Page 94 – XLR8R

Canadian Ambient Producer Loscil is Back on Kranky

Loscil, the ambient project of Canadian producer Scott Morgan, will release a new album on Kranky.

Clara is a “stunning meditation on light, shade, and decay,” we’re told, sourced from a single three-minute composition performed by a 22-piece string orchestra in Budapest, Hungary. The subsequent recording was lathe-cut on to a 7-inch, then “scratched and abused to add texture and color,” from which the entirety of Clara was sampled and sculpted.

Despite their limited palette, the compositions “summon a sense of the infinite, swelling and swimming through luminous depths,” the Chicago, Illinois label tells XLR8R. Although Morgan’s compositional premise for Clara was defined, the resultant work is “wonderfully opaque and spatial, equal parts lush and lurking, traced in fine-grained gradients and radiant silences.”

Morgan, who studied music at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, works as a sound director in the video-game industry as a sound director. He released Equivalents on Kranky in 2019, and he followed that up with a self-released album last year.

Tracklisting

01. Lux
02. Lumina
03. Lucida
04. Stella
05. Vespera
06. Sol
07. Aura
08. Flamma
09. Orta
10. Clara

Clara LP is scheduled for May 28 release. Meanwhile, you can stream “Vespera” below and pre-order here.

Podcast 689: Steve Arrington

Steve Arrington is a master of funk originating from Dayton, United States, an epicenter of soul which, through the ’60s and ’70s, was home to the likes of Ohio Players, Zapp, and Lakeside. Inspired by these legends of the genre, Arrington has been making and releasing music for nearly half a century, and just last year signed his first solo record in 11 years to the inimitable Stones Throw. Though Arrington actually dreamed up the album decades ago, it only came together with the oversight of label head Peanut Butter Wolf. Arrington created it alongside a slew of contemporary producers signed to the Los Angeles label, including Knxwledge and Mndsgn, demonstrating his rejuvenated creative stride.

Born into a spiritual family on Dayton’s westside, Arrington exhibited an interest in music at an early age. His career in music dates back to the ’70s when he began drumming and singing with Ohio group Slave, where his irresistible style of singing propelled classics like “Watching You” and “Just A Touch Of Love,” before he formed a new band, Steve Arrington’s Hall of Fame. In 1985, he went solo, releasing several successful albums for Atlantic, before quitting music to pursue his spirituality. In the years since his reemergence in 2013, he’s become a hugely respected elder statesman of a thriving Los Angeles music beat community, releasing a DaM-FunK collaboration and working with Thundercat. His music has been sampled by A Tribe Called Quest, Snoop Dogg, and Jermaine Dupri, among others.

As he embarks on the latest chapter in a stellar recording career, Arrington pulled together some of his favorite records for the XLR8R podcast. He recorded it in November last year, mixing artists that have inspired him over his career, ranging from Prince and Earth Wind & Fire to Kool & The Gang and George Clinton. His aim was to “let the generations discover each other,” he says. Whatever the era, it’s music to be played loud, and it’s sure to have you shuffling around wherever you are.

01. What have you been up to recently?

Working on new music. Enjoying good comedians!

02. How has lockdown been for you?

It’s been a bummer since I haven’t been playing live, but in other ways I’ve continued to move things forward so I’m not complaining.

03. What music have you been listening to?

Lately, as in March 2021, Chick Corea, BlackPink, Miles Davis, Kenny Beats, P-Funk, Mono Neon, James Brown, Ghost Note. I’ve also just got hip to The Koreatown Oddity and I’m lovin’ that.

04. Where and when did you record this mix?

I recorded the mix in the lab at my home in late November.

05. What can the listener expect?

A flow of funk music that’s real to me. Music to ride to played loud. It’s to listen to at home also loud.

06. How did you go about choosing the tracks that you’ve included?

Tracks that move me from older artists but also younger artists. Let the generations discover each other.

07. What’s on your agenda for 2021?

Will continue to put out new music and there will also be some cool collaborations too.

