out now: Peaking Lights – Lucifer [Weird World / Domino Records]

Artist:
Peaking Lights

Title:
Lucifer

Label:
Weird World / Domino Records

Cat#:
WEIRD011

Release Date:
16th June 2012

Format:
CD, vinyl+MP3 & digital

Tracklist:
01)
Moonrise

02)
Beautiful Son

03)
Live Long

04)
Cosmic Tides

05)
Midnight

06)
Lo Hi

07)
Dream Beat

08)
Morning Star

Info (English):
It is a true pleasure to announce Lucifer – the third full length release from West Coast duo Peaking Lights. With it, the golden duo of Aaron Doyes and Indra Dunis continue to crystallize their mesmerising sound and find new dimensions within. Lucifer comes at a time of great transition for this married couple and it reflects the possibilities that they have found during this new life era, especially with the birth of their son, Mikko- a guiding light muse for the album.

Recorded in Brooklyn at Gary’s Electric studio over the course of a month and self-produced with the help of engineer Al Carson (Yeasayer, Onehotrix Point Never), Peaking Lights consider Lucifer a nocturnal version of their sound. “To us this record is about play and playfulness, unconditional love, rhythms and pulses, creation and vibration,” says Coyes. Lucifer is also Peaking Lights’ most ambitious release to date in terms of its approach and scope – boasting much to please anyone previously seduced by the genre-defying, gritty grooves and enchanting, sensual melodies of the band’s earlier work, but also proving an altogether more heavy, propulsive and focused effort. Incredibly, there’s even space within Lucifer for Coyes and Dunis’ already insanely broad palette of influences to widen even further – touches of analogue electronic dance music, sound collage and straight up pop joining the dub, krautrock and minimal disco of ‘936’ in a hypnotising concoction.

Though the name Lucifer may carry sinister connotations to some, to Peaking Lights it represents the start of something new. “All of our record titles have come to us in dreams, daydreams and epiphanies.” says Coyes. “Lucifer sat so strong with us. It means ‘Venus, bearer of light’ and is the first sign of the sunrise. There are some major astrological and astronomical events involving Venus in this year of 2012.”

“The songs on Lucifer, by most people that have heard them so far, conjour a night time version of previous works, music to soundtrack the moonrise to the sunrise. To Indra and I, though there are similarities to earlier recordings, this stands on its own. It’s changed us, or maybe we were already changed when we wrote it and it is that cathartic release. There was a new approach to recording our rhythms and we were able to see thru many more influences. We are really happy to share these recordings!”

To celebrate the record’s announcement, Aaron and Indra have put together a new series of their much beloved mix tapes that will be appearing sporadically at http://www.lucifer.fm over the next weeks and months. The first is available now and a few distant glimpses of Lucifer’s many spoils can found amongst its deep-digs. Or listen to them here (see below).

Info (German):
“Lucifer” heißt das dritte Album des Duos Peaking Lights. Darauf verdichten Aaron Coyes und Indra Dunis ihren hypnotisierenden Sound und erweitern ihn zugleich. “Lucifer” erscheint zu einer Zeit großer Veränderungen für das Ehepaar. Das Album handelt von den neu entdeckten Möglichkeiten und vor allem von der Geburt ihres Sohnes Mikko – dem leuchtenden Stern, der über diesem Album schwebt (“Lucifer” bedeutet Lichtträger).

Innerhalb eines Monats nahmen die Peaking Lights das Album zusammen mit Al Carson (Yeasayer, Oneohtrix Point Never) im Brooklyner Gary’s Electric Studio auf. Das Duo sieht “Lucifer” als die nächtliche Version ihres Sounds. “To us this record is about play and playfulness, unconditional love, rhythms and pulses, creation and vibration,” sagt Aaron. So ist das dritte Album die bisher ambitionierteste Platte in Sachen Herangehensweise und Soundspektrum. Wer von den bezaubernden Melodien und genre-sprengenden früheren Alben begeistert war, wird es diesmal natürlich auch wieder sein. Der Sound wurde jedoch nicht einfach kopiert. Der Ansatz auf Lucifer ist fokussierter, treibender und lässt gleichzeitig mehr Platz für weitere Einflüsse. Analoge elektronische Dancemusic, Soundcollagen und geradliniger Pop fügen sich ein in die bekannten Dub-, Krautrock- und Minimal-Disco-Elemente des Vorgängers “936”.

