quête:bass material

Aperture records has always been about discovering new artists and bringing them to the forefront and italy is well-renowned for its electronic music, both former and current. so, from one italian duo (t.e.s.o.) to another... introducing Diaster.
Diaster aka Teo & G grew up in treviso, listening to the most experimental music they could find in their small rural city near venice.
With Matteo inspired by metal and musique concrete and Gianluca a researcher of old electronic/instrumental music, they decided to experiment with their various experiences in house, techno and drum n bass, inserting strata of industry and noise into their material. after 'Enchantments', a debut ep on DVNTT which deserves more recognition, and an accomplished follow up on Subsist records; 'Final Beginner', aperture records brings you their latest contribution; 'Clustered Non Symmetry'.
On first acquaintance, this 8 track album appears on the minimal spectrum; monolithic and indivisible. tension builds slowly and influences, mostly of a similar vintage, come through. arrhythmic incursions of stark and contorted electronics conjure up a hesitant, stealthily-undermined delineative framework.

Supreme Breakbeat House, Floor-focused Leftfield Grooves, And A Rhythmic Ambient Chiller. Cromie's Latest Four Tracker For Material Image, His First For The Label, Fires On All Fronts With Some Help From A Couple Friends From Across The Pond (iron Curtis And Royer). Cromie Has A 'habit' Of Coaxing Hooks Out Of Unassuming Sources, And Fitting Them Into A Cohesive Groove. That's The Secret Sauce Here: Pure Groove And Infectious Melodies From Who-knows-where. Listen For A Perfectly Placed, Driving Guitar Riff In A1, Pitched Percussion And Pan Flutes In A2, And Euphoric Keys With Chunky Bass On B1 (with Help From Iron Curtis). Our Man Royer, A Repeat Offender On The Material Image Roster, Serves Up An Extended Ambient Remix Of A2 'told' To Close Out The Record.

righteous expensive: motohiko hamase's 1986 album "reminiscence" scores a decent prize at online vinyl selling platforms and it is worth each coin!

it's a perfect "refuge from nasty reality", as the glorious british 20jazzfunkgreats blog once said. and it comes from a man that knows his trade: bass play - an artisan on which he also already wrote many theoretical books in his more than four decades long career.

in the 1970's hamase was no stranger to tokyo's vibrant jazz scene. together with jazz pianist tsuyoshi yamamoto and jazz-rock guitar-ist kazumi watanabe he played in the isao suzuki sextet and was part of their classic landmark jazz-funk album "ako's dream" from 1976.

in the following years he also participated on records like mikio masuda's latin-funk-jazz gem "moon stone" or japanese female jazz singer, actress, and essayist minami yasuda's last album "moritato". in the early 1980ees his work shifted from pure jazz to electronic and ambient spheres and he started to compose his own music around his deeply emotional bass play.

from 1985 to 1993, hamase released five solo albums. just recently studio mule dropped his first one, "intaglio", in a new recording that sounds as stunning as the original release from 1986.

now the previously mentioned "reminiscence", his second work for the celebrated defunct japanese new age record label shi zen, follows in a fresh shape on studio mule.

as the original, it features deeply touching moments of sheer pristine perfection and distributes hamase's inner emotional landscape with a bewitching bass performance. a soothingly beauty of an album, that reflects hamase's search for spaces of melancholy.

a rhizome of soundscapes that capture, settle and sound elusive while simultaneously being awe-inspiring. as for "intaglio", the 66-years old artist gathered again some befriended musicians, rented a studio, staged his gear and recorded most of the original "reminis-cence" material new, while keeping the moving musical story arc of the original album alive in a fresh wrapping.

the result is a dazzling, blue mood seething, strongly hypnotic longplayer, full of personality and hybrid ambient electronic jazz spheres that open doors to unheard sound universes and that perfectly work for all those stress-relieved souls that love the disclosure of the mind and seek for a "refuge from nasty reality".

The arrival of fresh material from Visions co-owner Stephane Attias is a nice welcome return .These two tracks from Swiss based dj and producer are aimed to simply heat the dance floors . These two pure Deep House tracks are full of musicality and rich deepness that will keep the dancers happy.On the A side « Body fusion is a melodious number with deep drums , lush pads over deep synth and bass , rhodes chords, piano solo and organic percussions The B side is a soulful melodious and organic jazz house track with fender rhodes , sub bass and summer vibe to keep a smile on your face. A solid release not to be missed !

Moritz Simon Geist, media artist and robotic musician, publishes his first record. It is the world's first techno record played entirely by self-made futuristic robots. This is the 4-track EP to the following full-length album out 16. Nov. 2018. All of the sounds on his records are played by robots: small motors that beat on metal, futuristic 3D-printed robo-kalimbas, salvaged parts from old hard drives that click and cut. It took Geist several years to build, tweak, test and play all his DIY robotic instruments. His 'Sonic Robots' try to push the boundaries of the imaginable. He did so already in 2012 with his well-known oversized 808 robot - an iconic drum machine gotten real, 4 by 2 meter, filled with robotic parts which play the instruments live and in front of the audience. Now, Moritz Simon Geist goes even further to discover the unknown and futuristic world of techno robotics. For this quest he teamed up with the berlinian sound wizards from Mouse On Mars and dug deep in the history of mechanical music and experiments of early electronic music.

On the 4-track EP 'The Material Turn' Moritz Simon Geist turns materials into sounds. The opener 'Entropy' is a bassy club-track, played by futuristic bass-kalimbas, a psychedelic pattern of tonal glasses and pneumatic hi-hat patterns. It is core piece to this EP and is also featured in the main video. Even without a visual part, listening to his music, a sound world opens up which is unheard before: in definition, reference and organic nature. Geist: 'When you listen to robots playing, you realize, that they sound precise, but in contrast to digital sounds they transport an immense organic feeling. No beat is like the other, everything is played with actual acoustic physicality and thus actual error. On the same time, the repetitive nature of the robots make it perfect for playing electronic music. Its industrial and organic at the same time.' The second track 'Under Deconstruction' is a metal-on-metal slammer with a heavy beat played on a big sheets of metal. 'I often try to compose a track around one instrument', explains Geist, 'letting the sounds take a lot of room so they can stand out.' The B-side starts with 'Supercharged' - a heavy drone, reminding of the darked sides of music concrete. Here, tuned air fans, and a metallic percussion robot create the texture. 'Detok' closed the EP with an up-tempo club track, featuring complex rhythmic textures and well defined robotic percussion elements. What Moritz Simon Geist came up with is a stunning record of what is possible today - to explore the sound of mechanics that keep on filling our world. Geist creates a smashing soundtrack for both the precise automation and physical fragility that shapes today's society.

Hot on the heels of Rapid Eye Movement's journey of discovery and growth comes the EP 'Split: Remixes' featuring reworks of the quartet of cuts originally signed by label founders Memorial Home and VII Circle.

Invited to apply their own reflections onto the material are rising producers Nur Jaber and Wrong Assessment as well as renowned artists on the underground experimental scene Edit Select and Reggy Van Oers.

First up is Nur Jaber's take on VII Circle's 'Metaphysical Functions' showing how the young Berlin-based Lebanese artist is as much inspired on remix duties than in crafting her already much acclaimed productions. The perfect mixture of dark and intense driving techno beat with haunting ambient-driven melodic motifs and dramatic breakdowns encompasses much of what her sophisticated sense of sonic exploration is about.

Up next on a heavier kicking note is 'Dogma' refashioned by Milanese fellow Wrong Assessment who transmits his vision of both minimal and hard pounding techno by merging a strait rugged beat with undulating synth lines and bouncy cymbals that will drive the audience to an insane rave-spirited dance floor venture.

Following the path, Tony Scott a.k.a Edit Select's interpretation of Memorial Home's 'Second Floor' is a clear example of the unique and forward-thinking sound that the Scottish techno scene 'veteran' has developed throughout the years. Deftly combining a tension-building drum and bassline work with layers of hypnotic synth textures that makes the track both suggestive and trippy-hitting in equal measure.

Concluding the journey is Reggy Van Oers (RVO)'s rework of Memorial Home's 'Ampere' which evinces this quest for organic and mental techno soundscapes inspired by classical and cinematic music, characterising the both complex and powerful crafting signature of Dutch Telemorph label's owner.

Between dark shadows and brightness, REM confirms with this new release that quality and free-minded artistry are the key pillars of the platform's curation philosophy.

An Invitation To Disappear is the debut LP by British electronic musician Inland aka Ed Davenport - and his first release for A-TON. Based on his soundtrack for a video installation by conceptual artist Julian Charrière, Davenport has recast the material and field recordings into eight tracks of rhythmically intricate electronics and spectral, ambient techno, inspired by Charrière's visually striking, 76-minute tracking shot through a palm plantation toward a totemic soundsystem on full blast.
Both the album and original soundtrack were created in response to the 200th anniversary of the eruption of Indonesia's Tambora volcano in 1815, which plunged the world into darkness and caused a series of extreme weather conditions. At the time, the natural climate change crisis resulted in numerous global famines and is known throughout the northern hemisphere as 'The Year Without Summer', with global communities forced to adapt to sudden radical changes in temperature and weather.
An Invitation To Disappear offers a contemporary parallel, leading viewers - and listeners - down a seemingly endless direct path of gridded palms from dawn to dusk; a bio-commercial monoculture where ancient jungle once flourished. Light flickers between rows of fruit-laden trees and a distant fire burns in the undergrowth where the border between natural image and computer simulation breaks down. At the same time, formerly incoherent rumblings of sub-frequencies begin to transform into the contours of rhythm. This is reflected sonically in eight perspectives on the lush, synthetic jungle, made of myriad buzzing fauna, morphing melody and colossal bassweight. All paths lead toward an apocalyptic dancefloor, though speeds vary widely; rhythms dissolve from straight to broken, synth tempos operate by their own internal clocks (and logic). Juxtaposing industrial agriculture with rave culture, the album explores the industrialization and refinement of nature, and the new strange forms emerging from the synthetic grids of both.
As Inland, Davenport has previously contributed soundtracks to other installations by the Swiss-born Charrière, whose artistic practice focuses on bridging environmental science and cultural history, often taking place in remote geophysical locations, including ice fields, volcanos and radioactive sites.
Julian Charrière is a French-Swiss artist based in Berlin. A former student of Olafur Eliasson at the Institut für Raumexperimente, Charrière's art explores post-romantic constructions of nature, staging tensions between deep or geological timescales and those relating to mankind. His work has previously been shown across the globe, including at the main exhibition of the Venice Biennale in 2017, a solo show at Kunsthalle Mainz this past Spring and an upcoming solo show at the Berlinische Galerie opening September 26.
Inland (real name Ed Davenport) is a British producer, DJ and founder of Counterchange Records based in Berlin. Known for his detailed and explorative house and techno releases on his own label, Infrastructure, Naïf and more, Davenport has recently gravitated toward the contemporary art world, finding inspiration in the cross-pollination between Berlin's art and music scenes. Previous sound design collaborations with Charrière have been exhibited in institutions such as the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne in 2014 and Thyssen- Bornemisza Contemporary in Vienna in 2017.
The gallery version of An Invitation To Disappear premiered this past April at the Kunsthalle Mainz and will be on display at the Berlinische Galerie as part of Charrière's solo exhibition As We Used to Float, opening September 26, 2018. The LP will premier live together with the video installation during a special presentation in Berghain the same day for Berlin Art Week.

Flevans returns with a killer 45 for the funky dancefloor! Leading the way is 'Who's Got Me' - an up tempo disco/boogie cut with more slap bass than a clone army of Larry Grahams... It's a tasty dancefloor number with a BIG top line from none other than Laura Vane (MJ Cole, Gnarls Barkley, Laura Vane and the Vipertones) who absolutely owns the vocal duties as anyone who is familiar with her work would expect. Oooh Weee!

Over on the other side we have more classic-sounding Flevans material with the party starting funk breaks of 'Take Your Money'. His signature jazzy keyboard and guitar licks converse with cheeky vocal samples all flying in and out of this slick production in a delightful fashion. It's all about the beats on this one - it's a guaranteed foot mover!

Formed in 2007 by Jakob Seidensticker, Florian Schirmacher and Henrik Raabe, Wareika was accidentally gathered on stage for the first time at Hamburg's mythical Mojo Club. Since then, the german trio has built a very singular sound signature after a decade of playing together. Revealing the diverse influences and musical educations from all three individuals, the band's discography has been built over a solid live experience. Being academically trained in Jazz and Classical but also self taught through electronic music, Jakob, Florian and Henrik are able to sing, play guitars, drum machines, pianos, synthesizers, bass, percussions and way more. Concocting their stylistic blend with meditative Jazz, hypnotic Dub, meticulous Techno and subtle House, it leaves no surprise as you think about the high level of versatility of Wareika's musical spirit. Calling from King Tubby, Sun Ra or afrobeat master Fela Kuti, they develop a dazzling kaleidoscope of melodies and polyrhythmic patterns over four to the floor beats that is entirely unique in the electronic music scene. When it comes down to live gigs Wareika is putting a stress on quality and delivers an outstanding sound. As a trio of singular performers the band jumps on stage without computers, setting up an improvised dialog based on their original material but always handing over a unique piece taking form in the moment. Jakob Seidensticker on MPC arrangements, drum machine sequencing and mixing, Florian Schirmacher on vocals, synthesizer, percussions and Henrik Raabe on guitar, synthesizer and percussions, the trio holds the mastery of enhancing a crowd with a multitude of tools and elements, sometimes for more than four hours. Also occasionally rendering live versions of their own full-length releases, they always cross borders of their studio work to unfold their creations into a whole new level.

Absence Seizure Marks Its Tenth Release This September, A Split Package Comprising One Original From Co-founder Abe Duque And Two From Label-founder Matuss.

Since Its Launch Back In 2015 The New York City Based Absence Seizure Imprint, Launched By Abe Duque And Matuss Has Been A Platform For The Latter's Original Material And Across The Past Nine Releases And Picked Up Support From The Likes Of Young Male, Sage Caswell, Dorian Paic And Eduardo De La Calle Amongst Others. Here Though We See Co-founder Abe Duque Join The Part To Mark The Labels Tenth Vinyl Release Alongside Label Regular Julia Matuss.

Matuss Steps Up With 'crashing Hard' A Murky, Stripped-back Number Fuelled By Choppy Bass Stabs, Minimal Percussive Bleeps And Airy Atmospherics . Next On The Package Is Abe Duque's '11-27-2016', A Typically Raw Affair From The New York Techno Veteran Fuelled By Squelching 303 Lines, Robust Analogue Drums And Dreamy Arpeggios.

The B Side Features Matuss' 'sisabuc Fresh' Closes Out The Package, Stripping Things Back Even Further To Minute, Shuffled Percussion, Stuttering Ethereal Chords And Permeating Sub Hits Which All Flow In Unison Across Its Ten Minute Duration.

For the dance film essay - The Body as Archive Gregor Schwellenbach chose a simple yet radical approach: he created a kind of catalog of sounds, clearly structured, presented with sobriety and boldness. The sounds are not embedded in the familiar frame of rhythm-harmony-melody, rather, they are introduced smoothly, presented one after the other, sometimes going together, then standing alone. It is a sensual approach, at the same time executed strictly systematically. Or vice versa: Schwellenbach's composition is strictly systematical, giving maximum space for sensuality and the unfolding of sounds.

Schwellenbach strives to create a system that doesn't become rigid, by treating the material gently and with sincerity.

In composing - The Body as Archive he sets clear rules: everything is played by hand, he only uses instruments he plays himself: Keyboards (Rhodes, piano, synthesizer) and double bass. Almost all material is played in the same key, the chords can be used in any combination, everything fits to everything. The ten parts of - The Body as Archive , mastered by Taylor Deupree, could be played all at the same time without sounding cacophonous.

Everything is pure presence, a gently woven stream of elegance and attentiveness. The organization of sounds - usually an action of preparation, didactic and discipline - turns into poetry.

On The Latest Release From Make Mistakes, Roy England And Friends Take Us On A Ride Into The Beautiful, Soulful Depths. From Uplifting Love Jams, To The Chunkiest House Funk, As Always, The Gang Has You Covered.
Roy England's Original Mix Soars Through The Night Skies. Pitter-patters, Emotive Pads, And A Driving Groove Bring Us The Softer Side Of Our Little Boogie Baron. Perfect For The Euphoric Abandon Of A Sweat Soaked Dance Floor.

