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Soul Ex Machina continues the SEMPLATE series with its third installment, welcoming Sibla for a three-track EP rooted in the foundations of early dubstep and shaped by a strong jazz sensibility. Named after its opening track, "The Seekers" explores spacious arrangements, refined musicianship and carefully sculpted low-end, drawing a natural connection between soundsystem culture and contemporary harmonic language.

"The Seekers" opens the record with rolling jazz-inflected drums, deep dub weight and a dim, immersive atmosphere, unfolding with patience and quiet confidence. "Paper Bags" shifts the mood through harsh textures, subtle dissonance and restrained percussion, building tension without sacrificing space or balance. Closing the release, "Pace" settles into a driving stepper rhythm, where flowing grooves, precise basslines and understated melodies bring the EP to a focused, purposeful finish.

It’s time for Ahad’s biggest move yet: his first full-length album, P*KI. Powerful, deeply personal and unapologetic, the album is rooted in the dancefloor and in Ahad’s belief that club culture is a space where he can “exist completely authentically.” By reclaiming a word he has personally been confronted with, Ahad transforms P*KI (pronounced Pee-Star-Kay-Eye) into a statement of joy, pride, celebration and self-love. The album’s singles capture that spirit: ‘Put That Banger On Next’, featuring London MC Capo Lee, brings a high-voltage grime energy; ‘Make Space’ is a euphoric tribute to the diverse communities who find solace in London nightlife; while ‘Left / Right’, made with Dismantle and Jam-akabi, delivers a dark, futuristic breaks sound built for warehouse dancefloors. Across the record, Ahad’s signature UK club sound is pushed further, with tracks drawing on everything from gqom and drum’n’bass to South Asian classical instruments, Punjabi folk and devotional music such as qawwali.

Anlässlich des fünfjährigen Jubiläums des gefeierten Debütalbums "Space 1.8" (2021) von Nala Sinephro, erscheint dieses als neue und einmalige Doppel-Vinyl-Edition, erstmals auf zwei Schallplatten geschnitten, im Gatefold mit gefütterten Innenhüllen.

„Wer behauptet,es gäbe keine neuartige Musik mehr, kann entdecken, wie falsch dieses Urteil ist.“ – stern, Heft 21.09.2021‘Space 1.8’ is Nala Sinephro’s debut album; each contributing piece is part of a connected,
collaborative and deeply personal body of music.
Performed and recorded at Pink Bird Recordings in Wanstead and in the comfort of Sinephro’s bedroom, tracks one through eight allow experimentation to breathe and borrow from jazz, electronic and folk influences.

On the LP, Sinephro invites a host of talented musicians to enjoy its confines, providing a quiet place to dissolve the edges of London from the senses.

‘Space 1.8’ is a record for healing, which could not have arrived at a more needed time.

Composer and multi-instrumentalist Koen Holtkamp has spent more than two decades shaping a body of work at the intersection of ambient, experimental, and electroacoustic music. Known for his role in the influential duo Mountains, as well as a solo catalog defined by texture and spatial awareness, Holtkamp has long explored how sound interacts with environment and perception. With Nightlife, he enters a new phase of that inquiry, one shaped as much by physical relocation as artistic evolution.

After leaving Brooklyn for the relatively rural setting of New York’s Hudson Valley, Holtkamp found himself immersed in nature and embracing a slower way of life, a shift that directly informed the album’s creation. Rather than rushing into a new project, he allowed the space itself to guide him, focusing on experimentation and play instead of a fixed outcome. Over time, a new instrument emerged from his modular system, built around physical modeling techniques that emulate plucked string sounds. Drawing on a deep affinity for acoustic traditions, from guitar soli to the kora and other chordophones, he began translating those influences into an electronic language, creating music that feels tangible, effusive, and even intimate, despite its synthetic nature. As the pieces took shape, Holtkamp expanded the project into a kind of imagined ensemble. Composed with specific collaborators in mind, the album features extensive contributions from drummer Greg Fox and saxophonist and flutist Matt Bauder, whose performances subtly reshape the material and draw it toward more fluid, song-like forms, alongside a guest appearance from Ben Vida on synth bass. Yet even as Nightlife occasionally resembles a band in motion, its construction resists traditional cohesion. Acoustic and electronic sources coexist to create a hyper-dimensional sense of space, with each element deliberately placed in its own distinct environment, yielding a complex yet inviting setting that feels both otherworldly and completely natural.

Much of the album was created during late-night sessions, which became a kind of personal ritual and ultimately inspired its title. Nightlife unfolds as a series of finely detailed environments, where stillness, texture, and subtle interplay take precedence over momentum. Each piece invites close listening while remaining open and unforced, reflecting both a change in pace and a deepening of focus. The result extends Holtkamp’s ongoing interest in how sound can shape, and be shaped by, the spaces we inhabit.

Almost Starlight is the extraordinary new album by Jem Finer (hurdy-gurdy) and John Matthias (violin). Produced by Jay Auborn and recorded in a Medieval Church, deep in the Devon countryside, in the Summer of 2025, the music is suffused with light, heat and the natural acoustics of the space.

The album defies categorisation; forced to pigeon hole it the nearest approximation would be ‘modern-classical’ but this ignores its myriad influences and explorations which encompass inspiration from Arvo Pärt through Terry Riley to Can via Delius, Alice Coltrane and a subtle reimagining of electronic music played purely with acoustic instruments, bending and shaping their possibilities in surprising and unexpected directions.

Jay Auborn plays cello on a number of the compositions and his production opens up and expands the music through a skilled and imaginative use of space, paying homage to the atmosphere of the church; ‘the sound evolved… chasing the imagined acoustics of that church in my mind; a place for worshipping light with sound.’

Almost Starlight will be released on the 4th September by Touch, available as CD, vinyl, cassette and on streaming platforms.

BIOS OF THE ARTISTS

Jem Finer

Since studying computer science in the 1970s, Jem Finer has worked in various fields, including photography, film, experimental and popular music, sound recording, sculpture and installation.

Much of his work relates to systems, extended processes and extremes of scale and includes Longplayer, a musical composition repeating once every 1000 years, and the Gurdy and Hurdy stones, ancient rocks set upright in fields in East Sussex and Gloucestershire with Jimmy Cauty. Their work together includes a band, The Standing Stones, whose most recent release is Twa Sisters, featuring Iona Zajac and Daragh Lynch.

He was a founder member of The Pogues, with whom he has played, written and recorded since 1981.

Recent music revolves around a fascination with the hurdy-gurdy and includes hrdy-grdy, a cassette released by Benedict Drew’s Thanet Tape Centre. His latest collaboration, with John Matthias, Almost Starlight, will be released by Touch in September 2026.

John Matthias

Since studying Theoretical Physics in the late 1980s and 1990s, John has created music and sound in many forms, including for installation, popular music, music for film, for dance and orchestra.

Much of John’s work plays with the physics of complex systems but he is also greatly influenced by stories and song. John has collaborated with Matthew Herbert, Stanley Donwood, Jay Auborn, Radiohead, Thom Yorke, Nick Ryan and many others to create music with a variety of textures and sonorities. He is particularly interested in simplicity and form and how context informs the way music sounds.

His latest collaboration, with Jem Finer, Almost Starlight, will be released by Touch in September 2026.

Moulded By Industry is William D Drake's six album, his first for ten years and a return to the richly layered sonic texture and epic production of his majestic Briny Hooves. He is joined by long time collaborators James Larcombe, Dean Gaisburgh-Watkyn and Steve Jackson, with the addition of a new crew member, singer Treana Morris. Moving on from his nine years of pianistic and compositional duties in Cardiacs, Drake's solo work has been known for its synthesis of Mellotron-driven grandeur with a surreal playfulness.

