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Wiederveröffentlichung des 2018er Albums!

Umse ist ein Kind des Ruhrpotts – und ewig Reisender. Ein Malocher-MC mit langem Atem, der sich endlich auszahlt. Der Top-20-Künstler chartete mit seinen letzten beiden Alben „Kunst für sich“ (#36) und „Haiwanischer Schnee“ (#16), die über die Indie-Institution Jakarta Records erschienen. Für sein neues Album nahm er sich zwei Jahre Zeit, musste Tiefschläge überwinden, um „Durch die Wolkendecke“ gehen zu können. Heute präsentiert er mit „Bescheid“ das erste Video zu seinem neuen Album, das am 28. September erscheint.

In zwei Jahren hat sich einiges angestaut: an Texten und Erfahrungen. So veröffentlichte Umse erst im Mai die 6-Track starke „Flammenwerfer“-EP und nun bereits Ende September ein neues Album. Der Ruhrpott-Rapper, der in einer Tugend-Tradition mit den lokalen Legenden RAGund Too Strong steht und doch nach State of the Art klingt, tourte jahrelang durchs Land und erspielte sich von Konstanz bis Kiel einen exzellenten Ruf als Live-MC.

Über die Jahre hat sich Umse eine loyale Fanbase aufgebaut, die ihn für seine Bodenständigkeit schätzt. Er verkörpert die Werte der alten Schule, vereint Technik und Tiefgang und befriedet mit seinem Neo-Boombap-Entwurf die Rap-Generationen. „Durch Die Wolkendecke“ setzt diesen Weg konsequent fort und zeigt dabei neue Impulse und Perspektiven auf. Der Titel deutet bereits an, dass es düsterer und nachdenklicher zugeht; er steht aber auch sinnbildlich für: „Sky is the limit“.

Dieses Limit ist für den Grown-Man-Rapper noch lange nicht erreicht: Er ist weder hängengebliebener Oldschooler noch gesichtstätowierter Mumble-Rapper, und doch fruchtet sein Scheuklappen-freier, samplelastiger Trademark-Sound im Hier und Jetzt. Mal erinnern die Sing-Sang-Hooks an den frühen 50 Cent, mal an die Crowd-Control-Choruse der Dilated Peoples.

Das Regionale und das Reisen sind zwei Konstanten und Extreme, die sich durch die Karriere von Umse zu ziehen scheinen. Nachdem er sich mit Hofproduzent Deckah für die Produktion von „Hawaianischer Schnee“ in einem Landhaus in der niederländischen Provinz einmietete, flogen sie für „Durch Die Wolkendecke“ bis nach Colorado und Teneriffa. Der Track „Wenn Die Ferne Ruft“ thematisiert dieses Fernweh, das für Umbeck so inspirierend wirkt, mit markanten Lines: „Man tut es wieder, wenn man merkt, das Reisen Wunder bewirkt.“

Der Opener „Bescheid“ ist nur vordergründig ein Representer und offenbart bei genauerem Hinhören reife Reflexionen eines Mittdreißigers. Auf „Mach Das Kleine Groß“ zeigt Umse dialektisches Talent, schließt von dem Großen auf das Kleine, vom Lokalen aufs Globale, von sich als Individuum auf die Gesellschaft und Szene. Das rührende Outro „Jederzeit“ klingt wie eine Art Testament, mit der sich Umse endgültig in den Real-Rap-Analen als eine der wichtigsten Stimmen seiner Generation verewigt.

Umse sagte einmal sinngemäß über die Langlebigkeit von Alben: „Es interessiert keine Sau, wie lange du daran gearbeitet hast, es zählt, wie lange sie rotiert.“ Und eine lange Haltwertszeit hat dieses zeitlose, detailverliebte Werk ganz sicherlich.

A precedent of sorts to, erm, Armand van Helden vs Fatboy Slim’s 1999 bout, ‘The Heavyweight Sound Fight’ takes pride of place among iDEAL’s hall of oddities with one of the zaniest recordings by three international leaders of the avant-garde. Double LP with an LP-sized 12-page booklet designed by Sean McCann of Recital.

Adapting all the pomp and ceremony of a boxing match to ludicrous ends - including a flier depicting each artist with their dukes up - they produced what sounds like a great night out for NYC’s experimental cognoscenti with Charlie Morrow (USA) vs Carles santos (Spain) each backed by a band - Soho Baroque Opera Company with the assistance of the New Wilderness Foundation - while Sweden’s Sten Hanson acts as referee, and Armand Schwerner takes the role of announcer in thick, nasal New York brogue. It’s brilliantly daft and subversive but accomplished in a witty way that maybe escapes too many solemnly po-faced avant-garde conceptualists nowadays, and remains a strange outlier in the history of NYC avant garde and beyond.

“Operating as an aural window into an happening that occurred more than 40 years ago, “The Heavyweight Sound Fight” unveils a different context of experimental music than is not often encountered today. Running across the album’s four sides, within all the seriousness of art and technique, is the unmistakable presence of humor, play, and the absurd. The audience can’t help but laugh and cheer as the announcer - effecting a deep New York accent and nodding toward notable attendees like Allison Knowles, Dick Higgins, and Jackson Mac Low - takes an active role in the fight, each artist delivering an array of vocalizations - from extended technique utterances to rants - against the next, with the bands weighing in and engaging in their own battles, ranging from big band dirges and marches, to outright experimental electronic madness. It’s a trully raucous affair that brings that radicalism carried by its sounds into entirely new zones.

According to Marrow, he was deemed “winner” in an “off-script” move by the judges, and Santos never spoke to him again, continuing the wild and wonderful mystery and humor of the performance into the present day. Who knows what Santos, who sadly passed away in 2017, would say.”

