The rising label has built its name off the back of two previously released various artist compilations, garnering support from scene heavyweights like Âme, Mathew Herbert, and the Giegling crew. The latest follows suit with six deep, left-of-center club tracks—from Engyn and Gegenheimer’s acidic collaboration “G8” to Sebastian Voigt’s tripped-out “Lux Aeterna,” there’s surely something on the release to satisfy a wide-range of house and techno heads.
Each release also features bespoke artwork from Lisa Kolbe, with plans to release them as prints in the future.
With the release out today, the label has provided a full stream of Sebastian Voigt’s “Lux Aeterna,” which you can hear via the player above.
Fitzpatrick’s latest, Chi House, will see him return to Dave Maclean’s Kick & Clap Records with a trippy, acid-drenched four-track EP. Aimed straight at the floor, Chi House excels in its raw, stripped-back approach, an approach that Fitzpatrick has truly mastered.
Chi House will drop on 12″ and digitally on August 19, and ahead of that release, Fitzpatrick has offered up opening cut, “Galaxy,” as today’s XLR8R download. Across its six-minute run, the cut fuses pounding drum-machine rhythms with sci-fi like acid flourishes for a wild, heads-down ride.
You can preorder Chi House here, with “Galaxy” available as a free download via WeTransfer below.
London’s Studio 338 has been damaged by a fire, as reported by several sources around 12GMT today.
The recently re-opened nightclub is one of the city’s best-loved party venues, having seen promoters like Art Of Dark, Cocoon, and Elrow all recently host events there.
The cause of the fire remains unknown, although one hundred firefighters and officers were called to tackle the huge fire at the North Greenwich venue.
Following the same format as previous editions, label head Tommy Four Seven invites three techno-focused producers to contribute. Join him on his next record will be Stephanie Sykes and Phase Fatale, as well as Headless Horseman, who makes a rare departure from his own self-titled imprint.
Also in line with previous releases, the label will be hosting a party in Berlin later this month, with the artists we can expect to contribute to the next—Cosmin TRG, Szare and Eomac—all spinning at Arena on August 19.
47006 will be released on digital and vinyl formats, in stores from September 20.
Black Coffee (real name Nkosinathi Maphumulo) is set to release a new LP, Pieces of Me, on August 26.
With three award-winning albums already under his belt, the South African electronic artist has been producing his brand of eclectic and soulful house for over a decade. In 2016, he has performed at Coachella in addition to being awarded Best International Act: Africa at the BET Awards.
The 12-track release features a collection of melodies and rhythms that reflect his classic, soulful style while pushing musical boundaries.
Tracklisting:
01.Intro 02. Come With Me (feat. Mque) 03. Stuck In Your Love (feat. Azola) 04. Love On Fire (feat. Lungi Naidoo & Ribatone) 05. Angelina (feat. NaakMusiQ & Mondli Ngcobo) 06. Extra Time On You (feat. Portia Monique) 07. I Have Faith (feat. Mondli Ngcobo) 08. We Dance Again (feat. Nakhane Toure) 09. Go On (feat. Khensy) 10. Inkodio Kamashimane 11. The Beat Of Indlamu 12. I’ll Find You (feat. Cara Frew)
Pieces Of Me is scheduled for August 26 release via Ultra Music.
Last Saturday, the second instalment in the Broad’s Nonobject(ive): Summer Happenings series took place. The series—co-curated by Brandon Stosuy, director of editorial operations at Pitchfork, and Bradford Nordeen, founder of roving New York club Dirty Looks—takes place in and around the Broad’s 50,000-square-foot downtown LA location, fusing its compelling collection of artwork with sound, performance, and multi-media art. The first edition saw performances from, among others, Perfume Genius, Narcisitor, and Lotic, with the latest featuring Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, Sky Ferreira, Richard Hell, Anenon, Mas Ysa, and The Haxan Cloak.
Upon arrival, we were greeted by the poignant sounds of Mas Ysa as the Canadian-born artist conducted his emotionally-driven tracks behind a delicious stack of analog hardware. His set perfectly softened the oft-jarring event arrival, with the Broad’s plaza and its tree-filled expanse the fitting backdrop.
Upstairs in the museum’s gorgeous Oculus Hall, LA artist Anenon—along with two session musicians—performed a dazzling set that defied classification. Like his recorded output, the set combined jazz, otherworldly ambient textures, and beat-driven electronics in a way that he has truly made his own.
