MAUROMUSICA first appeared in 1999, when DJ Maurizio Schmitz introduced the name as an underground party brand shaped by long nights, afterhours and a deep passion for electronic music culture. For almost two decades, the project lived through intimate events and dancefloors before eventually going quiet for a number of years.
Now, MAUROMUSICA returns - not only as a party series once again, but finally as the music label Maurizio had envisioned from the very beginning. A long-held dream, brought back to life through a carefully curated first various artists compilation.
The first release brings together six artists from different corners of the electronic music world: Egyptian producer Raxon, German/French duo RE-ST, Italian artists JA:CK and Fedele, alongside Romanian producers Radu Dracul and Sublee.
Moving between warm-up atmospheres, emotional techno, afterhour moods and timeless club sounds, the compilation reflects the musical vision behind MAUROMUSICA - honest electronic music with character, depth and longevity.
Artwork comes from internationally acclaimed artist Tobias Rehberger, while the label typography was kindly provided by Buero New York.
Special thanks to Sven Väth for his continuous support and for championing Raxon's "Based In Space" in his sets for more than a year.
P.S. The handmade coloured vinyl edition of Raxon's "Based In Space" - limited to 100 copies - sold out within less than two hours. The track is now exclusively available as part of this compilation.
MAUROMUSICA first appeared in 1999, when DJ Maurizio Schmitz introduced the name as an underground party brand shaped by long nights, afterhours and a deep passion for electronic music culture. For almost two decades, the project lived through intimate events and dancefloors before eventually going quiet for a number of years.
Now, MAUROMUSICA returns - not only as a party series once again, but finally as the music label Maurizio had envisioned from the very beginning. A long-held dream, brought back to life through a carefully curated first various artists compilation.
The first release brings together six artists from different corners of the electronic music world: Egyptian producer Raxon, German/French duo RE-ST, Italian artists JA:CK and Fedele, alongside Romanian producers Radu Dracul and Sublee.
Moving between warm-up atmospheres, emotional techno, afterhour moods and timeless club sounds, the compilation reflects the musical vision behind MAUROMUSICA - honest electronic music with character, depth and longevity.
Artwork comes from internationally acclaimed artist Tobias Rehberger, while the label typography was kindly provided by Buero New York.
Special thanks to Sven Väth for his continuous support and for championing Raxon's "Based In Space" in his sets for more than a year.
P.S. The handmade coloured vinyl edition of Raxon's "Based In Space" - limited to 100 copies - sold out within less than two hours. The track is now exclusively available as part of this compilation.
Good Morning Tapes are back with a new album of lushest New Age sound-bathing x emotionally gooey trip hop from Andro Gogibedashvili aka Saphileaum.
Saphileaum has spent the past decade in passage between notable houses of atmospheric sorcery - Mule Musiq, Not Not Fun, Slow Life, Constellation Tatsu - and of course Good Morning Tapes, who now host their 3rd meeting, »Heavenly Hills«. A definitive chapter in his ten year saga, it is flush with symphonic strings and sky born keys, breezily urged by percussion that straddles chill out and folk zones. That said there’s also a Balearic - or should that be Black Sea? - appeal to its title tune, that lingers in the glistening wake of »Your Grace«, to the shimmering breaks of a parting piece »Alarko (Cosmic Eagle)«, falling into the space between Boards of Canada’s cult-inspired hauntological nostalgia and Shackleton’s hallowed ethno-dub.
»The tracks in the album were written with the inspiration of the kingdom of Shambhala in the Himalayas. I’m deeply fascinated and touched by it. Even the album title, holds the idea of its Heavenly nature and the tracks are like individual, elemental parts of it. The album is not a journey into Shambhala, but rather a play and a dance with its energy, image and presence in my world. »Alarko (Cosmic Eagle)« is dedicated to my grandfather, Temur Tsiklauri, and I dedicate the whole album to my country Georgia, which I deeply love«.
Narthex means railed-off western portico or ante-nave in earty Christian churches for women, penitents and catechumens.
Narthex is also a trio featuring (at the beginning) Daniel Denis (Universe Zero, Art Zoyd), Alain Neffe (Pseudocode, Human Flesh, Bene Gesserit) and Nicolas de Villemarqué (Nuwage Music). They had a very different musical background, mostly electric-electronic rock, and decided to work in the field of acoustic music recorded live (two microphones + portable DAT) in churches of their area. After several recording sessions, Nicolas de Villemarqué decides to leave the group. ln order to complete the trio, Daniel Denis and Alain Neffe ask the participation of some of their friends. Anna Homler, Michel Berckmans and Daniel Malempré have accepted the challenge and succeed to fit into their musical universe.
The instruments Church organ, harmonium, sitar, saxophone, oboe, bassoon, zither, valiha, senzas, tarang, voice, percussions, metal clarinet, classical guitar, mew's harp, ongolok, violin, dulcimer, mouth organ, etc.
The music Often dark, sometimes repetitive or experimental, sometimes rhythmical and exotic, always based on emotion inducted by the sound. One could define it as dark age music (as opposite to new age music), a sort of minimal come back to the roots and purity of acoustic sound without the cultural background linked to the 'academic' use of some instruments (for example African senzas are transformed and tuned to sound like Indonesian instruments, sitar or harmonium are used as rhythmical instruments, vahilla is played with a bow).
The places Churches located in an area of 20 kms in the region where Daniel Denis and Alain Neffe live for years and where they feel at home (and feel the vibrations. Every church, place emotionally loaded, has its own specific resonance and sound structure. Every church gave to the musicians a particular inspiration and fill the sound of the instruments with a natural reverberation/echo. The place but also the moment is important. They had the privilege to be allowed to record in the Ecaussines church at night lightened only by candles. lt was one of their most productive recording sessions.
Hit the North is a DJs’ movement
Not a label. Not a revival. A discipline.
Over the years, the collective travelled across multiple states in the US and parts of the UK, digging deep into private collections, basements, garages, storage rooms and forgotten boxes.
They weren’t looking for classics.
They weren’t looking for hits.
They were looking for attempts.
Artists chasing something bigger than themselves.
Trying to sound like Motown.
Trying to sound like Detroit.
Trying to sound like the records that saved them.
Many of them dreamed — at best — of becoming a one hit wonder.
Most never got that far.
Some never crossed a state line.
Some never crossed the street at the end of their block.
Some never played outside their hometown.
Some never played at all.
What they left behind were fragments.
Raw versions.
Unfinished recordings.
Alternate takes.
Rejected mixes.
Test pressings.
Acetates passed quietly from hand to hand.
Sometimes with real credits.
Sometimes with fake ones.
Sometimes with handwritten labels leading nowhere.
Titles that didn’t match the music.
Stories that changed every time you asked.
Often, the trail simply disappeared.
What remained was intention.
Energy.
Urgency.
Hope pressed into sound.
So the collective worked on it.
They edited certain parts.
Extended others.
Cut what didn’t serve the floor.
Not to modernise.
Not to rewrite history.
But to unlock the power that was already there.
The result sounds like Northern Soul pushed to its breaking point.
Fast. Physical. Emotional.
Built for movement.
Some circulated privately.
Others were never pressed at all.
Recorded in personal studios, borrowed studios, friends’ rooms, temporary spaces.
Always outside the system.
This is not nostalgia.
This is unfinished business.
TAR-LP6
- Casual Treatment -
5 Hours Later LP
TH Tar Hallow
Designed and timed to loop and overlap. All the hours did not follow a straight path. All the events fold in on themselves. And 5 hours later they still form an unbroken line, but every edge is touching the others.
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.
he all-time house music legend Roger Sanchez drops his brand new studio album ‘Spectrum’ - his first in twenty years. Previewed by three high-energy bangers - ‘Grinnin’ (with Fedde LeGrand), ‘Come My Way’ and ‘Temptation’ (with Low Steppa, featuring Ragdoll) - the record features the new focus track ‘How Do We Say Goodbye’, a collab with Karen Harding.
The globally celebrated and Grammy-winning DJ, producer and label head has been working on the album for years, much of it during his time in Shoreditch which has informed its euphoric UK summer sonic influences. But its diverse tracks reflect a spectrum of sounds, from pulsating club tracks to dancefloor fillers, through to more emotional moments and atmospheric elements. Lyrically it’s also the result of translating his personal experiences into song.
Roger says, “I’ve been working on this for the past six years, so it’s definitely a labour of love. During that time I got the chance to travel around the world and work with some amazing vocalists and songwriters to help me bring this project to life. I’ve got flavours from the UK, Spain, the US - all of this is part of the spectrum for. This project is about music and frequencies and light: so everything from the light to the soulful to the club-ready infrared, the emotionally-weighted ultraviolet. That’s what ‘Spectrum’ is all about for me.”
The new focus track ‘How Do We Say Goodbye’ was created with the topline extraordinaire and always in-demand collaborator Karen Harding, whose all-star credits include work with MNEK, Armand Van Helden, Rudimental, Wilkinson and many more. It’s a massive highlight of the album, with Karen’s soaring vocal class bringing both an irresistible hook and a touching sense of nostalgia, while Roger’s dynamic production ascends from a trance-like ambience into an electrifying drop.
Beyond the singles, ‘Spectrum’ also features a diverse array of other talents spanning multiple genres and nationalities. These include Melanic C, Kele Le Roc, Chico Castillo, Kelli-Leigh, Carnao Beats, Donae’O and more. It’s a guestlist which lives up to the anticipation for the record.
‘SPECTRUM’ is available as a special 3LP limited-edition pressed on red transparent vinyl.
After finding their feet with a couple of remixes for Before I Die, Talking Drums ditch their sea legs and swap the pirate booty of their cult edit series for a five-track EP of original productions, each swimming in LinnDrums, digital chimes and synth-vox sunshine. Summer sounds abound as the crew refract house, disco, ambient and dub through shimmering sea glass, bringing the beach to the bar, club, garden or grotto.
Inspired equally by tropical Sceneries (but Not Songs), Ecco the Dolphin and Echoes of Wally, as well as a few tall tales about trendy whales, this 16-bit caper makes a splash from wave top to bikini bottom. Written and produced as a cohesive EP over three sun-baked weeks in 2025, and stitched together with field recordings and found sounds from Sicily, rural France, Japan and Singapore, Pier Pressure sees each track flow into the next: distinct seas that make up one larger ocean.
Opener ‘Fashionable Whale’ surfaces with mystic motifs and dreamy pads arcing above the spray before a purring low end and drum-box shuffle plunge us into Balearic house depths. A rippling breakdown, bookended by insistent arps, provides respite from the rhythm before the low-tempo pulse returns to take us home. Sticking with Zone 2 cardio, ‘Salmon Hats’ serves wonky disco at Valium pace, its beatific vox and glittering sequences underpinned by a hip-swivelling bassline and topped with a future-primitive melody. After drifting into dream house for a sunset lull, it’s back to the beat and the enduring question of how best to dance on a lilo.
‘Mangrove’ offers an intertidal intermission as tuned percussion finds a place among the cicadas and lapping waves, gently unfolding into an RPGambient ode to humid languor. Refreshed, albeit ailed by a sunstroke haze, we’re back on the dance floor with the optimistic motifs and jolly polyrhythms of ‘Flutti Di Mare’, an uptempo, Afro-adjacent house workout designed to inspire mile-wide smiles. Then the EP sails off into the sunset with the fathoms-deep delight of ‘Squid Dub’, a Cousteau-coded cod-reggae stepper with digi-dub bass, pound-shop marimba and all manner of THCtinged FX. Don’t be deceived by the loose and limber opening: a solid sequencer emerging at the midpoint sees the Squid squeeze every bit of bump out of the finale.
Forget ATOL protection - Talking Drums deliver your summer holiday directly to your stereo.
Queensbridge duo Mobb Deep were already untouchable by the time Hell On Earth arrived, but this was the record where Havoc and Prodigy stopped sounding hungry and started sounding completely numb to everything around them. The production is brutally spare. Tiny piano fragments repeat for minutes at a time while drums hit with the force of metal doors slamming shut somewhere down the corridor. 'G.O.D. Pt. III' still feels poisonous nearly 30 years later, Prodigy rapping with such flat menace it barely even registers as performance anymore. 'Drop A Gem On 'Em' turns a diss track into psychological warfare, and then 'Nighttime Vultures', alongside Raekwon, moves through the album's nocturnal haze with exhausted precision. Even now, the whole thing feels airless in a way few rap records manage.
Irish label Il Corpo returns for its third outing with a hard to pigeon hole 10” from 710 Exit. 2 tracks that sit on the electro end of things but with a generous nod to the sound of Detroit, early UK breakbeat, soul and the deeper realms of electronic music. Close To The Sun feels like more than just a cosmic position. A solid 808 foundation and loose percussion sit beneath a bed of synth lines and soaring pads that are guaranteed to stir the soul. The signal for nostalgia is strong but there are plenty more twists and turns to keep the listener engaged. Warped guitar and soul samples make Strat an infectious workout brimming with experimentation and originality. Effected chords take on an almost vocal quality which talks over the casual, understated funk on offer here. Ever changing tones draw you in and make it hard to distinguish between guitar, synth or human. A unique E.P. which will find its way into the sets of varying selectors at this summer’s gatherings.
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.
Música para Plátanos takes its name — and much of its inspiration — from the group’s recording studio, situated in the heart of a banana plantation on the humid north shore of Tenerife, Canary Islands. The ever-present sight of the green, sun-drenched fields surrounding their weekly sessions seeped directly into the music: improvised jams that are playful, layered, and deeply connected to place.
This release gathers a distilled selection from those sessions — a kind of “greatest rotten hits” distinct from their ongoing Imaginary Island Music volumes.
The album functions as a living archive bringing together a distilled selection of recordings spanning more than five years: from dusty, long-forgotten sessions to evolving tunes that have become staples of the band's live sets but have never before been committed to record. These long-form sessions served as a petri dish for the Lagoss sound, allowing their experiments to putrefy into their chaotic signature strain of cyber-exotica, unstable kosmische or heavily-corroded dub.
The title obvs nods to Brian Eno’s Music for Airports, but the logic is inverted. Instead of clean, ambient drift, the record inhabits a dense and fertile environment: polyrhythmic structures, Latin-infused electronics, and shifting counter-tempos that feel weighted by the local humidity.
Ultimately, Música para Plátanos is as much about the process as it is the place. Like the plantation outside, the music is subject to the elements; the tracks change shape depending on the heat of the day, what we drank, what we ate. It’s an unstable, honest harvest of sound—shaped by the weather and the state(s) of mind alike.
We welcome Blade back to Metalheadz for his second release, the 4 track 'Times Gone Bye EP' arriving on Metalheadz Platinum vinyl.
Drawing influence from across the spectrum, from foundational artists to contemporary producers, Blade channels those reference points into a sound that feels rooted in the past but firmly present. There's a looseness to his process that gives the music its character, something that has remained consistent throughout his discography over the last 15 years.
Welcome back to a time when Bulletin Board Systems were the social media, it was too dark for influencers, hardware predated plugins, and a home studio was a cumbersome necessity in the absence of ghost producers.
The vinyl-only Kilotoni series returns with another faceless batch of radioactive techno from the previously unreleased tape archives.
A1 The classic acid techno anthem formula is utilized in its purest form for prime time main floor use. Steady build-ups keep the tension going in what is otherwise a simplistic live recording style performance.
A2 Compressed-to-death hard techno and a detuned lead that could have come straight out of late-90s Sweden. A rare cheeky vocal snippet from an old Trax record and submarine sonar pulses provide some relief from the pressure.
B1 Melancholic but funky acid house for warming up the dance floor in your local club basement. A bouncing bassline and flanging chords meet for the sweetest treat.
B2 Cruiserweight ghetto techno meets dubby, modulating chords — perhaps unexpectedly. The last sweat of the morning hours.
New Jon Savage Compilation release alert! Jon Savage's SF Sike 1966-72 (Double Vinyl) Limited Edition. Heavyweight Luxury Gauge Sleeve-Stock & Inners.
The real sound of San Francisco 1966-72." It was the new gold rush, but with drugs, music and freedom the goal. " (Jon Savage -The Guardian August 2012)
A limited edition double vinyl 18 track album celebrating the great pop music and idealism of that time & featuring Moby Grape, Skip Spence, Ron Nagle, Country Joe & The Fish & much more
Full contextual & track-by-track sleeve notes by Jon Savage. Ephemera & archive material from the period.
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.
In an engrossing lattice of polyrhythmic beat science and deep atmospheric meditation, Samurai Music is thrilled to welcome Marco Shuttle to the fold for the Sumud EP.
Since his early years locked into the 00s London techno scene, Marco Sartorelli has developed as an artist entirely on his own terms. Through the rush of new ideas and cross-pollination that has characterised cutting-edge techno over the past 20-odd years, Sartorelli has travelled as Marco Shuttle from one considered stylistic concept to the next. On his own Eerie label and across expansive releases for respected outposts such as Spazio Disponibile, Incensio and Astral Industries, he's taken an exploratory approach to rhythm and spatial design while always drawing on intentional thematic frameworks, creating distinctive and immersive dance music in the process.
As Samurai Music continues to celebrate the rich seams of inspiration where deep techno and drum & bass intersect, Sartorelli's malleable, mysterious strain of drum work fits right in and sets a captivating tone for the label's operations in 2026. 'Sumud' is a steely drum mantra dealing in fractured patterns with the primal patina of the early Artificial Intelligence era, while 'Las Dunas de Taroa' leans on gently pulsing melancholia undulating at a half-time pace. 'Iso 50' taps into raw, analogue minimalism once more, evoking the sound of Roman Flugel's Ro70 records in their icy, alien formation. Completing the set, we're guided towards the tense electronica of 'Polylayering What I've Got', where uneasy melodic chimes interlock with intricately programmed drum machines.
There's a distinct sense of golden-era, mid-90s electronica coursing through Sumud EP, but Sartorelli shrouds the classic tools at his disposal in his subtle signature atmospherics, pushing towards a plain of expression that transcends time.
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.
The Dead Mauriacs is the project of French artist Olivier Prieur, "Paravents et miroirs, une cérémonie" is a live soundtrack.
