Page 98 – XLR8R

Mute Founder, Daniel Miller, and Gareth Jones Release Debut Album as Sunroof

Sunroof, the longstanding partnership project of Mute founder Daniel Miller and producer-engineer Gareth Jones, will release Electronic Music Improvisations Vol. 1 on Mute Record‘s newly revived Parallel Series imprint in May.

The idea for the album was birthed back in 2019 following one of the pair’s regular improvisation sessions on a modular system—they regularly meet up and jam when in the same city. This particular session was recorded, which sparked an album concept with a set of rules.

“We said we’d work in a number of different physical spaces but always together, in the same room,” Jones explains. “We were keen to do shorter pieces because we were both very inspired by Chris Carter and Martin Gore’s electronic music projects, where the pieces were very concise and compact.”

Each of the album’s eight pieces was recorded live, with no pre-planning or rehearsal, “using a limited number of channels,” we’re told. As a result, the album is a constantly evolving set of soundscapes and adventurous electronic wanderings.

“What they accumulated during the course of those 2019 sessions was a suite of evolving, restless pieces, each one containing layers of pulsing, atmospheric sounds,” the label tells XLR8R.

Tracklisting

01. 1.1 – 7.5.19
02. 1.2 – 30.5.19
03. 1.3 – 30.5.19
04. 1.4 – 18.6.19
05. 1.5 – 9.7.19
06. 1.6 – 7.5.19
07. 1.7 – 30.5.19
08. 1.8 – 2.3.19

Electronic Music Improvisations Vol. 1 will be out on May 21 and can be pre-ordered here, with an edit of “1.1- 7.5.19” streaming in full via the player below.

Japanese Composer Masayoshi Fujita is Back with a New Album

Masayoshi Fujita is back with a new album, Bird Ambience, on Erased Tapes.

Bird Ambience brings several fresh changes for the Japanese composer. Until now, he has separated his acoustic solo recordings, the electronic dub made under his El Fog alias, and his experimental improvisations with contemporaries such as Jan Jelinek—but on Bird Ambience, he unites all these different facets.

He also makes a leap from his signature vibraphone, on which he created his three previous albums—Stories (2012), Apologues (2015), and Book of Life (2018)—to the marimba, which takes centre stage alongside drums, percussion, synths, effects, and tape recorder.

We’re told that the “unhurried pace” of Bird Ambience “allows each sound and phrase enough time to be mindfully absorbed and savoured,” and that it carries the ethereal remnants of Midori Takada’s minimalism, the static atmospheres of Mika Vainio, To Rococo Rot’s organics, and the bucolic electronics of Minotaur Shock.

Ahead of the release, Fujita has shared lead single “Thunder,” which blends mildly abrasive effects on the marimba with a warm feeling. It’s inspired by the poem “You Will Hear Thunder” by Anna Akhmatova, and it comes with a video directed by Ryo Noda in the mountain-scapes that surround Fujita’s new life in Hyogo, rural Japan.

Tracklisting

01. Bird Ambience
02. Thunder
03. Anakreon
04. Cumulonimbus Dream
05. Gaia
06. Noise Marimba Tape
07. Morocco
08. Miyama No Kitsune
09. Nord Ambient
10. Stellar
11. Pons
12. Fabric

Bird Ambience LP is scheduled for May 28 on Erased Tapes. Meanwhile, you can stream “Thunder” in full below and pre-order here.

Los Angeles Rapper YUNGMORPHEUS’ New Album is Produced by ewonee

YUNGMORPHEUS will release his new album, produced entirely by ewonee, on Bad Taste Records.

YUNGMORPHEUS, real name Colby Campbell, is an American rapper and record producer, originally from Miami but currently based in Los Angeles. He has released music on Leaving Records and Rap Vacation. He released States of Precarity, his first album, in January.

ewonee is an American beat-maker from New York, and he brings a different vibe to the table; expect big, clear arrangements rather than the hazy psychedelia of States of Precarity.

The pair call this album a “call to action of sorts” in a world “rife with distractions, with YUNGMORPHEUS’ personal lyrics intertwining with socio-political themes and tongue-in-cheek humour.

Ahead of the album’s release, YUNGMORPHEUS has shared lead single “Fistfulofgreens” and a second single, “Sovereignty,” which takes a more soulful turn.

