Page 76 – XLR8R

Marco Shuttle’s Third Album Next on New York’s Incienso

Marco Shuttle (born Marco Sartorelli) will release his third album, Cobalt Desert Oasis, on Jenny Slattery and Anthony Naples’ Incienso label.

Cobalt Desert Oasis features a varied collection of music that Shuttle has recorded across a two-year period. Often traveling to remote destinations, he would come back to his home in Berlin with field recordings, images, and other inspirations to process in his studio and turn into sound.

We’re told to expect something “more abstract than a travel diary,” where sounds of the environment blend in with modular synthesis, drum machines, effects, and analog oscillators, “resulting in a cinematic listening experience where psychedelia and mysticism weave together in a sort of alien soundscape.” The end result is “reminiscent of a parallel utopian world.”

Unlike Shuttle’s previous albums, including 2017’s Systhema on Donato Dozzy’s Spazio Disponibile, Cobalt Desert Oasis has strong acoustic element. Amongst other percussion instruments, Shuttle uses the Tombak, a traditional Persian hand drum capable of reaching a wide range of frequencies.

For more information on Shuttle, check out his XLR8R Studio Essentials feature here.

Tracklisting

01. AfA
02. Danza De Los Voladores
03. Through The Cobalt Desert
04. Il Serpente Cosmico
05. Tombak Healer
06. Acrobat
07. Winds Of Cydonia
08. Polysolation
09. Into Thin Air
10. Bembe Bongo
11. 4Dimensional Soundwaves

Cobalt Desert Oasis LP is scheduled for October 15 release. Meanwhile, you can stream “Acrobat” in full below and pre-order here.

Brooklyn’s QRTR Next on Dome of Doom with Second Album

Brooklyn’s Meagan Rodriguez (aka QRTR) is back on Dome of Doom with her second album, infina ad nausea.

While rooted in transfixing house, infina ad nausea finds unique deviations through drum & bass, ambient, classical, and IDM. It follows Drenched, QRTR’s debut album for Dome of Doom, released in 2020.

The record was produced at various locations around Brooklyn, and some of the material dates back to 2017. It includes field recordings captured at Notre Dame, Paris in 2018, as well as the Catskill Mountains in New York.

Every track is “filled to the brim” with synths, percussion, drums, samples, and original vocal parts from Rodriguez, we’re told. Features include QRTR’s cat companion, ambientkitty, vocalist artemis orion, and New York artists Braille, Daniel de Lara, and CSLTY.

Conceptually, the album explores the way artistic and personal life collide in challenging ways. From the titles to the music itself, every aspect is “a piece of the puzzle that endlessly spirals over one another,” we’re told.

infina ad nausea is a play on latin terms “ad infinitum” and “ad nauseum.” “I was trying to create a phrase to describe growing sick of a false feeling of permanence, as though you’re living in a never ending loop,” Rodriguez says. “I was steeping in the concept of ‘spiral’ which is a theme I’ve been coming back to constantly in my art and life since 2011. I always felt as though I was living within a series of full circles overlapping on each other, creating the illusion of a spiral.”

She’s even arranged the tracks to feel like the act of spiralling mentally and emotionally. “It starts off bright and playful and becomes more frenzied until suddenly you’ve reached ‘the point,’ which is ever moving and evolving and thus unreachable,” she says.

Raised by a father from Puerto Rico and a mother from Madeira, a Portuguese island off the coast of Morocco, Rodriguez’ familial connection to the sea informs her approach to music production: a constant search for release through repetition. She decided she wanted to produce and play music out in 2014, after a psychedelic experience at her first music festival, Bonnaroo. In June, she contributed to XLR8R+31 alongside Wylie Cable, Gnome Beats, and CLYDE. Check that out here.

All tracks were mixed by QRTR and mastered by Ryan Schwabe.

Tracklisting

01. The Outer Edge (feat. ambientkitty)
02. With You (feat. artemis orion)
03. Want Me 2
04. Running From It
05. Fractals
06. Like That
07. Nossa [Interlude]
08. Blame Me (feat. Daniel de Lara)
09. Ritual (feat. CSLTY)
10. Rewind
11. Lucid (feat. Braille)

infina ad nausea LP is scheduled for August 27 release. Meanwhile, you can stream “Want Me 2” in full via the player below.

