Cerca:dub files

Irradiated is the second LP on Appendix.files from Berlin-based sound artist and producer Kurt Reinartz Salgado. Across eight tracks, Reinartz explores the space between dub-techno lineage and ambient experimentation — what he describes as “ADHD-ambient.” Drawing from ’90s German techno and Chain Reaction-era dub, the album blends elastic 4/4 rhythms, fractured breaks, submerged bass pressure, and patient, detail-driven atmospheres.

The record moves from deep dub openings through porous rhythmic studies and warm melodic ruptures, before closing with hydrophone and geophone recordings from Berlin’s Kaulsdorfer See — grounding the LP in physical space and material listening.

An intersection of original dubs and outernational electronica, Ashtech’s Walkin’ Target, produced and co-written by Gaudi, was originally released in 2007 on cult Canadian label Interchill and is now presented for the first time on vinyl.

Tightly structured, Walkin’ Target revolves around Ashtech’s earth rattling basslines and Gaudi's solid production aesthetic, with three of the tracks featuring the inimitable vocal stylings of Cheshire Cat (Leftfield). A former bass player with Almamegretta, Ashtech’s intuitive style combined with Gaudi’s melodic flair to create a joyful collection of groove orientated roots and downtempo dubs that upon release found a home in the collection of music lovers worldwide.

Long deleted and not available on any mainstream download or streaming platforms, Ashtech dug out the original audio files, which were lovingly re-mastered for this pressing.

Nupharmic, duo from early 2000s with just one release on the record, are back in the game! Tony Goldstone & Phil West reunited one more time to bring back their dubby, exclusive and timeless sound to our music era. 

Special thanks to Tony for recreating lost files and making this possible!

Following on from the warm reception to Hell Yeah and Music Conception reissuing Calm's cult Before album, the labels have come together once more to offer up a reissue of the Japanese master's highly sought-after long player Moonage Electric Ensemble. The hard-to-find original has been given an all-new mixdown from original stem files and then re-mastered by Calm himself, and the double LP will also come with a bonus 12" featuring his very own Daydream Dubs plus an obi-strip and original artwork by FJD.

The blissful yet soul-stirring Moonage Electric Ensemble, which landed first in 1999, was Kiyotaka Fukagawa's stunning sophomore album and the one that kept the bar high following his debut Shadow of the Earth. It investigated all new worlds of future jazz, ambient and downtempo and has since become a cult classic that often fetches three figures on secondhand markets. He has released over 18 albums since including Before which was reissued in 2022, though Moonage Electric Ensemble remains a favourite with those who enjoy the most accomplished and innovative sounds from the first wave of chillout.

This escapist charmer opens with the suspensory synths and piano keys of 'Unseen Small Steps' featuring spoken words from Dan Gamble, then 'Light Year' has gently tumbling rhythms and shimming synth moving about the soothing mix. 'Noon At The Moon' brings gorgeously fizzing future jazz drums and mellifluous piano playing full of subtle joy, and 'The Other Side Of The Moon' then layers up melancholic chords and chunkier rhythms that are detailed with gorgeous persuasive details and mystic flutes. 'Tsukiyo' is a new age charmer with paddy hand drums and romantic interplay between sax and trumpet, 'Between Worlds' is an ambient interlude with distant winds blowing and intimate whispers from Gamble before closer 'Authentic Love Song' rides on dusty trip hop breaks as lazy piano chords melt the heart and Gamble serves up another aloof monologue.

This is another welcome reissue of a sublime album that is not only one of Calm's finest but also a true gem in the wider world of downtempo music.

X Files returns for the series’ second instalment, dropping vinyl debut armed with two fresh edits.

Launched in 2021, X Files unveiled a new Unknown Artist series exploring the realms of house and beyond via slick takes on unconventional records, transporting them to main room dance floors and hazy early morning after parties. Following support from Marco Carola, Jamie Jones, Skream, Michael Bibi, Enzo Siragusa, Dennis Cruz and Archie Hamilton, March sees the first vinyl release on the label with another two-track package for the series’ second anonymous release.

Harnessing one of music’s most iconic melodies and vocals alongside murky bass and tough drums on the A-Side, before keeping things funky and punchy on the flip, XFL002 serves up a hot slab of wax set to be a must-have for many.

Support:
Jamie Jones
Michael Bibi
Marco Carola
Skream
East End Dubs
Luuk van Dijk
Ben Sterling
Archie Hamilton

Suck The Pit is the first release from Brush on the Sone imprint. An album that covers Please reach out via mail if you wish to purchase the record or inquire the digital files.

What began as a nostalgic nod to Camden Market’s bootleg culture has become the next chapter of in the Running Back Mastermix series. At once deeply personal and openly communal, it shows how a lifetime of production can be condensed into 90 minutes without losing its edge — proof that the mixtape, even in 2025, still has stories left to tell.
What followed was a patient excavation. Old DATs were pulled out of storage, forgotten files surfaced from hard drives, and new material was written to sit alongside them.
Together, these fragments revealed a body of work stretching back more than 25 years — tracks that moved across the spectrum of house and techno but shared a common thread of character and atmosphere.
In May of this year, the archive finally found its form. Recorded live on three decks using Serato, the resulting mix brings together 24 tracks: unreleased material from the past and brand new productions, all stitched together into a continuous narrative. It’s equal parts retrospective and statement of intent — less a museum piece than a living document.

