The brothers Marcus Eoin and Mike Sandison ‘Reach for the Dead’ on this melancholy new single.

With the kind of long-winded ‘mysterious’ advertising campaign that found two FACT writers at loggerheads, there’s been plenty of time recently devoted to speculation on exactly what Boards of Canada’s long-awaited new album Tomorrow’s Harvest will actually end up sounding like. Save a small clip of low-key ambience that rewarded the tens of thousands of us who cracked the website’s code and a track that emerged on an illuminated screen in urban Tokyo yesterday we’ve heard precious little evidence that the album isn’t just some kind of elaborate April Fool. That is, until now and the first single from Tomorrow’s Harvest was revealed today by BBC Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe.

‘Reach for the Dead’ is almost predictably blissful, and carries the unmistakable traits of the Scottish duo. Thick, noisy drones and dust-laden kicks appear instantly before giving way to the kind of dreamy VHS-warped harmonies that made Boards of Canada so darned crucial back in the 1990s. From the sounds of it ‘Reach for the Dead’ is the track that was previewed in Tokyo yesterday, but hearing it at full quality certainly allows us to get a proper idea of how it’s supposed to sound.

UPDATE: The band have uploaded an arid new video for the single, take a look below.

Tomorrow’s Harvest is due out on June 10 via Warp Records.

The Lawrence brothers premiere the fifth single off Settle.

‘When A Fire Starts To Burn’ is the first proper track on Settle, the duo’s highly-anticipated debut album. As the title suggests, it’s a fiery, funky house track with a great vocal sample.

Settle is due out June 3 via PMR in the UK and Cherrytree / Interscope in the States. Disclosure recently spoke with FACT as part of our On The Record series.

California producer Chris Alfaro readies a new release.

Since 2003, Free The Robots has allowed Alfaro to experiment with jazz, psychedelia, and instrumental hip-hop, all in the same project. Over the past decade, he’s collaborated with The Gaslamp Killer, produced for Busdriver, and released music on LA beat scene repository Alpha Pup Records.

The prolific producer will self-release the In Other Worlds EP later this month. Stream the jazzy, sample-rich ‘Transmission’ below; the EP’s cover art follows.

NPR films Blake’s recent Washington, DC concert.

On May 12, the UK troubadour performed a 90-minute concert at DC’s famed 9:30 Club. The entire show was recorded (in HD) by NPR, and you can watch it below. Blake treats the crowd to songs from his self-titled debut, this year’s Overgrown, and older favorites like ‘CMYK’.

Blake just finished his most recent tour of North America, and he will return later this year. Read our review of Overgrown, an album that FACT’s Angus Finlayson described as “a heartening step in the right direction, and reassurance that Blake’s talents are far from on the wane.”

Do believe the Hype.

As if out of nowhere, one half of Hype Williams (along with Dean Blunt) Inga Copeland today dropped the Higher Powers mixtape. The tape is dated from 2012, but while ‘Faith’ and ‘BMW’ did indeed surface last year, the other tracks are at least new to us.

It’s brief at a mere twenty minutes, but Copeland has packed Higher Powers with the kind of fuzzy, off-world goodness that has made Hype Williams so crucial in the last few years. Her collaboration with Scratcha DVA ‘A World In Danger III’ is a highlight, bringing the tape to a close with a skeletal ragga riddim and Copeland’s disembodied lullaby vocals.

Both rappers are in fine form on the slowed-and-throwed track.

The studio version of ‘Guild’, a song that premiered earlier this year, has surfaced. Over a downcast beat punctuated by iPhone sound effects, Pittsburgh weed rapper Mac Miller and Odd Future’s most promising talent trade verses that are pitch-shifted beyond recognition.

Miller does his best impression of Earl’s stream-of-consciousness while Earl opts for a battle-ready rap that sounds more like something Tyler would drop. Stream the song below, via Pitchfork. Still no word on when Earl’s debut LP Doris will see release.

Northern (European) soul.

I suppose we could have seen this one coming, Kendrick Lamar‘s career defining ‘Bitch Don’t Kill My Vibe’ was actually based on a sample from Quadron members Robin Hannibal (also of Rhye) and Coco O’s previous band Boom Clap Bachelors, so really he’s just repaying the favour. His voice works predictably just as well over the duo’s cool Scandinavian neo-soul now as it did then, and while the track is very much Quadron, it has to be said that Kendrick’s turn is still a bit of a show stealer.

‘Better Off’ is culled from Quadron’s forthcoming album Avalanche, a record that’s notable for only containing a single guest spot. With the amount of friends they’ve made recently, from Tyler, The Creator (who featured Coco on his latest album Wolf) and Jay-Z to Mark Ronson and Adele, it surely would have been easy to load the record up with features until it buckled under the strain. Kudos to the Danes for avoiding the temptation. [via Pitchfork]

Avalanche is due out on June 4 via Epic.

