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Thomas Fehlmann steps away as co-member of The Orb following two acclaimed full lengths on Kompakt (COW - 2016, Moonbuilding 2703 AD - 2015) and embarks back on his solo career with a career defining album 'Los Lagos' - from Detroit to Schaffel techno he conducts a broad spectrum of electronic music into a seamless flow.

Thomas Fehlmann has been active since the late 1970's from Palais Schaumburg, the Tresor defnining trio 3MB (with Moritz von Oswald and Juan Atkins), Ocean Club (together with Gudrun Gut) and of course The Orb.

Artwork direction and design by DESIGNERS REPUBLIC.

'Los Lagos' is Thomas Fehlmann's seventh solo full-length, his 4th for Kompakt following his Berlin inspired 2010 full length 'Gute Luft'. in the musician's own words it's about "checking the juice".

Establishing a picture of his current artistic condition, as suggested by the title - los lagos / die lage / the situation (literally translating to 'the lakes' but taking the meaning of 'wassup' in the context of a relaxed discussion between friends), the album refers to Fehlmann's "musical motivation, dreams and wishes" through the language of music exclusively: a way to "allow myself to techno" he says, "to techno as a means to deconstruct and rebuild again. Set up an area of tension, loose it in the flow of the grooves. Magnifying some detail out of proportion, regroup around that and slowly knit a texture. Expand."

"It was time to take a bend and head where the sun rises or sets, wherever my heart drives me." This is pretty much the kind of decision Thomas Fehlmann has made. 61 and shining, longstanding member of The Orb, multi-talented composer and boundless experimentalist, had to make in the twilight of his collaboration with Alex Paterson, eager to taste the flavours of the unknown on his own again. "It was the moment when felxibility would have become compromise'. Far from being the demise of their joint dream, this was bound to split it in two distinct, parallel fantasies - rich of their own singularity.

As goes with that essential love of his for the free-flowing nature of electronic music, a fascination born out of its "lack of borders", capable of "inventing, changing the emphasis, experimenting with an unpredictable outcome", 'Los Lagos' "freely connects disparate extremes. Art, disco, minimalism, schmalz, jazz and funk". As he likes to say, Fehlmann's head functions as a sampler, capturing elements and re-assembling them under his own embracing perspective ; not afraid to leap from a deep, dubbed-out hypnotism ('Window', 'Morrislouis', 'Freiluft') to the playfulness of '90s-style bleepy schaffel ('Tempelhof' featuring Max Loderbauer), through out-there, muscle-flexing dancefloor cuts ('Triggerism') onto the calmness of ambient ('Geworden').

In need to keep his inner balance in check, Fehlmann committed himself to "switch off the control" and follow his intuition, which isn't so much of an easy process as he also wanted to incorporate the side disturbances experienced: "it's a complex process of search and destroy to bring out a new beauty trying to expand my vocabulary". With 'Los Lagos', Fehlmann looked at finding "the structure that's surprising, disturbing and rewarding". The artwork for the record, courtesy of contemporary artist and friend Albert Oehlen whom he shares lots of artistic ambitions with, echoes the producer's "funky use of shape and space, sludge and clarity" like a second skin. A search for light and harmony that Fehlmann sums up eloquently: "Does your inner musical voice respond", that is the question. Then "doors open up in unexpected corners, rays of light appear; you follow through and you're in - in your oasis."

The keeping of pets marks humans' attempt at taking possession of a part of reality that is not at his disposal. Dressing a piece of the real that lives according to entirely non-human rules and which only in the saddest case does not resist the discipline of the human symbolic order vehemently and in a sustained matter, is a violent act of protection. Because in the non-place of the real, all that which we are helpless in the face of looms: the non-logical and the nameless, the violence and the noise, yet also the unrestrained and unfiltered desire.The innocuous figure of the pet marks a gateway to an investigation of these eerie milieus, while electronic dance music lends itself to this investigation in an outstanding way. This constellation marks the subject of Column's 'Pets II.'

