ESS - Sometimes we need to revisit the past to discover the future. That's why we are so happy to present the incredible Electronic Speech Systems 'Capsule Collection' (by Dublin's electro modular warrior DeFeKT). A selection of his finest works from his three only releases in 2011 on 'New Flesh', 'Takeover Recordings' & 'AC Records' have been remastered to form an electro tour de force.
We pull the trigger with his deadliest of weapons 'Trigger My Sequencer'. A full throttled four-to-the-floor doppler dance werk out. The expelling of his drexciyan demons continues with the polar cap melting 'Thermo Drive', a deep dive into aquatic funk & electro dub waves.
On the flip, slicing chord stabs and pulsing signals launch us back into the milky way with 'Halley's Comet'. The fusion of Kraftwerk inspired grooves & pulsing alpha juno synth lines pair perfectly to make it a certified electro cult classic. Lastly JX10 brings it home with a beautiful arrangement and showcase of perfectly executed electronic architecture, leaving us speechless.
ESS - Sometimes we need to revisit the past to discover the future. That's why we are so happy to present the incredible Electronic Speech Systems 'Capsule Collection' (by Dublin's electro modular warrior DeFeKT). A selection of his finest works from his three only releases in 2011 on 'New Flesh', 'Takeover Recordings' & 'AC Records' have been remastered to form an electro tour de force.
We pull the trigger with his deadliest of weapons 'Trigger My Sequencer'. A full throttled four-to-the-floor doppler dance werk out. The expelling of his drexciyan demons continues with the polar cap melting 'Thermo Drive', a deep dive into aquatic funk & electro dub waves.
On the flip, slicing chord stabs and pulsing signals launch us back into the milky way with 'Halley's Comet'. The fusion of Kraftwerk inspired grooves & pulsing alpha juno synth lines pair perfectly to make it a certified electro cult classic. Lastly JX10 brings it home with a beautiful arrangement and showcase of perfectly executed electronic architecture, leaving us speechless.
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BENJAMIN FINGER, JAMES PLOTKIN and MIA ZABELKA craft a mesmerizing sonic world that buzzes and drones, glitches and slithers, eventually careening into unexplored musical territory.
"Pleasure-Voltage" was born in the mind (and studio) of BENJAMIN FINGER - a composer, electronic music producer, DJ, photographer and film-maker based in Oslo / Norway who in recent years has become quite a prolific artist, expanding his stylistic palette from piano miniatures and off-kilter pop experiments to lysergic, dream-like sound collages spiced with gentle warmth and sublime melody. These ingredients are also characteristic on this latest work where FINGER set the musical frame before passing it on to his inspired collaborators: MIA ZABELKA who for decades now has been involved in countless projects, be it as musician (violin / electronics), curator or founder of the international sound art centre klang.haus and who has worked with a.o. JOHN ZORN, FRED FRITH, ELECTRIC INDIGO, ROBIN RIMBAUD (SCANNER), DÄLEK or PHIL MINTON. And last but not least there's JAMES PLOTKIN who entered the scene with his first band OLD LADY DRIVERS (or OLD) on EARACHE in 1987 and later was a member of KHANATE (with a.o. STEPHEN O'MALLEY) while also exploring the areas of dark ambient and electronics by working with or remixing SCORN / MICK HARRIS, K.K: NULL and many more.
On "Pleasure-Voltage" which had its live-premiere at the REWIRE festival 2018, the trio craftsa mesmerizing sonic world that buzzes and drones, glitches and slithers, eventually careening into unexplored musical territory somewhere between ambient / drone / psychedelia.
Off the back of the highly conceptual project 'Plata - Last Dayz', Circadian Rhythms quickly return to focus on their white label series and solidify their signature sound. CRWL003 takes form of three club driven tracks from the arsenal of Leicester based producer R@ (Lewis Ireson). The 21 year old's current studies in Video Game Development have evidently started to seep into the ferocious sound that has drawn him attention.
His praised debut EP 'Neural' was released on Stella Beats in October 2018 and following his DJing debut at the CR003 Live event alongside Mssingno and Plata, he now continues this run with his first vinyl release, showcasing his signature production.
Part II The title of the project is: "An Intermediary Plane of Existence", an in-between world, a shadow zone, two universes, the place between the entrance and exit of a portal. Most electronic music producers probably know the feeling where they, after producing and recording a track they are extremely content with, are suddenly overcome with a slight fear: "what if my computer crashes, what if the file of the recording gets lost somehow and the music gets lost, it's gone forever...". That feeling and the fact that all music, ever written and even the music that has yet to be written, is "somewhere" when it's not
being played or made. It's either written down in notes, stored in
someone's mind, cut into a piece of vinyl, recorded on tape, converted into 0's and 1's hiding somewhere on a hard drive, a cloud, a CD or a USB stick. It's been taken form the place it was before it was made and stored in another place, in an intermediary plane of existence, waiting to be played, to come back to life and listened to again. We wanted to do this various artists album not with just any talented artist, but with people we've met the past years who became our friends and people we admire for their music and personalities. Friendship is also something that most of the time resides in an intermediary plane of existence. When a friend is not in the same room, city or even country it doesn't mean the friendship is not still there. If you've never even met
someone in person, it doesn't mean you can't be friends. Even if you haven't spoken to your friend for a long period of time, it doesn't mean the friendship doesn't exist anymore. The same goes for love I believe.
Some people you will never stop loving, alive, or dead. Both owners of P-RT-L lost their fathers within a week from each other last year, but I also know people who haven't seen or spoken to their dads or moms in over a year, yet somehow it feels completely different not seeing someone for a long time if you know a person is still alive, even though it's not sure you will ever see him or her again. Their dads went back to the place they were before they were born and they will never come back the way they knew them. Just like all music that went lost before we as humans had the ability to write it down, store it on a medium or pass it on otherwise. That exact music, just like their dads, is lost forever. I know this will probably sound a bit too philosophical for some of you readers, but it's something that keeps me awake at night, sometimes. This albums is a way for us to celebrate the fact that the music on it, will never be lost because we as humans have found a way to store and contain it in a place where we can easily reach it, for ever. We hope you will enjoy the music! P-RT-L Featuring artists: Alex Bau ,AnD,Anouk De Vos, D-Leria, Daniel Kane, Dasha Rush, Frame Six Micol Danieli
Austrian Ken Hayakawa keeps up Stripped Down Records' fine run of form with two new tracks that get remixed by John Tejada and Whitesquare.
Hayakawa's mother is Japanese but he hails from Salzburg. He is formally trained in piano and has performed Beethoven's music in a number of prestigious venues. That melodic, minimalist style still informs his own output and over the last decade has come on the likes of Audiomatique and Upon.You.
Superbly soothing opener 'Sonic Wave' is a brilliantly warm and spaced out deep house track that voyages into the cosmos. Dreamy pads drift by as muted acid lines flesh out the supple, subtle drums. It's a late-night groove to really get lost in.
American tech house titan and long-time Kompakt associate John Tejada steps up to remix and takes things even deeper, with pulsing, sonar-like acid blips and icy hi hats all working on melting your mind as warm, gurgling bass drives things forwards.
It is Italian producer and DFTD, 2020 Vision and Freerange house master Whitesquare who then remixes. He brings plenty of spine-tingling chords to his version, which is deep yet driven, with layer upon layer of rich sound all oozing real soul.
Hayakawa then finishes things off in style with 'Lost,' a brilliantly atmospheric track that is cavernous, dubbed out and finished with exquisite ambient details that cannot help but calm you.
This is a beautiful EP of deep, dynamic house music.
For the last 20 years London-based author and party organiser Tim Lawrence has dedicated himself to excavating the history of New York City party culture and bringing some of the most powerful aspects of that culture to London's dance scene, from where it has ricocheted around the world. Having conducted the first set of major interviews with David Mancuso, Lawrence started to put on Loft-style Lucky Cloud Sound System parties with David and friends in London in June 2003. In early 2004 he published Love Saves the Day: A History of American Dance Music Culture, 1970-79, which tracked the influence of the Loft on the wider New York DJ, dance and disco scene. In 2009 his biography of the iconic musician Arthur Russell became the first book to map the wider downtown music scene. These beautifully written and politically insightful histories have educated, inspired and celebrated the previously overlooked foundations of contemporary dance music.
