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BLUSH_RESPONSE's cyberpunk sharpness meets the cold, mechanical, sample-obsessed EBM of SRIN.

Londoner Endgame is a new addition to the Hyperdub roster after releases on Lisbon's Golden Mist Records, and NYC-based Purple Tapes Pedigree. Endgame hosts an excellent monthly show 'Precious Metals' on NTS and produces and DJs as part of the Bala Club crew (also featuring Uli K, Kamixlo and Rules) who are regulars at Lexxi's occasional club night 'Endless'. He already has mixes and features with the likes of the Fader, Fact, Dazed and Confused and ID under his belt in the short time he's been releasing music. In his ice-cold productions, Drill, Grime and most notably South American dance riddims are threaded and mutated into tracks that he describes as an ever-evolving vision of the dystopian underbelly of London. 'Felony Riddim' is an icy introduction to the EP, an explosive club jam with a menacing and stabbing chime melody leading up to a pounding kick drum. It's all out war, but you can definitely roll your hips to it. 'Sittin' Here Redux' recasts Dizzie Rascal's 'Boy In Da Corner' opener into a tense anthem, with police sirens wailing in the background, dogs barking, and rolling 808 snares that bring a vibe somewhere between reggaeton and drill. Next up is 'Fallen' featuring the MC Organ Tapes - a slow burner that works both as a moody headphone track or a club slow jam. Organ Tapes' slurred autotuned vocals flow perfectly with Endgame's blend of grime drums and chiming rap production. The EP finishes as it began, going out with the explosive and high-energy 'Toxic Riddim'. It's a mix of reggaeton and futurist dancehall, with a menacing melody and relentless electric shock-like hi hats across a deep sub. Endgame takes you all around the world - but the ice-cold tone unmistakably brings you right back to winding in a dark club in London's culture clash

Lunapark is the trio of Burkhard Ballein, Klaus "Schlips" Gebauer, Reinhard "Zoppen" Benisch from Wuppertal, Germany. Formed in 1981 when the boys were dissatisfied with their surrounding musical environment. They packed their instruments and a cassette recorder and set off to create their own brand of Neue Deutsche Welle (NDW "New German Wave'). Their influences included The Beatles, Colloseum, Roxy Music, Frank Zappa as well as Sex Pistols, Ian Dury & The Blockheads, Blondie and The Cure. Gefangene Vögel' ('Prisoner Birds') is their debut album released by Intakt Records, Stuttgart in 1982. Utilizing a simple set up of guitar, bass, drums, drum-computer, Korg MS-10 and Korg MS-20 they recorded 10 tracks that make up the album. Songs bridge the Belgian-type industrial and cold sounds with NDW quirkiness. In the vein of Sad Lovers and Giants, and Schleimer K they blend post-punk and new wave music with electronic influences. All songs are sung in German with monotone vocals and epitomized the urban Zeitgeist of the Cold War. All songs have been remastered for vinyl by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. The vinyl comes housed in a replica of the original jacket design, which features a drawing of birds on a grid. There are 4 different color versions of the screen printed jacket: blue, yellow, magenta and turquoise. Each LP includes a copy of the double sided 11x11 insert that was included with the original pressing with lyrics and photos.

Misanthrope CA is the Black Metal influenced formation by artist and photographer Robert Kulisek and David Lieske aka Carsten Jost, co-owner of Dial Records. After their first limited tape redition "Amerika" (2015), Deathbridge is a full-length album recorded in the Hamptons, New York, in collaboration with the Oslo gallery "VI, VII".
As mentioned in early interviews, David Lieske always had a huge fascination for true Black Metal, reflected now in the wonderfully dark Misanthrope CA recordings. After extraordinary releases and contributions by Dirk Von Lowtzow, Queens, Momus, Christian Naujoks and James K, Dial Records proofs once more the intensity and variety of the label's output.

After his exciting album Elasticity' on his own imprint Elastic Dreams, A Sagittariun delivers the equally fascinating three track Oxidize EP' for german label Couldn't Care More. While Heights' is a stripped-down basic-channelish techno ride, rough, edgy and with a hint of hypnotic melodies, the title track heads in a quite different direction: still it's raw expressionistic techno, but the flow is ever-changing, mesmerizingly shifting and twisting between hissing beats and enlightened synths. For the remix of Oxidize' Golden Pudel Club resident and odd-house virtuoso RVDS fires up the acid machine and does it Detroit style, warm and cold, uplifting and melancholic.

