2 x LP Red & Blue (Half & Half Effect) Vinyl in Gatefold Sleeve
The Bloods and Crips’ debut Bangin’ on Wax (1993) — which we reissued in 2023 to an incredible reception — inspired us to dig even deeper into this iconic catalogue. The follow-up, The Saga Continues, originally dropped only on CD in 1994. Now, for the first time ever, we’re proud to bring it to wax — pressed on solid Blue and Red vinyl, of course. This concept was a pivotal moment in West Coast gangsta rap, uniting members of L.A.’s two most infamous sets. Crips from Compton, Watts, and Long Beach, and Bloods from Inglewood and Los Angeles auditioned for the project, with the sharpest MCs selected for the final lineup. All proceeds from the original Bangin’ on Wax album went toward improving local schools and parks for the community’s children. Over 30 years later, the lone CD pressing regularly fetches £50+ on the secondary market — and now the album finally arrives on vinyl. Sleeker in production and delivery, this record carries that true G-Funk swagger, tipping its hat to Warren G, Snoop, DJ Quik, and even Dr. Dre.
Newly remastered version of Oren Ambarchi’s long out-of-print classic Hubris originally released on Editions Mego in 2016. Expertly remastered by audio wizard Joe Talia who worked with the original mixes, highlighting the myriad details of the audio with forensic precision, previously unheard up until now.
From the 2016 press release:
Hubris continues the exploration of relentless, driving rhythms heard on Ambarchi’s Sagittarian Domain (2012) and Quixotism (2014). Where those records looked to Krautrock and techno for their starting points, the sidelong opening track here begins from the perhaps unlikely inspirations of disco and new wave, drawing particularly from Ambarchi’s love of Wang Chung’s soundtrack to William Friedkin’s To Live and Die in L.A. Leaving behind the song-forms of these reference points, Ambarchi weaves a sustained and pulsating web of layered palm-muted guitars from which individual voices rise up and recede, eventually setting the stage for some lush guitar synth from Jim O’Rourke. Arnold Dreyblatt collaborator Konrad Sprenger contributes overtone-rich motorized guitar, pushing the piece into a satisfying intersection of shimmering minimalism and rhythmic drive that smoothly builds up until the entrance of Mark Fell’s electronic percussion in its final section.
After a short second part, in which Ambarchi, O’Rourke and crys cole pay tribute to the skewed harmonic sense of Albert Marcoeur with a track built from layered guitar figures and abstracted speech, the long final piece pushes the concept of the first side into darker and denser areas. Joined by electronics from Ricardo Villalobos and the twin drums of Will Guthrie and Joe Talia, the layered guitars of the first piece are transformed into a raw and tumbling fusion-funk groove that calls to mind early Weather Report or even the first Golden Palominos LP. As this stellar rhythm section rides a single repeated chord change into oblivion, a series of spectacular events emerge in the foreground: first, aleatoric synthesizer burbles from Keith Fullerton Whitman, then slashing skronk guitar from Arto Lindsay, until finally Ambarchi’s own fuzzed-out harmonics take center stage as the piece builds to an ecstatic frenzy. Few artists could hope to include such an incredible variety of collaborators on one record and still hope for it to have a unique identity, but Ambarchi manages to do just that, crafting three pieces that emerge directly out of his previous work while also pushing ahead into new dimensions.
Players: Oren Ambarchi, crys cole, Mark Fell, Will Guthrie,
Arto Lindsay, Jim O’Rourke, Konrad Sprenger, Joe Talia, Ricardo Villalobos, Keith Fullerton Whitman.
Building a temple of sound from reduced elements, Decoder's Alchemy EP on T3R allows selected components to generate a strong and steady drive. Using a distinctly organic sound palette, the tone of the release is wordly, sometimes almost wooden with space taking the role of an active element. When melodies or chords appear, they introduce a subtle sense of melancholy, adding emotional weight without pulling the music away from its physicality. In its unfolding storyline, the EP suggests a broader narrative. While each piece explores a slightly different soundscaping approach, a consistent DNA runs through the release - reinforced by Sanskrit and Hindu references as an underlying conceptual thread. Percussion is handled with precision and imagination: Grooves shift, evolve, and reconfigure. Dark, driving sequences are softened by airy pads and atmospheric layers, creating a dual feeling of intensity and serenity. Filters and reverbs are applied with restraint, giving the music a sense of movement and breath. Alchemy showcases an emerging artistic voice driven by aspiration and exploration. Through confident craftsmanship, genuineness and self-reflection translate into a perfectly balanced, inspiring release. ? 2026 The Third Room Written and Produced by Gautham Gaug Mixdown and Mastering by Ahmet Sisman (The Third Room Studios) Artwork by Daniel Bornmann & Lennard Makosch (STUEDIO.XYZ) Distribution by Clone Pressing by Matter Of Fact
Xerrox Vol. 2 is the sixth studio album, released in 2009 by German electronic artist Alva Noto. It is the second installment of the Xerrox penthalogy, based on the concept of digital replication of source material.
As with the first Xerrox album, the starting point is a set of samples culled from external sources. This time, snippets and recordings from Sunn O))) collaborator Stephen O'Malley and composer Michael Nyman are featured, as is an excerpt from the 2004 Insen tour with Ryuichi Sakamoto.
While Alva Noto's oeuvre is predominantly affiliated with pristine sound design, the Xerrox series holds more intimate gestures and emotional sensibility. This volume moves further from the conceptualism and orderliness of prior musical outputs, ranging from heart-warming elegies to mind-bending sci-fi projections in extrasolar territories.
This remastered version will be reissued on NOTON in 2026
Tracklisting
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Medium: 1 // Side: A // Track: 1
Artist: Alva Noto
Title: Xerrox Phaser Acat 1
Playtime: 00:12:11
Explicit Lyrics: No
ISRC: DE1N62500015
(P): 2025 NOTON
Country: Germany
Xerrox Vol. 1 is the third studio album by German electronic artist Alva Noto. It was released in 2007 as part of the ongoing Xerrox pentalogy, based on the concept of digital replication of source material.
Using the process of copying as a basis, the Xerrox series deals with the manipulation of data through endless reproduction. Due to the inherent fallacy of making copies from other copies, everyday sounds become so altered that they are hardly associated with their source material. As a result, entirely new sounds are created: copies of originals become originals themselves.
Together with Christoph Brünggel, Nicolai designed a "sample transformer" that takes audio fragments and manipulates them beyond recognition. In this process of taking something familiar and defamiliarizing it, samples from obvious sources-advertising jingles, airport tones, telephone hold music, and film soundtracks-were used and altered, resulting in sounds totally unlike their original source. The result is a series of haunting, intricately realised pieces that recontextualise Nicolai's "glitches and bass" sound into extended, cinematic, organic, and almost orchestral works.
Xerrox Vol. 1 was followed by Xerrox Vol. 2 (2009), Xerrox Vol. 3 (2015), Xerrox Vol. 4 (2020), Xerrox Vol. 5 (2024). This remastered version will be reissued on NOTON in 2026
---------------------------------------------------------
Medium: 1 // Side: A // Track: 1
Artist: Alva Noto
Title: 10-22-38 Astoria
Playtime: 00:00:19
Explicit Lyrics: No
ISRC: DE1N62500001
(P):
---------------------------------------------------------
Medium: 1 // Side: A // Track: 2
Artist: Alva Noto
Title: Haloid Xerrox Copy 4
Playtime: 00:03:53
Explicit Lyrics: No
ISRC: DE1N62500002
(P):
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Medium: 1 // Side: A // Track: 3
Artist: Alva Noto
Title: 03-10-06 Astoria
Playtime: 00:00:38
Explicit Lyrics: No
ISRC: DE1N62500003
(P): 2007 2007
Country: Germany
Chris Liebing's first full solo techno LP, 'Evolver' is released on 27th March 2026, via his own CLR imprint. The German techno don's LP features a host of collaborators across music, images, and artwork. Luke Slater, Charlotte De Witte, Speedy J, The Advent, Terence Fixmer, Pascal Gabriel, Daniel Miller contribute to the music, while long-time collaborators Studio Bergfors deliver design, and legendary photographer Anton Corbijn shot Liebing for the project.
The Evolver LP is the sum total of Chris Liebing's three decades at the beating heart of techno. It's the record only someone whose first break as a techno DJ was playing five hours at Sven Väth's infamous Omen in Frankfurt - and who has ridden out every twist and turn of life and subcultures since, while remaining rooted in the true school, dark, sweaty techno sweat pits of the world - could have made. It's the result of deep introspection, but it's about utter immediacy. It's the sound of someone previously driven along by compulsion and happenstance at last finding the confidence to be utterly intentional about their practice, allowing them to take the most classic, familiar, proven elements from the past and render them completely new.
Evolver is also Liebing's first completely solo album. There are collaborations, yes: with old friends from the OG techno generation, Luke Slater, Speedy J, and The Advent, all on uncompromising form, and with new generation figurehead Charlotte De Witte, who provides a thrilling narration of total surrender to the moment on acid clarion call "Symphonie des Seins". But unlike all Liebing's albums to date, there's no co-pilot. Every structure, every mixdown, every choice serves his singular vision of how his untold immersion in the surging currents of the world's greatest clubs should sound. The elements are all those forged in the white heat of Omen and Tresor in the mid 90s - brutal repetition, titanium kick drums, industrial atmospherics, but also dark rave euphoria, ever present surging acid lines just on the cusp of trance, and just enough human voices to remind you of bodies on the dance floor - but rendered with all the extraordinary accumulated skill and technological developments since then.
It's Chris's vision entirely, his musings on sound, technology, and life birthing tracks like "Roy Batty." Inspired by thoughts of AI becoming sentient and hungering for more life like Rutger Hauer's titular Blade Runner character, it was one of the first tracks to emerge and a foundation stone for the album. And in pursuit of that vision, it's built like a "proper album". The anticipation and menace of intro "Unfold" tip over into the glowing hot high drama psychedelia of "Symphonie…" then the breathless headlong rush of The Advent collab and on through an unfolding narrative that goes deep, goes dark, opens out into grand vistas, takes strange turns before finally landing on the alien landscape of… well… "Endtrack".
Not everything is pummelling on Evolver - the dazzling title track feels like you've been welcomed into the courtly dance of a higher dimension civilisation, and the audacious Speedy J collab "Shaping Frequencies" is a beatless flow that tests the boundaries between signal and noise. But for all its complexity, conceptualism, and stylistic branching out, every last part unmistakably powered by that dark techno-cavern energy above all else. All of it positively radiates the qualities of Liebing's greatest work and sets to date - but somehow even more so than before. Whether you're listening for aesthetic inspiration, cerebral stimulation or just that raw physical power, this album will sweep you up into its momentum and won't let go of you until it's done.
DISPLACES represents Fabris' most personal musical journey to date, inspired by the concept of hyperobjects and cartographic practices. The album sculpts a high-dimensional phased time-space composed of concrete materials and digital archetypes in a state of constant displacement. It delves into the symbolic and philosophical realms of mapping as one of the greatest sense-making mechanisms for life, in dialogue with object-oriented environments, superimposition and non-locality applied to cosmic, temporal, and emotional memory.
The sonic ecosystem expands on the image of navigating a path through a set of places, from the microcosm of quanta to the macro force of dark matter, from underwater depths to overland terrains, encapsulating the cyclical flow between birth and death, both in ecological and anthropological sense. The intersection of these shifting states is explored through the extensive processing of the langspil, Iceland's only traditional instrument, intertwined with manipulated field recordings of biophonies and geophonies captured across Icelandic and Venetian territories. These recordings form the backdrop for a meditative process that relocate familiar objects into unfamiliar realms, reflecting on the transformative power of self-reflection while encapsulating the fragmentation and entanglement found in nature and the human state. The record plunges the listener into a disconcerting and physical soundscape, as a “ghostly spectrality that comes in and out of phase with normalized human spacetime,” evoking sensations of suffocation and release as each layer continuously unfolds the palimpsest of the enclosed labyrinth.
“Extraction of the I” embodies a subatomic reaction—erupting as a molecular force that rises, only to re-submerge with a solitary exhale underwater. In this mutated dark space, beluga whales breathe into "Xanadu Phasing," creating a pulsating tension that releases only to unveil a frozen landscape.
In “Barricading the Ice Sheets” the glacial material morphs into a liquid tunnel of digital artifacts, building a wall of noise that shatters into scattered fragments of ice, resembling bird calls from another world.
A moment of stasis is offered with the appearance of an asymmetrical loop in Monolith I, evoking a primitive rite before an unknown force emerges.
The physical intensity of subsonic material in "A Quake in Being" interrupts the hieratic tone, detuning into polluted sonic matter sourced from relics of the First World War in the Venetian Prealps. The geography of this place reconciles with the original homeland in "The Map is the Territory," blending negative space with anthropogenic elements and exploited sounds of the langspil.
The burning density of "Wolf-Rayet" projects into the void, echoing the residual sounds of a local church as relics of fossilized religions. Wolf tones are the remains in Monolith II, introducing the final track, "Topography of Extinction," where evolving psilocin textures invite the listener to uncover deeper layers of meaning and dislocation.
The rare and deeply funky LP "Yoga – Be An Enlightened Soul – Stay Young And Pure With Yoga"
by Osunfisan Brothers & Sisters is set to return to vinyl in an official reissue, marking the first
authorized repress of one of Nigeria’s most elusive spiritual records.
Originally released in limited circulation, Yoga occupies a unique place in many collectors grail list.