Lawrence's most recent publication, Life & Death On The New York Dancefloor, 1980 - 1983, published in late 2016, shines a light on 'one of the most dynamic and creative periods in the history of New York City'. Falling between the more regularly celebrated sounds of disco, house and techno, the period produced a uniquely hybrid series of sounds that never acquired a settled name. This led them to be largely ignored by historians and even DJs, yet the power of the period's music and the scenes it birthed, Lawrence argues, remains undeniable. Met with a rapturous response, Life and Death On The New York Dance Floor saw Lawrence on the road for most of the next year as he spread the word about the characters, the records, the clubs and the bands that shaped the post-Disco, post-Punk, and burgeoning Hip Hop landscapes of New York City during the early 1980s—a period when freedom still ruled.
This, the first of a 2-part sonic tribute to the 1980 - 1983 era as well as a musical companion piece to Life & Death On The New York Dance Floor sees recognised musicians (David Byrne of Talking Heads) nestle up alongside the belatedly recognised (Arthur Russell's Dinosaur L and Loose Joints, and Suicide's Alan Vega) and the downright obscure (Gray, 2 Teens Kill 4 and Tuxedomoon). An indication of what's to follow, Dinosaur L's original album version of 'Go Bang' has been dramatically overshadowed by the definitive François Kevorkian remix yet received regular play by David Mancuso and remains an enthralling experimental Arthur Russell jam.
Lovingly curated across 2 slabs of vinyl, the album introduces listeners to a stunning array of sounds, styles, vibes and feelings that encapsulate this most fertile and forward-thinking era, when music, fashion, sound system innovations, leaps in music technology, a DIY attitude and a freedom from corporate politics combined with extraordinary expressivity. All music contained within this album has been hand-picked and programmed by Tim Lawrence. It represents a selective yet rich introduction to one of the most extraordinary periods in New York City's epic musical history.
This is the first release on Reappearing Records, a label led by Tim Lawrence and distributed worldwide by Above Board distribution. Licensing courtesy of Tracksuit Music. Mastering by Optimum Mastering, Bristol UK. Artwork & design courtesy of Atelier Superplus. 2018.
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Unknown Truths is the debut album from Tony Beardsley (aka Dark Strands). What can be said about this album.. for one, it is a body of work that has been crafted as a labour of love with sources of inspiration taken from the late 80's underground warehouse parties and clubs where no one speed or style of music was played.. curve balls as they say, was a good thing. Ambitious maybe.. but the only aim of the album was to actually not to have one. No one genre or concept can be applied, but this is not by design, purely accidental as the music weaves between various electronic strands and rhythm forms. Its fair to say that his music has not been compromised to follow latest trends or fashion. It is for everyone, but no one. It's only true purpose is to liberate senses and provide a lasting sonic soundtrack to the modern age.
Russian producer Nocow returns to Rekids with an enthralling full-length album entitled 'Atoner' this November.
Real name Aleksei Nikitin, Nocow is known for his versatility, producing a large body of genre spanning work on labels like Clone Royal Oak, Figure, Fauxpas Musik, Gost Zvuk and Styrax. The St. Petersburg-based producer debuted on Rekids last year with his 'Samaya Dolgaya Noch' EP, a mellow release complete with vocal driven cuts as well as 2-step rhythms, and now returns with a myriad of productions in a fourteen track album entitled 'Atoner'.
'Atoner' opens with an eponymous track that gently unravels with soaring synths and subtle percussion before Nocow's voice emerges alongside twinkling atmospherics in 'Complie'. Throughout the long player are also intricately produced short tracks sitting between the two and three-minute mark such as looping vocal number 'Dancerecter', the melodic and rattling 'Leto' and ominous 'Delore'.
Ostanovitsa' is a murky offering featuring a meandering organ riff, leading into the pitter-patter drums and serene chords of 'Starveme (feat. Tayut Ogni)'. 'Come Along' is a crystalline and otherworldly experience from start to finish, whilst 'Melting Lights' is comprised of echoing, subterranean sounds, making way for reverberating snares and metallic stabs in 'Standalone'.
Husky murmurs and soothing notes then make up 'Neva', moving into the syncopated beat and idyllic chord sequences in 'Can't Get Enough' ahead of 'Stonecold' and its icy aesthetic. Finally, the album reaches a mesmerising conclusion with the spellbinding 'Footer'.
ADULT. '20 years ODD.'
Over the course of the last two decades, Detroit-based duo ADULT. (Nicola Kuperus and Adam Lee Miller) have released six albums and nineteen EPs and singles across some of our favorite labels: Mute, Ghostly International, Thrill Jockey, Clone Records, Third Man Records, and their own label, the revered Ersatz Audio. November 1998 marked their first release: the five-song 12" 'Dispassionate Furniture'. This September, twenty years later, Dais Records is proud to announce ADULT.'s seventh full length album: THIS BEHAVIOR.
The album began as 23 demos written and recorded in a remote cabin in the woods of Northern Michigan during the dead of winter. In total isolation, and with a reduced amount of gear (a modified version of their live setup) on the cabin's kitchen table, the duo were completely immersed in an incessant inescapable studio of their own making - looping, repetitive analogue sequences grinding away day and night. At the end of the intense demo session, a handful of peers were enlisted by the band for the difficult task of paring down the demos into the final album.
The result is 10 tracks of uncompromising dark electronics, showcasing ADULT.'s return to aggressive and energetic dancefloor mastery. Album opener 'This Behavior' alongside the follow-up 'Violent Shakes' (which ascends into synths wailing like warning sirens over Kuperus's commanding vocals) set the stage for an on-edge listen, while the heartbreaking 'Silent Exchange' unfolds as a beautiful sad synth dirge. 'Perversions of Humankind' breaks the mood - driving the listener into a slow and low groove before the frantic album midpoint of 'Irregular Pleasure'. 'Does The Body Know' is the album's post-punk anthem, with irresistible singalong 'we're out of order - we're undefined!' The latter half of the album drives forward with 'On The Edge (You Put Me...)' and 'Lick Out The Content', refusing rest and demanding movement and response. 'Everything & Nothing' emerges slowly from sparkling synth textures, snowballing with nervous energy into an acid techno stomper before the album comes to a close on the icy landscape of 'In All The Debris', a goose-bump inducing slow electronic mantra that closes the curtain on a massive album.
Artist statement on the album's writing process:
'It's confounding how often we negate the importance of disconnecting, getting weird, getting lost. Discomfort and joy intertwined. Day to day, theatrical self-presentation set to rest in our frantic social world. Public becomes private, almost too private. Looking out into frozen woods as you deliver your vocals. For who For what Taking walks along icy shorelines as you try to overcome writer's block, as you try to overcome yourself. Not seeing anyone for days and weeks on end. Overwhelming thoughts and feelings come rushing in; anxiety, fear, purpose, banality, futility of task, power structures, power struggles, pointlessness, collapse.You're faced to face yourself. Your awareness is heightened. You are neither here nor there. You are in a liminal state As you work in this isolated cabin your windows become mirrors.'
"Are we distortions. Are we distortions, perversions of humankind.Are we distortions. Are we distortions, twisted somewhere in time."
ADULT. '20 years ODD.'
Over the course of the last two decades, Detroit-based duo ADULT. (Nicola Kuperus and Adam Lee Miller) have released six albums and nineteen EPs and singles across some of our favorite labels: Mute, Ghostly International, Thrill Jockey, Clone Records, Third Man Records, and their own label, the revered Ersatz Audio. November 1998 marked their first release: the five-song 12" 'Dispassionate Furniture'. This September, twenty years later, Dais Records is proud to announce ADULT.'s seventh full length album: THIS BEHAVIOR.
The album began as 23 demos written and recorded in a remote cabin in the woods of Northern Michigan during the dead of winter. In total isolation, and with a reduced amount of gear (a modified version of their live setup) on the cabin's kitchen table, the duo were completely immersed in an incessant inescapable studio of their own making - looping, repetitive analogue sequences grinding away day and night. At the end of the intense demo session, a handful of peers were enlisted by the band for the difficult task of paring down the demos into the final album.
