Cerca:a man

Smoove & Turrell's second single outing from their album 'Mount Pleasant' is a double helping of up-tempo dancers for those that like to shake it...

Never one's to stop experimenting and pushing their musical boundaries, this single is a perfect example of exactly that, featuring two tracks with massively contrasting styles but with a quality of song writing and production that these guys have got down to a fine art in their years together.

'I Feel Alive' is a tasty electro disco cut inspired by a hedonistic night in Paris. It's the perfect blend of Smoove's trademark groovy productions with Turrell's sweet tones and honest relatable lyricism. Keys man - Mike Porter gets a chance to engage the arpeggiator function on his synth collection as he and the rest of the band create a host of spacey sounds to form the backdrop of this catchy number.

On the B side is 'Mr Hyde' - a beast of a track that opens with energetic live drums and a memorable guitar riff that form the backbone of a rocking tune that sees John Turrell manically singing through a distortion effect delivering the lines "I'm Jekyll and baby you need to hide" in a suitably menacing style...

Fusing garage rock, psyche, northern soul and pop sensibilities it's a Frankenstein's monster of a track that works on multiple levels with the lyrical subject matter.

Dilated Pupils is a collective group of likeminded friends home-based in the Netherlands. When forces are joined in one of their many studios each individual brings his own influences and styles to the table. Together they share a distinct flavor in productions and raw one-take jam sessions created with the use of analogue machines and often recorded on tape. Each of them have their own solo productions as well as other collaborations, but when united as Dilated Pupils they prefer to be known jointly as one entity with their own unique and distinguished sound. Since 2014 the group has developed an interesting and widespread discography with releases on labels such as Fear of Flying, Sol Asylum, Mode of Expression, Tabla, Music is Art, Dorcas, Make Sense and Mayak.

Following on from the release of FBA21 Collected Works 1996 -2017, which was released November 2017 Matthew Puffett decided to wrap up the project, with a handpicked selection of artists to remix key tracks from the compilation. Amongst these figures are some significant influences on Puffett`s early years The set includes Kirk Degiorgio, whose reworking of 'Cross Dissolve' reimagines the track in full machine mode, serving up a slab of driving techno for the main room. A fan since the early 90s, Kirk and Matt have been in contact over the years, culminating to this powerful re-creation. Steven Rutter (B12) has also reworked 'Cross Dissolve', but in contrast to Degiorgio, Rutter's mix brings out an almost abstracted, ambient mood, a characteristically expressive and textured piece from one of the leading figures in UK electronica. Hardway Bros, Sean Johnston (Andy Weatherall's partner in 'A Love From Outer Space) tackles 'Mourning', a piece of melancholic euphoria. In typical Johnston style, Sean slows it all down, bringing it to a mid-tempo Balearic vibe. A big influence on Matthew in the 1990s, Lee Grainge used to work at the infamous Fat Cat records. A renowned arbiter of sounds, Grainge turned Matt onto countless records from Detroit and beyond, which was crucial in shaping FBA's sound. Here, he remixes 'Diagram', in a manner reminiscent of classic dub techno, Basic Channel. Another influence on FBA's sound is former Eevo Lute Muzique boss from Eindhoven, Stefan Robbers. FBA recorded a mini album for EevoNext in 2009, and the pair team up again here to reinvent 'Machines Can Help'.

As a Dutch label, we're proud supporters of the homegrown sounds of guys like Nachtbraker, Frits Wentink and Fouk. Adding another Dutchie to our list of exquisite producers, we present you 'Pitto' with his debut on Heist Recordings. Pitto is a musically omnipotent creature, venturing into deep house with the underground hit 'Richklap' on Wolfskuil back in 2012 and dreamy electronic pop with his album 'Breaking up the Static' on Sonar Kollektiv and Virgin. He has also moved beyond producing his own music, running 'Studio Stekker'; a Dutch music festival that focused on freeform creative interactions between musicians where the artists performing on the festival locked themselves up a week in advance in Kytopia (Colin Benders' synth paradise) to make new music together. Through this, he's worked with people like Kyteman, Matthew Johnson, Sebastian Mullaert and Colin de la Plante, better known as 'The Mole', who is also present on Pitto's Heist debut with a remix.

The 'Late night studio moves' ep is one of varied styles, where Pitto's inspiration from African music, jazzy and soulful samples becomes evident. He finds his 'funk' in repetition, clever sample combinations and combining electronic and live elements in the most organic way.

'Late night studio moves' finds its basic groove in an African percussive loop. Over the 9:26 minutes, the track slowly adds elements, chopped African chants and piercing synth hits. It's all really dreamy and energetic at the same time, but it is when the bass and main keys kick in, that you really feel the euphoric vibe of the track. The Mole chose to remix this track and he turned it completely upside down, both in vibe and tempo. His version is an atmospheric and mesmerizing downtempo track, where the percussion works in an intoxicating way and bells, birds and chants move in and out of the spotlight.
Pitto's second original track on the ep is the mesmerizing 'Treat me like a fool'. 16th hi-hats, claps on the hats, and a chopped piano loop set the mood here, but it's the vocal that steals the show. A mantra like 'You love me' builds up and breaks down into 'you love me like an angel, but you treat me like a fool'. Each time, the track builds and builds, never quite giving in to a massive drop, but instead, focuses on the stripped back soul that is the heart of the track.

'Jazz kids' evolves around a jazzy bass loop and a set of quirky African percussive elements that you could imagine Henrik Schwarz making if he were in a more leftfield mood. A syncopated synth melody filters in and out throughout the track and a basic kick and hi-hat combo keeps the energy going strong on this on.

We're proud to bring you this deep, dreamy and provocative EP by Pitto and hope you'll enjoy it as much as we do.

Maeve kicks off their first label compilation 'Heavy Rotations Vol 1', covering all facets of the labels sound with tracks from Mano Le Tough, Isolée, Oliver Deutschmann, Ed Davenport, Aera and more. Comes as 3 LP in a specially designed cover consisting of 3 differently printed innersleves in a cut out outersleeve.

Elektroliza is a series of club events formed by a group of dedicated electronic music enthusiasts in 2006. It is hosted by Ljubljana's Channel Zero, a legendary club that is part of the autonomous social centre Metelkova which used to be the Slovenian headquarters of the Yugoslav National Army.Filling a void in Slovenia's electronic dance scene, the night was a hit from the start and quickly grew into a diverse and successful series focusing on new and exciting electro, acid and dark techno.Elektroliza hosted many memorable DJ and live acts by performers/producers/pioneers coming out of international music incubators in Gothenburg, The Hague, Berlin and as far as Detroit. Even more importantly, it brought together producers and crews from the former Yugoslav republics of Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and Macedonia. Inside the former Yugoslavian military barracks DJs and producers from Skopje to Ljubljana began bonding again through music, forming new friendships, starting new collaborations and dancing the night away... in 'Electro City Ljubljana'.This first double vinyl compilation of the Balkan Elektroliza family is a collection of our shared memories and visions of the future to come.

The first time the album has been released on vinyl
- Includes bonus tracks and remixes by Tiga, Jason Nevins and Almighty
- The release will be announced by a trailer through Dannii Minogue's Facebook page which has 409K followers
- Dannii will promote the release via Instagram stories and posts to her 276K Instagram followers
- Dannii Minogue is available for promo and interviews throughout pre-order period
- "It's one thing to create an excellent three-and-a-half-minute dance-pop song, but another to sustain the appeal over an entire album. Kylie managed it with Fever, Madonna followed suit on Confessions on a Dance Floor. Dannii's contribution to the genre on Neon Nights is every bit as good as those classics." - IDOLATOR
- A veritable pick and mix of the European dance scene at the time, Neon Nights spawned four Top 10 hit singles in the UK 'Who Do You Love Now' (No.3), 'Put The Needle On It' (No.7), 'I Begin To Wonder' (No.2) and 'Don't Wanna Lose This Feeling' (No.5).
- The album reached No.8 on the UK Official Albums Chart and was certified Gold. In Australia it was nominated for "Best Pop Release" at the 2003 ARIA Music Awards.
- Dannii says: "When I embarked on a solo recording career and released my first album in 1990, music was only released on 7' and 12' vinyl. Fast forward through my album releases and throw in a bunch of technology changes, cassingles, cassette albums, CDs, Mini CDs and we are finally back to vinyl! Neon Nights never had a vinyl release - it was the 90's, and the industry was entering the digital age, and no-one was looking back at this experience of music listening. Thankfully Gen Y has embraced the nostalgia of the record player, so you finally get to Put The Needle On It with these tracks (please turn the volume up loud enough to annoy your neighbours!)."

2x12"

The Gates of Charon, an original soundtrack, is the long-awaited result of two years of work by a multitude of outstanding producers from the bass music and drum 'n bass scenes. This deep, dark and weighty release comes at you with 26 tracks of professional soundscape production to tell a story of the fusion of the mystic and scientific to manipulate dark energy and explore the multiverse. This unique project will take listeners on an interplanetary journey of the highest order through sound and emotion. This is a limited edition release in a double gatefold full-art cover with 2 X 12" two-color 180g vinyl (limited to first 300 copies), with download codes (including bonus instrumental versions).

Chapter four in the line of vinyl releases on Cue Line Records is also the beginning of something new. 'Elements Part 1' is the first piece in the Various Artists series on the label called 'Elements'. Driven by an urge to explore how elements can form something greater together, and the other way around, how anything can be broken into its elements, every single track on the V/A is by multiple artists. 100% collaborative content. RDG x Cessman, Gaze ill x 3WA, Binary x Zygos, Murk x Shiva ft. Rob. Nine minds, four tracks, one piece.

For its third release, Here To Hell welcomes Melbourne (via Adelaide) veteran, Rambl, and his incredible groover 'Doss'.

This third release on the label happened purely by surprise, and what a discovery! The track itself is no accident, but the signing took place after a chance encounter. Richard Campbell aka Rambl, who is one of Melbourne's best and most consistent DJs since the last two decades, had developed a small cult following of viewers via facebook, where he had been providing live video coverage of Australia's wild weather in a kind of comedy-weatherman format. Once these updates caught our attention, the magical facebook algorithm placed all of his content at the top of our feed.

One day his video moved away from the wild South Australian coast and into the studio. Rich - who we also know for his huge stature akin to an NBA basketballer, and his brain for Mathematics and Computational Biology - was bopping that giant brain up and down and making his 'bass face', with a mixing desk and some speakers (and some beers) in the background. The soundtrack to this video was completely mesmerising. We sent him a private message immediately: 'what the hell is THIS!!!'

His reply: 'This is one of mine, it's not finished yet but it feels good'. Our reply: 'It feels INCREDIBLE!!! Finish it and let's put it on wax!'

So today we bring you 'Doss' and we expect you'll love it.

On the flipside we've invited another Melbourne man, Sly Faux, to demonstrate why he's appearing in the playlists of Richie Hawtin and Maceo Plex, and why his EP on Nicole Moudaber's Mood was a bestseller. He's also just remixed The Presets and continues to impress with his tight productions. Sly Faux's remix takes the original Detroit-inspired techno-funk and twists it into a different kind of main room banger.

Who Do You Go To For Your Very First Session When You Have Just Been Gifted Your Very Own Top-flight 'stradivarius Of Synth Based Studios' Enter 'the Grid' ...mr David Ball: One Man Band Of Pioneering Electro-pop Distorters Soft Cell, Part Time Psychic Tv Personality, Film Soundtrack Composer And All Round Synth Afficionado & Richard Norris: Eclectic Beat-meister & Ambient Dj, Record Producer, Commited Psychedelicist From 'beyond The Wizard's Sleeve'. The 1990's Saw Worldwide Commercial Success As The Grid Scored 10 Uk Chart Hits, Many A Euro Hit Including 1994's International Mega-hit 'swamp Thing' Featuring A Twisted Use Of Sampled Banjos Lifted From The 1970's Okie Shocker Movie 'providence. In 1996 The Grid Went On A Holiday And They Didn't Return Till 2005. In The Initial Week Of The Moog Sound-lab In Early 2015 As The Studio Was Literally Put Together Around Them, Our Abiding Memory Was Their Absolutely Delighted Grins As Each Moog Unit Was Added To The Lab. Dave & Richard Created This Benchmark Album Of Deluxe 'tronic Trax That Showcased Their Prarie Wide Knowledge Of Electronica & Their Ocean Deep Skills As Both Technicians & Original Soundscapers - Kraftwerk-ian Werk-outs, Space Noise Jams, And Slinky Grooves With Subtle Pop-tones.

Washington DC's Rush Plus drop four superb techno cuts entitled 'The Sweat EP' on P.Leone and Caiazzo's E-Missions imprint.

Having dropped three quality releases on their own eponymous label, Rush Plus continue to turn heads with their imaginative productions, gaining support from the upper echelons of techno with names like Rodhad, Ben Klock, DJ Spider, Ben Sims, Slam, Answer Code Request, DJ Deep and many more getting behind them. Following up a release on Ambivalent's Valence Records, they now join P.Leone and Caiazzo's rapidly rising E-Missions imprint.

'Megabust' initiates the package with twisted sci-fi synths and syncopated drums whilst rattling metallic elements operate throughout. Intricate hits of percussion are soon followed by rumbling bass in 'Rebirth' as the track gradually becomes more and more twisted using filtered effects and soaring pads, making way for the shuffling 'Sweat' with its menacing stabs and echoing voices. Finally, the package concludes with 'Slow Release' - a high-octane and ominous roller.

Tachyon Audio is a vinyl label that's focused on sounds in the techno realm targeting sweaty, dark dance floors, with large, high-quality sound systems.

