Studio Barnhus top sound killer Matt Karmil returns to label in perfect form, bringing an EP's worth of those very best 'Matt Karmil dance tracks' in world-famous reduced-but-raucous style. Four club-toppling, festivalcapsizing, DJ-humbling supertools - cut by professionals and released by enthusiasts. Tell Me Why is Karmil's first Studio Barnhus release since 2015's Dans-Maxi Från Nacksving. Apart from recent solo appearances on Idle Hands and Smalltown Supersound, he has lent his studio magic to some of dance music's finest current and future releases, on our label and elsewhere. This is the first record ever with his face on it - a Studio Barnhus exclusive,
Answer Code Request returns with his sophomore album Gens on Ostgut Ton, entering darker but equally bass-heavy territory.
Answer Code Request's 2014 debut LP Code was an exciting moment for electronic music in Berlin - one that offered a break from the eternal hall and monolithic 4/4 kicks that ruled the city's club landscape. As a hybrid gesture, the album's spirit recalled an especially fruitful era in the German capital from the mid-90s to early 2000s, when dub and paddriven Detroit techno cross-pollinated with Berlin's industrial aesthetic to create one of the city's most exciting musical chapters.
Today the musical vision offered by Berghain resident Answer Code Request, real name Patrick Gräser, has proved far-sighted. While at first glance electronic music in 2018 seems increasingly balkanized, borders between genres have once again become fuzzier.
Now, on his follow up LP Gens, Gräser looks beyond the bass euphoria of Code toward darker horizons and a desolate atmosphere befitting of current global circumstances.
In a sense, Gens (Latin for tribe or lineage) reverses the notion of the hardcore continuum as proposed by music journalist Simon Reynolds: embedded in a tradition of US andcontinental European techno, Gräser seeks its disruption through hardcore outgrowths, from ambient jungle to later variations of British bass music and IDM. It's an interesting twist when seen in the larger biographical context of Gräser who, born and raised outside of Berlin in early 1980s, jumped from East German youth radio DT64 to American hip-hop, acid and early UK hardcore - a radical shift of musical interest born of a radical shift in political circumstances. On Gens, the unsettling atmosphere is established early on with the fading rave opener of the album's synonymous title track, and continues through the scrambled military communications and post dubstep rhythms of 'Sphera'. From there, sci-fi pads, heavy phasing and alien syncopation lead explorative third track 'Ab Intus' out into space. Aglimmer of otherworldly positivity arrives with the warm, distorted breakbeats and interwoven synth melodies of album standout 'knbn2', while Gräser's most dancefloororiented melds jungle and techno, Amen and 4/4 kicks, on 'Cicadae'.
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The second release on Oktave Records is produced by Tokyo's Iori. The multi-talented Japanese producer and DJ has had his music released on some of the best labels in the business, including Prologue, Field Records, and Semantica. Iori's inimitable and distinctive sound has put his productions on turntables and headsets all over the world, while the man himself continues to extend his touring radius, hitting clubs and venues all over Europe and into the Americas. Oktave Records is proud to present his 'Circulate' EP.
The A side gives us 'Satellite,' a relentless floor-focused track, bursting with Iori's signature, looping sound he draws us into a hypnotic void and allows the listener to get completely lost in the polyrhythms so deftly layered on top of each other. 'Satellite' will mesmerize your dance floor.
The B side opens with 'Vortex,' which gives us more of that special Iori hypnosis, but this time we're carried along by a broken beat. Complex, understated and rhythmic, 'Vortex' is another stunner. The EP closes with 'Inversion,' an ambient track, which is an area of strength for Iori. He has long been producing compelling, cinematic soundscapes with his unique sound signature, and 'Inversion' continues in this tradition.
Iori has created a knock-out EP with 'Circulate,' and sets the bar quite high for the label.
Following up 'Drawn With Shadow Pens' on Spectrum Spools, Belgian sound artist Yves De Mey returns with 'Bleak Comfort', his third solo full-length. Geared towards serving up an intense musical experience, the album deconstructs regular club music to highlight some of its key elements in a transformative way.
An album about absence, malfunction and disorientation, 'Bleak Comfort' is equally packed with floor-functional material and left-of-centre electronics. By turn sizzling and spherical, convulsive and atmospheric, Yves De Mey ushers his listener in a hypnotic kaleidoscope of sounds, providing a fascinating picture of his ever dynamic grammar at variable scales and tempos.
Hello , Mixworks new release is bring great excitement to dance floors around the world. Supported by Seth Troxler, Martinez Brothers, Ryan Elliott , Terrence Parker, 4 tracks of good underground swing with a Detroit feel . Produced by a new talented producer from Tel-Aviv called Antikkka plus a remix from legendary Detroit production crew The Blowed Pimps.
Durban's Rudeboyz (aka Masive Q and Andile T) return to Goon Club Allstars to follow up their self-titled 2015 debut EP with new record, 'Gqomwave'. Widely acknowledged as Gqom originators, alongside Goon Club label mate DJ Lag, Rudeboyz' raw, energetic compositions took the sounds of Durban's townships global back in 2015, opening doors for a whole new generation of South African artists in the pro-cess. They themselves hail from from Mount Moriah, just outside the KwaMashu township in North Durban. The duo's latest record, 'Gqomwave', is comprised of four tracks, each bursting with the intense, driving rhythms and boundless energy their productions have become renowned for. Gqom is again the core around which the whole EP functions, as blazing sirens and charging beats play out on opener 'Major Turn Up', but subtle, stylistic nuances point to a growing maturity in their work. The springy elasticity of 'Bounce Back' and the sharp, stripped back drums on relentless club burner 'No Mercy' each offer different, smouldering takes on the Gqom sound, while final track 'Asjableni' features the gritty, hypnotic vocals of long-time collaborator T_D Snaxx who tragically passed away earlier this year.
