Search:house sound

The fourth installment of the 'Tracks From The Alley' series continues to explore the oblique edges of the jackin zone, dragging recognizable primitive elements of dance music through narcotic madness; a possible soundtrack for sleepless nights at the skate park.

Involved in this 4 tracker mini-compilation are the Greek dj/producer DimDj, the Berlin-based Italian producer and part of Sons Of Traders, TANS, the Portugal-based Brazilian Unrealistic Expectations label owner Nothing Was There, and the ALLEY VERSION's brothers FLML.

Limited to 200 copies.

Parallel zu seinem neuen Album 'Sound Vagabond' veröffentlicht Thievery Corporation-Mitbegründer Eric Hilton drei 7inch-Singles auf farbigem Vinyl mit je einem Albumtrack plus je einem unveröffentlichten und exklusiven Track auf der B-Seite, der sich nicht auf dem Album befindet.

Celebrated new wave compilation from Japan reissued for the first time on Glossy Mistakes.

A much-cherished gem from the 1980s underground Japanese music scene returns as Soft Selection 84 is reissued by Glossy Mistakes for its 40th anniversary. Originally released on DIY label Soft, the compilation sees 13 tracks from nine acts spanning minimal, ambient, zolo and more for a beguiling listen.

The result is a charming time capsule of eclectic creativity in which nothing sounds dated. Take La Sellrose Can Can, whose two party jams predate Kero Kero Bonito's hyperpop by decades. In addition, an impeccable remastering from the original master tapes adds to the "could have been recorded yesterday" feel of the collection.

Soft Selection 84 also includes the eccentric Picky Picnic. One of the few featured artists with recordings beyond the anthology, the trio is an essential act for those curious about Japanese art pop of the era. There is also new wave introspection from Name, whose "Do We All Need Love" plays out as a sensual nod to John Lennon. In a similar vein is Clä-Sick, the recording name of Goro Some, the compilation's original producer and founder of Soft.

The record's rerelease comes with Some's blessing, along with his original artwork and photography. Ultimately, the listener is left tantalised by his selection and its bold excursions into no wave, synth pop, radioplay and bizzaro house. Most of the artists on this release would fade into obscurity, but the transient nature of the potential showcased has helped cement the compilation's reputation over the years.

Soft Selection will be released on vinyl LP by Glossy Mistakes on March 2024, with a remastering from the original master tapes.

Miles Davis' A Tribute to Jack Johnson is the best jazz-rock record ever made. Equally inspired by the leader's desire to assemble the "greatest rock and roll band you have ever heard,” his adoration of Johnson, and Black Power politics, Davis created a hard-hitting set that surges with excitement, intensity, majesty, and power. Bridging the electric fusion he'd pursued on earlier efforts with a funkier, dirtier rhythmic approach, Davis zeroes in on concepts of spontaneity, freedom, and identity seldom achieved in the studio — and just as infrequently accepted by the mainstream.

Sourced from the original analog master tapes, pressed on MoFi SuperVinyl, and housed in a Stoughton jacket, Mobile Fidelity's 180g LP reissue brings it all to fore with startling realism. Benefitting from SuperVinyl’s nearly inaudible noise floor, superb groove definition, and clean, ultra-quiet surfaces, this 180g LP showcases everything — from the bold tonality of the headliner's white-hot trumpet solos to the decay of crashing cymbals, carry of wiry guitar notes, and echoes of the studio — in reference fashion.

Bristling with exuberance, Davis' high-register passages explode with authority and commanding presence. Around him, a barrage of urgent backbeats, knifing riffs, and supple bass lines emerge amidst black backgrounds. One of the most prominent differences long-time fans will notice is how much more aggressive, immediate, and vibrant the music sounds, with those aspects central to the composer's original desires.

Utilizing wah-wah and distortion, the go-to instrumentalist of the performances— guitarist John McLaughlin — attacks with a nasty edge, slashing style, and vicious streak that allows A Tribute to Jack Johnson< cross the until-then-impenetrable divide between rock and jazz. Davis puts both feet in the former camp and erases any gap. The stories of the record’s creation are nearly as legendary as the sounds within: Two sessions, multiple jams, different sets of musicians (several uncredited), and near-miraculous production perfectionism that made it all appear cohesive.

The least-well-known masterpiece of Davis' career, the 1971 record — seamlessly assembled and spliced together by producer Teo Macero — was a victim of limited record-label promotion. Audiences also didn’t immediately know what to make of its original cover art — faithfully replicated here. In addition, the powers that be at Columbia Records were directing the public’s attention to Miles at Fillmore, a completely different kind of album guided by two keyboardists. A Tribute to Jack Johnson practically lives in a different universe, one from the future. To many listeners who did manage to hear it — among them critic/musician Robert Quine, Stooges leader Iggy Pop, and renowned critic Robert Christgau — it surpassed everything that came before.

Indeed, Davis treated it as a personal manifesto: An opportunity to salute the Black championship boxer admired for his threatening image to the establishment and impeccable taste in clothes, cars, women and music. Davis explains in the liner notes his affinity for Johnson — a stance mirrored by the defiant music, which hits with a prize fighter's force and reflects the graceful elegance with which a pugilist navigates the ring — and closes the album with a Johnson quote read by Brock Peters.

Inspired not only by Johnson but by Jimi Hendrix and Sly Stone, Davis changed his approach and his band. He surrounds himself with a cadre of musicians in their 20s and, in the case of bassist Michael Henderson, a 19-year-old fresh from touring with Stevie Wonder. Henderson gives Davis what he requested: boogie-based grooves that don’t lose shape or direction. Soprano saxophonist Steve Grossman, drummer Billy Cobham, and organist Herbie Hancock adhere to a similar aesthetic that prizes brazenness, innovation, and energy.

In that vein, during a portion of “Yesternow,” Davis segues into a separate performance (which became known in its entirety as “Willie Nelson”) played by guitarists McLaughlin and Sonny Sharrock, bass clarinetist Bernie Maupin, keyboardist Chick Corea, bassist Dave Holland, and drummer Jack DeJohnette. Dig it!

Talking with jazz scholar Bill Milkowski — who himself noted how McLaughlin’s unrestrained style, decibel-forward volumes, and rapid-fire power chords engendered himself to the rock crowd at the same time that his harmonics and syncopation still definitely made him a jazz player — guitarist Henry Kaiser summed up part of the appeal of A Tribute to Jack Johnson as well as anyone, saying: “It’s a jazz record that way way more open than other jazz records at the time, but still not free jazz. McLaughlin’s rhythm guitar playing on ‘Right Off’ — the use of different chords in a rock shuffle than what anybody had used before — was revolutionary.”

And to think that’s just one aspect of a record that contains multitudes. “Never let them forget it.” Indeed.

Over the past decade Rising Sun has firmly established himself as a purveyor of the finest deep, dubby and cinematic leaning house and techno, consistently delivering a sound that is distinctly his through labels such as Fauxpas, Freund Der Familie and his own numerous imprints Reality Used To Be A Friend Of Mine, Kristofferson Kristofferson and Beautiful Things Don't Ask For Attention under a variant of guises such as The Ambientist, Rising Sun Project, Rising Sun Psyche, Rising Sun Melancholia and simply Rising Sun under which he returns here for Echocord. As one has come to expect from a Rising Sun release ‘The Eternal’ has a firm foundation in emotive melodies and atmospherics across six alternate versions. ‘Eternal 1’ leads with muted drums, fluttering stabs and a preaching spoken word vocal. ‘Eternal 2’ edges into darked realms, merging expansive dub echoes with swelling subs and tension building strings before ‘Eternal 3’ dives head first into ethereal hypnotism via unfurling textures, soft stab sequences and a rounded kick. ‘Eternal 4’ opens the B-side with a subtly unfolding construction as vocals, chords and swinging drums run in unison. ‘Eternal 5’ then strips things back to a gritty statured feel with boomy percussion, enchanting strings and nuanced stabs before ‘Eternal 6’ rounds out the release laying down murky, multilayered pads, widely dispersing reverberations and bubbling delays throughout.

