Max Graef & Glenn Astro The Yard Work Simulator

Essen’s Glenn Astro and Berlin’s Max Graef are dedicated vinyl buffs. Cold, mechanical dance tracks don’t get them hot under the collar. For the most part they favour deeply dug nuggets of jazz, disco and rare groove. Where once that manifested in their music as sample chunks layered in crackly breakbeats and dusted 4/4, now they’ve abandoned samples in favour of live instruments and played in riffs, chopped up and thrown into spicy, flavoursome stews of modern beat science.

Apart, they’ve made acclaimed records for Tartelet, Space Hardware and WotNot Music. Graef’s debut album, Rivers of the Red Planet, was a rough, scuffed, emotional triumph drawing from his many influences. Similarly, Glenn Astro’s excellent Throwback filched samples from all over and arranged them in outlandish, compelling shapes, from abstract downtempo drums to rickety house cuts.

Being friends and sharing an audio outlook, they’ve joined forces, following their first collaboration on Money $ex Records in 2015. Though Ninja Tune has dabbled with house music over the years, it’s not what the label is known for; still, it’s the sonic approach of Graef and Astro that makes them such a good fit for the label.

Truthfully, to call their music house wouldn’t be the full story, nor would it explain the purposefully ramshackle constructions they build around 4/4 kick drums. The Yard Work Simulator, like their other material, is characterised by its loose, unquantized feel. In the way J Dilla or Samiyam made hip-hop tracks—deliberately sloppy and all the funkier for it—Graef and Astro make disco and house, if you can call it that. At a time of binary oppositions in dance music, where on the one hand lies super slick, perfect production and mixes, and on the other lies deliberately scuffed, distorted tunes layered with synthetic tape hiss, Glenn and Max err to the latter. But it’s not studied in their case; the music on The Yard Work Simulator is natural.

Consider the title cut, with its live funk breaks, warm bass runs, rippling jazz chords and Rhodes keyboard flows. This is the kind of stuff that by rights should get Gilles Peterson or Theo Parrish excited, sounding more like a modern manifestation of the records they once sampled, rather than an ersatz attempt at funk. That it descends into filtered pads, suggests a modernity they’re keen to impart on their records to stop them descending into pastiche.

The cut “W313D” touches on Detroit house, a little akin to the weirder works of Kyle Hall for instance, but loaded with microscopic details and coated in diaphanous layers of jazzy ambience. Robotic, crunching, cut-up, but also soulful and experimental, it suggests that the pair have found a sound to call their own. “Jumbo Frøsnapper” is all scrunched up beats, strange, panned effects and jazz organ chords; but through the fuzz, tight, propulsive kicks, hats and snares punch through.

These are their beloved records, guzzled up, internalized, and regurgitated in new unrecognizable forms; music of the past as perceived by modern minds; an even balance between tight live instrumentation and charming studio nous. Give this record a few spins, and you’ll succumb to their peculiar, but beguiling world too.

Tracklisting:
01. Intro
02. Where The F**k Are My Hard Boiled Eggs?!
03. Money $ex Theme
04. The Yard Work Simulator
05. Flat Peter
06. China Nr 04
07. W313D
08. Magic Johnson (Album Mix)
09. Jumbo Frosnapper
10. Viktor’s Blues

The Yard Work Simulator is out now on LP, CD and digitally.

Max Graef & Glenn Astro The Yard Work Simulator

Essen’s Glenn Astro and Berlin’s Max Graef are dedicated vinyl buffs. Cold, mechanical dance tracks don’t get them hot under the collar. For the most part they favour deeply dug nuggets of jazz, disco and rare groove. Where once that manifested in their music as sample chunks layered in crackly breakbeats and dusted 4/4, now they’ve abandoned samples in favour of live instruments and played in riffs, chopped up and thrown into spicy, flavoursome stews of modern beat science.

Apart, they’ve made acclaimed records for Tartelet, Space Hardware and WotNot Music. Graef’s debut album, Rivers of the Red Planet, was a rough, scuffed, emotional triumph drawing from his many influences. Similarly, Glenn Astro’s excellent Throwback filched samples from all over and arranged them in outlandish, compelling shapes, from abstract downtempo drums to rickety house cuts.

Being friends and sharing an audio outlook, they’ve joined forces, following their first collaboration on Money $ex Records in 2015. Though Ninja Tune has dabbled with house music over the years, it’s not what the label is known for; still, it’s the sonic approach of Graef and Astro that makes them such a good fit for the label.