We are proud to announce the kick-off of a new Dynamic Reflections subseries: Dynamic Reflection LTD. A series that is set to explore a broad spectrum of electronic music, and aims to cross the barrier between the club floors and home listening. And to start in a proper fashion, we launch the LTD-series with a very special vinyl + full digital album package by Jonas Korbl.
Three years in the making, this anticipated album chronicles the musical, and in many ways, spiritual coming-of-age of Jonas Korbl. Having started producing house music at a very young age, this debut album under his birth name signifies a new direction for the young Dutchman. In these pieces you hear him shaking off the restraints of formulaic working, opting for more experimental paths instead. You could say Discovered 5 is a story about learning about music; An expression of the author's experience in broadening his horizons.
In the full release Korbl presents nine tracks with a sleek and undeniably dark aesthetic, taking you from ambient soundscapes to main room techno and back, touching down in Berlin and London along the way. Downtempo excursions comfortably rub shoulders with rough-and-tumble club destroyers, but as varied and idiosyncratic as the album is, the music feels far from contrived. Instead, the variation keeps you engaged, with the quieter moments acting as a counterweight to the pieces with a more straightforward approach. Somehow he manages to make all these different places and moods uniquely his own.
The most remarkable thing about this LP is Korbl's uncanny ability to take familiar elements and bending them to his will, creating a new context for the listener to experience his personal brand of electronic music in. The adventurous DJ will surely find a track to create that special dance floor moment on the vinyl release, containing four club-ready tracks. However, for the full experience the entire album is a must-listen, connecting the dots between the highlights placed on the physical LP. All in all, this debut bodes very well. With skills and experience beyond his years, Korbl's star is sure to only rise from here.
Mutant jungle forms, hazy glitch experiments and trance inducing downtempo collide with sharp percussion and dense low end on this latest Alter 12'. Helm's recent 'World In Action' EP for The Trilogy Tapes is reworked by a whole host of favourites including Laurel Halo and Parris who offer up two distinctly different takes on 'Blue Scene'. No Symbols boss Beneath turns his hand to title track 'World in Action' with that typically murky, deconstructed club aesthetic whilst Parisian mainstay Low Jack gets deep on the A2, his five and a half minute version of 'Candy' sounding like a cross between Nuno Canavarro and Whitehouse. Delivering what might well be the records most subdued moment, Brussels' Sky H1 slows 'After Dark' way way down with some barely there auto-tuned vocals helping to bring things into the fold.'
Mit der EP "Auf Los" von Cie geht das neue Label Form & Terra mit treibenden Beats, glitzernden Melodien und strahlenden Strings auf den Startplatz. Für den Kölner und Mitglied des Improvisations-Live-Acts Drehkommando ist es die zweite EP auf Vinyl.
Kräftigen Anschub geben dabei Remute und Einmeier:
Remute beschleunigt mit seinem mitreißendem Remix von 0 auf 100 in Rekordzeit und lässt mit deepen Bässen die Clublandschaft erbeben. Einmeier übernimmt auf der B-Seite das Steuer und verwebt raffiniert Teile des Originals zu einer minimalistischen, deepen Soundwiese. Auf der Zielgeraden wird die Scheibe noch einmal von Cie mit dem treibenden Track "Perleffekt" neu lackiert. Vinyl only.
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Jonra & e:machinery are an electronic music performance and
recording duo comprised of long time Los Angeles based Designforms
Research label boss Jonra Babiracki and electronic music artist Eric Cowden aka e:machinery.
Combining analog hardware, software and processed vocals in a live performance setting, their music spans many styles including techno, house, acid, darkwave, and electro. Their improvisational technique results in tracks that twist and turn, keeping the listener's ears perked while always encouraging the dance floor. With releases on Designforms, Blaq Records, Superfreq and now Chem Club, this veteran duo plans to continue on their path of proud abnormality.
Frenzied and unhinged, the Ritual Casting EP by Jonra & e:machinery is the third vinyl release by Oakland based label Chem Club Records. The title track, Ritual Casting, coils into a bottom heavy head spinner that takes a left turn towards the end. The second A side track, Take A Trip, is indeed just that, a roller coaster ride using their signature vocal style paired with classic bass and percussive sounds. The DJ friendly B side kicks off with Douchebag Frog, a bubbling bass sequence centered track with pad stabs that get bounced around by those eerie vocals again. Lastly, Catch Me If You Can, with a heaving acid bassline, is a sure way to end the EP with a bang.
