quête:hard

"Change of the Century" is the second album recorded by Ornette Coleman's quartet featuring Don Cherry on trumpet, Charlie Haden on bass, and Billy Higgins on drums and is considered one of the essential recordings of the avant-garde jazz movement. Ornette Coleman was a revolutionary figure in jazz, known for his innovative approach to improvisation and composition. He pioneered the "free jazz" movement, which broke away from traditional jazz structures and harmonic conventions.

His music often emphasized collective improvisation and thematic development over chord changes. The album's title reflects the spirit of innovation and change that Coleman brought to the jazz world with a significant departure from the bebop and hard bop styles dominant at the time, paving the way for new directions in jazz expression. "Change of the Century" remains a timeless and influential recording that continues to inspire musicians across genres and stands as a testament to Ornette Coleman's Visionary approach to jazz: an essential listening for anyone interested in exploring the outer reaches of improvisation and creativity in jazz.

Reissue of in-demand Italo title, with accompanying edits by Hysteric. "For the much-requested 12'' reissue of Roaring Mosquitoes, Best Record followed the hint by a die-hard German researcher and esteemed DJ of 'hidden musical treasures' Frinda Di Lanco. Further enriching this reissue - masterfully remastered by Dom Scuteri - with two of his splendid edits is the Australian DJ-producer George Hysteric, one of the world's leading authorities and a leading figure in Italo Disco. The juxtaposition of the two songs performed with grit and physicality by Agostina Casalino and her cousin Antonietta Casalino (aka Roaring Mosquitoes) highlights two aesthetically and rhythmically similar approaches, albeit with different roots and inspirations. "You Aren't With Me" has the merit of not wanting to reinvent the genre, but exploits the familiarity of pop-dance forms, obtaining an immediate catchiness. The piece stands out for its linearity while reworking melodic mechanisms typical of the 80s new wave: short instrumental intro, well-defined verse-chorus, obsessive repetition of melodic hooks that make it an immediate and "dragging" song on the dance floor. The arrangement focuses on a solid electronic drum groove, sinuous basslines, clean guitar riffs, "cutting" keyboards and the use of the chorus typical of the Italo Disco of those years. Some passages recall the melodic line and rhythmic progression of "Tonight... Crazy Night", an intriguing song that the Canadian artist Dorine Hollier created in 1984 at the Titania Studios in Rome with Pierluigi Giombini. Even with "Ah Ah Ah Ah" which features a vibrant and cheerful sound there's a playful use of citation for some idea that Diego Pepe took from a Micky & Joyce track. It evokes the "space disco" spirit of Jean-Pierre Massiera and the influence of the French scene of 1979: polyphonic synthetic strings, echo effects on electronic hi-hats and a vaguely futuristic atmosphere, but with an even more captivating sound revitalized with more scratchy modern touches and compressed basslines. A mix of vintage and contemporary that enhance its charm."

Air Texture proudly announces its latest artist-curated compilation, “Hardwired,” assembled by Berlin-based musician JakoJako. This expansive collection celebrates the implicit connection between hardware-focused electronic producers, featuring contributions from Rødhåd, Acid Pauli, The Field, Neon Chambers, and many more.

“Hardwired” draws its conceptual foundation from synthesizer terminology. As JakoJako explains: “A hardwired synth has connections already soldered into the machine—it comes with certain functions without needing to patch cables externally. As a hardware producer, I feel whenever I meet someone who creates music as I do, we have this immediate connection, like a hardwired synthesizer. There’s no need for small talk—we can speak about gear.”

This metaphor of pre-established connections forms the emotional core of the compilation, celebrating the community of hardware enthusiasts who share an intuitive understanding and appreciation for machine-based music creation.

JakoJako has established herself as one of electronic music’s most intriguing voices, exploring the territory between technical precision and emotional expression. Her artistic approach balances rigorous knowledge with unrestrained intuition, creating works that reach beyond genre boundaries.

A Berghain resident with performances at Dekmantel and Fusion, to the Royal Albert Hall and the Barbican, JakoJako has released music on prestigious labels including Tresor, Mute, and Leisure System, and crafted remixes for artists like New Order and Martin Gore. Her deep relationship with analog and modular synthesis, including her ongoing connection to Berlin’s SchneidersLaden, informs her distinctive sound.

