried to include tracks that escape definition, that contain elements from various styles, but that were ultimately surprising in form and sounded somewhat spontaneous. The common thread ended up being odd, lackadaisical, deep, trippy, and with a plethora of my signature fragmented, unintelligible vocal atmospheres.
Your sound is pretty unique. How would you describe it? A union between deep, dreamy and hypnotic, 80’s synths-capes and underground, urban minimalism laden with warbled, micro-FX landscapes. I want intricate beats and sub-bass but also emotional melodies, that border on spiritual. I feel melody is super important but must be balanced with beats- it’s like what Einstein said- about science and religion: overemphasis on beats without melody is lame, while melody without proper beats is blind!
Your latest album is set to drop next year. How does it compare to your previous releases? My next LP on Archipel furthers the abstract side of my sound and is perhaps even a bit more dubby and shadowy. The tracks are simplistic ideas and carry hypnotic themes that don’t necessarily develop but seduce you into a sort of hypnogogic state of groove. There will be an emphasis on restraint here as well.
What else have you got coming up? At the moment I have a few vinyl releases coming up on Slovenia’s Kanja Records and Berlin’s Park Recordings. Later, in 2017 I have several digital releases planned with for example Lethal Script, Deep Tech Ultras, Italy’s Vibe Experience, not to mention a bunch of promising collaborations.
Following on from the successes of last year’s event, Terraforma will return to the woodlands of Villa Arconati, Milan for a three-dayer, taking place between June 23 – 25, 2017. Early bird tickets for the festival dedicated to artistic experimentation and environmental sustainability are now available to purchase, with the lineup to follow at a later date.
In celebration of the announcement, Terraforma is giving away an exclusive CD—a recording of the first hour of Claudio Fabrianesi’s set at Terraforma 2016—to the first 100 ticket purchasers. The tracklisting for the mix can be found below.
For a taste of what to expect from the Italian event, read what happened when XLR8R travelled to the 2016 edition, or stream a recording of Marco Shuttle‘s DJ set from its after party.
For more information, head to the Terraforma site. Tickets are available to buy here.
Tracklisting:
01. Laraaji “Essence” 02. M. Geddes Gengrass “Threshold” 03. Madteo “Science Friction” 04. S. Mullaert & E. Reiter “Water Burns Air” 05. Nate Young “Re-Aggression” (Demdike Stare remix) 06. Bola “Whoblo” 07. Synth Sisters “25 September” 08. Edanticonf “Lirica A Max” 09. Alessandro Cortini “Passatempo”
Italian DJ and producer Riccardo will release his first full-length on the label he co-runs with Domenico Rosa, Imprints. It will be the label’s first LP, following on from recent releases by Rosa and Markus Sommer, plus a various artists sampler (featuring music by Saverio Celestri, 100 Hz and more). Listeners can expect productions that fall somewhere in between deep house and minimal.
Let’s Move To The Future Together is Riccardo’s first output on Imprints since mid-2015. In the meantime, he’s put one EP out with YAY Recordings, as well as starting his own solo project, Metropolita Recordings.
Let’s Move To The Future Together is expected to drop soon. Stream snippets below.
Over the last three years, with standout releases from, among others, Doubting Thomas, Venter, and Khristian K, Catch Recordings has cemented its name as one of the UK’s most promising labels. To mark its 10th release and to close out the year with a bang, Catch presents an EP of sinewy techno from Swedish artist Inter Gritty.
The four tracks on the Removed EP range from loopy, Mills-esque techno to deep minimalistic grooves and droney ambient. It’s a varied-yet-cohesive set of machine-driven cuts from the Random Island Records owner who has proved to be a natural fit for Catch, as the label explains:
“We’re very happy to be ending a great year at Catch Recordings by bringing you an amazing 4 track EP of live analog sounds and recordings from Inter Gritty. We’ve been following his sound for a while and keeping our eye on him for a few years. He was a great artist to work with and really understood our sound, and after the EP was completed, he also agreed to mix a new track for a free download to say thanks to all our followers over the years. Thanks for all the support and we look forward to releasing our 2017 roster in the coming months”
The free download in question is for Inter Gritty’s live techno jam “Asteria,” a bonus cut running alongside the EP tracks. Inter Gritty has also made a video of the jam being played live, which you can check out below alongside the WeTransfer download.
