quête:sky hy

A DJ, producer and significant figure in contemporary electronic music, Marcel Dettmann steps forward to contribute to Running Back’s ongoing Mastermix series. Whereas previous editions of Mastermix have taken an ear to the sound of lapsed, legendary clubs such as Wild Pitch and Front, Dettmann’s curation deftly captures the man himself in ongoing perpetual motion, raiding the vault for his own precision-tooled edits, long-employed on dancefloors to devastating effect. Alongside a continuous mix, this release arrives as a 3LP gatefold, and as a limited edition cassette.

Closely associated with Berlin’s techno landscape, Dettmann was born and raised in the former GDR, then later immersed in the bleary-eyed counter cultural landscape of post-unification Berlin. Initially oriented by post-punk, industrial and new-wave music, Dettmann has been DJing since 1993, always expanding and perfecting his repertoire. He later began working behind the counter at the city’s tastemaking rave boutique Hard Wax, and a decade after he first dropped a needle, became (and remains) resident at notable local nightspot Berghain/Panorama Bar, where his instincts have helped sculpt the signature sound of both main dancefloors.

Of course, you’re probably not asking, “Who is Marcel Dettmann?” More importantly, you might want to know; just what treats has he gifted us here? The trip begins with a simple pitch-shift skywards, transforming Identified Patient’s creeping ‘The Female Medical College of Pennsylvania’ into a peak-time freakout, before an alternate take on Toctronic’s ‘Bis uns das Licht vertreibt’ emerges from the vaults for the first time. Dating from 1995, and one of Dettmann’s all-time favourites, Cristian Vogel’s ‘Untitled’ clambers back into the box with respectable cuts, while John Bender’s ‘Victims of A Victimless Crime’ kicks off the flip sporting a new arrangement, transporting us back to the foundations of a confident, stripped-back sound.

A few subtle edits to Clark’s perilously funky ‘Dirty Pixie’ takes us to Dettmann’s remix of Junior Boys. Produced in 2010, it transposes the Canadian duo’s sophisticated pop with our curator in his minimal prime, and has since become an irresistible prize for high-minded diggers. The same can be said for Experimental Products’ explosive proto-electro anthem ‘Who Is Kip Jones?’, empowered from pricey Discogs purgatory with just the slightest of tweaks. It’s deservedly sandwiched between the guiding influences of Chicago and Detroit in the form of Mutant Beat Dance’s raw ‘The Human Factor’ and a shimmering new version of previous solo production ‘Water’, featuring close friend and Ostgut Ton ally, Ryan Elliot.

The second half of the Mastermix seamlessly connects the mechanical past and digital present of EBM and industrial in the dance, with Dettmann’s instincts as a guiding hand. Severed Heads’ iconic ‘We Have Come To Bless This House’ emerges with mere nips and tucks, while Nitzer Ebb’s ‘Shame’ is significantly reimagined as a highwire act of rhythm and tension, setting up a sensual second take on a 2017 remix of ‘Limbo’ from Swiss synth heroes, Yello.

Core musical memories are shaken and stirred with a context-shifting take on Frank Duval’s emotional classic ‘Ogon’, while Ian North’s ‘Sex Lust You’ and Ford Proco’s notable Coil collaboration ‘Expansion Naranja’ effectively throb with only minor adjustments, respectfully imagined as “shadow versions”. Meanwhile, a simple breakbeat lifts Albert Kuningas’s ‘Astraalprojektio’ in the direction of wide-eyed dancefloors, while a fresh take on K-Alexi Shelby’s ‘Season of The Real’ inexplicably emerges somehow even funkier than before.

The conclusion of the compilation leads back to Das Tier from the prolific experimentalist Conrad Schnitzler, whose swirling synths and hypnotic vocals are duly tightened by Dettmann, but only as he puts it, “in conversation with the original.” Concluding three discs and thirty years of commitment to the dancefloor, this Mastermix not only offers us the opportunity to eavesdrop on this endless exchange, but to gain some sought-after material for our own record collections.

Claudio Mate announces the launch of his new solo imprint, Claudio Mate Records.

As the name suggests, the label serves as a personal platform where Claudio explores his past, present and future works, shaping his sound into a more spiritual and meditative direction.

The imprint will also feature collaborations with friends, artists and creative connections established over the years across the globe, while carrying his typical forward-thinking approach and a distinctive imprint sound trademark.

Over the past two decades, Claudio Mate’s music has received recognition and support within the electronic music scene, from main stage artists while remaining rooted in more underground circles.

Claudio Mate Records marks a new chapter in his artistic journey — a dedicated space where sound becomes introspective, evolving and deeply connected to emotion.

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天 (Ten) CMR - 001
The Japanese kanji 天 (Ten) means “heaven”, “sky”, and the natural order of the universe — something vast, unseen, and beyond human control.

For the Japanese, 天 is more than a symbol: it embodies the connection between humans and the cosmos, the divine order that guides life, and the higher realms where sacred forces reside. In Japanese Buddhism, it refers to celestial realms and higher states of existence; in Shinto, it evokes the sacred heavens of the kami. But TEN is not about reaching heaven.

It's a deep, dub techno journey through shadow and space — obscure, hypnotic, and timeless. Sound that drifts between worlds, suspended in something greater than the sky itself.

The EP also features Atarashii Hi (“a new day”), a classic deep Detroit techno cut in true Claudio Mate style.

There is a strong sense of craftsmanship throughout this release, hardware-driven, deeply textured, and full of character. MS14 brings together Myles Serge and Jamie Bissmire for a powerful journey into wonderfully raw, analog-rooted techno. And When the Sky Was Open captures the spirit of classic Detroit-infused machine music while pushing it forward with depth, soul, and precision. The record feels both timeless and immediate, balancing driving rhythm structures with a spacious, atmospheric edge that gives it a distinctive emotional weight. Rather than relying on sterile functionality, these cuts breathe with warmth, movement, and a human touch, making the record equally effective for deep listening and focused dancefloor moments. It is techno with substance: hypnotic, elegant, and uncompromising.

Repress!

Deluxe Edition of PDM's massive Exotica LP features 2 x Purple Vinyl, 2 x Printed Inner Sleeves in Embossed Gatefold Sleeve with A2 Poster includes full Exotica album plus 3 bonus tracks: “In The Dark” with Sophie and the Giants “Rise” featuring Tasita D’Mour “Twisted Mind” featuring Agnes. Limited Edition.

Oceanine, Jolanda Moletta’s third album and her first for Beacon Sound, is a powerful and ethereal statement of artistic community. Expanding on her previous work, each track represents a collaboration with a different female vocalist, with the foundational elements being generated entirely by her own voice. By turns haunting, enchanting, and inspiring, you won’t want to come up for air once you’ve been pulled under. Representing a
musical practice that is distinctly feminist, this is an album with a longer view in mind, to an age when the altars were to goddesses and women were centered as powerful beings representing the earth’s cycles of regeneration and renewal. Oceanine then, in all its beauty, can be viewed as an album of survival. It is deeply transportive, accessing something that lies within all of us. As the late, great Lithuanian folklorist and archaeologist Marija Gimbutas noted, “We must refocus our collective memory. The necessity for this has never been greater as we discover that the path of 'progress' is extinguishing the very conditions for life on earth.”