A silver ribbon of a road
threaded through vertical hills
a shallow creek sparkling cold
Release me

To celebrate Record Store Day 2016, Claremont 56 is proud to
present something rather special - a killer single-sided release whose origins are shrouded in mystery.
'Tropic Of Capricorn' arrived at C56 HQ with little or no information. While its' humid sound effects and glistening, unfurling melodies evoke hazy memories of Mediterranean sunsets and Adriatic sunrises, the track's creators live East of Ukraine, in the colder surrounds of the Russia.
Regardless of who made it, you'll struggle to fnd a single that's quite as warm, tactile and seductively groovy. Built around a hypnotic, slo-mo groove, 'Tropic of Capricorn' soothes and sedates from start to fnish. Its' ingredients are relatively sparse - think gently undulating beats, toasty chords and an electric harp that gently ebb and fow like the waters of a mountain stream - but the results are nothing less than stunning.

Richard Sen's last outing on (Emotional) Especial - the bleep revival brilliance of "Songs of Pressure" - was something of a stone cold killer, so hopes are naturally high for this belated follow-up. The title track again digs deep for inspiration, doffing a cap to the starry futurism of Detroit, psychedelic acid and the drum-machine driven jack of early Chicago house. The flipside Dub of the same track takes it into uncharted territory, with hazy, drawn-out chords and post-production effects only serving to emphasize the heavy nature of Sen's vintage groove. Bonus "Shoc Horracore" explores similar territory, while offering a knowing wink towards obscure 1980s horror movie soundtracks and the bold synthesizer lines of Italo-disco.

Formed by MGM A&R man Michael Viner in 1972 to supplement the soundtrack to the virtually anonymous B-Movie flm The Thing With Two Heads, 'The IBB' went from a loose studio collectve to
an instrumental pop covers consortum, interpretng classics of the day in their own inimitable percus-sive fashion.
B-Movie soundtracks, The Beatles, drummers gone bad, Frank Zappa, Kool Herc... These albums have a remarkable story behind them which is detailed in the exclusive insert included in the boxset, writen by Angus Batey.
The IBB's cover of the 'Apache' track - originally made famous by The Shadows - has become simply legendary in the worlds of hip hop and dance music. The track was a staple of Kool Herc and Grand-master Flash in the 70s as they invented the art of Djing at Bronx block partes, leading to its logical status as one of the most sampled tracks of all tme and a hip hop and breakers anthem that has stood the test of tme. It is stll revered as THE break of all original breaks, with the rhythms of the LP it was frst found on helping to coin the term 'breakbeat'.
Apache has been sampled by Missy Elliot, Coldcut, Will Smith, Goldie, Jurassic 5, Moby, Run DMC, Sugarhill Gang, Beaste Boys and Massive Atack among many others.

Skin and bone. A face featureless, white linen. The debut 12' of Funeral Future greets you with a cold hand and welcomes you into this dark night of the soul. Manic pulse, cutting hi-hats, and funereal leads. Techno has never sounded this elegiac.

The Estonian master of dubstep and techno Margus Löve, who has operated so far under the monikers L-OW and 1DERL&, has changed his creative direction into curvier areas and is presenting his fresh act Exit Safe Mode as a proof. Cool and ghastly darkness is still hoofing at your heels and ominous concrete thunder brings the skeletal techno to a new fertile ground. Seeming coldness is concealing a hot-blooded pulse and a stealthily transporting psychedely. A dangerously alluring adventure has begun and it's calling for an exit from the numbing comfort zone.

Cologne based artist 'Adryiano' has finally threaded into label managing waters. Ever since the emerge of his multi functional platform 'Cestraw' back in 2011 Adryiano has been twisting and thinking on when to launch the label side of things. After the humble success of his latest "Down South" effort on Soul Notes it felt like the right time.

CR/001 turned out to be an emotive dance floor record that touches several different modes within the spectrum of underground dance music. From the straight forward 303-anthem "Break Module" to the uplifting yet deep, Chicago-ish tones of "Path Of Yours" - Adryiano's "Default EP" is set to unfold just in time for the cold, dark days before Christmas.

repressed !

