Were FEX the Wildest & Weirdest German New Wave Band in 1984?
Few cult mysteries in modern music have captured the internet's imagination quite like "The Most Mysterious Song on the Internet." Eventually identified as "Subways of Your Mind" by the elusive German band FEX, the track became a viral sensation decades after its creation-and even made its way into a recent Hollywood blockbuster (Black Phone 2).
Now, two more lost FEX recordings have emerged from an old demo cassette: "Dead End" and "Sarah." And they're every bit as electrifying as the legend suggests.
On both songs, guitarist and main songwriter Ture Rückwardt joins forces on lead vocals with his former wife and musical partner Ilona Rückwardt, forming a vocal pairing that channels raw energy and eerie chemistry. What they deliver are two of the most urgent, adrenaline-fueled post-punk artifacts you're likely to hear this year-even if they were recorded more than forty years ago.
Opening with a sharp, melodic guitar solo, "Dead End" bursts forward with uptempo drive-catchy, fierce, and full of momentum. Apparently inspired by Orwell's 1984, its lyrics depict urban desolation-loneliness, homelessness, hopelessness-yet still shimmer with defiance in lines like, "Truth is amazing - hoping is like waiting."
The second track, "Sarah," dives even deeper into darkness. Mixing post-punk intensity with psychedelic textures, Rückwardt tells an imaginary story of a couple lost in drugs and spiraling through a bad trip, only to wake and realize that sobriety offers little comfort-the real world itself can be just as brutal and offers no easy escape.
Neither song makes the slightest concession to commercial trends. Instead, they feel utterly uncompromising-wild, strange, and defiantly timeless. In a world obsessed with polish and playlists, "Dead End" and "Sarah" sound like transmissions from a different planet.
Both tracks were originally recorded as demos in 1984 in the band's rehearsal room, with Hase engineering. The newly restored versions preserve the raw spirit of the original tapes while adding subtle layers to enhance their atmosphere without losing the authentic 1980s sound. FEX hint that the untouched demo versions might surface later, possibly on a second volume of their archival
HAVEN are back with their vinyl operation with a fresh plate of grubby Techno heat from Irish heavyweights Faetch & Sunil Sharpe on the Grotteca EP. Featuring 4 original rippers and a remix from Italian legend DJ Plant Texture of upfront club pressure, the NZ-based label are proud to transmit some of the finest in creeping electronics from across the globe.
The A-side kicks off with 'Bleed In' with its tough drum-work and hypnotising atmospheres eventually descending in to an all-out stomp with one of the filthiest synth-lines in the label's history hitting half-way through. This is followed up with 'Test Breaks' - a broken-beat slammer with a ton of gritty synth design and rear-shaking rhythms. The first side is closed with DJ Plant Texture's remix of 'Bleed In', where driving 909 hits combine with the original synth line for a club-ready weapon ready to get those feet moving.
On the B-side 'Vapornation' keeps the energy rolling with its rolling congas, heavy kick, and eerie atmospheres tailor-made for a concrete basement. Finally, 'Shinplant' closes the record with full-steam-ahead drums and squalid synth rhythms to end yet another plate of dance-floor ammunition from the HAVEN camp.
Sublunar is proud to present Pareidolia IV, the fourth chapter of the saga written by its founder Sciahri.
With this new LP, the journey continues and reaches its most complete sonic expression to date a statement of evolution, depth and identity, featuring a special collaboration with Temudo.
The record opens with "Just 30 Seconds", driven by powerful low-end foundations balanced by warm, enveloping textures that immediately pull the listener in. "Groundbound" follows, deep and immersive, built around a memorable synth and arrangement designed to linger in the mind.
The voyage continues with "2014", a melodic and transportive track that drifts effortlessly into "Silent Embers", where raw power and mysticism merge into a uniquely intense atmosphere.
The second half opens with "Anime", propelled by a massive rumble beneath a delicate groove and finely crafted stabs. "Essenza" dives into darker, hypnotic territory, defining its own distinct mood and tension.
The only collaboration on the LP, "Encontro", sees Sciahri and Temudo blending their respective visions into something truly memorable, where both styles converge naturally and with purpose.
The journey closes with "Offset", a reflective and emotional piece that encapsulates a sense of travel and quiet melancholy a final moment designed to resonate long after the record ends.
The Kandinski Issue marks Dominic Costello’s debut on Shut Off Notice and sets a clear tone for what’s to come. Rooted in minimal techno but pushing past restraint, the EP delivers four innovative cuts built for movement and late-night immersion.
Across the record, Costello balances precision with play. Locust and Cable Stack lock into hypnotic, tightly wound grooves, while Slewing and Hiss Print stretch the space with cutting textures and subtle shifts that reward deep listening. The result is a collection that feels chill yet exuberant, stripped back yet propulsive.
Designed for the dance floor but equally compelling in headphones, The Kandinski Issue is a confident first statement. Clean lines, sharp edges, and just enough tension to keep bodies moving and minds engaged.
LLL is back and this time on the properly sized up "HELLLINN EP" full of unhinged and deliberate, off the wall acidic mutant house. Caustic synth lines and furious electro sludge made to ooze out of club speakers. This 4 track EP strikes with intense Chicago club tracks with savage synths.
Sterns Edits returns after the sell-out success of its debut edition with another two catalogue reworks from Ben Gomori. This time he turns his attention to Burkina Faso's much-loved taxi-driver- turned-singer, Amadou Balake´.
Balake´ ('porcupine' in Mandinka) is Burkina Faso's proudest musical export, and in 2013 he recorded his final album before passing away: 'In Conclusion'. The record saw him revisit some of his most popular tracks from his remarkable 50-year career, backed by an eight-piece Burkinabe´ band who took the country's traditional sounds and brought them into a contemporary light.
Gomori retains the essence of the original recordings - which were mostly captured in one take - and marries them to vigorous afro-house stylings. 'Bar Konon Mousso (Musicien C'est Pas Quelqu'un)', in which Balake´ tells of a bar lady being unimpressed by his profession, gets a gentle push towards the modern dancefloor, its wonderful sax lines resplendent. 'Massa Kamba' is taken for a drive down the more traditional route, with commanding drums bolstering the original grooves and a marvelous triple harmony brass section at its core. Balake´'s freewheeling style suits the hypnotic feel of the edits to a tee.
Sterns Edits is an official collaboration between African music stalwarts Sterns Music and London's Ben Gomori.
There’s a rare tenderness to the way Byron The Aquarius makes house music. Across every release, the Alabama-born producer brings a deep sense of humanity - chords that breathe, basslines that sway, and melodies that seem to remember. On 'One of a Kind (Love Affair)', his debut for Hard Times, that emotional clarity shines through once again.
A master of the keys with a discography that spans Eglo, Signature, Apron, Axis, and more recently Skylax and Star Creature, Byron has long blurred the boundaries between jazz, soul, and machine groove. Here, he builds four tracks that each glow with feeling and finesse.
‘A New Life' opens with uplift and propulsion - crisp kicks and fluid sax lines circling around tender vocal refrains. 'The Last Mile of the Way' drifts inward, its spoken-word cadence and pulsing rhythm turning reflection into hypnosis. On the flip, 'I Be Like Dat' pushes forward with a tougher, more percussive edge. A laser-guided club moment that still hums with soul. Finally, '4 Mike Huckaby' closes the record as both elegy and celebration: shakers, muted horns, and shimmering keys floating in quiet reverence for a lost friend and inspiration.
As its title suggests, One of a Kind (Love Affair) is less about romance and more about devotion.
Wewantsounds is delighted to collaborate with cult musician Yusuf Mumin of the Black Unity Trio to unveil previously unreleased music from his personal archive. Following last year"s acclaimed Black Artist Group release, this new instalment continues to unearth hidden treasures from the Great Black Music tradition. Although the exact recording dates remain unknown, the music here is a powerful blend of serene spiritual jazz and fiery sonic intensity. All tracks have been remastered for vinyl by Colorsound Studio and the release also includes a two-page insert featuring new liner notes by Mumin and Pierre Crépon.
MELODIES” is the first album released on the MOON label. The album was the first album released on the MOON label, and it marked a drastic change
in sound direction from the RCA/AIR era, as a result, the range of their work expanded, and the Christmas classic “Christmas Eve” was born from their work.
The result is a monumental masterpiece that will remain in the history of pop music. Includes “Christmas Eve” “High Air Pressure Girl,” “Merry Go Round”
and more. Includes detailed liner notes by Tatsuro Yamashita himself!
Von Augustus Pablos bahnbrechendem „Java” bis zu Carl Malcolms UK-Pop-Crossover-Hit „Fattie Bum Bum” präsentiert Chapter Two einen Klassiker nach dem anderen von einer All-Star-Besetzung der Reggae-Größen der 70er Jahre, darunter Black Uhuru, Horace Andy, Dennis Brown, Gregory Isaacs, The Heptones und Big Youth. Wunderschön verpackt mit Innenhüllen mit seltenen Fotos und Liner Notes des Reggae-Historikers David Katz.
Beginnend mit dem fröhlichen Ska von Lord Creators Unabhängigkeitshymne 'Independent Jamaica' zeigt das Chapter One Album den wahren Verlauf der jamaikanischen Musik in den 1960er Jahren mit einer virtuellen Who's Who der Reggae-Musik, darunter Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Toots & The Maytals, Rico, Skatalites, John Holt & Alton Ellis. Wunderschön verpackt mit Innenhüllen mit seltenen Fotos und Liner Notes von Steve Barrow von Blood & Fire.
Indiana Jones never dug this deep.
Church – the brainchild of Joe Washington – were a band both lucky and cursed to come up in the seventies. Lucky, because they rode a wave of community activism, uplifting messages and a moment when music truly mattered. Cursed, because those same times meant their tight, heartfelt output went overlooked.
