Toward the end of the 1980s South Africa's recording industry was booming. Searching for a sound that could cross over to all in the country's segregated society while also eyeing international success, a new duo emerged that quickly rendered its 'bubblegum' predecessors obsolete. Drawing on international trends and crafting lyrics for local ears, J.E. MOVEMENT — a duo made up of James Nyingwa and Elliot Faku — exploded onto the local scene with their debut album, 'Ma Dea Luv'. The future had arrived.
A talented bassist and composer, Nyingwa was at the time employed as an in-house producer at TRS Studios in Plein Street in downtown Johannesburg, run by two Greek immigrants, George Vardas and Chris Ghelakis. Together they formed a close bond as friends and musical partners at what would become CSR Records, recording original hits with acts like the NEW AGE KIDS and SIDNEY, while also cashing in on cover versions as BLACK BOX.
The six tracks on J.E. Movement’s 1988 debut give firm nods to UK Street Soul, New Jack Swing and Stock Aitken Waterman's 'Hit Factory' sound and infuse them with an African rhythmic flair and homegrown lyrical sentiment. Though not expressly political, the title track was received by many as a play on words referencing then-jailed and banned Nelson Mandela (coming after the similarly styled 'I'm Winning My Dear Love' by Yvonne Chaka Chaka in 1986 and 'We Miss You Manelow' by Chicco in 1987), giving it an added potency for those in the know. 'Jack I'm Sorry' was an underground hit in the townships, while 'Marco', 'Friends', 'Funkytown' and the eponymous closer are similarly bass and drum-driven, with hiphop-styled vocals.
No Drama, the label helmed by Roy Rosenfeld, reflects his musical vision and personal philosophy, showcasing artists whom Roy respects not only as innovators of new sonic landscapes but also as individuals of character. The imprint proudly introduces its third release: a two-track offering by Khen.
Known for his groovy and melodic house sound, Khen has earned international recognition for his unique style.
The opening track, Back in the Days, introduces modulated deep vocals that stamp the composition with a signature sound. Intelligent, percussive, and hypnotically repetitive, the piece maintains a poised charm, deliberately breaking rhythmic expectations through carefully crafted and precisely timed shifts.
The second track, Usual Madness, stretches the emotional range, layering buoyant basslines with arpeggiated melodies and textured and evocative background elements that enrich the arrangement with thoughtful sonic choices. As the piece unfolds, sound effects and an evolving sense of joy coalesce into a meditative structure that seamlessly weaves musical elements with emotional nuance. After a brief moment of calm, the track builds into a commanding crescendo, delivering a final, cathartic release.
Together, these two works represent an essential addition to any discerning playlist.
Frankfurt electronica via Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Equally inspired by early Internet and the promise of technology, Boundary's "Terrain Scanner" narrates a device that allows the indigenous people of the isle to localise and protect their rare earths and minerals. It's ancient, hence deeply integrated with the surrounding flora. Pay close attention and you will get to hear the shimmering stream nearby.
Sweden’s Tiger Stripes returns to Rekids with the ‘Dance For Peace’ EP, following on from February’s ‘All Night Long’ and 2024’s ‘I Heard It Through The Bassline’ EPs. Across four warm and funk-fuelled cuts, he delivers another essential selection of House grooves primed for peak-time moments and deep, late-night sessions alike, already supported by Oliver Dollar, Riva Starr, Anja Schneider, and more.
The opening track, ‘Time For Peace,’ is a brilliantly loopy roller, featuring bouncy drums, muted synth motifs, and a vocal swirl of soulful cries that ramp up the energy. It’s a stylish tension-builder, paving the way for ‘Rockin’, a chunky jam with funky melodic riffs buried in the beat and wordless ad libs teasing out the soul. ‘The Street’ keeps the vibe flowing with swinging drums, knotted guitar licks, and subtly filtered vocals worked into a steamy, party-starting groove. Closing things out is ‘A Dance’, a deeper cut drenched in lush chords and hazy vocals—perfect for blissed-out dancefloor moments.
Founder of the Strange Idols label, Tiger Stripes has spent over two decades forging his own path with standout releases on Hot Creations, Get Physical, Kwench Records, and Rekids. After stepping back to focus on his indie-rock project Little Lies, he made a full return in 2024 and quickly recaptured the form that’s made him an international favourite.
Equally adept on the decks and in the studio, Victor Calderone has travelled the world playing for thousands and created some of the electronic music industry’s most seminal tracks and remixes. His new double sided release on Nervous Recprds is a collaboration with highly respected producer / DJ Mykol. They have a created an EP that has the driving percussive force needed to move a dancefloor in 2025, and through its inspired usage of vocal and musical elements highlights their background as born and bred New Yorkers who grew up enmeshed in New York’s nightlife and musical culture.
'What You Want' features the legendary Byron Stingily, a Chicago house singer and Ten City vocalist with a famous falsetto. Here he serves up a moody spoken word sermon over chunky house drums with a dark energy and late-night sense of soul. Electric synth patterns wave in and out to bring great drama to this full-flavour groove. 'What You Want' also comes as a more pared-back but still jacking dub with plenty of smart studio effects.
'Take You Back' is a surging house sound with deep bass and drums and whimsical synth patterns that dance over the beats. Analluring female vocal pulls you in ever closer to a track that is both emotive and physical, steamy but sensuous.
Spanish techno titan Andres Campo is the latest artist to join the DCLTD ranks with his ‘Domaine’ four tracker. Conte Bleu: Full-on high speed techno attack with occasional industrial stabs, alternating with mysterious snatches of melody and echoing vocal heard as if through distant space, especially in the breakdown. Nuit Blanche: Fast breaksy beats with fluttering metal motifs and otherworldly vocal FX, all with a jazzy feel, and a long breakdown with a compulsive vocal riff crescendo. Ligne Jaune: Merciless beat with rattling, hissing percussive layers, with a muffled monotone processed vocal strand dominating the breakdown echoing, reverberating, up to the massive drop - before insane techno bombardment takes over once more. Pois Gris: merciless techno beats create a dystopian soundscape of spacey stabs and a repeated vocal ululation. Radio signal FX punctuate the invincible stomping percussion. Something dark is happening
Borghesia is an electronic music group, founded in 1982 in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The band was formed by four members of alternative theatrical group Theatre FV-112/15: Dario Seraval, Aldo Ivancic, Neven Korda and Zemira Alajbegovic. They established FV Video to self-publish their video projects and FV Založba – the first independent record label in ex-Yugoslavia. Aldo and Dario took care of songwriting, production and recording while Zemira and Neven handled the visuals. In the late 80s the band signed to PIAS and went on to release a string of successful albums and played world-wide tours.
Clones was Borghesia's second album, self-released on cassette only in 1984. The band borrowed synthesizers (Roland SH-101, Casio VL-1, Korg Polysix) and a Roland 808 drum machine from friends. Every song was played live - no overdubs - and recorded to a cassette deck over a few nights at their club Disco FV during 1983-1984. The music on "Clones" is meant to accompany various video installations and performances. All of the songs are instrumental and feature various cutting edge techniques for 1983. Hypnotic, proto-techno and acid rhythms and synth lines. Music on the A Side of the LP is faster and club oriented while the B Side offers a drugged out soundtrack to get lost in.
All songs have been remastered for vinyl by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley directly from the original master tape. Each LP is housed in a silver jacket with original gelatin print by photographer Jane Štravs. A fold-out poster is included with unreleased photos, original artwork and liner notes by Željko Luketić. After 28 years, Borghesia's "music for video" is finally appearing on vinyl for the first time.
This package of strictly dub mixes from Louie Vega, Tommy Musto and Soul Clap push 2fox and Laville’s 'Elevation' further into the night. Louie Vega’s dub mix of 'Elevation' gives the DJs a chugging tool to work it out complete with a chant - 'Everbody!'.
Tommy Musto’s 'Zero Hour Dub Mix' folds over Renell Shaw’s bassline into a thick throbbing bounce. With knife-like precision Musto slices up components from the original including the drums, percussions, organs and pianos, serving up the individual musical ingredients of 'Elevation' on a delicious sonic platter. The Soul Clap Dub digs even deeper into its Detroit influence, building and uplifting with chord stabs, melodic themes and glistening arpeggiation.
Masterful producer Yuksek returns to RNT with the Deja Vous EP of all-original modern disco. She’s Mine leads with a rolling percussive beat and Italo baseline and layers emotive piano chords and plaintiff vocals, to hearken back to a nostalgic era of indie disco. On the flip side, the EP title track collab with Brazilian producer Diogo Strausz brings expected tropical flavor, and All Night feels a bit French-touchy with it’s infectious phase effected vocal loop. Accessible hooks and solid production, this is a handy one for the bag!
Hot off his killer 2024 remix of Tiga and Hudson Mohawke’s “BUYBUYSELL,” UK-New Zealand DJ/Producer Keepsakes makes his proper Turbo debut with the Impossible (Eating the Sun) EP. From merciless techno bangers to caustic track titles that will absolutely shred your preconceived notions about the world and sneer at them as they writhe bleeding on the cold, hard ground, this release validates our label’s OCD-level commitment to living on the edge of something at all times.
The title track doubles as a massive forest rave bomb AND the No. 1 battle weapon for opening DJs looking to fuck over the headliner, while “Bongo Funeral” reimagines tribal techno as the chief export of a village ruled by emotionally unavailable gremlins. Next, “Snacks at Waco” makes skillful use of a hammering industrial beat to hammer home the importance of loyalty and community, and “Parasocially There for You” deftly soundtracks anxiety dreams about meeting your favorite podcaster. Finally, closer “Nimby Orgy” likely represents the very first sexual aftercare banger. NOTE: we’ve heard bad things about both NIMBYs and YIMBYs, and as such have adopted a militantly neutral position on the matter of who is f-ing and s-ing in our backyard.
Given that Keepsakes is a vinyl-only DJ, we’ve done him the courtesy of making this release available both on vinyl and digitally. While this would have been an incredible opportunity to completely shut him out of playing his own tracks, we decided that this would be unfair to the music itself. Because at the end of the day, Turbo takes its marching orders from Harmony, Melody, Rhythm, and Timbre, and to betray even one of our ethereal masters would be tantamount to kicking our own vision square in the nuts. IOW: ain’t never gonna happen.
Rising French producer and live act Akyki is out on Quinoa for the label's 5th instalment. Delivering a quacking slice of summer, the 'Egyptian Geese' EP offers a groovy and multifaceted narrative that will get your backsides giggling like uncle Waldo's. Techy-er than previous references on the label, the release doesn't leave out some essential hallmarks of the Quinoa sound: playful vocals, quirky breaks, signature enveloping basslines, and a breadth of sound that finds its cohesion in a warm, comfy place.
DISCLAIMER: This vitamin D-drenched mini-album has been found to induce a condition known as PSSS or "Prolonged Summertime Smiling Syndrome". Symptoms may include euphoria and a sudden urge to dance. They may appear when listening and are not affected by seasonality. The record is to be consumed at the dancers' discretion and should not be used as a substitute for a varied and balanced diet. If the symptoms persist please consult your local physician.
For our next physical release, FERMA proudly welcomes Fragedis. A driving force in the local underground for over two decades, Fragedis is renowned for his eclectic, genre-blending, DJ sets and productions. Staying loyal to the craft and deeply committed to the culture, he is also co-hosting Healthy Summer in Crete, one of Greece’s most revered festivals for authentic rave culture.
This release features six tracks that perfectly encapsulate FERMA’s sound identity and forward-thinking vision. The A-side opens with “Teras”, an atmospheric piece with immersive vocals that lay the foundation for the journey ahead. “Thrust Reverse” cranks up the intensity with industrial-driven arpeggios, primed to ignite the dancefloor. Closing out the first side is a stripped-down reprise of “Teras”, reimagined by a legendary artist who has shaped the Athenian industrial sound – true name strictly confidential.
Flipping to the B-side, “Live in Lies” drifts into deeper territory, weaving atmospheric pads and trancey synth sequences for introspective, eyes-down moments. Bringing it all home, “Fasaries” delivers an electro spinoff that rounds out the release’s sonic character and journey.
We are beyond excited to share this release with you – play it loud, folks!
Nothing said new or modern or futuristic quite like a synthesiser in the 70s and 80s. If you were shooting an advert and you wanted your product or your company to appear forward-thinking and ahead of the game, then you would want something electronic, something out of the ordinary. When TV producers and advertising directors started searching for music that sounded like “Tubular Bells” – and then Tomita, and later Jean Michel Jarre – music libraries such De Wolfe, Bruton, Parry and Chappell had to have the tracks readily available.
Compiled by Bob Stanley, “Tomorrow’s Fashions” varies from advertising jingles and TV themes to space exploration and gorgeous, beatless ambience. Though it’s 40-to-50 years old there’s a real freshness to this music. Older jazz players Brian Bennett, John Cameron, Alan Hawkshaw and others seized the chance to operate a synth; younger pups including John Saunders and Monica Beale were simply intrigued by the new technology being wheeled into the studios. There’s a tangible sense of adventure.
“Tomorrow’s Fashions’” brand of electronica anticipated new age and ambient music. It also had both a direct and indirect influence on pop – the early Human League and the future sounds of Warp Records are all over this collection. Electronic library tracks have been sampled by everyone from MF Doom to Kendrick Lamar.
One person’s primitive and experimental is another person’s space-age lullaby. This was music made in the shadows – in Soho’s secretive music library studios – that has now become desirable and influential. The chances are chunks of it will be sampled and used on hit records that have yet to be written. If the musicians’ aim was to soundtrack tomorrow’s fashions, they couldn’t have got it more right.
Fashion Flesh tears the fabric of space and time. This is his first offering for the ESP Institute. With side A’s 'Atoms Revolt', ESP cordially introduces Fashion Flesh, AKA John Talaga, to the deepest corners of your mind. Using largely homemade electronics, circuit-bent gadgets, and tape manipulation, John manages to tap into the innate character of these otherwise introverted machines, eavesdropping and documenting their buried inner dialogue. His command of distortion is multi-tiered. On a micro level, he induces happy accidents and shepherds stray elements. Zooming out a bit, we begin to understand the sonic meat grinder that equalizes his bag of disparate ingredients. And from a macro vantage point, we fully recognize the greater tool that sculpts all of the above into form. Side B’s 'New Freedom' conjures a specific dystopian image—the byproduct of an artist involuntarily conditioned by the commute between up-river Bay County, Michigan and the Detroit metropolitan area. Like cutting away at flesh and muscle, breaking through the bone to suck the marrow, John depicts both the contrast and parallels between two post-industrial urban landscapes, the banal trek across The Thumb between them, and the gradual disintegration of agriculture as one nears the Techno city. Voice fragments begin to stutter in syncopation like radio frequencies interfering with our psyche, Geiger counters wail and moan, untamed oscillations mimic caged primates rioting at the zoo, and a steady-firing piston of drums struggles to break through a dense harmonic soot. The depth of personality John extracts through his manipulation process is remarkable— a point-of-view that foreshadows humanity’s looming technological singularity while hinting that it may have always been here, hiding in plain sight, waiting to be given a voice. These two songs will trip your circuit breakers.
INDEPENDENT RECORD SHOP AND LABEL KLANG TONE RECORDS RE-ISSUE DEBUT ALBUM BY 8 PIECE INSTRUMENTAL EHTIOPIAN JAZZ/AFRO-BEAT/PROG COLLECTIVE;
TEZETA
“Absolutley gorgeous from start to finish…”
- Deb Grant, BBC 6 Music
“An instant obsession. Impeccable rhythms and hypnotic melodies—Tezeta crafts a spellbinding fusion of Addis and Avon that takes you on a journey."
- Don Leisure
“Gorgeous mood music with more than a nod to Addis. Lovely tapestries and textures”
- Matt Temple, Matsuli Music
'Formed in Bristol back in2014 Tezeta were an experimental 8 piece instrumental group effortlessly combining Ethiopian jazz, Afrobeat, prog and improvisation. The band spawned out of the much loved Bloom Collective - a collective of musicians and friends from an experimental corner of the city’s buzzing music scene.
Led by composer, pianist and bandleader Daniel Inzani (Spindle Ensemble, Cosmo Sheldrake) the band also featured tenor saxophonists Andrew Neil Hayes (Run Logan Run) and Lorenzo Prati (Count Bobo, the Evil Usses, Itchigo Evil), Harriet Riley (Spindle Ensemble, Paraorchestra) on Marimba, vibraphone and percussion, Pete Gibbs (Count Bobo) on bass, Conrad Singh (Alabaster dePlume, the Evil Usses) on electric guitar and finally two(!) drummers Matthew Jones (The Brackish, Slate Trio) and Daniel Truen (Yama Warashi, The Evil Usses, Rozi Plain, Count Bobo).
They initially got together to play music from ‘The Ethiopiques Volumes’, in particular, the work of Mulatu Astatke, hence the name Tezeta (Ethiopian for nostalgia) but quickly evolved into their own style with all original material, incorporating many other influences along the way. Their much loved, debut album 'Seventh Place' was released in Sept 2016.
“We at Klang Tone have been admirers of Daniel Inzani’s work with Spindle Ensemble and I was fortunate to catch Tezeta perform before they disbanded. I bought one of the last available copies of their home released cdr at their gig at local Stroud venue The Prince Albert. It became a firm favourite - a recording I keep playing and never got tired of. It’s such a beguiling mix of styles - always evolving and resolving in different ways to what you might expect - some thrilling ensemble playing rhythmically propelled by two drummers and a percussionist with Daniel’s evocative melodies at the centre. I was convinced this was a recording that deserved a bigger audience and felt it needed to be heard on vinyl so I started a conversation with Daniel about releasing it on Klang Tone as it perfectly encapsulated the raison d'être of the shop and label. We didn’t want this recording to languish online barely listened to - I felt it was in danger of becoming a lost classic. I hope that this vinyl release is a worthy testament to this great band and helps draw attention to the creative genius of composer Daniel Inzani and the talented ensemble of players featured on the recording.” - Sean Roe, Klang Tone Records
Tezeta had a cult following among other musicians and were known for their wild group solo wig outs, virtuoso musicianship and creative use of unusual rhythm, harmony and melody. They toured across the UK at various venues and festivals including Glastonbury, Shambala and Green Man, and subsequently released an EP named ‘Curious Bubble’ in 2020.