Obwohl der Titel “Lucifer” für manche eher eine düsteren Ton hat, bedeutet er für das Duo den Beginn von etwas Neuem. Denn “Lucifer” steht in der römischen Mythologie für den Morgenstern, dem ersten Zeichen des kommenden Tages.
“All of our record titles have come to us in dreams, daydreams and epiphanies.” so Aaron Coyes.

Die Songs auf “Lucifer” klingen wie der Soundtrack für die Zeit zwischen Sonnenuntergang und Sonnenaufgang. Sie sind sozusagen die nächtliche Version der früheren Arbeiten der Peaking Lights. Doch trotz einiger Parallelen zu den Vorgängeralben, stellt “Lucifer” für die Beiden etwas neues dar. Man kann es fast schon als kathartisches Album für das Duo bezeichnen: “It changed us, or maybe we were already changed when we wrote it.”

Bis das Album Ende Juni erscheint, beschenken uns Indra und Aaron mit einer neuen Serie von Mixtapes, die man auf http://www.lucifer.fm hören kann. Dafür hat das Duo Peaking Lights wieder tief in der Raritäten-Kiste gekramt. Oder du hörst sie dir einfach hier an (siehe unten).

Listen:

Lucifer Mixtapes:

Buy:
Domino Records (all formats)
Amazon GER (CD)
Amazon GER (vinyl)
Amazon UK (CD)
Amazon UK (vinyl)
Juno (CD)
Juno (vinyl)
deejay.de (CD)
deejay.de (vinyl)
iTunes (digital)
more soon

Websites:
Peaking Lights
Domino Records

out now: Motor feat. Martin L. Gore – Man Made Machine (P.A.S. Remix) [CLR]

Artist:
Motor featuring Martin L. Gore

Title:
Man Made Machine (Planetary Assault Systems DNA Interpretation)

Label:
CRL

Cat#:
CLR058

Release Date:
28th May 2012

Format:
12″ & digital

Tracklist:
01)
Man Made Machine
(Planetary Assault Systems DNA Interpretation)

Info:
For our new release CLR058 we have prepared a true collector´s item. None other than Luke Slater, one of the most renowned and inspiring artists in today´s electronic music scene, did a very personal and sophisticated remix of MOTOR´s recent single “Man Made Machine”. For this memorable undertaking the
British producer is actually using his legendary Planetary Assault Systems moniker. Following the recent release of MOTOR´s new album “Man Made Machine” on CLRX, we have produced a one-sided picture disc in red vinyl featuring this exclusive P.A.S. remix. The artwork of the limited edition shows the silhouette of Depeche Mode´s Martin L. Gore, the vocalist of the hailed debut single. Having been able to bring all of those outstanding artists to the same table and create something like this wonderful vinyl
means a lot to us. Thanks to the critical acclaim and the success of the album, we are even more exited about this record.

