In this space between chaos and conformity disorderly moments welcome new phases into existence, leading to the awakening of an elevated version of the self. Between highs and lows, Transitions of Life remain; the concept behind Synthek's first solo full length sound narrative on his Natch Records imprint. Unfolding across a vexing two-year transformation phase, Synthek's crossings along rough roads are the tribulations to reveal this intimate personal journey of reve- lation through emotional downshift, spiritual upheaval and cerebral quandary. In this dominion, Synthek shapes the eleven track escapade along a sophisticated array of synths and warm analog drums, while contrasting the build and decline of atmosphere through deep bass soundscapes.
Pivotal turning points execute the programming of the album's three part sound design; beginning from darkness and repression, evolving to a more colourful aerial majesty of lucid dream state, morphing into the developed nature of life lessons learned; Transitions of Life making its incarnation into the discovery of the self and re-entry into reality.
*Transitions of Life is a 2x12' release made available through Natch Elements, intro- spective extension to the Natch Records imprint. Visual embodiment of the project artfully presented with photographic time capsule by Salar Kheradpejouh of Berlin, Germany with graphic work curated by Jacopo Saveritano, co-founder of Natch Records.
Orbis X is a sublabel of Orbis Records and will be mainly focusing on softer yet often usable as DJ material for the broader mass interested in Electronic music. This sublabel is an extension of Orbis Records softer, more melodical and experimental side. Music will be ranging from house, dub, chicago over melodic acid and even breaks. Not any track makes it to this sublabel if it can't stand on its own and stand the test of time!
Aleksander Zekovski might not ring a bell but it should ring a bell within a few months.
We warmly welcome Moda on OrbisX with his very special and pure analog feel to sound.
Unique, funky, very good arrangements and multi-talented. Nothing more, nothing less.
Someone who deserves to be discovered or at least get a bigger audience.
We re taking the leap of faith with Moda, serving him a full EP to experiment.
The Roots EP was born.
The full EP is a mixture of funky beats with some housy touches with, in some phases, gentle and experimental dirty glitches.
Something to add to your collection. This EP can be played in quirky eclectic DJ sets, lounge bars or just at home with a nice glass of red wine.
Background music while having dinner with friends and you want to serve something special This is one of those special EP s!
Something To Talk About is funky, dreamy and sparks that twitchy leg movement when you doubt if you should be dancing or be slightly head banging to that tune.
That kinda track. Serves well with candles, wine and late night talks.
Under Her Skin might take off on a weird bit quirky dirty start, but when that lead kicks in, ... we were sold.
Extremely funky. Be aware: you can t hold yourself from clapping to this song.
On the B-side, "Winter Tale" counts as the second A track on the EP. Deep! Gentle and yet so snappy in it's own dirty way.
We fell in love from the first note, or should we say that filthy deep baseline, those dirty well mixed-in toms and snappy rude claps!
"Running Man". Well... if you like dreamy catchy house. This is for you.
A nice extra track, making this EP a brilliant pressing.
We can't emphasize the talent Alexander has.
We hope he gets more attention with this EP.
Full support for you Alex.
Wizards of Ooze was a Belgian band that released 3 albums between 1994 - 1999 and toured the whole of Europe. The bands sound is a mixture of different genres, combining elements from primarily soul, fusion and psychedelica. On their second album Bambee! the band took it even further. Press-quote: "What can you expect Take the best fusion-band ever (Chick Corea's Return to Forever), some James Brown funk, synth-fun like Tangerine Dream and even a bit of hardrock, and you're getting close. This is Zappa, the Flemish Zappa: cool, nervous, funny, sad, difficult, ... No record for those who love the traditional verse-chorus-verse, and so probably as uncommercial as it can get."
Outta the shadows and into the strobe-light, Alex Lewis aka Turinn debuts on Modern Love with a highly rinsable debut double-pack of sawn-off brukbeats and anxious, nerve-riding grooves brewed in the ravines of North Manchester. Turinn emerges from a new generation of producers in the city that include longtime spar Willow, and upcoming producer Croww, soon to offer up his own debut recordings.
Crooked and rugged AF, but tempered by an acute emotive sensitivity, 18 1/2 Minute Gaps renders a bleedin' cross-section of mongrel, hybrid style 'n pattern in a breathless, deceptively freehand fashion that comes riddled with an electric blue energy all of its own.
Committing ten trax of fractious, mutant funk and sore feels, 18 1/2 minute Gaps serves to cap Turinn's formative phase of production like a lead lid on a nuclear rave implosion; trapping original 'ardcore 'nuum, Detroit booty and dank post-punk elements in a perpetual flux of in-the-pocket grooves which ravenously attempt to split at the seams, alternately pushing into Muslimgauze-like buffer zones of distortion or resoundingly wide ambient dimensions, and often both at once.
On the first plate, this ambiguous dichotomy is epitomised between the rare surge of quick/slow torque in Ovum, which almost sounds like Chris Carter sparring with Burial Hex, and then in his nod to the Italian new wave with Elba, which seems to find the square root between Lorenzo Senni and some skudgy as heck Kassem Mosse grind, whereas the bittersweet soul of 1625 finds compatible links with his close peer, Workshop's Willow as well as Japan's Shinichi Atobe and scene enabler Move D, while Parratactico swaggers into quantum dancehall meters.