Tracklisting

01. Ridin Dirty
02. Blaqstar Farms
03. The Rat Race
04. Sovereignty
05. Middle Passage
06. Harbour Blvd
07. Table For One (feat. obijuan)
08. Yakub’s Worst Nightmare
09. Harlem Heat (feat. DMH)
10. FistfulofGreens
11. Cursive Copybooks
12. Johnnie Cochran

Thumbing Thru Foliage LP is scheduled for March 5 release. Meanwhile, you can stream “Sovereignty” and “FistfulofGreens” in full via the player below and pre-order here.

Podcast 686: QOQEQA

Daniel Valle-Riestra, better known as QOQEQA, is part of a new wave of producers emerging from South America—alongside the likes of Debit and Lila Tirando a Violeta, whom we’ve featured. After a handful of releases on Peru’s Terror Negro Records and Berlin’s Eck Echo, he’s recently shared his debut album, AxuxA, morphing his Peruvian roots into 11 vibrant, electronic textures. The release landed on Kebrada, the label of Dengue Dengue Dengue.

While growing up in Lima, Valle-Riestra found a curiosity in the local sounds, in particular the rhythms of salsa. He’d also travel around the country, educating himself on different moods and instruments, and all of this informed his own musical ideas, hung upon the natural melancholy of the Andes and experiences with psychedelics. Music became a way to recapture these experiences, and so when he taught himself to use DAWs, the results were spectacularly colorful.

He released his first work in partnership with Andrea Campos as Animal Chuki, but after their debut album, Valle-Riestra formed QOQEQA. While his music leans on South American music heritage, it also focuses on the notion of creating melodies through percussion, an idea which forms the heart of many expressions of African music. It’s something that he discovered through his approximations with African drums and the Yoruba on the shores of nearby Cuba and Puerto Rico.

If AxuxA was the most acute demonstration of Valle-Riestra’s musical vision, then his XLR8R podcast is an extension. He recorded it last month in the Peruvian jungle, where he’s been spending time during lockdown. It uses the album as a jump-off point, but it also features unreleased productions and various tracks that captures the style he’s purveying; consider it an immersion into the South American rhythms that continue to shape the QOQEQA project.

01. What have you been up to recently?

I am currently in the Peruvian jungle, surrounded by nature trying to stay far from the city during lockdown.

02. What music have you been listening to during lockdown?

Lots of dub and reggae.

03. How did you find your way into electronic music culture?

I started producing tracks and uploading them on Soundcloud, back when the platform was huge and growing. One day my partner, Andrea, woke me up with her computer in my face saying “Look, there are some online articles talking about the tracks and the project.” It was a memorable moment, and that’s how I remember my first steps into electronic music culture.

04. Talk to us about AxuxA, your new album. What’s the story behind it?

It’s an an album that compiles ideas, textures, and atmospheres I gathered in my mind-body-soul through my experiences as a Peruvian, growing up in the third-world, with the help of psychedelics and mother plants. The tracks contains that journey, and some simple primitive rhythms and melodies with emphasis on the sub-bass.

06. Tell us about the mix you’ve created.

I created it here in the jungle. I enjoyed doing this mix a lot. It starts out bursting and features some oriental sounds, plus some tribal percussions. There are various “tension and release” transitions, and some unreleased tracks from friends, plus some other tracks that I love. There are some tracks of the Axuxa album and some unreleased QOQEQA tracks, 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. El Irreal Veintiuno “TL-DM” (Kebrada)
02. Rattlesnakke “Insecta” (Majía)
03. QOQEQA “Qoqeqa” (Kebrada)
04. DJ Nombre Apellido “pemex.OBJ” (Unreleased)
05. QOQEQA “Kilo” (Kebrada)
06. Pawkarmayta “Punku” (Unreleased)
07. Dengue Dengue Dengue “Pacos” ft.Prisma (Enchufada)
08. QOQEQA “888” (Kebrada)
09. Raq “qechuatron” (Unreleased)
10. Sidirum “Intercontinental” (Lassi International)
11. Geju “Niv” (Unreleased)
12. QOQEQA “Tutume” (Kebrada)
13. Kurup “Maracajá” (Kamai Music)
14. Orieta Chrem “Anfibio” (In-Correcto)
15. QOQEQA “Claves” (Unreleased)
16. Alfonso Luna “Cunasse” (Unreleased)
17. QOQEQA “Puntea” (Kebrada)
18. QOQEQA “Momposina” (Kebrada)
19. Novalima & QOQEQA “Respira” (Unreleased)

IG Culture’s CoOp Presents to Release New Label Compilation

IG Culture and Alex Phountzi‘s CoOp Presents will release Extras, a new various artist compilation.

