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Planar Traits adds to the Spectral Bounce catalog with SPEC08: Distance EP. Since 2021 the Stockholm-based artist’s creations have combined evocative soundscapes with dancefloor functionality. Here he steps up with four hydrographic cuts spanning the groove-led, the mysterious and the cerebral.

Beginning the expedition with the type of psychedelic and lithe tech-house for which Spectral Bounce is known, the A-side is glistening with aquatic shimmer. “Variations in Hue” and “Distance” are club cuts embellished with mystical melodies and sonar pulses, both propelled by chunky drums and driving sub frequencies.

The B-side goes deeper, revealing a more contemplative zone in which soft echoes of Detroit (“Bloom”) are spliced with 1990s Artificial Intelligence sensibilities (“Never-ending Light”). A perfect soundtrack for living room transcendence, as much as pelagic immersion.

SPEC08 — Dive in!

Credits:
Words by Cameron Leaf
Art by Susanne Janssen
Mastering & Cut by Analogcut

Originally Self-produced in 150 copies (1977), MAR-VISTA’s only album is one of France’s most strange and radical records. Psychedelic electronic music, experimental, and acid folk A collector’s holy grail for fans of Klaus Schulze, Terry Riley, Neu, and Silver Apples. Includes a previously unreleased second record (1973)

With releases on now legendary labels like Kazumi or Holzplatten the Japanese producer Yamaoka has been rooted in the Techno scene since the late 90s, even though the stylistic range of his entire body of work over the past decades exceeds pure dancefloor functionality by far. Originally released via the Leipzig-based underground label Minor in 2017 the two tracks on this super limited 7“ vinyl release capture a raw, hounded and unpolished high octane take on Techno which is rarely to be found these days with especially the B-side cut „Low“ presenting an absolute peaktime weapon for the adventurous and experienced DJ's out there.
Never officially distributed before and only known and recognized by a few well informed selectors out there this is the first time ever this unrecognized gem is available to a wider audience, albeit in highly limited quantities.
Limited pressing of 100 single copies on blue vinyl.

Moroccan-born producer Reda Senhaji, better known under the name Cheb Runner, presents 80K, the second installment in Beat Machine’s TERRA TEMPO series. A direct tribute to the cultural heritage of the Souss Massa Darâa region, the release reactivates ancestral rhythms and translates them into a forward-looking electronic language rooted in place, memory, and physical sound.

Drawing from traditions such as Ahwach, Gnawa, and other interconnected practices from the Souss region, the EP preserves original rhythmic skeletons while reimagining them through modern production and club-oriented structures.

Across six tracks, traditional instruments and electronic elements collide fluently, where the 808 functions as a structural force rather than an accent. From the rolling pulse of Iznagn Engines and the evocative contours of Azn Oudrar to the spiritual resonance of Gn-Awa, the B-side expands the journey with the sub-heavy Afouss Adar 808, the atmospheric Tarwan Ganga, and a reinterpreted Gn-Awa by Guedra Guedra, layered with intricate textures and low-end pressure.

Moving between bass, world, and electronic territories, 80K reflects a deliberate balance between preservation and transformation. Music that carries ancestral rhythms into new listening spaces, bridging generations, cultures, and sonic worlds within a single, cohesive experience.

It’s Been Awful marks the moment Isaiah Rashad fully becomes his own genre.

The Top Dawg Entertainment visionary returns with his third studio album, expanding his sonic world beyond hip-hop into cosmic jazz, psychedelic guitar rock, Soulquarian neo-soul, and flashes of genre-blurring experimentation.

Featuring SZA, Dominic Fike, and Julian Sintonia, Rashad delivers his most vulnerable and fully-realized work yet after five transformative years, an unfiltered reflection on addiction, growth, self-confrontation, and redemption.

