Podcast 422: Livio & Roby

In our recent article on the thriving Romanian scene, we highlighted Robert Precup and Silviu Sandu (a.k.a. Livio & Roby) as two artists to have tread their own unique path out of Bucharest, towards global success. For over a decade now, they have been the production team behind a wealth of sophisticated house-esque releases (as well as working alongside George G under the Premiesku alias), crafting a sound distinct from the more lo-fi, minimal constructions typically associated with the region. Naturally, it didn’t take long before they were picked up by some of the genre’s heavyweights, such as Loco Dice for Desolat, as well as releasing on the likes of Cécile, Vakant and Drumma.

It isn’t just for their productions that the pair are famed, though—both at home in Romania or further afield, they have taken their live shows and DJ sets to clubs both big and small for as long as they have been releasing their own tracks. This week’s podcast is an example of their DJing prowess, as Precup and Sandu take to the decks for an exposition of the kind of four-to-the-flour beats they are now famed for. Expect plenty of chunky kicks and hi-hats to match, with the duo rolling through an hour of seamless blends that show their years of experience.

This is what the duo had to say on the mix, and the issues surrounding it.

What equipment was the mix recorded on?
This time we used CDJ’s and a Rane empath mixer (grandmaster flash edition).

How do you perceive the vinyl v digital debate, and, even to an extent, the analog v digital debate in the production sense?
We love vinyl and we prefer any analog format. When we play we use both, vinyl and digital, but if all the tracks were on vinyl format then that would definitely be our choice. At the same time, however, that’s not really possible and we have a lot of unreleased music which sounds good and we want to fit in our mixes. The second debate makes sense up to a certain point. We are using analog gear in the studio because it sounds better and gives us a wider spectrum. However at the end, everything goes through digital, because even when you press vinyl, the audio is processed digitally beforehand. So, in order to keep it completely analog artists and the industry must find a solution in order to preserve it on analog format all the way up to the stage of vinyl pressing. This would be a win-win situation! But still, material created on analog gear has a special warmth even though it goes digital afterwards.

The mix is comprised of almost entirely unreleased tracks. Was this intentional?
It wasn’t intentional at all. We didn’t really have this in mind when selecting the music. We just wanted a certain type of flow and picked the tracks which were fitting together.

Do you purposely not release some of your own tracks to ensure that you are the only ones that can play them/retain track exclusivity?
That’s an interesting angle! Maybe sometimes we do this without realizing, really. Personally we are not really into keeping everything for ourselves but of course, sometimes it’s nice to surprise people with something they’ve never heard before.

How did you approach this mix in comparison to a regular DJ set and a Premiesku live set?
A Premiesku live set is based on a different concept, and of course, has a different flow. Tracks are being built live on machines. I am sure that a home DJ set must be also different comparing to a club one. I might say we had a nice view when we did it, the garden was right in front of us and maybe we entered in certain state. This is the approach I would say…a particular condition in a specific moment.

XLR8R Podcast 422: Livio & Roby by Xlr8r on Mixcloud

01 Vlad Caia “Sidepoint” (unreleased)
02 Unknown “Untitled” (unreleased)
03 Unknown “Untitled” (unreleased)
04 Faster “Bender Synth” (Bleu Ciel)
05 Fernando Costantini & Loquace “Warm Hearted” (Unreleased)
06 Pash N Lips “Capriole” (Sit Remix) (Mulen)
07 Melodie “Arpegiat” (free download)
08 Arapu “Rev Groove” (unreleased)
09 Sit “Step By Step” (Amphia)
10 Unknown “Untitled” (unreleased)
11 Unknown “Untitled” (unreleased)
12 Livio & Roby “Unreleased” (unreleased)
13 Unknown “Untitled” (unreleased)

XLR8R Podcast 422 – Livio & Roby

Nina Kraviz Kicks Off Radio 1 Residency

Nina Kraviz recently launched her residency at BBC Radio 1, and in her first transmission, unreleased material from her still-young трип label was heavily in rotation. In addition to picks from Heiko Laux, Robert Hood, and Aphex Twin, the Russian selector also aired upcoming tracks from the likes of Maayan Nidam, Exos, Bjarki, and herself. Stream the hour-long session in full here.

