Lauren Martin

United Kingdom

London-based music journalist for online and print publications, covering electronic music.
Currently a writer and lecture and radio host for Red Bull Music Academy and Red Bull Radio. HMU: [email protected]

Portfolio
Red Bull Radio
Counter Intelligence - Crypt of the Wizard

On bustling Hackney Road in East London, between flower markets and brunch spots, is a striking patch of jet black. The only dedicated heavy metal shop in the UK, Crypt of the Wizard wears its evil heart on its denim sleeve when it comes to its aesthetic and mission: To plunge record buyers into the heavy metal universe.

Red Bull Radio
Fireside Chat - DJ Storm

DJing, pirate radio, the legacy of Metalheadz, raving and her late friend Kemistry: The "first lady of drum & bass" shares her story.

Red Bull Radio
Counter Intelligence - Crypt of the Wizard

On bustling Hackney Road in East London, between flower markets and brunch spots, is a striking patch of jet black. The only dedicated heavy metal shop in the UK, Crypt of the Wizard wears its evil heart on its denim sleeve when it comes to its aesthetic and mission: To plunge record buyers into the heavy metal universe.

Red Bull Radio
Fireside Chat - Leon Vynehall

The British producer chronicles his Nothing Is Still project: an album, novella, film and live show telling a story of emigraton and hope. British producer and DJ Leon Vynehall started out as a resident at Brighton club night AKA AKA ROAR, later drawing on his youthful affection for soul, garage, hip-hop and funk to produce taut, bright house tracks for labels such as Rush Hour, 3024, Aus Music and Clone sub-label Royal Oak, among others.

Red Bull Radio
Fireside Chat - Alexis Taylor

With his androgynous voice and tender lyricism, the Hot Chip frontman comes into his own, with a piano for company. As teenagers, Alexis Taylor and his friend Joe Goddard formed Hot Chip, a sparkling and strange five-piece band that brought together myriad influences - Detroit techno and Chicago house, British synth pop and US R&B - with playful and tender lyricism and scrappy DIY electronics.

Red Bull Radio
First Floor - Mike Dunn and Shawn Rudiman

Mike Dunn and Shawn Rudiman Guest host Lauren Martin speaks to house and techno legends of the US Midwest, Mike Dunn and Shawn Rudiman, and plays new electronic sounds. Need help navigating the weekly onslaught of new electronic music? First Floor is here to help.

Red Bull Radio
Fireside Chat - Seun Kuti

Protest songs that make you dance: An in-depth talk with the afro-beat artist and youngest son of cultural icon Fela Kuti. The youngest son of afro-beat legend Fela Anikulapo Kuti, and now leader of his father's ensemble group, Egypt 80, Seun Kuti is as incensed by injustice as his father ever was.

Red Bull Radio
Fireside Chat - Peter Zummo

The celebrated American avant-garde trombonist and composer discusses minimalism, the labor of performance, Arthur Russell and more. Peter Zummo is an American trombonist, producer and composer whose work in the downtown scene of New York City's mid-20th century interdisciplinary avant-garde has been deeply influential.

Red Bull Radio
Headphone Highlights - Lucy Railton

The experimental cellist and Modern Love affiliate selects music that bridges modern classical and future-facing electronics. Lucy Railton is a British cellist and composer whose work bridges experimental electronic and electroacoustic practices with modern classical composition and performance.

Red Bull Radio
Fireside Chat - Lone

Using nostalgia and impatience to craft blazing albums of IDM and hip-hop-infused beats, this producer has become one of the UK's finest. Lone is a UK electronic producer who, growing up in a small town outside Nottingham in the 90s, fell in love with UK hardcore and jungle music when he was barely in his teens.

Red Bull Radio
Counter Intelligence - Love Vinyl

Step into a haven for new and used wax in London's East End, where the adoration for soulful dance sounds knows no bounds. Established in 2014, Love Vinyl is the joint venture of a crew of friends who've devoted years to London's dance music scene as DJs/promoters/punters and vinyl buyers/sellers.

Red Bull Radio
Headphone Highlights - Nervous Horizon

Italian producers and DJ duo Wallwork and TSVI detail the futuristic sounds and inspirations for their East London label. Nervous Horizon is an East London-based label run by two Italian DJs and producers, Wallwork and TSVI.

Red Bull Radio
Headphone Highlights - Jabu

Part of Bristol's Young Echo crew, the dub-soul trio select music that influenced their debut album for Blackest Ever Black, Sleep Heavy.

Red Bull Radio
Headphone Highlights - Klein

The South London producer and vocalist selects the music that inspired her new EP for Hyperdub, from pop to R&B and Disney soundtracks.

Red Bull Radio
Fireside Chat - Jonny Nash

Through collaboration and travel, Melody As Truth label boss and RBMA alum Jonny Nash has a gentle intuitiveness to his ambient sounds.

Red Bull Radio
Fireside Chat - MikeQ

The Qween Beat founder and one of the voguing scene's leading figures discusses his early days and spreading ballroom to the world. New Jersey based MikeQ is one of the key figures of NYC's long-running ballroom/vogue house scene.

Red Bull Music Academy Radio
Fireside Chat Plastician

From Croydon to the world: influential DJ, producer, Terrorhythm label head and club culture originator Plastician tells his bass-loaded story.

Red Bull Music Academy Radio
Fireside Chat Assassin AKA Agent Sasco

Jamaican dancehall icon, prolific crossover vocalist, and Kendrick and Kanye collaborator: Assassin AKA Agent Sasco tells his story.

Red Bull Music Academy Radio
Fireside Chat Richard Barratt

From Sheffield bleep and the birth of Warp, to writing mainstream pop hits, Richard Barratt has travelled across the musical spectrum. Hear his story.

