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A year after his debut, Raleigh's Echo Brown, returns to The North Quarter for his sophomore EP “Midnight Static”; a 5-track tour-de-force showcasing his maturity as an artist. Echo Brown balances his signature hazy, lo-fi chords and clinical drum programming with weighty bass tones, as Midnight Static moves between lighter and darker moods with elegant ease. Guest appearances are handled by rising Manchester star K S R and The North Quarter boss Lenzman. Echo Brown's talent and growth is on full display on “Midnight Static” and it's become clear that he's an artist with an exciting new voice that needs to be heard.

a a1. Motions ft K S R

L+P-2 is Rivet's second album following his acclaimed debut, On Feather and Wire, released on Editions Mego in 2020. The wheels were already in motion for a subsequent album on the same label, but tragedy struck. Peter "Pita" Rehberg, the legendary owner of Editions Mego, suddenly passed away at only 53 years old, leaving the experimental electronic music community in a state of pitch-black grief. Rivet was among the many deeply affected by this loss. The inspiration and support from Rehberg had propelled Rivet to create at a level he himself was uncertain he had mastered. For Rivet, Rehberg's death felt like the death of music.

However, that brooding sentiment was abruptly shattered when Rivet's beloved dog and companion, Lilo, was diagnosed with incurable cancer just a couple of months later. They were inseparable, and now they would be separated nonetheless. The only way Rivet could cope with this double blow was to compose—for Lilo, for Pita, for his own sanity. L+P-2 is the result.

While the album naturally emerges from a place of despair, it's remarkably comforting. Partly, this stems from Rivet's singular ability to make machines not only sound human but also act human—sincere and warm, yet flawed. In more than one track on L+P-2, you'll encounter a distinctive melody and a gnarly bassline dancing hand in hand with Rivet's eccentric and captivating drum patterns. Then, seemingly on a whim, the melody takes off on its own, leaving the faithful bassline behind—much like a dear friend that suddenly vanishes from your life without warning. Yet life goes on, and so does the music. But never unchanged. Never.

L+P-2 is an album of lamentation, yet also of resolve—a dedication to those who go through life losing more than their share because they always carry too much.

Following a release on 3XL in the spring of 2023, k2dj, aka Ben Bondy, delivers an astoundingly diverse, gorgeously realized album with Por. Subliminal pop iterations, fever dreams of the anthropocene, love letters sketching the heat of bodies in motion; disparate sensations woven with care, delight, and total wonder.

I Talk To Water, the fifth album for Kompakt by Danish producer Kölsch, is the artist’s most personal statement yet. While all the trademarks that make his music so popular and powerful are still present – lush, melodic techno; swooping, trance-like figures; sensuous, shivery texturology – I Talk To Water is also a deep and intimate rapprochement with family and history, a beautiful, finely detailed document of loss and memory, and a tracing of the long, unbroken thread of grief that runs through our lives once we’ve lost those we loved.

The emotional core of I Talk To Water, then, is a cache of recordings by Kölsch’s father, Patrick Reilly, who passed away in 2003 from brain cancer. With time rendered elastic by the pandemic and its associated lockdowns, its sudden, alienating shifts in everyday living, Kölsch found himself reflecting on his father’s passing and ongoing spiritual presence, thinking about how best to memorialise such a significant figure in his own life. Those recordings opened a gateway, of sorts, for Kölsch to move through – a way to bring past and present together and entwine them in a sensitive, poetic manner.

Kölsch’s father was a musician – “touring in the sixties and seventies, in the Middle East especially, he was doing the whole hippy trail, playing guitar, and wrote some songs over the years,” he recalls. “But all in all, he decided to focus on family rather than pursue a musical career.” Reilly kept playing and writing music over the years, though Kölsch hadn’t listened to the material for some time: “I’d never had the guts to listen to it, because I just felt too fragile listening to his voice. It’s such a tough thing to go through.”

During the pandemic, though, Kölsch listened through the fragmented body of work that his father had produced over the years. “I decided I’m gonna finally release my dad’s music twenty years after his passing,” he reflects. “This whole album is about the process of loss, and for me it’s been one of my main driving forces in my musical life, the whole emotional aspect of whatever I’ve done has been based in that feeling that he’s not there anymore.”

Recordings of Reilly appear on three songs across I Talk To Water. His guitars drift pensively across “Grape”, offering a lush thread of melody that Kölsch wraps with clicking, driftwood rhythms and droning, melancholy bass. “Tell Me” is a lovely three-minute art song, a sadly beautiful reflection, minimally adorned with gentle keys and a muted pulse. And on the closing “It Ends Where It Began”, Kölsch lets his father’s acoustic guitar take centre stage for a lament that’s unexpectedly folksy, a guitar soli dream, which Reilly originally recorded in 1996. “He actually recorded it for my first album that never came out,” Kölsch reveals, “and I had it sitting around forever. That is purely him.”