The Dead Mauriacs describe their music as "Exotica Concrete" - their music is composed of field recordings made on a daily basis, as well as a diverse collection of sounds, including piano, Indian harmonium, violin, ukulele, didgeridoo, pieces of wood, glass, paper, and metal plates. The album is a spectacular 40-minute sound collage, assembled by sampling Exotica music represented by musicians and arrangers such as Les Baxter and Arthur Lyman, who were active in the 1950s.
"Exotica is a musical genre or sub-genre that emerged in the 1950s in the United States with musicians and arrangers like Les Baxter or Arthur Lyman. It is an extraordinary music because it is false: bird calls imitate bird songs, you can hear the sound of the waves, it is a Western fantasy, particularly North American, of a world and an imagery that never existed. It is a music associated with mass tourism, mass entertainment, consumerism. Arthur Lyman recorded about 30 records in 10 years in Waikiki. With his band, they played and recorded under a geodesic aluminum dome. The dome belonged to the owner of the hotel he played for every night. They did this at night to avoid noise. It's music that is both profoundly naive and totally flawed. In this, it is seductive and intellectually interesting. It is music that could easily be criticized today, but it is an imaginary in itself, like the Italian film music of the 1960s and 1970s." (Excerpt from the calax's interview)
The Dead Mauriacs are not only involved in music, but also in a wide range of other creative endeavors, including video and painting. He also repsonsible for the artwork of this LP. The inside of the product is also accompanied by an 8-page interview with Mauriacs and compiled his amazing artworks.
The Dead Mauriacs
Paravents et miroirs : une cérémonie / Screens and mirrors: a ceremony
Side A
Courte dérive, une ouverture / Short drift, an opening
Le retour des insectes électriques / The return of the electric insects Les oiseaux étranges / The strange birds Tension, terreur factice / Tension, false terror
Dénouement malais / Malaysian ending
Rituels et vanités 1 / Rituals and vanities 1
Rituels et vanités 2 / Rituals and vanities 2
Italiens dʼHambourg / Italians in Hamburg
Side B
Secrets pour piano / Secrets for piano
La suite Monory, Padoue-Le Caire-Nassau / The Monory Suite, Padua-Cairo-Nassau Hommes à découper / Men to cut out Lassitude moite / Clammy weariness
Le soleil artificiel du pont croisière / The artificial sun on the cruise deck
Pirogues et palmiers, vus de la scène / Pirogues and palm trees, seen from the stage La traversée / The crossing Rideau / Rideau
Fields recordings : Semproniano and Siena, Italy, Figueira, Portugal, Charentes, France. An electrical wire with a frequency shifter gave birth to the insects. Real and fake piano. Everything made with a computer and a midi keyboard.
Music premiered at Hörbar, Hamburg, 28th of December 2017. Music (and video) Olivier Prieur.
Thanks to Thorsten Soltau and all people at Hörbar.
Hello to Felix Kubin & Marie-Pierre Bonniol, Julia & Jan Warnke. Kisses to Hélène.
LOS ANGELES—To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the celebrated Talking Heads and Jonathan Demme’s concert film Stop Making Sense, the set will be re-released as a 2LP and 2CD/Blu-ray set this summer.
Released last year, the sold-out Deluxe Edition of the soundtrack will return as a 2-LP black vinyl on Rhino and 2-LP crystal clear vinyl at retail. Both variants feature a 12-page booklet with liner notes from all four band members –Tina Weymouth, David Byrne, Chris Frantz, and Jerry Harrison—and band photos. The 2CD/Blu-ray version includes the entire 28-page booklet from last year’s Deluxe Edition and a Dolby Atmos mix of the complete concert, mixed by Jerry Harrison and E.T. Thorngren, who also mixed the original release. Both will be available on July 26. Pre-order now.
The band appeared together for a sold-out screening and Q&A last night at the Pantages Theater, the same theater at which Stop Making Sense was recorded. They were joined by Blondshell, who performed “Thank You For Sending Me an Angel.” Another special screening with the band will occur in Brooklyn at the King’s Theater on June 13, with the Q&A hosted by Questlove and The Linda Linda’s performing “Found a Job.” The two events cap off a banner year of celebrations for what many consider to be the best concert film of all time.
The inspiration for Stop Making Sense came when director Jonathan Demme saw Talking Heads perform during the band’s 1983 tour for Speaking in Tongues. Afterward, he approached them with the idea of making the show into a concert film. They agreed and worked together over the next few months to finalize the details. Ultimately, Demme filmed three shows at Hollywood’s Pantages Theater in December 1983 to create Stop Making Sense.
The concert film presents a retrospective of the band up to that point, with a performance that weaves together songs from all six of its studio albums. The show progresses methodically, opening with Byrne onstage performing “Psycho Killer” alone with a drum machine. After each song, he’s joined by a new band member until Weymouth, Frantz, and Harrison are all on stage with him. The group continues to grow throughout the concert as members of the stellar touring band are added: keyboardist Bernie Worrell, percussionist Steve Scales, guitarist Alex Weir, and backup singers Lynn Mabry and Ednah Holt.
The band performs 18 songs in Stop Making Sense, including its recent single at the time, “Burning Down The House.” That summer, the song was in heavy rotation on radio and MTV, helping the song become the band’s first top 10 hit in America. It was, however, a different song from Speaking in Tongues that was destined to deliver one of the film’s signature moments. Talking Heads would perform “Girlfriend Is Better” wearing the now iconic, oversized suit inspired by costumes worn in traditional Japanese theater. For good measure, a picture of David Byrne in the suit also graces the album cover.
Stop Making Sense focuses mainly on music by Talking Heads but does include a few songs recorded outside the band: “Genius Of Love” by Tom Tom Club, “What A Day That Was” and “Big Business” from Byrne’s 1981 album, The Catherine Wheel. Limited edition vinyl versions of both of these albums, along with Harrison’s The Red And The Black, were released for this year’s Record Store Day.
When it arrived in September 1984, Stop Making Sense was an artistic and commercial triumph. The film had people dancing in theatre aisles, and the soundtrack sold over two million copies. Just last year, the Library of Congress added Stop Making Sense to the National Film Registry in recognition of its cultural, historical, and aesthetic significance.
Weymouth praises Demme as a collaborator: “…Jonathan was a very enthusiastic, highly adaptive, and imaginative guy who was just as good a listener as he was a talker and collaborator. From the get-go you just got the impression he was as flexible as he was disciplined. Being team players, that boded well for a great relationship and a great film!”
Harrison says the film still holds up today: “To me, Stop Making Sense has remained relevant because the staging and lighting techniques could have been created in a much earlier time period. For example, Vari-Lights, lights with motors to re-aim them, had just come into vogue. Had we used them, there would have been a timestamp on the film, and it eventually would have felt dated...The absence of interviews, combined with the elegant and timeless lighting, created a film that can be watched over and over.”
Byrne says it’s interesting that this album was – for many people – an introduction to Talking Heads. “We had done a live album before this, but coupled with the film, and with the improved mixes and sound quality, this record reached a whole new audience. As often happens, the songs got an added energy when we performed them live and were inspired by having an audience. In many ways, these versions are more exciting than the studio recordings, so maybe that’s why a lot of folks discovered us via this record.”
Frantz recalls the sheer joy surrounding the entire Stop Making Sense experience. “I’m talking about real, conscious, transcendent joy… I’m talking about what the Southern gospel people call ‘getting happy,’ which means ‘to be filled with the Spirit.’ That is what happened to us onstage every night, and from my seat behind the drums, I recognized that this was happening to the audience too. Joy was visible in front of me and all around me every night.”
A record that feels introspective and timeless, balancing dancefloor functionality. With Early Reflections Pt. 2, Insect O. continues the journey with the same quiet confidence and emotional depth that made the first chapter so compelling. Once again rooted in Dub Techno and Dub House, this second installment feels like a natural continuation, deeper in mood, even more immersive in detail, and beautifully refined in its execution. The result is a record that feels introspective and timeless, balancing dancefloor functionality with a deeply emotive listening experience. Insect O. proves once again that true depth does not come from excess, but from restraint, sensitivity and a strong understanding of space and motion.
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)
Life and Death launches Peak Time Archives, a new vinyl and digital various artists series shining a light on rising producers and the next wave of label-affiliated talent.
This first edition moves across the full spectrum of the dancefloor. Jennifer Loveless — Guardian 'Artist To Watch', Mixmag Track of the Year recipient, and alumni of !K7, Future Classic and Butter Sessions — opens with "Satisfaction", a warm, body-moving indie dance reinterpretation that feels at home as much at Ibiza sunset as it does on a festival main stage.
UK mystery producer ROKAR follows with "Bedroom Headliner", a garage-rooted house cut that blurs the line between intimate and euphoric, already earning BBC Radio 1 plays and support from Marco Carola, Skream and Chloé Caillet.
Rudy With A Hoodie & J-Land deliver "The Rhythm", a driving, hypnotic peak-time weapon built for main stages, drawing on the analog warmth of Red Axes and DJ Tennis.
Mexico City's PAURRO closes the record with "Chik Fresa" — playful, punchy indie dance with personality to spare, from an artist who has performed at Tresor and Boiler Room and released on Cómeme and Nervous.
Four tracks. Four distinct voices. One dancefloor.---
The "TRACK TRAX EP" is the new vinyl of the "Computer Controlled Minds"
The yellow vinyl clearly indicates the direction – ACID!
As the name suggests, it will be a fast-paced race.
On the A side, our track days start with a driving track, it quickly becomes clear that this will not be a leisurely Sunday ride. It's going to be a tough race. When approaching the apex, it is always important to remain seated and open the tap slowly.
The second track is a confession of love to Kerb, he wants to be loved and touched. But this love also harbors great dangers. If you drive too hard over the limit, the Kerb will pay back mercilessly.
With B1, the DOWNSIDER brings ecstatic acid acceleration to the slopes. If the braking point is exceeded, it can fall massively to the ground. The experienced technoracer has everything under control and brings the necessary momentum to the next straight.
As the race goes on, the strength dwindles and a clean line becomes more and more difficult, but at the same time it is the key to the thrill. The struggle with body and machine becomes clear, every action makes the body burn. Giving up is out of the question, the race is only over with the chequered flag. But now off to the bar!
Last but not least on the B-side, two short bonus sounds for all mix DJs
The Computer Controlled Minds show their clear roots, ACID and hard RACE.
TCCM can be booked as a live act via insta: __NEXT_DOOR__. You will never forget the race!
This is a bit of a rare gem from the Ellis Dee. Back in 1995 he made the track 'Synthetic Disco' but for some unknown reason (I'll have to ask him and let you know) it was never released and remained a mystical track lost in time. The flipside 'Atmosphere' was only released as part of the Total Science 2 compilation that came out in 1996. Both tracks compliment each other beautifully and are both very much on a similar tip to his Norty But Nice 12" that we put out a few years ago. Deep but rolling drum and bass for the massive!
Kercha’s debut album ‘Open The Door’ arrives this April via DNO Records. The Black Sea artist’s mystical, disorienting style has set the tone for the label since he dropped the inaugural release six years ago. Now, across 16 tracks — including collabs with Mystic State, Congi, NST, Khromi and Finnoh — his smoky sampledelic dubstep is tighter, heavier, and more curious than ever, with a new sense of danger and bubbling rage that feels fit for our chaotic times.
Themes of movement and change course through the LP. On the opening gambit ‘A Path Into The Unknown’, twinkling arpeggios emerge from the gloom like stars lighting the way. Tracks like the eponymous ‘Open The Door’ and ‘Mind Extraction’ deliver that classic Kercha sound, where left-field samples dart in at right angles. ‘Dangerous Road’ weaves between the call and response action of grotty stabs and devilish subs. ‘Take A Break’, featuring Mystic State, goes on the attack with searing acid. ‘Can’t Wait For Today’, though lethargic in its pace, sees San Francisco-based rapper Finnoh deliver stream-of-consciousness bars that skewer our present and nudge us to revolution.
Work took place over the course of several years, during which Kercha relocated with his family from Russia to Georgia, where he now resides in the capital, Tbilisi. “Sometimes I wrote music while travelling on a bus, sometimes late at night while my family was asleep, sometimes just sitting on the grass in a park, and of course in my home studio as well,” he says. “By the time the album was finished, it included music from different periods, and it may vary in sound and concept.”
Any major upheaval in life will result in moments of hardship, but also hope. Both can be found throughout ‘Open The Door’. There’s times when the darkness threatens to envelope everything: during the cold, crackling ‘Disclosed’ and the eerie, dystopian ‘Infection Of Lies’; on ‘Trigger Activation’, with its grunting lows and broken glass hook, and ‘Ballistics’, where a wall of sub-bass is pierced by shrapnel stabs.
The balancing light comes on ‘4 AM’, featuring Nottingham duo Congi, when clashing swords and cinematic strings, meet a soft Rhodes piano — the juxtaposition between heavy low-end and floaty keys and vox reflecting those moments of transcendence often found in the early hours. From the injection of garage energy on ‘Bubs’, with Edinburgh’s Khromi. And on with ‘My Feeling’, featuring South Russian vocalist NST, which closes the album on a deep but expansive note, bookending the experience with more starlight synth tones.
“It’s a reflection of my life journey and the changes connected with emigration and overcoming various difficulties,” explains Kercha. “This period means a lot to me, which is why the album includes tracks from the time of preparing to leave up to adapting to a new country.”
Still, he wants listeners to be able to derive their own understanding. “I think the essence lies in the ability to contemplate, not in any predetermined meaning,” he says. “I can only say one thing: thank you for appreciating what I do and for your support. I hope it inspires you to make the same firm decisions to change for the better as it did for me.”
Out via 4 x 12” vinyl, ‘Open The Door’ is a captivating artistic statement, showcasing the journey of an artist with a truly original signature sound — a rarity that should be treasured and celebrated.
Rhythms of postmodern realism at the very bottom of the DNO.
With great pleasure we welcome on board ADSR. This is not a standard EP but more a collection of 5 tracks made in the years between 1989 and 2001.
“Kicked” (1989) rides a driving dance groove with subtle Depeche Mode–influenced melodies, fueled by rolling arps and crisp string plucks. “Unit 3” (2001) hits with tough basslines and hard pads over a relentless beat, nodding to mid-80s EBM in the vein of Nitzer Ebb, Skinny Puppy, and Front 242. “Unchained” (1990) drifts on a late-night 808 groove with glassy pads and house-leaning chord stabs, sliding into early techno territory.
The EP closes with two well known tracks but those versions of them have never seen the light before today. “Windswept (Desert Mix)” – 1994 is a pounding early-session track built on tripped-out SH-101 leads, evolving arpeggios, long sweeps, and a steady 909, made for getting completely lost in.“Suboceana (Early Version)” – 1991 serves seductive chord progressions and drawn-out, reflective melodies, a liquid journey for both listening and the dancefloor.
Big release outta Casablanca, Morocco from Cee ElAssaad.
We here at Local Talk have been big fans of Cee's deeply organic and uplifting House productions for a good while, so we're mighty happy to present this new release.
The A side starts up with a massive organ house workout that has been played on repeat at Mad Mats residency at the Soulmates club in Stockholm over the last 6 months or so. A peak time jam!
To add more fire we asked Emmaculate to throw down a remix for us, and it doesn't hold back. Deep, bumpy and utterly funky. Again...those house organs are fully at work!
On the B side Cee goes to church with deep but slight jackin' 4/4s over some heavy gospel preaching.
To enhance the gospel experience, our friend from Amsterdam, Marcel Vogel makes a long overdue guest visit on Local Talk and delivers a big gospel intro that moves into a jazzy and thumpin' house affair.
Obscure disco gem from 1985. Singer Penny Mtya, like many others, journeyed from small-town South Africa to the bright lights of Johannesburg in search of fame. There her path collided with Muntu Semenya, the son of long-exiled stars Caiphus Semenya and Letta Mbulu, who had recently arrived from the US and was making his mark in SA as a producer and keyboardist. There demo secured a deal with the local office of WEA Records and they soon entered RPM Studios with co-producer Thokoza Memela to record three tracks.
‘Cassanova (Stop That Game)’ is a seven-minute Afrofunk workout reminiscent of Kiki Gyan or Sylvester, showcasing Penny’s sultry vocals and Semenya’s stabbing synths. On the flip side, ‘I Feel It’ is a chugging instrumental climaxing in a fuzzed-out solo from session guitarist Jethro Butow. Defying expectations again, the album closes with a Motown-worthy slow jam, ‘Memories’, a duet with Yandy Mgolombane featuring Mike Faure on sax.
Titled Penny’s Groove, the three-track EP received little promotion on its release and quickly disappeared into obscurity, with the label perhaps unsure of how to market the polished ‘international’ sound and diverse components. The tracks were never performed live and everyone involved in the studio project soon parted ways. Semenya and Mgolombane laid low while Penny returned disenchanted to her home in the Eastern Cape, where she remained active in music but never realised her dream of solo stardom.
Continuing its faithful documentation of the early years of Monolake, Field Records proudly present the first-ever vinyl pressing of seminal 1999 album Interstate. In a kaleidoscopic lattice of micro-rhythms and exquisitely dynamic textural work, Robert Henke and Gerhard Behles fully collaborated for the final time on this record — and created an electronica landmark in the process.
Monolake's evolution from their earlier dub-techno-tinted works saw their exploration of Max/MSP go further out. The duo yielded greater complexity in the behaviour of their sound palette to achieve an organismic quality that remains an enduring influence on so many strands of experimental electronic music today. Interstate is a vivid record that builds up eight different ecosystems of sound and subtly threads elegant grooves through their root structures.
There's a house-like undulation to the low-end driving 'Tangent-I' and 'Tangent-II', but the infinitesimally detailed layers of sound on top swoon from techno synth shimmers to trickling waters, snaking delay trails and pin prick percussion. You can hear the unmistakable, snappy rhythmic thrust of drum & bass driving 'Ginza', but here it's used as an engine for the crispest array of designer percussion and dub-soaked synth chirrups. Across every track, Henke and Behles demonstrate a potent combination, both groovily instinctive and eternally fascinating to try and pick apart.
After Interstate, Behles departed to focus entirely on the development of Ableton Live and Henke steered Monolake towards a leaner — but no less pioneering — sound. Every Monolake record has its own unique context and sound, and the circumstances of Interstate could never be repeated. Capturing the leaps in progress that were being made in digital music production at the end of the millennium, it's an information-rich document of a moment in time that still sounds wildly futuristic 27 years later.