Jolanda Moletta is a multimedia artist and one-woman electronic choir. She creates wordless compositions through extended vocal techniques, integrating wearable-controlled live processing, alongside symbolic visuals. Moletta considers her performances to be a collective ritual and creates her Sonic & Visual Spells following the cycles of nature and the moon. Jolanda's 2022 critically acclaimed album Nine Spells was released on the Ambientologist label, followed by Night Caves on Whitelabrecs in 2025. Moletta’s artistic practice is a radical and spiritual journey through sound art, ritual, and the symbolic archaeology of the feminine.

Oceanine is inspired by sirens, water nymphs, and the timeless call of the sea. At its core lies Jolanda’s deep, lifelong connection to the Mediterranean Sea and to the ancient and modern myths and folklore that have emerged from its waters. Growing up by the Mar Ligure, Jolanda was surrounded by stories carried by salt, wind, and waves: legends of sirens, echoes of ancient voices, and the sea as both origin and oracle. This intimate relationship with the Mediterranean is not merely a backdrop, but a living source that shapes Oceanine’s emotional, symbolic, and sonic world.

Each track features a different female vocalist, creating a rich tapestry of voices, styles, and perspectives. This artistic choice not only broadens the album’s sonic palette, but also deepens its narrative core: celebrating the power, beauty, and mystique of feminine energy through myth, history, and sound.

The entire album is built exclusively from the human voice, processed and layered, yet always remaining voice, and nothing else. For each piece, Jolanda invited every vocalist involved to contribute a raw stem: a short, unedited melodic fragment of just a few seconds, inspired by the album’s themes. These intimate vocal seeds became the foundation of each track: the guest artists’ voices appear as brief, melodic stems, while the entire surrounding “orchestral” fabric is created solely from Jolanda’s own layered and processed voice. In this way, Jolanda’s voice becomes the Ocean itself, embracing, absorbing, and carrying the sirens’ calls within a vast, immersive soundscape. Every song is a unique expression of the feminine experience, revealing its depth, complexity, and emotional range, echoing the call of the sea and the many faces of the siren archetype.

The figure of the siren has transformed across centuries. In myths of Ancient Greece and Rome, sirens were hybrid beings, part woman, part bird, whose irresistible songs lured sailors to their doom. During the Middle Ages, the image shifted toward the half-woman, half-fish figure, often associated with temptation and danger. Historically, the voice of women has often been feared. Sirens were considered harbingers of misfortune not simply because they seduced or destroyed, but because they were powerful liminal beings.

In Ancient Greek, sirens functioned as psychopomps: figures who existed between worlds and guided souls, especially between life and death. Their songs were believed to carry forbidden knowledge, including prophetic insight and the ability to reveal truths about fate and the future. The danger of the sirens lay in what they revealed: knowledge that humans were not meant, or ready, to hear.

Oceanine confronts this legacy head-on. The voices heard throughout the album are not merely beautiful: they are dark and luminous, wild and enchanting, magical, soothing, dreamy, and at times fractured or distorted. They whisper, lament, beckon, and enchant. Like sirens, they skim the surface of the water and sink into its depths, hovering on the edge between tenderness and danger, vulnerability and power. They rise toward the sky, dissolve into mist, and return as echoes charged with raw, elemental emotion: voices that seduce, warn, mourn, and remember. They refuse to be reduced to decoration.

Alongside the album’s release in May, Oceanine will also unfold as a visual and performative work through a short art film. The film includes a live session recorded inside a sea cave facing the Mar Ligure, the very coastline where Jolanda spent her childhood, dreaming of sirens and listening to the sea as if it were speaking directly to her. This site-specific performance reconnects the music to its place of origin, allowing the voice to resonate within stone, water, and air, and transforming the cave into both a sanctuary and a threshold between myth and reality.

What if the sirens’ songs were considered dangerous because they carried another truth, an ancient truth long forgotten?

Oceanine embraces the idea that we are still deeply woven into myth. Though we may see ourselves as rational and modern beings, our world is saturated with ancient symbols and archetypes, often distorted, simplified, or stripped of their original meaning. And if those symbols are allowed to shift, if the mirror once held by the siren becomes an invitation to look beyond appearances and into what has been obscured, then we may finally uncover a deeper truth and reclaim the voice that was always ours.

Oceanine is not just an album. It is a reclamation, a spell, and a call from the depths.

Music From The Star Wars Saga - The Essential Collection is an orchestral music compilation including tracks from Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace until Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi.

On the occasion of the release of the final episode of the nine-part Star Wars saga: The Rise Of Skywalker, all songs were re-recorded by Robert Ziegler, alongside the Slovak National Symphony Orchestra and members of the Slovak Philharmonic Choir. These includes the iconic “Main Title” composition, “Duel Of The Fates”, “Yoda’s Theme” and “The Imperial March”.

Music From The Star Wars Saga - The Essential Collection is available as an exclusive “May The 4th Be With You” edition of 1000 individually numbered copies on 'Hyperspace' blue splatter vinyl. This 2LP is packaged in a gatefold sleeve and includes an insert.

On a planet far beyond our solar system lies a volcanic tropical island, a glowing mirage where alien tides crash against molten shores and the sky pulses in time with the rhythm below. E.T.H (Italy) inaugurates the first-ever
Basement Beats vinyl release with Neon Inferno. The A-side opens deep and progressive, dense with atmosphere and tension, before pivoting into the playful, radiant Cumbia Poderosa, where the artist’s roots surface through Italian vocals. As the land shifts, lava carving new paths through jungle terrain, Utrecht-based Tifra reshapes thetitle track into a hypnotic, tribal ritual meditation built for the late hours.

Closing the portal is Osaka’s Paperkraft, whose vibrant remix injects uplifting energy and subtle Asian influences, bringing the journey to a euphoric, otherworldly conclusion.

Tone Dropout Records kick off the new year in emphatic style with a brand-new 6-track vinyl EP that stays true to the label’s unmistakable dancefloor-driven sound.

Packed with heavyweight grooves, acid lines, breaks, and bleeps, this release delivers six high-impact tracks designed for late-night systems and packed floors. The EP also marks an exciting moment for the label, welcoming two new artists into the Tone Dropout family while celebrating the return of long-standing contributors.

Joining the roster for the first time are KWAKE and Harry Light, both making a powerful debut on the label. They sit alongside Tone Dropout regulars SkyWave Transmissions and XOTR, while label co-owners DAWL and SWEEN reunite once again, delivering an acid-fuelled opener and a special bonus breaks track on Side B.

As always, the EP is overflowing with breaks, bleeps, acid, and raw rave energy.

Side A – The Head Side

Side A opens strong with DAWL and SWEEN at the helm, laying down a driving four-to-the-floor acid groover that would warm up any dancefloor with ease. It’s a statement opener — and a sign of much more to come from the duo throughout the year.

Next up, SkyWave Transmissions brings his trademark experience and finesse, delivering a tightly produced acid-bleep track that showcases depth, quality, and character. Following seamlessly is long-time collaborator XOTR, who rounds out the side with a pure slice of northern bleep excellence — unmistakably Sheffield in style and sound.

Side B

Side B introduces the first of the new Tone Dropout members, KWAKE. A long-time friend of the label, this marks his first official appearance, and he doesn’t disappoint. His track is a full-force breaks banger, capturing authentic rave energy and guaranteed to ignite the floor.