But the deep heart of Drake's work is in its powerful evocation of the landscape of the countryside and its connection with love, longing and loss. To this end, his own enigmatic lyrics have rubbed shoulders with poetry drawn from across the centuries. From obscure sources such as Samuel Spree to the poetry of Thomas Hardy and Rupert Brooke, his settings make old words shimmer with human emotion. The texture of his music also reflects an inspirational lack of concern for distances of time. The earthy breath of his harmonium is interwoven with tones teased from archaic instruments by James Larcombe – hurdy-gurdy, dulcitone and melodeon.

But Drake's sound-world is no museum. Here, ancient words and the timbres of ancient instruments become one with the rush of a moment's emotion. Moulded By Industry brings this approach a new sonic depth, intoxicatingly shaded by Treana's lush vocal harmonies and underpinned by Steve's rhythm. Dean's evocative guitar textures give an oceanic sense, tinged with Americana, recalling his work with Drake in their alt country band Nervous. These many layers of sound are drawn together into vivid soundscapes by the painterly mixing of producer Ott. Renowned for his work in electronica and dub, Ott's two decades of experience working with artists such as Sinéad O'Connor, the Orb and Brian Eno bring an organic touch here, more akin to the elemental forces of land and sky than grid electricity. More than any of Drake's previous albums, Moulded By Industry reignites the emotional urgency of old texts. The gorgeous single The Flickering Shade, haunted by glimmers of lost possibilities, is set from words by Thomas Ashe. Turtledove's heady evocation of the blissful madness of love sets the words of an anonymous 17th century ballad. above all, the album is a testament to Drake's love of John Clare, 'The Northamptonshire Peasant Poet'. Clare wrote as the centuries old process of enclosure, in which wild and common land was appropriated commercially, was accelerating.

His works, rather than representing simple sentimentality, are passionate love poems to the landscape and cries from a soul reeling from the creeping unfamiliarity devouring it. This sense of the tension between passion and ill-ease has its most potent expression in Green Shadows. The brooding, slow-tempo energy of Steve's drums drive a horizon-wide lament, alternately lulled by Treana's vocal textures and made restless by James' plaintive hurdy-gurdy and the emotive pull of Dean's slide guitar. The present moment is also a time of enclosure, both metaphorically, as our lives, memories and emotions are drawn into the commercial space of social media, and literally as land and water are swallowed by vast data centre developments. Moulded By Industry celebrates a regained sense of being in the moment in the landscape, in life and in love. The album closes with the utterly delightful single Love In The Universe. The kind of song that could make a cynic use the word 'joyous' without irony, this Harry Nilsson-esque romp reassures us, with a wink, that 'in an infinite universe everything has its place ... even the human race'.

„Öd“ marks the long-awaited return of Institut für Feinmotorik - the Black Forest collective known for using eight prepared turntables to investigate acoustic micro-phenomena generated by everyday objects - with a new album and their first full-length release on Faitiche. It is also the return of their almost comical understatement as personal artistic principle: „making almost nothing out of almost nothing,“ compressed into the dots on an umlaut.

The Öd-nis, the wasteland, is a field that the collective has been ploughing in sound since their first release in 1997. Eight prepared turntables, four mixers, no records, six hands (give or take) merge into what they call the „Octogrammoticum“. A rotating organism of surfaces in friction, fed with the clutter from a drawer: rubber bands or tin foil, CDs, a discarded socket board. Under IFF's scrutinizing stylus, mundane almost-nothings get scratched open to reveal the acoustic density of negative space itself.

Last year’s „Adhesive Tape“ drew IFF closer together after an almost ten-year hiatus. An eponymous event series at Berlin's silent green set in motion what would become their most twistedly funky release since „Penetrans“ on Staubgold in 2002.

The only thing öd about „Öd" (meaning „barren" or „boring“ in German) may well be its title: layers of improvised play and randomized loops convolve around porous, dubby groove locks, tugging at each other in a call-and-response with howling static that cuts through bulbous ambient techno into a scrap-metal Dixieland phantasm. Stratified yet spacious, these sonic double exposures always hover on the verge of collapsing. What you think you hear might not be what you actually hear.

The album’s track titles resemble Conceptual Poetry, extending this psycho-phenomenological gesture into the realm of spoken language. Conceived by renowned poet Dagmara Kraus, they become word molecules - „stern,” „dies,” „lose“ - tilting delicately between German and English, constantly changing depending on the ear’s perspective and pointing back to the deeply unstable fabric connecting meaning and sound. Which also makes „Öd“ an unusual cross-disciplinary collaboration - at least in the field of electronic music.

PS: Since its beginnings in Bad Säckingen, IFF has always been more than the sum of its rotating parts, moving tirelessly between multimedia art, theory, solo projects and collaborations. With IFF Expanded, the collective now opens its eight-doored apparatus, inviting artists working with CDJs or samplers to join - an ambitious live format that loosens its former purity law while carrying forward a long-standing curatorial practice. The same thread also runs into the related event series Acephalic Headspace.

Institut für Feinmotorik (*1997), artist-group originating from Black Forest working in various fields. In musical context known for transforming turntables into instruments by removing the records and instead applying rubber bands, paper scraps, household materials – resulting in a vivid laboratory for the productive misuse of everyday objects. This approach is documented in record releases and performed live.

The third chapter of The Third Room's curator-led series is shaped by Verraco, one of the key voices behind a new generation of artists reshaping contemporary club music. Through his productions, DJ sets and his work with TraTraTrax, he has helped define a sound where hybrid forms, rhythmic experimentation and cross-cultural influences are pushing the genre into new territory. Structured across two distinct sides, the release draws a clear connection between past and present. The A-side leans into a deeper, more classic space, while the B-side moves towards a more forward-facing, hybrid sound. It opens with Libration (Stone Version) by Substance & Vainqueur, a revisiting of their landmark 2007 release, a track that helped define the language of Dub Techno as it is understood today. Reduced, deep and spatially precise, it established a blueprint for how rhythm, delay and tone could function together. It's presence here acts less as a nod to the past and more as a reminder of a foundation that continues to shape the genre. Skee Mask's Clear Sky 909 continues this thread, softening the edges without losing depth. Warm, enveloping textures and fluid movement give the track a sense of openness, balancing clarity with emotional weight. The B-side shifts perspective. On Untitled (Teamgeist Mix), Verraco, joined by Tils, delivers the record's defining moment - a dense, intricately designed piece built on a driving low-end and evolving rhythmic patterns. Elements from Techno, Bass and Leftfield House converge into a detailed, forward-moving structure that actively bridges cultural contexts. It results in a form of dance music shaped by technical precision, but drive.n by a clear sense of intent, marking a distinct expression of Verraco's current sound. Untitled by 1morning introduces a rolling, tribal-infused groove with a strong sense of depth, while PatumPa by Regal86 closes the record with a bright, loop-driven energy that leans into pure motion. Across both sides, the release moves between reference and progression. Rather than separating old and new, Verraco connects them - tracing a line from foundational Dub Techno to a more fluid, contemporary club language. Copyright 2026 The Third Room A1 Written and Produced by Peter Kuschnereit & Rene Loewe | A2 Written and Produced by Bryan Mueller | B1 Written and Produced by JP Lopez & Jakob Ferdinand Tils and mixed by Lurka | B2 Written and Produced by 1morning | B3 Written and Produced by Regal86 Mastered by Andreas Kauffelt (Schnittstelle Berlin) Artwork by Charlotte Ernst Design by Daniel Bornmann (STUEDIO.XYZ) Distribution by Clone Pressing by Matter Of Fact

TEMACHII creates immersive worlds where music, visual art, nature, and emotion blur together. Evoking the hazy surrealism of a once forgotten dream, the San Antonio-based multi-instrumentalist has built a devoted global audience through ethereal soundscapes, hand-crafted visuals, and songs that feel both deeply personal and universally comforting. Her music pairs ambient textures and dream-pop charm with an intimacy that feels like eavesdropping on an artist in conversation with herself—absorbing influences like Radiohead, Fiona Apple, Mitski and Aphex Twin while remaining less guided by genre than by feeling.

