Ahead of his forthcoming album
Human Energy, the ever-prolific Travis Stewart, best known as the mastermind behind the Machinedrum moniker, has shared the radiant and undeniably cinematic new track "Tell U."
Featuring rising Canadian songstress Rochelle Jordan, "Tell U" contains the same sort of sweeping chord progressions and fidgety vocal manipulations that made his previous single -- the D∆WN-featuring "Do It 4 U" -- such a gorgeous track. And this new single, indebted to its aura of effervescent, joy-filled emotion, continues to demonstrate how Stewart is one of the rare talents who can repurpose a simple stem and turn it into something greater and, somehow, more human.
"This track is an example of how I took a homie's vocal that they sent me in the past and reused it in a different context, just like 'Do It 4 U,'" Stewart said. "I took a sampling approach to Rochelle's a-cappella and recontextualized her lyrics in the same way I would with an old 90s R&B a-cappella in some of my older tracks" -- and it's absolutely euphoria-inducing. Listen for yourself below.
MACHINEDRUM: HUMAN ENERGY TOUR
27-Sep - Berlin, Germany - Berghain/Panorama Bar
29-Sep - Milan, Italy - Dude Club
30-Sep - Paris, France - Wanderlust
01-Oct - Lyon, France - Le Sucre
05-Oct - Seattle, WA - Q Nightclub
06-Oct - Chicago, IL - 1st Ward
07-Oct - Miami, FL - III Points Festival
08-Oct - Silverado, CA - Dirtybird Campout
12-Oct - San Francisco, CA - The Independent
13-Oct - New York, NY - Le Poisson Rouge
14-Oct - Toronto, ON - Velvet Underground
15-Oct - Montreal, QC - Newspeak
02-Nov - Denver, CO - Vinyl
03-Nov - Los Angeles, CA - Echoplex
04-Nov - Austin, TX - The Grizzly
05-Nov - Dallas, TX - RBC
09-Nov - Washington, DC - U Street Music Hall
12-Nov - Atlixco, MX - Fascinoma Festival
24-Nov - Christchurch, New Zealand - Darkroom
25-Nov - Auckland, New Zealand - Neck of the Woods
26-Nov - Ballarat Australia - Earthcore Festival 2016
30-Nov - Sydney Australia - Civic Underground
01-Dec - Adelaide, Australia - Rocket Bar
02-Dec - Perth, Australia - Jack Rabbit Slim's
03-Dec - Sydney, Australia - Subsonic Festival 2016
Machinedrum's Human Energy is out September 30th via Ninja Tune.
photo by Tonje Thielsen