Search:explora

Rockets Audio starts the saga with 4 finest minimal house trackers by Matheiu, Denis Kaznacheev and the master trio Wareika. A rocket (from Italian rocchetto "bobbin" is a missile, spacecraft, aircraft or other vehicle that obtains thrust from a rocket engine. Rocket engine exhaust is formed entirely from propellant carried within the rocket before use. Rocket engines work by action and reaction and push rockets forward simply by expelling their exhaust in the opposite direction at high speed, and can therefore work in the vacuum of space.

In fact, rockets work more efficiently in space than in an atmosphere. Multistage rockets are capable of attaining escape velocity from Earth and therefore can achieve unlimited maximum altitude. Compared with airbreathing engines, rockets are lightweight and powerful and capable of generating large accelerations. To control their flight,
rockets rely on momentum, airfoils, auxiliary reaction engines, gimballed thrust, momentum wheels, deflection of the exhaust stream, propellant flow, spin, and/or gravity.

Rockets for military and recreational uses date back to at least 13th century China. Significant scientific, interplanetary and industrial use did not occur until the 20th century, when rocketry was the enabling technology for the Space Age, including setting foot on the Earth's moon. Rockets are now used for fireworks, weaponry, ejection seats, launch vehicles for artificial satellites, human spaceflight, and space exploration.

SOUND rockets are the most common type of high power rocket, typically creating a high speed pitch by the wave of rythm with an oxilator. The stored delay can be a simple pressurized detune or a single filter delay that disassociates in the presence of a curve (EQ + FILTER ), two hats that spontaneously react on contact (RANDOMIZER), two snares that must be ignited to react, a solid combination of effects with oxidizer (solid GROOVE), or solid fuel with liquid oxidizer (hybrid FILTER BAND DELAY). Chemical rockets store a large amount of energy in an easily released form, and can be very dangerous. However, careful design, testing, construction and use minimizes risks.

Inviting slow disco and spaced out ambient characterizes this new material from Golden Bug and In Fields on their collaboration-album ”Vibration Métallique”. Golden Bugs kind of extrovert and electronic sound is recognizable from his previous 7” release on Höga Nord Rekords and together with In Fields it gets dressed in a fluffier costume.

This album is the result of two persons with tons of respect for one another musically, two musicians who have been floating past and sometimes in two each others projects for the last couple of years. Their musical roots In ”Leftfield land” intertwine and reaches up above ground, connecting to different musical stems and holds together the sound; like sightseeing in a familiar town this album has outer limits but as unpredictable as the city can be, this record surprises you from one track to the other.

The album has a springtime feel to it in all it's brightness, but suddenly it shifts shape in a song like ”Lush”, picked straight from the factory floor. This album is both a standoff and a board meeting in electronic music. Golden Bugs metallic excentricity meeting with In Fields darkness and live feel creates an unpredictability and the music goes on an exploratory trip far away!

These two new tracks continue to push the band’s sound into new territory; ‘Overture 1’ is a brand-new composition from Ruby Rushton keyboard player Aidan Shepherd. Taking inspiration from bands like Weather Report and Soft Machine, it's explosive introduction leads you to a dub-like breakdown, creating an open space for Shepherd to let loose his synthesizer for some deep space, Headhunters’esque exploration.

Yardley Suite - is a song first conceived by band leader Ed ‘Tenderlonious’ Cawthorne back in 2012. Having lied dormant for several years it felt like an appropriate time to pull it back out the bag. It’s a composition inspired by Cawthorne’s solo work as an electronic producer, under his alias Tenderlonious. Always wanting to merge his various approaches, ‘Yardley Suite’ is the perfect mix of Jazz and House. With a steady four to the floor beat and snappy horn lines it's sure to work its magic on dancefloors around the globe.

Having focused on improvisation and more “open” compositions in the past, the bands new direction is geared towards tighter, more groove-orientated arrangements. This exciting new material is yet further evidence that this is a highly prolific band at the top of their game, continually evolving, stretching out their own unique sound across the full jazz spectrum.

DJ Support: Tom Ravenscroft, Bradley Zero, Huey Morgan, James Endacott, Kev Beadle, Chris Phillips, Tony Minvielle, Tim Garcia, Delia Tesileanu, Kamaal Williams, Al Dobson Jr, Contours, Poly-Ritmo.

Woods 786 is back. The alter ego of Roberto Bosco returns with “Exploration 01”, a live jam recording split in two tracks performed with Elektron Analog 4 and Analog RYTM. Last Drop Records and Sonorous Waves' founder has been for years both a producer and a DJ with dates all around the world, now takes another step forward into ambient music. His hypnotic textures invite the listener to travel without moving. Mastered at Mixmastering Studio, the first joint effort between Souterraine.org and Envlp_Imprint, “Exploration 01” is a dreamy continuum of twenty-five minutes or a way to escape from everyday chaotic life. Synthesizers brings you the sound of outer space.

Cynosure returns with OHMS, a playfully uplifting collaboration from Mike Shannon and Ohm Hourani. The three-track EP features two originals laced with twisted drums and slippery synths, equally fitting for intergalactic exploration or a beachside sunrise. The original tracks’ intimately minimal production is complimented by a remix from Akufen of elegant deep house, making for a record that is both contemporary and classic. “Hightower PSA" slips out the gate with a carefree ambling baseline over a slow, swelling tide-like pad. Breezy, pulsing synth stabs pull the groove together while precise, quick hats and snares weave around buzzing tones like alien chatter. “Nova In The Sun” moves into steadier and darker territory: the bass hops between a stark kick-snare, with hats tastefully drizzled on top.

But when singer Ilhem’s sultry voice cues subtle hand drums and squiggly echoes, the track transforms from a slick minimal affair into a soulful throwback. “Nova In The Sun (Akufen’s Aldo Nova In The Sun mix)” takes the female voice of the original and jumps right in with an upbeat staccato piano and swirling violins. A full-blown house arrangement ushers in lush strings, electric piano chords, and loosely fitting open hats and snares, all conspiring to bring a splash of joy to any peak-time crowd. On the whole, OHMS deliver a versatile EP that swaggers with a smile.

DJ Mad A (Adam Embleton) & Dr. Stevie The Ambient Guru (Stevie Hewitt) originally met when Adam picked up the Saturday shift at 'Record Mart', a record store run by Stevie back in the late 80's. They quickly bonded over shared tastes and enthusiasm for the growing dance club culture in England.

'Balearic Beat' had arrived from Ibiza, house music was taking over, and clubs were pushing boundaries, encouraging DJs to experiment with the dancefloor. Stevie was a regular selector at classic venues like 'Club Havana' and 'Flixx', where he blended house, electro & techno for the loaded English youth. Adam had signed to Island records, at 17, the first signee for newly appointed A&R rep Darcus Beese. Their collaborations in the Island studio is where the early 'Mad A' production techniques were cultivated.

