This Friday Miguel Pone and company will host their event EDM Killed Romance, an event that aims to bring party goers and lovers back to their roots. With the rapid expansion of technology and social media certain genres and new sub cultures have taken over the dance floor. A few years ago it was unheard of to request the DJ to play a specific song but this has now become a common occurrence at certain clubs and dance floors. 



EDM is on the rise and underground music well remains underground music, EDM Killed Romance is a party who’s sole intention is to bring back the good old days well atleast remind people of them. Days when people understood that sets were meant to be a musical journey not a comparison of tastes. When it was all about the music and not about who is wearing what or what pair of headphones you have on .That is the culture that this party is striving to bring back.



The line up will include Nuno Estevez, DJ M, Reezo Hassanand the man himselfMig Madiq. Coming off the success of their previous parties at Kitcheners, this event promises nothing but highest quality of music currently available. So if you are looking for something different and don’t want cake in your face then this Friday EDM Killed Romance is where you should be.

Facebook event page 

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With his affable style and his sheer eclecticism, Munich born Tobi Neumann has been successful behind the decks for over two decades now. This summer sees Neumann in vintage busy form as he launches, amongst other things, a new label, a host of new production projects, and is set to play the massive Sonus Festival in Croatia this August. We caught up with the Cocoon man to get his thoughts on Sven, EDM and gentrification…

So, how have the past few years been for you? What's been keeping you busy? Life’s kept me busy recently. Not too busy but busy nonetheless. I’ve been playing at the weekends, social life during the week, studio-time in between. All good!

What’s keeping you excited right now then? I‘m working on a project together with my friend, Marco Unzip. We call ourselves ToCo and are just about to sign for two 12’’s and one album. Also, there is new music coming from our project called GLOVE (Thies Mynther and myself), which is taking up a lot of my time right now. I’m also starting a label called WHAT?! with my friend Patti from Solid AM. As I said, busy!

Can you talk us through your typical day? Is it 90% music related? Not really. On Mondays and Tuesdays I don’t listen to any dance music except when we work in the studio. But silence is really important after a weekend full of music. Usually I go to the record store on Thursday, check some news and then lock myself at home for the rest of the day is dedicated to music and preparation for the weekends. Beside my life as a musician and DJ I love theatre and film. Some days are dedicated for that, and that inspires me a lot.

You tend to focus more on DJing than producing. Is that a fair point? Or how is the production going? Yes, definitely better as I just touched on. DJ life was so sweet in the last decade, but not completely satisfying.

You were a firm fixture in Ibiza at Cocoon over the past few years. What's you favourite memory from that time? There are too many to mention. The best set was probably a 6-hour back to back set with Onur Özer in 2008. The after-hours for my birthday in July was great too. We celebrated it every year for 10 years! At the time everybody was together at the party and on the decks. Marco, Richie, Ricardo, Magda, Sven, Loco, Dorian, Vera, Luciano & Ricardo. No politics - just fun!

I believe you recently left the agency, however. Can you talk us through that decision a bit? Private reasons. I‘m very grateful for the years with the agency and I‘m still good friends with everybody at Cocoon. And I‘m continuing to play for Cocoon Events too.

Can you talk us through how you first met Sven and company? How did he strike you initially? I first met Sven back in 1999 in Ibiza and was immediately impressed by him. We started to hang out together and in 2002 he asked me to join the family. All in all I was more than 12 years with Cocoon. Definitely the best time in my DJ-life so far!

 And when did you start taking it a bit more seriously? When did you start DJing full-time? In 2000 I started to get serious with playing and traveling. It was never planned to be my main profession. But as you can see, it turned into something serious over the years.

And where are you at right now as a musician in terms of where you'd like to be? Do you still set yourself goals? Of course I set goals. We just built a big new studio at the Riverside Studios in Berlin. There are collaborations planned. I mix and produce music for other artists, which is my original profession. And the releases of an album with ToCo and one with GLOVE for sure!

