quête:idea 6

Electro Drill breakbeat, smiling electro experimental music.

"Petrol", one of Manu Kenton's most iconic tracks, makes its highly anticipated return in a limited edition that will appeal to both collectors and techno enthusiasts. This special version features not only the original track, but also exclusive remixes that reinterpret the piece from different angles, offering a diverse and exciting sonic palette.

Manu Kenton, staying true to his creative genius, revisits his own track by adding an energetic and catchy vocal, bringing a fresh new dynamic to the already electrifying atmosphere of the original.
The Gregor Size remix is a true powerhouse: dynamic, industrial, and powerful, it transforms "Petrol" into a heavy, punchy piece, with dark textures and irresistible rhythms that leave a lasting impression.
Greg Denbosa, on the other hand, delivers a progressive techno remix, with a dynamic and repetitive beat that builds tension, creating a hypnotic experience perfectly suited for the dancefloor.
Finally, Bestien offers a nervous, straight, and punchy version, ideal for the peak moments of a night. His explosive remix ramps up the intensity on the dancefloors, with raw energy and power that demands attention.

Visually, this vinyl stands out with its "Yolk" effect, a unique blend of white and white with luminous accents, creating a striking and modern design that will enhance any collection.

Français

"Petrol", l'un des morceaux les plus emblématiques de Manu Kenton, fait son grand retour dans une édition limitée qui séduira aussi bien les collectionneurs que les passionnés de techno. Cette version spéciale inclut non seulement la version originale du titre, mais aussi des remixes inédits qui réinterprètent le morceau sous des angles différents, offrant ainsi une palette sonore variée et excitante.

Manu Kenton, fidèle à son génie créatif, revisite son propre morceau en y ajoutant un vocal énergique et entraînant, donnant une nouvelle dynamique à l'atmosphère déjà électrisante de l'original.
Le remix de Gregor Size est un véritable tour de force : très dynamique, industriel et puissant, il transforme "Petrol" en une œuvre lourde et percutante, avec des textures sombres et des rythmes irrésistibles qui marquent les esprits.
Greg Denbosa, quant à lui, propose un remix techno progressif, avec un beat dynamique et répétitif qui crée une tension croissante, offrant une expérience hypnotique et parfaitement calibrée pour les sets dansants.
Enfin, Bestien livre une version nerveuse, droite et percutante, idéale pour les moments intenses d'une soirée. Son remix explosif fait monter l’intensité sur les dancefloors, avec une énergie brute et une puissance qui ne laisse personne indifférent.

Visuellement, ce vinyle se distingue par un effet "Yolk", un mélange unique de blanc et de rouge lumineux, créant un visuel frappant et moderne qui enrichira toute collection.

Finally, it's here: the new Kettel! And we certainly know we're on the Kettel estate: the delicate melodies, complex orchestrations, and the crisp sound design offer familiar musicality. The new Kettel hasn't skimped on ideas and details, and each track opens a courtyard that rewards surrender and attention--we want to linger there. One thing is clear from Dubio: if you thought you'd heard all of Kettel by now, you're mistaken. In the new Kettel, doubt (dubio in Latin) and dissonance have also become part of the beauty--and in doing so, it breathes more character and liveliness than ever.

Music possesses an incredible ability to transform raw emotion into an expansive array of expression. Nackley knows this ideation well. Having spent years working behind the scenes as an agent, Bordello’s latest discovery now steps fully into the spotlight with Anger Management, channeling the turbulence of transition into sound.

Cathartic and charged compositions are at the heart of this four-track release. Acid-dipped keys are both delicate and direct in the driving highs of Return of the Gecko, a track pulsing with raw energy. The crueler side of the music industry isn’t so much parodied here as it is dismissed entirely—Nackley lets the music do the talking. Sublime Desolation is pure dancefloor dynamite, where synth sirens detonate and explosive rhythm commands movement.

Been A Long Time arrives dripping in attitude. Breaks and a juddering bassline face off with a hustling 303 hook, harmonies weaving through deep sonic textures. A renewed confidence courses through the release as Nackley explores a range of styles, closing with the synth romance of Heartbreaker—an addictive blend of keyboards, guitar strings, and enveloping vocals are the emotive ingredients of this tear-streaked work of 1980s-inspired joy.
And joy is exactly what Anger Management delivers—a healing triumph and a bold debut declaration from a rising talent.

Every so often an album of such deceptive genius, of such aesthetic clarity, comes across our desk and transfixes us. Thought Leadership's III Of Pentacles is one such work of art. It's an instant classic and glides into the pantheon of timeless guitar-soul totems. Originally out on cassette only, we present the first ever vinyl issue. It's a hideously limited pressing of 300 for the world, so don't sleep on this.

Thought Leadership has already garnered big support from such tastemakers as Ruf Dug, Jason Boardman, Nathan Gregory Wilkins, J Walk, Evan Woodward, Justin Robertson and Heavenly's Jeff Barrett. The first time we heard III Of Pentacles, we nearly wept at the thought that something so beautiful, so bursting with real hope, could even exist in this brutal world. To quote the Quietus, "imagine if Stockport was situated somewhere along the Pacific Coast Highway rather than the M60, and you’ll have some idea of the coordinates to the post-industrial, sunburnt dream space opened up here."

So, who is Thought Leadership? What do we know about them? They reside in Stockport and are obsessed with ethereal guitar records. That’s about it. That and these X ideas shared with you, the listener.

Captured on a multitrack recorder in a terraced house in Stockport, this is as DIY as it gets. Glaringly obvious is a love for classic Factory and early 4AD. Perhaps it is the proximity to the River Mersey where the ideas arrived, and there being but three miles between where this and the Durutti Column’s classic “LC” was recorded, as the two operate across a familiar aural plain. Be it geographic or otherwise, limited by a true economy of means, namely guitar, pedals and drum machine, the fruit borne from these humble tools has been indelibly shaped by the perma-gloom that hangs low over the Manchester and Stockport environs.

