FACT Magazine We got hold of Flo Rida’s hilarious list of demands for prospective lyric writers @ Musique Non Stop |  |
- We got hold of Flo Rida’s hilarious list of demands for prospective lyric writers
- Regis’ early Sandra Electronics recordings to see release
- Miami official compiles worst of Ultra video, calls profits “blood money”
- See what sound looks like with this photographic trick
- Melé teams with Nu Brand Flexx crewmembers Boya Dee and Peigh for ‘I Like It’
- Watch sets by Four Tet, Daphni and Pearson Sound on Just Jam
- Hear a track from Ninos Du Brasil’s flamboyant Hospital Productions album Novos Mistérios
- The Torturers: what happened when FACT introduced The Body and The Haxan Cloak
- Stream Bass Clef’s acidic new cut ‘Self-Perpetuating Fun Loop’
- Blu readies double LP Good To Be Home featuring Prodigy, Alchemist, Evidence and Casey Veggies
- Stream Ricardo Villalobos and Max Loderbauer’s remix of jazz luminary Wolfgang Haffner’s ‘Bing’
- Win four season passes to London’s recently reopened Studio 338
- Vectors
- Win a bundle of Livity Sound vinyl, secretsundaze merch and tickets
- i:D and Diesel document the world’s cult dance styles on A-Z of Dance
- Harry Smith’s seminal Anthology of American Folk Music reissued in mammoth vinyl box set
- Hear Untold’s savage remix of Perc’s ‘Bleeding Colours’
- Eastern Electrics Festival adds Daniel Avery, Boddika and Mano Le Tough
- And this one time…Bandcamp April 2014
- The Breeders working on first album in six years
- Hear unreleased material from Bikini Kill circa 1993
- Billy Corgan to release “meditative and alien” album AEGEA
- The Mars Volta and Flea form new supergroup, Antemasque
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Posted: 09 Apr 2014 02:29 PM PDT
 Be it the man or the phenomenon, Flo Rida poses many questions – but few answers. How does someone who recycles one, single joyless backing-track measure his YouTube hits in the hundreds of millions and become "the biggest selling digital hip hop artist in the world"? Who are these hundreds of millions watching videos for ‘Sweet Spot‘ (a cleavage cam attached to a woman's chin rolling for 4 minutes) and ‘Club Can’t Handle Me‘ (Flo enters said club from Lamborghini butterfly-doors and throws cash into the air)? But the biggest question – and the question we can help answer today – is just where is it from that Mr Rida get lyrics like "Whistle baby / Whistle baby / Let me know" or "You and me / Just me and you / Emotions I feel /Emotions are real"? We’ve come into possession of a genuine email from Flo Rida's "team" at Atlantic Records to prospective songwriters which sheds some light on just how the magic works. Here it is in full: Hey everyone!Please feel free to offer your own masculine, macho, and iconic lyrics for Flo's consideration by posting in the comments below.         |
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Regis’ early Sandra Electronics recordings to see release
Posted: 09 Apr 2014 02:28 PM PDT
 Minimal Wave promises “the quintessential Sandra Electronics collection of rare outtakes and early recordings.” Before donning his Regis alias, Karl O'Connor plied his lo-fi wares as Sandra Plays Electronics (which eventually became Sandra Electronics). Rare tape specialists Minimal Wave have collected a clutch of the first Sandra Electronics recordings as a set simply titled Sessions. The A-side of the tape contains reworked rehearsal takes of tracks that appeared on early Downwards 7″ records before seeing release in 2011 on O’Connor’s White Savage Dance EP |
The collection will be available as a 300-edition cassette run to be released at the Brooklyn Flea Record Fair on May 10, with a digital release to follow. Pre-order Sessions now; the tracklist and German version of ‘Her and Now’ follow.
