quête:headphones

Columbia, South Carolina’s Chaz Bundick (aka Toro y Moi) rose to the fore of the music blogosphere in sum- mer 2009 when he and a few peers made their hazy bedroom recordings the most talked-about sound of the season. Critics across the board took notice of the range of his compositions, and his debut album, Causers of This, showcased his ability to make elements of Brian Wilson’s pop, 80s R&B, and Stone’s Throw hip hop coalesce into a distinct sound that’s as suitable for a dancefloor as it is a pair of headphones.
When Chaz first signed to Carpark Records, the plan was to release two records in 2010 — one electronic and one with live instrumentation — and although it didn’t quite fit into the same calendar year as his debut, Underneath the Pine is that latter offering. This release sees him following the same creative urges to com- pletely different ends. Having spent the year listening to film composers like Ennio Morricone and François de Roubaix, Bundick returned to his home in Columbia, the birthplace of many Toro tracks of yore, to bring his new ideas to fruition. The result of these sessions is an album evocative of R. Stevie Moore’s homespun rumi- nations, David Axelrod’s sonic scope, Steve Reich-ian piano phrasing, and the pervasive funk of his first record. Underneath the Pine announces a new phase for an art- ist whose talent defies classification.

In the late ‘80s, a wave of British musicians raised on ‘70s UK pop, Caribbean sound system culture, reggae, lovers rock and Motown/Philly soul music fell in love with synthesisers, drum machines and 8-track recorders. The street soul generation had arrived.

Originally released as a white label 12” in 1989, ‘You’ve Gone’ is the sole release from Bassline, the studio project of Southeast London-raised musician Tony Henry, not to be confused with Tony Henry from Manchester jazz-funk/R&B band 52nd Street. Featuring the singer Lorraine Chambers, it’s one of the true jewels of the UK Street Soul scene. As Lorraine’s heartsick soul vocal glides over sunrise synths, dusty drums, elegant electric piano figures and a reggae indebted bassline, ‘You’ve Gone’ captures the optimism and strength of the era perfectly.

‘You’ve Gone’ was championed by Choice FM UK (now Capital XTRA), Kiss FM, and DJ Trevor Nelson. Tony went from selling white labels out the trunk to booking in Live PAs for Lorraine with London sound systems like Rampage and up north in the street soul loving cities of Manchester and Birmingham. “When Lorraine did PAs up there, she went out on stage like she was Beyoncé.”

The son of a Jamaican father and an English mother, Tony grew up around the London sound system scene. He taught himself bass guitar, keyboards, and production, before playing in the reggae band Chakwanza (Swahili for “the first”). In Chakwanza, Tony rubbed shoulders with Aswad, Barry Boom, Steel Pulse, Maxi Priest, Gregory Issacs, Dennis Brown, Ghettotone and Saxon Sound, before focusing on a career in banking over music. “Music was my first love, but it couldn’t have afforded me the sort of level of - let’s be blunt and pragmatic about it - financial success that would have allowed me to support my family.”

Outside of office hours, Tony continued to work on music at home, sometimes serving as a session bassist with local bands. In the late 80s, a work colleague mentioned her sister Lorraine Chambers was a singer. Tony and Lorraine recorded “You’ve Gone” over two sessions. “Lorraine went into the booth, put her headphones on and got into the song. My daughter turned to me and said, ‘Daddy, she can really sing!’”

Despite the success of ‘You’ve Gone’, they never recorded together again. “The world changed, and for me, it changed as well. My younger kids were born, and work started getting more intense. I got a bit more successful and was living a mad, kind of crazy life.”

Thirty-two years on, ‘You’ve Gone’ finally receives an official reissue comprising the lauded original mix, an alternate version and Tony’s Back to Bass-ics remix. Fittingly, in recent months, Tony and Lorraine have re-connected in the studio writing new material.

- Limited edition first pressing on Coke Bottle Clear vinyl. - Features from Ms. John Soda and BADBADNOTGOOD's Leland Whitty - Part of Jagjaguwar's Friends Of serie "For this EP I was trying to live less in nostalgia and function less off obvious references. I worked on Pout while becoming a dad, sitting a lot in my garden, and trying to kill my ego. Tracks like 'Mountain Access' make me think about driving around Hamilton, Ontario, my home as of a year ago. I hope people can still get a chance to walk around with this on headphones or daydream while listening to this project." - Ryan Hemsworth

‘Instant Opaque Evening’ is an epic offering from The Underflow, the new trio of Mats Gustafsson, David Grubbs and Rob Mazurek. It makes vast strides on the heels of their self-titled 2019 debut (Corbett vs. Dempsey/Underflow Records) with nearly 90 minutes of intensely focused live performances from January 2020 shows in France, Belgium, Italy and Poland. That tour was a revelation for all three members, experienced as they are, with this still-new group’s freedom to walk onstage each night determined to surprise one another, moving from long instrumental improvisations into and out of songs and covering a terrific amount of ground at each of these concerts.
‘Instant Opaque Evening’ conveys this broad sweep, from the full-tilt electronics of ‘Self-Portrait As Interference Pattern’ and the climax of the seventeen-minute ‘Instant Opaque Evening’ to the inspired, alternate universe chamber music of ‘Planks’ and ‘A Thin Eternity’ and the group’s spontaneous arrangements of three previously recorded songs by Grubbs, ‘Gethsemani Night’, ‘An Optimist Declines’ and ‘Cooler Side Of The Pillow’.
The short version of the long tale of intersecting paths bringing together these three musicians begins in Chicago in the 1990s, with all three active participants in numerous convergences among jazz, free improvisation, experimental rock and more. Both Gustafsson and Mazurek appear as guests on Gastr del Sol albums (‘Upgrade & Afterlife’ and ‘Camoufleur’ respectively; that’s Rob’s cornet taking ‘The Seasons Reverse’ to new heights) and shortly thereafter Grubbs and Gustafsson recorded two duo albums, including the deep minimalism of ‘Apertura’, a talismanic favourite of both musicians.
David Grubbs has played in Gastr del Sol, the Red Krayola and Squirrel Bait and performed with Tony Conrad, Susan Howe, Pauline Oliveros, Will Oldham and many others. He’s the author of the books The Voice in the Headphones, Now that the audience is assembled and Records Ruin the Landscape.
Saxophone player, improviser and composer Mats Gustafsson is known as a solo artist and for international tours and projects with, among many others, Sonic Youth, Merzbow, Jim O’Rourke, Barry Guy, Otomo Yoshihide, Yoshimi, Peter Brötzmann, Neneh Cherry, Christian Marclay, Albert Oehlen, Ken Vandermark and the working groups FIRE!, THE END, LUFT, ANGUISH and Gush, as well as collaborations with contemporary dance, theatre, art, poetry and projects with noise.
Rob Mazurek is a multidisciplinary artist with a focus on electro-acoustic composition, improvisation, performance, painting, sculpture, video, film and installation, who spent much of his creative life in Chicago and then Brazil. He currently lives and works in Marfa, Texas. He leads/co-leads many ensembles of various sizes and shapes including his flagship large ensemble Exploding Star Orchestra, Chicago Underground and São Paulo Underground. He has
collaborated with Bill Dixon, Pharoah Sanders, Roscoe Mitchell, Jeff Parker, Nicole Mitchell, Chad Taylor, Jim O’Rourke, Naná Vasconcelos and many others.

This is the 4th ep that continues a volume of a 5 ep project. Its own kind of album type edition so to speak. Destination celebrates the drum and bass genre with its own style reminiscent of Aphex Twin and Squarepusher. type programming. It fuse’s eclectic beats with a more common flow of bass licks that cruise throughout the track. With a more psychedelic presence this track offers a complexity of rich sounds that will encapsulate any avid lover of electronic music from the headphones to the dance floor. Bouncy and fun yet with deep exploration of ‘Abstract sounds’ bringing a serious edge, Destination is equipped for any explorer seeking any type of Destination. Then comes Arrival. Not an ordinary piece of music, with the artist expressing themselves from past musical influences, to curve their own piece of storytelling art, through audio sonic means. An inner world reflective explanation can be as follows - An epic piece revealing the adventures of seeking depth, from ones dense conscious reality, tribal like mannerisms, traveling to a higher frequency of light and wonder, breaking through to the heart centre of ones own unique truth. By doing so, welding together the whole aspects of being, Arriving at ones own true balance of self. Reuniting with the dense tribal like self yet with a complete transformative understanding of life and self in relation to life as a whole. Ones outer world of reflective explanation can be this - starting from earth, leaving the tribal terrains of earth based reality, exploring out into the cosmic wilderness, looking back from a distance, witnessing Earths magnificence and enigmatic beauty. Continuing to swim out to the depths of the galaxy to ‘Arrive” at an unexpected splendour unknown to the human consciousness ,to a cosmic giant….. giant what? This remains to be unseen! It’s left to the imaginators discretion of wonder within the experience of the audio sonic delights presented in,….. ‘Arrival’.

