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Felipe Gordon is back on Shall Not Fade with his new album Tezeta and f*ck is it special.

Felipe Gordon is SNF label mainstay... (we released his triple repressed debut album "A Landscape Onomatopeya" in 2022 as well as 7 x 12" EPs on SNF over the years plus an extra 12" on Lost Palms)... so given his consistent and exceptional output on our record label you'd probably forgive some complacency with this write up, you might even afford us license to assume we're preaching to the choir and allow us to rest easy knowing that at this stage Felipe Gordon's records sell themselves.... Well none of those things are happening here because when an artist makes a record this complete, this good, you have to try to find the words. You use words like "timeless", "complete and "special". Words that can carry the weight. Because when you've listened to an album dozens of times, and not once, in any part, on any listen in any way has it fatigued you, you need to say. When a record felt so wonderfully familiar from the first listen and just kept on giving you the same feels ever since, you need to say. When a record makes you think about you how you feel about certain Air & St Germain albums (even when you know what it means to put that in a press release), you need to say. So here we are, saying these things.. Tezeta is a special record, one that exists in the rarefied air. A proper album. A record that every time you press play you will immediately remember why you own it and why you love it. A record that your subconscious will know so well that if shuffle is on you will know in an instant. An album that when it's in your collection and the first track starts you get a twinge of annoyance because you didn't listen again sooner and when the final track stops you stop too.

Given paint and a canvas we can most of us paint a picture, but only those that are gifted can paint something that makes us feel. Tezeta makes you feel. Feel familiarity when it's playing, yearning when its not, and absence when it ends. This alone would be enough to make the argument as to why this album is special and justify the gushing opening paragraph of this press release. But we're not done yet.

We don't really have a word in english for what Felipe Gordon has created with this album and how it makes you feel. "Tezeta" that word.

Tezeta is a one of four musical modes within the traditional Ethiopian modal music system known as Qiñit. Mulatu Astatke, the father of Ethio-jazz, frequently uses this mode, often translating it as "nostalgia" or "longing". Gordon says Mulatu's own tezeta recordings convey to him "feelings of melancholy and longing from a point of affection". This is exactly the feeling Gordon has captured. It is what he has woven through every recording on this album. Tezeta is the prime ingredient. It's the base note in recipe, it's sprinkled over the signature jazz-sampled house tracks. It powers the vast array of synthesizers Gordon deploys. It underpins the explorations into trip-hop. It's present in Gordon's varied vocal deliveries and it tunes his guitar. It's in the running order. It's the flow. Tezeta is tezeta in electronic music form, with 4/4, breakbeats, samples and synths.

Gordon says a big part of what differentiates this album from from his previous albums is that is was recorded in a period where he allowed himself to create music without the constraints of time or self-pressure which coincided with a moment of heavy personal growth which allowed him to reflect deeply on his work.

There is a word in Portuguese "Saudade" that Gordon says has a similar meaning to Tezeta - Saudade is defined as a deep, sometimes bittersweet, longing or nostalgia for someone or something that is absent or lost. But here at SNF we think that in Tezeta nothing has been lost. Quite the opposite. Through Felipe Gordon's artistic explorations we have all gained something very special indeed.

Terra Magica Rec. returns with its 12th release. Movin Below, it’s more than just a 12", it’s a full-roster compilation, spanning roots, present, and beyond. The formula is simple but powerful: bouncy basslines, warped drums, groovy breaks and chuggy dubbed-out textures with granulated vocal UK Ragga Muffin chops.

Cloudy Pink / Cloudy Green 2XLP. Before being called “the coolest man in music” (The Line of Best Fit), Paul Castelluzzo was a teenager surfing the beaches of San Diego and playing bars with local jazz greats like Curtis Taylor, until Rodney Jerkins brought him to Los Angeles to perform on tracks for Britney Spears and Justin Bieber. In between driving for Lyft and serving as the music director for a Russian Pentecostal church to make ends meet, he was enlisted for Romeo Santos’ album, Golden, but soon returned home to begin his next chapter as Hether.
Since then, his self-taught guitar style, songwriting talents and profound production palette have led to him working with everyone from Clairo, Dominic Fike, Remi Wolf and The Marías to Paul McCartney, Anderson .Paak, Benny Blanco, Kali Uchis, Kenny Beats, Mac Miller, Rick Ross, Vince Staples and more who continue to discover Hether. Having already amassed millions of streams and hundreds of thousands of fans, landing music in HBO shows and scoring films, Holy Water marks both the culmination of everything Castelluzzo has experienced and accomplished, and an expansive new evolution of a project that has shaped the present and predicted the future, but remains entirely his own.