Voice Magnetic by Hainbach is the enigmatic Berlin based artist’s sonic diary of 2022. On his sixth release on Seil Records, Stefan Goetsch collages the sounds he made and the ones that surrounded him over the course of twelve months into a powerfully intimate ambient experience.

In his studio or on travels — Hainbach always is working on new material and allows the locations he records his tracks in to find their way into the music. Consequently, on many tracks you can can hear the outside bleeding in — seagulls and waves on "Izmir", the voices of his children while record the piano or the sirens of Neukölln’s police cars in background.

The connecting threads between these pieces are magnetic tape and the human voice — hiss and breath. The result are 15 immersive ambient pieces that make up Voice Magnetic. Often short like the moments that spark them. Fading and intricate, honest and pure.

Based out of Berlin, Germany, electro-acoustic music composer and performer Hainbach creates shifting audio landscapes, using esoteric synthesizers, nuclear test equipment, magnetic tape and a collection of idiophones. Hainbach has become known for his immersive live shows and an unique sound that is both abstract yet very much a corporal experience. Otherworldly and intimate, raw and heartfelt. On his wildly popular YouTube channel, Hainbach shares his love for experimental music techniques and his passion for forgotten machines with a wide audience. Inspiring over one hundred thousand each week to explore synthesis, electronics - and to leave beaten paths.

At only 19 years old, Dar Es Salaam's DJ Travella represents a new wave of singeli producers who are driving Tanzania's breakneck dance sound into fresh, innovative spaces. Unaffiliated with any of the well-known studios like Sisso and Pamoja, Hamadi Hassani's music points singeli's fusion of taraab and techno towards the stars, locating a cyber-singeli style that's dense, kinetic and unashamedly sexy. Hassani started producing at 15, and a few years later his debut is a jagged set of hi-nrg dance music that pulls influence from across the globe, folding together elements of dembow, rave, R&B, and trap. But nothing's straightforward: opening track 'Crazy Beat Music Umeme 2' juxtaposes grinding 200bpm rhythmic intensity with urgent plucked strings, sounding like Timbaland conjuring a Thunderdome soundtrack for a Tanzanian street party. 'Crazy Beat Music Umeme 4' is even more barbed, with neon rave synths and hand-jammed percussion that's one part 808 Mafia and one part DJ Diaki. On 'London Bandcamp', Travella meshes hi-speed singeli backbeats with downtempo dembow kicks, squeezing out unexpected sleaze in the process, while on 'London Uwoteeee' there's an almost romantic sparkle, with ethereal vocals draped across woodblock cracks and whistles. But Travella sounds most nimble when giving the nod to Atlanta, and his merging of earworm synth hooks and neck-snapping East African rhythms on tracks like 'London Jomon Beat' will leave no doubt that the young producer is capable of bending singeli completely to his will.

Bear's Choice, das erste echte Archivalbum von The Grateful Dead, wurde als Tribut an Pigpen kurz nach dessen Tod von keinem Geringeren als dem ursprünglichen Tonmann und Wohltäter der Dead, Owsley Stanley, alias Bear, liebevoll produziert. Bear's Choice basiert auf Liveshows, die Bear drei Jahre zuvor im Fillmore East in New York City aufgenommen hatte, und fängt die Dead in einem entscheidenden Moment ihrer Geschichte ein, als sie gerade Workingman's Dead (und
kurz darauf American Beauty) aufnahmen und sich zu Americana-Pionieren entwickelten, dabei aber nie den Kontakt zu ihren psychedelischen Improvisationswurzeln verloren.
Drei der acht Songs auf dem Album werden von Pigpen gesungen, wobei Seite 1 das definitive Beispiel für die frühen Acoustic Dead ist und Seite 2 aus elektrischem Blues und Rock 'n' Roll besteht, wobei Pigpen bei beiden Stücken auf der zweiten Seite den Ton angibt.

Dieses Album wurde von David Glasser mit Plangent Processes
von den originalen analogen 2-Spur-Bändern, die von Bear live aufgenommen wurden, neu gemastert und hat noch nie besser geklungen.

Guy J is one of the leading artists in the world of underground dance music. However, his artistic appetites are far more diverse. His Malta-based label is a platform for cutting-edge producers, but Guy J rarely releases his production on the label. He has released only one of his musical pieces on Armadillo, an opening track (Aurora AM Mix) on a V.A. Fields Vol.2, until now.

94 Blossom is his twelve-minute showpiece, revealing his skill in the context of the finest electronica. The material is a sonic expedition based on contrasts of a hypnotic arrangement taking a conceptual journey from darkness to light. Guy J fuses arpeggio soundscapes and electronic percussions with improvised elements enabling the balance of mathematical structure and freestyle. The most memorable part of the journey is the Balearic-influenced end theme, thoroughly sticking the landing. Will electronic music be the classical music of the future? J is one of the artists who could make that possibility come true.

Nearly two years after the release of his last full-length offering California Poppy 2, Rexx Life Raj, returns with his latest album The Blue Hour. The 12-track project includes “Save Yourself,” “Jerry Curl,” “Beauty in the Madness,” and “Balance.” Guest appearances include Wale, Larry June, Russ, and Fireboy DML. According to the artist, “This album is about transition. This album is about grief. This album is about experiencing every emotion and not running from them. This past year and a half have been so insane that I could make another 20 albums about it. From losing my parents, to moving out of places I grew up in and made me who I am, all while trying to maintain some type of balance and sanity. I tried to be as honest and intentional with this project as possible. Creating it helped me in ways I can’t even explain. I pray it does the same for someone else.”

Sophomore album from Tenerife based trio, LAGOSS (Gonçalo F. Cardoso, Mladen Kurajica and Daniel García).