Next comes Harry Light, making an immediate impact with a pounding house-and-breaks hybrid. Impeccably produced and relentless in energy, the track lives up to its name perfectly — “POWER HOUSE.” Both newcomers arrive firing on all cylinders, delivering two massive dancefloor weapons back-to-back.

Closing out the EP, DAWL and SWEEN return with Tones Breaks 5, a three-minute breaks workout and the latest installment in the label’s breaks series. This track also serves as a respectful nod to one of their musical heroes, Frankie Bones, rounding off the release on a high.

Six tracks. All killers. No fillers.
In challenging times, this EP delivers exceptional value — a complete package of club-ready music pressed to vinyl and built for real dancefloors.

Another quality release from Tone Dropout Records.

Different strokes for different folks. The celebrative 11-track 'xoxo' compilation, originally pressed as a 3xLP, is now also available as three separate EPs. No pussyfootin' on EP 2. M.S.L.'s Hydrolic brings Canadian electro with a pinch of Dutch Westcoast salt. RAFF takes the wheel on Radiant and drifts between break-y, 4x4 and IDM. Percussion connaisseur Tala Drum Corps delivers a well-deserved breather on Gargoyle, with basslines that leap like frogs. As we lose track of time, GEN-Y's SkyStalker shows how a midnight-minded groove gets pulled along by lush progressions.

Visionary producer Ibrahim Alfa Jr, who's been traversing the rave's farthest fringes since the late '90s, returns with his most focused and concise set to date, an anthology of undulating, bass-heavy experiments that surveys techno and its distorted history, printing fractured pulses and cybernetic synths over vanishing snapshots of jazz, funk, trip-hop, broken beat, dub and ambient music. It's a body of work that coalesced during a difficult time for Alfa.

After returning to Brighton and sobriety in 2022, he was diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism, subsequently suffering two debilitating heart attacks. With his immune system compromised, isolation was the only option, so for months on end Alfa devoted each waking hour to his art, recording samples, building digital synths and effects and meticulously sequencing some of his waviest, most experimental material to date. Over this period he finished over 500 tracks, writing impulsively and constantly challenging himself. "There was nothing to hold me back," he explains. "I just had music, I didn't know if I would see the next day."

Now recovered from his ordeal, Alfa looks back at this prolific period with optimism and fondness. It was a chance for him to reconnect with his art holistically, writing purely for himself without any outside influence. Because, at this stage in his life, Alfa has already been through a series of artistic evolutions. When he was still just a teenager, he penned a slew of grinding, jacking techno 12"s (under a variety of mysterious monikers) in the late '90s before re-emerging a decade ago with the acclaimed 'Hidden By The Leaves', an album made up of deeply personal archival tracks that were thought to have been lost. A few years later, Alfa returned wholeheartedly with a series of records for Mille Plateaux that redrew the boundaries of his "Black political music without words." And on 'Infinite Black Inside', those different strands are muddled with Alfa's profound life experiences and he expresses himself free of any self-imposed boundaries, writing quickly on a hybrid analog-digital setup to document as many ideas as possible.

There's a palpable sense of liberation that drives the album's opening track, 'Subutrax', lubricating polyrhythms that isolate the connective tissue between footwork and Detroit techno as they slip between looped electric piano vamps and vaporous synths. On 'Naked Lunchbreak' meanwhile, the beat generation's excesses are illustrated by mesmeric fast-paced acoustic drums that Alfa balances out with brassy drones and euphoric keys. He captures rubbery hits from a Ghanaian djembe on 'Drum Slinger', re-sequencing them into seismic waves that rumble underneath live woodwind blasts. And on 'Capture', decelerated breaks and garbled voices tumble into humid pads, suspending the album somewhere between the chill-out room and the night sky. It's a record of new beginnings and fresh narratives that collapses the hardcore continuum, revealing a sonic signature that's Alfa's alone.

Repress

In a Secret Room is a retrospective that reopens the sonic and visual archive of KKD, bringing back to light a trajectory that long remained underground within the history of Italian new wave. The tracks, recorded between 1979 and 1986, reflect a constantly evolving process shaped by experimentation, improvisation, and a drive toward new languages. The project takes shape inside a former hotel in Italy’s Po Valley, transformed into a studio, rehearsal space, and visual lab.

Here, among analog synthesizers, homemade electronics, and multitrack recorders, Kriminal Killer Division experimented with and pushed their available technology to its limits, developing a hybrid language: sounds captured from radio and the street, synthetic voices, guitars, and electronic sequences intertwine in compositions that move between art rock, minimal wave, and more industrial directions. This collection aims precisely to reactivate that imaginary. The vinyl is accompanied by a risograph fanzine that restores the project’s visual dimension: collages, photographs, and graphic materials reflecting the same experimental attitude found in the recordings. Sound and image move together, as parts of a single expressive device. In a Secret Room offers access to a hidden space where interference, noise, and intuition take form without mediation. Not a nostalgic operation, but a re-emergence: a living archive that continues to generate meaning in the present.

Jack Callahan und Jeff Witscher waren echt müde. Seit der Jahrtausendwende hatten sie sich beide in der amerikanischen Underground-Experimental-Musikszene abgemüht, unter Namen, die du vielleicht kennst oder auch nicht: Rene Hell, Marble Sky, die Reihe, um nur einige zu nennen. Ihr erstes Album Think Differently war das Ergebnis einer Reihe von Endpunkten: der Auflösung ihrer Underground-Szene und, nicht zuletzt deswegen, der Tatsache, dass die abstrakte Musik, die sie seit jeher getrennt und gemeinsam gemacht hatten, nicht mehr so gut ankam wie früher. Wo sonst sollten sie hingehen als auf die andere Seite des Hufeisens: zur Popmusik. Warum also nicht den Zeichen der Zeit folgen? Eine Gitarren-Pop-Rock-Hymne zum Jahrtausendwechsel aufnehmen, die davon handelt, dass man als alternde Underground-Musiker keine Noise-Musik mehr machen will. ,Sorry to Hear That" ist ein Album über ,Think Differently". Wenn ,Think Differently" ein meta-konzeptuelles Album war, dann ist ,Sorry to Hear That" ein meta-meta-konzeptuelles Album. Meta Meta+Hodos. Es wurde über einen Zeitraum von 9 Monaten nach dem ersten Album aufgenommen. Es war eine Zeit persönlicher und beruflicher Umbrüche: Der anfängliche Optimismus aufgrund der Aufmerksamkeit, die "Think Differently" erhielt, schlug schnell in Fanatismus um und mündete unweigerlich in Angst, Enttäuschung und Zerwürfnis. Das Album, das sie schließlich aufgenommen haben, ist ein Dokument und eine Erzählung über diese Zeit. ,Sorry to Hear That" ist eine Fortsetzung, die klanglich und konzeptionell dort ansetzt, wo das erste Album aufgehört hat. Hier gibt es mehr Gitarre, mehr Breakbeats, mehr selbstbezogenes Unwohlsein und mehr humorvolle Selbstironie. Es fängt perfekt ein, was das Duo von Anfang an vermitteln wollte: Es ist ein mitreißendes Album voller Kommentare von beiden Seiten, dem Spieler und dem Gespielten, die bis ins Unendliche gesteigert werden. ,Sorry to Hear That" hat eine Reihe von Gastauftritten von alten und neuen Kumpels aus der Independent-Musikszene: Marlon DuBois, Frontmann von Shed Theory, Dylan Baldi und Jayson Gerycz von Cloud Nothings, Flannery Silva alias F.G.S., Jazz Lambaux und andere.