1. Her Needs (Version 1)
2. A Man Has Responsibilities
3. I Understand
4. As Above, So Below
5. Her Needs (Version 2)
6. Here And Now (German Version)
7. Clean Air
8. Here And Now (English Version)
9. I Understand (1999)
10. A Man Has Responsibilities (1999)
11. Her Needs (1999)
Posted: 09 Apr 2014 09:39 AM PDT
More bad news for the beleaguered bacchanal.
After last month’s Ultra Festival ended with the death of an attendee and a serious injury to a security guard, Miami officials — including the mayor and chief of police — have called for the festival not to return in 2015.
In an effort to end the festival, Miami City Commissioner Marc Sarnoff has compiled a video that documents some of the worst behavior of Ultra festival-goers, including footage of gatecrashing, fights, struggles with police and more. "The money that Ultra is spending is nothing more than bloody money," said Sarnoff.
Unsurprisingly, an Ultra representative puts the responsibility for security and safety on the city. Police officers at the festival have increased from 140 in 2012 to 257 this year. The lone commissioner that has spoken in support of Ultra, Frank Carollo, is also the chair of the park foundation that relies on Ultra for nearly all of its funding.
Watch a news report that includes some of Sarnoff’s video below.
Posted: 09 Apr 2014 09:08 AM PDT
It’s not exactly synesthesia, but it’s interesting nonetheless.
While we’ve all seen plenty of waveforms (a visualization of sound first captured in 1860), not everyone has seen actual sound waves.
NPR has shared a video that shows off a photography technique called Schlieren Flow Visualization, invented by German physicist August Toepler in the mid-19th century. As explained in the video, the set-up requires a pair of parabolic mirrors (among other things) to capture light as it bends through air.
Michael Hargather, a professor of mechanical engineering at New Mexico Tech, uses SFV and high-speed cameras to capture the shock waves caused by explosives. Watch sound waves — which travel at 761.2 miles per hour — below.
Posted: 09 Apr 2014 08:43 AM PDT
The Liverpool producer goes Dark for Girls Music.
Krissy “Melé” Peers is back with his first effort since last year’s video game-themed Vanele Vol. 2, a three-track EP on Toddla T and Raf Daddy’s Girls Music imprint.
Due out on April 14, Dark is a bashment-laced set of party starters, with touches of everything from jungle to grime. Along with previously premiered tracks ‘Dark’ and ‘The Boogaloo’, the EP includes the scintillating ‘I Like It’ [below], a booty anthem that features Boya Dee and Peigh of grime crew Nu Brand Flexx.
“I’ve been a big fan of these guys since I first came across the Nu Brand Flexx Rangoose Vol 1 CD years ago,” says Melé. “Their whole style is perfect for the stuff I’m into making so it just clicked really easily.”
Posted: 09 Apr 2014 08:02 AM PDT
Hebden, Snaith and Kennedy take their turn in front of the green screen.
Three certified partystarters dropped into the studio of London-based web channel Just Jam last month – Four Tet, Daphni (aka Caribou's Dan Snaith) and Hessle Audio lad Pearson Sound – and now three videos of their sets have been posted online.
The broadcast on March 17 came a few weeks after Just Jam's planned multimedia event at the Barbican was called off at the last minute when police voiced “concerns” about safety. The bizarre clampdown was widely criticised by organisers and supporters, but Just Jam carried on regardless in a new venue with performers including Syrian star Omar Souleyman and footworker RP Boo with dancer Lightbulb.
Watch Four Tet’s set above and scroll down for Daphni and Pearson Sound.
Posted: 09 Apr 2014 08:00 AM PDT
Techno, punk and carnival rhythms collide.
In case you didn’t already know, Ninos Du Brasil are an Italian percussion duo, but don’t think for a second that the music they produce is an academic snooze-fest. Actually, it might be the most flamboyant record Dominick Fernow’s Hospital Productions has put out to date, fusing the seemingly disparate influences of punk, techno and Batacuda, and emerging with a sound that can truly be described as unique.
The project takes its rhythmic backbone from Brazilian carnival music, and the duo injects each track with the frothy attitude of punk and the shuffling dancefloor domination of techno. It’s tough music to describe, but like William Bennett’s innovative Cut Hands project before it, begins to make sense when you hear it.
