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On this new imprint, we welcome two french producers who love the raw grain of the machines and the dark groove of oscilloscopes. On the A-side, the veteran Kragg, who released some nuggets on Transient Force or Militant Science in the 2000's. On the B-Side, RTR, known for some bomb records on WeMe Records or Analogical Force. From electro to techno, from euphoria to melancholy, here are 6 tracks that will definitely blow your mind, acid junkies !

A noughties classic, an earworming anthem, an eventual schoolyard ringtone favourite; Roman Flügel’s once inescapable ‘Geht’s Noch?’ celebrates turning 21 on Running Back, refreshed and remixed by a scene-spanning set of artists paying keen tribute to its absurdist energy.
Casually released as part of a Cocoon Records compilation in 2004, ‘Geht’s Noch?’ rose from the depths with the support of Sven Väth, becoming an international phenomenon, conquering and uniting the dominant scenes of minimal and electroclash alike. Some have said it laid the foundations for the ‘Dirty Dutch’
house scene, albeit from over the border in Germany.
Well known for injecting much-needed levity into the contemporary club landscape via her Live From Earth parties, DJ Gigola adds additional firepower to ‘Geht’s Noch?’, inducing a planet-shaking kick drum, before sending the track’s signature bleeps into nonsensical Morse code for even greater pleasure. Another rave
culture connoisseur, Luca Lozano, offers two alternate takes; his ‘Technocs’ mix rolls deep with additional cowbells, robotic voice commands and stadium-sized claps. Meanwhile, the ‘Gehts Garage Remix’ draws a savvy connection with the original’s as-yet-untapped UK funky potential.
Peder Mannerfelt, who straddles the line between innovation, functionality, humor and seriousness quite like its original author, takes ‘Geht’s Noch?’ to truly wuthering heights. His remix builds unexpected drama and catharsis around the enduring riff, before a collaboration with studio partner Par Grindvik as Aasthma
spins the club out with a glossy, anime-tinted take, full of whimsy and colour.
And while the digital release of Geht’s Noch? also spans interpretations from Audion, Domnik Eulberg & Moguai, this vinyl release presses Steve Angello vs Who’s Who remix to wax, that which helped take ‘Geht’s Noch?’ out of the underground and into the stratosphere. Twenty years on, and Flügel’s offbeat hit is always ascending. Love it or hate it, ‘Geht’s Noch?' will still get you good.
Words by John Loveless

Life and Death is thrilled to unleash the electrifying debut EP from rising Irish producer Cromby, marking a bold new chapter on DJ Tennis’ genre-defying label. Packed with highvoltage energy, emotional depth, and razor-sharp house production. At its heart is “I’m Coming Back”—a radiant, hands-in-the-air anthem co-crafted with NiKi K. The track also receives a powerful rework from the enigmatic Known Artist, who transforms it into a hypnotic late-night weapon—fusing atmospheric textures with raw emotional drive. Cromby finally concludes with “One More Time”— a colorful house thumper of pure peak time energy, right on cue for the summer festival season ahead.

here may still be electronic music artists in this age of overflow and convenience who follow their own artistic vision regardless of what attention it might bring, if any. With an output that shows individualism, ideas and a signature sound. An ongoing creative process, uncompromising and adventurous, even eccentric, with results of consistent quality and determination. Dennis Busch aka James Din A4 is an archetypical example for this type of artist. He flooded the scene with releases in the 00s with numerous monikers, mostly on his own Esel imprint, and they were all great. On the outside you had his singular artworks (he is also a very accomplished collage artist) and quirkily humorous titles, and on the inside you had his music, also seemingly informed by a collage approach (only with samples), managing to sound focussed and out of focus, often at the same time. If you listen to a James Din A4 track it probably is simultaneously playful and disciplined. Anything can happen, and a lot if it actually does.

For quite some years, music releases by James Din A 4 were scarce. Jan Jelinek, an ardent fan, re-interpreted some of his favourites from the vast back catalogue as an album in 2014, then ten years later the album „Ins Licht“ appeared, and it quite nonchalantly continued what seemed to have stopped, right on the same level of greatness. And now we know that it still continues, as the label Live At Robert Johnson releases the new album „Never Look Back“. Its title should not be taken too literally, as all the trademarks of his musical legacy are perfectly intact. You will find the light and air that seems to seep through the sounds, the frisky structural details, the jolly melodies, the subtle deepness, the minimalistic yet not too strict grooves.