A sprawling, meditative journey into inner and outer space, the new double album from Ivan The Tolerable sees Oli Heffernan retreat fully into the solo realm - crafting an expansive sonic world that feels both intimate and cosmic in scope. Recorded entirely alone and released via Riot Season, this latest work drifts away from structured forms and toward something more fluid, exploratory, and transcendent.
Drawing on the devotional atmospheres of early ambient pioneers and the hypnotic pulse of kosmische music, the album unfolds as a series of slowly shifting soundscapes—analog synths breathing in long, patient waves, tape loops dissolving into shimmering drones, and melodies that seem to emerge from nowhere before gently receding again. There are echoes of ritual, of vast landscapes, of time stretching and folding in on itself.
Across its two discs, Heffernan embraces a deeply immersive approach—less concerned with destination than with the act of drifting itself. It’s music that invites stillness and surrender, equally suited to deep listening or quiet disconnection from the noise of the everyday.
Unbound by genre yet rooted in a rich lineage of experimental sound, this is Ivan The Tolerable at his most introspective and transportive - a double album that doesn’t just ask for your attention, but your presence.

Rythm Of Paradise launches his brand new label “Ritmo Adriatico” with "Divina EP", a sonic manifesto of Italian house music. This four-track journey blends the power of main stages with the warm intimacy of clubs, always driven by a profoundly Mediterranean soul. A first release that doesn't just present a sound, but tells a story.

The EP opens with main track "Divina" , powerful and immediate groove built for the dance floor, wrapped in warm atmospheres and bright pads that create a sense of high energy, with emotional breaks that reminds French Kiss sound.

Followed by its remixed version of Divina by St. David where he reimagined and elevate the impact on main stages. The bass becomes more prominent, the groove expands, and the voice became more hypnotice, without ever falling into cliché.

B1. Italia Novanta is where, Ritmo Adriatico reveals its beating heart. "Italia novanta " is a respectful and modern tribute to the golden era of Italo House, diving into the Mediterranean soul of the 90s, reinterpreted with today's power.

Closing with B2. Te Quiero where takes the dreamy atmospheres and immerses them in a deep, meditative dub treatment of spacious bass lines and captivating Italo house piano licks.

Written and Produced by Michele Lamacchia.
Mixed & Mastered by St. David

What"s new for the first time in over a decade? Squirrel Bait"s self-titled 12" EP and Skag Heaven in the black. In "85-"87, their screamin" teenage psycho dilemmas stood way out in the emerging field of metal damaged hardcore punk. "Kid Dynamite" would ring in your head like a #1 single that had just unseated "Sun God" from the vaunted top spot. Every week. Anthems for the freaks! It happened fast. After a couple of records, guitarists David Grubbs and Brian McMahan split for Bastro and Slint (and Gastr del Sol and The For Carnation, respectively) With Grubbs went bassist Clark Johnson, original Bait batterie mate Britt Walford joined McMahan in Slint. Leaving only the stuff of legend: records eternally exploding with youthful feels through all the endless winters and summers of hearts and minds. Repressed, Squirrel Bait can now continue to dialogue with the young in the creation of new useful and unforgettable experiences. For the children of tomorrow as well as your own damn selves, get copies now.

What"s new for the first time in over a decade? Squirrel Bait"s self-titled 12" EP and Skag Heaven in the black. In "85-"87, their screamin" teenage psycho dilemmas stood way out in the emerging field of metal damaged hardcore punk. "Kid Dynamite" would ring in your head like a #1 single that had just unseated "Sun God" from the vaunted top spot. Every week. Anthems for the freaks! It happened fast. After a couple of records, guitarists David Grubbs and Brian McMahan split for Bastro and Slint (and Gastr del Sol and The For Carnation, respectively) With Grubbs went bassist Clark Johnson, original Bait batterie mate Britt Walford joined McMahan in Slint. Leaving only the stuff of legend: records eternally exploding with youthful feels through all the endless winters and summers of hearts and minds. Repressed, Squirrel Bait can now continue to dialogue with the young in the creation of new useful and unforgettable experiences. For the children of tomorrow as well as your own damn selves, get copies now.