Inhabitants come back strong in Mutations Volume II, Tachyon Audio's second offering. These two primates are often found inhabiting dark spaces, forging ahead on complex math equations. Their distinct, driving, mathematical, and drumming techno is a result. Expect more solid work and performances from these two mysterious beings on Tachyon Audio as the label continues its progression.

Tachyon Audio's second release follows a similar format to the first, in that, TAC002 is a diverse EP that touches on techno sounds that are helping to lead the march forward into the future of sound production and style. The second Tachyon Audio release also comes from the mysterious dark studio of Inhabitants, who build off their first, and display their precise, technical forms of production.

The A-side track, Mut11 (A1) is a sci-fi exploration that pleases the ear with thick sub and low basses, along with a pitch-twisted melodic element, and the Inhabitants distinct sound effects and automation. The track has a strong impact immediately, as you can feel the intensity of elements being added, manipulated, and combined, and a sturdy, grimy feel pervades the piece with an interesting driving rhythmic percussion.


Side A ends with two separate open-source NASA samples. The first, Sounds of Enceladus - Radar Echoes from Titan's Surface (A2), is a locked groove and according to NASA, 'was produced by converting into audible sounds some of the radar echoes received by Huygens during the last few kilometers of its descent onto Saturn's moon, Titan. As the probe approaches the ground, both the pitch and intensity increase. Scientists will use intensity of the echoes to speculate about the nature of the surface.'


The second sample, Cassini - Saturn Radio Emissions #2 (A3), is another locked groove. The sound as described by NASA, 'Saturn is a source of intense radio emissions, which were monitored by our Cassini spacecraft. The radio waves are closely related to the auroras near the poles of the planet. These auroras are similar to Earth's northern and southern lights. This is an audio file of radio emissions from Saturn.' These samples are poised for reuse in production and make for good intro and looping material during performances.


The second side of the EP starts with Mut1 (B1), a track that is well-rounded percussively, with a strong kick drum driving the track forward. A simple looping and effected tom drum also helps keep a good movement to the track. An ominously melodic pad that evolves subtly throughout the track helps to keep the Inhabitants err present throughout the track.


Mut8 (B2), is another acidic venture with solid percussion. The looping and other melodic elements provide a solid stricture, with the more adventurous sounds being placed and effected incrementally with distinct Inhabitants flare throughout the track.

Music Mania and Indica Dubs is proud to present the third release in their Mania Dub series. Following the classic 'Almighty Dub' (MD001) and 'Rastafari' (MD002) comes another of the UK Dub scene's most renowned producers; The Bush Chemists, with one of their most popular anthems from 1996: Light Up Your Spliff. Douglas Wardrop began creating music using a 4-track recorded in 1989, before forming The Bush Chemists in 1993 with Paul Davey and Culture Freeman.

As I'm sure you're aware D&B doesn't pass through state51 that often but here we have a 12" that can quite rightly sit proudly amongst our more usual esoteric offerings.

With legendary label Juice, Rhythm Rollers present these 2017 remixes of Undercover Agent's 1994 classic 'Babylon'. The original is without a doubt one of the most highly rated jungle tracks and this time round DJ Future has delivered an absolute tearing remake and brought it into the 21st century. On side B, for the original heads who loved the first press Blade Runner has rebuilt the original masterpiece from scratch.

DJ support: Andy C, Randall, Uncle Dugs, Ray Keith and many more.

* With a number of high profile releases already behind him for labels including the legendary XL Recordings and Dusky's 17 Steps imprint, Hugo Massien has carved a sound for himself that sees him bring together elements from house, techno, dubstep and hardcore, all combining force to produce this killer 4-track EP, running at the techno-friendly tempos of around 128bpm.

* 'Advanced Aerial Threat' kicks things off with a fractured half-step rhythm that gives more than a nod to his formative years as a fan of the early UK dubstep movement. Stark, deadly and meticulously constructed, the rhythm taps a pace as wild bass stabs rip across a theatre of sound.

* Next up is the delightful melancholy of 'Ursa Minor' which takes a rolling breakbeat as its backbone before a Reese-like bassline emerges from beneath, rising and empowering. An intimate piano line comes in, providing an introspective element, balancing the otherwise rave-savvy ingredients in place.

* 'Candy Flip' takes things into a more electro direction, providing a reliable work out for the dance floor as the tightly tuned drums and bass hold down the spooky synth stabs.

* Last up, closing the EP is 'Divisions From The Start' where once again we see Hugo's intuitive sense of soundscape grandure, creating a kaleidoscope of moods all strung together with precision drum programming and heavyweight sub work.

* DJ Support from: Shed, Loefah, Pinch & many more.

* After nearly 10 years, KFA returns to vinyl. As a label, KFA was widely loved for its ability to shift styles and genres, always hitting slightly off center, to produce such off kileter classics as the original 'Truffle Shuffle', a jungle anthem that gets a much deserved remix on this EP. New Signee Scartat brings the pain with monstrously heavy beats in 'Role Model', which KF Digital man of the moment Bucksta keeps it slightly mellower with 'Killer Sound', leaving Luna-C & Mr Arthur to bring the dancehall vibes with 'Judgement'.

Wislov might be a new signee to Knitebreed, but he has been releasing material for years, and the Spanish (not Russian) maestro is already known around the world for his awesome breakbeat creations. It was only a matter of time before a label snapped him up, and he is a producer easily capable of dropping huge tunes in both dark and lighter stsyles. This EP showcases his talent, with four tracks specifically designed to compliment the Knitebreed sound while carving his own niche into the label.

Club / DJ Support
Billy Bunter, the Fat Controller, Glowkid, Slipmatt, Dj Jedi, Dj Luna-C, Dj Brisk, Clayfighter, Jimni Cricket, Bustin, Sc@r, Doughboy, Saiyan, Dave Skywalker, Ponder and many others

The sun does not move. The sun has never seen a shadow. - Leonardo da Vinci
Paul and Alessio of Possible Futures believe that some essential fractions in the history of music need to be transmitted in new ways to budding generations. As we seek to bring together a new educational system around contemporary music, we urge anyone with homologous intentions to get in touch.
Over the last 15 years, Possible Futures have been witnesses to the wildest fauna and flora the great nocturnal jungle has to o er.
Possible Futures source their inspiration from the many shades of color that co-exist between black and white on the great designer's palette.
It is through their open and eclectic selections that Possible Futures turn the dancefloor into spaces of self-discovery and musical trance-en-dance.
Possible Futures believe that the eternal act of dancing is one of the most active form of contemplation. Facing our own selves in the mirror of movement, we realize that we indeed are reflections of one another at all times. Compassion forms and in turns gives way to kindness and love.
For this third record, Argentinean expert producer Leonel returns with two long pieces of poetry. Releasing on June 15th, this third edition in the Possible Futures catalog bridge spring into summer in a most gracious manner.
We Cherish Harmony, PF

After welcoming Saule with an appearance on SUBALT015, the incredibly talented producer steps up for a full EP on Subaltern - a tour de force of distinctive, dark and original productions.

*A: Gorilla Glue
Starting off the EP with a bang is 'Gorilla Glue', a heavy-hitting collaboration with original Subaltern badmen D-Operation Drop - pressure is the name of the game. A sinister intro paves the way to a stomping bass-line topped up with growling synth layers, which culminate into a captivating melody that will stick with you. Get ready for the ride!

*B1: World 8
'World 8' dives into a video game-like vibe through quirky 8 bit synths playfully matched with a massive wall of bass. Gnarly breaks round off a masterful execution of sub and space alternating in a trippy scenario: Super Mario had a little bit too many mushrooms this time...

*B2: Close Chatter
Moody dark pads set a bewitched vibe in 'Close Chatter' a goose-bump inducing drop will leave you constantly hungry for more. An oddly pleasing journey, this is the typical b side-that-could-have-been-a-side track.

Bulkhead present their debut album - Aft Pressure - due June 1st on 2MR Records. In 2015, during the coldest Toronto winter on record, two old friends - Pop District and Patrik Benjamin - locked themselves away in the studio to experiment with a medley of hardware. Both solo artists in their own right, they had overseen their own projects prior, but had never considered how a collaboration might sound. Exploring the polarity of extreme cold and immersive warmth with a distinctly analogue feel, the duo carved themselves an aesthetic. And so Bulkhead was born. Using a raw, organic palette they repudiate formal structure and polish, opting instead for a freeform blend of unhindered mechanical techno and fuzzy ambience - slambient, if you will. Debuting in 2016, their 'Worker's Kampf' cassette album on LA imprint Far Away Tapes sold out quickly, warranting another release on 2MR featuring highlights of the cassette on 12' and digital. Continuing with the purveyance of abstract arrangements and machine wizardry, their forthcoming album - Aft Pressure - is a striking exploration of the intersection between frenzied techno and harmonic warmth.Fragments of techno and EBM mutate without strict guidance, rebuilding themselves into new forms with stunning physical qualities. Whilst many of the tracks might file under dance music, the DIY spirit of the album transcends a nightclub, occupying a peculiar space between the uncensored grit of the post-punk scene and some melancholic form of ambient minimalism. Angular percussion slices its way through dizzying synth leads whilst serene harmonies wander on their own accord. Darting melodies are made all the more powerful by their harsh timbre as drum-less excursions provide a cinematic backdrop. Aft Pressure is a statement of intent, blurring the parameters of dance music culture with equal doses of insanity and serenity. At the same time, it's also a hell of a lot of fun...

Officially reissued at last! Considered by many to be a genuine 'holy grail' of soul & funk. Featuring 'Miracles' as sampled by Public Enemy, Basement Jaxx, Arrested Development and many more.

Originally from Compton, Los Angeles, the Jackson Sisters were one-hit wonders who briefly shone and made some noise in the early 1970s before quickly fading into obscurity. Their only US chart entry was 'I Believe In Miracles,' a funky slice of bubblegum soul with a catchy, sing-along chorus released on the Prophesy label that briefly saw them make the lower reaches of the R&B charts in September 1973.

Favorite Recordings proudly presents Combattant, first EP by Pat Kalla produced by Bruno Patchworks' Hovart (aka VOILAAA).

PAT KALLA is a musician, singer and storyteller. Patrice of his birth name, in tribute to the great Lumumba! Lover of words, French language, and music of course. Born in Lyon, from a Cameroonian father, musician and political activist, and a French and literary mother, he explores from his childhood the Soul, the Slam, the Funk ... and the art of telling stories, life being a great one...

After years of touring alongside many bands (Conte & Soul, Legend of Eboa King, Mento Cloub, Voilaaa Sound System), and several acclaimed titles on the two albums by Voilaaa, he comes back with this project to put a bit of primordial lightness in a rainy world: A tribute to the African culture in honor of a father with "Sawa" origins, the tribe from the people of Makossa.

Jojo Ngallé, Moni Bilé, Pain, Manu Dibango, Franco, Rochereau, Kabaselé, Fela, François Nkotti & The Black Style, all these legends' vinyls have turned on the family turntable and the collection has whetted the child's appetite. Through this new trip, he revisits styles that are sometimes little known to Western audiences, such as High-Life, Makossa, Angolan Music, Afrobeat, Afro-Disco and others. We could talk about Franc CFA', we could talk about Jacques Foccart, but we will rather dance, because "the dancer seems naive, but his feet must be connected with earth to understand history..."

Backed by the "Super Mojo Disco", a hyperactive band from Lyon with deep groove and positive energy, Pat Kalla offers us an anti-crisis project, where swaying and feel-good humor is mandatory! An album soon in the crates, beware « c'est médicament » (it's medicine)!!

Fresh off the back of the languorous poolside disco and tropical pop of their debut album 'Shapes On Shapes' released last November, LA based duo Wild & Free return with a collection of essential remixes from label mates and influences alike by revisiting the heady disco of recent single 'Ferns and Stuff'.
Both multi-instrumentalists, singers and producers in their own right, Wild & Free duo Drew Kramer and George Cochrane came together in 2015 and have spent the past 2 years crafting a series of acclaimed EPs and remixes (for the likes of Joe Goddard (Hot Chip), Panama, Gigamesh, RAC and Ben Browning of Cut/Copy) that saw them tipped by the likes of Spin, XLR8R, Indie Shuffle, Clash Magazine, Data Transmission and many more and take their live show on the road playing alongside the likes of Brooklyn's Body Language.After releasing a few solid ep's and two full lengths album's Xinobi has gained real recognition among established and well-known artists and opinion-makers, and his underground cult has amplified. What has followed is remixes, edits and reworks for artists such as Sbtrkt, The Avener, John Grant, Toro Y Moi, Nicolas Jaar, Agnes Obel, Kris Menace and Tensnake.Along with Moullinex and Mr. Mitsuhirato he gave birth to the still-growing-influent Discotexas who here lend their label mates their expert musical arrangement skills with 'Discotexas Club Mix' thrown in for good measure. And it doesn't stop there, with legendary New Yorker Justin Strauss, who has produced and mixed records and remixes for the likes of LCD Soundsystem, Beyonce, La Roux and Goldfrapp contributing a 'Whatever/Whatever' mix as part of the slick and hugely influential production duo he formed with Bryan Mette.
Already noticed for his remixes and array of collaborators and with several releases under his belt (including a track on the 'Bonjour Colette' compilation), Tokyo-based Yuki Abe AKA producer/DJ Boys Get Hurt gets his inspiration from the melancholic feelings the end of summer inevitably brings about, a personal and evocative sensibility in tune with the land of the rising sun's delicate culture. Yuki expertly crafts bouncy disco-house music with sprinklings of electronica, indie, ambient, hip-hop and R&B. Here he adds a mix with a loose and joyful feel that fits the sentiments of what Wild and Free represent perfectly.

