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Local Talk is back again with a fantastic album from Soulphiction who gets deep, down and dirty with this bumping selection of timeless house tracks across 3 pieces of beautifully packaged vinyl...

Dusty grooves and soulful emotion form the foundation of this release, which also takes influence from Jazz, Hip Hop and Afrobeat.

Soulphiction aka Michel Baumann is one of Germany's most respected artists who is also known under the equally successful and iconic alias Jackmate.
This is the third time Soulphiction has featured on Local Talk including his recent single "Beehive". Other labels to have featured Soulphiction tracks and remixes include Lumberjacks in Hell, Rebirth, Pampa and Philpot Records.

A master of both mood and texture, this release showcases the studio wizardry of a true sound-smith.
Chunky percussion with shuffling rhythms form the backbone of the grooves, which are fleshed out with intricate melodies and funky basslines that move mind, body and soul.

Like the tracklist of a J Dilla mixtape, this album flows with a purposeful care combined with a storytelling blend of emotions rarely heard in a house music long player.

Executed to perfect precision, this album is an instant classic and a must-have for home listening along with a club setting.

Beyond Space And Time is the new record label from Japanese music festival, Rainbow Disco Club (RDC). RDC has been welcoming music loving people to Japan for over a decade. Throughout the festival's history, RDC have been fortunate to constantly encounter performers and DJs who've collaborated with them in establishing a beautiful dance floor year in, year out. These relationships have lead RDC to start their own label, and now gives them the opportunity to reveal one of the best-kept secrets: What is in a DJ's record bag?

This time around, festival regular DJ Nobu kindly opens up his collection and shares the music he loves with us all. On visual duty we welcome Senekt - his representational yet contemporary drawing illustrates the emotion we feel from DJ Nobu.
We have much more music to come in future from artists that we trust and respect.

▼ DJ Nobu describes 10 tracks this way ▼

A1. Laurent Garnier - Water Planet
Highly respected French DJ/Producer Laurent Garnier has been releasing tracks for decades capturing the very essence of Detroit Techno and Breakbeat. He always manages to create something truly emotional. This is not his biggest hit, but it's my favorite.

A2. Mono Junk - Beyond The Darkness
This track represents the very early days of Techno with it's ravey atmosphere. It has a primitive feel, and the obscure mixdown sounds almost unbalanced. That said, this one really stands out when DJing. Very cool.

B1. Psychick Warriors Ov Gaia - The Valley
It was always my intention to include this track in a compilation if were I ever to do one. It has a fat underlying groove, with some indigenous spices thrown in. The whole thing is put together beautifully. No complaints!

B2. Melody Boy 2000 - Plenty Of Love
I wanted to include a track that had Jacking feel to it - that is my definition of dance music. This track mixes well in both Techno and House DJ sets.

C1. Drax Ltd. II - Amphetamine
This is my all time favorite track by Thomas P Heckman. It asks questions and strikes down all the boring 'wanna be cool' techno tracks. It is obviously a well known tune already, but I include it here because I'm often asked for it's track ID from new kids in the game. This is a classic that should be passed down.

C2. Dan Curtin - 3rd From The Sun
Curtin's refined synth grooves and bass lines make this a true timeless classic. It do not get tired of listening to his rhythms and melodies - he always gets it just right.

C3. Front 242 - U-Men.
The originator of Electric Body Music. Their husky vocals, hard rhythms and strong synth basslines made the group very popular at the time, and they are still to this present day. To me, this track represents what the Belgian New Beat scene is all about.

D1. The Prince Of Dance Music - E3 E6 Roll On
This is the track I played the most up until around 2006. It is a genuine house track that cuts through trends in music. A hidden floor killer.

D2. Pan Sonic - Lähetys / Transmission
Electronic music has existed for decades, and if you are to choose some of the best from all scattered & hidden places, Pan Sonic's 'Lähetys / Transmission' must be considered. The track emerges beautifully - breaking structures and transcending the past. Every layer of the piece is produced with such delicacy and care, that as a whole it magically drags you into the world of the unknown.

D3. Burial - Archangel
This track merges melancholic emotions with technological prowess at the highest level, and deeply impacted the dance music scene on it's release. I recently played this track at the end of my set at the forward thinking Terraforma Festival in Milan. It faded out to huge applause from the open minded crowd. A moment to be remembered.

Counterweight started at the end of 2015 as a party-series in Munich (Rote Sonne). It was about pushing the style of techno we stand for and which we couldn’t find easily in our city. During this journey we’ve learnt a lot about what somehow sadly has to be called a business and we met many artists and people involved in the Techno Scene. We even made friends throughout the years and that’s one of the nicest things after all.

