H2OH RECORDINGS presents the second release by HARDCORE MASTERZ VIENNA!! These talented Austrian producers are back with another quality hardcore 12 for the masses....
out of Stock
Last delivered 5 years ago available to reorder, subject to availability
The Sound Of Soulfuric Vol. 3 continues the label’s commitment to vocal-led, soulful house music, bringing together four standout cuts that balance classic songwriting with contemporary club production.
This is another DJ-focused selection built for the dancefloor, moving between uplifting vocal house, deep grooves and energetic remixes. From the driving Romeo Louisa rework of Urban Blues Project’s ‘Testify’ to Souldynamic’s take on The Lab Rats’ ‘Music Is My Way Of Life’, each track brings its own character while keeping the Soulfuric sound firmly in focus.
Featuring vocals from Jay Williams, Lisa Millett, Michelle Weeks and Kelli Sae, with remixes from Romeo Louisa, Souldynamic, Fouk and D’Ambrosio & Tappert, Vol. 3 brings together some of the scene’s strongest vocal talent and production names across four highly playable house cuts.
On Last Night At Marienbad's latest, the imprint brings together three of the brightest souls found within the realms of Jazz, namely Mauricesax, 9ick and Milan93, with their collective talents synergising effortlessly on 'A Garden Between Us', alongside a stellar cast of remixers who add even further delight between the grooves….
As a genre, Jazz has perhaps lent itself the most to other musical universes, in that its curious heart, endlessly experimental nature, and parameter-defying spirit have wrapped itself deep within the core of countless albums, scenes, and music makers. It's a genre that welcomes reinvention, consistently defying its contents and always reaching out to find new methods of expressionism. Electronic music, in its many forms, has truly embraced Jazz perhaps like no other movement of music has, with a truly astonishing array of records surfacing in the past 40 years which have blended Jazz's unique motifs with grooves, chords, and emotive excellence. From 90s Jazz house and UR Techno, through to Future Jazz, downtempo, and Hip Hop, and around many other suns, there remains such an intrinsic and symbiotic relationship between the two musical realms that caters to those who wish to live music both within and out with themselves.
As practitioners of blending electronica and Jazz, few do it like the trio of Mauricesax, 9ick, and Milan93. All three are known for their distinctive soundscapes, yet share commonalities in terms of musical language, feel, and sense of progression. Bringing them together allows for overlaps in their sounds to emerge, and just like Jazz itself, this is where the intrinsicness of sound begins to blossom. 9ick brings his softly evolving vibe to the table, one which was so prevalent and celebrated on his 2025 album 'SMIL'; Milan93 draws from his focal point of exploring fill-laden grooves and a myriad of emotive sensibilities; and Mauricesax draws up his extensive musicality that exists at the corner of jazz, electronic, and experimental music, along with running musical workshops all over the globe.
'A Garden Between Us' represents the trio's core tenets, with this immediately obvious from the record's opener, 'Rhodora'. A gentle solo piano quickly evolves into a series of powerful rhythmic pulses, with brass lines bringing vitality and feel to proceedings. The track shifts gears with purpose, transitioning between musical vignettes of the highest order, with the synth work doing much to bind the transitions together. 'Tulip' emerges slightly differently, with glossy Rhodes tones and an unravelling rhythmic undercurrent setting an enthralling stage. The track flourishes amongst sweeping textures, coming up for air amongst a deeply hypnotic rhythmic section that holds on and never lets up. 'Honeysuckle' lands next, which sees the trio emerge with a boundless, dynamic soundscape. The drums shift within the undertones, as keys, chords, horns and hip-hop vocal samples dance around the pulse, capturing the imagination with their narrative-like placement. Wrapping up the A side comes 'Camellia'. A dazzling array of harmonic sounds converges around the transfixing rhythm section, which emerges from deep below to lavishly roll out over the midsection, with the delicateness of the instrumentation a real highlight here.
The B side features two exquisite remixes, with Pacific Coliseum's version of 'Tulip' landing first. Beginning with a signature four to the floor to get things going, his careful handling of the source material is seen in the tactful introduction of the blissful elements that made the original cut so impactful, with great focus placed on emotive fidelity. The result is a summer-bound house number that reimagines the original in all the right ways, flipping it into a euphoria-driven jazz-laden pacer that reaches for the heavens as much as it drives right into the heart. Teuteu then showcases their take on 'Honeysuckle', and at 9 minutes long, represents the longest cut on the record - and the experience is all the richer for it. Leaning heavily into dance music flavours, Teuteu shifts perspective totally into the realm of the club, with the walls beating hard to the kicks. The sax lines that drift ethereally up top keep eyes closed and souls full, as the dance shifts into the next phase.
An experience that drifts from the daydreaming, to soul-warming through to the club shaking - what else is left to experience, except for 'A Garden Between Us' and how it will brighten up life itself….
Daydream: 30th Anniversary Edition is a 2-CD set featuring the original multi-platinum-certified album Daydream, which includes the smash hits “Fantasy,” “Always Be My Baby” and “One Sweet Day." Disc 2 collects remixes and rare B-sides, including a brand-new remix, “Underneath The Stars (Eric Kupper Klassic Club Mix) (Radio Edit).” The second disc also features a writing session demo for “I Am Free.”
Kito Jempere has spent more than two decades building a universe of his own, with releases on Mule Musiq, DFA and other influential labels, alongside remixes from Ewan Pearson and others. With Other People’s Aesthetics, that universe finally opens outward. After years of protecting his own musical language, Kito lets the outside world in—embracing the sounds, artists and scenes that have shaped him, from house and techno to Aphex Twin, Warp, Ninja Tune and Omar-S. The result is a personal universe merging with the world beyond it. The album opens with “Change For Now,” a collaboration with longtime friend Lipelis (L.I.E.S., Public Possession, Running Back), marking a friendship that has grown over the past decade. “Teaser,” originally released on Mule Musiq, returns in a new album “Dub” version, with fewer vocals and a stronger garage-house feel—a direct statement of love for David Lynch. “OPA” looks back to Kito’s original half-jazz, half-drum’n’bass sound and the Uniquetunes era of the early 2000s, alongside the music he absorbed from CDs by Amon Tobin, Squarepusher, Skalpel and The Cinematic Orchestra. “Listens To Selected Ambient Works Once” is a direct homage to Aphex Twin, given a Warehouse-style treatment for bigger dancefloors. “I’m Not A Doctor, Either,” featuring mishinuki—previously heard on Green Monster in its Moloko homage—builds towards an epic, euphoric string finale. “Kobayashi Porcelain” closes the record by combining memories of Usual Suspects with Moby-like atmosphere and an Omar-S-type beat. The release of Other People’s Aesthetics will be followed by a Japan tour in December 2026 and Kito Jempere’s ongoing residency at Honeycomb Hi-Fi in Dubai. Early support from: Ata, Reznik, Horse Meat Disco, Vladimir Ivkovic, Tim Sweeney, Max Pask, Rich Thair of Red Snapper, Ame, Ellen Allien, Benji B, John Tejada, The Blessed Madonna, Hard Ton
Sublime frequencies from the golden era of ambient electronica.
