Friday June 15 marks the return of Eames & Monolithium to the decks at Lucky Bar. These $5 thingies have become the go-to ravey ravey over the last 12 months, but we haven’t had one in a minute. So that’ll be rectified. Added bonus: opening sets from Fractal & En Noir. We’re banking on brand new visuals for the screens as well soooooooo GET IN.

Last week Error Broadcast dropped a killer selection of freebies from its roster, a smattering of tunes that reexamines the label’s infamous mantra: “basically it’s Hip Hop”

Bigger Than Eight Steps To Mathematics is a six track digital album showing off Error Broadcast’s in house roster of post-hop alchemists. Our own Monolithium lends one of his bootlegs running alongside fellow EB affiliates B-Ju, DZA, Swede:art, OL and Montgomery Clunk. This collection reframes classic material by Company Flow, 8Ball, Dead Prez, Mos Def, Nicki Minaj & Missy Elliott.

And you know, design work credit falls on our own Cab Design, a stylish echo of the infamous artwork that graced Company Flow’s debut Funcrusher Plus. All of this in celebration of Error Broadcast’s 3000 ‘Likes’ on Facebook… who says nothing comes out of that love hate relationship.

Get over and grab your free download

It’s a testament to Andersen’s stylistic DNA that he can stand firm footed alongside the intense dubstep of ZD. Over the last couple of years, XI’s sound has been restructured to include much, from techno & garage influences to droning space & cavernous dub, all the while clamping to a jungle-rooted, bass-heavy greyscale aesthetic. In May, New Kanada will release a new XI 12″, featuring some of his most dancefloor-forward work yet. “Joy/Fear” specifically teeters between manic & alien, building through smeared vocals to a crazed riff that recalls the dark sonic tendencies of fellow Toronto-native Egyptrixx.

We had a casual, candid chat with XI – cos we down like that – about his new record, new collaborations & his new life.

You’ve got a new record coming out with New Kanada the first week of May, would you say it is stylistically different from the dark bassy electronic music we know and love you for?

This record is a slight contrast to the stark and stripped down vibe of my last record, Squeeze on Orca, in so far as it has much more emotive qualities particularly in the melodies and atmospheres which harken back to records like Light FM.

What is stimulating your own production at the moment?

At this very moment? A whirlwind of experiences. Constant uncertainty, anxiety, happiness, intense feelings of love, perpetual dynamism.

You’ve been in Berlin a few months now but you’ve been collaborating a lot. Talk a bit about Ambalance, Kevin McPhee and whatever else you got poppin.

The debut Ambalance EP Cokewave just dropped a few weeks ago, easily one of if not my favourite collaboration. Kevin and I have been playing around with a collab for a good year now, things were moving much faster with that when we lived in the same city. We still have some tracks to finish before that project will see the light of day. The 3^rd collab working-titled Truce is sample assisted folk which we both sing on, it’s very dark and melancholic.

How have you adapted to Germany? Are the differences between North America and Europe really that apparent when it comes to the music scene?

It is literally like night and day. I’ve already met so many amazing people and experienced a local culture that I almost began to believe didn’t exist anywhere anymore. I’ve made some horrible mistakes in my life, moving to Berlin was not one of them.

Name one, if any, unexpected occurrences that might have happened since your hop over the pond.

7 hour layover in Amsterdam on the flight from Canada. At first my flatmate and I were vexed until we realized we were being forced to visit AMSTERDAM and went and had a dope adventure day. Pun definitely intended.

Time Exile, Listener, Machinedrum, AA Bondy, The Field, Actress… You recently named them as your faves on rotation, what is it that draws you to the table  for each one?

Simple, direct, effective song writing. A great sense of combining uplifting joy and crushing melancholy. If a theme of manic depression isn’t apparent at this point let me point out that that is my shit.

Aside from family, typically a top for most people, what do you miss most about Canada, more specifically Toronto?

Besides the MANY people I love from Canada that I miss dearly every waking moment of every day, there isn’t much at all I miss about Canada.

After the release what’s up next for XI? What should we be knuckle-clenching, bodies tense from excitement for?

Expect more Ambalance and some more genre-bending XI output. The next round of tracks are either too fast or too slow. Heavy on combining jungle, drone, house, juke and hip-hop.

I personally would like to know when the WestCoast will get to see you again?

Starting with Coachella you can catch me playing in Cali, Oregon, and Washington. Through most of the month of April on tour with Zeds Dead and AraabMuzik. I have no concrete plans to visit Victoria on this tour, but it is a priority spot for my next time through North America.

We got a lot of love for the Frite Nite fam. This US based crew is scattered all over the West Coast, repping a wide variety of sound led by label-boss Salva. His own trajectory, moving from modern funk & hip-hop through to deep, rhythmic club music, is a fitting analogy for this team – there’s not one singular sound defining their aesthetic, but damn they work as a cohesive unit together. Salva, Eprom, NastyNasty, Comma, Ana-Sia… a killer team indeed.

