Mike Reed"s Separatist Party sophomore effort and Thrill Jockey debut "Sing The Color Blue" is a recording assembled over numerous sessions, and a testament to persistence and transformation. The album reunites Mike Reed with Rob Frye, Cooper Crain, Dan Quinlivan (all of the trio Bitchin Bajas), Marvin Tate, and Ben LaMar Gay in a set that moves between composition, reconstruction, improvisation, and song form.
Mike Reed's Separatist Party sophomore effort and Thrill Jockey debut "Sing The Color Blue" is a recording assembled over numerous sessions, and a testament to persistence and transformation. The album reunites Mike Reed with Rob Frye, Cooper Crain, Dan Quinlivan (all of the trio Bitchin Bajas), Marvin Tate, and Ben LaMar Gay in a set that moves between composition, reconstruction, improvisation, and song form.
Dis Fig, producer and vocalist Felicia Chen, embraces every facet of heaviness. Chen is driven by a desire to express deeper emotions through meticulously crafted, innovative production and expressive vocals. On acclaimed collaborations with The Bug, The Body, and Asian Dope Boys, Chen"s sound is indelible. Her solo work utilizes electronic, industrial, and bass-forward music as filters for sonic plentitudes, unbounded and wholly her own. Every granule of sound is in service of alchemizing intense emotion and vulnerability. What To Make Of These Mortal Hands is an ambitious widening of Dis Fig"s scope, traversing tectonic dynamic shifts and heartrending arrangements in a filmic study of humanity"s capacity to create both beauty and devastation. Dis Fig has a preternatural ability to ground massive sounds with tactile rhythms and her instinctually connective voice. The album is a staggering display of innovative songcraft and unfathomable emotion-a musical world like no other.
Dis Fig, producer and vocalist Felicia Chen, embraces every facet of heaviness. Chen is driven by a desire to express deeper emotions through meticulously crafted, innovative production and expressive vocals. On acclaimed collaborations with The Bug, The Body, and Asian Dope Boys, Chen"s sound is indelible. Her solo work utilizes electronic, industrial, and bass-forward music as filters for sonic plentitudes, unbounded and wholly her own. Every granule of sound is in service of alchemizing intense emotion and vulnerability. What To Make Of These Mortal Hands is an ambitious widening of Dis Fig"s scope, traversing tectonic dynamic shifts and heartrending arrangements in a filmic study of humanity"s capacity to create both beauty and devastation. Dis Fig has a preternatural ability to ground massive sounds with tactile rhythms and her instinctually connective voice. The album is a staggering display of innovative songcraft and unfathomable emotion-a musical world like no other.
Welcome to a new series of various artist EP’s titled ‘Sistema Sprezzatura’
We are always working hard in the background on the art of making difficult actions, complex skills, or highly curated choices appear completely natural, unforced, and spontaneous… do we pull it off we aren’t sure.. hopefully you can be the judges.
On this first EP the A- side features a new project ‘Sprezzatura' Hailing from Little Italy, Norton Street in Sydney (just a short Vespa ride from the Sicilian Coastline). Sprezzatura serves up Italo disco originals, edits and deep, carefully curated party sets built for long nights and discerning dance floors. The name is Italian, the postcode isn’t. The sound lands somewhere between sleek synths, driving basslines and just the right amount of drama. Expect strong espresso, stronger basslines and the firm belief that Sicily is less a place than a state of mind.’
And on the B -side Boxcar and the Space Jockeys return after their last well received release on Sosilly Edits with some tasteful psych rock reworks.
Doubt Records puts out a release from one of its own: Berlin-based modular live act O/Y whose debut album "Variations" set the tone for a sound moving between micro house, dub techno and downtempo. "Perpetuity Wing" continues that trajectory, threading dubbed-out chords and acid textures through three tracks built for deep, late rooms.
In 2023, Kraków-based composer Martyna Basta and Los Angeles-based sound artist claire rousay were invited to Poland by Unsound for a short residency, where they spent a few days trading ideas and concepts, and brainstorming their first collaboration. Initially motivated to create lengthy, expansive pieces together, they also ended up experimenting with shorter vignettes, and ‘hotel room’ expresses these two extremes, featuring three long-form tracks and three brief, euphoric songs. “It wasn’t something we specifically planned,” explains Basta. “It just unfolded that way.” The most important stage of the process, however, was the period that followed the residency, when rousay and Basta began working on their sketches in isolation, trading drafts and sculpting the sounds independently before rousay handled the final mixdown. In the comfort of their own bedrooms, they were better able to reflect their individual creative routines, organically reaching a junction where their music felt truly unified. Even while they were in Poland, the duo joked that it might have been easier if they’d been holed up in separate rooms emailing each other.