The ep comes in 300 copies packed in hand burnt sleeves on the front and a silkscreen print on the back

Eocity is the result of a study on technological failure and the imagination of a non-existent urban landscape.

This project features the use of a Yamaha ex5r, one of the rst synths to ever implement VL synthesis.

The "Yamaha Virtual Acoustic" Synthesis tone generation was born to try to accurately emulate the complex vibrations and other acoustic phenomena of real instruments and their sounds within space, but the dubious results of this technology gave birth to something more.

Its nal output sound happens to be cold and synthetic while being also organic and warm at the same time, welcoming the listeners into a feeling of an arti cial world that is neither digital nor analog.

In this world man is not around anymore and the binary language survived him, communicating with the rest of the natural environment, in respect of its laws and dynamics, becoming one indistinct entity.

Eocity is a place that exists in between the imaginary and the real one, gently oating as a digital tactile experience.

Norm De Plume has been quietly making a name for himself the last eight years with remixes for Tornado Wallace and Ben La Desh and EP's for Kolour LTD and his own vinyl only imprint Plumage winning him a solid fol- lowing along the way. His passion for all things disco and deep, dubby, un- derground house inspired by his musical hero Ron Hardy feeds through into his production style as well as his recently formed Peaches & Prunes party which boasts an audiophile sound system and vinyl-only sets from the DJ's. So when the opportunity arose to do a full EP with Norm we jumped at it. Here we present you with the Castlecrag EP, a nod to the Londoner's new adoptive home of Sydney, Australia, and whilst his sound may be more akin to the recent musical movements of Melbourne, the laid-back sun-kissed melting pot of The Harbour City certainly shine through in the two originals and Folamour remix on offer here.
Title track Castlecrag leads the charge with a deep mood-setter driven by a cowbell riff and filtering pads. The spacious mix and less is more arrange- ment ensures that the drums and rolling bassline punch through making for a track that sounds both unique yet accessible and demonstrates Norm's sense of musicality as well as DJ instinct for setting the right mood on the dancefloor. Next up we have Whole In One which treads a similar path whilst dropping the BPM's a touch and building up layers of synth strings to create a subtle yet engaging track to immerse yourself in. Finally, man of the moment Folamour gets busy on the remix of Whole In One working his magic by upping the tempo and going heavy on the jazz- inspired drums. By laying down a driving groove and pushing the string stabs to the fore, the Lyonnais producer behind the wonderful Moonrise Hill Material label has delivered a fresh-sounding take that will work like magic on discerning dance floors out there.

For A Long Time, Electronic Music Has Been Understood In Terms Of Sounds Rooted In Particular Places: The Styles Of House And Techno Inextricably Wedded To Detroit, Or The Early '90s Jungle Sound Which Carries Echoes Of London. But That's Something Which Is Changing - In Latin America More Than Anywhere Else. A New Project, Led By Gilles Peterson And Rum Maker Havana Club (that Created The Havana Cultura Platform In 2007 To Promote The Island's Contemporary Culture), Shines A Light On Cuba's Fast-mutating, Rhythmically-adventurous Underground. It's A Scene Where Old Ideas Are Transplanted Into New Contexts, And Like-minded Scenes Are Brought Together In New Dialogues.

Havana Cultura: ¡su´belo, Cuba! Showcases An Extended Network Of Like-minded, Forward-thinking Musicians Driving Cuba's Music Forward. Following Repeated Trips To Connect With Venues, Collectives And Djs, Peterson And Will Lv - One Half Of Lv, Who've Released On Hyperdub And Keysound Amongst Others - Linked Up With Dj Jigu¨e, A Much-respected Producer And Dj, Whose Guampara Label Has Charted New Directions For Cuban Music. He's Been Profiled By The Fader And Vice, And The Album Features His Extended Network Of Collaborators, Connecting Afro-cuban Traditions With Contemporary Movements And Ideas.

The Album Provides A Snapshot Of A Unique Club Culture That's Fast Evolving. On The One Hand, It's Indebted To Cuba's Unique Characteristics, Where Regularly-practised Traditions Are Coloured By Intermittently-experienced Cultures From Outside. On The Other, It's Part Of A Global Shift Toward De-centred Club Music, With Homegrown, Influence-grabbing Dance Cultures Tilting Attention From Club Culture's Traditional Epicentres. It Offers A New Side To Havana That's Firmly Rooted In Its Past.

Not to be confused with the 80s heavy rock/funk band from the US, this Living Color track was written, produced and released by Tony Kalangis on his Sophisticated Funk label in 1974. Kalangis, who sadly passed away in 2017, was a man of many talents who could not only write a great tune but also novels, poems, and film scripts.

'Plastic People' has one of those faultless grooves that goes where you want it to go and does what you want it to do. Small but perfectly formed, somewhere between mellow funk and a mid tempo 2 stepper. A great niche if ever there was one.

The clavinet riff is gently twangy and instantly funky, the horns punctuate an uplifting melody, while the backing vocals float in and out celestially. The relevant lyrics are carried off with a vocal style full of emotional urgency. Pure joy.

"Plastic people, better make some changes soon, or you'll never find a dancer for your tune". Thankfully not the case on this groove! Clavinet freaks will love the instrumental on the B side.

The world has barely recovered from the previous sting of the Scorpio Man, when he lands in another dose. "Cold Turkey Time" from Ernie Hawks' debut album gets a single treatment here arriving back to back with the 45 only track "Tracking Down". The latter should make the b-boys move even if heard in the relaxing steams of a Turkish bath, where its breezy melodies eventually point at.

"Cold Turkey Time" is a serious slab of jazzy funk that shares many of the exotica qualities of its partnering side. It might sound nice, while driving a fine European sports mobile down on a spiraling mountain road, preferably in a 60's dandy state of mind. The eerie wordless vocals at the end tie the package together so nicely that Dario Argento could have made a scene out of it.

The continental vibes emanating from this vinyl single are bound to appeal to rare groove fanatics and secret agents alike. Ernie Hawks and his merry bunch of professionals are on a mean streak here, so keep listening.

Extremely hot on the heels of 'A Library Excursion', Earl Jeffers teams up again with Don Leisure, his partner-in-beats for another EP of Darkhouse Family goodness. Following on from their highly acclaimed debut album 'The Offering' from late last year on First Word, the Cardiff duo have hand selected a group of friends, dons and legends (including DJ Spinna & Kaidi Tatham) to serve us up 'An Extra Offering'. Five remixes curated by the crew.

For the refix of 'The Accession' (which originally featured Kamaal Williams, Dave Newington and Daf Davies from Boy Azooga), label-mate Kaidi Tatham kicks off with some down-low bottom-heavy boom bap, before switching up the tempo mid-way for a blast of his inimitable jazz-funk bruk boogie.

Next up we're honoured to have not one, but TWO tracks from the Brooklyn legend, DJ Spinna. His Galactic Soul rub of 'Another World' flips the original into a deep soulful 4/4 house cut, featuring the lush vocals of Esther (and one Charlotte Church on backing vocals, pop fact fans).

Then there's DJ Spinna's Galactic Funk take on 'Just So You Know' with the marvellous Vanity Jay on vocals. This one is on the same mid-tempo tip as the original, but with that unmistakable Polyrhythm Addict flavour of big kicks, crisp snares, hench bassline and sweet spacey synths.

For the 'GAEA' remix we keep it Cardiff and introduce the man like Alfie Swan. Doubling up the tempo of the original, this adds some seriously wavy sonics and flips the groove entirely, creating a seriously innovative cocktail of riddims. One for those not shy of some jazz ethics in the dance.

And to close out this offering, Andromeda Jones lays down a ridiculously delectable broken beat mix of 'Journey To Love', this one again featuring Vanity Jay. No messing with this one, this is straight dancefloor fire, transforming the hip hop soul track into a future boogie heater. One for the ravers.

This EP illustrates once again Darkhouse Family's wide range of influences and sounds, as selectors and as music makers themselves, and is no doubt one that will stay in your box for a very long time...n

Reminiscent of the infamous quote 'There are four lights", the release kicks off with an homage to the will of resistance. From Captain Picard to Orwell - may the (referential) chain of command is not as evident as H4L's sci-fi passion, the title track's power structure couldn't be wielded more efficiently: While stomping kick drums and subtle hi-hats build up a foreplay full of suspense, the witty melody with its warped and distorted sounds grants 'Four Lights' the perfect authority. Following a similar approach, 'Fesch' with its bouncy and mantra-like groove, in which synths playing a ping-pong game, completes the swinging A-side. Deep'a & Biri, the Israeli DJ and producer duo from Tel Aviv, start the flip side with their interpretation of 'Four Lights". By using breaks and greater attention for details, the remix not only redirects the originals' energy into more hypnotic realms, Deep'a & Biri extract the melody's keys in order to create a moody and dense version. Resonating from two decades of warehouse reverberation experience, 'Disc 2 Dysnomia' finishes the release with an IDM-drenched workout, full of UK bass knowledge, unpolished electro grooves, and swirling synth poetry. Absolute freedom means absolute lawlessness.

to Me, Sounds Have Always Been More Interesting Than Words,' Says Agnes Obel. i Love It When The Voice Becomes An Instrument And You Almost Forget It's A Human Voice.' Never Is This More Apt Than On This Beautifully Programmed And Bewitching Selection Of Music.

Agnes' 2010 Debut Album Philharmonics Went Platinum In France And Belgium And, Unsurprisingly, Quintuple Platinum In Her Native Denmark, Where She Also Won Five Danish Music Awards (equivalent To The Brits) In 2011. The Follow-up Aventine, Released In Late 2013, Was Imbued With The Same Measured Calmness As Her Debut. It Went Platinum In Belgium And Gold In Denmark And France.

For The Mix You Have In Your Hands It Feels Almost As If Agnes Has Scoured The World Looking For Kindred Spirits - Or Kindred Songs. There's A Quietude About It All, The Antithesis Of A Rush Hour, Like A Frozen Lake On A Sunday Morning. This Is Aided By A Veritable Cornucopia Of New Obel Material, Including A Haunting Reading Of Danish Song 'glemmer Du', Inger Christensen's 'poem About Death' Set To Original Music, And An Agnes Original, 'bee Dance'.

Among Them, There's The Enigmatic Jamaican Singer Nora Dean Who Weighs In With The Hypnotic And Slinky Duke Reid Production, 'ay Ay Ay Ay (angie-lala)' And The Sparse, Sardonic 'party Girl' By Michelle Gurevich, So Good It Inspired The Eponymous French Movie. There Are The Plangent Voices, The Bulgarian Folklore Choir, Nina Simone, Ray Davies And Agnes Herself, Ringing True. Somehow, Ms Obel Makes Even Makes The Electronic Tracks Bow To Her Needs As With Yello Whose 'great Mission' Is More Martin Denny Than Underworld And Cult Greek Composer Lena Platonos' 'bloody Shadows From A Distance' Pulses Gently Rather Than Throbs And Can's Recently Rediscovered 'obscura Primavera', Unusually Hushed.

"i Was Surprised At How Much Time I Ended Up Spending On This. I Collected All The Songs Together With My Partner Alex And We Just Spent Time Listening To Records, Trying To See What Would Fit Together. Some Of The Music I've Included Here Is On Mixtapes We Made When We Were Just Friends As Teenagers. Each One Of The Tracks Produces Stories In My Head." - Agnes Obel, February 2018

For his inaugural EP under new guise 'Yem Gel', NTS Manchester resident and visual artist Alecs Pierce comes through with a four-track cacophony of sounds for Dave Maclean (Django Django) run label Kick + Clap.
From previous experimental outings as Obsidian Pond, gristed petunia and, Handi Dogh he returns with this new project based solely on electronic compositions, giving the multi-instrumentalist artist a chance to further explore his electronic leanings. Operating with a clear mission statement, Yem Gel moniker seeks to live up to its name's reference to malleable 'fictional future plastics' by offering a set of genre-spanning compositions, drawing from multiple influences from ambient, drum 'n' bass or grime and leaving us wondering where he might take us next.

Way back in 1967, an animated superhero cartoon was released into the world. It was created by Grantray-Lawrence Animation and was based on a web-spinning, crime fighting blue and red dressed character that had originated in1962, in Marvel Comics by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. This amazing series (that we're not allowed to mention the name of for legal reasons) ran on ABC TV in the USA, then Canada, then a few years later started to spread its web further, running here in the UK throughout summer holidays, after school and possibly early mornings at weekends in the late 1970s. The series then got released on VHS video (and probably Betamax too) in the mid 1980s and still continues to spin its animated magic around the world through further broadcasts, YouTube and DVDs.

The series was notoriously low budget, with animated errors everywhere and numerous scenes, sequences and backgrounds being re-used all the time, often across the same episode. Even a certain spider logo on a costume would appear with six legs, then eight legs later on, then back to six again in the same show.

Series One opened with a newly written spider theme, a classic, hooky song all about doing whatever spiders can, and had, as Big George (RIP) once pointed out to me, a set of session singers falling slightly out of time with the backing track after the first verse. Series One also featured background music by jobbing composers Bob Harris and Ray Ellis but these cues and master tapes are now believed to be lost.

