In November last year, Undo released 'Disconnect', his third album. A charming long-player that has won very good feedbacks and reviews. Now it's time to unveil the first Ep with remixes from the album. A great and variate package including reworks from friends and artists he admires as mexican Iñigo Vontier, russian Dimitri Veimar and belgium Cabaret Nocturne. There's also a new mix by Undo himself.
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Amsterdam's cult producer and DJ Steven van Hulle a.k.a. Awanto 3 likes his samples vibrant, his drums wobbly and his synths sweaty as a Detroit summer breeze. The MPC wizard returns to Dekmantel delivering his second, full-length album. Gargamel is arguably his most compelling piece of work. Spread over the course of nine tracks, van Hulle shows he's capable of serving up many different styles and genres in his ever-expanding arsenal.
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The Rednose Distrikt affiliate kicks things off with his friend and co-producer Darling. 'Azrael' builds over shuffling, infectious rhythms, a cluster of vocal stabs and heartfelt keys.
'This Is When We Met', 'Why Don't You' and 'Gargamelancholia' on the other hand, are aggressive, batty-jackin peak-time tracks embracing classic acid aesthetics, while 'Positive Negative' is a stretched-out house jam incorporating the tussle of wonky boogie and tribal bumps.
Van Hulle drops the tempo on 'Hooli Goose', taking slow release hypnosis turns while making a marching band sound cool. The dry drum machines, melted bass and schizo sounds of 'Ride The Dragon' will appeal to the freaks, and the dreamy 'Happy Bird' is a tripped-out set of ambient and lo-fi themes. Last but not least, Dexter enters the stage to do what he does best with 'Thick': showing who's boss of the 808 with a straight-up electro essential.
* Following the completely sold out Imagine - A - Nation reissue, Anotherday is very excited to announce a series of releases from the enigma that is Spencer Kincy, AKA Gemini - we are very proud to present Gemini's first 5 releases, lovingly re-mastered and pressed back onto vinyl! First up is Le Fusion.
* Originally released on Cajual in 1995, Le Fusion pairs Gemini's signature edgy techno tinged house bump with live instrumentation and frantic vocals over 3 untitled tracks in one of his most interesting releases.
* As one of Chicago's most mysterious and revered characters, the story of Gemini, aka Spencer Kincy has become something of a myth in recent years - blazing a trail throughout the 90's, prolifically releasing over 200 tracks from 1994 to 1999, Spencer's music had shades innovation and soul few of his peers could match. Then, suddenly, at the peak of his career, he disappeared.
* As before, this release has been licensed directly from the man himself, so unlike some other reissues out there, the money made from its exploitation will go directly to him.
* Imagine - A - Nation sold out almost instantly, and this is set to go the same way, so get your orders in early to avoid disappointment.
Totes Preesh make tracks for your ears. Sean Marquand and Patrick Wood of New York City have created these sounds for you and your friends and tooled them to perfection, for your pleasure. Whether you're at home, or in the club, or driving around in your car, looking for drugs, you can count on these guys to soundtrack your day correctly. They were featured on 2015's 'Mangiami - La Compilation' on Golf Channel Recordings, but this is their first 12'. They are here to make you bump to a cosmic sound that is sexy and pristine, and yet, also feels exactly like two buffalo boys going round the outside, round the outside. Double A-side alert. First up 'Head Shop Boys', a kicky, kinky, neon affair, perfect for late-night debauchery, on the flip, 'Haole' is a straight up trip with some serious old school New York flavour, and will undoubtedly prove to be the world's first crossover drive-time club banger.
limited to 300 copies
Kevin Arnemann and Daan Kemp's Taped Artifact record label is prepping its first release of 2017. Following the label's recently released various artists compilation, the Amsterdam based imprint welcomes two pioneers within the Icelandic techno scene: Ohm & Octal Industries. Ohm earned his stripes through his collaborations with Exos in the early 00's, whilst Octal Industries is a much-respected artist within the IDM scene under his Ruxpin alias. With the highly dub-influenced 'Maoss EP', the Icelandic duo follows up their recent appearance on Thor's renowned Thule Records. The four-tracker features highly textured, rhythmical and classic rooted dub techno, showcasing the iconic Icelandic aesthetic.
Andre Gough debuts on Avian as Verge.
The Irish producer joins Shifted's label with an extended EP of exquisitely crafted, deeply emotive Noise trips.
Echoes of bonafide Industrial, more experimental post-Punk and New Wave run deep through Gough's warping eight track debut for Avian, and while listeners might find the principle emotion evoked by the heady, droning synthesis and warping guitar tones a palpable anxiety - at the base of each wide angle 'scape there's a glorious, overriding sense of melancholy.
Mournful melodies and carefully executed chord changes, at some points bold and direct in their implementation - at others more subtle, communicate a powerful, otherworldly yearning - drawing the work above and beyond more derivative exercises in the genre. Deceptively simple drum work underpins much of the material, stylistically funereal but with enough lightness of touch to generate an arcane, pulsing movement.
A robust and confident debut from an exciting artist, 'Emblematic Ruin' serves to further vindicate Brewer's vision of the Avian label as a more three dimensional artistic space, where propulsive, modern Techno derivates can sit comfortably in the company of more left-field electronic & acoustic excursions.
After sending out these tracks last summer and getting great reactions from DJs and dancers alike, Hell Yeah is pleased to finally officially release virtuoso musician Verdo's Little Blue EP, complete with a remix from Lauer. Fully remastered for vinyl, the likes of Lexx, Chris Coco, Soft Rocks, Leo Mas and many more have all be playing these tunes with great results.
The talented Verdo runs the famous Gratis Club in Senigallia on the Italian east coast. It is a place he calls home, and that has really allowed him to hone and sharpen his DJ skills so that now he is a slick, unpredictable and singular DJ with many tricks up his sleeve. Bjorn Torske, DJ Fettburger, Prins Thomas, Kenji Takimi, Glenn Underground and more have all played there in the last decade and Verdo himself is a skilled pianist who has played for Zero7 singer Mozez in the past. He has worked with Hell Yeah before now, as well as releasing on Danny Was A Drag King, and here serves up his biggest bit of dance floor dynamite to date, including his previously digital only cut 'Big Fish' (mixed by DJ Rocca).
Opener 'Little Blue' is a perfectly sunny track with hip swinging claps, bobbling bass and boat party vibes that soothe your soul. Rich with instrumentals and golden synth lines, it's a perfect beat that gets followed up by the retro disco pump of 'Sazerac', another tropical cut with loose drums and rubbery bass to get you up on your toes.
The massive 'Big Fish' then hits hard with its tin pot percussion and wild synths all making you flail your arms like you just don't care. Jumbled jungle vibes and big chords all swell your heart as your feet skip about down low.
Closing out the package is Phillip Lauer (Tuff City Kids), one of the most in demand stars of the day, and his version is a direct house jam with percolating and rugged synths and slapping hits, all demanding you ditch your cocktail and get up and groove.
"all good stuff here! OG for early / mornings and Lauer for peak. really nice release! " Piers - Soft Rocks
"Big fan of Verdo! great tunes here as expected. Sezarac fav at first listen." - Dream Chimney
"Little blue is super nice!!" - Phil South (Golf Channel)
"Yes, some great stuff here. Sezerac and the Lauer mix are really great, perfect sunshine session material." - Chris Coco
"I love Big Fish's keyboards! strong!!! Arigato!!!" - Chida
"Little Blue and Big Fish are fun for sure, def will play em on a rooftop sooooon" - Jacques Renault
"Yeah, feeling Little Blue, heavy rotation this Summer! " - Jason Boardman (Aficionado)
"Little Blue, i like." - Lexx
"This is tremendous. Driving peak time track that you can imagine Joe Claussell really working the dancefloor with." - Andrew Pirie
"killer ep guys!!!" - Discodromo
After 3am Recordings' return to 12' in March 2016, which straight into the Juno Deep House Top 10, it's time for label boss Al Bradley to unleash his own 12". The original of Night Owl has been working like a charm - a deep & bass-heavy affair, coming on like Franck Roger or Djebali wearing their slightly more chunky-vibed studio hats (or something.....). Pressed For Time main dude Goshawk, tweaks his remix taking the cue from the original bass into key-led deepness, with added percussion elements & warm vibes ago-go. Fellow 3am geezer Michael Scott takes a real diversion & strips things right back in freaky trippy minimal style, reworking the vibe of the track completely. Closing the 12", fourfourfour heads into Berlin electronic territory, shifting the focus to the main percussive section & coming out with a massively powerful yet stripped back beast of a remix. Serious damage incoming....
- A1: Our Understanding
- A2: Ngc1277
- A3: Captured Rotation
- B1: Approaching Lights
- B2: Gravity Zone
- B3: Goldene Spirale
- C1: Beyond Language
- C2: Standard Model
- C3: Future Teller
- D1: Superstring Theory
- D2: Stadt Des Orion
- D3: The Mirror
- E1: Goldene Spirale (Substance Remix)
- E2: Ngc1277 (Architectural Remix)
- F1: Stadt Des Orion (Rivet Remix)
- F2: Superstring Theory (Zero Mass Remix) S
3x12"
I did not know what achievements, what mockery, even what tortures awaited me. I knew nothing, and I persisted in the faith that the time of cruel miracles was not past .
Stanislaw Lem (Solaris, 1961).
This paragraph from Solaris, the novel written in 1961 by Stanislav Lem, is the starting point for the concept this 30drop album has been built upon. Science fiction masters like Lem are one of the greatest influences for the artist, who devised this album after the mental challenges that humans should overcome in a future: encounter with beings from other civilizations: capable of interacting with us in a totally unthinkable way so far.
Away from what many a sci-fi blockbuster depicts, this work revolves around the idea that such meeting with alien species will be eminently a mental experience that will shock not only our cultural values but also our very own perceptions about what space/time/reality is a mindbending experience where everything we knew before dissolves around us and propels us to uncharted grounds. Terra incognita so far.
Bypassing the random track collection syndrome that plagues many of today s so-called techno albums this LP was conceived and devised from it s very beginning as a full, complete work in itself, best enjoyed in it s totality. A story-telling journey (very much in the tradition of seminal / genre-defining albums as UR s X-102) were tracks lead you to one another. Tracks can be enjoyed on their own, being all suited for dancefloor and dj-sets alike, but take a complete different meaning when put in the right context within the album.
Musically this long-player combines stripped-down rhythms, sweeping pads and hypnotical bleeping sequences woven together in an intrincate but subtle way, a fashion that harks back to the classic minimalist yet complex mid-90 s sound of Hood, Mills and T.Dixon sounds appealing both the mind and the feet.
Classic and futuristic at the same time, this is a compelling journey that opens with the eerie atmospheres of Our Understanding before really taking off with the cadential NGC1277. The hypnotic Captured Rotation sets the pace for the rest of album which oscillates between the exhilarating cosmic groove of Beyond Language and the contemplative stasis of The Mirror. Other highlights include the entrancing Goldene Spirale or the furiously busy Approaching Light.
The whole package is further rounded up by a set of remixes which showcase the different directions taken by techno producers this days: from Substance s solid Berlin-style to Architectural s spaced-out visions via Rivet s hard-hitting club bangers and Zero Mass abrassive experiments.
Text by: Dj Zero.
Ambient power duo Anjou's sophomore statement continues in the vein of their 2014 debut, unfurling a full hour of mesmeric synthetic drift and veiled melodic undertow.
Comprised of Mark Nelson (of pioneering post-rock experimentalists Labradford and Pan·American) and Robert Donne (of Labradford, Aix Em Klemm, Cristal) , the group work largely in long-form suites of sound, alternately spacious and dense.
The new LP's six pieces embrace flux and ambiguity: drones swell and shudder, hushed currents of noise glitch and dissolve, atmospheres congeal and liquify. As with the participants' prior projects, Anjou evoke a shadowed, mysterious mood, variously melancholy and transcendent.
The album is an accumulation of craftsmanship and experience, blurred forms traced in light and fog.
MFM 019 will be an EP of works by Denis Mpunga and Paul K. Combining elements of traditional African music with experimental electronics, the Belgian/Congolese duo released only a handful of tracks, scattered across a few rare LP and cassette compilations that were put out in the mid eighties by obscure european labels . This release also includes a few previously unreleased songs that were found on the original master tapes
Following the recent reissues of Pop Impressions, Super America,
Soul Impressions, and Chorus, Underdog Records label follows
up to the series with another brilliant album by French underrated
composer and producer, JANKO NILOVIC.
JANKO NILOVIC certainly was one of the greatest studio talents of Europe in the 70s!
He is a musician who devotes himself to music, which resulted in a great number of published works, but most of them made for library music labels and also not available for sale. His oeuvre stretches from classical, jazz and funk to pop, psyche
and easy listening. And has been sampled many times by hip-hop
artists such as JAY-Z, DRE, DAFUNIKS or GUTS...
Although this wasn't directed by but Sergio Leone, but by the less known Giulio Petroni, "Tepepa" is one of the best films in the spaghetti western genre, thanks to a perfect synopsis - even if as set in the 'abused' Mexican Revolution of the early '900 - to a trio of exceptional actors and, finally, to Ennio Morricone's soundtrack. The protagonists are in fact the immovable doctor John Steiner, the histrionic revolutionary Tomas Milian and the massive Colonel Orson Welles, a unique and practically unrepeatable combination, however directed in a 'leone-ish' way by Petroni, who often focuses on large panoramas and close-ups on the character's faces. As always, Morricone means quality: for "Tepepa" the Maestro creates a memorable soundtrack, dominated by strings and, curiously, by the acoustic guitar! Reissued several times on CD, this album has awaited for a vinyl reprint for 35 long years! When the film was premiered in the theatres (1969) just a the single 45rpm "Viva la Revolucion / In Mexico I would like" had been released, both songs are of course included here, the second of which is sung by Christy (stage name of Mary Cristina Brancucci) in a very felt and compelling way.
End of February will see Luciano continue his newly launched Basaec imprint with 'Saved & Slaved', a two-track release featuring collaboration with Argenis Brito. Swiss-Chilean producer and DJ Luciano has been at the forefront of underground electronic music for quite some time now, heading up the infamous Cadenza imprint and releasing material for some of the industry's leading labels such as Perlon, Desolat, Cocoon and Poker Flat amongst many others. Here we see Luciano back on his recently launched Basaec label, delivering some of his signature stripped-back, dynamic and emotive material 'Lost In Lymbo' takes the lead and sees Luciano offer up a typically intricate twelve-minute excursion with subtly modulating and evolving percussion, spiralling synth swells, sporadic vocal chants and a smoothly unfolding aesthetic resulting in an archetypal and intriguing production from this forever forward-thinking artist. The latter half sees Luciano paired with fellow Cadenza artist Argenis for 'Pato's Track', stripping back the vibe to a raw cowbell and rim shot percussive-led state whilst lumpy subs, vocal murmurs and subtly unfolding flute like melodies ebb and flow throughout the composition.
Ltd. Repress !
Nummer's long awaited debut LP marks the 10th release on the Going Good label.
Needless to say this one's been in the pipeline for a while and we're super happy to announce it's imminent arrival.
Comprised of the duo of Emmanuel Corre and Silvere Letelier, Nummer have surprised and impressed many with their fresh take on the last 20+ years of dance music. Inspired by the deepest strains of Detroit, Chicago, New York and their native France the pair have tapped into something that few artists manage these days - an original style. This sprawling 2 x 12" touches on many of these cornerstones but never apes anyone's sound or vibe, forging their own path into the cosmos and beyond. Machine music with a beating heart is central to the 'Second Sight' atmosphere and Nummer's character as producers. This is the deepness.
Max Cooper is releasing an EP of remixes by friends and other artists he admires, on a DJ friendly 12" vinyl with 6 remixes.
It takes the LP from an incredible home listening experience and onto the dance floor. On the 12" will be the remixes from Vessels, Rival Consoles, Tom Hodge, Kimyan Law, Christian Loffler and Ash Koosha.
In November last year Max Cooper released EMERGENCE , an epic, operatic, amalgamation between audio-visual show, scientific research project, art installation and IDM record. EMERGENCE is the story of the development of the universe, the way in which, very complex things like human beings were created from the immaterial by the action of simple laws.
Launch of their self-production label, the trio DRMC formed by Monkey Coops & Only Slave Nation, released this first opus produced on a complete rhythmic basis accompanied by acid atmospheres. Remixed by Reda Dare, spearhead of this new French house scene, this 1st opus clearly sounds like a bomb of the dancefloors. Rolling bass, prominent percussion and hypnotic atmosphere will perfectly sum up the 1st EP of the label Def Raw Music Concept.
The totality of the many in one: Cologne Tape, an on and off gathering band from all over the world, did not call their second album "Welt" without reason. The collective incorporates the nucleus of the label Magazine and consists of the artists Ada, Barnt, Jens-Uwe Beyer, Jörg Burger, John Harten, Philipp Janzen, Mario Katz, John Stanier and Axel Willner. All members live scattered between Berlin, Cologne and Hamburg. They meet rarely and abruptly, but each of them always has the feeling that something relevant needs to be done. The ensemble's name represents a city and the musical recordings that are made in it.
Their "rst release, "Render", marked the start of the label Magazine in 2010 and found the way into DJ sets by famed artists like Dixon with music, which does not necessarily have the dance#oor in mind. Subsequently, little, absolutely sublime pieces of Cologne Tape appeared in the public.
Sometimes in the middle of a Magazine mix for London's online magazine Dummy, or on compilations like "My Heart's In My Hand, And My Hand Is Pierced And My Hand's In The Bag, And My Heart Is Caught" a double-vinyl sampler for an exhibition by British video artist Phil Collins.
And now, after six years of more or less overwhelming silence, "Welt" arrives and brings the world eight musical arrangements, all of which answer to the same name and only differ numerically in their title. They were performed and recorded at the Dumbo Studios in Cologne as part of a happening, during which the nine Cologne Tape members gathered in a room to play a solemn concert for themselves without a given frame.
Un"ltered emotions, which were later, re"ned with drums and synth sounds by John Stanier and Axel Willner and then arranged into a dramatic story arc under the direction of Jens-Uwe Beyer. Furthermore some of the recordings feature friends of the collective such as Mexican artist Rebolledo, the guitarist Burkhard Mönnich and the singer Isis Lace, who all happened to be close by and joined the band spontaneously during in their musical ritual. Now the recordings of their time without time will see the light of the day.
They all tell - together and alone - stories of deeply felt musical
experiences, which quickly become profound experiences too for those who listen to Cologne Tape, when they play the grand piano, synthesizer,vibraphone, organ, drums, guitar and more while celebrating afreewheeling ceremony. Panoramic music that enables the listener to enter a world of sounds and rhythms, which all re#ect in depth what Cologne Tape is as a band and a piece of art.
Newly launced Samo Records is setting out to explore the depths of the dancefloor by celebrating the darker, moodier facets of electronic music.The NYC label's first release comes from Pixelife (Sean Dack), a highly accomplished visual artist and veteran of NYC's underground. In addition to releasing on such respected labels as Throne of Blood, Horn Wax, and Let's Play House, he also makes up half of GHOST COP, a band known for its textured synths, iconic vocals, dissonant beats, and captivating live sets. Incorporating the same expert sonic-layering techniques he employs in his live analog sets, he's created a dynamic EP that's both intimate in feel and broad in scope.'Omega Block' stomps out of the gate, all driving rhythms and throbbing basslines with an underlying element of frenetic foreboding — aptly reflecting these geopolitically tense times, while still remaining suitable for losing yourself on the dancefloor. The track gets the remix treatment by Bristol, U.K.-born, Berlin-based Antoni Maiovvi, a self-described 'electrodisco horror mindmelt DJ/live performer/film composer' who heads up Giallo Disco Records with Vercetti Technicolor. Here, he trades his trademark horror elements for successions of staccato beats and a stripped-down sensibility that successfully translates to perfect late-night-at-a-warehouse vibes.Chimeras in the Matrix' soars with gorgeous dystopian melodies overlaying squelchy undertones, revealing labyrinthine layers and anxious crescendos before building to a full-on acid frenzy. Producer/remixer/DJ Tronik Youth (who, like Maiovvi, also hails from the U.K. and currently lives in Berlin) is co-head of the prolific (averaging nearly a release a week in 2016) NEIN Records, which he founded five years ago with Ian Considine; the label has released music from the likes of Rodion, Curses, In Flagranti, Heretic, Man Power, Daniele Baldelli, The Emperor Machine, and Moscoman, to name but a few. He is also a member of Permanent Wave, a spooky, pitched-down, dark-wave-inspired disco project with French singer Justine. He brings a chuggy, bleepy edge to his take on 'Chimeras in the Matrix' with bouncy rhythms, multiple breakdowns, and echoing robo-vocals, taking the original's intensity down while upping the dancefloor quotient.
Inspired by the likes of Raresh, Zip, and Villalobos, the artist known as Kepler has something special in store for your local area dance floor. "Making Chords" is an exciting new release that's guaranteed to please.
The title track "Making Chords" can be appropriately described as nothing less than an addictive, bona fide banger that will instantaneously hook its end user after one listen. From the beginning Kepler. sets the pace with a smooth, sexy bass line that will command your attention and aggressively compel any crowd to start dancing. This passionate production pushes its agenda with a rumbling tempo, dynamic drums, and intriguing vocals that are well worth repeating. Laced with clever sounding samples and purposeful piano licks, "Making Chords" is made for anyone and everyone.
The second offering, "Wire" is a quirky, fun departure that gives insight to Kepler's wide range. This spooky sounding track is characterized by its off-beat rhythm, saturating bass tones and curious sounding signals that slide up and down while continually building momentum. As the "Wire" progresses, one can't help but to take note of how its unpredictable nature is dictated in such a well-organized manner. Very, very interesting.
Bartellow has long been associated with the ESP Institute though Tambien, a trio formed alongside Bavarian cohorts Marvin and Valentino, who have released seminal dancefloor material over recent years. With his debut album Panokorama, we are invited into a completely different world of Bartellow's creation—a place where influences become a melting pot of mood, nuance and texture, and where instrumentation is abstracted from a variety of cultures, including those that exist solely within his imagination. Bartellow has found a way to merge Primitivism with Retrofuturism, identifying their point of intersection and reveling in their union across ten songs. While his academic background as a Jazz musician certainly informs both his progressive approach to composition and non-linear production, it is his obsession with electronics and synthesis that shape his current musical climate. The title Panokorama stems from Bartellow's visualization of the album, a surreal landscape with a foreign presence centrally embedded, a 'panorama' punctuated by a 'ko'—although a hybrid word that reads as nonsense, it somehow feels and sounds just right.