Her 2023 debut, flora maniia, was anchored by the 50 million-streamed hit “may you never forget me,” blending hypnotic acoustic guitar, lilting synths, and airy vocals into a reflection on love, memory, and the desire to leave a lasting impression. The follow-up LP, akrasiia, arrived later that same year, revealing a more stripped-back side of her sound while preserving the wonder at the heart of her work. Together with 2024 single “not/lost,” the releases have brought Temachii's art to fans around the world, a reach that feels especially meaningful given her Puerto Rican heritage. More importantly, they have transformed that audience into something more meaningful than simply streams and likes: a space for listeners to feel both safe and seen.

DPRTNDRP make a long-awaited return to Infernal Sounds with 'Byrnei', a release that's been quietly building anticipation across the 140 scene. Following their acclaimed 'What Ya Mean' EP in 2020, the duo are back with five heavyweight cuts that showcase exactly why they've remained one of dubstep's most respected production outfits for well over a decade.

Opening with the title track, 'Byrnei' wastes no time setting the tone. Rolling with DPRTNDRP's unmistakable swing, weight and groove, it's a certified soundsystem weapon - built to lock dancers into its hypnotic rhythm while delivering devastating low-end pressure.

Next up, 'Jiaozi' shifts into overdrive. A relentless barrage of razor-sharp percussion, cavernous basslines and seismic energy, it's an uncompromising slice of peak-time dubstep designed to hit with maximum impact from the first drop to the last.

'Fury' explores a deeper side of the duo's sound, drawing influence from their dub-focused alias, D-Operation Drop. Rich in space, texture and heavyweight sonics, it perfectly blurs the line between traditional dub and modern 140, combining meditative atmospherics with chest-rattling low-end.

Adding another dimension to the EP, Causa steps in to rework 'Fury', twisting the original into a hypnotic, distorted roller. Layered with his unmistakable wobble-heavy aesthetic, the remix pushes the track into darker territory, delivering an immersive journey of oppressive bass weight and razor-sharp sound design.

Bringing the release to a thunderous close, 'Backfire' is pure, uncompromising pressure. Stripped back, direct and devastatingly effective, it's arguably the heaviest moment on the EP; a no-nonsense soundsystem destroyer that leaves a lasting impression.

From start to finish, 'Byrnei' is a statement of intent. It's a masterclass in weight, groove and precision, reinforcing DPRTNDRP's status as true innovators within the 140 landscape. With five expertly crafted cuts destined for dancefloors and soundsystems worldwide, this is another landmark release from two producers operating firmly at the top of their game.




[d] B2. Fury [Causa Remix]

Pierre Mariétan (1935–2025) was a prolific Swiss composer, sound artist, and pioneer in acoustic ecology who spent most of his life working in France. Over his long career, he composed more than 300 instrumental, orchestral, vocal, and electronic pieces. Mariétan studied under avant-garde legends like Pierre Boulez, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Bernd Alois Zimmermann. In 1966, he founded GERM (Groupe d’Étude et de Réalisation Musicales), a music collective that blurred the lines between strict composition and free improvisation. In 1969 the French BYG label released a GERM album and the same year GERM played at the legendary 5-day Festival in Amougies, Belgium, sharing stage with Pink Floyd, The Soft Machine, Frank Zappa, Don Cherry,…

In 1979 Mariétan founded the Laboratoire d'Acoustique Urbaine (Urban Acoustics Laboratory) to bridge environmental sounds, urban architecture, and musical composition. Mariétan was also a professor at the University of Paris where he taught the relationship between sound and space. Later in life, he remained active as a director for the Movement of Environmental Sound and continued developing permanent, immersive sound installations across the globe. His album Musique d’été was originally released on cassette back in 1983 by Éditions Salabert and Costin Miereanu’s Poly-Art International, and it has been slightly tweaked for this LP reissue. The record splits his vision of "Summer Music" into two different vibes. Side A is a deep dive into an electronic, synthesizer-driven landscape, while Side B features raw acoustic field recordings of forests and traditional Swiss alphorns.

Adjust the intensity of the sound at the same level, if not just above the background noise specific to the place of diffusion.

A quick scan of the world’s favourite crowdsourced discography reveals that Sonic Youth co-founder Lee Ranaldo was not a total stranger to crackling electric experimentation in the years following his songwriting turns of the 20-teens. Yet »The System«, ingeniously culled and sequenced from Ranaldo’s soundtrack work for Dutch filmmaker Joris Postema’s ›eco-doc‹ of the same name, nonetheless feels like a reawakening. Quietly released in a vastly different (and much more ›filmic‹) form by Doxy Music/Riva Media Records in 2025, this LP reimagines and reconfigures the initial release, including unreleased material written and recorded for the film, to lend it new stature as both a return to drone-improv form and a reunion with introspective Downtown angst.

Given the state of the world, it’s not surprising that the film Ranaldo scores – a documentary on three climate activists bruising their fists on the black iron prison of techno-fascist deathkultur – is a study in despair and futility. But rather than wallowing in navel-gazing doom and gloom, the film documents the unstoppable spirit that has animated human resistance since the time of the Pharaohs.

As it turns out, the gorgeous scope of Lee Ranaldo’s guitar palette is a perfect manifestation of the hope and despair that animates the film. But like other high-water marks in the guitar-centric soundtrack canon – the high plains raga of Bruce Langhorne’s »Hired Hand«, Neil Young’s sparse and ghostly solo transmissions on »Dead Man«, or the monolithic mantras of Popol Vuh’s »Nosferatu« – its devotion to spectral gestures and meditative song forms launches it firmly outside of the OST orbit into a universe fully its own.

It might seem like a long journey from the Lower Manhattan rhythmic grime of the album’s opener »Tajikistan (Nice to Meet You)« (reminiscent of guitar opuses like Robert Quine and Jody Harris’s »Escape«) to the ringing cowboy chords of the final track, but the narrative logic of the LP pulls the listener along as solidly as a pack horse. As the LP unwinds, and collaborators like Jim Jarmusch, cellist Leila Boudreil, Yeah Yeah Yeahs snare shaman Brian Chase, and guitarist Yonatan Gat take their places, new vistas unfurl: the ritualistic thrum of »Berlin Blockade«, the haunted overtone palaces of »Bergelmir«, and the cavernous acoustic strumming of »Instruments of Violence«. It all winds up with the high lonesome standard »Cool Water«, each unhurried note trailing off into long-tail reverb, layers of shifting vocal harmonies pulling everything skyward – a hopeful note in an album where existential dread never lurks too deeply below the surface.

In the end, »The System« functions both as a film score and a hallucinatory (mostly) instrumental guitar record, revealing a sensibility not too often spotted in the 21st century – a liminal space where the song, the jam, and the meditation merge into a blurred whole. »The System«’s expansive fabric, emerging from a collective sound circling around Ranaldo’s signature tones, envelops and ampl amplifies the contributions of its community of creators – the perfect antidote to narcissistic despair. Much like the subjects of the film light the way towards intra-generational resistance, the music of »The System« reveals a path through gathering darkness. The world could be yours if you follow.