The first V.A. release on Counterweight is an installment with some excellent artists we met during this time, we love their music as much as we love them as a person. Four years ago we couldn’t even imagine we would release a record with some of our favourites artists … Now, check this out. Heavy Kick-Drums, destructive basslines, distorted hi-hats, mesmerising melodies and…lots of passion.

Acid lines, skipping snares and Chicago basslines define the longtime audio sonics of veteran DJ BOO WILLIAMS (aka MOONMAN) on this limited & stamped one-sided release of "OUTER LIMITS", a spacey affair of electronic soul and movement.

Following September 2017's release of "Imperfect Charm" a 5-track EP of post-club, haunted techno and heady sound designed industrial.
Evitceles has developed his sound far further, with releases on Seagrave, Yerevan and his own Amek imprint. "The Substance Of My Fantasies" is his first album and boils down the previous work into a narrative and truly dramatic session over its 9 tracks.

Opening gambit "Take Me to Common Ground" unlocks the gates with bruising rave stabs left to exist in a vacuum of sub-bass boom and augmented voice. "Nightcrawler / Third Night" is a diffuse future-garage roller, priming razor-edged basslines against a hollow melancholia, a theme present throughout this album. "Spit Hearts" cranks the busted drum patters out through a super hi-fi field of gothic synthesiser.

Closing piece "Behaviour Exercise" places off-thumbed emo-guitar lines and barely uttered exclamations into a gorgeous outro recalling sad boy rap styles from the darkest corners.

My Music is a stellar spiritual soul / jazz-funk gem, recorded by keyboardist-singer Samuel Jonathan Johnson in 1978. The epitome of a cult classic, it didn't do much upon its release but steadily found an audience over the decades that followed. It eventually worked its way into the culture, and latterly the wantlists, of wave after wave of soul aficionados.

This is music that shares the jazzy R&B DNA of contemporaries like Roy Ayers and is an intoxicating blend of mellow moments and more groove-heavy tracks. Spacey keys and lush production give it a luxurious, enveloping warmth.

My Music opens with the gorgeous title track: an indulgent slow jam opus. Introducing us to Johnson’s compelling musical vision, it features a rich mélange of production techniques. Dripping in strings, horns, backing singers, popping funk bass lines and swooshing synth waves, it’s an unusually structured cosmic two stepper that has an irrepressible groove. Accordingly, it’s been a favourite with the diggers and it was sampled by The Alchemist for Jadakiss’s “We Gonna Make It” (and it was also used on Ras Kass’s “Home Sweet Home”… but that’s a story for another time).

The up-tempo “Sweet Love” bubbles over with joy, its uplifting lyrics backed by infectious bass and jazzy Fender Rhodes lines. It follows a cover of “What the World Need’s Now Is Love”, taken at a funereal pace that transforms it into a heartfelt plea for love and understanding. Essential in these dark days.

After a full-minute-long opening of lush cinematic strings and horns, “Because I Love You” makes space for Samuel’s voice, accompanied by some keys and just a sprinkle of guitar. It builds back up and then mellows its way out to a jazz lounge finish (in all the right ways). The feel-good ebullience of the Stevie Wonder-esque “It Ain’t Easy” closes out the LP’s first side.

The second side bursts open with the heavy bounce and disco-funk basslines of “You”, a slightly off-beat string-laden dancer with insistent horns and a piano-assisted groove. Next up is “Just Us”, a legendary steppers track that could be heard oozing out of deep soul radios and funk sound systems back in the late 80s.

“Yesterdays and Tomorrow” is a moving original ballad that is followed by an exquisite high-stepping paean to mom in the form of “Thank You Mother Dear”. The thumping easy-glide of “Reason For The Reason” brings the album to a close.

Respectfully mastered by Simon Francis and cut by the master Pete Norman, this reissue of Samuel Jonathan Johnson’s sole LP sounds as sumptuous as that scarlet gown on the front cover. The sleeve artwork was lovingly restored by the Be With team. My Music is a luxurious and rare collection of songs that now has an opportunity to reach beyond its cult audience.

THE WRAITH's Gloom Ballet delivers twelve infectious tracks drenched in the band's '80s UK post-punk (Death Cult, Killing Joke, Sisters Of Mercy) and SoCal deathrock (T.S.O.L., Samhain) influences.