‘Sombra Da Lua’ is a monster of a track, fusing rattling carnival beats with the kind of pulsing techno minimalism you’d rather expect to hear from Ricardo Villalobos. It’s an unexpected move from the Hospital Productions imprint, but a welcome one, and it’s hardly surprising that Ninos Du Brasil have a record due for DFA this summer.
Novos Mistérios will be released on April 21 via Hospital Productions.
Tracklist:
01 Olhar Das Folhas
02 Sombra Da Lua
03 Legios De Cupins
04 Sepultura
05 Miragem
06 Essenghelo Tropical
07 Novos Misterios
Posted: 09 Apr 2014 06:32 AM PDT
Matt Werth, owner of the Brooklyn-based label RVNG Intl, has a skill for bringing together like minds.
In the last few years, through his FRKWYS imprint, he's curated a number of excellent collaborative projects, bringing together neo-New Agers Blues Control with ambient legend Laraaji, and sending Sun Araw and M Geddes Gengras out to Jamaica to record with vocal reggae group The Congos, culminating in 2012's excellent Icon Give Thanks.
RVNG's latest release, however, is a match-up of a rather less blissed shade. I Shall Die Here is a six-track meeting between The Body, a Portland-based extreme metal duo signed to Thrill Jockey, and Bobby Krlic, aka Tri Angle's dark soundscaper The Haxan Cloak. The Body are not your everyday metal band. Blending sludge dynamics with a shrill, visceral horror, their early shows took place with the duo covering their heads with burlap bags, nooses fastened round their necks, while their 2010 album All The Waters Of The Earth Turn To Blood featured a 24-piece choir and a lyrical predilection for doomsday cults; one track sampled the eerie sing-song of Shoko Asahara, leader of Aum Shinrikyo, who carried out the sarin gas attack on the Tokyo underground in 1995.
The Body are no strangers to collaboration, having recorded an album, Nothing Passes, with the noise act Braveyoung in 2012. But for I Shall Die Here, they took the admirably hands-off move of recording a new album's worth of material and handing it over to Krlic, who holed up in a Brooklyn studio for a week, subjecting the songs to a variety of sublime electronic tortures.
Prior to now, Krlic and The Body had only communicated over email. FACT got them together on a Skype call to discuss alienation, shared aesthetics, and the appeal of operating outside of genre.
Lee Buford [The Body]: I think so.
Bobby Krlic (The Haxan Cloak): I don't know Matt's thinking behind it, but it was a kind of a weird process. I'm pretty insular, the way that I work, so there wasn't even any correspondence even while I was making it. Me and Lee only spoke over email for the first time a few weeks ago.
So this is probably an interesting experience – to get inside each other's heads?
Both: Yeah.
So where are you both at present, what are you up to?
B: I'm just at home in London, I'm working on some music stuff.
L: I'm actually at my mom's house in Arkansas. We're midway through a tour – we're in the US until March 28 and then we're taking a boat over to Europe.
B: That's going to be crazy. Have you taken a boat before?
L: No, I've never been to Europe. It's our first time. It'll take between eight and 11 days… but I don't fly at all, I hate flying.
B: I feel that. Flying terrifies me. I get this feeling, even in cars – this anxiety of being in vehicles not under my own control. I don't trust other people.
L: I'm fine in cars. If I can get out of something, I'm OK. But if I can't, that's a problem. [laughs]
Were you both familiar with one another's work before?
Both: Yeah, definitely.
Bobby, when did you first hear The Body?
B: A while back – it was the album before the one that just came out on Thrill Jockey [last year's Christ, Redeemers]. I thought it was fucking amazing, so brutal. It appealed to a lot of my older metal sensibilities. I think there's a lot of metal around at the moment that's pretty safe, rehashing a lot of shit that has been done many times before. The Body, from what I can tell was pretty uncompromising. That's something I admire in other people.