With Adam behind the programming and Stevie on guitar, the two assembled a few songs to add to their explorative DJ sets. They printed a white label tiny pressing of 'The Mad Vibe', four tracks, "sending out waves that shock", their sound was a frantic blend of electro and house. The E.P. sold out fast locally, with their tune, 'Levitating Pharaohs' catching the attention of Drum 'n' Bass duo 'Spring Heel Jack' and labels like Mo'wax. As the 90's rolled on, the two continued to DJ as residents at clubs like Corner House, Brody's, Arena & Dickens.

Smiling C 2019 repress of this cult 12". Remastered and housed in a die-cut 12" jacket with pharaoh's head sticker.

"Play The Trax. Feel The Vibes. Mad as....."

Coming into orbit late November PS001.2 continues the dancefloor focussed explorations of one of Australia’s most loved new labels, Pure Space. Just in time for the Aussie summer the release highlights the sound of the new generation of electro and broken-beat producers emerging from the countries east coast.

On the A-side Point Guard returns to the label with his razor-sharp electro outing ‘Odyssey’. An emotional expedition that harnesses dancefloor euphoria with a powerfully burning bassline. Joining forces to complete the A side is Melbourne producer Disrute and label head Andy Garvey. Here an ever-evolving synthline propels you forward throughout the track that builds infinitely but pauses just to release Garvey’s mesmerising vocal, ‘NRG’.

Flip the axis and you will find swirling synths and scattered percussion that creates the murky club weapon that is emerging Sydney producer PMA’s ‘Hek’. Completing the release, Roy Mills brings you to a full rotation with ‘Aquatic Pressure’. His jittery breakbeat cut that slows to a half step mid way and returns with odd-ball synth mayhem.

"The first series comprises six related movements, usually organised in pairs, electronic sounds with instrumental and more rarely, concrete sounds: Incidences/resonances brings into play controlled resonances akin to sounds of concrete origin in a process that helps to expand the variable electronic sound sources.

Here, 'incidents' are opposed to one-off 'accidents' in the second movement: Accidents/Harmoniques (Accidents/Harmonics). In the second movement, very short events of instrumental origin change the harmonic tone of the continuum they interrupt or overlap.

Moreover, the high notes are underplayed, which stimulates the attention given to other phenomena generally hidden by the melodic form applied to the instrumental play. Géologie sonore (Sound Geology) is similar to a flight over an area where different 'sound' layers come to the surface one after the other.

When seen from high above, instrumental and electronic sounds seem to fuse ... Dynamique de la resonance (Dynamics of Resonance) is a microphonic exploration of a single sound resonating through different forms of percussion. L'Etude élastique (Elastic Study) places together various sounds produced by 'touching' elastic or instrumental skins (baloons, doumbeks) or vibrating strings and a number of instrumental gestures close to this 'touch', using electronic processes to generate white noise.

Conjugaison du timbre (Conjugated Tone), the last movement in the series, uses the same substance to apply rhythmic forms onto a perpetually varying tone continuum. "The second series of movements draws its inspiration from concrete and electronic sources rather than instrumental ones. Incidences/battements (Incidences/Beatings) is a reminder of the first movement in the first series which then quickly moves into Natures éphémères (Ephemeral Natures): ephemeral play on instrumental and electronic sounds, singled out by their internal trajectory rather than by the material itself. Matières induites (Induced Matters): just as molecular effervescence triggers a changes of state, it seems that the different states of these sound materials can be generated by each other or through induction processes.

In Ondes croisées (Crossed Waves), the pizz vibrations interfere with somehow 'visible' water drops on the surface of a similar material. Pleins et déliés (Downstrokes and Upstrokes) can be listened to as the energies absorbed in the motion of bouncing bodies, while hollow 'bubbles' and points bring together some people's gravity and others' downwards movements. The work finishes with Points contre champs (Reverse Angle Points).

Here, the notion of perspective of the different sound threads weaving a kind of network, or field, traps the occasional iterative elements in the foreground and progressively absorbs them, giving more space for the angle - and the chanted sound - to grow." (B.P.).

Dead Air is Marconi Union's tenth studio album of a career that began in 2002.

Starting with the following year's Under Wires And Searchlights, they've created an explorative body of instrumental work that's shifted between electronica, dub, minimalism, avant-jazz and ambient music. Along the way they've collaborated with the likes of Jah Wobble, remixed Max Richter and Vök and provided soundtracks for art installations and other visual media. They've also had their own music remixed by Biosphere and Japan's Steve Jansen, among others.

The new album offers ample evidence of a band in its prime. Marconi Union still sound vital and original, enthused by the possibilities that music has to offer. "We've never wanted to repeat ourselves," states Talbot. "We've made ten albums and have been going for 17 years, but it still feels fresh. That's been so important for us all the way through. We're looking to do new things all the time" co-founder Richard Talbot says.

Indeed, the exquisite Dead Air bears only a passing resemblance to its 2016 forerunner, Ghost Stations. The trio have dispensed with beats, brass and guest musicians this time around, opting instead for a more intimate and textural approach, a constantly evolving soundworld of tones and sensory impressions.

Dead Air also bears little resemblance to the trio's initial vision for it. "The album we set out to make had far more of a rhythmic element," explains Talbot, " but fairly late in the process, we decided to completely change direction." This is entirely in keeping with Marconi Union's guiding methodology. Ideas remain fluid throughout the writing process, until Talbot and bandmates Jamie Crossley and Duncan Meadows ultimately settle on what feels right to them.

As such, Dead Air is a sublime testament to their collective instinct.

Second phantasmagorical audio outing from former Seefeel andLoops Haunt members, Mark Clifford and Scott Gordon. 'Two' expands the duo's unique take on spectral synthesis incorporating a diverse amount of approaches to experimental sound. Twoexpoundsa hybrid mix of acoustic based audio design, ambient tonality, sound effects, music, abstraction and world's hybrid video game soundtrack.

There is something of an onomatopoeia quality to the release as the six tracks take on the character of their individual title. Silt, Dapple, Overcurve, Scutter, Strain and Plates appear as extremely well executed versions of the inferred intent of their namesake. This inquisitive approach will appeal to those interested in the more exploratory end of sound production providing hope as newly formed methods and colours are exposed from the duo's contemporary audio tactics.

Seasoned veterans can lie in a bed of laurels whereas 'Two' is an exemplary release revelling in the enthusiasm that comes from the joy of unabated exploration.

Shasta Cults is the musical project of Canadian electronics technician Richard Smith. For almost two decades, Smith was the official Buchla & Associates go-to repair person for studios, collectors, and musicians around the world, having worked with artists like Aphex Twin, Suzanne Ciani, Mort Subotnick and institutions like NYU, The Library of Congress and Mills College in Oakland, Ca.