The result is 10 tracks of uncompromising dark electronics, showcasing ADULT.'s return to aggressive and energetic dancefloor mastery. Album opener 'This Behavior' alongside the follow-up 'Violent Shakes' (which ascends into synths wailing like warning sirens over Kuperus's commanding vocals) set the stage for an on-edge listen, while the heartbreaking 'Silent Exchange' unfolds as a beautiful sad synth dirge. 'Perversions of Humankind' breaks the mood - driving the listener into a slow and low groove before the frantic album midpoint of 'Irregular Pleasure'. 'Does The Body Know' is the album's post-punk anthem, with irresistible singalong 'we're out of order - we're undefined!' The latter half of the album drives forward with 'On The Edge (You Put Me...)' and 'Lick Out The Content', refusing rest and demanding movement and response. 'Everything & Nothing' emerges slowly from sparkling synth textures, snowballing with nervous energy into an acid techno stomper before the album comes to a close on the icy landscape of 'In All The Debris', a goose-bump inducing slow electronic mantra that closes the curtain on a massive album.
Artist statement on the album's writing process:
'It's confounding how often we negate the importance of disconnecting, getting weird, getting lost. Discomfort and joy intertwined. Day to day, theatrical self-presentation set to rest in our frantic social world. Public becomes private, almost too private. Looking out into frozen woods as you deliver your vocals. For who For what Taking walks along icy shorelines as you try to overcome writer's block, as you try to overcome yourself. Not seeing anyone for days and weeks on end. Overwhelming thoughts and feelings come rushing in; anxiety, fear, purpose, banality, futility of task, power structures, power struggles, pointlessness, collapse.You're faced to face yourself. Your awareness is heightened. You are neither here nor there. You are in a liminal state As you work in this isolated cabin your windows become mirrors.'
"Are we distortions. Are we distortions, perversions of humankind.Are we distortions. Are we distortions, twisted somewhere in time."
Children Of Tomorrow will celebrate soon its 10 years anniversary. The label was created by Emmanuel Ternois back in the day and being joined by Arnaud Le Texier in 2011. Since then they focused on Techno producing amazing artists, to name few: Terrence Dixon, Zadig, Tensal, Antigone, Oscar Mulero, Jonas Kopp, Samuli Kemppi etc... Children Of Tomorrow is now presenting the first album from Arnaud Le Texier. After almost 30 years Dj-ing around the world and almost 20 years producing. Signing many releases over the years and always busy delivering dance floor releases, it's been a long wait to finally get an album from ArnaudOn his first album we can feel that he wanted to tell a story and to express something deeper with his production experience. There is a different variety of Techno that stretches from ambient / broken beat / hypnotic / raw Techno along with subtles grooves, wondrous atmospheres & sonic textures. On A side the album opens with Dusk, an ambient atmospheric mid-tempo track with sonic sounds that is a perfect intro.Pattern 2 starts with drones and blip sounds and a broken beat groove follows with a pad that sounds like a voice coming from the space. The track ends with some modular click sounds that make the whole track clever. Followed by the album title Granular Therapy, a deep techno track with modular bass line and melancholic pad. A perfect track to play in after or to warm up a party.The B Side is more dedicated to the dance floor with Black Nympheas that is a proper dark modern techno with a grinding bass line and magic drones. A simple beat makes the track evolve in a nice way. Blade Pass frequency is 4/4 effective Techno with a 909 kick, a syncope acid bass line and a pad that sends you to another dimension. It is a powerful track but with a sense of deepness and sensibility that Arnaud can achieve sometimes. This side closes with Binary Sun Dawn which is an ambient track with melody that has a jazz feeling mixed with dark atmospheres, sonic drones and water drops. The C side opens with Mono Driver, a minimal track with a little synth that stays until the end repetitively until it makes you travel and lose your mind. Deep and dance floor at the same time.
Then Snapper is a more percussive track with some shinning bells and a grinding modular bass line.
The last track Virgo Consortium is a cosmic broken beat with dark atmospheric drone, simple bass and phasing efx. The D Side starts with Midi overdub which is a beauty. A mix between ambient and broken beat. The pad has the deepness that transports you somewhere else with an angel choir on top. The beat is spacial and groovy at the same time with smart high hats. This reminds Arnaud's past ambient production but with a modern approach. Surely a special track of the album.
Hideous Engine is more dance floor with metallic bass line and 4'4 beat going towards a sonic pad that closes the track.The last track Dawn is ambient with drones and blip sounds and an acid bass line modulate. A perfect end of the album.This album is an accomplished journey that makes you dance and travel from dusk till dawn. Arnaud Le Texier shows a coherent vision and illustrates his vast diversity in the techno world. Hopefully we won't have to wait 20 years to get another one.
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A new aDepth audio record featuring Canadian Rennie Foster, including a remix of Nomadico (DJ Dex/Underground Resistance).The title track Witch Hazel is a 9 minute long track with no breakdown and a minimal approach to arrangement, with organic elements cycling in and out subtly rather than obviously beginning and ending. A rolling half time, tribal groove drives the power of the track with a haunting vocal sample and layers of percussion creating a heady, polyrhythmic hypnosis on the dance floor. Not since Rennie's well known Devil's Water has he presented such an overtly occult offering as this extremely finely crafted EP, and this song represents the initial seduction of the record to the listener very effectively.
The second track, Navigator, is a drum machine driven workout, again with a polyrhythmic and tribal vibe, this time drenched in a rich, holographic pad that morphs and moves in unexpected ways. Minimalistic in presentation, this track is bass heavy and functional for the DJ, yet artistic and emotional.
The Nomadico remix by DJ Dex of Underground Resistance takes the elements of Witch Hazel and re-constructs them in a futuristic style with a more driving kick and molten Detroit attitude. A heavier techno approach to the piece, but still intact is the melancholic atmosphere of the original and siren song of the vocal sample. This mix includes a dramatic breakdown and unique arrangement familiar to fans of Nomadico's awesome Yaxteq label. The last track on the EP is called Crossing The Boundary is possibly the only track in this style to sample distorted vocals usually associated with black metal, making this a very unique, perhaps polarizing, experiment in sound. Evocative of the desolation of deep space and suggestive of sonic dark matter. This track combines Rennie's singular approach to dub techno with ambient and drone music and the result is like nothing else currently in existence.
The Caribbean House Is A New Billy Bogus Project. It's The Perfect Meld Of Creepy Atmospheres, Sunset Grooves, Analog Sensibilities And Incessant Rhythms. Bogus Leads This Collective Formed By Federico Bologna (ohmega Tribe, Technogod) And Cristiano Santini (disciplinatha, Dish-is-nein,). This Triumvirate Of 90's Underground Italian Masterminds Come From The World Of Electronica, Noise Rock And Psychedelia. Here They All Combine To Rise Again Rise And Unite To Create Something Entirely New.
And So To The Music. Their Debut Lp Opens Up With The Dark And Haunting "night Drive". Recent Single "gong Bong" Is Next. It Is One Part Slo-mo Disco, One Part Psychedelic Moondance And One Part Sci-fi Horror Movie. If The First Two Thirds Of The Track Is A Caterpillar Then The Last Third Is A Butterfly As Uplifting Riffs And Swirls Of Layered Keys Bring Things To A Crescendo. "lonely Man" Is A Quirky Detuned Monster Tour-de-force Which Leads Nicely Into "love By Proxy". Layered Keys And Intertwined Arpeggios Mingle To Create The Closest Thing To A Love Song Possible From This Trio.
Flip The Vinyl Over For A Hippy Drive With "jesus Freaks" And Its Groovy Guitar Licks And White Noise Synth Blasts. "nature Nature" Is All About The Pulsing Bass Guitar And Sample Like Guitar Stabs Before Heading Completely Off-piste For A Synth-bass Ending. "africa Addio" Presents Us With Meandering Synth Lines Before Layering On A Waft Of Sound Effects And Spooky Keys. Movie Territory. We Close Off The Lp With The "streets Like Noodles". New Wave Nyc Chic Meets Underground Italy Psych.
