Arca will release his new album Mutant, the successor to last year’s Xen, on 20th November via Mute.
The 20-track LP features previously released tracks Vanity and Soichiro as well as EN, the videos for the latter two can viewed below. The Venezuelan experimental artist, who has previously collaborated with Björk, states “Mutant is about sensuality and impulsiveness as escape routes out of rigidity. Softness as a weapon when the mind attacks itself.”
Mutant will be available on CD, download and 2xLP.
Becoming Real has announced the release of Pure Apparition, which drops via Transgressive on 25th May.
Earlier this year Glasgow-based producer Becoming Real (Toby Ridler) re-emerged with his LQD OIL EP, and now, after being delayed for a couple of years, he is finally dropping his debut LP. Pure Apparition will see Ridler “expanding upon his initial, playful, post-grime soundscapes and venturing deeper in to techno-orientated territory”, according to the label.
Watch the video for album cut Tibetan Moves via YouTube below where the tracklist is also detailed.
Stream Becoming Real’s LQD OIL EP via SoundCloud.
Tracklist
01. Bleach
02. Sps 7
03. D.A.R.E.
04. Only In Real
05. Tokyo
06. Comet’s Pull
07. Tibetan Moves
08. The Deal Set Adrift
09. Rude
10. Kick Flip
11. Pure Apparition
12. Main Station Cables
In late 2014 Detroit techno innovator Kevin Saunderson was invited to Ford’s Michigan assembly plant as part of a forthcoming documentary on the Motor City.
Last summer esteemed DJ and producer Matthew Dear was invited to do a similar activity by General Electric and his resulting track, Drop Science, was composed using the resulting found sounds emanating from its machines.
In the three-minute video recently posted to YouTube, Saunderson searches the factory floor for samples, recording many of the sounds made by the plant’s machinery. As he searches for inspiration, milling around the plant and listening for the sounds of the production process while people and machines manufacture cars, Saunderson observes, “It’s the same tone; it’s the same frequency…then to just hear that there – it was probably used for a totally different purpose – but to hear that, it connected. It was love at first sound.”
“It’s hard to say what it will be used for,” the producer said during his visit. “You take samples, put it in the machine, and you never know what vibes it might bring. It could bring nothing, it could bring something amazing.”
Saunderson is one of the most adept in the stable of Detroit techno pioneers, both recording some of the hardest and darkest music to come out of the Motor City and regularly achieving success in the mainstream dance charts as well with his productions for his slick techno-house act Inner City.
Actress has mixed the 49th installment of !K7’s DJ-Kicks series, which is set to land on 4th May.
The hour long mix from the acclaimed DJ and producer includes cuts from artists such as John Beltran, Mark Fell, experimental techno heavyweights Autechre, STL and Shxcxchcxsh as well as an exclusive track from Actress himself. The full tracklist is detailed below.
After releasing four highly acclaimed albums (Hazyville, Splazsh,R.I.P. and Ghettoville), DJ-Kicks 49 will be Actress’ (Darren Cunningham) first commercial mix and in the press release he explains his process, “When I’m selecting music I’m not always thinking about the music alone, I’m thinking about the names of the artists, tracks, and labels, and what they mean to me. I often base my tracklisting purely on how well the track titles work together in a poetic sense. I’ve tried to keep space between tracks, allowing them to speak. I tried not to force BPM shifts and to let the programming remain choppy and quick.” In keeping with the DJ-Kicks series tradition, Actress has also included an exclusive track in the mix (Bird Matrix). He says, “My studio was going through a transition, so I was testing all the equipment, and that was one of the first tunes that came out of those experiments.”
The Werkdiscs label, that Actress runs, recently announced a new EP from Helena Hauff – more about that here.
Stream Let’s Fly, a cut from Splazsh via Youtube below
DJ-Kicks49 will be available digitally and on CD while a selection of nine tracks will be pressed onto vinyl.