Recording demonstrations of the rare equipment that found its way on to his workbench is how Smith describes the origins of Shasta Cults. Although sounds have been trickling out for decades via Soundcloud and other outlets, it wasn’t until 2017 that Smith recorded his first album using one of these rare instruments – the Buchla 700. Configurations, released this past September by Important Records, features eight tracks of heavily-modulated, wave-shaped explorations drenched in effects, and was the catalyst for his latest releases.

Recorded over the span of 3 months in the fall of 2018, this album was programmed solely on the only fully-functional Buchla Touché. Developed in the early 1980s with hardware by Don Buchla and software programmed by musician David Rosenboom, the Touché features waveforms generated internally by twenty-four digital oscillators using frequency modulation and sophisticated digital and analog signal processing for timbre and output assignment, all of this controlled via a six-octave black and white keyboard, unusual for a Buchla instrument.

This LP is a continuation on themes first heard on Configurations, with more consideration given to the generation and capturing of the pieces. This album is less dark than previous releases, showcasing the incredible fidelity of the hardware used and Smiths evolution as an audio engineer. Put on some headphones, find a comfortable chair, and let this LP transport you to the mystifying southern cascades of Siskiyou County.

PINK VINYL WITH PINK SLEEVE.

Kungens Män hail from Stockholm, Sweden and have been around as a musical unit since 2012. Their inspiration comes from the drone, the rattle of the loose screw, the circuit failure of the effects, the phatness of the moog and from the very diverse wiring of a bunch of middle aged Swedish freaks. Kungens Män never plan the next musical move - it presents itself.
 
Nine months after their acclaimed album 'Chef' (also released on Riot Season) the band return with 'Hårt Som Ben’, a stunning follow up with a debut UK tour to coincide.
 
Echoes And Dust on ‘Chef’: “From pure psychedelic freak out, to exploratory ramblings, and all imbued with a sense of communal priority to create together a work of immense intelligence, Chef is an album which begs for continued listens and deep immersion. That it is so accessible too, makes that genius shine through even more so. Superb.”
 
At the end of May 2019 Kungens Män packed a couple of cars full of instruments and life supporting essentials and drove into the woods of Värmland to spend three days in the legendary Silence Studio. It has hosted recordings by bands and musicians like Bo Hansson, Motorpsycho, The Hellacopters, Bob Hund and Union Carbide Productions, the presence felt and seen all over the place. In between watching VHS tapes with Twin Peaks, Miles Davis and Roskilde Festival 92, cooking pasta, sleeping in bunk beds, Bruce Bannering shirts and chilling in the sun, Kungens Män managed to record about 13 hours of music. Some of it will never reach your ears, but here’s the first slab made public – Hårt som ben – Hard As Bone. Not very hard, that is.
 

Amos’ Flat is a three part album by VASE in collaboration with Opal Tapes & INDEX:Records: an odyssey of sonic manoeuvres through ambient, bass and IDM. This trilogy reveals VASE dissecting compositions down to sparse rhythmic explorations, disruptive power shifts and nebulous bass bliss.

Amos’ Flat: Room 1 will be sculpted into the physical form of a 12” vinyl record, released by INDEX:Records, followed by Opal Tapes reeling out Room 1 & 2 on double Cassette Tape.

Room 3 transcends into the digital, where VASE passes the brush to fellow artists, to rework into their own decorative pieces. Featured artists for Room 3 include Basic house, Fis, Katsunori Sawa, Shelley Parker and PYUR.

Exploration is back! Johannes Volk continues the journey with a new 4 track EP on his own imprint. The title track is a long upbuilding peak time smasher with strong reminiscences of early Detroit Techno. A2 delivering raw and dirty machine madness with a subtle bleep funk around stomping drums. The flip side comes with 2 driving Dub Techno tracks, filled with heavy bass, emotional soundscapes and an complex sound architechture.

‘Green & Gold’ is the second collaborative release from Mr Key & Greenwood Sharps, the long awaited follow up to their
critically acclaimed 2015 album ‘Yesterday’s Futures’. The record was written and recorded between Greenwood Sharps’
cottage in the verdant English countryside and the off grid Finca in the foothills of the Andalusian Sierra Nevada, Spain where
Key is based.
The title has multiple meanings none of which are anything to do with weed or money. First and foremost, green and gold are
the colours which synesthete (a person who sees sound) Greenwood Sharps, composed the record in. It also alludes to the
dialogue between the green of the UK and the dusty gold of Andalucia which created the project. Finally green and gold speaks
of the dynamic between the sun and photosynthesising organisms, the driving force of life on earth.
‘Yesterday’s Futures’ took the listener on a meandering journey through a vast landscape of moods, sounds and ideas,
leading ultimately to redemption and the possibility of resolution. Thematically, ‘Green & Gold’ picks up where ‘Yesterday’s
Futures’ left off, but structurally it takes the opposite tack; an extended exploration of a single ubiquitous idea: universal love for
all things and all people and the challenge of maintaining these shiny ideals in day to day life, as our cynical side reasserts itself.
Key’s first output after an extended hiatus from releasing music makes it obvious that during this time he continued honing his
craft. The unique perspectives and disarming honesty which set him apart from his peers remain, but his technical prowess and
capacity to convey sentiment are notably enhanced. The same applies to Greenwood Sharps, who’s masterful production has
risen to new heights yet still maintains the rich and subtle sonic palette he has become known for.
Dropping alongside the EP is a short film featuring the works of long time collaborator Jamie Johnson, the man behind the
artwork for both ‘Green & Gold’ & ‘Yesterday’s Futures’. The short film is the visual counterpart to the EP and serves as the
perfect introduction to the world of ‘Green & Gold’ as it visually explores all the themes present in the music & provides a snap
shot of the incredible tracks on offer.
In a troubled and busy world, marred with anxieties and uncertainties, ‘Green & Gold’ comes as a breath of fresh air and offers some valuable food for thought for those searching for real heart felt substance rather than the sanitised, individualised &
commodified norm we have all become accustomed to.

Livity Sound's final transmission of 2019 comes from the esteemed Freerotation resident and UntilMyHeartStops co-founder, Leif.

Quietly earning himself a well-deserved reputation for his outer-worldly production stance and forward-thinking approach to Dj-ing, Leif has spent the last decade refining his musical palette with a slew of releases including highly acclaimed LPs for Whities and UntilMyHeartStops. In 2017 he launched the TIO-Series label as a vehicle to showcase the more off-kilter rhythmical side of his own productions releasing contemporary anthems such as July V and Bluebird.

This new EP for Livity Sound continues in the exploratory TIO-series vein finding Leif in percussion mode, combining nimble rhythms, deep bass and hazy synths in his idiosyncratic style to dazzling effect.

This 12” vinyl release comes with brand new art direction from Tess Redburn in a full colour artwork reverse board sleeve.

