Deep Steppe begins its journey with A Steppe Into The Sphere, a debut release that stretches across California's coastline, from San Diego to San Francisco. The EP moves through sonic spaces-shaped by deep rooted influences. The A-side looks back while carving a path forward for deep house and minimal lovers. The B-side shifts focus, pushing into the future with raw, kinetic tech house and electro energy. A steppe into the sphere, a step into the future-this is just the beginning.
JTQ Return to Acid Jazz… At the very birth of Acid Jazz there was the James Taylor Quartet. Hammond player extraordinaire James Taylor was fresh from the split of The Prisoners when he recorded Herbie Hancock’s ‘Theme From Blow Up’ and signed with Eddie Piller’s Re-Elect The President label, the precursor of Acid Jazz. Then, in 1993, after albums for Polydor and Big Life, Acid Jazz and James hooked up again and released ‘In The Hand Of The Inevitable’, for many the finest JTQ album. In March this year James found himself backstage at the Royal Albert Hall - The Brand New Heavies were about to take the stage - with Acid Jazz’s Eddie Piller and Dean Rudland and a plot was hatched... James returns to the label with this brand new 7-inch single: ‘Wildflower’ b/w ‘Guiding Light’.
The A-side is Bossa-nova tinged slice of sunshine pop featuring James’ vocals. It sounds like an old private-press 45, unearthed in a dank warehouse basement in Oregon, and is another JTQ classic. The flip takes us into jazz funk territory. Presented in a one-o^ version of the latest Acid Jazz house-bag, with classic labels.
The 7:45s are an original soul collective from Manchester, UK – the brainchild of songwriter and bassist Sam Flynn. Inspired by the house bands of soul labels from Motown to Big Crown, the young collective spotlights guest vocalists such as Martin Connor and Nicole Battick. Named after 7-inch vinyl, The 7:45s write snappy singles that blend the vintage feel of rare groove with the songcraft of perfect pop.The 7:45s have been played on BBC Radio 6 Music by Craig Charles, Stuart Maconie and Chris Hawkins and on Jazz FM by Simon Phillips.
A concept album for the soul, Spinning is a retro-soul love story. Side A is sunshine soul about the dizziness of an on-off relationship, as heard in the Charles Bradley-inspired opener 'The Way That I Love You'. Side B is nocturnal. Head-spinning heartbreak is the subject of rare groove-influenced 'The Writing's on the Wall' while dancing to a new dawn is the theme of Prince-inspired disco number 'We Will Be Friends'. The album also features a reimagination of The Beatles' 'Don't Let Me Down'.
"Anti Todo" is Eskorbuto's most celebrated album, recorded in the shortest time imaginable and released in 1985. It shows what the Spanish punk band did best: hitting the studio with as much raw energy, provocation, inspiration, and natural talent as possible. A new remastering for this edition has given the album the richer, more vibrant sound it always deserved. We can once again enjoy the urgency, simplicity, and rage of this refreshed "Anti Todo", a true classic recorded at Eskorbuto's peak of their creativity and energy. It includes a large poster and insert with notes. DESCRIPTION 1985 was a landmark year for punk rock in the Basque country, and possibly for the whole of Spain. Punk merged with the Basque Radical Rock (Rock Radikal Vasco or RRV) movement, although this was not necessarily always the case. For instance, Eskorbuto invariably kept their distance from the movement and everything related to it. Hardship was part and parcel of Eskorbuto's life and musical career. All their albums were recorded in the shortest time imaginable, partly due to tight budgets (studios were expensive, labels were close-fisted), and partly because Josu and Jualma needed to spend the money on other things_ When it came to recording "Anti Todo", Eskorbuto stuck to what they did best: hitting the studio with as much raw energy, provocation, inspiration, and natural talent as possible. It was their best record and we have to ask: what would Eskorbuto have been capable of if they had more time, a bigger budget, and tighter control? The song 'Tamara' was practically composed on the spot in the studio in less than two recording days, as was much of 'Ha llegado el momento'. The experienced sound technician did an outstanding job, but a new remastering for this rerelease has given the album the richer, more vibrant sound it always deserved. We can once again enjoy the urgency, simplicity, and rage of this refreshed "Anti Todo", a true classic in our musical history, originally released in 1985 at Eskorbuto's peak of their creativity and energy. This edition of the album includes a large poster and insert with notes.