Ushered in on 808 kicks, “I” opens the record as a beautiful Sketch for Stockport; a chiming maj7 chord dripping in chorus and delay sets us on our way. The Vini Reilly comparisons are unavoidable. “II” is all John McGeoch, with its trippy goth-psyche arpeggiated pattern cascading across the stereo image. Do those drums swing? But goths don’t swing?! They do here. We’re treated to a bit of crunch on the lead guitar part and some really lush reverb. We even step forth into shoegaze territory, albeit briefly, for the middle eight. “III”, a firm Be With favourite, continues the dreamy psyche leanings of the previous track, with an even bigger melody this time. We’re hearing The Teardrop Explodes on quaaludes here. A proto-dream pop cut soaked in melancholy. But watch out! The coda finds Johnny Marr has gotten into the ‘ludes and gatecrashed the final bars with some incredibly ignorant B minor pentatonic noodling.

“IV” ditches the drum machine for the first in a suite of three beatless electric guitar duets. The first of these semi-improvised rubato ideas is a striking departure from the earlier playful pieces, coming over emo and moody. Greyscale sulking for Stratocaster. Sign us up. “V” contains some really lyrical phrasing; a gorgeous conversation between two guitars. Real Stopfordian Primitive; meditative, crude, rain-soaked. We cycle through the same feels, then end on an alluring chord that breaks the pattern. Sometimes thoughts are like this. “VI” creeps in all plaintive, then a huge reverberating descending guitar line comes tumbling in like something off those classic Dif Juz 12”s. There’s some Maurice Deebank in there too, for sure, and the coda nods to early Meat Puppets.

“VII” rounds out the A Side, and succinctly presents a summary of all ideas explored thus far on our journey. The drum machine is back, this time with some wispy delay, before both guitars enter together playing interlocking lines. As we start, we end, with the delayed 808 guiding us out.

Opening Side B, “VIII” sees us embark on the other side of our journey as we slow down and space out. The drum machine is here, but the guitars are different now. Think Sensations Fix or Göttsching at his most peeled out. Drones, ambient drifts of broken chords and distorted lead lines all swirl round the mix. Side B is one for headphones for sure. “IX” is almost too exquisite for words. A New Age Mixolydian voyage through the cosmos. If you’re unmoved by the end you’ve probably got no pulse. We were left blunted ineffable by this one, such is the smudged elegance radiating from this idea. All hail the Thought Leader.

“X” is a full circle moment, and a fitting end. If you’ve not already elsewhere across the platter, you will be getting heavy Robin Guthrie vibes from this piece. Like the rest of Side B, this improvised jam sticks within a framework of related chords but the celestial energies channelled might invite us to wander “outside”, especially when the Tubescreamer is engaged.

RIYL Durutti Coulmn, Cocteau Twins, Dif Juz, Sensations Fix, Spike and adjacent guitar musicks – but, ultimately, this is just its own thing; such is the strength of ideas presented. "It’s good music to chill out to." (??)

Be With is honoured to present the first ever vinyl release of III Of Pentacles, carefully remastered by Be With's engineer Simon Francisco to ensure it sounds better than ever after its initial tape release. Cicely Balston's expert skills have made sure nothing is lost in the cut whilst the records have been pressed to the highest possible standard at Record Industry, in Holland. The original tape cover artwork, so crucial to Thought Leadership's striking visual aesthetic, has been rejigged for vinyl issue here at Be With. Its stark presentation befits the music contained within. They inform us that they shuffled their tarot deck to ask what the album should be called and the card you see on the cover popped out. The III Of Pentacles tarot card represents teamwork, shared vision and the ability to achieve goals through collaboration. We like to think Thought Leadership and Be With have nailed this one.

Kneading dough is tricky – you should know how it’s supposed to feel. If you try too hard you could make it worse. It’s a beautiful practice – creation with a gentle touch, to work at something so it can be left alone. “If it’s too drawn out it’s awful. It’s easy to give too much.” Dance in the mirror. Contemplate your veiny hands. Who do they remind you of?

You begin by mixing flour and water. “What happens when your people die? Why’d they move the rock to the other side of Ulster Park?” Eliza Niemi asks two seemingly unrelated questions in a rising melody with guitar accompaniment, like fingers playing spider up to the nape of your neck. Gentle pressure. Strands of gluten form to bind the mix. A new question lingers in the binding. When she admits “but I don’t know how to tell if I’m feeling it or not,” that question surfaces through the text. It is reiterated throughout the album. When I’m working with dough I think the same thing to myself.

On Progress Bakery, her second album as a solo artist, Eliza knows to leave some questions alone – to let juxtaposition and tension be the proof. It doesn’t have to be hard. The feelings and revelations they provoke rise in the heat. The smell is sweet. Crispy on the outside and soft all the way through. She playfully slip-slides through words and sounds and images, delighting in surprise, skimming ideas like stones cast across clear water, touching down briefly with uncommon grace.

The question provoked between those opening lines resurfaces in the strands between songs – “Do U FM” is fully formed and beautifully layered, while “Novelist Sad Face” is a short, acapella rendering of gentle curiosity. What is holding these ideas together? Some songs demand more, seem to carry a whole load – eventually the skipping stone will halt to sink and resume its idle duty – while others drift in and out of focus, the way thoughts and dreams become interwoven before the mind is sunk into true sleep.

Music and words don’t always have to interact. Where she decides to keep them apart gives a new contour to where and how she puts them together. The kind of thing you’re supposed to take for granted with songs and their singers comes alive in Eliza’s hands – the little miracle of mixing, kneading, stretching, and stopping.

