quête:electron

Rare musical magic from the Bruton library catalogue – ambient, spacey, pastoral and electronic. Music by John Cameron, Alan Hawkshaw, Fran-cis Monkman, Brian Bennett and more – all total masters of the scene. All very cool. All very now. All will sell very fast.

Over the last three decades Jonny Trunk has collected and written about library music. But he’s never had a great deal of luck with the Bruton catalogue. By this he means that he’s never stumbled across a massive stash, or lucked-out buying a huge run for practically nothing –that’s the kind of thing that used to happen in the 1990s and the early noughties if you were out there looking hard for library music. But he did manage to get about 25 in one hit about 20 years ago when the BBC shut down their “TV Training Department” near Lime Grove and also when a box of Brutons ended up being dumped at a hospital radio, and they didn’t want the records, so Jonny got a call.

There are lots of Bruton albums in existence – over 330 LPs in the vinyl catalogue, issued between 1978 and 1985. That’s a lot of music to wade through if you are looking for sublime modern day sounds. For many years now the “trophies” from the Bruton catalogue have been the beat or action driven LPs – the two Drama Montage albums (BRJ2 and BRJ8) have always been the big hitters, and others such as High Adventure (BRK2) too.

But Jonny has always found himself drawn to the lime green LPs, the pastoral, peaceful albums (The BRDs), which were full of the kind of gentle, lovely music that would turn up in Take Hart as Tony was paint-ing a woodpecker or a badger or an Autumn tree. The other Brutons he likes are the orange ones (The BRIs) simply because they are full of ex-perimental futuristic electronics and would remind him of 1980s ITV backgrounds. This LP series includes Brian Bennett’s cosmic classic Fantasia (BRI 10). Jonny has been knows to refer to this style of library music as “Krypton Factor library”, because it’s exactly what that strange but successful 1980s TV quiz show sounded like.

In recent years as interest in library music has expanded, we’ve watched
the price of a handful of Brutons really going through the roof - not the just the action and drama ones, but the more esoteric and experimental LPs too – like the BRDs and the BRIs. Jonny gets the vibe that people fi-nally want to hear this other more interesting and experimental side of the Bruton catalogue. So what better time than now to put together a compilation of such sublime period sounds.

Not only does this album bring together a set of fabulous cues that would cost the average man in the street a month’s wages (if the origi-nals were all wanted and if you could even track them all down), but it also chops out the need to listen to other tracks on library albums that are nowhere near as good.

The cues here all date from between 1978 and 1984. They come from the BRD, BRI, BRH, BRJ, BRM, BRR and BRs catalogues.

The composers are all legends within the genre, and here, were doing what great library composers do best – fulfilling a brief and utilising modern studio equipment to both commercial and beguiling effect.

The MINDFULNESS HIPERNORMALISATION album itself marks a new turn in Eduardo's work, breaking away from any musical style or stereotype and always trying to seeking freedom of expression,marked also by a strong connotation of voluntary ostracism.A new stage in which Eduardo uses this double vinyl like a tool to mark a distance with the current international scene and also support the Adam Curtis theories shown on his acclamed documentary "The HiperNormalisation" 2016 . The album show influences that goes from romantic ambient melodies to the most complex and experimental electronica,also including easy listening techno where it is difficult to differentiate the line between techno and ambient.

Francois Kervorkian,DJ and official engineer of albums belonging to Depeche Mode or Kraftwerk, gives support to this great work of Eduardo which will remain in the near future and without any doubt as a cult album.

Legendary UK graff writer and beatmaker REQ returns to vinyl for the first time in almost 20 years since his Warp and Skint releases. Classic b-boy break manipulation and scuffed electronics are infused here with all the mischief of Smudge's influence on his work in their ongoing creative collaboration. Sure fire remixes from The Fear Ratio (aka Mark Broom & James Ruskin) and rising star and Sneaker Social Club / Moving Shadow signee ETCH, who some many know is the nephew of JAS who REQ painted with in Brighton's TDK crew in the 90s… as JB said: "Bring on the juice".

Westcoast Goddess first came to our attention at the end of 2018 following his debut release on Canadian label Heart To Heart, but his productions actually date right back to ’93 (under various different guises) when he first began making music with his trusty Roland DR550 and Kawai K1. With a fresh and distinctive sound, WG successfully fused soulful touches and late 80’s-era digital synths with raw, punchy grooves and a euphoric, ravey atmosphere. Since then, the Berlin-based producer has built a solid following amongst underground house heads with subsequent releases dropping on esteemed labels such as Omena, Slam City Jams and Let’s Play House.

Opening up the EP we have Step Inline (The Narcotic Soul), which is a piano driven, uplifting slice of house heaven. A simple repeating 2 bar chord pattern lays down the foundation for soaring strings, cascading chimes and seductive echoing vocal hook.

Next up we have The Devil In Mr Holmes (The Erotic Soul) which once again goes heavy on the piano stabs but this time developing the arrangement into something that feels more like an instrumental dub of a long lost Prelude release. Crystalline synth lines come and go, whilst electronic tom hits add pace and energy to the unrelenting house groove.

Flipping over we have the epic I Might Be Ok (The Faithful Soul) coming in at over 9 minutes and being all the better for it. A dirty Moog bassline leads the charge with beautiful synth lines layering up on top, creating a blissed-out vibe which can’t fail to lift your spirits.

The different seeds that have been planted throughout the life of Croatian Amor come to bloom on 'All In The Same Breath,' affirming an equilibrium that's all its own. Spiralling through the half-light electronics are gentle bumps and breaks that are layered into moments of elevation. A coarse edge remains just an arm's length away, but there is an unmistakable element of celebration throughout the album's 10 tracks. As the syncopated terrains ring out, their perpetual rhythmic motions call a medley of human voices that speak in security. They sing to everyone just as they sing to themselves. In the years since the seminal Croatian Amor album 'Love Means Taking Action' Loke Rahbek has strode a twofold path. There are the delicate, meditative compositions that he has made with Frederik Valentin; setting acoustic instrumentation against affecting digital treatments, each of their collaborative albums are an exercise in the magnificence of subtle restraint. And with the sharpest of turns you'll find Rahbek's parallel universe of rave-shocked rhythms and kinetic helixes that eddy through genre and tempo with few constraints. Collaborations with Varg²™ have yielded the wildest of this, and remain ongoing, yet the traces were already apparent across much of the previous Croatian Amor album 'Isa' with its treated vocalizations and cascading rhythmic mechanics. 'All In The Same Breath,' arrives as a steady handed synthesis of these divergent instincts. Elaborating the distinct techniques and themes that form the wistful essence of the project, the album's quiet composure is a sign that these familiarities have been set adrift to settle into their own private ecosystem.Small vessels travel in a perfect array. Light following shadows, following light. Every movement a signal, every second is camouflage. 'All In The Same Breath' is perhaps more than anything an invitation to be open to wonder.

Despite experiencing moments of some uncertainty across the planet, the Gladio Operations label nevertheless takes a gamble and launches its third EP titled “The Dark Phase Experience”, once again opting for an EP by several renowned artists.

Latvian artist Dmitry Distant opens the EP with “Latvian Electronics” an excellent and intriguing cut of dark atmospheres, based on a very well moulded line of acid.

The renowned French producer Fleck E.S.C who has releases on labels such as Central Processing Unity or Electrix Records among others, gifts us “Mocboss”, an extremely enigmatic track with powerful bass, which clearly breaks away from the traditional electro sound.

The British electro producer Scape One returns to Gladio with “Click Click Drone” a fantastic track where the sequences especially stand out, and which inevitably resonates with the mythical German group Kraftwerk.

The talented duo from Madrid Telephasycs!, and label owners of Rator Mute, close the EP with “Head Rush” a powerful and dark dance floor-oriented cut, beautifully infused with mysterious and captivating harmonies.

»Sonic Healing« is the third full-length release by Martin Steer’s Bad Stream project. While the concept was started by one person in response to a singular situation, it fully came to life as a product of collective imagination. For the album, Steer sent a single guitar loop to twelve musicians from the extended network of his ANTIME label who improvised with the recording, which was later collaged by Steer into a single, 39 minute long track that stylistically ranges from feverish jazz to brooding ambient and abstract electronica. Together with the Iranian artist Arash Akbari’s vivid animations based on generative algorithms and real-time processing, »Sonic Healing« does not ask how one person can deal with turmoil in their life alone, but how we can create new forms of being together with art as a mediator.

From Nantes, France, NABTA is equal to EBM, minimal synth and electroclash as its best. They perfectly define and describe their music as “an electronic ceremony where comets of beats crashes into a oceans of colours, tumbling into the sombre side while sweet darkness binds you in a trance and makes you dance, dance and dance”. We like that vision!. All tracks have been specially remastered for LONG CUT vinyl by Aria Z.

clocolan is Emlyn Ellis Addison, a South African artist now living in Providence, Rhode Island. Exploring themes of ontology and psychedelia, his is a music of imaginary futures—of neglected hinterlands and unconquered vastness lost in the background noise of human endeavor.

Addison’s 2017 album, Nothing Left To Abandon, examined the experience of memory while his new album, It’s Not Too Early For Each Other, examines a more pressing experience: the ecosystemic collapse. clocolan dotes once more on dusty melancholy and electronic psychedelia in his new album, pressing into darker territory and more visceral textures.

It’s Not Too Early For Each Other examines the looming inevitability of a future shaped by mankind's destruction of natural ecosystems—and its seeming inability to alter that course. This music is dedicated to the pariahs: the messengers who confront the murder of the ecosystem.

Emlyn was introduced to Colin Morrison at Castles in Space by Strictly Kev AKA DJ Food. It's proving to be an incredibly fruitful collaboration and a third clocolan long player is already delivered and undergoing mastering for future release on Castles in Space.

Along with its sister imprint Fluid Electronics - dedicated to all things more muscularly 4x4 oriented, from house to techno via ambient, Fluid Funk will offer a platform of choice for creators and lovers of soulful house, hip-hop, jazz, funk, disco et al. The goal of the label is to bring a community of like-minded people together, cleared from the complexities that sometimes hamper the good course of the label-artist relationship.

First to grace Fluid Funk's dance floor-ready grooves is Rotterdam-based emerging talent Beau Zwart. Fresh off a choice inaugural sortie on INI Movements that hit the streets a few weeks ago, Beau steps in with his debut 12", "Beyond Two Souls" - an infectiously smooth and solarpowered six-track platter featuring Dutch duo Fouk on remix duty.

Expect lavishly orchestrated cascades of ankle-twisting breaks, prismatic synthwork and summer-flavoured melodies to wrap your ears around as your feet and body give in to the power of that funky bass. Brewing elements of fuzzy pop, pixelated soul and tropicalised rhythms, Beau Zwarts sound takes us on a wildly enjoyable ride across luxuriantly flowered scapes and fluttering cosmic house horizons. Interlaced with sugary Rhodes stabs and 8-bit harmonics a la "Floating Points", Sykes' warm vox intonations shows us the way into a pulsating heart of wonky, bop-infused boogie.

Expanding to further out-there, club-optimised bravura, Fouk's take on the title-track is the kind of track that'll make an impact in the sweatbox as well as in a more cabaret-like setting. Pulling out the weirdo harmonics and left-of-centre jazz aerobatics, "Ixodus" lets its free spirited sense of playfulness take over completely. Flip sides and here's "Marble Book" unbolts the spacious pads and whirling alien riffs as a sturdy sub-bass and gut-churning kicks beat time onto further estranged
dimensions.

A slightly more muscular but thoroughly sensuous workout, "Bustin Out" fuses classical two-step-indebted breaks with lascivious "P-Funk" tropes into one compelling club heater, before the EP's sluggish closer "Illustrate My Way" sends us into orbit for good with its slowed down romanticism and otherworldly piano fantasy.

Black Truffle is very proud to present Peaks by Australian cellist Judith Hamann, her debut release of electro-acoustic music. Known mostly for her live performance work with composers including Sarah Hennies, Yvette Janine Jackson, Alvin Lucier, Tashi Wada, and La Monte Young, here she steps away from the cello, moving into an intimate dreamscape woven from recordings gathered over years of itinerant touring.

Peaks is a work in two distinct parts, crossfading between different landscapes and apertures; from rooftop to church, from stasis to flares of momentary romanticism. Peaks considers summits as being both above and below, reframing the idea of apex from a more intimate perspective. Hamann considers how our domestic and personal geographies might form their own apogees, meridians, or nadirs.

Assembled in 2019 while an artist in residence in Krems, Austria, Peaks begins with Hamann’s more familiar cello but soon unravels into resonant electronic interiors; Southern California nightscapes heard through windows, San Francisco bathroom fans, snatches of recordings of friends, hand organs, and engines. signal/centinela draws primarily on recordings from Hamann’s time living in San Diego, and carries with it a certain sense of nostalgia in the sense of homesickness, longing, and displacement of distance and time. Side B is composed from recordings gathered on a different continent, Europe, weaving piano with recordings of sleep, breath, church organ, and the act of climbing. under/over emerges as it recedes, overlapping moments of arrival to create another kind of ‘spire’ in the sense of spir (breath). Peaks, with its omission of any recordings from Hamann’s home of Australia, hints at how the very construction of home itself, might be restless, untethered, changeable, and malleable.

