Got dust? Krash Slaughta has. In fact, for him, Everything’s Turning Up Dusty right about now. Surely this can’t be his brand-new double-vinyl LP journey into sound which finally realises an ambition to create a cut n paste opus held since his pre-turntable days of pause-button mixes? It certainly can! The project comes in four parts corresponding to four sides of 12″ vinyl which weigh in at approximately fifteen minutes each and each side of which took around a month to make!
Man, that is epic! When did he ever get the time and concentration to put such a beast together? Wait – are we talking about yet another Krash Slaughta lockdown project? We are! And this bad boy stitches together vintage vocal loops, rare breaks, library records and obscure samples along with remixes of Stetsasonic, O.C., Tanya Winley, Jurassic 5, Edan, Nas, ODB, Gang Starr, Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud (any one of which would be straight fire on 7″or 12″) along with pretty much whatever the hell else he wanted to put on there. Pressed at 45 rpm, this one features two differently-coloured slabs of wax: one mauve and one blue while even the centre labels and cover art get in on the cut n paste vibe having been created by hand by Krash homie Saleem Andrew McGroarty. As with previous such efforts from the KS camp, there will be no re-press! Sleep at your peril.
Suche:el fin
NOAR is a young collective of enthusiasts in electronic music from Dresden.
The aim is to bring locals from dresden and eastern germany on the screen of like minded people. The scene is bursting with talents and audiophiles of several generations and therefore we want to give these talents a platform and make their output accessible to like-minded people.
‘Clone Scratch’ by Friedrich Ernst comes with a distinct electro vibe for build ups in a club and vocals in dreamy watery manner reminds us what’s up to us.
‘locknr01’ by The Isolator gives us a cold industrial goosebumps. A whole factory is under pressure performing that straight electro tune while heavy strings foreshadow its collapse. Here and there screws turn out of the steel beams, soft like bubbles. You have to take cover to avoid being shot.
A3 by Anachronism follows straight up. ‘Lost Control by Distance’ shows us what unconsciousness feels like. In this breakbeat thunderstorm we are sitting in a crashing airplane not quite ready for what's coming next.
With ‘Establishment’ the thunderstorm lightens and suddenly soft sunrays from Planetary Secrets come through the cloud cover. You are dreaming with soft melodies warming up your face while your body is moving to uk influenced breakbeat.
The duo KAWA KAWA is making their release debut with B2. This track clearly serves you on peak times with lovely and rough vocals while its energy easily lets you understand what a desire means.
The EP is finished with a fast electro belter from Otis Key. With it’s minimalistic approach
‘Copy Natural Processes at the Nanoscale’ lets you dive into the grid of existence with your electron microscope. From time to time you can see light coming from underneath with cold strings layered between the rhythm.
Dude what if...Is it… the matrix?
Chicago house artists don't come much bigger or more accomplished than Boo Williams. The man has a famous signature sound that is full of party but never short on class. His chunky drums are always the foundational element and they come embellished with superb synth work. This new EP on Pariter finds him lean into tech with the loopy acid squelches of '303 Effect' keeping you in suspense, 'Acid Smoke' layering soft 303 lines into a punchy deep house cut and then comes the EP highlight, 'Extension Time'. It's a zoned-out roller with tender piano chords turning you inwards for deep reflection as the rubbery drums keep things moving.
"Multila" was the third album by Finnish producer Sasu Ripatti under the moniker Vladislav Delay. It compiles the "Huone" and "Ranta" 12"EPs Ripatti released on Basic Channel's Chain Reaction label in 1999 and 2000. The album features six hauntingly murky dub ambient tracks and the impressive 22-minute techno odyssey "Huone."
More than 20 years after its original release as a full-length CD album (Chain Reaction), these iconic recordings of modern electronic music are now available again as a double vinyl edition, featuring a revised artwork by Marc Hohmann that matches the new design of the "Whisteblower" and "Entain" reissues.
