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We’re teaming up with ELUCID and Fat Possum for a limited edition of 300 copies of a Rush Hour black ice coloured edition.

E L U C I D, one half of the illustrious duo Armand Hammer, is here with the full-length follow-up to 'I Told Bessie'. Further experiments in the sonic, expanding on the 'live' side of music paired with the embracing of chaos. Something you haven't heard, or not so for a very long time. E L U C I D is here to reveal the bleakness of reality.



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''There is never time in the future in which we will work out our salvation. The challenge is in the moment; the time is always now.''
James Baldwin

A raw, crackling urgency runs through rapper-producer ELUCID’s new album REVELATOR like an underground power line. There is no space here for sepia-toned reminiscences or indulgent self-mythologizing. Intellectual rabbit holes have been filled in with concrete and rebar ; there is nowhere to hide and no off ramp from the audio Autobahn that ELUCID has fashioned—a renegade Robert Moses with gold fronts, bulldozing the homes of the powerful and the complicit. REVELATOR brims with the energy of now, with a refusal to look away. Carpe diem in a murder one mask.

Born in Jamaica, Queens, ELUCID has been on the cutting edge of New York’s underground scene since the mid-2000s. From the beginning, he has defied both convention and expectation. He ran with Okayplayer darlings Tanya Morgan, but his own music eschewed their throwback charm for glitchy noise experiments and bass-swamped culture jamming. His 2016 debut studio project Save Yourself (re-released in a deluxe edition last year) announced him in earnest. But in recent years, his Armand Hammer releases with partner-in-crime billy woods have received significant attention and acclaim. Serving as a followup to his last solo album—2022’s comparatively balmy I Told Bessie—ELUCID hoped to “re-distinguish” himself with REVELATOR, setting himself apart amidst the increasing attention around the music he and his friends are making together.

For ELUCID, this meant setting bold new challenges for himself. One of these was diving further into live instrumentation than ever before—”getting my Quincy Jones on,” as he puts it. The testing ground for this approach was Armand Hammer’s most recent project, 2023’s We Buy Diabetic Test Strips’ Möbius strip soundscapes, warmed with instrumental flourishes and skin-shedding beat progressions. With REVELATOR, though, ELUCID strove to create an atmosphere of chaos, embracing experimental electronics and atonal sample bursts. He worked on much of the album with co-producer Jon Nellen, who comes from a background in avant-garde and Indian classical music. “I wanted to get as freaky as I could at this moment. I wanted people to hear things, maybe for the first time, or in a way they haven’t for a long while,” the rapper explains.

ELUCID arrived at the studio with a collection of noise sources: non-referential samples, glitches and noises. Together he, Nellen, and others created forms out of them and, as ELUCID recalls, “just started playing drums with it.” Their fried, distorted sound was directly inspired by Miles Davis at his most uncompromising—specifically, the tone-clustering funk track “Rated X” from his 1974 double LP Get Up With It. At times, the pairing of rap with avant-fusion sounds also brings Emergency! from The Tony Williams Lifetime to mind, perhaps in an alternate timeline where the late drummer was listening to Ice Cube’s AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted.

“The World is Dog,” REVELATOR’s lead single, functions as the album’s aesthetic thesis statement. Like the Davis track, the textures are punishing, the tonality is in free-fall, and the driving breakbeat of a groove cuts in and out unceremoniously. Avant-jazz bassist Luke Stewart, who appears throughout the record, holds the whole thing together just long enough for ELUCID to tightwalk over the beat. This tension is exactly where REVELATOR sets itself apart; in a time of drumless loops, and safe soul samples, this is a high-wire act with no safety net. Similarly, the song announces the themes of the album within just a few phrases, evoking the way societies accept and adjust to new levels of debasement and brutality while suffocating under the weight of history: “Can’t clock the kill, all a mystery/Forced past will eating everyone eventually/The world is dog.”