Red Bull Music Academy Radio
Headphone Highlights Michael Kiwanuka

The genre-blending London soul crooner winds through his diverse influences, touching upon funk, R&B, hip-hop, glam, psych, indie and more.

YouTube
11/10/2016
Jacques Greene Lecture (Montréal 2016) | Red Bull Music Academy

Montréal producer Jacques Greene has maintained a steady output of distinct and deep dancefloor burners since 2009 via labels such as LuckyMe, 3024, Night Slugs and his own VASE. In that time, Greene has become known for fusing weighty 4/4 and 2-step rhythms with breathy synth work and R&B vocals.

Redbullmusicacademy
The Everyday Revolutions of Berlin's Ziúr | Red Bull Music Academy Daily

Lauren Martin introduces the Berlin-based producer as she makes her debut on RBMA Radio Ziúr's sound is one of extremities. Her debut EP, Taiga, to be released on July 1st through the Infinite Machine label, splices sample-based, industrial beats with almost anti-harmonic intent, but it's tactile, too: glass crashes against sheet metal, wood vibrates and glottal stops hang thickly; a series of wailing transmissions thrust into the ether.

Red Bull Music Academy Radio
Fireside Chat Alex Smoke

Glasgow's techno auteur talks his life in music: from early raves at Sub Club to crafting underground classics and finding his own voice.

Redbullmusicacademy
01/14/2016
Northern Soul: An Oral History | Red Bull Music Academy Daily

Between the blossoming of the hippy movement in the late '60s and the decimation of British industrial heartlands in the '70s, the underground club culture of London's Mod scene snaked its way "Up North" to a generation who were too tough for flower power, but still craved respite from the daily grind.

The FADER
How Jessy Lanza's Love Songs Minimize Life's Daily Dread

"Do you like Limmy?" Jessy Lanza asks, referring to the bleak Scottish humorist known for online skits about mental health and human behavior. Lanza has just finished a DJ set of lively dance music on London radio station NTS and is holed up in a nearby cafe.

Redbullmusicacademy
Choice Mix: Joey LaBeija | Red Bull Music Academy Daily

Cultures combine in the New York producer's distinct musical hustle Joey LaBeija has "233" tattooed in the creases between his knuckles, for the block he grew up on in the Bronx, New York, in an apartment with his twin sisters, mother, grandmother and best friend Jessica.

Redbullmusicacademy
Choice Mix: Marshall Applewhite | Red Bull Music Academy Daily

The Detroit metalhead turned ghettotech freak breaks down the nasty stuff Marshall Applewhite's track "Leave With Us" opens with a pitched-down vocal sample of the Heaven's Gate leader that he borrows his production alias from: "Planet Earth is about to be recycled. Your only chance to evacuate is to leave with us."

Red Bull Music Academy Radio
Fireside Chat Marshall Jefferson

Move your body! The Chicago house originator and remixer extraordinaire guides us through his deep dancefloor legacy.

Red Bull Music Academy Radio
Fireside Chat Kano

The grime icon and East London MC tells his story: from his sound system roots to conquering clubs and spearheading a movement.

Red Bull Music Academy Radio
Fireside Chat Julianna Barwick

The New York songstress and ambient devotional maverick talks about her journey from childhood choirs to Iceland, string ensembles and more.

Red Bull Music Academy Radio
Fireside Chat Lunice

The visionary Montreal producer and Academy graduate talks TNGHT, Rihanna, LuckyMe, and how the rap and pop music industries overlap.

Redbullmusicacademy
Choice Mix: Batu | Red Bull Music Academy Daily

Playing U.K. techno with a dub mentality, Bristol-based producer Batu is out to challenge the dance In Fritz Lang's silent film Woman in the Moon, the characters position themselves inside a rocket ship, ready for the countdown to launch.

Redbullmusicacademy
Choice Mix: Apeiron Crew | Red Bull Music Academy Daily

From Copenhagen's sweatiest clubs to your headphones: the four-strong techno crew goes in on this week's Choice Mix "The club scene has changed a lot since I've been here," says Emma, reflecting on moving from Glasgow to Copenhagen five years ago. Then the dry Danish humor cuts in.

Redbullmusicacademy
Choice Mix: Swing Ting | Red Bull Music Academy Daily

"Bassline has obviously always been popular up north, but it felt like it existed in its own little pocket. While it definitely didn't need any help from us, something happened when UK funky rolled around where we started to join the dots between that, 130 BPM bashment and garage."

Redbullmusicacademy
Choice Mix: Sim Hutchins | Red Bull Music Academy Daily

Once a month, since the start of 2016, Sim Hutchins and O.D. Davey have uploaded their Headcase sketches to Hutchins's Soundcloud page. An offshoot of the ragged club experimentations of independent London radio station Radar Radio's BODY COUNT show, it's "ten minutes of masochistic mindful meditation, designed as a handy self un-help experience," says Hutchins, his sincerity served with a smirk.

Redbullmusicacademy
Choice Mix: Idit Frenkel | Red Bull Music Academy Daily

Idit Frenkel is an Israeli DJ, radio host and club booker. She's also one of the key players in a growing underground that operates in opposition to the complex regime that she sees as the current state of Israel.

BOILER ROOM
06/09/2015
"What's A Girl To Do": The Peculiar Rise of a Low-Key Classic

One of the biggest surprises at our three-day stage at Dekmantel Festival this year was the mysterious character behind a quietly-affecting, slow-burning dancefloor classic: Fatima Yamaha. Even we were unsure of quite how the performance would manifest in reality, but on the basis of their re-re-repressed 'hit', we're naturally fascinated to find out.