On Peaks, Hamann interrogates tropes of ambient concrète musics, intentionally pivoting formally around material which teeters on the edge of cliche. This exploration asks whether familiar frames of harmony, field recordings and narrative trajectories can excavate new territories, or be ruptured. Peaks untangles a very personal sense of tension between beauty and shame in experimental music: treating lushness and harmony as possessing potentially muscular musical properties that might wrestle with or construct senses of belonging and home.

Acte Majeur is a project from Alexandre Gande AKA Le Syndicate Electronique, French cold wave and electro pioneer on Libertine X, new label series from Libertine Records dedicated to a more experimental electro, industrial and wavey sounds.

On the Corner goes beyond being a record label. It is a story of innovative artists from hotbeds of ancient-future* music across the globe. This 'Door to the Cosmos' compilation is the 10th full release (and an eclectic array of 20 EPs). OtCs rawkus sonic explorations are brought to the fore via 24 tracks making a heady blend of label mainstays and fresh family recruits. The label is an inimitable mixture of Miles Davis' 'call it what you want' attitude, the afro centric futurism of Sun Ra and the evolving electronic frontier where black music kicks it to the dance floor. 'Door to the Cosmos' expresses On the Corner's adventure; future sounds referencing the source, be it Detroit, UK bass culture, New Orleans or the Niger delta. The title riffs off of the otherworldly, afro futurist jazzer Sun Ra's infamous chant 'dare to knock at the door to the cosmos'. Sun Ra's sound and narrative bending inspires us to kick at the rules and push at the infinite, the ecstatic and the unknown through music by knock, knock, knocking at the door to the cosmos. The compilation is the first outing for a new raft of artists who are celebrated by the label and welcomed to a creative space brimming with the tales of unsung pioneers of the past and champion sonic explorers of the future.

The Danish label/imprint arbitrary announces the release of Framework 3 (arbitrary11) by Mads Emil Nielsen. Framework 3 is the latest instalment in Nielsen’s sequence of graphic scores and recordings. The series includes the Danish composer’s own subjective translations of visual materials and sound pieces accompanied by visual notations.

On this release he collaborates with Katja Gretzinger and Nicola Ratti. Published as a limited edition art print folder, Framework 3 consists of risographed scores and recordings on 10” vinyl and CD – with recordings by Nielsen, along with graphic scores by Gretzinger and contributions by Ratti.

Raised in a family of architects Nielsen has for several years been occupied with the question of “how do you intuitively sonify an image?” along with the complementary processes of translating sounds and music into illustrations and scores. In early 2019, he produced various drawings and sound pieces which formed the starting point for the three tracks on this 10” vinyl EP. The audio is derived from synthesizer recordings and basic electronic sound sources (sine waves, feedback, noise) and percussive loops combined with recordings made in the studios at EMS (Elektronmusikstudion, Stockholm).

The audio material was translated by graphic designer Katja Gretzinger into a series of visual notations made while listening to the music. Gretzinger developed various symbols, forms and structures, such as points, bars, 3D balls, irregular patterns / “swarms” and regular patterns (vertical hatchings). These were combined with found image materials and cut-outs from old prints and layered with large geometric forms, which define the individual character of each of the three parts. The resulting 18-page graphic score is included in the release in the form of risograph printed sheets.

Nielsen then invited musician Nicola Ratti, who is also trained as an architect, to create sonic re-interpretations of the graphic score. Ratti reinterpreted the imagery as a selection of sound elements positioned in a three-dimensional area; which he visualized as the space between the composer / artist, Ratti himself and the loudspeakers. These recordings are included on the CD.

1, 2, 3 written & produced by Mads Emil Nielsen, Copenhagen / Berlin, 2019 / 2020 (reworked and combined with a live recording from Standards, Milan, September 2019). Recording by + thanks to URSSS. CD: 1, 2, 3 written & produced by Nicola Ratti, Milan, 2020.
Scores by Katja Gretzinger. Artwork/design (packaging, discs, text) by Mads Emil Nielsen.

Pascal Terstappen a.k.a. Applescal has released his new artist album, ‘Diamond Skies’ on Atomnation. The nine-tracker is a collection of expertly-produced, instrumental melodic house with lush, ambient soundscapes and a nod to the analog sounds of the 90’s. The album has received heavy support from key names in underground electronic music community and is Applescal’s sixth studio album to date.

Terstappen has been running Atomnation full-time since his early twenties and has shaped it into one of The Netherlands’ leading independent labels and a home for an eclectic mix of electronic music including signed artists such as Gidge, Polynation, Tunnelvisions and Sam Goku. ‘Diamond Skies’ exemplifies the vibrant sound of Atomnation, a lush, colourful album which journeys through melody, ambience and emotion while offering an occasional surprise to the senses. The album was written and produced through 2019 and completed in the early days of March 2020 when dark skies were looming.

‘Diamond Skies’ represents a creative optimism and brings a sense of something to look forward to. Applescal has created a musical dreamworld for a listener to step into as an antidote to troubled times. ‘Diamond Skies’ is an album which feels uplifting and effortless, a confluence of melodic house, occasional breakbeat and ambient energy; the sound of a producer at the height of his powers.

When your roots have a broad geographical diversity, it’s very likely this will resonate in the music you make. This is certainly the case with Alma Negra and their new release on Heist. It seems they have embraced all their cultural influences more than ever in their new ‘Dakar Disco EP’. The whole record oozes class and musicality and feels like a carefree collage of the rich musical lives they live. The three originals on this EP vary in tempo and energy, giving you something for each moment of the day or night. They are accompanied by a remix from none other than the Japanese master of cosmic funk: Kuniyuki.

The EP kicks off with the title track ‘Dakar Disco’; an island style mid-tempo burner, rich with filtered guitars, bells and bleeps. Soothing chords and synth melodies are introduced for a lovely build up, but it’s the live horn section that takes centre stage. Here, the track really comes to full fruition, with a squeaky lead accompanying the horns for an electronic twist to what is above all a lovely summer jam.

‘Contra’ ups the pace and moves more into dance floor territory with loose claps, spacey pads and faraway chants. This track really gets to you with the live percussion and extremely catchy lead running throughout the track. This is afro house just the way we like it.

We’re very proud to have Kuniyuki remixing ‘Dakar disco’. This master of his craft has done an outstanding job with his cosmic take on ‘Dakar disco’. He lays down a great riff on bass guitar, while playing around with all the live elements and adds a serious bit of reverb for a stunning effect. This track is a perfect example of Kuniyuki’s musical skills and we can almost see him jamming this out, eyes closed and directed towards a distant point in space only he can see.

The EP’s closing track ‘Back in town’, is perhaps the clubbiest track of the set. A friendly acid line squeaks over tribal drums & chants and you immediately get pulled in by a great balafon hook. You can really hear how the guys feel at ease combining these worldly elements with modern electronics and ‘Back in town’ is a great example on how to blend these sonic worlds.

So there we are. A taste of the Alma Negra summer with a healthy dose of Japanese funk. Enjoy!

Yours sincerely,

Maarten & Lars

Lamunai Records presents Curiouser and Curiouser, a treasure trove of millennial music era from a duo pop group called Santamonica from Jakarta, Indonesia.

The concept of this album is making music from a trip to the adventures of Alice In Wonderland, an eclectic mix of pop, bossanova, electronics, waltz and shoegaze. From Astrud Gilberto and Antonio Jobim, Pizzicato Five meets My Bloody Valentine or Stereolab's 60s sensitivity to Broadcast. A collection of multi-layered analog audio sets, the noise of Joseph Iyup's noisy guitar combined with Anindita's fairy voice melodious lines of strange lyrics wrapped in curling beats, very dynamic, very rich. Listening to the album, on several tracks, we can hear French Pop's acrobatic 5/4 beats until the roar of the wall of
sound becomes a combination that is difficult to imagine at the time and is still very relevant to listen to now.

Now, for the first time ever, one of the phenomenal albums of the 2000's Indonesia wave is now available in a limited format in 2xLP-Gatefold-Marble colors vinyl with an additional 1 song that has never been released before.

"Tonada de Luna Llena" is a classic song by Venezuelan folkloric singer/composer Simón Díaz that speaks of the calm beauty of the full moon. It's a spiritual anthem ingrained in the Venezuelan DNA & it's finally re-released on 10" vinyl along with the heavy deep bass & slow techno touches of Pablo Sánchez & Alexi Delano under their production moniker "Basic Need," released with the blessing of the Díaz family.

Simón Díaz was a legendary Venezuelan folk singer, songwriter, composer, comedian, and actor, among other things, who had a career spanning over 50 years. Known colloquially as "Uncle Simón," Díaz has been extremely influential in repopularising the traditional music of the Venezuelan llanos, or plains, and was the recipient of numerous awards and accolades including a Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and "The Great Ribbon of the Liberator's Order," the highest recognition of Venezuela. Pablo Sánchez is a DJ and producer from Caracas; Alexi Delano is a Chilean-Swedish electronic music artist known for his unique techno sound. The two musicians are both currently based in Brooklyn, New York, and collaborate under the moniker Basic Need.

ALTER is proud to present ‘Tendrils’, the first LP release from London based artist & musician Malvern Brume. After gathering some hushed praise from the UK underground for a couple of excellent cassette releases and strong local live performances, ‘Tendrils’ is the first definitive document of the Malvern Brume sound world. His instrumentation and sound sources would be considered familiar staples in the world of “experimental” music, but Salter does an admirable job of making them his own. Comprised of 8 pieces, this is electronic music at its core but a kind that sounds as if it’s being played through fog. Like spores growing on a damp surface. Densely composed and thick with an almost asphyxiating atmosphere - even during the record’s more minimal moments - track titles like ‘Caught In The Exhaust Trails’ and ‘Sunk Into Plastics’ only heighten the tone further.

Salter was originally born in the countryside and since relocated to London, a place he finds “over stimulating in every sense”. Much of ‘Tendrils’ could be taken as a response to the city and a means of equating the two. Camberwell is listed as the location for composition, but field recordings are attributed to rural landmarks. The Rollright Stones on the Oxfordshire / Warwickshire border and Seven Sisters Cliffs by the English Channel are two in case, but despite their picturesque origins Salter renders them into abstract clatter. As if dubbed from the private tape archive of an old eccentric. In addition, synthesised electronic tones hum and buzz, occasionally giving away to strange, slurring sequences that sound like lost transmissions from the radiophonic workshop. Despite the nod to this electronic music institution, it’s lacking the sincere level of esteem that can turn one into a heritage act. There is a strangeness and distant other worldliness to the music that feels unselfconscious and keeps Malvern Brume from being easy to define by contemporary terms.

Salter says the album is defined by movement and the environments that have inspired him over the years. In his own words, “each of these tracks is inspired by a journey or moving through a space, not in a wishy-washy cosmic sense but more as a practical A to B.” With that in mind, ‘Tendrils’ is perfect music for solitary inner-city marshland walks and urban bike rides to forgotten local suburbs.

Marcos Cabral returns to L.I.E.S. with a new six track mini lp after a run of cult releases for The Trilogy Tapes as Chemotex. Here we get Cabral in top form falling somewhere in-between his last works for L.I.E.S. and Chemotex tracks. Through the record we get a rough yet refined style moving from metallic gnarled electro to melodic IDM and/or destructive the electronics as heard on "Secret Air". Our favorite being the introspective closer "Wearing Petrichor" Cover photo licensed from legendary NYC street photographer, Richard Sandler.

3LP + MP3

Soul Jazz Records' new album 'Kaleidoscope - New Spirits Known and Unknown' brings together many of the ground-breaking artists involved in the new jazz scene that has developed in the UK over the last few years. Featured artists include Matthew Halsall, Yazmin Lacey, Ill Considered, Tenderlonious, Theon Cross, Emma-Jean Thackray and many, many more in this ground-breaking release. As well as sharing a pioneering spirit in these new artists' approach to frontier-crossing musical boundaries, a further theme of this album is that many also share a determination to independent practices - and most of these artists' recordings featured here are either self-published or released on independent labels. While the attention of this new wave of jazz artists up until now has been Londonbased, this album shows how this movement is spread across the whole of Britain (and indeed beyond). 'Kaleidoscope - New Spirits Known and Unknown' shows that while there is commonality in these artists' approach to music, there is a wide variety of styles - from deep spiritual jazz, electronic experimentalisation, punk-edged funk, uplifting modal righteousness, deep soulful vocals and much more.

Das Debütalbum des Briten Jake Storm Glover aka Stametshroom, der von Alex Paterson (The Orb) gebeten wurde, einige Ambient/Downbeat-Tracks für dessen Resident-DJ-Sets bei WNBC Radio zu erstellen. Das Ergebnis sind diese fünf entspannten Tunes zwischen Balearica, Space-Electronica und Ambient/New Age in Längen zwischen drei bis acht Minuten.