Bobby, do you have quite metal tastes? Obviously now you're on Tri Angle, but your first album was Aurora Borealis, a leftfield metal label.
B: I've grown up listening to metal, playing in metal bands – that's my upbringing, really. My older brother, he used to come home with Slayer, Anthrax, Napalm Death. It was a really exciting thing for me, as a little kid, to hear. The first concert I went to was Slayer, Pantera and Machine Head.
Lee, had you heard The Haxan Cloak stuff? Do you have pretty broad tastes?
L: I think I got into Bobby's stuff when Pitchfork did that review of Excavation. I don't listen to too much new stuff, it takes me a while to get round to new things. But I listen to a lot of electronic music – I like Skinny Puppy, industrial stuff. It's weird, because I play drums, but I'd much rather hear drum machines than real drums.
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Posted: 09 Apr 2014 06:22 AM PDT
The oddly-titled Raven Yr Own Worl is Bass Clef‘s first 12″ for Bill Kouligas’s esteemed PAN imprint.
The London-based producer has been firing out wonky, bass-heavy belters for years now, and has managed to notch up releases on a plethora of labels, from Luke Younger’s unpredictable Alter to Bristol outpost Punch Drunk. Now he’s moved over to PAN and has put together a selection of four of his finest (and possibly funnest?) tunes to date.
Slithering from his much-loved modular synthesizer, these tracks strike a mid-point between the fractured early acid experiments of DJ Pierre and the twisted sci-fi electronics of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. ‘Self-Perpetuating Fun Loop’ is the best of the lot, reminding us of simpler times – the days of early Warp, Rephlex and Spymania 12″s when electronic music actually sounded like wheezing oscillators, cycling 16-step patterns and decaying tape.
Raven Yr Own Worl will be released on April 14 via PAN.
Posted: 09 Apr 2014 06:20 AM PDT
The prolific LA emcee hires a crack team for his latest effort.
Last spotted on 2013′s York and a pair of EP collaborations with Madlib and M.E.D., Cali rapper Blu has now lined up a 20-track double album titled Good To Be Home.
The follow-up to York features appearances from Mobb Deep’s Prodigy, producer and rapper Alchemist, Dilated Peoples MC Evidence and Odd Future affiliate Casey Veggies.
Also peeking out from the extensive tracklist are Imani of The Pharcyde, Thurz, M.E.D., Oh No and many more.
Good To Be Home will be available in double CD, double cassette and double LP formats on May 20, with 1000 translucent gold vinyl copies also available. Meanwhile a deluxe edition, limited to 200 units, will include the double CD, double cassette and gold vinyl along with a T-shirt, poster, two sheets of stickers, five packs of custom matches, limited edition 7″ of ‘The West’ and a bag (!).
Check out the tracklist and rather painterly artwork below. [via AHH]
Tracklist:
Disc 1
01 Home
02 The Return
03 Back Home Again
04 Boyz N The Hood ft. Fashawn, Like & BeYoung (of Pac Div)
05 Whip Creme (Part One) ft. Definite, Big Dame, Co$$ & Swt Pea
06 The West
07 The 50z
08 The LA ft. Secret Service Agents
09 Summer Time ft. Bombay & Arima Ederra
10 The Summer / Angel Dust ft. LMNO and 2Mex (of The Visionaries) & Imani (of The Pharcyde)
Disc 2
01 Rap Dope
02 Dre Day
03 Red & Gold ft. Prodigy, Mitchy Slick & Phil Da Agony
04 Child Support
05 Well Fare ft. Thurz & Casey Veggies
06 He Man
07 Brown Sugar ft. MED & Oh No
08 Bobby Brown ft. Clutch, Mic Holden & Definite
09 Can't Stop, Won't Stop ft. Alchemist, Evidence, Tristate, Planet Asia, Donel Smokes, Chace Infinite & Krondon
10 The West (Part Two)
Posted: 09 Apr 2014 05:59 AM PDT
New material from Ricardo Villalobos and Max Loderbauer is always welcome, and their latest remix sees them lend their touch to jazz luminary Wolfgang Haffner.