Listen:

Related Releases:
Motor’s main single “Man Made Machine”
Motor album “Man Made Machine”

Buy:
CLR (vinyl)
deejay.de (vinyl)
decks.de (vinyl)
Juno (vinyl)
Amazon GER (vinyl)
WOM (vinyl)
muisc-head.de (vinyl)
JunoDowload (digital)
iTunes (digital)
Beatport (digital)
Zero-Inch (digital)
7Digital (digital)
Amazon GER (digital)
Amazon UK (digital)
more soon

Websites:
Motor
Martin L. Gore
Luke Slater
CreateLearnRealize

out now: Douglas J. McCarthy – Hey [Shaboom Black Records]

 

Artist:
Douglas J. McCarthy

 

Title:
Hey

 

Label:
Shaboom Black Records

 

Cat#:
SHABLK001

 

Release Date:
June 2012

 

Format:
digital

 

Tracklist:
01)
Hey
(Radio Mix)

02)
Hey
(Extended Mix)

03)
Hey
(Reverse Commuter Mix)

04)
Hey
(Mono Electric Orchestra Mix)

05)
Hey
(Mono Electric Orchestra Dub)

 

Press Info:
This is the first single from Nitzer Ebb frontman Douglas J. McCarthy’s first solo album. Dark and dreamy, Sparse desert themed, Tech House. This is a truly unique recording from one of the greatest innovators of early modern electronic dance music.

Dark growling bass, real shuffling drums, spacey slide guitar, subtle simple synth parts underpin one of Douglas’ greatest vocal performances to date. An eerie sense of twilight magic spun together within one of Blakkat#s finest productions.

Remixes are courtesy of Reverse Commuter, also know as [a]pendics.shuffle & Kenneth J Gibson. This mix is a must for lovers of Indie Dance, it’s Primal Scream meets The Doors, the greatest Indie Dance record not to come from Madchester, huge live drums, scally House piano parts, groovy duck dunn b-lines, an absolute floor killer!

The Mono Electric Orchestra is the new project of the legendary producer/remixer Barry Jamieson. Barry has been making massive dance floor records since the late 80s. He was Sasha’s sideman on all his releases for the past 10 years, and has remixed everyone from Thom Yorke to Madoona. Theses remixes are a new frontier of Techno with vocals. We believe that time will tell the importance of these works. Both the vocal mix and the dub are built around a colossal swinging Techno groove peppered with wild drum FX, and soaring synth noises. The bass line from the original version builds into the track at the halfway point. The energy is relentless, the atmosphere is electric and both verrsions are powerful floor fillers of the highest order!

 

Snippets:

 

Official Video:
“Hey”

 

Related Release:
Album “Kill Your Friends”
“Kill Your Friends” Remix EP
Single “Move On”

 

Buy Digital:
iTunes
Beatport
Amazon GER
Amazon UK
Amazon US
more soon

 

Websites:
Douglas J. McCarthy
Shaboom Black Records

 
The debut album “Life Is Sucking The Life Out Of Me” is an enjoyable journey through the darker side of electronic dance music.

Nitzer Ebb founder/electronic music pioneer Douglas J McCarthy began writing his first ever solo album in 2010 during an European DJ tour with his wife, video artist Hazel Hiull McCarthy III.

McCarthy and world renowned producer/former M People singer Mark Bell – lauded for his work with such acts as Doc Martin and Felix Da Housecat – recorded the album in Los Angeles over a year that found McCarthy performing 150 shows with Nitzer Ebb, caring for his father in England, and travelling across India by train.

Throughout his worldwide travels, McCarthy wrote “Life Is Sucking The Life Out Of Me” using NAtive Instruments’ Maschine – returning to LA reguarly to work with Bell, who produced and mixed the record. Recalling Cabaret Voltaire, Heroes era Bowie and Kraftwerk, this recird devilishly blends industrial and experimental sounds with heavy dance floor beats and pop melodies.

For the first time, McCarthy is releasing a record through Beatport, the Denver-based leader in electronic music downloads. Beatport provides electronic music practitioners and fans alike with an unprecedented quality and breadth of artists, filling the gap left by record labels unable to appease the discerning electronic music buying public.

Revolutionary in its conception, execution and distribution, “Life Is Sucking The Life Out Of Me” truly exploits the opportunity a debut album provides for an artist to create new rules of engagement.