The second disc is no less deadly: the album title track runs at a nexx level Detroit momentum like DJ Stingray flipping Derrick May and Carl Craig's Kaotic Harmonies, before ESO cuts in like a super cranky El-B wearing itchy Primark underwear, and the bone-rattling hardcore jungle of Spawn soon enough gives way to the sweetlad couplet of Petrichor and Ondine, where his elusive, distressed melodic touch really shines thru.
Blood Debts' is the compulsive debut album from Years Of Denial, the alter-face of London-based French musician/producer and DJ, Jerome Tcherneyan.
Though his formulative Marseille youth was spent exploring the darkest corners of post-punk, New Wave, not to mention Public Enemy and the inspirational Mille Plateaux and Basic Channel labels, Tcherneyan, already an extremely capable drummer, quickly extended his sonic palate toward and beyond the bass-heavy electronic isolationism, insistent beats and drone experimentation that's still very much prevalent in his work today.
One should not either pass over his integral contribution to the much-lauded, though stolidly underground "ghost-rock" unit, Piano Magic, which engineered sublime collaborations with Brendan Perry (Dead Can Dance), Simon Raymonde (Cocteau Twins/This Mortal Coil) and Alan Sparhawk (Low). Tcherneyan, always prolific, can also lay claim to impressive collusions with Bonjo Iyabinghi Noah (African Head Charge), Damo Suzuki (Can), 70's psych folk legend, Mark Fry to name but a few.
In 2005, Jerome founded and promoted the infamous 'Flesh' parties; guests including Andy Stott /Claro Intelecto/Edit-Select/James Ruskin/Kirk Degiorgio/Mark Broom/Oliver Ho/Sigha/Steve Bicknell and many more. These nights served as an invaluable education in Techno and Dubmixology; marathon sets played deep into the sunrise.
Skip forward a decade and the DJ bug is even deeper embedded, with Tcherneyan sharing the booth with, amongst many others, Orphx/Phase Fatale/Joefarr and London Modular Alliance.
Tcherneyan's muse and foil on 'Blood Debts,' his first for Oliver Ho's splendid and already essential new Death & Leisure imprint, is Maya Petrovna, an entrancing London-based vocalist, film composer and performance/physical theatre artist, whose voice perfectly evokes Billie Holliday, Diamanda Galas and all stations between.
There's a black neon heart at the centre of 'Blood Debts,' a fetishtic ritual of contorted flesh and altered states; a feverish, infectious paradox of primitivism and modernity. Years of Denial is the ghost in the machine.
Population One delivers a stripped down auditory urban narrative full of the city's industrial internal conversations. Haunting, compelling and raw; looming in the darkness.
Based out of San Francisco, Extra Classic is a unique live band formed with a keen appreciation of vintage reggae & vintage sounds. The aesthetic, and certainly the skilled method of their production, is an ode to the art of that classic style as referenced to the term coined by the Cool Ruler himself. Recording in their own studio, Nopal Recording, the band employs a taster's choice of analog equipment and is devotedly tracked, spliced and mixed in-house direct to tape. However, as the group's name itself implies, there is a dose of something extra and new in this swirling mixture of space echo, heavy phase, and emotive, psychedelic California-soul.Built upon the rock of an early-era dancehall swing, their first single in conjunction with Brooklyn-based imprint Names You Can Trust entitled In This Life, is a perfect slice of lover's rock gone sideways, a decidedly left-coast piece of roots and bliss driven by Adrianne deLanda's lovely lead vocals and the steady, dusty echoes of the locked in players. Presented in the traditional format with a version as per NYCT fashion, the dub mix incorporates a soothing dose of synare beams and underwater instrumental dreams.
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.
Not even a month has passed since Sierra Sam and Pascal Hetzel ´s CYRK project launched with the high impact homage 'Tribute' and they return with yet another respectfully rooted release.
Channelling the energies of Detroitian agenda-setters such as Inner City, Joey Beltram and Scott Grooves, CYRK celebrate the original template and ingredients that have gone on to inform every genre that's since passed. Easy to say... A dark art to master without repeating something that's already been done before. Safe to say that CYRK definitely have that art mastered...
Its deft ping-pong riff echoing through classic detuned synth tones and unrelenting beats refusing to stop even for the honeyed evocative tones of singer Christine Eusebio , 'Fantasy' is one of those tracks you'll feel you know but also understand its freshness instantly. The type of track that gets crowds grinning like Cheshire cats the second it pops on... Even though they've never heard it before. Rooted in history, coded in innovation, it's more proof that CYRK's three-headed formula is better than one.
Remix-wise both Pascal Hetzel and Gerome Sportelli remain in Detroit: Pascal looks towards the likes of Mills and UR's 'World Power Alliance' phase for inspiration with his heads-down, militant techno aesthetics while Gerome conjures up sensations of Cybotron and The Preps with his slinky, ice-edged electro adaptation. Both versions take Christine's surging, sensual vocals to new creative pastures... And they've invited you to do the same with the acapella version, too.
