Acclaimed French DJ / producer Fakear is pleased to announce a brand new release with the arrival of ‘Healing’, out this summer through Nowadays Records and will be accompanied by a series of European tour dates throughout the summer and beyond. 

No stranger to the scene, Fakear continues his musical evolution with a fine concoction of emotive, quirky, globally tuned electronic music designed for massive crossover appeal. He says “Healing, it speaks for itself. This track feels like therapy, an encouragement to dance and let go. I have never worked as much as for this album and this tour. And it feels amazing to be enjoying the fruits of this labour.”

A good craftsman spends his time honing his craft. He refines his technique, year after year. An artist, on the other hand, has to get emotionally involved – and that can sometimes get dizzying. It takes a lot of courage to show your inner thoughts and your flaws. Especially with the previous feeling of exhilaration of a fast rise to musical fame with a sold-out concert at the Olympia in Paris even before having released his first album (later becoming a gold record) and tours all over the world in front of thousands of people, like the Red Rocks festival in the USA.

Fakear needed to reinvent himself. To return to the essence of his project, with spontaneity and above all, honesty. Ten years after his first steps in the industry, Fakear now returns to his roots, without looking to the past with nostalgia or contempt; but rather by contemplating his past self with kindness.

And this new wave got expressed in one word : Talisman, his last album that came out in February 2023. With the tracks Moonlight Moves, Altar, Voyager and Odyssea (featuring the environmental activist Camille Etienne). Alongside a sold out French and European tour, a show at Le Trianon in Paris also sold out, and soon one in salle Pleyel (in February 2024).

“It was a complete rebirth. I had lost this crazy energy I once had doing all this.”

But such a comeback doesn’t just completely stop after only one album – even though it was particularly noteworthy to the media and the audience. And neither does the inspiration for Fakear.

“There is something magical happening when we get so confident. We allow ourselves to have fun, we think less, we feel the love from the audience. And the most beautiful thing is I believe this totally impacts the creation process.”

This is how the new songs were born. Like the following of this rebirth and this new inspiration for Théo. Like an extension of Talisman: a new dimension, a parallel universe.

“As I was gradually reconnecting with the outside world, I was realising how essential to me it was, and how much I had missed it. My new songs are full of this feeling. I love making music so that it can be shared, lived, vibed and danced to. Talisman was me returning to my roots. The new songs are a window to the future.”

Live:

21/06/2023 – Fête de la musique – Berlin (Allemagne)

24/06/2023 – SOS Méditerrannée – Marseille

02/07/2023 – MTELUS – Montréal (Canada)

06/07/2023 – Musilac – Aix Les Bains

07/07/2023 – Décibules – Neuve L’Eglise

13/07/2023 – Green Festival – Avignon

28/07/2023 – Festival de la Paille – Metabief

10/08/2023 – Numerik Games Festival – Yverdon Les Bains (Suisse)

12/08/2023 – Ecume Festival – St Pierre-De-Quiberon

25/08/2023 – Numerik Games Festival – Yverdon Les Bains (Suisse)

02/09/2023 – Rêves à Son – La Pommeaye

08/09/2023 – Palm Fest – La Palmyre

16/09/2023 – Big Mama Fest, La Felicita – Paris

28/09/2023 – L’autre Canal – Nancy

29/09/2023 – Noumatrouff – Mulhouse

30/09/2023 – La Belle Electrique – Grenoble

06/10/2023 – L’Oasis – Le Mans

07/10/2023 – Le Fil – Saint Etienne

12/10/2023 – Omega – Toulon

13/10/2023 – 6Mic – Aix En Provence

14/10/2023 – Emb – Sannois

15/10/2023 – File 7 – Magny Le Hongre

20/10/2023 – West Rock – Cognac

21/10/2023 – Quai M – Roche Sur Yon

27/10/2023 – La Carène – Brest

02/02/2024 – Salle Pleyel – Paris

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Feeling all wound up from a stressful week? Well, with the weekend looming, why don’t you kick off your shoes, let your hair down, and get moving to the groove of Florian Picasso’s new single, ‘Unwind’, available now under his own record label La Californie Musique.

