LWE’s 87th podcast, contributed by Conforce, was an hour of atmospheric techno, ambient, and more. Be sure to add it to your collection before it’s archived this Friday, June 1st.

Since its minting last year, the UNO NYC label has released everything from drag-rapper Mykki Blanco to Fatima Al Qadiri’s conceptual pan-genre experiments to eccentric, low-slung disco-house by Farley “Jackmaster” Funk associate The Twilite Tone. In between these poles, it also holds a candle for more straightforward dance floor moves, which is where Fur’s EP Cocoon — due out on Tuesday, June 5 — comes in. Referencing deeper microhouse and the present UK bassy house scene, it’s a strong debut, and it’s only bolstered by remix turns from SFV Acid and Fred P, the latter of which we’re pleased to feature as this week’s exclusive download. Fred P does his trademark twilight rolling movements here, patiently unfolding slivers of the twitchy original amid flowing percussion and languid, droning organ. In spite of this, it’s busier than much of the remixer’s catalog, and he does an admirable job of keeping the quivering energy of Fur’s track intact. Our thanks to UNO NYC for making this one available for free, exclusively to LWE.

Fur, “Cocoon” (Fred P Reshape)

Positioned as they are on the calendar, Detroit’s Movement festival and Montreal’s MUTEK festival seem like sibling events that arrive a week apart. They share similar aesthetic DNA — focusing on the electronic, dance music side of the spectrum with a mixture of homegrown and international talent — but like siblings they’re quite different when you consider the details. Where Movement’s line up is often aimed at pleasing the broadest audience possible, MUTEK’s is geared towards the slightly esoteric, experimental side of electronic music, engaging the brain and body in equal measures with live gigs, panel discussions, Q&A sessions, and workshops. The festival takes place this May 30th-June 3rd and spans 27 individual events, which encourages attendees to make judicious use of their time and energy. As an official media partner, LWE has assembled its comprehensive guide to the festival, complete with our picks for the must-see events. You can also win one of two MUTEK passports or two MUTEK weekend passes, details of which appear at the bottom of the guide.

MAY 30th: Expérience 1
@ Place de la paix — 5PM; Free

Jesse Voltaire
Michel Plamondon
Magnanime

MAY 30th: Metro Art 1
@ Berri-UQAM Metro — 5PM; Free

The Gulf Stream

Biosphere & Lustmord
MAY 30th: A/Visions 1
@ Ludger-Duvernay Theatre — 8PM; $27

Nelly-Eve Rajotte
Biosphere & Lustmord present Trinity
Robin Fox

MAY 30th: Pré Nocturne Roland
@ Savoy — 8PM; Free

Arthur Oskan
Prison Garde

Blondes
MAY 30th: Nocturne 1
@ Espace SAT — 10PM; $35

Apparat Band
Blondes
DKMD

MAY 30th: Play 1
@ Studio Hydro-Québec — 10:30PM; Free

Esprits Frappeurs
K.A.N.T.N.A.G.A.N.O.

MAY 31st: Mutek Artists on the Ground
@ Radio-Canada — 11AM; Free

Paul White
Dave Aju
DKMD
Danuel Tate

Bernardino Femminielli
MAY 31st: Expérience 2
@ Place de la paix — 5PM; Free

Simon Called Peter
Leboeuf et Laviolette
Bernardino Femminielli

MAY 31st: Metro Art 2
@ Berri-UQAM Metro — 5PM; Free

Michel Plamondon

MAY 31st: A/Visions 2
@ Ludger-Duvernay Theatre — 8PM; $27

Ben Shemie
Andrew Pekler & Jan Jelinek play Ursula Bogner
Pierre Bastien & Espen Sommer Eide present Electric Folkways

Jeff Mills
MAY 31st: Nocturne 2
@ Metropolis — 10PM; $40

Shackleton
Monolake
Jeff Mills presents The Messenger/SleeperWakes

Paul White
MAY 31st: Nocturne 2
@ Red Bull Music Academy Stage (Espace SAT) — 10PM; $40

