quête:balearic sound

The Mellophonia label offshoot Fusion Sequence won us over with its well-presented and great-sounding first EP, and now a quick follow-up does the same. This one is another various artists affair that starts with some nice futuristic robot disco from Vanity Project. There is more organic and lush Balearic from Bobby Bricks and Pacific Coliseum follows that spine-tingling Ibiza sunset vibe. On the flip side, there is everything from late-night electronic house to lazy disco via Sorcerer's blissed out 'Just For Love' which would entrance any dance floor. There's as much quality as there is variation on this one, which makes it a useful EP indeed.

180 Gram Vinyl Following the success of the 2021 reissue of Ambient Warrior’s cult classic Dub Journey's (1995), Isle of Jura is pleased to present their unreleased second album, II. Born from the same oceanside fusion of instrumental dub, reggae, bossa nova and tango music that made Dub Journey's so distinctive and memorable, II is an equally sublime collection of eleven unheard tracks from the brilliant minds of Ronnie Lion and Andrea Terrano.

Evoking the delights of white sands, palm trees and sunsets, all set against clear waters and endless blue skies, Dub Journey’s and II document the golden moment when Ambient Warrior came together during the mid-90s to create some of the most Balearic Dub ever made. “Music is the greatest traveler, isn’t it?” says Ronnie. “It gets to places the actual artists can’t even get to really.”

The son of an orphaned Jamaican jazz trumpet player and professional boxer who enlisted in the military after stowing away on a boat to London, Ronnie grew up between Germany, Singapore and the UK before becoming a working musician in his mid-teens. A bass player by trade, he honed his skills playing in a series of soul, jazz-funk, blues, rock and reggae bands that performed throughout the UK.

By the time Ambient Warrior released Dub Journey’s, Ronnie and his business partner Ras Joseph were running the Lion Inc. recording studio and record label in Brixton, London. Having set up distribution arrangements with Roots Records (UK) and Semaphore (DEU/NL), they recorded and released a series of singles, compilations and solo albums from a who’s who of roots reggae artists, including Twinkle Brothers, Delroy Washington, Michael Prophet, Alton Ellis, Little Roy, and Ronnie’s own band The Amharic. “Lion was a regular port of call for visiting Jamaican artists,” reflects Ronnie. “When you were in London, it was on the route.”

An accomplished guitarist, producer and recording engineer from Trieste, Italy, Andrea grew up listening to Russian folk, Klezmer and the Italian harmony tradition in a Sicilian-Ukrainian family. After completing compulsory Italian military service, he moved to London to continue studying music. One night, he turned up at Lion Inc. and approached them about running audio engineering classes from the studio.

In Andrea, Ronnie found a collaborator who shared his desire to create borderless music that reflected the diversity of their backgrounds. “I wanted to do something that had no boundaries,” Ronnie explains. “If you’re working on a roots album, it has to sound a certain way, but with Ambient, especially in the nineties, it was just a license to let off. You could do whatever you wanted to do.” “It was a melting pot of influences like London itself,” adds Andrea.

Although they wrote most of II at the same time as they were recording Dub Journey’s, it took them several years to finish off the album. “Things never got done quickly,” Ronnie remembers. By the time it was complete, Roots Records had gone out of business, leaving Lion Inc. without UK distribution. Not long after, their Brixton studio flooded, bringing the label to a close.

These days, Andrea continues to work as a session guitarist, recording engineer and producer in London. Over the last two decades, he has collaborated regularly with Basement Jaxx and released several solo albums. Ronnie, on the other hand, lives on a boat equipped with an onboard studio, where he has recorded a series of oceanic dub albums off the British coast. Twenty-eight years after the release of Dub Journey’s, he recently started working on demos for a third Ambient Warrior album he hopes to record with Andrea in the not-so-distant future.

Artwork By Bradley Pinkerton.

The Croatian production powerhouse and disco boogie impresario steps up to International Feel, and takes a left turn into deep space with a new six track LP Pulsar Diaries.

Ilija’s discography stretches back to 2003, and over those 20 years he’s packed it full with albums, versions, remixes and singles. His releases are often perfectly-penned love letters to ‘80s boogie, electro and disco, and like postcards from an old flame, they’ve landed in an array of record label catalogs, from Bear Funk, Rong, and Electric Minds, to Is It Balearic? as well as his own Red Music and Imogen Recordings. He’s long-been an active voice on the underground club scene, and if you’ve been out dancing in Zagreb, Berlin or even Tisno beach, chances are you’ve gotten down to one of his beautifully blended sets of cosmic-tinged electro funk and disco dubs.