A handful of cables, laptops and a few dusty machines are all it takes to make music. On Stiff Little Spinners Vol. 8 this is proven once again with seven exclusive tracks by Thomas Atzmann, Rampue, Kalipo, Krink, Paradise Hippies, Gimmix and Monopohl. The eighth edition of the Stiff Little Spinners compilation is ready for the next demolition party with a mix of modern deep house, slow jams & dreamy techno future classics. 01 Thomas Atzmann - Skagerrak After a longer release break, Thomas Atzmann delivers the first sure shot of this record. Skaggerrak convinces from the beginning with spheric ambience and tom-tom grooves, dissolving in a wash of big synth emotions. 02 Rampue - Der König und der Vogel King Rampue dishes out an A+ Slow Jam. Minimalistic in the beginning, this track leadsyou directly via screwed vocals to a cosmic breakdown of intoxicating emotions. All of it with a beautifully relaxed bpm. 03 Kalipo - Gernkraftwerk The manifold producer is on the ticket as per ususal - this time with a detroit-y neo trance attack. With the appropriate volume this tune can lead to loss of gravity. 04 Krink - Dazed This track is tuning feedback into filters and synth stabs in your face as if there was no tomorrow. Some tunes will always instill hope that's it's possible to dance forever and never go home. 05 Paradise Hippies - Prosecco Mate The last hippies of Hamburg bring proof that two rad dudes together make an extremely rad pair.
Peter Hunnigale aka Mr Honeyvibes was born in South London on December 12th, 1960. Peter Hunnigale was to develop into one of Britain's most formidable reggae 'Lovers Rock' artist of our time. It was clear at a tender age Peter's main interest was in music and being born of Jamaican parentage, he was exposed and influenced by music of West Indian culture.
Untamed Love is an UFO in Peter Hunnigale's career, recorded at Omega studio (London) and originally released on the Cosmic label in 1986. Some people have no words to describe it. You can call it brit-boogie, rare funk, sick jam, musical bomb, or god jam, whatever it's a typical mid 80's tune with a rhythmic background sound that is captivating and memorable, thanks to heavyweight synth and awesome vocals. The original 12'' vinyl record is still very hard to find and expensive nowadays. If you are about to discover this song, make sure you are sit down when you listen to it because this song will blow you down hey girl I like the way you smile'.
Growing up in Britain meant that Peter Hunnigale was also open to other genres of music and with seeing the popular acts of the day perform on television and hearing the songs on the radio Peter knew what he wanted to be. Peter is also a great musician and did live work with reggae legends such as The Chosen Few, The Pioneers, B.B. Seaton and many others, while earning the respect of their peers as a competent bassist and qualified engineer. He won a Best Newcomer award at the Celebrity Awards in 1987, and won Best British Reggae Album at the British Reggae Industry Awards the same year.
Conceived, as its predecessors, as the ideal musical accompaniment to a packed dance hall, "Blue Latin" reinterprets a musical genre - jazz, of course! - which even decades ago was considered the dance music 'par excellence', and delivers it, extremely modernized, to the present day, contaminated by Afro-Cuban, Brazilian and Latin-jazz elements, all made fluid, compelling and above all..., danceable! The almost-meditative "Incanto" combines spiritual jazz influences and African atmospheres.
[C} A3 | Mulata
Mentha Records steps up with a various release called Into Yourself featuring four emotive compositions that span the deep house spectrum. 'Tides' by Michael Lovatt starts the 12" with lush chords and a deep baseline that gives off a warm feeling. Kareem Ali is up next with 'Arnaldo Tamayo Mendez', a sensual track that is packed full of frequencies as Ali shows off his harmonic and arrangement skills,. The flip side begins with an Anaxander piece called 'Unspoken', with an emotive motif that displays homage to a classic deep house sound. Michael Zucker is holding up the last leg with "Together", this melancholy tune seeps its way slowly into your cells through an invasion of warm tones. Into Yourself is a solid 12" for the deep house soldiers.
White Material crew's Galcher Lustwerk and Alvin Aronson return under the guise of Studio OST with a 4-track EP of live jams on Lustwerk Music. While the pair's critically acclaimed 2016 debut 'Scenes (2012-2015)' leaned towards home listening, 'Eventide / Ascension' shifts the focus back to the dancefloor with two chugging cinematic house tracks. 'Eventide' is an evolving nebula of fluttering pads and lush percussion, while 'Ascension''s hot-electric drums are complimented by sharp synth chords that unfurl into controlled chaos. A beatless version of 'Eventide' and a drums only version of 'Ascension' sweeten the deal.
Wizards of Ooze was a Belgian band that released 3 albums between 1994 - 1999 and toured the whole of Europe. The bands sound is a mixture of different genres, combining elements from primarily soul, fusion and psychedelica. For this album The unheard tales of ... Helga Schröder, the two front-Wizards Wim Tops and Peter Revalk put together a compilation of un-released tracks from the recording vaults.
Before starting work on the self-produced album, Owens, a 28-year old Londoner, turned her keen ear towards dance music after working with techno producer Daniel Avery in a London record store. Her voice and contributions can be heard on Avery's Drone Logic. Since then, she self-released two white label 12's, with the Oleic' EP to follow. Her debut solo album is first and foremost Owens' vision, a record that exudes a startling level of intimacy even in its largest-sounding moments - such as Arthur,' a percolating mixture of looped vocals and rustling rhythms that rides on a perpetual near-crescendo. The song is a tribute to the late iconoclastic musician and kindred spirit Arthur Russell. He wrote music and stayed true to his vision up until the day he died, ' Owens explains. He didn't compromise as an artist, and those are the kind of people I look up to - people who know what they want.' On S/T Owens translates that self-assertiveness into a record that explores a variety of moods - sadness, anxiety, darkly shaded ecstasy - with a trippy-eyed clarity and confidence that only bodes well for the future.In addition to Avery, who has a co-write credit on Kelly Lee Owens' ghostly Keep Walking,' Jenny Hval also appears on the album's lead single, Anxi.' It's a track that shifts from drifting tones and distant vocals to warm squelches and tunnel-vision club beats. It has been my most freeing and open collaboration so far, and my first time working with a female,' Owens says of working with Hval. "It was a very powerful experience for me, I felt she brought something strange and quite beautiful.'
- A1: Notre Renaissance
- A2: Un Amour À La Serge Gainsbourg
- A3: Sans Bruit Et Sans Parler
- A4: Kalekoukou, Soleil De Boue
- B1: Parle Moi
- B2: Je Ferais Tout Pour Toi
- B3: Tu Cherches Quoi
- B4: Une Fin De Quelque Chose
- C1: C'est Bon C'est Bon
- C2: La Chatte
- C3: I Am The King Bee, My Baby
- C4: C'est La Guerre Des Langues
- C5: You Light Me On
- D1: Catastrophe À Ressort
- D2: Le Train
- D3: Europe
2 black LPs in gatefold sleeve with CD included T
A relentless vinyl collector and a fervent connoisseur of Anglo-American culture, the founding painter of the Figuration Libre movement (with Di Rosa, Blanchart and Boisrond) in the early 80's, Robert Combas has always connected his art with rock music. The two are always intertwined and fuel his inspiration. During his exhibition Sans Filet, Robert Combas made an essential encounter: the artist and video maker Lucas Mancione, also from the town of Sete, and decided to make the leap. Together, at the start of the decade, they created the band Les Sans Pattes. Notre Renaissance is a dazzling discharge, a geyser of cold and searing emotions, a conscious search for a unique and extreme experience. The tension in each track is palpable, as constant as it is pregnant. This band is full of character. Sometimes electronic, often a bit punk, always particularly rock'n'roll. Raw and physical tracks, compact and heady. Les Sans Pattes always lean towards psychedelics and repetition.
FOUR313 is a Detroit group of Deejays, musicians and producers from the 1st wave of the Detroit techno dance movement. Blake, Eddie, Santonio & Thomas have joined forces as the unit FOUR313, a group name with meaning and purpose, and that is to preserve Detroit's "true" history in dance music and support the DJ culture through vinyl releases. The debut album of FOUR313 will be released with the launch of their new record label called "Ther Label". FOUR313 will collectively release special limited edition vinyl of brand new recordings starting at the beginnning of 2017.
Cr= Craig Richards, Va= Volkan Akin, Jt= Josh Tweek, Yy= Yonatan Yudkovitz, Jm= Jesse Morrison, H= Hamid
HPLS 002 sees the concept unfold a little bit more by showcasing six of the different collaborations featured on the forthcoming releases. The highlight would be indeed the collaboration with all time favourite ,and Fabric DA , Craig Richards.
The result captured perfectly the mind bending essence that you usually encounter in his early morning or after party sets .Tracks with Volkan Akin , Josh Tweek and Jesse Morrison will fit perfectly in more conventional narratives , when the live saxophone from Yonatan Yudkovitz compliment a more down tempo and experimental exercise.
- Willowman
- Funky Guitar Man
The Willow Band were singers and musicians under the direction of Jesus Alvarez of the group Shirley & Company. As 'Alvarez' his Polydor his rare groove Sooner Or Later' was on the Step inside My Soul' CD collection, but this much sought after funky project with The Willow Band' has not been reissued since the original Epic 7' came out in 1976.
High Plains is the duo of Scott Morgan and Mark Bridges.
Morgan, based in the Canadian Pacific Northwest, is predominantly known for his drifting, textured soundscapes released under the pseudonym LOSCIL.
Bridges is an accomplished, classically-trained cellist residing in Madison, Wisconsin.
The two met in Banff, Alberta while they were simultaneously there on residencies at the Banff Centre for the Arts in 2014. They first collaborated when Bridges contributed cello parts to Morgan's generative music app ADRIFT, recorded in Seattle in 2015.
In early 2016, the duo embarked on a collaborative set of compositions in the oxygen thin air of Wyoming, spending two weeks holed up in a refurbished school house in the town of Saratoga, where this album was recorded.
Inspired by Schubert's Die Winterreiseand the rolling landscapes of
their surroundings, the collaboration culminated in a collection of recordings that evoke a shadowy, introspective and dizzying winter journey.
Cinderland takes cues from classical, electronic and cinematic
musical traditions but is mostly a product of the rugged, mythic landscape; vast and sprawling with a wild, uncertain edge.
The recording was made with a portable studio and all sounds were sourced on site, most notably from Bridges' cello, the resident Steinway D piano, and field recordings collected from the local soundscape.
The results are a site specific, wide scope view of thehigh valley terrain the duo worked in, a mix of analog and digital, neoclassical and modern electronic sounds, a complemental series of tracks to become absorbed in, a truly deep listening experience.
The cover art forCinderland was created by London-based artist, Peter Liversidge.
Espen Beranek Holm is a Norwegian musician and comedian, born 1960 and began his music career as a clarinetist. Inspired by early synthesizer bands Kraftwerk and The Residents, he began making experimental pop music. His debut single Dra te' hælvete' was released in 1981 and was immediately banned by national TV/radio channel NRK due to explicit lyrics. This gave the young artist tons of publicity, helping the single spend almost 6 months on the national charts.
Beranek returned to the Starholm Studios in Oslo from June - September 1981 to record nine new compositions. His debut album, Sound of Danger', was released on Mind Expanding Records in November 1981. Nowhere near as accessible as the previous single, the album fared poorly commercially. Withdrawing from the single's fun, kitsch pop, the album is cool and static, driven by thin rhythm boxes, cold synths, and glacial guitars. Taking heavy cues from David Bowie, all of the songs are sung in a nasally English accent, a rare occurrence in Norway at the time. The lyrics are melancholic, but tinged with paranoia. There are also upbeat tracks that evoke a prog or glam sensibility a la King Crimson, Alan Parsons, or Roxy Music.
All songs have been remastered for vinyl by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. Housed in the original jacket featuring red, black, and white lines that evoke a visualized Richter Scale designed by Monica Moltzau. Each copy includes a 2-sided 8x11' insert with lyrics and an autographed press photo of Beranek.
The album was produced by John Congleton (Blondie, Sigur Ros), Greg Saunier of Deerhoof and Xiu Xiu's own Angela Seo.
It features guest appearances by fabled minimalist composer Charlemagne Palestine, L.A. Banjee Ball superstar commentator Enyce Smith, Swans guitar virtuoso Kristof Hahn and legendary drag artist and personal hero of Xiu Xiu, Vaginal Davis.
FORGET was recorded during a period of epic productivity for Xiu Xiu. While writing FORGET, they released the lauded Plays the Music of Twin Peaks, collaborated with Mitski on a song for an upcoming John Cameron Mitchell film, composed music for art installations by Danh Vo, recorded an album with Merzbow and scored an experimental reworking of the Mozart opera, The Magic Flute. All of this frantic, external activity lead to a softly damaged dreaminess and broadened intent that has not been heard before in other Xiu Xiu works.
Standout track, Wondering' is one of the catchiest boogie pop gems in the Xiu Xiu catalog, but like much of FORGET, it still bears an underlying tension that manifests differently in each piece. From the haunted guitar duet of "Petite", the hilariously fraught lyrics of "Get Up," the advanced industrial boxing match of "Jenny GoGo," or the experimental goth explosion of "Faith, Torn Apart", all the songs, in their own ways, build to a roiling boil of a fate in vanishing.
The calligraphy on the cover translates literally to "we forget." It bows to the universality of everything and everyone's inevitable decline and foggy disappearance. Regarding the album title, Xiu Xiu singer Jamie Stewart said, To forget uncontrollably embraces the duality of human frailty. It is a rebirth in blanked out renewal but it also drowns and mutilates our attempt to hold on to what is dear.' FORGET is both the palliative fade out of a traumatic's past but also the trampling pain of a beautiful one's decay.
Xiu Xiu is Shayna Dunkelman, Angela Seo and Jamie "Butch Jenny" Stewart.
marvin horsch debuts on Berlin's FILM with an EP of exquisitely produced, cinematic electronica. the cologne based producer develops the colourful house found on previous work for the dorfjungs la-bel, with three playful compositions that draw as much on jazz and krautrock as more contemporary strains of alternative electronic music. opener 'omnisession#1' marries a beautifully shifting organ with live drum work before segueing into the glorious softness of 'sun after rain,' a rich synth solo drenched in tape hiss. closer 'negobebo#2' wraps up the EP - an energetic, looping recording replete with staccato drum-machine strikes and warm, wet verbs carrying a spirited lead across it's six minute duration. An honest record, open and expertly executed - fukushisha is an admirable addition to the FILM cata-logue.
London/Lisbon label Release/Sustain start the year as they mean to go on. Presenting a 4 track various artists 12'' titled _Nightfall and Other Stories_. The record is comprised of 4 artists the Label regard as legends of that deeper dance floor sound. Opening proceedings on A1 is *Dekmantel* mainstay *Vakula*. A regular at the Release/Sustain 'Conclave' parties and part of the RS family His offering, _809,_ is a percussive drum tool trip of a track, with sporadic raw percussion shooting shining across a positively minimalist backing. For A2, we see Italian stalwart of underground dance music, *L.I.E.S* & *Crème Organization* regular, *Simoncino*. Obscure sample work, and a repeating line 'i can use a friend', twist and turn over rugged, thumping, functional drums and bass. Simoncino at his best! Furthering the quality of this standout 12'' is Chicago house music pioneer, and *Dance Mania* alumini *Vincent Floyd*. Rich in melody and familiar classic house sounds, Reggie's soft jacking house sound bring a silky smooth, North American touch to a previously rugged, European 12 slab of wax. Rounding things off we have *Clone*, *Prime Numbers* & *Deep Explorer* badman, *Reggie Dokes*. A cut riddled with percussive and quirky undertones Enjoy!
For the fourth release Shaw Cuts lines up five shaolin commanders who created their own interpretations of Farron's Death Duel EP: Marco Zenker, Russian duo Poima, Roger 23 and Simo Cell. These heavies form the Shelter Clan whose mission is to cover Ah Chi's back wherever he goes.
Marco Zenker gives 'We Don't Make No Sense' his signature machine funk that decimates challengers in one swing. Ah Chi can always count on Marco's sword.
Poima from Moscow rival with sabers, severing those who dare to cross their path. Their version of 'Tangency' is lead by a dirty break-beat drum combo blazoned by cosmic synth melodies and warm machine derangement.
'Centro' on the B-Side gets heavily grimed by veteran Roger 23 whose axe is as heavy as his remix style in general. Beware of Roger!
Armed with tonfas, Simo Cell layers 'Par 2' with a complex and fresh-sounding groove, causing lethal devastation to enemy combatants.
Ah Chi is well-shielded by his companions and still unbeaten to this day. Trust in the Shelter Clan!
Ersatz Olfolks signs new Singular, cat number 10 with Strobes & Smoke ep.
Singular Records comes back this February with mysterious French producer Ersatz Olfolks.
2017 is going to be a busy year for Singular Rec and it starts with a full analogue trip. Tough at first with the driving Srobes & Smoke' till the deepness of Alkaest'. Ersatz Olfolks makes no compromise and deliver a superb combination of force and depth throughout these four cuts from live sessions. The all thing got a 90's sound treatment by master Scan X.
Enjoy!
Marcelus.
Bottom dwellers rising to the top a little taste of who's who in the current Brooklyn underbelly, L.I.E.S. links up with like minded misfits from the Primitive Languages crew to present a six track comp 12 exploring freeform electronics of varying shapes and tempos from brutal to beautiful club to gutter it's all here...get in or get out. Picture cover by Matthew Bellosi! No Payments Rejected!
- A1: Danny Boy - Diskomix (Disko Version)
- A2: Gerrit Hoekema - Televisiewereld
- A3: Ghostwriters - Swizzle
- B1: Larry Heard - Dolphin Dream
- B2: Wolf Müller - Pfad Des Windes
- C1: The Force Dimension - 200 Fa (Extended Mix)
- C2: Frank Youngwerth - Whirr (Original Mix)
- C3: Greene Baize - Spick And Span
- D1: Ray Tracing - Mariopaint
- D2: Personal Fx - Objects In Mirrors
Repress
After last years slick selection for the series from MCDE, Young Marco steps up with a great set of obscurities. Top Tip!
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Born Marco Sterk, he certainly doesn't come from a standard DJ background. A former skate rat who grew up loving American post-hardcore and '90s hip-hop as much as early Warp Records, he's been affiliated over the years with Amsterdam institutions such as Rush Hour, Red Light Records (where you'll find him most weekdays!) and, of course, Dekmantel itself. Still, there's no question that he's always followed his own path, even during the years that playing his favorite records meant that he was occasionally clearing dancefloors.
Things are different these days, of course, as Sterk now regularly plays around the globe and has been widely hailed not just for his DJ talents, but also for his digging prowess and uncanny ability to pluck jams out of genres, eras and geographies that even veteran DJs will often ignore.
Still, Marco's entry in the Selectors series isn't some soulless collection of 'Holy Grail' rarities. 'Where's the fun in that' he explains. 'Anybody with an internet connection can check what flavor-of-the-month records are in demand.'
Just like the first Selectors compilation, this is not a mix CD, but a collection of hand-picked, unmixed tracks that Sterk has personally chosen from his own vinyl archives. Moreover, Marco has put together a collection of tracks that represent not only how he plays music, but also how he makes music himself. The songs here are melodic, electronic and bound together by a refreshing sense of naiveté. Nothing sounds overly calculated; the tunes here span several decades and include dollar-bin records, avant-garde records, club records and yes, a few things that collector types have likely been looking to get their hands on. It's not meant to be a grand statement, as Marco would rather provide an honest snapshot of his musical tastes and share a few of his favorite tracks and artists in the proc
Mesh-Key is thrilled to present this mind-bending solo album of electronics and vocals from legendary Japanese musician Phew. Phew's career began in the late 1970s as lead singer of Osaka punk group Aunt Sally (whose only full-length was released by Vanity Records in 1979). Ryuichi Sakamoto produced her debut solo release in 1980, a two-song single, and in 1981 Pass Records released her debut album, a bonafide masterpiece recorded with original Can members Holger Czukay and Jaki Liebezeit at Conny Plank's studio in Germany. She has forged a singular path over the past thirty-plus years, collaborating with folks like Anton Fier, Bill Laswell, and Seichi Yamamoto (Boredoms). It's borderline sacrilegious to compare an artist as unique as Phew with anyone else, but for those unfamiliar with her work, 'Light Sleep' might be described as a more animated Nico singing (in Japanese) for early Suicide. Prepare to be floored.
Co-Founder of The Galactic Shelf Records and resident DJ for MODU:LAR - Nerram is a Liverpool-based artist that's been making music and DJing for over six years. Having spent this time carefully refining his productions and growing a unique record collection; he's built up an edgy style based around original, rare house music and punchy minimal. Nerram is an exciting UK artist embarking on the next stage of his career.
Nerram launches The Galactic Shelf with a debut 3-track EP including a remix by Voigtmann. Combining driving, futuristic sounds with deep grooves and breaks - this trio of cosmic cuts come dancefloor-ready and represent the artist's diverse sound encapsulated. Enigmatic and Micron on the A side are an Odyssey through big basslines and twisting synths, followed up by the experimental, spacey Round and Round on B1. Completing the release is an altogether different interpretation of the first B side track by Voigtmann - a grooving, stripped-back outro by this excellent producer.
What a pleasure to announce this 2nd opus!
We offer 4 tracks composed by rare and talented artists who master the hypnotic groove perfectly. We focused this release on the organic and dancing side. A dance that takes us until the early hours, at the moment when the sun is rising...Le Jour Se Leve
Certified Quality!
Written and produced by Alan Castro, Raul Falcon, Nicolas M. Trojani, Radostina Bekiarska & Daniel Ivanov.
Vinyl Only! Limited Copies!
'Sometimes life can kick you in the nads,' says Dominick Martin (aka Calibre). 'When life does do that, I need to make music like this. With its tones of hope and gospel-level layers of self-recorded vocals. Raw, uplifting, soulfull... Even to the most ardent of Calibre follower, ' Grow' sounds like nothing else he's done before. Yet it's not actually on the album it gave a name to. Partly because its ultimately positive veneer (even though it was written in the midst of two toxic relationships - one personal, one with the bottle) doesn't quite complement the deeper, more contemplative aesthetic of the album. But also because this is the start of a whole new story for Calibre...
'A part of Dominick is a poet and a part of him is a man who's lived through Northern Ireland at its worst,' observes Craig Richards . 'There's a gentleness and a tension to him and his past and his experiences. Somewhere in that middle ground is his music.'
Taken from a interview by Dave Jenkins for DJ Magazine.
Jerome Meyer AKA Von D is a master craftsman, well-known for releasing dubstep and bass music since 2009. On an increasingly prolific trajectory since last year, recent 12's on Infernal Sounds, Trojan Audio and Scotch Bonnet have signaled his renewed focus on dubwise productions. We are proud to say that Von D's Khaliphonic debut sees him fully committing to reggae and dub - in his words, going back to my musical roots.'
Politricks' is a masterwork, cut from the same living rock as the classic Cuss Cuss riddim, a simply huge bass and drum workout that is truly one for the ages. Politricks is an anthem for now, a call to avoid the dead-end of politics-as-usual and a warning to beware of the lies politicians tell to keep themselves in power - full of promises but changing nothing. Von D says that working with Don Cotti was very natural,' and their easy relationship is audible - the tune fits the vocal like a glove, and Cotti's instantly-recognizable singjay style gives even more gravitas to an already heavy track. The dub version spools out Von D's signature saturated echoes even further, and opens up spectral chambers of reverb that shimmer and glow.
