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Glenn Underground is the founding member of the Strictly Jaz Unit. He was raised on disco classics and freeform jazz in Chicago's Southside, the place where house music was born. Taking inspiration from Chicago's original pioneers, Larry Heard, Ron Hardy, Lil' Louis, and the like, Glenn has produced many sought after house gems for some of the most well respected deep house labels such as Prescription and Guidance.
The Jerusalem EP's, GU's second album for Peacefrog originally released in 1997 still sounds so fresh, so deep and so soulful. Blending jazz-tinged chord progressions with sax accents, and rolling basslines the album evokes the sound of late-’90s hypnotic Chicago house.
Timeless, quality, underground house music for the mind, the body and especially the soul.

Finetune — Impulse LP

Singeley Wax presents the third installment of the Russian Series — Finetune's "Impulse" album by electronic musician and media artist Mikhail Komisarov (Michael Dop), co-founder of Slowdance Records.

__About the Music

Finetune is a project through which Mikhail explores and experiments with a sonic palette encompassing ambient, electronic music with elements of jazz and neoclassical. His medium combines modular synthesis, acoustic instruments, field recordings, and deliberately crafted effect chains. He creates distinctive compositions that guide listeners through various emotional states.

The "Impulse" album brings together ten tracks of experimental electronica: hypnotic synthesizer sequences, polyrhythmic structures, cinematic textures, and subtly shifting modulations blend into sonic landscapes where time becomes relative.

__Art Concept

The album's visual identity is based on the multidisciplinary neuro-performance "Impulse," created at the intersection of art and neurotechnology in collaboration with neurovisualization pioneers NeuroLab, digital art studio STAIN (working with algorithmic abstraction since 2009), and physical theatre project "Dancing in the Dark" — Russia's only company featuring visually impaired artists.

During the performance, the brain activity of visually impaired dancers was captured in real-time via neurointerface and transformed into generative graphics. This visual content, born from electrical impulses of consciousness in moments of musical perception, became the foundation for the album's artwork — both static and motion graphics.

LTD 300 - Printed Sleeve
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Barranquilla born multi-instrumentalist Pernett is undoubtedly a true pioneer in fusing Colombian folklore with electronic elements. Back in 2003, when he released his first album “Música Para Pick Up”, Humberto was immediately seen as genius by some, crazy and outrageous by others. How dare he incorporate synthesizers into traditional music? What would be called this avant-garde genre where gaitas, traditional drums and keyboards come together? To this date, Pernett has released 6 albums, worked with an impressive number of prestigious artists such as Phil Manzanera, Calle 13, Novalima, or Quantic, and is still influencing whole generations of forward-thinking musicians.

Originally released from is latest album, “Vamos A Hacer” and El Pajarito have been edited for the occasion, by talented recording engineer Benjamin Calais AKA Ben Matik,

A-side “Vamos A Hacer - Ben Matik Instrumental Edit” is a joint collaboration between Pernett and renown British producer Will Holland aka Quantic. A heavy blend of funky breaks and cumbia. A 7-minutes version, exclusive to this 10″, has been especially taken out from the masters vault, and edited by Ben Matik: the original short version takes a unexpected turn to a completely freaked-out “Puya” rhythm, where gaitas and synths perfectly merge together.

B-side “El Pajarito - Ben Matik Instrumental Edit” is a deep downtempo anthem, a perfect fusion of powerful electronic beats, 808 bass, analog synths and gaitas. special attention should be paid to the enchanting voice of Diana Pereira on this one.

Artwork by Mateo Rivano.

SKYLAX RECORDS proudly unveils the final chapter in its monumental 4-part saga — SKYLAX BLACK 4: Enlightenment Theory. This visionary series, bringing together two of France’s most iconic electronic artists — ARNAUD REBOTINI and ACID WASHED — was never just a collection of records. It was a journey through the deepest layers of the underground — a conceptual project where each release was a coded message, each track a fragment of a greater whole. On the A-side, Enlightenment Theory explodes with fierce urgency — an anthem forged in the spirit of Underground Resistance, echoing the soulful intensity of early ’90s Detroit without imitation. It’s bold, emotional, and militantly underground — a future classic cloaked in defiance and elegance. On the B-side: B1. Space Is The Place channels the weightless gravity of dub techno at its purest — all echo chambers and endless delay, a direct line to the Berlin school of Basic Channel, Maurizio, and Deepchord. B2. Beyond Current Biological Constraints closes the chapter in deep space — an electro masterwork evoking Drexciya, full of aquatic melancholy and cybernetic funk. It’s not retro — it’s timeless. With this last installment, the puzzle is complete. The meaning is revealed: R.A.V.E. — four records forming one powerful word. One timeless idea. A tribute to everything this culture stands for: raw energy, emotional truth, sonic innovation, and spiritual depth. This project could only be born on SKYLAX RECORDS — a label that has always stood apart. Uncompromising. Devoted to physical formats. Fiercely loyal to the culture. While others chase trends, SKYLAX continues to chart a different course — one rooted in the sacred codes of house, techno, electro, and beyond. It is no exaggeration to say that SKYLAX is one of the last true purist strongholds of underground music — and this series, with its layered meanings and fearless artistry, is proof. From Redshifts to Blueshifts to Artificial Darwinism then Vision Quest, every chapter has pointed toward this moment. Now, with Enlightenment Theory, the full vision is revealed. RAVE is not just a word — it is the truth. A philosophy. A myth reborn. The circle is complete. The message endures. The legacy lives on.

Monaqee are multi instrumentalist / pianist Bencze Molnar and producer Jules Hiero.
Vanis is a bassist based in Budapest, deeply rooted in the city’s vibrant underground culture.
Bencze and Vanis are members of the jazz fusion group Jazzbois.
Being rooted in the underground hip hop and jazz scenes,the artists started this project to create a distinct sound, blending jazz, hip hop and lofi elements in a sophisticated way, that stands out from the crowd.
The only feature on the Album is from Domenico Lancellotti, a pioneer of Brazilian beat culture.

Robo Wars is a project born from three years of spontaneous sessions in Budapest. Over this time, the trio captured their best moments, weaving them into a smooth tapestry that blends jazztronica, hip-hop, and lofi beats into an analogue experience. Driven by electric bass, drum machines, and an arsenal of synthesizers including the Prophet, Juno, Moog, and the new UDO designs, Robo Wars feels alive, raw, and deeply musical.
Each track breathes improvisation:
Most of the material was captured live during jam sessions, with only minimal overdubs. The result is a project that preserves the spirit of freestyle creativity, much like a true jazz performance, later sculpted into structured songs by Jules Hiero.

Eli Zem - Kiss My Music EP 12"
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Born from the idea of capturing a musical fragment from Eli Zem’s latest live set and transforming it into a four-track journey, Kiss My Music creates a fluid sonic passage designed to make people dance while immersing them in a unique experience.

Blending hypnotic grooves, raw energy, and refined textures, the EP reflects the distinctive spirit of the Disordine School movement and its vision of underground electronic music.

Transamericas reissues Atom™’s Kraftwerk-goes-chachachá classic

After 25 years out of print, El Baile Alemán — the cult album by Señor Coconut (one of Atom™’s many aliases) — returns on vinyl via Transamericas. What began as a half-joke (“The only way I’d cover Kraftwerk is as chachachá or death metal…”) became a fever-born epiphany: Kraftwerk’s electronic minimalism recast through a tropical imagination — where chachachá, mambo, and cumbia intertwine with glitch, breakbeats, and distressed samples.

Long before reggaeton and trap filled stadiums and playlists, Señor Coconut was already mapping the fault lines between Latin rhythm and electronic form.
Originally released in Japan in 2000, El Baile Alemán caught the ear of Kraftwerk’s Florian Schneider, who unexpectedly championed the project. This reissue has been cut from Atom™’s 2022 remasters, preserving the album’s detail for a new generation of listeners. In the second half of 2026,

Transamericas will also reissue El Gran Baile (1997), his first outing — a rawer but equally idiosyncratic fusion of what Atom™ was going to frame as electrolatino.

Mary Mundy born in 1944 is an underground soul and disco singer best known for her rare 1980 album Mother Nature.