Celebrating a legacy while keeping it fresh, CYRK remind us where we've come from... And where we're heading.ind us where we've come from... And where we're heading.
out of Stock
Last delivered 7 years ago available to reorder, subject to availability
The mighty Brassfoot (Apron) going overseas with a devestating ep on the Dutch Bio Rhythm imprint, delivering five grim yet hedonistic & intense post-modern voodoo jack tracks, kickstarting what appears to be the labels' second phase.
This is France in the Mitterrand years: fashions fleet as fast as governments. In the early eighties, the happy-go-lucky gather the nectar of each and every new release.
Believing in a bright future for videotex, and loosened up by the sexy talks broadcasted on the budding pirate radios, the new generation dreams of dance floors and holiday clubs. French Boogie, which preserves the spirit of these years of boodle and bunkum, is the ideal soundtrack to their dreams.
What the web now refers to as French Boogie is some synthetic funk reflecting the spirit of those days when nothing was impossible, or so it seemed. Its syncopated flow heralded the dawning of French rap. Often considered as some kind of post-disco, inspired as much by black music as by new wave, this carefree pop music with bawdy lyrics indulged in simple pleasures: holidays, swank and sun were recurrent themes. Totally in tune with its time, it incidentally glorified luxury, success, and a certain consumerism embodied, for instance, in Bernard Tapie.
In popular clubs such as La Main Bleue in Montreuil, or L'Echappatoire in Clichy-sous-Bois - where Micky Milan could be seen behind the decks - an enthusiastic audience discovered this new sonic wave, influenced as much by French pop as by Sugar Hill Gang or Kurtis Blow. The artists who first launched the movement engaged in it wholeheartedly, but as often the case with new music trends in France, humour and casualness quickly became a decoy to impose a new style. This explosive mixture, in which startling and typically Frenchy French lyrics go along New-York-style tunes, is sometimes reminiscent of the kinky comedies directed by Max Pécas or Claude Zidi. On this prolific scene, partly originating from the Jewish community, everybody was looking for success, trying to hit the jackpot with what was to hand. Famous media personalities, one-hit wonders or John Does in quest of fame, all had a go at French Boogie - more or less successfully. Apart from « Vacances j'oublie tout » by Elégance, « Un fait divers et rien de plus » by Le Club, or « Chacun fait ce qui lui plaît » by Chagrin d'amour (produced by Patrick Bruel), very few songs became hits: the story of funk in France is that of a half-baked robbery.
In this myriad of new musicians, the very young François Feldman and Phil Barney pioneered a fresh and hybrid style. Other well-known artists like Gérard Blanc from Martin Circus (Attaché Case), Richard de Bordeaux (Ich), or Jean-Pierre Massiera (Anisette, Pirate Scratch Band, Mandrake, Scratch Man...) added an eccentric touch to this sound-wave, making it often entertaining, and sometimes showy.
Capture d'écran 2015-10-26 à 12.55.43Singers like Agathe (the author of 'La Fourmi' and of the hit song 'Je ne veux pas rentrer chez moi seule') were far more than just window dressing. They even tried to give an ironic and subversive twist to this rather harmless genre. The very vindictive rebel Gérard Vincent shared in this spirit, but as a whole, French Boogie became associated with nonchalance and sauciness. Thus, Stéphane Collaro, Gérard Jugnot, Alain Gillot Pétré and other TV clowns would clumsily contribute to this French variation on funky sounds. In a few but intense years, French Boogie gave all the tips to party with style.
If some hits made it possible for the happy few to get a real house under truly exotic palm trees, the wave actually ebbed away very quickly, leaving quite a few musicians stranded on the shore. Whether they were sincerely motivated, or simply opportunistic, they had failed. In 1984, French Boogie was already breathless, and got merged with other genres: on the one hand, rap and breakdance adapted its flow to a more urban world, especially with Sydney's show, H.I.P.H.O.P, and Dee Nasty's broadcasts on Radio Nova; on the other, italo, new beat and house began to rule over dance floors, even more strongly asserting the will to develop music for clubs.
Squeezed in between the age of disco and that of modern electronic music, French Boogie was a transitional phase, but it remains an amazingly refreshing testimony to the intermingling of pop and underground cultures. The genre was hastily categorized as anecdotal in spite of its pioneering synthetic groove and matchless bass lines. An attentive ear will discover the poetry of the ephemeral beyond the eccentricities of the genre, as well as a certain unexpected avant-gardism. At the origin of major music trends, always cheerful and catchy, French Boogie is what you need to party.
Mini Album Thingy Wingy are 7 brand new & exclusive tracks recorded by Anton Newcombe in is his studio in Berlin in 2014 & 2015. Running at over 34 minutes.,the mini album is co produced , engineered & mixed by Fabien Leseure . This release contains four self written songs by Anton Newcombe ,a co write of the band's first Slovakian song (Prší Prší) with Vladimir Nosal , another co write (Pish) with Tess Parks and a cover of the 13th Floor Elevator's track 'Dust' which features Alex Maas from the Black Angels on jug
Originally, Anton Newcombe was heavily influenced by The Rolling Stones' psychedelic phase, but his work in the 2000s has expanded into aesthetic dimensions approximating the UK Shoegazing genre of the 1990s and incorporating influences from world music, especially Middle Eastern and Brazilian music.