***
Crystal morning.
Sniffing quivering need,
running in the gutter,
where cold flesh circulates,
Where is he now

***

(en) French duo THE SILENT ONES aka Aalik and Fred Traverso have specialized in their own brand of indie-infused electronic pop, putting a modern spin on vintage cold wave and minimal synth influences. MAGICAL PARTY is a prime example for their distinct melange of swirling melodies and catchy songwriting, an iridescent piece of dreamy musical drama with lots of charm. Known as incurable romanticist, fellow countryman JONAS BERING was the obvious choice for a remix, finally returning to Kompakt after his 2008 release CAN'T STOP LOVING YOU (KOMPAKT 172) - his immersive rework successfully trims the vocals and transplants the original's delicacy into a deep, but buoyant mover geared up for the distinguished floor. Pushing for a trance-inducing throb, the BEN WATTS mix is a fitting companion cut, promoting a slightly bouncier approach and seasoning its propulsive beats with tension-building synths for that special whiff of epic broadness.
(de) Das französische Duo THE SILENT ONES alias Aalik und Fred Traverso hat sich auf eine eigene Variante von Indie-geprägtem, elektronischem Pop spezialisiert, eine zeitgemäße Übersetzung von klassischen Cold-Wave- und Minimal-Synth-Einflüssen. MAGICAL PARTY ist ein herausragendes Beispiel für ihre individuelle Melange aus wirbelnden Melodien und mitreissendem Songwriting, ein irisierendes Stück verträumtes musikalisches Drama mit viel Charme. Bekannt als unverbesserlicher Romantiker, ist ihr Landsmann JONAS BERING eine offensichtliche Wahl für einen Remix - eine langerwartete Rückkehr zu Kompakt nach seinem 2008er Release CAN'T STOP LOVING YOU (KOMPAKT 172). Seine einnehmende Neubearbeitung stutzt die Vocals zurecht und verpflanzt die Zartheit des Originals erfolgreich in einen deepen, aber lebhaften Schieber, bestens gerüstet für anspruchsvolle Tanzflure. Dank eines grossen Interesses an Trance-induzierendem Pulsschlag entpuppt sich der BEN WATTS Mix als ein äusserst passender Begleiter der eine eher federnde Gangart einschlägt und seine treibenden Beats mit spannungsgeladenen Synthies abschmeckt - für das gewisse Extra an epischer Breite.

Poker Flat's Forward To The Past anthology returns in its 3rd iteration, as lean and mean as it ever was and precision-engineered to make you jack, dream and all things in between. The winning formula remains the same: task a selection of hotshot veteran and up-and-coming producers with recapturing the style and mood of early club music, paying homage to the golden years between 1985 and 1992 when Chicago House and Acid, New York House and Detroit Techno took the world and its dancefloors by storm. The result is a collection of new and exclusive tracks as addictive as the stone cold classics that influenced them - a tribute and, at the same time, the cutting edge of contemporary music production. Quell casts clouds of vocals and a repeated snippet of soul over a sinuous, undulating bassline. Anaxander gives us classic acid with Gallic attitude, fine-tuned for the dancefloor. Hard-touring DJ and Back to Basics resident Denny goes back to the old school, plunging you into the midst of a heaving dancefloor with a wobbling, fluttering acid track. Glasgow's Debukas provides another Detroit-influenced highlight, letting his imagination run riot with a heartstring-pulling chord progression and contrapuntal synth lines.

Das Debütalbum - TRUE steht weltweit bei über 1,7 Mio. Units (davon über 200.000/Platin in
Deutschland)Der Singlehit - WAKE ME UP steht bei 13 Mio. Downloads + 900 Mio. Streams weltweit
Über 3,7 Milliarden Audio- und Video-Streams gesamt. 15 Tracks inkl. der Hitsingle - Waiting For Love
und den neuen Singles - For A Better Day / - Pure Grinding .Topliner u.a.: Chris Martin von Coldplay
Wyclef Jean & Matisyahu, Mike Posner
Musikrichtung: Dance-Pop

Poker Flat's Forward To The Past anthology returns in its 3rd iteration, as lean and mean as it ever was and precision-engineered to make you jack, dream and all things in between. The winning formula remains the same: task a selection of hotshot veteran and up-and-coming producers with recapturing the style and mood of early club music, paying homage to the golden years between 1985 and 1992 when Chicago House and Acid, New York House and Detroit Techno took the world and its dancefloors by storm. The result is a collection of new and exclusive tracks as addictive as the stone cold classics that influenced them - a tribute and, at the same time, the cutting edge of contemporary music production. LA-based compatriot MANIK contributes a rolling, no-frills jam that sticks to the tried and tested production values of early acid as if to say, Why mess with perfection' From his small Amsterdam studio crammed with classic drum machines and synths, Wouter de Moor serves up 'Bon Voyage', a simmering analogue acid jam bedecked with snickering percussive flourishes and long, sustained chords for that blue-tinged Detroit vibe. Pavel Iudin, meanwhile, adds jazzy Rhodes inflections and whistling birdsong to a similarly bubbling groove. Veteran DJ Aakmael adopts the classic Juno bass sound to pay homage to the godfather of deep, Larry Heard, for an exercise in immersive repetition.

Up and coming Belgium-born activist Philippe Petit, operator of the Knotweed and Decision Making Theory labels, returns to Figure SPC with a delightfully versatile four tracker. Spanning cold-wavesynth electronics, purist club techno and up-building melodic zones, its perhaps Petits strongest effort yet. Capturing a neo-classical, archaic mood in >Mist Solaris Negative Zone Suspended< closes the EP with a joyful, above the clouds journey, lifting up weightlessly into the ether.

