Cerca:el sam

At the time, Mikio Masuda was frequently mentioned as a Japanese jazz musician on par with the soft-and-mellow crossover sound of artists like Bob James and Ramsey Lewis. With a supple sensibility that moves effortlessly between jazz and rock, he stands as one of the defining figures of the 1970s. Now, one of his essential masterpieces, "Moon Stone", has been confirmed for reissue as the fifth installment from SPIN THIS NOW!

Electric Piano, Organ, Clavinet, Synthesizer - Mikio Masuda
Drums - Hideo Yamaki
Electric Bass - Motohiko Hamase
Electric Guitar - Kazumi Watanabe
Electric Guitar, Vocals - Kazumasa Akiyama

Both multi-instrumentalists and seasoned producers, J and Peter took an all-hands-on-deck approach to these original collaborative tracks. The sonic seeds of "Underappreciated" and "Facile" were planted by Peter, JKriv cooked up the demo of "Over Suffa", and all three were completed together in J’s Brooklyn production studio. With live-recorded guitar, bass, analog synths, and drums/percussion by and a cohort of Brooklyn accomplices, the Facile EP marries live elements with modern club-ready production.

The punchy horns and no-nonsense vocals on "Underappreciated" come via Peter’s long-standing stage and studio connection with Ibibio Sound Machine, Favorite Recordings staple singer Olivya delivers the soulful EP title track performance, and Samy Love’s insistent vocal on "Over Suffa" is a pleading message to end the war and suffering in his native Cameroon.

With a remix of "Underappreciated" by French producer extraordinaire Yuksek, songs in both English and French, and influences ranging from boogie funk, 80s R&B, and classic Zouk, the Facile EP is a varied and dazzling collection of music for both listeners and DJs alike.

‘Sings Again’ is the fifth album from British electronic musician Will Samson. After starting the decade with a pair of largely instrumental albums, Samson… sings again.

The familiar collection of old tape machines that have characterised much of Samson’s sound remain (with a 1971 Seinnheiser microphone for the vocals), firmly rooting ‘Sings Again’ in an organic sonic landscape of electronic and acoustic influences.

Taking inspiration from the early works of Bjork, Four Tet and Efterklang, much of the album was built upon recording and then sampling organic sounds such as twigs, rocks and paintbrushes to create percussion. An empty glass bottle was transformed into the otherworldly organ on raw opener ‘0333AM, and his own voice became the moody synth sound on the sparse electronica of ‘Darabuka.’ Elsewhere, the hypnotic, emotionally resonant ‘Time Used To Feel Like’ and grandiose album finale ‘Julian’s Rocks’ offer a raw and direct insight into the most vulnerable parts of himself – a long-established artist beginning again.

So… what are we actually supposed to tell you about HCL? Honestly, it’s a pretty nice story. A collaboration the way it’s meant to be.

HCL stands for Horkheimer, Consti aka Zeitstill, and Delenz — not hydrochloric acid, but liquid music. One shared idea of sound, without a fully mastered plan. Most of the tracks were born during long studio sessions — long nights, extended jams, ideas taking shape naturally. No big concept, just working it out together and seeing where things go (or not).

After the first two HCL tracks found their way onto various samplers — including the 25 Years of Live at Robert Johnson compilation and Freeride Millennium’s own Queer Base Vol. 2 — it felt like the right moment to take the next step and release the first pattern. Not as a conclusion, but more as a checkpoint. This is far from the end. There are more patterns, more sessions, more ideas already waiting to be published.

Describing the genre is, as always, not that easy. It drifts somewhere between techno and all the other things orbiting around it. Purely electronic music, rooted in the club, but not obsessed with functionality. In a way, it reminds us of the early 2000s — deep, slightly twisted, hypnotic, driving but never aggressive. Music that takes its time, creates space, and pulls you in rather than pushing you forward.

For moments that are meant to last — tracks you don’t want to hear mixed out. For getting lost on the dancefloor, for forgetting the noise and madness outside for a while, for drifting into yourself and letting time fly. Honest club music, built for immersion.

Enjoy the music. Enjoy yourself. Love.