The B side Ygrec' is an equally massive tune, just as compelling if more meditative and mysterious, coming in both one drop and power-steppers mixes for maximum versatility and vibes. Both tunes and their versions feature an incredibly robust, warm, human sound - one that simply can't come from machines alone - live drums, bass, and kete drum among other instruments maintain the tradition of live musicians in dub - to say nothing of expert desk-based mixing and deployment of live analog effects the way the elders intended. Both tunes dial in at 140 making them perfect for roots and dubstep selectors alike.
Von D got his start as a drummer and engineer outside Paris, in the heady days of original jungle. Early releases on Disfigured Dubz, Hench, Boka, Black Acre and the seminal V Recordings, as well as his reggae-oriented Liquid Wicked project, cemented his reputation. Don Cotti is a prolific producer, DJ and MC with releases stretching back to 2006 on labels as varied as Bass Face, Studio Rockers, and Soul Jazz.
Mastered by Lewis at Stardelta. Art & design by Polygon Press.
- A1: Gandigui (Bariba Soul)
- A2: Wegne'nda M'banza (Bariba Soul)
- A3: Me Ton Le Gbe (Pachanga Fon)
- A4: Abakpé (Afro Beat Bariba)
- B1: Guessi- Guéré-Guessi (Pop Bariba)
- B2: Sembe Sembe Boudou (Folklore Dendi)
- B3: A Na Gangaro Ka Nam (Afro Beat Bariba)
- B4: Bori Yo Se Mon Baani (Pachanga Dendi
- C1: Aske (Folkloredendi)
- C2: Ko Guere (Folklore Bariba)
- C3: Vdoun Hounwato Minon Dou Gbandja
- C4: Abere Klouklou (Cavacha Dendi)
- D1: Hanoubiangabou (Soul Dendi)
- D2: Dadon Gabou Yo Sa Be No.2 (Afro Beat Dendi)
- D3: Bininhounnin (Dendi Boucher)
- D4: Adiza Claire (Cavacha Bariba)
Lost sounds are the archives of a forgotten history. The raucously raw, Vodoun-inspired rhythms of Cotonou have confirmed Benin as a mecca of 70s Afro sounds and revived the story of its people, but the unopened vaults housing the country's catacombs of musical riches are endless. With this as our compass, Analog Africa charters its fifth expedition to Benin, traveling far north to delve deeper into the obscured repertoires and tales of the Bariba and Dendi people.
It was the spring of 2007 when Paul 'Mudd' Murphy and Kevin Pollard announced the arrival of the former's Claremont 56 label with Villa Stavros', a magical frst collaborative 12'. It
seems somewhat ftting, then, that Claremont 56's fnal release of its' frst decade will be N7 Odyssey, the frst collaborative album from Mudd & Pollard. By the time Villa Stavros' came out, the pair had already been regular studio buddies for a couple of years. Initially, Murphy had recruited Pollard - a hugely talented keyboardist and composer - to play on tracks he was working on for Rong Music. One thing naturally led to another, and soon they were joining forces to make music as Murphy's home studio in
Holloway, North London. As the years rolled by, further acclaimed singles followed Villa Stavros' - the bubbly, Rhodes-laden Balearic disco shuffe of Vincent', and the lilting, intergalactic dub disco of Scaffold', most notably - before the duo's other musical commitments began to take precedence. Murphy had his hands full running the Claremont 56 and Leng labels, while Pollard carved out a successful career as a soundtrack composer for both flm and television. Now, the album they set out to make all those years ago is fnally fnished and ready to be
released. N7 Odyssey - titled in tribute to the Holloway studio they recorded in for many years before Murphy moved - draws together freshly re-mastered versions of their previously released singles with a clutch of previously unheard tracks. Built around the duo's own fne musicianship, with Pollard handling synths, keyboards and electric piano, and Murphy guitar, bass and percussion, the album's ten tracks offer a musical journey through their shared love of shuffing grooves, sun-kissed soundscapes and
gentle positivity. Highlights come thick and fast. There's the swirling strings, futtering futes, jammed-out electric pianos and heady female vocals of Far Away', the enchanting new age ambience of December', and the rush-inducing Balearic disco breeze of Mawson's Walk', a former single blessed with sublime horn solos and rising, cinematic strings. Check, too, the head-
nodding beats, fuid electric piano solos and jazzy guitars of Inatin', the gentle Eastern mysticism and vintage ambient house aesthetics of Anura', and the ultra-deep house pulse of N7 Odyssey'. The album fttingly fnishes with a sublime ambient interpretation of Scaffold', arguably the duo's most celebrated track. It may have taken a decade to emerge, fully formed, but Murphy and Pollard have delivered an album that's beguiling, magical, and hugely comforting. Clearly, it's an odyssey worth
taking.
- A1: Bye Bye Session Band - Lily
- A2: Sentimental Hotel - Rie Nakahara
- A3: Bara To Yajyu - Haruomi Hosono
- A4: Why Don't You Move In With Me - Yasuko Agawa
- B1: Jiken Ga Okitara Beru Ga Neru - Pink Lady
- B2: Summer Champion - Yuko Asano
- B3: Dancin' - Junko Ohashi
- B4: Rainbow Paradise - Masayoshi Takanaka
- C1: Uragiri - Mari Natsuki
- C2: Maboroshi No Hito - Miyako Chaki
- C3: Tornado - Minako Yoshida
- C4: Banana - Kay Ishiguro
- D1: Funky Miyo-Chan - Masaaki Hirao
- D2: Yashow Macashow - Ebonee Webb
- D3: Lovin' Mighty Fire - Naoya Matsuoka & Minako Yoshida
Lovin' Mighty Fire' is Howard Williams' third Japanese music compilation for the Ace Records house of labels - this time, for BGP International. Assembled in between his job as a record distributor and his monthly Japan Blues show for NTS radio, the first two have taken a look at the late 50s for a blast of Japanese rockabilly ( Nippon Rock'n'Roll' CDWIKD 313), then the 60s and 70s for a romp in Japanese surf music ( Nippon Guitars CDWIKD 297). Following his retrospective of jazz singer Maki Asakawa for Honest Jon's, this new outing searches for the soul music of Japan, from the early 70s to the early 80s.
Japan has long been known as the final destination for many a collectible soul record. Yet, who suspected that some fine soul grooves were recorded for the domestic market, from ballads, to funk and disco Strangely enough, some of the busiest writers and producers in this field came from a late 60s rock band, Happy End, but on listening to their collaborations, their rhythmic, soulful feel is immediately apparent.
The bluesy funk of Lily, the soul-diva brilliance of Minako Yoshida - represented here in both slow-grind mode and epic disco, the maverick genius of Haruomi Hosono, the lively songstress Yasuko Agawa, and the sultry steaminess of Mari Natsuki, and more. This album finally plants a Japanese flag firmly on the global map of soul.
Two years on from his critically acclaimed self-titled debut LP and 2016's similarly transcendent club hit Safe/Multiply, Ghost Culture is pleased to announce his new EP Nucleus. Due for release on Phantasy, Nucleus, captures the enigmatic London artist's signature sound in the reflection of unexpected, vibrant new lights.
Leading with the understated groove of 'Coma', Ghost Culture quickly reaffirms his unwavering ability to hold the collective energy of a dancefloor, yet colours his latest work with a sense of intimacy and experimentation that resonates stronger than ever.
'ICO130' explores almost every facet of Ghost Culture's electronic form, as gasping synths and stuttering drum patterns flirt with an aching, unfurling emotional vocal sample, acknowledging both classic IDM influences such as Aphex Twin and Authechre, while subtly nodding towards contemporary, crystalline RnB.
The EP's centrepiece, 'NGC1275' adds flavour to a stirring, reflective acid line, amid a complex flurry of minor deconstructions and distortions, highlighting Ghost Culture's unique, contrarian ability to inspire both beckoning darkness and escapist fantasy through his work.
While the opening half of the five track EP is more primed for the night, Nucleus' leads to an introspective denouement. 'Perseus' pits raw electronics against a framework of loose, lucid drums, before 'NGC1265' delivers a wistful, brooding conclusion that makes an emotive case that impacts powerfully across just a short sketch.
Vlad Dinu opens Mihai Bravu's 1st release starting the audio journey with 'Deep in my house' , a track that occupies the entire A side, just like a proper tool should.
As the name of the track hints, we find ourselves submerged in deep territory : a tight and groovy bass line, laced with a steady percussion, sprinkled with some 16bit arcade reminiscent accents and soothing intermingled vocal cuts. The deep vibe is crafty perpetuated by several synths at play,
which together combine in such a way to add a wide atmospheric feel to the composition. Definitely 'Deep in my house' sounds and feels more like of a 90's tune, and while listening to it, one could easily find himself drift into the nostalgia of the good old days.
Side B goes even deeper with two tracks defined by the notion of 'head tracks' . 'Gun Zah' continues the storyline with twisty percussive rhythms and a groovy atmosphere, tailored into a bangin floor choon while 'Questions Answered' submerges the listener into layers of groovy basslines, swifty percs and milky synths, all put together into the form of a most 'alive' track.
Outta the shadows and into the strobe-light, Alex Lewis aka Turinn debuts on Modern Love with a highly rinsable debut double-pack of sawn-off brukbeats and anxious, nerve-riding grooves brewed in the ravines of North Manchester. Turinn emerges from a new generation of producers in the city that include longtime spar Willow, and upcoming producer Croww, soon to offer up his own debut recordings.
Crooked and rugged AF, but tempered by an acute emotive sensitivity, 18 1/2 Minute Gaps renders a bleedin' cross-section of mongrel, hybrid style 'n pattern in a breathless, deceptively freehand fashion that comes riddled with an electric blue energy all of its own.
Committing ten trax of fractious, mutant funk and sore feels, 18 1/2 minute Gaps serves to cap Turinn's formative phase of production like a lead lid on a nuclear rave implosion; trapping original 'ardcore 'nuum, Detroit booty and dank post-punk elements in a perpetual flux of in-the-pocket grooves which ravenously attempt to split at the seams, alternately pushing into Muslimgauze-like buffer zones of distortion or resoundingly wide ambient dimensions, and often both at once.
On the first plate, this ambiguous dichotomy is epitomised between the rare surge of quick/slow torque in Ovum, which almost sounds like Chris Carter sparring with Burial Hex, and then in his nod to the Italian new wave with Elba, which seems to find the square root between Lorenzo Senni and some skudgy as heck Kassem Mosse grind, whereas the bittersweet soul of 1625 finds compatible links with his close peer, Workshop's Willow as well as Japan's Shinichi Atobe and scene enabler Move D, while Parratactico swaggers into quantum dancehall meters.
The second disc is no less deadly: the album title track runs at a nexx level Detroit momentum like DJ Stingray flipping Derrick May and Carl Craig's Kaotic Harmonies, before ESO cuts in like a super cranky El-B wearing itchy Primark underwear, and the bone-rattling hardcore jungle of Spawn soon enough gives way to the sweetlad couplet of Petrichor and Ondine, where his elusive, distressed melodic touch really shines thru.
First issue of this previously unreleased Oriental psych monster from the organ king of Casablanca, combining traditional rhythms with spaced out modern sounds. Second part of Abdou El Omari's Nuits-trilogy. This albums contains heavenly compositions for The Moroccon diva Naima Samih and some moody instrumentals in a similar vein to the previous album.
Florian Meindl kick starts 2017 with a special four-track vinyl only release 'Colorful Cage'. Released on his own imprint FLASH Recordings, the title track is taken from his forthcoming album 'Time Illusion'.
There is an exclusive vinyl edit of Florian's previously released foreboding techno track 'Nix Charon' and completing the EP are two further unique tracks 'Controlled Pressure' and 'Wild Sequence 3'.
As a DJ, live performer, studio producer and sound designer, Florian has over the years established an impressive producing base for himself in his Berlin based Riverside Studio complex with an exciting hardware set up including Modular Systems, an analog mixing desk as well as classic machines like Roland 909.
In anticipation for the LP release in early April, Florian has prepared a unique live set featuring a Modular System, the KORG Minilogue, effect boxes and a 909 drum machine which were used in the creation of the album which he will be touring throughout 2017.
Jacob Long's newest recordings under the Earthen Sea moniker deepen his compelling synthesis of shadowy rhythms and opaque atmospherics, drawing on the most potent qualities of melancholic ambient and dub techno.
An Act Of Love' follows 2015's Ink,' released via Ital's Lovers Rock imprint,
and was inspired by internal tribulations and the experience of exploring an empty nocturnal metropolis. Careful waves of tones drift and decay, beats materialize and pulse across twilit landscapes, a noir mood reigns.
Given Long's background as bassist for revelatory tribal-punk trio Mi Ami, An Act Of Love' showcases a musician in the midst of transcendent redefinition, crafting an immersive language of texture and motion.
From Jacob Long:
This record was made over the course of the most emotionally difficult and stressful year in my life thus far. As such, it is both a reflection of that experience and also something that gave me space to begin working through issues to see a way forward, to a better place both psychically and physically.
An idea that was also central to my thoughts while creating the album was the concept and reality of being out in the city at night, wandering around a large urban area after dark - the contrast of empty streets but with life still going on all around, and the openness and possibilities that can bring. This music was an attempt to capture that feeling.
- A1: 52Nd Street Can't Afford
- A2: Section 25 Looking From A Hilltop (Megamix)
- A3: The Beat Club Security (Remix)
- B1: Marcel King Reach For Love
- B2: Quando Quango Love Tempo
- B3: Nyam Nyam Fate/Hate
- C1: A Certain Ratio Bootsy (Swingfire Mix)
- C2: Factory Floor ~(Real Love)
- C3: Marnie The Hunter (Remix)
- D1: The Other Two Inside
- D2: Fujiya & Miyagi Daggers (Remix)
- D3: Tim Burgess Oh Men (02 Mix)
New Order Presents Be Music is a compilation of productions by members of iconic Manchester group New Order, including classic dance and electro tracks released on Factory Records between 1982 and 1985, as well as more recent remixes for current artists such as Factory Floor, Marnie, Tim Burgess and Fujiya & Miyagi.
The generic tag Be Music was first used in 1981 and covered studio production work by all four members of New Order: Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook, Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert. Sumner often teamed with Donald 'Dojo' Johnson of A Certain Ratio, including the pioneering electro cuts featured here by Quando Quango, 52nd Street, Marcel King, Paul Haig and Surprize. Morris and Gilbert worked with Thick Pigeon, Life, Red Turns To and also 52nd Street. Although more rock orientated, Hook proved he was no slouch on the dancefloor either with the mighty Fate/Hate by Nyam Nyam.
'Producing was a really important sideline,' recalls Bernard Sumner of the Factory era. 'It's OK doing it because although all the groups are skint, you learn a lot and you're helping somebody.'
After 1985 the band focused more on producing their own records, both as New Order and solo projects such as Electronic, Revenge, The Other Two, Monaco and Bad Lieutenant. However in recent years Stephen Morris in particular has remixed several newer artists, notably London industrialists Factory Floor, as well as former Factory workers A Certain Ratio and Section 25.
Bonus tracks on the 3xCD box set include Knew Noise by Section 25, produced by Ian Curtis and Rob Gretton of Joy Division way back in 1979, and the complete 22 minute version of Video 586, recorded by New Order themselves in 1982.
All tracks (12 on vinyl, 36 on the CD) are newly remastered. The liner notes feature commentary on the tracks by the artists and the members of New Order. Design and packaging are by Matt Robertson/Peter Saville Studio.
We welcome Ricardo Tobar for his debut label release. It's an honour; Correspondant is the latest in an elite line of select labels that the cosmic Frenchman has worked with over the years such as Cocoon or Border Community.
Consistent in all compositions, it's another pristine trip into the interstellar unknown. Each track measured, weighted and laced with Ricardo's signature creeping dynamic. Unhurried, elements gradually make themselves known and envelop your senses without you realizing. Deep, mystic and singular; the perfect debut.
To begin the year with, Antinote summoned Panoptique and JC Satan's Paula to release a badass two-tracker, paying a pared-down tribute to a very overlooked period in recent musical history: the accursed electroclash-era.
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At a time when 'Balearic' has become the new musical gospel, the holiest adjective one can use to describe one's music (and therefore, electroclash has become the musical antichrist - to keep going with the biblical comparison)... while everyone seems to glorify stuff like Ibiza's 'endless sunsets', the duo happily kicks over the anthill with a song, a record and a band soberly called Succhiamo (first person plural of 'to suck' in Italian). The title-track straightforwardly announces what the main elements of Succhiamo's music are: over-saturated simple patterns of drum machines and EBM-infused lines of synths backing overtly sexual vocals in Italian. Nothing more, nothing less.
On the flip side, Succhiamo deals with the same formula in depth, engaging this time in detailing a meaningless list of products available in the 'supermercato'. The song conveys a nihilist - but fun - attitude, and it just sounds as if the band was crashing a car in a commercial zone in high spirits... As a kind of inheritor to Ich Bin, Succhiamo offers to bring some stupidity in the club and gives serious dance music producers the finger, like some irreverent Franco-Italian Beavis & Butthead.
Bastardo Electrico is a techno night and label based in Cork, Ireland. It's run by Jamie Behan, a veteran of the scene and one half of Flexure alongside Stephen Mahoney. Both have been DJing since the mid-'90s, but Flexure is a relatively new hardware-based project that sounds like a mashup of techno, acid, electro and Chicago house. Shadow Puppets is Flexure's debut EP, a collection of unhinged machine bangers fans of Tinfoil's and On The Hoof's weirdness will likely appreciate.
Modulated noise drills through the centre of "Blizz," getting more rancorous as the track steams on. "Callmecrazeey" is less abrasive but boisterous and more energetic, like a mound of Mexican jumping beans, complete with cartoonish xylophone notes that give it a cheeky twist. The cheekiness continues on "703 39flr," which teems with homemade sounds between the kicks, giving you plenty to home in on even if the track doesn't make you want to dance. The hypnotic "Piltrafiltra" is more likely to get you moving with its slender '90s trance hook. It's the most functional track on the record, but who needs functionality when you can be ricocheting off the walls with "Callmecrazeey'"s oddball jive.
Infernal Sounds is discharging its fifth hefty, system-affine release, adding another highly regarded talent to their roster. Having featured revered producers like Von D, Sepia, Causa, Shu & Perverse, the label has clearly positioned itself in the front row seat of the modern dubstep movement. Representing a combination of upholding the values of system music with a 21st-century take on sound - the next release, catalogued as 'IFS005' is stylistically congruent and adds to the discography in total.
It is now time for highly talented Sub Basics (Tom Woods) to augment the imprint's discography with his ridiculously massive incarnation of bass music. His debut vinyl release on the Canadian imprint 'Visceral Vibrations' in 2015 has garnered ample amounts of positive reception by esteemed figures in the scene like Versa, Syte and J:Kenzo. After an equally praised 10' dubplate release ( Give Dem') in 2016, we now find ourselves in the silence before the thunderstorm, that is this very record. His upcoming release includes three tracks, two of which will feature on vinyl (A. Horus/ B. Cartel), while the third 'Northern Lights' will be a Bandcamp-exclusive.
Diving into the sound at hand, his arrangements are closely aligned and firmly true to the origins of Dubstep - conjugated with extreme clarity, as well as preposterous amounts of weight and gravitas. The impeccable execution of his minimalistic sound design will leave this release rumbling on soundsystems around the globe - and will most stay a fan's favourite draw from the record bag for a good while.
Perfectly displaying a refined sense of dynamics with 'Horus', Sub Basics effortlessly squeezes every available ounce of air out of the system, while preserving an immense sense of space. The highly infatuating groove of 'Cartel' is mingled with a sweltering foundation - tied together through his meticulous attention to detail. As etheral pads complement the gnarly drum reverberations and bird's cries recoil - the listener is left in a surreal world of the 'Northern Lights' - apprehended by the sonorous magnitude of the bassline. Completed by creamy atmospheres with tape-echo-esque characteristics, this whole release is sure to tick all your boxes from top to bottom - IFS005 has already received support from J:Kenzo & Foamplate among others, therefore the pre-order is strongly advised.
Art, of any kind, encompasses the unique and distinctive output of its creator: an inimitable human being. It points to a blueprint map of who this creator is, encapsulates their experiences and somehow points to how they arrive at their creation(s). This blueprint, although lending glimmer into one life, connects deeply into an unfathomable amount of other lives - lending an expression and effect. With this in mind, we go on a journey with Dowinowe - the first solo artist release for the Gqom oh! label - on his debut "GQOM004" Dominowe is a 19 year old producer from the Newlands east township of Durban, South Africa who started out making music just for his friends. This release snapshots important themes in his evocative personal journey - expressed in his own very unique style. Releasing on Vinyl in 27th of January 2017, the EP, titled SiyaThakatha', showcases Dominowe's original style in the context of the Durban electronic music scene especially when paced beside Gqom and Sghubu. The listener gets a real sense of his complexity and the variety of styles Dominowe is capable of producing. "SiyaThakatha", the EP name, is translated _black_ _magic,_ or, _we witching - _ which is right at the heart of this release: that listening to these sounds invite you into the universe of an unseen world, putting you in touch with what can only described as invisible energy - a combination of the ideal, the intangible, the unattainable and the other-worldly whilst on journey with a 19year old from Durban whose music is composed of influence and innovation. It is about gqom working its magic on the dance floor for people to move - to the distinctive beats and cultural rhythms. It features four tracks - including one skit outro - as well as three tracks on digital download. The tracks were chosen specifically as a reflection of the variety of styles Dominowe produces and the originality of his productions.
- A1: Billy Thorpe - Back On The Street Again
- A2: The Id - Feel Awright
- A3: Ross D. Wyllie - Do The Uptight
- A4: Johnny Rocco Band - Funky Max
- A5: Daly-Wilson Big Band - City Sounds (Featuring Kerrie Biddell)
- B1: Dalvanius & The Fascinations - Voodoo Lady
- B2: Renee Geyer - Be There In The Morning
- B3: John Sangster - Hair
- B4: Ray White Revival - Superstition
- B5: Festival Studio 24 Orchestra - Africa (L'ete Indien)
- B6: Brute Force & His Drum - Weird And Wonderful
- C1: Mcphee - The Wrong Time
- C2: Kahvas Jute - Odyssey
- C3: Tamam Shud - Sea That Swells (From Morning Of The Earth)
- C4: Blackfeather - The Rat Suite Main Title
- D1: Al Styne - Vehicle
- D2: Mcphee - Indian Rope Man
- D3: Hot Source - Oz Bump (Soul Thing)
- D4: Count Copernicus & The Cosmic Fire - Painted Ego
- D5: John Sangster - A Day In A Life
COMPILED BY PETE PASQUAL, ERICA OLSON & DJ KINETIC
Following on from acclaimed compilations like 'Down Under Nuggets' and 'Heavy Soul' (and two other new titles 'Running The Voodoo Down' and 'Dodgy Bossa (& Silly Sambas)' - details below), Festival Records presents another deep dig into the archives, this time shining a light on rare Australian soul-jazz, jazz-funk, and freaked-out groove rock from the late '60s and '70s.