On Pulsar Diaries, Ilija delivers a panoramic collection of spaced-out synths and drum machine grooves, dedicated to the planet and our place in the universe. The A side opens up with the blissful, weightless pads of the title track, before it breaks out into filtered stabs over a minimal b-boy bounce. Delphic Expanse ebbs and flows like a lunar eclipse, sounding like a futuristic version of Key-Matic’s Breaking In Space, all uprock rhythms and syrupy synth horns as it spins off beyond the asteroid belt. Side A closes out with Blackburn Tales, a suspenseful and spacious electro rhythm packed with strings and 303 squelch, which you might call anti-gravity acid, if you were so inclined.

Side B picks up the tempo with Fourth Amendment, perfect for the space station discotheque with its sweeping bass filters and ice-cold synth melodies hovering in orbit. Farewell Theme takes an introspective moment, slowing the pace to a cosmic 90 bpm and inviting a certain cinematic feel to proceedings. This feeling applies not just to the vivid landscapes we travel through, but also wider thoughts about humankind: as we pause for a breath and look around, we find ourselves in Ilija’s space, considering human motivations, like the pursuit of happiness, or the eternal struggle with the self.

Every journey begins with a goodbye, and so the last track of the album feels like the arrival at a new destination: Ursa Major is ablaze with cascading drum fills, bubble-wrapped bass riffs and bright synth chords that sparkle like city lights underneath a re-orbiting satellite.

With Pulsar Diaries, Ilija Rudman has created a rare artifact: an album that straddles several worlds at once. Part soundtrack to space travel, part meditation on the human condition, part deep-burning dancefloor dynamo - whether in the club surrounded by friends or at home by yourself, this is a record that expands the mind and lets the imagination soar.

Without a doubt, Kiriku is the hottest upcoming producer of contemporary Balearic Beat music of this year.
Kiriku lives between London and Ibiza, two poles which are well audible in his versatile style, ranging from
groovy Downtempo to clubby House. Uplifting Balearic atmospheres meet jazzy club vibes, featuring loose
drum programming, jazzy chords, bouncy basses, laid back vocals and sophisticated sampling. From song
structures to straight up club track, his tunes always combine electronic and acoustic instruments, which
results in a throughout warm and organic feel.

His new EP for The Magic Movement is co-produced and mixed by The Magic Movement' label head
honcho Noema, who gave "Washingtonia" an extended balearic club treatment. If you liked Dj Gregory's
"Elle" back in the days, this will be right up your alley. "Santa Rita" features the vocalists Monblume , Yalisaxx on Saxophone and comes with an bouncy uptempo club version of Brazil' own Kurup. "Jacaranda" features Hallyx on Vocals and is accompanied by a remix by no one else then legendary Balearic Beat DJ, poducer and label owner Chris Coco, who gave the track a dubby and extended chill-out sunset-sound treatment. Smell the sea, and feel the sky. Let your soul and spirit fly!

Critically acclaimed composer, producer and electronic musician Mark Barrott is set to release his new album ‘Jōhatsu (蒸発)’ in April via Reflections, the new imprint from the Anjuna family, which focuses on downtempo, ambient, and alternative releases. An artist that creatively speaking, never stops moving, Barrott’s musical career has taken many forms. From Future Loop Foundation, the alias he used to create and perform ambient drum and bass from the mid-90s, to his Sketches from an Island albums released under his own name, and as founder of the highly influential International Feel label, Barrott has spent close to four decades exploring new sonic territory and pushing the boundaries of various genres, and is considered a pivotal figure in the revival of the Balearic music scene of the last decade. Barrott’s new album, ’Jōhatsu (蒸発)’, is predictably unpredictable. Released on Reflections, the new downtempo label from the Anjuna family, it’s a full departure from anything Barrott’s written before, partly because he was writing to moving picture. Towards the end of 2019, he had been working so relentlessly as a record producer for artists such as South African DJ Themba and the late Virgil Abloh, that he developed Repetitive Strain Injury, and was forced to take time off, and it was during this down-time he received an email from a director asking him to write the score for his new documentary, ‘Jōhatsu... the art of Evaporation’. ‘Jōhatsu (蒸発)’ is an 8-track journey through the sounds, sights, smells and sensations of traditional and contemporary Japanese culture. “What came home to me during the scoring process, was how much shame is a huge part of Japanese culture. There’s a lot of shame surrounding losing your job and around things like divorce & bankruptcy, and it’s been there for centuries, since the Samurai and Bushido.” Some take their own lives, while others decide to simply… evaporate. Jōhatsu refers to these people who decide to purposely disappear, leaving their lives they knew behind without a trace.