Yours, HCL

Brooklyn Sway's 8th installment arrives from outside with more unexpected debuts and riotous returns to form. Experienced Barcelonian Larry Lan's epic 10-minute opener 'WTNG' is minimal goes post-punk, repurposing well-known, undisguised lyrics into an aggressive take on early Perlon and explanation enough for his recent album drop on Cadenza. BKS vets N/UM return with 'A Free Woman in Queens' showing off a reduced side of their sound adjacent to mid-00s minimal with plenty of character, its stripped intro giving way to a fuller, dubbed-out second half, with the cheeky vocal and instrumental touches joined by a swelling pad. Featuring spoken vox from Mari Blue and the debut of BKS co-head Asha Jasz alongside DeWinter and Jay Prouty, 'Acid in Your Coffee' takes the dirtier route, with layers of zapping electronics, an insistent single-note acid bass, and synths drifting between tones and textures all veering off like its vocals before eventually returning to center. LA/Bucktown scallywag $coe brings it home with 'The Devil is a MF Liar', an acid jam whose profanity-laced vocal samples don't require divine intervention to decipher. Bookended by a pair of interludes, the first on the power of repetition and the last in memoriam BK legend Big Sexy in his own words, and again featuring striking artwork from notable NYC street artist Fumero, BKS keeps that Sway from going astray.

With »News from Planet Zombie«, The Notwist return to view after years of exploration and experiment with an album rich in both melancholy and positivity, sketched across a suite of thrilling, fiercely committed pop songs. It’s an album reflecting a chaotic world, but responding with warmth and generosity, to achieve creative and spiritual consolidation. Recorded in their home base of Munich, it reconnects with the security of the local to explore the troubles of the global: a guiding impulse writ large across this album’s eleven songs. It’s also the first studio album since 1995’s »12« that the entire band recorded together in the studio in its expanded live formation.

A new album by The Notwist is always a curious endeavour; their musical language is as consistent and resilient as the contexts for creativity are unpredictable and ever shifting. For »News from Planet Zombie«, the core trio of Markus and Micha Acher and Cico Beck embraced the plural possibilities of writing together, bringing songs to the collective and then arranging, rehearsing and recording that material live, in the studio.

The result is an album that’s energised, fully in ›the now‹, with spectacular moments where you can hear the magic bubbling up in the dynamic between the Achers, Beck, and fellow members Theresa Loibl, Max Punktezahl, Karl Ivar Refseth, and Andi Haberl. If »Teeth« begins »News from Planet Zombie« quietly and reflectively, by »X-Ray« everyone’s supercharged, blasting out future anthems with the collective energy cranked up high. The chiming keys of »Propeller« skim the instrumental’s surface like stones across burbling water; »The Turning« clangs its way into one of the album’s most heartwarming melodies.

»News from Planet Zombie« was recorded over one week at Import Export, a non-profit space for arts and music. You can tell, too; there are some pleasingly rough edges here, as though The Notwist’s striving for hazy perfection means they’re also confident enough to let the songs breathe and mutate between our ears. That openness to chance also takes in guest turns from friends both local and international, reflective of a cosmopolitan Munich: Enid Valu joins in on vocals, while Haruka Yoshizawa guests on taishōgoto and harmonium, Tianping Christoph Xiao on clarinet, and Mathias Götz on trombone.

The Notwist aren’t best known for cover versions, but »News from Planet Zombie« features two: a gorgeous version of Neil Young’s »Red Sun« (from 2000’s »Silver & Gold«), which the group originally developed for a theatre play directed by Jette Steckel, and a take on Athens, Georgia folk-pop gang Lovers’ »How the Story Ends«. They slot into the album’s narrative perfectly, nestling in like old friends, revealing The Notwist as poetic interpreters. Played well, the cover version is both acknowledgement of fellow travellers and act of generosity, and The Notwist nail both aspects here.

And that narrative, the way the album plays out? »News from Planet Zombie« acknowledges the distress of our current geopolitical impasse, while reminding us there are collective ways forward. Fed through the figure of the zombie, Markus Acher explores our anxieties: »In the title and some lyrics I reference B- and horror-movies, which is a reference to the crazy world at the moment, which seems to be like a really bad and unrealistic B-movie.« But there’s a reminder here not to lose the thread entirely, that these things, too, will pass.