After Series One the company Grantray-Lawrence went bankrupt, so the amazing spider series (that we're not allowed to mention for legal reasons) was taken on by producer Steve Krantz. He brought in new talent, including animation director Ralph Bakshi who later went on to turn a Robert Crumb strip cartoon into the feature Fritz The Cat. Krantz also slashed the already cripplingly small spider budget, and brought in the idea of using economic library music. Here, thanks possibly to an independent sync agent (it has been suggested that a company called Music Sound Track Services may have been the one) production turned to the KPM catalogue. This was one of the few really established library catalogues around at the time with a modern edge, it was full of fabulous, modern dramatic music tracks - often all on the same LP. But more importantly all the tracks were far longer than the one minute musical cuts that many of the fledgling USA library companies were issuing at the time. Not only would this KPM music be efficient, affordable and very easy to use, it would also mean syndication worldwide would not be held up by any future musical issues. Krantz produced two amazing spider series (that we're not allowed to mention for legal reasons), and both were smothered with KPM music. In fact barely a spider second goes by without music playing in either the background or foreground.

For many years I - and many nostalgic others - have been thinking about putting this vinyl album together. For many enthusiasts this really is formative music - a junior foray into hip swinging crime jazz and esoteric musical grooviness. I've also read on line accounts by DJs from WFMU on the trail of original spider master tapes, and there's even a whole forum dedicated to Spidey-Jazz'. Then recently I was looking at an old spider tracklist and realized that several of my favourite KPM cues were there including Syd Dale's Hell Raisers' and Walk And Talk', both from one of the most elusive and desirable KPM albums of all time (yes, you just try and find yourself a copy of KPM 1002 right now), so I decided to push on and get the album made.

So, what features on this Spider-Jazz Lp Well it's music from the amazing TV series we are not allowed to mention for legal reasons, BUT, not music from Series One. No, but it is all from Series Two and Series Three. From looking at archival cue sheets, over 50 tracks from various early KPM 1000 series albums were used across episodes. I've distilled this down into one exciting and enthralling LP, and if this works a further Spider Jazz album may well swing in to production. If you're interested (and I'm sure you may well be) cues here came from KPM1001, KPM1002, KPM1015, KPM1017, KPM1018 and KPM1043 and were composed by master library composers of the era - Dale, Hawkshaw, Hawksworth, Mansfield etc.

And if you are listening over there in the USA, you may well recognize many of the cues here not just from the amazing TV series (that we're not allowed to mention for legal reasons) but also from classic 1960s and 1970s NFL highlight shows that we are allowed to mention.

The return of Bio Rhythm label boss Paul du Lac aka Mirror Man, delivering a brand new collection of autistic jack trax for ADD.

Patti Austin Is From Harlem, New York, The Goddaughter To Quincy Jones With Whom She Sang On the Dude' (including razzamatazz'). She Has Released Solo Albums Since 1976 And Won A Grammy For Her 2008 Release. Her First Singles Were For The Coral Label In The 60s From Where She Has Popularity Began With Northern Soul Fans. In The Early 70s She Recorded For Columbia, A Period From Which The Two Songs Re-released Here Are Her Most Popular. are We Ready For Love' In Its Own Right And didn't Say A Word' As A Highly Regarded Rendition Of A Classic First Recorded By Yvonne Baker. Patti Is Headlining At The Blackpool International Soul Festival In Manchester, Uk This Coming June.

Record Kicks Is Extremely Proud To Present You A New Outfit That Will Take The Soul Scene By Storm: The Faithful Brothers. Coming Straight From The Brainchild Of Tel Aviv Soul Club, The Faithful Brothers Is Man Of North Country's (acid Jazz Records) Side -project And Its Leaded By Singer "soul Boy" Yashiv Cohen. Monc Teamed Up With Record Diggers The Neeman Brothers To Form This New Eight-piece Deep Soul Combo. Their Official Debut On Record Kicks Is Expected With 2 Brand New Singles That Will Be Available On Digital Download And Limited Edition 45 Next 15 Of June.

On The A Side "crossroads Of Love" Is A Northern Soul / R&b Stormer That Will Set All The Dancefloor On Fire. On The Flip Side The Stunning Crossover Soul Single "one More Time" Penned To Be An Instant Classic On All Rare Soul Dancefloors Across The World.

Don't Sleep Though, This 45 Will Be Limited To 500 Copies, So First Come First Served...watch Out!

Oktave Records returns for the third installment from the label, once again featuring owner and proprietor Jeff Derringer at the helm. The 'Factions' EP shows Jeff at his most direct and robust, with three tracks of meticulously constructed techno.

'Factions' starts the EP and goes straight for the heart of the dance floor, with a tunneling groove that lures the listener into hypnosis before a devastating break takes the track to a whole new level of intensity. This one is for the ravers, no doubt.

The flip side starts with 'Penalty Phase', another floor-focused stunner that features Jeff's signature kick drum and drive, coupled with evolving synth arpeggios and melancholy vibes for those early club mornings as the sun comes up. Finally, 'The Second Plane' slows the tempo down a bit and ends the record with a thoughtful broken beat arrangement reminiscent of early Warp.

'Factions' was written during the winter of 2018 and mastered by Tim Xavier at Manmade Mastering.

Pressed on solid orange vinyl.

It's been over 10 years since the release of Gui Boratto's breakthrough full length debut 'Chromophobia'. As to what its title suggests, he shook up the techno game with a contrast of lushly coloured minimal grooves and melody, whilst many will recall that the album included the highlight single Beautiful Life' which became a dance floor anthem for that era. Four albums in and countless EPs and remixes under his belt, the Brazilian producer's unique savoir-faire in carving out a functional album out of diversely routed singles and features is back at it on his fifth studio LP, 'Pentagram'. Here Gui Boratto lays down a nuanced 12-track narrative that reinvigorates his signature sound into a refreshingly different perspective that feels all too familiar - including the return of Beautiful Life' vocalist (and Gui Boratto's wife) Luciana Villanova on the single "Overload".

Through his signature kaleidoscopic approach, Boratto delivers an album built as a far-reaching hub-and-spoke system, broadly inclusive as can be. From the opening cut, 'The Walker' - hot on the trail of Tears For Fears 'Elemental' (one of Boratto's "favourite 80's bands") - to the hi-NRG euphoria of 'Forgotten' and its pounding tech alter ego 'Forgive Me'. "I was going into 2 different directions", Boratto says, "the typical indie- electronic-rock' Boratto kind of production like It's Majik' or Like You' and a much more techno approach." He goes on, "I decided to split them into two twin sister songs. When I play live I always put these two songs together."

The Brazilian Producer further embraces the pop-friendly essence of his past work on tracks like 'The Phoenix', featuring vocalist Nathan Berger, and 'Overload', both melding acidulous synthlines with laser-precise breaks, vox hooks and drops calibrated for extended radio and club use, although sieved through his distinctive rainbow-hued musical prism. For the symbolists out there, the album's pared-down closer '618' duration accidentally happens to equate the proportions of the said pentagram. "Coincidence" Boratto questions, and capsulises, "not so ufanista and supporter of Brazilian neo-concretism, but I guess the brazilian sculptor Lygia Clark also inspired me a lot. Not the meaning of her sculptures, but the shape of the hinge of most of her work. I've wanted to transmit the scientific pentagram's point of view. It's not a religious kind of thing."

Whereas 'Spur' (a field-tested 808 and 909-heavy "purist track", "very, very old school" Boratto insists) and 'Alcazar' are sheer smooth-edged four-to- the-floor epics, the album also shares its lot of startling moments, such as with the John Barry'esque 'Scene 2' (with a hint of Amon Tobin, 'Easy Muffin' style, throw in) and its refined string-laden buildup, 100% fitted for a 007 opening credit sequence, or with 'Hallucination' (feat B.T.) and the further James Holden-ish title-track 'Pentagram' (think 'The Idiots Are Winning'), "one of those exercises I did when I got my Buchla modular synth" Boratto analyses, "I think I've used more then 30 different snares, with different delays and reverbs. The whole song is alive". And so is 'Pentagram' in its entirety: alive and definitely just as manifold and hopeful as its architectonics are the stuff of science and dreams all at once.

Es ist zehn Jahre her seit der Veröffentlichung von Gui Borattos bahnbrechendem Debütalbum - Chromophobia . So wie der Titel vermuten ließ, war das Album mit seinen kontrastreichen Minimalgrooves und den üppig gefärbten Melodien ein Schocker im besten Sinne. Ihr erinnert euch sicher noch an die Hit-Single - Beautiful Life , eine Dancefloor-Hymne aus dieser Zeit. Nach vier Alben und unzähligen EPs und Remixen ist das einmalige Savoir-faire des brasilianischen Produzenten, aus vielfältigen Singles und Features stimmige Alben zu schaffen, auch auf seinem fünften Studioalbum - Pentagram zu hören. Hier legt Gui Boratto ein Zwölf-Track-Narrativ vor, das seine Handschrift auf erquickende Weise wiederbelebt. Wiederbelebt wird auch die Stimme von - Beautiful Life (die der Frau Gui Borattos gehört) auf dem Stück - Overload .

Durch seinen charakteristisch kaleidoskopischen Ansatz liefert Boratto ein Album, das gebaut ist wie die Speichen deines Fahrrads, von dem Opener - The Walker - direkt auf der Spur von Tears For Fears - Elemental (einer von Borattos - favourite 80's bands ) - zur Hi-NRG-Euphorie von - Forgotten und seinem stampfenden Counterpart - Forgive Me . - Ich bin in zwei unterschiedlichen Richtungen gegangen , sagt Boratto: - den typischen ,Indie-Electronic-Rock'-Weg wie in - It's Majik oder - Like You und den Techno-Weg. Er fügt hinzu: - Ich hab mich entschieden jedem Track seinen Zwillings-Track an die Seite zu stellen. Immer wenn ich live spiele lege ich die zwei Stücke zusammen.

Der brasilianische Produzent erschließt weiter die Pop-Essenz seiner vergangenen Arbeit auf Tracks wie - The Phoenix (feat. Nathan Berger) und - Overload . Beide kombinieren zwitschernde Synthi-Melodien mit lasergenauen Breaks, Hooklines, Drops und sind wie gemacht für die Rotation und den Club. Und für die Symbolisten da draußen: die Länge des reduzierten Closers - 618 beträgt zufälliger Weise genau die Proportionen des besagten Pentagramms. - Fügung , fragt Boratto und fasst zusammen: - Ich bin kein Anhänger des brasilianische Neo-Konkretismus , aber ich glaube die brasilianische Künstlerin Lygia Clark hat mich sehr inspiriert. Nicht die Bedeutung ihre Skulpturen aber die Form der meisten ihrer Arbeiten. Ich wollte den wissenschaftlichen Blickwinkel auf das Pentagramm übersetzen. Nicht im religiösen Sinne oder so."

Während - Spur (ein erprobter - purist track auf der Basis von 808 und 909, - sehr, sehr old school , wie Boratto betont) und - Alcazar glatte Vierviertel-Epen sind, hält das Album auch Überraschungsmomente bereit. Z.B. das John Barryschen - Scene 2 (auch eine Spur von Amon Tobins - Easy Muffin ist darin zu hören) und seinem Streicher-Aufbau, der hundertprozentig geeignet wär für eine Eröffnungssequenz in einem Bond-Film. Auch - Hallucination (feat. B.T.) oder der James-Holden-hafte Titeltrack - Pentagram (wir denken da an - The Idiots Are Winning ) wäre da zu nennen. - Einer dieser Übungen, die ich gemacht habe, als ich meinen Buchla-Modular-Synthesizer bekommen habe, war , erinnert sich Boratto, - mehr als 30 verschiedene Snares, Delays und Reverbs zu verwenden. Der ganze Song sollte am Leben sein. Und so ist - Pentagram im Ganzen: lebendig und sicher genau so vielfältig wie sein Bauplan, der auch der Wissenschaft und den Träumen zugrundeliegt.

Superb Fatal Digital Dub From Shinobi, The Digital French Dub Tradition ! .... Check Out The Old School !

Shinobi Was An Artist From Brest, Friend Of Ultramars Who Pressed The First Medicinal Records In Year 2004. Shinobi Also Released Some Gread Hip Hop Tunes Too, By The Way...

Helas Shinobi Died Young... Here Are Some Of His Unreleased Tunes.

May The Peace Be With His Familly & Friends.

And R.I.P. Shinobi.

Baiano & Os Novos Caetanos was a band formed by prolific and multi-talented Brazilian comedians Chico Anysio and Arnaud Rodrigues. Satirising Brazil's Tropicalia movement in the 1970s, the duo took a friendly crack at the likes of Caetano Veloso and psychedelic rockers Novos Baianos, with their righteous tropicalista alter-egos 'Baiano' and 'Paulinho Boca de Profeta' poetically denouncing the dictatorship while simultaneously mocking those who took themselves too seriously. Jazz funk legends Azymuth play backing band with keyboard maestro Jose Roberto Bertrami also responsible for the arrangements on the album. Azymuth's free and funky psych sounds combine with accordion, harmonica, brass and plenty of rural Brazilian rhythms, for a hugely varied album drawing on MPB, funk and soulful samba rock. The album also features Orlandivo who co-wrote many of the songs, and renowned multi-instrumentalist and producer Durval Ferreira.

Rebirth return for the second in their LTD series. Argy opens up the e.p. with an atmospheric arp laden stomper enriched by the magical vocals of Blue Jay. Acid Pauli then take on remixing Modular Project's 'Leaving', coupling glitchy vocal loops and pulsating synths together with a hypnotic groove to create a trippy minimal roller. Closing out the e.p. Tiger & Woods add their trademark touch to Lele Sacchi's 'Dreaming Won't Do', focusing the track around the exuberant piano melodies whilst manipulating the vocal sample into a percussive snare element to give a distinctive feel to the remix. Killer work as always from the Rebirth crew.

Bluestaeb's Evolution From A Beatmaker To A Producer Is His Sophmore Album everything Is Always A Process'.