– Tom Carter

A quick scan of the world’s favourite crowdsourced discography reveals that Sonic Youth co-founder Lee Ranaldo was not a total stranger to crackling electric experimentation in the years following his songwriting turns of the 20-teens. Yet »The System«, ingeniously culled and sequenced from Ranaldo’s soundtrack work for Dutch filmmaker Joris Postema’s ›eco-doc‹ of the same name, nonetheless feels like a reawakening. Quietly released in a vastly different (and much more ›filmic‹) form by Doxy Music/Riva Media Records in 2025, this LP reimagines and reconfigures the initial release, including unreleased material written and recorded for the film, to lend it new stature as both a return to drone-improv form and a reunion with introspective Downtown angst.

Given the state of the world, it’s not surprising that the film Ranaldo scores – a documentary on three climate activists bruising their fists on the black iron prison of techno-fascist deathkultur – is a study in despair and futility. But rather than wallowing in navel-gazing doom and gloom, the film documents the unstoppable spirit that has animated human resistance since the time of the Pharaohs.

As it turns out, the gorgeous scope of Lee Ranaldo’s guitar palette is a perfect manifestation of the hope and despair that animates the film. But like other high-water marks in the guitar-centric soundtrack canon – the high plains raga of Bruce Langhorne’s »Hired Hand«, Neil Young’s sparse and ghostly solo transmissions on »Dead Man«, or the monolithic mantras of Popol Vuh’s »Nosferatu« – its devotion to spectral gestures and meditative song forms launches it firmly outside of the OST orbit into a universe fully its own.

It might seem like a long journey from the Lower Manhattan rhythmic grime of the album’s opener »Tajikistan (Nice to Meet You)« (reminiscent of guitar opuses like Robert Quine and Jody Harris’s »Escape«) to the ringing cowboy chords of the final track, but the narrative logic of the LP pulls the listener along as solidly as a pack horse. As the LP unwinds, and collaborators like Jim Jarmusch, cellist Leila Boudreil, Yeah Yeah Yeahs snare shaman Brian Chase, and guitarist Yonatan Gat take their places, new vistas unfurl: the ritualistic thrum of »Berlin Blockade«, the haunted overtone palaces of »Bergelmir«, and the cavernous acoustic strumming of »Instruments of Violence«. It all winds up with the high lonesome standard »Cool Water«, each unhurried note trailing off into long-tail reverb, layers of shifting vocal harmonies pulling everything skyward – a hopeful note in an album where existential dread never lurks too deeply below the surface.

In the end, »The System« functions both as a film score and a hallucinatory (mostly) instrumental guitar record, revealing a sensibility not too often spotted in the 21st century – a liminal space where the song, the jam, and the meditation merge into a blurred whole. »The System«’s expansive fabric, emerging from a collective sound circling around Ranaldo’s signature tones, envelops and ampl amplifies the contributions of its community of creators – the perfect antidote to narcissistic despair. Much like the subjects of the film light the way towards intra-generational resistance, the music of »The System« reveals a path through gathering darkness. The world could be yours if you follow.

– Tom Carter

Monolink and CIOZ bring a stripped-back electronic edge to Crosstown Rebels with ‘Don’t Talk To Me’. The German multi-instrumentalist makes his Crosstown Rebels debut alongside Italy’s CIOZ, with OMRI. also returning to the label on remix duties. There are few artists in electronic music quite like Monolink. Moving naturally between singer-songwriter, producer and live performer, his music gives as much weight to voice, melody and narrative as it does to electronic production. For ‘Don’t Talk To Me’, he joins Bergamo-born, Berlin-based CIOZ, whose own work is driven by rich musicality and a willingness to move beyond convention. The link-up makes for an intriguing signing to Damian Lazarus’ Crosstown Rebels, bringing together two different approaches to electronic music without either losing their identity.

‘Don’t Talk To Me’ is deliberately pared back, pairing Monolink’s voice and songwriting with sparse textures and gently shifting melodies. Rather than building towards a conventional dancefloor payoff, the track unfolds with a quieter sense of tension, sitting somewhere between alternative songwriting and electronic voyage. An artist whose productions and remixes have quickly made him a recurring presence in the Crosstown Rebels universe, OMRI. takes the track deeper with his remix, adding darker, hypnotic qualities while preserving the original’s restraint. ‘Wasting Time’ closes the release with another sweeping collaboration, built around subtle melodic details and captivating synth flourishes.

The collaboration marks Monolink’s first outing on Crosstown, adding to an impressive career that has seen him craft his distinctive sound via Berlin-based imprint Embassy One and on labels like Cercle Records. Performances have taken that music from Burning Man and Montreux Jazz Festival to Day Zero Bali, where he joined Damian Lazarus for its first edition, as well as sets alongside Lazarus at Club Space, Zamna and more around the world. Meanwhile, CIOZ brings his own expansive approach back to the label, with material also landing via Monaberry, Frau Blau and Stil vor Talent, plus remixes for Diplo, Oliver Koletzki, Patrice Bäumel and the Crosstown head honcho. With both artists comfortable moving between emotional depth and dancefloor function, ‘Don’t Talk To Me’ gives that shared instinct plenty of room to breathe.

Since 2005, Mariska Baars aka soccer Committee, has quietly carved out a singular space where folk, ambient and experimental music dissolve into one another. Working with little more than her voice, an acoustic guitar and delicate loops, Baars creates songs of a remarkable intimacy. There's nowhere to hide in these arrangements, and that's precisely where their magic lies.

For Accidental Meetings, Baars revisits a selection of songs from across her catalogue, gently reshaping and reimagining some of her finest work. The result is a deeply personal, evocative listen that feels both familiar and newly discovered.

2025 Repress

For the second installment of its renewed imprint, Fuse's own in-house resident and one of Belgium's proudest exports Phara takes the reins for a deep dive into thick percussion and vibrant club landscapes. 'The Wall' puts current dance music under a microscope with a brush of truly vintage spontaneity, merging techno's confrontational nature with house's harmonic genuineness. This duality is reflected through Phara's own relationship with his home base Fuse and the complementary contrast between its two rooms.

The EP's title track serves as a hypnotic introduction for the A1, imposing a bass-heavy rhythm and a persistently oscillating synthline. A dense production full of energy, 'The Wall' inspires intrigue throughout its duration, revealing its true intentions through a capable sound system. Sharing the first side of the press is 'Blaes 208', a name that Fuse club goers will likely recognise, that guides the listener from effect into embrace. With lush keys echoing past a comforting drum sequence fit for a close-eyed dancefloor experience, Phara's impactful tendencies meet his affinity for the melodic through a blissful six minutes of crowd to selector connection. Switching sides, a return to a cold cold aesthetic is quickly apparent through 'Hush Now 206'. A pummeling, saturated bass competes with a kick of equal effect, rolling through a storm of metallic stabs. Mastering the message of urgency, Phara presents a lightshow of resonating percussive work, defining his space just to cut right through it. To close out with a lasting impression, the producer mutes the acoustics of his work through razor-sharp sound design dotting along playful snares, a duality reminiscent of the dynamism of Detroit electro. 'Motion Steps', referring to the stairs that ascend from Fuse's main room to its more left-field counterpart, captures the atmosphere of the almost shimmering music that can be expected to be played there; a place where Phara and many others have been known to explore the extremities of their music. He swiftly throws in melodic elements to recontextualize an otherwise pressing composition, and after three chapters of considerable weight, he concludes his record with infectious groove that flaunts technical ability.

Pleasurewood return with 'Electric Telepathy', their second full-length LP offering Simla Space Funk, Psych-Library and Vintage-Cinematic Raga-Rock grooves.

This new offering from the band embraces more of their vintage Hindi Cinema soundtrack influences — "Chump Change", "The Hoverfly" and "RAMMM" could easily fit into the middle of an R.D. Burman score, each with their incongruous synthesis of different genres, infectious percussion, classical modes and funk chops.

