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Early Days maps out Nine Circles interpretation of Cold Wave and Minimal Synth. Unbelievably the tracks are mostly from a brief time period, ’80—’82. Alienation and uncertainty course through the 2LP with heavy Yamaha chords, metallic machine beats and brittle vocals.

Nine circles was formed in the early 80s by Peter Van Garderen and Lidia Fiala. In 1980 there was a band called Genetic Factor. This band split up when their three members got girlfriends and they started to make music together with their girls. So at that time there were 3 bands living together in one house.

One of the couples were Peter van Garderen and Lidia Fiala. Lidia had been writing lyrics since she was 15 years old. Nine Circles was born. Within 2 years they wrote about 60 songs.

Also living in the house was Richard Zeilstra, who had a job at the VPRO radio, hosting a show called „Spleen“ where he gave New Wave bands a chance to play. He asked bands to send tapes to him and the best bands had the opportunity to play live at the radio and also got the chance to be on the „Radio Nome“ compilation. Peter and Lidia sent their tape to him and were the only ones from this house to be on the show. Richard knew their music was special. Nine Circles never played a live show on stage, only one concert live at the radio which is also featured on this LP.

Two years later Peter and Lidia split up and Nine Circles disappeared. In 2009 Lidia’s son googled her name just for fun and found a lot about the band Nine Circles. Lidia was surprised, she never knew how popular Nine Circles have been over the years. She got herself on Facebook and since then she got in touch with many people and decided Nine Circles should come back! Peter was not able to join the band these days, he had a different life but he was supporting Lidia and liked that she enjoyed doing music again. Peter still had all the old recordings and sent Lidia a lot of the music they made together back in the days. The best tracks are collected on this 2LP.

Together with Per-Anders Kurenbach Lidia revived Nine Circles. They recorded new material (released on the album „Alice“) and played live until Lidia had to stop playing live for health reasons in 2016. Nevertheless they‘re working on a follow-up album called „Emerge“ which is planned to be released in 2020 and hopefully Lidia will be able to go on stage again soon.

DOWNWELL is the solo project of Giorgi Kolbaia and comes out from one of the planet’s hottest scene nowadays speaking about dark techno and ebm (Tbilisi/Georgia). It could be perfectly described as a paving roller for the dance floor or as a hell thunder storm.

Resounding dark beats and distorted voices to burn everything around. All tracks have been specially remastered for LONG CUT Vinyl by Eric Van Wonterghem at Prodam Berlin.

Amadeo Savio is next up on Vigenere, the label that has thus far presented a whole host of unknown names in the field of minimal techno all bound together by a shared classiness in their production style. Savio's approach is deep and dubby on opening cut "Isolat", one primed for the after hours. "Trance Later" has a slightly more forthright approach, but there's still plenty of mellow delights to be found in the synth department to keep you chilling. "Encor" heads into more typically minimal pastures, while "Kassion" explores broken beat patterns and fragmented samples with scintillating results.

Coming into orbit late November PS001.2 continues the dancefloor focussed explorations of one of Australia’s most loved new labels, Pure Space. Just in time for the Aussie summer the release highlights the sound of the new generation of electro and broken-beat producers emerging from the countries east coast.

On the A-side Point Guard returns to the label with his razor-sharp electro outing ‘Odyssey’. An emotional expedition that harnesses dancefloor euphoria with a powerfully burning bassline. Joining forces to complete the A side is Melbourne producer Disrute and label head Andy Garvey. Here an ever-evolving synthline propels you forward throughout the track that builds infinitely but pauses just to release Garvey’s mesmerising vocal, ‘NRG’.

Flip the axis and you will find swirling synths and scattered percussion that creates the murky club weapon that is emerging Sydney producer PMA’s ‘Hek’. Completing the release, Roy Mills brings you to a full rotation with ‘Aquatic Pressure’. His jittery breakbeat cut that slows to a half step mid way and returns with odd-ball synth mayhem.

... After his first appearance on Subaltern’s 'Kaleidoscope Vol.1’ with the scorching ‘Alter’, far-east sonic assassin and Back To Chill member Helktram makes his comeback on Subaltern Records with a heavy-as-stone three tracker. Each of the cuts is a dance-floor weapon which shows a different side of the Japanese mastermind’s razor-sharp production.

- Recoil: Opening with a crunchy guitar melody, ‘Recoil’ sets the pace
of the EP: a catchy and relentless bass-line takes us on a march
through forests and mountains, as distant pads and SFXs remind us
to stay alert. After the first round the guitar comes back, warning us
we’re not done yet. A straight hitter which will keep playing in your
head long after the night is over.

- Mineral: The aptly titled ‘Mineral' is hard as diamond and rough as
coal. This triplet juggernaut tramples systems all over the world
leaving its mark on any raver who encounters it. A sinister
thereminesque melody paves the way to a stripped-down beat with a
militant bass riff. Skilfully executed distortion engulfs the low-end
turning it into a powerful growly wobble.