Column is the name of Cologne based renaissance man Jan Philipp Janzen, who, as chief emissary of Cologne's pop internationalism, has been playing the field in various functions for Von Spar, Cologne Tapes, Urlaub in Polen, Owen Pallett, Scout Niblett or The Field, and who has also, in one way or another, been involved in most relevant records coming out of Cologne for the past number of years. After his excellent solo debut 'Pets I' (Areal, 2016), Janzen presents another extraordinary record in 'Pets II,' perfectly complemented by another ghostly oil work of Burkhard Mönnich on the cover.Sonically, 'Pets II' marks a clear development for Column. In its exploration of the thresholds of the real, it sets two points of focus, corresponding with the split in sides A and B.

Side A, on which Janzen teams up with long-time friend myr. (PNN), explores the uncanny as a fissure of the symbolic order, and the subsequent breaking in of the real. It opens with two peaktime rockets that have their wooden, nether-regional groove narrated by grim, down-pitched vocals. The ethereal remix by Leibniz (hundert) seems to be observing the situation from a hiding place, and is the side's clandestine and no less dark closer.

Side B, for which Janzen invited studiomate Marvin Horsch (Dorfjungs/Beats in Space) along, delivers two swaying synthesizer workouts, the second of which, 'Molly and Swerve,' is directed firmly at the dancefloor again. What is at stake here is the transition between a free, undirected jouissance of the real and a more ordered becoming-lust. Here, as in Map.ache's (Kann/Giegling/Altin Village) remix which closes out 'Pets II,' it becomes clear what connections dance music can foster between a free, impersonal desire and the sphere of interpersonal wanting, but also the losses that are negotiated in it. Above all, however, it becomes evident what a courageous daring project 'Pets II' is in all of its conceptual and aesthetic determination; with Von Spar's standout 'Garzweiler' 12' (Altin Village & Mine, 2017), it documents a New Cologne Realism.

Kevin Murning is a musician, producer and DJ from Cape Town, South Africa. He describes his music as fake jazz, probably because he dropped out of jazz school. At 23 years old, Kevin's music is youthful yet precise and his debut EP offers an intriguing cross-section into his varied musical experience to date. The release comes out via Cape Town based imprint, Quit Safari, home to some of SA's most exciting producers.

Kevin's debut comes in the form of a 5-track EP called Mode's Arp. Comprised of 3 originals and 2 remixes, the release serves as a dual functional one with tracks for home and club use. Taking 2 years to fully complete, Mode's Arp is a wonderfully considered body of work and speaks volumes about Kevin's talent and his ability to create music that is beautiful and banging. Both Kevin and Quit Safari label head, Zanasi Wifi, are on remix duty for the EP, taking the originals and recontextualising them into high octane percussive workouts.

DJ support already includes The Maghreban, Turbojazz, Severino, Laurent Garnier, Mystic Bill, Edmondson and more.

Etch Presents the second release on his new imprint Altered Roads. Again looking down different avenues in terms of sonic diversity, tempo and functionality with disregard for preconception. Opening with the spacious and weightless drum choppage of 'Lost Orbit VIP' looking back to BBC Radiophonic era synth work and all the cosmological imagery that conjures up. The second track 'Phenomena' is a different beast altogether, stripped back to the bare minimum of a claustrophobic sub bass, off-kilter Loefah-meets-J Dilla beat and the monotonous groan of an unknown entity, built off the back of an admiration for psychological survival horror video games such as Silent Hill and Forbidden Siren. The first track of side b 'Beggars Belief' is a distant cousin of Etch's 2015 release on Wisdom Teeth 'Toxin', with grimey basslines clashing with swung beats, broken glass and gushes of warm synth chords. The final track 'Paging Dr.Octagon' Etch directly inputs his admiration for Kool Keith's alien surgeon. Chopping up old school breaks in the hardest way possible over looped synths and samples from the Mo Wax classic.