Haffner has been releasing music for over 30 years, and has collaborated with the likes of Roy Ayres and Chaka Khan on over 350 releases. This EP sees material from Haffner’s latest album, The Art of the Matter, interpreted by Villalobos and Loderbauer, Nightmares on Wax, Timo Maas and Acid Mondays. Never a pair to do things by halves, Villalobos and Loderbauer contribute two remixes, of ‘Bing and Melodia’. We’re premiering the 13 minute (short, for this pair) mix of ‘Bing’ below.
The full EP is out now on vinyl through Rockets and Ponies; a digital release will follow on May 5. Grab it here.
Posted: 09 Apr 2014 05:39 AM PDT
Studio 338 are hitting their stride after their recent refurb.
Announcing their full Spring season last week, the club revealed plenty of artists it’s worth getting excited about – Soul Clap, MK, Maya Jane Coles, Derrick Carter, and Space Dimension Controller are all confirmed, and there are plenty more.
In fact there’s so much going on that it could end up being an expensive few weeks, so it’s a good thing that the folk behind Studio 338 have been kind enough to offer one lucky FACT reader four (!) season passes for the club.
All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is send an email to competitions@thevinylfactory.com with the subject “Studio 338 passes” before 5PM GMT on April 16.
Posted: 09 Apr 2014 05:18 AM PDT
Available on: Power Vacuum
These days, it seems, each post-Blawan dancefloor terroriser is younger than the last. Which is not necessarily a bad thing – after all, few over-25s have the serotonin stockpile required for all that gurning field research. But it wasn't so long ago that hard techno was the sole preserve of the old and the criminally uncool.
Milo Smee's Power Vacuum label has served as a refuge for such producers. Smee himself boasts a discography dating back some 15 years; EDMX is a veteran of Rephlex Records; Mark Broom has been involved with British techno more or less since the start. Unsurprisingly, the label's sensibility is equally drawn from the past - specifically "first generation electro and acid house", in Smee's own words, cut with the 'ave it sensibility of British rave. But at their best, Power Vaccum releases assail convention as much as uphold it. The likes of Smee's Live* & Locked LP, which tackled 133.33bpm from several oblique angles, or EDMX's punishing 'Cerberus', approached familiar forms with playfulness and flair.
So while Vectors, the label's first various artists EP, is a new venture in one respect – the majority of the producers here are younger, and all are new to the label - its spirit remains much the same. Smee makes room for another vet too, in the form of New York's Lee Douglas, better known for his psychedelic disco-house workouts. Douglas has been notching up the intensity lately, whether as one half of Bad News with Ron Morelli or in last year's dystopic collab with Smee for the Brothers label. But none of that quite prepares you for the weird metallic cacophony of 'Convo', under his new An-i alias. Too sludgy to be properly danceable but far too weird to be boring, it's just the sort of techno oddity that Smee seems drawn to.
Elsewhere, Objekt makes similar efforts to find a middle ground with the Power Vacuum aesthetic. Electro number 'Balloons' sounds unusually rough-edged for him, but even at its most chaotic there's a familiar precision to the way it crumples and buckles – as if we're hearing the last hurrah of a battered crash test vehicle, its destruction meted out with scientific rigour. Pennyroyal's J. Tijn reins in his more absurd tendencies with Joe Farr collaboration 'Mustard Sucker', whose swampy synth acrobatics might be dull were it not for the audacious three-time breakdown. Only Odessa's Positive Merge fails to hold the attention. The production line trudge of 'Note' displays all the aggression of its companions but without their taste for the unusual. And the unusual, it seems, is Power Vacuum's most effective weapon.
Posted: 09 Apr 2014 05:03 AM PDT
Bristol’s Livity Sound trio spent all of 2013 gathering plaudits – FACT’s #2 label of the year, RA‘s #1 label of the year – for their stone-carved takes on house, techno and the rest of it.
