Proc Fiskal “Examines Dance Music as Folk Music” on Second Hyperdub Album

Photo: Sophie Luntz

Joe Power (a.k.a Proc Fiskal) will release Siren Spine Sysex, his second album on Hyperdub.

Power, based in Edinburgh, Scotland, has a rich family history in folk music. His paternal grandfather Archie Fisher was active in the Scottish folk revival of the ’60s, his grandfather Al Fraser was a bagpipe player, and his great aunt the singer in The Singing Kettle. On Siren Spine Sysex, he digs deep into this legacy and “examines dance music as folk music, rerouting them comparatively.” He’s taken inspiration from The Cocteau Twins, The Roches, and Kate Bush, and you can hear this in “joyous pop songs” like “8 Mgapixel See Thru Phone” and “Leith Tornn Canal,” which you can stream below.

Of course, the grime of Power’s debut album, Insula, is never too far away, but it’s always presented alongside folk elements. And where Insula hung around samples of the ramblings of Power’s friends and sounds of his hometown, Siren Spine Sysex is laden with sampled Gaelic, Irish, and English folk music. We’re told that “the edits and drums are more sensual, swelling, and reactive to the music.”

Even though it’s fast and detailed, Siren Spine Sysex feels “relaxed and pastoral at times.”

Earlier this month, Hyperdub announced a new album Lee Gamble.

Tracklisting

01. Convaerge Iana
02. Humancargoe Estt
03. Recall [Throate Achres]
04. Met Path Thoth
05. 8 Mgapixel See Thru Phone
06. Thurs Jung Youtz
07. Her In
08. The Most Beautiful Irish Song
10. Leith Tornn Carnal
11. Auld Peop
12. Iaosiphsean Powers
13. God Aed
14. Roman Fatigue

Siren Spine Sysex LP is scheduled for September 24 release. Meanwhile, you can stream “Leith Tornn Carnal” in full via the player below and pre-order here.

Logic1000 is Back with Two New Tracks

Photo: Kasia Zacharko

Following the release of her debut EP, You’ve Got The Whole Night To Go, Logic1000 has shared two new tracks, “Safe In My Arms” and “Your Love,” on Because Music.

Logic1000 is the alias of Samantha Poulter, a Sydney-born, Berlin-based DJ-producer. She emerged with her debut, self-titled EP, released in 2018 via Australian label SUMAC, which attracted the attention Four Tet, Anthony Naples, DJ Python. Since then, she’s delivered remixes for Caribou, Christine and the Queens, and Låpsley, and put out You’ve Got the Whole Night to Go. We’re told to expect an album soon.

The dual single offers a “taste of new material” from Logic1000 slated for release this fall.

Tracklisting

01. Safe In My Arms
02. YourLove

Safe In My Arms / YourLove is available now. You can stream the release in full below.

Podcast 705: Kasper Bjørke

Whether it is an instrumental club track or a foray into ambient, Kasper Bjørke‘s music manages to find that perfect balance of emotion and groove. Growing up in Copenhagen, Denmark, Bjørke fell in love with drum & bass and New York house, and he began releasing his own music in 2005. He’s since proven himself as one of the more prolific and versatile electronic musicians working today, with six albums that touch on post-punk, disco, house, and electro. It’s only recently that he’s veered towards ambient music, and in 2018 he released The Fifty Eleven Project, an interpretation of his emotional state following a shock cancer diagnosis. (If you want to read more about that, check out Bjørke’s Real Talk feature, where he talks about the healing power of music.)

Bjørke’s newest album possesses the same calm and melancholy, but it’s much more uplifting and colourful. After moving to a cabin by a secluded beach with his family, he found himself reflecting on the euphoria from his DJ gigs and steadily, as his listening habits evolved from jazz and ambient to more uptempo stuff, he began to yearn for the dancefloor. He wanted to make an instrumental club album that would capture the energy of one of his DJ sets so, each afternoon, while his daughter was sleeping, he’d sit with his computer in the spare bedroom and allow his intuition to guide him. After several weeks, he had 13 dreamy house grooves, which he took back to Copenhagen and polished off. Sprinkles was born.

Bjørke recorded his XLR8R podcast in the same spot he recorded the album, so it’s hardly surprising that it’s characterized by the same naive melodies and simple arrangements. Featuring Fort Romeau, Kim Ann Foxman, and Benjamin Fröhlich, plus yet another dazzling Roman Flügel remix, the mix is filled with the older music that Bjørke has been listening to during lockdown, which ultimately stirred up his desire to record Sprinkles. What unites them, besides the fact that they caught Bjørke’s ear, is that they’re filled with fun, feel-good grooves that’ll make you want to smile and dance.