Moving away from their megamix vignette based first volume, the trio now experiments with a more song based approach whilst still keeping their trademark jam infused tropicalia and electronic freak outs with an offering to their 1970’s sci-fi masters – enter the lift to the stars.

First proposed by Russian rocket scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky and taken to mystical literary heights by Arthur C. Clark in his 1979 book Fountains of Paradise, the concept of a space lift takes a spiritual turn here, with LAGOSS chronicling its construction, right here and there on a near future version of their Island of Tenerife, in the Canary Archipelago.

The album moves freely through ideas and moods akin to the world imagined by Arthur C. Clarke. It conveys a new story by sonically imagining future civilizations in a faux ethnographical exercise whilst exploring current ideas of technology, religion and alternative history by creating its own particular insular sound world.

The album counts with the participation of dear friends such as a synth solo by Spencer Clark (Monopoly Child Star Searchers et all.) and a punchy, full blown remix by Muqata’a. Altogether creating a unique collection of eerie musical moments made of sub tropical moods and cyber exotica jams from a band that keeps growing and evolving into their very own personal sound.

Enter Tenerife in the late 21st Century, meet the Aquachachos and Guayechi, and ascend!

Tor.Ma in Dub’s bass-quaking Terra and it’s fierce flipside Terra Dub drop on 7” this May 5th.

Terra’s pulsating bassline is complemented by sparse tribal percussion and disembodied vocals, creating a grounded and meditative vibe.

Terra Dub is straighter and heavier, with a punchy bass and a relentless steppers rhythm, guaranteed to lively up the dancefloor.

Both tracks are taken from the Solve et Coagula album, which focused on alchemy and transformation, with the elements presented in pairs. Downbeat dubs morph into uptempo steppers, all crafted with the unique blend of roots and psychedelia that are the hallmarks of the Mexico-based producer’s style.

"50th anniversary picture disc of this seminal ELP abum, generally acclaimed as their best work. Includes ‘Karn Evil 9’, ‘Jerusalem’ and ‘Still ... You Turn Me On’. Original artwork by HR Geiger. Picture disc

Elza Soares’ 34th studio album and her first to feature previously unrecorded material exclusively composed for her. Over a sprawl of distorted guitars, squalling horns, taught strings and electronic shards, samba is savaged by rock ‘n’ roll, free-jazz, noise and other experimental music forms as Elza tackles the burning issues of 21st century Brazil: racism, domestic violence, sex and drug addiction.

A true legend of Brazilian music Elza has an incredible musical oeuvre that stretches back over seven decades mixing samba with jazz, soul, funk, hip hop and electronica. Her life-story is a rags-to-riches-to-rags rollercoaster of triumphs and tragedies that has made her a voice for Brazil’s repressed female, black, gay and working-class populations.

"Akuphone is proud to present the Jerusalem-based improvisational trio Leviot and its hypnotizing debut album. Leviot (Hebrew for “Lionesses”) is a brainchild of multi-faceted musician and composer Yael Lavie, who’s joined by classically trained percussionist and music teacher Cnaan Canetti, and synth enthusiast Yishay Seroussi. The project is a result of Lavie’s ongoing explorations beyond the restraints of classical kanun playing and fascination with electronic sound and modern composition. Initially started following her experience performing and recording with Spiritczualic Enhancement Center, in Leviot, Yael gives up rehearsed pieces in favour of improvised sets, based on virtuous interpretation by Cnaan and Yishay. The three have been active since 2019, playing their immersive shows in a wide variety of settings, venues and festivals. The trio’s debut release is a live session, recorded in late 2020 at Mazkeka Studios (Jerusalem) for the lockdown edition of the annual Zikuk Festival. It’s a meditative improv piece in five parts that combines and melts boundaries between the traditional and the experimental, the primal and the futuristic. With setup as the foundation of the piece and Lavie’s graphic score as the road map, Leviot takes off on a cosmic journey between deep drones, whispering chimes, mesmerizing Arab melodies, pulsating rhythms and iridescent ambient patterns."

RED VINYL EDITION On the 15th anniversary of its original release, Mais Um revisit a lost classic fromthe catalogue of one of Brazil's most regarded and influential contemporarysongwriters, Lucas Santtana. Presented on vinyl and on streaming platforms forthe first time ever (remastered by German dub shaman, Stefan Betke/Pole) andfeaturing Tom Zé and manguebeat pioneer, Gilmar Bola 8, Lucas Santtana's 3Sessions In A Greenhouse fused psyched-out samba and baile funk with originalBlack Ark-style studio distortion and spiritual dub dread, laying the foundationsfor his seminal Sem Nostalgia LP five years later, and in the process,establishing Santtana as an elemental force of Brazil's current new wave.

Lost in the depths of space, AAKAARA takes listeners on a journey to the outer limits of the sonic universe with their latest album “Obsidian Promises”. Blending influences from punk and metal, EBM, architectural design and certain celestial objects, AAKAARA offers a fresh take on industrial techno.

This body of work is dark and brooding, full of haunting and thought-provoking soundscapes. Metallic and cold one moment, blisteringly hot the next. Pounding drums create searing rhythms, acid-drenched synths weave abrasive textures, and noise permeates the stereo field. Inspired by the mysterious and alluring world of black holes, the producer explores the beauty of extremes through sound. “If you know my work or me,” AAKAARA says, “it’s no secret that I have a spiritual connection to, and an obsession with, black holes.

It’s not about doom and gloom, but about beautiful extremes: infinite calmness, ultra-high energy, being deeply centered, and inevitable attraction.” “I try to sonify this in a naive sense. It isn’t an attempt at science; it’s a way for me to practice a makeshift spirituality about these entities through craft and functional dance music for people.”