This album brings the traditional Brian Jonestown Massacre sound mixed with eastern influences & bringing it up to date with the benefit of all the additional weirdness that's been discovered in the past 40 years.
out of Stock
Last delivered 7 years ago available to reorder, subject to availability
As Sure As Night Follows Day is Russell Haswell's landmark second album for London's Diagonal Records. Consolidating a quarter-century at the coal face of extreme computer music, techno and death metal in 19 tracks and 49 minutes, it's Haswell's most coherent yet varied burst of activity to date — zigzagging from improvised n0!se outbursts and asphyxiated R&B to a brace of thundering acid bullets that positively froth for the 'floor.
The album was extracted over a fast-working period in late 2014, and is best perceived as a sort
of fractured regression to his formative influences: you can hear the picnoleptic recollections of
grindcore shows in the Black Country, the refracted shades of mega-raves at Coventry's Eclipse,
the conflating toxic texture-memories of early Japanese noise, and the incandescent stomp of
Mills and Hood in that early 90s phase.
Fortunately for the ravers, this album includes some of Haswell's most direct dance floor attacks to
date. 'Hardwax Flashback', for instance, finds him in pure tekno panik mode — a four-to-the-floor
wrecking ball groove that someone, somewhere, may even be able to mix. 'Gas Attack' distils his
penchant for all things Belgium into a vicious strain of New Beat lactic acid. Haswell then doffs his
cap to Detroit electro legends Drecxiya on 'Underwater Electronic
Struggle' — a story goes that he once thrashed a jet-ski all over the Mediterranean while listening
to 'Wave Jumper' in his 'phones — before he does the salty freestyle electro flex 'ting on 'Industry
Knowledge (For Oscar)' while reminding his trusty apprentice, Powell, that he still has a lot to
learn. In between these 'floor-flexers, we find more freakish disturbances and intrusive drum-box
improvisations: the modular mind-floss of 'Rave Splurge Noise' or 'Noise Rave', for instance, or the
self-explanatory 'Improvisation #1'. 'In The Air
Today' investigates warehouse-ready electro-acoustic percussion, while the chaotic clusters
of 'Interlude' swarm and invade your senses with psychoacoustic incision. This is Diagonal and
Russell at their most f**ked up and fizzy, and an important reminder of the artist's stream-of-
consciousness genius — and the pressing need for more chaos and unpredictability in electronic
music today.
Entitas, is the second instalment of Jay Clarke's BLACKAXON imprint, and sees the label boss bring out the big guns in the form of three distinct and diverse cuts. First up is Entity, an autonomic monster which has sweat soaked energy written all over it. It's auspiciously one part deep, and more than double just as twisted. Things are far from linear with Entity, it's mercilessly the sum of it's own parts, and has the hallmarks of a true big room pleaser written all over it. A truly authentic demonstration of the old adage 'It's not where you are going, it's how you get there'. Entity is certain to be reached for by all of the major players on the Techno circuit for a long time to come.
On the flip, Ghosts Of Acid is the Yin to Entity's Yang. A plangent and introspective groove opens up with wispy cymbals, cleverly placed rims, hats and claps. Exploratory and evolving subaqueous acidic forays dare the listener to dive in a little deeper, with the reward being a very proficient and efficient take on the now classic Acid sound.
Existence Through Perception seeks to carry on where the previous two tracks left off. A driving groove and sinister hook lets up briefly midway to a near triumphant fanfare, only to be brought back to it's mischievous overture. A perfect late night/peak time track for DJ's looking to elevate the bar of their set just one more rung higher.
Support From:
(Phase), DVS1, Ben Klock, Answer Code Request, Luke Slater, Norman Nodge, Chris Liebing, Lucy, Oscar Mulero, Speedy J, DJ Deep, Tommy Four Seven, Cassegrain, Inigo Kennedy, Slam, Brendon Moeller, Nihad Tule, Kr!z, Psyk, Jonas Kopp, Truncate, Samuli Kemppi, Juho Kusti, Anthony Parasole, Eric Cloutier, Jereon Search, Moerbeck, Truss, Distant Echoes, Yac (I/Y), Philippe Petit, Thomas Hessler, Randomer, Volte-Face, Fundamental Interaction, Arnaud Le Texier, Ame, Angel Molina, Tensal, Kwartz, Stacey Pullen.
Credits
Wenn es ein Wort gibt, das Mathias Kaden in all den Phasen seines Schaffens als DJ und Producer zu beschreiben vermag, dann dürfte energiegeladen weit oben stehen. Nur schlüssig, dass sein neues Album eben diesen Titel trägt. Musikalisch war der eng mit dem Jenaer Label Freude am Tanzen verbundene Künstler von Anfang überaus energetisch unterwegs. In den Präferenzen verortete er seinen Sound selten irgendwo fest: Von filigranem Micro-House und perkussivem
Minimalismus über gemeinsame Tracks mit Marek Hemmann und der Leipziger Band Marbert Rocel (unter dem Namen Karocel) offenbarte Mathias Kaden über die vergangenen zehn Jahre hinweg immer neue Facetten.