This superbly crafted recording features the versatile Japanese jazz/fusion keyboardist Jun Fukamachi as a veritable one-man band in a lively album that captures the essence of the original Beatles' tunes throughout. The innovative arramngements of the artist, tailored to get the maximum benefit from a surrounding instrument array, produce one of the best technical efforts. Synthesizer effects provide special flavor,' particularly at the close of Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds' on side one, and in the evocative opening of She's Leaving Home' on side two. Fukamachi blends a concert grand electric piano, Arp synthesizer, glockenspiel, bass drum, tambourine and other electronic instruments with results that indicate a group, not a solo, with ample display of each. Recorded ten years after the original, in 1977, this recording still sounds exciting, and an eye-catching cover with a mirror image of the famous photo shoot remains one of the most creative reworks of this 50 years old masterpiece' (Billboard)
Jerome Derradji + Still Music are proud to present Let's Dance Records - Mike Macharello & Duane Thamm Jr. Chicago 1983-85. The origin of house music, at least in a commercial sense, is generally associated with young African American producers from Chicago's South Side, but one of the first Chicago house music labels was started by a young, white, gay DJ from the far west suburbs.
The Let's Dance story will take you back to the beginnings of Mike Macherello and Duane Thamm Jr. when Chicago's house music was in its infancy.
Back then, after starting as young roller disco Dj in the late seventies, Mike Macherello gradually made its way to the best radio station in 1981 - WBMX - and started a movement that still ripples through the city today. Let's Dance's founder, Mike Macharello, was a DJ who bridged diverse music scenes, from rock clubs to discos. The Let's Dance record label helped establish Chicago's dance music industry between 1983 and 1985, before becoming Play House Records (which will be reissued by Still Music in an upcoming set). Macharello's pal, DJ Duane Thamm Jr., also from the 'burbs, became the label's main producer and one of house music's most important studio engineers and producers. Mike and Duane went on to release a few legendary singles for Let's Dance that are still to this day considered to be the earliest House music records coming from Chicago.The 12' pack includes faithful reissues of Selenia's 'Single Girl', Duane Thamm Jr. 'Jump Trax', the insane Knight Action 'R-Trax/D-Rail' 12's along with a 5 tracks 12' compilation and an accompanying poster insert including rare pictures and artifacts with the story of the label.
It's quite funny that it took 11 years for us over at Metroline Limited to release an EP with tracks from different artists (at least on vinyl that is) but hey, good things go to those of wait so the wait is finally over! For our first Positive Contribution we gathered Metroline Limited friends and label owners and put together a tasty four tracker that focusses on the deep and minimalistic end of house music. Hamid went a long way since his debut EP on Metroline in 2010. The Berlin based French producer has since released on influential labels such as his own H+, Nervmusic, Minibar as well as becoming a regular figure in clubs all around Europe. His track Unterdrücken starts off the EP in style with his bleeps, squelchy acid b-line, pads and crisp drums. Octad takes control and the second half of the A side and it's yet another display of his amazing production skills. The man behind the mastering of each single Metroline release to date knows very well how to get the best sound out of his tracks! And what a bassline he's come up with for Checkmated! Dhaze and Phiorio have been collaborating for a while swapping remixes and musical ideas. NT is one the finest results from these music exchanges. Deep and rolling, the track has a monster groove, lush pads and dubbed out elements. Last but not least we have another long time friend of the label, Gabriele Mancino. His Cheddar, Lion and Lamb pays tribute both to a London trip and old Perlon releases when groovy and reduced house music was gracing most of the records on the pioneering house label. An ultra-groovy and playful minimal house number with funk and style!
Excise is thrilled to host San Francisco underground xture Max Gardner on the label's 3rd vinyl release. Max runs the legendary Californian party crew Direct to Earth and he's equally a hypnotic DJ selector and highly skilled synthesist. As you'll see on this release Max's tracks are not only excellent DJ tools but also deeply interesting for close-listening: truly unique electronic music dif culty to pigeonhole into a genre. 'Mona Loops' is an immersive experience on club speakers as an eerie high-pitched synth line twists in unexpected ways over powerful waves of bass.
Next Max remixes label co-owner Muon's track 'KMC' redefining its raw elements into a blitzing four and half minute romp held together by a jagged low-mid frequency lead line. 'Broken Pinkies' is hard to de ne. All we can say is it embodies the feeling of the San Francisco all night underground world more than any single song in recent memory. It begs for repeat listening. Yan Cook joins the Excise family for a banging remix of 'Broken Pinkies'almost shocking in its spin off the original. We're huge fans of Yan over here and this track embodies what we love most about his productions - groovy but with serious bite
Fuzati (Klub des Loosers), Produzent und hartgesottener Plattensammler liefer die nächste japanische Rarität auf dem Le Très Jazz Club Label. Neuauflage des atemberaubenden 1973er Modal- und Spiritual-Jazz Albums "Morning Flight" von Posaunist Hiroshi Fukumura, begleitet von Shinji Mori (Schlagzeug), Tsutomu Okada (Bass), Hiroshi Tamura (Klavier) und Shigeharu Mukai an Posaune. Essentiell!
The second album by Istanbul's clarinet virtuoso Cüneyt Sepetçi is an intense trip into modern Turkish wedding and party music. The foundations go deep into Turkey and the surrounding regions' history, which each generation innovates and develops. These days, no wedding or circumcision party is complete without the sound of the micro-tonal keyboard. A new addition, these Turkish keyboardists can play between notes, and supply banging club rhythms in wide variety of time signatures.Sepetçi uses the bedrock of Volkan Sever's synth insanity as a jumping off point for some truly crazy solos. His fluttering sheets of notes tie knots around the pulsating, fried synthesizer. For this recording session, Sepetçi brought in two drummers, Fatih Özden (tapan) and Samet Sertol (darabouka), to play along with the Turkish drum machine. A dense nest of rhythmic complexity is the result. And to further connect to this music's rich past, the ancient double reed zurna of Ahmet Özden and Yasar Uçar's European violin weave ancient melodies and incredible solos throughout.