Many of the songs on REVELATOR grapple obliquely with dissolution and disenfranchisement in America and across the world—the grim realities of our domestic sociopolitical climate and our involvement in foreign conflicts. “Much of my artistic and political sensibility comes from the Black arts movement here in New York,” ELUCID explains. “Recognizing the interconnected global struggles against oppression, artists and thinkers created works and actions in solidarity with freedom movements in South Africa and Palestine.” ELUCID cites intellectuals like Amiri Baraka, Kwame Nkrumah, Audre Lorde, Sonia Sanchez, and Nikki Giovanni among his heroes. (One track on the album is specifically inspired by Lorde’s work, “SKP,” citing the scholar’s paper “Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic As Power.”) Songs like REVELATOR’s insistent closer “ZIGZAGZIG,” find ELUCID applying up-to-the-minute messaging, making explicit reference to the conflict in Gaza: “Feed a war machine…from river to sea, in lieu of peace.”

Despite ELUCID’s preference for cacophonous system overload here, the rapper also provides moments of respite. Recorded at The Alchemist’s Los Angeles studio, the laid-back, wheezing “INSTANT TRANSFER” is a collaboration with billy woods, which crystallizes their shared sense of creative determination. “With much momentum behind us and even more on the horizon, I knew a purpose, and that every step was ordered to that purpose,” ELUCID said of the experience. Meanwhile, the jittery “HUSHPUPPIES” is a playful anomaly on the track list, providing a snapshot of ELUCID watching his grandparents in the kitchen while preparing for Friday night fish fry dinners.

“Love still rules over on this side,” ELUCID says. ”I’m raising a family. We are making meaning and finding joy in the midst of all the fucked up-ness of everything around us because the alternative is cowardice and slow death. We remain rooted. We celebrate our people and our wins. Struggle is necessary.”

“IKEBANA” is one of ELUCID’s strongest statements of purpose on the record, blending the record’s heaviest themes with its most hopeful sentiments. supported by a shoutalong refrain and an urgent prog-funk groove. Breaking away from images of dissolution and crumbling societal systems that populate REVELATOR, ELUCID notes that the only way to navigate life’s bleakest landscapes is to cling to love and believe in those around you—to look forward toward something better that may or may not be possible. For the rapper, one of the album’s most trenchant lines comes during a centerpiece of a beat drop: “Being alive/I must look up.”

“The lyric ‘being alive I must look up’ is important especially in the context of this album. Much of the album imagery is harsh and reflects the actual doom some of us experience. But still I/we exist,” ELUCID explains.

Every artist is, in one way or another, the product of their time, bound by life’s leaden gravity to operate within the space of that which is already known. But there are some who are able to shake free of these ties, to shape the culture as it unfolds, to make the present their own.
Revelation, as a concept, points to the scales falling from people’s eyes—something that has been hiding in plain sight becoming clear. “The revelator relates to things that have been talked about, things that have been forecasted,” ELUCID adds. “And now they’re really here, and everyone sees it. And there’s no escaping.” REVELATOR plays out with the unmitigated power of those storms, laying waste to any genre conventions in pursuit of a certain physicality. Here, ELUCID develops a wholly distinctive musical language to explore our fractured modernity.

REVELATOR's packaging was designed by longtime Armand Hammer / Backwoodz art director, Alexander Richter.

“Sleep Deprivation” began in 2006, during a time when our sleep patterns were drastically altered by constant travel and late-night gigs. This relentless cycle of broken sleep became a persistent part of our lives, and over time, we noticed something remarkable: our music became more emotional, raw, and vulnerable. Sleep, or the lack of it, affects every aspect of life, and its influence on our creative process was undeniable. For this album, we chose to embrace that emotional intensity, allowing it to take centre stage over traditional arrangements. Sleep deprivation blurs the lines of logic, and the part of the brain that usually handles structure and order begins to falter. In that haze, deeper feelings rise to the surface, unfiltered and honest. With this album, we surrendered to that experience, letting the emotional chaos shape the music, and the result is an exploration of what happens when you’re pushed to your limits, both physically and creatively.

Spotlight Records is proud to announce the release of the original soundtrack for Bruce LaBruce’s new film, The Visitor. Composed by the acclaimed UK-based DJ and producer Hannah Holland, the soundtrack presents an eclectic mix of cerebral soundscapes and pulsating dance floor anthems, a defiantly bold score for a truly provocative narrative. The deluxe limited edition double vinyl package comes with a guerilla sticker sheet.