The release is an addendum to Plug One, the London label’s first album released in late 2020. It featured an assortment of established artists and newcomers from in and around the world of bruk, including LCSM, Sivey, EVM128, and Wonky Logic.

Extras is a nine-track selection of more tracks that were recorded during the Plug One sessions, in addition to a few remixes that previously only appeared as bonus tracks on singles.

This time round, there’s brand new music from Xtra Brux, Cengiz, South London HiFi, and Fényan and Szajna, along with a previously unreleased dub of Trev’s monster album cut “Of The Sorcerer.” There’s also IG Culture’s bruk rework of the popular afro-soul single “400 Years” by Reginald Omas Mamode IV, plus a few more.

CoOp Presents focuses on the depth and wealth of talent that exists within the London bruk movement and beyond, and it aims to continue the same spirit of the legendary CoOp movement.

For more information on IG Culture, check out his XLR8R podcast here.

Tracklisting

01. Cengiz “Tribute”
02. Szajna “Y U Mad”
03. NameBrandSound ft. Aleisha Lee “Home Demo” (Risa T remix)
04. Fényan “Salines”
05. Trev “Of The Sorcerer” (dub)
06. Xtra Brux “Just Let Me Be” ft. Pete Simpson
07. Alex Phountzi & Risa T “Rotations”
08. Reginald Omas Mamode IV “400 Years” (IG Culture remix)
09. South London HiFi “Like This”

Extras LP drops digitally on March 5. Meanwhile, you can pre-order here and stream “Rotations” and “400 Years (IG Culture Remix)” here.

Soundcloud Introduces New Royalty Structure to Support Independent Artists

Soundcloud has introduced “fan-powered royalties,” a “fairer and more transparent way for artists to earn money” across the platform.

With most streaming platforms, like Spotify, money from your subscriptions and advertising revenue goes into a giant pool that’s paid out to artists based on their share of total streams. It’s a pro-rata model that’s proven controversial because it doesn’t foster independent music culture.

In contrast, with Soundcloud’s “fan-powered royalties,” monies are paid out according to individual subscriber behaviour. The means your monthly fees are split between the songs you actually listen to, supporting your favorite artists rather than what’s more widely popular. It’s hoped that this will support niche artists and communities.

Under this new model, Soundcloud is “levelling the playing field” for independent artists and allowing fans’ dedicated listenership to directly support the artists they love. It also empowers artists to take more control over their career, because fans will play a more direct role in their success.

“This equitable payout model is what independent artists across the industry have been asking for,” Soundcloud says in a press release, “and as an artist-first platform, we’re excited to be the first music company to roll it out.”

“Fan-powered royalties” go into effect April 1, 2021 for Soundcloud’s Pro Unlimited subscribers in the Premier monetization program and Repost by SoundCloud artists, including those in Repost Select.

For more information on Soundcloud’s “fan-powered royalties,” check here.

SnakeFoot’s Sophomore Album is Next on Dome of Doom

Los Angeles-based multi-instrumentalist SnakeFoot will release his sophomore album, Ends, on Dome of Doom.

SnakeFoot wrote, performed, and recorded a bulk of the music over the last few years, and he included members of his SnakeFoot Orchestra in the process: Stephanie Wilson on vocals and flute, Derek Rice on wurlitzer, Grass Mansion on sax, and Nick Nunca on vocals, guitar, and co-production. The recordings are a culmination of online file-sharing and in-person recording sessions.

He created the release with the intention of exploring the emotional impact behind the title’s dual meaning. One angle connecting into the apocalyptic energy pervasive within a world controlled by a pandemic. The other simply relating to one’s resources and navigation routes in life.

We’re told that the record pushes forward the vibrant worlds of his debut album, Retronyms, and expands into new frontiers of sound. The intention was to simply make the “most listenable experimental music possible,” we’re told. Some tracks bleed into the world of electronic music where one person is controlling a multitude of gears and others feel more soul-drenched and band-derived.

SnakeFoot was located in Vermont for 10 years prior to hitting California and connecting with the Los Angeles music community. A performance at Beat Cinema led to him forming a relationship with Dome of Doom for his debut in 2018.

Included as a bonus to the cassette and digital download version on Bandcamp are five extra tracks. Written and recorded during the same sessions that compiled the Ends LP, these additional pieces “book-end the new record in an entirely new way,” we’re told.