Maman Küsters return to Oráculo Records with “Oniromancia Completa”, a third vinyl release carved from tension and precision. The duo—Gaël Loison and Cyril Pansal— refine their language into something sharper, harder to define: a rigid hybrid of EBM and electro where structure becomes intensity. Furious step-sequenced arpeggios cut through dense low-end pressure, while knife-edged drums lock the body into a mechanical trance. On “Dos Mundos”, Pedro Peñas (UPR) enters the system with vocals that fracture the surface, adding a human pulse to an otherwise relentless machine. Built for dark rooms and uncompromising floors, Oniromancia Completa is not just played —it is deployed. There is no ornament here—only function, force, and control. A decisive strike for both electro and EBM purists.

Double 12" release

The Story — From the Streets of Rome to the Male Productions Label
In the early 1990s, Rome lived in a kind of suspended moment. The city was still tied to its historic clubs, yet in the outskirts—inside abandoned warehouses, quarries along the coastline, and the wooded parks north of the capital—something new was beginning to stir. A nocturnal, constantly shifting movement fuelled by a hunger for freedom and a sonic curiosity that reached far beyond the mainstream.

Moving through this ferment was Francesco “Chicco” Furlotti. First an organizer of unconventional parties and underground nights, he soon became one of the driving forces behind Rome’s itinerant rave scene. Furlotti sensed that a wave of change was about to sweep across the city. It wasn’t just about parties: it was the rise of a culture, a new way of thinking about music, community, and belonging.

It was within those nights—later held with official permits, properly built sound systems, and an ever-growing crowd—that Furlotti recognized the existence of a distinctly Roman sound, and the need to capture it, preserve it, and give it tangible form.
So, in 1991, he decided to take a bolder step: to found an independent record label—small, determined, and far removed from the commercial logic that dominated at the time.
That was the birth of Male Productions.

Male was not a label like any other: it was a workshop, a gathering point, a creative hub where DJs, producers, friends, and wanderers converged. Within that environment, an artistic core took shape—Stefano Di Carlo, Leo Young, and Mauro Tannino, along with other collaborators orbiting around Furlotti. From their synergy emerged a project whose very name declared its mission:

The True Underground Sound of Rome.

The collective did not simply aim to release music; it sought to tell a story of Rome through sounds that defied categorization: house, techno, ambient, electronic mysticism, psychedelic visions… a unique blend, instantly recognizable, emotional, and experimental. The sessions unfolded using essential yet razor-sharp gear: Roland drum machines, analogue synthesizers, Akai samplers, stripped-down mixers. Few tools, endless imagination.
The first result of this work was the 12” Secret Doctrine, released in 1991 in an extremely limited run—around 500 promotional copies, according to accounts. The record captured something that until then had floated only in the air of Roman raves: enveloping atmospheres, deep rhythms, melodies built to make the mind travel far beyond the dancefloor. A sound that did not imitate what was happening in Detroit, London, or Berlin, but absorbed those influences and re-sculpted them with a distinctly Roman sensibility.
Yet, precisely because it was independent and detached from commercial circuits, Male’s output remained sparse: few EPs, few copies, irregular distribution. Over time, those records became rare artifacts—almost mythical objects within the Italian electronic scene. The legacy of Male Productions seemed destined to survive only in the memories of those early years, in the stories told after raves, and in the private archives of a handful of collectors.
Many years later, thanks to the almost accidental rediscovery of a few original copies of the first two releases issued by Male Productions, it became possible to undertake a meticulous process of recovery and restoration of the audio etched into those grooves, with the aim of preserving as fully as possible the quality and character of that unrepeatable sound.

