Page 93 – XLR8R

Podcast 690: Xyla

When Xyla, the project of Alyx Henderson, relocated to San Francisco in 2013, she had little-to-no knowledge of electronic music. Her move was motivated by the opportunity to continue her examination of the French horn at the city’s esteemed Conservatory of Music, but life in the city brought her closer to rave music and the emotions it could invoke in her. Inspired, she enrolled in an Ableton class through the conservatory’s newly founded Technology and Applied Composition program. Three years later, she released Ways, a patchwork quilt of sounds and genres, rich in IDM and footwork, on Matthewdavid‘s esteemed Leaving Records.

Despite its freewheeling rhythms, Ways was meticulously constructed. Growing up in Houston, Texas, Henderson circled hip-hop, R&B, and classical music, but little of what she listened to really made her move. As she became deeply immersed in dance music, she needed to discover what she was going to make. Towards the end of 2019, she visited Berlin, intent on digging deeper into dance; while there, she’d attend gigs and parties alone, only to explore genres, and she’d spend her time at home delving deep into her favorite labels’ back catalogs. All of this informed her own palette and she began to craft her first compositions. After returning to San Francisco, she delivered some sketches to Matthewdavid, who signed her up. Ways landed in October 2020.

Recorded in her home in San Francisco, Henderson’s XLR8R podcast is full of the beats and rhythms that have resonated with her during her time in club music. She leans heavily on music from friends, and each track triggers a specific memory of the dancefloor. Beyond a heady mix of left-field club rhythms, it exhibits the feel-good dance music that drew Xyla into the genre, and gives us an idea of what we can expect to hear from her soon.

01. What have you been up to recently?
This probably won’t be a shock, but I have been spending a lot of time at home due to the pandemic. I’m teaching and making music, working on various production projects, and going on walks.

02. How has the lockdown period been for you?
The pause in seemingly “normal” life has a blessing and a curse. There is momentum and stillness, high points and low points, laughter and sadness. I’m really just taking things day-by-day, but I am lucky to have a bad-ass circle of close friends out here to get through it.

03. What music have you been listening to?
I’ve been arranging my record collection and listening to a lot of my friends’ mixes, like Infinite Jess and Primo Pitino. They’re such talented local DJs and friends, so I love it when they hit me up with a mix to listen to! And I think my favorite record I always come back to when I’m going through my collection is “Alpanya” by Europa; I’ve actually included a track [from this record] on my mix! It’s such a beautiful and emotive lo-fi electronic record!

04. How did you find your way into electronic music?
For the longest time, my life circled around hip-hop, R&B, and classical music—genres I adore, listen to regularly, and have shaped me into the musician I am today. When I found myself at my first underground rave back in 2018, I was just floored by the variety of sounds that gave me the same emotions and even had similar elements to the music I was already listening to. I started going to parties alone, just to dance on my own and explore the genres. It was these environments that allowed me to learn about music in a way I had never experienced before. I mean, listening to music at a club is so different, environmentally speaking, to studying in a conservatory setting! But it was this difference that drew me in closer to electronic and specifically dance music.

05. When and where did you record this mix?
I recorded this mix over the last month. I think a lot of people assume that all producers can DJ and vice-versa, but I fall into the category of producers who haven’t Dj’d or performed my music live. After spending many years as an orchestral musician, performing began to feel like a chore, which is why I found solace in producing music for myself, alone in my room! So this mix is actually a first for me!

06. What can the listener expect?
Oh man, I have a lot of music in this mix from different friends in the Bay Area; it’s full of music that brings me back to specific places and conjures up great memories of getting down on a dancefloor. I cover a variety of genres including ambient, house, footwork, hip-hop, club, glitch, and more.

07. How did you go about choosing the tracks that you’ve included?
It wasn’t difficult because I focused on friends’ music and music I’ve enjoyed at various times in my life. Generally, I chose what fit my mood on the days I was working on the mix, which is why there is a change in overall vibe and speed throughout it.