Bruce Brubaker “Knee For Thought (Francesco Tristano Vision)”

Hailed as “one of the most exciting pianists in the contemporary American classical scene” by Pitchfork, Bruce Brubaker is a classical pianist and a forward thinking composer who is closely associated with the recent revitalization of classical music that is often referred to as “classical alternative.” Based in New York City and born in Iowa, Brubaker has been releasing breathtaking classical compositions since the early 2000’s on Arabesque Recordings. His most recent album, Glass Piano, which was released on Infiné Music last year, is a collection of solo piano interpretations of pieces written by the legendary experimental and minimalist composer Philip Glass.

Following the release of this brilliant album, InFiné Music and Brubaker decided to invite a host of new artists from various scenes and generations to re-interpret his solo-piano work for the Glass Piano (Versions)EP. The composer explains the motivation behind this remix album in the text below.

“Remix culture, post-production art is the art of now. Artists today are making pathways through what came before. More and more I see what I do in this way. I’m starting from notes written on paper by Philip (Glass). But music is a group activity, and a transaction. This music only exists as it does because it was written, then made into sound by me, and heard by listeners. The people hearing it complete the art.”

Today’s XLR8R download is a remix of Bruce Brubaker’s track “Knee for Thought,” which arrives courtesy of recent XLR8R Podcast contributor Francesco Tristano. The Luxembourg City producer, who was a student of Brubaker’s when he was attending the Juilliard School of Music in New York, is an obvious choice for this remix due to his ability to seamlessly blend classical works with cutting edge electronic sounds.

You can download “Knee For Thought (Francesco Tristano Vision)” below.

Be sure to check out the entire Glass Piano Versions EP by visiting BandCamp here.

Knee For Thought (Francesco Tristano Vision)

Additional Download: Francesco Tristano – “Mambo”

XLR8R to Host Analog Stage at DGTL Festival

XLR8R is pleased to announce its partnership with DGTL Festival, one of Europe’s most anticipated and forward-thinking electronic music events. Set in Amsterdam’s NDSM Docklands, DGTL will take place March 25 until March 27.

This year, XLR8R will be hosting the Analog stage, with a different theme set for each day. Saturday’s line up focuses more on live performance, with sets by KiNK, Gold Panda and Gui Boratto & Elekfantz. The following day things will get a lot more techno, with DVS1, Rødhåd and Kyle Geiger leading the way. You can check out the Analog by XLR8R lineup for both Saturday and Sunday below.

ANALOG by XLR8R: Saturday

Gold Panda [live]
Gui Boratto & Elekfantz [live]
KiNK [live]
Love over Entropy [live]
Mattheis [live]
Romare [live]
Weval [live]
WhoMadeWho

 ANALOG by XLR8R: Sunday

Cyrillic [live]
DVS1
Haeken
Kyle Geiger
Rod
Rødhåd
Woo York [live]

For the full lineup and more information head to the festival’s website. Be sure to act fast and purchase your tickets by clicking the below.

Apparitions Festival announces Phase Two Lineup

Apparitions Festival, a new four-day event taking place in Mexico in early spring, has recently announced the second phase of its DJ lineup. With legendary Detroit artists like Juan Atkins, Kevin Saunderson, and Terrence Parker having already been announced, the second wave includes acts such as Sebastian Mullaert, a.k.a. Minilogue, (live), Luke Hess and Droog.

The festival occurs at the end of March, and takes place at the entrancing San Pedrito beach in Todos Santos, Mexico. Taking control of the beach by day, and migrating up to the mountains by night, the festival is determined to make the most of the area’s beautiful landscapes for an electronic undertaking that is looks to be one-of-a-kind.

Lineup (Phase One + Phase Two):

Derrick May (Transmat Records)
M.A.N.D.Y. (Get Physical Music)
Sebastian Mullaert aka Minilouge (live) (Cocoon Recordings)
Kevin Saunderson (KMS Records)
Doc Martin (Sublevel Records)
Juan Atkins (Metroplex Records)
Francesco Tristano (Get Physical Music)
Luke Hess (Echocord)
Droog (Norbu)
Terrence Parker (Parker MusicWorks) with Merachka (live vocals)

You can purchase your tickets via XLR8R.

