Search:beat

DJ Support: Luke Una, Darryn Jones, Red Greg Gilles Peterson, Patrick Forge

The Mighty Zaf of LoveVinyl fame and Edinburgh-based, Bristol-born Linkwood team up for the sixth outing in their jointly owned 80s label series, delivering two magnetic edits on 12". The A features a conspicuously reconstructed sample of Watson Beasley's 'Dimensions' set to rightly fastened beats, fostering gratitude and grace in the face of life's woes. 'Love & Care' furthers the verve, with incandescent, basso strings in a low tessitura, lifted from B-H-Y's 'Handle Me With Love & Care'.

Bokkenrijder - eine Hommage an das Überleben, den Widerstand und die Straßen, die uns prägen The Thirteenth Turn bezeichnen Ihre Musik als "knallharten Streetpunk mit Hardcore-Attitüde", und das ist kein Scherz. Der Sound ist eine Mischung aus klassischem UK-Punk und der direkten, kompromisslosen Wucht der niederländischen Hardcore-Szene. Das Album nimmt einen mit auf eine Reise durch ihre Welt. Was Bokkenrijder so verdammt gut macht, ist seine Ehrlichkeit. In einer Welt des überproduzierten Rock ist diese Platte erfrischend roh. Man kann den Schweiß und das Adrenalin einer Live-Show förmlich in der Aufnahme spüren. Es gibt keine Studiotricks, nur fünf Typen in einem Raum, die die Energie der Straße in ihre Instrumente kanalisieren.

The Sufi Dub Brothers are back! Viktor Marek and Ashraf Sharif Khan combine South Asian classical music, dub and electronic beats to create a psychedelic soundtrack between dancefloor and inner space.

Sugaring a Strawberry, the sophomore record from Julia, Julia, is a study in coming undone—on purpose. Recorded at COMA, Julia Kugel's home studio, and mixed through a custom Flickenger clone, the album drifts in and out of clarity like memory itself. It's emotionally retrospective, creatively unvarnished, and deeply human. You can hear it in the hiss, the warmth, in the vocals so raw they're like an open window. These songs weren't engineered for perfection. They were built to breathe. Her long-time collaborator and husband, Scott Montoya, mixes it all so loosely that you can hear the air between tracks— a space that makes the music feel inhabited rather than recorded.


"Bound" opens the album like a secret passed between sisters, solemn and unspeakably close. It begins with the softest of touches: hushed guitar, a near- whispered delivery that carries the intimacy of someone singing only for one other person. It's a love song, but not romantic, more ancestral in the way long bonds can be. All glow and undercurrent, "I Know," is like hearing someone hum through a wound. The track arrives as if it had been waiting, coiled and complete, to be sung. Its pulse is slow but insistent, anchored on a hypnotic loop and a vocal that's half-incantation, half-confession. One of the most outward-facing songs on the record, "Feeling Lucky," opens like a cigarette flicked in the dark– smoky and a little bit slick. Built on a skeletal beat and a nearly detached vocal, it leans into a sarcastic swagger that barely masks the ache beneath. The delivery is droll and glazed, the instrumentation is sparse and a little woozy, leaving space for her voice to sway—a shrug of a song, stylish in its sadness. "A Love That Hurts" drifts in on soft, fingerpicked guitar and a dry, close-mic vocal that feels both haunted and immediate. The mix is stripped down and analog-warm, letting tape hum and silence frame the emotion. Julia sings like she's remembering something she doesn't want to, each line a slight unraveling. Like the rest of the album, "A Love That Hurts" doesn't push toward resolution. It sits in the ache, sifts through it, makes it beautiful.

Sugaring a Strawberry doesn't seek catharsis so much as stumbles into it. There's a quiet volatility to these songs like they might fall apart if you press too hard. It moves in shadow and softness, asking questions it doesn't answer. It doesn’t end with closure. It ends with truth.

2025 Repress
One for the heads as they say ... this deep Detroit Techno inspired 12" by UK Techno veteran Paul Mac was supposed to be released on Ben Sims' infamous Theory sub label Navite in 2003, but apart from 5 test pressings with the catalogue number NTV 04 it never made it to a proper release. When asking Paul about this 12" we were very happy that he agreed to release it on Mojuba sub label a.r.t.less. Some of his most soulful and deeper organic Techno EPs finally available and remastered by Redshape to current standards.
For illustration duties we are super grateful to have the one and only Kilian Eng on board for the next releases, showcasing some of his sketch work in a new context, some of you might remember his stunning artwork from the Sam McQueen album "Dreams In Sepia" for a.r.t.less. Enjoy! Limited edition in hand-pulled screen-printed cover.