The original album + 6 bonus tracks - limited edition pressing on 180g vinyl
The most talented bossa nova group of the '60s, Tamba Trio perfected a breezy,
swinging version of bossa nova vocal jazz that proved incredibly influential in Brazil
and throughout the world.
Comprising pianist Luiz Eca, bassist Bebeto, and drummer Helcio Milito, the trio not
only played a wide range of instruments but also contributed incredibly close vocal
harmonies. Presented here is their debut album, 'O Barquinho' (Little Boat), which was
a huge hit in Brazil and throughout South and Central America.
One of their later recordings, a rendition Jorge Ben's ' Mas, que nada!' ( But That Is
Nothing!) and included here as a bonus, became their best-known hit, and used most
famously by Nike in a 1998 World Cup television commercial.
Third time coming for Delfonic on GAMM, but this time it's less disco and more House and Jazz...but with a Berlin edge.
On the A side Delfonic heads over to Minneapolis for jazzy Prince rework.
On the flip, you'll get Miles' trumpet bumping over a deep (House) production.
Vincenzo De Bull follows up his initial 4 Kicks EP with a truly fitting set of 4 smooth grooves on Kicks 4 Life EP.
Kicking off the A Side is the energetic bass workout of The Jaunt. Driving mix of filtered loops and persistent bass carry this along with accented punctuation courtesy of trippy oscillating vocals, pianos before it’s all brought home post-break with a lovely pad driving more tension to add to the effortless progression. B2, Make It Smooth will contain some recognizable elements for most of the selectors out there, before the cut develops into a new context which will immediately remove your previous associations and make way for a fun, new groove – we don’t have to tell you, but Vincenzo does a superb job of ‘Making it smooth.’
Flip to the B Side for smooth R&B style house vibes courtesy of Move Your Body, an ethereal workout grounded by a solid low and a tugging looped groove, interspersed with enough energy via vocals to keep the floor engaged and moving, but at a lower energy level. Perfect to move into later nights. Tatsuro Lovers rounds out the EP with a midtempo chugger perfect for starting the evening, groovy pool parties or just sitting at home, enveloped in the heady, swirling vibes underpinned by crisp drums and deep low end.
KiNK & Raredub launch new sub-label Raw on SHDW's Mutual Rytm with bold two-tracker 'You And Me', backed by a VIP remix of 'Time To Change' from Paul Woolford aka Special Request.
Following their standout debut on Spectra with 'Time To Change', Bulgaria's finest dance music export KiNK & Raredub return to the Mutual Rytm universe to launch the label's new sub-series: Mutual Rytm Raw. Their latest release, 'You And Me', marks the next step in their collaboration - two stripped-back yet anthemic cuts that embody their signature sound: "Rude Boy Techno", a fusion of techno's drive with the swing and grit of UK Garage. Both versions of 'You And Me' are built for the floor, combining sharp percussion, catchy vocal hooks, and powerful low-end pressure - minimal in structure but rich in character and groove.
Rounding off the release is a standout VIP remix from Paul Woolford aka Special Request - one of his infamous 'Variation in Production' versions - offering a stripped yet high-impact reinterpretation of KiNK & Raredub's previous single 'Time To Change'. Raw, rolling, and unmistakably shaped by his UK Garage-influenced style.
Two lost cuts from the orbit of Tony Humphries surface at last, pulled straight from acetates in his private archive and pressed here for the first time. Unearthed like messages from the booth itself, they capture that raw, transitional moment when club music was still inventing its own language night after night.
On the A-side, Kerri Chandler with “Kerri Kaoz Beats”, a stripped, swinging tool full of basement pressure and early-morning intent. No excess, no compromise, just Kerri doing what Kerri does best. Flip it over for Dee Dee Brave – “My My Lover (Tony Humphries Dub)”, a previously unheard Humphries reconstruction that stretches the vocal into something deeper, moodier and unmistakably floor-ready. Spacious, patient, and quietly euphoric.
Two pieces of house history that never made it past the acetate stage until now. Not revisions, not edits, but originals finally stepping into the light. Essential documents from the roots that still point forward.
Full Dose welcome DJ Firehouse to the fold with a four-track suite that drifts deep into fogged-out space. Rooted in the lineage of late-2000s innovators, this is a record that leans into atmosphere as much as it does low-end pressure.
“Hamilton Hill” sets the tone with metallic percussion and submerged chords, locking into a hypnotic groove that feels equal parts system music and head music. “Gardening” follows with a blurred palette, combining rippling textures, tape hiss and a hypnotic vocal loop to pull you further inward. On “Starpol 666”, Firehouse eases off the pressure with a more abstract, interlude-like piece, where drifting mid-range pads and liquid movement hint at a more experimental edge. Closing track “Cross Fader” stretches things out into a dubbed, slow-burning finale. Breathy ambient layers give way to dembow-leaning drums, with thunderous hits and long-tailed echoes building a quiet but undeniable tension.
Celebrating a decade since its live debut, Detroit-based artist Rebecca Goldberg announces the first-ever vinyl release of her original score for A Trip to the Moon, the iconic 1902 silent film by Georges Méliès. Composed in 2016, Goldberg’s reimagining of the groundbreaking film—originally titled Le Voyage dans la Lune—translates early cinema fantasy into a minimalist electronic soundscape shaped by synthesis, texture, and composed foley.
Goldberg’s approach honors the wonder and theatricality of Méliès’ vision while grounding it in Detroit’s lineage of forward-thinking electronic music. The score premiered in Paris in 2016 with live performances at Silencio, the club founded by David Lynch, and at Bar à Bulles, located above the legendary Moulin Rouge. The Paris events were produced by Why So Serious Productions and marked a rare convergence of experimental electronic performance and historic cinematic space. Goldberg also presented the live score in her native Detroit, reinforcing the transatlantic bridge that has long shaped her conceptual record projects.
Now, ten years later, the score will be released for the first time on vinyl in a limited edition of 300 copies. The pressing captures the nuance of the original live compositions while offering listeners a new way to experience the interplay between silence, rhythm, and sonic illusion. As with Goldberg’s previous conceptual 12" releases, the vinyl format serves not only as a medium but as an artifact that preserves and reframes cultural memory.
Thirteen years have passed since their debut album, but now Oppenheimer MKII is ready to release their long-awaited second album "Embrace The Dark”.
Oppenheimer MKII is Andy Oppenheimer, singer, songwriter and formerly one-half of 1980s synth-pop duo Oppenheimer Analysis, one of the leading bands of the ‘minimal synth’ scene, and inspiration behind the New York-based Minimal Wave label and Mahk Rumbae, electronic musician and producer known for his work with Codex Empire, Mitra Mitra, and long-running UK industrial/experimental band Konstruktivists.
“Embrace The Dark” does exactly as its title suggests: it embraces dark, apocalyptic themes for our current turbulent times. In nine mind-blowing tracks, Mahk’s thunderous dance rhythms and addictive synth-pop melodies combine with Andy’s latest dystopian – and sometimes utopian – visions of our past, present and future.
From the atmospheric title track, greatly influenced by Andy’s lifelong obsession with space – ‘When you embrace the dark, you gaze back in time...’ to delusional tech-bro world domination in “I Went Too Far” – ‘The sky is not the limit; my wealth is infinite’ and the pounding paranoid lead track “Oh! My Mind is a Storm” – ‘When I go dark, I'm into demon mode’, the new Oppenheimer MkII album “Embrace the Dark” ventures deep into futuristic dreams and nightmares and is guaranteed to fill the dancefloor.
Some records feel like they should have existed. This is one of them.Originally buried as an album cut in the catalog of C. C. Catch, ‘Stop – Draggin’ My Heart Around’ never received the maxi single treatment it always deserved. For decades, fans of Dieter Bohlen’s signature sound have been left wondering what could have been… no extended mix, no dub, no proper club version… Until now.
Julie Chrome steps in with a strikingly faithful reinterpretation, capturing the emotional tone and melodic essence of the original, while Ryan Benson carefully reconstructs the sonic blueprint, staying true to that unmistakable mid-80s German disco aesthetic of Luis Rodriguez. Think shimmering synths, tight Linn-style drums and that bittersweet, dramatic tension Bohlen/Rodriguez and Co. perfected. But this release goes further than nostalgia. On this maxi, the track finally unfolds the way it always should have. Fully extended, club-ready, and built for the dancefloor. The Long Version delivers that essential 80s arc: slow build, emotional lift, and extended instrumental passages made for mixing. The Dub Version strips it back into a hypnotic tool, pure drums, synth stabs and atmosphere, tailored for late-night transitions and deeper sets. The Radio Version and Alternative Radio Version complete the package, offering two concise takes that still retain all the charm, drama and melodic punch of the original composition. This is more than a tribute, it’s a carefully crafted time capsule. From the production to the artwork and label aesthetics, everything here is designed to transport you straight back to 1986. For fans of classic German disco, collectors of lost Italo-adjacent gems, and DJs who know the power of a well-placed nostalgic moment – this one hits deep. A record that finally corrects history.
“Nimm die rosa Brille … sag was Du siehst … alles viel besser”
44 years after its original release, one of the most idiosyncratic DIY minimal electronics / synth / new wave records of the early ’80s returns: the legendary 7” by German group DEUTSCHE SCHÄFERHUNDE (engl. German shepherds)—now remastered and reissued for the first time as a one-sided 12” on Anna Logue Records. Recorded in the winter of 1981/82 between rehearsal space, provincial disco and bar nights, and a humble four-track setup, these tracks capture the raw spirit of a generation that simply started creating—no formal training, but plenty of attitude. Minimalist, uncompromising, and inspired by krautrock, punk, new wave, electronic music and dub, the songs move between raw electronics, percussive noise, new wave experimentation, and sharp social commentary. „Rosa Brille“ (rose coloured glasses) in particular feels as urgent today as it did back then—a track that has lost none of its relevance, „Gasmasken“ tells of gas masks dancing in the woods to the sound of sirens, and a timeless Holger Czukay/Jah Wobble inspired „Mein Herz“ (my heart).
Originally pressed in a small run of just 500 copies and later becoming a sought-after collector’s item now worth 200€, the record now returns in a carefully crafted edition featuring a laser-printed reverse side and additional materials such as original lyric sheets and articles, postcard and poster. DEUTSCHE SCHÄFERHUNDE thrived on paradox—a provocative name paired with a clear stance, and lyrics that still resonate today. Shaped by Cold War tension, political unease, and youthful rebellion, their sound refused to fit into any neat category. Only few other bands, such as Der Musikant, Im Namen des Volkes, Thorax Wach, Klinisch Sauber oder Stephan Eicher spielt Noise Boys come to mind.
This release is more than a reissue—it’s a document of its time that still hits with full force.
12″ features: limited to 400 copies, hand-numbered, one-sided 180g black vinyl, laser-etched B-side, outer sleeve printed on reverse side of the board, printed inner sleeve with original lyrics sheets and original articles, DIN A3 poster, double-sided postcard
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)
Few songs from the late 90s managed to sound simultaneously utopian and paranoid quite like Jamiroquai's 'Virtual Insanity', a track that wrapped ecological anxiety and technological dread inside an absurdly slick jazz-funk strut. Thirty years on, it remains remarkably strange for a global pop hit. Jay Kay glides across bouncing basslines and gleaming Rhodes arrangements with irritating charisma, while the groove itself never stops twitching and mutating beneath him. 'Do You Know Where You're Coming From' goes further into sophisticated acid jazz territory through restless percussion and rich harmonic movement, then 'Bullet' adds a tougher funk bite. Some records become trapped by nostalgia, but this one still sounds futuristic.
Dewa Alit, master of radical Balinese gamelan, returns to Black Truffle with Baur Bentur. Genetic (2020, BT063) introduced international listeners to the magical sound-world of Alit’s Gamelan Salukat, who perform on instruments tuned to a unique scale derived from modified versions of two traditional Balinese scales. The two pieces heard on Chasing the Phantom (2022, BT093) further demonstrated his radical fusion of tradition and experimentation, with passages where unorthodox techniques make the acoustic ensemble resemble glitching electronics. Baur Bentur now highlights another aspect of Alit’s work, presenting pieces composed in 2024 and 2025 where Gamelan Salukat performs alongside virtuoso pianist Sri Hanuraga. Alit’s music is grounded in deep reflection on the tradition of Balinese gamelan and its place in the contemporary world. His title, ‘Baur Bentur’, which translates as ‘mixing and smashing’, points to his embrace of the intercultural mixture of Eastern and Western elements in the search for innovation. Against the calcification of Balinese music into tourist entertainment, Alit poses his searching, experimental work, which celebrates the communal values and performance practices of traditional gamelan while pushing into startling new directions.
‘Sukat Tacara’ is a study in layered tempos, meters, and polyrhythms, a constantly shifting dialogue between piano and the instruments of Gamelan Salukat. It begins close to a traditional concerto, pairing a brisk sequence of melodic variations from the piano with a spare but propulsive accompaniment of drums and hanging metallophone tones, punctuated by low gong strikes. The piano builds in volume and density across a rapid succession of fragments, at points recalling George Antheil’s ticking wind-up machinery, though Hanuraga’s jazz background shines through in the fluidity with which he navigates the complexities of the score, where chromatic movement co-exists with bluesy phrases. An abrupt change in the piano to patterns of dense clusters introduces a new episode, during which the metallic instruments of the gamelan enter the foreground. The piece dazzles with its inventive rhythms and dynamics, building to a stunning passage featuring the signature heavy muting technique of the Gamelan Salukat metallophones in kinetic patterns that would be at home on a Príncipe release.
The title piece begins at high intensity and rarely lets up, working through bracing unison ensemble melodies and punctuation points where piano and gamelan together seem to become a single, thudding drum. For much of the piece the piano is tightly integrated into the ensemble, the harmonic extensions of the melodic line subsumed into a moving cloud of complex overtones generated by the gamelan instruments. Wildly kinetic on the rhythmic level, the piece swarms with microscopic movements of beating patterns generated by the ‘blend and crush’ of three simultaneous tuning systems: the equal temperament of the piano and the saih cenik (small scale) and saih gede (big scale) used by the gamelan instruments. Accompanied by the composer’s thoughtful liner notes and images of the musicians, Baur Bentur is a stunning next step in Alit’s radical combination of tradition and innovation.
DJ support from Soul Clap (Soul Clap Records) / Walla P (Voyage Funktastique) / DJ Notoya (Tokyo Condition)
Minoru “Hoodoo” Fushimi is something of a cult favorite among purveyors of obscure Japanese sounds from the 80's. Running parallel to the city pop phenomenon but existing distinctly outside of it, Fushimi's sound is a lo-fi blend of electro synth funk, drum machine beats, & early hip hop. His “Thanatos Of Funk” album lives on many a record collector's want list, and has already been
reissued more than once. Upstart imprint Tokyo Love Song, a spin-off of XL Middleton's MoFunk label, brings one of Fushimi's signature cuts, “In Praise Of Mitochondria,” to the 7” format for the first time ever. On the flip, Middleton himself teams up with Japan's leftfield modern funk favorites Milk Talk to deliver a remake of the song, entitled “Funkin Me Up.” This quasi-cover blends XL's signature squiggly funk sound with the quirky vocal stylings of Q.i, along with guitar & bass licks courtesy of Hairkid, the other half of Milk Talk.
Sainte Vie's debut album titled 'Pablo' transforms the abyssal somberness of grief into a vibrant expression of the transcendence of love. Sainte Vie delves into the labyrinths of his past to create unique sounds from the treasured memoriesof his father, Pablo. The somber tones of the album emanate from Sainte Vie's grief. His father passed away in 2023 and he has been working on this album since then. A tribute to his father's life, this album is also a creative and highly personal exploration of their enduring connection. Though an aura of melancholia and darkness colors every track, the ethereal and dynamic quality of Sainte Vie's sound makes our deepest fibers vibrate with the radiance of life and the joy of experiencing love.
POEME ELECTRONIQUE was Dave Hewson (synthesisers, production), Sharon Abbott (lyrics, lead and backing vocals), Julie Ruler (backing vocals) and Les Hewson (bass), formed in 1980 by Dave Hewson in South London, UK, in 1980. Dave was studying music and as a rare kind of student species he had a deep fascination for New Wave and electronic music thus also playing and recording electronic music ever since like using the Boss DR-55, Cosmo Sound Super Drum, Elka Rhapsody 610, EMS Synthi AKS, Korg MS-20(X2)/Polysix/Polyphonic Ensemble 1000/VC-10 Vocoder, Linn Electronics LM-1, Octave Kitten, Roland RS-09/VP-330 Vocoder Plus, Simmons SDS-V Kit and Yamaha CS-80 on this retrospective POEME ELECTRONIQUE album with original material from 1981/82 only. Over the period of more than two years, Dave has remastered these tracks using the latest high-end tools making them sound better than ever before. The deluxe 2LP vinyl album comprises 16 tracks of which 14 have never been published before. “The Echoes Fade” and “Voice” are the original versions taken off their original 7” from 1982. The album “The Echoes Fade” cannot be described other than being a masterpiece and one of the best-ever early 80’s electropop records ever, and it surely has to be lined up with Rational Youth or Experimental Products’ cult albums (in terms of being minimal synth/wave scene reference albums), but to be frank, Anna thinks that POEME ELECTRONIQUE were even above their level.
Truly, they had deserved to go on the successful path like Depeche Mode, OMD or Soft Cell, but fate was against them as it seems. The main difference to other electropop groups of the time was definitely that Dave did not only master his synths technically-wise, no, he also knew how to actually play, and when you hear his amazing multi-track ‘manual sequencing’, programming skills, great harmonies and melodies throughout the tracks, along with the two girls’ performances – well they can really sing! – you will agree there is some something remarkably extraordinary in these tracks. You will find minimal electropop super hits like “Rendezvous”, “She’s an Image”, “Fragile”, or “Dilemma”; hauntingly beautiful melancholic tracks like “A Mourner’s Lament”, “This Night” or “It’s in the Atmosphere”; darkest minimal electronics on “Inside his Head”; and even more poppier tracks like “Follow”. This record will hopefully be loved by any electronic music lover and most probably marks the highlight in the growing Anna Logue Records catalogue – therefore Anna did not shy away from any costs and the album is truly an outstanding release in every single aspect including sound and artwork presentation. Apart from the bonus tracks you will find in the 2LP deluxe vinyl edition glossy inner sleeves with lyrics to all songs, as well as individual mini 7” sleeves for each song designed by our dear graphic designer Steve Lippert plus many additional group photos on the gatefold sleeves’ inner. After so many efforts and more than two years passing by, Anna is so over the moon to see this release being ready now and we have done all we could to make this an outstanding release, so now it’s up to you to give the band their final glory, but Anna is in no doubt that – at least after hearing the sound samples – you will.
