Page 71 – XLR8R

Podcast 720: Gajek

The child of political activists, Matti Gajek was born in the GDR and lived through his first revolution shortly before entering primary school. As a child, he was always surrounded by music because his father was a huge music fan. “Records were as precious as gold for him, for his whole identity,” Gajek recalls. “So when I grew up I somehow listened to the archived history of western popular music using technology that itself came from a different side of this history, the history of my family, of their troubles and dreams and joy.”

He first heard electronic music through a cassette tape received from a friend of his father’s that contained a couple of Underworld tracks and some gabber, and he’d listen to it on speakers built from spare parts his grandfather had secretly collected in his job as a technician. When he moved to Berlin in his early twenties he became involved with the city’s club nights, he became hooked by music some more. In particular, he loved the motoric rhythms of kraut music.

It was in his hometown, Schwerin, that he began experimenting with production, and when a friend gave him Reason it suddenly felt like the “right thing. “I really started making electronic music because I was curious about how it’s done,” he adds. After Chris Clark, for whom he’d completed some animation work, passed some of Gajek’s sketches to Modeselektor, Restless Shapes was conceived. It was his debut album but the music had been ripening for years.

If there was a breakthrough, it came with 2017’s ’17 LP, which explored the possibility of making a contemporary version of kraut music that is completely free of nostalgia but connects to the energy of the music—the futuristic drive, the boldness, the minimalism. The album marked the young producer as an exciting figure in sonic experimentalism, so much so that we included it among our favorite releases from that year. He followed it last year with Vitamin D, this time on Clarke’s Throttle Records, exploring memories of East Germany during the ’90s after the collapse of the Berlin wall. The title refers to the old East German practice of injecting newborn babies with high doses of the vitamin shortly after birth, which happened to him as an infant.

Nearly three years have passed since Gajek last featured on XLR8R, talking about his production, and in celebration of his latest release—an album as SIM CARD HØLDER alongside Drone Øperator and Ian Bruner—we wanted to reconnect. With his much-anticipated podcast, he presents a playlist of recent and contemporary tracks by his favorite musicians that he finds interesting and relevant. You can expect 17 tracks that broadly fall within the realm of psych and folk-inspired offbeat electronica, with sweet atmospheres, intricate and introverted beat structures, and complex percussion patterns.

01. What have you been up to recently?

I’ve been doing the first jobs and gigs after the pandemic. Which I am thankful for, but it still feels strange. I am still figuring out how to navigate all the different phases of the pandemic and the mental impact that they have had. I am also working on music, trying to stay focused, but also taking care of myself!

02. What have you been listening to during lockdown?

Honestly, I can’t really remember. But I was very thankful for every piece music that was released. Whether it was on Soundcloud, Bandcamp, or wherever. I do remember that Good Sad Happy Bad brought a lot of joy to our tiny lockdown Christmas party with their album last year.

03. What have you been listening to recently?

I’ve been doing a lot of research into avant-garde music from the GDR, the country I was born in. There is a lot of very interesting music but it’s hard to get your hands on it. I am working on a radio show to get it out there to newer generations of listeners who are interested in experimental music.

04. What drives you to make electronic music?

It’s the art form that I have chosen, at least until now, to express myself. To negotiate what interests me, what influences me, and what I am struggling with. It brings me joy and makes me feel at home.

05. When and where did you record this mix?

Mostly in the morning in my studio and on the kitchen table.

06. How did you go about choosing the tracks you’ve included?

Making a mix for me is always a good moment to revisit the music that caught my attention but somehow got lost. I check back and see what works together.

07. What’s next on your horizon?

Right now I’m working on a B-Side project of my 2020 album, Vitamin D, which will include live recording alternative versions and tracks that didn’t make it onto the record. Last Friday we released our album SIM CARD HØLDER which is a project by Drone Øperator, Ian Bruner, and me on Blueberry Records. I am also working on a new album.

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. Lutz Glandrien “Strange Drums, For Drums And Tape” (ReR Megacorp)
02. Claire Rousay & More Eaze “Smaller Pools” (ECSTATIC)
03. Alpha Maid “DOGGY” (C.A.N.V.A.S.)
04. SIM CARD HØLDER “ASEGMENTØFSKY” (Blueberry Records)
05. Aho Ssan “Simulacrum 1” (FRKTL Remix) (Subtext Recordings)
06. Villaelvin “Rey” (Hakuna Kulala)
07. Hans Reichel “Shanghaied on Tor Road” (FMP)
08. Orphan Fairytale “Luminous Creatures” (Ultra Eczema)
09. Mussi “Racing” (Petrola 80)
10. Betty Hammerschlag “Bodiesss” (Not On Label)
11. Hunt “EOS Crawling” (AMEN)
12. Otro “Untitled (16 March 2020)” (Eastern Nurseries)
13. Fauness “Am I Ready” (Abîme)
14. Drumloop “Pharmacy” (Unknown)
15. Drone Øperator “Frøst” (Not On Label)
16. Skúli Sverrisson “Volumes” (Sería Music)
17. Laila Sakini “Hold It Heavy” (Laila Sakini)

Web3 Wrap: HEATDAO Explores Movement Data, SuperRare Posts Best Month, MODA DAO Raises $5 Million, and More

This week’s Web3 Wrap includes a new movement data DAO HEATDAO, electronic pioneers Mille Plateaux’s Tezos gallery, MODA DAO’s $5 million private token sales, SuperRare’s record month, Facebook’s polarizing rebrand, and much more.