Often referred to as "Dr. Mary Mundy," she is a cult figure among record collectors and DJs due to the scarcity and high quality of her work which blends heavy disco-soul grooves with powerful, soulful vocals.

Llewellyn "Lew" Hanson (1925–1984)

was a Jamaican-born writer, producer, and performer primarily active in Hartford, Connecticut. After serving in the Royal Air Force during the 1940s, he moved to the USA and established himself as a versatile figure in the Caribbean and soul music scenes.

Musical Career and Production

Hanson transitioned from performing traditional calypso with local bands to writing and producing more mainstream sounds in the 1960s.

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The Islanders: In 1974, he released the LP Just For You... From Home And Abroad with his group, Lew Hanson and The Islanders. The album featured a mix of styles, including the flute-funk track "Soul Safari".

Record Labels: He founded Insurance City Records and Big Street Records to release his productions.

Key Collaborations:

Mary Mundy: Hanson worked closely with Mundy throughout the 1970s and 80s, producing her singles and her LP Mother Nature.

Originally released by Time Capsule in 2021 and long out of print, Stories From Another Time 1982-1988 returns in an upgraded edition following years of demand and rising collector prices on the secondhand market. Widely regarded as a modern cult classic, Mário Rui Silva’s visionary recordings blend acoustic folk, cinematic soul, spiritual jazz and saudade-filled Lusophone rhythm into a deeply timeless and universal work that transcends genre and geography.

This new edition features half-speed mastering cut at Metropolis alongside an expanded 4-page insert with a tribute essay and unseen photographs following Silva’s passing in 2024.

Double LP + 4-page insert

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The roots of Angolan popular music explored in the meticulous guitar studies of Mário Rui Silva. For fans of Naná Vasconcelos, John Hassell’s Fourth World ambient, Eduardo Mateo’s psychedelic folk and Cameroonian electronic music visionary Francis Bebey.

Whether on mesmerising acoustic ballads or hypnotic groove-led tracks, the music of Angolan guitarist, researcher and intellectual Mário Rui Silva has a beguiling, melancholy quality, woven into the dynamics of his deft guitar playing.Rhythmically complex yet supremely effortless, the music collected here stems from three albums Mário released in Luanda in the 1980s that reflect his diverse range of influences, from traditional Angolan and West African rhythms to European jazz and classical instrumentation. It is united by a sense of low-key beauty, whether on the chugging opener ‘Kazum-zum-zum’, the jazz-funk keys of ‘Lembrança Dum Velho’, or the twinkling, late-night poly-rhythms of ‘Kizomba Kya Kisanji’.

Born in Luanda, Angola in 1953, Mário dedicated his life to Angolan popular music. His fifty-year career has seen him live between Angola and Europe, rub shoulders with Cameroonian musicians Francis Bebey and Ewanjé, record the seminal album Angola ’72 with fellow Angolan musician Bonga, and draw influence from Brazilian guitarist Baden Powell.

It was the teaching of Angolan legend and Ngola Ritmos co-founder Liceu Vieira Dias that Mário gained a technical, political and spiritual understanding of Angolan musical culture. In the hands of Liceu, the traditional Angolan semba and kazukuta rhythms of the 1940s and ‘50s helped create an emancipatory sense of national pride and collective agency that awakened its listeners to the racism and tyranny of colonial rule, underpinning the country’s push for independence in the process.

What might sound like the intonations of Brazilian influence are what Mário attributes to the “African rhythms taken by the slaves which gave rise to other musical cultures” around the globe. Instead, this music emerged from a collective instinct to assert a cosmopolitan Angolan identity free from the patronising falsehoods of Lusotropicalism.

“There was a need within me to contribute in doing new things,” Mário describes. “In the sense of solidifying the music of Angola that was the result of the meeting of two cultures, and wanting to value the Angolan part whenever possible.”A selection from Mário’s three 1980s albums, Sung’Ali (1982), Tunapenda Afrika (1985) and Koizas dum Outru Tempu (1988) have been compiled here as a 2xLP release by Time Capsule’s Sam Jacob and Kay Suzuki. Together, they provide a snapshot of one man’s journey to the core of his nation’s music, charged with the search for a culture uprooted by colonialism

Welcome to THE VAULT for 1985. A collection that digs deeper into the year’s musical landscape – uncovering singles that may not have always reached the highest chart positions but remain essential to the rich and diverse pop story of 1985. Some were overshadowed at the time, some were highlights from albums that had already sold huge amounts, some found greater success internationally – but all deserve their place in this continued celebration of 80s pop.

45 tracks across 3-LPs – pressed in gorgeous green vinyl – NOW Yearbook – The Vault: 1985.

LP1 opens with a trio of tracks from huge-selling albums:- Bruce Springsteen’s ‘My Hometown’, the sixth single in the UK from ‘Born in the U.S.A’ - one of the best-selling albums of the decade, followed by Bryan Ferry with the stunning ‘Windswept’ from ‘Boys And Girls’ and Sting’s ‘Love Is The Seventh Wave’, taken from his solo debut ‘The Dream Of The Blue Turtles’. Next up, Go West with a U.S single release ‘Eye To Eye’, Scritti Politti with ‘Perfect Way’ – their biggest hit in America, and ABC with ‘Be Near Me’. The first side closes with two established bands; Heaven 17 and Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark… Flip the LP over for Adam Ant with ‘Vive Le Rock’, Midge Ure, Blancmange and the second collaboration between Philip Oakey & Giorgio Moroder with ‘Good-Bye Bad Times’. The Style Council’s ‘Welcome To Milton Keynes’ leads to LP1’s closer’s from Simply Red and Fine Young Cannibals who followed their debut ‘Johnny Come Home’ with ‘Blue’.

LP2 opens with Cocteau Twins and the dream-pop atmospherics of ‘Aikea-Guinea’, ahead of The Jesus And Mary Chain with ‘Just Like Honey’, and The Dream Academy with ‘The Love Parade’.

Brilliant with their cover of James Brown’s ‘It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World’ and jazz-influenced pop from Matt Bianco are up next ahead of the sublime ‘Castles In The Air’ from The Colourfield and Elvis Costello & The Attractions, who released the 1979 track ‘Green Shirt’ to promote their ‘Best Of’ collection … and the side closes with The Clash’s ‘This Is England’ which would become their last originally released hit…whilst on the other side…celebrate the dancefloor, with a vibrant mix of Hi-NRG, soul, electro and club-influenced pop:- Opening with Sheryl Lee Ralph’s ‘In The Evening’ and Barbara Pennington’s equally superb ‘On A Crowded Street’, the hi-energy continues with Miquel Brown and Hazell Dean ahead of a US hit from Laura Branigan (‘Spanish Eddie’) and Divine’s cover of ‘Twistin’ The Night Away’. LP2 finishes with a massive U.S. dancefloor smash for Eddie Murphy with ‘Party All The Time’.

The final LP kicks off with a bunch of singles that achieved bigger hit status in the US than here and opens with Billy Joel’s ‘You’re Only Human (Second Wind)’, a track written exclusively for his ‘Greatest Hits – Volume I & II’ compilation, ahead of pop-rock from John Mellencamp plus an anthemic smash from Bon Jovi. Pat Benatar’s ‘Invincible’ features ahead of The Power Station’s third US Top 40 hit…whilst back in the UK Chris Rea enjoyed his biggest chart hit to date with ‘Stainsby Girls’ and the side is completed by Marillion with ‘Heart Of Lothian’ the third hit from their huge ‘Misplaced Childhood’ album… Flip to the final side for the stellar vocals on ‘Act Of War’, the huge collaboration between Elton John & Millie Jackson ahead of dancefloor smash ‘New Attitude’ from Patti Labelle and ‘Show Some Respect’ a U.S. single from Tina Turner. Sophisticated pop-R&B from Michael McDonald and Daryl Hall & John Oates come ahead of the collection’s closers- and two outstanding vocal performances: Chaka Khan’s ‘Through The Fire’ and the U.S. breakthrough hit from Whitney Houston with ‘You Give Good Love’ – signalling the arrival of one of the decade’s brightest new stars.