Long-time collaborators, longer-time best friends, lifelong analog appreciators; the German duo Iron Curtis & Johannes Albert join cosmic forces once again for another LP mission 'Moon II', a heartfelt voyage through the sounds, movements, styles and machines that created this music in the first place.
Think late 80s New York, early 90s Sheffield and the perennial sounds of Italo and Detroit, 'Moon II' is a lunar safari that celebrates the deepest foundations of house, techno and electronic soul while resolutely refusing to get nostalgic. Written and recorded during an intense two-and-a-half month session in Berlin last autumn, there's a consistency and tangible narrative running throughout as the pair play inspiration ping-pong over the course of 10 tracks.
A little Drexcyian glacial nod here, a hazy Boards Of Canada wink there. The Other People Place, Kerrier District, Environ Records, the Hacienda, Sub Club, Heaven 17, classic electro… All these ingredients are constantly bubbling in the mix for both Curtis and Albert (as individuals and even more so as a duo) and the end result is an album that works as a proper album should. Peaks, troughs, dreamy departures and all beautiful things in between.
Taking off where their debut collaborative album 'Industrie & Zärtlichkeit' (soon to be retitled 'Moon I') left us three years ago, the opening modem sounds on the intro track 'Canggu Laundry Club' dial us into a special sense of time and space.
It's a space where anything feels possible; Visual-inspired acid lines on 'Tiger Trek', lino-spinning body pops and windmills to the street sounds electro style of 'The Ultimate Seduction', the club-focused, Traxx-style Cutie Schamuthie collaboration 'Hurting', the melancholy plucks and struts of 'Feingold', the provocative, slinky, smoky finale piece 'Nektar'… The list of intergenerational and cross-genre landmarks on this adventurous body of work go and on, each track complementing the last as they fuse to create a bigger collective picture. A picture that's charmed together through the consistent use of key classic studio machines.
They call it Introverted Electronic Body Music, we call it warm, free-spirited and ultimately timeless. Perfect for your sets, your afterhours or your headphones alike; it's time to let Iron Curtis and Johannes Albert take you to the Moon and back… Once again.

Embarking on a journey from Italy to Anatolia and from Africa to the Americas, Nelson of the East soars over imagined landscapes in his debut, motion picture- inspired album, Kybele. Plug in your headphones, drown out the world, and set
out on a mystic voyage of Earth through the lens of Kybele, the Anatolian goddess of wild nature.

With the world in flux and isolation taking its toll, musical escapism has become a much needed pastime for today’s armchair adventurers. Treating recorded sound as a vehicle of time travel, Milanese artist Nelson of the East (N.O.T.E) takes listeners on a journey through kaleidoscopic soundscapes with his debut album Kybele released on Tartelet Records.

Skillfully weaving the sounds of East and West, the nine-track LP fuses Turkish and cosmic influences with a strong electronic backbone into an otherworldly soundtrack of our time.

“The feeling that passes through the record isn’t straight. It changes, it turns, it is never predictable. Never being able to predict which landscape you arrive at next or where the music is taking you is key to enjoying the sound journey,” says Nelson. “

Named Kybele after the Anatolian goddess of nature, fertility, mountains, and wild animals, the record is a continuous saga that takes from the Berlin-based artist’s own adventurous spirit. Following his previous EP releases Night Frames and Phase Alternating Lines, Nelson explores new territories on Kybele.

The album opener, “Explorer,” is an exhilarating build up to what could be a 80s sci-fi movie, showcasing Nelson’s knack for cinematic moods. “Draw Me,” speaks to the artist’s intention of making a “snare album,” with an irregular, dominating beat untethering it from time or boundaries. “What I realize while I was writing the rhythm part is that the more you keep a beat simple the more difficult it becomes to make it interesting. So I just put down some rules to follow. For example, using swing as smoothly as possible, or using lot of syncopated sequence over the straight 2-4 groove,” says Nicolas.

Another thing Nelson achieves in this album is ambience, or the “motion picture touch” as he calls it. Tracks like the wild and obscure Culto, with its Anatolian nuances and middle eastern-sounding scales are made by layering synths to achieve an orchestral effect.

Other tracks capture the musician’s penchant for African and Brazilian grooves, like the Saudade mix of Burning Palm. On the B side, the Italo-flavored Phase Lines comes through with shimmering synth and electronic drums complete with hazy vocals delivered by DJ Rayne and Nelson himself. Yahuda dives into dark, melancholic electro with a Detroit feel not far from the sounds of the great Drexciya.

The album closes with ZETA, a track that could easily double as an obscure cinematic composition. The nine-track LP is strictly limited to 300 copies, pressed on 180g vinyl with artwork by The Emperor of Antarctica. No repress.

Seb Wildblood readies his first new release of 2020, the ‘Hazy House’ EP. After a year that saw Wildblood releasing his landmark LP, ‘sketches of transition' – which received a glowing 8/10 review in DJ Mag and made it into Mixmag’s of Albums of 2019 round-up – his new two-tracker is set for release via his London / Los Angeles based label, all my thoughts, on April 17th. Along with his recently released edit of Rosalia’s ‘A Palé’ for charity, the EP marks the DJ/producer’s return to a more dancefloor-focused sound, having ventured further into the worlds of downtempo electronics, R&B and Balearic-imbued house on his introspective and accomplished debut album.

‘Hazy House’ is an encapsulation of what a Seb Wildblood DJ set sounds like in 2020, fusing tough house rhythms with electro’s futuristic atmosphere and an ear for emotive melodic hooks. With dreamy flourishes and subtle complexities, the EP retains much of the depth that ‘sketches’ emphasized, despite being his most club-ready work since 2018’s ‘Grab The Wheel’ EP. The resulting release is one that showcases Wildblood’s considered, painterly technique, and his capacity to create thoughtful soundscapes even when focused on mobility and energy.

‘Hazy House Vol. 1’ on the A-side is buoyant and lush, with a warm synth bed hovering on top of its bouncy beat before a soft, chiming arpeggio motif floats into the mix, tying everything together in a silky deep house bow.

‘Vol. 2’ is similarly inviting, if a little more robust. With a sharp beat, angelic choral synths, and a subtle vocoder, the track is one for the depth of the night, when the last push of energy carries you through, right into the warmth of the afterglow.

Inspired by moments experienced throughout his second world tour in 2019, which saw him playing DJ sets everywhere from Australia and Japan to the UK and across North America, the title ‘Hazy House’ is a tongue-in-cheek nod to the assumptions some may have about Wildblood’s sound. But as the EP highlights, there’s a subtle intricacy at play in the producer’s work that further establishes him as a distinct voice for both club-driven sounds, and for those more suited to headphones.

Andras’Joyful is a cornucopic vision rooted in the decay of dance music from one of Australia’s most distinct yet understated voices. Cutting a path through an overgrowth of nostalgia around 70's acid folk and 90's acid house, Joyful is an invitation to till a n old garden in a glistening new light.

A thirteen year old Andrew Wilson sits in the back of his parents’ sedan, driving down the coast from Melbourne. Headphones covering his awkwardly aged ears and connected to a jam-packed mp3 player, he experiences an intense synchronicity when the car careens over a mountain crest in the Otway Ranges right as the track in his ears peaks. A momentary vision of a “first rave rush,” in which Australia’s lauded party history dances tellingly with this dreamer’s destiny.

Not so much later but perhaps more worldly and certainly more aware, Wilson returns home from touring, now a “veteran” of the dance world, to realize a different synchronicity in his record collection. Finding Ian Van Dahl nestled next to John Fahey, William Orbit spine-to-spine with Shira Small, the harmony between folk music of the early 70's and dance music from the 90s becomes perfectly audible in unimaginable ways.

Through an afterglow from both summers of love seeped in shared sonic soil, on Joyful, Wilson cultivates melodic drama and tenderness, memorable hooks and rapturous arpeggios; sentimental strings summon both joyful aspirations and the shadows of faded dreams. Using folk songs as fodder—lyrics, samples, note progressions—each entry of Wilson’s debut album under his Andras moniker is a return to a different springtime of the mind.