But do not be mistaken, this album is not looking back too much, of course. After all, this is music that is still evolving. Let’s hope for more glimpses of James Din A4‘s special and spacious world, they are ever
needed.

An intersection of original dubs and outernational electronica, Ashtech’s Walkin’ Target, produced and co-written by Gaudi, was originally released in 2007 on cult Canadian label Interchill and is now presented for the first time on vinyl.

Tightly structured, Walkin’ Target revolves around Ashtech’s earth rattling basslines and Gaudi's solid production aesthetic, with three of the tracks featuring the inimitable vocal stylings of Cheshire Cat (Leftfield). A former bass player with Almamegretta, Ashtech’s intuitive style combined with Gaudi’s melodic flair to create a joyful collection of groove orientated roots and downtempo dubs that upon release found a home in the collection of music lovers worldwide.

Long deleted and not available on any mainstream download or streaming platforms, Ashtech dug out the original audio files, which were lovingly re-mastered for this pressing.

We’re hyped to welcome back the French producer Carriego, who already made waves with a standout EP on our sister label Cosa Vostra. This time, he lands on Griffé with a four-tracker that dives deep into stripped-back grooves, rhythmic precision, and textured soundscapes.

True to his style, Carriego merges Detroit roots with early 2000s minimal vibes—tight drum machine programming, detailed sound design, and a strong focus on mood and arrangement. The drums hit with intent, and every element feels built for purpose.

The EP unfolds like a proper journey: Hazard sets the tone with tension and space—ideal for an opening move. The Bridge follows up with drive and pressure, perfect for peak-time intensity. Curtain Call brings in a hypnotic, late-night energy, subtly nodding to the Time Passages spirit—refined, trippy, and deep. Then comes Seems Like to close the ride—more introspective, with a dub techno edge that lets everything breathe again.

Techno, minimal, electro, dub—Carriego connects the dots without forcing it. Just functional, thoughtful club music that works on multiple levels.

BOOOoo! is back with a new VA gathering Ildec, Pagenty, Phase O'Matic, Gogo Gadgeto & label-head BOOH!

The fourth installment has been carefully curated to showcase five distinct facets of the darker side of the electro scene, while maintaining a softer, more accessible edge. Each track is suitable for both daytime and nighttime play.

Renato Cohen, the Brazilian techno and house producer and DJ best known for his iconic track *Pontapé*, has been a powerhouse in the electronic music scene since the late '90s. Born in São Paulo in 1974, Cohen's career has spanned nearly three decades, marked by releases on some of the industry's most respected labels, including Carl Cox's Intec, Technasia's Sino, Marc Romboy's Systematic, Pets Recordings, and Defected. Known not only for his studio work but also for his dynamic live P.A. shows, Cohen is a true legend. We had the fortune to connect with him after a Boiler Room set in Brazil where he played *Sting the Floor*, a true floor-filler that electrified the room. Since then, our friendship has flourished, leading to this powerful EP. The EP features « Roaring », an outstanding house track that channels Cohen's heart and soul into every arpeggio and swirling melody, bringing to mind the best of Todd Terje's hypnotic grooves. It's a piece that builds momentum with finesse, crafting a sound both grand and intimate, resonating with every listener. « Roaring » is Cohen's homage to house music—a track that encapsulates his passion and mastery. Accompanying « Roaring » is « Wet Desert », a high-caliber production that's as immersive as it is intense. The track carries a deep, evocative energy, combining Cohen's deft touch with an expansive, desert-inspired soundscape. Through our connection, we've brought in The Floorfillers for an acid remix of « Roaring », putting a fresh twist on Cohen's original with a pulsating acid bassline that's reminiscent of our own « Edit1 ». It's a version that takes « Roaring » to new, harder-hitting heights, perfect for late-night dance floors. To complete this standout release, Skylax's own Maltitz has crafted a stunning Italo-Balearic remix, drawing from the spirit of the late David Mancuso. With its warm, nostalgic vibes, Maltitz's remix adds a lush, sun-soaked dimension to « Roaring », perfect for balmy evenings and open-air gatherings. This EP marks a powerful comeback for Renato Cohen, celebrating his career while pushing forward with new, fresh sounds that honor his legacy.