NOW Yearbook – The Vault: 1985 – A deeper dive into an unforgettable year in pop.

2026 Repress

Samurai Music heralds a new seam of spacious, rhythmically curious exploration with the launch of the Saibai sub label, opened in mesmerising fashion by Brendon Moeller.

The overarching premise of Saibai is to nurture a more delicate, meditative inversion of Samurai's physical, dense sound, leaning less on the dynamics of the dancefloor while holding true to the intricate drum play and dubby principles that bind the label's sound together.

In this open-eared, inquisitive environment, Moeller is the perfect fit as an artist with decades of diverse offerings across all kinds of dubwise manifestations. On SAIBAI1, the US-based, South Africa-born producer stretches out with a live-sounding drum palette and exquisitely rendered synth work loaded with detail, character and organic flourishes. It's a light-footed approach with plenty of air flowing through the mix, but there's considerable weight in every notch of the production, not least the imposing channels of sub bass coursing beneath the frequency range.

SAIBAI1 is a feast for the senses, wholly immediate and front-loaded with fascination, setting the perfect tone for Saibai as a platform for charming, immersive electronics that take a fresh diversion from the fundamental core of Samurai's sharply defined sonic focus.

ALERT: BIG 90s ITALIAN RAVE COMP - a lot of very in demand tunes on here.

Navigators

Franco Falsini and the Interactive Test Universe

There are musicians who follow their time.

And then there are those who seem to move along a different trajectory—like navigators crossing sonic eras without ever truly belonging to any one of them. The story of Franco Falsini belongs to the latter. It is a story that begins long before raves, before techno, before the word “electronic” had even become a recognizable musical genre. A story that moves across continents, technologies, and sonic visions, eventually arriving at a small creative laboratory born in Italy in the early 1990s: Interactive Test. This compilation is a fragment of that universe. But as often happens with the hidden histories of music, understanding it requires going back. Far back.

The Beginning: Machines, Tape and Space

In the late 1960s Franco Falsini leaves Italy and moves to the United States. It is not merely a geographical journey—it is also a journey into a new idea of music. At the time, synthesizers are only just emerging from research laboratories. Multitrack tape recorders allow musicians to build entire sonic worlds on their own. Technology is still far from standardized: every studio is almost an experimental workshop. In Virginia, Falsini builds one of his own. Among cables, oscillators, electric guitars and reels of magnetic tape, a kind of music begins to take shape that resembles nothing else being made at the time. It is not simply rock, and it is not yet truly electronic. It moves somewhere in the space between the two. Out of these explorations emerges Sensations' Fix, the project through which Falsini releases a series of albums during the 1970s. Records that seem to come from a parallel dimension: cosmic landscapes, electronically treated guitars, synthesizers drifting like satellites. Many years later those albums would be rediscovered as visionary works. But at the time they were simply the result of relentless curiosity. A curiosity that would never fade.

The City That Never Sleeps

In the 1980s Falsini’s trajectory leads him to New York. The city is a sonic organism in constant transformation. In its clubs and recording studios something entirely new is beginning to take shape: music built from drum machines, sequencers, and samplers, created for the body before the living room. It is the dawn of modern dance culture. Falsini works as a sound engineer, producer and experimenter. From close range he observes electronic music transforming into a global language. Machines become more accessible, computers begin entering studios, and rhythm takes on an increasingly central role. Yet even in this phase Falsini does not simply follow what is happening. He absorbs. Observes. Reimagines. When he eventually returns to Italy, he brings back not only technical experience but also a clear vision: the conviction that electronic music is an open space, a territory still waiting to be explored.

Tuscany, Early 1990s

At the beginning of the 1990s something is happening in Italy as well. In clubs, abandoned industrial warehouses and clandestine parties, a new scene is beginning to form. It is rave culture: a spontaneous movement bringing together DJs, producers and listeners in a collective experience driven by rhythm, technology, and creative freedom. It is within this context that Franco Falsini, together with his brother Riccardo, creates Interactive Test.

The name almost sounds like a scientific experiment. In many ways, it is. Interactive Test does not emerge as a traditional record label. It begins as a laboratory—a place where ideas, sounds and musical identities can be tested and explored. Around the Falsini studio in Tuscany a small constellation of artists and DJs begins to gather, helping to shape the sound of Italy’s emerging electronic scene. Among them are Andrea Giuditta, Francesco Farfa, Gabry Fasano, Roby Mastelloni, Roby J and many others. Each brings a different musical sensibility. But they all share the same intuition: electronic music is not a genre. It is a language.

The Laboratory of Identities

One of the most fascinating aspects of the Interactive Test universe is its constant play with identity. Franco Falsini releases music under several different names: Open Space, Youth Wave, Agent Fylfoyt, Man Myth Magic. These are not simply pseudonyms.

They are different sonic perspectives, as if each project were a window opening onto a parallel musical universe. Open Space, for example, explores more atmospheric and visionary territories. Youth Wave moves between electronic groove and club-oriented rhythms. Other projects experiment with digital psychedelia or hypnotic techno textures. Interactive Test becomes something more than a label. it becomes an ecosystem.

Domestic Machines, Infinite Worlds

Looking back today at the technology used in those productions, one might almost smile. Many tracks were created on Amiga computers, MIDI sequencers and analog synthesizers wired together in home studios—tools that appear modest when compared to today’s digital possibilities.

Yet precisely these limitations became a creative force. Every sound had to be built, shaped and reinvented. Sequences developed slowly, almost like living organisms. The tracks did not always follow traditional dance music structures; often they felt like genuine sonic journeys. Music built from space.

A Hidden Constellation

Many of the records released by Interactive Test in the 1990s remained for years almost invisible objects, circulating quietly among DJs, collectors, and devoted listeners. Yet it is precisely this underground existence that helped preserve them. Listening again today, one perceives something rare: the feeling of music that does not fully belong to its own time. Music suspended between different eras. Perhaps because it comes from a vision that both precedes and transcends trends.

Continuing the Journey

Looking at Franco Falsini’s entire path—from the electronic psychedelia of Sensations’ Fix to the rave culture of the 1990s—a surprisingly coherent line emerges.

A line defined by exploration.

Each project, each pseudonym, each record appears as a new route within the same great sonic voyage.

Interactive Test was one of its stations.

A laboratory.
A community.
A creative platform.

This compilation gathers some of its traces.

Not as a simple archive of the past, but as a map of a musical territory that continues to expand even today.

Like all true sonic explorations.

(*Previously unreleased)

Telling a tale of house music’s early days or roots without mentioning Tony Humphries as a club DJ, remixer and radio disc jockey would make it an incomplete, forged and most of all a bit of a yawn.
Born in Brooklyn in 1957, Humphries’ musical journey is synonymous with New York City’s dance music history and the evolution from uptempo soul music to house: from being a dancer at David Mancuso’s infamous Loft parties to becoming a mobile DJ and getting the call from Shep Pettibone to become his right hand at
the then new Kiss FM radio station, followed by countless remix offers and a legendary residency at Newark’s Club Zanzibar. Next to that one, is was especially his work as a radio disc jockey for said station during most of the 1980s until 1994 that gave him majestic clout. Breaking new records week in, week out,
putting New Jersey acts like Adeva and Jomanda or countless up-and-coming producers from there on the musical map, while simultaneously playing the hottest imports from Europe, trax from Chicago, dance classics and all things straight from New York’s music factory that never seemed to stop.
Going to his vast and almost complete archive of radio shows from way back when he graced those airwaves, we at Running Back Records have pickedNew Release Information original recordings that symbolize his importance as an industry giant and ambassador of this style of music.
„But one thing I would like to point out is that, as a DJ, the music I play is not my music. I want to make it perfectly clear that it is music that is released, and it’s everyone’s music. I do not take any other credit than being the middle person exposing this music.“
(Tony Humphries in: What Kind of House Party Is This?, Jonathan Fleming, 1996)

(*Previously unreleased)