American DJ Homicide aka Craig Anthony Bullock is best known as the former DJ for Sugar Ray but also does a fine line in club-ready hip-hop jams and remixes. 'Likwit Swordz' kicks off his latest on the small but well-formed CA label out of the USA. It's got nimble drums that have a clipped bounce and vamping chords, vocal grit that echoes Cypress Hill and an infectious roll. On the flip, 'Day Coastin'' is more deep and smooth - the bars as silky as BIG and the drums rolling with crisp boom-bap style. Both have been made on an MPC and that sampler's famous textures elevate the final jams no end.
LIMITED TO 150 COPIES! 2 x 12" Black Vinyl w/ Gold Foil Embossed Cover, shrink wrapped.
‘Elevation’ is album eleven from High Focus Records founder and 1/4 of The Four Owls Fliptrix.
The latest instalment in a formidable run sees the lyricist further his vision of the world in the hope of elevating the collective mind and spirit of both artist and listener across 19-tracks.
Having worked with Forest DLG in some capacity across all of his records over the past fifteen years, from mixing and mastering, but also collaborating on multiple tracks as rapper / producer, it is surprising that it took so long for the pair to come together on a full-length collaborative project.
‘Elevation’ is that record.
Fliptrix reached out to Forest with a view to creating something completely different from his previous boom bap heavy outing ‘Dragonfly’, he is always looking to advance his craft and take things higher, and after Forest responded with a pack of 70+ instrumentals the direction of travel became crystal clear. The result is an album designed to lift the listener into a higher state of consciousness and trigger conversations about the state of the world, in the hope of enacting positive change during tumultuous times.
Fliptrix’s vision and Forest DLG’s style feel perfectly aligned. The album is truly collaborative; Forest going away and creating the artwork inspired by Fliptrix’s otherworldly experiences with the Shipibo tribe in the rainforests of Peru; from the single covers, to the album cover and merchandise as Fliptrix focussed on writing.
Having worked with all the greats in the UK hip hop scene, Fliptrix actively sought out new energies on ‘Elevation’, especially when it comes to the album features. Jungle forefather General Levy on lead single ‘ENERGY! ENERGY! ENERGY!’ Grime legend Frisco on ‘Visionaries’, Ayah Marar on ‘Transform’, Da Flyy Hooligan, Kamakaze, Coops, and a 19-strong HF posse cut in the shape of ‘Dangerous’ make this album a must-listen for anyone looking to elevate.
Take Me, I’m Yours is the first collaboration album between Alan Abrahams and Jan Jelinek. Released through the latter’s faitiche, it builds upon multi-layered vocal sketches by the former. The Paris-based artist, primarily known for his work as Portable and Bodycode, supplied Jelinek with multi-layered song sketches that the German artist subjected to a rigorous process of manipulation, excavating the ambiguities of the original material and transforming its rhythms into subtle pulses. Take Me, I’m Yours is neither a typical Abrahams record nor a classic Jelinek album—it is something third, mediating between the physicality of the voice and the abstraction of electronic sound design.
The two had crossed paths before really getting to know each other after Abrahams invited Jelinek to play at one of his Süd Electronic parties. The idea of a collaboration emerged slowly. “It started as an experiment, and over the past few years grew from a few tracks into this album,” says Abrahams. He describes recording the basic material as a “tantalizing” process, not knowing how Jelinek would transform his material, some of which was based on wordless chanting, while other tracks were working with lyrical content. However, their mutual trust allowed Jelinek to remove the harmonies, radically reduce the rhythms, and concentrate on Abrahams’ voice.
Jelinek heard something “fragile” in this voice, “moments of doubt and dark premonitions.” He points to Forever as an example. “Alan’s original song reminded me of classic vocal house, but his voice seemed to almost break,” he says. “This contradiction made the piece even bigger, because we hear a singer in the moment of an awakening.” He further accentuated such tensions through arrhythmic synth modulations and time-stretching algorithms, while also adding concrete sounds from a variety of sources. With its dedication to both transforming and amplifying the emotional qualities hidden within Abrahams’ pieces, Take Me, I’m Yours functions as a dialogue between those two singular artists.
Nick Bike rides again with a new trip out on his Chosen Spokes label, and as always, these are on the money mixes for dub disco heads. 'Kiss Me Say It' is devilishly slow and purposeful with rotation dub and funky bass riffs rising and falling to irresistible effect. The strings bring sophistication and the chords a golden charm that swells the heart. The groove feels ever on the rise but never boils over. The flipside dub is even more focused, with the diva vocal doused in echo for a spaced out vibe. Pure perfection.
Jazz-fusion, disco-funk, Latin jazz and batucada rhythms get the Filipino treatment onAfter Midnight, the sublime second album from keyboardist Boy Katindig. Originally released in 1980, After Midnight draws heavy influence from soul and funk contemporaries in the US as well as Latin America, in particular the famed Brazilian percussionist Paulinho da Costa.
It’s a testament to his musical prowess that Katindig weaves effortlessly between styles and tempos. His reverence for Paulinho da Costa extends far, with covers of several songs from the latter’s 1979 Happy People album. This includes slow-burner ‘Déjà Vu’ written by Isaac Hayes originally for Dionne Warwick; on the Filipino instrumental version, local legends Jun Regalado and Roger Herrera (from Regalado’s ‘Pinoy Funk’ single) are reunited on drums and bass respectively.
But Katindig’s original compositions hold just as much weight and unique personality: title track ‘After Midnight’ opens with a sultry funk serenade reminiscent of The Isley Brothers, and quickly transforms into a catchy, blistering, saxophone chorus that brims with swagger. Hidden B-side gem ‘Got The Need’ is an uptempo tribute to batucada that would not be out of place in a jazzy house set, and boasts increasingly elaborate and psychedelic solos from Katindig on keys and Ben Concepcion on soprano sax.
Meanwhile, ‘Love Till the End of Time’ is a masterclass in instrumental disco funk, penned by the prolific Greg Phillanganes who at that same time was writing for many of the greats including Chaka Khan, George Benson, Stevie Wonder, The Jacksons and Cheryl Lynn.
This album is lovingly reissued by Sama Sama Records, a boutique label from DJ and collector Norsicaa, who ran the esteemed Soundway Records for 8 years and released the compilation Ayo Ke Disco in late 2024.
Mr Bongo presents a reissue of one of the rarest releases on the illustrious and now ultra-rare tax scam label TSG Records. A label with a checkered past, operated by Lloyd Price and with alleged ties to boxing promoter Don King. The album in question, Disco Party by Reality, is a stunning journey through ‘70s dancefloor-focussed funk into early proto-disco grooves. Back in mid-‘70s Manhattan, Dr. Otto Gomez and a group of fellow New York musicians including Tony Dixon, Norman Drayton, Tony Dupree, Al Jones and Fred Nanton were brought in for a recording session by songwriter and producer, Billy Nichols. Laying down one of Nichols' songs and a selection of the group's own, they were paid as session musicians and thought little of it. The tapes came to the attention of Lloyd Price who struck a deal with Nichols unbeknownst to Gomez and the rest of the band. Price then pressed the album and put it out in 1976 on a newly formed subsidiary label, TSG Records, that would later be documented as one of the US tax scam labels of the ‘70s. Such labels were created to exploit a loophole in the US tax system, running up inflated production costs / losses that investors or the parent label could write off against their tax bills. Releases on these labels were never intended to have commercial success. They would usually be produced in incredibly limited pressing numbers and have little to no promotion or distribution. As such many of these records instantly fell into obscurity, becoming mythical amongst DJs and record collectors. Sadly, this meant that artists like Dr. Otto Gomez and friends never had the chance for their record and their talents to shine at the time. In fact, it was only when Jazzman reached out for their 2022 reissue that Dr. Otto Gomez became aware that the album had ever been released and heard the story behind it. Disco Party is a time capsule where ‘70s instrumental funk edges and intertwines into an early disco sound. The sessions are for the dancefloor, minimalist and groove-based. The bass and drums are at the forefront, providing the pulse of the album. Driving funky guitar licks, and a brilliant horn section weave their way in and out of the productions. Highlights include the uplifting feel-good ‘Let's Party People’, the early disco swagger of ‘Reality’, and ‘Disco Party (Let's Have A)’ with its wah-wah groove and percussion break, which could easily have found its home on a Blaxploitation film soundtrack of the period. It’s not just rarity that makes this record so sought after, but rather the fact that it is a superb example of dancefloor-focussed mid ‘70s funk and disco.
Release #50 celebrates the digging, care & musical curiosity that’s made the GSC series essential for DJs, collectors & break seekers alike.
For years GSC has built a catalog that earns immediate “cop-on-sight” status. Thoughtful edits. Deep respect for the OG recordings. Breaks that knock w/out feeling heavy-handed. The kind of taste that reminds you these are real heads behind the decks.
Side A pulls from Jerry Butler’s “I’m Your Mechanical Man,” released in ’74 on the Sweet Sixteen LP. The track contains a raw drum break hip-hop producers recognized instantly. Most famously it powers Method Man’s “Bring The Pain,” 1 of the defining solo joints from the Wu-Tang Clan era. The break later resurfaced in Missy Elliott & Method Man’s 2002 version & Snoop Dogg’s “I Miss That Bitch.”
On the flip, GSC draws the source into pure DJ tooling: a sample break edit, a full drum break edit & the “Mechanical Wu” mix — built for selectors who know the power of letting a break breathe.
Then they deliver a beautiful surprise. Instead of leaving empty wax, GSC slides in Les McCann’s “Vallarta,” from the 1977 album Music Lets Me Be. Jazz-funk heads know it instantly — the hypnotic groove behind Biggie’s “Ten Crack Commandments.”
This is why Galaxy Sound Co. matters. They’re not just pressing edits — they’re curating moments. Unearthing grooves DJs need back in rotation. Some originals now cost serious money on Discogs. Others simply faded from memory. GSC dusts them off & hands them back to the community.
Belgian saxophonist, composer, and producer Mattias De Craene (Nordmann, MDCIII) announces a new solo album, ‘A House Where I Dream,’ on VIERNULVIER Records. On his second album, he delivers a highly personal and healing journey, presented as an alternative soundtrack to the 1973 cult film ‘The Holy Mountain.’
The record will be released on October 11 on vinyl LP and through all digital platforms.
"The Holy Mountain" is a surreal Mexican film from 1973 directed, written, and produced by Alejandro Jodorowsky, who also stars in the film. The film holds a prominent place in avant-garde cinema and explores themes such as spirituality, mysticism, and the quest for enlightenment. It is in this vein that ‘A House Where I Dream’ is crafted.
“My mind and soul - and thus my music - come home to this motion picture” - Mattias De Craene
The album will be presented live with the film on October 16 at Videodroom during Film Fest Gent.
ABOUT THE ALBUM
With hypnotic tape loops, grainy textures, and mesmerizing saxophone, Mattias De Craene creates possible worlds that herald a spiritual transformation. From the Scottish Highlands and desolate mountains to the deepest recesses of the soul, this music has the power to create cinematic landscapes that transcend time and space. The sound of these 8 tracks is closely related to the minimalist compositions of Terry Riley, but the work of contemporary artists like KMRU or William Basinski is also drawn from the same material.
Above all, this album is a deeply personal journey and unintentionally serves as a metaphor for De Craene's ascent of his own mountain. For the Videodroom festival by Arts Center VIERNULVIER, the saxophonist began working on a new soundtrack for the film ‘The Holy Mountain’ in 2023, but his body and mind abruptly called him to a halt, forcing him to take a professional break. However, this project never left him, leading to an honest and raw quest to find himself as both a person and an artist, with Jodorowsky as a companion de route and music as an anchor. It initiated a long process of dismantling, searching, healing and back again. The album not only provides a sanctuary for dreaming to all who listen, but for its creator it also serves as both an outcry of despair and a source of comfort during challenging times.
All the tracks on 'A House Where I Dream' share an unfiltered grain of life, as one can almost feel the damp breath of the saxophone blowing.
The album opens with the three-part strong 'Transcention,' where the hypnotic interplay between soprano sax and lo-fi tape loops leads to higher realms of the mind and soul.
Alternating between deep frequencies and farout folk modalities, this mantra-like triptych acquires an alchemical character and ultimately transcends time and space.
In the ethereal 'Away,' one can peer into an abyss of resonance while a saturated tenor sax lends guidance in the spirit of Terry Riley's productions. 'You and Me' also bathes in a similar atmosphere, albeit in the vein of healing 90s ambient as granular sax tones converge with celestial chants. 'Gazing Upwards Towards The Sky,' offers different shades of blue as a slumbering tenor sax is juxtaposed to swift sax patterns. On 'A Stranger That Moved Me,' beauty lands in a soft and subtle manner, while the closing track 'Shepherd's Glow' drifts like a mountain wind flaring up at the darkest hour of the night.
The artwork is created by Gent-based artist Sam Timmerman, who portrays the world of 'A House Where I Dream' with playful repetition and mystique.
The Trip To Vega is about deep outer space odyssey that occurs in the process of traveling from Earth through the Cosmos to another "favorable" star system 25.3 light-years away.
The time is year 2097, Sept 23rd.
To this day, Earthlings have managed to dodge some of nature's more dangerous extremities, massive volcanic eruptions, Earthquakes, solar burst that knocked out the Planet's entire electrical grid for 3 years, numerous plagues of disease, food and fresh water shortages, domestic and International Wars and many other life-changing operas, but for this event, what remains is a realization that has no remedy. The cause: Earth's physicality has changed. It is no longer favorable for living things.
It is the constant shifting of the planet's internal tectonic plates which has unfortunately produced an unexpected and impassable dilemma.
Because of the collisions, deep within the planet's core, the planet is now producing an extraordinary amount of sound that includes a specific harmonic frequency that erodes the natural senses of all life on Earth.
It is intensifying. It is intolerable and it is unlivable.
Yet, some humans prefer to stay, to "ride it out" like the Titanic captain going down with his ship. Some, in total disbelief as some have concluded it is the second coming of Jesus Christ. But for most, the decision is clear. Tolive another day, leaving is the only rational choice.
At an increasing rate, scientific research data shows that humans and most animals, excluding the Jellyfish will eventually lose the usage of hearing and are to greatly suffer from an array of other neurological and psychological effects. The sense of touch and taste, sleep depreciation, severe nerve damage, constant hallucinations. Everyone will lose many of their cognitive abilities within an estimated 12 months from now.
On this day and every 7 days afterwards until all registered passengers have departed, the first of a fleet of large number of massive size spacecraft carrying approximately 1 million humans per vessel will permanently leave Earth to begin the long and adventurous trek across outer space to a new home: Vega.
This is not a precautionary tale as there is nothing to learn. Instead, a decision has been made and a Trip To Vega is the consequence.
Balancing glitch-pop and contemporary piano, the Belgian pianist explores the edges of her voice, language and twisted electronica
The Belgian pianist and producer maya dhondt releases a new album titled 'wow, x', marking her debut solo album under her own name. Navigating between bedroom glitch-pop and contemporary piano, she presents sounds of alienating beauty.
The album ‘wow, x’ will be released on September 13 on vinyl and all digital platforms via VIERNULVIER Records.
“I find beauty in the uncomfortable and disorienting" - maya dhont
The first single, 'desire,' is a mutated synth-pop track that gets under the skin. The song centralizes longing for something you don't know (yet). Perhaps it's the smell of damp earth, which can be both pleasant and unsettling? The single is now available on all streaming platforms and comes with a schizophrenic video by Sakis Brönnimann.
The first release show is scheduled for Saturday, October 5, at De Koer, Ghent.
More shows will be announced soon.
A postmodern cramp, that's how one could describe the music of pianist and producer maya dhondt. Her music is an intuitive and a never ending exploration that has the potential to be and become a multitude of things at once.
On her first solo album under her own name, 'wow, x,' she presents 10 varied tracks in which she creates equally idiosyncratic sound worlds. She takes the liberty to endlessly experiment with vocals, piano, and a mix of distorted lo-fi electronic sounds with an open mind. The result is sometimes synthetic and weird, sometimes compellingly beautiful, and always captivating, drawing you into its underlying melody. These intelligently crafted productions are connected by a penchant for alienating beauty: like a warm, but damp cave where it’s pleasant to linger just a little longer. Her original sound moves within a sonic spectrum reminiscent of contemporary artists such as Lolina, Astrid Sonne, claire rousay, aya or Carla Dal Forno.
"What I create never stands alone, it can be many things at once"
If the world were a sculpture garden, maya dhondt eagerly picks from it to draw inspiration from both visual and literary passages as well as personal experiences. Her highly personal bedroom productions are grounded firmly in the world due to philosophical references and politically charged messages. And the world she lives in is being questioned on 'wow, x', as the title refers to "What Or Why?". This is evident in the single 'desire': "What is the thing that matters / to exist / or to know you’re existing?" What does one choose in life: to live in the moment or to live to remember that moment?
In the lyrics on 'wow, x', maya dhondt plays - at times childishly - with language and its boundaries. On 'tip toe tip,' banal wordplay leads to an unexpected confession, and the seemingly simple phrases in 'untitled' conceal hidden life lessons. dhondt's world of words is multilayered and multilingual: Dutch ('kleine cijfers, groot verlies'), English ('desire'), and French ('untitled') are at her disposal. And on the fierce track that is 'minimalinvasiv,' not only she turns to hardstyle, but also to German - a language dear to her due to her Swiss heritage.
AS THE WORLD TURNS is the newly founded label by Rob Manga -- a platform created to channel his distinct sonic identity while cultivating a community rooted in shared energy and expression. The label emerges from a clear intention: to push a personal sound forward while opening space for others to connect, contribute, and evolve alongside it. It is both a statement and an invitation -- a place where sound becomes a meeting point. The first release marks this vision with a four-track EP, weaving together soulful textures, deep atmospheres, and club-driven impact. Each track reflects a different facet of the dancefloor, balancing introspection with movement, and depth with raw energy. With this debut, AS THE WORLD TURNS sets the tone -- not just as a label, but as a growing circle centered around sound, rhythm, and connection.