Check it all out below.

HEATDAO Will Allow Creators to Capture and Monetize Their Movement Data With NFTs

This week, HEATDAO released its inaugural NFT drop and outlined its mission.

HEATDAO is an innovative studio that aims to empower “dancers to capture, create, and monetize their movement data through the use of NFTs.” HEATDAO’s first NFT offering will help kick off their marketing and expansion efforts—including the launch of an NFT marketplace, and includes “The Data,” a transfixing skeletal piece that visualizes movement data and is one example of how movement NFTs will be represented on their platform; and “The Prototype,” a piece that visualizes “THE DATA” NFT’s skeleton using the avatar of Panther Modern, the NFT artist and founding member of HEATDAO. Each of the NFTs also include extras such as studio time with the HEATDAO team, access to their private Discord, dance data airdrops, and more.

You can read more about HEATDAO and find the NFTs here.

Mille Plateaux Launches Curated Tezos Art Gallery

Influential electronic label Mille Plateaux this week shared a curated art gallery, showcasing a wide range of Tezos art from hic et nunc.

The gallery is hosted using interactive designer Andreas Rau’s Hexpo, a free-to-use gallery tool that pulls in art from hic et nunc. Fans of Mille Plateaux will be greeted by art with a similar aesthetic to that of the label’s, which, since its inception in 1993, has paired inspired experiments in genre and style with equally forward-thinking visual art. Across the gallery you can find art by Frederik Vanhoutte, makeitrad, Jason Ting (jzlabs), Johan Karlsson, zachlieberman, Sebastiano Barbieri, Jongeirr Petarrson, Linus Dahlgren, igdeputra, David Drayton, and many other. Clicking through into each piece also links out to the art on hic et nunc, where you can purchase the pieces.

Check out the full gallery here.

MODA DAO Raises $5 Million Before Public Token Launch

MODA DAO, a decentralized technology network and community, has raised $5 million via a private token sale before its public launch on November 10 via SushiSwap’s MISO platform.

The private token sale included investment from producers and Web3 artists Joel Zimmerman (Deadmau5) and Richie Hawtin, as well as VCs Outlier Ventures, Blocksync, FBG Capital, and Double Peak, among others. According to the press release, MODA DAO will use the funds to launch “a framework through which artists can harness Web3 technology such as NFTs, micro-licensing, DAO governance, and DeFi to evolve their music business,” and so far plans include a unique on-chain audio fingerprinting tool and a cross-chain audio NFT aggregator that will allow NFTs to replace MP3-downloads.

MODA has also committed to releasing over $1 million worth of creative and technical grants over the next two years to individuals and teams who submit proposals to the DAO. Applications for those grants are currently open and can be found here.

You can read more about MODA DAO and its roadmap here.

SuperRare Posts Best Month

NFT platform SuperRare posted its best sales month to date in October.

According to Decrypt and Dune Analytics, the platform had more than $31 million in NFT sales this month, although, interestingly, only half the amount of collectors were buying work compared to March, which was the previous best month—the average sale price was much higher, however, sitting around 12.1 ETH. A reason for this wide-spread data set could be that, as Decrypt notes, NFT-collecting fund Starry night Capital was responsible for nearly half of SuperRare’s total trading volume, with one of the fund’s biggest purchases being XCOPY’s “Dankrupt,” which was bought for 469 ETH ($1.9 million).

You can read more here.

Nifty Gateway Will Focus on Assuming an NFT Aggregator Role

Nifty Gateway has announced a new mission to serve as a permissionless NFT aggregator.

Speaking exclusively to Decrypt, Nifty Gateway co-founder Duncan Cock Foster noted that the company’s strategy “has always been a little like working backwards to what we want to achieve. Our goal has always been to build a really significant company in the NFT space, and our mission is to get one billion people collecting NFTs.” The first new feature to be released under the new mission is Verified Drops, bringing in popular projects Doodles, Bored Ape Yacht Club, Pudgy Penguins, and Creature World, among others.

Nifty Gateway will continue to act as a custodial wallet service holding assets for users, as well as offering easy connection with external wallets. It’s also looking for ways to enable transacting with lower Ethereum gas fees, and offers the ability for users to simply pay with credit cards.