Dive into the ultra deep field with the fourth release by Alphawaves.
A0910EP showcases Alphawaves' characteristic ability to fuse the organic and the synthetic into a cohesive, hypnotic whole. Across two tracks, a subtle but insistent surge of energy powers both dancefloors and hi-fidelity systems. Dubby and repetitive yet undeniably playful, a sound that feels both intimate and expansive. A sonic space rooted in past, present, and future, echoing far beyond the moment.

"Birmingham hailing quintet Swim Deep announces their fifth studio album ‘Hum’, due June 19th via Submarine Cat Records. They also share first single ‘Pieces Of You’ — a defiant cut of alternative rock: roaring with clouds of distortion that bring a bite and rawness to its chiming melodies. Fresh and inspired from a sold-out tour across Thailand and China in December, and with an unexpected line-up change: ‘Hum’ is the work of a group rejuvenated, driven by their innate passion for music – even when the going gets tough – and sounding more confident than ever, whilst juggling the challenges of maintaining a grassroots indie band on their fifth album. Speaking on the track, lead singer Austin “Ozzy” Williams adds: “I had found a new writing partner at the full-time bar job: there stood J.J. Buchanan by the barrels of beer kegs we were hauling. A sharp songwriter and a soaring guitarist, who brought something fresh to this song and the whole sonic landscape that would shape ‘Hum’. Thematically, ‘Hum’ continues the life journey of ‘There’s A Big Star Outside’, which captured a transformational period for Williams – preparing for the arrival of his first child, but also the departure of his wife’s father. The songs on ‘Hum’ detail the aftermath of that spell, exploring loss, family and our responsibilities to those we build a life with. “I’ve now got someone to inspire,” he explains. “It’s like, ‘Yeah, your dad works at a bar to make rent, but this is what he actually does, this is what the dream is, and we’ll all live on it together. That’s the ethos on this album.” With ‘Hum’, Swim Deep turn struggle into momentum and personal upheaval into collective uplift. It’s the band’s heaviest, most adventurous, and most uplifting album in years – and the sound of a band still chasing the dream with conviction, but now with something deeper at stake."

"Birmingham hailing quintet Swim Deep announces their fifth studio album ‘Hum’, due June 19th via Submarine Cat Records. They also share first single ‘Pieces Of You’ — a defiant cut of alternative rock: roaring with clouds of distortion that bring a bite and rawness to its chiming melodies. Fresh and inspired from a sold-out tour across Thailand and China in December, and with an unexpected line-up change: ‘Hum’ is the work of a group rejuvenated, driven by their innate passion for music – even when the going gets tough – and sounding more confident than ever, whilst juggling the challenges of maintaining a grassroots indie band on their fifth album. Speaking on the track, lead singer Austin “Ozzy” Williams adds: “I had found a new writing partner at the full-time bar job: there stood J.J. Buchanan by the barrels of beer kegs we were hauling. A sharp songwriter and a soaring guitarist, who brought something fresh to this song and the whole sonic landscape that would shape ‘Hum’. Thematically, ‘Hum’ continues the life journey of ‘There’s A Big Star Outside’, which captured a transformational period for Williams – preparing for the arrival of his first child, but also the departure of his wife’s father. The songs on ‘Hum’ detail the aftermath of that spell, exploring loss, family and our responsibilities to those we build a life with. “I’ve now got someone to inspire,” he explains. “It’s like, ‘Yeah, your dad works at a bar to make rent, but this is what he actually does, this is what the dream is, and we’ll all live on it together. That’s the ethos on this album.” With ‘Hum’, Swim Deep turn struggle into momentum and personal upheaval into collective uplift. It’s the band’s heaviest, most adventurous, and most uplifting album in years – and the sound of a band still chasing the dream with conviction, but now with something deeper at stake."

Tum Tum Tum is the eighth album from London-based Brazilian artist Marcelo Frota aka MOMO., featuring guest appearances from Brazilian bossa nova legend Marcos Valle and Smoke City's Nina Miranda as well as UK jazz trombonist Rosie Turton and his tight-knit band, all recorded in South London This is a free-flowing, warm, expansive and fully assured album, and exudes a playfulness and a sense of someone who is truly in their element and at peace when writing and recording.