The young Dutch DJ & producer Lewski debuts on Darko Esser's Wolfskuil Limited series with 'Folkloric Human' EP presenting four fine Electro / Techno cuts.The title track opens the EP with a blend of old school electro and distinctly modern techno, featuring rhythmic bouncy beats and a playful built up perfect for the floor, followed by 'Phase Mistress', a vintage sounding beauty with captivating bass sequences and plenty of analog flavor.'EreBus' kicks off the B-side with its twisted drive, cyborg samples and sinister attitude that justifies it's name been derived from the mythological god of darkness. The atmospheric, Detroit flavored 'Decommissioned Androids' rounds the EP off with tight basslines and relentless analog madness.Lewski's debut EP on Patron Records last year gained support by the likes of Ben UFO, DJ Stingray and Umwelt. Lewski is part of a select cut of young artists who are absorbing electro's legacy, carrying it into the future and with his release on Wolfskuil Limited we can be sure that the future looks very promising.
For the 12th installment of Jose Cabrera's self-titled imprint, Mario Castillo appears under his long running 'Kastil' moniker to deliver a four track EP of mechanical dance floor sounds. With 'Anemic Lust', the resident of Vitoria- Gasteiz, comes up with a worthy addition to his rapidly growing discography. After a period of DIY work through his own label STALE, Castillo returns to the imprint where he last released his collaboration album with J.C. in 2017.
Musically, Castillo's palette is ever expanding, threading into the murky waters of mechanical textures and balanced, hypnotic beats, Anemic Lust is showcasing Castillo's love for dubbed out chords, orchestrated string work and power driven drum programming. The opening track 'Submissive' is a firm work of dance floor techno which uses a drone-like scream as it's back bone. While the bass and drums alternate skillfully, the hats and percussive elements penetrate entire spectrum and act in a vanguard-like fashion.
'Omniscience' is a work of growling and low down dub chords that are supported by a vigorous kick drum, slabs of fx, and high spirited hi-hats that change throughout. 'Red River' is the first effort on the B side if Anemic Lust. Castillo changes the pace to introduce a more inky side to his music. The drum work and bass sounds are ominous but the mood is shifted by a more soothing ambiance around the two minute mark.
Also on the B side, label owner J.C. translates Red River into an experimental sounding work of wintry drums and notable sound additions.
Norm De Plume has been quietly making a name for himself the last eight years with remixes for Tornado Wallace and Ben La Desh and EP's for Kolour LTD and his own vinyl only imprint Plumage winning him a solid fol- lowing along the way. His passion for all things disco and deep, dubby, un- derground house inspired by his musical hero Ron Hardy feeds through into his production style as well as his recently formed Peaches & Prunes party which boasts an audiophile sound system and vinyl-only sets from the DJ's. So when the opportunity arose to do a full EP with Norm we jumped at it. Here we present you with the Castlecrag EP, a nod to the Londoner's new adoptive home of Sydney, Australia, and whilst his sound may be more akin to the recent musical movements of Melbourne, the laid-back sun-kissed melting pot of The Harbour City certainly shine through in the two originals and Folamour remix on offer here.
Title track Castlecrag leads the charge with a deep mood-setter driven by a cowbell riff and filtering pads. The spacious mix and less is more arrange- ment ensures that the drums and rolling bassline punch through making for a track that sounds both unique yet accessible and demonstrates Norm's sense of musicality as well as DJ instinct for setting the right mood on the dancefloor. Next up we have Whole In One which treads a similar path whilst dropping the BPM's a touch and building up layers of synth strings to create a subtle yet engaging track to immerse yourself in. Finally, man of the moment Folamour gets busy on the remix of Whole In One working his magic by upping the tempo and going heavy on the jazz- inspired drums. By laying down a driving groove and pushing the string stabs to the fore, the Lyonnais producer behind the wonderful Moonrise Hill Material label has delivered a fresh-sounding take that will work like magic on discerning dance floors out there.
Prairie is the project of multi-instrumentalist and producer Marc Jacobs, hailing from Brussels with roots in The Netherlands. He previously released an EP (I'm so in love I almost forgot I survived a Disaster - 2013) and an LP (Like a Pack of Hounds - 2015) on the Berlin imprint Shitkatapult. On stage, Prairie plays with two or three musicians and together they re-create a free association of musical ideas and atmospheres. Prairie has played in selected venues and festivals across Europe and toured with Apparat in 2016.If the apocalypse was painted in several layers of pastel gouache, its soundtrack might be PRAIRIE's Flash Flood. Listening to the album, we drift through a series of frozen landscapes that gesture at a post-apocalyptic ambience. This is a kind of blackened music that has been left to sediment, excavated from traces in ice core samples. Flash Flood showcases a deep sensitivity to narrative and rich cinematic textures as Marc Jacobs returns with palimpsestic sonic layers. It has been three years since PRAIRIE's last release—the 2015 Cormac McCarthy-inspired Like a Pack of Hounds—and it is clear that it has been several years of pensive reflection. Now, PRAIRIE takes the sentiment of his 2012 debut, I'm So In Love I Almost Forgot I Survived A Disaster, several steps further: it is after the apocalypse, and no one has survived. And yet with Flash Flood, we can hear the hum of this impossible future.
'After the Flash Flood' introduces the sonic ruins of distorted guitars, field recordings, drum programming and synths that create the textures of the entire album. The melancholic and subdued black metal churn of 'Raindeath' becomes the cold backdrop for unnerving, paranoiac speech. The third track, 'Sisters', foregrounds this coldness while slowly moving away toward alternate vistas where the acoustic timbres of the saz-driven 'A Permanent War Economy' take over. 'Underwater Body Hunting' and 'Rabid Ibrahim' are hard hitting beat-oriented tracks that insist on burning slow. There is a patience with PRAIRIE's FLASH FLOOD that is difficult to deny. The lamentation of 'Elephants Will Rise Again' perhaps signals that it is not only the human that is lost after catastrophe. The album closes with 'Hard Water: Cracked Ice' and 'Hayashi Clock'. The former is a beautiful coalescence of clean harmonious tones and softly overdriven drums, while the latter brings us back to a meditative state, drifting through the final pastel tapestry.
"... his cosmos is located somewhere between Bohren & der Club of Gore and Sunn O))), ambient is as familiar to him as brachial sounds, and he is as much acquainted with guitars as with synths and modern technology" (GROOVE)
"... Like Ben Frost, (Prairie) exudes a certain harshness while tempering his work with moments of sublime beauty. This isn't club material, it's music for the hammer in one's hand, the confrontation of the demon, the soul-shattering revelation." (A Closer Listen)
Following the 'Screaming Ghosts' collection highlighting the music of C Cat Trance, Emotional Rescue and Malka Tuti return with the first of two EPs where the band's music is given over to a selection of artists, friends and collaborators for reinterpretation, re-editing, replaying and remixing to provide a modern outlook on the bands mixture of East meets West musicology.
Very much the vision of Malka Tuti and close to their ground-breaking releases of the last two years, the genius is out of the bottle with a who's who representing both labels. First, Autarkic go supergroup in enlisting Tel Aviv's White Screen for a cover of Screaming (To Be With You). Totally replayed, this is the perfect opening, with wide-screen production, updated arrangement and decimal delivering vocals setting the standard.
Following comes an effusive, simple and on-point remix of Dalbouka by the inspiring ledge that is JD Twitch. Platitudes aside - enough has been said by others - but the fact Twitch is as enthusiastic and driven as ever is testament enough. The simplicity and genius of his rework, where 909 is added alongside fx to speaker shaking effect, shows that less can be much more.
In Sneaker (DJ) we have a name moving steadily from the (cult) periphery to become one to consistently check and respect. Following EPs for Rat Life and Bahnsteig 23, the singularity of his reversion is audacious and entrancing. Brevity, purity and ultimately intensity of percussion, horns, bell and guitar. Enter.
To end volume 1 comes Die Orangen. Kris Baha and Dreems' bromance of Aussie label (red) heads, united in post-industrial explorations. With a deep, expansive album incoming on Malka Tuti, their brooding, rattling, ghostly mix is one for late night thinkers, that steps up to encapsulate an EP that successfully marries old and new, bringing C Cat Trance's music present.
For his third album for Far Out Recordings, London based multi-instrumentalist and one of Europe's finest saxophonists Sean Khan ventures to Rio de Janeiro to collaborate with iconic Brazilian polymath Hermeto Pascoal. Taking its title from the escaped slave settlement 'Palmares' in the Northeast of Brazil during the 1600s, Palmares Fantasy is Khan's utopian jazz message for the world, and features Azymuth drummer Ivan 'Mamao' Conti, bassist Paulo Russo, guitarist Jim Mullen, and guest vocals from Brazilian chanteuse Sabrina Malheiros, and Cinematic Orchestra frontwoman Heidi Vogel.
