ODESZA‘s famed Foreign Family Collective is bringing a variety of artists and releases together for a new project, delivering the first edition of Rave.wavs. The project is a compilation featuring tracks from label artists and close friends including Jai Wolf, Chrome Sparks, Kasbo, Phantoms, pluko, Robotaki, Medasin, and more. Rave.wavs was born out of a variety of different inspirations, including the Collective’s desire to let artists release music without expectations, especially after such a difficult period of time that many spent in relative isolation.
ODESZA shares more about the compilation in an official release, saying,
“Foreign Family Collective has always been about merging music with visuals, bringing artists together and exploring new mediums for creativity.” They added, “Rare.wavs embodies all of that as well as an opportunity for artists to release music without worrying about how it would fit an album, how it works as a single, or any of the usual concerns that sometimes come with sharing your art.”
The project has allowed the featured artists to submit whatever they wanted, and as a result, the body of work gives listeners a completely new listening experience from some of their favorite artists.
Bass house aficionado Wax Motif is back with his first single of the calendar year, “Need You,” featuring Phlegmatic Dogs. Out now via Divided Soul Records, the single is a long-awaited collaboration between the two dance music forces. Russian producer pair Phlegmatic Dogs appeal to a more niche bass-house demographic while on the other hand, Wax Motif has indulged in mainstream successes, catching acclaim from likes of Tiësto, Diplo, and more. Thus, “Need You” brings a tantalizing blend of popular viability and more underground appeal to the mix. The fresh new offering opens with a swelling atmosphere, which morphs into a high-octane bass house anthem.
“Need You” is another infectious morale booster, as dance floors continue to be repopulated around the globe. In a tweet, Wax Motif expressed excitement for his “first show back” at Get Funky Festival in Utah, on May 28. The “WET” producer is also scheduled to take the stage at Sunset Music Festival in Florida, and at HARD Summer in California.
Over 600 artists have signed #MusiciansForPalestine, a letter in support of Palestinian rights.
Yesterday (27th May), an open letter titled #MusiciansForPalestine was signed by over 600 artists and shared online, in a show of solidarity with the people of Palestine. Signees of the letter are “refusing to perform at Israel’s complicit cultural institutions” and “standing firm in your support of the Palestinian people and their human right to sovereignty and freedom.”
“As musicians, we cannot be silent.” the letter states. “We are calling on our peers to publically assert their solidarity with the Palestinian people. Complicity with Israeli war crimes is found in silence, and today silence is not an option.”
Among the artists to sign the letter are A-Trak, Cypress Hill, DJ Snake, Juliana Huxtable, LSDXOXO, Marie Davidson and VTSS, who are demanding “justice, dignity and the right to self-determination for the Palestinian people and all who are fighting colonial dispossession and violence across the planet.” Other signees include Palestinian DJ and current DJ Mag cover star, Sama’ Abdulhadi, India Jordan, KMRU and Run The Jewels. You can read the full list here.
The move comes following Israel’s recent bombardment of the Gaza Strip, which killed over 230 Palestinians, over a quarter of them children. Thousands more have been injured, and over 90,000 displaced. You can read the full letter below.
Following the release of album single ‘Hood Blues’, featuring Conway the Machine, Benny the Butcher, and Griselda’s Westside Gunn, earlier this week, DMX’s 13-track posthumous LP has now been shared in full.
Featuring the likes of Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg and Alicia Keys, ‘Exodus’ features production credits from close friend and executive producer, Swiss Beatz. The album also marks DMX’s first work in 18 years for the legendary Def Jam imprint, which previously carried some of his most acclaimed releases including the 1988 debut ‘It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot’ and 1999’s ‘And Then There Was X’, his biggest-selling LP.
‘Exodus’ also includes additional features from U2’s Bono and rapper Nas, as well as Usher and DMX’s son, Exodus Simmons.
DMX died on 9th April 2021 after being hospitalised seven days earlier following a reported drug overdose and heart attack. His funeral was broadcast to the world with millions watching in a bid to pay their respect, while 28th December has been declared Earl ‘DMX’ Simmons Day by New York State.
After cryptically teasing his upcoming EP using Morse code to spell out “GETTER/SOME/CREATURE/EP” and “SIX/ORIGINAL/SONGS” earlier this month, Getter has curbed fans’ appetites with the EP’s first single “BLOOD HARVEST.”
With time spent away from touring, Getter has gotten back to form over the past year, releasing an EP under his rap alias Terror Reid as well as his migration back to dubstep on his NAPALM EP. Getter’s latest showcases the producer back in his element, feeling as creative and boundary-pushing as ever. “BLOOD HARVEST” combines various sides of the multifaceted artist, generating his characteristically grimy dubstep sound alongside pitched-down rap verses and Soulja Boy samples. “BLOOD HARVEST” also provides a stark reminder about Getter—he’s unapologetically going to purvey his art however he sees fit in the moment, drawing from influences spanning beyond the genre and allowing the work to speak for itself.
While many fans are hopeful for Some Creature to lean towards a heavy metal persuasion, there’s no telling the overarching direction this EP will take, or when it will be released to the public. Stay tuned for more cryptic codes and listen to “BLOOD HARVEST” below.
David Guetta has teamed up with South African viral sensation Master KG and Akon for an uplifting new single, “Shine Your Light.” A feel-good anthem, the track blends a brilliant Afro-house framework with a catchy commercial fabric woven throughout. The release highlights a new dimension of Guetta’s production abilities, marked by a distinct radio appeal and a mood-lightening atmosphere.