"One of the world’s finest purveyors of music to chill out to - he is the master of sunset music" (Pitchfork).

Over the course of a 19-year career, Marshall Watson has released all manner of musical treats for a similarly wide array of labels, yet it’s the effortless beauty of his downtempo works – and particularly his ambient and Balearic excursions – that have often left a lasting impression.

It certainly caught the attention of NuNorthern Soul founder Phil Cooper, who brought the West Coast producer to the label in the summer of 2021. That EP, Sunsets on Larkin Parts 1 & 2, was undeniably special. The same can be said about his belated return to the label, Foothills, an EP packed to the rafters with slow-burn melodies, sustained chords, becalmed textures and gently unwinding grooves.

Watson’s distinctive take on Balearic naturally comes to the fore on EP opener ‘High Desert’, a soft-focus delight where languid electric guitars, starry electric piano lines, echoing chords and gently pulsing electronics stretch out across a shuffling groove. While tailor-made for watching the sun set off his beloved Pacific Coast – and over the Mediterranean Sea – ‘High Desert’ offers a dose of hazy sonic sunshine that can brighten up even the greyest of days.

Fittingly, the accompanying remix comes from long-time friends of the label Seahawks, whose textured, layered and atmospheric productions similarly blur boundaries between Balearic, ambient, pitched-down dancefloor grooves and glassy-eyed psychedelia. Employing opaque, shape-shifting pads, effects-laden guitars, subtle spoken word snippets and yearning, almost melancholic chords – all atop a crunchy, head-nodding beat and toasty bassline – the duo deliver a remix that’s as emotive and sonically stunning as Watson’s original mix.

The EP’s three other tracks amply demonstrate the subtle variety within Watson’s downtempo output. Vocalist Julie Childe makes her mark on ‘Sweet Sounds’, a brilliant blend of warming deep house and laidback Balearic nu-disco that sports subtle hints to his work as one half of synthwave duo Causeway, while ‘Open Sky’ brilliantly wraps undulating TB-303 acid lines and echoing Spanish guitars around a hypnotic, locked-in dancefloor groove.

Then there’s ‘The Landscape’, a deliciously saucer-eyed slab of breakbeat-powered, TB-303-sporting genius that evokes the immersive, early morning waviness of the ambient house era, the beach party psychedelia of San Francisco’s free party movement, and the bleeping wonder of turn-of-the-90s UK dance music. Like the rest of the EP, it’s an enveloping, head-soothing and mind-expanding treat.





e B2 High Desert Seahawks High Sky Remix

Spatial & Co Vol. 2 may well be the best album in the Spatial & Co series. It's absolutely flawless. Again created by French disco lord and Arpadys maestro Sauveur Mallia for French library label Tele Music in 1979, it leans far more into the space disco sound than the clean cosmic funk of its predecessor. And it's all the more thrilling for it.

Wide-eyed opener "Discomax" is starts as pure piano-disco brilliance with a bassline to die for before heading off into wigged out territory, all acidic squelches and jaw-dropping percussive breakdowns. Perfection. "Space People" follows, an eerie, half-beatless sci-fi synth workout played out against a hauntingly metronomic pulse for the first half - proper slow-mo space disco business - before the beat kicks in, the electric guitar solo wails beautifully and the bassline that emerges at its conclusion rides in on some other shit.

Closing out the A-Side, the six minute long "Bass Power" is, unsurprisingly, a deep, low-end roller with head-nod drums, whizzing synths, blissed out ambient vibes and Mallia's otherworldly bass playing super high in the mix. It's white hot funk, make no mistake, and it sounds like a re-geared library version of Roxy Music. Yes, *that* good.

Side B is laced firstly by "Holidays Morning", an emotional disco-pop groover, all electric guitars, skipping drums and synthy bleeps with more than a few moments of pure driving funk.
One for the deep heads, longtime favourite "Electric Maneges" follows, a bleepy, haunted dancehall gem, uncut tropical balearic-funk from another dimension. The sophisticated digi-soul of "Loving Discovery" comes on like a weird, interplanetary Sade instrumental, all swelling synths, warm keys and syrupy guitar rhythms. Hearing is believing.

Arguably saving the best til last, the fierce, proto-techno of "Exotic Guide" closes out this extraordinary set. The intro genuinely sounds like Detroit would a good few years later - just wild - before it glides into a driving percussive funk break complete with both stabbing, insistent synths and those of a more winding, laconic variety. The one complaint? It's over far too soon. Remarkable.