"Life films us exactly. Our experience of it, though, lies beyond images and descriptions. Emotions, coming in irrational flashes, are non-figurable. We lose our little connection to them very quickly. We look for forms which promise to take us to our own experience. We construct forms with this in mind: that they can take us to meet the subconscious. Multila's construction is principled this way. Fragments of experience, moments without definition or localisation are captured within tiny fragments of time and then within one's mindspace. We can look into it and see that experience has left some of its data to us. As we receive it, again and again, we are connected and reconnected to certain indefinable moments. Both during and after its recording, Multila is a tool to learn about the unintentional states of us. It is a way to see our own emotional loops. Multila is a soundtrack for vision." - Vladislav Delay in the year 2000
Foundation Music Productions take two of the standout tracks from Lady Blackbird’s critically acclaimed debut album ‘Black Acid Soul’ and enlist the expertise of some of Jazz’s finest talents, Greg Foat and Emma-Jean Thackray, to step up and remix these absorbing cuts.
On the A side, the much-revered London based, jazz and electronic composer/producer Emma-Jean Thackray delivers a downtempo and entrancing remix of ‘Blackbird’, flexing the jazz elements of the original into a smooth and encapsulating mix that's primed to lose yourself in.
Head to the B to find Greg Foat’s irresistibly smooth production touch with his remix of ‘Collage’, layering floaty percussion, dreamy organ chords and delicate guitars to create a sun-kissed, laid back vibe that shines a light on the scintillating vocals.
This new album "Smile Again" a real homecoming for the artist. From pop and sweet melodies, soaring hearts, warm electric guitars, nylons, ukulele and cavaquinho, to the catchy and warm refrains, weaving a little more this solar and soft universe which made the signature of the very first Indie Pop Electro hits of the artist. With this album Broken Back signs his big comeback on the front of the French Indie electro pop scene, in media, radio, and live throughout France.
Italian producer NND returns after release on Exarde with different vibes:
A1 elegance track produced during the pandemic has nostalgic vibes, a touch of acid, and techno beats. A2 influenced by the 80s of the italo disco mixed with house rhythms, a journey to be enjoyed from start to finish. Side B is the most dancefloor part of the record characterized by darker sounds, techno and electro sounds mark the time of this side.
Chansons for the replicates. Hymns for the algorythmed. Operatic minimal wave. Spoken words. Otherworldly electronica. Oh pop, Oh techno. Oh Pose Dia. Now on R.i.O. simulating herself on an album full of weeping synthlines, melding melodies, unreeling theatre between the notes, camouflaging in fashion and rhyme. Impulsive, destructive, yet so perceptive, gently repetitive. “Simulate Yourself” is her second album since “Front View,” released in 2020 on Bureau B.
Now the Hamburg-based filmmaker, DJ and musician Helena Ratka, aka Pose Dia, brings a notion of digital archeology. Nine otherworldly chanting cold blooded Lieder and tracks, manic, longing for the real in the un- real. The matter of her poetic-abstract lyrics is rhizomatic, linking psychological “Suspiria” fantasy with sociology, media theory and all that never obsolete post-structuralism. Hyperreality for the hyped. Fully illusionistic. Wrapped in touching airs, drilling into cold waving Risiko spheres. X-mal rotating towards novel corners, shading light on old ones. Track make-up transforms into lacquered songs. Fog and fire. Night and light. Hairspray and cigarettes. Pose Dia transfers fine-tuned dissatisfaction to all those fully satisfied. Welcome to the other side of the Ocean.
Boss Priester makes his LOCUS debut with his bustling four-track ‘Hotel Dijon’ EP.
Working hard in the studio to develop his own take on minimal-leaning house and techno, The Hague-based DJ/ producer Boss Priester is starting to reap the rewards and emerge as another hotshot from the country’s hotbed of electronic talent. Racking up support from the likes of Dungeon Meat, East End Dubs, Michel de Hey, Dr. Banana and Alec Falconer, his releases on What NxT and Dark Side Of The Sun have accompanied appearances at the likes of Thuishaven, Colorado Charlie and Lovelee. Another fan of the young Dutchman is FUSE and LOCUS boss Enzo Siragusa, and late September brings a first appearance on the latter imprint as he makes his label debut with his four-track ‘Hotel Dijon’ EP.
Title track ‘Hotel Dijon’ comes loaded with raw drum licks, cosmic synths and menacing, swirling low-ends for a heavy-hitting opener set to cause serious dance floor damage, while the slinking ‘ROF66’ mixes eerie stabs with shuffling drums and bouncy baselines for another heavyweight anthem. Next, ‘SUP01’ keeps things ticking nicely on a similar tip with yet more punchy percussion arrangements linking with playful sound design peppered with zippy FX, before closing the show with the hopped-up, bass-driven sonics of final effort ‘Wek’.