A lot's talked about the German scene in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. What made it such a special time in your eyes? I think it was special as techno at the time brought everybody together. Imagine back in 92 at the legendary Berlin Techno-Club E-Werk the residents were DJ Clé, Kid Paul, Woody and Paul Van Dyk. That already tells you a lot. It was just a very exciting and unique unity. But in my eyes it was not only a German phenomenon, even though the rise of the Love Parade was quite special and not possible in any other city than Berlin.

Has gentrification in Berlin negatively affected the city? I think it’s logical that it happened. It is a normal process in a city like Berlin where there was and is so much empty space to take over. Look what happened in London‘s east like Shoreditch over the last decade. Really, it’s the same thing.

Do you think house and techno will always remain popular? Are you ever worried that it'll become seriously niche again? I‘m not worried at all. I think it is a niche still, but a constant and broad one. Techno and house became a form of music with traditions like jazz, soul or blues. And it of course varies in fashions and hypes. Acid comes usually every 3 years back, sometimes we need it harder, and sometimes we want it slow. But the formula never really changes, which makes the music more resistant against streams and hypes like dubstep, two-step…

And what are your thoughts on the EDM scene that's currently pervading the US? Is it good thing for the next generation in terms of getting into electronic music, or just a cheap fad? Please don‘t ask me about EDM. I hate it! But I believe that young people after a couple of years of digital violence and raping their ears will start to discover and understand our decent underground music and the nice vibes which come along with it. And that‘s usually that’s a one-way road. Nobody who ever experienced the magic of a Moodymann track will later start to listen to some shitty EDM-trash. Not a very polite answer I know.

Catch Tobi Neumann at Sonus Festival, taking place from August 18-22nd at Zrce Beach, Pag Island, Croatia. For more info, head to the official website. 

First photo by Bartosz Ludwinski

Second photo by aDee

Listen to Tobi Neumann on Pulse Radio.

Sankeys NYC has an exciting few weeks planned ahead! Catch London-born, Berlin-based darling Anthea along with Franklin De Costa this Friday, Iamlopez and Etai Tarazi on Saturday, and The 3 Kings of House aka Tony Humphries, David Morales and Louie Vega next Friday, June 27th.

Last year was a big one for Anthea. Taken under Loco Dice’s wing, she was a staple on the Used + Abused party roster in Ibiza and played alongside Carl Craig and Nina Kraviz for the Carl Cox curated ‘The Party Unites’ event at Space Ibiza. Her signature style of dynamic, layered, rhythmic and groovy techno has taken her all over the globe to Batofar in Paris, Watergate in Berlin, Gipsy in Moscow and beyond. Anthea will be accompanied by German DJ and producer, Franklin De Costa. 

Head back on Saturday to catch Colombian-born, NYC transplant Iamlopez. This talented DJ/producer and remixer is a staple on New York and San Juan-based label, Selektor. His tracks have been supported by the likes of DJ Chus and Chris Lake and he hosts his own Radio show called Dirty Beats. Iamlopez will be supported by the talented Etai Tarazi.

Sankeys is closing out the month strongly with an all-star event starring The 3 Kings of House: Tony Humphries, David Morales and Louie Vega. Each are legends in their own right who have established themselves playing and making music since the 1970s and 1980s in New York City. They joined forces a couple years back and have been making waves on dance floors across the globe, proving that these legends are still going strong and showing the dance community how it’s done.

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To Explore the Night is to live. It’s to seize the moment. It’s a state of being and a frame of mind. It embodies the spirit of the youth and ignites the endless possibilities of the night. It’s about embracing the freedom to make the most of your night out through a variety of activities. 

Smirnoff Ice Double Black with Guarana is focused on encouraging you to explore your surroundings and break the norm of what a usual night is. We don’t want to tell you what is cool; we’d rather listen to you and find out what your preferences are, where you like to go and what you like to do. We want to share in your taste of music, hotspots, style and urban culture.

We are asking you where you like to Explore The Night and in turn, we’ll suggest places to do so. Similarly, we ask what artists and bands you guys listen to when you’re going to Explore The Night and we’ll also make occasional suggestions of playlists and tracks from local artists that you can listen to. We’ll always be on the lookout for the hottest parties and music to throw your way, just in case you want to explore the night the Smirnoff way. 

