Students of deep house, at least those who do more than skim the surface of what the sound has to offer, know that the French-born, Berlin-based man known as YokoO is a talented purveyor of the four-to-the-floor arts, making and playing the kind of material that hits you right in the heart while moving the rest of your body to the dance floor. It’s music that’s made fans out of people like Lee Burridge, Kollektiv Turmstrasse and Matthew Dekay—and we think the rest of the world will soon be catching up, as his upcoming gig schedule is as packed as they come (check the video interview below for the rundown). And then there’s his upcoming release schedule: There’s the marble-vinyl Reach for Me EP, complete with remixes from Trus’me and Clio (among others), just released on 22 Digit; another EP out June 29 on Kollektiv Turmstrasse’s label, Musik Gewinnt Freunde; a cut on the upcoming summer sampler on Burridge and Dekay’s All Day I Dream; a single featuring vocalist Seabourne coming out on German label Save Us in September, featuring a remix from Luc Angenehm (“one of my favorite artists lately—the young man is a genius”); a single produced with Canadian duo In2Deep coming out on L’Enfant Terrible Records later in the year, with remixes by Patlac and Gab Rhome; a three track EP on Kindisch, also coming out after the summer; and finally, a full EP release for All Day I Dream, produced in collaboration the Melbourne, Australia–based Retza.

And then there’s this podcast. It’s one of the most scrumptious, gorgeous sets that XLR8R has run in recent months—which, consider we’ve hosted mixes from the likes of Laurent Garnier, Audiofly, Dance Spirit, Fort Romeau and Virginia lately, is saying quite a bit. As YokoO explains in the video, the session’s emotions run the gamut from joy to sadness, love and loneliness and back again, its soothing passages punctuated with moments of pure drama. In short, it’s a musically rich hour of listening pleasure. Our suggestion: Grab a glass of wine (or whatever) and settle in for a while.

VIDEO: YokoO discusses his XLR8R podcast.

Podcast 391: YokoO by Xlr8r on Mixcloud

[infobox title=”Downloads”]Download MP3
Download M4A (iTunes enhanced)
Subscribe to Podcast (RSS)
[/infobox]

01 Kadebostan “Sofia On Stage”
02 Dance Spirit “Beauty And Sadness”
03 Powel – unknown
04 Dorisburg “Emotion”
05 Francis Harris “Of The Field”
06 [subtle transition] Premiesku “Trandafirit”
07 Prompt “Nayara”
08 Luc Angenehm “Anabel”
09 Gorje Hewek & Izhevsky “Calinerie” (ambient edit)
10 Dorisburg “Mima”
11 Gorje Hewek & Izhevski “Calinerie”
12 YokoO “Vali”
13 [subtle transition] Jade featuring Venus “Love Heart”
14 Kiasmos “Looped”
15 Holy Spirits “White Walls”