AniaraWL07 links up label mainstays Dorisburg, Efraim Kent, and Arkajo. Side A kicks off with Dorisburg & Efraim Kent's Wired to the Mainframe: a tightly wound, pulse-driven Tech House trip. Followed by X-Files Groove, which strips back the layers and tunnels into a darker, dub-laced transmission. Flip to Side B for Arkajo's two-part Consequence series. Consequence #1 locks you into rolling, UK-inspired rhythms, pushing forward with a warm yet propulsive energy. Consequence #2 turns the screws tighter, upping the BPM and unfolding into a tense, minimal workout where every hit and echo feel essential.

Directly from the Many Records files, an iconic italo disco track from early 1985 written and arranged by Enzo Vallicelli (the man behind great hits from Cruisin' Gang of Max-Him). No remixes or updates are needed for this track, it still sounds as fresh and powerful as the day it was released.

Directly from the Many Records files, an iconic italo disco track from early 1985 written and arranged by Enzo Vallicelli (the man behind great hits from Cruisin' Gang of Max-Him). No remixes or updates are needed for this track, it still sounds as fresh and powerful as the day it was released.

"High urgency music with a very personal expression of the artist: in one way or another", this has always been the important or maybe even the core factor of every Cortizona release so far.

So it was just a matter of time until DJ Marcelle/Another Nice Mess, longtime fan of The Fall and Jiskefet, topnotch producer, dj wizard with three turntables (and a lovely person in general) - and myself - would collaborate towards a Cortizona release.

I guess the initial idea of working together with DJ Marcelle/Another Nice Mess dates back to 2019. One day she called me four times in five minutes just to hear Mark E. Smith's voice message on my phone. Since then there has been no going back. I mean: what's not to love about her?

Some time ago, she sent me the digital files of her new LP 'Sorry, No Service'. One of the tracks, 'Sorry, No Silence', features the Nan Goldin sample: 'this is clearly ethnic cleansing', taken from Goldin's impressive speech to which the audience cheered in support at the opening of her exhibition at the Neue Nationalgallerie in Berlin end of 2024.
Two weeks later Marcelle contacted me again: her German label refused to release the track. This was the moment we had both been waiting for: at last Cortizona and Marcelle would work together!

The album is due to be released later this year, but, with things as they are in Gaza, it is important to issue 'Sorry, No Silence' as a stand-alone track as soon as possible.
Talking about urgency!

'Sorry, No Silence' resonates feelings of global despair over the genocide in Gaza and the moraland political bankruptcy of 'western values'. It does so over a repetitive, militant tribal beat, complete with heavy basslines. The spirits of Mark Stewart, On-U Sound and Muslimgauze loom over the track, but as is always the case with Marcelle, both on stage and in the studio: she has an authentic style of her own, where playfulness meets courage and - also in this case - anger meets rhythm.

'Sorry, No Silence' is a track I didn't know I was waiting for. A track reflecting the sign of the times. The 12'' also features an even more heavy (and faster) dub version and the avant garde track 'Never Again Means', featuring more Nan Goldin samples: 'never again means never again for everyone'.
For obvious reasons the proceeds of this 12 inch and the digital Bandcamp release will be donated to PCRF, Palestine Children's Relief Fund.

Support more than welcome.


(written by Philippe Cortens)

"Sebastian Mullaert has always favoured the long arc: of tracks, of creative cycles, of artistic trust. His next chapter unfolds in the form of a new vinyl only label, born in close collaboration with Ulf Eriksson - his longtime friend, ally and the steady pulse behind Kontra Musik, a label that's been both home and launchpad for many of Mullaert's most vital releases. K-Files is built on two foundations: singularity and multiplicity. Every release will present a single track refracted through three or four different versions - each one approaching the core idea from a distinct creative angle. These are tools not just for DJs, but for listeners who hear dance music as more than just rhythm - as mood, as exploration, as transformation. The first release, K-FILES 01, sets the tone: deep, dubby, and spacious, it invites patience and immersion. But like all good rituals, the process will shift. Future releases are already poised to explore other territories: sharper energies, stranger grooves, unexpected colours. In a world increasingly defined by instant access and digital saturation, K-Files stands intentionally apart - a slower offering. A return to physicality, to process, to the tactile rituals of listening, selecting, and playing music with care. K-Files is a sublabel for those who play records not just to move bodies, but to open space. A platform for sonic evolution, variation, and perspective. A place where dance music is not pinned down - but opened up. Each record will be released exclusively on vinyl."

Our fourth album finally gets the vinyl pressing it so richly deserves.

Originally released in 2007, Rude Mechanicals found us firing on all cylinders. The nine years since our debut had been spent touring our cutting-edge audio-visual show round the world, playing everywhere from Tokyo to Tauranga, Portland to Paris, Leeds to Las Vegas, finding fans and absorbing new sounds along the way.