Steyoyoke Anniversary, Vol. 15 marks a special chapter in the label’s history with a double vinyl edition dedicated to the sound, artists, and identity that have shaped Steyoyoke over the years. Across eight original tracks, the release brings together Soul Button, Clawz SG, Nick Devon, 2Qimic, Monarke, MPathy, Seismal D, and René Diehl, forming a carefully curated journey through the label’s Ethereal Techno sound.
From the emotional depth of Silent Truth and the shadowed atmosphere of Lumen Obscura, to the melodic tension of The Day You Decide To Change and the introspective movement of My Dreams, the first part of the vinyl sets a deep and immersive tone. The second half expands the energy with Pressure, Sora, Consciousness, and Pulse, moving between driving grooves, cinematic textures, and refined club-focused intensity.
Pressed as a double vinyl, Steyoyoke Anniversary, Vol. 15 stands as both a celebration and a reflection - a collection built around memory, connection, and the unmistakable emotional language of Steyoyoke.
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.
Be The Mountain (2026) is the latest release from Detroit-based musician STS. The record explores a serene and introspective world shaped by organically morphed textures and slowly evolving soundscapes.
While largely drumless, the album maintains a subtle rhythmic backbone - not through traditional percussion, but through modulated pads, shifting synths, and carefully sculpted ambience. The music moves and breathes without overt propulsion, finding tension and momentum through tone, density, and motion rather than beats.
Much of the record was written during a period of sustained physical and mental strain. A time when daily effort fought against perceived limits. Instead of responding with heavier or more aggressive material, the music became a quiet counterweight to the intensity. These tracks function as an escape from chaos. They are built from patience, repetition, and a gradual transformation.
The title reflects a central idea behind the record: confronting something that initially feels insurmountable, only to realize that the enduring force is the one within us all.
Be The Mountain is about endurance, not as struggle, but as presence.
Mystic Letter K presents Occulimus. Behind this alias stands Cari Lekebusch, one of Europe’s most respected and prolific techno figures, with an undeniable legacy and historic releases on labels such as Missile, Hybrid, and Planet Rhythm, among many others.
With Mystic Letter K, Lekebusch steps into a parallel, more mature and conceptual universe—one where he fully explores a mental, tribal, deeply hypnotic and highly danceable strain of electro. His sound is built on constantly shifting patterns: elements that repeat, reconfigure, and sequence themselves in multiple ways, creating a continuous sense of motion that drives the listener into states of trance and altered perception. Occulimus captures this essence with surgical precision: an unmatched groove, raw yet refined, designed for the dancefloor but equally suited for full immersion. Each side of this double vinyl acts as a powerful and versatile tool, allowing any DJ to build, sustain, and transform energy with a single record in the bag.
A direct, functional, and absorbing work that reaffirms Lekebusch’s forward-thinking vision and his unique ability to sculpt sound in motion.
With Mr. Coconut, Cosmo Dance delivers a four-track EP that strengthens a distinctive sonic identity, blending retro aesthetics, club culture and cinematic sensibility into a cohesive body of work.
The title track unfolds through refined dynamic control. Warm multilayered percussion, textured guitars and a deep yet restrained bassline create an organic groove that evolves gradually rather than relying on obvious drops. The production favors subtle progression and hypnotic growth, resulting in elegant, mature dance music.
Goodbye expands the project’s narrative dimension. Inspired by the atmosphere of Italian ’70s library music, the track represents the protagonist’s theatrical exit from the club — not a melancholic farewell, but a charismatic closing scene. A playful detail emerges when Dandolo (Cosmo Dance’s alter ego) delivers an ironic “cough solo” precisely as an off-voice introduces Mr. Coconut, adding a self-aware cinematic twist.
Dub nuts explores deeper dub-informed territory. Built through layering and subtraction, the track showcases careful spatial control and restrained low-end management.
The EP closes with the Coccappella Version, a stripped-down reinterpretation of the title track focused solely on percussion and voice, revealing the rhythmic backbone of the project.
Mr. Coconut is a refined balance between club functionality and cinematic storytelling — controlled, elegant and unmistakably personal. It’s not about peak-time fireworks — it’s about atmosphere, detail and identity.
For its eleventh installment, Raw Soul continues to carve out its place in the deeper end of the house spectrum, this time welcoming Stuttgart-based DJ and producer Jakob Mäder to the fold.
Titled "House Your Feeling", the five-track EP captures Mäder's wide-ranging musical language-rooted in house, yet drifting effortlessly into ambient textures, disco-tinted warmth, and subtly experimental structures. It's a body of work that feels both intimate and expansive, equally suited for late-night listening and early-morning dancefloors.
The collaboration has been a long time in the making. Built over months of close exchange, the project reflects not only a shared musical vision but also a genuine personal connection. That sense of trust and patience resonates throughout the record-carefully crafted, unhurried, and deeply felt.
Across the EP, Mäder explores different shades of house music: from reduced, dreamy cuts to more groove-driven moments, always maintaining a distinct emotional core. One of the highlights comes in the form of a collaboration with Markus Phillip, adding another layer of depth to an already rich release.
Known for his work with the Midnight Service crew and his eclectic productions spanning ambient, deep house and breakbeat, Mäder brings a refined yet playful touch to Raw Soul's catalogue. With "House Your Feeling", he delivers a timeless contribution that feels grounded in the present while nodding to the genre's enduring legacy.
Released independently and on her 30th birthday, "Water Baby" is Giorgia-May's stunning debut album. Spanning over 8 tracks & recorded live at The Famous Goldwatch Studios in Berlin, Giorgia collaborates with some of Berlin's finest musicians to enhance her craft at putting emotions into songs. Each track highlights something different in her ability to channel pain, desire, lust and heartbreak, all whilst (most of the time) making you want to dance & smile.
Stemming originally from Brighton (UK), Giorgia-May has been pursuing a musical career through the means of travel. Now based in Berlin, she combines sensual lyrics, mesmerising tones and exciting arrangements which draw upon her personal experiences of love, loss and coming into womanhood. Blending soulful melodies with jazzy chords and hints of RnB, she takes influence from writers such as Olivia Dean & Amy Winehouse.
Extensive independent European tour in August & September 2026 through the following cities: Berlin, Paris, Bilbao, Porto, Lisbon, Valencia, Barcelona, Marseille, Cannes, Milan, Lake Como, Zurich, Luxembourg, Brussles, Cologne, Amsterdam and more ...
Selekt Wax returns with its second vinyl offering, shifting the lens from introspection toward motion. Where its predecessor explored stillness and space, Varginha 96 leans into rhythm with a more fluid, tactile energy.
Loopedeville works within a minimal framework but pushes it toward something more animated. Groove takes the lead, while detail reveals itself gradually. The result is playful but controlled, built for movement while still carrying depth beneath the surface.
Inspired by the 1996 Varginha incident in Brazil, the record carries a subtle sense of the otherworldly. Not in a literal sense, but in texture. Unfamiliar tones, slightly off center moments, and elements that feel just outside of reach.
Etched on the sleeve, a poem sets the tone:
the analog moment is now
but, how? release
free form feelings finding
new places in yourself
a sort of synthesis
of interpretations
crash & collide
into the infinite groove of reality
but, is anything really real?
A1 – Varginha 96
A breakbeat driven opener centered on a looping vocal from the Varginha ‘96 incident. Off kilter synth textures circle the groove, giving it a subtle, otherworldly feel. Simple on the surface, with depth that reveals itself over time.
A2 – Varginha 96 (Ohm Hourani Remix)
Ohm takes it into a more stripped back, hypnotic space. Centered around the same vocal, the track locks into repetition and feel. Hazy, controlled, and built for late hours.
B1 – Thunders in Paradise
A driving groove built on dusty drums and a tightly controlled rhythm. It holds a steady pulse, with understated details and shifting textures giving it quiet depth.
B2 – Never Enough
A fluid, late night groove shaped by Loopedeville’s signature swing. Less driving than the previous cut, but still locked in, with warm tones and an easy bounce that carries through.
For his sixth solo album, Ezéchiel Pailhès returns with a new collection of songs infused by a sunny wandering spirit.
Within each of the twelve songs on SOL is a thread of melancholic happiness that has permeated much of Pailhès’ music and songwriting. He addresses love, the passing of time, hope, lost illusions, fleeting moments of grace, the temptation of forgetting, a need to escape, and desire. All this is
insulated by understated orchestrations that blend acoustic and electronic instrumentation with deft confidence.
The Portuguese and Brazilian concept of saudade—a form of melancholic longing and nostalgia— pervades, thanks in part to Pailhès decision to record the album in Rio de Janiero and to reinterpret some of the finest works of Música Popular Brasileira (MPB). In particular, he revisits a handful of
lesser known classics from the mid-century samba and bossa nova era—originally written or performed by talents including Vinícius de Moraes, João Gilberto, Tom Zé, Dorival Caymmi, João Donato, Os Tincoãs, and Ataulfo Alves.
The shift from Brazilian Portuguese to French and the decision to adapt rather than perform a straightforward cover versions, allows Pailhès to invent a form of prosody and euphony (the musicality and harmonious combination of words) that feels vibrant and unlike anything else in today’s French
chanson landscape.
“Some lyrics are simple translations from Portuguese, in what I’d call an expanded version. For others, I started from a single word or a single phrase and embroidered an entirely new text that carried me elsewhere,” explains Pailhès. “I allowed myself great interpretive freedom, while preserving the humanist dimension of the original songs. I’ve always been deeply moved by the way Brazilians transfigure reality through heightened emotion. I love this visceral and spontaneous country, which always seems to live through emotion. And above all, I love its music both popular and unifying,
bringing together all social classes. In that sense, it’s very political music, but even more so utopian, made by the people and for the people.”
On this new album, however, the French artist was keen to avoid cliché. Each song is therefore built around a carefully balanced interplay between Pailhès’ piano and synthesizers, alongside restrained arrangements of percussion, brass, bass, and cavaquinho (a small four-string plucked guitar). These parts were recorded in Rio de Janeiro with two musicians who regularly perform alongside the legendary Caetano Veloso—Kainã Do Jêje and Alberto Continentino—joined by Thomas Harres, Antônio Neves, Eduardo Neves, and Gabriel Loddo.
Since the 1960s, France and Brazil have shared a long-standing cultural and musical relationship. Some Brazilian artists, most famously Gilberto Gil, took refuge in France during the dictatorship years (1964–1985). But above all, French chanson quickly fell in love with the richness and ingenuity of
bossa nova and samba, translating and reinventing them in the language of Molière. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, albums and hits by Henri Salvador, Georges Moustaki, Pierre Barouh, Pierre Vassiliu, and Claude Nougaro all drew from the MPB repertoire.
Fifty years later, with SOL, Ezéchiel Pailhès reinvents this rich Franco-Brazilian musical legacy, bringing to it a personality and modernity that stand confidently alongside those of his forbears.
Six tracks. Six undeniable hits. Science can't explain it.
Four dazzling pdqb originals: pop-infused disco house transmissions where retro dreams collide with absurdly modern groove technology and hyper-modern circuitry. Hooks everywhere. Basslines that flirt shamelessly with eternity. Rhythms that know exactly what they're doing.
And then Roman Flügel arrives at the party. With two remixes of such dubby, technoid magnificence that they bend the laws of physics wherever they're played.
The cover? Pure gold. A radiant golden surface punctured by bullet marks - courtesy of world-renowned artist Maurizio Cattelan. When the music hits this hard, the artwork should too.
And the vinyl itself is no less extravagant: it reveals a dramatic close-up of the Direct Hit - a colossal crater surrounded by smoky burn marks, gleaming like a tiny golden monument to impeccable taste.
A small but undeniable upgrade to the cultural history of planet Earth. Play loud. Repeat often. History will thank you.
P.S. Real-world violence is neither glamorous nor welcome - this record stands firmly for peace, joy, and the radical idea that the only explosions worth having happen on dancefloors.
We're always excited to welcome new faces to the imprint. Although not totally new to the label, having featured on the Fragment / 1 VA back in late 2024, Quartz returns here for his first full EP release.
'Cold Voids' is ominous, yet uplifting in its own right. Nostalgic but forward thinking. Techy, deep, rolling goodness!
Ryjel was a band from suburban Pittsburgh, PA, that started out in the mid-1970s performing classic rock covers. The band was approached by a local entrepreneur who wanted to cut a single for the disco market, but a lack of financing scuttled the proposal. Nevertheless, the band was able to record a dozen of its original tunes in a professional studio for possible release, and among those songs were "Heart's On Fire" and "Baby Don't Stop."
Both tracks were recorded some 50 years ago having remained unreleased to this day. It needed the investigative work of the Tramp Records crew to discover them. Finally they are available on a strictly limited 45 RPM single release. In addition, the full length version of "Heart's On Fire" will soon be released on the upcoming Tramp Records compilation titled "CAN YOU FEEL IT Vol.5 - Modern Soul, Disco & Boogie 1977-88".
Some tracks don’t need fixing. They just need a bit more room. South African composer and keyboard wizard Don Laka has been quietly sitting in DJ bags for years, especially with people who like their synth music warm, slightly
mysterious, and impossible to date properly. Somewhere between jazz funk, township pulse and studio electronics, but really just its own thing.
Stages was an obvious candidate for extension. Prins Thomas what he does best here: opens the arrangement, lets the synth lines breathe, stretches the groove until it starts floating a little higher off the ground. Nothing forced, nothing added for
the sake of it. Just more of a very good thing. I Wanna Be Myself gets a gentle nudge from Gerd Janson. The idea was simple: keep the personality, and give DJs a version that lands naturally in a modern set without losing the original charm. It’s still the same track, just standing a bit straighter.
And because the source matters, the original version of “Stages” is here as well. Always good to remember where the magic started. Three versions, no drama. Just strong music that already knew what it was doing.
Tom Sharkett has been one to watch in the last year via his remix work for DFA, Sub Pop and more plus his edits that are quietly out there doing damage with those that know. Here he arrives on Test Pressing Recordings with ’25’. Hot on the heels of his remix of LCD Soundsystem’s ‘Home’ – ‘Easily one of the biggest records of the Summer’ (Phonica Records) – here is his first solo EP for the label. ‘Painting On Glass’ arrives and sets the mood. Heavy synths and breaks. ’25’ features the vocals of mui zyu and pulls from the likes of New Order but takes them somewhere new. The third track, 'Sleepwalk', sees mui zyu return — a love song that sets a mood then drops into a vocoder loop midway before a fitting finale. ‘I’ll Call If I Want You’ closes the EP with a vocal from Tom himself. It’s a perfect closer. This isn’t a straight up dance record. It’s an artist showing they’ve got big ideas and a home for them.
Special UK Import - Straight from the Stay Up Forever Headquarters !! Low Quantity available. The 8th Triple A brings Ben Fraser’s floor smashing ACID LOVE EP to the table…4 tracks of pounding psy-tinged Acid Techno for acid lovers everywhere…
Little Beat More welcomes a new 7” from Conjunto Media Luna, a release that moves along the deep axis connecting Colombia and Mexico where cumbia mutates, and projects itself into new dimensions.
On the A-side, “Kumbia Tequendama” sees the group joined by rebajada pioneer Amantes del Futuro, a key figure in shaping the futuristic vision of cumbia across generations and geographies. Born between Mérida, Medellín, and the legendary Mambo Negro studios in Bogotá, the track reflects years of friendship and shared sonic research. Hypnotic accordion lines intertwine with dense low-end pressure, channeling an energy rooted in tradition but fully tuned to the present, built for dancefloors, sound systems, and the growing decentralized community of modern cumbia.
On the flip side, French producer La Dame reshapes “No es Moda”, originally featuring La Terrorista del Sabor, into a forward-leaning DnB and Future Bass reinterpretation. Faster, sharper, and more weightless, the remix opens a new perspective on the original while preserving its nocturnal spirit and emotional depth.
The artwork is signed by Bogotá’s own Mateo Rivano, whose unmistakable visual language has defined the aesthetic of some of the most visionary projects in contemporary cumbia.
Part of the wider sonic universe of Sociedad Internacional de la Kumbia, Conjunto Media Luna’s upcoming album, this 7” captures the group’s ongoing exploration of cumbia as a shared space, where distance disappears, traditions remain in motion, and new frequencies emerge from collective memory.
Made with Love by Little Beat More 2026
“We Dance We Think”
Hopeful, defiant, effusive, and ecstatic, Radio!! Radio!! is the 20th album from Erasure, one of pop’s most beloved songwriting partnerships.
The record finds Andy Bell and Vince Clarke continuing to refine and deepen the pop edifice they’ve been building over the past 40 years with a set of 10 songs about love, loss and injustice that speaks, powerfully, to our empathy-starved times.
A uniquely personal album, it was shaped by a period of profound grief. When the duo got together to write the album, it was as much in the spirit of uplifting an old friend as it was work – you can hear this thread of warmth and mutual care throughout.
The album that transposes the dazzling hugeness of the duo’s best work onto avowedly more personal, more reflective songwriting. Bell acknowledges that it would be easier, perhaps, for he and Clarke to go on autopilot, 40 years into their career. But how would that pass as Erasure? “It’s a two-person brain, and everything that we’ve gone through comes into it,” he says. “We have a sense of responsibility. We couldn’t ever do something throwaway.”
Radio!! Radio!! is rooted in Erasure’s unique synth-pop palette with some key augmentation: when working on the sound of this album, Clarke was unusually drawn to piano, as well as acoustic guitar. The use of these instruments adds drama and depth to their sound whilst leaving room for the kind of glassy synth pop that Erasure made their name on.
Hoffnungsvoll, trotzig, überschwänglich und euphorisch: Radio!! Radio!! ist das 20. Album von Erasure, einem der beliebtesten Songwriting-Duos der Popmusik.
Auf dem Album entwickeln Andy Bell und Vince Clarke das musikalische Pop-Gebäude, an dem sie seit 40 Jahren arbeiten, konsequent weiter und verleihen ihm zusätzliche Tiefe. Die zehn Songs handeln von Liebe, Verlust und Ungerechtigkeit und treffen damit auf eindringliche Weise den Nerv unserer Zeit, in der es so oft an Empathie mangelt.
