PointBender - Dusk Frontier (Harmonious Discord)

Harmonious Discord label boss and abstract artist PointBender returns with Dusk Frontier, his third and most expressly creative full-length album yet. PointBender is the moniker of Sean Anderson, an independent artist living in Austin, Texas, who has been putting out back-pocket releases for over fifteen years on imprints like Guidance, Thoughtless, Blaq, and his own imprint. Dusk Frontier is one-and-a-half years in the making and features collaborations from Toronto-based vocalist and Lal frontwoman Rosina Kazi, Texas-based dub artist Vegenaut, and techno artist Matthew Thompson. Sean took a new approach to constructing this album, focusing on recording single takes of audio directly and limiting himself to outboard gear with minimal computer intervention. In addition, the album features a multitude of live instrumentation with recordings of guitar, bass, drums, and clarinet alongside some personal field recordings. Dusk Frontier embodies a new outlook and direction for PointBender as an artist and is a taste of the future of the project.

Among the highlights is the title track which is a mixture of deep moods and cinematic overtures supported by driving percussion. Rosina Kazi provides a wide range of vocal phrases and complex harmonies over a field of growing synthesizer interplay. For "Brain Mud", Sean teams up with Vegenaut, a cross-genre artist with a flair for off-kilter glitchy dub works. Together they create a messy slow burn with smooth bass and a competing mixture of leads and synth sketches. There's also "Dub Creature", a canonical example of PointBender’s signature cinematic sound. Tightly controlled dub chords build into a druggy midnight bouncer with bass slides and plenty of dark arpeggios. The album closes with "Three Complications", an '80s-inspired piece that toes the line between indie-dance and a proper Balearic house song. There's much more to dig into here … each selection has its unique lens and language. Dusk Frontier is a thoughtful narrative on the boundaries of electronic music and how to push past cemented dance floor formulas.

Nick Warren (Hope Recordings) - "An excellent album. 'Brain Mud' and 'Dub Creature' are very fine."
Atish (Desert Hearts / Robot Heart) - "'Dusk Frontier' has an amazing vocal, and 'Dub Creature' has a really nice deep waviness. Actually I like all the tracks in some way … quite a bit to explore here!"
Anthony Pappa (Red Light District / Bedrock) – “Cool album. Some nice tracks here that will be used.”
Massimiliano Pagliara (Live At Robert Johnson) - "Digging 'Three Complications'."
DJ Aldrin (One With Music, Singapore) - "Wow … nice one!"
Kazuumi Ishii (Electronic Directory, Japan) - "A deep yet beautiful album."
Adam Warped (Whiskey Pickle / Strange Days) - "Nice work. Really enjoying the drone like ambience of 'Intro to an Aircraft'."
Alinep (Circle Music / Time in Manila) - "Big album here … all tracks are quality."
Harry Avers (NOICE!) - "Solid release … enough ear candy to listen to for days."
Jay Douzi (Runtomorrow) - "Digging this album … 'Steam Morris' is dope! I'm going to play it out this weekend."
Tariq Ziyad (Nu Urban ERA) - "A truly impressive musical journey. This is a great dance music album, the likes of which we used to get in the golden era. Excellent."
Esette (Substation Recordings / Girls on Decks) – “I’m loving ‘Passive Casio’ & ‘Three Complications’. This is a fun release with lots of diversity.”
Lee Guthrie (Click Therapy / Wiggle) – “’Pferd’, ‘Dusk Frontier’, and ‘Passive Casio’ all very nicely done.”

Available Now From Beatport, Juno Download, iTunes, and Spotify.

Hawke - Sunshine People (Hardkiss Music)

Welcome to the world of Hawke!

It's been 23 years since the first Hawke single "3 Nudes in A Purple Garden" appeared on Hardkiss Music. Now, Hawke returns to the label with a string of singles that will culminate in a fourth album titled Love in Stars.