First up is Nehuen, an Argentinian born but Barcelona based artist who is notorious for his abrasive dance floor workouts on I Love Acid, BNR Trax and the Classicworks label he co-owns with Cardopusher. Cardopusher is, of course, a true electronic legend from Venezuela. His dizzyingly diverse sound takes in rave, acid, electro, techno and house influences and distills them into hugely
Raw and energetic new forms.

Nehuen's Psyops Part One kicks off with the excellent title track, which contorts acid and electro into a writhing monster filled with dark energy. The visceral 'Toxic' is built on slapping hits and spangled basslines that will tie you in knots as the bumping drums drive things forward. The late-night menace continues on 'Bailar', with tight synth arps layered up in robotic forms over clunky drums that are industrial and futuristic in equal measure. Last but not least, the eerie 'Desire' strikes a more twisted note with double kicks juddering beneath echoing hits. It's pure, filthy, brilliant body music.

Cardopusher kicks off Part Two with the fantastic 'Disobedience' (feat. Lbeeze) a slow-motion drum workout that is like dark disco mangled through a psychedelic filter, with robotic vocals and stiff arp
jerking your body. 'Abyss Antidote' is then a flurry of drum breaks and electro bass, frazzled synths and whipping hits that keep you on the edge of your seat. Darkness abounds on the gritty 'Initial Decay' (ft. Lbeeze), which layers up taught drums and hits with spraying synths that come from a dystopian planet.

Closing out this epic mini-series is 'Mutant Brain', a cyborg techno meltdown with manic acid for
company.

These are devilishly distorted tracks from two of the best producers around.

Italian Disco remixer extraordinaire Moplen is back at the controls with a super sublime reworking of a wonderful and rare early 80's Leroy Burgess jam from the Salsoul vaults. 'Heartbreaker' is an underground classic, seeing Burgess back in the studio with longtime collaborator Sonny T. Davenport and Kiss FM mastermixer and producer Shep Pettibone on mixing duties. A tight and flawless early 80's production sensibility and the incredible vocal arrangements and lyrical performance of Leroy Burgess make this one a definite essential in any DJ's box. This is the real deal. If you dig that post-Disco electronic sound this one is for you, simply perfect in every way and quite tough to track down these days in its original form with copies reaching high figures on the second hand market. Needless to say, Moplen injects his own personal style into his remix and adds his unique flair creating an essential new version of this classic on the B-side. Always understanding, respectful and fresh, Moplen pumps 'Heartbreaker' in all the best ways, crafting a drum and bass heavy DJ version and new arrangement that you will be hearing for many years to come! Disco bliss.

This remix and reissue is 100% supported by Leroy Burgess, who dug Moplen's new vision of this 1983 classic. Fully licensed, sanctioned and released by Above Board distribution and Salsoul Records, 2020. Accept no imitations!

Society of Silence is a duo that became involved in the French electronic scene for a few years. They are already known for the wide range of style explored on several French labels and the power and spontaneity of their lives. Too Many Daddies is the ninth release in Activities Record's catalogue, following some previous releases by The Acid Mercenaries, Silicon Vallée, LL321 and two VA's. It is also the eleventh EP of Society of Silence.

Too Many Daddies is a like-minded electronic space saga with strong emotional textures, between hard key sweeps and dark harmony. This record kicks of with A1 Hormone Database, which is a strong funky electro track with a powerful ongoing groove. A2 Iron Penis is a hard hitting acid and hypnotic driven techno track. Undoubtedly another dance floor friendly stomper. B1 Octomom is at the edge between electro and techno. This track sounds paranoid in a very good way. A great nasty dark track with some of freaky vocals in the background. B2 Baby Cluster is a true electro track which demonstrate SOS's penchant for experimentations or No Future, or both...

Too Many Daddies is the evidence that the French duo adeptly understands the language of the machines.

Birthportal's fourth installment comes courtesy of an enigmatic artist donning a novel alias. Noted as a versed producer and musician in their own right, and forming part of a certain well-established Austin-based electronic duo for the last 15 plus years-in this experimental EP they veer into more outright agressive dance floor territory using their production expertise to craft sonic projectiles that are as textured and nuanced as they are accurate and efficient for their context. This is a vinyl-only release, limited to 100 copies.

Following the last Ma.to's EP we joined forces with two artists taking care of music and artwork on the 4th release. The first one delivered by the infamous Italian legend Miki 'aka' Major Hypnotic Key Institute. His resume and collaboration's list are known and long enough to establish him as a pioneer and precursor of electronic and rave music since the 80s. 4 tracks ranging from slower hypnotic rhythms to speed-up marched techno/trance.

And for the occasion on the artwork we collaborated with friend and genius Conxi at Ivvoki Studio, the result speaks beautifully for itself. Proudly presenting this 4 track Ep with included a repress of an old work from Miki on Interactive Test and a Re-Edit of miki and 2Volt of an early work from the Italian synthpop electronic band A.T.R.O.X.

Well balanced music, techno / trance / minimal spreading pure 90s vibes from both sides but sounding so contemporary.

A Must! have.

Chra is the artist moniker for Austrian Christina Nemec (Bray, Shampoo Boy). SEAMONS is the latest missive in her ongoing exploration of suffocating abstract audio. At once designed and falling apart SEAMONS is rough and crude, a stumbling and staggering electronic expedition where nothing presents itself explicit in intent. It’s a tense obscure record that teases you into it’s peculiar vortex from it’s suggestive nature of exploring the enigma beyond it’s haunted facade.

VICIOUS WATER REGIMES stutters along as an ‘ugly’ mass of grey electronica. CAST(O)RO shines from light from the depths with it’s occasional foray into glistening tones. COLONIA MARINA SERENELLA is a dank squelching backdrop for a dark age. CAST twists tension with flickering electronics chaotic in their perpetual design of order confronting inevitable collapse. LET SHARKS SLEEP is not only a great title but a mind tickling adventure of descending/rising digital dance that builds in intensity with it's relentless repetition. WIDOW WALKS gallops and creaks along a path veiled in whispers. ENGE lunges through time with an air of deep uncertainty. SEAMONS hovers on the outskirts, crawling out of the speakers with endless surprising turns, few of them comfortable.

SEAMONS is progressive ambient, not the kind that makes you escape, but rather one you can't escape from. SEAMONS crawls into the very guts of sound to uncover and unravel the uneasy and unsettling underbelly within.

2020 Re-issue of Keith Kenniff's debut under his Goldmund moniker. Originally only released on CD in 2005 via John Twells' Type Recordings, this album of rare and unusual minimalist beauty is now presented as a vinyl edition for the first time.

Multi-instrumentalist Keith Kenniff is a busy man. He has appeared as Helios on a number of acclaimed releases, including Deaf Center’s ‘Neon City EP’, and released a debut album ‘Unomia’ on Merck records which has appeared on many best of 2004 lists. All this while studying at the prestigious Berklee College of Music, and playing drums, guitar or contributing production to a host of amazing musicians. Kenniff lives and breathes music, something that is very obvious when hearing tracks under any of his pseudonyms.

As Goldmund, Kenniff has disregarded the electronic elements of his music almost entirely in favour of just a piano, a microphone and occasionally a guitar. ‘Corduroy Road’ is thirteen tracks of pure recording, the sound of the piano being opened and the feet on the pedals, the sound of fingers pressing lovingly onto the keys. This is a record of rare and unusual beauty, so shocking and yet unpretentious in its simplicity. When the guitar does emerge from beside the delicately touched piano, it serves as a balancing point for the record. Weaving in and out of the melodies, it adds another layer to what is already incredibly moving music.

‘Corduroy Road’ is rooted in Kenniff’s love of folk music from the American Civil War. We can hear this directly from his rendition of Civil War era classic ‘Marching Through Georgia’, but the influence carries throughout the record. There is an unheard voice which propels each track through history, maybe the ghosts of dying soldiers whispering in a long forgotten bar. Every haunting note drifts deep into the psyche and is lost in the ether of nostalgia. In this way it is a concept recording of sorts, it certainly has a narrative and has to be listened to in sequence. The story has clear themes; loss, history, friendship, camaraderie, forgiveness and hope, all clearly marked out by musical segments. It is no surprise that Kenniff’s passion for cinema shines through so strongly.

It would be hard to draw comparisons to music so rooted in folk traditions, but the music evokes traces of Ryuichi Sakamoto, Mark Hollis, Keith Jarret or even Eno’s more piano based compositions. Yet influence seems unimportant when listening to this deeply personal work. Just let it sink in and drift into the psyche.

2020 Re-issue of Keith Kenniff's debut album under his Helios moniker. Originally only released on CD in 2004 via Miami based Merck Records, this album of hazy ambient electronica is now presented as a vinyl edition for the first time.

AllMusic Review by Joshua Glazer:

"Those who mistake ambient music for an endless tapestry of unwavering atmosphere, pleasant yet indistinguishable, should be handed as an argument to the contrary this album by a recent signee to Merck's rapidly expanding roster. Through 13 tracks of inarguably pretty music, Keith Kenniff displays the musical equivalent of a genius screen actor, able to send a million moods and messages with the most subtle of facial gestures. The opening pair of songs, "Velius" and "Cullin Hill," point to a blissful treat which sits on just the right side of new age symmetry (particularly given the former's live glistening piano treatment). But only eight beats into "Nine Black Alps," the sensation is irreversibly altered by a single, mournful bass note which rumbles like Hades against the bucolic tone that lead up to it. Unshackled, Kenniff continues to roam, drifting into circular beats on "Two Mark" before wandering off into weightless asphyxiation on "Samsara." He even allows for the organic sound of faint acoustic guitar and piano to join his endless travels, giving a moment of real world clarity at the eye of this hallucinogenic work. Few could get away with a singular ghostly voice transmission without implying a stretch for ideas, but by the time he reaches the song, "Suns That Circling Go," Kenniff is so recognized as an explorer that you cannot be surprised by where he may arrive next."

Ryan Lee West aka Rival Consoles announces details of his highly anticipated new album Articulation, released on Erased Tapes on 31 July 2020.
‘Articulation’, the lead track and album centrepiece, links the record back to the analogue fluidity and colour of 2016’s Night Melody. The division of varying time signatures, intertwined with a complex structure of notes, creates an expression of a moving structure and conjures a dreamy motorik energy. Ryan Lee West explains, "The title track is about articulation and playfulness with shape and time. Its structure is very machine-like, but I was really interested in how melody and sense of story could develop out of this, and it became an exploration of mathematical structures - patterns and shapes having a conversation. I love that something on paper can appear rigid and calculated, but then take on new meaning based on the context that surrounds it, or how it changes over time."
Articulation (which follows 2018’s Persona) was conceived with a very visual way of thinking, unusual for the London musician and producer. During the writing process Ryan drew structures, shapes and patterns by hand to try and find new ways of thinking about music, giving himself a way to problem-solve away from the computer. The album title references a piece by the avant-garde contemporary composer Györgi Ligeti, though not for its music, but for the non-traditional graphic score that accompanied it.
“I find electronic music is often battling to say something with integrity because technology and production can easily get in the way. I think the goal of a lot of electronic composers is to find a balance between the vision of the idea and the power of possibilities on the computer. With a pen and paper sketch you can compose and rethink ideas without technology getting in the way, so for me it acts as a very helpful tool to refresh the process.” - Ryan Lee West
The idea of using analogue drawings and tools to bolster digital creations can be heard in the structure of the pieces that make up Articulation from the broody techno opener ‘Vibrations on a String’ all the way to the album’s boundless closer ‘Sudden Awareness of Now’. While the anthemic rise and fall of ‘Still Here’ and the beatless ambient meditation ‘Melodica’ evoke a certain nostalgia, ‘Forwardism’ achieves the very opposite by burying its melody within the fast-paced rhythm of its pulsating synths.
Rising out of birdsong heard from his studio window, ‘Sudden Awareness of Now’ has a particular urgency about it and seems to perfectly capture a longing for escape. Built around a simple and repetitive melodic theme, expanding and retracting over the course of its seven-minute odyssey, Lee West explains; “I like the fact that if you say something over and over again in music, then over time it can become something else, something reflective.”
Since the release of Persona, Ryan Lee West has taken his captivating live A/V set to all corners of the world. Last seen live on stage with 17 players of the London Contemporary Orchestra for a sold-out orchestral performance at Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall in January 2020.
Meanwhile Lee West has kept busy. After contributing an exclusive track titled ‘Them Is Us’ to Adult Swim’s coveted Singles series, he recently shared the beautifully textured solo piano piece Winter’s Lament on this year’s Piano Day. He has also been in high demand as a composer, scoring Charlie Brooker’s much talked about Black Mirror episode Striking Vipers, composing original music for Secret Cinema presents Stranger Things as well as renowned choreographer Alexander’s Whitley’s groundbreaking new work Overflow which was set to premiere at London’s Sadler’s Wells Theatre this spring.
Articulation will be available worldwide on 31 July, with live activities to be announced as soon as the situation allows safe event planning

