quête:e max

DJ Support: Enzo Siragusa, Archie Hamilton, Fabe, Fleur Shore, Us Two & VITO (UK).

UK based rising star DXNBY debuts on TRMNL Records as they reveal their next eagerly awaited EP on the Birmingham based imprint, and one of Holland’s newest hottest exports Marsolo completes the package on remix duties.

One of the main artists at the forefront of Bandcamp’s thriving underground market alongside releases on East End Dub’s Belief, Max Dean’s neXup and Ben Rau’s META to name a few, DXNBY brings his in demand signature garage and underground house crossover sound to the label with two killer cuts. The label has already offered up a plethora of sounds across the underground electronic spectrum with releases from credible names including East End Dubs, Yaya, Djebali, Ray Mono and Samu.l

Title track ‘Ozone’ oozes everything that TRMNL as a brand and the second city champions - warping basslines laid down in a fast-moving fashion for those peak time moments. ‘No Return’ continues the mind-bending journey with cleverly manipulated vocals, skippy drums and hypnotic samples before dropping into another uniquely assembled heavy hitting bassline.

Dutchman Marsolo follows up from impressive EP’s on Prunk’s PIV and East End Dub’s Eastenderz by stepping up with his take on ‘Ozone’ - as the remix takes you into after hours territory with skippy drums and a cutting bassline that creates moments encapsulating the true essence of the underground

2024 Reissue

Led by Danny Leak, a guitarist who was active in the Chicago soul scene in the 60s and 70s, the legendary group 100% PURE POISON brought together a total of nine artists and released only one album.Their only album, "Coming Right At You", was released only in the UK in 1974, but it was appreciated worldwide during the rare groove movement of the 80's and continues to be appreciated by collectors around the world.The opening track, "You Keep Coming Back," is a soul-tastic song with fresh vocals that seem to stretch out forever, and the horns in the background are wonderful. This is the song that starts the party. The following song, "No More City, No More Country," has a funky guitar riff that invites you to dance, and the flow from the female chorus to the trumpet solo in the middle of the song is irresistible. Windy C", the first track on the B-side of the record, is the highlight of the album, with its dramatic interplay between Danny Leak's strong guitar and Steve Maxwell's pleasant organ, and its wordy vocals, making it a song that can reach a wide range of rock fans other than soul and funk.Throughout the album, you'll find a good balance of soulful, comforting songs to upper-key, funk-inducing, dance-inducing tunes!

Jackpot Recordings is a fresh sub-label brought to you by London-based production duo Club of Jacks. Their debut release showcases solo sessions from one half of the COJ crew, Max One aka MX1, and stays true to their signature UK garage-influenced house sound. The EP commences with 'Down Like That,' which has lively beats, resonant analogue sub-bass, and velvety chords with classic r&b samples while 'Waiting On' has swung beats and chord stabs with more captivating vocals. Don't Give Up' then brings a little sun to the grooves with funky undertones and 'Work Me' closes the EP with a more moody late-night vibe.

Das zweite Studioalbum von Freundeskreis - "Esperanto"- ist eine Fusion aus Hip-Hop, Soul und Reggae, dass die musikalische Vision und Botschaft der Gruppe in die Welt getragen hat. Mit Hits wie "Mit Dir", "Esperanto" und "A-N-N-A" hat Freundeskreis die Musikszene geprägt. Zum Jubiläum der Single "Mit Dir" erstrahlt "Esperanto" in einer speziellen Jubiläumsedition. In dieser enthalten ist das Album "Esperanto" auf goldener Doppelvinyl, sowie die Single "Mit Dir" auf coke bottle greenem Vinyl. Diese Single-Vinyl beinhaltet neben der Originalversion zwei brandneue Remixe. Diese neuen Interpretationen bringen das Gefühl und die Energie des Originals in eine neue Ära und sind ein Dankeschön an alle, die diesen Song lieben und leben. Das Jubiläumsbundle ist für die treuen Fans, die Freundeskreis seit Tag eins supporten, und für die neuen Hörer, die die Musik gerade entdecken. Es ist ihre Art, Danke zu sagen und die Freundeskreis-Vibes weiterzugeben.r

Ten years after his first full-length effort ‘Man Is Deaf’ landed him firmly in the runnings for DJ Mag’s album of the year, prodigal son Michael Anthony Wright AKA Brassica returns to Civil Music with a deeply accomplished, painstakingly whittled LP of hydraulic electro slickness, rich synthscapes, and hooky, peak-time tearjerkers for the most discerning front-left lifers. ‘Tribeless Gathering’ is a barnstorming testament to Brassica’s stylistic and timbral deftness, touching down in the elusive epicentre of the club/home listening venn diagram with ease.

