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New Music

korma

The first release on Korma‘s freshly ordained Heat Records, the Thast Xssory Remixes features a host of versions of buzzing Florida rapper Thast, from Xssory, Ultramiedo, Wristboi and Korma himself. The subject of many an unofficial remix, Thast’s sparse production and fierce, chant-heavy flow is well-primed for reworks and the collection of producers offer a wide range of takes, from Ultramiedo’s metallic, electro reworking to Wristboi’s spastic, start-stop edition. We’ve got Korma’s edition of “Fuck U” on premiere today, an upbeat, 808-heavy production that puts Thast’s exuberant anti-hater chorus at the fore. HEAT001 is out January 19. Previews after the jump.


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morten hd

One of the most active artists in the Classical Trax online community, Norway-based Morten HD has shown off a remarkable work ethic over the past several years, turning out quality originals, edits and mixes at every turn and refusing to measure down his polyglotic approach to a multitude of club-oriented forms. The Xenoglossia LP is out Friday on Druid Cloak’s Apothecary Compositions and is Morten’s host complete project to date, 16 tracks of roughhewn grime with sojourns into noise, jungle and techno. It’s the sort of record that clearly exists in the context of the internet, but is also perfectly ready for club play at a moments notice. “Pink Light Incident” is a Xenoglossia standout and features one of the more jarring arrangements on the record as hurtling noise, church bells and what sounds like a deranged fax machine conglomerate around stop-start drum programming. Xenoglossia is out Friday and pre-orders for the cassette and digital versions are available here.

le motel press

Having already debuted on PBDY’s TAR outpost with the 45°34°50° EP in 2014, Brussels’ Le Motel is back on the Los Angeles label with Ripples, a three track effort that shows off the producer’s beatific, textural approach to footwork rhythms. Having released dozens of one offs, remixes and collaborations over the past few years, touching on a number of styles throughout the footwork canon, Ripples functions as a calm distillation of his aesthetic, touching on classic Chicago tropes while working in the field recordings and swarming noise that make his work so unique. “Blood” is the most unique track on the record, a moody record perfect for winter and with just enough ambiguous menace to unsettle the mind and body. Check out more of Le Motel’s work here and be sure to grab Ripples this Friday (January 8).

plastician

If you’ve tuned into Plastician‘s weekly Rinse FM show this past year, you’ll have caught the London pioneer building wildly variegated sets out of tracks from relatively unknown producers, refusing to stick to any one genre or sound and generally supporting a huge number of artists who otherwise might not get play on a platform like Rinse. Despite being over a decade into a trailblazing career that has involved key contributions to the rise and continued life of dubstep and grime, Plastician still finds the time to dig for new sounds, put on artists via his Terrorhythm label and aforementioned Rinse slot (Utah, J(ay).A.D, Wallwork, Tsvi, etc.), all while providing a genuinely positive voice in a culture filled with ungrateful self-promotion and a general lack of historical awareness.

“Lightning Bolt”, teased out earlier this year, is Plastician’s final output of 2015, a Dizzee Rascal freestyle sampling effort that looks to the UK’s road rap tradition as much as it does East Coast club forms. Built on a fire-y line from Dizzee’s “Creeper” version, Plastician’s production is at once militantly sparse and bizarrely hypnotic, a pulse-led monster completely devoid of melody. Considering his work on Rinse, an anthemic Jammz collaboration and an ever-expanding curatorial repertoire, Plastician doesn’t owe us anymore this year, but “Lightning Bolt” is the perfect cap to a banner year. In 2016, Plastician will be touring South America (Lima, Buenos Aires, Rio De Janeiro, Curitiba and Sao Paulo) and taking over a residency at Hackney club Oslo. Stream “Lightning Bolt” below and download here.

SHALT

Last Wednesday, The FADER premiered the title track from SHALT’s Acheron EP, the first track from the Lausanne-based artist’s forthcoming release on Astral Plane Recordings. Coming in as APR101, Acheron is the first solo release on our platform and will be out digitally on January 29. Isaac Chabon contributing the breathtaking cover art and Sam Meier led the artistic direction of the project while Riley Lake put his inimitable talents forwards for mastering. Out To FACT, RA and THUMP for all picking up the news of the release and spreading it around to their respective readers. We’ll be back with more on the record in the new year so keep and eye out and enjoy “Acheron”.

escape-from-nature

Despite being only being three releases in, Orlando Volcano‘s Escape From Nature label is looking like a force to be reckoned with, hosting an excellent EP from Michael, a compilation featuring Celestial Trax, AceMo, KOH-IZT and more, and now, a collaborative a/b single from Copout and Orlando Volcano himself. Utilizing big, melodic bass lines, stomping drums and hoovering sub bass, the New York duo have compiled two emotional jams in “Relax” and “Rolex” that, despite sub three minute run times, are incredibly engrossing tunes from start to finish. Stream both below and get ’em from Bleep here.