Thump
04/22/2014
The Man from Tomorrow: an Interview with Jeff Mills | Thump

THUMP: I saw your live performance for Fritz Lang's The Woman In The Moon at Sonic Cineplex in Glasgow last year, which was very absorbing. You've done soundtracks to (mostly science fiction) films before and since then, but Man From Tomorrow is a fresh concern; an original soundtrack to an original film, with yourself as the main subject.

Redbullmusicacademy
Interview: Australian DJ Nina Las Vegas | Red Bull Music Academy Daily

The Red Bull Music Academy Daily is the online publication by the Red Bull Music Academy, a global music institution committed to fostering creativity in music. Just like the Academy, we think of it as a platform for the essential ideas, sounds and people that have driven - and continue to drive - our culture forward.

Redbullmusicacademy
Best Music Journalism: May 2015 | Red Bull Music Academy Daily

Record shops anchor musical communities, and champion local and far-flung sounds: keeping them not just open, but active and wanted in a market dominated by online sales is a tough job, and it's one that west London's Honest Jon's has been honing well.

Thump
07/03/2014
"My Music is an Announcement": an Interview with Todd Terry | Thump

Whenever you get a chance to see a house music legend like Todd Terry in action, you shouldn't pass it up. At a recent club night at the Princes Charles space in Berlin, I saw him ignite a room with his rapid-fire, seamless mixing style: deep, sensual Chiacgo house mixed with 90s chart bangers like 'Push The Feeling On', all coming together with a playful, sincere flair that's a rare treat to dance to.

Electronic Beats
06/12/2015
How Weather Festival is Revitalizing Parisian Nightlife

When I told some festival-loving friends that I was heading to Weather Festival in Paris, I got puzzled looks that said, "I go to festivals a lot, and I'm clearly supposed to know about this. Why don't I?" But when they learned that it was co-run by the founders of the local boat-as-nightclub Concrete, their looks softened.

Redbullmusicacademy
Best Music Journalism: July 2015 | Red Bull Music Academy Daily

"To be excellent, a sound editor needs not just a sharp, trained ear, but also a gift for imagining what a sound could do, what someone else might hear." This is what Jordan Kisner posits in this profile of Skip Lievsay, one of Hollywood's most respected sound designers.

Tumblr
09/17/2013
Oneohtrix Point Never interview for Dazed & Confused (Sept/Oct 2013)

I have an interview with Oneohtrix Point Never in the October issue of Dazed & Confused. I’m super happy with the final piece, but the full conversation I had with OPN I feel was one of the best I’ve had in ages, so I’m posting the full transcript for those interested.

Dazed
01/20/2015
Ghetto house's year zero streams exclusively inside

Born in the mid 1980s, Dance Mania was the snarling upstart that tore through the streets of Chicago with its relentless breakdowns of italo disco, house and techno. Blood brothers DJ Funk, DJ Milton, Slugo, DJ Deeon and Jammin' Gerald positioned Dance Mania's style as the roundhouse kick to the gut of the smooth, sassy house music that dominated the city, and the world beyond.

Thump
06/12/2014
What Happened to UK Funky? Well, Ill Blu Just Weighed In | Thump

In the summers of 2008 and 2009, UK funky was the sound. At Numbers parties in Glasgow, I could barely finish a drink without hearing Jackmaster drop the in-your-face silliness of Piddy Py - 'Giggle Riddim', the infectious low swing of Apple - 'De Siegalizer' or the delicate anthem du jour Kyla - 'Do You Mind' (Crazy Cousins Remix) - and the dancefloor never seemed to tire of it.

Thump
06/11/2014
Listen To Martyn's Brand New Album, 'The Air Between Words' | Thump

I had a really interesting conversation with Jeff Mills recently, and he said that he feels techno is gradually becoming less of a club experience, and more of a "listening" experience. I feel this has (perhaps a slightly tenuous) connection to where a lot of producers and DJs see the "usefulness" of techno; "this is a track I can play in a club, and enjoy at home".

Electronic Beats
10/20/2014
Dorian Concept- "I realized that the biggest challenge for me would be to do something simple."

If you were involved in the late 2000s ecosystem of auteuristic European hip-hop labels like Kindred Spirits, Nod Navigators, LuckyMe, and Arkestra Discos, there's a fair chance you came across Dorian Concept's YouTube videos. The Austrian producer's single-shot uploads focused squarely on his fingers, which flickered back and forth across the keyboards of his microKORG and Casio SA-21 synthesizers.

Thump
06/17/2014
Well, This is Weird - The Drummer From Sepultura Makes Live Acid Now | Thump

I spent my teenage years going to punk rock, hardcore and metal shows, which were both the most fun and most stifling and weird places you can grow up. Sure, you can drink your body weight in cheap cider and sniff poppers on the Barfly floor as Leftöver Crack make the walls heave, but the highs of "alternative music" aren't really that alternative, are they?

Electronic Beats
08/07/2014
Drunk On Vibes: Dekmantel Festival reviewed

Back and bigger than the 2013 event, Dekmantel Festival's second edition has lost none of its singular atmosphere, says Lauren Martin. Surveying the electronic music festival landscape of 2014, regulars and newcomers alike are met with a daunting selection.

Wondering Sound
11/22/2014
Meet Hieroglyphic Being, the Sun Ra of the Sequencer

Jamal Moss considers himself a child of many. Growing up in 1980s Chicago, he was a child of the city's loft party heyday, pulled into the club scene by the grooves of Ron Hardy and Derrick Carter and kept there by the manic acid of Adonis and Steve Pointdexter.