According to Mr Femi Osunfisan, the album was conceived by his senior brother and bandleader, "We
chose yoga to as a concept to channel our music, but it was not intended to practise yoga with the
music". Neither pop record nor conventional boogie LP, the album is highly sought-after for the amazing
production by the Sound master Odion Iruoje and for the heavy afro-disco workouts.
At a time when Nigerian music was dominated by Afrobeat, highlife, and disco, Osunfisan Brothers &
Sisters charted a more introspective path—using rhythm, voice, and repetition as tools for enlightenment
and personal grounding.
WRWTFWW Records is very happy to announce the release of Renga, the new collaborative album from Gak Sato and Tadahiko Yokogawa - available on limited edition LP (300 copies worldwide !) housed in a heavyweight sleeve with inside out print of a beautiful artwork by Aoi Huber Kono.
Renga (??, linked poem) is a genre of Japanese collaborative poetry in which alternating stanzas, or ku (?), of 5-7-5 and 7-7 morae (sound units or syllables per line) are linked in succession by multiple poets.
Inspired by the traditional Japanese poetic form of linked verses, Renga unfolds as a fluid 10-track journey spanning ambient, jazz, breakbeats, electronica, environmental music, techno, cinematic, library music, and musique concrète. Much like its literary namesake, the album is built on intuition and shared momentum, each piece emerging from what came before while opening new paths forward. Beats appear, disappear, then reassemble, while textures shift between organic warmth and electronic abstraction. The result is music that resists fixed categorization, existing somewhere between known subgenres and free-form exploration.
The album's visual counterpart, created by Aoi Huber Kono, mirrors the sensibility of the music. It's elegant, modern, and quietly expressive, extending the idea of linked forms from sound into image.
Points of interest
- For fans of ambient, experimental electronic music, jazz-inflected compositions, breakbeats, techno, cinematic soundtracks, library music, musique concrète, genre-blurring sonic exploration, linked verses, and dark blue.
- A unique collaboration between Gak Sato and Tadahiko Yokogawa, inspired by the Japanese poetic form of linked verses.
- Presented on limited edition LP housed in a heavyweight sleeve, edition of 300 copies.
- Artwork by acclaimed visual artist Aoi Huber Kono, extending the album's concept of interconnection across disciplines.
A Sudden Burst of Noise is a study in equivalence between rotational frequency, material structure and sonic form. The album is based on sonified pulsar data and field recordings captured at a concrete radiotelescope located in the Eifel region of West Germany.
Following the core concept of BRUTALISM, architecture and infrastructure are not treated as backdrop but as structural agents. The radiotelescope – its reinforced concrete body, rotational mechanics and scientific function – serves as compositional framework. Rotational movement becomes rhythm. Structural tension becomes texture.
Measured cosmic data becomes sound.
The source material consists of astronomical measurement data translated into sound, combined with field recordings from the site itself: interacting with exposed concrete, mechanical resonance and electromagnetic presence. Dornen and Lomi process these elements into compositions that oscillate between abstraction and physical density.
The result is not a documentary representation of the site but a sonic architecture derived from it. Each track reflects a structural component: axis, mirror, descent, radiation. The record unfolds as a sequence of material states – from reduction and
erosion to rotation and amplification.
With A Sudden Burst of Noise, BRUTALISM continues its transformation of material, texture and structure into sonic forms. The vinyl format captures our site-specific research process as a physical object.
Black Truffle is pleased to present Radis, the first recording by the Oslo-based trio of Andrea Giordano (voice and organetto), Kalle Moberg (accordion) and Jo David Meyer Lysne (guitar and snare drum). Now based in Norway, Giordano is a native of Cuneo, in the Piedmont region in the north-west of Italy and her exploration of the Piedmontese language provides the starting point and conceptual anchor of the trio improvisations heard on Radis, which make use of the words of 20th century Piedmontese poets Nino Costa, Bianca Dorato and Oreste Gallina. As the musicians explain, the project is an attempt to preserve the beauty and singularity of a language at risk of extinction.
Fittingly, the first sound we hear on the opening piece ‘Fiorìa’ is Giordano’s unaccompanied voice. She sings a poem from Oreste Gallina as a kind of floating cadenza, the accompanying silence sensitizing the listener to the pellucid quality of Giordano’s voice and the unique sound of the Piedmontese language. The voice dies away and into the silence swells a single tone, sounded by Moberg’s accordion and—special guest on this opening piece—the alto saxophone of Mario Gabola. Extended techniques and preparations create unexpected timbres from the acoustic instruments: Gabola’s saxophone is augmented with tin cans and springs and Moberg’s unorthodox techniques allow the accordion to generate wheezing, buzzing textures and patterns of microtonal beating. Giordano’s voice returns, picking up the thread of the languorous opening melody, coexisting for a while with the shifting drone before the piece takes an unexpected yet organic left-turn into a delicate saxophone solo of sorts.
Recorded in several locations across Italy and Norway over the course of three years, Radis documents an ensemble who have developed both a distinctive sound-world and a remarkably sensitive group dynamic. Moving from folkish duets between accordion and Giordano’s organetto (the small accordion used in Italian folk music) to episodes of metallic guitar scraping from Meyer Lysne, the music is both quietly contemplative and gently chaotic. Ensemble roles shift with disarming ease. If on ‘Profij dëspers’ Meyer Lysne’s prepared guitar adds a haywire noise element to a lyrical episode of organetto and accordion, the next piece, ‘D’antorn a lor’, is grounded in chiming guitar chords of stunning beauty; once Giordano’s joins, the result calls up the most spacious moments of Maria Monti’s Il Bestiario. Throughout the seven pieces, the trio explore countless possibilities of group interaction and the margin between conventional euphony and pure abstraction: at times the voice floats against silence or seems almost disconnected from the gentle clatter of the instruments (sometimes reminiscent of Nikiforas Rotas’ haunting settings of Cavafy), while at other points the instruments touch on conventional harmonic accompaniment. What is perhaps most striking of all is the way that voice and instruments relate to each other, the extended technique reframing the voice as a kind of abstract sound object, while the melodic beauty of Giordano’s voice lends a contemplative, almost melancholic air to the wheezing and scraping of accordion and guitar.
Captured in gorgeously intimate recordings, Jim O’Rourke’s careful and beautifully spacious mix highlights the wealth of textural detail in each element. Accompanied by notes, session photos and the text of the Piedmontese poems, Radis is a work of stunning beauty that demonstrates the vitality of exploratory music in Norway today.
Rob Clouth returns to Mesh with Cicada, a follow-up to his EP earlier this year and a continuation of his ever-curious approach to the outer limits of electronic music.
An artist who has spent much of his career committed to a dialogue between scientific phenomena and music built for big soundsystems, Bichillo signalled a segue into a more free-running idea of creativity - one that didn’t pander to unrealistic expectations and, essentially, brought the fun back to Rob’s production process. A theme also explored in a link-up with long-time collaborator and label boss Max Cooper on their recent joint EP 8 Billion Realities, out now on Mesh.
Cicada, he continues to expand on this universe, prioritising experimentation over concept, and arriving at some of the funnest music he’s ever made.
Like a field of insects, ‘Cicada’ opens with cross-rhythmic layers of animated glitches, soon joined by huge bass swells that gradually build into a maximal tranced out build-up and a swarm of vocal chops. ‘Core’ builds a quietly dramatic symphony of machinist built sound - a soothing polyphony of computers singing. Leaning into an off-kilter 2-step, ‘Gummy Clusters’ swirls into a hazy blur of distorted voices and acoustic rhythms. Closing things off, ‘Grefuser’ puts pedal to the metal with a high BPM storm of pointillist drums and melancholic leads.
Cicada is music that twitches and mutates, but most importantly, breathes fun into the circuitry.
Mean Field Mutation is a thermodynamic phenomenon occurring just below the vaporization point of voracious growth. It relies on the debris of false and almost forgotten narratives. Astral residue of consumer angst, echoes of obsolete newspeak and oscillations of promotional imbecilities collide with free floating particles hovering under the radar of the megamachine. In steady intervals, this results in a meltdown producing random waves of reconfigurations driven by cryptic but sanguine naivety.
Released on Lustpoderosa, Mean Field Mutation is the first musical output by Des Coda. Written and produced by Piero Scherer during the pandemic winter of 2021 in his bedroom studio in Zurich. Moving between playful
serenity and feral distortion, it was produced by layering sounds from field recordings, radio and TV clips, as wellas sequences from drum machines and analogue synthesizers. Taking a stance against commercial copyright, all stems of this production are available for download free of charge and ready to be reappropriated.
Des Coda is an open field for collaborative, cultural experiments beyond the conventional understanding of authorship and representation. It engages with an artistic position that defines the creative process as an interplay between context and concept. The resulting work is not a rigid product of authoritarian ingenuity, but a sensitive, living organism guided by the tensions between society and individual. Des Coda is the zestful curiosity rummaging through the rubble of the present in search of future aesthetics.
Todh Teri returns with a brand new record, and this time the spotlight falls on Hari Heart. The Return of Hari Heart marks the eighth release on Masala Movement Records and launches a fresh vinyl-only series that brings the mythical characters of Deep In India back to life in a bold new form. Todh Teri further expands his conceptual universe by focusing on deeper sonics & music explorations. Hari Heart guides the release with a delicious blend of nostalgia, analog warmth and a club-ready intentions - built for curious DJs (and listeners alike).
On the A side you will find Smriti (Remembrance) - a reimagined classic flipped into a peak-time driver - disco spirit, acid bite, and pure dancefloor release. Limited, loud, and made to move bodies. On the flipside we have ??a (Debt) - a deep, dubby slow-burn built around an evergreen melody which grows patiently - finally rewarding you with a sweet earworm.
The final tune on the record is Prem (Love) - a reinterpretation of a ’70s indie rock n roll gem. Unmistakably retrospective (if you know your history). Play it a bit longer into the dead wax, and you will catch a hidden acid sequence locked groove.
Art by Soju Aduckathil with creative direction from Masala Movement’s Manoj Kurian. This is the label’s eighth release, a vinyl-only exclusive, with more coming in 2026.
uper Deception dives into the uncanny beauty within the everyday, drawing inspiration from M.C. Escher’s idea of “super deception”: the art of creating the impossible without illusion. Nelson of the East translates that concept into sound: deep, tactile basslines and intricate percussion twist familiar rhythms into hypnotic new forms. Textures and samples are lifted from their origins and reimagined, creating tracks that feel both ancient and futuristic, physical and dreamlike. The result is an electronic landscape where sound folds in on itself: a timeless, shape-shifting exploration of rhythm, resonance and perception.
Nelson of the East is a Berlin-based sound artist, producer and educator. He operates at the intersection of experimental composition and club culture, shaping his craft both as a music teacher and behind the scenes as an experienced ghost producer.
Legendary dub techno artist Paul St. Hilaire (AKA Tikiman) announces new collaborative album, marking 10 years of Kynant Records
Building on the success of Paul St. Hilaire’s landmark solo album for Richard Akingbehin’s label Kynant in 2023, w/ The Producers switches up the formula to pair St. Hilaire’s with a different producer on each track. Referencing fellow dub techno pioneers Mark Ernestus & Moritz von Oswald’s acclaimed album w/ The Artists as Rhythm & Sound, St. Hilaire flips the concept to feature as the lone vocalist.
Over the album’s nine tracks, St. Hilaire offers a range of conscious song-writing and headtop musings, such as the spoken-word dread of “What’s This” or the sparse call-to-action of “Send Them On”. The record weaves through all shades of contemporary dub evolutions, showing the vocal range and versatility of St. Hilaire. w/ The Producers is yet another essential record in St. Hilaire’s unmatched discography.
The producers were curated by label owner and DJ Richard Akingbehin to give the new album a future-facing feel and mark 10 years of Kynant Records. Akingbehin sourced beats from luminaries such as Digital Mystikz boss and dubstep trailblazer Mala or elusive Chain Reaction artist Shinichi Atobe. They sit alongside some of the most exciting names in recent electronic music - Batu, Gavsborg, Azu Tiwaline, Priori, Cousin, Russell E.L. Butler, Aurora Halal and DJ G - all of whom bring different elements of dub techno into their productions.
w/ The Producers finds Kynant Records bridging the original voice of dub techno with the genre’s new wave. It’s a statement of intent from the label, which began 10 years ago with deep, hypnotic techno and has veered gradually towards more dubwise sounds
Recorded live at The Village Vanguard in New York on June 25, 1961, this was the fourth album by the Bill Evans Trio, composed of pianist Bill Evans, bassist Scott LaFaro, and drummer Paul Motian. Scott LaFaro was one of the supreme jazz bassists, a virtuoso player whose playing changed the very conception of his instrument. This album unfortunately also represents one of LaFaro's last performances, recorded just days before his tragic death at the age of 25 by automobile accident. Interestingly the album also contains tracks that Evans had recorded prior to working with LaFaro, so that this recording provides a very accurate index of the bassist's great contribution to the trio.
Amsterdam-based producer and one half of Cybersex, Stef de Haan, releases his first EP on wax with Ataraxi. Ataraxia is a concept from ancient Greek philosophy describing a state of inner calm, a freedom from anxiety and sorrow, guided by a life of reason.
With this release, Stef de Haan reflects on this idea and ventures into territories beyond his usual sound, moving from a garage stepper to minimal techno, alongside two remixes - all approached with a fresh, modern take on music production.
SEVEN7009LTD is on coloured vinyl and includes a 90cm x 60cm pull out poster of an original Stef de Haan painting. Strictly Limited to 200 copies.