Spirituality and stellar inspiration were essential to AAKAARA’s life during the three years they spent between Los Angeles and London, while writing this album. It provided a sonic home during a period of transition, when they didn’t feel at home and didn’t have access to a studio.

Everything was made “in the box” using only Ableton 10. After collecting guitar pedals and amplifiers for years, AAKAARA has shifted away from a hardware-focused mindset and is now more invested in the conceptual framework, narrative, and cultural implications of their work. Visuals also play an integral role in this maximalist experience.

The outer sleeve (front and back cover) conveys the “big ideas” visually, while the companion poster includes custom typography, detailed drawings, symbol design, and poetry. The poetry provides a textual counterpoint to the lyric-less music, written in parallel but later stages of the production process. The visual identity of this work is inseparable from the music, describing it in an integral way. It’s the other side of the coin, not simply an accompaniment. With its spiritual connection to the infinite and mysterious, “Obsidian Promises” harnesses the beauty and intensity of celestial entities as musical inspiration, transforming the science into mystical, narrative-driven sonic experience. Get ready for a ride through the unknown as AAKAARA’s latest offering takes you on a high-energy trip through the black hole’s playground.

French electronic pionner, ADN’ Ckrystall, became a legend in the Minimal-Synth scene when his first album
« Jazz’Mad » (from 1982) was rediscovered and re-edited via the two biggest labels in the genre : Minimal Wave (circa 2005) and Dark Entries (circa 2012). Following this new interest, a bunch of unreleased materials reappeared and went out mostly directly through Erick (ADN)’s control, under compilations, coffrets (V.O.D.) or albums that never had the chance to come out before... But one piece was still missing, the album just following « Jazz’Mad » called « Frankraut » and here comes the story... During the covid year of 2021, Erick finally found the tapes forgotten somewhere at his parents house since 1984. After relistening to it he decided to bring them back to life. « Frankraut was a project born from the reflexion about the concept of marrying (and not the opposite) the romantico-poetico side : naive melodies flirting with research and experimentations in the electronic music « à la française » like illustration, « bilbliothèque sonore » (library) or music for film... and the « cold », mechanic, motorik, hypnotic, psychedelic free explosive and creative side of the Krautrock. »

Summer 2022, during the Braille Satelite festival (Lithuania) Sacha (label boss) and Erick met and became friends. Few weeks later Erick was sending the demos of Frankraut on a burned CD (‘à l’ancienne’) by the post to Sacha. This is how ‘the 40 years old never released before project’ is finally coming out has a mini-LP on the 10inch format on Macadam Mambo !

Shannon, and veteran electronic producer and remixer producer Dave Clark, best-known for his Sparky moniker, and as one-half of the production/remix team Optimo (Espacio).

First emerging in 2015 with a couple of compilation appearances, Kübler-Ross released their debut, self-titled album in 2020. Originally released as a limited-edition cassette on the Glasgow label Akashic Records, the album — now resequenced and released on vinyl via Suction Records’ minimal synth sublabel Ice Machine — is a collection of tracks recorded over a three year period in a variety of studios, rehearsal rooms, and gigs, documenting the musical variety and ferocity of their incendiary live performances. The Akashic tape, despite being low-key, under-the-radar, and released in limited quantity, managed to earn them a Long List nomination for SAY (Scottish Album of the Year) for 2020.

Standout cut “Bridges”, first released in 2015, is synthpop perfection — sitting comfortably alongside classics from the first wave of UK electronic classics by Thomas Leer and Robert Rental, John Foxx, and even early Depeche Mode. It’s not the only synthpop track on the record, but the album is dominated by a more tough, raw, and punk spirit, featuring aggressive female vocals, live drums + bass guitar, and judicious use of crude analog synthesizers and tape delay fx. Think Liaisons Dangereuses meets Suicide, and you’re beginning to get close…

Available digitally, and on limited vinyl LP in a reverse-board jacket. We’ve also pressed up a special edition with an additional bonus 7”, featuring covers of songs by US minimal synth oddball John Bender,and Australian industrial mavericks SeveredHeads. The special edition LP and 7” are on pink-vinyl LP + green-vinyl-7”, and strictly limited to 200 copies. Both versions include a Bandcamp download card inside.

2023 Repress

PLEASURE ZONE presnts Andrea Ferlin - Crepuscular beats Part 2 EP (12")
Brilliant minimal techno/ electro from the Sleep Is Commecrial - founder!

RAWAX proudly welcomes Mr. Frederick Schmid aka Freddy Fresh to the label Family! We are very happy to present you one of the true pioneers of Electronic Music on the RX - series. "The Harvest" marks only the beginning of a journey which hopefully takes a long path.
More to come!

Berlin-based French-Irish sound artist Zoë Mc Pherson levels up on their third full-length "Pitch Blender", mangling years of experience DJing and performing live into a tight set of cybernetic soundsystem experiments that flicker between the rave and the art space. Described as a "vanguard" by DJ Mag and "fearless" by Hyponik, Mc Pherson has performed tirelessly across the world, appearing at Berlin's CTM Festival, Madrid's LEV, Malmö's Intonal and presenting installations at Berlin's Silent Green and Monom. They also curate the ambitious A/V-focused imprint SFX with visual artist Alessandra Leone and maintain creative partnerships with Jessica Ekomane and Ciarra Black (as Carbon 96).

Pulling in influence from British bass music and the outer fringes of experimental sound art, "Pitch Blender" is Mc Pherson's most ambitious album to date, splicing bold vocal performances with psychedelic modular synth flourishes, illusory environmental recordings and relentlessly abstract polyrhythmic beats. It's music that's able to balance a constant exploration for newness with a rhythmic pulse that never ignores the dancefloor, connecting the nodes between artists like aya, Elvin Brandhi, ZULI and Slikback. Cinematic and sub-heavy, "Pitch Blender" is a dizzying work of sonic fiction that's permanently in flux, dissolving breaks, beats and acidic leads into queasy, pressurized tracks that act as an antidote to contemporary malaise.