Like Hermeto Pascoal, Sean Khan is a self-taught musician. Never able to afford his original dream of studying at Berklee, and having been turned away from Guildhall School of Music for being 'too raw', he became disillusioned with what he saw as the exclusivity, elitism and dangerous institutionalisation of the jazz world. Yet Sean's love for music and the drive to create never faltered.
Hermeto Pascoal, the man Miles Davis once dubbed the most impressive musician in the world', is a similarly independent artist. A true maverick whose ingenuity and freedom from conventional restraints is so great that he has essentially conceived his own musical language, made him the dream collaboration for Sean.
Aspiring to inclusivity and equality also informs the message in Khan's music. Inspired by the 17th Century settlement of Palmares in Brazil's Alagoas region, which was free from the Portuguese crown's murderous exploitation of South America for a century, Khan notes his fascination with the fact that while majoritively made up of escaped African slaves, many deserter conquistadors also joined the settlement.
Hearing the deep-grooving title track with this history in mind, the listener is transported to a futuristic musical eden, with Mamao's insatiable 10/8 rhythm back-boning Hermeto's wild improvised vocals, rhodes and whistles, while Sean's harmonically brilliant sax and flute add more layers of moody, characterful expression. 'Moment of Collapse' is Sean's poetic study on the uncertainties of modern day western civilisation, delicately presented by the gorgeous vocals of Heidi Vogel and drenched in lugubrious strings and Alice Coltrane-esque harp. The two covers on the album are of Hermeto's own 'Montreux' (on which Hermeto plays solos on a teapot and a pint of water), and an uplifting soulful jazz-funk take on Milton Nascimento & Lo Borges MPB classic 'Tudo Que Voce Podia Ser' featuring the vocals of pioneering nu-bossa voice Sabrina Malheiros.
The recording sessions for the album were part of an intensive and hugely productive eight-week excursion to South America for Far Out boss Joe Davis in the summer of 2016, which also saw the sessions for Azymuth's Fênix and a forthcoming album from Uruguayan fusion legend Hugo Fattoruso.
Fantastic' Gilles Peterson
Loving this!' Opolopo
Thank you!' Sassy J
Proper! Great track.' Colin Dale
this is great!' Yannick Elverfeld (RBMA / Needs Records)
I've enjoyed Sean Khan's earlier releases, but this really seems like he's grown into his fairly considerable talent.' Mark Sampson (Songlines)
His last album was his best so far, but I think this one may be even better.' Laurence Pragnell (Soul Brother Records)
dope!!!' Kyri (R2 Records)
this is great - really cool vibe!' Sam Redmore
wonderful track - can't wait to hear the lp.' Simon Harrison (Basic Soul Radio)
This is very tasty indeed.' Gavin Boyd (Soul Has No Tempo)
One of the most exciting artists to emerge in techno circles in recent times, Drumcode is excited to present the label's first EP from Boxia. Over the last 12 months the UK artist has impressed with his classy take on techno that mines two decades of rave.
Last year's 'Colour Sequence' EP on We Are The Brave marked one of 2017's standout releases, before being tapped by Maya Jane Coles to remix a track from her latest album 'Take Flight', while B.Traits also shone the spotlight on him for a Future 12 residency on BBC Radio 1 throughout September.
Boxia first came into contact with Adam Beyer when he opened the Car Park at Tobacco Dock for LWE's NYD event in 2016, and since then the pair have spoken regularly sharing similar tastes in music and DJing. He dropped his first cut on DC during the summer of '16, with 'Revolution' that featured on A-Sides Vol. 5, making him primed and ready for his first full length EP in 2018.
The four-track work lives up to his growing reputation for crafting beautiful, nuanced and ultimately very powerful electronic music. The EP opens with 'No World Order', a deep transcendental slice of techno propelled by a wicked acid line and vocal that leads to a galloping finish.
'Only Human' is drenched in atmosphere and old skool wonder, a brilliant composition of punchy multi-layered drum work, catchy synth lines and cutting acid that reveals its tender side with emotive broken beat interludes. 'Unreal' is a big peak time belter, raising the tempo to sweaty palms level, as a propulsion of acid and a memorable riff fill the techno sphere.
The title track 'Ethereal Education' closes out the work, a beautiful chord-driven vocal cut that evokes images of the classic dance that characterised Boxia's earlier years and makes a fitting outro to this outstanding EP.
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This August sees Stone Foundation release their fourth studio album 'A Life Unlimited' featuring ten new original recordings.
Last year's album 'To Find The Spirit' was easily their most successful seeing the band reach No. 33 in the Independent Charts, receive regular Radio 2 play, achieve glowing reviews in The Mirror, Scootering, R2, Jocks & Nerds magazine and saw the band tour Japan twice where the huge attendances helped secure them a recording contract with the prestigious P-Vine label and an appearance at Fuji Rocks festival.
'A Life Unlimited' features contributions from Graham Parker (The Night Teller), US soul stalwart Nolan Porter (Beverley), vocal harmony group The Four Perfections (Pushing Your Love) and Blow Monkeys frontman Doctor Robert
Howard (A Love Uprising). 'A Life Unlimited' sees Stone Foundation develop their unique style of soul, funk & jazz to a much broader scale. Horn driven arrangements add colour to an inspired display of songs that are unquestionably the group's strongest to date. Thought provoking lyrics and strong melodies sit upon a stylish musical bed.
The first single from the album 'Beverley' was the title music in the award winning (best film at the Portobello film awards & East End film festival ) Cass Pennant & Alexandra Thomas film of the same name starring Vicky McClure (this is England) and Laya Lewis (Skins)
* Breaking into a new century, following last months 100th release on the label, Ishan Sound collaborates on 2 killer tracks with Bristol-based Hodge and Alex Hughes aka Muttley.
* 'C5' refers to cold explosives and makes for a perfect title for this stark, cold rhythm. A circling melodic synth line sets a moody context before the floor drops out and an industrial strength sub drives things forward at 130bpm. Deep, hard, dark, original. Exceptional quality from Ishan Sound and Hodge.
* Flip for a 140bpm excursion from Ishan Sound & Muttley, melding elements of trap, grime and dubstep meticulously to form an engaging sonic that is both fuel for the dancefloor as well as providing introspective qualities for bass weight meditation. 'Still Smoking' sums it up appropriately.
The cornerstone track from Chloe´'s new album, an adventurously dark landscape dotted by Montreal rock band Suuns' singer Ben Shemie's vocals, Recall deserved this long-awaited quartet of astounding remixes, which serve as extensions of her latest full-length Endless Revisions' second single, released last October on Lumie`re Noire, the label founded by Chloe´.Moire´, Matthew Dear's latest signing to his Ghostly International label (which released the London artist's debut album in early 2017), retained a smattering of Ben's syllables, setting them to a captivating retro- futuristic remix that straddles two worlds, along the milestones of a restrained beat in a mesmerizingly ethereal and ghostly road trip that could last forever.German Crosstown Rebels signee Jonathan Kaspar's version is a more banging techno version, rounding out the EP's wide array of moods and genres. Over a formidably progressive build-up, the mood remains dark thanks to Ben's stretched-out vocals, and Recall's original universe is made more dynamic with a sped-up tempo, added percussions, and a concluding harmonisation finale that brings it all into the light. Douglas Greed, previously remixed Chloe´'s Driven (released on BPitch Control back in 2015,) similarly chops up the vocals, but takes them down a different road, reassembling the original's elements to create a different track, resulting in a fascinating free-form re-reading, an adroit upcycling, a long detour through the German producer's favoured poetic techno backroads - possibly inspired by the surroundings of Jena, Greed (a.k.a. Mario Wilms') hometown, and homebase of the Freude Am Tanzen label, the serious stable of geniuses directed by the incomparable Robag Wruhme.In a more motoric register, Autarkic's re-imagines Recall via a different narrative lens, re-populating and grounding it all at once. The Israeli Red Axes accomplice, who released an excellent debut album (I Love You Go Away) on Disco Halal last April, has a knack for propelling fanatics of rock urgency straight to the dancefloor. A gang of machines amplifies Shemie's voice, highlighting its minutiae of suffering and pleasure, leading the listener into dawn.