David Guetta and Akon have a rich collaboration history including 2009’s single “Sexy Chick” and their 2011 effort, “Play Hard” alongside Ne-Yo. It is the first time the artists have come together with Master KG, who ascended into notoriety after his breakout single “Jerusalema” went viral as part of a TikTok dance challenge. “Shine Your Light” featuring Akon is out now via Warner Records.
Four Tet has given fans a true summer select, nonchalantly releasing a remaster of his largely forgotten 2006 DJ Kicksexclusive, “Pockets.”
15 years of dust? No problem, as “Pockets’” colorful synthwork and expansive drum kit keeps the tune as ripe as the day it was picked. The track opens with a bouncing riff that sounds straight out of Sonic 2, only to devolve into a psychedelic bout of the UK producer’s organic chime and beat-ridden atmosphere. On paper, it sounds like a bit of a mess, but somehow under the production wizardry of Four Tet, the eclectic single results in something particularly cohesive.
The release also brings a remastered take of “Pockets (minimal version)” which presents a stripped down, almost sterile rendition of the original. While the original uses the remaster to find a bit of clarity sense of the atmospheric clutter, “Pockets (minimal version)” uses it as an additional layer of polish on an already clean slate. Purchase “Pockets” in either digital or physical formats here, and find stream the full remastered release below.
Lor Sosa and Blueface releasea visual for their new single “Live Die & Get Paid” featuring Kayos & Alé. It’s a flaming track filled with upbeat production and an impeccable flow.
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Lor Sosa, being from Baltimore, and west coast rapper Blueface had to create a video for this track after the amount of love they received on it from their fans. This track is proof that when the east and west coast come together, they create beautiful, magnetic music.
The dreamy yet calm production perfectly matches the chill demeanor that the west side possesses. The city scenes in the visual with graffiti and buildings show the gritty side of the west coast, as well as its uniqueness as these two artists use intense wordplay and high-level lyricism to deliver their verses. Blueface’s verse went hard as his witty rhyme schemes were intelligently weaved with the beat. Lor Sosa undeniably displays his versatility with his intelligent wordplay. Alé sang the perfect hook as she offered a sweet balance between the fiery verses. This smooth track is guaranteed to be a hit to start off the summer. Press play and you will be hooked on the first listen.
Imagine not just embracing girls and nonbinary and queer trans kids as music students – but encouraging DIY, hot-wiring a cactus, playing together, and leaning into errors. It’s Error Music – Don’t Delete!
That’s Fehlerkultur in German – literally, error culture. It’s maybe the opposite of the way a lot of us were exposed to musical practice – both in the classical concert tradition and in the industry, even some of us who do music-related things for a living. But from DIY electronics and hacking to sound design to live performance, music can become a tool to boost confidence, say the organizers. It helps early teenaged girls and queer trans kids (“Mädchen* und nonbinary Kids“) discover creative potential and make a future for sound and technology.
In short, it’s just the sort of thing the world needs right now. With the pandemic disrupting education and socialization, pushing marginalized folks even further away from their dreams, gender divides deepen, and with so many people engaged in the music world underemployed – here is a path forward. Whereas so much of music can seem competitive and a zero-sum game, here is a musical learning and sharing approach that has near bottomless potential.
So this is “techno” in the broadest sense – using machines as a mechanism for self-discovery and radical transformation, patterns as philosophy, ways of being and playing with other people, and electronic music as a way of making expression okay, away from the normative and exclusionary rules around us.
Here’s the basic formula:
Head to schools and youth clubs in the neighborhoods of Berlin.
Produce a “safe space for playful exploration” for girls and QT kids.
Work for five days together.
Explore production, technique, and DIY stuff (including DIY MIDI controllers, Sonic Pi live coding, and some of the usual fundamentals, too).
Finish with an experimental live performance with everybody – including, for added energy and motivation, sets by the mentors.
Maybe best is seeing some images of how this works in action – in case you need some added inspiration for making something like this happen in your neck of the woods. I love that a live performance is the end result – that’s something I like to practice, too, with participatory platforms.
Oh yeah, and please don’t miss Yosa’s superb album Phyton. We need more musicians and producers who can sing and teach. Maybe this should be something we demand of artists rather than seeing it as a day gig. It’s part of our role in the world.
And, anyway, it’s a fantastic album – personal, punk, poignant, deep. Plus – necklaces as merch, clever. We all need some musical healing and some accessories.
Manchester rapper Sweets goes for an experimental and nonconforming sound on his new release titled “I’m Not Coming Home.” The hip-hop record is gritty and dark with its sizzling synths, crunchy rousing drums, and weird sound design that sounds like the score for a sci-fi horror flick. Sweets however find home within the production and come with all guns blazing as he delivers fiery bar with focused anger. As a rising act finding his way around the system, Sweets leaves nothing to chance and lets us know that he is going for gold and nothing is going to stop him.
The cherry on top of “I’m Not Coming Home” is the dynamic production that slowly rises in energy and switches to a tempo drop on the chorus section. The use of laidback melodic runs on that part works well too but gives the track a soothing change that is unexpected.
Sweets was actually born and raised in Newcastle but now based in Manchester and has been working runs as a performer and now fully focused on his craft, he joined forces with Soul Kitchen Recordings to help bring his dreams to life. Sweets is currently working on what will be his debut EP set for release later this year. He is also set to play Dot To Dot amongst other shows this year.
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