Música para Plátanos takes its name — and much of its inspiration — from the group’s recording studio, situated in the heart of a banana plantation on the humid north shore of Tenerife, Canary Islands. The ever-present sight of the green, sun-drenched fields surrounding their weekly sessions seeped directly into the music: improvised jams that are playful, layered, and deeply connected to place.
This release gathers a distilled selection from those sessions — a kind of “greatest rotten hits” distinct from their ongoing Imaginary Island Music volumes.
The album functions as a living archive bringing together a distilled selection of recordings spanning more than five years: from dusty, long-forgotten sessions to evolving tunes that have become staples of the band's live sets but have never before been committed to record. These long-form sessions served as a petri dish for the Lagoss sound, allowing their experiments to putrefy into their chaotic signature strain of cyber-exotica, unstable kosmische or heavily-corroded dub.
The title obvs nods to Brian Eno’s Music for Airports, but the logic is inverted. Instead of clean, ambient drift, the record inhabits a dense and fertile environment: polyrhythmic structures, Latin-infused electronics, and shifting counter-tempos that feel weighted by the local humidity.
Ultimately, Música para Plátanos is as much about the process as it is the place. Like the plantation outside, the music is subject to the elements; the tracks change shape depending on the heat of the day, what we drank, what we ate. It’s an unstable, honest harvest of sound—shaped by the weather and the state(s) of mind alike.

Reframed is Vitess’ third album, released on his own label Retro Futura, and marks a new turning point in his artistic journey. Unlike his previous albums — the first fully exploring the Retro aesthetic, the second embodying the Futura — Reframed brings these two worlds together within a single, coherent yet eclectic body of work. The album opens with sounds inspired by 90s progressive music and gradually moves toward more futuristic textures. This album format gives Vitess complete freedom: the freedom to build a full, living musical experience, introducing for the first time a strong instrumental dimension — most notably through the use of live drums — and allowing each track to interact with others, transform, or mirror one another, while maintaining a clear narrative thread that guides the listener throughout.

The title Reframed directly reflects this approach. The album is built around tracks conceived as Recto / Verso, offering a form of double listening experience. On the one hand, electronic, club-oriented and progressive versions, designed for energy and dancefloor movement; on the other hand, more introspective, pop and instrumental counterparts, created for listening and storytelling. Starting from the same musical foundation — a vocal sample, a percussion element, or a melody — Vitess develops two distinct interpretations of the same track, generating contrasting yet deeply connected sonic worlds. This method, central to his creative process, highlights his ability to explore a single detail in depth and let a micro-element lead him toward radically different sonic dimensions, while ensuring coherence and a strong identity across the album.

For Reframed, Vitess also collaborates for the first time with other artists: Stupid Flash, ATOEM, and Lucile, selected for their ability to enrich his universe and push it toward new aesthetics. These collaborations recreate a sense of collective energy reminiscent of his early days playing in bands, while remaining true to the essence of the Vitess project: a primarily solitary approach rooted in exploration, experimentation, and embracing the unexpected paths each idea can take.

Glasgow, Scotland duo Thomas + James deliver their silky-smooth dub laced sounds for Federsen’s Alt Dub with the four-track ‘Realtime’ EP.

Thomas + James are a Glasgow-based DJ and production duo whose sound reflects a deep immersion in electronic music. Raised in the city’s west end and shaped by early exposure to techno pioneers like Luke Slater, Slam and Jeff Mills alongside the atmospheric legacy of ’90s drum & bass, their productions lean into a dub infused, forward-looking aesthetic.

Drawing equally from house traditions via influences such as St Germainand Laurent Garnier, the pair blur the lines between dub techno, deep house, acid and minimal.

Their new EP onFedersen’s Alt Dub captures that hybrid vision with a maturity that belies their years, being born in 2006,marking them out as a quietly compelling new voice from Glasgow’s next generation.