A divine transmission continues…

The signal never stopped — it just went deeper.

For the second chapter of JESUS LOVES SKYLAX, we return to the source: raw emotion, machine soul, and the sacred pulse of the underground. A continuation of the Todd Edwards spirit — not imitation, but devotion. On the A-side, Byron The Aquarius opens with “House Music Was Good While It Lasted (Goodtimes)” — a bittersweet sermon in sound. Dusty, looping, hypnotic — somewhere between lost tapes and eternal truth, echoing the soul of Detroit at its most intimate. UK craftsman Tom Carruthers follows with “Crank Up” — raw, skeletal, almost industrial in its tension. A direct lineage from early machine music, channeling the stark energy of Cabaret Voltaire through a house framework. No compromise. Just rhythm and intent.

Flip the record.

Blue Mondays deliver “Warm Up For Ron Hardy (Disco Mix)” — a fever dream built for the booth. Loose, emotional, and dangerously effective. A tribute not in name, but in spirit — the kind of record that lives between two worlds, where disco dissolves into house under strobe lights and sweat. Closing the EP, CNVX – “L’Amour (Floorfillers Remix)” hits with pure peak-time electricity. Acid lines twisting through the mix, driven and ecstatic — a modern weapon forged in the language of the underground. A direct nod to the timeless pressure of Floorfillers energy, built for dancers who still believe.

✝ JESUS LOVES SKYLAX ✝

He still does.

Simoncino returns to Skylax Records with Traxxx EP, a raw and hypnotic five-track collection built for the dancefloor. Known for his unmistakable analog approach and deep connection to the legacy of Chicago house and underground European club culture, the Italian producer delivers a set of stripped-down, highly functional DJ tools. Tight drum machine programming, rolling basslines and subtle synth movements drive each track forward with precision and efficiency. No gimmicks, no excess — just pure club energy designed for long mixes and late-night sessions. True to the Skylax philosophy, Traxxx EP focuses on timeless groove architecture rather than trends, offering DJs and collectors a record that will remain effective in the bag for years. Raw, hypnotic and direct, this is underground house music in its most essential form.

With Agenda EP, Tom Carruthers closes a landmark trilogy on Skylax Records, following Neutralise EP and Deepline. Three records. Fifteen tracks. One coherent vision of machine-driven house music stripped to its raw, functional core. This final chapter dives deeper into direct, club-focused energy, where groove, repetition and tension do the talking. Agenda is less reflective, more physical — built for movement, sweat, and long transitions in dark rooms. Opening track “Chrome” sets the tone: sharp drum programming, metallic pressure, and looping synth phrases that lock the body into motion. “Agenda (Raw Mix)” follows with a tougher, stripped-down approach — no excess, just pure rhythmic insistence rooted in early Chicago jack and warehouse discipline. “Beat Down” pushes further into machine funk territory, where relentless patterns and rugged textures meet in hypnotic repetition. On the flip, “Fade Away” brings a deeper, moodier tension — a late-night track where subtle emotion seeps through minimal structures. Closing cut “What You Want” is classic Carruthers: jacking drums, understated melody, and a groove that feels timeless rather than retro. As with the previous releases, the visual identity is handled by H5, whose modernist, reduced artwork mirrors the sonic philosophy: clarity, impact, and purpose. Agenda EP completes the Skylax trilogy as a statement of intent — not revivalism, not nostalgia, but dance music reduced to its essential elements.

Some records are collections of tracks. Others are fragments of a life. I AM A CULT HERO is not a debut. It is a return to origin. Before Skylax Records. Before Los Angeles. Before the architecture of house music became clear. There was Sarcelles. Concrete towers. Invisible youth. Yet a coded multicultural energy where funk, soul, early hip-hop and primitive electronics coexisted before categories existed. Sarcelles was not Compton, but spiritually it was the same frontier.

95200 is not just a postcode. It is the birthplace of Hardrock Striker. 368 was the bus to the train station — the crossing line between isolation and possibility. Each journey toward Paris felt like entering another system. Those nights required discipline. Instinct. Strategy. Music was not distraction. It was structure.

Years later, Los Angeles revealed the hidden architecture behind those early intuitions. House music was not a genre but a living mechanism — built on vinyl culture, extended mixes, dubplates and repetition as language. That system had already been shaped and transmitted by pioneers such as Ron Hardy, Larry Levan, Frankie Knuckles, Electrifying Mojo, Hot Mix 5, Mark Kamins and Ron Murphy. Hardrock Striker did not imitate that language. He internalized it. The tracks on I AM A CULT HERO operate as transmissions.

Gospel For Dancers (95200 Mix / Dub) is vertical — ritual energy, lift and controlled expansion. Dance here is elevation. Erotic Loop (368 Mix / Dub) is horizontal — hypnotic repetition, circular bass motion and gradual immersion. Repetition becomes destination.

95200 and 368 are coordinates. Origin and transit. Memory and motion. Anchor and crossing.

From Sarcelles to Paris to Los Angeles to Skylax & now, back to the source.

This record closes the circle. Hardrock Striker has transformed origin into signal. Signal into structure. Structure into permanence.

A cult hero is not declared. A cult hero is revealed. Vinyl is the only truth.

Jolene Cuts delivers a stunning 5-track vinyl-only release that reinvents the spirit of 90s French Touch for today’s dancefloors. No edits here—these are 100% original productions crafted by Danny & Mike, masters of filtered house grooves. From the funk-drenched “Without,” a Kool & The Gang-inspired house monster, to “Fall,” a euphoric blast reminiscent of the best Daft Punk moments, every cut is designed for maximum floor impact. “Mon ami Julien” dives deeper with a warm and hypnotic Scott Grooves vibe, while “Ready for Love” feels like Cerrone remixed by early Bob Sinclar at his peak—pure disco magic reimagined. The record closes with “Burning,” a banging, feel-good anthem built to ignite any set. This is a true celebration of filtered house, disco energy, and feel-good music—strictly vinyl, strictly limited, and packed with five undeniable club weapons. Perfect for DJs who want to tear the club apart, vinyl purists, and anyone who knows that real French Touch doesn’t need gimmicks—just groove, soul, and timeless dancefloor power. Once it’s gone, it’s gone.

Ascendent Dutch duo LUSU shoot skywards with a stunning solo Drumcode release ‘Move 2 the Groove’. ‘Move 2 the Groove’ is supreme. The title track picks up from where they left off with ‘DIZZY’ (with HI-LO) in terms of dancefloor impact. Marked by a hypnotic rap line, elite drum programming and a thrashing mosh pit energy, this is a percussive beast that thrills with each listen. ‘Afterlife’ shows their range, a stunning cut marked by old skool chords and celestial end-of-night energy. Bravo!

If – in some parallel universe (or perhaps a not-so-distant-future version of the one we’re already sentenced to living in) – the evil overloads of artificial intelligence were actually successful in their attempts to create convincingly enjoyable “original music,” more specifically tasked with wholly encapsulating my own personal tastes by data-chugging some cocktail of – oh, I don’t know – the posters on my wall, the records in my “most listened to” pile, the mixtapes I made for others, intensive physical scans of my auditory cortex, amygdala, hippocampus, heart strings, whatever else they have splayed out on their autopsy table with the intention of generating one all-encompassing “perfect band” based on the fruitful sum of their findings – that band, for me, would be (or would at least sound exactly like) the Tara Clerkin Trio. It is, quite simply, without exception, the music I wish to hear.