Two albums that shook the world! The release of these two ground-breaking dubs sets in 1975 altered the course of modern music forever. Dub From The Roots & Roots Of Dub make up a crucial selection of King Tubby’s mind-altering dub versions.
Produced by Bunny ‘Striker’ Lee – both albums are essential!

The ace reissue of these wicked dub albums collecting together classic 70's dub versions by dub pioneer and leader of ‘roots’ music in Jamaica, King Tubby! Tubby’s vast knowledge of electronics and Bunny’s vast catalogue of rhythms would lay the foundations of what today is taken as a standard. All the tracks on here are versions of classic tracks from Cornell Campbell, Johnny Clarke, Horace Andy, Linval Thompson, Derick Morgan & Hortense Ellis dubbed out by the King of Dub King Tubby!’

Two albums that shook the world! The release of these two ground-breaking dubs sets in 1975 altered the course of modern music forever. Dub From The Roots & Roots Of Dub make up a crucial selection of King Tubby’s mind-altering dub versions.
Produced by Bunny ‘Striker’ Lee – both albums are essential!

The ace reissue of these wicked dub albums collecting together classic 70's dub versions by dub pioneer and leader of ‘roots’ music in Jamaica, King Tubby! Tubby’s vast knowledge of electronics and Bunny’s vast catalogue of rhythms would lay the foundations of what today is taken as a standard. All the tracks on here are versions of classic tracks from Cornell Campbell, Johnny Clarke, Horace Andy, Linval Thompson, Derick Morgan & Hortense Ellis dubbed out by the King of Dub King Tubby!’

Taking his cue from seminal mix albums of days gone by, Glenn Astro is back with a compilation of original productions from a cast of fictional artists on Nothing Is Real. Across 13 tracks, the Tartelet mainstay celebrates the thrill of discovery which came as standard listening to new entries in series’ like X-Mix and DJ Kicks, moving between head-nodding downtempo, ambient techno, broken beat and all manner of chill-out room delights. You might be left wishing artists such as DJ 1999, Mental Trance and Eye Soul8r had actual discographies to go and explore, but as Astro himself is keen to point out, “nothing is real.”

Astro has never been shy to embrace classic tropes and tones in his past albums for Tartelet, Apollo and Ninja Tune, but he’s drawing on a different set of influences for this album and embracing the flexibility afforded by using imagined aliases for varied production styles.

“I had the idea to do a mixtape, preferably with unknown dance tracks that also reflect that whole 90s/early 00s vibe,” Astro explains. “Instead of digging for some records that haven’t been sourced yet or trying to find those ‘forgotten’ treasures, I made the tracks myself. That way I had full control over BPMs, feel and the whole arrangement of tracks. I thought of a few alter egos and started producing the tracks in the order that I intended to play them in a mix. In the end a whole compilation of tracks emerged.”

While the concept might suggest you’re going to hear a lot of over- familiar sounds, don’t be fooled. Astro is inspired and inquisitive, channeling the experimental spirit of the 90s and early 00s when electronic music was still continually being redefined in all kinds of micro-scenes. In many cases, Astro’s productions slip into the cracks between genres rather than specifically mimicking a style.

Even if the reference points are detectable, the end result is a curious blend as indebted to ambiguity as the overall concept of the compilation. Like the spine-tingling sensation of hitting play and awaiting the waves of unknown sonics on one of those seminal mixes, you never know exactly what you’re going to get as you take the trip through Nothing Is Real.

Never one to pull inventive punches, Left Coast electronic music producer Dave Aju reassembled this notorious cast of characters for a remarkably fitting album package made during one of the most strange times our world has ever faced in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic. While things were essentially shutdown, reopened, cycle-repeat worldwide, and every other species in mother nature's kingdom temporarily rejoiced while humans remained still in their caves, Aju and The Invisible Art Trio, his formidable if not-seen-in-a-minute musical team behind such underground anthems as "Be Like the Sun", went to work in the final days of the glorious G-Son studios in Atwater Village LA to record this LP.

Indeed, the same four/five walls and vocal booth that saw the Beastie's iconic Check Your Head and Hello Nasty come to life, became the birthplace of Glossolalia, Aju's fifth studio album and appropriately impressive seven-song set. As always, myriad musical styles and influences are strung together and boldly combined here, to the degree that drawing comparisons or attempting genre references feels futile. There are, however, clear visceral expressions of political provocation, hope and anger, fear and joy laid over twisted yet dedicated grooves in a lockdown era where Aju's imaginary collective dance floor feels in the temporary absence thereof and bizarro sixth-world unification strategy of recording every song's lyrics in complete non-languages aka total gibberish, feels right at home. Even the vocal guests join in the literal chant here, granting us diverse spell-casting and sensual nonsensical lyrical lines over tech-funk mother lodes, before closing the otherworldly proceedings with a powerful grand finale tribute to the US of A's proud boys-in-blue in the wake of George Floyd's very public assassination.

Equal parts timely anti-establishment and uplifting call-to-action, Glossolalia serves as a decidedly coarse yet crucial reminder of the possibilities in collaborative and devoted noise-making, booty-shaking, and alternative world-building during greater global disarray - beyond stylistic, nationalistic, and linguistic dividing lines. An overtly universal and unifying message liberating us from any fixed cultural identities and thus differences, to instead just focus on how the music delivers and we physically respond, together, as the foundation. Perhaps also an inspired response to the talking heads in every corner of the world's media, spewing useless and politically-tainted mouth data at us amidst these turbulent times.