These three imagined collaborations between father and son are poised and delicate. But their relationship also marks the gorgeous music Kölsch has made across the rest of I Talk To Water, from the itchy yet lush “Pet Sound” (titled in tribute to one of Reilly’s favourite albums), the flickering synths and yearning vocal samples that slide through “Khenpo”, the ecstatic shuddering that marks “Only Get Better”, or “Implant”’s slow-motion pans and subtle reveals.

There’s also the title song, where Kölsch is joined by guest Perry Farrell (Jane’s Addiction, Porno For Pyros), singing a mantra for internal reflection: “I talk to water / Searching for myself / Looking for answers / Oceans of you.” Farrell’s appearance brings another timbre, another spirit to the album, aligning neatly with his recent interest in electronic music. “He was completely taken by this idea of talking to water,” Kölsch says, thinking about the ways we collectively lean towards the natural world as a comfort and a listener, a guide through mourning, a way to map out the terrain of the heart. This mapping is something that Kölsch has proven remarkably adept at through the years; dance music for both body and mind, but also both for the here-and-now, and for the hereafter.

“I Talk To Water”, das fünfte Album des dänischen Produzenten Kölsch für Kompakt, ist zweifellos das persönlichste Statement des Künstlers bislang. Während alle Markenzeichen, die seine Musik so beliebt und kraftvoll machen, immer noch präsent sind – üppige, melodische Techno-Tracks; schwebende, tranceartige Elemente; sinnliche, fiebrige Texturen – ist “I Talk To Water” auch eine tiefe und intime Annäherung an Familie und Geschichte. Es ist ein wunderschönes, fein ausgearbeitetes Dokument des Verlusts und der Erinnerung, und es verfolgt den langen, ungebrochenen Faden der Trauer, der durch unser Leben läuft, sobald wir diejenigen verloren haben, die wir liebten.

Der emotionale Kern von “I Talk To Water” besteht aus Aufnahmen von Kölschs Vater, Patrick Reilly, der 2003 an Hirnkrebs verstarb. Durch die Pandemie und ihre damit verbundenen Lockdowns, die plötzlichen, entfremdenden Veränderungen im Alltag, fand Kölsch sich in Gedanken an den Tod seines Vaters und seine fortwährende spirituelle Präsenz wieder. Er überlegte, wie er eine so bedeutende Figur in seinem eigenen Leben am besten verewigen könnte. Diese Aufnahmen öffneten ihm sozusagen ein Portal, um Vergangenheit und Gegenwart miteinander zu verbinden und sie auf sensible und poetische Weise zu verweben.

Kölschs Vater war Musiker – “er tourte in den sechziger und siebziger Jahren, vor allem im Nahen Osten, auf dem Hippie Trail, spielte Gitarre und schrieb im Laufe der Jahre einige Songs”, erinnert sich Kölsch. “Aber alles in allem entschied er sich, sich auf die Familie zu konzentrieren, anstatt eine musikalische Karriere zu verfolgen.” Reilly spielte und schrieb jedoch im Laufe der Jahre weiterhin Musik, obwohl Kölsch das Material lange Zeit nicht angehört hatte: “Ich hatte nie den Mut, es anzuhören, weil ich mich einfach zu zerbrechlich fühlte, seine Stimme anzuhören. Es ist so schwer, das durchzustehen.”

Während der Pandemie hörte sich Kölsch jedoch durch das fragmentierte Werk, das sein Vater im Laufe der Jahre produziert hatte. “Ich beschloss, die Musik meines Vaters zwanzig Jahre nach seinem Tod endlich zu veröffentlichen”, reflektiert er. “Dieses ganze Album handelt von dem Verlustprozess, welcher für mich generell eine der Hauptantriebskräfte in meinem musikalischen Leben ist. Der ganze emotionale Aspekt von dem, was ich getan habe, basierte auf dem Gefühl, dass er nicht mehr da ist.”

Auf “I Talk To Water” sind Aufnahmen von Reilly in drei Songs zu hören. Seine Gitarren ziehen nachdenklich durch “Grape”, bieten einen üppigen Melodiefaden, den Kölsch mit klickenden, treibenden Rhythmen und dröhnendem, melancholischem Bass umwickelt. “Tell Me” ist ein schönes dreiminütiges Kunstlied, eine traurig-schöne Reflexion, minimal geschmückt mit sanften Tasten und einem gedämpften Puls. Und auf dem Abschlusstrack “It Ends Where It Began” lässt Kölsch die akustische Gitarre seines Vaters im Mittelpunkt stehen, ein überraschend folkiger Klagegesang, den Reilly ursprünglich 1996 aufgenommen hatte. “Er hat es tatsächlich für mein erstes Album aufgenommen, das nie veröffentlicht wurde”, enthüllt Kölsch, “und ich hatte es ewig liegen.”