These musicians are some of the best in Istanbul, and all of these songs are first takes, recorded live with very little planning. Sepetçi essentially leads the band through these complex arrangements as they play them.In Istanbul, one may see Sepetçi playing for change on Istiklal Caddesi, the famous Turkish walking street at the center of the city. Or one may see him on one of the TV stations, playing Anatolian songs in his inimitable style. He's even begun touring outside of Turkey—at Denmark's Roskilde Festival, and at concerts in Italy, Beirut, and Israel. I want to go to America. He says. Do they have mosques there
Three raw, tough, cutting originals from a Brooklyn borough brother only known as Trey. All tracky and dynamic, blunt and deliberate, and most definitely made for clubs that exist on the fringes, in the seedier, stranger corners of the world. To be played during the small hours of the night. Comes packaged in a special graph paper-print inner sleeve.
KosmoramaDisco Vol. 1 is the first of a series of compilations that KosmoramaDisco label wants to release from this year to the near future. The Vol. 1 shows a sampler of few of the first tracks produced by different electronic artists. The label presents a wide range of electronic styles all with a spaceship common ground, from Italo to Dark Disco and Slow Mo all wrapped in club dancing format
Pleasure Zone welcomes Dubfound aka Dima Kulakovsky to the Family!
Dubfound is a Chisinau based producer & DJ. Co-owner of vinyl only labels Swoon and Nurum Music.
He's releasing his tracks on labels like Sleep Is Commercial, Cadenza, Vinyl Club, Fox Trax.
Diving deeper he creates his side project under a name Jezellic with crispy experimental and minimalistic sound picture.
Now also member of Pleasure Zone. Watch out for more!
A year after his last 12 inch release Here We Are / That's Desire EP and few months after a CD release Hamburg Süd/Nee IYaow eow eow featuring experimental field recordings and vocal improvisations, Wolfgang Tillmans returns with a new extended play on his own label Fragile. Heute Will Ich Frei Sein sets an energetic tone for the 5 track EP that leads straight on the dancefloor, a space that Tillmans has observed and discussed from various angles throughout his artistic career. While Los Angeles based experimental noise project Wreck and Reference's beats and 808 staccato claps instantly create a hedonistic dance moment, it is Tillmans' lyrics that contrast the simplicity of this message. Tillmans knows that clubs have always been spaces mirroring constant crisis of 'western' societies towards minorities, race and gender. In the light of current political events, it is the singers' nod that informs us about the precarity and necessity of such spaces as no contradiction. Completely Changed and On My Own, Tillmans and his long-term collaborators Jay Pluck, Kyle Combs and Tim Knapp return to more song based recordings but with a stronger approach on synthesiser soundscapes. On My Own finds Tillmans again singing simple lines over a staggering pop production that can be read as a comment on nightlife as well as the artist emerging into a more mature stage in life. It is this ambiguity that marks Tillmans' writing and constant striving for variation. Almost last, the extended play features a remix of Fast Lane, originally released on 2016 / 1986 EP - tracing back to Tillmans' first musical steps with collaborator Bernd Lessmann in 1986.
Mandala Trax aka Shingo Suwa and DJ Mori is releasing a first EP on Merkur Schallplatten.
Shingo has established the Label in 2008.
DJ Mori is working as resident DJ at suicide circus Berlin.
They often performed at many clubs in the city.
Their first collaboration includes two different versions of rave influenced techno remixes by Anna Bolena.
Anna is Music producer, Promoter and Video maker, she is an underground activist since the 80`s.
She runs the label Idroscalo Dischi since 1999 and since 2005 the Video Production Company Idroscalo Digitale.
They both are working as resident for Button's party at ://about blank.
A1, their very first track, is called 11pm. The main solid synth line features deep kick drums surrounded by dubby industrial effects in the background.
On A2 we find a heavy bottom groove, surrounded by echoes in a dark atmosphere. Hand claps and white noises are driving any techno floor.
The B Side includes two different version by Anna Bolena. She produced some 90's rave structures affected by her experimental senses.
music is the silence between the notes.' the french composer claude debussy once said.
the german trio wareika, consisting of florian schirmacher, henrik raabe and jakob seidensticker, love the silence between their notes, even if their music is often fully loaded with many detailed sounds, rhythms, melodies and intercultural sound links.
since 2007 they spread their passion for repetitive club grooves in the minimal house spheres that love to swing in the epic way. with four albums on labels like perlon or visionquest as well as eps for labels like eskimo, tartelet, circus company or bar 25 under their wings, the trio proofed their craftsmanship for multi-layered dance music already arrestingly deep on numerous releases and during tours around the globe that brought them also to japan.
now they deliver a new one hour long sonic journey on the tokyo based mule musiq, the label on which wareika member florian schirmacher already released as part of the glowing glisses project in 2008. also wareika itself are not new to the japanese imprint, as they previously dropped a remix for mule for the mysterious project jemmy in late 2015.