Nyege Nyege to Release Compilation of Hip-Hop Singeli, a Breakneck Dance Strain from Tanzania

Nyege Nyege Tapes will present Sounds of Pamoja, a compilation of singeli, meaning, “boy dancer,” a breakneck dance strain originating from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

The compilation follows the Ugandan label’s Sounds of Sisso compilation which, in 2017, focussed on Dar Es Salaam’s singeli production crew Sisso Studios. Sounds of Pamoja, in contrast, showcases hip-hop singeli and MC talent under the umbrella of the Pamoja Records collective.

The production work is mostly handled by Duke, who started making music when he was 13 years old and opened the Pamoja Records studio a few years later. He’s joined on the compilation by 20-year-old Pirato MC, 19-year-old Dogo Kibo, 20-year-old MC Kuke, Dogo Lizzy, MC Dinho, MC Kidene, and MCZO, the versatile rapper who accompanied Duke on a selection of global tour dates.

We’re told that the music is fresh and unpredictable, switching beats every few bars and “rattling through hyper-local dance styles with jagged, joyful ease.”

It’s the MCs that push the record to the next level, “capitalizing on the vitality of Dar es Salaam’s musical landscape as they trade bars, switch flows, and somehow keep up with Duke’s lightning-fast productions.”

We can expect “breathtakingly unique dance music that recalls the youthful spirit of Detroit techno or footwork, with rapid body movement, social combustion, and tongue-twisting lyrical one-upmanship guiding the rudder.”

In order to take a look at the world of singeli, NTS traveled down to Tanzania and put together a mini-documentary.

In 2019, Duke release Uingizaji Hewa, an album of hip-hop singeli on Nyege Nyege.

Tracklisting

01. Dogo Kibo “Pigo La Moyo”
02. Dogo Lizzy “Nakupenda” feat ft KIDENE
03. Dogo Lizzy “Angekuwepo”
04. MC Dinho “Kamatia Chini”
05. MC Kono “Il Jini Song Wapi”
06. MC Kuke “Kwa Ajiri Yao”
07. MC Kuke “Sherehe”
08. MC Pilato “Ganja”
09. MC Pilato “Mama Ashura”
10. MC Pilato “Wamenichoma” feat. MCZO
11. MCZO “Ushauri Wa Bure”

Sounds of Pamoja is scheduled for September 17 release. Meanwhile, you can stream MC Kono’s “Il Jini Song Wapi” in full below and pre-order here.

Paul Johnson, Chicago House Legend, Has Died Aged 50

Paul Johnson has passed away from Covid-19. His death was announced by his agent yesterday in a statement: “Our greatness passed away this morning at 9am, the house music legend we all know as PJ a.k.a Paul Johnson.”

Johnson, a monumental figure in Chicago house, was 50 years old but had been hospitalized by the virus since mid-July. At the time, the DJ-producer said in a video: “I have COVID everybody. I’ve had it for a week. I’m pretty fucking weak.” In his latest post, he wrote “Shit’s taken A TURN for the worse,” stating he will be moved and intubated.

Born in 1971, Johnson was wheelchair-bound after being injured in a shooting accident, and his injured leg was amputated in 2003. A car accident meant his other leg was amputated in 2010, but that didn’t stop him DJing around the world to legions of fans.

He actually started his career as a breakdancer but became a fan of house music in the 1980s after listening to influential figures like Ron Hardy. His melodic, sample-heavy style of Chicago house saw him become a major figure in the genre’s second wave running through the mid 1990s.

He was best known for his hit “Get Get Down,” which charted in 14 countries, but that’s really just the highlight of a monumental discography filled with timeless albums on Peacefrog Records, Relief Records, and Moody Recordings. Over a 30-year career, he also put out EPs for Dance Mania, Underground Construction, and Crydamoure, among others. He claimed to have made over 300 releases.

In 1997, Daft Punk named him as an influence on their track “Teachers.”

Paying tribute, Chicago producer RP Boo said: “Today we have lost a great legend of our world house community. Thank you God for his work that you installed in him.” Fellow DJ Mike Servito said Johnson “taught us how to bounce to the beat”.