So often on Progress Bakery, Eliza teases out truth and meaning by asking questions. “Do I wanna be crying?” “Do you want me good or do you want me bad?” “Do I need an eye test?” “I’m writing songs in my head while you’re going over stuff with me — is that cruel??” In “Pocky” Eliza ends with a question that feels to me like the actual biography, succinct and revealing:

I don’t wanna be made to see
I just wanna ask “what’s that?”

Grace that ought to be rare, but in its care and precision is offered humbly, with great generosity, and without announcing itself. Eliza’s simple, miraculous music is given further form and shape by a group of collaborators – invaluable guest musicians Jeremy Ray, Evan Cartwright, Steven McPhail, Kenny Boothby, Ed Squires, Carolina Chauffe, Dorothea Paas, Louie Short, and Avalon Tassonyi. Together with Louie Short, who recorded, mixed, and produced the album along with Jeremy Ray and Lukas Cheung, Eliza has cultivated a richness in sound and texture that prods and provokes the ticklish ear. Barely audible guitar tinkering, a brief lo-fi field recording of trumpets, the harmonic clicking of a looped synthesizer, a flourish of reeds, a child’s conversation, each uncanny sound perfectly placed, rippling out under a soft breeze.

Lay in bed alone at night and ask aloud to the stillness,

“What were you doing at the Albuquerque Airport?
What were you doing there??”

And hear your question answered by a dream of swelling, undulating cellos. Try to grasp at the melody and structure. It’s not an answer (if there could be one), but it moves deeper, closer to the weird layer of fleeting moments and disconnected images, barely perceptible at its core. Wait for the dream reel to click into place.

Eliza took me for a ride in Nicole (her beloved Dodge Grand Caravan) and told me she’d been thinking of the album as an embodiment of transition – and I think every transition, known or unknown, carries the weight of new meaning, skittering off the surface tension of life as you know it, creating ripples, sometimes bouncing off and sometimes breaking through. There is a trick you can use to tell if a dough is glutinous enough. You’re supposed to stretch it out as thin as you can without breaking it and hold it up to the light. If you can see through, even if it renders the world murky and uncertain, you should leave it alone. I love this trick. It’s one that Eliza seems to know intuitively: work gently and ask questions and don’t always expect answers, and when you can, take a glimpse at something new, and then leave.

Kneading dough is tricky – you should know how it’s supposed to feel. If you try too hard you could make it worse. It’s a beautiful practice – creation with a gentle touch, to work at something so it can be left alone. “If it’s too drawn out it’s awful. It’s easy to give too much.” Dance in the mirror. Contemplate your veiny hands. Who do they remind you of?

You begin by mixing flour and water. “What happens when your people die? Why’d they move the rock to the other side of Ulster Park?” Eliza Niemi asks two seemingly unrelated questions in a rising melody with guitar accompaniment, like fingers playing spider up to the nape of your neck. Gentle pressure. Strands of gluten form to bind the mix. A new question lingers in the binding. When she admits “but I don’t know how to tell if I’m feeling it or not,” that question surfaces through the text. It is reiterated throughout the album. When I’m working with dough I think the same thing to myself.

On Progress Bakery, her second album as a solo artist, Eliza knows to leave some questions alone – to let juxtaposition and tension be the proof. It doesn’t have to be hard. The feelings and revelations they provoke rise in the heat. The smell is sweet. Crispy on the outside and soft all the way through. She playfully slip-slides through words and sounds and images, delighting in surprise, skimming ideas like stones cast across clear water, touching down briefly with uncommon grace.

The question provoked between those opening lines resurfaces in the strands between songs – “Do U FM” is fully formed and beautifully layered, while “Novelist Sad Face” is a short, acapella rendering of gentle curiosity. What is holding these ideas together? Some songs demand more, seem to carry a whole load – eventually the skipping stone will halt to sink and resume its idle duty – while others drift in and out of focus, the way thoughts and dreams become interwoven before the mind is sunk into true sleep.

Music and words don’t always have to interact. Where she decides to keep them apart gives a new contour to where and how she puts them together. The kind of thing you’re supposed to take for granted with songs and their singers comes alive in Eliza’s hands – the little miracle of mixing, kneading, stretching, and stopping.

So often on Progress Bakery, Eliza teases out truth and meaning by asking questions. “Do I wanna be crying?” “Do you want me good or do you want me bad?” “Do I need an eye test?” “I’m writing songs in my head while you’re going over stuff with me — is that cruel??” In “Pocky” Eliza ends with a question that feels to me like the actual biography, succinct and revealing:

I don’t wanna be made to see
I just wanna ask “what’s that?”

Grace that ought to be rare, but in its care and precision is offered humbly, with great generosity, and without announcing itself. Eliza’s simple, miraculous music is given further form and shape by a group of collaborators – invaluable guest musicians Jeremy Ray, Evan Cartwright, Steven McPhail, Kenny Boothby, Ed Squires, Carolina Chauffe, Dorothea Paas, Louie Short, and Avalon Tassonyi. Together with Louie Short, who recorded, mixed, and produced the album along with Jeremy Ray and Lukas Cheung, Eliza has cultivated a richness in sound and texture that prods and provokes the ticklish ear. Barely audible guitar tinkering, a brief lo-fi field recording of trumpets, the harmonic clicking of a looped synthesizer, a flourish of reeds, a child’s conversation, each uncanny sound perfectly placed, rippling out under a soft breeze.

Lay in bed alone at night and ask aloud to the stillness,

“What were you doing at the Albuquerque Airport?
What were you doing there??”

And hear your question answered by a dream of swelling, undulating cellos. Try to grasp at the melody and structure. It’s not an answer (if there could be one), but it moves deeper, closer to the weird layer of fleeting moments and disconnected images, barely perceptible at its core. Wait for the dream reel to click into place.