and now water, sky, sun, wood' - an ambitious one-track (on vinyl separated into four parts) love letter that kicks you deep into meditation - assumed you surrender yourself to their complex sounding and grooving story-arc. it all started with an unplanned four-hour jam session between henrik and flo-rian, gaming and messing around on the piano, guitar and drum computer.
later florian edited the happening into a one-hour sensation, henrik added some congas and synthlines and jakob mixed it down. the result is a meticulously edited, deeply absorbing dance between the pi-ano, guitar, conga, mfb tanzbär, mfb dominion 1, ob-6, jupiter 6 and manikin mellotron synthsizer. you can use it to get lost. lost from the daily grind. lost from precast perception.
lost in music. you can use it for your imagination to move to a place beyond words that guarantees some genuine experience. or you just can shut yourself down to it, dive deep into your unforeseeable dream world and dance your sub-consciousness around and around.
whatever each listener chooses to do, wareika's latest adventurous blend of jazz, techno, house and world music will move each soul individual. primarily because water, sky, sun, wood' is a reverbera-tion of the inner notes that are floating and dancing in florian, henrik and jakob. and as the greatest music in the world is nothing but an echo of the inner music, wareika managed to reach a new fresh peak of their multidimensional artistic body of work, that grows and grows to stand out in terms of deepness, permanency, eternalness and silence between all sounding sensations.
From the circles of Hamburg's Golden Pudel Club the duo Schluss presents their debut album '28' on Sky Walking. Éric Falconnier and Joachim Schütz join another adventure into Spontaneous Music- free and intense, demanding and magical.
A life dedicated to Noise, Experimental Music and Free Jazz, Éric Falconnier played in several formations such as Gebrochene Beine who appeared with the most notable piece on the previous Sky Walking compilation. Joachim Schütz is known for his collaborations with Ellen Fullman, Konrad Sprenger, Arnold Dreyblatt and Samara Lubelsky to only name a few. Schütz is also part of the Metabolismus collective.
With their dynamic, fragile and highly surprising Live sets and recordings, Schluss are on the path to decline expectations and burst conventions.
6, 7, 2, 1, 3, 5, 4!
Um sich schon einmal auf die im nächsten Jahr stattfindende Deutschland-Tour von Muff Potter einzustimmen, presst das Hamburger Label Grand Hotel van Cleef vier zwischen 2000 und 2007 erschienene Platten noch einmal nach. Die Veröffentlichung von "Heute wird gewonnen, bitte" im Jahr 2003 bedeutete den Durchbruch für Frontmann Nagel und seine drei Mitstreiter. Die Ärzte nahmen das Quartett als Support mit auf Tour, und auch abseits der großen Bühnen erspielten sich Muff Potter auf über 400 umjubelten Konzerten einen soliden Ruf. Das zog die Aufmerksamkeit von Universal und letztlich einen Plattenvertrag nach sich. Mit dem Major als neuem Partner brachten die Münsteraner im Oktober 2005 ihr fünftes Album "Von Wegen" heraus und bespielten im Anschluss - in guter alter Tradition - weitere 100 Club- und Festivalbühnen. Die Entscheidung für die Musikerkarriere hatte sich offenbar ausgezahlt. Im Juni 2006 erschien quasi als Zugabe auf Solitary Man Records, dem japanischen Label von Ingo Knollmann (Donots), "Von Wegen" in englischer Sprache unter dem Namen "My Huckleberry Friend".
The Norman Connors produced Aquarian Dream first appeared in 1976 with their debut album on Buddah, featuring the extremely popular 'Phoenix' along with the club dancer 'East 6th Street'.
Both tracks were only released previously on 12" in the UK and quickly became a huge collector's item with the release averaging £50 on Discogs some 38 years later.
Fully remastered on limited edition 180 gram heavyweight vinyl,
officially reissued for the first time since its original release.
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Soul Has No Tempo are proud to present 'The Self' - the new album from London-based drummer/producer Richard Spaven.
Richard Spaven is one of the most sought-after drummers in progressive and contemporary music. Drumming for the likes of José James, Gregory Porter, Guru's Jazzmatazz, Flying Lotus, The Cinematic Orchestra, TY and more, he has gained international recognition, both on stage and in the studio. Richard is an influential, genre-defying musician - the result of working closely with a diverse range of artists, combined with his own rich musical taste. Gilles Peterson said it best - "there's much more than just rhythm with this man".
His debut album 'Whole Other*' (2014) touched on many musical palettes and bridged the gap between jazz and electronica. With 'The Self', Richard introduces us to his personal journey. The moment in time where a jazz drummer affirms his love for club culture, delivering an album that travels from drum & bass to broken beat, dubstep and more, all seen through the lens of a drummer. The club culture influence is apparent in the way Richard wrote and produced this album - sampling his own drums on the Photek cover 'Hidden Camera' and collaborating with Metalheadz MC, Cleveland Watkiss to recreate the London sound system vibe so integral to his background.
Featuring guest artists from diverse backgrounds - Jordan Rakei, Jameszoo, Kris Bowers, MC Cleveland Watkiss and Richard's established partner in crime, guitarist and composer Stuart McCallum, 'The Self' is masterfully combined with Richard's unique production and showcases his trademark drumming style of precision, creativity and finesse.
