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DJ, musician, former saxophonist - there's a combination of skills you don't get to see too often. Get acquainted with DEMIAN, then, aka Damien Pontonnier, a French artist who relocated to Paris after an influential career as

electronic music pioneer and party organizer in Northern Spain. Now an accomplished producer with releases on labels such as Correspondant or Clouded Vision, he presents the MILESTARS EP for Kompakt - a quirky and vibrant track trio with an obvious knack for catchy melodic details in a kinetic techno corsage.

Having amassed quite the experience portfolio when it comes to grassroots club culture, DEMIAN knows a thing or two about inspiring a dance floor - but that doesn't necessarily account for the artistic versatility or genuine lust for sonic adventures and happy accidents that these cuts exhibit: opener DÉCLICA boots with deliciously stoic cowbell-isms that leave the doors of perception wide open for some iconoclastic, yet surprisingly effective synth action.

Meanwhile, the title cut invests in texture-rich atmosphere without forgetting about the precise amount of momentum you need to tip the floor over the edge. Closer NO HYPE FOR THE FISH takes things in a more hypnotic direction, intertwining freeform arpeggios and tape delay with smart beatmanship. Simultaneously lush and lean in its overall aesthetic, the MILESTARS EP will feed both the nerd and the dancer in you - a swiss army knife with all the right tools for masterful crowd control.

Florian Meindl kick starts 2017 with a special four-track vinyl only release 'Colorful Cage'. Released on his own imprint FLASH Recordings, the title track is taken from his forthcoming album 'Time Illusion'.

There is an exclusive vinyl edit of Florian's previously released foreboding techno track 'Nix Charon' and completing the EP are two further unique tracks 'Controlled Pressure' and 'Wild Sequence 3'.

As a DJ, live performer, studio producer and sound designer, Florian has over the years established an impressive producing base for himself in his Berlin based Riverside Studio complex with an exciting hardware set up including Modular Systems, an analog mixing desk as well as classic machines like Roland 909.
In anticipation for the LP release in early April, Florian has prepared a unique live set featuring a Modular System, the KORG Minilogue, effect boxes and a 909 drum machine which were used in the creation of the album which he will be touring throughout 2017.

Paling Trax' Tafkamp and Tar Hallow's boss Thanos Hana.
Vinyl Only. Produced under minimum control.

TAFKAMP's side run out groove:
YYXXX TAFKAMP - Siri next track please

Hana's side run out groove:
NP 7683 - 7316 - BLACK AS TAR

Banoffee Pies Records step into the realms of Contemporary Music with Ishmael Ensemble opening their release schedule for 2017 as the label drops their second LP and continues to investigate more musical landscapes. This time saxophonist and producer Ishmael leads the six piece electronic jazz ensemble on their debut release and thought provoking journey. A tribute piece - with love from Banoffee Pies x
Artwork and Text compiled by Ellen Pearson Watercolours by Chris Cunningham
Artist: Ishmael Ensemble
Written & Produced by Pete Cunningham Additional writing on Bembe by Holly Wellington Additional writing on Solace by Chris Hillier Engineered by Jake Spurgeon
Mixed by Caradog Jones & Pete Cunningham @ Secret Sundaze Studios Mastered @ Alchemy
Copyright Control 2017
In loving memory of Josh Edward Pearce x

Awa Poulo is a singer of Peulh origin from Dilly commune, Mali, near the border with Mauritania. Largely pastoral and often nomadic, Peulh- (or Fula-)speaking peoples are found from Senegal to Ethiopia but predominate in the Sahel region of West Africa. Awesome Tapes From Africa is proud to release Poulo's newest recording of highly virtuosic folk-pop, fresh from the studio, broadcasting her vision of Peulh music beyond the grazing grounds and central markets of her remote home region in southwestern Mali. It's not very common to find a female singer performing publicly among the Peulh. But Poulo's mother's co-wife is Inna Baba Coulibaly, who is a celebrated singer most Malian music fans know. Coulibaly herself was brought into music by forces outside her control when a regional music contest required an entry from her village and she was chosen to be a singer. So, set in motion by a surprising series of events, young Poulo's entree into the music world was auspic ious as she gained popularity across the region. After several locally released tapes and CDs, this record is Poulo's first internationally-distributed record. On Poulo Warali, she and her band combine the hallmarks of Peulh music—warm flute floating over cross-rhythmic n'goni (lute) riffs and resonant calabash gourd hand percussion—with broader Malian sounds like lightly-distorted guitar and a heavier, rollicking inertia. Shapeshifting layers of rhythm and woody overtones match Poulo's commanding voice in a jocular yet deliberate dance. This is a relatively rare example of Malian Peulh music played in a modern, cosmopolitan context, reflecting the mixed society of Dilly, where Bambara, Soninke and Peulh-speaking people live among each other. Poulo's conscious lyrics about community concerns speak to the distinctive identity of her broadly-flung people. While Peulh represents less than 10% of Mali's melting pot of languages, the dynamic music here powerfully resonates well beyond the linguistic borders.