We successfully combined and refined the stand-out elements of our previous releases to create an album that is alternately danceable and meditative: a genre busting excursion in sound, heaving with warm basslines and complex rhythms, topped up by haunting melodies and immersive soundscapes.

From the evocative opening South of the Line to the stepping 1000 Mile Drift, the dub is strong, as one would expect, and so is the influence of drum’n’bass on the bottom-heavy Bird Soul and the atmospheric Please Leave Quietly; trance on the pulsating Sonic Colonic (Live at Minikami) and slinky Transient Transmission (fig.2); ambient on the burbling Harmonia and softly snarling Fragile Ladders. The title track, meanwhile, finds us addressing climate change and greed, with lyrics by Auckland MC KP.

To create the double-vinyl release, Angus McNaughton re-mastered the original audio files, while Hamish Macaulay polished the source artwork by Tom Quarelle and created a brand new collage for the centrefold using pictures taken at the time.

Rude Mechanicals will be released on 11th April 2025, except in Aotearoa New Zealand, where it will be released on 12th April 2025 as part of Record Store Day.

After two years in the making, the long anticipated Per Hammar album on Sushitech is finally here!

Presented as a beautifully crafted triple vinyl LP, the album is a deep journey into Per Hammar's refined dub techno sound, seamlessly blending classic Sushitech aesthetics with a modern, elegant touch.

This record perfectly embodies the label's signature balance between immersive club music and deep, textured home listening, delivering a rich sonic experience full of depth. The production is warm, expansive and hypnotic, merging intricate sound design with flowing organic tech driven grooves.

A stone-cold classic in the making and a fitting way to launch the label's 20th anniversary celebrations

After two years in the making, the long anticipated Per Hammar album on Sushitech is finally here!

Presented as a beautifully crafted triple vinyl LP, the album is a deep journey into Per Hammar's refined dub techno sound, seamlessly blending classic Sushitech aesthetics with a modern, elegant touch.

This record perfectly embodies the label's signature balance between immersive club music and deep, textured home listening, delivering a rich sonic experience full of depth. The production is warm, expansive and hypnotic, merging intricate sound design with flowing organic tech driven grooves.

A stone-cold classic in the making and a fitting way to launch the label's 20th anniversary celebrations

Leeds label 20/20 Vision continues its Full Circle 30-year celebrations with a tasteful series of classic record reissues, all of which are sounds that have been pivotal to its legacy. Wulf n Bear's 'Raptures of the Deep' is up next and was first recorded in 1995 at Hopefield Farm studio and went on to help establish 20/20 Vision on the global stage. Garnering praise from Detroit and Chicago legends like Stacey Pullen and Derrick Carter, it is considered one of the first tech-house records and blends Detroit techno with house beats anyone who has heard Ralph Lawson and Huggy play will recognise. This edition includes remastered tracks, original artwork, a rare dub version plus the best bit - Craig Richards' remix.

DJ Feedback

Radio Slave:
"I’d love the files of this ! It’s such a killer release."

Bradley Zero / NTS:
"Love this pls can i have xx"

Moxie / NTS:
"This is great, would love the promo please!"

Massimiliano Pagliara:
"Nice stuff"

Declassified Records is back with its 6th release - 2 more tracks crafted by the label owner himself SP:MC. Staying true to the original ideology of his imprint, SP:MC once again aims to fuse & contort his influences from the Drum & Bass & Dubstep scenes into the 2-step / UKG framework. The A side ‘XL Bully’ is definitely the more up front & hard hitting of the two tracks - drawing inspiration from the palette of Digital & Spirit, Total Science & Rufige Kru’s previous works. The flipside ‘Core Memories’ is a deeper cut leaning towards a more Detroit feel - you can undoubtably hear a nod to the late great Marcus Intalex & ST Files here. Declassified continues the forge its own path forwards, already becoming recognised as a ‘buy on sight’ label for UK bass music fans.

Ruby Wine Vinyl. Manchester UK's Space Afrika make music of what they term "overlapping moments" - oblique mosaics of dialogue, rhythm, texture, and shadow, half-heard through a bus window on a rainy night. Honest Labour, the group's first full-length since 2020's landmark hybtwibt? (have you been through what i've been through?) mixtape, expands the project's palette with classical strings, shimmering guitar, and visionary vocal cameos, leaning further into their enigmatic fusion of ambient unrest and cosmic downtempo. It's a sound both fogged and fragmented, at the axis of song craft and sound design, born from and for the yearning solitudes of life under lockdown.The album title is tiered, alluding to a legendary patriarch from co-founder Joshua Inyang's Nigerian family tree (who was lovingly called "Honest Labour" for his loyalty and resilience) as well as the nature of self-designated work, such as Space Afrika's music - a "labor of love" in its truest sense. With fellow co-founder Joshua Reid recently relocated to Berlin, the pair began sharing files last fall, piecing together poetic vignettes of looping haze and found sound, inspired by the notion of "records that leave an impression, and help the listener deal with their life." As the isolation of Covid compounded with the worsening winter, the songs skewed increasingly introspective and emotive, reflecting a mood of dissipating futures and the infinite nocturnal unknown.The artists cite two core motivations for Honest Labour: to transcend the sum of their influences, and "to show what we're capable of." Both ambitions are entirely realized. The collection's 19 tracks flow with a synergy and sophistication as rare as they are radical, untethered to the dusty dub-techno templates of Space Afrika's early years. These are interstitial anthems, expressionistic and open-ended, delirious but deliberate, attuned to the drift and dreamstate of the present moment: "Ultimately this is an homage to U.K. energy, and an album about love and loss."