The Visitor sees the legendary filmmaker and photographer continue his decades-long creative journey with a transgressive reimagining of Pier Paolo Pasolini’s 1968 classic Teorema, set against the dystopian backdrop of a paranoid, xenophobic post-Brexit London. Washed ashore from the sea in a suitcase, a mysterious refugee disrupts the lives of a privileged white family, leading them through a series of explicit and transformative encounters. The film, which features performance artist Bishop Black amid a series of explicit, hardcore sex scenes, premiered at the 2024 Berlinale Film Festival.

With reverence and reference to Ennio Morricone’s iconic score for Teorema, Hannah Holland has crafted a soundtrack that both honors the original and brings a contemporary twist. The album features collaborations with a stellar lineup of artists from both the queer and electronic music underground, including Ghost Culture, Jonjo Jury, Josh Caffé, Joy Joseph, ROY INC, and Ziah Ziah.

Playful Italo-Disco project by Florentine Marzio Benelli, originally released in 1984. "Life Is Now" delivers a number of what seem to be almost very important life-teachings over a rather sloppy beat. The hi hats, although very present also make it clear "Spanish Crash" is in no rush to get anywhere any time soon, sounding almost off beat. What strikes the listener even more than the smudges of highly valuable advice in some form of English language is the creative usage of what might have been some of the latest studio recording toys to reach Italy in 1984, an array of rather unorthodox synthy effects, vocoders, trippy delays all topped off with imposing guitar riffs for good measure. Very much sounding like what could be the soundtrack to a bootleg Disney comic strip on acid. Castro's "Paella Crash" shifts the original lazy gear into a dubbier, high BPM, striped down version of the original that is more club oriented.

Ephemera is the debut album by Fergus Jones, the artist formerly known as Perko, an Edinburgh-born, Copenhagen-based producer, DJ, and founder of the FELT record label. The nine-track release is out on Numbers on 18 October 2024.

Ephemera was developed with collaborative energy as the creative priority, produced by Jones alongside an extensive list of like-minded musicians, lyricists and vocalists including Huerco S, James K, Koreless, Birthmark, ELDON and Withdrawn of Bristol’s Cold Light crew, Laila Sakini and Lia T. The album embodies Jones’ inner journey as he ranges further than ever sonically and emotionally, emphasising instinct, intensity, tactility and rapture.

“Heima” was written and produced with Huerco S and James K between Iceland, Copenhagen and the United States’ East Coast. Developed during and named after the same Icelandic artist residency that birthed Perko & Huerco S’ debut collaboration “Prang,” “Heima” is a shimmering piece of fortified trip-pop featuring vocals from James K, appearing here following solo releases for AD 93 and collaborations with Yves Tumor. “Tight Knit” aligns Jones’ graceful production with the raw emotions thundering from the performances of Birthmark, ELDON and Withdrawn of Cold Light, the shadowy Bristolian collective channelling the city’s deep sonic history into an equally rich future.

In his own words, Jones says “This album was made over the last five years in various studio and outdoor locations around the world, reflecting my ongoing emphasis on natural collaboration as a creative ideal. It’s my most personal record yet, written with experimentation and an open attitude as guiding lights.”

The album makes a distinctive impact that reverberates and glows long after its runtime. Analogue audio sculpting, adaptive processes and imaginative approaches to creating sound are at the forefront – whether resulting from an endless exchange of iterative stems with Huerco S, or hydrophone recordings with Koreless. Evocative vocal performances and songwriting combine with weighty sound design, gliding easily between the organic and synthetic to reflect and expand the thin spaces of transcendence in each.

Music From Memory is thrilled to introduce Dead Sound, the collaborative project of Marco Sterk (aka Young Marco) and Berlin-based pop-auteur John Moods. Both artists are no strangers to the label; Sterk forms one third of the trio Gaussian Curve, while Moods released the 2022 album ‘Hidden Gem’ with The Zenmenn.

Their collaboration was both planned and spontaneous; Sterk initially reached out in 2022 expressing his desire to work with Moods. The pair finally got together in 2024 to produce ‘Into The Void’, an album that burst into life over the course of a few creatively charged days in each other’s company.

Moods’ dream-like, emotionally charged music wears its heart on its sleeve; its very human vulnerability makes it a perfect match for Sterk’s strong sense of melody and textural sonic visions.

