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There is nothing quite like an evening under the rhythmic spell of the legendary David Morales. Stepping on the dancefloor while he's behind the decks requires full trust and surrender. You agree to hand the reins of your mind, body, and spirit to his intuition and ability to guide you to where you need to be at all times. It will occasionally be cathartic and intense. It will often make the hairs on your body stand on end, and make you sweat more than you ever have before. The endorphin release will be powerful. You will feel like you can touch joy and euphoria it in the air around you. As he gently brings you back down to reality, you will feel renewed and ready for anything life brings your way. This is more than a night of dancing. This is an experience at the hands of a magical maestro of music. How is this possible from a night on the dancefloor? Well, it begins with the brilliant mind of an artist at the peak of his creative power, imbued with the empathy necessary to connect with what has become a global legion of fans. "If there is any secret, it's really simple: I love what I do with all of my heart," Morales says. "I'm a DJ first. I thrive on human interaction. I am always adjusting my sets based on what the people in the room need. Each night, we form an emotional connection that inspires the music as it comes."

For Morales, "working in the studio is important, but it exists as a way of supporting the DJing experience. It's all to inform how it will work on the dancefloor."

To that end, you're reading these words as you dive into a new collection of Morales classics. Ever the collaborator, he has enlisted the input of a wide range of voices and talent. There is the diva power of fellow legend Ultra Nate, who brings her signature sass to "I Can Dream," while Michele Perera's explosive chemistry with David is all over the inspiring "Life is a Song" and "Never Give Up", as well as the impassioned "Addicted."

Morales reminds the listener of his ever-evolving musical scope in collaborations with blondewearingblack ("What Can I Do"), Lea Lorien ("Never Looking Back"), and Blakkat ("Can't Get Enough"). There's the clubland supergroup of David with Mr. V, Scotty P. and DJ Rae on "The Feels." Rounding out the set is a reunion with longtime muses Elle Cato ("I Feel Love") and British soul icon Joe Roberts ("Easy"). Just be sure to listen closely, because there's bound to be a surprise tucked between these grooves to tickle your ears and move your body.

The beauty of this sparkling new foray into electronic music is the heightened intimacy between Morales and the music. What you are hearing here is almost exclusively from the man's own fingertips. "The technology has evolved in the most extraordinary and liberating ways," he says, adding that he is now able to be far more directly hands-on during the building of each track. "Back in the '90s, I had to have more people involved, With the changes and growth in technology, I can now do it, myself. I don't even have to be in the studio anymore. It's smart, financially, but it's also way more fun and creative."

David adds, "I don't have to wait to manifest an idea anymore. I can just build my ideas as they come to me." In fact, he reveals that many of these new tracks were born in unique places, like planes, cars, his bedroom, and a host of other settings. "Music is always spinning around my mind. I no longer worry about losing an idea."

Surviving the highs and lows of an ever-changing world has also brought Morales back to the basic essentials of life and music. "The pandemic has brought things full circle for me," he says. "I love what I do and I still have the passion of a kid who is just getting started"

Yet, we know that Morales has been in the game for longer than a minute. He's a Grammy award-winning producer, remixer, and songwriter. He has lent his skill to countless of records by icons that include Mariah Carey, Madonna, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Aretha Franklin, Donna Summer, Seal, and Jamiroquai. As a turntable artist originally from New York City, he earned his bones of credibility back in the '80s and '90s in clubs like the Paradise Garage, Red Zone, Tunnel, and Club USA. He initiated the concept of DJs touring beyond their hometowns with countless, wildly successful treks that have taken him the farthest-reaching corners of the world. As electronic music thrives on pop radium, David tops the list of every young artist and DJ as a primary influence.

Even with such a staggering legacy, Morales never looks over his shoulder.

"That is how you stumble and fall," he says. "If you get all caught up in the past, you're going to lose sight of what is right in front of you. You lose the excitement of discovery. That is what gets me off; taking what I know and combining it with what I don't know as I learn it. There is nothing better than experiencing how it all comes together. It's different every time."

And that is the ultimate secret to that extraordinary spell that David Morales casts over us all every single time.