Stanley Turrentine’s 1964 recording Mr. Natural featured the soulful tenor saxophonist and Blue Note stalwart at the helm of a cutting-edge modern jazz group with Lee Morgan on trumpet, McCoy Tyner on piano, Bob Cranshaw on bass, Elvin Jones on drums, and Ray Barretto on congas for three songs.

This stereo Tone Poet Vinyl Edition was produced by Joe Harley, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original analog master tapes, pressed on 180g vinyl at RTI, and packaged in a deluxe gatefold tip-on jacket.

Remix EP 1 (incl. Remixes by Acid Pauli, Coldcut, DMX Krew, Shahrokh Dini, Frivolous)

After the release of Felix Laband’s highly acclaimed 5th album “The Soft White Hand” in November 2022, it’s about time to give it some extra class remix treatment. So here comes a massive package with remixes by living legends Coldcut, Acid Pauli, DMX Krew, Frivolous and Shahrokh Dini.

Felix Laband’s The Soft White Hand is the masterwork of an artist who expresses himself through musical and artistic collage acting together to reinterpret his sources and to express significant elements of his own personal story.

Released by Munich-based Compost Records, the 14-track album is Laband’s first full-length offering since the critically acclaimed Deaf Safari in 2015. It is heralded by the single “Derek and Me”, and is being pressed on vinyl for distribution globally.

In The Soft White Hand Laband works with source materials that will be familiar to those who know his previous four records – Thin Shoes in June (2001), 4/4 Down the Stairs (2002), Dark Days Exit (2005) and especially Deaf Safari which reached deep into the South Africa scene and its political culture to inspire its vocal and music sampling. However, the disengagement he felt from his homeland during his latest album’s creation – an abiding sense of untethered-ness to place and space, exquisitely rendered in tracks like “Death of a Migrant” – is perceptible in Laband’s desire to illuminate instead aspects of his own life.

Dimitri From Paris remixes Space Talk! Naya Beat is proud to announce a historic Asha Puthli 12” disco single, "Space Talk: With Remixes By Dimitri From Paris", the first in a series of Naya Beat remixes and retrospective releases featuring the legendary Asha Puthli. Working with the original Space Talk stems and studio recordings, Dimitri From Paris does the impossible – delivering not one but two stellar versions of the original masterpiece. Two remixes that are destined to be classics in their own right.

Be it the world of disco, rare groove or hip hop, Space Talk is one of those rare tracks that transcends time, genre and place. A track equally at home in David Mancuso’s The Loft as in the hands of afro cosmic pioneers Beppe Loda and Daniele Baldelli. A track that has been sampled by The Notorious B.I.G and P Diddy, 50 Cent, and Redman. A track that has seen countless bootleg disco edits but that until now has never been remixed. No stranger to working with iconic music, Dimitri’s two stand apart remixes deliver his trademark sound and more. This is Dimitri at his best. Beautifully dubbed out and magically lush production (with plenty of laser sounds to boot) builds on the original’s interplanetary excursions. While the remixes are quintessentially Dimitri, they also pay homage to greats like Tom Moulton, Patrick Adams and Larry Levan. Exclusive to this release (along with "Dimitri From Paris Spacer Dub") are a "2023 Mix" and "Extended Mix" of the original, lovingly mixed for the discerning DJ by Naya Beat cofounders Turbotito & Ragz using the original studio recordings.

Their very existence the stuff of rumour and legend, Naya Beat and Asha have tracked down the original stems and studio recordings from her most seminal albums, including "The Devil is Loose". "Space Talk" is the precursor to a full length LP coming out in September 2023 featuring remixes by legends like Maurice Fulton, Yuksek, Kon, Psychemagik, JKriv and Black Devil Disco Club to name a few. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for producers inspired by her music to honour Asha’s influence and legacy.

This is Naya Beat’s third release in a series of reissues, reworks, remixes and compilations dedicated to uncovering electronic and dance music from the subcontinent and South Asian diaspora.

Tom Zé and Faust collide in Domenico Lancellotti's "machine samba"

Domenico Lancellotti's SRAMBA reaches back to the roots of samba whilst completely revamping its blueprint, indoctrinating guitar and percussion-led rhythms with analogue synthesisers, courtesy of album producer Ricardo Dias Gomes.

The majority of SRAMBA was recorded over two months in The Cave - Domenico's home studio in Lisbon, the city both Brazilian ex-pats reside in, where the arrival of a couple of Russian-designed synths purchased by Ricardo influenced the direction of their initial experimentation: "Ricardo had these instruments, modular machines" remembers Domenico, "and I had my guitar, some percussion instruments. On the first day we started making sounds and recording them, and songs started to appear, sambas started to appear."

The son of a renowned samba songwriter, at home Domenico would watch his father play and compose. At parties, the adults would hand his father a tamborim (a small tambourine) and ask him to play along. "I grew up inside samba, it's my roots", he says. "For me, everything is samba, I bring it into whatever style of music I am making".

Domenico and Ricardo instantly saw how the synthesisers were not at odds with the sambas they were playing, instead they had a similar sound to its typical percussion instruments (ganza, repinique, surdo, tarol). What's more, they saw a connection with roots samba, the samba that existed before bossa nova and samba jazz came along. This was rhythmic samba, with grooves that could go on ad infinitum. "It's samba de clave, geometrically structured" says Domenico. "It's ostinato samba", adds Ricardo.

