Departed Glories will be ambient specialist Geir Jenssen’s 12th studio full-length, and his first in almost five years. It follows on from a number of recent reissues of his earlier works, including Patashnik and Microgravity.
According to Smalltown Supersound, the upcoming LP was “constructed from hundreds of snippets of Eastern European And Russian folk music recordings, melted together to transform them into 17 unsettling and occasionally blindingly radiant beatless tracks.” Jenssen began to compose the album whilst he was living in Poland, inspired by the tales of Polish medieval queen Bronislawa, who had hidden among the trees in the local area during the 13th century, in order to escape the invading Tartar hordes.
Departed Glories will hit stores on September 23. Pre-order it at the Smalltown Supersound store. One of its cuts, “Sweet Dreams Form A Shade,” can be streamed in full below.
Tracklisting: 01. Out Of The Cradle 02. Well And Purpose 03. Down On Ropes 04. Free From The Bondage You Are In 05. With Their Paddles In A Puddle 06. Than Is The Mater 07. Sweet Dreams Form A Shade 08. Aura In The Kitchen With The Candlesticks 09. Departed Glories 10. Whole Forests Of Them Appearing 11. Invariable Cowhandler 12. Behind The Stove 13. You Want To See It Too 14. In Good Case And Rest 15. Tomorrow Then We Will Attend 16. With Precious Benefits To Both 17. Fall Asleep For Me
Ovum boss Josh Wink is to make his debut release next month on Berlin-based Boysnoize Records—a rare departure from the American producer’s usual tendency to release on his own imprint. The EP is based around title track “Shoelaces,” featuring three different versions from the producer himself, plus remixes by Los Angeles’ techno specialist Truncate and Finnish producer Mono Junk.
Shoelaces will be available to download from August 12. Check out a video of Josh Wink himself playing the tune at a recent gig in Barcelona here.
Berlin-based John Osborn has an enviable track record in techno. After being raised in London, the producer first dabbled in the sound during his time as an art student in the city, whiling away the hours in the local record stores. Spurred on by those formative years, he upped sticks and made the move to Berlin in the late ’90s, where things really picked up steam; after years cutting his teeth as a DJ at the city’s clubs, he launched Tanstaafl Records back in 2011 (closely followed by sub-label Tanstaafl Planets). The imprints have provided a home for his own releases, which tend to fall somewhere between house and techno, as well as the likes of October, Joey Anderson and Henning Baer.
We are thrilled to be able to offer an unreleased cut from Osborn as our download today. The man himself had a few words to offer about the cut: “The bulk of this track, “Borders Of Existence,” was made in the weeks ensuing Labyrinth and my Asia tour last year. Every time I come back from playing in Asia I am always fully charged with inspiration from all the beautiful people I have encountered, so I try to capitalize on this creative flow as best as I can. I had a bunch of stuff (over five hours!) recorded at Handwerk Audio in Berlin that I cut up, closed my eyes and tried to capture the essence of what it is like for me playing in Asia, and in particular being at that extraordinary festival in the mountains of Japan. Many thanks to XLR8R for giving this track a platform so people can enjoy it. Mastered by Tim Xavier at ManMadeMastering and mixed at BlackHead Studios Berlin. Peace and Blessings, John.”
Ahead of Zomby’s fourth studio album, Ultra (which is set for release in September), the British producer has pressed one of its cuts to wax—”Sweetz,” a moody, sub-heavy collaboration with Burial. The track is available to purchase now, and can be streamed in snippets via Juno.
Set to drop on Hyperdub, Ultra is Zomby’s first full-length since 2013. It also features collaborations with the likes of Darkstar, Rezzett, Hong Kong Express, and Banshee.
Sweetz is available to buy now at Juno, where you can stream the track in snippets.
Ahead of Zomby’s fourth studio album, Ultra (which is set for release in September), the British producer has pressed one of its cuts to wax—”Sweetz,” a moody, sub-heavy collaboration with Burial. The track is available to purchase now, and can be streamed in snippets via Juno.
Set to drop on Hyperdub, Ultra is Zomby’s first full-length since 2013. It also features collaborations with the likes of Darkstar, Rezzett, Hong Kong Express, and Banshee.
Sweetz is available to buy now at Juno, where you can stream the track in snippets.
Since the launch of his solo moniker in 2012, Shaded (real name Skyler Taugher) has had one undeniably triumphant season after the other. With glowing support from a host of publications, veritable success from his own Super Color club night, and a fitting home on Dubfire‘s SCI+TEC label, there seems to be little the LA DJ-producer isn’t capable of. After disbanding his SHDWPLAY project with Shoddy Lynn after a string of celebrated EPs, Taugher looked onward, setting his production sights on a unique blend of punk, minimal techno, and funk.
“I Bump U Bump,” a new self-released, big-room tech-house excursion, is up for today’s download. “Every time I am in California I am in a really good mood because I am home, and I am eating clean and getting in the ocean a lot which keeps me fresh,” explains Taugher of his single’s vibe. “If I had to guess, I would say thats the reason why the track came out kinda happy techno-y.”