Sechs Jahre nach dem viel beachteten und eher clubfernen Debüt-Album 'Studio 10' besinnt sich Mathias Kaden mit 'Energetic' gleichermaßen auf seine musikalischen Wurzeln sowie die Gegenwart als international herumreisender DJ. Dem Dancefloor möchte er mit den zehn neuen Tracks etwas zurückgeben. Einen positiven, zeitlosen Vibe, tief geerdet im Funk und der Würde der frühen House-Jahre, die nicht nur für Kaden das Fundament eines klassischen Club-Sounds
bilden. Angedeutet hat sich diese neue House-Wärme bereits zuvor bei seiner 'Tentakle EP' auf Desolat sowie bei 'Fin', dem exklusiven Beitrag zur gleichnamigen Mix-Compilation von Watergate Records.
out of Stock
Last delivered 17 days ago available to reorder, subject to availability
Factory Benelux presents a new studio album by cult Manchester postpunk group Crispy Ambulance, issued in a
limited edition of 500 vinyl copies to mark Record Store Day 2015.
In many respects Compulsion is the second album Crispy Ambulance might have recorded in 1982 after the release of
The Plateau Phase, with six of the eight tracks written and performed live at that time. To these are now added Rain
Without Clouds, an outtake from The Plateau Phase newly restored from the original multitrack masters, and WMTP.2
with added synth lines by producer-cum fifth member Graham Massey, of 808 State and Biting Tongues.
Almost uniquely, Crispy Ambulance has retained the same line-up since the group was originally founded in 1978: Alan
Hempsall (vocals, keyboards), Gary Madeley (drums), Robert Davenport (guitars), Keith Darbyshire (bass).
'There's a sense of feeling compelled by irresistible forces,' explains Alan Hempsall. 'Compulsion is an apt way to
describe our constant urge to go back and make music with people we've known since childhood. While the world may
have changed, our music continues to be the product of the same influences - the passing of time, the changing of the
seasons, the content of our sleeping dreams, and the existence of space.'
Cover art by Peter Staessens. The package also features a free digital download of the album.
Praise for The Plateau Phase: "One of the best albums Britain's second city has unleashed" (Q, 03/2006); 'Perfect,
wonderful and with a compelling gravitational pull' (Record Collector, 03/2013); "17 years on The Plateau Phase
sounds like what it probably always was: urgent, postmodernist psychedelia with less debt to Joy Division's music than to
the universal abstract existential tension that comes with being young" (Uncut, 12/1999); "Cold and ferocious, but with
enough inventive melody to lighten the black abyss of the overall mood" (Les Inrockuptibles, 02/2012); "An enthralling
glimpse at a moment in musical history when the DIY ethos of punk gradually gave way to experiments with electronics
and song structures" (NME, 01/2000); "Mixes driving rock, gritty new wave and odd atmospheric stuff" (Option, 1990)
Radio support from Benji B & B Traits (BBC Radio 1), Nemone (BBC 6 Music), . DJ support from Ben UFO, Joy Orbison, Caribou, Tessela, Mosca, Kowton, Ron Morelli, Bok Bok
Print features confirmed in Groove, Beat Mag, Faze (DE), Tsugi (FR), DJ Mag (IT), Volkskrant (NL), The Gap (Austria)
Print reviews confirmed in Mixmag, The Wire, Crack, DJ Mag, Uncut (UK), Blow Up, Rumore, Rockerilla (IT), Irish Times (IE), Musikexpress, Doppelpunkt, Westzeit (DE), Exclaim (CA)
Online features / premieres: The Fader, NPR, XLR8r (USA), The Quietus, Dummy (UK), Wasabeat (JP),
Hessle Audio are excited to announce the release of the self-titled debut album by Pearson Sound, aka label co-head David Kennedy. Characteristically minimalist in approach, its nine tracks use a handful of elements to craft mesmerising, self-contained worlds, alive with motion and near-subliminal detail: from vast and inky landscapes, to electrifying rhythm tracks, where layers of percussion and bass tumble over one another like rocks in a landslide. Recorded between 2013-4, Pearson Sound documents a distinct phase of Kennedy's studio explorations. "I had a signal chain set up that I was really happy with, and I started sending my machines through the same processes" he says. Expanding upon the techniques underpinning his recent REM and Starburst 12"s, its tracks emerged swiftly through improvised jam sessions, some were captured in a minimum of takes, while others later took shape through extensive sculpting and post-processing. "A lot of it was made by feeding the the same sounds between two different pieces of equipment and they'd end up feeding back between each other and snowballing. On some tracks it's about harnessing that and taking it to the brink before it disintegrates, and some of them are about just letting it go full-blown out of control." The result is a record of striking contrasts: bold, stark and visceral, yet also subtle, harmonically complex and deceptively playful. While Pearson Sound's livewire percussive energy remains inextricably rooted in the club, this exploratory studio process has created Kennedy's most wide-ranging yet coherent body of work to date: a suite of thrillingly impulsive, expressive and open-ended music, untethered from restrictions of form.