Thump
07/24/2014
'Two Hundred', the New EP from Perc & Truss, is a Modern Techno Monster | Thump

They're lethal enough on their own, but as their debut Spiker demonstrated, put Perc and Truss together in a studio full of diesel-powered hardware, and you're looking at double the devastation. was amongst the hardest techno releases in circulation last year; reeking of mischief and abandon, its trifecta of heavy acid-techno rompers just that bit more unstable and corroding than either's solo material.

Thump
05/01/2014
"I'm an OG Again": Goldie on 20 Years of Metalheadz, and Turning 'Timeless' Into an Orchestral...

If someone called me a "character", I'd probably give them a healthy side-eye or withering death stare, depending on how charitable I felt in the moment. A "character" usually makes me think of the person who shouts the loudest whilst having the least to shout about, but there are rare occasions when a "character" is a person apart; someone who leaves an indelible mark on just about everyone and everything around them.

Redbullmusicacademy
05/02/2014
Best Music Journalism: April 2014 | Red Bull Music Academy Daily

We're music nerds at Red Bull Music Academy, but we're also music journalism nerds. Continuing on from Jason Gross' collection of his favorite music journalism of 2013, we've decided to put together a monthly round-up of some of the best pieces we come across.

Thump
03/25/2014
Golden Teacher Are Arthur Russell Nerds Who Play Gritty Disco Jams | Thump

Golden Teacher: Party People is the first thing we put to tape and it's the first time our two singers met; it's the sound of Charlie falling in love with Cassie right on top of a disco beat. They've found each other in the street and now they're looking for the party - that's a simple sentiment.

Thump
01/20/2014
Please, Don't Let 2014 Be the Year that Female DJs Are a Novelty | Thump

Last week, BBC Radio 1 announced that they're to host an all-female DJ line-up in celebration of Women's Day. The line-up is set to include veteran broadcaster Annie Nightingale, who was quoted as saying that "Gender is, welcomingly, not an issue nowadays when Radio 1 appoints new DJs, and it has been demonstrably supportive of women.

Thump
03/19/2014
"I Want To Blast My Record In Chinatown": an Interview with Fatima Al Qadiri | Thump

Fatima Al Qadiri must not sleep. The Senegal-born, Kuwait-raised and NYC-residing conceptual artist runs the Global Wav. radio show and column for DIS Magazine, releases on Night Slugs' LA sister label Fade 2 Mind, works with J-Cush and Nguzunguzu as forward-thinking R&B supergroup Future Brown, and is set to release her debut LP Asiatisch on Hyperdub Records this May.

Thump
03/11/2014
We Went To The Bugged Out Weekender, and It Was Brilliantly Mental | Thump

After 20 years at the forefront of UK clubbing - championing the legacy of acid house, electroclash and now-worldwide dance acts like Daft Punk and The Chemical Brothers - Bugged Out is a relatively young addition to the current throng of UK dance music festivals: a tally I can barely keep up with, and frankly one that doesn't matter anyway, because the Bugged Out Weekender really is an experience removed from any dance music festival I can (sketchily) remember.

Thump
02/03/2014
This Is Voga, The Bizarre Trend That's Combining Vogueing and Yoga | Thump

Walking up Bethnal Green Road on a sodden Tuesday evening, you see what you always do; Turkish cafes, fruit and veg shops, the stuttering route of the 388. Off Bethnal Green Road is Pollard Row and a short walk down that Bethnal Green Working Men's Club, a detached sandstone building with a Banksy in one outer corner.

Thump
01/28/2014
This Dance Music Awards Season Crossover Isn't As Progressive As You Think | Thump

For the everyday music cynic, the much anticipated performance from Daft Punk at the 2014 Grammys went exactly as expected. Two of the most influential electronic music producers in history bumbled around onstage with Pharrell Williams, Nile Rodgers and Stevie Wonder in a stagnant disco karaoke; awkward and pastiche-ridden, and cementing the act's gargantuan success in 2013 with Random Access Memories.

FACT Magazine: Music News, New Music.
08/07/2015
Night Time, My Time

In an interview with Stereogum this month, Sky Ferreira was candid about her long-awaited debut LP, Night Time, My Time: "I literally wrote this album once everyone left me the fuck alone and stopped trying to to tell me what to do. I went in the...

Dazed
12/20/2013
My 2013: November - Sky Ferreira

2013 has been a stellar, and controversial, time for young female pop artists. From the publicity-goading of Miley Cyrus to the magnetic idiosyncrasies of Charli XCX and Lorde, female pop this year has been diverse, original and, as simple as it sounds, fun.

Dazed
11/04/2013
Ten ways that Sky Ferreira found her own voice

This month, Sky Ferreira's achieved what last year was looking to be an unlikely feat: a major label debut album from an artist who - over the course of a five year genesis from label-moulded teen flop to assured pop singer and songwriter - rejected and overcame various elements of the major label world.

Electronic Beats
10/22/2013
Tropical Storm: Lauren Martin on John Talabot's DJ-Kicks

John Talabot's debut fin was a muggy, sun-bleached affair which became the critics' favorite in 2012. However, his contribution to longstanding mix series DJ-Kicks suggests the weather may be about to break, says Lauren Martin. John Talabot plays Electronic Beats Festival Budapest this Friday, October 25th-for full details, head here.

FACT Magazine: Music News, New Music.
08/07/2015
My Name Is My Name

Available on: G.O.O.D. Music/Def Jam In the lead up to the release of My Name Is My Name, we heard more from executive producer Kanye West than Pusha himself. Kanye's recent "rant" about Pusha was nothing if not passionate.