Stream / Download: Florian Picasso – ‘Unwind’

‘Unwind’ is a party animal. If it were a person, it would be dressed in psychedelic festival clothing, face painted, and ready to rave. Tech-house drums drive the track forward. But Florian doesn’t seem to be in any particular hurry to get to the end of the track. Protracting the experience he is creating, he builds the arrangement in a way that keeps us in that dance pocket.

“As the festival season is around the corner, I felt like creating a big dance floor, energy-packed record. I think DJs will appreciate the shifts of different drops in this one,” said Florian. And listening to the record, we can hear this energy shine through.

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Evasion EP: Concept

The past years have pushed us to seek and value blissful moments of escapism more than most of us ever have in our lifetimes. We’ve all relied on feeding art into our minds as a means of evading the weight of isolation and frustration in our stalled lives. This EP is a sonic vessel meant to carry us to the distant spaces we drift to when we need a break from it all. Every song represents its own form of escapism or refuge, steering the listeners, our passengers, from gambling games to Matrix-inspired double dimensions, from sea folklore to religious legend. Some are forms of distraction, others sites of solace in a most trying time. The instrumentals evoke the carefree sense of cruising down a coastline, decadent sunsets, and the timeless allure of discovering new places and faces.

Another place of refuge has been the internet, which happens to be where we met. Moses shared the snippet of an instrumental on his Instagram stories, calling out for vocalists. Thaïs was immediately inspired by the track’s mysterious melody and bewitching beat. The top line and lyrics flowed out instantly, and before long she’d sent back the track which would go on to be the first song on the EP.

We’ve spent the past months cooking up our own home remedy for the symptoms of our era because making music is how we self-medicate. These songs are the silver lining to a crushing situation, global confinement birthing a stillness without which this collaboration may never have come to be.

Every night of lockdown Thaïs has little solo raves on her balcony, elevated by the music, in withdrawal from the energy of dancing in a room full of vibing strangers. And so we set out to create the very vibe we’ve been searching for, the vibe we’ve been needing. Thaïs sitting by her bedroom window in Marrakech, armed with a microphone and her lyric book, Moses in his Montreal home studio, surrounded by synths. Thousands of miles apart, in different time zones, but on the same wavelength. It takes a rare creative synergy for two people who’ve never met to work in such organic consonance, and the two artists have jumped head first into this project, Moses seamlessly weaving Thaïs’ raspy soul vocals into his rousing synths and hypnotic beats.

Artist Quote – “Created between Montreal and Marrakech, Évasion pairs Moses Belanger’s jazz-infused synths and rolling bass lines with Thaïs Sala’s escapist lyrics, delivered with deep soul vocals.”

Record Sounds Like: Basslines like Channel Tres, dreamy synths like Kerri Chandler, mystical strings like Nicolas Jaar, percussions and raspy vocals evocative of Sinego

Track Listing:

1 – Dice & Aces

2 – La Salacia

3 – The Genie

4 – High Road

5 – Blue Pill

6 – La Salacia (Deep Mix)

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Florian Picasso released his brand new single ‘Ay Papi’ on the 20th of January via La Californie Musique. The multiskilled DJ and producer enjoy notable collaboration with Hip-hop giant NAS and outstanding RnB musician John Legend. Florian Picasso has been able to turn What began as his pastime experimenting with music in his home-installed studio into a notable profession in the music industry.  

Stream / Download: Florian Picasso – ‘Ay Papi’

 ‘Ay Papi’ is persistent, containing a double beat that marches through the song from its beginning to the end. Avid house music fanatics are in for a treat because as the first beat drops in the track, it’s followed by a second bass beat within two seconds. The first beat is a mid-tempo note that sets the pace for the song’s listener-friendly quality and the second beat is a warm and deep bass beat, henceforth imparting to the song a festive element. 

The ferocious artist tells us about the process used for the making of ‘Ay Papi’: “This track is the genesis of a new era for me. It was a fun process trying to blend older sounds of mine with the new « Picasso sounds » I envision. Moreover I really tried to produce a fun record to transition from the old to the new me”.

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Rising Audio Visual artist / Musician / Producer Obscenity State (Nilly Brook) is pleased to announce a brand new release with the arrival of ‘Moke Lake’, lifted from her debut EP due in January 2023.

Complex, seductive melodies encompass ‘Moke Lake’, drawing on a myriad of electronic influences from techno, deep-house, electro and bass, and is accompanied by a visually stunning animated video, drawing you into Obscenity State’s own world. 

