The Dirty South pioneer continues to serve as the Nile Rodgers to Kanye’s Daft Punk.

In a Reddit AMA, Mike Dean shared more details about his work with Kanye West. Most notably, Dean says Kanye will tour in support of Yeezus; the rapper did not tour after releasing My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.

Additionally, Dean confirmed that the various versions of the album are mixed slightly differently, saying “yea, we work on it until the last possible minute, and then beyond;” head over to KanyeToThe for a longer discussion of the version differences.

In a previous interview, the producer said that Watch the Throne 2 is possibly due next year. Earlier today, Kanye’s American Psycho-inspired video hit the web. Oh, and we reviewed Yeezus. [via Consequence of Sound]

The South Side of the Chi.

Whilst fellow Chicago driller Chief Keef might be having a pretty crappy week all being said (despite his appearance on Yeezus), the city’s burgeoning rap scene is still moving onwards and upwards – something that’s plain and clear on this new cut from local rapper Giftz. Featuring a guest appearance from man-0f-the-moment Lil Herb (unfortunately sans regular sparring partner Lil Bibby), ‘Go’ is a veritable punch in the face with thick bass, tough beats and urgent rhymes from its two protagonists.

Production is handled by LoKey, who should be a familiar name around these parts having dropped beats for FACT fave King Louie, Bo Deal, YP and plenty more. [via Fake Shore Drive]

‘One Half’ is the whole package.

Julianna Barwick has long been a purveyor of ghostly, shimmering choral ambience, but on ‘One Half’ she manages to strip back some of the haze to reveal an almost poppish sensibility. The track begins with a familiar swirl of wordless coos, but eventually collapses into an fully fledged piano-led ‘song’. Of course it’s still graced by Barwick’s omnipresent cavernous reverb, but her softly affecting vocals and lilting melodies bring to mind early Sigur Ros, maybe if they were performing in a local village choir somewhere quaint and rural. Hardly surprising really, as it was recorded in Iceland with a handful of Sigur Ros members and collaborators, including the wildly underrated string ensemble Amiina.

It’s remarkable music, and handled with Barwick’s signature light touch it never descends into manipulative, over-melancholic nonsense thank goodness. This is the latest taster of her forthcoming full-length Nepenthe, which is due out on August 20 on Dead Oceans. [via Stereogum]

The Charlotte, NC rapper keeps things grim on his latest effort.

Deniro Farrar has released a sequel to March’s impressive The Patriarch mixtape. Once again, Farrar uses his gravel-and-smoke voice in service of reality-rooted storytelling over woozy, cloud-meets-Memphis beats.

“Written in some of darkest and most bleak times in my life, this is my therapy,” Farrar writes. “Facing indescribable personal trials and tribulations, coupled with my family crumbling as I watch my lil bro and biggest supporter face a serious trial and jail sentence, I did the thing I was born to do. Write and express my life.” As you can imagine, Farrar is far from upbeat, but his personal struggles have inspired some moving material.

Beyond the boards, frequent collaborator Ryan Hemsworth returns and is joined by Australia production team KIRA, genre agnostic OWSLA-signee David Heartbreak, Felix Snow, Ryan Alexy, and more. Good Kid, M.a.a.D. City vocalist JMSN also makes an appearance on the Hemsworth-produced ‘Separate’. Stream/download The Patriarch II below.

The San Francisco producer/digital avatar readies an EP of house and techno mutations.

Matrixxman is no stranger to these pages, whether for his work as half of 5kinAndBone5, his biblical house/snap rap collaborations with Mykki Blanco, or his solo material and remixes.

Next month will see another edition to the latter category. The XX Files joins four originals with remixes by UK producers Ill Life and Myler. With nods to “classic Detroit techno and WBMX-era Chicago house,” the EP ranges from the lush groove of ‘Credentials’ to the percussive intensity of ‘Protocol’. Meanwhile, both remixers take their tracks in darker, metallic directions.

The XX Files is due out July 23 via Brooklyn newcomers Fifth Wall. Preview it below; the cover art and tracklist follow.

1. Case Closed [A1]
2. Credentials [A2]
3. Protocol [B1]
4. A Witness
5. Case Closed (Ill Life Remix) [B2]
6. Credentials (Myler Remix)

Producer Mark Pritchard has exorcised the Ghosts of his past, and is concentrating on the future.

Pritchard recently announced that he would be retiring all his pseudonyms to concentrate on solo material recorded under his own name. This feels like a bold move for someone who’s recorded under such a plethora of monikers (Harmonic 313, Reload, Troubleman and many more) but listening to new track ‘Ghosts’ there’s a sense that this clarity has given the ex-Jedi Knight focus.

A rolling slice of footwork-influenced low-end heavy electronics, the comb-filtered title is uttered coolly over a bed of bubbling 808 bass and scratchy analogue synths. Certainly if this is an indicator of the quality of the EP (and indeed the promised full-length) we’re in for a treat. [via Clash Magazine]

The Ghosts EP is due for release on June 24 via Warp.

Tracklist:

01 Manabadman feat. Spikey Tee
02 Ghosts
03 Duppies
04 Get Wyld
05 Manabadman (Instrumental)

The song appears on his debut EP, L O V E C H A M P I O N, forthcoming via UNO NYC.