2025 Repress

First release from the Portuguese vinyl only label, Dreams Come True. Born from the childhood dream of his mentor Ostinato, DCT aim to reflect his passion for vinyl records and electronic music. For this first release, nothing better than bring together friendship, passion and talent. In the last couple of years Floog and Ostinato became close friends and crafted this release togheter.

The original tracks from Floog reflect all his versatility fusing minimal with some spicy and tasty vocals, following a different path of the classic rominimal sound. The remixes are the reflection of the label owners personal taste.

Antraum (Traumer and Anton) did a huge remix with an infectious groove, a huge bassline, and certain sound complexity that makes you dance from the first to the last beat. Ted Amber its for sure one of the bastions of the classical Rominimal sound. This remix shows all his talent to build unique vibes in each release he does. Dreams Come True is now unleashed, and we ll keep sharing them with you.

Hot off the griddle, Cookin' The Books is the long awaited new album from Australia's kings of Hammond soul, Cookin' On 3 Burners. Their first studio LP in six years finds the trio in top form - deep in the pocket, wide in scope, and stacked with heavyweight collaborators. With a 27-year legacy, global tours, and over 2 billion streams (including the international smash This Girl), Cookin' On 3 Burners remain a defining force in vintage soul, funk, and groove.

Cookin' The Books features a collection of killer collaborators including electrifying live vocalist Stella Angelico, acclaimed soul artist Natalie Slade (Steve Spacek, Katalyst, Simon Mavin), hip hop mainstay Mantra alongside Jane Tyrrell (The Herd), rising alt-soul voice Wilson Blackley, and a sweeping string arrangement from composer/violinist Tamil Rogeon (Aloe Blacc, The Dandy Warhols).

Across the record, the group shifts seamlessly between gritty instrumentals and lush vocal cuts - from the cinematic funk of "Only Words", to the break-beat heavy title track "Cookin' The Books", the bumping bounce of "No Bread For You", and the introspective soul of "Phoenix". Every track reflects the group's deep funk DNA while carving out bold new territory.

With airplay from BBC6's Craig Charles, support from tastemakers (Wax Poetics, Dusty Groove, Rolling Stone Australia), and a world tour booked for 2026, this release is a must-stock for deep funk, soul, and cinematic groove audiences.

Clear Red Vinyl. In den späten 1990er Jahren zog Peter ,Sleazy" Christopherson mit Jhonn Balance - seinem Lebens- und Coil-Partner - von London ins ländliche Weston-super-Mare, und schuf ein Umfeld für alles, was ,musick, musick, musick!" heißt, mit einer wechselnden Mitgliedern, darunter Thighpaulsandra. Coil's Coil verdoppelte sich fast, und inmitten dieser fruchtbaren Zeit stellte Thighpaulsandra die einfache Frage: Warum spielt Coil nicht live? Nach einer 16 Jahren Wartezeit, dank des rasanten technischen Fortschritts in Form von MacBooks, DAWs, VSTs und Plug-ins waren Coil in der Lage, ihre Musik auf die Bühne zu bringen, wie sie es sich immer vorgestellt hatten. Mit der Performance konnten sie die Risiken und Freiheiten der Echtzeit-Klangmanipulation, wie Sleazy anmerkt: ,Die Show wird Minute für Minute umgestaltet die Show Minute für Minute... die Richtung ist sehr spontan, nicht so sehr in Jazz-Improvisation, sondern in einer Art Bewusstseinsstrom - Thighpaulsandra brachte uns seine Weisheit, und er konnte uns überzeugen, dass wir es schaffen konnten." Wenn Coil live spielten, waren sie, wie eine Schlange, die sich häutet" alle sechs Monate in etwas völlig anderes; in der Vorbereitung auf das 2004er "Even an Evil Fatigue"-Liveserie vorbereiteten, begannen Coil mit der Arbeit an ihrem nächsten, die Zeit definierenden Meisterwerk Black Antlers. Black Antlers zeigt die späte Coil-Periode: reduzierter, straffer und schlanker. Die Musik wurde rhythmischer, mit einer größeren Betonung auf Beats: ,Die Songs, die wir gemacht haben, sind eher... nicht Rock im eigentlichen Sinne, aber du weißt schon, konventioneller in Bezug auf die Struktur, aber jetzt ist das, was wir tun, eine Art elektronischen' Genre." Der Sound von Black Antlers ist eine mitreißende Energie, die Thighpaulsandras fortschrittliche Synthese, Balances poetische Lyrik und Christophersons Flirten mit Jazz und Ableton-gestütztem PowerBook Maximalismus. Vervollständigt wurde das Trio durch den renommierten Drehleierspieler Cliff Stapleton auf einer ,speziell in Auftrag gegebenen" elektrischen Variante, die sich in die ,seltsame und weltfremde Musik" der Band zu integrieren; der an der Royal Academy of Music ausgebildete Perkussionist Tom Edwards (der auch mit Thighpaulsandra in der der Live-Band von Spiritualized auftrat); und der Spezialist für europäische und nahöstliche Blasinstrumente Mike York an Pfeifen, Bombarde, Duduk und Balalaika.