Boss Priester ‘Hotel Dijon’ EP drops via LOCUS on 22nd September 2023.
twelve.to.zero is back with its second release, signed by Crihan. "While You Sleep EP" finds Alin shaping three slow-burning and hypnotic pieces of minimal dance music brimming with detail deeply rooted in the early years of organic micro-house.
A-side's 'The Visitor' (A1) opens the EP emersed in engrossing, cinematic textures and heavy doses of syncopated acoustic drum samples. Elements ebb and flow on top of a highly minimalistic 4/4 structure, creating a contemplative locomotive composition reminiscent of the a-rpia-r school.
Flip-side's 'Lust' (B1) feels like a continuation of the previous track - driving, mysterious, mesmerizing - bubbling with vocal samples, orchestral textures, and a distinctly subtle micro-house swing. 'The Chase' (B2) closes the EP with a fresh rhythmic flavour: odd drum arrangements and melodic sequences take centre stage, flowing on top of rolling basslines of deeply enigmatic character. Introspective piano chords razor through its swingy rhythmic patterns, folding the sonic space with elegance, proving Alin's innate talent for avant-guard minimal music.
Repress.
Back in 2015, Japanese DIY house pioneer Soichi Terada stepped back into the limelight courtesy of Rush Hour's 'Sounds From The Far East', a Hunee curated retrospective of material first released on his own Far East Recording label in the 1990s and early 2000s. Buoyed by the positive response and renewed interest in his work, Terada went back into studio to record his first new album of house music for over 25 years, Asakusa Light.
Developed over 18 months, Terada tried to recreate the mental and physical processes that led to the creation of his acclaimed earlier work. Those familiar with Terada’s celebrated, dancefloor-focused sound of the 1990s – a vibrant, atmospheric, and emotive take on deep house powered by the twin attractions of groove and melody – will find much to enjoy on Asakusa Light.
“I tried to recall my feelings 30 years ago, but when I tried it, I found it super difficult,” he explains. “I didn’t even know what I thought about myself five years ago, and the mental metabolic cycle seems to be faster than I thought. I tried different methods, including digging up my old MIDI data and composing by remembering old experiences. With the help of Rush Hour, I found some of the light from my heart that I had 30 years ago. I nicknamed the light I found in my heart, ‘Asakusa Light’.”
Produced using the very same synthesizers and drum machines that powered his 1990s work, the album is a joyous, colourful and life-affirming collection of timeless house music that not only recalls Terada’s own impeccable back catalogue, but also that of similarly celebrated contemporaries such as the Burrell Brothers or Ben Cenac (Dream 2 Science, Sha-Lor).
Terada, who has spent much of the last two decades writing video game music, has always had a gift for combining warm, undulating synthesizer basslines and perfectly programmed machine drums with stirring chords, smile-inducing melodies and mellow musical flourishes. It’s this immersive, sun-kissed and tuneful trademark style that takes centre stage on Asakusa Light, an album for the ages.
The set begins with the alien-sounding chords, soft-touch percussion and dawn-friendly warmth of ‘Silent Chord’ and ends on a high via the bouncing string stabs, starlight chords and thickset grooves of ‘Blinker’; in between, you’ll find a deluge of effortlessly feelgood music that’s the aural equivalent of a dopamine rush at sunrise.
There are subtle variations aplenty throughout the album – see the 8-bit lead lines and pulsing electronic textures of ‘Takusambient’, the vintage Tony Humphries flex of ‘Diving Into Minds’ and the effortlessly funky ‘Marimbau’ – but it’s the uniquely atmospheric, vivid and tactile nature of Terada’s loved-up sound that resonates. After well over 30 years in house music, the light in his heart is shining brighter than ever.
Repress!
The boys from Munich are back on RNT with a 4-tracker of serious flavor! 'Express Lane' launches the 12' on the disco highway for a wild ride of cheeky vocals, horn stabs, and vocoded synths, then veers south for some North-African New Wave with 'Libyan Sun'.The B side kicks off with the Afro-disco monster 'Don't Oho', already a staple in RNT sets and then finishes with the minimalist electro-soul bounce of 'Emergency Loop'. Sure-shots, the lot of 'em!