BACK ON THE STREET AGAIN - AUSTRALIAN FUNK, SOUL & PSYCH (MOSTLY) FROM THE FESTIVAL VAULTS is a stunning 20 track CD and 2LP release that highlights a point when the previously disparate styles of rock, jazz and soul all started influencing each other, and exciting new genres were created. To quote the liner notes (by DJ Kinetic):
Australia produced some amazing music during the 60s and 70s that sat outside of the normal rock mould. Avant guard artists like John Sangster pushed boundaries and experimented with the fusion of local and overseas influences, artists like Dalvanius recorded soaring disco music that was lost amongst the popular music of the time, only to be rediscovered by DJs overseas who were searching for unknown sounds, composers like Brute Force and His Drum took risks and recorded left-field funky sounds hidden within their more mainstream compositions, and popular artists like Billy Thorpe occasionally strayed from their A&R directions and took leaves from the books of American artists who were largely unknown in Australia at the time. Beneath the veneer of bland rock and roll lay an unknown multitude of funky sounds hidden from mainstream view.
In addition to the artists that Kinetic mentions (and the compilation features two John Sangster tracks - stunning versions of 'Hair' and the Beatles' 'A Day In The Life'), the collection includes iconic names of the era like the Daly-Wilson Big Band (featuring Kerrie Biddell), Renee Geyer and the Johnny Rocco Band. '60s sides from Ross D Wyllie and The ID (featuring Jeff St John) reveal the various styles' roots in American rhythm & blues, and the unexpected inclusion of some legendary Australian rock outfits like Tamam Shud and Blackfeather reveals the psychedelic and progressive rock influences at play. The full range of the music is highlighted by the inclusion of both cabaret/daytime TV performer Al Styne and outrageous Kings Cross club act Count Copernicus & The Cosmic Fire as well as the in-house studio 'pops' orchestra, Festival Studio 24 Orchestra.
Co-compilers Pete Pasqual, Erica Olson and DJ Kentic to undertake interviews with specialist media around release. Facebook ad's around release.
Not Waving takes 2017 by the scruff with his Populist EP, consolidating the myriad stripes of his acclaimed Animals album in four extended peaktime hammers forged for darkrooms, basements and warehouses alike.
If last year's LP saw you thru from day-into-night, or vice-versa, this one is aimed squarely at the gurny hours of abandon in between, with ferocious acid lines and jabbing drums stripped down and strapped up to prompt reckless behaviour on the 'floor.
Containing his first material written in the wake of Animals, the Populist EP is Alessio Natalizia a.k.a. Not Waving's strongest dancefloor statement since the one-sided Get Serious (2015) bullet.
It finds him taking the opportunity to make straight-up bangers, rather than 'songs', which were thoroughly tried and tested over successive tours of the USA and ountless shows in Europe too in
the last 9 months.
Too Many Freaks is an anthem in waiting, harnessing a barely-hinged sense of chaos between its careening synth lead, acid squabble and velvet-clad kicks, before the dry-rutting jag and plaintive vox of Vibe Killer takes a dog-grip like This Heat meeting Tuning Circuits.
Top marks go to the check-your-stylus intro for Control Myself on the B-side, which holds its fizzy line into a fetid crevice of what sounds Russell Haswell ramping with Powell, whereas the
crooked clampjaw groove of Ur Lucky Ur Still Alive pivots around a sample a lone raver at Atonal, Berlin 'who had no idea how she got there and what she did the night before'. A ruddy good night
all-round, then
Not Waving co-owns the Ecstatic label alongside Sam Willis. Not Waving is widely regarded a connoisseur of Italian new wave and post-punk music - he compiled the Mutazione (Italian
Electronic & New Wave Underground 1980-1988) set for Strut - and has issued a series of acclaimed, sought-after, playfully anachronistic twists on that sound since 2013.
After a short break Unison Wax returns with a brand new four-track collection of music from the bossman himself, Diego Krause. The Berliner took a year off in 2016, concentrating on other projects and letting the label have a rest, but now he's back with a refined sound. Unison Wax embodies a more sophisticated aesthetic, with warm analogue hues and subtle textures to push things forward a little. After all, we couldn't come back from a break without progressing, huh!
First out of the blocks is 'Nihilate', which helps introduce this updated Unison Wax sound, crisp beats lock us into a groove in conjunction with a dainty selection of analogue effects and a funky little b-line. Diego carefully adds new elements as the track progresses, keeping you interested right until the end.
Next is the title track, 'Rituals', which kicks off with an insistent bassline and spellbinding percussion that keeps you gripped from the off. He throws in some claps to add energy and muted pads, which slowly rise to prominence, giving the track an emotive atmosphere which wraps itself around you. One for the eternal dreamers...
Flip the record over for side B and 'Dysfunction', which turns things grimy. Marauding beats and bass conspire to create a morose atmosphere. Diego's penchant for super sharp beats is present here again, and the energy builds slowly but surely. A new layer creeps in every few bars and sucks you right into the track's lair. Expertly done, and impossible to resist, this is darkside pressure at its best.
'Eudaimonia' rounds things off, with more deep grooves. Initially propelled by minimal percussion, the track really gets going when more beats are added. It maintains a laid back feeling and, while the drums are solid, the atmosphere is mostly quite soft with swirling pads keeping things light in the top end. When they fall away towards the end of the track we have a rather gnarly close to the composition, as the beats and bass take over.
And there it is, the welcome return of Unison Wax - smooth and refined for 2017...
A real rarity! 1977's "Stepping Out" by obscure Oliver Sain produced Funk/Soul outfit The 13th Floor has always been a tough LP to catch, the only release by this lesser known St.Louis outfit showcased a unique blend of jazz, funk and soul that has intrigued hardcore collectors of rare grooves and black music since it's release. Released on the highly collectable Blue Candle sub label of Miami's TK Disco empire, "Stepping Out" features lots of different musical flavours - from the languid, Ohio Players-esque "Hang loose" and the incessant mid-tempo burner "Leanin" to the dance-floor groove of "Sweet thang", the LP showcases across it's 9 tracks show a band at the top of it's game, completely in tune with each other and firmly in the pocket. This should be no surprise when you consider the opening track of the album is co-written by a young Chaka Khan and members of the band went on to form parts of her band Rufus and played alongside artists such as Patti Austin, Maxayn Lewis, Ronnie McNeir and High Voltage. The overall feel of the album is one of amazing musicians keeping it gritty, soulful and most of all, funky! This album has always demanded high prices on the second hand / used vinyl market and is a truly lesser spotted gem, which is surprising considering the eye catching sleeve artwork!
This is the first time that The 13th Floor's "Stepping Out" has been reissued on vinyl, fully remastered from TK's original tapes, represented the way the the LP was issued in 1977 with all original cover and label artworks intact. Now, almost 40 years after it's original release the album has now been made available again for 2016, fully licensed in conjunction and with the full permission of Henry Stone music / TK Disco, Miami, FL.
Banoffee Pies Records step into the realms of Contemporary Music with Ishmael Ensemble opening their release schedule for 2017 as the label drops their second LP and continues to investigate more musical landscapes. This time saxophonist and producer Ishmael leads the six piece electronic jazz ensemble on their debut release and thought provoking journey. A tribute piece - with love from Banoffee Pies x
Artwork and Text compiled by Ellen Pearson Watercolours by Chris Cunningham
Artist: Ishmael Ensemble
Written & Produced by Pete Cunningham Additional writing on Bembe by Holly Wellington Additional writing on Solace by Chris Hillier Engineered by Jake Spurgeon
Mixed by Caradog Jones & Pete Cunningham @ Secret Sundaze Studios Mastered @ Alchemy
Copyright Control 2017
In loving memory of Josh Edward Pearce x
Six years after his last album on Miasmah, Schattenspieler, it's great to find Marcus Fjellström resurrected after several long years spent composing his audio-visual opera Boris Christ.
Born out of shattered dreams and an obscured vision of the future, Skelektikon is a delirious yet lucid exploration of the farthest and most conflicted reaches of the heart, teeming with confusion, passion, and ghostly shadows. Being no conventional composer in any way, Marcus stumbles further down his musical domain of detuned orchestral (re-)arrangements and pain-inducing synth passages, arriving at a most unique and personal result. Where Schattenspieler gave way to noir filled alleyways, Skelektikon fills them with paranoia. It's the sound of Limbo, of dancing amoebas, of deviant skeletons, nostalgia and futurism, or quite possibly none of that.
Inhabited by the bizarre and the beautiful, Marcus's music is a blurred yet encouraging representation of how you can never trust your own feelings - or eyes and ears for that matter. And yet, we can't shake the idea that the truth is to be found somewhere within this alien language, as delivered to us through the speakers. Opening our eyes after the final track has dissipated, we wouldn't be surprised to find someone or something there, staring at us, in silent and unsettling knowledge.
Fans donated €25,000 to Emika for the project
Fans paid for the album before hearing any music
Electronic & Neo Classical. Fits 2 genres / Cross over
The composition is inspired by electronic music
Emika hired double the amount of bass players in a normal orchestra
Emika created a new seating plan for the orchestra, to sound more like a wide stereo pop album
Echo concepts (electronic music)
Romantic piece, lyrical piece, universal themes of love and sadness, huge beautiful melodies
50 piece symphony orchestra
Silver-toned soprano Michaela Srumova
Composed in Berlin
Recorded in Prague at Czech Radio Studios.
* The crossover between electronic music and classical composition has never been in more vibrant and dynamic health. Multifarious musician Emika explores this fertile ground on her ambitious new opus 'Melanfonie': her first orchestral composition, some four years in the making.
* Funded by a hugely successful Kickstarter campaign that exceeded its target by an impressive €25,000.
* While many rebel from their classical training never to return to it explicitly, Emika has always been attracted to the potential and freedoms offered by the symphony form.
* As well as taking inspiration from her electronic music background in composing the music itself, Emika also applied some of production and playback principles from that realm to create a piece whose every element has been carefully considered.
* Emika is on a quest to try and change what we mean when we talk about 'classical music'. For her, the magic of the 'genre' is about the instruments themselves and more importantly the people who play them; not the restricting traditions and conventions of the classical world itself.
* I want to change the face of classical music and give it a more honest and real image. It is time we had something other than pomp and circumstance and avant-garde squeaks and pops..
Supported by
Chilly Gonzales, Zola Jezus, Ellen Alien, Nina Kraviz, Mala, Christian Kellersmann, The Barbican, Francesco Tristano.
Stirred up from deep within, from an abstract spiral of sound and movement, from a sensation of time and space absolving and converging at once, the Black Flower musicians have molded a tangible matter: the album Artifacts. Their second full album sounds international and ageless. Eastern influences, Ethiodub and jazz effortlessly merge. Fantasy and reality seem to fuse. In a word: nourishment for body and soul.
"Psyche-delicious and accessible 20th century Ethiodubjazz. As if John Zorn put on Fela Kuti's shoes and imbibed Mulatu Astatke's whirls."
Piloted by saxophonist /flutist /composer Nathan Daems (Ragini Trio, Dijf Sanders, Antwerp Gipsy-Ska Orkestra), this instrumental band aims for originality. Fellow musicians and 'brothers down the road' are Jon Birdsong (dEUS, Beck, Calexico) on cornet, Simon Segers (Absynthe Minded, De Beren Gieren, Stadt) at the drums, Filip Vandebril (Lady Linn, The Valerie Solanas, Antwerp Gipsy-Ska Orkestra) at the bass and Wouter Haest (Los Callejeros, Voodoo Boogie) playing keys.
For many of us, the Ethiopian aspect once made known to the world by Mulatu Astatke will stand out. Still, Black Flower further adds oriental scales, Afrobeat à la Fela Kuti, jazz in a John Zorn way and varied western music traditions such as rock and dub. The resulting melting pot is undoubtedly inspired by Nathan's distant travels and the multifariously colorful city of Brussels.
...Pretty legit if you ask me - LeFto, Studio Brussel
After their well-received debut album Abyssinia Afterlife (2014, W.E.R.F. / Zephyrus Records) that created an atmosphere of mythical figures and psychedelia, Black Flower now reflects on ancient and modern cultures. The album title Artifacts refers to centuries-old fragile objects or tools that empowered the development of human culture. The world today would look entirely different without those artifacts. The seemingly brittle suddenly becomes a powerful welding cornerstone. Add the musicians' personal musical backgrounds and the result is an album with an ageless mystique. Artifacts is the synthesis of different cultures, of the past and present, and personal and collective memories. It is the soundtrack to modern reality, based on the elements that connect us.
Brilliant - Gilles Peterson, BBC Radio 6
One of Belgium's Best Bands of these past years (...) Black Flower does not simply play a tune, they always groove! - Kurt Overbergh, Ancienne Belgique
Uncomplicated originality, plenty of space for fantasy and an organic tone: those are the ingredients for Black Flower to lay claim to an age-old human ritual: dancing! Still, Black Flower also stands out in various other settings. Their audience at a jazz club will have felt exalted, their audience at a late-night show will not have resisted dancing. The band wields influence over their surroundings in a way only heart-and-soul musicians can. This mastery has repeatedly taken them to United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands and Germany.
This opus was recorded in a room transformed into a studio, where countless hours of work happened on an old computer, with trips back and forth to the grocery to buy liters of soda.
In between soundtrack, jazz-funk and house, the beginnings of this EP find their roots in the encounter between Lucien and DJ Gregory (Point G), spiritual guide, who pushed into an introspective work, where the feelings were ultimately revealed sincerely. This EP is also the meeting of 4 musicians who've known each other for a long time and, together, form Lucien & The Kimono Orchestra.
Yellow Vinyl
Elektro Guzzi combine club music and live performance to a unique, energetic mixture. They overcome the rigid boundary of analog versus digital, unifying the human being with his machines in an unprecedented way and surprising the listener with their innovative productions. Sónar, Roskilde, Melt!, C/O Pop or Mutek are just a few stations among others, where Elektro Guzzi fascinated with their dynamic live show, without the use of computers or loops.
With their new EP - Parade , the first release on German label Denovali, Elektro Guzzi broaden their trinity of drums, bass and e-guitar. With implementing trombones as extra oscillators, dissociating them from their conventional use, the trombones become part of the human-machine-universe and are used as an additional sound source in order to modulate and explore its variety live on the stage.
The four tracks emerged from commissioned work for the Artacts Festival for Jazz and Improvised Music. They move along familiar paths, but also show some new, unusual dimensions of Elektro Guzzi. Opener - Element starts gently, bringing the trombones slowly into appearance, culminating in that driving groove, which whips the melancholic sound of the track. Title track - Parade reveals the new source of inspiration of the Vienna-based trio. From Haitian Rara music, through New Orleans brass bands to Basic Channel dub, Elektro Guzzi create rhythms beyond four-to-floor, with that special, warm vibe, which remains in the ear of the listener.
Recording, mixing and sound design results from a collaboration with sound enthusiast Nik Hummer. The - Parade -EP hypnotizes the listener with its diversity of sounds, with floating and dubby rhythms, situated in a stunning sound aesthetic, in which the feeling of its live performance is conserved.
The mysterious Cecil Moses & The S.G.'s (Oliver Klomp - drums, Colin Higgins - guitar, Bob Heinemann - bass, and Marc Hager - keys) unite with deep funk pioneer Lucky Brown to interpret Lucky's original "Mesquite Suite," a collection of spiritual folk/jazz modal melodies fused with earthy and arcane rhythms composed in the summer of 2015 in an ashram in the Texas Hill Country.
The S.G.'s, who specialize in their own brand of great quartet instrumental soul ala Booker T. & The M.G.'s and The Meters, adapted quickly to Lucky's experimental, rudimentary, vernacular, and minimalist approach. One thing you will notice in these tunes is that the vast space created by the musicians and the composition is what allows the FEEL to filter through, and for Lucky Brown, FEEL is what it is all about.
This first single presents the themesong of their collection, a deep tribal shuffle, "Mesquite Beat," upon which Jason Cressey - trombone, and Thomas Deakin - sax, offer their own explorations. The flip is an upbeat and minimal pentatonic anthem entitled "Justice," featuring Lucky Brown himself on funk flute.
With this release, we are proud to introduce the first installment of the "Mesquite Suite" collection on Tramp's own special limited imprint: "Tramp Tapes," a suite of original, raw deep funk inspired as much by Mulatu Astatke as it is James Brown.
Ekambi Brillant was born in the village of Dibombari in Cameroon in 1948. In 1962 he attended school in Yaounde and learned his musical craft. In 1971 he heads off to the big city lights of Douala. Here he finds himself in a French TV, music competition hosted at "Le Domino" nightclub. It is here where he brushes shoulders with other Cameroonian music legends such Manu Dibango and Francis Bebey.
The music contest win gives him the break he needs and in 1972 and with the support of fellow troubadour JK Mandengue he finds himself with a record deal with Phonogram and his first hits in France.
Its in 1975 where we pick up this merry tale. Because it is in 1975 when things start to get a bit funky. Which is just how we like it here at Africa Seven. In partnership with French producer, guitarist and all around hero, Slim Pezin he creates the "Africa Oumba" album. He goes on in the two subsequent years to record the Soul Castle and Djambo's Djambo's albums also with Slim.
Our compilation focuses on the funkier end of Ekambi's music drawn mainly from the 1975 to 1978 period. Things open up with our theme tune "Africa Africa" (of course). It's tribal twisted psych funk is the perfect start to any album. We then move to "Aboki" possibly Ekambi's finest dance floor filler. Next it's the choppy disco strings and slap bass of "Nyambe" and the swirling African swing of "N'Kondo" and the pulsing chop-funk "Ekila".
The flip side starts off with "Soul Castle" an ordinary day tale for our hero. "Massoma" and its funk boogie get things bopping next up before "Machine Ma Bwindea" gives us some punchy brass and low slung funk grooves. "Mother Africa" shows us the songwriting power of Ekambi while also managing to have one of the funkiest flange basslines we have heard in a good while. Things close off with swing-time of "Lambo Lena".
Ekambi Brillant would go on to become one of the big name legends of Cameroonian music with nearly 20 albums to his name. He has contributed to the emergence of several Cameroonian artists such as Marthe Zambo, Valery Lobe, Aladji Toure and Africans. He now spends his time in Cameroon and Washington DC. Ekambi, we salute you sir.
Kool Keith, is an American rapper from The Bronx known for his surreal, abstract and often profane or incomprehensible lyrics. Kool Keith has recorded prolifically both as a solo artist and in group collaborations. After being part of the legendary hip hop formation Ultramagnetic MC's he debuted in 1996 as a profound solo artist. He is generally considered to be one of hip-hop's most eccentric and unusual personalities.
By the big audience Kool Keith is mostly known as the voice of the number Smack My Bitch Up' by the Prodigy, a fragment used without his consent.
Black Elvis/Lost in Space is the fourth studio album by mc Kool Keith, but recorded under the alias of Black Elvis. This is the first album performed under this alias.
Kool Keith uses very complex rhymes on various subject matters from Black Elvis' viewpoint on half of the album and on the other half elaborates on space travel and being lost in space. This is the first album for which Keith handled all of the production, although drum programming was done by Kutmasta Kurt and Marc Live.
Dark Violett vinyl
Christian Gerlachís Lanthan.audio features Jeff Derringer in its seventh installment, as well as two remixes from seasoned veterans Shifted and Giorgio Gigli. The concept behind the label is the combination of music with architecture and photography, the consolidation of which creates a highly robust and powerful statement about music and art. This vision was born out of the desire to deliver a diverse product featuring innovative remixes from technoís most respected producers.
Jeff Derringerís ëHuman Moments in WWIIIí is irresistibly fervent. Both ëDepartureí and the EPís title track are driving, acid-imbued, and deeply nostalgic of 90s electronic sensibilities. While Shiftedís remix provides more hypnotic twists to an otherwise straightforward track, Giorgio Gigli lends the EP momentum and vigor, bringing the release to a robust and energetic close.
Human Moments in WWIII adds dimension to an already dynamic and techno-forward discography, and Derringer, Shifted, and Gigli are three amongst many compelling artists that the label has released since its inception last year.
2x12"
Ruin possessed a fierce insistence on being present in the moment. They were intent not on simply beating themselves against the membranes that contain them but on breaking the fuck through.
Originally active from 1982 to 1986, this five-piece unit was sometimes mistakenly described to the unaware as a 'Buddhist hardcore band.'
Along with a few singles and compilations, they released two albums: the definitive blast of 1984's He-Ho and the somewhat more polished Fiat Lux in 1986.
This archival collection contains these 2 full-length, remastered albums plus several bonus tracks*, an 8 page 12'x12' booklet, which contains extensive liner notes, lyrics and previously unpublished photos. May you be Ruined...
He-Ho Tracklist:
A1 Alter 3:23 A2 Dionysian 1:55 A3 Freedom Has No Bounds 3:01A4 Baby Doll 3:12 A5 He-Ho / Laudium 4:07 A6 Alarm 0:45 A8 Phenomenal Expression 0:50 A7 Love Dog 1:30
B1Master Song 2:20 B2Where Fortune 1:34 B3 Play With Fire 3:44 B4 Twilight 2:47
B5 Proof 1:54 B6 Rule Worshipper 1:15 B7 Mouse 4:48
Fiat Lux Tracklist
A1 You 1.04 A2 Make Believe 1.50 A3 Hero 2.34 A4 Famous Blue Raincoat 3.41 A5 Life After Life 3.47 A6 Proof 3.12 A7 By the By 2:45 B1 China 2.50 B2 Taster 2.38 B3 White Rabbit 4.44 B4 Ruin 1.10 B5 Great Divide 4.14 B8 Real Good Time 2.38
Translated from Spanish as 'The Shade', Chip Wickham's debut album La Sombra drops after a 25-year career touring, recording and experimenting across three decades of jazz, funk, soul, hip-hop, Latin and electronica. La Sombra is a monumental record for Chip as it symbolises the moment he stepped out into the light as a director of his creations with freedom to explore his roots, express and tell his version of jazz and pay testament to his heroes Roland Kirk, Yuseef Lateef & Harold McNair.
Now living in Dubai after an intense and productive six years in Madrid, it was Manchester where Chip studied in the late '80s and became enmeshed in the chaotic and thrilling music scenes emanating from one of the world's most culturally prominent cities of the time. Recording and generally 'keeping things real' with Manchester's hip-hop collective Grand Central Records, Rae & Christian, The Pharcyde, Fingathing, Nightmares on Wax, Graham Massey (808 State), Chip was in a city that was undergoing a music revolution with the Haçienda as its temple. Yet it was the headlights of the M62 motorway and not the strobe lights that were lighting Chip's path during his student years ('88-'92). The lure of the jazz and funk clubs of Leeds, where The New Mastersounds were breaking out and building the blocks that would lead them to UK funk royalty status, proved too strong.
In the 1990s Chip continued to refine his craft in the rainy city and the gigs booked were growing in stature. It wasn't long before he was on the road with Roy Ayers and Badly Drawn Boy. Around that time Chip met up with trumpeter Matthew Halsall that was the beginning of a friendship that lasts to this day. Chip was a recording artist on Matthew Halsall's breakout album Sending My Love and continues to work with him, with live dates confirmed in spring 2017. This close connection with Halsall gave rise to other collaborations, such as with Nat Birchall and Go Go Penguin's Rob Turner.