Foreign Mail returns with a new compilation including another geographically diverse roster of artists.

On this occasion, the board of directors specifically requested a more calm pace, with spacious soundscapes and harmonious, reverberant pads as protagonists. Expect a wider spectrum of styles: techno, house and ambient.

Long-time friend of the label Fader Cap returns to Butter Sessions with a potent four-track EP 'Blue Pool'. First appearing as Sedgwick on our 10 years of BSR compilation, Fader Cap has since released music on Craigie Knows and his own Straight 2 It Recordings.


Connecting the dots between progressive house and techno, the four tracks on 'Blue Pool' maintain an infectious energy, with pumping drums and plenty of space for contemplative synth work to keep the body moving and brain tingling. The rolling, dub-wise basslines set the foundations for intricate sound design and tripped-out sequences that provide that sweet head high we're chasing. Let your mind wander as you float away into the blue pool.

Pt. 4 of the 'Dub me crazy' series by Mad Professor.

Reggae meets twisted electronics for wild dub trips!

Originally released in 1985 on the same Ariwa imprint.
True D.I.Y. business from this UK dub pioneer.

HJirok is a mythical figure, conceived as a fictional character by Iranian-born Kurdish singer and artist Hani Mojahedy. Together with versatile music producer And Toma of Mouse On Mars, she combined a variety of sounds collected during their joint travels to Iraqi Kurdistan and elsewhere with heavily processed recordings of Sufi drum rhythms and setar melodies. The result is a driving, dubbed-out, and deeply intricate soundscape that perfectly sets the stage for Mojahedy's extended, unconventional vocal techniques and polyglot lyrics. Both informed by tradition and rigorously forward-looking, »Hjirok« (with a lowercase J) is at once a profoundly personal album and a universal utopian promise. As a ghost from the past, HJirok draws on Mojtahedy's memories to mould a new future out of them.

The foundation for »Hjirok« was laid in the city of Erbil in the Kurdish part of Iraq. During one of their stays in the region, Mojahedy and Toma recorded the three percussionists Hadi Alizadeh, Jawad Salkhordeh and Serdar Saydan as well as setar player Ali Choolaei from Motahedy's backing band while they were playingthe rhythms and notes that she had grown up with in the house of her grandfather in the Iranian city of Sanandaj. Her memories of that place revolve around hypnotic Sufi music, dervishes in deep trance, and ecstatic singing. Much like this music seemed to open a portal to other dimensions, the inhabitants of the house lived in a sort of alternative reality: It provided them with a hideaway from political circumstances. Following the Iranian revolution in 1979, a Kurdish rebellion ensued but was met with the utmost brutality by the new regime, which resulted in the death of thousands.

It is no coincidence that the music on »Hirok« would draw on rhythmic patterns that were passed on from one generation to the next for hundreds of years. »The project is rooted in the figures of the Sufi dervishes and thus a culture that precedes today's political, social, cultural, and religious systems,« explains Mohtahedy. »The Sufi sound travelled around the entire world. I like to think of it as a dialogue between peoples-one based on the rhythms of the drums and the sound of their voices.« Toma adds that by electronically transforming the recordings and enriching them with field recordings from both rural and urban spaces, they were able to use the stories told by the drums and the setar to create an entirely new narrative.

The story told by these eight pieces is hence a deeply personal, but also inherently political one. Moitahedy herself left Iran in 2004 and relocated to Berlin in 2010. Having continued to use her art as a platform to tirelessly advocate for the rights of the Kurdish people and women under oppressive regimes, she has not been allowed to return to her country of origin ever since. »Hani is singing for equality and there are people who are afraid of that-her femininity, her strength.« Toma says. Much like earlier Hirok sound installations addressed human-made climate change and other systemic ills, also »Hjirok« can hardly be disconnected from far-reaching struggles for liberation and equality.

This is also true on a thematic and even linguistic level. »The lyrics are about a promise,« Mojahedy says, citing Kurdish writer Ebdulla Pesêw as an inspiration. »At their core, these are about that day on which violence and fear become a thing of the past; what they tell you is ot not give up, to keep hoping,« she adds. The promise embedded in them is an emancipatory one. These contents are mirrored on a linguistic level: The lyrics were written in both Kurdish and Farsi, blurring the lines between the two languages and thus, Kurdish and Persian cultures.

Mojahedy, or rather HJirok, conveys these philosophical themes with elegance. Herversatile vocal performance is only loosely basedo n established styles. »Of course everything started with traditional rhythms, but we kept pushing things further and further, so Idid the same with my voice,« Mojahedy explains. »There were no boundaries.« The same can be said of the field recordings that she and Toma used. Whether it's conversations between members of the Pesmerge, the Kurdish armed forces, having a chat in meadow full of bunnies or the humming and buzzing of metropolises like Tehran: »Hirok« paints a sonic picture that is quite literally autopian one; that of a non-place in which different soundscapes, cultures and ways of life coexist peacefully.

What the album conjures up from Mojahedy's memory is not only a very specific place during a unique time in history as experienced by a single person. It is also ametaphorical home open to anyone who wishes to enter - promise of a better, more egalitarian future for everyone. Hence, HJirok will bring it on tour, presenting the material as an audio-visual live show that makes use of the photo and video material that Mojahedy and Toma have collected during their travels through Kurdistan.ja

One of the most respected British bands in the mid 80's post punk era, Sad Lovers & Giants played highly atmospheric music made of melancholic melodies and epic guitar riffs. An overtly romantic attitude that slowly developed towards an even more open (pop) sound approach. Originally released in 1987 on Midnight records »Mirror Test«, the band's third studio effort, arrived as the fruit of an updated line up and a clear step in such direction. A very harmonious collection of songs, some of which are still recognized among the best in the band's entire catalog.

Straight From the Republic of Bashkortostan (!), the Excellent Dj Producer Apollon Telefax (Who Was Already in the Band Arash & Quasar for Their Last Release on Mellah - One of Our Sub-Label), Is Back This Time on Skylax Records Alone. "Fantasia Planet" Is a Captivating Journey Into the Realm of Balearic-Inspired Melodies and Italo Disco Vibes. This Ep, Meticulously Crafted by the Talented Electronic Artist, Showcases a Fusion of Leftfield House and Disco That Will Transport You to Euphoric Soundscapes. the Mesmerizing Opening, "Mbira," Sets the Tone With Its Intricate Rhythms and Ethereal Melodies. "Not Wet Wipes" Follows Suit, Captivating Listeners With Its Infectious Groove and Hypnotic Basslines. as You Delve Deeper Into the Ep, "Macarena" Unveils a Blend of Nostalgic Sounds and Contemporary Beats, Igniting a Dancefloor Frenzy. the Titular Track, "Fantasia Planet," Takes You on a Cosmic Voyage With Its Cosmic Arpeggios and Pulsating Synths, Creating an Otherworldly Atmosphere. "Sex on Astrakhan Fur Coat" Seduces Your Senses With Its Seductive Melodies and Sensuous Rhythms, Offering an Irresistible Invitation to the Dancefloor. Concluding the Journey, "Moodoom" Embraces a Darker and Mysterious Tone, Immersing Listeners in a Captivating Blend of Intricate Percussion and Haunting Melodies. Apollon Telefax Is a Versatile Musician, Multi-Instrumentalist, Dj, and Illustrator. With an Extensive Collection of Vintage Synthesizers and Drum Machines From the 80s, Pavel Masterfully Combines Elements From Various Musical Traditions, Infusing Them With His Own Unique Touch. His Dedication to Remixes and Constant Exploration of Rare Vinyl Records Ensures a Constant Flow of Intriguing and Innovative Compositions. Experience the Magic of Apollon Telefax's "Fantasia Planet" Ep and Let the Irresistible Rhythms and Captivating Melodies Transport You to a World of Boundless Musical Enchantment. Unveil the Secrets of This Extraordinary Release, Where the Past Meets the Present in a Harmonious Embrace of Sound and Creativity....