Es ist ein ausgesprochen persönliches Album, geprägt von einer Phase tiefer Trauer. Als sich das Duo zum Schreiben der neuen Songs traf, ging es dabei ebenso sehr darum, einen alten Freund wieder aufzurichten, wie um die gemeinsame Arbeit. Diese Wärme und gegenseitige Fürsorge ziehen sich hörbar wie ein roter Faden durch das gesamte Album.
Das Album überträgt die schillernde Größe der besten Arbeiten des Duos auf ein bewusst persönlicheres und nachdenklicheres Songwriting. Bell räumt ein, dass es für ihn und Clarke nach 40 Jahren Karriere vielleicht einfacher wäre, einfach auf Autopilot weiterzumachen. Aber wäre das noch Erasure? „Es ist wie ein gemeinsames Gehirn zweier Menschen, und alles, was wir erlebt haben, fließt darin ein“, sagt er. „Wir verspüren eine gewisse Verantwortung. Wir könnten niemals etwas Belangloses machen.
“Radio!! Radio!! ist fest in Erasures unverwechselbarer Synthie-Pop-Klangwelt verwurzelt, erweitert diese jedoch um einige entscheidende Elemente: Bei der Arbeit am Sound des Albums fühlte sich Clarke ungewöhnlich stark zum Klavier und auch zur Akustikgitarre hingezogen. Der Einsatz dieser Instrumente verleiht dem Sound zusätzliche Dramatik und Tiefe, lässt aber zugleich genügend Raum für jenen glasklaren Synthie-Pop, mit dem Erasure berühmt geworden sind.
Hopeful, defiant, effusive, and ecstatic, Radio!! Radio!! is the 20th album from Erasure, one of pop’s most beloved songwriting partnerships.
The record finds Andy Bell and Vince Clarke continuing to refine and deepen the pop edifice they’ve been building over the past 40 years with a set of 10 songs about love, loss and injustice that speaks, powerfully, to our empathy-starved times.
A uniquely personal album, it was shaped by a period of profound grief. When the duo got together to write the album, it was as much in the spirit of uplifting an old friend as it was work – you can hear this thread of warmth and mutual care throughout.
The album that transposes the dazzling hugeness of the duo’s best work onto avowedly more personal, more reflective songwriting. Bell acknowledges that it would be easier, perhaps, for he and Clarke to go on autopilot, 40 years into their career. But how would that pass as Erasure? “It’s a two-person brain, and everything that we’ve gone through comes into it,” he says. “We have a sense of responsibility. We couldn’t ever do something throwaway.”
Radio!! Radio!! is rooted in Erasure’s unique synth-pop palette with some key augmentation: when working on the sound of this album, Clarke was unusually drawn to piano, as well as acoustic guitar. The use of these instruments adds drama and depth to their sound whilst leaving room for the kind of glassy synth pop that Erasure made their name on.
Hoffnungsvoll, trotzig, überschwänglich und euphorisch: Radio!! Radio!! ist das 20. Album von Erasure, einem der beliebtesten Songwriting-Duos der Popmusik.
Auf dem Album entwickeln Andy Bell und Vince Clarke das musikalische Pop-Gebäude, an dem sie seit 40 Jahren arbeiten, konsequent weiter und verleihen ihm zusätzliche Tiefe. Die zehn Songs handeln von Liebe, Verlust und Ungerechtigkeit und treffen damit auf eindringliche Weise den Nerv unserer Zeit, in der es so oft an Empathie mangelt.
Es ist ein ausgesprochen persönliches Album, geprägt von einer Phase tiefer Trauer. Als sich das Duo zum Schreiben der neuen Songs traf, ging es dabei ebenso sehr darum, einen alten Freund wieder aufzurichten, wie um die gemeinsame Arbeit. Diese Wärme und gegenseitige Fürsorge ziehen sich hörbar wie ein roter Faden durch das gesamte Album.
Das Album überträgt die schillernde Größe der besten Arbeiten des Duos auf ein bewusst persönlicheres und nachdenklicheres Songwriting. Bell räumt ein, dass es für ihn und Clarke nach 40 Jahren Karriere vielleicht einfacher wäre, einfach auf Autopilot weiterzumachen. Aber wäre das noch Erasure? „Es ist wie ein gemeinsames Gehirn zweier Menschen, und alles, was wir erlebt haben, fließt darin ein“, sagt er. „Wir verspüren eine gewisse Verantwortung. Wir könnten niemals etwas Belangloses machen.
“Radio!! Radio!! ist fest in Erasures unverwechselbarer Synthie-Pop-Klangwelt verwurzelt, erweitert diese jedoch um einige entscheidende Elemente: Bei der Arbeit am Sound des Albums fühlte sich Clarke ungewöhnlich stark zum Klavier und auch zur Akustikgitarre hingezogen. Der Einsatz dieser Instrumente verleiht dem Sound zusätzliche Dramatik und Tiefe, lässt aber zugleich genügend Raum für jenen glasklaren Synthie-Pop, mit dem Erasure berühmt geworden sind.
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.
HVS is stoked to have Wetman back for the second time on the label! This is part one of a two part series showcasing original tunes from Wetman and remixes of those tunes, so stay locked for the next one soon! Dan had initially sent me two original tracks of his along with the two remixes of “Inside” from Etch & Meridian. We both agreed it would be cool to spread out the tracks into a series since there were already two remixes of the same tune, so Laramie and I whipped up a third mix and here we are!
As most of you know, Dan and I both started Vivid way back in 2017 so it's really really awesome to still be releasing tunes from him almost 10 years later! Dan has since gone back down to Cali while I'm stuck up here in Seattle, but we still collaborate as often as we can. His original mix is so damn creative and probably the wildest mix of the bunch. Excellently sourced samples per usual from him, most of which I didn't know, but Meridian is actually the one that tipped me on the Harold Budd sample!
I first heard BC badman Meridian's EP on Disrupt Records when it came out a couple years back, and was floored with his tunes! I was really excited to have a mix from him for this. And his mix really delivers IMO. With some seriously precision cuts/choppage and a really excellent balance of light and dark in the mix. It's very cool having a (sort of) local producer on the label as well!
Etch, out of London needs no intro really, with a ton of quality releases under his belt spanning all sorts of dance genres, it's really an honor having him on the label! Being a fellow FL user and also a gear fanatic make for some fun chats with Etch as well. His mix is the most mellow of the bunch but it still slaps hard everytime.
Laramie's mix is super duper techy, which is a bit different to his usual niceness style! But he wanted to switch it up for this one. I was happy to jump in the studio and record a vocal for the track. We think this mix came together nicely!
If – in some parallel universe (or perhaps a not-so-distant-future version of the one we’re already sentenced to living in) – the evil overloads of artificial intelligence were actually successful in their attempts to create convincingly enjoyable “original music,” more specifically tasked with wholly encapsulating my own personal tastes by data-chugging some cocktail of – oh, I don’t know – the posters on my wall, the records in my “most listened to” pile, the mixtapes I made for others, intensive physical scans of my auditory cortex, amygdala, hippocampus, heart strings, whatever else they have splayed out on their autopsy table with the intention of generating one all-encompassing “perfect band” based on the fruitful sum of their findings – that band, for me, would be (or would at least sound exactly like) the Tara Clerkin Trio. It is, quite simply, without exception, the music I wish to hear.
Formed in Bristol UK (where none of them are from yet all of whom are deeply engrained) in 2020, the Tara Clerkin Trio – as it somewhat democratically exists today, despite the singular authority implied by its name – consists of the titular Tara Clerkin, her partner Sunny Joe Paradisos, and Sunny’s brother, Patrick Benjamin. I’ll confess, I don’t know what their respective roles are within the operation and there’s only a very small part of me that cares to learn, as one of my favorite qualities in an objective listening experience is the mystery of who is playing what, which sounds are “authentic” versus synthesized, which chunks are performed “live” in a room together versus meticulously Frankenstein’ed from measure to measure, or how exactly the overall sound is so (seemingly) effortlessly achieved. Though, I suspect, if and when I do witness a live performance by this band at any point, my enjoyment of the music will not be lost in my better understanding of it.
With two extraordinary mini-albums – In Spring (2021) and On The Turning Ground (2023) – making a splash on London’s formidable World of Echo label in wake of their self-titled 2020 debut, this upcoming Somewhere Good LP is, in many ways, the band’s most realised work. In running their usual gauntlet of idiosyncratic (*an overused adjective for which here there is regrettably no sufficient alternative) approaches, Clerkin & co. colour in and outside of compositional lines over the course of 40+ celebratory minutes - never wallowing, despite inherently somber subject matters of self-defeat, disease, displacement, restlessness, gentrification - allowing their arrangements and improvisations ample space and time to situate, stretch out, breathe, cross-pollinate, and ultimately take deeper hold on the listener’s imagination – all while somehow sounding more like themselves than ever before.
Of course, there are traceable influences herein, if one felt that such comparisons were necessary to properly examine and enjoy this music (they aren’t)… Being the big dumb American from the small boring town that I am, cornfed on ‘90s alternative radio with the enchantingly exotic sounds of Maxinquaye and Mezzanine emanating from my chunky tube television, I can’t help but to make a blatantly obvious reference to a “Bristol sound”, ie the whole trip-hop trip, the pastoral crooning over the suggestive urban grime of cracked electro/piano treatments, the digitally-yet-primitively reconstructed James Bond soundtrack string-beats, etc.. But the Tara Clerkin Trio is so infinitely much more than that. There are elements of avant-pop, modern classical, kraut-folk, audio verité, dare I say indie rock (and not of the beer guzzling, masturbatory fuzz-flex variety but perhaps more like a Trish Keenan-fronted Faust, Adrian Sherwood at the mixing desk of If You’re Feeling Sinister, or – in expanding on our alternate reality – a world in which High Llamas cut a full-length for Warp Records with Andrew Weatherall on coffee duty).
The hazy, unmappable skyline-mirage of droning harmonium, upright bass, peculiarly accentuated wind instruments, acoustic guitar, hushed yet literally mighty keys combine to hypnotizing effect. The band may make underlying nods to jazz, sure, but it’s not appropriation, it’s that they have the actual chops to build it out. Beneath the janky samples and oddball percussive embellishment lies actually great drumming. Beyond the manipulated vocal witchery and woefully reflective plain-spoke moments are Tara’s subtly inspired melodies, sung with what might honestly be the glue to the whole crazy equation. A calming consistency throughout the otherwise unpredictably dynamic, boldly intuitive, uniquely British exploration of this (their own) universe in song. – Ryan Davis (Chicago, February 2026)
VA – Paradisi Artificiali brings together four distinct sound compositions, each resisting the urge to resemble the others but united by the way they manipulate perception.
Polygonia crafts shifting rhythmic paths where the groove warps and regenerates in real time, maintaining an organic tension that keeps the body in motion without ever truly settling into place.
Feral operates through subtraction, slowing time and excavating sound’s spatial depth. Its tracks don’t progress so much as they envelop, drawing the listener inward into a layered, introspective space.
Agonis introduces a more unstable, sensory thread, weaving transitions and accumulations that build in stages. Frequencies become tangible matter, and the progression unfolds without ever erupting entirely.
Crossing Avenue weaves these directions together without hardening them, infusing the record with a more rooted, almost ancestral rhythmic element that surfaces in the structure of the patterns and the choice of timbre.
The result isn’t a neat synthesis, but a coexistence. The tracks unfold along a shared line without ever converging, articulating a dynamic balance between tension and release. It’s an album that works through gradual alterations, through subtle slippages in perception, as in “Les Paradis Artificiels”. The point isn’t escape, but intensification. The sound burrows deep, reshaping how things are experienced, until a denser, more ambiguous, more alive reality emerges.
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
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 !!!"
-3LP triple set featuring all the Prescription versions and the newly created AD II artworks by Steven Stapleton.
The booklet features all lyrics, extensive liner notes and sheds light on the interesting circumstances of the creation of this Coil release by Gary Ramon who not only instigated the sessions but also provided the haunting location for their recordings.
Has been respectfully and expertly remastered by grammy-nominated Jessica Thompson. Artwork by Steven Stapleton design & layout by Oleg Galay.
Cloudy Pink / Cloudy Green 2XLP. Before being called “the coolest man in music” (The Line of Best Fit), Paul Castelluzzo was a teenager surfing the beaches of San Diego and playing bars with local jazz greats like Curtis Taylor, until Rodney Jerkins brought him to Los Angeles to perform on tracks for Britney Spears and Justin Bieber. In between driving for Lyft and serving as the music director for a Russian Pentecostal church to make ends meet, he was enlisted for Romeo Santos’ album, Golden, but soon returned home to begin his next chapter as Hether.
Since then, his self-taught guitar style, songwriting talents and profound production palette have led to him working with everyone from Clairo, Dominic Fike, Remi Wolf and The Marías to Paul McCartney, Anderson .Paak, Benny Blanco, Kali Uchis, Kenny Beats, Mac Miller, Rick Ross, Vince Staples and more who continue to discover Hether. Having already amassed millions of streams and hundreds of thousands of fans, landing music in HBO shows and scoring films, Holy Water marks both the culmination of everything Castelluzzo has experienced and accomplished, and an expansive new evolution of a project that has shaped the present and predicted the future, but remains entirely his own.
Five years after their radiant debut Ufo Bar, Italian cinematic funksters Banda Maje are back with Costa Sud to take us deeper into their land of ‘Salifornia’—a Southern province of sun-drenched coastlines and decaying buildings where dreams of exotic escapism sprout and bloom.
Once again, behind the eight tracks in the album—and behind the wheel of the fiery red Alfasud on the cover—is composer and keyboardist Peppe Maiellano. He has meticulously tailored each piece to his virtuoso partners in crime: a 'family' of exuberant musicians spread between Salerno and Naples, all bound by deep-rooted ties to the region and a shared belief in the grit of independent artistry.
The Costa Sud (South Coast) imagined by Banda Maje is a shimmering ribbon of sun-baked asphalt stretched between the sea and the ancient pine forests of the Gulf of Salerno. It is a land of enchanting but wounded places, where the grace of Ancient Greek civilization sits in a restless silence alongside the scars of rampant building and neglect. “But if truth is beauty and beauty is truth,” Maiellano explains, inverting Keats’s famous line, “with the right eyes, you can find beauty and poetry even under a layer of moral and material filth."
Conceived and recorded entirely in the South, the album nevertheless looks beyond the horizon. While Neapolitan funk and golden-age Italian soundtracks remain the double helix of the band's DNA, this album welcomes new influences from across the ocean, weaving Italy, Brazil, Africa, and contemporary sounds into its unique vision of the 'global South.'
Side A is an immersion into Salifornian territory and its myths: from the carefree instrumental disco-funk of the title track, which sublimates local contradictions into enveloping cinematic atmospheres, to the mellow groove of “Baia”—a fusion of Neapolitan funk, afrobeat, and disco that pays homage to Salerno’s famous beach, squeezed between millennia-old sea rocks and mountains of shipping containers. The band’s heartfelt sense of belonging shines in their fresh soul-disco version of “Mo…” (a 1981 cult classic by Neapolitan legend Peppino di Capri) featuring Maiellano’s own vocals, while the reimagining of Tonico 70's “Jet Lag” celebrates a fraternal partnership with the Salerno-based rapper/producer, charting a musical itinerary that unites Brazil, the States, and Salifornia through evocative grooves, sharp synths, and Gianfranco Campagnoli’s exquisite trumpet.
On Side B, the sound becomes even more eclectic with the samba-funk warmth of “Samba Maje”, where Mediterranean melodies and lush vocal harmonies marry jazz-funk arrangements and disco-inflected Brazilian rhythms. The next track, “Africana”, is dedicated to a legendary dolce vita nightclub on the Amalfi Coast (and its founder Luca Milano); here, a rhythmic mantra incorporating tribal African elements blends with synths that evoke RAI television themes of the late 70s. The journey concludes under the sign of the silver screen: the disco-funk elegance of “Black Glamour Girl” (from the early-80s road-trip comedy In viaggio con papà), a tribute to the compositional genius of Piero Piccioni, and “Lovebossa”—an easy-listening homage to the "Cine Bossa" atmospheres that characterized so many Italian soundtracks of the 60s and 70s, finally carrying the listener ‘ncopp’ ‘e nuvole (above the clouds—which is basically Salifornian for "somewhere over the rainbow").
Born in Wroc?aw. Known and liked as a member of the Wroclaw-based duo Skalpel. Much less known and liked as the author of several solo albums that illustrate and explore different states of consciousness: Breslau (solo debut released on Ninja Tune) - the frenzy of war, Dream Logic - the meanders of dreams, Delirium - psychedelic hallucinations, Fyodor - religious exaltation and ethical illusions. On the album "Refleks", he explores the state of consciousness of an old digger and beatmaker. He lives in Wroclaw.
About Refleks:
Refleks is tender and free. Of the two meanings of this word in Polish, I choose the one that is a reflection of light on a river. Hypnotic and never monotonous, brilliant and charming, with depth slumbering beneath. The whirlpools we encounter on the album are only slightly cunning; they are rather playful. Although one can look into the abyss, it is not greedy-it allows you to stay on the shore and does not consume you unconditionally.
In some tracks, it even throws you out: you think you're still riding that slide-a tunnel you think is endless-but it ends safely and suddenly in the grass. In the plush. As if a momentary wind carried you away, only to stop at the least expected moment, finding yourself in a completely new yet seemingly familiar space-time-at home, which is not yours, yet not foreign either. While the titles clearly suggest Wroc?aw-based situations, in my opinion, we are moving on a higher level of intimacy and abstraction. On the waves of the ether, the forgotten element of everything that cannot be measured, weighed, or counted. What we know for sure, but might only seem so to us. In the hospitable cosmos of a well-settled head.
Fishbowl EP marks Natebytheway at his most personal, sounding like both a producer and a festival headliner electronic band with soul. His vocals stick instantly, built to work both in sweaty clubs and oversized main stages without losing intimacy. Synths radiate calmness and energy at once, thus mirroring Nate’s spirit: generous, luminous, but never naive.