He Is One Of The Key Figures Of A New Generation Of Up And Coming Hiphop Beatmakers, Who Have Emancipated From Genre Thinking And Instead Merge Old School Aesthetics With A New School Attitude And Organic Instrumentation.

Everything Is Always A Process Re-iterates Bluestaeb's Overall Approach To Life (and Thinking), But Also Has Direct Reference To The Making Of The Album Itself, Which Began With Moving From Berlin To Paris In 2015 In The Search Of New Influences And A New Creative Environment.
Created Between 2015 And Early 2018, Eiaap Embodies The Process Of This Transition - As Well As Collaboration With Instrumentalists And Vocalists From All Over The World And Recording In Different Studios In Paris, London & Berlin.

"meeting All Those Musicians And Trying Out New Ways Of Producing By Using Real Analogue Synths, Rhodes, Drums And Percussion Etc. Made It Possible To Overcome The Creative Boundaries Of A Home Studio With Just A Midi Keyboard" / Bluestaeb

Influenced By Madlib's "shades Of Blue" And Trained In African Drum Techniques Such As Djembé And Daruka, Bluestaeb Had Been Crafting His Own Beats Since His Teenage Years And Gradually Found His Sound Identity Through Experimenting With Hiphop And Jazz - First To Be Heard By A Broader Music Community In 2013, When He Released His Debut Album "1991 Extraterrestrial" (radio Juicy). Since Then The Prolific Young Artist Has Released Numerous Solo And Collaboration Projects ("b.l.u.e. Friday" In 2015 And - sidekicks With S. Fidelity In 2016). In 2016, He Produced Collaborative Album "lit - Lost In Translation With Rapper Juju Rogers, A Keen Manifesto Against Racism, Xenophobia And The Rise Of Anti-heroes Such As Donald Trump.
Today, Bluestaeb Lives And Works In Paris And Berlin And Is Set To
Release His Third Solo Album everything Is Always A Process', A
Smooth Neo Soul-induced Epic Featuring Artists Such As Noah Slee, Harleighblu And Melodiesinfonie, Via Jakarta Records In 2018.

Jon Hassell Hatte Mit Seinem Visionären "fourth World" Konzept Vor 40 Jahren, Das Überlieferte Ur-weisheiten Mit Modernster Technologie Fusionierte, Einen Massgeblichen Einfluss Auf Musiker Wie Brian Eno ("my Life In The Bush Of Ghosts"), Talking Heads (remain In Light"), Peter Gabriel, David Sylvian, Björk Und Neuerdings Oneohtrix Pojnt Never, Huerco S Und Visible Cloaks. Nach Zwei Alben Ende Der Nullerjahre Auf Ecm Und Diversen Retrospektiven Seitdem Erscheint Nun Mit "listening To Pictures (pentimento Volume One)" Sein Erstes Neues Material Seit Fast Einer Dekade, Auf Dem Jon Hassell Seine Lebenslange Erkundung Der Möglichkeiten Der Rekombination Und Recodierung Musikalischer Fragmente Fortführt, Die Gesampled, Gelooped, Overdubbed Und In Betörende Neue Formen Neu Arrangiert Werden. Dabei Überträgt Er Die Maltechnik Des Pentimenti, Bei Der Teile Eines Gemäldes Während Der Produktion Übermalt Werden, Auf Die Musik Und Erzeugt Mit Überlagerten Sounds Völlig Neue Strukturen.

Electronic music label Sheik 'N' Beik announces its new release SNBV013, an EP called Daisy Cutter by JEM. This EP is the third release in their series aimed at celebrating the diversity and history of New York and its boroughs. As Sheik 'N' Beik's hometown and source of constant inspiration, the label focuses on spotlighting and paying homage to the five boroughs of New York including Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island
and The Bronx. Each borough's flag is given a modern and colorful twist via the cover art and design of
each outer jacket. The first release in the series, Manhattan, featured local NYC hero and co-founder of
Voodoo Down Records N'conduit, and the second, Kathisma resident Mr. Dello's Vaadhoo EP. The new EP from JEM, dedicated to The Bronx, opens up with title track Daisy Cutter, which directly sets the tone of the release with a straightforward, dynamic techno, elevated by an eerie, dark atmosphere. It
goes on with Neb, a downtempo second track with a lighter tone that progressively gets back to the initial
mysterious mood and capriciously brightens it with warmer back-and-forth sounds. Next on the 12' is
Semiotic, a third track structured by a clever balance of deconstructed rhythms and sparse acid and synth
melodies in the continuity of the lighter, warmer mood previously built up. The EP ends with Temple, with
a more aggressive accent animated by several lighter melodic layers and a stifled background bass.

Mythical status for those rare disco tracks & heavy in demand 12 inches.

Joe Powers is from Edinburgh, far outside the network of the Grime capital of London. His caffeinated productions as Proc Fiskal are faster than usual, with many clocking in at 160bpm. 'The Highland Mob', his 2017 debut EP, opened up his music to open-eared footwork and drum'n'bass fans as well as the grime crowd. After following that up with a jungle-inflected EP on Cosmic Bridge, 'Insula' switches the feel and intention towards a personal, and melodic music with one foot in Grime, infused with often comic, often wistful recorded moments from his environment. He says 'I wanted to be aware of where the music is coming from, referencing things I'm presently experiencing, like making Grime, my Radar radio show, phone addiction, alcohol, my surroundings, girls, depression, positivity, being unemployed, being employed and hating it, my friends etc. Trying to be true to myself instead of relying on other peoples' nostalgia, and focusing on now.'

The record is a huge leap in vision, with delicate, pointillist melodies and intricate edits reminiscent of Grime producers such as Terror Danjah. It also resonates with Japanese video game music like that recently explored on the 'Diggin' In The Carts' compilation.

'I think I probably make tunes to get out emotions I don't express in day-to-day life. I used clips of my friends talking, drunk folk, and general Scottish life to preserve and represent what my experience is like right now, like a time capsule. Social media notification sounds are designed to release serotonin, which is what I'd like my music to do, to make me, and other people happy, and in using these manipulative noises in a positive way, I like to think I'm taking back the power of the manipulation.'

Proc Fiskal is adventurous and thoughtful as a producer, and at the young age of 21, his debut album is very advanced in its ideas and execution.

Enigmatic producer Waxwood has a genuinely global outlook. Born in Russia, resident in Brooklyn and a regular visitor to Los Angeles, he can often be found jetting off to far-fung parts of the World in order to make feld recordings and immerse himself in different musical cultures.
You can hear these disparate global infuences and inspirations in
Waxwood's frst single for Claremont 56, which comes on the back of a near legendary 2015 cassette for NYC's Styles
Upon Styles, Sahasraha, which magically fused tropical hand
percussion and densely layered feld recordings with lilting ambient chords, hypnotic electronic rhythms and all manner of intoxicating
aural fourishes. 'Kama' is a slightly different beast from its' predecessor, with a sunny disposition and laidback breeziness throughout. Although underpinned
by a sturdy kick-drum pattern, its chiming melodies and metallic
percussion fourishes - reminiscent of indigenous music from far-
fung nations such as Malaysia and Indonesia - combine with gentle acoustic guitar motifs and waves of acid-esque electronics to create a beguiling and life-affrming mood. It offers more proof that Waxwood is a producer with a unique musical vision. The track's inherent gentle breeziness is explored in greater detail on the accompanying remix, which has been provided by Phantom Island regulars Fuga Ronto (AKA Swiss musicians/producers Ron Shiller and Tobi Schweizer). Riffng on Waxwood's original, they've added superb new vocals and instrumentation - think dreamy harmonies, tumbling synthesizer melodies and mesmerizing guitar parts - to create a sunset-friendly Balearic revision that's both stunningly beautiful and dazzlingly sun-kissed.

Forest Flame is the debut solo effort of the Texas-based Shea McGilvray. His previous works have been featured in compilation and remix releases on labels such as Echovolt, Shimmering Moods, and Bokhari's Swamp Tapes.

For the summer, FRABON present "Loop Machine" EP
from the brillant emerging italian producer Andrea Falsone with
two original mix, for the remix this time we have AGENT! from germany,
him make music on Cocoon, Desolat, Moon Harbour and many more big labels, and plus the duo italian Maury and Joe Dielle.

Lowfish is back! The electro veteran, who's been programming 808s since the early '90s, returns to Suction Records, the label he co-founded and debuted on in 1997, for his first release since 2011. This is suction046 - the 'Hypersensitivity' EP. It's been a while, but as the sprinkling of Lowfish compilation appearances - on labels like Analogical Force and Fundamental Records - over the intervening years have shown, Lowfish isn't interested in radical changes; it's all about quality and consistency. Flawlessly produced 808 drums, meticulously processed for maximum slam, combine with Lowfish's trademark synthesizer melodies and heavily-manipulated dialogue samples... best heard on standout cuts 'Apr294ms' - a melodic techno/electro dancefloor killer - and 'Favourable Reports' - a slice of 808 synthpop with melodic nods to vintage OMD and Gary Numan.

Pepe continues on the regular Atavisme Catalogue Number Order. And again two classique straight up, longue and 'burning' 4 2 the floor House tracks as only Bradock can do. IS THIS REALLY A PARTY Yes you bet !! or in Pépé ´s unfiltered words: / The legal age of majority and the right to vote. 1<3 : chronology and timing is mandatory to make things happen supposedly.. After the terrible plague of awful doppelgängers, it is time to smoke out the disgusting trolls, using the best ingredients possible, Is this really a party Yes you bet !! Is hunger healthy or unhealthy Moderation is key, Oui guess. But ' À table!'

Jaar's Other People is pleased to present a new solo record of guitar and live custom electronics artist Patrick Higgins, an American avant-garde composer and producer from New York City. Higgins is known for his work in experimental and contemporary classical music, playing guitar and composing in the mythical avant-noise-jazz ensemble Zs. His solo work as a composer unites European avant-garde forms with the post-minimalist howl of New York. His upcoming release on Other People, 'Dossier,' is a four-movement piece performed live without overdubs or edits. All of the samples and synthetic patches were custom built and specifically engaged to become elements of live guitar manipulation. The sound world is post-apocalyptic in spirit but builds to an intimate and reflective end. The material was developed over a two-year period and finalized at the end of 2016. Cover art is by Alfredo Jaar.

Fresh on Francis Harris' Kingdoms imprint comes Rasmus Juncker's 'Ophold' - six tracks of sublime atmospheres and textures. The Danish musician, sound composer and DJ fits perfectly with the label's aesthetic, joining the dots between ambient, leftfield electronica and modern classical.

Juncker has a background in studying jazz drumming and has been playing improvised music within the jazz domain for many years. He also started to DJ at the age of 14 and was introduced to the world of electronic music production at the same time.

When Rasmus started to think about his debut album he spent several months trying to find his own way to combine his favourite musical influences, improvisation, electronics and classical music. 'Almost a year later', Juncker says, "I went to a sensory deprivation floating tank in Copenhagen while researching for another performance and while I was lying there, floating in the water, deprived from most of my senses, I got the idea to do something drastic in my musical process. Philosophers like Immanuel Kant describe this deprived state as a mental 'Cesura', which became some sort of guideline for the album."

So Juncker decided to start working on the album by leaving the process as well as the final result completely open. 'I wanted to create sounds and music that I had no idea what they would sound like, but would feel like a mental 'Cesura', an 'Ophold' (in Danish)' he states.

He invited musicians, one after the other, to his studio. "I had an electronic musician to improvise patterns and new interesting sounds based on my experience in the deprivation tank. I chose some of the takes and some weeks later I invited a jazz guitarist to listen and improvise on top of what he heard. Then a classical string quartet and a double bass player came to my studio months later, and finally I recorded myself on percussion and drums.

Throughout the recording process I've been experimenting with special microphones in various setups, used noises from the recordings and the room became absolutely essential for the pieces." Juncker states.

"The material I used was all first take improvision which I arranged, layered and edited into compositions. The final pieces were mixed by Andreas Pallisgaard with the same improvised and experimental approach of the recording and the production. None of the musician met each other, but their sounds developed into something completely fantastic I think. The presence of the acoustic instruments and the depth and complexity of the synthesized layers gave some kind of an indescribable sounding music from another galaxy.

Track by track:

'Norddrum' starts proceedings - ethereal, grainy sounds merge and disassociate, as a distant rhythm gradually finds its way to the fore.

The second track, 'Sora' , clocking in at under 2 minutes, is an interlude full of strings, pads, and percussive hits, rich in feeling. This strong sense of sound design and seemingly disparate sounds woven together into a whole carries through into 'Eksotisk Tirsdag' - the strings, plucked instruments and electronics harking back to 4th world adventurers like Jon Hassel and Brian Eno.

'Cyklus' dives into drone textures, pulsing and modulating to create an unearthly soundtrack.

'Havekunst' is another 2 minutes interlude, this time bringing a fully charged rhythmic barrage to the front.

'Cesura', the final track is in essence the EP's centerpiece - a sprawling 8 minute journey that traverses tense, fibrous sections and on into pulsing modular passages, before opening up into glorious moments of wonder and brightness. It's a hugely bold yet fragile endeavour, in line with the whole release.