Carved out from between the cracks of life over a 2 year period, Low Flung presents his eighth full length album ‘The Wheel’. Together, the 11 tracks provide a space to process and sit with difficult change. This takes the form of microscopic minimalist landscapes. Presented in both audio and physical form as micro grooves on a 12” vinyl.
At times the sound wanders and walks, other times it remains still, clear and precise. The omni-present artifacts found in ‘The Wheel’ are left to breathe a different life during each listen. Drones act like familiar trails losing their path as space transforms like a breeze over a table of sand. Hyper focused spores evolve around blurred waves of time. Electronic tones are captured flowing to the rhythm of a decaying natural world.
‘The Wheel’ is a patchwork of sonic experiments made using modular synthesis, fixed architecture synthesis, Buchla Music Easel (replica), outboard effects, cassette manipulation techniques, samplers and field recordings taken along the texturally rich and historically questionable eastern coastline of Australia.
The tracks have been composed with a materiality that embraces the acoustics of different listening environments. Much like mood, this means each listening experience is unique due to the natural acoustics of your listening space. The sounds on this album embrace this phenomena, creating a rich, visceral listening experience that slowly scratches away at discrete moments of time
Rather than attempting to traverse new sonic fields of experimentation in ‘The Wheel’, the album touches on the various spaces Danny has explored over the past ten years as an Audio Visual artist. Although technically eighth, it would be more fitting to say this album draws a clear line from ‘Blow Waves (2018)’ to ‘Outside The Circle (2020)’ to become the third and final chapter in the expanded non linear, unintentional landscape series. Serendipitous that each was conceived over 2 year periods of time.
While the key focus is sitting with difficult change, this album is also a celebration of any moment you might find yourself in. Good, bad, easy or hard, this album is an attempt to help with feeling content wherever you are along your path. With each cycle a new context.
Bereits im Kindesalter lernte die junge Sängerin Klavierspielen und schrieb mit acht Jahren schon ihre ersten eigenen Songs. Im Alter von 12 Jahren gewann sie einen Talentwettbewerb, zwei Jahre später erschien ihr Debütalbum „Birdy“, das ihr nicht nur den internationalen Durchbruch bescherte, sondern auch 9x Platin. Zu ihren erfolgreichsten Singles zählt bis heute das Bon Iver Cover ihrer Version zu „Skinny Love“. Auf dem neuen Album „Portraits“ können die Fans sich auf einen neuen Sound der Künstlerin freuen: „Es ist ein Album, das von wichtigen Künstlern der Vergangenheit und Gegenwart inspiriert wurde. Der kunstvolle, jenseitige Pop von Caroline Polachek, Christine and the Queens und Angel Olsen, aber auch die eindringliche, gotische Seite von Kate Bush, das Melodrama von Prince, die elegante Fremdartigkeit der Stimme von Beth Gibbons von Portishead und die Synthesizer-lastige Raffinesse von The Blue Nile“ finden Eingang in das neue Album.
Bereits im Kindesalter lernte die junge Sängerin Klavierspielen und schrieb mit acht Jahren schon ihre ersten eigenen Songs. Im Alter von 12 Jahren gewann sie einen Talentwettbewerb, zwei Jahre später erschien ihr Debütalbum „Birdy“, das ihr nicht nur den internationalen Durchbruch bescherte, sondern auch 9x Platin. Zu ihren erfolgreichsten Singles zählt bis heute das Bon Iver Cover ihrer Version zu „Skinny Love“. Auf dem neuen Album „Portraits“ können die Fans sich auf einen neuen Sound der Künstlerin freuen: „Es ist ein Album, das von wichtigen Künstlern der Vergangenheit und Gegenwart inspiriert wurde. Der kunstvolle, jenseitige Pop von Caroline Polachek, Christine and the Queens und Angel Olsen, aber auch die eindringliche, gotische Seite von Kate Bush, das Melodrama von Prince, die elegante Fremdartigkeit der Stimme von Beth Gibbons von Portishead und die Synthesizer-lastige Raffinesse von The Blue Nile“ finden Eingang in das neue Album.
