Tinker’s awesome Sunrise set is up thanks to Bloodman and Orphan101 of DecaRhythm. One of my favorite things of the year by far.

Also have put up my mix that I did for the BBC on my soundcloud – so there will be a higher quality version of it around.

1000names is one of those producers (or actually a duo) that has steadily gotten better and better in the couple years I’ve know about them. I liked their stuff just fine when I first heard it, but didn’t pay it too much attention. Now every release is better and better. They put out an EP on Svetlana a couple weeks back that’s seriously, truly awesome and I played on repeat for a long while. Click the album cover left to listen and buy.

Now they’ve got a full length coming out on the always awesome Project Mooncircle, who basically can do no wrong and is a paragon of the way a digital label should be run. The 1000names album is called Invisible Architect and is due out tomorrow and is beguiling and beautiful and, as their press photo suggests, a little off kilter and funny.

 

You can get it from the PMC bandcamp page, and they made a little promo video for it below, and you can check out more of their stuff on their soundcloud.

1000names “Invisible Architect” Album Trailer Video (Project: Mooncircle, 2011) from Project Mooncircle on Vimeo

Also one other release of note that’s been keeping me humming is a new EP from Masmod on his own Nueva Forma label (another super awesome, well kept, well run net label). It’s called Conscious Automata and it’s a real advance in Masmod’s sound, with each track branching out into different directions and tempos – all held together by gossamer spider threads glistening with dew, but each a unique creation. Powerful stuff. Click below to get it for free(!) from their bandcamp, and check out the label’s gorgeous site and latest podcast “Listening Pleasures” here.

 

Tom played a great and eclectic show on Friday – I certainly heard a bunch of stuff that was new to me. And I don’t think I sounded too bad in the interview! So here it is on the BBC website – It will be up there for another 5 days. If you listen to the full show in that link, my interview starts at 1:34:00ish and the mix starts at 1:39:00. After the BBC takes it down I’ll put of the mix on my Soundcloud page. The tracklist is below, but I should say that about 3 times as many people sent me tracks as made it on here (20 mins is not much time)- I was totally overwhelmed by the unexpected response! So much so that I’m hoping to do an “Alt Take” mix and get that hosted somewhere. Keep an ear out for it.

Loops Haunt – Ark (Black Acre)
Danny Drive Thru – Eclipsemoonsun [Trevino's Front Remix] (forthcoming on Fat City)
Abjo – Stereocity (unreleased VIP)
Zack Christ – Iced Out (self released)
Sepalcure – Fleur [Sun Hammer Remix] (forthcoming self release)
Fedbymachines – The Place That Never Was (forthcoming on Falk Phonic)
Woulg – Elephant (enig’matik)
Recue and Jolea – We’re Not Like The Most (unreleased VIP)

In other news, my first article for Google Music came out a couple day. It’s on Sepalcure.

Mix is just about to air on Tom’s show – or rather, it will air, along with an interview, sometime in the next three hours. But Tom plays top quality stuff across the spectrum so it’s worth listening to the whole thing. Pretty proud of this one, will post the tracklist after it’s been up on the BBC site for an appropriate time.

Oh, and one list thing, saw Africa Hitech last night at Public Works… my faith in many things is restored.

 

Got a message from PK this AM that not only had the Runner EP that I mentioned below just come out, but it’s in fact the label’s birthday! And to celebrate they’ve put together a compilation of both old and new tracks. With killer art as always. Realizing just how meaningful this label has been to me over the last year, introducing me to Vaetxh, Woulg, Fancy Mike, Alphabet’s Heaven and a ton of other great artists. Check the stunning video for Vaetxh’s Mass by Henning Lederer.

MASS from Henning M. Lederer on Vimeo.I’m heading out to play at SVRocks right now, But don’t forget to tune in to Tom Ravenscroft’s show on BBC6 tomorrow at 2100h in the UK and 1PM here on the West Coast. My 20 minute I made for him is being broadcast during that time!

This is LAMA – they’re a super group from Japan and their album came out today! My connection to them is Mr. Kensuke Ushio otherwise known as Agraph, who’s all the way to the right in the above photo. The other members apparently have incredible pedigree, but I’m nowhere near as versed in that world as I could be, so the only previous groups I recognized the names of were Number Girl and Supercar. It’s not available in the US yet, but hopefully the internets will somehow overcome that gap. Here they are performing “One Day” – with I think Agraph possibly appearing live from his bedroom!

UPDATE: Agraph informs me that you can stream previews of all the tracks from their website and if you can afford the shipping costs, you can buy it here!

A second group of music makers on my mind recent have been Recue and Jolea from Helsinki. Riku and I have struck up a lively conversation in advance of my mix coming out on the BBC on Friday – It contains a world premier of a new song by the duo called “We’re Not Like The Most” that is truly stellar. They’re both producers in their own right, together they run the Audiobaum label, and Jolea is blessed with a truly incredible, shiver-inducing voice. Links to a couple of their albums below, and the track that got me into Recue below that.

For the 2nd time, I’m donating my time to this fun charity in San Francisco. It’s call Silicon Valley Rocks and it’s a gathering of a bunch of folks who (broadly) Silicon Valley higher ups during the day, and are (broadly) in bands at night. The whole thins is done to raise money for Music In Schools Today. It’s at the DNA lounge which is always a fun place to play, mainly because they have a good sound system and a DJ booth high above the floor, which makes you feel like the king.