01. What have you been up to recently?

I’ve been releasing four new singles including remixes from Eden Burns, 1-800 Girls, and Roman Flügel, and I’ve finished a track with Modular Project that is coming out on the Permanent Vacation 7 compilation. I’ve also been working on the next ambient album that is coming out on Kompakt, which is a slow process because it involves a lot of studio sessions with different musicians and a lot of editing and mixing work because it’s all recorded live. But it’s super rewarding work and I feel a closer connection to this ambient path.

02. What is it that draws you to electronic music?

I started building a vinyl collection when I was just around eight years old, collecting movie soundtracks. When I was a teenager I was a fan of golden era hip-hop (’87-’92) and that led me to drum & bass and later to New York house music, and then in the mid-’90s to the French wave of house music with Cassius and Daft Punk. I think it was the energy, the patterns, and the endless possibilities within the many aspects of electronic music that drew me to trying out producing music for the first time, and I haven’t stopped since!

03. What have you been listening to in lockdown?

At home, I listen mostly to jazz and ambient music, and during lockdown that didn’t change, to begin with. I like music that calms my nerves and the pandemic was and is stressful, but once I really started to miss playing gigs, I began listening to uptempo stuff that I would play in my sets and got immensely inspired by it.

04. You’ve got a new album on the way, Sprinkles. Tell us about it.

During the first year of the pandemic, we spent long periods in the family summerhouse right by the ocean in Denmark, far away from the city. We were just kind of in a bubble there. However, this past winter, after I started to listen to uptempo music while staying there, surrounded by nature and the ocean, I found myself inspired to do a new album, specifically a positive summer album. I guess it was sort of needed escapism and I made it very intuitively just on my laptop because that was all I had with me. It’s full of balearic vibes and dream house grooves, which is just the way I imagined.

05. Where and when did you record this mix?

I’ve been making the mix this past week while being in Sweden in a cabin right by a beautiful lake with my family.

06. What setup did you use?

Because I am away in Sweden, I had to use just my laptop.

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

I’ve been catching up on a lot of new music this past month and also digging through a lot of older stuff that I really like and want to play again. So it’s just a summer mix of new and old tracks, and I also threw in some of my own stuff.

08. Where do you imagine the mix being listened to?

Hopefully at a good house party before going out to dance, or while driving to your next holiday destination.

09. As gigs open up, what’s next on your horizon?

The day after my album is released, I’m playing my first outdoor party with 500 people. It’s sort of an album celebration and it’s happening at this hangar in an industrial part of Copenhagen harbor. I’ve been able to invite Roman Flügel to play as headliner, which I am excited about, and there are also going to be two of my Copenhagen DJ friends, Christian d´Or and Prom Night. Roman recently remixed my single from the upcoming album called “Baybi.” Tomas Barfod from WhoMadeWho, my old music partner, is doing a mini-festival in Copenhagen in August that I am also looking forward to playing. And then I’m playing Fort Festival in Spain in October with Jennifer Cardini, Gerd Janson, Erol Alkan, Red Axes, and Patrice Bäumel. It got postponed last year and it looks like it will be my first international gig since February 2020!

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. Kasper Bjørke “Grace” (hfn Music)
02. Brian Ring “Emperors Dance” (12” Mix) (Clutching At Straws)
03. Benjamin Fröhlich “One More Time” (Hammer Remix) (Permanent Vacation)
04. Kasper Bjørke “Running” (Eden Burns Remix) (hfn Music)
05. Danilo Plessow “Nightfall” (fabric Records)
06. COEO “I Can Never Be Yours” (Toy Tronics)
07. Storken “Mylta” (Storkenland)
08. Kasper Bjørke “Baybi” (Roman Flügel Remix) (hfn Music)
09. Fort Romeau & Pantera Krause “Omicron 8” (Live at Robert Johnson & Riotvan)
10. Kasper Bjørke “RDVSpecial” (hfn Music)
11. Kim Ann Foxman “Magic Magic” (Matisa Remix) (Firehouse)
12. Elbee BaD The Prince Of Dance Music “New Age House” (Rush Hour)

Galtier’s Debut Album Next on Mexico’s Infinite Machine

Jiah Wells, better known as Galtier, will release his debut album on Mexico’s Infinite Machine in September.