Alexi Delano, A Man Who Needs No Introduction, Kicks Things Up A Notch, Taking The Original And Giving It A Restructured, Pumping Groove. A Dubby Line Runs Through, With Echoing Pads, A Pulsing Bass, And Fluttering Keys And Synths. A Beautiful Dance Floor Meditation, With Plenty Of Junk In The Trunk.

Fredy Grogan Takes A Hard Left, And Steps Confidently Into A Psychedelic, Tribal Funk. Teasing New Vibes Out Of The Original Material, Grogan Transforms Beauty In Rhythm Into A Classic House Groove, Before Settling Us In To A Hypnotic Groove.

Make Mistakes Keeps On Keepin' On. That's All We Know. the Tears Of The World Are A Constant Quantity. For Each One Who Begins To Weep Somewhere Else Another Stops. The Same Is True Of The Laugh. Let Us Not Then Speak Ill Of Our Generation, It Is Not Any Unhappier Than Its Predecessors.

Samuel Beckett, Waiting For Godot

Echocord's Echo Echo sub-label continues with its third releases this August, courtesy of German producer and Credo founder Alex Bau with his 'Zenstory' EP. Germany's Alex Bau has been a prominent name on the underground DJ circuit on his home turf, and further afield, for three decaces as well as racking up an impressive back catalogue as a recording artists for labels like Cocoon, CLR, Sleaze and of course his very own Credo label which has been a platform predominantly for his own material whilst welcoming the likes of Kyle Geiger, Takkyu Ishino and Electric Rescue onto the imprint also. Here though we see Bau joining the roster of Echocord's fledgling sub-label Echo Echo with a new four-track EP and taking the lead on the package is 'Clouds' with pulsating low-end tones, hissing analogue noise and dusty drums samples all flowing in unison with ethereal chords and sweeping pads. 'Contour' follows, tipping the focus over to bubbling delayed stab hits, fluttering sub bass and evolving white noise bursts throughout. The 'Prelude' of 'Zenstory' opens the flip side and as the name would suggest it's a cinematic build up to the title-track featuring tension-building, expansive atmospherics ahead of the original mix which features a thumping muted kick, stuttering atmospheric echoes and spoken word vocal tucked into the depths of the record.

Minialbum EP + Insert CD
An Ardent Heart is a focused techno mini album that brings forward Stefan Goldmann's most dancefloor-centered material in a decade. The tracks push and pull relentlessly. Despite their linear appeal, there is an intricately balanced interplay between the heavy-handed kicks, the bouncy bass accents and the sizzling, yet clear-cut details whipped up by the rallying drums. The peculiar, seemingly 'vocalised' mode of synthesis is maybe the most unifying sonic characteristic of the six tracks and one coda. Formant shaping, vowel filters and airstream perturbations let a wide range of sounding elements speak in the tongues of a cybernetic Babylon. Layered polymetric patterns perforate the aural plane with alien scripts. Clearly structured, yet opaque messages that seem to have traveled for aeons emanate from the red-hot circuitry. They spill into a network of delays, channeled down into labyrinthine corridors, enveloped in electrostatic noise. Most tracks build on chance patterns evoked with hardware sequencers and freeform modulation sources. The resulting synthetic systems are as cohesive as they exhibit vast internal variation and range. Thus balancing simplicity and complexity right in the middle, the results are just as immediately gripping as they can feed sustained attention. A wide palette of distortion and overtones mark the contours of individual elements that seem to have near-physical qualities - as if there were metallic strings, thick membranes, a resonating sphere, all struck by electric mallets, caused to vibrate by mechanical bows and sung by silicone lips.

The band formed in late 2013 by former Coldworker members Joel Fornbrant (vocals), Oskar Pålsson (bass) and Anders Jakobson (drums). The line-up was completed by guitarist Kristofer Jankarls (also in Livet som insats) a few months later and the quartet focused on songwriting. The first recording took place in the spring of 2015 and the 12 tracks were released on the two 7' EP's Time and again and Mankind crawls.Following the releases of the EP's and a few live shows Axis of Despair continued to work on material with the ultimate goal to create a striking grindcore album with an aggressive, yet diverse selection of strong songs. The writing process was spread out over a year until the band went into the studio and begun the recordings in the summer of 2017.Contempt for Man propels with twenty super-charged raging songs, clocking in around the half an hour mark - short enough to retain attention, and long enough to serve a good taste of the bands particular brand of European grindcore.

Opening track 'In The B' kicks off proceedings in no uncertain fashion. It's 100% wall shaker material, the type of techno music best paired with strobe lights and towering speaker stacks. It mesmerises with its low-slung undulating bassline and Detroit rhythms before giving way to some riotous old school Essex stabs and sharp claps. No messing, this is a certified 3 AM red light burner! Track 2 'Chocolate Biscuit' accelerates proceedings! Beginning with unfussy drums and a robotic, bleep-heavy melody driving it off into a wonderfully off-kilter direction. Its arpreggio'd rhythms may be brutish and wrestle a growling sense of menace out of the track, but the overall feel, however, suggests considerable care and attention has been paid to make it sound this way. There's clearly an uncommon musicality at play here to make something this complex feel so simple.
The BPM drops next on 'Jenny's Hall' but from the offset, there's enough funk and thrust in the motorised synth line to get bodies gently grooving without the beauty getting lost in the slower loop. This is blissed out, psychotropic techno - the kind of track where it feels like you're floating and falling at the same time, but all the while making sure you still remain fit for purpose on the dancefloor. Ian Blevins takes on remix duties this time and the Berlin-based DJ/producer offers up a sleek peak-time banger that fizzes, bubbles and percolates. He gives the rhythm on 'Jenny's Hall' less space to swing and ties it to a tight motorik beat turning it into a slice of shiny, modern techno but with extra shoulder-checking force. Its vibe drawing from a sense of outsider-party fun with a wry smile, and a knowing wink running throughout before bringing the package to a suitably left of field crescendo.

Taking a turn to some of its roots, Emotional Rescue offers a reissue of Ramjac Corporation's UK house/breaks anthem Cameroon Massif!. First released on the increasingly cult-status Irdial Discs in 1990, this was very much the sound of the big bang explosion of Acid House morphing and splintering, as subsequent multi-genres developed, formed, imploded and reformed in new ways that still subsists today.

Within the melting pot of anything goes, chemically-enhanced optimism that spread across the UK during that return to the summers of love from 1987 onwards, the nascent sounds coming from Chicago and Detroit were mixed with a hybrid of 80s British influences, taking in European synth pop, US electro, new beat, hip hop and reggae. Out of this appeared a new sound, mixing that love of techno and house with dub bass and break beats into a proto-jungle swirl.

Like many growing up through the ever-evolving 60, 70s & 80s British music scene, Paul Chivers' early years of learning piano and guitar, moved from Beatles era pop to take in punk, jazz and anything an eager musical mind could explore. Developing a long-term interest and study of Cuban and Afro-drumming, his acquisition of an Atari and sampler soon moved to programming of both drum machines and TB303 and with that, Ramjac Corporation was born.

Playing live at some of the earliest raves in 1988, as often through luck and "right time, right place", including the infamous Back To The Future and Energy parties, Ramjac went from playing from 50 to 10,000 ravers in a matter of months, as the nation was gripped, depending on your cultural standing, by either a mixture of drug apocalypse paranoia or ecstatic celebration.

It was a meeting with Akin Fernandez, founder of Irdial Discs, that led some of the first studio experiments and creation of Cameroon Massif!. Utlising Akin's in-house studio and production skills, alongside Chivers' jazz influenced outlook of improvisation over arrangement, the track took shape, mixing the live programmed percussion, heavy doses of phase, delay and reverb and Sun Ra inspired keys that resulted in a number of mixes of Massif!.

Collected here are the original 12" "Massive" and "Massing" mixes, plus a special live version taken from the "Live At The Brain" reunion gig of 2009. The sought after 1990 versions and original Live mix are taken a step further with this 13 mins + mix, in essence a resampling and remixing reversion with didgeridoo and live on mic MCing, that gives a real glimpse of those early live sets. With more Ramjac Corporation material upcoming and a live reel-to-reel show appearing soon, the return of Cameroon Massif! is now.

To Follow A Long Awaited Single From The Legendary D'arcangelo Brothers, Happy Skull Has Turned To A Friend Of The Family And Former Bristol Scene Stalwart, Bass Clef.

The Long-serving Producer First Rose To Prominence Via A Series Of Inspired, Genre-mangling Albums And Singles On Blank Tapes, He Has Since Gone On To Deliver Hard-to-pigeonhole Material On Fellow Bristol Labels Punch Drunk And Idle Hands, As Well As Pan And The Trilogy Tapes Amongst Others.

Those Versed In His Bulging Back Catalogue Will Notice Familiar Stylistic Traits Throughout - Think An Endearing Looseness Built On Hardware Manipulation And A Playfulness Rarely Seen In Modern Dance Music. For His Happy Skull Debut He Takes On Acid House, To Great Effect. This Is Most Evident On Flipside "acid Hearse", A Constantly-rising Roller Built Around A Nagging, Tb-303 Style Riff And A Swinging, Off-kilter Drum Machine Rhythm.

Echoes Of Acid Can Also Be Heard In The Sparser A-side, "charnel House", Where Sharp, Psychedelic Lead Lines And Mind-bending Electronic Motifs Weave In An Out Of A Crunchy Rhythm Track To Create A Track That Is As Fun As It Is Weighty.

* "Of all the dubplates in my bag from this last few years, the ones I've selected most often have Walton's name scribbled on the sleeve. 'Black Lotus' is a unique creative statement; I'm very proud to release it on Tectonic and to support Walton, who I believe is a true talent." Pinch

* On July 6th Tectonic recordings presents the game-changing second album by 26 year old Mancunian Sam Walton, better known as simply Walton.
* 'Black Lotus' follows his inclusion on Tectonic's landmark 100th release - Riko Dan's 'Hard Food' EP, plus the 'Praying Mantis'/ 'Koto Riddim' 12' (also on Tectonic) and the 'Taiko' EP on Kaizen - the latter two of which hinted at the album's sound, but didn't fully prepare us for the brilliance to come.

* Abstract electronics, grime, dubstep and new styles that don't even have a name yet coalesce perfectly on this classic in the making. It finds Walton at peak power, reaching just as far (if not more so) than anything on the Pan, Different Circles, Boxed or Tectonic catalogues for pure futurism and new-terrain-traversing brilliance.

* Spacious and modern sounding, with just the right amount of grit, on 'Black Lotus' Walton has taken things the next level - setting an impressive new high bar. This is the best music to take inspiration from far eastern culture since Photek's seminal 'Ni - Ten - Ichi - Ryu' and 'The Water Margin'.

* Cinematic may be a term bandied about too often, but on this record it unquestionably applies, with the whole thing playing out like an epic movie, full of highs, lows, action, reflection and changing scenes.

* The album kicks off with 'Black Lotus', which makes it quickly evident that this isn't just another generic longplayer; a weightless/sino style intro segues into a mystical kalimba line, which is then is enveloped by huge waves of synthesized, pitched-down brass.

* 'Point Blank' offers locked, harsh mechanical funk, full of aggravated excitement, before sleek, spacious grime and disguised pop garage achieve twisted anthem status, on the hugely satisfying 'Koto Riddim'.

* 'No Mercy''s Yakuza crime riff is perfect for Riko Dan's threatening menace, especially at the point his voice gets distorted into a guttral and unsettling, demon-like wretch.

* 'Mad Zapper' is abstract, comprised of simple yet challenging beats, tones and stutters, whilst 'Angry Drummer''s taiko/kumi-daiko style percussion has a rousing, heavy thump.

* 'Pan' sounds equally enthralling whether soundtracking a dark movie scene of impending danger, or carying enratptured ravers on a danceflor journey, especially one suited to the synapse-prodding drama of a high production, lazer-heavy festival set.

* Choppy drums and bouncy bass tones are laced with the georgeos melody of 'Ehru', and 'Vectors' is sleek 'n' deep breakbeat-garage-meets-IDM.

* Although already known for elements of musicality, Walton raises his game even higher with the beautiful closing track 'White Lotus', which has a wow factor akin to hearing Aphex's Twin's 'Jynweythek Ylow' for the first time.

* 'The title came from the idea that I wanted it to be sweet and melodic in areas, but dark and grimey at the same time', recalls Walton. 'I never really listened to much Japanese and Chinese music before working on this, and that element originally came from listening to a lot of Sino grime stuff. It wasn't until I was deep into the process of making the album that I started listening to loads of traditional stuff on YouTube for melodic ideas, which changed how it turned out. The whole dubstep techno crossover thing was also a big influence.'
* 'I'm really happy to have Riko Dan & Wen on there', he adds. 'I've done a few remixes of Riko tunes which have had a great response, so it's been wicked to get some original material done together. The track with Wen was first started a while back, so I'm glad it was finally finished and will see a release.'
* Walton has been steadily gaining serious clout through releases since 2011 on Hyperdub, Keysound, Tectonic and Kaizen, with supporters including Mumdance, Logos, Slimzee, Laurel Halo, Wen, Hodge, Mary Anne Hobbs, Giles Peterson, Paleman, Teki Latex, Commodo, Loefah and Kode9. Key club, festival and radio shows include FWD at Plastic People, Fabric, Outlook, NTS, Rinse and BBC 1xtra.

Salvador Font studied violin, clarinet, composition and harmony at the Conservatori Municipal de Barcelona, but very soon started to gain notoriety as a saxophonist in the rich jazz scene of 1940s Barcelona. Font would soon be playing tenor sax and clarinet in the Orquesta Gran Casino. He was in his early twenties and his hot swing technique was already praised through the citiy's scene, he would grow to be considered the best saxophonist in Spain by playing in many orchestras and combos, among them: José Puertas', Antonio Vilá's Virgina, Bonet de San Pedro's band, Pierre Michel, El Lirio Campestre, Los Marios, Luis Rovira y su orquesta, Orquesta brasileña Fon-Fon, Jaime Camino, Los Embajadores, Italo Leone's... With these and others, Font toured constantly, visiting many countries and even staying on some for long seasons: Mexico, Morocco, Switzerland, Egypt... Hungarian violinst of Turkish ancestry Kurt Dogan gave him the "Mantequilla" surname - he felt "Mantequilla" (which means "butter") fit Font's mellow yet swinging improvisation style.

Mantequilla y su conjunto

In the early sixties, "Mantequilla" had the chance to lead his own combo, Mantequilla y su conjunto, with which he was to record the three splendid EPs that are compiled on the present album. All these 7" have become elusive collector pieces in the record market, with sellers demanding from 200 to as much as 950 euros per copy.

In 1961 "Mantequilla" was at his best moment, his gigs at the Jamboree Jazz Cava had brought him back to the first line of Barcelona's jazzmen after he had been working abroad for a long time, and was approached by the Belter label to record an EP. On the sessions he was accompanied by Manolo Mercedes on trumpet, Pedro Ferré on piano, Rafael Lizandra on double bass and Rafael Verdura on Drums. The material chosen for the disc were four original compositions by Salvador Font which had a high West Coast flavour all over: "La Tuna Club", "Whisky Jazz" and "Jamboree" named after famous jazz clubs and "Azul Trompeta", dedicated to Manolo Mercedes.

In late 1962, after spending some time in Madrid working as members of the Italo Leone combo, "Mantequilla" and pianist Manuel Gas came back to Barcelona for the recording of the second "Mantequilla" EP, also on Belter. We find again Manolo Mercedes on trumpet, Pedro Ferré on piano and Rafael Lizandra on double bass, the drummer this time was José Farreras. Another news is that Manuel Gas also sat on piano and vibraphone. The songs chosen for the occasion were two tunes from the Art Blakey Jazz Messengers repertoire: Bobby Timmons' classic "Moanin'" and the Jacques Marray track "No Problem" from the soundtrack of the Les liaisons dangereuses film (mispelled "Not Problem" on the sleeve and label), plus the Salvador Font penned "Blue Note" and "Full de ases" - on "Full de ases" "Mantequilla" trades his sax for the violin, which he also mastered under high influence from Stephane Grapelli. The record was released on Belter in early 1963 and showed "Mantequilla" adding a certain aggressivity to his sound, in a soloist style which has been compared to that of tenor saxophonists Barney Wilen or Benny Golson.