Dark Matters label head Amirali returns with the expertly crafted Odyssey EP, employing his vital understanding of
space and texture to construct a highly emotive release featuring a remix from Fort Romeau. The three track
package is out digitally on May 14th followed by the vinyl release a few weeks later.
Leading on from his critically acclaimed discography and curatorial work with the inimitable Dark Matters imprint,
Amirali enters 2018 with grand plans for the future. He is currently conceptualising a live stage show whilst
continuing to provide a platform for all manner of weird and wonderful music.
'Odyssey' is a striking example of Amirali's penchant for songwriting, as well as a testament to his sonic identity,
merging memorable harmonies with heartfelt vocals and complex soundscapes. 'Hidden Past' veers more towards
the dancefloor, brandishing vast sonic explorations and levitating pads amongst detailed drum patterns. For the
'Hidden Past' remix, Fort Romeau mutates the delicacy of the original into a spaced out dose of peak time house,
gradually building rich harmonies around a fierce rhythmic motif.
On the creation of this forthcoming EP, Amirali states:
"Nothing is more important than my craft which is the main reason I'm here. There's no better satisfaction than to
create an amazing piece of music, that's my happiest point in life. I don't want my work to just be good or ok and that
takes a lot of effort and sacrifice in life. I got to a point where I said to myself I have to go and disappear for a while,
go be normal and do normal things. Instead of being on the road all the time, stay home, create an environment I
like to write music. There have been many experimentations involved in my upcoming material. I wanted to try and
push myself to the limit and I believe I've succeeded. For me, it's all about evolving and exploring areas I haven't
touched. That's why sometimes it takes a bit longer than expected, I don't just want to meet people's expectations,
sometimes I want to blow them away. There is so much music coming out week in and week out, the music is
evidently becoming more disposable and I would like to stay out of that chaos. When you stay true to your heart and
try to do something different you put yourself in an uncomfortable situation, that's when you grow as an artist and
also as a person, but the satisfaction you get when you finish a work cannot be put into words.

Good news, kids: Now you can play a different Kitjen record every day of the week, because just as last summer, we have some hot Dutch jams coming your way for Kitjen 007: Utrecht's own Stijn Sadée, who has been making moves in the Dutch scene for a while and runs the infamous Club Sauvage night, brings us three mystically exotic joints that showcase his manifold sources of inspiration and will bang your gong this summer. None other than Hessen's love doctor Gerd Janson stops by to seal the deal by turning "Affetto" into a 12 minute dancefloor journey. Pack light!

The spaniard act AM is our last national discover. Coming from Valencia, a city that on the mid 80's has been with Brussels and Manchester at the european vanguard of the most advanced and darkest beats. AM, clearly influenced by those days of glory, presents on their vinyl debut an outstanding EP that sometimes could remind to the best FRONT 242 period and sometimes could remind to be listening to the late 80's NewBeat top hymns at Boccaccio, surely anyone will remain indifferent to AM. It will be presented on 12 EP format and produced in a ONE-OFF truly limited edition of 300 copies lacquered pressed on 180 gr. high quality solid black vinyl. All tracks have been specially mastered and remastered for LONG CUT vinyl by Eric Van Wonterghem

The italian act Geometric Vision has earned a solid reputation as one of the best post-punk bands out there. This EP, with specially remastered versions, is an extract / advance of their very awaited new LP 'FIRE! FIRE! FIRE!' to be released next april 23 at SWISS DARK NIGHTS on digital / cd and on vinyl standard LP version on MANIC DEPRESSION RECORDS. Somehow near of the best The Cure but with clear reminds to The Stone Roses for the exquisite use of the reverbs and delays on all tracks, but all that, surely, with a more agressive and darky approach. Volkan Caner of She Past Away helps GV to close this EP with the amazing 'Jelly Dream'. It arrives on 12 EP format and produced in a ONE-OFF truly limited edition of 300 copies lacquered pressed on 180 gr. high quality solid black vinyl. All tracks have been specially remastered for LONG CUT vinyl by Eric Van Wonterghem

Two of Russian electronic music's rising stars, Phil Gerus and Alexander Lay-Far, invite you to join them at the Solitary High Social Club. While table service is provided, they'd much rather you throw caution to the wind and head to the dancefoor.
Before joining forces in the studio, both Moscow-based musicians have delivered a string of memorable solo productions. Lay-Far has previously released a wealth of material on such labels as Local Talk, City Fly, Lazy Days and 4Lux Black, while synthesizer fetishist Gerus has showcased his electrofunk and disco-fred cuts on Futureboogie Recordings, Sonar Kollektiv, Public Release
and Superior Elevation Records.
The fve tracks that make up Solitary High Social Club deliver a perfect marriage of the two producers' distinctive solo styles, combining the rich musicality of Lay-Far's house productions with the spacey, intergalactic electronics of Gerus's discoid adventures. In many ways, it's a marriage made in heaven - or in Lay-Far's celebrated In-Beat-Ween Studio, at least.
The duo's spacey and melodious musical fusion is arguably best exemplifed by lead cut City 2 City, Star 2 Star', a widescreen, mid-tempo disco epic rich in tactile Rhodes riffs, supernova synth solos, delay-laden drum beats, tumbling melody lines and heavy analogue bass. Fittingly, the track returns in Reprise' form - think sweeping, weightless ambient bliss - to round off the EP.
Elsewhere, the duo provides further proof of their combined musical talents.
Check, for example, the gentle drum machine electro beats, cascading new age melodies and sparkling, stretched-out synthesizer chords of the impeccably beautiful Am I Tripping', or the devilishly percussive, mind-altering brilliance of Love Life', where mutant electro bass, wide-eyed chords and alien melodies rise above a heavy, Afro-infuenced groove. As for Snowfakes On Her Lips', you'll struggle to fnd a more confdent and positive dancefoor workout all year. Blessed with killer piano parts, darting analogue synth-bass and a range of disco-tinged musical fourishes, it's by far and away the most celebratory moment on an already happy-go-lucky EP. It confrms, too, our initial hunch: at the Solitary High Social Club, life is always good.

Nicolas Lattansio, aka SHIT, was raised in Temperley, a small borough in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. In 1996, he had his first encounter with electronic music and has been inseparable ever since. Hes in love with the beats and the dance floor. His tracks are played by the likes of DJs Pareja, Alejandro Paz, Carisma and Mijo. Hes the founder and resident DJ of Te Re Cagamos La Fiesta and TOKYO, the Festival. He defines his music as indie techno, with strong beats, vocals and plenty of attitude. Without a doubt, SHIT is one of the most powerful projects in the neighborhood.


The Solo En La Pista EP shows SHIT's veritable force in the blooming indie-techno scene growing out of Mexico and South America, and the remix with Mexico City's Ali X x Ximena (former Azari III) is an extremely strong dance floor track that has proven itself upon many floors and festivals from Burning Man and beyond over the course of 2017 in preparation for it's public launch this year.

Factory Benelux presents a new vinyl edition of Swimming, the debut album by Belgian new wave group The Names, originally issued in June 1982, and now issued in a limited edition of 300 copies on clear vinyl.

Between 1979 and 1982 The Names recorded a string of excellent records for Factory, Factory Benelux and Les Disques du Crepuscule, all helmed by legendary producer Martin Hannett. Recorded at Strawberry Studios in Manchester, Swimming has come to be regarded as a European cold wave classic, combining strong songwriting from Michel Sordinia and poised, tasteful delivery by guitarist Marc Deprez and keyboards player Christophe Den Tandt.

"Exhibits many of the fine qualities of early 80s avant-rock: icy brutalism, spectral reverb, tormented vocals, techno-tribal rumbles" (Uncut, 12/2000); "Swimming retains a gorgeously shrouded, sepulchral mood" (Mojo, 12/2011); "Intelligent and imaginative" (The Face, 7/1982)
Bonus tracks include the popular singles Calcutta, Nightshift, Spectators of Life and The Astronaut, as well as the band's John Peel session from February 1982 - the first ever recorded by a Belgian band. The gatefold sleeve features original artwork and poster design by Benoit Hennebert, and photographs by Marc Portee.

Katharsis was originally a regular party organized at the infamous Contact, Tokyo, the home of the electronic music scene in Japan.
In 2017 Katharsis Recordings was launched, with the first release being touted by many in the Japanese techno scene and played by the
likes of DJ Nobu at Dekmantel.The second release will be scripted with another compilation of 4 Japanese artists.

The first on the A side, Mikuni Kaido by head honcho Masafumi Take, is a fresh track that combines nostalgic arps and analogue bass.

The other main member Kannabi's track 'Shoka' on the B side is an abstract rhythmical piece that evolves slowly.

The second track on the A side 'Kirisame' is by a new member O-Ma. A modular synth enthusiast, his unique analogue sounds are a trademark
of his tracks.


The last track on the EP is 'Yoake' by veteran Ryogo Yamamori. The rolling beat and spacey synth sound gradually build up to a climax and
makes this track perfect for the dance floor.

All 4 tracks are distinctly different showcasing the identity of each artist. This new movement represents a fresh approach to the Japanese
techno scene.

Sing a song fighter have never been more proud and happy than to finally announce and release this unissued and unheard fantastic recording South African in exile Johnny Dyani was one of the greatest bass players. Played with Don Cherry, Chris McGregor, Archie Sheep, Dollar Brand / Abdullah Ibrahim etc etc. He also made many great albums as a bandleader. And a few rare minimal albums where it was mostly him and his upright bass. He died way too early, in 1986. Karl Jonas Winqvist (Sing A Song Fighter) ranks some of Dyani's works ("African Bass", 'Witchdoctor's Son" with Okay Temiz and "Good News From Africa', with Dollar Brand) as "the most natural, creative musical force there is'. KJW investigated for years if there was more recorded Dyani material waiting to be heard. And where After e-mailing endlessly with the National Radio Museum in Switzerland he finally found what he was looking for.In 1978 graphic designer Niklaus Troxler arranged the great Willisau Jazz Festival in Switzerland. A lot of legendary artists like Max Roach, Jan Garbarek, Elvin Jones and Don Cherry were performing, and Johnny Dyani was one of them. He did this rare solo concert with some of the material that two years later would end up on his great album "African Bass". This LP contains the concert from beginning to end, showing Dyani at his very best on piano, gong, bass and vocals. Spiritual, adventurous and truly free,beautiful music.Gatefold cover, with extensive liner notes from Francis Gooding and Niklaus Troxler

For its seventh offering, Sol Power Sound taps into the pulse of the French Antilles for Tambours de Martinique, a blistering EP of original and remixed versions of rare, drum-centric dance floor workouts. Licensed directly from the legendary Martiniquan label Hibiscus Records, the EP features cuts by Eugène Mona and Max Ransay, two of Martinique's most storied musicians. With reworks by Spanish DJ and producer Kiko Navarro and the Sol Power All-Stars, this one will be in the record bags of discerning DJs all summer long.

The A side features 'Lizo' by Eugène Mona, an essential figure in the folkloric music of Martinique based on the bamboo flute, bèlè drums, and the island's specific variant of Antillean creole. Lizo was originally released in 1990 on Mona's Blanc Mangé Blan Manjé LP and is anchored by frenetic percussion, a driving bassline, and house-evocative key stabs. Kiko Navarro's remix takes an already dynamic cut to deep Afro-space with thumping drums and a bubbling synth-bass groove that will put dancers through their paces.

With its powerful combo of urgent brass and ensemble vocals, Max Ransay's 1988 recording of the traditional Martiniquan folk song 'Ti Kanno' fills the B-side. 'Ti Kanno' was previously recorded by Ti Émile, Ransay and Mona's legendary forebear. Full of surprises, Ransay's version is a sonic melting pot of hand percussion, horns, unexpected synth lines, and bass. The Sol Power All-Stars edit fills out the low-end thump and teases out the groove for maximum impact.

Max Loderbauer, who has so far made consistently engaging contributions to the Arjunamusic family, is back to lend his unique interpretive skills to the master recordings for the Brightbird album by João Paulo Esteves da Silva, Mário Franco and Samuel Rohrer. Loderbauer has set himself up for a chal- lenge, since the original album's completely improvised flow of small-ensemble, conversational jazz feels complete enough without outside intervention. However, Loderbauer's role as electronics operator in the similarly attuned Ambiq trio has already shown that, through his mastery of tone color, he has a talent for teasing out the additional hidden details within an apparently 'complete' sonic environment. It's a task he mana- ges to accomplish without ever overriding or contradicting the cohesive message provided by his collaborators.

Adding to the challenge here, Loderbauer chooses to re- mix using only sounds from the original recordings. By doing so, it might seem he is willfully denying himself the chance to use his own signature tools and turn Brightbird's source materi- al into stunningly new electro-acoustic hybrid blooms. Yet Loderbauer succeeds here by becoming something more like a translator than an augmenter - he finds a way to make mea- ningful syntactical changes to the trio's rich and versatile vo- cabulary, and once again unveils a verdant world of hidden details in the process.

The A-side 'Trusting Heart/Cosmos' has an anxious tone introduced by a set of Doppler-effected piano notes that seem to melt in the sun, and is soon complemented by a va- riegated, chattering rhythm line. Here Loderbauer builds up a tactile tension between rhythmic certainty and sharp-angled, de-tuned, and occasionally scrambled instrumentation, framing a disorienting (yet engaging) virtual space where ob- jects' bright hues rapidly change as they contract and expand along multiple dimensions. For the b-side 'Noontide', Lo- derbauer switches to a more focused and streamlined idiom with an uncanny ease, riding along steady waves of sequencer patterning and silvery, resonant shiverings. Reverberating, ho- lographic piano again provides the tonal center here, and the notes ring with a forward-thinking optimism not far removed from classics of the 'Krautrock' era.

Current supporters of all the artists involved will find this to be an invigorating synopsis of their work to date, while newcomers will be treated to a soundworld where skillful fu- sion (the act itself, rather than the music genre with the same name) is constantly on display.