To make it just a bit easier for you to #ExploreTheNight, we’ve launched www.explorethenight.com, a window in to the nightlife of the major regions in South Africa. The website details the weather conditions, where the best parties are, gives recommendations for what you should wear and collects posts from Instagram, Tweets and Facebook that use #ExploreTheNight. If you want your party pics to show up on the website, you just have to use #ExploreTheNight in your posts and we’ll pull them onto the website. ExploreTheNight.com not only helps you guys to plan your night, it helps you make the most of your night time adventures and then lets you relive them online. 

Click below to discover the endless possibilities of your city and #ExploreTheNight! 

Guy Gerber will be bringing his hugely successful Wisdom Of The Glove party to Pacha Ibiza with four exclusive shows taking over Insane on Friday nights, featuring some of the biggest names in house and techno. 2013 was the party’s first year and its success has seen Guy Gerber invited back in 2014 along with a host of guests.

After a world tour and producing an album with none other than P Diddy, 2014 will see the Israeli hosting four special parties, kicking off on 20th June with Martin Buttrich, Soul Clap and DJ Tennis. 18th July will see Chicago’s Cajmere AKA Green Velvet appear, 15th August sees the return of Buttrich alongside Detroit’s Mathew Dear and the final party on 26th September brings Magda and Tiga to the decks.

Add the dancers, decoration and great atmosphere to the quality music, and we can't wait to get weird again with Guy Gerber. 

Listen to Guy Gerber on Pulse Radio.

Born in Canada of Italian descent, Paolo Rocco is truly a "DJ's DJ."  He made a name for himself in the Montreal scene before deciding to experiment with production and has received support from the likes of Damian Lazarus, Nic Fanciulli, John Digweed, DJ Sneak, and Maya Jane Coles.  Most recently, he released his 'I Know You Wanna Say It' EP on French label, La Vie En Rose.  We had a chance to catch up with Paolo following the release to chat a bit about his experiences DJing in Montreal, some of the challenges he faced becoming a producer, mixing the Defected In The House Miami compilation, some of the ways he likes to spend his free time, and what else he has in store for the coming months.

You cut your teeth in the Montreal House/Electronic music scene. Tell us a bit about how you got your start? I was always simply interested in the craft of DJing. My real start in terms of spinning was when I met a group of local DJs that held a lot of residencies in commercial venues. Hanging out with them long enough made me a part of the crew and we all became friends. We were playing house, hip-hop, whatever made people on the commercial circuit move. There weren't many house gigs at that time and even the ones that existed had closed door policies when it came to booking new DJs so I started taking whatever gigs I could just to be able to play for a crowd and make a bit of money. The way I saw it was even though people would type cast me a sell-out or a cheesy DJ, this was the only open window I had open to make some money allowing me to buy myself production equipment and hopefully get to where I wanted to go. Once I saved up enough money I started producing, made a bit of a name for myself outside of Montreal which started turning heads, and now I'm fortunate enough to be a part of the house scene in my city alongside others.

What were some challenges you faced in Montreal? Has the city’s music scene changed/evolved a significant amount since you started your career? It's changed a lot. Montreal was always a city that brought in a lot of talent, but rarely exported any. There's a lot of politics here, and DJs often see other DJs as competition. More often than not they would rather prevent someone else from blossoming thinking that holding them back will help out their own careers. That's a backwards way of thinking... If one wants to push their career forward they should focus on exactly that, pushing their career forward and not waste time trying to hold everyone else back. That hierarchy held me back and frustrated me for a lot of years, I'm just happy I found it in myself to separate from all that and focus on my own thing.