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. Parliament “Funkentelelechy” (Casablanca)
02. Zapp “Doo Wa Ditty” (Blow That Thang) (Warner Bros)
03. Prince “D.M.S.R.”(Warner Bros)
04. Rick James “Give It To Me Baby” (Motown)
05. Faze-O “Good Thang” (She Records)
06. Cory Henry, The Funk Apostles “Rise” (Ground Up Music)
07. OPOLOPO “Get On Up” (Z Records)
08. Earth Wind & Fire “Saturday Nite” (Columbia)
09. Slave “Party Lites” (Cotillion)
10. Recloose “Catch A Leaf” feat. Rachel Fraser (Sonar Kollectiv)
11. Kool & The Gang “Jungle Boogie” (De-Lite Records)
12. Fatback “Backstroke” (Spring Records)
13. Thundercat “Them Changes” (Brainfeeder)
14. George Clinton “No Mos” (Capitol)
15. Zapp “Radio People” (Warner Bros)

Nils Frahm Drops Surprise New Album

Nils Frahm has released a new album, Graz, on Erased Tapes.

The album comes out in celebration of Piano Day, the annual celebration Frahm co-founded in 2015.

Frahm recorded all nine tracks in 2009 at Mumuth, the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, before his Erased Tapes debut of Felt. The London label describes it as a “snapshot of a young Nils.”

While Frahm decided to keep the Graz recordings locked away and instead focus on his close mic’ed, dampened piano explorations that would become Felt, two of the pieces, most notably “Hammers,” lived on as part of his live set. These were re-recorded and released as part of his 2013 record, Spaces.

In November, Frahm released Tripping with Nils Frahm, a concert film and live album.

Tracklisting

01. Lighter
02. O I End
03. Because This Must Be
04. Kurzum
05. And Om
06. Hammers
07. Crossings
08. About Coming and Leaving
09. Went Missing

Graz LP is available now via Erased Tapes. You can stream the album in full via the player below and order it here, where you can also pre-order the vinyl.

Veteran Japanese Producer Shigeru Ishihara Next on Nyege Nyege’s Hakuna Kulala

Veteran Japanese producer Shigeru Ishihara will release an album on Nyege Nyege Tapes‘ Hakuna Kulala imprint as Scotch Rolex.

Ishihara, better known as DJ Scotch Egg, has been assembling genre-busting ear bleeders for almost two decades. Scotch Rolex, his new project, is named after a popular Ugandan street food.

The record was assembled after Ishihara was invited to Kampala, Uganda for a residency at the Nyege Nyege villa in 2019. Exposed to Hakuna Kulala’s family of artists, the producer began experimenting, twisting trap and dancehall rhythms with the ragged energy of grindcore. The record includes collaborations with Duma’s Lord Spikeheart, MC Yallah, Swordman Kitala, and Chrisman.

Last year, DJ Scotch Egg collaborated on an eight-track EP with Gooooose featuring Hakuna Kulala co-founder Slikback. He’s previously worked with King Midas Sound’s Kiki Hitomi as WaqWaq Kingdom, Warp’s electro-shoegaze pioneers Seefeel, and Mike Paradinas.

Hakuna Kulala, launched in 2018, has put out work from MC Yallah, WULFFLUW94, and Slikback himself.

Tracklisting

01. Omuzira feat. MC Yallah
02. Success feat. Lord Spikeheart
03. Cheza feat. Chrisman
04. Nfulula Biswa feat. Swordman Kitala
05. Afro Samurai feat. Don Zilla
06. Tewari
07. Juice feat. MC Yallah
08. U.T.B. 88
09. Sniper feat. Lord Spikeheart
10. Wa kalebule
11. Lapis Lazuli feat. Lord Spikeheart

TEWARI LP is scheduled for April 30 release. Meanwhile, you can stream “Success” feat. Lord Spikeheart below and pre-order the album here.

Varg2TM and Croatian Amor Ready Fourth Collaborative Release

Swedish producer Varg2TM and Denmark’s Croatian Amor will release their fourth collaboration, Body of Content, next month.

Body of Content was made almost entirely over e-mail exchange. A product of a year of lockdowns, it can be thought of as a “coping mechanism given form,” we’re told, and it serves as “proof that meaningful creative collaborations will persist in times of global crisis.”