Souldynamic swings back onto the Samosa label with the mesmerizingly rhythmic West-Side Of Afrika Vol. 2.

We kick off the A-Side with ‘Touma’ – a truly hypnotic tribal afro vapour that entices you into the fire-lit night. A heavy dub-style bass just about dominates above the rhythmic ensemble, whilst the haunting chanted vocals elevate the track to ethereal levels. Stunning. No wonder Ron Trent has been spinning this one in his sets for the past few weeks – it’s right in that spiritual zone where deep house meets ancestral ritual.

Second track on Side A is the happiness trip that is ‘M.I.L’. Rolling drums, marimbas and a killer bassline merge with the flighty guitar riffs and smiling vocals. You could be in a bar listening to the music live in the room, smoke filling the spaces and dim lights offering a glimpse of good times.

Heading over to Side B and you find the enchanting ‘DJA’ awaiting. A deep roller of a tune, Souldynamic shifts the gears whilst serving the entrees. A truly magnificent slice of West-African vibes, ‘DJA’ has it all from the gorgeous vocals to the chugging, hypnotic beat.

Track 2 on Side B is the sultry ‘N.T.F.P’. The BPMs are touched down a notch for this one but don’t let that fool you. ‘N.T.F.P’ is a musical celebration of joyous beats, slaps, claps, brass and Afro vocals. You don’t get it much more authentic than this.

West-Side Of Afrika Vol. 2 is like a shapely hand in the perfectly fitted glove that is the Samosa label. A truly stunning piece of vinyl with every track as strong as the last. A sure-fire winner.

Anthology 4 - Triple LP. The new volume from The Beatles Anthology Collection.

Anthology 4, is newly curated by Giles Martin, including 13 previously unreleased demos, plus fascinating session and other rare recordings dating from 1963 to 1969. It also includes the band’s final single, ‘Now And Then’, released in 2023, and new mixes of The Beatles’ Anthology-associated hit singles: the GRAMMY-winning ‘Free As A Bird’ and ‘Real Love’, given new life by their original producer, Jeff Lynne, using de-mixed John Lennon vocals. Furthermore, Anthology 4 presents 26 tracks that have never previously been released on vinyl.

The track notes are written by Kevin Howlett with an introduction compiled from 1996 interviews recorded with The Beatles’ close friend and adviser Derek Taylor.

Pressed on 180g black vinyl, the triple LP is housed within poly-lined inner bags and a triple gatefold sleeve.