Truthfully, to call their music house wouldn’t be the full story, nor would it explain the purposefully ramshackle constructions they build around 4/4 kick drums. The Yard Work Simulator, like their other material, is characterised by its loose, unquantized feel. In the way J Dilla or Samiyam made hip-hop tracks—deliberately sloppy and all the funkier for it—Graef and Astro make disco and house, if you can call it that. At a time of binary oppositions in dance music, where on the one hand lies super slick, perfect production and mixes, and on the other lies deliberately scuffed, distorted tunes layered with synthetic tape hiss, Glenn and Max err to the latter. But it’s not studied in their case; the music on The Yard Work Simulator is natural.

Consider the title cut, with its live funk breaks, warm bass runs, rippling jazz chords and Rhodes keyboard flows. This is the kind of stuff that by rights should get Gilles Peterson or Theo Parrish excited, sounding more like a modern manifestation of the records they once sampled, rather than an ersatz attempt at funk. That it descends into filtered pads, suggests a modernity they’re keen to impart on their records to stop them descending into pastiche.

The cut “W313D” touches on Detroit house, a little akin to the weirder works of Kyle Hall for instance, but loaded with microscopic details and coated in diaphanous layers of jazzy ambience. Robotic, crunching, cut-up, but also soulful and experimental, it suggests that the pair have found a sound to call their own. “Jumbo Frøsnapper” is all scrunched up beats, strange, panned effects and jazz organ chords; but through the fuzz, tight, propulsive kicks, hats and snares punch through.

These are their beloved records, guzzled up, internalized, and regurgitated in new unrecognizable forms; music of the past as perceived by modern minds; an even balance between tight live instrumentation and charming studio nous. Give this record a few spins, and you’ll succumb to their peculiar, but beguiling world too.

Tracklisting:
01. Intro
02. Where The F**k Are My Hard Boiled Eggs?!
03. Money $ex Theme
04. The Yard Work Simulator
05. Flat Peter
06. China Nr 04
07. W313D
08. Magic Johnson (Album Mix)
09. Jumbo Frosnapper
10. Viktor’s Blues

The Yard Work Simulator is out now on LP, CD and digitally.

Premiere: Hear a New Track from Johann Johannsson

On July 15, 130701 Records will celebrate its 15th anniversary with three releases: Centres by Ian William Craig, Room To Expand (Expanded) by Hauschka, and Eleven into Fifteen: a 130701 Compilation.

130701 Records—an imprint under the FatCat Records banner—has played a pivotal role in the development of today’s post-classical sound, introducing the likes of Max Richter, Hauschka, and Set Fire To Flames to the world, as well as hosting releases from Sylvain Chauveau, Jóhann Jóhannsson, and Dustin O’Halloran.

Curated and compiled by 130701’s David Howell, Eleven into Fifteen: a 130701 Compilation will feature eleven exclusive tracks, one from each of the artists who have released on the imprint over the past fifteen years, as well as Ian William Craig, Olivier Alary, and Resina, 130701’s three new signings. As expected, the release is a beautiful collection of textured ambient cuts and poignant string and piano arrangements that truly showcases the world-class talent that 130701 houses.

Ahead of the July 15 release, you can stream Johann Johannsson‘s “They Being Dead Yet Speaketh (Live)” in full via the player above, with the compilation available for pre-order here.

Inigo Kennedy Returns to Token

Inigo Kennedy has revealed that he will release a new two-tracker via Belgian imprint Token Records in June.

British techno producer Inigo Kennedy has been active since the mid-90s, putting out records via the likes of Semantica, Inner Surface and his own Asymmetric. Recently his output has mainly been via Kr!z’s imprint Token Records, to which he returns this June. In fact, Kennedy has been with the label since the very beginning, having handled their first release, which he followed up with a handful of EPs, as well as his 2014 album Vaudeville. According to the imprint, the forthcoming record “continues with a theme originating from the final track on Vaudeville,” with two tracks that are “swelling, melodic and subtle.”

NGC is due out June 24, as a limited pressing of 300 records (each featuring a custom silk screen artwork). It can be pre-ordered now from Juno.

Paranoid London Prepare New EP

Gerardo Delgado and Quinn Whalley (a.k.a. Paranoid London) have announced details of a new EP they have on the way this June.

The first new material from Paranoid London since their 2014 self-titled full-length is a cover of the Imperial Brothers’ 1984 “We Come To Rock.” Originally released on US label Cutting Records, the track is an electro classic. The British duo’s cover will be released alongside a new track, “Buck Stomping,” which the pair have revealed will also feature an electro sample.

We Come To Rock / Buck Stomping is due out on June 6, and can be pre-ordered at Juno. Check out snippets below.