- A1: Here Lies Love Feat. Florence Welch (Florence & The Machine)
- A2: Every Drop Of Rain Feat. Candie Payne & St. Vincent
- A3: You'll Be Taken Care Of Feat. Tori Amos
- A4: The Rose Of Tacloban Eat. Martha Wainwright
- A5: A Perfect Hand Feat. Steve Earle
- B1: Eleven Days Feat Cyndi Lauper
- B2: When She Passed By Feat. Allison Moorer
- B3: Walk Like A Woman Feat. Charmaine Clamor
- B4: Don't You Agree? Feat. Róisín Murphy
- B5: Pretty Face Feat. Camille
- B6: Ladies In Blue Feat. Theresa Andersson
- C1: Dancing Together Feat Sharon Jones
- C2: How Are You? Feat. Nellie Mckay
- C3: Men Will Do Anything Feat. Alice Russell
- C4: The Whole Man Feat. Kate Pierson
- C5: Never So Big Feat. Sia
- C6: Please Don't Feat. Santi White
- D1: American Troglodyte
- D2: Solano Avenue Feat. Nicole Atkins
- D3: Order 1081 Feat. Natalie Merchant
- D4: Seven Years Feat. Shara Worden (My Brightest Diamond)
- D5: Why Don't You Love Me? Feat. Tori Amos & Cyndi Lauper
David Byrne & Fatboy Slim’s acclaimed 2010 album Here Lies Love receives its first-ever vinyl release to coincide with a new production opening on Broadway this summer. Here Lies Love is a double-disc song cycle – improbably poignant, decidedly surreal, surprisingly thought provoking – about the rise and fall of the Philippines' notorious Imelda Marcos. It was conceived by David Byrne; composed by Byrne and DJ/recording artist Fatboy Slim, AKA Norman Cook; and performed by a dream cast drawn from the worlds of indie rock, alt country, R&B and pop. Byrne's taste in collaborators is as imaginative as it is impeccable, including Cyndi Lauper (who recounts, to lighthearted disco beats, Imelda's courtship with Ferdinand Marcos), Steve Earle (as the power-hungry Ferdinand), Dap-Kings vocalist Sharon Jones (recalling Imelda's introduction into New York society) and Natalie Merchant (as spurned Imelda confidante Estrella, anticipating the onset of martial law). Along with vocals turns from such stars as Tori Amos and the B-52's Kate Pierson, Byrne works with rising indie rockers St. Vincent and My Brightest Diamond; New York chanteuses Nellie McKay and Martha Wainwright; and dance-music divas Róisín Murphy and Santigold. Byrne himself appears as the voice of imperialistic America on ‘American Troglodyte’, a send-up that wouldn't have seemed out of places in Talking Heads' True Stories.
Byrne originally envisioned this as a musical theatre piece, to be mounted in disco and nightclub settings, reflecting the globe-trotting Marcos' taste for such velvet-roped spots as Studio 54 and Regine's. In 2006, he performed work-in-progress versions to enthusiastic audiences at New York City's Carnegie Hall and the Adelaide Festival in Australia. While plans for a US theatrical production continued to evolve, he delivered this unique recording. The award-winning theatrical production eventually premiered at The Public Theater in New York in 2013, travelled to London’s National Theater for a sold-out run (2014–15), and was remounted at the Seattle Repertory Theater (2017).
Here Lies Love has an effervescent disco feel, redolent of Fatboy Slim's own dance-floor anthems, with warm undercurrents of the Latin rhythms that have percolated through Byrne's recent solo work. The sunny arrangements act in counterpoint to the reality of the Marcos' increasingly repressive regime, reflecting the imagined inner life of the glamour-obsessed Imelda. Explains Byrne, "For me, the darker side of the excesses are, for the most part, a matter of record. A lot of the audience is going to come with that knowledge already. What's more of a challenge is to get inside the head of the person who was behind all of that, and understand what made them tick." Byrne offers no judgment and avoids the obvious – there is no mention of Imelda's infamous shoe collection.
Many of Byrne's lyrics are, astonishingly enough, constructed from actual Imelda quotes, including the project's title, the words that Imelda, now returned to the Philippines from US-assisted exile in Hawaii, would like to have inscribed on her gravestone. In addition to his new liner note, Byrne illustrates the story with archival photos. In a detailed preface, he reveals what drew him to this subject and the bumpy route he took to launch the project and, ultimately, record this album. The booklet is indeed a page-turner, just as Here Lies Love is a wonderfully old-school album that rewards start-to-finish listening. Once again, Byrne – beloved as musician, thinker and bicyclist-about-town – reveals the breadth and singularity of his vision.