There is also a slight sweep across a too-slow-to-disco tempo and feel with the moody Johnny Guitar Watson-esque slow burn of "Good Falcon" up to the nonchalant four-to-the-floor of "Last Dance Saloon" with its lyrical warning of digital over-saturation in our social-media saturated world and a foreboding of the mini-monoliths sat in the palms of our hands that in a Kubrickian way threaten to cosmically absorb us all as a species into their individual jet-black abysses.

And then, coming into focus like a sweet slice of disjointed, lo-fi, 8 bit space disco, "Mojave Desert" is a slacker-strut with telephone vocals dub guitars, dry cosmic synths and futurist Farfisa organ driven by an almost Acid-Jazz meets Post-Punk Bass line. The song is autobiographical in its account of an excursion along the 29 Palms Highway reflecting on an escape from the City of Angels not so far away, up into the stark psychedelic desert realm.

There is a lot to unpack in this record and yet more to discover so it will be best to allocate 40 minutes in a comfortable dimly-lit room with eyes closed and maybe a cognac in hand, to have a deep-dive into its well-travelled and esoterically funky grooves.

Raw deep house pressure from Sascha Dive, four cuts blending soul, groove, and late-night mood, with Roland Clark blessing the mic. Limited green vinyl for those who still move to the real sound.

DJ Feedbacks :


Laurent Garnier : Cool tracks
Josh Wink (Ovum) : Liking 'Im Inspired' the best here.
C-Rock : Those Nights for me, nice NYC dub House touch!
Radio Slave (Rekids) : I've always been such a big fan of Sasha's productions and "There Is No Tomorrow" hits the spot.
Fleur Shore (Undergrowth / Cuttin' Headz) : im inspired, beautiful track
Reboot (Cecille / Cadenza) : schöne tracks ️
Satoshi Tomiie (Abstract Architecture) : Solid release!
Alinka (Twirl, Classic, Crosstown Rebels, Batty Bass) : Nice one
PBR Streetgang : Invocation and Im Inspired are great
D'Julz (Bass Culture) : those night is the one for me here
Damian Lazarus (Crosstown Rebels) : Thanks for sending. Xx
Ben Sims : Now downloading... will check asap!
Archie Hamilton (Microhertz / FUSE) : Nice thanks
Eddie Fowlkes (Detroit Wax, Rekids, Classic Music Company) : thanks
Tim Sweeney (Beats In Space) : Lovely
Doc Martin (Sublevel) : Sascha on a good one,with the voice of house music Roland Clark no less!!!
Terry Farley : THOSE NIGHTS WORKS FOR ME
Chloe Caillet (Smile Records) : love this!
Oliver $ (Classic Music Company / Play It Down) : Sooo gooood!
Ame (Innervisions) : thanks
Danny Tenaglia : Downloading for Danny Tenaglia, thanks!
Robert Owens (Trax / Musical Directions) : Cool tracks
Kai Alce (Real Soon) : Nice deep tracks from Sascha
Mark Farina : dig them.
Lea Lisa (Phonica Records / Folklor Club) : Really good definition of House
Alexkid (Rawax / FUSE / NG Trax) : Phonogramme (and Sascha Dive) on fire at the moment...
Harri (Sub Club) : lovely stuff, will play and support

French composer, artist and co-founder of Transversales Disques, Jonathan Fitoussi has developed a distinctive body of
work over the past two decades, blending analog synthesis, minimalism and electronic music.

Inspired by the mineral landscapes and luminous atmosphere of southeastern France, DELTAS is his fifth solo studio album.
Combining hypnotic drum patterns, flowing pulses, shimmering electronic textures and contemplative movements, it unfolds as a deeply immersive journey through space, light and motion.
A rich and evocative work from one of the most singular voices in contemporary electronic music.

Mothers of All is Mark Gomes' second album as Blue Chemise for Students of Decay, following 2018’s acclaimed Daughters of Time. Though built from very different materials, it shares its predecessor's economy, sense of proportion, and fascination with the ways domestic life can open onto larger and less easily defined realms. Where Daughters of Time evoked tender, if alien, nursery songs, Mothers of All takes the form of spectral salon music heard at a temporal and geographic remove.

These pieces feel fundamentally receptive, with Gomes allowing his chosen fragments to retain their own histories - both personal and aesthetic - while revealing unexpected tonal relationships through their idiosyncratic arrangement. The resulting music is at once deeply personal and strangely unmoored, a space where the intimate and the distant occupy the same plane.

What lingers about this project as a whole is the paradox that the most private experiences can also be the least singular: that family, memory, and devotion become most legible at the point where they cease belonging to any one life.

LUMINA marks a new chapter in C"mon Tigre"s evolution, where electronic music moves from the background to the core of the band"s sound. Across thirteen interconnected tracks, synthesizers, arpeggiators and club-inspired rhythms merge seamlessly with acoustic instruments such as oud, cello,vibraphone and percussion, creating an immersive, continuous listening experience. Rather than opposing tradition and innovation, LUMINA embraces their constant coexistence. The album explores how technology is reshaping not only the way music is created, but also how we experience sound, time and physical presence. Inspired by the rave as a space of collective ritual and temporary freedom, it treats repetition and rhythm as tools for communion rather than escapism, turning listening into a deeply physical experience. The music was first developed and tested live at Robot Festival (Bologna) and JazzMi (Milan) in late 2025. Those performances became a laboratory where the interaction between the music and the audienceultimately shaped the final record.

POLYAMORE presents Magnetismo, a sun‑drenched blend of Mediterranean grooves, disco, funk and house from Budapest duo Pleasure Voyage. The EP includes the Original Mix, a deeper House Dub, a laid‑back Sunset Mix, and a dancefloor‑focused Disco Mix by Neapolitan producer Whodamanny, a key figure of the Neapolitan Periodica records and owner of the new imprint Biloba. Label founder Bruno Belissimo adds a groove‑driven remix infused with his signature Italo/space‑disco touch. The release closes with “Equator Funk”, a standalone cut that broadens the palette. A timeless, Mediterranean‑soaked record that moves effortlessly between dancefloor heat, sunset moods and late‑night flow.

SPF 50 returns to Bliss Point with Ett Inre Rum, a collection of pulsing, immersive techno, rounded out with a remix from renowned club synthesist Erik Luebs.

Recently enamored with the psychoacoustic power of drone, Ett Inre Rum finds SPF 50 pushing his sound deeper, heavier, and more psychedelic. With Ett Inre Rum, he explores sonics that connect internal states to the external spaces we inhabit, patiently building energy until the walls are stretching, the room is heaving, and the lines between inner and outer are thoroughly blurred.

Drawing inspiration from the natural world and culled from over a year of peak time live sets, Ett Inre Rum eschews dance floor tropes for a refreshing minimalism: club tracks as enveloping sonic environments, breathing deep as they propel forward through atmospheric washes, layered and manipulated to achieve peak emotional resonance.

Jazzing The Morning is a compilation built around a simple idea: bringing together slow-tempo tracks that quietly lived beyond the spotlight, and giving them a space of their own.

Inspired by Dubbyman's Jazzing The Morning sessions, the compilation explores the deeper, slower side of electronic music through six carefully selected tracks by Hanna, Martian Tin Can, Paka Project, Detroit's Filthiest, Seafoam, and Inland Knights & To-Ka Project.

Rather than focusing on genre, Jazzing The Morning follows a shared pace — warm grooves, long blends and music made to be mixed, not rushed.

Pressed on vinyl only.
For those who still listen from start to finish.