On April 17, the group – Peverelist, Kowton and Asusu – will be DJing atsecretsundaze’s Easter Special at Electric Brixton, joined by Deetron, residents James Priestley and Giles Smith, and Derrick May, still Detroit’s fastest fingers.
To mark the occasion, FACT and secretsundaze have teamed up for a competition. We’re giving away a bundle of Livity Sound vinyl and secretsundaze records and merch.
Tickets for the winner + 3To enter, drop us a line on competitions@thevinylfactory.com with the subject line ‘Livity Sound’. We’ll announce a winner on Monday, April 14. For more information on secretsundaze’s 2014 parties, head here.
Secretsundaze Artwork print [above]
Flori EP 12"
Livity Sound MMM / Pangaea remix 12"
Livity Sound A Made Up Sound remix 12"
secretsundaze t-shirt
Posted: 09 Apr 2014 04:33 AM PDT
Advertisement feature
i:D and Diesel have collaborated on A-Z of Dance, a new video showcasing 26 of the world’s favourite dance styles – from krumping to rumba.
Directed by Jacob Sutton and shot against the LA skyline, the video not only showcases some of the world’s best cult dances – often by the dancers that made them famous – but the movement potential of Diesel’s Jogg Jeans, which combine denim and jersey and are worn by all the video’s performers.
Featured in the video: the Soul Step team who starred in Rick Owen’s groundbreaking SS14 show, Nicole ‘The Pole’ Williams from Rihanna’s ‘Pout It Up’, Atlanta twerkers Mizz Twerksum and Lady Luscious, and more.
Diesel and i-D are also inviting fans to dance their way into a one-off follow-up film, by submitting footage of them dancing across social channels, using the hashtags #joggjeans and #iDdance.
If that seems like hard work (it’s really not), dancers can also join the London casting call at Diesel’s Covent Garden Store on April 10, 2-4pm. Stars from the video, including Nicole Williams, will be present.
Watch the video below; for more info, head here.
Posted: 09 Apr 2014 04:32 AM PDT
Portland's Mississippi Records release eight LP reissue of the folk archivist’s visionary collection.
Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music, described by Mississippi Records founder Eric Isaacson as responsible for changing America “more than maybe any other record ever made”, has been given a limited edition vinyl pressing.
Originally released in 1952 in three volumes, the latest version of this indispensable cultural artefact has been expanded to four volumes to reflect the vision of its original compiler. As a folk archivist, record collector and field recordist, Smith built up his anthology to shine a light on the culture of America’s marginalised people, and it was the first record of any kind to present black and white musicians together without distinction.
Speaking to OPB, label boss Isaacson said: “It's a game changer, because the minute you hear it it makes a lot of things sound a little cheesy or bland… Particularly in 1952, it would open your head to all kinds of things. So I feel like it really started a revolution; you could link it directly to a lot of social revolutions that happened in the 60s and late 50s.”
The Anthology is split into four parts – Ballads, Social Music, Songs and Rhythmic Changes – and is available as separate double LP volumes or a single box set complete with original liner notes.
Each volume is cloth-bound, pressed on 200 gram vinyl and limited to 2000 copies. Watch an extensive unboxing of the lavish set.
Mississippi Records has no online presence, so look out for new releases in good record shops and, if you're in Portland, Oregon, at 5202 N Albina Ave. [via The Vinyl Factory]
Posted: 09 Apr 2014 03:55 AM PDT
Play at industrial volume.
UK techno journeymen Untold and Perc are responsible for two of the year’s finest albums so far, with the former’s Black Light Spiral and the latter’s The Power and the Glory both making their way onto FACT’s First Quarter Report.
Now the Hemlock label boss has taken his tools to Perc’s ‘Bleeding Colours’ for the forthcoming The Power and the Glory Remixed EP, crushing the already-quite-brutal original into savage little beastie dominated by the kind of grinding, winding bassline that should come with a health warning.