Pulchra Es Elementis, which translates to “elements are beautiful” in Latin, reflects the Bristol producer’s belief that “there is grace in all of life’s aspects.” Whereas his earlier work, including two outings on Infinite Machine, soundtracks hypothetical, off-planet words, this full-length turns the focus inwards, towards Wells’ “own emotional constellation,” his evolving spirituality, and his attempts to tap into planes of existence beyond the tangible. We’re told to expect nine tracks of percussive club music.

Borrowing heavily from techno, UK bass, dancehall, and ambient, Galtier’s music is like a utilises impactful, “Blade Runner soundtrack with drums,” he says. A strong internet in rhythm and percussion, coupled with a love for 1980s science fiction, help sculpt his compositions into imaginative, thematic electronic tracks. He helms the Nostro Hood System label.

The record is the Mexican label’s first vinyl release in three years.

Tracklisting

01. Crystalised Larva
02. Wilfull Saviour
03. Bruised, But Not Broken
04. U Were, U Are & What U Will Be
05. Pulchra Es Elementis
06. Phantasiai
07. Cavernam (feat. Superficie)
08. (U Are) Beautiful
09. Shine Forth

Pulchra Es Elementis LP is scheduled for September 24 release. Meanwhile, you can stream “Phantasiai” in full below and pre-order here.

Ryan James Ford Reflects on Calgary Youth with Debut Album

Ryan James Ford is back on Clone Dub Recordings with his debut album, Exshaw.

Ford found electronic music in the ’90s in western Canada, drawn to it by the community that surrounded it, at least until the council outlawed the then-burgeoning rave scene. But it’s only after relocating to Berlin, where’s he’s become a staple of the techno and breakbeat scene, that Ford has come to realize how much the soil of his home town has shaped him.

Across 14 tracks on Exshaw, which is the name of his hometown, he tries to capture the freedom of his youth there, “where ravers throw open-air summer parties in the woods, where the raw nature shows its esoteric side to the explorative youth.” We’re told to expect “stories of haunted areas, swimming in the cold river water, going to raves in the ’90s.” His memories of Exshaw are “translated in the sound design and programming” and the sound ranges from “almost cinematic pieces to full-on dancefloor belters.”

In 2015, Ford released on Marcel Dettmann‘s MDR label, paving the way for outings on Trip and Answer Code Request‘s ACR. Much of his material has come out on his own label, SHUT, founded in 2016. For more information on Ford, check out his wild XLR8R podcast here.

Artwork comes from Delphine Lejeune and Jonathan Castro.

Tracklisting

01. Tr4in1ng D4y
02. 2 Seebe Exit 2
03. Kaki Promethazine Mix
04. Slushie
05. Honey Hole 4th Cut
06. 22 Reset 11 R2
07. Avant Guaze
08. Lost And Found
09. Rad145
10. No Step L24A 7J6
11. Max Bell
12. Multigrade RC Deluxe
13. D614G
14. Jumping Pound Creek

Exshaw LP is scheduled for September 6 release. You can hear clips over a Clone, where you can also pre-order.

Leaving Welcomes India’s Arushi Jain for Soothing Debut Album

Leaving Records has released Under the Lilac Sky, the debut album by Arushi Jain.

Jain is an Indian composer currently based in Brooklyn, New York. Her work focuses on reinterpreting traditional Indian classical music through electronic instrumentation. She grew up in Delhi, training vocally at the Prayag Hindustani Music School, and studied Computer Science at Stanford, where she discovered modular synthesis.

Under the Lilac Sky is a “cinematic statement of intent,” we’re told, that “reverently nods to Jain’s musical history while presenting a bold sonic point of view.” This album is the “coming together of two distinct cultures of Hindustani classical and modular synthesizers representing the two parts of me that evolved into one whole in between my time in India and California,” Jain says.

Sonically, you can expect six songs of ambient synth raga intended to be heard during the sunset hours. Each track invites the listener to transport themselves through “intentional listening.”

“You know that moment when the sun is bidding farewell to the sky, and the colors turn into beautiful hues of purple and pink and everything in between? That is the moment that this album will shine the most,” Jain tells XLR8R. “The deeper you listen, the more shades you’ll see.”

The album is mastered by Daddy Kev.

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

Tracklisting

01. Richer Than Blood
02. Look How Far We Have Come
03. The Sun Swirls Within You
04. My People Have Deep Roots
05. Cultivating Self Love
06. Under The Lilac Sky

Under the Lilac Sky LP is out now. You can order it here and stream it in full via the player below.

Kasper Bjørke’s Latest Album is “Reminiscent of a Utopian Postcard Sent from the Past”

Kasper Bjørke will release a new album, Sprinkles, later this month.