Mid-sixties to circa 1980 soul and funk were extraordinarily rich. The era’s big releases have aged like fine wine, yet countless hidden gems remain buried. Church’s only single was one of them. Their hypnotic 1976 release “How Long” b/w “Da Da Song” arrived the same year as Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life, Marvin Gaye’s I Want You, Diana Ross’s Diana, and at a time when Black mainstream music was shifting toward disco. Church, however, sounded like Sly & The Family Stone in an alternate timeline — gritty, focused, stripped of additives.
“Da Da Song” is pure grits and gravy: furious, tight drums and lyrics that sound like both a plea to DJs to play their record and an insistence to keep the party alive, noticed or not. It cooks from start to finish in just two and a half minutes.
“How Long” is its own universe. Where “Da Da Song” is skeletal, “How Long” blends key strands of Black music in under three minutes: touches of spiritual jazz with a Gary Bartz-like sax, gospel-blues undertones, and echoes of the era’s flower-power-tinged Black creativity — The Undisputed Truth, The Family Stone, even the poetic freedom of Nikki Giovanni. The lyrics are a timeless plea for love.
Church formed in the Bay Area in the early seventies, shaped by the movement, culture and activism of the time. Joseph Washington, based in San Jose, never chased a music career — for him, music was a way to bring people together. Before Church, he led a backing band called Wash, then added gospel singer Linda Williams (née Stephens) and New York–born Joel Como on xylophone to complete the group.
They rehearsed in Joe’s garage, spread through word of mouth and played every gig they could: Black colleges, opening slots for The Whispers, neighbourhood house parties. Some members studied at Nairobi Junior College in East Palo Alto, then a hotbed of Black community activism, with revolution in the air and messages woven naturally into the music.
This single is a message from that era, resurfacing at last — ready to be sampled just as another Joe Washington track, “Look Me in the Eyes”, was on Drake and J. Cole’s “First Person Shooter”. These rare, spirited tunes are begging for new life through samplers, again and again.
An incising snare marks the return of Luxus Varta to Shipwrec. Since his last appearance, Aquamarine Puzzle in 2017, the Frenchman has been honing his craft with releases on a spread of stellar imprints. Noise Figure is the culmination of that refining process, his sound and style being forged and framed within the parameters of electro. And these parameters are immediately tested. From the warbling bass and tight percussion of The Resetter, crystalline chords cascade before a shimmering string of wintery warmth. Terse beats introduce Building Peaks, wraith-like rinses offering space for playful forms to take hold. Fudgey basslines are unsettled by sci-fi synths, a touch of the otherworldly balancing this unique cut. The warm current of Lizardous penetrates the frostier funk of the EP, delicate and fragile notes thawing the cold rhythms and glacial undertones. Silver Girl contrasts autumnal shades with brittle harmonies, angles and lines curved by sheer musical craftsmanship. Shifting into electronica, the close is a complex composition that demonstrates Luxus Varta's breadth of ability. Gentle melodic ebbs are countered by echoes of the factory floor, the human touch coming to the surface with understated radiance.
Two Lisbon mainstays from contiguous generations join forces as Scam Dust for the new Paraiso record: Tiago, Lux Fragil resident, world-renowned DJ's DJ and all-round music whizz plus Shcuro, Paraiso's co-founder, scene documenter and impeccable selector & producer. Funnily enough they also live in contiguous beach towns in the outskirts of the capital, Parede and Carcavelos. That's where they zig-zagged amid home-studios and, four hands in various machines, concocted this refreshingly to-the-bone record. Like a non-local entanglement between Lisbon, Sheffield, The Hague and somewhere in the American Midwest, 'Gastric Pulse' EP opens with a saturated, modulated acid line over a tight, industrial-tinged techno beat, peppered with sonic dirt of the highest order. It sounds like music projects like Downwards and Mathematics would put out. 'Enzyme Breaks' follows suit with a comparably raw spirit, adding some mysterious atmospheric scintillation and drum variations. A certain recluse techno (is that a thing?) comes to mind (and heart), Unit Moebius style. Toms abound in 'Pepsin Drive' - always a promising sign in our book - and the playfulness continues in the cheeky bassline and the intricate clap work. Soulful stabs give the tune extra magic via the mantra-like structuring power of repetition. The final track in the record comes from Pacific North-West transplant Doc Sleep and her collaborator Elias FS step in for remix responsibilities and flip the B1 into a hypnotic, dubby - and yes, jazzy - piece complete with a dive into glitchy, sonic sculpture territories towards the end of the arrangement. Quite the brilliant take. Music still counts (and always will), after all is said and done - and nothing like two hard-working music-makers to remind us of that.
Following the last blend of four timeless cuts compiled into TRIX002 (2023), Party Tricks returns with a new VA that maps the outer edges of UK breaks and garage on the A-side, and a US-tinged psychedelic journey on the B-side.
Stitched with fleeting lines from The Usual Suspects (“The greatest trick the devil ever pulled…”), A1 Trick or Treat - Trip To The Dark Side dives into the darker shades of the UKG spectrum, setting the opening tone with a mysterious heavy stepper.Continuing down this road, Sheethanger – Discostep flips the energy with a dubby, and irresistibly groovy breakbeat workout, complete with spicy vocoders and a kinetic drive engineered to lift every dancer off the floor.
On the B-side, the focus shifts toward the psychedelic zone of the US niche. A Terran Collective - Mercury Uno rolls out in low gear under acidic, foggy tension, gradually accelerating as it climbs toward a hazy, hypnotic eruption.Finally, Earth Trance Interlude - Moonshine delivers an after-hours breaks masterpiece - the right anthem to close the record on a bright and uplifting-melodic-tribal note.
The mysterious artist behind the alias Your Ex returns after a self-released EP in 2025 and a deep house killer 7-inch on Scruniversal Records in 2023. Now joining Vibes And Pepper Records, Your Ex opens 2026 with a five-track EP that channels a European twist on Chicago deep house—warm basslines, soulful chords, and hypnotic percussion layered with emotional depth and a timeless groove. Drawing inspiration from Jazz, Funk, Fusion, Library Music, Dub, and “out there” Electronic sounds, Your Exalso draws deeply from the foundational vibrations of Chicago and Detroit. These influences flow through every track—lush harmonies, intricate rhythms, and raw analog textures that bridge eras and styles. Staying true to an elusive identity, Your Ex lets the music speak: smoky late-night grooves, dusty hardware tones, and an undeniable sense of movement that nods to the roots while pushing forward. With Vibes And Pepper, the artist continues to blur the line between mystery and motion—a perfect start to the new year for those who still believe in the deep.
From Germany to Montreal, a cross-continental dialogue takes form as Oovation and Jares unite for The Shift, a sweeping coalition of emotion and rhythm marking both artists’ debut on W. Anchored in cinematic depth and driven by kinetic pulse, The Shift stands as a powerful first statement, further expanded through stunning reinterpretations by Coeus, ACNØR, and Turker.
The original take of “The Shift” finds Oovation & Jares constructing a restrained groove before thumping kicks and meandering blips send us off on a highly narcotic affair. With the foundations in place, a swaying bassline takes control of the piece, infusing it with an irresistible sense of movement. As we venture deeper inside the rabbit hole, a lush arpeggio rummages across the piece, taking us closer to an airy break where echoes osurrender to a new directive.
For the first reimagining, Coeus drives “The Shift” into more dangerous, sensual territory. Built on a thunderous rhythmic foundation, the Serbian producer laces the mix with ghostly vocal traces and a relentless synthetic tension. The result feels cinematic in scope: an after-hours odyssey pulsing with urgency and redemption, where desire and danger move in lockstep.
Next, ACNØR transforms The Shift into a perpetual motion device where tension breathes and recedes like a living organism, shimmering under dim light. Reflective and transportive, this version feels like moving through mirrored corridors. Each twist refracts a new emotion, a new identity, culminating in a tantalizing entropy.
Finally, Turker closes the circle with a radiant reconstruction that leans toward transcendence. Textured percussion, raspy stabs, and a gleaming lead line spiral upward, pushing “The Shift” toward a horizon bathed in gold as vocal phrases drift in and out of focus, painting the mirage in full technicolor for a finale that feels both cathartic and luminous.
Kate Bosone, rock star from Genoa and Milan-based producer and multi-instrumentalist, presents ‘Leave the Flesh!’. Active on the scene for over 10 years and closely linked to Genoa’s legendary Bonfim Club, this is his first release designed to rock the dancefloor. LASABBIA011.
ROTCIV is back with his new EP ‘Memory’, which marks the 20th release on Beartrax’s label Melodize. Throughout the record, the Berlin-based and native Brazilian producer explores his signature dark, mysterious, and atmospheric vibes shaped by the underground and queer club nights and dance-floors that fuel his sound, refined by over almost 30 years behind the decks.
Maintaining Melodize’s specialized sound deep-rooted in moody electronic principles, the EP opens with ‘Memory’, a piercing, dark, synth dynamic alongside rich tonal textures in both harmony and melodies alike. Unapologetic, yet calming and reminiscent of a slow drive through the winter nights; cold, yet bold, sharp, and comforting.
First to remix ‘Memory’ with a nostalgic, synth-heavy 80’s remix is Frankfurt-based DJ, producer, and visual artist Chinaski. Integrating his signature bold synth hooks into the track, Chinaski knows how to roll in with longing sentimentality. The remix features a bouncier approach with re-envisioned acoustic percussion and catchy synth arps, along with an eery dark disco feel.
On the B side, Rotciv kicks in with ‘Trintage’, which gives a sinister sensation with its hypnotising bass synth lines alongside contrasting, choir-like pads. Seeping with articulate poly-rhythmic synth arps, Trintage guides the listener to be indulged into a dream-like state on the border between both digital and analogue soundscapes, blurring the lines between fantasy and reality.
Next up is New York-based and founder of Samo Records, Facets, who takes on the next remix for ‘Trintage’ with a more electro-grunge techno approach consisting of heavier four to the floor kicks in company of Rotciv’s hypnotic textures. Having shifted the synth melody rhythmically, a sense of space and tension is created within the soundworld of this track. The play between gritty bass-end synths along with softer, textured high-ends helps emphasize the groove injected into this remix.