Plumbing hidden depths beneath a deceptively tranquil surface, MLO's mid-90s masterpiece Io is an overlooked gem from a golden era for ambient electronic music. Originally released in 1994, Jon Tye and Pete Smith's collaborative album responded to the growing chill-out movement by leaning into classical and avant-garde influences from Satie, Debussy and Cage through to Soft Machine, Incredible String Band and Eno. Recorded across various studios stacked with classic and rare synths, Io was patiently composed into slowly unfolding suites punctuated with ripples of arrhythmic interference to arrive at a purist vision of true ambient.
The next instalment in Forever Records' ongoing reissue series shines a light back on this landmark piece of UK electronica with the first official reissue since its original edition on Rising High. As well as the original double LP pressing and a new CD digipak version, there will also be a uniquely numbered, limited edition housed in a gatefold sleeve that comes with a bonus 10" featuring two previously unreleased versions of the album's opening cut, 'Wimborne'.
Press response to Io:
"Not so much ambient, more environmental music, Io lets you bring as much (or as little) of your surroundings in as suits your mood. Every listen can be different. Interactive ambient at last.”
IO is pure ambience. Relying on motif as opposed to melody, MLO have produced a truly evocative album.
Peter McIntyre, Mixmag, UK 1994.
"MLO's influences range from the likes of Eric Satie and the intellectual salon music of his era to the more predictable reference point of dubby, modern techno, though they feel, perhaps rather contentiously, that "ambient music can exist in isolation from the rest of the dance music arena". Can it? Take a trip to Io, and find out."
Generator Magazine, UK 1994.
"If you like your ambient deep and moody with long chords that creep along at approximately the speed of drying paint then check out MLO’s Io."
Mixology, UK 1994.
"MLO set the controls for the heart of headspace for their first full album release. Io is top grade ambient brain… Ace album…"
Select, UK 1994.
For the label's latest, Oath is proud to present 'Honey Tangerine', the newest mini-album from producer extortionaire Olsvangèr, who serves up his signature blend of hyper-kinetic, ever-shifting dance music.
Olsvangèr's sound and musical journey are forever rooted in the liminal spaces that make up the broad-reaching and ever-shifting electronic music landscape, with his records consistently channeling that in-betweenness that imprints lasting impressions. A classically trained musician with a profound passion for house and techno, Olsvangèr's sonic palette is one of both broad and delicate brush strokes, applying an array of compelling motifs within amorphous arrangements that blend and blur perspectives. His records seek out the faraway fringes as much as focusing on the intensity found in the detail, creating cavernous soundscapes that are impeccably tuned and effortlessly free-flowing. Seemingly genreless, his records are anchored in all that is known and loved, yet due to the music's perspective situated at the intersectionality of electronica, a beautiful anticipation resides within every stanza of his tracks at what may come next. His musical language has found him releasing on the likes of Kalahari Oyster Cult, Hooj Choons and Craigie Knowes, and follows through within his imprint Tofistock, which has been pushing some of the most forward-thinking dance music of recent times.
'Honey Tangerine' touches upon the classic motifs of Olsvangèr's sound, and as always, the room for growth within the record's parameters remains truly endless. Over six tracks, Olsvangèr lays bare the directions of travel, with paths unravelling that feel well trodden yet with some that branch out towards new horizons. 'Source of Thought' opens up proceedings with a captivating ambience, where twinkling hues and lively tones paint the parameters of sound. The chuggy breaks that land deep within the mix drop in and out of view, allowing a deft balance between pure ambiance and rhythm to exchange dialogue between one another. 'In a Nutshell' shifts gears in atmosphere and energy, with all eyes placed upon the club. The shifting rhythm section lifts the acidic melodic features up above, with driving bass notes and a euphoric vocal like lead linking the depths to the heavens. 'Tulpa Nine' swings into heads-down territory, where the drums swing slow and the throbbing bass hits heavy. The auto-tune vocal line up above creates an atmosphere of hazy, smoke-filled rooms, where the party yearns for downtime in anticipation of the next shift in energy.
'Sunrise on the Lips' gives over further chill out room vibrations, where the lights remain low, and smiles reside all around. The enriching drums provide the basis for sitars and glossy keys to glide across the top ends, with the mind invited to dip deep within this enthralling ensemble. 'Zoom It Out' provides the release into the room, with the ante upped. A breaky house leaning number, this cut grooves through its chiming melodic section and groove-laden bass line, with the polyrhythmic drumming pattern doing much to keep the energy residing very high indeed. The record is wrapped up with 'Some Air', which gives over one final jaunt through the airy, slowed-down slipstreams. A wondrous beat is complemented by melodic elements that chime, absorb and quiver, glowing through the night with such charm and feel. An engrossing composition that demonstrates what Olsvangèr is all about - a crafter of sound, where adventure is sought and found, never wavering but curating new connections, feelings, and tones, with an eye on what might come next.
Whether softly undulating or boundlessly expressive, Olsvangèr's music remains a beautiful enigma that serves up both the glorious knowns and the captivating unknowns - 'Honey Tangerine' is yet another chapter in his glorious discography.
Label head Len Faki joins forces with Icelandic dub techno pioneer Exos for Infinity In Loop, a joint exploration into cavernous depths and shifting tonal landscapes.
Two versions of the title track fill the entire A-side, each unfolding with patient intent. Drifting across icy atmospheres and static hums, Infinity In Loop’s first incarnation slowly builds into a mesmerizing, minimalistic loop—punctuated by delicate percussion and a faint, comforting sprinkle of melodic warmth amidst the arctic chill. The second iteration leans more into a classic 90s dub techno framework, launching straight into a steady pulse anchored by echoing chord pairs and crisp, high-energy percussion.
On the B-side, the duo shifts towards raw, dancefloor-driven territory. Aurora delivers impressive tension with dry, jacking rhythms, snappy percussion, and haunting vocal fragments cut up to drive the groove forward. Closing out the EP, Circuit Flux pairs sub-heavy low-end with unpredictable rave energy. Nostalgic 90s vocal cues, pitched-up hooks, and fidgety FX swell and recede over staunch synths—creating a dynamic, deeply layered track that constantly shifts between space and peak-time momentum.
