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

In a world where conformity often reigns supreme, the pressure to neatly categorize and label our music into different genres can sometimes stifle creativity. However, for multifaceted artists like Nadia Struiwigh, these pressures serve as poignant reminders to assert individuality.  Drawing inspiration from the visual cues of her surroundings and the self-described fairylands of her imagination, Struiwigh crafts nuanced, eclectic compositions that exude elegance and defy categorization. Her genre-fluid output spanning techno, ambient, and electro, emerges as a unique blend of experimenta ..read more

Thom Yorke has composed the original score for Daniele Luchetti’s film “Confidenza,” an adaptation of the Italian drama based on Domenico Starnone’s novel of the same name. “Confidenza” follows Yorke’s previous full-length score and original soundtrack for Luca Guadagnino’s 2018 “Suspiria” remake. Produced by Sam Petts-Davies, “Confidenza” sees Petts-Davies and Yorke working again with the London Contemporary Orchestra alongside a jazz ensemble which included Robert Stillman and fellow The Smile bandmate Tom Skinner. In 2019, Yorke contributed music to Edward Norton’s “Motherless Brooklyn,” a ..read more

Or:la will release a new EP on fabric Originals. Moonlight Crush was created to be experienced in a club or rave, which is where Or:la, real name Orlagh Dooley, feels most at home. The heavy rhythmic synths and organs are reminiscent of losing yourself on the dancefloor, the scent of smoke machines and sweat is thick in the air, lit only by the hint of a full moon. Now based in Liverpool, Dooley has become an integral part to the local clubbing community scene as a promoter. She’s known for her diverse showcasing of genres, across UK bass, tribal house, deep house, breakbeat, acid, and ’90s t ..read more

NKISI is the alias of Melika Ngombe Kolongo, a DJ-producer and live act born in the Democratic Republic of Congo and raised in Leuven, Belgium. Through her kinetic live performances and releases—which have taken her across the world and landed on labels including Warp’s Arcola imprint, Germany’s Climate of Fear, and Lee Gamble‘s UIQ, where she released her debut album, 7 Directions in 2019—deliver intense, powerful sonics influenced by ancient African rhythms and experimental improvisation. Her journey towards electronic music began in photography, before she became dissatisfied with the visua ..read more

Jamie xx has shared a new track, a collaboration with Honey Dijon. “Baddy On The Floor” debuted recently on BBC Radio 1‘s Future Artists with Jack Saunders, featuring a new interview with Jamie xx. It originally appeared in Jamie xx’s All Points East set in 2021. It’s the latest taste of the UK producer’s second album, which is due out this year. His first album, In Colour, landed in 2015. The track follows the release of “It’s So Good,” a track Jamie xx, real name James Thomas Smith, made for a Chanel campaign, back in January. Before that, he shared 2020’s “idontknow,” and 2022’s “LET’S DO ..read more

Kevin Richard Martin, better known as the The Bug, has collaborated with Joseph Kamaru (a.k.a KMRU) on a new album for Phantom Limb. Martin first became aware of the Kenyan musician after watching the short 2020 documentary “Under The Bridge.” He found his approach to sound and music “so instantly impressive,” he says, and that his spoken voice possessed a “captivating, lilting, tonal quality, with his soft-spoken accent,” he says. Following this, Martin dug into Kamaru’s records, and eventually reached out to suggest they team up for an album. The result, called Disconnect, combines dub and ..read more

Paula Koski, who was born in Finland but now lives in Berlin, specializes in fast-paced, groovy techno—and you can hear her play out at Tresor, where she DJs regularly as a resident, or at Berghain. Her first production, true to her chosen style, recently saw the light on Soma Records. Her journey towards music began as a child in Helsinki, when she began recording radio mixtapes. “I would sit next to the radio all day long, waiting to record the tracks I wanted to have on the cassette,” she tells XLR8R. Around 2010, she started clubbing, found a love for electronic music, mostly techno, and d ..read more