XI is one of those cats that had us all hyper from the get go way back in January of this year. Releasing two plates - the debut release from the Orca label and bits on Immerse - in tandom he hit out with a deep kind of toughness. Tracks like ‘Ghost’ were a little reminiscent of the way Headhunter and Modeselektor hit, with all that warming darkness of the bassline mirroring the serious pressure of the drum work the Canadian producer was pouring in.
Since then though, he went quiet, reportedly holed up in his studio working on a lot of music. With a flurry of communication in the past week or two, its evident he’s aiming to go big in January of 2011 too with another single release imminent, again for the Orca stable, at the tail end of the month. ‘Gamma Rain’ and ‘Medicate’ both plot of decidedly more melodic route for XI, melding ideas and snatched sounds with a more stuttering fusion of drum patterns. They’re more colourful, both tracks blessed by a producer who seems to have found his feet somewhere different, combining his love for the slower more breathy climes of his hip hop tempoed work and that punishing snap he’s delivered so well previously.
In anticipation there’s a generous gift floating around cyberspace as of now: a free download of XI’s ‘Nitelite’ – a seductive roller that keeps banging ever rising upwards – which you can as always, grab at the link below...
DOWNLOAD: XI – Nitelite
Links:
www.myspace.com/xidubs
Photo: Kelly Koehler
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