Bjørke, from Copenhagen, Denmark, recorded Sprinkles on his laptop while spending extensive periods of time in his family’s cabin by a secluded beach, reflecting on the energy and euphoria from his countless DJ gigs over the past decades.

Across 13 tracks, the balearic vibes and dream house grooves “merge with synth choirs, guitars, and acid bass lines,” and they “intertwine playfully into a coherent sonic stream of consciousness.” We’re told that the album is “reminiscent of a utopian postcard sent from the past.” Its sound is “multi-colored” and “filled with light and warmth.”

The album is named after and Danish visual artist Luca Bjørnsten’s work “Sprinkles”, which pictures an empty, lush, and colorful landscape with a large, romantic fountain.

For more information on Bjørke, check out his Real Talk essay for XLR8R, on which he reflects on the power of ambient music in healing anxiety and distress.

Tracklisting

01. Isola
02. Glassy
03. Baybi
04. Running
05. Kites
06. Bon Voyage
07. Biarritz
08. Palace
09. Sommervej
10. Grace
11. Mirage
12. RDVSpecial
13. Viewwws

Sprinkles LP is scheduled for July 30 release. Meanwhile, you can stream “Baybi,” “Running,” and “Kites” in full below and pre-order here.

Peggy Gou Releases Second Summer Single; Listen Now

Peggy Gou has released I Go, a new single, via her own Gudu Records.

I Go follows the Berlin artist’s Nabi, an evocative piece of slow-burning electronic pop, inspired by ’80s synth classics, the piano pieces of Erik Satie, and the ’80s and ’90s Korean songs Gou’s mother used to play at home. I Go takes inspiration from a similar era but this time the energy comes from Gou’s love of ’90s dance anthems.

“When I was a teenager in Korea, we didn’t have rave culture like there was in the UK. ‘I Go’ is a tribute to that era, my own reimagination of the sounds I grew up loving,” Gou says. The lyrics are inspired by a note she wrote on her phone in 2019, staring at herself in the mirror of an airport toilet. She adds: “I looked so exhausted but there was no way I wasn’t going to keep going! ‘I Go’ is basically me motivating myself, finding courage, and returning to a feeling of innocence. I hope people feel the same sense of positivity when they hear it.”

Artwork comes from Jeeook Choi.

Tracklisting

01. I Go

I Go is available now, with a full stream below.

Tricky Shares Lonely Guest’s Debut Single Featuring IDLES’ Joe Talbot and Vocalist Marta

Tricky‘s False Idols label has shared Pre War Tension, the debut single by Lonely Guest. The track features IDLES’ Joe Talbot, vocalist Marta, and Tricky himself, who produced it and contributes a verse.

It’s still unclear who Lonely Guest is, but according to the credits the songwriters are Tricky, Marta, and Talbot, as well as an artist named Freeez. The track slinks with guitar and noir synth, opening with Talblot’s near-chant before Marta’s magnetic voice joins in.

We’re told that Lonely Guest “lays at the centre of a new era and network of artists for False Idols, which draw together on a unique vision for a contemporary independent record label.”

Tracklisting

01. Pre War Tension

Pre War Tension is available now. You can stream it in full below and order it here.

Deadbeat, The Mole, and Uruguayan Multi-Instrumentalist Gonzalo Torres Unleash Album of Unhinged Live Experimentation

Scott Monteith (a.k.a Deadbeat) has teamed up with Colin de la Plante, better known as The Mole, and Uruguayan multi-instrumentalist Gonzalo Torres on a new album.

Composed remotely over several months between Chile and Berlin, and concluded during an epic recording session this year, the record sees the three artists delving into ever deeper waters of electronic groove and unhinged live experimentation. In doing so, they “throw their shared interests in all things weird and wonderful down the stairs to see what survives, and they have a hilariously bloody great time doing it,” we’re told.

The record lands on Deadbeat’s own BLKRTZ, made for his solo and collaborative works.

Tracklisting

01. Coughs, Birds, and 3 Dad Nerds
02. Weird Shuffles and Rhodes Scuffles
03. Bottles and Basses Make Happy Faces,
04. Melodicas, Cars and Neu Koelln Bars,
05. Buying and Selling, Dubbing and Shelling,
06. Giggle and Thunder, Diapers and Plunder,
07. Mumbling and Stumbling, The Bells Holy Hell!
08. Still on the Run, What Have We Done?
09. Time Changes, New Pages…

Deadbeat and the Mole Meet Gonzalo Torres LP is available now. You can stream it in full below and order it here.

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