From the elastic, neon acid pointillism of opener ‘Hop Kweng’ to the mardy, miasmic plod of closing chugger ‘Changa Hill’, Brassica seamlessly segues between avenues of influence, his notoriously omnivorous musical knowledge roadmapping each turn. Raised on a diet of everything from early rave standards to metal, and schooled in avant garde sonics as a student of sound design at LCC, Brassica does a peerless job of sublimating his countless influences into a record of refined, heterogeneous, and most crucially, catchy, club moods.

Less spartan than his more recent oeuvre on Feel My Bicep, and less baroque than his technicolour experiments in postmodern synth pop with vocalist Stuart Warwick, Tribeless Gathering represents Brassica’s triumphant return to the main room, replete with rushy hooks primed for the planet’s finest soundsystems, and passages of heads-down tension bound to draw listeners right to the edge of their seats. Overall it is a concise and refined testament to Wright’s command of spectral sonics and effortless ability to pressurise a dancefloor. It is no surprise that he has also worked as a prolific mastering engineer, tuning music from a plethora of dance disciplines for maximum club impact. This work extends to his own projects (including this one), cementing them as rare expressions of complete artistry from studio to turntable.

As we delve deeper into the record, we are ushered through a series of accomplished and varied club moods, each channelling a unique cocktail of influences, but retaining a warm, ebullient analogue sensibility unique to Brassica’s work. This playful scope of influence calls to mind James T Cotton or Machinedrum’s experiments in dance music form, but Wright manages it all under one roof, wrangling everything from sashaying wub-laden two step to snarling Dillinja-esque FM damage into something inherently his.

Choice cut ‘Change Yourself’ layers an almost Cerrone-like piano refrain over radiant surges of saturated bass, dubby, strobing chords and a jagged, driving break, building to a jaw-clenching apex of dancefloor elation, while the rude, playful half-step of ‘Elevation’ breaks down the vintage speed garage formula into linear fragments, utilising a tight palette of resonant bass slugs, infectious synth leads and Papua New Guinea-style vocal strobes. The aptly named ‘Hold Tight’ fuses heart-in-mouth UK ‘ardkore pads with glissando acid disturbance and surgical snare fills in a formula which recalls the ethereal grit of Nubian Mindz’ 00s experiments in big-smoke break science, while the questing melodic arcs and arpeggiated squarewaves of ‘Pinball Marinara’ could easily have soundtracked an 80s sci-fi epic, beset with sparkling, bare-bones drum programming and hazy beds of sub sediment.

With ‘Tribeless Gathering’, Brassica both irreverently fuses and pays homage to the many unique and weird permutations of UK dance music. The short lived gathering of junglists, ravers and house hotsteppas of a similar name may have long since dissipated, along with the tribes themselves, but across these 11 tracks, he lays a blueprint for a new sound of togetherness.

Second release of project by Alexander Skancke, Foehn & Jerome and Henriku

1st press sold out
LTD repress soon

Following Chicago’s tradition in special edits and dj personal reworks to extend crucial parts and surprise the dancers, Theo Parrish has always sparkled his legendary sets with his own versions of classic and obscure disco, funk and soul cuts to maximum effect! Some of those were available to fans in mid 2000s via the Ugly Edits series, now it’s finally time for the LOVELY EDITS.

Officially licensed and using the original parts from the master tapes, here we have Theo’s takes on two absolute staples: BT EXPRESS ‘Peace Pipe’ and GEORGE DUKE ‘I Want You For Myself’.

DJ Support from Danny Howard, Annie Mac, Mistajam, Pete Tong, Charlie Hedges, Kraak & Smaak, Maxinne, Todd Terry, Alex Preston, Full Intention, GW Harrison, DJ Rae, Rudimental, Alaia & Gallo, Illyus & Barrientos, Johan S, David Penn, Sam Divine, Riva Starr, Claptone, Nice7, Dario D’Attis, Mousse T, S-Man, Huxley, KC Lights, Friend Within, Dombresky, Gorgon City, Chris Lake, Format:B, Pirupa, TCTS, Alan Fitzpatrick, Low Steppa, Mat.Joe, Raumakustik, Eskuche