So we’re excited to drop this podcast from Frite Nite guy Epcot. Beginning with some dark-corner-of-the-club tropical-ish techno, he moves into some fierce heat (Joy O/Boddika, Damage/Daneeka) & eventually mutates the whole thing, pushing the mix into grime & experimental halftime spaces. Dig in.

download sub⎹div podcast 18 mixed by Epcot from Frite Nite

Introduce yourself please. Where are you from?

Hello there my name is Epcot and I’m from San Francisco. I make music and contribute to a label called Frite Nite from the Bay Area.

The Frite Nite team has slowly been expanding its skill set – the roster really covers a wide swath of styles & sounds. How do you account for such a diverse sound pallet within one crew?

To be honest, the crew came together pretty much completely organically. We had all been close, or friends of friends with each other as the roots of the label had been planted by Salva, and everybody involved was just kind of on their own vibe stylistically.

You’re all repping the West Coast to some degree – talk a little bit about what the “West Coast Sound” means to you in 2012. Are there any regional signifiers anymore?

I feel like the lines are becoming more blurred as far as “regional sounds” go every day.  The West Coast has an extremely high artist volume, so the push from the area will always be a huge presence regardless. I think most people these days are just drawing inspiration from all over the place, big cities and small alike, so the music that’s being made is as varied as places it’s coming from. Great stuff coming from all directions.

What producers/sounds are you feeling at the moment?

All the new stuff from the FTNT fam has really had me going lately. Everyone is on some shit right now, the next crop of forthcoming releases are all going to be sharp. Been listening to a lot of Altered Natives, loving the new stuff Lando Kal has been doing solo as well as the new stuff with LL as Lazer Sword.  XI & Machinedrum with all of their affiliated projects respectively have been owning, Ghosts On Tape’s new stuff is on another level as well…

Can you take us through your mix a little bit? It’s a dark, shiny hallway of beats & we like it, especially the halftime switchup in the middle. It gets pretty grimey.

Hahaa yea it does towards the end. This mix is just a reflection of what some of my current sets have sounded like. I’ve been playing out the style thats featured more towards the beginning most often, but a few of those things towards the end are things I’ve recently got in my inbox from friends that are just too good.  The new Desto, Lesotho Protokol, and EPROM stuff is all in the vein of dark grime experiments, so really I just wanted to fit tunes around those for the second half of the mix.  The new Distal tune on there is one of my favorites as well.

What’s on the agenda for you for the rest of this year?

The top two things on my plate this year are making as much new music as I can, and working towards the development of the label. I really just want to have as many tunes as possible made by the end of the year to be able to choose a from for a release of some sort. That, and contributing full time to Frite Nite.  Things have been busier than ever, and for that I’m grateful. Excited for all of the slated releases to drop, new music from B. Bravo & The Starship Connection, Salva & Grenier, Comma and more. Will be great to see where it all takes us next.

Alright.. we all know the game when it comes to Calamalka, the baron of lop sided, head nodding skullcrackers. That doesn’t mean we aren’t gonna tell you all about the release that just happened over at Tenpin Records. For an easy $5 is the release of his Gooey EP holding tunes that’ll make even the most rigid heads twerk a bit. From the DOOM-sampling funk of “Ain’t No Need”  to “Gooey”, a zoned-out, spacial beast, this EP sets the senses off! As if that wasn’t enough, heavy hitter XI slides in for the refix, turning in the lurchiest, most-undanceable beat yet (good things).

Go grab GOOEY  – there’s even a free download of the “Gooey VIP” there for you…

Enjoy the sharp list we got for you this month… notables? ANGO. PRISON GARDE. SHLOHMO. And that Redshape Boiler Room geeeeez…

FREE TUNES
heRobust – Morning After & Late Night (2 full albums!!)
Slackkk aka Patrice & Friends – Champagne Saunas
Ango – No Ordinary Love
Evian Christ – Kings & Them mixtape
Slava – File
CPLND – The Narcissist II mixtape
Evy Jane – Says [Julien Mier Remix]
ookpikk – Ookistra (extract)
Coldcut – Say Kids What Time Is It?
D’Angelo – Untitled (How Does It Feel?) [L-Vis 1990 Edit]
Gita – Hood Rich
The Dream – Walking On The Moon [Grahmzilla Remix]
Drake ft. The Weeknd – Crew Love [Shlohmo Remix]
Sara Sayed & xxxy – The Earth Got Round
Canblaster & Julius Sylvest – ReadY
Keys N Krates x Grandtheft – February Jams
Warpaint [Sei A Edit] – Billie Holiday
Okibi – Shitbang
The Dream & Casha - Kill the Lights
Om Unit – Naiad
Hodgey Beats – Untitled EP

FREE MIXES

Midnight Operator Boiler Room 60 Min Mix
Tusk Affective Sensorium mix
HxDB Thats The Blap Mix Series Episode 004
Self Evident Futureproofing mix
Redshape Boiler Room 50 Min Mix
Prison Garde’s Boogiescrew mix (with edits)
John Talabot Fact Mix #315
Scott W Art Of Beatz mix
Bonobo Boiler Room 50 Min Mix
Raisa K GETME! Guest Mix 48
Brainfeeder Sampler 2012
XI Frite Nite Podcast 17
Hudson Mohawke’s Valentines Slowjams Chapter V
Sines ValenSines Mix
Moneyworth COCONUT CIROC: A Valentine’s Mix
Bonobo Black Sands Remixed ‘Minimixed’ by DK
Distal XLR8R Podcast: 235

On top of that, he also runs 3024, a label that has managed to flawlessly evolve in parallel with bass music’s ever-mutating likeness. Hot off the heels of Mosca’s excellent Wavey EP, 3024 just revealed the latest single from Redshape, Berlin’s mysterious masked techno provocateur.