DJ Support: Dj Harvey, Bicep, TEED, Sarah Story, Joe Goddard, Make A Dance, Dj Subaru, Demi Requismo, Horsemeat Disco, Greg Wilson, Crazy P, Justin Strauss, Sean Johnston (ALFOS), Masilmiliano Pagliara, Red Rack’em Jordan Nocturne , Gina Breeze, Heidi Lawden, Eugene Whang, Neil Diablo, Gina Breeze, Marcel Vogel.
After a mysterious hiatus, one of The essential edit labels of the 2010’s has returned just as inexplicably as it disappeared..
The previous 4 volumes now change hands with private collectors for $$ .. These limited run edits will no doubt sell out in similar fashion..
The A side see’s the most dance floor oriented but often over looked track from Bjork’s album Debut receive the DJ edit it always needed . A2 a unique rework of a very rare nrg record that started out like as Aerobics accompaniment album..
On the Flip B1 take Turn toward the Funk , PBR giving the heavy dub treatment to one of The Whispers most criminally ignored tracks. Rounding things off the B2 drifts into the work of wonky, sleazy Italo.. Magari uses the little understood “wrong speed” technique to sublime effect, combined with some extra synth work it delivers a an entirely different track…one for the heads..
DJ Support: Glenn Underground, Leo Mas, Sean Johnston / ALFOS, Massimiliano Pagliara / Panorama Bar, Al Mackenzie / Field of Dreams, Shane Johnson / Fish Go Deep, Flash Atkins / Paper Recordings, Pete Gooding, Mark Broadbent, Max Essa and plenty more.
2026 has been a particularly busy year for Visions of Light, the Balearic/ambient/dub trio founded by Freebooter Records’ Simon Sheldon alongside Muzka and Dan Dub Lounge. Following the Dedications EP – their warmly received collection of Balearic dub reinterpretations of White Isle-friendly club classics – the trio return with ‘Mycelium Bloom’, the follow-up to their 2025 debut LP The Mandela Vortex. Mycelium Bloom sees Visions of Light expand their signature sound, blending downtempo dub grooves and sunbaked Balearic soundscapes with hallucinatory electronics and psychedelic touches. Layered guitars, deep bass, immersive textures and dreamlike melodies run throughout an album designed for both sunset listening and deeper late-night excursions.
Opener Split The Scene sets the tone with acidic electronics circling languid beats, heavy bass and spacious pads, while All The Best Thing taps into the spirit of early ’90s chill-out rooms, adding desert blues influences to its hazy, enveloping atmosphere. Holding Jupiter pushes further into psychedelic territory, built around low-tempo rhythmic drift, effects-laden guitars and expansive chords. Elsewhere, the trio reconnect with their rootsier dub foundations. B Town delivers a warm, summery skank, while Radiant Flux shifts towards Balearic dub dancefloor territory. Perfect You, featuring words written and performed by Richard Dormer alongside flute from Luis Vilca, is a gorgeous sunset-ready highlight, while Let Go closes in on pure Balearic bliss through gentle melodies and slow-burning atmosphere.
Across the past decade, KAS has established herself as a unique voice in experimental electronic music, a composer and synthesist whose work dissolves the boundaries between ambient electronica, contemporary classical, composition, and immersive sound design. Her new album “Ruin: It’s Not Just Music” arrives with a distinctive gravitational pull. The record moves with greater physical force, placing rhythm and impact at the centre of its architecture, revealing a more confrontational and embodied dimension of KAS’s musical language.
The first single “Ruin” arrives May 22nd, with the full album released October 2nd via SOMEONE SPECIAL the new label co-founded by KAS.
Where much of KAS’s earlier work explored harmonic environments, the forthcoming album is built around tension and release. Inspired by the sound of drum and bass, breakbeats fracture through dense fields of synthesis, percussive patterns and her signature melodic fragments – motions that feel closer to the kinetic language of club music than the meditative spaces often associated with her past catalogue. The result is a body of work that feels both recognisably hers and newly charged, music that moves through the body as insistently as it engages the mind.
For listeners who first encountered KAS through the glowing synthesis of “Ears” (2016) or the intricate experimental pop of “The Kid” (2017), this direction may feel initially surprising, yet the shift has been quietly unfolding across the past several years. KAS’s practice has steadily expanded beyond the expectations placed upon experimental electronic artists, moving between orchestral composition, audiovisual installations, film scoring, and large-scale commissions while retaining the unmistakable sonic signature that defines her work.
The 2022 albums “I Could Be Your Dog / I Could Be Your Moon” (2022) and “Let’s Turn It Into Sound” (2022) explored a deeply immersive approach to composition, expanded her reputation and instinct for constructing detailed sonic ecosystems while continuing to blur the lines between experimental electronics and contemporary pop structures. KAS’s most recent output has continued to widen that field including the rhythm oriented electronic album “Gush” (2025) and her return to more orchestral roots with “Thoughts on the Future” (2025). Together these releases underscored the breadth of her practice.
Her prolific collaborators and creative partners have ranged from Patti Smith and Suzanne Ciani to Danny Elfman, Tycho, Glass Beams, RY X, Caribou, Four Tet, Reggie Watts, and Max Richter, while her compositions have appeared in projects with Apple, Chanel, Meow Wolf, the BBC Orchestra, and major film and television productions.
On “Ruin: It’s Not Just Music”, that vocabulary becomes more kinetic than ever before. The record draws energy from jungle, drum and bass, and dance-floor focused electronic music while retaining the intricate synthesis and tonal curiosity that have defined KAS’s work from the beginning. The result is a record that feels equally at home within club culture, contemporary composition, and the experimental spaces that have long championed her artistry.
On May 27th KAS will present a major performance at London’s Barbican Centre alongside the London Contemporary Orchestra, marking the ten-year anniversary of her landmark album Ears. The evening will trace the arc of her creative evolution while also introducing material from the new album.
Ismael Pinkler lives in Buenos Aires. Belly Dance Services head Nick Hanzo in Vienna. Turns out the exact midpoint between the two is somewhere in open ocean. So they abandoned the plan to meet on Earth at all, and met on planet 126 in outer space.
It turned out to be a strange, hospitable little world — spinning at its own pulse, 126 beats per minute, changing landscape every few kilometers, as if it couldn't decide what kind of planet it wanted to be either. Ismael and Nick wandered it together, letting each new terrain talk them into a different song, until ten tracks had quietly assembled themselves. What they brought back drifts somewhere between shoegaze, techno, ambient, trippy tribal house and pop — grounded and gravitational, emotional and mental, to put it in terms Earthlings might understand.