Many artists working in Australia can relate to the feeling of “not quite being there,” as Wilson describes it. Always a couple years behind trend. Turning up at the party as it’s winding down. Fearing that in many ways the culture is looking backwards, confirming the narrow outlook of a parochialism that many have worked tirelessly to disprove. Using this disconnect as an invitation to dream another dream, Joyful becomes the soundtrack of early teen Andrew’s fantasy of Utopic parties past, specifically the late discovery of a bygone warehouse rave scene, as well as a return to a guileless chapter of personal history as heard through plain, sane, and simple folk melodies. Joyful is a homecoming, a testament to the evolving euphoria of a flower garden rooted in earth’s tender rot, of birds and bees flying free but not without a changing landscape in sight.

Andras’Joyful is available on LP and digital formats on January 31, 2020 via Beats In Space. On behalf of Andras, a portion of proceeds from this release will benefit the Invasive Species Council on the recommendation of Tim Low, author of the book Feral Future and Where Song Began.

A record to be enjoyed to its very last second AM Jazz is set to place this songwriter where he just might, finally, receive the recognition he deserves; from unsung hero to a truly worthy candidate for being called up to join the City of Manchester’s ranks of great musical icons. Whether you prefer to know him as Mr. Roberts or simply call him Al, it’s time to become acquainted with the real Jim Noir.

Tossing his bowler onto the hat stand and sliding on his slippers, AM Jazz sees ‘Jim’ putting his feet up whilst Alan Roberts takes the lead. A creative masterpiece for the record player and the mantlepiece, it’s a multi-layered album that features close friends including those dearly departed, and is his truest record to date, by a songwriter painting his own hypnotic Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.

“I haven’t 'felt' like Jim Noir for a long time. I’m not sure I ever did; it was a construct of other people’s imaginations,” reveals Al. “AM Jazz is definitely the kind of music I make generally. It harks back to when I started making music years ago and didn’t worry about capturing a particular style. It will be nice to show people more of that.

It's the best album I've written; real hypnotic minimalism, the good stuff!” 15 years since he recorded the first ever 'Jim Noir' EP, AM
Jazz is the record all Noirheads won’t be surprised Al had inside him.

Letting the Beatlesesque stylings of his most recent album Finnish Line be (5 years ago no less), AM Jazz suits the Noir repertoire of his catalogue so far and is another homegrown offering which sees the Daveyhulme composer tinkering in his suburban Manchester studio once more, with the magic of his computer work sorcery, analog and tape recordings.

“For this I went back to the slightly more haphazard way I wrote my first album, Tower Of Love, wherein I’d use things in front of me, or a bit wrong like headphones for a microphone, to make the most Hi-Fi Lo-fi album ever.”

Whilst a brief disappearance of Jim’s online persona may have provoked bleak theories as to his whereabouts, Al had little time for digital distraction. Whilst writing and creating with friends, he has worked on electronic pet project, FAX with former Alfie guitarist, Ian Smith, and the vintage analogue house meets electro sound of his own solo EP Granada Personnel Recovery, as well as producing local band, Shaking Chainsor, and helping long-time musical colleague, Aidan Smith with his long-awaited 'The Planets' project; “I’ve been writing in dribs and drabs when I feel like it,” Al says. “I used to write all day everyday but it’s a lot harder now I’m (feeling) over 100 years old.” Never not sonically exploring or being inspired by the sounds around him, there was even a red-carpet moment when he appeared as a film premier guest after a couple of his songs were selected for the OST of director Jason Wingard’s film Eaten By Lions.

Performing all AM Jazz’s instrumental parts himself but also, at the right moment, bringing in present and past pals along the way, sexy lounge song, ‘Hexagons’ features 'Phil Anderson' and Mark Williamson singing and playing “legendary OTT guitar solo” respectively. Meanwhile the orchestration of ‘Peppergone’ waltzes like a beautifully romantic ode to Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata – a tribute to dearly departed best friend 'Batfinks' who originally wrote the chords in his song 'Peppercorn.' “I hope he doesn’t think it’s shit,” Al jests. Listen closely and you may even find a few unsuspecting celebrity guest appearances as, perhaps, it could be the very first album to feature soundbites of podcasts sneaking onto the recordings. “I will have a podcast on if I’m recording; Adam Buxton, Athletico Mince, Frank Skinner or Richard Herring… I’m sure some mics will have picked them up, like in the old Tower of Love days,” he says referring to his breakout debut.

Culled from around 50 tunes AM Jazz moves like the time of the day, from dawn to night, stirring from the pop of ‘Good Mood’ and ‘Upside Down’s Beta Band groove. “As the album was playing, I imagined this smoky backstreet with all those neon signs outside clubs at about 4am,” Al says. Mellow ‘TOL Circle’ is like Percy Faith’s Theme From A Summer Place synthesized, capturing the style of TV library music or movie soundtrack obscurity that has always stirred Al’s curiosity, and the album plunges into a vast chasm of instrumental exploration with ‘Mystermoods,’ visiting Japan’s funky synth whiz duo Testpattern and Hakabashi Sakamoto. Darkening and deepening in intensity, ‘Eggshell’ is like an undiscovered gem from Angelo Badalamenti’s cutting room floor, the Panda Bear shimmer of ‘Lander’ is where blissful positivity and sadness meet, about another of his friends who left the world too young. “By the album’s close, its nearly time to let go and enter the ether,” he says of the album’s story. “Like one would do when they take their final sigh on this earth.”

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.

Following on from the release of a spilt EP from rising stars Gramrcy and Gaunt late last year, GlassTalk Records returns in 2019 with the sophomore EP from Bristol's Henry Greenleaf, "Patent".

The unassuming producer has been making waves with his bassy 130bpm productions which seem almost custom-made for the later hours of dark club settings.

Since his debut release on Par Avion last November, Greenleaf has been focused on increasing the sonic scale and clarity of his work; something that's apparent on the whole of "Patent" but especially on the opener, "Inch". A true 'creeper' of a track, the groove and harmonic arrangement of the 3-minute build-up is somewhat

entrancing but then gives way to a head-wringing breakdown.

True to his previous output, Henry doesn't sit still stylistically on "Patent". The EP's second track, "Tare", moves away from the 4x4 structures of "Inch" and into more syncopated territory previously occupied by producers like Mickey Peace or Paleman. "Tare" is a masterclass in polyrhythms with all manner of kicks, claps and vox samples skittering over each other. This deft use of drum programming is complemented by serene and uplifting synth sections, cleansing the tonal pallet before the beat forcefully drops back in.

On the B-Side, "Caved" keeps the energy and the tempos high with supremely processed high hats and a rumbling low-end landscape. Here Henry Greenleaf's adoration of Paula Temple's music shines through more than ever. Much like her output, it's kind of hard to know which way is up in "Caved" with its ever-shifting

palette of sounds and grooves.

Closer and EP title track "Patent" is probably the vastest song Greenleaf has created during his recent mission to grow his productions in scale. It's a mammoth techno track with a pulsing low-end juxtaposed against some sporadic & icey synth pads.

This release solidifies Henry Greenleaf's already hard-to-dispute status as one of the leading lights of the 'Bristol sound'. Almost impossible to define; his work sits in that amorphous sweet spot where techno, dubstep, garage and a load of other UK influences bleed into each other to form something unique. Put your headphones on and let the grooves swallow you up.

Kangding Ray consistently fascinates the scene with his unique style that is bridging the dance floor and abstract electronic composition, talking equally to the mind and the body. His first record for Figure spans exactly that arc, introducing to the label something both for headphones as it is built for the big clubs.

The tracks on X13 feel as intimate as the artist‘s work on other long players but are focused clearly on impacting the physical realm. Teeming with ideas, he first lets his modular synths sway and turn loosely before switching it to a more bassy and propulsive approach on the flip. Balancing cinematic strings against stepping rhythms, the EP‘s closing track is another prime example of this producer‘s skill to craft something which holds up as an abstract piece of art as much as it does yield a lot of emotional tension.

RAFF debuts with a solid assembly of made-to-measure club tracks. Be it new life dawning or physical pain, these productions drip character, finding their roots in personal moments that mark and scar RAFF's day to day life. As a linchpin of Rotterdam's deejay culture, one can hear technoid elements of his homebase fluctuate along an axis of Detroitesque electro. Naming afrofuturism as a major source of influence, this release locks you into RAFF's world through its emotional touch and technical precision. Designed for clubs and headphones alike, his works can be distinguished via their frequential layering and spatial design. Analogue warmth, a timeless feel - these are five cuts for jocks that seek the real deal. Comes in hand printed artwork by the BAKK Harbour City Service.