The Long Island City museum announces its eagerly-anticipated summer concert series.

For its 16th year, the Saturday series begins June 29 and ends on September 7. As always, the concerts take place in the MoMA PS1 courtyard, which will feature an “urban landscape” by CODA called Party Wall, the winner of the 14th annual Young Architects Program.

The weekly lineups are below. Advance tickets will go on-sale on June 5 at noon on the MoMA PS1 website.

JUNE 29
Juan Atkins / Metroplex / Detroit, MI
Lee Gamble / PAN / London, UK*
HEATSICK / PAN / Berlin, Germany*
NHK’Koyxen / PAN / Osaka, Japan*
Bill Kouligas / PAN / Berlin, Germany*
*presented as part of ISSUE Project Room
and Goethe-Institut NY’s PAN_ACT festival

JULY 6
The Martinez Brothers / Cuttin’ Headz / New York, NY
Kim Ann Foxman (DJ set) / New York, NY
DJ Qu / Strength Music / New York, NY
Anthony Naples / The Trilogy Tapes / New York, NY

JULY 13
MK / Hot Creations / Detroit, MI
XXYYXX / Relief in Abstract / Orlando, FL
Ryan Hemsworth / WeDidit / Halifax, Nova Scotia
Bondax / Relentless / Lancaster, UK
Gobby / UNO NYC / Boston, MA
James K / RUM / New York, NY

JULY 20
Kode9 / Hyperdub / London, UK
L-VIS 1990 / Night Slugs / New York, NY
Recloose / Rush Hour / Detroit, MI and New Zealand
Kelela / Fade To Mind / Los Angeles, CA
Obey City / LuckyMe / Astro Nautico / Brooklyn, NY

JULY 27
A Guy Called Gerald / 25 Years Independent / Manchester, UK
Ben UFO / Hessle Audio / London, UK
Majical Cloudz / Matador / Montreal, QC
Daniel Avery / Phantasy / London, UK
Roosevelt / Greco-Roman / Cologne, Germany

AUGUST 3
Marcellus Pittman / Unirhythm / Detroit, MI
Jackmaster / Numbers / Glasgow, Scotland
Dre Skull / Mixpak / New York, NY
Ratking / XL Recordings / New York, NY
Rizzla / Fade To Mind / New York, NY

AUGUST 10
Julio Bashmore / Broadwalk Records / Bristol, UK
Octave One (Live) / 430 West Records / Detroit, MI
Hyetal / True Panther / Bristol, UK
DJ Dodger Stadium (Samo Sound Boy+ Jerome LOL) / Bodyhigh / Los Angeles, CA

AUGUST 17
King Britt / Hyperdub / FiveSix / Philadelphia, PA
J. Cole / Roc Nation / Columbia / New York, NY
Bangladesh / Bangladesh Records / Atlanta, GA
Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire / Republic / Brooklyn, NY
Darq E Freaker / London, UK
World’s Fair / Fool’s Gold / Queens, NY

AUGUST 24
Caribou (DJ set) / Merge / London, UK
Museum of Love (DJ set) / DFA / New York, NY
Stellar OM Source (Live) / RVNG Intl / Antwerp, Belgium
Pional / Hivern Discs / Barcelona, Spain
Empress Of / Brooklyn, NY
Terreke / L.I.E.S. / Brooklyn, NY

AUGUST 31
Cajmere / Cajual / Chicago, IL
Liars (Live) / Mute / Los Angeles, CA
Lil Silva / Good Years, Young Turks / Bedford, UK
IO ECHO (Live) / IAMSOUND / Los Angeles, CA
Jon Hopkins / Domino / London, UK
Miles / Modern Love / Berlin, Germany

SEPTEMBER 7
Line-up for this *extra* Warm Up to be announced…

The Glaswegian multimedia artist shares his first short film.

Konx-om-Pax is the alias of Tom Scholefield, an artist who has released music on Planet Mu (last year’s Regional Surrealism) and has helped define the visual aesthetic of Hyperdub, Brainfeeder and LuckyMe with his design work.

Scholefield wore all the hats in the creation of Under The Bridge, a short film that he directed, animated, edited, and sound designed. Two young men encounter (and flee) an incandescent construct of skulls, reminiscent of the neon-coated, deep space creature that he animated for Lone’s Galaxy Garden trailer.

Watch the short film below. Last year, FACT spoke with Scholefield about life on the margins, getting bottled and the enduring power of Boards Of Canada (a prescient conversation, on that last note).