FACT Magazine: Music News, New Music.
08/04/2015
The Fall: Kiss Land, that 'Pretty' video, and how The Weeknd tumbled from grace in 2013

'Pretty', the latest video from The Weeknd's new album Kiss Land, depicts the formerly-anonymous r'n'b singer hunting down, and murdering, a former flame. FACT's Lauren Martin tackles the increasingly pronounced issues with The Weeknd's music, and wonders whether her - and others' - patience is in the process of running out.

FACT Magazine: Music News, New Music.
08/04/2015
"I'm not used to being in the spotlight": Brainfeeder virtuoso Thundercat interviewed

With widespread acclaim for his second LP Apocalypse, Brainfeeder bass virtuoso Thundercat is enjoying something of a re-birth. After playing in legendary thrash band Suicidal Tendencies as a teenager and later for everyone from Erykah Badu to Stanley Clarke, Sun-Ra to Snoop Dogg, Stephen Bruner adopted the Thundercat moniker and re-invented himself once again as a solo artist under the tutelage of Flying Lotus .

FACT Magazine: Music News, New Music.
05/26/2015
Trap Lord

Available on: A$AP Worldwide / Polo Grounds LP This week sees the release of two very different rap albums, Earl Sweatshirt's Doris and A$AP Ferg's Trap Lord.

FACT Magazine: Music News, New Music.
08/06/2015
Aerotropolis

Available on: Hyperdub LP As recent Hyperdub signing Jessy Lanza opens 'Beach Mode (Keep It Simple)' with her wistful delivery of "If you really want it, don't make it emotional / If you really want it, baby keep it simple", it feels as if Ikonika is laying out the blueprint for her second LP with now characteristic directness and sincerity.

FACT Magazine: Music News, New Music.
06/24/2015
Slow Focus

Speaking recently of their working methods, Fuck Buttons' Andrew Hung and Benjamin John Power describe their work as not devoid of language, but work that reconsiders language's focus: "There is a language to music but it's not a verbal one, so maybe it has been easier for us to communicate via that language rather than actually talking."

FACT Magazine: Music News, New Music.
08/07/2015
Chapter II

Available on: Columbia LP The dubstep self portrait is in some ways just what you'd expect it to be - hyper-masculine severity dressed up in market stall street wear - but it can be telling nevertheless. The cover for Skream!

FACT Magazine: Music News, New Music.
08/03/2015
Screen test: Mogwai on Les Revenants, Zidane, and why you "won't catch our music at a Tory...

One of the most influential British bands in a generation, Mogwai aren't just stalwarts within their field - they're auteurs continuing to push its boundaries. This year has seen the Scottish band enter the next stage of their ongoing creative evolution, writing the soundtrack to critically acclaimed French horror series Les Revenants ('The Returned') and releasing an album of the same name this February.

FACT Magazine: Music News, New Music.
10/29/2014
Talk A Good Game

Available on: Republic LP It's been a standard story in the post-Destiny's Child years that Kelly Rowland has some baggage but with Talk A Good Game, it turns out we didn't know the half of it.

FACT Magazine: Music News, New Music.
07/13/2015
Crisis

Earlier this year, XLR8R ran a feature on how a small section of current female electronic producers use their own voices in their work. Whilst glossing over complex ideas about gender and education with a heavy hand, it essentially implied that many female producers use their own vocals in order to to compensate for a lack of production skill and confidence, and to create a more immediate and accessible signifier.

FACT Magazine: Music News, New Music.
01/20/2014
Lip Lock

Eleven years since Eve-Olution Eve returns with Lip Lock,her mere fourth album since 1999 and what the Philly-born Ruff Ryder has called her most honest work to date.

Dazed
05/13/2013
Nile Rodgers' top five Daft Punk tracks

As we were preparing our Daft Punk Day, a little-known track called "Get Lucky" was running through our heads. Behind the robots behind the masks, the guitarist playing the riff that propelled Daft Punk's comeback single to bona fide global smash is Nile Rodgers.

FACT Magazine: Music News, New Music.
08/23/2013
Fourth: The Golden Eagle

Available on: DRUT Recordings LP When we call a producer underrated, it's often done out of affection. We think their music's great, and we lament the lack of attention and commercial success that we feel should have been lavished upon it. On the other hand, underrated can also come off as quite smug.

FACT Magazine: Music News, New Music.
04/14/2015
IV Play

Available on: Def Jam LPLet's talk about the elephant in the room. Terius Nash is responsible for some of the biggest radio singles in recent memory and although he may not be as prolific as a Pharrell or a Timbaland, he is consistent. His hits function...

FACT Magazine: Music News, New Music.
07/10/2013
FM Sushi

Available on: Time No Place LP Rainbow Arabia's second album is a subtle triumph for the trio. Previously working within the vein of Italo-leaning synth-pop, Rainbow Arabia now align themselves with a strain of dreamy electro that has become more elegant in its execution, grandiose in its scope and with more overt cinematic ambitions (possibly thanks to the likes of Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive).

Dazed
04/02/2013
Rainbow Arabia's sorcerer mixtape

Two years after their debut LP 'Boys and Diamonds' introduced Danny and Tiffany Preston proper as Los Angeles-based electronic pop duo Rainbow Arabia, this April sees them return with a third member - former Cursive drummer Dylan Ryan - and FM Sushi, their second studio LP on the Kompakt label.

FACT Magazine: Music News, New Music.
07/30/2015
Letherette

Available on: Ninja Tune LP After an excellent mixtape for Andrew Meza's BTS Radio series, two 12" for Alexander Nut's Ho_Tep imprint and one EP for Ninja Tune, Wolverhampton duo Letherette's sound has reached its slickest, most immediately rousing point with their debut LP, Letherette.