Leading the release is the original title-track ‘Realtime’, setting the tone with a sturdy yet pared-back rhythm section, oscillating synth flutters, bouncy sub-bass and hazy textures that subtly shift across the arrangement.

Label boss Federsen steps in next with his interpretation, reducing the track to its deepest foundations and recasting it as a delicately drifting soundscape of evolving spatial echoes, weighty low-end pressure and restrained, muted drums.

On the flip, Thomas + James return with ‘Armonia’, an ethereal, dub-leaning deep house cut propelled by billowing pads, delayed vocal chants, fluid dub chords and a heavily swung, minimalist groove.

The EP closes with ‘X-Intense’, further highlighting the duo’s groove-driven signature sound as reverberant, airy stabs weave through breathy vocals and shuffled percussion to bring the release to a hypnotic conclusion.

In September 2024, Nacho Piek, Rapha Mundi, Odd Signals and Ibai Machín gathered for four days in a beautiful house in Etxeberri, a small village in Navarre with barely 50 inhabitants. Isolated from everyday rhythm and surrounded by nature, the goal was clear: to create a production camp dedicated exclusively to club music.

The result is Etxeberri EP, the debut of Buenobueno Soundsystem — a work that captures that coexistence in the form of direct and timeless music, designed for the dancefloor. An organic crossing of influences ranging from House, Techno and late-90s Minimal Trance to contemporary UK Bass.

Etxeberri EP will be released on March 13 exclusively on vinyl, in a limited edition of 200 copies. Each record includes an inlay with photographs of the creative process and private access to an audiovisual piece shot by Jesús Iriarte documenting the experience and the spirit behind the project

DJ Trax returns to Over/Shadow with a new solo EP containing 3 perfectly crafted jungle tracks.

Expertly fusing funk with razor sharp breaks and dark undertones, the Collision EP is a must buy for any seasoned DnB / Jungle head!!!

Tone Dropout Records kick off the new year in emphatic style with a brand-new 6-track vinyl EP that stays true to the label’s unmistakable dancefloor-driven sound.

Packed with heavyweight grooves, acid lines, breaks, and bleeps, this release delivers six high-impact tracks designed for late-night systems and packed floors. The EP also marks an exciting moment for the label, welcoming two new artists into the Tone Dropout family while celebrating the return of long-standing contributors.

Joining the roster for the first time are KWAKE and Harry Light, both making a powerful debut on the label. They sit alongside Tone Dropout regulars SkyWave Transmissions and XOTR, while label co-owners DAWL and SWEEN reunite once again, delivering an acid-fuelled opener and a special bonus breaks track on Side B.

As always, the EP is overflowing with breaks, bleeps, acid, and raw rave energy.

Side A – The Head Side

Side A opens strong with DAWL and SWEEN at the helm, laying down a driving four-to-the-floor acid groover that would warm up any dancefloor with ease. It’s a statement opener — and a sign of much more to come from the duo throughout the year.

Next up, SkyWave Transmissions brings his trademark experience and finesse, delivering a tightly produced acid-bleep track that showcases depth, quality, and character. Following seamlessly is long-time collaborator XOTR, who rounds out the side with a pure slice of northern bleep excellence — unmistakably Sheffield in style and sound.

Side B

Side B introduces the first of the new Tone Dropout members, KWAKE. A long-time friend of the label, this marks his first official appearance, and he doesn’t disappoint. His track is a full-force breaks banger, capturing authentic rave energy and guaranteed to ignite the floor.

Next comes Harry Light, making an immediate impact with a pounding house-and-breaks hybrid. Impeccably produced and relentless in energy, the track lives up to its name perfectly — “POWER HOUSE.” Both newcomers arrive firing on all cylinders, delivering two massive dancefloor weapons back-to-back.

