Much like its predecessor in 2017, Collected Pieces, the limited-edition cassette and digital release features new and previously unreleased material, Bandcamp-only singles, and various other obscurities from her recent archives. Lattimore has described the process of arranging these releases as “opening a box filled with memories,” and with this release that box continues to populate.
We’re told that each of the nine tracks was recorded in the moment, just Lattimore and her harp, contact mics, and pedals. Like her most affecting work, these songs showcase Lattimore’s gifts as an observer, able to shape her craft around emotional frequencies and scenes. Her power as a musician is rooted in how she sees the world: in vivid detail, with gratitude for nature and nuance.
Alongside the release, Lattimore has shared “We Wave From Our Boats” the lead single and one of the newest tracks in the collection. It was improvised during the early days of lockdown in 2020, as Lattimore walked around her neighbourhood.
“I would just wave at neighbors I didn’t know in a gesture of solidarity and it reminded me of how you’re compelled to wave at people on the other boat when you’re on a boat yourself, or on a bridge or something. The pull to wave feels very innate and natural.”
Alongside the release, Lattimore will release Collected Pieces: 2015-2020, a selection of 11 tracks from Collected Pieces and Collected Pieces II on vinyl and CD for the first time.
In 2020, Lattimore released her Silver Ladders, which you can read about here.
Tracklisting
01. Mary, You Were Wrong 02. For Scott Kelly, Returned To Earth 03. Sleeping Deer 04. We Wave From Our Boats 05. Princess Nicotine 06. Be My Four Eyes 07. What The Living Do 08. Pine Trees (Home Recording) 09. Polly Of The Circus
Collected Pieces II LP is scheduled for October 29 release. Meanwhile, you can stream “We Wave From Our Boats” in full below and pre-order here.
Stephan Bodzin has announced Boavista, his third album, by releasing its lead single on Afterlife.
Recorded during the pandemic, Boavista is a result of the lockdown period. Without being able to travel, Bodzin had the chance to look back on the vast archives of music he has recorded but never finished. So while spending time in Brazil, he picked his 25 favourites and finished them properly, with the best 17 making up the album. His aim was to tell a story with each track, “to paint musical pictures that conjure up very real emotions in the listener.”
We’re told to expect an “exquisitely crafted album of rich, synth-heavy electronic music that takes you into new worlds of emotion.” As always, playing the album live was in the back of Bodzin’s mind throughout the creative process.
The album is scheduled to land on Herzblut Recordings on October 11 but the title-track is now available alongside a remix from Innellea.
Bodzin’s last album, Powers of Ten, came out in 2015. He celebrated it with an XLR8R podcast, which you can check out here.
We’ll add the album tracklisting once it becomes available.
It’s reaching the end of the month which means we’re back with another roundup of submissions to our portal. It’s running a little bit later than usual, but once again there’s an abundance of great music that has been played out regularly at XLR8R HQ in Los Angeles since it dropped in our inboxes. There are, as there are each month, some west coast submissions in this list but the music that really clicked with us came from France (Blutch’s sublime “River”), Dallas (Boy Jugo’s impossibly chill “The Great Siphon”) and The Netherlands, the home of Modo Mero, whose the mesmerizing Bits and Piece EPhas left us all craving more. Ireland, Michigan, and Estonia are all represented too. As always, we’re delighted to have discovered a whole bunch of new artists and labels, and given that discovery is the main drive for XLR8R doing what it does day in day out, this particular list of submissions is memorable. Dig in, because you’re sure to find something that’ll resonate, and if you follow that wormhole you’ll probably discover even more. To all of you who submitted: thank you, as always, for your support.
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 mixesto 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.
Whether you are dancing in a nightclub or staring out of the window on a late bus ride home, Modo Mero’s music will make you feel fuzzy inside. The rising Dutch artist celebrates the history of electronic music while exploring the limitless means of modern music production. Inspired by his tranquil countryside surroundings, he recently debuted on Amsterdam label Fussy with Bits and Piece, a warm bath of dreamy ambient and hypnotizing synth patterns. It belongs somewhere near to Barker and Lorenzo Senni.
