quête:for dancers only

The second of Alma Negra's 12 Rhythms Series is dedicated to the Maloya sound from La Réunion, a tiny island where a
melting pot of cultures is reflected strongly in its music. Maloya's roots go back to the time of slavery, its quick tempo and raw
energy making it not only a popular dance music but also a powerful protest through movement.
On their Maloya EP, the Basel collective pay tribute to the hypnotic rhythms that were feared both by the Catholic Church and the French government for the musical form's subversive part in the rebellion against colonialism.
The release revolves around two contrasting Alma Negra re-workings of Lindigo's Tany Be. The first takes a classic call &
response structure in 12/8 and 6/8 rhythms, adding a driving bass line and guitar licks. A solid 909-kick locks things in step,
along with a sax flourish and FM synths. Their re-imagining of African and Tamil influences for modern dancers is a triumphant
manifestation of the music's origins.
With the main reworking focusing on a rolling dance floor groove, the Dub Mix concentrates on trance-inducing aspect of
Maloya. Using a modular set up to pick apart layers of percussion, it is a dense and heady trip into the spirit world.
The B side focuses on Christine Salem, one of today's stars of the Maloya scene. Without wanting to squeeze the soul from her
deep tones, Kabaré is slowed down a notch, with drums added sparingly. This sensitive treatment gives the track just enough
weight and tension to punch in on todays dance floors without losing the intent of the original.
The source material for this EP has been road tested from the very beginning of Alma Negra's journey. The collective have gone
to great lengths to ensure the original creators are on board with their treatment of their music and are honoured to be given the
chance to distil their own ethos into a record that is bubbling with today's dance floor drive. Their reverent treatment aims to
preserve the power and beauty of the source material, to bring uncovered gems to a new audience.

KUF create emotion-laden dialogues across layers of time and dimensions of sound. Voices recorded in private are chopped up and brought out center-stage to sing with beats hammered out right here and now. Glowing synths push forward. Basslines rise to grab the melodic role of a track while a vowel is truncated and locked into a grid, driving the rhythm. Voices move within the frame of a sample, performed by hands pushing keys, guided by the ear, immersed in a trio session's deep flow... A vortex of quirky hands, responsive ears and glowing circuits. Since Thomas A. Edison first recorded the human voice in 1877, the recording arts have changed music forever. Musicians have explored the endless possibilities of bouncing their input onto layers of tape, off the walls of an echo chamber or the circuitry of electronic helpers - technology that modulates, spatializes, shifts, divides or multiplies the work of human hands and mouths. An era of sampling offered a cubistic analysis of the recorded past and DJs took dancers onto intricately fractured time travels. This is the historic foundation that KUF keep probing. Just like the sampler and the DJ before them, they found new ways to re-allocate where machine and man stand when making music together. Most importantly, they turn the resulting friction into sparkling bursts of energy. 'Universe' digs deeper into the android vocal chords. The album offers sweeping melodies, different beats and persistent bass. Immerse in the intimacy of the voices, probably recorded in trains, backstage areas and at late night private parties during Berlin Lichtenberg warehouse rehearsals. By striking the keys, KUF squeeze out and serve up all

After nearly half a decade since their monumental Make It Good, DJ Tennis and Fink re-collide on !K7. Inspired, recent studio sessions have bore two breathing, sonic landscapes, entitled Certain Angles. Glimmering pianos, droning machines and captivating songwriting take form, wrapping the Berlin-based singer's voice in subtle melancholy. Both humbly understated, yet party-ready, Certain Angles perfectly summarises the Life and Death founder's recent etching in the DJ Kicks stone. DJ Tennis has also called on four of his most trusted allies to reinterpret the 12', with four digital-only remixes: The/Das deliver a pensive moment of bubbling body music. Francesco Leali appears with a timeless, genre-bending re-perception as OPUS 3000. Lee Jones salutes the faithful dancers. Mentrist's unclassifiable excursion challenges the towering borders of techno.