Chicago legend and well known collaborator of Derrick Carter (Red Nail Kidz), returns with a brilliant full length listening experience. Tapping into his roots, Chris delivers a deep and melodic 11 track banger. Currently being supported by Mark Farina, JT Donaldson, Diz, DJ Heather, DJ Sneak, and many more.

Martin Rude & Jakob Skøtt Duo released 2 albums in 2020: The Discipline of Assent & The Dichotomy of Control. For the third installation in their Stoic opus, they join forces with Tamar Osborn on saxophone & alto flute. Similar to their first 2 albums, Rude & Skøtt improvised a tidal wave of ideas and grooves in the studio of Causa Sui’s Jonas Munk, the perks of which were shipped to the UK for Osborn’s overdubs of echo-drenched sax and wah-flute. An improvisation rippling across time & space, merging a river of constantly in flux head-on improv, as well as making room for floating harmonies and studio-wizardry. Playful, experimental and explorative, the trio ventures into a free wash of exotica drenched in deep modal jazz-vibes - with splashes of something more futuristic and modern. But contrary to what the title suggests, there are also roaring waves of energy, sizzling funky grooves to complement the ambient undercurrent. It’s a record akin to the library & film music of the 60’s and 70’s and an ode to the willful river of experimental moderation. Far in. Bios: Tamar Osborn: Saxophonist, composer and multi-wind instrumentalist is the creative force behind modal jazz ensemble Collocutor (On The Corner Records). She is a long-standing member of the Dele Sosimi Afrobeat Orchestra, performs and collaborates regularly with Sarathy Korwar, Jessica Lauren, Emanative, Ill Considered and DJ Khalab, and is an in-demand session musician. Martin Rude: Multi-string instrumentalist & lead singer in Sun River, as well as stand-in bass player in Causa Sui. Jakob Skøtt: Drummer in Causa Sui with a slew of side projects on El Paraiso, as well as responsible for the label’s visuals.

Volume three of his four part solo album set. (Monstruos Y Duendes)The music of Myrddin goes through marrow and bone and is both complex, passionately rhythmic and profoundly emotional.

Rare Groove Spectrum Vol. 2 is another solid collection of re-works and re-imaginings taking in a broad range of classic tracks, traversing jazz funk rarities, balearic digs, latin groovers and more. Backed by a stellar group of Melbourne musicians including members of The Bamboos & Menagerie, Lance continues the tradition of creating "live re-edits" demonstrated on the initial volume - all pulled off with an inimitable style and playfulness, though always with an obvious love for the foundations.

As Lance says: "Some of these versions can almost be looked at as DJ re-edits, sometimes we're extending what may be a really short track into something longer, or teasing out the elements in a song that really make it work on a dance-floor. It's essentially what someone does with a club re-edit, except we went the extra step and re-recorded the whole thing with a live band"

From Carly Simon through to Mongo Santamaria via Marcos Valle and Pat Metheny - and following the championing of Rare Groove Spectrum Vol. 1 by the likes of Gilles Peterson, Craig Charles, Jazz FM and more - this second volume of Lance Ferguson's Rare Groove Spectrum is sure to hit the sweet spot.

After more than a year of strengthening our bodies through workout, our poetic endeavors via the discovery of our inner worlds, and also the life of plants and mushrooms, insects, arachnids, birds and wild mammals, after a year and a half that saw us in lockdown, shattered around the planet, after one a and a half year in which we deepened our production skills and also the meaningfulness of our work, Cómeme returns to a new planet with new music.

The beginning is this unique collaboration between Medellín based musician and DJ Julianna, and Matias Aguayo aka “The Don” himself.

In this deep therapeutical exploration of rhythm and sound, these artists established a magical dialogue on distance, leading up to this EP called “Que si el mundo”, roughly translated: “What if the world”.

Between soulful industrial expressions, emotional breakdowns but also discoveries free of any grids and algorithms, Julianna and Aguayo have created a beautiful piece of work, intense as the movements that we had to experience mentally and economically. “Que si el mundo” is state of the art electronic music of today, a work that is both introspective but also extremely open to the outside world and the universe. Compositions reminiscent of Coil, Angelo Badalamenti, Closer Musik, Steve Pointdexter or Mark Broom, shaped this EP that can be considered a short album in its conceptual layout and narrative. Let’s dive into it...