The new production of Here Lies Love will premiere at the Broadway Theatre in New York City. Performances begin June 17, ahead of an official opening night on July 20. Tony Award winner Alex Timbers (direction) and Olivier Award nominee Annie-B Parson (choreography) reunite with Byrne (concept, music, and lyrics) and Fatboy Slim (music) to bring Here Lies Love to Broadway, continuing a ten-plus year collaboration on the project. Tom Gandey and J Pardo contribute additional music. Here Lies Love is produced on Broadway by Hal Luftig, Patrick Catullo, Diana DiMenna for Plate Spinner Productions, Clint Ramos, and Jose Antonio Vargas. The staging at the Broadway Theatre will transform the venue’s traditional proscenium floor space into a dance club environment, where audiences will stand and move with the actors. A wide variety of standing and seating options will be available throughout the theatre’s reconstructed space. The producers of Here Lies Love said, “As a team of binational American producers – Filipinos among us – we are thrilled to bring Here Lies Love to Broadway! We welcome everyone to experience this singularly exuberant piece of theatre. The history of the Philippines is inseparable from the history of the United States, and as both evolve, we cannot think of a more appropriate time to stage this show. See you on the dance floor!”
David Byrne’s recent works include the launch of Reasons to be Cheerful, an online magazine focused on solutions-oriented stories about problems being solved all over the world (2019); Joan of Arc: Into the Fire, a theatrical exploration of the historical heroine that premiered at the Public Theater in New York (2017); The Institute Presents: NEUROSOCIETY, a series of interactive environments created in conjunction with PACE Arts + Technology that question human perception and bias (2016); Contemporary Color, an event inspired by the American folk tradition of color guard and performed at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center and Toronto’s Air Canada Centre (2015); Here Lies Love; Love This Giant, a studio album and worldwide tour created with St. Vincent (2012); and How Music Works, a book about the history, experience, and social aspects of music (2012).
Byrne curated Southbank Centre’s annual Meltdown festival in London in 2015. A co-founder of the group Talking Heads (1976–88), he has released eight studio albums as a solo artist and worked on multiple other projects, including collaborations with Brian Eno, Twyla Tharp, Robert Wilson, and Jonathan Demme, among others. He also founded the highly respected record label Luaka Bop. Recognition of Byrne’s various works include Obies, Drama Desk, Lortel, and Evening Standard awards for Here Lies Love; an Oscar, Grammy, and Golden Globe for the soundtrack to Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor; and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with Talking Heads. Byrne’s work as a visual artist has been published and exhibited since his college days, including photography, filmmaking, and writing. He lives in New York City. In addition to 2019’s cast album for American Utopia on Broadway, Nonesuch has released eight other David Byrne records since 2003, including 2018’s American Utopia studio album and two versions of his musical Here Lies Love.
q C6. Please Don't feat. Santi White Santigold
Next up on Toolroom’s 4-track vinyl sampler series is another tasty collab from label founder, Mark Knight with legendary House DJ and producer Todd Terry and the Darryl James & David Anthony Project. Diving straight back into that classic 90’s House sound, Mark Knight delivers a taste of his finest production to date after unearthing Todd Terry’s edit of ‘Buddah’ by Darryl James & David Anthony Project, shaping up a seriously killer reworking of this gem fresh for the dance floor in 2023.
Next up, renowned German selector Eddie Thoneick makes a label debut with his club orientated big room weapon ‘Take It Back’. Taking it back straight through to the dance floor, Eddie Thoneick has become a name synonymous with high quality productions, providing remixes for Armand Van Helden, Steve Angello, Bob Sinclar and David Guetta. Eddie’s chunky production style shines through on ‘Take It Back’, offering up a slice of raw Tech House with deep, rumbling bass lines, metallic percussive elements and a resonating hook which will cause uproar in any club its played in.
Up next is another heater from DJ, producer and Toolroom Academy tutor Pete Griffiths who drops what can only be described as a House anthem in the making, with his brand-new track ‘Get Together’. A peak time record that sees Pete Griffiths dive deep into the sound of 90’s nostalgia, dropping a seriously well-produced and classy House banger. Also featuring on the record is American R&B, Gospel vocalist Ann Nesby, formerly the lead vocalist of the Sounds of Blackness ensemble who brings her powerful vocals to the forefront, elevating this release to anthemic status.