Download a Track From Weska’s ‘Despierta’ EP

Following his Black Boots EP from last year, Octopus Recordings welcomes back Canadian techno artist Weska for his sophomore EP, Despierta. The torrid and billowing release features three forceful underground techno tunes packed with smokey dancefloor potential. Last week, Weska played at the Octopus Recordings showcase in Mexico for BPM festival alongside Pleasurekraft, Sian, and Oliver Huntemann.

Weska also provided a short video, where he describes what it was like to compose the track “Friction;” he’s also included a stream of the track where you can download the song directly.

You can preview Despierta in the SoundCloud player below, and you can get your free download of “Friction” by clicking on the link. Check out more from Weska by visiting his SoundCloud page here.

Event Review: Floating Points in Glasgow

There probably isn’t another artist I’ve seen DJ more times in the past couple of years than Floating Points. The London producer (a.k.a. Sam Shepherd) has in the course of those dozen or more sets rarely diverged from a trajectory of good-time house and mildly jazzy techno early on, followed by an exploration of his apparently bottomless supply of flawless disco and soul nuggets later. It speaks volumes about how well he carries off the formula, then, that I and several hundred others were willing to put dealing with the aftermath of Glasgow’s legendarily unhinged Hogmanay celebrations on hold, and haul ourselves down to this show on the evening of January 1.

Hosting the show was the Hillhead Bookclub in the city’s west end, which used to be an ornate old cinema and is now a two-floor bar/restaurant with a large mezzanine area between the two. Its use as a club space is generally confined to a couple of events every Christmas—rare enough for it to be equal parts novel and downright odd to find oneself there in a clubbing context. “It’s so weird to be dancing here,” confessed one friend not long into proceedings. “I feel like I’m going to accidentally back into a waiter carrying a couple of portions of macaroni cheese.”

Adding to the strangeness was the fact that Shepherd was DJing on the three-sided, landing-like upper floor of the venue, meaning that those on the ground floor or mezzanine had to turn their heads sharply up to watch him. On previous occasions I’ve found this dynamic annoying. On a frazzled-but-happy New Year’s night, however, pretty well ignoring the DJ and concentrating on the friends in front of you felt appropriate, and it’s safe to say an artist as unassuming as Shepherd will have enjoyed his night of relative anonymity as much as we did.

I often find Shepherd’s early-set house and techno selections a little too soft and wafting to dance to with much enthusiasm. They made for a pleasant accompaniment to catching up with friends over a hair-of-the-dog beer though, even as the odd higher-energy pick (“House Nation” by Housemaster Boyz among them) began to coax a gradually swelling crowd away from the venue’s cocoon-like booths and onto the dance floor.

The final hour and a half was when things really got going, and true to form, disco and soul were the order of the day. The moment the night tipped from bleary after-party into full-throttle party in its own right came near midnight, with a rapturously received airing for Evelyn Champagne King’s “Love Come Down.” From there the venue’s energy suddenly rose—and stayed high—as Shepherd barreled through a flurry of on-point disco edits and originals. Half an hour earlier the crowd might have needed the irresistible “dance dance dance” instruction of Red Greg’s edit of “Feeling Freaky” by the Vandales, but by the time it came along a now-full venue had committed itself to doing just that.

The HK Fit & Fab edit of “I’ve Been Waitin’ For Ya” by Tavo was another highlight, but it was, as usual, impossible to pick a hole in Shepherd’s selections once he hit top gear. His set ended all too soon-the ever-inflexible specter of Glasgow licensing meant a 1am closing. The honey-fried soul of Dee Edwards’s “(I Can) Deal With That” closed things out with hugs and the odd outbreak of “proper dancing,” and confirmed once again that, when it comes to Sam Shepherd, familiarity is very unlikely ever to breed contempt.

Mule Musiq Announces I’m Starting To Feel OK Vol. 7

Japanese imprint Mule Musiq has announced the upcoming release of the seventh edition of the I’m Starting To Feel OK mix series due to land March 18.

Last year, the imprint celebrated its 10 years in operation with the release of the mix series’ sixth installment which featured artists of the likes of Axel Boman and Eddie C. This year, the mix series returns with both old and new featured artists, among them: Prins Thomas, Eddie C, Gold Panda and Frank & Tony. Former XLR8R podcast contributors; Fort Romeau, Konstantin Sibold and a collaboration between XLR8R alumni Sebastien Mullaert and Aril Brikha, are all also featured in the latest installment of the series.