In 2023 Tezeta performed a sold out final show at Strange Brew, Bristol as Inzani decided to pursue solo releases, notably his critically acclaimed triple vinyl album ‘Selected Worlds’ released on Hidden Notes Records which landed in the Guardian Top 10 Contemporary Albums of the Year in 20204. The third disc ‘Play’ was a clear continuation and development of the music Inzani had developed with Tezeta and featured many of the same musicians.'
The cover image is from ‘Project Rewind’, a double exposure photography collaboration between Karen Dews and Paul Blakemore.
Graphic design by Adam Hinks.
Since launching in 2019, NuNorthern Soul’s Summer Selections series has become something of a must-check release for those seeking the sun-soaked pulse of the White Isle of Ibiza. It not only acts as a sampler for forthcoming digital-only EPs due for release over the summer season, but also a showcase for both established artists and label newcomers.
2025’s ‘selections’, the fifth in total, marks the popular series’ return after a three-year hiatus. Once again, it boasts six tracks, each taken from a forthcoming NuNorthern Soul EP, and touches on a variety of Ibiza-ready styles and sounds.
Up first are Manchester twosome Nightdubbing, who’s eponymous ‘Nightdubbing’ – first featured on their self-released 2023 debut album – is remixed by Archeo Recordings label boss Manu Archeo. He opts to brilliant blend slow motion electronic grooves and deep, warming bass with waves of ambient textures, eyes-closed melodic motifs and attractive lead lines.
George Koutalieries steps up next with the languid shuffle of ‘Seasons’, where imaginative vocalisation arrangements, mazy synth bass, calming acoustic guitars and cosmic electronics create a yearning afternoon delight, before label newcomer James E Burton combines pleasingly live-sounding drums and bass with picturesque electronics and the dreamiest of chords.
Next up is a teaser of what’s to come from recent signings Visions of Light, a fresh collaboration between Free Booter Lounge label founder Simon Sheldon and two of his artists, Muzka and Dan Dub Lounge. ‘The Mandela Vortex’ is a lightly dub-flecked Balearic shuffler rich in infectious hand percussion, meandering guitar solos, heady aural textures and echoing melodic motifs.
To draw the expansive collection to a close, we’re treated to two more yearning, picturesque and atmospheric treats. The first comes from another label debutant, Seafront International and Strictly Dub Records founder Saimon under the Roots Artefact alias. Deep, toasty and smothered in vintage effects, ‘The Big Calm Dubwise’ is a picture-perfect Balearic dub classic in the making.
Rounding things off is former Les Yeux Orange Contributor – and rising star of the French Balearic movement – Jilo, who gently takes us by the hand and leads us towards the dancefloor. Underpinned by a heavily electronic, nu-disco adjacent groove, ‘Shadow’s Tango’ is smile-inducing aural joy writ large – all huggable chords, Italo-house pianos, chugging bass and the most kaleidoscopic of chords. It provides a wonderfully uplifting conclusion to another fine collection of ‘Summer Selections’.
Budapest based independent concept label Blue Sun celebrates its first anniversary with their second VA cassette, showcasing artists from the local underground and/or electronic music scene, along with some international guests.
Bound together by an aesthetic rooted in the "listening" culture, the release features mostly downtempo tracks with a colorful palette of genres like ambient, trip-hop, jazz, experimental electronica, new wave and even modern classical music. With a contemplative, wandering feel, it shifts the focus from music consumption at dancefloors to the listening-at-home experience.
Just as on the first VA (BLSN001VA) there are no ‘A’ or ‘B’ sides on this release. Instead the label uses colors to distinguish them, largely based on the mood of the tracks. The ‘orange side’ covers a more upbeat line of music, while ‘blue side’ takes us on a more introverted, experimental journey.
Curated with a ‘circular listening concept’ by the founders of the label, the tracks are sorted in such a specific order that they are designed to take the listener on an endless auditory loop - wherever the journey begins.
More and more into an Aesthetic way, Hashtek23 bring here 32 long tunes, full of vibes and changes and radiation of acid industrial moments...
Beautiful !
The Current Thing EP, first release in a series of three, marks the debut of 'Confusion is next to Happiness' (CINTH); a record label and party series unbound by restraint and defined by complete freedom to bridge idiosyncratic and divergent sounds into the world.
With home base at Sameheads and appearances across Germany with Säule in Berghain, Golden Pudel Club in Hamburg, and PRXXXT in Leipzig, CINTH is an emerging powerhouse for all things twisted and freaky.
Duo Lucas Brell and Marvin Uhde, known as Kinzua, deliver a three track EP featuring minimalist yet richly textured compositions with haunting ambience capturing the edge between intensity and transcendence. The trance-inducing atmosphere and subtle modulations will pull you deep into a meditative wormhole.
As 2025 unfolds, Frenzy wastes no time in unleashing its next chapter. For our ninth release, we welcome Ukrainian mastermind Gene Richards Jr.
Known for his raw, uncompromising energy, Gene delivers a blistering 4-track EP rooted in ghetto-driven rhythms and industrial grit. This is no-holds-barred techno - pure, percussive, and primed for peak-time chaos.
Titled Ride This D, the EP kicks off with four original tracks that showcase Gene's signature blend of punchy drum work and infectious vocal chops. The intensity only builds with two standout remixes: UK legend Mark Broom injects his classic mechanical funk into the title track, while Spain's rising phenomenon DJ Swisherman brings an electrified bounce that reimagines the groove through his distinct, playful lens.
From shadowy warehouse floors to open-air summer raves, Ride This D is designed to detonate.
Each track a misty echo, carved in rhythm and space. Octal Industries drifts back to Kontakt with a solo offering - three deep, dub-soaked journeys where texture and tone intertwine in quiet elegance. For those who listen between the lines.
Two Drumcode mainstays, Layton Giordani & Bart Skils, join forces on rapturous but dark-edged techno thriller ‘Deadly Valentine’. Skils is globally renowned for his chart-invading take-no-prisoners techno. The Dutch producer’s last release on Beyer’s imprint was the 2024 ‘Sakura’ EP comprising collaborations with SUDO and Drunken Kong. Giordani, also a chart topper, at the forefront of an exciting new genre-bending sound, combines influences of melodic house, progressive, and indie dance with techno. His last DC outing was a recent rework of the seminal ‘Let’s Go Dancing’ from Tiga and Audion, and the otherworldly but peak time ‘Freaks At Night’ single last June.
The duo have a history of playing B2B at massive events like Drumcode, Loveland and Awakenings. This is their first collaborative standalone single (their ‘Midnight Magic’ was on Layton’s 2020 Drumcode LP). 'I was listening to Spotify and going through an indie dance rabbit hole’ Layton says. ‘I stumbled upon this track, was instantly hooked, and knew Bart was the right guy to collaborate with on this record.’ ‘Layton sent me the vocal idea and I turned it into an arrangement with a rolling groove’ Bart says. ‘After that the track was updated several times and mixed with a new vocalist for release.’ ‘Deadly Valentine’: complex, steady percussion with insistent techno beat gives a dark questioning edge to the high, sweet vocal, fast, echoing, often layered or harmonising with itself, singing the apparently romantic wedding ceremony lyrics in French & English.
Exact replica reissue of much sought-after £100+ garage band DIY/Punk 45 rarity from The Reducers. Sounds like a lo-fi version of other early DIY punk groups like TV Personalities, O-Levels and Desperate Bicycles.
Originally self-released in four different colour sleeve variants on Vibes Records in 1978, now available on Soul Jazz Records in a very limited edition one-off of 300 copies.
The Reducers were from Bury, Greater Manchester in existence 1978-80. They released two singles on the independent Vibes label followed by one more single after briefly signing EMI.
In a futuristic society where science has advanced to the point of creating bio-synthetic hybrids, a groundbreaking discovery emerges: the ability to imprint memory onto energy.
Initially developed to enhance machine control, this breakthrough was soon applied to living beings. Its consequences mirrored genetic determinism, shaping behavioral patterns and influencing individual will.
This technology enables certain elites to manage and condition the population, restricting autonomy through the manipulation of energetic memory.
However, a group of resistance fighters has uncovered an advanced data-erasure technique called Vibracid, capable of deleting imposed memories and restoring self-determination.
The struggle is not between different species, but between those who monopolize scientific power and those who seek to reclaim their freedom and forge their own destiny.
Vibracid (Corrosive Vibration)
A technique for data erasure and elimination, designed for the eradication of records and the neutralization of control mechanisms.
A collection of essential jazz from the NABEL record label (1980-1994), compiled by miche & Rainer Truby.
The Aachen Jazz Files celebrates the pioneering spirit of NABEL Records—one of Germany’s most underrated yet influential independent jazz labels. Founded in 1980 by Rainer Wiedensohler, NABEL became a home for innovative musicians blending classic acoustic jazz with fusion, Brazilian rhythms, and avant-garde flourishes.
This compilation collects some of the label’s finest moments, including the soulful and Latin-tinged brilliance of Monika Linges Quartet (whose album *Floating* was reissued last year by PANORAMA Records for RSD Black Friday), the cosmic jazz explorations of John Thomas & Lifeforce, the deep jazz-funk grooves of Hipsters In The Zone, and the stunning, expressive vocals of Maria João’s quintet.
Nestled in the far west of Germany, near the Dutch and Belgian borders, Aachen has long been a hidden gem for jazz lovers. Its vibrant scene, fueled by music schools and the legendary Malteserkeller jazz club, cultivated a unique sound that resonated far beyond its city limits. In fact, the city didn’t just birth a jazz movement—it also lays claim to opening Germany’s first discotheque in 1959.
From London to Tokyo, NABEL’s releases became secret weapons for jazz DJs seeking deep, danceable cuts. The label’s trademark blend of acoustic jazz, fusion, and Brazilian influences made its way onto turntables in underground clubs and festival stages worldwide.
Expect elegant samba jazz, spiritual grooves, and modal masterpieces that capture the essence of NABEL’s golden years. Monika Linges’ contributions shine with her rich harmonies and heartfelt compositions, while John Thomas & Lifeforce deliver a perfect storm of fiery instrumentation and deep soul. Maria João’s early recordings showcase her extraordinary vocal range, and Hipsters In The Zone bring a forward-thinking, acid jazz-infused perspective to the NABEL sound.
As co-compiler Rainer Truby puts it:
'NABEL Records always had this special ‘Aachen sound’—a jazz flavor that carried its own energy, somewhere between the cool sophistication of fusion and the warmth of Brazilian music. It’s a pleasure to finally bring together some of these classics in one essential collection.'
Compiled by miche & Rainer Truby.
PANORAMA Records is a London-based label dedicated to unearthing and reintroducing rare and essential music to new generations. With a focus on jazz, funk, and global grooves, the label has built a reputation for high-quality reissues that capture the spirit of the originals while providing fresh context for today’s listeners. Their past releases have garnered support from tastemakers like Gilles Peterson, Patrick Forge, and Mr Bongo DJs.
Terror/Cactus returns to Names You Can Trust for the first time since his debut on the label's Split Single series from 2020. Since then, the Seattle-based Martin Selasco has been steadily cultivating his individual brand of futuristic electronic cumbia, playing a multitude of shows and festivals, as well as releasing a handful of singles and a self-produced long-player, Forastero. The Buenos Aires-born Selasco embodies the new wave of cumbia that has always been championed by his home country: machine-forward audio/visual performances combined with a mixture of bugged out digital folklore and live instrumentation, and in the case of this latest recording with NYCT, baritone and clarinet from Seattle-collaborator Kate Olson.
There is so much that we at Dirter could say about the legend that is Chris Connelly performing his takes on the music of the equally legendary TG, but this time we’re going to leave it in the words of the man himself. This record goes ahead with the blessing of the surviving members of Throbbing Gristle, Chris Carter & Cosey Fanni Tutti. “Having carved a twisted career with behemoths MINISTRY & REVOLTING COCKS over the past 40 years, starting life with the formidable FINI TRIBE and collaborating with disparate characters such as KILLING JOKE, CABARET VOLTAIRE, JIM O’ ROURKE, and too many others, I have returned to my first love, THROBBING GRISTLE, armed with a cassette recorder, a reel to reel, a razor blade and some tape, I want to invoke the spirit of mid to late 70’s live TG , random, tense, scary & compulsively fascinating…….WHITE PHOSPHORUS is for the TG connoisseur, for the morbidly curious, and the tragically dysfunctional amongst us”. This record is packaged in the spirit of the earliest Throbbing Gristle releases and is very much coming from a ‘70s Xerox angle. It’s pressed on 180gram heavy black vinyl.
Nous'klaer Audio proudly presents Lenxi and her debut album: 'Did you get the dream I sent you?' A personal 10-track long player balancing IDM, indie pop and techno, which was written in and about a period of life where heartbreak and threats reinforced each other, creating an inescapable loop of isolation. Attempting to regain confidence and hope, a process of dreaming up a fictive emotional escape emerged. Paintings, sketches, voice notes, and a first few synth-lines took shape--laying the groundwork for this very album. In the tail of the storm, the London-born, Amsterdam-based producer and DJ refined her ideas further in places that carried hopeful memories. Places that felt familiar. Revisiting studios in beloved locations from the past --in London and Paris-- and seeking for the new --in studios and the Westcoast waters of L.A.-- all helped to shape those purest ideas into full songs forming a story that demanded closure. Lenxi's debut album is a stunning sequence of dreams hinting at hope combined with nostalgia--built on a strong force battling the vulnerability of being alone--and ultimately finding a way out and onto the dance-floor. The album is pressed on 180g vinyl and comes with a download-card.
The Rhythm Section – raves first super group - consisting of Ellis Dee, Rennie Pilgrim, Newton and Ritchie T. The group disbanded in 1993 after the rise of jungle as the guys didn’t want to go in that direction and felt their job was done in building the rave scene to what it was. But then in 1995 they had a request to reform and tour America as the rave culture was growing out there. So, they did reform, minus Ritchie T, and embark on a rather rave induced tour of the US with all the antics that you would expect from those guys!
They also wanted to make some new music for the tour and The Sequel album was born. Though written in 1995, they guys purposely kept the sound retro, calling upon their knowledge of the late 80s and early 90’s London warehouse scene.
Released originally as a limited edition double album which commands a high price on Discogs, this is the second part of the album – part one being the 180g blue vinyl release on Vinyl Fanatiks last year.
The latest transmission on Samurai tunes into half-time intensity with a psychedelic edge courtesy of leading French practitioner Vardae. Applying techno hypnotism and cinematic atmospheres to his snaking beat constructions, the Lyon-based artist delivers a pitch-perfect exercise in mystical meditation that follows a natural path from the Ancestral Voices LP.
Since first emerging around 2017, Vardae has been determined to establish a sound unbound by genre restrictions. To date he's successfully moved between cult labels such as Non Series and Ooda while pivoting from linear 4/4 to crooked broken beat without disrupting his immersive, finely sculpted production style.
Alongside his releases, Vardae is also responsible for the ouroboros festival that takes place every year in central France. Last summer, after the dancefloor closed on the final night of the the event, fabled Dutch transcendental ambient group Son Of Chi made an acoustic concert around the campfire that cast a spell over everyone present. This experience formed the inspirational basis for Vardae's new EP, drawing on the instinctive power of insistent rhythm and the spiritual intrigue that lies behind subtly dissonant tones - shadows cast by refined, restrained synthesis flickering in the imagined light of the flames.
From the rattle of timbale on 'The Light Motion' to the laser-focused ripples that charge through 'Voices Of Dispossession', Vardae bends and shapes his drum work with exacting intention across this EP. Treading the line between 85 and 170BPM, he approaches fierce peaks in his tracks with an exacting patience, building to the arp-soaked climax of 'Flaming As A Cloud' and its ecstatic, melodic crescendo.
Proudly individual and drawing from the deepest of musical experiences, Vardae's latest statement promises similarly profound moments when these pieces come into contact with the right souls and the right sound in the right setting.
An intersection of original dubs and outernational electronica, Ashtech’s Walkin’ Target, produced and co-written by Gaudi, was originally released in 2007 on cult Canadian label Interchill and is now presented for the first time on vinyl.
Tightly structured, Walkin’ Target revolves around Ashtech’s earth rattling basslines and Gaudi's solid production aesthetic, with three of the tracks featuring the inimitable vocal stylings of Cheshire Cat (Leftfield). A former bass player with Almamegretta, Ashtech’s intuitive style combined with Gaudi’s melodic flair to create a joyful collection of groove orientated roots and downtempo dubs that upon release found a home in the collection of music lovers worldwide.
Long deleted and not available on any mainstream download or streaming platforms, Ashtech dug out the original audio files, which were lovingly re-mastered for this pressing.
Right on time once again, the fifth outing on Punctuality welcomes Irish producer Drua to the fore. In typical Punctuality fashion the release draws influence from the canon of golden era late 90s and early 2000s dance music with an entirely modern production aesthetic, engineered for big rigs and sweaty dancefloors alike.
Nightfire is a fully realised vision of Drua’s sound that could best be described as contemporary hard house. All four tracks are laden with punchy, rolling basslines, detailed low end, vibrant stabs, sultry vocals, undulating rhythms and sprinklings of quintessential club sparks.
The nouveau handbag styling of UP kicks off the EP. Stuttered vocals, M1 organs and solid grooves are fused together with clever sampling that is sure to make this one a hit for the festival season of s/s ‘25, as early support from the likes of Roza Terenzi, Confidence Man, Spray, Sally C and Maara would indicate.
Job 2.3 has all the elements of a Punctuality anthem and maintains the big tune mood of the EP: skippy bass notes, low end wubs, subtle breaks, catchy vocal hooks and precise drums nail the brief in executing this prog-hard-house hybrid heater.
On the flip, Nightfire nods to classic leaning deep house through a peak time lens. Introspective pads make way for pulsing subs, sensuous vocal chops and hip catching basslines. This is one of those tracks that can shift the arc of a DJ set to the next level. Big tip here.