After an intrepid new phase in the label’s history - initiated by the “Solidarity Forever” series and followed by releases from Katerina, Mujaji The Rain, Gladkazuka and also Matias Aguayo’s “Support Alien Invasion” (w/ “Crammed Discs”) - Cómeme is happy to announce a new release by a wonderful and unique artist, who chooses to walk adventurous paths beyond nowadays musical normativity, and media spectacle: JOE.
(You might already be acquainted with his releases on the ever - exciting “Hessle Audio” label) On his first EP on Cómeme, JOE invites us to “Get Centred” via fresh sounds, perfect beats, and unusual time signatures – difficult to play, and easy to dance!

A1 GET CENTRED
New rhythms inspire new dances and new ideas, and already at the very first bars you realize that this record can be both a joyfully twisted dance floor work out as also beautiful listening experience - with its shifting arpeggios and trippy crescendos. Reminiscent of minimalist milestones it crosses the artificial barriers between body, mind and soul, satisfying those in need of getting centred, in times of accelerated alienation...

A2 LINE TO EARTH
Triplets are back and here to stay! Such as in this percussive creature Joe unleashes onto the festive crowd. This very catchy jam is clever and intense drum programming at its best, with its swirling toms that seem to float in the air. We feel them activating different body parts for futuristic popping, whereas the relentless boogie rhythm that lays the foundation for this track gives us material to twist our legs in sync to the beat.

A3 RIO LEA
Joe closes this EP with “Rio Lea” - an elegantly swinging jam that smoothly and slowly builds up to a melodic meditation. Its many decorative elements seem all - necessary to make this work and are always falling rightly into place. You can imagine this a perfect fit for a long drink on a spacecraft, watching meteorites pass by, as we are sure it will also work in a bus on headphones late at night, watching the rain rolling down the windows...

Oblique Russian sound strategist Natalia Salmina’s latest forking path portfolio as Atariame, Voiceless, arose in the wake of a dissociative relocation to Moscow, where she found herself adrift amidst a manic metropolis, alone in a skyscraper staring out at trees: “It made me lose faith in my ability to communicate, in my ideas about life.” Days without speaking turned to weeks. Even in private she felt estranged from her voice, and soon ceased singing.

For solace she turned to her Waldorf Blofeld, mining its panoramic frequencies to craft a shivering suite of futurist-noir nocturnes and rhythmic noise vignettes, equal parts exorcism and manifestation, desperation and delirium. Track titles hint at the headspace – “Outside At 5 AM,” “Same Thought All Day,” “Stay Late” – mirroring the music’s mood of hoods up, headphones on, wandering empty urban tunnels under flickering streetlights. Enigmatically, Salmina slips in a sliver of spectral voice on the intro and exit songs (“Breathe Exercise” and “Deconstruction”), framing them as induction into and escape from the cryptic isolationist condition of the rest of the collection. Mastered by P. Nikolsky, Powerhouse Moscow. Design by Britt Brown.

Having previously collaborated with the likes of Shafiq Husayn, Chester Watson and Foreign Beggars, electronic space funk outfit Paper Tiger return from an explorative journey to the dark edges of the cosmos with their long-awaited third album ‘Rogue Planet’.

The Leeds and London-based outfit (whose collective playing credits include Yellow Days, Werkha, Nubiyan Twist, Cinematic Orchestra & more) once again seamlessly combine elements of live recording and improvisation, their emphasis on blending organic sounds with electronic production techniques. The result is music which is interesting and technically proficient, but remains vibrant, colourful and funky -captivating both in headphones and on the dancefloor.

Just like the journey from debut long-player ‘Laptop Suntan’ to sophomore album ‘Blast Off’, and in-keeping with the band’s space travel fascination, ‘Rogue Planet’ is a cosmic leap from its predecessor. Band leader Greg Surmacz explains: ‘There is still humour and a sense of playfulness hopefully -largely provided by our MC Raphael Attar -but the overall sound is much more lush, jazzy and soulful. We wanted to make something that fits into our universe but hits a deeper emotional nerve’.

With diverse guests ranging from the legendary Steve Spacek on lead single ‘The Cycle’ to Olivia Bhattacharjee (the vocalist of Gondwana Records-signed Noya Rao) on the shuffling, leftfield beats of ‘Bioluminescent’ and Chicago-born but LA-based MC Lando Chill’s quick-fire delivery on the ironically titled ‘Slow Motion’ the album is a rich and varied listen. It’s a record drenched in futuristic soul, brimming with textured samples and intriguing progressions demonstrating the enviable musicianship on show here. G-Funk-esque melodies run throughout, joined by reverberating celestial horns and scattered drum patterns.

Next up on First Word Records, we welcome the return of Don Leisure, with an EP of beats that see his two alter-egos go head-to-head, 'Shaboo vs Halal Cool J'.

Probably best known as 50% of Darkhouse Family, along with Melange label boss Earl Jeffers, they released their acclaimed debut album 'The Offering' in 2017 and subsequent remix project last year, featuring DJ Spinna, Kaidi Tatham and more. The duo are coolly establishing themselves as Cardiff's very own Mizell Brothers, recently producing Kamaal William's latest work, featuring on Kutmah's recent Izwid compilation, and collaborating on the Chicago x London project 'Where We Come From', featuring Makaya McCraven, Joe Armon-Jones, Nubiya Garcia, Theon Cross and First Word label-mate Quiet Dawn, amongst others.

'Halal Cool J' appeared originally in early 2017 with 'An Ottoman Excursion' on our sister-label, Excursions. A series of edits born out of a decade-long love of Turkish music, and some record-digging expeditions in Istanbul, something Don Leisure did the very day after 'The Offering' release party, prompting another series of beats. Ahead of an all-new full-length Halal Cool J album, here we have two tracks to give you a taste, 'Kazakh Honey' and 'Kaymak'.

'Shaboo Strikes Back' on the flip-side, with a track of the same name, and 'Mango Season'. 'Shaboo' was the name of a beat album that came out on First Word in 2017, inspired largely by Don's Bollywood actor Uncle, Nasser 'Shaboo' Bharwani, and by memories of journey's with headphones hurling out Hip Hop, fused with the sonics of his Mum's interruptions, and her favourite Asian radio station. 'Shaboo' featured in several end-of-year album lists, with Piccadilly Records calling it "the best album of it's kind since Dilla's 'Donuts'. Unmissable."

Both prior projects got love from DJs and selectors far & wide, including Tom Ravenscroft, Lefto, Huey Morgan, Rob Da Bank, Om Unit, Simbad & Mr Thing. A truly global affair, the beat battle of 'Shaboo vs Halal Cool J' takes us on several short, sweet hikes across a variety of Eastern climes.

Join in the journey once again on 7" vinyl and digital on April 5th.

Following his highly praised album 'Word Color' from last year, Gacha Bakradze offers up this stunning EP on Fever AM. 'Monument' sees the Tbilisi based art- ist taking us on a refreshing, sublime journey over 4 pieces featuring his signature melodies, broken beats and striking sound design. Gacha pulls off a very well rounded EP here that works perfectly on headphones at home or on a sound system in the club.

This is also the first artist besides labelheads Mor Elian and Rhyw to appear on Fever AM, opening up a new phase for the label.

Apollo welcome Metalheadz veterans Om Unit AKA Jim Coles and Kid Drama / Jon Convex AKA Damon Kirkham for a 4 track EP of blissed out autonomic dnb.

The duo originally met on the DJ circuit, Coles had been a longtime fan of instra:mental, Kirkham's pioneering project with Alex Green AKA Boddika
"I had their fabriclive CD with dBridge in my car on repeat," Coles enthuses. "What those guys were up to felt like a new start for my appreciation of modern drum n bass music. It was like a new form of architecture."

Kirkham picks up the narrative; "Yeah it would have been during my Convex period, I was bouncing back and forward between London and Sydney and playing with people like Machinedrum and Mark Pritchard. I'd heard some of Jims stuff and we had a long chat and in 2013 we did a collab on Exit with my Kid drama alias.

Immediately hitting it off over a shared affinity for cold architectural aesthetics, a friendship blossomed; "Getting to hang out with Damon here and there over the years has always been insightful, we both think about stuff deeply, we come from a fairly broad appreciation of music in general, rooted in rave stuff but loving loads of types of music."