Because, when he wants, he turns malicious grooves snappy, percussions schematic, and melodies that play dirty tricks. Fishbowl feels destined for permanence, a song that will outlive the night it was born in.
La Gente Es Sexi is a razor-sharp club tool for lovers of Spanish, hips forward, and crooked smiles.
Noodle Bloomers seduces dancers who live between gardens, terraces, daylight and dawn.
And lastly, The Eligible Groovester loops like an obsession its image already imagined as Nate cycling through warm San Francisco streets, collecting strange souls along the way.
Each volume in this series dedicated to House influenced by Jazz has been a bestseller.
This volume was previously released only as a double CD, which was long out of print, and now, by popular demand, it has
been released for the first time as a double vinyl.
The sounds here explore not only Jazz but also Soul and Minimal.
All the tracks have never been released on vinyl except the first, a remix by LTJ Xperience, which has long been out of print.
Tracks by Don Carlos, J Boogie, Interanima, Riccicomoto, Guido Nemola, Belladonna, From P60, and Paolo Faz, among others,
are also included.
In 1955 Miles Davis played an all-star jam session at the Newport Jazz Festival with Thelonious Monk on piano, Gerry Mulligan on baritone sax and Zoot Sims on tenor sax. This performance immediately drew the attention of Columbia Records' George Avakian, who was so impressed that he immediately offered Davis a contract if he could form a regular band. The group he then assembled would go down in history as Davis' so-called "First Great Quintet", consisting of John Coltrane on tenor sax, Red Garland on piano, Philly Joe Jones on drums, Paul Chambers on bass and of course Miles himself on trumpet. 'Round Midnight is Miles Davis' first record for Columbia and also the first studio recording of the First Great Quintet. The recording sessions began on October 26 1955 but the album wasn't released until 1957 as Davis was still under contract at Prestige at the time. These respective sessions yielded Steamin', Workin', Cookin' and Relaxin'; albums that would go down in history as quintessential blueprints of late 1950s hard bop.
The record is made up of a collection of standards and one traditional song ("Dear Old Stockholm", from the 19th century). Notably, it features what may be considered the most well-known versions of Thelonious Monk's "'Round Midnight" and "Bye Bye Blackbird". That Avakian made a golden signing was sufficiently clear from the start, but no one could foresee that it would be this quintet on Columbia that would go on to change the course of modern jazz forever with Kind of Blue. 'Round Midnight is available as a limited edition of 1500 individually numbered copies on crystal clear vinyl.
After years of shaping dancefloors worldwide and carefully curating the sonic and visual identity of Up The Stuss, Dutch favourite Chris Stussy presents his most expansive and personal statement to date with his debut album, ‘Lost, Found & Forgotten...’. Landing on 3rd April, the album unfolds across three interconnected chapters - ‘Lost’, ‘Found’, and ‘Forgotten’ - each revealing a different side of his creative world across 19 tracks while remaining tethered to a singular wider vision.
At its core, ‘Lost, Found & Forgotten...’ is an exploration of creative freedom. Visually and conceptually guided by the image of a kite, the album reflects movement, perspective, and balance. Floating freely yet always anchored, the kite mirrors Chris’s approach to music: unrestricted in emotion and imagination, but grounded in groove, craftsmanship, and intention. It’s a symbol that naturally extends the Up The Stuss identity; pointing skyward, embracing openness, and encouraging curiosity.
“This album has been a long time in the making, and I’m excited to finally share it with you. The process behind it - exchanging ideas with other artists and creating music outside of my comfort zone - has been an incredible experience. It gave me a true sense of freedom, allowing me to not think about boundaries or expectations. I’ve never been more proud of a project than this one. It’s deeply personal, and it represents my sound as a whole. I hope you listen with an open mind and find something in it that resonates with you.” - Chris Stussy.
The ‘Lost’ chapter opens the album by giving new life to music once left behind. These are tracks written across different moments in Chris’s journey, ideas that never quite found a home until now. Rather than relics of the past, they emerge re-discovered, refined, and fully realised. ‘
Found’ represents inspiration in motion. Sparked by collaboration, digging, and shared creative exchange, this chapter captures the moment when ideas connect, and colour floods the sky.
The album closes with ‘Forgotten’ - a nod to the deeper cuts, the B-sides, and the moments that reward patience. This chapter is for the heads and diggers; tracks that may not demand immediate attention but reveal their value over time.
A sonic journey that feels both intimate and expansive, Inigo Lunani drifts between late-night introspection and dancefloor euphoria. The album blends minimal grooves and warm tones into a cohesive narrative that feels alive—constantly evolving, yet grounded in emotion.
Each track unfolds like a fragment of memory: hazy, rhythmic, and slightly surreal. There’s a tension between control and spontaneity, where tight percussive patterns meet playful, almost careless melodies. The result is music that invites movement but rewards deep listening—equally at home in a dark club or through headphones at sunrise.
Inigo Lunani isn’t just about sound; it’s about identity in motion. It captures the feeling of searching, of becoming, of existing somewhere between who you were and who you’re about to be.
The complete LP + 2 bonus tracks - limited edition pressing on 180g vinyl
Miles Davis' quintet formed in 1955 is widely regarded as one of the greatest combos in jazz history. Miles was recording for the independent jazz label Prestige at the time, but after the quintet's success at the 1955 Newport Jazz Festival, Miles received a substantial offer from the recording giant Columbia. 'Round About Midnight was his first album for Columbia.
"First, let me say that you should buy this LP immediately. Perhaps even two copies, since you may wear out one playing it and you will want another. This is the kind of album to which one returns time and time again because it is, in its way, a perfect thing, a slice of modern jazz conceived and executed in the very best style." - ***** Ralph J. Gleason, DownBeat
ANORAX lives up to its #eatsleepcollect mantra with this limited edition one side only plays special 7”.
Making a cover version of Mezzoforte’s Icelandic jazz funk classic GARDEN PARTY is not a task for the feint hearted.
Phil Hooton and fellow producer Mark Gambe pull it off with aplomb.
The duo are enjoying success with their single GARDEN OF EDEN by Phil Hooton Featuring Pete Simpson. That involved a new song being written and sung over their instrumental remake of GARDEN PARTY.
The original idea was to only release the new vocal creation but the instrumental version - featuring virtuoso playing by some of the UK’s top session musicans - was simply too good to be left on the shelf.
Only 200 copies of this one sided 7” have been manufactured.
Slacker continues to deliver the unexpected with ‘Norari Kurari’, a collaboration between St. Petersburg-based former video game soundtrack producer Cable Toy and Japanese rap innovator ONJUICY. Unusual in concept, but flawless in club execution, their link-up connects two Slackers across continents and cultures, turning in an ultra-modern interpretation of hip-house that’s guaranteed to leave dancers spinning on their heads.
‘Norari Kurari’ draws on ONJUICY’s playful, positive and fully Japanese flow, easily locking into Cable Toy’s deep basslines and skipping rhythms, where his determined bars bounce alongside timeless M1 organ sounds.
Stripping things way back, the ‘Warehouse Version’ inverts the US garage warmth found on the flip: rhythm takes control of the rhyme, as CT knocks the dust off his vintage drum machines, even finding room for some pleasurably paranoid bleeps and sweeps.
Following their 2023 LP Presents, Nathan Nelson's American Cream Band bring the Twin City heat back to Quindi with an album rooted in duality. From the yin and yang party-starting A side and meditative B side to the dual-attack boy-girl vocals, the nature of opposites and equals steer the expansive, artful strain of rock n' roll that spill out of this wholly unique Minnesotan export. For the ever intriguing Quindi, it's a strident step into Spring after the frosty introspection of Roudi Vagou & Läuten der Seele's Taghelle Nacht. While the world burns and injustice prevails, Twin is a celebration of unity and radical expression-all the more urgent against the backdrop of authoritarian overreach and righteous protest that has whipped through Minneapolis in recent times.
Twin continues Nelson's drive at the helm of American Cream Band to draw in a colourful cast of players to feed into his orgiastic sound, meshing the trance-induction of krautrock with the irrepressible funk of the post-punk-new-wave explosion. But principal among the cast of characters and forming a central tenet to the identity of this album is Liz Buhmann, lead vocalist and a formidable, playful foil to Nelson's own Midwestern twang. Around the electric spark between Buhmann and Nelson, a heavy duty ensemble wrangle guitar, bass, sax, a cornucopia of synths and a battery of percussion into all manner of sonic forms.
The double-sided concept manifests throughout Twin. On 'Call Me' Buhmann sings in French to contrast Nelson's English, while the strident strut of the NYC disco groove is offset by an inherent dreaminess that turns the track into a more cosmic kind of dancefloor workout. 'Ethical Vampire' is a spiky cut with a garage rock patina that spirals into a psychedelic, synth-soaked get-down. 'Don't Burn The House Down' is a loose and limber roller that captures Can at their funkiest along with the hypnotic vibe of other such esteemed long format jammers, but American Cream Band boils that energy into a hook-laden art pop sensibility before a gentle, drawn out landing.
Even the more pensive moments on Twin find space for friction. For all its tender, smoky temperament, 'Leda and the Swan' lets the electric piano and guitar fray at the edges and bleed into the red while Mat Heinrich's tumbling drums lurch with pent-up intensity on the one. 'No Funeral Necessary' skirts around the mellow pools of new age but prefers to let liberally doused Tape Echo tweak out Alex Meffert's honeyed sax inflections and Buhmann and Nelson's disparate sermons.
Nelson describes Twin as "an oppositorum coincidentia" - a reference to the mystical Latin concept of the coincidence of opposites that suggests contradictory ideas 'fall together' in a higher reality. Beyond the sound of the album, this idea also manifests in the cover photography by Sho Nikado and the swans on the LP labels by Autumn Garrington. As freewheeling and wide-open as American Cream Band feels, nothing appears by accident. The end result feels like a nourishing whole - rich with substance and nuance, deep enough to be explored and absorbed yet also so brazen and immediate you can't help but feel its surface charms from the first thrusts of 'The Hive Is Pissed' to the last ripples of 'We're Not So Sinister'.
You blink; eyes crusty. Last night went a little too late again, and as you stumble towards the kitchen you stare at the record player like it’s a cup of coffee. The rest of your life can wait. You stare at the record again and hit the lever and the needle falls.
First up: Gastón Cabrera’s Inhumano, a little relentless and unforgiving, like being thrown in the back of an Aston Martin and driven away. The groove builds to a haunting peak, and you want more. Then the record blurs into Alfalfa’s La Fiebre, which tickles your ears with eerie bells, and builds from bass fundamentals into something more driving. It’s hopeful, but makes you work for it – wading through acid; climbing the hill.
Everything stops. Fuck it. You flip the record, and Marcos Coya’s The Underdog starts off easy, but slips you down a dark path to a pool of churning, hypnotic synths. There’s a strange moment of quiet before the final track. vault. and Isaac Elejalde close with authority on Just Melt: a raw and writhing finale spiked with voices and sirens that will leave you out of breath, somewhere else.
Introducing The Goods. Four tracks; one abduction. Limited to 300 copies – vinyl exclusive, forever.
zzzahara (They/Them) is the solo moniker of Eyedress/Simps/US Velvet
guitarist Zahara Jaime
Plenty of people come to Los Angeles looking to make their California dreams a
reality. But zzzahara has always been here, turning reality into a dream.
Attwood: "A feverish indie rock song drowning in intimate emotion and frenetic
energy, zzzahara's "they don't know" is a vulnerable and raw outpouring from the
heart."
Dummy: "An infectious indie rock number overflowing with emotion and frantic
energy, zzzahara's 'they don't know' is a clear statement of intent from a solo
artist coming into their own."
Paste: "…this single feels like something special."
Guardian: "Cantering through the gloaming with a blend of coldwave and early
Cure, the Los Angeles guitarist and songwriter banishes summer, to cheers from
neo-goths everywhere."
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.
It's been a busy 3 years since Danny Berman aka Red Rack'em released on his own Bergerac imprint.
Since then he's toured relentlessly, released a whole album of live music based disco/punk funk for Sonar Kollektiv as Hot Coins, managed to completely update his biggest track 'In Love Again' to make it a hit the second time around plus released spaced out, wonky party smashers on Wolf Music, Phonica, City Fly and Telefonplan.
While all this was going on Bergerac was largely on ice but now Berman is turning his energy back to the label with a vengeance.
Wonky Bassline Disco Banger is accurately titled. An uplifting intro breaks down into a slamming disco house number and just when you think you know what's going on...
Then the trademark Red Rack'em wonky bass drops in. 150% Guaranteed party smasher... Jazzy House Extension is super vintage Red Rack'em from around 2004 - something for the jazz heads out there - cracked out piano and far too loud double bass come together to birth a euphoric yet banging snapshot of a producer learning his chops. Destined is a slightly demented leftfield house number featuring mangled, pitch shifting fretless bass and vocals samples discussing someone's destiny.
A woozy end to the EP.
“Bluegold steps into the world as a ground for trance-inducing rhythm and collective movement. Rooted in techno but never bound to it, the sound leans toward the psychedelic: loops, atmospheres, and ritual percussion that blur perception and guide the floor into altered states.
The A side comes from Mruda, written during a day of turmoil where conflict and chaos spilled directly into sound. Machines were left to chance, generating unstable pulses that mirror the volatility of the moment.
Archypness takes the B side as a counterweight, drawing the energy inward. His productions move with a meditative focus, weaving rich textures and layered rhythms into journeys that feel timeless yet deeply grounded.”
Foley steps forward with the inaugural 12” on Pyramid Fields — an EP rooted in nineties trance that delivers a sound that feels unearthed rather than recreated. Pulling from the Sasha & Digweed / early Paul van Dyk school, but cutting out the excess compared to classic trance, balancing groove and emotion in equal measure — controlled, melodic, and dialled in for the floor without losing its pull. Body Clinic returns on remix duties — recently featured as an emerging artist of 2025 by DJ Mag — sharpening the edges with a more direct, prog club-ready take — two distinct lanes, same forward momentum.
Unlike the main Magic Wand label, the imprint's offshoot 'Special Editions' series is a little more fluid about what it releases, with some EPs sporting original productions - many of which are admittedly sample-heavy - as well as re-edits. That's the case for this second missive from Matsoaka (real name Matt Lundgren). So, while the EP begins with a genuinely gorgeous and Balearic original cut (the dreamy and slow-motion folk-rock of 'Butterflies', featuring the emotive and harmonic vocals of Butterflies), much of the rest falls into the "Balearic re-arrangement" category. In this camp you'll find the immersive, trip-hop style dreaminess of 'Faith', the mid-80s Yellow Magic Orchestra-style Fairlight-sporting electro of 'Gin Yuzu', and the dollar bin brilliance of 'Sheriff' (a take on a Japanese city-pop cover of a reggae favourite).
A1 - ELECTROPHORUS
super entry track for this EP in general!
He brings it to the point and let you roll in, in the electro half pipe and makes big air beats and bassline slides. Drop it!
A2 - FOR THE NIGHTTIME
crispy stereo effects from the legend mc 202, vocoder vocals, top drums and a good sounding bassline make this track interesting, but wait! The final is in the end of this track and is a big surprise!
A3 - NARROW MINDED
its 12 o clock and this for over 5 minutes!
808 boom boom and fully overloaded highhats, is the end track of side A. Old-school
B1 - RODES
a beautiful statement of the soul of BISTONG.
the trackname is RODES, but the EP name BE STRONG is here fixed in my opinion as Label Head.
It's hard to be strong, and it's also hard to make strong music, sometimes.
This track has: a strong producer background, a strong character, a strong arrangement and a super strong weekend feeling every single day.
B2 - ANCIENT ANALOGUE
Check out the B side everytime!
often the track you want to play in your set is hidden here. Nobody knows him, but everybody can like him.
A1 - ELECTROPHORUS
super entry track for this EP in general!
He brings it to the point and let you roll in, in the electro half pipe and makes big air beats and bassline slides. Drop it!
A2 - FOR THE NIGHTTIME
crispy stereo effects from the legend mc 202, vocoder vocals, top drums and a good sounding bassline make this track interesting, but wait! The final is in the end of this track and is a big surprise!
A3 - NARROW MINDED
its 12 o clock and this for over 5 minutes!
808 boom boom and fully overloaded highhats, is the end track of side A. Old-school
B1 - RODES
a beautiful statement of the soul of BISTONG.
the trackname is RODES, but the EP name BE STRONG is here fixed in my opinion as Label Head.
It's hard to be strong, and it's also hard to make strong music, sometimes.
This track has: a strong producer background, a strong character, a strong arrangement and a super strong weekend feeling every single day.
B2 - ANCIENT ANALOGUE
Check out the B side everytime!
often the track you want to play in your set is hidden here. Nobody knows him, but everybody can like him.
UnOwn deepen the intrigue of their debut record with a second clutch of shadowy edits, again courtesy of the elusive Fava Luva and Dr. Professor. First up is the airy, mystical 'Sent Ra' which drifts on a Balearic current with an aquatic pulse and low-slung groove. It's for late-night moments on intimate floors and is hella steamy. Flip it and 'Love Giver' is more extroverted but just as sensual with teasing spoken words opening up before a swaggering, gentle groove and deft keyboard flourishes awaken and coalesce into a boogie-tinged delight. Anonymous in name, perhaps, but unmistakable in taste.
Focus 21 is back with a second sizzling disco drop, this time in the form of 'Boogie Magic Vol 1', which has its feet firmly rooted in the 80s and the iconic machine sounds of that era. All four cuts are super tight and super funky from Gateway Jones, starting with 'Transmission', which is turbocharged with razzle-dazzle. 'Contact Zone' is slightly deeper and more sensuous with its playful synths and wriggling baseline. 'Non - Physical Boogie' is a taught stepper with loose claps and funky licks, then 'Midnight Call' closes with more of the same - feel good, uplifting but classy and sophisticated disco-boogie brilliance. A vital EP full of craft.
The Illegal Disco Limited series never misses. It's all about the king of cheeky edits adding his own spin to a carefully curated mix of disco and funk nuggets and, once again, here Monsieur Van Pratt is back with the goods. Though he always nods to the past with these reworks, he beefs them up with grooves designed for loud systems and to move floors. This one opens with the funk licks and disco stylings of 'Watcha Gonna Do' then gets celebratory with the feel good hands in the air vibes of 'The Contest'. Last but not least, 'Dance With Me' explores a more lavish sound with big vocals and lavish string stabs for good times only. Another doozy from Mr Pratt.