1965 was the year of release of Mantequilla y su conjunto's third EP, now on the Discophon label. Mercedes and Farreras are again present in the recording sessions, joined by Ricardo Miralles on piano and Enrique Ponsa on double bass. Four original Font compositions make up the fantastic EP: "Blues 3/4", "Atmósfera", "Vat 69" and "Balada".

There would be a further EP on Belter, released in 1971 as Mantequilla Group it was a cash-in operation to take some redits of the ye-yé discothèque phenomenon, it gets quite afar in style from the jazz works of Mantequilla y su conjunto, so we just left it aside for the present edition.

"Mantequilla"'s career would continue, in 1968 he would settle in Majorca and form a swing band with Bonet de San Pedro and Manuel Bolao. He played in local orquestras and also with first class world acts like Gerry Mulligan, Tete Montoliu, Errol Gardner, a.o. He was even approached by Henry Mancini to play sax on The Pink Panther Theme in a gig Mancini did with his orchestra in Palma de Mallorca in 1975, He also joined his son Salvador Font (a demanded drummer himself who has played with Máquina!, Orquestra Mirasol, Música Urbana, Gary Burton Quartet, Georgie Fame, and many others) and his peers Carles Benavent, Emili Baleriola, Josep Mas 'Kitflus' and Jordi Bonell with whom he recorded his acclaimed "Mantequilla" album in 1987.

Now, for the first time ever, the legendary three ultra rare and imposible to find EPs by Mantequilla y su conjunto are compiled in a lavish vinyl LP with remastered sound, featuring liner notes and photos and a fantastic period inspired, three backflaped, front laminated sleeve. It is a stricly limited edition of only 500 copies and they are expected to sell out very soon, do not miss your chance of getting yours - it may be the last chance of chasing the Mantequilla sound on vinyl at a reasonable price!














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While notorious in the Chicago streets, RP Boo's music had been unfairly confined to a few white labels and self-released mixtapes until his two archival Planet Mu LPs Legacy and Fingers, Bank Pads & Shoe Prints introduced broader audiences to his sonic history, some of it fifteen years after it was first recorded. I'll Tell You What! is the next step in his mission, and the first time he's released an album of contemporary material. The title, a favorite maxim of his, welcomes listeners to sit down and let him narrate in the unforgettable abstract fashion he's known for. He explores familiar motifs such as the cosmos, movement, and opposition, using densely interwoven vocals, unpredictable percussion, and evil humming bass as his tools of choice. RP Boo's music doesn't follow the traditional rules that most compositions do. Layering decades of samples from yesteryear to the present over his commanding vocal cut-ups, he transports the listener to their own realm of the space-time continuum. The main difference between this record and his prior work is now we hear Boo tell new stories about preaching his gospel outside of Chicago, from his experiences frantically touring the globe over the last five years. The words 'things ain't been the same / since I hopped the plane' are repeated on top of engine sounds and rumbling bass on Flight 1235, a glorious paean to his new jet-setting adventures. The spirit of competition runs through RP's veins as much as blood does, something you can't unlearn when you've been making music for Chicago's footwork circuit as long as he has. The local culture has served as a shelter from the violence that has plagued the city, pitting kids against each other with their feet rather than weapons. On At War Boo reminds us 'we are at war in the streets', a double meaning to both the mayhem in this world and the sweetness of rivalry on the dance floor. Another battle-themed track Cloudy Back Yard, one of the spacier moments on this album, is an abstract on the state of footwork's home. Chicago remains the backyard of this artform even though it's left the porch and traveled to new neighborhoods worldwide. Back at home though, competition among the DJs and dancers continues, and as the man himself says, 'with all this hate, there's smoke, and it's cloudy'. I'll Tell You What! throws more than a few curveballs into the mix. Footwork has always borrowed from hip-hop, and many vocal tracks are almost condensed raps, dating back to the street chants pioneered on Dance Mania Records in the ghetto house days. On Bounty, Boo grabs the mic and brazenly lays down a full-on verse of terror over a thick atmosphere of his signature sweltering low-end and erratic Roland R-70 patterns. While he's most famous for his confrontational battle anthems, his melancholy moments are just as powerful. You get the best of both of those worlds on U-Don't No, with soulful samples finishing his own cocky sentences, one of the most elegant tracks RP has made to date. Deep Sole closes the record out, with the words 'It's always beautiful at the end' looping over waves of hypnotic synthesis, confidently looking death straight in the eyes.

Helsinki's We Jazz Records Presents "y-otis", The Debut Lp From Berlin-based Swedish Saxophonist/composer Otis Sandsjö, Joining Forces With Keyboardist Elias Stemeseder, Bassist Petter Eldh And Drummer Tilo Weber. The Album Is A Forward-reaching, Multilayered Collection Of Eight Originals Penned By Sandsjö And Produced By Sandsjö And Eldh. What You Get Is A Form Of "liquid Jazz", Born In An Era Where The Understanding Of Jazz As A Musical Language Has Evolved Way Beyond The Concept Of The Previous "modern". Informed By Hiphop And Electronic Music, "y-otis" Is Pure Jazz In That The Quartet Stays True To Its Constant Mission Of Creating A New Form Of Musical Communication. Sandjö's Circular Sax Riffs, The Album's Rich Production Touch, And The Chopped-up Jazz Form Creates A Musical Concept Which Stays Melodic And Beat-laden While Being "free" Right To The Edge Of Avantgarde. It's As If The Music Is Sampling Itself, Constantly Keeping Ahead Of The Curve In The Musical Lineage Of Jazz.

Otis Sandsjö (b. 1987) Hails From Gothenburg, Sweden. He Is Known Previously For Example For His Inspired Work On Singer Lucia Cadotsch's Globe-trotting Trio Formation "speak Low", Also Featuring "y-otis" Co-producer And Bassist Petter Eldh. Elias Stemeseder Was Dubbed One Of The Top 15 Young European Musicians To Watch By All About Jazz In 2017. Tilo Weber Ranks Among The Most Creative Young Drummers In The Scene. Stemeseder Is Currently Based In New York, While The Remaining Three Musicians Here Live In Berlin. Live On Stage, The Band Performing The Material On The New Release Is Called Y-otis.

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.

Helsinki's We Jazz Records presents "Y-OTIS", the debut LP from Berlin-based Swedish saxophonist/composer Otis Sandsjö, joining forces with keyboardist Elias Stemeseder, bassist Petter Eldh and drummer Tilo Weber. The album is a forward-reaching, multilayered collection of eight originals penned by Sandsjö and produced by Sandsjö and Eldh. What you get is a form of "liquid jazz", born in an era where the understanding of jazz as a musical language has evolved way beyond the concept of the previous "modern". Informed by hiphop and electronic music, "Y-OTIS" is pure jazz in that the quartet stays true to its constant mission of creating a new form of musical communication. Sandjö's circular sax riffs, the album's rich production touch, and the chopped-up jazz form creates a musical concept which stays melodic and beat-laden while being "free" right to the edge of avantgarde. It's as if the music is sampling itself, constantly keeping ahead of the curve in the musical lineage of jazz.

Otis Sandsjö (b. 1987) hails from Gothenburg, Sweden. He is known previously for example for his inspired work on singer Lucia Cadotsch's globe-trotting trio formation "Speak Low", also featuring "Y-OTIS" co-producer and bassist Petter Eldh. Elias Stemeseder was dubbed one of the top 15 young European musicians to watch by All About Jazz in 2017. Tilo Weber ranks among the most creative young drummers in the scene. Stemeseder is currently based in New York, while the remaining three musicians here live in Berlin. Live on stage, the band performing the material on the new release is called Y-OTIS.

Sun yellow vinyl, comes with download.

Airplay: Worldwide FM

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.

Following 2017's 'Path of Ruin', DJ Richard returns to Dial with his much-anticipated sophomore LP, 'Dies Iræ Xerox'. Undoubtedly one of the most distinctive and fully-formed electronic producers in recent memory, DJ Richard imprinted the sound of a bubbling US underground with his label, White Material, founded in 2012 alongside Young Male. His first solo LP for Dial, 2015's 'Grind', found DJ Richard delicately establishing a discipline between his East Coast noise heritage and a physical, emotive tradition of house music, mastered during an extended stay in Berlin. Now firmly settled once more in his hometown of Providence, 'Dies Iræ Xerox' is a personal and uncompromising journey that finds the Rhode Island native in reflective form, journeying without compromise into both his creative influences and personal psyche. In part adapting its title from the Latin hymn 'Dies irae', otherwise known as 'Day of Wrath', 'Dies Iræ Xerox' melds the physical and psychological aspects of DJ Richard's production ethos in sharper, more widescreen vision than before; the oceanic swells of ambience yet more powerful, and the rigid basslines sharper still. With the chaos of the Berlin club scene an increasingly distant memory, the album is enriched with a contemplative, even brittle tone, as informed by film soundtracks and literature as the pulse of city living. Still, this is new material from DJ Richard, a touring DJ as distinctive as any other to be found behind the decks at some of the world's finest clubs and festivals. On 'Dies Iræ Xerox', the artist finds the space to write 'the records I really want to play', and each suggests a template for genuine dancefloor transcendence, beginning with the electrifying 'Vanguard' . The sludgy yet sophisticated crawl of 'Tunnel Stalker' sets the tone for the menacing yet somehow melancholy EBM of 'In Broad Daylight', while the record draws to a breathless close with the affecting, drum machine lethargy of 'Gate of Roses'. Drawing little distinction between his more physically rousing material and searching soundscapes, 'Dies Iræ Xerox' instead finds a passage of catharsis throughout both. 'Dissolving World', the album's breathtaking centerpiece, is a choral feature hypnotically overwhelmed by walls of electronic feedback, forging a dramatic link between old ways and new. On the bold and near-beatless 'Ancestral Helm' and 'Final Mercy', DJ Richard seems to grant both music and raw emotion the ability to simply float in the air, brilliantly, poignantly unresolved. If 'Grind,' inspired by the weathered coastlines of Rhode Island, was a record concerning "the border between civilization and the ocean," then 'Dies Iræ Xerox' is an unapologetic follow-up concerning that between macabre obsessions and fear of death. Produced during a murky, transitional period, DJ Richard found himself particularly drawn to Medieval European art and mysticism, fascinated by depictions and philosophies of the antichrist and end-times. Greatly influencing the uncompromising, apocalyptic tone of the album, these investigations have created an engaging and personal vision of the 'Day of Wrath.'

Crosstown Rebels celebrate their fifteenth year with their monumental 200th release. American DJ and producer Arthur Baker reunites with Rockers Revenge for the first time in thirty years. To complete the package, dance music heavyweights Francois K and Michael Mayer take on remix duties.

On A Mission is exactly that, 'a mission of love, a mission of peace'. The positive vocals hark back to those of early 90s house tracks, which created unity through music and clubbing. The rhythmic beat of the drum is determined, as percussive layers build and the vocals bleed into the synths. Francois K provides two variations of the track. His remix features more prominent drumbeats driven by a growling bassline. On his rockers dub version, Francois goes all out and dubs us into the stratosphere. Up next is the Michael Mayer remix, with a more electronic take on the original with driving synths and a whirring, throbbing bass-line.

Created in 1982, Rockers Revenge was the brainchild of Arthur Baker and Donnie Calvin. Donnie provided lead vocals with Baker's wife, Tina B, Dwight Hawkes and Adrienne Dupree Johnson on backing vocals. Their most prominent track, Walking On Sunshine, was a post-disco hit reaching #1 in the US dance charts and #4 in the UK charts.

Three years ago Baker and Hawkes reconnected through social media with Baker sending through his original Mission idea. Baker is known for his work with hip hop artists like Afrika Bambaataa, Planet Patrol, and New Order whilst also remixing the Pet Shop Boys' 1986 hit In The Night. Fast forward to 2018 and the group performed a monumental live show at Get Lost Miami, and are currently in the studio working on new material. This Summer they will shoot a new documentary and perform live at various events.

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.

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

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.

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.

Multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer Adam Gibbons (aka Lack of Afro) is back in some style with 'Back To The Day', a beautifully produced summer sizzler crammed full of infectious hooks, top musicianship and most importantly, vibe by the bucketload! Taking a nod from classic material by artists such as The Jackson 5, Earth Wind & Fire (and more recently Vulfpeck), 'Back To The Day' is Lack of Afro doing what he does best and then some - blending the old and new with big drums and heavy percussion to come up with a crossover classic that's entirely his own, whilst all the while developing his abilities as a songwriter.

Providing a dynamite vocal once again is regular collaborator Elliott Cole. Not just the voice of the track, he also plays guitars and bass, whilst ably backed up by some stellar musicians including George Cooper (Haggis Horns) on keys, Rory Simmons (Blur, Jamie Cullum) on trumpet, string and horn arrangements and Harry Harding (Yola Carter) holding down the backbeat on drums.

Keeping the dancefloor packed and turning the party vibes right up to 11, 'Take It Up A Notch' (featuring the brilliant Wax & Herbal T and taken from the critically acclaimed 'Back In Business EP') completes what is arguably one of the strongest single packages of the year!

Lack of Afro continues to go from strength to strength. 2016's 'Hello Baby' (released on his own label LOA Records) picked up a BBC 6 Music 'Album Of The Year' nomination & appeared in the Top 10 of the iTunes R&B / Soul chart in 21 countries worldwide. More recently, Adam's music continues to be used across all aspects of film & TV by networks such as ABC, Fox, NBC, Sony Pictures & the BBC whilst he also has released music on Universal & Warner Brothers Records.

Both tracks are taken from the new album 'Jack Of All Trades', released on LOA Records in May 2018 and supported by a live band UK tour in May & throughout various festivals throughout the summer.

"Emotional Response returns to the SchleiBen series, with another offering of 4 split albums. Again artists are given free reign, encouraged to push the boundaries of their studio and live experimentation in form and texture.For parts 5 - 8 the net is cast wide, from the psychedelic moons of Tomaga to Matthewdavid's meditative live improvisation, a collection of A Man Called Adam's commissioned sound-works to Jon Keliehor's new age visions.
First Tomaga, a duo that grew out of engine of psychedelic rock outfit, The Oscillation, to become a respected entity of it's own. Featuring long time friend of the label, Tom Relleen and drummer extraordinaire Valentine Ma, the project has grown to become greater than the sum of its parts. With 4 albums in 3 years and one more upcoming - plus their ridiculously overlooked solitary remix of Not Waving for the label - the output doesn't come close to matching their live "events", from almost constant touring.
The 2 pieces were recorded in an improvised session as an interzone between their last album, which was recorded entirely in non-studio spaces and their newer material. Featuring heavily processed long form studio recordings, the pieces, with Tom's bass and audio manipulation set over Valentine's exemplarily, intricate percussive interplay, provide a perfect, brooding introduction to the second series of SchleiBen.
This is contrasted with the first 'official' solo output of Neil Tolliday. As Nail, he has gained respect for over 25 years crafting deep, bumpin' House music on labels like DiY Discs, Remote and Classic, including the sought after Big D's Lounge album. After a sojourn as one of half of off-kilter pop duo, Bent, the Nail moniker has been recently resurrected for a new generation of followers.
Throughout this time Neil has recorded more personal music, initially for his own consumption, however some recently starting surfacing under various pseudonyms via digital portals. No press, no information about who was really behind the music was given before being deleted soon after. After some encouragement, here then marks the first appearance of Neil Tolliday.
On the two tracks included, these drawn out, eastern influenced, drone ragas are pure meditation from Tolliday's 4/4 output. With an upcoming album on Emotional Response, more is to come.
A welcome return to SchleiBen then, due course to pause and reflect, emptying the moment to (un)listen.

Amsterdam-based artist and Format-label honcho Juan Sanchez himself delivers a quartet of tracks carrying his signature sound for the label's thirteenth release.

Never one to settle for the ordinary, Juan Sanchez' latest outing follows a more conceptual approach to techno. Each track adds its own flavor to the mix, with the EP as a whole being a combination of dubby and dancefloor-fused material. Synth and bass arps, stripped grooves and driving drums are the main ingredients of Juan's sound, all of which come together across this EP's four-track canvas. The result is a balanced mix of both dubby and dancefloor-tinged techno laced with experimental twists and turns.

With his new release, Juan adds another quality slice of techno to the Format roster.

Second pressing, 300 copies on blue marbled vinyl

The newest studio material of Steven Wilson's experimental drone project, especially recorded for Substantia Innominata series! Based on ethereal vocal choir material the four parts of "Sisters Oregon" reach transcendental beauty of the highest degree.

