South African DJ-producer DJ Lag, the alias of Lwazi Asanda Gwalahas, will release his second album, The Rebellion, next month. The Rebellion marks a “bold evolution” of his distinctive gqom sound, we’re told, and builds on the success of his previous album, Meeting With The King. Across 13 tracks, he solidifies his status as a trailblazer of the genre by “infusing innovation while honoring his musical heritage.” The album promises an eclectic offering, exploring sounds like 3Step, afro-tech, amapiano, hip-hop, and even drill. It features a stellar roster of guest artists. Originating from Du ..read more

Luke Slater‘s L. B. Dub Corp project has released a new single with a remix by Burial. Only the Good Times is released on Dekmantel, cut direct from studio tape master to limited white label vinyl. Behind Only The Good Times lies the story of Eindhoven street character Arnol Kox, whose philosophical proclamations had become local legend. Slater managed to record Kox preaching the Dutch equivalent of the track title and the line is so poignant he turned it into a track. Kox passed away in 2020, and so Only The Good Times became a heartfelt tribute to someone who embodied the misfit individuali ..read more

Formed from an unexpected one-off collaboration for a remix for Crackhaus on Mutek_rec in 2003, Flabbergast is the alias of Guillaume Coutu Dumont and Vincent Lemieux. Launched in 2014, it draws on a wide array of influences including jazz and hip-hop, while fusing electronic sounds with organic instrumentation. Since 2014, the focus has shifted from spontaneous live improvisations to focused compositions and an increased presence in recorded music. In 2015, they released their debut 12″, Nr 1, on Circus Company, and they’ve since put out music on Yoyaku, their own Copier/Coller, and Switzerla ..read more

Sam Gendel and Sam Wilkes have released a new album on Leaving Records. The Doober is the pair’s third saxophone and bass guitar album, following Music for Saxofone & Bass Guitar (2018) and Music for Saxofone & Bass Guitar More Songs (2021). This time Gendel is on on C-Melody saxophone with Wilkes on the Fender Precision Bass. Tracklisting 01. CIRCLE 02. GBTC 03. RUGGED ROAD 04. BEN HUR 05. TOMBO 06. THE CIRCLE GAME 07. THE EDGE 08. BOA 2 09. TOMORROW NEVER DIES 10. SWEET FIRE 11. MILTON SUITE The Doober LP is available now. You can stream it in full via the player below and order it ..read more

Jon Hopkins will release a new album in August. By turns “devotional, empowering, and nurturing,” we’re told, RITUAL is a 41-minute single piece of music unfolding over eight chapters. It is a culmination of themes explored throughout Hopkins’ 22-year career, and acts as the “kinetic counterpart” to 2021’s Music For Psychedelic Therapy, an album made to accompany Hopkins’ guided psychedelic trips. The album features long-term collaborators Vylana, 7RAYS, Ishq, Clark, Emma Smith, Daisy Vatalaro, and Cherif Hashizume, and it came together within the second half of 2023. Though initial seeds wer ..read more

re:ni is the chosen alias of Lauren Bush, a Birmingham, England-born, Dorset-raised, and South London-based DJ-producer. Her musical roots stem from her father, a DJ himself who exposed his daughter to an array of records and hosted parties where he and his friends played sets incorporating soul, hip-hop, drum & bass, and house, among other genres. She found a connection to drum & bass soon thereafter, from partying and via her older friends in her orbit, and began DJing; encouraged by a friend, she bought a pair of decks and spent many months mixing her Dad’s old house records. Over ..read more

Hugo LX is a Paris-based DJ-producer born Hugo Lascoux. Although his music is built on the foundation of house, it’s flavored by downtempo beats and touches of jazz, hip-hop, and ambient. His journey began in western France, a place where it was difficult to access music, so he would record Saturday night radio shows on tapes. “I’m a seaside kid that got his taste for music thanks to late night radio programs and music videos,” he tells XLR8R. Though he loved house and techno, he gravitated towards hip-hop and soon started DJing at Parisian breakdance events and using looped breaks and samples ..read more

Actress—the moniker of British electronic producer Darren Cunningham—will release a new album via Smalltown Supersound. Statik is “imbued with a sense of freedom and stillness,” we’re told, because Cunningham wrote the majority of it in an extensive flow state. It follows last year’s LXXXVIII, released via Ninja Tune, and marks his first full length for Smalltown Supersound. Once “inside” the Statik experience, listeners may well find themselves “newly calm and meditative.” While it’s unmistakably an Actress albums, it’s also “distinctly aquatic and subtly primordial, and so offers his audien ..read more

Kiasmos, the duo of Icelandic composer Ólafur Arnalds and Faroese musician Janus Rasmussen, will release their second album on Erased Tapes. II is the “triumphant followup” to their self-titled debut in 2014, which re-envisioned minimal techno with orchestral flourishes and weightless production. Across 11 tracks you can “clearly hear how Kiasmos have evolved as sonic architects,” we’re told, in the deeper acoustic textures, atmospheric ambience, restless grooves, and ambitious string arrangements. “It’s bigger, both in sound and production,” says Rasmussen. “The music has matured yet there’s ..read more

Sammy Gouyette, the Parisian DJ-producer better known as Brawther, is driven by a “profound love” for house music,” he tells XLR8R. His journey towards that love began in the late ’90s with ambient and experimental IDM from people like Aphex Twin and the Rephlex label peers, but after multiple holidays in the UK he discovered deep house and eventually artists like Pépé Bradock and St.Germain, who became his main influences. He’s been trying to create that same vibe ever since. In the efforts, over a career spanning nearly 15 years, Gouyette has become a champion of the genre, effortlessly weav ..read more