Releasing under the moniker Misanthrop since 2002, Michael Brauninger's music reflects a foreboding sense of darkness, something that has been prevalent in his previous releases with the likes of Critical Recordings, Neosignal and Subtitles. Misanthrop has utilised unfamiliar ways to push the envelope of his twisted, sinister sound for new EP 'I Need More'

The automated refrain on 'Capitalism' reflects the stark coldness of Misanthrop's work, before unleashing an onslaught of off-beat breaks to display Brauninger's deft, often unpredictable production style.

'Rock'n'Roll', a more familiar tear-out drum & bass track, bolstered by pummelling percussive flourishes and flashes of distortion throughout.

Gaining support from the likes of Skrillex, Goldie, Skream, Alix Perez and more, Misanthrop has spent his 13 year career carving a sound that is wholly realised in this latest release. Brutal, uncompromising and inherently forward thinking.

Leisure System presents rising talent Will Ward's Interval One EP, the second in our 2015 GRIDLOCK series of dance floor 12"s and the British producer and DJ's most exuberant record to date. In addition to two prior solo releases, Will Ward is a member of the esteemed electronic trio Circle Traps along with Jack Wyllie and Duncan Bellamy of Portico. He has previously collaborated with the likes of My Panda Shall Fly and gained support from tastemakers such as Rob Da Bank and Gilles Peterson for dazzling productions that blur the lines between pumping house and windswept techno. The Interval One EP is a strong representation of that sleek sound, with tracks that are bursting with emotion and memorable detail. "Digital Design" is an aural kaleidoscope, with a shimmering melody line refracted in squiggly arcs next to murmured female vocals and resonant chords. It's a fittingly varied introduction, drifting between hot and cold poles. "Portion" features Circle Traps member Jack Wyllie, and subtle additions accrue to create waves of unease, while the melody line bounces energetically through a maze of ossified handclaps and buoyant chord stabs. Closing things out, the EP's title track builds from a woozy introduction to an ebullient peak, as if rolling out of bed and stepping immediately onto a throbbing dance floor. It's a cleansing and exhilarating feeling, the type of rare emotional response that Will Ward has proven himself thoroughly capable of creating with Interval One.

secretsundaze 017 comes from London based producer Endian. Releasing just 2 EPs in a few years on Nonplus and Electric Minds, Endian has nevertheless managed to turn the heads of the likes of Steffi who used one of his tracks for her Panorama Bar compilation and Boddika who also licensed a track for a various artists EP. Sounding like a producer far more experienced than the two releases would indicate, it came as no surprise that this is far from the output of a novice but the seasoned veteran George Levings aka Commix (Metalheadz).
Endian has been a regular at secretsundaze events over the years and a friendship developed with Giles and James. The project is an outlet for him to release the more technoey and house sound that he is increasingly inspired by.
Lead and title track 'Finish Me' is a stone cold killer. Ballsy, raw and over driven in the mix, a tribal breakbeat groove builds before brassy stabs sneak in. The peak of the track sees dramatic pads cut through for a moment of serenity before the drums drop back in. Joy Orbison used 'Finish Me' in his Essential mix late last year and its also been a highlight of secretsundaze's sets over last 6 months. 'Dusty' goes deeper with a layer of fuzzy warmth enveloping the track. Driving but definitely one for the later hours or early on with its hypnotising flow and subtle musical flourishes. Last up 'Sub Tropic' is a heads down, growling, low slung techno track with its deep sub bass. This is definitely a track you can imagine hearing in the bowels of Berghain well into Sunday daytime. 'Finish Me' is arguably Endian's best work to date and it's another fine addition to the secretsundaze catalogue.

Russia's Art Crime seemingly came out of nowhere with his first record and it blew us all away at Phonica. Lead track 'Release' was pure nineties house nostalgia, a huge reverbed piano over skipping drums that became an instant shop classic. We just couldn't get it out of our heads!

Needless to say we reached out to Art Crime instantly, hoping to lure another 12' of material from him and with the 'Obsession EP' we are blown away with the results. Art Crime has delivered another anthemic record, four tracks of melancholic house music, sounding both of the past and future.

The title track 'Obsession' is another massive piano laden House beauty, permeated with shim- mering synth stabs. Up next is 'Show Interest', with its almost-oriental synth melody glowing over a cold arpeggiated electro pulse. On the flip, 'Eye Contact's glacial pads and piano are followed by 'Rise Fall Run', the most restrained track of the set, an etheral journey through the clouds.