Both artists have had an energetic few years: after steadily building a reputation for her diaristic and candid concrète experiments, rousay signed to Thrill Jockey in 2023, releasing the acclaimed ‘sentiment’, ‘a little death’ and the more eaze collaboration ‘no floor’; Basta, meanwhile, followed up 2023’s hallucinatory ‘Slowly Forgetting, Barely Remembering’ and her debut for Belgium’s Stroom imprint, ‘Diaries Beneath Fragile Glass’ with a studio album on !K7’s 7K sublabel: ‘Winged in Collapse’. The title of their collaboration reflects rousay and Basta’s hectic touring schedules in the wake of these releases, the constant feeling of displacement and the emotions that emerge when the environment is in flux. “I know we aren’t the only musicians traveling and creating work at the same time,” says rousay, “but being able to speak about that experience and all the things that come with it was comforting.” And the music itself, assembled from hypnagogic field recordings, spectral voices, electronics and filtered instrumental improvisations, sounds bewitchingly unmoored, not tied to a specific location but hovering around the uncanny space in-between.
Scratchy ASMR sounds introduce us to the opening track ‘zoom’, initially obscuring the duo’s elegiac harmonies. They are careful to let the various elements evolve at their own pace, with the fictile guitar drones melting into the foreground while Basta’s dissociated whispers and rousay’s illusory synths pick out the subtlest subliminal shades. It all builds to the piece’s dramatic third act, when layered chords ring out like organ blasts, enveloping the negative space. The shorter, more anxiety-provoking ‘denim’ is remarkably divergent, a dismantled folk memory pieced together from skeletal piano notes, vaporous choral echoes, haunting string plucks and pulsating feedback. Where the music aligns is in the mood itself, capturing a feeling that’s neither completely abstract nor fully referential. Not ambient exactly, ‘hotel room’ is a suite of soundscapes that gesture towards structure while repeatedly folding in on themselves.
On ‘Lost and Found’, wordless Autotuned ad-libs spiral around delicate guitar plucks and washing waves, coalescing into a faded Polaroid of opiated Americana, and on ‘Where Are You Now’, operatic squeals and corroded orchestral scrapes are juxtaposed with nauseous low-end tones. Evaporating until only industrial whirrs and music box chimes remain, the latter encapsulates the entire album’s chilling liminality, smudging saturated voices with casual electro-acoustic interjections before it erupts abruptly, transforming into a dense, pitch-skewed hymn. ‘hotel room’ plays like a surreal travelogue, teasing listeners with airy familiarities as it humidifies dry, awkward spaces. More a labyrinth of catacombs than a single, fixed chamber, it’s Escher-like – cryptic and seductive – and decked out with personal asides and intimate details that reward the most patient, curious listeners.
Five Special were a five-man harmony vocal group all from Detroit, formed during 1975. Founding members Mike Pattillo of ‘The Explosions’ and Steve Harris of the group ‘Trouble’ both unhappy with their then situations decided to unite to form their own group. They were soon to be joined by Zeke Stanley of “Deep Velvet”. As a threesome, the sound they created was fantastic but they all agreed a five-man group with five potential lead singers was the way forward.
It was around this time that Mike Pattillo’s lifelong neighbour Ron Banks (of The Dramatics’) introduced the guys to Charles “Chuck” Underwood. Chuck had been involved in the music business from the early 60’s as a show promotor, one of many acts he promoted was The Dramatics. Chuck had known the group from their earliest days and later became their road manager. After a failed attempt to buy the Dramatics contracts from Groovesville Music, Chuck pressed ahead with his plans to form T.E.A.I Record Corporation (T.E.A.I being an abbreviation for “Tellin’ Everybody About It”) with Ron Banks joining the label in an executive role only. This young and aspiring record company sprung into production during 1974 with initial releases on a local artist’s Renee Williams “Special To Me/Are You My Brother”, followed by ‘The Gaslight’ “Just Because Of You/It’s Just Like Magic” in 1975.