Livity Sound is a label set up by Peverelist in 2011 as a vehicle for a raw and exploratory strain of UK techno, rooted in the heritage of UK dance music and sound system culture. It has since become one of the UK's foremost protagonists for cutting edge underground music.

Planning the imminent arrival of the 50th release on Touchin’ Bass, label boss Andrea Parker was digging through the warehouse during a stock take and it became apparent that there was something missing. There was a gap in the catalogue numbers. Where was TB036? Searching the archives it transpired that, for one reason or another (not least Parker’s inability to count), there actually wasn’t one.

So what better way to backfill this now documented gap than to welcome the multitalented guitarist and drummer, mathematician and multidisciplinary improviser Maria Gamboa Perez into the Touchin’ Bass fold with an updated focus for 2019.

Perez combines elements of rage, chaos, tension and anguish to form a visceral style. Her musical terrain and talent is shaped by dissonance and NO art. Under the moniker NonZero!, Perez brings Matrix Equation to the fore; a heavy 8 track EP with electro aesthetics from none other than Carl Finlow Scarletron/Silicon Scally/Voice Stealer.

Beginning her artistic career as a teenager playing as a bassist and guitarist in groups with influences from Noise, Avant Garde and the No-Wave, Perez was introduced into several areas of electronic music during the club culture years in Madrid and opted for styles such as Electro or Industrial, at which point she began to be interested in the introduction of rhythm boxes together with traditional drums.

Her passion for sound synthesis and musical exploration led Perez to introduce electronics into a solo project under the pseudonym NonZero!. Under this name she aims to make electronic music her field of sound research and for years has been continuously searching for existing relationships between sound and mathematics, focusing on the perceptual limit between music and noise.

Matrix Equation indulges in an evidential brooding angst, shifting between abstraction and the kind of elevated introspection carefully harvested over the years. With dramatic frontage in parts, blasts of boisterous energy and machine mayhem, its deployment of surprise, shifting focus and spontaneity operate in an assured statement.

Splintered beats and a foreboding sense of tension give way to a more DJ friendly logic of instinctive introductions and codas of gradual builds and breakdowns as Finlow further reworks the results to great effect.

2x12"

Milan Zaks' latest solo effort is coming out on Help Recordings.

Six compositions pressed onto two pieces of vinyl.

Assume your position, plug in or put on, play and await what could be described as the midday rebooting of your mental-balance. This work has not just one function. But it functions nevertheless. How? Find the time to time the find.
No one else will do it for you

71 minutes with full-on daydream catalysing, consciousness examining, sonic explorations that will take you in, out, to and through.

Recorded and produced in the Safe Studios during December '18 - March '19

Distributed by Triple Vision

Artwork by DJ C

Rites Of Passage' traditionally refer to rituals distinguishing movements from one period of life to the next. Solitary Dancer's debut LP evokes a retrospective of these experiences, organized into four acts: coming into being, detachment, liminality, and re-incorporation of the self. This narrative calls for a self-exploration of moral corruption, loss of innocence, social rebellion, and societal disillusionment.

* Emika releases a remix EP of her 6th studio album ‘Falling In Love With Sadness’, (Originally released on World Mental Health Day Oct 2018)
* The remix EP explores 4 sound worlds in electronic music today. Experimental bass music, hypnotic & dark techno, and electro.
About the remixers:
* Pinch, a pioneer of UK bass-driven music, is considered to be one of the most groundbreaking, explorative producers to emerge from the UK dubstep scene.
* Rising techno star Julia Govor is an artist doing things differently, paving her own way with her own label, receiving recognition from the global dance music scene.
* Rebekah needs no introduction, pioneering her own intense sound, now entering her 20th year in the business, she is a serious artist with some seriously heavy vibes.
* Underground Berlin talent Headless Horseman, all though shrouded in mystery, is in high demand world-wide to perform his unique live sets at some of the biggest clubs and festivals.
* Emika produced original album material with cult electro icon The Exaltics.
* Solid remixes from solid underground artists.
About the remixes:
* Pinch creates a seductive environment for a scene from which could have been from David Fincher's Fight Club, one which threatens to overload at any given time, but retains tension until the end.
* Julia’s mix transports us into the next part of our journey, beyond conflict and tension, she gives us the chance to breathe, open up, be free and to dance.
* Rebekah's remix brings us hurtling back down to Earth at a tremendous pace, with crystal clear drums that wake up the soul and synths that energize the mind, this version is more than a dark techno track, it has the spirit of a self-confident grown woman running through it.
* Headless Horseman brings Emika’s original into a beautiful new song space, revoicing the harmony and finding completely fresh chords and backing.

* The artwork hits the mark with a message important for Emika: Equality. With 3 female artists and 3 male artists all featured on the cover, this is a way in which Emika highlights her love for collaboration and sharing of the spot-light.
* Green coloured vinyl (1st edition) 500 copies pressed..

‘’We are moving into a new century where collaboration is going to bring music forwards and exclusivity is going to become a thing of the past.’’ - Emika

Klein's offbeat singular vision continues to defy classification. Her acclaimed, self-released records – Lagata, Only and CC – along with Tommy for Hyperdub and her theatre musical Care, have allowed glimpses into Klein's uniquely spirally perspective on vocal abstraction, disarming experimentalism and pop culture wonderment. Yet these chapters have also served as masks to conceal the artist's own personal crises of self-belief, misrepresentation and belonging.

An 18-month writing process led to her new album Lifetime. It's an unexpectedly literal body of work which Klein compares to "giving someone your diary." Lifetime embraces the inevitable cycles of existence, phasing through moments of brutality, vulnerability, estrangement and unexpected fortitude. Lifetime embraces the inevitable cycles of existence, phasing through moments of brutality, vulnerability, estrangement and unexpected fortitude. Every sound in Lifetime is intentional, every influence—from 'King of Gospel Music' composer James Cleveland, to early 18th century tonalities in the b side, the work of 'race film' pioneer Spencer Williams, the residue of the religious experience is deeply personal. The 12 songs of the album are pieced together like a puzzle; seamless transitions connect each of its compositions in a reverse chronology, while every chord from every song is echoed someplace else.

What's been hinted at in Klein's live performances is now realised in full for Lifetime. Less vocal work allows her to be even more expressive, and in eschewing a tendency towards brief, truncated sketches, each song serves as its own long conversational piece, committed to realities of a lived experience. The artist who once grappled with self-doubt has set about breaking the cycle of insecurity for others like her, while mindfully chipping away at the conventions of classical music.

