XLR8R News and Features

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1. Watch a New Video from Jonwayne
2. Download a New Mix from Redshape
3. Special Request, Four Tet, Legowelt, Midland, and More to Appear on Phonica's 10th Anniversary Comp
4. Listen to Lee Bannon's 'Alternate/Endings' LP Now
5. Ras G Releases New Beat Tape
6. Leyland Kirby Announces New EP for Apollo
7. Midland Readies Remix 12" for Aus
8. Graphics "Their Say"
9. Bubblin' Up Week 2014: Lee Bannon
10. Warp Details Upcoming LP from Patten, Shares Lead Track
11. Marquis Hawkes
12. Alphabets Heaven "Birthday (Kamikaze Space Programme Remix)"
13. Review: Arturia KeyLab
14. White Rainbow "Batman Palace"

Watch a New Video from Jonwayne Posted: 07 Jan 2014 12:09 PM PST Last November, LA MC/beatsmith Jonwayne issued his debut rap album, the appropriately titled Rap Album One (the making of which we talked about at length with the producer in a recent In the Studio feature). With his record for Stones Throw only two short months behind him, Jonwayne has shared a new video for album cut "The Come Up." read more

Download a New Mix from Redshape Posted: 07 Jan 2014 11:54 AM PST Following last year's string of 12" releases (including the stripped-back, XLR8R Pick'd Red Pack II), masked Berlin producer Redshape has started the New Year by sharing a new mix recorded during one of his austere live sets. read more

Special Request, Four Tet, Legowelt, Midland, and More to Appear on Phonica's 10th Anniversary Comp Posted: 07 Jan 2014 11:20 AM PST Opened in September of 2003, Phonica Records will celebrate its 10th year as a brick-and-mortar vinyl shop in London's Soho district with an upcoming three-disc compilation. read more

Listen to Lee Bannon's 'Alternate/Endings' LP Now Posted: 07 Jan 2014 10:49 AM PST Brooklyn-via-Sacramento experimental beatmaker Lee Bannon (who we profiled earlier today as part of Bubblin' Up Week 2014) is set to kick off the New Year with the impending release of his dizzying new LP for Ninja Tune, Alternate/Endings, a full stream of which can now be heard. read more

Ras G Releases New Beat Tape Posted: 07 Jan 2014 09:51 AM PST LA's prolific craftsman of blunted, spacey beats, Ras G has unexpectedly dropped Raw Fruit Vol. 2, a new cassette made up of cuts hastily fashioned on his "SP303/404 and MPC 2000XL." read more

Leyland Kirby Announces New EP for Apollo Posted: 07 Jan 2014 09:34 AM PST Coming off a recent LP released as The Stranger, prolific producer Leyland Kirby has announced that he'll soon issue a record under his given name for R&S imprint Apollo. read more

Midland Readies Remix 12" for Aus Posted: 07 Jan 2014 09:18 AM PST British DJ/producer Midland has announced the forthcoming release of a remix 12" for his standout "Trace" b/w "For (Yacht) Club Use Only" record, the a-side of which XLR8R recently tauted as one of the best tracks of 2013. read more

Graphics "Their Say" Posted: 07 Jan 2014 09:00 AM PST After remaining quiet for most of 2013, UK producer and one-time XLR8R podcast contributor Graphics has certainly picked up the pace in the last two months. read more

Bubblin' Up Week 2014: Lee Bannon Posted: 07 Jan 2014 08:17 AM PST "I'm not really into much hip-hop right now," says Lee Bannon with a shrug. It's a surprising statement coming from a guy best known as the producer and touring DJ for rap wunderkind Joey Bada$$, but one listen to his upcoming Alternate/Endings LP for Ninja Tune makes it clear that he's telling the truth. Instead of jazzy, Dilla-flavored beats or blissed-out trap, Bannon's latest effort is full of sinister synth stabs, ambient found-sounds, and aggressive jungle breakbeats. Granted, for those who have been closely following Bannon's work outside of the rap world, Alternate/Endings just seems like the logical next step. Since beginning his musical career as a teenager, Bannon has slowly morphed into an experimental producer whose wide-ranging interests stretch further than those of the average beatmaker. Bannon's new record is both the culmination of that evolution and the first step in an ambitious, years-long plan to establish himself as a true artist on his own terms. read more

Warp Details Upcoming LP from Patten, Shares Lead Track Posted: 07 Jan 2014 08:13 AM PST We've been patiently awaiting the details of the next full-length album on the way from enigmatic UK producer patten since he announced his signing to Warp back in November. Now, with his EOLIAN INSTATE EP behind him, patten has unveiled the particulars of his second LP, ESTOILE NAIANT. read more

Marquis Hawkes Posted: 07 Jan 2014 07:00 AM PST After impressively debuting in late 2012 with his Cabrini Green EP for the Dixon Avenue Basement Jams imprint, mysterious producer Marquis Hawkes had an even better 2013. Operating anonymously from his home base in Berlin, he issued two more EPs, Higher Forces at Work and Sex, Drugs & House, and continued to deliver raw, ghetto-house-influenced sounds. Still, even after speaking with Hawkes at length for a Bubblin' Up profile last March, and subsequently naming him one of 2013's Best New Artists, we have to admit that we still don't know all that much about him. Anxious to remedy that situation—and also curious to hear the man at work behind the decks—we've asked the Bubblin' Up alum to come back for Bubblin' Up Week 2014 and deliver the first XLR8R podcast of the year. read more

Alphabets Heaven "Birthday (Kamikaze Space Programme Remix)" Posted: 07 Jan 2014 06:00 AM PST Based in Canada, the King Deluxe imprint has spent the last few years serving as a dependable hotbed for an international roster of genre-blurring producers. The label has decided to start 2014 by offering a free compilation, Year Three, which counts contributions from Julien Mier, Aleph, Metome, and others to its tracklist, alongside this rework of Alphabets Heaven from West Norwood Cassette Library affiliate Kamikaze Space Program. read more

Review: Arturia KeyLab Posted: 07 Jan 2014 04:00 AM PST While French company Arturia is maybe best known for its Analog Classic VSTs (faithful recreations of vintage synthesizers that are often heralded as sounding like near clones of their original versions), it nonetheless turned heads when it jumped into the world of analog instruments with the small-but-substantial MiniBrute and the even more compact MicroBrute. But the brand has not forsaken those who prefer the flexibility and ease of use that virtual instruments bring, having recently unveiled its KeyLab series. Arturia's feature-packed MIDI controllers come bundled with the Analog Lab software—which includes 5,000 sounds from its various instrument emulations—and offer 25-, 49-, and 61-key versions of the product. It's an expanded take on the smaller, more portable Minilab, and a new contender in a crowded field of MIDI controllers seeking to break down the barriers between software sound design and tactile control. read more

White Rainbow "Batman Palace" Posted: 07 Jan 2014 03:00 AM PST On Los Angeles-based artist Adam Forkner's forthcoming THRU.U LP—a self-released record out on February 11, and the first White Rainbow LP to see a vinyl release since 2009's New Clouds—he continues a pursuit of dreamlike beat collages and wonky electro-funk, often underpinned with his own spectral vocals. Featured here, lead cut "Batman Palace" bursts open in a flutter of hi-hats, confectionary synth layers, and a lilting, euphoric refrain which Forkner uses to ground the rhythmic havoc around him. The tracklist and artwork for THRU.U can be found after the jump. read more