Now under the auspice of Chuck, Mike, Steve and Zeke were introduced to Greg Finley formerly of the ‘Innovations’. Now four, the quest for a fifth member continued. After months of disappointing auditions, Ron Banks decide it was time for his younger brother Bryan to embark on a professional career after initially resisting due to him being a 16-year-old school boy. After many daily rehearsals in each other’s respective basements until Bryan’s graduation the full and dynamic sound of these five young men was finally honed. Still nameless, it was Steve Harris that came up with the group’s name ‘Five Special’ stating that these five young men were “very special and unique entertainers, with each member being a complete show in himself” with Bryan on lead they sometimes sounded like “The Dramatics” with Mike they sometimes sounded like “The Temptations” high comparisons indeed.
Five Special’s first recording for T.E.A.I was the 1976 joyously uplifting dancer “The More I Get To Know You” a Jimmy Roach and Marcella Henderson composition featuring Bryan on lead, released as a part I and part II deemed to be a more disc-jockey friendly practice at the time. The record was popular with radio stations throughout the Detroit metropolis and Chuck went on to precure a deal with Polygram which resulted in a release on their nationally distributed Mercury label. A second Five Special release followed in 1977, the Jimmy Roach penned mellifluous “(Let’s Stop Making) Small Talk” backed with the Ron Banks/Paul Clark penned psychedelic soul styled “Oh, Oh (Look What We’ve Done)” with Greg Finley and Zeke Stanley exchanging tenor and baritone parts throughout.
Through our ongoing working relationship with T.E.A.I we have gained access to some previously unissued material on Five Special. From the tapes we have taken “The More I Get To Know You” in its 5:50 minutes entirety backed with the previously unissued mid-tempo delight “You Got To Be The One That I Love” with interchanging leads from Bryan and Steve. The second b-side track is the psychedelic soul “Oh, Oh (Look What We’ve Done)” with interchanging leads between Greg and Zeke. Three songs, three different styles all of the highest quality, with more to come from Five Special, so watch this space!
Telling a tale of house music’s early days or roots without mentioning Tony Humphries as a club DJ, remixer and radio disc jockey would make it an incomplete, forged and most of all a bit of a yawn.
Born in Brooklyn in 1957, Humphries’ musical journey is synonymous with New York City’s dance music history and the evolution from uptempo soul music to house: from being a dancer at David Mancuso’s infamous Loft parties to becoming a mobile DJ and getting the call from Shep Pettibone to become his right hand at
the then new Kiss FM radio station, followed by countless remix offers and a legendary residency at Newark’s Club Zanzibar. Next to that one, is was especially his work as a radio disc jockey for said station during most of the 1980s until 1994 that gave him majestic clout. Breaking new records week in, week out,
putting New Jersey acts like Adeva and Jomanda or countless up-and-coming producers from there on the musical map, while simultaneously playing the hottest imports from Europe, trax from Chicago, dance classics and all things straight from New York’s music factory that never seemed to stop.
Going to his vast and almost complete archive of radio shows from way back when he graced those airwaves, we at Running Back Records have pickedNew Release Information original recordings that symbolize his importance as an industry giant and ambassador of this style of music.
„But one thing I would like to point out is that, as a DJ, the music I play is not my music. I want to make it perfectly clear that it is music that is released, and it’s everyone’s music. I do not take any other credit than being the middle person exposing this music.“
(Tony Humphries in: What Kind of House Party Is This?, Jonathan Fleming, 1996)
Telling a tale of house music’s early days or roots without mentioning Tony Humphries as a club DJ, remixer and radio disc jockey would make it an incomplete, forged and most of all a bit of a yawn.
Born in Brooklyn in 1957, Humphries’ musical journey is synonymous with New York City’s dance music history and the evolution from uptempo soul music to house: from being a dancer at David Mancuso’s infamous Loft parties to becoming a mobile DJ and getting the call from Shep Pettibone to become his right hand at
the then new Kiss FM radio station, followed by countless remix offers and a legendary residency at Newark’s Club Zanzibar. Next to that one, is was especially his work as a radio disc jockey for said station during most of the 1980s until 1994 that gave him majestic clout. Breaking new records week in, week out,
putting New Jersey acts like Adeva and Jomanda or countless up-and-coming producers from there on the musical map, while simultaneously playing the hottest imports from Europe, trax from Chicago, dance classics and all things straight from New York’s music factory that never seemed to stop.