Facebook Changes its Name to Meta

In arguably the most polarizing news in the Web3 space, Facebook announced its name change, rebranding to Meta.

The rebrand was announced at Facebook’s annual Connect conference on Thursday, October 28, and aims to position the social media behemoth as a metaverse company. The announcement was followed by an outpouring of posts from prominent members of the Web3 world, with calls for users and Web3 builders to band together against distrustful entities such as Facebook, who are a threat to what should be an open metaverse. John Carmack, the CTO at Facebook-owned virtual reality company Oculus, noted during a keynote speech on Thursday that “it’s unlikely we’re going to be in the completely open crypto world of things,” and went on to add confusion as to what Facebook’s plans may be, and his hesitation in regards to those plans, stating “my worry is that we could spend years and thousands of people possibly, and wind up with things that didn’t contribute all that much to the ways people are actually using the devices and hardware today (sic).”

What to Join and Who to Follow:

Panther Modern: musician, artist, and founding member of HEATDAO.

Hexpo: a free gallery tool for art on hic et nunc.

Andreas Rau: Hexpo creator, designer, and generative artist.

Michael / micmac.eth: Web3 developer and writer.

freeCodeCamp: free coding lessons and resources.

Developer DAO: a burgeoning developer community.

glia: producer and Web3 artist minting music NFTs on XNFT and Catalog.

XNFT Artist Spotlight: glia

glia is a Virgina-based artist exploring drone and fractured rhythms, and who has successfully minted and sold NFTs on Catalog and XNFT.

glia’s latest work is a beautifully bent beatscape inspired by Dune and its Fremen people, and the duality embodied by people stuck between two cultures.

You can check out glia’s XNFT collection here.

Podcast 719: Enrica Falqui

As a youth growing up in Cagliari, Sardinia, Enrica Falqui became fascinated by electronic sounds of all sorts by sneaking into live concerts. She was completely “spoiled for choice,” she recalls, but she dedicated her early teenage years to competitive athletics and martial arts before redirecting her attention towards making the electronic music she was listening to.

The catalyst for change came at the age of 15 when she “opened her mind” to the immense capabilities of techno, electro, and house by attending a local club called K2. This was the night she “fell in love with electronic music for life” and, several years later, she decided to pursue DJing as a career by moving to Berlin to immerse herself in the German city’s nightlife under the guise of studying language and communication. “I felt the need to broaden my horizons,” she says. “Sardinia was not enough for me anymore. I needed new motivations and stimuli.”

As a self-taught music maker, the product of spending “infinite hours trying and trying, making mistakes, and finally finding my own way,” she needed some time to feel ready enough to put out her work under her own name. In June, eight years after her move, she released her debut solo outing—Plexus for Andrew James Gustav‘s Marginal Returns that became fully formed during the pandemic. “Although obviously uncomfortable in various ways, lockdown gave me the opportunity to spend a lot of time alone in the studio and rediscover myself and my artistic goals,” Falqui explains.

Exhibiting Falqui’s love for ambient sounds and danceable breakbeats, techno, and house, Plexus is just one side of a versatile artist whose work is grounded in deep experimentation. Outside of her solo work, she teams up with Croatian artist Dea Dvornik as ERIS; the pair released four tracks of hard-hitting techno with a dark edge on DJ Masda and So Inagawa’s Cabaret Recordings in 2018, and followed it a year later with Champions League, a collection of gritty electro. Alongside Dutch-Italian composer Grand River as Yhdessa, she’s put out two tracks made entirely with the Vermona E-Piano, an electric piano built in 1978, and she also DJs across Europe, solo and with Dvornik.

Whereas Falqui’s previous studio mixes have been tailored towards the club, for her XLR8R podcast she’s created something warmer and introspective. She wanted to make something that feels like a “living organism, something alive,” she says, and she’s achieved this by weaving together different genres as an expression of her different and sometimes even opposing sides and moods. Recorded this past week in her Berlin apartment, it’s the latest demonstration of a rising artist exhibiting the full range of her tastes and talents.

01. What have you been up to recently?

I am currently studying German, digging frantically for new music in record stores across Berlin, and gigging around.

02. What have you been listening to during lockdown?

I’ve been listening to a lot of South American music—Toña La Negra, Chavela Vargas, Victor Jara—and all genres and styles of music actually. What I listen to depends on the mood of the day. I also very diligently listen to all of the records I play in my sets; I feel it is crucial to know and understand each track thoroughly.

03. Where did you record this mix?

I recorded it just before the deadline you gave me in my own studio in Friedrichshain, Berlin. I work better under pressure!

04. How did you go about choosing the tracks you’ve included?

I usually start from one or two carefully, pre-selected tracks which set the theme of the mix and act as an inspiration catalyst. From there I build the set intuitively: I more or less already know which direction it should take.