We are therefore able today to present — at last in a complete and faithful form — the first two mixes created for Male Productions, now released on a double vinyl that brings back into the present the exact moment when it all began: the nomadic nights of the raves, Furlotti’s vision, the creativity of Di Carlo, Young and Tannino, and the sonic identity of a Rome in the midst of transformation.

This is not merely a reissue.
It is a historical document.
A fragment of a culture that changed the city.
The authentic sound of the Roman underground, finally returned to the world.

Sadeira is a production trio made up of members based in both Brooklyn and Brazil and have dropped some global groove heat on the likes of Let's Play House and London-based Leng. For this one, they drop the first release from Ceci Discos in the form of the original single 'Miscigenacao'. It's a summer, deep cut sound with Balearic, MPB and jazz all colouring the swaying rhythms. Breezy vocals transport you to a coastal setting while the percussion is lively and authentic. The Jacques Renault Rhythmental remix lands more heavy but just as patiently, Diogo Strausz ups the sunshine with his piano-led reverie, and the Saidera Steppers dub is one to crank up nice and loud early in the evening.

co:clear is blessed to share the latest offering of Leipzig-based artist, tibslc. Like many, we were introduced to her work through those two stunner long-players on Sferic at the turn of the decade. Five years have passed since then and her work continues to mesmerise – a string of accomplished self-releases have nestled themselves amongst contributions to STROOM.tv and SoundSupply_Service, to name but a few.

In the here and now, we are pleased to showcase ‘City of Something’ – 8 fragments of deluxe hi-fi ambient that further dissolves us in digital haze. Traversing through meticulous fragments of sound, tiblsc entices the listener to her synthetic dreamworld with an album of deep, euphonic electronics. Serene moments of singer-songwriting are sprinkled throughout and remind us of the artist’s delicate ability to captivate with her ethereal voice.

Artwork comes courtesy of Berlin-based artist, Margarita Maximova. Strictly limited to 250 copies of 12” wax and via most digital outlets. Out 29th May 2026.

Out on limited edition 12” vinyl & digital, 29th May 2026. Limited to 250 copies.

ounded in 1992 by the larger than life, Scottish punk-rock poet laureate, Mr Paul McKenzie, this merry band of miscreants has spent more than three decades circumnavigating the globe to bring the McKenzies gospel to an ever-expanding throng of rebels, scallywags and ne'er do wells. There's not many bands that can boast of a 30+ year career as staggeringly adventurous, wildly tempestuous and utterly death-defying as The Real McKenzies. It would be a serious mistake to write them off as just another Celtic punk band (they’ve been around longer than the Dropkick Murphys after all). They are an unstoppable juggernaut of touring mayhem. A ferocious troupe of insanely talented minstrels, storytellers and entertainers melding traditional acoustic and electric instruments to create a sound like no other. Their list of accolades is long. From sharing the stage with the likes of NOFX, Rancid, Flogging Molly, Metallica and Shane McGowan to appearing in film, books and video games to early releases with the almighty Fat Wreck Chords, their legendary status only continues to grow. On Yer Bike is an absolute beast of an album. A newly revitalized and laser-focused Paul McKenzie has never sounded better and his longtime bandmates have never been tighter. Boasting thirteen epic tracks, including the Sawney Bean trilogy (a trio of songs about Scotland's most infamous cannibal highwayman), the songs rage across topics including but not limited to love, literacy, historical sagas, eating sardines with your mother and, of course, cannibalism. Soaring bagpipes, heart pounding percussion and ultra melodic shoutalong Celtic punk rock are the orders of the day and are delivered piping hot from one of the most respected and adored pioneers of the genre.