"Bassland Prophecy" was a collection of Southern California musicians, including Alex Xenophon (Deep Squared), Stuart Breidenstein (formerly of Skylab 2000), Alissa Kueker (vocals), and Maxx Vaxx (Euterpre, Butterfly Garden).

The act nourished and grew the emerging LA scene and was a renegade force in live electronic improvisation. Rather than composing full tracks, Breidenstein stated over email that they built musical "ingredients" on the fly, syncing DOS and hardware sequencers mid-performance. Their unpredictable sets, from illegal raves to makeshift desert parties, resulted in electrifying, unforgettable sonic trips.

Recalling 90s LA, Breidenstein said: “Before the internet, finding a rave was an adventure. You’d get a flyer with a phone number, call it the night of the event, then drive—sometimes 100 miles or more from a map point to the actual party. The scene was raw and underground, built by music obsessives hunting for the freshest sounds.”

Two standout tracks from 1996—“Nine / Deeper” and “Blue and Purple Starship of Trust”—perfectly represent their unique genre-bending concoctions. Against all odds, the recordings survived and have been given new life, remastered and reissued on Bristol-based *Sex Tapes From Mars*. To produce the wizardry, their setup included a Juno 106, Yamaha FB-01, a Roland S330 sampler, and a Sequential Circuits Pro-One mono synth with external MIDI, and some guitar effects pedals.

“Nine / Deeper,” born from one of their many spontaneous studio sessions, became eerily intertwined with recurring appearances of the number 9 and black cats. So much was the frequency of apophenia episodes that paranoia began to take over the artists. Recorded in a makeshift living room studio, the 14-minute excursion traverses genres and tempos, beginning quick and hypnotic, and climaxing chuggy and drenched in adlibbed acid lines, culminating in a surreal and legendary live performance in Hollywood. The piece captures the raw spontaneity of their sets, crafted with vintage gear, cassette tape recordings, and, as always, a DIY ethos. Breidenstein states, “While improvised sessions often failed, when it succeeded, it was definitely a kind of infectious magic the listener would recognize.”

“The Blue and Purple Starship of Trust” is a deeply personal piece, named after when Breidenstein saw a heavenly blue morning glory on a walk around his neighborhood, and emerged from heartbreak and the following deep depression entrenching his life at the time. Recorded in a single take onto cassette tape, blending piano, guitar, and heart-rending vocals into an emotional, dreamlike journey. The track starts with a lush, cascading synth sound, bolstered up by rolling, reverbing downtempo drums. Using Sequential Circuits Pro-One throughout, the rippling synths and off-key piano licks act like pipetted droplets of water, all elements bleeding into each other in some kind of hallucinogenic swelling, reflecting Breidenstein’s fading relationship. The guitar part is a nod to Bill Withers’ “Ain’t No Sunshine,” and Breidenstein recalls just “bawling as the guitar line was recorded.”

Created in a time of artistic struggle, living in an old school bus, surviving on instant noodles while hauling their gear from venue to venue, and scraping by on gig money, these recordings act as rare artifacts of a movement that thrived on passion and perseverance, standing as a poignant testament to resilience. Though they released a handful of tracks, ranging from deep house to ambient to techno, their true legacy lay in their high-energy, genre-blurring live shows, which are powerfully encapsulated within these recordings and leave a lasting impact on underground electronic music today.

Kerrie is back on James Ruskin's Blueprint for her third EP. The "Act Of Resistance" EP showcases Kerrie's refined approach to techno, blending moody industrial tones with dub overtones and intricate sound design. Kerrie's in-depth knowledge and unwavering dedication to music shines through her notable back catalogue and bolshy, unforgiving DJ and Live sets. Honing her craft for over a decade, Kerrie achieved a milestone at the start of 2024 when Tresor announced her as a resident DJ.



Irish-born, Manchester-based Kerrie is a multidisciplinary artist and DJ. Having garnered a rich musical education through working at and holding a DJ residency for one of the UK's most respected record shops, Eastern Bloc, Kerrie's in-depth knowledge and unwavering dedication to music shines through her notable back catalogue and bolshy, unforgiving DJ and Live sets. Honing her craft for over a decade, Kerrie achieved a milestone at the start of 2024 when Tresor announced her as a resident DJ.