Marco Tracks is a DJ-producer based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil with a deep passion for ambient, dub, and house music. “Unveiled,” one of his latest tracks, is an intense journey with unfolding atmospheric synths, pulsating beats, and heavy use of delay.
Through industrial synths and horror-inspired atmospherics, Sentient, real name Dom Wallace, creates an unnerving and deranged bass sound. His first full release, Cursory, is available now on Bristol label Foundation Audio and it has been supported by Sicaria Sound and Zygos. We couldn’t choose just one track to stream so we’re playing clips of the entire release, and we highly recommend you dive in.
Hugo Mesi is a producer based in Tallinn, Estonia, better known as Killerkat. He keeps personal details about himself to a minimum but he is a regular performer at HALL in Tallinn. In June, he released Out of the Blue, an EP of pulsating techno with dubby synth lines, and “Cherry Tree” is our pick of the bunch.
Emika, real name Ema Jolly, will mark the 10th anniversary of her debut self-titled album with Vega, a trilogy of song collections. It features some reimagined versions of classic tracks from her Ninja Tune catalog and collaborations with Horace Andy (Massive Attack) and Rødhåd. More recently, she’s shared “Wonderful Life,” her cover version of Black’s 1986 pop hit. Using her sultry vocals and deep resonant bass-lines, she retains the understated atmosphere of the original while giving it a euphoric, melancholic edge.
Since winning AVA Festival’s emerging producer award in 2020, Derry-based producer Cartin has put out a series of EPs on Extended Play, the Belfast house imprint headed up by JMX and T-Bone. Pulling from IDM, breaks, bass, and techno, he’s developed a reputation as a forward-thinking and genre-merging artist, and last month he contributed “Spanner,” meshing deconstructed beats and filthy synths, to a monster 22-track compilation on MINDS. Keep your ears peeled for the unexpected switch-up at the halfway point.
With his new single “River,” French artist Blutch explores UK garage and ’90s breakbeat with his signature melancholy and textures. The result is a euphoric and trippy dance anthem filled with wistful emotion that’s sure to be played as a set closer when festivals eventually open up. It’s the second extract from Blutch’s forthcoming debut album, Terre Promise, following the equally beautiful “Cobalan.” The track comes with two dark remixes by Ellum and Astropolis Records artist Madben and Global Warming Records’ Malcolm.
Dragon’s Eye Recordings, an imprint based in Los Angeles and curated by Yann Novak, has put out Suisei, the latest reissue from Tokyo-based abstractionist Yui Onodera. (Suisei was originally released through and/OAR in 2007.) With its sustained harmonics and darkly-tinged drone sounds, the album shifts through watery, isolated landscapes. We’re playing the opener, an 11-minute hallucinatory experience, here. You can file it next to Thomas Koner, Eliane Radigue, and Keith Berry.
During the day, Dutch producer Fentom works in mental health care and to deal with his trauma he makes music. On Trillotichomania, his first EP since his cassette debut in 2019, he’s delivered six bass-fuelled dark downtempo tracks. He describes the record as the “soundtrack to your next nightmare,” and its title refers to a condition of his own, in which he compulsively pulls hairs from his eyebrows. The opening track, “Trillotichomania,” sets the tone for a chilling but compelling EP.
Elijah Nang has Nigerian heritage but hails from London, and through his work he explores Japanese culture. He’s been producing since around 2006 and in 2019 he released Gaijin, his latest album of blissful lo-fi house. “Vitamin D” fits into the same bracket even if it’s more uplifting and geared towards summer—which we know is drawing to a close, but this track is worth your time nonetheless!
DÔME is the label of Astropolis Festival in France and they’ve just released DÔME VA.02, their second label compilation. It includes “Me Ve Zimi” a track from NZE NZE, the collaborative alias of UVB76 and Sacred Lodge. It’s a hybrid combination of early tribal instrumentation, heavy basslines, and mystic vocals in Fang, a language spoken by only one million people in Central Africa.