Now, speaking seriously: Ismael and Nick built Planet 126 by passing sounds and ideas back and forth across the ocean, night after night, for eight months. The entire process — composition, vocal recording, production and mixing — took just eight months, a dream scenario for any electronic musician. The collaboration stayed positive, proactive and fresh throughout, letting the project move forward effortlessly. All tracks were written and produced by both musicians together; Nick wrote the lyrics and recorded the vocals, Ismael handled the mix. No samples, no references — just two people building a world from scratch.
Planet 126 also marks a milestone for Belly Dance Services: the label's 30th release, and likely its last. BDS began with BDS001, a vinyl EP by label founders Hanzo & Yaman, and has been solely helmed by Nick Hanzo for the past five years. Now it comes full circle — laid to rest with a big bang: a double vinyl gatefold album co-produced by Ismael Pinkler and label head Nick Hanzo.
December 2012 I showed up totally exhausted in Vancouver BC after touring stupidly and relentlessly for however many straight months and got a job at a call centre raising money for the Red Cross. It was a scent free office but one time this woman cooked a piece of fish in the microwave for 10 minutes on low and hot boxed the whole office - we got sent home early no pay. There was the other woman I named the Call Centre Coltrane because her pitch and routine usually involved improvised flights of fancy that went off in both directions at once somehow landing back down with a credit card number and a donation. I used to sleep under the desk. I was there a few months and at the time I reconnected with John Brennan who I had played with briefly in Montreal at the Mutek Festival. In Montreal John was running an experimental music night at a burrito shop downtown called Garbage Night. While in Vancouver I began connecting with the music scene there and would go hang out with the Shearing Pinx lads who I think lived with Sydney the bass player at the time. I knew Nic and Jer from an AIDS Wolf Tour and was so stoked to get to know them both better. I really fell in love with that era of Vancouver's music scene.
Fast Forward to today. 2024
Actually it was the dying days of 2023 but you get it and John asks if I'll sit in with Earth Ball and I keep thinking about Earth Balance, the vegan butter everyone eats here. I brought my aching bones and my ipads on the beautiful ferry named the Queen of Oak Bay and out to Nanaimo BC, home of the nanaimo bar (a dessert treat - special to this region - that seems to be more popularly found under the weird glass sneeze guards in office building deli's out east in Ontario.... anyhoops ). No one in Nanaimo wants to talk to me about the famous treat. I asked a couple of people. Silence. Nanaimo is like London, Ontario but more fried and by the sea. The town is filled with blown out old sea dawgs with tin coffee pots and loose leaf tobacco, then there's the usual streetfolk you find in this part of the Canadian Pacific Northwest and a bunch of bohemians who I guess have left Vancouver behind - that fine city having become uninhabitable for those not making over 100k a year. And then up the way are all the retirees.
Yup Nanaimo is a strange one. They mined the shit out of this region and Nanaimo is surely haunted by those buried in mining shafts or maimed by the heavy machinery or blown up by accident in the explosives store house. And when Earth Ball fire up the amps in Izzy and Jer's basement you can hear the voices of the ghosts hum through electrical lines and out the speakers, Kellen's hued feedback, Izy's sturdy basslines, Jer's paperbag guitar tone and rumble pack zaps, Liam's (aka the Kid) sheets of sound and Brennen's multidirectional drums.
You wouldn't guess Earth Ball was auto-composing and from what my rat brain can tell - the lyrics are improvised too...Improvising lyrics and singing them is the hardest thing to do in all of music.. Izzy and Jer are pros. And their attitudes are pro too.
The live show is scorched and without naming names they've been known to make headliners nervous. Lucky ones will get to see them live as they tour this beast of a record entitled ‘It’s Yours’ (out May 17th on Upset The Rhythm) and I hope I'm one of them.
But now you, fan of fun but totally fucked up music, have the opportunity to Ball with them thanks to Upset The Rhythm. Enjoy
-Alex Moskos, Montreal QC, Feb 2024
Oráculo Records has always had a special interest in pushing electronic music towards unexplored territories, and it is precisely within this microcosm that IP307 emerges. Blending the most dub- infused and mechanical forms of electro with industrial, EBM and even post-punk, the project delivers a hypnotic, forceful and deeply cathartic sound.
Behind IP307 is Israel Padilla, founder of Banshees Records and one of the leading figures of the industrial scene in the Iberian Peninsula. With “IP307.1”, he presents six interconnected compositions, each with its own distinct identity while contributing to a coherent vision of seemingly opposing styles, reimagined into a singular language.
The result is neither a nostalgic exercise nor a stylistic collage. Instead, it reflects the experience, technical mastery and artistic vision of someone fully capable of expanding the path opened by pioneers such as Clock DVA in their later works, or Atom™, both through his solo output and as part of ASA alongside Esplendor Geométrico.
New sonic artillery for the most forward-thinking listeners already embracing this emerging strand of dark electro through our recent releases such as Occulimus by Mystic Letter K or the work of Maman Küsters, “IP307.1” offers another essential chapter in the evolution of this new form of sound. Welcome to the future. Welcome to IP307.
ValoVariou has become an established label, known for always bringing together a medley of talented artists of old and new. The third edition is spread across four underground cuts, slick minimal sounds, fused with a spaced out edge, creating a distinct synergy throughout the release. Behind the buttons is Twan Mulder, Harry Robson, Orbit and Dutch duo, MASI. Chemistry in curation as this sets up to be a soundtrack of the Autumn months!
Downtempo ambassadors Truffle101 continue to fly the flag for the chillers as they land on their fourth release. A new series within the label “Lazy Susan Selects”, various artist releases highlighting different moods and energy founders 2StepBec, oliver.r, and Zeus love to play.
Volume One moves across six different tracks spanning artists such as Scary Cherry (DJ Tjizza & Zeus), Fraise Records boss Wilba, and Rumps on the A side. On the flip side LA based Franky A kicks things off, before Jamie Leather enters with his “A Night Under The Sea”, and Locky Mazzucchelli closes with a hazy late night cut.