Two of Alkan's most bombastic reworks over one disc. His scene-defining cut of Justice's breakthrough club hit 'Waters Of Nazareth' adds a subtle Chicago drum edit to the original's notorious snarl, while the Australian band's 'Why Won't You Make Up Your Mind' psych-rock is blasted through with euphoric electro energy.
If you're familiar with Public Release's sibling, FACE, a series of parties, you'll already know that Jee Day, né Dennis McNany, has been in the Bay Area label's orbit for some time; as half of the DFA act Museum of Love, he joined the inner circle years ago. Here, with Amot Herga Laxy, he makes his bold debut on Public Release itself.
The single begins with 'Crocodile Tears,' an abstract, impressionistic tapestry of African rhythms, meditative synth washes, Vangelis-esque horns and pads. It recedes and Jee Day plunges deeper into the jungle with 'Communication Masterbation,' a propulsive number built around a psychedelic, droney bass that's wrapped with gritty, distorted effects and layers of topline keyboard licks stacked high. A raw club track cut from transcendentalist cloth that'll lift you off the dance floor.
The B-side is a dub of 'Communication Masterbation,' with an emphasis being placed on pulling out, unraveling, extending the rhythmic elements and emphasizing the electronic veil the piece is shrouded in. A trancey, menacing sprawl that could be an extended Sonic Youth live jam if they swapped their stringed instruments for Roland and Korg gear—and dusted the whole thing in an unknown psychoactive slime.
The Berlin-based Citylow label has been releasing quality house and techno for some time now. Born from a mix of musical influences from the metropolitan suburban life, the label is characterized by vintage, analogue sounds, modular systems and the many other influences of label manager Alfredo Trastulli aka F.T.G. The heart of the label is Citylow Humans Crew, a movement of underground artists around the world who day-after-day match their story with an underground music philosophy.
Staunchly dedicated to vinyl culture and with an ethos that tends to veer toward assured, confident sounding house and techno, theirs is a modus operandi that's served them very well indeed. For their latest, the attention switches to Fuckthegovernment.Ltd label boss F.T.G, who hooks up with regular collaborator Brando Torri aka Siyha Kuma for another release that speaks volumes of their talents. The A side features the remix, which comes at us from none other than the fucking parisienne talent Jef K, who in this instance has hooked up with Mikael Weill to supply a differing take on the original. Jef K of course, is a man who needs no introduction to house music fans. One of Paris' most acclaimed DJs and producers, he has a monthly gig at famed club Concrete, where he's renowned for sumptuous basslines and exquisite house music. Gritty and relentless, their remix is characterised by some steely bass hits and a stubborn refusal to compromise. A gnarly jam that soon comes to life courtesy of a quite brilliant bassline, this one is sure to make an impression wherever it's let out of the bag. Exceptional stuff we're sure you'll agree. Elsewhere, the B side features the original, which we soon realise is where the aforementioned remix earned its industrial stripes.
Inspired by a longstanding respect for the pioneering sounds of Cluster, Neu!, Harmonia & John Foxx, the legendary K. Leimer fuses tape loops, Moog tones and a variety of real and imagined instruments into an immersive journey brimming with electronic emotion throughout this homage, 'Mitteltöner.'
A key figure in America's musical avant garde, Leimer's experiments with tape manipulation, fractal loops and textured ambience have been well documented in recent times, with RVNG and VOD both offering excellent and exhaustive retrospectives of the artist's seventies and eighties output. Tracing Leimer's discography from 1979's 'Translucent: / Memory' to 1983's 'Installation View', via the dislocated rhythms of the Savant project, these archival releases detail a move from the pastoral synthesis of kosmische into more angular, experimental territories. Simultaneously looking to the past and the future, this Origin Peoples release is both a return to Leimer's earliest stylistic explorations, and his first vinyl release of original work in twenty five years.
Oddly for such a sonic outlier, 'Mitteltöner' (midrange to non teutophones) takes its conceptual cues from the idea that the midrange contains all the core information. Over ten tracks, Leimer employs subtlety and skill to navigate the emotional depth of the kosmische genre while maintaining the focus and detail which has remained constant in his work.
Opener 'Dunne Luft' owes as much to post rock as krautrock, evolving from chiming harmonics and understated rhythms into an optimistic roar of motorik percussion and towering guitars. From there, 'Webermelodie' dives into crystalline calm, tracing delicate arps around a processed groove before 'Anode' sends us skywards, drifting through glistening piano refrains and hypnotic sequences. Te dramatic 'As Long Ago As This' glides through a deserted city of metal and glass leaving the measured ambience of 'Entferntemusik ' to close out the side in a swell of static.
Leimer shifts tone as we move onto the flip, segueing the stomping, cybernetic Sturm Und Drang of 'German Defaults' into the propulsive electronics of 'London Interiors', a dynamic sample-topped suite in the tradition of Bill Nelson. The addition of graceful piano motifs and swathes of hazy synthesis lends a tranquillity to the pulsating bass of 'Auf Einem Fahrrad', while 'SHM' marries soothing melody and crunching rhythm into a thoroughly medicated experience. Finally, 'Café Florian' pays homage to Schneider or Fricke with a euphoric fusion of metallic percussion and esoteric energies.
Far from a simple homage to the electronic idols of his youth, 'Mitteltöner' finds K. Leimer reimagining their nuanced sonic framework through a lifetime of musical experience and experimentation.