D’Marc Cantu, a Michigan-based artist, has put out his music on Crème Organization, M>O>S Recordings, and Tuskegee Music. More recently, he’s teamed up with Danny Passarella, a London-based producer, for four more deep, atmospheric techno originals. The Future Has A Silver Lining 3 is the third chapter in a series, the first of which was released on Les Disques De La Mort and the second in 2020 also on Passarella. “Recognizably Invisible” is the dark and evocative opener, but please do check out the other three!
Yulio, the alias of Julio Muñoz, a Chilean artist based in Croatia, has contributed the track “Robots 2040” to the second anniversary compilation of Santiago’s Panal Records. You can expect a frenzied and sinister techno experience inspired by robotics. In June, Yulio released Venus, his latest album, on Diffuse Reality Records.
Sebeyu, an artist based in Los Angeles, has released Mindexpansion, where faded synth and melody meet heady percussion and dual harmonic singing, a voice technique that produces two notes simultaneously. In electronic music synthesis, there are four main wave shapes: sine, saw, square, and triangle, and these are filtered and modulated to create harmonic characteristics. “Sinsaw,” our favorite track on the record, is an intensely beautiful mixture of artificial and naturally occurring wave shapes.
Boy Jugo “The Great Siphon” Feat. JeMarcus Bridges
Boy Jugo, real name Jordan Reed, is a jazz experimentalist whose work as a keyboardist and electronic music producer began in 2011 alongside Capshun, his brother. Now 20 years old, Reed is a rising talent in Dallas’ hip-hop community, and “The Great Siphon” featuring JeMarcus Bridges is a standout track from Time For Jazz, Reed’s impossibly chill debut album, released at the start of this month. We recommend it highly.
Luke Slater has unveiled a new album as Planetary Assault Systems on Token.
Sky Scraping is the iconic British producer’s first album since Arc Angel on Ostgut Ton in 2016. It builds on last year’s Say It Loud EP on Token with eight new tracks.
Besides unheard studio material, Slater draws heavily on components he’s recorded during the Planetary Assault Systems live show. We’re told that the focus is “well and truly on the dancefloor.”
Slater minted the Planetary Assault Systems alias in 1993. Since then, a slew of singles and albums split between Peacefrog and Ostgut have made the project a byword for hypnotic, funk-heavy techno.
Tracklistings
01. Labstract 02. One For The Groove 03. Bang Wap 04. Say It Loud 05. Give In 06. If I Die 07. Coal 08. Run 09. The Drag Train 10. Nano Chameleon
Vinyl
A1. Labstract A2. One For The Groove B1. Give In B2. If I Die C1. Coal C2. Run D1. The Drag Train D2. Nano Chameleon
Sky Scraping LP will land on October 15. Meanwhile, you can stream “Labstract,” “Bang Wap,” and “Say It Loud” in full below and pre-order here.
Elliot Weston, better known as DJ Autumn, has been a pivotal figure in Britain’s dance music community for just shy of a decade, dropping an endless array of tasteful grooves through Banoffee Pies, a prolific, hard-to-pin-down, and widely loved imprint. He grew up in Hammersmith, London, where he discovered drum & bass and would sneak into Fabric using fake identification, but it wasn’t until he moved to Bristol for university that his life began to revolve around music. By taking up various music-related jobs, he met people in the local party scene and quickly began contributing to it himself, firstly through DJing and then through Banoffee Pies, which he kicked off in 2014.
Bristol’s rich musical diversity has certainly informed the breadth of Banoffee Pies, but the label’s reach has extended much wider. Through quick-fire compilations, various limited series, and a network of sub-labels, Banoffee Pies has somehow successfully maintained an identity without having a defined sonic scope—instead of sticking to one thing and doing it well, it’s done pretty much everything and done them all well. It remains one of those buy-on-sight platforms, and yet until you press play you might not know if it’s going to be some wonky minimal of Adam Strömstedt, the dark garage of Interplanetary Criminal, or some dusty hip-hop beats from FloFilz.