Sibian & Faun
Shlohmo
Salva
Nouveau Palais
Paul White

MAY 31st: Play 2
@ Studio Hydro-Québec — 10:30PM; Free

TÉTO
Macheen
Mor†

June 1st: Expérience 3
@ Place de la paix — 5PM; Free

Larry James
Tonepushers
Alicia Hush

June 1st: Metro Art 3
@ Berri-UQAM Metro — 5PM; Free

KenLo Craqnuques

Still from Kode9, MFO, & Ms Haptic’s “Her Ghost”
June 1st: A/Visions 3
@ Ludger-Duvernay Theatre — 8PM; $27

Le Révélateur
Kode9, MFO, & Ms Haptic present “Her Ghost”
Roly Porter & MFO present Akheron Fall

June 1st: Nocturne 3
@ Metropolis — 10PM; $40

Matt Thibideau
Rumpistol / Red Baron
Deniz Kurtel
Nicolas Jaar “Live In Concert”
Jimmy Edgar

BNJMN
June 1st: Nocturne 3
@ Red Bull Music Academy Stage (Espace SAT) — 10PM; $40

BNJMN
Kode9
Nautiluss
Sendai

June 1st: Play 3
@ Studio Hydro-Québec — 10:30PM; Free

Pecora Pecora
Atheus
The Gulf Stream & Vj Ma”

Jacob Korn
June 2nd: Expérience 4
@ Place de la paix — 2PM; Free

Basic Soul Unit
DJ Champion presents Delinquent Dance Music
Danuel Tate
KiNK
Jacob Korn

June 2nd: Carton Park Presents Histoire Naturelle
@ Studio Hydro-Québec — 2PM and 4:30PM; $11.79

Carton Park

Tim Hecker
June 2nd: A/Visions 4
@ St. James Church — 8PM; $30

Les Momies de Palerme
Stephen O’Malley
Tim Hecker
Stephen O’Malley & Tim Hecker

June 2nd: Nocturne 4
@ Metropolis — 10PM; $40

SlowPitch
Roll The Dice
A Guy Called Gerald “Live in Session”
Minilogue vs Mathew Jonson
Krause Duo

Clark
June 2nd: Nocturne 4
@ Satosphere — 10PM; $40

Jeremy Greenspan & Christina Sealey
Keith Fullerton Whitman
Solvent
Clark
Container

Benoit & Sergio
June 3rd: Mutek // Piknic
@ Jean-Drapeau Park — 2PM; $12

Valentin Stip
Mathew Jonson
The Mole
Benoit & Sergio
Wolf + Lamb

June 3rd: Carton Park Presents Histoire Naturelle
@ Studio Hydro-Québec — 2PM and 4:30PM; $11.79

Carton Park

June 3rd: Nocturne 5
@ Espace SAT — 10PM; $30

Farben
Alex Smoke presents Wraetlic
Public Lover
Dave Aju
No UFO’s

MUTEK CONTEST TIME

The only thing better than going to a music festival is going for free. Luckily, LWE is here to help you attain that level of happiness with a giveaway: two passports (good for every event, $260 value) and two weekend passes (good for all weekend events, $135 value). It’s simple to enter: just send an email with “MUTEK 2012″ as the subject to contest@littlewhiteearbuds.com. Include in it your full name and the act you’re most excited to see at this year’s festival. Entries must be received by 12pm (CST) on May 29th — no late entries will be accepted. Four winners will be chosen at random and notified via email. Good luck and see you there!

[Last Night On Earth]

In the world of live electronic music, it’s common to see two Englishmen bent over a table full of drum machines and effects, resulting in noisy and abstract waves of sound. Ghosting Season, therefore, demonstrate their uncommon traits in two ways: First, Gavin Miller and Thomas Ragsdale have guitars strapped to their chest as they bend over the their table of gadgets. Second, they use these guitars to produce sublime techno in animated, energetic fashion, more akin to rock performances than electronic ones. While this visceral performance aspect may be absent on Ghosting Season’s debut album, the atmospheric pulsing is sharper, more honed, and makes for a cohesive listen beginning to end.