In the world of Smote, going further out means going inward. Less a metaphysical journey into inner space, more a physical journey into the ground itself, converging with its roots and vibrations. What's more, a journey right to the heart of its principal architect's daily experience. Smote's fifth release for Rocket Recordings, and their deepest, most fully realised to date. Forged from repetition and mantric intensity and possessed of formidable psychic fortitude, this album prove that the only retro-chic Smote indulge in is liable to go back several centuries. The megalithic monomania of last year's A Grand Stream set a formidable precedent, and Smote's live shows in its wake have gradually built a reputation as visionary seers building audial monuments by cranked amplification and atmospheric intensity alike. Yet these five gnostic serenades offer portals and paradigms anew. Continuing Smote's exploratory mission into heaviness in all its forms. Songs From The Free House sees Foggin exploring a variety of new avenues. Therefore, whilst listeners might align the pantheistic forays into drone-based abandon with previous travellers like Earth and Om, the influence of folk songs and legends, as well as electronic music make their presence felt. "I've been listening to heavy electronic stuff like Puce Mary and The Body" adds Daniel, "Stereotypically guitars are often seen as the instrument for "heavy" music, but the sheer force that's available from electronics is something that will crumble most guitar centred music." Elsewhere a more melodic vocal based structure is writ large amidst these rites and revelations, particularly on The Linton Wyrm, which proceeds from devotional chant to a potent conclusion, also inspired by Foggin's everyday surroundings. Wrought from the earth, transposed to the ether, and now shared with the world at large, this album marks a transcendental journey where Smote render ancient and modern indivisible. Just as traditional music is passed down through generations, Songs from the Free House is where the primal collides with the eternal.

CQ Wrestling are today announcing their sophomore album Resistance for release on 29th May.
There’s a saying that simmers beneath the sonic assault of Resistance, the new album from CQ Wrestling. “Nothing changes if nothing changes,” recites Jake Mac, who knew of this idiom before 2024; before the loss that turned his and bandmate Charlie Woods’ worlds upside down; before the “year of complete mayhem, mess and chaos” that followed. From the outside looking in, the Brighton-based duo may have seemed on the top of the world. Then known as Chappaqua Wrestling, the exhilarating energy of their debut album Plus Ultra had seen the band lauded as future British music scene conquerors. The pair had a major label record deal to their name. Sweat dripped from the walls at headline show after headline show, in front of rapturous fans – and yet something felt amiss.
“We were selling out tours and people were loving the music, but honestly, we just felt f****** lost,” says Woods. Then tragedy struck. “It completely derailed us,” says Mac, recalling how the sudden death of his father – “a big part of the project” since its inception – sank them both into a period of grief and introspection. Amid the mourning emerged a desire to transform.
RESISTANCE is an album forged in the embers of personal tragedy and hammered into shape by desire, resilience and resolve. Detailing a metamorphosis, new single ‘Pacifico’ draws a line in the sand for the band as they recover from a time of tremendous upheaval to find themselves following their own creative compass, with renewed vitality.
"This album is a collection of songs above all about trying to find joy and hope in dark times”.

2025 Repress

(remastered classic incl DL card) Environ is proud to present the Metro Area 15th Anniversary Edition, Metro Area's eponymous debut album, meticulously remastered using the original source tapes and generously spread across three slabs of vinyl. The12-track triple LP and digital package combines all the songs from both the original US and licensed European releases, and features new commemorative artwork unique to this edition. In the late nineties, the budding producers Morgan Geist and Darshan Jesrani bonded over their shared love of slower tempos and '70s and '80s NYC club culture. Obsessed with record digging and the sounds they heard on late-night "club classics" radio shows—and turned off by current releases they saw as artlessly "updating" sublime disco by sampling, filtering and subjugating them with huge kick drums —the duo set out to discover how their favorite old 12" records were made. They naturally gravitated towards extended dubs of songs—full of strange mistakes and echoing backing tracks—instead of the better-known vocal versions. Lacking the big budgets and gear that made so many of their favorite classic records come together, they were forced to take a guerrilla approach. They reprogrammed their techno-oriented arsenal of secondhand synths and samplers, using novel digital recording technology to capture live instrumentation and prioritizing mood over hooks, and the resulting music was just wrong enough to sound unlike anything else being released at the time.After just four underground 12" releases, the duo—now well-known as Metro Area—released their first and only album, Metro Area, in the fall of 2002. Fifteen years later, it's time to celebrate the culmination of their shared history and inspiration once again. Environ is proud to present the Metro Area 15th Anniversary Edition, Metro Area's eponymous debut album, meticulously remastered using the original source tapes and generously spread across three slabs of vinyl. The 12-track triple LP and digital package combines all the songs from both the original US and licensed European releases, and features new commemorative artwork unique to this edition.

