Interpretations: Palmbomen II

Hailing from The Netherlands, Kai Hugo (a.k.a. Palmbomen II) has secured a great deal of acclaim in the global electronic music community for his phantasmal lo-fi sound. A graduate of the Red Bull Music Academy, Hugo and his band Palmbomen put out their first EP via Non Records in 2010, followed by their debut LP, Night Flight Europa, in 2013, taking on a retro-futuristic pop sound with catchy vocal melodies.

Deciding it was time for a change, Hugo migrated from Berlin to Los Angeles in 2014 with a desire to pursue his personal, synth-based intuitions while getting his fill of sunshine and “palmbomen” (which translates as palm trees in Dutch). It was in Los Angeles that Hugo developed a fascination for film, prompting a self-directed music video series for his breakthrough, self-titled debut as Palmbomen II—released on Tim Sweeney’s Beats In Space imprint in March of 2015. Hugo recorded the album back in Berlin while awaiting his visa to the states and binge watching old VHS tapes of the X-Files, which subsequently led him to name each track on the LP after various minor characters from the classic TV show. Cryptic and impressionable, the video series‘ VHS/’80s inspired aesthetics perfectly match that of Palmbomen II’s dusty and laved analog sound.

The day before leaving The City of Angeles for a three-month long touring stint through Europe, Hugo met up with XLR8R near the beaches of Malibu and brought along his complex hardware setup to lay down 14 minutes of relaxed rhythms and signals for your viewing pleasure.

J&AG “1968 (The Broken Tape)”

Since its inception in 2011, Moda Black has come to be known as an independent UK-based label that churns out exciting and club-ready releases on a consistent and swift basis. On July 1, the imprint is set to drop its fourth album series or annual “sonic yearbook,” titled Moda Black Vol. IV. This year’s edition features Moda Black’s most prolific artists such as Walker & Royce and Huxley, alongside white hot emerging talent like Zeke Africa and electrifying guest remixers Throwing Snow and Tuff City Kids. The ever-evolving series continues to prove Moda Black’s commitment to pushing auditory boundaries on the dancefloor.

Ahead of the release, Moda Black label heads Jaymo & Andy George have decided to offer up one of their contributions to the album, “1968 (The Broken Tape).” As the title suggests, the track possesses a texture heavy and fragmented sounds with a large string arrangement, dynamic drum patterns, and a momentary ode to radio that sneaks up on you halfway through the track.

You can download “1968 (The Broken Tape)” below via WeTransfer.

1968 (The Broken Tape)

J&AG “1968 (The Broken Tape)”

Since its inception in 2011, Moda Black has come to be known as an independent UK-based label that churns out exciting and club-ready releases on a consistent and swift basis. On July 1, the imprint is set to drop its fourth album series or annual “sonic yearbook,” titled Moda Black Vol. IV. This year’s edition features Moda Black’s most prolific artists such as Walker & Royce and Huxley, alongside white hot emerging talent like Zeke Africa and electrifying guest remixers Throwing Snow and Tuff City Kids. The ever-evolving series continues to prove Moda Black’s commitment to pushing auditory boundaries on the dancefloor.

Ahead of the release, Moda Black label heads Jaymo & Andy George have decided to offer up one of their contributions to the album, “1968 (The Broken Tape).” As the title suggests, the track possesses a texture heavy and fragmented sounds with a large string arrangement, dynamic drum patterns, and a momentary ode to radio that sneaks up on you halfway through the track.

You can download “1968 (The Broken Tape)” below via WeTransfer.

1968 (The Broken Tape)

Mor Elian Preps EP for Hypercolour; Shares Previews

LA-based artist Mor Elian will drop her latest EP via Hypercolour on July 8.

The four-track EP, titled Drum Vortex, features two originals and two remixes, with the remixes arriving courtesy of New York’s Joey Anderson and Exile label head Markus Suckut. As the title suggests, Mor’s originals—”Drum Vortex” and “Basma”—focus on intriguing drum programming and trippy, well-placed samples, resulting in two sure-fire dancefloor weapons. On the remix front, Joey Anderson turns in one of his notorious synth-heavy reworks of “Drum Vortex,” with Suckut taking the track into deep techno territory.