Nilly explains: “This is an energetic electronic dance track, exploring self-discovery through the merging of sound and vision. The cascading melodic synthesis, expansive sound design and psychedelic, overlapping sequences hypnotically immerse you into my alternative world. Weaving throughout are the evocative chants of a Persian Avaz master, a female performer prohibited from singing in public since the revolution of ’79. Of Iranian heritage myself, stemming from a persecuted minority, I have built a digital world to reflect my sense of isolation and driving determination to confront revolutions past and present through the exploration of new identities.”

Poetically transcending the ages, Obscenity State transfixes listeners with her unique blend of electronica, expansive sound design, harmonically rich compositions and hypnotic dance rhythms. Passion, blood ties and cultural complexity drove the cinematic vision behind Nilly Brook’s Obscenity State. Driven by her experience growing up in a family torn by the Iranian revolution, Nilly became hyper-aware of the corruption of power in its various forms. Seeking clarity, she immersed herself in art, global politics, animation and music initially through her studies at Central Saint Martins, the School of Oriental and African Studies and the London College of Music. Processing and transforming the energies around her, what emerged was an evolving creative force culminating in Obscenity State’s immersive live audio-reactive visual performance, where abstract subversive animations and the dramatic beauty of light submerge the audience into her explorative dimension.

Central to her vision as an artist has been the coalescence of her background in digital animation, world politics, classical composition and electronic music production. Initially formed as a post-punk/dance band, Obscenity State’s Nilly Brook has taken the step with her debut single Moke Lake to reform as a solo electronic/dance act. Her EP will be soon to follow in early January 2023.

Moke Lake / 25th November

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Leipzig-based, German musician MARIA Die RUHE shares her latest release ‘Dance or We Are Lost (Semodi Remix)’ under Reduced To The Root Records.  Musician MARIA boasts past recognition by distinguished publications such as CLASH Magazine and Notion Magazine just to name a few.

Stream / Download: ‘DANCE OR WE ARE LOST (Semodi Remix)’

‘Dance or We Are Lost (Semodi Remix)’ captures well the essence of experimental house music with its euphoric crispy hit-hats, deep bass, and sinuous synths. The song starts with a pulsating synth that is subsequently laid throughout the track and is accentuated by a bubbling deep bass, making the song appear to literally be in motion. The crispy hit-hats add an element of urgent joviality, resulting in a potent dance anthem. 

Entertainer and electronic DJ Semodi released his first EP ‘Next Summer’ via Thisbe Recordings in 2021. The musician discusses the intended creative vision for the remix: “The original mix of DOWAL already has super nice vocals and very relatable lyrics, so I felt I had to add a kick-ass bass line to really make you want to dance. Also, I wanted to give the vocals a musical context that really embraces the message of the track in the final drop. So I created some epic synth pads that made me feel this yearning for salvation in dancing”.

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Enigmatic artist Salvatore Ganacci has unveiled plans for a brand-new album, Culturally Appropriate, and dropped a new single ‘Take Me To America’, out 27th October on MDLBEAST Records. Ganacci’s darkly funny storytelling unfolds in a surrealist tale that holds personal significance to Ganacci, who hails from Bosnia. 

Watch the video HERE

A pumping, four-to-the-floor house jam, ‘Take Me To America’ samples iconic Bosnian band Dubioza Kolektiv’s hit single “U.S.A.”, celebrating Ganacci’s Bosnian immigrant heritage. The Sweden-based producer combines punchy drums, infectious vocals and groove-laden brass in the single, which he has teased to audiences during sets at MDLBEAST’s Soundstorm Festival and Romania’s SAGA Festival. It follows recent single ‘Let You Do This’, a collaboration with Sebastian Ingrosso and Steve Angello of Swedish House Mafia notoriety, with both tracks set to feature on Ganacci’s forthcoming album Culturally Appropriate, out on 25th November via MDLBEAST Records.

Salvatore Ganacci has, in recent years, become a fictive cult legend, particularly in his seminal videos, transcending beyond a traditional electronic artist. With a unique visual language and stage presence, Ganacci has built his own universe through videos and records, such as ‘Horse’ and ‘Step-Grandma’. More recently Ganacci collaborated with Ingrosso on their joint remix of The Weeknd’s 2022  track ‘How Do I Make You Love Me’.