»The river here in Munich I often go to has been there forever and will be there long after us,« Acher reflects, pinpointing an important source of succour for him, »always the same but always changing. Very calming, but also always reminding me that like this river time only flows into one direction and you can’t go back. Every moment is very precious.«

Artwork by Marie Vermont

The Notwist:
Markus Acher: vocals, guitar
Micha Acher: bass, sousaphone, euphonium, trumpet
Cico Beck: electronics, keyboards, guitar, recorder, percussion
Theresa Loibl: bassclarinet, clarinet, piano, harmonium, organ
Max Punktezahl: guitar
Karl Ivar Refseth: marimbaphone, vibraphone, glockenspiel, congas, percussion
Andi Haberl: drums, dulcimer
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Enid Valu: vocals on 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11
Haruka Yoshizawa: taishōgoto on 6, harmonium on 9, 10, 11
Tianping Christoph Xiao: clarinet on 4, 10, 11
Mathias Götz: trombone on 4, 10, 11

Mit "Angriff auf"s Schlaraffenland" veröffentlicht Tapete Records eine umfassende, musikalisch kuratierte Reise durch 50 Jahre deutschsprachigen Punk - von den frühen Experimenten der späten 1970er bis zu modernen Positionen der Gegenwart. Die Compilation begleitet die Jubiläums-Veröffentlichungen des Ventil Verlags, der über 200 Autor:innen zu ihren prägendsten Punk-Songs versammelt und damit das Vermächtnis sowie die Relevanz des Genres würdigt. Wie ein gutes Mixtape verzichtet die Sammlung bewusst auf Chronologie und setzt auf rein musikalische Kriterien: rohe Energie, politische Haltung, Humor, Widerspruchsgeist und stilistische Vielfalt. Vertreten sind u. a. Die Radierer, Hans-A-Plast, Palais Schaumburg, Egotronic, Bärchen und die Milchbubis, Toxoplasma, Slime, Schnipo Schranke, Stereo Total, Die Nerven - Bands, die Punk mit Pop, Dada, Elektronik, Chanson oder Noise neu definiert haben. "Angriff auf"s Schlaraffenland" ist damit ein unverzichtbares Dokument für alle, die Punk nicht als Nostalgie, sondern als lebendige, widersprüchliche und weiterhin unbequeme Kulturform verstehen.

The eleventh release from label Early Morning, run by Guy J, presents a three-track EP totaling 22 minutes and 23 seconds, reinforcing his position as one of the most disciplined and forward-thinking figures on the global scene. Despite intercontinental recognition, Guy J continues to approach his work with restraint and focus, treating sound not as a finished achievement but as an ongoing exploration. His imagination remains a constant source of carefully developed ideas that resonate through a restrained yet expressive intensity.

The opening track, Piece of Cake, sets the tone with confident momentum, unfolding through a precisely balanced structure where hypnotic rhythm meets expansive spatial design. Selector expands the palette with a fierce bassline drive, textured atmospheres, random squeaks, and euphoric build-up, building on the opening piece and taking the vibe into psychedelic territory.

The release concludes with Against the Wall, a composed and decisive finale. Strong rhythmic foundations, paired with suggestive female narrative vocal samples, bring the record to a resolved and coherent close.

Irish drone-doom-folk act One Leg One Eye, the project of founding Lankum member Ian Lynch and veteran noise monger George Brennan, announce their new album, CRONE, out on 1 May on AD 93.

Today the group share the first track on the album, ‘Many are my Names Besides’, on which they are joined by the elemental force that is legendary actor, performer, writer and director Olwen Fouéré (Operating Theatre) contributing vocals.

Olwen Fouéré comments:

“When Ian and George first approached me to work with them, they were already creating the Crone album as a sonic invocation of the ‘sovereignty goddess’, who personifies the land and the legitimacy to rule it, in her darkest and most terrifying form. As we spoke, the triple goddess figure of the Morrigan entered my mind, reinforced by a marked presence of crows every time we met. The Morrigan is essentially a war goddess, frequently appearing as a crow in a battlefield, a death prophet, a guardian of sovereignty, and a very powerful figure in Irish Mythology.

So I invoked her energy as a starting point, using text extracts that Ian sent me from the Ulster Cycle and other sources. The voice recording was done in one day, improvising the source material while the already composed music occupied my psyche through headphones.