Diese drei erdachten Kollaborationen zwischen Vater und Sohn sind ausgewogen und zart. Aber ihre Beziehung prägt auch die wunderschöne Musik, die Kölsch im Rest von “I Talk To Water” geschaffen hat, angefangen bei dem nervösen, aber üppigen “Pet Sound” (benannt als Hommage an eines von Reillys Lieblingsalben), den flimmernden Synthesizern und sehnsüchtigen Vocal-Samples in “Khenpo”, den ekstatischen Erschütterungen in “Only Get Better” oder den langsamen Schwenks und subtilen Enthüllungen in “Implant”.

Es gibt auch den Titelsong, in dem Kölsch von Gast Perry Farrell (Jane’s Addiction, Porno For Pyros) begleitet wird, der ein Mantra für die innere Reflexion singt: “I talk to water / Searching for myself / Looking for answers / Oceans of you.” Farrells Auftritt bringt eine weitere Klangfarbe, einen weiteren Geist in das Album, der gut zu seinem jüngsten Interesse an elektronischer Musik passt. “Er war völlig fasziniert von der Idee, mit Wasser zu sprechen”, sagt Kölsch und denkt darüber nach, wie wir kollektiv zur Natur als Trost, Zuhörer, Führer durch die Trauer neigen, um die Gelände des Herzens zu kartieren. Diese Kartierung ist etwas, in dem Kölsch im Laufe der Jahre erstaunlich geschickt war; Tanzmusik für Körper und Geist, sowohl für das Hier und Jetzt, als auch für das Leben danach.

Youcef Debbihi continues to impress and surprise after already his 3rd volume as Sea of Disillusions. This 4 tracker extends what was already started and established in the previous volumes, expanding his studio excellence into more break beat oriented directions, either at high speed in the form of almost Drum'n'Bass with "K2" or slowed down as a more trip-hop tempo with "Break Whale".

B-side slows down to upper 90BPM range of driving rhythm under atmospheric dubby hints of humidity "5deF", and, finalizing with a beatless Ambient mix of "Loon River" which sounds like the slow motion intro to an epic trance anthem that never fully takes off, setting the stage for something heavy to be mixed in. Essential for any reasonable DJ record bag.

A lavish four chapter chronicle that imagines an alternative evolution of mankind through sound, VIS (Latin for energy or force) is the result of a lengthy process of self-discovery, collaboration and research for Italian-German composer David August. The son of a classical pianist, August slipped from the academic music world into an early career as a dance music producer and DJ before he felt his artistic outlook shifting considerably. He established the adventurous 99CHANTS label in 2018, and has since used it as an output for his most progressive notions, collaborating most recently with jazz-noise vocalist Cansu Tanrikulu and Carnatic singer Sushma Soma on last year"s acclaimed "Imaginary Landscapes" compilation. VIS then is a chance for August to reconcile his personal narrative, leveling it with concepts that touch on history, transformation and metaphysics. He wrote the album"s 13 pieces to play like a linear storyline, tracking the development of culture from its illusory beginnings in Plato"s cave into the wider world and observing its progression and adaptation.

August represents these themes with levitational orchestral drones, choirs and bells that slowly bend to long-forgotten ancestral rhythms, inevitably colliding with the digitized chaos of the information age. Motion guides everything, whether it"s shadows on a wall projected by dancing flames, or dramatic, overlayed rhythms that vibrate the air and excite the feet. VIS is a dynamic attempt to show the movement of time on a macro scale, looking backwards in order to move forwards. It charts mankind"s journey from its cosmic beginnings through the awe-inspiring world of flora and fauna, grounding the experience in rhythmic expression and dance before we"re returned to the stars in transcended form. Crucially, it"s a hopeful articulation of ideas and concepts that continue to echo throughout history, inviting us to imagine greater and cherish the teeming landscape that surrounds us.

Life might be a predominantly linear affair, but when lived right, it’s nevertheless a turbulent experience. It’s a system of trial and error, ebb and flow, order and chaos, action and reaction. And paradoxically, this system somehow still feels balanced amid all this turmoil. In fact, the same can be said about Keope’s second longplayer for Bigamo. Easily.

Keope might be a duo consisting of Marcus Rossknecht and Toni Bruna, but they actually sound like a collective of rather nomadic - and heavily gifted - musicians on their ever-present quest to reach different musical spheres. Everything is in motion, everything is in constant flux. Everything, everywhere, all at once. Their previous record “Triangulo“ already provided the audience an idea of their elaborate rhythmic vocabulary, but it’s the cryptically titled “Flikka Flokka“, which sees their multilayered compositions bloom into a fully-formed, new musical Esperanto.

You can immediately sense that Keope must be a phenomenal live act because the twelve tracks on “Flikka Flokka“ sound as if they were born from endless jam sessions fueled by a whole variety of influences. As a result, the work of Rossknecht and Bruna presents itself as a prime example of sound in motion that responds solely to its very own pulse by taking the aforementioned influences and making them completely their own. Now, let’s dance!

At times where technology inexorably infuses into humankind, Ammar808’s next adventures lays within the realms of Stambeli’s invisible creatures, an old genuine Tunisian tradition that has roots spreading out within the depths of the African continent.