A1. Hiedra
One of the more danceable tunes, ideal for both a sensual warmup or the very late night to the rising sun sensitivity, is polyrhythmical melancholy and hypnotic inevitability, slow dance, deep trance.

A2. Primer Paso
A fat, slick and modern synth sequence, accompanied by heavy drumming and celestial drops that seem to fall onto the body of the listener or dancer, this post EBM stomper is a manifestation of elegant minimalism and reason. As if Liaisons Dangereuses reincarnated in a cloudy forest, to then pause towards the end of the track, with sentimental and gloomy synth chords that open the view towards the horizon.

B1. Que Si El Mundo
The title track keeps up the more melodic approach - somewhere between ambient, avant- garde and late night jazz. Morphing melodies that are both disturbing and soothing at a time encounter smooth free jazz drumming with drums that seem to have travelled from the sixties to today’s world.

B2. Bajo Tierra
This track continues the deep drumming experience that this record means, between laid back rides and intense taikoesque drumming. Distorted dark pads and subterranean choirs build up to a heavy sadness and intensity. Again, a therapeutical track to send those demons fly.

B3. Micelio
A more hopeful conclusion of the EP is “Micelio”. Open chords, soothing and melancholic, spread over profound drum grooves of champed and house. Nothing seems as it was before. A new life has begun.

2024 Repress

Cool - gelassen - überraschend: Volume 15 dieser superlativen Serie wurde wieder von Compost’s Mentor Michael Reinboth zusammengestellt. Das pralle Paket birgt 21 Tracks, davon 8 exklusive unveröffentlichte Delikatessen und gibt es als 4-LP / 2xCD. Viel Vergnügen.

Die exklusiven Tracks kommen von: Area (schätze, man kennt seine brillianten Innervisions Veröffentlichungen), Arnau Obiols & KAYYAK (schwer von Gilles Peterson gefeatured, ihre EP “Chang‘an” war in seiner 2021 top 5 Liste), Ron Deacon (gehört zur Workshop-Crew mit Move D, Even Tuell and Kassem Mosse), Class Compliance, oh man was für ein Hammer Track, Mille & Hirsch (Operatoren des feinen Polish Records - Labels), All Is Well (dahinter steckt natürlich Fred Everything), Ben Sturm (ein neues Talent aus Leipzig’s viraler Underground Szene) und Oliver Kieser (bestens bekannt als Teil von Kieser & Velten mit einigen Platten auf G-Stone).

Gut, schön, wie immer, fast alle Tracks sind wunderbare Hybride, perfekt für jedes eklektische Set, aber auch für den entspannten Genuss von Wein, Bier, härterem oder grünem Zeug. Vielleicht besonders zu erwähnen wäre der Esa Williams Remix von Bantu Clan Vs Sarabi and Kevin Yost’s Original Mix von “Another World”, die gab es so in den Versionen bisher nicht auf Vinyl.

Diverse Magazine haben die Future Sounds Of Jazz als eine der besten Compilation - Serien aller Zeiten gewählt. Wir sind geschmeichelt. Mit dem Start der Reihe 1995 wurde das Genre Future Jazz quasi aus der Taufe gehoben, unetabliert.

September 2021 marks the 10th anniversary of Dome of Doom. Collecting 30 tracks spanning from 2011-2021, label founder Wylie Cable put together Decade of Doom as a reflection of the first pillar in a long and continuing story—and the many phases the label has experienced thus far. Decade of Doom comprehensively serves as a homage to many of the artists, people and experiences that tell the label’s story, splintering outward toward an abundance of communities that continue to nourish one another. These tentacles all leading back to the hand-selection of releases Cable has diligently been at the heart of since the first vinyl and cassettes were pressed.



