Comprising three sweetly-swung, groove-focused productions coaxed from her beloved MPC3000, it’s the perfect summation of Peggy’s developing sonic signature.
“Maktoop is from the Arabic word maktoob meaning ‘written’ or ‘destiny,’ so the EP title could be interpreted as ‘looking for destiny’,” explains Peggy. “It’s also a reference to two of my best friends: Sik (or ‘Seek’) and Bada (who taught me this Arabic word). They have always been very supportive of my music and I wanted to acknowledge that somehow.”
The Korean-born Berlin resident has quickly established herself as an artist to watch in 2016; earlier this year she showcased her production prowess on a pair of 12″s for Matt Edwards’ Rekids label—Art Of War and Art Of War (Part II)— and an outing on Phonica’s consistently excellent Phonica White imprint. She has been equally impressive as a DJ too, playing alongside the likes of Ben Klock, Moodymann, Move D and KiNK.
Tracklisting:
01. Gou Talk 02. Maktoop 03. Rose
Seek For Maktoop EP is scheduled for October 14 release, with pre-order available here.
“Gou Talk,” the EP opener, is available to stream below and purchase here now.
Livio & Roby will release Phantom Circle, a new album, via Loco Dice’s Desolat on September 26.
This new conceptual project challenges the listener to defy the constraints of preconceived notions by inviting us to focus on one thing and one thing only: the music. The vinyl release will be dropped without a tracklisting, and in turn encourages the listener to focus on the music without preconceptions, rather than skipping to the tracks by their favorite artists.
The classic Livio & Roby nuances will prevail, of course, but there will be no clear evidence about the collaborator behind each track, apart from the music itself.
The triple-pack vinyl edition of the album is due on September 26, with a digital release to follow on October 14.
Livio & Roby will release Phantom Circle, a new album, via Loco Dice’s Desolat on September 26.
This new conceptual project challenges the listener to defy the constraints of preconceived notions by inviting us to focus on one thing and one thing only: the music. The vinyl release will be dropped without a tracklisting, and in turn encourages the listener to focus on the music without preconceptions, rather than skipping to the tracks by their favorite artists.
The classic Livio & Roby nuances will prevail, of course, but there will be no clear evidence about the collaborator behind each track, apart from the music itself.
The triple-pack vinyl edition of the album is due on September 26, with a digital release to follow on October 14.
There Be Monsters is the sophomore album from Samuel Evans (a.k.a. Rain Dog), following his highly acclaimed debut album, Two Words in 2014. There Be Monsters will be released on September 30 by the always-on-point Project: Mooncircle, housed on limited natural-marbled vinyl—including a download code.
The album follows a stint creating soundtracks for Vice documentaries and time spent honing his sound. It’s a sonic exploration of Evans’ psyche, a look into his mind and an auditory map of the many personal changes that occurred over the years during the album’s creation.
Ahead of the release at the end of the month—you can preorder it now at the Project: Mooncircle Bandcamp—you can stream the ethereal album cut “Tahiti (Take Me To Infiniti)” in full via the player above.
When Hugo Gruzman and James Lyell joined forces as Flight Facilities back in 2009, they unwittingly launched a project that would quickly grow to become one of Australia’s most well-received electronic exports. Blending the accessibility and lightheartedness of pop with the futurism of machine music, the duo’s creative spark has been a welcome hit on the international stage.
Inspired by the likes of Tiga and Erol Alkan, the pair had actually started off by treading a more traditionally dance-oriented course; in fact, Gruzman had “pictured that they would be some sort of underground DJs forever.” It was only down to their first single, “Crave You”—a painfully catchy, feel-good slice of pop featuring vocals by Giselle—that they ended up treading a different path in the years following. Fast forward to present and they’ve racked up a total of two albums (including the recent live recording with The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra) as well as a wealth of singles. During the interim period, they’ve worked with everyone from Kylie Minogue to Reggie Watts, and provided a bunch of remixes for the likes of Foals, Cut Copy and Bag Raiders.