As DJ Autumn, Weston is a regular at Banoffee Pies events—held at the likes of Gottwood and Nuits Sonores—and also on radio shows on Worldwide FM and NTS. In 2019, he launched Headroom Festival, an intimate, invitation-only music event which he curates. After a recent move to Berlin to expand his musical horizons, he’s prepared an XLR8R podcast that gives a glimpse of what you’ll hear him play out when he begins touring again. Across its 80-minute run time, it also pretty much sums up what he and his label are all about: shape-shifting sounds and tempos that go together even if they really shouldn’t. Expect a deep headphone listen that’ll keep you guessing all the way, and a handful of artists and labels for you to go explore.
01. What have you been up to recently?
Surviving, digging for music, listening to podcasts, and staying up late working on upcoming projects. I just managed to source some Lady Grey Tea bags in Berlin though so that’s something to celebrate. If you know!
02. You’ve clearly got a sharp eye for curation. How do you find new music for the label and yourself?
I love finding music and artists to work with and I take a similar approach to building my own collection as I do to finding music for the label. Anything that excites or inspires me is what I look for, and having multiple sub-labels under the Banoffee umbrella, depending on genre or style etc., allows me some flexibility to bounce some ideas in approaches and possible collaborations.
03. Which artists or labels have been impressing you recently?
There’s been so much good music lately and I can’t even pick but a few highlights include labels such as Motion Ward, Trule, Bokeh Versions, Well Street Records, Wisdom Teeth, Deep Jungle, and Ilian Tape. In terms of artists, I’d say Audio Werner, Vladimir Gnatenko, Kilchhofer, Duckett, Nathan Melja, and Basement Space.
04. What makes a Banoffee Pies release?
A mood, nice drums, and a sound that might translate well in different spaces or tempos.
05. Where and when did you record this mix?
I recorded this mix in my new flat here in Neukölln, Berlin on a very wet and stormy Sunday. It felt like I was back in Bristol.
06. How does this mix compare to what we might hear you play in a club soon?
I try to have an idea of what styles I want to include and what mood to translate depending on the party, place, or platform so it really depends but I love making deep headphone trips when I record studio mixes. This has a few extra curveballs here and there to spice things up more like a club but it’s somewhere in between. There are many tempos inside.
07. How did you go about choosing the tracks you’ve included?
I always love to include at least a few tracks that resonate with me personally and that I feel would sit well with the channel, and then I build a playlist around those across a timeline. I like trying to find ways to play things at half speed or at wrong tempos so looking at this and possible pitch ranges is a nice way to match tracks that don’t look like they should work.
08. What’s next on your horizon?
I am keeping the label moving with loads of upcoming releases with some really exciting people, and beginning to plan an event series again, ready for a full steam launch next year when things are more normal. I’m also reprogramming Headroom after two years out, and hopefully beginning to play a few shows. Also, I’m working on a new company focusing on pairing audio with video and film.
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. Burial “Gutted” (Hyperdub) 02. Unknown Artist “NO MORE PUPPY LOVE” (Ghost Phone) 03. John Glacier “Platoon” (Prod. by Vegyn) (PLZ Make It Ruins) 04. Lårry “Latz End” (Awkwardly Social) 05. Tirzah “Inside Out” (Greco-Roman) 06. Big Hands “Calix’s Hands” (Oscilla Sound) 07. Kincaid “OOO” (Well Street Records) 08. Postdrone “Dawsha FM” feat. PostTawheed (Hassan Abou Alam Remix) (Rakete) 09. Sully “5ives” (Over/Shadow) 10. Sourpuss “???” (Missy Bootleg) 11. Minder “Lips” (Sneaker Social Club) 12. Kouslin “Full Circle” (Tim Reaper Remix) (Club Yeke) 13. 8ULENTIA “turn up” (Unknown) 14. ??? “SHAKE YA AZZ” (Unknown) 15. Trinity Carbon “International Bassline” (Art-E-Fax) 16. SOSI POSI “LA FLAUTA” (SOSI POSI 2) 17. Kilchhofer “Trift” (Marionette) 18. CZN “Macondos Prospects” (The Trilogy Tapes) 19. Pinch “Qawwali” (Tectonic Recordings) 20. Space Drum Meditation “Roots” feat. Messias Messiah (Space Drum Meditation) 21. Audio Werner “Smell The Future” (Self-Release) 22. Nathan Melja “Untitled 8” (Self-Release) 23. Stefan Dubs “Untitled Version” (Trule) 24. Bushwacka! “Rubber Band” (Plank Records) 25. Lockgroove “Feel The Joy” (Seven Hills Records) 26. Luke Warmwater “And It’s Wonderful” (Kalahari Oyster Kult)
The second Web3 Weekly Wrap is here, detailing this week’s interesting NFTs, artists, and announcements in the Web3 space.