Much more than a mere side-project, Bass Communion could be regarded as Steven Wilson's discrete medium for manifesting his most daring, challenging and obscure musical ideas.

After a planning phase of several years, we can finally present the newest studio material of Bass Communion, a wonderful, mysterious experimental drone / ambient work that is mainly based on a recording of a boys choir (recorded at Air Studio in London 2014). Other sound sources or the meaning of the title "Sisters Oregon" were not revealed so much of this music is dependent on the listener's own imagination.

The four parts on this long play 10" are filled with sonorous drone expanses, tiny microsounds, deep bass eruptions and sudden breaks, ranging from an otherwordly subtleness to a most spacious finale, reaching a transcendental beauty of the highest degree.

Second pressing is limited to 300 copies on blue marpled vinyl, with full colour sleeve feat. stunning artwork by Carl Glover, underlining the mystery of this release.

Mikkel Metal returns to Copenhagen's Echocord this May with his new mini LP 'Just Enough Light', comprising six originals from the Danish artist. Copenhagen based producer and DJ Mikkel Metal has been a beacon of light in the Danish electronic music scene and further afield for nearly two decades now, with the Dub Techno imprint from his hometown, Echocord, being the predominant home for his output, whilst also releasing material on Cologne's Kompakt, Tartelet, Semantica and Avant Roots, a telling sign of the quality embodied in his work. Here though we see Mikkel deliver a mini album concept in the shape of 'Just Enough Light' and opener 'Awake' perfectly sets the tone with emotive, dynamically unfolding atmospherics, tension building bass drones and spiraling dub chords subtly easing us into the project. 'Bregnan' then stirs in some classing Dub-Techno tropes with billowing stab sequences, lumpy subs and off beat high hats carrying the hypnotic groove for six and a half minutes. 'Jech' then strips things back to an almost beatless amalgamation of murky chords and modulating synth whirrs. Opening the flip side of the release is 'Include' which embraces a brighter feel via ethereal pad swells, jazztinged synth melodies and bumpy 909 rhythms before 'Konkin' edges back into the eerie, brooding aesthetic with bubbling echoes, broken drums and menacing bass swells at its core. 'Restore' then closes the package on a stripped-back vibe, laying focus on an ever- eveolving singular dub chord to ebb and flow around thunderous subs, kicks and bright hats.

Far Out Monster Disco Orchestra returns with Black Sun, its second full-length album of 100% original, unadulterated disco sophistication, featuring all three original members of pioneering Brazilian jazz-funk trio Azymuth, a full orchestra with arrangements split between Arthur Verocai and Azymuth's late maestro Jose Roberto Bertrami, plus members of the legendary Rio funk group Banda Black Rio.Since its critically acclaimed self-titled debut album in 2014, the FOMDO imprint has released a string of remixes by some all-time greats of dance music, including John Morales, Theo Parrish, Mark Pritchard, Marcellus Pittman, Andres, Dego, Volcov, Kirk Degiorgio and Al Kent. To huge effect in clubs and festivals around the globe, some of the more recent remixes teased the new album material, which for the first time, is presented in its original, soul-heavy incarnation, alongside instrumental versions highlighting the album's stunning arrangements and compositional brilliance.Far from a throw-back - with disco music firmly entrenched in the modern club vernacular - Black Sun is ecstatic dance music at its finest.

Here Appear is an invocation, a salutation, and a celebration — of past and perfect lives, forgotten and remembered, exchanged and borrowed. Eve Essex's solo debut is a multi-instrumental fea(s)t combining synthesizer, drum machine, alto saxophone, piccolo, electric organ/harpsichord, harmonica, slide whistle, bells, guitar pedals, and voice— composed, arranged, and performed by Essex herself. What began as an improv set at Berlin's Harlekin bar, developed over the past two years into a complete body of work evoking multiple time periods, genres, characters, and sonic landscapes. The seven tracks that make up Here Appear harness elements of classical, drone, avant-jazz, and distorted pop, coupled with an ambitious vocal delivery that draws on the phrasing and articulations of Essex's own woodwind playing, to create a quasi-narrative me´lange retaining the vulnerability of live performance. On the opening track Grind Away,' otherworldly harmonica strains set the stage for lyrics citing Chinese sci-fi novel The Third Body Problem as source material. Saxophone and piccolo interludes Immediate Communicator' and Colorless Stone' move between medieval-tinged melodic inventions and textural noise, recalling a Pharoah Sanders-influenced fever dream, while the linguistic abstractions of Russian conceptual poet Lev Rubinstein guide the looped, layered, and textured vocals of title track Here Appear.' The album closes with a languid take on Jacqueline Humbert & David Rosenboom's 1978 composition Clear Light' from My New Music, recently reissued by Unseen Worlds. Here Appear owes its minimal production to the conditions of its genesis, evidencing the restrained process of the solo artist, instrumentation is confined to what can be played simultaneously. True to the album's avant-garde roots, each song involves an element of improvisation, often taking the form of prompts or variations on a melody rather than explicit compositions. Even its most structured pieces make use of live-sampled loops, which inject a spirited unpredictability into the songwriting process and subsequent performance. Classically trained in bassoon at New England Conservatory before receiving a BFA in sculpture from RISD, Eve Essex has performed as a solo artist at Artists Space, Commend, Safe Gallery, Signal, Trans Pecos, and U.S. Blues, in New York, Harlekin/Mathew Gallery and StudioAcht in Berlin, and the PUFFERSS Festival in Providence, RI. In addition to her solo practice, Essex regularly performs as one half of Das Audit (with Craig Kalpakjian), as well as in trios Hesper (with James K and Via App) and HEVM (with MV Carbon and Hunter Hunt-Hendrix), and has collaborated extensively with Juan Antonio Olivares as installation/performance-art duo Essex Olivares. Prior to the LP release on Sky Walking (April, 20), Here Appear arrives via New York City-based label Soap Library on March 9, 2018 in both cassette and digital format, mastered by Helmut Erler at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin and recorded by Al Carlson at Gary's Electric, Brooklyn.

Guber releases his first EP on Paris based label Beat X Changers at the intersection of Ambiant and mental UK Bass music. The whole project is held by alternation of Slope / Release of sub-frequency and obsessional loop that dye each tracks. Anisotropic Expression is a first work that could be seen here as an draft representation of the behavior of surrounding matter. Non musical influences therefore are brought here by the the study of properties of materials expressed in a musical statement. Raw obsessional patterns, evolving and rolling out over the headroom could be seen as the emulation of many deformation models. Shaping of stereo and arrangement have been handled with the help of the sound engineer & producer X_1 leading to home or club-listening experience as well. Guber is been into music by listening & playing some music of the 70's and trash-metal that drove him straight to UK Bass music. Since there he is only focusing on spontaneous creation showing faithfull perception of thoughts, leading to a higher level of singularity.

The second of Alma Negra's 12 Rhythms Series is dedicated to the Maloya sound from La Réunion, a tiny island where a
melting pot of cultures is reflected strongly in its music. Maloya's roots go back to the time of slavery, its quick tempo and raw
energy making it not only a popular dance music but also a powerful protest through movement.
On their Maloya EP, the Basel collective pay tribute to the hypnotic rhythms that were feared both by the Catholic Church and the French government for the musical form's subversive part in the rebellion against colonialism.
The release revolves around two contrasting Alma Negra re-workings of Lindigo's Tany Be. The first takes a classic call &
response structure in 12/8 and 6/8 rhythms, adding a driving bass line and guitar licks. A solid 909-kick locks things in step,
along with a sax flourish and FM synths. Their re-imagining of African and Tamil influences for modern dancers is a triumphant
manifestation of the music's origins.
With the main reworking focusing on a rolling dance floor groove, the Dub Mix concentrates on trance-inducing aspect of
Maloya. Using a modular set up to pick apart layers of percussion, it is a dense and heady trip into the spirit world.
The B side focuses on Christine Salem, one of today's stars of the Maloya scene. Without wanting to squeeze the soul from her
deep tones, Kabaré is slowed down a notch, with drums added sparingly. This sensitive treatment gives the track just enough
weight and tension to punch in on todays dance floors without losing the intent of the original.
The source material for this EP has been road tested from the very beginning of Alma Negra's journey. The collective have gone
to great lengths to ensure the original creators are on board with their treatment of their music and are honoured to be given the
chance to distil their own ethos into a record that is bubbling with today's dance floor drive. Their reverent treatment aims to
preserve the power and beauty of the source material, to bring uncovered gems to a new audience.

There are some records that manage to sound both of a time and utterly timeless and Bon Voyage Organisation's Jungle Quelle Jungle (a nod to Supertramp's Crisis What Crisis) is one of those albums. Its silken-smooth production, irresistible grooves, funk-tinged guitars, lush soundscapes and general glowing presence could easily lead one to believe that have dug up a lost disco gem from the 1970s. However, behind the disco-pop gleam lies eerie dystopian sci-fi ruminations of a futuristic bent and tones that can often feel as French as they do Asian or African.

This sort of cross-continental exploration is an expansion on BVO's previous two EPs, the man behind the Organisation, Adrien Durand, says. 'I tried to continue the musical expedition between dystopian Science-Fiction Haunted Africa - plus Haitian Vaudou on 'Soleil Dieu' - and futuristic Asia. Addressing, in a double entendre manner, some of the political issues that I am sensitive to.' In fact the jungle in question in the album's title is a metaphorical one and one that creates a vast series of environments for Durand to explore such subjects as world trade, utopian ideals and themes of idols, as well as of time and communication. However, one will need to speak French to decipher such explorations, as well as shake off the natural impulse to move with every glorious beat on its 13 tracks, of which are moved along by Maud Nadal and Agathe Bonitzer's golden vocals.

Durand is a full-time producer based in Paris, working with the likes of Amadou & Mariam, so it makes sense that this record would absolutely sparkle in this department. Durand feeds off the variety of musicians coming and going during recording sessions as well as the rotating members and numbers of people involved with the band but fundamentally he writes all songs on piano first before bringing them to record live. 'We recorded a rhythm section of five - drums, percussion, guitar and myself on bass/synth bass and keyboards - at La Frette which is a studio located in a mansion outside of Paris and fitted with a beautiful 1973 NEVE desk. We only used analogue gear, by taste really, and found it a pretty reliable way of doing things. This simply consists of putting good players together in a room and waiting for the right take to happen.' Two four-day sessions and a 'cooling off' period (to let the recordings settle) soon followed before Durand picked the material back up to give it a final polish.

The resulting album is one loaded with intricacies and idiosyncrasies, something that Durand puts down to his own unique approach. 'I don't consider myself much of a songwriter but I love arranging rhythm sections and I'm pretty proud of the ones on this record.' This applies when it comes to working with such musicians as Inor Sotolongo Zapata, who with Durand used traditional Cuban percussive instruments and explored Haitian rhythms. When Durand expands on some of the ideas and influences that were funnelled into the record, you begin to get a sense of the vastness of the sounds that fill his world, from Trevor Horn's production work on ABC's Lexicon of Love, to the literary work of JG Ballard to the visual flair of the original Blade Runner and even the Tuareg sounds of Tinariwen, due to the fact that his studio neighbours their manager's and he would hear their rhythms bleeding through the walls. You therefore end up with an album that offers tracks such as 'GOMA' that fuses Chinese and African rhythms as well as 'SI D'Adventure' a piece of pop music that is dazzlingly hook-laden.

As a result of this cooking pot of sounds, influences, thoughts and creations, Durand has more of a gumbo approach to making this music than a set-out scientific formula. 'There is no definite recipe for me to like the production of a record,' he says. 'Of course it really sticks out that my work is really influenced by the 1978-1983 period, the golden age and last stand of analogue studios and session musicians.' Whilst Durand adores the traditional and conventional music, he really views this as something bigger and wider. 'I have a taste for the otherworldly vibe from records coming from less sought-after musical scenes, particularly Poland, Haiti, Ethiopia, Somalia, Congo and early Cantonese pop. Languages and the rapport of the people involved in the making of those records really inspires me. I particularly hate the use of the word 'World Music' as a potpourri for everything that doesn't sound quite western enough.'

Techno Album of the month March 2018 in Mixmag UK!

Central to the Israeli club scene, Deep'a & Biri have long been defying expectations even within a community they helped construct. Serving as resident DJs, activists and bookers for Tel Aviv's legendary Barzilay Club, the pair helped build a transcendent club scene. Hugely influential artists such as Robert Hood, Derrick May, Rødhad, Ben Klock and Moritz Von Oswald passed through the club, enjoying legendary crowds and what they could surely sense was a genuine air of anarchy, rebellion and unadulterated rave pleasure.

As the duo held down dozens of parties with dozens of DJs, there was no 'eureka' moment for their emerging sound; just a steady stream of brilliant, inspiring electronic music, much of which left an indelible imprint on the pair. Now based in Berlin, for Deep'a & Biri, things are much the same, even if the landscape and the city is different. Always rooted in the fertile ground between machines and emotion, on their second full-length LP, 'Dominance', the duo demonstrate their unique grasp of the sensitive, unfolding relationship between man and machine. Steadfast in their insistence never to remain in one lane in terms of their sound, 'Dominance' flawlessly segues between forcefulness and weightlessness. From beginning to end, this is not a record afraid to show its teeth with an uncompromising, instantly recognisable techno palette that kicks the foundations of any sound system with menace, anger and determination, particularly on tracks such as the dense 'Voltage' and pulsing throughout the more industrial flourishes of 'Ecole De Nancy' and 'Seeking Solace'.

Beyond these grittier, although never mindless, moments of authority, a sense of escapism and curiosity imbues the album. 'Alpha Cephei' offers the first hint of Deep'a & Biri's more wistful concepts, producing a smoke trail of twinkling electronics out of a smudged but distinctive bassline. That understated sense of emotional catharsis carries throughout, to be found between the complex-yet-familiar bells that drive 'Flow Diverter's' rhythm to a Detroit-indebted landscape that will surely instantly elasticate any keen dancers, while 'False Memories' offers big-room techno fulfillment with none of the character or sincerity removed for cheap thrills. Saving the most remarkable moments for last, the pair sign off 'Dominance' with the poignant and purifying 'Astral Trails', fusing an ethereal, ambient landscape with the more pronounced rhythms of their hardware.

The album's distinctive artwork comes from the studio of Jewish orthodox artist Avraham Guy Barchil, who forged a powerful connection with Deep'a, both was immediately drawn to 'weird atmosphere, amazing technique and emotions involved with his work'. Perhaps one of the most interesting painters from Israel, Avraham is known for his unique perspective, taking his inspiration from the Zohar - the foundational work in the literature of Jewish mystical thought known as Kabbalah. The ambiguous figures represent mystical aspects of the Torah (the five books of Moses), as well as material on mysticism and mythical cosmogony.
Ensuring their natural, conscious touch always remains at the forefront of this unapologetically machine-driven music, Deep'a & Biri have produced an album in the lineage of their heroes and greatest influences. Cerebral yet satisfying, deep yet always engaging, 'Dominance' both reasserts and evolves Deep'a & Biri's forward facing and singular sound.