22nd June 2012: Grounded Theory [16] @ Arenaclub, Berlin

Grounded Theory

 

Event:
Grounded Theory [16]

Dates & Time:
22nd June 2012 at 11.59pm

Line-up:
Nina Kraviz
Terence Fixmer live
Delta Funktionen
Henning Baer

Location:
Arenaclub, Berlin (Germany)

Admission fee:
10 Euros

Info (German only):
State-of-the-Art Techno

Grounded Theory [16] am 22. Juni 2012 im Arenaclub

Berlin – Am Freitag, den 22. Juni 2012 findet die 16. Grounded Theory ab 23:59 Uhr im Arenaclub, Eichenstrasse 4, 12435 Berlin statt. Nach Grounded Theory 15 mit Marcel Dettmann, Northern Structures, Lucy und Milton Bradley spielen zur kommenden Veranstaltung Nina Kraviz (Underground Quality, Rekids), Terence Fixmer live (Planete Rouge, Electric Deluxe), Delta Funktionen (Ann Aimee, Delsin) und GT Resident Henning Baer (K209, Grounded Theory).

Die in Moskau lebende DJane und Produzentin Nina Kraviz zählt derzeit zu den hell leuchtenden Sternen am Himmel der House und Techno Szene. 2009 veröffentlichte sie ihre erste Release auf Jus-Eds Underground Quality Label und begann zur selben Zeit ihren Namen in der Moskauer Szene zu etablieren. Nachdem sie mit „Pain in the ass“ auf Radio Slaves Rekids weiteres internationales Ansehen erlangte, häuften sich ihre Bookings weltweit und sie ist mitterweile nahezu jedes Wochenende in der Welt unterwegs. Wer denkt, dass sie zu Grounded Theory ein reines House-Set spielen wird, liegt gänzlich falsch, denn Nina Kraviz hat eine große Vorliebe für Techno der straighteren Gangart. Ihr Resident Advisor Podcast ist ein Indikator dafür, was grooviger Techno/House Sound mit Facetten der benachbarten Stilrichtungen für sie bedeutet. Grounded Theory ist stolz Nina Kraviz in diesem Kontext präsentieren zu dürfen und man darf auf das gespannt sein, was diese Nacht bringen wird.

Terence Fixmer zählt zu den bekanntesten französischen Techno DJs und Produzenten. Zwei Soloalben auf DJ Hells Gigolo Label sowie etliche Releases auf Imprints wie Novamute, Datapunk, Different und Music Man machen ihn zu einer festen Größe der letzten 10 Jahre. Remixe für Künstler wie Nitzer Ebb, Sven Väth, Dave Clark, DJ Hell oder Radio Slave verdeutlichen seine Reputation bei anderen Produzenten. Mit seine letzte LP Comedy Of Menace auf Speedy Js Electric Deluxe präsentierte Fixmer ein modern arrangiertes, pures Techno Album mit düsteren und atmosphärischen Tracks. Zur 16. Grounded Theory spielt Terence Fixmer live, nachdem er bereits zur siebten mit einem DJ-Set zu Gast war.

Hinter Delta Funktionen steckt ein junger Niederländer namens Niels Luinenburg, der im Umfeld der Amsterdamer Delsin-Crew Popularität gewann. Mit Releases auf Delsin Records sowie Ann Aimee veröffentlichte Delta Funktionen zeitgemäßen, groovenden Techno mit deutlich erkennbaren Anleihen zum ursprünglichen Detroit-Techno. Am 18. Juni erscheint sein lange erwartetes Album „Traces“ auf Delsin, mit dem er auf ein Neues beweist, dass er zu den talentiertesten Künstlern zählt, die ihren eigenen Sound im Detail entwickelt haben und in der Lage sind sich zwischen den verschiedensten Genres zu bewegen ohne zu irritieren. Im Oktober letzten Jahres spielte Delta Funktionen das Closing-Set und jeder der dieses miterlebt hat wird sich an die Morgenstunden erinnern und weiß wo die Reise hinführen kann.