Martyn & Egyptrixx, alongside Mymanhenri, will be hosting an RBMA info session from 7pm-9pm at Lucky Bar. Entry is free – FREE! – and will offer an opportunity to ask questions & kick it. Music & boogie starts at 10pm with our dude Monolithium & will continue with live sets from both headliners.

We were blessed to catch up with Martyn in advance of this weekend’s anticipated show…

You’ve been performing live on tour instead of DJing, what pushed you to start doing it? Have there been any/many hiccups you’ve faced along the way?

I wouldn’t say many, no. A few years ago I would DJ a lot, including at summer festivals. I was always honoured to be playing but since a DJ set wouldn’t contain much of my own music I couldn’t help but feel that an audience would not really hear what I was about as a musician. I always felt playing live would have to add something to an artists output so these two things combined made me start experiment with it all. My first sets were in summer last year and I really enjoyed the progression since.

You & Flying Lotus remixed each other early on in 3024’s career – what has it been like working with him & Brainfeeder on Ghost People? Can you talk a little bit about your upcoming 12”?

He’s always been enthusiastic about my music and has been supportive of it. His imprint has had a string of amazingly varied releases and when he invited me to do my album for Brainfeeder I was happy to do it. The entire project consists of 3 releases ; the single Masks, the actual album, and Hello Darkness which is coming out on March 19 and contains one original track by myself and remixes by Redshape, L-Vis1990 and Bok Bok.

Your own label 3024 has been pushing amazing music since it’s inception, keeping “out-of-the-ordinary” bass music fresh, relevant. What are some of the things that you look for when releasing an artist on your label? Is there anything going on with the 3024 that you’d like to talk about?

There are no real rules for 3024, whenever we find music that appeals to me, we try to put it out. I suppose the label has evolved quite a bit since Erosie and myself started out in 2007. It’s been a fun dialogue between music and art, and we use it to express our ideas about music and graphics. This year saw the release of a 12″ by Redshape, the next one is another record by Jon Convex.

You’ve been involved in the music industry for about 15 years now, if there is one thing to pinpoint you never thought possible that has happened so far what would it be? What do you hope to reach with your career in the future?

Hmmm tough question! I don’t really believe in things being coincidental, usually things that happen are reactions on things you put in motion yourself.

You’re originally from the Netherlands – after living in the US for a while, what is your take on the difference between EU & North American audiences? How do you feel about underground dance music in North America at the moment?

I dont play as much in the US as I would like to, to be honest, but cities like New York, SF, LA, Chicago and Boston have great crowds and my gigs are always good there.

Have you attended the Red Bull Music Academy before? Is there anything you hope to gain from taking part in this specific tour?

I’ve done quite a lot with RBMA, I did a lecture at the London one, and hung out for about a week, as well as doing info sessions for them in Frankfurt, Manchester, Lisbon and Cagliari. I was never a participant though, always involved in some other way. Besides playing gigs on the tour, I enjoy talking to people who are as enthusiastic about making music and being creative as me.

For any of the unlucky ones who may miss out on the information session is there any words of advice you can give all the budding tastemakers who are looking to apply to the academy?

I think in the application its very important to be yourself – and push your own boundaries of creativity.

We is lucky to have this kind of talent in our gene pool.

Jam City is the Night Slugger known to grab inspiration from every angle of the musical spectrum then piece it all together into a full blast of audible eargasms. Fusing everything from grime and r&b to ballroom and hip-hop, JC’s sound twitches with neon specks of  melody & hyperactive rhythms. Rolling on from the success of his last release Magic Drops, The Courts should hold us until his full length drops in May. The A-side flaunts how raw Jam City can get, handing out his signature vibrant “hyper-tense club music”, grounded in a warm analog line that recalls the wonder of “Arpjam”. Then Jam City connects with rap duo Main Attrakionz on the B-side – the low-slung beats mixed with controlled, and captivating verses guide you through a satisfyingly foggy atmosphere. Peep the vid.

YES.

We’re really excited over today’s announcement (via Resident Advisor) about Hybridity Music launching. We’ve been working on this for a minute & are ecstatic to reveal that we’ll be collaborating with Hybridity on the label front to release some brilliant new music this year. Hybridity’s first two releases come in the form of music from Humans & Thomas Cade, with music forthcoming from Monolithium & Calamalka as well.

Lots of exciting stuff, keep your ears peeled