“Ghost Drift” starts the album with perhaps the most straightforward beat, albeit coated in skittering percussion below the kicks and a striking melody constructed out of looped guitar phrases and a multitude of effects. This and the following track “Far End Of The Graveyard” immediately call to mind some of the stellar techno coming from Modern Love. Featuring steady rhythms coupled with floating, grandiose, and otherworldly textures, you might even get away playing them in a set that includes Miles and Andy Stott. Lead single “A Muffled Sound Of Voices” takes this combination in a slower, more cinematic direction. The beat shuffles amidst shimmering guitars that mimic orchestral strings processed through a bank of delays. This more pensive sound pays off in a lovely way with the gentle “Follow Your Eyes,” perhaps one of the strongest tracks here. Piano sounds stutter into an extended melody, giving way to distorted vocals and more string-like loops. The kick is subtle but essential to the movement of this song. It’s a fantastic iteration of Ghosting Season’s elements that sees a more expansive execution on closing piece “13.”

Before we get to the end, though, the album slowing brings itself out of the dark and quiet lull that “Follow Your Eyes” created. The sequence starting with 10-minute “Lie” and “Through Your Teeth” all the way to the energetic “Time Without Question” and “Pio” is marked with inventive rhythms and beautiful passages, demonstrating a flair for making techno more than the sum of its parts. It’s quite bold, then, to cap the album with an eight-minute meditation on vocals-as-instrument that recalls some of the more melodic Sigur Rós epics. The vocals are effected and dissected to such a degree that meaning is difficult to grasp, but the heartfelt emotion pervades the lilting guitar loops and light percussion tying the piece together. The dichotomy between guitar-led music and electronic dance music has been blown apart by songs such as these and makes a strong case that electronic music composition is just like picking up a guitar and working out a tune. The Very Last Of The Saints is a special debut by interesting voices who hopefully have more to say.

[Convex Industries]

A “producer’s producer” if ever there was, the mention of a new dBridge production is capable of reducing jaded lifers within the steely inner citadel of DnB to hushed anticipation. Responsible for some of the most outward looking and fresh takes on the genre this past decade — ever, in fact — through myriad solo works, curation of Exit Records and, perhaps most importantly, helping spawn the Autonomic stable of artists, events and podcasts, Darren White’s productivity is matched by a spookily high “hit” rate. Until now, though, his solo work has largely remained within the 170 tempo range — albeit imbued with enough space to consistently prompt listeners to remind themselves that yes, they are indeed listening to drum and bass. Here, though, he debuts his new Velvit alias on the sophomore release for Convex Industries (run by half of Instra:mental, Jon Convex), exploring new tempos with stellar effect while retaining his signature essence of jungle soul futurism.

“Passing Encounter” is a soulful piece of early Detroit-influenced bass music, with a palpable Belleville vibe in the sweeping pads and retro-sounding beeps of the intro, before a tight drop brings proceedings up to date with masterfully sliced stabs and velvety percussive layers. A well-placed male vocal satisfactorily rounds things up towards the tracks latter stages and — while this is still quintessentially dBridge — it’s interesting to hear his lush palette attached to a readily responsive lower tempo. Unlike the latest Untold 12″ I reviewed last month, a record I felt didn’t quite fuse vintage tech-DnB influence and modern techno to a totally convincing effect, “Scarlett” takes many of same elements — prominent Reese bass, menacing vibe and peak-set techno drive — and marries them to devastatingly clinical effect. The bass line is a fully detuned affair, the tribal 4/4 pulse executed with palpable glee. It’s heartening to hear dBridge working his magic in a new context after spending so long in the jungle. And while this is by no means a wild exploratory journey away from bass camp, it is a silkily convincing record nonetheless, one clearly staking a place for his new alias and Convex Industries alike.