Stambeli is a Tunisian musical therapeutic ritual that was implanted by afro-descendant communities. During the ceremonies, music, dance and chants are blended so as for some participants to reach the alternate state of trance while they are possessed by super natural entities. It is a syncretism between Islam and animist Yorisha religion’s voodoo beliefs, that has been disseminated during slave trade by Yoruba populations originating from current Benin’s gulf. Stambeli is a precious legacy the symbolizes the outstanding diversity and complexity of the North-African identity.

Using drum machines and analog synthesizers, he summons super natural creatures to visit our material world and taste human incarnations, form the audience’s collective experience. The album features vocals and gumbri from Bellassan Mihoub, who inherited his father’s knowledge and mastery, and currently embodies the avant-guarde of Stambeli’s revival. Two additional choristers round off the stage band, also playing the krekebs: these are pairs of large castagnet-like instruments oscillating in the limbo between binary and ternary rhythmic patterns. They breathe life and motion into this pagan communion, blessed by VJ Sia original visuals synchronized to the thundering music.

Super Stambeli is a contemporary interpretation of the Stambeli traditional repertoire, processed through a time-travel washing-machine, a parallel-dimension earthquake portal, that aims to echoes ancestral ceremonies through sub-harmonic speakers. It’s a dialogue between the wailing of the gombri, known to call for the spirits to descend into the bodies of the participants, but this time AMMAR808 directs them straight into the digital circuits of his clockwork-crafted machineries.

Heavenly Recordings release the next two volumes in their series of remixed classics and unreleased versions. ‘Heavenly Remixes 7 & 8’ sees the label going back into the archive, as well as picking off some more recent remixes, and both albums primarily feature either previously unreleased versions or re-workings available for the first time on vinyl and CD.

Heavenly have always seen immense value in the remix, a value way beyond what it might bring commercially. Since their first release in 1990 (where Andrew Weatherall overhauled a one-off single by club kids Sly and Lovechild) Heavenly remixes have been carefully curated and treated as a key part of the A&R process. It’s an opportunity to view an artist through a different prism, to play out a musical ‘what if’ scenario. It’s the kind of exploration that’s happened consistently through the thirty plus years the label has released music.



The ‘Heavenly remixes’ series continues to showcase the very best remixes, versions, meditations, re-rubs and dubs from all around the world of artists right across the roster of the country’s most exciting record label. In most cases, the albums offer the first physical release for a remix, elevating them from streaming playlists to their rightful, spiritual home on super heavy vinyl (or shiny, super-packed compact disc).



‘Heavenly remixes 7’ heads to Belfast, where David Holmes - a producer who first appeared on Heavenly in 1994 amping up the acid on Saint Etienne’s ‘Like A Motorway’ - appears as solo artist and as one third of Unloved, who get a lift right to the heart of a Vauxhall sweatbox by Horse Meat Disco. It draws a line between Amsterdam and Frankfurt as Ludwig A.F. amps up the electronics on Pip Blom’s ‘Keep It Together’. It stops off in a south London studio where super producer Dan Carey plays the desk with Toy, then relocates LA psych rock band Fever The Ghost to an Ibizan shoreline as the sun sets on the horizon. It cements Sheffield’s reputation as the home of modern British techno with the return of true originators Forgemasters. And it pitches up in front of a renegade soundsystem late night at Glastonbury as Erol Alkan’s mighty rework of Con Man gets its third rewind of the night.



‘Heavenly remixes 8’ opens with Space Afrika’s lush, ambient reimagining of the Orielles’ ‘BEAM/S’ before Justin Robertson stretches Amber Arcades’ ‘Turning Light’ into eight minutes of electronic dub. Elsewhere, Baxter Dury’s peerless ‘Miami’ becomes a string-laden electro skank in the hands of French producer Pilooski; Edinburgh’s bedroom techno genius Eyes of Others’ ‘Safehouse’ turns into an East End bathhouse courtesy of disco deviants Decius; Ashley Beedle’s Black Science Orchestra turns Unloved’s heartworn torch song into seven minutes of glimmering dreamlike percussive house and Katy J. Pearson’s freak flag is flown high thanks to The Umlauts’ throbbing filtered electro mix. It ends similarly to how it began as TONE takes

Fran Lobo’s ‘All I Want’ on a gorgeous slow motion spacewalk.

A month after the release of his debut album as Tambores En Benirras, 2021’s fabulous Orbe Dotodo, Graham Newby’s life changed forever. After years living with a visual impairment, his sight had deteriorated so much that he was declared “registered blind”. For a man who had spent decades dividing his time between travelling, DJing, running clubs and lengthy sessions in his own studio, it was a genuinely life-changing moment.

It was against this backdrop, and the need to alter his working methods, that Ondas Horizontales, the second Tambores En Benirras album took shape. Inspired by a mixture of daydreaming, visualisation, immersion in other people’s music (escapism that provided mood enhancement, rather than a specific set of ideas) and long periods spent soaking up the sun in Ibiza, the album is the most vividly detailed, sonically colourful, and sun-soaked collection that Newby has released to date.