As with his first 12', Art Crime is behind the front cover artwork, with the reverse based on Jack Featherstone's layout for our previous release.

Let's focus on Ricardo Tobar: Born in Chile and now residing in France, Tobar picked the "creative border crossing" as the common thread for his album "Collection". Musical experimentation and crossing musical borders - Tobar refers here directly to the style and sound of the great new-wave-bands of the 80s and 90s. With the help and influence of their new electronic instruments (that often met classic rock guitars) the post-punk-electronic-movement turned almost everything upside down. No matter if the result was moody and mysterious or romantic and hedonistic, all sounded new and different back then and paved the musical path for a whole generation - the reverberations of that episode are noticeable until today.
Tobar plays with the musical approach of the post-punk-era, he mixes, merges and experiments fearless with styles and moods. He creates a wide range of "own styles" and even dives into abstract sound fields - listening electronic in best form! Ricardo Tobar breathes the air of his own musical universe and is not refering to the typical styles of this genre - you won't find any Detroit, Berlin or Sheffield reference here. Although produced in France, Tobar's album doesn't have anything of the sweet and lovely french listening touch. It also won't beam you into the north of England and the grey and cold Sheffield winter like so many other electronic albums try to do.
"Collection" contains full compositions, sound collages, experimental sounds and even proper beat based tunes. Tobar rather creates than produces and is presenting a bigger picture with his collection. Many electronic music artists are trying to do this however Tobar delivers a collection with an impressive range and it seems he did all this in an almost nonchalant way. He plays and combines his instruments and sounds at the same time very sensitive and harmonic but also brave and dissonant without risking to be inaudible at any point. He creates atmospheres by using electronic sounds and layers. Listening to the sound of "collection" almost appears like reading an acoustic book. This album is full of interesting sounds and ideas and is far from being boring or even too demanding.

Rio Padice is back on HOUSEWAX. We're happy to have him back with 2 beautiful
tracks for the new ten ich series. This is the right music for cold days to bridge
the time till the summer season!

The eighth chapter of the Subaltern Records saga comes from Italian collective D-Operation Drop, celebrating their return to the label with a dark menacing EP that has shaken dancefloors all over the world.
Don't Breathe:
The title track opens the EP with an apocalyptic vocal which is quickly complemented by roaring synth-monsters and a stone-cold sub bass. This is the obscure side of D-Operation Drop manifesting, taking you to the edge of the dance with relentless fury.
Flumen:
This unreal collaboration with Subaltern's very own Piezo is a continuously evolving journey. Starting off with gentle harmonies, it quickly erupts into a carefully curated symphony of driving bass and cutting edge mids. Carried by truly haunting atmospheres, Flumen builds up and falls down over and over, until finishing in a mad broken-beat turmoil.

*Don't Breathe (Wayfarer Remix):
British young talent Wayfarer shows his takes on the title track adding his trademark melodies and devastating growls. With his razor-sharp sound design and production the man delivers a tight dancefloor stomper which will pose a challenge for most sound systems, driving them to full power.

Factory Benelux presents a new studio album by cult Manchester postpunk group Crispy Ambulance, issued in a
limited edition of 500 vinyl copies to mark Record Store Day 2015.
In many respects Compulsion is the second album Crispy Ambulance might have recorded in 1982 after the release of
The Plateau Phase, with six of the eight tracks written and performed live at that time. To these are now added Rain
Without Clouds, an outtake from The Plateau Phase newly restored from the original multitrack masters, and WMTP.2
with added synth lines by producer-cum fifth member Graham Massey, of 808 State and Biting Tongues.
Almost uniquely, Crispy Ambulance has retained the same line-up since the group was originally founded in 1978: Alan
Hempsall (vocals, keyboards), Gary Madeley (drums), Robert Davenport (guitars), Keith Darbyshire (bass).
'There's a sense of feeling compelled by irresistible forces,' explains Alan Hempsall. 'Compulsion is an apt way to
describe our constant urge to go back and make music with people we've known since childhood. While the world may
have changed, our music continues to be the product of the same influences - the passing of time, the changing of the
seasons, the content of our sleeping dreams, and the existence of space.'
Cover art by Peter Staessens. The package also features a free digital download of the album.
Praise for The Plateau Phase: "One of the best albums Britain's second city has unleashed" (Q, 03/2006); 'Perfect,
wonderful and with a compelling gravitational pull' (Record Collector, 03/2013); "17 years on The Plateau Phase
sounds like what it probably always was: urgent, postmodernist psychedelia with less debt to Joy Division's music than to
the universal abstract existential tension that comes with being young" (Uncut, 12/1999); "Cold and ferocious, but with
enough inventive melody to lighten the black abyss of the overall mood" (Les Inrockuptibles, 02/2012); "An enthralling
glimpse at a moment in musical history when the DIY ethos of punk gradually gave way to experiments with electronics
and song structures" (NME, 01/2000); "Mixes driving rock, gritty new wave and odd atmospheric stuff" (Option, 1990)

Requiem for a dreamstate. It's possibly somewhere between heaven, hell and high water, down the Thames Delta towards Eden. It may involve techno and a distorted state or simply mates sat listening to music together, drifting on the open sea of their minds. This is Jon Hopkins' world, not so much joining the dots as colouring the whole damn picture in.