Today it's different, not just for Montreal but in general. The younger generation figured out that they don't have to climb a ladder or go through anyone to get a record signed or play a gig. All they have to do is make a hit. Which is obviously easier said than done; but concentrating on their own brand beats following a veteran DJ, promoter, or owner around waiting for their approval. And to be honest, being someone that began at the end of the old school era through the new school way of doing things, I don't blame them either. I feel like the playing field evened out a little bit and brought things back down to two basic groups of DJs. People who work on their product, and people who try to control everyone else so they can stay relevant. The people who try to control are dying out while the people focused on their product are flourishing, and I think that's fine and pretty fair. I feel like the saying "contacts are everything" doesn't apply anymore. And that was what a lot of old school DJs based their whole business model around. However today you can get in touch with anyone you want to without having to go through anyone else. Sure contacts will help, but it's not "everything". With the internet, building new contacts has never been easier. So it comes down to who has the hotter product, who makes the hotter music, and who's hustling more. All this forced the older scenester figures to either shit or get off the pot. Either get to work or mentor and help someone else. Aside from that, the only other option is to quit because they'll end up being forced into retirment anyways. This being said there are a lot of other issues that come with this new free-for-all way of going about things, but that's how I've seen it evolve and continue to evolve for better or for worse.

You started off as a DJ, what sparked your desire to dabble in production? I originally started producing because I wanted to play for crowds in different time zones. I mean I wanted to DJ more, around the world, for more people, and I believed that I needed to have records to gain enough popularity to do that. With that influence I made shit music and it always came out rushed. Once I really got into it and started enjoying the process I fell in love with a whole new world of expression. Today I love it as much as I do spinning records, sometimes even more. It's a whole new way for me to spread a message to people but the honest truth is I first began making records to add to my DJ profile.

You recently had an EP come out on French imprint La Vie En Rose. How did you start working with Terry and the label? Well I've been a fan of French House music for a while from the DJ Gregory / Point G, Julien Jabre days to today with acts like Apollonia... La Vie En Rose was a cool label I was simply a fan of. Turned out my agent Lionel and Terence went way back so I sent over some music and voila!

Do you plan on collaborating with anyone in particular in the near future? When it comes to collabs I don't like it to be forced. I like it when things come together organically. I have a couple of people on Skype that I bounce ideas off of and vice versa so if collabs come out of that why not. Currently I have some stuff I'm working on with Alix Alvarez, Mr.KS, my hometown boy Jay London and more... But for now it's just us having fun with music.

You mixed the 2014 Defected In The House Miami compilation (Andrea Oliva and NICe7 also created mixes). How did this come about? Well Defected re-released "Move Body, Move Forward" and we've been chatting about working on more projects together for a while. So when they asked me if I wanted to put a disc together for them I jumped on the opportunity. A lot of people know me from my productions rather than as a DJ so it was a cool chance to showcase my track selecting DJ side as well.

Where in Montreal can we find you when you’re not working? Chilling with my friends and family. I'm blessed to have an amazing support system and the few times I have some free time to dedicate to myself I chose to spend it in good company whether it's at Faberge for brunch, my parents house for supper, a friends place or on a soccer (or football for the Europeans) field to try and stay in shape.

What else is on your horizon in the coming months? I've been a resident DJ at Stereo After-hours for over a year now and they just opened up Stereo Bar which is their downstairs during hours venue. I've been honoured to have the residency there on Saturdays. It's an amazing intimate space with a supreme DJ booth, second-to-none sound system, and a beautiful space for house music. I'm there every Saturday featuring hometown talent alongside myself week in and week out. When I'm not in town they take over and hold down the fort. We're a crew of about five DJs and you'll be hearing more about them from me in the coming months as they all have releases popping off. Aside from this residency we also put together a periodic event called "RAW Moments" where we all spin together, feature different forms of visual arts, and put together video recap episodes of the whole shit show. You can check it out here.

In terms of releases, I just finished mixing the Get Physical In Ibiza 2014 compilation which is coming out June 16th featuring a bunch of material of artists that I'm a big fan of. There's some exclusive originals, edits, remixes, all this packaged in a mix that's just over two hours.

I also have my next single "Gates Of Sand" dropping on Subb-an and Adam Shelton's One Records featuring some cutting edge remixes from Ed Davenport, Jack Wickham & Adam Shelton.

Besides that, I try to do as many gigs as my body can because I never know when this is all going to end and I want to soak up every minute of it that I can.  