Amsterdam-based producer and one half of Cybersex, Stef de Haan, releases his first EP on wax with Ataraxi. Ataraxia is a concept from ancient Greek philosophy describing a state of inner calm, a freedom from anxiety and sorrow, guided by a life of reason.
With this release, Stef de Haan reflects on this idea and ventures into territories beyond his usual sound, moving from a garage stepper to minimal techno, alongside two remixes - all approached with a fresh, modern take on music production.
SEVEN7009LTD is on coloured vinyl and includes a 90cm x 60cm pull out poster of an original Stef de Haan painting. Strictly Limited to 200 copies.
With Cliknopium I, Dr.Nojoke opens a new 12-inch series marking 20 years of CLIKNO — the artistic concept built entirely on field recordings and found sounds. Since its foundation in 2005, CLIKNO has focused on transforming everyday sonic fragments into electronic microcosms, guided by a strict manifesto: no presets, no templates, no classic machines, and every sound crafted from scratch. This approach has shaped Dr. Nojoke’s unmistakable aesthetic — detailed, tactile, and rhythmically unconventional.
Influenced early on by the click-and-glitch lineage of Villalobos, Jan Jelinek, Akufen, and Alva Noto, Dr. Nojoke has long expanded his palette to include dub-infused basslines, delicate percussions, and hypnotic textures. The result is a body of work he describes as “CLIKNO,” where organic sounds meet electronic precision.
Treguja opens the record with a playful, slightly wonky funk, evoking the atmosphere of a clandestine backyard rave. Gragada shifts into deeper territories, its bird calls and floating chords unfolding like a memory of a vanished paradise. On the B-side, Wesikwa propels the listener into a dreamlike, ritualistic groove, carried by Jew’s harps, murmured voices, and a steady, immersive pulse.
Twenty years after the concept began, CLIKNO remains as vital and imaginative as ever. Cliknopium I is both a celebration of this legacy and the beginning of a new exploratory chapter — an invitation to flip the record and let the trip continue.
Krope is a six-part conceptual album by Belarusian sound artist and producer Anton Anishchanka. Rooted in archival folk songs recorded between the 1960s and 2000s, it transforms fragile voices of the past into living, cinematic sound worlds. Created in collaboration with ethnographer Iryna Vasilyeva, the album weaves Belarusian traditional music with field recordings, acoustic instruments, and analog synthesizers — an immersive journey where memory, landscape, and resilience converge.
Flowing as one continuous suite, Krope unfolds like a film: memory re-emerges, fragile yet persistent, shaping an emotional narrative of displacement, loss, endurance, and hope. The archival voices at its core — songs of love, exile, and mourning — resonate across decades, echoing the urgent realities of today. The album flows as a single, immersive sonic odyssey. From the tender rejection in Krope (Dill) to the grief carved in Dubrovuška (Oak Grove), it traces an arc of human experience that is both deeply personal and universally shared. By reimagining traditional music through contemporary sound art, Anishchanka preserves endangered cultural heritage while revealing its timeless relevance.
Credits:
Produced by Anton Anishchanka
Engineering by Tenzor
Mastered by Alex at Quitfish Mastering
Lacquer cut by Tim Xavier at Manmade Mastering
Cover Art by Sasha Zeliankevich
Graphic Design by Ihar Yukhnevich
Creative Direction by Nadzeya Burmistrava
Archival materials courtesy of the Institute of Art History, Ethnography and Folklore named after K. Krapiva, National Academy of Sciences of Belarus.
Special thanks to Iryna Vasilyeva for her assistance with archival selections and ethnographic material.
After years of refining his sound, Decoder presents "Prakasa", an album that explores the emotional and expressive side of his soundscape. Its subtle shifts and surprising moments create space for the listener to get lost, to imagine, and to find something unexpected in every track.
The album takes its name from the Sanskrit word meaning "light" and "manifestation," a concept reflected clearly in the cover artwork and central to Decoder's vision. Planet X is honored to release such a powerful yet delicate album-one that feels equally at home in intimate listening settings as it does in clubs and festivals worldwide.
High-octane DC techno drawing from the city’s current atmosphere of tension and angst.
After a peaktime 002 release on Floorspeed just 8 months ago, DC resident techno heads James Bangura & JR2k kick it up a notch with a round 2 of wall-to-wall intensity.
JR2k goes 0 to 60 on the A side with “Hardcore DC” and “Fever Dream” – both tracks road-tested, lifted straight from live set performances earlier in the year and ready to burn a hole through a soundsystem near you. Explosive, relentless and uncompromising techno from the mind behind the label.
Bangura enters the picture on the flip side, combo-ed with JR2k on “Accentuator” – a classic slice of 1⁄2 bar loop hard groove techno conceptuality reminiscent of 2000s Oliver Ho & James Ruskin collab heaters. “Defiance” finishes on a heavy beatdown note, with an extended middle breakdown to emphasize the tension and release of this 4-tracker.
InDepth Imprint launches its debut release with a forward-thinking V.A. bringing together UFO95, Hadone, Raar, Initial Code and Clara D. The label focuses on bridging avant-garde sound exploration with club-driven functionality. This first release is built on audio material recorded during a collaborative residency at Willem Twee Studios, using its unique collection of mid-20th-century scientific instruments repurposed for music. Each artist was invited to explore their own creative path, resulting in a highly distinctive record where experimental textures meet precision-engineered techno. The outcome is a coherent yet diverse sonic statement that sets the artistic direction for InDepth Imprint: immersive, concept-driven and deeply connected to contemporary club culture.
We Jazz Records presents "Pu:", the boundary-breaking solo debut of bass player Ville Herrala, to be released on 21 February 2020. Utilising only the double bass but looking at the instrument from various different perspectives. The end result is an inspired set of 14 miniatures, each pushing the concept forward in a highly personal way.
The first single "Pu: 12" presents a rhythmic approach with echoes of from the world of minimal classical music and electronic music. Bowed tracks such as "Pu: 2" offer another perspective, as does the second single "Pu: 10", going back to the essence of the instrument and opening new doors while doing so. Each of the tracks is a compact musical adventure unto its own.
Ville Herrala (b. 1979) is one of the most higly-regarded bass players working in the Finnish scene. He's known from the ranks of such top ensembles as PLOP, Jukka Perko Jazztet, U-Street All Stars, Jukka Eskola Orquesta Bossa and UMO Helsinki Jazz Orchestra, to name but a few.
Made across 2024 between London and Amsterdam, WITH A VENGEANCE (or WAV for short) is the sound of uptempo catharsis, of SHERELLE making sense of a turbulent and difficult moment in time in her personal life. Determined to write one track a day, the studio became a safe space for SHERELLE to channel anger and feelings of betrayal, her hard and fast club tracks turning darkness into the cerebral joy of overcoming adversity. From those intense daily writing sessions has emerged a sharp, finely-crafted 10-track LP that is powered by fierce feminine energy and reflects the hard/soft and light/dark dualities of the dancefloor and life itself.
WITH A VENGEANCE is also a rally cry for the 160 scene, designed to push the tempo in new, exciting and as yet undiscovered directions. Inspired by SHERELLE’s foundational influences such as Kode9, Scratch DVA, Machinedrum, Lone and SBTRKT as well as the soundsystem-shaking groove of grime’s R&G sub genre, the album is designed to change perceptions of what 160 can be. But don’t get it twisted: this isn’t a concept album. WAV is for the dancefloor, delivering shades of London, New York, Detroit and Chicago in ways that are guaranteed to raise gun finger salutes.
Andrew Weatherall never wakes up in the morning and decides to start a new album that day. Instead, recording music is a continuous process usually working with different collaborators and seeing where the muse takes him. Somewhere down the line the rewards of a collaboration will coalesce into a body of work between thirty minutes and an hour long and he will put a call into the Rotters' team to say he has a new release ready to go.
We were visiting the studio catching up on new tracks in various states of readiness when he offered up some remixes of tracks from his recent "Ruled by Passion…" he'd been sent by fellow musicians. Tim Fairplay, Andrew's partner in The Asphodells, Sean Johnston from A Love From Outer Space and Scott Fraser live and work in the area and all popped in at various points.
Andrew's black book reads like the who's who of contemporary music but rather than plunder it for remixers he'd let drop the idea of a remix with friends and neighbours. These plus a couple a swaps with musical friends who were new to the concept of remixing, gave Andrew an hour of music he thoroughly enjoyed listening to.
It goes without saying none of the tracks are duds but our ears always prick up when Justin Robertson's take on "Beglammered" ups the heart rate or Daniel Avery's own unscrewing of "… the Axis" ruffles the neck hairs. We've stopped arguing in the office about which is the best track. They all are.
Category 1 Music Sampler - Vol. 4 represents a unique blend of contemporary house music’s most influential and respected personalities. “What I Want” showcases the remixing wizardry of Eric Kupper, who has worked with numerous superstars including Usher, Alicia Keys, Donna Summer & Miley Cyrus; along with the producing genius of Chicago’s great house trailblazer, Ron Carroll. “Call Me” showcases a multi continent contingent of musical talent from the UK, South Africa and the U.S. combining to deliver a soulful house gem that’s highlighted by Stacy Kidd’s distinctive Chicago influenced vibe. Joe Smooth, another Chicago house legend, lends his deep house sound to the appropriately titled, “Soul Deep”, featuring the classic vocals of Ed Ramsey coupled with Sweet Georgie’s impeccable production.
Concluding this house music journey is Ron Carroll’s “Underground”, a Garage banger that’s the creative concept of Marc Cotterell, 1 of the leaders of the U.S./UK Garage genre. “Underground” is the perfect way to end another Category 1 Music house excursion.
DJ Support: BEN UFO, Solomun, Marco Carola, Damian Lazarus, Jamie Jones, Joseph Capriati, Ilaria Alicante, Michael Bibi, Paco Osuna, D'Julz, Groove Armada, Dennis Cruz, Chloe Caillet, Kettama and many more
Enzo Siragusa opens 2026 with his ‘Kilimanjaro Sound’ EP, a release that expands on last year’s standalone single. Marking both Enzo and FUSE’s first drop of the year, the EP delivers the latest instalment in his longstanding Kilimanjaro concept while reaffirming the label’s position at the heart of underground club culture.
Following the digital release of ‘Kilimanjaro Sound’ back in October, the full EP frames the title track within a broader narrative of rhythm, atmosphere, and movement. A long-time fixture in Enzo’s sets throughout 2025, the title track established itself as a fan favourite through its rolling percussion, weighty low-end, and expansive spatial design, and now it takes on renewed presence on vinyl. New cut ‘Liquify’ pushes deeper into Enzo’s rhythmic sensibilities, pairing fluid groove structures with subtle tension and release. Designed for late-night floors, the track unfolds patiently, allowing swing, texture, and space to do the heavy lifting. It’s a natural continuation of the Kilimanjaro language, less about immediacy, more about immersion, showcasing his refined understanding of how momentum is built and sustained in true club environments.
Completing the EP is a remix from Giammarco Orsini, whose Garage Dub Mix of ‘Kilimanjaro Sound’ offers a fresh perspective while remaining true to the original. Born in Italy and now based in Berlin, Orsini has quietly evolved into one of the scene’s most respected selectors and producers, with releases on Cragie Knowes, Mood Waves, and Shonky’s Stoned Pilot. His interpretation strips the track back to its essentials, reintroducing it through a garage-leaning lens that prioritises groove, swing, and subtle pressure.
As the first release following FUSE’s latest DJ Mag Best of British Award, marking their second Best Club Event win, the EP reflects the values that have long defined the brand: community, longevity, and music built for real dancefloors. Pressed to wax, the release extends one of Siragusa’s most recognisable concepts and sets the tone for the year ahead - measured, confident, and rooted in the underground.
Massiande has become one of the most captivating talents South America has produced for authentic House music.
An artist of multicultural roots, he was born in 1988 in Santiago, Chile, has lived most of his life to the side of US American people, has Dutch family heritage and his name derives from a Sierra Leone dialect. All of these global influences have had a great effect in the way he perceives and lives music.
Growing up as a profound and dedicated fan of Soul, Jazz and Disco; discovering House, a genre that connected these genres' roots with electronic experimentation, was a life turning point.
DJing since 2007, he is known for performing emotive and dynamic sets, with a moving soulful drive that resembles much of the spirit of New York, Chicago and Detroit pioneers.
After starting to focus on music production, 2013 brought his debut record "Heart Rushed Love" through German label Housewax, a record of classic vibes that received praise for its charm and character on underground scenes worldwide and, most notably, from House music artists in Chicago, including his personal hero, House maestro Larry Heard. Such a start would be a sign of great things to come.
Inspired by the same Chicago spirit, in 2015 the release of "Stand", through the prestigious MOS Recordings, represented a step further in his career as a producer, finding its place on the crates of DJs as diverse as Patrice Scott, Voiski, Apparat or Honey Soundsystem.
These days, Massiande brings a deeper and mature House sound which is reaching a wider audience, with his conceptual "Freedom" EP through UK's Phonica Records and the landmark "Yesterday, Today, Forever" EP on Jimpster's Freerange, while also revealing a consistent variety of skills on a fully dancefloor-oriented EP for Hercules & Love Affair's Mr. Intl imprint.
With a growing discography whose flair endures the test of time, Massiande's path thrives with a true passion for House that's appealing to both casual listeners and the most loyal purists of the genre around the world.
Don Cherry, armed with a voracious musical appetite and boundless imagination, first made a name for himself - though not always fully understood - alongside Ornette Coleman, playing trumpet or cornet. In Los Angeles and then New York, he stood at the heart of a revolutionary approach to improvisation based on melody rather than harmony, later baptized "Free Jazz," the final structural development of American jazz. Over time, he became a champion of improbable fusions - gradually integrating into his style a whole array of "exotic" instruments, and more importantly, the cultures from which they originated. Among them: India, Brazil, Africa, Indonesia, and even China. The time had come for the emergence of "world music": in hindsight, a patchwork rich in imagination and seduction, but once the novelty wore off, often lacking in substance.