Drum Vortex is a brilliant follow up to Mor’s debut vinyl release, 323 To Plaza—released last July on Prime Numbers—and will be a welcome addition to the record bags of house and techno DJs the world over.

Ostgut Ton Launches A-TON Sub-Label

Ostgut Ton has announced the launch of its new sub-label A-TON—a branch that will specialise in “ambient, archive and alternative music.”

First up on the emergent platform is Luke Slater, who resurrects his The 7th Plain guise: active from ’93-’96 on British label General Production Recordings, it was a moniker under which he put out his take on ambient music. The forthcoming Chronicles I brings together seven original tracks (four of which were previously unreleased), plus one remix of Japanese techno head Ken Ishii, recorded at Slater’s Space Station Ø and now remastered by Ostgut Ton. According to the label, it “marks the start of a series from Luke Slater’s The 7th Plain moniker, with remastered, previously released and unheard archive material.”

Ostgut Ton has also revealed that Slater will drop a new album as Planetary Assault Systems through the parent label, due out September 30. It comes at a busy time for the British producer, following on from the recent release of the first in a Planetary Funk 22 Light Years remix series on his own Mote-Evolver (a celebration of 22 years of Planetary Assault Systems). On July 16, Berghain will host the release party for the EP.

Chronicles I is set for release on August 5. Stream snippets below.

Tracklisting:
A1. “Boundaries”
A2. “Extra (The 7th Plain Remix)”
B1. “Grace”
B2. “Surface Bound”
C1. “The Super 8”
C2. “T Funk States”
D1. “Slip 7 Sideways”
D2. “Chords Are Dirty”

Watch Moby’s New Mini-Documentary About His Life in NYC During the ’90s

Moby takes a trip down memory lane in his new visual memoir, titled ‘Porcelain,’ that gives his viewers a glimpse of what it was like to experience early rave culture in The Big Apple. A visual compliment to his recent autobiography, Moby takes a stroll throughout Manhattan while discussing ramped drug use, his hatred of growing up in the suburbs, illegal parties on the L train, his first gigs, and much more.

Describing NYC as a “filthy, dysfunctional, wonderful, degenerate paradise,” Moby explains how the Metro North Train going into the Grand Central Station “saved his life” from the defining emotions of shame and the various suicidal tendencies that he experienced while living in Connecticut.

You can watch the full video in the player above.

ToCo “Right Place”

ToCo is a special collaboration between two accomplished artists and friends, Tobi Neumann and Marco Unzip. Following a chance meeting the Electro Splash open air festival in 2007, the pair became fast friends and music partners, eventually debuting as a duo at Sven Väth‘s birthday party at Cocoon Club Frankfurt in 2010. The gig likewise saw their initiation as producers when they pressed their track “I Want My Shoe Back” on a dubplate as a gift Väth; the endeavor lead to regular collaborations and DJ performances as ToCo.

The project’s sound hovers over top of early analog electronic music and modern digital binary soul. You can hear Tobi’s 20 years of experience engineering and Marco’s 20 years of tastemaking in the production here. The Right Place EP is the ambassador that the pair have selected to introduce listeners to its distinct flavour of modern bass use and intricate rhythm programming. Ahead of the EP’s June 24 release on Haunt Music, the duo has offered up the digital bonus track, “Right Place,” as one of today’s free downloads.

Download “Right Place” below via WeTransfer. The full EP is available to pre-order at Juno.

Tracklisting: 

A1.Right Space
B1.Supafly
B2.Sweet Elisa
Right Place (Digital Bonus)

Right Place

Stroboscopic Artefacts Reveals Next Monad Series Instalments

Lucy‘s Stroboscopic Artefacts imprint has announced the next instalments in its summer digital-only series entitled Monad.