‘Into The Void’ carries these psychedelic traits in its DNA, but they exist layered deep amongst the shadows. Painting on a wide canvas that effortlessly skips between genres, the pair weave anything that inspires them into a truly unique tapestry; a bold attempt to touch at the beyond.

Exploring the space between perception (level of the mind) and the nature of the universe (actual level of reality) seems traditionally like an impossible task. But there’s gotta be a time and a space for the profound and this album invites the listener to go deep, letting go of concepts such as love and opening oneself up to one’s own authentic journey. This transformative force of healing is a central theme of ‘Into The Void’, a path that is lined with light and darkness in equal measure. But, as Moods says, “do not skip the darkness, let that door open and swallow you. And maybe you’ll find, it's not as dark as you perceived at first."

Sleeve art by Michael Willis.

(incl 40p fanzine written by Matt Annis with photographs by Simon Pyke and Ian Brodie) Postpunk Theory is a meticulously curated compilation by the legendary Tony Thorpe, known for his work with The Moody Boys, 400 Blows, and The KLF. These classic tracks were played at parties by Thorpe at the time, making them his personal classics. The compilation features 16 rare and sought-after tracks from the post-punk era, including works by Mark Stewart and The Maffia, Basement 5, 23 Skidoo and more.



Defining post-punk is no easy task. While punk was defined by a raw, rebellious simplicity, post-punk (1978-1986) expanded into a diverse array of sounds and ideas. It maintained punk's independent spirit but embraced experimentation, incorporating influences from various musical and cultural traditions, resulting in a movement far more eclectic and fragmented than its predecessor.

At its core, post-punk broke away from traditional rock structures, blending genres like industrial, goth, and punk-funk with emerging dance music cultures. This era's spirit of innovation and defiance against musical norms continues to inspire, making post-punk a pivotal moment in music history that defies easy categorization.

Tony Thorpe presents Postpunk Theory - Alpha ? is a meticulously curated compilation by the legendary Tony Thorpe, known for his work with The Moody Boys, 400 Blows, and The KLF. These classic tracks were played at parties by Thorpe at the time, making them his personal classics. The compilation features 16 rare and sought-after tracks from the post-punk era, including works by Mark Stewart and The Maffia, Basement 5, 23 Skidoo, African Headcharge, and more.

Growing up in a vibrant musical environment in South London, Thorpe was deeply influenced by the eclectic sounds around him, from jazz-funk to Brit-Funk, and later, the post-punk records he discovered. As Thorpe recalls, "Post-punk was a mishmash of different cultures and ideas. Out of post-punk came dance music culture. That period was the most creative time because the culture was in its experimental phase." This compilation captures that innovative spirit, offering a glimpse into the era that shaped Thorpe's musical journey.

The album comes as a limited 2xLP set, accompanied by an extensive 40-page fanzine. The fanzine, written by Matt Annis (Join The Future), dives deep into the post-punk movement, offering insight and context enriched with striking photographs by Simon Pyke and Ian Brodie.

This October Jamiroquai celebrates the 30th anniversary of ‘The Return Of The Space Cowboy’. Their second album, it will be reissued as a double-LP set on 140g “moon grey” vinyl and includes Michael Gray’s Good Vibe Zone edit of ‘Space Cowboy’ - which has never been released on a physical product. The packaging has also been re-designed for this anniversary release including foil enhancement of the original cover design.

‘The Return Of The Space Cowboy’ is the follow up album to the band’s huge 1993 debut, ‘Emergency On Planet Earth’. Selling over 3 million copies globally, ‘Emergency On Planet Earth’ put the band on the map with their distinctive sound standing them apart from other popular acts of the time.

‘The Return Of The Space Cowboy’ was released just one year later and was met with great critical and public acclaim. Certified Platinum in the UK, Japan and France, it achieved chart success in multiple countries and spawned the single ‘Space Cowboy’ which remains one of their biggest tracks to date. Critically the album was lauded with Rolling Stone saying "Jamiroquai parlay jazzy soul pop so tight it crackles… Nowadays, when most funk comes out of cans, Jamiroquai's live spark glows", The Guardian said “... this second album sounds like vintage Stevie Wonder and Johnny 'Guitar' Watson, but Kay's vocals are as snappy and engaging as his extrovert persona" and Q magazine said it “combines intricate arrangements with several long, free-form workouts crammed with virtuoso performances".