Inner City Sound Archives returns with its second chapter — digging deeper into the forgotten vaults of New York’s underground disco culture.

This new volume brings to light another cache of mysterious acetate recordings: no titles, no credits, just cryptic handwriting, tape hiss, and the unmistakable pulse of a bygone era. Painstakingly transferred and fully remastered through analog processes, these raw and extended cuts preserve the full emotional weight of the original sessions — dusty, physical, and made to move bodies in the dark.

These are tracks that once passed hand-to-hand among a tight circle of selectors, whispered about and played just once or twice at legendary loft parties between 1978 and 1983. Then, silence. Until now. Once championed in the shadows by the likes of Larry Levan, Francis Grasso, Steve D’Acquisto, but also by more elusive selectors like Bobby Guttadaro, Michael Cappello, Roy Thode, and Mark Paul Simon — these grooves return to tell their story, the way they were meant to be heard. Each piece is a sonic time capsule — hypnotic, unpolished, and intimate. Pressed loud and with care, for those who still believe in the ritual of vinyl.

As one of the foundational artists of Flipsight, it is only fitting that ColorJaxx gives the first major 2 x 12" gatefold statement on the label. The debut album 'In Between' of the Belgian producer gives a full overview of his trademark deep grooves with a re-invention of his club sound.

The first record is your invitation to the beach. The A-side kicks off with the ambient "Playamer", setting a scene of salt air and warm breeze. The shoreline waves combine with an electric piano groove to "Out The Door". This is where a slick trumpet gets the parole and cuts through the atmosphere, signalling to the dancefloor. "Never Enough" serves as a spiritual successor of his first EP on the label "Tales of never": shimmering guitar samples, a warm, everlasting groove, and that unmistakable "ColorJaxx" swing that we fell in love with initially.

The B-side is where Jordy catches the first hints of Spring with "Just Around" by blending uplifting trumpets and sax melodies with a fresh forward-moving baseline. "Higher" elevates the mood further with smooth rhodes keys and a jazzy piano lead. As the evening chill sets in, the first disc concludes with the literal end of the day: "The Beach Is Closed".

Time to grab the second wax out of your gatefold: leave the sand behind for the strobe light as this is where the maestro gets in club mode. "Back Then" serves as the bridge into "Discotheques," a heavy-hitting wink to the old-school Belgian club scene that shaped the underground of the early 2000's. This vibe created "Moving On," a sophisticated French-like house tune with Chris Farmer where the vocalist enters into a constant conversation with rhythmic elements, creating a versatile track that fits in any part of a DJ set.

The finale is reserved for heavy hitters: "This This" and "Disco Trouble" are pure, pumpy club rollers. Peak-time bangers designed for maximum impact, before the album dissolves into the hazy, cinematic outro of "Blurred Lines."

"After being praised as one of the best releases of 2025 by multiple platforms, the highly praised debut album from Obeka lands on vinyl via YUKU.

The rhythmic dynamics and emotive attitudes of A World No More captures the density of soundsystem culture in Obeka's ancestral roots. YUKU presents the Bermudians debut album capturing a Neo-Colonial dystopia, protest and Afro-Futurism hyperextended through decaying sonic structures of a dark past and its grievances which very much exist today.

Growing into adulthood within the walls of British and European Colonial systems meant the disconnection and lostness in a new country hid me from the world at a young age. Unlike London's vast and culturally engaging migrant communities, the industrial milling town of Stockport introduced a coldness towards people from other countries I experienced in my first year after relocating from Bermuda. I couldn't understand why. Whether cold words thrown towards me or actions upon other people who look like me, it has shown to be a dooming societal virus with no cure. The most comfort was found through what was familiar - drums and rhythmic spirituality of my homeland. It was a safe-haven, a place to empty the anger and confusion. It's been 15 years since relocating and as my sound evolved, it seems classism, racism, oppression and civil control of ethnic peoples has become worse - even now more legalised and normalised. Ogun (a powerful Yoruba deity associated with anger, justice and war) acts as the opening sequence of the record and its symbolism. Using distorted bass frequencies and dissected Regga-Dub immersed in live-sampled ghostly voices of the lost ones. This sonic exercising is also applied in Drillaman - a stampede of industrial framework and metallic instruments wielded over moody Dancehall MC'ing, magnifying two parallel worlds in cocooned evolution. The resurrection of Transatlantic African cultures and identity have never been silenced, rather carried elsewhere through trade routes of enslavement, which was pivotal when composing and completing the album upon returning home to the Caribbean for the first time ever. After reconnecting with my heritage my blurred vision of what's wrong in the world became so clear. Guidance in empty plains seek truth throughout the pain - A statement of finding oneself expressed on the poetic closing track A World No More.