Following well-received releases on labels such as Don't Be Afraid, Cultivated Electronics, I Love Acid and Symbolism, Kerrie launched her imprint Dark Machine Funk DMF in 2020, and also debuted on Blueprint Records with her "Raw Regimen" EP.Truly welcomed to the Blueprint family, Kerrie delivered her second EP "Transient Belief" in 2023 and joined the crew at label showcases around the globe.

Since 2023 she has been fully committed to the studio and accommodating her increasingly busy tour schedule, forging a long-lasting path fuelled by drive, passion, authenticity and a community-first way of thinking.

She's now back on James Ruskin's label for her third Blueprint outing. The "Act Of Resistance" EP showcases Kerrie's refined approach to techno, blending moody industrial tones with dub overtones and intricate sound design.

It’s a follow-up long in the making as Ukrainian artist Volodymyr Gnatenko re-enters Kalahari orbit.

Somewhere between submerged video game OST and ritual incantation, Mershiy LP recalls the finest psychoacoustic ambient dub the ‘90s had to offer. Less direct than the previous album, allowing space for IDM introspection and some proper contemplation. A mind-melt but keeping it widescreen and pretty meticulous throughout.

Imagined vistas shot in pristine 4K, impeccably crafted with close listening in mind. Repeated listens reveal more insectoid detail and a knack for detailed sonic immersion.

A 6-track zone-out where diaphanous texture makes way for ominous dread as the narrative unfurls. Balancing urges and inclinations with a fathomless churn of acid, trance, dub and pointelist electronics.

Written and Produced by Volodymyr Gnatenko
Design by Susanne Janssen.
Mastered and cut by Anne Taegert at Dubplates And Mastering.
Distributed by One Eye Witness.
2025

Crowns by The Rebel feat. Corey James Gray is out now on 7’’ via Little Beat More!
The Rebel, aka Tommaso Taroni, producer from Rome and Founder of DJ’s Choice label, delivers a raw, soulful track that opens the door to his debut album. Crowns features the sharp lyrics and smooth, magnetic delivery by Corey James Gray (FKA Ill Spookin), riding over a sturdy groove with crisp drums and deep guitar loops.
On Side B a further explosion comes: Clap! Clap! signs a Power Trio remix of the track that flips everything on its head. With thunderous syncopated riddim and wild brass stabs, this version hits like a futuristic brass band from New Orleans: unrelenting, joyful, and rhythmically overpowering. A bold reimagining by one of Italy’s most visionary electronic producers.
Packaged in a stunning disco bag illustrated by El Moro, this 7” is both a record to play and a piece to keep. A snapshot of a fresh project in the pipeline, ready to go!

For the latest Klasse Wrecks release, the label combine with Japan's finest festival and events crew Rainbow Disco Club to collaboratively present WRECKSRDC. Overrocket were an electro-pop band from Tokyo that enjoyed a grip of great releases in the early 2000s while signed to Neon Discs and its parent label Aten. During a digging session Luca Lozano discovered the forgotten tracks 'Duralumin' and 'Shadow of the Sun' and immediately set out trying to contact the band's members to arrange a re-release and remix. A few months of patient trying, the connection was finally made and wheels were set in motion. Musically the EP conjures up perfectly the sonics of that time, a grey area between analog convention and the unexplored territories of new digital freedom. Shadow Of The Sun is electro-pop perfection, with breezy vocals and a bouncing beat that sounds like nothing else around...past, present or future. Duralumin is a more dancey collection of blips and beats, one that will make sense in the current return to early 2000s aesthetics. To round out the release and propel it into 2025, KW label bosses take a track each and interpret in their own way. Lozano revisits his electro roots with two remixes of Shadow of the Sun, distorted 808s and growling 101 basslines provide a simple backdrop for the perfect vocals. Mr. Ho takes Duralumin into a more driving and pacey direction, upping the energy and excitement with fast percussion and a huge side chained breakdown that recalls the unbridled rawness of the early 2000s, when everything was just a little bit more fun. Keeping within the confines of Japan and in an effort to bring everything full circle, the label enlisted Japanese artist Gonno to master the tracks for an updated modern sound. The tracks themselves being mastered a few miles from where they were originally penned over 20 years ago.

LP vinyl only release + 4 page liner notes (comes with hype sticker)

The percussive new age soundtracks of '80s and early '90s Japanese TV, anime and manga built alternative worlds and pushed boundaries in the process.