Eliza took me for a ride in Nicole (her beloved Dodge Grand Caravan) and told me she’d been thinking of the album as an embodiment of transition – and I think every transition, known or unknown, carries the weight of new meaning, skittering off the surface tension of life as you know it, creating ripples, sometimes bouncing off and sometimes breaking through. There is a trick you can use to tell if a dough is glutinous enough. You’re supposed to stretch it out as thin as you can without breaking it and hold it up to the light. If you can see through, even if it renders the world murky and uncertain, you should leave it alone. I love this trick. It’s one that Eliza seems to know intuitively: work gently and ask questions and don’t always expect answers, and when you can, take a glimpse at something new, and then leave.

“On course towards future raucous, beer-soaked headline festival
sets.” - NME
“Screw-you power, relentless motorik rhythms and impressively large
choruses.” - The Guardian
“Unrelenting, gritty energy” - Daily Star
Sprints unearth their frenzied new EP, ‘Manifesto’, out via Nice Swan
Records.
Produced by Daniel Fox of Girl Band - Dublin’s answer to Steve Albini
- the four tracks make for a hard-hitting gloom-punk journey you
can’t miss. Like the Irish guitar acts who have paved the way for
them - Fontaines D.C., Silverbacks and Girl Band - Sprints sound
urgent and vital at every turn.
‘Swimming’ is a confluence of rabble-rousing stadium rock, sleazy
garage rock and Sonic Youth experimentation. Lyrically, there’s a lot
to hang on to too, which is unsurprising given how topical the band
are: ‘Drones’ took on imposter syndrome; ‘Manifesto’ tackled
homophobia.
‘Swimming’ scorns on the increasing lack of opportunity after
following prescribed paths to become society’s idea of a ‘success’.
Sprints singer Karla Chubb explains: “While the homeless crisis
worsens, the city is sinking in debt and everyone can barely keep
their heads above water, you see an article stating that a new €25
million white water rafting centre is being developed after approval
by Dublin City Council. Sometimes you’d just rather drown.”
Sprints have hit a nerve. The velocity of this argument comes from
personal anguish but will chime with a generation. And with such
honesty running through their core it’s no wonder The Guardian,
NME and BBC Radio 1 and 6Music have tipped them for big things.
Tourdates - October 7 Roisin Dubh Galway, 8 Kasbah Limerick, 9 The
Grand Social Dublin, 21 The Waiting Room London, 23 Heartbreakers
Southampton, 26 Sneaky Pete’s Edinburgh, 27 The Attic Glasgow, 28 The
Castle Manchester, 30 The Sunflower Lounge Birmingham, 31 Bootleg Social
Blackpool, November 2 Surf Cafe Newcastle, 3 Sidney & Matilda Sheffield, 6
Mutations Festival Brighton, 7 Festival of Voice Cardiff, 9 The Shipping
Forecast Liverpool, 10 Oporto Leeds.

LINER NOTES BY BOOM BASS
A FIRST ALBUM AFTER SIGNING THE CONTRACT TO RELEASE OUR DEBUT ALBUM, WE WERE SUDDENLY INUNDATED WITH AN OVERWHELMING NUMBER OF TASKS.

TOWARD THE END OF THE 20TH CENTURY,MUSIC PRODUCTION WAS STILL A HEAVILY INDUSTRIAL PROCESS. FACTORIES MANUFACTURED CDS, VINYL RECORDS, AND EVEN AUDIO CASSETTES, WHICH WERE THEN SHIPPED BY TRUCK TO WAREHOUSES BELONGING TO VARIOUS FRENCH MAJOR LABELS. DEDICATED TEAMS BRAINSTOR-MED IDEAS, DEVISED STRATEGIES, AND ORCHESTRATED PLANS TO DISTRIBUTE THESE RECORDS TO SPECIALIZED STORES. AT THE TIME, RADIO, TELEVISION, AND THE PRESS HELD THE KEYS TO SUCCESS.

WITHOUT THEIR SUPPORT, REACHING THE GENERAL PUBLIC, OR EVEN A NICHEA UDIENCE, WAS NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE.OUR FIRST ALBUM AS CASSIUS, SLATED FOR RELEASE IN JANUARY 1999, SPARKED GENUINE EXCITEMENT WITHIN THE VIRGIN RECORDS TEAM. AS A FORMER ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, I KNEW THIS LEVEL OF ENTHUSIASM WAS RARE. FOR PHILIPPE AND ME, STEPPING INTO THE SPOTLIGHT WAS A COMPLETELY NEW EXPERIENCE.

AFTER YEARS OF WORKING BEHIND THE SCENES FOR OTHERS,FOCUSED AND IMMERSED IN THE STUDIO, WE WERE NOW AT THE FOREFRONT, ENTIRELY INCONTROL. THIS SHIFT BROUGHT A WHIRLWIND OF EMOTIONS: AMBITION FUELED OUR FEARS,AND CREATIVE CHAOS OFTEN BLURRED OUR JUDGMENT ABOUT WHEN TO STOP REFINING OURWORK.NAVIGATING DECISIONS AS A DUO, WE QUICKLY DISCOVERED THE COMPLEXITIES OF PARTNERSHIP AND PRODUCTION. WITHOUT MANAGEMENT, WHOSE CRITICAL ROLE IS OFTEN TO SHIELD ARTISTS FROM THEIR OWN TENDENCIES, WE OCCASIONALLY STRUGGLED TO MAKE THE RIGHT CHOICES.

YET, EXCITEMENT AND SHEER JOY ULTIMATELY PREVAILED, AND WE THREW OURSELVES WHOLE HEARTEDLY INTO THE ADVENTURE. AS POSITIVE FEEDBACK ROLLED IN FROM SUBSIDIARIES, MARKETING BUDGETS EXPANDED, AND THE ALBUM'S RELEASE STRATEGY SKYROCKETED TO NEW HEIGHTS.