All the beats, tracks, and harmonies that Vega Records release have a story behind them, 'UNION DANCE (LOUIE VEGA REMIX) - DJ CLOCK FEATURING MADAME-X's begins where most great things do as far as we are concerned.... under a mirror ball in a dark club! One night, (well really EARLY morning to be honest) while Louie Vega was vibbing in the booth, listening to Timmy Regisford work it out for a packed NYC dance floor a wild beat caught his ear. As Louie looked over and saw the crowd confirm exactly what he felt he turned to Timmy with a smile and said "that beat is hot, let me get that", and from that moment UNION DANCE's story began with Louie Vega.
No surprise to Louie, DJ CLOCK of Durban South Africa was the mastermind producer behind this fiery beat. DJ CLOCK is practically a house hold name in S.Africa since he first got into producing and djing in 2007. He's collaborated with some serious heavy hitters including Fistaz Mixwell, Euphonik, Oskido, Chynaman et al and has become the go-to producer for compilation albums across his continent and now with Louie Vega he's making his way to all of us. This gritty beat captured every emotion that makes you go in even harder at 3am... It had heat pumping out the system but it was missing something as far as Louie was concerned.
The missing element was the incomparable force that is MADAME-X, known to many as a sexy sultry vocalist by all accounts but there is a force living within HER expressed only as MADAME-X. She interprets the words of Maya Angelou with the utmost confidence and conviction. A powerful woman, with her raw, unapologetic edge MADAME_X pro claims "I WANNA DO THIS MY WAY" transforming a hot beat Louie heard one night into a FIERCE TRACK to ignite crowds around the world today!
UNION DANCE (LOUIE VEGA REMIX) - DJ CLOCK FEATURING MADAME-X reminds us that not only is it ok but its necessary to OWN THE DANCE FLOOR! This right here is for the djs, the dancers and all those who truly understand that HOUSE MUSIC IS A FEELING!
AVAILABLE AT YOUR NEAREST VINYL OUTLET. DISTRIBUTED BY ABOVE BOARD DISTRIBUTION, UK & MANUFACTURED BY OPTIMAL, GERMANY

Brian Kage returns on Michigander with the, 'Best Kept Secret EP.' Kage once again provides three deeply emotional dance tracks filled with his signature warmth that immediately draw connections between personal memories and Michigan's natural splendor. Best Kept Secret starts the record off with tones of hypnotic bells that cascade down from within minor chords that hypnotize the listener until they are met with swelling strings to tie the infectious grooves to intelligent vintage percussion. Lush vocals continue building into an atmosphere of nostalgia and eventually gives way to that moment of intimacy that can only be felt outdoors while exploring with a person they love. Lost on Old Free-soil Road features a detuned analog synth-line that winds up and down over a bed of spooky night-time forest field-recordings which are encompassed by a jackin' 909 beat . Suddenly, juno stabs straight from the 80's pierce through sending the syncopated grooves back the direction they came from taking dancers along for the joyful ride. Cruise Control on US-31 rounds out the record with an infectious blend of pitched wooden toms, warm mid-range bass, deep 303 lines, and a smoky pad straight from a vintage rhodes. All these elements help keep the composition positive & relaxing, while expertly conjuring the feeling of sun on your face. This tune is the perfect tool for any DJ interested in luring day-partiers to a space where they can't resist bobbing their heads and enjoying their summer outside.

(Locked Groove, Nuno De Satos remixes) Something Happening Somewhere and Mary Go Wild combine their forces for a very special record, containing two cuts by Presk and remixes by Locked Groove and label honcho Nuno dos Santos.

Something Happening Somewhere and Mary Go Wild combine their forces for a very special record, containing two cuts by Presk and remixes by Locked Groove and label honcho Nuno dos Santos. The original A1 side has already been released on SoHaSo last summer on their SOMEWHERE compilation, but has now found a place on delicious black gold and is further enriched with a fresh B-side and aforementioned remixers delivering quality reworks.

2BXPRZD is an ode to the celebration of night life and the diverse spectrum of people that move within it. The club has always been a place where people from every background, religion and gender imaginable can meet and express their being through Dancing. It doesn't matter in what way you move, only that it's authentic and respecting towards the fellow dancers around you. Presk provides all the necessary ingredients: the funkiness in the drums melting with the dark and sinister bassline and pitched vocal perfectly assemble the conditions for such an interaction to take place.