This unique set brings together a treasure trove of R&B rarities enshrined by the $3,000 Lookin' For My Baby', recorded by The Nightriders in 1959 for Juggy Murray's Sue imprint.
Murray had co-founded Sue Records two years earlier with fellow New Yorker Bobby Robinson whose Fire label provides us with the equally compelling Keep A'Calling' by Paul Perryman (side 1, track 1), a snip at only $300!
The set bursts into life with Vernon Harrell's hot dance ticket Slick Chick', currently commanding a cool $400 on its original Lescay label. Northern Soul fans will be interested to know that Harrell co-wrote Seven Days Too Long' with J R Bailey (aka Chuck Wood) and Sweet Sweet Lovin'' for The Platters.
Mike Robinson ( Lula') also has a tenuous Northern Soul connection, he was originally in Bobby Thomas' Vibranaires before joining the Orioles alongside the legendary Sonny Til.
BOTH Earl King's make the playlist: Earl Connelly' with his hard Every Whicha Kinda Way' and the New Orleans native Earl King with Darling Honey Angel Child', an early prototype of the standard Come On'.
Look out too for rare soul sweetheart Baby Washington, Medicine Man'.
A Collection to Treasure...
First new LP in over 15 years. Builds on 3 successful ATFA reissues of Mergia's music. Legendary artist still active after decades of historic work. Modern Ethiopian jazz built on ancient scales and standards. Capping several successful years traveling the world performing to audiences big and small, Hailu Mergia's Lala Belu has been a long time coming. It builds on Mergia's remarkable career resurgence over the past few years. Beginning in 2013 with the reissue of his dreamy Hailu Mergia and His Classical Instrument followed by the enormous success of his seminal Ethio-jazz masterpiece Tche Belew and continuing with last year's widely acclaimed Wede Harer Guzo, Mergia has received considerable accolades from listeners and press globally, including The New York Times, Pitchfork and The Wire. His old recordings are cherished revelations for Ethiopian music fans; however, Mergia's return to the stage has been just as inspiring and electrifying. Mergia's vintage recordings are known for an inherently mysterious and worn-in quality, while his new recordings echo his band's 21st century live show with modern instrumental interpretations of crucial Ethiopian standards and Mergia's own original compositions. Tony Buck (drums) and Mike Majkowski (bass), who have backed Mergia on tour throughout Europe and Australia, form the bass-drums trio on the recording. Having played venues from Radio City Music Hall and the Kennedy Center to jazz festivals, rock clubs and DIY spaces all over North America, Europe and Australia, Mergia and Awesome Tapes From Africa want to document this moment in his landmark career with a snapshot of Mergia's current sound. Since he emigrated from Ethiopia and built a life in Washington, D.C. around 1981—where he remains working as an airport taxi driver when he is not on tour—Mergia's career has followed a humble trajectory. He made a few recordings in America but they didn't easily reach fans back home. He kept making music on his own and with friends but after the early 80's his gigs in the U.S. mostly dried up. It wasn't until he began working with Awesome Tapes From Africa and putting together bands with the help of booking agents and musicians in Europe and the U.S., that he was able to chart a new path. With a broad audience of young listeners in diverse venues and distant locales, at age 71, Mergia is enjoying his comeback and is not slowing down.
On 30thMarch, Wah Wah 45s will release ORANGE WHIP, the new album by their latest signing, Honeyfeet. The outfit, who have received praise from the likes of The Guardian, have also set festivals alight up and down the country with their unique melange of sounds.
For the last couple of years the Honeyfeet (who name from a line in the Blues Brothers film) have been a conduit for the ideas and expressions of an exotic mixture of Manchester based musicians. This genre-defying band incorporate styles including jazz, folk and hip hop into their music. Someone once called it Folk-Hop and Barrelhouse-pop, and that's just vague enough to make sense.
The band are fronted by Ríoghnach Connolly - also known for her work with Real World artists Afro Celt Sound System and The Breath - "a remarkable singer and flautist who...can ease from Irish traditional influences to soul" (The Guardian). The line up is completed by Rik Warren (vocals/harmonica), Gus Fairbairn (tenor sax), Biff Roxby (trombone/vocals), Ellis Davies (guitar), Lorien Edwards (bass guitar), John Ellis (keyboards) and David Schlechtriemen (drums).
ORANGE WHIP finds the band at their most incredibly diverse. Opening with recent single Sinner (received radio play from the likes of 6 Music and BBC Manchester), which showcases Ríoghnach's extraordinary agile and emotive voice, the album moves with dizzying swagger on songs covering a wide range of subjects. Quickball tells the story of being so infatuated with someone you want to eat them, while Whatever You Do addresses the fear-mongering of the press over folk-hop and oom-pah, and Demons deals with love and redemption on a blast of harmonica-driven country, sung by Rik Warren.
Rik also takes lead vocal on a re-working of Robert Johnson's Love in Vain, a song showing Honeyfeet's more reflective side, his Skip James-esque drawl bringing an eerie quality to the lyrics about a doomed relationship. The band reshape the progression too, swinging the tune slowly and creating a little underground blues club in the midst of the recording.
Elsewhere the band go all New Orleanian on Colonel Hathi's Trunk Juice, a sinister tale inspired by trombonist Biff Roxby's horn riff recalling one of the elephants of The Jungle Book. Further showcasing their virtuosity, on one of the album's best moments - especially the nuanced vocal performance by Ríoghnach, who was raised on Irish folk - on Hunt and Gather the band do their own take on prog-folk, with a flute and cello melody running alongside a brass counterpoint.
Ríoghnach turns in another incredible vocal on the album's final track - future single Meet Me On The Corner. With a pounding beat, it is one of the album's main highlights. Guitar and brass propels Ríoghnach to sing lyrics that could be straight out of the playground, but suggest something deeper, possibly mystical even, in it's demands for a dalliance on the street. It closes the album on a high note, for a band who have that rare ability to distil all their disparate influences, while always sounding like their unique selves.
ORANGE WHIP heralds the sound of a remarkable band going overground.
Emotional Rescue delves deep in to the past with the release of the first ever recordings by UK post-industrial, ambient pioneers O Yuki Conjugate (OYC). Recorded in Nottingham in 1983, the EP's four tracks showcase OYC's early sound: a beat-driven, lo-fi that places them alongside the early British electronic pioneers.
OYC, celebrating their 35th anniversary this year, are known for their "dirty ambient" sound - but it wasn't always thus. In their earliest incarnation OYC explored a more industrial approach characterised by tortured analogue drum machines, one-finger synth lines, played bass, tape loops and even flute. This naive sound template lasted until their debut album 'Scene in Mirage' (1984) before being jettisoned in favour of more ambient explorations.The story behind these recordings is one of brotherly love between bands. OYC swapped time in their rehearsal space for a day's use of a four-track cassette portastudio owned by their associates, Metamorphosis. Three of the tracks included were recorded on May 1st 1983 at The End Room (literally a studio at the back of one of OYC's parents houses) with the remaining track (live favourite "The Clattering Song") being produced a couple of months later.
To date OYC have remained largely unknown in the UK due to their wilfully obscure approach. They have released a series of very well regarded studio albums and innumerable spin-off and side projects that has recently seen a revival of interest in their early years, including appearances on Cherry Red's compilation of formative UK electronic scene 'Close to the Noise Floor' and Optimo's compilation of Fourth World-style music 'Miracle Steps'.
Accepting their fate as musical outsiders, OYC continue to make music with little reference to the wider world. This EP makes a fine addition to that body of work.
The third release on MDRNTY REC comes from a longtime favorite and friend of the house: Mr. Guillaume & The Coutu Dumonts mostly known for his productions on Musique Risquée, Circus Company, Oslo or for his many other projects and aliases. ! Our fellow Canadian has crafted this Ep specially for us and we are happy to welcome him on the label. On remix duties we have Argentinian Ernesto Ferreyra (partner in crime with Guillaume in the project Chic Miniature). ! This release is a deep excursion into the groove of house and the hypnotic beauty of techno. It is designed for those late hours when everyone is dancing eyes closed, digging a little deeper into the moment. ! Modern Sublime is a long burner cinematic piece of music with it's guitars, epic vocals, drum fills and acid bass lines. This track has it all and skillfully drives the tension high as the story unfolds. ! Landing on the B side showcases a very different but equally hypnotic face of this talented and longtime celebrated producer, with it's arpeggiated melodies and lush pads Guillaume guides us to safe ground with this beautiful and precisely calibrated track full of emotions. ! Last but not least, Ernesto's remix reconfigures the rhythmical structures of Landing and masterfully transforms it into a peak time house gem, guaranteed to move any living soul in the dance floor.
