Video: Shigeto – Do My Thing (A Venue Project)

After recently releasing his ‘Intermission’ EP, Detroit polymath, Shigeto, aka Zach Saignaw, is set to tour the UK next month, alongside Ghostly International labelmates Heathered Pearls and Lord RAJA with shows in London, Brighton and Leeds, as well as a run of other European shows.

Venue (produced by VSCO) recently shared a captivating live performance of Intermission track ‘Do My Thing’, which bought together Shigeto and fine artist/ designer Michael Cina.This project was inspired by A Century of Artifice, a comprehensive retrospective of Cina’s artwork for Ghostly International, and by a short film of Shigeto on tour in Japan showcasing his explosive live interpretations of his own electronic productions. Aware that the two artists have consistently intersected on the packaging for Shigeto’s discography, Venue wanted to provide a space for their creative interaction to be realised in a new way. The resulting film also serves as a nod to the significant contribution that Ghostly International has made to progressive culture for the past 16 years.

Tycho – Apogee (RJD2 Remix)

After recently announcing ‘Awake Remixes’ LP, Tycho has shared a new RJD2 remix of ‘Apogee’, which is streaming online now. The forthcoming record is set for release on January 15th via Ghostly International, with the physical release on May 20th.

RJD2 takes the swift-kicking ‘Apogee’ and transforms it into tranquil instrumental funk.

Awake represented a high-water mark for Scott Hansen, the San Francisco musician better known asTycho. Described by Hansen as, “in many ways, the first True Tycho record,” Awake announced the arrival of Tycho as a full band, and it found Hansen streamlining the group’s sound, focusing on the drums and aiming to capture the energy and power of the group’s live set. The story of Awake arrives at its natural conclusion with this 12” of remixes, on which Hansen’s songs are re-interpreted by producers who make the songs their own while retaining all of their core elements. The digital release is out January 15th on Ghostly International, with the physical release set for a May 20th release.
In the hands of Few Nolder, ‘Montana’ becomes tense and driving, four-on-the-floor beat undergirding bright, rippling synths. Baio, who splits his time between solo work and his role as bassist in Vampire Weekend, gives ‘Plains’ a kind of soulfulness, adding a driving rhythm to the original’s beatless ambience and dropping in snatches of vocal for texture and warmth.

Additional remixes from Com Truise, Christopher Willits, Bibio and Beacon, which had been previously released, have been added to this package. Taken together, ‘Awake Remixes’ offer a parallel narrative for Tycho’s artistic breakthrough. Additionally, the digital only ‘Deluxe Version’ of ‘Awake’ now includes the original version of ‘Awake’ and all eight remixes available on the ‘Awake Remixes’ album.

Pre-orders are available at The Ghostly Store, ISO50, and these fine retailers.

Tycho – Awake Remixes

Following the release of the ‘Awake’ LP last year, Tycho has just announced news of forthcoming LP ‘Awake Remixes’ due January 15th (digitally) and May 20th (physically) via Ghostly International. Baio of Vampire Weekend has remixed ‘Plains’, which is streaming online now.

Baio, who splits his time between solo work and his role as bassist in Vampire Weekend, gives ‘Plains’ a kind of soulfulness, adding a driving rhythm to the original’s beatless ambience and dropping in snatches of vocal for texture and warmth. The track recently premiered on Zane Lowe’s Beats 1 radio show.

Listen to ‘Plains (Baio Remix)’ here:

Awake represented a high-water mark for Scott Hansen, the San Francisco musician better known asTycho. Described by Hansen as, “in many ways, the first True Tycho record,” Awake announced the arrival of Tycho as a full band, and it found Hansen streamlining the group’s sound, focusing on the drums and aiming to capture the energy and power of the group’s live set. The story of Awake arrives at its natural conclusion with this 12” of remixes, on which Hansen’s songs are re-interpreted by producers who make the songs their own while retaining all of their core elements. The digital release is out January 15thon Ghostly International, with the physical release set for a May 20th release.