When Japanese composer Yas-Kaz left Tokyo for Bali in the mid 1970s he had little idea of how influential his trip would become. In studying the storied art of gamelan, the jazz and avant-garde percussionist opened a door to a world of sound and rhythm left behind by the West. The music he and his contemporaries made would become known as new age. It also happened to soundtrack the golden era of anime.

Awash with money and with the prerogative to entertain the burgeoning middle classes, anime in the 1980s experienced a creative and commercial boom. Not constricted by generic expectations, production houses such as the now renowned Studio Ghibli were able to experiment liberally with both form and content. And with it came the space for composers to be similarly adventurous.

TV, Anime & Manga New Age Soundtracks 1984-1993 charts this moment across eight tracks spanning classics of the genre and previously unknown rarities. The collection brings together music that found kinship in electronic and acoustic instrumentation, often combining spiritual or environmental themes with percussive, varied and highly refined syncopations of non-Western musical traditions.

Among them is ‘Kaneda’ by Geinoh Yamashirogumi, the shape-shifting group of self-styled musicians, anthropologists and computer scientists that masterminded the soundtrack to game-changing dystopian anime Akira - and with whom the sound, tuning and breakneck speed of Balinese gamelan has become indelibly entwined.

Reflecting the desires of the era to reach beyond Japan’s borders, many of the soundtracks featured were commissioned for narratives set in distant lands or alternative worlds. There’s violinist and composer Norihiro Tsuru’s ‘Farsighted Person’, written for The Heroic Legend of Arslān, set in ancient Persia; Yas-Kaz’s own ‘Hei (Theme of Shikioni)’, for period sci-fi manga & anime series Peacock King - Spirit Warrior; and two tracks - Tassili N’Ajjer and Fiesta Del Fuego - from Yoichiro Yoshikawa’s soundtrack to NHK’s proto-Planet Earth series The Miracle Planet.

Such was the variety and quality of the music produced, if there is a guiding principle to the tracks collected here it is a sense of escapism and adventure that came with the confluence of modern electronic instruments and a fascination with percussive traditions.

Elsewhere, pioneering children’s TV composer Chumei Watanabe’s ‘Fushigi Song’ (performed by a vocal group Korogi ‘72) offers a trippy and infectious groove with sonic similarities to Don Cherry’s ‘Brown Rice’; little-known jazz-funk library group Columbia Orchestra showcase the best of Tokyo’s session musicians on ‘Hearts Beats - Theme for Andrew Glasgow’; before lawyer-turned-composer Kan Ogasawara closes out the compilation with a dramatic flourish on ‘Gishin Anki’.

Following on from Time Capsule’s acclaimed deep-dive into the world of manga & anime synth-pop in 2022, this vinyl only collection is set to broaden and diversify an understanding of how soundtracks shaped the sound of new age music in Japan for a generation.

Curators: Kay Suzuki, Rintaro Sekizuka (Vinyl Delivery Service)
Artwork: Tu-yang

The Dutch Electro Funk end boss is back. Starting of with the 2000 bombshell 'I Don't Care' in the deserved remaster on his own new imprint Dektreks.

Apnea welcomes VC118A to the label for the first time with Back To Life, his next album following the 2024 collaboration Flow Zone with CRC. Across nine tracks on two 12''s, he delivers a potent mix of deep electronics, acid bleeps, mechanically crafted rhythms, and atmospheric dub infusions--pulling the listener into a hypnotic, meditative space. Driven by futuristic machine grooves and evolving textures, Back To Life moves between fluid, weightless passages and tightly constructed sequences, balancing structure with deep immersion. Each track unfolds with intention, guiding through shifting sonic landscapes that blur the line between motion and stillness. Landing April 2025 on Apnea.

In an ever-expanding musical universe, Azymuth have long existed as a celestial giant, drawing countless artists, musicians and followers into their orbit. Marking fifty years since their 1975 debut album Azimuth, their new album Marca Passo proves that the band’s alchemic brew of Brazilian jazz-funk and cosmic samba soul remains as vital as ever, as the group honours the profound legacy of their departed founders.

Recorded in Rio de Janeiro, Marca Passo is the first full-length release since the passing of founding drummer Ivan "Mamão" Conti in 2023, following the earlier loss of keyboardist José Roberto Bertrami in 2012. Alex Malheiros, the sole remaining original member, sees his stewardship of the band’s musical legacy as his spiritual duty. He is joined by the equally devoted Kiko Continentino (Milton Nascimento, Djavan) on keyboards, who has been with the group since 2016, and new recruit Renato Massa (Marcos Valle, Ed Motta) on drums.