In Don Cherry's case, however, the commitment ran deep - tied to his personal engagement with a global vision of art and the human condition. Ustad Ahmed Latif Khan, from the Delhi gharana (a musical lineage), was part of a new generation of accompanists - percussionists, sarangi players, flutists, etc. - who had extended both the technical and conceptual possibilities of their predecessors to gain recognition as soloists and soon to venture onto the international scene. Among them, Latif stood out for his taste for irregular, highly syncopated rhythmic patterns - rich in variety and originality. Don and Latif had never met before the recording session, but the two quickly recognised one another as kindred spirits - calm, focused... and full of laughter. Don clearly knew what he wanted to create, and nothing seemed to pose a challenge for Latif, who grasped the American's intentions immediately, warmed up his fingers at astonishing speed, and with his perfect pitch, naturally took on the role of tuning Don's diverse instrument collection to match whatever was found in the studio - from concert piano and Hammond B3 organ to chromatic orchestral timpani.
A truly “Not Normal” label is finally here to unveil its concept of split releases.
The A-side takes you on a transcendental journey led by Balinsky, where melancholic echoes of 90s rave culture intertwine with modern rhythms and carefully sculpted basslines, forming a mysterious and captivating soundscape.
The B-side invites you into the fiery, groovy world of Javier Carballo. Refracted rhythms collide with deep, enveloping sound design, pulling you into a pulsating and uncharted adventure.
Together, the two artists create a delicate balance — their distinctive yet seamlessly blended visions deliver a luminous spectrum of tracks for you to enjoy.
After three years of releasing singles and remixes across the electronic scene, Belaria makes a grand return to her label, Binding System, with a more introspective format: Dynamic State. A conceptual EP exploring the benefits of body movement on the mind, psyche, and emotional well-beng, it
unfolds through a two-sided narration where physical and mental energy gradually resurge. Balancing tension and release, control and liberation, Dynamic State translates movement into sound. This EP includes two powerful remixes: VEL delivers an ultra-textured, psychedelic reinterpretation, while Kendal transforms another track into a trance-infused, rave-ready floor-filler.
To submit or to surrender? Robert Johnson resident Oskar Offermann doesn’t have the answers, and that’s kind of the point. Things change: one moment you’re touring the globe as a recognizable face of one of the greatest clubs in the world, the next you’ve started a new life as a teacher. How do you handle that shift? On this record, Offermann doesn’t offer solutions so much as trace his own way through it, reflecting the whole process in his music and creative work.
Whatever the story, whatever the case, Oskar Offermann can still produce some of the most emotive, bleepy, strange dance music out there and this 12 inch is the proof. Sonically and conceptually it leans into that precise, melancholic German school: at points drawing from 80s wave and experimental music, then flirting with trancey motifs and closing in divinely crafted breakbeat. In just four tracks it packs in a surprising amount of functional range, exactly what you’d expect from one of RJ’s longest-standing residents. The A- and B-sides mirror each other: they open at full intensity, tempos pushed well past the 130 BPM mark, easy to imagine ripping through a peak-time floor – and still both sides land on something far more personal and reflective.
Even inside a framework of high-intensity club tunes, Oskar’s character shines through loud and proud. Think the slightly disjarring yet melodically captivating winds in the middle of the B1 trance induced number “Accepting”, or the masterfully paced build of opener “Planet Interface”. The same goes for A2 “Televise Improvise” and B2 “Sei mal nur lieb”: on paper they should feel like breathers next to the two behemoths, but they don’t. Offermann crams so much substance and personality into them that they become quietly dangerous. There’s that magical mix of squelchy acid, rough low end and naturalistic melodies on B2, and the relentless emotional drive of A2 “Televise Improvise”. Oskar is really, really good at making dance music irresistible.
Character, skill and honesty in one record, meant for the attentive listener and the brave DJ. A rare combination nowadays, get it fast!
"The Land of the Sun, the Moon and Cosmic Melodies" is a conceptual Opera of III movements, inspired by a cosmogony that features the planets of the sun and the moon. These two characters guides us on a journey of light and shadow, rising and setting in a cycle of unexplored musical territories.
The Collective Move presents its debut album with a broad palette of sounds, ranging from jazz to opera, from southern Italian folk music to northern Indian classical music, orchestrating a 60-minute "sonic narration" that ends with the fable "What do the birds tell?".
The Collective Move is an international group of young musicians formed in the Amsterdam Conservatory in 2022. The Collective's vision is to unite diverse artistic expressions and musical genres, inviting diverse artists and musicians from diverse cultures and countries to collaborate in flexible and interdisciplinary formations.
A year after her rebirth on the 2.0 EP, Maedon returns to her Rant & Rave imprint with the intentions of her previous release now distilled and focused into bold new forms. Whereas before the artist was transitioning from her earlier work towards new directions, Matter & Form arrives as an extended concept piece featuring four variations on a bracing, developed sound, an equally impressive remix from Lady Starlight, and a contrasting mix of the opening track. Where 2.0 charted emergence, 'Entelechy I-IV' unites to actualize this potential into a single-minded purpose behind fundamental principles.
Immediately launching into territory her last release only hinted at, 'Entelechy I' is a showcase for her now-mature approach. Her rhythmic dexterity and groove focus remains, with drum programs subtly evolving phrase by phrase, but they now form the basis for layered, complex compositions in a decidedly contemporary vein. 'Entelechy II' shifts focus towards the arrangement while keeping its drums steadily driving, drawing attention to details in its densely designed sounds through deliberate, gradual processing. Relaxing the tempo slightly, 'Entelechy III' fills in the extra space with more dark atmospherics and finely detailed soundscapes, finding a heavy medium between dark ambience and hammering techno. Another deeper effort, 'Entelechy IV' counterbalances insistent, finely-tooled percussive bleeps and equally persistent bass figures against another sweeping bass pulse, at times breaking down into carefully-controlled atonal aggression. Lady Starlight's remix is skeletal in comparison, deploying its parts sequentially over ticker hi hats and a massive kick while using small shifts to incrementally build tension. 'Entelechy I (Bent Mix)' is more accurately described as hellbent, stripping out the original's harmonic elements to grind the heavy rhythmic workout against an unrelenting acid line.
Phonotheque Recordings presents "Solve Et Coagula” by the artist Digregorius.
Across four carefully interwoven tracks, Solve et Coagula unfolds as a sonic and conceptual journey that refuses to be confined by labels, moving fluidly through traces of techno, electro pulses, breakbeat, and exotic atmospheres.
An EP that pushes boundaries and proposes a journey where the symbolic, the visionary, and the emotional coagulate into powerful basslines, strange textures, hypnotic rhythms, and synthetic melodies—only to be dissolved again in both immersive listening and the collective experience of the dancefloor.
Arepas Records follows up its debut serving with a second course of flavoursome house music: “Ceylon Treats EP” by Erwin. True to the Arepas concept of combining dancefloor functionality with culinary storytelling, “Ceylon Treats EP” is all about mood, texture and pacing rather than obvious peaks. Erwin’s production leans on warm basslines, rolling drum programming and hazy chords, spiced with percussive details and small melodic phrases that flicker through the mix like passing smells from an open kitchen. Some moments are cosy and intimate, others are more driving and hypnotic, but everything is tied together by a deep, inviting groove that works from warm-up to after-hours. AREPAS002 feels like a natural evolution of the label’s first chapter: still deep, still soulful, still obsessed with flavour, just with a new recipe and different ingredients. House, deep house, dub house and tech house come together in one coherent, story-driven EP that rounds off the flow of a day, night or early morning like a carefully prepared dessert course. No skips, no fillers. Just pure flavour. Beats & treats.
The White Chief project has been defined by her creator as the background character for self_sabotage deconstruction. Deeply inspired in early Industrial, Noise and Power Electronics taking, musically and conceptually some development model acts like Throbbing Gristle or Whitehouse, and certain complex lyrical compositions like could be some Fad Gadget tracks, Maria Barros, a colombian dj and producer known as Gatasanta delivers 5 dense, raw, noisey and dark cuts with the aesthetical connotation of the violent modern times, created among other analogical sounds with multiple Moog bass lines. This record includes also, two tracks from AMAS, Gatasanta's first live project with artist performer Ivana Ray Singh, both artists based in Barcelona. These two tracks appears on the EP as a tribute to the duo's early years of electronic production and performance tours around. All tracks has been produced 100% hardware.
Azu Tiwaline & Cinna Peyghamy, Amotik, Quelza, and Alarico remix four tracks from Ben Klock and Fadi Mohem’s collaborative album ‘Layer One’. Released last year on the pair’s label LAYER, each artist on the ‘Layer One Remixes’ EP retains the weighty, low-end edge that shaped the album, while reinterpreting four tracks through a myriad of techno, IDM, bass, and experimental shades.
Honouring the conceptual direction of ‘Layer One’, which delved into a post-human world and offered a serene reflection on a realm that continued to flourish in the absence of humanity, the ‘Layer One Remixes’ EP echoes the same theme. The remaining human survivors on Earth signal a remembrance of their sensibilities, told through the powerful lyrics and vocals of grime MC Flowdan and interdisciplinary artist Coby Sey.
Azu Tiwaline & Cinna Peyghamy open the EP with their remix of ‘Our Sector’ featuring the commanding vocals of Flowdan. Fragmented bass-driven textures skitter across the sparse soundscape, culminating in a track primed for the weirder hours of the night. On ‘Ultimately’, Amotik delivers his take on the original featuring spoken word by Coby Sey, and whips up a rolling four-four number pierced with bleepy percussion.
On the flip, Quelza’s reinterpretation of ‘Our Sector’ unfolds with zappy motifs and technoid flourishes, permeating the shadowy pads and spine-chilling harmonics that slink through the atmosphere. Alarico remixes ‘Clean Slate’, serving a potent techno track laced with equal parts restraint and release, enhanced by Coby Sey’s taut vocals.
While the original album represented the more exploratory sides of Ben Klock and Fadi Mohem, the ‘Layer One Remixes’ EP offers a further step into the void, led by five contemporary artists who are unafraid to delve into the murkiest corners of the dystopian world conjured up by Klock and Mohem.
Continuing the VA series with different artists from around the globe the fourth instalment has landed. The 9 track LP features already familiar to the label artists as well as many new faces unified by the idea of the love for the non-standard audio frequencies. With the dystopian artwork by the label’s visual guru Gkoner and the music by the nine talented artists the disc has obtain its shape. With the vast range of sound being present but all tied in the concept of the label’s musical ideology, the “Untitled IV” is born and armed for different settings where electronic music can be blasted loud on huge sound systems or in complete solitude does not matter at all. What matters is the love of music the listener brings making it all come together with a complete and fulfilled sense.
Underground mainstay and long-time melodic and progressive champion Guy Gerber is back on his own Rumors label with Every Time We Say Goodbye, a new EP that shows he continues to evolve his style without forgetting his signature.
Gerber has been a core part of the underground for years, heading the world's most revered clubs and festivals, bringing all new party concepts to Ibiza and serving up serene and synth heavy soundscape that move people physically and emotionally on labels like Cocoon, Italians Do It Better and of course Rumors.
Every Time We Say Goodbye (feat. Blanca) is light and melodic with shimmering pads and ethereal textures. Blanca’s treated vocals float effortlessly above rolling percussion and delicate synth melodies, delivering a warm, emotional energy that feels both modern and timeless.
The 18th Floor is a hypnotic journey built on dubby low-end grooves and fluid, meandering leads. Angelic, reverb-soaked vocal fragments drift through the mix, giving the track a dreamlike atmosphere that’s equally suited for peak-time or deeper, introspective moments.
On the flip is Under the same Moon, an introspective journey through deep emotion and atmospheric house. Under the same Moon is a sonic meditation, melancholic yet hopeful, with textures that evoke twilight memories and introspective dancefloor, lastly The Bigger Person takes a more laid-back approach, driven by warm guitar lines that showcase Guy’s instrumental finesse.
Vibe Ride is the sixth release of Adam Rudolph's Hu Vibrational project and marks his 60th release as a leader or co-leader. Comes with insert and download code.
“With every record, the goal is to explore new creative territory,” explains Rudolph. Vibe Ride continues a deeper exploration of a trance-like groove and a conceptual framework known as Sonic Mandala. This album marks the most complete realization of that idea, partly due to the group's experience touring beforehand. That time on the road helped to refine ideas and strengthen musical chemistry. The recording process unfolded organically—likely due to the long-standing collaboration within ensembles like Go: Organic Orchestra and Moving Pictures, where the musicians have developed a deep familiarity with the shared musical language.
Sonic Mandala refers to a musical approach distinct from traditional linear structures of theme and development. Found in cultures across the globe, it may represent one of the oldest forms of musical expression—predating written history by tens of thousands of years. Today, it is most vividly preserved in the music of the Ituri Forest peoples (Aka, Baka, Ba Benzele, Mbuti), whose sound traditions revolve in cyclical, orbit-like patterns. Vibe Ride seeks to bring that ancient sense of circularity into a contemporary—and perhaps even futuristic—context.
The ensemble of Vibe Ride—Alexis Marcelo, Jerome Harris, Harris Eisenstadt, Neel Murgai, Tim Kieper, and Tripp Dudley—brings exceptional creativity and skill to the project. While grounded in the sonic languages of today, their performance channels an ancient vibrational lineage, connecting with ancestral sound makers who were attuned to the rhythms of the sun, moon, stars, and seasons. Human beings have always been deeply responsive to natural cycles.