(180 gram pressing, blue coloured vinyl) Musique Pour La Danse presents CRON aka TODD SINES 'Scalable Architectures', the classic 1995 EP remastered. For fans of Dopplereffekt, Drexciya, Keith Tucker, Mid-West Electro A highly sought after EP equally blowing your mind and the floor. Cron is a project where Todd Sines focused on his long-running passion for electro music by exploring a specific set of machines composed of a Synton Vocoder SPX216, a Yamaha DX 100 and an Arp Avatar in a vibe completely different from his .xtrak alias or productions released under his own name. The record visual presentation was equally important as it features 3-D objects created Todd Sines through intentional misuse of mathematical functions, creating unique forms and 'scalable architectures'. Please find the complete 1995 liner notes below for more informations. Comprising of an intro + five highly danceable futuristic electro tracks of deep, sharp-edged electric grooves and hypnotic warm cuts that are each an exploration of a 'less is more' approach to production.

A warm human hand sculpts the icy machine-like sounds into a meticulous harmony over undulating bass and entrancing snares, clasps and industrial heartbeats. This continuous circulation of sound and its ever beating rumbling-flexed sub bass found in Rebecca Goldberg's newest batch of acid-techno arrangements effectively replicate the natural functions of omega 3, or -3, fatty acids albeit in musical-form. Whereas ingesting the special carboxylic acids found in plant and marine oils woll fortify your vascular system into a well-oiled machine, Goldberg is using a table of various analog machines to manifest a similar, yet uniquely propulsive flow of energy through a composite of frenetic hi-hats and trudling kick drums, looping under spacey Rolands waving out reverb splashed frequencies coiling synthetic intonations.

The beats reach the feet, the bass unlocks the hips and the synths pull and twist the shoulders, staving off stagnation or decimating a collective clotting - we are loosened in restorative ways to the sleek assemblages of one of Detroit's leading DJs/composers on the electronic music scene. Goldberg's 25-minute odyssey is unceasing in its sinuous stream of mesmeric techno music, as if powered on by relentless agents found in the healthful acids for which this EP gets its title.

Goldberg has distinguished herself by cultivating the seeds of techno into something that designedly meditates on the enduring vitality of the organic and the holistic in our lives--even as our socialization, and maybe even our dance floors, are predominantly digital in character and operation. -3 continues to stimulate our brains in two ways, just like 2017's 313 Acid Queen. Her previous record used field recordings and found sounds from the shores of Detroit's Belle Isle and other neighborhood sidestreets to thread the simple majesty of the flora and fauna that sustains even if at the corners of a concrete metropolis. -3 is bringing you from the outdoors into the inner workings of your body--particularly the blood cells that act as fuel for your limbs, your lungs and your brain. It's the -3 fatty acids that keep your system strong and smooth. It's Rebecca Goldberg's latest acid techno fever dream that keeps you perceiving that (and other things) even as you dance...

"Naura Records is proud to be back to present another strong release This time some lost archive material that goes back to the very beginning of his productions. Bleak delivers 3 cuts of his custom recipe but somehow adds new unexpected flavours throughout this Ep even though staying on his formal path. Starting with the A side, Dust (Mix1) takes off with an introspective journey with detroit and classic techno. A real head turner with a classy ride and functional feeling Dust (Mix2) more for the deeper realm, accompanied with enchanted melodies as a twist. Finally on the flip, "Element" samples the heartbeat of a even deeper state, where one is allowed to lose yourself. Get a hold of something solid, for this is a tune that communicates a lot of subtle changes and honesty."

Aaja is a UK based cultural project encompassing a space, label and parties. Not following too many fads or trends. Aaja is an audible quest for deep and raw club rollers and late night neon tales.

For AAJA001 we're pleased to gather 4 friends and artists in their own right for a diverse, inaugural 4-track Various Artists EP. Commencing proceedings on the A1, 'Abzent Mindz' by In:State & Guili lets rip. Following their recent 12" on Not An Animal, this ever-giving cross-European collaboration churns out something that is both functional and emotional. TIP!

For A2, whilst this might be the start of his production journey, Ady Toledano is a permanent fixture on Berlin's queer club scene and we're excited to share his latest production. Regularly spinning at Cocktail D'Amore, Buttons at About:Blank & Riot,
Toledano delivers 'Rare Earth'. A deep, ceremonial journey best suited for those late night, deep in the rave moments and let's be honest, mornings. Flipping the 12" over for B1.