Following her recent Mute album “Têt 41,” this curation for Air Texture provides further insight into the musical universe that has shaped JakoJako’s artistic vision.

“Hardwired” showcases 23 tracks for its digital release, with a select 9 tracks pressed to vinyl. The collection spans the spectrum of contemporary electronic music while maintaining cohesive focus on hardware-driven production approaches.

Highlights include collaborative works between JakoJako and fellow producers Mareena and Frank Wiedemann, alongside contributions from established artists like Rødhåd, Acid Pauli, and The Field, plus emerging talents representing the hardware renaissance in electronic music.

Founded by James Parker Healy, Air Texture emerged from New York City’s late ’90s rave scene, carrying forward the fundamental PLUR (Peace, Love, Unity, Respect) ethos with a collaborative and curatorial focus. Air Texture has evolved from its roots in Manhattan’s club era and Brooklyn’s warehouse scene to embrace a global perspective, working with producers across diverse styles and regions worldwide through the label and its PLace: nonprofit series.

First 2x12" record with UPR by Le Talium.
The tunes were too good not to press them all !!
LIMITED QUANTITIES.

A familly story... sound is as noise as clear, and ritch as minimal...
Industrial Hardcore (end speedcore) is the thema, Even if industrial could be the domain.

Hypnofreak : un bon speedcore mental, très fin, qui embarque dans des vagues acides longues en bouches, soutenues par un kick de moins en moins discret :)

Go HardCore : si je ne me trompe pas on dirait du vieux Epiteth, avec une petite pointe d'indus à la Test-Dep dans les sons.. (mais là faut chercher longtemps avant de tomber sur "Brith Gof Goddodin" ^^).

Last Chance : Le kick sec, sans reverbe, dur dur ! Hardcore encore :)

Digital Error : Allez, on y va dans le noiseux speed, marque de fabrique du Talium :) Et son gros kick qui vient vous récupérer après des drops glissants...

No Planet : Dédoublons les kicks et voyons ou ça nous mène :)

Non Conforme : Prenez un kick et mettez le dans shaker. enregistrez les bruits du moteur. Et vous obtiendrez un truc dans le genre.

Quad Grinder : Une fois encore, le dédoublement de kick est au centre de l'affaire, ce morceau me semble dans l'esprit du
01100010 de No Name sur Fischkopf 16).. Mais c'est un feeling de Deejay ^^

XB09-Part One : toujours dans l'esprit du shaker, avec de grosses nappes ambient qui posent grave... Un contraste qui peut faire penser à du Flashcore... mais ou est la part 2 ? ^^

En gros ce skeud est une balle, ça pourrait bien être un des meilleurs skeuds de speedcore indus depuis un sacré bail !

BIG UP UPR !

comes in deluxe black Priplak jacket with postcard
The Techno Wave" was the first single released in 1990 by this famous project created by Jens Lissat and Ramon Zenker (Hardfloor). One of the most well-known tracks of the so called Frankfurt Tekkno scene that invaded Germany during the early 90s. This re-issue includes the original Castle Mix", the b-side The Bass is on Fire' and a new killer remix prepared by Ancient Methods who described The Techno Wave" as "one of the influential tracks that brought me alongside Zoth Ommog and R&S into techno".

Minimal and vital
french hardcore style
Dancefloor friendly
c'est pour la vie !

3XL’s first new release in 2025 by Italian trio Cortex of Light is a synapse-tickling dose of classic FSOL-era world-building that takes in gloopy trance cooked down with sub-heavy, vaporous dub, mutant acid, breakbeat rave, Artificial Intelligence and a Mark Fell-style algorithmic brainmelt.

You'll know if you've spent any time following Piezo's output that the Milan-based producer and Ansia boss has a knack for lysergically enhancing any club template he sets his sights on. With releases on Idle Hands, Wisdom Teeth, Loefah's 81 and most recently Dekmantel, Luca Mucci has blottered up dubstep, hard drum, 2-step and minimal techno, here re-convening with fellow Milanese journeymen Aitch and primordial OOze/xàr num as Cortex of Light to blur those edges even further

'ILLUMINOTECNICA' isn't the trio's first release, but it's their most substantial and easily most developed. If 2024's 'Aeon Is A Child At Play With Colored Balls' showed off their aptitude for threading their luminous soundscapes into a horizontal soundtrack, then this album is a proper chance for Cortex of Light to show off their versatility in a different setting, matching dancefloor hallucinations with expertly sculpted sound design.