RJD2 takes the swift-kicking ‘Apogee’ and transforms it into tranquil instrumental funk; In the hands ofFew Nolder, ‘Montana’ becomes tense and driving, four-on-the-floor beat undergirding bright, rippling synths. Additional remixes from Com Truise, Christopher Willits, Bibio and Beacon, which had been previously released, have been added to this package. Taken together, the Awake Remixes offer a parallel narrative for Tycho’s artistic breakthrough. Additionally, the digital only Deluxe Version (link coming soon) of Awake now includes the original version of ‘Awake’ and all eight remixes available on the Awake Remixes album.

Following the acclaim of Hansen’s momentous sunrise DJ sets at Burning Man in 2014 and 2015, he’s also announced his debut US DJ set tour. Listen to this Burning Man Sunrise DJ set here, and see below for the full list of upcoming dates.

Pre-orders are available at The Ghostly Store, ISO50, and these fine retailers.

‘Awake Remixes’ track listing:
Out January 15th, 2016 (digital) & May 20th, 2016 (physical)
01. Awake (Com Truise Remix)
02. Montana (Christopher Willits Remix)
03. L (Dusty Brown Remix)
04. Dye (Nitemoves Remix)
05. See (Beacon Remix)
06. Apogee (RJD2 Remix)
07. Spectre (Bibio Remix)
08. Plains (Baio Remix)
09. Montana (Few Nolder Remix)

Beacon – Preserve

New York duo Beacon, the project of Thomas Mullarney III and Jacob Gossett are back with their sophomore LP titled Escapements out on Ghostly International February 5th.

Escapements is about time, to put it simply, and all of the baggage it brings. The title is taken from clock mechanics; escapements are timekeeping regulators designed to transfer energy at a constant pace. “I was attracted to this concept because of the entropy it implies,” Vocalist Thomas Mullarney explains. “Friction and changes in amplitude over time mean every escapement, no matter how well crafted, will lose its accuracy and effectively slow down time via its own decay.” This theme is delicately explored through Beacon’s music and lyrics, engaging ideas of pain and loss with a surreal palette. Whereas the duo’s debut was more streamlined and defined, Escapements thrives on an amorphous, free-flowing nature.

After the initial demos were written, Escapements was refined and recorded over the course of nine months at Beacon’s Brooklyn home studio and Gary’s Electric, where it was mixed by Al Carlson. Tycho drummer Rory O’Connor was brought in to perform, unleashing new energy onto the Beacon sound and helping expand it to unheard places. Which is another notable theme on the album. “I hope this record proves our restlessness and shows that we really aren’t content to have only one approach to creating music,” says Mullarney. “Every part of our process is linked to discovery.” And that meant trying out studio tricks and recording techniques on the fly, getting lost in the process until they came out the other side. Like on “Cure”, Escapements’ frenetic, breakbeat-inspired penultimate track. Mullarney explains: “There’s a moment where I was simply playing chords on the studio Wurlitzer and singing while the mic recorded the room. The idea was to escape the produced electronic music, just for a moment, and capture the energy in the room.”

Beacon have also announced a national US tour. They’ll be joined by Portland rising star Natasha Kmeto.

Stream album’s track “Preserve” below. Pre-order Escapements at The Ghostly Store or at these retailers of your choice.

Escapements Tracklisting:
01. IM U
02. Backbone
03. Running Out
04. Escapements
05. Better Or Worse
06. Hollow
07. Preserve
08. Still
09. L1
10. Cure
11. You’re Wondering

Shigeto – Do My Thing

“I haven’t found the next step for me yet. I’ve been making loads of music as always, but I’m still looking for that concrete new path.”

Shigeto’s Intermission EP (Oct 30th, Ghostly International) takes its title quite literally, then, presenting a snapshot of the artist’s transition between ideas and inspiration. Indeed, listening to these six eclectic tracks evokes a dynamic sense of exploration, excitement, and stylistic freedom. Following the throbbing seven minute first single “Pulse,” today Shigeto releases “Do My Thing”. It’s a shapeshifting track that sees Shigeto combining various percussive elements along with melodic instrumention and evovling beats.
Listen here:

Shigeto – Intermission EP

Two years after Shigeto released his second full-length, No Better Time Than Now, the busy Detroit polymath, born Zach Saginaw, has finally taken a break from his endless hustle to update everyone on his current musical headspace. He returns with new EP ‘Intermission’ due out Oct 30th via Ghostly International & the first track from the record ‘Pulse’ is streaming online now.