Kukangendai are the innovative three-piece Kyoto based experimental rock band formed in 2006 with Junya Noguchi on guitar and vocals, Keisuke Koyano on bass, and Hideaki Yamada on drums. Since 2016 the band have set up shop in their studio and venue space, Soto, which houses an incredibly well tuned and powerful sound system that has become a well known destination for touring musicians. In March of 2025, Marionette was celebrating a belated 10 years of activity with label showcases across Japan in collaboration with Dotei Records, and Soto was inevitably one of the stops as many label alumni have set foot in the venue over the years. This is where I got to experience Kukangendai perform for the very first time and knew right then we were destined to work together.

Kukangendai embody an undeniable sense of timing and precision through collage-like repetition of minimalist phrases that manifest as a single unified rhythm. Their latest offering for Marionette, titled Baquet Wheel, is a purely acoustic endeavor, remarkably recorded live using Taku Unami's special binaural microphone. The trio seamlessly twist polyrhythms and melodies rooted in jazz, krautrock, blues, and Tuareg producing a timeless sound that preserves the primitive and memory evoking narratives buried deep within the music. Over the course of five tracks, the visceral nature of Kukangendai’s dynamic evolves from playful riffs that are seemingly familiar yet strikingly original, making it impossible to discern exactly when this material was conceived.

Kukangendai have maintained a prolific yet relatively low profile for the last two decades, with a handful of self-released editions on their own labels (Soto and Leftbrain) as well as a collaborative album with pioneering electronic music composer Ryuichi Sakamoto in 2018, then venturing outside Japan in 2019 to release their first widely distributed album on Ideologic Organ, a label curated by Sunn O)))’s Stephen O'Malley. Other collaborative projects to date include an album produced with rap group Moe and ghosts, live performances with Keiji Haino and with poet Gozo Yoshimasu, productions with the Chiten theater company, and most recently a remix album of their works featuring Carl Stone and Madteo.

Dich lieb ich, Erde! trauerst du doch mit mir! Und unsre Trauer wandelt wie Kinderschmerz In Schlummer sich und wie die Winde Flattern und flüstern im Saitenspiele

The third stanza of Friedrich Hölderlin’s poem ‘Dem sonnengott’ evokes a narrator who is tortured by Spleen until slumber makes his childlike gloom disappear with music. Although today’s readers might judge these nineteenth century musings of the Imagination as mere stylistic platitudes, they also still speak beyond the grave as universal truths. A mere two hundred years later similar anxieties and hopes are still channeled through various art forms, with changing success and reverberation. Brannten Schnüre are one of those neo-romantic music experimentalists who add to a long tradition of celebrating folk tale and exoticism. Their meticulously crafted loops, hesitant melodies and heavily nostalgic lyricism could easily be translated to what the late philosopher and music critic Mark Fisher called ‘hauntology’, a postmodern longing for a lost future. To describe the beauty of ‘Geträumt hab’ ich vom Martinszug’, however, the term seems somewhat dissatisfying. Romanticism is a hard nut to crack in the Anthropocene, and Brannten Schnüre’s realms of the cerebral are too deeply ingrained in a German tradition of story telling to define them within popular paradigm.

‘Geträumt hab’ ich vom Martinszug’ was recorded in 2014 in Würzburg and functions as the autumn part of the band’s seasonal cycle quadrilogy (the other segments being ‘Aprilnacht’ (SicSic), ‘Sommer im Pfirsichhain’ (Aguirre) and ‘Durch unser zugedecktes Tal’ (Youdonthavetocallitmusic)). It deals with the Saint Martin’s parade, a mostly European tradition to celebrate the medieval spirit of Saint Martin of Tours, friend of children and patron of the poor. Around 11 November children come out on the streets with lanterns and sing ancient songs in exchange for sweets. It’s a period of snugness and expectation, of yearning and dreaming, and therefore a consummate subject for the duo to scrutinize.

To the adult’s ear the dream of the Saint Martin’s parade isn’t all that consolatory. The dark and slow loops of Christian Schoppik rather sound like motifs for a welcome paralysis. Sometimes as a gentle backdrop for vocals by Katie Rich and Schoppik himself, the repetitive structures serve as tricksters that trade innocence for the uncanny. The dream becomes a fever dream which quickly absorbs the listener into a vacuum, an eternal post-panic attack semi-relief. Maybe that’s the amazing paradox of Brannten Schnüre. The space they occupy is never comforting – as if being locked up inside a Carl Grossberg painting – but it’s also a subliminal aural zone you do not want to leave. It’s music as being, as a stream, devoid of climax or catharsis. And because it is flux and being, and exists to be taken, it speaks in art’s purest form. ‘In place of a hermeneutics we need an erotics of art’ Susan Sontag famously concluded her essay ‘Against Interpretation’ with. Well, look no further …

First Principles marks the debut release on Groove Disciples Series, a new DJ-focused vinyl catalogue from 80147, created as a natural extension of the Groove Disciples Podcast. While the podcast has connected DJs and selectors from local scenes across Europe through guest mixes and conversations, the new series continues that mission through carefully curated vinyl releases from artists who are both DJs and producers.

Opening the catalogue, Bloody G delivers four dancefloor-oriented cuts that explore the space between deep house and Detroit-inspired techno edges. From the melodic and melanchonic "Message in the Sound" to the driving "Regroup Reclaim Rebuild" and "Machine Funk" with a reinterpretation by Southbound Sounds, the EP is built with club functionality at its core, favouring groove, analogue warmth and musical restraint over passing trends.

First Principles establishes the philosophy behind the series: music first, DJs at the centre, and vinyl as the medium that continues to connect local clubbing scenes through music, collaboration and community.

Anting brings to vinyl the natural evolution of a project born on Bandcamp: a release built around honest audio and the human connection between the artists involved. It also gives a clear view into Alessio Landini’s musical universe, tied together by one thread: intense rhythms, hypnotic spaces, and raw analog textures, with a subtle nod to organic and traditional tones, all built for the sound system.

With contributions from Ketch and Uväll, the release opens up the palette while keeping it tight and coherent: a physical record that hits in the club and holds up for deep listening.

maya ongaku has always been searching for what exists just beyond the edge of perception. Since forming in the seaside towns surrounding Enoshima, the trio has followed a path guided less by intention than intuition, allowing songs, ideas, and experiences to emerge through a process they describe as 自然発生 (shizen hassei), spontaneous occurrence. Nothing Space Music is the deepest expression of that philosophy to date.

Written in the aftermath of several years of international touring, the album emerged from a growing desire to reconnect with silence. As stages became larger and the world around them moved faster, the band found themselves drawn toward the quieter spaces beneath it all. What began as a reflection on stillness & silence eventually expanded into the idea of "Nothing Space". To realise the album, maya ongaku created an entirely new environment for themselves. Near a seaside shrine in their hometown, the trio transformed a large soundproof building into Nothing Space Studio, a space built specifically around the needs of this record.

Nothing Space Music: a meditation on presence, perception, and the possibility of rediscovering the world through attentive listening.

Following the success of Denshi Ongaku No Bigaku Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, Cosmocities returns with the third instalment of its celebrated compilation series dedicated to the rich and ever-evolving world of Japanese electronic music. Compiled by label owner Matt Soulie, Denshi Ongaku No Bigaku Vol. 3 continues the journey through Japan’s diverse sonic landscape, bringing together pioneering artists, cult favourites and contemporary innovators across ambient, house, jazz-infused electronics and experimental sound design.

A carefully curated snapshot of Japanese electronic music past and present, Denshi Ongaku No Bigaku Vol. 3 showcases the depth, innovation and enduring influence of one of the world’s most inspiring musical cultures.

Since its inception, the Denshi Ongaku No Bigaku project has paid tribute to a musical culture that has profoundly influenced the Cosmocities vision. Where the first volume explored dreamy ambient textures and deep electronic moods, and the second shifted focus towards boogie-laden rhythms and jazz-fuelled dancefloor excursions, Volume 3 finds a natural balance between introspection and movement.