Keen listeners who have dug below the surface of Oren Ambarchi"s triple-digit discography know that alongside hypnotic minimalism, veins of irreverent and joyously wayward exploration run deep. Cooked is something of a landmark in Oren"s work, bringing this gloriously cuckoo sensibility right into the heart of his most high-profile solo work. Carrying on the grand Ambarchi tradition of meticulously constructed all-star studio jams (which reached new heights with Shebang), Cooked brings together collaborators from Australia, Germany, Japan and Sweden for two side-long epics where the foot keeps tapping even as the mind boggles. Cooked is a long way from the spacious, light-dappled grooves of Ghosted, but Oren"s Swedish bandmates play starring roles here, with Johan Berthling"s double bass anchoring both sides, and drummer Andreas Werliin lending his delicate touch to the second piece, "Sleight of Hand". Beginning with glistening layers of electric 12-string guitar, "Sleight of Hand" takes some key cues from electric Miles touchstones like "Feio" or his epic take on David Crosby"s "Guinnevere", with Berthling"s sparse basslines punctuating an almost weightless cornucopia of shifting detail, glimmering with subtle contributions from Michiko Ogawa on sho and James Rushford on a panoply of acoustic keyboards. Suddenly, everything is overwhelmed by a knotty, hyper-complex "solo" from Marcus Pal on digital synthesis, teleporting us to an alternate history where Allan Holdsworth traded the SynthAxe for Xenakis" UPIC. Building with additional drums and percussion from Will Guthrie to a peak of sizzling intensity, the music then goes sideways into a gently surreal coda, where some distinctly Zawinul-esque chords and Fredrik Rasten"s guitar float over a sprightly rhythm box, the avian inventions of Swedish virtuoso whistler Isak Hedtjärn wafting atop the sunlit stew.
Earth hat die moderne Musik maßgeblich geprägt - von Experimental Metal über Electronic/Ambient bis hin zu Stoner Rock - und Künstler von SUNN O))) über The Bug bis hin zu Godflesh beeinflusst. Die Geschichte von Earth wurde in der gefeierten Dokumentation "Even Hell Has Its Heroes" aus dem Jahr 2023 festgehalten. Das dritte Album von Earth, "Pentastar: In the Style of Demons" aus dem Jahr 1996, ist ein Klassiker der trägen Riff-Verehrung, der vor einer dicken, verzerrten Schmiere nur so strotzt, in der Black Sabbath, Hawkwind, Hendrix, Drone und Ambient-Musik miteinander verschmelzen. Das Ergebnis fühlt sich an wie eine lange, einsame Fahrt durch die Wüste, mit dem inneren und/oder äußeren Weltraum als einzigem Ziel. Als wohl rockorientiertestes Album der Band enthält "Pentastar: In the Style of Demons" die zeitlose ,Hit"-Single "Tallahassee". Diese 30-jährige Jubiläumsausgabe erscheint auf grünem Vinyl und enthält einen limitierten "Wraparound"-Kunstdruck mit einer Neuinterpretation des Albumcovers durch den zeitgenössischen Künstler Matt McCormick.
With great joy, we are happy to present to you our next release, celebrating the milestone of reaching 40 vinyl releases.
"From Vision To Reality" will not be a simple release, but a collection of 13 tracks produced by 13 different artists, divided across 3 discs. The selection of tracks will be a mix of up-and-coming artists, established ones, and dear friends, many of whom are making their first appearance on the label.
Opening and closing the compilation are the first two hip-hop instrumental tracks ever released on the label, by Chester Watson and Dean Denali.
In between is a selection of different styles, ranging from melodic Broken Beat and Ambient to Electro, passing through Acid Techno and Goa Trance, featuring artists such as Josh Abrahams (from FSOM), Wedding Acid Group, Sohrab, ADSR, Enrica Falqui, and Parand, to name a few.
A special triple gatefold sleeve has been carefully designed, including printed pictures on the inside that show memories from our journey. Starting from the very early days in London in 2012, they bring back special moments shared with people and friends, or simply, for those who were not there, offer a chance to learn more about our history.
A 30 × 60 cm poster will be included, printed on both sides. The full artwork of the release will appear on one side, while the other will feature pictures of the 13 artists along with their biographies.
DjRUM"s DJ-Kicks mix brings together his work as a DJ, producer and composer. Built around four new original compositions and exclusive contributions, "Flip" by Skee Mask and "Clonk Dual" by Clark, the release was developed from live vinyl mixes that were subsequently edited, collaged and expanded with overdubs. The mix moves between ambient, breakcore, classical music, punk, acid and experimental electronic sounds, combining a wide range of styles into a continuous sound collage.
180g Heavy double vinyl LP with liner notes by Tyran Grillo. Limited Japanese Obi for the first pressing. Original artwork by Russell Mills and photography by Jean-Baptiste Mondino.
The third Time Capsule is a body of dub reinterpretations by celebrated producer Bill Laswell of Ethiopian singer Gigi. Curated by Tokyo record collector, music researcher and seasoned reissue supervisor Ken Hidaka, it is the first time Illuminated Audio is pressed to vinyl after its CD release in 2003.
Ejigayehu Shibabaw was born in 1974 in Chagni, northwestern Ethiopia and by pursuing a career as a singer, went against her father’s strict, traditional gender roles. As Gigi, she embraced the same musical freedom she had strived for in her personal life, incorporating the Ethiopian church, funk, hip-hop, West and South African music into her work. She first settled in Nairobi, then Addis Ababa, where she quickly established herself as one of the city’s leading singers. A move to San Francisco in 1998 led to a long and fruitful creative partnership with bassist and producer Bill Laswell.
Around the same time, Chris Blackwell had stepped away from Island Records to start the art house film company and label Palm Pictures. He took an interest in Gigi and together with Laswell, pulled together an all-star cast of musicians for her self-titled US debut album, including Herbie Hancock, Pharoah Sanders and Wayne Shorter. It won international critical acclaim, not just for its musicianship but for making Gigi a “defining voice for the Ethiopian expatriate community”, as journalist Tyran Grillo praises in his Time Capsule liner notes. From the nation-defining 1896 victory over Italian invaders to the quiet revolutionaries who wear simple shemma garments, Grillo believes the themes in Gigi make it “a shower of sunlight on her homeland for those ignorant of its struggles.”
After its success, Blackwell encouraged them to go back into the studio to rethink the album and Illuminated Audio was born. “Anyone can make a voice sound worldly”, Grillo remarks, “but rare are those who can make one sound inner-worldly.” Gigi was clear with Laswell to give her vocals a minor role “because it’s already been done.” Instead her Amharic verse is fleeting, exhaling through the textures like ghostly fragments; soaring yet muted. Yet the album is still titled under her name, an assertion by Laswell of her central role in the album’s creation. Not only was it a fully endorsed project by Gigi, but she would be present throughout its development, giving feedback on half-finished ideas as Laswell played them back in the studio. “It works perfectly”, she reflected after the album’s release. “We wanted to capture the whole spirit of each track, and Bill’s remixes create a different music language that really puts you in a pleasant place”.