The third track of the EP is produced by Everson. One of the co-founders of Aaja teases sample-work in an out of a grinding, tool style track bridging busy, UK influenced percussion and influence with slower, sledging techno.

Finally, Alex Richards finishes off the VA with 'Platform' on the B2. His words about the track... 'messing about making noises'. Richards lends the compilation a superlative, building and stripped back tune. Suited equally to the early doors as it is the
early morns.

Everyone is a moon and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody. Judas is back with one of the biggest collections of records since today, presenting more sides of his vision as an artist and as a conceptual persona, these are 4 cuts that brilliantly put you in the zone, right when the needle drops on the record. Judas present this project in 2 parts, both part of the same creature, and of the same concept, 'Unsaid' goes far beyond the usual aspect of the functionality, in this case, functionality is a pure tool, every single work shows you a path into his mind.

Smoove & Turrell's second single outing from their album 'Mount Pleasant' is a double helping of up-tempo dancers for those that like to shake it...

Never one's to stop experimenting and pushing their musical boundaries, this single is a perfect example of exactly that, featuring two tracks with massively contrasting styles but with a quality of song writing and production that these guys have got down to a fine art in their years together.

'I Feel Alive' is a tasty electro disco cut inspired by a hedonistic night in Paris. It's the perfect blend of Smoove's trademark groovy productions with Turrell's sweet tones and honest relatable lyricism. Keys man - Mike Porter gets a chance to engage the arpeggiator function on his synth collection as he and the rest of the band create a host of spacey sounds to form the backdrop of this catchy number.

On the B side is 'Mr Hyde' - a beast of a track that opens with energetic live drums and a memorable guitar riff that form the backbone of a rocking tune that sees John Turrell manically singing through a distortion effect delivering the lines "I'm Jekyll and baby you need to hide" in a suitably menacing style...

Fusing garage rock, psyche, northern soul and pop sensibilities it's a Frankenstein's monster of a track that works on multiple levels with the lyrical subject matter.

Insula Records Returns To The Shelves With A Brand New Ep By 3kz, A Unique Collaboration Between The Gifted Italian Producers Z.i.p.p.o. & Kaelan.
The Record Lifts Off With 'outta Here', A Journey Into Other Heights With Glissandi Melodies Rising Over Arpeggiating Sequences To A Solid Driving Techno Track That Is Functional, Spot-on Material For The Floors. This Side Is Complemented With 'urban Jungle', A Clear-cut Heady Track With Upfront Drum Programming That Leads To A Driving Atmosphere.
The B-side Is Something Special And Is Fully Covered With The 15-minute Spanning Title Track 'd50 Tears'. This Beautiful Washed Out Ambient Arrangement, Full Of Emotion And Soul, Channels The Mind To Other Places. A Cinematic Masterwork That Shows The Sophistication Of 3kz In Full Depth.

It's been over 10 years since the release of Gui Boratto's breakthrough full length debut 'Chromophobia'. As to what its title suggests, he shook up the techno game with a contrast of lushly coloured minimal grooves and melody, whilst many will recall that the album included the highlight single Beautiful Life' which became a dance floor anthem for that era. Four albums in and countless EPs and remixes under his belt, the Brazilian producer's unique savoir-faire in carving out a functional album out of diversely routed singles and features is back at it on his fifth studio LP, 'Pentagram'. Here Gui Boratto lays down a nuanced 12-track narrative that reinvigorates his signature sound into a refreshingly different perspective that feels all too familiar - including the return of Beautiful Life' vocalist (and Gui Boratto's wife) Luciana Villanova on the single "Overload".

Through his signature kaleidoscopic approach, Boratto delivers an album built as a far-reaching hub-and-spoke system, broadly inclusive as can be. From the opening cut, 'The Walker' - hot on the trail of Tears For Fears 'Elemental' (one of Boratto's "favourite 80's bands") - to the hi-NRG euphoria of 'Forgotten' and its pounding tech alter ego 'Forgive Me'. "I was going into 2 different directions", Boratto says, "the typical indie- electronic-rock' Boratto kind of production like It's Majik' or Like You' and a much more techno approach." He goes on, "I decided to split them into two twin sister songs. When I play live I always put these two songs together."