The EP concludes with Arch In Ur Back which has all the elements to work a dancefloor: multiple grooves, rolling breakbeats, party starting vocals and the modern sound design that punctuality has gained worldwide notoriety for. An all killer no filler EP in the form of four well rounded club tools from Drua that are sure to be mainstays for discerning DJs and Punctualists
LP vinyl only release + 4 page liner notes (comes with hype sticker)
The percussive new age soundtracks of '80s and early '90s Japanese TV, anime and manga built alternative worlds and pushed boundaries in the process.
When Japanese composer Yas-Kaz left Tokyo for Bali in the mid 1970s he had little idea of how influential his trip would become. In studying the storied art of gamelan, the jazz and avant-garde percussionist opened a door to a world of sound and rhythm left behind by the West. The music he and his contemporaries made would become known as new age. It also happened to soundtrack the golden era of anime.
Awash with money and with the prerogative to entertain the burgeoning middle classes, anime in the 1980s experienced a creative and commercial boom. Not constricted by generic expectations, production houses such as the now renowned Studio Ghibli were able to experiment liberally with both form and content. And with it came the space for composers to be similarly adventurous.
TV, Anime & Manga New Age Soundtracks 1984-1993 charts this moment across eight tracks spanning classics of the genre and previously unknown rarities. The collection brings together music that found kinship in electronic and acoustic instrumentation, often combining spiritual or environmental themes with percussive, varied and highly refined syncopations of non-Western musical traditions.
Among them is ‘Kaneda’ by Geinoh Yamashirogumi, the shape-shifting group of self-styled musicians, anthropologists and computer scientists that masterminded the soundtrack to game-changing dystopian anime Akira - and with whom the sound, tuning and breakneck speed of Balinese gamelan has become indelibly entwined.
Reflecting the desires of the era to reach beyond Japan’s borders, many of the soundtracks featured were commissioned for narratives set in distant lands or alternative worlds. There’s violinist and composer Norihiro Tsuru’s ‘Farsighted Person’, written for The Heroic Legend of Arslān, set in ancient Persia; Yas-Kaz’s own ‘Hei (Theme of Shikioni)’, for period sci-fi manga & anime series Peacock King - Spirit Warrior; and two tracks - Tassili N’Ajjer and Fiesta Del Fuego - from Yoichiro Yoshikawa’s soundtrack to NHK’s proto-Planet Earth series The Miracle Planet.
Such was the variety and quality of the music produced, if there is a guiding principle to the tracks collected here it is a sense of escapism and adventure that came with the confluence of modern electronic instruments and a fascination with percussive traditions.
Elsewhere, pioneering children’s TV composer Chumei Watanabe’s ‘Fushigi Song’ (performed by a vocal group Korogi ‘72) offers a trippy and infectious groove with sonic similarities to Don Cherry’s ‘Brown Rice’; little-known jazz-funk library group Columbia Orchestra showcase the best of Tokyo’s session musicians on ‘Hearts Beats - Theme for Andrew Glasgow’; before lawyer-turned-composer Kan Ogasawara closes out the compilation with a dramatic flourish on ‘Gishin Anki’.
Following on from Time Capsule’s acclaimed deep-dive into the world of manga & anime synth-pop in 2022, this vinyl only collection is set to broaden and diversify an understanding of how soundtracks shaped the sound of new age music in Japan for a generation.
Curators: Kay Suzuki, Rintaro Sekizuka (Vinyl Delivery Service)
Artwork: Tu-yang
Gabriele Santucci presents Impulso Elettromagnetico. A 4-track EP on vinyl that will take you through time in a hypnotic tunnel with industrial nuances. Without a doubt, an essential vinyl for your suitcase, you will play it on loop all the time!
OiOiOiOIAiAiAiIAiÆÆÆÆÆÆIIIIII!!!! The new Cucum45 EP dares to speed off from the endpoint of the two previous outputs Something Weirdcore and Cyclops í poka and off the edge of the record at 1000km/h. With a hardcore opening track titled “IIIiiiIIiiiiiiiiiiiiiIIIIIIIiiiiiiiIIIIIiiiiiiiiIIIIIIIiiiiiii” (I added several more I’s in there for dramatic effect) that clocks with everything it needs to say at under 2 minutes, it’s safe to say that Cucumb45 aka Bjarki in this EP is WIDE AWAKE, YES!
Take “OpxThermin” – it’s straight up full-bore hardcore cartoon-pyrotechnics in overload, skipping and skedaddling over the turntables. Flipping out in a wild cocktail rush of hardcore ruffidge and smudged breaks that’s all smacked out on sugar frosted meth, listeners are gonna need some surgery to remove the smiley gurns from their faces. “Get Slothered 6even2” effectively can’t keep still as a track. From the collapsing rhythms and the pinging sound effects, it then decides what’s needed is a little bit of hip-hop flow in the background. Many hardcore rave re-treads (sorry, “deconstructed rave music”) often forget what this track seems to do at ease, and that is get you goddamn moving.
"Rathakrem" might have glitchy ambient Nintendo 90s vibe checks, but it is VERY un-chill. Stressed out hard drives grind to dust and distressed sounds of arcade dynamics mean that what you hear is the sound of Mario bricking it through all those haunted castle sections. Ironically the last track, “Crying Indian and Laser Horse” is the EP chill out tune, aiming instead for a nice, soothing, bottoms out disco-fister oompa-loompa warehouse techno track with auto-tuned cats, gunfire, orgasms, and
horses. A fine soundtrack for the morning commute!
We are delighted to welcome DJ Sneak to Industry Standard. An artist that needs very little introduction in the House scene… Since being the forefather of the filtered disco house sound in the early 1990’s with his releases on Cajual, Relief, Henry Street & Strictly Rhythm, and his production credits with Daft Punk, he has been a mainstay in the underground scene with his unwavering style. Little has changed in Sneak’s music in this time, as he always delivers his jackin’ signature sound on his productions or in his DJ sets. So we are delighted to have him on the label.
There’s no point is going into the usual track descriptions, these are just straight up DJ Sneak… Real House Music made for Real House People on Real House Music Dancefloors. Enjoy!
Early support from Luke Slater, Ben Sims, Sverca, Staffan Linzatti,
Voyager Recordings returns, this time with well known artist - Ecilo, and his album entitled "Interstellar Shaman". An 8 track vinyl and 10 track digital release, with additional bonus digital tracks. This one being a lot more dancefloor focused, while retaining that sci-fi, future sound.
An eclectic and innovative artist from Indonesia, he started his journey into the world of electronic music in 2008. Making his mark on the South East Asian scene. His music found influence in the rhythms of jazz, soul, and blues, as well as the atmospheric resonances of Sci-Fi soundtracks.
With releases on noteworthy labels such as AXIS, ARTS, Planet Rhythm, Olympian, and more, Ecilo has strengthened his reputation as a producer and DJ with his percussive beats resonating around the world
Drumcode veteran Oscar L joins forces with Metodi Hristov, a newer recruit to Adam Beyer’s revered techno label, for their collab two-track EP ‘Gravity’. Madrid’s techno/tech house maestro Oscar L has a long association with Beyer’s twin labels Drumcode (‘Again’ LP, 2023, + performing at DC events) and Truesoul inc. solo EP ‘Vulture’ (2022), Dosem collab ‘Aircargo’ EP (2023), ‘Yapper’ w. Max Styler (2024). As well as Adam Beyer, Oscar’s had support from Richie Hawtin, Nicole Moudaber, Joseph Capriati… and also released on Knee Deep In Sound, Stereo Productions, We Are The Brave et al. Bulgaria-based Metodi Hristov brought his unique techno sounds to Drumcode last year, with his debut DC 2-track EP ‘Build To Destroy’. Both tracks, title track and ‘Flatline’, were included in his Sept 2024 Drumcode Radio Studio Mix live from Sofia. With support including Carl Cox and Enrico Sangiuliano, Metodi’s career is swiftly up and coming. ‘Gravity’: the title track hurls itself into the fray with fast, heavy techno beats, reverb-rich growly hoovers, while a contrasting sweetly melodic chopped and processed female vocal holds its own against a dystopian dialogue between two sinister machines in dark, distorted, industrial juddering synth. There’s a lot going on, dark, powerful, and dance-demanding. ‘Up & Down’: full-on attack from the first nanosecond, with very fast beats, layers of percussion and a dark male voice intoning the title riff. An insistent, reverbing, ‘hammered strings’ synth melody competes with a melodic second voice, high and sweet bringing light to very dark shade. ‘D’you feel it now…’, you surely will.
For a glorious ten-year period from 1995 to 2005, hip-hop music received a much-needed shot in the arm from a generation of determined and wildly creative rappers and producers. They rallied against the increasingly formulaic and shallow world of mainstream rap, as well as a music industry unwilling to listen.
By releasing music on their own terms as independent artists—many adopting the mantra of being “independent as fuck” as a mission statement—these hungry creatives reclaimed their artistic freedom and wore it as a badge of honour. Most importantly, they also made a lot of excellent hip-hop. What emerged was a vibrant underground music scene that stretched from New York to Los Angeles, with influence reaching across the world.
Independent As F**: Underground Hip-hop from 1995-2005 explores how a generation of rap artists rebelled against the major record labels and made music on their own terms, celebrating individuality and creative freedom. It also traces the history of some of hip-hop’s most respected artists, including MF DOOM, El-P, Mos Def, Kool Keith, and Madlib.
“Ben is an archivist of the highest regard. His Grown Up Rap pushes the myth and mythology aside for real powerful hip hop facts.” Chuck D
Amsterdam natives Maarten Smeets and Lars Dales, aka Dam Swindle, unveil their third long-player with the release of a new track, the first to be shared from the upcoming album, ‘Open’ - out on 30 May 2025 via Heist Recordings.
The new album sees the acclaimed duo dive far beyond the deep sonic waters they’re most known for, exploring lower tempos, synthwave, hip-house, and ambient across fourteen tracks. With a gestation period that traces back several years, ‘Open’ is their most intimate and personal body of work thus far, birthed during a time of self-reflection away from touring and personal transformation as individuals.
“We felt the need to tell a very personal story through our music as a translation of our personal development in the past years. We also wanted to make music without a specific goal in mind; We simply wanted to create. By taking away the grid of dance music and any expectations of what a Dam Swindle song should sound like, the creativity started to flow naturally with songs in many different styles and tempos. The result is an album that feels refreshing and uplifting and still very much true to the heart and soul of our sound.” - Dam Swindle, January 2025.
While the trademark Dam Swindle four-to-the-floor beats are still ever-present on tracks like ‘The Present Is Always Perfect’, ‘I Need You’, and ‘Is This Love?’, it’s the gentle waves of synths on opener ‘Home’, the contemplative piano chords of ‘Bloom’ featuring Joep Beving, and the lo-fi ambience of ‘It’s Okay, I Can Wait’ that showcase a melancholic, ethereal sensibility previously uncharted by the duo. Collaborations with vocalists such as NYC’s Haile Supreme on ‘Not Enough’ and Neo-soul singer Faye Meana on ‘Girl’ expertly find room in between the dancefloor and home listening sessions, and a clear standout on the LP is the title cut where message-heavy rapped vocals from UK artist Samson ebb and flow amongst iridescent grooves.
Under the helm of Maarten and Lars’ adept A&R, their Heist imprint has become a beloved home for house heads of both schools old and new, platforming some of dance music’s biggest names from Cinthie to DJ Sneak as well as the musical dawnings of artists such as Kassian and Makèz. The Dam Swindle alias has achieved house music royalty-like status across a storied 15-year career that includes two critically lauded full-lengths, collaborations with the likes of Tom Misch and Kerri Chandler, and a globetrotting touring schedule. This album stands as their most profoundly personal work of art to date, and they can’t wait to share it with you.
In a blizzard of breaks and surrounded by towering slabs of icy atmospherics, Quelza comes spinning into the Dekmantel UFO orbit with an EP of grandiose proportions.
Anyone who caught Quelza at Dekmantel Ten last summer will be well aware of the breakthrough producer's affinity for evocative soundscapes — amongst his keen instinct for dancefloor propulsion its his richly rendered atmospheres that have made him such a vital new talent in the industry and club scene. The curious, extraterrestrial quality to his sound is the perfect fit for the resurgent UFO series, and Quelza has more than risen to the occasion with four tracks that take in the widest spectrum of his sound to date.
The title track 'Pensa Poetico' is a dramatic, 11-minute epic that moves beyond dancefloor rigidity into a fractured zone where rhythms splinter and shudder around immersive dub chords pulses and IDM infused rhythms . There might be the anchor of an insistent, staggered kick drum, but it's a simple tool to allow the freedom of movement for intricate layers of steel, glass, ice and dust before the second half erupts in a powerful display of breakbeat science. It's the most adventurous expression from Quelza to date — a track he credits with unblocking his creative process on the path towards a more honest expression within his production.
This spirit of adventure maintains throughout the EP, balancing cathartic compositional shifts with hyper-detailed scene-building and energy shifts that push and pull with your expectations. Quelza's well-established affinity for dancefloor physicality holds true as he twists and turns through these constantly surprising, nail-biting arrangements. Even when everything seems to fall apart, he'll sense the perfect moment to return to a pinpoint groove. Toying with minimal, modernist 2-step and complex organic percussion as well as choppy breaks, this is the sound of Quelza breaking out into a new phase where anything feels possible and his production vocabulary allows him to land audacious moves with mind-blowing finesse.
Greetings, the producer known for blending captivating electronic sounds with heartfelt storytelling, steps into the spotlight with his debut album, Dance Music For Elsewhere. Featuring original vocals and analog textures, the album is an electrifying journey through love, life, and beyond.
Donald’s House transforms Greetings’ track My Paradise into a dreamy Australiana dub mix, with rolling basslines and echoing M1 keys that transport you straight to the bush. Meanwhile, Romain FX delivers a monumental seven-minute reimagining of the album’s lead single, End of the Night, featuring Naarm-based vocalist Indigo King. This remix captures the essence of dancefloor romance, taking listeners on a journey through the night. This vinyl-only release marks Volume 1 of the Dance Music For Elsewhere remixer series. With limited pressings available, don’t miss your chance to escape into your own paradise.
Over the decades, the image of Kompakt as a pirate ship has taken root in our minds, braving the dangers of the seven seas of the music market. Sometimes it glides with a tailwind through calm waters, sometimes it has to survive violent storms. When we set sail in 1993, we never would have dreamt that our journey would still be going on after more than three decades and with 500 releases to date.
In our fast-paced business, the 500 mark is rarely reached, so we want to celebrate it with a lavish 5LP box set. In a democratic process, we have selected 50 pearls from the thousands of tracks released over the last 33 1/3 years and pressed them onto 5 brightly coloured vinyls. Alongside many Kompakt evergreens, there are also some real rarities from the early ‘Kompakt Sound of Cologne’, which have been lovingly remastered here to shine in new splendour.
The box also contains a 144-page book that tells the story of Kompakt from 1993 to today with detailed texts and images. In addition to the manifold musical and graphic achievements of Kompakt, the multidisciplinary links to the visual arts are also highlighted here.
The Bonus Picture Disc opens with the symbolic tolling of 500 bass drums, followed by 50 locked grooves from the 5 Kompakt founders, looping into infinity at 133 1/3 BPM, and the ‘33 1/3 Years Loop Opera’ – in which the loops are combined into one track that, in its reduced essence, is more than the sum of its individual parts. The magic of groovy loop minimalism and the ‘art of omission’ are once again brought to the proverbial point.
On 23 May 2025, the big KOMPAKT 500 art exhibition will open at the venerable Kölnischer Kunstverein to coincide with the release. The entire visual cosmos of Kompakt will be shown here in an unprecedented way on three floors, with the participation of many renowned artists. Of course, there will also be dancing and partying at the vernissage party, with DJ sets and live shows by the Kompakt Allstars.
The last one turns off the bass drum.
Im Laufe der Jahrzehnte hat sich in unseren Köpfen das Bild von Kompakt als Piratenschiff festgesetzt, das den Gefahren der sieben Weltmeere des Musikmarktes trotzt. Mal gleitet es mit Rückenwind durch ruhige Gewässer, mal muss es heftige Stürme überstehen. Als wir 1993 die Segel setzten, hätten wir uns nicht träumen lassen, dass unsere Reise nach über drei Jahrzehnten und mittlerweile 500 Veröffentlichungen immer noch andauert.
Die 500 ist in unserem schnelllebigen Geschäft eine selten erreichte Katalognummer und soll daher mit einer üppigen 5LP-Box gebührend gefeiert werden. In einem demokratischen Prozess haben wir aus den tausenden Tracks der letzten 33 1/3 Jahre 50 Perlen ausgewählt und auf 5 knallbunte Vinyls gepresst. Neben vielen Kompakt-Evergreens finden sich auch einige echte Raritäten des frühen “Kompakt Sound of Cologne”, die hier liebevoll remastered in neuem Glanz erstrahlen.
Die Box enthält außerdem ein 144-seitiges Buch, das mit ausführlichen Texten und Bildern die Kompakt-Geschichte von 1993 bis heute erzählt. Neben den mannigfaltigen musikalischen und grafischen Errungenschaften von Kompakt werden hier auch die multidisziplinären Vernetzungen zur bildenden Kunst beleuchtet.
Die Bonus Picture Disc wird mit einem symbolischen Glockenschlag von 500 Bassdrums eröffnet, gefolgt von 50 Endlosrillen der 5 Kompakt-Gründer, die sich bei 133 1/3 BPM in die Unendlichkeit schleifen sowie der “33 1/3 Years Loop Opera”, in der die Loops zu einem Track zusammengefügt werden, der in seiner reduzierten Essenz mehr ist als die Summe seiner Einzelteile. Die Magie des groovenden Loop-Minimalismus und die “Kunst des Weglassens” werden einmal mehr auf den sprichwörtlichen Punkt gebracht.