Listening back, at this time in our world, I can only wonder at how much blood and war the Crone/ Crow of sovereignty is preparing to unleash now. Watch out.”

CRONE is the second album from Lynch and Brennan, following on from 2022’s slowburn slab of ambient grit, …And Take The Black Worm With Me. Bewildering, psychedelic and ultimately transcendental, the four tracks of One Leg One Eye’s CRONE shapeshift and morph endlessly in a coarse miasma. Traditional song structures and vocal melody are eschewed, instead the trio directly channel energies from the rich seams of mythological significance submerged below the Irish psyche. The anger, rage and beauty of the sovereignty goddess burn a consistent and deliberate line through the album in the form of obscure incantations and dire pronouncements, the gnarled sinews that bind it all together.

Just as the subject matter of the tracks delve deeper into Irish myth and the remote past, the temporal reality of the album reaches back into the bands prehistory, with the majority of it the material being recorded by Lynch and Brennan in 2021 before One Leg One Eye was conceived of as an entity with Brennan working on the CRONE project while Lynch worked on …And Take The Black Worm With Me.

When they were there they saw a lone woman coming to the door of the Hostel, after sunset, and seeking to be let in. As long as a weaver’s beam was each of her two shins, and they were as dark as the back of a stag-beetle. A greyish, wooly mantle she wore. Her lower hair used to reach as far as her knee. Her lips were on one side of her head.

She came and put one of her shoulders against the door-post of the house, casting the evil eye on the king and the youths who surrounded him in the Hostel. He himself addressed her from within.

"Well, O woman," says Conaire, "if thou art a wizard, what seest thou for us?"

"Truly I see for thee," she answers, "that neither fell nor flesh of thine shall escape from the place into which thou hast come, save what birds will bear away in their claws."

"It was not an evil omen we foreboded, O woman," saith he: "it is not thou that always augurs for us. What is thy name, O woman?"

"Calib," she answers.

"That is not much of a name," says Conaire.

"Lo, many are my names besides."

"Which be they?" asks Conaire.

"Easy to say," quoth she. "Samon, Sinand, Seisclend, Sodb, Caill, Coll, Díchóem, Dichiúil, Díthím, Díchuimne, Dichruidne, Dairne, Dáríne, Déruaine, Egem, Agam, Ethamne, Gním, Cluiche, Cethardam, Níth, Némain, Nóennen, Badb, Blosc, Bloár, Huae, óe Aife la Sruth, Mache, Médé, Mod."

On one foot, and holding up one hand, and breathing one breath she sang all that to them from the door of the house.

Time To Get On Board A New Black Universal Express.

With each new recording Anthony Joseph presents an imaginative, personal vision of contemporary black culture, and The Ark is yet another compelling album by the award-winning Trinidadian poet and musician. This second part of a sequence of two albums launched with last year’s Rowing Up River To Get Our Names Back, finds Joseph giving full vent to his desire to explore many thought-provoking themes. However, there is a specific thread running through the glorious offering of sounds.

”I was especially interested in the idea of using Afrofuturism as a means of using the future in order to correct the wrongs of the past,” explains Joseph. “And so a lot of lyrics reimage or imagine an alternate black history. At the same time there are elements of autobiography.” The aforesaid cultural phenomenon, a view of the black experience through the prism of science fiction and ancient Egypt and Africa, as mapped out by visionaries from music and literature such as Sun Ra, Parliament-Funkadelic and Octavia E. Butler, has previously inspired Joseph. His 2006 novel The African Origins Of UFOs was a multi-hued work, and the new music shows how Joseph

has, much like all significant artists, gone on to broaden his conceptual palette, creating beguiling new stories and images set to startling rhythms and tones. Tracks such as ‘James’, with its taut, crisp bass and dubbed-up brass, and ‘Transposition Of Space (Glissant)’, a potent evocation of the influential Martiniquan theorist set in a haze of jazz guitar and ambient synthesizers, are marvels of text-sound painting.

As for ‘Baron Samedi’, shaped by a languid, almost wounded guitar line and slow rise of horns that frame Joseph’s journey to the ‘mountain of fire, almost touching the sky’ it is an epic blend of commanding vocal delivery and dramatic sonic tapestry.