Since its conception three years ago, the Hamburg based label hafendisko has been patiently building its reputation with a diverse and varied artist roster. Alongside releases from emerging talent such as Deo & Z-Man and Brynjolfor, it forms parent label hfn music's outlet for club oriented music whether with full releases or remixes for artists such as Kasper Bjørke and Faded Ranger and just recently welcomed renowned remixers such as Michael Mayer, Charles Webster and Luke Solomon, to name a few. Now with the release of Nummer Eins, Hafendisko is taking the next step in its evolution, serving up the best of past and present releases together with a string of exclusive cuts that signal an undeniably bright future. It's machine music with real heart and soul as, time and again, the tracks locate that elusive sweet spot that unifies mind and body. The opening act replicates this highly collectable four track vinyl EP that precedes the digital release: Snacks' ‚Easy' provides an aptly titled intro, with sweet melodies, warm synth swells and looping vocal hooks evolving over a low slung, funk inflected groove. 'Purdie', the duo's debut last September instantly became a huge underground hit, while they are currently working on their debut album. Unkwon is Anders Dixon from Copenhagen and people will stop asking if it's a typo soon. Just off his stunning remix for Trentemøller's Deceive he takes it underground with the stuttering beats and melancholy phase of ‚Everything', building a cavernous yet claustrophobic soundscape that's designed to make your eyeballs sweat, before Ewan Pearson's NRG instrumental of Kasper Bjørke's ‚Apart' goes into dance floor overdrive, upping the ante again. Both the Michael Mayer and the Ewan Pearson mixes of Bjørke's final single off his newest album stirred a buzz.
11 years after HURENS last discharge on ZHARK (cat 18) and nearly 20 years after his bombardment that
brought cat 07, 08, 09, 11, 13, CD 01 and CD 02 the HU is back.
Nearly 100 unreleased tracks have been recovered in the last years from the lost DATS & Cassettes from
the Zeckendorf Phase 96 up to NEEDLE EXCHANGE Compilation 2002: 2 tracks from this phase are
presented on this EP + 2 new Trax, straight from the Canadian Bunker.
Our first release is by Jay Clarke, a London based producer and resident of the renowned monthly party. The first release will showcase killer cuts from Jay himself, each showcasing a brand of Techno narrative that's become now synonymous with his contradistinctive sound.
Jay's production methods are by no means homogeneous to one strain of dancefloor Techno, his DJ sets regularly encompass tracks, tools or elements from the broader spectrum of electronic music, and you're sure to find an array of influences in abundance throughout his own productions. So it's not just First Flight by name, it's also First Flight by nature here for Jay.
First Flight features three original tracks from Jay himself and UK producer JoeFarr has been drafted in to take care of remix duties here, and brings his trademark rough- edged Techno sound along for the ride. This really isn't one for the faint-hearted; a great addition to what is a supremely versatile and well-rounded release.
Support from:
Dave Clarke, AnD, Phase, DVS1, Kriz!, Inigo Kenedy, Ben Sims, Shifted, Marcel Dettmann, Kwartz, Answer Code Request, Adam X, Surgeon, Norman Nodge, Henning Baer, Luke Slater, Nihad Tule, Francois X, Len Faki, Abstract Division, Slam, Pfirter, Happa, Rivet, Thomas Schumacher, Brendon Moeller, Ame, CTRLS, Joseph Capriati, Richie Hawtin, Steve Lawler, Sasha, Hernan Cattaneo, John Selway, Dave Angel, Dave Tarrida, Juho Kusti, Bas Mooy, Psyk, 2000 and One, Dax J, Espen Lauritzen, Arnaud Le Texier Fundamental Interaction, Vincent Neumann, Lee Holman, Gareth Wild, UZB, Mr Jones, Submerge, Sandrien, Setaoc Mas, Annie Hall, Matthias Woot
out of Stock
Last delivered 3 years ago available to reorder, subject to availability
FINAL PROGRAM was a pioneering Scottish minimal synth band, formed in Sterling in 1978. The first version of the band consisted of Richie Program and Anne Droid who went fully electronic when EDP launched their first affordable synth, the Wasp, and guitars were ditched. This LP entitled "Robots, Rockets, Radiation" is comprised of all 12 demo tracks and the original 7"EP tracks, making this a rather comprehensive work. Pure and raw, yet playful analogue synth bliss including the hits "Phase One", "Automaton", "Mechanic Dancing", finally a vocal version of "Protect and survive", as well as a cover version of The Stranglers' "Hanging Around" and an interpretation of Burt Bacharach's "Raindrops (keep falling on my head)".
An intriguing project by singer, composer and multi-instrumentalist G.T. Moore, he of G.T Moore and the Reggae Guitars (first album 1974) fame, he of the folk group Heron who recorded their first album in a field by the Thames in 1970, he who recorded on Lee Perry's final album at the Black Ark studio 1980, also was a part time member of Radical Dance Faction and who's done session work with the likes of Johnny Nash, Joan Baez, Poly Styrene and more.
*Fast forward to now: G.T. collaborates with the Lost Ark Band creating some beautiful shimmering, dreamy, deep phaser-laden sounds giving more than a nod the aforementioned Perry's studio from way back then.