One last remix of ‘Memory’ by Melodize’s own label founder, Beartrax, rounds out the EP. Available exclusively via digital bonus, Beartrax features his deeply hypnotic aesthetic by driving in ethereal synths alongside cosmic arps and slow-rolling rhythmic and pulsating groove lines.
Rhythm On The Loose “Break Of Dawn” is quite simply one of House Music’s all time classics.
Producer Geoff Hibbert was inspired by seeing dawn break on an Italian coast line to
draw inspiration from Moby’s anthemic “Go” and disco gem “Let No Man Put Asunder” by First Choice to create his loving homage to the UK Rave scene.
Network set up a label “The One After D” to release a limited edition press of the instant classic to create demand.
One of the first copies was picked up by Kevin Saunderson and his relentless playing of the track helped fuel interest in the USA.
The first release on Network in 1991 established the track as iconic. That original mix is here and still sounds as fresh as ever. Perfect in fact.
The 12” also contains remastered versions of the 1995 remixes by Rhythm On The Loose, Strike and Stonebridge.
Taken from Network’s extensive back catalogue and a re-issue of a timely classic that is always in-demand.
Tom Joyce’s sought after Sounds Benefit label marks their milestone tenth release with “7 Years Of Sounds Benefit”, a carefully curated selection of essential artists and rising talents presented as a double vinyl LP. The two slabs of wax manoeuvre between innovative electro and refined flavours of house and techno for trained ears.
First up is a reissue from S-Max, New Delhi Projects, previously released on Below back in ‘99. A chugging display of sounds that were way ahead of their time. After featuring on SND002, Ben Cohen makes his comeback on the label with Short Night, a breakbeat journey which boasts beautiful and emotive chord progressions. The B side features somewhat of a rarity as Etienne shares a track, Gateway Experience, futuristic energy from the accomplished producer, layered with subtle yet effective acid tones. Label head Tom Joyce delivers 7:15pm, a dreamy quest through melt in your mind synths and punchy electro drum patterns.
As we approach the second vinyl, we uncover further gems from the archive as Lowtec kindly shares his unreleased La Java 2014, which was created circa. 2000. Javier Carballo and Aniano have been making positive movements with their Hdz moniker in recent times, and Moog is another stamp of approval, a warm bass line converses with the crisp drums and spaced out elements. On the flip, Berlin based Englishman Rob Amboule turns out a killer elasticated groove which takes you for a late night shuffle in Scrap It. Huge fun for the hazy hours on the dance floor. Nuversion, formerly known as Juliano, showcases his debut track under this name with Crepuscule, addressing further pensive moods with his classy production. Ending the fantastic release in a meditative state of mind, cruising on sweet melodies.
Irradiated is the second LP on Appendix.files from Berlin-based sound artist and producer Kurt Reinartz Salgado. Across eight tracks, Reinartz explores the space between dub-techno lineage and ambient experimentation — what he describes as “ADHD-ambient.” Drawing from ’90s German techno and Chain Reaction-era dub, the album blends elastic 4/4 rhythms, fractured breaks, submerged bass pressure, and patient, detail-driven atmospheres.
The record moves from deep dub openings through porous rhythmic studies and warm melodic ruptures, before closing with hydrophone and geophone recordings from Berlin’s Kaulsdorfer See — grounding the LP in physical space and material listening.
Peggy Gou is proud to announce the launch of her own independent record label, Gudu Records. The label's first release will be the Moment EP - a two-track 12' featuring the tracks 'Starry Night' and 'Han Pan'.
'Moment' sees Gou continue to explore the charismatic facets of her musical and personal identity, drawing on her Korean heritage and language and her love for house & disco's Eighties heritage, with particular nods to the output of labels such as Prelude and West End Records in the decade's nascent years.
Gou's own singing voice, known to so many from last year's 'Once' EP, returns here to confidently guide the rhythm on 'Starry Night'. Mixing both Korean and English vocals over a tumbling cascade of percussion and piano house keys, the track builds to incorporate layers of instrumental samples and subtle acid lines. Romantic, anthemic and timeless in its feel, it reaffirms Gou's skill as a songwriter with appeal that resonates beyond crowded dancefloors, not to mention language barriers.
'Han Pan' follows as an instantly rhythmic affair that draws energy from a memorable and delicately tuned pan-drum. Alongside some expert and understated arrangement, as well as another, contrasting vocal performance, 'Han Pan' transmits a different but equally powerful energy.
Forthcoming on our home label Prospektiva, PRZ11eleven marks the first VRSION release in nearly a decade.
The alias made its debut on Craig Richards’ The Nothing Special in 2015, with a remix from the late, great Trevino, before resurfacing in 2016 on Constant Sound, accompanied by a remix from Jesper Dahlbäck under his much-coveted moniker, The Persuader.
This release follows a long hiatus for VRSION, aka Irish producer Gavin Herlihy, a once-prolific fixture of the late 2000s whose work spanned a who’s who of leading techno labels before he retired his work under his own name in 2014. In 2024, Herlihy re-emerged with Between The Lines, a collaborative EP with debut artist Nikol under the name Body Copy, released via Barcelona's respected label O.C.D.
PRZ11eleven picks up where VRSION left off, delivering four tracks of timeless, acid-laced house and breakbeat techno with an ear to the future as well as the past.
The Roots of Chicha, compiled by Barbès Records, was originally released in 2007 and became the first recording to popularize psychedelic cumbia around the world.
From the late 60's through the 80's, Peruvians invented a new popular musical hybrid inspired by music from the Americas. In 1968, Enrique Delgado released his first record on Odeon with his new group, Los Destellos, single-handedly creating Peruvian cumbia. He codified the genre early on by using the electric guitar as the primary melodic instrument, and mixing cumbia rhythms with folkloric huaynos, criollo voicings, Cuban guarachas and guajiras, rock, boogaloo, surf, psychedelia, oriental music, classical music, and bits and pieces from Brazil, France, Chile... All Peruvian cumbia bands for the next thirty years would end up drawing from the exact same sources (Grupo Celeste, Los Mirlos, Juaneco Y Su Combo, Manzanita Y Su Conjunto...).
This new wave of Peruvian cumbia came to be known as chicha. Chicha is originally the name of an alcoholic drink, made of fermented maize, which the Incas were especially fond of. In the past thirty years, however, the word has taken on a pejorative connotation. Peruvian cumbia started being called chicha in the late 70s, around the same time that the music came to be viewed as the expression of the slums – the pueblos jovenes. Little by little, the word became an adjective, and people now talk of chicha culture, chicha press, chicha architecture, even of a chicha president, and none if it – you guessed right – is meant as a compliment. Chicha suggests corruption, shady deals, and cholos – a derogatory term for a person of Andean heritage that, of late, is being reclaimed and worn as a badge of honor by the very cholos it was supposed to demean in the first place.
The third release on Re-United Records, Interzone brings together four unique visions of electronic music, in one solid, groove-driven vinyl.
Luigi Gori kicks things off with a track full of early ’90s vibes — a deep, energetic trip that instantly sets the tone.
Alberto Bof follows up with a cut to play from start to finish — a late ’80s journey blending acid 303 lines and his signature lush harmonies.
On the flip, Andrea Fiorito drops a slick minimal-funk groove, packed with character and classy textures.
Closing it out, Paolo Driver delivers a straight-up dancefloor weapon, full of twists, surprises, and unstoppable rhythm.
A record infused with ’80s and ’90s influences, made for true heads and real floors — pure Re-United Records spirit.
On this record Obliq chooses to follow decidedly more house and bouncy paths. Alessio stands out for his garage touch Dj Rou for more dreamy lines.
The side B, sculpted by both, gives a track very influenced by the 90s but with a modern and more dubby touch, the whole thing turns out to be very happy.
With Stronger, her third EP, Mira Ló continues her rapid ascent within the French electronic scene. A cathartic project born from a period of personal upheaval, this EP is both a cry of resilience and a celebration of club culture as a space for healing. The Paris-based queer producer and DJ turns pain into creative force, and the dancefloor into refuge, release, and rebirth. Across four emotionally charged tracks, Stronger traces the contours of a club where one rises through the energy of the beat, the warmth of a caring community, and the affirmation of self through sound and movement. “This EP is my response to a very dark period in my life. I chose to turn pain into strength, to stand back up through music, and to reconnect with joy, intensity, and the collective. Each track follows a movement, of a body rising, a heart beating stronger, a soul regaining its light. Stronger is also a tribute to those who carried me when I could no longer stand on my own. It's proof that even in chaos, we can rebuild together.” Mira Ló The first chapter of this inner journey, “Riser” is a house track filled with enveloping melodies, ethereal pads, and organic chords that create a suspended sonic space. Its steady pulse and warm basslines evoke a rising from within. “I wanted this track to feel like a build-up, like breathing again. It's about that moment when you feel you're ready to rise once more, even after a fall, like a gentle but powerful wave,” says Mira Ló. With its R&B textures, pop-infused touches, and radiant production, “Brighter” glows with warmth. It captures the return of inner clarity, the rediscovery of joy and ease. Made to bring people together, it’s Instagram | Youtube | TikTok | SoundCloudboth immediate and heartfelt. “It’s a song about shining again, after the dark. I wanted something full of light and simplicity, a track that speaks to the heart and makes you want to dance without thinking.” A personal and introspective nod to the French Touch, “Higher” is driven by filtered basslines and hypnotic grooves. It channels a sense of euphoria that builds gradually, almost meditatively, like a joyful vertigo. “This track is about finding euphoria again, that moment when music lifts you beyond yourself. I grew up with the French Touch, and this is my way of coming back to it with my own voice.” Closing the journey, “Louder” is the most assertive track on the EP. Inspired by the UK bassline and garage scene, it bursts with percussive, punchy energy. This is where everything comes into full light, bold, unapologetic, and free. “I wrote Louder as a statement: I’m here, I exist, and I won’t stay silent anymore. It’s about partying as self-affirmation, as a joyful, powerful scream of identity. Meant to be played loud. Very loud.” Mira Ló, born Ana Lopez, is a queer producer and DJ based in Paris. Drawing from the full spectrum of club music, her sets and productions blend melancholic emotion with a unique, high-energy, euphoric touch - inspired by artists like Disclosure, salute, and Sammy Virji. From her early days playing in Parisian bars and intimate clubs, she quickly rose to the lineups of top French venues and festivals such as Peacock Society, Marvellous Island, and Lollapalooza - extending her reach across Europe and even to Chicago. She’s carved out a strong place for herself within the new wave of the French electronic scene, leaving a lasting impression with every appearance. In 2023, she released her debut EP Memories and was featured in Apple Music’s “Women In Electronic” series. That same year, she became a resident at Sacré in Paris, before unveiling her second EP Tribute To Chicago in 2024. She returns in 2025 with her third release, Stronger - once again proving she’s one of the most promising artists shaping the future of electronic music.