“I’ve been on the road for a long time now and also have been working on other projects,” he explains. With projects that include working on a new live ensemble arrangement, playing electronics in a jazz quartet, recording with Detroit rappers, and building a new studio, it’s no wonder we haven’t heard much from him since 2013.

“I haven’t found the next step for me yet. I’ve been making loads of music as always, but I’m still looking for that concrete new path.” Shigeto’s Intermission EP takes its title quite literally, then, presenting a snapshot of the artist’s transition between ideas and inspiration. Indeed, listening to these six eclectic tracks evokes a dynamic sense of exploration, excitement, and stylistic freedom. ‘Pulse’, the throbbing seven minute first single from the new EP via Ghostly International Soundcloud.

Saginaw describes Intermission as a collection songs that “point to the past, present, and future.” His inimitable hallmarks are certainly there: the heavy drum-machine knock and jazzy synth flourishes of ‘City Dweller’, that airy thumb piano in beat suite ‘Do My Thing’, and ‘Pulse’’s percussive, polyrhythmic grooves. They mingle with some fresh sounds from Shigeto, too. Mystic pads creep into the mix—especially on beatless, textural drifts ‘Gently’ and ‘Deep Breathing’—and there’s a decidedly unhinged touch to how the producer uses samples, almost like he’s teaching himself a new language. But don’t get it twisted, there’s no grand vision this time out. “They’re not meant as a strong message,” Saginaw clarifies, “but more of a taste, like a halftime show of sorts.”

So if Intermission is here to hold us over until Shigeto’s next big event, the record’s palpable depth and complexity say quite a lot about where the man is now and where he’s headed. Pre-order the album from Ghostly here.

‘Intermission’ tracklist:
Pulse
City Dweller
Gently
Do My Thing
Deep Breathing
Need Nobody

Video: Fort Romeau & New Jackson – Not A Word

We’ve already posted “Not A Word“, London producer Fort Romeau‘s is a collaboration with Irish producer David Kitt aka New Jackson. Below you can watch the official video, designed, directed and animated by Jack Featherstone.

Fort Romeau’s “Insides” LP will drop on March 31st 2015 via Ghostly International. Pre-order here.

Fort Romeau & New Jackson – Not A Word

London producer Fort Romeau unveiled another great track from his forthcoming album for Ghostly. “Not A Word” is a collaboration with Irish producer David Kitt aka New Jackson. Check it out below. Fort Romeau’s “Insides” LP will drop on March 31st 2015 via Ghostly International. Pre-order here.

Michna – Thousand Thursday LP

Nearly seven years following’s Michna’s debut album for Ghostly, Magic Monday, the NYC DJ/producer has finished the official follow up to that record, but Adrian Yin Michna doesn’t want to overstate what happened in the interim. “Life just moves,” he starts casually, “there’s been a lot going on.” DJ gigs, music production for video games and commercials, and film scoring have kept him busy, along with a healthy balance of painting, biking, and other non-musical endeavors. In light of Michna’s sophomore LP, Thousand Thursday, though, it all seems beside the point. Simply put, his latest record is a celebration of the producer’s love for vibrant electronic music, bothering very little with conceptual or contextual baggage.

And yet, in many ways, Thousand Thursday effortlessly streamlines Michna’s life and cultural background into affable dancefloor sounds. “My dad is from Ealing in West London,” he shares, “and that’s been a huge direct musical influence my whole life, especially when I was a teen and spent some time in London in the mid­-’90s.” You can easily hear that much in the ravey breakbeats and horn stabs that sneak into synthy tracks like “Cherry 2000” and “Time Will Tell”, or even the vibe of rain­-soaked streets that permeates Thousand Thursday. Then there’s the artist’s enduring love for classic house, disco, and hip­-hop, which is more obvious. “Nuroq Legacy” effortlessly brings all of these influences into one lively, eclectic dance track, but the wistful “Increasing Ambition” is pure neon Italo and Michna’s unclassifiable brand of of hip-hop has never sounded better than on “She Exists In My Mind”.