Naturally, over the course of their time together, their processes and techniques have undergone substantial alterations and updates. Moving away from performances limited to just CDJ spinning (with live guest vocalists sporadically tagging in and out), you’ll mostly catch them working a live setup today, which often even stretches to include orchestras. In conversation with us, Gruzman speaks of the slow introduction of different pieces of gear: first an AKAI MPC, then the Ableton Launchpad, before eventually arriving at the colorful, machine-heavy setup that they have been touring with of late.
At the time of this article going live, Gruzman and Lyell are gearing up for their North American Equinox Tour: a trip that will take them from Austin to San Francisco, via LA, San Diego, Miami, New York, and plenty more stops along the way. On behalf of the pair, Gruzman has given the lowdown on all the gear that they need to put on their live show.
I use this piece of equipment to trigger sounds, samples and pretty much anything that we pre-load into it through Ableton Live. I really like the MPD-26 because it is really tactile and stays true to the whole pushing buttons as a DJ. I use it during “Hold Me Down,” triggering the bells and chimes, as well as “Sunshine” for those coconut-like sounds. A lot comes out of this little machine, keeping me working throughout the set.
We then also use a second MPD-26 to trigger the start of all songs throughout the set, speaking to our Ableton Live system to keep backing vocals, sounds or samples we can’t play live in time.
This keyboard was a last-minute addition to our Sydney FFxSSO orchestra show, allowing me to add some warm, mid-synth layers and paddings under tracks like “Two Bodies,” “Shine A Light” and “I Didn’t Believe.” Since purchasing the Juno 106, we have started using it a lot more in our writing process, because is provides such a reliable, classic synth sound.
Jimmy uses this triggered sampling pad with drumsticks throughout the show to bring in all sorts of sounds, whether it is drum parts, more bells (never enough bells) or vocal samples. The Roland SPD-SX gives the show a lot of rhythmic melodies that add certain bounce to songs like “Stand Still,” “Heart Attack” and “Two Bodies,” but is most obvious in “Crave You” when he plays the toms.
Another instrument on my side of the booth, the Roland TB-3 is good for big basslines, top-lines, atmospherics and straight-up 303 acid-lines. You can get so much out of this little toy! Again, it picks up MIDI sequences from our show computer as well, for lines that are too quick for us to play during the set. Depending on the show setlist, we generally use the Roland TB-3 during “Heart Attack,” in-between “Crave You” and “Clair de Lune,” and in ‘With You’ for a synth arpeggiation.
This is mainly for atmospheric sounds but does run a couple of arpeggiations similar to the Roland TB-3. Jimmy uses this during “Clair de Lune,” “Foreign Language,” “Down To Earth” and “Apollo.”
Also in the shot above are two cowbells that were added simply as a novelty—it never hurts to have the optional cowbell! We think of it as our tribute the Bruce Dickinson.
This is an analog delay pedal used in conjunction with the Korg MS-20 for a lot of arpeggiations and atmospheric effects. It’s a great sounding unit that can produce traditional delays as well as murky, distorted, and chorusing tones.
This is an all-in-one MIDI keyboard controller for any soft synth sounds you may desire. Pretty much any sounds you can make on a computer using Ableton—be it organs, pianos, synths and more—can be emulated via this keyboard. On stage, I use this keyboard during “Sunshine,” “Shine a Light” and in “Two Bodies,” where I take over the basslines from Jimmy on this keyboards.
Hugo’s Mic
This microphone feeds into the Ableton Live project system, pushing my voice through an audio channel that allows for vocoding; an audio processor that pretty much synthesizes my voice. Think classic Daft Punk vocals. I only use this effect during “I Didn’t Believe,” “Foreign Language” and “Shine A Light,” so it’s a nice sporadic addition to the set. It also makes for a lot of fun during rehearsals and soundcheck
Rhythm Guitar
Jimmy’s late ’80s Fender Stratocaster runs through a guitar rig in the synthesizer computer, allowing us to control program changes for different songs. Jimmy plays this guitar in “Sunshine,” “Hold Me Down,” and “Foreign Language.”
