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

Príncipe has released a cassette of a live recording of DJ Lynce, a Porto-based DJ-producer born Pedro Santo. Lynce has been DJing and producing electronic music for more than two decades. This particular gig was an improvised hardware jam in May 2023 at Galeria Zé dos Bois in Lisbon. Expect breakbeats, plenty of acid squelching, strong pads, and bleepy melodies in front of a live audience. You can hear the anticipation and the excitement when shouts are able to intrude on the overall sound. Tracklisting 01. Live @ Bola de Cristal Live @ Bola de Cristal is available now. You can order it here ..read more

Surgeon (a.k.a Anthony Child) and Regis (a.k.a Karl O’Connor) will release their debut album as British Murder Boys. Between 2003 and 2005, British Murder Boys released a slew of influential 12″s on Child’s Counterbalance and Regis’ Downwards labels, before reuniting for a 12″ on Mute’s Liberation Technologies imprint in 2012. Releases since then. have been sporadic, and include a recent cover of Lou Reed “Real Good Time Together” and a limited-edition cassette documenting their residency at Dutch studio Willem Twee. On Active Agents and House Boys, their long awaited debut album, Child and O ..read more

Peggy Gou will release her debut album this summer. According to XL Recordings, who’ll release the album, I Hear You is the culmination of years of work for the Korean-born artist. It features previous singles like “(It Goes Like) Nanana” and her Lenny Kravitz collaboration, “I Believe in Love Again.” Across 10 tracks, it sees Gou “stepping into the next level of her artistry and boldly claiming her voice through the kaleidoscopic lens of ’90s house music.” “I Hear You is more than just my debut album,” Gou says. “It embodies countless hours of dedication in my journey to create something tim ..read more

Brijean—the project of singer-songwriter Brijean Murphy and multi-instrumentalist Doug Stuart—will release a new album on Ghostly International. On Macro, Brijean deliver their “most dynamic songwriting yet,” we’re told. Its 12 tracks are “colorful, collaborative, and deeply fun,” and they elicit an “exploratory vibe with high-tempo peaks and breezy valleys in the psyche.” It follows 2021’s Feelings, on which they celebrated self-reflection, and 2022’s Angelo, which processed loss, coinciding with the duo’s first headline tour. To coincide with the announcement, Ghostly has shared “Workin’ On ..read more

Seven years…that’s the time between Mount Kimbie‘s third album, Love What Survives, and their fourth, The Sunset Violent. During that time, Dominic Maker relocated to Los Angeles, California, where he wrote for artists including James Blake, Travis Scott, Slowthai, Rosalía, and Jay-Z; meanwhile, Kai Campos, his partner, whom he met at London Southbank university, remained in London, the city from which Mount Kimbie released their breakout material: Crooks & Lovers on Scuba‘s Hotflush Recordings and Cold Spring Fault Less Youth, their debut on Warp, on which they refashioned dubstep into in ..read more

Over the last decade, Haruka—a Tokyo-based DJ-producer—has emerged as a leading figure in Japan’s dance music community. He initially made a name for himself as a resident and co-curator of DJ Nobu‘s infamous Future Terror parties, but since then he has played at major clubs in Tokyo—including Womb, VENT, and Dommune—and globally. These experiences have instilled in him a great versatility as a DJ, able to play carefully crafted opening sets, driving and powerful techno in peak-time slots, as well as after-hours sessions or more experimental explorations. When he’s not touring as a DJ, Haruka ..read more