Three decades after his late night excursions to Leeds, Chip found himself recording with Eddie Roberts from The New Mastersounds in Madrid, as part of their new band, The Fire Eaters, which he'd formed soon after he moved to sunny Spain in 2007 - the same year he released the Fried Samba album under his moniker Malena, his electronic Latin band that became a hit at the turn of the century for Freestyle Records. During his time in Spain he connected with the local scene and brought together many of his musicians colleagues from the UK to Spain and it was for a local and well established label, Lovemonk, that he released two 45s blending raw funk and Latin. These new roads and musical leanings led to an invitation to play for the prestigious Craig Charles Fantasy Funk Band. Based on a poll from Craig Charles' top rated BBC6 radio show, Chip was chosen to play alongside the cream of the UK funk & soul scene: James Taylor (JTQ), Snowboy, The Haggis Horns (Mark Ronson), John Turrell (Smooth & Turrell), and Mick Talbot (The Style Council).
La Sombra takes an altogether more rooted direction than Chip's recent collaborative work, with the jazz of the late '60s and early '70s a dominating influence to the recordings. Comprising of seven tracks recorded in Madrid with musicians assembled by Chip from Madrid's jazz scene, it combines contemplative explorations akin to Yusef Lateef's early work on tracks like 'La Sombra' and 'Pushed Too Far'. There's a fiery cover of Camarón de la Isla's classic 'La Leyenda Del Tiempo' and tracks like 'Sling Shot' and 'Red Planet' are locked in a groove harking back to Freddie Hubbard's Blue Note era and Luv N Haight's Nathan Davis.
Still riding high off the recent release of Culoe De Song's Watergate Mix we keep it coming with four exclusive tracks from Culoe himself on our first EP of exclusives from the compilation. 'Deadman's Walk' kicks things off with lush percussive grooves and luminous shades of euphoria resulting in a serene foray into enchanted destinations while the self titled 'Aftermath' follows with a much more deliberate intent utilizing rich, rising harmonies and bold, rugged drums culminating in a massive sonic event. Flipping to the B-side we see Culoe dive into an energetic and unique space with 'Bang Royales' creating undeniably engaging rhythms with vocal chants and off kilter rhythms. Rounding out the EP is 'Juice' and with it's heavenly sounds of angelic vocals and soaring progressions is the perfect display of De Song's signature sound and approach. We're happy to present to you Culoe De Song's 'Aftermath' EP and think you will enjoy the trip into the mind of a truly unique artist.
LumièresLaNuit is glad to welcome back French Berlin-based music producer and live performer Roisner. One year after his Piano
Roll EP (LLN003) that was released on the occasion of LumièresLaNuit's I anniversary, Roisner delivers this time a more dance floor-
driven EP while keeping some basic components that make his Piano Roll release so poignant and touching.
On the A side, Interstellar is a collaboration between Roisner and the French artist Sibéri. Interstellar is a journey that starts as
an invitation into a meditation state of mind, then slowly the rhythm takeover the pad, the kick and an other layer of percussions
bring you "back to earth".
Then, the B-side opens with Comet that proposes here a more dance floor mood with strong linear rhythms and dreamy melodies.
The gripping sub-bass line is the result of experimenting a patch of the modular system. Finally, the EP concludes with Shooting
Star, a rather mind-blowing and rocking song with a soft melody. Shooting Star remembers us directly of Roisner's Piano Rool, a
poignant and gut-wrenching track.
40 years after the huge international impact of OXYGENE, and 20 years from its second volume OXYGENE 7-13, Jean-Michel Jarre is fulfilling a trilogy of albums with OXYGENE 3, containing seven newly composed and recorded pieces, consistently titled parts 14-20.
His inspiration for the newly added parts on OXYGENE 3 was not to go back in time, but to add a sense of now' to his iconic piece of work. Plunging into the environment of OXYGENE with its highly original dark, moody and at times quite upbeat musical language, Jarre references some of the music from his entire body of work on OXYGENE 3. It's a state-of-the-art recording, embracing both classic and modern ways of music production.
This release is available on single LP heavyweight vinyl.
Orphra Clipz are dark synth techno tracks from varum (Leipzig) vs. edgy Electrotunes from overdose (Rotterdam). Hypress based in Connewitz-Leipzig. Techno, Bass, electro, experimental selected, founded and produced by one part of Mod.Civil (ornaments, ortloff) from the Arno-Nitzsche Smoking Box. This is the first sign of Hypress.
WRWTFWW Records is feverishly thrilled to announce the first ever vinyl release of the soundtrack for Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani's critically-acclaimed Belgian-French giallo Amer (2009), filled with superb compositions by Italian movie score legends Ennio Morricone, Stelvio Cipriani, and Bruno Nicolai, all remastered for hardcore audiophile appreciation. This limited edition of 500 comes on an arousing Pitch Black 10 vinyl, housed in heavy cardboard old Stoughton tip-on jacket. Described by The New York Times as "a surreal cinematic tone poem that pays slavering homage to Italian giallo horror films of the 1970s", Amer finds its influences in the films of Dario Argento, Luis Buñuel, or Mario Bava and makes for a truly visceral cinematic experience, thanks notably to a perfectly curated soundtrack compiling some of the best songs from cult Italian movies of the past.
Keep on keeping on, that's what they say. We are here at Hizou. So we are delighted to be back with this the ninth release on our main label, another exciting various artists affair and a follow-up to the well-received limited edition EP, Keepin' The Legacy.
First up is the house music equivalent of a heavyweight tag-team in the shape of respected veterans Chez Damier and Abacus, producers with credentials so impressive and lengthy it's eye-watering, alongside the rising talent that is Jorge Caiado (Balance/Groovement). The trio's dub mix of their cut Closer is proper deep-down-and-dirty bumpin' house of the old-school kind.
Another man with an impeccable pedigree, in-demand musician and producer James Duncan (Le Systeme/Real Soon), makes a welcome return to the label with the hypnotic 416 Zone Dub, an irresistible groover aimed squarely at the more discerning dance floor.
Making his debut here at Hizou is yet another seasoned artist, Jacksonville, owner of Doppler Records and gun-for-hire with the likes of Atmospheric Existence and Inner Shift. Having eyed his chugging and infectious Twilight Industries from afar, we are delighted to finally nail it onto our vinyl.
Keeping the fire burning and more than holding his own in such fine company is label head Satore, who unleashes his inner disco diva with the groovy, soul-drenched Keep On.
dedicated to promote young and evolving artists and to present musical diamonds in the rough, raster-noton is curating the unun series which name refers to the chemical elements 111-119. »unalloyed, unlicensed, all night!« is jesse osborne-lanthier's first release on raster-noton, and the ninth and final release of this series.jesse osborne-lanthier is a berlin / montreal based, canadian electronic music producer and multidisciplinary artist. his erratic research process incorporates the urgency of dance music and conceptual electronics by disassembling their grammar and acting through it. refusing to follow the etiquette of a particular musical genre, he explores many creative practices in order to generate clashes of mood, expectation and technique.
»unalloyed, unlicensed, all night!« was recorded by osborne-lanthier a mere two hours before a live set in paris. its specific purpose was to generate a response from the audience, to stimulate their bodies through sound. the toolbox for this task was stocked with automatic call-and-response music tropes drawn from EDM, big-room house, trance, and online production tutorials. between the producer's idiosyncratic by-the-numbers process and the rushed nature of the composition, the final product is rendered unpredictable; each signifier transforms into a distorted ghost of itself. this allows for unexpected responses to manifest on the dance floor as well as in the listener's space of existence.
Barcelona based YAKAZI imprint proudly reaches its fifth installment in the form of a synergic collaborative release signed by chilean artists Alexi Delano and Marcelo Rosselot, counting also with canadian Buchla wizard Marc Houle in the role of never-failing remixer. Presented as a two sided release, and splitted in two original tracks plus Marc Houle's remix, YAKAZI maintains its unwavering commitment to their core values, to move people through good music, prevailing fads and trends and strengthening the label's very own sonic identity. On this occasion, Alexi Delano, a close relative to the label that was also featured on label's previous compilation, joins forces with his studio fellow Marcelo Rosselot building up "Take Me / It's On me", two finely-crafted excursions of heavy bass minimalism and dark vivacious techno based on subtle vocal samples, trippy synth-chords, and layered drum patterns constantly evolving throughout both progressions sounding uniformly fantastic, without falling into the obviousness of a long steady beat narrative and keeping in mind how to charm the dancefloor in style.
From the whip-like crack of Yako's signature staccato vocals and impossible-to-memorize lyrics to the relentless overdrive tempo of their oneof-a-kind prog-core, Melt-Banana have long resided in a cybertopia of their own devising where the limits of technology and human capability are old-world concerns as quaint and cumbersome as bartering with a blacksmith. The demos for Fetch, their first studio album since the severely fried pop-punk of 1997's Bambi's Dilemma, were completed in March 2011, but the Fukushima earthquake changed everything, including
their ability to concentrate on recording. Which stopped completely.
Once they felt ready to return to their music, they decided to approach the songs on a sound-by-sound basis, choosing each tone with meticulous attention to detail, affirming their personal connections, being themselves naturally and openly.
Fetch scrapes glam shimmers off punk's outermost fringes and forges them into a rather intensely technical Deanscape packed with fantastical hybrids. Agata's guitar riffs, seemingly composed in tandem with skipping CD players, are more bad-ass than ever, bright and fractured like the soundtrack for a CC-Hennix-scored biker flick. The album is juiced with electronics and post-rock production, tempering what could easily be a
tiresome and predictable frenzy, yielding unexpected associations: Kate Bush climaxing on Walter White's blue meth; demos of late-period Wire playing metal run through Wasp synthesizers and Autotune; unripe wild
lychees keeping time on an Ankgor Wat tin roof during a monsoon.
They've been performing live as a duo since summer 2012, and will do the same for their '2 do what 2 fetch' tour in support of the album. After nearly 20 years of playing with a live rhythm section, their use of a PC, while opening possibilities for a variety of drum and synth voicings, does not signal a move away from the traditional live band sound, as heard, for example, via the future transmissions from downtown Noiseapolis on
2009's Lite Live: Ver. 0.0. Yako and Agata say they need to feel real band sounds onstage as much as someone in the audience. This is a group that routinely excels at several kinds of impossible simultaneously, so of course any new challenge they come up with for themselves is sure to blow the doors off your Mini Cooper. - First record as a duo expands the M-B sound
into multiple dimensions - LP includes digital download card; first
pressing on clear vinyl
Clear Vinyl
Khemia Records the new imprint from Kaos London announces the fourth and final edition in their current series. A limited edition, transparent vinyl (333 copies): The 'Winter Solstice Edition' featuring Codex Empire and MARMO.
* On the Solar side British born, Vienna based, industrial techno pioneer Codex Empire delivers 'Sevde' an experiment in long-form techno written specially for the label. A massive, propulsive beast, punctured with hammered rhythms and sub-aquatic bleeps, a maelstrom of whiplash cracks, disembodied voices and electrostatic, reverberating across an insistent techno groove.
* On The Lunar side MARMO present 'Alchimia' a track written specially for this release. MARMO is a conceptual, straight-forward, complex music sculpture. 'Alchimia' unfolds an epic sonic journey across vast swathes of desert.
* Intuition is really a sudden immersion of the soul into the universal current of life.- Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
* Credits: 'Sevde' written and performed by Codex Empire 'Alchimia' written and performed by MARMO Mastered by Andrea Merlini, Utrecht Produced by Khemia Records, London Distributed by SRD Artwork commissioned from REIN VOLLENGA X LVM Khemia Records London
* Credits: 'Sevde' written and performed by Codex Empire 'Alchimia' written and performed by MARMO Mastered by Andrea Merlini, Utrecht Produced by Khemia Records, London - Distributed by SRD Artwork commissioned from REIN VOLLENGA X LVM Khemia Records London
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Outcast Oddity returns for their first full artist EP. Who better to ask than Sebastian Voigt His contribution to the label's V/A 003 compilation called 'Lux Aeterna', was a transcending techno trip that turned heads earlier this year.
Just as the EP's title, or rather the lack thereof leaves room for interpretation, this music refuses to be categorised too easily. Rough around the edges but effortlessly elegant, one foot in the past and one in the present, Sebastian delivers three mature tracks that evoke memories of acid house, UK rave, sweaty basements, strobe lights and euphoric moments.
Novoline makes music with equipment that was manufactured in 1988 and 1989, controlled via midi by two ATARI STs. As a sequencer he is using an algorithmic composition program that is 25 years old. With this program he creates sequences that he modulates live by shifting numbers and settings while recording. The process is improvised and contains a good portion of randomly generated melodies and drums, carefully selected and combined by Novoline. The Result sounds a little like something between a dark 80's sci-fi soundtrack and an endless marching New Beat Extended Version. Enjoy the ride !
Phantom Forth were the brother sister team of Paul Luker (Guitar, Bass, Vocals), Debbie Luker (Drums, Guitar, Vocals) and Lorraine Steele (Keyboards, Percussion, Vocals). They formed in 1981 in Auckland, New Zealand. Paul began recording his own music after purchasing a 2-track from Oceania Sound. He formed a band with his flatmate and eventually met Lorraine through Debbie. With a shared love of Young Marble Giants and Cabaret Voltaire they started to rehearse at LAB Studio.
'The EEPP' was recorded in 1983 within a few weeks at Progressive Music Studios. Slated for release in February 1984, the mini-album finally appeared in November on Flying Nun Records. It contained seven moody sketches of Auckland. Their sound blends cold wave guitars, drum-machine propelled post-punk with female vocals. The core recording set up was a Casio-Tone VL, Boss DR-55 Dr. Rhythm, Roland TR-606 and an acoustic Yamaha bass. All original vinyl copies contained many clicks and pops and due to paper bits from previous jobs that pressing plant melted down. Included with this reissue are two early demos recorded at LAB in 1982, made prior to Lorraine joining the band, plus a recording from the Flying Nun live compilation 'The Last Rumba'.
All songs have been remastered from the original master tapes for vinyl by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. The vinyl comes housed in sleeve with original artwork collage designed by Paul Lurker. Each LP includes a two-sided 8.5x11 poster with notes and photos.
Michigan artist John Beltran's 13th studio album and 3rd on Delsin is his most complete and personal work yet. Written largely on modular synthesizers for the first time, it melts 90s intelligent techno with post rock and ambient with leftfield downtempo. The seventeen tracks draw on his expert knack for sound design; for melody and atmosphere and make for yet another hugely absorbing affair.
Again shooting for the altitudes reached on MANHIGH's first journey, Henning Baer's second operation returns to the endeavour with a newly diversified mission. 'Operator' finds us already at the furthest edge of the atmosphere, pulsating waves of distorted electronics and distant, disembodied voices floating in the void. 'Pittsburgh Left' is the fall back to earth, the unrelenting metallic rhythm slowly gaining momentum, momentary shifts in perspective and detail flashing by as the decent accelerates inexorably. The contemplation before leaving the ground, 'AIIM' slowly anticipates the ascent and examines the cosmos before lift-off. Surely the launch phase 'Canadian Suit' is both reflective and onrushing, trapped between tense, contrasting moments before being flung into the unknown. Displaying both Henning Baer's typically acute feeling for talent and Kangding Ray's restless ear, the remix of 'AIIM' is a complete reinterpretation, setting grinding triplet rhythms in an industrial soundscape that suggests travels more fearful than those that surround it.
Words: Albert Freeman
Savage Grounds return to Lux Rec for the third time, with their third record. Atrocities comes after Unpleasant Music for Unpleasant People, released in 2015, and Over Fences, 2014. It is, as much as the previous 2, the result of investigations in music, live, composed with a minimum amount of instruments. The duo, comprised of CCO and Daniele Cosmo, worked with a Roland 606, a Roland 909 and a modular synthesiser. Experimenting with FM modulation and loose sequences. The result is concrete noise, anger, ghostly voices, and above all, the sheer conscience of human failures.
7"
Dürerstuben are back at them ivory keys to prove once again their broadly spread outcome of funk and groove.
Being responsible for mothership Luise's first release and hence smoothing the way for a whole lot of pleasent memories we can look back to by now, it's that kind of re-(re!)-animation which puts our hearts to pleaseant warmths. Saddle your moped, pull up your Levi's and straighten your backs: Trays'n'Hits is the right compagnion for long lasting late-night drives, self proclaimed city slackers and mother earth's first outcome of country music you are bound to be proud of listening to. Spin it, Johnny!
Renowned house veterans D'julz and Jordan Fields drop two tracks each for a split release on Radio Slave's Rekids this December.One of the key components in Parisian electronic music, the A side sees a display of groove led cuts signature to D'julz as 'Shy Town' combines sultry bass tones with mesmerizing atmospherics and tranquil piano chords, making way for the crunchy drums and trippy synths of 'In Your Soul'.
Meanwhile, from across the pond in Chicago, Jordan Fields' raw productions begin with syncopated percussion and fuzzy notes until 'Mformation' concludes the package with thudding kicks and ethereal melodies.
Both artists have been commanding forces in electronic music for 25 years each making this split release very special indeed.
EMERGENCE is an epic, operatic, ambitious amalgamation between audio-visual show, scientific research project, art installation and IDM record, the debut release on Max Cooper's Mesh label and his second full-length release.2 LPs housed in a gatefold sleeve, featuring black and gold ink printed onto silver laminated board to create a unique and beautiful effect.The record was conceived as a soundtrack to a new series of 11 pieces of video art, each exploring a different facet of the concept of 'emergence'. The full A/V live show will premiere at Mutek, Japan on November 2nd 2016. Together the work is a marriage between the cosmic awe of a Carl Sagan film and the musical wonderment of Sigur Ros, made for meditating on the mystery of our emotional connection to fundamental natural form.
Cooper collaborated with film composer Tom Hodge and vocalist Kathrin deBoer to put together a rich piece of music that incorporates post-rock, Warp-y brain-dance, hi-def digital techno and shimmering neo-classical. Few musicians are as qualified as Max to tackle as profound an idea as 'emergence' through electronic music. Emergence is the story of the development of the universe, the way in which, very complex things like human beings where created from the immaterial by the action of simple laws.Max has synthesised his skill as a producer and his deep interests in science to create a Hadron Collider-grade ambient techno world, in the lineage of The Future Sounds of London's 'Lifeforms' for 2016. It's also one of the most beautiful records you'll hear all year. Early support at radio pledged from Lauren Laverne and Mary Anne Hobbs.
Deluxe LP w 180g, Reverse Board Sleeve, MP3 Download - HOLOVR is Jimmy Billingham who also records under the alias's Tidal, Venn Rain, Journey of Mind & Holographic Mind - He has released music on Firecracker Records, Opal Tapes and Hooker Vision as well as his own Indole Records Release Information Anterior Space may strike some listeners of a certain age as an echo of the gilded age of "armchair techno" exemplified by Warp Records' Artificial Intelligence comps. There's a similar convergence of the cerebral and the blissful in the four epic compositions HOLOVR (aka Jimmy Billingham) finesses from his analog and digital synths as that found on those early-'90s pieces by Black Dog, B12, and others. Discussing the creation of Anterior Space, which is the first HOLOVR release to feature no beats, Billingham reveals, "Dropping drums gave me a bit more freedom in terms of tempo and rhythm, and it was actually really liberating. Having fewer elements in a track also meant it was possible to record live, which is my preferred way of working, as you can capture an actual snapshot of time and a natural, in-the-moment negotiation of the different elements of a track. I'd know a track was ready if I could sit there and listen to it looping round for long periods of time and really get lost in it, and then I'd try and capture a nice section of that in the space of 10 minutes or whatever." You can hear this on Anterior Space's opening 11-minute track, "Into Light." Its subtle gradations of warped tones and implied rhythms teem with hyperactive elegance. The titular light glints off of several jeweled facets, like a disco ball made out of diamonds. The slow, mobile-like rotation of synth baubles over a foundation of yearning, icy drones on "Apparent Motion" creates the illusion of a shimmering stasis, but there's actually a great deal happening here. .
Night Tide's sophomore release welcomes two new names to the family. THOMMYY RA and Simonn bring us the "Lost Journey" EP, a 6 tracker of analogue laden esoteric house. On the A, we have THOMMYY RA, label boss at Nasty Habits Tape Cltr and prone to a bi-annual name change, he contributed the silty SETH NK remix of Eluize's "Up All Night" on our label's debut record earlier this year. He opens with "Journey Into Nowhere", an eerie, coasting, synth drenched opus propelled by throbbing percussion and rippling leads, follows with "Die Darling Die" a 90s touched, left of centre house cut, complete with a skipping kick and playfully nostalgic horn, and wraps the side with creepy, deep and groove heavy "Razzy Moon". On the B, we introduce Simonn for his first excursion on wax. "Unknown Habits" is a straight up, tried-and-tested party piece, its vibrant chords pulse amongst thumping drums issuing an undeniable call to the floor. He then turns his hand to something more aquatic, amphibious pads swell in "Lost In Progress" while layering percussion build before erupting into a euphoric break beat. Finally, "Raw and Unbleached" is a delicate arpeggio outing, melodic ideas tumble and burst over one another, it's light and dreamy yet gritty, innocence in sound.
Blood Debts' is the compulsive debut album from Years Of Denial, the alter-face of London-based French musician/producer and DJ, Jerome Tcherneyan.
Though his formulative Marseille youth was spent exploring the darkest corners of post-punk, New Wave, not to mention Public Enemy and the inspirational Mille Plateaux and Basic Channel labels, Tcherneyan, already an extremely capable drummer, quickly extended his sonic palate toward and beyond the bass-heavy electronic isolationism, insistent beats and drone experimentation that's still very much prevalent in his work today.
One should not either pass over his integral contribution to the much-lauded, though stolidly underground "ghost-rock" unit, Piano Magic, which engineered sublime collaborations with Brendan Perry (Dead Can Dance), Simon Raymonde (Cocteau Twins/This Mortal Coil) and Alan Sparhawk (Low). Tcherneyan, always prolific, can also lay claim to impressive collusions with Bonjo Iyabinghi Noah (African Head Charge), Damo Suzuki (Can), 70's psych folk legend, Mark Fry to name but a few.
In 2005, Jerome founded and promoted the infamous 'Flesh' parties; guests including Andy Stott /Claro Intelecto/Edit-Select/James Ruskin/Kirk Degiorgio/Mark Broom/Oliver Ho/Sigha/Steve Bicknell and many more. These nights served as an invaluable education in Techno and Dubmixology; marathon sets played deep into the sunrise.
Skip forward a decade and the DJ bug is even deeper embedded, with Tcherneyan sharing the booth with, amongst many others, Orphx/Phase Fatale/Joefarr and London Modular Alliance.
Tcherneyan's muse and foil on 'Blood Debts,' his first for Oliver Ho's splendid and already essential new Death & Leisure imprint, is Maya Petrovna, an entrancing London-based vocalist, film composer and performance/physical theatre artist, whose voice perfectly evokes Billie Holliday, Diamanda Galas and all stations between.
There's a black neon heart at the centre of 'Blood Debts,' a fetishtic ritual of contorted flesh and altered states; a feverish, infectious paradox of primitivism and modernity. Years of Denial is the ghost in the machine.