The release brings together a long list of accomplices, including Brazilian producer LYZZA, Shanghai’s Charity SsB, Finland’s Exploited Body, and Swedish pianist Matti Bye.

Varg2TM and Croatian Amor’s collaboration began with 2018’s Body Of Water EP, which they followed with Body of Carbon and Body of Lila, released in May last year. This latest album comes out on Posh Isolation, based in Denmark.

Tracklisting

01. Tears Take Forever (ft. NikkiH2OP)
02. Honey (ft. Vallmo)
03. 冰冷 (ft. Charity SsB & Exploited Body)
04. No Stars Above Before Like A Million (ft. NikkiH2OP & Matti Bye)
05. Olimpia (ft. Olimpia & Alberto)
06. Rats
07. Numbers Stumbling : Falling wont kill a bird (ft. NikkiH2OP)
08. For Us (ft. Jeuru & CTM)
09. Fluffy (ft. LYZZA)

Body Of Content LP is scheduled for April 30 release. Meanwhile, you can stream “No Stars Above Before Like A Million” feat. NikkiH2OP & Matti Bye in full below, and pre-order here.

Georgia Anne Muldrow Delivers New Album of Hip-Hop Beatscapes

Georgia Anne Muldrow has unveiled a new album, VWETO III.

VWETO III, the third instalment of Muldrow’s VWETO series, which she launched In 2010, is intended for movement.

Unlike albums with other titles released under Muldrow’s own name, or the outré jazz of her Jyoti alias, VWETO is a space for deep hip-hop beatscapes. Muldrow recorded, mixed, and mastered the record, which is largely instrumental, with occasional vocals from singer Shana Jensen and rapper Ayun Basa. Although essentially a beat tape, VWETO III works as an album due to Muldrow’s “rich musicality and expansively adventurous scope,” we’re told.

Sonically, the album encompasses “low-slung gnarly funk, psychedelic cosmic slop, wigged out left-field, retro synth jams, jazzy afro-futurism, and uplifting soul.” It’s to be played “when you birth yourself back outside after a long introspective period to get the things you need,” Muldrow explains.

The cover image is by Cape Town artist Breeze Yoko, a Cape Town-based multidisciplinary visual artist specialising in urban art and video, which he originally made as a backdrop to Muldrow’s performance at King Kong in Johannesburg, South Africa.

VWETO III will be released in partnership between FORESEEN Entertainment and Georgia’s own Epistrophik Peach Sound imprint. In collaboration with FORESEEN, Muldrow has launched an online auction for one NFT of the album and its artwork. Bidding ends on May 21 when the album is released, with half of the proceeds going to Critical Resistance. The piece is available for auction on OpenSea and Rarible.

Tracklisting

01. Old Jack Swings
02. Synthmania Rock
03. Ayun Vegas
04. Passin Ouuut!
05. Slave Revoltalleyway Boom
06. Unforgetable
07. Throwback Baps
08. Slow Drag
09. Shana’s Back
10. Mufaro’s Garden
11. Love Call Groove
12. Ghostride 21716
13. Boom Bap Is My Homegirl
14. Action Groove
15. Grungepiece
16. Afro AF
17. Yoself

VWETO III LP is scheduled for May 21 release. Meanwhile, you can stream “Mufaro’s Garden” in full via the player below, and pre-order the album here.

XLR8R Announces xDai as its NFT Blockchain

As we’ve announced, XLR8R is launching a marketplace for creators to mint and sell non-fungible tokens, widely known as NFTs—and now we have some more exciting news.

We’re happy to announce that we’ll be operating on the xDai blockchain, which is positive news for any creator looking to use the XLR8R NFT marketplace. As many of you may know, and indeed have pointed out, the fees (gas fees) to create (mint) an NFT on Ethereum, the most widely used blockchain in the NFT space, can be very expensive (up to $200) for the creator, and they’re also expensive for the buyer. Moreover, the energy required to validate NFT transactions on the blockchain using a “proof of work” method takes a heavy toll, negatively impacting the environment. So, after careful consideration, and through collaboration with our partner, Cargo, we have decided to use xDai instead of Ethereum.