Newby’s declining sight forced him to stop spending long spells staring at a screen and undoubtedly slowed down the production process. Yet it also allowed him to reconnect with his emotions, appreciate the storytelling and mood-shifting potential of music, and mine mind’s eye memories of places and spaces that have meant much to him over the years.

The results are undeniably stunning. Designed with horizontal listening in mind, the set distils a range of musical and real-life inspirations –or, as he puts it, “ambient soundtracks, cosmic journeys, Balearic rhythms and poolside sessions” – into ten mesmerising and magical tracks; an undulating, slow-motion journey that’s as breath-taking as it is beguiling.

Newby sets the tone with ‘Mi Sueno Vibe En Reverb’, a swelling, slow-burn ambient masterpiece that tiptoes between hope and melancholia, before flitting between imaginary sunset soundtracks (‘Estrellas En Mastella’, where lilting pedal steel sounds, bubbling electronics and shuffling breakbeats catch the ear), kaleidoscopic sun-up beats (the gorgeous warmth of ‘Generadora De Reyos’), enveloping beatless soundscapes (‘Templos Del Sol’, a drowsy drift in becalmed waters under the heat of the mid-afternoon sun), and dubby, loved-up lusciousness (‘Mokono’).

As the album progresses, bobbing and weaving on an ocean of vibrant chords, pulsing melodies and heart-stopping melodies, there’s no sign of Newby’s inspiration waving. ‘Alma Hablando’ channels the spirit of mid-80s ‘worldbeat’ and douses it in layers of Balearic bliss, while ‘Extrensor Entragado’ recalls the head-nodding haziness of his best Gripper productions of old while combining them with the musical equivalent of a humid summer breeze. Then there’s the mood-enhancing joy of the album’s superb title track –a mission statement of sorts – and the life-affirming post trip-hop/Balearic fusion of ‘Un Placer Celestial (Reprise)’, where the influence of his old friend Aim is clearly evident.

A serious sonic step-up from its predecessor and a future Balearic classic in its’ own right, Ondas Horizontales marks the start of a new musical and personal journey for its creator. It is, in his words, not the end of an era, but the start of a new one.

Mr Projectile, one of our favorite IDM producers from back in the day, has given La Luna the chance to share some of his unreleased IDM tracks from the early 2000’s. The album is an eclectic blend of ambient, IDM and experimental electronics.

These sounds are a time machine to simpler, less chaotic times and have become essential listening these days. We envision this album spinning on a sunny Sunday afternoon, filling your room with the delicate and deep textures of electronic music and soothing your uncertainty. Enjoy a nice cup of coffee and explore your thoughts as you speed through time and space. Hopefully serving as a special reminder that we are all in this madness together.

Not only is the music stellar, but we are honoured to have Marcello Raeli, an Italian artist and car designer, accompany the music with his wonderfully mind bending artwork. Marcello is an artist who has designed some of the most insanely beautiful/fast cars on the planet. Here we get to take a deep look into his mind and marvel at the incredible interconnectedness created in this piece and appreciate the sense of depth and space created for this album.

Duality Trax first opened its books in 2020 with an EP featuring Radiant Love regular Fio Fa and a remix of the year contender coming from Lisbon’s Violet. Since then the label has become known for its acute attention to detail, giving each release the shine it deserves while avoiding disposable practices and challenging the industry through its dedication to duality and balance, whether that be sonically or surrounding gender identity. It’s really no surprise that one of house music's leading label ¦gures Tywi was destined to make an appearance. Having started the Haŵs imprint in his home city of Cardiff, the label’s wide-spread popularity began to gain the attention from some of the industry’s most respected heads and became a breeding ground for new artists to emerge. A shared love of music resulted in tracks being shared over time and eventually DUALITY6 was born. In what will be his ¦rst full length EP, Tywi continues to join
the dots between 90’s house, prog, breaks and trance, with a huge remix coming from Frankfurt-based artist Maruwa. Title track ‘Reality Checkpoint’ connects various styles with a modern take on progressive trance. Sonics feel as if they’ve been projected from space in a kaleidoscopic mind-warping ride, coupled with the producer's impressive ear for world building soundscapes. A child of the ‘90s, Maruwa combines her classically trained ear with the nostalgia of her upbringing in the remix; channeling early trance records and deep, chugging rhythms into a wave of euphoria ¦t for peaktime. It’s the ¦rst time the label has also delved head ¦rst intofull trance territory, turning the intensity levels up while paying homage to both label owner and artist’s early musical in§uences. The B side opens up with ‘Spellbound’ which feels like a guided tour around the cosmos, sat beside trusted travelers and embraced by everything-will-be-alright energy . The track’s interior is built around synths that feel both effortless and light as our tour guide brings us towards our ¦nal destination. The EP comes to a close with ‘Laws Of Motion’, building slowly with shades of leafy greens and deep oceanic blues as it gently brings us back down to earth.