This new vocabulary takes its lead from a technical approach that Laswell had been perfecting during a furtive creative period at the turn of the millennium. Much like his ambient interpretations of Miles Davis (Panthalassa, 1998), Bob Marley (Dreams of Freedom, 1997), and Carlos Santana (Divine Light, 2001), Laswell approached Illuminated Audio by returning to the original multitrack masters. Gigi wasn’t just reworked, but recomposed into an expansive lattice of instruments, submerged in a watery ambience of dub and trance undercurrents.
Sonically, this new language that Gigi refers to, is manifested by the original album’s more understated parts being pushed to the fore. Explaining his contrasting methods, Laswell saw Gigi as being “put together in a way that fits”. Contrastingly, in Illuminated Audio, “a lot of things that I featured in the remix weren’t as audible in the original.” Instrumentation laying near-dormant, deep in the mix, are brought to the fore: the acid rock guitar and Wayne Shorter’s saxophone on ‘Tew Ante Sew’, Graham Haynes’ flugelhorn on ‘Nafekeñ’, Laswell’s bass on ‘Kahn’, the melodica in Mengedegna or the floating synths and talking drums in ‘Gud Fella’.
Brought to his attention by mentor DJ Nori, Hidaka describes Illuminated Audio as a “masterful sonic exploration into ethereal ambience and dub” and made sure this reissue also contained a full remaster to give its “deep musicality” much better dynamics and density in the overall sound. Hidaka admits that Laswell's music “is sometimes so out-there, it is often misunderstood” and, indeed, to dub album non-believers this might seem like a prolific producer imposing himself on another artist’s work; eternally developing rearrangements that never quite get to its destination. But that’s missing its true power and triumph. This is more than the reissue of a remix, but “a wholly unique musical entity”, as Hidaka describes. Illuminated Audio refers to the illuminated manuscripts that comprise the major part of Ethiopian art and its new compositions stand in proud solitude as a rare body of reworks that both informs and enhances their originals.
Paraiso has been doing vital work in Portugal - documenting the underground dance scene's history and pioneers in various mediums while also showcasing equally brilliant artists from newer generations. And they've been doing it for a decade now: we all know that a label dedicated to its local scene through and through is something rare and should be celebrated. This compilation 'X - 10 Years of Underground House Music from a Paradise Called Portugal' is a manifestation of that cross-generational spirit, with ten never-before-heard pieces of music by initiators and legends like The Advent alongside more recent veterans like Roundhouse Kick and Vil or younger talent like Phoebe or Van Der. Things start off with Salbany's 'Trax 10', oozing a techno elegance and irrefutable groove that wonderfully portrays the spirit of the Lisbon sound: raw yet ethereal, disarming in its simplicity while containing rave, romance and rhythmic complexities. Label founders Maria Amor & Shcuro firmly carry on the torch with 'Intracellular', gelled by dubby washes, syncopated drums, infectious rhythmic sense and layered with a melodic vocal motif. Vil's 'Cave' brings in stone-cold tight percussion offset by rich, evocative pads and technoid know-how for days. The Advent steps in with an ode to acid-minimalism, raw and slow-burning, with curious and twisted moments peppered with the skill of an expert. Van Der storms in with a piece of hybrid qualities, impeccably blending a swing onto industrial territories for a hypnotic-yet-banging hands in the air dancefloor moment. Scam Dust (the duo of Tiago and Shcuro, from adjacent generations) picks up on the industrial flavours, adds furious jacking rhythmics and live sonic experimentation that takes us to peak-quality effect and noise manipulation. 'Subvert' follows and goes deeper, as if into the depths of the ocean, with aquatic arpeggios and sparse drums that morph into an 303-driven state of mysterious oceanfloor mania - Roundhouse Kick sending us messages from the South. Violet and her 'Dream Machine' emerge with its mutant noisy motif, delay-drenched percussion and steady beat interrupted by keys, drum variations - and a u-turn to its paranoid loopy beginnings. Phoebe enters the chat and brings sonic sun rays in 'Galaxia 2000', a wide-eyed moment lead by colourful, open synthesisers with gates and filters taking us on a beautiful ride on tense, swingy drum patterns. The tenth track comes from Lisbon's rkeat and is full of closing act ear-candy with its beautifully chiseled, groovy as hell percussion, organic sonics and metallic instruments that seem to announce that the next decade is about to be just as good, if not better than this lovely 2016-2026 stint of boundary and scene-pushing.
For their next release, Phase Group invites you deep into the mind of a singular artist to offer a glimpse of their prolific body of work, zooming in on music composed specifically between 2018 and 2021.
Across 16 tracks, ‘Summa 2018-2021’ by Serbian producer Andria reveals a highly unique approach to sound design and composition, spanning the realms of futuristic IDM, ritual ambient, fourth-world techno and other elusive electronic genres.
Listening to this album in its entirety feels like entering a self-contained sonic world, where animistic and ancestral traditions are refracted through unfamiliar forms of technology. It’s an album which moves effortlessly from moments of deep and contemplative abstraction, as heard in tracks like ‘Sunlessness’, with it's atmosphere of otherworldly field recordings and ancient rites, to propulsive tracks that will guide clubs through ceremonial trance states such as ‘Floating Island’, where industrial kicks underline expressive poly-rhythms, evocative synths and snarling digital glitches.
The release is a gripping and immersive listening experience filled with spellbinding and expertly conjured sounds alongside highly effective moments of dance music that will surely find their way into the sets of the most expressive and fearless DJs. This is one for fans of Coil, Shackleton, Andy Stott and Demdike Stare.
Behind the work is Andrija Čugurović the Belgrade-based artist. A graphic designer by day (and in-house designer here at Phase Group), he dedicates his nights and time away from work and production to Belgrade’s underground electronic scene, digging deep into the worlds of Bass, Techno, Industrial, Ambient, IDM, Experimental and Computer Music.
A regular attendee at spots like Drugstore and the 20/44 boat since a young age, Andrija has honed a deep connection with the music he creates and DJs and that is evidenced in this highly original collection of music. This is his second release on Phase Group, coming after his debut EP ‘o o o o o’ in 2020, the second release on the label.
'Summa 2018-2021’ is available digitally and on high-fidelity C-90 cassette, dubbed at Tapeline UK and distributed by Rubadub.
All tracks composed and produced by Andrija Čugurović.
Mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi.
Artwork by Andrija Čugurović.