05. What’s next on your horizon?

Making more and more music, digging for new records, travelling for gigs (both solo and as part of ERIS), enjoying life and whatever it may bring.

Full XLR8R+ Members can download the podcast below. If you’re not an XLR8R+ member, you can read more about it and subscribe here.

Editor’s Note: Falqui has opted not to provide a tracklisting for this mix.

British Experimentalist Leifur James Returns with New EP

British experimentalist Leifur James will release a new EP on Night Time Stories.

The Year Turns To Air arrives off the back of a fruitful few years that have seen the British experimentalist release two albums, most recently 2020’s Angel In Disguise on Late Night Tales. Now he arrives back with four “dense and emotive” new recordings with “organic sound design and accomplished instrumentation.”

The record was born in part as a response to challenges of the coronavirus pandemic. James recorded it in Avebury in the United Kingdom, where he’s spent the past few years near to the home of his father. Returning to a simpler existence, closer to nature and landscapes, provided “valuable insight” during the composition process, we’re told.

“The combination of acute isolation and remedy worked to draw a new energy upwards and into the light that transferred itself almost by osmosis into the music,” the label explains.

As part of the record’s announcement, James has shared opener “Sirens” which introduces the EP with cinematic verve before building patiently, propelled by an undulating piano riff.

Tracklisting

01. Sirens
02. Mariana
03. Locked
04. New Moon

The Year Turns To Air EP is scheduled for November 24 release. Meanwhile, you can stream “Sirens” in full below and pre-order here.

Web3 Weekly Wrap: PleasrDAO Buys Wu-Tang Album for $4 Million, Haleek Maul Breaks Sales Record on Catalog, and More

This week’s Web3 Wrap includes PleasrDAO’s monumental purchase of the one-of-one Wu-Tang album, Once Upon A Time In Shaolin, Barbadian artist Haleek Maul’s record-breaking sales on Catalog, The Weeknd joining Tom Brady’s NFT platform, HERSTORY founder Latasha, Jonathan Zawada, and more.

Dive in below and join XLR8R’s Discord server for any questions regarding Web3 and music.

PleasrDAO Buys Wu-Tang Album From Federal Government for $4 Million

Leading collector DAO PleasrDAO has purchased the one-of-one Wu-Tang album Once Upon a Time in Shaolin.

The album first gained notoriety back in 2015 when cringe-inducing pharma-bro Martin Shkreli purchased the only copy of the album, which is the seventh album by the Wu-Tang Clan. The album was seized by the federal government in 2018 when Shkreli was sent to prison for fraud and was held until July this year when it was purchased by an unknown entity, now announced to be PleasrDAO, who bought it for $4 million.

Interestingly, the contract for the initial sale of the album “prevented the buyer from releasing the music commercially for 88 years,” according to Coindesk, which isn’t great news for fans that hoped the sale would mean the album would be released; however, this may not be as concrete as it seems considering a DAO purchased the album. Speaking to Coindesk, Jesse Grushack, the co-founder of 6, the agency that brokered the deal between the government and PleaserDAO, alluded to this, stating that “theoretically, [PleasrDAO] could have 5,000 owners of the album and make a private listening party for those owners.” If that ends up being the case, it would be a brilliant way to showcase the power of fractional ownership and community-owned products and intellectual property.

To close, the fact that a DAO purchased something from the US government is undoubtedly bullish for NFTs, DAOs, and the wider adoption of the Web3 space.

Haleek Maul Sells Track for 10 ETH on Catalog

With every week, Catalog seems to go from strength to strength, hitting new highs and launching new features.

This week was no different with Barbadian artist Haleek Maul selling one of his records, “BURDEN,” for 10 ETH, which at the time of writing is worth $39,880. The winning bid was secured by a consortium of collectors using PartyBid, a product for collective bidding using the Zora protocol. “BURDEN” is the first track to be released from Haleek’s new EP, with three more currently available for purchase on Catalog.

At the time of writing, the second track, “TOUCH,” had hit its reverse price of 10 ETH, with the current winning bid again coming via a PartyBid. The third track, “VERIFIED,” also has a little over 2.3 ETH in the bidding pool, with 8.7 ETH to go before it hits the reserve price and kicks off the auction. Anyone with an Ethereum wallet can join in on PartyBids, and you can read more about it here.

You can check out the full release via Haleek’s Spaces playlist.

The Weeknd Joins Tom Brady-Affiliated NFT Platform Autograph

Tom Brady’s NFT platform, Autograph, has announced it’s adding music to its offerings, with The Weeknd and FTX CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried, joining the board.

The platform launched its first offerings in August, focused solely on sport-based collectibles. According to Decrypt, music collectibles are next, with The Weeknd helping to guide its direction. “I was eager to join [Autograph] in launching a new vertical in the music space that explores what the metaverse could be,” The Weeknd noted. It’s still unclear whether The Weeknd will be releasing NFTs to kick things off, and any further details of what artists will be involved are still under wraps.

