Over the last year a new generation of young and ambitious house producers from Frankfurt to Mannheim have caused quite a stir. Vera Heindel is part of the scene in the Rhine Main area, which is the new centre for innovative and modern house and techno tracks, and "People's House", her first release on Cargo Edition at the end of 2008 received huge attention from critics and fans alike
Regular contributor Vick Lavender returns to Cataleya Music for two lengthy stargazing jams. Each clock in at over 10 minutes, taking the listener on an extended musical journey. They combine Spiritual, Soulful and Jazzy House Esthetics with great results. Africanus is a moving composition with mystical melodies, thoughtful instrumentation and percussive layers. No Rhyme, No Reason offers powerful synths, mellow brass and in-step beats. Both Africanus and No Rhyme, No Reason are incredibly engaging pieces of music. The Esthetic EP is Vick Lavender’s most ambitious record on Cataleya Music so far. Listen and be rewarded!
Vincenzo De Bull follows up his initial 4 Kicks EP with a truly fitting set of 4 smooth grooves on Kicks 4 Life EP.
Kicking off the A Side is the energetic bass workout of The Jaunt. Driving mix of filtered loops and persistent bass carry this along with accented punctuation courtesy of trippy oscillating vocals, pianos before it’s all brought home post-break with a lovely pad driving more tension to add to the effortless progression. B2, Make It Smooth will contain some recognizable elements for most of the selectors out there, before the cut develops into a new context which will immediately remove your previous associations and make way for a fun, new groove – we don’t have to tell you, but Vincenzo does a superb job of ‘Making it smooth.’
Flip to the B Side for smooth R&B style house vibes courtesy of Move Your Body, an ethereal workout grounded by a solid low and a tugging looped groove, interspersed with enough energy via vocals to keep the floor engaged and moving, but at a lower energy level. Perfect to move into later nights. Tatsuro Lovers rounds out the EP with a midtempo chugger perfect for starting the evening, groovy pool parties or just sitting at home, enveloped in the heady, swirling vibes underpinned by crisp drums and deep low end.
Back in stock!!
Active as a professional DJ in Japan since the late eighties, DJ Yoshizawa Dynamite is also a renowned remixer, compiler and producer. An avid record collector and an expert of the Wamono style, Yoshizawa published the Wamono A to Z records guide book in 2015 which instantly sold-out. The book unveiled a myriad of beautiful and rare records from a highly prolific, but still then unknown, Japanese groove scene.
After many years working as a record buyer for several stores, DJ Chintam opened his own Blow Up shop in 2018 in Tokyo's Shibuya district. A member of the Dayjam Crew and a specialist of soul, funk, rare groove and disco music, Chintam is also an expert of the home-brewed Wamono grooves. He supervised and wrote the Wamono A to Z records guide book together with Yoshizawa.
With this first volume of the Wamono series, our two DJs here guide you through some of the best and rarest jazz funk and rare groove tunes produced in Japan between 1968 and 1980. Put the needle on the record, turn up the volume and dig right now into the Wamono sound - the cream of the Japanese funk, soul, rare groove and disco music developed throughout the years since the end of the sixties in Japan!
"In Waves is a new sister label of Lee Burridge's All Day I Dream. Its third release comes from Zone+ and is a superb 13 track collection that sinks you deep into the artist's rich house sounds.
A Balloon In The Wind (Ambient) opens top with dreamy pads and spring day sounds, then supple grooves arrive like Hello to take you away into a hypnotic world. Shinobi has bumpier drums and elastic bass, Bohemian brings worldly percussive sounds and Mandalorian layers up smooth drums with soft pads and angelic vocals.
This most heady and cuddly of albums plays out through the clipped house and subtly funky kicks of What's Going On, the bubbly sounds and Middle Eastern vocals of The Musician and widescreen melancholic chords of Luna. Electric Dreams is a fine collab with Usif and the album closes on the tightly woven late night deep house of Uncommon.
This is a masterful album of smartly layered grooves, emotional pads and escapist vibes."
Back on Planet Sneaker with his infectious, raw-as-sushi take on UK funky, French MPC maverick Kaval presents another four-strong salvo of wavey 4/4 workouts heavy on the drums and loaded with ear-snagging hooks. The past year saw the Toulouse scene stalwart launch his own KVLDUBS 12” series and appear on Parisian label Nowadays.
Kaval certainly sounds in fine fettle as he bowls back our way, kicking off proceedings with the air horn x bass squelch firestarter ‘Lavawheel’. It’s loaded with such hefty squarewave low end it feels like it could fall out the bottom of the speaker at any minute, all the while stamped down by a bouncy UKF thump. ‘Basement Woi’ twists up a knottier rhythm, but the cheeky vocal samples keep flying out of the mix to keep the vibe infectious.
On the B side, ‘Sonic Boom’ has a slightly more techno-spirited demeanour to the production, albeit never at the expense of the hefty subs. That leaves it to ‘Tek Talk’ to mop up with a twitchy construction dancing on the edge of electro in the tweaked-out, early 00s spirit of the word. With bags of personality and equal amounts swagger and fun, on SNKR066 Kaval maintains his position as a free thinker for the possibilities springing from the UK funky formula.
FPTAM01 marks the 10th vinyl output on Futurepast and introduces a new subseries initiated by T.A.M.22.
Conceived as a time-based operation, the project moves between memory and projection, reactivating past structures in a forward, anticipatory mode. The tracklist is inscribed as time codes, each one indexing a separate temporal trajectory.