Locked Groove takes this celebratory dance and turns it into an even darker and hypnotizing affair. Stripping the original to its bare essence with a pounding kickdrum to lead the way. Pulsing atmospheres and emotive pads swirl around and behind, granulated in a way that they almost fall apart. This is further reinforced by the stream of voices that are processed to sound like a field recording from beyond the iron curtain in Soviet times, anticipating the unavoidable collapse that follows.

The B sides provides a little more uplifting environment with Starets, unsettling melodies and dissonant atmospheres propel forward before restraining the whole thing and letting broken chord stabs seep through the system. Again reworking the original material into a more skeletal structure, Nuno dos Santos adds a poignant arp melody that is typical for his melancholic style. Driving yet breathing with emotion, it's the perfect accompaniment for a night drive while floating through clear skies. This records proves a delightful combination, containing something imperative for every soul feeling the need to express themselves in a unique way.

* Includes a DIN A2long poster inside the 12" sleeve with edition number and music download code

* Rogue Style 1 EP is an international homage to b-boy culture, where the worlds of breakbeat music and breakdance collide. Sinistarr (USA), Kiat (Singapore), Kabuki (Germany) and HomeSick (Canada) are connected in many ways, now they lay bare their hip-hop roots and give something back with a fresh take through the eyes of drum & bass and juke/footwork. Here is what they have to say:

Sinistarr: "As a teenager I grew up as a b-boy, dancing anywhere I could: schools, parks, festivals, you name it, my crew was there with cardboard and a speaker. I eventually got deeper into DJing and making music and learned to bring a sound that's not just for the crowds and the purists, but also for all the dancers!"

Kiat: "Hip Hop has taught me to keep evolving, to explore new forms in all my art. Progression is the key to evolution. -- I met Sinistarr online thru myspace and we had a musical connection which led to our first collaboration 'Black Diamonds' which is still one of my personal favourite tunes I've been fortunate to be part of it's creation. With Kabuki, i've always been a fan of his work since his 'Makai' alias on No U-Turn, despite meeting him only recently thru the label.I've always known him to be constantly progressing his ideas in his music which I respect alot."

Kabuki: "B-boy culture has always been a strong influence on how I pursued my art, mainly because of its DIY ethos and attitude of perfecting your craft. Incidentally these were also the aspects that drew me to Jungle when I first discovered it in the nineties. -- I'm happy to rub shoulders with Kiat, Sinistarr and HomeSick on this release, as I'm a fan of their music foremost, but also because we became friends through the music."

HomeSick: "I was only a child in the 90s and as a result I feel like my understanding of b-boy culture was experienced second hand thanks to 90s/early 2000s hip hop music. I appreciate the parallels I can see with footwork culture, particularly the similarities to the community mentality of break dancing. -- I know Sinistarr through booking him for our local party night in Alberta, Canada called Percolate. Our city must have left an impression on him because a year later he made the move here from Detroit. Had the pleasure of hosting him as a room mate for a little over half a year, the home was a very potent creative space during this time. Kabuki hit me up a few years ago and we very quickly got to sharing tracks and collaborating together. Mans a master of production and a super important part of the global scene."

The idea for a reminiscence of b-boy culture stem from label owner Booga:

"Why am I interested in this so much I grew up in East Germany and as the movie "Beat Street" premiered in 1985 over here I was age 13 and blown away by the energy, the music, the wit, the style - everything in this movie was better than everyday life in Leipzig. So I started saving for a cassette recorder and taped music shows from West German radio and prepared tapes for school disco gigs to the hope somebody would do the "robot" to Arthur Baker "Breaker's Revenge". Unfortunately that never worked out hahaha. But I was hooked since then and as the wall came down in 1989 I travelled to West Berlin just to buy the Beats, Breaks and Scratches 1-4 vinyl box by Simon Harris. The fascination for breakbeats never stopped and before I discovered Jungle around '94 I was down with the British cut up house thing from the likes of Marrs, Krush and Coldcut as another form of breakbeat music. The "do it yourself" spirit from hip hop culture inspired me to start a local website called breaks.org in 2000 to locally promote the drum and bass scene with emerging producers, djs and mcs for a wider audience and I threw in some interviews with Storm, Kabuki, Rob Playford, Klute and John B. That turnt into a multi author blog called itsyours.info in 2004 which still exists - that is where I had the pleasure to introduce Kiat and Ash in 2007. All these years I was listening and playing drum and bass tunes when the occasional "bboy tune" came up, some were obvious like Alex Reece "B-Boy Flavour", Lemon D "B Boyz", Commix "Change" and some were not so much self-explanatory like Digital & Spirits "Phantom Force" and the remixes by T-Power & Codeine or Fracture's Astrophonica Edit - but I felt the hidden force of breakdancing nevertheless. With the Rogue Style series I have the first class opportunity to ask established and new Defrostatica artists to present a current interpretation of b-boy culture. This is a dream coming true."

After sending out these tracks last summer and getting great reactions from DJs and dancers alike, Hell Yeah is pleased to finally officially release virtuoso musician Verdo's Little Blue EP, complete with a remix from Lauer. Fully remastered for vinyl, the likes of Lexx, Chris Coco, Soft Rocks, Leo Mas and many more have all be playing these tunes with great results.

The talented Verdo runs the famous Gratis Club in Senigallia on the Italian east coast. It is a place he calls home, and that has really allowed him to hone and sharpen his DJ skills so that now he is a slick, unpredictable and singular DJ with many tricks up his sleeve. Bjorn Torske, DJ Fettburger, Prins Thomas, Kenji Takimi, Glenn Underground and more have all played there in the last decade and Verdo himself is a skilled pianist who has played for Zero7 singer Mozez in the past. He has worked with Hell Yeah before now, as well as releasing on Danny Was A Drag King, and here serves up his biggest bit of dance floor dynamite to date, including his previously digital only cut 'Big Fish' (mixed by DJ Rocca).

Opener 'Little Blue' is a perfectly sunny track with hip swinging claps, bobbling bass and boat party vibes that soothe your soul. Rich with instrumentals and golden synth lines, it's a perfect beat that gets followed up by the retro disco pump of 'Sazerac', another tropical cut with loose drums and rubbery bass to get you up on your toes.

The massive 'Big Fish' then hits hard with its tin pot percussion and wild synths all making you flail your arms like you just don't care. Jumbled jungle vibes and big chords all swell your heart as your feet skip about down low.

Closing out the package is Phillip Lauer (Tuff City Kids), one of the most in demand stars of the day, and his version is a direct house jam with percolating and rugged synths and slapping hits, all demanding you ditch your cocktail and get up and groove.

"all good stuff here! OG for early / mornings and Lauer for peak. really nice release! " Piers - Soft Rocks

"Big fan of Verdo! great tunes here as expected. Sezarac fav at first listen." - Dream Chimney

"Little blue is super nice!!" - Phil South (Golf Channel)

"Yes, some great stuff here. Sezerac and the Lauer mix are really great, perfect sunshine session material." - Chris Coco

"I love Big Fish's keyboards! strong!!! Arigato!!!" - Chida

"Little Blue and Big Fish are fun for sure, def will play em on a rooftop sooooon" - Jacques Renault

"Yeah, feeling Little Blue, heavy rotation this Summer! " - Jason Boardman (Aficionado)

"Little Blue, i like." - Lexx

"This is tremendous. Driving peak time track that you can imagine Joe Claussell really working the dancefloor with." - Andrew Pirie

"killer ep guys!!!" - Discodromo

Bratha is the name of the Berlin based collaboration of Matt Nowak aka No Mad Ronin and The Analogue Cops aka Lucretio and Marieu. Their releases on their own label Bratha, on Voitax and on Restoration have quickly sold out without any mainstream promotion. "Topless Dancers" is their debut E.P. on Matt Nowak´s imprint Zaijenroots. As usual, this vinyl only release recorded at the Restoration Headquarters and mastered at Dubplates & Mastering, combines refined samples and quotes with extremely solid, pumpin´ beats and fat basslines. The grooves move smoothly from the metronomic dance attitude with a romanian touch -topless dancers- of the title track, to the wobbling "Estate", undergoing to the suspended, melancholic fluctuations of "Space Boogie" and the slow discoidish "No Mad Ronins death". This pumping EP for sure fills every dancefloor with a deep and smooth vibe of real underground d

Back in stock !