Ganacci’s second scintillating single in quick succession, ‘Take Me To America’ further heightens the anticipation for the Swede’s forthcoming album.

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Stream / Download:  munro – ‘About You’

The excellent musical expedition of ‘About You’ cascades delightfully in a playful but impressive mixture of vibrant electronic oscillations, fiery electronic organs and the buoyant synthesiser. The single vibrancy bubbles up from the beginning until its rapturous end as the vocals capture its high pitches and ride it out subliminally. The electronics of different instruments used in the track chase each other continually and cyclically, simultaneously reaching higher notes. Subsequently, listeners are transported to a euphoric high drowned in octaves and Theremin’s eerie. 

Musician munro reflects on the vocalisation in ‘About You’ “There’s a really bold, assertiveness in the vocals that just floors me, and it really set the scene for the writing process. It doesn’t feel as hopelessly melancholic as, I guess I typically lean into, but it still maintains a level of, albeit, sobering sadness to it”.

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Actress (Darren Cunningham) returns with Dummy Corporation, a long-awaited new EP out on 11th November on Ninja Tune. Featuring Detroit-influenced lead single ‘Dream’ – an expertly layered, dance-floor ready crawler with a minimal 4×4 beat, hypnotic synth loop and a commanding vocal sample – and mesmerising 19-minute title track Dummy Corporation, the release places Actress firmly back in the centre of underground club culture. It marks the acclaimed electronic artist’s first solo music since the release of his 2020 album Karma & Desire which saw guest collaborations from Mercury Prize winner Sampha, Zsela and Aura T-09-The Guardian commented it “cements his place as one of the great poets of club culture”. 

On ‘Dummy Corporation’ we see Actress – one of the preeminent and most singular voices in UK electronic music – enter a new chapter, traversing through digital snapshots of electronica and graffiti in which he explores the processes behind both the music and visual elements. “The overall idea is for this to be a demonstration of the process and the philosophical action art of creating modern-day electronic music” he comments. “I create these sketches, essentially like the fabrics, and I collage them together…once I see the picture it’s embellished further and the process repeats…”. It’s a piece of work shaped by varied fragments of Actress’ life, reflecting growing up in the advent of home computing, programming, cassette tapes and floppy discs.

As part of this new chapter, Actress will bring his acclaimed DJ sets to a selection of iconic clubs including Fabric alongside Mumdance, rRoxymore, DMX Crew, DeSchool with Octo Octa as part of ADE, Berlin’s RSO with Kai Campos (Mount Kimbie), Afrodeutsche and Kush Jones, Nista in Barcelona and Lux in Lisbon. 

The announcement of ‘Dummy Corporation’ comes shortly after the release of the single “AZD SURF” – a collaboration with Mount Kimbie’s Kai Campos – which featured Actress’ unique, yet familiar, distorted elements, mixed in with Kai Campos’ hypnotic melodies.

Actress has recently featured in a Patta and Nike produced 4 part film by Mahaneela and Steve McQueen, soundtracked an installation with Actual Objects called Grey Interiors and remixed tracks for Joji, Perfume Genius, Tirzah, The Cinematic Orchestra, Soccer Mommy and Carmen Villain. 2020’s ‘Karma & Desire’ album was widely praised across the board, with praise from Pitchfork (included in their 41 Most Anticipated Albums of Fall 2020), FADER, Resident Advisor, Crack, Hypebeast, Consequence of Sound and The Guardian. 

‘Dummy Corporation’ is out 11th November on Ninja Tune, with single “Dream” out today.

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Well-known remixer and producer LCAW has taken Ilja Alexander’s pop-laden ‘Someday’ single for a spin. The remix, released today via  Green Monk Records calls to mind industry greats such as Ben Böhmer, Rüfüs Du Sol and Jan Blomqvist.

Stream/ download: Someday (LCAW Remix)

“Working on this remix for Someday was a lot of fun because I used only analog synths that I recently acquired. Very happy I got a chance to put my spin on this song, hope someday soon I get to play it in a club and see people dance to it.” – LCAW tells us about his experience of working on the remix.

The original single’s noteworthy vocals have been kept intact, while a darker atmosphere is introduced. Think of a lover, corrupting their gentle significant other, while enticing them into a world of rhythmic dance floors and underground nightclubs.

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