Techno Album of the month March 2018 in Mixmag UK!
Central to the Israeli club scene, Deep'a & Biri have long been defying expectations even within a community they helped construct. Serving as resident DJs, activists and bookers for Tel Aviv's legendary Barzilay Club, the pair helped build a transcendent club scene. Hugely influential artists such as Robert Hood, Derrick May, Rødhad, Ben Klock and Moritz Von Oswald passed through the club, enjoying legendary crowds and what they could surely sense was a genuine air of anarchy, rebellion and unadulterated rave pleasure.
As the duo held down dozens of parties with dozens of DJs, there was no 'eureka' moment for their emerging sound; just a steady stream of brilliant, inspiring electronic music, much of which left an indelible imprint on the pair. Now based in Berlin, for Deep'a & Biri, things are much the same, even if the landscape and the city is different. Always rooted in the fertile ground between machines and emotion, on their second full-length LP, 'Dominance', the duo demonstrate their unique grasp of the sensitive, unfolding relationship between man and machine. Steadfast in their insistence never to remain in one lane in terms of their sound, 'Dominance' flawlessly segues between forcefulness and weightlessness. From beginning to end, this is not a record afraid to show its teeth with an uncompromising, instantly recognisable techno palette that kicks the foundations of any sound system with menace, anger and determination, particularly on tracks such as the dense 'Voltage' and pulsing throughout the more industrial flourishes of 'Ecole De Nancy' and 'Seeking Solace'.
Beyond these grittier, although never mindless, moments of authority, a sense of escapism and curiosity imbues the album. 'Alpha Cephei' offers the first hint of Deep'a & Biri's more wistful concepts, producing a smoke trail of twinkling electronics out of a smudged but distinctive bassline. That understated sense of emotional catharsis carries throughout, to be found between the complex-yet-familiar bells that drive 'Flow Diverter's' rhythm to a Detroit-indebted landscape that will surely instantly elasticate any keen dancers, while 'False Memories' offers big-room techno fulfillment with none of the character or sincerity removed for cheap thrills. Saving the most remarkable moments for last, the pair sign off 'Dominance' with the poignant and purifying 'Astral Trails', fusing an ethereal, ambient landscape with the more pronounced rhythms of their hardware.
The album's distinctive artwork comes from the studio of Jewish orthodox artist Avraham Guy Barchil, who forged a powerful connection with Deep'a, both was immediately drawn to 'weird atmosphere, amazing technique and emotions involved with his work'. Perhaps one of the most interesting painters from Israel, Avraham is known for his unique perspective, taking his inspiration from the Zohar - the foundational work in the literature of Jewish mystical thought known as Kabbalah. The ambiguous figures represent mystical aspects of the Torah (the five books of Moses), as well as material on mysticism and mythical cosmogony.
Ensuring their natural, conscious touch always remains at the forefront of this unapologetically machine-driven music, Deep'a & Biri have produced an album in the lineage of their heroes and greatest influences. Cerebral yet satisfying, deep yet always engaging, 'Dominance' both reasserts and evolves Deep'a & Biri's forward facing and singular sound.
The fourth installment in John Osborn's DRED RECORDS series will be from fellow UK producer Harsh Puri who goes under the moniker Reformed Society. DRED 004 consists of six tracks in total - three that will appear on the vinyl release, followed by another three that will be digital-only exclusives. Harsh Puri aka Reformed Society debuted in 2015 with this being his sixth consecutive release in order. Harsh's productions caught John's eye, or rather ear, after being sent to him last year and resulted in this release of six solid prime time deep house stompers. Packaged in an understated matte white sleeve with a black and white picture of Brahma (the four headed Hindu god of creation) handstamped on each cover by the label owner himself, this being a continuation of the human skull DRED logo. 'ONE LIFE' opens the 'DIMENSIONS' EP and is the track given to label boss John Osborn for deconstructing and remoulding into his own specific vision - each release will contain a rework from Osborn. If you are familiar with John's previous work you will immediately recognize his characteristic resonating percussion, the tune being a deep house sci-fi storm expedition driven by a full luscious kick covering the tracks of chords from unsettled pads. The EP's title track has ambient sonic rays flowing through it, being aptly named 'DIMENSIONS' - it is also the record's warmest adventure; distorted percussion juggles sparse subaqueous melodic moments, and from here we go into the 12s final moment, 'CHASING TITANOID". Reformed Society goes in with full yet silent force on this one. A warped bassline co-creates the groove with a particularly bouncy beat with sharp strings piercing though.
For the first release of 2018 we welcome Harry Wolfman to the Outplay family!
Having followed his work for the last couple of years we're very happy to have him deliver this varied 4-tracker, which very well might be some of his best work to date.
The A side starts off with 'Hitch'. A warm and dusty groover driven by rhodes, a rubbery bassline and a thudding kick. A lovely string piece in the middle of the track slowly builds up to the break for it to return to the head nodding groove soon after. The added percussion gives it a nice lively feel as well.
'Pigs in Blankets' sets the pace a little slower, but the funk goes on. The track incorporates 80's style samples with some excellent synth and chord work. Perfect for a warm up session.
Starting on the B side Harry takes it up a notch with 'Nemoto', which will be a definite stomper for the dance floor. It takes you on a 9 minute journey of rolling bumpy basslines, screaming distortion leads and hypnotising synth work.
Finally, to ease things off, STS-136 (Final Call) comes in at a slow 88 bpm pace as a perfect closure to the EP. Dreamy pads, piano licks and a calming marimba melody combined with a beat which feels like a warm blanket will make you wander off for a moment...
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Kalakuta Soul Records joins forces with waf80music to proudly present Kai Niggemann's solo debut, an all original album of outrageous poetically abstract music created live and without overdubs on a Buchla 200e Electric Music Box, one of the rarest and most sought after electronic music instruments. Working on the platform since 2013, Kai Niggemann has become one of Germany's leading artists who perform live with a Buchla 200e. His style is an electro-acoustic storytelling, a clubby dreamscape and a poetically-abstract kraut-infused energetic mix of new Elektronische Musik with contemporary club culture. Nerds love the technology and clubbers love the throbbing drive of the basslines. It's all improvised and recorded live in Berlin — yet it sounds meticulously crafted in a dark basement studio throughout the entire last winters. Kai is a member of the 30-piece kraut-noise-jazz collective "The Dorf" and the electronics duo "The Last Books" (with Achim Zepezauer), performs and records with Mia Zabelka (Vienna) as "Redshift Orchestra", cofounded the internet-computermusic "European Bridges Ensemble" (EBE, e-b-e.eu) and the electroacoustic duo "Resonator". His most recent releases were the CD/vinyl "Lux" (feat. the noise drone artist N), "EviL/EvyL" and the cassette "Made in Österreich" with The Dorf (feat. Caspar Brötzmann & FM Einheit (Ex-Einstürzende Neubauten) or "Thinking Light" by Redshift Orchestra (duo with Mia Zabelka). He performed concerts with Mia Zabelka (Wien), Yoshio Machida (JP), Trap & Zoid (BE), Stian Westerhus or Shahzad Ismaily (with The Dorf) among many others.
The superb 'Forbidden Planet' is a shiny early electro cut with a great funk bass line, a real instrumental groove and fantastic melodies that shimmer like a hot sun. It's filled with joy and sounds as fresh today as ever, the way it ducks and dives and offers real warmth.The Francisco Remix keeps the funk vibe but changes the groove to be a more Chicago house style cut. As such it has a rasping bassline, big drums and coarse percussion that make you want to jack.The masterful Ali Renault—a go-to disco and synth specialist who runs Cyber Dance Records, Human Shield Record Company and most recently his own Vivod imprint—then turns out a hypnotic version that is more driven and direct for the dance floor, with robotic bass and epic reflective synth lines. It's a cinematic track with great analogue textures that goes back to the future.The last original is the excellent 'Stay With Me', a cosmic love song with breezy trumpets and dreamy disco vibes as well as soulful vocals. Italo melodies and infectious percussion finish it off and make it an instant crowd pleaser.