La Vie En Rose Records:
Facebook
YouTube
SoundCloud
Digital release, out now

Listen to Paolo Rocco on Pulse Radio

During the 1950s when vinyl was scarce and the tape recorder wasn’t yet readily available in the Soviet Union, music fans were forced the be resourceful and came up with an interesting solution. They started making records of banned Western music on discarded x-ray plates.

Using a special device, the bootleg jazz and rock ‘n’ records were pressed on thick radiographs that were taken from hospital waste bins and cut into discs of the appropriate size, about 23-25 centimeters in diameter.

Author Anya von Bremzen explains, “They would cut the x-ray into a crude circle with manicure scissors and use a cigarette to burn a hole. You’d have Elvis on the lungs, Duke Ellington on Aunt Masha’s brain scan – forbidden Western music captured on the interiors of Soviet citizens.”

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One teen refused to go to hospital after losing a finger at the illegal Croydon rave this weekend. 

Posting a photo of the injury on Instagram with the caption "Rave f*cked me up #rumnbass want my finger back...#sh*t #happens," 16-year-old raver, who says he was sober at the time, refused to leave the party after the injury. 

He explained what happened in an interview with Vice:

"Well, at about 1AM we were up in the house room, but I don’t really like house so I was waiting for the drum 'n' bass to kick in. As soon as I heard it, me and my mate went down there. Five minutes in, the fire alarm starting going off and everyone was like, "Rip it off! Rip it off!"

So I thought I’d give it a go. I was completely sober at the time. I jumped up, grabbed it and my little finger got caught in the case because it was all broken, and as I came to rip it back down, my little finger got ripped off completely."

Not wanting to look out with a bunch of 'fit girls' around, the teen continued on, though not after a quick reality check.

"I looked at my hand and my little finger was gone – the bone was sticking out. It’s the weirdest feeling; one second you’re fine and your little finger is there, and the next second it’s gone. It shoves reality up your backside. I was in so much pain and shock that the first thing that hit my head was the beat and the bass.

The bass was hard, so I just ripped off my top, wrapped it around my finger and tied it up as tight as I could and skanked it out for half an hour. My mentality was, 'I’ve only been here for an hour, I’ve paid £10 for this night, I’ve lost my little finger – am I seriously going to go? Nah, I’m going to skank until I can’t skank any more.' After that, my mate dragged me down to the paramedics."

Last word was on the missing digit, a bunch of "bunch of stoners found [his] little finger and were playing catch with it."

You can read the entireinterview here.

[Via The Independant]

Listen to Pulse Radio. 

Hardwell revealed details about the North American leg of his sold out ‘I Am Hardwell’ tour this week in New York City’s Times Square. Elite Daily tagged along with the Dutch star, recently named #1 DJ in the world by DJ Mag, before his big announcement to interview some “EDM fans” in the area. The result is hilarious, to say the least.

Apparenty most Hardwell fans don’t know what he even looks like as the majority of them are unaware that he is standing right next to them the whole time. It took the interviewer telling one girl that his name started with an “H” and ended with “ardwell” to figure it all out.

Listen to Hardwell on Pulse Radio

BIGSOUND has announced over 80 artists in the first round of its lineup for 2014. Electronic acts this year include Alison Wonderland,Wordlife, Fractures, Paces, Indian Summer, Oisima, Client Liaison and KLP.

The festival will take over fourteen venues in Brisbane's Fortitude Valley on September 10 & 11 which this year includes a new outdoor venue. The final lineup is expected to boast over 140 acts.

“With more 80 artists still to be announced there’s no doubt that those two nights in September will be the single best festival of new Australian music we’ve ever had," said festival programmer Nick O’Byrne.

Check the first lineup announcement below.