- Beware: A threatening melody paints the post-apocalyptic landscape
of the EP’s third cut in what is Helktram’s trademark style. In this
track distortion is the name of the game: an unforgiving lead
matched by grimy and glitchy stabs evolves into an uninterrupted riff
which carries the rhythm leaving space for the bass melody. As the
title suggests, extreme caution is required when handling this
blaster.

"The first series comprises six related movements, usually organised in pairs, electronic sounds with instrumental and more rarely, concrete sounds: Incidences/resonances brings into play controlled resonances akin to sounds of concrete origin in a process that helps to expand the variable electronic sound sources.

Here, 'incidents' are opposed to one-off 'accidents' in the second movement: Accidents/Harmoniques (Accidents/Harmonics). In the second movement, very short events of instrumental origin change the harmonic tone of the continuum they interrupt or overlap.

Moreover, the high notes are underplayed, which stimulates the attention given to other phenomena generally hidden by the melodic form applied to the instrumental play. Géologie sonore (Sound Geology) is similar to a flight over an area where different 'sound' layers come to the surface one after the other.

When seen from high above, instrumental and electronic sounds seem to fuse ... Dynamique de la resonance (Dynamics of Resonance) is a microphonic exploration of a single sound resonating through different forms of percussion. L'Etude élastique (Elastic Study) places together various sounds produced by 'touching' elastic or instrumental skins (baloons, doumbeks) or vibrating strings and a number of instrumental gestures close to this 'touch', using electronic processes to generate white noise.

Conjugaison du timbre (Conjugated Tone), the last movement in the series, uses the same substance to apply rhythmic forms onto a perpetually varying tone continuum. "The second series of movements draws its inspiration from concrete and electronic sources rather than instrumental ones. Incidences/battements (Incidences/Beatings) is a reminder of the first movement in the first series which then quickly moves into Natures éphémères (Ephemeral Natures): ephemeral play on instrumental and electronic sounds, singled out by their internal trajectory rather than by the material itself. Matières induites (Induced Matters): just as molecular effervescence triggers a changes of state, it seems that the different states of these sound materials can be generated by each other or through induction processes.

In Ondes croisées (Crossed Waves), the pizz vibrations interfere with somehow 'visible' water drops on the surface of a similar material. Pleins et déliés (Downstrokes and Upstrokes) can be listened to as the energies absorbed in the motion of bouncing bodies, while hollow 'bubbles' and points bring together some people's gravity and others' downwards movements. The work finishes with Points contre champs (Reverse Angle Points).

Here, the notion of perspective of the different sound threads weaving a kind of network, or field, traps the occasional iterative elements in the foreground and progressively absorbs them, giving more space for the angle - and the chanted sound - to grow." (B.P.).

Having Forgotten who we are, once shining beings have fallen into an abyss of mundanity and ignorance. In a world where humans are beaten and programmed into soporific submission, kickdrums can stimulate an evocative counter-impulse. Mixed by Peter Van Hosen and Mastered by Tim Xavier.

ALTA’s debut release, 'Reasons' is the product of many long nights making music together in a back room at Hannah and Julius’ Brunswick home. It was self-recorded over 10 months, from January 2018 to November 2018, using midnight sessions, tape delay effects and a literal room full of wall to wall synths to carve out a world all their very own. "It's a collection of songs written together in our home studio - No cowriters or anything, just us two experimenting making the music,” says the band.

The album was later mixed by Seekae’s George Nicholas in Sydney and mastered by Grammy-winning engineer Chris Gehringer at Sterling Sound (Rihanna, Janelle Monae, Chvrches).

Thematically, the album’s title alludes to the sense of complacency that often sets in when people start making excuses for themselves.
“It’s this internal thing,” Julius explains, ‘always coming up with reasons why things did or didn’t happen, or reasons why someone else did something. Often it’s self-preservation but it’s also bullshit.”

‘Push’ follows on from previous singles ‘Figured Out’, ‘Back On It’ and ‘Twisted’, which have just under 2 million streams on Spotify since their release and are receiving global attention, with spins on BBC Radio 1 and praise from the likes of The Line of Best Fit and CLASH.

At streaming, ALTA have seen huge support locally and internationally, with their 2019 releases featuring in Spotify’s New Music Fridays, Indie Arrivals, The Local List, Just Chill, Front Left, New Dance Beats and The Office Stereo, plus Best Of The Week on Apple Music.

Melbourne fans will witness ALTA performing tracks from Reasons for the first time ever at Northcote Social Club on Saturday 5 October. Tickets are on sale now via Northcote Social Club’s website.

Reasons is an intricate and emotional body of work that will see ALTA step out from Melbourne’s underground scene, and into the international limelight. Pre-order your copy today.