2024 Repress

Pitch Black’s “Electronomicon”, a landmark album in New Zealand’s electronica scene, finally gets pressed on vinyl.First released in 2000, “Electronomicon” shows Pitch Black developing their deep dubby sound further by creating long and involved song structures that traverse a range of sonic experiences. The resultant album journeys from organic ambience and layered soundscapes to skanking keyboards, cutting acid riffs and thumping rhythmic grooves, with dub being the glue that holds it all together.

“Electronomicon” reached 28 in the New Zealand album charts and led to a sell-out 30-date tour of New Zealand and Australia. It has since gone on to become one of the duo’s most popular albums, regularly finding new fans around the world.

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the release, the band dug out the original audio files and Angus McNaughton has remastered them for this vinyl release. Hamish Macaulay has also adapted the original artwork, creating a brand new collage for the centerfold out of pictures taken at the time.

DJ Support: DJ Sabo, Gordon Invisible Inc, Ground Chill Mountain, Roe Deers, Thomas Von Party, Vidis

Multi Culti serve up a full-length treat from Peruvian artist Aristidez. Cofounder of Lima-based party collective Casa Locasa and the non-profit label Behua Icara (translated as Healing Rhythms), in support of indigenous culture, Aristidez has recently relocated to Berlin. With releases on Calypso, Disque-Discos, and Kebrada, as well as remixes for Amplio Espectro, Ida Sound, Discos Aquelarre, Rotten City Files, and Playground Records, Aristidez has quietly made a name for himself with a growing catalog of low-key dance tracks that have been championed by the likes of Matias Aguayo, Andrew Weatherall (RIP), and Inigo Vontier, to name a few. With an emphasis on the hypnotic power of rhythm, Aristidez channels indigenous influences in subtle fashion, alluding to visionary experience without resorting to pastiche or obvious tropes. There are freaky tribal rhythms but no shaman samples, just expertly produced tracks than reveal an expansive set of electronic influences that range across tempos and decades, from breaky 90s rave, 80s proto-trance, cult dub, downtempo and more. It’s listenable, danceable, heady and kaleidoscopic stuff that should stand the test of time.

First time out for this wildly raw dubplate, sister-recording to the Pablo master-rhythm, shot through with other-worldly, illusively allusive incantation.
Surely that's Family Man stalking a sunken cavern, and his bro battering all seven shades out of his drum-kit, like Meters on fire, and Chinna on guitar, glazed and violent. The mixing rears up right in your face.
Producer Gussie Clarke says Theophilus 'Easy Snappin' Beckford is playing piano, with the front removed so he can strum the strings (like he finally snapped) — but he credits the work overall to Augustus Pablo.
Transferred from acetate — fuss-pots don't grumble, just be humble — though the flip brings a clutch of criss, unmissable alternates, direct from Gussie's tape-room (where the files are entitled 'Classical Illusion / The Sun').
Heavy, heavy funk. Simplicity People dug in. Stunning.

The Sad Clown Bad Dub series first started as a string of limited cassette tapes and CD-R's for Atmosphere to sell exclusively on tour. Since its inception in 1999, the Sad Clown series has seen over a dozen iterations in numerous formats, including rare 4-track demos, live recordings, a DVD of behind-the-scenes tour footage, a mixtape, 7” vinyl singles and more. To this day, one of the earliest volumes – Sad Clown Bad Dub 2 – still remains one of the most celebrated and coveted installments from the series.

Originally released in 2000, Sad Clown Bad Dub 2 was a rather stripped-down DIY release – a simple CD tucked behind an illustrated cover with handwritten tracklist and liner notes. The recordings were equally as rough, consisting of a dozen raw 4-track demos that hadn't been treated to any sort of mixing or mastering. Although Atmosphere initially produced only 500 copies of these CD's to sell on the road for extra cash, the buzz and the subsequent demand from fans eventually led the group to pressing more of the CD's, this time stamp- ing the cover art with the phrase "Authorized Bootleg" as a sly nod to those who'd been ripping and sharing the files. The unpolished nature of Sad Clown Bad Dub 2 was no deterrent from the appeal of its contents though.

Generally considered an underground classic in hip-hop circles, Sad Clown Bad Dub 2 is often mentioned as one of the standout releases in Atmosphere's extensive discography. It is a deeply introspective project that explores a range of complex thoughts and emotions, counter-balanced by occasional moments of darkly humorous sarcasm and wit. Slug's writing is sharp and insightful with a knack for turning his personal struggles into universal themes that listeners can relate to. Ant's production is minimalistic, moody, even eclectic in nature, full of atmospheric textures and unconventional rhythms. This release is very clearly one of the early stepping stones in developing their unique and distinctive sound together, helping to establish their reputation as one of the most innovative and boundary- pushing acts in hip-hop.