Stream it below ahead of the release of the EP, also featuring remixes from Tessela and Clouds, on April 28 via Perc Trax. [via XLR8R]
Here are 15 reasons to hail Untold as your king, and check out Perc’s monster FACT mix from earlier this year if you haven’t already – it’s essential listening.
Posted: 09 Apr 2014 03:10 AM PDT
Six more names climb aboard.
Eastern Electrics Festival, which this summer takes place in the stately grounds of Hatfield House in Hertfordshire, has added more acts to its 2014 line-up.
Phantasy Sound’s Daniel Avery (pictured), ex-Instra:mental techno boss Boddika and Permanent Vacation’s Mano Le Tough join a bill that already includes the likes of Art Department, Ellen Allien and Kerri Chandler.
Steve Lawler, Laura Jones and Dyed Soundorom round off the new additions to the house and techno-fuelled party, which takes places across seven stages on Saturday, August 2. Grab regular and VIP tickets from the Eastern Electrics Festival website.
Hardcore types can extend the party with the after-party at The Coronet Theatre – tickets are on sale now, starting at £15.
Here’s the line-up so far:
Eastern Electrics Outdoor Main Stage
Art Department * Kerri Chandler * Laura Jones * Maxxi Soundsystem * Steve Lawler
mulletover in The Switchyard
Ellen Allien * Geddes * Giles Smith * James Priestley * Mano Le Tough * tINI
Rinse with the RC1 Soundsystem
Boddika * Daniel Avery * Loefah * Route 94 * Tom Shorterz * more TBA
Art of Dark in The Igloovision
Colin Chiddle * Dyed Soundorom * Jack & I * Sonja Moonear * Tania Vulcano
Electric City & Red Bull Studio Stage
Lineup soon to be announced, plus cabaret, live performance and The Electric Boo-Dior
The Star of EE Pub
Derek Dahlarge * Mr.Normski * Ralph Lawson * Ryan O Gorman * Shane Watcha * Two and Eight * Waifs and Strays
KUBICLE hosts VIP – Alice on Acidland
Death on the Balcony * Itchy Rich b2b DB * Johnny Hunter * Remi Mazet (live) * Toni D * plus special surprise guests
Posted: 09 Apr 2014 03:06 AM PDT
Industry rule 4081: labels are sexy
A few weeks back I wrote about the changes in the relationship between artist and label. The quick take-away from it was that, despite artists holding more power today than ever before, the importance of a label as a clearing house – a well-honed human filter, if you will – and its role behind the scenes cannot simply be dismissed.
Continuing the idea, I've decided to dedicate this month's Bandcamp column to labels as opposed to specific releases. As a platform, Bandcamp has been equally attractive to artists and labels, increasingly positioning itself as just another distribution channel alongside iTunes, Amazon et al. Just as you're likely to find artists publishing and selling their music directly to you via Bandcamp, you're likely to encounter labels – old and new – uploading their entire catalogue to the platform. And, aside from dedicated shops like Boomkat or Juno, I don't know of many other places online where you can freely browse label catalogues, stream full audio, and purchase without incurring a headache.
It's clear that Bandcamp understands the growing power of its position, especially with regards to independent labels. It’s user-friendly (both for consumers to purchase and artists to set up), SEO-friendly (the way MySpace was in its heyday) and increasingly self-sufficient, with a weekly radio show, editorial features, and a curated fan-based social network-like side that feeds off the ever important concept of recommendation. All this considered, and accounting for the difficulties facing distributors, it's hard not to see Bandcamp continuing to grow and becoming increasingly key to the survival of indie labels.
Equally, things could fall apart in the next few years if and when a new model for consumption and distribution fully implements itself – but the likelihood of that happening is thin. More likely is the potential for streaming to go fully mainstream and further push services like Bandcamp to the fringes of music fandom, where the more dedicated music consumers dwell. Equally likely is the possibility that a service like Spotify will one day allow you to press a 'buy on Bandcamp' button.
Being rather limited by both time and space, I've decided to hand pick seven labels that represent the breadth of what Bandcamp as to offer musically and in terms of geographical location, as well as a few personal favourites.