An interesting insight into some of the diverse dancefloor oriented sounds going on in Canada during the 80s sitting somewhere between electro, italo disco and proto house. A-side starts off on a slow paced 80 bpm pop/rock italo-disco crossover track featuring lyrics in english with an unidentifiable accent, very much reminiscent of Italian local neighbourhood private press ventures featuring someone's sister on the vocal. 3 versions later, on the B side, things step up a notch coming in at 130 bpm with "Heat In Africa's" drum machine propelled rhythmic mayhem pulling out all the latest studio bells and whistles of the time. Big electric guitar solo build up on the "Dance Mix" and additional Bonus Beats mix by Castro. Remastered and officially re-released almost 4 decades later.

Idriss D officially launches the brand new label Nedjma with his own 2-vinyl, 8-track album as first release. The imprint will serve as a platform for up and coming talents from the Arabic world who are not represented in the current musical landscape. A very bold statement from Idriss himself, this record sees the Franco-Algerian dj and producer infuse his personal history into what he loves the most and share it with the rest of the world.

First track Tsakhbira works as the perfect opener for the album with a melodic ambient-like mood and Arabic chants, with second track Beld el fen following in the same vein with raditional instruments interspersed with synth stabs and eerie atmos.

Chazil’s upbeat rhythm spices up the vibe, a mix of ethereal
singalongs and bouncy percussions. Mohamed is the first foray into Electronic territory, a downtempo piece featuring French vocals and plenty of analog industrial clanks that lead into subsequent Hey Galbi, an exquisite melodic house number with acid synth melodies and piano keys.

Electro (Leila Moon Remix) delves into more experimental landscapes, with darker tones, blurred vocals and pulsating beats, while Elf Leila is quintessential Electroclash Arabic music, blending these two genres together, with a syncopated super catchy bassline. Closing track Harramt is a whirlwind of snare rolls, 303 arpeggios and nods to North African heritage sounds.

DJ Yirvin is one of the most prolific and important music producers that have emerged out of the Venezuelan underground since the early 2000s. Alongside DJ Baba, DJ Deep, DJ EL Mago, DJ Yoiser and others, he is one of the true originators of Venezuelan dance music continuum known as Changa, with subgenres such as Street House and Raptor House, though his sound later evolved into a unique style of his own known as Hard Fusion.

First compiled as a double CD in 2002, Moon's Milk (in Four Phases) is a suite of four EPs that Coil released seasonally via their in-house Eskaton imprint across 1998. The line-up for these sessions were John Balance, Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson, Drew McDowall, and William Breeze. Recorded primarily at their home studio in Chiswick, London on the eve of a permanent relocation to the small seaside town of Weston-Super-Mare, the collection has long loomed as a pivotal and pinnacle work in the group's discography, but has never been officially reissued, or repressed on vinyl. Time has only ripened its tapestry of regal strangeness. Arranged sequentially in tribute to the equinoxes and solstices, Moon's Milk captures Coil at a revelatory crossroads, leaning deeper into improvisation, spontaneity, and sound design. "Moon's Milk or Under an Unquiet Skull" initiates the proceedings on Spring Equinox, a two-part netherworld organ séance woven from vocal drones, cathedral keys, seasick strings, and opiated undertow. From there, Summer Solstice skews lighter but no less incantational, with Balance embracing his voice-as-instrument across lucid dream torch songs ("Bee Stings"), purgatorial spoken word ("Glowworms/Waveforms"), sultry chamber pieces ("Summer Substructures"), and falsetto ravings ("A Warning From The Sun (For Fritz)"). Autumn Equinox exudes more of a pensive and twilit mood, from the Rose McDowall-sung folk ballad "Rosa Decidua" ("I hear your voice sing near to me / I've put away the poisoned chalice (for now) / And lie down amongst the flowerbeds") to hall-of-lords hallucination "The Auto-Asphyxiating Hierophant" to the liminal string-plucked classic "Amethyst Deceivers," featuring excellent alien guitar by Breeze layered with Balance's oft-quoted couplet: "Pay your respects to the vultures / For they are your future." The album's final chapter, Winter Solstice, is its most swooning, remote, and ceremonial. Opener "A White Rainbow" stirs strings, layered choral vocals, and shivering rhythm into an imploding burial hymn. "North" oscillates bleakly, a ghost in the machine murmuring opaque prophecy ("This black dog has no owner / This black dog has no odour"), while "Magnetic North" is its inverse, a guided meditation of gently flickering software and surreal chakra poetics ("Red rose filling the skull / Yellow cube in the lower pelvis / Silver moon crescent below the navel"). The suite fades to grey with a traditional English carol ("Christmas Is Now Drawing Near"), rendered like an executioner's song by Rose McDowall's doomed, beautiful voice. The Dais box set includes the entirety of the rare Moon's Milk Bonus Disc CD-R / 2019 Threshold Archives Copal CD, which includes three collaborations with Thighpaulsandra. This material is as rich and intoxicating as the previous four phases, ranging from electro-acoustic singing bowl rituals ("Copal") to dissonant electronic recitations of visionary Angus MacLise poetry ("The Coppice Meat") to ominous classical melancholia ("Bankside"). Once again, Coil confirm the vastness of their confounding, infinite alchemy, explored and refined across decades of experimentation - both sonic and bodily. From postindustrial to post-everything, theirs is an art untethered, in the wilds of its own design.

Here comes the Booom!!! Edits label with another sublime selection of deep house burners. This third volume is from the artist who goes by the name of Earls Booom!!! Edits takes the form of four cuts titled 'NEP.' Th opener is awash with smoky pads and sombre chords over a mid-tempo and dusty groove, but things pick up on the second cut with its gorgeous r&b vocals swirling over warm and humid bass and drums as cosmic synth lines rise out of the mix. On the flip, there is a congo-heavy rhythm topped with a deft little r&b hook nice more and the closer brings more pumping grooves but still with a big heart. These are steamy backroom sounds of the highest order.

6-track EP compilation with Terada's work for the Ape Escape games, tip!

Outside of the international house underground, where his early ‘90s works for the Far East Recording label he co-founded with Shinichiro Yokota are rightly celebrated as bona-fide classics, Soichi Terada is best-known for his work composing music for video games. Yet until now, few of his productions for video games have been released outside of Japan, especially on vinyl.

Apes In The Net, a six-track EP featuring music composed for the popular PlayStation 1 series Ape Escape, sets the record straight. It not only showcases Terada’s quality as a composer and producer, but also his versatility. Like much of Terada’s work on the Ape Escape series, the tracks featured don’t explore deep, New York and New Jersey influenced house sounds, but rather his lesser-celebrated love of jungle and drum & bass – a sound he fully explored on 1996 album Sumo Jungle.

“The producer of the Ape Escape games heard that and got in touch,” Soichi remembers. “They asked me to make the soundtrack, and then work on the music for the sequels after that. I used to love making music with AKAI hardware samplers, synthesisers, and computers, so I played and recorded the tracks using almost the same methods as I did when I made house music. Using breakbeats and audio samples with a sampler was the most useful way to make the soundtracks.”

The six tracks on show, which were originally recorded in the ‘90s but reconstructed and remastered for Japan-only CD and digital releases over a decade ago, mix elements of Terada’s familiar deep house style – think warming chords and pads, memorable melodies, and emotive musical motifs – with blistering D&B breakbeats, 16-bit synth sounds, electronic bleeps and undeniably weighty basslines. They’ve stood the test of time and arguably sound just as fresh now as they did at the turn of the millennium.

For proof, check the soaring, spellbinding ‘Spectors Castle’, where uplifting lead lines and sumptuous chords dance atop punchy beats and growling bass, the jazzy and saucer-eyed rush of ‘Mount Amazing’ (all twinkling piano motifs, alien synth sounds, squelchy bass and skittish drums) and the intergalactic, liquid D&B excellence of ‘Time Station’, whose whistling melodies and stargazing chords are undeniably alluring.