Sublime, unique, sexy and peculiar unreleased scores by electronic and jazz pioneer Ron Geesin, made for the sublime, unique, sexy and peculiar films by maverick director Stephen Dwoskin. There. we’ve said it. And if you have not heard of one or either of these two dudes it doesn’t really matter. Geesin made great music and worked with Pink Floyd. Dwoskin made odd films, most of them are in the BFI permanent collection. They are great and a bit strange.
These superb unreleased soundtracks come from a fascinating, progressive and important period in British film history. They represent an intriguing collaboration between the lively Ron Geesin from Scotland and the American Stephen Dwoskin, who both met in London.
Musically they are minimal, charismatic and quite groundbreaking. Here is the story…
HISTORY:
Steve Dwoskin arrived in London in 1964, aged 25, with several 16mm films in his trunk, shot in the cold-water flats of Greenwich Village. He had been on the fringe of the Factory scene, and some of his films starred Beverly Grant, ‘the queen of the underground’. But they had scarcely been seen, and they didn’t have soundtracks. For almost a year they stayed in the trunk, and stayed silent. Then he met Ron Geesin, somewhere around Portobello Road.
‘Slept last night, completely dressed after working over 12 hours on sound tracks at Ron’s,’ wrote Dwoskin in his diary for 29 July 1965. ‘My films are not anywhere near being anything. I need more energy, more concise and positive ideas and less inhibition. And of course space, money and people.’ Dwoskin, who taught and practised graphic design by day, had recently decided to stay in London beyond the term of the Fulbright scholarship that had brought him there.
Ron, living with Frankie in a basement flat in Elgin Crescent – they would marry the next year, with Dwoskin as best man – was about to leave the Original Downtown Syncopators, the trad jazz band he had joined aged seventeen-and-a-half, and was trying to go solo. On stage he would make vigorous use of piano and banjo; at home Frankie had bought him a new kind of instrument – a tape recorder. ‘Soon I had one tape recorder, two tape recorders, three tape recorders.’

Ron, wrote Dwoskin in his unpublished autobiography, ‘loved to record, and to cut and splice the quarter-inch recording tape to make new sounds. This triggered in me the idea of getting back to my films and finishing them’. Soon he was living in a dank basement in Denbigh Road, a few minutes’ walk from Elgin Crescent. Ron’s soundtracks for Dwoskin’ films, recorded in the Geesins’ flat, encompassed Ron’s very eclectic range of styles – madcap piano and fretted banjo as well as tape manipulation.
Aside from Ron’s soundtracks, some of which belong to films that no longer exist (including Pot Boiler), Frankie would act in one of the films that Dwoskin either lost or never finished during these years. He was disabled, having contracted polio as a child, and Ron and Frankie were both carers and collaborators; Ron had met him when he was struggling into his car.
There was no London equivalent to the underground film scene that Dwoskin had known in New York, and his films remained unseen until such a scene began to come into being, in the autumn of 1966. Some of them made their debut at the Mercury Theatre, near Notting Hill Gate, that September. Dwoskin wrote that Alone, starring Zelda Nelson (from Ron Rice’s Chumlum), and Chinese Checkers, with Beverly Grant and Dwoskin’s friend Joan Adler, went over best.
Soon both Dwoskin and Geesin became involved in the nascent London Film-Makers’ Co-op, which put on screenings in Better Books on Charing Cross Road – ‘if you can call them screenings,’ Ron recalls; ‘I’d call it fifteen blokes in various stages of disarray, peering through the smoke’. One or more of the films had been ‘striped’ with magnetic audiotape; with others ‘we had no means of direct syncing to the picture, so he started the film and I started the tape recorder’.
In the same autumn, Dwoskin moved into a flat almost opposite the Geesins on Elgin Crescent. More collaborations followed, including Naissant, on which Gavin Bryars, whom Geesin had met during a stint on the northern club circuit with novelty act Dr Crock and His Crackpots, played double bass.
Around the end of 1967 Geesin released his first solo LP, A Raise of Eyebrows, and Dwoskin won recognition the Fourth Experimental Film Competition, aka EXPRMNTL 4, an occasional film festival staged at Knokke-le-Zoute in Belgium. By now the films had optical soundtracks.
It was only after this that Dwoskin completed his first ‘British’ films, including Me Myself and I, with Barbara Gladstone, an American dancer who had appeared in Barbara Rubin’s Christmas on Earth, and with whom Dwoskin and Geesin had at one point devised a stage show, never produced. For Moment, a single-shot film, Geesin provided his most experimental score yet. At the time of its debut in 1970, Dwoskin and the Geesins were sharing a house in Ladbroke Grove.
By then, Ron was working with Pink Floyd, and soon afterwards he and Frankie moved out to the country, to be replaced by Bryars both in the house and as Dwoskin’s principal collaborator.
Until now these scores have remained part of the Geesin Archive and have never been issued.

This first album proper from Polish composer/violinist Olga Wojciechowska was originally released on CD only by Time Released Sound, and has been out of print for some years. We are very pleased to be bringing you this long overdue vinyl re-press, in an edition of only 200 copies, each of which comes in a beautiful 24pt heavyweight jacket, with translucent 180gm disc.

Maps and Mazes is a stunning collection of 10 pieces that were originally written for various international theater and dance productions, and their overall feel reflects this performative nature. These electronically treated, modern-classical beauties are somewhat dark and moody at times, and with their elegiac violin and haunting horns are both elegant and absorbing, and the ultimately lingering effect is one of series of spine tingling, late night serenades.

Working with sonic archetypes rather than genres, in recent years Moscow's Pavel Milyakov has transcended the average practices of what one might call "the electronic music scene" and built his personal artistic universe where the visual and time-based arts are blended into one another. His new conceptual album PSY X, a collaboration between Gost Zvuk and Buttechno's own imprint Rassvet, can be understood as a collection of audio, video and graphic documents fused together in a homogeneous form. Profoundly rethinking the interactions between various media, Pavel utilizes a vast variety of creative tools and technologies - from generative music algorithms to laser equipment - to create (in)determinate "environments", rather than simply "tracks" or "pictures". The result is simply stunning: a meticulously crafted visual container that encases kinetic, alluring and deeply immersive music from one of Russian burgeoning scene's most vivid voices.

Sex Judas feat. Ricky started out as the solo project of Norwegian producer Tore Gjedrem known for his work as one half of electronic duo Ost & Kjex. Over time the project has developed as a fully fledged band including the talents of multi instrumentalist Ivar Winther, the bass magic of Kristian «Gesse» Edvardsen, the percussive force that is Sidiki Camara and Tore Brevik and the vocal talents of Tracee Meyn. The band has also many friends, most notably modern composer and violinist Ole Henrik Moe which often lends his avantgarde leanings to the group. Illustrator Sindre Goksøyr is also a key member, giving visual life to the project. The bands foremost home is the Glasgow label Optimo Music, that released Sex Judas debut album «Go Down Judas» in 2018. Earning the band a Norwegian Grammy, called the Spellemann.

After a first untitled EP came out earlier this year on the occasion of Record Store Day, saxophonist Mattias De Craene (Nordmann) and his drummers Simon Segers (De Beren Gieren/Absynthe Minded) and Lennert Jacobs (The Germans/Hong Kong Dong) also known as MDCIII will launch their blazing debut album Dreamhatcher on 28 September 28th.

Mattias Decraenes sensationally strident sax parts elevate the hypnotising grooves of rhythmic duo aSimon Segers and Lennart Jacobs to an ecstatic level. The almost alarming sound that stems from this combination leaves every listener in the kind of cinematic daze that would enthuse even directors like David Lynch and Quentin Tarantino.

But is it jazz Who cares! As prodigies of the new wave of Belgian jazz, Mattias and his two soulmates effortlessly marry the virtuosity and free spirit of jazz to influences from the other end of the musical spectrum: from tribal rhythms and roots to far out electronics. It makes it hard to categorise their music unless the category extraordinary counts of course!

Queried on his favourite word in the German language, Masayoshi Fujita will pick ‘getragen’ – without a sliver of hesitation. Further questioning will reveal that he loves the term’s semantic signifiers, its inherent sense of “expansive, deep, quiet and sombre.” And yet, ‘getragen’ leaves plenty of room for interpretation: depending on context, it might also indicate wearing apparel or the state of being carried – two more mundane interpretations that I would rather keep from him. Does Masayoshi’s own definition, however, apply to ‘Bird, Lake, Objects’? Only to a limited extent. Compared to previous Faitiche releases, ‘Bird, Lake, Objects’ is certainly the most ‘getragen’ of them all. Nevertheless, this is by far not the first association that comes to mind. From a distance, these tracks seem rather introspective, cautious even – and reflect the recording situation: deliberately pared down, reduced to a single microphone in space and a separate track for all other instruments, each movement and action is chronicled by the treacherous mike. This confronted me with some unexpected and unfamiliar problems. For example, we had to swap out the seating in the studio as my favoured chair had a characteristic creak. Other, external influences were proved our control: fire engine klaxons, street noise and footfall became part of the recordings and their improvisatory nature. Each movement required careful orchestration, fully aware of its irrevocable nature. Space itself was always present and an audible entity, except on ‘Stripped to RM’ (recorded without a microphone or vibraphone track). After extensive deliberations, we decided to forgo the vibes on this piece – a very similar version had already been released in 2008 (on the compilation ‘Enjoy The Silence’, Mule Electronic, 2008). Jan Jelinek, February 2010

The man in the crowd is a wonderer with relaxed habits. In him the course of things and movement of the city is reproduced. The Düsseldorfer Detlef Weinrich is such a man in the crows. Some one who is constantly listening to future winds through rushes of the past. He loves the night for its free will. And his music tells stories about it. You might know him as a member of the band Kreidler. As a solo artist he goes under the name Tolouse Low Trax. And he's already got three Eps and two albums under his belt. His first solo album „Mask Talk“ thrives on a feathery beat frequency and cool new-wave-strength. His recently released piece „Corridor Plateau“, which appeared as a limited edition to accompany the exhibition „Corridor Plateau“ contains percussive electronics and Industrial sounding like its from the second industrial revolution. His third album „Jeidem Fall“, is also not from here. It sounds like music brought down to earth from the heavens. But its a dark cosmos in which there are only fleeting glimpses of light. All eight tracks were composed in a short space of time over the period of just a few months and fit together perfectly atmospherically. With a musical expressiveness that undoubtedly twists your emotions, „Jeidem Fall“ attacks the subconscious and clouds the mind. The drums have more movement that on „Mask Talk“. Along with the constant tapping of drumsticks goes melodical arpeggios dancing dark and dirty. At times longing vocals drift abstractly through the room, as on „Sa Seline“ or „Geo Scan“, without telling any obvious story.

To sound like stylistic cross references from the present and past is all just speculation for nothing on „Jeidem Fall“ really sounds like anything that has gone before. You could compare the dark minimal timbre of the drum computer aesthetic with Craig Leon's first reductive album „Nommos“. There is also a hint of the minimallist industrial of the Spanish band Esplendor Geometrico in the bubbly textures. But Tolouse Low Trax is still looking from the present into the future and filter and filters all his personal preferences through his MPC and his small synth setup to make them come alive here and now in a new way. Again Tolouse Low Trax has created a truly mysteriously vibrating drum computer music which offers hypnotic magic for the shadowy dance floor. Only a little light should illuminate the whole thing and the bodies that move above them should have no fear from threatening percussion which are displaced into a misty trance. A dark swaying shadowy mass, ideal for a journey at the end of the night and all those non-places where longing sleeps and the last romantics dance while getting drunk.

Tomotsugu Nakamura is a musician and graphic designer residing in Tokyo, Japan. His primary artistic practice is to compose music with some fragments of minimal acoustic and electronic tones and some field recordings. In Concert, he has played with various genre of musician such as "Musica Frontera Argentina". With previous releases on Kaico and Audiobulb Records, "Literature" is his 5th complete album.

Berlin-based Swedish saxophonist Otis Sandsjö returns with the eagerly-awaited sequel to "Y-OTIS". On "Y-OTIS 2", released by Helsinki's We Jazz Records on July 24, Sandsjö and his close associate, bassist/producer Petter Eldh (of Koma Saxo), deepen their vision of genre-bending, forward-looking "liquid jazz" of tomorrow. The core group also includes Dan Nicholls on keys and Tilo Weber on drums, and also featured on the album are Swedish jazz greats Jonas Kullhammar (of Koma Saxo) and Per "Texas" Johansson, cellist Lucy Railton and trumpeter Ruhi-Deniz Erdogan.

Diving deeper into "Y-OTIS 2", you'll find details and ideas galore. The album is an inviting and inspiring audio mosaic, which links back into the previous Sandsjö/Eldh collaborations, namely "Y-OTIS" and "Koma Saxo". The result is a balanced album which quenches your thirst while making you more thirsty in the process. In other words, the many micro moods and sonic levels herein invite repeated listening, while the underlying rhythmic approach is informed as much by hip hop and electronica as by jazz, making the music approachable in a very natural way.