Something must be said about events like this in a museum. Like Montreal’s MUTEK—which we profiled extensively here—there is a certain classiness and wonderment attached to museum-focused events. The architecture, art collection, and general ambience in museums perfectly encapsulates experimentally-inclined electronic music and undoubtedly provides another facet to the experience.
One of two small misfires on this night was Richard Hell’s noir-inspired novel reading. Hell’s imagined sexual exploits were at times hilarious and somewhat confronting, but most of it seemed slightly uninspired and overtly-crude—although, maybe that was the point. The Haxan Cloak intermittently provided a score to Hell’s half-slurred words, which propped up the piece in parts. Once Hell’s readings were done, The Haxan Cloak began his set, weaving a dark tapestry of haunting sonics with the aptly-named Oculus Hall as the supporting act.
Across in the main gallery, Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith summoned gorgeously winding synth lines out of a modest-but-nonetheless-spectacular modular rack. The LA-based artist was set up in front of Takashi Murakami’s huge “In the Land of the Dead, Stepping on the Tail of a Rainbow” piece and its endlessly woven psychedelic colours acted as the ideal companion to Smith’s transcendental synth work.
The second small misfire, from Sky Ferreira, was more of a head scratcher. The American singer/songwriter was billed to be performing a DJ set in the plaza which translated as her playing songs from, what seemed to be, her iTunes. That’s not to say the tracks weren’t good, but it wasn’t exactly a DJ set—which begs that familiar question, what constitutes a DJ set?
The Broad has undoubtedly touched on something with Summer Happenings. With its tightly curated, eclectic lineup and the sophisticated setting in which it takes place, Summer Happenings is without a doubt a monthly must-do in LA.
The next event will take place on August 20 with Vampire Weekend’s Rostam and footwork producer Jlin, followed by September 24 with Sophie and Vessel.
XLR8R’s first ever official podcast was published on August 3, 2006. It came in the form of an exclusive hour-long mix by Plug Research, featuring cuts from Thomas Fehlmann, Flying Lotus, Ammoncontact and many more. In the 10 years that have passed since then—yes, this week marks an entire decade—a whole lot has changed. Firstly, the mix series that started all that time ago is now updated weekly by an artist of our choice; each submission is now shared via our channels every Tuesday of the year—without fail. XLR8R, too, has grown considerably, evolving from a San Francisco-based newsprint ‘zine to a web-only music publication with a more global audience than ever before and offices on both sides of the Atlantic.
Settling on a fitting way to mark this milestone proved to be no easy task. Initial ideas revolved around compiling a list of our favorites from the past decade and sharing these with our readers once again, but we decided against this for two reasons: it didn’t do justice to the occasion, and picking a favorite among such a diverse bunch is either going to lead to a remarkably long list or exclude too many others. After all, there has been no shortage of memorable additions to the series. Gerd Janson’s 2015 submission springs to mind immediately, as do those of Alex Smoke, Nicolas Jaar, Helena Hauff and, more recently Andrew James Gustav—but there really is something in there for everyone. Even mentioning these names leaves out some of the leading pioneers in the global scene, names like Daniel Bell, Laurent Garnier, Gaslamp Killer and Floorplan, all of whom have submissions that can be checked out if and when you please. Picking favorites just wasn’t going to cut it.
After some careful consideration we also concluded that we wanted to serve up some new music for the occasion—and that sparked the following plan. Beginning Monday, August 1, and ending on Saturday, August 6, we are sharing a brand new mix each day for your listening pleasure. And to reflect XLR8R‘s growth into a global media outlet, each of these submissions is coming from a different continent; the artists chosen to mark this occasion with us all originate from a different corner of the globe. The task for them was simple: to compile a mix between 90-120 minutes that best represents their musical roots. There have been four mixes thus far—Seekae on behalf of Australia, DJ Nobu on behalf of Asia, Tama Sumo on behalf of Europe, yesterday’s from DJ Stingray—and up next, representing Africa, is Culoe De Song.
Born and raised in 1990 in Eshowe, Kwazulu Natal on South Africa’s East Coast, Culolethu Zulu (a.k.a Culoe De Song) began DJing with Louie Vega, Rocco and compatriot Black Coffee in 2007. It was alongside the latest of these names that he first dabbled in production: Culoe De Song was a featured collaborator on “100 Zulu Warriors,” a cut taken from Black Coffee’s Have Another One LP. This was, he reflects, a big moment in his career to date, “his beginning” in South African music circles. International acclaim, however, didn’t arrive until the following year when he joined Black Coffee’s Soulistic Music before being invited to attend Red Bull Music Academy, becoming its younger ever participant.