The DJ/production duo from Munich back with four tracks full of bass-heavy excursions into hybrid forms of club music close to Grime, Dancehall, Dub, Techno and the yet unnamed territory in between - their natural habitat. Lead single and first track of the EP is Copper And Lead, which features "London city warlord" Riko Dan of Roll Deep fame, spitting dangerous lyrics on a Bashment/Grimeriddim.Following this is Blurred Vision, low end monster named after their gigantic soundsystem event series, exploring the middle ground between Dub and the technoleaning 4x4 universe. Up next is Killer, a song with Warrior Queen from Jamaica, who prepares for a Dancehall dub war on a 808-heavy beat straight from Miami...err, Munich.Topping the EP off is Siren Riddim, an instrumental uptempo bomb for the apocalypse club gang and all the gunfinger crew. It's the first EP in a series of three, leading up to an Haul & Pull Up album in early 2017. With this, Schlachthofbronx will follow up their three previous original albums (2009s Schlachthofbronx, 2012s Dirty Dancing and 2014s Rave And Romance), completed by EPs for Labels like Mixpak, Monkeytown, Mad Decent, Disko B and Man Recordings as well as production work for artists like M.I.A., Snoop Dogg, Major Lazer or Bonde Do Role.
Black Truffle is thrilled to announce Reverse Tree, the new LP from the acclaimed duo of Eyvind Kang and Jessika Kenney, two musicians who have established themselves as powerful voices working at a unique intersection of contemporary composition, improvisation, and Asian traditional music forms. Either individually or as a pair, they have worked in contexts ranging from performances of traditional Persian and Javanese music to collaborations with Sunn O))), but their work together as a duo (documented on The face of the earth and Aestuarium, both released on Ideological Organ/Editions Mego) most clearly represents the central concerns of their diverse practices: a music of the inner life of sound, demanding ritualistic focus and promising heightened sensations.
On Reverse Tree, the duo expand their work together into the realm of the chamber ensemble, presenting two side-long works that feature Kenney's voice and Kang's viola alongside a multitude of other instrumentalists. Kang's Thoughts on Being Exiled to the Frontier, for Lord Wei, inspired by a text by the Tang dynasty poet Hsueh T'ao, features an all-star international ensemble: Kang, Kenney, maverick Israeli conductor Ilan Volkov on violin, Icelandic cellist Hildur Guðnadóttir, and guitarists Oren Ambarchi and Stephen O'Malley. The piece is primarily composed of irregular patterns of pizzicato notes and guitar harmonics, gently falling in and out of sync and providing a subtly unstable support for Kenney's voice, which sings long, wavering tones, at times reminiscent of Michiko Hirayama's classic performances of Scelsi. Drawing on 20th century instrumental techniques, alternate tuning systems, non-western music and the experience of nature (the irregular rhythms of the piece calling to mind nothing so much as drops of rain), the piece opens a space both serene and subtly uneasy.
Kenney's 'Elm features Kenney and vocalist Nova Ruth (of Filastine & Twin Sista) alongside an ensemble of strings and Seattle's Gamelan Pacifica, performing on Javanese instruments tuned to the slendro scale. An uncanny timbre created by bowing the keys of the Gamelan's instruments, supported by bowed harmonics from the strings, is heard consistently throughout the piece. After a long introductory section in which this harmonic cloud slowly descends from shimmering high notes to rumbling bass, the vocalists enter, singing a slow and stately setting of a 19th century Surakarta poem (attributed to Mangkunegara the IV). The melody is sung as a rich and wavering heterophony, with the ensemble sometimes rising up to support individual notes. The poem deals with the idea of a form of knowledge achieved through deeds, as a practice and state of the heart. This is music in slow motion, in which, in Kenney's words,
Moonshine Recordings continues to coordinate dub into all sorts of directions with its steady throughput of vinyl releases. This time around, it's the Spanish-based Bukkha to uplift all followers with two up-tempo rollers that take part in his crucial 'Ruling Sound' EP. His name has been all over the news inside bass culture lately, as the American released highly noted physical music on critical labels like Killa Sound and Dub-Stuy Records. He's been working his way to the top and the only thing the Moonshine Recordings imprint can do is support his efforts in pushing dub music to the masses at any given moment of the day.
On top of this wicked news, Portland's dub producer and engineer 'Skelli Skel' joins this session to frame the taste of the 'PDX Mandem' collective from back home. His love for complex rhythms and heavy bass lines fuel his adventure inside dub culture, something you'll hear when listening to 'MS028'. And with the familiar voice from don Junior Dread, who jumps in on the hype by illuminating the dub with carefully selected freedom of speech, it's the collaboration that speaks for itself. To top it all, TMSV is added to the release roster, a producer whose been dealing some serious damage with his inventive music repertoire. Whether it's music on the darker tip, or the more laidback sound, both Bukkha and TMSV know how to uplift and please their followers with bass-heavy, eardrums-teasing bass music.
Bukkha's 'Ruling Sound' leads his way through musicality by portraying the right balance of instruments and not to mention the gigantic bassline that disperses vibrantly through the lower bottom of the mix. The reigning vocal support from Junior Dread and dub techniques from PDX Mandem family Skelli Skell work out fantastically, as it makes this record come to life. Listen to the instrumental part that propagates in the exact sense of 'dub music', regardless of spinning on a higher beats per minute. The version 'Ruling Dub' by Bukkha himself plays a more meditative part inside your headspace; a clipping where basslines and effects will act up in a blurred version. It's the real attention to detail the American producer shares with remix boss TMSV, who hits fans with a darker joint that pays homage to Drum & Bass. It's aggressive stance forms the pinnacle of 'the right' B-side of a Moonshine Recordings plate. Just make sure you experience the second drop of this absolutely mammoth interpretation, as TMSV shuts down the place!
REPRESSED !!
Originally self-released as a 7'' in 1982, Plath release is definitely one of the obscure gems of the Italian underground. TIP!
Plath were a duo from Prato, formed in 1982 by Silvia Innocenti (voice, bass guitar) and Fabrizio Lucarini (synth, drum machine). Plath were influenced by Throbbing Gristle and early Cabaret Voltaire works, moving in between two essential thematic actions: first, the constant search of a sound which aims to reflect the current reality as they were interpretating it and, second, the constant exposure of their anarchist ideological thinking against the established political and social system.
Mastering by Ruud 66.
Original 7'' graphics reworked for this issue.
While the A-Side includes the original single in full, with the classic 'I Am Strange Now', recently unearthed by Alessio Natalizia/Not Waving in his monumental 'Mutazione' compilation released by Strut Records in 2013, the B-side instead contains a killer percussive edit of Alessandro Adriani made for the most crazy mental dancefloors..
* 'Limerence' is not only Misantrop's debut outing, it is also the inaugurating release of his own label Foul-Up.
* The sound pops out of an industrial mindset, but the title piece reverses out of garage/classic house that nods to 90s r'n'b. On 'Nocturnal Emission' friend Jon Marius Brogaard Aeppli's guitar solo is vogueing out on the floor, psychedelic rock meets psychotic blues by way of sheer UK sound.
* Featuring a wobbling bass on the techno-leaning 'No. 3' - adorned with a reference to classical composition in the cluster strings. 'They Don't Know' puts on a bit of electro, noise and some giallo synth arpeggiation. There's shine, atmosphere and a rather fascinating depth of field.
* 'Limerence' draws its inspiration from all over contemporary music and noise grounds - not wearing its 'influences' in the most opulent manner but well declaring its material with confidence. If the finished product doesn't have the uniformity of a proper industrial product, so much the better...
* Misantrop is out to change the way you listen to music, no matter how chaotic the journey is, showing off a vision that's both deeply human and richly transcendent.
For fans of: Kyle Hall, Actress, Shed, Drexciya, Levon Vincent, Helm, Anthony Shakir, Drexciya, Actress, Mica Levi, John Carpenter, Burial, Aphex Twin
Bristol based Afro-beat band, Matuki are releasing their debut 7 single on December 2nd via Stutter & Twitch, featuring an exclusive remix by Shunya. As each side of the record paints a juxtaposing image, Matuki drives forward as they make a name for themselves as Bristol's most engaging afro-funk band. Side A 'Sanimenteren' showcases fiery horn melodies and liquid guitar riffs, whereas Side B 'INJO' changes direction completely, as Manchester producer Shunya takes the reins. By morphing Matuki's steadfast rhythm into a lucid downtempo glitch, Shunya creates a unique and mesmerizing new perspective towards the urban band's signature style. Likened to the legends Fela Kuti and Afro Manding the authentic Afro band punctured Bristol's music scene after an exceptional debut performance at Glastonbury's Glade Stage, blending jazz & psychedelic influences with urban-funk. The result Mesmerizing tracks and heavyweight horn lines that reflect on how the 12-piece collective are never afraid to venture out of their comfort zone, to create something special.Turbo-boosted grooves and fusing Afro Manding with intoxicating Fela Kuti horn lines, Matuki creates a rhythm so deep and hypnotic, it takes you on a journey' - Rhythm Passport'Matuki mix the classic ingredients - brass, beats, vocals and electricity - into something suitably hot'n'spicy..., If Bristol's Afrobeat scene gets any hotter we might as well move to Lagos' - Canteen Bristol. Fronted by master drummer and vocalist, Abraham Ebou Sanyang (Savanna, Magoma), Matuki mixes traditional afro-beat sounds with heavy doses of contemporary urban funk, into an exciting concoction of world music. The ensemble recently expanded after merging their sound with the Bristol Jazz Student ensemble Jamba Horns, and has previously collaborated with an array of versatile musicians including the Bristol Samba community. After the success of their debut performance, Matuki saw airplay from Bristol based DJ Hiphoppapotamus, and Miles Chambers of Lyrical Minded as well as BCFM, Bristol City Radio, Radio Ujima and Radio Helsinki, as an energizing sound bled into the airwaves. Touring the UK festival circuit, performing at Secret Garden Party, Green Man, Farmfest, Kendal Calling, Glastonbury to name a few, saw Matuki turn unassuming audiences into dancing frenzies, wherever they play.
Fall of 2016 sees Midnight Magic ready to enchant us once more with the much-anticipated birth of their 2nd studio album, the wondrously eclectic Free From Your Spell. Going back to their roots in Los Angeles, Morgan Wiley, and Tiffany Roth, alongside the rest of the boogie nonet, have prepared a refined feast of genre-bending songs. The ever so diverse moods of Free From Your Spell make it a seductive journey. With each song mixed seamlessly into the next, the record coalesces into one long disco odyssey, reminiscing Giorgio Moroder and Donna Summer's concept albums "Four Seasons of Love" and "A Love Trilogy". Moods, genres, and styles intertwine like an aural kaleidoscope, the album electrifying with its striking harmony. Whilst exuberantly borrowing from past decades, Free From Your Spell more than holds its own as a self-assured, innovative body of work. Midnight Magic's Free From Your Spell is an offer one can't refuse. An attractive deal in the form of disco escapism, traveling through its various shades, emotions, and incarnations, a comprehensive revival of the genre for modern ears. It's Studio 54, It's Moroder,Amanda Lear, Gino Soccio, and Grace Jones. It's a whole palette of 1980's R'n'B and cosmic funk. Despite all the music references of past eras Free From Your Spell is very much a current album, a mature demonstration of genuine skills in songwriting, a multi-instrumental banquet of sounds, a coherent collection of ambitious dance tracks and a beautiful celebration of eclecticism. Add to this some of Tiffany Roth's most memorable vocals to date and you arrive at one of the year's most exciting releases. There is a strong reason for both "midnight" and "magic" in the name of the band after all.
The Gold Play is a compilation of all Tangram-related artists to date.
Tangram Records is an independent Belgian-based record label. It was founded 4 years ago by Up High Collective and Mophito to promote a batch of unreleased beats and live-show by Up High. Throughout the years their releases got picked up by Gilles Peterson, Lefto, XLR8R, Boiler Room, Kutmah...amongst others. Now 4 years later Tangram have introduced a wide-range of talented musicians to the world. Without wanting to limit them to a certain genre you might say their releases are a celebration of electronics and hip-hop.
The compilation itself holds 6 previously unreleased tracks by Up High Collective, Faisal, LTGL, LoneBlue x Halibab Matador (aka YellowStraps), Le Motel and Sokoto. Each side of the vinyl ends with a previously released track on Tangram by Day Fly and Moodprint blending the entire release nicely together.
The artwork release is beautifully crafted by Dzia. Dzia is a graphic artist from Belgium and fine artist in every sense for that matter. His creations range from paintings, through sculpture to taxidermy and street works. This gatefold holds two versions of a fox and a play-full scenery of dear.
Pierre Codarin returns to his eponymous imprint with four rhythmic productions dropping on wax in December.
With previous releases commanding respect from the likes of Mr. G, Radio Slave, Raresh, Laurent Garnier, Jackmaster, ItaloJohnson, Apollonia and more.
Ebbing pads initiate the package in 'Think' before teasing in intricate percussion and moody bass throbs. Metallic synths, mesmerising atmospherics and an ominous hook then make up 'Front To Back' before moving on to the soaring chords and trippy nuances of 'Everything You Do'. Tying things together, 'Universal Man' layers a medley of undulating components as ethereal effects operate throughout.
This is the second 12" of a 2-part series of 12"s that will be released digitally as a full-length LP.
After a split single with Muslimgauze and a single of their own on Optimo Trax, we are delighted to present the first Optimo Trax album release by Italy's Underspreche. The album is split across two four- track EPs, released two weeks apart (and also as a complete digital album).
We try to avoid over-hyping our releases, but this one is really fully deserving of the hyperbole I am about to bestow on it. Underspreche first sent me some music a few years ago and seeing them grow and develop has been nothing short of astonishing. I think this is some of the most nuanced and advanced music that Optimo Trax has ever released. There are several dancefloor destroyers here but also music for more developed/leading-edge floors too, as well as some music simply designed to make one's mind melt.
It is very rare that I listen to 4/4 music at home, but this album has been a constant on my hi-fi since it was sent to me.
Super-advanced, organic sampling, inspired vocalisations, acute psychedelic modular sequences, forward- thinking drum programming, this is exactly what I hoped Optimo Trax would be about when I started the label.
From Underspreche's souls to yours.
Following the recent reissue of Vox Populi!s Aither album, Emotional Rescue further explores the more discerning, esoteric sounds of the French 80s avant-garde scene in coute Visual artist, sound designer, musician, label founder and emotional tree consultant Ramuntcho Matta is a man of shifting, relentless talents. Diagnosed with autism at a young age. Therapy based on yoga and music set him on a path, leading to learn from the likes of composter Cuarteto Cedrn. Discovering avant-music at an early age, he moved to New York to study in the "Third Street School of Music", meeting John Cage and going on to work on projects with Laurie Anderson, Brion Gysin and Don Cherry. His architectural concepts applied to composition were explored on his 3 solo LPs from the 1980s. The middle of these, coute, is possibly his most cohesive, exploring the use of extra-European musicians, especially African and Brazilian percussion, jazz horn playing, as well as Uruguayan singer Elie Meideros. Mexicos Cacau de Queirozs performance on saxophone and flute is stunning, former Gipsy Kings member, Jorge Negrito Trasante attributes much of the LPs Brazilian percussive flavour, while Magmas bassist Jannick Top brings gravitas, including performing a water claps duet alongside Matta on the exquisite O Clapo. As one piece, coute endlessly avoids standard musical formulas, seeking textures of far-flung elements; alchemy against a background of freedom to experiment that would be the theme throughout Mattas career, whether setting up SSR records under the alias Michael Pope or in his more recent output, teaching methodology of doubt
- A1: Alemayehu Eshete - Addis Abeba Bete
- A2: Girma Beyene - Set Alameneme
- A3: Gemechu Itana - Shemermare Tiya
- A4: Seifu Yohannes - Tezeta
- A5: Abayneh Degene - Yebereha Lomie
- B1: Teshome Meteku - Gara Ser Naw Betesh
- B2: Menelik Wossenachew - Asha Gedawo
- B3: Muluken Melesse - Hedech Alu
- B4: Mulatu Astatke - Yekermo Saw (Instrumental)
- B5: Essatu Tessema - Ayamaru Eshete
- B6: Abebe Tessema - Ashasha Beyew
After releasing around fifty 45 rpm singles and his first 33 rpm album (Ethiopian Modern Instrumental Hits AELP 10, re-released by Heavenly Sweetness HL092VL), Amha Esthèté set about compiling his best 45s on a series of now legendary albums in 1972.
'Gloria Glorinha' - quirky, upbeat MPB-funk with soaring vocals, JB esque stabs, horns and bubbling piano. Originally released as part of a 4-track 7' EP on Odeon from 1970. This is the third appearance for Antonio Adolfo in the Brazil 45 series, previously with 'Transamazonica' (BRZ45.11) and 'Dois Minutos De Uma Nova Dia' (BRZ45.048).
'Coqueiro Verde' is taken from Erasmo's sought after 'Erasmo Carlos E Os Tremendões' LP from 1970 on RGE. Uplifting percussive Samba/MPB laiden with horns and woodwind. Erasmo - one of the leading figures in 70/80s Brazilian alongside Jorge Ben, Tim Maia and Veloso - also appears on our 'Brazilian Beats
Brooklyn' compilation with the brilliant 'Jeep', this is his first appearance in the Brazil 45's series.
- A1: More Than A Memory - Nancy Wilcox
- A2: Ooh It Hurts Me (Alternate Version) - The Cavaliers
- A3: I'm Not Built That Way - The Hesitations
- A4: This Heart Is Lonely - Rose Batiste
- A5: You Only Live Twice (Original Take) - Lorraine Chandler
- A6: That's When I Need You - Freddy Butler
- B1: We Go Together (Rap Intro Alt Version) - The Cavaliers
- B2: Voo Doo Madamoiselle - September Jones
- B3: Set My Heart At Ease - Mikki Farrow
- B4: I Can't Hold On (Edited Original Version) - Lorraine Chandler
- B5: I'm Coming Home - September Jones
- B6: Just Can't Leave You - Tony Hester
The first vinyl LP on our specially created Pied Piper imprint - featuring established favourites, recent discoveries and other rarities from the Detroit-based production company.
First northern soul collectors scoured the junk shops, charity shops, deletion bins and mail order lists for records by their favourite artists. Next they tried other discs on labels for which their heroes appeared. Later came the search for titles by songwriters such as Van McCoy, Popcorn Wylie and Ashford & Simpson and the work of producers, arrangers and the companies they worked for.
Pied Piper was a Detroit-based production company with a big enough catalogue to have been a successful indie label in its own right. Apart from their own short-lived Giant imprint, they were credited on another 20-plus 45s and three LPs issued on various other logos. Even more impressive was the music they left on master tapes. Around 50 finished tracks have emerged over the last 20 years and it has been Kent's honour to release them on our specially created Pied Piper label. This is our first vinyl album taken from that catalogue.
Included are perennial favourites such as 'I'm Not Built That Way' by the Hesitations, 'That's When I Need You' by Freddy Butler and Mikki Farrow's 'Set My Heart At Ease', which we've mixed with recently discovered soul sensations 'Voo Doo Madamoiselle', 'More Than A Memory' and 'We Go Together'. As a bonus, the version of the Cavaliers' 'We Go Together' is a completely different take to the one on our first Pied Piper CD, featuring a rap intro all serious fans will need. Nancy Wilcox's opening track 'More Than A Memory' is a superior sounding master taken from a recently discovered tape and there are alternative original takes of Lorraine Chandler's 'I Can't Hold On' and 'You Only Live Twice'. Classy rarities from Tony Hester, September Jones and Rose Batiste complete the collection.
Ady Croasdell
Olin follows his debut on Giegling sub-label g g g by launching his very own imprint, Boundary Monument.
The record's A-side is taken up by "Conne" an extended techno work building in momentum until the bassline explodes and all the track's pieces fall into place. "Foist," a tune as playful as it is dizzying, opens the B-side. Then comes "Biota," a nine-minute-long thing of beauty that feels just as delicate and just as mesmerizing as the A-side and works just as well for at-home listening as it does in the club.
BOM 01 is Olin's most confident and composed work to date, and his brilliantly simple, utilitarian philosophy as a producer shines through: "I make tracks so that I can play out what I want to hear."
Kepler. makes the second contribution to Silencio's catalog with "Planetary Systems I".
With refined ethereal elements rendered from what is surely an eerie origin, "186f", is truly engaging. This track is fueled with a seductive synth heralded by haunting vocals that effectively whisper over its steady, punchy bass line. Meandering in the background is the type of idiophone sound one would associate with a hand-percussion triangle instrument. Its particular effect provides a complex, rolling rhythm that vibrates in a beautiful tone until its objective has been achieved.
On the B-side "452b" is a great track to open up a set with, gentle yet still energetic in how it introduces itself to the audience. It begins with a series of echoing sounds that rise and dive throughout, seemingly reflected off the surface of one's subconscious, in a satisfying manner. Accompanied by a deep pulsating bass line that accents its driving drums, this track will set the tone time and time again.
Imagine the dawning of a realization formed from an inspiring event in nature. The second track, "Luzon", features a laid back tropical tempo and samples that feel transported from a lush, rhythmic rainforest. Kepler expresses this vision within the confines of a catchy groove, utilizing subtle bird sounds and rattles that resonate over layers of atmospheric synth. This is emotional music meant to move a crowd or manufacture a sincere moment of clarity.
Virginia-born singer/songwriter Nicole Wray has everything you'd want in a singer: an infectious Jackson-5-family-member flare, a range like Aretha's, and a church upbringing that's brought a pure, healing texture to her voice. But the struggle she's been through has made her more than a singer. Nicole Wray is an artist. When talking about Queen Alone, her first solo album in some time, Nicole explains, It's a reflection of my soul. It's who I am today.' And aptly so. Nicole is writing and singing songs about her life. And yet to even start to know her soul, you have to go back to the beginning. Growing up in Portsmouth was tough at times for Nicole. However, at the age of fifteen, life opened up quickly when Missy Elliot paid a visit to Nicole's family home to audition her on the spot. Missy was there on the rumored strength and quality of her voice. Instantly blowing her away, she signed and left with Missy that night. Two years later, at age 17, she had a hit gold single off a solid debut album (Make It Hot). Suddenly she was part of a team that included late '90s R&B and rap royalty: Missy, Aaliyah, Ginuwine, Playa, Timbaland and Magoo. She made it, and fast. However, as rapidly as she achieved success, Nicole then found herself needing to re-make it. By late 2001, her time with Missy and company had run its course. They amicably parted ways and Nicole, once on top of the R&B world, was unsure of what was next. It was a very low, but important, point in her life. While neck-deep in this struggle, Damon Dash and Roc-A-Fella Records called. They signed an album deal and by 2004, in what was starting to be a pattern, just as things were looking up Roc-A-Fella suddenly (famously) split. Nicole found herself in a familiar situation. In 2013, Nicole paired up with London vocalist Terri Walker and released the album Lady. Once again, Nicole was tested. Terri parted ways with the group to pursue her own projects shortly after the album's release. Fast forward to now-the transformation from singer-for-hire to pure artist is evident in this new full-length solo release, Queen Alone. The record was written and recorded in 10 days at the legendary Diamond Mine Studios, in Queens NY with Leon Michels and Tom Brenneck handling production. Nicole says she is Singing out loud now-singing from the stomach.' Back in 1998 she was coached how to sing, and told to stay in a pocket that never let her show her range, power, and passion. Today, after stutter-stepping in and out of the industry, there is a new soul and substance to her songs-all of it from her life. They Don't Hang Around", tells the story of her post Roc-a-Fella days, Guilty", is about her brother's incarceration, Make Me Over" tells the relatable story of being broke with expensive taste, and 'Let It Go', a perfect way to end the record, is about the simple act of letting go and moving on. Almost echoing her new record, Nicole says, You have to go through something for it to be real.' She has been living with one foot in fame and the other in real life. The result is clear: she's feeling something real in her music again. And it's hard for us as listeners not to follow suit.