ZK Bucket lives in his own universe. His Universe is called ZAUN and with Concierge he is now no longer alone there.
"The EP is produced on a minimal setup: Jupiter 4 & Minibrute
on a 4-track cassette Recorder and comes in a hand printed Sleeve."Resup" is a controlled stomping chaos with reverb drowned Stabs - this opens the water for "Kon Tiki Sinkt", a hommage to explorers and death. "Grounded" supports the robots with its marching drums and "Fasen" wraps the package in an almost warehouse-fashion." ZK Bucket

Novoline makes music with equipment that was manufactured in 1988 and 1989, controlled via midi by two ATARI STs. As a sequencer he is using an algorithmic composition program that is 25 years old. With this program he creates sequences that he modulates live by shifting numbers and settings while recording. The process is improvised and contains a good portion of randomly generated melodies and drums, carefully selected and combined by Novoline. The Result sounds a little like something between a dark 80's sci-fi soundtrack and an endless marching New Beat Extended Version. Enjoy the ride !

The Europe-centered techno scene might be thinking: Where is techno in a city as vast, dynamic and electric as New York It's alive and well, and keeps growing through aptly-named NEW YORK TRAX. Founded in 2016 and based in Brooklyn, NEW YORK TRAX is an outlet for New York music, by New York artists, in New York city.
New York Trax 02 was written by Boris Brenecki (Ontal, Impulse Controls), who has recently relocated to New York, starting a new chapter in his life and artistic career. This record is the very first material he produced in New York, heavily inspired by the city and its people. 'The Oven', with its continuous filthy groove intensified by metallic percussions, is a serious candidate for an instant classic and a deadly weapon when used on a dancefloor. The grittiness of "The Oven" was depicted through images of the less beaten paths of New York in a well-received official video published recently by the label. Dark yet insanely dynamic "Transit System", based on field recordings of the New York City subway, opens with a bang the B side of the record, followed by "Strictly Hardcore", a sonic manifesto of brutality. Get it while it's hot!

Second release for Pris on his own label Unbeknown.Pris At controls again deep techno stuff!

DJ and producer, co-founder of the legendary London club night Lost, Steve Bicknell returns to the fray with a brilliant new 12", 'Modes of Thought'. Comprising three full tracks and six locked grooves, the record represents the debut release on Bicknell's brand new label, 6dimensions. Art by Harumasa Kono.

Throughout his career, Steve Bicknell has retained a true groundedness, with everything he's stood behind being indelibly marked by a progressive and uncompromising attitude. Sticking firm to ideals and principles, he has remained connected to the roots of techno, eschewing the mainstream to follow an unswerving, singular vision, guided by a deep and enduring devotion to the music that inspires him and a desire to present it in the purest way possible.

Stepping out here with new material and a new venture, Bicknell's trademark raw, minimal aesthetics and conceptual underpinning have clearly been retained. He describes new release 'modes of thought' as being founded upon "the awareness of thought processes, understanding the connection between the heart and the brain through vibrations that are created via the blood-stream." Essential floor gear, 'modes of thought' introduces three tracks of taught, lean minimal techno before handing creativity over to the DJ with the inclusion of six locked groove loops.