Night Slugs needs little introduction these days. Few labels today command as bold a visual presence or carry a roster of such ambitious producers. What started as a club night intended to recast grime has since evolved into a multi-disciplinary platform connecting a fuzzy network of disparate musical scenes around the world. Home to an immediate circle of raw talent including the likes of L-Vis 1990, Bok Bok, Jam City and Girl Unit, and part of a broader coalition with the Fade to Mind crew in Los Angeles, Mike Q, Helix, Pearson Sound and many others, Night Slugs is firing on multiple fronts, cranking out slick GI music videos in homage to Kubrick, atemporal production designs in corporate architecture, and 12″ after 12″ of dance devastation. If you catch any of the above’s recent RinseFM fill-ins or mixes these days, then nagging descriptions like “neon synths” sound stale and inadequate to describe the label’s flurry of recent activity. As Bok Bok discloses in this interview — done in advance of his May 24th appearance at Smart Bar as part of Signal — Night Slugs is an outlet that exists in between modern pop music and other design pursuits, and it’s this in-betweenness and “stickability” that makes it so dynamic and agile a creative force.

What is a misconception about DJs or designers?

Alex Sushon: I don’t know that many designers and am not really in the design community so much at the moment, so I can’t comment. But a common misconception of DJs is we are wind-up party animals with hangovers. That is kind of a boring stereotype.

When is DJing and/or design the most frustrating?

DJing is most frustrating when the atmosphere isn’t right. Design is the most frustrating all the time.

What’s your worst trainwreck?

What is this “trainwreck”? My universe is an absolute grid.

Does competition make you a better designer/DJ/producer/artist?

I would say less competition and more a sense of community. It’s nice to know we’re not alone out here!

Do you spend more time anticipating your next mix or do you spend more time reflecting on mixes you’ve completed?

It depends on where I’m at. I just released NSMIX001, which is the first official Night Slugs mixtape. So I’m not really working on any others for the time being. I’m not exactly spending tons of time reflecting on a mixtape that just dropped but sometimes I go back and listen to old mixes or radio sets of mine just to see in what ways thing have changed, would I still play a set like that now, etc. It’s good to reflect on that stuff.

When is design the most fun?

Design is the most fun when I’m as far removed from the actual image-making process as possible.

What can club music learn from design?

Maybe it should be more like what can design learn from club music! But in my head good examples of both are modular, simple and well-executed.

You once said, “The two ways I work is I draw stuff in, but also I play stuff in.” Can you describe these two kinds of spaces of working?

I’m not sure what this was in reference to but I assume I was talking about writing tracks — just different processes to make something. I’m not a great keyboard or drum player, so often times I make pattern visually with blocks of midi, but sometimes I play stuff in and record it.

Some of the themes I read in NS artwork are the monolith in varying contexts, text made with elements typically used for construction (masonry, beams, columns, trusses), and their blurring across the axes and depth of the page using conventions of isos/axos and perspective. Can you elaborate on these? What is their relationship to the music for you, and what brought you to this way of drawing?

Recently the art of the label art has evolved a bit and it’s slowly changing into something else. But I guess key themes to both the label’s music and art have been modularity/stickability — the idea that the tracks are all building blocks for a greater construction — and the idea of locations atmospheres that haunt the tracks, or otherwise settings for the tracks to take place in and play out in a certain environment.

What does the graphic landscape of London’s music scene look like to you, and where do you see Night Slugs in it?

I would not say London’s music scene on the whole or its underground dance scene that we belong to have really got a unified visual style. It’s kind of a mish-mash visually, often a bit underdeveloped, whimsical or an afterthought. I really wanted to do something different with NS and make the visuals a much stronger part of the whole project. It’s such a powerful medium and has such power to contextualize the music we put out.

Can you offer a couple parting thoughts on where you think Night Slugs will go visually and musically in the meantime?