DAFT PUNK'S GROUNDBREAKING ALBUM HOMEWORK HAD JUST OPENED THE DOOR FOR FRENCH ELECTRONIC MUSIC TO REACH GLOBAL AUDIENCES. FOR ARTISTS ROOTED IN DJ CULTURE,THIS WAS A TURNING POINT. FRENCH ACTS WERE FINALLY BEING INVITED TO PLAY AT BURGEONING FESTIVALS AND ICONIC CLUBS. THE BRITISH AUDIENCE WAS THE FIRST TO EMBRACE US, AND WEEKEND AFTER WEEKEND, WE TOURED THE UK.

INSPIRED BY THOSE NIGHTS BEHIND THE DECKS, WE SUGGESTED RELEASING A VINYL FEATURING EXTENDED VERSIONS OF TRACKS FROM 1999. DESIGNED AS A PROMOTIONAL DJ TOOL, IT CELEBRATED EXPANSIVE, LONG-FORM TRACKS REMINISCENT OF THE ONES WE LOVED TO PLAY, AN HOMAGE TO OUR EARLY EXPERIMENTS WITH NDLESS LOOPS, LIKE DINAPOLY FROM 1996.

THE VINYL WAS PRESSED IN AN EXTREMELY PROMO LIMITED SERIES, ECHOING OUR EARLY MAXI-SINGLES AND THE RARE RECORDS WE USED TO HUNT FOR AS COLLECTORS. FOR FANS, IT WAS A CHANCE TO OWN SOMETHING TRULY UNIQUE; FOR US, IT WAS A FINAL OPPORTUNITY TO RE-EXPLORE THEA LBUM'S MUSIC.PRODUCED IN THE STYLE OF LA FUNK MOB'S EP, WITH THE TWO OF US IN A RECORDING BOOTH SURROUNDED BY FLOPPY-DISK MACHINES AND TWO OR THREE SYNTHS, THE ALBUM'S SONGS WERE STRUCTURED AND MIXED DIRECTLY IN STEREO ON A DAT (DIGITAL AUDIO TAPE).

MOST TRACKS, ORIGINALLY VERY LONG, WERE EDITED INTO A COHERENT, HOUR-LONG LISTENING EXPERIENCE. THE DJ TOOL WAS ASSEMBLED FROM THOSE ORIGINAL MIXES, AS A FINAL, FREE WHEELING VARIATION OF OUR THREE WEEKS OF FUN IN THE STUDIO.HOLDING THAT VINYL TODAY BRINGS BACK VIVID MEMORIES OF THOSE EARLY TRAVELS, THE NIGHTCLUBS AT THE CUSP OF TRANSFORMATION, THE CROWDS GETTING YOUNGER AT NEW PARTIES, AND THE VINYL RECORDS THAT WERE JUST STARTING TO FADE FROM DJ BOOTHS.

I ALSO RECALL BEING 32 YEARS OLD, NAVIGATING THIS EVOLVING WORLD. NOW, AS I PREPARE FOR THE UPCOMING CASSIUS CLUB TOUR, I'M STRUCK BY HOW CLOSELY IT MIRRORS THE ERA OF THE DJ TOOL RELEASE. TWENTY-FIVE YEARS LATER, I FEEL INCREDIBLY FORTUNATE TO STILL BE DOING THIS.

IN THE STUDIO, PHILIPPE ONCE SHOUTED, "CASSIUS IN THE HOUSE !" INTO MY EAR. TODAY, I FEEL LIKE TELLING HIM, "I'M GOING BACK TO OUR ROOTS."BOOMBASS.

'199 DJ TOOL", 2025 UNRELEASED ALBUM BY CASSIUS FEATURING 8 EXCLUSIVE EXTENDED VERSIONS OF THE MOST ICONIC TRACKS FROM THE ALBUM 1999 AND THIS EXCLUSIVE SHORT STORY BY BOOMBASS.

Fraufraulein, the San Francisco duo of Billy Gomberg and Andy Guthrie, are master world builders. Their work is immersive — it wraps around you like a warm coat, guiding you deep into a trance-like state. Time moves in slow circles, folds in on itself, and unspools like caught fishing line. It’s tempting to say Guthrie and Gomberg construct a new reality with their work, but I think they’re revealing the contours of familiar territory, gluing together a complicated mirror more than constructing a quotidian diorama. Their music reflects a truth that we all share in some way. It’s the pauses between thoughts, the little observations that color a day, the beauty of how others’ lives imbricate for brief moments before pulling apart completely. Fraufraulein’s music feels beamed from inner space, the soft parts of our consciousness that glow like a flashlight beneath fingertips.

It’s also tempting to call Greater Honeyguide, the duo’s new record — and first in four years — a tool for fostering presence. Each composition can serve as a meditative space, and observing the quietly unfurling layers of sound — a footfall and a quiet breath, scraps of overlapping melodies sung like notes to self, synthesizers droning lightly in the distance — can be a very calming, grounding experience. But I also love to let these pieces guide me through the sulci of my brain like a slot canyon, emerging at some long-forgotten memory or idea. Think of it as a passively-active experience, like looking out of a train window, watching the scenery blur together. At the end of the album’s 37 minutes, I feel transformed. Not necessarily different, just in tune with something else. Something beyond. Something within.