08. What setup did you use to record it?
Since early 2020, I’ve been practising vinyl DJing, which I think has provided me with some ear-training skills needed for mixing. But for this mix, I decided to put my Ableton skills to the test and used a MIDI controller to execute EQ changes in between tracks. There is a ton of automation and other effects that I use as well. I think some believe that making a mix in Ableton isn’t creating a “true” DJ mix, and I agree to an extent, but it’s hard! Using Ableton just opens up a plethora of ways to get creative and surgical with your mixing, and sometimes it’s hard to have a streamlined process with so many choices!

09. What’s on your agenda for 2021?
Surviving is my priority right now. This last year has been so messed up in so many ways. I’m honestly proud of myself for just getting out of bed most days. Because of our society, we are expected to just keep grinding—keep working, keep producing, keep spending—through the death, poverty, brutality all around us. So, my primary goal in 2021 is to do whatever it takes to just live well. And if I can do that, any upcoming projects I have are just an added bonus!

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. Xyla “Higher” (Self-Released)
02. Europa “Pulsewave Dream” (Transatlantic)
03. Nailah Hunter “Ruins” (Leaving Records)
04. AshTreJinkins “GOOD 4 U” (Self-Released)
05. Rose Cherami “so far off” (Self-Released)
06. Quaid “Mirage” (Apron Records)
07. Loraine James “Hmm” (Self-Released)
08. Rental VHS “neva leave u” (Self-Released)
09. Sokro “Can’t Say” (Self-Released)
10. Ray Kandinski “Whatchu Want” (Self-Released)
11. Salush “pull up” (Self-Released)
12. STAY HIGH “LAST THING” (Self-Released)
13. Milky J “DROP IT” (Self-Released)
14. cakedog “CLIMB ON TOP” (Self-Released)
15. Osaya & Sketchy “Babygirl” (Self-Released)
16. INVT “ESPIRITU JUNGLE” (Self-Released)
17. Banal “Soko” (Visions for Artsakh)
18. BADSISTA “Erva Venensosa” (Rec Room)
19. SNVS “Deserve You” with Gianni (feat. JAY3M) (Self-Released)
20. 4D “You & I” (Self-Released)
21. devonwho “Alphaloop” (Leaving Records)
22. Count Bass D “Can We Hang Out Tonight?” (1320 Records)
23. Monica “So Gone” (J Records)

India Jordan Shares Euphoric Single Ahead of Ninja Tune Debut

India Jordan has shared “Only Said Enough,” a high-energy track that showcases their infectious sound at its boldest.

Jordan made “Only Said Enough” on the train up to Hull in northern England for a gig in February 2020—one of the last shows they played before lockdown. The show was a back-to-back with Finn, and it was actually the same club night that they and Finn were involved in a few years back, so it was a bit of a homecoming moment.

Born in Doncaster, Jordan and their work have traditionally been inspired by long journeys, but this new EP is a result of their own pattern of movement being forcibly changed by lockdown. In effect, their main source of influence shifted from cross-country and international travel to head-clearing bike rides and walks around London. The EP title is a tongue-in-cheek reference to cycling in the British capital.

Watch Out! follows on from the hugely popular For You, released last year via Local Acion.

Tracklisting

01. Only Said Enough
02. Watch Out!
03. You Can’t Expect The Cars To Stop If You Haven’t Pressed The Button
04. Feierabend
05. And Groove

Watch Out! EP is scheduled for May 7 release on Ninja Tune. Meanwhile, you can stream “Only Said Enough” and “And Groove” below. You can pre-order the EP here.

Download: Rone “Faro” (Malibu)

Late last month, Infiné Music released Rone‘s latest LP, Rone & Friends.

According to the label, the album was born out of the pandemic, when, due to canceled tours, the desire to connect resulted in a collaborative LP that “traces the fine line between pop and forward-thinking, avant-garde electronics.”

While much of Rone’s back-catalog is instrumental, Rone & Friends places the voice and lyrics front and center, pulling from a wealth of talented artists such as Georgia, Caspar Clausen of Efterklang, Melissa Laveaux, and Jehnny Beth to provide unique vocal work for Rone’s spacial electronics.

In support of the album, Infiné has offered up a cut from the LP, “Faro,” as today’s XLR8R download, available to XLR8R+ subscribers below. The track, which was inspired by Rone’s soundtrack work “Vers Marseille,” is a collaboration with mysterious French artist Malibu. Across the track, and also her work more generally, Malibu utilizes the voice as an ethereal layer, twisting it into cloud-like atmospheres that float wistfully by over the three-minute run time.