After releasing his debut album 'Opalescent' at the rookie age of 21 in 1999, he's gone on to work with Brian Eno and David Holmes, produced King Creosote and via Eno, worked on three Coldplay albums. He released the breakthrough album 'Immunity' in 2013, which was nominated for the Mercury Prize.

The story arc with which Hopkins succeeded on 'Immunity' makes its appearance on Late Night Tales too with a perfectly sculpted excursion on this widescreen mix. . Opening with the unreleased 'Sleepers Beat Theme' by composer Ben Lukas Boysen, ghostly pianos skip elegantly hither and thither, among rising strings, as on Darkstar's 'Hold Me Down'. Nils Frahm is here, his sonic palette perfect for the job, while labelmate A Winged Victory For The Sullen contribute 'Requiem For The Static King Part I'. Sigur Ros offshoot Jónsi & Alex's heroic 'Daniell In The Sea' sends us forth towards the Baltic with tears streaming.

Beats occasionally appear, as on the Grace Jones-sampling 'Yr Love' by Holy Other or the pair of Black Country acts Bibio and Letherette, whose 'After Dawn' is almost spry in comparison to the minor key symphonies on display here. The perfect contrast to this comes from Alela Diane's wistful 'Lady Divine' or even Four Tet's mesmerising 'Gillie Amma I Love You', with its enchanting kids' choir. Exclusive to this release, Jon Hopkins provides a startlingly vulnerable new piano version of Yeasayer's 'I Remember'.

Poet and fellow Brian Eno collaborator (their joint album 'Drums Between The Bells' was released by Warp in 2011) Rick Holland narrates the exclusive spoken word closer 'I Remember', underpinned with additional sound design by Hopkins.

"Putting this album together was a unique opportunity for me to present music that I have been listening to for years, free from the constraints of a club setting or from trying to stick to one genre. I chose tracks not just because they have been important to me but because of how they sit together, putting as much thought into the transitions and overall narrative as I did into the track choices. I mixed by key and by texture more than anything else, using original sound design, pivot notes, and often recording new synth or piano parts to link things together in a way that flows as naturally as possible." - Jon Hopkins, December 2014

Continuing the label's fast-paced release schedule, Raíz cooperate with social observer Permanent Hearbreak on the label's 4th vinyl release. The collaboration delves deep into human emotion over three movements, developing around the concept of personal absence. Side A1, With Out You, stretches a somber beat over 6 minutes with graceful overtones and powerful rhythm. Permanent Heartbreak speaks the message of With Out You over wet/dry percussion and heartsick chords. The energy and attitude turn up considerably on the flip side. With Me is a quick jaunt through semi-distorted clap and kick combinations of the jacking variety. Evolving analog style synth work builds the song until its climactic end. Wont Change Me takes cues from the darker Detroit / Kalamazoo sounds with Permanent Heartbreak's cold premonitions laid out over a driving sequence.

There is something singularly unique and peculiar in the degree to which seemingly unsettling themes and extreme taboos have been explored, most notably in the medium of film, in the land of Nippon. Free from the constraints of reality, notions of grotesque brutality, torture, fetishism, and sadomasochism, to name a few, have oftentimes served as driving motifs in the examination of the true nature of violence latent in the most repressed reaches of the human mind. Concurrently, in the realm of electronic music, many Japanese producers have often been able to cultivate and harness a daring yet distinctly refined and inimitable form of organized sonic chaos, one almost instantly recognizable to the occidental ear. The music of Tomohiko Sagae, and in particular his latest contribution to Furanum's catalogue, The Spurt of Blood, is perhaps a quintessential example of the confluence of the former themes and latter medium.
At the outset of the record, the beholder is faced with the 'Vacant Eyes' of a staggering monstrosity, a subdued and subjugated automata in the midst of a bleak dystopia, nearly lifeless but for the grudgingly conceded advance of its death march. As a battery of gratuitous aural violence led by a dominant synth is rapidly unleashed in the subsequent composition, a growing malaise transforms into fractured bone and psyche alike, with no distinction made anymore between the tearing of metal, flesh, or the fabric of the mind. Culminating in 'Severe Pain', with limits of endurance breached and descent into madness the only seeming form of respite, relentlessly rolling drums and hauntingly sublime howls provide the context for the dawning realization of pain as a virtue in and of itself, when a demented pleasure and the exhilarative liberation that lies therein begins to emerge. In the final act, reinterpreted by Furanum stalwarts Uncto, roles are tellingly reversed as the vacant eyes of the victim become that of the oppressor. With cold-blooded precision, the original is reengineered into a force of merciless domination, its elements machined and recalibrated for pure power.Words: PSD

The III Rivers juggernaut sets forth once again, release number 4 The Charivari EP, putting Voiceless in the cockpit and leading the charge.