Joseph led the Spasm band in the early 2000s and recorded well-received albums such as Bird Head Son and Time, in which songs were largely based on spirituals or chants enhanced by improvisation. But his musical curiosity has naturally led to collaborations, and the new work is produced by Dave Okumu, the prodigiously talented guitarist-vocalist-composer known as the leader of Mercury Music Prize-nominated The Invisible, and who was also a member of the seminal band Jade Fox.

Having first performed together at a show curated by influential saxophonist-flautist Shabaka Hutchings at the storied Total Refreshment Centre In London during lockdown, Joseph and Okumu struck up a rapport that further developed when the former guested on he latter’s album. With the connection made Joseph knew Okumu was the ideal producer for this latest project, which has a freewheeling, almost black psychedelic thing. After sifting through demos and loops the guitarist made on pro-tools the poet started to live with the music. Many months later words began to take shape. Joseph then went into the studio with Okumu’s band and set about creating a magnum opus. Boasting a stellar cast such as vocalist Eska Mtungwazi, trumpeter Byron Wallen and keyboardist Nick Ramm, The Ark is a highly intricate musical mosaic framed by simmering funk grooves, wily jazz improvisation and haunting dub effects. Through the use of many genres the music has simply become its own genre.

The Ark can be perceived as a vessel or means of transport to new worlds, along the lines of Sun Ra’s Ark or Funkadelic’s Mothership, and the material it contains is a unique blend of who Anthony Joseph is and how he sees the world and society in these stimulating, challenging times. “It balances the personal with the universal in a much more vulnerable, accessible way than on previous albums,” Joseph explains.

“It has become less about a personal experience and more about a collective, communal experience in which the artist is conduit, messenger, urban griot.”

Ataxia return to Planet E with two club-optimized cuts that capture their rolling, characterful approach to the authentic roots of Detroit's electronic culture. Marking the duo's return to Planet E following 2020's Oblivion EP, both tracks deliver energy tapped from a fundamental understanding of house and techno, equally charged with their punk and DIY background.

Immediately establishing a deep, hypnotic beat, 'The Whistles' expands into a collage of unruly samples that tour the club, the street and the true characters between. Playfully hinting at the tension between Detroit's party people and those who would like the music turned down, the track is a steamrolling club cut that finds Ataxia going wild with their most psychedelic studio trickery.

'Hocus On Pocus' is a tightly wound, punchy psychedelic wormhole of analogue FX and rubbery basslines, adding layers of pressure and surprising sonic twists. The result is an offbeat banger in the spirit of Planet E's wildest moments; primed for the dancefloor but with personality to spare.

Details marks SCHiLLiNG's return after years of research, above all on himself. It brings together the practices that have become essential to him: composition, sampling, sonic patchworks, and a palette that mirrors the full spectrum of his musical identity, from Rock'n'Roll to Trip-Hop and Ambient. Details is rich in small edits, hidden layers, fragile textures, and fragments that reveal themselves slowly. Yet the word carries a deeper meaning: what truly matters is often the smallest element, what doesn't appear clearly at first glance or on first listen, yet quietly holds the core of everything. The detail as the very pulse of one's inner world. Across 14 tracks, the album unfolds as a diverse journey, carefully shaped yet open enough to allow unexpected elements and subtle imperfections to remain part of its flow. The structure is not binding, you can begin from any track and embark on your own path through it. Each piece contributes to a wider arc without overpowering the others. The album includes collaborations with several artists who lent their talent to the project; their names appear in the credits of the physical release. In many ways, they embody the very idea behind the title: individual presences, each bringing their own nuance, forming a whole together. After all, fragments, in their union, shape the larger totality. Details doesn't ask to be consumed in a specific way, fast or slow, close or distant. It simply is what it is

For its 30th anniversary, Kruder & Dorfmeister’s DJ-Kicks is available for the first time in mixed form on 3LP, remastered by Bernie Grundman and packaged in a special box set including original imagery. Kruder & Dorfmeister's rendition of the series created an era defining moment, which tied together a glowing array of musical registers. The Viennese downtempo royalty blended a fusion of slowed down moments across many genres with rolling Drum and Bass from the likes of Aquasky, the melting acid lines of deep Hardfloor and the 90s boom bap sampling, smoked out atmospherics of Thievery Corporation amongst many more.