Am 23. Mai 2025 eröffnet parallel zum Release die große KOMPAKT 500 Kunstausstellung im ehrwürdigen Kölnischen Kunstverein. Der gesamte visuelle Kosmos von Kompakt wird hier unter Beteiligung vieler namhafter Künstler*Innen in nie gesehener Form auf drei Etagen gezeigt. Selbstverständlich darf zur Vernissagenparty auch getanzt und gefeiert werden zu DJ Sets und Liveshows der Kompakt Allstars.
Auntie Flo finds a natural home for OUTERNATIONAL DANCE on Multi Culti Throughout his long career in music, Brian d’Souza aka Auntie Flo has made a name for himself for his adventurous and open minded approach to music making. Travel and collaboration is key to his work, and over the course of four albums and various singles, he’s showcased music made in Cuba, South Korea, Uganda, Brazil and more, often fusing long standing musical traditions, field recordings and artist collaborations with a modern production techniques. As Auntie Flo, he has bridged not only cultural gaps as a Scottish-Goan in hybrid genres like Afro-disco, Indian Classical and Dub-Techno, but recently crossed over into bioelectrical music, with his Plants Can Dance, Mushroom Music and full-blown ambient psychedelica all housed under his A State Of Flo label and Substack. Outernational Dance helps define this expansive sound with a set of tracks that brings dance culture back to nature, inspired by ‘Esperanto’, a form of universal language created by L. L. Zamenhof in 1887. The notion of music as the universal language has always been at the heart of Auntie Flo’s practise and makes this new EP a perfect fit for the boundary dissolving reverie of the Multi Culti ethos: pointing the way to a better world, borderless, free and in symbiosis with nature.
Scruniversal's sub label Tunes Delivery invites Moscow scene veteran Leonid Lipelis to don his Beard In Dust moniker for their third instalment, one which dips into various different eras of dance history for inspiration. There's a distinctly late 80s feel to opening tune 'Music of the U', complete with sampled bell stabs and the kind of beats that wouldn't be out of place on an S'Express or early Coldcut house affair. 'The Armenian Break' and 'City of Love' look back even further, back to the female-fronted disco efforts of the 70s, the latter adding a touch of Balearic flourishes. 'Abstractish P' circles around some serene arpeggios, with rave whistles and, as it progresses, twisting guitar notes, lending it an individual air, while closer 'RoRyaRe' nods to ExCel-era 808 State with some nice bleepery before settling into more progressive headnodding territory and some distinctive synth play.
When SW. AKA, Stefan Wust, first established SUED in 2011, their compelling, cosmic and anonymous material struck a rare chord, emanating far beyond the freeform Berlin underground in which it was written. Unknowingly, Los Angelean Oliver Bristow had
established a parallel musical universe, founding the hyper-specific label Acid Test, inviting pioneering artists such as Donato Dozzy, Tin Man and Pepe Bradock to indulge in glorious interpretations of 303 control. Without compromise, these were records that quietly
reinvigorated electronic music.
Some years later, a new label, SWOB, unites Wust and Bristow in a very different landscape. And while it would be easy to transform the purity and integrity of this special alchemy into something like nostalgia, yearning for an alternative culture before
influencers and against algorithms, SWOB endeavours to find inspiration in arguably tougher truths.
“By the mid-90s, the techno scene had already reached a breaking point”, recalls Wust.
“Today, the scene is so highly professionalized that it barely resembles what was once called the "underground. But "underground" was never more than the simple reality that music circulated on cassettes among friends or that dubplates were played at illegal
parties... The consequence of today’s professionalization is the death of the original movement.”
Still, no one can kill an idea. Here, inspired by the “Outside Tekno” or “Outkast Techno” that emerged to subvert even back in the day, SWOB are proud to introduce the tekkNOthing trilogy, a new project from SW. beginning on cassette and culminating later
on vinyl. Some years in development, tekkNOthing first began to take shape during the 2020 global pandemic, when ‘the underground’ quickly began to mean something radically different once again.
“I noticed how everything was accelerating while simultaneously spinning in circles – existing in a kind of creative limbo on a global scale”, recalls Wust. “And that’s where true freedom lies: for artists – in any sense – to consciously engage with this necessity. In
other words, irrationality or nonsense can eventually generate meaning.” While hardly capitulating to the contemporary hammering of techno’s most recent developments, tekkNOthing’s first chapter quickly establishes a frenetic pace; tracks like ‘nuclearFALLoutX’ and ‘paslolESmess’ interlock and unfold at a tempo removed from that typically associated with SW. while ‘euroBSS’ and ‘viscousHEAT’ successfully experiment with a more guttural palette, veering far into a rejuvenating and previously uncharted leftfield.
A resolutely human endeavour, the music of SW. is nonetheless written and recorded in the looming shadow of AI, whose free-form adoption of pop culture, hip-hop and techno reminds Wust of “when photography emerged in the 19th century... painting was no
longer bound to naturalism. Similarly, music today is no longer bound to fixed standards – through AI, it can become truly free.”
If not in competition, than taking inspiration from this landscape of new opportunity, tekkNOthing diversifies further with eight unpredictable tracks across part II, taking in stuttering machine-funk on ‘crAMPDUNK’, a freeform organ jam via ‘sonicENdo’ and the
inexplicable piston-percussive, post-punk exotica heard on ‘poorTENOOR#a#01’ DJs with dual cassette decks skills might even find function in the more overtly floor-focused ‘DU ¨NEhowSE#1takeÄ’ or ‘lookLOOK’.
The times may have changed, but the promise remains simple; more music, more freedom.
Diesco & Vince Void's Always Delivering EP arrives as a reverent tribute to the golden age of early 90s house, drawing inspiration from progressive, euro house, and other foundational genres of the era. A perfect balance of nostalgia and forward motion, the record reflects on the transformative soundscapes that once shaped the dancefloor, while embracing the present and future of electronic music.
El Tigre opens with a hypnotic rhythm, oscillating between balearic warmth and tribal beats. The sensual Spanish vocals weave seamlessly with the track's immersive groove, inviting listeners to lose themselves in a shadowy jungle of sound.
Untitled C takes things to a higher, more electrified level—bleepy acid lines, fat organ riffs, and punchy drums create an undeniable dancefloor energy. It’s pure euphoria, distilled into every beat.
8-Bit draws on the video game soundtracks that were an indirect inspiration for both artists during their youth. A fusion of breaky rhythms, groovy basslines, and uplifting piano chords gives the track an energetic feel.
Closing the EP, Jobby brings the energy to a soaring crescendo, combining euro house with a melancholic synth riff that takes you back to the emotions of early rave culture. It’s a perfect track to close, in a perfect way, a really intimate night.
With Always Delivering, 24 Seven Records signals the start of something fresh yet rooted in the past. It’s a celebration of where we've been, where we are, and where we're headed—true to the spirit of dance music.
It was less than a year ago that Italy-born but Denmark-based musical artist Alex Puddu released his latest album Deliria, an enticing blend of erotic disco, soulful grooves and electronica inspired by Italian pop music of the late 70s / early 80s, which went on to enjoy extended radio play across the globe including on BBC 6, NTS, KCRW, and national Spanish station Radio 3, to name a few.
But it wasn’t long thereafter that indefatigable groove purveyor Puddu travelled back to Rome for a new musical adventure, heading straight to The Sound Work Shop, the recording studio of legendary Italian composer Piero Umiliani, where he recorded the 10 new tracks that are included in his latest musical opus, Professione Reporter, another funky and soulful adult-oriented disco-pop album entirely sung by himself in Italian.
Professione Reporter tells the story of a photo reporter who travels the world following and stalking rich recently-widowed women whose husbands died in mysterious circumstances. Attracted by their charm and wealth, our protagonist transforms himself into a gigolo, becoming a dedicated lover-boy to these rich sugar mamas and a slave to the sweet life, going so far as to become an accomplice in their criminal plans to ensure the inheritance of their dead husbands.
Once again Alex Puddu has hit the mark with a collection of polished and ear-friendly grooves that tell the alluring story of a private eye embroiled in a web of love affairs, wealth and deceit, evoking images of satin sheets, champagne and dim lights set against the backdrop of one of the most hedonistic decades so far.
Solo project of ARIA-nominated Hudson Whitlock of Surprise Chef, who have 45 million+ Spotify streams, and The Cactus Channel who have 40 million+ Spotify streams. Album features members of Surprise Chef and Karate Boogaloo.
Melbourne, Australia's indie-soul wunderkind Brenda, solo project of Surprise Chef's Hudson Whitlock, make their College Of Knowledge debut with two heartbreaking, moody ballads 'Where Did I Go Wrong?' and 'Family'.
Capodopere continues to etch its mark with a masterful eight release, this time from the enigmatic Vid, delivering two distinct sonic journeys tailored for devoted genre explorers.
Side A opens with Transpose, a captivating odyssey defined by a groovy dub bassline that anchors the track in a hypnotic rhythm. Layers of intricate percussion ripple through the soundscape, each element carefully placed to lead the listener into a state of fluid motion. Vid’s signature touch unfolds subtly yet confidently, with warm, immersive textures that evoke a sense of endless exploration. Perfect for the rominimal connoisseur, Transpose is both a dancefloor weapon and a cerebral voyage.
Flipping to Side B, Stereochord takes a darker turn. The track begins with sequenced elements that unravel like clockwork, building a foreboding atmosphere. A deep, groovy bassline carries the weight, providing a sturdy backbone as flashes of industrial textures and otherworldly echoes weave in and out. With its relentless energy and shadowy mystique, Stereochord invites listeners into a realm of nocturnal intensity, rounding out a release that balances light and dark, groove and grit.
Heads down, Party Bombs incoming. It’s the long awaited Volume 3 in the only series 100% committed to BOMBS. Four no-nonsense bangers from the minds of Parchi Pubblici, Lanzieri, Raku and Phill Prince. Bang!
Samosa Records comes at you with all the elements for Earth, Wind & Funk Vol. 2 – a succulent double slice of vinyl heaven!
On side A1 label favourites Dirty Elements & Drunkdrivers start the party with the knee-slapping treat ‘Koko’. A bouncing bassline and some sweet clavinet keys act as the starters to this trip around the discophere. Lush strings and sassy vocals provide a delicious cherry on top. Mesmerising stuff.
For A2, Macchianera undergoes a De Gama Re-Groove with ‘Gotta Dance’, a deceptive 115bpm chugger that could travel the tracks for an eternity. Deep, groovy bass and soulful vocals combine perfectly in the build-up to the brass-soaked chorus line. Oh, and you know that rhythm guitar is gonna get you.
Side B1 finds Niels F. ‘Trying To Love’ with a little help from some De Gama Re-Drums. ‘Trying To Love’ breaks out into its stride from the off. With an almost ‘2-step’ vibe at the intro, ‘Trying To Love’ nicely builds to a rag time jam of lush strings, smile-inducing brass and a wicked vocal – all applied perfectly and filtered expertly. Let the good times roll!
B2 brings the Afro inspired delights of MP Soundworks and ‘Gotta Get It’. There’s a tribal vibe in the air at this party, a hypnotic runaway train of a track that makes full use of filtered build ups, looped vocal samples and a wicked, wicked bassline. Bouncier than supper-concentrated Zectron.
In Earth, Wind & Funk Vol. 2 Samosa Records has produced a stunning double slab release, featuring a good mix of some of the label’s most prolific artists and some welcome newcomers.
Isle of Jura teams up with French digger Switch Groove on the next compilation titled ‘Archipelago – Cosmic Fusion Gems from France (1978-1988)’.
Switch Groove explains the concept “When I seriously began to search for and collect records, I was mostly interested in sounds from african-american, afro-latin and UK contemporary scenes. Sounds from distant territories, faraway from my native Massif Central, a highland region in the middle of France. The grass is always greener, I guess however, as I was digging in fleamarkets in the early sunday morning light, as well as spending regular sessions in second hands record shops, I began to discover hidden treasures, underground gems and side-projects of an unknown French musical repertoire.
French music is often reduced to its most famous musical forms, characters and signatures : French songwriting and voices, 60s yéyé, prog rock concept albums and soundtrack explorations, 80’s indie rock scene or more recently electronic French touch. All these sounds have a common feature : a geographical link, forged on mainland French territory, following the contour of the so-called Hexagone, the border that shapes the grounds for an homogeneous cultural expression. But beyond this showcase lie more complex, hybrid and global French productions. From French Caribbean Antilles to Parisian suburbs - especially during the ‘Sono Mondiale’ era -, in French areas outside urban cultural centers, musicians have created fusion and cosmic musical expressions. As the mid-seventies meant a greater freedom to make and record music, a wider use of electronic instruments like synthesizers and drum machines helped to deliver some magical projects you could only find lost in the middle of cheap records during a sunny record digging session. I selected these tracks, in an attempt to shape an ARCHIPELAGO that highlights significative contributions of African diasporas and ultramarine territories into French musical borders. It is the map of a land I have gradually drawn, thanks to deep listening of amazing cosmic and fusion tunes. I hope you enjoy the journey.”
Carving a singular path through boundary-pushing explorations of gamelan music, Uwalmassa’s ‘EP3’ presents a dynamic narrative, infusing deeply rooted cultural elements with forward-thinking ethos.
The Jakarta-based collective reimagines the dense complexity of Indonesian music through an experimental lens, shifting tempos and layered polyrhythms with unconventional structures, offering a bold redefinition of ritualistic music.
Uwalmassa not only expands the conversation around gamelan but also reshapes its possibilities, conveying a timeless vision that bridges the past and the future.
Find Your Own Records recently launched with a sold out first release; Ceri's 'Life Holstee E.P.' which included a timeless Fred P Reshape. Fusing the sounds of Berlin, Detroit, Chicago and London, the release was supported by everyone from Midland, Move D, Ben UFO and Fumiya Tanaka, to Steve O'Sullivan.
The second release, the 'I Need You To Make Me Sweat' E.P. also draws inspiration from the classic sounds of Chicago and Detroit, and features none other than a remix from bona fide Dance Music Legend, Mr. G.
The title track 'Need You' is a Juno bassline driven, classic sounding 'proper' deep house track, raising in energy as it peaks, with vocal snippets and modulated analogue drums building throughout.
Mr. G has taken Ceri's title track, 'Need You', and twisted it into a harder, faster 'Jaded Dub', capturing a dark and driving energy, tantalising and adding to the drum grooves with his trademark swinging rides and industrial synths, adding his infamous MPC swing to the vocal snippets, and building the tension throughout, as the one and only G can.
The B side 'Sweat', draws inspiration from 80's and 90's house with a modern dark twist, mixing variating funky drum machine rhythms, classic house vocal samples and pulsing sub-bass to.
The first release was quickly repressed, but there will be no repress on 002, so grab it now before it sells out...
Early support comes from K-HAND, Ryan Elliot, Paranoid London and many more.
Brazilian talent Rafael Cancian has grown in stature thanks to solid outings on the tasteful likes of Razor-N-Tape and Hot Pot Records. Now with that profile established, he heads out with a new label of his own in the form of About Disco. He inaugurates it with a quartet of edits that he has already been deploying to great effect on various dancefloors around the world. 'Sounds Chicago' does indeed with raw drums and great keys dancing over the beats. 'Ti Amo' has a more funky undercarriage and disco percussion, 'D'Afrique' again brings a funky bass riff to the fore with some psyched-out sounds for company and 'Opera' shuts down with some late-night and soul-drenched synths over intimate and stripped back house drums.
Perimeter Records proudly presents the return of "Another World", the legendary trance anthem by Cyborg, originally composed in 1993 by Bruno Quartier. Known for his iconic work as part of BBE ("Seven Days & One Week") and At The Villa People ("Open Your Eyes"), Quartier’s influence on the trance scene is undeniable.
This special release features two essential versions:
• Michael Forzza’s remix, which reimagines the original through his unique rhythmic energy, adding a fresh dynamic while preserving its deep emotional intensity.
• The fully remastered 1993 original, restoring the power and hypnotic essence of this trance masterpiece.
Michael Forzza, the mastermind behind the underground hit "Kahana" in collaboration with Dimitri Andreas, first released on Ghoststyle in 2005 and recently reissued on Systematic (Marc Romboy’s label), delivers a vision that bridges past and future.
With this release, Perimeter Records revives a classic, ensuring its legacy continues on dancefloors worldwide. A must-have for techno and trance lovers!
Français
Un classique intemporel renaît sur Perimeter Records!
Perimeter Records est fier de présenter le grand retour de "Another World", l’hymne trance légendaire de Cyborg, composé en 1993 par Bruno Quartier. Figure incontournable de la scène électronique, il est notamment connu pour son travail au sein de BBE ("Seven Days & One Week") et At The Villa People ("Open Your Eyes"), des morceaux qui ont marqué l’histoire de la trance.
Cette réédition propose deux versions essentielles:
• Le remix de Michael Forzza, qui insuffle une nouvelle dynamique au morceau en lui apportant une rythmique puissante et une tension subtile, tout en conservant son intensité émotionnelle unique.
• L’original de 1993, entièrement remasterisé, offrant une redécouverte captivante de ce chef-d’œuvre hypnotique.
Michael Forzza, connu pour son hit underground "Kahana", sorti sur Ghoststyle en 2005 et récemment réédité sur Systematic (le label de Marc Romboy), propose ici une relecture qui lie passé et futur.
Avec cette sortie, Perimeter Records fait revivre un classique et perpétue son héritage sur les dancefloors du monde entier. Un indispensable pour les passionnés de techno et de trance!
The world of item expands. Small or significant, material, immaterial, items define much of our daily life. We are in the era of itemisation.
Itemise yourself
The first item in the catalogue, hardware evangelist and live performer Otis.
Presenting sounds for the higher self: Red Flags written and produced by Otis. Built for dark rooms and soggy limbs. A devout purveyor of hardware and analogue, Otis’ revered live performances are greedy with drive and dance. Machine-led but felt in toes and gut. His live act craft can be traced through this EP garnering influence from industrial, early 2000s electro and progressive trance. Sweat as currency the common thread.
This, another item for your dance directory. Trinket thing piece music. A keepsake.
Laibach und A/POLITICAL präsentieren 'Alamut' - ein brandneues Album mit symphonischen Originalwerken, die auf dem gleichnamigen Roman basieren - veröffentlicht als Doppel-Vinyl und 2CD via Mute.