Going to his vast and almost complete archive of radio shows from way back when he graced those airwaves, we at Running Back Records have pickedNew Release Information original recordings that symbolize his importance as an industry giant and ambassador of this style of music.
„But one thing I would like to point out is that, as a DJ, the music I play is not my music. I want to make it perfectly clear that it is music that is released, and it’s everyone’s music. I do not take any other credit than being the middle person exposing this music.“
(Tony Humphries in: What Kind of House Party Is This?, Jonathan Fleming, 1996)
DJ Support: Rocky, Yogi Haughton, Nick Welton, Chris Sweet - Northern Soul Rave Patrol, Dean Smith, Dave Hill
'Ghosted Edits Vol 2' the emphasis has been on the less obvious. 'Two Wings' on the initial 'Ghosted Edits' was a superb disco jaunt, whilst 'Follow Him' opted for a swaying jolly down groove with a nice soulful sound. If you dug 'Follow Him' I can guarantee that 'Save The Children' and 'Beautiful People' will be essential purchases for all you disc jockey types, and those of you who jus' like vibes that you can melt into a chair with or sip on yer long drink and spectate from the side of the dancefloor as the DJ builds the room. A stroke of genius from Moton too as they opt to release this latest couple of jams on a seven, and we all know how much the soul boys and gals love a seven.
Max NRG Supply delivers four cuts for dirty discotheques. From High Euphoria to Rock Tears to Disco Orchestra Drums to Weird Italo Trumpets. Limited supplies!
Metallic Life Review is the sound of two people who have collected field recordings of metal objects from around the world for years of their lives together, collaging their magpie hoard into rhythmic patterns, sometimes writing melodies and basslines, but sometimes just letting sound be sound. Patient gathering yields to ADHD editing. Painstakingly made but blink and you"ll miss it. Is it music or is it noise? It is without a doubt exceptionally beautiful music wrought from metal detritus. Metallic Life Review features Susan Alcorn"s pedal steel, Owen Gardner"s glockenspiel, Thor Harris" drumming, Jason Willett"s (Half Japanese) guitar, and Jeff Carey"s aluminum cans, which were melted, molded into custom aluminum rods, and then bowed and struck. The most dramatic difference from any previous Matmos album is that side two was recorded "live in the studio", ala Throbbing Gristle"s Heathen Earth. For the first time on recording, Matmos capture the evolving, shifting, slithering dynamic that happens when they play live and let patterns emerge out of chaos and then collapse and then re-form. Their playful blend of compositional brilliance and improvisational playfulness meld perfectly, truly capturing ecstatic moments in a way that can only happen live.
This Convertion single is a mandatory staple in anyone’s disco, boogie record collection. A true timeless classic from the SAM Record label out of New York City.
“Let’s Do It” was a paradise garage anthem regularly played by Larry Levan and every other disc jockey upon released in 1980. Featuring the legend that is Leroy Burgess on lead vocals with production by Greg Carmichael. On the flip is a gorgeous track by “All I Want Is You” (Four Flights).
Originally released as a 12” the 7-inch version was only ever released on styrene vinyl until now. Remastered by Phil Kinrade and presented in a 7” Discobag sleeve and now officially released in full coordination with SAM Records.
Good friends and Record Mission co-captains, Dan Tyler (one half of the Idjut Boys) and Nick The Record, take the reins for the third volume of the Mr Bongo Edits 12" series. With previous editions coming courtesy of Danny Krivit and Luke Una, Dan and Nick set their sights on a hand-picked selection of iconic ‘70s Cuban recordings for this three-track cosmic whirlwind. Across the A side, Dan picks out two Juan Pablo Torres tracks, with Nick taking on Grupo Los Yoyi on the B. Tweaking, extending and reworking the recordings with a dose of extra magic they remould the tracks to fit the sounds and structure of today’s dancefloors.
Having formed the Idjut Boys in the early ‘90s, Dan and Conrad McDonnell have crafted a dubbed-out, disco-tinged style that permeates their countless productions, remixes and DJ sets. Speaking of the two tracks Dan has chosen to rework for this EP he mentions, “Having been caught under an avalanche of good music from Mr Bongo, I took it upon myself to extend and add effects to a couple of the fantastic tracks from the Juan Pablo Torres LPs they recently re-issued. Just for disco jockey and barn dance use.”
