XLR8R News and Features

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1. Dubspot Launches Dubspot Labs Event Series, Details Upcoming Synth-Building Workshop
2. DJ Rashad & DJ Spinn "DJ Rashad & DJ Spinn Meet Tshetsha Boys (Photonz 33 1/3 Refix)"
3. Watch Jessy Lanza Perform for Yours Truly
4. Download a New Mix from Rene Hell
5. Rain Dog "Regolith"
6. Holly Herndon Announces New 12"
7. Bubblin' Up Week 2014: Beyond Talabot - Barcelona's Electronic Scene Works Its Way into the Spotlight
8. XO "Old Skool"
9. Go Dugong "Total Body Workout"

Dubspot Launches Dubspot Labs Event Series, Details Upcoming Synth-Building Workshop Posted: 06 Jan 2014 12:03 PM PST New York-based production school Dubspot (which recently revealed it would be opening a Los Angeles location in 2014) has announced Dubspot Labs, a new, ongoing series of special events and workshops scheduled to begin this weekend with a seminar on DIY synth building. read more

Best New Tracks - Pitchfork

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Beyoncé: "XO" Posted: 17 Dec 2013 11:38 AM PST   "Probably won't make no money off this, oh well," Beyoncé shrugs on her new album's moody, amorphous second track, "Haunted." And I say this with the requisite curtsy to the Queen, but: bullshit. True, in both content and form, Beyoncé is a risk—an emotionally candid, unconventionally structured experimental pop record that was released digital-only with absolutely no promotion—but we know now that she is going to make a little bit of money off this. Still, how could you not know all along that you've got a blockbuster on your hands, when there is a song on your record like "XO"? "XO" is one of those big, boundary-obliterating pop songs that demands to be projected onto the sky, like the aural equivalent of a firework. There will be a supercut of people all over the world lip-syncing and doing cute hand motions to "XO" by the end of this week. It's the Beyoncé cut that Ed McMahon would ride for. One of the guys from Skeleton Crew is going to propose to his girlfriend while "XO" is playing and she will say yes. "XO" is the reason why anyone you know who has said, "Yeah, but where are the hooks on Beyoncé?" did not listen to the entire album. Chris Martin is listening to "XO" right now, crying. And, because perfection is overrated, all of the flawlessness here is brilliantly undercut by that gravelly croak in her lower register when she growls, "Baby love me, lights out." You kill us, Bey.