Amp Fiddler Shares New Single, Album ft. Unreleased J Dilla Beats Out This Week On Moodyman's Mahogani Music

This Friday Detroit legend Amp Fiddler will release Amp Dog Kinights via fellow Detroit native and house & techno luminaryMoodymann’s Mahogani Music. This 4th studio album from the man responsible for teaching J Dilla how to use the MPC300, is a suite of 13 tracks A&Red and co-curated with Moodyman (who also features on a number of tracks). It was recorded at Moodyman’s ‘Camp Amp’ studio basement in Detroit.

Today, ahead of its release, Amp shares a final single; “Keep Coming.”

https://soundcloud.com/ampfiddler/keep-coming

Listen to “Return of the Ghetto Fly” (ft. J Dilla, T3 & Neco Redd

https://soundcloud.com/ampfiddler/return-of-the-ghetto-fly-feat-j-dilla-t3-neco-redd

When you listen to the music of Joseph ‘Amp’ Fiddler your ears are picking up something a little different; authentic funk straight from the heart of Detroit in a sea of beige imitations.

But then you don’t play with two of the greatest RnB groups ever created (namely Enchantment and Parliament/Funkadelic), teach J Dilla how to use the MPC60, and write and record music with the likes of Prince and Seal without knowing how to make very fly soul music.

Amp was instrumental in putting Detroit on the map for hip hop, by using his first advance to buy an Akai MPC60, then teaching the teenage J Dilla how to use it. His new record features 2 tracks co-produced by Dilla. The tracks date from a famous Zip disk that was stolen from him and recovered by Amp. Dilla then gifted him the beats to use by way of thanking him for his mentorship. Track “Return Of The Ghetto Fly” also features rapping from Slum Village member T3 as well as vocals by Neco Redd, completing a track that is the very soul of Detroit. “It’s Alright” is featured in three versions on the album with contributions from another Slum Village member - Waajeed - as well as frequent Theo Parrish collaborator Ideeyah. “Those are my friends’ says Amp of his local collaborators, ‘I love the way they work, I love the way they do things.”

Amp Dog Knights continues with tales of the Detroit player known as the ‘Ghetto Fly’; inspired by sharp-suited characters from the neighborhood of his childhood who ‘dressed like The Temptations every day and had attitude when they walked, they were almost dancing’. Across the record there are stunning P-Funk rock jams like ‘Put Me In Your Pocket’ with guitarist Chris Bruce, as well as 4/4 soulful steppers like ‘I’m Feeling You’. ‘I Get Moody Sometimes’ featuring Moodyman is a shimmering electronic funk number tailor-made for the label head’s eclectic DJ sets. ‘Amp Dog Knights’ is the second album in 2 years following Amps break from music since 2006 following personal tragedy in his family including the death of his son. Now he’s back he wants more - more people to hear the music and the message. ‘I want to hear it in shops, when I am at the airport, I want to hear it everywhere’. Amen.

Amp Fiddler Amp Dog Knights

(Mahogani Music – Nov 10th)

01. Grandma's Radio feat. Soundboy

02. Return Of The Ghetto Fly feat. J Dilla, Neco Redd & T3

03. Keep Coming

04. It's Alright feat. Neco Redd & Ideeyah (Waajeed’s Earl Flynn remix) 

05. Good Vibes feat. Only Child

06. Through Your Soul feat. Bubz Fiddler & J Dilla

07. I'm Feeling You

08. Put Me In Your Pocket feat. Dames Brown, Will Sessions & Chris Bruce

09. No Politics feat. Neco Redd, Andrés & Bubz Fiddler

10. It's Alright feat. Neco Redd

11. Say So

12. I Get Moody Sometimes feat. Moodymann

13. So Sweet feat. Neco Redd (Louie Vega remix)

14. It's Alright feat. Neco Redd & Ideeyah (Waajeed’s Conant Gardens remix) 

POLICA and s t a r g a z e Announce Debut Album + Tour, Share First Single via NPR

Today Minneapolis-based electronic quintet POLIÇA and European orchestral collective s t a r g a z e announce their debut collaborative album. The two bands met for the first time in Berlin in 2016, and while the collaboration started in the same room, the process continued as an 18-month long "ping pong" match as the bands exchanged ideas and music over email, mp3 files, video conferencing, and the occasional meet-up in Berlin, Minneapolis, and Eau Claire. Both bands were adamant that whatever they created "not just be POLIÇA songs with s t a r g a z e pasted on top," as POLIÇA vocalist Channy Leaneagh puts it, and the end result is the most adventurous and forward-thinking music either group has made to date. Music For The Long Emergency will be released on February 16th viaTotally Gross National Product/Transgressive. Pre-order the album HERE, and see below for album artwork and tracklisting.