Lean and precise, with a beautifully controlled pallette, wide dynamics and rich level of sonic detail, the record flies out of the blocks with the pumping 'harmonious balance', described by its creator as a "reflection on hatred and furthering an understanding of hate and how acceptance induces balance". Continuing to unpack the work, 'the moment I stopped' is described as "a realisation of the importance of self-preservation to balance yourself in order to take care of others close to you"; whilst on the flip, 'messenger molecules' depicts "the flow of blood and how it feeds the brain of feelings through coded information".

Vercetti Technicolor joins crimes of the future for the labels first release of 2016 complete with an outstanding remix from Minimal Rome's Heinrich Dressel. The Golden Taurus EP combines vintage Vercetti Technicolor tension and darkness with a real sense of Scott & Tim's love of the dancefloor soundtracking the early evening in the club. Kicking off with Golden Taurus the title Cut, a dark moody building 707 driven future classic. On Topaz Fear the tension keeps building and building over sparse drums and melodic leads. Side B's Death Wish Combines huge reverb, drums and soundtracks a long drive along some dystopian highway hurtling us along with a killer bassline. Finally Dressel takes the controls on Golden Taurus with a beautiful slowed down more emotive take on the title cut and presents 6 minutes of blissed out electronics.

Originally released in 2014, Luciano's 'The Great Amael' is an enchanting and endearing trip; a lo-fi bubbling groove and dusted Hammond organs that hustle along whilst live percussion cuts through the oceanic atmospherics. Two years on, and Cadenza Music call upon a brace of remixers to provide fresh and unique interpretations of this hidden gem in Luciano's catalogue. Having recently released his first album in over 10 years, Matthew Dear AKA Audion boldly steps up to the mantle and stamps his intelligent techno sound all over 'Amael' in the first of our remixes. Cutting a sprightly pace from the off, Audion melts stuttering sine waves and bulging tones over concrete beats, tweaking in the original organ riff and fathoms deep pads whilst adding additional vocal refrains as he playfully teases the arrangement before dropping a superb riff in his 'Backward Melody' Remix, which takes a most psychedelic and unexpected twist! Two other musical heavyweights collaborate on the second of the remixes; Phil Moffa and Seth Troxler are no studio strangers, having released a joint project on the British Hypercolour label last year, and remixed for Tiga a few months back. Their LSOS LOVE/GOD Remix builds from ambient beginnings, save for a rhythm carved out of spongy electronics, a sturdy beat kicking in and setting the controls destination unknown, as the duo steer through breathy vocal cuts and propelling bass, stripping the remix back before leaping back into hyperspace with some adventurous and dubbed out vibes, before coming back down for landing with those unmistakable pads from Luciano's original.

Adrian Younge Presents The Electronique Void: Black Noise is Younge's first and only electronic album. An album that represents Younge's take on what Black electronic music would sound like in `72. Narrated by Jack Waterson, long a guitarist in Younge's band. Recorded and mixed by Adrian Younge at Linear Labs, the preeminent analog studio of Los Angeles, CA.

Adrian Younge Presents The Electronique Void: Black Noise is Younge's first and only electronic album. An album that represents Younge's take on what Black electronic music would sound like in `72. Narrated by Jack Waterson, long a guitarist in Younge's band. Recorded and mixed by Adrian Younge at Linear Labs, the preeminent analog studio of Los Angeles, CA.

5th release on TH Tar Hallow by Rhyw, the new solo project of Alex Tsiridis (one half of Cassegrain) in minimum control mode here.