Like its artwork, Lifetime addresses intersecting life cycles: the inner and outer selves, hypermodernity versus history, living nightmares and dream states, while seeking the light and darkness in both. Part 1 opens with unmistakable Klein flourishes on the title track. Gusty pads, anxious, frayed-edge static arcs, and craters of deep negative space, all of which melt down to the clean slate of "Claim It," which is a tribute to embracing one's own blessings. "Listen And See As They Take" and "Silent" form their own microcosm, as the sound of crackling kindling burns backwards into imposing structures of distorted strings and disembodied marching drums, before returning to heat and ash again. "For What Worth", in collaboration with sound artist and saxophonist Matana Roberts, explores the kinship between two artists whose shared exploration of lineage leads them both toward uncharacteristically sweet clarity.

Part 2 is further steeped in black expressive styles of the past. "Enough is enough" links the Lifetime narrative to the broader diasporic black experience, inhabiting every chamber of a harmonica with ghostly notes of the present and past, as fragmented gospel chords reflect spiritual bonds between self and the divine. "We Are Almost There" begins the journey with nothing but the looped structures of multitude of voices. The drums and dischord of "Never Will I Disobey" wordlessly create the conditions for "Honour," a near 10-minute composition where crossed boundaries and crossed wires are exposed in real time, and sharp expressions of hurtfulness, accountability and corrupted expectations are rendered beautiful in representational form, via sustained synth tones which hum, jab and flit in natural disharmony. The interlude "Camelot Is Coming" draws on the choir tradition to prelude the spoken word recounts the cycles of trauma and death that form "99." Lifetime closes with the dystopian swirl of "Protect My Blood" a composition which details an excruciating rift, before blooming into serenity as it draws to a close.

Klein's Lifetime is laid bare, from the end to the beginning, and cycled over again. From her place within her family, to their place within her, to viewing the fragility of culture through the lens of memory. It's a lifetime, an embodiment of young livelihood, and an end as much it is a beginning.

For VENT’s 19th release, Tolga Baklacioglu has collaborated with Ezgi Irem Mutlu and received remix support from both Julia Govor and Anastasia Kristensen, which has resulted in a rich and diverse EP that is full of currents and counter currents - drawing on each contributor’s vision and interpretation of the themes created by Tolga and Ezgi. The two have previously collaborated, and it is perhaps this that has allowed both artists to stretch the limits of their own personal expressions whilst remaining in touch and correspondence with the other. Tolga’s vortexes and knots of rhythms and textures are as disorienting and entrancing, as Ezgi’s diverse and intuitive range of vocalistic expression is mysterious yet straightforward. Julia Govor’s remix masterfully opens up the original mix of “Repentless” into a dramatic vista propelled forward by pulses of momentum coming from the bassline, while Anastasia Kristensen’s “Bir Vars” remix focuses on the suggestive elements of Ezgi’s vocals and reconfigures the dreamy and paradoxical original track into a dark and intense new experience. As a digital bonus track, Tolga and Ezgi offer a third collaboration, “A Very Slow Goodbye”, which together with “Repentless” and “Bir Vars” forms a triad of quizzical and dreamy tracks. It sits nicely between the two tracks and functions as a key to understanding the other two as the respective explorations of the outermost ends of the creators’ joint spectrum of collaboration.

It's a strange new post-everything musical landscape we occupy.
The machines - you could argue - have been playing the humans for some time, and the conversation became pretty one-sided.
But you know, not everyone is singing from that hymn sheet. That Man Monkz enjoyed the apprenticeship at House PLC more than the opportunity to progress to middle management. Itchy musical feet meant extended exploration of fertile avenues of interest like the Madison Washington & Pan Amsterdam Hip Hop projects, meanwhile the pull of the 4/4 was never far from the studio door, and all accomplished with an assured versatility that shines.
Musical alliances formed in the disparate but related playgrounds of Detroit, Sheffield, Berkeley and Atlanta, all underpinned by an emphasis on seeking out collaborations and gigs, which represented a real exchange of energies, rather than a bank raid.
Letting things percolate in this more measured way means we've arrived here, a follow up of sorts to 2016's 'Columbusing'
This is Monkz allowing the ear ringing of gigs to feedback organically into bright dance floor flashes, which by virtue of their careful crafting are destined to last much longer.
On Zero Sum, we get a much greater economy of elements on the pared down dance floor ammo like 'Freaks N Prophets' & 'Chai Tea', a perfect counterpoint to beautifully realised pieces like 'Them Thangs feat Ms Fae' & 'After Dark with Nikki O' interspersed with funk-heavy workouts and sample jams like 'Easy Still', 'LvnLmtd' & the unashamedly KDJ influenced shamanism of 'WhatUthinkIDo'
It's a pick 'em and stick 'em ride of individual gems and a cohesive whole too. The opposite of thrown together, this has been worked and weathered, naturally. The House always wins, but sometimes...just sometimes.

Most recently Jacek Sienkiewicz had been mainly preoccupied with with experimental music - his explorations of outer limits of sound resulted in 3 albums released already in 2019, with two more to follow by the end of the year. So, It was good and perhaps refreshing to hear his surprising return to the dancefloor with "Lightin", an unexpected Summer afterparty anthem released digitally in June. By popular demand, it's now released on vinyl in its full, 11+ minutes glory. Lightweight, gentle and tuneful, propelled by a syncopated rhythm, it rolls like a steam engine taking you to your favourite holiday destination. Side B brings us another new track - "Tracker" is definitely built for clubs and designed for peak time moments, be it in a cramped, dark basement or a big room at a festival. This EP is Jacek's first new club-oriented record on his Recognition label since 2016's "Hideland" - and a teaser for an all-new album, due next year.

With their 2013 debut single "Vintage Voudou," Conjunto Papa Upa cemented themselves as the torchbearers of a rare breed of Afro-Caribbean psychedelic soul, a clear delineation from the wonderful world of Venezuelan poly rhythms. That original song, named after the short lived but heavily influential Amsterdam brick and mortar record shop that band leader Alex Figueira founded, was a perfect clue into the deep exploration that Papa Upa would begin to take on their musical journey. Like the store itself, known for its solid connection to the musical footprints put down in relatively undiscovered places like Suriname, Curacao, Cabo Verde, Portugal and of course Figueira's native Venezuela, Papa Upa has captured a sound that is entirely unique, a new concoction of influences that at once sound strange, yet totally familiar. Perhaps because Venezuela shared such a rich & diverse mix of sounds from the Atlantic, Caribbean & US, a kindred spirit to their neighboring country, Colombia, an equal in terms of their industry output from the 60's & 70's, yet not nearly as publicized and compiled in recent years. Like many places in the greater Afro-Caribbean nexus, they were musically ahead of their time.


This futuristic mélange of sounds is reflective of Papa Upa itself, made up of musicians from Venezuela, Uruguay, Cuba & The Netherlands, all living, practicing & recording at Figueira's Amsterdam studio, Barracão Sound. With such a wide range of tropical influences, in a cosmopolitan and diverse city like Amsterdam, it's no wonder that Papa Upa's first extended project would find kinship in a collaboration with New York's Names You Can Trust.