London’s Axe On Wax Records have been coordinating a quality stream of house since 2014, a trend that continues with their latest release from Zopelar vs Brothermartino. Creating a fraternal connection between Brazil and Italy, these are six tracks of woozy, charismatic house funk of the finest pedigree.

Zopelar - one half of Apron Records associates My Girlfriend - takes the first-side easing in with 'Fin', a starry-eyed and expansive instrumental that let us know immediately what his synths can do. Taking this shimmering sound, he adds distinct pressure funk on the bubbling, West Coast groove of the tellingly titled, ‘Funky Juno’, which delights with sensual vocoder and tough drums. ‘Thamis’ is left to take things in a more psychedelic direction, with Zopelar pushing his studio into fizzy, almost anti-gravitational territory.

On the flip, Brothermartino (Money $ex Records) establishes a sensual atmosphere with the lo-slung slap of ‘For 8 Freakin' Hours’, followed by ‘Dem Type Stars’, which stretches out the acidic funk, creating wormholes of spectral grooves. The release closes with the warm and nostalgic ‘We All Love People Who Die’, a cool, beatless interjection loaded with the charm of a cult film soundtrack.

Through the combined brilliant minds of Fabrice Lig, Kiko Navarro, Karim Sahraoui and Jean Vanesse, the new musical force known as Quadra 163 has arrived. Working together in Jean Vanesse's Belgium studio, their debut EP, "Spin Coaster EP" was born.

Through intense live collaboration over 3 full days, the results are these incredible original tracks and a remix from the American house legend, Osunlade (Yoruba Records). Belgium's Elypsia Records have an absolutely essential release here for those looking for proper club weapons - each track dreamt up by a crew of producers with decades of critical acclaim and club credibility.

Osunlade kicks off the release on A1 with his rework of 'Spin Coaster.' The remix is a late night machine jam saturated with sharp synth textures and a shuffling rhythm which will lock the dancefloor tightly in place. A perfect blend between House and Techno, it's a shining example of Osunlade's keen ability to capture imagination with function, tension with release.

'Ghetto Beat' steps up as the A2, with a drum heavy cut full of off-kilter hits and tones which twist and turn in frequency and timbre. It's the type of track that will get the crowds cheering and jackin' and dancing without a break. A proper tool to slam into the set whenever energy levels need to lift higher and things need to get slightly twisted.

Title track 'Spin Coaster' sets up the B-side with a master session of prime time techno making magic. A playfully thick bassline resonates in and out of the analog rhythms while a synth tone builds tension over the track's entire duration. A few breaks for the clubbers to catch their breath are placed in the perfect spots - but only for a brief moment before things kick back in.

Rounding out the release is 'Ghetto Train,' an absolutely mental banger designed to melt the minds of those fortunate enough to be on the dancefloor when it's dropped. Relentless rhythms, huge hand claps and a sharp staccato shuffle drive the tune whilst synth stabs grow filthier with each passing phrase. Clearly the results of an insane studio session from the crew.

The mysterious Butch Haynes joins the Sistrum team and offers up a deep, late night vibe titled Ghost Ego. Patrice Scott serves up his interpretation on the flip followed by a broken beat/hip hop cut for fans alike.

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.

404 – the Paris based electronica group and their debut LP “off course” unveils a 7 track journey through future ambient and intelligent beat music. All rhythms were performed and conducted live by the members of the band: Martin Carlier, Xavier Lanquet, Gauthier Carlier and Bab Mendy.

Derek Neal is a Turin based producer born in Vermont (USA). He started his DJ'in career as an undergraduate student at his college radio station and since then he's been cultivating his interest in house and techno music. Fostered by his brother's own producer career, who goes by the name of Motions and is 1/3 of the Montreal collective 00:AM, Derek pushed further his own interest in production to the point of proposing a set of tracks to Funnuvojere Records. Probably struck by the simplicity and effectiveness of Derek's sound, the Berlin label agreed on releasing Reason Machine, Derek's debut EP.? A comforting sound distinguishes this record, it is gentle and deep at the same time. If A1 - Sky City feels like diving in calm water, A2 - Jet Fuel could soundtrack a romantic date. On the flip B1 - October has a cinematic personality, envisioning a urban landscape, while B2 - Stereosense expresses a special dynamicity of sound.? Don't get tricked by my rather emotional introduction though, Neal knows about beats and you'll hear. From breakbeat to funk, Chicago house to dub this EP is all-round a delightful expression of contemporary club music.

Enzo Carella was an Italian singer-songwriter who scored a major hit with the song “Barbara” in 1979. His third album Sfinge is considered by many as his best album. It is an infectious mixture of funk, jazz, and Creole music. With the music of artists like Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles and Genesis in mind he created his own compositions, and the result still sounds incredible.

