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Pressure is a new garage project produced by Dusky. Still typically resemblant of their trademark sound, this musical excursion looks back to their formative years and early productions that were heavily influenced by UK and US garage. Covering everything from murky 2 step sounds to uplifting vocal bubblers and soulful US influenced 4x4, the project includes collaborations with Manchester's garage revivalist Interplanetary Criminal, two-step pioneer El-B and London-based songwriter Mariella.

"When we were writing our most recent album JOY we really enjoyed the process of creating 'Eros', one of the more garage influenced tracks on the album. It reignited our interest in the genre's sound world, so once JOY was complete we got stuck into writing a load of similar material and this project is the result.” - Dusky

True Sneaker Social die-hard Etch returns with a monumental new album. Scream of the Butterfly shows the depth and breadth of one of the illest producers operating across the many spheres of club music with a distinct “you ‘kay?” slant.

From the moment the low-end pressure and loaded samples rear their heads on the opening track, Zak Brashill demonstrates his intent to sculpt Scream Of The Butterfly as a proper album — an end-to-end listening experience full of peaks and troughs which focus on sonic storytelling much more than club functionality. Throughout his imperious output to date, the man like Etch has displayed an affinity for sound design to match his instinct for what bangs on the spectrum of dubstep, garage, jungle and hip-hop, but now he’s gone postal on soundworld-building, with a grip of heavyweights drafted in to help set the scene.

Fellow Sneaker alumnus J-Shadow lends his maverick footwork science to ‘Star Fallen’, while UK rap anti-royalty Lee Scott brings his unmistakable Runcorn drawl to dusky head-nodder ‘Not Surprised’. UK bass-synth-ambient enigma E.M.M.A drops in for the moody, meandering midpoint ‘Stepford Lives’, and Killa P and Emz deliver blazing bars to the double dose of ‘Prayer Wheel (Left You Fi Dead)’ and ‘Heat Map’ respectively.

Elsewhere Brashill follows his own razor-sharp instincts into warping stop-start drum science, widescreen downtempo with teeth, seasick synth studies, moody-but-cosy 140 and lots more besides. Nothing comes as standard, but Scream of the Butterfly is ruff when it wants to be, subtle and spacious if the vibe demands it, and consistently packed full of the detail and intrigue that we’ve come to expect from one of the most inventive and reliably sick producers in the contemporary bassweight firmament.

There’s a reason they call it deep House. On 'The New Jersey' EP, DJ Romain doesn’t just nod to his roots, he digs into them, scooping out a warm, rhythmic core that pulses with sweat, memory, and reverence. This is not a revival or a pastiche; it’s a love letter etched in drum machines and delay, from a producer who’s lived the lineage.

A fixture of late-’90s NYC dance floors, Romain cut his teeth in the city’s thumping underbelly, learning from the likes of Todd Terry and later carving his own signature into the genre’s sidewalk. Across these four freshly cut tracks, Romain channels the same urgency that once drove dance crews, celebrities, and nightlifers alike into motion, and still does.

Lead track “Hello New York” is a no-nonsense DJ tool, a serrated slice of big room energy built around snapping snares, a jackhammer kick, and a spoken word vocal that bristles with pride and uplift. “Put more cut in your strut… pride in your stride” - it’s part mantra, part mission statement. “But It’s Alright” flips the vibe, conjuring up basement jazz sessions through dusky chords and a muted, plucked bassline that slinks like a late-night subway ride.

On “Check Your Pockets,” the energy turns inward and abstract, a woozy, psychedelic House jam that feels like dancing through a heatwave haze. He wraps the record with “Deep Inferno,” a peak-time burner full of sticky Afro-funk polyrhythms, clashing vocal chops, and steam-pressure percussion. It’s unhinged, hypnotic, and gloriously raw.

Having revisited his archive with ‘The Lost D.A.T.S.' series, Romain returns to Hard Times not as a nostalgia act but as a flamekeeper - still innovating, still sweating, still firmly on the floor. The New Jersey EP is a love letter, yes, but it’s also a reminder: House never left. It just got deeper.

Following on from Bodyjack's landmark "Nataraja EP" this summer which marked the 10th DEXT release, we welcome back our good friend Lo Shea to the label to continue the next phase in our journey. He comes to us fresh off his recent outings on Rekids and Dusky's 17 Steps, His first DEXT EP 'Durga' is one of the standouts from our early catalog.

We first heard "Activation" when he dropped an early version at our Fabric takeover earlier this year, and it grabbed us immediately. What essentially starts off as a super sharp rhythm track ends up very differently. This is a DEXT track through and through without a doubt!

Liam delves into his drum and bass roots for 'Pressure', marrying rolling broken beats and dark rave synth work but cleverly keeps the tempo right down and really adds to the sense of foreboding.