Ezekiel presents No More, a 4-track EP on 12-inch vinyl. We dive into a powerful journey filled with pounding drums that shake the room, subtle resonances, and hypnotic bells. Close your eyes and let yourself be carried away by the minimalist details woven into every beat--a dramatic sequence crafted for the perfect mental journey.
‘Let’s take a trip’ – with major names on the psytrance scene Avalon and GMS releasing on KNTXT for the first time, combining forces for a full-on attack, 4-track EP ‘The Underground’, out December 11th. Their joint mission? ‘Combining two worlds where psytrance meets techno, a fusion which will take you on a mind-expanding journey! Welcome to The Underground…you have arrived!
London DJ/Producer Avalon was recently awarded the number 1 top-selling psytrance artist on Beatport with over 30+ psytrance chart #1s and 5 top-selling LPs to his name, and performs at the likes of Tomorrowland, Boom, EDC Las Vegas, Glastonbury, Exit, Burning Man, Ultra, ASOT, Ministry Of Sound,... GMS (Growling Mad Scientists) was founded by Dutch Ibiza-based DJ/Producer Riktam with the sadly late Bansi, to establish pioneering psytrance label Spun Records and to have director Tony Scott no less, using GMS tracks on three of his films. A prolific producer with over 300K album copies sold, GMS holds the most psytrance records released overall.
‘I'm beyond honoured to release this stunning four tracker from psytrance legends Avalon and GMS. With this release, friendships were formed and worlds truly started colliding. I have massive respect for both these artists and their long standing impact on electronic music. This release feels like a bridge between generations and genres. It carries an energy that deserves to be heard, experienced, and felt on dancefloors around the world.’ Charlotte de Witte
Title track ‘The Underground’: hyperspeed trance beats support a wild variety of acid-dripping pulsations, spacey arps, otherworldly swoops, mind-teasing stabs, it’s like a lightshow in sound. That transports its listeners into another dimension. On ‘Horizen’, psytrance thrives, while ethereal vocals call, with intricate sound design painting a mythical soundscape. On ‘Machines’, it’s driven by hypnotic acid lines, pulsating Kick & Bass with sprinkles of techno infused percussion! Its choral notes and alien-like spoken lyrics, both gripping and disorientating as builds & breaks come thick and fast. ‘Rave to the Grave’: constant pulsing high synth and vocals with twanging acid together with frantic percussion create a sustained, agonizing build, build, build – until ‘On the 7th day, the Lord said ‘Let the beat drop!’’ Phew!
‘We are very excited about our debut release on KNTXT ‘The Underground’ and can’t wait to share this 4 track EP with you all. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did creating it. This fusion of techno/psytrance is brought together by all of our mutual love for acid & driving hypnotic dance music! Enjoy… Play it loud! Welcome to The Underground… You have arrived!’- Avalon & GMS
A mind-bending EP, with racing beats that give the ‘trance’ in psytrance a huge adrenalin shot. This is high energy reaching new altitudes; hold on to your brain cells, they’re going for a ride!
One of the highlights of the King Crimson 50th anniversary CD/Blu-ray editions to date has been King Crimson producer David Singleton’s series of Elemental Mixes as he utilises the full spectrum of available studio sessions for each album to produce very different takes on the familiar songs and pieces.
This is especially true of Lizard where the ambition of the material, the much-expanded line-up of musicians - the background of many of them in the jazz rather than the rock world - and the number of takes recorded, resulted in a large amount of material to be considered for this album.
There was enough material for David to be able to mix and produce alternate takes for every piece from the original album.
As well as giving great insight into the recordings, the nature of Elemental Mixes allows for different takes from individual musicians to be included – sometimes alongside one another - in a way that would never be considered in the formulation of the original album.
David comments that “When I was working on the Elemental mixes, I jokingly described them as ‘Lizard for those who don’t like Lizard’. They were a complete revelation. Lizard is the one album which, in its initial incarnation, never quite convinced me. And yet these Elemental mixes, with their opportunity to look ‘under the hood’ of the album, revealed something fresh, wonderful and astonishing. So, if you are a King Crimson fan, who like me, has never quite taken Lizard to your heart, then these are essential listening. And hopefully equally fascinating to those who already love the album”.
Presented as a single 200gram LP and including the complete album in Elemental Mixes form, running in the same sequence as the original album, this release showcases Lizard in a very different manner to how it’s previously been heard.
Lizard’s reputation has grown, deservedly so, in recent years as old and new audiences alike rediscovered the album, initially when it was first remixed for new Stereo and 5.1 Surround Sound editions in 2009 by Steven Wilson and then as much of it was performed live for the first time in concerts by the most recent King Crimson line-up between 2016 and 2018.
Silvil proudly unveils its fourth vinyl installment, once again showcasing the distinct sonic fingerprint of Brizman. The new EP delivers three original cuts and a masterfully crafted remix from the revered Romanian talent Crihan, solidifying Silvil’s commitment to forward-thinking minimal and dub-infused house.
Opening the record is “Those Nights”, a delicate yet powerful collaboration with vocalist Nina Noy. Brizman’s signature hypnotic grooves intertwine with Nina’s emotive voice, creating a warm and introspective atmosphere that glows with late-night energy. It’s a track that lingers long after the final note, blending intimate storytelling with dancefloor tension.
On “Akiza”, Brizman dives deeper into his dub-oriented palette. Rolling percussion, textured echoes, and evolving bass patterns guide the listener through a rhythmic journey built for heads-down moments and extended sessions. Minimalist in structure yet rich in detail, it captures the essence of Brizman’s immersive production style.
The B-side ignites with Crihan’s remix of “Roll Thah Deep”, where the Romanian artist reshapes the original into a beautifully restrained, gliding groove. Sleek modular elements, subtle shifts, and refined rhythmic nuance highlight Crihan’s unmistakable touch—a remix that bridges meditative flow with undeniable dancefloor momentum.
Closing the EP is “For The Ones You Know”, a contemplative and emotive piece that resonates beyond the club. Deep bass swells, atmospheric layers, and a stripped-back arrangement showcase Brizman’s ability to craft tracks that connect personally, balancing warmth and precision.
Silvil 004 stands as another milestone for the label—an EP that celebrates refined minimalism, dub aesthetics, and the artistry of two producers operating at the height of their craft.
Celebrate three decades of dance music history with 30 Years of Klubbhopping – the ultimate Best Of collection from the legendary Dutch DJ/producer team, Klubbheads. Known for their unstoppable beats and countless club anthems, Klubbheads have shaped the sound of global dancefloors with releases under many aliases, including Drunkenmunky, Da Klubb Kings, Itty-Bitty-Boozy-Woozy, DJ Disco and others. This anniversary release unites their most iconic tracks for the very first time, capturing the creativity, energy, and party spirit that defined generations.
From the club to eternity, 30 Years of Klubbhopping is more than a compilation—it’s a celebration of the sound that made the world move.
30 Years of Klubbhopping is available as a limited edition of 1000 individually numbered copies on crystal clear vinyl and includes an insert with track-by-track liner-notes written by the Klubbheads.
“The group has no niche, it doesn’t fit in anywhere,” explains Necessaries drummer Jesse Chamberlain in a 1980 Melody Maker interview. “We just state the facts about life in America, like The Clash did about England, but we’re not so heavy about it.” The Necessaries rose from the ashes of Harry Toledo & The Rockets, a little-known New York art-rock band playing gigs at Max’s Kansas City during glam’s metamorphosis into punk. —From the liner notes by Michael IQ Jones The Necessaries came together in 1978 and in the too-brief lifespan of the band counted among their members, Ed Tomney (Rage To Live, Luka Bloom), Jesse Chamberlain (Red Crayola), Ernie Brooks (Modern Lovers), Arthur Russell (The Flying Hearts), Randy Gun (Love Of Life Orchestra). First championed by John Cale on the strength of Tomney’s songs, Cale produced their first single for Spy Records (under the I.R.S. umbrella) which was released in 1979. With the forward momentum brought about by the single, the band set about tracking demos intended for Warner Bros., but The Necessaries ultimately would sign to Seymour Stein’s Sire Records. These rough demo basic tracks lacked overdubs, mixes and any finishing touches that would have made them viable for commercial release, but due to tour commitments, the band had to put the sessions on hold to hit the road. While on tour, the band was shocked to discover that Sire had issued the unfinished tracks as their debut album Big Sky (issued in 1981). The band had Big Sky withdrawn and replaced with Event Horizon (issued in 1982) which included half the original tracks from Big Sky and continued to record throughout 1982 aiming for a follow-up. It was not to be and their final studio sessions remained unissued until now. Completely Necessary (Anthology 1978–1982) is the first authorized collection of recordings by The Necessaries and includes 37 tracks, 28 of which are previously unissued. Completely Necessary represents the most accurate musical history of the band laid out across three albums. Disc one is the band-approved first album Event Horizon, followed by Pilots Facing North, a disc collecting studio recordings spanning 1978–1981 and disc three finally sees the release of their final sessions, Songs From The Blue Colony. Album notes by Michael IQ Jones trace the history of the band for this compilation produced by The Necessaries’ Ed Tomney and Cheryl Pawelski (Omnivore Recordings). The audio has been restored and mastered by Michael Graves at Osiris Studio, and both the 3-LP and 2-CD sets feature previously unseen photos across the package. Finally, an essential missing piece of the late ’70s/early ’80s New York scene that was just slightly ahead of the college alt-rock soon to come, is finally available to rediscover—this time it’s authorized and absolutely necessary. BUY! HERE’S WHY! • The first authorized and comprehensive anthology by The Necessaries. • Mid-’70s/early ’80s New York rock/punk/art scene band included members: Ed Tomney, Ernier Brooks, Arthur Russell, Jesse Chamberlain, and Randy Gun. • 37 tracks, 28 previously unissued. • Liner notes by Michael IQ Jones, plus unseen photos.