Telling a tale of house music’s early days or roots without mentioning Tony Humphries as a club DJ, remixer and radio disc jockey would make it an incomplete, forged and most of all a bit of a yawn.
Born in Brooklyn in 1957, Humphries’ musical journey is synonymous with New York City’s dance music history and the evolution from uptempo soul music to house: from being a dancer at David Mancuso’s infamous Loft parties to becoming a mobile DJ and getting the call from Shep Pettibone to become his right hand at
the then new Kiss FM radio station, followed by countless remix offers and a legendary residency at Newark’s Club Zanzibar. Next to that one, is was especially his work as a radio disc jockey for said station during most of the 1980s until 1994 that gave him majestic clout. Breaking new records week in, week out,
putting New Jersey acts like Adeva and Jomanda or countless up-and-coming producers from there on the musical map, while simultaneously playing the hottest imports from Europe, trax from Chicago, dance classics and all things straight from New York’s music factory that never seemed to stop.
Going to his vast and almost complete archive of radio shows from way back when he graced those airwaves, we at Running Back Records have pickedNew Release Information original recordings that symbolize his importance as an industry giant and ambassador of this style of music.
„But one thing I would like to point out is that, as a DJ, the music I play is not my music. I want to make it perfectly clear that it is music that is released, and it’s everyone’s music. I do not take any other credit than being the middle person exposing this music.“
(Tony Humphries in: What Kind of House Party Is This?, Jonathan Fleming, 1996)

You can't put Bebe Rexha in a box. From her Grammy-winning songwriting roots on Eminem's "The Monster" to global chart-toppers with David Guetta and Florida Georgia Line, Rexha has established herself as a premier musical chameleon. With her latest project, Dirty Blonde, she officially enters a new era as an independent powerhouse. Now signed to EMPIRE, the Brooklyn-born star has crafted a 13-song "genre kaleidoscope" that serves as her first-ever visual album, representing a total creative rebirth and a departure from the major-label system she's known since she was a teenager.

Recorded across London, Tokyo, and Europe, Dirty Blonde captures the energy of Rexha's global travels. The project seamlessly blends heavy-hitting dance floor anthems with deep, personal storytelling. With the lead single "New Religion" she takes us straight to the club by reimagining the iconic dance record "Insomnia" by Faithless. On "Tokyo," she explores a drum & bass pulse inspired by a late-night rendezvous in Japan, while "Cike Cike" (produced by long-time collaborator DJ Snake) sees Rexha embracing her Albanian heritage by mixing traditional linguistic roots with modern 808 basslines.

At the emotional core of the album is the lead single, "I Like You Better Than Me." The track strips away the pop-star veneer to tackle themes of insecurity and self-scrutiny, blending raw lyrics with a pop-rock edge. From the Jersey-bounce-meets-country vibes of "Drink and a Little Love" to her vulnerable reflections on fame, Dirty Blonde is a celebration of an artist who is finally playing by her own rules. As Rexha firmly asserts, "The old Bebe is dead," leaving behind a focused, stronger creator who is making the music she truly loves.

New album by FLOCKS, the duo of drone specialist WERNER DURAND and percussionist ULI HOHMANN. Musical landscapes that move between traditional as well as experimental sounds with influences from Krautrock and JON HASSELL's "fourth world" aesthetics.

WERNER DURAND has made himself a name with various projects with Dhrupad singer AMELIA CHRISTIANSEN, DAVID CHRISTER HENNIX, as the co-founder of THE 13th TRIBE, ARMCHAIR TRAVELLER and TONALIENS (with ROBIN HAYWARD and HILARY JEFFERY) plus numerous solo albums, released on labels like Black Truffle, Unseen Worlds or Edition Telemark. Having studied saxophone as well as Indian / Persian flutes, the Berlin based DURAND is a highly reputated protagonist in the drone scene, famous for his self-built wind instruments like buzz-clarinets or his PVC neys & horns.

His partner in FLOCKS (and longtime personal friend) is ULI HOHMANN whose early encounters with music from Asia, India and Africa led to studies with the Ghanaian master drummer MUSTAPHA TETTEY ADDY and later Tombak and Daf with NEMAD DARMAN (Iran). HOHMANN played in a couple of projects that explored the language of classical Persian music, and started building his own stringed instruments (being an educated carpenter). In 2014 he joined DURAND and AMELIA CUNI for the album "Clearing", and 2018 DURAND and HOHMANN decided to con- tinue as a duo: FLOCKS was born.

On “Lagoon”, the duo further explores the aesthetics it has crafted on its selftitled debut (2023, on the now defunct ZEHRA imprint): DURAND and HOHMANN shape drone-y soundscapes based on their self-built wind- & stringed instruments, Persian percussion and subtle electronics, drawing ad- ditional inspiration from Krautrock (listen to the irresistible, hypnotique, ever-changing rhythmic pattern of the title track) as well as JON

MUSAR is proud to introduce Koloah, the newest voice in the family. Making his label debut with You Can Get Me EP, the Kyiv-born, Berlin-based artist arrives fully formed: three original tracks that move between restless grooves and expansive, immersive sound design, accompanied by a brain-melting remix from rising French star Binary Digit.

The EP opens with "You Can Get Me" - a UK-leaning groove anchored by a snaking acid line and fragmented vocal cuts that surface and dissolve, insistent and hypnotic, one of those tracks that lands fast and stays with you. "Get Me Close" follows, shifting the A-side into electro territory: harder edges, colder mechanics, but the atmosphere holds. Koloah keeps the tension tight and the space wide.
The B-side reaches further. The braindance producer Binary Digit takes "You Can Get Me" apart and rebuilds it in his own image - known for his deeply idiosyncratic approach to rhythm and texture, he turns the original into a real summer anthem, faster and focused, the same raw material carrying a completely different emotional weight
The EP closes with "Liminal Forest", a full IDM statement: intricate rhythmic programming, layered synthesis, and a sense of place that feels earned rather than constructed. Koloah signs off somewhere between the forest and the machine.
Recorded in Koloah's Berlin studio, the tracks were built in different periods - which is exactly why they breathe the way they do. Not a forced coherence, but a natural one.
"Atmosphere is the core of all my music and what I pay the most attention to."
- Koloah
This is the beginning of something. Welcome, Koloah.

Born from a demo session originally recorded in 2011, “I Like” finally came to life when Daniele “Shield” Contrini and Piero Pirupa reunited in late 2025 to complete the track, transforming an early idea into a powerful new collaboration featuring two legendary voices of house music: The Egyptian Lover and Paris Brightledge.

Daniele “Shield” Contrini, founder and creative force behind Rebirth Records, joins forces with globally respected DJ and producer Piero Pirupa to deliver a record designed to fire any dancefloor.

Blending Italo disco influences, classic house grooves and a powerful bassline, “I Like” carries a warm, uplifting energy while paying tribute to the golden era of club music. The track is driven by the unmistakable vocal presence of The Egyptian Lover, the pioneering American artist, producer and DJ Greg Broussard. Widely recognized as one of the architects of West Coast electro and early hip-hop, he helped shape the sound of 1980s Los Angeles electronic music through his groundbreaking use of the Roland TR-808.

Adding further depth to the record is the distinctive voice of Chicago house legend Paris Brightledge, whose haunting and melodic tone became iconic through classics such as “It’s Alright” and “Paris Dub 1”. Over the years he has collaborated with some of the most important names in house music including Joe Smooth, Frankie Knuckles, Marshall Jefferson, Ron Hardy, Mike Dunn, Farley “Jackmaster” Funk and Byron Stingily, while also appearing on projects with Pet Shop Boys, Paranoid London and Groove Armada.

With its blend of electro heritage, Chicago house soul and contemporary club production, “I Like”connects different generations of dance music in a single record, a collaboration that bridges eras, styles and scenes. Set for an official release on 22nd May, the track marks another chapter in the label’s ongoing story and its commitment to celebrating the roots of club culture while pushing it forward.

** FIRST TIME ON 45 **
Born in Jamaica, Tory Wynter spent his early years in London. From there, he moved to New York City where he studied voice and acting and quickly assumed his music and entertainment career. Tory began performing with some of the greatest names in entertainment, and for some of the most prestigious audiences. He burst onto the recording scene, writing several albums and singles for major record labels. The experience and expertise he picked up along the way allowed him to open a highly successful publishing company and record label, Laykash Records.