Perhaps less apparent is how the industrial tapes from Michna’s childhood played a role in creating these 10 spirited tracks. “I started re-­listening to them primarily just to hear how they flip samples,” he elaborates, and the technique is used all over Thousand Thursday. It lends the music an added bit of personal history and what Michna calls “subliminal messages,” as he borrows from years and years worth of field recordings—including bits of “Blackberry video, Flip camera tour footage, terrible interviews with friends, people on the street, and found sounds galore.” Rifle through the slow-grooving robo-beats on “Believe In It Pt. II”, or “Jace the Mind Sculptor”‘s densely textural ambient drift, and you’ll uncover layer upon chopped up layer of these lovingly curated snippets. There seems to be a tapestry of life’s strange, beautiful, and unexpected moments woven into Thousand Thursday

For all of its varying influences and reference points, Thousand Thursday is actually a strong cohesive listen; each of Michna’s productions flow seamlessly into the next. This is an album where NYC/LA dance-­pop vocalist MNDR can deliver her chilly falsetto next to a lifelong gearhead twiddling the knobs of his Akai S­950, Korg MS­20, E­mu SP­1200, and other coveted hardware. Thousand Thursday is the sound of Michna re-discovering his passion for writing tunes and crafting an album, and whether he likes it or not, it all tells us a bit about where his mind has been during the years of his process.

Stream in full below; get it here.

Beacon – Fault Lines (Dauwd Remix)

After the release of Beacon‘s L1 EP on Ghostly International, the duo offer up a stream of Dauwd‘s remix of single “Fault Lines” which is out digitally today, January 13th 2015.

For much of the Brooklyn duo’s career, Beacon has worked with a kind of effervescent, forward-looking R&B that evokes out-of-body experiences, but with their new L1 EP, the music is anchored assuredly to your flesh, bone, and physical senses. The brawny synth timbres which open lead track “Fault Lines” and the stomping beats bolstering gauzy falsettos on confident songs like “Minor Structures” set the tone for a new phase in Beacon’s evolution, one geared toward the movements and magnetism of human bodies. As producer Jacob Gossett puts it, “Our records have often been described as moments after the night has given way, a ‘comedown after the club.’ Hopefully, this record inspires people to go back out for one more.”

Dauwd transforms the “brawny synth” of Beacon’s track “Fault Lines” into a rolling melodic house track that loses none of the allure and power of the original. Being a huge fan of Ghostly artists Com Truise, Mathew Dear and Gold Panda already, his choice to release on the label after the creative silence from the producer between 2011 and 2013 was certainly fitting. It also marked a shift in his production from the garage leaning beats of his early days to a more mature 4/4 beat, something that is evident in the ‘Fault Lines’ remix.

Dauwd was born in the US but spent most of his formative years in rural Wales. The detached upbringing “was a drawback and a blessing” says Dauwd. He creates music with complexity most contemporary producers shy away from. Found sounds are thickly laden over multi-timbred synths. Vocal and instrumental stabs punctuate organic and evolving passages guided always by driving percussion and immaculate low-end production. His productions are full and intricate with a wealth of sounds building warm atmospheres that are unusual within dance music.

Beacon will set off on a North American tour later this month. A full run of dates can be found below.

Tour Dates
01.22 Portland, OR @ HOLOCENE
01.23 Seattle, WA @ BARBOZA
01.24 Vancouver, BC @ ELECTRIC OWL
01.25 Spokane, WA @ THE BARLETT
01.28 San Francisco, CA @ RICKSHAW STOP
01.30 Los Angeles, CA @ THE ECHO
01.31 San Diego, CA @ CASBAH
02.12 Allston, MA @ GREAT SCOTT
02.14 Brooklyn, NY @ BABY’S ALL RIGHT
02.19 Washington, DC @ DC9
02.20.14 Philadelphia, PA @ BOOT & SADDLE