Sfinge is available as a limited edition of 1000 individually numbered copies on transparent blue vinyl.

EBM, Electro, New Beat, Acid, Balearic Beat…
a perfect compilation for the lovers of the old-school darkside of the dancefloor!

Wun Two remains one of the most envied lo-fi hip-hop producers on the planet. Consistently pumping out thematic releases from last summer’s Pirata to his ever-consistent Snow series, his first vinyl release through Fat Beats since his 2016 Baker’s Dozen was spawned by a horror movie binge watch. “Nosferatu represents the atmosphere of Halloween and cold and darker days. I plugged the SP into my TV and recorded movie dialogs and sound samples while watching. At the end I had a lot of material/sound sources...I liked the outcome of it and decided to release it for Halloween.” Wun Two said.

Inspired in part by composers Maurice Jarre and Bernard Herrmann, Wun Two wanted to create a project that didn’t emote the somewhat-depressive feelings of certain scores, but an atmosphere of tension and suspense so often associated with Hitchcock and Stephen King novels. This deluxe picture disc LP not only includes 2 bonus beats not included on the original digital release, but an additional track featuring vocals from CRIMEAPPLE. “My feature list is very short as I prefer to release instrumental tracks.

But CRIMEAPPLE is definitely one of the most interesting MC´s now and it´s really great that we could win him for a contribution,” added Wun Two on the rare appearance from an MC over his beats. Releasing this Halloween in a strict one-time vinyl pressing, Nosferatu is a perfect accompaniment as the weather gets colder and the nights darker.

Renowned techno artist Jon Hester returns to Rekids Special Projects with a thundering fourtrack release, aptly entitled ‘Momentum’. Since his previous Rekids appearance, the Berlin-based Minneapolitan has continued delivering a steady stream of club ready cuts on labels like Transmat, LET and Deeply Rooted. Following a busy summer playing at the likes of Rex Club, Tresor and Hï Ibiza, Hester now returns to Radio Slave’s Rekids Special Projects techno imprint in fine form. ‘Accelerator’ opens with solid, overdriven kicks, deep chords, electrifying synth patterns and saturated claps followed by ‘Beatwave’ which features rhythm-led vocal sampling, upbeat Arp stabs and sparking cymbals. On the flip, ‘Zoned’ thunders with low-end frequencies, emphasised by a flying groove with snappy hats, subtle claves and white noise hits when to finalise ‘Part 4’ bounces with distant congas and tribal percussion, tight hi-hats, floating pads and a punchy kick.

After stand out releases this year on Version and Wisdom Teeth Piezo returns to Ansia with a new 2 track EP Art Attack Gone Wrong / perccssszzzz. As has been evident with past records Piezo has always had a strong ear for using interesting sounds which have been expertly sculpted to create a unique sound universe.While releasing on other labels has allowed him to work closely with his peers the freedom of having his own label allows for him to explore his influences from the Italian rave scenes in a more direct manner. For ANSIA004 these influences are streamlined into a techno orientated sound palette with traditional four-on-the-floor beat patterns but with an approach more related to the sounds of Diagonal than Berghain.With 'Art Attack Gone Wrong' the milanese producer merges dancefloor efficiency with a playful approach to distortion, melody and sound design, while on the flip you will find 'perccssszzz', a no-frills heavy-swinged drum workout which, as the names suggests, refuses to include pretty much anything else than percussive elements. This time Ansia goes dark for the vinyl edition with white-ink stamped Tweetie on black label - and last but not least, 180gr vinyl cut deep and loud!

Two of Russias finest drum & bass producers have combined forces for an exciting new project. St Petersburgs Microfunk mastermind Bop, and Moscows minimalistic groove guru Subwave, unite for their debut collaborative release Love & Other Drugs. With their elegant approach to drum & bass, this four-track EP fuses futuristic indie-electronica, 2-step UK garage, glitchy beats and 80s inspired vocal stylings.

Progressive euphoria is the name of the game in Teardrops as Bop x Subwave pick apart the structure of D+B in this warm, delicate and hypnotic glitch number. Following suit is Space Warp - darker with eerie undertones, packaged as a sub-heavy stepper. The second half of Love & Other Drugs sees the duo branch out beyond the realms of traditional D+B. The bittersweet ballad Dont Wake Me Up is kitted out with a definitive 80s style. Seeing the EP home is The Touch with the syncopated beatwork of 2-step UK Garage, complete with skippy breaks and snappy vocal sampling. In the decade since the release of Hospital Records Future Sound Of Russia LP, Bop and Subwave have produced an impressive array of tracks across Hospital Records, Med School, Liquicity, Shogun Audio, Metalheadz and Microfunk, cementing their reputations for going beyond the boundaries of D+B.
Keep your eyes peeled for more collaborative musings from Bop x Subwave in 2020.