FACT Magazine: Music News, New Music.
05/19/2015
True Romance

Available on: Asylum LP Picture the scene. You are Alan Cumming in Romy and Michele's High School Reunion. You've come back triumphant after all these years, leaving the naysayers to look on in quiet awe. As the night draws to a close you step onto the dance floor and extend your arms out invitingly, and two smaller, softer hands fold into your own.

FACT Magazine: Music News, New Music.
06/10/2015
Bathgate: what the Nina Kraviz furore tells us about sexism in dance music

A few days ago, Greg Wilson wrote a long, public blog post about Nina Kraviz and the video diary she featured in for Resident Advisor's new video series 'Between The Beats'. The video has attracted a slew of comments about Kraviz's physical appearance, and has helped fuel an unfortunately already present discussion about how she apparently uses her looks for professional gain.

FACT Magazine: Music News, New Music.
01/11/2013
Lines

Available on: Underwater Peoples LP As a Ph.D student in anthropology and ethnomusicology at University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a high school friend, neighbour and band-mate of members of Real Estate, Titus Andronicus and Family Portrait, Julian Lynch's style of folk is informed in part by his teenage associations with the New Jersey indie scene and in part by his studies, which recently took him to India on a research trip to study the political and social relationships involved in local...

FACT Magazine: Music News, New Music.
07/30/2015
The North Borders

Available on: Ninja Tune LPIf "slow and steady wins the race" is indeed a truism, then Bonobo's fifth LP in nearly fifteen years The North Borders is an model illustration of it. After the hearty reception to his last LP - 2010's Black Sands - The...

FACT Magazine: Music News, New Music.
03/25/2015
Nostalchic

Available on: Brainfeeder LP As the sole Brit signed to Flying Lotus's Brainfeeder label, Lapalux occupies an interesting place with the release of his debut LP Nostalchic.

FACT Magazine: Music News, New Music.
07/09/2015
10 Years On: Reflecting on Dizzee Rascal's teenage masterpiece Boy In Da Corner

Dizzee Rascal's Boy In Da Corner is 10 years old this year. Yes, really. It's been a decade since the then eighteen-year old grime MC's ground-breaking debut was released on XL, bringing together some of the most original production and lyricism in a generation and becoming a modern classic in the process.

FACT Magazine: Music News, New Music.
02/02/2015
The 20/20 Experience

To be honest, it's partly our fault. Justin Timberlake made one of the best pop albums of the last decade, and we then spent the next six years hounding him to release something that would match or better it.

Dummymag
Dummy Mix 157 // Heterotic

Planet Mu boss Mike Paradinas and his collaborator and wife Lara Rix-Martin share a mix of the Detroit techno that inspires them.

FACT Magazine: Music News, New Music.
08/10/2015
FACT Singles Club, March 17 2013

Each week on the FACT Singles Club, a selection of our writers work their way through the new music of the week gone by.With the way individual tracks are now consumed, the idea of what constitutes a single has shifted dramatically in the last half a...

Dummymag
Dummy Mix 155 // Soosh

Glaswegian producer Soosh delivers an hour-long mix full of contemporary electronic production and his own exclusive, unreleased material.

FACT Magazine: Music News, New Music.
08/04/2015
Jamie Lidell

After living a somewhat nomadic life - English-born with periods in Germany and the States, eventually settling in Nashville, Tennessee last year - it feels as if Jamie Lidell is celebrating a homecoming on his latest LP, Jamie Lidell. That the LP is self-titled is an affirmation of this, a re-introduction of Lidell proper after 2010's ironically directionless Compass.

FACT Magazine: Music News, New Music.
10/13/2014
Woman

Available on: Republic / Innovative Leisure Back in November, Mike Milosh of Rhye spoke to Pitchfork about the perspective he and bandmate Robin Hannibal share on the subject of intimacy.

Dazed
11/30/2012
Daniel Lopatin & Tim Hecker

The latest release from the Software Studios imprint is ' Instrumental Tourist', the collaborative LP of Brooklyn's Daniel Lopatin, (who, as Oneohtrix Point Never, has done more to make free synth jams about memory and Chris De Burgh among the most interesting sounds of now) and the Polaris Award-winning Tim Hecker, whose respective experiments have routinely teased at the boundaries of electronic music and the capacity for compositions to grow from decidedly non or anti-formalist beginnings.

FACT Magazine: Music News, New Music.
07/23/2015
News from Nowhere

Although it inspires a collective rolling of the eyes at the slightest mention, the event of post-dubstep has shown up some very interesting musical metamorphoses. Artists may have scorned its associations but have also thrived from it, enjoying their roles as experimenters within a narrative that sees a continuous shifting of perspectives and styles that precious few could have foreseen.

Clash Magazine
OTW #475: Bake

DJ and label head for All Caps Is it possible to reminisce of a year just past? If so, 2012 will go down as Bake's Year Zero. It was the year that he stepped out the bedroom and into the clubs as a DJ and solidified the appeal of All Caps, the label he runs with his two best friends Ryan Martin and Matthew Muir.

Dazed
11/01/2012
Ital & Aurora Halal - Dream On

Daniel Martin-McCormick's latest project as Ital has had a whirlwind of a year. His debut LP on Planet Mu Hive Mind has been quickly followed up by the brand new Dream On, a synaesthetic exploration of bodily integration with technology that demonstrates not only the playful and inventive scope of his production, but also the burgeoning relationship between the various visual and sonic technologies that permeate modern electronic music.