Nightmares on Wax is Back with a Sultry New Single

George Evelyn, better known as Nightmares on Wax, has shared “Imagineering,” his first release since 2018.

Slinky and sultry, “Imagineering” revolves around a smoked out rhythm section, which is outshined by a string ensemble. It’s inspired by Evelyn’s travels through Asia before lockdown last year. “I’ve always been attracted towards using classical compositions with a street beat approach,” he says, “classical street beats you could say.”

Evelyn brought in Robin Taylor-firth on keys to give the song “that classic melancholy Nightmares on Wax sound.”

He describes it as “an ode to the creativity that surrounds us everyday i.e. ideas that are imagined and then realized.”

Evelyn is Warp’s longest serving signing, known for creating a sound that brings together dub, soul, and hip-hop. You can read more about him in his XLR8R Ask the Experts feature here.

Tracklisting

01. Imagineering

Imagineering is available now.

Leaving Records Welcomes Nigerian Producer Colloboh

Leaving Records will release a new EP from Colloboh, real name Collins Oboh.

Born in Nigeria but based in Baltimore, Maryland, Oboh is a 26-year-old producer whose sound is built around his modular synthesizer. There’s no other information about him, other than that in June he released “Zero Day,” a single via Bandcamp.

Entity Relation is a five-track EP of electrifying experimentalism. “RPM+,” the lead single, stays true to its name, ratcheting up the tempo for a dizzying tune.

For more information on Matthewdavid, Leaving’s label head, check out his XLR8R podcast here.

Tracklisting

01. Turning&
02. Borderline
03. RPM+
04. one2MANY
05. Reasons

Entity Relation EP is scheduled for September 3 release. Meanwhile, you can stream “RPM+” in full below and pre-order here.

Nicolás Jaar Releases Compilation of Timed Silences Wrapped in Music

Nicolás Jaar has released a compilation through his Other People label.

Caves is a compilation of eight timers, or “caves,” for everyday use, to be used for cooking, meditation, running, walking, sleeping, or anything. They’re delivered by Laraaji, Lucrecia Dalt, Ana Quiroga, Sary Moussa, Will Epstein, Aho Ssan, Marzio Zorio, and Jaar himself.

“I made the 20-minute timer initially for myself so that I didn’t have to use my phone alarm when I meditated,” Jaar says. “Then I shared it with some friends and they liked it so I thought it would be nice to ask other artists to make short songs that prepare people for moments of silence. I imagine these could be used as timers for anything: cooking, running, taking a short nap, etc. I hope they’re useful in these loud times.”

All proceeds from Caves will go to the Dongyu Gatsal Ling Nunnery, a space in India where young girls and woman can develop their academic and spiritual potential.

Caves is the first release on Other People since Jaar and Dave Harrington (a.k.a DARKSIDE) released a live version of their album Psychic in November.

Tracklisting

01. Will Epstein “Fifteen Minute Cave”
02. Nicolás Jaar “Twenty Minute Cave”
03. Sary Moussa “Ten Minute Cave”
04. Lucrecia Dalt “Seven Minute Cave”
05. Marzio Zorio “Three Minute Cave”
06. Aho Ssan “Thirteen Minute Cave”
07. Ana Quiroga “Ten Minute Cave”
08. Laraaji “Twenty Five Minute Cave”

Caves—A Compilation Of Silences is available now here. You can also stream it in full below.

Podcast 707: Federico Molinari

Federico Molinari is a hugely understated but widely admired DJ-producer from Buenos Aires, Argentina. He originally trained as a bass guitarist, and he finds his roots in jazz, ambient, and electronica, but for nearly two decades he’s remained private while delivering a collection of stripped-back, playful house music that remains as applicable to the peak-time slot as it is the after-hours. Check out “Julio Catorce,” a 12-minute jam with a hypnotizing bassline, or “La Vueltica,” a collaboration with Alexis Cabrera for Raum…musik. As the label head of now-defunct Oslo Records, he’s also the man behind one of the genre’s more revered labels, recognized for its unwavering quality with releases from the likes of Damian Schwarz, Johnny D, and Christian Burkhardt. Today, Molinari bases himself in Berlin, having moved there from Mannheim in 2013, and you’ll find his music across Pressure Traxx, Cure Music, and Melliflow, the label founded by Vera and Alexandra. In 2017, he put out Whether Deport, a collection of six typically wonky tracks on Russia’s Nerv Music.