Both tracks are taken from his LP "On The Love Side / Happy Side" and have now been released for the first time as a strictly limited 45 RPM single. In addition, "Oh Let The Rain Fall Down" will soon be released on the upcoming Tramp Records compilation titled "CAN YOU FEEL IT Vol.5 - Modern Soul, Disco & Boogie 1977-88".

Das fünfte Studioalbum von Avenged Sevenfold, "Nightmare", stieg 2010 auf Platz 1 der Billboard 200 Charts und auf Platz 5 der UK OCC Charts ein. Nach dem unerwarteten Tod des Schlagzeugers Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan ist das Album seinem Andenken gewidmet und spiegelt in seinem Themen Tod und Verzweiflung wider. Mike Portnoy von Dream Theater sprang am Schlagzeug ein, um die Aufnahmen fertigzustellen. Metal Hammer bewertete das Album mit acht von zehn Punkten. Billboard bewertete es mit vier von fünf Punkten und Kerrang! gab dem Album vier von fünf Ks. Das Album gewann die Golden God Awards für den besten Schlagzeuger, den besten Gitarristen und das Album des Jahres. Es wurde für die Kerrang! Awards als bestes Album und beste Single (Nightmare) nominiert und vom Revolver Magazine für Buried Alive zum Song des Jahres 2011 gekürt. "Like their previous outings, the group incorporates a New Wave of British Heavy Metal influence throughout Nightmare while paying tribute to `80s hair metal with guitar god appeal; but playing retroactive music doesn't seem to concern them, as long as they play it more skillfully than their forefathers. The group's influences may be worn on their sleeves, (check out the chugging Metallica "One" breakdown in "Buried Alive," or the Queensrÿche-style power-ballad "Victim"), but there is no denying that they have some of the best chops in the metal world. M. Shadows continually amazes with his vocal acrobatics, the opening riff of "Natural Born Killer" ramps up to an inhuman speed. "Save Me" ends the album as one of their most epic songs to date, in a proper 21 gun salute, as thunderous blasts and guitar divebombs interweave into a heartfeltoutro. It's a fitting tribute for their fallen 28-year-old comrade, and excellent proof of the band's ability." - Für Fans von Metallica, Slipknot, Bullet For My Valentine, NWOBHM, Heavy Hair Metal, Metal

As the so-called “Latin boom” becomes a new anchor for hard-swung club sounds, it is crucial to recognize that the region’s musical culture extends far beyond dembow edits and the pop-trap hybrids that have edged into the mainstream. Monterrey-born, New York City-based producer and DJ Delia Beatriz, aka Debit, returns to NAAFI with Potpourri, a generous and kinetic collection of dancefloor-oriented tracks filled with percussive flourishes, squelching 303 basslines, and rhythmic mutations that actively challenge the status quo. Rather than rebuilding “Latin sounds” as a fixed category, the album rethinks their internal logic, tracing the evolution of techno and house in cities like Detroit, Chicago, and New York alongside parallel innovations emerging in Mexico, Colombia, and across the wider Latin world. Positioned on the bridge between Mexico and the US, Potpourri does not seek synthesis as a gesture of smooth fusion, but as a site of disruption.

The album can be heard as a loose follow-up to System (2018), Debit’s NAAFI-released EP that expanded the sonic potential of tribal guarachero through triplet-driven rhythms, industrial pressure, and noisy reconstruction. Potpourri retains guaracha as a structural backbone while drawing further influence from veteran DJ and producer Javier Estrada—who also appeared on System—and particularly from his fast-paced, nonlinear style of mixing. That approach becomes a formal principle here: canonical structures are dismantled, repetition is avoided, and tracks evolve without sacrificing propulsion. Coming after the introspective temporal inquiry of Desaceleradas and the speculative historical acoustics of The Long Count, Potpourri arrives as a deliberate surge of energy. As Beatriz explains: “It’s a manifesto for rethinking form and sound in dance music. By stepping outside traditional structures and embracing the potpourri approach, I’m creating new meaning with familiar rhythms. I’ve also been applying this to my DJ sets, using it as a tool to break free from established norms and explore new narrative possibilities.”

Years in the making, Potpourri imagines an alternate timeline in which the psychedelic squelch of acid—echoing pioneers such as DJ Pierre and Mr. Fingers—and the dub-inflected atmospheres of Basic Channel entered into direct and sustained contact with Latin American club mutations. Those references are legible, but never merely quoted. Instead, they are folded into syncopated hi-hats, overdriven kicks, and unstable arrangements that absorb both the intensity of the parties Beatriz remembers from Monterrey and the abrasive edge she sharpened at DIY noise shows in New England. The result is unmistakably a dancefloor record—heard in tracks as forceful as “Pero like” and the peak-time pressure of “tuvesuerte”—but one saturated with grotesque, psychedelic atmospheres, where sounds dissolve into hoarse croaks, acidic smears, and anxiety-inducing growls. Here, the rave becomes not simply a site of release, but a platform for navigating identity, hybridity, and artistic formation across borders. Moving through peaks and ruptures, Potpourri reveals a party narrative that is not linear but multidimensional.

By folding together the fluidity of DJ culture, the experimental charge of acid, and the rhythmic vitality of guaracha, Potpourri proposes a space of formal and political innovation within Latin America’s rapidly expanding electronic music landscape. It is a record that refuses containment, pushing against the templates through which Latin electronic music is often consumed, and insisting instead on friction, instability, and transformation as generative conditions for the dancefloor.

Hot on the heels of their debut LP Scimitar return with a lightning fast follow up simply entitled Scimitarium II.
Formed in 2024 by veterans of Copenhagen’s underground music scene including members of Slaegt, Gam, and Shaam Laerin, Scimitar released their debut LP in February 2025 to wide acclaim. Arriving as a fully formed force of nature with an album far beyond the reach and scope of bands significantly deeper in their discographies. It should come as no surprise that their follow up drinks even deeper from the same well of riches as their first effort. Somehow, this time around, there is more light in the dark, although the glimmers and rays only serve to amplify the heaviness of the utter pitch blackness.
Opening itself up in a wrenching moment of becoming, Scimitatium II begins like an infernal piece of machinery, a vast, complex engine of sound slowly but steadily finding its inexorable pace until vocalist Shaam A’s voice breaks upon its nascent rhythms like glass. Once velocity is reached there is seemingly no stopping this breathless journey as its angular guitar lines narrowly wend themselves through cavernous tunnels leaving echoing tendrils in their wake, all while the frantic rhythm section threatens to shake the whole damn thing to pieces.
The flaming Scimitar is born of smoke and ash, and mystic flame burning itself brightly for ritual rebirth; a self immolating operation capable of incredible creation and terrible destruction.

"MODEM - In itself, as a name invented for a band, it's significant. MO comes from "MOdulazione." DEM comes from ''DEModulazione'', logical functions in analog and digital transmissions. And the signal that the Bologna duo AMIN-PECK want to give us is that "Your Fun" and "Valerie" contain artistic and musical information, especially avant-garde, created in an electronic style with strong new wave tendencies, but absolutely ahead of its time. Among the Italian discos of end 70s that represented a cultural phenomenon that has remained in the collective imagination, ''Picchio Rosso'' stands out. Besides serving as an entertainment venue for thousands of young people, it served as a bridge between DJs and many talented young musicians. The discotheque was the laboratory for 4 Italo-Disco productions, all recorded at the Amin-Peck studios in Bologna, under the direction of Giancarlo Meo, who, after the successes of Easy Going and Vivien Vee and other Claudio Simonetti productions such as Capricorn and Kasso, enjoyed great esteem and prestige. This is how excellent Italo-Disco songs like "Another Song" by Music Service, "Eve of Destruction" by Vivien Vee, "Boogaboo" by The Jugglers, and "Running Straight" by Amin-Peck were born, the latter being the true musical architects of Peecker Melody, including the one-off project MODEM.. What can be said about "Your Fun" and the instrumental "Valerie"? Simple, slightly hypnotic, wellconstructed, and catchy songs. Just as the two songs were mixed by various Picchio Rosso DJs of the time--Luca Zanarini and Silver were the most legendary--Best Record has reissued them, with the same cover designed by Leonard Parker and featuring Claude Gorial, the man who 40 years ago designed the original cover and the current reissue. Same names, same success !!!"