The core of the project relies on a reduced setup: Jomox Alphabase, a single synthesizer per track, and a one-take recording approach, capturing a specific moment in time. Post-editing is kept minimal to preserve its raw, live character.
Across the EP, transformation unfolds through shifts in perception, dissolving any stable sense of reality. Temporal drift replaces fixed structure. The sonic language focuses on raw drum architecture, low-end pressure, and submerged textures.
Born out of a shared pop-up studio on the 5th floor of an Omotesandō shopping mall, “Paradox” is the rousing result of a compelling musical collaboration between two British-born, Tokyo-based producers: The Magus Project (Rhythm King / The White Label, Silk Road Sounds, WhatSonic?) and Submerse (Hooversound, Future Retro, Straight Up Breakbeat, Breaker Breaker).
It also marks a collaborative first between The Magus Project’s own WhatSonic? label and Yeti Out’s imprint, Silk Road Sounds.
The archetypal DIY split-single approach — two individual artists offering a track each across a single release — is magnificently elevated in this case by a powerful connective force, in the guise of a shared rhythm spanning Paradox’s non-identical-twin tracks; a relentless pulse that, uniquely, allows either track to be mixed effortlessly into the other, bridging the transition between 126 and 168 bpm or vice versa.
Different speeds, different tracks, identical pulse: making the bpm matter and, well, not matter all at once: a kind of Schrödinger’s tempo, a thought-experiment in sonic form, an either/or/both of genre-spanning stylistic enquiry.
Welcome to Cheese Tricks Vol. 3 same recipe, different GOATS.
“In 2023, Brooht was the first artist to join the project. He helped me connect with unknown yet talented goats, mostly fron Ukraine, all eager to share their own cheeses with the world. “I selected twelve of the finest vorks that naturally resonate with one another, spanning from France to Ukraine via Italy and Romania, divided them to be distributed across three volumes.” SELA
A collection as curious and organic as the magic behind Secret Feta. Four fermented tracks, selected by DJs and for DJs, ready to feed the dancefloor.
Don’t mess with GOATS.
Adam Beyer continues his elite studio form with ‘Ghost Kiss’.
The boss has been enjoying the most prolific production period of his career in recent times, while reinforcing his sonic range in the process. Recent highlights have included his standout ‘Let’s Begin’ EP which mined classic Drumcode influences, while his remix of Sharam’s PATT (Party All The Time) with Green Velvet and Layton Giordani showed a different side to his repertoire, and delivered his first overall Beatport no.1 along the way.
His latest three-track offering ‘Ghost Kiss’, continues the creative purple patch. The title track sounds like a techno outtake from ‘Requiem for a Dream’s’ soundtrack, deliciously unsettling and striking. This was made for big moments, propelled by a commanding vox that urges us to move our bodies. ‘Pilot’ shows Beyer’s musical breadth and commanding sound design, taking in elements of synth wave and indie pop all within a driving techno context. A captivating listen. The finale ‘Jack’, continues the inspired sonic referencing; a narrative-led dancefloor jaunt that takes in subtle elements house and electro, with Beyer’s unique twist.
Swiss label Mormorio Records returns with its sixth release.
MOR006 is delivered by Zürich-based artist Aline, presenting two original tracks that move between subtle grooves, reduced textures and a warm, driving flow.
On remix duties, Paul K and Lorik each bring their own perspective to the record, stretching the originals into deeper territories while keeping the essence intact. The result is a balanced release that works as well on intimate dancefloors as it does in late-night sessions.
MOR006 continues the label’s focus on understated, carefully crafted club music, rooted in the Swiss underground scene.
With the Hormesis EP, Alric Aerial explores the delicate threshold between pressure and growth. The title a reference to the biological phenomenon where stress triggers a positive adaptation serves as the conceptual foundation for a sound born from deep introspection.
It is a testament to the idea that resilience is not just about enduring, but about evolving through the friction.
In his productions, Alric Aerial weaves together personal and cultural fragments, bridging the echoes of his heritage (Tales From The Desert Part II) with a conscious departure from familiar scenes and habits (Good To Be Gone). This work marks a natural evolution a shift from the noise of the outside world toward a more refined, intentional focus in the studio.
The tracks strike a balance between "dirty" authenticity and infectious, groovy basslines. From driving, straight-forward rhythms to melodic leads, the work shifts between cinematic tension and uncompromising momentum. Especially in the title track, Hormesis, Alric’s vision culminates in the transformation of fragmentation into energy. The music invites the listener to find a new kind of presence within the act of disappearing to get lost in the pulse, only to emerge more resilient.
Armada Music are back again with a release packed full of nostalgic flavour, Angie Brown’s grade-A reimagination of the silver-certified ‘I’m Gonna Get You’ is a trip down memory lane tailored to today’s dance floor. A cult classic among ravers young and old, this re-release gives the early-‘90s classic a new lease of life. Now with three fresh new remixes 20 odd years later, following on from the original mix is Jess Bays’ Remix she brings her unique style of production which has been integral to her rise in the world of dance music by making hits for the likes of Defected, Stress, Warner, Universal, Sony and many more. Flipping over to the B side is Robbin Traxx an alias formed by the collaboration of the heavyweight hitters who are Solardo and Joshwa, together they bring their UKG touch to provide a fresh take to the 93’ classic. Finally, rounding off the release is Austin Millz an artist who has established himself as a genre-bending icon. Having performed with artists like Quincy Jones and Beyonce, his music is a deeply textured fusion of soul and dance-floor euphoria. An essential piece of vinyl for fans of classic dance music new & old!