We’ve been chasing Molinari for the XLR8R podcast series for years now but it has never worked out. He’s a real perfectionist and with his touring and other deadlines he’s always struggled to deliver something he’s been happy to put out. So we kept waiting and then he knocked on our door last month. With some extra time on his hands during the pandemic, he told us he’d thrown himself back into live instrumentation, started a new label, and also completed the mix he’s been putting together for over a year. At one hour in length, it intertwines intricate, deep, and bassy rhythms from the likes of Erik Van den Broek, Cletterbox, and Dinos Chapman, but it really is so much more than the sum of its parts. Instead of loosely throwing together a bunch of his favorite jams, Molinari has carefully pieced this podcast together, focusing on combinations of tracks rather than just the tracks themselves. Above all, the mix demonstrates why Molinari has managed to stay at the top of his game for so long.

01. What have you been up to recently?

I’ve been putting my studio together again. Every now and then it’s necessary to repair some machines and even the mixing console, plus I’ve been installing new operative systems. These things take time. I’ve also been in the studio making music as usual and finishing some remixes, but also working on the setup of my new label, which has taken a lot of work because things have changed since Oslo Records.

02. What have you been listening to during lockdown?

During the pandemic I’ve been disconnected from electronic music so I’ve been listening to a lot of instrumental music like Victor Wooten, Mondo Cane, Emerson Kitamura, Las Añes, and Anouar Brahem.

03. How have you handled the pandemic, given you haven’t been able to play?

Well, in the beginning, it was a strange situation but at the same time kind of exciting. For the first six months, I used the time and energy to do all the things I’d never quite found the time to do before. I began taking music lessons and making downtempo music. But I have to say that in the winter things changed. After a few months of darkness and cold without being able to go anywhere, my motivation and inspiration went away, and by the time the winter was over I didn’t really have any energy left. Fortunately when the summer started everything changed again, but this time in a positive direction. Being able to travel and DJ again has made a huge difference to me.

04. Where and when did you record this mix?

The mix was recorded at home in July while I had the virus. I actually started working on it a year ago but I had some trouble finishing it. Being locked at my place for 14 days was the perfect time to wrap it up.

05. What setup did you use?

I used my computer with Ableton Live. It’s really cool for making mixes. I also only have one turntable at home!

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

That took me more than a year. In a club, I feel freer to make big changes because sometimes it’s what the dancefloor needs. But in a podcast, the flow must be impeccable because anything that goes out of line could be a little annoying. So it always takes me a lot of time to find the right combinations of tracks.

07. How does it compare to what we might hear you play in a club?

I would say that the essence of my club sets is in the mix, but if I play in a club the buildup is orientated to what is going on on the dancefloor. I also don’t like it when a podcast becomes too intense, so normally my podcasts are a little deeper.

07. What’s on your horizon for the rest of the year?

It’s a big question because I am not sure what is going to happen with the pandemic. I have some tours planned but I am not sure if I’ll actually be able to travel and play. Also, I am launching Hold on Catalina together with my friends DFUNKLUB. The first release is an EP of mine. It is a selection of tracks I’ve made over the last two years. I am starting to work with a singer for some tracks, which I’ve never done before, and then I will work with some friends on a downtempo project.

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. Dinos Chapman “Pizza Man” (The Vinyl Factory)
02. Deep Space Network Meets Higher Intelligence Agency “Psyphonic” (Source Records)
03. Hi Ryze “Polaris” (Certificate 18)
04. Lerosa “Subterfuge” (Acid Test)
05. Cletterbox “Storm Drain” (Trust)
06. Platform “Jenny Loves Her Dog” (Tape)
07. Erik Van den Broek “Primerose” (De:tuned)
08. AFX “I Want to be with You” (Streetside Records)
09. 4play “Feel the Music (Bigshot Records)
10. Dark Matrix “Techelectro” (Lososnofono Records)
11. Third Electric “Gentle Beat” (Electrecord)
12. Drexciya “Astronomical Guidepost” (Clone)
13. DJ HMC “Science Funktion” (New Electronica)

Machinedrum’s Back with a New EP; Listen to the Lead Single Now

Travis Stewart has unveiled a new EP as Machinedrum.