Copenhagen's Echocord Colour returns this mid November with Brendom Moeller's 'Magic City' EP, featuring four originals from the New York based artist.
Brendon Moeller has long been a purveyor of authentic dub-infused Techno since stepping onto the scene via his 2006 'Sweetspot / Humpback' EP via Echocord and has since gone on to release on reputable imprints such as Third Ear, Kimochi Sound, Delsin's Ann Aimee, Mule Musiq and of course his very own Steadfast.
Here though Moeller makes a welcome return to where it all began with some fresh material for Echocord's Colour sub- label. 'Caravan' takes the lead on the release and in typical Brendon Moeller fashion we're treated to densely layered dub chords, throbbing subs and expansive atmospherics whilst robust drums drive the composition along.
Magic City' follows and ups the energy levels even further with pounding industrial drums layered underneath billowing dub stabs and eerie drones. 'Magic City In Dub' follows and as the name suggests offers up a reduced take on the composition, dropping the tempo and shining light on the billowing echoes of the original whilst stirring in some off-kilter rhythsm and additional processing for good measure. Lastly, 'Departure' closes the package, with haunting synth drones, bumpy rhythms and murky vocals wandering throughout the seven-minute composition.
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Swedish artist UBX127 is back on Figure with what might just be his most accomplished release to date. Spanning an arc cross four diverse tracks, the story told is abstract yet full of imagination. Gently pulsating crystalline opener woid carefully sets a vast open scene, covered in gushes of interplanetary winds. First contact is made on A2, it's electro-esque drive and spiky synths hinting at its alien origins. A taste of their mighty technology is given on Watch Out Below, booming with a propulsive punch and constantly swelling in intensity. Relief comes in form of Singularity, a beautiful, long-winding closer, on which soothing arps effortlessly outweigh their beaty counterparts. Having already proven his mastery of the machines with three stellar EPs for the label last year, this record further showcases UBX127's special talent of crafting tunes that are as ripe with drama as they are ready for the floor.
Mint Condition - A reissue label focussed on excavating the outer fringes of classic House and Techno. Unreleased mixes, classics and overlooked gems mined from the last 20+ of contemporary dance music are the order of the day. From Chicago, Detroit and New York to London and beyond, Mint Condition have got their expert digging hats on to bring you exclusive heat and those rarer than rare jams that have been on your wants list for years! Dig in....
Hot on the heels of his 'Relief Sevensixty' EP we are pleased to announce the latest instalment of Jaime Read cuts from the vaults. The 'Target This MF' EP is another collection of golden-era jams from Read's envious archive. Steeped in history, these infamous tracks are now seeing the light of day again. You only have to have a quick online search to read the fascinating story of the journey of this music and then maybe this EP title will make sense! Kicking off with the serious Detroit leanings of 'P.E.G.' you get a real taste of what's in store, frantic claps and detuned synth swells combine to create a pacey and essential slice of futurist Techno. A2 'Sux' is another epic piece of space electronics, tough drum machine programming and swirling sounds give the track an epic feel, mildly disorientating in the best possible way it's hard to believe this music originates from the South coast of the UK! B1 'Rein (Pt.1)' is mining a deeper, House infused sound. A sublime groove that tips it's hat to the masters with a serious bassline that just won't stop. Funky machine music of the highest order. The EP finishes with the absolute killer 'Peeano', a jam that flips Jazz on it's head in zero gravity, incessant piano lines drive us deep into the speaker stacks and it feels great. The whole EP is a total trip. Essential music from an unheralded UK legend.
The 'Target This MF' EP has been legitimately released with the full involvement of Jaime Read for 2017 and remastered by London's Curve Pusher from the original sources especially for Mint Condition. 100% legit, licensed and released. Dug, remastered, repackaged and brought to you by the caring folks at Mint Condition!
Marco Bailey's 5th full-length album, one that he personally claims to be the best overall representation of his sound. With seventeen tracks comprising almost an hour and a half of music, he has ample room to stretch out and to give listeners an excellent portable version of his potent live show.
By maintaining a consistently high-quality output that does not merely ride the wave of current trends, multi-faceted producer Marco Bailey has managed to survive through decades of mercilessly shifting adjustments to popular taste in dance music. From his beginnings in the late '80s spinning eclectic sets comprised of everything from punk to old school hip-hop, to his present interest in pure unadulterated techno, the Belgium-based DJ and producer has won over audiences with his keen knowledge of how to squeeze the greatest physical and emotional impact out of a few well-placed elements, along with his instinct for seeking out the most innovative and resilient kindred spirits (his impressive number of professional friendships includes artists as diverse as Markus Suckut, Jonas Kopp, Alex Bau, Edit Select, Speedy J, Steve Rachmad and many more). These combined talents have led to his formation of several different labels: MB Electronics in 2001, the 'limited edition' label MBR in 2013, and lastly the new Materia Music label begun last year. His similiarly named event series, Materia, has also been a truly worldwide 'state of the art' summit for advanced techno artists.
The full-length personal releases by Marco Bailey, which stretch back to his mid-'90s period as a trance producer, have been gracefully arcing and anthemic affairs composed of individual tracks that follow that same blueprint. He is now about to drop his 5th full-length album overall, one that he personally claims to be the best overall representation of his sound. With seventeen tracks comprising almost an hour and a half of music, he has ample room to stretch out and to give listeners an excellent portable version of his potent live show. Of course, an epic running time alone is not the marker of a great audio experience, but an epic running time in which one loses track of time completely is - Bailey accomplishes this feat by never rushing the payoff; by organically building up each track until listeners are fully immersed in his alternate universe.
This skill can be heard on banging, sweat-saturated tracks like 'Ash', 'Genetix' and 'Hasai,' but also on comparitively gentle pieces like 'Klauth' (which straddles the line between disciplined electro and something more dreamlike and weightless), or the blissed out 'Suoh,' which feels like a fresh snowfall in audio form. Low-key cuts like 'Rex,' driven by echo FX and other windswept sounds, form natural counterparts to busier tracks like 'Ruth,' with its spring-loaded sequencer attacks, or 'Reboot That Device,' which is ingeniously driven by a psychedelic organ whose sound evolves with various filter settings. Minimalist vocals are occasionally injected into the mix - i.e. on the 'The Darkness' - to impart a subtle message of constant, ongoing expansion into unexplored galaxies without and within. It's as good a definition of the artist's musical mission as any.
The return of Timothy J Fairplay sees tracks from his 2 EPs on Emotional Response remixed on one special release. Four favourite producers chosen to bring new dimensions to his brooding, shuffling electronics, featuring Scientific Dreamz Of U, Alessandro Parisi, Perseus Trax and Antenna.Part of the label since inception, the last five years have seen TJF's career explode with releases on Bird Scarer, Charlois and Hoga Nord, setting up the Crimes Of The Future label with Scott Fraser and releasing an album alongside Andrew Weatherall as The Asphodells. His EPs for Emotional Response saw some of his strongest, deep and dubbed out productions that marked their own terrain and these reworks have been a long term project. Starting with a trance inducing breaks-dub of Stories of Prison from Scientic Dreamz Of U and you understand why this mysterious producer has become a cult in his own dreamtime, as subs bump this vortexed revision to its own portal.
Next Alessandro Parisi implants his cyber-electro-harmonies to Aim For The Yellow Sector. Fairplay's late night drive-by is respectfully given a future-retro mix, gliding away from East London's dank streets to mysterious plains and beyond. Things take an analogue twist for the flip with Perseus Traxx showing his love for Chi town on his remix of Saco Bay. A bumpin' bass sets the motion, mixing the swirling original to basement vibes x 10. Win win win.
Kindred spirit and fellow Pinkman/Charlois member Antenna closes the EP with a deep retake of Night Ferry. After causing a stir with the killer Odessa EP and subsequent releases on Royal Oak and Beats In Space, a remix was a given. A mellow groove and optimistic keys is the perfect way to end this chapter of Timothy's music and await for new adventures.