Their lead single for the label, a preview of an upcoming full-length project in 2020, features "El Secreto Del Metalero" & the 45-only bonus B-side, "Chicharrón Pelúo." Metalero, or "The Metalhead's Secret" is a fitting anecdote for Papa Upa, with Figueira's synthesized vocals leading the way. It's an allegorical exorcism of a debauched headbanger on a discreet dance floor of a tropical rave. The shedding of a gruff & gothic exterior for the buckle-to-buckle bliss of the changa. Similarly in the music itself, under the cloak of vintage synths and a woofer exploding bassline, lies a frenetic fusion of afro-latin percussion that is highlighted by the intense rhythms of Angola's giantguacharaca (or scraper), thedikanza. At its heart is a sugary sweetness that is capable of converting the roughest of rockers into a tropicalista on the dance floor.

Director Amanda Kramer’s prompts for composer Ben Babbitt’s soundtrack to her enigmatic film Paris Window read like magnetic fridge poetry – “warped ambient bumper muzak tension” – but the results skew closer to some hypnagogic contemporary noir: lulling, low-lit, and laced with lingering dread. Electronics, strings, and percussion swoon and seethe in heady mirages of dreams and delirium, romance and menace. The narrative it accompanies is equally opaque and out of time: two eccentric siblings psychologically unravel through divergent fixations, one obsessed with the hypnotic infomercials of a mysterious self-help institute while the other falls in love with an ambiguous doppelganger.
Babbitt’s background scoring experiential video games (Kentucky Route Zero) and collaborating with exploratory songwriters (Angel Olsen, Weyes Blood, Eartheater) is evident in his versatility and finesse, flowing fluidly between minimal and maximal modes. Like all dynamic film music, the pieces weave a story of their own. Serene synthetic swells decay into murmuring television static and eerie vocal fragments; close-mic’d drones turn acidic then claustrophobic, mirroring sleep paralysis transformed into panic. Babbitt builds a window into a surreal world, seen through shadows and smeared, street-lit glass.

Kompakt welcomes veteran contemporary experimental producer Marcus Schmickler with the release of his spectacular noise/techno fused medallion entitled “Particle/Matter-Wave/Energy”. Marcus Schmickler’s fifty plus release discography is one of the most fascinating in his field. From his studies under Cologne based Stockhausen collaborator Johannes Fritsch to his releases through legendary imprints a-Musik, editionsMego and Mille Plateaux, over the years Schmickler has been behind innumerable collaborations and sonic explorations. Be it through his ground-breaking indie/electronic band Pluramon or through his releases that have included collaborations with musicians such as John Tilbury, Thomas Lehn, Julee Cruise or MIMEO he has even had his works being performed by ensemble recherche, musikFabrik or Paragon Ensemble. Beyond continuing to perform on the world stages, he authors theatre and film and currently teaches at Institut für Musik und Medien in Dusseldorf. This brings us to the release of "Particle/Matter-Wave/Energy" - a 37 minute long piece (split into 2 parts on the LP version) that explores the borders of a scientific universality of sonification towards something that becomes a singular experience – sound. The pieces’ foundational aim was to create an acoustic rendering of what it sounds like when two galaxies collide by gravitational forces. To avoid this one sheet getting lost in theory, the audible result of “Particle/Matter-Wave/Energy” is an incredibly, immersive work that is required listening from start to end. Contemporary experimental music and modern techno collide as waves of synths caress the listener through intense waves of frequency variables. The orchestral enormity of the piece is both discomforting yet embracing as the listener feels engulfed with it’s robotic caress.

Inland is Vanessa Wagner’s continuation of the exploration of the minimalist composers register to complete the solo continuum of the Statea released in 2016 with the Mexican producer Murcof. Inland highlights a set of pieces, mostly rare or unavailable to date (Moondog, Nico Muhly, William Susman, Bryce Dessner, Gavin Bryars...) and some other well known (Philip Glass, Wim Mertens, Michael Nyman) that Vanessa Wagner performs with her classic pianist background and velvet sound.

Lucie Antunes is a French classically trained drummer and percussionist, inspired by the pioneers of minimalism. Her debut album SERGEÏ is a tour de force of eclectic music that leaves the listener amazed, almost hooked up in Lucie’s magnetic spiral of sounds. The eclecticism that pervades SERGEÏ is shown by Lucie ability to create labyrinths of sounds through the use of unconventional instruments such as marimba, vibraphones, celesta, tubular balls, glockenspiel and ondes Martenot.


Sergei is a statement of freedom. The same childish freedom that we run behind and that we desperately seek. Lucie, with SERGEÏ, achieves her freedom and builds on it, the artist that she is with no compromises but only with the determined ambition to break the boundaries, to shake genres and to make the eyes smile.

lack Truffle present In Real Life, the latest in a flurry of releases from Berlin-based guitarist and composer Julia Reidy. Having drawn acclaim for solo performances on 12-string acoustic guitar that bridge microtonality, ‘American primitive’ stylings and classic minimalism, Reidy’s recent releases have utilised an increasingly broad sonic palette, fleshing out guitar-based composition with electronics, field recordings, and – most strikingly – heavily auto-tuned vocals. On In Real Life, Reidy pushes one step further, crafting an epic LP-length suite that moves from abstracted song to lush electronics and explorations in contemporary musique concrète. Beginning with a passage of eerie electronics and creaking percussive interjections, Reidy’s heavily auto-tuned voice quickly takes centre stage. Surrounded by explosions of electric guitar and synthesised arpeggios, the auto-tuned voice delivers a melancholic ode, bringing together poetic images to reflect on the instability of experience and mutability of identity in a contemporary world saturated by digital technology. This concern with the unsettled relationship between the physical and digital is reflected musically by the constantly shifts in emphasis between Reidy’s physically demanding guitar-picking and the various forms of synthesis deployed. Similarly, the dynamic imagery of cutting, shattering, and ‘racing streams’ present in Reidy’s lyrics also serves to characterise the structure of In Real Life, which ceaselessly shifts between distinct episodes. The song-based opening, long sequences of frenetic 12-string guitar shadowed and eventually overtaken by synth tones, passages of delicate chiming harmonics, electro-acoustic cut-ups – each flows seamlessly into the next, often recurring throughout the record’s duration, which lingers over interstitial moments between these episodes.

Mixed and mastered by Joe Talia at Good Mixture, Tokyo. Vinyl cut at 45rpm for maximum fidelity by Rashad Becker at D&M, Berlin. Artwork by Suze Whaites. LP desgn by Lasse Marhaug.

Inland Versions is the electronic extension of the latest album "Inland" by the French pianist Vanessa Wagner. 5 reworks by GAS, Suzanne Ciani, Vladislav Delay, Nadia Struiwigh and Marc Melia.