[c] A3 Kenny Segal – Worlds To Run [VIP Dub]






















[z] D26 QRTR – And Still [Interlude]

Clear Vinyl Repress

After the unbridled success of her eponymous debut album, and the subsequent relentless touring schedule that took her to all corners of the earth, Nina Kraviz has finally found the time to get back in the studio and has bestowed another gift of musical material to the Rekids catalogue. 'Mr Jones' is a neat, 6-track package featuring Nina's first original output since her 2012 LP, which has since been pulled apart, re-imagined and remixed by the likes of Steve Rachmad, KiNK, Marcellus Pittman, Fred P, DVS1, DJ Qu and Radio Slave to name but a few. Now it's Nina's turn to get back behind the mixing desk, and fans of her slightly lesser-known B-side 'Tanya' will be pleased to hear the release kick off with 'Desire' - as Nina's seductive voice surges in and out over a hypnotically dissonant groove with slightly menacing undertones, much like her aforementioned track. On title track 'Mr Jones' Nina's voice is very much the star of the show - musing on the mysterious man himself, while a constant 'oom-pah' backbeat props up ticks and whirling textures generated by Nina's own vocal chords. Detroit's Luke Hess joins the fold on 'Remember', and certainly brings the flavour of his hometown, as the track builds in intensity with battering ram percussion and siren-like bleeps that are sure to land this one straight in Jeff Mills' record bag. Next up, it's back to House on the spicy 'Black White', where enchanted melodic cross-rhythms filter in and out through an Afro-Caribbean bounce, while Nina chants and calls over the top. 'So Wrong' is a more solemn affair, reminiscent of the more melancholic yet danceable tracks from her much lauded album, and 'Sheer' ends the release much like it starts, unnerving whistles and warbling textures combine to disorienting effect over a steady kick drum pulse.

Parisian producer, DJ & multi instrumentalist THEOS returns to Shall Not Fade with 'Turn Up Marty' - the follow up to his sold out and widely acclaimed debut 'We Miss The Crowd' EP.

At only 19 years old, French producer THEOS says that last year he decided to dedicate his life to music. 2021 has been a massive year for the young French producer and he continues where he started with 4 killer cuts for Bristol label Shall Not Fade

Nervous Records, the iconic label synonymous with the rise of house from the streets of New York City, will mark 30 years in the music industry by releasing the celebratory compilation LP ‘Nervous Records: 30 Years’ on October 1st (Part 1) and October 15th (Part 2).

Featuring original mixes of the label’s biggest tracks, plus remixes by some of its most celebrated acts, ‘Nervous Records: 30 Years’ is both a celebration of the past and of the future. Featuring a who’s who of electronic dance music, the long player sees names including Louie Vega, David Morales Darius Syrossian, Tensnake, Monki, Franky Rizardo, Danny Howard and more take on iconic Nervous cuts: ‘You Make Me Feel Mighty Real’, ‘Treat Me Right’, ‘Future Groove’, ‘Feel Like Singing’, ‘Get Up Everybody’, ‘Break You’, ‘Hot’, ‘End This Hate’, ‘Unspeakable Joy’, ‘Can Ya Tell Me’, ‘Jerk It’, ‘The Anthem’, ‘It Makes A Difference’, ‘Learn 2 Luv’ and ‘Don’t You Ever Give Up’.

The album marks one of the most enduring, extraordinary legacies to grace America’s illustrious music history, not just in electronica but far beyond. Founded in 1991 by Michael and his father Sam Weiss, and recognizable immediately by its distinctive character logo, the label grew rapidly, in no small part due to Michael Weiss’ practically unmatched passion for discovering new music.

“Louie Vega and Kenny Dope woke me at 4am on Tuesday night, Wednesday morning from their studio telling me they had something really different that I needed to hear,” Michael recollects. “I asked if they could play it over the phone. They said if I wanted to hear it I had to come to the studio. So of course I got myself up, got dressed and went there. That “really different track” ended up being ‘The Nervous Track’, a tune that became our signature release and was also highly instrumental in the emergency of London’s ‘Broken Beat’ movement.”

