Art of Dark News

Natural Goofy & TC80, two close friends and respected producers, have been spending time together in the studio in Barcelona.

No rules, no timeline, just jamming with machines and letting the sound flow in the moment.

The result is NO PLAN EP: a snapshot of instinct over intent, a record shaped by presence rather than plans. A raw dialogue between friends, gear and the dancefloor.

Made with love, for the music.

Released as a limited vinyl-only edition within the Planka Records series, continuing the label’s mission of capturing underground sounds and sharing them with those who listen deep.

Faux Poly is delighted to release its first vinyl record release since 2023: NINA, a rising UKG/Dub prodigy, is arriving with Internal Makeup. Bristol-based NINA has steadily built a reputation as a forward-thinking
solo artist, dropping highly sought-after records with a distinct sound and craftsmanship that set him
apart. Just one year in, NINA has released on labels such as Innamind Recordings, 20/20 LDN, and
Locus Sound. This new chapter is a pure distillation of that journey - a sound informed by dub, garage,
grime, and soundsystem pressure.

Internal Makeup features four bass-driven club tools that are minimal, weighty and focussed on sub. Opening with “The World Is On Fire”, the only 4x4 track on the record, NINA sets the mood with a cavernous dub techno jam and spaced out vocals. The rest of the record - including the Rowl collaboration “When I Come” - hits firmly in UK Bass territory, with stripped compositions that focus on bass-weight and a strong Bristol influence.

Words from NINA: This EP came together slowly and surely over the space of about a year. I wanted to
encapsulate my true sound which can be extremely versatile which is why there is a bit of everything on there, from techno to garage to dubstep.

Acclaimed producer, DJ, and dancefloor healer Octo Octa (Maya Bouldry-Morrison) announces her fourth full-length album, Sigils For Survival. Following 2013's Between Two Selves, 2017's Where Are We Going?, and 2019's Resonant Body, the new record marks a decade since Maya publicly came out as transgender in November 2015. ''As an autobiographical artist, I set out to write an album that would be a milestone for this past decade of joy and sorrow,'' Maya explains. ''Sigils For Survival is my attempt to encapsulate the intentions and techniques that I used to move through life into a spell.'' For each of the record's eight tracks, Maya drew a sigil. Each is a personal symbol intended to ''bind magic to the song and seal its intention.'' These drawings appear throughout the physical edition's design. Maya's sister, New York artist Hope Morrison, incorporated each sigil into her original paintings, which comprise the album's vivid artwork. Hope Morrison, whose imagery translates the sigils' energy into vivid form; the layout was designed by Jo?o Ervedosa. Created entirely on hardware instruments and later mixed in Logic, Sigils For Survival captures the tactile immediacy of live performance. Maya preserved the feel of MIDI-clock drift and off-grid recording, letting her machines interact in the rhythmic pocket, rather than confirming them to a click. Alongside her signature deep, ecstatic electronics, the album features hand-played dulcimer, hand-pan, and recorder. Her voice also returns, carrying spells of love, protection, and transformation. Across Sigils For Survival, Octo Octa channels the ecstatic house lineage into an intimate ritual space. The music speaks of immediacy, play, and communion -- of magic as method, love as survival, and sound as spellcraft. Sigils For Survival is both a document of ten years lived fully and an invocation for the next chapter -- a glowing testament to music's power to protect, transform, and set the spirit free.

Hot on the heels of the recent Maceo Plex and Shall Ocin & FiberRoot EP's comes another stonking release from Ellum. Odd Parents (Brian & Christine) grace the label for the second time with a double-header, heavy hitter complete with Maceo Plex Remix.

Originally from the US now resident in Barcelona Odd Parents have come up trumps with this killer single. The A Side, 'Teach The Wind' is a driving, hypnotically infused, analogue devastator of a track that's being championed heavily by Maceo Plex. The flip features the Maceo Plex Remix of 'Learning To Fly', a slice of transcendental effervescence that successfully manages to brush the stratosphere. Yet again, another great release from Ellum whose releases seem to be getting stronger and stronger.

Pharmasoniq is Johannes "Tin Man" Auvinen and Philipp "Soulglo" Haffner aka 1/2 of Microthol.

London’s thumbprint marks it’s debut release via Warsaw’s Pridi and his EP ‘Apricity’ – four varied cuts that each leave their own impression.