For those who don’t know, xDai is a blockchain that works with Ethereum as a sidechain solution, and its fees are a “few cents to the dollar” compared to Ethereum. xDai also utilizes the “proof of stake” validation method, which requires a fraction of the energy and is much better for our planet. Importantly, the adoption of xDai will lower the entry point for creators, making it easier for their NFT to be profitable, regardless of whether their NFT is a premium collection of digital and physical items or just a single track, and at the same time it will minimize the carbon footprint.

We currently have many artists interested in minting and marketing their NFTs and we will do our best to vet, approve, and onboard them as soon as we launch. In the meantime, look for our detailed instructions that we’re due to publish to explain exactly what you will need in terms of wallets and xDai.

As always, thank you for your consideration and support.

The XLR8R team

For more information contact us at [email protected]

Andy Stott’s New Album is Incoming

Andy Stott will release Never The Right Time, a new album, on Modern Love.

Stott, based in Manchester, northern England, began working on the album in 2020, when he had a different album almost completed and an offer to produce for a completely mainstream artist on the table. Lockdown and months of withdrawal triggered renewed curiosity, promoting a different approach, and he began to record hours of raw material—slow horns, delayed drums, and wondering flutes. Although software made it possible to iron out every kink, Stott tirelessly looked for them, pursuing a sound that was “human in all its awkward asymmetry,” we’re told.

With vocals recorded by Alison Skidmore, the album was finally completed late in the year. We’re told its songs are desolate, melancholy, defiant, and beautiful, and that the sounds echo the music around Stott during those months: Prince, Gavin Bryars, A.R. Kane, Bohren & der Club of Gore, Robert Turman, Cindy Lee, Leila, Catherine Christer Hennix, Junior Boys, and more. Each song is “fuelled by nostalgia and soul searching,” but “all hold true to a vision of music making as a form of renewal and reinvention.”

It’s been a decade since Stott released Passed Me By, his debut. What followed was a process of rapid remodelling, from 2017’s We Stay Together through to 2019’s It Should Be Us, slowly untangling complex ideas into a singular, chaotic body of work that sits somewhere between sound art, techno, and pop.

Tracklisting

01. Away not gone
02. Never the right time
03. Repetitive strain
04. Don’t know how
05. When it hits
06. The beginning
07. Answers
08. Dove stone
09. Hard to Tell

Never The Right Time LP is scheduled for April 16 release on Modern Love. Meanwhile, you can stream “The Beginning” in full below and pre-order the album here.

Overmono’s New EP is a Welcome Taste of Summer

Overmono, the collaboration of Tessela and Truss, will release a new 12″ next month.

“Pieces of 8,” the EP’s lead, was one of the tracks played during the duo’s first ever live performance, which was for Boiler Room over five years ago and has been a central part of their live show since. It has been through many iterations since.

On the flip side, “Echo Rush” was a track that Tessela, released name Ed Russell, in his own words, “Found on our laptop one day and had no idea when we wrote it.” It was made on a synthesiser called “the virus” Tessela remembers hearing the track for the first time in a long time when he was late for a festival appearance after a delayed flight. While running up to the stage, Truss, real name Tom Russell, had started playing “Echo Rush” and the memory was sparked. From there, the duo finished the track and have now found a timely release for it.

Tessela and Truss came together in 2016 with the Arla EP on XL Recordings. Last November, they released Everything U Need, a project that followed their 2019 collaborative project with Joy Orbison which gave us “Bromley.” The brothers continued to stay busy in 2020, remixing Thom Yorke’s “Not The News,” which the Radiohead frontman loved so much that he let them release the tracks on their own Polykicks label.

Tracklisting

01. Pieces of 8
02. Echo Rush

Pieces of 8 / Echo Rush EP is scheduled for April 9 release. Meanwhile, you can stream “Piece of 8” in full below and pre-order here.

Podcast 688: Brambles

Eight years have passed since Brambles, the work of Australian multi-instrumentalist Mira Dawson, released Charcoal, their heart-stopping debut album. Recorded in a communal house in Melbourne open to all manner of creative outsiders, the album pulls from piano, cello, acoustic guitar, and saxophone to comprise eight deeply personal tracks that rope you into Brambles’ enchanting world of textured, shape-shifting ambience. Though transportive, the release stops short of being melancholic; instead, it pervades warmth and optimism, like being wrapped up in a warm blanket, says Donal Whelan, who mastered the record.