We're excited to reintroduce the legendary Sad Clown Bad Dub 2, digitally remastered from the original 4-track tapes and available on vinyl for the first time ever!

Before he was old enough to legally drink, there were "Best Of," rarities compilations, and .zip files floating through the ether.

Whenever industry prospectors earmarked him as the next big thing, he disappeared back underground, only to reemerge sharper, leaner, weirder.

Though only 26, the St. Louis- born rapper and producer has seen enough for several lifetimes--and raps as if he's tapped into many more. But after a few years of highs, lows, and traumatic odysseys, he was able to stare straight into the abyss and conquer it. This regained confidence is exhibited on fish don't climb trees, the largely self-produced new album that reaffirms him as one of rap's great auteurs.

While working on "fish", he vowed to be more true to the emotions and experiences he'd endured. Being true to those fractured, discordant feelings requires a prismatic approach. And so you get fish's exhilarating hairpin turns: from downtempo dub ("bora bora") to 808s rattling through a haunted house ("tourniquet"), beats that sound as if they're molting into new shapes in real time (the two- song suite of "daze" and "grey theory") to ones that that plunge to the
bottom of a pocket ("spirits").

The album's title comes from the maybe-apocryphal Einstein quote, about how a fish judged by its ability to climb trees will "spend its whole life believing it is stupid." For Watson, this meant embracing the cheery first half of the quote ("Everybody is a genius"), but also being cognizant of the dark undercurrents that flow just beneath seemingly innocent misjudgments and mis-categorizations.

GRAMMY NOMINATED AFRO-FUSION SINGER, SONGWRITER, AND PERFORMING ARTISTE The Nigerian singer-songwriter, Burna Boy, was born Damini Ogulu on the 2nd of July, 1991 in Port Harcourt city, Nigeria to Bosede and Samuel Ogulu and he is the only son and eldest of three children.

He started producing music when he was ten years old. After graduating from college, Burna relocated to London to attend university. After two years, he dropped out and moved back to Nigeria to pursue his passion. Coming from a family where music was loved but where a greater premium was placed on education, he spent most of his summer holidays in the UK and in language immersion summer camps in France, Togo and Cote d'Ivoire, before finally moving to the UK where he picked up the Brixton Patois accents which have become a signature in his music.

Young Damini attended Montessori International primary school in Port Harcourt (1993-2002) and Corona Secondary School, Lagos (2002-2008). It has always been music for Burna Boy as observed by his mum when he was still a teenager. She recounts that he was always hanging around his Grandfather, listening to classical music; little wonder his role model later became the man his grandfather managed, Fela Anikulapo Kuti.

His quest for knowledge took him outside the shores of Nigeria to the United Kingdom to study Media Technology at the University of Sussex (2008–2009) and Oxford Brookes University (2009–2010) to study Media Communications and Culture.

Thereafter, he did a one-year internship with Rhythm 93.7 FM Port Harcourt before officially launching his professional music career when he was signed on to Aristocrat records - prompting a permanent relocation to Lagos.

Burna Boy has released a series of EPs, singles, mixtapes, and albums including 2018’s extraordinary “Outside”. The award-winning collection led to Burna’s U.S breakthrough, debuting at #3 on Billboard’s “Reggae Albums” chart, which was partly fueled by the blockbuster single/video, “Ye”. His most recent album, “African Giant”, released in July 2019 has garnered praise from both Nigerian and international media.

Furthermore, the “African Giant” album got nominated for the 62nd Annual Grammy Award in the Best World Album category. Burna is among the contemporary African music’s brightest stars and also the pioneer of an enigmatic genre he simply dubs “Afro-fusion”. The gifted singer-songwriter got featured on American songstress Beyonce's curated Lion King soundtrack, “The Gift”. He also recently took home the 2019 BET Best International Act Award and 2019 MTV Europe Music Award for “Best African Act”.

This sensational post-Disco, Boogie classic from 1981 gets pulled from deep within the legendary Sam Records company vault, and sees a vinyl-only re-release on 4-time Grammy Award Nominee Kenny Dope's Kay-Dee Records, with his own special re-rubs. What makes the re-issue of this dance floor gem most authentic is Kenny's process that stays true to old school form, both technically and sonically. That is, the song painstakingly taken from the original 24-track multi-track master and mixed down to 1/2" master tape, and then mastered from tape to vinyl. Kenny proves this process needs to be done the way it was back in the day in order to produce a true analog record; not a record that sounds like a cd on vinyl nor mastered from digital files for vinyl. This is unlike what everyone is doing these days and what separates Kay-Dee Records from the rest. Kenny's O'Gutta Dubba, the other remix on the flipside of the vinyl, brings even more of that boogie sound back with all original new live drums, rubber bass and other classic instrumentation. You may very well have heard this single being played by Larry Levan at the Paradise Garage, David Mancuso at The Loft or Tee Scott Better Days. Today, you might hear these remixes at parties like Body & SOUL, 718 Sessions, Bump & Hustle, or many of the specialty radio shows like Kenny Dope's Anything Goes on Rinse FM UK. Originally produced by Gary R. Turnier of Gary's Gang and produced/written by Andre Booth who has also collaborated with Big Daddy Kane, Lords of the Underground and others, a whole new generation of dancefloor devotees will discover this throwback first hand.