- A1: Hidden Element - Intro
- A2: Hidden Element - The Night
- A3: Hidden Element - Sunday
- A4: Hidden Element Feat. Kiyomi - Without You
- A5: Hidden Element & Detail - Zago
- A6: Hidden Element - Across The Universe
- A7: Hidden Element - Who Knows
- B1: Hidden Element - Bridge
- B2: Hidden Element Feat. John Lamonica - The Next Day
- B3: Hidden Element - No More Drama
- B4: Hidden Element & Physical Illusion - Long Way Home
- B5: Hidden Element & Sunchase Feat. Scoda Galina - Quiet Place
- B6: Hidden Element - Aura
Call it future-step. Call it deep-step. Call it autonomic. Call it whatever you wish, but one thing is for sure - Hidden Element hailing straight from Kiev, Ukraine fail to make their music disappoint. With a fresh take on electronic sounds ranging from breathtaking beat-less layers to +/- 170 BPM heavy hitters, these two have been making waves in the industry for some time already, releasing on 22:22, Alphacut, Med School, Pinecone Moonshine, and Translation - to name a few. But it is Absys Records that is the home for their full-length album entitled 'Together'. The release is a collection of 13 amazing pieces of work, each hitting a slightly different tone, but making a wonderfully coherent whole. An entity that is enjoyed best when all of its components are played together, as the title suggests. The album focuses in majority on a rather home-listening experience, with tracks like 'Aura' or 'The Night' setting the pace for a pleasant evening chill and boosting the laid-back mood even further with "Quite Place" or 'Without You feat Kiyomi' - both infused with lovely vocals - that can serve well as modern-day lullabies. But there are also more lively accents ('Long Way Home with Physical Illusion', 'Who Knows'), traces of live instrumentation ('The Next Day feat John LaMonica'), or ambient ('Bridge'). All in all, you get a fantastic cross-section of contemporary electronic music, a masterfully composed package of nothing but pure listening pleasure.
- A1: Yui Onodera - Cromo1
- A2: Kenneth James Gibson - Her Flood Knocked Me To The Ground (But I Was Already There)
- B1: Soulsavers - Hal ( Wolgang Voigt Remix)
- B2: Scanner + Yui Onodera - Locus Solus
- C1: Max Würden - Fernfeld
- C2: Anton Kubikov - Dekka
- D1: Thore Pfeffer - Good Life
- D2: Leandro Fresco - Sonido Español
POP AMBIENT - our longest-running compilation series after Total - sees a new instalment for 2017, featuring exclusive material from acclaimed genre veterans and series newcomers JENS-UWE BEYER, YUI ONODERA & SCANNER, MAX WÜRDEN, LEANDRO FRESCO, THORE PFEIFFER, KENNETH JAMES GIBSON and SOULSAVERS remixed by WOLFGANG VOIGT.
Following his own cues from preceding entries, Pop Ambient chief curator Voigt again strikes a perfect ratio of established producers and debuting guests: our complete Pop Ambient solo album crew makes an appearance, from JENS-UWE BEYERs atmospheric soundscapes on the tracks FINAL 9.1 and FINAL 10, to THORE PFEIFFERs glitch romance GOOD LIFE, LEANDRO FRESCOs beatific drone fests SONIDO ESPAÑOL and EL ABISMO, as well as KENNETH JAMES GIBSONs melancholic epic HER FLOOD KNOCKED ME TO THE GROUND (BUT I WAS ALREADY THERE. Other returning artists include ANTON KUBIKOV of SCSI-9 fame (with electronic reverie DEKKA) and Cologne soundsmith MAX WÜRDEN, who was last seen releasing wonderfully immersive albums on BineMusic and Wolfgang Voigt's very own Exponate series. His guitar-infused, dubbed-out cut FERNFELD and the mysterious electronic mantra 186.000 MILES PER SECOND are particularly striking renditions of the rich sonic narratives possible in Pop Ambient.
For the 2017 release, we welcome Tokyo-based Pop Ambient novice YUI ONODERA with his tracks CROMO1 and CROMO2, which both serve as opener: a trained musician and architectural acoustic designer by trade, Onodera embeds diverse influences from traditional sound design, film scores, contemporary composition and electro-acoustic experimentation in his work, resulting in intricate drone sculptures and sound skylines. This skill set gels naturally with the sonic sensibilities of iconic experimental composer SCANNER who teams up with Onodera for the cut LOCUS SOLUS - it's an incredible honour to have such a towering figure in advanced electronic music on board. Wolfgang Voigt himself makes an appearance as remixer, turning the track HAL from electronic-rock-gospel duo SOULSAVERS' 2015 album "Kubrick" into a voluptuous and immersive sound journey. It's the cherry on top of a particularly fluffy cake that will prove irresistible to any connoisseur of ambient music.
This is the first 12' of a 2-part series of 12's that will be released digitally as a full-length LP.
After a split single with Muslimgauze and a single of their own on Optimo Trax, we are delighted to present the first Optimo Trax album release by Italy's Underspreche. The album is split across two four- track EPs, released two weeks apart (and also as a complete digital album).
We try to avoid over-hyping our releases, but this one is really fully deserving of the hyperbole I am about to bestow on it. Underspreche first sent me some music a few years ago and seeing them grow and develop has been nothing short of astonishing. I think this is some of the most nuanced and advanced music that Optimo Trax has ever released. There are several dancefloor destroyers here but also music for more developed/leading-edge floors too, as well as some music simply designed to make one's mind melt.
It is very rare that I listen to 4/4 music at home, but this album has been a constant on my hi-fi since it was sent to me.
Super-advanced, organic sampling, inspired vocalisations, acute psychedelic modular sequences, forward- thinking drum programming, this is exactly what I hoped Optimo Trax would be about when I started the label.
From Underspreche's souls to yours.
A Complex Web - The Story of THE SHINING PATH...began in 1982 when Peter Miller (aka Dr. William S Ray - vocals, tapes, guitar) met Andrew Millar (aka Maurice Spectograph the Nose-y Pieman - program execution) in Gold Coast, Australia. While sharing a similar taste in music, they decided to form a band, so DIVE POSITION was born. Equipped with a Korg synthesiser and Tascam 4-track recorder, they 'wanted to have the 'sound' of Kraftwerk, the groove of Can, and the 'menace' of Throbbing Gristle', ending up with 'a cross of Suicide and the Residents', as Peter recalls. In a local record shop they met Stig Andre Leonardson (aka Vincent Blackshadow), who joined the duo on percussion and drum machine programming. Their motto was 'Now is Then'. DIVE POSITION then became THE FATAL CHARM around 1984, and THE FATAL CHARM became THE SHINING PATH who eventually released their only album 'Basic Training Manual' in an edition of only 250 copies, most probably in 1986. The band then started to drift apart, and shortly after Andrew sadly passed away - this re-issue of 'Basic Training Manual' and the upcoming compilation 'Now is Then' comprised of previously unreleased DIVE POSITION and THE SHINING PATH material is dedicated to his memory.
- A1: Go Bang (Francois Kevorkian Mix) (With Dinosaur L)
- A2: Wax The Van (With Lola)
- B1: It It All Over My Face (Larry Levan Mix) (With Loose Joints)
- B2: Keeping Up
- C1: In The Light Of The Miracle
- D1: A Little Lost
- D2: Pop Your Funk
- E1: Let's Go Swimming (Walter Gibbions Mix)
- E2: In The Cornbelt (Levan Mix) (With Dinosaur L)
- F1: Treehouse
- F2: Schoolbell / Treehouse (Walter Gibbons Mix) (With Indian Ocean)
New fully remastered re-release of Soul Jazz Records’ ‘The World of Arthur Russell’, the seminal collection of Arthur Russell’s essential music is being released on limited-edition heavy deluxe triple vinyl and deluxe CD edition.
This album brings together some of Russell’s best-loved and most accessible works including his wide-ranging music both solo and in groups including Dinosaur L (the essential ‘Go Bang’), Loose Joints (the equally classic ‘Is It All Over My Face’) as well as rarities such as the 7” only ‘Pop Your Funk’, Indian Ocean’s ‘Schoolbell/Treehouse’, Lola’s ‘Wax The Van’ and more.
Arthur Russell’s music effortlessly crossed musical boundaries making it timeless. His dance music credentials are faultless and this collection features mixes from Larry Levan, Françcois Kervorkian and Walter Gibbons. Similarly, his song-writing, musicality and performance skills are equally cherished as composer Philip Glass wrote, ‘this was a guy who could sit down with a cello and sing with it in a way that no one on earth has ever done before or will do again.’
When Soul Jazz Records’ The World of Arthur Russell first came out in 2003, Russell’s music had slipped into near obscurity. Nearly 15 years later there are over a dozen releases of his music, reissues of his original albums and more. ‘The World of Arthur Russell’ is the classic first collection of his work available once more.
“Arthur Russell fused the avant-garde with disco and sounds like nothing else on earth.” The GUARDIAN
“Russell is the great enigma of the New York music scene” THE WIRE
“Simply one of the best compilations of this or any year.” RECORD COLLECTOR
Bnjmn's exceptional back catalogue, straddling gorgeous synth-laden house, experimental techno and textural ambient diversions, spans 2 LPs on key Dutch labels Rush Hour, and numerous Eps for Delsin, alongside 12''s on his own Brack imprint.
The prolific British producer now follows up his recent 'Droid' single on Delsin, which featured remixes from close colleagues Cassegrain and Ed Davenport's Inland alter-ego.
Tipping his cap to 90s industrial techno, the A side delivers two uncompromising cuts. 'MDCCLXXII' is pacy and tough - brash drums merging with metallic, tonal signals and searing hats. 'Tor' is similarly
up-tempo however more stripped in comparison, Bnjmn continuing his inventive and challenging sound design in this Beltram-esque bassline killer.
The B side makes quite a contrast - 'T.E.N.S' being a short collage of buzzing,
cerebral electronics, leading into 'Where The Wild Berries Grow'. It's a fuzzy, hypnotic trip stretching out over 8 minutes - a glistening blend of lo-fi ambience and post-club psychedelia, all the while keeping us locked into a padded 4/4 throb.
In the lead up to their 5th year as a label Music is love celebrate by continuing their infamous VA series the 'LOVEBOX'. Sticking to the winning formula of a hefty double vinyl package comprising of 8 tracks from 8 top artists, this time they have some familiar people alongside new faces to the label.
Kicking off the package in fine form is South London's prodigy Wbeeza and his track 'Bodyman'. It's as if this track announces the the opening of the VA with its beat-less and thickly textured opening... when that beat drops you know your in it!
Label main stay Jamie Trench is up next with his track 'Oil Spill ', this sees Jamie veering away from his tech house roots, delivering a quirky house track laced with an almost footwork groove.
On the Flip we see more new additions to the MIL roster as Ingi Visions ( Samuel Deep & Julian Alexander ) drop Nauyaca, a deep druggy track, with the kind of hypnotic flow and delicate arrangement the pair have become known for. Liam Geddes finishes up the B side , fresh from dropping the previous release on Music is Love his track 'reach out' continues to stamp his unique sound on the label.
And it don't stop...
As we reach for the second vinyl in this double pack we are greeted with a familiar site in the shape of Dutch duo New Jack City. 'Pick Me up' is everything you want from a NJC track, big, bumpy and beautiful.
Mak & Pasteman counter with their very cool track 'U Said', the boys are in serious form at the moment and this track is no different. Slick drum workouts decked out with Juno licks, what's not to love.
The final side welcomes another new act to the stable. Am Unit present their track 'Bang Dat'. With 'Bicep' style production values echoing throughout this track and THAT break, this one will be big.
Closing out the final track is label boss, Oli Furness. 'Broken Summers'. A huge 808 rave workout. Broken beats and sub rattling kicks are the setting for this track, finely polished electronic music for those with a fondness for rave.
"Pasiilgau" marks Desroi's first release on his own eponymous imprint.
After his debut release earlier this year on the label total black, he took his experimental approach further into a more club-oriented direction.
With his background having studied composition, desroi tries to blur the boundaries between contemporary, experimental music and straight forward techno with a clear focus to the dance-floor. Thus desroi001 resulted in a deep and abstract, yet driving and energetic techno debut EP.
Earlier this year, Subwax Bcn made an important contribution to the electronic music community by having the timeless dub techno compilation Vibrant Forms II by Fluxion remastered and reissued. First released in the year 2000 on Chain Reaction, Earlier this year, Subwax Bcn made an important contribution to the electronic music community by having the timeless dub techno compilation Vibrant Forms II by Fluxion remastered and reissued. First released in the year 2000 on Chain Reaction, Vibrant Forms II is widely considered to be one of the greatest achievements in the genre. As it turned out, Vibrant Forms II became one of the last records to be released on Mark Ernestus and Moritz von Oswald's classic label - a suitable swan song if there ever was one. And that's it, right
Well not quite.
If one would search for Fluxion - Vibrant Forms III, Discogs would come up empty and Google would treat it as a misspelling. Until now.
Konstantinos Soublis, aka Fluxion, and Subwax Bcn have decided to pick up the banner and release Vibrant Forms III as a CD as well as four individual 12" records under 2016. It contains everything you could hope for and more: The massive, booming basses, the clicks and hisses, the atmospheric thunderstorms, the opium smoke-scented streaks of reverb and dub echoes. The warmth. Yes, above all else the warmth: Sometimes moist and dripping as in Safe Harbour, sometimes blisteringly dry as in Variant. It's no easy task, giving cold, dead machines warm breaths. And no-one quite does it like Fluxion.
The Reissue of Vibrant Forms II was an act of cultural preservation. It reminded us about the legacy of the Basic Channel label family, in which Chain Reaction played an important part. Without this legacy, the contemporary body of electronic music would look different and make very different sounds. With the Release of Vibrant Forms III, Subwax Bcn takes it one step further. Fluxion's Vibrant Forms III album remind us of the timelessness of truly great music, never mind the genre.
Originally from Japan with a bi-cultural background, this Boston-based singer, song-writer, and DJ is known to her peers as the "Beantown Disco Queen". Saucy Lady, a character with an attitude of confidence and sensuality, she represents in her music what we've all admired about the disco era. Namely, the freedom of self-expression and experimentation. Saucy Lady brings back the eclectic, outrageous fashion and cultural diversity that composed the nightclub scenes in the 70s and 80s . With a touch of humor added to the equation, her popularity has been gaining steady momentum in the U.S. and overseas underground Disco scene
- A1: Polarize
- A2: Mountain Path
- A3: Thought Pattern
- A4: Motioned
- A5: Lichaen
- A6: Forest Soundbed
- A7: Sol 7
- A8: Hurt
- A9: Wild Weather
- A10: Unclear Vape
- B1: Voyeur
- B2: Seq/-9
- B3: Exerting Force Or Influence
- B4: Symphony For Halia
- B5: Imagined Friends
- B6: Electric Pastrol
- B7: Plausibility
- B8: Yut Moik
- B9: Beyond The Field Of Vision
- B10: Leak Stereo 70
- B11: Pipe Dream
- B12: Meanders
- B13: Solace
The original Environments album was conceived and written back in 1993. It became one of the great lost albums by The Future Sound Of London before the guys took in back to the studio to complete and issue in 2008. Since then has come the success of further instalments and following additional studio work during a period of extreme creativity comes two further volumes. Released separately but simultaneously, Environment 6 and accompanying Environment 6.5, when combined, create a two CDs of 46 tracks. Sweeping between luscious dreamscapes to delicately melodically compositions to intensely highly programmed electronics sculptures Environment 6 and Environment 6.5 continue the journey towards the boundaries of the future of sound. Silent Around Them' exclusive to LP vinyl (no CD/digital)
Minimal Wave present a unique collaboration between one of their long time favorite artists, In Aeternam Vale and Anneq, a stunning young Madrid-based vocalist originally from Minsk, Belarus. In Aeternam Vale and Anneq met in 2011 and began to collaborate in 2015. In Aeternam Vale, originally from Lyon, has been making synthesizer based electronic music since the early 80s, when he began to self-release many of his recordings on cassette. As the years went on his cold and caustic synthpunk sound, often primitive and hypnotic evolved into rhythmic, throbbing music for the dance floor, his own unique style of techno.
On this record, In Aeternam Vale and Anneq come together to create two very different versions of the same track, one fit for the club and the other a more intimate version, for quiet listening at home. Je Ai Dissous, the opener, is a dark smoky track with a hypnotic, cyclical underlay reminiscent of early industrial music while the Page R Version of the same track trandscends the floor and becomes completely filmic. Anneq's seductive vocal is suspended in a beatless, cavernous void. Side B opens with Tendencia, a very classic catchy minimal wave style track, sung in Spanish. The V6 version of Tendencia again focuses on Anneq's voice set in a darker, slower more atmospheric melody. The four tracks culminate in an elegant and thoughtful collaboration from these two strong talents that complement one another so well.
The "Je Ai Dissous" EP is pressed on 160 gram deep purple "spilled" inside electric blue transparent vinyl, limited to 999 copies and housed in a gloss printed sleeve.
It's been five years since his acclaimed debut 'Severant' and time has proved it prescient, its futuristic trap influence is now ubiquitous. 'Slow Knife' seems to return to where 'Severant' left off, but with the intricate sound design of last year's haunting EP 'Assertion Of A Surrounding Presence' subsumed into the compositions, making them more exacting and beautifully crafted. Between albums Kuedo has been working as a sound designer and composer for hire and the application of intent and widescreen rigour that commercial work requires has definitely found its way into the new album. 'Slow Knife' has the subtlety, ambition and pacing of a brilliant soundtrack - a sense of an album of scenes, that easily lends itself to an impressionistic narrative. But, as with 'Severant', the title suggests relationship unease, with the slow knife being a metaphor for the building resentment in any close relationship. 'Slow Knife' is almost two albums, the first half, according to Kuedo, invokes the seduction of the city, taking the music of Michael Mann's 'Manhunter' as a cue, with the latter half being inspired by the bloody starscapes and voodoo wilderness of films such as 'Angel Heart', 'Night Of The Hunter' and more recently the 'True Detective' series. Both halves of the album are also in thrall to Mica Levi's inspiring 'Under The Skin' soundtrack, especially in the turbulence of the mid-section. The songs of the albums first half are synthetic and seductive, a gelatinous veil with shades of the pseudo-sophisticated trance of Enigma, of all things, underpinned with dusky unsettling shadows and atmosphere. 'In Your Sleep', perhaps surprisingly, features the vocals of Hayden Thorpe from Wild Beasts, who settles his dark, whispered vocals into the moonlit shadowy atmosphere. 'Floating Forest' is the first track to allow back some of Kuedo's experimentation with the Southern rap template, which he explored before it became commonplace, with echoed drum splashes and a sinister repetitive motif, ending with a haunting growl. The second half of the album enters wilderness territory with 'Approaching's slow descending notes, before 'Broken Fox - Black Hole' throws the record into the cathartic darkness, as undulating chords play hide and seek with riotous reeds and scratchy strings grown from challenging collaborations with cello player Koenraad Ecker (from Lumisokea). 'Breaking The Surface' shivers and coils, before metal and strings dominate while 'In Your Skin' feels like being lost in a vast hinterland before 'Warmer Light' introduces some memories of sunshine, with its plucked bassline and spiralling dub. 'Halogen Light' opens with the sound of crickets and a clear piano, cleansing the soul before 'Lathe' brings things down to earth with a short, yet powerful coda.
A veteran of the music industry, Dave Ellesmere is way past his hardcore drumming days. Harboring the accumulated skills with a multitude of instruments, his electronic productions are intricate and meticulous. His passion for Detroit and Chicago soundscapes is evident in his latest vinyl release for MixxRecords.
'Caught In A Moment' starts off the EP with a steady techno grip engulfing a serene melody interspersed with sharp and gritty accents.
The second track opens up with solemn piano progressions combined with high pitched synths, conjuring different spheres of the musical spectrum. Aptly entitled Universal Vibe', the track evokes a very diverse array of sounds layered on top of a dubby bassline.
The sub-bassy 'From Now On Only Good Things Will Happen' kicks off in a very introspective manner, developing into a dreamy yet dark journey filled with anxiety ridden chords and drum pads.
Label chief's Tony Rodriguez aka Brothers' Vibe is on duty for the 'Universal Vibe' remix. Percussion takes the main lead, giving the track a rolling pace. Stripping down a lot of the global elements but keeping some bell chords, Rodriguez's reinterpretation offers a tribal infused piece with a completely different mood that is just as contagious as the original.
Double 180 gram, half-speed vinyl re-release of the orchestral epic. Norwegian Grammy-nominated and critically acclaimed masterpiece «The Mechanical Fair» finally gets it's long awaited vinyl release
Jampacked with a wellspring of harmonic slingshots, pumping beats and melodic rollercoasters, critics called The Mechanical Fair «the best movie you'll never see» and drew comparisons to Igor Stravinsky's «The Rite of Spring» upon it's original release in 2014. It's apparent appeal to an surprisingly wide range of musical communities finally brought it right into DJ dance-wiz Todd Terje's hands. And make no mistake: the physicist hands doesn't settle for an iPad. It craves vinyl. His wholehearted endorsement led the captain of the Olsen Family to clear the rights, assemble his own killer remix and requisition Grammy-winning cutting engineer Matt Colton for a gorgeous double 180 gram, half-speed vinyl re-release of the orchestral epic.
Originally written for a quintet including heavily merited jazz cats Erik Nylander, Ole Morten Vågan, Petter Vågan and Even Helte Hermansen in 2013, The Mechanical Fair expanded at the initiative of the Trondheim Chamber Music Festival, growing bolder and more powerful with the addition of the adventurous and Grammy-winning chamber orchestra The Trondheim Soloists in 2014.
Having just spearheaded seven genre-blending shows in just six days as the «Artist in Residence» of this years prestigious Molde International Jazz Festival, the multi award-winning Norwegian violinist/multiinstrumentalist, composer and producer Ola Kvernberg (35) can look back at an already impressive recording- and performing career. The once 17 year old jazz manouche violin sensation quickly and impatiently moved beyond the jazz realm for inspiration - resulting in seven albums as a solo artist, eight feature films as a movie score composer and countless additional recordings as a sideman. His list of collaborators range from jazz legends Pat Metheny and Joshua Redman, via post/prog-rock act Motorpsycho, to collaborations with world renowned novelists Lars Saabye Christensen and Jo Nesbø. His fearless attitude and relentless drive towards the boundaries of genres has given him a well-earned high standing on the Scandinavian scene today.