The compilation opens with Yosi Horikawa’s sublime “Bubbles”, an ambient masterpiece whose delicate organic textures gently set the tone. Chari Chari’s “Luna de Ritmos” follows with deep, ethereal house atmospherics before Force Of Nature’s hypnotic “Skyy High” guides listeners further into immersive territory.

The journey continues through the experimental electronics of XTAL’s “Skygazer” and the analogue warmth of Takuya Matsumoto’s “Jump Rope Music”, while regular Cosmocities contributor Yuu Udagawa delivers the sophisticated high-tech jazz house groove of “Little Secrets”.

On the second half of the collection, Kuniyuki’s remix of Slow Didi’s “Follow Me” brings rich jazz-inflected elegance, leading seamlessly into the futuristic techno-swing fusion of DJ Eiji Takehana featuring Yusuke Nakamura’s “Deep Track Jazz”. Tominori Hosoya’s “Summer Dreamers” adds a deeply emotional and dreamlike house moment before Azzurro’s “Just A Touch Of Love” shifts the focus firmly towards the dancefloor with a hypnotic late-night thumper.

Closing the compilation is AcidGelge’s “Fatality 4”, a beautifully spacey and atmospheric finale that leaves the listener suspended somewhere between the club, the cosmos and the imagination.

Gradient returns to Alt Dub with Random Layers, a deeply focused EP built around his exceptional control of minimal elements.

With a restrained palette of kick, bass, chords and texture, each track evolves with patience and precision, allowing subtle shifts and carefully placed layers to create a powerful sense of depth and space

Sound layers are introduced with such control that the music evolves naturally, revealing its depth over time. Nothing feels rushed and nothing is unnecessary.

Gradient’s productions have a rare ability to make minimalism feel rich and alive. Nothing is excessive; every sound has a purpose. The result is four timeless, immersive dub techno pieces that balance classic dub techno atmosphere with a distinct sense of detail and control.

The EP also features a timeless remix from Echospace Detroits CV313, One of the most respected figures in the deeper end of dub techno, he brings his unmistakable sense of space and depth to the release, making this a particularly fitting and exciting collaboration.

Elegant, restrained and deeply atmospheric, Random Layers is another strong statement from Gradient and a perfect fit for Alt Dub.

Hailing from the West side of St. Louis, Missouri, Mikahl Anthony’s sonic roots spread far across the global Alt-Soul / Hip-Hop scene. A highly soughtafter multidisciplinary artist (who has collaborated with the likes of Mick Jenkins, Chance The Rapper, Joey Purp, Smino and more), as well as being a founding member of Chicago’s THEMpeople collective, he now prepares to unveil his masterful full-length debut Muse via R&S Records.

Accompanied by several beautiful, self-directed film pieces, Muse is a record with storytelling at its core. Interspersed with commentary from a range of sources telling their stories to Mikhal, whilst collaboratively analysing their personal experiences, it speaks a candid and honest narrative, which reinforce the heartfelt lyrics within. With the project’s name anchored around a dual meaning acronym (1. Ms. Using sensual energy and 2. Making use of seclusion every day). The record is an audio version of docufilm, that creatively interprets the idea of self-therapy, an internal/interpersonal reflection of life experiences that serendipitously connect to Mikahl’s personal romantic relationships. Mikahl explains: ‘I wanted to use a unique style of songwriting, arrangement and filming with the intention of soundtracking my self-development/maturation process’.

On the project’s lasting impression on the listener, Mikahl elaborates ’The exploration of inner truth and vulnerability is key to the future of good music. I want this project to act as symbolism that highlights the mantra that honest approaches and authenticity still has the most value. I also want people to see how important the use of community is when you can connect them to your subject matter...I'd like my audience to observe and engage in their own self-reflections, approaches by way of listening or interacting with the story.’

Drifting to an elevated state of consciousness, Muse is a deeply intoxicating and engrossing listening experience from front to back. From the sliding, kaleidoscopic shadows of opening track ‘La Flare’, via the trepidation-laced atmosphere of ‘Polyamorous’ and the hazy, reverb drenched saxophone notes of LP closer ‘Eddie Kane’ - Mikahl channels moments of joy and pain, infused with spirit enriching instrumentation and gritty textures.

Visual stimuli play an integral role within Mikahl’s music. His songs represent transparency and openness dipped in funk. Layers of soft velvety vocals emerge from jazz harmonies, trap rhythms, and social commentary sourced from voiceovers/excerpts. His creations are the musical representation of documentary films. His art is imagery embodied.

Some 15 years into the label's story, Japanese deep house minimalist Sasaki Hiroaki continues to offer up EPs rich in ultra-deep ambient chords, hushed and hypnotic beats, and the kind of beautiful musical touches that have always been a key part of Japanese deep house culture. Opener 'Geograph' sees him place echoing piano motifs and pulsing ambient electronics atop a sparse tech-house groove, while 'Projection' is a deliciously deep, dreamy and shuffling slab of ambient house excellence. Over on side B, 'Do It (repeat)' is a spaced-out chunk of minimalist dub techno goodness and title track 'The Last Bohemian' is a warming and meditative dancefloor drift.

PRAANA unveil their highly anticipated album Insight Out on Colorize, a deeply immersive body of work that explores reflection, connection and emotional growth through the duo’s signature cinematic lens.

Built around themes of reflection, presence and human connection, Insight Out creates a rich sonic landscape where atmospheric textures, subtle rhythms and emotive songwriting coexist with effortless grace. Featuring collaborations with Susie Ledge, Tina Parol, Freddie Elmberg and Courtney Storm, the album showcases PRAANA’s ability to create music that feels both intimate and expansive. An alias of Tritonal, PRAANA have amassed over 30 million streams, earned sustained support on SiriusXM Chill and recently completed U.S. tour dates in Chicago, Denver and a sold-out Elsewhere Rooftop show in Brooklyn.

Insight Out stands as a fully realised artistic statement, offering a space for stillness, reflection and meaningful escape through sound.

Modi Bardo, an alumnus of Moonshine Recordings, is another who on the surface appears to be at the nascent era of their sound experiments, but in truth is a longtime explorer of outer realms of Dub.

There is much to mention here which can be uncovered with the correct keywords, but one of the early bright points would be Spacelings and Bassheads, the Detroit-based Psych duo Modi Bardo was half of, who although seemingly limited in the realms of recorded output (with only a compilation appearance each via the Electro visionaries Interdimensional Transmissions and Booty bass / Techno orientated Intuit-Solar) where in fact not-so-limited in the era in the way of public performance, even performing at the renowned Packard Plant renegades in the 90's with UR on occasion.

Forward to now, and Modi Bardo has created something that reaches for unknown territory in Dub. With an establishing A side that is deep and primordial in tone, a' la Challenger Deep and Babe Roots releases, this proves to be merely a fantastic tone setter for the B side, which seems to find a zone where Dub Techno, Half Time, and Autonomic DnB have not quite gleaned yet. Truly a record unlike any other, while somehow being an invaluable tool for DJ's exploring the links between the aforementioned sounds and even Dancehall and Jungle in the mix.

A must for all those chasing the evolution of dub reflective arts, and the adventurous DJ in general.

It pairs Virelles - who is known for his all-encompassing approach to creativity that is deeply-rooted in the Cuban influences of his upbringing - with two towering figures of creative music, whose individual work have helped shape the evolution of modern jazz for more than six decades. Together, they create music that is spacious, lyrical, and uncompromisingly inventive, grounded in profound listening and collective imagination. The group evolved out of Trio 3 , which featured saxophonist Oliver Lake alongside Cyrille and Workman. Following Lake's retirement, the remaining members invited David Virelles to help continue the group's legacy. Recorded at the legendary Van Gelder Studio , the album captures three master improvisers in an intimate, deeply expressive dialogue that unfolds through shared intuition, revealing an ensemble whose interplay is marked by subtlety, trust, and fearless exploration.