Like a mandala, where the circle reveals itself as a spiral—always returning, but never to the exact same point—the Sonic Mandala musical experience spirals through motion. Refined signal patterns emerge through overtone-rich instrumentation. The groove becomes a threshold, shifting the listener from passive observation into active, even transcendent, participation. With open ears and an open mind, the sound spirals inward—toward a primal center—and outward into the cosmos. When this elevated state is shared among participants, it creates what mystics describe as resonance.
Vibe Ride thrives on the distinctive sonic voices of its players, interwoven with care and nuance into the compositions. Hu Vibrational merges elements of world music, electronica, and improvised jazz into something both funky and spiritual, intense and soothing.
Using signature techniques of organic orchestration, layered arrangement, and electronic processing, the compositions are sculpted from percussion, electronics, and ethereal textures. Rhythmic foundations drawn from diverse traditions serve not as endpoints, but as building blocks. As the saying goes, “Orchestration is the key.” In shaping the sound, the aim was to discover fresh ways of balancing structure and sonic color. As Don Cherry once said: “The swing is in the sound.”
The audiophile LP was carefully recorded, mixed, and mastered by James Dellatacoma—longtime engineer for both Bill Laswell and Rudolph—at Laswell’s Orange Studio.
“This crew artfully blends together to create a seamless tapestry of rhythm… the end results are mesmerizing. Hu Vibrational is all about communing with the groove spirits and creating worlds where earthy rhythms and other-worldly sounds are one.”
— Dan Bilawsky, All Music Guide
“You can be sure that when Adam Rudolph and an ensemble of breathtaking drummers get together mystical and wonderful things will happen.”
— Raul da Gama,
“A stunning effort, enjoyable and grows with repeated listening.”
— Stefan Wood, Freejazzcollective
A surefire Salsoul classic and comfortably one of the label's finest moments, the self-titled LP from The Strangers was originally released in that golden year of 1983 and is one of the greatest albums of the post-disco era. It’s one of Be With's favourite ever LPs and it's a complete honour to be giving it our reissue treatment.
Still strangely overlooked but not for much longer, The Strangers contains flawless tracks with truly top tier production and includes the eternal Paradise Garage favourite "Step Into My Dream."
Are they Strangers to us? Well, no, they shouldn't be. The Strangers were a US electronic-funk studio concept group comprising Edward "Tree" Moore, Howard King and Hubert Eaves III, all key members of Mtume and Gary Bartz NTU Troop and, in the case of Eaves, one half of D-Train.
Now I KNOW you're gonna dig this!
We kick off with the dope electro-funk of "Wanna Take Your Body" which features Gary Bartz on sax (!) and becomes more sensational and irresistible the longer it plays. The wonky super-bomb "Let Me Take You Home" has a punk-funk, post-Prince feel, driving and delicate all at the same time while "Show Me How You Like It" is pure FUNK, the groove just pure fire.
Side B is perfection. It kicks off with the NTS favourite "Love Rescue", a track so slick it positively SLAPS out the gate and, while it bangs throughout, the vocals and melodies elevate this to the status of EMOTIONAL POP.
Next up, "Step Out Of My Dream" swaggers forth, the undisputed masterpiece that was huge with the London DJs and UK Soul fraternity; it's not hard to see why. It's a gliding, smooth, soulful piece of once-in-a-lifetime magic.
MAIDEN is Laurine Frost's third instalment of the 'LENA' series - where the narrative conceptually revolves around the fictional musical journey of his imaginary daughter over the course of a series of albums. ‘MAIDEN' is deemed to be the most intense piece of the series yet, with the figure of the unstable, hesitant protagonist teetering between light and shadow. Dramatic depths and heights, often dark tones, composed chaos and rumbling polyrhythmia - somewhere far on the edge of jazz and rusty contemporary electronica.
*Mastered and cut by Stefan Betke at Scape Mastering
* 12” 180gr heavyweight vinyl, with printed inside-out cardboard cover
We're back with another Various Artist compilation featuring an all-star ec2a roster, old & new. This compilation was curated with the concept of every track being able to fit in one set. Features a varied selection of flavours from UK Garage to Breaks and Bassline to Techno. Whatever you need.. This compilation has you covered
The electronic producer Franz Kirmann returns to Bytes for his eighth solo album. The “Almadies” are long wooden boats used by Senegalese fishermen. It is also the name of the neighborhood where Kirmann grew up, in the suburbs of Dakar, Senegal, near the Atlantic Ocean. "These new compositions are the result of sound experiments conducted over the past few months and reflections on the concept of mind-constructed geographies," Kirmann explains. "The way memories and souvenirs shape an image of a place or country that is part reality, part fantasy, part cliché, yet also deeply personal. This experience is influenced by education, social background, history, and other socio-economic factors. " The ten tracks are crafted from collages of electronic sounds blended with field recordings from various places Kirmann has visited — from Dakar to the Caribbean, as well as London and Paris. His aim is to blur the line between electronically generated sounds and real soundscapes, creating music where it becomes difficult to distinguish the real from the constructed. All the sounds on the album were produced using synthesizers and field recordings. No drum machines, percussion or traditional acoustic instruments were used. Influences include Brian Eno and John Hassell’s Fourth World, Vol. 1: Possible Musics (1980), described by Hassell as "a unified primitive/futuristic sound combining features of world ethnic styles with advanced electronic techniques" , which also works in the context of Almadies. Another big influence was Ariel Kalma’s Le Temps Des Moissons (1975) as well as artists including O Yuki Conjugate and Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe to Susumu Yokota and Michael Banabila.
R.F.I. is the first collaboration between London-based drummer Andy Baxter (Robohands) and LA-based multi-instrumentalist Jack Barone. The EP focuses on Middle Eastern scales and features 100% analog instrumentation, including guitar, bass, synth, and drums. It was recorded using fully analog gear to achieve a warm, saturated sound. Trumpeter Cesar Apolinar Hernandez and vocalist Alya Olcan appear on tracks A1 and A2. The record's title references Radio Frequency Interference, and the B-side includes an etching of radio towers as a visual nod to that concept. R.F.I. was designed with a clear structure across its tracks and highlights the artists' shared interest in analog production and global musical influences.
With over 81,000 Spotify followers and nearly 10,000 vinyl records sold worldwide, Robohands has earned widespread acclaim, including support from BBC Radio 2's Jamie Cullum (Best in Jazz), Huey Morgan (Album and Beat of the Week), KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic, Soho Radio, and Paste Magazine. His music—an evolving blend of jazz, krautrock, and ambient—has landed on top editorial playlists such as Jazz Vibes, State of Jazz, and Mellow Morning. A prolific artist, Robohands has released five albums since 2018, beginning with his debut LP Green on Village Live Records. He has performed at leading international festivals including London Jazz Festival, Montreal Jazz Fest, and Waking Life in Portugal. Robohands' latest project sees him collaborating with LA-based composer and producer Jack Barone, known for his film scores and commercial work.
Alex Puddu returns to the origins of his first sound that launched him with the original soundtrack of The Golden Age Of Danish Pornography presenting us with a new work inspired by the music and soundtracks of hard and erotic films of the late seventies and early80s with the new album
“I Desideri di Sadie (Piaceri Tropicali)"
is the new concept album written, arranged, produced, performed and conceived by Alex Puddu, It is the first album of the erotic/hard series Sadie.
A heroic female character fantasized by Alex Puddu of a rich and charming young woman, sexy, strong, brave and free with a great spirit of adventure, always traveling around the world in search of new experiences in the erotic and dark world that surrounds her.
The music is inspired by the soundtracks of adult movies of the late Seventies and early Eighties.The story takes you into a journey set in the countries of South-East Asia and the Pacific islands, in exotic landscapes, among jungle, lush vegetation and enchanting tropical beaches. A magical trip among temptations, on the islands, to discover the beauty of the "Erotic World" of Alex Puddu
After a busy summer on the road, Silverlining launches Forgotten Chorus, a new imprint for deep, hypnotic and abstract body music. The idea was born at a festival, where low frequencies drifting through the natural filter of English woods prompted him to mentally fill the gaps of the higher registers. Three weeks later, he wrote ‘Salvaged Chimes (From the Rubble of Sound)’, an almost verbatim recreation of the track he’d imagined. For Silverlining, this moment of embracing discarded sound became emblematic of how overlooked voices, such as those of the oppressed and forgotten, can still resonate if we choose to listen differently.
This concept led to experimentation with flint-knapper John Lord and conceptual artist Antonia Beard, whose recordings he sampled of the ancient practice of striking flint, humanity's first technology. Those sounds were then cut and made into all the instruments, save for the TR-909, that comprise 'Attuned To Detune'. The EP’s lead track, ‘Folk Dust’, pushes high-tempo breakbeats through Silverlining’s own lens on UK broken techno, balancing raw energy with ethereal melodies.
Forgotten Chorus seeks to celebrate the beauty in sounds and stories that fall outside the dominant narrative. Its debut release, a fast-paced, three-track techno EP by Silverlining, embodies this spirit and marks another step in his evolving exploration of new sonic ground.
Helsinki based newcomer DJ Sofa debuts on Up Ya Archives Records with the release of 'Lionheart’, the title track to their forthcoming EP, landing on the 12th November 2025.
Drawing inspiration from pioneering duo Digital & Spirit, ‘Lionheart’ channels a moody, mysterious energy. Driven by an organic-meets-machine dub sensibility, the track weaves hypnotic chants and meditative basslines into a soundscape that’s both harsh and mesmerizing. Letting the amen break breathe, ‘Lionheart’ captures an emotional intensity that runs throughout the wider EP.
Rooted in a love for 90s and early 2000s jungle, DJ Sofa’s production pays homage to the era’s raw sound and spirit whilst pushing it forward. Conceptually, the record explores bravery, self-determination, and finding strength in uncertainty. It’s a personal statement of resilience and creative growth from an artist carving out their own path.
Despite operating under this alias for only a few years, DJ Sofa has already made waves with standout releases on Future Retro, with a Tim Reaper collaboration titled ‘Helsinki to London Connection’ and N4, Straight Up Breakbeat, and Ruff n Tuff. Alongside other statement releases which are reminiscent of nineties jungle and their childhood love of The Prodigy, their performances at iconic nights such as Rupture London have cemented their rising status in the scene.
Burgos and Page's sophomore album, A Long Short Story, is a conceptual journey through the rise and fall of a fleeting yet profound love—one that blossomed, thrived, and withered within the span of four seasons. Each track unfolds like a page torn from Johnny's mind, capturing every stage of the relationship's evolution in raw, chronological detail. From the euphoric highs of newfound passion to the crushing weight of unreciprocated love and the bittersweet process of healing, A Long Short Story weaves a sonic tapestry of grand emotions, immersing listeners in the beauty, pain, and impermanence of love.
Advanced Art was formed in Tampere, Finland, in 1985 by Jana, Pete, and Vince. Too young to be part of the first wave of Finnish groups inspired by German synth pioneers and New Romantics, they instead forged their own path and soon became pioneers themselves. For the next ten years, Advanced Art defined and dominated Finland’s small but growing electronic underground. They inspired a new generation of Finns to experiment with synthesizers, built an international cult following, and were deeply involved in the local scene—running clubs, organizing events, and performing at some of the very first warehouse parties in the country.
Although the line-up shifted over time, the group’s creative drive consistently came from the partnership between Jana, who supplied the voice and words, and Vince, who shaped the music with his machines. Together they defined the band’s distinctive blend of sharp electronics and lyrical vision.
After several cassette demos and two 7-inch singles, Advanced Art signed to Poko Rekords in 1991. The EPs Scar and Time raised their profile both at home and abroad, especially thanks to valuable exposure on MTV Europe’s 120 Minutes. Known for their perfectionism, they finally released their debut album Product in January 1993. On Product the line-up was Jana (lyrics, vocals), Vince (music, production), and Factor (percussion, studio work). Having moved through phases of synth pop, EBM, and industrial, the album showcased Vince’s vision of a unified sound and style more clearly than ever before.
Force followed in 1994, conceived as a multi-part concept album (Update / Live / Retro). Recorded with live percussionist PW joining Jana and Vince, it expanded on the groundwork of Product with new beats, ideas, and a sharper, more defined identity.
By 1995, exactly ten years after their founding, Jana and Vince decided to bring Advanced Art to a close on the band’s birthday, 13 October. Their run had been precise: one decade of creative output, ending with a legacy that laid foundations for Finland’s electronic scene.
Now, conveniently coinciding with the band’s 40th anniversary, Advanced Art present Forced Product. This double-LP set, fully remastered, features Product in its entirety, alongside the Update and Retro sections of Force, plus additional EP tracks and remixes recorded between 1991 and 1994 at “Audible Art” – less a studio than a concept, existing wherever machines and people met.
Limited to 450 copies, Forced Product comes in a gatefold sleeve with poster and sticker, offering a definitive document of Finland’s pioneering electronic cult heroes — a band that helped invent their country’s scene and left a lasting influence far beyond it.