The Brazilian Producer further embraces the pop-friendly essence of his past work on tracks like 'The Phoenix', featuring vocalist Nathan Berger, and 'Overload', both melding acidulous synthlines with laser-precise breaks, vox hooks and drops calibrated for extended radio and club use, although sieved through his distinctive rainbow-hued musical prism. For the symbolists out there, the album's pared-down closer '618' duration accidentally happens to equate the proportions of the said pentagram. "Coincidence" Boratto questions, and capsulises, "not so ufanista and supporter of Brazilian neo-concretism, but I guess the brazilian sculptor Lygia Clark also inspired me a lot. Not the meaning of her sculptures, but the shape of the hinge of most of her work. I've wanted to transmit the scientific pentagram's point of view. It's not a religious kind of thing."

Whereas 'Spur' (a field-tested 808 and 909-heavy "purist track", "very, very old school" Boratto insists) and 'Alcazar' are sheer smooth-edged four-to- the-floor epics, the album also shares its lot of startling moments, such as with the John Barry'esque 'Scene 2' (with a hint of Amon Tobin, 'Easy Muffin' style, throw in) and its refined string-laden buildup, 100% fitted for a 007 opening credit sequence, or with 'Hallucination' (feat B.T.) and the further James Holden-ish title-track 'Pentagram' (think 'The Idiots Are Winning'), "one of those exercises I did when I got my Buchla modular synth" Boratto analyses, "I think I've used more then 30 different snares, with different delays and reverbs. The whole song is alive". And so is 'Pentagram' in its entirety: alive and definitely just as manifold and hopeful as its architectonics are the stuff of science and dreams all at once.

Es ist zehn Jahre her seit der Veröffentlichung von Gui Borattos bahnbrechendem Debütalbum - Chromophobia . So wie der Titel vermuten ließ, war das Album mit seinen kontrastreichen Minimalgrooves und den üppig gefärbten Melodien ein Schocker im besten Sinne. Ihr erinnert euch sicher noch an die Hit-Single - Beautiful Life , eine Dancefloor-Hymne aus dieser Zeit. Nach vier Alben und unzähligen EPs und Remixen ist das einmalige Savoir-faire des brasilianischen Produzenten, aus vielfältigen Singles und Features stimmige Alben zu schaffen, auch auf seinem fünften Studioalbum - Pentagram zu hören. Hier legt Gui Boratto ein Zwölf-Track-Narrativ vor, das seine Handschrift auf erquickende Weise wiederbelebt. Wiederbelebt wird auch die Stimme von - Beautiful Life (die der Frau Gui Borattos gehört) auf dem Stück - Overload .

Durch seinen charakteristisch kaleidoskopischen Ansatz liefert Boratto ein Album, das gebaut ist wie die Speichen deines Fahrrads, von dem Opener - The Walker - direkt auf der Spur von Tears For Fears - Elemental (einer von Borattos - favourite 80's bands ) - zur Hi-NRG-Euphorie von - Forgotten und seinem stampfenden Counterpart - Forgive Me . - Ich bin in zwei unterschiedlichen Richtungen gegangen , sagt Boratto: - den typischen ,Indie-Electronic-Rock'-Weg wie in - It's Majik oder - Like You und den Techno-Weg. Er fügt hinzu: - Ich hab mich entschieden jedem Track seinen Zwillings-Track an die Seite zu stellen. Immer wenn ich live spiele lege ich die zwei Stücke zusammen.

Der brasilianische Produzent erschließt weiter die Pop-Essenz seiner vergangenen Arbeit auf Tracks wie - The Phoenix (feat. Nathan Berger) und - Overload . Beide kombinieren zwitschernde Synthi-Melodien mit lasergenauen Breaks, Hooklines, Drops und sind wie gemacht für die Rotation und den Club. Und für die Symbolisten da draußen: die Länge des reduzierten Closers - 618 beträgt zufälliger Weise genau die Proportionen des besagten Pentagramms. - Fügung , fragt Boratto und fasst zusammen: - Ich bin kein Anhänger des brasilianische Neo-Konkretismus , aber ich glaube die brasilianische Künstlerin Lygia Clark hat mich sehr inspiriert. Nicht die Bedeutung ihre Skulpturen aber die Form der meisten ihrer Arbeiten. Ich wollte den wissenschaftlichen Blickwinkel auf das Pentagramm übersetzen. Nicht im religiösen Sinne oder so."