It seems unnecessary to pull the album apart by name-checking individual tracks but just for the sake of easy introduction, the single cuts "tremendoce", "ity bity" and "abysmal" offer one idea of signposts along which to navigate. "tremendoce" brings in Swedish jazz great Jonas Kullhammar (of Koma Saxo) and Per "Texas" Johansson, introducing an infectious flute loop integrating into the Y-OTIS sound, making it organic to the bone. "ity bity" could be built on a new wave synth sample (but it's not) and "abysmal" brings more serene, even ambient-sounding sonic pathways onto the map. It all belongs together, and makes for a sound that is instantly recognisable and constantly fresh. This is "Mauerpark liquid jazz" for the new decade.

Berlin-based Swedish saxophonist Otis Sandsjö returns with the eagerly-awaited sequel to "Y-OTIS". On "Y-OTIS 2", released by Helsinki's We Jazz Records on July 24, Sandsjö and his close associate, bassist/producer Petter Eldh (of Koma Saxo), deepen their vision of genre-bending, forward-looking "liquid jazz" of tomorrow. The core group also includes Dan Nicholls on keys and Tilo Weber on drums, and also featured on the album are Swedish jazz greats Jonas Kullhammar (of Koma Saxo) and Per "Texas" Johansson, cellist Lucy Railton and trumpeter Ruhi-Deniz Erdogan.

Diving deeper into "Y-OTIS 2", you'll find details and ideas galore. The album is an inviting and inspiring audio mosaic, which links back into the previous Sandsjö/Eldh collaborations, namely "Y-OTIS" and "Koma Saxo". The result is a balanced album which quenches your thirst while making you more thirsty in the process. In other words, the many micro moods and sonic levels herein invite repeated listening, while the underlying rhythmic approach is informed as much by hip hop and electronica as by jazz, making the music approachable in a very natural way.

It seems unnecessary to pull the album apart by name-checking individual tracks but just for the sake of easy introduction, the single cuts "tremendoce", "ity bity" and "abysmal" offer one idea of signposts along which to navigate. "tremendoce" brings in Swedish jazz great Jonas Kullhammar (of Koma Saxo) and Per "Texas" Johansson, introducing an infectious flute loop integrating into the Y-OTIS sound, making it organic to the bone. "ity bity" could be built on a new wave synth sample (but it's not) and "abysmal" brings more serene, even ambient-sounding sonic pathways onto the map. It all belongs together, and makes for a sound that is instantly recognisable and constantly fresh. This is "Mauerpark liquid jazz" for the new decade.

Late 20th Century outsider music from the outskirts of Buenos Aires featuring Alan Courtis, Pablo Reche, Quum and many more artists from the Argentinian underground.

Setting out as an archaeological excavation, literally exhuming material which has been under the surface for more than two decades, this special compilation features work by established and under the radar artists that helped set the now fertile Argentinian underground.

All tracks were directly digitized from the original cassettes masters (half of them never previously released either). The emphasis being to maintain the original sound quality as it was produced at the time (hence the cassette format). The compilation also showcases a broad spectrum style of music that was done at a specific time with very primitive gear - not by choice but because of the obvious economic restrictions of accessing sophisticated equipment forced these musicians on the DIY road. Domestic tape recorders making cassette loops, broken record players, toy keyboards and the noisy ‘fingers on circuitry’ long before Nicolas Collins championed it on Hand-made electronic music.

Whilst some artists actually had access to professional synths and drum machines (Unoxuno, Quum, Jaime Genovart), they still lacked of standard recording equipment. A crucial document then showing how their unique approach to music making influenced the forthcoming experimental scene of South America making these artists influential cult figures of the underground.



Compiled by Juan José Calarco y Pablo Reche
Digitized & Mastered by Juan José Calarco

Outfitted with anthemic romps, tongue-in-cheek pastiches, and percussions that pivot from rolling adventures to rain hitting the windowpane, Intimacy's 'Across the Bridge' marks the artist's fifth release on vinyl and first release on Bouquet.
A grab bag of fun, dancefloor-ready tracks written across 2019, the EP delivers his aesthetic of old computers, sci-fi movies, and science class educational videos configured into deep, spacey line-toting bedroom techno and melancholic house.

The title track features a catchy electroclash-esque (!!!) saw wave bassline, complete with emo Roland D50 strings and bells, all laid over a very beefy electro beat. It crossbreeds a Drexciya strain of low-end thump with a chewy, Eurotrash bassline evoking that time you lost your wallet at Tresor in '98. Strings and bells from the Roland D50 introduce the same euphoric high found in most of the products crawling out of Perdue's lab these days.

'Angelo's House' is a full-forced banger built around a well-traveled sample of Angelo Badalamenti's theme from Twin Peaks, recorded from an Intimacy live set early last year.

The flipside leads with the spiritual acid techno masterpiece 'Datalore 66'. Bubbling basslines hit a boiling point when placed in sequence with flutes showing genetic linkage to the Hartnoll family. Highly reactive material.

'Eternal September' opens a portal to the earliest hours of morning via synthesis of swirling pads and snapping drums. Closing the EP in introspective fashion, the track shows just how much emotional range Intimacy can pull out of decades-old disciplines.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Parks Perdue is a Memphis-born electronic musician. A culmination of internet research and home listening in the club-barren Tennessee city, his style draws from stoned out Dutch West Coast concept albums, video game soundtracks, and old-school midwest house and techno. Perdue made his vinyl debut under the alias Intimacy in 2016 on the short lived UK, DJ Haus-run label Vector Works. Perdue is now based in Los Angeles, California.

2020 reboot for Detroit's legendary Metroplex.

The Label Say "Cologne based producer Bas Grossfeldt has crafted an outstanding release perfectly aligned with Juan Atkin’s brilliant Metroplex aesthetic. As a relatively new name in the scene, Bas Grossfeldt’s music sounds as if it were the results of decades of focused experience in the studio.

With a background in installation, choreography and performance art, Bas Grossfeldt is the artists alias to focus on the musical side of things. His deeply rooted interest in the relation of space and body is also translated into his music. The fusion of spaced-out textures, rhythmical distortions, cold waves of synthesis, and enough modern production prowess ensures a release saturated with innovation and abundant imagination. A rare release for the seminal Detroit label, which also represents Juan Atkins’ interest in the arts world and new, different approaches.

The exchange between the label head and the artist, initially came to life because internationally renown conceptual artist Mischa Kuball, knowing Juan from a joint project, sent him the demo of Bas Grossfeldt. Especially intrigued by the track „Lost In Translation“, Juan and Bas started exchanging, approaching the record as an „art project“ and a classical EP at the same time, for example leading into the cover being made by Bas Grossfeldt/Søren Siebel himself and including numerous hidden references to the sound.

Each track embraces an incredible array of sounds and styles, from soundscapes to mind-bending Techno – all equally as effective for the brain as the dancefloor.

“Lost In Translation” opens the release with a cinematic piece of electronica permeating with frozen emotion and melancholic soul. The beautiful track captures a foggy morning’s haze, the first chill of winter with only a gentle kick-drum keeping the cold from completely taking over. It is also accompanied with a hypnotizing abstract video by film-artist Svenja Voß.

Continuing in a dubby, winter haze is “Lost In Sensation” which floats alongside a sharp, metallic rhythmic arrangement and a gentle, ever-present kick drum. Deep, heavily saturated atmospheric textures sleep underneath the sounds while lucid melodies float in and out.

“Your Orbit” rounds out the release with the most club-ready production. Disorienting melodies and gritty synths capture a dreamlike perception while a tough kick drum and clattering percussion drives the music deeper into undiscovered dancing territories just left of center. "

A creative partnership between Tom Laroye and Yam Who, Qwestlife is a trans-continental boogie trip between the two producers' respective homelands of Paris and London. Fulfilling the Glitterbox philosophy by crafting great songs the old school way with analogue and weird electronic gadgetry, Qwestlife's 'Give Me A Minute' appeared first on Glitterbox's Disco Revenge compilation and now graces vinyl for disco connoisseurs everywhere. Featuring the vocals of a frequent Yam Who collaborator, soul diva Jacqui George, 'Give Me A Minute' is an instant party anthem. Disco-fuelled synths and strings plus live sax, trumpet, guitars and bass give a glorious saturated dancefloor vibe rolled into one by sticky hooks and a timeless catchy chorus. Accompanied by the Dubbed Out Version, plus an Accapella and Bonus Beats, this sweet vinyl release provides all the good stuff that Qwestlife have to offer.

If you are passionate about local music scenes as much as we are you might already know about the current brood of great bands going on in Cardiff, Wales.
Chain Of Flowers were the first to hail from the Welsh capital, followed by related side projects such as Night Thoughts, more recently came Private World of which the two boys we’re about to introduce are also live members of.
A new wave/synth act from the same city called Plastic Estate is emerging this year.

The duo composed by Nicholas James and Stanley Fouracres have released a few digital singles in 2019 as they’ve opened for The Murder Capital at Sŵn Festival and played alongside the likes of M!R!M, Josiah Konder and The Love Coffin. This Place is their first physical release and it’s due on 7-inch vinyl and digital on June 19.

On the two songs that compose the single, Plastic Estate clearly draw influence from the best UK new wave and pop artists such as Dave Gahan, Paddy McAloon, Roddy Frame and yet there is a sophisticated casualness and an innate freshness in their songwriting that makes them not sounding dated at all.
Amazing composition skills for such a young band and a perfect balance between electronic dance elements and acoustic instruments allow them to pay homage to the above-mentioned masters and to be a perfectly contemporary group at once.

Although it’s possible to pick out some darker lyrics, the overall feel is up-beat and breezy. It’s a contrast that runs through a lot of their music – like a dichotomy between dark, melancholia and happier, brighter feelings.
Whether it’s a happy pop synth riff mixed with sombre lyrics or vice versa, the young Welsh duo is delivering the best 80’s-inspired modern pop craft.
RIYL: Echo & The Bunnymen, Prefab Sprout, Depeche Mode, Orange Juice, Wild Nothing.

The Oystercatcher is the first collaborative LP from Cucina Povera (Maria Rossi) and ELS (Edward Simpson)

Recorded in London over two days, hours' worth of improvisations have been edited down to form these six tracks.

A fragile interplay is at work between Maria's drifting vocals and the ominous churn of Edward's modular synth. Each sonic element takes a turn at leading the way.

The opening track 'Mantle' is formed from sparse, monolithic electronics, woven gently with a thread of vocals. In the closing track 'Eon' Maria's voice shepherds spontaneous bursts of sounds, almost Rave-like if order were imposed, through 15 minutes of turmoil and resplendent until the end.

Maria's vocals make their own trails amongst the noise, bringing to mind the the exploratory language from Ursula K. Le Guin's album 'Music and Poetry from the Kesh', recalling the same understated mystery.

The overall effect of this collaboration is a completely unique creation albeit within a recognisable lineage of predecessors.

The artwork reflects the vision of these two artists, collaged together. Both images are from a trip to Helsinki. Edward's photograph of Tulips caught after dark are reviled by a flash. Maria's seemingly abstract drawing is a graphite rubbing taken from a granite slab of a pavement somewhere in Kallio. Together the two images represent two different methods for capturing a city's haptic landscape.

The album moves with a feeling of transience, which is no surprise given that the idea to collaborate was formed in Helsinki, realised in London and edited together in Rotterdam.

The Oystercatcher tells a fragile tale, one that spins out into the unknown. A cold union of voice and machine, still tentative and probing, learning to co-exist. A kind of fundamental shift whereby shared moments have been turned to sound.

The Oystercatcher is a bird that can freely travel between the earth, sea and sky. The motif is taken from a Tove Jansson short story. A dead bird washes ashore, two different versions of events are presented to how the bird came to die. The album feels like two different stories being presented on top of one another but ultimately coming to the same tragic conclusion.

Cucina Povera is Maria Rossi - Vocals
ELS is Edward Simpson - Synthesisers
Recorded in London across two days during the Summer of 2019
Mastered by Russell Haswell

The sixth and absolutely final chapter in the EROS story.

This buy-on-sight collection of homages to the raw, decadent & formative birth of club music wraps things up with yet another stand out selection of cuts.

Darker, more electronic & mind-bending moments, mingling with an altogether more strobe-lit and full-tilt take on the glorious Disco supernova from whence we all came.