Between 2023 and 2025, L.F.T. split his time between Hamburg and Berlin, slowly piecing together what would become his most ambitious work to date. The result is Hell Was Boring - a double album that plays like a fever dream, unfolding as a dark, mythical tale about life, death, and the strange spaces in between.
L.F.T. - the alias of German producer and multi-instrumentalist Johannes Haas - has always thrived on tension: between punk urgency and electronic precision, between raw emotion and mechanical repetition. On Hell Was Boring, those tensions are amplified. Drawing on the spectral drama of Bauhaus, the melancholic minimalism of Linear Movement, the futuristic romanticism of Gary Numan, and even the sly swagger of Falco, the album feels at once deeply personal and part of a much older musical lineage.
The sound is stripped down to its bones: drums snap and rattle from a Roland TR-808, TR-707 and Korg KR-55; basslines growl from a Roland SH-101 and Korg MS-20; shards of guitar cut through clouds of tape hiss. Everything was tracked to a Teac Tascam 80-8 reel-to-reel, giving each track a lived-in, imperfect warmth. Nothing is overpolished - L.F.T. wanted the listener to hear the edges, the grit, the moments when the music almost comes apart.
Along the way, he invited friends and long-time collaborators into the fold - Das Kinn, Rosaceae, Felix Kubin, Children Of Leir, and Konstantin Unwohl - each leaving their own fingerprints on the record’s world of shadows and static.
Hell Was Boring isn’t a mere collection of songs; it’s a narrative that drags you into its orbit and doesn’t quite let go. It’s music for the late hours when reality feels porous, and for those moments when you’re not sure if you’re waking up or still dreaming.
Compiled by Philip King “And then came the rise of synth pop : blokes with dodgy haircuts hunched over keyboard-operated machines stuffed with wires and do-it-yourself tone oscillators making sounds like a brood of geese passing gas in a wind tunnel. Whoopee! This is the way the ‘70s ended : not with a blood-curdling bang bang but with a cheap, synthesized, emasculating whimper.” NICK KENT, NME. All The Young Droids: Junkshop Synth Pop 1978-1985 is a new compilation that charts the underbelly of the epoch-defining sound of the synthesiser in 80s popular music. Compiled by Philip King (previously seen compiling All The Young Droogs, Glitterbest and Boobs - The Junkshop Glam Discotheque), the music here connects the dots between DIY synth enthusiasts grappling with new, cheap synthesisers at the tail-end of punk and wannabe, jobbing songwriters enthral to the new music pioneered by Gary Numan, Depeche Mode and Daniel Miller’s Mute Records. Featuring rare tracks of auto-didactic progressive pop music, proto-techno punk, shoot-for-the-stars-land-in-the-gutter chart flops and heralded, underground synth classics, School Daze paints a picture of beautiful failure. Complete with extensive sleeve notes written by King and never before seen imagery, all 24 tracks were remastered by RPM in-house engineer Simon Murphy, many from vinyl copies due to lost master tapes. The story told on All The Young Droids is one of the dawning opportunity presented by both the emergence to the market of cheaper analog synthesisers and the distribution networks plus indie labels that exploded with the advent of punk music in 1976. While the music that sprouted out all over the globe in the wake of these factors was decried as fake, plastic, a refutation of punk’s guitar-led revolution, it’s telling that much of the music on All The Young Droids.. was created in bedrooms, ramshackle studios and home-made set ups with often borrowed equipment. In the era of record labels jumping to capitalise on the success of The Sex Pistols, The Clash (both on major labels, of course) these artists struggled to stand out from a new gold-rush with next to no budget or PR team. With radio and labels desperate for the new Yazoo, what resulted was a testament to necessity being the mother of invention. At the time, the synthesiser was the music of the future, a shiny new machine that could paint like an orchestra with a single finger and a 4-track. In the hands of Manchester avant-pranksters Gerry & The Holograms it’s a pulsing, sardonic weapon.. the only instrument on the Messthetics classic lampooning of New Wave fashion. In Hamburg, a 16 year old Andreas Dorau used it to write and record (with his female classmates on vocals) a global smash in Fred Vom Jupiter (later licensed to Mute Records). The hard-to-find English version (Fred From Jupiter, natch) is included here. Many artists with alreadystoried careers caught the bug and recorded synthesiser-fuelled peons to space, computers, the future and, of course, love-interests. Harry Kakoulli, late of Squeeze, recorded a solo album in 1979 that included the incredible power-synth-pop smash-that-never-smashed I’m On A Rocket. Similarly, Ian North of Neo and American Power Pop stalwarts Milk ’n’ Cookies bought a Korg MS20 and used a tape machine to record We’re Not Lonely, an absolute lost-classic of minimal synth pop. We’re Not Lonely also features on the Junkshop Synth Pop sampler 7” twinned with John Howard unreleased track You Will See, released April 12th 2025. There are plenty of compilation debuts in evidence. Sole Sister were a mysterious trio who were featured on the Scaling Triangles compilation of female-fronted, queer-adjacent post-punk / underground music that also featured The Petticoats. Selwin Image were from San Francisco and featured members of the recently defunct power pop/punk group The Pushups. Their stupidly catchy The Unknown fizzes with New Wave energy - think XTC to Sparks but remains unreleased until now. Dream Unit’s A Drop In The Ocean is an early synth wave cut, positively teaming with Joy Division instrumentation, previously only released on a long-forgotten and super rare, self-released EP. Incandescent Luminaire’s Famous Names belies an archetypal struggle of a small-town trying to make it in a cruel industry but is a thrilling New Romantic-Synth Wave cross over with a OMD gloominess that’s a joy to hear. Feminist Minimal Wave track I Am A Time Bomb by performance artist Peta Lilly and Michael Chance is a revelation destined for new found cult status. It was released on 7” and lost until now. The flipside to the subterranean, never-made-it synth pop mentioned above are the ambitious, even fruity attempts at success that have a perennial elegance to their confidence. New Jersey-ite Billy London (real name Ed Barth) tried to cash in on the synth boom with Woman, released by a major label, a lurching new wave track built on the Louie Louie rhythm and a wonderfully camp Lou Reedstyle sleazy vocal before exploding in the synthesised chorus. The song bombed but with a chorus like this, you have to wonder why? Ex-Glitter Band member John Springate’s My Life is truly epic, with doomed chord progressions and massive sounding drums turning into at least 3 different songs in the course of the track. Before you wonder what’s going on the song resolves with a glorious return to the main refrain. The dry-ice-dressed dance floor is well catered for too. Design’s Premonition and Vision’s Lucifer’s Friend are stone-cold minimal synth bangers, well loved but given a new lease of life here. The Warlord’s The Ultimate Warlord was released in 1978, a homespun proto Hi NRG banger that was later re-recorded by The Immortals in Canada who had a club hit with it. One-man- band Disco Volante’s No Motion was re-issued by Synth wave label Medical in 2012 but makes its first vinyl compilation appearance here. Close your eyes and you can imagine what Lawrence of Felt would have sounded like with some cheap Korgs a little earlier in his career. Gibraltar-based trio The Microbes imagined a computer programming people to dance - how prescient - and ended up with a propulsive, robo-funk track with splendid rubbery bass playing over a tectonic drum machine. Previously picked up by Belgian label Stroom TV, Dee Jay Bert & Eagle’s heavily Euro-accented I Am Your Master demands the listener to “come to paradise!” In a frankly terrifying manner. All The Young Droids is the first compilation to peel away from the narrative that dour, Minimal Synth and Cold Wave were the only musical children of the first rush of synth pop. Philip King and School Daze Records describe a much more complicated world: along with the austere, Brutalist children of Daniel Miller (who produced Alan Burnham’s Bowie-Low-influenced Science Fiction here) was a plethora of desperate cash-ins, accidental mainstream hits, ambitious pop dramas and major label punts that went nowhere. Crucially, the compilation blurs the line between junk and treasure. What if the two things are interchangeable. What if it’s all science fiction?
Perros' third installment is a sequel release from various artists that develops the theme Canerêve. Holding the usual multi-functional-tracker mission, this Volume 2 features four dancefloor house-lines facets.
DJ Cream struts with solid drum kicks that mellows into a structure that humps atmosphere dreams through a cheeky R'n'B sample, opening the record with warm charisma. A deep house blowgun truly on point. Following the info side of the record, we found a rising french producer based in Barcelona by the name of Groenogen, setting an elektrisch-soaked trip to tech house, throughout chunky basslines and infectious grooves that move inside a stridulous synth in combo with a sexy vocal chorus.
Artwork side, by the italian painter and tattoo guru FASE, starts with a showcase of layered high-quality projects throughout instruments knowledge and improvisation that just a live-act maestro like Emi Ömar can guarantee. Tribal, Deep, Acid, Electro,Funky. An immersive mixture of textures and emotions that enhances a full storytelling, a whole venture narrated by a hypnotic vocoder. The fourth and final track, comes up with a glimpse criteria, climbing the heights gradually. Then, when DJ Rou finally decides to start, that moment is just a boom! The break comes with energetic grooves, intricate percussions, sci-fi samples bounce all around with both acid and melodic flows of a potential hard-house hit.