Don't miss out on this rollercoasting, genre-twisting magnum opus as it finally hits is true potential on the Olsen label on November 11 this fall.
Correspondant can finally reveal the release of the remixes for Man Power's debut LP, which was released last year on Correspondant.
A year in the making, the remix package features artists and friends hand-picked by both Jennifer Cardini and Man Power himself.
Disco Halal's Moscoman remixes the baggy splendour of Beilsteiner, creating a rolling and belching extended opus more focused toward the peak time dance floor.
Hivern Disc's JMII takes Hunting Swan and turns it inside out, exploring space with a cerebral, schizophrenic quality.
Alternatively, Pale Blue (Mike Simonetti) takes Boys Beware and re-imagines it as an aggressive drum workout.
Completing the package, Suade, the artist who also mastered the original album, replaces TEN's balearic leanings with an IDM sensibility, yet still retains the optimism of the original track.
All 4 remixes manage to exist as distinct works in their own right, while paying homage to the "magpie" approach of the original long player.
DJ and producer, co-founder of the legendary London club night Lost, Steve Bicknell returns to the fray with a brilliant new 12", 'Modes of Thought'. Comprising three full tracks and six locked grooves, the record represents the debut release on Bicknell's brand new label, 6dimensions. Art by Harumasa Kono.
Throughout his career, Steve Bicknell has retained a true groundedness, with everything he's stood behind being indelibly marked by a progressive and uncompromising attitude. Sticking firm to ideals and principles, he has remained connected to the roots of techno, eschewing the mainstream to follow an unswerving, singular vision, guided by a deep and enduring devotion to the music that inspires him and a desire to present it in the purest way possible.
Stepping out here with new material and a new venture, Bicknell's trademark raw, minimal aesthetics and conceptual underpinning have clearly been retained. He describes new release 'modes of thought' as being founded upon "the awareness of thought processes, understanding the connection between the heart and the brain through vibrations that are created via the blood-stream." Essential floor gear, 'modes of thought' introduces three tracks of taught, lean minimal techno before handing creativity over to the DJ with the inclusion of six locked groove loops.
Lean and precise, with a beautifully controlled pallette, wide dynamics and rich level of sonic detail, the record flies out of the blocks with the pumping 'harmonious balance', described by its creator as a "reflection on hatred and furthering an understanding of hate and how acceptance induces balance". Continuing to unpack the work, 'the moment I stopped' is described as "a realisation of the importance of self-preservation to balance yourself in order to take care of others close to you"; whilst on the flip, 'messenger molecules' depicts "the flow of blood and how it feeds the brain of feelings through coded information".
Cocytus, meaning "the river of wailing , is a river in the underworld in Greek mythology. It flows into the river Acheron, across which is the underworld, the mythological abode of the dead. Dante describes Cocytus in Inferno as being the home of traitors and those who committed acts of complex fraud. The river of wailing is divided into four arms:
Antenora, after Antenor from the Iliad, traitors to country.
Judecca, after Judas Iscariot, traitors to masters and benefactors.
Caina, after the Biblical Cain, traitors to blood relatives.
Ptolomea, after Ptolemy, governor of Jericho, who murdered his guests (1 Maccabees), traitors to guests.
Based on these assumptions COT labelhead HOURS crafted three pensive tracks, one of which was reinterpreted by Brian Sanhaji.
Digging deep into the annals of Gospel now, the name Pastor TL Barrett should be familiar to the eagle eyed crate diggers amongst you. An extremely "colourful" character from Chicago's Southside neighbourhood who found himself on the wrong side of the law for his involvement in some activities of a dubiously illegal nature, more importantly, besides this the pastor was widely known for his community activism and positive sermons preaching love and responsibility. Shady past aside, this fantastic 1976 LP entitled "Do Not Pass Me By" is a real Gospel beauty and features 8 tracks of resplendent hands in the air rejoicement. Having never been reissued before this rare as gem is finally back out in the open, complete with it's incredible untampered with sleeve artwork and design. Barrett's unique voice and message is timeless and instantly recognisable, you can't help but become one of the congregation whilst listening to these wonderfully rousing and positive paeans to the lord almighty. Saying that, even if you find yourself to be a non-believer, the soul, funk and jazz stylings (with the odd flourish of synth!) the good pastor is laying down will be equally as alluring to those of you who dig those particular sounds. "Do Not Pass Me By" was originally released on Miami's TK Disco offshoot Gospel Roots, it's the Pastor's second release on the label and is a beautiful snapshot of how things might have gone down at his "Mount Zion Baptist Church of Universal Awareness". A unique LP with with a somewhat lo-fi charm, the tracks contained run the gamut from slow, downtempo ballads to roof raising, danceable Disco-esque anthems.
This is the first time that "Do Not Pass Me By" has been reissued on vinyl, fully remastered from Gospel Roots/TK's original tapes, represented the way the the LP was issued in 1976 with all original cover and label artworks intact. Now, almost 40 years after it's original release the album has now been made available again for 2016, fully licensed in conjunction and with the full permission of Henry Stone music / TK Disco, Miami, FL.
Original release from 1977 "Reissues of a legendary artist, pioneer of the French electronic music. "The French proto-electro is making a come-back as we've seen it with the success of both Cosmic Machine compilations. "Their 7 Onyx"sold over 3 million copies worldwide. "Space Art is behind the massive hits: Onyx", Give Me Love", Love In C Minor"and more "One of half of the band, Dominique Perrier, is one of legend Jean-Michel Jarre's closest collaborators. Recognized as a keyboard virtuoso, he worked on all Jarre's albums from Rendez-Vous"(1986)to Oxygène 7-1 (1997) and still tours with him around the world. Space Art also toured with him in China in the early '80s. "Alongside Jean-Michel Jarre and Cerrone they are one of the most influential bands that pioneered electro music.
For its fifth release, Amsterdam's Taped Artifact offers up a various artists EP that features four tracks including one from the boss, Kevin Arnemann, as well as Hiver, Elmer and Physical Therapy. It is a moody and atmospheric deep techno offering that fits in with the label's ever more singular aesthetic. Up first is Physical Therapy, a producer who since 2012 has put out some fine EPs and LPs on labels like 1080p, Unknown to the Unknown and Liberation Technologies. It is a roomy affair with corrugated mid tempo drums down low and haunting pads up top. Building in intensity with some icy hi hats, it ends up as a ghoulish number that adds real theatre to the floor. Next up is Elmer, key part of Brussels' Bepotel Records crew. Melting techno, wave and dub into raw and expressive new forms, this new cut 'Simple Models' makes great use of analog machinery. Again deep and horizonless, a rippling lead synth line plays off an industrial bass riff as paddy drums roll on below. It's humid and heady stuff, to be sure. Then comes the boss who offers a more dubbed out and bumpy dubtechno track with expansive chords rolling off into the distance and light and airy hi hats dancing in the mid ground. It's one to get floors moving before the Hiver duo of Giuseppe Albrizio and Sergio Caio from labels like Curle and Vidab close things out with the dusty old breakbeats and woozy spaced out synths of 'Intersect.' This is a subtle but impactful EP full of sensitive underground sounds that pack a real punch. Vital Sales Points: - 5th release on Taped Artifact - First Various Artists compilation on Taped Artifact - Custom made artwork by photographer Merel Kemp - Artwork
If we talk about ideas, we surely talk about "Idee 1", one of the best collaborations between Massimo Catalano and Remigio Ducros - together with "La fatica", that will be reprint in a while - with contributions from the amazing Daniela Casa. Daniela is one of the few women in the "Italian libraries" scene, but she's more talented than some of her better known male colleagues. If Daniela, and so her husband Ducros, are names linked to a tiny niche of soundtracks' lovers, Catalano has instead worked for television, being a well-known composer for the audience. His great technique and composition, combined with those of his 2 colleagues, is one of the strong points of "Idee 1", published (but never released) by Team on February 1972, fulfilled with experimental sparks (Astrazione per Flauto, Astrazione per Piano, Filanda, La Fonderia), staggering orchestrations, breakbeat and funky (Lunedì ore 7:45, Ducros), mournful atmospheres (Venerdì ore 20:30, by Casa; Ripensandoci by Catalano) and world music influences (Tibetano, Catalano). If we have to explain this record with just one track, this would be the fourth one, Creatività (Creativity): unrestrained, with no limits or filters, this song is ready to get heavy rotation on your record player.
- A1: Il Tempo Dello Spirito 2:25
- A2: Festività 2:00
- A3: Giubileo 1:50
- A4: Ave Maria 2:32
- A5: Gloria In Excelsis Deo 1:52
- A6: Pellegrinaggio 2:17
- A7: Salmo Gregoriano 2:00
- A8: Le Novizie 1:36
- A9: Il Peccato 2:25
- B1: Elevazione 1:50
- B2: Concilio 2:37
- B3: Black Allelujah 2:31
- B4: Funzione 2:14
- B5: Messa Solenne 3:05
- B6: Messa Solenne (Vers. Raccolta) 2:27
- B7: Presenza Di Dio 1:25
- B8: Deposizione 1:57
Amongst the first bunch of this new label releases, we couldn't miss a tribute to one of the greatest masters of libraries recordings, Alessandro Alessandroni, born in 1925. In his long career Alessandroni has published lots of soundtracks - and we mean lots of - and for this he's considered a real star of Italian music. As a friend, and close collaborator of Ennio Morricone, he's remembered as "the whistle man" for his fundamental contribution to the immortal scores of Sergio Leone's movies. His class allowed him to range between genres and atmospheres, from beat to avant-garde, from funky to abstract compositions, always reaching and keeping the highest quality. This is immediately clear in "Il Tempo Dello Spirito", originally published in 1971 for the meritorious Flirt label. It's an album full of sacred music, gospel and spiritual, yet capable of personal flashes that make it interesting, particular and unique. Simple church songs In some cases it may seems so - titles as Ave Maria, Gloria In Excelsis Deo, Pellegrinaggio or Messa Solenne do not leave much room for doubt and interpretations - but Alessandroni is able to astonish even in extreme cases like this.
Krishnanda is an album in the truest sense of the word - a spiritual, psychedelic Brazilian masterpiece from start to fnish - celebrated by everyone from Seu Jorge and Kassin to Floatng Points, Madlib and DJ Nuts. These days, originals change hands for thousands of dollars. Pedro dos Santos, born in Rio in 1919, was a percussionist virtuoso, composer and inventor of instru-
ments that apparently included oddites such as the 'Tamba' (electrifed bamboo drum) and the mouth berimbau whistle. Nicknamed Perdo 'Sorongo' afer the rhythm he invented, that features throughout 'Krishnanda'. A highly spiritual man who was regarded as a philosopher by many. He worked with greats including Baden Powell, Elis Regina, Maria Bethany, Elza Soares, Sebastão Tapajós, Roberto Ribeiro, Milton Nascimento, Clara Nunes, Paul Simon and Arthur Verocai, playing on
his legendary self-ttled LP. In the same vein as Verocai and his self-ttled LP, 'Krishnanda' was Pedro's chance to shine with his own, and only, solo recording. Krishnanda was produced by Hélcio Milito, the drummer of Tamba Trio, and arranged by conductor Joppa Lins, and originally released in 1968 on CBS (Brasil). Musically, the album touches folk, samba,
afro-brazilian and psychedelia plus added efects, with a lyrical depth and diversity to match; themes including morality, percepton, existence and ego. Despite the genius of the record and the infuence that it had on musicians at the tme of release, it
disappeared into obscurity. We frst discovered the record around 2003, through a friend Julio Dui. Around that tme Brazilian funk and bossa was the favour of the day, so didn't catch our ear immediately, however it contnued improve with age and now we consider it to be one of the best albums ever made, regardless of genre or origin.
UK wave funk veteran DMX Krew returns to Abstract Forms with his latest double album project. Escape-MCP features 13 tracks of synth drenched electro and elastic techno grooves drawing inspiration from a 1983 computer game where the player is trapped inside a computer by a rogue processor. Fortunately DMX Krew isn't trapped inside a computer and is still with us making killer grooves. Don't sleep!
Josh Praus has been involved in San Francisco's Bay Area scene for the last two decades. A prolifc collector and player of records, What We Tellin' Them marks his frst public outing as a producer. As debuts go, it's pretty darn impressive.
Praus has been working hard in the studio over the last three years, creating tracks that draw infuence from a wide range of styles and artists. He cites 'downtempo, disco, house, Italo and techno' as major inspirations,
and listeners may hear elements from all of these disparate styles on this assured, confdent EP.
Some may hear echoes of the trippy, tribal-infuenced house sound of Siesta and Tango Recordings in the dense, drum-heavy shuffe of 'What We Tellin' Them', while others may fnd comparisons with African rhythm tracks and hypnotic, late night techno. However you frame it, 'What We Tellin' Them' is
an impressively percussive, mid-tempo workout designed to tease and titillate late night dancefoors. Flipside 'Lucas Valley Dr', featuring the dreamy, freestyle vocals of experienced San Fran singer Nina Lares, couldn't be more different. Sparse, synthesizer-driven and undeniably intoxicating, it seemingly channels the spirit of both dubbed-out West Coast deep house, and the similarly delay-laden New York proto-house of Winston Jones and Paul Simpson. Throw in clear Italo-disco and Chicken Lips infuences, and you've got something that's undeniably magical. Both tracks were produced by Josh Praus at his home studio, with additional production, mixing and mastering by friend Layne Fox, best known as part of regular Leng contributors 40 Thieves.
Vercetti Technicolor joins crimes of the future for the labels first release of 2016 complete with an outstanding remix from Minimal Rome's Heinrich Dressel. The Golden Taurus EP combines vintage Vercetti Technicolor tension and darkness with a real sense of Scott & Tim's love of the dancefloor soundtracking the early evening in the club. Kicking off with Golden Taurus the title Cut, a dark moody building 707 driven future classic. On Topaz Fear the tension keeps building and building over sparse drums and melodic leads. Side B's Death Wish Combines huge reverb, drums and soundtracks a long drive along some dystopian highway hurtling us along with a killer bassline. Finally Dressel takes the controls on Golden Taurus with a beautiful slowed down more emotive take on the title cut and presents 6 minutes of blissed out electronics.
- A1: Année Érotique (Album Version)
- A2: Qui Est In", Qui Est Out (Album Version)
- A3: Bloody Jack (Album Version)
- A4: Torrey Canyon (Album Version)
- A5: La Javanaise (Album Version)
- A6: La Horse (Bof La Horse")
- B1: Hold Up (Version 45 Tours)
- B2: Initials B.b. (Album Version)
- B3: Vilaine Fille, Mauvais Garçon
- B4: Les Sucettes (Album Version)
- B5: Comic Strip (Album Version)
- B6: Roller Girl (Instrumental)
- B7: Docteur Jekyll Et Monsieur Hyde (Album Version)
- C1: Je T'aime Moi Non Plus (Album Version)
- C2: L'anamour (Version 45 Tours)
Diese neue Gainsbourg-Compilation ist als psychedelische Pop-Reise zwischen London und Paris konzipiert. Schon ab der ersten Studio-Session in London 1963, hat Serge Gainsbourg erkannt, wie wichtig der Sound ist, der hier im Entstehen ist und London in den musikalischen Mittelpunkt der späten 60er-Jahre rückt.
Diese Zusammenstellung enthält 24 Titel, darunter viele seiner großen Hits: Initials B.B., Bonnie and Clyde und selbstverständlich Je t'aime moi non plus, im Duett mit Jane Birkin
Analog Africa has now the privilege to present 11 tracks by Verckys et L'Orchestre Vévé at the height of their most funky capabilities.
Compiled over the course of many years in a land of hardship, we welcome you to the grooviest era of the Congo.
Congo's turbulent and exhilarating '70s: Nightclubs and dance floors were packed to the brim in the capital, Kinshasa. Exuberant crowds, still giddy from independence
a decade prior, grooved to the sounds of the country`s classics. In fact the whole continent was submerged into the Congolese Rumba craze. Encouraged by the fantastic
productions of the Ngoma label, vibrant radio waves had been spreading the Congo sound from Leopoldville all over the continent, becoming the countries' No.1 export.
- A1: Neno Exporta Som - Deixa A Tristeza
- A2: Alipio Martins - Piranha
- A3: Lemos & Debétio - Morro Do Barraco Sem Água
- A4: Barbosa - Seara De Ocala
- A5: Dave Pike Set - Mathar
- B1: ?Lantei Lamprey - Fish & Funjee (Komi Ke Kenam)
- B2: Buari - Karam Bani
- B3: ?The Rwenzori's - Handsome Boy (E Wara) Pt. 1 & 2
- C1: Mavis John - Use My Body
- C2: Big Youth - Mammy Hot Daddy Cool
- C3: Tappa Zukie - Freak
- D1: ?Connie Laverne - Can't Live Without You
- D2: ?Alex Rodrigues - El Mercado
- D3: Cortex - Chanson D'un Jour D'hiver
- D4: King James Version - He's Forever (Amen)
The first instalment in our new 'Mr Bongo Record Club' compilation series - a selection of favourites, recent discoveries and sought after obscurities, which form the basis of our DJ sets and our radio show of the same name. Including cuts by Claudia, Cortex, Dave Pike Set, Fruko, Neno Exporta Som, Connie Laverne, Barbosa and more. The original concept for 'Mr Bongo Record Club' was a radio show that allowed us to air our treasured record collections, recorded and broadcast once a
month. We wanted to create an outlet free from any genre or BPM restrictions, not constrained by the need to beat-mix every record, a space where we could play latest finds alongside favourites. The only self-imposed rule being that
it had to be played from vinyl. We have always DJ'd across-the-board, but playing in an eclectic way hasn't
always been easy. Recently DJ's such as MCDE, Floating Points, Nick The Record, Leon Vynehall, Four Tet, Jeremy Underground, Antal (Rush Hour), Sassy J and Young Marco - to name a few - have opened things up with very diverse sets to
younger audiences; Brazilian samba-rock, next to modern soul, highlife, disco, boogie, jazz, house, techno and beyond.
We're seeing a rare groove like sensibility. A shift towards the attitude of legendary club nights hosted by the likes of Mr Scruff and Gilles Peterson, where you could hear house, hip hop, Turkish funk, boogie, jazz, dub and Latin
back to back. At the same time it isn't a nostalgic or retro movement, people have a progressive attitude and a thirst for new-old music. It is a vibrant and exciting time - we are proud to be a part of it.
Adam Beyer's Drumcode juggernaut attracts more fans and critical plaudits with each passing year. Holding firm on its future facing ethos, techno's number one label presents a new volume in its acclaimed A-Sides series with 20 prime tracks to signify its 20th anniversary.
Such is the volume of quality music Adam Beyer receives throughout the course of the year, releasing all of it would be impossible. Enter the blue chip A-Sides series: a chance for the quality-obsessive label head to issue a collection of outstanding tracks that couldn't fit in their regular EP release schedule.
With an eye on future talent, as much as the label's established roster of heavy-hitters, the compilation showcases the full breadth of Drumcode's multifaceted techno sound, equal parts inspiring and functional.
Led by the stealth techno funk of 'Nine of You', Beyer's deft collaboration with Mark Reeve, the compilation takes in exciting highlights from big guns such as Alan Fitzpatrick, Dustin Zahn, Bart Skils, Pleasurekraft, Luca Agnelli, Jay Lumen, Kaiserdisco and Gary Beck.
The rich vein of form displayed by emerging techno talent is similarly given prime position. Rising DJ/producer Boxia makes his Drumcode debut, fresh from a well-received warm up set for the crew at the hugely successful Junction 2 festival in London, while the likes of Enrico Sangiuliano, Juan Sanchez, Ian O'Donovan and Timmo also drop fire, establishing their credentials as some of the most promising talent breaking through the ranks in 2016.
Reinforcing the global scope of the label, artists such as The Junkies from Toronto and Layton Giordani from New York, prove techno is winning a place in the heart of the new generation of artists coming out of North America.
Taken from the acclaimed "Migration" album, "Kypoli" sees Poirier sharing production duties with fellow Ninja Tune alumni and hot property Machinedrum. Taking vocal samples from Aleisha Lee (co-writer of Tinie Tempah's recent smash "Girls Like" amongst others) and twisting, chopping and manipulating them into a completely new composition, the pair create a brooding post-dancehall/soul fusion, gaining the perfect balance between ethereal beauty and heavy dancefloor menace. Bukem-esque pads and deep dub elegance give way to pounding kicks and floating harmonies, relentlessly building a wall of sonic beauty.
Remixes come from France's dub mad scientist Moresounds, who ups the jungle influence with a classic Reese-style bassline and signature rolling snare chops, whilst retaining the balance between dark & light and Montreal-based newcomer Thomas White who flips the vibe completely for a slo-mo Soulection style builder.
- A1: & Roman Flügel - We Like To Party
- A2: & Burger / Voigt & Voigt - Disco Dancers
- A3: & Gui Boratto - State Of The Nation
- B1: & Ed Macfarlane - Mind Games
- B2: & Kölsch - Gemination 06 / B3 & Miss Kittin - Voyage Interieur
- C1: & Joe Goddard - For You
- C2: & Agoria - Blackbird Has Spoken
- C3: & Hauschka - La Compostela
- D1: & Prins Thomas / Irene Kalisvaart - Comfort Me
- D2: & Barnt - Und Da Stehen
- D3: & Andrew Thomas - Cicadelia
Back in stock !
Michael Mayer is one of the leading German tastemakers in dance music and his DJ sets have influenced a generation (or two) of musicians and fans.As an artist, Mayer remains tirelessly motivated to DJing, in the studio or behind his desk at KOMPAKT, the label he co-owns. His recording career spans four albums, 23 EP's, nearly 170 remixes and the legendary DJ mixes for fabric and Immer. '&' is his third full-length, a passionate and personal album that speaks as broadly as his DJ sets - embracing his genre-busting love for music, rhythm and atmosphere - and the dancefloor in front of him. '&' is the rare manifest of an established artist who is willing to risk it all and challenge himself, and the world around him. 12 tracks, 12 single narratives coming from a group of very individual minds orchestrated by Michael Mayer - the DJ, artist, A&R but most importantly, obsessed music lover. Michael describes the process of curating and creating '&' as a constant battle between his three alter egos but 'the obsessed music lover has had the final say.' As diverse as they are, all the tracks that result from this long and winding road create a cohesive story and present the elasticity of Mayer's musical galaxy. Michael gladly leaves it to the rest of the scene to discuss the different grey shapes of club culture. For him there is only one club culture - a playful and open-minded one that's easy to comprehend after you hear ‚&'.
































































































































