THE WRAITH was founded by imposing frontman Davey Bales, formerly of Virginia peace-punks Lost Tribe, and Kaz Alvis shortly after they separately washed up in Los Angeles. Their irresistibly distinctive sound - skeletal basslines and tribal beats propelling Alvis' textured swathes beneath Bales' poetic, anguished bark - immediately gained a following, with homemade demo Comatic Romance racking-up thousands of YouTube views.
 
Convulsive, chaotic West Coast shows honed the songs that became THE WRAITH's lauded 2017 EP, Shadow Flag. A couple of videos and line-up changes later - the band is now completed by Belgian drummer Jef Pauly and Brit bassist Paul Rogers - their evocative songwriting and pure-punk authenticity earned the ear of Mat Mitchell, who has worked with Love And Rockets, The Flaming Lips, Meat Puppets, King Crimson, and more. Mitchell recorded the band's debut LP, Gloom Ballet, and earlier this year, the band signed to Southern Lord Recordings for the worldwide release of the album.

Recorded by Pucifer guitarist/producer Mat Mitchell, Gloom Ballet was mastered at Audiosiege by Brad Boatright (From Ashes Rise, Tragedy, Alaric) and the artwork was handled by Rebecca Sauve.

A Unique EP of remixes from Kniteforce Head Honcho, Dj Luna-C. Each remix is firmly based in the vibes of the old skool, with the rolling basslines and touch of madness that is expected when Luna-C gets in the studio. The tracks were all chosen based on their ability to be folded into something both new and old, and then refashioned into something very different from the source material.
The result is a cohesive mess, an orderly panic, and a clash of harmony, and all the expected trademarks of a prime Kniteforce EP.

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

For their second release Syntetyk brings you Chino – the Cracow-based jack of all trades. The Cave, with all its dirty drum work and heavy basslines, makes you feel as if you’re going down through a dungeon of clockwork machinery.

A-Future presents a fierce electro-charged production debut for EON Records.
After a solid summer of gigs at IICON Glastonbury, Inner City Electronic Leeds, Gottwood and Boiler Room, A-Future now shares a progression for his DJ project which has been impressing crowds across the UK with its range of left field beats and punchy up-tempo tracks.
Deploying tricks learned from his weighty record collection, the Birmingham based producer works in hardcore breakbeat flares, deep electro basslines and headsy IDM synths into original track No Era for what is a high-grade first showing.
Censor records head and long time friend Alex Jann and Berlin’s mysterious electronica producer Secret Universe provide a remix each. Jann comes in deep with a gritty bass line that drives his version with a solid flow primed for 140bpm dance floors. Secret Universe then sets etherial moments beside to belting syncopated jungle beat programming for a headsy and heavy take on No Era.
This is the second release on A-Future’s EON Records label which launched in March 2019 with Sepehr’s Cybernetic EP featuring Stratowerx and A-Future remixes.

Brand new 12” from BLD on his own imprint. 3 highly effective cuts of stomping break beats combined with 303's, hypnotic basslines and mellow chord synths.

The Beartone label continues to make moves with a six superb release from the boss himself Bearface (A.K.A. Panasa from Afrobeat duo Bana Kuba). Renowned for his slick final house on a range of top labels, here he offers four more such cuts that will melt the mind.Opener Outers is a slippery and sleek number with icy hi hats and rugged basslines. It’s heady tackle that really gets under your skin.Veda ups the pace with more super well programmed drums and deft little hi hats and drum fills as well as some warped vocals that bring a brilliantly freaky feeling.Milenial then gets down and dirty, with kinetic kick drums and rasping synths, popping cow bells and a relentless sense of groove.Closing things out is Cause, a deep, bubbly number with underlapping bass, gloopy synths and a dry, catchy groove that gets you locked.All in all this is another first class EP.

Support from: Vlad Caia (SIT), Mahony, David Gtronic and Moskalus.

After 10 vinyl releases exploring the leftfield side of electronic music, No Suit Records enters a new era with a new serie of Split EPs. Two artists per EP, offering a wider color palette, stretching styles and genres.

Cabasa is back on No Suit Records after the launch of a successful live act and many appearances in festivals and high profile clubs around Europe. On this release Cabasa navigates between luscious atmosphere, broken beats and polyrythmic patterns.
Crystal Clear is made of soft melodies and tickling bass —it is a reminiscence of the 00’s downtempo apogee and an invitation to accept your inner melancholy. More Than a Second is a slow awakening, a groggy musical move, a muffled request for a brighter future. Catching Fire Slowly is a contemplating ode, a call to take a deep breath and prepare yourself for the upcoming run.