Produced by Gavin Hardkiss with vocals by Robbie Hardkiss, "Sunshine People" is a sun-drenched summer funk number with mixes that will fit in at cocktail parties and desert raves alike.

San Francisco based artist Gavin Hardkiss was born in Johannesburg South Africa. In the early '90s, along with faux brothers Robbie and Scott, Gavin helped pioneer the American electronic music scene with the groundbreaking record label Hardkiss Music.

Hardkiss quickly joined the ranks of the international DJ elite, DJ'ing at raves and clubs in cities throughout the world, eventually reaching legendary status with the release of the classic album Delusions of Grandeur. Delusions of Grandeur reached number one on the Rolling Stone Magazine alternative charts. LA Weekly called it "a digital masterpiece built on the ruins of California hippie culture. It was the Pet Sounds of the rave generation."

Gavin has produced multiple out-of-print albums under the guise of Hawke including Namaquadisco, Heatstroke, Love Won Another, and +++.

Sumsuch (Colour and Pitch / Mega Jawns) - "Special release. I've been waiting for this since I heard the snippet / studio session on that Red Bull documentary."
Nick Warren - "The Curious Yellow Mix is a cheeky bomb. Very clever! And I love the Happy Hour Mix."
Human Life (Exploited / Win Music) - "The Curious Yellow Mix is fun … I like the 'Gypsy Woman' tease. This should work well at Output rooftop in a few weeks."
Larry Tee - "The Gavin Hardkiss Barefoot Remix … big one!"
Anthony Pappa - "My favorite mix is the Curious Yellow Mix and I will support it."
Al Mackenzie (Great Outdoors / Brassneck) - "I love this … the Barefoot mixes are ace."
Alexander Robotnick - "This is good!"
Jamie Jones (Hot Creations) - "Sounds cool."
Severino (Horse Meat Disco) - "Fun tracks!"
DJ Craig C (Pound Boys) - "Yeah! Digging this vibe all the way."
BTO Spider (High Sprits Radio Show) - "This is fierce. Great and groovy."
DJ Firefly (Couch Dancing Radio Show) - "This is such a fun catchy funky summer jam. I love the percussion sounds and the jazzy bits."
Richie Roberts (The Dance Factory, BBC) - "Superb release. It's great to see the Hardkiss sound is back."
Bob Duskis (Six Degrees Records) - "My love for Gavin Hardkiss / Hawke is well documented. To my ears, he continues to have one of the most original sounds in electronic music. This new single is indeed shot through with musical sunshine."

Available from Beatport, Juno Download, iTunes, and Spotify

Jenova 7 & Eddie Shinn - A Cosmic Safari (Cold Busted)

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The Cold Busted label showcases their international bona fides with a collaborative album involving two producers separated by a half-world's distance. From one side of the globe comes Jenova 7, known to friends as Michael J. Sirois, a multimedia artist from Boston and a member of trip-hop trio Wax Triptych (with Mononome and Mr. Moods). Then all the way over in Ulyanovsk, Russia is the young producer Eddie Shinn, author of the acclaimed Cold Busted debut The Plastic Jam as well as The Third Is Not Superfluous, his album in cahoots with Step. Now, A Cosmic Safari takes this international concept and launches it skyward … the album's songs take place in an intergalactic sound-space. There's "Flying Cabs", which envisions a future that's funky and bright, with hip hop beats, chiming Rhodes piano, squelchy synth lines, and trippy guitar riffs. A "Cosmic Girl" is encountered, loose and free, with an '80s style rhythm embellished by cowbell percussion and floating melodies. "Intergalactic Noir" could signal a new eponymous genre, displaying a distinctive drum beat underneath funky flutes, cool keys, and the sound of space pals getting down. These are just three of A Cosmic Safari's eleven tracks, and Jenova 7 & Eddie Shinn have delivered a full set that is out of this world.