Psyconia, a follow up to Stewart’s A View of U album, features six tracks that explore the spaces between broken beats, hip-hop, techno, and drum & bass.

Its title is a play on words, combining “psychic” and “syconia,” which is the plural form of syconium. In botany, a syconium is a fleshy hollow receptacle that contains flowers which develop together into a fruit, like a fig. Fig trees represent creation and abundance in various cultures. “It is the fruit from the tree of enlightenment,” we’re told. It represents “a new beginning.”

“We have a few fig trees growing on our property and they tend to withstand the harshest climates southern California throws at them, so I found that inspiring,” Stewart tells XLR8R. “There’s also an area near where I live known as Figueroa which is a Spanish translation of Figueira, the Portuguese name for a fig tree. I found these synchronicities intriguing and so I went with it for the theme of this EP.”

Lead single “Only One” features the soulful vocals of Angelica Bess, which you can stream below, but the EP also features North Carolina rapper Deniro Farrar, Chrome Spark, and songwriter Jorge Elbrecht.

The EP artwork is by Kushagra Gupta who took Stewart’s inspirations and created a fictional musical instrument that looks both like a fig and an alien.

Tracklisting

01. Only One (feat. Angelica Bess)
02. Stone Age (feat. Deniro Farrar)
03. Inner Ear (feat. Chrome Sparks)
04. U Just R (feat. Jorge Elbrecht)
05. Figueroa
06. Stairzzzzzz

Psyconia EP is scheduled for September 10 release. You can order it here and stream “Only One” feat. Angelica Bess via the player below.

Sweely, IMOGEN, and Galaxy Lane Helm XLR8R+032, Which Comes Minted as an NFT

We’re ready to unveil the 32nd edition of XLR8R+, and it comes minted as an NFT!

When discussing which artists to feature this month, we opted to keep it simple: we picked three names we’ve been listening to recently in the XLR8R offices here in Los Angeles. We wanted to go back to basics, which is to present quality music and support artists who we feel deserve more recognition for their work. It’s not always the best music that gets played.

The edition begins with Sweely, an often overlooked gem of a French electronic music scene, known for his jazz-tinged, swinging house jams. He’s delivered two tracks for this edition, “Always a Problem” and “Love Program,” which will both feature in his live set when touring opens up.

Next, we have IMOGEN, a rising London talent with one of the first productions she has made in over a year. “Playing Games,” which captures the optimism of summer, is a more upbeat take on the broken techno she’s released so far.

We close the edition with Galaxy Lane, a regular on Maceo Plex’s Lone Romantic, with “Don’t Read The Manual,” a dark electro cut with a title and ethos that sums up his raw analog style of music.

The artwork this month also comes from Galaxy Lane’s hand and, for the first time, it’s available as an audio-visual NFT, minted on the Polygon (Matic) chain, plus the same static formats we have offered every month. As with all the content in the XLR8R+ offering, the NFT will be available exclusively to subscribers and can easily be claimed whether or not you have experience in the NFT space or not. It will include the full package embedded in the NFT and downloadable via your wallet’s collection on XNFT!

Subscribers can claim the NFT here (please note if you are a new subscriber, you may need to wait a day or two for your subscriber email to be registered to an NFT). Currently, each NFT is available for one month, and only subscribers of that particular month will have access to the NFT, with the unclaimed NFTs being burned.

Thanks for your continued support.

The XLR8R Team.

Tracklisting

01. Sweely “Always A Problem”
02. Sweely “Love Program”
03. IMOGEN “Playing Games”
04. Galaxy Lane “Don’t Read The Manual”

Tracks one, two, and three were mastered by Kamran Sadeghi. Track four was mastered by Galaxy Lane.

The music, PDF zine, and wallpaper art can be downloaded once you SUBSCRIBE HERE. If you’re already a subscriber, you can download the package below.

Subscribers can also head here to claim XLR8R+032 as an NFT. If you already have a wallet, the NFT will be airdropped to your address and those new to crypto and the NFT space will be guided to download and set up a wallet in an easy-to-use process. You will need to verify your subscription with the email you used to subscribe to XLR8R+.

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