This week we were treated with an assortment of inspiring news, from Catalog’s monumental raise and roadmap to a raft of new NFT platforms, V2 announcements, games, and chain developments. To say the Web3 space is thriving would be an understatement.
Dive into the world of Web3 below.
Catalog Raises $2.2 Million and Details Roadmap
Yesterday, Catalog gave an update on the platform’s progress so far and details on where it’s heading. The piece—which you can read in full here—was structured around the news that at the end of June, Catalog closed a $2.2 million fundraising round led by 1confirmation, Inflection, Delphi Digital, WndrCo, and a range of angel investors including Cooper Turley, Trevor McFedries, and RAC.
Catalog also gave details as to its sales history, which currently sits at $213,234 five months after the platform launched. Over 100 artists have minted on the platform to date. Catalog also noted that it will be moving towards a community-owned model, following in the footsteps of Super Rare and Friends With Benefits.
RCRDSHP Launches
Earlier this week, RCRDSHP, an electronic music collectibles platform, announced its launch. The platform, which names industry partners such as Toolroom Records, Bar25, and Circus Music, among others, focuses on limited-edition packs, which, when unboxed, feature “a unique aspect of an artist, label, or festival’s musical worlds.” The platform also notes that gamification features are on the way, with collectibles unlocking certain features.
According to a follow-up press release, RCRDSHP sold out its first drop of over 5000 genesis packs in the first few hours after launch.
Degenerate Apes NFT Sale Sends Solana to All-Time High
The native token of the Solana blockchain, SOL, hit an all-time high of $63.33 after the launch of the NFT collection Degenerate Ape Academy. The collection, which features 10,000 unique cartoon apes, sold out in mere minutes after its launch with trade volume reaching just over $5.9 million despite what the team called a “s***y launch”. This surge in price has pushed Solana into the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap, surpassing Uniswap’s UNI with $17.5 Billion.
Dolce & Gabbana to Debut Luxury NFT Collection on UNXD
Luxury fashion brand Dolce & Gabbana has announced that it’s entering the NFT world with its debut collection, Collezione Genesi, launching August 28, at the start of the Alta Moda couture show in Venice. The collection will be launched on UNXD via the Polygon Matic network and will feature items designed by brand co-founders Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana. This is D&G’s first foray into the NFT world, but the luxury fashion market has been experimenting with the technology for a while; Earlier this month, rival clothiers Louis Vuitton and Burberry both launched NFT video games – Louis the game and Blankos Block Party respectively.
Vine Creator Working on NFT Video Game
Vine founder Dom Hoffman is working on an on-chain video game system called SupDrive, which will use NFTs as a virtual game cartridge. Hoffman announced via Discord that the games will be collectible NFTs and will run off of virtual firmware. Each copy of a game will be unique, offering different level designs, color palettes, and more to each player that collects it. If the project works out, Hoffman eventually plans to let fans and collectors develop games of their own with the technology. SupDrive will also feature a sort of social metagame, with users being placed on either red, blue, or green teams depending on their NFTs.