Here is the highly anticipated sixth volume of the well received electronic compilation series from the relaunched 1980's color tapes label. As with the other volumes you can find great examples of cold wave, minimal wave and synth electronics and pro to EDM made by obscure British bands in the 1980's such as: Berserk In A Hayfield, Lives of Angels, Silicon Valley, Modern Art, Disintegrators, Echophase, The Lord and Mystery Plane

"Up there with V-O-D selections, the Color Tapes series so far has provided invaluable insight to hidden or much lesser-known currents of the ‘80s cassette subculture which gave birth to myriad artists, styles and industry conventions whose influence can still be felt over 30 years later. " - Boomkat

“Electronic work that’s way different from mainstream pop of the period - often forgedout of the same instrumentation as the hits - but in a stripped down way - with lots of dark and moody corners!” Dusty Groove

“Evil Synths and evil beats” - Norman Records

“Gary Ramon’s re-born Color Tapes imprint is every bit as essential as it’s Minimal Wave and electro-focused predecessors” - Juno

Limited edition of 500 copies comes with poster insert

On the Corner Records was awarded 'Label of the Year' at the Worldwide Awards 2018. OtC is a story of artists and scenes that goes way beyond being a record label. DJ and label owner Pete On the Corner has created a home for innovative, bordercrossing, genre pushing artists. The OtC vision is to bring music to the world that is knocking at the 'Door To The Cosmos'. The label is an inimitable mixture of Miles Davis 'call it what you want' attitude, Sun Ra's Afro Futurism and the ecstatic soul lifting influence of black music on electronic dance music. On 'Door To The Cosmos - Dancefloor Sampler' Pete has curated a volume of cuts from present and future label family. This first in the series, is not just knocking at the door but giving it a kick! It's club music referencing the source, be it Detroit, or UK bass culture combined with future sounds rising from cosmopolitan hotbeds of sonic heat. On this maxi EP Venezuela meets India via New York, the street sound of Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania pulses through UK Jungle. Undergrounds pushing the dance, breaking borders and genre alike. Rhythms from the ancestors channelled for future times.

Musique Pour La Danse presents Roomservice, Dutchman Orlando Voorn's forgotten yet unforgettable IDM-leaning, home-listening electronica / techno album from 1994 under his Living Room alias, originally released on the producer's cult Night Vision label.

Praised unequivocally by those lucky enough to have heard it, this criminally underrated record nonetheless deserves pride of place when talking about forward-thinking electronic music from the early 90s.

While it is widely acknowledged that Orlando Voorn's productions are one of the most fascinating prisms through which to experience a European take on the Detroit sound, Roomservice is also a strong reminder that the paradigm shift from sweaty raves to enhanced home listening, championed by Warp's Artificial Intelligence series, early Rephlex releases, along with projects such as The Black Dog, Plaid or Autechre was in fact not only limited to British artists.

As its name indicates, The Living Room is not geared for warehouses but instead interested in a more intimate and domestic setting. As such, it does not contain over the top bangers, but it's hard to find any filler in this album where all the tracks are killer, catchy and memorable. All displaying a sophisticated yet immediate focus on warm melodies and grooves no heavier than a feather, these emotional cuts provide a wonderful and intricate soundscape for introspective listeners to explore, and they will surely find echoes of ideas developped by Manuel Gottsching, Steve Reich and Pat Metheny scattered accross the album.

While some tracks are rhythmic and would fill a dancefloor in a second with their four to the floor or broken beats, the album also gives room for more ambient excursions to occur and develop brilliantly. But once again, it's more likely you'll end up dancing on your couch rather than dozing off.

2020 might be the most difficult year in recent history for dancefloors worldwide, yet that's not going to stop Musique Pour La Danse from reissuing this gem of an album for listeners, dancers, and DJs of today and tomorrow.

Words by Ed Isar.

Queried on his favourite word in the German language, Masayoshi Fujita will pick 'getragen' - without a sliver of hesitation. Further questioning will reveal that he loves the term's semantic signifiers, its inherent sense of "expansive, deep, quiet and sombre." And yet, 'getragen' leaves plenty of room for interpretation: depending on context, it might also indicate wearing apparel or the state of being carried - two more mundane interpretations that I would rather keep from him. Does Masayoshi's own definition, however, apply to 'Bird, Lake, Objects'? Only to a limited extent. Compared to previous Faitiche releases, 'Bird, Lake, Objects' is certainly the most 'getragen' of them all. Nevertheless, this is by far not the first association that comes to mind. From a distance, these tracks seem rather introspective, cautious even - and reflect the recording situation: deliberately pared down, reduced to a single microphone in space and a separate track for all other instruments, each movement and action is chronicled by the treacherous mike. This confronted me with some unexpected and unfamiliar problems. For example, we had to swap out the seating in the studio as my favoured chair had a characteristic creak. Other, external influences were proved our control: fire engine klaxons, street noise and footfall became part of the recordings and their improvisatory nature. Each movement required careful orchestration, fully aware of its irrevocable nature. Space itself was always present and an audible entity, except on 'Stripped to RM' (recorded without a microphone or vibraphone track). After extensive deliberations, we decided to forgo the vibes on this piece - a very similar version had already been released in 2008 (on the compilation 'Enjoy The Silence', Mule Electronic, 2008). Jan Jelinek, February 2010

The original, the inspirational, the bombastic, the never bettered, the one.
'Don't make me wait' is all of the above and so much more. Classic to the core. Huge earth shattering record right here.
OK, so the scoop, for the uninitiated is this - the Peech Boys were Larry Levan's group, we're talking early 80's NYC here, 1982 to be precise, around the height of the Paradise Garage as Larry was making the transition from superstar DJ to producer. He brought a sparse, dubbed out, narcotic late night feel to the overall sound of this record. This was a short-lived project, but the influence is still felt today, the Peech Boys DNA is inside the veins of modern dance music, as is Larry's. There is no underestimating what an impact this record had. 7+ minutes of electronic bliss, trailblazing stuff, and don't get us started on the dub. Do yourself a favour, BUY this classic if you don't own it already, you'll keep coming back to it time and time again. Guaranteed. This essential 12" is repressed here in it's original 1979 glory, an essential classic that has stood the test of time for the last 30+ years & is now available again, remastered & repressed for 2017 in conjunction with West End Records, NYC.

Conrad Van Orton and Jheal sign the third release for Eyes Have It, 30D sub-label that, as usual, explores the darkest, coldest and even suffocating side of the techno spectrum.

As it happened in the second release (‘Sei Tracce In Nero EP’ by Reeko & Group), the high contrast between both sides gives sense to the album, giving it a strange but perfect balance, this time quite more oriented to the dance floor. It’s for sure that some people will think that CVO and Jheal might use elements that at first sight might be familiar but, let’s be honest, both have the ability to make everything sound very original.

On the A side Conrad Van Orton, an Italian producer with a lot of experience in techno and the most experimental electronics, elevates the listening to a sonic musical experience, literally. The three tracks, although ‘Dysfunctional Organic Device’ is probably the best example, are pure techno brutality, as highly raw, energetic and obsessive as they are obviously functional. Three true ‘monsters’.

On the B side Jheal, a face already known to the label thanks to his brilliant participation in ‘Close Encounters 002’, brings melancholy (‘150 Wreaths’) and tons of introspection (‘Our Fathers’) to the record. It is not easy for industrial techno to sound as emotional as when Alejandro manipulates it, something especially remarkable for such a young producer. Congratulations.

Principal is the new solo project by producer and musician Rasmus Allin, who’s first album Treacherous Dub will be released on the Copenhagen-based label StereoRoyal in July 2020.

Best described as an homage to old-school Jamaican dub, Principal’s music features live recorded drums and other instruments. Fused with electronic elements, it celebrates the sound of the original dub pioneers.

Born in 1970, Rasmus Allin has been working as a producer, musician, and songwriter since the mid-nineties, primarily within the realm of electronic music. Inspired by the British trip hop and drum ‘n’ bass scene, he soon gravitated towards Jamaican dub, rocksteady, and reggae. "I found my inspiration in the old Jamaican dub masters like Lee Scratch Perry, King Tubby, Augustus Pablo, and Scientist. I’ve spent endless hours in the studio trying to replicate their sound, using old tape delays, filter boxes, and modulation effects,” he says.

In 2002, Allin formed the band Junkyard Productions, playing major venues and festivals like Elysee Montmartre, Le Triptyque, Télérama Dub Festival, and Roskilde Festival while touring through Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, and France. Alongside this, he continued to hone his skills in producing, co-writing, and remixing music, working with top Danish pop and reggae acts the likes of Natasja, Pharfar, Wafande, Shaka Loveless, and the British girl band All Saints.

Treacherous Dub will be released on vinyl and all major streaming platforms, and will be Allin’s first album of pure instrumental dub tracks —an ambition he’s been wanting to fulfil for years. Marking his debut as a solo artist, the album also marks his premiere as a visual artist, with the album cover lithograph made by Allin himself. For Rasmus Allin, the collaboration with StereoRoyal offered “the perfect opportunity to give the tracks the finishing touches.”

StereoRoyal is a Danish library music label founded in 2010 by and specializes in off-kilter music for film and TV. Originally, the label focused on electronic genres, but over the years has grown to include a broader variety of music produced by some of the most talented composers in Scandinavia.

The globetrotting beat maestro is back, with a truckload of tropical vibes and the irresistibly danceable soundtrack to your Summer! 3 years after releasing his groundbreaking collaborative album with singer Chico Mann (which landed him live sets on Boiler Room & KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic as well as a feature on NYTimes "Best Songs Of The Week") DJ/producer Captain Planet returns with NO VISA, set to drop June 26th on Bastard Jazz Recordings. In his trademark "Gumbo Funk" sound, the album mixes rhythms and musical styles from the Caribbean, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa, over highly danceable electronic beats, all firmly rooted in the hip hop, dancehall and house music that the Captain grew up playing as a DJ. Seamlessly bouncing from Brazilian Baile Funk, to Afrobeat, to Roots Reggae and Latin House, the entire record delivers the uplifting feel of one of the Captain's legendary boundary-crossing DJ sets. Building on these traditions he draws from, the Captain has created something fully original and unique.

NO VISA, the 5th full-length album from producer Charlie Wilder (aka Captain Planet), is both a return to form and a launchpad into the future. With 13 songs that feature vocalists from around the world, long-time fans will recognize several previous collaborators as well as the global influences that have always been central to Captain Planet's music. New friends, like prolific Zimbabwean-American singer Shungudzo (who has recent hits with Oliver Heldens & Rudimental), and Jamaican reggae star Jesse Royal, bring powerful subversive messages to the music as well. Showcasing the Captain's production chops and songwriting talents equally, the album unveils a unique musical landscape, a place where our political boundaries and cultural hierarchies begin to dissolve, where foreign languages mingle together and deep rooted traditions dance with the future.

With NO VISA, Captain Planet unveils a fully matured and truly unique form of electronic music- one that bridges gaps between worldwide cultural diasporas as well as contemporary dance music sub-genres (house, hip hop, dancehall & global bass). Throughout every Captain Planet song, it's clear to hear his inspired appreciation for breaking the boundaries between genres and bridging continents through rhythm.

First up is Nehuen, an Argentinian born but Barcelona based artist who is notorious for his abrasive dance floor workouts on I Love Acid, BNR Trax and the Classicworks label he co-owns with Cardopusher. Cardopusher is, of course, a true electronic legend from Venezuela. His dizzyingly diverse sound takes in rave, acid, electro, techno and house influences and distills them into hugely
Raw and energetic new forms.

Nehuen's Psyops Part One kicks off with the excellent title track, which contorts acid and electro into a writhing monster filled with dark energy. The visceral 'Toxic' is built on slapping hits and spangled basslines that will tie you in knots as the bumping drums drive things forward. The late-night menace continues on 'Bailar', with tight synth arps layered up in robotic forms over clunky drums that are industrial and futuristic in equal measure. Last but not least, the eerie 'Desire' strikes a more twisted note with double kicks juddering beneath echoing hits. It's pure, filthy, brilliant body music.

Cardopusher kicks off Part Two with the fantastic 'Disobedience' (feat. Lbeeze) a slow-motion drum
workout that is like dark disco mangled through a psychedelic filter, with robotic vocals and stiff arp
jerking your body. 'Abyss Antidote' is then a flurry of drum breaks and electro bass, frazzled synths and whipping hits that keep you on the edge of your seat. Darkness abounds on the gritty 'Initial Decay' (ft. Lbeeze), which layers up taught drums and hits with spraying synths that come from a dystopian planet.

Closing out this epic mini-series is 'Mutant Brain', a cyborg techno meltdown with manic acid for
company.

These are devilishly distorted tracks from two of the best producers around.

Djebali and Jorge Savoretti combine to deliver their ‘Fraires’ EP on Infuse, accompanied by a remix from Stephan Bazbaz.

Two producers at the heart of today’s modern house and minimal scenes, Paris favourite Djebali and Argentinian DJ and producer Jorge Savoretti have grown to become two of the most consistent and impressive talents active within the scene today. With over thirty years of experience between them, releasing material via the likes of Freak’n’Chic, Raum…musik and Cadenza plus Djebali’s own self-titled imprint, the pairing now turn their attention to new ground as they make their collaborative debut on FUSE sister imprint Infuse this summer, offering up three fresh productions via their ‘Fraires’ EP alongside a remix from Tel Aviv’s Stephan Bazbaz.