Lost souls or flowers of hope, lurking into light and darkness, no one knows who Scaarlet are. The only certitude is that they always play with boundaries and enact performances between syncopated melodies, cut up sounds, wavy basslines and deep atmospheric sounds. They are back on No Suit Records and continue to develop their own intricate style, merging Drum’n’Bass and Techno influences into a politically and socially engaged music.
My Man translates the raw energy of riots and rebellion, powering a fusion of Drum’n’Bass and Techno. The River resumes some of the Yakusa women tattoos symbolism into a romantic pulsating 170ish bpm vibe. Advertising is an open critic of the fast fashion world and the supremacy of commercial communication, mixing polyrythm with a straight DnB kickdrum.

All tracks mastered by Pole at Scape Mastering in Berlin.

French wielder of exotic machine music Epsilove debuts a full EP of sensuous, melodic electro on Dekmantel. Formerly one-half of Syracuse, Isabelle Maitre depicts a vision of daring, yet euphoric vocal-led, dreamy electro that oscillates with sturdier, warehouse sounds full of heaving 808s, and experimental qualities.

‘Time is the longest distance’ preaches the qualities that brought Antinote’s Epsilove to the distinguished status she has today. It is the sound of chic dancers, shuffling-together leisurely under neon lights, pressing against each other along to nostalgic acid basslines, interstellar synths, and dreamy, cinematic vocals. Rich with harmony, emotion, and cold-wave sensuality. ’Sea Snakes’ pulses faster under a Drexciyan dream-state, painting kaleidoscopic motifs, as the 808 rattles out multi-paced tempos, driving levels of uncompromising Detroit velocities, through to Lynchian-mirror-world listlessness. It’s an acid-acid test of colourful, pulsing electro.

On the remixes are fellow Parisian’s Ali Bobo (Bruits De La Passion) and Shelter (Bigwax Records), who rework ‘Time is the longest distance’ into something more sinister, reflecting the dystopic IDM aesthetics of early Rephlex Records with playful, darkened electronics. The more elusive pairing of French producer HAJJ (Dawn Records) and Lastrack (BFDM) meanwhile, team up to turn ‘Sea Snakes’ into something that harkens towards the world of Warp-like experimental and progressive contemporary post-trap, and breakbeats.

"À dix mètres sous moi, l'eau invisible. Entre l'eau et la brume, pas de frontière, la brume aussi lourde que l'eau, l'eau aussi irréelle que la brume. Passage dans un autre monde, transition par une osmose où toute forme ancienne est désagrégée et dissoute.” Raymond Abellio, Heureux les Pacifiques (1946)

Duccio Lopresto is a classic car lover and modernist in the classical sense from northern Italy. His debut on Greta Cottage Workshop was a blueprint for what House Music can be 35 years after it emerged: Funky without copying the 70s, deep without being boring, uplifting without being cheesy.

His second artist EP is now going to be released on Berlin's „Smile for a while“, coming with heavy synths, bouncing basslines, syncopated drums and hypnotizing rhythm patterns. Clearly an approach from a motor city - not Detroit though but Milan.

The veil falls, as the transmitter that is Clear Memory commences to send for a second time. Light is being shed on the works of Milium, Westlake & Hayter, Robyrt Hecht and Varum. Four tracks of scientifically crafted tunes, full of rugged drums, menacing basslines, mesmerizing keys and voices that narrate both hard to swallow truths and declare their attachment. 140 g of Clear Memory Sound at various speeds and styles.

Brioski has been redefining his sound and style on a number of labels, Codek, Throne of Blood, Slow Motion, Nang. He is also the mind behind the Boot & Tax and Tamburi Neri projects.

The Mindless Sequence EP is a selection of the industrial post-techno style Brioski iscurrently pioneering. Warm, trippy, synth heavy tracks with a straight beat framed by sentence fragments. The sound signature is there, analog evolving basslines, icy pad stabs and unrelenting beats and the song structure reflects Brioski's art in its constant evolution.