J(ay).A.D

Raised in Suriname and currently residing in Amsterdam, J(ay).A.D’s musical footprint reaches far and wide, touching on everything from weightless grime to footwork, the producer garnering attention from the likes of Bjork via an effortless approach to hybrid club forms. His latest effort comes via Kastle’s Symbols label, the Asema EP coming in at six divergent tracks showcasing both a fine touch with delicate melodies and the wherewithal to know when to ramp up the club tempos. We’ve got EP opener “Thinking About You” for you today, a beatific square wave-based anthem that recalls the synth workouts of Dark0, Strict Face and Loom before jumping into a blurred section of snares, off-kilter kicks and breathy vocal samples. Asema is out December 4 on Symbols and can be pre-ordered here.

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kid-smpl

The electronic music community has always been interested in the sublime, both theoretically and literally, through psychoactive substances and transcendent experiences. If the sublime is reached amid a torrent of drum machines, then all the better. Over the past few years, a widely dispersed set of producers have seemed to approach the question of the sublime from a different angle, matching noisy sonics and hybrid sensibilities with moments of brief elation, moments that often become larger than the songs, albums and mixers that hold them. It’s an aesthetic found on Lotic’s recent Agitations mix and Rabit’s Communion EP, on most efforts released on Mr. Mitch’s Gobstopper label, and on Acre’s debut Better Strangers LP.

Seattle’s Kid Smpl has never sat comfortably in any one mold, advancing from the “night bus” inspired UK sounds of his early releases on Hush Hush Records to a current sound that touches on everything from digital dancehall, jungle and the hyperreal stylings of FKA Twigs, Kelela and Le1f. Often times, those influences only seem to flit in and out of a song momentarily, the remainder filled by wide-eyed cinematics, often accompanied by the sounds of worlds tearing apart. Smpl’s music has always been imbued with a sense of the dramatic and while his aesthetic has slowly become more outward-focused, there’s still a distinctly personal focus in his releases, whether his reference points be Emptyset or Alkaline. His Astral Plane mix touches on both influences and contemporaries, the whole coming off as remarkably consistent with his original work despite including everything from Letta’s remembrance anthem “Where I Left You” to Lee Bannon alias DedekindCut’s crushing breakcore. Be sure to get Smpl’s Response/Ascend EP, out now on Symbols, and always look out for more from this loft-minded Northwester.

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Chants_300dpi_b_w

Madison, Wisconsin-based producer Chants first came to our attention through a series of pleasant, R&B-tinged pieces of beat work on Seattle-based Hush Hush Records, showing off a distinct skill for vocal manipulation and melody. More recently, his club workouts, including one each from the Heterotopia bonus tracks and remixes, have become some of our favorite tracks to play out and, while markedly different from his earlier material on Hush Hush, don’t seem totally out of place with songs like “Porch Song 1 AM”. On October 30, Chants will release the We Are All Underwater LP on Hush Hush, a full length statement featuring guest vocalists like Mereki and Boom Forest, but also a tape that sees the producer’s more dancefloor-focused inclinations meet the sort of soothing, bedroom-oriented work previously mentioned. It’s often difficult to reconcile music that is both made in a bedroom and made to sound like it’s made in a bedroom for music overtly made for the club, but Chants does an excellent job of, if not melding the two, making them easily beside each other. As the album goes, the Riley Lake-featuring “Halogen” falls into the former category, a delicate, reverb-soaked bit that sets a melancholic tone for the first half of the record. Of course, Chants’ affect can’t be reduced to melancholy as the album hits a hopeful tone by the second half, tracks like “Gossamer” and “Oxygen Loops” proving to be some of the LP’s best. Pre-order We Are All Under Water here.

rushmore

Hitting at the crossroads of rap, footwork, electro and more, Rushmore is finishing off the Trax Couture World Series in style with Vol. 12, an eight rack effort stacked with low slung club weapons. Whereas most of the World Series has come in fast, hard and mechanical, Rushmore’s final entry into the series he has expertly curated takes the tempo down a bit, recalling everything from hyphy and g-funk to footwork and electro. If you’ve been lucky enough to attend the perpetually hyped House of Trax parties Rushmore throws in London, you’ll probably be familiar with these sounds, if not the tracks from Vol. 12 in particular, and its clear that Rushmore has been learning from the best as he distills these classic dance sounds into his own, ever-growing repertoire. Be sure to grab World Series Vol. 12 from the Trax Couture store on November 2.