Latashá Sells Music Video for $19k

Rapper, artist, Zora Community Lead, and HERSTORY founding member Latashá this week sold her latest music video for 5 ETH ($19,880 at the time of writing).

The music video was for Latashá’s track, “Who Am I,” which was released last year via Sugaroo! Records. The clip was sold as an NFT via Zora, with the winning bid of 5 ETH going to collector C.Y. Lee. 10% of the sale went to HERSTORY, which is an art collective and DAO “dedicated to preserving and incubating the stories of marginalized crypto creators.”

This sale continues what has been an inspired year for Latashá, who has successfully minted and sold 18 NFTs via Zora, providing a beautifully produced blueprint for artists looking to have success in the space.

Friends With benefits Announces NYC Event

Friends With benefits today announced its latest member event, taking place in NYC for NFT.NYC on November 1 at Good Room.

The event will run from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. and will feature DJ sets by Caroline Polachek, Doss, and Pussy Riot, with more artists to be announced next week. The event flows from FWB’s latest season, Locals Only, which invites anyone holding five $FWB tokens to participate in localized city DAOs and events (FWB has established three cities: London, New York, and Los Angeles). Members holding five $FWB can RSVP and attend the NYC event, while global members holding 75 $FWB get a +1.

FWB and member Raihan will also be auctioning off a 1/1 NFT in conjuction with the event, with all proceeds going towards Good Room.
You can find more information on the event here and RSVP here.

What to Join and Who to Follow:

Forefront: Forefront provides content, market insights, and learning modules on social tokens and DAOs.

Latashá: leading Web3 creator, artist, Zora Community Lead, and HERSTORY DAO founding member.

Haleek Maul: Barbadian artist and producer.

PleasrDAO: leading NFT collector DAO.

Jonathan Zawada: renowned visual artist creating daily psychedelic mushrooms on Hic Et Nunc.

HERSTORY: art collective supporting marginalized crypto creators.

XNFT Artist Spotlight: Alejandro Mosso

Alejandro Mosso is an Argentinian electronic music composer and producer with over 20 years in the industry. He’s appeared on labels such as Cocoon, Hivern Discs, Third Ear, Sushitech, and collaborated with Ricardo Villalobos, Burnt Friedman, amongst others. This year, Mosso has been exploring and experimenting in the NFT space, minting and selling works on XNFT, Catalog, and Opensea.

His latest NFT, “MORIYAMA,” is a beautiful audio-visual piece centered around a hypnotic minimal house track. Only 20 of these unique NFTs have been minted and are for sale, for 50 xDAI ($50)—note, at the time of writing, only 17 are left. You can find “MORIYAMA” on XNFT (make sure to click the xDai tab in the top right).

Toy Tonics Offshoot Kryptox Releases Brian Eno-Produced Single by Sissi Rada

Today, Toy Tonics offshoot imprint Kryptox released a new single from Athenian artist Sissi Rada.

The single, “81948 (2000 OM69),” was produced by electronic figurehead and pioneer Brian Eno, and is the first taste of Rada’s forthcoming debut album, Nanodiamond, which is scheduled to drop on November 16. The album also features co-production by Andi Toma of Mouse on Mars and guest vocals from Greek singer Lena Platonos. According to the press release, the album plays out like “a strange but pleasant dream, or an endorphin-fuelled flight through the cosmos,” and brings to mind music from the likes of “Kate Bush, Van Dyke Parks, Kid A-era Radiohead, Katie Gately, and Georgia’s All Kind Music.”

Tracklisting:

A1. Karaburun Peninsula
A2. Athena
A3. Nanodiamond
A4. Maps featuring Lena Platonos (produced by Andi Toma)
A5. Ichthys
A6. Pyrametron
A7. Debris
B1. Too La
B2. Φ
B3. 81948 (2000 OM69) (produced by Brian Eno)
B4. Blueblack Tomb (produced by Andi Toma)
B5. Sorrow
B6. Elegierig

You can stream the single in full below, and pre-order it here.

Podcast 718: Valya Kan

Valya Kan, a Russian who has spent much of her adult life in Berlin, began her interest in electronic music around 2007 when she connected with the deep atmospheric grooves and minimal beats that soundtrack the German capital. Through online communities, where members would exchange and post about music, she developed an affinity for house and techno, helped by going to concerts and parties as part of her work as a music journalist. “I was really inspired by the idea that people there knew exactly what record a DJ would play,” she says. “I now feel that I was so privileged to be a part of it.” She began making music seriously in 2013, and by the following year she’d compiled a collection of demos. After a period of reflection, she found herself sharing her work with label contractions she could find on RA, and it didn’t take long for her to find some traction.