"Diga" is a great example of what their proposal is capable of, as what begins as a glitchy machine whirring into action soon turns into a glorious samba in which the gurgles and scratchy beats coming from the analogue equipment only add to the arrangement. Likewise, on "Tá Brabo" it's an aching melody from one of the synths that gives the guitar rhythm its needed counterpoint, and shows how the duo's greatest accomplishment is not in invention alone, but in creating a great samba album. It's an album that can go from the opening track "Ere" with its reverberant bass thud, mantra-like vocals and staccato rhythms to the string-accompanied "Nada Sera de Outra Maneira", a swooning samba that pays tribute to the Brazilian ensemble Tamba Trio, who along with Tom Zé's Estudando O Samba, Domenico names as the biggest influence on their treatment of samba.

Other important reference points are made clear on "Um Abraço No Faust". One of three instrumentals on the album its title riffs off a JoãoGilberto song, "Um Abraço no Bonfá", but whereas JoãoGilberto was giving a hug (um abraço) to bossa nova guitarist Luiz Bonfá, Domenico and Ricardo are giving theirs to the German avant-gardists Faust. "Quem Samba", with its horn section and dramatic melody give a whiff of Domenico's Italian ancestry, while "Descomunal" is devoid of rhythm whatsoever, guest vocalist Tori singing over a bed of electronic drums, cello and swirling synths, that highlights the duo's unwillingness to stick to a particular formula.

Both Domenico Lancellotti and Ricardo Dias Gomes are revered names within Brazilian music over the past 20 years. As a member of the +2's, with Moreno Veloso and Kassin, Domenico released a trio of albums on Luaka Bop in the early 00s that pioneered a new Rio samba sound with elements of funk and psychedelia. With Veloso and Kassin he would later form Orquestra Imperial, a big band intent on reviving ballroom (gafieira) samba, and that has worked with guest vocalists such as Seu Jorge, Elza Soares and Ed Motta. SRAMBA is his fourth solo album. Multi-instrumentalist Ricardo Dias Gomes first came to notice as a member of Caetano Veloso's band Cê which helped reinvigorate Caetano's career with a sound influenced by British new wave. As well as collaborations with Lucas Santtana, Negro Leo and Thiago Nassif, and work with his own group Do Amor, he has released a series of acclaimed solo albums that reveal a restless music-maker.

SRAMBA is a glorious showcase of the duo's style, uniting Domenico's playful lyrics and rhythmic, samba-rooted songs with with Ricardo's assured accompaniment of unorthodox textures and instrumentations. It may be a new language for samba, machine samba (samba de máquina), but as Domenico says, "samba da máquina is samba".

The Berlin musician, visual artist, and label owner Lasse Winkler aka ACUD has attracted attention with titles such as MATJESFILET or VERBRENNUNGSMOTOR. He shows that electronic dance music can also have a sense of humor without ending in slapstick. Creaking basses and swinging rhythms meet warm synth chords and complement his bright voice. The microphone, always ready, replaces the notepad. Succinct, spontaneous keywords and sentences are created, snapping up everyday life. On the 10-track album VERDAMMT NOCHMAL, the musicians are accompanied over a creative period of three years.

London’s own Trev appeared on our first release, Body Music Vol 1, as well as other key releases on CoOp Presents and Local Talk. We’ve been fans from the start and, after Trev joined the family, his music went from strength to strength. It was already out-of-this-world production, with serious attention to detail, and this EP is nothing short of excellent! He told us 'there’s no hiding that this EP is, in essence, a long love letter to Brazil', but that it’s also written to 'Iran, London, Lisbon, Japan, probably more - too many to remember!'. Trev described his process as 'listening, learning, combining my favourite elements of all this music that has brought me so much joy over the years'. Right on!

This EP is fresh, different and sonically on point. It’s Bruk, it’s Brazilian, it’s Bass, it’s… all-round-really-good dance music! Trev is a real modern musician, an awesome keys player as well as a producer. He understands the importance of musicality and originality, together with weighty beats and bass, working just as well on the dance floor as they do at a house party… or dinner party, for that matter!

'Nightjar', the title track, draws you in with hypnotic plucks like crickets on a hot summer’s night. Eerie pads float in building tension before the beat drops - Pandeiro and Caxixi serving broken-beat with the kick - pumping the sonic palette and pumping the dancefloor. Deep sinister chords pulse in and out, percussive melodies bring love from the middle east, and we reach a beautiful jazz-harmony break - then it’s straight back to the body movement - this time letting loose with the cowbells and the shakers. Think Brazil, think Persia, think Jazz, think dance-floor, it’s all in there!

'Late Flip' pulls us into a more ethereal intro, with the Koto and skate sounds laying our dream scene. Morphing out of flutes, modular synth plucks pay tribute to the sounds of Lisbon as we drop - a rolling broken beat punch, playful Rhodes and distant vocal chops ring out with the Koto dripping in warm echoes. A truly amazing composition and arrangement that leaves you wanting more!

'Beijo' is one of our faves on this EP. We’re straight in with a kiss - MWAH! - a classic Baile rhythm gets a warm Bruk embrace. It’s passionate and dark and tells a story as old as history. Get lost in the movements between drums and percussion, in the flutes and cicadas, until the organ bass calls it - time to get moving. This really is Trev’s signature dance floor style. A banger with a naughty-yet-subtle bassline, and its own game of perspective - feel this rhythm in more ways than one. Vocal chops and Tamborim place São Paulo’s influence front and centre.

'Grey' takes us on a dusty House/Bruk journey with filtering chords that grow patiently until the beat drops - getting your feet moving and neck bopping! Burning slow, Trev is playful with the harmony, keeping the fun with a roller of a bassline that pulls it all together. It’s a six-and-a-half-minute rich musical journey that feels more like half that time!?

Complete your Dance Regular Vinyl collection with this absolute killer EP from the one called Trev.