SuckaSide know how to twist a classic into new realms. This latest is further proof on their own self-titled label, starting with a flip of Brazilian-inspired gem. Drums gently break like waves, the vocals are intriguing spoken words, and there's a dark soul lingering in the air. On the flip is their take on downtempo delight which becomes a high speed drum & bass roller with light pads and elevating chords. The lazy trumpets from the original remain in place for that nostalgic touch.
REPRESS ALERT!: Dub techno dons Lempuyang are back with the first double LP from the revered JS Zeiter, an assured artist whose early 12"s merged Chain Reaction's energy with deepchord's immersive depth and made him a modern-day great. Since then, he has spent years refining his craft into a consistently exceptional and sought-after sound across various aliases. Context Collapse marks a significant new chapter with eight expertly designed sounds that offer dub for all occasions, from those zoned out early mornings after a long night at it to more airy and uplifting dreamers like 'Interplay' via cosy, cuddly and introspective gems such as the smooth and seductive 'Open'. JS Zeiter is a true craftsman, as this double pack shows once more
The former International DeeJay Gigolo records artist Adriano Canzian & Vitell1 assault the “PLEASURE COPS” precinct with bouncing synth-line, dark 80’ies bass and clanging beats in this extravagant 6 tracker Italo-Ebm release for SB sublabel -Belligeranza currently dedicated to brutalize Italo-Disco. Call 911 for further details!
Das Beste Aus Hagen Redux is an icy transmission from the early circuitry of European minimalism. A revives the pulse of proto-electro with surgical precision—pure voltage, no excess. Cold synth lines snake through monochrome rhythms, delivering drama without decadence. It’s music for neon-lit silence and synthetic nostalgia, built from tape hiss, static tension, and analog dreams. Minimal synth stripped to the bone—resistant, elegant, and eternal. Presented in ONE- OFF truly limited edition of 300 copies lacquered pressed on 180 gr. high quality solid WHITE vinyl. All tracks have been specially remastered for vinyl by Daniel Hallhuber at Young and Cold Studios (Germany).
EdB keeps pushing deeper into sonic chaos with “La Anarquía Sónica” — a raw, proto, and visceral journey built on hand-crafted beats, deliciously unhinged basslines and immersive field recordings. Music for the restless. For those obsessed with sound. For anyone tired of hearing the same thing over and over again. Dystopian music for a universal shift. This time, EdB joins forces with Belgian synth guru Peter Bonne / Chayell Zenn (Linear Movement, Twilight Ritual) to rework “The Enochian Keepers of Time” — also included in its original version on the EP — into an emo- electro industrial aberration titled “Guardianes del Tiempo.” Presented in ONE-OFF truly limited edition of 300 copies lacquered pressed on 180 gr. high quality solid BLACK vinyl. Includes printed innersleeve. All tracks have been specially remastered for vinyl by Daniel Hallhuber at Young and Cold Studios (Germany).
"For Toronto outsider pop auteur Saya Gray, music is a glittering mosaic of endless influences. Her debut album is akin to a sonic chimera; its limbs assembled from disparate, but complimentary musical organisms. Does she make pop? Folk? Rock? R&B? The moment you think you’ve got her pinned, she’s gone like a flash.
Gray’s often collage-like sonicspheres, blanketed with layers of riffs upon layers of electronic chatter, demonstrate the limitless potential of music as an art form.
Saya Gray has received support from Pitchfork, The Guardian, The Times, Colors, The New York Times, BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 6, NTS, Fader and has recently recorded an incredible Tiny Desk session to be release around her new album. "
Fredrick Dookie & Desmond Silpatt were cousins and close friends who though not prolific, created one stunning reggae tune which has been near impossible to find for over 40 years.
Like artists from Supercat to Sheila Rickards, Freddie & Dessie are of Indo-Jamaican descent. They gravitated to music from an early age.
Recorded at Aquarius and arranged by Wire Lindo, the track features back up vocals from a young Beres Hammond.
"I have loved this song for a very long time and this exclusive reissue has been in the works for several years since I tracked down one half of the duo Dessie aka Desmond Silpatt who is now based in Florida." says Chris from Shella Records.
Freddie who provides the song’s hypnotic vocal was a devout Rasta man who sadly passed away in 2019. He is survived by Dessie, a renaissance man, inventor and author who has penned thousands of songs in his time.
A heavyweight library record delivered straight from the Gods; truly, we are all blessed: Dubmaster Dennis Bovell presents cLOUD mUsIc. A miraculous set of loose limbed, slinky funk-forward dub on the A-Side with totally blunted, spaced out trippiness on the grooving versions gracing the flipside.
A pioneer of dub and progenitor of lovers rock, genius producer-arranger Dennis 'Blackbeard' Bovell's prolific and eclectic career encompasses a huge range of music: from dub poetry to lovers rock, afro-beat to post-punk, disco to pop and beyond.
His production work encompasses such diverse figures as Ryuichi Sakamoto, The Slits, Fela Kuti, Linton Kwesi Johnson, The Pop Group, Janet Kay, Saada Bonaire, Orange Juice, Golden Teacher, I Roy, Maximum Joy, Steel Pulse and more.
cLOUD mUsIc features 8 new, deep, never-heard heaters, initially created for upstart UK library label FOLD. Dennis had written some music under the influence of Cloud-watching and presented it to FOLD with a view to them presenting it as Library Music to be utilised by anyone interested in having music for incidentals, films, TV and advertising etc.
cLOUD mUsIc represents Dennis expressing himself freely and inviting others to join and express themselves. As Dennis explains: "Library music is what makes the difference between creating for specific reasons and creating for your own individual enjoyment. cLOUD mUsIc was created whenever I felt the urge to create music that I wanted to, with no pressure. It was recorded at various times and in various studios around the world with various musicians’ assistance. Much sonic indulgence with many different recording devices."
From the dark circuitry of the American underground, Signal 72 transmits a raw message through Zodiak Commune Records. Loosing The Station is not about losing control, it's about releasing it. Letting the system breathe, unhooking from order, and giving the machines room to speak in distortion and pulse.
The sound is intense and immersive: heavy electro rhythms, dense sub pressure, and acidic 303 lines that twist through the mix like voltage on the edge of overload. It's the friction between chaos and precision, mechanical yet human, destructive yet alive.
Each element feels driven by instinct and recorded in the moment. The result is a tense, physical energy that connects directly to the roots of underground electronics, the sound of resistance, transmission, and release.
Cat Power marks 20 years since her Memphis-shaped 2006 album The Greatest with 'Redux', a three-track EP cut in Austin with Stuart Sikes and the Dirty Delta Blues band, the same crew who toured that record. Marshall salvages material linked to The Greatest's early sessions, opening with a fresh take on James Brown's 'Try Me', attempted during the original run but never finalised. She then revisits her own 'Could We' in the looser, road-worn arrangement aired on tour. The flip holds her reading of Prince's 'Nothing Compares 2 U', recorded as a nod to Teenie Hodges, the Memphis guitarist whose playing underpinned The Greatest and whose influence threaded her writing.
Fast-rising Dutch DJ/producer BELLA becomes the first new artist signing to Sally C’s Big Saldo’s Chunkers imprint, with the inspiring ‘Note to Self’ EP – her debut production.
Relationships are key for Sally C. Since the inception of Big Saldo’s Chunkers in 2020, she’s released three carefully chosen EPs, all from her own studio. When she met BELLA while playing a festival in Amsterdam during summer 2022, the click was instantaneous, with the pair going on to play an impromptu b2b that day. Vibing both musically and energetically, they kept in touch, with BELLA sending Sally her maiden productions ‘Note To Self’ and ‘Orchestra Spring’. Sally connected so deeply with the tracks that they’d form the backbone of her debut artist EP on Big Saldo’s Chunkers.
One listen to the final EP and it’s not hard to see why Sally wanted to emboss them as Chunkers. Three fresh originals taking in influence from ‘90s house, acid, electro and prog, all with a unique hard-to-pin-down energy that makes them hit with a special swing.
The title track – also the first production made for the EP - sees BELLA lay down a sonic blueprint – both for her own sound and the full body of work. “This set the vibe and guided me through the creative process. I was really trying to make something that felt my own, that was also unique and not something I’ve heard before,” she shares. ‘Note to Self’ is heavy on attitude and bounce, driven by banging old skool drums, a rapid-fire grime-style vocal and a duo of synth lines – one uplifting, the other mining a slick ‘80s sheen, and the results are memorable. An absolute tune that Sally’s delighted to add to the Chunker catalogue.
‘Orchestra Spring’ is the perky sequel, a wicked one-two punch of kaleidoscopic groovy house with lashings of attitude that loves to scribble outside the lines with lots of retro samples and trippy energy. ‘Odd Symphony’ completes the trio, a blazing late-night cut driven by a gurgling acid underbelly, gritty drums and warm chords, giving the EP a brilliant afterglow.
Another DINTE tape curated by cult WFMU show and blogger Bodega Pop; Gary Sullivan's long-running project rooted in a passion for digging for music in bodegas and cell-phone stores across NYC's boroughs. This edition focuses in on late 1990s and early 00s hip-hop & rnb from across Southeastern Asia.
"While on a work trip to Chicago in the mid-2000s, I was craving a bowl of pho. A bit of sleuthing led me to hop on the red line "L" up to Argyle Street, ground zero of Chicago's Little Saigon. In the 1960s, Chicago restaurateur Jimmy Wong invested in property on Argyle Street with a vision to build the city's new Chinatown, a kind of mall with pagodas, trees, and reflecting pools. In 1971, the Hip Sing Association, a labor/criminal organization, established itself in the area, and along with Wong, they bought up 80% of the buildings on a three-block stretch of the street. Wong reportedly broke both hips in an accident, leaving his dream to wither; in 1979, Charlie Soo of the Asian American Small Business Association brought it back to life.