Intimate November tour also announced After their 2012 Mercury Prize nominated debut and 2015's Top 20 follow-up 'Born Under Saturn', musical adventurers Django Django are back for 2017, exploring new sounds with their brand new album 'Marble Skies' which will be released on January 26th on Because Music. Today the album launches with first single 'Tic Tac Toe', a rousing, trippy upbeat rock track with an enormous echoing hookline which will excite fans of the band's rockabilly-influenced elements. The accompanying video for 'Tic Tac Toe' was directed by John Maclean, brother of Django Django drummer/producer David Maclean and director of the critically acclaimed modernist western 'Slow West'. It depicts vocalist/guitarist Vincent Neff enjoying a rapid-fire day-trip to Hastings which takes a turn into the surreal and sinister when a ghost train puts him on a collision course with a grim reaper inspired by Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal. As John Maclean explains: The film could be about the fading era of the beach arcades, time moving too fast, love and games, horror and happiness but it is actually about a man who needs to go buy a pint of milk to make a cup of tea.' After the brilliant, rave-shaped grooves and expansive arrangements of its predecessor, 'Marble Skies' is a more concise and focused offering which recalls the dynamic, genre-blurring music of their debut. It's a return to form, an album which finds them returning to the handmade, cut-and-paste approach of the past. Upon finishing the 'Born To Saturn' tour, Dave ventured to LA to work on a production project, whilst the other band members went to India with the British Council. When they returned, the new album process began with a back-to-basics approach which recalled the DIY ethos of the band's early days, Django Django - minus an absent Maclean - assembled at Urchin Studios in Tottenham, London with Metronomy drummer Anna Prior to experiment with the idea of coming up with new tracks through loose jamming sessions. After ten days of recording, there was plenty of raw material to send up to Dave (then back in his hometown of Dundee) for him to edit, refine and evolve. As ever, all four band members (completed by Tommy Grace on synths and bassist Jimmy Dixon) contributed to the band's music, melodies and lyrics as the final album took shape. Parts of 'Marble Skies' find Django Django sailing into uncharted territories, not least the driving title track (propelled by Prior's drumming), with its echoes of Krautrock and Suicide. Meanwhile, the hazy Zombies-like summer pop of 'Champagne', which explores the joys and ills of alcohol, was inspired by the band's over-indulgence during a boat trip on the Seine that was hosted by their label. Those drawn to the more dance-orientated side of Django Django will find much to love in the twisted '80s electro pop of 'In Your Beat' and the dancehall-influenced 'Surface To Air', a dreamy-headed pop song fronted by Rebecca Taylor of Slow Club. The collaboration came as a result of the two bands meeting up at SXSW some years ago, where Rebecca and Dave in particular bonded over shared interests in R&B, hip-hop and dancehall. Another more surprising collaborator is Jan Hammer, the Czech-born, American-based jazz-fusion and electronic artist who shares writing credits with the band on the gorgeously floaty 'Sundials'. If there's a mood running through 'Marble Skies', it's one of reflection on things past and present, and finding some kind of peace with your place in the grand scheme of things.

Bubblewrap Collective and The Gentle Good are proud to present 'Y Gwyfyn', a new EP entirely in the Welsh language to celebrate Welsh Language Music Day 2018. The EP contains brand new tracks and previously unreleased material as well as outtakes and an album track from the recent Welsh Music Prize winning 'Ruins/Adfeilion'.

In keeping with the'Ruins/Adfeilion'album, themes of the naturalworld,cultural identityandsocial justice feature prominently in 'Y Gwyfyn' EP. The title  track describes a hot summer evening as perceived through the senses of a moth,  whilst 'Briwsion' (Crumbs) is a critique of social inequality in today's modern  world. Fan favourite track 'The Fisherman' (Y Pysgotwr) is reworked into the Welsh  language, followed by a brand new recording of traditional Welsh folk song 'Cariad  Cyntaf' (First Love). The EP ends with an epic 8 minute instrumental, 'Golwg y  Gwdihw' (An Owl's Eye View), a musical representation of a nocturnal woodland  scene originally recorded as part of a project for National Museum Wales. The EP features some of the finest musicians in Wales, including Jack  Egglestone on drums, Callum Duggan on bass and Georgia Ruth on vocals. The  EP also gives a platform to the stunning string arrangements of Cardiff­ based  composer Seb Goldfinch, performed beautifully by the Mavron Quartet.

Long-term Soma collaborator Tony Scott drops his debut album with the label under his Edit Select alias, the perfectly crafted experience, 'Cyclical Undulations'. Having released with Soma under his Percy X moniker for years and having countless hits under his belt, Scott reinvented himself as Edit Select. Known for his dark, expressive and expansive music, Edit Select has become once of the most well respected and renowned artists in the genre. With this latest full length, he continues to explore the furthest reaches of the Deep Techno spectrum.

The Cyclical Undulations journey begins with Insta Grain, a mesmeric odyssey of ebbing pads and sparse percussive elements that seem to drift of into the expanse. A perfect opener before the first foray into more 4x4 territory begins with Above Ground a pulsating affair before Two Step Phase, a more stripped back affair, reminiscent of earlier Percy X works in it's 90s heyday. Undulation, more propulsive in it's approach, melds warping synth hooks alongside spectral tones. Horizon#1 follows in a similar vein yet drift into slightly more hypnotic territory as recurrent tones lead the track. Scott flourishes with yet more machine-throb crafting Close Up & In The Beginning She Was, both stacked with subtle nuances of his stylised percussion lost across dream like states. The later half of the album has a distinct minimalistic approach yet seem to provide maximal output with every beat. Horizon#2 is dark and ominous yet still characterised by a tough percussive element. Contact, produced in collaboration with Claudio PRC, delves into more submerged sounds with heavy sub bass and echoed drums, finishing of with Towards The E; a shuffling broken beat affair with after hours vibes and an endearing ethereal quality.

Cyclical Undulations demonstrates a mature sense of production from Edit Select. An assured collection of material, each track providing a striking insight into a true artistic mind.

East Man is a new project from Anthoney Hart and its material predates his previous work as Basic Rhythm. His unique take on grime reduces the sound to its steely fundamentals, bringing in influences from dancehall, drum and bass and techno to gird the voices of the MCs he works with. His own name for this hardcore continuum mongrel is 'Hi Tek'.Anthoney struck a friendship with the academic and theorist Paul Gilroy, who wrote the album introduction.

Ilija Rudman presents Andre Espeut 'Tears To Sound'
featuring Ron Trent Mix
Over the last decade and a half, Ilija Rudman has been responsible for many high quality releases, delivering distinctly warm, sun-kissed, analogue-rich material on labels including Bearfunk, Instruments Of Rapture, Compost , 20/20 Vision, Electric Minds, Is It Balearic Recordings, Rong Music , Classic Music Company and of course, his own Red Music imprint.
Even so, the Croatian has rarely made anything quite as deep and sensual as the material showcased on this first full EP for NuNorthern Soul. Top billing must go to the "Aquapella" version of "Tears To Sound", a spellbinding acapella cut that puts the enchanting vocals of storied soul man Andre Espeut front and centre.When Rudman sent the track to old friend Phil Cooper, the NuNorthern Soul boss thought it sounded like something he'd hear from US deep house legend Ron Trent. So, he approached the Prescription co-founder to see if he fancied remixing it. As you might expect, the results are astonishingly good.
Rich in rising and falling new age melodies, darting synthesizer motifs, languid piano flourishes and heavy analogue bass, Trent's wonderfully ultra-deep interpretation naturally gives pride of place to Espeut's seductive vocal. Even by the Chicagoan's infamously high standards, his epic Vocal Mix is incredibly special.
All versions of the single also feature two other original Rudman productions, both of which are wonderfully deep and dreamy. "Distant Feelings" is fluid, deep and yearning, with twinkling electric piano motifs and dreamy chords reclining over sizzling drum machine cymbals, no-nonsense beats and a gently pulsing analogue bassline. Those who enjoy the Balearic side of Rudman's work should also check out "Deep Sensation", a jazzy and breezy fusion of tumbling, vibraphone style melodies, rolling electric piano riffs and rubbery boogie bass. Both tracks are every bit as magical in their own way as the producer's thrilling Andre Espeut collaboration.

Al Brown was inspired to write the single 'Proverb' after spending hours hunched over his bible in Spanish Town as a youth. He had become known for his more commercial covers of singer Al Green material, but 'Proverb' was one of the few tunes that he recorded that were roots inspired and has become highly sought after. Recorded at Channel One with Ernest Hookim engineering, who did an excellent job of squeezing out a thumping horns led tune. The inspired version on the flip has Lloyd Parks on bass and the singer Derek Lara on drums. The Seventh Extension Band was the house band of the Zodiac label. Not a tight knit band as such, but built built around singers Bunny Lara and Derek Lara. 'Words spoke in haste will all go to waste so be cool'. True thing Al. Comes in hand stamped bag.

(Disclaimer: release notes refer to the combined CD double-album release "Hot Flash: Best of The Voltags" on which all tracks appear together. "Electric Nightmare" and "Danger High Voltag" are released separately on vinyl format)

It does not happen that often any more that unreleased music from 40 years ago surfaces. Even more unlikely it is that the songs put on tape are such treasures. The Voltags were right at the forefront of the local Washington DC New Wave/Punk scene of the late 1970s. Influenced by Kraftwerk, Gary Numan, The Clash, and The B-52's, they have released only one 45rpm single during their existence. But during the time span of not even 18 months, they had recorded enough material for an entire album - but the songs remained in the can.

This is the story of The Voltags, a short-lived band which could have become famous and mentioned in the same breath as the aforementioned music legends of that era - if their songs had been released back in the day. Dive in and enjoy the sound of The Voltags, it is truly special. We here at Perfect Toy are thrilled to be label to finally release their work and we sincerely hope that they are finally getting the appreciation they so richly deserve.

Detailed information:
Dave Bennett and Hangnail Phillips grew up in Brookside Park, Newark, Delaware, USA, a small suburban college town nestled midway between Philadelphia and Baltimore. Their first band project evolved into Pump Productions (Pump) under which they released their only 45rpm single in 1970 (one of the two songs, "Pappy's Rug", can be heard on "Down & Wired 3", Perfect Toy Rec.). Soon after the recording of the single the two graduated from High School and disbanded Pump. Both moved on to form two new Newark bands. Dave was a founding member of "Snake Grinder & The Shredded Fieldmice" and Hangnail co-founded "Rudy Baker & The Vegetables".

In early 1979, two friends of Dave's, Nick Norris and Mike Fisher, became partners in a music production company, White Clay Productions. One of White Clay's first artists was Dave Bennett who had just written two excellent songs: "Electric Jungle" and "Son Of Sam". White Clay set up a recording session and Dave assembled a group of friends to record the songs. Before the recordings were even mixed, Dave asked Hangnail if he would join in a band to support the single and other songs he had written. When James Keesey (drums) and Rick Reid (bass) were added the line-up was complete. For a while they didn't have a name and then one day Nick Norris was looking at a photo of Dave standing next to a "Danger High Voltage" sign. Dave's head was in front of the E in Voltage and Nick laughed "Danger High Voltag" and so it was soon suggested that the band should be called "The Voltags" (pronounced Vol'-togs). After months of preparing a repertoire they were ready to play out. Their first gig was (October 20, 1979) at a gay disco in nearby Wilmington called The Backstage. On December 30, 1979, White Clay decided to put on a big show at the State Theater to celebrate the end of the Seventies ("The End Of The Decade Bash").

For the next year, with the help of White Clay, they recorded 19 songs, both studio and live recordings with White Clay's mobile unit. If not for these "off the board" recordings, many of their songs would have never been recorded. There was always talk of a second Voltags single but the strains of working so closely together were taking their toll on them and Dave decided to leave the group in December of 1980. The Voltags couldn't be The Voltags without Dave, and by the end of 1981, Hangnail, James and Rick, too, were ready to disband.


- all songs previously unreleased
- mastered from the original reel-to-reel tapes
- limited vinyl release

Mastered and cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering in Berlin.

Hana's first and self-titled LP was recorded in Autumn 2010 at Facta non Verba and consists out of 5 tracks which are techno oriented with disposal of experimental and abstract elements.

Reviews

OMG Vinyl
Hana s S/T LP is easily the best promo records we ve gotten in months. This Greek duo has somehow, almost entirely below the radar, released one of the most exciting electronic records of 2011. Their wobbly brand of techno sometimes chugs ahead at full-speed, other times easing back into a wider waver, almost resembling some weird, warped IDM. I will be shocked if this record doesn t get wider appreciation very soon. Whether that happens or not, we fully recommend it, track one down.

Cyclic Defrost by Oliver Laing
Granny Records duo Hana come correct with their first album, offering a refreshing take on techno and IDM variants in the vein of Jan Jelinek, Raime, Actress and hints of the mighty Chain Reaction label. Mastered at Berlin s Dubplates and Mastering by none other than Rashad Becker, a name that often appears in the run-out groove of artists who inhabit a curiously funky techno-not-techno netherworld Hana s debut self-titled release grows in stature and listening enjoyment with every spin. With a sense of fun and adventure inhabiting the grooves, Hana (who are also part of label-mates, Good Luck Mr Gorsky), explore experimental timbres and ghostly vocalisations with a lightness of touch that belies their recording credentials.

Starting off with an abstract, Clicks and Cuts style intro, Liv slowly finds the sweet spot between mutant Detroit electro funk, a hint of the indie/dance territory of Matthew Dear and the abstract, yet rhythmic 12 releases on the Beatservice label, by Norwegian duo Information from the mid 90s. Obermaier implies the groove to begin with, until a wrong-footed man-with-two-left-feet rhythm leads into minimal acidic flourishes. Album opener SM heads in a Ricardo Villalobos vs. Nonplace Urban Field direction, as the lopsided rhythm and sepulchral vocals add a haunted edge to proceedings. CR80 uses beautifully syncopated live drums and urgent female vocals, and adds a driving, belligerent synth riff falling somewhere in between DMZ and Gary Numan. Echoic, boingy sounds threaten to derail the beat, but somehow it manages to maintain, reminding me of Shed and A Made Up Sound; more in overall feel than in the specific sounds. For those that enjoy abstract electronics that work just as well on headphones as on the dance floor, Greece s Hana are a duo to watch.

Textura
Hana's self-titled debut album arrives saddled with a (literally) cheeky front cover one would more associate with a 70s band like Wild Cherry than a Greece-based techno outfit formed in Thessaloniki last summer. Recorded in fall 2010 at Facta non Verba, the five-cut release finds Good Luck Mr Gorsky members Thanasis Papadopoulos and Thanos Bantis hunkered down in their chemical lab concocting formulae to go along with their material's stripped-down techno beats. Using analogue synths, samplers, and sequencers, the duo brings a decidely experimental edge to their productions, sprinkling as they do liberal doses of burble and flutter over bass-heavy techno rhythms.
The opening track, Sm, sets the scene with a heavy low-end pulse thudding alongside a steady kick drum and joined by acidy synths and percussive effects that suggest a lighter being repeatedly flicked open. On a slightly more aggressive tip, the B-side's Cr80 adds truncated vocal yelps to its bleepy, elephantine throb. A dubby dimension emerges in the track, too, when echoing waves drift repeatedly across the huge bass that slithers across the track's underbelly. The album's most elaborate track comes last. Liv opens beatlessly with flickering shudders and what could pass for the amplified workings of an ant community but then progressively fills in the dots with an insistent beat pattern, voice fragments, and even the demented meander of accordion playing. Though Hana hardly rewrites the techno guidebook on the release, it's nevertheless a pleasurable listen, in part due to the multi-dimensional experience provided by the vinyl format and the always superb mastering work done by Rashad Becker at Berlin's Dubplates & Mastering.

Milan based collective Just This return with two VA releases to continue their 'Broken Promises' series. With the aim of documenting the progression of cultural movements, the label have pursued underground material since 2010. Broken Promises Part 3 and Part 4 are due for release on 1st December and 8th December respectively, and each feature four new tracks channelling refined techno with minimalist, ambient sentiments.
Hunter/Game open Part 3 with 'Distance', a meditative journey through ambient textures using expansive synths and vast acoustics. Next, Architectural brandishes 808 drums for a tense workout on 'Electric Soul'. On the B-side, label co-owner Pisetzky explores the darker side of minimal on 'Anterial', whilst Altman plays with moody bass and ricocheting percussion on 'Shapes'.
Part 4 opens with a shuffling rhythmic framework on Inland's 'Aechmea', followed by 'Zona', a pointillist groove by Ben Gibson, aka one half of the collaborative project Dyad. On My Flower's 'Kundal', a cyclical melody wanders through eerie acoustics whilst Hiver navigates a broken beat framework with glitchy distortions and dub echoes on 'Stellar Parallax Landing'. 

* 2017 year marks TEN YEARS OF INTEGRAL RECORDS and looking back upon the label's incredible back catalogue, what a decade it has been for drum & bass music that we hold so close.

* Initially set up as a passion project and a platform for showcasing future talent, the label has been consistently releasing cutting edge drum and bass since 2007. The ethos of the label has always been about quality control and finding those special vibes that no question capture heart and soul. Honing their unique musical language, selections are carefully handpicked by head honchos Artificial Intelligence and more recently in collaboration with label manager Emma G that fit with the forward thinking, original spirit we know as Integral.

* Now 40-odd releases deep and renowned for breaking some of the most exciting artists on the roster today, the label also boasts signature classics from some of the scenes most prolific residents. Names include the likes of Lenzman, Lomax (one half of Loadstar), Alix Perez, Calibre, System, Zero T, Technicolour & Komatic (Technimatic), LSB, Steo, Dawn Wall, Mohican Sun, Phil Tangent, Satl and just recently, A.I. themselves.