2022 Repress

HQ Gatefold, 3x12 140g Vinyl, black innersleeve, download code
EXTRAWELT are back! Although in fairness, they were never gone. On the contrary, since their first release on James Holden's Border Community Label dropped in 2005, Arne Schaffhausen and Wayan Raabe have been responsible for a plethora of classics including "Schöne Neue Extrawelt" and "In Aufruhr", their two seminal albums on Cocoon Recordings. The duo are one of the most booked live acts worldwide, commanding a huge fan base. Their performances are the stuff of legend, making them the absolute highlight at every club and festival they play. So it's with great pride and respect, that we can announce the release of Extrawelt's third album for Cocoon Recordings. "Fear Of An Extra Planet" completes the Cocoon trilogy and the excitement growing among their fans represents a new high in the history of EXTRAWELT!
Musically, of course, there's enormous pressure on EXTRAWELT to deliver, but this is dismissed with a playful disregard and they are clearly focused on the job in hand. The album title "Fear Of An Extra Planet" sounds cinematic, like some art-house science fiction film, without giving too much away.
However, from the first seconds of the opening track "Superposition", the album title makes 100% sense and sets the scene for the rest of the trip. We are immersed in wide open spaces and invited to explore dark and dusky worlds that transport us back to their Border Community years. Timeless and elegant, "Superposition" perfectly captures the epic, dream like quality that made James Holden's label so influential.
New Release Information Second up, "Gott ist Schrott" takes a much more minimalist approach with its retro 80s drum programming, monster bass lurking in the breaks and playful Rhodes/synth riffs that span the divide between early German techno and deep Detroit electro with a distinctive film soundtrack aesthetic. "Oddification" continues this theme, adding extra spice reminiscent of the techno-synth vibe of Detroit with a punchy, almost Prodigy-style breakbeat complete with shredded vocal samples that gives us a taste of what's in store. "Gentle Venom" then takes the breakbeat motif to the next stage. The main focus here is the classy sprinter of a bassline, peppered with a flurry of intricate and subtle effects and modulations, that immediately trigger an intense, movie-like 'in pursuit' feeling.
With - Das Grosse Flimmern" we cautiously approach the album's high point. It's still in keeping with the soundtrack aesthetics, but faster and with more urgency. Almost hypnotically, Extrawelt invade us with an energy and impetus that always radiates from their music. Next in line is "Silly Idol" and here Arne Schaffhausen and Wayan Raabe opt again for a more minimal tack, focusing even more intensely on the dance floor to reveal a pulsing, twisted heart to the album.
"Punch The Dragon" is the hidden gem of the collection, utilising and melting together the most bombastic and playful elements. This one is totally off the hook, a sensory overload in an acoustic widescreen format! Then we have the title track "Fear Of An Extra Planet" which perfectly sums up the album concept. It opens up like a film score, with minimal passages following dark sequences that morph into dreamy melodies, all grounded by cool, constantly alternating analogue drum patterns. If you're not listening closely, you might get the impression that three or four different titles are mixed together; such is the effortless flow of the album.
As we near our destination, "The Friendly Coroner" really does honour its name. The morbid charm of the title is captured by a fluid bassline and melodic arrangements that border on the absurd, until the funky drum beat finally drops. In our mind's eye we see a cheerful medical doctor removing his bloody gloves, hanging his smock in the closet and vibing out in his neon drenched workspace. And there we sit, glued to our cinema seat, submerged in the different textures EXTRAWELT have conjured up on "Fear Of An Extra Planet". Over the course of the last title, the strings usher in the final acknowledgments as the credits roll. The dramatic end of "2084" leaves us transfixed in front of a black screen in a large, dark room safe in the knowledge that we've just witnessed a science fiction epic.

German producer Christian Burkhardt teams up with fellow countrymen Chris Wood & Meat for a three-track release on Jamie Jones' Hottrax this May.
Burkhardt has been flying the flag for minimalist electronic music for a decade now, releasing on labels such as Cocoon, Oslo and Pressure Traxx. Likewise, Freebase Records founders Meat + Chris Wood have been purveying deep and minimal cuts individually since the '00s, joining forces in 2009 before releasing on labels like Desolat, Housewax and Tiefschwarz' Souvenir. Between the three of them they've continually garnered support from the upper echelons of House and Techno, making regular appearances in the sets of names like Ricardo Villalobos, Sven Väth, Seth Troxler and Jamie Jones.
Intricate percussion and a compelling bassline make up the foundation of 'Closer 2 U' as an echoing vocal and tense strings operate throughout. Meanwhile, 'Plain' is a more downtempo cut in comparison with its dusky atmospherics and distorted spoken word samples that subtly permeate throughout the mix. On the flip, 'Trumpad' is deep and dubby whilst integrating trippy synths and mesmerizing effects for a rhythmic conclusion.