Soo expanded the area into a vibrant mix of Chinese, Vietnamese, and other Southeast Asian businesses, pushing for renovations, including an Argyle station facelift and the Taste of Argyle festival. At the time I exited the station and crossed the street to get a better look at a shop with a poster for A Vertical Ray of the Sun in the window, the area was home to some 37,000 Vietnamese residents.
Opening the door, I was gobsmacked by a cavernous Southeast Asian media store, bigger than any I'd been to in Dallas, Montreal, New York, or Seattle. I spent some time at the bins, pulling out collections by some of my then-favorite singers — Giao Linh, Khánh Ly, Phương Dung — before approaching the register to ask the young woman behind the counter if the they carried any Vietnamese rap. It was a longshot, I knew, but if such a thing existed on physical media and anyone carried it, it would be this place.
'Have you heard Vietnamese rap?' she replied, her tone of voice and facial expression betraying a comically exaggerated level of distaste. I admitted my ignorance but assured her that I had long cultivated a high threshold for cheesy pop music of all kinds and genuinely tended to like hip hop from around the world.
She rolled her eyes and pointed to an area I had missed. I walked toward a far corner of the store and knelt over a small box on the floor sparsely populated with CDs, VCDs, and cassettes. I pulled out half a dozen Vietnamese hip hop compilations and a strange-looking CD with a cavalcade of odd typefaces in a queasy multitude of colors: THAILAND RAP HIT, it boasted, with 泰國 "燒香" 勁歌金曲 below it. The information on the back provided an address in Kuala Lumpur and the titles in Thai and English translation. The first track included three simplified Chinese characters after the English-language version of the title, "The Chinese Association": 自己人.
WTF was going on here? Walking back to the register, I waved the CD, asking "What's up with this one?" She gave me a look. I placed it on the counter so she could bask in the cover's full glory. She shrugged. "I'm guessing it's Thai rap?" She looked disappointed in me when I said I'd take it.
It turned out to be a Malaysian pressing of half-Chinese Thai hip hop artist Joey Boy's third album, Fun Fun Fun from 1996, and it completely changed my sense what the genre could sound like. The rapper's self-assured, effortless, silly-but-cool rapid-fire delivery weaved in and out of the most bizarre, antic beats I'd ever heard. The six Vietnamese hip hop CDs were a mixed bag, mostly "serious" sounding mimicry of US rapping over predictable production, but the highs were very high. When I got home and listened to it all, I made a point to find as much hip hop from this part of the world as I could.
The tracks collected here provide a limited but potent reflection of the two-decade ascendency
and ultimate world-takeover of hip hop, as it displaced rock and its endless variants for millions of listeners. This not a fair and balanced overview of regional production: I've only included tracks from Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. Nor is this a biggest or most important artists collection; instead, I've tried to recapture the pure visceral thrill of that first time I heard Joey Boy, choosing bangers that sound like nothing else, from nowhere else."
Don Cherry, armed with a voracious musical appetite and boundless imagination, first made a name for himself - though not always fully understood - alongside Ornette Coleman, playing trumpet or cornet. In Los Angeles and then New York, he stood at the heart of a revolutionary approach to improvisation based on melody rather than harmony, later baptized "Free Jazz," the final structural development of American jazz. Over time, he became a champion of improbable fusions - gradually integrating into his style a whole array of "exotic" instruments, and more importantly, the cultures from which they originated. Among them: India, Brazil, Africa, Indonesia, and even China. The time had come for the emergence of "world music": in hindsight, a patchwork rich in imagination and seduction, but once the novelty wore off, often lacking in substance.
In Don Cherry's case, however, the commitment ran deep - tied to his personal engagement with a global vision of art and the human condition. Ustad Ahmed Latif Khan, from the Delhi gharana (a musical lineage), was part of a new generation of accompanists - percussionists, sarangi players, flutists, etc. - who had extended both the technical and conceptual possibilities of their predecessors to gain recognition as soloists and soon to venture onto the international scene. Among them, Latif stood out for his taste for irregular, highly syncopated rhythmic patterns - rich in variety and originality. Don and Latif had never met before the recording session, but the two quickly recognised one another as kindred spirits - calm, focused... and full of laughter. Don clearly knew what he wanted to create, and nothing seemed to pose a challenge for Latif, who grasped the American's intentions immediately, warmed up his fingers at astonishing speed, and with his perfect pitch, naturally took on the role of tuning Don's diverse instrument collection to match whatever was found in the studio - from concert piano and Hammond B3 organ to chromatic orchestral timpani.
"Next up in Mr Bongo's Groove Merchant Records reissue series, we present the only solo album saxophonist Ramon Morris recorded as a bandleader. Having cut his teeth playing with the iconic band Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers and working with other jazz greats, including Reuben Wilson, Shirley Scott, Rashied Ali Quintet, and Woody Shaw, 1973 saw Ramon take the step into solo territory. The resulting album Sweet Sister Funk became a certified classic and a landmark showcase of the cherished ‘70s jazz-funk sound, later sampled by the likes of DJ Premier, The Alchemist and DJ Shadow.
Originally released on Sonny Lester's iconic Groove Merchant record label and produced by Lester himself, Sweet Sister Funk is a jazz-funk masterclass. It features a slick line-up including Cecil Bridgewater on trumpet, Mickey Roker on drums, and Albert Dailey on electric piano. Rich and beautiful, the seven songs ebb and flow in energy, fusing jazz funk and soul jazz with style and swagger. There are bags of groove with Ramon and Cecil trading off on sax and trumpet in an effortless conversation throughout the LP, supplemented by brilliant solos from the rest of the players.
A gold mine of sampling material, the album includes a sublime cover version of The Stylistics' much-loved 'People Make The World Go Round', which was sampled by DJ Shadow on Blackalicious's 'Swan Lake' in 1994. Elsewhere, the percussion and bass intro of the opening track 'First Come, First Serve' is a sampler's delight - a deep, heavy groove with a fine saxophone workout by Ramon. Head to 'Don't Ask Me' and you’ll find the swinging horn intro that formed the basis of 'You Came Up' by Big Pun featuring Noreaga from 1998, whilst 'Wijinia' has echoes of ‘70s indie jazz by labels such as Strata East & Black Jazz.
Here at Mr Bongo, we are proud to be delving into the vaults of Groove Merchant Records once again, reissuing this iconic LP from Ramon Morris."
Panthera is back at the Bordello with his most energy-packed release to date. Synthsizer Hits III is forged in the heat of Hi-NRG, the romance of italo and the daring synthesizer hooks of 1980s Europe. A thick rasping beat pounds above a juddering arpeggiator line before hedonistic surges ignite “Fumare”, an achingly addictive opener. Vocals are toyed with, used to increase the potency of the chosen machines and sounds. A circling chant infects “Lucifera” as a joyous melody takes hold of this modern Summer anthem, euphoric notes ushering in the dawn while speakers and strobe throb. There is a palpable power that permeates the 12”. “The Magic Touch” sends strings sailing skyward as rich percussive textures take root below. From this fertile ground, a sensational ode to the synthesizer flowers. Vocoder lyrics, pulsating rhythms and keys that are truly fantastical. “Toccata” finishes this analogue celebration. Slow burning with disco inflections, this finale soon shows its true colours. Daring counter melodies frolic, from the elegant and refined to the brash and broad, in this mirrorball inspired last dance.
X-IMG presents “SEARCHING HELL” the new album by industrial body music producer SARIN, this 12” full-length LP marks his first release in six years.
SARIN (aka Emad Dabiri) has spent the last years sharpening his teeth on numerous collaborations and dozens of remixes. His evolution and development is displayed in the Gesamtkunstwerk that is “SEARCHING HELL” a nine track cybernetic joyride into oblivion; featuring his distinct militant drumwork, heat-seeking bass lines and surgically interlaced sampling, augmented by deceptively serene atmospheric pads & bloodied vocals. All this composed and assembled with an array of analog, digital and software based weaponry. “SEARCHING HELL” seeks to find meaning in an increasingly meaningless & subjugated world while maintaining a subversive & defiant autonomy.
A collection of transfixing, storm-like compositions, "Drifts" draws you into its heightened sense of quiet, reveling in iridescent, tranquilized vapors - one part ambient Classical, one part Club-adjacent ambience.
Pitched, reduced, sampled and re-sampled, the album's glowing, elliptical abstractions - using piano, harp, strings & modular synthesizer - explore the emotional terrain between aftermath and renewal, blending the unstructured immediacy of improvisation with the elegant sculpture of composition.
"Drifts" represents for its maker a newfound interest in shadow and mystery, each track a shifting terrain, a collection of clues, a scene set in a larger story, the effect cumulative.
Featuring collaborations with Patrick Belaga, Marilu Donovan (LEYA), and Takuma Watanabe, the album's cinematic suite of impressionistic, ambient works invites the listener into a vast, mapless space of dreamlike non-linearity where interior and exterior landscapes bristle with intimacy and electricity.
From the heart of Tamanrasset in South Algeria, Imarhan transcend Tuareg tradition, weaving hypnotic synths into desert blues. The result is a timeless work—deeply respectful of their roots, yet alive with a stirring sense of modernity.
ESSAM is the band’s fourth album, recorded with the same core lineup, but marks a significant shift in their sound and approach. Musically, it marks a departure from the rocky, bluesy, psychedelic Tuareg guitar-driven sound influenced by Tinariwen’s heritage — moving toward something more open, modern, and exploratory.
For the first time, their long-time sound engineer Maxime Kosinetz stepped in as producer. He travelled to Tamanrasset with Emile Papandreou (of the French duo UTO), a multi-instrumentalist who introduced electronic elements by sampling live instruments and reprocessing them in real time with a modular synthesizer — subtly reshaping the band's sonic identity.
The album was recorded mostly live, in one big room at Aboogi Studio — the band’s own rehearsal and recording space in Tamanrasset. The studio, a converted concert hall, has become a kind of cultural hub for the local youth. Friends dropped by during the sessions to contribute handclaps, vocals, and just be part of the energy. It’s a space where people gather, hang out, play dominoes, smoke chicha — a rare communal spot in a city that doesn’t offer many for young people, somewhat like a youth and community center.