On its’ release in November 2022, Daniel Stenger’s debut mini-album as Flashbaxx, Take Care My Friend, won plenty of plaudits for its’ enticing blend of jazz-funk instrumentation, audible warmth, effortless musicality, and memorable, sun-soaked songs. Now the set returns in remixed and reworked form, with a sextet of artists taking it in turns to put a new spin on the German producer’s carefully crafted and immaculately executed tracks.

The six-cut vinyl version boasts two revisions that have already made waves on digital download: a genuinely life-affirming hip-hop-soul take on ‘Strangers’ courtesy of East Midlands’ maestro Atjazz, where Katherine Kempf’s smouldering lead vocals rise above head-nodding beats, woozy electric piano chords, yearning horn arrangements and smooth bass guitar, and a sublime Moods mix of ‘Love Boat’ that re-frames the track as a languid, groove-fired shuffle through Balearic jazz-funk territory.

The other four reworks, which are exclusive to this EP, are similarly inspired. Chris Pookah collaboration ‘City Lights’ is given the remix treatment not once, but twice. First NuNorthern Soul regulars Mike Salta and Mortale re-imagine the track as a gently breezy, dusk-ready blend of bouncy, samba-influenced grooves and colourful Balearic nu-disco, before BJ Smith – the first artist to release music on Phil Cooper’s imprint way back in 2012 – takes the track into semi-acoustic, blue-eyed-soul-meets-Balearic jazz-funk territory. Gentle, tactile, and vibrant, it’s a stunning, soul-stirring revision.

To round off the EP, two producers renowned for creating atmospheric, sunrise-ready soundscapes deliver their versions of Stenger’s kaleidoscopic, musically rich aural visions. Marshall Watson handles ‘Alright’, smothering a languid, slow-motion drum machine beat in jazzy double bass, delay-laden electric piano motifs, lazy jazz guitars, rising synth strings and the dreamiest of pads.

Then, to round things off in considerable style, Tambores En Benirras reworks title track ‘Take Care My Friend’, teasing out the track’s inherent musical colour and warmth whilst adding his own distinctive spin. Pleasingly hard to pigeonhole, his remix makes extensive use of deep, dubby bass, Latin-style percussion, leisurely beats, blossoming synth sounds and all manner of effects-laden instrumental flourishes – including guitar solos that recall some of Dave Gilmour’s most laidback, eyes-closed moments. It provides a genuinely brilliant conclusion to an effortlessly impressive set of remixes.

Akumandra’s newest release, DIGITAL WATER by German producer, Coss, offers a neat, rhythmically fluid sound that, like water, is both dreamy and soothing as well as energetic. In the first of the EP’s four tracks, ENTRY POINT OBSCURING, a syncopated beat exudes rhythmic energy as watersounding synths plunge us into the track’s intricacies, opening the possibility for rapturous introspection.


Track number 2, ESCAPE FROM PELOG SELISIR, contrasts a deep bass with modulated synth-progressions, to deliver a sound that calls for motion as well as reflection. LOVE LETTER FOR YOU emphasizes bright, upbeat progressions to maximize the ecstatic energy built up
throughout the track.

The currents of emotions stirred by the EP culminate with TWOWORLDS, the smoothest track in the EP. A hi hat groove sustains the rhythm as a bassy synth gives amplitude to the track, creating a subaquatic feeling of depth and wonder.

IZIPHO SOUL are totally stoked to collaborate with prolific independent soul artist CARMICHAEL MUSICLOVER!

With a colossal body of work - twelve album’s to date, the choice of songs is vast. For this vinyl release we have hand picked two gems for your musical delectation.

BRING IT HOME from last year’s ‘Black Elvis - Volume One’ is a steppers delight - immerse yourself in the pulsating bass line, soaring strings and of course the man’s supreme vocals which intersperse between the octaves. On the flip, KNOW YOU BETTER taken from the 2021 ‘Slow Motion’ album - a scintillating 80s flavoured groove.

2023 Repress

All tracks approved & licensed from Spencer Kincy and Bucks Music Group.

Aptly named, Tranquilizer is a potent, six track EP from Brazilian producer Felix. As part of Piratao Records; a label that merges everything from baile funk, to electro and techno, Mutual Pleasure is a fitting home for the electric nature of Felix’s sound; something that is fully exercised in this EP.

Tranquilizer is a mind-expanding selection of dynamic tracks. Unrelenting, with a deeply contagious energy that acts as the engine to this project. It is entirely soaked with acid, and layered with a plethora of squelching basslines, manipulated Brazilian Vocals and trance-infused synths and melodies.

Felix coordinates a masterful blend of dark, gruelling tones, with funk-fuelled flavours of his native Brazil: an electrifying and devastating marriage that sets this Ep in motion. While tracks like Alpha Helix bring forward a more trance-ladened side to his sound, the devious breakbeat and infectious vocals of Ta Pegando Fogo bring a cutting edge to his undefinable sound.

Within this searing melting pot of genres and influences, Felix traverses from dark dubstep, to four-to-the-floor techno, and everywhere in between. It is a suitably devilish project, and a statement of his ever-evolving musical personality.

