Atlanta-based producer Chris Hunt has been breaking musical ground and pushing limitations for years. After the breakup of his band Cloudeater, Hunt has carried on making music that challenges the senses. His work has manifested in the form of two solo EPs, Tomb and Tomb II, which he recorded in Atlanta and New York. His creativity knows no boundaries as evidenced in the video for “Elegy” from Tomb II which he directed. “I shot the footage here and in Death Valley and put it all together,” Chris tells us. “This track was built by recording drones playing through speakers in a house I used to live in with a former partner. The sound of that track is inseparable from the sound of the house.”
Producer/visual artist Ulli Bomans, who also records as Schieres and works with T.Raumschmiere on Shrubbn!!, continues his sonic explorations on his second album, Sort By Dragging, for Berlin-based Shitkatapult. While most electronic music focuses on hedonism and instant gratification, Bomans boldly navigates his music through a gloomy crevasse where many of his peers would fear to tread. We’re pleased to world premiere the music video for “Screensaver” — a haunting, beautiful track on Sort By Dragging — directed by Bowmans. He uses the clip to express his feelings about the deepening refugee crisis in Europe.
“Day after day we get news about people that lose their lives when trying to come to Europe by crossing the Mediterranean sea,” Bowmans tells us. “This bothers me and somehow I feel helpless about it though it happens so far away from my life here. I feel really uncomfortable sitting in my comfortable environment whilst others die on their way to what should lead them to our side and finally to a saver and better life. Sometimes it’s hard to find suitable words if you want to talk as an artist about things that touch you. ‘Screensaver’ is an attempt to picture this situation.”
Craig Sherrad, a versatile musician/producer from Detroit, has been at the epicenter of techno since its birth in the ’80s. A cousin of techno icon Derrick May, Sherrad has rubbed elbows with all of the city’s major players. On his own he has explored a wealth of styles and musical projects over the past two decades. On his just released Fuzzy Dancer release issued on his Motor City-based label DNAUT Music, Sherrad follows up his previous Sketches Of A Circuit EP with an even deeper electronic ethos. We’re pleased to world premiere the music video for the soulful “Whatever You Do” directed by Matt Ortlieb of Empty Balloons. The clip tells the story of a night on the town in Detroit filled with vodka, clubbers dancing and a woman on the verge. Intrigued? You should be. Hit the play button below and prepare to get lost in this smooth house jam.
A busted knee caused by a skateboard mishap as a kid led Chicago native Tevo Howard to explore his family’s turntable. Little did he know at that time he was embarking on the first step of a lifelong musical journey that would take him all over the world. Known for his signature deep-house grooves and real deal electro (not the shoddy EDM kind), Howard wisely used his video camera to document his travels between Chicago and Berlin over the past four years.
He’s compiled key moments of his experiences into a 45-minute short film, Here And Now Film Collection, which we’re pleased to world premiere.
In Here And Now Film Collection Howard allows us to be a fly on the wall. One scene he’s shooting the shit with the staff at Gramaphone Records in Chitown; and the next he’s involved in an engaging conversation about musical aliases over a meal with producer peer Fred Peterkin.
“Many of the places and scenes within the films are of my favorite sitting places in Berlin and as well some of my favorite places to skateboard as a child, historic Chicago beach fronts, etc.,” Howard tells us. “Especially important to me is that some film footage shows some of the local community in my favorite neck of the woods in Chicago, beautiful Granville Avenue. Overall, it is just some films of things and places that fit the norm of me.”
Spoiler alert! At the end of the short film Howard skates off into the sunset down a charming Chicago street over his killer track “Specificity.” Don’t you love a happy ending?
Tevo Howard’s Black Electro Orchestra’s Holiday EP is out January 25 on Beautiful Granville.