Michael Mayer is one of the leading German tastemakers in dance music and his DJ sets have influenced a generation (or two) of musicians and fans.As an artist, Mayer remains tirelessly motivated to DJing, in the studio or behind his desk at KOMPAKT, the label he co-owns. His recording career spans four albums, 23 EP's, nearly 170 remixes and the legendary DJ mixes for fabric and Immer. '&' is his third full-length, a passionate and personal album that speaks as broadly as his DJ sets - embracing his genre-busting love for music, rhythm and atmosphere - and the dancefloor in front of him. '&' is the rare manifest of an established artist who is willing to risk it all and challenge himself, and the world around him. 12 tracks, 12 single narratives coming from a group of very individual minds orchestrated by Michael Mayer - the DJ, artist, A&R but most importantly, obsessed music lover. Michael describes the process of curating and creating '&' as a constant battle between his three alter egos but 'the obsessed music lover has had the final say.' As diverse as they are, all the tracks that result from this long and winding road create a cohesive story and present the elasticity of Mayer's musical galaxy. Michael gladly leaves it to the rest of the scene to discuss the different grey shapes of club culture. For him there is only one club culture - a playful and open-minded one that's easy to comprehend after you hear ‚&'.

Figure SPC inevitably arrives at the alphabet's last letter and therefore the end of what has been a most prosperous runtime and success story. Already accountable for its first release 'A' seven years ago, Jeroen Search has proven essential to the sublabel's course with his many cornerstone contributions. This final, special extended release grants him the ample scope to tell the closing chapter in all proper detail. Spread across two fully packed 12s the Dutch veteran producer wastes no time but lets his ever evolving array of machines do the talking. They speak in many tones - be it snappy or propelling, vivid or restrained, stomping or intricate - yet they all retain Search's consistently singular voice. Each of the nine tracks was composed as a live take, with elements being reduced to the utmost minimum but always carrying the kinetic energy onto the next bar. Thus this ultimate catalogue number SPC Z not only bears witness to an artist's impressive ability to reliably distill the pure essence of a groove. It is also the grand conclusion to an esteemed series that has become a staple in many DJ's bags, brought forth plenty of future classics and left its unmistakable mark on techno. Crafty, refined and irresistibly moving, this record is sure to be stirring up dancers around the globe.

2015 will prove a benchmark year for Scissor and Thread with the rising momentum of Frank & Tony and Desert Sound Colony and now with the introduction after many months of work of their new enigmatic artist, Rosas Nievas, with a sublime debut EP, Every Inch of You. Like a tip of the hat to Herbert, the title track entices with easy piano licks, a cooing vocal and a lush atmospheric enveloping the 'floor in a warm embrace. Flipping the switch, the bounce of "Opinions" propels dancers into hands-up, Chicago-style elation, while the rollicking, looping closer, "Hear Me Rain", entrances with its early morning psychedelia. Completing the package is a breakaway edit from label heads, Frank & Tony, who transform "Every Inch of You" into a sun-drenched, euphoric deep house stormer, in a way only they can do.