The label’s willingness to take chances on fresh sounds and innovative concepts rising up from the melting pot sidewalks of NYC ensured a body of work that has become a living musical history of the city. House cuts ‘Unspeakable Joy’ and ‘Nitelife’ (Kim English), ‘Get Up (Everybody)’ (Byron Stingily) and ‘Feel Like Singing’ (Sandy B) bump up against hip-hop anthems like ‘Who Got Da Props’ (Black Moon) and “Bucktown” (Smif-n-Wessun) and reggae cut ‘Take It Easy’ (Mad Lion); soulful flows from Mood II Swing (Kim English ‘Learn 2 Luv’, Loni Clark “Rushing”), Armand Van Helden (‘The Anthem’) and Nuyorican Soul (‘Mind Fluid’) sit alongside seminal techno singles like Winx’ ‘Don’t Laugh’. The young artists and producers who joined the Nervous Records’ family have gone on to become some of the most hallowed and celebrated dance acts of all time: Louie Vega, Kenny Dope, David Morales, Tony Humphries, Roger Sanchez, Armand Van Helden, Kerri Chandler, Kim English, Byron Stingily, Josh Wink, to name just a handful.

“We did a release with Josh Wink under his Winx alias entitled ‘Nervous Build-Up’,” Michael said. “It did well and it was obvious how talented Josh was. Subsequent to that release I was pretty persistent in asking him to continue to play me his new demos. During one phone conversation he said, “Mike I’m gonna play you something over the phone but don’t laugh when you hear it.” That demo ended up being ‘Don’t Laugh’, which became one of our biggest international hits and still to this day is one of America’s earliest and most impactful techno hits.”

As much a celebration of the label’s future as it is of their past, Nervous Records: 30 Years is but a marker in the imprints’ history, a clear sign of where they’ve been and also where they’re going. With 30 years behind them, the label’s determination to unearth new raw diamonds in the rough is as unwavering as ever.

“I’ve always been one to look at what others are doing (the industry at large) and think, “ok, are they doing this specific thing for a reason, or doing it because everyone else is doing the same thing” and make my decision based on that,” says Nervous Records’ General Manager Andrew Salsano. “In an age where data metrics and analytics reign supreme, I remain steadfast that they should be complementary to your decision and not the sole indicator to make one. So many songs today are written with 15 second hooks in mind for social media, and while there’s nothing wrong with that business model you will always be chasing the wave instead of carving out your own path and identity.

“My primary focus for the sound of the label has and will continue to revolve around signing good songs and music that has the ability to react at the street level first. The best results come from artists that are firstly given a bit of local love that grows into a global impact. Fresh ideas that express child-like curiosity and artists showing vulnerability in their music are also something I look for, artists and producers that are not making music with certain markets in mind, but rather their own style and signature that is unique but able to straddle the fine line of underground and overground.”

Still as raw, as underground and as finely tuned to the dance floor as they ever have been, perhaps the secret to the success - and the longevity - of Nervous Records has something to do with that hard, dogged, no-holds-barred NYC edge that runs through the veins of the label. With the next generation of producers rising from the clubs of New York, one thing is certain; Nervous Records will be there to find them, nurture them and bring them to the world at large, over the next decade and beyond.

One of the promoters and DJs behind South London party Big Dyke Energy, Elliott is part of a new wave bringing contemporary queer energy and attitude to clubland. Following an EP on Kouncil Cuts as one half of Faff, working alongside Ornography, ‘Transcendence’ marks their debut solo EP.

If you’ve ever wanted to hear more acid in garage, the epic bubbling 303 breakdown of two-step opener ‘Tender’ answers your prayers, its ghostly lead out-emoting even Four Tet. ‘Loose Tooth’ then lands in clubbier territory, dubby rave synths again deployed with a canny melodic ear.

On the flip, ‘Metamorphic’ is noir electro, UV bleeps and infrared bass cutting through its heavy, murky atmosphere. Working her trademark magic on the remix, Naive boss Violet bumps up the tempo, turning in a cut of booming, bottom-heavy machine-funk, a dub siren and half-time section nodding to the influence of UK rave culture.