Jason Dungan (aka Blue Lake) and Johan Carøe find beauty in the rhythms
and repetitions of domestic life for collaborative album, 'Routine' - out September 25

Copenhagen-based multi-instrumentalists Jason Dungan and Johan Carøe didn't set out to make an album. Instead, as the title 'Routine' suggests, they found their way there through a process of habitual making and listening, developing an intuitive musical language to reflect the dreamlike meanderings and creative play of life's quiet moments. 'Routine' blends pop orientated sounds, Avant-garde minimalism, folk and new age with the emotive depth of film-score.

Their meeting was not entirely coincidental. Previously in bands such as Squares and Triangles, Jason Dungan has since recorded multiple albums under the moniker Blue Lake, including the lauded 'Sun Arcs', pursuing his passion for self-built percussion and multi-string instruments. Johan Carøe meanwhile is a composer whose film soundtrack work has seen him collaborate with Angelo Badalamenti, Arp, and Sofie Birch, at whose Andersabo residency (curated by Dungan) the pair first met, resulting in the highly praised album 'Repair Techniques' written by Birch and Carøe.

'Routine' emerged organically over many years against the backdrop of great personal change. As Carøe said goodbye to his father and welcomed his first child, the pair sent each other fragments of melodies and patterns, working up responses when time allowed to assemble a sonic palette that combined acoustic instrumentation of zither, clarinet, cello, saxophone (among others) with the textures of tape, drum machine and Yamaha DX7 synth. Inspired by the vulnerability and DIY ethos of Arthur Russell's home recordings, the vision of labels like Disques de Crepescule, and the art pop, experimentation inherent to late '70s and early '80s recordings from NYC and Japan alike, Dungan and Carøe conjured new forms for their folk, leftfield pop and avant garde influences from the low-lit living rooms of Copenhagen and rural Sweden. "I'm very interested in the ways in which music and art emerge from our wider experiences as people, workers, parents and in the daydreaming activity of making music," Dungan explains of a process which allowed the duo's individual styles to drift apart and merge together seamlessly. "I think the process was definitely capturing moments in time, but over a long time," Carøe adds. "It was a bit like improvisation, but with time stretched."

The music floats with grace and humility, remaining sophisticated yet acutely introverted.
Whether on 'Clouds', where soft layers of zither and clarinet are moved along by a featherlight bass riff and the hypnotic clip-clop of the primitive groovebox, or the gentle grandeur of cello rising and falling through 'Routine 1', the album reveals itself over 10 instrumental tracks, evoking the ineffable calm that descends when the light changes and the world turns inwards. The act of time passing became a key creative ingredient to the evolution of the album, enriched with the exciting challenge to transform their passing rounds of home recordings via a slow release musical dialogue. Jason found creative moments in the twilight hours to lay down zither, melodica, acoustic guitar to name but few, while Johan utilising "line-in and headphones" would manipulate, stretch and pitch Jason's melodic pathways during newly born naptimes.

Carøe rhythmically plucks and slides the stringed cello instrument, leaving palpable foundations on 'Hymn' and 'Chords', in a treated, stylistic approach akin to Mabe Fratti, while 'Silence' draws to a close with a gospel touch. Dungan's harp-motion zither flourishes reveal more classical connotations on 'Reunion' with inspiration of Bedroom Community's Nico Muhly as organs rise with Moogs, culminating with a climatic choral outro from friend, mezzo-soprano Anna Caroline Olesen.

'Routine' then is their first collaboration, an album of deep and sincere reflection with inviting overtones that gesture with unrushed authenticity. A document of a new-found friendship that opens a window into the most personal of spaces, where the daily practices of music and life exist side-by-side to wondrous effect.

Dutch collective.multibeat return with OOO their third album and debut for Sonar Kollektiv. Rooted in Utrecht’s vibrant musical community, the trio of Boudewijn Pleij (keys), Thijs van Zutphen (bass) and Aron Smit (drums) blend hip-hop, jazz and beat culture into a groove-driven sound inspired by artists such as Robert Glasper, J Dilla and the contemporary UK jazz scene.

The three musicians first met while studying at the conservatoire in Utrecht, initially performing as a live backing band under the name Muddy Grease before evolving into a production-focused collective. Over the years they have built a reputation for connecting the worlds of jazz, hip-hop and contemporary beat music through an ever-expanding network of collaborators, while helping to foster a vibrant and experimental local scene around them.

Warm, collaborative and deeply groove-centred, OOO captures .multibeat at their most confident and expansive.

It is an album that honours the collective’s roots in jazz and hip-hop while continuing to push their sound into new and inspiring spaces, a fitting introduction to one of the most exciting young groups to emerge from the Dutch scene in recent years.

The third album from Max McNown, Leave On A Light, reveals a rare artist whose breakout success has brought him even closer to his truest instincts. Amid an explosive ascent that solidified his status as one of his generation’s most compelling singer/songwriters, the Oregon native came to a deeper conviction in music’s power to honor what matters most, such as the people and values who anchor his life. Born from a year of extraordinary momentum—including completing his sold-out, continent-hopping headline tour—Leave On A Light ultimately finds McNown more grounded than ever in his artistic vision, arriving as the fullest expression yet of his singular songwriting voice.

After regular appearances at Berghain since his debut two years ago, Altinbas now presents his contribution to Ostgut Ton, tying together five tracks that outline an expedition through celestial bodies in ‘Beyond the Veil’. Deepening his research on intricately crafted ambiance, the EP strikes a balance between commanding rhythm and blossoming synth work that reaffirm his inimitable style. ‘Beyond the Veil’ is a conceptual collaboration between an artist and a room; describing the dancefloor as an organism and the architecture of its surroundings.

Over the years, harmony has become synonymous with the Belgian artist’s sound. Deeply tuned and cohesive, Altinbas’s productions walk the boundary between insistent anticipation and unparalleled warmth. Although dancefloor effect remains a central theme for him, ‘Beyond the Veil’ is the latest chapter in a long study of obscurity in music that qualifies almost as ritualistic. Tracks like ‘Beyond the Veil’ and ‘Charming the Cosmic Snake’create tension in the keys that resonates like an expedition into new soundscapes. With weight and stability in the percussion, airy textures and hypnotic synth lines roll off the rhythm to mesmerize the listener. Sculpting his arrangements around the development of rich, dubby and atmospheric tones, Altinbas capitalises on the natural flow of his elements to provide an organic touch to tracks that are tuned especially for high pressure sound systems. ‘Entanglement’ and ‘Winter’ are both examples of this : soulful techno that ebbs and flows with each transition. Dimension is pushed dramatically into each of the five pieces of the EP as a direct response to the current climate of tool oriented techno. Keeping a safe distance from this approach, Altinbas invites listeners to explore the shape of his sound in an embrace rather than submit to its abrasion. The project concludes with ‘Antichamber’ - the fifth track of the EP that announces a departure from strict club codes. Dampening the rhythm from a pulse to a sway, a dreamlike landscape rises from deep within the record, smoothing over any of the rougher residuals from the preceding tracks. The descent that is ‘Antichamber’ is the result of an accumulated euphoria, gently guiding the listener back to consciousness.

‘Beyond the Veil’ represents a checkpoint for Altinbas in his research of moving a dancefloor not only physically, but emotionally. Carving out his own space in dancefloor-oriented music, he offers highly expressive compositions in defiance of the status quo. Altinbas offers this EP as a personal statement of where he stands; five tracks of carefully tended tone and harmonic glow create an emotional urgency for the collective experience.