On Fawohodie (A West African Adinkra symbol that represents independence, freedom, and emancipation stamped on the album cover) the motive and atmosphere begins to change. Afro-Caribbean idealism which refers to the philosophical concept that emphasizes the interconnectedness of individuals and the importance of community, often contrasting with Western individualism, begins to take shape in a new universe. We can co-exist. The track framework uses machine-led software forming frequencies we have no control over, then manipulated through decomposing soundscapes, scattered hand-drums and human-made weapons of control - exposing the hidden disparity that's been carried over generations whilst balancing hopeful and musical foundations towards equality and peace. On Pressure and Kuduro! the writing direction attempts to wake people up. Not settling for a composed approach like in past projects, quite the opposite. A call for native sonic awareness, dismantled vocals of protests, eroded percussion using chains, gears and motorised harmonies sculpted in challenging abstract behaviors far outside my comfort zone. A direct abrasiveness and weight I want people to feel, whilst finding hope and solace through enchanting choirs and hypnotic basslines in complete synchrony.

"Purity in sound manifests when you least expect it. The smallest memory or feeling grows from a seed into a sonic language that you, and only you can interpret and release back into the world." "

This time around Michael Melchner dishes up three top-notch house tracks for us.

2023 Repress


Voices From the Lake (consisting of Donato Dozzy and Neel) mark the 10th anniversary of their influential self-titled album with a fully remastered reissue on Spazio Disponibile. It arrives in full on vinyl for the first time, as well as on digital formats, first quarter of 2023 as the pair continues to play select live shows around the world. The release will see the light of day as a 4-set vinyl LP release, including download. Italians Dozzy and Neel have been friends united by a shared vision of music since their teenage years. They are immaculate sculptors of sound who fuse evocative ambient and leftfield techno into multi-layered soundscapes. For many years they worked as established solo artists but came together in 2011 to craft what is now regarded as one of techno's most pure and absorbing listening experiences. It's often said that the best music comes about as a happy accident, and that is certainly true of Voices From the Lake. The career-defining album first arose in the thoughts of Dozzy and Neel when the latter was preparing a mix for the former's wedding and named it Voices From The Lake. It was a pertinent title that stuck in the mind: both grew up by waters around the coast of Italy, and in their early days the pair even held private parties on the shores of a lake. Fittingly, Japan's celebrated Labyrinth festival at that time was also held by a river and a lake in the middle of a forest on a serene mountainside. It was that exact setting the pair envisaged when making music to play live on stage. During preparations, they "accidentally" wrote an entire album. It has only ever been performed live a few times - once at Japan's Labyrinth festival in 2011, at London's Barbican, Barcelona's Mira Festival, Paris' Marathon Festival and once during 2022's Amsterdam Dance Event. Those shows saw the pair using banks of analogue and digital equipment to improvise in the moment and essentially remix the album live on stage. That spontaneity is captured in the original Voices From the Lake recordings and on later LPs such as Live at Maxxi in 2015, and the most recent EP Quarto Freddo from 2020. But the debut album remains a standout achievement. A decade on, it's quiet intensity, musical storytelling and slowly unfolding tension remain in a class of one. Each sound is meticulously designed and placed, and the spaces left behind are just as important in conveying such a captivating mood and emotion. Rather than traditional kick drums, hi-hats or snares, this is music crafted from layers of real-world sound - dripping water, chirping birds, rustling leaves or a distant breeze - and it's that which defines the album's organic allure. From deeply contemplative to cautiously optimistic, pastoral organic scenes to more underwater worlds, Voices From the Lake is a cohesive collection of tracks that add up to one inseparable whole.