Fresh off his explosive Boiler Room performance in Liverpool, the dust is yet to settle from the electronic eruptions caused by GTOWN head-honcho and energy inducer, KETTAMA. Namely, the damage caused by his latest armoured artillery; ‘GTOWN004’, a radioactive EP with devastatingly euphoric consequences.

‘Samba Soccer 2001’ is the track that opens the door to ‘GTOWN004’, as we’re welcomed by an anonymous voice that insults the listener; a perfect introduction to a project that is wildly unapologetic in its character, and utterly ruthless in its delivery. Released as the first single from the ‘GTOWN004’ EP, ‘Samba Soccer 2001’ has already been greatly received by the GTOWN faithful, and sets the tone for what is arguably KETTAMA’s most complete, and anticipated project yet.

The EP starts as it means to go on, as KETTAMA drops another bombshell with ‘Blitz Zuruck.’ With a euphoric soundscape which the producer partners with a punishing bassline, this track is deeply nostalgic, embodying a time-capsule in the thick of a modern rave-renaissance. Further elements of revamped rave-nostalgia are seen in ‘Slaap Lekker’, before we’re taken deep into the belly of the Galway beast with the atomic ‘GTOWN IN EFFEKT’, and finally killed off with the ‘Rock Da Cliffe Mix’ of ‘Blitz Zuruck.’

‘GTOWN004’ features an ungodly blend of sounds, and in the process, creates an atmosphere that is both ecstatic enough for heaven, and sinister enough for hell. Purpose built for dance-floor destruction, KETTAMA’s infusion of stomach-churning bass, hypnagogic synthesisers, soulful vocals and contagious drum patterns result in an utterly pure, addictive sound.

From Galway to Vienna, Liverpool to New York, the track will be road tested amongst an armoured artillery of records, with dance-floor devastation an inevitable outcome. With his name boldly imprinted on the lineups for the likes of AVA Festival in Belfast, CRSSD in Miami, 121 Festival in New Zealand and Terminal V Festival in Edinburgh, KETTAMA’s worldwide domination of sound-systems continues.

Born from the party of the same name held at Manchester’s storied White Hotel, the increasingly essential Bakk Heia label has consistently put out thrilling 12”s from co-founders schuttle and low-key cult favourit Jorg Kuning since 2019.

Stepping up for the imprint’s sixth release, schuttle brings four tripped-out cuts of contemporary dance music, showcasing his production chops across four stellar tracks, already getting an airing from Ben UFO on the Hessle Audio Rinse FM show, as well as support from Joe Delon, Kiernan Laveaux, Om Unit, K Means, Barker, Pariah & Terry Francis.

“schuttle’s latest offering begins with ‘Shadout’. Fractured celestial voices materialize from a mist of frosted percussion while a merciful kickdrum splutters above the surface, bringing with it the viscous, swampy murk. ‘Souvlaki’ follows with playful impish chatter that stumbles over the moss-covered bassline, whilst cascading snare hits tumble down abandoned wells, a gentle guiding presence through the forest.

‘Swords Dance’ is a 10-minute display of cosmic glory, where conventional momentum is abandoned in favour of complete ecstatic, unbridled chaos. After the dust settles on this fiendish bacchanalia, ‘Junkman’ creeps into the fore. Caustic mire oozes into focus, mist rising sluggishly from the reeds while an elemental pad sweeps across the terrain.”

Following on from his breakthrough debut EP, ‘Raised by Electro’ Unit Boy has made his first solo release since 2020, in the form of ‘SSV’; a five track collateral via Mutual Pleasure.

Within his sounds, Unit Boy exudes a raucous nature that feels at home on Mutual Pleasure: a perhaps perfect marriage of mischief-laden, high voltage weapons of sound, built for dancefloor deterioration. Unit Boy has steadily begun carving his name into the underground Electro and Techno scene; with a name that, in light of this release, is becoming more deeply engraved.

‘SSV’ features a cataclysm of sounds, as the producer layers pulsating bass lines beneath contagious synths and infectious, manipulated vocals; a combination that has become to define the very DNA of Mutual Pleasure’s uniquely electrifying sound.

Fuelled by an innately raw energy, this EP sets the tone for Unit Boy’s progression as an artist, as his sound continues to grow and evolve in unpredictable ways. A true boundary breaker, Unit Boy’s ‘SSV’ is a staple for himself as a producer, and for Mutual Pleasure, the label that continues to produce some of the most daring sounds within the electronic dance music scene.

Mogwaa returns to Peggy Gou’s Gudu label with Drifted, his second EP for the imprint and a perfect summary of what makes him one of Korea’s most exciting contemporary artists - complete with a remix by Klasse Werks founder Mr. Ho.

A staple of Seoul’s electronic scene, Mogwaa’s catalogue takes in everything from ambient to jungle - but at the centre of his music, there’s always a distinct sense of melody and pure compositional chops that defines his music regardless of style or tempo. Put simply, you know a Mogwaa track when you hear one.

Quicker in tempo than his last EP for Gudu, Drifted opens with ‘Driven’ - a combo of chopped-up breaks and a relentless riff that does just what the title implies - before Mogwaa really flexes those melodic chops on ‘Chances for Bounces’, getting heady with synthesized voices and an almost Detroit-leaning bassline over an 808 groove. ‘Rushing’ takes things further into peaktime with an acid bassline and some nifty automation to keep things ascending, before Mr. Ho’s remix of ‘Driven’ closes the EP on a dreamy techno tip.

Following several European runs last year that saw Mogwaa perform at Warehouse Project, Pleasure Gardens and more, plus a Boiler Room in Seoul alongside Anz, Sharda, Finn, Closet Yi and Seesea, Drifted is another snapshot into the sound world of this remarkable talent.