Ghetto Records was Latin music legend Joe Bataan’s way to get over on The Man and out of the ’hood, a bold move by an artist looking for independence and creative control in an industry that had exploited his talents and treated him like chattel.



As Bataan puts it today, “Ghetto Records was part of my journey, a stepping stone to everything else that I’ve done. I learned enough that it enabled me to get out of the box with my thinking, it showed me how to deal with adversity.” Like many dreams and schemes born of the street, this one was audacious, perhaps even reckless to a fault.

Hatched from desperation yet full of hope Ghetto Records came crashing down shortly after its inception. The seven albums in its discography languished out of print - until now.

“ko mixtape” is okgiorgio’s personal vision of club culture: a 15-track journey where electronics,
acous c instruments, and samples coexist. Capturing two years of live performances across Italy
and Europe, it embodies the privilege of connec ng with so many people and bringing them
together on the dancefloor. The album is designed to be heard in one breath, much like a DJ set,
and is performed en rely in Italian—driven by the belief that even when traveling the world, it’s
vital to showcase where you come from.
okgiorgio is a musician and producer born in 1996. Based in Bergamo, he is a member of the band
ISIDE and has produced for major Italian ar sts such as Pinguini Ta0ci Nucleari, Loredana Bertè,
Carl Brave, Tancredi, and many others. His solo project—a blend of refined, powerful electronic
textures held together by an uncanny use of vocal manipula on—launched in 2022 with the track
"okokok" and a packed debut live show at the APE event in Milan.
His music has gained significant recogni on abroad. In December 2022, he was named one of
Rockit’s "CBCR" (Ar sts to Watch) for the following year.

DJ Support: Joseph capriati, Joris Delacroix, A-Trak, Eliza Rose, Damian Lazarus, Laurence guy, TSHA, Ame, Maslow Unknown, Malugi, DJ Heartstring, Anna Lunoe, Mera Bhai, Mat.Joe, Swoosh, Tyson, THELMA, Speaking Minds, Cole Knight, Joris Voorn, Peggy Gou, Eden Prince, Tony and many more

SHEE is a Dublin born house music producer and DJ whose sound bridges deep, soulful club music with a distinctly Irish identity. Built on years of consistent releases, relentless touring, and grassroots community, SHEE has established himself as one of Ireland's most exciting house music exports. The Rosebud EP anchored by lead single 'The Groove' in collaboration with New York legend A-Trak and Dub Katz is the most significant release of his career to date.

Starting in 2021 the critically acclaimed Next Wave Acid Punx series has seen Luca Venezia, aka Curses, celebrate the music that has shaped both his life and career. Across the first two compilations Luca took us from the industrial and post-punk sounds of the late 70s,through the emergence of EBM, new beat and freestyle in the 1980s and onto the music he both makes and plays himself in clubs today. Bringing the series to a close Next Wave Acid Punx TROIS sees the Berlin-based musician and DJ return full circle, this time exploring the sounds that first initiated him into Brooklyn's rave scene and the music that, in some way, continues to embody its eclectic spirit today.

Spread across three 2LPs and 3CDs Next Wave Acid Punx TROIS captures a moment whose influence can still be heard reverberating around clubland today. With the nascent rave scene obliterating boundaries, this was a moment where the darker, harder industrial electronic sounds of the mid 1980s were crashing headfirst into the ecstatic wave that was washing over clubland creating thrilling juxtapositions. Whether in the clubs and warehouses of New York, London, Frankfurt, Valencia and beyond, electronic music would never be the same again as countless new genres we take for granted today were born from the chaos and energy that had been unleashed.

Featuring 46 hard-to-find, new and exclusive tracks, Next Wave Acid Punx TROIS both documents that fertile period and shows how, despite rumours to the contrary, that early anarchic spirit can still be found today. From the Detroit Techno of Model 500 to Nitzer Ebb's EBM and the proto-Trance of Age of Love and onto brand new tracks from some of today's best producers such as Zaatar, Italo Deviance and Leona Jacewska, this compilation closes out a series that has to date revelled in exploring the darker corners of clubland in uplifting style.

This is Chapter 3.







f B2. Javi Redondo - HALT [Process]

Two jewels in the crown of the soulful electronic music scene in NYC unite for a spellbinding EP on Rhythm Section International. ”Full Circle” is a brand new body of work from Musclecars & Toribio.

To call this 12” simply epic would almost be doing it a disservice. The breadth of musicality and execution of ideas contained across 3 compositions is nothing short of miraculous. I use the word composition intentionally: these are not merely tracks - these are 3 movements making up a concerto - with a dub thrown in for good measure!

The record kicks off with a soulful house behemoth, “ That’s My Story” featuring NJ legend Roland Clark on vocals giving sweet sweet testimony. In many ways, this track feels like a coming together of the trios influences. The lyrics contextualise it, giving it this intimate, confessional feel. The latin drums shuffling amidst the 909 kick drive it forward and the organ swimming freely amongst it all takes us to church. It’s a timeless track - paying homage to the various New York traditions laid down by Louis Vega, Timmy Regisford, Joaquin Claussell , Ron Trent et al - all heroes and collaborators of the composers who - with this effort - have surely now earned their place in the pantheon of American Soul Music.
‘
Be Honest’ maintains the confessional tone with the lyrics but takes things right back down in terms of tempo. Is it a love song, an ultimatum or a cry for help? Whichever way you interpret it, this track is Toribio’s time to shine as a lead vocalist and he hits all the notes, leaving not a dry eye in the house. This is a delicate tour de force, delivered with such raw emotion and vulnerability it allows the instrumentation takes a back seat - just a gentle groove, swelling strings and some unresolved chords are all that’s required to transform us to the main character of this story. We’re left hanging, and it’s oh so relatable.

Agua De Florida serves as an uplifting, fast paced finale to the concerto and this one’s all about the trumpet - masterfully performed by Melbourne born, London based virtuoso Audrey Powne. If Herb Alpert was making house music - I imagine this is what it would sound like. Throbbing bass and noodling synths join the melee and crank the joy up to 11. If the EP is a story arc over 3 tracks, then we’re definitely not left hanging with this one. All is resolved, things are moving onwards and upwards and the circle is complete.

ISKRA is the debut album by Polish multi-instrumentalist and composer Olga Anna Markowska. Starting at “Dawn” and ending at “Dusk”, it is a journey of melancholic depth and true beauty filled with warm memories from what was & what could be.

Using zither, cello, electronics and occasional wordless voice, Olga weaves together something so affecting and under the skin beautiful that it is hard to shake, bringing to mind classics from artists like Jacaszek and William Basinski, or the films of Kieslowski. However, there’s a personal touch in her playing and compositions that stands out. Olga explains: “the cello pieces, in particular, were born from a desire to reconnect with the instrument I’ve known intimately since childhood. However, I had to step away from it for two years to gain perspective and find a fresh approach when I returned.” She continues : “ISKRA is an album about "ignition" — a gradual shift in how I think about music and a search for new values. It also marks the closing of a chapter, blending archival recordings with the dawn of new ideas.”

The album feels deeply personal from the first note, and bridges the difficult point between classical and ambient music in a truly natural way, leaving any typical tropes far off, instead demanding your full attention. Olga uses plenty of loops throughout, which together with the cello and zither builds a transcendent atmosphere. Standouts contain amongst others the stunning “Train Ride Home” - a 7 minute piece with zither as main focal point; “Fever Dream” - a plunge into warm static noise and deep plucks, as well as the beautiful “Helix”, which sounds like a washed out dream with its minimal tape loops and ambient vocal washes. Overall the album connects very well with Olga’s subjects of identity, memory of the places and human relations with nature. There is a deep humanity burrowed within these 40 minutes of music which feels immensely appropriate in these contemporary times.

ISKRA was recorded in different times and places from 2017 to 2022 and lands with perfection on Miasmah - connecting the dots from the early years while reaching into the stars.