Sauveur Mallia is a crucial figure in the history of electronic and dance music and a hugely underrated French library bass player and composer from the Arpadys / Voyage crew. This is just the beginning of Be With's Mallia - Tele Music reissue campaign!

The audio for Spatial & Co Vol. 2 has been remastered by Be With regular Simon Francis, ensuring the punch of Sauveur's bass and those sick drums come through to the fullest. Pete Norman’s expert skills has made sure nothing is lost in the cut whilst the original and iconic sleeve has been restored here at Be With HQ as the finishing touch to this long overdue re-issue.

Red Vinyl

Following the success of Holo's groove-driven debut Atlas EP, he's back with another dreamy 3-tracker on Lost Palms.

Drawing from pop, classic rock, acid and 90's hip hop, he has managed to hone a truly idiosyncratic sound which at once is recognisable and takes you by surprise. The aptly-named Technicolour EP demonstrates the Melbourne producer's prowess in creating rich, warm, chromatic soundscapes which are downtempo but pack plenty of body. Following the shuffly house number 'Juniper', reverberating chords and MPC claps define 'Shosa' before the balearic-tinged 'Try' leaves a sweet taste in our mouths via acid melodies and airy pads.

Hell Yeah heads to Brazil and the cultured sounds of Pedro Bertho for a hot new 12" that features Mariana Gehring and remixes from Romain FX and My Friend Dario. The digital version includes two bonus cuts while the vinyl is the first to have all-new artwork by FJD.

Now based in France, inclusive party promoter Pedro Bertho’s music is a melting pot of sound that draws on his own personal heritage and a life spent digging for records. That means that afro rhythms, Italo melodies, rolling reggae, deep house, and plenty more all get mixed up into something new.

They have come on the likes of Cracki Records and always search out innovative ways to bring euphoria to the dance floor.

For the first tune, he works with Mariana Gehring, a Sao Paulo-based singer and composer influenced by new MPB and other signature Brazilian sounds like Forro, Maracatu and Samba.

Their excellent 'Tornei' is a mix of full-fat bass and sensuous vocals. Fizzing synths, percussion and FX bring the energy while Gehring arrives in the breakdowns to bring the spine-tingling soul. Romain FX is a scene mainstay, label head at fauve, boiler room veteran and has released on the likes of Kalahari oyster cult and many more.

His version is a retro workout with lush cosmic melodies and slinky grown-up grooves sure to get the floor full.

Next is 'Elephants au 5eme', a busy mix of analogue drums and hits, wild elephant trumpets and fleshy synths that bring unusual tropical heat to any party. The same track is remixed by label regular and new school Balearic boss my Friend Dario.

He plays with the vocals, layers in shimmering chords, and keeps things dubby to make for another of his signature grooves.

Frankfurt's celebrated producer, Philip Lauer returns to Especial, this time teaming up with Berlin based vocalist Dena for a special collaboration, covering Julie Stapleton's soulful House classic with a modern interpretation across a number of versions (vinyl and digital).

After the success of the Hotel Lauer EP on Especial way back in 2016, Lauer has continued his ascendency with albums for Permanent Vacation and Running Back, as well as releasing a string of sure-fire, dancefloor friendly EPs for the likes of Cin Cin, Futureboogie and Skatebard's Digitalo Enterprises.

Born and raised in Bulgaria, before making the move the music mecca of Berlin, Denitza Todorova has a carved a path with her electronic, dance pop stylings across releases for the likes of K7 and Kitsune Music. First appearing on Make It Stay from Lauer's last album, it jumped out as the perfect partnership to bring the raw, soulful and uplifting sounds of the cult V4 Visions label up to date. Founded by Alex Palmer, the label was part of the UK's early 90s club sound, releasing street soul, deep house and more, in Where's Your Love Gone, Palmer and 18-year-old writer/vocalist Julie Stapleton hit on the perfect marriage of Lovers Rock and Street Soul yearning with the haunting sounds of US House. Presented as a new take on the classic, but with utmost respect, the EP starts with the Club Mix, a Larry Heard bassline joins a marimba melody, lifting Dena's vocals of youth's lost love and pain. This is followed by the Demo Mix, a warm, beautiful string laden original take that Lauer and the label felt had to be included.