Wax Digits hits release number five with a tight and tidy two-tracker from the late veteran Robert Ouimet who passed a couple of years ago. Before then he cooked up these gems with his pal and production partner Dave Godin. They are being released as a tribute to the memory of Ouimet and a fine one they are too. 'Plenty' has a raw groove and big chords with jangling guitars adding hints of melancholy that counter the big stabs. Soulful vocals are a great finishing touch then 'Funky Together' is more loose and strident with big horns leading the way under psyched-out chords. Two quality party starters.
Its no secret that Samiyam is a certified beathead and appreciated hiphop producer - we have been in touch with him since his self released Rap beats volume 1 CD (or actually since his contribution with FlyLo as Flyamsam on the Beat Dimensions compilation), and later took in further releases on Stones Throw, Brainfeeder, Poo-Bah, All City & Hyperdub . What we did not know is Sam got heavily into Death Metal for the past 5 years and is a big horror movie fan. (check the artwork here !)
On Death Metal, Sam mentioned 'I started revisiting some old shit and realized I really love it and there's so many cool bands I didn't even know about.. I started making some shit with drums, drum programming, and ideas inspired by some of the stuff I like and realized I should just make an album out of it."
So here it is - 13 beat takes, Metal style - put together by a man whose output is sparse but never dissapoints !
Limited edition US import
yellow vinyl[14,71 €]
Tech-Nology was launched in 2003 specifically to make records with the artist Bjorn Svin. Bjorn was the first Danish artist who made underground crossover into commercial hit territory via "Mer Strom" - but still keeping respect in the "real" music world for his enthusiasm, non-compromising style, persona, and sweaty live performance skills - his musical understanding and need to explore new directions took the crowd on a personal musical journey from jazz and classical musicians to early electronic pioneers - but always in a tone of his own. Bjorn always felt a need to escape norms, to grow and not to repeat, but investigate and create. The first record on Tech-Nology was born under the alias - El Far: Couples of lonely dancers. "Bjorn is maybe the most talented electronic producer ever in Denmark" and he was celebrated as a wonder kid by the media back in the 90's. An insider with new knowledge of Bjorn told us: "Yeah I think its good music.. It's not for everyone I must add, but it's definitely quality music for those who dig this sound.. sometimes a bit too deep.. which kind of works against it, cause you really need to listen to it.. you cannot just skip through it, cause then you don't really grasp the soul of it.. so this is what makes it more difficult to sell - but if a guy like this was a bigger name he would sell much better.."
We love Bjorn and we agree - We have tried to sell Bjorn and his music for over 2 decades now - But you can't capture Bjorn, you can't own him - he is only making music for himself - and you can get on the ride if you want to, but don't expect all the rides to be fun - sometimes it hurts! Bjorn is difficult to sell, but we don't think Bjorn really would like to sell much better if he had the option to do a more commercial approach to his music - because Bjorn is about not selling out, he's a purist at heart, making music documents for the few. Bjorn is bigger than superficial success and streaming numbers. He made jingles for Nokia, toured and played Roskilde's main stage, the biggest Festival in Denmark, but he still doesn't care... and that is important if you want to make interesting music that last for the future. When Bjorn met Mester Jakobsen, label boss of Tech-Nology, he has been releasing on numerous underground labels, made the jump to a major label, and everything more or less turned out as a big disappointment, so Bjorn presented a completely experimental album to the Tech-Nology label under the moniker Prinz Ezo - The Body Offset. We loved it then - we still love it now - and a truly collectors item and a secret DJ tool.