There are plenty of other delights to be found across the EP, too, from the bustling, race-to-the-finish breathlessness of D&B/bleep techno fusion workout ‘Spectors Factory In’, and the rumbling sub-bass, creepy pads and suspenseful melodies of ‘Haunted House’, to the bombastic, all-out-assault on the senses that is ‘Coaster’, the set’s most “purist” jungle workout – albeit one that also doffs a cap to the pulsating world of big room techno.

Apes In The Net, then, celebrates Soichi Terada’s mastery as a video games composer and early Japanese junglist. Props are well and truly overdue.

Monty Luke release ‘Nightdubbing’ LP on Rekids.The Black Catalogue bosses' second album explores dub-infused dance music and, following the recent two EP drops on Rekids, will be released on Radio Slave’s imprint on 29 March. Succeeding part two of Monty Luke’s ‘Nightdubbing’ series on Rekids, the US-via-Berlin artist unveils an album of the same name on Radio Slave’s lauded Rekids imprint. ‘Nightdubbing’ encompasses the first two instalments and adds five more tracks of intricate sonic material, completing this gorgeous work of art already supported by Fred P, nd_baumecker, Louise Chen, and Laurent Garnier. Luke’s ‘Nightdubbing’ album starts in the club, with the rave-primed ‘40 Acres And A Terabyte’ utilising the rich melodies of deep house alongside the crushing weight of subs. It is followed by the title track, with ‘Nightdubbing’ taking a more traditional house route, its soothing sounds enveloping the listener while honing in on that reverb sweet spot. Black Catalogue boss and former Planet-E label manager Monty Luke’s timeless ‘Nightdubbing’ effortlessly traverses deep house and techno rife with bass-rattling low-end and experimental rhythms. It is no surprise, then, that the album is heavily inspired by ‘70s and mid-80s dub reggae, seeing Luke incorporate and modernise the genre’s iconic rhythms, spoken word poetry, and spacious bursts of harmony across the LP. ‘Bob Molly’ picks up pace with nods to Caribbean dem bow-like rhythms of old, Monty Luke filling the space between its infectious beat with tumbling percussion and echoing plucks. Tracks like ‘Supernova’, ‘New World / Old Future’ and ‘Starstorms’ return to the modern-day traditions of club music while ‘Future Mystic’ and ‘Avant Garde Dance Hall ‘, again find room in between the dancefloor and sound system listening sessions. Monty Luke spent ten formative years in Detroit, where the city's unique musical spirit influenced him immensely. He has since distilled this experience into the music he has released on labels like Rekids, Planet-E, Hypercolour, and his own Black Catalogue. His raw, dub-infused sound comes with plenty of futuristic designs, and this final complete iteration of ‘Nightdubbing’ continues to push the boundaries of his music.

One of New Zealand’s fastest-rising electronic producers, Sanoi aka Jonas Fischer announces the release of his new album, ‘Echoes Of Home’. Rooted in melodic house and techno, the album is a journey through electronic music, one that is as at home on the dancefloor as it is on headphones.  Having previously released on labels such as Bar 25, Stil Vor Talent, Beat & Path, Magician On Duty, Sounds Of Sin and Tube & Berger’s Zehn Records, Loop are proud to present Sanoi’s second full-length. The New Zealand-based, German-born producer has crafted deeply personal electronic music that pushes the boundaries of creativity, skill and production techniques, while influenced by organic deep house and electronic techno from Berlin.  Created at his home in Auckland, and road tested across countless live performances across New Zealand and Australia over the past two years, ‘Echoes Of Home’ sees Sanoi’s songwriting step up to another level. Constantly developing as an artist and finding expression through music are some of the key factors that drive him, whether it be in the studio or behind the decks. His deeply danceable, meticulous though mischievous DJ sets see him move seamlessly across warm, melodic, groove-driven techno and beyond.  Featuring vocals by Beacon Bloom on ‘Silver’.

Band Of Nowhere is a new constellation project by Juanjo Sánchez, together with other collaborators with whom he had previously worked. It is worth mentioning Bob Drake on drums, former member of the legendary formation Thinking Plague (also on Hail, 5UU's, The Science Group) who has also mastered the project from their studio in the Midi-Pyrénées and also to mention the guitarist Jordi Cabayol (Camino al Desván) both Juanjo and Jordi began their career in a significant band of Barcelona of the early eighties, such as Entr'acte.



The becoming of Juanjo Sánchez would take him to other latitudes as a member of Alondra Satori and without losing the lighthouse of his city, he would collaborate with other outstanding musicians such as Quicu Samsó (Koniec, Macromassa).



The fluidity and chromaticism of his previous album Gonza Magilla is still perceived in here, but in a much more electrified way with guitars that are sometimes expansive, other times exuberant wrapped up with contagious synthesizer modulations and very marked rhythms. The production and especially the arrangements are fantastic with those special presences of synthesizers that are not common around here.



Its original improvisation and experimentation is skilfully adjusted by Juanjo Sánchez, giving a much more playful result with unexpected combinations, very much in continuity with a certain European Art Rock such as Aksak Maboul, Etron Fou, Zamla,The Work or the mischievous resonances of The League of Gentlemen; all this mapping the sound transit, to an unpredictable and vibrant non-place.



Housed in it's original hand made artwork with the little upgrade twist of silk-screen printing textured grey cardboard and including a insert colour with photos and text provided by Juanjo Sánchez.



Housed in it's original hand made artwork with the little upgrade twist of silk-screen printing in Plastic clear cover and including a insert colour with photos and text provided by Juanjo Sánchez.

Javier Hernando

a1 Calling All Beginners
a2 Fleeing To the Poles
a3 Ashes
a4 Rouler ma Bosse
a5 Sunday Machinery
b1 lucid Dreams
b2 Twisted Maze
b3 Rolla Bolla
b4 Chinese Forecast

Dersu and Diego Figueura are Basel-based brothers also known as Alma Negra and have been responsible for some seriously fresh and funky, afro-inspired dance music since their inception a decade ago. With releases on Heist, Lumberjacks In Hell, Basic Fingers and their own Alma Negra imprint, the duo wear their Cape Verdean roots proudly on their sleeves ensuring a warm, tropical sound emanates through their productions. For their Delusions debut Alma Negra have delivered a compelling and well-rounded EP which shows off their skills across two original tracks, a dub version and a brilliant remix from Yuksek.

Title track Madrugada takes us directly to the afterparty. More specifically, the kitchen of the house party where the action invariably continues to the early hours. Live horns, guitar, percussion and bass all bring a big sound and real band groove to the production making for a feel good modern-day boogie tune guaranteed to lift the spirits.

Next up we have the aptly named Funky Fever which treads a similar path with big horn parts rubbing up alongside Moog synth lines and punctuated with 80’s tom fills and a rock solid rhythm guitar riff. The real star of the show is the vocal which is unashamedly raw and unpolished giving an authentic and endearing hook to the track.

French producer Yuksek is someone whose productions we’ve been loving for some time and really happy to finally have him onboard for a remix for what we feel is the perfect project for him. Like Alma Negra, Yuksek is another talent who is difficult to pigeonhole and enjoys mashing up genres and incorporating many outernational influences into his sound. On his remix of Madrugada he keeps many of the live parts intact but generally ‘houses’ up the drums and mix which increases the energy without losing the overall vibe of the original.

Closing out the EP we have Alma Negra’s own Dub Mix of Madrugaga which goes for a classic dub approach; pairing back the parts, muting the vocals and creating space for the groove to shine, all making for a perfect track to warm up the dance floor early doors.

Randy Rice mixed accoustic singer-songwriter songs with electrifying acid guitar in his marvellous privately pressed double album from 1974.

Offered here in a much needed reissue so you do not have to spend over a grand for an original copy.

Housed in it's original minimalist hand made artwork with the little upgrade twist of silk-screen printing.

· First ever vinyl reissue of ultra rare privately pressed double LP!

· Remastered sound!

· Reproductions of the two original inserts!

· Plus a new one with liner notes by Randy Rice himself sharing his memories of the recording!

