Well, it certainly has been a while—fuck it, too long—since we last had a Mapzzz EP, but considering what we have here, we think it was damn well worth the wait. Pale Blue Dot is the brainchild of Oakland’s own Adam Myatt, a key affiliate of the Mapzzz crew and a tireless Oakland music man who has put in countless hours as one-half of James & Evander and served as a key member of Hoodcats, Empty Pockets, and a host of other projects. With Mapzzz EP19, Myatt debuts his latest synthy concoction, enlisting the aid of guitarist Jonny Latimer and  bassist Andrew Macy (both of which are noteworthy Bay Area musicians in their own right) to craft spiraling pieces of space-age disco-pop as Pale Blue Dot. The EP’s two original tracks are fun and lighthearted instrumentals, but don’t let the playful melodies fool you—these are dense and engrossing tracks that gradually lead the listener from driving disco beats to stoney synthscapes with an understated ease. And just to make things that much sweeter, Shortcircles, another Oakland talent with close Mapzzz ties, has turned in a stellar remix to close the EP out. Furthermore, we’ve gone ahead and enlisted the talents of the one-and-only Liz Pavlovic to do our EP design work from here on out. Not a bad note to come back on, eh? You can stream the entire EP below and download it for free on our Bandcamp. Thanks for your patience and thanks, as always, for listening. [Also note that Pale Blue Dot will be performing live at Push the Feeling in SF this Friday with Lusine, details on that can be found here.]

- via MAPZZZ

We’re excited to see what all the Brooklyn trio (cellist, saxophonist, trumpeter/DJ) Archie Pelago comes up with this year—if their Bubblin’ Up profile for XLR8R is any indication, it will be a lot. The group’s first release “Subway Gothic” b/w “Ladymarkers” is out later this month on Well Rounded (who are having a good 2013 so far by our estimation), and a video for the forthcoming record’s a-side surfaced earlier today. Strings, vocal samples, skittering beats, light synth melodies, and just about everything else you could ask for in an adventurous, jazz-tinged bass track make an appearance here.

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No Pain in Pop is a label we haven’t covered much on Mapzzz, but it is certainly one that has been on our radar for some time.  Now, with the release of the label’s new compilation, The Bedroom Club II, we thought it was about time to get some of its music on our pages. The seven-track collection is a diverse jaunt through the outer regions of synth-based electronic music, with touches of dancefloor-inspired rhythms here and there. To our ears, the highlights come in the form of Ukkonen’s ”Five to Three” and Karen Gwyer’s heavenly “Tehe! Blah blah! Shhhh!”

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Honestly, we may have not realized it until now, but it’s been way too long since we last heard from Asura. Then—out of nowhere—the LA producer/cellist floats two new tunes onto his SoundCloud, both of which display a welcome evolution to his sound and are really just beautiful pieces of textured production. No word on if there’s any sort of release in the works, but for now we’ve got a pair of nice streams to hold us over.

- via MAPZZZ

Mapzzz’s own Glenn Jackson has unveiled another cut from his forthcoming Morning Swim EP for Ceremony, this time offering up a stream of the Summer-tinged title track “Morning Swim.” Some synths, some bells, some disco drums—dive in.

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Originally based out of Minneapolis, we’ve taken quite a liking to the Moon Glyph label since the outfit moved to our fair town of Oakland last year, introducing us to its wide array of synthy sonic adventures in the process. Today, the label unveiled its first release of 2013, a gorgeous casette of meandering ambient excursions from M. Sage entitled The Receivers Peaking. Stream one of casette’s standout tracks, “Fuji Station: Confines of Time,” below.

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In news that is not all that surprising, Montreal resident Jacques Greene remains one of the most reliable producers around. In the past 24 hours, a tune entitled “Quicksand” had surfaced in its full form—it was first heard on his recent Fader mix and a mix he had put together for the BBC late last year—and while it represents a bit of a new direction for Greene’s style, it’s still fits right in with the rest of his impressive catalog. Not sure if or when “Quicksand” will see an official release, but it seems likely it will appear in one shape or another of Greene’s own Vase label sometime soon; or so we hope.

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This Lindstrøm remix of Grizzly Bear‘s “Gun Shy” is just so damn good. Space disco at its finest—almost too cheesy, but somehow still just exactly right. Lindstrøm continues to prove himself to be the Norwegian master of disco as of late. [Download]

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Maybe we’re expecting just a bit too much, but it certainly feels like the young Canadian (from Edmonton, to be exact) producer known as Ghibli gets overlooked when it comes to talk of adventurous producers on the rise. Aside from a handful of impressive remixes, last year’s excellent Rare Pleasures casette for Crash Symbols cemented Ghibli’s status for us, and this latest piece of audio, “Vespers,” sounds likely to only continue keeping us under the impression that the man is quite the talented producer. Apparently this tune comes from a forthcoming record (maybe another tape?) entitled Clubs, which means we should be hearing more from Ghibli soon. (photo via Stadiums and Shrines)

- via MAPZZZ

Todd Terje and Lindstrøm have joined forces for “Lanzarote,” a gluttonous piece of synth-loving disco. And yes, it’s as rad as a combination of this caliber should be.

- via MAPZZZ