Bliss Point is proud to welcome the Bogotá born, New York based Matük to the label with Sendero, a collection dripping with life, with lust, with joy in the face of it all.

Birthed from weekend-long studio sessions in the heat of New York summer, Sendero is luscious and visceral party music, crackling with the spontaneous possibility that runs through city streets as temperatures peak, asses throw and emotions run high.

Hailing from Colombia and deeply immersed in the New York underground, Matük’s influences collide into an ecstatic tapestry on Sendero, blending the rich traditions of Afro-Caribbean musics with experimental and club sonics, long the sounds of joy as defiance from deep within the imperial core.

Many paths cross on Sendero. “Ricotta” features vocals from BRAVA, the Basque DJ and MC whose raw, infectious spirit has injected new energy into the international bass and footwork scene. She is joined by Argentinian-Colombian artist FEDRA on synth and vocals, transforming voice notes the trio sung into their phones over a long weekend of dancing into a party anthem of their own. “Lio”, the EP opener, pairs Mexico’s Renn Loop with Matük himself, trading sultry, heated frustrations over latinx futurist production. Things slow down on “De; Dioses y Pantallas”, a yearning, introspective plea to the night sky, before returning to the party with the bouncing, acid-fueled remix of “Ricotta” from Mexico City’s Soos.

Sendero is a snapshot of a scene in motion, a document of serendipity and collaboration, music made in the long tradition of enjoyment as a revolutionary act.

Gidia, the collaborative project of Giorgos Lemos and Kondaktor, deliver a bold release that marks a new chapter for both the artists and the evolving sound of REVOLT.
Born between global influence and local greek reality, Gidia operate at the intersection of club culture and street memory. Their sound moves freely across house, techno, electro and acid, drawing from West Coast grooves, disco-house energy, early Daft Punk aesthetics, boombox culture and the raw attitude of B-boys music.

/// First track, Symmetry, debuted on BBC Radio 6 New Music Fix, 10th February: "A beautiful, beautiful album" /// I got my life back. On 17 February 2025, 1024 rays of ultra sound converged at an operation table in Bern, Switzerland, and disconnected a noisy circuit on my brain. 90% of the manifestation ceased – of a disease that I no longer wish to mention by its name. During the same period, I completed my new album: Self Help Manual. I’ve read more current research about the nameless disease than my neurologist, who despite that I didn’t follow his advice on suitable treatment, called me after the successful operation: a brave, brave man. I have composed the music in the same way as in my previous album – Songs for the Nervous System – through layers upon layers of improvisations in dialogue with my synthesizers, most of which are the same age as me. I made the majority of the songs in my studio in the remains of Old Hagalund in Solna. I edited the recordings in my bed during the waking hours of clarity at night. Some songs – NAC, Ketosis, Overkill – were recorded in the basement of my childhood home in Skutskär, in Norduppland, where I’d returned to be nurtured by my retired parents – who during a night when I couldn’t turn over in bed, or pull the blanket over me – made a list of what would happen to my belongings. To my friends who have stood out with me despite my disease, I want to state: you will not inherit me yet. On the new album, the electric bass takes on a leading role. ESG and Liquid Liquid have been important when I reinvented my baselines, limited and liberated by my poor fine motor skills. Plasma is my homage to Summertime Rolls by Jane’s Addiction, that I listened to frequently in my youth. I guess that no one will hear the resemblance. In several songs, the Fender Rhodes plays an important role, a magical instrument that I bought shortly after my diagnosis over a decade ago, and for a long time didn’t dare to touch out of respect for Herbie Hancock and Fela Kuti. A couple of songs draw inspiration from the Horn of Africa – Inner Nile and Delta. At first, subconsciously in the reverb-drenched Inner Nile, then more consciously in Delta. I’m sorry it doesn’t swing the right way, but it was my attempt to return to the cradle of humanity. Longevity is possibly my favourite. The melody is played by an arpeggiator that I controlled by pressing down different keys in an exhilarating sense of freedom. One song in particular, the second track – One – has caused friends to associate freely: one thought it sounded like Patrick Cowley, another like Sly & Robbie meets Kraftwerk, a third like Air – Moonlight Safari. I made one song just before the surgery: opening track Symmetry. It’s the mightiest and most minimal song. I made one song after the surgery: finishing track Self Help Manual. My previous medication pump is heard through the microphone of my Ovation Magnum. It’s the most hopeful song on the album. I took the cover photos with my Hasselblad during walks in Tokyo suburbs of Ōmori and Kamata more than ten years ago. It was something about the faith of the traffic cones that fascinated me – born in the same streamlined form, they had over the years become increasingly individual and lovable. The mixing was finalized by Christoffer Roth in the newly built Studio Dubious in Nacka. Rashad Becker, who in an interview said that he listens as much with his mouth as with his ears, mastered the album at Clunk in Berlin. Right now it feels like anything is possible. My recovery is perhaps a small step for mankind, but a giant leap for me. I hereby leave the music to you. Joakim Forsgren

TECH040, titled INTRO, is a functional exploration of electronic music’s most delicate moments. The concept was born from Nastia’s personal experience as a globally touring DJ, identifying a distinct gap in the modern market: a scarcity of sophisticated, atmospheric tracks specifically designed to set the tone during the first minutes of a performance.

This compilation is more than just a collection of tracks; it is a professional toolkit. From deep hypnotism to restrained energy, each contribution has been meticulously selected for its ability to prepare the space and the audience for the journey ahead.

Conceived as a functional extension of the DJ set, the Intro / Outro series explores the moments that frame the dancefloor experience. Focused on beginnings and endings, each release navigates the subtle tension between anticipation and resolution – from the first pulse that opens a space, to the final echoes that dissolve it. Stripped of excess and driven by intent, the series reflects a deeper layer of Techno: not just as a peak-time tool, but as a language of transition, atmosphere and control.

The record, bringing together techno legends and contemporary tastemakers around the art of the "opening set," featuring the long-awaited production debut of the label head herself.

One of electronic music’s most sought-after names, producer and DJ KETTAMA today announces the release of his long-awaited debut album, Archangel, out 3rd of October. The announcement arrives in tandem with new single “Sort It Out” featuring Clouds, and a landmark moment in his career: his biggest ever London headline show, taking over Brixton Academy on Saturday, October 4th, followed by an expansive tour across Europe, North America, and Australia.



A decade in the making, Archangel is the definitive statement from KETTAMA (Evan Cambell), the Galway-born, London-based artist. The 15-track project is a powerful blend of hard-house energy, trance-inflected euphoria, hip-hop sample-based attitude, and unmistakable emotional depth—sonic signatures that have placed KETTAMA at the cutting edge of contemporary dance music.



The album showcases a curated roster of collaborators who reflect KETTAMA’s reach and relevance across today’s underground and mainstream scenes, including Interplanetary Criminal, Fred again.., Clouds, Prospa, DJ HEARTSTRING, Shady Nasty, SØLV and seantommy. Their contributions amplify the project's scope, offering a multi-sided view into KETTAMA’s musical universe.



Among its early singles, the Interplanetary Criminal collaboration “Yosemite” is a high-velocity anthem marrying speed-garage grit with ecstatic rave melodies, while his track “Air Maxes” with Fred again.. And Shady Nasty blends introspective vocal sampling with wide-eyed club emotion. On “If U Want My Heart” with DJ HEARTSTRING featuring KLP, the ensemble channels high-energy trance, breakbeats, and vocal euphoria into a soaring anthem that fuses emotional intensity with peak-time club energy. Meanwhile, his collaboration with Clouds, released today, “Sort It Out” dives headfirst into industrial-techno territory, conjuring a dark, cathartic energy destined for warehouse euphoria. And reigning as one of the undeniable anthems of the summer so far, “It Get’s Better (Forever Mix)” delivers euphoric waves of uplifting synths and relentless rhythm, bringing an irresistible surge of energy that’s become synonymous with this summer’s club moments.



Archangel has already found a home on the world’s biggest stages and radio airwaves, with early support from key tastemakers including Jack Saunders, Danny Howard, Sarah Story, and Tim Sweeney. Simultaneously, a grassroots groundswell continues to bloom across social platforms—where viral snippets and show footage capture the visceral reaction of a fast-growing, global fanbase.