Tracklisting

01. Uncorruptable ft. Mestizo
02. Death Decay ft. Stephanie Wilson
03. Ends ft. Grass Mansion
04. Sippin ft. Nick Nunca
05. Cake Informer
06. Back To Acid
07. Dropping Out
08. Cloud Chamber ft. Stephanie Wilson
09. Summer Grain
10. Windose ft. Stephanie Wilson
11. All You Need*
12. Drug Fumble*
13. Scenter*
14. Power Bloq*
15. Essence Tape*
*Cassette & Bandcamp Only Bonus Tracks

Ends LP is scheduled for March 26 release. Meanwhile, you can stream “Uncorruptable” ft. Mestizo in full below and pre-order here.

Podcast 685: Jon Dixon

Jon Dixon learned his trade in the same Detroit music community that birthed the likes of Jeff Mills, Juan Atkins, and Mike Banks, and he has grown into one of its most versatile artists. He found electronic music through classical and made his name as a keyboardist and member of the Underground Resistance live band, Timeline. In the years since, he’s set out on his own, producing and performing a sound that fuses the swelling basslines of Detroit techno with the impeccable rhythms of jazz.

While growing up in one of Detroit’s toughest neighborhoods, 6 Mile, Dixon decided that music would be his life’s focus. He began to study classical piano and he went on to perform with the Detroit Symphony Civic Jazz Orchestra under the direction of Detroit’s own godfather of jazz, the late Marcus Belgrave—a legendary mentor for the Motor City’s finest young jazz players.

A key turning point came in 1995 when he discovered We Live Hereby by Pat Metheny and learned to see things visually within the music, and also considered how to instil his music with emotion. As time went on, word began to spread about Dixon and his talents, and he accompanied The Mosaic Youth Theater of Detroit as a bandleader for their concerts, before joining Timeline in 2011, where he learned lessons in style and dedication. By leaning on these values, he says he’s continually been able to deliver.

Nowadays, Dixon endeavours to give back to the scene that birthed him by teaching group piano classes at the Michigan State University Community Music School. Outside of this, he forms Room 131 with Marquis Johnson and has toured with Francesco Tristano, Carl Craig, Goldie and more. As a solo artist, he’s focused on making music that continues “the rich culture and history of both jazz and electronic music,” aiming to “take both genres to the next level.” It’s a style he calls “hi-tech jazz,” and there are never any compromises in terms of quality. In 2018, he paid tribute to Marcus Belgrave with a new EP, and he released Times of Change, his latest outing, last summer via his own label, 4EVR 4WRD (Forever Forward).

Dixon recorded his XLR8R podcast in late February while putting the finishing touches to his new EP. It’s almost entirely improvised, pieced together on the fly in his Detroit basement, and it comprises almost exclusively his own productions and remixes. Expect an hour of deep, organic, and atmospheric Detroit jazz vibes that’ll make you want to jump up and move.

01. What have you been up to recently?

I’m in the process of finishing up my next EP which I’ll be releasing later in the year. During the week, I teach a handful of piano and music production classes virtually, I’m taking two online courses that are going toward another music degree I’m pursuing, spending quality time with my wife and two kids, and working on various projects and songs for friends around the globe. Aside from that, I’m just trying to be in the best mental headspace I can with all that’s going on.

02. What music have you been listening to during the lockdown period?

I’ve been going back to some childhood composers who I really respect and digging through their catalog, one of them being Lyle Mays (who passed last year). He’s my favorite keyboardist and I’ve always known about him, but his Solo Improvisations for Expanded Piano album didn’t click with me until I rediscovered it recently. It’s deep thinking music and it really helped me to process whatever is happening daily. Gustav Holst’s The Planets is another one that I play frequently, especially “Neptune” from that album. Aside from those, it’s been music that I’m working on. And since that music is meant for the dancefloor, what I listen to in my free time is outside the dance genre. It gives my ears and creativity a different style to adjust and adapt to.

03. When and where did you record this mix for XLR8R?

I did this mix a few days ago at night when I put my four-month-old down to bed. I did it in my basement studio.

04. What can the listener expect?

The listener can expect Detroit’s finest “hi-tech jazz” along with some songs that will be released at a later date, and some songs that may not ever get released, such as the Black Coffee remix I did. This mix was done on the fly and I didn’t have any of my keyboards hooked up via MIDI or go back and play keys over the recorded mix. It’s all live. Some things sound best live, and that’s what I wanted to present.