I was between the ages of 18 and 20 when I wrote the 22 songs found on To Anyone Who Ever Laughed at Someone Else. They express the thoughts and frustrations, hopes and fears of a young man coming of age in a world that was full of upheaval and transformation. I was a product of that period in America we call the sixties—those years between the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in November 1963 and the resignation of President Richard Nixon in August 1974. In fact, this record was released that same month Nixon resigned. Over the next five years, I toured the country as an acoustic artist performing at clubs, coffeehouses and colleges. During that time, I watched the idealism and social consciousness of the sixties slowly fade away. In its place emerged a cynicism and materialism that still seems to be with us so many years later. More than anything else, I think To Anyone Who Ever Laughed at Someone Else is a time capsule that speaks to us from a past era. A period when, above all other things, we asked questions. We questioned our country, we questioned our faith, we questioned the very purpose of life itself. I am very excited to bring those questions and these songs to a new generation on a new continent. Special thanks to my friends Jordi Segura of Wah Wah Records who took the initiative to release this 50th Anniversary Re-issue of To Anyone Who Ever Laughed at Someone Else and Michel Veenstra Klinkhamer, who introduced us.

A1.Hello
A2. Mr. Dumpty, Before The Fall
A3.The Song
A4.Mrs.Bitch
A5.Students From Marian Catholic High School
A6.Will You Still Love Me When You're Twenty-One
A7.To Anyone Who's Ever Laughed At Someone Else
B1.The Other Day
B2.SPQR Part 1 - I Wish That Fly Would Land So I Could Swat Him
B3.SPQR Part 2 - Sorry
B4.SPQR Part 3 - My Last Question
B5.SPQR Part 4 - Gosh, Darn, Golly Gee, or Those Canadians Can Sure Tell It Like It Is
B6.SPQR Part 5 - All American Girl
B7.SPQR Part 6 - Let Me Grow
C1.For Me, For You
C2.The New Testament, Or A Good Samaritan Will Never Jew You · Matthew: Love Means Never
Having To Say You're Happy
C3.The New Testament, Or A Good Samaritan Will Never Jew You · Mark: Jesus Was A Capricorn, But
Then So Am I
C4.The New Testament, Or A Good Samaritan Will Never Jew You · Luke: Morning Meditation
C5.The New Testament, Or A Good Samaritan Will Never Jew You · John: Mother Mary, Let Me Be
C6.The New Testament, Or A Good Samaritan Will Never Jew You · Fred: Post-Mortem Dirge
D1.Everyday People Revisited
D2.Filler Song
Out Of Here
D5.The Continuing Story Of A Square Peg In A Round Hole Part 3: Footnote To The Preceding Nineteen Songs, And Is It Really Necessary
D6.The Continuing Story Of A Square Peg In A Round Hole Part 4: I Hope I Always See You
Smiling
D7.The Continuing Story Of A Square Peg In A Round Hole Part 5: My Song
D3.The Continuing Story Of A Square Peg In A Round Hole Part 1: The Ballad Of Uthage
D4. The Continuing Story Of A Square Peg In A Round Hole Part 2: I Think It's Time For Me To Get

The Second House Crew Box Set contains a full set of absolute classics. Including the enormous hits "Euphoria (Ninos Dream) and "Super Hero" alongside epic remixes from The Criminal Minds, Nookie, Isotonik and three brand new House Crew tracks, this box set is an essential for every old skool and jungle vinyl addict!

2LP Repress!

Despite being one of the best kept secrets in house music, K4B Records is one of the most influential labels of the 90’s. Now the impressive discography is available digitally for the first time, with each record written and produced by Kingsley O. An Englishman of West-African heritage, Kingsley had moved to the states to pursue his musical aspirations of working with the finest soul vocalists, and his productions went on to inspire dancefloors both sides of the pond. Kingsley wrote some of the most loved songs of the 90’s underground, and by bringing emotive vocals to the dancefloor he defined the K4B sound. The sharp and rugged drums, rolling bass and melodic keys paired with the dynamite punchy vocals of amazing vocalists, such as Maydie Myles and Dawn Tallman, found success on the US Garage scene as well as being hugely influential as UKG began to explode, cementing K4B’s musical legacy in the house music hall of fame.

This special 2 x 12” vinyl package offers a consolidated dose of some of the standout records released by K4B from two of their most prominent artists, Maydie Myles and K London Posse. Whether this is a revisit to K4B’s catalogue or an introduction to new listeners, this first edition of a series of vinyl releases is the perfect way to dip your toes into the illustrious back-catalogue of this legendary label.

This collection assembles the range of sources that Robert Johnson heard and learned from including songs from his mentor Son House and from other Delta performers and from sources that show aspects of the musical world in which he lived. His tastes ranged far and wide and he had a gift for absorbing sounds of all kinds, including from tin pan alley to hillbilly songs. He was a brilliant creative musician who managed a stunningly effective fusion of his Delta roots and the smoother approach of the then prominent contemporary blues artists. As with any genius in any field he was able to produce great work only because he was standing on the shoulders of previous great artists. This collection provides an introduction to a number of them and gives a sense of how Johnson adapted and combined their styles. It presents music that can still excite and inspire us today just as it did to Robert Johnson back in the first golden age of the blues.

Except from Rachid Taha, who allowed himself a few forays into the teeming, vibrant heaths of techno, no raï singer other than Cheb Malik has ever ventured into this terrain known for its abundance of sound. If you know about Malik Adouane's ancestry, this is hardly surprising. Born in Librecourt, near Lens, he comes from a union between an Italo-Celtic mother who instilled Western sounds into his ears and a father, a former miner born in Biskra (north-east Algeria), a palm grove near the desert, musically renowned for its lively diwan that could be called Saharan opera. In addition, the town is renowned for its chakhchouka, a dish called after its rich blend of various ingredients and spices. Just like Malik’s music, as he was a fan of James Brown, Barry White, classical Arabic and raï music. He had been thinking about it from the beginning, but the dream took a long time to materialize. In January 1986, many raï idols turned up in Bobigny, France, for a historic and seminal festival. In the midst of the audience, the young man, dressed in black leather, provided security for the concerts of many stars before becoming one himself. He would rub his eyes, not because he was dazzled, but because they were clouded by a nostalgia that remained him of itself. So, with his head full of sounds warmly recommended by the best DJs, he set out, a little provocatively, to position himself at the cutting edge of music with a new concept called "After raï". It combined the sweet and precious past with an almost uncontrollable creative audacity. It's a balm made in a test-tube-studio from a mix of Arabic melodies and lyrics - a kind of "Arabeat", and the arrogant modernity produced by samplers, electronic spinning, roaring bass and guitars made for house music. The pinnacle of the record is a masterful cover of Isaac Hayes' Shaft, which set dancefloors on fire in Paris, London, Ibiza and New York, and became internationally known thanks to its presence on a Paris Dernière compilation curated by French musician and DJ Béatrice Ardisson along with Claude Challe's iconic Buddha Bar series. Now, shall we dance?

Delicate and beautiful music from the combined forced of the recently ubiquitous East-Coast psychedelic combo Elkhorn and Pelt’s Mike Gangloff, laying down two epic raga-like performances captured on a 2022 collaborative tour. Gangloff—fresh from the triumph of his VHF solo fiddle album Evening Measures—has found a distinct instrumental voice, blending drone music and trad influences in way that really advances the tradition into new areas. “East Dauphin Suite” builds patiently on the interlocking acoustic guitars of the Elkhorn duo, with Gangloff’s hardanger fiddle carrying the melody over the top. The sound is a neat riff on American primitive, with just enough Appalachian-style touches via Gangloff’s careful glissandos cutting through the Vuh-type chords and patterns to create a unique and supremely melodic hybrid. “Summerfield Raga” takes things further out, with more microtonal variation in the embroidery, with assertive bowing and an increased energy level. Pressed in Chicago and housed in an amazing jacket by Jake Blanchard.

“But into my miserable brain, always concerned with looking for noon at two o’clock" - Charles Baudelaire (1869)

The Foreign Department is the second album by Astrel K, the solo project helmed by Stockholm-based British ex-pat, Rhys Edwards. Those already familiar with Edwards’ work will likely know him for fronting the cultishly great Ulrika Spacek, and given he operates as the principal songwriter in both projects, much of the same hallmarks of his cathartic, elliptical songwriting are present in Astrel K. Nonetheless, The Foreign Department feels like a rubicon moment of sorts, and the album that Edwards has unconsciously been working towards his entire creative life.