FACT Magazine: Music News, New Music.
05/12/2015
NS08

Available on: Novel Sound EP In an in-depth interview with The Quietus last year, New York house producer Levon Vincent discussed the relationship between his production mindset and the golden mean, the theory which privileges the median of two extremes.

Clash Magazine
OTW #468: Salva

Sleek, rap-inflected party jams The firm head on this warm and affable Chicago-born producers shoulders will serve him well in the coming, manic months.

Clash Magazine
OTW #454: Halls

Melancholic choral electronica Sam Howard is pretty fired up. Having released his 'Fragile' EP in early 2012 to enthusiastic praise he's since found himself unceremoniously tagged as a 'bedroom producer', and he doesn't take its associations lightly.

Dummymag
Dummy Mix 140 // S-Type

Delightfully chintzy R&B and glossy, exotic rap feature heavily in a bombastic mix from the rising Glaswegian producer.

Dummymag
Dummy Mix 142 // Arkestra Discos

Mwëslee of Spanish collective Arkestra Discos delivers a brief but intense mix, including exclusive unreleased material from label affiliates BFlecha, Noaipre, TiMOTi and Alizzz.

Dummymag
Fatima Al Qadiri - Desert Strike

The sinister title track from the experimental producer's latest project is haunted by the residue of a war that was played out on screens.

Dummymag
Dam Mantle - RGB

The stand-out track of the Glaswegian producer's latest album has all the frosty novelty and all the natural ease of a mature, autumnal transition.

Clash Magazine
Shackleton, Kuedo, Konx-om-Pax

Glasgow is a city largely spoiled by its variety and wealth of high-quality club nights, and is home to crowds that are by turns both extremely discerning and fun-loving. It's rare to find a UK city in which you can have a packed club absolutely enthralled by some of the most experimental electronic music in the world whilst making the dance floor heave and the ceiling drip with sweat.

Clash Magazine
Collapsing Space: Kuedo

The past couple of years have been particularly formative for Kuedo. It's been a period of transition, experimentation and mediation; about his sound, the narrative of his ideas and how best to translate them.

Clash Magazine
T In The Park 2012

A permanent feature of the Scottish summer, T in the Park attracts upwards of 85,000 people. Expectations run high - particularly amongst young Scots who treat it as a rite of passage - but this year was lacklustre to say the least. For one, the site design begged belief.

Dazed
07/13/2012
EXCLUSIVE: Software's Airbird Stream

Airbird is the latest incarnation of Joel Ford - the bassist of Tigercity and one half of Ford & Lopatin, his collaborative project with Daniel Lopatin of Oneohtrix Point Never - and this May saw the release of his latest EP 'Trust' on Software Recordings/ Mexican Summer.

Dummymag
The Heatwave interview: "Full carnival."

London dancehall DJ collective The Heatwave have been representing the culture of bashment for almost a decade. Here's a 40 minute mix of the love and energy that dancehall embodies.

Dazed
02/27/2012
Iggy Azalea

There is little doubt that the internet now plays a pivotal role in the careers of new artists by providing a transnational, virtual platform that previous generations could only have dreamt of.

Dazed
06/08/2012
Rudi Zygadlo Video Premiere

Two years since his debut 'Great Western Laymen' Rudi Zygadlo returns this summer with his new LP 'Tragicomedies', and the difference two years has made is remarkable. His return brings with it a refreshing new direction, and his new single Melpomene is given a beautiful visual realisation with the help of photographer and director Nick Ray Rutter.

Dazed
04/10/2012
Kuedo x Konx-om-Pax Video

A recent collaboration between two Planet Mu labelmates has resulted in a vision embedded with the human awe and anxiety of living in an increasingly technological world. Konx-om-Pax, alongside Sabrina Ratté, has directed a music video for Kuedo's 'Ascension Phase', and the result is stunning and poignant.

Dazed
02/01/2012
Ital

After playing in Dischord-signed DC hardcore band Black Eyes, Daniel Martin-McCormick went onto release some seriously hypnotic and surreal house sounds as Mi Ami, and then as Sex Worker through the Not Not Fun label.

Dazed
12/22/2010
Koreless

This 18-year-old Welsh producer - by way of Glasgow - is set to have a very full diary in the coming months. In an age where new sounds are added to the flaming melting pot of genres almost every week, there is something to be said for the blissful simplicity of the beats that Koreless has been showcasing of late.

Dazed
05/28/2010
Konx-om-Pax (Glasgow, UK)

Konx-om-Pax is a 25 year old Glaswegian animator, graphic designer, DJ and producer whose creations permeate the "fine lines and blurred boundaries" between music production and installation art. A long time collaborator with the Scottish collective LuckyMe, his music videos, sleeve designs and installation work place his acid house and psychedelic influences in a thoroughly modern, hyper-real context.

Dazed
07/20/2011
Machinedrum

Travis Stewart is fiercely original to the point of exhausting the concept of genre altogether. His body of work continually shapes and delights his contemporaries and a decade after his first release, his taste-making output thankfully shows no sign of abating.

Dazed
02/01/2011
Mogwai Will Never Die

On February 14 th Mogwai release their seventh LP, the brilliantly titled 'Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will', through the band's own label Rock Action in Europe, and Sub Pop in the US.

Glasgow Guardian
02/10/2011
James Blake - James Blake

I wearied of the term dubstep far quicker than I imagined I would, and as such I instantaneously grew weary of the term post-dubstep. As the year begins to shape up, and various music polls tip their tainted hats towards 'new' artists that have been recording and releasing music for a considerable time longer than published, many have been unceremoniously tagged with this meaningless tag.