First complete Sonic Youth album is one of Thurston Moore's favorites. Includes live cover of The Stooges' I Wanna Be Your Dog'. Vinyl includes digital download. Originally slated to be a 7' to follow up their self-titled debut, Sonic Youth's Confusion Is Sex blossomed into the band's first album: a brain-bludgeoning, completely fried endeavor of dissonance and disarray, a perfect soundtrack for running from a chain-wielding gang near the SIN Club. This was the sound of 1983 New York City, nothing like the jangly roots of college radio rock starting to formulate in Athens, Georgia. It sounded like no one else on Earth, for that matter. The raw, Wharton Tiers 8-track production is dark, the Kim Gordon- scrawled cover figure art of Thurston Moore is dark, Lee Ranaldo's back cover photo-collage and Catherine Ceresole's crumpled-xeroxed images that adorned the inside are dark. It's an album that moves Sonic Youth forward from their first EP almost by devolving backwards into true ugly, lo-fi primitivity. The bareboned arsenal of junkpile guitars and implementation of alternate tunings was growing, and so were the songs that matched the individual attributes of each instrument: certain ones groan and growl a specific way that the band started to realize itself could become the compositional germ of a song. Herein is the threshold of a new explosion of the band's creativity, replacing the comparatively cleaner buzz of the Sonic Youth EP with guitars that spew fractured, uglier chunks of sound everywhere, held down by menacing minimalist basslines (actually played by Thurston on half of this LP, and for the only time ever on Protect Me You,' Lee) and the brutal-yet-controlled metronomic drumming of Jim Sclavunos, augmented with replacement drummer Bob Bert's notable bashing on Making the Nature Scene' and grotty no-fi live rendition of I Wanna Be Your Dog.' Hearing the crashedwindow intro of Inhuman' and subway-brake screech of The World Looks Red,' you can attest that while Sonic Youth's guitars are not quite yet being utilized in the totally controlled, lyrical fashion seen later on albums like Evol, Daydream Nation et al., they were well aware of the colors and tonalities that were unfolding and the possibilities presented. Also, they were getting a grasp on adding colors to the chaos with tempered, simmering moments like Gordon's Shaking Hell' and Renaldo's chimy, home-taped Lee is Free.' Making the Nature Scene' and The World Looks Red' even toss in glints of hip-hop vocal approach way ahead of its time, albeit through a blender. While its confrontationalism might have put off some critics, time has rewarded Confusion with a truly distinctive air and atmosphere in the Sonic discography, enough to have Moore declare it his fave along with the band's swan-song The Eternal. Brian Turner, WFMU.

Prince Jammy became a King while cutting his musical teeth working for the dub master himself King Tubby.
In that old Jamaican way, when everyone in Jamaica was given a new name to work with, Prince Jammy as he would be known so impressed his colleagues that he rose from a Prince to a King,both names given to him by producer Bunny 'Striker'Lee.
Out of the many protégés that trained and worked at King Tubby's....and there were many, Scientist, Pat Kelly .Prince Phillip Smart to name but a few it was King Jammy's work that was the main stay .
We have selected a set of tunes that were rebuilt with King Jammy at the controls...
Hope you enjoy the set

Peng Sound Records kick off the year 2016 with their first set of 10' discs - the original dubplate format does seem rather fitting for what is perhaps one of the biggest and most in-demand cuts from Ishan Sound & Gorgon Sound in recent years, a big contribution to their unstoppable rise in soundsystem music territory. Trojan, the grime-tinged steppers is reminiscent of the seminal 'Find Jah Way' by his peers Gorgon Sound, yet it's still an unmistakeable Ishan Sound production, in the way it's sonics are laid out and presented. In perfect combination fellow Young Echo cohort Rider Shafique steps up in authoritative style, going full charge at the walls of babylon with lyrical firepower. The Ishan Instrumental and the Gorgon Remix have been staples in sets from the likes of Iration Steppas, Kahn & Neek (aka 'Gorgon Sound') Mala, Dubkasm and and of course Ishan Sound himself. The list of selectors who have played this is small but refined, this one has been kept close to the chest, in true tradition to the dubplate ethos of exclusivity. In addition to the instrumental cuts, Peng Sound Records present the burning vocal cut with Rider Shafique. Flip the disc, and the Version awaits, letting the rhythm take full control, for extended dubwise pressure. For all the selectors out there, this release comes packed with enough version excursion to keep the fire burning 'til the dance is charred and dusted by means of frequency. The second disc comes loaded with the infamous Gorgon Sound remix, sonically pretty much exactly between the sounds of Bandulu and Gorgon, with their extra overdriven low-end and amplified, multiplied kick drum pattern, their version of Trojan is arguably the most explosive of them all. The combination of Ishan, Gorgon and Dubkasm is something we've come to expect from Peng Sound now, but this is the first Record that combines all three on one plate - the final cut on this set of Trojan interpretations gives us an exclusive, brand new Dubkasm counteraction - flipping the energetic steppers on it's head in favour of an uplifting one-drop beat, giving the vocal and rhythm a brand new space and presence. If the first three cuts were there to mash down the place with unhinged, dangerous soundsystem attitude, then the Dubkasm cut could be seen as the cool and easy soundboy burial, cementing Rider Shafique's message with deadly effect.