Annie Bloch’s luvt is a quiet reorientation of the organ: away from its monumental image and ritualised spaces, towards the delicate mechanics of touch, air and friction. Across seven compositions marking her debut on OOH-sounds, the Cologne based organist and composer turns to the chest organ, a small and mobile counterpart to its larger relative, traditionally used to accompany Baroque music. On luvt, Bloch limits herself to just three stops of wooden pipes, using the instrument’s sensitive keyboard, mechanical subtle effects to crystalline sound world shaped by meditative strategies and fanciful detailing. Bloch’s approach sits at the crossroads of modern composition, new psychedelia, ambient and minimalist traditions, with occasional traces of an avant pop sensibility, while keeping the unique sound and physical character of the chest organ at its core.
The title luvt derives from the German luven, “to turn to the wind” and Luft, “air”, a gesture Bloch extends beyond the mechanics of the chest organ towards what cannot quite be grasped or put into words. Bloch follows the organ into quieter, more intimate territory, letting its monumental potential fade into the background while exploring the sensual its sound. luvt is a gentle and immersive meditation on the sound of the chest organ, revealing the instrument’s contemporary relevance while pushing its expressive possibilities into new territory.
Annie Bloch (*1994) is an organist, composer and songwriter based in Cologne, Germany. As an organist she performs solo and in alternating constellations with an improvisational and situational approach. The reality that every pipe organ as well as the space it speaks in is unique, is something she not only adapts to, but actively works with. The resulting composed improvisations explore states of change. Her pieces focus on the in-between-spaces, that are already leaning towards the next event. Searching for the ambivalences in a sound and lingering on them, her music resists singular truths. The musical material she draws from is informed by her engagement with the experimental music scene, but also by compositional styles of pop and ambient music. She has performed at Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Orgelpark Amsterdam, Philharmonie Köln, Moers Festival and others. As an indie-folk artist Annie Bloch released the album „I DEPEND“ (Papercup Records) with a chamber orchestral band, that she regularly performs with.
NOAHFINNCE’s ‘STUFF FROM MY BRAIN / MY BRAIN AFTER THERAPY’ is a collection of songs written before and after therapy.
The debut double EP collection features guest vocals from Chris Freeman of Hot Mulligan and builds the world of NOAHFINNCE’s unique, hyperactive brain.
The project tackles issues like depression, anxiety, ADHD, past trauma and the path toward prioritizing mental health.
Deeply personal, but always expressed with a cheeky, quirky, not-so-serious sense of humour, NOAHFINNCE showcases the big personality that has amassed a huge YouTube following and led
him toward being a leading voice in Trans/LGBTQ+ youth issues.
With songs like ‘AFTER THERAPY’ and ‘LIFE'S A
BIT’, NOAHFINNCE is poised to break out as this
year’s new star of the new wave of pop punk.
Vinyl Packaging: Gatefold LP + download card. Indie Exclusive Transparent Orange vinyl in gatefold jacket Limited to 1000. CD 6 panel Digipak. Gnosis is the highly anticipated 8th full length from Russian Circles. Across the span of their previous seven studio albums, Chicago-based instrumental trio Russian Circles traversed a diverse topography of sounds, moods, and approaches with their limited armory of drums, bass, and guitar. It’s difficult to chart an evolution in their sound when their records have always felt like well-curated playlists. It wasn’t uncommon to hear drone-heavy meditations, dazzling prog exercises, knuckle-dragging riff-fests, haunting folk ballads, and tension-baiting noise rock all within the span of one album. Still, it’s difficult to ignore the progression from the pensive and intricate melodies of Enter (2006) to the layered distorted dirges of Blood Year (2019). It’s been a gradual sonic shift owing to the band’s rigorous tour schedule and a predilection towards playing their more authoritative material on stage. But with their latest album, Gnosis, Russian Circles eschew the varied terrain of their past work and bulldoze a path through the most tumultuous and harrowing territory of their sound. As was the case for so many artists in the age of COVID, the obstacles of geography and isolation forced Russian Circles to reevaluate their writing process. Rather than crafting songs out of fragmented ideas in the practice room, full songs were written and recorded independently before being shared with other members, so that their initial vision was retained. While these demos spanned the full breadth of the band’s varied styles, the more cinematic compositions were ultimately excised in favor of the physically cathartic pieces. Gnosis was engineered and mixed by Kurt Ballou. Drums and bass were tracked at Electrical Audio in Chicago to maximize the natural room sounds of the rhythm section. Guitar and synth overdubs were conducted at God City in Salem, MA to take advantage of Ballou’s vast inventory of amps and effects pedals. Despite the entirety of the album being written remotely, the songs were recorded with the full band playing together to retain the live feel of the material. Owing to the climate of the times and a new writing method, Russian Circles created their most fuming and focused work to date—an album that favors the exorcism of two years’ worth of tension over the melancholy and restraint that often colored their past endeavors. European Co-Headline tour with Cult of Luna slated for Marc 2023 (Dates TBA). Russian Circles have received coverage from most notable press including Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, Stereogum, FADER, AV Club, Consequence, Decibel, Revolver and much more.
Dire Straits' arresting self-titled debut arrived in the midst of punk's reign but couldn't have been further removed from the era's slash-and-burn style. Recorded in West London in February 1978, the band's tasteful, jazz-inflected set embraces folk, blues, and pub rock while also tracing a direct line back to the beat-oriented sound of early rock n' roll. Country and roots accents further distinguish the British quartet's stripped-down music from any 1970s peers, as does the transparent production, which has remained revered among audiophiles the world over – and which has never been better than on this meticulous pressing.
Mastered from the original master tapes and pressed at RTI, Mobile Fidelity's 180g 45RPM 2LP version of Dire Straits features natural tonalities, superb balances, you-are-there imaging, deep-black backgrounds, and pristine clarity. Even if you've heard this album hundreds of times before, you've never experienced it with such lifelike sonics and premium richness. This numbered-edition collector's set immerses you within the smoky, laidback atmospherics of every song. This is how all vinyl should sound.
Crucial to every arrangement, Mark Knopfler's winding guitar lines emerge with supreme transparency and multi-hued textural detail. His intricate playing comes across as if it's being transmitted via his 60s-era Fender Vibrolux amplifier placed right before you. The cleanliness, dimensions, and live feel are that good. His bandmates, too, benefit from the extra groove space afforded by this 45RPM edition. Rhythms skate and swirl; percussive effects resonate with crispness and attack; the leading edges of notes naturally decay.