Where the label is headed right now is away from some of the vernacular that seems to have crystallized around our music. It’s all stuff I fed the world at the time — “neon synths” and all this kind of stuff — it all feels like a hangover from 2010 and has already become cliched. In the meantime, our music is evolving and maturing with every release. Jam City’s album is going to introduce a lot of new textures and the new Club Constructions series is all about visceral dance floor sweat, not the club escapism our main series is known for. Things will continue to develop.

[Type]

Sometimes in the course of Internet browsing I will happen upon a project that’s only available digitally and get a little bummed. As a firm devotee of physical formats who loses files all too easily, digital is just too frustratingly intangible for me, and even when it’s my only option I hesitate to click the buy button. One of the most intriguing digital projects I have ever found is Pye Corner Audio. Described on their website to be a transcription service wherein their nameless Head Technician has been transferring quarter-inch tapes since 1970. As luck would have it, soon after discovering this mysterious transcription service and having my interest firmly piqued, Further Records pressed the second volume of Pye Corner Audio’s Black Mill Tapes to cassette (and recently pressed volumes one and three as well). Even better, Type Records has seen fit to press the first two volumes on wax, and it’s a good thing that they did. Although the gimmick might be that these tracks were ripped from tape to digital, they clearly belong on analog formats. This review will focus solely on the Type vinyl version.

From the get-go it’s pretty clear that the Black Mill Tapes are most likely not a compilation of found quarter-inch spools, as the work is far too cohesive to be anything other than the work of one producer. It’s also a high-concept series, as Volume 3 was recently released and there is no indication of how many more volumes are planned. Throughout the series there are numbered “Transmissions,” numbered “Themes,” and numbered “Electronic Rhythms,” as well as a smattering of titled tracks, all which heighten the archival narrative of the records and lend a sense of unity to the whole series. The sounds are more than a little reminiscent of Boards of Canada, as it would be quite easy to mistake plenty of the tracks here for outtakes from avant-garde educational films from the 1970s. But whereas yours truly has never really warmed to Boards of Canada like most others, Pye Corner Audio uses these sounds with a clearer intent and focus.

There’s something vaguely sinister under the surface of the Black Mill Tapes, something that recalls idyllic locations with one too many bearded hippies in lab coats and locked rooms to feel completely at ease. While the record never exactly veers into horror soundtrack pastiche, it certainly sounds as if it could score some particularly unsettling acid trips. “We Have Visitors,” with its Italo-esque 16th-note bass line, retro-futurist keypads, and funky slap bass sure as hell sounds like a forgotten B-side from Goblin’s Deep Red, but it evokes the images of Argento’s films without flat-out aping the sound of that group or Ennio Morricone, as many have done before. “Electronic Rhythm Number Three” is another standout, slogging along with ancient rhythm machines at andante tempos while sounds steadily build atop low-slung bass lines. With a record this chock full of standout cuts it would be missing the point to go into each, but the highlight of both volumes is also the longest thing here: the magnificent “Toward Light.” Haunting, foggy pads mesh with a plodding bass line that, over the course of its eight minutes, gently eases up the scale, threatening total catharsis as it does.

“Toward Light” soon subsides into the same eerie, pseudo-hauntological sounds that are the signature of the Black Mill Tapes, and it’s moments like these that make this collection of recordings such a triumph. Yes, hauntology, retro-futurism, and Radiophonics have been all the rage the past couple of years, but the work of Pye Corner Audio is referencing a somewhat different era (early 70s) and seems to be constructed with a very novel ethos driving it. References to Giorgio Moroder and David Cain would not be misguided, but the Black Mill Tapes seem to digest and synthesize these sonic signatures into something wholly original. It’s some of the most visual music I’ve heard in some time; and while the images my brain produces during the transcription process from sound wave to brain wave might vastly differ from yours, I doubt the scenes will be any less evocative. Earlier this year I listened through both volumes while lying down, and, while drifting in and out of reveries, the music seemed almost perfectly in tune with my hypnagogic state, suggesting that the Black Mill Tapes are designed for just these kinds of lucid dreams. It’s just one of the many reasons why this is one of the most absorbing and unmissable collections you’re likely to stumble upon this year.