Following up on reissues of the 2000 compilation »Multila« and 2001’s »Anima,« Sasu Ripatti has thoroughly revisited the classic »Whistleblower« for its first ever vinyl issue on the German Keplar label. Ripatti created entirely new mixes of previously unheard-of alternative versions of the tracks that first appeared on CD through his own Huume imprint in early 2007. He thus shines a new, different light on a record that was as much an expression of reaching a turning point in his life as it also showcased a new, more direct and perhaps more abrasive side of his Vladislav Delay project. »Whistleblower« was marked by the insertion of more noise and disruptive elements into Ripatti’s slowly moving take on intricate electronic music that heavily leaned on dub techniques. Fittingly for an album written at the threshold between one life and the other, »Whisteblower« seems at once melancholic and forward-looking in both tone and style.

»Whisteblower« was the follow-up record to 2005’s »The Four Quarters« and produced in the German capital. »I had quite a hard time in Berlin towards the end and I'm sure the track titles and the music reflect some of that uneasiness,« Ripatti says 15 years later. Changes in his personal life had a profound impact on him when making the record. The fifth track, »Lumi,« was dedicated to his daughter who was born shortly after the album was finished. »I had to reconsider what my life had been,« he recalls this watershed moment in his biography. Having already previously embraced a sober lifestyle—hinted at with the last piece’s title, »Recovery IDea«—Ripatti started questioning his life choices more thoroughly. This is also expressed in »He Lived Deeply,« a track inspired by Miles Davis’s love for Duke Ellington whose title can be read as an implicit question that Ripatti nowadays paraphrases thusly: »Had I been living fully, or fully not living?«

The seven tracks also marked a musical turning point in Ripatti’s work as a producer, not only because it was the last one for which he primarily used analogue and vintage equipment. They are also more straightforward on a music level, more demanding and at times more concerned with subtle rhythms than with the thick textures that were so integral to his earlier work. »Whisteblower« represented the first step in a process of focusing less on sonic abstraction and more on direct (self-)expression. While Ripatti admits that he found working on the album difficult back then, he also points out that he was surprised to hear how »gentle and peaceful« it sounded when he started revisiting the original files he used as a basis for these newly mixed versions. »It probably proves how much more comfortable I had become with sound.«

BBE Music is excited to present the long awaited, eponymous debut album from the USA/UK partnership of JTronius and Maverick Quest, aka Sons of the Sun. Delivered remotely following a chance meeting on music-tech networking app ‘Brapp’, the ingenious pair sent files back and forth between Texas and South East London to manifest their shared vision for ‘Sons of the Sun’. Remarkably, the duo are still yet to meet in person. A respected solo artist knighted by Bootsy Collins as an official ‘funkateer,’ Berklee College graduate JTronius is an extravagant entertainer, entrepreneur and lifestyle brand. Self-dubbed The Guvna of the Galaxy, he brings his swaggy, soulful style to all his endeavours. He has shared stages with LL Cool J, The Roots, Talib Kweli, Pharrell, Busta Rhymes and Damian Marley and is an accomplished actor, appearing in a number of successful Hollywood feature films. Genre-blending record producer and multi-instrumentalist Maverick Quest grew up immersed in the aesthetic of hip hop. But in an environment where flipping loops from vinyl was standard, developing his musicianship to create his own sounds was radical, a move that paved the way for his signature sonic. He has previously performed with and produced for Guru, Grandmaster Flash, Ice T, Ibibio Sound Machine, Solo Rosa and Portico Quartet to name but a few, and is firmly rooted in the epicentre of the burgeoning South East London jazz movement. Sons of the Sun’s debut long player features a host of luminary guests and musicians from all over the globe, including guitarist Dai Miyazaki (Bilal, Ms. Lauryn Hill, Tye Tribbett), keyboard player and vocalist Matt Cusson (Christina Aguilera, Brian McKnight), singer Ayesha Brooks (The Voice, Season 6), saxophonist & flautist Jelani M. Brooks (Ghost Note, RC & The Gritz, Erykah Badu), Boston rapper Madame Cruz and Scottish horn collective The Brasscats, among many others. Mixed by Grammy-nominated Clinton “Ubiquity” McCreery and mastered at Grammy-awarded studio The Carvery, this album inks an impressive first chapter in the story of Sons of the Sun.