First, Dan looks to Cuban maestro Juan Pablo Torres’ 1978 album 'Algo Nuevo', taking one of the standout tracks ‘Cacao’ and giving it more space to breathe. Teasing out the scatting vocal line and percussive climax that nods to George Kranz's ’83 electronic disco anthem 'Din Daa Daa', whilst adding more cosmic tripped-out synths and space echoed dubs, Dan builds the tension to fine effect. This track sounds immense on a big club system and the swirling synths felt like they were lifting the ceiling off when we played it at the amazing La Paloma ballroom in Barcelona.
Dan then turns his attention to Torres’ 1977 'Super Son' album, giving the psych-Latin-funk track 'Pastel En Descarga' a dub makeover. Rich in delay and drama, whilst maintaining and extending the breakers funk intro, he juices it up into a punchy, no-nonsense, cosmic-funk delight.
On the B side, Tangent co-founder, long-standing Life Force resident and seasoned rework master, Nick The Record, revisits an edit that he originally constructed in 2009. Clocking in at over double the length of the original cut, Nick’s edit of Grupo Los Yoyi’s 1977 cut 'Paco La Calle', is made with dancers firmly in mind. This secret weapon builds and simmers, with the drums and percussion pushing and pulling before the psychedelic synth lines return in a sweltering fashion. In this new 2025 version, Dan is drafted in to work some brilliant new synth lines into the mix.
John Bence can be described as a Savant in the world of Avant-Garde classical composition, and puts his mastery on full display in his newest release with Thrill Jockey. Archangels is a deep dive into the world and soundscape that Bence carefully crafts to offer a glimpse of the divine. Raised in Bristol"s burgeoning underground electronic music scene and a graduate of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, John Bence manages to employ compositional complexity to manifest potent emotions. Bence"s acclaimed early works focused on the human experience, charting the composer"s own experiences with addiction and alcoholism in both stark minimalism and caustic noise eruptions. Having written Archangels two years into his recovery, Bence deftly threads together gauzy electronic atmospheres, brooding orchestral passages, and minimalist piano meditations Throughout his work, he manages to finely sew together Gregorian chant, orchestral arrangements, rippling synthesizers, and field recordings to reveal new surprises at every turn. Archangels is a compelling addition to contemporary composition by an artist unbound by classical traditions.
Biosphere is the main recording name of Geir Jenssen (born 30 May 1962),(1) a Norwegian musician who has released a notable catalogue of ambient electronic music. He is well known for his works on ambient techno and arctic themed pieces, his use of music loops, and peculiar samples from sci-fi sources. His 1997 album Substrata was voted by the users of the Hyperreal website in 2001 as the best all-time classic ambient album.
Patashnik was originally released by R&S Records/Apollo in 1994. It was number 1 in NME´s Independent Chart in March 1994 and reached number 50 in the UK official album chart.
The track Novelty Waves was used in Michel Gondry's Levi's 501 Jeans "Drugstore" spot, and holds - according to the Guinness World Records 2004, the record for "Most awards won by a TV commercial".
One reason why Jenssen's work stands out from the flood of early '90s ambient/techno releases is his strong sense of the quirkily creepy -- not in an Aphex Twin mode, but in his own particular way. The contrasting samples of a child quaveringly saying, "We had a dream last night," followed by a rougher sample saying, "We had the same dream," gives opening number "Phantasm" an unsettling feeling. Intensified by the, on the one hand, pretty, on the other, disturbing music, buried synth strings and a soft pulse accentuated by clattering noises deep in the mix, it kicks off the striking Patashnik very well. Though not as openly dark as acts like Lull, for instance, Biosphere still has an edge which isn't just melancholic, it's downright ominous at point. There's the slow crawl of "Startoucher," for instance, with its buried vocal snippets and deep bass drone, or the blend of the space signal atmospheres of "Mir" into the low, brooding intro to "The Shield." Not everything is so shadowy, though, Patashnik is primarily a relax and chill listening experience, but not without its gentle high points. "Novelty Waves," which became a crossover single in some quarters, has a good dancefloor sharpness to it even as Jenssen slyly sneaks in odd drones and samples through the mix. The opening snippet talking about an extraterrestrial disc jockey on "SETI Project" is good for a smile, as well as acting as a sharp lead-in to a fast rhythm track. Mostly, though, things continue on a deliciously unnerving pace throughout, gentle enough to go down easy but still just off enough to ensure you can't call this new age folderol for the rave generation.