The Wire: his most satisfying collection to date Resident Advisor: return to minimalist roots on a noise rock-influenced new live record Support from: Barnt, Ben UFO, Vladimir Ivkovic, Boris, OPTIMO 180 gr. colored vinyl pressing incl. art poster and sleeve - limited edition of 50 copies available via distribution Philipp Gorbachev is back at it with a new conceptual album. KGC Radio is all about returning to music-making roots - choices are raw, minimalist and different from the sonic industry environment. The flow is kept simple but deadly, using only the bare essentials to blow up the rave and festival scenes: analog synths, drum machines, a mic, and some sick percussion. The whole album was recorded in one take, like some kinda secret radio wave you stumble on in the middle of the night. Catch it, and you're diving headfirst into a maze of vibes and meanings you ain't seen coming. On the visual side, KGC Radio is a collab with Zhanna Maliti, this dope Moscow-based artist and photographer. Her one-of-a-kind style and imagery are a perfect match for the music, bringing the whole vibe to life. Sounds Like: Underground Resistance, Daniel Maloso, NIN, Broken English Club Mastering by: Beau Thomas
'in a fugue state' finds pedal-steel guitar maestro Joe Harvey-Whyte collaborating with tape loop sound scientist Paul Cousins on a warped ambient excursion into the subconscious. Originally written and recorded in one night, the eight tracks of hypnotic electro-acoustic music explore the concept of memory and time.
The duo study how we remember and misremember things; forming an imperfect reorganisation of time, events and emotional states. This album exists at a cross- section where loss, confusion, trauma and dissociation meet moments of joy, healing, acceptance and groundlessness
Bruce Springsteen's statewide ode Nebraska '82 is given ample extra space with a new expanded edition, as his 1982 acoustic masterwork is cast in renewed light by its use the forthcoming biopic Deliver Me From Nowhere, which documents the conception of the original album. Now with an extra 17 solo outtakes, including demos of 'Born In the USA' , 'Pink Cadillac', and 'Downbound Train', as well as the fabled Electric Nebraska sessions with the E Street Band, the new dubs illuminate the breadth of Springsteen's vision for a reconciled America, where Springsteen found much inspiration in the folk, literature and short stories of the heartland, particularly in those of Flannery O'Connor, childhood and young-adult memories. Notably, it was deemed by PopMatters to beo one of the first every DIY records made by a major artist, and soon sparked a DIY revolution by folk musicians the globe over.
This album is not just a homage — it’s a gentle act of remembrance. A way of tuning in to what Lucier showed us: that listening is an art in itself. A meditation on resonance, memory, and the quiet power of pure sound. Or to quote Alvin Lucier himself: “I guess I’m trying to help people hold shells up to their ears, and listen to the ocean again.”
The influence of Alvin Lucier’s work on acoustic phenomena and the interplay between sound and space is difficult to overstate. His legacy continues to echo through the work of countless composers and sound artists today. Lucier’s music is marked by a sense of childlike wonder and sonic simplicity - shifting our perception from what we hear to how we listen.
At the heart of his compositions lies the sine wave: the purest, most elemental form of sound. Clarinetist Dries Tack pays tribute to this master of minimalism with an album centered around two works Lucier composed as intimate ‘In Memoriams’ for friends. Both pieces explore a single, elegant idea: the interaction between an instrumental tone and a sine wave.
Out of that interaction, ‘beatings’ emerge — a pulsating rhythm that accelerates or decelerates as the waves draw nearer or drift apart. Though built on the same concept, the two works are like mirrored reflections of one another: In Memoriam Jon Higgins, the sine wave glides in a slow glissando while the clarinet holds steady tones. In Memoriam Stuart Marshall, it’s the clarinet that dances around a fixed sine wave.
Dries Tack is a clarinetist specializing in contemporary performance practices. He performs with ensembles such as Nadar Ensemble, Curious Chamber Players, and Ensemble Fractales. As co-artistic director of the GLoW Collective, he explores collaborative practices across artistic disciplines in the broadest sense. In addition to his ensemble work, Dries curates solo projects that offer fresh perspectives on existing repertoire or give rise to entirely new works at the intersection of composition and improvisation.
Celebrated DJ, producer, and sonic explorer Auntie Flo (aka Brian d’Souza) — described by The Guardian as “one of global club culture’s most vital voices” — returns this autumn with ‘Birds of Paradise’: a rhythmically rich, emotionally resonant, and ecologically grounded new album, out 23 October via his A State of Flo imprint. The album will be launched with a special live show at London’s Jazz Caféon the same day.
‘Birds of Paradise’ draws on d’Souza’s global club experience while deepening his connection with the natural world. Built around classic Roland drum machines and iconic vintage synths, the record is a joyful, body-driven celebration of rhythm and movement, but one grounded in ecology and place. The album’s spiritual centre lies in Saligao, Goa, near d’Souza’s maternal homeland where his Auntie Florie (where the name is derived from) is buried. Where he found his ‘paradise’ nearby, staying in a converted fisherman’s hut and recorded dawn choruses from a riverside studio overlooking mangrove-lined waters. Environmental textures from Japan also make their way into the music, creating a sonic map rooted in lived experience.
“Birds of Paradise is about finding beauty and rhythm in a chaotic world. It’s about listening, to nature, to our bodies, to what’s real. It’s a reminder that dance music can be both joyful and grounded.” The album blends Afro-Latin polyrhythms with Western 4/4 patterns, fusing instinctive, dancefloor energy with field recordings that anchor the music in the earth. Described by d’Souza as “tropical with a few deeper edges, a balance of light and dark.”
The new record follows the acclaimed ‘In My Dreams, I’m A Bird and I’m Free’, which earned 4 stars and Global Album of the Month from The Guardian, featured in Disco Pogo’s Albums of the Year, and received support from Luke Una, Resident Advisor, Juno, Bandcamp, Mixmag, DJ Mag, Electronic Sound, The Skinny, Beatport, Ban Ban Ton Ton, and more. The album’s launch show at Omeara London sold out. Other recent projects include the ‘Outernational Dance’ EP on cult label Multi Culti, event series ‘Plants Can Dance (and Mushroom’s Sing)’ which explore plant and fungi bioelectricity as a means of live composition, and ‘Black Beacon’, a haunting cassette release and soundwalk series recorded on the abandoned military island of Orford Ness. There, d’Souza explored the eerie intersection of nature, decay, and deep time, gaining special access to restricted buildings to capture long-form soundscape compositions.
Alongside his production work, d’Souza has emerged as a leading voice at the intersection of sound and science. He curated music for Imperial College’s groundbreaking psychedelic therapy trials, developing six-phase playlists to guide participants through psilocybin-assisted sessions treating conditions such as fibromyalgia and gambling addiction. His five-hour ambient set at Watching Trees Festival, selected as Resident Advisor’s Mix of the Day, continued this exploration into the therapeutic potential of sound in altered states. He also spent six months collaborating with BBC producer Tom Raine on a documentary for BBC World Service, centred on a two-week journey through Kenya and Goa. There, he performed live, led plant music workshops, and joined a deep listening retreat rooted in field recording. “I realised my studio isn’t just four soundproofed walls filled with instruments — it’s the journey itself. It’s the people I meet, the natural world I listen to, and the connections I feel.”
This same commitment to deep listening fuels his live concept Plants Can Dance, a project that combines the biosonification of plants and fungi with modular synthesis. The next event, on 14 September at Hideout Hackney Wick, will feature performances by Stella Z and Lapalace, with d’Souza and resident Lamine playing live alongside responsive plants in collaboration with Repot Hackney Wick and the label Music To Watch Seeds Grow By. “I’ve spent years exploring how electronic music can connect us, not just to each other, but to the natural world. Whether it’s translating mushroom data into melody or capturing birdsong at dawn, it’s about finding resonance across bodies, ecosystems, and machines.”
Rooted in his Goan and Kenyan heritage and shaped by years of travel and collaboration, d’Souza’s creative mission is simple: to reconnect the electronic world with the natural one. Through A State of Flo, he continues to blur the boundaries between club culture, sound art, and ecological awareness.
WVLT is the newest sonic addition from WNDFRM (Portland-based, Tim Westcott), an album of eight distinct explorations exploring the many facets of experimental IDM.
Tim Westcott’s practice is rooted in an acute, nearly forensic attention to sound. Subtle tones, sculpted drones, and lean percussive gestures, always pursued with a patient ear and obsession with sound design.
With previous releases on Prologue, Home Normal, and Dragon’s Eye Recordings, and several live performances at Mutek, a new album from Tim is a rare yet welcome occurrence. The conceptual approach for WVLT began in 2021, mixing synths with drum machines and granular processing. Lightly arced structures slip between gates of rhythm, shifting pulses, translucent washes, and disquieting residue. There’s a precision to the hesitation and an insistence in the space between notes, a deft balance of raw improvisation and sculpted quietude.
An exercise in immediacy and response, each track builds and unspools, like form in fleeting motion, driven by the moment’s tonal contrasts, micro‑rhythmic interplay, and slight gestures that alter entire planes of listening. It’s minimal without sparsity, intense without density.
Men in Love is a collaborative concept album by Irvine Welsh and The Sci-Fi Soul Orchestra, exploring the complexities of love, relationships, and the human condition. The album blends classic Motown and disco influences with contemporary electronic dance production, creating a unique and powerful sound that is both nostalgic and fresh.
From soaring anthems to intimate ballads, Men in Love takes the listener on a journey through the highs and lows of romance, celebrating the power of connection, vulnerability, and the enduring search for love in a chaotic world.
The album will be released concurrently with Welsh's new novel, also titled Men in Love. The book is a sequel to Welsh's seminal work, Trainspotting, and continues the story of Renton, Sick Boy, Spud, Begbie, and other beloved characters. The album serves as a sonic companion to the novel, with its themes, lyrics, and musical atmosphere reflecting the experience and inner turmoil of its characters. The album also introduces The Sci-Fi Soul Orchestra, a unique musical entity with their own unique music releases in the pipeline
Avenue 66 opens Series 33 with a Düsseldorf–Lyon connection.
Jonquera first encountered Tolouse Low Trax a decade ago in a small Lyon club. That night, his hypnotic slow-motion set was cut short, yet it left a lasting imprint. The Düsseldorf artist’s mechanical psychedelia, and the influence of the Salon collective have been a constant touchstone for
Jonquera, even inspiring playful “Düsselcore” edits in his Tera Octe days.
After several LPs, Jonquera returns to the EP format with Cause & Utility / Tales of Decay. Built from improvised drum, bass, and vocal recordings, the tracks are reworked through heavy looping and acoustic treatment, a method inspired by his recent live shows. Cause & Utility revolves around the
abstract idea of two dogs as concepts, enriched by the earthy drone of a hurdy-gurdy. Tales of Decay paints a surreal image of a house losing its rooms like a body shedding parts.
The MPC sorcerer Tolouse Low Trax, aka Detlef Weinrich, brings his Düsseldorf circuitry and autobahn funk with two tracks of pure rhythm apparition. Amp is a quintessential Tolouse Low Trax cut, built on concealed rhythmic structures, swampy bass lines, and fragments of radio and voice
samples. The piece extends his exploration of how art can mirror the flow of inner-city traffic; drifting without a clear climax. Solid Rock echoes this idea, first conceived as a variation on Amp where particles repeat themselves. The result is distinct yet conceptually linked, evoking the
density of a crowded neighboring city: beginning in apparent disarray before locking into an abstract, hypnotic funk.
Series 33 begins with the convergence of Jonquera’s looping experiments and Tolouse Low Trax’s mechanical psychedelia, a dialogue between Lyon and Düsseldorf.
"Crisis Del Nuevo Siglo" is the first installment of a conceptual EP produced by Impakto 83.
Inspired by the rhythmic harshness of new beat and the mechanical of EBM, this work reflects the industrial impact of a fractured era — the crisis of a future past.
A distorted criticism to the age of mass production.
It's time for a new compilation in our house and we have some good music to fill it up. This collection of talent is going to be served in two flavours, the physical one a four cut vinyl EP featuring previously only digital tracks and the second one a ten track selection from our back catalogue featuring some of the best producers in our family.
Asier Morillas ( A4 ) is probably one of the most original sci fi specialists out there and he's been part of our sound since his first steps into production. His track Kynosoura is a perfect example of hi tech jazz.
David Reina is also a science fiction specialist, also featured with a full length work in our catalogue, our pick for this collection is Autoscopy, a mental and complex sonic voyage into the best outer space techno.
From Mod 21 we have selected one of his most played tools, Escalation of Violence, the perfect hypnotic drill to boost your mixes properly.
Vertical Spectrum brings us to hyperspace in BALN006 combining a distorted groove with floating alien bleeps in a sci-fi techno masterpiece.
This four cuts will be pressed on wax, let's talk about the next eight:
From his Idle Ep we have chosen Temudo's Spiritual Song, a merciless floor weapon heavily tested on the best clubs and big stages out there.
Next comes BiiBii by Null Forms approaching a more abstract and sci-fi terrain, maintaining the danceable pulse and well-managed distortion. The result is more mental and synthetic. A kind of controlled chaos.
Axial Rotation from Translate starts with a fast paced groove, heavily bass fuelled with a continuous synth line moving across the basement. All sound elements are constantly mutating and evolving although the mood is linear and loopy.
Eight cut comes from Dutch veteran Dimi Angelis, the third from his
A Journal of Impossible Things EP from 2023. The hypnotic bleep penetrates your mind while the dirty sound of the old drum machine sets the pace for your feet. Special mention to the occasional resonant sweep that appears from time to time creating the required tension.
On the ninth, Ruman's Lizard from Where The Ring Ends LP, mental and hypnotic, perfect for adding tension to a mix, again heavily tested on the best dancefloors extensively.
Closing the release, CONCEPTUAL with Red Sun a magnificent closing anthem, no more words needed here.
With this collection you get a tiny snapshot of the sonic palette of Warm Up Recordings sound. Check our full catalogue to get the proper picture.