SuperRare Launches Version 2.0
NFT marketplace SuperRare has announced the launch of version 2 of its platform. Most notably, version 2 introduces the $RARE governance token, a platform-wide voting mechanism that will hand control of the platform over to token holders. Sovereign smart contract and an independently curated storefront are the other noteworthy features. To celebrate the launch of the upgraded platform, SuperRare is airdropping 150,000,000 RARE tokens to the community. Anyone using the platform prior to July 2, 2021, is eligible to receive free tokens.
Alibaba Launches NFT Marketplace, Allowing Content Creators to Copyright Works on the Blockchain.
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba has announced that it has created a brand new NFT marketplace that allows content creators to copyright works onto the blockchain. The multinational conglomerate, which has an estimated $257 Billion in assets, has been allegedly working with blockchain and cryptocurrency for years. Currently, NFTs are minted on what is being called the “New Copyright Blockchain”, which will be operated and maintained by the Sichuan Blockchain Association Copyright Committee. One of the key features of this newly implemented system is that it will allow creators to copyright material via the blockchain and then sell the rights to that content as tokens as well.
What to Join, Who to Follow, Where to Go:
VeeFriendsDiscord – An NFT project around meaningful intellectual property and an extraordinary community (put together by Gary Vaynerchuk).
Twitter – @veefriends
CleanNFTs – Discord channel championing clean NFT platforms and news.
IX Shells – Artist, curator for flamingoDAO, herstoryDAO.
Cyber– 3D & VR experiences to show your NFTs, in a click.
XNFT Artist Spotlight: GroundBIRD
Electronic artist GroundBIRD’s first XNFT offering was a retro-inspired, 12 track album titled Into the Wave, which gives owners exclusive rights to use the content as they see fit, in perpetuity. This means that whoever owns the NFT will be able to use the music for commercial or non-commercial production use. They’re also including high-resolution track stems of all the music as a part of the purchase so that the owner can mix, remix, and edit the pieces as they see fit.
Blurring the lines of synth-wave and electro, the collection features retro-style synthesis reminiscent of the 8-bit era, punchy percussion, and squelchy basslines. The collection is complemented by album art depicting a pixelated, neon-colored dodecahedron spinning along with the music against a black background (seen above). 10 of these albums are available now for 20xDai on the xDai chain here.
GroundBIRD has since followed up Into The Wave with Awakened, a new one-of-one audio-visual piece of stunning clarity and composition. Again, the UK artist is experimenting with rights on the blockchain, offering a worldwide exclusive license to the buyer, along with full HD quality downloads of the piece, which is currently on sale for 500xDai here.
SHERELLE will release a compilation highlighting some of her favorite Black electronic artists.
The 18-track release comes out on BEAUTIFUL, the British artist’s platform she created last year in response to the lack of Black representation within the mainstream scene. It features exclusive tracks from the likes of Karen Nyame KG, Tim Reaper, Taahliah, Roska, Kessler, Nia Archives, and Scratcha DVA. There’s also a track from Loraine James, who recently contributed an XLR8R podcast, and SHERELLE features on a track by WALTHAMSTOW DOGS.
“I am super happy to finally introduce the BEAUTIFUL compilation. This has been one of the most ambitious projects I have ever worked on and the people involved are all artists that over the last year I have been wanting to work with,” SHERELLE says. “They are some of the very best artists of the electronic scene.”
“To me, BEAUTIFUL is a label and platform that belongs to and is for cultivating new and exciting music. Cultivating scenes within the Black and LGBTQI+ music community in and around Europe. BEAUTIFUL will make it easier for future generations and help protect and grow the scene into something beautiful,” she continued.
Please Keep Shimmering is the British artist’s fourth release on All My Thoughts, and it’s the end result of a long, turbulent creative process. It’s really about perseverance and finding inspiration in the face of self-doubt.
First emerging in Leeds, northern England, Tom VR, real name Thomas Nicol, gained traction through a rapid series of releases on AMT and his own label, Valby Rotary. His debut album, Films, is a rich and eclectic collage of house, electronica, and field recordings; since then, he has refined a style of his own, which is detailed and intricate but grounded by a feeling of warmth. Earlier this year, he released Fast Track To Bliss on Midland’s INTERGRADED.