Second Nature sets a dark, sultry and ominous tone as Voiceless deploys a plethora of sounds and moods that resonate with all the tense drama of the label's affiliated club night, Bohemian Grove.
Big laser beam synths dart through a thick pitch black haze while a factory line percussion section hammers on.

Always keeping a foot in the sonic warfare division, we get three locked grooves loaded and ready for battle, funky, electrified technoid wobblers that should fight off most opposition with ease.

Flip the disc and Opt-out opens with a controlled urgency as a barrage of kick drums sets the train in motion. Voiceless layers up rich, untreated piano chords against the backdrop of dark industrial chaos, percussion artefacts career around the mix and various elements are put through an aural meat grinder before the familiar and welcoming piano motif returns like a long lost friend, guiding us through the smoke hand-in-hand. A beautiful juxtaposition of soulful melancholy and cold, glacial machines.

Final track Charivari really hits the accelerator as a tough and mechanical rhythm jolts against blurred, radioactive pads and searing string lines before collapsing into a fractal breakdown introducing mystical, weaving high end leads. An eyes-down fist pumper of the highest order and one that commands excessive smoke & strobe light abuse late, late into the session.

One to close off one of their infamous soirees in style, hoards of mutant dancers leaving the industrial backdrop of the club's venue and crossing paths with the early morning dog walkers and Sunday strollers. Four releases in and we've lost none of the quality control, unique drive and free minded 'true spirit' (to quote Tresor's legendary catchphrase). The label goes from the strength to strength and with it, brings a whole new generation of techno shamans under their wing.

Great music extends father than your ears can hear. Listening to resent recordings of Peder Mannerfelts music is listening to recordings of a complete creative flow. Superb tracks created inside of Peder Mannerfelts Villa Nellcôte.
Opener "Rhythm Inflection" is similar to a heartbeat but rebuilt using a parade of machines and biting ice-cold sounds that implies a climax that never comes.
Repetitive thuds are the wrecking ball of "Technology As Apathy" while saw waves continuously crunch until your ear are obliterated on "Failed Grammar". "Titled" is the centerpiece, however. Its sonic gears grind into hollowed-out spheres. A voice from the heavens echoes "Reset, reduce, turn up, repeat" until the words lose all meaning and are battered into the metal walls by distilled rhythms.
EP2 is the last ashes of a manuscript that's been waiting for ages to be turned into dust. It is the final nail in the coffin of his past that began with EP1 and Lines Describing Circles. Peder Mannerfelts music is gradual and always on the move, the process spans over the whole production.

The second of the Decadub vinyl-only releases dedicates three of its four sides to a volley of woozy and twisted footwork from most of the key members of Chicago's Teklife crew. Side One starts with DJ Rashad and Gant Man's squiggly 303 banger 'Acid Life' and moves onto Taso & Djunya's Darwinian banger 'Only The Strong Will Survive'. Side Two descends into DJ Spinn's bombastic 'All My Teklife' and then Earl, Rashad & Taye's 'Bombaklot' which takes Hyperdub full circle with a yardcore bomb like a 2014 upgrade of the label's early days. Side Three leads with DJ Earl's immaculate diva vocal cut-up of 'I'm Gonna Get You', then moves on into DJ Taye's fizzling R&B jam 'Get Em Up' and the stone cold, warped humour of 'Icemaster' by Heavee. On the fourth and final side, Tokyo-based ally Quarta330 returns to craft 'Hanabi', an epic, uptempo synthesiser jam. Young gun Champion follows with 'Power Cut', its minimal, energetic and militant kicks and bass molded with cowbell and lots of tight edits, before dropping some neat keys and a warping bassline two thirds in. Ikonika finishes things off with the solemn march of 'Tug Zone', opening slow but building in flickering high hats and gaseous cymbals into a track which could have emanated from Battlestar Galactica.