Während - Spur (ein erprobter - purist track auf der Basis von 808 und 909, - sehr, sehr old school , wie Boratto betont) und - Alcazar glatte Vierviertel-Epen sind, hält das Album auch Überraschungsmomente bereit. Z.B. das John Barryschen - Scene 2 (auch eine Spur von Amon Tobins - Easy Muffin ist darin zu hören) und seinem Streicher-Aufbau, der hundertprozentig geeignet wär für eine Eröffnungssequenz in einem Bond-Film. Auch - Hallucination (feat. B.T.) oder der James-Holden-hafte Titeltrack - Pentagram (wir denken da an - The Idiots Are Winning ) wäre da zu nennen. - Einer dieser Übungen, die ich gemacht habe, als ich meinen Buchla-Modular-Synthesizer bekommen habe, war , erinnert sich Boratto, - mehr als 30 verschiedene Snares, Delays und Reverbs zu verwenden. Der ganze Song sollte am Leben sein. Und so ist - Pentagram im Ganzen: lebendig und sicher genau so vielfältig wie sein Bauplan, der auch der Wissenschaft und den Träumen zugrundeliegt.

Building On Over A Decade Of Work, Drums & Drones Ii Follows Master Drummer And Composer Brian Chase (yeah Yeah Yeahs) Into Unchartered Sonic Realms. All Of The Pieces Are Based On The Acoustic Resonance Of A Single Drum With Each Track Designed To Emphasize A Different Method Of Sonic Investigation.

The Project Draws Inspiration From Brian's Time Working At La Monte Young And Marian Zazeela's Dream House In Tribeca, Nyc. As He Spent More Time Immersed Within The Installation, Its Complexity And Beauty Started To Reveal Itself In Its Magnitude. On The Technical Side, This Was Partly Due To The Distinct Tuning System - Just Intonation - That Was Used To Create The Sound And The Way It 'plays With' The Listening Process. Brian Grew Intent On Finding Ways To Adapt This Approach To His Primary Instruments Of Drums And Percussion.

The Album Was Recorded Over A Four Week Period As Artist-in-residence At Headlands Center For The Arts In Northern California. Spending Day And Night In A Secluded Barn At The Top Of A Hill, The Residency Provided The Opportunity To Live And Work Immersed In The Creative Process. This Focus Very Much Relates To The Way In Which The Music Functions: As The Listener Tunes Into The Sonic Characteristics And Pace Of Each Track, Its Meditative Properties Are Gradually Revealed.

The remarkable thing about BELP's new album is its two-dimensional function. It works both on a loud and a quiet volume. Some tracks would go down well as a club track, like opener 'Travelling Thru Galaxies'. This track brings back memories of the best work released on the Hyperdub label, with it's fine combination of synths and irresistible, dubby beats. Elsewhere, 'Off Ending' might start off as 'dancehall-but-not-quite dancehall' track but when half way the synths kick in they change the feeling of the track to a more cerebral level.

BELP is the artist name of Sebastian Schnitzenbaumer. Born in Munich, he partially grew up on the Seychelles islands off the coast of East Africa. Educated in classical piano, those two gravitational poles, European and African influences, form the basis for his musical development. Currently he has close ties to the (dub) Sausage Studio in Hackney, London. In his hometown Munich, the Bavarian capital, BELP took a central role in a series of discussions and events aiming to improve the image and possibilities of Munich, which to his regret is a predominantly posh and hedonistic city where optimistic and uplifting music take central role.

In different guises Schnitzenbaumer works as a much needed antidote. Since 2013 he runs the Schamoni label, focusing on supporting local artists like Leroy and Protein. Its sublabel Jahmoni is responsible for recent works by international artists like Aaron Spectre and DJ Marcelle/Another Nice Mess.