DJ Slyngshot is welcomed to provide a deep, tech remix. A name to watch via his releases on his YAPPIN label and recent EP for Workshop, his remix is an analogue twist of hypnotic, raw dub techno percussion and counter breaks builds as string and piano join. The EP ends in the Synthapella, as bongos, cowbell and whistle are added to create a drifting Balearic version for late summer nights and dawn that highlight Dena's vocals in a 'sunrise' light.

Ever since the first white labels appeared at the end of Summer 2013, Emotional Especial has been putting out music that is slightly left of (club music) centre. Influenced as much by and including dub, electro, disco, proto-house, house and techno, guided more by a feeling than a sound.

This thinking has been that exemplified by every 10th release being a label sampler - a showcase of unreleased tracks or remixes of what has come before, plus the odd one off cut by an artist to watch. Some 4 years since the last Sampler, the label's 40th release presents new label heads Giraffi Dog, returning after their recent "live" Multiverse EPs, here teaming up with GF Rich for a breaks anthem. Sub bass rising, the persistent build leads to piano before drop and Acid mayhem ensues, highlight why G Dog are such a producer to watch.

Label mainstay Alphonse returns, with White Pepper from the "Stolen Sunrise EP", here remixed by House stalwart Toby Tobias. Having released for a who's who of labels including REKIDS, ESP Institute, Delusions Of Grandeur and Futureboogie, the illusion these past years of who is Alphonse can finally revealed as Toby himself. The remix of his alter ego takes the 'Balearics' of the original and adds breaks and 303, all retaining a laid back feeling for summers return.

On the flip, the label welcomes rising star, Remotif. With a series of EPs showcasing a growing talent, his recent Coymix release sealed the deal. Here, his comedically titled Beam Me Up Softwoiii belies a party anthem, where breaks and arps rise in unison before an Aphex sunrise burst, drops and heads down in pure dance.

Akio Nagase returns to close with another of his Japanese folk meets lilting 303 Acid House. An Okinawa traditional folk song, conveying a life lesson, here to Hosenka flower is laid across slo-mo acid bubbles to quirkily and perfectly complete another 10th release of the Especial path.

Balearic believers rejoice! Japanese tropical-fusioneers Coastlines are back with the worldwide vinyl release of Coastlines 2. The follow-up to their classic debut, this is the sound of Coastlines's global influences. If the dedication to intricate sonic details is particularly Japanese, the overarching feel captures the sprawling grandeur of the international balearic community. As they put it, Coastlines 2 presents "a more precise and beautifully polished magic hour." If that isn't Balearic, we don't know what is.

Takumi Kaneko and Masanori Ikeda don’t radically alter their sumptuous template with this second LP; and we wouldn't want them to. Yet with a more focused flow from first track to last, both Coastlines and Be With feel this is an even stronger album than their first. One thing that hasn't changed is the use of instrumentals instead of words to express their themes; namely, "the emotional expression of being soaked."

Opener "Tenderly" is appropriately titled, a gentle Latin shuffle easing you back into the Coastlines sound. An organ-heavy synthy exotica that's in step with Lovelock's contemporaneous "Washington Park". Their über-horizontal take on Hawkshaw & Bennett's "Mile High Swinger" (from Synthesiser And Percussion, reissued by Be With!) evokes cocktails-by-the-pool as the sun slowly sets. The blunted deep jazz-funk swing of "Alicia" is a rearranged reimagining of the Gabor Szabo song from his classic Jazz Raga LP. This here sounds like an outtake from The Chronic.

As the sun goes down, "Combustione Lenta" soundtracks the relaxing slow burn of an idyllic bonfire on an isolated beach. Displaying a beautiful new side of Coastlines, we're treated to Moments In Love vibes and melancholic guitar arcs. The piano-laden early morning wonder of "Night Cruise" started life as a completely different song, but the duo found a particularly good loop from the initial sketch and reconstructed it into this sophisticated 80s instrumental soul groove. "Waves And Rays" is all undulating acid waves and lighthouse light. A chopped and screwed steel drum G-Funk with soaring synths and nods toward the squelchy machine soul of Mtume and Jam & Lewis. Yes, *that* good.

The bouncy futureboogie cosmic chug of "Sky Island" represents the beginning of the sunrise, casting images of 80s Japanese fusion and definitely one to play out early doors to get the crowd stepping. "Area Code 868" is the strutting staccato sound of Joe Sample waking up in the Caribbean to craft his piano funk drenched in sunshine. Accordingly, the tentative, naive melodies of "Sand Steps" represent that vivid feeling first thing in the morning, as you step on to the sandy beach in the sunshine and take a deep breath. The world is yours.