The album's first single is the sublime, 10-minute epic "How Is This Happening." Written by Leaneagh the day after Trump's election, and shared with the collective the day prior to POLIÇA and s t a r g a z e's live debut in St. Paul, "How Is This Happening" is the only track on the album where the words and melody came before the music. The writing process for this song was incredibly therapeutic for the band as they were reeling from the news. "That was an example of the truly healing effects of making music with your friends," says Leaneagh. "And while it doesn't necessarily make things better, it builds community." A tide of orchestral swells ebb and flow punctuated by off-kilter electronic sounds and strings before Leaneagh's haunted albeit intimate intonation takes hold during the poignant and prevalent chant, "How is this happening?" Listen to the song now via NPR Music.

POLIÇA and s t a r g a z e will take their collaboration on the road early next year. See below to find a show near you, and get your tickets HERE.

Introduced via the Liquid Music project run by the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra in Minnesota, with the hope of a cross-genre collaboration, POLIÇA and s t a r g a z e first met in Berlin in 2016 in s t a r g a z e conductor André de Ridder's living room. The occasion was charged with both possibility and trepidation. But what happened in Berlin that day set the tone for the project to come: as the two bands talked, the s t a r g a z e musicians began to improvise — strings, brass, woodwind played over a handful of song sketches brought byPOLIÇA's Ryan Olson. "They were not even song structures, just electronic textures," de Ridder says. "And we started playing over them, and we could see how their faces lit up when we played. I guess that's where our minds met."

Lyrically, this is in many ways an album of tensions — of sorrow and intense joy, of beauty and confusion. "It's about those contradictions in life," Leaneagh says. "How you can be going through tragedy, never-ending wars, but you still also are dealing with human relationships and love and romantic troubles." It is a reflection of the strange and sudden darkening of our times. "Everybody in s t a r g a z e and POLIÇA is a little older. I grew up in a time in America that was before the internet, in a time when the schools in America were the least segregated that they'd ever been. In a time when we had turned towards progress after the era of Jim Crow, and lynching, and the Ku Klux Klan. And we're back in that right now in America. And in a lot of places in Europe too. We had our hands on progress and then it flipped. So the songs deal with that, lyrically, and musically they do too — with the idea that we're still human beings and we're trying to find happiness and the love of our lives, or a career to be happy about, but then we're also trying to find world peace and end racism."

What started as a simple collaboration has become something vital for both s t a r g a z e and POLIÇA. Having worked with an extraordinary variety of musicians, from Owen Pallett to Julia Holter via Matthew Herbert, Mica Levi and Deerhoof, s t a r g a z e is well-versed in genre-hopping. The project was also particularly appealing for POLIÇA's Leaneagh, who is a classically trained musician. While projects like these can often be mediocre one-offs, with the separate artist's returning to their own work when it's over, that is not the case for this pair. "This one really feels different," explains de Ridder. "We all feel we're different people for it. And we're going to keep reconnecting. We're going to be touring this album, and new ideas are happening and these residencies are spreading and we're introducing other musicians to each other, so there's a real legacy that's come out of it. We feel we're going to be good friends and colleagues for the rest of our lives."

Album artwork:

Tracklisting:

1. Fake Like

2. Marrow

3. Speaking Of Ghost

4. Agree

5. Cursed

6. How Is This Happening

7. Music For The Long Emergency

Tour dates:

2/15 - North Adams, MA @ MASS MoCA
2/17 - New York, NY @ Symphony Space at Peter Jay Sharp Theatre
2/18 - Portsmouth, NH @ 3S Artspace *
2/19 - Boston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall *
2/21 - Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
2/22 - Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall
2/23 - Cincinnati, OH @ Contemporary Arts Center
2/27 - London, UK @ Oval Space

* solo POLIÇA show

Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith Shares Four Tet Remix "I Will Make Room For You"

Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith Shares Four Tet Remix For “I Will Make Room For You”