Das Album wurde von Laibach und den Musikern aufgenommen, die 'Alamut' im Jahr 2022 in einer ehemaligen Kreuzritterburg in Ljubljana live aufführten. Zu den beteiligten Musikern gehören das RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra, die Vokalgruppe Human-Voice Ensemble aus Teheran, der Gallina Women's Choir und AccordiOna, ein Frauen-Akkordeon-Orchester, das von zusätzlichen Akkordeonspielern unterstützt wird und vom iranischen Dirigenten Navid Goharib geleitet wird.
'Alamut' ist ein symphonisches Originalwerk von Laibach, das auf einer berühmten Geschichte aus dem Persien des 11. Jahrhunderts basiert, die der slowenische Schriftsteller Vladimir Bartol in seinem 1938 erschienenen gleichnamigen Roman erzählt. Im Mittelpunkt steht Hassan-i Sabbah, der charismatische religiöse und politische Führer der Nizari-Ismailiten und Gründer einer geheimnisvollen militärischen Formation, die als die Assassinen bekannt ist und deren Name noch heute gefürchtet und respektiert wird. Hassan-i Sabbah ist ein selbsternannter Prophet, der von seinem Horst - der Burg von Alamut - aus einen heiligen Krieg gegen das Seldschukenreich führt. 'Alamut' befasst sich mit den Mechanismen der Propaganda zu der Zeit, als der slowenische Autor Bartol den Aufstieg des Faschismus in Triest, Italien, wo er lebte, miterlebte.
In Laibachs 'Alamut' verweben sich die Ideen des radikalen Nihilismus mit der klassischen persischen Poesie von Omar Khayyam, die sinnlichen Verse von Mahsati Ganjavi verschmelzen mit minimalistischen Orchesterfarben, die aus der iranischen Tradition stammen. Hassan-i Sabbahs Propagandamechanismen finden ihren Widerhall im industriellen Prinzip der Arbeitsweise des Orchesters und im einzigartigen Klang von Laibach.
The voyage of Captain Barbatus D. Wreckords across The New World continues with an episode on Nexus Island, where the pirates reveal the secrets of The World Government yet again!
For the third chapter of the Barbatus series, the odyssey is musically delivered by Pontiff Ordric, a.k.a. Mayank Saraiya. It is a great pleasure, to present one of the many monikers of a talented Indo-Ukrainian artist, and fellow pirate of the Barbatus ship, who also is behind the mix/master helm of the Barbatus label.
The engineer-DJ-producer tells his tale through a blend of syncopated, electro inspired, beats and proto-trance synths that are riddled with tributes to the sound of the 80's.
Mutual Rytm welcome back Swiss DJ/producer Chlär for a bustling, high-octane return as he unveils his latest six-track EP, 'Intrinsic Drive'.
Swiss artist and mastering engineer Chlär's last outing on Mutual Rytm, his 'Optimized Grooves' EP, was a standout success that made an impact far and wide across the techno realm. It was another big step for the fast-rising producer, who is also a dexterous DJ that plays across three and even four decks in the club. A craftsman of sounds, his take on techno is full throttle and has come on labels like Iceland's NIX and Stranger's Self Reflektion imprint. Always looking to improve his sounds, he hits a perfect sweet spot with a fresh and visionary approach across six fresh productions with his 'Intrinsic Drive' EP, again showcasing exemplary creative progression in his ever-impressing production skills.
Up first is 'Dopamine Rush', a quickened techno pumper with synths peeling off the straight-ahead drums and locking you into a state of hypnosis. The title track 'Intrinsic Drive' is a tightly woven mix of drums, hits and bass that never lets up, while the supple rhythm is overlaid with alien sound designs to up the intensity. 'For Marco' takes a heavier path with darkened and more weighty kick drums under eerie synth loops. There is a real swing in the drums of 'Steady Pace' as the crisp hits and vocal fragments all up the ante, before 'Greedy Man' delivers a tough panel beater with skewed synths and an industrial undertone. Digital bonus 'May I Dance?' rounds things out with raw textures and unhinged loops that take you to the heart of a strobe-lit dance floor, shaping up another
mighty fine statement of intent from the ever more vital Swiss native.
Dave Lee continues to be one of Britain's most accomplished disco dons. An established remixing extraordinaire, proven once more here as he tackles some stunning Disco-Funk heaters. First is the Psychedelic Funk mix of '2001 Disco Party' a hypnotic, sweat inducing slab of frenzied funk-action, did we mention this release brings the funk enough? His Synth Vamp mix of 'Potion Of Love' is a must for hi-energy synth solo aficionados, backed up with glorious strings, pulsating guitar and classic disco diva vocals. Last of all his 'Strut Your Strat Dub' of the opener brings irresistible guitar frets to the party, doubling down on the groove factors for some serious heads down, hands up feet stomping.
Marie-Pierre Rixain and David Fenech form an unexpected and captivating duo, pushing the boundaries of alternative music. Together, they embark on an unclassifiable sonic journey, blending industrial downtempo, steady kicks, cold percussion, field recordings, and electric guitar feedback. Their music, often dark, carries flashes of warmth inspired by British dub—like an imaginary collaboration between The Bug and This Heat. At times, it echoes the world of La Perversita by Hector Zazou & Co.
Their debut album, Insane Ghosts, due out in spring 2025 on the Parisian label Hublotone, was recorded in 2024 in the intimate privacy of the bedroom. Mixed by David Fenech, it also benefits from the participation of Alexandre Berly (La Mverte) on the track ‘Toi en Moi’, adding a sub and experimental touch. The mastering was handled by the legendary Noel Summerville, whose sonic signature graces iconic albums by The Clash, My Bloody Valentine, Kraftwerk, Aphex Twin, and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.
The album cover features a striking work by French photographer and filmmaker Antoine d’Agata (Magnum Photos). His poetic and abstract image adds another layer to Insane Ghosts, a project already shaping up to be a must-have for fans of introspective, dark and cold music. Like if Lost in Highway from David Lynch had a new soundtrack.
Zara is the first album of Parus ethno-ambient project from Belarus that combines pagan songs that are sang by ethnographer and folk singer Hanna Silivonchyk on various dialects of Belarusian language and mixture of synthesizers and field recordings that where reordered in national parks of the country by electroacoustic music composer - Anton Anishchanka. The songs where collected during ethnographic expeditions in remote territories by Belarusian ethnographers in different periods of time
"What I choose to sing from the vast amount of authentic material are songs that
somehow feel like mine for all sorts of reasons, but that I love to be inside." - Hanna Silivonchyk
"Soniejka" is a summer song from the Dnepr river region, which sings about the readiness to meet life in any of its manifestations, about acceptance and love. "Zara" is also from the Dnepr river region, depicting the main Indo-European mythological story of the heavenly love between the Moon and the Dawn and their melting.
"Ruzovyja cviaty" is a lyrical song from Dzvina river region, romantic and touching, which sings about the very beginning of love between two people. And the song "Oj luhom idu" is a spring song from the territory of modern Poland, from Podlasie region, which tells about the life of a married woman, about the fate that may befall her and how it can be experienced. All of them are about one's own feeling of the present time, one's life, about personal life
experience, but at the same time - about universal human contents and meanings that exist outside of time.
The indominable Russell Haswell returns! He's a restlessly forward-thinking, multi-disciplinary artist, performer and curator who calls Diagonal Records his home. His past collaborators include Aphex Twin, Gescom, Florian Hecker and Merzbrow. "DeepTime" is Russell's latest LP for the label following on from 2023's 'Reality Therapy'. Whilst "Reality Therapy" was an introverted affair, "DeepTime" is brimming with confidence and aimed squarely at the dance floor.
Russell's club friendly turns are resolutelyprogressivist. Whilst being informed by the works of Claude Young and Jeff Mills, his music feels like it was made in another dimension altogether. Title track, "DeepTime", "Unconformity" and "Atropine" all prove the point. It's techno but it's much more besides.
NYC's WALLY WONDER makes his vinyl release debut with a massive big room electro boogie remix from Mexico City's RAFAEL MARFIL, lead producer and synth extraordinaire beyond the group SHIRO SCHWARZ to back the raw & simple stank-face inducing punk-funk original slapper. Due out May 2.
180 G. BLACK VINYL WITH LINER NOTES IN CREOLE, FRENCH, ENGLISH
Originally released in 1979, "Spiritual Sound" lives up to its name, a soaring, triumphant album, six tracks of spirit magic from Guadeloupe.
Telluric, intense, terribly alive, the gwoka drums of Guadeloupe carry the identity of a painful and fervent island. Marked forever by the crime of slavery, Guadeloupe's créolité cherishes the ka drums and their natural environment: the low-pitched boula drum with male goatskin, the high-pitched soloist makè drum with female goatskin, the chacha, ti bwa, triangle, calabash and other percussion instruments that surround them, and the voices - the fiery, proud, timbred, urgent voices of the gwoka.
This album is also a legend for its voices: in his then dazzling youth, singer Lukuber Séjor was one of the first gwoka artists to largely feminize the chorus of répondè, who converse with his text delivered in a straight and powerful voice.
And everything here sets new standards. In 1979, Mizik Filamonik - Spiritual Sound proclaimed a spiritual patriotism of ferocious intensity. The album by Lukuber Séjor - whose spelling alone is a battle - sets out to give Guadeloupe the intangible weapons of self-respect and self-knowledge, through a singular practice of traditional music.
The genesis of gwoka music is less straightforward than one might imagine... The drums performed the servile task of accompanying the work of slaves in the fields and during the “corvées” imposed by the administration, before being freely practiced by the common people after the abolition of 1848. At the heart of the conviviality of the Guadeloupeans furthest from the cities - geographically and socially - the gwoka drums come out for carnival, funeral wakes and neighborhood celebrations, but also during strikes, fits of anger and armed vigils of the riots and revolts that have punctuated the island's history. For generations, governors of the colony and then the prefects of the overseas department of Guadeloupe have been viewing the gwoka as a potential for turbulence and a threat to public order.
But as the Beatlesmania, “chanson engagée” and rock revolutions unfolded in Europe, young people turned to the drums of mizik a vié nèg (“bad negro music”, in Creole), which Guadeloupeans had learned to despise by following the “assimilation” process advocated by the school system and most of the political class. At the end of the sixties, in a Guadeloupe mourning the deadly repression of the May 1967 social movement, they played traditional music, refusing to wrap it up in tourist prettiness and madras folk costumes. Instinctively, they played a rough and contemporary gwoka, led by the incendiary Guy Konkèt. This was the era of decisive 45 rpm records such as Robert Loyson's Kann a la richès, which brought to light the fieriest words of union rallies.
At his home in Sainte-Anne, Lukuber Séjor played with flautist Olivier Vamur and his brother Claude Vamur, who cobbled together a drum kit from tin crockery and became, a few years later, the most influential drummer in Kassav'.
These were the years of the Bumidom program, when young Guadeloupeans were encouraged to emigrate to mainland France. At the age of twenty, Lukuber Séjor embarked on the liner Irpinia, disembarking at Le Havre and taking the train to the Gare Saint-Lazare - the route taken by thousands of young West Indians who went on to study or looked for work, all the while trying to maintain a link with their homeland. In this case, it's at the Antony university residence, where Lukuber played the drum and participated in a thousand gwoka updates and aggiornamentos, while exile reinforced the need for a spiritual link with the native land.
In 1978, Guy Konkèt played at the Salle Wagram, a historic event for West Indian music. After serving as répondè - i.e. backing vocalist - on one of his home-recorded albums, Lukuber joined his live band. Little by little, he became one of the key artists on a circuit parallel to French show business. At a student party in Caen, he met a young woman from Martinique who, at the time, was more motivated by her ambitions as a visual artist than by her vocation as a musician. Her name was Jocelyne Béroard and, a few years before she plunged into the Kassav' adventure and became the greatest West Indian singer of her generation, she designed the cover of Lukuber Séjor's LP.
This ambition was obvious and imposed its will. A more or less regular band was formed, with Roger Raspail, Rudy Mompière and Éric Danquin on ka drums, Claude Vamur on ti bwa, Olivier Vamur and Françoise Lancréot on flutes and Annick Noël on keyboards. Lukuber Séjor is set on wanting to extend the gwoka palette to other instruments, as the jazz-rock revolution opens a thousand new doors. Annick Noël will play a wide range of timbres and textures on electric piano and synthesizer. Another novelty: the répondè are two men and two women, Roger Raspail, Olivier Vamur, Françoise Lancréot and Maryann Mathéus ...
Mizik Filamonik - Spiritual Sound is a self-production in which the singer and leader sank all his savings, allowing him no more than a single day in the studio. The first side is more of a musical manifesto, with the first two tracks, Éritage and Penn é plézi, being instrumentals. The third, Son, forcefully celebrates the need for Guadeloupeans to connect with the gwoka. In fact, Jocelyne Béroard's cover shows a tambouyé in the shadow of a cloudy sky, against which a radiant sun is rising and whose light will soon flood the entire landscape. The silhouette and face of this man strongly evoke the immense Vélo, master of the ka, rejected at the time on the fringes of society.
The second side of the LP is surprising. Formally, three tracks are explicitly linked like the three parts of a triptych. Primyé voyaj evokes the appalling tribulation of Africans deported as slaves to Guadeloupe; dézyèm voyaj speaks of the Bumidom program and the economic, political and social forces driving young Guadeloupeans towards the mirage of prosperity in France; twazyèm voyaj closes the cycle with the emigrants' return from Europe after years away from their island...
This gwoka, obsessed with the need to save Guadeloupe spiritually, appeals far beyond the politicized audience. Mizik Filamonik - Spiritual Sound instantly became a classic, although Lukuber Séjor never really made a career for himself as a musician.
After all, the album was released in 1980, with no promotional resources in France or Guadeloupe - and therefore no concerts. The thirty-two-year-old author, composer and performer made his own third trip back to Guadeloupe. He set up a small woodworking business, which he lost in Hurricane Hugo in 1989. His other activity, teaching in a medical-educational institute, became the core of his professional life. He continued to be an active campaigner - a campaigner for the Creole language, a campaigner for the reawakening of identity, a campaigner for special education, a campaigner for a thousand causes that he ignited with his generous and perceptive enthusiasm, such as the defense of breadfruit fries...
The echoes of his 1979 album have not died down. Of course, the use of Penn é plézi as the theme tune for Radio Guadeloupe's funeral notices from 1980 to 1992 kept him in the collective memory, but he continues to sing and compose sporadically, as with his all-female
vocal group Vwapoulouéka... Still convinced that music is a means of liberating the spirit, he continues the journey of a young man eager to deploy the power of Creole music and language.
We all remember with mixed feelings the past two years of domestic isolation: a temporary anomaly in which the world had to adjust to a new routine, a new rhythm. In these daunting yet precious circumstances, Italian producer Markeno has found his rhythm back, dusting off old records and re-approaching his past musical love affairs that he believed to be long forgotten. Here, in the fertile limbo that connects past and future, “Dock lown (exploring)” is born: a 3-tracker release with a chameleonic nature and an undeniable groove, in which Markeno is able to tactfully combine different genres such as indie, post-rock, African mu- sic, electro and funk.
In the contemporary music scene, overly saturated with catchy melodies and seductive lyrics, it is refreshing to encounter a composition like “Fase 01”, which starts from a purely percussive structure. Just when the ear is settled and well inserted into the tangle of drums, here comes the melodic twist, no less than at the fourth minute, injecting an unexpected groove and chalking out the contours of a track with multiple personalities: a little esoteric, a little synth-wave, quirky and badass. The temperature rises with “Zona Ros- sa”, in which the electro hint sketched in “Fase 01” becomes more pronounced, opening the doors to a dense psychedelic scenario. A shamanic loop accompanies the electric bass and escorts us through the smoke of the bonfire, veils swayed by the wind and colored lights that sparkle in the night. The ritualistic humming of ‘’Zona Rossa”’ is still hearable, floating in the rarefied atmosphere, while the last track “Limbo” makes its entrance and confirms once again the poliedric but congruous essence of this release, whose percussive attitude lures you in and whose hypnotic and groovy body makes you stay. At least for one more dance.
Barcelona's techno powerhouse Oscar Escapa drops sweat-inducing two-tracker 'Enemy Returns' on DCLTD. Title track 'Enemy Returns': a relentless onslaught of hyperspeed techno, pounding kick drum, layers of hissing brushes and a 'womping' bass riff on the backbeat, laced with random off-set industrial stabs, the whole spiced with subtle but hooky variations. 'It's My Life': Escapa once again teams up with Joanna Dark -hers is the robotic voice- for more supersonic techno madness, this time the strata of wild percussion are spiked by a fuzzy bass arp riff, and the spoken automated vocal repeats the title like a mantra, ironically considering the spacey, industrial non-human vibe, while resonant guitar note patterns add a melodic element.
Sunny Crypt’s ninth release - and first ever excursion into the realms of previously unreleased music - is “Ufficio Misteri”, the debut album of Milan-based musical collective UFOBAR, an eight piece digital folk orchestra born from the creative synergy of a group of friends with diverse artistic backgrounds. Inspired by evocative ambient electronica, stoner rock songwriting and industrial soundscapes, the project draws on a wide array of influences, crafting a dynamic and multifaceted sonic landscape. The band’s mission is to achieve and share an emotional state they call “total solar”: a synaesthetic experience capable of forging a profound connection between artist and listener.