The emotional, organ-piano-steel drum-driven "Song For My Mother" is a slo-mo show of sincere gratitude to all the great mothers. "Yasmin's Theme" is Coastlines's Brazilian homage, recalling for them that early summer feeling. It's propelled laconically by the carnival beat of batucada`s big bass surdo drum and complimented by sweeps of warm keys and radiant vocal harmonies. Blissful beatless closer "Asafuji" conjures a scene from a wonderful morning spent with the people of Shizuoka, the symbolic mountain of Japan, Mt Fuji and its inhabitants. It sounds like Dâm-FunK jamming with Sabres Of Paradise.

Coastlines 2 was painstakingly crafted, across the pandemic, at Masanori's rented place in Tokyo and then brought back to his home studio and worked on slowly and repeatedly. With limited time to see each other, the duo became more united in their "consciousness with natural progress."

Mastered by Simon Francis and cut by Cicely Balston at Air Studios, this magnificent double LP has been pressed by the good people at Record Industry.

German project founded in 1984 by Peter Mergener and Michael Weisser. This release features two cheery picked exemplary moments in downtempo contemplative cosmic travels. A side sends the listener well out of orbit with a 10 min long gradient of Krauty arpeggiated showers that grows elegantly, a concerto to the astros of the mind. Flip it and it gets better as your space capsule gets sucked into some distant planet's gravitational pull, feelings of other-worldly sounds, slowed down beautifully almost eerie nuances one won't forget so easily. Sunrise on a Balearic island from another solar system. Berlin-School by trade but also heard on mixes by Jose Padilla. Heftily remastered.

Next up on Toolroom’s 4-track vinyl sampler series is a tasty collab from label founder, Mark Knight and dance music royalty, Armand van Helden, a fresh new edit of a revered club weapon from Julio Navas, Gustavo Bravetti and David Amo, Kiss FM regular, majestic and Sydney-native Alex Preston.

Up first label boss, Mark Knight enlists Grammy nominated Armand van Helden for their debut collaboration, 'The Music Began To Play'. Kicking off with a hard-hitting house groove and electrified bassline that drives the record, before dropping into the track's golden moment and sampling the 1979 classic disco cut 'I Don't Need No Music' by T.J.M; a gem of a record that encapsulates both Mark and Armand’s love for classic cuts.

Next up, a record that became a cult hit of the underground and one that defines the true sound of Toolroom's heritage, Julio Navas, Gustavo Bravetti and David Amo’s 'Raw'. Refreshed for 2022, we see one of France's hottest exports, Tony Romera, deliver a high energy, club focused remix of 'Raw', bringing the classic club record back to dancefloors and sound systems across the globe!

Up next is another heater from Majestic, who debuts on Toolroom with ‘Annie’. Recapping one of the hottest summers on record, Majestic embodies the Balearic, Ibizan heat, sampling Kid Creole & the Coconuts 1982 hit, 'Annie I’m Not Your Daddy', turning a slice of calypso / disco, into a club ready record for the dancefloor. From the brass melody to the hooky guitar riff, majestic lays down his signature style with a Groove Armada-esque vibe throughout.

Rounding things off is label favourite, Alex Preston with his unique blend of 4 to the floor dance music and live funk guitar riffs that have swept through clubs, moving feet, and bringing those feel-good vibes. Ticking all the right boxes on this one, 'Hunching' kicks off with its infectious groove and bassline, throwing in some lush strings, guitar flits and an 80's inspired saxophone break that adds some serious flavour to the record.

This EP contains unreleased music composed and produced by Alessandro Alessandroni in the 70s, taken from a dusty tape found in his vault. Afro Discoteca strikes immediately for its modernity and rich textures, sounding unbelievably contemporary.

Alessandro Alessandroni is one of those pioneers, a maestro that built the legend of Italian soundtracks and library music along with Ennio Morricone, Piero Umiliani and many others. His vault testifies how prolific had been those times, with hundreds of tapes and obscure recordings from that period. Among the many, a dusty tape bearing the hand-written label Afro Discoteca' captured the attention of Four Flies.

The music contained in the tape had never been released until now. When he listened to the tracks, Italian legendary DJ LEO MAS (one of the undisputed inventors of the Balearic sound) told us: It is surprising to listen to something that sounds

so modern... This EP is the perfect union of Afro influences and Italian taste. There's something Afro lounge here but also incredibly cinematic - it makes me think of John Carpenter's atmospheres. B1 (Afro Discoteca) reminds me of clubs I've been in Malindi in the late 70s and the closing track is absolutely spellbinding. This is wonderful.' PAOLO SCOTTI, head of Déjà vu Records and an authoritative Italian jazz expert said: Alessandroni's contribution to music is huge, he's a great musician and a great experimenter. Afro Discoteca sounds like it's been produced yesterday by a DJ of our times, an absolutely surprising EP and proof of Alessandroni's spontaneous genius!'