Vol 7. will be available in CD, digital and vinyl formats and you can view all tracklistings in full, below.

TRACKLISTING:
CD
Disc 1:
01. Sauce81 – Make It Move
02. Prins Thomas – Rainbow Disco
03. Strategy – Mother Nature
04. Eddie C – Flying Blue
05. Jacques Renault – Don’t Need To Know
06. Lord Of The Isles – Ruff Rollin
07. Rubini – Still Clock
08. Nicolai Toma – Minifloat
09. Musk – Mysore
10. Kuniyuki – Newwave Project #11
11. Konstantin Sibold & Leif Müller – Leguan

Disc 2:
01. Bell Towers ft Miss Midday – Midday Theme
02. Frank & Tony – Amedeo
03. Kim Brown – Gated Communities
04. Johannes Klingebiel – Cowbell Piano House
05. DJ Jenifa (aka Gold Panda) – Dresscode
06. Frankey & Sandrino – Hubble
07. Aril Brikha & Sebastian Mullaert – Illuminate
08 Snacks – Order To The Senses
09 Fort Romeau – You’re Not Home
10. Oskar Offermann – Survival
11. Fred P – Days In Time

Vinyl:
Mule Musiq 198:
A1 Oskar Offermann – Survival
A2 Rubini – Still Clock
B1 Lord Of The Isles – Ruff Rollin
B2 Strategy – Mother Nature

Mule Musiq 199:
A1 DJ Jenifa AKA Gold Panda – Dresscode
A2 Johannes Klingebiel – Cowbell Piano House
B1 Fred P – Days In Time
B2 Kim Brown – Gated Communities

I’m Starting To Feel OK Vol. 7 will land via Mule Musiq on March 18, 2016.

Love International Reveals Full Line Up

The complete line up for the event that organisers are describing as the “spiritual successor” to The Garden Festival has now been released.

Love International will launch this Summer, in the Croatian seaside town of Tisno. Amongst others, just added to the line up are Bicep, Eats Everything, Jackmaster, Roman Flügel and Axel Boman. They join an already strong selection of acts announced last year, which include the likes of Ben UFO, Dixon, Motor City Drum Ensemble, Craig Richards, Gerd Janson, Prosumer and Tama Sumo.

For more information on the festival and their complete line up, head over to their site.

OCH First Contact EP

Following a triangular approach, Dreiklang’s inaugural EP connects three artists from across Europe with a penchant for nuanced productions. The release comes together as a multifaceted grouping of practical tracks that cycle through a wide range of energy levels.

OCH’s original version starts off the affair. Straying from conventional four-to-the-floor norms, the former Juno Records gear journalist sequences shuffling rhythms that restlessly oscillate between house and techno archetypes. With its gritty textures and dizzying flow, this DJ tool is better suited for staggering dancefloor moments than it is for home listening; reflective of the Autoreply Music head’s structural incisiveness, a linear approach to arrangement is maintained throughout the track, making it accessible from a mixing perspective.

Taking things on a dubbier tangent, Hydergine extracts the original’s keys, pads, and percussion as a framework for his more tempered and atmospheric rendition, with his slow-paced approach serving as an antidote to the dizzying nature of the original. Adhering to a typical dub-techno template, acute layering and reverb-soaked harmonics give this restrained remix a warm and familiar tone. Unfortunately, this formulaic familiarity comes at the expense of the ingenuity that’s more present throughout the rest of the release.

Branching off the most from the original, Kelovolt’s remix focuses on subtle repetition, using dream-like tones to lure listeners into a corner of contemplative sanctum. Its sparse snippets of background artifacts are inspirited by haunting melodies that gently float over its subdued groove. We’re transported into a solemn plane of minimal soundscapes that pulsate daintily for just over ten minutes. While it might not be quite as sonically full as the others, it’s definitely the most illustrious piece of the three.

The result a varied yet cohesive package tied together by astute arrangements; a wise step for a new club-focused label. With that in mind, the overall quality and range of this release is certainly a promising first step for the Berlin vinyl-only imprint.

Page 927 of 3781
1 … 925 926 927 928 929 … 3,781