A variety of ambient and experimental cuts to be found here. A re-release of sorts, all original tracks were done by Enitokwa (Takashi Hasegawa) as rehearsal for a live performance at Tokyo - Batofar Festival in Paris in 2001 and were released on a limited CDR "promo." in 2002. All 8 tracks were recorded and mixed live in one sitting, and have been remastered, given names and pressed on heavy vinyl with a beautiful cover design by Berlin artist Nik Patrick.

The sample sources were largely inspired by records that Takashi listened to in High School - and feature two hugely well known British hands (one of whom have just reformed and have a new album out…), some old Jazz, Bossa Nova and Hawaiian records, as well as samples from ambient legends Deep Forest and Brian Eno. The result is an earthly nostalgic feel with deep moods to match the times we are living in.

The first track ‘Pop’ bursts into life with an etherial presence. ‘Ssab’ and ‘Chinese Girl Goes to Hawaiii’ have a rather filmic quality to them, whilst ‘Resonating’ seems to float over the wreckage of human activity, a post apocalyptic vision of Planet Earth. ‘Liquid Sky’ is a minimal groove which could be a sonic report from an eerie space station, which is itself a remix of Dub Sonic aka Takehito Nakazeto’s ‘Donigma Dub’.

‘Hope on Hop’ will appeal to today’s generation with its Techno and D’n’B influences, and features voices taken from Wim Wender’s ‘Paris Texas’. Track 7, ‘Mingos’ turns Gal Costa’s voice into a soaring atmospheric haze of digital memory, and the track ‘Holy Spiral’ is a combination of this one and ‘Resonating’, an ascendent 12 minute march to the release’s final close.



Takashi Hasegawa is a respected DJ, producer and live performer who plays live electronic and DJ sets regularly today in venues and festivals across Japan. He has been producing house, techno, experimental and ambient music since the 90’s - spending some of that time in the United States, including working in the music scene in the New York, before returning to Japan working as a sound engineer, A&R and producer for the famous Tokyo-based record label Club Yellow. Now based in Osaka-Fukuoka, Takashi’s music is still resonating with fellow music lovers around the world.



Now, 20 years on from its creation, this music is rediscovered and given a wider audience. The sound on ’Re-Promo’ interestingly gives an insight into the music Enitokwa is currently working on - reflecting the cyclical nature of creative output - and represents a slight departure from the swirling delicate ambient textures that you can hear in o.n.s.a and on the intricate and more musical 2069, released in 2017 and 2016 respectively.



Each track has a video accompaniment to be released in various media outlets, the label head Tom Ransom having partnered with diverse artists in Colombia, Denmark, Japan, Poland, France, Britain and China to create a wide range of visual outputs.



The release also sees two digital only remixes, one coming from London and Wigan’s enigmatic Isherwood (Edward Regan), and the other from Mat Fink - a unique DJ and up and coming producer raised in Pittsburgh and Berlin. Watch out for these…



Machines used:



Yamaha SU700

Sequential Circuits Pro One

Roland TR909

Roland TR808,

TC Electric D-Two

MAM RS3

Pedals



Remastering and additional audio treatment by Kabamix (LMD) on Dec.4.2017.

Dedicated to Takehito Nakazato (SONIC PLATE)

Italian musician, producer and DJ, Lorenzo Morresi, returns to his newly formed SuperEclectic imprint with a brand new album 'Music For Closed Airports' that swiftly follows up on his recent successful outings on 22a and Fly By Night Music. Across the 10 tracks on the album Lorenzo combines live compositions with electronic production, taking you on an expansive journey through jazz-funk, house, electronica and Italian library music.

DJ support

Tenderlonious, Emma Jeen Thackray, Daniele Baldelli, Dennis Ayler, Mr Redley, Delia Tesilianu, King Hippo (International Anthem)

Swedish vinyl only label Kvalia Records breaks a 9-month silence by introducing a meticulously executed 3 track ep by DJ Nobu and Artefakt. Hiiro consists of two original, psychedelic techno trips produced by DJ Nobu, and one re-interpretive sonic journey by Artefakt.