BIGSOUND Live 2014 First Round
Airling
Alison Wonderland
Apes
Ash Grunwald
Avaberée
Bad//Dreems
Banoffee
Baptism Of Uzi
Blank Realm
Bonjah
Brad Butcher
Caligula’s Horse
Client Liaison
Coach Bombay
Crooked Colours
D.D Dumbo
Deep Sea Arcade
Devon Sproule
DMAs
Ernest Ellis
Eves
Fieldings
Flyying Colours
Fractures
Fraser A. Gorman
Gold Fields
Halfway
Hayden Calnin
Hits
Holy Holy
I’lls
Indian Summer
Jack Ladder & The Dreamlanders
Jane Tyrell
Jess Ribeiro And The Bone Collectors
Jesse Davidson
Jimblah
Karl S. Williams
Kingswood
Klo
KLP
Lanks
Left.
L-Fresh The Lion
Lia Mice
Little May
Lime Cordiale
Lower Spectrum
Luca Brasi
Lucianblomkamp
Lurch & Chief
Major Leagues
Mansionair
Milwaukee Banks
Morning Harvey
Oisima
Okenyo
Olympic Ayres
Orphans Orphans
Paces
Panama
Pikelet
Remi
Ruby Boots
Sampology Ft. Tom Thum & Jordan Rakei
Scenic
Steve Smyth
Step-Panther
Stillwater Giants
Sweet Jean
Sydonia
Teeth & Tongue
The Bennies
The Creases
The Harpoons
The Murlocs
The Phoncurves
The Tiger & Me
Thelma Plum
Thrupence
Tin Sparrow
Tkay Maidza
Tully On Tully
Wordlife
Yeo

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German DJ and producer Alle Farben has unleashed a visually stunning video for his latest single 'She Moves'.

Whilst he might be a household name in his hometown of Berlin and across Europe, Farben is only just now becoming recognised internationally for his original productions. But with the release of a handful of EPs over the past two years which has culminated in a debut album, 'Synesthesia - I Think In Colours', dropping last month, his star is set to explode.

New single 'She Moves' featuring the sunny vocals of Graham Candy is a gorgeous slice of feel-good pop, with a fitting video to boot. A bona-fide name to watch this year.

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The concept is simple. Find photos of DJs and producers and smash their faces together until they become horrifying amalgamations of terror. We think we've created some pretty amazing characters and new DJ supergroups here. Richie Carola and Dead Aoki are probably our favourites. Happy Friday!

Nervo van Buuren

Jonny Black and Kenny Snow

Dave Jaar & Nico Harrington AKA Darksmash

So Not What??

Blond:smash

Nina Jones, Jamie Foss & Lee Las Vegas

John XX & Jamie Talabot

Dead Aoki & Steve Mau5

Samie Jones & Jeth Troxler

Billy Hansel & Jill Patrick

Little Jonny Vega

Richie Carola

Yuuki Jones, Dubito & Jamfire

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Hercules & Love Affair frontman Andy Butler has kept authentic, American house music alive and well with his NYC group for over a decade. 

And in a recent interview with Clash, he gave his thoughts on the larger American dance music scene which, despite giving birth to disco and house, has always seemed to distance itself from the genres.

“I hate to talk about American consumers being so dumb,” Butler says, “but if you put out some freaked-out, hyper-agro rapper over the top of angry music, all of a sudden Americans will buy it.

There’s not room for subtlety, there’s no room for nuances, there’s no room for traditional components of good music, soulful music. You know, none of the warmth or emotion that Chicago house and Detroit techno had. It has no redeeming features. So, there’s my rant!”

Along with his strong words on American's consumer preferences, he also holds nothing back on EDM, something he sees as lacking any real musical qualities. 

“Yeah, well here is my response to EDM: I have a problem with every aspect of it. I have a problem with the very term. But I know what Americans like and call dance music or EDM is a series of cheap tricks that are extremely software-heavy.

It doesn’t have any focus or concern for any basic concepts like melody or strong, interesting harmonic progressions. There are not any interesting vocal performances, and it displays a lack of any substantial lyrical content. It’s absolutely reductive!"

Hercules & Love Affair's latest album, 'The Feast of the Broken Heart' is out now.

[Via Clash]

Listen to Hercules & Love Affair on Pulse Radio.

Months after announcing that the group would be no more, Liquideep’s front man broke the news that he would be embarking on a new solo project under his moniker Ziyon. His voice and song writing talents were the force behind Liquideep’s success. The band reached uncharted territory in South Africa and the world over. The American born vocalist, has managed to adapt himself to the local market with great ease, he has managed to stay relevant, constantly churning out hit records, whilst still maintaining a very international appeal.