As a title, The Foreign Department offers an instructive guide for the listener, framing a life-in-transition/artist-in-exile document that maps two impromptu moves in twelve months for its songwriter: the first from London in pursuit of a relationship, the second between homes in Stockholm as that decade long relationship then suddenly dissolved. Indeed, diffusion, dissolution and reconstitution feel like appropriate touchstones for its recurring themes. Written amidst the flux of two states, at once isolated from home and then any established emotional anchor, the resulting eleven tracks came to represent a precognitive search for shifting identity and with it forming an unwittingly biographical record. It's commendable and somewhat telling that during this shake up, Edwards somehow landed upon his most realised and original work.

With a former life stripped away, there emerged an opportunity to reinvent a sense of self through art, now not just as a writer, but a composer also. Developing the confidence to arrange songs in ways he'd previously considered off-limits, while also taking cues from the opulent string and brass arrangements of records like Mercury Rev's Deserters' Songs and Death of A Ladies Man by Leonard Cohen, Edwards enlisted a range of performers to bring to life the mini-symphonies forming in his head. Perhaps it's inevitable that an album written while facing the consequences of being alone would eventually ossify around the process of bringing people together.

For all its troubled origins, The Foreign Department is a remarkably warm sounding collection. Edwards' lyrics are typically knotty and neurotic, dancing around the poetry of quarter-life anxiety, but the music itself is often joyous and even uplifting, the combination expressing that neat duality of melancholic euphoria. Edwards sings variously of crises, "torrid pieces of art", of "houses on fire" and not "having the guts for it", yet these troubling sentiments are framed by seemingly incongruous swelling strings, chirping horns or motorik percussion, creating that sense of pushing forward or floating above, of wrapping your troubles in dreams, a salve for the moments when you get a bit too much for yourself.

Lead single, 'Darkness At Noon', likely captures this all best. Named for the French idiom "midi a quatorze heures", the maddening idea of attempting the impossible for the sake of some greater possibly pointless cause, it directly grapples with the opposing notions of wanting and not wanting, of being here and being there at the same time. The conflicting and impossible self. It’s something Edwards addresses in the song at perhaps his most open, opining, “I know I want to be seen, but I hate most of what comes out of me”. And yet here is, putting it all out in the open and on the line, the dialectics of his enlightenment up on show.

ARN4L2 (pronouced arn-al-dos) aka Arnaldo Berdugo is a producer and DJ from Cartagena, Colombia. He grew up surrounded by music, namely the vinyl treasures that his grandfather accumulated as director of a local radio station in San Estanislao de Kotska, Bolívar, a Colombian Caribbean town with a large Afro-descendant population.
In his productions, ARN4L2 combines Colombian musical traditions such as Bullerengue, Chalupa and Tambora with electronic elements such as synthesizers, samplers, and drum machines, resulting in a unique sound that reflects his own, strongly African- influenced Caribbean vision.
Galletas Calientes is proud to release his first solo project on vinyl: a collection of 5 upbeat tunes for the floor, blending Congolese soukous, Colombian Bullerengue, Nigerian highlife, Caribbean soca, and House; with a uniquely distinctive, progressive and psychedelic touch.
His Colombian, Caribbean and African roots have been shaping this young producer’s personality as an artist and a human being, and the distinguished style he has developed over the years is definitely the result of all these influences.
“Caribe” is the third volume of Galletas Calientes Records “Colombian Singles Series”, a series with a purpose of awakening interest in modern Colombian electronic music.

The founders of Cukor Bila Smert’ (Ukrainian: Цукор– Біла Смерть, English: Sugar – White Death) band were Svitlana Okhrimenko (a.k.a. Svitlana Nianio), Oleksandr Kohanovs’kyi, and Tamila Mazur, who studied at the Reinhold Glier Kyiv Academy of Music in 1984-1988. In the summer of 1988, they got acquainted with Eugene Taran, a young guitarist and artist. He joined the band and also became the ideologist of Sugar – White Death. Moreover, Eugene coined the name for the band: the irony towards the Yellow Press. The musicians gathered at Kohanovs’kyi’s house, where they spent their free time not only playing music but also listening to and discussing new records and thinking about the conception of their new project.



For two years, the band recorded a few home-made albums, such as “Rhododendrons Coral Aspides” in 1988 (which is considered lost), where Kostyantyn Dovzhenko took part as a guitarist and sound engineer. He also replaced Taran during the recording session because Eugene was passing an exam at that time. The band also recorded another album – “Lilies and Amaralises,” in 1989, which is also considered lost. Eugene remembers that the band made a lot of recordings but did not pay so much attention to them. Sugar – White Death played live occasionally but spent more time creating their own sound, which was named by Oleksii Dekhtyar (a founder of “Ivanov Down”) as a “sugar calypso sound.” At that time, the music was mostly created by Oleksandr Kohanovs’kyi, and the lyrics were written by Svitlana Okhrimenko and Eugene Taran.



In February 1990, a quartet came to the Scientists House Studio in Kyiv, where they had one studio session only, recorded by Valerii Papchenko. Musicians played live for about one take. This session was represented on the “Mannered Music” compilation by several blocks – “Venus with Long Neck,” “The New Sissies,” and “Rhododendrons Coral Aspides,” which was shortened to “Rhododendrons” on the cassette (two songs from which – “Summer Will Not Come” and “The Great Hen-Yuan’ River,” dedicated to Grigorii Khoroshylov, the sinologist from Kyiv). The compilation cover design was created by Eugene Taran. Later, this tape got to Vlodek Nakonechnyj, the founder of Koka Records, a young Polish label, who released “Mannered Music” on cassettes and made efforts to invite Sugar – White Death to play several gigs in Poland.



In November 1990, Sugar – White Death played their last gig as a quartet in Kharkiv. They were invited by Sergii Myasoyedov, who curated the art association “Nova Scena” (The New Scene). The band played selected tracks from the albums “The New Sissies” and “The Shellfishes in Gold Wrappers” (the last one is also considered lost). Due to Sergii Myasoyedov's efforts, the performance was documented: he saved a lot of photos and fragments of soundboard recordings on reel-to-reel tape.



Later, Oleksandr Kohanovs’kyi and Tamila Mazur left Sugar – White Death: Oleksandr founded his own project Pan Kifared, and Tamila became a bass player of Shake Hi-Fi (whose co-founder was Eugene Taran). Sugar became a duo of Svitlana and Eugene. They started to focus on their next work: “Antinoy Is Leaving” in late 1990.



In 1992, they were also invited by Sergii Myasoyedov for a studio session in Kharkiv, where due to the efforts of Oleksandr Vakulenko, Sugar recorded the new album called “All Secrets Of A Poem”. Some tracks from the work (“Dead Ceremony,” “Vienna Is Sleeping,” and “Untitled”) were released on their next and last album, “Selo” (“The Village”). The rest compositions were published as a part of the compilation for the first time.



In the autumn of 1992, the musicians went to Poland, where Vlodek Nakonechnyj, who wanted Sugar to come to a “real” studio, organized their last recording session. Although the journey’s beginning was unsuccessful (Eugene’s guitar was taken away by a customs officer when crossing the border), the musicians worked fast during the session at the Arek Was studio at Marki on an 8-track reel-to-reel machine. Boleslav Blazhchyk took part as a cellist, playing the parts created by Svitlana. The album was completed in three days – the musicians spent two days recording and one-day mixing, mostly done by Eugene Taran. In 1993, this work was released as “Selo” (“The Village”) album on cassette tapes by Koka Records (remastered by Tadeusz Sudnik). Later, Sugar – White Death was disbanded.