Emerging from the suburbs of North London in the early 1990s, Hulusi was an experimental electronic music collective formed by four friends of multi-ethnic origin: Cypriot, Caribbean, Indian and English heritage. Cultivating their musical practice within very specific parameters of time and space, Hulusi instills the essence and spirit of the acid house movement (and its aftermath) that had taken much of England by storm from 1988 onwards. The ‘Dream’ EP was the collective's first release of their self-funded and limited output, offering up a categorically elusive record that could soundtrack the most esoteric and life affirming club moments, whilst simultaneously satisfying the ears and obscure desires of those found dwelling in the heavily occupied ‘chill out’ rooms and nocturnal after parties. As the emerging UK rave scene aligned with newfound accessibility of music production, the late 80s and early 90s became a fertile ground for experimental electronic music, spawning a generation of bedroom and basement producers interacting with and creating music for often the very first time. Like many, Hulusi was a musical project that connected the dots between DIY spirit, technological advancements and the burgeoning cultural phenomenon of acid house. The project operated outside of the then perceived, traditional band conventions, instead developing their sound and exchanging ideas through the format of demo tapes and floppy disks, nurturing their work through individual bedroom studios and feedback sessions. Considered a crucial and possibly defining element of the record, is Hulusi’s unconscious exploration of the groups hybrid cultural identity. Rooted in a shared desire for self-invention, the Dream EPreflects Hulusi's response to a world of rapid musical and technological change. Each track on the record draws inspiration from both Western and Eastern musical frameworks, symbolized through the record’s structure. The ‘Western Side’, featuring "Dream," echoes the ambient techno and acid house influences of early rave culture and bands like 808 State and Orbital. In contrast, the ‘Eastern Side’ of the record is highly decorated with samples, yet stripped back, through its purposeful use of organic sounds, reflecting the group's fascination with blending Western modernism with imagined Eastern themes. Despite operating in near obscurity, Hulusi - The Dream EP acts as an audible catalyst to transport the listener to a different time and place, offering a lucid snapshot into the musical and cultural explorations of the past whilst simultaneously remaining a timeless piece of music.
Our first release - Interlink - which captures the core of what COORREENTE is all about. As the name suggests, Interlink brings together different artists, each adding their own unique sound to create something unified. Like ocean currents flowing together into one continuous path, these artists have collaborated to shape a deep, immersive experience. Interlink isn't just a collection of tracks-it's a reflection of our belief that individual creativity can merge into something greater. This perfectly captures COORREENTE's hypnotic and interconnected take on underground techno.
In this post Sounds world, the boundaries of Post Punk have not only broadened but splintered. And over the course of (now) four releases, Index For Working Musik have seen to using the sprawling boundaries to great effect, flexing a polyglot of styles to convey the language of the moment. On Which Direction Goes The Beam, the murky, distant ambience that was 2023's Indexé has been fleshed out, incorporating everything from the Brian Aldiss laced, ground lightning shudder of Dome, to the chamber-like arrangements of This Kind Of Punishment. There's even a candle flickering in the window for Think Fellers Union Local 282 that warmed these ears. And if you're a fan of the great Dutch band, Trespassers W (who isn't?), the collective consciousness IFWM enunciates on here is a similar testament of a band growing more sure footed in the pursuit of not only knowing all the ways in, but carving a few of their own on the way out. And it's discerning releases like Which Direction Goes The Beam that keep us in the hunt. Long may they forge. - Tom Lax. RIYL: Brian Jonestown Massacre, Velvet Underground, TOY, John Cale, Wire, Dome
A Paradise In The Hold is an album of yearning. It’s about Ivor Novello Award winning Yazz Ahmed’s dual heritage, drawing on traditional music and folklore as well as her own personal experience as a British-Bahraini woman. A sweeping epic where tradition meets innovation, she melds ancient rhythms with contemporary musicianship. The record is a tribute to the sorrowful songs of Bahrain’s pearl divers, the strength of Arab women, and the celebratory rhythms of women's traditional drumming circles, while also telling the story of Yazz’s own decade-long voyage of selfdiscovery. The album also marks Yazz’s first foray into writing lyrics, in both English and Arabic, bringing a new dimension to her expansive sound. The project features an impressive roster of collaborators, including vocalists Natacha Atlas, Brigitte Beraha, and percussionist Corrina Silvester. With A Paradise In The Hold, Ahmed delivers a groundbreaking fusion of tradition and innovation, creating a contemporary jazz project that is set to make a lasting impact on the genre
Amber Run is a British indie rock band from Nottingham. The band have released three albums and four EPs.
They played Reading and Leeds festivals, enjoyed national radio support and had a strong press reaction: “Their vast sound has Coldplay stadium ambitions” (Independent); “Epic tunes that sound destined for arenas” (Daily Star); and “Incredibly effective” (The Sun).
Amber Run recorded their debut album throughout January and February 2014 with Sam Winfield and Brit Award-winning record producer Mike Crossey, who previously produced albums for Arctic Monkeys, The 1975, Twenty One Pilots, Walk the Moon, Foals, Keane, Jake Bugg and Yungblud.
With Noah’s Mumford & Sons-like vocal melodies and the wisps of Bastille’s fist-pumping pop on single “Just My Soul Responding”, Amber Run maintains a legitimising rockstar edge.
There are comparisons with Coldplay on the single “I Found”, while the title track has London Grammar’s mellow trip-hop vibes.
To celebrate the 10th anniversary of 5 AM, Music On Vinyl in cooperation with Amber Run and Sony Music present a limited, individually numbered 10th anniversary edition on yellow & black marbled vinyl. The package includes an insert with lyrics
5-track vinyl-only release by Basse-cour label boss Decoq, delivering a raw, unapologetic slice of hard techno. Drawing light inspiration from the early '90s rave scene, this EP channels the gritty energy of industrial warehouses and the euphoria of underground dance floors. Thunderous kicks, gritty textures, hypnotic rhythms, haunting synths, and relentless grooves collide in a collection that pays homage to the roots of rave while keeping its sights firmly set on the future: this is a must-have for selectors who thrive on pure, unadulterated energy.
A visceral journey into the heart of techno’s rebellious roots and a pure dance floor ammunition for true heads.
Vinyl- Only Ep in 5 tracce firmato da Decoq, boss e anima dell’etichetta Basse-cour, che offre una cruda e inarrestabile dose di hard techno. Vagamente ispirato alla scena rave dei primi anni '90, questo EP incanala l’energia ruvida dei magazzini industriali e l’euforia delle piste da ballo underground. Casse martellanti, texture grezze, ritmi ipnotici, sintetizzatori inquietanti e groove implacabili si fondono in una raccolta che rende omaggio alle radici del rave, guardando al contempo verso il futuro.
Un must-have per i selector che vivono di energia pura e incontaminata: un viaggio viscerale nel cuore ribelle del techno e una vera arma da dance floor per gli intenditori.
Special collaborative project ARUM lands on the ESHU imprint. Something that every ESHU release has in common is that each project originates from friendship or a cooperation between like minded souls. This release is no different from that. "Guus" refers to the owner of a little cabin studio where a group of friends came together to create some beats. ARUM consists of Kaap (De Lichting), Jasper Wolff (Indigo aera), Luna Ludmila and ESHU head honcho Ivano Tetelepta himself. After an extended weekend of studio sessions this was the last jam created on a hazy Sunday afternoon when the crew headed into deep dub territories. The result is a five minute long smooth dub techno ride honoring Guus and the perfect Sunday ethos. If you talk dub techno, you talk about Deadbeat. Nothing would suit this release more than a remix by this true icon in dub techno and a close friend to the ESHU family. Happy Sundayzzz.
Flower Storm returns with Seh, the third chapter in its unfolding mythos. If Yek was the first winds and Do the deepening of the spell, Seh is where the storm fully takes shape--five slabs of sonic metal, smithed in rhythm and ritual. Sepehr and Kasra V continue their excavation of Iranian folklore through contemporary club mutations, where thunderous percussion and hypnotic cycles push deeper into a space where myth becomes motion. The rhythms continue forward, but the past lingers in the echoes--deities flicker between pulsing machine sequences, time loops and fractures, and tension builds like an incantation. Trance-inducing polyrhythms collide with shadowy textures and melodies stretch and distort like time folding in on itself; the storm rages on. When it rains, it pours.
South Londons’ indomitable Medlar delivers an ambitious new album
The long-time underground favourite has collaborated with the likes of Dele Sosimi, Rebekah Reid, Deevoenay, Finn Peters, Sam Virdie, Afla Sackey and Arnau Obiols on an album that finds him taking his production to new levels.
From roots playing illegal raves in the South West to building up a cultured catalogue that bounces between house and garage, Medlar has long been part of the underground conversation. He has dropped a previous album and many innovative remixes and edits for the likes of Billy Cobham and Shirley Lites, worked in the studio and on stage with Afro legend Dele Sosimi and most recently released an album under his own name that collected myriad different sonic sketches from the past 15 years.
Islands is an altogether different proposition that comes after establishing himself as a mix engineer and producer of other people's music. In that time, Medlar has honed his skills, learnt new tricks and grown more able to express himself in sound. The result is an album that explores a more electronic palette inspired by '80s fusion sounds whilst maintaining a loose, organic flow through his use of live instrumentation. “The idea for the LP was for a collection of music which could sit alone as club tracks, but would work equally well as part of a whole. The name Islands came from this, as there's some connecting ideas but the tracks sit independently in their own little sonic worlds. I took a lot of inspiration from early 80’s electronic music produced during early years of MIDI technology… proto house, jazz fusion, electronic disco and experimental ambient. I wanted to juxtapose some of these methods with more contemporary production and make something that's ultimately quite fun!” says Medlar of the record which could easily soundtrack a summer road trip.
Across 11 tracks, he blends old-school techniques like a fusion of live instruments, FM synthesis and MIDI triggered vocal samples with more contemporary touches such as punchy, club-friendly drums and dub inspired, speaker-wobbling low end. The result is less reliant on samples than his previous works and makes for a perfect blend of retro authenticity and future freshness.
For the second vinyl release of GNC Records we got five tracks meant for a dark night at the club, produced straight out of the Patagonia by argentine heavyweight Saigg. This EP has four Electro Techno cuts and it also includes a killer remix by argentine EBM live duo KRSSV. Throughout the release, playful basslines interact with arpeggiated synthesizers generating a fun climate that becomes more and more tense while reverberant atmospheres bring the night to its climax. On the side A, we can appreciate how sharp drums build up intensity on the dancefloor in order to leave everything on point for side B, where breakbeats and diffused vocals transport the listener to an induced psychedelic state, a dystopic void representative of the producer and his sonic quest.
Aeonian Sounds brings a new platform to the world of underground Drum & Bass!
Our aim is to bring the exposure and appreciation to the creative individuals who are dedicated to the true art form of Jungle Drum & Bass.
Erudite, the upcoming album by Thomas Decock, is a powerful exploration of modern jazz fusion that uniquely intertwines literature and music. Inspired by iconic literary characters and novels, the album aims to bring the profound emotions and complex themes of these stories to life through music. This project reflects the collective creativity of Thomas Decock and his band, pushing the boundaries of jazz and redefining them with an innovative approach.
Compositions such as the exhilarating and dynamic Rodya, inspired by Dostoevsky's renowned novel Crime and Punishment, and the refined interpretation of Joni Mitchell's Cherokee Louise, showcase both technical virtuosity and profound emotional engagement. From the sharp, angular theme of Rodya to the lyrical melody of Emma-inspired by the character from Flaubert's Madame Bovary-which also highlights the acoustic qualities of the ensemble, Erudite offers a wide palette
of musical colors, ranging from intense improvisation to expressive, lyrical moments.
The music on the album is characterized by the remarkable interaction between the musicians, who are equally at home in jazz and electronic music. Both individual and collective improvisation form the core of the band's musical expression. The sound is crafted through a blend of electronic and acoustic instruments. Erudite is not only an album for jazz enthusiasts but also for listeners intrigued by how music can complement and deepen literary narratives.
Released under the W.E.R.F. label, the album promises an engaging listening experience for a broad audience, from jazz purists to fans of innovative music. Erudite is a work that brings the spirit of both music and literature to life, taking the listener on a journey through the musical translation of classic stories.
"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.
Limited to 1000, individually numbered copies. Eight tracks for the first time on LP vinyl from The Diplomats Of Soul featuring an all star cast of UK singers and musicians produced by Bluey from Incognito. Vocalists are Natalie Duncan, Vanessa Haynes, Imaani, Valentina Silwimba, Cherri V and the late Noel McKoy on an array of recordings from 2006 to 2024. The songs range from covers of rare groove, two step and soul classics to one original. Six songs original mixes, plus remixes by Atjazz and Yam Who?
Over the last ten years, Brazil’s Millos Kaiser has cultivated a reputation as a top-ranking selector passionate about bringing his home country’s underappreciated music to the world. After starting as a punk and indie musician in Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, he turned his hand to DJing in the late 2000s and relocated to Sāo Paulo. There, he spent the 2010s rocking city squares, warehouse parties and street parties with DJ Trepanado in the Selvagem duo before cofounding the celebrated Selva Discos label in 2017.
Since 2019, Millos’s focus has shifted to his solo DJ career and ventures as an edit maker, reissue compilation curator, audiophile bar co-owner, and now producer. Planet Trip Records has been very good friends with Millos for a long time and is very pleased to present his first original release, the Te Quero Perto (I Want You Close) EP, available in vinyl and digital formats.
Assembled like a DJ-friendly 12” for late 20th-century nightclub specialists, Te Quero Perto kicks off with Millos’ original ‘club mix’ and an accompanying ‘instrumental’ version (digital.only). Driven by an uptempo machine beat straight out of the mid-'80s, rave pianos, 303 acid bass, and an explosive Brazilian pop vocal sung by Juju Bonjour, it’s an absolute belter of a tune and a masterclass in in-period styling.
Elsewhere on the EP, Millos’s European friends Lipelis & Orion Agassi turn in an equally belting Latin Freestyle remix in vocal, dub and instrumental mixes (instrumental is digital only). Rounding things out, fellow Rio de Janeiro producer Paco Cabana throws the tune into a cocktail shaker before pouring a sunkissed, percussion-heavy reimagining for us to sip on. Front to back, it’s an all-killer, no-filler debut from a generational talent.
2017 revolutionierte die bahrainisch-britische Trompeterin und Flügelhornistin Yazz Ahmed mit ihrem Album "La Saboteuse" den Jazz, indem sie ihr doppeltes Erbe mit elektronischen Effekten vermischte, um das Genre neu zu definieren. Die Platte taucht ein in ihre britischen und bahrainischen Wurzeln, mit Musikern wie Lewis Wright und Shabaka Hutchings, und zeichnet sich durch orientalische Melodien und stimmungsvolle Rhythmen aus, wobei auch der Einfluss moderner Jazzkünstler wie Kamasi Washington und Sons of Kemet nicht zu leugnen ist. Parallel fordert Yazz die von Männern dominierte Jazzsphäre heraus, gestärkt durch eine steigende Zahl weiblicher Musikerinnen.
Established artist management company Palm Artists will be launching a new label this May. Named Palm Recs, the maiden release comes from fast-rising British-collective Girls Of The Internet in the form of the below single, Above.
The group described how Moloko’s The Time Is Now inspired them, stating: “We had the words running through our minds for a few weeks, just thinking about where they took us. It sparked us into writing Above. All the best love songs have a shot of poison. Musically, we were back at Patrick Adams meets Basic Channel.”
It’s a blissful five-minute offering, made up of rounded percussion and a warming underlying groove. Gentle kick-hat combos make up the overarching rhythm, whilst soothing vocals accentuate the track’s reflective nature. Dreamy chords soon meander into rolling key chimes to form an emotive, feel-good cut.
Girls Of The Internet have swiftly risen up the electronic music ranks since their debut release four years ago. Known for an eclectic disco-inspired sound both behind the decks and in the studio, their productions have found a welcome home on Defected, Classic Music Company and Heist Recordings in recent years, receiving support from Nemone, The Blessed Madonna and Axel Boman in the process.
Palm Artists is an East London based artist management company with over a decade of experience in developing some of the most exciting and successful musicians in the UK. Managing the likes of Gorgon City, Sonny Fodera, Adelphi Music Factory and a myriad of other industry heavyweights, the company has received several accolades over the years including; the BBC Sound Of 2019 while releasing multiple chart-topping singles, critically acclaimed album campaigns and delivering global tours for their roster. 2021 will see Palm Recs release a series of singles and remixes from some of their favourite up and coming acts, with producers such as Preditah, Fideles and many others soon to be debuting on the imprint.
Portland's finest practitioners of Great Black Music offering to the planet! All Is Sound could not be a more apt title for this. Through saxophone, cello, piano, and flutes The Cosmic Tones Research Trio created a truly beautiful record. All Is Sound breaks new ground. At its heart, it's healing/meditation music, but the Gospel and Blues roots are in there too...as well as hints of forward-looking Spiritual jazz.
As sincere a record as you could ever hope for. Music is indeed the healing force of the universe. Formed by alto sax player and composer Roman Norfleet, cellist and multi-instrumentalist Harlan Silverman, and pianist Kennedy Verrett—who also plays a wide variety of wind instruments—, The Cosmic Tones Research Trio focuses on healing music. In All is Sound, delicate, profound melodies create peaceful, immersive soundscapes, which the group develops through their combined background in acoustic ecology, sound meditation, mindfulness, and active community involvement.
A noteworthy follow up to Norfleet’s first length with Mississippi Records (the self-titled Roman Norfleet and Be Present Art Group, from 2023), All is Sound offers the chance to engage with songs intended for healing. Following the steps of musicians such as Sun Ra, Alice Coltrane, and Pharoah Sanders, The Cosmic Tones Research Trio delivers music that is both restorative and sonically rich—each tone falling into perfect place, as if by magic. Praise for Roman Norfleet and Be Present Art Group: “A free-flowing suite.” — The Quietus // “Life-affirming music.
Searchlight Moonbeam is the new narrative compilation from Time Is Away (Jack Rollo and Elaine Tierney) whose eponymous monthly NTS Radio shows, tinctured fusions of fugitive sounds and reverie-inducing archival speech, have won them an ardent following. It follows from the London-based duo’s Ballads, a remarkable driftwerk released on A Colourful Storm in 2022.
Searchlight Moonbeam is an autumnal dreamscape, intimate and vespertine, pensive and irresolute. An imagined community where differences drop off and resonances emerge – between Maher Shalal Hash Baz affiliates Kasumi Trio, Taiwanese score composer Chen Ming Chang whose ‘Rainwater’ (written for Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s 1986 film Dust In The Wind) is exquisitely heartbroken, and the plangent improvisations of self-taught French pianist Delphine Dora.