Rone & Friends LP is out now and can be picked up over at the Infiné Bandcamp page.

Full XLR8R+ Members can download the track below. If you’re not an XLR8R+ member, you can read more about it and subscribe here.

LoneLady Teases New Material with Warp Single

Julie Campbell has released a new single as LoneLady, titled (There Is) No Logic.

(There Is) No Logic is Campbell’s first release since the Cries And Whispers single, which landed in 2019 on Warp. Switching out her guitar for sequencers, synths, and samples, she created a playful, punchy take on electro with dark but humorous lyrics inspired by “Memento Mori” paintings, a medieval art style that served as a symbolic representation of the inevitability of death.

“It just really encapsulates so many cool electro sounds and even some R&B vocal stylings,” Campbell tells XLR8R. “It was fun sampling ‘do’ and ‘dah’ vocals and running them through the sequencer to get that choppy-collaged effect, definitely a Cabaret Voltaire influence there. The technology gods were happy that day and it all came together in a really fresh and immediate way.”

Born and bred in Manchester, Campbell started making post-punk-inspired recordings while completing a Fine Art Degree. She’s released two albums on Warp, namely’s 2010’s Nerve Up and 2015’s Hinterland, exhibiting electronic and funk influences. We’re told that the single is a sign of the “creative engine igniting once again,” so expect new music soon.

Tracklisting

01. (There Is) No Logic

(There Is) No Logic is available now on Warp. You can stream a lyric video below.

Little Snake Announces Debut Album on Brainfeeder Feat. Flying Lotus, Amon Tobin, and More

Little Snake will release his debut on Brainfeeder.

The Canadian producer, real name Gino Serpentini, signed to Brainfeeder in 2018 after his tracks became a staple in Flying Lotus’ DJ sets. He has since released three EPs on the label, balancing intricacy with explosive bass weight: YATDC (2020), LOST IN SPIRALS (2019)—which was informed by math rock, textural noise, acid techno, and jungle—and ENTER (2018), inspired by the Gaspar Noé film “Enter The Void.” You can read more about Serpentini’s work in his long-form XLR8R feature here.

A Fragmented Love Story, Written By The Infinite Helix Architect is a “sprawling masterpiece juxtaposing rhythm, tempo, melody, and form,” we’re told by the Los Angeles label. Heavyweights of the bass genre Amon Tobin and Flying Lotus appear on the record, as do SABROI, Tutara Peak, and Shrimpnose.

According to Little Snake, the album is “a signal to those who have experienced the consciousness of a dualistic pattern they may find themselves in,” he says. “It is intended to be the most generalized amalgamation of the furthest corners of all tangible emotional complexes and perceivable spectrums known to humankind and beyond.”

To accompany the announcement, Little Snake has shared the Flying Lotus single “Fallen Angels” with an extravagant experimental video directed by Little Snake and produced by Strangeloop.

Outside of the worldwide DSP album release, Little Snake will offer a limited edition USB stick of the album housed in holographic packaging. Copies of the sticks will be available on Little Snake’s Bandcamp page and will include unreleased music and art.

Tracklisting

01. exterior to me
02. Fallen Angels (feat. Flying Lotus)
03. hang in there..
04. Decimation of Movement over Time (feat. SABROI)
05. FEVER DREAM (feat. Shrimpnose)
06. Loophole (feat. Amon Tobin)
07. The Machine
08. In My Head
09. Raining Teeth (feat. Tutara Peak)
10. this interlude presents: Absurdism !!
11. TO FIND LOVE IS TO SEEK THE END (feat. Flying Lotus)

A Fragmented Love Story, Written By The Infinite Helix Architect LP is scheduled for May 7 release. Meanwhile, you can stream “Fallen Angels” feat. Flying Lotus and “Loophole” feat. Amon Tobin below.

Fatima Al Qadiri Delivers New Album of “Melancholic Longing” on Hyperdub

Fatima Al Qadiri will return to Hyperdub with a new album.