For many, this album is defined by some of the most complex songwriting the band have ever produced and Jay Kay called it “one of our most creative and accomplished albums”. The process of making the album came with many challenges. Having to recruit a new drummer (after Nick Van Gelder failed to return from holiday), the band were met with second-album syndrome with Kay proclaiming since that lyrics weren’t coming "... because suddenly I wasn't homeless, I had everything I needed. So I found myself creating problems to write about." The songwriting process was complex for the band as Jay Kay was often dissatisfied with the results, leading songs to be scrapped or rewritten, but half-way through recording Kay wrote ‘Space Cowboy’, a song which reflects darker times during the recording session, and it became the catalyst of creative inspiration helping them finish the record. On this 30th anniversary edition of the album Space Cowboy gets a modern dance makeover courtesy of DJ Michael Gray, shedding new light on the track and emphasising it’s already infectious groove.

The album built on the success of ‘Emergency On Planet Earth’ and Jamiroquai have become one of the UK’s most pioneering and ground breaking bands of the past 30 years. Pushing boundaries and bringing jazz and funk to a mainstream audience, their sound is not only unique, but immediately recognisable.

Rag’n’Bone Man is ready to accept joy into his life. Born Rory Charles Graham, the Sussex-born singer known for his gravelly blues vocals, took the world by storm with his debut album ‘Human’ in 2016. Now multi award-winning, the British vocalist is embracing newfound balance, returning to his creative foundations while building anew.

It’s the most vital chapter to date in one of British music’s defining stories. A truth-telling voice that has framed an era, Rag’n’Bone Man’s success speaks for itself: his debut album ‘Human’ went platinum four times over in the UK and multi-platinum in a further twenty-seven countries - becoming the fastest selling male debut album that decade. While his latest release ‘Life By Misadventure’ debuted at #1 and spent seven weeks in the Top 10, making it the fastest-selling album by a solo artist in 2021. With over nine-billion worldwide streams (and counting) over his entire catalogue, Rag’n’Bone Man is a voice that can be heard across the globe. Now he’s ready to eclipse this: assured, and built with love, his uplifting new album “What Do You Believe In?” finds the multi award-winning British artist (with three BRITs, two MTV Europe awards, and an Ivor Novello to his name) facing the future with passionate excitement.

‘What Do You Believe In?’ is anchored in the blossoming of confidence and the enduring support network he finds in family life. It’s taken time, but Rag’n’Bone Man is in a secure, loving place - and he wants to share that feeling. The period surrounding second album, 2021’s ‘Life By Misadventure’, was marked by self-doubt, with troubles weighing down on the singer’s shoulders – but then things changed - As a result, new album ‘What Do You Believe In?’ has a bold, yet radiant touch.

With the pairing of the poignant and ubiquitous themes and the sonic brightness of both 00s hip-hop and the youthful memories they prompt, the release of the albums title track ‘What Do You Believe In?’ sets the tone for the for the thrilling musical journey Rag’s is preparing to take fans on.

'Brat and it’s the same but there’s three more songs so it’s not' is the deluxe album of Charli xcx groundbreaking album 'BRAT' The CD & Vinyl will be out 11th October and available for pre-order from 9th August with the full tracklist available.

‘BRAT’ is shortlisted for the Mercury Prize 2024 and has already reached Gold certified status in the UK with over 100k sales since June 7th. Charli has just landed her first lead #1 single in the UK with ‘Guess’, which features on the deluxe album.

Avant-pop and electronic superstar Charli xcx has become an iconic figure in the arts, having

helped expand the landscape of popular music over the last decade by seamlessly traversing the underground and mainstream with her artistic output. Over the course of a trailblazing career, the multi-hyphenate creative has earned critical acclaim for her innovative style and

entrepreneurial spirit and seen her forward-thinking approach reshape pop culture in the process.

Her lasting impact was cemented last year when Charli was honoured with the Visionary Award at the annual Ivor Novellos in London, while she also received the Powerhouse Award at Billboard’s Women In Music ceremony in Los Angeles in March.