Psilocybin-tainted soundscapes scrape into breathy flute sounds and chest-thumping bass drops on the opener, haunted by a vision of electronic music that's been contrived in back rooms, squats and outdoor raves for decades at this point. Like so much of the rest of the 3XL catalog, there's a drive and coherence here that comes from classic dub techno and chill-out room fodder (think The Black Dog or Pentatonik), but always infused with something that dates it to the present era, be it a tactile sliver of Visible Cloaks-style neo-new age ambience, or a sort of mescaline-dipped take on Photek's bass-heavy, meticulously hazed 'Solaris' period downtempo gear, chopped 'n screwed into the uncanny.

With this bloody elevenbth release you will go ahead further into Industrial Hard techno meeting Acid Tekno !

First EP of the belgium label / soundsystem Oldschool Waves, main focus on Industrial Techno, Hardcore and Doomcore.

4 Hardcore killerz of a kind !
Bangers with the first Frakass vinyl appearance !

Following on from last year's acclaimed ‘R.O.I.’ album, Manchester’s favourite sons Aerial Salad are set to return to the fray with a brand new 5-track EP titled ‘Roi de l’herb’ to be released June 27th via Venn Records.
Having released their ‘Dirt Mall’ album during lockdown, which was a pretty grim time to put an album out, the release still eventually opened up some exciting doors for the band and captured Aerial Salad at their most Aerial Salad; loud, brash, silly and emotive.
This led swiftly to 2024’s ‘R.O.I.’ album that marked a real evolution in the band’s sound and songwriting.

“R.O.I. is a concept album but rather than being about a band, it’s from the perspective of an individual pushed to the brink of insanity by the ever-present quest from commercial success,” explains singer and guitarist Jamie Munro. “The idea came from my job; I’ve been working in the tech industry in ‘sales’. ‘Return on investment’ was probably my most uttered phrase for a few years, I was sick of it, sick of having no positive impact on the world and sick of the tech bro, double espresso, thirsty thursdays, work hard - play hard bollocks culture that comes with it. ‘R.O.I.’ is me saying ‘know what, you can actually earn a lot of money in life, even without the fallacy of educational infrastructure and financial privilege, however, it comes at the cost of your soul, time and energy. ‘R.O.I.’ is called such because it’s in the opposite pursuit, it’s not about a return on a financial investment, it’s about doing something with your life that’s enjoyable.”
This brings us crashing into 2025, no longer in the same line of spirit destroying work, with some seriously exciting gigs on the horizon, Aerial Salad wanted to kick off the next era of the band with a short, fast and hard EP and have served up 5 absolute bangers that sit somewhere between ‘Dirt Mall’ and ‘R.O.I.’ The EP is called ‘Roi de l’herb’ because of the track ‘King Of The Grass’: “We tour and play a lot in France, we’ve played most of our “best” gigs in France, so out of curiosity I wanted to see if the title would translate well, naturally, when the translation contained both “ROI” and l’herbe” - I though, fuck it, that’s about as spot on a title for this EP as we can possibly muster.”
‘King of The Grass’ is about the band’s bassist Mike Wimbo who works for Rochdale council on the greens team, which means he spends his life in the pouring rain chopping down overgrown hedges and mowing lawns. Elsewhere on the EP, ‘Inject Your Blood’ is another romantic love song inspired by the TV series ‘True Blood’ (“I’d inject your blood, into mine just to feel you close”), ‘Wires’ rages against the world of AI and GPT, whilst the EP’s opening track ‘My Girl’ is a chaotic, high energy catchy punk song, nothing profound, nothing complicated. It’s a punk song as god intended, a few chords and a load of shouting.
“The EP is like the teaser for what’s next,” summarises Jamie. “The overall hook for this EP is one of hope, that by sticking to what you believe in you can do anything.”