In the years since, Dawson has kept their head down low. Born in Britain but raised in Australia, they spent much of their time after Charcoal traveling through Europe. During this period, Dawson came out as trans and sought inspiration to begin working on a new record. In 2019 came “Spirits,” a sample of an upcoming second album that leans heavily on Dawson’s own voice and an array of samples that have been shifted, warped, and blended into an otherworldly language. This new work is influenced as much by dream-pop as experimental electronic music and the ambient Dawson has become known for.

With details of the new album to come soon, Dawson has recorded an XLR8R podcast. Compiled in their Melbourne apartment over the last few months, it pulls from pop, experimental, and ambient weirdness—and artists like Iglooghost, Princess Nokia, and even Britney Spears. Beyond documenting what’s been keeping Dawson company through lockdown, it delivers a second glimpse at the new album, both by presenting some of its tracks and showcasing the sonic world behind them.

01. What have you been up to recently?

Finishing off my next album so it can be released this year. I say this every year, but this time, it’s serious. Also, I’m planning some collaborations with visual artists and photographers which is quite new for me as I usually do everything myself.

02. What is it that draws you to electronic music

I like how it’s possible to keep exploring new sonic territory, creating unimaginable sounds and that it’s accessible to so many people. Also, you don’t really need any prior musical knowledge to excel at it.

03. How has lockdown been for you?

It’s been pretty much the same for me as I often isolate making music for days on end. Not being able to skate with friends is the main thing that I’ve missed.

04. What music have you been listening to recently?

I’ve recently been getting back into early 2000s IDM after a big break from the genre. Also, Deftones’ White Pony (20th Anniversary Edition).

05. Your sound palette shifted since Charcoal. What can we expect with your new material?

I feel like Charcoal was made by another version of myself and my new album is heading in completely different territory, I also actually sing on this one.

06. Where and when did you record this XLR8R mix?

I put this together in my apartment in Melbourne in March.

07. What can the listener expect?

An eclectic collection of pop, experimental, ambient weirdness.

08. How did you go about choosing the records that you’ve included?

I chose some tracks that I thought would mesh well together, including some of my own unreleased material and tracks that have had an impact on me recently. I also included some productions by SOPHIE to celebrate her unfathomable genius

09. What are your plans for 2021?

It feels like everything is still up in the air regarding future lockdowns, but I still plan to release more music this year, even if I cannot go on a grand 200-show intergalactic tour!

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. Brambles “Trash Cathedral” (Unreleased)
02. Iglooghost “Sylph Fossil” (Gloo)
03. Jimmy Edgar “CROWN” (Innovative Leisure)
04. Brambles “BANG” (Unreleased)
05. Quay Dash “Queen Of This Shit” (Quay Dash)
06. Shygirl “Slime” (Because Music)
07. The Neptunes “Light Your Ass On Fire” feat. Pharrell & Busta Rhymes (Arista Records, Inc.)
08. Eartheater “Mercurial Nerve” (PAN)
09. Brambles “Orchid” (Unreleased)
10. Yuki Kajiura “Albedo” (Victor)
11. FIS “Duck Dive” (Samurai Horo)
12. Susumu Hirasawa “The Blind Spot in a Corridor” (Chaos Union)
13. Britney Spears “Freakshow” (Jive)
14. Katie Day “Darkness” (Lonelyspeck remix) (Run For Cover Records)
15. Princess Nokia “Dimensia” (Rough Trade Records)
16. Jónsi “Mold” (KRUNK)
17. MikeQ “Feels Like” feat. Kevin Jz Prodigy (Fade to Mind)
18. Lorenzo Senni “Move in Silence (Only Speak When It’s Time to Say Checkmate)” (Warp Records)
19. Sinjin Hawke “Shimmer” (Fractal Fantasy)
20. Brambles “Untitled” (Unreleased)
21. SOPHIE “UNISIL” (Numbers)
22. Dedekind Cut “Tahoe” (Kranky)
23. Deftones “Teenager” (Reprise Records)

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