Work started on Please Keep Shimmering in the aftermath of Films in 2019. Relocating to London through Manchester, Tom VR juggled his music with a role in customer service. During 2020, over the course of months in isolated lockdown, anonymous abuse from customers skewed his perception of the outside world.
“It permeates through the screen of your computer and into your life,” he explains. “As you much as you try to disconnect afterwards, doing this every day while isolated in your home can get strange. I started to lose confidence in what I was doing creatively and why I was doing it.”
Please Keep Shimmering soundtracks this moment of “internal fracture,” but also the experience of reassembling the pieces. The album moves from pulsing ambient to brooding downtempo. And hidden between these moments of introspection are flashbacks to the dancefloor, we’re told.
“I sometimes envision my creativity like a flame shimmering. I was constantly worried about it fading out,” Tom VR says. “This album is a sonic reminder to anyone that when you feel burned out and exhausted, searching for the spark deep in your chest can feel impossible, but you have to believe it still exists.”
For more information on Seb Wildblood, check out his XLR8R podcast here.
Tracklisting
01. Soared Straight Through Me 02. Petrichor 03. Colour Dance Behind The Eyelids 04. Partner 05. Keep Shimmering 06. Now The Branch Is Creaking 07. Achemore 08. October 09. Blue Sky Unravel 10. Well Are You Hope? 11. Partner (edit) 12. Soared Straight Through Me (edit)
Please Keep Shimmering LP is scheduled for September 15 release. Meanwhile, you can stream “Partner” below. We’ll add pre-order links as they become available.
KMRU, real name Joseph Kamaru, has curated a label compilation that shines a light on electronic music talent from Nairobi, Kenya.
The 14-track curation features a glimpse of the different styles of music coming out of the African city, from the sample-based productions of MR.LU*, who has been reintroducing old Kenyan traditional folk into his work, to Barno, who blends ambient with elegant piano sounds.
The compilation features Coco Em, whom we recently featured, and Nabalayo’s “changanya” style: a modernized folk music built on the aesthetics of local folk music. There’s also Charles Nyiha’s film-like compositions, and KMRU himself delivers a field recording.
“Place: Nairobi is only a scratch of the surface of what’s happening in the Nairobi electronic music scene,” we’re told.
The compilation comes out on New York label Air Texture, and it forms part of Place, a location-specific compilation series where all proceeds are donated to a local environmental cause in that place. In this particular case, that cause is The Green Belt Movement (GBM), an environmental organization that empowers communities, particularly women, to conserve the environment and improve livelihoods.
Currently studying sonic arts in Berlin, Kamaru is a Nairobi-born sound artist whose work is grounded in field recording, noise, and improvisation.
Lotic, the project of J’Kerian Morgan, will release her new album on Houndstooth in October.
Water, a “tender meditation on love’s losses” arrives at the end of a period Morgan recalls as “having to be adaptable, while being dragged through the trenches.” To arrive at Water meant to become like water.
To work on the album, Morgan dedicated two years to a deep, intentional process of surrendering to softness, welcoming impermanence, and embracing intimate relationships. We’re told that the music is defined by softened drums and a powdery warmth, and that each chapter unfolds as a symphonic sound poem.
From studying film and electronic music at the University of Texas at Austin, Morgan released her darkly complex debut EP, More Than Friends, in 2011, before moving to Berlin where she released mixtapes including Fallout (2013), Damsel in Distress (2014), Agitations (2015) and Heterocetera (2015). She released her debut album, Power, in 2018, transforming feelings of fear and vulnerability into a consolidation of personal strength.
Alongside today’s announcement, Morgan has shared “Come Unto Me,” which is the synchronous telling of a cherished partnership and a lament for its loss through time.
Tracklisting
01. Wet 02. Emergency 03. Come Unto Me 04. Changes 05. Always You 06. Apart 07. A Plea 08. Oblivious 09. Diamond
Water LP is scheduled for October 29 release on Houndstooth. Meanwhile, you can stream “Come Unto Me” in full below and pre-order here.