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Posted: 09 Apr 2014 02:25 AM PDT
Indie veterans get cracking on follow-up to Mountain Battles.
After Kim Deal left the Pixies for the second time last year, the stage has been set for the return of her band The Breeders, last seen in 2009 with the Fate to Fatal EP and before that with 2008′s Mountain Battles LP.
Although the band reunited in 2012 for a tour and reissue marking the 20th anniversary of Last Splash, they’ve pretty much been on hold since then while Deal focused on solo material, including her current crop of 7″ singles.
But speaking to Stereogum this week, the bassist and singer revealed that The Breeders have finally regrouped to begin work on their first album in six years.
“We're down in the basement recording and the songs are sounding good,” said Deal. “And honestly, I don't know what else to do. This is what I like to do. I like to record and play songs. I don't think there's much of an industry for it these days, but that's just what I do, you know?”
In the meantime, the Pixies seem to have finally settled on a replacement for Deal in the shape of bassist Paz Lenchantin, and have are releasing their first album since 1991, Indie Cindy.
Posted: 09 Apr 2014 01:53 AM PDT
Hear unreleased goodness from riot grrl pack-leaders Bikini Kill.
Back in 2012, the storied group set up Bikini Kill Records with a view to reissuing their back catalogue. So far, we’ve had the vintage Bikini Kill EP, first released in 1992. Later this month, the band will give 1993′s Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah – a split album with English counterparts Huggy Bear – a second spin. The reissue will come bundled with seven previously unreleased songs, plus new photos and liner notes.
Rookie Mag are currently hosting one of the lost tracks, the spartan, snotty ‘Girl Soldier’. It’s menacing and brilliant; click below to stream. FACT’s Arron Merat recently profiled the rise and impact of Bikini Kill’s work.
Posted: 09 Apr 2014 01:51 AM PDT
More mind-expanding esoterica from the Smashing Pumpkins frontman.
Billy Corgan has announced plans to release a double album of his experimental recordings dating back to 2007.
The initial pressing of AEGEA will be limited to just 250 vinyl copies, hand-numbered and annotated by Corgan himself, according to a post on the Smashing Pumpkins’ website. Most will be sold online, but a few copies will also be available at his own venue, Madame Zuzu’s Teahouse in Chicago.
“As a work, AEGEA is experimental in nature, and comes across as more a soundtrack to some lost foreign film than the kind of music I’m usually associated with,” explained Corgan, who is going by the alias WPC for this recording. “Listening back I quite like how AEGEA goes along, as it has qualities that are both meditative and alien; but not alienating.”
AEGEA will be released in the next six to eight weeks, priced $59.95. The double album follows a pair of unusual performances by Corgan this year, including an eight-hour drone show inspired by Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha and another long-form performance based on Sufi poems.
In the meantime, the Smashing Pumpkins are working on two “epic” albums to be released in 2015, and Corgan is developing a reality TV show about his wrestling league. Obviously. [via Exclaim]
Posted: 09 Apr 2014 01:33 AM PDT
Peel back the Antemasque.
Early last year, prog flag-bearers The Mars Volta called it quits after ten years of tumbling chord progressions and high-concept japery. The band’s two key members broke away with separate solo projects: guitarist Omar Rodriguez Lopez ploughed his time into his Bosnian Rainbows outfit, whereas singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala threw his weight behind his Zavalaz gig.
As Exclaim report, the pair have reactivated their working relationship with a new band, Antemasque. The project also features Red Hot Chili Pepper Flea, who, between Atoms For Peace and Rocketjuice and the Moon, is something of a supergrouper-for-hire. The ensemble is rounded out by former Mars Volta drummer Dave Elitch.
Antemasque announced their arrival with a short rehearsal video, featuring (mostly) chit-chat and snatches of garage-y racket. A zippy promo clip has also been released, although it’s substantially less enlightening; cast your eyes south to check out both.
At the very least, we’re looking at more fodder for Flea’s forthcoming memoirs.
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