Brother And Sister Eric And Arrontette Mcclinton Had Been Recording For Many Years. Around 1976 They Did A 45 Release Together On Honey Records Called "where You Are" Under The Their Christian Names, Although Eric Was Spelled Eryke! The Single Didn't Have Much Success But Both Brother And Sister Still Went On To Be Amazing Backing Singers Working For Legendary Producers Mike Theodore And Dennis Coffey. Whilst They Were Under The Watchful Eye Of The Production Team They Recorded Some Material Again And A Duo For Theo/coff In A Bid To Get Them Another Record Deal And Show Their Capabilities. These Songs Never Got Releases. Eric Became And Prolific Song Writer And Also Joined The Group High Fashion .
We Are Super Pleased To Finally Release The Shelved Songs From 1978.
This In One Of Two Releases By The Duo.

Twenty-eight Years Ago, Pissed-off Twelve-year-olds Around The Universe Discovered A New Planet, A Black Planet. Public Enemy's Aggressive, Benihana Beats And Incendiary Lyrics Instilled Fear Among Parents And Teachers Everywhere, Even In The Border Town Of Laredo, Texas, Home Of The Future Founders Of The Latin-funk-soul-breaks Super Group, Brownout. The Band's Sixth Full-length Album (out May 25th) Fear Of A Brown Planet Is A Musical Manifesto Inspired By Public Enemy's Music And Revolutionary Spirit.

Chuck D., The Bomb Squad, Flava Flav And The Rest Of The P.e. Posse Couldn't Possibly Have Expected That Their Golden-era Hip Hop Albums Would Sow The Seeds For Countless Public Enemy Sleeper Cells, One That Would Emerge Nearly Three Decades Later In Austin, Texas. Greg Gonzalez (bass) Remembers A Kid Back In Junior High Hipped Him To The Fact That Public Enemy's bring The Noise' Is Built On James Brown Samples, While A Teenaged Beto Martinez (guitar) Alternated Between Metal And Hip-hop In His Walk-man, And Adrian Quesada (guitar/keys) Remembers Falling In Love With Public Enemy's Sound At An Early Age. when I Got Into Hip Hop, I Was Looking For This Aggressive Outlet . . . And I Didn't Even Understand What They Were Pissed Off About, Because I Was Twelve And Lived In Laredo . . . But I Loved It And I Felt Angry Along With Them.'

Joseph Abajian (fat Beats' Owner) Must Have Sensed The Deep Hip-hop Well Lying Beneath The Versatile Band's Latin-funk Veneer. i Thought Their Sound Would Work Covering Public Enemy Songs,' Abajian Says, And, it Was Good To Know They Were P.e. Fans . . . We Came Up With A Track Listing And They Went To Work.' Despite The Band's Eagerness To Work On New Original Material (an Album Of Original Songs Is Slated For Next Year), They Couldn't Pass Up The Opportunity To Pay Homage To This Iconic And Influential Posse.

Translating Sample-based Music To A Live Band Turned Out To Be More Of A Challenge Than They Anticipated. Adrian Tried To Get Inside The Bomb Squad's (public Enemy's Producers/beat-making Team) Head In Order To Find The Inspiration To Reinterpret P.e.'s Songs: imagine The Bomb Squad Going Back In Time And Getting The J.b.s (james Brown's Funky Backing Band) In The Studio And Setting Up A Couple Analog Synths And Then Playing Those Songs.' While Some Songs Closely Follow The Original Musical Blueprint, Others Use The Source Breakbeats As Jumping-off Points Later Sweetened By Trombonist Mark speedy' Gonzales' Horn Arrangements, Synth Wizardry Courtesy Of Friend-of-the-band Peter Stopschinski, And Dj Trackstar's Turntable Scratches. But Don't Listen Expecting To Hear Paint-by-numbers Recreations Of Classic Public Enemy Jams. our Approach Is Never In The Tribute Sense,' Adrian Explains. we've Always Taken It And Made It Our Own, Whether It's The Brown Sabbath Thing Or This Public Enemy Thing.' Coming Off Numerous Tours As Brown Sabbath And Even A Stint Backing The Late Legend Prince, Brownout Is Arguably The Tightest And Funkiest Band On The Road Today And They're Psyched To Bring This Revolutionary Music To The People. For A Band Without An Overt Political Agenda, They Collectively Couldn't Resist The Opportunity To Play This Music Live, Especially Now. if There's Any Way That We Can Use The Already Political And Protest Nature (of P.e.'s Music), We Would Like To Try,' Beto Says. the Album's Title, Fear Of Brown Planet Is Definitely A Relevant Idea Today And We're Not Afraid To Put It Out There, Because We Want To Speak Out.' By Reinterpreting These Hip Hop Classics In Their Unique Style And Channeling The Spirit Of Public Enemy That First Echoed Around The World And Captured Their Imaginations All Those Years Ago, Brownout Is Doing Exactly That.

"After a deceptively quite 2017, Especial picks up the pace pace by welcoming back the peroxide, youth filled Fairplay (re)version and a 2nd EP of old-skool-meets-the-new-school flavoured House and Breaks to lock, jock and spin.

After the criminally overlooked 'How Do You Like Me Now' EP - how is Classic Version not a...classic...version - Junior gets back on the (lino) floor. The EP starts with a look north to the 'other city of 7 hills' that birthed a Warp'd British retake on House in his bleep-dub ode, End Of Love. The autobiographical title belies a forward approach with his trademark echobox kick'n'hats underpinning uplifting keys and nodding bleep finger solo.

Who to join the party then, than another man of mystery, Roy Of The Ravers. After his debut EP on sister label Emotional Response became a most played from Aphex et al, it is only right bring him to E'Special. His brooding, hoover rush Remix 1 heightens the vibes with a heads down bleeping half-steppa. Righteous!

The flip is given over to Junior's roots, bringing the hip-hopper back with the anthemic The Shazsquatch Goes Back Into The Woods. No shoc(k) horror here, just more upwardly mobile breakbeat meets UK techno licks. You can hear Fairplay at one with man and machine, pushing a sound that looks back but most definitely goes forward with 'Sunrise' on the mind.

To close is the swagger of EP title cut, Faxes From The Future. Hair of the (black) dog fuses a swinging break with proto-dub-meets-Giallo stylings to rework the senses and say, now is (still) the time!

A return to making the noise while keeping tongue planted firmly in cheek. What are u like Top. Buzz."

Surface are back after a 5 year break with the first 65d Mavericks ep in over ten years ! With many struggles, false dawns and respectfully one man down, the long-awaited return of the 65d Mavericks shocks and awes with output as bizarre as ever!
Included are 4 deviations of the techno template, ranging from the spoken word rage of False Prophets on 'Notions of Progress' to the insane techno jazz workout of A2's 'Cosmic Drift'. 'You Lost Your Mind' goes abstract with live bass guitar and vocals while B2's 'Immovable (Dub)' throws down the angry man dub vibe.
Rebelling against the safety of the current scene and pushing the sound once more, expect more far out Surface releases from friends like Claude Young, Rich Oddie and new project 'The Downfall of Society' (Simon Shreeve + Nick Dunton) amongst others in the coming months.

Back in stock!

Kornél Kovács Debuts On Unknown To The Unknown With Three Original Cuts - Reportedly Named After Legendary Nightlife Spots Remembered From The Studio Barnhus Man's Years Spent As An Underage Clubber In Stockholm, Sweden. Loud, Proud And Slightly Subversive Club Music For All The Daredevil Djs Out There.

* Following on from last year's debut release on Cold Recordings, Cocktail Party Effect makes a welcome return to the imprint with 4 new genre-melting rhythmical workouts, charged and ready for the dancefloor.

* 'Lemons', the eponymous EP title track, kicks things off, opening with dubbed-out chords and a fidgety, rattling percussive loop which eventually disappears into the background as the breakdown primes itself for the drop. Suddenly, in comes a hyperactive rhythmical workout, rolling at 128bpm but turbo charged with double time percussive flicks. Soon the dub elements return to fill out the sonic, keeping the pace lively and engaging. Quality, effective dancefloor music.

* Following straight on is 'Bangers' which almost sounds like an imagined collaboration between JA rhythms stars of the moment, Equiknoxx and Walton or Batu. Squelchy drums and a t'umping bassline roll things out in fine style.

* Flip the plate then for 'Quite' which brings things back into slightly more familiar territories, utilising a swooping bassline as pitched, deranged vocal stabs swirl about and tight drum programming keeps the pace moving. Last up is 'Flat Football' which returns to a similar form as the title track, 'Lemons'. Manic drum programming is used to create the impression of being in fast forward without moving the tempo over 130bpm! Not for the faint hearted.

Second EP of the label Lowlife Cartel. An all star, six-track release from sixl key artists in various genres, from cutting edge techno to leftfield house, confirmes the versatility of Lowlife Cartel.
The EP begins with "Butt Dub Pregost", dubby downtempo atmospheric track, by one of most innovative and versatile artist of the last years: Buttechno (Rassvet records, Collapsing Market..)."Out For A Walk" by Fmy (Too Rough 4 Radio) is a leftfield house track, face covered and steps muffled through a deadening blizzard of tape saturation and white noisey envelops that find a balance between deepening the sense of immersion and a retained rhythm. "Unusual Mondai", hypnotic track by Sammy T Thompson, an alias of S.Olbricht (UIQ, Opal Tapes..), fits with an introspective melody and atmosphere.
"Mr Hodge Appreciation Society" is a quintessential Machine Woman (Ninja Tune, Peder Mannerfelt, Where to Now) club track, spanning sexy house and bold techno.
"Celestial Body" by PRESENTE oscillates between jungle and drone like a futuristic comet.
"Y'alll" by the rising producer Voyd, is a abstract house piece. Setting skittish drums and altered vox sample, smothered against a grey-ish canvas of blurry, washed-out pads.
Raw and indisputable quality of production.

A man of many alias, the multi-faceted talent behind Juxta Position finally finds his way to Figure, leaving us an EP's worth of highly infectious, acid-festered analogue techno runs. Feeding on the raw and dynamic energy of live hardware production, these jams hit the sweet spot where constant modulation and spontaneous changes transform a bunch of loops into something much more than the sum of its parts. Whether it's a bouncy ride around the rings of Saturn with Elixir, the frantic sledge hammer-assault of Stepping, cascading down into the machine's bowels on Automated Reproduction, or the non-stop, all-out overdrive that is Pestered - every track on this record takes on a whole life of its own, making for some seriously potent DJ-weapons!

First released in 1995 on Jonah's own Aba Christos Tafari Records,Intergalactic Dub Rockis a trip. While the 90s rave continuum buried down the hole of cosmic sci-fi culture, dub's fascination turned elsewhere after 80s touch-stones like Shaka'sBrimstone & FireandCaptain Ganja and the Space Patrol(re-issued by Bokeh last year). But Jonah takes things way far on this, his most adventurous outing: let your needle cruise along these bleeps and strings of 50s space travelling dreams, and the flutes and melodicas of planet earth, hear them clang with the hardest dub FX units the UK could buy at the time. It's one of the most righteous and outward-looking steppas LPs, now liberated from the hands of Discogs-types with a previously CD-only bonus track, 'White Nile'.

Inyotef, Bongoman, Jahman Dan, Kheru - Jonah Dan goes by many names and many trades - akete nyabinghi master, vocalist, producer and filmmaker. For many years he was the go-to studio percussionist for the UK dub scene, collaborating with basically everyone: Paul Fox, Jah Warrior, Robert Tribulation, Jah Fingers, Tony Roots, Alpha and Omega. Along with Bush Chemists (stars of BKV 020...) and Disciples, he toured the continent, spreading the message of UK dub and laying the seeds for a lot of the EU scene today. At some point his Aba Christos Tafari Records morphed into Inner Sanctuary, one of the greatest 90s labels still in operation, go check.

Mgun, Or Manuel Gonzales To His Friends, Has Long Been A Fixture Artist For Dba. Since Making His Uk Debut On The Label In 2012, Having Already Featured On Detroit's Celebrated Wild Oats Imprint, He Has Smoothly Yet Slowly Progressed Through The Presses Of Fellow Dance Music Tastemakers Third Ear Recordings And Kiev's Wicked Bass. Following 2016's Warmly Received 'gentium', 'axiom' Finds Manuel Gonzales Back On Dba With An Index Of Offbeat Jams That Couldn't Have Emerged From The Mind Or Studio Of Any Other Producer.

Once More Envisioned And Engineered In His Native City Of Detroit, The Record Finds Mgun In More Auspicious And Domestic Circumstances. Now Firmly A Father And A Homeowner, 'axiom' Allows Gonzales To Flex His Party Muscle, While Further Pushing The Elastic Boundaries Of His Notoriously Unpredictable And Brilliantly Raw Production Style. Across Twelve Tracks, Listeners Are Offered An Unpredictable Trip Into The Restlessly Experimental Snatches Of Studio Time Gonzales Is Afforded Away From His Day Job At The Legendary People's Records Store. It's Here That Gonzales Absorbs Endless Releases And Rediscoveries Passing Through The Stock, Trading The Occasional Tip With Some Of Detroit's Best Known Producers.

Beginning With The Off-kilter Funk Of 'you Inside Me', 'axiom' Expertly Toes The Line Between Full-bodied, Soulful Club Weapons ('you're Never Home', 'nichrome'), And The Sort Of Lo-fi Tinged Jams That Enable Gonzales's Unusual Weirder Hooks And Rhythms To Extend Into Something Altogether More Hypnotic And Psychedelic ('kartwheel', 'sil').

There Are New Sounds And Approaches Throughout. Centrepiece Track 'see It For Myself' Finds Gonzales On Vocal Duties For The First Time, And The Dystopian Tinted 'vap' Finds His Sound Expanding Into Weightless, Dreamlike Electro. And While Certain Tracks Date Back Years, Having Slowly Matured To Full Funk, Others, Such As The Gloriously Unhinged '359' Were Rapidly Produced To Capture The Inspiring Energy Of A Late-night Glaswegian Rave.