Ain’t no stopping him now. Krystal Klear’s streak continues with Automat Kingsland. The recipe remains, perfectly seasoned to taste. The extended menu of four tracks is musical testament to the artist’s life of the last six months. Emphasizing movement at a pace that is hard to hold on to, but embraced nonetheless. Trying to transport that „lost in translation“ (and transit) sense of normal life due to constant motion to a dance floor near you. Euphoric melancholia meets rave romance, shutters open to let happiness crawl in and anxiety turns into excitement through the usual cocktail of tearjerkers and white noise risers. Recorded between Paris, New York, Dublin and London and brought to your city via Running Back. Automatic non stop existential output.

MixCult presents Believe In Records in association with LO-FI sublabel CRYSTAL MUD focused on limited edition lathe cut 7" & 10" discs.

Electro Music in Dubplate Culture. Highly Exclusive.

MixCult presents Believe In Records in association with LO-FI sublabel CRYSTAL MUD focused on limited edition lathe cut 7" & 10" discs.

Electro Music in Dubplate Culture. Highly Exclusive.

Everything is vibrations.

The infinitely deep chaos of things rests on the tiny and fragile chemical balance of the depths.

Eliaz traps us in his raw and introspective groove with complex and saturated signals that call for bodies motions. He gives us a key to read and decript the Mercury Frequencies.

Berlin based sound artist Sa Pa delivers AI-33, titled ‘Atmospheric Fragments’. Originally intended as a soundtrack to accompany ten short experimental films as part of a physical exhibition in 2020 curated by Manon Bernard, Atmospheric Fragments was alternatively premiered online as a digital showroom - with its music performed and recorded both live and independently in 2021. 

Atmospheric Fragments was conceived as a collaborative audio-visual project, positing the viewer inside a sonic boom of introspective parenthesis and offering a place for internal dialogues under the circumstances of a largely unknown and rapidly changing modern world. 

Sa Pa’s work presents a fresh sonic reinterpretation of urban landscapes, skylines and modern environments, procuring from its source material a whole new kaleidoscopic world of its own. The record consists of two mixes - ‘Studio’ and ‘Live’ - which demonstrate a deep explorational study of our everyday surroundings, plunging the listener into a realm of heightened sense experience and microscopic detail. Where the ‘Studio’ mix embodies the precision and management of the studio workspace and is more ambient in nature, such intricacies are exchanged for a larger, livelier sound stage and alternative sonic material in the ‘Live’ mix. 

A nebulous ocean of shifting spaces and effervescent textures, Sa Pa augments and modulates field recordings into a fluid and ever-evolving narrative. Seen through a viewfinder of deep and immersive observation, new transients, momentary artefacts and poetry in motion begin to reveal itself. In a world caught in momentary stasis, Atmospheric Fragments is a forensic inquiry into our perceptive environment, with its augmented lens placing us on the cusp of the ungraspable.

Rising star SOSA collaborates with established producer and DJ duo Prok | Fitch. Together, they weave their distinct sound of groove-based tech house, releasing a club-driven creation suitable for transient and peak-time moments on the dancefloor.

The title tune opens with a minimal vibe before a sultry vocal slip into the soundscape, evoking a sunrise-at-the-rave mood. Stripped-back percussion allows the lyrics to breathe, while a robust kickdrum conveys a clubby feel. Like the title suggests, Sweat is a pacier tune that ripples with a low-slung bassline and sizzling vocals with a touch of reverb—the perfect late-night groover. Final tune Footsteps In The Dark unfurls with a stabby synthline and snappy percussion, offering a peak-time production primed for a club soundsystem.

Since breaking through with groundbreaking releases on Sola, Hottrax and Cuttin Headz, Liverpool-born SOSA has gained support from leading names in house music such as Jamie Jones, Michael Bibi, The Martinez Brothers, Chris Lake and East End Dubs to name a few. Having launched and established his imprint and event series COCO in Liverpool, SOSA now plays across the UK, counting gigs at Printworks, Motion, Mint and beyond into America and across Europe. Brighton-based producer and DJ outfit Prok | Fitch remain two of the most alluring producers on the house circuit, with their music gaining strong support across a spectrum of the biggest names in the industry from Marco Carola, Michael Bibi, Hot Since 82 to Carl Cox, Adam Beyer and Fatboy Slim.

Upcoming album 'Fruit Of The Void' to be released later this fall.
Kosmo Sound is a perfect balance of tight rhythms and extended melodies, and they constantly strive to push boundaries with their sound. Having worked together with dub legends Daniel Boyle and Alpha & Omega and having played as the support act for Adrian Sherwood, The Twinkle Brothers and Omar Perry, heavily inspired, they took refuge in the studio to record this album full of meditative sounds and dense grooves.