[Machining Dreams]

Innerspace Halflife is a new collaborative project between Chicago producers Ike Release and Hakim Murphy. The former is perhaps best known for his work on UK-bass label Infrasonics, while the latter tends to sonically stay closer to home, adapting the city’s various legacies for his brand of grooving, raw house tracks. The Cosmology EP, their debut for Murphy’s Machining Dreams label, sits closer to Chicago’s house legacy than any overseas “continuum,” but that isn’t to suggest that it lacks forward-thinking vitality.

Moreover, these three tracks bear all the marks of live, or at least semi-live, jams. That style of rough-around-the-edges production is very in-vogue right now, and the Cosmology EP makes a strong case for why that is. “Fodder” is almost 12 minutes long, building from a frisky, shuffling framework of punchy percussion into a mass of miscellaneous synthesizer angles. One gets the impression that the duo are almost randomly throwing sounds at the drums, but quite a lot of it manages to stick. The flip is similarly busy, if more atmospheric. On “Stratosphere,” they mix the same kind of frenetic tweakage with submerged organ, while “Grey Matter” finds them working with spaced-out pads and a lurching, acidic bass line. Their palette isn’t anything new, but the duo’s relentlessness in pushing their grooves around makes the Cosmology EP an exciting listen. It’s pretty much as far away as you can get from bland, formulaic tech house.

With all the Movement afterparties happening this year, it’s almost as if Detroit is having a South by Southwest kind of weekend. With at least one party running every hour throughout the weekend (and many times almost a dozen at once), it’s easy to skip the festival and have too much entertainment to choose from. As such, LWE has assembled a tightly curated guide to this year’s afterparties rather than something comprehensive. While we’ve still showcased a handful of parties — the ones you’ll likely catch us at — pretty much everything on here will be a good time for those who dig the line-ups.

+ Smart Bar’s Movement Opening Party and BBQ
TV Lounge (2548 Grand River Avenue) / 8pm-4am / $15 advance/$20 doors
Prosumer
Kate Simko
Orchard Lounge
Nate Manic
Aran Daniels
Mister Joshua
Kid Color
John Simmons

+ Prelude
TV Bar (rear entrance)/ 8pm-4am / $10
Glenn Underground
Boo Williams
Delano Smith
Norm Talley
Brett Dancer
Bruce Bailey
Powdr Blu
Marc Duncan

+ An Intimate Evening with Carl Craig
Motor City Wine (608 Woodward Ave – 2nd Floor) / 10pm-2am / $10 before 11pm, $15 after
Carl Craig

+ Blank Artists & Friends’ Movement Pre-Party
Park Bar (2040 Park Avenue) / 5pm-2am / $5
Kevin Reynolds
Jared Wilson
Agents of Woe
Dakota Bones
Joe Vargas
John Dahlberg

+ WT Records DEMF Pre-Party
Donovan’s Pub (3003 West Vernor Highway) / 9pm-2am / $5
$tinkworx (live)
Shawn O’Sullivan (live)
Entro Senestre (live)
Speculator

+ Beretta presents Ten Years of Techno
The Works (1846 Michigan Ave) / 10pm-6am / $20 presales
Aril Brikha (live)
Omar-S (live)
Reference (Luke Hess & Brian Kage) (live)
Ryan Crosson
Arthur Oskan (live)
Christina Chatfield (live)
Seth Yender (live)
Adam Jay
Keith Kemp
Joshua Harrison (live)
Ryan Sadorus
Henry Chow
Derek Fox
Charley Ten
Trench
Jason Allen

+ Ndatl presents Deep Detroit Vol.4
1515 Broadway / 11pm-5am / $20
Marcellus Pittman
Kai Alcé
Specter