Komplettiert wird das Line-Up mit Grounded Theory Co-Initiator Henning Baer, der mit seiner aktuellen Release auf Adam X‘s Sonic Groove sowie den Veröffentlichungen auf K209 sichtbare Spuren hinterlassen hat. Seine Vorliebe für rohe und industriell anmutende Sounds mit Distortion und Overdrive treffen auf eine starke Resonanz innerhalb der Szene und aktuelle Remixe für Justin Berkovi sowie Fanon Flowers signalisieren eine immer stärker werdende Präsenz auf den Dancefloors und Plattentellern der Clubszenen weltweit. Mit seinem erfolgreichen Berghain-Debut Ende Mai hat Henning Baer bewiesen, dass er zurecht als „One to watch in 2012“ gezählt werden kann.

GT16 @ Resident Advisor
GT16 @ Facebook

Listen:
Henning Baer

Delta Funktionen

Terence Fixmer

Nina Kraviz

Videos:
Henning Baer

Delta Funktionen

Terence Fixmer

Videos created by the29nov films.

Recommendations:
Terence Fixmer release on Electric Deluxe
Henning Baer release on the co-owned label K209

Websites:
Grounded Theory
Arena Club

out now: Laurel Halo – Quarantine [Hyperdub Records]

 

Artist:
Laurel Halo

 

Title:
Quarantine

 

Label:
Hyperdub Records

 

Cat#:
HDBCD014

 

Release Date:
28th May 2012

 

Format:
CD, vinyl & digital

 

Tracklist:
01)
Airsick

02)
Years

03)
Thaw

04)
Joy

05)
MK Ultra

06)
Wow

07)
Carcass

08)
Holoday

09)
Tumor

10)
Morcom

11)
Nerve

12)
Light + Space

 

Info:
Since 2010’s King Felix and into last year’s highly lauded Hour Logic, Laurel Halo has developed a self-contained take on electronic music, collapsing the boundaries between ambient, pop, synthetic psychedelia, dub and the techno music of her Midwest roots. Fixed stylistic territories fold in on themselves, time quickens — her music is meant for transit, body listening and loud soundsystems.

Quarantine, her debut album and first release on Hyperdub, is her most focused and evolved release yet. This is an album of transporting songs, various altitude shifts via effecting pop-concrete, built on a rich synthesis of intuitive but exacting electronic abstraction, bass pulse and heartfelt songwriting.

Like Halo’s previous releases, Quarantine slams ambient suspension and disorienting detail up against each other. The twelve songs here operate as complex vacuums, airborne harmony and movement met with incidental noise and sub bass pressure, sample details and synth lines as trails across a mutilated sonic topography.

What is different on Quarantine is that Halo’s voice is foregrounded — the vocals are dry against lush arrangements, and her confidence with lyrics and delivery is more pronounced. Her expressive singing works as a pivot in songs that eschew the usual melodic routes to generate emotion, serving as contour and human definition in contrast to the forbidden synthetic space. Sensual melodies are bent to the point of nausea, inducing the torque of a psychedelic pop that simultaneously recalls elevation and trauma. This is a kind of music you might not have heard before, and in 2012 that in itself is
rare.

Photo below by Tim Saccenti

 

Listen:
@ Hyperdub

 

Recommendation:
another great record by Laurel Halo aka King Felix, “Spring”

 

Buy:
Hyperdub (digital)
Juno (CD)
Amazon GER (CD)
Amazon GER (vinyl)
Amazon GER (digital)
Amazon UK (CD)
Amazon UK (vinyl)
Amazon UK (digital)
deejay.de (CD)
deejay.de (vinyl)
decks.de (CD)
djshop.de (vinyl)
Beatport (digital)
7Digital (digital)
JunoDownload (digital)
Zero-Inch (digital)
more soon

 

Websites:
Laurel Halo
HyperDub