Yet since their earliest recorded music, Azymuth have always been far greater than the sum of their parts. The "three-man orchestra’s" unmistakable sound is rooted in Brazil's MPB studio scene of the 1970s and early 1980s—a time when artists blended traditional Brazilian rhythms with global jazz, rock, and emerging psychedelic and progressive elements. Marca Passo continues this legacy, seamlessly fusing Brazilian musical traditions with global influences while showcasing the exceptional musicianship that powers Azymuth's distinctive, multi-dimensional sound.

The album is produced by studio mastermind Daniel Maunick, responsible for Azymuth’s two previous studio albums, Fênix in 2016 and Aurora in 2011. Daniel’s credits also include albums by Marcos Valle, Sabrina Malheiros and Terry Callier. Azymuth also invited Daniel’s father, British jazz-funk royalty Jean Paul “Bluey” Maunick, of Incognito, to play guitar on a new version of Azymuth’s eighties classic “Last Summer In Rio”, in tribute to the song’s composer, José Roberto Bertrami. Equally, “Samba Pro Mamao” is a new composition dedicated to Azymuth’s beloved original drummer, Ivan “Mamão” Conti.

Credits:

Alex Malheiros - Bass, Acoustic Guitar & Vocals: 1,2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Kiko Continentino - Keyboards, Organ, Vocoder & Vocals: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Renato Massa - Drums & Vocals: : 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10
Ian Moreira - Percussion: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10
Sidinho Moreira - Percussion: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10
Dudu Viana - Keyboards & Vocals: 1
Victor Bertrami - Drums: 1
Mangueirinha - Repinique: 3
Jean Paul ‘Bluey’ Maunick - Electric Guitar: 5
Jose Carlos Bigorna - Soprano Sax: 9
Daniel Maunick: Additional Percussion, Synths & EFX: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

Produced, Engineered, Mixed & Arranged by Daniel Maunick
Co-Produced & Arranged by Alex Malheiros
Executive Producer: Joe Davis


Recorded by:
Daniel Maunick & Leonardo Vieira @ Estúdio Nos Trilhos, Santa Teresa, Rio, Brazil
Daniel Maunick & Amadeu Signorelli @ Sigstudio, Niterói, Rio, Brazil
Daniel Maunick & Alex Malheiros @ Estúdio Basslab, Piratininga, Rio, Brazil
Mixed by Daniel Maunick @ The Sugar Shack, Carluke, Scotland


Artwork & Design: Tyler Askew

Following the success of his ‘Love Dub So’ EP, Nick Barber’s Doof project returns to Mysticisms, delving back to his earliest recordings of his ground-breaking Trance project, presenting tracks from his previously cassette only release ‘The Love Mixes’.

A youth that had captured the psychedelia of Pink Floyd, Gong, Hawkwind and on to Psychic TV, as a self-taught guitarist, his first trip to India and Thailand in 1989 and witnessing the early electronic dance music at the Full Moon parties, had seemed rudimentary in nature compared to musicality of psychedelic rock.

Returning to England, the electronic / rock crossover of The Shamen’s ‘Progeny’ parties – featuring DJs like Paul Oakenfold and Mixmaster Morris with the live acts of Orbital and Ramjac Corporation – offered something new that turned his head, before finally finding his crew in the legendary squat / underground Pagan parties. There, residents Lol and Yaz first played the new electronic Trance sound, introducing Barber to the music of Eye-Q, Dance To Trance and the hugely influential Pete Namlook.

Recorded between 1990 – 1991, while living in Cambridge to study Philosophy, these are the first versions of tracks that formed the basis of his debut EP on Novamute, in 1993. Working with minimal equipment – an Akai sampler, Roland monosynth, Yamaha delay pedal, all sequenced on an Atari black and white PC and single MIDI output and then recorded straight to an 8-track Tascam cassette multitrack – the exuberance and rawness of the music are full of the excitement and naivety of youth.

Never intended for public release or initially even as a demo, Barber would play the music off the Tascam multitrack for friends at after parties. Dubbing a handful of cassettes himself and personally drawing the covers, around a dozen cassettes were handed out to mates. Eventually one copy found its way to Mute Records, who were looking to launch their dance offshoot, Novamute. Re-edited mixes of Gift Of The Gods and The Nagual appeared on his debut EP and history was made, before Doof went on to release for luminaries like TIP Records and Dragonfly and a career touring the globe was launched.