Formed in Bristol UK (where none of them are from yet all of whom are deeply engrained) in 2020, the Tara Clerkin Trio – as it somewhat democratically exists today, despite the singular authority implied by its name – consists of the titular Tara Clerkin, her partner Sunny Joe Paradisos, and Sunny’s brother, Patrick Benjamin. I’ll confess, I don’t know what their respective roles are within the operation and there’s only a very small part of me that cares to learn, as one of my favorite qualities in an objective listening experience is the mystery of who is playing what, which sounds are “authentic” versus synthesized, which chunks are performed “live” in a room together versus meticulously Frankenstein’ed from measure to measure, or how exactly the overall sound is so (seemingly) effortlessly achieved. Though, I suspect, if and when I do witness a live performance by this band at any point, my enjoyment of the music will not be lost in my better understanding of it.

With two extraordinary mini-albums – In Spring (2021) and On The Turning Ground (2023) – making a splash on London’s formidable World of Echo label in wake of their self-titled 2020 debut, this upcoming Somewhere Good LP is, in many ways, the band’s most realised work. In running their usual gauntlet of idiosyncratic (*an overused adjective for which here there is regrettably no sufficient alternative) approaches, Clerkin & co. colour in and outside of compositional lines over the course of 40+ celebratory minutes - never wallowing, despite inherently somber subject matters of self-defeat, disease, displacement, restlessness, gentrification - allowing their arrangements and improvisations ample space and time to situate, stretch out, breathe, cross-pollinate, and ultimately take deeper hold on the listener’s imagination – all while somehow sounding more like themselves than ever before.

Of course, there are traceable influences herein, if one felt that such comparisons were necessary to properly examine and enjoy this music (they aren’t)… Being the big dumb American from the small boring town that I am, cornfed on ‘90s alternative radio with the enchantingly exotic sounds of Maxinquaye and Mezzanine emanating from my chunky tube television, I can’t help but to make a blatantly obvious reference to a “Bristol sound”, ie the whole trip-hop trip, the pastoral crooning over the suggestive urban grime of cracked electro/piano treatments, the digitally-yet-primitively reconstructed James Bond soundtrack string-beats, etc.. But the Tara Clerkin Trio is so infinitely much more than that. There are elements of avant-pop, modern classical, kraut-folk, audio verité, dare I say indie rock (and not of the beer guzzling, masturbatory fuzz-flex variety but perhaps more like a Trish Keenan-fronted Faust, Adrian Sherwood at the mixing desk of If You’re Feeling Sinister, or – in expanding on our alternate reality – a world in which High Llamas cut a full-length for Warp Records with Andrew Weatherall on coffee duty).

The hazy, unmappable skyline-mirage of droning harmonium, upright bass, peculiarly accentuated wind instruments, acoustic guitar, hushed yet literally mighty keys combine to hypnotizing effect. The band may make underlying nods to jazz, sure, but it’s not appropriation, it’s that they have the actual chops to build it out. Beneath the janky samples and oddball percussive embellishment lies actually great drumming. Beyond the manipulated vocal witchery and woefully reflective plain-spoke moments are Tara’s subtly inspired melodies, sung with what might honestly be the glue to the whole crazy equation. A calming consistency throughout the otherwise unpredictably dynamic, boldly intuitive, uniquely British exploration of this (their own) universe in song. – Ryan Davis (Chicago, February 2026)

Erstauflage als "Sparkle Starlight Vinyl" 2LP mit Etching auf der vierten Seite. Im technischen Sinne war jedes bisherige Album des französischen Trios SLIFT eine Fantasie - ein Mix aus Genres und Formen, der es der Band ermöglichte, zu improvisieren und so lange zu jammen, bis sie sich scheinbar gemeinsam ins All zu winden schienen. Ihr gefeiertes drittes Album, "Ilion" aus dem Jahr 2024, war eine Science-Fiction-Geschichte, aufgebaut aus 10- bis 13-minütigen explorativen Eskapaden, die oft mit Doom Metal oder Stoner Rock begannen, bevor sie sich frei in glorreiche instrumentale Vergessenheit drehten. Doch mit einer gewissen absichtlichen Ironie heißt SLIFTs viertes Album tatsächlich "Fantasia". Es ist ihr bisher schlankstes und direktestes Album. Es ist auch ihr bisher fesselndstes Album, eine pointierte Saga über die Überwindung internationaler Umbrüche, vorgetragen von einer Band, die mit voller Kraft vorangeht und dabei keine einzige Sekunde verschwendet. Obwohl nur Jean und Bassist Rémi Fossat verwandt sind, ist SLIFT im Grunde eine Band von Brüdern. Mit Schlagzeuger Canek Flores sind sie schon seit der Highschool befreundet, und 2026 markiert ein Jahrzehnt zusammen in diesem Trio. Sie proben mit religiöser Regelmäßigkeit in einem Keller auf dem Land in der Nähe von Toulouse, in dem Jam-Raum, in dem sie schon lange ihrer Vorliebe für langatmige Wunder frönen. Für die Albumaufnahmen zu "Fantasia" überquerten sie die französische Nordgrenze nach Belgien, um in dem riesigen Live-Raum der Daft Studios ein kompaktes Set aus schlanken, agilen und druckvollen Songs aufzunehmen. Die vielfältigen Einflüsse der Band sind offensichtlich: Das Album erinnert an Clutch in voller Wildheit, John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, den sowjetischen Schriftsteller Michail Bulgakow, Pink Floyd und Black Sabbath aus der "Master of Reality"-Ära. Und das klangliche Gewebe wird durch das gekonnte Mixing von Kurt Ballou (Converge, Cave In, High on Fire) unterstützt. Den Songs fehlt es nicht an der Komplexität oder Intensität, die SLIFT zu einem aufstrebenden Star der Heavy-Musik gemacht haben; sie haben einfach neue Wege gefunden, die Komplexität ihrer Vergangenheit in jedes Stück einzuflechten, wie ein Wandteppich, der jedes Mal, wenn man hinschaut, eine neue Ebene offenbart. Damit vermitteln sie eine bestätigende und dringliche Botschaft: Gemeinsam können wir die Zeiten, in denen wir leben, noch immer verändern. Heutzutage ist es furchtbar leicht, sich machtlos zu fühlen. SLIFT setzt sich auf "Fantasia" direkt mit dem modernen Ansturm von Grausamkeit und Absurdität auseinander, sei es die Gleichgültigkeit gegenüber unserem Heimatplaneten oder zueinander. Aber in diesen acht Songs geht es darum, auf eine verborgene Kraft zu vertrauen, um zurückzuschlagen, um an eine Welt zu glauben, in der etwas, das wir noch nicht in Worte fassen oder definieren können, nicht nur einen Weg bietet, den Status quo zu durchbrechen, sondern ihn vielleicht sogar vollständig zu zerstören. SLIFT sind laut, heavy und aggressiv in diesen Hymnen. Sie bereiten sich auf einen Kampf vor, von dem sie glauben, dass wir ihn noch gewinnen können.

With a keen sense for intricate arrangements and hypnotic grooves, Mäder's debut on Paradijs Boogie crafts a sonic universe that invites both dreaming and dancing. His productions strike a delicate balance between organic elements and contemporary club aesthetics, always driven by a deep passion for musical innovation.