Four Tet Gives Away New Track

Pioneering English artist Kieran Hebden(a.k.a. Four Tet) has followed last year’s unannounced Morning/Evening with the release of his latest track, “TrackI’veBeenPlayingOnRadio+StuffSeemsNiceThing2DropBecauseSmashingItOnInternetShouts2B.UFO+A.Naples.”

The track was released earlier today in celebration of Hebden reaching 1 million followers on SoundCloud and can be downloaded for free by following the below link.

SoundLab in the Jungle: An Inner-Cultural Collaboration in Malaysia’s Rainforest

Since 2010, the eco-hideaway known as The Dusun, which resides in the middle of the jungle just an hours drive outside of Malaysia’s capital of Kuala Lumpor, has been the scene of unlikely and remarkable collaborations between some real heavy-hitters in the global electronic music. Artists such as Daedelus, Modeselektor, Kode9, Housemister, and more have all made their way to this slice of Eden in the rainforest to unwind during their busy tour schedules and become aroused by what the jungle has to offer in terms of atmosphere and sonic inspiration.

Last year, the Malaysian-based duo Bass Sekolah (consisting of producer Cee and multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Darren Ashley) released The Dusun Sessions, an album that features 11-collaborative jungle sessions that were recorded at the resort with artists such as Phon.o, Perera Elsewhere, Daedelus, Skinnerbox, and more.

The mysterious and quiet album’s success inspired a new project between Cee (and his Detour Asia booking agency), the organization Border Movement, and theGoethe-Institut, titled “SoundLab: Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand & Germany 2016.” For ten days, 15 musicians from 11 different countries combined their talents at The Dusun resort to craft an arboreous, lofty, and inventive collaborative album. In the time allotted to them, the group created a total of 20 songs which will be offered up as a free download in order to “stay in the spirit of the ever/all giving jungle mother.”

This synergistic and talented cluster of artists who took part in this project were Born in Flamez, Nadia Reid, Dizz1, Dea, Vandetta, Darko C, Space 360, Nguyen Hong Giang, Similarobjects, Najwa Mahiaddin, Fook of The Bassment Syndicate, Darren Ashley and Cee of Bass Sekolah.

The official release of the project will commence on June 4 with the release party and screening of the mini documentary made by Lisanne Schulze, at Urban Spree in Berlin. You can view the trailer in the player above.

You can stream a selection of tracks from the project below.

Photos by: Lisanne Schulze

DLSK Preps EP for Growin Music; Shares Previews

Daniel Stefanik will drop an EP under his DLSK moniker on May 30 via German label Growin Music.

The EP, titled Can You Get That Together, is much of what you would expect from Stefanik, three top-quality minimalistic house jams built for the dancefloor. From the loopy, vocal-led title cut to the more straight-forward “There Never Was A Day” and ambient closer, “Drown In My Own Tears,” Can You Get That Together will be a welcome addition to the record bags of the minimally-inclined.

The EP drops on May 30 and you can hear previews of all three tracks via the players below.

The Avalanches Reveal Telephone Hotline with New Track Preview

Rumors have been circling once again around the release of new music from the iconic Australian group known as The Avalanches. After the release of a puzzling and exciting documentary trailer titled Since They Left Us (which can be viewed via the player above), it was pointed out that a poster for the film contains a hotline number “for preview screenings.”

The number—0800 098 8938 (UK) or 1-(855) 953-3597 (US)—leads eager fans to a lo-fi loop of an unreleased tune that Shazam identifies as a track titled “Subways” by The Avalanches.

This same tactic was recently employed by UK artist Lone who previewed his feverish track “Backtail Was Heavy” on R&S Records via telephone as a throwback to UK rave hotlines—which would provide directions to anyone trying to find various clandestine dance events. In an age where we expect things to sound crystal and straight to the point, teasing a track via a hotline is a nostalgic and clever tactic that is successfully building further anticipation for an album that is 16 years in the making.

Listen to M.E.S.H.’s New and Confronting EP on PAN

M.E.S.H. (a.k.a. James Whipple) has released a new four track EP, once again through Bill Kouligas‘ forward-thinking PAN imprint. The new collection sees Whipple—U.S. émigré and resident of Janus, a Berlin club night and label that staunchly departs from the city’s techno and house tradition—changing directions from the dizzying abstractions of his previous label releases.

Despite a new approach that tackles less indiscernible club structures head on, M.E.S.H.’s new work is no less confronting. Introduced by the stop-and-start chaos of the title track, the EP still manages to find its footing in the same dark corners that shade Whipple’s discography.

Stream the EP from SoundCloud below:

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