Tracklist
CD mix:
01. Breaker 1 2 – 2
02. Lorenzo Senni – Elegant, And Never Tiring
03. Reel By Real – Look At Me
04. Autechre – Pen Expers
05. Chameleon – Thought 2
06. Beneath – Stress 1
07. Simbiosi – Impari
08. Zennor – Tin
09. John Beltran – Anticipation
10. Moon B – Those Moments
11. STL – Psychelicious
12. Snakepiss – Toil
13. Shit And Shine – Pearl Drop
14. Chez N Trent – Windy City Club
15. Mark Fell – Section 1-7
16. GNESIS – Pear
17. Shxcxchcxsh – LDWGWTT
18. Hank Jackson – Track 3
19. Actress – Bird Matrix (DJ-Kicks)
20. Gherkin Jerks – Red Planet
Vinyl:
A1 Lorenzo Senni – Elegant, And Never Tiring
A2 Reel By Real – Look At Me
A3 Simbiosi – Impari
B1 John Beltran – Anticipation
B2 Shit And Shine – Pearl Drop
C1 Chez N Trent – Windy City Club
C2 Mark Fell – Section 1-7
D1 Actress – Bird Matrix (DJ-Kicks)
D2 Gherkin Jerks – Red Planet
LA vocalist Kelela will release a new EP called Hallucinogen on 5th May.
The six-track record features at least one collaboration with Venezuelan producer Arca, who contributed to Björk’s Vulnicura album.
News of this release follows the announcement of a deluxe reissue of her debut mixtape, Cut 4 Me, which will drop in April. Hallucinogen is described as a “six-song cycle that explores the light and darkness of love and sexuality… ranging from tumultuous to blissful.”
Talking about Arca’s contribution, Kelela says, “I met Alejandro [Arca] on a boat in August of 2012…We sought one another out across a dance floor and within five minutes agreed to meet each other as soon as possible to collaborate. I had one song released to my name and had just heard one of his mixes, but we knew we’d found something in one another. We spent the next three days, 14 hours a day, talking about our artistic visions and how it intersected with our personal lives, making songs that reflected that while dancing around the room to let it all out. About five or six demos were born out of these three days.”
Opening the EP is the Arca-produced A Message, which can be heard in full below now via Youtube. Hallucinogen‘s tracklist is detailed at the foot of this post.
Many were first introduced to Kelela via her excellent appearance on the otherwise unbearably saccharine EFX by Teengirl Fantasy and her live session for the always great Boiler Room in 2013, which is embedded below.
Tracklist
1. A Message
2. Gomenasai
3. Swoop
4. All the Way Down
5. Hallucinogen
6. The High
Helena Hauff will drop a new EP via Actress’ Werkdiscs label on 30th March.
Titled Lex Tertia it comes in at five tracks, one of which, The First Time He Thought, He Died can be streamed below where the full tracklist is also laid out.
Hamburg-based DJ and producer Hauff released her first solo record, Actio Reactio, through Werkdiscs in 2013. Since then Hauff has put out material on Panzerkreuz, Solar One Music and a 12″ for Lux Rec (which I wrote about here). Hauff has also appeared on the PAN label as one half of Black Sites with fellow Golden Pudel resident F#x and joined Peter Weiss on the live Hypnobeat project.
Watch the official video for Lex Tertia cut The First Time He Thought, He Died via YouTube.
Tracklist
01. Drowning Demons
02. The Bean Field And The Gods
03. Reaktion I
04. Reaktion II
05. The First Time He Thought, He Died
UK-based producer Daniel Avery will release a 12″ containing three remixes of tracks from his acclaimed Drone Logic LP with contributions from Silent Servant, Rødhåd and Volte-Face.
Set for release on 19th January via Phantasy Sound, this 12″ succeeds a batch of other remix EPs where artists such as Perc, Roman Flügel, Factory Floor, Audion and KiNK reworked tracks from the 2013 album. Rødhåd’s version of Drone Logic‘s title track, which leads the 12″, was originally released late last year and is now accompanied by Silent Servant’s take on ambient track Spring 27 and a remix of Platform Zero by Volte-Face (who runs experimental club night BleeD).
Stream KiNK’s remix of Knowing We’ll Be Here, Drone Logic’s closing track.
Tracklist
01. Drone Logic (Rødhåd Remix)
02. Platform Zero (Volte-Face Remix)
03. Spring 27 (Silent Servant Remix)
die Kanzel 