Monomoods Records proudly presents Thunder Skull, the new EP from Doctr, previously featured on Rimini Moods. For this release, he teams up with A.M. Sam on Highrider and Seppl on the title track Thunder Skull, delivering a collection that expands his sonic universe into darker, more cinematic territories, like a road trip through a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Spanning four distinct tracks, the EP moves between Indie Dance, Italo-Disco, and Hi-NRG, each painting its own scene within this dystopian landscape. ‘’Highrider’’ bursts forward with euphoric Eurodance energy; ‘’The Boys’’ unfolds as an epic, heroic tale rising from the ashes; ‘’The Last Waterfountain’’ combines intensity and emotion with an almost survivalist tension; and finally, ‘’Thunder Skull’’ stands as a true Italo anthem for the wastelands — a soundtrack for the last dance under a burning sky. Fusing raw power with hypnotic rhythm, Thunder Skull is a soundtrack for late-night journeys and fevered dancefloors, meticulously crafted with attention to detail, atmosphere, and a bold cinematic spirit.

STRIKER TRAXX proudly presents its very first release — STX101: BALLAN “Chantal Grooves EP”.
Born as the new sub-label of SUPREME STRIKER, itself a direct emanation of the Skylax Records universe, STRIKER TRAXX sets the tone for a new era: raw, uncompromising, and forward-thinking. As always, the visual identity is entrusted to the legendary H5’s exclusive artwork (Daft Punk, Air, Logorama), delivering a striking design that transforms each copy into a true collector’s object.

For this inaugural strike, we welcome Asaf Ballan, aka BALLAN, an artist emerging with force from the vibrant beatscape of contemporary electronic music. With Chantal Grooves EP, he delivers a 12-inch packed with five club-weapons that dive deep into the essence of house and tech house, reshaping them with his own relentless, pumpy twist.

The trip opens with “How Should I Start”, a perfect ignition, teasing anticipation while locking you instantly on the groove. “Goddamnit (Club Tool)” follows as a pure machine workout, echoing Kerri Chandler’s house foundations while pushing them into today’s territory. “Members Only Club” exudes exclusive sophistication, a secret-weapon built for late-night dancefloors. On the flip, “Keep the Frequency Clear” hypnotizes with razor-sharp frequencies, proof of BALLAN’s sonic craftsmanship, before “Futuro” launches us headfirst into tomorrow—where innovation collides with the Romanian sunrise aesthetic, infused with a heavier, raw energy.

Influenced by the minimal masters (Zip, Ricardo Villalobos, Raresh) yet unwilling to compromise on drive and power, BALLAN delivers here a record where every track stands as a killer. Chantal Grooves EP is both a homage to the roots of house and tech house, and a manifesto propelling the genre into its next evolution.

STRIKER TRAXX launches with a statement: this imprint is made for DJs and dancers who still believe in vinyl as a sacred object and in the dancefloor as a transformative space. With H5’s exclusive artwork (Daft Punk, Air, Logorama)and Skylax’s uncompromising vision, each release is conceived as a weapon for the underground, and a jewel for the true collectors.

Vinyl only. For devoted believers.

Soft lines draw a texture in the sky, marking time in the most unpredictable ways. A call comes from far away. It’s Romanian legend SEPP, who’s making his RE.FACE LIMITED debut with three tracks that carry his long-lasting, unique touch. Rolling, hypnotic, lush, as he blends rhythm and emotion, flooding the dancefloor with energy in a sensational manner.

Alien Tropical: the perfect title for the second album by Servicio Al Cliente (Customer Service), the project of Colombian-born, Berlin-resident Juliana Martinez. If you were cannily seduced by the debut self-titled Servicio Al Cliente album, from way back in 2021, the wait for a follow-up has felt long, but Alien Tropical was worth the wait. Indeed, it feels like the perfect way for Michael Mayer’s Imara imprint to introduce itself to the new year: an album full of play and spirit, verve and sparkle, rich with pop spirit and with one eye smartly cocked toward the dancefloor.

That first Servicio Al Cliente album was a smart statement of intent, and a wonderful, unexpected turn from Martinez, who’d already been through plenty: being expelled from private music lessons,
training in law, joining a group named Las Palabras Correctas. 2021’s Servicio Al Cliente landed on the turntables of anyone with discerning radar (Ada included “Romántico” on her Connecting The Dots mix for Kompakt, for example). With Alien Tropical, Martinez works the sensual sway of her music even harder, building six luscious songs that twist chant-like repetitions into hypnotic mantras, each song the perfect confluence of melody and mystery.

When asked about Alien Tropical, Martinez pieces together fragments of memory: winter explorations, long road trips, navigating the highways and the heart. “I had been driving a lot at the time on the highway,” she recalls. “I depended on music I played in the car to manage my emotions and my thoughts on those long drives. Everything felt strange and unfamiliar on the highway, and I realised music was so psychological and my only tool to influence my feelings between highways and new places.”

So, the music becomes the narrative for where the body and the heart wants to go. That might explain the gentle yearning in Alien Tropical, and its eternal hypnotic, its sense of forever forward-motion, as though the music is flickering like the highway strip reflected in the rear-view mirror. But there’s also the skyward movement of the melodies, the way their loveliness lifts these six songs up through the clouds, like the helium balloons on the cover. From the sensual swelt

There are records that follow the rules, and others that rewrite them in real time. With O R G A S M A N I A, Byron The Aquarius returns to Skylax with a deeper, freer and more unpredictable statement — where jazz instinct meets raw machine funk, and structure dissolves into pure feeling. Rooted in the lineage of Detroit yet never confined by it, Byron operates in that rare zone where house music becomes expression rather than format. His sound doesn’t chase functionality — it breathes, it stretches, it resists. The EP opens with Back 2 Zion (Tomorrow), a spiritual and meditative journey built on loose drums and luminous chords, carrying a sense of elevation — early morning music where the dancefloor begins to think again. Enter the Co$mos (Fool) pushes further into abstraction, with drifting synths and broken rhythms unfolding in a non-linear structure, navigating between Sun Ra’s cosmic language and Detroit futurism. On the flip, Mr. Captain Crunchhh brings a raw, playful energy — crunchy textures, off-grid swing and an almost improvised groove, alive and unpredictable, a leftfield tool designed to disrupt expectations. Finally, O R G A S M A N I A stands as the centerpiece — hypnotic, sensual and immersive, locking into a deep repetitive groove while evolving in subtle layers, a late-night body experience guided by a sharp musical mind. Across four tracks, Byron The Aquarius confirms his unique position between jazz musician, house producer and sonic storyteller, with a trajectory spanning Sound Signature, Axis, Eglo, Apron and Shall Not Fade, continuing to resonate from Detroit to Berlin and beyond. Artwork by H5 — the iconic studio behind Daft Punk, Air and Vitalic — reinforces Skylax’s timeless and art-driven identity. This is not fast music, this is not algorithm music — this is music for those who still listen. Strictly for the heads. Vinyl only. No repress. Skylax Records.