*Features two compositions - `Be True' and `One Two Three' - the latter originally recorded with Heron - with respective dub versions playing at 33 and weighing in at 25 minutes.
Struments Records opens 2014 presenting ''Fire to the Empire'', third record in 12'' format from this Barcelona label. Following the special dedication referred to the local talent shown by the label in its two previous releases, in this occasion the reference is signed by Clip!, relevant artist in the Spanish electronic scene that, after a versatile and prolific 2013, shows in this publication a new coordinate of their chameleonic sound. Thereby opening the door to more visceral coordinates, opaque and less intense dance that exudes less kindness and infects the club atmosphere with light and dark. The set, consisting of three original songs (Fire, Ash and Bitch), and a remix of ''Ash'' by the British artist Kommune1, discovers on side A two descriptive and powerful snapshots of translucent clubber atmosphere, winding and unfiltered. Proper of the dance hours closer to twilight in the shadows and lights mergers into sensations. While on the B side, the artists pays tribute to the most evasive and escapist concept that music can evoke, forged between the rage of techno and the subtlety of house, when instinct takes control over any convention and presents itself as a purely physical experience between the listener and the sound. Closing the total minutes of the reference, Kommune1 prints cosmic and expansive notes to ''Ash'', as well as he brightens the original version. ''Fire'', the central tune that starts and gives name to this third reference of Struments Records responds to six minutes that shapes a direct and powerful presentation letter. In which you can acknowledge progressive melodic phases and raw vocals that serve as a growing force of initial contact. ''Ash'' continues the incursion between hard and chiaroscuro dynamic, printing analog rhythm coordinations. ''Bitch'' represents the exact balance and highlight of ''Fire Your Empire'' EP, sobriety in enviromental nuances, vocal flare and power high-flying shape a depth completely orientated to the dance floor that condenses much intention in a speech coherently aligned with the sound. Kommune1 sets ''Ash'' with an eye towards fantasy and space, using resources in the original maximalist melodies and rhythmic accelerating phases provide the remix to get faster.
DJ Support:
Alizzz (Mad Decent)
The EP is so well balanced. Loving that analog feeling. 'Fire' makes me
dream, I get in trance with the bass and those pads on 'Ash' and I want
to listen to 'Bitch' really loud in the Berghain. Much support.
Jorge Caiado (Balance/Groovement)
"Excellent and fresh EP!! All tracks are powerful and effective, can't
wait to play them. My favorite is "Bitch" but Kommune1 also did a good
alternative mix to "Ash". Keep them coming Struments!
Kresy (Hivern Discs)
"Great EP. Bitch is my favourite"
Broke One (RBMA/Magic Wire Recordings)
"Aweome EP"
This return of Ferox records sees an enthusiastic response from all. The label has forthcoming releases from many original Ferox artists and some new recruits and collaborations along the way. This, the first release in 5 years, sees label head-honcho Russ Gabriel in action under his Too Funk guise. From the first 'Return Of Too Funk EP' to the later 'Hotel Ibis' and Derrick Carter's remix of 'Venus Fly Trap', Russ's Too Funk grooves have been jacking dance floors on both sides of the Atlantic since 1995. This latest offering, 'Phase 3', is a 45 rpm two tracker of House goodness only available on vinyl. No clear favourite has emerged from the two sides, among the selective few that have heard it. Like much of the wealthy Ferox catalogue before it, this is proper House Music with an electric twinge.
out of Stock
Last delivered 4 years ago available to reorder, subject to availability
Once again Danse Club Records have unearthed a forgotten and sorely overlooked house track here, then they have enlisted a fine pair of contemporary producers - Sqim and Deepchild - to remix it and bring it right up to date. The original, 'Who's Dick Is This' is a 1994 kicking house bomb by the mysterious Princess Di, who released but three EPs during the 90s on Music Station with this track being the pick of the bunch. German producer Sqim is associated with labels like Exploited and Play It Down and firstly offers up a Ghetto Mix of the track. The result is a big and physical house track with sleazy samples, heavyweight drums and a kinetic energy throughout The warm up mix by the same man is a much deeper affair, as you'd expect from the name. This one resides in a much warmer and more inviting groove and is coloured with deft synths as it slowly builds in phases. The elastic vocals dart about above the drums, bringing with them a lively sense of soul and funk before Deepchild offers his own two unique versions.From quirky, stripped-back techno injected with soul to deep, dub-inflected excursions, Berlin based Australian Deepchild can do it all. Here he offers his 'Cockumentary Retug' a ragged and raging techno version riddled with spoken word samples culled from a documentary about penis size. Its dark and involving and sure will get great reactions on the floor. The final version is a straight dub that journeys in a heavy groove, has some weird spoken word snippets melted into it and is lit up with some celestial synth patterns in the latter half.