Next up on our new Toolroom Trax vinyl series, we kick things off with a fresh new banger from Italian talent Nausica who with another deep club cut 'Se Pone Loca'. Featuring rolling percussion, a hooky lead vocal with expertly placed chops, 'Se Pone Loca' is looking to lay carnage on the dancefloor. Nausica's mastered her infectious minimal, percussive sound that has seen the likes of AAA talent support her music from John Summit, to Jamie Jones, MK to Solardo proving Nausica's a name many acts are reaching for in their sets! D.Ramirez returns to Toolroom Trax with his highly anticipated remake of Bodyrox's anthemic 'Yeah Yeah'. Firmly rooted within Toolroom's foundations, releasing genre defining dance music for nearly two decades with hits such as 'Downpipe' in collaboration with label boss Mark Knight and UK pioneers Underworld, 'Colombian Soul' and many more. D.Ramirez doubles up as not only a genius in the studio, but as one of the talented Toolroom Academy tutors, teaching a new generation of producer's fundamental skills in dance music production. Remaking the Bodyrox Electro House classic 'Yeah Yeah'; an era defining masterpiece with an unforgettable synth line, D.Ramirez gives us an essential update for today's dancefloors. Label favourites, Sllash & Doppe return to Trax next with their unique style of uplifting, feel good house music. Their music is regularly found in the sets of artists like Fatboy Slim, Solomun, Bedouin, Blond:ish, Martin Solveig, Roger Sanchez and more, and the playful cousins are now conquering the world, from deck to deck, with an energetic and exuberant style that has won them favour on the dancefloors.

Closing out the sampler is Saison with their signature house sound. The London based duo have been solidly in the game for the best part of a decade perfecting their unparalleled sound of raw, feel-good house music at it's very best. With numerous releases on revered labels including Defected, Nervous, Big Love and of course their own imprint, No Fuss.

Countless radio plays on Radio 1 from Danny Howard, Sarah Storie, Pete Tong Other notable radio plays – Kiss FM, Toolroom Radio, Sirius XM, Data Transmission Radio, Radio 1 Dance Anthems, Radio 1 Party Anthems, Rinse FM, Select Radio, Tomorrowland Radio

Through the medium of a distinctly synthesised, sustained ambience, seasoned artist and composer Jasmine Guffond arrives on OOH to explore the tension between technology and human creativity in an increasingly ambiguous playing field.

Alien Intelligence came into being during Guffond's residency at fabled Parisian institution GRM in 2021. While learning how to generate sound and make music with the in-house Serge modular synthesiser, the Australian artist noticed the typical role of human input for machine output was being subverted by the behaviour of certain electronic elements, which came to exercise their own influences on the direction of the music.

Taking this idea one step further, Guffond proceeded to explore the programming environment MaxMSP, a customisable interface which allowed her to blur the lines between human input and machine directives even further. Across the three extended pieces which make up Alien Intelligence you can hear the results of Guffond's inquisitive approach as she coaxed the machines into bringing their own ideas to bear on the music.

The tension inherent in this thematic duality is mirrored by the contrast between glacial ambience and chaotic interference across the album. On 'Serge & Maxine Variation One' the presiding mood is a slow and patient one, as undulating waveforms rich with harmonic overtones spill out over one another across 10 minutes. The track's latter passage, driven by steadily intensifying oscillations, is then interrupted with an unexpected flurry of pitch shifting. This kind of complex technical movement features more prominently at the start of 'Serge & Maxine Variation Three', which then gradually shifts into a gentler ebb and flow of rising and falling frequencies.

Angled slightly differently and residing on the B side of the album, 15-minute quiet epic 'Serge & Maxine Variation Two' bookends a louder passage of synth work with serene, sustained notes that ring out a sort of hymnal melody. Throughout, the movement in the music evolves in subtly modulating, hypnotic, ways, but there are also unexpected turns or melodic diversions which feel much more incongruous. In its closing stretch, the notes dart around more freely as though played by hand, but it's hard to be sure whether these shifts in the otherwise delicate tonal music were a human conceit or a programming by-product. In the end, the two inputs logically become one.

As Guffond says herself, "More-than-human logics emerge, a kind of alien intelligence that questions an assumed central position of human subjectivity in socio-technical assemblages and considers the philosophical, socio-political and cultural implications beyond music practice in an increasingly technologically mediated world."

As AI creeps into art as much as other aspects of modern life, Guffond applies her playful instinct to the theme of these works by re-considering machine intelligence as 'alien', crediting its contributions with a more robust yet enigmatic identity in the creative process, leading to an end result which is far from artificial.

►Mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi, cover art by Ilan Katin, layout by incepBOY, photo by Camille Blake, words by Oli Warwick

An Italo Disco rarity from 1984 now available again on a colored 12“ maxi single: G.J. Lunghi - Acapulco Nights This legendary Italo disco song was first released exactly 4 years ago To mark the occasion, we proudly present and release g a strictly limited edition on colored vinyl featuring an exclusive remix by Flemming Dalum.