The pair continued to send tracks and ideas back and forth for subsequent years but nothing was finished, until recently when something shifted and progress began to come quickly and the four tracks of 'The Untitled Works EP' began to form. The release sees the duo explore their affinity for widescreen synth pads and hypnotic rhythms with a rich seam of jungle influences shooting through the gossamer ambiance. While well suited for headphones, in the right hands a couple of the tracks will cause dancefloor damage.

Long time unsung UK techno artist Aubrey is to release Gravitational Lensing, a first artist album since 2001 and his third in all. It lands in early 2019 on Out-ER and across 12 tracks it finds him getting more personal and instinctive than ever before with jazz, techno, broken beat and house all colouring this most coherent of musical adventures.
Aubrey s discography dates back to the early nineties, when he was a key part of the UK scene on labels like Solid Groove, Textures and Mosaic. Up there with the greats from Chicago and Detroit, he has turned out a steady stream of music that marries perfect dance floor functionality with real musical invention. Always inspired by anything deep with a good groove, everything from synth band Japan to funk king George Clinton, electro break beats to Jean Michel Jarre all inform his work.

As a DJ, he cut his teeth playing the biggest raves in the UK with names like Carl Cox and Eddie C having been swept up by the acid house records that hit English stores when he was just 15. Add in a love of jazz, ambient and US house, and you have all the eclectic influences that this criminally under-the-radar artist has drawn on for his latest album.

It is one that finds him really put his personal stamp on his sound. It s a chance to be more who you are and what you feel without pressure to conform to a particular sound, it s a chance to be free, says the artist of the album process. It was partially produced at Out-ER s studio in Nard , Lecce over the course of a year s worth of studio jam sessions, and is his finest and most cinematic work to date.

Things kick off with the ambient synth modulations of Aerglo Visible before exquisitely loose jazz drums and sci-fi pads suspend you in the cosmos on Floating to Rigel. There is an experimental feel to the off grid drums, rippling chords and drunken keys of Doctor Portia that keeps you brilliantly off balance, and the first deep techno trip is Journey To the Blue Planet , which has gorgeous ambience swirling over rolling, dubby kicks and soulful Detroit synth work. Carrying on through more lush, musical synth work and inventive drums, there are moments of heads down dance floor power and hi-tech soul, serene techno landscaping and chord-laced deep house that is superbly cerebral throughout the album.

In all, it makes for a complete and storytelling record that draws on a rich variety of genres and reworks them into something deep, multi-layered and hugely emotional that works as well in headphones, at home, as it will in the club.

Moff & Tarkin's second Lagaffe installment marks the label's 8th vinyl release. The release sports three original tracks from the Austrian-based Icelander and a remix from label boss Jonbjorn.

The record starts of with the track 'Buzz Lightyear', who flies us off out of the atmosphere filled beginning into the depths of the spacey synths, delays and feedback.

Followed is the track 'Friends Be like', which feels like a refreshing strut down the boulevard where everyone you meet knows you and you know them but instead of saying hello you are wearing headphones and just strut down the street nodding, winking and walking in beat with true swagger. A track with confidence written all over it.

The flip side features the track 'Takk!' which roughly translates as Thank You! in Icelandic. Maybe not roughly, but rather exactly. The track is dramatic and starts off rather stress inducing but takes a whole new direction when Moff n Tarkin adds in soothing piano chords and makes the track's whole mood switch.

Maybe its a fitting goodbye for the listener as you make your way through label boss Jonbjorn's remix which has a very warm and feel good atmosphere, lush drums and elements that add on layers to the already great original. A very personal remix and a good ending to a great record that we hope you can enjoy.

V & B

Samo Records is very pleased to introduce the debut EP from Russian Chandeliers, a new project by Julian Grefe (Pink Skull) and Fringe Society (formerly known as Quell). Berliners by way of Philly and Athens (Greece), respectively, the studiomates have perfectly fused the best bits of their signature styles to create a record that's equally suited for headphones and dancefloors.

"Worm In Worm Out" (A1) kicks things off with a chunky, chuggy rhythm that indeed worms its way into your brain, sprinkling vaguely psychedelic echoes throughout.

"Stay In Seattle" (A2) is a slow-burning charmer that layers bleeps and sizzles over a dark and mesmerizing bassline.

Zombies in Miami put a slightly spooky, frantic spin on "Stay In Seattle" for their mix (B1), turning the moody paranoia into a deliciously foreboding frenzy.

MR TC's take on "Worm In Worm Out" (B2) ups the psychedelia, tones down the bass, and gently hypnotizes you into the best kind of euphoric haze.

"Kosmonauten Aceed" (B3) is an immediately captivating slice of industrial-laced acid with just the perfect amount of krautrock drizzled in.

5 Track EP from Miami's Greg Beato (L.I.E.S., Apron, Russian Torrent Versions). Really dope and varied stuff on here. Big TIP!
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The artist says " HEAVY BASS sounds ready for the subs in your car (if you have 'em), the club, or your name brand headphones. You decide!"

Das Heise Experiment 2" marks the 6th album of The Exaltics. Lovely presented on double 10" vinyl with full cover artwork from non other than the mighty Godspill, who also designed the pre release of this album with an amazing looking shape picture disc. To hold things special the guys from SolarOneMusic put a full comic with the story of "Das Heise Experiment" in each record. The music ranges from dark experimental techno, electro, ambient and soundtrackish nightmares which goes perfect with the story of the comic. Also Drexciya's Gerald Donald collaborates with The Exaltics for one track , which is one of the highlights of the album. This music is nothing for the club its much more, a complete story to feel. Turn your headphones on and dive into the world of aliens, scientists and distant gallaxies. All records come with a comic book!!!

After more than a decade of deep, expansive productions on labels such as Detroit Underground and CPU, Annie Hall arrives on MUSAR for a record typically rich in texture and understated grooves.

Opening track 'Linium' immediately seduces listeners with a complex drum pattern that somehow feels spacious, subtly twisting and turning its way around Hall's analogue world. Dutch artist Mattheis maintains this understated feel but adds a soft, compelling kick in response on his suspenseful remix of 'Lavandula'. The original, moodier version of this cut the follows to open the B side, gradually erupting around a killer distorted bassline. The EP continues to hit a more urgent note with the tense machinations of 'Silene', where dense layers of stuttering, frenetic drums interweave with Hall's trademark, melancholy keys. The record concludes on a weightless, transcendent note with 'Santolina', taking each visceral element featured thus far and slowing each down, with affecting results.

Indebted to vintage electro and IDM, Hall's music is no throwback, always looking forward and moving dancefloors in the most unexpected ways.



DJ FEEDBACK

Early support from



Michael Mayer (Kompakt) : Nice vibes from Mattheis... will play for sure!

James Zabiela (Born Electric) : Linium is a nice one, thanks.

Arnaud Le Texier (Cocoon / Chronicle) : Nice music. Thx!

Marcel Dettmann (Ostgut Ton/MDR) : Thx!

Carl Craig (Planet E) : Thx!

Gonno (Beats In Space Records / Endless Flight) : I like Mattheis' :)

Thomas Hessler (Index Marcel Fengler) : Nice one! Thank you!

Slam (Soma) : Thanx

Âme (Innervisions) : Thanks

Blasha & Allatt (Meat Free / Manchester) : Amazing!

EREZ / John Byrun : A superb EP

Tom Lye (Melodic Distraction - Liverpool) : Big fan of the whole EP. Strong, building electro with different moods. Essential!

Afrodeutsche (NTS / LuckyMe / Skam) : Glitchy melodica... Right up my Strasse...

DJ Shiva / Noncompliant (Valence / Detroit Underground) : Stellar music here. Moving beyond "DJ music", this is just really fantastic to listen to in headphones. Gorgeous stuff.

Lonya (Asymmetric Recordings) : Great stuff here!

Nori (Posivision) : Cool work.

Cinnaman (Rush Hour / Naked Naked) : Lavandula and Santolina are my favorites! thanks

Dj Windows XP (E-Beamz) : Dope E.P. Will play Lavandula.

Ambivalent/LA-4A (Delft/Cocoon/Ovum) I'm a huge fan of Annie Hall and Mattheis!!! This is a FANTASTIC release!! One of my favorites of recent months just on first listen!!

Benoit C (Tsugi) : Linium for me

Ian Blevins (ESP Institute / Sulk Magic) : Linium and another bit of top work from Mattheis. Santolina is pushing my buttons too. Aphexy vibes.

Joe Europe (Ransom Note) : Very nice!

Azterisco: Very interesting record. Nice remix!