THE BRAINS OF THE SHOW
Playback
We use two Motu UltraLite-mk3 with two MacBook Pros, both receiving song start triggers from stage. They run in unison, with audio going through an Orchid Electronics switcher. If the main system drops out, the audio switches to the redundant. A custom built MIDI switcher is linked to the audio switcher in order to ensure that the MIDI going to devices on stage is from the same computer as the audio in use at the time.
All devices on stage (as well as the synth computer) receive program change data from this master playback system. It also outputs LTC Timecode to the lighting console, which ensures that all lighting and video content is perfectly in sync with the show at all times.
Synth
A third Motu UltraLite-mk3 audio interface is used in conjunction with a third MacBook Pro to host soft synth plug-ins (Native Instruments Massive, FM8, Guitar Rig and built-in Ableton samplers). This runs Hugo’s sounds for MPD-26 sample pad, as well as all sounds played on the MPK249, the vocoder, and the guitar amp tones. This computer receives program change data from the playback system, which triggers chain selectors in Ableton and switches between synth sounds.
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You can catch Flight Facilities performing at San Diego’s CRSSD Festival, taking place October 1-2.
If you’re unfamiliar, Jordan is a DJ and producer from Belfast, Ireland, with releases on Extended Play, Made Fresh Daily, and Derrick Carter and Luke Solomon’s Classic Music Company. Alongside his standout releases, Jordan has been the go-to support for artists such as Carl Craig, Paul Woolford, and Ryan Elliot, cementing his position as one of electronic music’s leading figures in Northern Ireland.
His latest release will be Coup De Grace, a three-track EP for Tiga’s Turbo sub-label, Twin Turbo—Jordan’s two originals will be backed up by a remix from Leeds producer Zia. All three tracks revolve around heavy grooves and tripped-out layers, the sort of cuts you would hear in the sets of the above mentioned artists.
Today’s download, although not on the release, runs along the same track. It’s a chunky piece of club techno with Jordan’s notoriously warped touch. You can download “Everybody’s Body” via WeTransfer below, with Coup De Grace available at the Turbo website.
Neil McDonald, better known as Lord of the Isles, is an electronic producer based in Edinburgh, Scotland, who has released a number of deep, tripped-out EPs on the likes of Permanent Vacation, Mule Musiq and Unthank over the past few years. His first full-length release, In Waves, has been announced today—a collection of 15 of McDonald’s previously unreleased tracks, which were collated by the Scot and ESP Insitute together.
It is his first release on the New York imprint, who explain the album as an “assemblage of intimate stories that, as a whole, give us this wider view of his intense drive, his multi-faceted quiver of skill, and his ultimate obsession… beauty.” It is set follow the release of another EP by McDonald, on Edinburgh imprint Firecracker Recordings (due out this September).
In Waves will be released November 11. Stream “Skylark” below, via Boiler Room.
Surface Tension will drop on May’s imprint Transmat later this year, marking the first time the Detroit legend has worked extensively on a record in roughly two decades. The eight track effort is also a landmark for Luxembourgian pianist and composer Tristano, who describes it as his “most techno and synth-based project yet.”
The recordings were originally undertaken as a means of creating new music for Tristano’s p:anorig project (which debuted at this year’s Sónar festival), but quickly became their own entity. May steps in on four of the cuts, leaving three original solo works by Tristano, plus one rework of Ryuichi Sakamoto‘s classic “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence.”
Surface Tension will hit stores on November 25. Stream “The Mentor” below.
