One of the absolute highlights from XLR8R's time at this year's Movement festival in Detroit was the set that Mala played on the Red Bull Music Academy stage on Sunday (our review of it can be found here, and more photos can be found here). Between his deft selections of dark, sub-focused music and his affable stage presence, the longstanding DJ/producer rendered us speechless for the hour and a half he played—that is, until he dropped a tune we couldn't help but cheer for. Suffice it to say that we were excited to interview Mala while we had the chance, so after he finished up talking to friends, signing 12" sleeves, and taking photos with fans, we had a quick chat with the dubstep don about the music he's been playing lately, whether or not he feels connected to Detroit's legacy, and his thoughts on EDM and so-called American "dubstep." Read more »
Seeing as how we've got some some exclusive premieres, record streams, interviews, visual pieces, unexpected remixes, and more from artists like Juan Atkins, Tim Goldsworthy, Jacques Greene, DJ Rashad, Traxman, Throwing Snow, Zed Bias, and How to Dress Well, among others, today's edition of Press Play is simply an offering of music that can't be missed. Read more »
As XLR8R was getting ready to head to Detroit for this year's Movement festival—which we wrote about and photographed extensively—there were many acts we couldn't wait to see, and Ann Arbor native Dabrye was very high on that list. Maybe it's because we've been seriously missing his kind of leftfield hip-hop beats since his last solo album dropped in 2006, or perhaps it's because he was one of the few producers of that genre to play Movement, but we quickly went after a chance to interview the artist born Tadd Mullinix while we had the chance. During our quick chat, Dabrye recalled some of his early memories of the first Movement festival, shared his thoughts on the so-called "beat scene," and gave us an update on the third installment of his LP trilogy. Read more »
Los Angeles-based artist Baths (a.k.a. Will Wiesenfeld) trades in wistful, vocal-led electronic pop, and has often been lumped in with the chillwave movement as a result. This isn't inherently wrong, but it does a disservice to both his wonky, beat-scene-informed production and to the range of emotions he's capable of conveying. Obsidian, his new album for Anticon, finds him exploring darker and more nuanced territory than ever before, all of which lands pretty far from chillwave's Endless Summer vibes. Even so, Wiesenfeld's music does have an accessibility that endears him to all sorts of scenes. In this edition of Trainwreck, the producer recounts playing an absurdly druggy festival in a Northwestern forest, and the crazed "fan" (or undead tormentor, possibly) it allowed him to meet. Read more »
Nick Hook has the knowledge. More importantly, he's willing to share it. Our resident doctor (not really) and street shaman pops in every Thursday morning to field readers' questions about life, love, music, production, touring, DJing, equipment, and... that's just a partial list. The good doctor is here to help and can be reached at doctornick@xlr8r.com. Tap into his brain—it's stuffed with useful tidbits of information.
Hi. I'm eating veggie dumplings from Prosperity Dumpling. I just got back from Movement in Detroit. I had a great time and saw awesome sets from Benjamin Damage, Cajmere, George FitzGerald, Brodinski, Samo Sound Boy, Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson, and Azari & III. Shouts to Chuck and the Paxahau crew for really throwing a special festival and all the people that I had fun with. Extra props to Red Bull Music Academy. I can say I'm gonna miss everyone when they leave NYC in the next few days. It's been an incredible month. I've also still kinda been processing how much I enjoyed Spinn and Rashad's set at Santos last week. Read more »
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