Credits:



Cukor Bila Smert’: Svitlana Okhrimenko (lyrics, keyboards, piano, vocals), Eugene Taran (lyrics, keyboards, guitar), Oleksandr Kohanovs’kyi (piano, A1-B2), Tamila Mazur (cello, A1-B2), Boleslaw Blaszczyk (cello, C5-D6)

Cover photo by Vlad Urazovs’kiy

Photo archive courtesy: Vlad Urazovs’kiy, Vlodek Nakonechnyj (Koka Records),

Oleh Yuhrinov, Sergii Myasoyedov

Audio archive courtesy: Vlodek Nakonechnyj (Koka Records), Guido Erfen,

Sergii Myasoyedov

Liner notes: Vlad Yakovlev

Compiled by Dmytro Nikolaienko, Dmytro Prutkin and Sasha Tsapenko

© ? Shukai / Cukor Bila Smert’

2024

Hot wiring dancefloors with their immersive orchestration of uplifting sonic waves, Soft Crash sets out to soundtrack the unified, euphoric heartbeat of the crowds they foster with their mechanical yet fantastical, Italo Body Music. Presenting their highly anticipated EP ‘NRG’, the Berlin-based collaborative project of Berghain resident and BITE label head Hayden Payne (aka Phase Fatale) and French prolific producer Pablo Bozzi works to forge Soft Crash’s unique vocabulary of post-humanist production with the harmonic grandeur of their rhythmic, machine-made anthems.

Fresh off the back of their 2022 debut album ‘Your Last Everything’, Soft Crash present their latest 4 track EP ‘NRG’, chronicling their synonymous surrealist visuals infused with the contagious punch of Italo and Synth-wave. Geared towards the dancefloor from a fresh perspective, Bozzi and Payne pull from their respective wheelhouses to curate a sound additionally influenced by Wave-Pop, Acid House and Post-Punk sensibilities.

Procuring their cerebral yet zealous indentation of dance music, the EP features sanguine vocals from Kyiv-based singer and musician Ready in LED on the first single ‘Free Yourself’. She comments about the track “I became captivated instantly with the idea of the track that Hayden and Pablo sent me. At that moment, I was a bit tired of carefree disco and wanted to reveal my dark side in music. The demo sounded very daring. This track demands attention to itself from the first seconds. My sources of inspiration were glam rock and grunge. I had a blast in the studio, and I hope the people on the dance floors will feel that energy too.”

While full throttle vitality and booming grooves on the title track ‘NRG’ showcase Soft Crash’s take on 90’s sample-filled techno. Closing the extended play with an updated cut of the bewitching ‘Your Last Everything’, featuring Canadian musician and producer Marie Davidson, Soft Crash breathe a new life into the namesake track from their preceding album, concluding with an additional remix of the track by cult favourite producer Alen Skanner. The intrinsic dance floor vigour emulated in NRG further fleshes-out the pair’s recognisable DNA of nurturing a revitalised techno sound, cementing them as pioneers of the Italo Body genre.

Written and produced by Hayden Payne & Pablo Bozzi
Mastered by Conor Dalton at Glowcast Mastering

Nu Groove spotlights the artists that made the legendary NYC label a firm favourite of crate diggers then and now with this 12” release of their vital tracks revisited by leading selectors of today.

The label, born in 1988 by Frank and Karen Mendez as an outlet for the experimental works of the Burrell Brothers, quickly became a home for up-and-coming genre pioneers. In this fashion, ‘Nu Groove Edits, Vol. 4’ opens with ‘Tonight’s The Night’ by NYC favourites How & Little, AKA The Sound Vandals, re-edited by Italian duo NiCe7.

More monikers of Rheji Burrell appear in the collection too, with N.Y. House’n Authority’s seminal classic ‘APT. 2A’ reworked by UK deep tech aficionado Hugo Massien, and The Utopia Project’s ‘File #3’ remixed by Leeds underground duo Mak & Pasteman. Closing out this collection of future classics, GRAMMY award winning production duo Honey Dijon & Luke Solomon return to edit ‘Luv 2 Luv U’ by A.B.T.

More Than Ten Years Since He First Emerged On Skull Disco, Appleblim Presents His Debut Album. The Label He Co-founded With Shackleton Was The First The World Heard Of His Productions, But Laurie Osborne's Innate Relationship With Electronic Music Culture Reaches Back Much Further Than Those Groundbreaking Early Days Of Dubstep. Early Days Spent Soaking Up Hardcore, Jungle, Techno And Plenty More Besides Were Fundamental Foundations From Which To Spring Into The Then-unknown Realms Of Sub-low Half-step Club Music. At That Time Fwd>> And Dmz Were The Church For This Ritualistic Sound, And Appleblim Was A Regular Fixture At Both.

As Dubstep Matured, Magnified, Mutated And Meandered, So Appleblim Moved Beyond Skull Disco To Explore Different Avenues Of Expression In The New Many- Layered Club Music Landscape. His Own Apple Pips Imprint Was A Natural Vessel On Which To Explore The Emergent Fusions Of Hardcore-derived Sounds And The Us-born House, Techno And Electro, While Labels Such As Aus Music Equally Provided A Home For His Work (often Alongside Komonazmuk). Meanwhile Long-standing Collaborations With Alec Storey (al Tourettes / Second Storey) Finally Manifested In The Hyper-modern Mind-twist Of Also, Captured As An Album On Legendary Rave Label R&s.

More Recently It's Been Possible To Hear Appleblim Delve Into Electro-acoustic And Ambient Production Alongside Bassweight Sounds On Tempa, One Of The Original Bastions Of Dubstep Culture. As The Existing Boundaries Between Genres, Cultures, Eras And Scenes Continue To Dissolve, On His Debut Album Appleblim Offers Up A Fresh Approach That Brings Some Of The Foundational Sound Ethics Of Rave Culture Into A Modern Framework.

Hardcore Breaks Are Still A Regular Sound Source In Contemporary Club Tracks, But On Life In A Laser It's Instantly Apparent That Appleblim Has Moved Beyond Choosing Popular Drum Samples To Truly Tap Into The Elusive Feeling Engendered By The Music Of The Era. It's A Tricky Feat To Manage, But In The Pie-eyed Chords Of ignite', The Subby 808 Tom Basslines On nci' Or The Mr. Fingers Synth Flex On manta Key' The Sonic Finish Sports The Same Understated Grit And Grime That Made Those Early Records So Timeless. There's Still Space For Modernism, Not Least On Snaking 2-step Killer i Think We'll Let The Gas Sort This One Out', But It's Offset By A Layer Of Dust, Not To Mention An Inherent Moodiness That Can't Be Faked.

This Fine Balance Of Rave Romanticism And Future-minded Approaches Binds Together In A Cohesive Conceptual Statement. First And Foremost It's Appleblim's Personal Reflection On The Music That Has Moved Him On Countless Dancefloors Since His First Flirtations With Soundsystem Culture. At The Same Time The Canny Influx Of Modern Ideas Into The Soundworld Of The 90s Genuinely Results In A New Proposition, Making For A Perfect Fit On The Modern-day 'ardcore Fetishists Label Of Choice, Sneaker Social Club. Many May Claim To Draw On Old-skool Influences In Their Modern Trax, But Take One Listen To flows From Within' And You'll Feel The Same Time-slipping Surge Of Future-shock As The Ravers At Lost, Dreamscape, The Dungeons, Clink Street, Blue Note And All Those Other Iconic Spots.

Partiboi69 strikes poses, chords and hot irons. Australia’s spiciest export since INXS’s front man is a sensation on many (meta-)levels. Musically, aesthetically and hedonistically exhilarating, the man’s man shows his sensitive side on Running Back. Four tracks answer the Call of the Void with a showcase of sounds and moods that are as much informed by the rules of old school dance music (Bodies) as they draw inspiration from classic rave closing tracks (Playin’), plangent pop (Feel This) and a former new romantics band that just discovered house music pre-internet (Call of the Void): surprisingly serious and simultaneously not-so-serious. Composed and executed with serious songwriting skills and an uncanny feel for the aural world of Running Back Records. A mutual pleasure, indeed.