Revelations are frequent: the bedsit isolationism of Bo Harwood and John Cassavetes’ ‘No One Around to Hear It’ (from The Killing of a Chinese Bookie); the narked minimalism of Klang (an early 2000s band formed by ex-Elastica guitarist and featuring prize-winning experimental novelist Isabel Waidner on bass); the etude-grooves and echoic wobble of below-the-radar French avant-gardists Omertà ; the beautiful, plaintively dubby ‘Is It You?’ by Slapp Happy; a psych-tinged reimagining of PiL’s ‘Poptones’ by Simon Fisher Turner (one half of Deux Filles, and here, recording for él as The King of Luxembourg) that's as perverse as the cover of Throbbing Gristle’s 20 Jazz Funk Greats.
Searchlight Moonbeam is the musical analog of an Italo Calvino novel or a medieval fable. Associative, intuitive, borderless. Emotional and mysterious. Endowed with the tactility of Braille. A private language that is both unknowable and understood. It is a record of the seasons, for the seasons.
2023 marks the tenth anniversary of Time Is Away’s first broadcast. Featuring an evocative essay by writer Jeremy Atherton Lin and disarming cover art by Penny Davenport, Searchlight Moonbeam showcases Rollo and Tierney’s still-unrivalled talent for gloaming melodies, disques du crépuscule, ensorcelled storytelling.
Celebrating 40th anniversary of Yves Deruyter's musical career with this 10 x 12" Vinyl Box Set. Including tracks from F.U.S.E. vs LFO, Tronikhouse, Robert Armani, L.S.G., Edge Of Motion, Plastikman, The Prodigy, Ecstasy Club, and the master himselfYves Deruyter.
Yves Deruyter - 40 Years at the Pinnacle of the Night
Forty years. A rollercoaster of a musical career, meandering through five decades, leaving timeless marks on the collective dancefloor memory. Yves Deruyter is the exception that proves the rule. An icon behind the decks, celebrated far beyond national borders for his legendary sets, impeccable musical choices, and the anthems released under his name. The result of collective effort, where Yves, with his vision and unique touch, consistently left his mark-transforming good tracks into inescapable bombs that still resonate through time.
If you've spent forty years living to the pulse of music, the night is in your DNA. Yves Deruyter, a DJ to the core-the real deal. The man who bent the night to his will, dragging weekend vibes into the workweek like a warrior, a true master behind the turntables who made his people dance. His beats: the oxygen that generations lived on.
Yves sharpened his musical weapons in the early '90s within the iconic afterparty scene of Barocci and The Globe-places that became sanctuaries in Belgium's endless night. Here, die-hard dancefloor warriors, cutting-edge music lovers, and night owls from the four corners of the globe gathered. They willingly followed Yves' masterful mixing and his razor-sharp set construction. Clubs with a more conventional timeframe were the next step, with the iconic Cherrymoon as his home base for years-alongside endless guest DJ spots and global gigs. From there, the underground pulsed through Yves' hands and crates, reaching ever-larger crowds-without ever compromising for commercial or crossover sounds. Yves stayed true to his choices, lifting his audience to euphoric heights like a craftsman, armed with his hits, hidden gems, and freshly unearthed nuggets.
From the pounding energy of Rave City to the flippy, epic flashes of Calling Earth-tracks that not only captured the spirit of the times but conquered dancefloors worldwide. This isn't just music; it's a time capsule-a connection between generations and a reminder of the energy from a golden era.
With musical partners like Roel Butzen, Frederico Santini, M.I.K.E. Push, and more recently, Insider, Yves forged a sound that etched its place into rave and dance history. From The Rebel to The House of House, parts of Yves' musical taste have become immortal pillars of dance music heritage. In the early rave days, he topped Belgium's DJ rankings year after year, elevating every club he played to the highest echelons of popularity. The same held true for the records where his name appeared like a badge of honor.
From The Globe to the globe itself-it seemed almost written in the stars. Yves, thestar DJ, became one of the instigators of the electronic music storm that put Belgium on the global map-a storm that never subsided. Festivals like Love Parade, Mayday, I Love Techno, Nature One, and Tomorrowland saw Yves as a trusted force, effortlessly commanding crowds and turning dancefloors inside out. Forty years later, that storm still ignites partygoers, vibrates through dancefloors, and keeps entire generations moving.
Even today, Yves still holds a steady residency with Yves Deruyter and Friends at Club Moustache, where his concept always sells out. Here, both fresh talent and seasoned DJs deliver a killer blend of modern electronic dance music and timeless classics, creating an atmosphere that hooks the crowd every single time.
Because partying doesn't need an excuse. But forty years? That deserves the spotlight-not as a mere milestone, but as a showcase of timelessness. Music mutates, reinvents itself for new generations, yet retains the same impact as that very first time. Yves proves that forty is just a number, and relevance isn't about trends-it's about vision, energy, and an unmistakable touch. His sets? Indestructible. His sound? A heartbeat echoing through time.
And Yves? He doesn't live in the past. Today, Yves distills those four decades into a compilation capturing the essence of his career. Belgian beats, interpreted and refined into a sound that powered raves around the world. Ten vinyls featuring not just a fiercely curated selection that contextualizes the magic of his early days, but also new versions of three unbeatable anthems-potent hits designed to turn dancefloors upside down in wonder, without losing a shred of their soul. Yves remains a beacon in the night, a searchlight for that one perfect beat-always relevant, always chasing that magical moment.
Yves Deruyter-a name spoken in the same breath as the greats of the scene. A ten-vinyl compilation is more than a celebration; it's a well-earned trophy. As unique, indestructible, and uncompromising as the man himself.
Sebastian Sandmann, from Elsteraue in Germany, has been DJing and producing since 1999, honing his skills in clubs and gigs such as the ‘Endstation’ event series in the Leipzig Distillery which resulted in him being picked up by the renowned Leveltrauma booking agency where his obvious talent flourished leading to residencies at the Sky Club, Leipzig and the Tube Club, Merseburg. Sebastian’s music repertoire covers many genres inc. multiple forms of techno, house, hardcore and DnB which has culminated in releases on some insane German labels including “Rage & Error”, “Leveltrauma” and “PsychoDevils Records”.
Continuing with the ‘Limited As Fuck’ series of releases, on our fiercely independent techno label based in
Scotland, we’re getting more extreme than we’ve ever been before with an absolute ‘Onslaught’ of speaker
punishment grade screaming techno. This is Sebastian Sandmann’s first ever solo vinyl release and it‘s utterly lethal. Featuring four aggressive crushin’ tracks to get all them imprisoned clubbers marching
to its accelerated beat. This aint dance music, this is stomp music, and you best not pound on down in front of
anyone when it’s spinning or you’re gonna get trampled on, mark our RIOTous words.
The full digital release also features one bonus brain mashin’ track so you can dive even deeper into your own infernal techno psyche.
WARNING: ONCE THE RIOT SENTINEL APPEARS YOU MUST OBEY ……………. OR ELSE
Credits:
Written by Sebastian Sandmann
Mastered by Joe Farr
Artwork by Nomad
QUEENDOM is an album that marks a new era for the project while staying true to the essence of Minuit Machine. Produced under the SYNTH RELIGION label, this opus immerses us in Amandine's introspective realm, oscillating between darkness and light, between doubt and self-conquest. While retaining the emotional DNA of previous productions, QUEENDOM stands out with a more pop-oriented touch, featuring tracks where Amandine sings in French for the first time.
The first single, "HOLD ME," is a powerful pop anthem addressed to the queer community, celebrating the freedom to be oneself and breaking free from societal and patriarchal norms. This track is a true empowerment statement, with striking electro beats supporting a strong message of emancipation and pride.
"Créatures," a collaboration between RAUMM and Minuit Machine, is a modern fairy tale—a timeless love story that could take place in any era. This salvific love, rarely seen today, embodies a poignant depth and beauty.
Continuing the journey, "Cent Fois"—a French-written track—takes us into a techno-pop universe with nostalgic yet hopeful undertones. This song perfectly reflects Minuit Machine's evolution toward a more radiant approach while staying faithful to its dark heritage.
"Party People," on the other hand, is a return to roots with dark wave/italo sounds. This hypnotic and haunting track questions identity in an increasingly robotic society, where individuals are forced to conform to imposed norms. This exploration of the individual versus the collective lies at the core of Minuit Machine's DNA.
"Mes Souvenirs," created in collaboration with Rebeka Warrior, dives intimately into the memories of Amandine and Rebeka. Together, they reveal fragments of their past—precious and vibrant memories that resonate through powerful and melancholic electro sounds.
Finally, the eponymous track "Queendom" invites us to plunge into the depths of Amandine's world—a universe that is both tormented and icy, yet resilient. Supported by a slow and captivating rhythm, this track is designed to grip and haunt the listener, like an incantation.
QUEENDOM is a bold and hybrid work where each track reflects a pursuit of sincerity and artistic reinvention while maintaining the ability to express emotions through rhythms that are both danceable and introspective. The album showcases Minuit Machine's artistic maturity, establishing itself as a must-listen in the darkwave and electronic pop scene.
Amandine entrusted the artistic direction of this album to Manon Dupeyrat, a brilliant young artist who crafted a bespoke universe perfectly aligned with the produced tracks. The album cover, both intimate and anachronistic, invites listeners into Amandine's private world through her bedroom, revealing what she wishes to share.
Crush of Souls is the musical endeavour of Charles Rowell (Crocodiles, Flowers of Evil, Issue). One foot in early Industrial and the other in 80’s Synth-Pop, Crush Of Souls hold the whip and demand that you submit your soul.
Returning once again to Catacomb Soul studios where he had recently finished recording “(A)Void Love”, Charles Rowell mapped out the next chapter for Crush of Souls, limitations were set in place while new faces appeared to lend a fresh coat of black magic to the album.
The album is a love letter to Paris; all of its beauty and decay. “Lézire” which is a slang mixture of the French words for Lizard and Desire provides a sinister title to an album full of hard hitting, romantic songs.
Harry Howard (These Immortal Souls) provides his signature snarl and profound lyrics to the haunting ballad “You Rose Up”. Long time sax player Stanislas de Miscault colors the dark corners of the record with his unhinged personality and one half of new look COS, Stevan Dinet bangs both the martial beats and the Fairlight sample pads.
An album cover full of chains and S&M can provide enough of an explanation as to the new direction of Crush of Souls. Cronenberg’s “Crash”, David Lynch’s “Lost Highway”, Psychic TV and Sisters Of Mercy are constantly mentioned.
GU are very proud to present a brand new City Series from Montreal. Joseph Capriati is one of the scene’s most in demand headliners and he delivers a masterclass in music with this journey through house and techno. Featuring tracks & remixes from Louie Vega, Solomun, Âme, Carl Cox, Deetron, Marc Romboy & Oliver Huntemann, Len Faki & more. "If you close your eyes you might find yourself in a loft party in ‘90s Montreal dancing while the sun rises" (ALICE AUSTIN)
Der Waffle House Index bemisst in den USA seit 2011 die Wucht von Katastrophen: Grün = vollständiges Menü - Restaurant hat vollen Strom, Speisen unbegrenzt, Schaden schlimmstenfalls begrenzt. Gelb = eingeschränktes Menü - kein Strom, Verfügbarkeit von Speisen ist begrenzt. Rot = Restaurant zu - ernsthafte Schäden oder Überflutungen. Übertragen auf den freigeistigen Jazzrock der Band Kuhn Fu: Die Musik auf dem neuen Album "Katastrofik Kink Machine" springt mit Begeisterung und Verve zwischen Grün und Rot hin und her, und lässt die laue Mitte aus. Dem Wort Jazzrock haftet etwas Altbackenes an: Musik, in der seelenlose Virtuosität den Spirit und die Unmittelbarkeit ersetzt hat. Der Gitarrist und Komponist Christian Achim Kühn allerdings spielt mit seiner Band Kuhn Fu einen mit E-Gitarre infizierten Jazz, dem die Spielfreude und der Spaß am tiefschürfenden Unsinn (und eben dann doch auch: die Virtuosität) aus jeder Pore dampfen. Spaß an den Extremen nicht zuletzt, Grün und Rot, kein Gelb.
Clear Memory welcomes En Direct back. After their appearance on CLEAR001 they released two EP's on our sister label Lunatic. With 'The Illusion Of Control', En Direct release their first album. A long player diving deep into the realms of the human mind and its abyss. Exploring insecurities, uproar and mania with Industrial studies and EBM, rounding it off with bittersweet Minimal Wave and Electro for the sleepless Edition of 200, comes with Info-Sheet.
In October 1987, four months after the release of their critically acclaimed Sister LP, Sonic Youth showcased their latest work in a blistering set at Cabaret Metro, Chicago. The concert was introduced by Big Black's Steve Albini (who at the time was banned from the venue) and subsequently released as a semi-official bootleg under the title Hold That Tiger on writer/provocateur Byron Coley's impishly Geffen-baiting label Goofin' (years later the band would use this nom de guerre for their own imprint).
Hold That Tiger's sterling reputation among the Sonic Youth faithful is well deserved. In fact, it isn't a stretch to suggest that the album is to the first handful of SY releases what It's Alive is to the first three Ramones LPs – a feral and liberatory public snapshot of a band's blossoming imperial phase. Indeed, HTT is the sound of a group at the peak of their powers, presenting new songs alongside a handful of older ones with the kind of wild, cathartic enthusiasm common to rock 'n' roll's most revered live albums.
Taking nothing away from Sister – inarguably one of indie rock's first true masterpieces – it is reasonable that many fans prefer the live versions heard on Hold That Tiger to their studio counterparts. On HTT, Sonic Youth is a spiky, pummeling and confident force, alternately mammoth and meditative. Sister and its predecessor EVOL notably added an airy, dreamlike reverie to the band's turbulent doom-lurch, a stylistic evolution that seems to crystallize on HTT. Throughout, Kim Gordon's sinewy, sumptuous bass and Steve Shelley's propulsive, tom-heavy percussion provide the bedrock groove for Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo's ferocious barrages of noise-guitar crunch.
By 1987, the band was confidently articulating their dual lexicon of punk-noir dissonance and supernal, psychedelic sonic calligraphy – bending their jagged, streetwise gnarl into balloon animals of dazzling and beautiful songs. This collision of splendor and chaos would become a hallmark of the group's singular alchemy as well as provide a blueprint for the post-SST American underground they would help invent and ultimately nurture.
Hold That Tiger's encore – four songs by the band's beloved Ramones, which Thurston would later astutely compare to "the perfect pudding after a hearty meal" – serves as a reminder that, like any true punks, Sonic Youth never could resist a good, rousing anthem to send the kids home with their ears ringing, their hearts hot-wired.
This first-time reissue with speed-corrected master comes in a gatefold tip-on jacket. Mastered by Bob Weston from the original tapes. Recorded by Aadam Jacobs. Audio repair/editing by Aaron Mullan.
Australian producer and current Berlin resident Holo makes his highly anticipated return to Shall Not Fade with his third EP on the independent Bristol-based label.
Known for his signature sound that blends emotive melodies with infectious grooves, Holo has carved out a space for himself as a forward-thinking artist with a deep understanding of mood and atmosphere. His recent releases, including Nights Over Melbourne and a self titled LP in 2024, have both garnered widespread acclaim for their evocative production and seamless fusion of house, techno, and atmospheric elements. With every new release, Holo pushes the boundaries of modern dance music, establishing himself as a key figure in the underground scene.
Pink Wax delivers warm, hazy deep house at its finest, showcasing Holo's distinctive talent for creating music that evokes lasting memories. The EP is a stunning blend of lush synth lines, ethereal vocals, and smooth drums, offering a timeless interpretation of modern dance music.
Info: The highly anticipated ROAD RASA from JAWARI is a genre-defying journey led by the Tommy Khosla’s evocative sitar playing, seamlessly blending classical Indian influences with jazz, electronic, cinematic textures and poetry. Drawing inspiration from the expansive sounds of artists like Ananda Shankar and Kikagaku Moyo, the album weaves intricate rhythms and ethereal melodies into an immersive experience. Celebrated by Jazz News and featured on NTS, ROAD RASA has earned critical acclaim for its innovative soundscapes. The vinyl edition features stunning artwork by ceramic artist Nehal Aamir, reflecting the album’s conceptual depth and transcendence, and is in a limited run of 500 numbered records.
Following the release of the single Maqlab, the Marseille-based duo Caïn و Muchi presents their debut full-length album Dounia دنيا.
This takes listeners on a journey through a rich tapestry of industrial gloom woven of dubstep, grime, and contemporary hip-hop. In this album, these ‘labels’ matter as much as they don’t, given the heavy mutations they undergo, in a That’s Hara Kiri fashion (RIP Sd Laika).
At the heart of this record lies a dense yet harmonious sound palette, featuring meticulous vocal processing of lead singer Vanda’s voice, which engages reflection on their shared and individual lives.
As the album progresses, the lyrics reveal layers of stress and trauma linked to colonial experience, intertwined with multiple references to North African ghost stories and legends.
The result is a resonant experience, where the wraithlike and glacial instrumentals crafted by the duo encapsulates the introspective act of witnessing the turmoil of our current world.
This album represents a significant evolution in the musical journey of Nick Viola, transitioning from the powernoise and heavy industrial sounds of his previous project, Fractured Transmission, into a techno-framed landscape. Spanning seven tracks, including remixes, the album features recurring sounds sourced from machinery, field recordings, and personal travels. These elements create an uneasy atmosphere oscillating between slight discomfort and absolute dread, offering a dystopian sonic experience fitting for the times we unfortunately live in.
The opening track, ‘A Ghost in Your World,’ sets an intense tone with distorted atmospheres and ‘It’s Still Real’ follows with a relentless pulse and swirling mechanical sounds, seamlessly flowing into Kenny Campbell’s remix of ‘A Ghost In Your World’, providing a cathartic release for the A side.
‘Drop Out,’ guides listeners on a psychedelic journey into the B side of the record, while ‘Negative Nancy’ ramps up the energy with an aggressive industrial techno assault offering an antagonistic jab at the current trend within the genre. Substencia’s remix of “Drop Out” delves deeper into psychedelia, offering an immersive trance-like experience relieving the tension of “Negative Nancy”.