Exploration, collaboration and curiosity define the rhythm at the beating heart of Mehmet Aslan’s exemplary compositions. The Swiss-born producer of Turkish heritage has already forged a singular path through production, DJing and full-band performances, navigating the more esoteric corners of Berlin’s club culture without sacrificing his musical heritage or innate creativity.

A conceptual new LP ‘Auguri’ follows on from 2021’s gnomic, ornate ‘The Sun Is Parallel’, which saw Aslan musically associate with the likes of Valentina Magaletti and Niño De Elche. ‘Auguri’ also has its foundations in collaboration, born out of a musical lab at Lyon’s annual
Nuits Sonores, the forward-thinking festival with whom Aslan has maintained a lengthy creative relationship.

The resulting audio-visual performance, ‘Bird Signals For Earthly Survival’ introduced Aslan, to the Greek filmmaker Stratis Vogiatzis. Drawing on the philosophy of Donna Haraway and envisioning new ways of being, of living on earth, Aslan and Vogiatzis crane their necks to the sky to witness flocks of birds performing spectacular movements in unison. Fluid and ancient, their organic waltz provides inspiration for Aslan’s extension of the project, spanning sonic shades of electro, ambient and modern folk psychedelia.

On the coastline of Vogiatzis’s home country of Greece, as in many places across the world, climate change threatens to effect the ancient migration pattern of millions of birds, just as their fellow beings on terra firma become increasingly entangled in a man-made disaster of their own creation. In unison, ‘Auguri’ is adorned by artwork from designer Xavi Bou. Known for his ‘ornithographies’, this striking visual captures avian life not only as a force, but a wry observer.

“We need to transform our connections with other living beings to protect the Earth and live together harmoniously”, reflects Aslan. “Personally, this project has made me more sensitive to this issue. I wanted to give back in return for the inspiration I've received."

Perhaps upending expectations of a more traditional ‘ambient’ album, Aslan commits some of his finest compositional work and understated songwriting to this urgent imperative, creating original music that nonetheless, has nature flowing through it. ‘Critters’ presents a spectral sound collage on which Aslan himself speaks from the texts composed at the residency, conjuring visions of “the birds flying… shape of the future”. Meanwhile, the undulating, psychedelic ‘Pigeon Blinks’ takes inspiration from more domestic scenes, charting the unexpected roosting and hatching of an egg on a kitchen window, while ‘Auguri’ gives the album it’s title in connecting to a higher plain, demonstrating Aslan’s ability to lure melody and catharsis from looping hypnosis.

Opener ‘Spectra’ provides a forceful, almost industrial breakbeat that establishes the exigency of the album as well as its sense of wonder, while ‘Euphoria’ reaches the potency of its promise slowly, with Aslan’s modular melodies meeting the flourishing percussion of guest player and multi-instrumentalist, POPP. Finally, ‘Aura’ delivers a cinematic conclusion, mixing an elegiac organ motif, haunting guitar chords and the prophetic sense of a scorched earth. Here, with patience and soaring production, Aslan once more makes the abstract and the unthinkable somehow tangible, mixing in sampled birdsong.

Accordingly, ‘Auguri’ is being released in accordance with EarthPercent, the music industry’s climate foundation, co-founded by Brian Eno. A portion of the album’s publishing will be credited as part of ‘The Earth As Your Co-Writer’ initiative, allowing artists to directly credit The Earth in their new compositions. Here, streaming and publishing from Aslan’s recorded sounds are automatically paid back to a number of vital initiatives worldwide.

Leaning into some of the most vital questions and anxieties of our time, ‘Auguri’ is not a project without a sense of hope. From studio to sea, Mehmet Aslan continues to look to the skies and beyond.

"A Seamless Symphony of Harmonious Electronica" - Jazziz

Emerging from over a year of creative hibernation following their debut album, Stavroz's upcoming EP "Kick Up the Dust" jolts them back into action. The EP flows gently, yet the overall mood of the journey isn’t always easy to pinpoint. There’s a certain vagueness to Stavroz’ sound which allows for bizarre experiments to seep through without interrupting the course. “We like to keep it lightly twisted, like a wink with a frown,” says the band.



In the title track however, Stavroz boldly steers towards the heart of the dance floor: efficient, remorseless, powerful, intense and most of all... elegant. Guiding you harmoniously through the club is a delightful duet of trumpet and saxophone, timed perfectly to heal you where it hurts most.