An associate of New York underground kings Hood By Air and GHE20 G0TH1K, Ian Isiah shared a NSFW video for his Arca-produced slow-jam ‘M1NDFVCK’ last month. While that song is a hazy tone poem dedicated to mindfuckery, follow-up song ‘Blindfolded’ is a fully-formed R&B smash.

Over a shifty beat (co-produced by fellow NYC talent King Royal) that is reminiscent of torch-carriers Timbaland and The-Dream, Isiah lays down a sensual, insistent vocal that is just as bedroom-focused as ‘M1NDFVCK’; the “Baby Oil Music” tag is definitely appropriate. Stream/download ‘Blindfolded’ below.

Next week, Wise Blood will release his debut album, Id. For a while, it seemed like that day would never come.

Wise Blood is Pittsburgh songwriter Chris Laufman. Laufman builds non-traditional pops songs from dusty samples and earworming loops, structuring them like towering houses of cards. His breathy, half-sung vocals alternately give him the air of a long-forgotten bluesman and a tent revival preacher: there’s pain, hope, and a creeping uneasiness to his twisted nursery rhyme lyrics.

In 2010, Chris Laufman self-released an EP, and the These Wings EP dropped via New York indie Dovecote Records the next year. Laufman showed a knack for reworking samples (‘B.i.g. E.g.o’ features the iconic drums of ‘When The Levee Breaks’), and his songwriting had an otherworldy, anachronistic quality to it (e.g. ‘Loud Mouths’). Yet despite all the promise, a full-length effort never materialized and Laufman seemed to drop off the map.

FACT spoke with Laufman about what he’s been up to since his last release, the process behind Id, why he lives in Pittsburgh, and why he’d love to hear his songs in commercials. In addition, we are proud to present Id for your streaming pleasure (on the next page), in advance of the album’s June 25 release.

What have you been up to since These Wings? I’ve read about some schemes you got caught up in.

I took a detour into some distractions, getting into dubious ways to make some money. I had completed an album after These Wings, but I was in a weird spot. It was an instrumental concept album but I realized that is was pretty bad and I threw away all the files. Then I refocused and made this album. Since then, I’ve been working: I have this album, an extended mix of original material that will be released for free in September, and I’m eight songs into the next album.

How has your musical process changed between These Wings and Id?

For These Wings I was making songs that were me playing instruments with samples accompanying it, accentuating different parts of the melody. I started to realize I didn’t like doing that. On this album, a lot of the melodies come from looped-up samples. It’s kind of the opposite of what it was: I’ll accentuate it with instrumentation, but the core of it is sample-based.

It took me a little while to get comfortable. I felt like I had to change and do stuff made mostly with instruments, but I eventually said, “fuck it, I like making music based on samples.” I can work very quickly like that, and I’ve come to peace with the fact that I like working with loops and I’m going to keep doing it.
 

 
Have you always worked alone?

Music has always been something I’ve done on my own. I’m a big control freak and I’ve always been isolated. I started working with samples a while ago and I’ve just been trying to get better and better with it. Something about working with samples is just more interesting and exciting than working with instruments. I don’t know what that says about me.

There is a hip-hop influence in your work. A lot of people who sample heavily were influenced by Endtroducing and the like. Are those records in your background?

I gravitated more towards artists like Eric Copeland [of Black Dice], Panda Bear, and Danny Elfman. Those are the people that got me interested in using samples to make melodies and pop songs. A lot of recent producers, too: SpaceGhostPurrp, Blunt Fang; I’m doing some remix stuff with Metro Zu’s Lofty 305.

How would describe your relationship with pop music?

I always turn on [Pittsburgh Top 40 station] 96.1 Kiss and end up finding a song that I fall in love with that I need to listen to. Selena Gomez’s ‘Come and Get It’ was a song recently where I had to download it and listen to it on repeat. There’s so much [pop producers] can do because they’re working with such great technology and equipment and big money; it sounds epic and big and hits so hard. Pop music on the radio is my first love. I’ve always had a great relationship with pop – so much of the most exciting stuff being done is on the radio.

More underground musicians are coming out about loving mainstream pop music.

It’s become accepted – it’s no longer considered a “guilty pleasure;” This is good, the producers making this are really talented and are doing some really awesome stuff. I think it’s cool that people have come around to that.

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New music and fresh revelations? Drake, you’re spoiling us.

‘On My Way’ initially surfaced as a radio rip back in 2010, but it looks like Drake was never happy with the outcome and re-recorded the track with fresh production and a new vocal part from James Fauntleroy. This nicely ties in with the ongoing promotion for the Toronto-based rapper’s forthcoming full-length Nothing Was The Same, but there’s no word whether the track will actually emerge on the album itself.

A delirious, melancholy cut ‘On My Own’ harks back to the icy minimalism of Drake’s earlier material, and to be honest is a welcome breather from the sweaty braggadocio of ‘Started From The Bottom‘.

In a recent interview with GQ, Drake finally commented on his ongoing situation with controversial R&B clown Chris Brown, saying “I wish we could sit down, just like you and me are right now, and talk it out man-to-man. But that’s not going to happen”, he went on to say “I get a feeling it could end really badly.”

He did actually manage to shine some light on the new record too, saying that its biggest influence was Marvin Gaye’s heady and deeply confessional double-album Here, My Dear. The most telling revelation though is on its release date, and while he doesn’t give an exact day, we think that he pretty much spells out that it’s going to be very, very soon with this ”I ain’t gonna lie: I want to be the one you listen to all summer.”