Distributed by One Eye Witness
Mastered by Tim Xavier @ Manmade Mastering
Mixed by Jean-Patrice Rémillard a.k.a Pheek

For our first release after a hiatus of over two years, we are proud to return to Detroit. Reggie Dokes is Detroit-born and raised, Atlanta-based. He is a key producer in pushing forward the Detroit house sound.

The Collective Rhythm Network (Hamilton, Canada), is a weekly radio show that focuses on underground dance music past and present. This EP was produced in celebration of the radio show's 20th Anniversary, featuring tracks by Detroit's Rick Wilhite, Ron Allen and Terrence Parker !
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Rick The Godson' Wilhite is a Detroit born producer/label owner/record store owner/DJ and founding member of Detroit's 3 Chairs. Rick also releases music under his Vibes New & Rare Music label. For this release Rick has provided us with a brand-new track entitled Mind Control' - a thumping late night dance floor stomper
reminiscent of early 3 Chairs, that is sure to keep the crowd jumping!

Ron Allen is a Toronto based JUNO Nominated music producer/songwriter/DJ and founder of legendary dance music label Strobe Records that was instrumental in developing the house and techno genres in Canada in the early 90's. Whispers' by The R.A.S.E. (Ron Allen Sound Experience), features melodic keys, dreamy vocals and a groovy, head-nod inducing bassline that sounds just as fresh now as it did when it was originally released in 1994.

Terrence Parker ( TP') was born and raised in Detroit and has become legendary for his skillful turntablism style of playing House Music. Terrence has released more than 100 recordings on his Intangible Records & Soundworks label and various other international record labels. With lush keys, and soaring vocals, Embrace (The Original Melody Vibe)' is one of the deeper cuts in the Intangible Records & Soundworks catalogue.

‘The Sci-Fi Era’ marks the launch of Utopiality, the new forward-looking project from Berlin-based DJ and producer Rickie. A space where rhythm and texture converge into immersive, ever evolving forms.

On the A-side, ‘Galactica Expedition’ cuts through with aggressive basslines layered against
delicate pads, setting things in motion. ‘Imagination’ follows, diving deeper into unknown realms with a mind-bending, exploratory energy.
The B-side expands the narrative: ‘Stellar’ pairs intricate drum programming with constantly
shifting synths and basslines, while the closing track ‘Destination’ locks into progressive grooves and immersive pads, unfolding toward a hypnotic endpoint.

Roman Flügel returns to Running Back with another chapter in an ongoing love affair between machine funk and dancefloor euphoria. Following a string of releases stretching from Garden
Party to the recent Dusty Jukebox EP, this latest offering continues a path that has become unmistakably his own.New Release Information

There are no dietary restrictions here. Just generous portions of basslines, rave signals, bleeps, and rhythm tracks, all layered with the kind of instinctive musicality that makes Roman’s productions feel both immediate and timeless. The spirit of early rave culture remains a guiding force, not as nostalgia but as a living source of inspiration, feeding into House music’s endless capacity for joy, surprise, and communal release.

As ever, the objective is simple: celebrate the moment. Preferably loud, preferably together, and preferably with plenty of icing on top

DJ support – Jamie Jones, Seth Troxler Damian Lazarus, Marco Corola, Joseph Capriati, The Martinez Brothers and Rey Colino

S.A.M. returns to Up The Stuss this summer with the third release in the UTSOFF series, delivering a potent double-header that’s been rattling dancefl oors for months. Titled ‘Hit You With My Phone’, the release arrives on 4th July and features two dynamic cuts that further cement the Danish talent’s place in the label’s core family.

A mainstay in Chris Stussy’s recent sets and one of the most talked-about IDs in recent months, title track ‘Hit You With My Phone’ is pure dancefloor dynamite — a helter-skelter ride through organised chaos, laced with warped vocals, frenetic percussion and a relentless groove that grabs you and doesn’t let go. It’s bold, it’s unpredictable, and it’s quickly become one of the most commanding tracks in the Dutch label boss’s arsenal.

On the flip, ‘Got Me Down’ offers a skippy contrast — a low-slung groover that channels tension and release with tightly wound drums and rolling bass, keeping things locked for deeper moments on the floor.