One of the first people to bite, in 2017, was British artist Spencer Parker, who rolled some of Kan’s sketches into Dust And Haze, her debut album on Work Them Records. With Remember, released in October 2020, she delivered four more tracks of deep and sophisticated house and techno—minimal but also powerful. The release was significant because it launched Twist, her own label, formed because she values the convenience of putting out music whenever and however she chooses. This stems from a desire to never limit herself to what label heads are wanting themselves; to break the mould. “We live in a world of grey copy robots, and I would rather like to see diversity of unique individuals,” she said an an interview.

2021 has been a quiet year for most artists and the same goes for Kan. After releasing “Ice Birds,” a mellow cut with soothing melodies available now on a compilation compiled by Seb Wildblood, and her first live set, she’s shared Heartbeats, which features two tracks recorded in isolation and one recorded in 2018. Now she’s marking it with an XLR8R podcast.

Recorded last week in Berlin, Kan’s mix casts the net wide and switches freely between rhythms and genre. On a basic level, it’s just a collection of her favorite records old and new, but it’s also a vague attempt at mixing pop music with techno and house—Drake with Aphex Twin; Jan Jelinek with Whitney Houston—for the first time. Tracks, several of which are her own, don’t go on for long and transitions are swift, but this, she says, is just how her imagination works.

01. What have you been up to recently?

The past month I’ve been working on my new record, looking for a new apartment in Berlin, and doing lots of sports and running. Now I want to run like 15 or 20 kilometres, whereas usually I run around 10.

02. What have you been listening to during lockdown?

Lots of different stuff. I was actually listening to lots of interviews with different musicians because I was going to the gym everyday. I think I listened to all RA Exchange podcasts, plus some interviews on YouTube with pop musicians. Musically, I’ve been listening to all kinds of stuff, from electronic to pop, and lots of Nicolas Jaar.

03. What have you been listening to recently?

Recently, ’90s, new disco, and new electronic music.

04. What drives you to make electronic music?

I feel like I kind of have to because if I don’t do it I feel bad. Also, listening for example to Giorgio Moroder’s music makes me feel like life is worth living when you make music.

05. When and where did you record this mix?

I recorded it at my home in Berlin with my phone constantly ringing and between running to look for an apartment and some other stuff. I kinda like the intensity of things, when you have to do a lot of things at the same time.

06. How did you go about choosing the tracks you’ve included?

Just music that’s been on repeat lately, my music, plus a couple of old tracks I really love.

07. What’s next on your horizon?

I don’t like to reveal my plans that much, but I am now becoming more open on social media. There’s definitely a new record coming soon. I also hope I will have enough time for a new album. Now I am becoming more happy with my music.

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. Dream Cycle “Jump Blue” (Idle Hands)
02. Seb Wildblood with Theophillius London “MDS” (All My Thoughts)
03. Jan Jelinek “Tendency” (~scape)
04. Whitney Huston “Heartbreak Hotel” (Arista)
05. Everything But The Girl “Missing” (Seb Wildblood Edit) (Unreleased)
06. Soulclap ft Navid Izadi “Unprotected Ex (Valya Kan Edit)” (Unreleased)
07. Aphex Twin “Bbydhyonchord” (Warp)
08. Valya Kan “Lake” (Unreleased)
09. Valya Kan “Burning Girl” (Unreleased)
10. Unknown “Club Tool 1” (Unknown)
11. Jacques Greene “Quicksand” (Lucky Me)
12. Valya Kan “Purple Dust” (Unreleased)
13. Pleasure State “Ghost In the System” (Hot Creations)
14. Larry Heard “Virtual Emotion” (Alleviated Records)
15. Valya Kan “Choices” (Wild Nation)
16. Drake feat. The Weeknd “Crew Love” (Sony Music)

Web3 Weekly Wrap: Zora Gets a New UI, Catalog Adds Spaces, Coinbase and Sotheby’s Announce NFT Platforms, and More

This week’s Web3 Wrap includes Zora’s UI update, Catalog’s playlisting feature, Spaces, NFT marketplace announcements from giants Coinbase and Sotheby’s, a new metaverse player, and more.

Check it all out below.

Zora Gets a New UI

Earlier this week (Sunday, October 10 to be exact), permissionless marketplace protocol Zora released a new UI.

The platform update adds a whole host of new functionality features to the interface, including a beautifully designed search function, within which you can find collectors, NFTs, user profiles, and more, and filters, allowing you to filter by Status, Media Type, Price, and Collections.

The release also includes encoding updates. Zora will now encode any image, video, or audio file minted to a device playable format and size, for example, a minted .aiff audio file will be encoded to an mp3 to allow for easier playabiltiy on your devices. Needless to say, this is huge for wider user adoption in relation to our almost entirely mobile-driven world.

Check out the new Zora here.