“It's a slow motion dub explosion.” - Woodburner

“As a mixture of Slimmah Sound, El Michels Afffair and Khruangbin in which deep dub basses flirt with thin desert blues guitars, jazzy drum patterns and tufts of saxophone.” - Indiestyle

“The canvas that these six musicians span as Kosmo Sound has a musical breadth that effortlessly ranges from dub over jazz to psych.” - daMusic

"an amalgation of styles that tickle the senses" - ReggaeVibes

“This remarkable debut makes one curious about future releases” – Irie Ites

Ever since he remixed Abimaro & The Free’s ‘Mark’ back in 2014, NuNorthern Soul boss Phil Cooper has kept in touch with Daniel Stenger, the producer and self-taught multi-instrumentalist behind the Flashbaxx project. Cooper was always convinced that Sanger would be capable of crafting a very special release for the label but was willing to give him time to come up with something special.

With Take Care My Friend, a mini-album inspired by the German producer’s deeply rooted love of jazz-funk, Stenger has repaid the faith shown in him. He’s deliv-ered a collection of quality cuts marked out by audible warmth, effortless musicality and memorable, sun-soaked songs.

As he makes clear in the liner notes included with the vinyl version of the mini album, the project began with the recording of luscious, Rhodes-laden opener ‘Al-right’. After staying up all night recording the track, Stenger not only decided to continue recording with the same relatively limited set of instruments (think bass and electric guitars, drums, piano, electric piano, organ, hand percussion and a handful of synthesizers), but also stick to a hybrid sound that added a subtle Lat-in shuffle to his Balearic-minded take on jazz, funk and soul fusion.

We’re biased of course, but there’s no denying that Stenger’s creative choices have resulted in a superb set of tracks. While the restricted kit list provided focus during the music-making process, there’s still plenty of musical variety across the six tracks that make up the set.

For proof, compare and contrast the jazzy, loose-limbed headiness of ‘It Just Happens’, where simmer-ing synth-strings, twinkling melodic motifs and glis-tening guitar licks rise above smooth jazz-funk bass and a gentle broken beat rhythm, and the slow-motion soul brilliance of ‘Strangers’, where Kathryn Kempf’s evocative and poignant lead vocals rise above a sump-tuous downtempo groove and heart-aching piano lines.

This subtly varied but musically coherent vibe contin-ues across the mini album. Stenger indulges in a bit of New York daydreaming on ‘Brooklyn Love Boat’, a wonderfully musically detailed chunk of 1970s style jazz-funk heat that offers knowing nods to Roy Ayers, Herbie Hancock and the jazz-fusion stylings of Azymuth, before opting for a deeper, slower and even more seductive sound on the Hammond-sporting bliss of ‘Take Care My Friend’.

Closing cut ‘City Lights’, a gorgeous, soft-focus affair smothered in echoing Rhodes riffs and immersive chords, has the feel of an underground classic in wait-ing: a stirring, string-drenched future sing-along whose emotion-packed lyrics are delivered brilliantly by Glasgow-born singer/songwriter Chris Pookah.

Despite the song’s subject matter – the painful final breakdown of a relationship – there’s something strangely uplifting about the combination of Pookah’s pitch-perfect vocal delivery and the absorbing warmth of Stenger’s comforting and sonically detailed music. It provides a fittingly impressive finish to a mightily immersive mini album.

If the ideal greatest hits collection captures the fundamental truth about an artist, Eric Kupper’s – 'A Lifetime In Dance Music' highlights an envious catalogue, extraordinary production skills and ultimately reveals a passionate maven of house music.

The 24-track compilation celebrates the vast work and revered career of Eric Kupper and is a collectable occasion to re-acknowledge his influence and golden touch as a remixer for over five decades.

Within this first volume you’ll find signature and standout remixes for all-time greats such as Diana Ross, Depeche Mode and Degrees of Motion alongside Kupper classics both new and old under his own name and the legendary K-Scope alias.

'A Lifetime In Dance Music' will be available across three separate vinyl and digital release packages including a full collectors CD release in 2023.

Emblematic of an iconic nightlife and reflecting on the sheer scale of his work for seminal artists including Curtis Mayfield, Diana Ross, Earth Wind & Fire, Gloria Gaynor and Donna Summer, this ultimate collection serves as a reminder of Kupper’s astounding blend of studio power, control, and agility as a producer and remixer. As the writing and production partner of the late godfather of house music, Frankie Knuckles, Kupper is a true musician and multi-instrumentalist who has played on, remixed, produced or engineered over 2,000 records spanning a wide range of contemporary musical genres.

Having worked on over 100 Billboard #1 ‘Dance’ records and mixed two records that have received the ‘Dance Record of the Year’ Grammy award, it is safe to say Eric Kupper’s hugely successful career underpins house music.

Salomo brings a double EP of tech and progressive house to R.A.N.D. Muzik Recordings. This disc, RM12018.1 (Water) takes you deep down into the depths before before RM12018.2 (Land) takes you back up for a cruise through unknown lands. Both EPs are pieces of an entire work but are availably individually.

Digging Deeper 4th release strikes again with a Maurizio Verbeni secret early dark garage weapon , limited press , remastered louder than original . don't sleep