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

I approached it the same way I approach improvisation on the keyboard. All I need is that first statement or phrase I want to play. And after that, I just go wherever feels right, mistakes and all! So the first statement for the mix starts with one of my keyboards then goes into “Urano Beatz.” After that the majority of songs played are all my own productions with a few additions from good friends Jimpster and Darrius Quince.

06. What setup have you used?

For this mix, I used two CDJs, a four-channel mixer, a reverb pedal, Korg Kronos, and my Elektron Analog Keys.

07. What’s on your radar for 2021?

I’m just looking forward to being as happy as I can for 2021. That includes my family and friends being healthy, releasing and working on music, hopefully getting to do some traveling, and finding new ways to approach music. I’m also excited to finish working on an EP with my brother from another, Quis Johnson, who is, in my opinion, Detroit’s baddest drummer! That group is titled Room 131, named after our high-school band room.

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. Sergio Fernandez “Urano Beatz” (Snatch Records)
02. minorINVENTION “Lisbon Mornings” (4EVR 4WRD)
03. Jimpster “Solitude” (Free-range Records)
04. Jon Dixon “Paulista Avenue” (4EVR 4WRD)
05. Jon Dixon “We Dance Again” (Remix) (Unreleased)
06. Jon Dixon “Beautifully Equipped” (4EVR 4WRD)
07. minorINVENTION “While In Lockdown” (4EVR 4WRD)
08. Timeline “The Next Wave” (4EVR 4WRD)
09. Small Creatures “Black Rose” (Jon Dixon remix) (Arcana Bleu)
10. Jon Dixon “Sarah’s Theory” (4EVR 4WRD)
11. Jon Dixon “Times of Change” (4EVR 4WRD)
12. Jon Dixon “Want It Darrius Quince Edit” (4EVR 4WRD)
12. Jon Dixon “Move 4WRD” feat. Britt Frappier” (4EVR 4WRD)

Portugal’s Toada Hopes to Heal with Pensive New EP

Toada, a Berlin-based Portuguese producer, will return to his own Plūma label with Viveza, a new EP.

Drawing on his personal experience of 2020, in the midst of a pandemic and with the exposed social instability, Toada, real name Valdir da Silva, came to the realisation that by working on his mental health he could find the strength to push for change.

With this in mind, Viveza, meaning “liveliness” in Portuguese, was made with the intention to heal and renew energies for both the artist and listener. Drawing on musical influences from Portuguese speaking countries such as Angola and Brazil, Toada combines these syncopated rhythms with intricate melodies over five uptempo but pensive tracks.

Toada’s releases began in 2018, all of them through Plūma, his own label set up for his own work. Peso Pluma came first, capturing Toada’s downtempo electronic pop sound, and there’s since been another EP, a single, and his debut album, Cambiante, released in late 2019.

Toada contributed to the 20th edition of XLR8R+ alongside GARZA and Mike Shannon as Blue Fields.

Tracklisting

01. 10405
02. Amparo
03. Tempelhofer Feld
04. Auge
05. Apaziguada

Viveza EP is scheduled for April 2 release. Meanwhile, you can stream “Amparo” in full below and pre-order over at Bandcamp here.

Download: London Modular Alliance “Bitter Taste”

Last month, London Modular Alliance released the Stray EP on Cultivated Electronics.

London Modular Alliance is a collective of artists and a shop operating out of a warehouse in Hackney Wick, London. The collective builds and sells modular synths and components, hosts workshops, and performs and records free-flowing club-based electronic music. Records have landed on brokntoys, Private Persons, and Hypercolour, among others, and this latest four-tracker the first for Cultivated Electronics.

Dropping on Cultivated Electronics Ltd, CE’s vinyl-only sister label, Stray finds the collective in fine form, delivering a set of ethereal electro and broken-beat deepness, backed up by a remix from Cultivated Electronics label head, Sync 24, who twists the EP’s experimental cut “More Than A Number” into a hard-hitting dancefloor weapon.

In support of the EP, Cultivated Electronics has offered up “Bitter Taste” as today’s XLR8R download, available to XLR8R+ subscribers below as a digital exclusive. Much like the other three tracks on the EP, “Bitter Taste” is a slice of pure machine funk, unfolding across four-and-a-half minutes of broken-beat grooves and twisted sci-fi synth lines.

Tracklisting:

A1. Stray
A2. Bitter Taste
B1. More Than a Number
B2. More Than a Number (Sync 24 Remix)

You can purchase the 12″ via Clone or Cultivated Electronic’s 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.

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