Marking S.A.M.’s third outing on Up The Stuss following their collaborative ‘Get Together’ project with Stussy and the solo ‘Check It Out’ EP, ‘Hit You With My Phone’ sees them explore new ground while staying true to the raw, club-focused ethos of the label. As the UTSOFF series continues to shine a light on uncompromising, forward-facing club music, this latest instalment delivers two cuts built for impact and ready to cause damage.

Sa Pa launches Dub Techno For Life: a dedicated outlet for the artist’s more dancefloor-focused material - work that has largely sat outside the conceptual frame of his previous releases.

The label’s first release, Girls on Tour EP, opens with “Mokira Ultra Dub”, a 10-minute club rework of Mokira classic “Manipulation Musik”. Originally produced alongside an ambient version commissioned for Kontra Musik’s 2016 Kontra X compilation, the dancefloor mix was ultimately shelved until now. With Andreas ‘Mokira’ Tilliander’s blessing, it finally surfaces as a standalone Sa Pa production. A track too banging to go unreleased.

“Waiting For You” traces back to Sa Pa’s orbit around the giegling ecosystem via FORUM. Once lined up for an official release on the parent label before plans stalled, the track slipped into the archives. Buoyant and disarmingly pop by Sa Pa standards, it finds its place here as the A2 - tuned to the collective memory of mid-2010s German house music.

Harnessing the spirit of Chain Reaction from the abandoned patches and borrowed machines of a rainy night’s recording in Taipei, the B-side’s “Modular System” captures a late-night, one-take modular jam. A broken yet hopeful “World Saving Banger” closes the EP with some raw and IDM-leaning force, showcasing Sa Pa’s new label - and the Girls On Tour EP - as a space for neo dub techno ideals to take shape.

Salomo joins forces with R.A.N.D. label head Reece Walker to deliver various shades of house music.

Early DJ Support: Massimiliano Pagliara, Paranoid London, Logan Fisher, Terry Farley, James Holroyd, Rocky (X Press 2), Francois K, Marcel Vogel, Sean Johnston, Austin Ato, Ron Basejam, Richard Rogers, Oliver Dollar, Crazy P and many more

Creating an international name for itself over the past decade as a sample pack label, Samples From Mars made its inevitable venture into the music world originally as a home for founder Teddy Stuart’s work. Long before making samples, Stuart garnered credits working as a grammy-nominated recording engineer in the hip hop world, and DJing / producing with Justin Strauss as A/JUS/TED, for labels such as DFA, Domino Records and Southern Fried Records. Now the label is set to release a variety of genres - house, disco, techno, ambient, all with a vintage tinge and a focus on high quality, analog production.

Enter Salt Queen. Visual artist and musician Magali van Caloen together with Samples From Mars founder, Teddy Stuart. Based in New York, the duo combine hardware dance aesthetics with dry, salty takes on familiar club moments into music that sits somewhere between funny, raw and unpredictable.

Salt Queen’s debut ‘ARE U OK’ is an acid-laced, deadpan spoken word track with an opening line that snaps any room to attention. A disorienting club encounter unfolds over Italo-inflected 808s and a relentless 303 bassline. There are no chords and no melodies - just a skeletal groove and an intimate voice circling the dancefloor. Drifting between concern and provocation, the vocal runs through cliché club conversations before destabilizing completely into a siren-laden crash out. The ‘Freak Nasty Club Mix’ ditches the plot and lets the hardware breathe, with a thick SH-101 bassline anchoring the first half before a sudden switch into an unrelenting acid pattern that refuses to settle. Two versions of the same wild night out.

The Berlin-Hamburg duo, Session Victim bring their celebrated Sidequests trilogy to a close with Chapter Three on Delusions Of Grandeur,

wrapping up the series in signature style—full of warmth, groove and left-of-center touches that remind us why their music has remained so enduring over nearly two decades.

And a remix from Ian Pooley to boot!

Sindh presents the Vagali EP, a striking continuation of his tunnelling, futuristic take on techno. Growling synths, driving basslines, alien atmospherics and finely tuned percussion define a sound that feels unmistakably his own.
Following his Komudo series — which has built a devoted following since its debut in 2024 — this latest release leans further into his signature sound design, pairing hypnotic sequences and menacing synth lines which feel right