The digital-only bonus track, ‘Tensor,’ maintains the album’s heavy industrial techno feel of a well-oiled machine, ready to pummel any underground sound system.
About Artist:
Nick Viola is a versatile electronic music producer known for his distinctive blend of industrial and techno music, drawing inspiration from a wide range of influences spanning from the gritty sounds of powernoise to the pulsating energy of techno.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Nick began his musical journey immersed in the industrial club scene, where he cut his teeth performing at the legendary Los Angeles industrial club Das Bunker. Here, he honed his craft and developed a deep appreciation for the raw, aggressive textures of industrial music. As the driving force behind the project Fractured Transmission, he made a name for himself with his uncompromising approach to power and rhythmic noise, earning recognition for his intense live performances and relentless sonic assaults.
However, Nick was always drawn to the rhythms and sounds of techno, and in a bold move, he embarked on a new chapter in his musical career, transitioning from the abrasive sounds and rhythms of powernoise to recontextualizing those sounds into a more techno landscape. With this album, “A Ghost In your World”, he showcases his evolution as an artist, seamlessly blending the industrial aesthetics of his past with the pulsating energy and frame of techno.
Spanning six tracks, “A Ghost In Your World” is a sonic journey through dark, dystopian landscapes and pulsating dance floors, where distorted atmospheres and mechanical rhythms collide to create a mesmerizing and immersive experience. From the haunting textures of “A Ghost in Your World” to the relentless energy of “Negative Nancy,” each track offers a unique glimpse into Nick’s sonic universe, inviting listeners to explore new depths with each listen.
DMF is proud to present the K-llab series, a new collaboration project where label head Kerrie partners with some of her favourite artists. The debut release in the series features an original track and a remix by each artist, offering a fresh take on both the sounds and creative processes of each collaboration.
K-llab-01 sees Kerrie teaming up with Italian duo Dynamic
Forces, known for their heavy, old school leaning, industrial influenced techno. After hosting their UK debut at a DMF event in 2024, the connection between Kerrie and the duo was immediate, leading to the creation of the series.
The duos killer original track Moralism sets the tone as the A1, followed by Kerries grooving, steppy broken-beat remix. The B side features Kerries funk-infused Good Intentions and a slamming Technasia-esque style remix from Dynamic Forces.
This release delivers four tracks that merge gritty, industrial influences with futuristic sound design all underpinned by the signature Dark Machine Funk energy, the first K-llab release offers a powerful start to this new series for DMF.
Delicate Records delves into the swamp laden depths of heartbreak; inexplicable depth, darkness and twisted beauty with a 9 track full length debut from Saffron Bloom. The Iranian-American producer and performer; already prolific as Sepehr and known for his expertly raw and freaky sound, develops this alias to indulge the silver linings of agony. An illbient force of nature drawing on industrial atmospherics, trip hop flow and unbothered breakbeat influx. The record serves as an ode to the ever changing phases of lost love and grief, seasons of emotion weathering the passage of time each with their own ferocity and relation to the evolving cycle; one so personal yet universally understood.
Intro, the infrastructure of aura laced throughout the record, builds around an ominous and evocative piano soundscape bleeding with delay, intruding barely human vocal cries and percussive injections. Dripping into the DNA of Dirge of the Lonely and Jealous Desire, there comes a yearning, cries from beyond the grave; mourning relationships lost with an eerie familiarity. This sinister sanctuary bred through low slung stripped back breaks, those that echo within the soul and tie themselves to an anchor of inconspicuous growling sub bass; a signature idiosyncrasy perfectly elevated with Saffron Bloom timbre.
Quelling the urge to disintegrate, with power through distortion and commanding drumwork, corners of the B side like Curtain Call and Apathetic Rose reiterate a primal and hypnotic sonic discourse. At the heart of the LP and the artist’s ethos, it resonates through the mind and body in a psychedelic manner while remaining powerfully minimal. Time’s Up (It’s Over) featuring. Sam Weinberg feels like a fever dream, saxophone drenched and echoing throughout your brain, while album closer Ultimate Acceptance is named perfectly. A melancholic realization, soft in nature yet rich in complexity and beauty, a bittersweet conclusion.
Since the first releases of ECHT!, one question has been on everyone's lips: does this act belong on a live stage, or is their music best experienced through a set of powerful speakers in a packed, sweaty club? With their third album, 'Boilerism', the band finally settles the debate, diving headfirst into the heart of club culture and bringing the ecstatic energy of the dance floor to the live stage.
Since their debut with the EP DOUF (2019), followed by the full-length albums Inwane (2021) and Sink-Along (2023), ECHT! has consistently been building a reputation for redefining their musical standards, blending deep grooves and adding raw textures. With 'Boilerism', they pick up the pace, exploring genres like acid, drum & bass, footwork, and UK garage. all while retaining their signature love for the unexpected. The album features tracks filled with sudden shifts and twists that keep listeners on their toes. Known for transforming electronic, hip-hop, and jazz influences into live-performed compositions, ECHT! continues to deliver a fresh perspective on electronic music that feels both innovative and uncompromising.
The album's title, a nod to the underground club scene and its unifying energy, captures the album's spirit: music that challenges limits, encourages experimentation, and unites through its intensity.
Opening with tracks like Boilerbeek, Wacky Wave, and the single Highed, the band builds upon the foundations of their two previous albums. However, it's with Mtwk Parts 3 & 4, a direct continuation of earlier chapters, that the energy kicks into higher gear. Midway, the album ventures into harder, more intense territory, showcasing the band's confident evolution. A brief but intricate interlude, Black Sablon, offers a layered moment of respite before the intensity returns. From there, ECHT! fully embraces their club-oriented sound with acid-infused bangers like Klaas Rescue and the provocatively titled BK-hole. These tracks leave no doubt about their intent, delivering straight-up, relentless dancefloor energy that captures the essence of their live performances.
The album concludes with Penguin Alfred, a thoughtful and emotive finale that seamlessly transitions between ambient soundscapes and delicate breakbeats, highlighting the band's dynamic range and creative depth.
It's been three years since ECHT!'s debut album Inwane, followed by their second LP Sink-Along in 2023, both released on Sdban Ultra. Their music has garnered acclaimfrom notable outlets such as Mixmag, DJ Mag, and Tsugi while earning support from respected DJs including Lefto, Gilles Peterson, and Jamz Supernova on BBC Radio 6. ECHT! has performed at iconic venues such as the Jazz Café (London), AB (Brussels), Melkweg & Paradiso (Amsterdam), and Gretchen (Berlin). Their most recent tour spanned 14 countries, including Mexico and India.
Limited edition vinyl 12” of 100 copies
Omen Recordings delivers another uncompromising slab of contemporary techno warfare with a split EP from Duellist and Axkan, two sonic insurgents armed with raw industrial aggression and unrelenting rhythmic brutality. A fusion of contemporary hardness and forward-thinking sound design, ‘Chronicles of Conflict’ is a war cry for the underground. No safe zones. No surrender. Just pure unrelenting techno at its most merciless.
Duellist takes command of side A by launching a full-scale assault of distorted kicks, razor-sharp percussion and eerie atmospherics that coil through the mix like barbed wire. His relentless 4x4 barrage grinds through the low end with mechanical force, setting the stage for absolute dance floor devastation.
The B side has Axkan counter-attacking with his signature modular chaos that pulses, shifts and writhes through layers of grinding sonic warfare. Gnarled textures and punishing basslines carve a hypnotic path through the abyss, delivering a masterclass in raw industrial techno.
Powerful duo & Elevate label heads Pig&Dan, known for their anti-genre experimentalist production approach and releases on Drumcode, Truesoul, Soma, Terminal M, Bedrock, now join the DCLTD roster with two tracker 'I Need You/Activate.' 'I Need You' has a throbbing drum with a breaksy hop in it and industrial pulsing notes are attacked by dark, fuzzy reverb-loaded phrases, more threat than tune, until the breakdown brings a sudden flowering of euphoric melodic synth, a high, soulful, celebratory vocal and a magnificent drop. Resonant, compulsive and complex.
'Activate' is a bit faster, harder drum woven techno with high speed/pitch arps start off upbeat, but random industrial stabs, chopped vocal notes and doppler swoops add a sinister note, while hesitant, almost stifled piano chords force their way through. Bounding, power packed and disturbing.
Released in September 1978, a mere two months before YMO’s debut, Cochin Moon is a clear precursor to the groundbreaking synth and sequencer-dominated sounds that would come to define the iconic trio. Huge tip!
Credited to Hosono and Pop Art legend Tadanori Yokoo (who created the cover art), Cochin Moon is a fictional soundtrack to a journey into unknown worlds, inspired by Hosono and Yokoo’s trip to India.
The unbelievably prolific Haruomi Hosono is one of the major architects of modern Japanese pop music. With his encyclopedic knowledge of music and boundless curiosity for new sounds, Hosono is the auteur of his own idiosyncratic musical world, putting his unmistakable stamp on hundreds of recordings as an artist, session player, songwriter and producer. Born and raised in central Tokyo, his adolescent obsession with American pop culture informed his early forays into country music, which he would revisit later in his career. Hosono made his professional debut in 1969 as a member of Apryl Fool, whose heavy psychedelia was somewhat at odds with his influences, which leaned towards the rootsy sounds of Moby Grape and Buffalo Springfield. The latter was one of the main inspirations for his next group, Happy End, whose unique blend of West Coast sounds with Japanese lyrics proved to be highly influential over the course of three albums. After the band’s amicable break up in 1973, Hosono began his solo career with Hosono House, an intimate slice of Japanese Americana recorded inside a rented house with recording gear squeezed into its tiny bedroom. Hosono’s solo career would take many twists and turns from this point forward, with forays into exotica, electronic, ambient, and techno, culminating in the massive success of techno pop group Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO).
Released in September 1978, a mere two months before YMO’s debut, Cochin Moon is a clear precursor to the groundbreaking synth and sequencer-dominated sounds that would come to define the iconic trio. Credited to Hosono and Pop Art legend Tadanori Yokoo (who created the cover art), Cochin Moon is a fictional soundtrack to a journey into unknown worlds, inspired by Hosono and Yokoo’s trip to India. Initially the album was to be a kind of ethnographic musical document, using found sounds and field recordings made by Hosono himself. Instead, after Yokoo introduced Hosono to the sounds of Kraftwerk and krautrock during the trip, Cochin Moon became something much stranger. Created almost entirely on synthesizers and sequencers with the help of future YMO collaborators Ryuichi Sakamoto and Hideki Matsutake, the music on the album is the perfect encapsulation of Hosono’s concept of “sightseeing music,” transporting the listener to an exotic place that may or may not exist. This highly sought-after album sees its first-ever official release outside of Japan.
DJ Support: The Shapeshifters, Riva Starr, Mousse T., Michael Gray, Dr. Packer, Richard Earnshaw
Serge Funk having made a recent name for himself as a wonderkid for disco- and funky-house versions. A re-editor for the diggers as opposed to the baitheads, 'Groovy Theme' and 'Cherry Bomb' are utter bangers devoid of much relation to their originals (indeed, there's no way of telling what the samples are without a record buyers' knowledge), in large part thanks to their working into beat-centric structures that drown out the vocals in favour of kick slappage and gut-punchage. Rhythm over theme; keeping things vibey, felt.
In September 2022, Munir and Boochie spent two days at House Sangkuriang Hotel in Bandung, capturing a series of raw, impromptu recordings. Armed with a Roland EG-101 and a microphone, they filled various corners of the hotel with spontaneous jams and Indonesian lyrics. The sessions were playful and unpredictable, each take capturing the playful energy of the moment. The result is a vibrant and unfiltered musical experience.
Budak Cinta, which translates to Slave of Love, is an album that showcases the artists’ quirky personalities and playful approach to music. With a humorous take on the ups and downs of love, the album explores the lighthearted side of romance, infusing each track with a comedic twist. It’s all about embracing the thrill and folly of being head over heels, delivered with a wink and a smile.
The story of So-Do is both familiar and completely unique. A classically trained multi-instrumentalist with a poet’s sensibility and a passion for folk music meets a worldly bar owner with a love for psychedelia, post-punk and dub in the small town neither could bring themselves to leave. Over two years, they play dozens of shows in independent live houses across Japan, cut and self-release three singles – two 7”s and a 12” – and leave behind just eight tracks, all of which are set to be reissued for the first time forty years on.
So-Do’s Studio Works ’83-’85 collects the full output of this iconoclastic post-punk phenomenon, whose sparse, syncopated arrangements were infused with a dubbed-out flair that owed more to Dennis Bovell’s productions of Orange Juice, the Jah Wobble basslines of Public Image Limited or Adrian Sherwood’s live dubs of Mark Stewart than even they knew at the time.
Because for lead songwriter Hideshi Akuta, music offered an escape from the existential malaise of small-town life, folding a melancholy nihilism into tracks like ‘Kakashi’ and ‘Hashiru’ (which translates as ‘run’), or taking aim at the inequalities and creeping apathies of the middle classes, as he does on ‘Get Away’ and ‘Nothing’.
And if Talking Heads had CBGBs, Sex Pistols had the Roxy, then So-Do had Buddha. Influenced by Buddha venue owner and amateur producer Atsuo Takeuchi, Akuta turned So-Do’s sound towards dub, crafting playful, ironic and funky compositions that crackle with live energy at the vanguard of Japan’s nascent independent music scene.“So-Do is hard to explain,” Takeuchi says. “It’s been a struggle for years to try to find the words for our music.” The answer perhaps, is just to listen.
Both familiar and completely unique, So-Do extend Time Capsule’s genre-defining exposition of Japan’s reggae-inspired music of the ‘70s and ‘80s, as collected on the label’s two critically acclaimed Tokyo Riddim compilations, and London-based live outfit Tokyo Riddim Band.
Embracing the rip-it-up-and-start-again ethos of the early ‘80s, So-Do burned bright for a short time and then burned out. Their legacy is about to be reignited. Expect it to catch alight once more.
All songs are written & composed by Hideshi Akuta
Produced by Atsuo Takeuchi
Artwork by Ben Arfur
Liner Notes by Anton Spice, Ayana Honma, Kay Suzuki
Curated by Kay Suzuki
Licensed from Atsuo Takeuchi (Oregano Cafe)
Tape Restoration and Mastered by Mike Hillier at Metropolis Studios, London, UK
Back in the 90s JP Buckle had releases on Aphex Twin’s legendary Rephlex records and Warp. His debut album Flyin Lo-Fi is true classic in the Rephlex cannon.
These JP Buckle originals are from that album, released in 1998 and out of print on vinyl for 20 years, now re-released on vinyl by Ping-discs with 4 exclusive new remixes from Myoptik, Roy Of The Ravers, Crispy Jason and Inkipak.
This is two slabs of wax with bangin tunes on all four sides. The originals remain classic favourites of Rephlex aficionados the world over, and the remixes come from pedigree artists as well. Myoptik has had releases on many labels, including Mighty Force who first signed Aphex Twin over 30 years ago. Everyone knows Roy Of The Ravers, he has even been played in Aphex Twin’s live sets! Crispy Jason’s amazing music has featured on releases by both artists and Inkipak is the new sensation, with all of his first 4 albums selling out rapidly, indeed his debut album Anomaly is on its 3rd re-release on Pingdiscs now, that’s how in demand he is!
Originals taken from the classic 90s Rephlex album Flyin Lo-Fi.
A 90s house staple from Nu Groove pioneer Rhano Burrell as Aphrodisiac, ‘Song Of The Siren’, is rereleased alongside three new edits and remixes from industry tastemakers.
First up on this four-track vinyl package, British underground leader Bushwacka! adds his production expertise to the iconic record, followed by two transformative remixes; the first from Japanese hip-hop DJs Dazzle Drums and the next from Girls of the Internet frontman Tom Kerridge’s electronic project The Gospel of Thomas. Rounding out this must-have collection is Rhano Burrell’s original Mediterranean Mix, ensuring audiences are reintroduced to ‘Song Of The Siren’.
Get ready for a fresh approach into Indonesia's mysticism through GUNAGUNA by Abadi Records. This EP is strongly built on world music rhythms and obscure samples. Enchanting and atmospheric melodies that have 80’s horror movie feel blend with 90’s electronica and vintage Indonesian musical instruments/chants/spokenwords. Each track is designed to deliver a touch of house and is executed in a progressive style.
As a debut, Abadi Records presents LMS, Munir, Haydr, Satta Fire, Herta, and Aldous for the first series of GUNAGUNA. The record is made via a collaboration with La Munai Records; containing six original tracks which aim to set mood in the club and bring vibes to the digger's living room.
Imagine a nocturnal rendezvous between the lyrical playfulness of Serge Gainsbourg and the infectious yet smooth danceability of Daft Punk. Tormento is a sexy soft disco odyssey that weaves a contemporary fantasy where dilemmas and desires—torments of the heart and flesh—are bathed in the sultry glow of classic erotic cinema.
Recorded in Los Angeles and Paris, the song is a collaborative effort between composer and multi-instrumentalist Louis Fontaine, DJ and music supervisor Alix Brown, and lyricist and writer Margo Fortuny. This sonic tale of longing and uncertainty, ignited by the trio's shared love for 1970s sounds, cinema, and style, draws inspiration from the cinematic soundscapes of François de Roubaix and from French and Italian chanson.
Tormento pairs a haunting, nostalgic melody with a late-70s disco arrangement featuring a mix of vintage synthesizers, driving basslines, and rhythmic percussion. Alix Brown's ethereal vocals convey the electrifying thrill of an immediate, magnetic attraction.There's seduction, mystery, the poetry of a moment, the allure of transgression, indecision, and all the things that happen late at night. When faced with temptation, what do you do? Perhaps, yousurrender to the sweet, intoxicating rhythm of the forbidden.
Adance song for night owls, loners, and romantics, Tormento is out on 7" and digital on February 14th, 2025, courtesy of Four Flies.
![Ashtec - Walkin' Target [Produced By Gaudi]](https://www.deejay.de/images/l/2/5/1150225.jpg)