Back in 2013, Futureboogie released The Fade EP by Outboxx, a record that received critical acclaim from the who's who of music press, helping to propel Outboxx on the upward trajectory they've managed to maintain since those early releases. Unsurprisingly, Futureboogie are delighted to get the pair back for more.
Having developed their sound in the two years since, the pair has refined the raw ingredients of those records to show a combined maturity beyond their collective years. Previously the pair of producers (Matthew Lambert and Jake 'Hodge' Martin) have released music on respected independent imprints such as BRSTL, Idle Hands, Well Rounded Records and Local Talk; honing their analogue rich sound that touches on the hard edge of drum machine rhythms crafted by Hodge and the harmonic, jazz soaked embellishments from Lambert on Keys.
'Day One' opens with the sound of a string sample drifting behind warm drums to beautifully open up proceedings. As the track develops with an explosion of shuffling hi hats, the main hook enters with more than a nod to the classic Acid basslines of a 303, built to hypnotize dancers into the early hours with subtle simplicity.
The EP's title track 'Under The Lights' shows the pairs appreciation of Disco, with overdriven drums and a dotting bassline setting the feel. As the track develops, elements of Detroit enter the picture, with more string samples setting the key, and further allowing Lambert to contribute more of his signature Jazz licks as the track winds down to an unwanted close.
'Gift of Life' features the always-beautiful vocal contributions from long-term collaborator, Naomi Jeremy. Having featured on some of their most memorable releases to date, Jeremy's vocals again add a complexity often found in Jazz, but with the drum machine funk of 90's House; creating a sound that blurs the lines between sampling and original composition, uniquely, as only Outboxx can.
The record ends on the appropriately named 'Closing Titles', a track seemingly built to allow Lambert the opportunity to show his prowess and mastery of melody and harmony. Creeping basslines and warm chords mix with looped drum machine rhythms to wind down the release elegantly, showing the pairs versatility and understanding of each other's strengths.

3 Shit hot tracks on MB's debut for Bio Rhythm... What can we say 'The Miracle Sign' hit us by surprise... Title track is a beautiful and epic journey in techno soul quite rare to hear these days, reminding a bit of early nineties Detroit/UK techno and even some of the early Speedy J works, all with nowadays production skills. Stunning contemporary techno the classic way. Then from heaven to hell with '60606', an evil distorted acidic drum track guaranteed to damage kids brains worldwide... But no time to think long anyway cause there's 'We Only Have', an autistic out-of-the-box jack track providing a sneaky tool for the more adventurous dj. This will separate the gurners from the dancers. Top-notch showcase by the unstoppable man-machine that is Marco Bernardi..!

Cute Heels is the solo project of Bogota´ born, experimental producer Victor Lenis. Since the early 2000's Lenis has been working on a myriad of electronic projects, including the management of the labels Black Leather Records and Romance Moderne, in his current home of Brussels. Drawing on the influences of the radical punk scene that surrounded him growing up in Columbia while nurturing his passion for synthesizers and drum machines, Lenis developed the broody, gloomy brand of electro-techno that is Cute Heels. Deemed by Juan Atkins as ''the new blood and spirit for the next step in techno music'' Cute Heels has released various digital only releases over the years, as well as his first vinyl release, an EP on Gooiland Elektro. His debut album Spiritual, rides the line between cold electro-techno and left field electronic body music. Inspired by equal parts Liaisons Dangereuses and Drexciya, Spiritual takes the listener on a journey over 8 tracks and 40 minutes of music. Listening to "Spiritual" you can see why. The songs on this full length reveal a sublime influence from Detroit techno, early Chicago house and new wave; advanced electronics for the dance floor, pumping and sophisticated. The album was recorded and mixed by Victor at Sensorium Studio in Zagreb, Croatia in November 2013. Each song has been mastered for vinyl at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley by George Horn. Each LP is packaged in a custom-made jacket by our in-house designer Eloise Leigh and incorporates the geometry of analog synthesizers and celestial rose patterns. 

For his new EP Nicolas Aftalion is still paying his due respects to the early House Meisters. 3 brand new trax of heavily NY influenced House Music. Still Old school but always fresh. From Paris with love, THAT'S SOME SERIOUS SHIT ! is a record label dedicated to old House music and to dancers. Following the steps of Kerry Chandler, Mr. Fingers, Ron Trent, Masters at Work and so on... Away from the hype, we want to bring back the spirit of the early 90's when House music was not only music, but a communion of body, soul, freedom and love. We hope to get you with us... in the dance, in the club.
Now ride on the sound