Today, Bjorn is still breaking all habits and rules, still doing the same thing - just in new ways, but he has gained insight on another level, adding even more nuances and textures to his post-genre compositions.
Welcome to the second album by Prinz Ezo on Tech-Nology: KURIER Why Kurier? Because Bjorn left to explore the Berlin Underground, shortly after the first two releases on Tech-Nology - he left his roots to search for a bigger meaning, a bigger understanding, to compose real mature sounds and understanding his skills, at the point where you understand why you have to cross borders, still incognito, doing smuggler-sounds, always in transit - between cities, between cultures, between worlds, time and space. Not Restless nor rootless, just forever on the move, always discovering new landscapes! But now Bjorn is settling down - accordingly with the music - to find - not inner peace, but to be completely in balance with the music inside of him. Prinz Ezo is raw, narrative, minimalistic electronic storytelling that refuses to freeze. Tension builds and releases - feel the energy and the drama for the last 2 decades if you dare to take the journey?
Almost twenty years after the first Prinz Ezo album, it has now been possible to make the music for those who never arrived.
Gladstone Deluxe is one of the most exciting musicians in the US right now. They make futuristic, deep, percussive yet smooth techno, deep house and electro. They also play timbales in NYC queer and trans salsa band Las Mariquitas, and are a frequent collaborator with fellow East Coast sonic trailblazers Kiernan Laveaux, Johnny Zoloft, and Mira Mira. They have released on Black Techno Matters, Data Disk, Misc, Innocent Music, How Things Are Made, and now Fixed Rhythms is excited to add to the Gladstone lore with their new offering, “No Haterade EP”.
A1 “Cleanse” is zippy tech-y house…think groovy, up-beat, sexy, like something you’d hear in a Titonton Duvante set. A2 is a remix, “Teakup – Where’s My Snare (Gladstone Deluxe Remix)”. Now the EP takes a turn towards psychedelic electro. Spacey trippy vocal manipulations, swelling deep space gravitational waves swelling and resolving. The B side opens with the “No Haterade” track. Arpeggiated electro that slaps with swagger. The final track is a longer, 9 minute driving deep housey techno tune. A bass line that you never want to stop, luscious pads, brain-tingling pings, melodic percussive synth runs, and a touch of acid.
If Gladstone is not already on your radar, take heed! Big tunes here!
»Reise der Schatten« (»Journey of Shadows«) is the soundtrack to the eponymous debut feature-length animation film by Swiss artist Yves Netzhammer. Composed by Anthony Pateras and released as a stand- alone album through Hallow Ground, the 29 pieces are based on »weird folk melodies ornamented with electro-acoustics to give the film a more fantastical, fairy-tale feeling,« as the composer puts it. His extensive international recording sessions with a slew of guest musicians results in a record imbued with a sense of mystical surrealism, otherworldly and haunting.
»Reise der Schatten« tells the abstracted story of a genderless being coming to terms with its identity and place in a world full of conflicts and systems of control. »The film was made with old animation software that only works on Mac OS 9. So already, we are in a very hermetic, unique space,« says Pateras. Having tried (and failed) to compose something »typically experimental,« he went for long walks in the Australian bushlands and came home with something else: the idea to create a soundtrack that would create »a kind of distance, or perceptual shift, but also a narrative drive and emotional context which is not always clear.«
While recording the album, the tētēma co-founder did not use digitally generated sound, instead workingwith live instrumentation whose sound palette was enriched by the use of feedback, tape delay, analogue synthesizers, and samples from vinyl records. Wanting to work primarily with acoustic instruments suchas the clarinet made Pateras embark on a complicated journey of his own. The initial recording sessions took place in Basel on metallophones that were designed by Domenico Melchiorre’s Lunason company and laid the foundation for everything that came after.