SKYLAX RECORDS presents the second chapter in a landmark 4-part saga — a secretive and conceptual series uniting two titans of French electronic music: ARNAUD REBOTINI & ACID WASHED. Following the acclaimed Winter Sequences (LAXBLACK 01) and Rebotini’s Musical Component, SKYLAX BLACK 3 pushes further into cinematic rave, electro, and techno territory. On the A-side, Artificial Darwinism ignites the EP with raw intensity — fusing early 2000s Blackstrobe energy, UR aggression, and cold wave tension into a hypnotic, funk-laced ritual. They Are Coming follows with darker, driving techno — mechanical yet alive, pulsing with paranoia and urgency. Flip to the B-side for Space Time 303, a dreamy ambient-acid trip evoking early R&S and IDM — ethereal, timeless, and drifting through time. Closing the EP, A Comet in the Northern Sky delivers melancholic electro in the spirit of Dopplereffekt and Drexciya, elevated by Rebotini’s analog mastery. A visionary statement — intelligent, bold, and essential. The puzzle continues to unfold…

THE OPRHIC HYMNS is an ode to the mystical. A celebration of the languid. An exploration of the id. A journey into self. The project was written, performed, and produced by Ryan Grieve and Tom Kuntz over the course of a year in a secluded location, with a few visits from notable guest contributors such as Alex Kassian and Logan Hone to sprinkle in a little of their magic. Kuntz (aka Pinchy Don) is the Pinchy in PINCHY AND FRIENDS. Grieve is the man behind HOLE IN THE SKY RECORDS and projects such as Heart People, Canyons, and Absolute Unity. This is their first release as THE ORPHIC HYMNS.

We're excited to announce 2 stone cold classics from Theo Parrish on Peacefrog - First Floor Part 1 and First Floor Part 2.

Originally released in 1998 "First Floor” is Detroit/Chicago auteur Theo Parrish’s debut album. Released on vinyl in two parts for maximum playability; the raw bluesy, soulful offbeat grooves have long since buried themselves deep under the skin of the house community.
Showcasing Theo’s innovative use of drum programming and effects its uniquely loose but taut knit of minimalist elements worked to maximal, hypnotic effect have solidified its reputation as a contemporary classic and served as a corner stone for Theo’s truly legendary status.
"First Floor” is one of those albums that has transcended generic borders to influence heads of all stripes with its unmistakable soul-nuzzling texture and groove. Essential.

SDM007 comes with four tracks of percussion-heavy, fast tribal grooves, drifting flutes, hypnotic sirens, and mystical soundscapes. Psychedelic, trance-like, in constant ascent, ritualistic, yet made for the dancefloor.

Skyline Systems emerges from Australia with Escape Vector — four deeply elegant cuts rooted in the classic deep Detroit influenced sound. Stripped-back and refined, the producer crafts machine-driven landscapes where analog synths and drum machines intertwine with a hypnotic, subtly futuristic groove.

Warm, fluid basslines, shimmering metallic chords and a steady pulse invite both introspection and late-night dancefloor drift. Minimal yet immersive, Escape Vector distills the essence of Detroit’s deep house and electro heritage while adding a contemporary sense of space and precision.

Four tracks built for careful listening — and for getting lost under low lights.

Limited vinyl pressing coming soon via Baldo's Physical Education.

SUPREME STRIKER proudly presents its very first release, SST101 — Quasar “Ritmo Love EP”. This marks the beginning of a new chapter, an exclusive imprint born from the Skylax universe, with a striking visual identity crafted by the legendary studio H5 (Daft Punk, Air, Logorama), delivering an exclusive design destined for collectors. Quasar, the DJ and producer from Russia who already made waves on Mellah #3 under the alias Arash & Quasar, now delivers a true masterpiece of italo-disco infused with 80s nostalgia and modern precision.

The journey starts on Side A with “Ritmo Love,” a dazzling homage to the golden era of italo and new wave, where pulsating basslines and shimmering synths make for an instant classic. It is followed by “Easy Flight,” an uplifting and elegant trip that fuses hi-NRG energy with a deep house sensibility, crafted for nocturnal dancefloors. On the B side, “Forever in Memory” dives into a melancholic yet powerful soundscape, bridging the legacy of synth-pop with a strong club-oriented vision. Things escalate further with his collaborator Salimjan on the hypnotic and dramatic “Urkus,” and finally reach a cosmic climax with “Alhamdu Limusik,” a mystical blend of tribal rhythm and soaring electronics that closes the record with transcendence.

SUPREME STRIKER launches with a statement: this is not just another label, but a new frontier where disco, house and techno are reimagined by artists capable of pushing boundaries. With H5’s exclusive artwork, each release is conceived as a true collector’s piece. Quasar’s “Ritmo Love EP” is a bombshell—an electrifying piece of vinyl designed to delight the most discerning dancefloors and a foundation stone for what promises to be a legendary catalog.

Vinyl only.
For true diggers and devoted believers.

Jacksonville returns with Heavy & Gold, a powerful five-track EP rooted in the raw energy of underground house and analog machine funk. Produced by Chris Lyth, the record blends Chicago-influenced drum programming, hypnotic basslines and deep melodic textures into a set of highly functional DJ cuts built for the dancefloor. The EP moves between muscular jack tracks and deeper hypnotic moments, balancing driving groove architecture with subtle emotional tension. Heavy & Gold opens with the title track, a dense and rolling house cut driven by heavy drums and warm synth layers, before Just Another High delivers a tighter, more stripped-down groove with classic underground swing. Rapido pushes the energy further with a direct, rhythmic workout built for peak-time transitions. On the flip side, Parallel Love expands into a deeper and more atmospheric territory with evolving textures and hypnotic momentum, while closing track Miz & Ida delivers a long, hypnotic groove combining analog warmth and late-night dancefloor pressure. True to the Skylax philosophy, this release focuses on timeless groove design rather than trends, offering DJs and collectors a record built to last in the bag for years. Written and produced by Chris Lyth with executive production by Hardrock Striker and artwork by H5 (Simon Renaud), Heavy & Gold continues the Skylax tradition of uncompromising underground house music.

Swedish DJ, producer and songwriter Johan Blende debuts on Hell Yeah with a journey to the heart of a grown-up dancefloor in the Med.

Blende is a master of mixing up retro 70s and 80s sound into modern dancefloor delights. He's been doing it for two decades on a wide range of cultured labels from Studio Barnhus to Eskimo, always with a rare charm and leftfield perceptive. With this EP, he taps into the magic of hazy afternoons turning into euphoric evenings by the sea.

'Off To Mallorca' jangles with taught bass notes and sunburnt vocals. Distant synths glow, the jumbled percussion injects just the right dose of ass-wiggling funk and this playful yet sophisticated cut builds toward a blissful rapture. 'Television' ups the ante with prickly acid panning about the mix over sleazy, low-slung drums. Tension simmers as edgy synth motifs stalk the groove and anticipation builds before the whole thing explodes into a cosmic disco payoff. It's raw, unpredictable, and perfect for when things start to get a little weird.

'Como No Brasil' gazes skyward and basks in a wash of shimmering melodies and breezy, wordless vocals that drift like clouds over layered, sun-drenched rhythms. It’s a dreamy, tropical float until a surprise acid storm rolls in and moves things from tranquil paradise to dancefloor hypnosis. Finally, 'Carousel Bagatelle' is a layered, late-night trip that feels both playful and introspective. Hypnotic synths swirl around screwy acid lines and supple, dubbed-out house drums that spin you into a daze.

Blende’s debut on Hell Yeah lands like a postcard from a perfect party - sun-dazed, acid-kissed and endlessly replayable.