Kid Loco - "Great piece of work."
All Good Funk Alliance - "Dope stuff as always. 'Cosmic Girl' and 'Flying Cabs' both got that bump … so tight."
Belabouche (Midnight Riot / DiscoDat) - "Good solid tunes … will play!"
Inland Knights - "This is sounding sweet."
Quincy Jointz (Timewarp) - "Damn … groovy and fresh. I dig it."
Mason Rothert (Below Zero Radio Show) - “Love this vibe!”
Jon Fugler (Fluke / XLNT Radio Show) - "'Neon Garden' is a little gem, very easy on the ear and with shades of the late, great Mike Kandel, which is no bad thing."
DJ Love (Stellar Music) - "I like the abstract feel … the beats are inventive and unique."
Zac Love (Belmar Sol) - "Well done. Genre-pushing space beats that keep the listener interested from front to back."
Adam Warped (Whiskey Pickle / Strange Days) - "I'm definitely feeling the funky cosmic weirdness."
Double-D (Funky Fresh Radio Show) - "Rockin' fresh."
Marc Lacasse (sHIFT Radio Show) - "Cosmic and moody futuristic funk surrounds each track with a positive vibe."
Clairvo (Tilos Radio, Hungary) - "The proper amount of hip-hop, proper amount of experimentalism, proper amount of soul … this EP has got a unique balance to it."
Aja Allsop (Ketch A Vibe Radio Show) - "Totally fills the need for the cosmic wanting!"

Available from Beatport, Juno Download, iTunes, and Bandcamp

DJ Daniel D - Ostinatos / Jack Made Me (Discobox Records)

What started as a humble party in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, back in 2006 has since outgrown itself in vision. DJ Daniel D and promoter Vinilcius have shifted focus, determined to push their Discobox night’s musical concept on a greater scale. In 2013 they emerged as a label with one foot in the past and the other toeing the future - imagining a ’70s dance move in today’s skinny jeans, and that’s one hell of a spilt. Sonically they look to blend that era’s disco and the classic house sounds that followed with modern nu-disco and tech house sheen.

Discobox's latest release features co-founder DJ Daniel D with a double A-side single. No stranger to the label's discography, he's previously released under the name Dansoul and as part of the duo Shake Machine. With a more straight-forward, dance floor-focused sound Daniel debuts under his solo DJ name, revealing the rollicking "Ostinatos" and "Jack Made Me".

"Ostinatos" is intro'ed with catchy, staccato piano chords and squelchy synth hits before a frenetic but appealing bass line takes hold. Layers of bouncy percussion and splashes of a vocal chant ("You know what's up!") add spice to the track's irresistible party flavor. Next up, "Jack Made Me" hints at classic house music in its title and is appropriately spilling over with that vibe. The funk quotient is ratcheted up with filtered guitar riffs, an old school Moog bass, and some shouts to call the dance floor to action. Prime movers.

Vanilla Ace - "This is a nice one."
Severino (Horse Meat Disco) - "Great sound!"
Al Bradley (3am Recordings) - "Both tracks are solid. I love the way 'Ostinatos' builds and the vibe is totally on point."
Natural Rhythm - "'Jack Made Me' … nice old-school-but-still-modern vibe. A good groover."
DJ Craig C (Pound Boys) - "Fun stuff … takes me back to the '80s!"
Vincent Kwok - "Great stuff! 'Ostinatos' for me."
Distant People (Foliage / Seamless) - "'Ostinatos' is a solid and chunky house cut … that bass is something else!"
Chris Massey (Paper Recordings / Electriks) – “I will definitely drop this bad boy. Great jackin’ disco vibes.”
Ken Liu (Headset Recordings) - "Cool people movers … will be fun for layering in mixes."
Jamie Topham (CDPool) - "I'm swaying more toward the retro 'Jack Made Me' cut on this cool two tracker."
Richie Roberts (The Dance Factory, BBC Radio) - “’Jack Made Me’ is huge. It’s going to explode on my floors ... fierce funky house music.”

Available now from Beatport, Juno Download, iTunes, and Spotify.