Acclaimed New Album The Kid Out Now On Western Vinyl

(Photo Credit: Tim Saccenti)

“There is beauty in that impulse, as there’s beauty in all the human impulses The Kid excavates—and celebrates—so gracefully.” - Pitchfork

“Sounds don't align with the rhythms, and Smith's voice is awash in alien echoes. But as challenging as this avant-garde music is, it's also warm, absorbing and gorgeous.” - ****, Rolling Stone

“The Kid reveals a depth of craft and a pivot by Smith towards trusting her voice as she explores song structures....While it’s called The Kid, the LP shows Smith has matured as an artist.” – Resident Advisor

“In her music, Smith strives to create an equally magical and peaceful world, populating sonic forests with the organic and the synthetic as she augments her synthesizer symphonies with her ethereal voice and birdlike woodwinds.” – Washington Post

Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith has shared a new remix of “I Will Make Room For You” by Four Tet. The beloved electronic musician was an early supporter of her music, and has called Smith’s new album The Kid the best album of 2017. The remix perfectly balances the sense of wide-eyed wonder of the original with an expansive four-on-the-floor beat. It premiered this morning via Billboard, who said, “It’s the sort of remix you can get lost in for hours”. The original song is taken from Smith’s new album The Kid, which is one of the most acclaimed electronic albums of the year. It is out now on Western Vinyl.

STREAM: Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith – “I Will Make Room For You” (Four Tet Remix)

(Single Art for “I Will Make Room For You” Four Tet Remix – by Alex Trochut)

Order The Kid: 

iTunes hyperurl.co/8n4qa5 

Bandcamp https://kaitlynaureliasmith.bandcamp.com/album/the-kid 

WV http://westernvinyl.com/shop/wv170 

Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith images are available HERE 

Singles from The Kid:

“An Intention” – https://soundcloud.com/western_vinyl/kaitlyn-aurelia-smith-an-intention

“To Follow And Lead” - https://soundcloud.com/western_vinyl/kaitlyn-aurelia-smith-to-follow-and-lead

“To Feel Your Best” - https://soundcloud.com/western_vinyl/kaitlyn-aurelia-smith-to-feel-your-best

In 2017, the musical term “electronic” is nearly obsolete given the ubiquity of computerized processes in producing music.  Even so, the prevailing assumption is that musicians working under this broad umbrella must be inspired by concepts equally as electrified as their equipment.  Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith has demonstrated in her still-blooming discography that this notion couldn’t be further from the truth, and that more often than not, rich worlds of synthesized sound are born from deep reverence of the natural world.  Smith (who by no coincidence, cites naturalist David Attenborough as a contemporary muse) has embodied such an appreciation on The Kid in as direct and sincere a way as possible by sonically charting the phases of life itself.  The album, which punctually follows up her 2016 breakthrough EARS, chronicles four defining cognitive and emotional stages of the human lifespan across four sides of a double LP. 

The first side takes us through the confused astonishment of a newborn, unaware of itself, existing in an unwitting nirvana.  Smith’s music has always woven a youthful thread befitting of the aforementioned subject. Here she articulates it in signature fashion on the track “An Intention,” which serves not only as a soaring spire on The Kid, but on her entire output.  There is playfulness here, but it's elevated by an undertone of gravity into something compelling and majestic that is fast becoming Smith’s watermark.  The emotional focus of side two is the vital but underreported moment in early youth when we cross the threshold into self awareness.  The subject is profound enough to fill an entire album, but rarely makes its way into a single track, indicating Smith’s ambition to broach subtler and deeper subjects than the average composer.  This side offers up another highlight in the form of “In The World But Not Of The World” which serves its subject well with epiphanic, climbing strings and decidedly noisy textures over a near-Bollywood low end pulse. 

Side three emphasizes a feeling of being confirmed enough in one’s own identity to begin giving back to the formative forces of one’s upbringing, which is arguably the duty that all great artists aim to fulfill.  This side ends with the exploratory album cut “Who I Am & Why I Am Where I Am” recorded in a single take without overdubs on the rare EMS Synthi 100 synthesizer. This humble piece of sound design serves as a contrast to side four’s verdant orchestral moments, all written and arranged for the EU-based Stargaze quartet by Smith herself.  This final side represents a return to pure being, the kind of wisdom and peace that eludes most of us until the autumn of life.  On “To Feel Your Best” this concept is voiced in the bittersweet refrain “one day I’ll wake up and you won’t be there” which Smith intended to be a grateful acknowledgement of life rather than a melancholy resentment of loss. The song has both effects depending on the mood of the listener, and both interpretations are equally moving. 

Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith belongs to an ilk of modern musicians who are defined by their commitment to creating experiential albums despite the singles-oriented habits of modern listeners, and here she represents her kind proudly.  The subjects on The Kid are not simple to convey, and yet through both emotional tone and lyrical content, Smith does just that. There is a similar gravity to both birth and death, and rarely is that correlation as accurately and enthusiastically mapped as it is here. 

Alan Watts, another logical inspiration of Smith’s, once expounded that people record themselves to confirm their own existence, and as such, echoes and resonance are reminders that we are alive. “You're not there unless you're recorded,” Watts muses, “if you shout, and it doesn't come back and echo, it didn't happen.”  The Kid speaks to this idea directly.  As Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith explores her existence through music, she guides us in gleefully contemplating our own. 

Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith – The Kid 

(Western Vinyl – October 6th, 2017) 

1.     I Am A Thought 

2.     An Intention 

3.     A Kid 

4.     In The World 

5.     I Am Consumed 

6.     In The World, But Not Of The World 

7.     I Am Learning 

8.     To Follow And Lead 

9.     Until I Remember 

10.  Who I Am And Why I Am Where I Am 

11.  I Am Curious, I Care 

12.  I Will Make Room For You 

13.  To Feel Your Best 

Baths Shares New Single "Extrasolar"

In late September Baths  - aka Will Wiesenfeld - announced Romaplasm (his first new album in 4 years) and shared lead single “Yeoman.” Today, he share the album’s next single: "Extrasolar." While lead single "Yeoman" clearly illustrates the album’s pop sensibilities, and second single "Out" packs a more 4x4 oriented dance beat alongside some bubbly synth work and playful lyrics. "Extrasolar" is a sci-fi inspired ballad that distills the everyday struggles of young Americans – relationships, technology, dating, etc – in a way that only Baths could. It's sure to be one of the more relatable songs from Romaplasm, due out November 17th via Anticon.

Listen to/Watch the Lyric Video for "Extrasolar"

https://youtu.be/0m0nllJjFuU

Watch the Music Video for "Out"

https://youtu.be/j0bFmDt2n2E

Listen to "Yeoman"

https://youtu.be/BYkP4WRM118

Baths will be throwing an album release party for Romaplasm on Friday, November 24 at Zebulon in Los Angeles. Tickets are on sale here.

In his own singular style, Baths has created his own post-modern take on Romanticism. Romaplasm bears a similar emphasis on emotion and individualism. You can see the hallmarks of the movement’s stress on awe—and like many of the great Romantic artists, he confronts the gnawing chaos of life with a focus on beauty and the sublime.

For as long as Will Wiesenfeld has been Baths, he's been trafficking in perfect—or, more often and more interestingly—near-perfect pieces of pop. The project first emerged in 2009, merging the glitchy, punishing gloom of L.A.’s beat scene with sunnier melodies and vocals that often drifted into falsetto. The music was an instant sensation. Publications like Pitchfork heaped praise on his debut album, 2010's Cerulean, which codified the sound; Obsidian, which followed three years later, in part chronicled Wiesenfeld’s recovery from a ghastly illness, and was even more well-received.

Wiesenfeld is an artist who, through his work as Geotic, has carefully deconstructed songwriting into its basest parts; as Baths on Romaplasm, he reassembles the pieces of his musical and personal lives in the most piercing ways imaginable.

As always, Baths is unafraid to run counter to his surroundings: delicate when others are posturing, gripping and visceral where others drift into the digital morass. But this album is not about contrarianism, or about rejecting the status quo. It's about centering the things that are important to you, and doing so in the most honest way possible, even if that means fucking things up a bit along the way.

Pre-order Romaplasm on vinyl: https://www.anticon.com/item/romaplasm

Baths Assets are available HERE.