Numero's second bundle of cover 45s is all things soulful. The Rotterdam-based Another Taste electrifies Maxx Traxx's 1984 Chicago boogie grail "Don't Touch It," which makes its debut on the 7" format here. Colemine Records' Say She She delivers a glamorous rendition of Jim Spencer's yacht-disco hit "Wrap Myself Up In Your Love." Columbia Recording artist Leon Bridges effortlessly transforms Pastor T.L. Barrett's "Like A Ship," updating the 50 year old gospel soul classic for the 21st century. All three are housed in a newly imagined Numero custom sleeve, reflecting the many shades of our ongoing Eccentric Soul 45 imprint.

It is 1983 and you've just stepped into your Ford Capri with your girlfriend Julie. You live in Harlow, but in your head you're really somewhere near Salou in Spain, next to your yacht. But the thing you really love is soul and they play nothing but at Sups in Loughton. OK, so It's not 1983 at all. It's 2014, but listening to this electrofied soul, will put you back in the zone. Tom Findlay, one half of Grammy-nominated Groove Armada, has put this collection together: a stamp of authenticity in itself. Tom has also put a few of these through the edit wringer, reworking many of the tunes for maximum towelling sockability.

You'll probably recognise a few tunes. There's Mtume's incredible 'Juicy Fruit', still sounding advanced and modern, while 'I Specialize In Love, mixed by disco legend Tee Scott, is even older yet sounds equally perky.

The 1980s was a period that was pretty much owned by Minneapolis thanks to Prince and former cohorts Jam & Lewis and the latter weigh in with a pair of killer productions, Thelma Houston's 'You Used To Hold Me So Tight' and Alexander O'Neal's 'What's Missing'. And since this is Late Night Tales, there is always our exclusive cover version, this time done by Findlay and Tim Hutton's Sugardaddy, who've delivered an ace version of 'Don't Look Any Further'.

Grab yourself a bar stool, order a cocktail, take a sip and make believe you're lying on a shagpile carpet with the soul star of your dreams.

Bill Brewster

Automatic Soul, like my previously compiled Late Night Tales Music For Pleasure, is based very much on a sound. It's a sound that I feel has been overlooked: 80s R&B-infused music, with drum machines, synths and invariably brilliant vocals. It's formed the bedrock of my rare groove sets for all the years I've played. It's not the most fashionable, but to me it's the perfect marriage of technology and soul, hence the title for this album, Automatic Soul. There are plenty of songs I could have included, and no doubt some that I shouldn't, but I've tried to represent what's best to me from this era. It's not a classic Late Night Tales. It's a pretty personal journey, which I hope some of you might be willing to share... Tom Findlay Groove Armada September 2014.

2025 Repress

Macedonia's own Stojche is Fuse's next guest for the club's freshly made imprint. The long standing DJ and producer has been known to keep Detroit's playfully hybrid style as the focus of his work and 'Metaphor' is the case in point. His four tracks bounce through a nostalgic balance of techno, house, and more with a modern crisp. A refreshing take on club music, Stojche keeps techno's sometimes nonchalant attitude at arms length with a charismatic record that hits its mark with every measure.


The record's first track 'Counterpunch' features heavily lined percussion but still brews up a storm far and wide with resonant dub stabs and open hi hats. The drum machine boasts a full spectrum, rolling through a light show of melodic flashes, perfect for a room compressing soundsystem. The maximalist, vintage detail that Stojche brings to his compositions blurs the lines between classic genres in a time of hasty hybridization, which gives it a sort of authenticity that can't be taken for granted. 'Chordal Tribe', on the other hand, raises the general euphoria of the EP. Luring in the listener with bright pads and full-on drums, Stochje's work is reliable main slot material that adds color to any mix while providing a persuasive low end. Shimmering hi hats give it an ethereal quality making it an appropriate interlude for almost any context. Moving on to the B side, the producer sharpens up his rhythm and emphasizes the hardgroove influence in 'Signal Drive'. Softening the pace of his drums with free use of melodic chord stabs, Stojche opens up his dance floor for a crowd bonding record once again, complete with filter transitions and pummeling toms. As the final contribution, his title track 'Metaphor' begins with a more obscure opening to conclude his EP for Fuse. Leaning more to a techno cut, the record remains flamboyant as ever with open hats and rides shuffling through his arrangement. A muted main synth becomes apparent to focus the energy of the track while allowing for liveset-like drum flickering to take shape beneath, claiming the immortality of old club records with the technical precision of a seasoned modern producer.

Double A-side pressure! With his fast paced and beautifully organic approach to Techno we excitedly bring you a four track vinyl EP from true rising star Human Safari. Hailing from the Mediterranean Techno stronghold Malta, Human Safari perfectly blends the energy of Techno with earthiness tribal sounds to maximum effect throughout this powerfully electric release on EarToGround Records.