Catalog Adds Spaces

Catalog continues this week’s monumental Zora ecosystem updates—Catalog is built on Zora’s protocol—adding a new feature called Spaces.

In short, Spaces is a function that allows Catalog users to create playlists of Catalog records (tracks minted and sold on Catalog). The feature can be used to create varied playlists, such as a list of Dome of Doom tracks on Catalog—or an ode to artists from Chicago—as well as acting as a grouping function to release EPs or album collections. Importantly, the Spaces feature in off-chain, meaning users can create or edit Spaces without the need to pay gass fees.

You can read more about Spaces and how creators are using them here.

Coinbase Announces NFT Marketplace

Coinbase announced a forthcoming NFT marketplace on Tuesday.

At the time of writing, over two million users have signed up to be on the waitlist for the marketplace, which is set to launch before the end of the year. The aim, according to the announcement, is to “make minting, purchasing, showcasing, and discovering NFTs easier than ever.” This is huge news for the NFT space, with the potential injection of Coinbase’s 68 million user base.

The announcement follows similar NFT marketplace announcements from Binance and FTX.

You can read the full announcement and join the waitlist here.

Startup Stage11 raises a €5M seed round to reimagine music for the metaverse

Music metaverse company Stage11 officially launched this week.

The company was founded by Scorpio Music Co-founder Jonathan Belolo, and aims to “redefine the interactive music experience by combining gaming, mixed reality, and digital collectibles.” The first partners announced with the launch include popular EDM artists Martin Garrix and David Guetta, plus hip-hop royalty Snoop Dogg, Ne-Yo, Akon, and Salif.

Stage11 launches off the back of a €5M seed round of investment.

Stage11’s first music experience is set to debut in 2022.

Sotheby’s Announces NFT Platform Sotheby’s Metaverse

Yesterday, auction-house Sotheby’s announced its NFT marketplace, Sotheby’s Metaverse.

According to NFT Now, the launch will mean that Sotheby’s is currently the only auction house to create its own NFT marketplace for its in-house NFT sales. Sotheby’s looks to position the platform as an “immersive destination for collectors of digital art, offering a curated selection of NFTs,” and a “fully immersive virtual gathering space for collectors and enthusiasts.”

Sotheby’s Metaverse is live now.

Visa Announces NFT Education Program

Visa has announced an NFT education program for small businesses and creators.

The program was announced on Wednesday in partnership with artist Micah Johnson. Visa has opened applications for the program, and will “select a group of creators to serve as our inaugural class,” offering consultive services to help the successful applicants navigate the world of NFTs. “I’m excited about the opportunity to work alongside and learn from a trusted brand like Visa,” Johnson says. “Working together, we want to arm creators with the resources they need to stay at the forefront of this revolution.”

You can read the full announcement here and apply for the program here.

What to Join and Who to Follow:

Joëlle Snaith: audio-visual artist and techno producer innovating in the live AV space.

Ethan Daya: Zora co-creator and developer.

6529: crypto and NFT OG and one of the most inspired thinkers in the space.

Mark de Clive-Lowe: musician, producer, and NFT artist.

Catalog Discord: great community full of inspiring artists and knowledge.

Zora Discord: the leading protocol’s community, with numerous channels on all things Web3.

Web3 Weekly Wrap: FWB Fellowship Program, Daniel Allan Funds EP, Bitcoin Smart Contracts, and More

This week’s Web3 Wrap features an inspired set of developments and projects, including Daniel Allan’s monumental EP crowdfund, Friends With Benefits’ fellowship program, Stacks’ Bitcoin smart contracts, Catalog’s artist conversations, and much more.

Check it all out below.

Daniel Allan Crowd Funds New EP With a DAO—And Sells Out Three Records on Catalog

The last two weeks have proved to be monumental for rising beatmaker Daniel Allan, with the artist crowdfunding 50 Eth ($180,800 at the time of writing) for his latest EP in less than 24 hours.

Allan used a DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization) framework to raise the funds, with the DAO token holders (the investors) buying the master rights to his artist share of a new six-track EP. The DAO ($OVERSTIM) has been set up so that every month, token holders are paid out the royalties using a splits contract set up and accounted for by the $OVERSTIM team.

Token holders also have access to a Discord server, “with different sections baked out for payouts, accounting, and governance.”

Following the successful raise, Allan continued his stellar run of form, selling out three more records on NFT marketplace Catalog for 4 Eth.

You can read more about $OVERSTIM here.

FWB Opens Up Fellowship Program

Popular DAO Friends With Benefits (FWB) has kicked off a new fellowship program.

Entering its “fourth official season,” FWB has opened up a new fellowship program, allowing for creatives that may not have the financial means to join the community to apply for a token allocation, and therefore continued access to the group.

To account for the steep learning curve and enters such throwing communities, an FWB Benefactor program has also been kicked off and will run alongside the fellowship program, providing the accepted fellows with knowledge and know-how to allow for smoother integration.