Manchmal geht einfach alles POP! Fall in Love Again with "Balloon Balloon Balloon"! Unterwerfung. Das ist das Wort, das mir in den Sinn kommt, wenn ich mich mit Kai Slaters Sharp Pins auf den überwältigenden Pop-Planeten begebe. Das Universum funktioniert nur, wenn man sich unterwirft: sich der Liebe unterwirft, sich der Rockmusik unterwirft. Sich der Kraft zu unterwerfen, die von einem Jungen ausgeht, der seine Gitarre schwingt, um makellosen Gitarrenpop zu kreieren, der ins Pantheon der Idole gehört, zu denen er mit diesem Album aufsteigt. Natürlich ist es verständlich, dass man zunächst wütend ist. Alle waren wütend auf Big Star, weil sie den Beatles zu nahe kamen. Und alle werden wütend auf Sharp Pins sein, weil sie dasselbe tun und dann noch Guided by Voices mit ins Spiel bringen. Wie kann er es wagen? Diese Überheblichkeit. Welcher 20-Jährige glaubt, er könne Robert Pollard übertrumpfen? ,Queen of Globes and Mirrors?" Ein Verbrechen. Mit dem noch schlimmeren Verbrechen, Songs zu schreiben, die so rätselhaft zeitlos sind, dass man glauben könnte, sie seien aus einem verlorenen Beatles-Band gestohlen worden. ,I Don't Have the Heart" und ,(I Want to) Be Your Girl" lassen einen wirklich im Unklaren darüber, wann und wo sie entstanden sind. Aber wenn der Lo-Fi-Noise-Pop von "Balloon Balloon Balloon" uns an etwas erinnert, dann daran, dass nur Kai das kann. Mit seiner 12-saitigen Gitarre und seiner unermüdlichen Besessenheit von Popmusik ist Slater einzigartig ausgestattet, um nicht nur von Pollard und Chilton das Erbe anzutreten, sondern auch den Byrds, den Temptations, den Four Tops und allen anderen Künstlern nachzufolgen, die versuchen, die wahre Liebe auf Band zu bannen. Er wendet die Taktik ,um Vergebung bitten, nicht um Erlaubnis" an, wenn er sich bei diesen Größen bedient, und uns bleibt nichts anderes übrig, als Slater zu vergeben, dass er uns diese Rock'n'Roll-Juwelen schenkt, die er aus der Vergangenheit in eine Zukunft katapultiert, die so melodisch makellos und doch kantig und aufrichtig ist, dass wir ihm auch dafür danken müssen, dass er das Genre vor der Bedeutungslosigkeit bewahrt hat. Denn was Slater hinzufügt, ist ganz und gar sein Eigen. Eine unbeschreibliche Sensibilität für das Songwriting, die trotz der zahlreichen Anleihen nur ihm gehören kann. Am Ende des Albums schluckt man jegliche Wut oder Ungläubigkeit, die man vielleicht hatte, und akzeptiert, dass Sharp Pins wirklich so gut sind. Auf diesem umfangreichen, aber niemals überladenen Album erschafft Slater eine Welt voller kleiner Pop-Perlen, die so einfach und dumm gut sind, dass sie uns daran erinnern, dass eine andere Welt möglich ist. Denn es ist nicht nur so, dass die Songs unmöglich aus dem Kopf gehen, was sie auch sind. Es ist Slaters eigene Hingabe an dieses Streben nach dem perfekten Popsong, die uns glauben lässt, dass dies nicht nur möglich ist, sondern auch ausreicht, um dem Leben wieder Form und Farbe zu geben. Fall in Love Again ist keine Empfehlung, sondern eine Verpflichtung. Nicht nur gegenüber einem schönen Mädchen, von denen es auf dem Album viele gibt, sondern gegenüber der Welt selbst. Vielleicht ist es dann möglich, die Zukunft zu erreichen, von der der 20-jährige Slater selbst träumt, aber bis dahin haben wir seine Liebesbriefe an den Rock'n'Roll und die Welt um ihn herum, die uns Gesellschaft leisten.

Electro Glide in Blue is the successful second album by UK big beat collective Apollo 440.

The album attracted a lot of attention thanks to its blend of big beat, jungle and drum and bass.

With samples of Van Halen and Gene Krupa, the group showed the wide range of their influences.

This unique blend gave the band a major UK Top 10 hit with "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Dub".

Electro Glide In Blue is available as a limited edition of 1000 individually numbered copies on translucent blue coloured vinyl.

The Modern Soul Septet (later Modern Soul Band) was one of the hottest and most popular dance music groups in East Germany from the late 1960s to the mid-1980s.
In its early years, this band played a very unusual, raw, authentic, and freaky brand of funky Soul-Beat and Jazz-Rock for East Germany, which thrilled many music lovers and dance enthusiasts. The Modern Septett became one of the most booked dance bands in the country and recorded numerous outstanding tracks for the radio. Ahead of their time and too raw and hard for the state label, only two tracks were published in this first creative period. By the mid-70s, the Modern Soul Band had arrived in the midst of Fusion-Jazz and, thanks to their steadily growing popularity, finally received their first LP production in 1976. This album "Soul Komplex" fills a long-overdue gap in the band's discography and is an absolute must for any collector of East German Soul and Jazz.

Previously unreleased East German high class late 1960s and early 1970s funky Soul-Beat and raw Jazz-Rock titels.

With Dominik Eulberg and Arne Schaffhausen (of EXTRAWELT) we welcome back two longtime Cocoon heroes to the label. The two were featured in a VICE Magazine special last year for a 'field recording' documentary. you-need-to-hear-this/dominik-eulberg-westerwald-extrawelt-zurich-lost-and-found) which marked the beginning of a new collaboration. Dominik and Arne checked their fresh recorded sounds in the studio and found out that there have a common base and musical understanding. They started to work on new tracks and it looks like this joint venture will continue for a longer time. The first results of their mutual work is 'A Little Further' which will be released in three different versions on Cocoon Recordings in the next weeks (COR12117). So let's start with 'Not On A Map' version: This one seems to be tailor made for the next afterhour and the rising sun. Dominik and Arne create the perfect mood for those special moments on the floor with a nice mix of energetic beats, interesting sounds and an emotional bass- and synth-programming. So many layers and different levels however the overall picture never gets overcharged or too demanding. Coming up next is the '37 Routes' version which quite stands out with the used breakbeats and no standard 4/4 kick drum. The synths are more scratchy and louder and the bassline seems to jump out of the speakers, this is a massive wall of sound production. The direction here is clear. However the two incorporated some cool and magic breaks that seem to refer to the deeper Eulberg sound which forms a great mix of two different techno-visions. Last but not least there's the 'Imaginery Escort' version which appears a bit like the dub edit of 'A Little Further".