Medieval Femme is a suite of 10 tracks that expand on ideas formed in Atlantics, a soundtrack Al Qadiri recorded for French-Senegalese director Mati Diop’s Cannes 2019 Grand Prix-winning feature of the same name.

The album aims to capture the state of “melancholic longing” exemplified in the poetry of Arab women from the medieval period. Fatima seeks to transport the listener to “a place of reverie and desolation, to question the line between two seemingly opposite states and rejoice in celestial sorrow,” Hyperdub tells XLR8R. She does this using instrumentation from music of the middle ages, recast in a futuristic setting; expect soft-synth lutes, organs, and pipes that reverberate in space while gauzy pulses ripple in response.

Al Qadiri, a Senegal-born, Kuwait-raised composer currently based in Los Angeles, California, last released on Hyperdub with Shaneera, an homage to hometown friends and a celebration of regional queer influences. She debuted on the label in 2014 with Asiatisch, her first full-length effort.

Tracklisting

01. Medieval Femme
02. A Certain Concubine
03. Sheba
04. Vanity
05. Stolen Kiss Of A Succubus
06. Golden
07. Qasmuna (Dreaming)
08. Malaak
09. Tasakuba
10. Zandaq

Medieval Femme LP is scheduled for May 14 release. Meanwhile, you can stream “Malaak” in full below and pre-order the album here.

XLR8R+029 Captures DJ Three’s Wide-Reaching Sonic Universe

We’re excited to announce the 29th edition of XLR8R+, diving into Florida’s rave scene and showcasing DJ Three‘s wide-reaching sonic universe. For this particular package, we’ve also doubled the amount tracks from three to six, meaning more for you.

Moving on from Goldie, who curated last month’s edition, our focus shifts to Christopher Milo, better known as DJ Three. Three got his start by throwing some of the first one-off raves across the southeastern United States in the early 1990s. After 12 years in New York City, where he counted residencies at Twilo, Cielo, Blk Market Membership, and Output, he’s become a DJ revered for his eclectic tastes and reading of the dancefloor. On any given night, he weaves rhythms old and new that still capture the feelings of Florida rave that made him fall in love with electronic music nearly three decades ago.

Away from the club, Three delivers his musical vision through Hallucienda. The label, founded in 2014, grew out of Hallucination Limited, his own limited press offshoot of the seminal ‘90s imprint Hallucination Recordings. The label allows Three to present his latest musical findings while maintaining a lineage to the previous catalogs. As you’d expect from Three, Hallucienda’s catalog is varied and unpredictable, swaying from hypnotic house and otherworldly techno to Krautrock-inspired experimentation and song-fused electronica. Beyond any genre constraints, Hallucienda hopes to present music that’ll still be played out many years from now.

Three has curated this month’s XLR8R+ collection in the same fashion, pulling exclusive works from Hallucienda artists. While several of these, like Amir Alexander, Grumptronix, and Indoor Man, he’s known for years, the others, like Slumber, Ulysses, and Fanatico (Jorge Soccarás & Mathias Schaffhäuser), are more recent acquaintances. As with the Hallucienda label, this month’s edition looks to the future while paying homage to the past, and, in typical DJ Three fashion, it’s wildly diverse, pulling from electro, house, electronica, and beyond. Underpinning it is a determination to “showcase both the eclectic nature of Hallucienda and the breadth of talent among the artists on the label,” Three tells XLR8R.

The music, PDF zine, and wallpaper art can be downloaded once you SUBSCRIBE HERE. If you’re already a subscriber, you can download the package below.

Tracklisting

01. Ulysses “Witness The Spawn of Man”
02. Slumber “Fell Into A Dream”
03. Amir Alexander “Hands Together”
04. Grumptronix “A Quiet Place” (Spacetime Continuum remix)
05. Indoor Man “Listen to the Rain”
06. Fanatico “Beneath Your Feet”

Bonobo’s Outlier Welcomes Poté for New Album with Damon Albarn Collaboration

Bonobo‘s Outlier label will release the new album from Poté, real name Sylvern Mathurin.

Poté’s music has always balanced contrasting impulses. On the one hand, there’s the rhythmic, celebratory music of his Caribbean upbringing, and on the other, there’s his interest in emotive songwriting. We’re told that A Tenuous Tale of Her is a “platform for those two sides of his music to strike a fresh dialogue.”