Simply Put, 'axiom' Does The Work Of Representing Mgun At His Musical Best, An Analogue Celebration Of Pure Party Potential.

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.

Raga Yaman
1) Alap
2) Jod
3) Jhala
4) Gat (Composition in Chautal)

Zia Mohiuddin Dagar : rudra veena
Manik Munde : pakhawaj
Gayathri Rajapur & Annie Penta : tanpuras

Recorded by unknown at the University of Washington, HUB Auditorium, Seattle, Washington 15 March 1986 , concert co-sponsored by the UW Ethnomusicology Division and Ragamala.
Original digitally processed audio recording made with Panasonic PV-9000 VCR, Sony PCM-F1, PZM mics. Mastered & Cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering 1117 & 0318.

Liner notes by Renaud Brizard, Stephen O'Malley & Ian Christe.
Front and back cover photos by Niranjan B. Benegal, Seattle Center Folklife Festival 1979. Elizabeth Reeke & Annie Penta on tanpuras.
Inner gatefold photography by Niranjan B. Benegal & Ira Landgarten.

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.

Raga Yaman was recorded at a public concert in Seattle at the HUB Ballroom at the University of Washington in March 1986 (the week after the accompanying release SOMA028 Ragas Abhogi & Vardhani was recorded) at the end of his last tour of the United States. Yaman was a special raga for Zia Mohiuddin Dagar, one of his signature raags. For centuries, Yaman has been considered as one of the most fundamental ragas in Hindustani music and is one of the first ragas which is taught to students. A deep knowledge of Yaman gives a key for understanding many other ragas. It's filled with tranquility, contemplation, pathos and spiritual yearning. .

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

For the last decade, Argentina has become the epicenter of a musical explosion that characteristically blends folk music from the surrounding Andes and electronic beats. The artist arguably responsible for its emergence on a global platform is one named Chancha Via Circuito- a Buenos Aires native named Pedro Canale whose first album Rodante (2008) opened the floodgates by pushing the borders of Cumbia listeners weren't even aware existed. He's gone on to release other highly acclaimed albums such as Rio Arriba (2010), which Resident Advisor described as 'aural magical realism', and Amansara (2014), which catapulted him onto acclaimed international stages and received praises from Pitchfork to the New York Times.

Four years later, in the midst of some very notable global turbulence, Chancha Via Circuito brings us his highly anticipated new album Bienaventuranza- a word that essentially means bliss. Replete with his signature touches of Andean instruments (think lots of flute and charango), the folkloric elements on this album blend fluidly with danceable and digestible electronic beats. He's been cooking this record slowly, with unprecedented amounts of care and in a much more collaborative manner than his past albums.

Appearing on the album are heavy hitters in the digital cumbia scene, including Mateo Kingman, Kaleema, and Lido Pimienta, all of whom contribute their highly distinguishable sounds to the natural flow of the album. Most of these collaborations came about almost effortlessly. La Victoria is a track that blends cumbia, dancehall, and a bit of mysticism- carried by Lido Pimienta's luminous voice, Colombian Dancehall wizard Manu Ranks happened to be in town and slipped into the song naturally. Kawa Kawa came from an improv jam during rehearsal one day with Kaleema (Heidi Lewandowski) and Federico Estevez (percussionist in Chancha Via Circuito). Niño Hermoso, which is lyrically a fable, sounds the way it does because Pedro saw a video of Gianluz (Gianluca Zonzini), who he knows from dance classes, singing a Pocahontas song on Youtube.

As dancefloor-friendly as it is mystical, Bienaventuranza is as Chancha as it gets- with elements from Cumbia to Dancehall to Andean Folk to Global house, crystal clear production, and collaborations that are evidently natural and genuine, the record holds true to the sound that Canale has played such a huge part in creating. Since the release of his last album, the digital folk scene has also grown exponentially. From a new generation of producers to more listeners in unassuming parts of the globe, Pedro has been humbled to see the sound develop- and proves with this album that he's grown swiftly alongside it.

Following two previous excursions into degraded tape loops, fuzzed-out ambience and bittersweet moments of tenderness, O$VMV$M return to Idle Hands to complete a trilogy of LPs with 12 vignettes from the underbelly of the Bristol scene.

Bound to Young Echo's ever-swelling cult of wayward sonics, individually Amos 'Jabu' Childs and Sam 'Neek' Barrett have plenty of irons in the fire. Childs deals in forlorn, vocal-led introspection alongside Alex Rendall and Jasmine Butt as Jabu, while Barrett can be found laying down punishing modern grime variations alongside Kahn, or delving into more traditional soundsystem sonics in Gorgon Sound. Meanwhile the pair were clearly heard laying down some of the tones that seep out of the uncredited Young Echo collective LP from earlier this year. Their production work behind Rider Shafique's killerLion7" on Lavalava was unmissable, and their blunted beats behind Manonmars' debut LP are awaited with anticipation.

As O$VMV$M, the pair enter a particular sound world that mixes cosy nostalgia with creeping dread. Even at its most mellow, a sense of unease hovers beneath the surface, and that's what makes their approach so compelling. The sound palette is broad, from pitch-shifted RnB vocal licks to foggy trumpets crawling at half speed, but over it all a dense blanket of dust gives the sensation of peering back through time.

Putting paid to the idea that immersive music needs to be long and drawn out, the dose response on these condensed mood capsules is quick and strong. In a little over 20 minutes O$VMV$M take you far and wide. The trip over the past three LPs has been an adventure for both label and artists - Sam and Amos have shaped out a style that now feels like a fully formed entity independent of their other ventures. We look forward to seeing where O$VMV$M heads from here.

A near-perfect record, White Magic was the lauded CD-only debut album by Sorcerer (Californian native Dan Judd, one half of Windsurf with Hatchback). Just in time for Spring/Summer, we present the first ever vinyl issue, released as a deluxe double LP.

Back in summer 2007, this majestic set gently nestled itself into the Balearic soundtrack-to-summer slot for many, making him a household name for Cosmic Disco heads alongside the likes of Lindstrom, Metro Area, Todd Terje, Mudd, Studio and Quiet Village. In the intervening years, exceptional producers have created vibrant variations on the dreamy, dubby, melodic nu-disco theme. Happily, the emergence of such luminaries as Jex Opolis, Harvey Sutherland, Suzanne Kraft, Tornado Wallace et al has only served to make the master - Sorcerer - sound ever more brilliant and vital.

Utilising his array of guitars, drum machines, synths, and trusty MPC, the loved-up Sorcerer sound inspires halcyon memories of warm days, endless sunsets and pure youthful abandon. Influenced by surf, 80s dance pop, acid-R&B, space jazz, krautrock, disco, dub, and am radio gold, his music maps a tour through a uniquely Californian lifestyle. Yet when music so vividly captures a vibe and a feeling, it can make writing about it appear almost redundant. Instead, to glean the full colour of what your turntable will soon gratefully radiate, we prescribe the generous soundclips presented here.

And, for a unique insight into the process behind the wonderful sounds conjured up, here's Sorcerer himself:

"White Magic is a reflection of personal freedom and discovery. Having been in bands for years, this was a chance to develop music that stood alone and for me to be in full control.

I was living alone and worked on jams whenever I could. I was highly inspired by a new openness to music as a pure inspiration, not being part of any scene. I tapped into the mixes I was hearing coming out the UK where deejays were playing "cosmic" sounds that were so strangely familiar.

I was picking up all kinds of $1 vinyl and throwing bits of it into my sampler almost randomly to see what would come out.

In my mind, I was making music to be played at my friend's Broker/Dealer Pop nights where they fused golden German techno sounds with the new disco emerging at the time. Also, I took vacations and reconnected with the Pacific Ocean where I spent so much time as a kid: it spilled out into the sounds.

Lastly, I forged a partnership with Hatchback (Sam Grawe) who was working on music in the same way. I learned so much about arrangement and the colors of music. We began recording together as Windsurf and released our own stuff. It all seems like a small glorious moment in time, so I am so excited to keep the legacy alive and I continue to work on my music with these spirits inside of me."

Lovingly remastered by the esteemed Simon Francis, cut reassuringly loud on to heavyweight double vinyl and presented in a deluxe gatefold jacket with freshly commissioned artwork throughout from original designer Rich Robinson, this limited edition of 500 copies is sure to fly.

Nubian Quadrant EP sees Dutch producer Philou reaching for that sweet spot between Afro and Electro to produce three pulsing new tracks for Byrd Out. As Philou says, "All good music ultimately comes from Africa", and true to his African roots, the EP was part recorded in Malawi. With his tracks being picked up by the likes of Erol Alkan and Eats Everything, this EP is sure to provide the rhythmic backdrop to the summer. If you imagine the driving force of Fela Kuti matched with the acid sqwelch of Phuture, you're part of the way there. It's dancefloor sunshine on vinyl. Mastered by the legendary Noel Summerville, artwork by G.S-L Studio.



Biog: Philou Louzolo, a vibrant human being showcasing a diverse sound: born and raised in between the forests and the salty ocean breeze of Southern Zeeland (The Netherlands). Blessed with deeply rooted ties to the townships of Sierra Leone, the jungle surrounding the Congo river and Nigeria - where the birth of Fela Kuti's Afrobeat took place - his music sounds like Pan-African propaganda packed with sounds from urbanized cities, the Sahara and Africa's many jungles. He's been making waves with a Mixtape for the Feel My Bicep guys (it's #84), and getting airtime on BBC Radio 6 with Erol Alkan, and on BBC Radio 1 with Eats Everything, and playing Resident Advisor's GAIN stage at DGTL in Amsterdam in March, and playing at Morocco's boundary-pushing Altas Electronic festival later this year.

Described by Crack Magazine as a 'hypnotic slow-burner' and noted by Ransom Note as one of the most interesting albums to emerge in 2017, not only did Dollkraut's second album 'Holy Ghost People' herald the launch of Jennifer Cardini and Noura Labbani's adventurous new label with fitting mystic gusto... It also gave us a beguiling LP that keeps on giving, exciting and inspiring over a year later. Proof can be found in these three superlative remixes. Subversive Berlin duo OTTO take the lead with a warm, Arabic twist on the album opener 'Bonnie Says' by lifting the groove with a little organ-squeezing spring while maintain its faraway haze and mystique. Accurately hyped Romanian-also-in-Berlin Borusiade follows with an overwhelming floor-ready update on 'Have I Told You'. Already a familiar face with the label, she weaves a chasm-like new-wave narrative that sucks you deep into the mix and galvanises the pundit attention she's getting right now. Finally Mannequin Records founder Alessandro Adriani joins the party with a tunnelling twist on the somnambulant aesthetic of 'Valium'. Flipping the dreams for a much darker 3am reality, it will leave your dancefloor pining for more. Don't worry, there's plenty more to come. Dischi Autunno are only just warming up...

South African Mbaqanga And Bubblegum Instrumentals For The Dance-floor. First Time Available Outside South Africa. Cult Favorite Among Collectors. Follows The Successful Reissue Of bafana Bafana' Last Year. Professor Rhythm's 1991 Recording Professor 3 Is A Vivid Reflection Of Urban South Africa As Apartheid Was Ending. Thami Mdluli's Production Project Had Young And Old Dancing To A Sound That Sought To Unite Blacks Within Southern Africa. our Music Gave Hope To The Hopeless,' He Says. Mdluli's Third Instrumental Album (which Contains Some Background Vocals, To Be Exact), Portrays The Moment When The Dominant Mbaqanga And American R&b-based Bubblegum Sounds Being Produced In Johannesburg And Other Urban Centers Were Transforming Into House And Hip-hop-inspired Kwaito. The Pop Of The 80's And All That Went With It—from The Models Of Synths And Drum Machines To The Lyrical Style—gave Way To A Changing Melodic Emphasis And New, Much Slower Tempi Using A Completely Different Rhythmic Skeleton. Upbeat, Chipper Bubblegum, Often With Double-time Breakdowns And Upstroke Syncopations, Faded And The Sounds Began To More Closely Resemble Those Of Contemporary Black America—where Hip-hop Was Slowing Down And The Bass-lines And Melodies Were Getting Moodier, Darker In General. At The Same Time House Music Had Briefly Reached Mainstream Acceptance In The States And That Popularity Continued To Feed Into Awareness Overseas. These Two Influences Blended With The Burgeoning House Music Scenes In Johannesburg And Pretoria As Professor Rhythm 3 Was Being Produced In March 1991 (the Same Year Apartheid Ended). Mdluli Explains, we Were Influenced By Foreign Bands And So People Updated Their Sound.' According To Mdluli, The Evolving Sound Was Bolstered By Widening Availability Of House And Rap Records From Abroad While, Most Importantly, An Increasing Sense That Apartheid Might Soon Be Finished Was Met With A New Positivity Vibe Society. 1991, '92, '93... Mandela Was Released. People Were Upbeat, They Were Happy, The Music Was Good.' Professor 3 Came Out On Vinyl As The Lp Business Was Dying In South Africa And Sold Around 20,000 Copies. It Was Mainly Distributed On Tape, Which Sold Closer To 100,000. With The Help Of Engineer Fab Rosso, The Recording Features Backing Vocalists From Mango Groove. After Making A Half-dozen Records As Professor Rhythm, Mdluli Once Again Shifted His Focus Musically. By The Mid-90's He Had Veered Off Gospel Music— And Left Playing In Bands And Started Making His Own Solo Recordings. His Enormous Success In The Gospel Realm In The Years Since Is A Remarkable Story In Its Own Right, But For Now We Are Only Dancing.