Last but not least, Hungarian duo Muzzaik return to the label with StadiumX on their collab track ‘Echoes’. Together, Muzzaik and StadiumX bring their signature sound to Toolroom with ‘Echoes’, a record that’ll command any dance floor it’s dropped on. Featuring a toughened-up groove, rolling bass line, and chopped vocal cuts mixed with just the right amount of edge.
Kharkiv born artists Komponente & Kurilo have been an integral part of the local scene in the past years both as DJs, Live-Act and Producers.
Now further apart since the beginning of the war they are still united in music and we are happy to finally share this EP with which was originally conceived when both artists were still Kharkiv based during the pandemic.
Kurilo has since made the journey to the New York via Berlin in recent months. While Komponente took refuge in Kyiv for some time after having sat out most of the fighting in and around Kharkiv while lending a helping hand to families and elders who couldn't manage or didn't have the means to leave the city when russia attacked.
At this point we are just happy and thankful to have both of them still with us and to be able to finally get this EP out which by now seems to have travelled from a past life to us in the here and now.
Pandemics or War this is Electronic Music charged with pure emotions produced during one crisis, released during the next and we will still dance to it during whatever comes next!
microCastle’s third offering of 2023 welcomes Ditian back to the label for his first artist EP. Splitting time between Buenos Aires, Berlin and Barcelona, the Argentinean artist has carved out a unique place in the electronic underground over the last half decade. With an immediately recognizable sonic signature, Ditian channels languages of varied musical landscapes, churning them into his own complex rollercoaster of intricate electronica. A sound that is equally at home on rebellious dance floors around the world or in the sweet spot of a late-night leftfield listening session. A short but meticulous discography reflects Ditian's choosy nature; with Exit Strategy, Innervisions and TAU serving as the primary landing spots for his musical output. Having remixed Ivory’s ‘Arpstairs’ for his microCastle debut last summer, a project which was followed by a contribution to Dixon and Ame’s Secret Weapons 15 collection to begin the year, Ditian now returns to the label with a four-track showcase entitled ‘Serpenta’.
The crushing title track crashes in and sets any preconceived ideas of Ditian’s music alight, forecasting jet force propulsions and wild signal bending synths. As somewhat of a departure from his previous experiments, Ditian’s clustered pungi mutations provide an enduring main theme, while a wonderfully warped break is sure to cast a paranoid spell over the dancefloor.
‘Venena’ follows in fine style and further hammers down Ditian’s elusive vision. Dizzying, rapid-fire sequences of rhythm, granular textures and heavily manipulated synths travel to the very edges, while maelstroms of drums and contorted basslines highlight a high-octane second act.
‘Inertia’ lands at the collection’s midway point and does so in remarkably twisted fashion, stepping decisively on the gas and steering into shadowy transgressions. Never one to shy away from darkness or pushing boundaries, Ditian’s metallic storyboarding rises and falls across act one, consciously withholding energy, as grooves pulse and effects orbit, creating tension that eventually gets resolved as clusters burst open and oscillate in kaleidoscopic fashion.
Ditian’s creative attitude reveals itself further on collection closer ‘Influenza’. Presenting some of his most club-adjacent rhythms yet, it’s a clever coax of billowing tones and scrappy melodica which get wrapped up in a concordant fog, eventually getting washed away; because after all, the oceanic drones are all the better when they’re magnified to full size.
Cover art: Mauricio Seidel
Born in Berlin, DJ, producer, and label owner Ben Rau has an unmistakable talent for getting to the wants and needs of the dancefloor. Having experienced the vibrant music scene of Berlin during the mid-'90s, Ben found himself at the heart of one of the most exciting periods in musical history. As the Berlin Wall fell, the city opened its arms to the sounds of house, techno, and trance, propelling Ben into a world of endless inspiration.
After also spending some time living in London, this EP combines the essence of his German roots with the energy of UK’s electronic music scene. He brings plenty of studio skill and musical creativity here, with three varied offerings. The EP opens with ‘Won't Stop’, a powerful track infused with acid influences, headed by a ridiculously catchy vocal. Next up is ‘Drop The Bass’, a psychedelic, mid-tempo chugger adorned with rolling drums. Finally, ‘I Luv It’ closes with playful synth patterns tumbling down over invitingly warm deep house drums.
This is a chunky bass-filled EP, ready to do plenty of damage to any dancefloor.




