Darshan Jesrani's new project Funn City continues to break open the notion of modern vs. retro and challenges the listener to categorize what is found inside. Extending the experiment in modern disco without re-treading already explored ground, Funn City offers a playful and rebellious approach to the recombination of old and new. Funn City sticks lightly to the fusion of live and electronic instruments, and heavily to its varied influences from rock and r&b to house and techno, yet casts them in a delirious, neon-lit sheen. 'All-Night People,' the project's first offering, is a relentlessly-upbeat, vivid, saturated trip of a maxi-single inspired by that liminal area of late-70s dance music which existed between shitty, bluesy rock, new wave and disco. Otherworldly, gurgling synths surf atop truncated, slashing guitar and thick, pattering congas. Taut synth sequences spar with sinewy lead lines and trashy vocals, bound together by a precise, modern sensibility, enticing you to waste your time inside a glorious, pinball machine dream. The dub on Side B works most of the same features but empties out the arrangement and infuses the mix with a bubbling, techno-inspired sequence and phaser-licked synth to create a new, more streamlined groove for the track-oriented dancefloor and style of play. Startree is proud to present this first release as a mission-statement in musical form and an indicator of things to come.
Alex Niggemann's 2012-defining long player 'Paranoid Funk' dropped in June to a rapturous response from DJs, dancers and home listeners alike. Here, Poker Flat Recordings revisits some of the exceptional highlights of that record, and deliver a remix package sure to be as equally sought-after by those in the know. 'Paranoid Funk' saw the Berlin resident explore a variety of grooves and textures, an experiment that won him many new admirers and a great deal of critical acclaim. Here, some of the hottest remix talent in the scene get their hands on the originals and twist them into new shapes. Following on from releases on Cocoon, Kling Klong, Circle and two strong EPs on Poker Flat ("Dinosaurs' and 'This") renowned producers Alex Flatner and LOPAZZ take on 'Don't Wait' and drop a growling, main room monster that will standout in any set. Francys, the young Italian making quiet a name for himself on the underground house and techno circuit, lends his skills to 'Back 2 Basics feat. Benji' - channeling the spirit of the early 90s into seven ecstatic minutes. Next up is Salvatore Freda - the highly respected Swiss DJ and producer who injects Niggemann's 'I Don't Care' with a narcotic groove that sits somewhere between Detroit and Berlin - the dubbed out vocals adding an element of otherworldliness that work in perfect compliment to the track's twisted (paranoid) funk. Berlin's own Andre Lodemann picks out 'Lovers' for his excursion, a deep bomb that grows and grows around an exceptional vocal from John Rydell - this is one for the very late nights or early mornings. What is clear from this release is that Alex Niggemann's star continues to rise - the classical pianist turned producer and DJ extraordinaire is moving on to the next phase of his career - and with the slew of outstanding releases to his name already, who is to say where that could lead. Tracklist:
out of Stock
Last delivered 8 months ago available to reorder, subject to availability
ETG005 the 'Revok Ep' sees two new upfront original tracks from Chris, Dax and Gareth with the additIon of an outstanding extended
remix of 'Revok' from the mighty 'Ø Phase. This will be released on limited clear vinyl with bespoke artwork. This Ep was
heavily influenced from Gareth's first visit to Berlin earlier this year in 2012 and also by the artist 'Revok' who had been putting
up some amazing pieces on East London walls around the same time.
Promo: Being played and charted, so far by the likes of Ben Klock, Answercode Request, Marcel Dettmann,
Kr!z Token, Truncate, Jonas Kopp, Phase, PSYK.
Limited clear vinyl with bespoke insert art. Mastered at AIR Studios. Vinyl only.
Amsterdam might be susceptible to grey skies and rain as any other, but cup your ear to the music flowing out of the Dutch capital, and another story emerges. The Mauskovic Dance Band are a prime example of an act who have been dialing up the sunshine over the river Amstel in recent years.On Shadance Hall, their first release of 2020, they concoct a tantalising brew of no-wave, psych rock, cumbia, power dub and numerous other colourful shades of global grooves.
No stranger to Dekmantel as one of half of electro-grouping Bruxas, Nicola Mauskovic leads his percussive troupe through a heavy, trippy, disco fiesta with this, their first debut on Dekmantel Records.
The Mauskovic Dance Band’s epic sonic journey on Shadance Hall began deep in the Welsh valleys. Partnering dusty drum machines alongside phat layers of congas, assorted bric-a-brac of percussive tools, and distortion-soaked guitars, Mauskovic’s ensemble suspend the tempo and turn up the grooves. on this soundsystem-inspired, post-punk odyssey. The resulting soundsystem-inspired concoctions are a mixture of 130bpmbeats (‘Ventura Phase’), Jah Wobble-influenced bass rhythms (‘Squeeze Dogs’) and Carnival-ready soca-jams (‘Theorie Amerikaan’).
Taken back to Amsterdam’s famed Electric Monkey Studio (a favourite for Ghanian great Ebo Taylor and Dutch youngbloods Jungle By Night alike, Mauskovic teamed up with engineer Kasper Frenkel to mix down the record. Here the two acted as Mad Professors, experimenting with the recordings and making multiple versions of each track by creating tape loops, bouncing the audio back and forth and layering the resulting recordings in waves of reverb and echo. In classic dub style, the band ended up with dub edits, rich in space echo, reverb, crush, and dub-goodness, completing the second half of Shadance Hall like a funky palindrome. It rounds off an expressive EP steeped in musical history, bursting with inventiveness, projected at the listener as a maze of influences to get lost within.
out of Stock
Last delivered 5 years ago available to reorder, subject to availability