Oded Peled : What a fantastic release! Was hard to choose a favourite between Linium and the Mattheis Remix of Lavandula. Both will come in handy in my sets. ....Thanx a lot and keep em coming.

Naduve (Cocktail d'Amore / Disco Halal) : Both A1 and A2 are great!..Thanks.

Anastasia Kristensen (Nous) : I dig this a lot, it's a crazy well produced record.

Demia E.Clash (Darknet) : Such a good ep-.i love them all,quality production yess.

Pedro Martins (Karakter Records) : Nice EP overall. Linium, Silene, and Santolina are my favorites. Thank you so much!

Xinobi (Discotexas) : Great record. I'm specially enchanted by the original version o Lavandula. Congratulations.

Scan Mode (DJ Mag Spain) : Lavandula in both mixes for me

John Osborn (TANSTAAFL) : Can't pick a fav. it is all Devine. thank you.

Madloch (Sound Avenue) : Nice EP, Linium & Lavandula original are my favs, thanks.

DVS NME (Transient Force) : The standout track is Lavandula.

Tompkins Square present the debut full-length by Welsh multi-instrumentalist, Gwenifer Raymond. Hailing from Cardiff and now residing in Brighton in the South of England, Raymond began playing guitar at the age of eight. Tompkins Square released her debut 7" on Record Store Day.

In Gwenifer's own words :

When I was about eight years old a pretty formative thing happened to me ... my mum bought me a cassette tape of Nirvana's Nevermind. Being so young I'd had no real interest in music prior to that, but I did have a 'My First Sony' cassette player that I used to listen to audiobooks. Anyway, I put the tape in, pressed play, and what I heard blew my little 8 year old mind. I don't know what it was about that wall of sound that so captured me, but I spent many hours hyperactively running around the house with headphones on, volume at full blast, and Nevermind on repeat. It was either for Christmas or my birthday that year, that I asked for a guitar.

I spent all my teenage years playing either guitar or drums in various punk and rock outfits around the Welsh valleys, but around that time I was also getting seriously into older stuff, Dylan, The Velvet Underground and the like. Through those cheap compilation CDs you could get then, I found that a common influence amongst these guys was pre-war delta and country blues, as well as Appalachian music. Eventually I stumbled upon Mississippi John Hurt, Skip James and Roscoe Holcomb, and they became the holy trinity of musicians I so wanted to able to play like. Eventually, I tracked down a blues man in Cardiff who could teach me and it was in studying these guys that I was introduced to John Fahey and the whole American Primitive thing.

I've always loved being in bands and the sonic chemistry it produces, but at the same time it's always a bit of a compromise that those sounds in my head have to pass through and be translated by someone else's. Sometimes it can be for the better, but sometimes not so much. American Primitive was the first time it had occurred to me that you didn't really need anything more than one solo instrument to fully express yourself, especially when those feelings and moods refuse to be articulated in words, sometimes it's a mystery to yourself what it is you're expressing. I still play in hard rock and punk bands and love to wail and hit my guitar with a complete lack of any subtlety or nuance, but in the end I think that all these things are really part of a circle, feeding back into itself. It's all just a lineup of strange mutations.

The music on this EP was conceived in China, between 1989 and 1993. The original tracks were mixed to DAT in real time, in a small neighbour-proof studio inside my apartment in Macau, a 19th floor with a view to the hurricanes. There's a small, unexpected or improbable story behind each track, some little magic fused with the local atmosphere, certainly guaranteeing their lasting authenticity 25 years later.

TAIPEI DISCO
Late 80s Guangzhou was an exotic city where the traditional past coexisted in harmony with the present and even already with the future.
I'd rather spend my weekends in Guangzhou than diving into Hong Kong consumerism - as most ex-pats in Macau did. I took a cab at the border and travelled 150 Km through chaotic roads with family and friends until reaching the hot, humid, mega South China metropolis.
We ate on street joints in the evenings, went on to a karaoke bar and ended up at Taipei Disco, the only proper club in town. All the others were inside hotels and played generic music or they were seedy, sleazy, smoky cabarets.
Taipei Disco used to be a cinema and played cantonese pop music and anglo-saxon pop/rock (that was new). The spacious dance floor was generously lighted, the atmosphere was airy and modern. Boys and girls were in the habit of dancing in pairs, one in front of the other, observing a respectful yet sensual distance. When the girl took a few steps back, the boy went along and vice versa. With legs and feet (more than the upper bodies) synchronized with the music, they never exceeded in extroversion. Cool.
I always carried a MicroComposer and a portable DAT recorder in my travels through China and weekends in Canton. Any spontaneous musical idea was imediately recorded and memorized. The MicroComposer allowed multitrack recording, which was very handy on the road. Based on the emphatic choreography of Taipei Disco's dancers, i started to compose a rhythm track while sitting at a table, with headphones, listening to Cantopop in the background. As if by magic - not a rare occasion in music - everything began fitting together. Odd as it may seem, the track ended up sounding more germanic (Kraftwerkian) than Cantonese pop.

The story ends in a circle: the cantonese DJ at Taipei Disco, whom i used to ask to play certain records, wanted to play my music at the disco when it was basically only just a rhythm track and little else. From a cupboard under his set up he took out a battered keyboard (unrecognizable brand) and invited me to play over the track with the available sounds on the keyboard. The circle was complete, with Cantonese clubbers happily dancing forwards and backwards, as if it were another Cantopop hit.
I didn't get payed but the house offered us free ice cream cups in which little Portuguese flags were sticked.
The track would be finished later, in studio, with vocoder strings ensemble and synth solos.

TAIPEI DISCO (LIVE)
The live version of 'Taipei Disco' was recorded during a live set at the China Pop venue, in Macau, 1993. China Pop was a rock club built in the ample space of an old fishing warehouse, located in the labyrinthic Inner Harbour area. It was decorated with large Mao Zedong and Cultural Revolution posters and memorabilia and had a unique atmosphere, fusing Pop Art with film noir. We began our performance at 1AM, pretty early for Macau's nightlife standards. We were lucky. An audience showed up. And in Macau there were always several friends among the audience, which tranformed a musical performance into a relaxed party.
The atmosphere was particularly surreal on that night. The front row was dominated by French Crazy Horse dancers, a sort of Oriental Moulin Rouge. The girls had finished their last performance of the evening at the Crazy Horse and were still energized from their show. During our performance, right in front of us and perfectly synched, we could hear the famous irreverent screams of can-can dancers. You always had to expect the unexpected in Macau.

RED MAMBO (IMPROMPTU)
I was familiar with the Portuguese-speaking African countries well before having lived in China. I found myself returning several times to one in particular, always attracted by its magic and very distinct, identitary culture and music: Cape Verde.
During the early years of DWART a lot of the inspiration for drum machine rhythms (Roland's TR series) came from African music, especially from new musical trends that gained full autonomy with Cape Verde's independence from Portugal, as was the case with funaná.
I had the privilege of having known and befriended some of the greatest Capeverdian composers, musicians and singers during the 70s and 80s, such as Bana, Luís Morais, Cesária Évora, Paulino Vieira, Chico Serra, Tito Paris, and historical bands such as Bulimundo (ambassadors of funaná) and Os Tubarões (great innovators of morna, coladera and funaná, with the sonic impact of an afro-beat big band).
When Luís Filipe de Barros began playing Os Tubarões for the first time on Portuguese radio, that was the turning point for African music in Portugal. The 'Tabanca' album was so widely heard and talked about that it quickly got a Portuguese release through one of the big labels of the time.
The mystic of this band from the Santiago Island would reach the East. Os Tubarões played to a packed room in Macau in 1992, and after the bombastic gig we arranged a dinner and party at my place.
We ate and drank generously and the moment came for a jam session at the small studio on the 19th floor. Because Os Tubarões didn't all fit in the studio, we recorded an impromptu with only three of the musicians: Tótó Silva (electric guitar), Mário Russo Bettencourt (bass) and Zeca Couto (piano). And there we were improvising without barriers, suddenly detached from cultural roots, labels and constraints, a truly unique moment. The track is now being released exactly as it was recorded, imbued with the real communion between the musicians. And it could only be titled 'Red Mambo'. I wish to dedicate it to the memory of Ildo Lobo and Jaime do Rosário, founders of Os Tubarões, sadly and too soon departed from the land of music.

Very LIMITED album discs available now:

This is the first album Oscar Mulero has released under his own name, after two acclaimed LPs under the moniker Trolley Route. Well known for his skills as a hard-edged, raw and floor-orientated techno dj, his productions go far beyond, digging deep into the intricate landscape of intelligent techno, floating moods, reminiscent atmospheres, harmony and detail.