Tracklisting:
01. Sakamoto “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence” (Francesco Tristano Rework) 02. Francesco Tristano “The Mentor” (feat. Derrick May) 03. Francesco Tristano “Pacific FM” 04. Francesco Tristano “Infinite Rise” (feat. Derrick May) 05. Francesco Tristano “In Da Minor” (feat. Derrick May) 06. Francesco Tristano “Rocco’s Bounce” 07. Francesco Tristano “Xokolad” 08. Francesco Tristano “Esoteric Thing” (feat. Derrick May)
Simon Keat (a.k.a. Reedale Rise) is a relatively unknown producer from Liverpool, United Kingdom, who has so far only put one EP out with Scottish imprint Common Dreams. It has now been announced that Keat is set to debut on Frustrated Funk with new EP Light Through A Birds Wing—a five-tracker packed with Detroit synths and uplifting chords.
The news follows hot on the heels of the label’s latest release, which dropped earlier this week—a return to the imprint from Seattle-based 214, with the three-track North Cascades EP.
Light Through A Birds Wing is scheduled for an October release. Pre-order it and check out snippets over at Clone.nl. 214’s North Cascades is available to buy now at Clone.nl. Stream clips below.
Tracklisting:
Reedale Rise Light Through A Birds Wing
A1. Light Through A Birds Wing A2. Buds B1. Will To Power B2. Far Beyond This Place B3. Curved Space
214 North Cascades
A1. Miami Nights B1. Minds Alike (A Tribute) B2. Programs On The Move
This week’s podcast arrives from Ringgo Ancheta, the American hip-hop producer of Filipino descent, who goes by the name Mndsgn (pronounced “mind design”). For those followers of the LA beats scene, Ancheta is a well-known individual—he has, after all, grown to become one of its central figures, in part due to his work with the Klipmode collective alongside the influential Knxwledge, Devonwho, and Suzi Analogue.
Born in San Diego and raised on the outskirts of a commune without electricity in New Jersey, Ancheta’s music really began to garner attention when he moved to Los Angeles. Indeed, it wasn’t long until Stones Throw Records signed him up for a full-length. Yawn Zen—an experimental release laced with instrumental beat creations and vocal cuts—subsequently arrived in 2014 to much acclaim and marked him out as one of the most exciting beats artists of the time. Now, after much anticipation, Ancheta has dropped his latest full-length: it’s an album that marks a significant maturity in his sound, revealing a full set of realized songs, rather than the instrumentals of his earlier works. Marking Bodywash‘s release, Ancheta has today compiled a mix that best represents his soulful, funky and left-field style.
When and where was the mix recorded? On an airplane back to LA from ST 20-year anniversary Tour in Australia, like two days ago.
What equipment did you record the mix on? Laptop/Ableton was all I needed to collage it together.
Did you have a specific mood/idea that you wanted to express? No specific mood—just something to aid your day, no matter what you might be doing. I prefer the dynamic approach, taking listeners on a journey, similar to that of a full-length record, but with different shades and hues.
How did you select the specific tracks that you wanted to include? It’s a blend of new material from a few close friends and other older records that have been in personal rotation.
How did you approach this mix in comparison to a regular DJ set? Well, I definitely wasn’t in front of any decks when putting it together. It was more collage style, weaving tracks together based primarily on the vibe and not paying too much attention to beat-matching and all that.
You’ve just released a new album on Stones Throw. How did your intentions for this release differ to anything you’ve released previously? With this record, I wanted to challenge myself mainly in two different ways: exercise a bit more vocals/songwriting and conceptualize a fluid narrative that gives the listener a sublime sense of relation to oneself and the world. Yawn Zen was definitely more of a diary of experimentation and less of a storyteller.
What else have you got coming up this year? I’m excited to do this West Coast tour in November with the band, comprised of Swarvy on the bass and Kiefer on the keys, both of whom appear on Body Wash. It’ll be the first time the trio has hit the road. Besides that, me and Alima got some projects we’re looking forward to letting see the light of day on Akashik Records, including sounds from Joyce Wrice & Jamma Dee.