Following the success of our recent reissues of classic tracks from the vaults team-Jalapeno decided to start 2018 strong with another 7" release of two certified bangers from our very own breaks legends Skeewiff.
Our dear label co-founders and creative minds whose four Skeewiff albums set the agenda for the Jalapeno funk machine that you know and love - Alex Rizzo and Elliot Ireland have never been found wanting. These guys are the godfathers of the lounge and breaks scenes, they put the fun into funk, and if rumours are to be believed they could mix before they could walk!
From the very first opening horns salvo on 'Mexican Flyer' you know this track means business. A driving bassline and in-your-face drums provide the backdrop for all sorts of sonic madness with DJ cuts, horn solos and breaks galore. It's a bona-fide fiesta that fits neatly in your 45's bag.
With this little number in the arsenal the only worry that the DJ's will have is the stampede to the dancefloor...
Over on the flipside 'Delta Dawn' sees the guys get a little help from a famously little lady with one of the most recognisable voices in country music. But make no mistake - this is no barn dance... Breaks, bass and a healthy dose of Hammond wizardry inject the funk into proceedings to complete this 7" club weapon of mass destruction.
It's a double act that's up there with the best of them and a must have for fans of Jalapeno and high quality party music.
Air Lows is the debut solo album by Silvia Kastel. The Italian artist has been a fixture of the underground since her precocious teens, clocking up many miles in Control Unit with Ninni Morgia ('It's like Catherine Deneuve dumped two cases of post-Repulsion psychiatric notes over Pere Ubu's Dub Housing, lit the fuse and, ahem, stood well back" - Julian Cope), including collaborations with the likes of Smegma, Factrix, Gary Smith, Aki Onda and Gate (Michael Morley of The Dead C). Both solo and in her work with others, Kastel has explored the outer limits and inner workings of no wave, industrial, dub, extreme electronics, free rock and improvisation. Air Lows is both her fullest and most refined offering to date, a work of vivid, isolationist electronics which draws deeply on her past experience but assuredly breaks new ground. Prompted by a late-flowering interest in techno and club music, Kastel sought to create something which combines a steady rhythmic pulse with the otherworldly sonorities of musique concrete, and avant-garde synth sounds inspired by Japanese minimalism and techno-pop (Haruomi Hosono's Philharmony being a particular favourite). The formal artifice of muzak / elevator music, the intros and outros of generic popular songs, the extreme light-heavy contrasts of jungle, the creative sampling of hardcore, and the very 'human' synths in the jazz of Herbie Hancock's Sextant and Sun Ra: all were touchstones for Air Lows' conception and composition, and all strains of music addressing - or complicating - the relationship between the human and the technological. By extension, visual inspirations also proved important: anime, and the avant-garde fashion of Rei Kawakubo. What does that shirt or dress sound like Though used sparingly, Kastel's voice remains her key instrument, whether subject to dissociative digital manipulations as on 'Bruell', delivering matter-of-fact spoken monologues, or providing splashes of pure tonal colour. Recorded between her expansive Italy studio and a more compact, ersatz set-up in Berlin, Air Lows gradually takes on some of the character of the German capital: you can hear the wide streets and uninhabited spaces, the seepage of never-ending nightlife, the loneliness. Air Lows is The Wizard of Oz in reverse: the glorious technicolour J-pop deconstructions of its first half leading inexorably to the icy noir of 'Spiderwebs' and 'Concrete Void'. These later tracks are reminiscent of 2015's magnificent 39 12', Kastel in the role of numbed, nihilistic chanteuse stalking dank, murky tunnels of reverb and sub-bass. But in fact there is contradiction and emotional ambiguity to Air Lows from the outset, and throughout - a sense of both infinite space and acute claustrophobia; energy and inertia; fluency and restraint.
ORBE is no stranger to the hypnotic side of techno, and his newest release on Eric Cloutier's recently created Palinoia label properly allows the Spanish artist to do what he does best. Four tracks of deep, psychedelic techno, all slightly twisted and quirky in their own way, the entire EP is perfect for those headsdown nights deep in to the morning on the dancefloor of your favorite darkened club.
Version Galore is a newly found label, deeply rooted in the music culture. We bring you the selected reworks / versions from the top producers in the game, showing lots of respect and care for the original, but elevating it's spirit and taking it somewhere else. It's all about the dialogue of cultures and the idealistic desire to pass the music legacy on! No half-measures, played-out tunes, lazy cuts, or boring "808-kick boosting" biz!
K2 is an alias of someone who you should be very familiar with by now, especially if interested in quality house music. No clues He the music legend from Baltimore, one of the most versatile and technically-gifted DJs on the scene, a master of CDJs, who singlehandedly restored public's interest in gospel music with his ultimate dance bomb "Work It Out". Still Hesitant Ok we'll help you - it's the one and only Karizma!
A-side is a pure fire-starter! One of those tunes that works perfectly in any surrounding, location, context, club. Here Karizma flips a version of a certain African-American work song, which catchy refrain just seem to resonate with anyone, while the rough dirty beats with the cheeky start/pause technique destroy the dance floor! Essential party tool!
On B-Side the maestro travels in time to grace us with a retro-futuristic workout on the edge of jazz-fusion / prog-rock & Italo-disco. "In Spite Of" is a peculiar, yet beautiful combination of hypnotic chord progressions, step-sequenced synthetic bass-lines, the virtuoso dialogue of electric guitar and electric violin (yes), spiced up with African percussion and forceful beats, all working together in harmony in accordance with the intricate time signature of the song! That's Karizma at his most Balearic!
