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sepalcure

In 2002, Praveen Sharma aka Braille aka 1/2 of Sepalcure founded Percussion Lab, an organization that has assisted the proliferation of electronic music in the greater New York area through live events and a non-profit hosting service for mixes and live sets. Recognizing that most bedroom producers just need an outlet for their music, Sharma and Percussion Lab have put on dozens of artists over the past ten years. To celebrate a decade of existence, Sharma has put together Cambio, a protean compilation of songs from the likes of Daedelus, Lando Kal, Shigeto, Mux Mool and Machinedrum. The tape benefits Percussion Lab’s various operational costs, as well as Hurricane Sandy relief efforts, and is a measly $5. We don’t usually hawk releases in this manner, but you really should pull 500 cents out of your velour coin purse (we all have on of those, right?) and throw it Sharma’s way. Stream below.

As part of Turbo 137, Tiga and Lando Kal have given Duke Dumont’s anthemic “The Giver” the remix treatment. Labelhead Tiga takes the most direct route to the finish line, turning Dumont’s original into a straight-forward stomper, replete with one of the funkier basslines you’ll hear in techno this year. Kal’s take is driven by an acid bassline, and like his recent single on Icee Hot, is busy as hell. Both remixes add new dimensions to Dumont’s throwback original, but I prefer Kal’s more roundabout take. Stream below.

Both in his solo work and as part of Lazer Sword, Lando Kal has streamlined his sonic aesthetic over the past few years. In the past, his output was quite hit or miss and revolved around eccentric hip hop explosives. The results were often fun, but there were just too many clunkers to really take Kal and Lazer Sword all that seriously. Of course, not all artists strive to be taken seriously as “artists” (and I don’t know his intentions), but there was a lackadaisical nature that surrounded his/their work. It’s not a coincidence that Kal recently moved to Berlin, a city known for dark, stripped down, concrete sounds, and most of all, Berghain type A techno. Although Kal doesn’t make true to form techno, the move to more straightforward house music has occurred simultaneous with the change of location.  The “Let You in the Sky/Help Myself” single, out now on Icee Hot, is Kal’s most developed, “serious” release to date and features two of the more polished tech house tracks you’ll listen to all year. “Let You In The Sky” is as glossy as it is funky, Kal reveling in the complexity of the arrangements. “Help Myself” is more difficult to digest and at times throws too many elements at the listeners, but offers an impressively broad vision. You can cop the single, which also features remixes from Grown Folk and Anthony Shakir, over at Boomkat.