Green Marbled Vinyl


Following up to his maiden transmission for the label, "Cosmic Silence", issued a year ago, Italian producer Alessandro Cozzolino AKA Cioz resurfaces on Stil vor Talent with his longed-for debut album "Supermassive Whole" - a ten-track cosmic odyssey in sound percolating staple elements of Cioz's palette of choice, from otherworldly techno to Latin-inflected house, via the obvious injection of kosmische and electronica soundscaping.

The lead single "Wachaka" - recorded in collaboration with Cape Town producer Ryan Murgatroyd, exemplifies Cozzolino's electrifying approach to a T. An inch-perfectly balanced mix of Afro-infused polyrhythmic bravura and seesawing synth moves, the track swells with a blazing fire at heart that keeps on sprawling infectiously with each and every bar. Trading the linear buildup for most sensuous levels of syncopation, "Me Monkey" serves up a warmer kind of funk, perfect for getting snug and cozy before an avalanche of seesawing chords up the ante towards space-opera-esque amplitude. All in elusive sinuosity and processed machine talk, "Harakat" dwells the confines of wonky house templates and polyamorous EBM, while "I Always Wanted To..." goes the slo-burning, counterclockwise route, primed for languid moments in the alcove.

"B1" is perhaps the most spitting avatar of the Italian whiz's hybrid rolling-and-pounding rhythmic style, nicely embodying both its quirky, hip-swaying and fanfare-like percussive aspects. The ecstatically bouncy "Do It The Way You Feel" showcases Cioz's more rousing, floor-friendly facet with a killer combo of hi-octane electro dynamics, pop-rock motif'd hooks and slashing breaks taking the controls. The mood also happens to be melancholic at times, such as on the beautifully understated "Is This Real", which bridges the gap betwixt piano-house déjà-vu - here tweaked to distinctively soul-wrenching effect, and a prog buildup glossed under a thick sauce of FX, similar to that of "Sudpol Birgit"'s inflating saturation in the post-prod treatment. Somewhat brushed with balearic shades in mind, "Pace e Amore" follows a more classic curve, slowly veering off onto ambient-laced territories, while "Lost in Space" evokes a certain idea of gravity-defying plenitude through that ever intuitive and subtly arranged collage of tender wistfulness and endless attraction towards the groove, which defines Cozzolino's phraseology so fittingly.

Following her 2021 debut, ‘Save My Day’, remixed by DJ Python, PYTKO returns to Phantasy with ‘Silent’, experimental and introspective electronic songwriting this time radically reworked by beloved pop-experimentalist, Bullion.

On ‘Silent’, PYTKO invites listeners to lean in closer than before. Seemingly untangling the frustrations of a faltering love affair, it’s vulnerable lyrics arrive buried beneath a sophisticated arrangement that, with bit-crushed electronics and rumbling bass notes, seems to decay with haunting effect. In contrast, the austere ‘Orchids & Limes’ mines an equally original sound, a striking sort of cyber-balearica sculpted around PYTKO’s intricate guitar work, conjuring an even darker sense of romance.

In radical contrast, Bullion proves a perfect fold to PYTKO’s vision with his positively high-spirited flip of ‘Silent’. The man behind DEEK Recordings and cult hits such as Blue Pedro keeps PYTKO’s perspective front-and-centre, while performing an alchemy of magic and melancholy that results in one the most memorable remixes in Phantasy’s fifteen-year history.