IMA (Intense Molecular Activity) is the duo of Don Hunerberg (synthesizers) and Andy Blinx (drums and percussion). Based in New York City and active between 1979 and 1982. Don, a studio Sound / music engineer and musician, Andy an electronic clothing designer, drummer and sound reinforcement engineer at downtown clubs like Max's Kansas City, Mudd Club and CBGB. In between doing sessions at Radio City Music Hall Studios for groups such as Ramones, Richard Hell, Sonic Youth, Liquid Liquid, John Zorn, Glenn Branca and many others, IMA took advantage of off hours to create their own music. As far as influences go, Don's background was in electronic music and Andy's in prog rock. To produce the songs, Don used his own method of creating patterns from 2-track tape loops and then edited them together on to a 24-track recorder adding more tracks of overdubs, In a very similar way that sequencers are used today. By 1980 the duo honed their own unique sound and version of Post Punk and No-Wave with the tools of the trade of the early 80s. Situated above the proscenium of the Radio City Music Hall stage, the studio was outfitted with a variety of orchestral instruments (timpani, bells, xylophone, etc). They self-released a 4-song EP titled 'IMA' on an 8' flexi-disc which was distributed by Ed Bahlman of 99 Records. The music bridges the wild psychedelic-rock of the 60s, the synth-punk of the late-70s and the elaborate constructions of progressive-rock. There are nods to the freak-outs of Chrome and the super neurosis of Suicide, but IMA takes a more clinical approach which also takes notice of Hawkwind and Pink Floyd's interstellar overdrive. We've added 4 bonus tracks recorded during the same studio sessions and included them here for the first time on vinyl. DJ Hell lifted elements of IMA's song "Blurb" virtually intact and uncredited for his electroclash club hit "Keep On Waiting" 20 years later. All songs have been remastered by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. The record is housed in an exact replica of the original jacket featuring a spray painted IMA tag a top a red dashed 'Do Not Enter' sign. Each copy includes a double-sided postcard with notes. This Album Is dedicated to the memory of Andy (Blinx) George.
At the summer party on the occasion of my soon-to-be 80th birthday, many friends came. As it said on the invitation: 'The Eschenau Chaos Band will play.' While the party was going on, people asked me when that band would be playing, and I replied: 'Now! You are that band', and I randomly handed out all of these instruments. Hartmut Geerken was clued in and had brought some as well - Sun Ra's Sun Harp among others. I started with a moroccan hand drum, bendir, and off it went. Unpractised." - Herman De Vries Herman de Vries, born 1931 in Alkmaar, is a Dutch visual artist who has been living in Eschenau in the Steigerwald region (Franconia, Germany) since 1970. Having started out as an Art Informel painter in the 1950s, his interests shifted in the ensuing years, and in the 1970s, he became focused on found objects from nature and their rtistic-philosophical qualities and implications. He has made paintings, collages, texts, sculptures, installations, a.o., and has dealt with plants, earth, and other parts of nature from botanical, medical, historical, as well as psychedelic viewpoints.Recording made on June 18, 2011, in Eschenau. Edition of 300 with liner notes by Herman de Vries and photos of the event on the back sleeve.
Hardware geek/sample freak, Chase Smith, steps up to deliver four tracks of rabid, fever-pitched acid-disco for our second release. These aren't your standard clunky, knob-twiddling acid jams. All four tracks are streamlined compositions of jack beat electronics purpose-built for total ego eradication. True acid music for 2017.
'Subclubsciously' takes you on a trip through She's Drunk's subconscious mind which pushes him to elevate production accidents into obsessive club gimmicks and delusional rhythms. Coming back from a Europe Tour with 'Zebra Katz' he finished his debut EP for Through My Speakers where he is opening up to new musical horizons, letting melodies and emotions flow into his produc-tions. Particularly noteworthy is the collaboration with the highly talented South African artist Sho Madjozi on 'Amadoda", where she's spitting fire in Tsonga. - already played by Sarah Farina, Neana (Night Slugs), Addison Groove, Skinny Macho (Boiler Room), Strip Steve - airplay on Radar Radio, NTS Radio
Nested Structure is the first Great Circles release from artists outside of Philadelphia. THRIVE are Tetsuya Yoshida and Hitoshi Kojima. They both grew up in the North Kanto area of Japan. They first met at the club run by Tetsuya Yoshida called SOUND A BASE NEST, which is known as having the best sound system in the North Kanto area. In 2007, the duo started their DJ / Producing unit THRIVE. Previous releases have included a split 12' with Keia Yano for Japanese label Struct, and recent solo releases by Hitoshi for Always Human Tapes and for his own label Ambivalent Deviation. This record almost didn't happen! --- Tetsuya and Hitoshi were picking up Great Circles records in Japan and, having periodically communicated with each other about music, they sent us the Struct 12' to check out. While
cleaning out the back of the car a few months later, the presumably empty record mailer was about to land in
the recycle bin when we fortunately discovered a demo CD of unreleased THRIVE material inside. We drove
around listening to it and week later we agreed to release a 12'. The music on the Nested Structure 12' is dark, foreboding, even outwardly threatening. It's hypnotic, textural and rhythmically complex.