The 7:45s are an original soul collective from Manchester, UK – the brainchild of songwriter and bassist Sam Flynn. Inspired by the house bands of soul labels from Motown to Big Crown, the young collective spotlights guest vocalists such as Martin Connor and Nicole Battick. Named after 7-inch vinyl, The 7:45s write snappy singles that blend the vintage feel of rare groove with the songcraft of perfect pop.The 7:45s have been played on BBC Radio 6 Music by Craig Charles, Stuart Maconie and Chris Hawkins and on Jazz FM by Simon Phillips.
A concept album for the soul, Spinning is a retro-soul love story. Side A is sunshine soul about the dizziness of an on-off relationship, as heard in the Charles Bradley-inspired opener 'The Way That I Love You'. Side B is nocturnal. Head-spinning heartbreak is the subject of rare groove-influenced 'The Writing's on the Wall' while dancing to a new dawn is the theme of Prince-inspired disco number 'We Will Be Friends'. The album also features a reimagination of The Beatles' 'Don't Let Me Down'.
Sechs legendäre Trance-Tracks aus den 90ern & 2000ern – in den erfolgreichen Talla 2XLC Reworks – auf exklusiv farbiger, streng limitierter Vinyl!
Mit seinem Label Technoclub Retro! lässt Talla 2XLC unvergessene Trance-Klassiker mit viel Liebe zum Detail kraftvoll und emotional neu aufleben.
Techno Club Retro Vol. 1 ist eine Zeitreise durch die Trance-Geschichte, präsentiert durch die ersten sechs erfolgreichen Veröffentlichungen des Labels. Perfekt für Liebhaber, DJs und Sammler gleichermaßen ein Statement auf Vinyl!
Side A:
• Dito – Shadows (Talla 2XLC Remix): Das Original aus 2000 – melancholisch und hypnotisch – erhält eine treibende Dynamik mit Gänsehautmomenten.
• Triple Concept – Tonetwister (Talla 2XLC Remix): Von 1998, bekannt für das ikonische NASA-Sample. Der Remix liefert eine wuchtige Bassline und modernes Clubfeeling.
• Alpha Breed – Epic Future (Talla 2XLC Remix): Ralphie B’s Meisterwerk von 1999, jetzt mit psytrancigen Akzenten – energetisch und atmosphärisch zugleich.
Side B:
• Talla 2XLC – Follow The Meteor: Ein Remake des Vectrex-Hits von 2004 – zwischen mystischem Drive und Adrenalinschub, perfekt für die Peak-Time.
• Plastic Angel – Schatten 2021 (Talla 2XLC & Para X Remix): „Schatten“ von 2001, neu aufgelegt von zwei Trance-Veteranen – emotional, druckvoll und voller Tiefe.
• Traveller – Bright Sign (Talla 2XLC Remix): Hardtrance trifft Psy – der 2002er Kulttrack bekommt fette Breaks, bunte Strings und kompromisslose Energie
Lucy Duncombe and Feronia Wennborg compose a modern symphony for virtual choir on 'Joy, Oh I Missed You', muddling sound poetry with Nuno Canavarro and ‘Systemische'-style machine-damaged surrealism. Like a mashup of Lee Gamble's 'Models', Akira Rabelais' 'Spellewauerynsherde' and Robert Ashley's timeless 'Automatic Writing’ screwed to perfection.
Duncombe and Wennborg have been chewing over ‘Joy, Oh I Missed You’ for four long years, working their process until they were "queasily intimate" with their arsenal of artificial voice tools. Tracing the history of the technology, from voice synthesisers and chatbots to AI voice analysis tools, the duo experiment relentlessly to develop a digital-age response to IRL extended vocal technique - think François Dufrêne, Yoko Ono or Phew. Less interested in replicating human sounds exactly, they instead test how various tools might cough up their own idiosyncratic tics as they stretch and stutter through attempts to mimic their "fleshware" counterparts.
Duncombe's got prior form here, most recently re-synthesising her voice on the brilliantly oily 'Sunset, She Exclaims' 45 for Modern Love, following a stunner for 12th Isle in 2021. Wennborg brings along experience from her tenure as one half of microsound duo soft tissue, whose 2022 LP 'hi leaves' (Students of Decay) was a haptic treasure. These approaches mesh remarkably well on their first collaborative full-length, with Duncombe's eerie bio-electronic incantations providing the ideal foil for Wennborg's carbonated hardware processes. It's not completely clear where the human voice ends and the zeroes and ones begin on 'Your Lips, Covering Your Teeth', as rolling cyborg syllables tumble over OS-startup womps and surprisingly svelte outcroppings of glassy, synthetic glitches. The music is surprisingly mannered, a sonic reflection of the cover, where a mouth is pixellated until only colour swatches remain. Duncombe and Wennborg trace the gradual erosion of their voices, leaning into the chaos as their various tools veer off into unique patterns of failure.
What sounds like a far-off, ghosted folk rendition (we're reminded of the Icelandic laments that Rabelais chewed up on 'Spellewauerynsherde') is offset by gnarled, bitcrushed machine faults and pneumatic lip smacks on the brilliant 'Residue', and on 'Brushed My Hair', the duo massage the voice until it sounds like a flute. Assembling stutters and barks and sighs into a celestial chorus alongside time-stretched moans, they create a levitational atmosphere on 'Smell It', freezing the energy from bizarre pitch steps to configure a zonked vocal ensemble.
'Joy, Oh I Missed You’ is an album that, like its source material, constantly morphs, testing the boundaries of its concept repeatedly without bubbling over into conceptual goo. In fact, it's remarkably euphonious, even at its most theoretically abrasive; Duncombe and Wennborg wring out uniquely angelic formations through a process of trial and error that packs a surprising, hefty emotional punch.
Iter, Calgolla's latest concept album, is an intense and layered sonic journey into the contradictions of the contemporary human condition.
With a musical language that combines alt-rock, post-rock, post-punk, spoken word and forays into performance art, the group constructs a complex work that defies any simple definition.
The record deals with themes such as migration, inner transformation, social alienation, ecological collapse and a sense of loss, layering lyrics and sounds into a coherent but fragmented narrative, like the time it tells.
The lyrics are taken and adapted from Viaticus, a graphic poem written by the singer together with visual artist Giacomo Della Maria, reshaped to adhere to tense, dense and visionary soundscapes.
The nine tracks of Iter thus form a journey that crosses different languages, styles and moods, like stages of an initiatory path that reflects the precariousness of modern life.
An album that refuses to offer answers, but invites immersion, surrender and transformation through listening. It is a meditative, multi-layered exploration of transformation, perception and resilience in the fragmented reality of modern life. With nine tracks and several languages, Iter (‘journey’ in Latin) traverses internal and geopolitical, sacred and profane landscapes, layering spoken words and sound collages into a deeply expressive experience. The guitars weave textures that are now ethereal and now abrasive, while the rhythm section builds a pulsating framework that supports and amplifies the evocative atmosphere of each piece. Iter does not merely recount the decay of our time, but attempts to bring it to life, immersing the listener in an emotional flow that blurs the boundaries between dream and nightmare, between meditation and chaos. An album that refuses to offer answers, but invites immersion, abandon and transformation through listening.
Veteran Japanese electronic music producer, AKIO NAGASE, a leading player in the Kansai underground music scene since the late 1990s teams up with Yukino Inamine, a gifted and young female singer from Okinawa who magically mixes traditional Ryukyu (Okinawa) folk songs with her sanshin (Okinawan Shamisen) playing into the modern age, to create this wonderful collaborative album, Yugafu ai KAJI. This album is set to be released on GLOCAL RECORDS, a record store/ record label run by Genta Minowa, an ex-staff at the record store, Disc Shop Zero in Shimokitazawa, Tokyo and who still continues to introduce a great selection of dubby, club music from his HQ in Harajuku.
AKIO NAGASE regularly organised parties at his own venue, as well as ran a record store of the same name while actively being part of the Kansai scene at legendary clubs such as Tsuru no Ma, Sound Channel, etc., the best of what was offered in the Kansai underground dance scene in the 2000s.
As an artist, he released his own productions out of labels such as Sound Channel and RUDIMENTS run by Minowa. His album, Make Dub was released in 2003 out of the label, Sound Channel featured an innovative, techno meets dancehall track, Dance Hall King which connected techno, acid house with reggae and dub. This album is an undiscovered gem whose sound still emulates freshness and originality today (my wish is for it to be reissued on vinyl!) After a brief hiatus of releasing music, he released the EP, Delusion out of Chillmountain Records, a label run by his friend, Ground in 2018 and at his own leisurely pace, he has been slowly but surely releasing material that oozes originality, expressed through a robust acid sound and a variety of elements such as afro and Ryukyu folk music that is then incorporated into the medium of dub. Recently, he has also started to gain international attention by releasing original material and remixes out of labels such as the UK label, Emotional Especial, etc.
For this album, NAGASE teams up with Yukino Inamine who brings her own distinctive singing and sanshin playing magic into this collaboration and they fuse electronic music sounds with Ryukyu folk songs to create this wonderfully imaginative album that has no precedence or equal. Apart from the song, Ishikawa Koiuta, all other songs are covers of Ryukyu folk standards that were handpicked by NAGASE from the repertoire of songs that Inamine regularly performs live. They met up when NAGASE was commissioned to remix one of her original compositions, Miyagi Kaigan that was released in 2023 and that evolved into a collaboration with a concept that mixed Inamine singing Ryukyu folk standards with a backing tracks produced by NAGASE. Whenever she went to the the Kansai area, she would work on the basic track material created by NAGASE at the dub master of Osaka, Soulfire’s studio, HAV who would then additionally edit her takes to create the finishing tracks.
This album, Yugafu ai KAJI opens with Shirahamabushi, a track that slowly builds with an interesting mix of slow acid techno and sanshin and then moves onto the easy-going electro dub of Tinsagu nu hana (it is actually a cover of the track of the same title that first appeared in the label sampler, Comuni ó n Especial that was released on Emotional Especial. NAGASE initially wanted to feature Inamine on vocals for this track but due to scheduling issues, it did not happen but with good fortune, the new version of this track is now included in this album). A side closes with the optimistic Balearic sounds of Tsuki nu Kaisha that converges immaculately with slow-mo steppers. It is also worth noting that the person who introduced NAGASE to Inamine was the Okinawa dub master, HARIKUYAMAKU. They met at a concert held by both him & Yukino Inamine hosted by BUN BUN THE MC at the venue, RAGGA CHANNEL. From this encounter, this album came into fruition and they also asked HARIKUYAMAKU to produce an earthy, traditional rootsy, dub version of Tsuki nu Kaisha that is included as the 3rd track on the B Side.
Ashimizubushi, the track that magically blends old school Chicago house ala TRAX with Ryukyu folk music starts off the B side and it carries on to an uplifting track with a Skaouse (ska + house) feel, Hounen Ondo. Inserted after HARIKUYAMAKU’s dub of Tsuki nu Kaisha, this album closes out with the song, ‘Ishikawa Koi Uta’, the only song written by Inamine who said that she wrote it after falling in love with chill-out music. It is an ambient dub track with a collage like flavour, reminiscent of early The Orb (remixed by Mad Professor) and the latter half of the track finishes off with a message presented by Masao Itokazu (her uncle) who received tutelage from the prior owner of her sanshin that Inamine plays, Moritomo Inamine (her grandfather).
Incidentally, the album title, YUGAFU ai Kaji is derived from an auspicious word from Okinawa, Yugafu which means fruitful year, happiness, prosperity and ai (indigo) is a word that Yukino found inspiration few years ago (she wears a Okinawan indigo clothing called kinonuno in the front cover of this album).
The unique indigo colouring produced by nature overlaps with the unique charm of the human personality, and she wanted to present that current along with the music so the name was integrated to ‘indigo wind’, and the two were connected to form the album title, ‘YUGAFU ai Kaji’.
The photo of the front cover was taken by a young, Uchinaanunishie—- (meaning a boy from Okinawa) 17 year old photographer named Ratio and the designer of this album is Anmonaito who is a childhood friend of Inamine who also did the artwork for her album, Miyagi Kaigan. And the mastering and cutting of this album was done by Rei Taguchi.
The cosmology existing in Yukino Inamine’s singing is fully amplified by AKIO NAGASE’s spacey, abundant with many ideas, dance machine beat~ambient music and all of these elements are organically linked by the adhesive effect of dub.
London-based producer, vocalist, and DJ System Olympia is set to unveil her latest project, M3 Opera,
a five-track EP that fuses her signature sensual synth soundscapes with a bold conceptual twist.
Dropping on April 25th 2025 via her own Okay Nature Records, the EP features a unique collaboration with five distinct female vocalists, each lending their voice to a standalone "act" in this sonic drama.
Inspired by the sleek power of the BMW M3 and the theatrical grandeur of opera, M3 Opera reimagines the EP format as a multi-act narrative.
Each song accelerates through a different emotional gear—romance, tension, liberation—while the lush pads, gritty drums, and dreamy melodies System Olympia is known for provide the horsepower. "This is about motion and drama," System Olympia explains. "The M3 is that late-night drive, the pulse of the road. The opera is the story unfolding with every voice, every act."
The EP showcases an all-female lineup of vocalists, each bringing their own flavour to the journey. From sultry confessions to soaring crescendos, the tracks weave together a tapestry of feminine energy that’s both intimate and expansive—think *Delta of Venus* meets horsepower under green neon lights.
Following the success of 2024’s *Sanctified* EP with Working Men’s Club and her acclaimed NTS Radio residency, M3 Opera solidifies System Olympia’s reputation as a visionary who blends retro-futuristic
sounds with raw emotion. The EP promises to be a ride worth taking, whether cruising the streets or losing yourself on the dance floor.