 

Also, I’ve been working on, and just finished, a little 20 minute mix for Tom Ravenscroft’s show on BBC6. Totally psyched to do it, Tom’s got good tastes (last week’s guest was Plastikman!) and I was put up to it by Alex from One-Handed Music. It’s short so I used it as an opportunity to reach out to some artists I hadn’t had before and collect some good new tracks. I got so many I’m considering doing an alternate take mix after the original one comes out!

 

Finally, always a happy day when I get something new in my inbox from PK who runs King Deluxe records. They not only have great music but have the best art of any label ou there right now. It’s an EP by a new-to-me artist Muta, and it’s called Runner. Seems like it’s out now so check it out! Heady stuff…

The latest release on DFRNT’s label Echodub is out. Super stellar release from a relatively new French producer named Isotroph. Lots of variation, with one track in the skippy nu-garage vein, two it the slightly more house/drummy mode, and one totally excellent joint (Fission) in that weird netherworld between hip-hop and dnb – the syncopated Autonomic sound of people like Indigo and Synkro.

Beyond just being a good solid, full release, it’s definitely a credit to Alex/DFRNT for what he does with both Echodub and his “other” label Cut for being able to do that thing of making and putting out sweeping, big, synth-heavy tunes that tweak emotions but don’t come across as cheesy or over the top, or calling on tropes and signals that miss the mark. It’s VERY hard to do that, and most people fail at it – and Echodub isn’t flawless, there are some things that aren’t for me on there. But on the whole it’s super impressive undertaking. Plus it’s just well run and well presented as a label/experience – and DFRNT even does all the art. Who knows how he has the time!

*It takes a lot to impress me when anything “Soulful” comes across my radar – only a few people do it well. Afta-1 is one of them. And now so is Abjo. Seriously amazing Sankofa EP from this cat from San Diego, hits that verrrrry difficult balance between smooth without being cheesy, chill crisp beats without being limp, and interesting from first note to last. Apparently he’s got 10 other albums to check out! From the Soulection label, who are giving away a gigantic comp packed with awesomeness that you should check out.

*My man Henry in Portland who goes by the name The Plain Ensemble has a whole EP worth of beats that he’s shopping around and that really needs a home. This guy is young and seriously talented, and he ends up making whatever he touches turn gold. He has me listening to Disco, a rare feat. Check out his tunes at his myspace page and help them find a home (I’m thinking maybe Top Billin’?)

*New-to-me Russian DnB producer Oak released his single Otaku this week. Totally beautiful beguiling stuff for fans of Bop – he and Oak run the Microfunk.ru blog, which is a the heart of this sound at the moment. Otaku has a killer remix by ASC as well.

*Super quality beautiful stuff from the Dewtone label coming at a rate of one per month. Another group of artists that I hadn’t heard before but are also doing a balancing act of ambient house and techno (and straight up ambient), drawing you in and not being cheesy at the same time. I like everything about their presentation too, their artwork is particularly nice. Personal favorites are Nadia Popoff, nikosf., and Recue, but check out their Foundations Compilation for the full range of flavors.

*I’ve been rediscovering Alva Noto’s Xerrox Vol 1. and 2. You should too.

*The eLan album is out on Monkeytown and totally overflowing with tons of quality tracks and remixes. It’s pretty hard to keep up with all that’s going on here, but eLan’s definitely nailed his sound and come into his own on this release. And the supporting cast of remixers is stellar.

*The Brokenchord remix of Fulgeance‘s “London Falling” is off the hook! Look out for it when it’s released on the Fulgance album.

*Finally, my partner Tinker has a new mix out, part of the big up magazine podcast series. It’s excellent, all flash and zazzle. Go fan her on facebook here.

Ghost Mutt of the awesome Lowriders Collective playfully calls it “Bandwagon Footwork”, which far from being belittling I think neatly tells the story in a nutshell. Which, slightly expanded, in my interpretation, reads like this:

*Producers in Chicago ever since the 90s have been making raunchy, funny, over the top dance music. With very simple drum and bassline programming. Like this. People called it Juke.
*In the 2nd half of the ’00s, other Chicago producers took that template, sped it up even more, took out some kicks, threw in A LOT of toms all over the place, and started both cutting up and weirdly detuning vocal snippits. Like this.
*Lots of this stuff was played for dance-off battles at places like rec centers in South Side Chicago. They look like this. Hense the genre name: Footwork. As in music for footwork battles.
*Mike Paradinas of Planet Mu, always a pioneer listener, picked up on it (with a little help from my hommie Staypuft and others) and put out a ton of this stuff, which in turn reached a broad community of international electronic music producers that might have otherwise missed it.
*Those producers, including lots of white people, realized that it was the craziest, weirdest dance music out there and started to incorporate the production technics of Footwork into their tracks.
*(Bang and Works Vol 2 out Nov 7th! It’s huge!)

I made a mix of all my favorite stuff of the last couple years – both from the original Chicago footwork stuff and the folks that have taken it and run with it. The result is up on Percussion Lab. Mixed fast because that’s how this stuff is meant to be presented (I once had a DJ Funk mixtape that had 99 tracks on it – I always guessed because that was the max # of divisions you could put on a CD). 47 tracks in 59 mins and 59 secs. Enjoy – click my feet above for the link (Percussion Lab is sometimes a little slow, if it doesn’t load, try again soon)