H- side is etched
The American cable-television industry exploded in the 1980s, pushing broadcasts of diverse programming and emissions of low-laying cultures into homes. Community stations piggybacked on the digital developments of the time, extending their existence through telephony and broadcast a iliates. For those growing up in this time, in locations such as New York City, the localized communications beamed into their homes exposed them to an impressionable array of disparate sounds and visions.
Move into the 1990s and New York was filled to the brim of emergent cultures drawing from this ebullition of communication. From Rammellzee’s shapeshifting to the late Judy Russell and Frank and Karen Mendez’s Nu Groove imprint fusing reggae, poetry and house, nascent ideas emanated from the city walls, from within stores such as Sonic Groove store and on VHS releases such as Stakker’s The Evil Acid Baron Show, a legendary technicolor psychedelic trip along the wildest frontiers of acid house. As scenes expanded and identities developed, such individuals weather the events of the visceral now, expressing themselves right into an unpredictable future.
Function’s long career has seen him uncover a vast range of sonic identities, a mainstay through house, techno and industrial with collaborations with the likes of Regis, Damon Wild alongside his highly influential Infrastructure imprint. With influences deeply tied to pop art, rave and gay scenes, and early memories of block-parties emitting Kraftwerk and Strafe, he found himself seeking out the undercover illegal nights of the 90s on a quest of sexual unearthing, mixing the ever-yearning escapology mission of disco with the influential DJ sets of Jeff Mills.
For his new album Existenz, he marks a clear step away from the corporeal techno of his recent releases. Pivoting around themes of religion, sexuality, trauma and healing, it is a work expansive and celebratory, a clear liberation from a deeply internalized past. Formed from a collection of recordings made in a period from late 2016 to mid 2019, Existenz takes the form of a creative outburst in reaction to a number of traumas - recent, childhood and throughout Function’s life. Life partner Stefanie Parnow assisted the production process in its entirety, providing inspiration, spiritual healing and featuring vocal contributions.
Cosmic synths soar and swoop in ‘Pleasure Discipline’ through towering stacks of rhythm that stutter and creak to a halt before rebooting, a firm robotic response to human intervention. ‘Zahlensender’ reflects a spatial tetris of urban life, as digitalization set within an XYZ matrix confronts the sprawling city. Constant arpeggiated meditations echo synaptic transmissions, e ecting a dissolution of boundaries. ’The Approach’ recalls the unification of the self, a state of delirium non-subjective and smooth, as all connections and functions give way to simple intensities of feeling, crossing the threshold into spirituality. ’Golden Dawn’, featuring Stefanie Parnow, marks a further elevation of dubbed-out euphoria, as once more positive rays emerge. His ode to the effortless short-trip urban navigation 'Kurzstrecke' finds Function in motion, upfront and bold, snapshots of conversation and flickers of light. 'Ertrinken' finds metallic bass jabs swamping snipped synthetic voices, with hidden stores of emotion set as a nod to the history of vocoders as a tool for encrypted military communication. House icon Robert Owens features on 'Growth Cycle' and 'Be', entrenching a celebratory atmosphere over Function's clubwise leanings. Closing track 'Downtown 161' reflects the unmistakeable filtered and squashed interjections of television, and sampled dance vocals - a sound for the curious, dreamers and dancers.
With Existenz, Function reveals an essential body of work, spread over 4LP - thought experiments on the role of identity and spirituality after a lifetime of upheaval and trauma. Leading up until the release date, Function will undertake an album promo tour with select dates - A/V shows at Berlin Atonal and Rural festival in Japan, and three dates as part of his Bassiani residency.

Marshall McLuhan’s famous edict ‘the medium is the message’ has never been more apt than with regard to modern remix culture. Although the idea of the remix goes way back to the Jamaican dub pioneers and New York disco remixers of the 1970s, the form didn’t truly come into its own until the acid house explosion of the 1980s, when remixers’ credentials often subsumed — and sometimes surpassed — the original source material. Some, among them our lost friend Andrew Weatherall, used remixing as a springboard into multiple other directions, and became auteurs in their own right.

Forged in the white-hot heat of post-acid house Britain, these Heavenly remixes are perfectly weighted with respect and irreverence, the remixer in each case carefully chosen to add heft to the song (as on Al Breadwinner’s dubwise reworking of Mattiel’s ’Guns of Brixton’— the pairing more a game of chess than a best-of-three arm wrestle).