Musically, the release builds on the foundation that Poté laid with Spiral, My Love, his debut album which saw him explore beyond his earlier, club-focused productions. Collaborating with Kojey Radical, Chelou, and Alxndr London, he became bolder in using his own vocals, and put greater emphasis on writing melodies. “I think it’s just working with other people, and people who actually write songs, and not just producers, that really shaped my ear for melodies and writing,” he says.

We’re told to expect a record that’s “tough, tender, and grand all at once.” A storyline of looming disaster runs through many of the tracks, we’re told, as Poté imagined how different people would react to the news of impending apocalyptic breakdown.

Alongside the announcement, Poté has shared “Young Lies,” a collaboration with Damon Albarn which came about through Gorillaz producer Remi Kabaka Jr.

Poté, St. Lucia-born, London-raised, and now Paris-based, began releasing music in 2013. After he released Spiral, My Love in 2018, he was invited by Bonobo to support him on his European tour.

Tracklisting

01. Under
02. Stare
03. Lows
04. Valley
05. Valley II (feat. Pierre Kwenders)
06. Pretty Penny’s Interlude
07. Open Up
08. Young Lies (feat. Damon Albarn)
09. Good2u (feat. INFAMOUSIZAK)
10. Plastic Prayers
11. Together

A Tenuous Tale Of Her LP is scheduled for June 4 release. Meanwhile, you can stream “Young Lies” feat. Damon Albarn in full below and pre-order the album here.

Violet’s First Solo EP in Three Years Comes with an Eris Drew Remix

Violet, will release Espírito, a new EP on her own Naive.

Espírito is the first solo EP that Violet, real name Maria Inês Borges Coutinho, has released since her first Naive solo EP, Togetherness, exploded in 2017. Across four tracks, she leaves behind any trace of her contemplative jungle and house concoction in favour of a commanding blend of left-field Detroit techno sonics and dramatic New York tribal house, evoking the work of Terrence Dixon and other Midwest experimentalists.

The EP comes with a remix from Eris Drew, who takes “Psyche” and delivers a super-satisfying complex tapestry of beats and textures.

The artwork comes from Shcuro, real name João Ervedosa.

In 2019, Violet released her debut album on San Francisco’s Dark Entries. More recently, she released Archives 2012-2020, a collection of material recorded earlier in her career. For more information on her work, check out her XLR8R podcast here.

Tracklisting

01. Espírito
02. After Forever
03. Psyche
04. Psyche (Eris Drew Remix)

Espírito EP is scheduled for April 23 release. Meanwhile, you can stream clips below, and we’ll add a pre-order link in as it becomes available.

Alaska’s Nu Partial Delivers Bass-Heavy EP on Renraku

Austin Williams, better known as Nu Partial, will release a new EP with Renraku, RRRRECEPTION.

Scheduled to release next month, the 24-minute experimental bass ride “powers through submerged frequency manipulation and dynamic sound collages,” the Minneapolis, Minnesota label tells XLR8R. Williams created the bulk of it while residing in Mississippi, and he completed it in Alaska while supporting his mother during a surgery.

“I don’t care if I live in Anchorage [Alaska] for another 20 years,” Williams says. “I will never get over the view. Maybe subconsciously it affects my production.”

Much like his debut EP, The Maw, RRRRECEPTION pulls from all corners of bass music, stitching together pieces of garage, glitch, noise, downtempo, drum & bass, hip-hop, and lo-fi.

Before Nu Partial, Williams released as Ascent. He joined Renraku in February of 2017 with the sixth volume of their Communication Themes series. He debuted as Nu Partial on February 2021’s Realtime compilation.

The album cover was designed by Viktor Kadic, known for his work with Mat Zo and his Mad Zoo imprint.

Tracklisting

01. Powerade Beat
02. Glue
03. Miami P.D. Bussdown
04. Chive Check
05. RRRRECEPTION
06. Bushidx Blade
07. Pugassi Flex

RRRRECEPTION EP is scheduled for April 2 release. Meanwhile, you can stream “Chive Check” in full below.

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