These masters of mood channeled the sound of a moment with their DJ-Kicks, which still retains a certified cinematic sheen, the patina of the real – curation and mixing at its most playful and refined. It remains to this day one of the most recognizable DJ-Kicks and mixes of all time. Containing two certified cuts from K&D themselves; the wooze is strong on “High Noon” with Dorfmeister's intoxicating jazz flute licks and a trembling harmonica atop a mirage of breaks. Their DJ-Kicks original and legendary tune “Black Baby” closes the mix providing a piece of grandeur, riding off into the distance deep to the vanishing point.

When the mix dropped in 1996, the slo-beat pioneers were among the hottest producers in the dance universe. Even though they only produced two unreleased maxis, names like Count Basie, Bomb The Bass, Alex Reece or United Future Organization had some of their tracks remixed by these exceptional producers. Rumour has it during the work for DJ-Kicks and their debut album they refused doing remixes for U2, Grace Jones, Elvis Costello and the Fantastic Four! ‘DJ-Kicks: Kruder & Dorfmeister’ took its place in the pantheon a long while back, effortless in its ability to traverse sounds, styles and tempos while retaining a selection which remains timelessly recognisable as: Kruder & Dorfmeister.

Australian composer-performers Judith Hamann and James Rushford have worked together in countless projects for two decades, perhaps most notably in Golden Fur, their trio with Sam Dunscombe. Black Truffle is pleased to announce Midmeste, their first work as a duo. Its title is Middle English for ‘the middlemost point’, alluding to how the piece builds on the points of overlap between the highly personalised musical languages Hamann and Rushford have developed in recent years. Performed on cello and a variety of pipe organs, Midmeste is a spacious, sometimes unsettling exploration of their shared interest in alternative tunings, psychoacoustic phenomena, the physical properties of their instruments, and the usually peripheral sounds generated by the performing body.

Beginning with a sequence of austerely vibrato-less harmonics from Hamann's cello, trailed by Rushford's whistling portative organ tones, the music soon expands into a slow-moving melodic wander, pausing at times to linger over an uncomfortable harmony or particularly resonant cello tone. Hamann and Rushford have long histories of engagement with pre-Classical European musical traditions, having in past projects performed and radically extended the work of Solage, Louis Couperin, Johann Conrad Beissell and other composers. Here they use a 15th century song by John Dunstaple, ‘O rosa bella’, which returns throughout the piece, distorted, aerated and splayed into new forms.

Developed while the two shared residencies at Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart in 2020 and La Becque on Lake Geneva in 2023, Midmeste integrates recordings made (at at the invitation of the Biennale Son) on the organ of the Basilica St Valere in Sion, Switzerland—the world’s oldest playable organ, built in the early 15th century. Played by both Rushford and Hamann, the instrument’s idiosyncratic features, including bellows pumped manually using massive wooden beams, are integrated into the music through amplification. Creaks and thumps locate the music physically both in the performers’ bodies and the specific site of its making. Moving through a series of distinct episodes across its forty-minute span, Midmeste makes space for near-silent duets of high harmonics and hissing air, moments where twittering high tones and rumbling sub-bass could be electronic, and static fields that unexpectedly blossom into almost Romantic harmonies.

Listeners familiar with Hamann and Rushford’s work will find many familiar features here: the stunningly rich cello tones, their patient sustain allowing heightened awareness of the inner life of sound and its interactions with the environment; the care with which acoustic space is activated, becoming at times a third instrumental voice; the attention to fragile, unstable sonorities that sometimes have a comic edge. A major work from two key figures in contemporary experimental music, Midmeste synthesises rigorous exploration of fundamental questions of sound and performance with an unapologetic embrace of beauty.

A cult electronic artefact from 1999 resurfaces here as DHS's 'From Outer Space' lands once more on wax. Ben Stokes' project has always thrived on the fringes of breakbeat and acid experimentation. Stretching across 12 minutes, 'From Outerspace' is a patiently unfurling trip built on hypnotic loops, eerie atmospherics and a restless low end that never quite settles. Fairground oddities, UFO signals and disembodied shrieks drift in and out of focus to tease the floor before locking into a rugged, heads-down stride. On the flip, 'DHS Theme 2014' and 'Voodoo Breaks' extend the sampledelic ritual with squelch and understated menace.