Manchester UK's Space Afrika make music of what they term "overlapping moments" - oblique mosaics of dialogue, rhythm, texture, and shadow, half-heard through a bus window on a rainy night. Honest Labour, the group's first full-length since 2020's landmark hybtwibt? (have you been through what i've been through?) mixtape, expands the project's palette with classical strings, shimmering guitar, and visionary vocal cameos, leaning further into their enigmatic fusion of ambient unrest and cosmic downtempo. It's a sound both fogged and fragmented, at the axis of song craft and sound design, born from and for the yearning solitudes of life under lockdown. The album title is tiered, alluding to a legendary patriarch from co-founder Joshua Inyang's Nigerian family tree (who was lovingly called "Honest Labour" for his loyalty and resilience) as well as the nature of self-designated work, such as Space Afrika's music - a "labor of love" in its truest sense. With fellow co-founder Joshua Reid recently relocated to Berlin, the pair began sharing files last fall, piecing together poetic vignettes of looping haze and found sound, inspired by the notion of "records that leave an impression, and help the listener deal with their life." As the isolation of Covid compounded with the worsening winter, the songs skewed increasingly introspective and emotive, reflecting a mood of dissipating futures and the infinite nocturnal unknown. The artists cite two core motivations for Honest Labour: to transcend the sum of their influences, and "to show what we're capable of." Both ambitions are entirely realized. The collection's 19 tracks flow with a synergy and sophistication as rare as they are radical, untethered to the dusty dub-techno templates of Space Afrika's early years. These are interstitial anthems, expressionistic and open-ended, delirious but deliberate, attuned to the drift and dreamstate of the present moment: "Ultimately this is an homage to U.K. energy, and an album about love and loss."

Manchester UK's Space Afrika make music of what they term "overlapping moments" - oblique mosaics of dialogue, rhythm, texture, and shadow, half-heard through a bus window on a rainy night. Honest Labour, the group's first full-length since 2020's landmark hybtwibt? (have you been through what i've been through?) mixtape, expands the project's palette with classical strings, shimmering guitar, and visionary vocal cameos, leaning further into their enigmatic fusion of ambient unrest and cosmic downtempo. It's a sound both fogged and fragmented, at the axis of song craft and sound design, born from and for the yearning solitudes of life under lockdown. The album title is tiered, alluding to a legendary patriarch from co-founder Joshua Inyang's Nigerian family tree (who was lovingly called "Honest Labour" for his loyalty and resilience) as well as the nature of self-designated work, such as Space Afrika's music - a "labor of love" in its truest sense. With fellow co-founder Joshua Reid recently relocated to Berlin, the pair began sharing files last fall, piecing together poetic vignettes of looping haze and found sound, inspired by the notion of "records that leave an impression, and help the listener deal with their life." As the isolation of Covid compounded with the worsening winter, the songs skewed increasingly introspective and emotive, reflecting a mood of dissipating futures and the infinite nocturnal unknown. The artists cite two core motivations for Honest Labour: to transcend the sum of their influences, and "to show what we're capable of." Both ambitions are entirely realized. The collection's 19 tracks flow with a synergy and sophistication as rare as they are radical, untethered to the dusty dub-techno templates of Space Afrika's early years. These are interstitial anthems, expressionistic and open-ended, delirious but deliberate, attuned to the drift and dreamstate of the present moment: "Ultimately this is an homage to U.K. energy, and an album about love and loss."

Stix Records, a sub-label of Favorite Recordings, proudly presents Scary Dub, a new project by Mato, made of exclusive Dub versions of some of the most famous horror movie soundtracks. Available as Vinyl LP & Digital on February 5th 2021.

Do you remember The Exorcist, Halloween, Jaws, Evil Dead, The Twilight Zone or The Return Of The Living Dead and their haunting musical themes? Imagine all and many more remixed by the French dub master, along with three original and scary compositions. Needless to say, Mato, who’s playing most instruments and synthesizers, did a fantastic job and you’ll be blown when hearing these versions.

Starting his reggae production career in 2006, Thomas Blanchot (aka Mato) has released music through various projects on EDR Records, Big Singles or Makasound... In the meantime, he developed a real trademark: taking over classics French, Hip-Hop, OST, Classical or Pop songs, into roots reggae-dub new versions. Besides, since 2010, Mato has built a solid reputation thanks to his hot remixes of Hip-Hop classics on Stix Records.

The album 'Balance' by Frank Bretschneider & Taylor Deupree was originally released in 2002 by Mille Plateaux on CD only. The 9 tracks on 'Balance' are a perfect example for the aesthetics to arise within the Click & Cuts scene and (ambient-)glitch music movement of the late 90s and early 2000s.

The two masters of microscopic sounds and sine wave/white noise-based music constructed these seamlessly mixed pieces around rhythms and melodies, which grants the album plenty of dynamics. The wide variety of carefully chosen ambient sounds throughout the whole work endows 'Balance' warmth and intimacy.

The recordings are now available for the first time on vinyl within the KeplarRev series, presented in a new updated artwork based on the original layout with photographs by Taylor Deupree.

From the original press release in 2002:

"Balance is the first and so far only collaborative release from Frank Bretschneider (Berlin) and Taylor Deupree (Brooklyn). Both of these artists are no strangers to the ears of many; Taylor Deupree is one of New York's most vibrant electronic producers. From his early techno days as a member of Prototype 909 to his current status as one of N. America's key "microscopic" electronic composers and to add runs the prestigious 12K and LINE labels. Frank Bretschneider is a key member and founder of the prestigious Raster Music label, he has critically acclaimed releases under the names Komet and Produkt. It's easy to say that Frank Bretschneider has created some of the most influential spatial electronics of the late 90's.