Remastered from the original tapes, this EP offers a snapshot of that time, the energy and joy of these early recordings is clear and overwhelming. Where Ambient, House and Techno met the birth of electronic Trance that truly stand up some 30 years later as originals then and now.

Trance The Mystery.

When you’re running a label, a demo occasionally comes across your desk that makes you reconsider everything you thought your label was all about. For Balmat, such was the case with this stunning album from Stephen Vitiello, Brendan Canty, and Hahn Rowe. It sounds like nothing we’ve released so far—and that very otherness opened up a whole new world of possibilities for us.

Fans of ambient, experimental electronic music, and sound art will be familiar with Vitiello, a New York native, long based in Virginia, who has collaborated with a cross-generational list of greats: Taylor Deupree, Steve Roden, Lawrence English, Tetsu Inoue, Nam June Paik, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Pauline Oliveros, and many more. On labels like 12k, Room40, and Sub Rosa, he has explored a wide range of minimalism, microsound, lowercase, ambient, improv, and other styles. But this album is something different. It may begin in ambient-adjacent territory, but it quickly veers off, and it just keeps zigzagging, taking on elements of krautrock, post-punk, dub, and the groove-heavy interplay of groups like Natural Information Society and 75 Dollar Bill.

This stylistic turn is thanks in large part to Vitiello’s choice of collaborators. “We’re coming from three different schools,” Vitiello says: “sound art, art rock, and punk rock.”

Active since the early 1980s, Rowe—a violinist, guitarist, and producer/engineer—has played with, or manned the boards for, a frankly jaw-dropping list of musicians: Herbie Hancock, Gil Scott-Heron, the Last Poets, Roy Ayers, John Zorn, Glenn Branca, Swans, Live Skull, Brian Eno, David Byrne, Anohni, R.E.M., Yoko Ono, and many more. But he might be most closely associated with Hugo Largo, a one-of-a-kind New York quartet—two basses, vocals, and Rowe’s violin—that in the late 1980s helped lay the groundwork for what would eventually become known as post-rock.

Canty, of course, is the legendary drummer of Fugazi, the visionary DC post-hardcore group, as well as Rites of Spring before them, and, currently, the Messthetics, a Dischord-signed instrumental trio with guitarist Anthony Pirog and Fugazi bassist Joe Lally.

Vitiello’s trio first collaborated on First, a 17-minute piece released on the Longform Editions label in 2023. Second picks up where the freeform drift of First left off, channeling the trio’s exploratory energies into more intentionally structured tracks and—in a real first for Balmat—some almost shockingly muscular grooves. “Sometimes my projects are more conceptually driven,” Vitiello says, “but I think this was more musically geared. I just wanted to open up the references and bring in an incredible drummer, bring in some melodies, and I’m sort of the center.” But his collaborators, he stresses, are “vastly creative in making anything I might suggest better.”

Like its predecessor, Second took shape in phases, shifting between improvisation and collage. Vitiello laid down the skeleton of the music at home, sketching out initial ideas on Rhodes keyboard and acoustic and electric guitar; he then fed the parts through samplers and his modular system, recording 10- or 20-minute jams. Once he had edited them into more structured forms, he hit the studio with Canty, who added not just drums but also bass and piano; finally, Vitiello took the results of those sessions to Rowe, who played violin, viola, electric bass, and 12-string acoustic and bowed electric guitar, and assisted in some of the final structuring and mixdown.

A few more surprises along the way: Reanimator’s Don Godwin, the studio engineer where Vitiello recorded with Canty, contributed what he calls “resonant dustpan”; and none other than Animal Collective’s Geologist, who just happened to be in the studio that day, sits in on hurdy gurdy on “Mrphgtrs1,” the album’s gorgeous, stunningly atmospheric drone closer. “I love these chance encounters,” Vitiello says. “Somebody I admire, a group I admire—that was an unexpected gift.”

An unexpected gift is a great way of describing Second as a whole: three veteran musicians venturing outside their usual zones and finding a new collaborative language together. The results can’t be neatly slotted into any given genre; they belong not to any given category, but to the spirit of conversation itself.