Closing out the EP, DAWL and SWEEN return with Tones Breaks 5, a three-minute breaks workout and the latest installment in the label’s breaks series. This track also serves as a respectful nod to one of their musical heroes, Frankie Bones, rounding off the release on a high.

Six tracks. All killers. No fillers.
In challenging times, this EP delivers exceptional value — a complete package of club-ready music pressed to vinyl and built for real dancefloors.

Another quality release from Tone Dropout Records.

Fresh on the Discos Panorama series, we head back to Colombia with the undisputed king Fruko y Sus Tesos, pairing him with another all-time classic on the flip from The Latin Brothers. Two heavyweight dancefloor cuts, one essential 7inch.

On the A-side, Fruko does what he does best — driving, percussive salsa built for movement, locked-in rhythm section, sharp horns, and that unmistakable swing that’s kept his records in DJ bags for decades. On the flip, “Buscándote” from The Latin Brothers brings a slower, more melodic touch without losing any punch — real music.

Both sides feature the presence of the legendary Piper Pimienta Díaz on vocals. His voice is raw, expressive, and instantly recognisable. A true legend of the game.

Part of PANORAMA’s Discos Panorama series, this release continues the label’s focus on Colombian salsa at its most vital and dancefloor-ready. Carefully selected, respectfully remastered, and pressed for DJs and collectors alike — music that’s been doing the work for years, now brought back where it belongs.

Pure world magic brims from every groove of this new set of pearlers from the Beauty & The Beat label. We know nothing about Loopico, who is behind the originals, but they blend plenty of Latin, cumbia and expressive percussive sounds into ass-wiggling grooves. Cow bells litter 'Curimbobata', which has stringy rhythms and external synths weaving in and out. 'Maquio' has busy, relentless handicaps and acoustic strings with shamanic spoken words, then 'Upaon-acu' and 'Calma-cara' bring sunny spiritualism to another pair of urgent rhythms. Leonidas lays down hefty, bass-driven rhythms that make these suited to club deployment and open-air dancing this summer.

The gold standard edit masters at Scruniversal have decided to refocus somewhere away from their usual Brazilian sound for this latest 7". It finds the crew heading to Africa and digging deep for new grooves, with Tony Lavrutz, Scruscru & Dwaal coming correct. 'Afrika Bambaataa' kicks the record off with a laid back Afro-tinged broken beats with a sunny disposition and plenty of bright melodies that wouldn't sound out of place in a Nightmares on Wax set. On the flip side joint, 'Zulu Jam" the drums cut more deep with organic percussion scattered up top next to expressive flutes. Perfect summer vibes.

Big heart US deep house figurehead Chez Damier has opened his studio up to new school collaborators once again, with Italy's Nico Lahs and Adeen chief Camille getting back to work on a new series of tunes inspired by jazz-fusion and the sounds broadcast on legendary radio station WJZZ. 'Dragon Breath' opens with tense rhythmic interplay and expressive horns and vibraphones, while 'Tunita' offers shimmering rhythms. 'Third World Wave' is a busy broken beat with weighty kicks and brilliantly loose percussion all run through with off-kilter horns. The 12" expands the palette, from the lighter touch of 'Haiku' to the driving force of 'Bullet Train'. Another majestic collaboration.

Although he's released on numerous labels since debuting almost a decade ago, Eduardo Barbi aka Gledd returns to his own reliable imprint Saint Wax. On his fourth vinyl missive for the imprint, My Church Is On Fire, the Italian producer delivers a quartet of cuts that happily boast samples from vintage gospel cuts. It's a simple idea, brilliantly executed, as proved by the righteous, spiritual, organ-rich stomp of opener 'Let It Shine', featuring guest lead vocals from Steve Salmaso. Elsewhere, 'Mama Don't Preach' is a whirlwind of sampled gospel soul vocals, expansive piano solos and chunky deep house beats, 'Be Real' is a heavily electronic slab of gospel-house deepness, and 'Back on My Stay' is a locked-in, late-night delight with an effortlessly soulful finish.