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07/25/2012
LuckyMe Feature for Indicate Magazine

LuckyMe is a Scottish family of artists, producers and DJs whose collaborative artistic vision allows them to act seamlessly with Ballers Social Club - the live music arm of the crew - as a living, breathing multimedia experience. From video direction to music production, they undertake a truly all-encompassing creative process.

Dazed
06/15/2010
Rudi Zygadlo

The onslaught of Glaswegian producers gaining critical acclaim and serious label attention over the past few years seems to have become a distinct trend, as recent months have once again seen sights darted towards Scotland's musical epicentre and to the young dandy Rudi Zygadlo. However, trends are precisely what Rudi appears to defy.

Glasgow Guardian
02/22/2010
Subcity turns fifteen

Lauren Martin looks back on fifteen years of Subcity, as the station prepares for its birthday In the intricate web of associations and special interest groups that are affiliated with the University of Glasgow, music aficionados would be hard pressed to find fault with the firmly established yet consistently fresh Subcity Radio.

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07/25/2012
Four Tet - 'There Is Love In You' Review

Kieran Hebden, under the moniker of Four Tet, has moulded a creative persona that for over a decade, has continued to surprise his loyal audiences and re-define expectations of imaginative and intelligent electronica.

Dazed
10/27/2010
Iberian 2-Step From Noaipre

Following the Kosmic Lovers single from Bflecha, the newest release on the Spanish Arkestra Discos imprint comes from Noaipre, who already feels like a proud brother-in-arms to the current UK beat scene. His recent comparisons to Guido and Ikonika are complimentary and relevant within the context, yet the attention given to such comparisons shouldn't detract from his individual style.

Dazed
06/01/2010
Mosca (London, UK)

Mosca is something of a stylistic enigma. Not quite garage, not quite house, his productions flit effortlessly amongst the mutating genres that are currently dominating the UK club scene.

Dazed
04/22/2010
Swindle (London, UK)

Swindle is working hard to define a current UK sound that seems to evade definition at every corner. After turning heads with his remix of Terror Danjah's dirty grime banger 'Zumpi Hunter' - an exercise in modern electronic madness akin to Joker - he rapidly switched direction with his two most recent releases, the 'Who Made Funk' EP and 'Airmile's EP.

Dazed
04/12/2010
Sparrow and The Workshop (Glasgow, UK)

Sparrow and The Workshop are a three-piece modern folk band whose sound binds their Celtic and American roots together to gorgeous effect. Their eerie take on country pushes a suppressed anger to breaking point, only for it to curl up and breathe softly again.

Dazed
04/07/2010
Meet Mwëslee

Hailing from Vigo, Spain, Mwëslee has been previously noted as the missing link between established provocateurs such as Dimlite and Prefuse 73, and the burgeoning second generation of Hudson Mohawke, Débruit and Rustie.

Dazed
03/29/2010
Quadron Query

At certain moments in time, a particular spot on the world map seems to swell with critical acclaim more obviously than others by delivering a sound of its own, and this can currently be said for a form of off-kilter pop characterised by Scandinavia.

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07/25/2012
Bilal Interview 2010

The Soulquarian unites with Plug Research to create a futuristic neo-soul sound A former student of the Mannes Music Conservatory in New York and a prominent figure within the jazz and soul scene in his native Philadelphia (a place he calls home to "the originial booty shake"), one of the most intriguing aspects of Bilal's career to date is the story behind his renowned second album Love For Sale.

Dazed
03/11/2010
Subeena

Subeena, aka Sabina Plamenova, is a 24 year old Italian producer that specialises in, well, nothing in particular. That is the beauty of it. Through years of self-released records on her previous label Imminent - formerly known as Immigrant Recordings - Subeena has unleashed some of the most indescribable electronic music in recent times, leading most recently to her 2009 single 'Solidify' on Planet Mu and upcoming appearance at Bloc festival.

Dazed
02/22/2010
Flask Records: Loops Haunt and Samoyed

Although in its infancy, the Dundee-based, grassroots label Flask Records shows a mature passion for the nurturing of Scottish electronic musicians. The founding figures of Flask are Samoyed and Loops Haunt; two producers who are cut from their labels ideological template of offering experimental sounds that are at once serenely effortless and technically provocative.

Dazed
01/28/2010
American Men

When attempting to describe the Scottish trio American Men, the phrase 'love-child' resonates the strongest in a mind grasping at other, lesser terms of endearment. Like a late night studio lock-in between Battles and Boards of Canada, they walk the line between sultry electronica and ambitious post-rock.

Dazed
08/16/2010
Jacques Greene

Little is known of the young Jacques Greene, but mystery can be a charming thing, especially when it feeds a deserved buzz. The slow burn of anticipation surrounding him is heating up by the day, as those lucky enough to grab a hold of his tracks wonder over the who, where and when.

Dazed
10/06/2009
Darkstar's Hour

Darkstar create disjointed garage vibes laced with sultry vocals that hang forebodingly in the dense, club air. Their melancholy yet provocative vision of pop and dub has garnered them international praise and impressive associations with U.K. electronic music stalwarts Kode 9 and Various Productions.

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07/25/2012
Darkstar - 'North' album review

Until this week, being a fan of Darkstar had become something of a very patient labour of love. When I last spoke to the duo almost a year to the day, they were adding the finishing touches to a much-anticipated debut album.

Dazed
09/02/2009
Cooly G in the Scene

Cooly G is a semi-professional football player, a loving resident of Brixton and one of the hottest DJs and producers in the burgeoning UK funky scene. Having recently signed to Kode 9's prestigious Hyperdub label - on which she has released her critically acclaimed 'Narst/Love Dub' EP - her sights have been set for a higher level.