Features

Trainwreck: Juan Maclean

As the Discogs page for "Juan Maclean" makes patently clear, there is the man Juan Maclean (born John Maclean), and then there is his band, The Juan Maclean. The project fuses robotic synth-pop with well-honed, genre-neutral dancefloor instincts, and has been marked by a host of collaborators. The most prominent of those is vocalist and keyboardist Nancy Whang, who anchors The Juan Maclean's latest hooky single and nineteenth release for DFA, "You Are My Destiny." This edition of Trainwreck finds Maclean out on his own, however. And though there is probably no great moral to this story, it does prove that the artist will go to violent lengths to ensure a quality party—even if it means paradoxically wrecking said party in the process. Read more »

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05/08/2013

Bubblin' Up: Graze

Adam Marshall and Christian "XI" Andersen have long been two of Toronto's premier dance-music exponents, albeit in fairly different realms. When he's not overseeing operations at the top-notch New Kanada label, Marshall releases stripped-down, drone-heavy techno, while Anderson trades in frenetic, sub-led garage. Having met each other only briefly in their hometown, it actually took a move to Berlin for them become friends. But even while in Berlin, the two tended to work on their collaborative Graze project remotely, jamming out ideas in their own spaces and only convening to mix them down (a practice which continues, as Andersen has since returned to Toronto). What's more, Graze's tracks were composed to fit seamlessly within a live set, which they will obviously have to perform together. It would seem that Marshall and Andersen have made every effort to ensure the diffusion of their collaborative efforts. Read more »

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05/06/2013

Press Play: Matthew Dear, DOOM, Maceo Plex, Nosaj Thing, and More

A ton of great music appeared on the internet as streaming audio and video this week, and from excellent sources, too. There are track premieres, video interviews, high-profile remixes, fresh original productions, music videos, and more from artists like Matthew Dear, Maceo Plex, Clams Casino, Nosaj Thing, DOOM, Vessel, The Gaslamp Killer, Fred P, D33J, and Mike Simonetti, among others. All of the sights and sounds of this week's edition of Press Play are waiting to be experienced after the jump. Read more »

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05/03/2013

XLR8R's Top 20 Downloads of April

XLR8R's Top 20 Downloads of April list seems to be just about split down the middle between the number of remixes and original tracks it holds, but the producers behind those solid tunes would be hard pressed to be more eclectic. With top-notch house, garage, bass, hip-hop, ambient, techno, and pop-leaning productions available from the likes of Hackman, Synkro, Mak & Pasteman, Jacques Renault, Tropics, and D33J (pictured above), among plenty of others, April's bounty of free downloads is certainly not to be missed. The most popular cuts from the past 30 or so days in our Downloads feed can be found after the jump. Read more »

Filed under: feature
05/02/2013

Hi, Doctor Nick! - Air Miles, Saving Money on Coffee, and Letting Your Demo Find Its Way to the Right People

Nick Hook's time is valuable. Our resident advice columnist is a busy dude, someone who's constantly in the studio, DJing parties, making beats, or hopping on a plane for something—that's why he's got so much knowledge rolling around in his head. Doctor Nick can talk music, gear, DJing, romance, fashion, travel, and more. Here's the thing though—you have to ask him questions. Hit him up at doctornick@xlr8r.com. Admittedly, this week's crop of inquiries was admittedly subpar, but even that didn't stop the good doctor—he just skipped the questions entirely and let the wisdom flow.

Yooooo.

It's 1 a.m. My editor Shawn is gonna kill me. The questions were really bad this week so I gotta make some stuff up. Can you guys please send me questions? doctornick@xlr8r.com. It would suck to get fired. Read more »