* Celebrating the seminal journey thus far, a double album will mark this very special occasion. Part One will showcase a selection of the finest from over the years in a chronological journey of the label's sound (for digitial release.) A second curation will simultaneously launch across all formats of entirely new and most exclusive material to date, reinforcing Integral's place at the round table of bass.

* A perfect teaser for what's to follow, the Album Sampler will drop this November featuring two stunning tracks. First up, '1000 Souls' comes courtesty of A.I. - tones of the deep, lush and soulful set the sultriest of grooves. Beautifully moody keys entice, chill and soothe. On the flip, 'Defiance' from Mohican Sun follows suit. With a gritty percussive edge, haunting melodies and a desperately emotional vocal to boot, this music will draw you all into the most mesmerising of dancefloor spells.

* Mark November 24 as the official release of the TEN YEARS OF INTEGRAL Album Sampler across all formats. Bag your limited vinyl copy now.

First official reissue of Nigerian Boogie Disco Grail LP produced by Grotto for EMI Nigeria and originally released in 1978. Contains dance classic'Bad city Girl'. Liner notes by Nigerian Music expert Uchenna Ikkone, include previously unpublished photos and extensive interviews by Temitope Kogbe.
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Odion Iruoje was the A&R manager at EMI at the time,' Benson says, and he auditioned us, liked he material and signed us.' Odion Iruoje of course had groomed and produced Ofege. Now he was looking to repeat the formula with other high school groups such as Tirogo, Apples and Question Mark. Grotto's deep rock would be a welcome addition to this schoolboy rock' series.
Work on their album started immediately, with Iruoje in the producer's chair. Adapting to the tastes of the times—as well as their own maturing musical sensibilities—Grotto started transitioning from acid rock towards sleeker, more dance floor-friendly grooves. As I grew older I think I got a bit jazzier,' Benson says. I also listened to Curtis Mayfield, James Brown, Isley Brothers, Prince and a lot of funk groups from that era.'
Hard rock was the content of the first album,' Amenechi agrees, and funk/jazz/R&B the focus of album number two. Especially with the late Toma Mason Jr. joining as bassist.' The group's second album, Grotto II: Wait... No Hurry (released in 1979) reflected the growing sophistication of its members' musical outlook. Fat, funky bass grooves rubbed shoulders with jazzy flute lines, space-age synthesizer tones punctuated good, old-fashioned crunchy rock riffs.

This November will see Elia Perrone launch his new Jun'Ai imprint with his very own 'Flowers' EP, accompanied by a remix from Romanian minimal powerhouse Vid.

Tuscan producer and DJ Elia Perrone has long been one of the most respected figures in Italy's underground electronic music scene having co-founded the Klang Club in Arezzo which has seen him play alongside the likes of Simoncino, Juju & Jordash and Move D. Amongst this Elia, alongside brother and production partner heads up Unclear Records which plays host to their collaborative works as Easy To Remember as well as material from the likes of Baby Ford, Roman Fluegel, Christopher Rau and Dandy Jack amongst others.

Here though we see Elia turning a new chapter with the launch of his Jun'Ai imprint and taking the lead on the inaugural release is 'Flowers', a mind-altering slice of micro house fueled by pops, whirrs, clicks and sample cuts while fluttering atmospherics and bright string plucks ebb and flow throughout the murky depths of the composition. Vid aka Egal 3 steps up on remix duties to follow, delivering a straight edged take on things via crunchy organic percussion, billowing echoes of the original's atmospherics and a robust sub driven bass line.

Opening the flip side is 'Rain Smell', a slow brooding, hypnotic number employing dynamic string licks, modulating synth drones and bumpy 4/4 drums before 'Moshishi' closes out the package with airy ethereal textures, glitched out off-kilter percussion and rumbling low end tones.

The New Backwards, created in 2007, was originally included in the Ape Of Naples box set released on Important in 2008 and was constructed by PETER CHRISTOPHERSON using material from the Backwards sessions recorded in the early '90s for a planned release on Trent Reznor's Nothing Records label. The New Backwards, like The Ape Of Naples, is an intense fan favorite and an essential part of the COIL catalog.

Sumerian Fleet is a trio formed by Dutch producers Alden Tyrell and Mr Pauli, joined by Zarkoff after their 2010 debut EP. Their second EP came out in 2012 followed by their debut album 'Just Pressure' on Dark Entries in 2014. Sumerian Fleet have returned to release their sophomore LP 'Pendulum' of all new material as well as a remixed version of 'This Game Has No Name' from Zarkoff's other band, FFFC.

'Pendulum' contains 80's Dark Wave/EBM inspired tracks with an industrial tinge. The band cites inspiration from musical acts Fad Gadget, Front 242, Bauhaus and Sisters of Mercy. Literary references come from Poe's 'The Pit and the Pendulum', Pelevin's 'Generation P' and 'Life of Bugs', as well as classic Cyberpunk like Gibson's 'Sprawl' trilogy. Sumerian Fleet deliver 8 songs of vintage dark electro with a Gothic tinge and a touch of bass guitar. The album's been put together in a way that the listener can connect the dots, create a narrative, and become immersed in this attitude that the band's trying to convey, such as Vigny's idea of accepting despair: "A calm despair, without angry convulsions or reproaches directed at heaven, is the essence of wisdom."

All songs were initially recorded at Mr Pauli's studio in Den Haag, with overdubs and additional recordings at Zarkoff's Sensorium Studio in Croatia, and then final mix downs at Alden Tyrell's studio in Rotterdam. The album has been mixed by Alden Tyrell and mastered by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. Each LP is packaged in a copper foil stamped jacket designed by Eloise Leigh, with abstract squares in varied rhythmic repetitions to indicate motion, and included a double sided 10'x10' insert with lyrics and notes.

The visionary Turkish percussionist and the great South African bassist were introduced by Don Cherry in 1969, when Dyani moved to Sweden after the break-up of The Blue Notes. They worked together regularly over the next decade, starting out with Cherry in the Eternal Ethnic Music trio.'Another world,' recalls Temiz. 'At that time I was trying to learn as a big band jazz drummer, and when I met Don Cherry, I said, forget it. We played another kind of music. Indian music, Turkish music, Bulgarian, Chinese, you know... All kinds of music.' 'Every musician,' Dyani said later, 'should realize and acknowledge that folk music is the backbone of every music.'Recorded in Istanbul in 1976; originally released in an edition of one thousand copies only, on the Turkish label Yonca. The first side features Turkish material arranged by Temiz; the second, SA-oriented music put together by Dyani, opening with a stunning interpretation of Cherry's Marimba (Goddess Of Music).In a handsome gatefold sleeve, with excellent notes and previously unpublished photos.

A leading figure and respected elder in the Teklife family, Traxman has waited patientlywhile releases from young upstarts like Taso and Dj Earl have been enjoyed by footwork lovers all over the world. Now the time has come for Traxman to take centre stage, presenting a collection of new material that demonstrates his mastery of the footwork sound. Tekvision arrives hot on the heels of Teklife 005: Greenlight by DJ Manny, bringing an interesting contrast of production methods and styles. A prodigious crate digger, Traxman has provided the sample sources for many of Footwork's classic tracks over the years. So while DJ Manny recorded the majority of the vocals on Greenlight himself, Traxman uses his expert sample flipping techniques to add the human element to his productions. Traxman is a mainstay of the Chicago underground, with a discography stretching back to the golden era of Dance Mania Records in the 1990s. Ghetto House was an important precursor to Footwork, and Traxman was a key figure during this transition.

Echoes of the Ghetto House sound resonate through Tekvision, with tracks like Drop It Down and Twist The Party Out paying homage to the origins of Juke and Footwork music. Be Gagen feat DJ Earl is a beautiful opening track, with a soulful, melancholic synth unfolding patiently over a half-speed beat. When the bass kicks in after 1 minute 10 seconds it has a profoundly uplifting effect, and the late arriving vocal rounds off the composition perfectly.

Many of the tracks demonstrate brilliant and playful manipulation of vocal snippets, with Let Me Get Up and Control Ya Bitchezzz among the finest examples of this art. Finally,Tone Deaf and Whop Line show yet another side to Traxman's sound with an intoxicating and angular mix of bass and bleeps.

MICK HARRIS (SCORN, QUOIT, PAINKILLER) returns after several years of hiatus with ten tracks of blasting landmine bass and interlocking shrapnel rhythms.I've been asked to write a press piece for the dark lord MICK HARRIS.Where does one even start Especially for someone with decades of releases over various solo projects, collaborations and pseudonyms, whether it's doing blast beats in the original NAPALM DEATH to crushing techno brutality as MONRELLA, or savage drum & bass as QUOIT. Then of course there's the mighty SCORN and his numerous collaborations with fellow luminaries such as JOHN ZORN and BILL LASWELL (in PAINKILLER).Rather than being tied to genres or scenes, MICK HARRIS is one of those producers who creates a whole sonic world uniquely of his own, in which varying tracks, styles and tempos take form, but yet in which everything sounds unmistakably characteristic of the creator. Needless to say his work has influenced legions of producers like SURGEON, REGIS, ONTAL, VATICAN SHADOW / PRURIENT, FAUSTEN, SHAPEDNOISE et al, and pretty much anyone in the world of powerfully dark, abrasive music you could name-drop. And yet after all this time, it is impressive that HARRIS still stands way above his successors and has never been surpassed in his own production/performance game.After a hiatus of several years, he is back with a new album under the guise of FRET.Working at a faster tempo than his SCORN material, the FRET project first surfaced years ago on the DOWNWARDS label, rooting it firmly in the dark, industrial and technoid world, and appeared more recently on Tresor (Kern mix by OBJEKT), maintaining the characteristic colossal bass-heaviness and textural depth.And now a full album on KARLRECORDS, Berlin. HARRIS fans will be delighted to know that despite the 130 bpm tempo, the newest FRET still resolutely avoids any straight four-on-the-floor kickdrums, every track lurches, stumbles, staggers and charges forth with beats in beautifully broken asymmetry.We get 10 tracks of crushing, percussive destroyers, each itself a storm of precision chaos, with colossal low-end frequencies that'll cause stampedes in the right circumstances. The classic HARRIS sound is there, searing waves of feedback distortion, intricate, interlocking rhythms and cold, abattoir atmospheres, especially track 6 "Stuck in the track at Salford Priors" which sounds like you're being continuously suspended in the air from multiple explosions all around, each kickdrum throwing you up in the air, the next one going off before you can fall completely back to the ground.The lazy-minded would probably lump it in with the term "techno", but the disciplined brutality, blasting landmine bass and interlocking shrapnel rhythms are clearly HARRIS' own trademark style, sitting somewhere between SCORN and QUOIT.The tracks appear deceptively chaotic on the surface, yet each is meticulously and masterfully composed with great attention to layering and detail. MICK HARRIS fans rejoice, the dark lord still remains at the top of his game.

(Derek Szeto / Fausten / Combat Recordings)

New York native Caiazzo releases 'The Devotion' on his and P.Leone's E-Missions imprint featuring three dusky techno tracks and a remix from White Material co-founder Young Male.

Much like P.Leone, Caiazzo's debut release (entitled 'The Dredge') landed on Work Them Records; Spencer Parker's label that's featured names such as Radio Slave, Rodhad, DJ Richard and Ryan Elliot. Launching E-Missions earlier this year, the pair continue their high quality output by following up two releases from P.Leone with three uncompromising original cuts from Caiazzo himself.

Rolling percussion drives '917 (Sportmixxx)' whilst intoxicating drones operate throughout, making way for 'Lifeform' with its layers of thick synthesised sounds that build on top of a relentless drum composition with subtle but effective transitions. 'Godbody' offers a stripped back approach to techno with an intricate percussive composition that allows a deep low-end and a hypnotic perc to take control.

Finally, White Material label boss Young Male provides his take on 'Godbody' where bass hits combine with haunting atmospheres and warped rhythms, closing the release with style.

Muzik & Friendz purple patch continues, literally, with a purple screen printed vinyl release from Belgian duo Le Babar & Pat Lezizmo 'Last Call' featuring Anano delivers two impressive originals coupled with a heavyweight international remix package making this the 7th outing for the Belgianbased label.
'Last Call' the original mix brings together tight classic house grooves a killer bumping bass line and the sexy vocals of Anano into a house track with real crossover potential. Denmark based Alvaro Hylander's mix goes deep, balearic and full of filtered rhodes, lush percussion with a tribal edge and breaks highlighting the sweet vocals, a perfect bar grooves shoulder shaker.
London based Frenchman Giom plays the ace card in the package with a foot stomping remix full of his own signature drum workout and ability to weave melodies and filtered breaks into a
package that has seen him release on the likes of Defected, Bunny Tiger, Toolroom and top the charts with his own label Supremus. Already tried and tested on his last US & Canada festival tour we fully expect many outings at the closing parties and festivals later this year.
Closing off the EP nicely the piano led 'Move Me' brings an upbeat and old school vibe full of stabs, vocal chops and a lush sax infused break perfect for sunsets and warm ups to boot.
Designed with the music collector in mind the limited vinyl release will be available packaged in hand made sleeves made from recycled materials.

Eric Copeland (Black Dice) returns to DFA with a brand-new set of hyper and hectic leftfield club music. 'Goofballs' places its emphasis on playful melodies, ear worm hooks and vocals mixed with trademark machine funk rhythms that hit hard and land off balance. Any other way would be too obvious for an artist like Eric.

Eric explained the creation of this new album via email from his home on an island in lovely Balearic Palma Spain: i made it here in Palma at my studio, this is the first full record i've made entirely here since moving. some of this material was road tested September 2016 on tour supporting Animal Collective. This album was the result of real isolation here, countless hours, focused only on this. The whole recording & writing was a fast process. I focused most on the bass groove. I had a very minimal gear setup: 90's drum machine, cheap bass machine and a sampler. But most important was a homemade 'drum brain' that Barry's London custom made for me. Barry was in the Van Pelt Soldiers of Fortune & Oneida. That piece of gear was a big part of this record and informed the direction it took the most.'

Eric Copeland is a founding member of Black Dice as well as a prolific solo artist. Besides DFA, he has released albums on L.I.E.S., Post Present Medium and Paw Tracks.

'Break at Home' is the collected recordings of the mysterious group '2 Katara' which was formed in Athens, Greece in 1978 by George Theodorakis (keyboards, percussion, vocals) with his close friend Dimitris Papangelidis (bass, guitars, percussion, vocals). TIP!
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This musical-duo recorded quietly over a decade between Theodorakis' family idyllic home studio in the Philopappou hill of Athens and the nearby studios Theta and SR. For some part, the tracks seem like adventurous experiments or even unfinished samplers or riffs the band starts to develop, but at the same time there are productions that are clearly meant to be the backbone of an album that never came out.

Into the light proudly presents 14 sun-soaked productions from the above-mentioned sterling material from 1981 until 1991 where the band split. This sixth installment is meant to be enjoyed as a journey from proggy pop to TR-909 drum driving compositions to Mediterranean disco-not-disco and further futuristic synth-scapes.

The many elements from the Greek traditional folk music - especially in 'I Can Not' which is an ambient take on a folk lament song from Epirus area and the reverse play recording of a Greek orthodox priest chant on their last ever recorded epic 17min track 'Greek lady' -, the unusual but clever combinations of colorful styles and the intense improvisation put the group in the first line of Athens' best kept secrets

Copenhagen's Echocord Colour returns this August with Stephen Brown's 'Power Factor' EP, featuring three originals from the UK Techno stalwart.
Scottish producer Stephen Brown is a name synonymous with Techno across the globe having been releasing material since the mid nineties on imprints such as Derrick May's Transmat, Subject Detroit, Skudge Records, Ben Sims' Theory and Holland's Djax Up Beats amongst many more.
Here we see Brown join the roster of Echocord's sub-label Colour, slotting him in alongside the likes of Mike Dehnert, Nick Ho¨ppner, Luke Hess and Deadbeat in the back- catalogue.
Up first on the release is 'Sandtext', a stripped-back dubbed out opening cut fuelled by a robust kick and minute percussive hits running alongside a sturdy sub bass drive and spiralling dub stabs before 'Wet' takes things even deeper via muted kicks, shuffling shakers and delayed synth chords. 'Back Stroke' then rounds out the release with an amalgamation of airy reverberated stab hits, rumbling low end pulsations and a thunderous kick drum to once again create an understated, hypnotic composition.