The slow-blooming and hypnotic sonics of ‘101’ open the EP in style as the two talents merge sweeping synth lines atop of warped electronics and slick percussion shots, whilst Stephan Bazbaz’s remix ups the tempo and builds on the original with a combination of energetic builds and icy hats. On the flip, ‘Pigalle’ delves into a deep journey guided by a resonant lead line and hazy background murmurs, before closing with the classy ‘Devote Ville’ – a smooth and well measured production which oozes sophistication and quality from the opening minute.

Two leaders from very different musical worlds, the innovative pianist Bruce Brubaker and scientist-now-electronic-artist Max Cooper collaborate to create this latest expression of music by Philip Glass and tell a story of diversity and vulnerability.

Commissioned by and introduced at the Paris Philharmonie in 2019, Glassforms melds the acoustic concert grand piano with synths and cutting-edge electronic production techniques to create a compelling album and a dynamic live experience.

Rather than just reworking or augmenting via traditional means, Max Cooper and Bruce Brubaker fundamentally rewire Glass’ forms in a manner that’s not possible with human composition tools. Max built a new system for musical expression through coding with software developer Alexander Randon, creating a tool for taking live data from the piano and transforming it into new but intimately related forms which drive his synths on stage.

The result is that each of the pieces by Glass becomes its own electronic “instrument,” an instrument Bruce plays in addition to, and simultaneously with the original piece. As Bruce plays the piano and controls synths with his playing, Max modulates and augments, sometimes adding his own melodies to form hybrid variants.

After seven years, the second release of Max Loderbauer on Non Standard Productions arrives again in his style of post - german - electronic - avant garde. “Donnerwetter” is the perfect blue print of modern reduced electronic adventures. Carefully chosen out of a pool of recordings produced by Max in the last years, slightly edited and arranged into a full length album.

Belgian techno wizard Cri Du Coeur is back with a new 2-part vinyl release on his label Arkham Audio titled 'Erickson' & 'Erickson on Acid', which features remixes exclusively from French artists. Jerome D., the man behind the Cri Du Coeur alias, is prized in the industry for giving platforms to Belgian and French artists throughout his career, so it comes as no surprise that he is showing his francophile roots by having a solely French lineup for the remixes on this release. Following the recent release of his EPs 'Diaphragm' and 'Warning', and now bringing us the inebriating 'Erickson' & 'Erickson on Acid', Cri Du Coeur has established that his new alias and freshly-founded but tenacious Arkham Audio label are a force to be reckoned with. The entrancing yet adrenalizing sound that he has adopted shows that his approach to industrial electronic music knows no boundaries or compromises.

The first part of this release features the original mix of 'Erickson' by Cri Du Coeur and remixes of the track by Electric Rescue, Wex 10 , and Trunkline. The second part 'Erickson on Acid' puts a squelching acid twist on things and features remixes by Roman Poncet, Umwelt, and Zadig.

The original mix of 'Erickson' leads with a strong beat and a mixture of industrial sounds that makes for a sublime dark dancefloor track. Electric Rescue follows on with a remix that engages the listener with a terrorising yet intoxicating heavy baseline. Next up is Wex 10 who enchants us with a bouncy laserbeam rhythm and muffled looping vocals. Last but not least on the 'Erickson' lineup is Trunkline's remix which delivers an addictive hazy melody and a deep and dirty mechanical synth horn.

Cri Du Coeur plays with tensions in 'Erickson (on Acid)', putting the listener into a state of hypnosis with squelching sounds that give the song a raunchy character. We are implored to dance as Roman Poncet's remix bears layers of lively percussion beats with twangy synth melodies. The mood intensifies once more as Umwelt's remix features a dark and fuzzy baseline that contrasts with a screeching siren sound creating an ultimate thrilling experience for the listener. Zadig closes off this immense concoction of remixes with a relentless distorted base and scintillating machinelike background noises.

Cri Du Coeur has outdone himself by bringing together such a well-suited selection of artists to create a visceral and magnetizing collection of tracks that showcases his competence in making industrial techno.

Belgian techno wizard Cri Du Coeur is back with a new 2-part vinyl release on his label Arkham Audio titled 'Erickson' & 'Erickson on Acid', which features remixes exclusively from French artists. Jerome D., the man behind the Cri Du Coeur alias, is prized in the industry for giving platforms to Belgian and French artists throughout his career, so it comes as no surprise that he is showing his francophile roots by having a solely French lineup for the remixes on this release. Following the recent release of his EPs 'Diaphragm' and 'Warning', and now bringing us the inebriating 'Erickson' & 'Erickson on Acid', Cri Du Coeur has established that his new alias and freshly-founded but tenacious Arkham Audio label are a force to be reckoned with. The entrancing yet adrenalizing sound that he has adopted shows that his approach to industrial electronic music knows no boundaries or compromises.

The first part of this release features the original mix of 'Erickson' by Cri Du Coeur and remixes of the track by Electric Rescue, Wex 10 , and Trunkline. The second part 'Erickson on Acid' puts a squelching acid twist on things and features remixes by Roman Poncet, Umwelt, and Zadig.

The original mix of 'Erickson' leads with a strong beat and a mixture of industrial sounds that makes for a sublime dark dancefloor track. Electric Rescue follows on with a remix that engages the listener with a terrorising yet intoxicating heavy baseline. Next up is Wex 10 who enchants us with a bouncy laserbeam rhythm and muffled looping vocals. Last but not least on the 'Erickson' lineup is Trunkline's remix which delivers an addictive hazy melody and a deep and dirty mechanical synth horn.

Cri Du Coeur plays with tensions in 'Erickson (on Acid)', putting the listener into a state of hypnosis with squelching sounds that give the song a raunchy character. We are implored to dance as Roman Poncet's remix bears layers of lively percussion beats with twangy synth melodies. The mood intensifies once more as Umwelt's remix features a dark and fuzzy baseline that contrasts with a screeching siren sound creating an ultimate thrilling experience for the listener. Zadig closes off this immense concoction of remixes with a relentless distorted base and scintillating machinelike background noises.

Cri Du Coeur has outdone himself by bringing together such a well-suited selection of artists to create a visceral and magnetizing collection of tracks that showcases his competence in making industrial techno

Jori Hulkkonen was born and raised in a small town named Kemi with a population of 20,000, in the north of Finland. Since the early 80s, his musical influences have been on the side of electronic music, quite eclectic style for a 10-year-old boy who grew up in this period still marked by the seal of the Cold War. At the end of the 1980s, Jori's passion for electronic music was reinforced when he discovered its most abstract and minimal part: techno from Detroit and House Music from Chicago. Excellent DJ, he played in the best clubs and festivals in Europe. Jori Hulkkonen is an artist well known and extremely respected in the Nordic countries for his pioneering status, with his love of music and his involvement in making it known.

Black Truffle is pleased to announce a new solo album by Eiko Ishibashi, her first for the label, following on from the duo recording Ichida alongside bassist Darin Gray. Hyakki Yagyō (Night Parade of One Hundred Demons) was produced for the ‘Japan Supernatural’ exhibition at The Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney focusing on ghost stories and folklore from the Edo period onwards. As with The Dream My Bones Dream (Drag City, 2018), the album is a response to troubling questions about Japanese history, and the influence of the past upon the present, but finds Ishibashi shifting further away from her earlier piano-led songwriting and showing a deepening interest in electronics and audio collaging.

The two sidelong parts of Hyakki Yagyō feature layered synthesisers, acoustic instrumentation, recited verse and field recordings, at times densely mixed but always with a subtle interplay of changing elements. The influence of European and American forerunners as diverse as Alvin Curran, David Behrman and Strafe Für Rebellion can be traced, yet at the same time Ishibashi evokes the flute and string sounds associated with Japanese storytelling, and draws directly on the subversive literary tradition of Kyoka (‘mad poetry’) with a verse by the 15th-century poet Ikkyū Sōjun repeated throughout the album. Revisiting what has gone before, re-thinking what is possible musically, as a way of articulating what else might be possible in the future.

As Ishibashi’s liner notes make clear, the album reflects an attention to persistent dangers, myths and evasions in Japanese culture – as well as the lurking uncertainties that might threaten positive change. This would seem to be manifested in the emerging melodies soon met by dissonance, erratic collisions and near silence, as well as the eerie manipulation of the double-tracked vocals. Ishibashi’s underlying concerns ring true more widely of course. Hyakki Yagyō is a work of multiplicities, and mystery, a landscape where nothing is as it seems at first, and everything is vulnerable to sudden violent interruptions.

The album was produced with regular collaborators Jim O’Rourke (double bass) and Joe Talia (percussion), and features dancer and choreographer Ryuichi Fujimura performing Ikkyū’s satirical tanka. O’Rourke’s immersive mix creates a three-dimensional effect, with Ishibashi’s various sound sources enmeshing and interacting in captivating ways.

Pressed on coloured vinyl and presented in a deluxe package with an inner sleeve featuring and artist portrait and liner notes from Eiko Ishibashi. Cover and label design by Shuhei Abe.
Back cover design by Lasse Marhaug. Mixed and mastered by Jim O’Rourke.

key selling points:

- Black Truffle is pleased to announce a new solo album by Eiko Ishibashi, her first since her acclaimed 2018 Drag City release The Dream My Bones Dream.

- This album finds Ishibashi shifting further away from her earlier piano-led songwriting and showing a deepening interest in electronics and audio collaging.

- Hyakki Yagyō (Night Parade of One Hundred Demons) was produced for the ‘Japan Supernatural’ exhibition at The Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney focusing on ghost stories and folklore from the Edo period onwards and is a response to troubling questions about Japanese history, and the influence of the past upon the present.

- Produced with regular collaborators Jim O’Rourke (double bass) and Joe Talia (percussion), O’Rourke’s immersive mix creates a three-dimensional effect, with Ishibashi’s various sound sources enmeshing and interacting in captivating ways.

- The two sidelong parts of Hyakki Yagyō feature layered synthesisers, acoustic instrumentation, recited verse and field recordings, at times densely mixed but always with a subtle interplay of changing elements, hinting at an influence of European and American forerunners as diverse as Alvin Curran, David Behrman and Strafe Für Rebellion.

- Pressed on coloured vinyl and presented in a deluxe package with an inner sleeve featuring an artist portrait and liner notes from Eiko Ishibashi. Mixed and mastered by Jim O’Rourke.

vinyl only / 180 grams

Finishing off the initial "series" of Krab's vinyl-only records in style, KRB003 centres around 3 signature cuts from German duo Cedric Dekowski & Felix Reifenberg and a stellar remix from Yamen & Eda. The EP divulges into the multi-genre capabilities and eclectic nature of the HardWorkSoftDrink label owners, as there are seamless transition between genres, modular synths and all things in between are highlighted throughout the label's latest record.

Starting off with a slow burner, Act 1 is a hypnotic listen, formed around strung out sounds, glitchy breakdowns and a captivating overlaying melody. Laus highlights the pairs unique ability to shift genres seamlessly as they deliver a cut full of heavy hitting acid and emotion heavy synths suitable for any dance floor.

Internet dial up appears the theme throughout the B-side, as Feelsliker delivers a fast paced minimal roller that is stacked to the brim with bleeps, bloops and modular madness. Finishing off the record is a remix from French Duo Yamen & Eda, a pair of artists that boast a distinguished taste for electronic music. Dance floor ready, B2 is constructed around a heavy hitting bass line and an assembly of inimitable modular synths.

Ruutu Poiss, the Amsterdam/Tallinn based expert in glistening psychedelic electronics, arrives on the first outing for Wake Dream (A new label run by Amsterdam’s Orpheu The Wizard).

After releasing several 7”s, 12”s and EP’s on Levels, International Major Label, Rets Records and features on various compilations from Fasaan Rec. and Porridge Bullet, Ruutu Poiss lands at Wake Dream to release his first full length album (WADR002), scheduled for late summer 2020.

Leading up to the album, this untitled three tracker gives you a taste of his unique spectrum of kaleidoscopic modular dance music, futuristic synth funk and emotionally charged experimental cuts. These three tracks are not featured on the album and are exclusive only to this pre-release!