+ Soul Skate 2012
Northland Roller Skating Center (22311 West 8 Mile Road) / 11pm-5am / $15
Kenny Dixon Jr.
Big Bob
Ken Smalls
MZ DJ Tone

+ Cynosure Showcase
Premium Resto Lounge (1431 Times Square) / 9pm-? / $20
Horror Inc. (live)
Mike Shannon
Vincent Lemieux
Cesare vs. Disorder
Julietta
Sassmouth
NavboX
Jubilee
more TBA

+ Loser Techno
Magic Stick (4120 Woodward Ave) / 10pm-4am / $10 presale/$20 door
Bruno Pronsato (live)
Elon
Konrad Black
Kate Simkok
Thugfucker
John Arnold
Joshua Adams
Mike Petrack
Aran Daniels
Cultured Citizens

+ Fundamentals DEMF Afterparty by Wild Oats
Motor City Wine (608 Woodward Ave – 2nd Floor) / 10pm-2am / $10
Kyle Hall
Jay Daniel
Manuel Gonzales

+ Lil’ Louis Official Movement Afterparty
St. Andrew’s Hall (431 East Congress) / 10pm-? / $10 presale
Lil’ Louis
Rick Wilhite
Greg Wilson
Michael Geiger

+ Halocyan Records Detroit Showcase
The Temple Bar (2906 Cass Avenue) / 10pm-2am / $15
John Tejada
Grenier
Octo Octa
Chrissy Murderbot
Sumsun

+ Scissor & Thread
Flat 151 (151 W Congress) / 7pm-4am / $20
Francis Harris (Adultnapper)
Tripmastaz
Noël Jackson
ABELLE
Dan Bain
AvA
Andrew Kevins

+ CLR Detroit 2012
Elysium Lounge (625 Shelby Street) / 10pm-4am / $30
Collabs (Chris Liebing & Speedy J)
Tommy Four Seven
Drumcell
more TBA

+ KMS 25 – Tribute to Detroit
St. Andrews Hall (431 East Congress) / 10pm-4am / $35
Derrick May
Juan Atkins
Kevin Saunderson
69 (live)
Inner City (live)
Eddie Fowlkes
Blake Baxter
MK
Mike Huckaby
Kenny Larkin
Stacey Pullen
Terrence Parker
Ben Sims
Kyle Hall
Mike Clark
Buzz Goree
DJ Minx

+ IT & The Bunker present No Way Back
1515 Broadway / 9pm-9am / $15 before midnight/$20 after
Derek Paslaiko
BMG
Mike Servito
Erika
Spinoza
Carlous Souffront
Scott Zacharias

+ The Story Narrated by US
TV Lounge (2548 Grand River Ave) / 11pm-? / $20 presales (limited capacity)
Chez Damier
Fred P
Keith Worthy
Steven Tang
Luke Hess
Basic Soul Unit
Michael Zucker
Trinidadian Deep

+ Shit Show 3
Waterfalls (673 Franklin St.) / 7am-7pm / $21 presales
Daniel Bell
Kollektiv Turmstrasse (live)
Tim Sweeney
Public Lover (live)
Ryan Crosson
jozif
Mike Shannon
Magic Touch (live)
Till Von Sein
DJ Three
Cesare vs Disorder
Patrick Russell
Clovis
Conor
Sassmouth vs Mossmoss
Rich Korach
Noel Jackson
Max Jacobson vs Jeffrey Felch
Phillip Stone
Leelee Mishi
Dethlab
Darkcube
Brian Bejarano
Henry Chow vs Sasha Braverman
Sappho vs The Perfect Cyn
Appian

+ Interface 36 – Scene 04
The Works (1846 Michigan Ave) / 10pm-7am / $20
DVS1
Cell Injection (Drumcell vs Audio Injection)
Raiz (live)
Kyle Geiger
DJ Hyperactive
Luis Flores (live)
Project 313 (live)
Jeff Derringer
Dean Paul
Kero
Annie Hall
Derek Michael (live)
Mamnok/Tiari (live)
Corbin Davis

