Los Angeles-based producer Mtendere Mandowa, better known as Teebs, is ready to soothe the masses once again with the upcoming release of his second full-length album, E s t a r a. The LP, which is set to drop on Tuesday (April 8), sees a return to Flying Lotus's genre-warping Brainfeeder imprint.
While his first album, Ardour, was recorded during a period of personal upheaval and the death of his father, E s t a r a marks a time of peace and open creativity. It also takes its name from the house where most of the recording was done, a place that had influence beyond just a title.
"When I made that record, the house that I was living in had these bay windows, these crazy huge windows where my room was so it was like a sun bath every morning so it was pretty crazy," Mandowa tells Exclaim! "Sometimes it was annoying but still interesting having that light always with you, so I definitely think that it shaped the sounds."
In addition to taking influence from our nearest star, the LP also features a host of collaborations — with contributions from future-pop producer Jonti, off-kilter beatmaker Populous, and some bass clarinet from Lars Horntveth.
The album also features glitch legend Prefuse 73, the only contributor to have worked with Mandowa in the past. Their recent Sons of the Morning project saw the two producers fuse their vaguely similar styles into a seven-track EP, released in December 2013. Fans of the record can look forward to more from the duo in the future, says Mandowa.
"We made so much material, made so many demos that we just took the pack that felt right as our introduction sound, which became the Sons of the Morning record, but we have a lot more recorded that leans more on the Prefuse, old-school beat style. We're just trying to plan out our releases, I guess. There are a lot of demos just hanging around, that are on completely different idea paths."
Read our full interview with Mandowa here.
While his first album, Ardour, was recorded during a period of personal upheaval and the death of his father, E s t a r a marks a time of peace and open creativity. It also takes its name from the house where most of the recording was done, a place that had influence beyond just a title.
"When I made that record, the house that I was living in had these bay windows, these crazy huge windows where my room was so it was like a sun bath every morning so it was pretty crazy," Mandowa tells Exclaim! "Sometimes it was annoying but still interesting having that light always with you, so I definitely think that it shaped the sounds."
In addition to taking influence from our nearest star, the LP also features a host of collaborations — with contributions from future-pop producer Jonti, off-kilter beatmaker Populous, and some bass clarinet from Lars Horntveth.
The album also features glitch legend Prefuse 73, the only contributor to have worked with Mandowa in the past. Their recent Sons of the Morning project saw the two producers fuse their vaguely similar styles into a seven-track EP, released in December 2013. Fans of the record can look forward to more from the duo in the future, says Mandowa.
"We made so much material, made so many demos that we just took the pack that felt right as our introduction sound, which became the Sons of the Morning record, but we have a lot more recorded that leans more on the Prefuse, old-school beat style. We're just trying to plan out our releases, I guess. There are a lot of demos just hanging around, that are on completely different idea paths."
Read our full interview with Mandowa here.