Although Heavenly was founded in the wake of huge upheavals in electronic music, it was still imbued with its own curious parallel life. I’ve always thought of Heavenly as one of the UK’s alt-pop labels; a place where brilliant pop bands live and record, if the general public would only realise. Some of them have ended up in the real, actual charts (Saint Etienne, Doves), but that’s missing the point about Heavenly, who are, like Factory and Fast Product before them, pop music’s conscience.

There is no sense of order to this compilation and we make no apologies. It’s the Heavenly way. Think of it as a present from Loki, the Norse god of mischief. You’ll find a smattering of older tracks: album openers Saint Etienne are taken on a Poseidon Adventure with Underworld, who inject ‘Cool Kids of Death’ with typically manic energy. Elsewhere, ’90s Brum duo Mother add dancefloor pzazz to Espiritu’s innate glamour on an all-funked-up reworking of ‘Los Americanos’, and Mark Lusardi’s remix of Moonflowers’ ‘Get Higher’ is an early Heavenly classic.

On ‘Terracotta Warrior’, a perfect, psyched-out, Mancunian union is created betwixt Jimi Goodwin and Andy Votel, whilst Goodwin cohort Simon Aldred, in his Cherry Ghost guise, receives a proper Tamla-Motowning from Richard Norris (aka Time & Space Machine) on an inspired cover of Cece Peniston’s glam-house hit, ‘Finally’.

There are several of Heavenly’s current darlings here too. One of the most exciting young British prospects, Yorkshire’s Working Men’s Club, effectively remix themselves, as Minsky Rock — WMC’s Syd Minsky-Sargeant and producer Ross Orton — cleave ‘X’ into a riotous industrial racket. Jagwar Ma’s Jono Ma takes the Kraftwerkian leitmotif on ‘Automatic’ and drives the Australian jazz-funkers Mildlife down an electro-convulsive psychedelic tunnel (thankfully no-one was harmed during the making of this remix); Sheffield’s DJ Parrot and Jarvis Cocker deliver one of the outstanding remixes of 2018, turning Baxter Dury’s ‘Miami’ into a lovelorn minor opera; and, making its first appearance on vinyl, David Holmes’ Unloved project is taken on a panoramic Welsh waltz thanks to Gwenno.


There may well be no rhyme, nor reason, to how these compilations have been put together, beyond the fact that they are assembled with love, an innate understanding of the power of great pop music, and a skilled marriage of song and remixer — but does one really need anything more than that for an album to make sense? I’d suggest not.

Hessle audio-inspired club weapons. burial-esque floorfillers. gully electro-dubstep grime from the future. enter the mind of tom place, the UK bass prodigy taking the golden era of UK club back 2 the forefront of modern dance music."

Support: featured on BBC introducing radio 1 dance & mixmag.
Early support from: LCY, cressida, plastician, nicola cruz, aloka, mad miran, martyn bootyspoon, DJ spit, jossy mitsu, parrish smith, harrison bdp, yazzus, ciel +more

Scottish DJ Ewan McVicar is tipped for big things, having found support in the likes of Annie Mac and Fatboy Slim. After a stellar year crowned with a release on the hallowed Nervous Records, he makes his debut on Shall Not Fade's "Basement Tracks" series with five explosive earworms.

Amnocairn EP collects the most classic sounds from the dancefloor and melts them together, styles blending throughout songs to keep listeners on their toes and dancing. The title track is a sweeping marriage of insistent house piano and washy dub techno synths, leading into the sugary, hardcore "1001 Freestyle" that calls back to early Lone tracks. Then one for the after hours crew, "Ha Mez", a syncopated 303 techno roller.

McVicar keeps the party atmosphere close across the B-side, flexing laser-cut synth arps with a dark, big-room edge on "Stu Boy", before crowning the EP with a gorgeous sun soaked party number "See U Thru My Eyes", jazzy inflected house with a 90s aesthetic. This EP has something for everyone, bringing together eclectic influences into a smooth festival-ready record.