repress, blue marbled limited version

The label imprint of the beloved Berlin based club Paloma delivers its eighth release, and it was created by none other than a vogueing encyclopedia of musical and club culture knowledge (plus a cherished Paloma resident DJ). The disco professor: Daniel Wang.
It is his first original production under his own name in many years, and you can easily tell that this is not a tool to join in with dancefloor conformity (after all, his first album was called Idealism for a reason). Daniel Wang had already evolved from innocently enthusiastic sampling to synth wizardry during the heyday of his legendary Balihu label, and while studying the masters, he became one himself.
DSDN is an ode to nocturnal Berlin and its party community, a city that never left the centre of international attention for its vital and influential scene. Daniel Wang is a part of it since twenty years, and he was influenced by what he experienced as much as he left his mark on many nights, both as a DJ, and as a producer.
Of course, this release follows the traditional structure of a Disco EP by using a main tune DSDN with complementing dubs and instrumentals. Four to be exact, because four is the magic number with this format. DSDN reflects the internationality of the clubs across town in English and German words and pays homage to all the districts, and it effortlessly manages to unite sounds of both 80s NYC and Italo disco, 90s NYC and Italo house, synthpop and rap before it became too successful, balearic vibes before they became a mere excuse, and then it just majestically unfolds into both a charming summer hit and a complex opus magnum, but all an aural sunbeam that blows a kiss to those who emerge from recent sensations in clubs, bars, parks, and streets. Alone or together, happy or sad, resolute or irresolute, tired or energized, or all at once.

Summertime sounds abound on the sixth Drum Chums disc, which comes lovingly dubbed and diced by our friendly Fruit Merchant Hidden Spheres.

Known globally for his free-flowing DJ sets, halcyon house hits and mastery of melody, Tom's been at the top of his game for time now - just check those releases on Rhythm Section and Scissor & Thread - and it's a pleasure to carry his drum sticks for this one. Cracking open his vault of top secret DJ tweaks, Spheres explores sweltering proto-house, tropical disco lilt and deepest waters across three floor-ready cuts.

The Fruit Merchant plucks something ripe from the Kalimba Tree on the A side, starting the party properly with joyous Afro-house jam 'Stolen'. Carnival-friendly drums and a Boyd Jarvis bassline wind up your waist while the call-and-response vocals and exuberant brass send hands and heads skywards before the track transitions into an utterly ecstatic sax-led breakdown. This is magic.

For the B-side, Hidden Spheres treats us to a couple of deep digs from his time in Australia, both originating in the Aboriginal community.
Emerging from the astral vibrations of a didgeri-drone, 'You Better Dance' casually locks into an irresistible 105bpm groove, strolling through the echo-laced dub space as its poetic vocal speaks to your soul.
Balearic-paced and cosmic-minded, this one plays perfectly next to those I-Level 12's.

For finale 'Together', Spheres shifts back into proto-house mode, locking a hypnotic piano riff into some militant snare rolls to lay the foundation for the impassioned vocal. Delivering the occasional diversion into more mournful territories, Spheres reminds us why deep house deity DJ Sprinkles always takes his calls.

100% Drum Fun Guaranteed.

NuNorthern Soul may be Ibiza-based, but the label’s connections with Nottingham run deep. Over the years, Phil Cooper’s imprint has offered up countless releases and remixes from some of the East Midlands’ city’s most Balearic-minded residents, including Crazy P’s Jim Baron, Is It Balearic? chiefs Coyote and, most recently, Constellations Workshop associates Brown Fang.

You can also add to that list Torn Sail, a collaboration between Brown Fang members Jon Thompson and Henry Scott, and another Notts-based NuNorthern Soul contributor, Huw Costin. The trio’s mesmerising ‘Disconnected’ recently featured on the label’s deluxe 10th anniversary vinyl box set and now they return with a single credited to both Brown Fang and Torn Sail – the first such occurrence of that happening.

Those who heard Brown Fang’s brilliant mini-album, Sherwood Pines, will immediately feel at home. Both ‘Exit’ and ‘Endless’, the two tracks showcased on this fine single release, feature the same gorgeous, slowly shifting fusion of sun-kissed electric guitar textures, ambient atmospherics and immersive, sunset-friendly sound design.

First up is ‘Exit’, an undulating, slow burning delight where rising and falling electronic melodies and yearning, gently jazzy electric guitar motifs rise above a sparse, shuffling, subtly Latin-tinged drum machine rhythm and warming bass. Endearing, enveloping and endlessly attractive, the track seemingly blossoms in slow motion throughout its’ three-and-a-half-minute duration, with additional musical elements presenting themselves as it progresses. Even by the trio’s high standards, it’s a magical composition.

On ‘Endless’, the long-time collaborators explore their love of mind-soothing ambient soundscapes. Doffing a cap to the 1970s new age ambience of Steve Hillage – whose distinctively languid, stretched out, effects-laden electric guitar solos were undoubtedly an inspiration –Thompson, Scott and Costin deliver a becalmed and brilliant dream-scape full of hazy aural textures, drifting chords and gentle, eyes-closed vocalisations. It feels like a loved-up, smile-inducing evocation of the most visually stunning dawn you’ve ever ushered in after a night dancing under the stars.