GATEFOLD DOUBLE VINYL WITH SPOT UV FRONT COVER

Following the skewed-unself-help-brilliance of ‘Sus Dog’ (which marked his first full foray into songs, abetted by Thom Yorke), and its companion piece ‘Cave Dog’, Chris Clark returns to the dancefloor’s simple, but no less affecting pleasures, with ‘Steep Stims’.
“I found it hard to pull away from listening to this record, hard to stop making it, I had to remove myself from the Stims and stop enjoying it at some point. The album feels like nature to me. I love it when electronic music feels more naturalistic than acoustic music, more potent, that’s the devil’s trick, the promise of electronic music.” comments Chris.
“I used an old synth - the Virus on all of the tracks. I used it at Mess in Melbourne - run by my friend Robin Fox - I loved it so much I had to buy one when I got back to the UK, it took a while to find. They’re a bit clunky to program but make some of my most favourite sounds.”
‘Steep Stims’ marks a back-to-basics approach, invoking the early years of gung-ho creativity enforced by limitations in technology at the time. “Most of the tracks on this album capture the spirit of making music on old samplers, which don’t have much memory time”, explains Clark. “It reminds me of making ‘Clarence Park’, my first album, where I would have to finish tunes in the session, as they would be saved on floppy disks and I couldn’t easily go between tracks. This new record is just a few synths and a few choice sounds; the writing is the important thing.”
Made quickly, ‘Steep Stims’ reflects the immediate rave energy of his live show, but that’s not to say it’s basic floor fodder, as it’s rife with personality, synth magic, and knack for melody. Although swift and impressionistically captured rather than laboured over, it’s still formidably deft, with plenty of oddball weirdness lurking beneath the dancefloor.
Soft, orange, scorched, brutal, the opening track ‘Gift and Wound’ captures the classic dance music dread / awe / euphoria combo perfectly, before ‘Infinite Roller’ merges sparkly-minimalism with snarling bass and soft sines, which turn more dense and metallic as it progresses.
The melancholic smoke belch of ‘No Pills U’ gives strong classic vibrations, which is belied by its creation, made in just 20 minutes. “I love working quickly sometimes”, comments Clark. “Inspiration hits, rough and ready. It’s off the cuff but also screams ‘don’t gild the lily with nonsense, keep it simple keep it clean’”. Segueing into its elder brother, the piece becomes bigger and beatier on ‘Janus Modal’, where it permutates for over 7 minutes of fluttering, beatific club majesty.
At ‘18EDO Bailiff’ you inexplicably find yourself at a clearing, things have suddenly got much quieter. You enter a decrepit and eerie old house, and as you move through its unsettling interior, you arrive at ‘Globecore Flats’. A real piano tuned to 18 notes per octave gives the pair of tracks a haunted, olde worlde feel, which promptly gets eaten by a huge tech step tearout monster, birthing a strange but exotic beast.
The white hot ‘Blowtorch Thimble’ is all hooktasm-rave-hyper-amen-energy, whilst acidic flute leaps around like Ian Anderson on pingers throughout the catchily simple jump-up lurch of ‘Civilians’.
“‘In Patient’s Day Out’ is like some sort of Morricone-does-kraut-rock-with-drum-machines, but that’s probably just in my head” says Clark. “I made several versions of this then went with the early mix but cranked through some choice outboard because it just had something.”
Drumless, yet still full of exhilarating-big-trance-drama, ‘Who Booed The Goose’ flashes by in stroboscopic fast forward, then ‘5 Millionth Cave Painting’ gives a palate cleanser, letting “the virus with its delicious broken, luxurious reverb have a moment”, before ‘Negation Loop’ swoops down in all its glory, with Clark’s tweaked vocals leading deconstructed trance breakdowns, tape edits and brutal noisebursts.
An antidote to the bombast of its predecessor is ‘Micro Lyf’, which closes the set on a poignant note, of sorts. Muted staccato gives way to field recordings “that gradually put it in this outside space; alien in a meadow somewhere nameless. It feels like a sinkhole. The record kinda swallows itself up and then is gone”, ends Chris.