Following the success of their 2023 release "Stockholm Kobenhavn", two of Denmark"s most celebrated musicians in multi-instrumentalist Gustaf Ljunggren and drummer Emil de Waal present their fourth collaborative album. Expanding on their growing reputation for crafting songs and sounds with masterful senses of subtlety, narrative and capacity to form meaningful connections with their collaborators and audiences alike, "Mikroklima" is set to release on February 7th on April Records. Emil de Waal has been one of Denmark"s leading drummers for three decades, best known for his work leading the band Kalaha and his collaborations with Elith "Nulle" Nykjær, as well as performing alongside most of the finest names in modern Scandinavian jazz. Gustaf Ljunggren initially studied the saxophone at the Rhythmic Conservatory of Copenhagen, where whispers spread throughout the school that he was the best saxophone player in town and yet never practiced. His career has seen him prove that he can bring grace, musicality and heart to any instrument he touches, from the pedal steel guitar, to the bass, piano, and more. "Mikroklima" is a testament to and celebration of musical growth, community, and the joy of musical gathering. One element that truly sets this album apart, is the bold move of inviting a group of 12 year old school children from a music class into the studio to record alongside Gustaf and Emil. Drawing from years of experience leading music workshops with young musicians, on Mikroklima Ljunggren and de Waal wanted to capture the sound of musicians from different generations and experiences coming together to contribute their ideas to their compositions. Showcasing Ljunggren"s colorful, comforting, folk-influenced approach to harmony and songwriting alongside de Waal"s distinctive touch on the drums, crafting simplistic yet creative grooves that feel as pleasing and refreshing as they do restrained and purposeful. As each piece unfolds, it becomes more and more apparent how present and communicative the duo are, playing only what the music needs and placing more weight on texture and feeling than soloistic flair. "Mikroklima" is an organic, generous offering that shows Gustaf Ljunggren and Emil de Waal doing what they do best: connecting with music.

This is a recorded document performed by Mark Holub, Johanna Pärli and Sofía Salvo.

As a trio, they had not met until sound-checking for their gig at Berlin’s Cashmere Radio on September 1, 2023 — a fact that may be concealed by their immediate understanding as a musical entity but is obvious by their artistic freedom and curiosity towards each hoc encounters, flexible and steadfast in its performance, and that culminated in an experience that shook the floor of the radio station’s headquarters.

The day after, Sofía, Johanna and Mark gathered in Adam Asnan’s studio and deepened their quest for a communal language. They ignored any musical fetters or conventions, enjoyed the possibilities of a wider time frame without a live audience — and exceeded all hopes of what three personalities can achieve when they are given the space and time to experiment, detached from any restrictions.

Mark Holub is a drummer of outstanding versatility and responsiveness, full of ideas and quick on his feet. Through his playing as well as his experience as a band-leader and composer he is able to steer this coequal group towards thundering crescendo, but sits equally comfortable in the centre of complex and fine rhythm probing in response to impulses thrown in by his companions.

Johanna Pärli makes use of her double bass’s entire body, extracting an armada of multi- layered sounds with an immensely high sonic spectrum that is also reflected in the diversity of her musical projects. She is both patient and wildly adventurous in her performance, and in this trio her contribution wanders from considerate bow work to brisk fingerpicking, gnarly string strikes and pedal use to startling effects.

Sofía Salvo unleashes the full unbounded potential of her voice by taking advantage of her baritone saxophone’s broad range of possibilities. She is one of Berlin’s most singular musicians and her widely proven capabilities cover gentle additions to support and underline pulsive interplay just as masterfully as rapid licks and roaring bursts of noise, spurring the collective to unpredictable intensity.

If music of this particular kind often gives the impression of a constant search, this international trio certainly managed to find common ground and capture a special moment in time for listeners to (re-)discover. Contrary to what frequent misconception sometimes suggests, it’s also tremendous fun.

NERR — Filling Open Spaces was instantly composed and performed live in studio by Mark Holub on drums, Johanna Pärli on double bass and Sofía Salvo on baritone saxophone, recorded in Berlin on September 2, 2023 and mixed by Adam Asnan. Mastered and cut by Rashad Becker, vinyl pressed at Pallas. Artwork and design by Stefan Lingg, produced by Christoph Berg and Stefan Lingg.

Chris Ryan Williams (trumpet & electronics) and Lester St. Louis (cello & electronics) work together as HxH (H by H). Their skills have seen them move smoothly across various situations, constantly carving out new terrain and working in new configurations of musicians at a rapid pace. While worth reading, their biographies capture only a part of their complex rhizome.

HxH started about three years ago. The project is a direct response to all their activity with others and more importantly all their future leaning sonic desires. Their debut album STARK PHENOMENA is both their first studio recording and their first physical release. The album is appropriately set to be released by KMRU on his growing label OFNOT. It’s an ideal introduction to their sound world and their approach.

HxH describe their music as “electroacoustic,” but until recently the presence of Black musicians in this field has been greatly overlooked and largely ignored, making this phrase only partially appropriate. What HxH do really is to always be unpredictable. Every gig is a new soundscape. Sometimes you might hear echoes of Autechre or Robert Hood but then the sound-field will open up into a new terrain all their own. Chris and Lester bring together techniques from across the sound spectrum of electronic music and also draw on their deep backgrounds in Jazz, Improvisation, Classical and Noise scenes to create a sound that is true to them. After all, these two have worked with the likes of Bennie Maupin and the music of Black Fluxus artist Ben Patterson. Their rhizome is deep.

One of the ways that their unique approach manifests is in their merging of both acoustic instruments and electronic instruments in real time. This is something few have managed to do – but their spontaneous leanings work in both complex and accessible ways because of their deep understanding of landscape crafting. You can hear this clearly on the track “Pyrex Vision.” Their approach makes it tempting to compare their music to Sun Ra jamming with Laurel Halo – a comparison that would be only partly accurate.

Chris and Lester note that the sounds on STARK PHENOMENA are “imbued with such hopeful, gracious care; one that is far flung from obsessive carefulness or fuck the world carelessness, but more a caring embrace without the fuzziness of nostalgia.”