+ WAR Horse
1460 Michigan Ave / 4pm-5am / $15 presale/$25 door
Gavin Russom as The Crystal Ark
Erick Duncan (Dr. Dunks of Rub N Tug)
DJ Nature
Alland Byallo
Walker Barnard
Safeword
Free Magic & Faso
Sergio Santos
Jonni Darkko
Jamie 3:26
Scott Zacharias
Secrets
Wagner
Ataxia
E Spleece

+ Dystopia
Magic Stick (4120 Woodward Ave) / 12pm-3am / $12 presale/$25 doors
D’Marc Cantu (live)
Steve Summers (live)
Traxx
Ron Morelli
Svengalisghost (live)
I.B.M. (live)
Carlose Souffront
Naughty Wood

+ Night Turns to Day
TV Lounge (2548 Grand River Ave) / 9am-5pm / $10
Hakim Murphy
DJ Spider
Will Azada
Jade Seatle
Northern Purpose (Brendan Clark & Carl H)
Jane Fitz
Craft
Duke Shin
Aran Daniels
Mr. Joshooa

+ Roots & Inspirations BBQ
Motor City Wine (608 Woodward Ave – 2nd Floor) / 4pm-10pm / $10
Carl Craig & friends

+ Rare Form
Waterfalls (673 Franklin St.) / 8pm-4am / sold out?
Maya Jane Coles
Maceo Plex
Soul Clap
Magda
Wolf + Lamb
Dave Aju
Konrad Black
Kate Simko
DJ Three
Tanner Ross
Public Lover (live)
Slow Hands
PillowTalk (live)
Thugfucker
Eats Everything
Clockwork
Safeword (live)
Nikola Baytala
Brian Bejarano
Willis Haltom
Yos
Funk Shui
Dabura

[Atavisme]

Most of us were taught that if you don’t have anything nice to say you shouldn’t say anything at all. When considering the three-year gap between original Pépé Bradock releases — and indeed his relatively slender discography over 15 years’ time — one suspects the brilliant French producer applies a similar maxim to putting new music into the world: wait until you have something new or at least interesting to say before pressing it up. With remixes for Manuel Tur, Nicolas Jaar, Brandt Brauer Frick, and Zero 7 in the intervening years, it’s not like Bradock, nee Julien Auger, has been absent from the racks. Despite their quixotic charms, however, these remixes merely hinted at his genius in a way that only stoked listeners’ hunger for more concentrated dispatches. Imbroglios Part I, then, is a well-balanced meal, bearing four new tracks that cater to DJs, home listeners, and those in-between.

While generally keeping to the deep, effervescent house sound for which fans know and love him, this new EP does find Bradock focusing less on the almost pointillist microsampling featured on his last few records. It’s merely one texture found in the shaded rush of “12Turn13,” where syncopated bass notes, canned horns and rustling hi-hats course effortlessly around dancers. A splashy synth lead dives into the stream like a kingfisher, pulling out protesting vocal stutters. “Katoucha?” is more lighthearted but equally floor-friendly. Like sinking into an aural bubble bath, its catchy descending organ riff grows prunish and dessicated as the track progresses. Yet some elements retain their crispness: claps clacking like a billiards break shot, elegant marimba phrases, and a menagerie of minute samples that keep dancers company. The EP’s claims to be part of a film soundtrack are bolstered by the interlude “Attaque De Boulangerie,” whose jazzy, orchestrated movements are pieced together a mischievous soprano of a synthesizer. And like the cat whose purring resonates throughout, “Inconsequent Pussy” only occasionally engages with dancers with chintzy organ riffs, tambourine shakes and plinking keys. The upside of waiting for Pépé Bradock to form his statements is that when he does, there’s often a lot to be said. More established producers should apply this approach.