How could H.C. be any worse? " - It could be a hell of a lot worse than this ! Side 1 contains a dozen thrashers by Asocial that absolutely rip. Then side 2 kicks in with the Bedrovlers who if anything, are even more intense. Killer Swedish hardcore ! review by Tim Yohannon, from Max R&R 15, July 1984.

Probably the first experiment in mixing hardcore attitude with OI! songwriting ever made within the UK punk movement, Attak were born as a four piece in New Mills in l98l, but immediately reversed to a trio when their singer left for school commitments and released two incredible singles on the No Future label in this form, right before recruiting a new guitarist and record “Zombies”, that came out in l983 on the same label. Known for featuring Mackie from BLITZ’s sister on drums, (and sounding a lot like his band!), Attak definitely split up in late 1983. This criminally underrated classic gets reissued on vinyl with his original artwork and fully remastered. Limited to 500 copies on Color Vinyl, complete with big 60x40 cm folded poster!

Since first forming in 2016, London's High Vis have steadily polished their palette of progressive hardcore with shades of post-punk, Brit pop, neo-psychedelia, and even Madchester groove, mapping a middle ground between hooks and fury, melodies and mosh pits. Singer Graham Sayle describes their third album 'Guided Tour' as an axis of competing forces: "It's trying to be a hopeful record, while also being incensed." Rounded out by drummer Edward 'Ski' Harper, guitarists Martin MacNamara and Rob Hammaren, and bassist Jack Muncaster, the band's deep roots in the UK and Irish DIY hardcore scenes have kept them grounded but growing, inspired equally by restlessness and righteous anger. As Sayle puts it, "Everyone's scratching, everyone's working all the time, and their idea of relaxing is just getting fucked and avoiding reality. This album is an escape from that."From its opening seconds of a cab door slamming, a car revving away, and a baggy rhythm swinging to life, 'Guided Tour' sounds like a band reaching for new heights, bristling with energy. Recorded across a few weeks at Holy Mountain Studios in London with producer Jonah Falco and engineer Stanley Gravett, the results feel dynamic and dialed-in, like anthems burned into sense memory through sweat and repetition. Harper cuts to the chase: "We had a clear idea going in, every moment got used. Maybe when we're 60 we can sit around and get a drum sound right, but for now it's about getting things done."The album's 11 songs span the spectrum of contemporary guitar music, sharpened by experience, camaraderie, and societal frustrations. From swaggering street punk ("Drop Me Out," "Mob DLA") to jangling indie sneer ("Worth The Wait," "Deserve It") to heavy alt ("Feeling Bless," "Fill The Gap") to shoegazey spoken word ("Untethered"), the group's chemistry transmutes any style to their unique intensity. Sayle champions this evolving fusion: "For years coming from hardcore, we had pretty clear boundaries - other scenes were separate worlds. Now things are getting more blended, drawing from different places."Nowhere is this sentiment flexed more boldly than on "Mind's A Lie," a dance- punk anthem inspired by Harper's love of house, garage, and pirate radio. Stabs of sampled female vocals (by celebrated South London singer and DJ Ell Murphy) build into a razor wire rhythm of low-slung bass, tense drums, and sparkling guitar before Sayle's staunch voice starts barking harsh truths ("Face to face with all I've known / I can't call these thoughts my own"). After a sudden breakdown, the track regroups and takes off, cruising into the horizon in a haze of chiming guitars and Murphy's ascendant voice, from the streets to somewhere beyond.

This is the second release that DJ Diplomat made all the way back in the early 90’s. His first release was repressed by Vinyl Fanatiks in 2019. This second repress we are doing for him was originally recorded in 1993 and engineered by Secret Squirrel AKA Hellfish who went on to create the Deathchant label in 1997, a label which Diplomat also recorded for. He was also responsible for the mega mixes on the Street Sounds electro series when it was relaunched in the noughties.

Enthused by the support his first repress received Will Diplomat decided to get back into the studio and start making fresh hardcore that sounded like it was made back in the day for the Vinyl Fanatiks sister label Amen Brother. His first release sold out many moons ago but his collab with former partner in the old 1993 hardcore group NARC (DJ Beagle) under the name Diplomat & Beagle is still in stock via Sequence.

Now check his examples of many samples!