They note that when they began working together, they would “always come back to speaking on our concepts of an architecture of the expanse,” noting that their live sets often take on the joyfully noisy task of “dreaming big.” For HxH it was essential that STARK PHENOMENA have a quality that is “almost sculptural.” They consider the album “an object to be viewed from all sides.” This kind of thinking has resulted in them directly engaging with numerous sculptors and artists including Torkwase Dyson. Shape wise HxH’s sound fields work in a parallel to Dyson’s black architectural works.

They also note that the opening cut “BEACH” (the opening and longest track from the album) was “written weeks after our first gig in a studio session donated to us by our dear friend jaimie branch.” And that Pyrex Vision “was continually being edited months after sending our ‘final mixes’ to KMRU.” Their sound sources and samples come from studio sessions, live gigs, durational installations, 3am improvised downloads and more.

KMRU notes: "I think there is an in-between layer on this record. I was first caught by the Pyrex Vision track which organically flows between monologue, subtle field recording, and instrumentation. It's such a beautiful track, evoking deep emotion through simplicity. STARK PHENOMENA effortlessly glides in between imaginative mosaics of sounds — free yet complex — unlocking memories within its layers."

For Giammarco Orsini, music has always been about creating connections— between tracks, people, and moments in time. 'UNIT-Y 001' embodies this idea, with each track capturing a distinct moment in Giammarco Orsini’s life. The EP blends House, Electro, Progressive, and 80’s influences, while weaving together personal memories and experiences.

His long-awaited solo EP, 'UNITY-001,' will be released through the newly formed label UNIT-Y, created by the minds behind Partisan and Mood Waves. As a label, UNIT-Y celebrates friendship, collaboration, and the inspiration that emerges from shared artistic journeys. Giammarco Orsini’s longstanding friendship with both label’s founders made him the natural choice to be the first artist to debut on this new platform.

Now and again, an album project with no home comes along out of the blue, demanding to be licensed and shared with the world.

It was unearthed on one of Paper's digging trips. BOM's album sounded like nothing else out there, only the future. Shrouded in mystery and country-of-origin unknown, Africa runs through its DNA, but sometimes mysteries are best left...

Ase - a Yoruba philosophy signifying the power that makes things happen and produces change; given to Gods, ancestors, spirits, humans, animals, plants, rocks, rivers, songs and prayers.
BOM takes influence from all corners of Africa and its diaspora, blending them with 25 years of Western electronic music into a melange of forward facing, leftfield afro futurism.
The album features one of Africa's brightest rising stars, Luka Productions (from Mali), cosmic poet Sirius Rush (UK) and master drummer & vocalist Felix Ngindu (DRC/Liverpool) for a journey into kaleidoscopic Afro-tech funk. Gqom, Shangaan electro and township funk rub shoulders with hip-hop, bass, deep house and dub for a psychedelic celebration of collaboration and possibility.

As geographical and musical barriers are broken down, BOM's 'Ase' album is leading the charge; London to Lagos, Lisbon to Sao Paulo, Bamako to Berlin, BOM captures the sound of the underground.

"Volcanic Tongue" war ein Plattenladen, der von 2005-2015 in Glasgow von David Keenan und Heather Leigh betrieben wurde und zeitgenössische DIY-Musik aus der ganzen Welt in kleinen selbstgemachten CD-R-Auflagen veröffentliche. Parallel versuchte man, vergessene Künstler aus der Vergangenheit ins Rampenlicht zu rücken, die ihre Musik oft als Privatpressung veröffentlicht hatten. Der Laden war für seine wöchentliche Mailingliste bekannt, in der Keenan enthusiastisch über Neuankömmlinge rappte, insbesondere über die Platte der Woche, die den Spitznamen "tip of the tongue" (Zungenspitze) erhielt. Dieser eklektische Sampler mit 20 "tips of the tongue" - von Outsider-Synth über Psych-Folk bis zu kaputtem Rock'n'Roll, aufgenommen zwischen 1968-2013 - ist eine Hommage an eine lebendige und vielseitige Underground-Avantgarde. Black Vinyl 2LP in PVC-Hülle, von Julian House designt, mit bedruckten Innentaschen samt Linernotes von David Keenan zu jedem Künstler.

PS: Gleichzeitig erscheint beim White Rabbit-Verlag eine Deluxe-Ausgabe des gleichnamigen Buches mit einer CD-Version des Samplers, limitiert auf 1.000 Exemplare, und signiert von Autor David Keenan und Designer Julian House.

CSN was the trio's last fully realized album, and also the last recording on which the three principals handled all the vocal parts without the sweetening of additional voices. It has held up remarkably well, both as a memento of its time and as a thoroughly enjoyable musical work." — AllMusic

Crosby, Stills & Nash was a folk rock supergroup made up of American singer-songwriters David Crosby, Stephen Stills, and English singer-songwriter Graham Nash. CSN's 1977 self-titled album is a return to the harmony-soaked idealism with which the trio had been catapulted to popularity; it reached No. 2 on the charts, behind Fleetwood Mac's megasuccessful Rumours.

AllMusic says the songs on CSN show a "great deal of lyrical maturity and compositional complexity compared to those earlier albums (from a far more innocent time). "Just a Song Before I Go" was the latest of Graham Nash's radio-friendly acoustic numbers, and a Top Ten single. "See the Changes" and "Dark Star" ranked with the best of Stephen Stills' work, while David Crosby contributed three classics from his distinctive oeuvre: "Shadow Captain," "Anything at All," and the beautiful "In My Dreams."And Nash's multi-part "Cathedral," a recollection of an acid trip taken in Winchester Cathedral on his 32nd birthday, became a staple of the group's live repertoire.

Ground-breaking music perfection deserves definitive sound and top-notch packaging. This reissue was mastered directly from the original master tape by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering and cut at 45 RPM. Pressed on 180-gram vinyl at Quality Record Pressings, and housed in a tip-on old style gatefold double pocket jacket with textured stock by Stoughton Printing.