UK producer Tom Carruthers returns with a scorching 5-tracker for Skylax Records, diving headfirst into the primal roots of jackin’ house, proto-italo, and early machine funk. Known for his raw MPC-driven grooves on L.I.E.S., Clone Jack For Daze, Syncrophone, and Craigie Knowes, Carruthers channels the energy of the underground circa ’86—pure drum machine soul for the dancefloor faithful. Side A kicks off with the title track “Neutralise”, all sharp snares, warped synths and hypnotic repetition—a jack track in the truest sense. “Deep North” follows with ghostly pads and relentless drum programming, while “No More” brings metallic tension and stripped-down funk with a heavy nod to Chicago’s original blueprints. On the flip, “Pascals” weaves cosmic arps through rugged percussion, merging italo sensuality with bleep-era minimalism. The closer, “Cosmic Ride”, is exactly that: a journey through spacey chords, dusty rhythm boxes, and that unmistakable feeling of warehouse euphoria at 4 a.m. Neutralise EP is a raw, timeless record that strips dance music down to its essence—jacking, emotional, physical. To match the sonic purity and timeless aesthetic of the release, we enlisted the iconic H5 studio—a name synonymous with visionary design in music and culture. Known for their groundbreaking work with Daft Punk, YSL, and numerous award-winning visual campaigns, H5 brings a level of artistic sophistication that elevates this EP into a complete sensory object. Their clean, modernist design echoes the stripped yet futuristic vibe of Tom Carruthers’ sound—a perfect fusion of form and function, underground and high art. Vinyl only. No digital. No compromise. For fans of: Virgo Four, Baby Ford, Larry Heard, early Warp, Mr. Fingers, and Beppe Loda.

Skylax Records is proud to unveil the reshaped and definitive edition of Blue Mondays’ "The Homage" EP – a record that bridges the golden age of Italo Disco, the raw proto-house energy of Frankie Knuckles & Ron Hardy, and the resurgence of true underground dance music. This release has been meticulously refined to give it the space it deserves: a future classic, driven by iconic reworks and a visual identity worthy of its legacy. A1. The Homage (Vedichecista Mix) delivers a hypnotic journey into Italo Disco euphoria, A2. The Homage (Instrumental) strips it down to pure musical essence, and A3. Countach (Driving Mix) propels us into the unstoppable energy of classic Italo Disco, showcasing Blue Mondays’ unmatched ability to capture the era’s true spirit. On the B-side, B1. The Homage (Floorfillers Remix) injects a raw acid energy designed for peak-time floors, while B2. The Homage (Jolene Remix) delivers a filtered French house gem straight out of 1998, crafted by one of our leading torchbearers of the "real music" renaissance. Wrapped in a stunning sleeve designed by H5, evoking the iconic aesthetics of Joy Division, New Order & Peter Saville, "The Homage" EP captures the essence of an era when the dancefloor was sacred, the music was raw, and the underground thrived. We took our time to reshape this release because it deserved nothing less. Now it’s ready – sharpened, elevated, and destined to become a definitive Skylax classic. This is not just another EP. This is Blue Mondays. Skylax. The resurrection of the underground.

Domenic Cappello has prepared an oasis of electronic style through “The Retroactive Future” for Analog Concept Records.

Side A doesn’t hesitate to show a deep mood, via the therapeutic sun pads, jamming New Beat House hybrid that is Hutt’s Groove, followed up by the cinematic late nite synth progressions and the delicious electro techno that thrives in Midnight Drive.

On the flip, we are welcomed to Time, an ethereal trip of aquatic electro, complimented naturally with cloudy synth vibes and charming acid lines.

The dynamic EP affair concludes with the timeless Detroit attitude, sharp percussion, and meditative sunset to lucid nite sky auras that are shining from Constillation Fela.

Analog Concept Records is delighted to bring you this vinyl selection suited for your tastes in classic future House to Techno, “The Retroactive Future” by Domenic Cappello.

A Place In My Memory Is All I Have To Claim is the new album by Australian atmospheric pop trio Hydroplane, the storied 'offshoot' formed by three quarters of independent pop group, The Cat's Miaow. On this, their first music after two decades plus of radio silence, Andrew Withycombe, Kerrie Bolton and Bart Cummings return to the gentle, close-quarters musical world they shared around the turn of the century.

Recorded during 2024 in Melbourne and Ballarat, A Place In My Memory… picks up the thread Hydroplane set down with its precursor, 2001's The Sound Of Changing Places, though you can hear echoes of their other releases, too, with Withycombe noting a through-line from the group's 1998 "Failed Adventure" single. There's little quite like A Place In My Memory…, then or now, though. Maybe you can draw some connections between Hydroplane and their sister group, The Cat's Miaow, while fellow travellers might include Empress, The Ah Club, and further back, Young Marble Giants, Veronique Vincent (the muffled, ticking drum machine also makes me think of Robin Gibb's Robin's Reign).

There's also an umbilical to the bedroom-crafted electronica doing the rounds in the late nineties and early noughties. Hydroplane hint at this through their approach to songwriting, which often builds creatively around loops as structural devices. Through all this, the trio achieve an effortless, organic weightlessness across these nine lovely songs. Many feature Bolton's clear singing voice, drifting along, while guitars, keyboards, drum machines and loops tickertape away. The constituent parts fit together, but they also have a curiously detached quality - think of abstract cloud formations sharing the same sky.

Hydroplane and The Cat's Miaow often dealt in emotional ambiguity and uncertainty, and the uncertainty of the nostalgic. This was always one of the most appealing facets of their music, and A Place In My Memory… is thus named perfectly. I couldn't dream up a better title for the album and its reflections on history, lived experience, and the inevitable tangle between these two phenomena. These reflections variously address such concerns as human cruelty, flight, space travel, adventurism and spiritualism. There's also "To the Lighthouse", not a direct reference to the Virginia Woolf book, but a great title, nonetheless. (They've always had excellent titles, often borrowed, for songs and albums.)

A beautiful collection of drowsy, sleepy pop, humble and quiet, but resolute in its craft, A Place In My Memory Is All I Have To Claim is dream work in practice; a lovely reintroduction. Welcome back, then.

Skylax Records is proud to welcome one of Germany’s deepest and most respected producers to the family: Sascha Dive, with his stunning Cosmic Ritual EP, featuring house music legend Robert Owens and Zimbabwean vocal virtuoso Vusa Mkhaya. From Frankfurt to the world, Dive has spent nearly two decades carving a unique space where deep house, Detroit techno, and spiritual soul converge—this new release is a testament to that lifelong mission. On A1, Owens delivers an uplifting sermon on the irresistible "Don’t Let No One Or Nothing Stop You", a timeless piece of motivational house drenched in analog warmth. A2’s “Deep Connection To Detroit” is exactly that: a hypnotic, percussive journey into Motor City groove science. Flip the record for “Take Your Time”, another Robert Owens collab that slows things down into deeper, more introspective terrain. Then comes "Cosmic Ritual (Vocal Mix)", where Vusa Mkhaya’s voice channels ancestral energy over shimmering pads and tribal percussion—pure transcendence. Closing things off is “Ultimate Mind”, a stripped-back, late-night cut for meditative floors and after-hours revelation. All tracks are deeply rooted in the vinyl tradition, made for DJs, dancers and dreamers. With this EP, Sascha Dive reaffirms what real house music is all about: soul, message, rhythm, and ritual. Limited 12” vinyl – no repress.