Pateras recorded with musicians such as guitarist Alexander Garsden, viola player Erkki Veltheim, clarinetist Aviva Endean, multi-instrumentalist Justin Marshall and Lizzy Welsh on the viola d’amore among other instruments. He recorded percussion and recorders with Rohan Rebeiro and Natasha Anderson in his hometown of Castlemaine, double bass with Benjamin Ward in Sydney, bass and flutes with Jon Heilbron and Rebecca Lane in Berlin, and electronics in Zürich with Netzhammer. »Reise der Schatten« was thus a literal journey, made with a »big, international electro-acoustic ensemble.«
As a stand-alone album, »Reise der Schatten« opens up a space of its own. Its stylistic diversity makes it atmospherically and emotionally multi-faceted. As its composer notes, »music for screen can be very virtuosic, sophisticated, and variegated!« His own work is a testament to that claim.
ele
The dons from Down Under have only gone and done it again. Demonstrating the breadth of the Sleep D sound, the ever-prolific duo dish out a 3-track invocation of mesmeric techno and trance.
Following a remix cameo on Alfred Czital and Ayu’s recent ‘Talk To Me’ EP, this is the fully fledged label debut. A truly engrossing triple-pronged attack from two intrepid explorers of the “rave unconscious”.
Celebrated for live hardware sets and in-the-moment improvisation, that same freeform NRG courses throughout. Synapses firing on all cylinders as we’re caught somewhere between the warped, direct and emosh.
Pivoting from cybernetic meltdown to sci-fi dystopia before finally settling on some full-blown trance ascension. Proper techno freak-out into the levitational and sublime, all primed for the big room.
The third release on the B.I.T. Productions ALTERNATIVE label features another 4 Track E.P. with 4 different artists, K69 Dream Frequency, Stu Chapman, Matty D & Avit & A.PLUS.
The K69 Dream Frequency track is a new 2024 version of the K69 release from 2021, itself a cover of the Elevation track from1992, and it's much more energetic but still keeps the catchy vocals and the hands in the air pianos.
Matty D & Avit "Africa" is the Stu Chapman Remix with plenty of pianos, throbbing bass, strong breakbeat and catchy vocals.
Stu Chapman "Just Can't Get Enough" is a banging breakbeat track with a big piano riff, dirty synths and catchy vocal.
A.PLUS is a piano driven breakbeat track with catchy vocals &nice synth melodies that is even better than the A.PLUS track from COLLECTIVE E.P.1.
A great 4 track E.P.
Issam Dahmani, born in 1992 in Perugia to a family of Moroccan origin, began his first garage and deep-house productions under the name Nnatn. In 2021, he started the Issam Dahmani project, inspired by more Balearic, disco, and downtempo sounds, founding the label Dischi Malizia
RAWAX welcomes Issam Dahmani to the artist family!
We are very happy to have this big talent on CHIWAX with his first release for us
called Dreamstate Rhythms early Aüril.
Dive into the 90's House Journey!
2026 Repress
This 4 tracker is the 2nd outing on the now legendary Evasive Records imprint out of Croydon, South London in the late 90’s and early Noughties. Pyramids sees Evasive label boss Rob Pearson team up with Leonora Epremian (AKA Autonomy) and his regular production partner Lee Humphreys.
Lee Humphreys had set up his new recording studio in Thanham a remote part of the German countryside just under 2 hours outside Munich and was outputting some amazing tracks in his new creative space Tofu Studios. Meanwhile back in London, UK, Rob quickly snapped up 3 of Lee’s tracks for this EP, ‘Rendered’, 'A Big Issue’ and’4 Faze’. At the same time Rob and Lenonora Epremian were working on multiple music projects at Evasive headquarters Online Studios in Croydon and the cut ‘Future Drift’ saw their styles combine to give us the 4th track of this mixed artist EP. Evasive was starting to shape and create its early South London Tech House sound, something that can be heard clearly emanating throughout this 4 track release.
Next in our original series we’re bringing together two artists from opposite sides of the globe, encompassing various influences which have helped make Seven Hills what it is today. Much like how Uruguayan dance music takes many of its cues from 90’s UK techno, not least the bleep influences from Sheffield, we’ve come full circle by becoming, in-turn, inspired by them too.