Summertime Whiteout is a debut Bleach Cult album - the quirky ambient pop record that
fantasizes about 1960s surf culture and romanticizes the neverending dilemmas of teen
life. It is all about raw imperfections and beautiful spontaneity, captured live on a
modular synthesizer, often relying on single takes and instinctive executions of tracks
that leave little to no room for extensive tweaking and post-processing. Recorded in the
living room at night it shies away from sophistication and complexity instead employing
rough, rock and roll inspired ideas. Raw drifting analog sequences, pulsating textures
and polychromatic vocals. No guitars or drum machines, however.

Toy Tonics Music Berlin presents "Para Mytho Disco". The 2nd "Kapote" album of label founder and creative director Mathias Modica.
Keyboarder, DJ, producer, music nerd, graphic designer, multi-instrumentalist, sub-culture impressario and artist (formerly known as Munk of Gomma records.)

Kapote & Toy Tonics
In the last years Kapote was in the spotlight mainly for building the Toy Tonics label with his friends. Developing a platform for new positive quality dance music with a human touch. Toy Tonics is the opposite of the dark, druggy Techno and Trance sounds of the last years.
The warm inclusive music of Toy Tonics represents a new vibe that a young generation of diverse, stylish and culturally intersted generation of dancers loves now. Kapote's Toy Tonics became the key label for that vibe. (In 2024 Toy Tonics made 150 Toy Tonics events in 18 countries. With more than 150.000 people dancing. 90 millions streams on their music.)
Toy Tonics is more than a music label: It's a audio - visual universe. A community, almost a movement.
Based on a new positive attitude and aesthetic diversity. Mixing musicianship with DJ culture, analogue music with electronic, ideas from the past with sounds from now. To create something new. Connecting dance music with graphic design, art and underground fashion.
Kapote and his gang release vinyl, posters, shirts, art fanzines and make exhibitions and partys.

Toy Tonics started in Berlin as a underground niche project. But now became the key label of the new house, wild style disco and organic dance music scene.
Probably one of Berlin's biggest electronic music phenomena along with Keinemusik and Live from Earth.

It went fast: 2020 Kapote's crew started to make small parties in Berlin's off spaces. The "Toy Tonics Jams". The parties became "talk of the town", and Berlin clubs like Griesmühle and Panorama Bar invited the crew. Then international clubs and festival called. Toy Tonics were invited to SONAR (playing the mainstage with Kaytranada and DJ Tennis), KALA festival, Montreux Jazz festival.
Now TT has a residency at Panorama Bar Berlin and sold out events in Europe leading clubs like Phonox in London, Rex Club in Paris, Tunnel in Milan.
Toy Tonics now is the reference brand of a new generation of music loving dancers. Similar to Gomma records, Kapote's former label (2003 - 2015) that was one of the key labels of the "indie dance" scene of the Y2K years (along with DFA and Output Records).

Kapote created a multi-cultural movement with graphic designers, photographers, illustrators from the Berlin scene.
They publish the Toy Tonics Pocket Poster magazine, posters and design shirts. They organize the Toy Tonics Pop Up Galleries mixing music and art. In underground venues in Berlin and in new gallery spaces and museums around Europe.
Toy Tonics has been invited by Palais de Tokio museum in Paris, Triennale Museum Berlin, Design week Milano to create events.
The new Kapote album
The 12 tracks have a very own style. Based on dance music, but going much further. "Para Mytho Disco' is a futuristic mix of sounds. It's far away from the dark monotone techno and trance music from Kapote's hometown Berlin. Instead, he creates warm friendly atmospheres full of sonic colours and little musical surprises.
Kapote's knowlege of music history and his backround as a jazz piano student and son of classic music composer is clearly inside this music. Before turning into a DJ and electronic music producer he has been playing in bands since he was 13 years old.
The album is full of emotional chord progressions played by Kapote on various keyboards. Sometimes reminding music from the past, without being retro at all. The basslines and melodies are inspired by jazz fusion from the 1970ies. And he programmed syncopated grooves that come from afro-american dance music. There are influences from Japanese electronic music (Yellow Magic Orchestra), from 1980s Synthwave and from 1990s electronica (like Squarepusher and Luke Vibert).

Kapote plays keys, bass, flutes and percussions, he plays synth solos and sings on a few tracks. The complexity of the arrangements makes this music never boring. Lot of melodies and solos that catch the listener. Colourful soundscapes that make you want to listen or dance to this album more, and discover details also after you heard it several times.

Kapote background

Before starting Toy Tonics, Kapote used to run a label called Gomma. He produced four albums under the name Munk and music for other artists.
He produced music with Peaches, Franz Ferdinand founder Nick McCarthy, with New York street art legend The Rammellzee, Italian actress Asia Argento, the first three albums of WhoMadeWho and worked with LCD Soundsystem (listen to "Kick out the chairs", the Munk song with James Murphy )
In those "Gomma days" Kapote aka Munk was also one of the main DJs for VICE magazine parties and made music for art projects and fashion brands (Margiela, Prada, Colette).
In 2015 he stopped Munk and Gomma and started Toy Tonics. He found young producers and helped to develop their sound (Coeo, Cody Currie, Gee Lane, Barbara Boeing, Sam Ruffillo). Later he founded the sublabel Kryptox to release music by Berlin based bands that make new forms of jazz or neo classical sounds.

Under the name Kapote Mathias didnt release much:
Only his Kapote debut album "What it is" (2019) and an EP called "Electric Slide" (2022) and a collabo EP with Italian producer Sam Ruffillo ("Robot Salsa").

An although his Munk and Kapote music was an underground phenomena his music has always been a favourite of many great people from the scene.
Supported by DJs like Harvey, Chromeo, Moodymann, Jennifer Cardini, Gerd Janson, MYD, Andrew Weatherall to Blessed Madonna, Justice and Laurent Garnier… to name just a few.