Grey Fades To Green is the affirmation of his maturity as a producer, using both hardware and software in the pursuit of a highly coherent and diverse album.

The concept is split into two parts: The Grey and The Green, each one with its own character. The first part is rougher and meant for the dance floor, although pays full attention to detail and complexity. The second part is quieter, has a slower pace and is best enjoyed at home.

In The Green Oscar goes deep into the intellectual side of techno music and is heavily influenced by the post rave sound emerging from the UK in the nineties: Aphex Twin, Gescom, B12, Plaid, Autechre.. but with a contemporary approach.

This part of the album brings you melodies, harmonies, endless atmospheres, and hours of studio work. Each sound has been carefully constructed, nothing is left to chance: Every stereo panning, every change to the synth's parameters has been meticulously designed for your listening pleasure; just what you want when you listen to techno on headphones. Futuristic music made with the utmost care.

'Last Regrets' shows how melancholic harmonies can be a perfect match for abstract beats and a dub-step reminiscence. A fine piece of sci-fi techno.

'Grey Fades To Green' makes a clean break by offering us an industrial drum'n' bass piece with a techno approach that mutates as the minutes tick by. A dub-step melodic track. Futuristic breakbeat for the decades to come.

The final track of The Green, 'Silent Air', picks up the homage to the intelligent techno sound of the beginning and returns to random grooves, crunchy samples, impossible hi-hats and massive synthesizer and step sequencer routines. A perfect ending to this sound journey from the heart of the dance floor to the core of your mind.

A mature work that confirms Oscar Mulero as one of the most qualified studio animals on the techno landscape.

Prayer returns to Black Acre with the 'Vital' EP, a heavy four tracker which blurs the lines between sorrowful sounds and high voltage club energy - limited to 200 hand stamped vinyl.
'A four track EP that delves further into his defiantly outsider sound. Living somewhere near the intersection of classical, jungle and ambient' - The Ransom Note
'This atmospheric modern jungle track has a bit of Burial's sad-but-sweet emotional tinge to it' - Resident Advisor

PRAYER blurs the lines between sorrowful sounds and high-voltage club energy in VITAL; a piece of art that refuses to be boxed off by genre or stereotype.

Opener FEAR explores the producers love of film music; a dark sci-fi landscape punctuated with drums and melodic synths, a Bladerunner-esque track. Moving on, A2 'I'M STILL HERE' is an anthem, a nostalgic mix of hardcore, jungle and classical influences with a DIY, rough and ready feel.

On the other side, PRAYER shows his talent for the piano with B1 - KIND, finessing the skills that reflect his first adventures in sound. It's an emotive, stripped back number. The final track is B2 - VITAL, another drum-heavy, weighty track that sounds only like PRAYER - as ideal for the club as it is for headphones

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!

A thrilling 9-song set, Murmurations is as perfectly pitched for headphones as it is for clubs, named after giant cloud formations of starlings and themed around the stunning emergent behaviors that appear within them. To mirror these movements in the sonic landscape and visuals of Murmurations, SMD's James Ford and Jas Shaw collaborated with the celebrated Hackney-based vocal collective The Deep Throat Choir, as well as creative directors Kazim Rashid of ENDLESSLOVESHOW (Aphex Twin, Flying Lotus, Hudson Mohawk) and Carri Munden.

Finding time in between Ford's work as a producer and Jas' club gigging last year, the duo arranged a session in Shaw's countryside studio. Via an introduction from a friend of Ford's wife, The Deep Throat Choir's director Luisa Gerstein and SMD began swapping some production and melodic ideas. They decided to bring the whole East London-based choir into the studio to experiment, and the results were intense. Jas says, 'Listening to them moving their voices around a tone, altering the timbre, making chords, was like working with an incredible new synthesiser.' Rashid and Munden explore related ideas centered on kinetic energy and communal movement throughout the visuals of Murmurations. Rashid says of the collaboration, 'We were both having discussions around the purity of collective human experience and how transcendental this can be. Techno and the dance-floor is one of the last true expressions of this euphoria.'

From the beat-less introduction 'Boids' onwards you can hear uncanny patterns and sounds rising up from the sea of voices -- not traditional chords or harmonies, but complex interference patterns that play tricks on the mind and merge perfectly with SMD's distinctive synth tonalities and instinctive dancefloor nous. At times you might hear hints of Bulgarian choral music, or Cocteau Twins, or avant-garde composers like Iannis Xenakis or Pauline Oliveiros - but really, thanks to the creative freedom of SMD's working methods, it is a sound completely of its own, something all too rare in an age of retro and reference.

Ford and Shaw still have the same love of pure sound, human harmonies and electronic possibilities that they did when they first met at university, and it's clear that their career path has allowed them to nurture this love and express it as vividly as ever before.

With his new album 'Trail Of Intuition' Danish singer and songwriter Jacob Bellens once again is shimmering somewhere in-between electronically influenced songwriting and synthpop music, using his characteristic voice to reflect on his life's journey. Since the age of five, making music means creating a parallel universe to Jacob Bellens. It's his very own space, where he can be himself and always retreat to, no matter what happens. Out of this universe the Copenhagen based musician has released numerous songs and albums with his previous bands I Got You On Tape and Murder, with side projects and features as well as a solo artist. 'Trail Of Intuition' is his fourth solo album and the second one that's internationally signed with hfn music. Unlike the songs for his previous release 'Polyester Skin", which he wrote mostly on piano and guitar before sending them to producer Kasper Bjørke for final production, Bellens wrote all the songs for 'Trail Of Intuition' on his computer. You could see him sitting in front of his laptop in coffee shops across Copenhagen, with his headphones on, letting the basic programming and pre-production of the songs become an essential part of the writing process. The final production was made mostly by Rune Borup, who he knows back from the I Got You On Tape days and his friend Lars Iversen (The Asteroids Galaxy Tour), with whom Bellens also had the band project Goblins. The new album is a collection of snapshots of the whole range of feelings for which Bellens digs into the pool of his own experiences.

Here To Hell is an Australian label project conceived by The Presets' Kim Moyes, and Revolver resident DJ Mike Callander.
Inspired by a Johnny Cash song, by the record industry' in general, and by the spirit of commercial suicide, Here To Hell celebrates the pointlessness of everything: It's the perfect reason to do only what feels good.
Together Kim and Mike also record and remix as Zero Percent, and along for the ride they've invited Aussie musicians and remixers from all over to celebrate techno, electro, Aussie rock, ambient and whatever they think sounds good on repeat in your headphones.
The label's first release sees legendary Aussie band The Drones being remixed for the first time. Their song Boredom' from the album Feelin' Kinda Free' has been twisted into two dancefloor interpretations (plus a dub of each): Side A is by K.I.M, who takes the original's Aussie Rock to the disco, and Side B is by HTH label bosses Zero Percent, it's their first official published work and explores the darkness of the original instrumentation that underpins Gareth Liddiard's exceptional vocals.

Mastered and cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering in Berlin.

Hana's first and self-titled LP was recorded in Autumn 2010 at Facta non Verba and consists out of 5 tracks which are techno oriented with disposal of experimental and abstract elements.

Reviews

OMG Vinyl
Hana s S/T LP is easily the best promo records we ve gotten in months. This Greek duo has somehow, almost entirely below the radar, released one of the most exciting electronic records of 2011. Their wobbly brand of techno sometimes chugs ahead at full-speed, other times easing back into a wider waver, almost resembling some weird, warped IDM. I will be shocked if this record doesn t get wider appreciation very soon. Whether that happens or not, we fully recommend it, track one down.

Cyclic Defrost by Oliver Laing
Granny Records duo Hana come correct with their first album, offering a refreshing take on techno and IDM variants in the vein of Jan Jelinek, Raime, Actress and hints of the mighty Chain Reaction label. Mastered at Berlin s Dubplates and Mastering by none other than Rashad Becker, a name that often appears in the run-out groove of artists who inhabit a curiously funky techno-not-techno netherworld Hana s debut self-titled release grows in stature and listening enjoyment with every spin. With a sense of fun and adventure inhabiting the grooves, Hana (who are also part of label-mates, Good Luck Mr Gorsky), explore experimental timbres and ghostly vocalisations with a lightness of touch that belies their recording credentials.