This year, KETTAMA has elevated his status to a full-blown festival phenomenon, performing at major stages including Coachella, Glastonbury, Creamfields, Portola, Seismic, and ARC Festival, to name a few. In June, he played to 20,000 people in Belfast for a b2b with Chris Stussy—one of the UK’s largest DJ events in recent memory—and is currently mid-way through a 16-week Ibiza residency at Amnesia, playing every Monday night throughout summer. Full list of upcoming live dates can be found below.



Perhaps the clearest signal of his surging popularity is the jaw-dropping response to his upcoming Boiler Room live set, with over 15,000 fans signing up to attend— the set’s release is now highly anticipated as a time capsule moment in a breakout year for the artist.



KETTAMA’s rise to prominence has been anything but conventional. Eschewing the traditional gatekeepers of the industry, KETTAMA cultivated an underground following through the likes of SoundCloud and TikTok, where raw uploads, bootlegs, and viral edits generated a tidal wave of grassroots momentum. Over the years, these platforms became launching pads for a fiercely loyal global community, drawn to his unfiltered energy and boundary-pushing sound. This subversive path to recognition has made him not just a fixture of the scene but a symbol of how new-generation artists can forge success on their own terms.



From his humble roots in the Irish underground to the world stage KETTAMA is now pushing the limits of what a next-gen DJ-producer can achieve. With Archangel, he fuses the sound of his native ‘G-Town’ with a futuristic vision that’s unapologetically global—marking a creative milestone that cements his place among electronic music’s most compelling voices.

Despite building their careers out of strikingly different musical places, both dBridge and Radioactive Man have taken influence from the field in which each other operate. dBridge (Darren White) was part of the iconic drum & bass outfit Bad Company and he helms one of the scene's most solid and quality imprints in Exit Records and Radioactive Man (Keith Tenniswood) was born from the acid house scene and the off kilter electronics of his Two Lone Swordsman projects (alongside Andrew Weatherall) which led him to create his decidedly UK take on Drexciyan electro. It's by no means a stretch to learn that both producers have crates that contain their favourites from each genre but they've also found a mutual respect and connection in the studio over the last few years, leading to the dBRm moniker for Craig Richards' The Nothing Special label.

Back on PANORAMA Records, we turn to a beautiful slice of under-the-radar Jamaican reggae with Horace Martin – “Me Rule.”

Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Horace Martin was just 20 years old when he stepped into Channel One Studio to record the track in 1974. At the time he was building his name locally, performing in clubs and talent shows around the city while cutting sides in Kingston’s vibrant studio scene. “Me Rule” captures that moment perfectly — youthful confidence over a deep, steady rhythm.

This record earned its place among the deepest collectors: Proper rootsy dancefloor reggae that feels just as good today as it did when it first came out of Kingston.

On the flip, things open up with a dubbed-out version of the rhythm titled “Rule,” credited to Prince Huntly. Stripped back, the dub extends the track — echo, percussion, and bass doing the work.

As always, PANORAMA Records continues its search for overlooked gems from across the globe — records with history, character, and real musical weight. Carefully remastered and brought back on 7inch, PAN013 is another example of these records finding their way back to the turntable.

BLK ODYSSY is an Austin-based artist and producer whose boundary-pushing sound blends soul, hip-hop, rock, funk, and pop. Born in Plainfield, New Jersey, and raised in a household steeped in neo-soul, BLK began channeling his voice through music after the unjust killing of his older brother by police at age 12. That life-altering loss and the experience of growing up Black and male in 21st-century America fuels his raw, layered storytelling. His debut album, BLK VINTAGE (2021), written and produced with close collaborators, served as both a celebration and a critique of Black identity in America. It was met with critical acclaim and re-released in 2022 via Empire as BLK VINTAGE: The Reprise, featuring Mereba, Benny the Butcher, George Clinton, and Baby Rose. The project has since amassed over 100 million streams and positioned BLK ODYSSY as a standout voice in modern soul. His 2023 sophomore album, DIAMONDS & FREAKS, continued his ascent, merging surrealism and social commentary with contributions from Rapsody, KIRBY, Bootsy Collins, Cory Henry, and production from The Alchemist. NPR called BLK “a surrealist R&B auteur,” while Pitchfork praised his ability to bend genre into a cinematic sonic experience. In 2024, following a surreal Tiny Desk performance and festival appearances across Europe—including a headline set at North Sea Jazz Festival and Lollapalooza in Chicago—BLK ODYSSY launched a bold new chapter, with his third studio album, 1-800 FANTASY. The first single from the album, “WANT YOU” (co-produced by Tyler Johnson, known for his work with Harry Styles), marked a shift in tone. That was followed by “XXX” featuring Wiz Khalifa, and “STANK ROSE” featuring Joey Bada$$. Now averaging over 1M+ weekly streams, BLK ODYSSY is unleashing his fourth project, MOOD CONTROL, a ten-track album pushing alt-R&B, soul, and funk to new heights. 1xLP, pressed on Green, Brown & White 3 Color A Side B Side Vinyl.

Selection of IKIGAI Album by Nadia Struiwigh. IKIGAI was born in the quiet space between grief and remembering... Made entirely on hardware, from my living room in Berlin near Hermannplatz (my dad's name is Herman -- the odds), in the months my father passed away. Every sound, every sequence, every texture carries his fingerprint. Not because he made music, but because he made me love gadgets. Circuits, signals, blinking lights. He was the man who opened me up to machines and taught me how, eventually, to listen to them and use them for my craft. The name IKIGAI, a Japanese word for ''reason for being,'' found me when I was at a crossroads. The kind where you ask yourself: Why am I still here? What am I still creating for? What part of me still believes in beauty when everything feels like it's falling apart? These pieces came through slowly, on Japanese gear like Yamaha SEQTRAK, KORG, Roland -- like threads weaving a tapestry I didn't know I was making. Each track is a kind of purge... to him, to myself, to the listeners who find themselves in the in-between. The space where you're not who you were, and not yet who you're becoming. I found myself back into soundscapes and Ambient with a touch of Electronica. I weaved in sounds I captured from daily life, memories -- like the laugh of my sister. I built in silence and let the machines cry for me and let them tell the story I couldn't find the words for. IKIGAI is spacious. It's not trying to impress anyone. It's trying to just be, and hold space for all kinds of emotions. It moves like memory... slow, sacred, shifting. This release needs to be close to home, and will be released on my own imprint Distorted Waves, on the day 11.11 -- which refers to my first album that my dad had hanging up in his shed. For my father. Nadia

Wind of Oirat is the full length debut by Mongolian independent musician and sound artist Ts Bayandalai. Following his acclaimed 2020 EP Kimel, he now presents a further matured, composed and refined version of his signature sound, which combines traditional Mongolian music and instruments with influences from experimental music and post-rock. Deeply rooted in the cultural traditions of his homeland, Ts Bayandalai, who grew up in a nomadic family in the Mongolian steppe, explores nature and its myths, his ancestral roots, and the relationship between humans, animals and nature.

Artist Bio:

Ts Bayandalai is a Mongolian independent musician and sound artist. His childhood on the steppes shaped a deep sensitivity to natural and ethnic sound. To create his individual, deeply rooted yet modern soundscape, he combines traditional Mongolian musical elements with post-rock, experimental and electronic music, as well as from outernational music influences.

Born into a nomadic family on the steppes, Ts Bayandalai grew up wandering the vast grasslands with shepherds, absorbing the resonances of the horse fiddle and guitar — experiences that remain a primordial source of inspiration in his work.

Founder of the avantgarde band Horse Radio (2012) and the experimental project December3AM (2015), his compositions navigate cultural memory and contemporary aesthetics, reconstructing pastoral landscapes, temporal layers, and emotional spaces through sound.

His EP Kimel, released in 2020, manifested a delicate sculpting of sound, space, and cultural motifs, presenting a listening experience that is at once primal and modern.

Ts Bayandalai’s performances span China, Mongolia, and major independent music venues and festivals across Asia. His artistic vitality and creative autonomy have earned him critical acclaim and a devoted following in the international folk music and experimental music communities.