"Her Eyes Were Red" does what it says on the cover. There's melancholy - without sadness. Power - without force. Love - without lust. Stavroz's music possesses a distinct power that feels both natural and organic, never resorting to brute force or aggression. In their own way, the Belgian quartet offers an astonishing journey of saxophone & duduk, supported by broken beats and chopped vocals.



In Dae-El, a track featuring the Brussels-based producer and sound designer Poltrock, ethereal-sounding synths and duduk are combined with ghostly high-pitch distortions. Despite a backbone of muffled beats, the tune has vaporous qualities, reverberations that wobble and tinkle into space – it’s an easy listening experience but in a trippy, spaced-out way. “We’re trying to go for the sweet spot between the couch and the club”.



Adding further depth to their EP, Stavroz collaborates with Brazilian singer and composer Castello Branco in "Valente." Here, intimate Sade-like vocals harmonize with rubbery scratches, acoustic guitar, and horn segments, crafting a lush lounge piece that seamlessly balances both relaxation and empowerment, transparency and provocation. It's a testament to Stavroz's versatility and their knack for creating music that defies easy definition, leaving listeners eagerly anticipating the next twist and turn in their captivating musical journey.

Not so long ago in 2017, the first release on Michiel Claus' and Ailsa Cavers' Basic Moves saw the light of day and especially the shine of night. Produced by founding father Walrus, BM01 set the tone for a record label that focuses on releasing hidden archives from the 90s, whilst combining them with modern club music from the here and now. By highlighting the musical heritage of the Belgian electronic music scene, the label illustrates the continuity between past and present, history and shaping identities of 21st-century artists, undeniably building on the strong foundations of their forerunners. Seven years and nineteen releases later, Basic Moves is rounding off the series with BM20, a final double 12'' by one of the major figures from the Belgian underground: Circadian Rhythms also known as Dj Deg. After many years of collecting, deejaying and producing music, his musical spectrum ranges from synth, library and wave, to jazz, funk and disco, from house to techno. His journey started in clubs like Bocaccio (1988 - 1993), and La Gait? (1979 -1989), where young Deg came across deejay's like Olivier Pieters or Eric Beysens who made him choose the path of becoming a devoted disc jockey himself. BM20 is a sonic witness of Deg's first musical encounters with his machines, revealing a withdrawn selection of six bedroom patchwork tracks produced between the years of '93 & '99, a time without the internet or user manuals to help you solve the riddles of technology. Though only at the very beginning of his creative process, Deg's unique personality is nevertheless already clearly identifiable: blending techno with jazz, where the sharp edges of 16-step drum-sequences are smudged and bent in different directions. In the lower countries, the second half of the 90s was a period of fast & funky, happy Detroit, 140 BPM techno. Whenever Deg was not oscillating between record shops or gigs and had a moment on his own, mostly during morning hours after the club, he would spend his leftover energy in the studio. Either by himself or with his loyal ally Mike DMA, he would benefit from these moments to slow down and give space to a different, introverted sound - processing moods, feelings and thoughts. This record therefore gathers only a few of many (unrecorded) one-shot live sessions which were never intended to be shared - and only existed for the love of music and its power to take you beyond all things known. Thank you Deg for sharing your music and giving us a glimpse of your universe. Without your productions, your memorable warm-ups and closing sets - many of us would not be where we are now, and Basic Moves might never have been founded. As a last note to a closing song, BM20 is about being fully committed to the music and the club, a medium and place of fruitful settings for encounters, creativity and growth. Where dreams and ideas have a chance to exist, being almost ready and thought out to shape future times to come - and many party nights. Gurl, December 2023