Dire Straits' strong, well-edited batch of original material further enhances the overall enjoyment and makes the record one whose pleasures go far beyond the organic sonics. Just as Knopfler's narratives pour forth with poetic and surrealist texts, the musical settings – an intoxicating combination of easygoing shuffles, back-hall boogies, and pop-honed ballads – mirror the old-fashioned soulfulness inherent in the classic recordings of the late 50s and early 60s. The lyrics are equally captivating.
Drawing from his time as a youth in Newcastle, Leeds, and London, Knopfler invests tunes with an autobiographical slant and emotional connectivity that become obvious the moment he opens his mouth to sing. "Down to the Waterline," "Wild West End," and "Lions" all feature colloquial touches that add to their reach. By extension, "In the Gallery" functions as a tribute to Leeds sculptor Harry Phillips (father of future Knoplfer collaborator, Steve Phillips) while the record's breakout smash, "Sultans of Swing," pays homage to struggling bar bands.
Through it all, Dire Straits performs with a subtle cool and clever poise that no band ever matched. Just how good is the chemistry? Bob Dylan heard the quartet and invited Knopfler and drummer Pick Withers to play on Slow Train Coming. But even Dylan himself didn't hear Dire Straits sound this magnetic back in its original heyday. Now, everyone can.
The Nu’rons were a family group consisting of two sets of brothers and cousins, the four young men in question being brothers Daryl Howard and Raymond Gibson (Daryl’s mother registered him under his father’s surname of Howard and Raymond under her maiden name of Gibson) together with Otho Bateman and Charles Bateman. They were all born and raised in Salem, New Jersey and from the age of ten and eleven began singing with a fifth member and Gibson brother Rudolph as a group called The Gospel 5. They eventually decided to crossover to secular music and as a group known for their energetic dance routines they came up with the new performing name of ‘The Nu’rons’ (taken from the word ‘Neuron’ which is a cell that transmits nerve impulses). However Rudolph was soon to leave the group due to physical illness. Also Daryl Howard and Charles Bateman had also been part of a working group known as The Devotions prior to becoming The Nu-Ron’s.Following hours of practice The Nu’rons eventually felt confident enough to put their own shows together and began to perform at local dances and parties around New Jersey and Philadelphia, often being used as a non-paid warm up act for bigger named artists. They moved between several different managers including Jimmy Bishop (Duo Dynamic Productions) until they came under the tutelage of WDAS radio DJ Georgie Woods (his wife Gilda, being the owner of the Philadelphia Gil, Dion and Top & Bottom record Labels). It was Georgie who introduced them to Manny Campbell who in turn invited them to an audition at his and partner Charles Bowen’s Emandolynn Music studio in Chester P.A. The song The Nu’rons chose to audition with was the self penned “I’m A Loner”, the audition went well, as during late January/early February of 1970 Manny and Charles took The Nu’rons into the Sigma Sound Studio’s with Tom Bell and the TSOP musicians to record “I’m A Loner” and “All My Life” which was released on the Nu-Ron label in April of the same year. The two studio takes presente don this release came short after the band moved on from the collaboration with producer Emanuel Campbell to take music matters in their own hands. Beside recording "Disco Hustle" to be part of the disco boom in Philly of the times, they recorded also “You Came Thru”, a rough yet beautiful heavy bassline driven soul funk recording, and the just amazing “Hurry Up Tomorrow”, here presented in one of the original Studio takes.
“Danny Elfman’s musical score was to die for, and
it was incorporated into ‘Wednesday’’s joyfully
bleak coming-of-age story so brilliantly.” -
Double LP on Purple Goth with Smoky Shadow
vinyl, with full colour gatefold sleeve and inner
sleeves.
Composed by four-time Oscar nominee, two-time
Emmy winner Danny Elfman (‘Milk’, ‘Big Fish’,
‘Men in Black’, ‘Good Will Hunting’, ‘Live from
Lincoln Center’, ‘Desperate Housewives’, ‘The
Simpsons’) and three-time Emmy nominee Chris
Bacon (‘The Tick’, ‘Bates Motel’, ‘Smash’,
‘Gnomeo & Juliet’, ‘Sherlock Gnomes’,
‘Immanence’).
Elfman also composed music for Tim Burton’s
‘Beetlejuice’, ‘Batman and Batman Returns’, ‘The
Nightmare Before Christmas’, ‘Mars Attacks!’, ‘Big
Fish’ (for which Elfman earned one of his four
career Oscar nods) and ‘Alice in Wonderland’,
among others.
Chris Bacon is a protege of the great James
Newton Howard, and won an HMMA for ‘Gnomeo
& Juliet’, which he shared with James and Bernie
Taupin (Elton John).
Online - Promoted through all Lakeshore Records social
media.
Djrum's first release since 2019, the Meaning’s Edge EP is an introduction to a whole new world. For the artist also known as Felix Manuel, it was created in the final stretches of six rather traumatic years work. Having carefully honed his techniques and aesthetics, and learned some hard-won emotional lessons over this time, finally he began to work in a quicker, lighter fashion – and to cleanse his palate a little by bringing in a fresh ingredient: his own flute playing. For listeners, though, it will serve as an appetiser, a way into the delights and complexities of this new phase of his creativity.
It’s a serious work in its own right, mind. The use of flutes – including Bansuri, Shakuhatchi, Western Classical, and synthesised all blending and blurring into one another – gives it a coherence and a sense of airiness that unites the five tracks over half an hour, however divergent their beats get. And as in all his music, Felix’s whole life is in here. Ethnomusicology studies, untold hours of DJing everywhere from the gnarliest squat raves to the most rarefied deep house clubs, explorations of his own neurological and emotional makeup, and the technical finesse of someone who is never not creating music or art, all roll into an experience that’s dazzling, delightful and keeps on giving.
Just the opening track ‘Codex’ alone touches on OG dubstep, Aphex Twin-like braindance, post-classical exploration, movie themes and more. The gentle tones and melodies that rise up out of it perfectly conjure Felix’s running theme of a protective bubble that provides a sense of safety and tranquillity even as the beats and acid gurgles and spurts all around it conjure up the slings and arrows of life’s difficulties.
The tone set, the EP moves through ultra-rarefied glass-like percussion in an almost ambient setting, hints of grime’s counterintuitive patterns, and even more hectic patterns influenced by Tanzania’s hyperspeed singeli style of dance music – but always with that perfect balance of chaos and control, unpredictability and protection. It rewards playing and replaying endlessly, it’s a profound and often joyous experience… and it’s only just the beginning. This is the return of a master craftsperson more focused than ever on his vision and vocation and ready to blow your mind all over again.
Mastered and cut on 140g black vinyl by legendary mastering engineer Matt Colton at Metropolis Studios, London. Pressed at optimal media, Germany.