You can read more about the programs over at the FWB Mirror.

Stacks Blockchain Adds Smart Contracts to Bitcoin and Soars 71%

Stacks, a new blockchain that adds smart contract support to Bitcoin, has seen its token, STX, rise over 71% in the last week.

Bitcoin doesn’t support smart contracts, so platforms and projects that utilize smart contracts—NFTs, DeFi, etc.—have historically been bordered off from its transactions. The Stacks blockchain, however, does support smart contracts and wraps all of its transactions for those contracts up and settles them on Bitcoin, allowing for Bitcoin to essentially support a much more diverse set of projects. Stacks founder Muneeb Ali describes it as a “Layer 1.5” solution and its popularity is soaring after the success of a handful of its NFT projects, including Bitcoin Birds, which was the most transacted NFT collection on Stacks, and StacksPunks, a CryptoPunks rip-off.

You can check out a more in-depth report on Decrypt.

Metaverse Music Fest Announces First Edition

Metaverse Music Fest has announced its first edition, running from October 29 to 31.

The festival welcomes “artists, builders, wearable designers, stages curators, organization wizards and all incredible citizens of the #metaverse” to join and attend. Over the three days, the festival aims to have all the Blockchain-based Metaverses—for example, Cryptovoxels, Decentraland, and Somnium Space—concurrently celebrate NFT music. Projects and artists are already pouring in with support and activations—you can see this on the festival’s Twitter profile, linked below—with new announcements on the way.

You can find more info over at the festival’s Twitter.

Catalog Launches Artist Conversations on Twitter Spaces

NFT music marketplace and platform Catalog has launched a new series of artist conversations on Twitter Spaces.

In the announcement post, Catalog invites users to bring questions about Web3 and music NFTs to the virtual event and to join in on a jam. The first artist feature will be American-based Japanese-New Zealand artist Mark de Clive-Lowe, a world-class DJ, musician and producer, and recent Catalog alumni.

You can set a reminder here.

Bankless Kicks off State of the DAO Newsletter

Bankless DAO released a newsletter project this week.

Titled State of the DAO, the newsletter promotes to be a “high-signal low-noise newsletter for understanding DAOs.” The first newsletter—and we’re assuming the newsletter project as a whole—is broken up into five sections: a headline piece, this time an in-depth article called “WTF are DAOs?”; DAOS at a Glance, a section linking to articles that will provide an overview of the DAO ecosystem; Ecosystem Takes, a collection of insights from across the ecosystem; Get Plugged In, which links beginner-level events, event highlights, and job opportunities; and DAO Spotlight, a section spotlighting key DAOs operating today.

For anyone interested in DAOs, this newsletter promises to be a deep and welcomed offering. You can check it out and sign up here.

What to Join and Who to Follow:

Coopahtroopa: DeFi OG, Web3 advisor, and leading DAO proponent.

Daniel Allan: Web3 music producer and artist.

NFT Now: upcoming NFT drops and news.

Evil King Gremplin: co-creator of Nouns DAO and CrypToadz OG.

Forefront: exclusive content and market insights on Social Tokens and DAOs.

Rival Consoles Confronts Technology on New Erased Tapes Album

Rival Consoles, the project of Ryan Lee West, will release a new album on Erased Tapes.

Overflow, West’s first album since 2020’s Articulation, explores the human and emotional consequences of life surrounded by data, and it echoes the concept of social media, advertising, and marketing companies exploiting our data to gain wealth and political advantage. It was originally composed as a soundscape for choreographer Alexander Whitley‘s dance production “Overflow.”

“In the big data world of social media and cookies everything is invisible, silent, and hidden behind a pleasant, enticing aesthetic. I thought it would be interesting to do the opposite and have a very scratchy, mechanical, noisey scanning sound that sheds light on what is actually happening,” West says. “If every time our data was taken and sold or used, we heard a weird clicking sound, that would completely change how we perceive it.”

Alongside the announcement, West has shared lead single “Monster,” which pulls no punches on the album’s overarching theme. West says the track has a “kind of drunken madness to it.” It’s “highly repetitive” to “mirror the repetitive nature of how we as humans engage with technology such as social media.”

The London label describes the release as “a fitting theme for the moment, as Facebook confronts whistleblowers.”

For more information on Rival Consoles, check out his XLR8R studio feature here.

Tracklisting

01. Monster
02. I Like
03. Hands
04. Pulses of Information
05. Noise Call and Response I
06. Overflow
07. The Cloud Oracle
08. Tension in the Cloud
09. Noise Call and Response II
10. Scanning
11. Flow State
12. Touches Everything
13. Making Sense of It All

Overflow LP is scheduled for December 3 release. Meanwhile, you can stream “Monster” and “Pulses of Information” below.

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