Theme: collaboration. Or how to remain creative in the modern world. Nanocluster started as a bespoke one off pop up gig that turned into an album series. Built around Colin Newman from acclaimed UK post-punk band Wire and his partner in life and sound Malka Spigel from Minimal Compact with various guests, they define collaboration. Colin met Malka when he produced her band in 1985.The collaboration started there. They became a couple and created their own projects like the instrumental electronic duo Immersion in 1994 and Githead in 2004 - spaces where they both 'feel really comfortable.' Growing out of Immersion, Nanocluster was birthed as a series of one-off gigs at the Rosehill in their new hometown of Brighton in 2017 with an added cast of influential and cutting edge musicians. These were not ad hoc jams. The songs had been written and rehearsed prior to each performance. This adventure led to a debut album, Nanocluster Vol 1, released in 2021 with Stereolab singer/guitarist Laetitia Sadier, German post-rock duo Tarwater, electronic musician Ulrich Schnauss and experimental artist Robin Rimbaud (Scanner). Released again as double 10 inch with each collaboration taking up each disc, the new album Nanocluster Vol 2 has further developed this idea with a stark beauty that sounds like a future pop with sleek lines and unexpected great melodies. Disc one is built around Thor Harris, the charismatic percussion player from Swans and many other projects, who they met and performed with at South By South West in Austin, Texas in 2023. Thor adds ideas, his tuned percussion instruments, clarinet and trumpet to the sessions. Disc two is built around Cubzoa (Jack Wolter from the band Penelope Isles) who brings his musical craft, beguiling voice, guitar and much more. Meanwhile Matt Schulz from Holy Fuck plays drums across both combinations helping the resulting music become a third entity. What results is a true collaboration that, enhanced via Immersion's production, merges its elements to develop a new harmony. Key to the process is Colin and Malka's radio show for Slack City radio, 'Swimming In Sound' with its entertainingly diverse playlist that has widened their horizons. It's also helped build relationships not only with these collaborators but also musicians like ambient country masters SUSS, with whom they plan an extended Nanocluster tour in the USA with in 2025 and Brighton via Falmouth's "jangly pop punk" Holiday Ghosts with whom they will perform the next Nanocluster event in their hometown, as well as many more in the pipeline. Malka: 'Nanocluster is collaboration but in a very specific form. We don't have rules. It's a series of creative snapshots. We start as the gig with our collaborators with tracks that we rehearse because this is not a jam and where it stops is an album.' Colin: 'It's chemistry & music. Malka & I operate as a team and now we've taken it to another level. Malka comes from a band where they would stand in a room together and work out the material. In Wire, I would present the songs, so when Malka and I first started working together, we had to find a third path, and that was the concept behind our collaboration.' Nanocluster Volume 2 is a 21st century collusion of shared ideas, creating a momentary extended musical family. It's about musical and personal relationships and the meeting place in the middle. A temporary band of house guests. The place where Immersion happens.

We are excited to welcome back Bruno Sanchioni, the creative force behind legendary projects like Age of Love, and BBE. As a pioneer in the electronic music scene, Bruno has left a lasting impact over the decades, especially through his work at Diki Records with the renowned Emmanuel Top.

"Capture EP 1" celebrates Bruno Sanchioni’s musical legacy, combining a sense of nostalgia with a modern twist. With his distinctive style on full display, this release is essential for both new and longtime listeners. Each track reflects his talent and deep passion for electronic music. This EP signifies his return to the studio and demonstrates his skill in innovating while staying true to his roots.

The EP is available through Art Max Records, a new division of Diki Records dedicated to pushing the boundaries of sound and artistry.

We have invited for the first time in our closed creative community the soul and creativity of an old colleague, friend and fellow traveler on the road of DAO of life.

This is K▲NZ

If read from back to forth it comes from ZNAK, which means SIGN when translated into Bulgarian.

Originating and still gravitating in the suburban area of Lyulin district, these areas are known to give birth either to crime, or to art. In the case of Kaloyan “K▲NZ” Gavrailov, the shady Lyulin area, thankfully sparks the latter.

K▲NZ has had a lot of attention in regards to nightlife participation and on behalf of labels, but definitely not yet the deserved one. We are proud to present the platform for his first ever 12″ vinyl release with slightly odd in taste selection, and thus, rich in soul and creativity. -M-E-L-M-A-K-’s LKVBHR-12 installment is to be released also later this summer and by this we would like to tell Kalo: “welcome to the mob, big! Small-town-dogma-free techno rulez!”

Yuzu Music is a Brooklyn, NYC based deep and minimal house record label operating under the direction and creative vision of label boss Coral O'Connor. A long time friend of the label, Gunnter serves up four beautiful tracks with his signature futuristic, yet timeless deep house sound. We immediately fell in love with these cuts, which are thoroughly buoyant, thundering, groovy and of the highest quality.