His new single entitled “One In A Million” or OIAM in short, is a funky riff ridden song, with subtle choir like influences that could possibly stem from his involvement in the hit TV show “Clash Of The Choirs”. The rest of the song is filled with a driving baseline and heavy keys that carry the whole song beautifully. Ziyon has an exceptional voice; his ability to sing and rap lyrics seamlessly throughout his songs is a very refreshing approach to music and makes his sound easily identifiable. If this single is anything to go by his Solo album is bound to be nothing short of brilliant.

Download OIAM here 

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Plastikman
EX
Mute

Rating: 3.5/5

Richie Hawtin returns with his first album under the Plastikman moniker since 2003 and his sixth Plastikman LP. 'EX' is a live recording of his performance at the Guggenheim International Gala in 2013 so it still doesn’t quite count as an album proper (the last one of those coming with ‘Closer’ in 2003). Though news of its release certainly caused a stir given the 11-year gap between albums.

The material was prepared for Richie's live show at the world-renowned Guggenheim Museum in New York City, and this change of scenery is mirrored in the music of 'EX' as it sees Richie delving deep into alternative sonic territories far removed from the dance floor.

The album is shrouded in darkness from the off, with opening track ‘EXposed’ serving up warped and distorted drones with wide-open atmospherics that give the music a vast feel despite the minimalism at its core. The four-four kick drums and warbling bass lines are the only small nods to the dance floor that the music provides, otherwise it is essentially a colection of ambient and electronic soundscapes.

Persistent bleeps appear throughout as the futuristic atmosphere of the LP is solidified by tracks such as 'EXtend' and 'EXpand' with filtered loops, which swim in and out of focus, ‘90s style synth sounds, pulsing 303 bass lines and intense acid lines that wax and wane.

As the album draws on, there are some increases in pace and the mood becomes more intense, but it never takes the extra step. Instead, it remains swampy and light on percussion as the synths take on their own lease of life, bubbling acid rearing up sporadically as each track slowly morphs into the next, creating a fully connected body of work.

'EX' plunges deeper and at the half-hour mark things become a little more animated in terms of percussion on 'EXtrude', with claps and hi-hats appearing intermittently amongst the eerie echoes and chimes. 

With 'EXpire', the album certainly feels as if it is building towards a cinematic crescendo with rattling drums and more minimal loops cutting through the darkness whilst a synth rises incessantly before tumbling back down, reminiscent of some sort of ‘90s video game.

As the album draws to a close with ‘EXhale’, elements of melody are introduced for the first time with widescreen trance-like synths producing an almost uplifting sense of warmth amongst the dark and hostile environment that has been produced. The albums finest moment without doubt, as the strings add yet more feeling, drenched in symphonic emotion.

‘EX’ deals in very subtle peaks and troughs, never pushing too hard and sticking well within the boundaries of minimalism in its darkest and coldest form. This may be why it feels slightly underwhelming as the minimalist grip never lets go and the tracks feel like they are aching to be let lose a touch more.

Far removed from the dance floor, the album feels like a soundtrack to a sci-fi film, with each chapter of the LP conjuring up different images that merge to tell a sonic story in the minds of the listeners. It is a a deep and enjoyable listen, but it feels like there are elements of constraint that restrict the tracks from reaching their full potential.

It still feels like we're waiting for the true follow-up to 'Closer'.

Listen to Richie Hawtin on Pulse Radio.

MistaJam will be bringing a host of acts from across the broad spectrum of dance and urban music to Gatecrasher Ibiza every Thursday this season. Having kicked off on Thursday 19th June with Sigma and Meridian Dan, MistaJam’s party will bring a range of artists from the commercial to the underground.

The huge array of big names who straddle dance music and urban genres include the likes of Tinie Tempah, Clean Bandit, Bondax, Shy FX, T Williams, Jaguar Skills and many more, alongside weekly resident MistaJam.

Thursday 7th August will see Rudimental play a very special one-off DJ set, going back-to-back with Shy FX.

Previously MistaJam has taken over El Salon at Space, for Carl’s Revolution: The Party Unites, at Carl Cox’s request.

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