On the back of an exciting debut album in 2012 that saw him perform live at Sonar festival and later with his band at Vienna's Volkstheatre, before disseminating music on Permanent Vacation, Suol and Connaisseur Recordings, enigmatic Basque Country producer El_Txef_A returns with his sophomore longplayer 'We Walked Home Together'.
El_Txef_A (pronounced 'Elchefa') has crafted a work that just like its journey-conjuring title, charts a shifting palette of sounds and moods, exemplifying its creator Aitor Etxebarria's breadth of skill.
Produced entirely in Aitor's homeland of the mountainous Basque Country, the album showcases the talents of not just its creator who producers, sings and plays piano on the record, but also some of the Spanish region's most outstanding musicians.
Local artist Biskonti is one contributor, whose vocals coat a brooding bed of rough-cut drums on the ice-cold slice of electronica 'I'm Going to Paint You', while Hannot lends his pipes to the moving 'You Left Us In This Physical World' that sweep over a delicately crafted brew of guitars and keys. Both Basque vocalists featured on El_Txef_A's debut 'Slow Dancing in a Burning Room'. Sublime title track 'We Walked Home Together' turns into a family affair, with Aitor's brother Hibai playing the grand piano.
A graduate at 2013's Red Bull Music Academy in Madrid, El_Txef_A has an impressive array of sonic strings to his bow and the Detroit techno inspired 'Claim of Planet Earth' deliciously rubs shoulders with the album's single, the alternative slice of pop 'The Love We Lost' featuring DFA's Woofly.
Elsewhere, Aitor paints a dream-like soundscape with the sublime shoegaze-inspired trip '0730' that seamlessly bleeds into 'Every Day Is Blue Monday', with its atmosphere-heavy swirl of subtle acid lines, floating synths and evocative vocals delivered by Suol records contributor Meggy.
An artist whose music is inextricably connected with his homeland, the album concludes with the stirring 'Mugarrirantz' sung in the native tongue of Euskera by country folk band Napora Iria. It's proof that El_Txef_A is equally adept at doffing his cap to tradition as moving a dancefloor with his inspired brand of electronica.

Gray Hoodie is the debut album from french musician / composer Elise Mélinand. The album, written in Berlin then sequentially recorded throughout various locations in France, was initially inspired by the techniques she was exposed to after being recruited as part of Christina Vantzou's (Kranky / The Dead Texan) Little Prism Ensemble. Her newly adapted recording and composition tool, the laptop, is undeniably the norm today. However, it allowed Mélinand to better visualize her compositions while experimenting with techniques that Gray Hoodie so skillfully showcases. Crafted by Mélinand to tell a story of a friend who gave her a gray hoodie one cold evening. This gray hoodie was a symbol of their friendship and this album is said by Mélinand to be "A way to thank him for everything he gave me". Gray Hoodie showcases Mélinand's childlike voice and legato string work juxtaposed over frenetic experimental beat-work that is injected into ten cinematic vignettes that exude the comfort and warmth of a sweatshirt on a cold day.

Steve Lee's (The Project Club) ABOVE MACHINE label returns with another superb release from acclaimed Italian duo Almunia
Their last single for AM was a best-seller, and their celebrated output through Paul 'Mudd' Murphy's Claremont56 label, including the recent Pulsar LP has seen the their blissful & uplifting Balearic sound win over many a new follower
'Find My Way' is a gorgeous, acoustic guitar led vocal number, conjuring up twilight beach side boogie, balmy breezes and ice cold drinks
Marius Circus gets to work on the B side, taking the irresistible melodies to a much later, darker dancefloor.
Laying a foundation of squelchy moog style bass and a toughened up rhythm track before heavily effected guitars sweep across the mix elevating the whole thing to near transcendental heights !
A superb release and addition to the Above Machine catalogue

Part 1 of our 4 Sample 10 Years Full Pupp compilation. Each 12 has 4 brand new Exclusive tracks a 12. Norwegian´s finest Young Adults. Cost to Coast - Out of the Cold - Hot as Hell. 87392;"Doc Scott was on the decks. It was at Tribal Gathering (I think), 1996, standing in front of a wall of speakers to one side of the stage, enjoying myself, like you do, when this sound started growing inside my brain. My head was then ripped clean off my shoulders! Words are still hard to find! It was the first time I ever heard Shadow Boxing and its the only thing I still remember from that night. Om Unit's 2014 Remix is paired with the 1996 original. DJ support from: Fabio, Mark Pritchard, Friction, Surgeon, Toddla T, Laurent Garnier, Pinch, Zinc, Baliey, Rob Both, Billy Nasty, Krust & John B.

Vinyl Only! The New Exploration contains 4 Jacking Stompers! Deep Under the Ice we explore sparkling piano riffs, adventurous synth sculptures and tons of rimshots, toms and bleeps! Get ready, it's getting cold!