Utilizing both artists keen ears for carefully crafted sounds, Balance blends the clean sine wave / white noise of Bretschneider with the defined grit of Deupree's granular synthesis. Realized entirely on Nord Modular synthesizers, Bretschneider and Deupree exchanged patch files through email and began constructing foundation loops. Bretschneider then created initial mixes of 9 songs and then sent them to Deupree who remixed and re-processed them. This digital exchange allowed for them to work using their own methods and aesthetic while combining the similarities of each others interests. The result is a looping and churning rhythmic work that is both synthetic, warm, dubby and tonally challenging. Thus Balance creates an engaging balance between the 2 artists aesthetics."

Raga Abhogi
1) Alap
2) Jod
3) Jhala

Raga Vardhani
4) Alap
5) Jod
6) Jhala

Zia Mohiuddin Dagar : rudra veena
Annie Penta : tanpura

Concert recorded at the home of Shantha and Niranjan B. Benegal, Seattle, Washington 9 March 1986.
Recorded by Niranjan Benegal. Files obtained from Jeff Lewis.
Mastered & Cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering 1117 & 0318.

Liner notes by Renaud Brizard, edited by Stephen O'Malley & Ian Christe.
Front and back cover photos by unknown.
Interior photography by Niranjan B. Benegal, Dan Neuman & unknown, Seattle 1978-1980. .

Around ten years ago, deep into a cozy and hazy night following a concert with my sound brothers Daniel O'Sullivan and Kristoffer Rygg in London (as Æthenor), they graciously introduced me to a recording of rudra veena (a kind of noble deeper bass relative to the sitar, in a way) as performed by dhrupad master Zia Mohiuddin Dagar.

Dhrupad, for those who do not know, is a branch of Hindustani classical music said to "show the raga in its clearest and purest form". It's pacing concentrates heavily on the slow, contemplative alap section and works with specific microtonal gestures and deep characteristics of resonance ... in short I was hooked on this new (to me) and ancient form of music from the first listen, and feel that a more or less continual listening & reviewing of Zia Mohiuddin Dagar's recordings in the years that followed have influenced my own approach to music quite heavily (if, albeit, indirectly).

In early 2015 I was able to make contact with Zia Mohiuddin Dagar's son Bahauddin and some of his American students/disciples, primarily Jeff Lewis. Over time we developed a friendly and educational exchange, access a massive archive of recordings and developed these two paired titles for my label. It's been a long path to arrive at actually releasing them but also probably in many ways one of the most significant releases I've worked on. And I'm proud to be able to reveal these to date unreleased archival recordings of one of the masters of dhrupad, Z. M. Dagar, to the public for the first time.

Zia Mohiuddin Dagar was the nineteenth generation in a family tradition known as Dagar gharana, a rich lineage which continued and performed the musical form of dhrupad (Bahauddin Dagar continues the lineage as a master rudra veena dhrupad player of note today). Initially, dhrupad was a rigorous, austere, devotional genre that was sung in Hindu temples. But between the 16th and the 18th centuries, it became the preeminent genre in royal courts in North and Central India, and the Dagar gharana developed and continued publicly following the eventual loss of court patronage for dhrupad in the 19th century. The French ethnomusicologist Renaud Brizard covers the story of Zia Mohiuddin Dagar's life and teaching (a long story also in Seattle, my hometown!), the Dagar family and gharana, the rudra veena and more topics in an extensive set of liner notes in this release.

Ragas Abhogi & Vardhani were recorded in a private house concert in Seattle at the home of the Benegals in March 1986 (the week before the accompanying release SOMA029 Raga Yaman was recorded). The Benegals were friends (& Shantha Benegal was also a student) of Dagarsahib who sometimes hosted Hindustani music concerts in their home. It's a rare glimpse of a more intimate, personal and perhaps different kind of performance considering the form of dhrupad.

-Stephen O'Malley, March 2018, Paris, France

Stephen O'Malley would like to especially thank Bahauddin Dagar, Jeff Lewis & Jody Stecher for their enthusiasm, cooperation, patience, insight & advice toward developing these editions. Thank you also to Laurel Sercombe & John Vallier from the University of Washington Ethnomusicology Archives, Shantha Benegal, Philippe Bruguière, Dan Neuman, Ira Landgarten, Renaud Brizard, Ian Christe, Peter Rehberg, Rashad Becker, Daniel O'Sullivan & Kristoffer Rygg, all for their direct or indirect cooperation, assistance & patience.

DUBWAX is proud to present the LP of Star_Dub called "A space in Between". He caught our attention after releasing strong dub techno ep's on his own STARDUB Imprint in the last 4-5 years. In 2015 we signed him for DUBWAX and he delivered the "DUBADU FILES" EP (DUBWAX005). Now it's time to present a overview about his productions in LP format. These days its hard to stand out between all those "basic channelish" Dub copys artists so we are more than happy that there are a few guys like him out in the scene who deliver their own interpretation of modern dub tech music. More infos soon!