The A side is commandeered by Molen, making a welcome return to the label and delivering two groove laden, bass heavy tracks, both suitable for various peak-time situations. Whilst on the B side we’re pleased to have Harry Wills, a producer whose technical prowess we’ve respected for a long time. Harry’s tracks are more contrasting: the monster that is Big in the Backtime for those face melting moments, and Scape, a subdued, heady, space-faring excursion.
2026 Repress
Due to high demand, MEU has revisited two of Mr. K’s classics, previously only available as 12-inch extended mixes, and asked the master editor to pare them down to 7-inch size.
A true top-five peak record at the Garage, Thelma Houston’s “I’m Here Again” was “a highlight whenever Larry played it,” Danny Krivit recalls, “and he played it a lot!” Danny’s edit is a homage to Larry and Frankie Knuckles – in particular a similar private edit that Frankie did back in the day and shared with Krivit. “It was on reel to reel and I didn’t copy it correctly and lost it,” Danny remembers. “Reels were problematic! When I tried to get it again from him, unfortunately he had lost it too.” The song (likely an attempt by Motown to capitalize on the previous year’s monster hit “Don’t Leave Me This Way”) is, in its original form, a virtual retake of Thelma Houston’s breakout single, from the subdued, schmaltzy intro to the “oooh BABY!” leading to the chorus. What sets “I’m Here Again” apart though, is the incredible second half of the song. Naturally, it is here that Mr. K’s edit focuses. Over a vicious groove reminiscent of the Originals’ “Down To Love Town” breakdown (Michael Sutton wrote and produced both “Love Town” and “I’m Here Again”) Houston delivers soul-stirring ad libs as the band crackles with electricity behind her, the piano chasing a descending string riff so eagerly. Pure dancefloor peak energy! And the very first time having all these parts on a 7"!
For our flip, Danny has reached deep into the earliest foundations of his voluminous collection, and come out with a psychedelic pop classic rearranged for today’s sound systems and setlists. Recorded in the Beatles’ Abbey Road studio at the height of the Summer Of Love, the Zombies’ “Time Of The Season” is firmly linked in pop culture to the late ‘60s and the Vietnam era, breaking big in the summer of 1969. Krivit’s edit highlights the parade of lush sonic textures that ornament the hip composition, from the iconic, exquisitely echoed bass-clap-exhale riff that opens the song to the cascading Hammond organ solos of Rod Argent. “It’s a song from my childhood that really struck a chord,” Danny says. “Over the years I often played a rough edit which always seemed to go over great. The song seemed to get better and better, and age like fine wine.” We agree!
These two songs have both appeared on previous (separate) MEU 12-inches, but are presented here in custom new edits for the 7-inch format.
Finally re-mastered and pressed for a one off limited qty drop.
1993 Very rare FBD Project 3 track Darkside EP with early jungle / rave influences.
Originally a very limited pressing, but now remastered and packaged to allow you a final chance to purchase another classic FBD underground release.
Following the original white label format, with a white sleeve and Bang-in Tune Sticker for reference.
Grab one whist you still can, as this is the only re-press being produced, with original copies selling for big money on various sites.
It’s a properly transcendent Kalahari debut as S.A.M. makes nods to ’90s Eurodance and deeper, spiritual invocations.
At the helm of multiple labels, but this marks a Kalahari debut for the Danish artist. Sometimes anthemic, sometimes operating from a more meditative space, but always serving as an outlet for ecstatic release. Rapturous big room ascension into more contemplative territory.
Channelling some divine NRG in the vocal hooks, like much of their work, an air of blissed intent cloaks the whole thing. This is a suite of tech and deep house that strikes a balance between the introspective and direct, the metaphysical and corporeal.
Pitting sonic immersion against forward momentum has almost become a blueprint for any Kalahari release, and here, we bear witness to a prime example. Heady stuff.
Show less