With this album Cypress Hill turned towards a more tranquil, sedate, slower, spooky sound with beats. The dark mood of this album reflects the strife within the band during this era, when member Sen Dog temporarily left the band to pursue other projects.
On this album both Wu-Tang Clan members RZA and U-God make appearances on "Killa Hill Niggas". Also notable was track "No Rest For The Wicked" which ignited the feud between Cypress Hill and rapper Ice Cube, who they claimed, stole material from the band.
At the time this album was well received by critics worldwide.

Q - 4 Stars - Excellent - "The production is sophisticated, incorporating Indian sitar and sloping, almost psychedelic bass grooves to create a vaguely threatening ambient hardcore."
Melody Maker - Bloody Essential - "...resonates with freakish cheese-wire paranoia...a gobsmacking paradox of expansive claustrophobia.... The funk patters like an erratic heartbeat, the voices are stretched to bursting with menace and loathing and mockery..."

The first release on Youth - a new label from Andrew Lyster, comes from Portland based artist Yard. Hailing from the dark woods of the West Coast of the United States, Yard brings together a collection of tracks from the archives alongside some new material. Canopy and White Fog were originally released on the album Deciduous Flood Plains, and have been reworked for this release. Marshall Acid is pressed to vinyl for the first time having previously only been available digitally via Event Horizon. Yard's gritty sound evokes a spectrum of gnarled city life to organic atmospheres. The release comprises of field recordings, micro-cassette mangles, bass kicks, a live jam between x0xb0x and a modded tr-606 and water drops percolating through the mixes to get that urban hum and grit running up against the forest.

Echocord returns late June with a new release, Joel Alter under his Jor-El alias, entitled 'Tilted Reality' and comprising three originals from the Swedish artist.
Currently based in Copenhagen, Sweden born producer and DJ Joel Alter is a name synonymous with
the contemporary Techno scene on both his home turf and across the globe, his back catalogue to date features a long player for the Uncanny Valley imprint, solo EP's for D'Julz' Bass Culture, Sweatshop and collaborative works for Kontra Musik alongside Henrik Johnsson amongst much more.
This time round though we see Alter return under his Jor-El guise under which he first started releasing material on DJ Hell's Internation Deejay Gigolo imprint. Up first is title-track 'Tilted Reality' laid out over seven minutes with a slowly unfolding dynamic feel, encompassing spiraling atmospherics, distorted rhythms and blooming stab- sequences.
'Elevation' follows and takes a more direct groove-driven approach via straight four-four percussion and hooky bass chops, whilst tension building pads and fluttering dub echoes gradually build around the foundation.
'Solitude' closes out the package deliving into deeper realms with soft ethereal dub chords, acid tinged leads and emotive strings.

Panorama Bar resident Nick Ho¨ppner gets to Work on his second solo album on Ostgut Ton, connecting the territories of House music with the ease of Alt-Pop.
Work as in labor. An axiom that fuels the capitalist system just as the Techno/House scene economy says that one needs to keep oneself busy to make a living. As a musician, things are complicated of course. It's a long way from the romantic idea of creating music simply for the sake of art to becoming a full time musician. Those who have accomplished this feat often find themselves in a professional loop of writing the music, producing it, promoting it (with an info text like this), releasing it and then hopefully selling it. After leaving his full time job as Ostgut Ton's label manager in 2012, Nick Ho¨ppner went fully freelance, focusing on his musically diverse, deep and dynamic DJing in and outside Berghain's Panorama Bar, but more importantly spending more time in the studio. The result was his critically acclaimed debut album Folk (Ostgut Ton, 2015), various 12' releases and remixes, and now his sophomore LP, Work, which, more than ever, lays out his refined production skills and his talent to work the machines until they reveal their inner ghosts: nine new songs that now dodge the dance floor, then fully embrace it.
Work as in body of work. A record is more than the sum of clocked up hours at the studio, but the result of an artistic-creative process. On Work, Ho¨ppner shows his everlasting lust for musical detail, his increasing technical skills and compositional finesse. Work is a very personal, soulful and deep record that breaks through the usual club/dancefloor narrative by documenting Nick's interest for hybrid sounds and combining elements from varying musical genres. Work's lead single 'All By Themselves (My Belle)' is a very atmospheric, intimate and steadily unfurling IDM piece with ethereal synth and vocal pads; on the album it's contrasted by 'Clean Living' with Tram 78, a modern Ho¨ppner club classic: powerful, kick-heavy, muscular, cheerful and uplifting. It's a very personal track resulting from a recent reencounter with an old friend. Having spent countless hours together in Berlin's clubs in ever changing states of mind a decade ago or longer, things have since changed for both towards a more - clean living'. Connecting to this musical vibe 'In My Mind' follows with a slightly darker tone putting emphasis on bassline, percussion and squeaky sound detailing. 'Hole Head' pays tongue-in-cheek homage to Nick's love for UK club music, when a dashing melody of synths and vibraphone is matched with clattering breaks and syncopation. The dubby, mesmerizing 'The Dark Segment' not only impresses with its hypnotic synth figurines, but also by morphing to a shuffling Jazz rhythm towards it's middle part; 'Forced Resonance' uses Oberheim synth brass stabs to dramatic effect; the percussion- and clap-laden 'Fly Your Colours' comes with an irresistible piano melody atop an energetic kick; and finally the album-closing, shuffling but rhythmic, noisy yet bluesy 'Three Is A Charm' featuring the duo Randweg on clarinet, cajo´n and acoustic guitar is a coherent departure heading towards Indie Pop territory. It sees Nick collaborating with acoustic instrumentalists for the first time in his ten-year- spanning Ostgut Ton release catalogue.
Work as in artwork. Staying in line with the Folk album, the visual companion for this record comes from German collage artist Frank Bubenzer. As with the artwork at hand, Bankentsunami, and his other works, Bubenzer cuts up print magazine advertisements and recontextualizes them into new motifs, removing all human depiction from the source material, here as a commentary on the world of business, big money and the banking crisis.
Work as in work it. As a slogan 'work' has always been one of the genre's most utilized paroles, coined and put on wax by pioneers like LNR, Blake Baxter or Steve Poindexter, to name a few. Not only calling for the crowds to get moving on the floor but also to fully express themselves and their unique individuality inside an all embracing environment. A mindset rooted in House Music that has been an integral part of Nick Ho¨ppner's identity as a DJ and producer from the beginning and all through his decade-spanning residency at Panorama Bar. Work it!

Ekoplekz returns with his fourth album for Planet Mu, in the shape of 10-tracker "Bioprodukt". The unique lo-fi, woozy sound of Bristol's Nick Edwards stays intact while he veers towards the nineties for inspiration: the bleep and bass sound of the north of England is one touchpoint and the acid gurgles of the 303 are another. While the murky lo-fi production levels and evocative melodies remain, they are now bolstered by a more muscular rhythmic chassis. Snappier kicks and snares mingle with dense layers of percussion and deep undulating sub-basslines adding a funkier edge, as typified by opening track "Elevation" where playful beats interlock with breezy keyboard flourishes to create something uncharacteristically upbeat. Similarly, the gentle, fluid motion of "Slipstream" and "Calypzoid" represent some of the most appealingly chilled grooves in the Ekoplekz canon to date. But the darker-edged material remains. "Expedition" has a pensive, percussion-heavy feel whilst "Acrid Acid" is a dirt-encrusted slow-mo techno meltdown. "Transcience" displays the Ekoplekz trademark dub-fx in full flight over a driving lo-end, before "Descent" leads down to the final section, where the beats fade out, replaced by rippling layers of spectral ferric ambience on the epic "Low-X Over", before finishing with the radiant looped stasis of "Denier Daze". The albums shifting, mperfect patterns and muted colours are visually mirrored in the beautifully realised sleeve by the Print Project.

(Locked Groove, Nuno De Satos remixes) Something Happening Somewhere and Mary Go Wild combine their forces for a very special record, containing two cuts by Presk and remixes by Locked Groove and label honcho Nuno dos Santos.

Something Happening Somewhere and Mary Go Wild combine their forces for a very special record, containing two cuts by Presk and remixes by Locked Groove and label honcho Nuno dos Santos. The original A1 side has already been released on SoHaSo last summer on their SOMEWHERE compilation, but has now found a place on delicious black gold and is further enriched with a fresh B-side and aforementioned remixers delivering quality reworks.

2BXPRZD is an ode to the celebration of night life and the diverse spectrum of people that move within it. The club has always been a place where people from every background, religion and gender imaginable can meet and express their being through Dancing. It doesn't matter in what way you move, only that it's authentic and respecting towards the fellow dancers around you. Presk provides all the necessary ingredients: the funkiness in the drums melting with the dark and sinister bassline and pitched vocal perfectly assemble the conditions for such an interaction to take place.

Locked Groove takes this celebratory dance and turns it into an even darker and hypnotizing affair. Stripping the original to its bare essence with a pounding kickdrum to lead the way. Pulsing atmospheres and emotive pads swirl around and behind, granulated in a way that they almost fall apart. This is further reinforced by the stream of voices that are processed to sound like a field recording from beyond the iron curtain in Soviet times, anticipating the unavoidable collapse that follows.

The B sides provides a little more uplifting environment with Starets, unsettling melodies and dissonant atmospheres propel forward before restraining the whole thing and letting broken chord stabs seep through the system. Again reworking the original material into a more skeletal structure, Nuno dos Santos adds a poignant arp melody that is typical for his melancholic style. Driving yet breathing with emotion, it's the perfect accompaniment for a night drive while floating through clear skies. This records proves a delightful combination, containing something imperative for every soul feeling the need to express themselves in a unique way.

One of the core members of the Apollonia family is the mastermind behind the label's latest release. Shonky steps up with his first solo EP since 'Plombiére' which dropped in July 2016. Full of funky flavours and that distinct 'Shonky style', the new EP consists of four brand new tracks produced exclusively for Apollonia. Each track emanates its own unique vibe, while reppin' Shonk's irresistible groove. On side A we have 'Tyrolien', a jaunty number with bright tones and a tight, rolling groove. Shonky injects it with a series of unusual FX and what sounds like an wizened old creature, speaking about 'the foulest stench in the air'. It's a superb combination and sets the EP off to a great start.Next up is 'Beat Street' which has a heavier set of beats, which stomp down as a marauding b-line gets to work. Tiny fizzes and cheeps in the background add depth, sounding like robotic birds at play in the wild. The track is minimal in its make up, but deep and engrossing, classic Shonky material.Flip the vinyl over and we have 'Torro Rosso', a bold, stomping workout with fresh percussion and a jovial analogue riff. As the bubbly low end percolates way down below, the beats pump the track along and an extra layer of analogue funk enters the fray midway through. The final track is titled 'Serpent a` Sonnette' and swithes the vibe. It's loose, meandering and twisted, with a hypnotic bassline and super sharp percussion. This one is going to get the dance floor locked into a groove, as it progresses a sweet, chirpy melody brightens the mood. Feel the glow!Once again Shonky demonstrates his ability to produce groovy dance floor cuts that have their own unique fingerprint; danceable, unusual and utterly captivating. Grab the new EP now!

Undefined is back and extending the legend saga with the highly experienced, creative genius Todd sines.
Todd began creating music in the late 80's, ranging from post-punk and industrial, to techno and house. While digging through his material on Discogs, one can easily notice the great variety of sounds he has developed throughout the years, using multiple aliases like .xtrak and Enhanced.

Todd kicks off this EP with 'Coast', easily recognizable by it's complicated drum patterns, vocal snippets and deepness. Shcaa did an amazing job on the remix as well, using some of Todd's elements to form the core of a true minimal pumper. The breaks are scary as hell and will certainly result in a perfect dark atmosphere on underground dance floors.

On the flipside Todd again shows diversity, as he delivers Throwback and Waves of love. Both of them are house oriented and have energetic acid basslines, fitting together perfectly.

Echoe returns for its first outing of 2017 and fifth release since starting in earnest last year. ECHOE005 marks the first remix package in the label's discography, offering up four stellar remixes of Francesca Lombardo's "Remembrance" song. A clear stand-out in the label boss's inimitable repertoire, "Remembrance" has been given the rework treatment by house and techno stalwarts: Cassy, Laura Jones, Jade and La Fleur.

Cassy offers up the first remix, focussing her reinterpretation around an enormous and insistent bassline, murky and dense in equal measure, that rolls from start to finish. Undulating hats inject further energy, doubling in pace strategically whilst complimenting the 4/4 groove. Utilising the originals' emotional resonance, Cassy creates soft textures and refined arpeggiated patterns, adding a further dimension to the track's impassioned narrative.

Laura Jones's remix comes in the form of a low-slung, jazzy drum work-out, adorned with sub-heavy kicks and a snarling low-end that offers much of the track's sonic weight. Gentle bell-like keys float alongside modulated synth stabs that filter in and out of focus, whilst Jones's drum programming becomes progressively more and more frenetic.

Jade's reimagining sees a broken beat take the reigns, leaving space for soft percussive rhythms and an earth shaking low-end that pushes the song into ghetto house territory. Hi-hat pick-ups and jittery vocal cuts provide further momentum before the groove lands on sturdy 4/4 terrain. Jade's deftly arranged breakdowns, punctuated by panned drum fills and granular FX, adds welcome tension to the track, making a return to rolling drum-patterns and buzzing bass-sequences all the more rewarding as they come back in.

The final remix comes courtesy of La Fleur who delivers the most peak-time, club focussed material on the package. Staying true to the original's hook, La Fleur brings melody to the fore, whilst deploying snappy drums alongside chilling atmospherics and tech heavy stabs, set to keep dancers moving into early hours and beyond.

After sending out these tracks last summer and getting great reactions from DJs and dancers alike, Hell Yeah is pleased to finally officially release virtuoso musician Verdo's Little Blue EP, complete with a remix from Lauer. Fully remastered for vinyl, the likes of Lexx, Chris Coco, Soft Rocks, Leo Mas and many more have all be playing these tunes with great results.

The talented Verdo runs the famous Gratis Club in Senigallia on the Italian east coast. It is a place he calls home, and that has really allowed him to hone and sharpen his DJ skills so that now he is a slick, unpredictable and singular DJ with many tricks up his sleeve. Bjorn Torske, DJ Fettburger, Prins Thomas, Kenji Takimi, Glenn Underground and more have all played there in the last decade and Verdo himself is a skilled pianist who has played for Zero7 singer Mozez in the past. He has worked with Hell Yeah before now, as well as releasing on Danny Was A Drag King, and here serves up his biggest bit of dance floor dynamite to date, including his previously digital only cut 'Big Fish' (mixed by DJ Rocca).

Opener 'Little Blue' is a perfectly sunny track with hip swinging claps, bobbling bass and boat party vibes that soothe your soul. Rich with instrumentals and golden synth lines, it's a perfect beat that gets followed up by the retro disco pump of 'Sazerac', another tropical cut with loose drums and rubbery bass to get you up on your toes.

The massive 'Big Fish' then hits hard with its tin pot percussion and wild synths all making you flail your arms like you just don't care. Jumbled jungle vibes and big chords all swell your heart as your feet skip about down low.

Closing out the package is Phillip Lauer (Tuff City Kids), one of the most in demand stars of the day, and his version is a direct house jam with percolating and rugged synths and slapping hits, all demanding you ditch your cocktail and get up and groove.

"all good stuff here! OG for early / mornings and Lauer for peak. really nice release! " Piers - Soft Rocks

"Big fan of Verdo! great tunes here as expected. Sezarac fav at first listen." - Dream Chimney

"Little blue is super nice!!" - Phil South (Golf Channel)

"Yes, some great stuff here. Sezerac and the Lauer mix are really great, perfect sunshine session material." - Chris Coco

"I love Big Fish's keyboards! strong!!! Arigato!!!" - Chida

"Little Blue and Big Fish are fun for sure, def will play em on a rooftop sooooon" - Jacques Renault

"Yeah, feeling Little Blue, heavy rotation this Summer! " - Jason Boardman (Aficionado)

"Little Blue, i like." - Lexx

"This is tremendous. Driving peak time track that you can imagine Joe Claussell really working the dancefloor with." - Andrew Pirie

"killer ep guys!!!" - Discodromo

THE ADAMANT SESSION - 'Various Artists' (Muzik & Friendz Records)
Showcasing the ethos of the imprint by bringing together a collective of friends for the next musical instalment, Belgian label Muzik & Friendz present a four track Various Artist EP of deep, classy productions that will appeal to crate diggers, selectors and collectors alike.
Tune On 'Rice City' kicks off the EP with a moody, atmospheric and haunting cut that blends growling bass and lush pads over dreamy arpeggios creating warm up material heaven. Jazzawesz & Pat Lezizmo 'Playing Games' the second track on side-A warms things up with a groove laden track tinged with deepness and a funk that will fit into any set where quality is the key, sweet keys and clever percussion throughout make this stand out. Tominori Hosoya 'Pray To Father' leads on side-B with a lead line and vocal awash with ethereal reverb over tough driving drums and classy percussion perfect for bringing some vibes from up above. Finally Melodymann 'Let him be heard' closes of the EP packing in a sweet piano hook, disco looped samples and bouncing bass overswinging drums.
Designed with the music collector in mind the limited vinyl release will be available packaged in hand made sleeves made from recycled materials.