Wewantsounds continues its collaboration with Bob Shad's grandchildren, Mia and Judd Apatow, to present a 2LP selection of 13 turntable-friendly Mainstream Records tracks recorded between 1970 and 1973 and showcasing the label's superb blend of Funk, Soul and Jazz. All tracks remastered from the original tapes, most of them released for the first time since their original release with a few highly sought-after ones. Liner notes by UK journalist Paul Bowler. The Mainstream sound is unmistakable: earthy, rich and funky, it's the signature sound of producer Bob Shad. After working with such geniuses as Charlie Parker, The Platters, Billie Holiday and Janis Joplin over three decades, Shad decided to go back to producing Great Black Music in the early 70s through his label Mainstream Records and started releasing a formidable series of jazz albums known as the 300 series. Released between 1971 and 1974, these albums are the main source of this set. Coincidentally, it opens with one of the two tracks on the tracklist not produced by Shad himself. Saundra Phillips' "Miss Fatback" is nonetheless fascinating as it's one of cult disco producer Greg Carmichael's earliest productions from 1975 (before he went on to produce Inner Life, Bumblebee Unlimited, Universal Robot Band with fellow producer Patrick Adams). The other track not issued by the Shad sound factory is Almeta Lattimore's 7" single "These Memories," a truly great soulful track from 1975 and now a sought-after classic on the international Soul scene. Shad's forte was Jazz, and the sessions usually used the best musicians you could think of, including Bernard Purdie, Billy Hart, Stanley Clarke, Dom Um Romao, Joe Sample, Freddie Robinson, Gordon Edwards, Larry Willis, Wilbur Bascomb to name just a few. Filled with gorgeous Fender Rhodes chords and heavy basslines, they define the unmistakable Mainstream sound which had one foot in the great jazz and bop tradition and the other in the sonic jazz explorations of the early 70s. Oscillating between jazzed-up covers of soul hits like Jay Berliner’s "Papa Was A Rolling Stone" or Afrique’s "Kissing My Love" and more introspective originals such as Hal Galper's "This Moment" or Dave Hubbard's "T.B.'s Delight", They all have this perfect balance between groove and depth. One perfect example is Pete Yellin's "Bird and The Ouija Board," a superb 12 min opus starting off with a deep abstract improvisation before switching to an up-tempo funk beat fueled by drummer Billy Hart and bass player Stanley Clarke.

Amsterdam based imprint Taped Artifact welcomes Erik Anthony to their label. With only one contribution to the Dynamic Reflection label back in 2017, very less is known about the young Amsterdam producer. But here he makes a stellar techno debut with his first solo EP backed with a Vril remix.

On the a-side things kick off with 'Board Walk', haunting vocal chops combined with droning kick drums combined making it a serious big-room techno jam. 'Oclose' brings more soul to the game, subtle basslines and dreamy synths create an uplifting and joyful playground for endless dancing. Vril then stirs things up, his take on 'Oclose' has more punch, a different energy and his trademark hazy dub-techno twist. Last track 'Separate' is an emotive yet powerful techno workout that closes the four track affair that can be seen as a promising allround debut release.

For its 50th release, Black Truffle presents the 9th album from one of the label’s core ensembles, the power trio of Keiji Haino, Jim O’Rourke and Oren Ambarchi. Drawn from a November 2015 performance at Tokyo’s now-defunct SuperDeluxe, the record’s opening piece drops us immediately into the maelstrom, abruptly cutting into an extended episode of Ambarchi’s pummelling drums, O’Rourke’s fuzzed-out 6 string bass and Haino’s roaring guitar and electronics. Eventually settling into a hypnotic bass and drum groove over which Haino unleashes some almost Ray Russell-eque skittering atonal screech, these opening 13 minutes act as a potent reminder of the trio’s power. Alongside showcasing the steady development of a unique language for the guitar-bass-drums power trio, the group’s succession of releases over the last decade has demonstrated a constant experimentation with new instruments, which continues here with O’Rourke use of Hammond organ (played at the same time as his roaming, sometimes knotty basslines). On the album’s second piece, the organ plays a key role, furnishing a harmonically rich shimmer over O’Rourke’s angular 6 string bass chords, Haino’s distant, chirping electronics and Ambarchi’s crisp cymbal work; arriving somewhere halfway between Albert Marcoeur and Terje Rypdal, this piece is undoubtedly a highlight in the trio’s catalogue so far. Sides two and three are given over to slow-burning, multi-part epics that range from spacious reflection to furious tumult. Where the trio’s previous 2LP set (This Dazzling, Genuine “Difference” Now Where Shall It Go?, 2017) was primarily instrumental in focus, here we find Haino’s voice taking the spotlight on the expansive third side, intoning, wailing and exhorting in Japanese and English over a backdrop that moves from hushed bass and organ atmospherics to rolling toms and cymbal crashes before arriving at an ecstatic finale of searing guitar, tumbling drums and reverb-saturated bass. The fourth side returns to the hypnotic grooves of the opening piece, fixing on an relentless riff and riding it into oblivion under Haino’s roaming psychedelic soloing and jagged chordal slashes.