For many, however, it is his 2014 Y.O.U.D. release on Innervisions that launched him onto the global scene. It was his third EP on Dixon and Âme‘s notorious Berlin-based imprint—following on from 2009’s The Bright Forest and 2010’s Webaba—but this particular A side became one of the most played tracks of that summer and beyond, pushed by many of the leading names in the tech house scene. Still today, it’s not uncommon to hear it played out; at DGTL Festival 2015 it was dropped on at least four occasions. This jewel in an ever-expanding discography is supported by four studio albums and an EP on Japan’s Mule Musiq. Just last month, he released his new Washa LP, the first to come out on his own De Song Music label.
And outside of the studio, the DJ-producer has proven to be similarly prolific. There is no shortage of demand for his tech-house sound, a style that he has refined over recent years through performances alongside various internationally acclaimed artists. He can regularly be found touring through North America, Europe, Africa and Asia; the mix he delivers today was recorded in Bali, Indonesia, a product of fourteen-hours on the road traveling from gig to gig. As one of South Africa’s rising stars and an icon of the region—he has recently been featured in Rolling Stone and The New Age (South Africa)—Culoe De Song was the perfect fit to provide a mix on behalf of the African continent.
When and where was the set recorded? Bali, Indonesia.
What equipment did you use? 2x CDJ 2000 nexus, DJM900 mixer, recorded with Logic Pro X
How did you select the tracks you wanted to include? How much time did you think about the tracks? No time to think. Random selection during a blizzard of fatigue. I had just landed from 14 hours of flying, my room wasn’t ready and the hotel had a studio so I decided to be adventurous and record the mix despite being a daylight zombie.
Did you have a specific idea/mood that you wanted to express? Well I was going to play at the W Hotel’s outdoor Sunday party so the mood was very tropical and easy going. I guess a bit of that energy was expressed in the mix
What have you got coming up this year? I have a lot of sleepless adventures on tour. Working on a new compilation and promoting my new album. It’s been a crazy year and it seems like it’s about to go next level.
At this point in time, extensively introducing Minus head Richie Hawtin is a redundant act. He’s been at the forefront of electronic music since the early ’90s and has always pushed a technologically focused ethos, including the way he produces and plays electronic music. His latest endeavour is PLAYdifferently and the MODEL 1 mixer, which Richie designed with ex-Allen & Heath designer Andy Rigby-Jones.
At the recent Sonar festival’s Sonar+D, Point Blank invited Richie to talk about his decision to create the MODEL 1 mixer and provide some insight into his approach to DJing, sound manipulation, and hardware design.
You can watch the video in full via the player above, with more on Point Blank and its courses available here.
Since their 2012 self-titled LP, Soccer96—known to many as Dan Leavers and Max Hallet of London psych-electronic group The Comet Is Coming—have garnered support from a staggering number of electronic music circles. From an early live session with BBC’s Steve Lamacq to an extensive touring schedule around the UK, the duo have been putting their collaborative abilities on display for years. This musicianship translates to a phenomenal body of recorded music that combines poly-rhythmic percussion with lively dance tropes.
Ahead of their forthcoming full-length, As Above So Below, Hallet and Leavers have called up Brownswood Recordings‘ Simbad to give their recent single the remix treatment. The London local instils the original with a hefty dose of raw 8-bit energy, hinting at what the pair have in store come their LP’s September 23 release.
Download via WeTransfer below, and preorder As Above So Belowhere.
Novation has released an update to its Circuit Groovebox workstation with three sampling advancements, a session color feature for organizational purposes, and additional bug fixes.
The first of the new sampling features is an update to the sample import tool, which now allows for a more intuitive grouping of similar sounds on individual pads. The second permits users to play and preview samples without having to program them into patterns. The final, a sample flip function, gives users the ability to create multi-sample drum lines on each of Circuit’s drum tracks.
Additionally, through the Circuit Librarian, individual LEDs can be reprogrammed to different colors for better organization of individual sounds, songs, and sessions. Miscellaneous bug fixes include improvements to session switching and playback of long samples.
View the demo in the player above, and read more about the updates here.