Over 3 years ago, Casey Tucker was thrust into the limelight after 15 years in the shadows. Never truly getting the recognition for is Detroit influenced and post rave sound in the 90s, For Those That Knoe reissued some of Casey's classic material and unearthed some gems on DAT in 2013. Fast forward to the current day and a recent treasure trove was uncovered and some fresh DATs untouched since the late 90s were discovered! Ben promptly bought a DAT player on Ebay and shipped it to Casey's home for the un-dusting to commence. FTTK has worked with Casey to present another round of authentic material spread across a further three EPs.The track Carpet Dancer has been in demand since the Fine Balance Recordings gained deserved attention. Originally featuring as the A Side on the very first fine Balance EP, it evokes all of the emotions that Casey's music can muster.Juxtaposition is a slower groovy effort with meandering chords, trademark fizzy percussion and topped off with a lush string finale.Whatever Comes to Mind rounds off the EP with a rolling percussive bassline, delicate arps and smooth sweeping pads.

Fifth Interval gather together some of the most forward thinking minds in the dub techno sphere for this various artists EP. Those already acquainted with the label will be familiar with the likes of Federsen and Tomas Rubeck, who headed up the first and second releases respectively. They are joined by dub techno luminary Brendon Moller, aka Beat Pharmacy and Alessandro Crimi, for this four tracker of perfectly contrasting arrangements.
Federsen opens the proceedings with the sunset sequence of Bay Blues, cascading keys rolling through the gaps in a subtly broken drum arrangement, making for effortless and captivating listening. Beat Pharmacy contributes his first original material to the label after a brace of remixes last year. Showing true mastery of the board, chromed chord stabs are pushed and pulled around the mix in true dubwise style, drifting over a malleable bassline that packs a serious punch.
On the flip side, Tomas Rubeck crafts a tightly woven backdrop of constantly evolving, organic atmospherics and powerful drum work for IO, and this muscular workout is perfectly contrasted by the swung grooves and kaleidoscopic synthesis of Alessandro Crimi's Fractal Clouds, which closes the EP.

We continue THE ORB's SIN IN SPACE remix EP series with a third volume focussing on the duo's latest full-length, the highly acclaimed COW / CHILL OUT, WORLD! (KOMPAKT 354 CD 134). The spontaneous, organic vibe and sample artistry of the album is reflected in three distinct reworks from highly respected Kompakt mainstays THE FIELD, DAVE DK and JÖRG BURGER - all of them informed with surprising twists and displaying a clear lineage to the source material.
THE FIELD's remix of 9 ELMS OVER RIVER ENO takes the original's percussive part and unfolds it to a swirling, tropical epic that alludes as much to The Orb's multifaceted sound collages as it does to the hypnotic, looping flow of The Field's own output. Meanwhile, DAVE DK turns in a club-friendly revamp of 4AM EXHALE with the fittingly titled ACCELLERATOR MIX, indulging in exquisitely lyrical glitches and the magic of the straight bassdrum. JÖRG BURGER takes a shot at the beatless 5TH DIMENSIONS with the excellent DSCHUNGELOPER MIX - its loose pop jam feeling and flirty shuffle rhythm recall Burger's lush lounge core efforts under his Triola monicker.

Jacob Long's newest recordings under the Earthen Sea moniker deepen his compelling synthesis of shadowy rhythms and opaque atmospherics, drawing on the most potent qualities of melancholic ambient and dub techno.

An Act Of Love' follows 2015's Ink,' released via Ital's Lovers Rock imprint,
and was inspired by internal tribulations and the experience of exploring an empty nocturnal metropolis. Careful waves of tones drift and decay, beats materialize and pulse across twilit landscapes, a noir mood reigns.

Given Long's background as bassist for revelatory tribal-punk trio Mi Ami, An Act Of Love' showcases a musician in the midst of transcendent redefinition, crafting an immersive language of texture and motion.

From Jacob Long:
This record was made over the course of the most emotionally difficult and stressful year in my life thus far. As such, it is both a reflection of that experience and also something that gave me space to begin working through issues to see a way forward, to a better place both psychically and physically.

An idea that was also central to my thoughts while creating the album was the concept and reality of being out in the city at night, wandering around a large urban area after dark - the contrast of empty streets but with life still going on all around, and the openness and possibilities that can bring. This music was an attempt to capture that feeling.

* 'Limerence' is not only Misantrop's debut outing, it is also the inaugurating release of his own label Foul-Up.

* The sound pops out of an industrial mindset, but the title piece reverses out of garage/classic house that nods to 90s r'n'b. On 'Nocturnal Emission' friend Jon Marius Brogaard Aeppli's guitar solo is vogueing out on the floor, psychedelic rock meets psychotic blues by way of sheer UK sound.

* Featuring a wobbling bass on the techno-leaning 'No. 3' - adorned with a reference to classical composition in the cluster strings. 'They Don't Know' puts on a bit of electro, noise and some giallo synth arpeggiation. There's shine, atmosphere and a rather fascinating depth of field.

* 'Limerence' draws its inspiration from all over contemporary music and noise grounds - not wearing its 'influences' in the most opulent manner but well declaring its material with confidence. If the finished product doesn't have the uniformity of a proper industrial product, so much the better...

* Misantrop is out to change the way you listen to music, no matter how chaotic the journey is, showing off a vision that's both deeply human and richly transcendent.

For fans of: Kyle Hall, Actress, Shed, Drexciya, Levon Vincent, Helm, Anthony Shakir, Drexciya, Actress, Mica Levi, John Carpenter, Burial, Aphex Twin

finally repressed

Back in February 2013, shortly after their impressive first release as a label, Music Is Love launched a double VA entitled Lovebox: an 8 track double-vinyl release that included tracks from 8 talented up-and-coming producers on their roster. By innovatively previewing the producers in this way, the label laid the foundations for what listeners could expect for each artists' subsequent EPs. The artists who released on it were not hyped up flavours of the month, but rather emerging talents who sat perfectly with the label's musical ethos - quality and original underground house with a contemporary, dynamic feel. Since the VA, the label have gone from strength to strength and have firmly established themselves as one of the most brightest house labels around in the UK.

Just over a year later and following in the success of its predecessor, MIL return with their second VA and with that, a chance for listeners to hear the new additions they've acquired, in addition to some already known faces. Liam Geddes opens proceedings with Untitled. A deep sense of soul permeates the whole track as a rumbling baseline imbues the beat with an ever-present sense of groove that never lets the head stop nodding. Geddes has really fine tuned and matured his sound over the past year, and this track is further evidence of his quality as a producer. The subtle percussive rhythms, electronic bleeps and synth nuances give this track a natural flow, as Geddes conjures something altogether more hypnotic, dark and purposeful.
Mr.KS, one of the newcomers to the label, outlines his coolly crafted style with track (Music) Makes Me Stronger. Brittle drums and deep warped synths suck you in and out and shape the structure of the beat, while afflicted chord patterns combine with the hypnotic repetition of a vocal sample to give the track a gesture towards techno but with a flow that pulls in house elements. Cassio Kohl introducers himself with a warm, melodic house number; rumbling synths circulate in the background of the track while ticking hi-hats and snares play off against the sumptuous vocal sample, which builds and falls back nicely into its original path until electronic glitches sporadically ease in and move the beat forward.

Jamie Trench has been making some serious headway of late and his track I Want You with Rebel serves a timely reminder of a producer on top form. A heavy, rolling baseline resonates intently, building against murky vocal samples, shuffling snares and off-beat key stabs that grow in presence and intensity - a track that will no doubt prove a high point in any DJ set. Label boss Oli Furness has a raw knack for creating crisp, heavy sounds and Take Monday Off remains on a similar path, albeit the beauty lies in the subtlety of arrangements rather than bigger hitting sounds. Chopped shimmying keys tease, filter and build fluently with urgent hi-hats and swinging drums that flourish harmoniously together, while an understated baseline adds weight and rhythmic groove typically inherent in Furness' work.

Italian heavyweight Tuccillo has released on some of the most reputable labels on the circuit - releases for 20:20 Vision and Freerange is evidence enough of his provenance - and this time he brings his baleric house sound with the impeccable sounds of DubFlanged Gru. Shimmering percussion shakes meander against the bumping bassline while the endearing, muffled vocals that threaten to break out are superseded by breeze-block keys that filter and descend into a chattering groove. Dutch producer U Know The Drill brings things back into heavier house territory with a no-nonsense, stripped-back stomper, the type of track we've been used to hearing on Dutch affiliates New Jack City's material. Heavy snares kick with a punch, and the deep drone-like vocal swings against the wobbling baseline and tapestry of electronic bleeps. Other sampled vocals and glitches weave in with the juxtaposing elements playing off one another to huge effect, ensuring that sheer energy pervades the track.

Jackson Ryland rounds off the heavy 8 track VA - scattering hi-hats and swirling pads build, while the shuffling drums roll on until fleeting chord flourishes and a musky vocal hook bring the track into wistful nostalgia. The elements of track balance superbly and are propelled forward by the intricate drum arrangements and well-crafted hi-hat/vocal combo.
The difference in approach and outcome from each artist results in yet another highly impressive outcome, with 8 high grade tracks that show another side to Music Is Love. The sounds are tougher and the mood is darker, but the premise of the whole MIL concept remains more apparent than ever with this release: sourcing fresh underground talent, curating original electronic music and evolving artists already on the roster.

RAWAX proudly welcomes Mr. Lamont Norwood aka Dj Di'jital to the family! A true pioneer from Detroit!

Truly an old school Techno Bass jewel, DJ Di'jital has been a key player in the development of what some call the "Second Generation" of Detroit Techno. Having released on classic Detroit labels like Metroplex, Direct Beat, and Twilight 76, there is plenty of good reason why his name and his work have become so legendary over the years.

Influenced by early groups like Kraftwerk and Parliament, it was no surprise that the 80's fusion of Electronic Music, Funk and Hip Hop that brought about the Electro Funk sounds, would have such an impact on him. As a kid, Lamont Norwood aka DJ Di'jital became acquainted with the idea of mixing two songs together using tape decks, which while being limited, still gave him the drive and passion to pursue a career as a professional DJ. Over the years he played many different house parties and underground clubs, even spending some time as a Cabaret DJ.

Throughout this time, Di'jital became an incredibly skilled turntablist, quickly gaining the reputation of being a formidable force behind the wheels of steel. The year 1996 would prove to be quite a momentous one for Norwood, not only signing to the already well established label Direct Beat, but also becoming the official DJ for one of the label's finest and most important artists, Aux 88. Having already released his first EP, "Prototype", on Direct Beat, this would become a great opportunity that would help seal him as an icon of what was now known as the Detroit Techno Bass scene. Over the next few years,

Di'jital continued recording for Direct Beat, releasing some of the greatest and most unique Techno Bass classics to date, even doing a few remixes for some of Aux 88's most well known releases like "Electro/Techno", "I Need To Freak", and "Break It Down". Hit EPs like "From The Mind Of The Master", and "360 Degrees" became instant classics, still very sought after to this day. He also had some of his songs appear on some of the various Direct Beat compilations that were released between the years 1996 and 1999 like "Xperience De Bass II", which released "Radar2Bass", one of his most notable works, as well as the all time collector's album, "Techno Bass: The Mission".
Perhaps what may have been one of the biggest signs that his career was becoming exactly what he had hoped for, was the opportunity presented to him to remix Aaron Carl's classic "Down", which was released on the iconic Metroplex Records in 1998; Something that to any Detroit native would have been an honor and a milestone, given the reputation and level of success and influence that Juan Atkin's imprint had on the Detroit Electronic Music scene, as well as the global Electro/Techno movement.

Between the years 2000 and 2002, there was a small hiatus in complete EPs or albums being released by DJ Di'jital, although there were 2 different tracks released on the labels Bipolar and Studio iK7. In 2002, he went on to sign to another of Detroit's legendary imprints, Twilight 76, where he released 2 EPs, "Bass Programmers", and Di'jital's Revenge". In 2005, already a veteran and having amassed the necessary skill and knowledge needed to be a true beat warrior, Di'jital was now ready to join the resistance...Underground Resistance that is! Featured on the Interstellar Fugitives Vol. 2 compilation ( also later released as a 2xCD/DVD set ), Di'jital also released on the Electrocuter EP, which featured the previously released "Bang", as well as "Track 19".

In 2006, already well into the digital age ( no pun intended ), Norwood would release his first set of downloadable works, starting with an album called "The Prototype", on Twilight 76, which was completely unrelated to his first EP which was also called "Prototype". Recently, Twilight 76 has also released what is so far a 2 volume set of battle cuts dubbed "Electro Battle Tools".

The only known material that is known to be in the future for DJ Di'jital at the moment is a remix of Morphogenetic's "Techno Bass Is Back!", which was originally released as a free download to members of Technobass, but will soon be released on a 12"/Digital release that will launch the site's own label "Techno Bass Music". There will also be a follow EP by Di'jital, so stay tuned! Over the years, DJ Di'jital has proven to be an unstoppable force in the Techno Bass scene, tirelessly working to push the boundaries of Electro forward with his futuristic and visionary beats that have unleashed mayhem across the globe, not just in his published works, but also in his incredible DJ acts, where one can truly witness one of the few actual turntablists in this style of music. Expect more in the future as Di'jital's revenge continues to spread across the globe with his out of the ordinary approach towards Techno Bass music.

As Claremont 56 speeds towards its' ten-year anniversary, label founder Paul Murphy continues to champion little known producers and previously unheard artists. Over the past 12 months, the label has showcased material from rising talents
such as Bella Figura, Simon Peter, Paraiso and Oma & Amberfame. Now, Claremont 56 is adding another new name to the roster: Statues. Essex-based trio Bradley Lucke (production/bass/percussion/keys), Mark Crooks (keys/production) and Grant Carruthers (vocals/guitar) has been making music on-and-off together since they were teenagers, and last year decided to come together under the Statues alias. They submitted a number of demos to Paul Murphy, who was so impressed by what he heard that he offered to help produce and write an album with them. As debut singles go, 'Alaula' is stunning. Reminiscent of many softly spun
moments from the Claremont 56 back catalogue, it builds slowly and breezily via subtle waves of organic and electronic instrumentation. Carruthers' impassioned vocals pop in and out of the mix at opportune moments, peeping above alluring acoustic guitar, bass, synthesizer and Rhodes parts. Throw in
tumbling, life-affrming piano lines and swelling cello parts - both provided by friend-of- the-family Robin Lee of Faze Action - and you've got another near- perfect chunk of sunset-friendly, horizontal brilliance. On the fip, Murphy dons his familiar Mudd alias to provide a superb Piano Dub. Building the action around a sparse, delay-laden percussion track, Murphy teases out the track's most potent moments, in the process creating something
that lingers even longer in the memory. Lee's superb piano and cello work naturally takes pride of place, as Murphy expertly emphasizes the track's impeccably atmospheric nature.

The second release on the vinyl only series of Apes Go Bananas finally drops. The label is the new imprint from Steve Bug and Clé, who together make up the production team for the releases. As with the well-received first EP, 'All We Have ' is straight-up, no-nonsense, dance floor-filling house tracks. Lead cut 'All We Have' settles right into the groove with crisp and funky percussion, chi-town chords and amazing vocal samples. It's got peak time written all over it. 'She Cargo' makes its influences pretty clear via the title, and the track certainly references some of the iconic sounds of the home of house. Thick, rubbery bass lines, squiggly synths and firing percussion combine to deliver a suitable a homage to the windy city. 'Ape Parade' is built from some similar materials, but the chords are a little more lush and deep - synth strings and keys add a sense of the epic, and everything is tied together with a sick kick / snare / hat pattern. Three modern killers for the floor, infused with the spirit of classic house.