Bicep Releasing 'Glue' EP, Share Video for "Glue" & Stream New Single "Metro"

As the waves of praise for Belfast-born, and London-based duo Bicep’s eponymous debut continue -- steadily securing its position as one of THE electronic albums of the year -- their latest release, the “Glue” EP, drops digitally today and on vinyl on 3rd November via Ninja Tune. The EP features two new tracks, “Metro” and “DLR,” both embodying the same throttling yet atmospheric tunes featured throughout the full length. With “Metro” whose propulsive build takes cues from earlier single “Glue” and the winding, acid-tinged groove of “DLR,” the duo continues to seamlessly minimize the divide between raw, big-room dance cuts and artfully crafted, often times deliberately restrained tracks fit for home listening.

Listen to “Metro”

https://open.spotify.com/album/5hXjtSmicQETbDf1HNfEeD

Inspired by the song’s homage to the rave era, Bicep also share the video for “Glue” by Joe Wilson. It is a series of landscapes which revisit the sites once brought alive by now infamous raves but today sit desolate and empty, retreating back to their former state with little to show of their impact they had on UK music culture. The static shots offer space to reflect on the importance of these locations and how an abandoned lido, remote airfield and disused warehouse helped to shape the lives of a generation. Juxtaposed with the images are the hazy, fragmented recollections of those who were there, lifted from Youtube comment sections of the genre’s most defining sounds. Perhaps the most beautiful and poignant pieces of evidence from the time, they eulogise over a time of unity and euphoria, and a longing to be returned for just one more night.

Watch “Glue”

http://youtu.be/A7ZxRs45tTg

With support in from Four Tet, Ben UFO, and The XX -- who recently played album single “Vale” on their Radio 1 Takeover -- as well as a 10-page cover story in Mixmag, Matt McBriar and Andy Ferguson have honed their skills as both producers and prolific selectors. The result of which is a sonically sprawling record that appeals to the most dedicated of headsy club-goers and bedroom listeners alike. Bicep has quickly climbed the charts, landing at an impressive #20 on the UK album charts and at #7 on the UK Vinyl charts. Their unique approach to this record, founded on the blueprint of classic house, techno, electro, and Italo disco but stamped with the signature Bicep sound, has won acclaim from Pitchfork, Resident Advisor and The Guardian, and was chosen as BBC 6Music’s ‘Album of the Day’ upon its release. The duo’s second single ‘Glue’ was a hit straightaway, racking up over 1.6 million streams on Spotify, a first play from Annie Mac, with further support from, Gilles Peterson, Lauren Laverne, and landing at #1 on the BBC Radio 1 Specialist Chart with Phil Taggart.

Indeed, the praise is well-earned; Few can forge an album with as many memorable hooks and dance floor moments as this one, but even fewer can make a truly crossover electronic album which moves into slower territories and maintains that same sweeping tone with such effortless fluidity. To quote Pitchfork, “What sets Bicep apart from their big-tent contemporaries is their ability to slow things down.” Bicep will play Pitchfork Music festival in Paris this November to close out an impressive run on the festival circuit this year, which saw them play Glastonbury, Coachella, and Primavera Festivals among others. Having recently returned from their sold out shows in LA & New York, Bicep continue to tour their roof raising live show across UK, Europe & Australia ahead of their biggest live ever show at The Roundhouse, London in April 2018.

Bicep Live Tour

03/11/17 - LE PETIT SALON - LYON - FR

04/11/17 - PITCHFORK FESTIVAL - PARIS - FR

11/11/17 - ELECTRIC BRIXTON - LONDON - UK*

17/11/17 - MOTION - BRISTOL - UK

18/11/17 - WAREHOUSE PROJECT - MANCHESTER - UK*

23/11/17 - KESSELHAUS - BERLIN - DE*

24/11/17 - KINO LUNA - WARSAW - PL*

25/11/17 - NITSA - BARCELONA - ES*

30/11/17 - BAAD - GLASGOW - UK*

02/12/17 - RAINBOW WAREHOUSE - BIRMINGHAM - UK*

14/12/17 - JAEGAR - OSLO - NO

21/12/17 - MONDO - MADRID - ES

22/12/17 - CONTRAIR - ANTWERP - BE

23/12/17 - MAASSILO - ROTTERDAM - NL*

02/03/18 - TBA - TBA

09/03/18 - THE TBC CLUB - BRISBANE - AU

10/03/18 - TBA - TBA

11/03/18 - PITCH MUSIC FESTIVAL - VICTORIA - AU

28/04/18 - ROUNDHOUSE - LONDON - UK

* HAMMER SUPPORTING

MORE INFO GO TO BICEPMUSIC.COM/STORE