Mysterious Brooklyn label and production crew getting in the game with some techno and EBM bangers. All are re-workings of recognizable or obscure classics. "Looping Blood" the clubbiest of the EP builds around a Controlled Bleeding loop and blossoms into a spiraling unstoppable groove accented by crashing reverbs and jackin drums. "Alaaarmed" is a pounding re-edit of Tommi Stumpff, early german minimal punk not unlike Nitzer Ebb. "Take Two" is a great remix of Front 242's epic industrial classic "Take One" dubbing out the lyrics for an instrumental approach. "Open Bar" puts the scissors to Skinny Puppy's early 80s classic "Last Call" Looks like the aptly named Effective Weapns label certainly providing some hot jams for this fall.

It means Noisy Stars'' - Fergus Lawrie.

So it's coming up for the 20th anniversary of the We Are Urusei Yatsura' album, so what better time to look back at the broken Woolworths guitars, damaged eardrums and bleeding knuckles of Glasgow's lo-fi, Tokyo dreaming geek rock quartet

You could say it all began at the Glasgow Sound City event, when legendary BBC DJ John Peel came along to check out Urusei Yatsura at the 13th Note at the invitation of future Franz Ferdinand front-man Alex Kapranos. Liking the chaos that he saw, Peel invited the band to record a session for his show, asking live on air while guitarist and singer Graham Kemp was visiting the studio to talk about his Kitten Frenzy' fanzine the next day.

Peel arranged for us to record the session in Glasgow' says Kemp, We didn't have any amps or any money to get to London.' Producer Stewart Cruickshank told the band that it was the first Peel Session recorded outside of Maida Vale since the Undertones. So no pressure there then.

This began a long association with John Peel and the BBC, which saw the band record 5 Peel Sessions, 3 Evening Sessions for Steve Lamacq, play live to air for Mark Radcliffe, and appear regularly on Radio Scotland for John Cavanagh and Mark Percival. Digging through old C-90's that had been partly taped over with that week's charts, the band have pieced together a compilation of the best tunes for you, the discerning 90's indie rock aficionado.

..they sounded a bit like the Saints' - Thurston Moore, SELECT

Some of the recordings we did for the BBC, I think, are better than what eventually made it onto vinyl. We did Kewpies Like Watermelon' live in the control room for Radio Scotland and we had just learned it so it sounds really fresh and exciting. The version of Siamese' is the best we ever captured, and I love the Dice/Nae Dice' tune we wrote especially for Peel'. - Kemp

The challenge of recording and mixing four songs in a single day brought out the best in the band, and suited their impulsive, DIY rock n' roll spirit. The album, available on CD and vinyl, features 11 songs, including session versions of 6 singles, choice album tracks and live favourites from the only band who have been threatened by both the Yakuza and the Mafia (the latter incident generating the hilarious headline Nerds Threatened With Death' in the Sun newspaper'). The band have decided to call this hand-picked selection of the highlights of an eight year career', You Are My Urusei Yatsura, BBC Radio Sessions.

Other highlights of said career include, a number one indie single with a video shot in a Star Trek themed bar (Phasers On Stun), a Peel Festive Fifty placing (Kewpies Like Watermelon) an actual top 40 hit (Hello Tiger), numerous chaotic tours of Europe, UK and USA ,narrowly surviving a collapsing stage at Benecassim and a tent fire at Phoenix Festival, releasing three studio albums and 13 singles (including splits with Mogwai, the Delgados and the Blisters), taking Mogwai, Eska and Pink Kross on their first UK tours, supporting Super Furry Animals, Pavement and Teenage Fanclub, playing at Roskilde, Reading and T In The Park festivals, The CMJ festival in New York and MIDEM in Cannes.

The band consisted of the writers Fergus Lawrie (guitar and vocals) and Graham Kemp (guitar and vocals), with brother and sister rhythm section Elaine and Ian Graham on bass and drums respectively.