Based in San Fransisco by way of Montreal, Fred Everything has solidified his reputation in the global house community over a 20-year period with a jaw-dropping discography of over 200 releases. With stints on labels including 2020 Vision, Get Physical, and his own Lazy Days Recordings imprint, Fred’s work has vibrated through innumerable dance floors over his lengthy career.
With his forthcoming offering, Winter Tones, the Canadian DJ-producer adds to his staggering creative output with another finely crafted batch of warm four-on-the-floor jams. Fred has presented XLR8R with a premiere of the EP’s title track, which is given a relentless rework by Tuff City Kids (known best as Gerd Janson and Lauer).
Stream the track in the player above, and pre-order the EP in full here.
The performance was debuted live on Boiler Room and showcases a 50-piece classical symphonic orchestra, with the electronic arsenal of August and Nagel, in a full 50-minute symphony.
The concept was initiated by Frieder Nagel, who connected August to Deutsches Symphonie Orchester in early 2015. Over the following year, the German artist composed a symphony that seeks to combine traditional and electronic instruments and production at the same time.
You can watch the hypnotizing performance in full via the player above, with the full tracklisting and credits below.
Tracklisting:
01. LUX 02. `VIL-LIVE 03. RÊVE 04. SHAME 05. TAKE IT ALL AND FOREVER 06. IRIS 07. PATH TO 08. THE SAVIOR 09. HUMAN 10. STATE OF WONDER 11. KARMA 12. X
Composed by: David August Conductor: Norbert Nagel Orchestra: Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin (DSO) Performed and recorded at: Radialsystem V Berlin Recording Engineer: Holger Schwark Recording Producer: Sebastian Nattkemper Mixed by: David August & Sebastian Nattkemper Additional Orchestration: Raphael D. Thöne (dasDUR) Scenography by: Tim Vermeulen (SIDF)
London’s Geddes returned to his own No Fit State imprint at the start of this month with the Can’t You See EP, comprising two original compositions from the established producer and DJ.
Alongside Geddes’ originals will be two remixes from some of the underground house scene’s most in-demand artists, namely Talaman founder and French producer and DJ Okain and Fuse resident Seb Zito—who featured in XLR8R‘s in-depth profile on London’s fast rising Fuse crew.
In support of the EP, Geddes has offered up the title track as today’s XLR8R download. Opening with a deep, rolling groove, the track gallops through its near-eight-minute run time interspersing all manner of sharp percussion and thick, floor-focused chords. You can download “Can’t See You” via the WeTransfer button below.
Live, you ask? Indeed, this is no mistake: this week’s podcast comes in the form of a debut live set from Cristi Tudorache (a.k.a Melodie). It’s likely that many of you will have been aware with Tudorache’s work for some time. Having marked 2015 with two glorious EPs—namely Echo Rhythm via Raresh‘s Metereze imprint and Influences via RORA—he then became the subject of RA’s Breaking Through series, a feature that drew him significant attention and marked him as one of the most exciting young producers out there today.
Following this break through, however, Tudorache kept a low profile by focusing on his studio work, fine-tuning his acid-infused house sound before he was ready to share any new music with the world at large. And that time came just last month with the release of the Raw EP on Rackmizar, soon to be followed by Alderaan, a four-track EP (that includes the much anticipated “Acid Saturday” track) via Almanah, a new Romanian imprint under the curatorship of the Origami Sound/Interval crew. Earlier this month he also took part in Romania’s first Boiler Room session alongside the likes of Priku, Herodot and Premiesku.
As for the live set, it’s something Tudorache has been working on for some time, inspired by a desire to explore “different sides of a track” with new percussion and edits. As it stands, it remains a work in progress—something he wishes to develop over the coming years before touring it alongside his DJ bookings.
Note: For those of you who missed it, Melodie also offered up “Dimension X,” the opening track of this live set, as part of out free downloads section. Click here to grab it now.
When and where was the set recorded? The mix was recorded one week ago in my home studio in Bucharest.
What equipment do you use for the live set? This set was recorded mostly through an analog mixer. In terms of equipment, I used just a MIDI controller and the launchpad mini. I used a lot of pre-recorded tracks from my songs.
Did you have a specific idea/mood that you wanted to express? Once you’ve listened to a record a couple of times you get used to it and it becomes predictable. I like the idea of live edits and finding different sides of a track because of a new percussion, different effects and also some other stuff.
How long have you been working on the live set? Did it take a lot of work before you felt comfortable recording it? It took about a week. I decided which tracks I wanted to use in the mix. Some I did not use because of some issues with the recordings. I wanted to have both more energetic parts and also some softer parts, familiar tracks and also new works. It’s the drums and rhythms that I’ve programmed until now. There is not that much unreleased stuff; like I said, the idea was to present something already known in a slightly different way. For me, it is a great experience to hear a track that I like, and also be able to hear a small improvisation or something derived from it at a live concert.
Is the live set something you will look to tour with frequently now, alongside your DJing? This is a tough question! Yeah I will do this in the future, maybe in a year or two; I want to have more tracks that I can play, and also get some extra equipment to travel with. I like the flexibility and the way a live mix flows.
You’ve already released two new EPs this year. What else can we expect from you over the next 12 months? I have some remixes coming and that’s it for this year. We will see next year!