Starting off with an abstract, Clicks and Cuts style intro, Liv slowly finds the sweet spot between mutant Detroit electro funk, a hint of the indie/dance territory of Matthew Dear and the abstract, yet rhythmic 12 releases on the Beatservice label, by Norwegian duo Information from the mid 90s. Obermaier implies the groove to begin with, until a wrong-footed man-with-two-left-feet rhythm leads into minimal acidic flourishes. Album opener SM heads in a Ricardo Villalobos vs. Nonplace Urban Field direction, as the lopsided rhythm and sepulchral vocals add a haunted edge to proceedings. CR80 uses beautifully syncopated live drums and urgent female vocals, and adds a driving, belligerent synth riff falling somewhere in between DMZ and Gary Numan. Echoic, boingy sounds threaten to derail the beat, but somehow it manages to maintain, reminding me of Shed and A Made Up Sound; more in overall feel than in the specific sounds. For those that enjoy abstract electronics that work just as well on headphones as on the dance floor, Greece s Hana are a duo to watch.

Textura
Hana's self-titled debut album arrives saddled with a (literally) cheeky front cover one would more associate with a 70s band like Wild Cherry than a Greece-based techno outfit formed in Thessaloniki last summer. Recorded in fall 2010 at Facta non Verba, the five-cut release finds Good Luck Mr Gorsky members Thanasis Papadopoulos and Thanos Bantis hunkered down in their chemical lab concocting formulae to go along with their material's stripped-down techno beats. Using analogue synths, samplers, and sequencers, the duo brings a decidely experimental edge to their productions, sprinkling as they do liberal doses of burble and flutter over bass-heavy techno rhythms.
The opening track, Sm, sets the scene with a heavy low-end pulse thudding alongside a steady kick drum and joined by acidy synths and percussive effects that suggest a lighter being repeatedly flicked open. On a slightly more aggressive tip, the B-side's Cr80 adds truncated vocal yelps to its bleepy, elephantine throb. A dubby dimension emerges in the track, too, when echoing waves drift repeatedly across the huge bass that slithers across the track's underbelly. The album's most elaborate track comes last. Liv opens beatlessly with flickering shudders and what could pass for the amplified workings of an ant community but then progressively fills in the dots with an insistent beat pattern, voice fragments, and even the demented meander of accordion playing. Though Hana hardly rewrites the techno guidebook on the release, it's nevertheless a pleasurable listen, in part due to the multi-dimensional experience provided by the vinyl format and the always superb mastering work done by Rashad Becker at Berlin's Dubplates & Mastering.

Reissue for Tomorrow's Modern Boxes the eight track second solo album by Thom Yorke
Tomorrow's Modern Boxes is the eight track second solo album by Thom Yorke. The album is a sketchy laptop creation. It plays like a journey on a night bus with an edgy atmosphere of unpredictability, mixing melancholy, urban soul with some lurching monotony. Yorke's alienated falsetto mumbles and whimpers over furtive dubsteppy beats that could be coming from the headphones of the passenger beside him.Tomorrow's Modern Boxes deepens on repeated listening, with Yorke locating moments of beauty and calm in the eye of his anxiety.

Printed with a metallic silver laminate and multi-tone black, the LP format of the album is pressed onto heavyweight 180g white vinyl completed with undersize 75mm centre labels, housed within heavy white board inner and outer sleeves. (Side B contains a locked groove.)

Very LIMITED album discs available now:

This is the first album Oscar Mulero has released under his own name, after two acclaimed LPs under the moniker Trolley Route. Well known for his skills as a hard-edged, raw and floor-orientated techno dj, his productions go far beyond, digging deep into the intricate landscape of intelligent techno, floating moods, reminiscent atmospheres, harmony and detail.

Grey Fades To Green is the affirmation of his maturity as a producer, using both hardware and software in the pursuit of a highly coherent and diverse album.

The concept is split into two parts: The Grey and The Green, each one with its own character. The first part is rougher and meant for the dance floor, although pays full attention to detail and complexity. The second part is quieter, has a slower pace and is best enjoyed at home.

In The Green Oscar goes deep into the intellectual side of techno music and is heavily influenced by the post rave sound emerging from the UK in the nineties: Aphex Twin, Gescom, B12, Plaid, Autechre.. but with a contemporary approach.

This part of the album brings you melodies, harmonies, endless atmospheres, and hours of studio work. Each sound has been carefully constructed, nothing is left to chance: Every stereo panning, every change to the synth's parameters has been meticulously designed for your listening pleasure; just what you want when you listen to techno on headphones. Futuristic music made with the utmost care.

The Green starts with 'Letters From Madrid', a dreamy and melancholy track, where an introspective melody leads to a slow-building drumbeat. Broken rhythms and distorted drums go side by side with the piano riffs and analogue bleeps: intelligent techno by definition.

'Dreams of Happiness' is a sci-fi soundtrack where pads and the different atmospheres are the main stars, and where subliminal drums add flow to this tune from outer space.

'After All' departs from calm dreamy territories with its grounded beat, complex 303 programming and micro synth sounds. A track which is as good for listening at home as it is for the dance floor.

'The Darker Days' uses a similar formula. Slow bpm, fat drums and weird 303 lines that make infinite layers of sound.

There aren't many artists that can lay claim to having put out records on labels as divergent as Rough Trade and John Talabot's Hivern Discs. Perhaps this is because few artists express such genuine diversity in their musical tastes and creative explorations as David Kitt. Since the turn of the decade as New Jackson he has mined a seam of driving, ghostly house to run parallel with his solo strand of ambient folk electronica. His debut release in 2011 The Night Mail on Pogo channeled early record collection heroes Aphex Twin and Orbital through to Drexciya and Projekt PM but had one foot firmly in the 21st century beaming in like some futuristic cyberballad. On the flip side Hussle Free had that mix of house and boogie sensibilities with dark and dusty synths and vocoder that would become a signature. This was followed by acclaimed releases on Hivern, Permanent Vacation, Major Problems, Apartment and most recently Cin Cin. His debut album set for release on All City in May was recorded in Kitt's bedroom studio overlooking Dublin bay, its nocturnal hues very much a product of the nightshift often working on headphones with the rest of his housemates fast asleep. It takes full advantage of the scope of the LP format, ebbing and flowing between deep house club ready gems and more restrained and meditative beatless moments for the morning after. The recording process yielded many eureka moments with Kitt finally nailing sounds that had hitherto proved elusive.

UNKR enslave dust-coated synthesizers, dilapidated drum machines and rusty FX boxes to craft 4/4 tunes for their impatient overlords. Their vision is clear - they will make techno, they will make house, they will make electronica, and you will listen and dance. It's not yet clear if BUNKR is the work of one frenzied human or many lazy individuals but we do know one thing - the ringleader is one James Dean, who previously released as Lost Idol on labels such as Pork Recordings, Nature, Final Frontier and Cookshop. Following a prolonged spell of writing music at slow tempos, Dean initiated BUNKR as a reactionary desire to speed things up. Too much time had been spent just sitting around - it was time to stop sitting and start dancing. True to their vision, here we have 'Cloud Chaser', a bubbling jam backed with a huge remix from Shan, who flips the mix with dramatic strings, sprinkles of magic dust and massive amen breaks. No less impressive is 'Juno's Revenge', a track you'd turn up on your headphones while taking a nice afternoon stroll on the moon, on a sunny morning after a long interplanetary rave. Igor Tipura delivers the rework, complete with a marching percussion workout and acid chemtrails that will send you right back to 1993.

After a first collaboration focusing on the City of Angels, LA legend John Tejada and acid innovator Tin Man (Johannes Auvinen), this time brooding on the latter's home city, and former's birthplace, Vienna. The Austrian capital is known as "the city of music" and the "city of dreams," two broadly aligning concepts that go far in describing this beguiling 12-inch. The four songs were mixed down live to 2 tracks, created in the real world without a daw, or multi tracking, which has really captured the spirit of performance and improvisation. Succeeding "Railjet," a tense drum workout, comes "Bim," referring to the colorful trams that run through Vienna. Here, Auvinen sculpts his 303 into near-pizzicato form. The acid box is accompanied by stately pads making for one of the duo's most memorable tracks yet. The next cut, "Danube Nights," references the mighty, ancient river, the flow motion mirrored by a couple of widescreen acid lines. A pensive lead and some melancholy chords emerge, but the drums roll right along like the water- tough enough for a heaving floor with a hint of fragility for the headphones. The record concludes with the acidic "Prater Allee," named after idyllic, sprawling park on the banks of the Danube. The duo's love letter to Vienna is well-suited for travel, for the dance and for dreaming.