BELP's music is dark, serious and layered. His love for dub and dancehall shines through in his broken beats. At the same time the synth layered tracks give the album an atmospheric feeling.

This also is what makes this album essential: it's refusal to be pigeonholed. The last track on side A, 'By Beauteous Softness', is an a cappella rendition of a 17th century Henry Purcell piece, beautifully sung by Alexander Schneider. This track is preceded by 'Transmission', which is a brilliant abstract work, sounding like wind closing on you from all sides. And you can sip a cocktail whilst listening to the jazzy 'Time And Again' (BELP once worked as a jazz pianist).

It's clear to hear BELP took a long time recording this album. Every note, synth, drum beat, is carefully placed. But what the album might lack on spontaneity it more than compensates this with its sheer musical beauty. This also reflects on the abstract sleeve, like 'Elephants' designed by BELP himself.

Enjoy this album on big speakers, as background music or simply on headphones. There will always be new sounds and layers to be discovered!

Spell PETS backwards to get STEP. Spell STEP forwards and you get PETS going back to basics. STEP is the new vinyl-only label from the founders of PETS - Catz n Dogz - with a focus on the rawest forms and root functions of dance music. STEP searches for the fundamentals with under-the-radar house and techno that's not afraid to be rough around the edges. It's all about the music.

With the Split EP, the fourth release of their own label Rapid Eye Movement, Memorial Home and VII Circle head the way with two original cuts both and sign another stunning dark and hypnotic techno odyssey with a strong emotional pattern.

The opening track 'Metaphysical Functions', starting with a slow building atmospheric overture, encompasses much of what the VII Circle's sophisticated sound is about. A combination of compelling and dark pulsing kick drums with deep and melodic synth lines and dramatic ethereal breakdowns.

'Dogma' is stamped by a strait cavernous and rugged beat, powerful and catchy basses as well as propelled by uplifting and immersive melodic motifs that have a fierce cosmic appeal.

Following the path, Memorial Home delivers with 'Second Floor' an intense ambient-driven piece, harnessing haunting and misty cinematic textures with a tension-building repetitive bassline which provides a rising magnetic and powerful effect.

Closing the journey or rather keeping the flame high and firm till the deep end, 'Ampere' evinces a more pin-sharp and frantic percussive techno approach overlaid with highly suggestive atmospheric swirling synth effects.

Four captivating weapons which display an aesthetic quest focused and driven both by dancefloor-orientated climax and underground-rooted emotive escapism.

AZZUR owner, Melokolektiv returns on Galaktika with his first solo vinyl Ep on the imprint 'Where Are You Earth '.

A side brings three amazing original tracks to the table made of synthetic melodies, spacey beat and acid basslines. "Control the Night" and "How to be Drawn" will, with no doubt, pleased the dancefloor while "Where are You Earth" presents something deeper and melancholic.

On the B side, we are happy to welcome two of our all time favorite producers.

First, Langenberg, who offers us a sublime reinterpretation in the line of his deep and organic releases on Liebe*Detail, Drumpoet Community and Poker Flat.

Then, UK legend Mark E who delivers a functional, raw and hypnotic reinterpretation. Definitely something which will please Dj's. Timeless!

French label Bright Sounds welcomes prolific Dutch artist Boris Bunnik for a new EP under his most celebrated alias, Conforce. The regular Delsin artist saves this project for his more dance floor driven work and that is the case across all four of the atmospheric tracks here.

'Virtue Signalling' is slick techno that mixes up sci-fi sounds with cavernous dub pads. It's cerebral and cinematic as well as being driven by the rubbery drums. 'Black Mesa' is darker, with a meaning synth line coming in spurts over punchy, broken drums. It's grand in architecture but still has plenty of rich sonic details. On the flipside, 'Compulsion' is more watery, with little life forms suspended in a backlit ocean above slippery drums, then 'Alka' is another underwater affair, with beams of light penetrating from above as a dubbed out groove undulates way down deep. Once again then here, Conforce marries form with function in exquisite ways.

Repress

Subjected is back with the 2nd part of the Selected Works, His focus is on functionality, these 4 cuts are extremely functional for any situation, giving the user the choice between different palette of sounds very meticulously selected for you.