Swimming Paul's first album is available again as a new edition.
In the vibrant city of London, a talented French producer named Swimming Paul made his mark. While he had already spent several years producing music for others, Swimming Paul felt a strong calling to embark on his own creative project—one that would redefine the concept of dance music and infuse it with meaning.
Paul drew inspiration from the early days of house music, recognizing it as more than just a genre. It represented a cultural movement that united people from diverse backgrounds. Motivated by this spirit, Swimming Paul sought to create music that not only made people dance but also brought them together and conveyed powerful messages.
With each composition, Paul approached his work as an artist would approach a blank canvas. He poured his heart and soul into every beat, melody, and rhythm, meticulously crafting a sound that blended elements from various genres while bearing his own unique touch. His music pulsated with the infectious energy of a crowded dance floor, yet it also possessed the ability to evoke deep emotions and provoke introspection.
Swimming Paul’s vision extended far beyond mere entertainment. He aspired to establish a space where people could connect, express themselves, and find solace in the universal language of music. Every track he produced served as an invitation to embrace the present moment, to let go of inhibitions, and to discover the transformative power of music.
Dutch maestro Kettel (Reimer Eising) is back on Madrid's Analogical Force with Inmate Shuffle, his first full EP for the label since 2017's Alacasa (AF008). This release features five tracks straight from the heart of Reimer's universe, serving as a heartfelt reaffirmation of his unique identity. Kettel's artistry is a testament to staying true to oneself. Artists like Reimer are not bound by fleeting trends or rigid genres; instead, he carves his own paths, constantly reinventing his sound with honesty and passion. This is why his material is reviewed again and again and serves as a clear reference for many. While Dubio (2025), his recent full-length album inspired by the soundtrack of the acclaimed puzzle game of the same name, explored cinematic and conceptual landscapes, Inmate Shuffle takes us back to the playful, melodic, and rhythmically rich territory that first captivated his devoted audience. Five tracks, five parties. Inmate Shuffle will resonate in your head for a long time. MUST.
The third album by Lucca Leeloo titled “SAKAMOTO” features a unique blend of futuristic and retro-inspired music, drawing heavily from synth-pop and Italo disco influences. Thematically, “SAKAMOTO” explores the concept of searching and navigating life’s challenges, with a particular emphasis on personal growth and self-discovery.
The album was produced in collaboration with Italoconnection, known for their expertise in electronic and Italo-disco music, adding a retro yet futuristic vibe to the work.
Brand new label Break The Future, intelligent music for rave enthusiasts. A new concept, vinyl label, using our original artist roster and originators in rave culture to remix modern electronic music with rave aesthetic the way they did back then. First up is label head UR2wo with his emo-breaks rave banger and a killer moving shadow remix from non-other than Blame. Following releases will see the likes of Nookie & Ray Keith stepping up on remix duties of originals from Nathan Cable (Tenth Chapter) & Richie Blacker & many more…
Drum Major
this conceptual production from new klan member Nico Babylon creates a hypnotic electronic blueprint focused on vintage synths and syncopated movement of rhythmic dimensions and craftsmanship.
plainly said..this is the next level of jakbeat moving forward!
This Nasty Possession
The Jak collaborates with Nico on this uber old school formula from the days of chicago underground in the mid 80s along the timeline of gherkin/gene hunt era. everything u hear on this tune was created by hand…
No samples were taken!
Budapest based independent concept label Blue Sun celebrates its first anniversary with their second VA cassette, showcasing artists from the local underground and/or electronic music scene, along with some international guests.
Bound together by an aesthetic rooted in the "listening" culture, the release features mostly downtempo tracks with a colorful palette of genres like ambient, trip-hop, jazz, experimental electronica, new wave and even modern classical music. With a contemplative, wandering feel, it shifts the focus from music consumption at dancefloors to the listening-at-home experience.
Just as on the first VA (BLSN001VA) there are no ‘A’ or ‘B’ sides on this release. Instead the label uses colors to distinguish them, largely based on the mood of the tracks. The ‘orange side’ covers a more upbeat line of music, while ‘blue side’ takes us on a more introverted, experimental journey.
Curated with a ‘circular listening concept’ by the founders of the label, the tracks are sorted in such a specific order that they are designed to take the listener on an endless auditory loop - wherever the journey begins.
Mary Yuzovskaya unveils the 'The More You Know' remix EP on her vinyl-only Monday Off imprint, releasing 6th June 2025. Featuring reworks from Spain's ORBE, 90s US Techno legend Mike Parker, Judas Records' JUDAS, and Duna founder CONCEPTUAL.
First up, Token and Mote-Evolver artist and Orbe Records boss ORBE remixes 'Ittiologia', maintaining the original's hypnotism by amplifying its eerie soundscapes for a loopy, deep space trip. JUDAS, shrouded in mystery yet known for his self-released EPs on his eponymous label and releases on ARTS, then revisits 'Micologia', completely reworking its tripped-out sequences into short bursts of droning synth work.
Tresor, Semantica, and Prologue's Mike Parker also provides a version of 'Micologia', with the US Techno lynchpin slowing down its rhythm while its weighted synthlines bubble up between its kicks and rides. Closing out this remix package, Italy's CONCEPTUAL reworks 'Ittiologia', building tension via the original's dark and shadowy atmospheres but switching up its low-end for an electric, late-night feel.
Mary Yuzovskaya is a storyteller. Through delicate, masterful curation and a deep knowledge of experimental, trippy Techno, she weaves together sonic journeys - with 'The More You Know - Remixes' making for another excellent addition to her Monday Off label.
»White Noise« is a cooperation project between raster-media and the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics. Artistic sound projects generated in the context of the scientific research institute will appear at irregular intervals. The themes and questions of empirical aesthetics research are taken up, questioned or challenged in very different ways. »White Noise« is conceived as an audio archive of the MPIEA artists in residence which records the artistic works on vinyl and documents the respective concepts and working methods in text form.
Victioria Keddie’s »Pshal P’shaw« (white noise #002) is a multimedia exploration delving into phonetic expression’s auditory and rhythmic nuances of phonetic expressions through an amalgamation of text, sound, video, data, and customized learning software. Drawing inspiration from the painter and architectural theorist Hermann Finsterlin who made speculative architectural renderings, the project originated during a residency at the Max Planck Institute of Empirical Aesthetics in Frankfurt in 2023.
The project’s engagement with the sonic landscape of the eight diphthongs in US English, documented through recorded sessions at EEG labs with participants of diverse international backgrounds, is not just a technical analyses. The applied script for the recording session, infused with a contemporary Western US dialect, ventures beyond, exploring the primal essence of phonetic expression and its impact on the oral landscape of mouth, throat, and tongue.
This work focuses on the spoken aspect of language: the art of oration, conversation, and mimicry. It reflects the beauty of our perpetual change, speaking directly to our humanity and the raw, tender moments of existence. It embraces the awkward, beautiful and vulnerable essence of our shared human experience.
Victoria Keddie is a multidisciplinary artist delving into sound, video, installation, and performance. Her work uncovers hidden narratives within ordinary artifacts and spaces, emphasizing their role in shaping our collective story. The examination of acoustic phenomena and language is a recurring theme in her artistic work. Keddie’s current projects navigate the acoustic complexity of language and dialects.
For over a decade, Keddie was co-director of E.S.P. TV, exploring the televisual medium for performance and sound. Keddie has performed and exhibited internationally. Recent fellowships include the NYSCA/NYFA for Music/Sound (2022), the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics (2023), and the Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, Sound Art and Experimental Music Fellowship (2024).
»White Noise«, 40 p. magazine English/German, vinyl LP, cardboard box
The album "THE ENTITY" is an esoteric-horror concept composed of 12 tracks (plus one bonus track) dedicated to The
Entity, the central figure of the DEATH SS project. Its literary inspirations range from Aleister Crowley—who sought to
free mankind by awakening its artistic genius—to characters by Hogg and Stevenson, who delve into the dark side of
human nature. It features figures such as Jack the Ripper, Walter Sickert, Cimiteria, and others, all deeply connected to
the band’s mythology. Produced by Tom Dalgety, renowned for his work with Ghost, The Cult, Rammstein, and more.
When you’re running a label, a demo occasionally comes across your desk that makes you reconsider everything you thought your label was all about. For Balmat, such was the case with this stunning album from Stephen Vitiello, Brendan Canty, and Hahn Rowe. It sounds like nothing we’ve released so far—and that very otherness opened up a whole new world of possibilities for us.
Fans of ambient, experimental electronic music, and sound art will be familiar with Vitiello, a New York native, long based in Virginia, who has collaborated with a cross-generational list of greats: Taylor Deupree, Steve Roden, Lawrence English, Tetsu Inoue, Nam June Paik, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Pauline Oliveros, and many more. On labels like 12k, Room40, and Sub Rosa, he has explored a wide range of minimalism, microsound, lowercase, ambient, improv, and other styles. But this album is something different. It may begin in ambient-adjacent territory, but it quickly veers off, and it just keeps zigzagging, taking on elements of krautrock, post-punk, dub, and the groove-heavy interplay of groups like Natural Information Society and 75 Dollar Bill.
This stylistic turn is thanks in large part to Vitiello’s choice of collaborators. “We’re coming from three different schools,” Vitiello says: “sound art, art rock, and punk rock.”
Active since the early 1980s, Rowe—a violinist, guitarist, and producer/engineer—has played with, or manned the boards for, a frankly jaw-dropping list of musicians: Herbie Hancock, Gil Scott-Heron, the Last Poets, Roy Ayers, John Zorn, Glenn Branca, Swans, Live Skull, Brian Eno, David Byrne, Anohni, R.E.M., Yoko Ono, and many more. But he might be most closely associated with Hugo Largo, a one-of-a-kind New York quartet—two basses, vocals, and Rowe’s violin—that in the late 1980s helped lay the groundwork for what would eventually become known as post-rock.
Canty, of course, is the legendary drummer of Fugazi, the visionary DC post-hardcore group, as well as Rites of Spring before them, and, currently, the Messthetics, a Dischord-signed instrumental trio with guitarist Anthony Pirog and Fugazi bassist Joe Lally.
Vitiello’s trio first collaborated on First, a 17-minute piece released on the Longform Editions label in 2023. Second picks up where the freeform drift of First left off, channeling the trio’s exploratory energies into more intentionally structured tracks and—in a real first for Balmat—some almost shockingly muscular grooves. “Sometimes my projects are more conceptually driven,” Vitiello says, “but I think this was more musically geared. I just wanted to open up the references and bring in an incredible drummer, bring in some melodies, and I’m sort of the center.” But his collaborators, he stresses, are “vastly creative in making anything I might suggest better.”
Like its predecessor, Second took shape in phases, shifting between improvisation and collage. Vitiello laid down the skeleton of the music at home, sketching out initial ideas on Rhodes keyboard and acoustic and electric guitar; he then fed the parts through samplers and his modular system, recording 10- or 20-minute jams. Once he had edited them into more structured forms, he hit the studio with Canty, who added not just drums but also bass and piano; finally, Vitiello took the results of those sessions to Rowe, who played violin, viola, electric bass, and 12-string acoustic and bowed electric guitar, and assisted in some of the final structuring and mixdown.
A few more surprises along the way: Reanimator’s Don Godwin, the studio engineer where Vitiello recorded with Canty, contributed what he calls “resonant dustpan”; and none other than Animal Collective’s Geologist, who just happened to be in the studio that day, sits in on hurdy gurdy on “Mrphgtrs1,” the album’s gorgeous, stunningly atmospheric drone closer. “I love these chance encounters,” Vitiello says. “Somebody I admire, a group I admire—that was an unexpected gift.”
An unexpected gift is a great way of describing Second as a whole: three veteran musicians venturing outside their usual zones and finding a new collaborative language together. The results can’t be neatly slotted into any given genre; they belong not to any given category, but to the spirit of conversation itself.
“To Model Phenomena” is a scientific concept that describes a computer’s ability to emulate, regardless of whether the emulated phenomenon exists outside its circuits or is purely imaginary.
Modeling communication platforms enables us to interact with each other or with computers. Modeling behavior patterns, nuclear fusion, or, as in the case of scientists from the Human Brain Project, a virtual human brain, allows us to simulate cognitive processes such as perception, memory, and decision-making, providing insight into the nature of human thought.
In this record, the phenomena modeled are those moments when the mind leaps into the void, confronting new paradigms. For instance, when science, art, or mass media introduces new information, propelling us into a transformed reality.
From this starting point, European musician Shifting Heigo maps a path between realities, evolving his narrative as his music unfolds. This work draws inspiration from Curtis Roads (vice chair of Media Arts and Technology at the UCSB) and his studies on granular synthesis and time scales, where each track on To Model Phenomena evokes a sense of movement, where nothing begins or ends in quite the same way.
A musician with strong ties to new technologies, Shifting Heigo has collaborated with the University of Málaga (Spain) in its PH Degree Program in video game design, composing interactive music, while also singing as part of the tenor section in the Qatar Concert Choir, affiliated with the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra.
Currently based in Abu Dhabi, he is now part of a circle of electronic musicians surrounding the New York University Abu Dhabi, an institution that supports electronic and experimental music across the Middle East.
To Model Phenomena is the result of his search for a unique voice as a musician, where ternary rhythms, noise, and silence shape the narrative. This is a discourse from a musician’s perspective on the changes that science, technology, art, and the rapid flow of information demand of us. A direct gaze into the fear of change.