To say Fredfades and Jawn Rice are House music producers would be sneering at their efforts across genres like Hip Hop, Soul, and Jazz. The Mutual Intentions collaborators have forged a sound together in classic House, siphoning a myriad of influences through their intricate constructions in the studio as solo acts since first meeting in 2007. Becoming fast friends over a shared love of the dusty beats of an SP1200, Jawn Rice and Fredfades started working together while the Mutual Intentions collective gestated around them. Individual works by Jawn and Fred dot the collective’s back catalogue like various nodes of evolution through the course of MI’s output.
“We’ve always been sharing sketches,” explains Jawn Rice, “but I feel that these past years have been more productive in getting some of these sketches out as songs with Fredrik. It’s just a continuation of our friendship.” Emboldened by this friendship and with their finely tuned skills in the studio,
honed to near-perfection, they eventually started making music together. Following two seminal solo LPs – Fredfades’ Warmth and Jawn Rice’s Highlights – the pair consolidated their music as a duo in 2019, striking out with their electrifying debut, Jacuzzi Boyz. In a fusion between Jawn’s electronic inclinations and Fred’s soulful eccentricities, Jacuzzi Boyz established the duo as a new force workingNew Release Information within the broad scope of House music, with a sound imbued in the origin story of House and the genre’s hip-hop allegiances.
In 2020 they continue to pursue music together in the sophomore LP, Luv Neva Fades. Following the release of the title track and lead single, Luv Neva Fades finds the producers cementing their artistic voice and re-enforcing their commitment to a singular sound. Lush Rhodes keys and bouncing percussion lay the foundations for the album, while buoyant bass-lines and sparkling synthesisers provide
the catalyst for a crooning vocal or ruminating melody. It’s a record that thrives in a sultry mood; an LP that basks in the warmth of its analogue origins and cools in the shade of languid chord progressions.
Like Jacuzzi Boys, this album is an extended collaborative affair, as Mutual Intentions’ reach stretches across the Atlantic with guest appearances from Byron the Aquarius, Javonntte, Arthur Kay, Bendik HK and the SP1200 that started it all. Shimmering melodies, hazy harmonies and boisterous beats draw Fredfades and Jawn Rice out of the jacuzzi and onto the dance floor, moving under shimmering stars, where the duo cement what they started with Luv Neva Fades.

Songs for dancing, having fun, and vibing out, B. Bravo's latest project, the "Cosmic Mind" EP, brings listeners to the dancefloor by way of a healthy dose of talk-box, retro synths and irresistable boogie grooves.



Los Angeles producer, talk-boxer, remixer, DJ & instrumentalist, B. Bravo, has been flipping interstellar references and laying down galactic beats for over a decade. From 2009's Analog Starship to 2020's Cosmic Mind EP, the funk in him is alive and well. Born in California with roots in Japan, Bravo combines his love for jazz, soul, hip hop and electronics into his own signature sound of swinging grooves, melodic synths and bouncing analog basslines.

About a year ago Leroy Se Meurt delivered a simply hard-hitting and smashing debut EP… which quickly sold out at the ET HQ… the mixed background of this duo from Paris in electronic music and in punk-rock shapes the distinctive sound of Leroy Se Meurt… you can call it synth-punk or elektropunk… or simply post-punk for that matter… Not only their debut EP did have impact… possibly even more did their live shows… their live performance is wild and in your face…

Now there is the follow up to that acclaimed debut EP… this time Leroy Se Meurt takes a little step back from the totally in your face attitude… the sound is a bit darker and aims less on a direct confrontation but works to crawl under your skin… the energy and tension is still there but is building up gradually… and has a bigger impact that way… Don’t miss out on this next step in the campaign of Leroy Se Meurt!

Sudd WAX is a vinyl only label of Sudd Records Family. The Limited Series, starts with STK named Electronic Roots. Conceptual, contemporary, the release shows electronic aesthetic into non-labeled genre but music. Figuring out Techno, Jazz, Drum'n'bass influences, into electronic raw textures, arranging something uncommon, but sense at all.

Lennard Poschmann returns to Oliver Hafenbauer's Die Orakel label with a brand-new EP under his O-Wells alias.
'Ebecs' showcases the Robert Johnson resident's subtle, distinct approach to Detroit-ish,
IDM & ambient-influenced electronic music.

Opening track ‘Ectid’ is a free-floating introduction revealing a glorious acid undercurrent. ‘Bbmore’ demonstrates a different kind of approach with the same wistful ingredients, unravelling a tightly wound drum structure from the inside. On ‘Exolite’, the inverse unfolds, as Wells blends experimental textures and introduces stabs of cathartic and deep bass.

Introducing the other half of the release, ‘Culling Virus’ is Wells' take on simmering, paranoid electro. On the pairing of LL0P 1 and LL0P 2, he provides an intermission with two tense locked grooves before concluding the release with the cascading and dense ‘Shnuck’, a psychedelic transmission of complex layered sound design.

"Electronic landscape" tells a story. The heartbeat is so strong within the deep darkness and is waiting for some love and the joy of the next rendez-vous.

Mechanic will bring you into this world side by side with an extraordinary remix of DJ Surgeles.

Limited picture disc edition!

Rival Consoles is 21-year old IDM-smith Ryan Lee West from Leicester in the Midlands of England. After having supported his city neighbours and label comrades Kyte on an extensive European tour in November 2008, West locked himself away all winter to finish his first full-length album, set to see the light of day in mid 2009. In the meantime fans of his debut 'The Decadent EP' will be pleased to hear that on February 23, 2009 Erased Tapes Records will release an exclusive 4-track 7" single / download bundle ? Rival Consoles' take on classical music entitled 'Helvetica'. Instead of X-Box versus Playstation, here West plays classical against dance music! Influenced by impressionists like Claude Debussy and modern electronic artists such as Autechre and Daft Punk, Ryan Lee West created a unique signature sound for Rival Consoles. A playful and brutal mix of electronic beats, emotive piano melodies and warm synth string arrangements. Ryan repeatedly performed at the Tate Britain Museum in London where he drew over 2000 visitors into his unpredictable, yet detailed sound drawings. He was the first to represent Erased Tapes Records at the British Music Week 2007 in Cologne, Germany. Limited to 500 copies only: with download code. Album due later in the year, and it will be one of the years hittest tips...

Newcomer Hekla releases her uniquely beautiful debut album for solo theremin and voice Á through Phantom Limb Records - run and curated by former FatCat Records, Thrill Jockey and Royal Albert Hall execs James Vella, Ken Li and Mark Pearse.

A Berlin-residing Icelander, Hekla's sparse, delicate, fractal music exists within these two worlds: dark and magical as Iceland's permanight folklore; and (though beatless) as deeply sonic and intense as Berlin's electronic scene. A long-term scholar of solo theremin, Hekla (shortened from her own name Hekla Magnúsdóttir) uses her instrument as an otherworldly and highly evocative Siren-call. A spectral, wailing, howling, lamenting yearning second-voice that underpins a soft vocal delivery, as if her studio had been haunted with a chorus of ghostly backing singers.

While a handful of reference points share a similar ground to Á - Colleen's interplay of voice and instrumentation; the richly immersive filmscore work of sadly passed fellow Icelander Jóhann Jóhannsson's; 'grandmother of theremin' Clara Rockmore's close relationship with such a singular instrument; Julia Holter's intelligent and classically-aligned songwriting - Hekla's music still exists singularly. A one-off talent, emerging from no particular scene, ascribing to no particular rules.

As a creative tool, the theremin - bizarre, unique, rarely heard - can be expressive, intuitive and highly adaptable. In Hekla's hands, her instrument covers an enormous range, from skittering birdsong of high frequency chirrups and chirps, to grinding, tectonic sub-bass. We are given the throbbing, apocalyptic dread of 'Muddle' and the baroque beauty of traditional Icelandic hymn 'Heyr Himna Smiur' in sequential tracks on the album's a-side. Appropriately, she also writes that the album title - Á - is similarly multifaceted in her native Icelandic: 'a river is an á and also it means ouch like when you hurt yourself, and also when you put something on top of something you put it á (on) something.'

The album was written and self-recorded by Hekla in her home studio in Berlin around her son's daycare schedule. Icelandic super-musician Mr Silla (a part-time múm member) guests on a number of tracks. Tallinn-based engineer Jose Diogo Neves - a stalwart of Icelandic and Portuguese music - mixed and mastered Á.

James Vella formed Phantom Limb in June 2017 after eight years in A&R for FatCat Records. Mark Pearse (formerly head of contemporary music programming at the Royal Albert Hall) and Ken Li (formerly of Thrill Jockey, now of Nettwerk) joined the team shortly after.

DNGDNGDNG is Dengue Dengue Dengue's new alias for this release of extra sensory perception. The duo have projected rhythmic visions of lost continents, unknown worlds and the unseeable past and future that is present all around us. By channeling rhythmic patterns from the matrix they're able to translate the waves of radiation around us which originated at the cosmic event which created the universe. DNGDNGDNG reach deep into their sonic imagination to draw from interlocking time signatures and variant tempos. From the cosmic interference and mathematics DNGDNGDNG create a polyrhythmic theme that brings the sound of continents lost and imagined to our ears. Dengue Dengue Dengue have established themselves as one of the most pioneering artists on the leftfield electronic scene in recent years with heavyweight support by the likes of Boiler Room, Resident Advisor and Bandcamp weekly.

Italian producer Clap! Clap! returns to Bristol's Black Acre with his third album, ‘Liquid Portraits’. Born and bred in Florence, Cristiano
Crisci’s musical career extends back to the mid-90s where he started out as a rapper, before picking up a saxophone and exploring
both jazz and jazz/punk fusion with Trio Cane, and then returning to his electronic roots with A Smile For Timbuctu project - a
collaborative effort that released four albums and performed across Europe. By 2008, Crisci decided to strike it out on his own as Digi
G’Alessio, channeling the same hip-hop meets electronic music energies as those animating the nascent Los Angeles beat scene for a
string of EPs and albums. Soon Crisci hit upon a new formula when he started combining samples from the African continent with
energetic drum programming. The results led to the birth of Clap! Clap! in 2013, which has since been recognised and supported by the
likes of Paul Simon and Gilles Peterson. The stripped-back, high-energy yet inventive sound caught the attention of Black Acre with
whom Crisci has been working with ever since, including his first and second albums ‘Tayi Bebba’ and ‘A Thousand Skies’. Returning
to Black Acre, Clap! Clap!’s third album once again deploys his inimitable technique in fine style, however with new eyes as this new
project signifies a definite shift in his work having spent the last few years learning the art of mixing which has lead to some
breakthroughs: “In recent years I’ve spent a lot of time studying essential mixing techniques. I then built an acoustic-treated room and
set up my new studio. I started to convert digital into analogue and vice versa with good converters and achieved sounds that I’ve
never heard before from my speakers. This had a huge positive impact on my mixes and result on my music.” Entitled ‘Liquid Portraits’, the album - as the name suggests - is a collection of sonic paintings, an attempt at capturing furtive, subconscious memories through sound. The tracks reference trips Crisci took and people he met – from southern Italy to Hokkaido via the Kif Mountains of Morocco – as well as more abstract ideas of loss, calmness, and childhood. Having been approached by Paul Simon to work on his 2016 album ‘Stranger To Stranger’ after Simon discovered ‘Tayi Bebba’ through his son, Clap! Clap! is no stranger to collaborations and this album features a small cast of talents, such as south Italy percussionist Domenico Candellori (‘Southern Dub’), Belgian artist Martha Da’ro (‘Moving On’) and harpist Kety Fusco (‘Rising Fire’)

Cascade Symmetry is the culmination of an intense and transformative year-long period. It is an ode to new beginnings and the disintegration of the past.

Recorded and mixed September - October 2017 in San Jose, CA; additional recordings and field recordings taken September 2017 in South Korea.

Gear used: Eurorack modular synthesizer (Mutable Instruments, Make Noise, Orthogonal Devices, Intellijel, TipTop, Ladik, Malekko Heavy Industry, Mannequins, Qu-Bit Electronix, Doepfer), Novation Peak, Korg Electribe 2, Elektron Analog Heat, Strymon El Capistan, Hosa Technology Cables

Initially released on tape and digital through the artist on November 6, 2017.

As a long-time admirer of his work, R&S/Apollo boss Renaat has signed up Italian craftsman Nuel for a stunning concept album that finds the artist becoming "my own imaginary band" after ten years of personal growth and exploration. Nuel has been revered in underground techno circles for many years. He is a meticulous sonic sculptor who has made some of the most meditative and hypnotic electronic grooves of the last decade on labels like Semantica, Kontra-Musik and Sublunar. He also put out cult classic and highly sought after album 'Trance Mutation', which found him playing all the sounds himself on a wide array of instruments. 'Fantasia' is physical, dance-able music but crafted from unfamiliar sound sources that make it as suited to a campfire gathering as an experimental club setting. It's expertly assembled and utterly unique.

The second volume of Nothing Is Real’s self-titled compilation builds on their towering reputation as leading lights within the global electronic music community. As the label’s first release distributed by the respected Dutch record label and store Bordello A Parigi, the collection is set to further establish their international presence and spread their eclectic sound far and wide.

Bringing together diverse influences from across the spectrum of electronica and into new wave and ambient music, Nothing Is Real stand at the forefront of modern dance music as sonic innovators that continue to push boundaries with each offering.

Curated by Alberto Iovine and Alessandro Fumagalli, also known under the stage name Modular Project, this four-track collection takes listeners on a journey through the outer atmosphere of techno, expanding and evolving the genre into new forms along the way.

Cantor’s opening track kicks things off with a hypnotic, driving groove built on acidic synths before Niv Ast & Roe Deers bring a human touch to the proceedings with a vocal-led heater that recalls classic ‘80s sounds. Dharma pairs shuffling rhythms with extraterrestrial soundscapes that recall Squarepusher and Aphex Twin, before Argia closes the record with force and momentum, surrounding voltaic synthesizers and tribal drums with expressive atmospherics.