Short: Partiboi69 strikes poses, chords and hot irons. Showing his sensitive side for Running Back with four tracks that are as much informed by the rules of old school dance music (Bodies) as they draw inspiration from classic rave closing tracks (Playin’), plangent pop (Feel This) and a former new romantics band that just discovered house music pre-internet (Call of the Void). A sensation on many meta-)levels and a mutual pleasure, indeed.

Known for his range of style and skilled songwriting, KxllSwxtch has become a household name in the underground community, and has become even more well-known in recent years by openly sharing his bouts with anxiety, depression, and bipolar disorder, in hopes of helping others who can relate. An enigmatic and genre-bending artist, blending elements rap, heavy metal, emo and grunge, KxllSwxtch first exploded onto the scene with a number of singles in 2017, followed by his debut album, KILL!, in 2020. His sophomore album, DISORDER, was released the following year in 2021, and included the viral hit song, “WASTE,” a dark and alternative driven sound inspired by a recent breakup. “WASTE” continues to remain a force, generating hundred of thousands of streams daily and remaining in the viral charts at TikTok. In celebration of it’s 2 year anniversary, DISORDER is finally getting the vinyl treatment. The album includes additional singles, “LIGHTS OUT,” & “CRYING IN THE CLUB,” as well as several other standout tracks such as “YASOPP,” & “BLACK LAGOON.” Pressed on Black & White Smash Vinyl and housed in a gatefold jacket, this first run anniversary pressing is limited to 500 copies.

For the five members of Punchlove - multi-instrumentalists Jillian Olesen, Ethan Williams, Joey Machina, Ian Lange-McPherson, and visual artist Viz Wel - moving into a maze of a house in Brooklyn together was the transition that created the album they had been writing their whole lives. Quietly evolving from a bedroom project to a headlining live phenom, Punchlove has geared up a densely layered bed of emotionally serrated pain-pop songs that coalesce around a digitally-stimulated, emotional brand of modern neoshoegaze. Channels, out March 1st on Kanine Records, is an album of deeply prepared sounds, sharply honed instrumentals, and a band performing them that knows each other all the way through. Having met studying music technology in college, multiple members of Punchlove work mixing live bands at prominent NYC venues and in the studio. Using that expertise, the inhouse production, mixing, and recording is a palpable highlight; mastered by 2000s shoegaze stalwart Kurt Feldman (The Depreciation Guild), the record melds DIY recording and experimental sonic visions with studio quality. Punchlove is dedicated to pushing the envelope of experimental sonic practices in live performances, where they can be seen performing with real-time audio reactive analog visuals, executing real-time sampling and looping, self-mixing onstage, running radios and tape loops through effects, improvising, and playing guitar with everything from double bass bows to vibrators. In their home recording environment, experimentation is at the core of their creative process, where they integrate self-programmed digital signal processing systems, psychoacoustic phenomena, tailored feedback, elements of 3D audio, immersive field recording soundscapes, early electronic instruments, and experimental recording and mixing techniques into the greater backdrop of pop songwriting. FOR FANS OF: Radiohead, Wednesday, Hum, DIIV, my bloody valentine, The Smashing Pumpkins, bdrmm, A Place to Bury Strangers

Neue Sonderauflage auf Laguna Blue Vinyl des 2021er Samplers des kanadischen Emo-Trios Arm's Length mit ihren ersten beiden EPs, 'What's Mine Is Yours' (2019) & 'Everything Nice' (2021), die mit ihrem grossartigen, neuen Indie-Emo-Sound samt Pop-Punk-Anklägen direkt für Furore in den einschlägigen Magazinen von Pitchfork bis NPR sorgten.

Witch Trials will release his anticipated new EP CANNIBAL CULTURE on his own label, MYRYRS. The upcoming EP spans genres and journeys between contemporary dance, electronic, house, and breakbeat - showcasing the progression and expansion of a stand out artist continuing to evolve and reinvent his craft.

The new EP from Witch Trials delivers a time-traveling thrust of rave culture, melodic riffs and atmospheric beats that would work the dancefloor as hard as a solitary listener at home– experiencing the tracks in confinement.

“CANNIBAL CULTURE… it’s the voices in your head that guide you, the demons in the night or day I overcome, the time I close curtains to obscure the light. It's the carnivorous force that kills, it’s the kindness of the crowd on the dancefloor, it’s also the power to continue to create. After the madness, anxiety, and constrictions within or outside of my mind, life goeson.” - WITCH TRIALS

London-based, American-born, and Irish-raised artist Witch Trials releases the visual for his new EP CANNIBAL CULTURE. Confusing the lines that bound or bind art and music, the visual captures the fusion of trauma, light after dark, and a chthonic realm of solitude. The photographic concept and the sound world push distinct interpretations of the mediums and work alone or in harmony.

The composer, percussionist and instrument builder Limpe Fuchs has spent six decades exploring the outer limits of sound and its effects on the listener. Born in Munich in 1941, Fuchs is part of a generation of German artists who sought radical new approaches to art, music and social organisation in the period following the Second World War.

Alloa, Bavarian for alone. Limpe likes to be alone, because she is never lonely. When she is not on concert tours, she cultivates the garden in front of the door or playfully handles her instruments in the house. Among these has recently been a restored concert grand piano, which she found orphaned at a performance venue in Switzerland and rescued from being scrapped in Peterskirchen. Since then it has been the center of Limpe's attention, is played daily, and can be heard on the recordings of this LP.

The music alternates between free improvisation and impromptu compositions, played also around fragmented recited poems. Beyond the boundaries of jazz, art song and classical music lies the freedom Limpe takes at the piano, laughingly commenting on her unorthodox, even carefree way of making music with a quote from Friedrich Gulda: "From seventy on, all pianists are bad."

Well, so what, Limpe is not a pianist anyway, she is much more than that. She is the most vivid proof of a long-lasting, versatile and intrepid musical career, the next chapter of which will also consist of Limpe no longer exclusively traveling through Europe heavily laden with all her self-made instruments, but every now and then light-heartedly from grand piano to grand piano, to then make music for everyone, as always but not necessarily alone.

Record label boss, producer / DJ, and revered collector Marc Davis returns to his Chi-Talo series with the much-anticipated second volume. A concept of a split EP, taking one ultra-rare Chicago gem and the other a scarce Italian disco record and re-interpreting them for the modern dancefloor aesthetic.

With the first volume, released on Marc’s own Black Pegasus label, now trading hands for considerable amounts of money, round two sees him impart another double dose of digging sorcery for this Mr Bongo 12”.

Marc began his illustrious career in the Windy City in the ‘80s and was one of the first out of Chicago to be recognised for his eclectic approach to DJing. Presenting a global sound palette that took in choice cuts from Brazil, Africa, jazz fusion, house, soul and disco, whilst mixing it together Chicago style. Decades of knowledge and experience that is now distilled down into the Chi-Talo series.

The Italo selection came via a tip from Marc's Swedish friend, Julian Wareing. Hearing the track led Marc down the rabbit hole to secure a copy of this Italo-Disco, album cut oddity by the New Sound Quartet from 1979. The original of 'Bass Construction', measures in at four and a half minutes and is already a feverish funk groover. But Marc saw an opportunity to extend and re-edit the track, keeping in the vein of the original but giving it space to breathe. Tweaking out every last ounce of goodness, Marc locks you into a hypnotic groove for maximum dancefloor deliverance.

The Chicago side is as rare, as the rarest of hens-teeth, only ever existing as a one-off acetate by the band The Saucer Planes. One of the members of the group was the sadly passed-away older brother of Marc’s DJ mentor, Jahmal Anderson. From the very first listen, Marc knew he’d been hooked up with an undiscovered boogie gem. A long-lost track that the world needed to hear. But the project has remained dormant until now, not least due to the fact that the original recording of this low-fi vocal boogie groove is housed on an ever-deteriorating solo acetate. Rescued, restored and given a brand-new lease of life, Marc has turned the track into a low-slung, psychedelic instrumental boogie bounce. Raw, rough and mesmerising, it’s a refreshed relic that is a testament to Chicago’s club sound and swagger.

Whichever side you draw for, this is guaranteed to move bodies as much as it wins over hearts.