GALA announce Ten Years of GALA – a compilation marking a decade of independent culture
Ten Years of GALA is both an archive and a horizon: a reflection on where GALA has come from, and a signal of what lies ahead.
Founded in 2016 as a one-day gathering in South London, GALA has grown into a global point of reference for dancers, artists and collectives drawn together by a shared commitment to independence, collaboration and underground music culture. Rather than charting success through scale alone, the festival has consistently prioritised integrity, community and musical curiosity – values that underpin this release.
Spanning fifteen tracks, Ten Years of GALA unfolds as a considered journey. It opens with an intimate spoken contribution from Charlie Dark, grounding the compilation firmly in GALA’s home of Peckham before gradually expanding outward into fuller, club-focused terrain. From there, the record moves between moods and tempos, tracing a path from reflective moments into the physical language of the dancefloor.
The compilation brings together longtime friends of the festival alongside newer voices drawn into its orbit in recent years. Each artist contributes a distinct perspective, but collectively the tracks form a coherent portrait – not of a single sound, but of a shared ethos shaped over ten years of gatherings, collaborations and days spent dancing together.
Rather than a retrospective in the conventional sense, Ten Years of GALA functions as a living document. It captures fragments of past editions, scenes and relationships, while remaining firmly oriented toward the future. These are not museum pieces, but records designed to be played, shared and folded back into the spaces from which they came.
Together, the compilation holds a piece of GALA’s first decade – not as a closed chapter, but as a foundation for what comes next.
Voices From the Lake (consisting of Donato Dozzy and Neel) mark the 10th anniversary of their influential self-titled album with a fully remastered reissue on Spazio Disponibile. It arrives in full on vinyl for the first time, as well as on digital formats, first quarter of 2023 as the pair continues to play select live shows around the world. The release will see the light of day as a 4-set vinyl LP release, including download. Italians Dozzy and Neel have been friends united by a shared vision of music since their teenage years. They are immaculate sculptors of sound who fuse evocative ambient and leftfield techno into multi-layered soundscapes. For many years they worked as established solo artists but came together in 2011 to craft what is now regarded as one of techno's most pure and absorbing listening experiences. It's often said that the best music comes about as a happy accident, and that is certainly true of Voices From the Lake. The career-defining album first arose in the thoughts of Dozzy and Neel when the latter was preparing a mix for the former's wedding and named it Voices From The Lake. It was a pertinent title that stuck in the mind: both grew up by waters around the coast of Italy, and in their early days the pair even held private parties on the shores of a lake. Fittingly, Japan's celebrated Labyrinth festival at that time was also held by a river and a lake in the middle of a forest on a serene mountainside. It was that exact setting the pair envisaged when making music to play live on stage. During preparations, they "accidentally" wrote an entire album. It has only ever been performed live a few times - once at Japan's Labyrinth festival in 2011, at London's Barbican, Barcelona's Mira Festival, Paris' Marathon Festival and once during 2022's Amsterdam Dance Event. Those shows saw the pair using banks of analogue and digital equipment to improvise in the moment and essentially remix the album live on stage. That spontaneity is captured in the original Voices From the Lake recordings and on later LPs such as Live at Maxxi in 2015, and the most recent EP Quarto Freddo from 2020. But the debut album remains a standout achievement. A decade on, it's quiet intensity, musical storytelling and slowly unfolding tension remain in a class of one. Each sound is meticulously designed and placed, and the spaces left behind are just as important in conveying such a captivating mood and emotion. Rather than traditional kick drums, hi-hats or snares, this is music crafted from layers of real-world sound - dripping water, chirping birds, rustling leaves or a distant breeze - and it's that which defines the album's organic allure. From deeply contemplative to cautiously optimistic, pastoral organic scenes to more underwater worlds, Voices From the Lake is a cohesive collection of tracks that add up to one inseparable whole.
For their first step into the wax game, Genau Experience land with a strictly vinyl statement straight out of Udine. (Italy)Active since 2018, Genau Exp. have been quietly cultivating parties and pushing underground culture in their corner of the map. Now it translates into grooves. No rush, no noise: just the right moment to press this record.
Leading the charge is resident and long-time digger Stefano Conte. A vinyl collector with a deep-rooted connection to house, techno and electro, Stefano’s sound carries echoes of the ‘80s, ‘90s and early 2000s | raw drum work, hypnotic sequences, stripped tension and subtlemachine funk. These four original cuts, written between 2025 and 2026, feel focused and functional. Club-minded but not obvious. Built for heads who listen.
On remix duties, taking the reins on The Landing, we find Shkedul – selector and producer who hardly needs an introduction. He draws us deeper into his signature style: decisive basslines, dark rhythms, and evolving sound design that flows and morphs across the full length of the track.
A versatile weapon with enough character to work across different floors and moods.
Sometimes the title of an album tells you everything you need to know. Laurence Pike’s Possible Utopias for Jazz Quintet is like that: The music within represents a search for freedom, potentiality—liberatory strategies that transcend the ego and the solitary, atomized figure.
But in this case, the album title is also a red herring, because there is no jazz quintet here—just Pike, his drums, and his machines, not so much an ersatz ensemble as a purely notional one, a thought experiment equipped with drumsticks, circuitry, and the desire to go beyond hardwired limits.
And the results, strictly speaking, aren’t really jazz, though they incorporate the vocabulary of jazz, along with that of ambient, electronica, and post-rock. They are some other thing, cognizant of genre but never beholden to it. Again, we’re talking about a search for freedom here.
The Sydney-based musician has a long history of coloring outside the lines, not just in his solo recordings—including four albums for the Leaf label between 2018 and 2024—but also in the trio Pivot (later PVT); Szun Waves (alongside saxophonist Jack Wyllie and Border Community’s Luke Abbott); Triosk, which recorded an album with Jan Jelinek in 2003; and even post-punk titans Liars, whom he joined in late 2018.
Of his first album for Balmat, Pike says, “My loose concept was: What does music sound like when the expectations of late capitalism are removed from it? How might a jazz musician from an idealised culture of the future, or even another world, utilise musical language when the conventions of style and marketing are no longer a factor in music making?”
That inquiry, he says, connects to his “guiding principle: that the purpose of music is to access something bigger than the individual, and reveal a sense of possibility and freedom in the world to the listener. To create an understanding that the future can be something other than what we imagined or expect, even unconsciously.”
Heady ideas, but plug into his stream-of-metaconsciousness flow and you may start to intuit what motivates him. There is a deeply lyrical expression in these pieces—in the ruminative piano of opener “Guardians of Memory,” for example—but also a sense of exploded perspective, of ideas approached from more angles than any one mind could dream up. Of a collectivized consciousness, of mycelial networks branching across tone and rhythm and timbre, of ideas articulated in distributed fashion, nodal points dancing across drum heads.
Pike’s imaginary quintet is hardly without precedent; it’s a continuation of concepts floated across Jan Jelinek’s Loop-Finding-Jazz-Records, Burnt Friedman’s many guises, and much of the recombinant improv of the International Anthem roster, not to mention the far corners of ECM’s catalog in the late 1970s and 1980s, which Pike says have been integral to his development since he was a teenager. Possible Utopias for Jazz Quintet is a point in a continuum, a voice in a conversation, a question with no obvious answer: How can the search for otherness in music manifest something true about ourselves?
For the next installment in the Voyager Recordings series, we have rising Belgian star Carmelo Ponente taking control. Carmelo delivers a solid album of 7 tracks of layered sci fi sounds, with punch, in order for the dancefloor.
Carmelo has most recently released on Loopania Records with Oliver Rosemann, released on Illegal Alien, Solitar, Newrythmic, TMM and Subsist to name but a few labels that has showcased his layered sounds. Carmelo is very modular focused, and you can hear this in his signature sound.
Limited edition LP Marbled coloured vinyl in mirror board sleeve 180g marble coloured vinyl. Packaged in a heavy weight 350gsm CMYK-printed mirror board silver reflective outer sleeve with a 170gsm inner sleeve. High gloss finish on both the outer and inner sleeves. the freshly minted label NANOQ is proud to announce a new album by david sylvian titled 'the distance between the killer and the killing' it's the first album sylvian has released in 15 years. composed of sessions recorded between 2012 - 2025, the album is based on recomposed improvisational sessions with a variety of artists ranging from otomo yoshihide, ryuichi sakamoto, bilianna voutchkova and miako klein, to jamie drouin, lance austin olson and more. the 46min instrumental is unlike anything tackled by sylvian before and is seen by sylvian himself as the official follow up to his 2009 album 'manafon'. in pauline nadrigny's essay on the album, she describes something of the listening experience. '... voices surge that belong to no one in particular. One that hoots and hums across a violin, worked until it loses its voice, becomes mere matter among other matter. A voice inside the breath of a clarinet or a recorder. Grunts, gurgles, distant cries, somewhere between man and bird, woman and nuthatch. Fragments of choirs, far off, snatches of a song long since lost. Too far to be recovered.' 'What a remarkable piece of work. At times it feels like listening to a symphony; at others, as though (sylvian's) voice is speaking through the music. At first, I was trying to find my own sound, but somewhere along the way I completely forgot about that and became utterly absorbed in the music. Hearing Ryuichi's presence emerge here and there throughout the piece also brings a very special feeling for me. Thank you for creating something so extraordinary.' otomo yoshihide 2026
the freshly minted label NANOQ is proud to announce a new album by david sylvian titled 'the distance between the killer and the killing' it's the first album sylvian has released in 15 years. composed of sessions recorded between 2012 - 2025, the album is based on recomposed improvisational sessions with a variety of artists ranging from otomo yoshihide, ryuichi sakamoto, bilianna voutchkova and miako klein, to jamie drouin, lance austin olson and more. the 46min instrumental is unlike anything tackled by sylvian before and is seen by sylvian himself as the official follow up to his 2009 album 'manafon'. in pauline nadrigny's essay on the album, she describes something of the listening experience. '... voices surge that belong to no one in particular. One that hoots and hums across a violin, worked until it loses its voice, becomes mere matter among other matter. A voice inside the breath of a clarinet or a recorder. Grunts, gurgles, distant cries, somewhere between man and bird, woman and nuthatch. Fragments of choirs, far off, snatches of a song long since lost. Too far to be recovered.' 'What a remarkable piece of work. At times it feels like listening to a symphony; at others, as though (sylvian's) voice is speaking through the music. At first, I was trying to find my own sound, but somewhere along the way I completely forgot about that and became utterly absorbed in the music. Hearing Ryuichi's presence emerge here and there throughout the piece also brings a very special feeling for me. Thank you for creating something so extraordinary.' otomo yoshihide 2026
/// 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
Extinction Burst! is the new invocation in album-form by Guttersnipe, Leeds’ premier and pre-eminent XFCER (XFCER: Xenofeminist crisis-energy rock)* duo. Slamming at full speed to multi-dimensional oblivion, Extinction Burst! is the most full, hidefinition lurid dream-mare yet spewed out by Uroceras Gigas & Tipula Confusa. Engineered and mixed by Ross Halden at Hohm Studio in Bradford and mastered by Rashad Becker, Extinction Burst! follows 2018’s My Mother The Vent, which garnered universal critical adoration. Nevertheless, this long-awaited follow up is more extreme: it is wildness beyond reason, splitting new tears in the reality gauze, ultimate hallucination through sound ecstasy. 2026’s Guttersnipe are evolved, mutated by 8 years of touring together and with the labyrinthine network of groups both Guttersnipe members are involved with - Tristwch Y Fenywod, Nape Neck, Petronn Sphene, Yexxen to name a few. On Extinction Burst!, as with previous material, the duo are heavily augmented with technology. Tipula Confusa's drum kit triggers chasm-causing synth pulses with thumping low end attack.. Strafing from all over the stereo field the constant shatter of the cymbals and toms feel like Sunny Murray or Rashied Ali in full flight during a John Coltrane session in 1967. Uroceras Gigas’s guitar + synth storm is by-now similarly an instantly recognised tool kit in underground music. Switching from screeching guitar atonality to intricate riffs from the black metal/Voivod hinterland to ultra-distorted synth meltdown, it’s an utterly overwhelming, essential and vital pouring-out of the full emotional spectrum. Both artists vocalise, ecstatic and primal, drawn out or yelped in pain or pleasure or panic. Alive On Tuesday begins with some of the only space on Extinction Burst! Digital crackles and tight-delays blow out into a fullthrottled death-dive into sweet opaqueness, offset by the duo’s vocals. There’s a popular believe that Guttersnipe is chaos, but over 9 mins here the group are clinical in their control of the simulated entropy. Mincing while the Maelstrom Churns’s guitar is modulated into jagged atonal atonement, duetting with the virtuoso drum patterns before it thuds into gear at quadruple the speed. Threads Of Radical Unaliveness veers close to the extreme Metal influences with blast beats and guttural vocalisations until the track exhausts itself into unaliveness. Keep Honking summons a demonic digital panic, with the duo reincarnating in real time as haunted versions of themselves, almost translating the lurid, ultra vivid, simultaneous hell+heaven of being alive in this dimension. Primordial Invagination harnesses No Wave’s dissension of normality before the structured collapse of Skra¨ckblandad Fo¨rtjusning, in which Tipula Confusa’s accelerating drums simulate a bouncing barrel of brimstone descending into a primordial gunky ooze, a respite in the middle before the record splutters to a stuttering finale, both members’ vocals out there in the neon realness, alive with crisis energy. There is nothing on this cursed earth like Guttersnipe. For over 10 years they have whirled in a wiggliness both woebegone and wonderstruck on a mission of radical mutant exaltation using rock music weaponry loaded with a queer hysterical ammunition to rupture the fabric of the known Rock universe and unleash a tendril-soft hallucinatory violence; thrumming with the bracing vividness of insect bodies, crazed with alien synaesthetic emotions, harnessing jagged excoriating illogic as a face meltingly snazzy affront to redundant macho mediocrity with the hope to break minds, squeeze hearts, explode pelvises and maybe even reset the parameters of reality. Addendum: xenofeminist : proposing and creating a world defined not only by sexual/gender equality, queer empowerment and the toppling of the racist heteropatriarchal hegemony and it’s tyranny of phallogocentric signifiers, but a philosophy of radical queerness that explodes the basic notion of embodied existence itself beyond even the human, where we see bacteria, invertebrates, reptiles, marine life, animalia in general, inanimate objects, quantum phenomena and as yet inarticulated bodies and minds as social and political equals that may inspire and inform our concepts of self, feeling and meaning as we labour to build a collective reality that doesn’t completely suck!! crisis energy : a term borrowed from the weird fiction author china mieville to describe a type of extreme concentration of power which emerges when a system or organism is pushed to it’s absolute limit; the point of rupture, chaos, entropic overload, just before it all breaks apart. rock : Rock ’n’ Roll, rock music, the devil’s music, sex, guitar, drums, voice, rhythm, riffs!
One year on from his first Samurai release, Vardae returns to plunge even deeper into his mesmerising strain of hyper-mobile drum mantras and textural intrigue. Cédric Arnous' prolific run over the past few years has rapidly positioned him at the forefront of a scene between scenes where the rhythmic intrigue of drum & bass collides with modern techno's hypnotic linearity. On The Energy Of Presence he relishes the flexibility afforded by this intersection to deliver four distinct, high-impact workouts made with his ever-evolving live set in mind. 'Grounded Attachment' leads with the sonar strafe and broken beat pulse readily associated with the Vardae sound, threading twitchy percussion and steely brushstrokes around the bedrock of low-end pressure. It's the slowly emerging drone sweeps that round out the character of the track, betraying a warmth encased within the metallic overtones that deepens the emotional weight immeasurably. By contrast, 'Magnetic Flux' swerves towards a more direct thrust with its high-tempo 4/4 undercarriage and a limber, acidic lead line that helps join the dots between Vardae's modernist sheen and the roughneck days of free party tekno. This is still charged, atmospheric dance music, but it has no problem showing its teeth, too. 'Electric Feelings' is similarly sprightly in its tempo, but as ever Vardae runs a tight game with the weight of his drums, finding lightness and dexterity even at 170BPM while the transcendental wormhole opens up around the rhythmic force at the centre. Ensuring there's no space for predictability on this release, 'The Energy Of Presence' plies its own trade in sumptuous dub techno chords and angular groove designed to make you move on a different kind of downbeat. The consummate title track, it's the most roundly melodic offering on the record, served as a crescendo to the whole listening experience comfortably nestled on the B2 of the physical edition. Capitalising on the hypnotic codes etched into the dub techno sound, Vardae dials up the delay feedback for a psychedelic release at the end of a record that covers a lot of ground without losing focus.
Despite the thousands of kilometers between them, Monterrey and Medellín have always seemed to move in parallel. Both cities rise around guardian hills that watch over their people, and if you look closer, even the concrete that forms the backbone of each city traces back to these rugged metropolises.
The list of coincidences could go on—small, almost conspiratorial links that chance has woven between the two places. Adding another chapter to this unlikely connection is Regal86, who had already crossed the bridge once before to dive into the depths of Colombia’s “city of eternal spring.”
Doble Filo, his first full-length cut to vinyl, now becomes his latest calling card. The eighth release on Discos Nutabe’s catalog arrives with six tracks—six sharp-edged pieces that lay bare Regal86’s sonic marginality.
It’s a form of exclusion that isn’t imposed but chosen, a deliberate stance to sidestep the demand for exotica that still shapes much of Latin America’s electronic landscape. This is spicy, rough-edged techno—ruleless and unruly—driven by dense, clipped progressions that plunge you into a vortex masquerading as a rayado ritual.
There’s no overload of concept here, nor any caricature of the extravagant. This album simply delivers music built to tear through any club or dive, without false promises or unnecessary labels. If there’s one thing worth highlighting about Doble Filo as a whole, it’s the way it consistently—and almost implicitly—reasserts its core premise from start to finish: these techno tracks are meant to be played wherever the hell you want.
In a moment when oddities tend to be rewarded more than usual, Doble Filo doubles down on fundamentals, reclaiming the spirit of early electronic music and carrying it into an era where immediacy seems intent on blurring the honesty of those who shape the sound.
For Regal86, sonic hustle is the only thing that keeps his spirit steady.