On the original album, released in May 2019, Vanessa Wagner performed, with excellence, solo piano rare pieces from the minimalist repertoire (Moondog, Philip Glass, Wim Mertens...) to featured works from younger composers from the contemporary music scene (Bryce Dessner, Nico Mulhly). On Inland versions, the pianist has invited established artists from the current experimental scene to transform her unique interpretations into equally fascinating electronic explorations.

Wewantsounds continues its collaboration with Bob Shad's grandchildren, Mia and Judd Apatow, to present a 2LP selection of 13 turntable-friendly Mainstream Records tracks recorded between 1970 and 1973 and showcasing the label's superb blend of Funk, Soul and Jazz. All tracks remastered from the original tapes, most of them released for the first time since their original release with a few highly sought-after ones. Liner notes by UK journalist Paul Bowler. The Mainstream sound is unmistakable: earthy, rich and funky, it's the signature sound of producer Bob Shad. After working with such geniuses as Charlie Parker, The Platters, Billie Holiday and Janis Joplin over three decades, Shad decided to go back to producing Great Black Music in the early 70s through his label Mainstream Records and started releasing a formidable series of jazz albums known as the 300 series. Released between 1971 and 1974, these albums are the main source of this set. Coincidentally, it opens with one of the two tracks on the tracklist not produced by Shad himself. Saundra Phillips' "Miss Fatback" is nonetheless fascinating as it's one of cult disco producer Greg Carmichael's earliest productions from 1975 (before he went on to produce Inner Life, Bumblebee Unlimited, Universal Robot Band with fellow producer Patrick Adams). The other track not issued by the Shad sound factory is Almeta Lattimore's 7" single "These Memories," a truly great soulful track from 1975 and now a sought-after classic on the international Soul scene. Shad's forte was Jazz, and the sessions usually used the best musicians you could think of, including Bernard Purdie, Billy Hart, Stanley Clarke, Dom Um Romao, Joe Sample, Freddie Robinson, Gordon Edwards, Larry Willis, Wilbur Bascomb to name just a few. Filled with gorgeous Fender Rhodes chords and heavy basslines, they define the unmistakable Mainstream sound which had one foot in the great jazz and bop tradition and the other in the sonic jazz explorations of the early 70s. Oscillating between jazzed-up covers of soul hits like Jay Berliner’s "Papa Was A Rolling Stone" or Afrique’s "Kissing My Love" and more introspective originals such as Hal Galper's "This Moment" or Dave Hubbard's "T.B.'s Delight", They all have this perfect balance between groove and depth. One perfect example is Pete Yellin's "Bird and The Ouija Board," a superb 12 min opus starting off with a deep abstract improvisation before switching to an up-tempo funk beat fueled by drummer Billy Hart and bass player Stanley Clarke.

Zodiac, a new collaboration between Brendon Moeller and Monty Luke, present a heady brew of sci-fi dub and deep rhythms on a full-length album, ‘Serengeti By Night’.

With meditative roots music at the very heart of ‘Serengeti’, experimental ideas are excavated over ten tracks. Vivid atmospheres are conjured up, as tribal trance, voodoo dub and otherworldly electronics are deployed over rock steady rhythms.

With influences that lie in the musical endeavours of African Headcharge to Rhythm & Sound, Public Image Limited to Cybotron, Zodiac keep the flame burning for exploratory dub-leanings, and deliver an album from the space station above that administers sophisticated braindance sounds that will command repeat listens...

After a steady stream of releases from the 2000 Black label which serve as a first course, Dego returns with his third album ; A full length LP of his contemporary adventures in modern sound. This album combines Dego's consistent forward looking musical explorations with a host of instrumental and vocal collaborators introducing us to new talents and reminding us of those we may have heard before. Dego continues to find new perspectives within the musical landscape.

Collaborating with singers and songwriters all expressing a distinct sense of where, collectively, we are now. There can be no doubt that this is a time of questions in every way, changes in the world and industry that will affect us all. How and what role music plays in this journey is explored as with any artist in a personal and pensive way from a tear to a smile. There is no preaching here, only statements and explorations. Individuality and sonic diversity combine and reflect the many inspirations and evolutions of style. Cooking up a strong and distinct genre-defying mix of soul, two step, funk, jazz, boogie and R&B, all dance music's that focus on heritage and natural rhythms.

Listening to the music is a relief and delight for lovers of groove and song-craft. It's a 21st century statement accessible and raw, whilst highly advanced in sound design and production. Holistic in breadth and deep in vision, it provides a way into this music for many, and challenges the cultural conversation about jazz without compromising or pandering. Music that utilizes a raw and sincere true openness narrative.

Vertigo Inc, the freeform house project of a veteran Canadian producer, returns to the Unfulfillment label with four tracks of kaleidoscopic psy-house, acrobatic acidic exotics, and modal boogie, coaxed from retro machines for a sophisticated, full-body buzz. Come to where the wild things are..

A DIY labour of love since its inception in 2014, Unfulfillment was founded in the US in 2013 to release dance music of an exploratory nature. Unfulfillment releases have been played and charted by Powder, Soft Rocks, Shireef Laffrey, Brian Not Brian, Jacques Renault, Mister Saturday Night, and Luke Solomon.

FILE UNDER: jazz, modal jazz, spiritual jazz
- 2xLP gatefold- 180g pressing- free download card

With 20 years passing since his first foray into recorded jazz, Nat Birchall now ranks as one of the premier saxophonists of his generation. With several highly acclaimed albums in the locker, he now returns with his most ambitious project yet – a tribute to the legend that is Yusef Lateef.

"The Storyteller - A Musical Tribute to Yusef Lateef"

"When Jazzman Gerald first mentioned to me the idea of doing an album as a tribute to the jazz giant Dr Yusef A. Lateef, my first thought was "Where on earth do I start?" Lateef was such a colossus of music, and his scope so broad, that I couldn't hope to begin to cover his musical universe. He was a master of the tenor saxophone, a master of the flute, a master ballad player, a master blues player. Not to mention his skills as a composer and arranger and of course his exploration and use of musical methodology and instruments from all over the world."

"I've always been a great admirer of Lateef, and the challenge was intriguing, so I decided to give it go. We interpreted some of his own compositions (Brother John, Morning & Ching Miau) as well as some compositions by others that he made his own by careful arrangement and interpretation (Love Theme from Spartacus, Ringo Oiwake). I also wrote some original songs that, while certainly not written in his style, might be said to fall into his very broad approach to music making."

"I also wanted to utilise as many different instruments as possible, something I hadn't explored too much until this album. So it was a nice opportunity to finally get around to playing some of the many small instruments I've collected over the years; the Turkish zurna, the mbira from Zimbabwe, the balaphon from Mali and the arghul from Egypt. We have also tried to use varied time signatures in the music, so we have songs in 3/4, 5/4 and 7/4 time, as well as the standard 4/4."