The return of Jonne Lydén aka 53X is an exhilarating welcome for Emotional Especial with 4 more seismic analogue psychedelic jams that are becoming recognisably a unique and hypnotic statement.

Lydén’s studio time is distillation for personal contemplation and perfection just 3 releases in 5 years that are worth the wait. The heady demand for his debut ‘Synapse’ and the following ‘Zen ‘23’ on Especial (limited repress incoming!) show constant development a sound of widescreen technoscope where dub beats trance pyrotechnics and 303 mind-melt swirling in a cosmic matter.

His return takes this further his music heritage in Finland’s hardcore punk scene to finding the techno of Detroit and Berlin before submerging in synths and drum programming jamming recording and mixing these trip-out electronic journeys live.

This heavy 4/4 jack is apparent on opening Sanctuary. Like his recent outings ‘Radar’ found on the Especial 50th “sampler” release ‘Gracias Especial’ (EES050) and also ‘Simulaato’ hidden away on blink and you miss it cult label Avidya (AVI003) this is a pure undiluted bang. Straight forward heavy bass kicking charged with acid 303 and monotonic vocal insights the track is a flourishing temple a call of embrace.

The eponymous Cyan Haze showcases 53X’s cinematic finest panoramic audio and sound design creating expansive phonics. BPMs drop samples flourish around break drops and rolling bass – breathing looping shouting lifting.

Owls enlightens. Hardware rumbles cerebral a temporal universe awakening. The collage of found sound successive sequential all encased by hypnotic broken chords rolling bass and melancholic piano refrain. Meta worming braindance ecstatic tribal industrial gliding by Shiva into the night.

Dust closes apt its basement collage pounds Lydén to techno genesis. Proto-zeitgeist steppa dark room incantation pulling and expanding the fantasy to strange dreamscapes. Reincarnation and hope in 2026.

Mit „You“ veröffentlichte Boytronic 1983 einen der prägendsten Synth-Pop-Klassiker der frühen 80er Jahre. Der Song steht exemplarisch für den elektronischen Zeitgeist seiner Ära: melancholische Melodien, klare Synthesizer-Sounds und emotionale Vocals verbinden sich zu einem zeitlosen Werk, das bis heute nichts von seiner Faszination verloren hat.

Endlich ist „You“ wieder erhältlich – und zwar als streng limitierte Vinyl-Edition auf farbigem Vinyl. Diese Neuauflage richtet sich gleichermaßen an langjährige Fans, Sammler und Liebhaber klassischer elektronischer Musik, die den authentischen Sound der frühen Synth-Pop-Ära in hochwertiger analoger Form erleben möchten.

"Over the past three decades, Philipp Lauer has produced an incredible body of work, deploying a myriad of aliases, both as a solo artist and as a part of collaborative projects. From his hardware-steeped Frankfurt studio Pyramide 2, he has built this catalogue through original material and remix commissions, taking on the full spectrum of electronic music while retaining an unmistakable signature. He combines a hands-on approach to rhythm and composition with a DIY MO and a love of big hooks. The level of expertise at hand seems to facilitate a playfulness that subtly permeates all layers of his work. He's a pop melody natural who just so happens to love fiddling with synthesizers, drum machines, and effects an equal amount. All of these qualities are exemplified on "Embalmed In Martino": Lauer's four-track ode to the Belgian Martino sauce, a spicy tomato-based condiment, and arguably the essential ingredient to top off the namesake raw meat sandwich. On "Embalmed", which makes use of instrumentation that would fit right in on an early eighties Manchester cut, and "Martino", where a sturdy, electroclash flavored arp bass provides the stamina, a slew of big and small riffs easily work their way in, thirsting for our ears. On the other side, "Transactional" combines Miami basslines and similarly electro-fundamental twinkling synth work with a flanger-laced 4/4 beat, while "Don't You Know" features soaring synthwave patterns and the only vocal samples on the EP. Both sport rich arrangements as well, right down to the cowbell overdubs. Lauer's often lauded for his "summery sound". In this light ALT026 lands right on time - yet we might disagree here, as it's suited for all seasons, and all terrains, both the shiny festival grounds and the dim-lit club floors."