The Monad series launched back in 2010, and has returned each summer since, with music from the likes of Kangding Ray, Eomac & Perc. This year, the label will add to that list new EPs from Yotam Avni, Charlotte Isabelle and Oake.

First up is Yotam Avni, who takes care of Monad XXII, due out on July 1. Avni is a Tel-Aviv based techno producer, who has previously released on Ovum. He knocks up a four-tracker that explores high energy techno and eastern-inspired vocals. Following on from said release, French duo Charlotte Isabelle promise an avant-garde electronic EP (due out July 29). Finally, Berlin-based pair Oake (known for their contribution to Regis‘ Downwards label) will wrap up the series for this summer with Monad XXIV, due out August 9.

The Monad series will be released digitally over the course of summer. Stream snippets from Yotam Avni’s Monad XXII below.

Tracklisting:

Yotam AvniMonad XXII

01. Tinofet
02. Rusha
03. Marva Version
04. Marva

Charlotte IsabelleMonad XXIII

01. Ababa
02. Geridoo
03. Desba
04. Antakarana

OakeMonad XXIV

01. L’Esclandre
02. Jardin d’évasion
03. Hélicorde
04. Paysage dépaysé

Answer Code Request Neume

Patrick Gräser’s output as Answer Code Request tends to be limited to an average of one EP each year (barring his 2014 full-length Code), via either Ostgut Ton or the closely affiliated MDR. It’s a useful window into the music inspiring him, a barometer that gives some indication of where he’s at; however, invariably they all fall within the realm of ambient techno, the labors of a producer widely celebrated for his freeform approach to rhythm construction and complex textures.

The next chapter in the Answer Code Request story is Neume. Where last year’s Calm Down and 2014 release Breathe were both heavy on the driving, club-ready side of techno, Neume leans toward the more theatrical end of his character. In an interview with us last year, he contended that he had “always wanted to produce something different—something that wasn’t already out there,” because he is “bored with these basic four-to-the-floor patterns.”

It’s a sentiment projected over the majority of Neume. The lurching, off-kilter patterns of “Meta” sound almost 2-step-like, banging with the gusto of a tenor drummer. After letting the beats do the talking for a while, Gräser smudges them out with a spectral, diluted high-end. The broken kick in “Vis” is even looser, though shuffling hats and a firm bassline give it real momentum around its melancholic synths.

Title track “Neume” is a slight exception in its conformity to a four-to-the-floor schedule. Opening with a throbbing bass, it leaps into a tribal rhythm full of energy; true to form, it’s quickly subsumed by typically moody groans that eat at its other parts. The sense of foreboding constantly swells, aggravated by the introduction of frantic bleeps. As with its accompanying tracks, the depth in its carefully crafted elements show Gräser at his dramatic and unconventional best: an EP that on the whole doesn’t fit squarely into home or club listening brackets, but is bound to sound great in both.

Neume is set for release on June 24. Pre-order it at the Ostgut Ton online store.

Tracklisting:
1. “Neume”
2. “Meta”
3. “Vis”

Dâm-Funk and Nite Jewel Announce Collaborative EP

Dâm-Funk and Nite Jewel have confirmed the release of their first full EP together, due out at the beginning of July.

Together Damon Riddick (a.k.a. Dâm-Funk) and Ramona Gonzalez (a.k.a. Nite Jewel) are Nite-Funk. Next week they will release their first full EP together, though it follows years of collaborative work in various shapes and forms. Back in 2009, they put out “Am I Gonna Make It” together, as well as last year’s “Can U Read Me.” Their upcoming self-titled release looks set to be full of funk riffs and Gonzalez’ vocals, and will drop on Riddick’s own Glydezone.

News of the collaborationfollows hot on the tail of Riddick’s contribution to the DJ Kicks series, which dropped in late May.

Nite-Funk is scheduled for release on July 1. Pre-order it at Bleep, and stream one of its cuts, “Let Me Be Me,” in full below.

Tracklisting:
01. Don’t Play Games
02. Let Me Be Me
03. Love X2
04. U Can Make Me

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