"Ultimately the best music tells a story to the listener and takes them to places they might not have imagined themselves. Yusef Lateef certainly did that, and as such was a master storyteller."

Nat Birchall

In support of their forthcoming Bob Moog documentary Electronic Voyager, Waveshaper Media have produced a compilation LP of Moog recordings from the 1960s. The first compilation of its kind, Electronic Voyages: Early Moog recordings 1964-1969 contains tracks by Robert Arthur Moog, Herbert Deutsch, Joel Chadabe, Lothar and the Hand People, Intersystems, Ruth White, Max Brand, and Paul Earls. All of these tracks, released here on vinyl in an edition of 1000 copies, have been scarcely heard and difficult to track down, with all but three of them previously unreleased on vinyl.

Bypassing the Moog synthesizer’s backseat appearance on key pop recordings by the likes of the Beatles, the Doors, and the Beach Boys, Electronic Voyages aims to highlight the diverse approach of 1960s musicians and composers who adopted the Moog as their primary instrument; these recordings all feature the Moog synthesizer front and centre. Beginning with an “audio letter” (The Abominatron) from Bob Moog to his musician-muse Herbert Deutsch, demonstrating some of the first Moog synthesizer prototype’s capabilities, Electronic Voyages veers from avant-garde and electronic soundscapes, to psychedelic madness and summer-of-love pop. In the 1960s, the Moog synthesizer was a new, groundbreaking instrument, and its use was completely uncharted territory. The pioneering use of the Moog on all of these recordings sounds fresh today - you can sense the wide-eyed exploratory delight unfolding, and the disparate results range from endearingly naive (Lothar and the Hand People, Paul Earls) to downright eerie (Ruth White, Intersystems).

The musicians and composers behind these Electronic Voyages may have been among the first to adopt Moog synthesizers, but the fact that they so readily found within them expressivity, heart, and a means to translate their wondrous sense of discovery, speaks far more to Bob Moog’s visionary invention and enduring legacy.

The latest addition to Furanum's discography arrives as an EP entitled "White Cold Skin" that simultaneously marks the emergence onto the scene of Beuthen OS. In keeping with the central ethos of the label, the figure behind the guise interrogates and ably materializes the industrial aesthetics of raw power and dystopic bleakness within the confines four diverse yet thematically coherent compositions.

The exploration of said dichotomy is cogently on display within the eponymous track, where an immediately evident presence of inordinate subsonic force is gradually complemented by the imposing throes of harsh yet carefully crafted analog cyclicality. Linearly hurtling toward its final destination, it relentlessly batters the listener with exhilaratory waves of cold sweat in its wake.

In contrast, "J131" and "Porobieni" present far more dispersed and unorthodox rhythmical structures as they maintain the omnipresent sense of part thrilling, part foreboding unease that permeates the record. Propelled by a pervasive pendulatory sway, the former radiates barely repressed power as it exerts its existential narrative, while the latter seems to speak to the ritualistic submission of willing bodies continually broken on the rhythmic wheel of a self-perpetuating cycle of sonic gratification.

Finally, recorded live and serving as an apt epilogue, a beatless yet by no means any less compelling droning rendition closes out the record. Whereas overt melodic content was hitherto eschewed in favor of rhythmic complexity, the piece more than delivers on this front, thrusting the audience into an ever encompassing and vividly visceral collage of throbbing textures as it progresses towards the revelatory unconcealment of a recondite core.

Mastered & cut by Kassian Troyer at Berlin's Dubplates & Mastering,

Heady, deep dive into techno's more psychedelic spaces, true to form, "Dimensions Doors" EP kicks off with the rolling kicks of "Portal Opening", a trippy exploration of shifting ambiances and rhythmic noise, punctuated by a siren tone. AWB steps up with a broken beat remix of "Portal Opening", layering Clotur's ambiances over low-slung percussion. "Hyperspace Travel" brings up the energy with galloping kicks and rippling resonant synths. BLNDR follows up with a pounding remix, building Clotur's sweeping textures into trippy loops circling over a monolithic kick. "Irregular Frequencies" pulls even further into the portal, with a relentless, rubbery synth squelching along over driving, percussion. Clotur lays a gentle, but uneasy atmosphere over this trippy tool. He brings us back down with "Forbidden Level", another complex rhythmic track featuring glitchy percs and robotic warping over a tough low-end workout.

Dreamin' Wild's second album Heaven in Thirty Eleven owes a lot to Footscray. The inner-western suburb of Melbourne features not only in the album title (its postcode is 3011) but goes deeper to form a central part of the record's narrative and reflection.

For all six members - Chris Jennings (Swazi Gold, Sagamore, Sledgehammer), Sam Cooper (Crepes, Swazi Gold, Sagamore, Sledgehammer), Tim Karmouche (Crepes, Swazi Gold, The Murlocs), Sarah Quirk, Monty Hartnett (Sleep Decade, Miris, Sagamore) and James Guida (Laguna, Environments) - Footscray buoyed periods of music exploration and discovery. After more than six year of writing, rehearsing and recording in the suburb, there's no doubt that Footscray is home for the band.

Jennings adds that the album is, "a bit of a recap of the last three years for Dreamin' Wild," drawing attention to the change and growth many of the eight songs have undergone since creation.

"I Don't Disagree" is an album highlight; an almost seven-minute track that struts along calmly, taking life as it is. Quirk's soulful refrain soars atop Jennings' laconic vocals, carrying the song to its end. "Dynon Life" is another album gem, reminiscent of summer in the city, and happy seeking excess.

Heaven in Thirty Eleven is an ode to a Melbourne suburb brimming with culture and stories, made by artists who are proud to call it home.

Ascetic Limited is excited to present our seventh release returning with our VA series and a new design line from Plastica. Side A begins with Trastiber by Fabrizio Lapiana. Fabrizio's work needs little introduction, known for his ambient backdrops and mesmerizing melodies this track is a perfect fit for our catalogue and any DJ wanting to ensure a moody ambience and great for opening doors into deeper realms.
Secondly we have Journey with Castenada by Greenbeam & Leon, the duo from Georgia. The residents of Khidi club in Tbilisi, take us on a heavy set journey with their particular sound that ranges from tripped out to industrial bangers. A Journey with Castaneda is an ode to mind exploration and the psychedelic realms we can find within ourselves.
On the B side Aleja Sanchez, known for her pounding yet well thought out tracks, provides her track Sanctuary, truly mesmerizing from the Colombian mainstay. This track reflects in totality the sound we strive to provide on Ascetic Limited, pounding yet deep a perfect balance of body mind and soul.
To close it out, Cliche Morph s Sinusoid is a broken bass line heavy hitter with amazing sound design that will fit into any set, from the most moody to the deepest of selections. Overall a perfect track to close out our fourth VA selection, reflecting our concept as a label.