Repress

Underground stalwarts Voodoos & Taboos make their Duality Trax debut alongside a remix from rising talent Bertie, set to drop on November 8th. Now on its seventh release, Holly Lester’s vinyl imprint blends seasoned pioneers with the next generation of producers. A serendipitous moment at London’s E1 in 2023 was the genesis for the labels latest release, when DT label head Holly Lester unknowingly dropped a Voodoos & Taboos track only for the duo to walk in mid-way. Already known for their standout releases on iconic labels like Phonica, Bordello a Parigi, and Palms Trax's
CWPT, this chance encounter sparked a creative connection between Holly and the pair.

‘Time Out’ kicks things off with swirling synths and the duo's signature alien electronics, set to a playful breaks infused rhythm and morphing bassline, as command and control rings out overhead. ‘Endless Game’ comes with the usual V&T trimmings; an infectious bassline and with a scattering of curious sounds and samples, with a healthy dose of italo-inspired groove - the type of track reserved for bringing a dash of joy to the dance­oor amidst a heads down body-moving groove. On the B-side, Australian newcomer Bertie steps up with her remix of ‘Time Out’, following her breakout EP and high-pro¬le remix by Ciel. In a short space of time, Bertie has already developed a signature sound injecting her productions with nostalgic 90s house and contemporary subtext; glued together by crunchy drums and a penchant for wide-eyed rhythms. Sticking to her guns, Bertie’s ­ip of ‘Time Out’ packs a serious punch, showingwhy she’s an artist on the rise. The EP closes out with the psychedelic ‘All Action’ with its vocoder vocal samples, bubbling acid and teleporting top-lines.

One of the most notable features of the duo's music is their ability to let things evolve over time, their music often accompanied by strong storytelling, an art that has been almost lost in today’s era of instant grati¬cation; their instrumentation often taking on a life form of their own and dosed with surprises.

2026 Repress

After the promo version flew off the sleeves, now comes the full picture sleeve, yellow vinyl version of French live trio, Oden & Fatzo’s chart topping, house smash hit, ‘Lauren’ limited to 1000 copies. A bootleg experiment that got out of hand, Oden & Fatzo’s Radio 1 A-listed single is the accidental hit that everyone is talking about.

So how do you go about making an ‘accidental hit’, by accident of course... The track came about when French DJ Fatzo tried to demonstrate the difference between an edit and a remix to his dad, “... I took a song from the band Men I Trust, sped it up and added a drum beat and violin. After playing it to Oden, they loved it, and in turn, added their secret ingredients.”

Unlike the name might suggest, Oden & Fatzo consists of three people: The Parisian underground collective are a powerful fusion of the electronic live duo Oden, and house DJ Fatzo. Back in 2020 a bootleg version of ‘Lauren’ was uploaded to the YouTube channel of the electronic label Novaj, kicking off an unforeseeable wave of enthusiasm. That video is now approaching 3 million views. Enthralled listeners begged for a commercial release, a year later Ministry of Sound/B1 cleared the sample and the track started its march across the airwaves and up the charts.

With its captivating beat and nostalgic catchiness, ‘Lauren’ makes up for the party nights lost to the pandemic lockdowns, and sees people dancing in their homes and on the streets, as concerts, parties, and live sets are finally making a return. As the trio put it: “This song was all about hope, freedom and a party atmosphere at a time when you couldn't go anywhere. We think it gave everyone who heard it a little bit of an escape, including us.”

Meanwhile in the UK, the track has seen early support, not only by names like Franky Wah, Danny Howard, Pete Tong, Annie Mac, Jax Jones, Jodie Harsh, HUGEL, Bakermat, Cut Snake, Salomé Le Chat, Piem, David Gausa and many more, but also by the incredibly ecstatic party crowds.


Press:

6th week A List at Radio 1
Plays from Radio 2 and added to Hits Radio Pride playlist
Airplay up +3% week on week
#1 Cool Cuts Chart
#1 Upfront Club Chart
#1 Pop Club Chart
#5 UK Shazam Chart
Holding at #12 on Shazam – over 200k tags for the track in the UK to date
Over 8.6m+ streams WW now across all platforms
Over 200k+ views for the music video
Averaging 50k daily streams in the UK
47k+ sales across UK OCC to date
#1 on Beatports Deep House for 16 consecutive weeks