This context — the creative shift, the live recording process, the atmosphere around Aboogi — might be interesting threads to explore in the conversation.
Everyone knows the story of American disco. But few are aware that, between the late 1960s and the late 1980s, Italy wrote a parallel one — spontaneous, surprising, and incredibly creative.
It is a story that spans two distinct seasons: the Italian disco of the 1970s — melodic, handmade, sometimes naïve yet always original — and the emerging Italo Disco of the 1980s, electronic, futuristic, and lightheartedly projected toward the future. Two different languages, yet both driven by the same desire for freedom and modernity. Discoteca Sound — Italian Discoteca Underground 1975–1986 brings together 18 rare tracks — including two previously unreleased — that tell this story of transition: from the orchestral and sentimental disco of Italian dance halls to the synthetic and visionary sound of the first drum machines. A journey through private archives, local labels, regional studios, and forgotten voices — the sonic map of a country that has always danced, but to its own rhythm. From Mediterranean disco to the first Italo Disco, from the dim lights of provincial dance halls to the early home synthesizers, each track opens a window onto an Italy that dreamed of the dance floor as a universal language of connection during the brief season of revolutionary utopias.
This compilation celebrates ten years of work by Disco Segreta — a decade dedicated to the research, recovery, and appreciation of Italian disco and electronic culture. An act of justice owed to all those artists who had their moment yet were never remembered by history — bringing back to light an essential, still too little known part of our musical heritage. Because dancing today remains, more than ever, a living act of memory.
Limited edition 2LP, features 2 previously unreleased tracks and a new 2025 version of Coscarella & Polimeno – Station to Station.
f Grazia Vitale – Poi (1975) Previously Unreleased
q Daniel Sentacruz Ensemble – Vivo Solo Con Te (1982) Previously Unreleased
f Grazia Vitale – Poi (1975) Previously Unreleased
q Daniel Sentacruz Ensemble – Vivo Solo Con Te (1982) Previously Unreleased
f B2. Grazia Vitale – Poi (1975) Previously Unreleased
q D4. Daniel Sentacruz Ensemble – Vivo Solo Con Te (1982) [Previously Unreleased]
[f] B2. Grazia Vitale – Poi (1975) [Previously Unreleased]
[q] D4. Daniel Sentacruz Ensemble – Vivo Solo Con Te (1982) [Previously Unreleased]
[f] B2. Grazia Vitale – Poi (1975) [Previously Unreleased]
[q] D4. Daniel Sentacruz Ensemble – Vivo Solo Con Te (1982) [Previously Unreleased]
The third release on Midnight Fashion Chill gracefully continues the label’s elegant, soul-soothing direction, this time through the warm voice of Jaidene Veda. The original Across The World stands as a true gem: a silky, gently flowing composition where soft, understated drums and delicate piano lines create an intimate, contemplative atmosphere. The From P60 rework tightens things up a little, adding a touch more groove while preserving the track’s airiness and emotional subtlety.
The next on is Kai Alcé’s remix. The Atlanta based producer injects the track with his signature classic-house energy: deeper basslines, dancefloor-ready rhythms, and an overall sophistication that makes the remix both driving and refined. This is the version guaranteed to move the crowd — vibrant, stylish, and tailormade for late-night club moments. The three faces of Across The World show just how far a well-crafted vocal track can be stretched. Midnight Fashion Chill’s latest release manages to be both relaxing and dance-inducing — exactly the kind of balance that makes this series worth following.
Xris bends the sentiment. Pacing at four in the morning with no intention of stopping. The night won't go quiet. The days are not linear. Straight lines are for people with plans.
To mark Grid's second anniversary back in 2023, the label brought together 13 tracks from the bass scene's most forward-thinking artists, all of which sank you into deep sonic chambers. Now, six of those tracks are available on wax for the first time in what is an essential sampler featuring boundary-pushing contributions from forward-thinking artists. Sister Zo opens with the percussive pressure of 'EMP,' Ronan lays down a lithe rhythm that befits its 'Shadowbox' title and Seekersinternational drill down into warped low-end chaos. There is a deftness to Jonny From Space's tumbling perc and E-Unity brings clean lines and a futuristic sheen to his deep dub workout 'Of All The Places I Could Be'. Tammo Hesselink brings ambient soundscaping with his floating delight, 'Paint Reduce Trick.' This is high-quality, original music that moves both mind and body.
“I've always dreamed of making an album where I could bring together artists I deeply admire, curating voices, energies, and sensibilities that have inspired me,” says Brussels-born producer and multidisciplinary artist ShunGu of his new record, Faith in the Unknown. “It took time, and it grew into something very human, rooted in trust, patience, and creative risk. These songs are conversations, not just between me and the artists, but between worlds, eras, and ways of feeling.”
That spirit of dialogue and discovery is what defines Faith in the Unknown. Emerging from years of steady, meticulous work in the underground, the album is both a bold statement of identity and an invitation into Shungu’s world. Across 14 tracks, each a self-contained vignette, ShunGu guides the listener through shifting moods and perspectives- moments of intimacy, defiance, reflection and release, coalescing into a much larger story.
His distinct touch threads through the surefire cast of collaborators - Pink Siifu, Liv.e, Fly Anakin, Chester Watson, Fatima, Maxo, Navy Blue, Dreamcastmoe, Ruqqiyah, Zekeultra and Goya Gumbani — each track unfolding as a new dimension in the same universe.
ShunGu has long been a boundary-pusher, known for weaving jazz-inflected samples, skilfully constructed textures, and MPC-driven grooves into production that feels timeless yet untethered. With Faith in the Unknown he pushes further still: a project as much about collective energy as it is about personal vision. It’s a leap into uncertainty, carried by trust in the process and the people involved.
From the lo-fi beat tapes that first won him a cult following, to collaborations that span the globe, Shungu has forged a body of work rooted in exploration and community. Faith in the Unknown crystallises those qualities into his most ambitious statement yet; a record that doesn’t just blur boundaries between genres, but asks what happens when vulnerability and experimentation are treated as shared ground.
The result is a record that trades in subtlety. Each artistic contribution adds its own shade to the larger mosaic, pulling the listener deeper into an expanding narrative. If Faith in the Unknown has a message, it’s that art can thrive in uncertainty - that in the spaces where trust, risk, and vulnerability intersect, something entirely new can emerge.
“I've always dreamed of making an album where I could bring together artists I deeply admire, curating voices, energies, and sensibilities that have inspired me,” says Brussels-born producer and multidisciplinary artist ShunGu of his new record, Faith in the Unknown. “It took time, and it grew into something very human, rooted in trust, patience, and creative risk. These songs are conversations, not just between me and the artists, but between worlds, eras, and ways of feeling.”
That spirit of dialogue and discovery is what defines Faith in the Unknown. Emerging from years of steady, meticulous work in the underground, the album is both a bold statement of identity and an invitation into Shungu’s world. Across 14 tracks, each a self-contained vignette, ShunGu guides the listener through shifting moods and perspectives- moments of intimacy, defiance, reflection and release, coalescing into a much larger story.
His distinct touch threads through the surefire cast of collaborators - Pink Siifu, Liv.e, Fly Anakin, Chester Watson, Fatima, Maxo, Navy Blue, Dreamcastmoe, Ruqqiyah, Zekeultra and Goya Gumbani — each track unfolding as a new dimension in the same universe.
ShunGu has long been a boundary-pusher, known for weaving jazz-inflected samples, skilfully constructed textures, and MPC-driven grooves into production that feels timeless yet untethered. With Faith in the Unknown he pushes further still: a project as much about collective energy as it is about personal vision. It’s a leap into uncertainty, carried by trust in the process and the people involved.
From the lo-fi beat tapes that first won him a cult following, to collaborations that span the globe, Shungu has forged a body of work rooted in exploration and community. Faith in the Unknown crystallises those qualities into his most ambitious statement yet; a record that doesn’t just blur boundaries between genres, but asks what happens when vulnerability and experimentation are treated as shared ground.
The result is a record that trades in subtlety. Each artistic contribution adds its own shade to the larger mosaic, pulling the listener deeper into an expanding narrative. If Faith in the Unknown has a message, it’s that art can thrive in uncertainty - that in the spaces where trust, risk, and vulnerability intersect, something entirely new can emerge.
The Éthiopiques series returns! Essential archive recordings from an extremely fruitful period in Ethiopian music.
Before “Swinging Addis” took over the world, there was Moussié Nerses Nalbandian — the Armenian-born composer who shaped modern Ethiopian music. Mentor, arranger, and pioneer, he laid the foundations of Ethio-jazz.
This Éthiopiques volume revives his forgotten legacy, recorded live by Either/ Orchestra First issue ever with new exclusive photos and in depth liner 8-page insert.
“Ethiopian jazzmen are the best musicians that we have seen so far in Africa.
They really are promising handlers of jazz instruments.”
Wilbur De Paris
(1959, after a concert in Addis Ababa)
አዲስ፡ዘመን። *Addis zèmèn* **A new era.**
The time is the mid-1950s and early 1960s, just before "Swinging Addis" bloomed – or rather boomed – onto the scene. Brass instruments are still dominant, but the advent of the electric guitar, and the very first electronic organs, are just around the corner. Rock’n'Roll, R’n’B, Soul and the Twist have not yet barged their way in. Addis Ababa is steeped in the big band atmosphere of the post-war era, with Glenn Miller's *In the* *Mood* as its world-wide theme song, neck and neck with the Latin craze that was in vogue at the same period. Life has become enjoyable once again, with the return of peace after the terrible Italian Fascist invasion of Ethiopia (1935-1941). The redeployment of modern music is part and parcel of the postwar reconstruction. *Addis zèmèn* – a new era – is the watchword of the postwar period, just as it was all across war-torn Europe.
The generation who were the young parents of baby boomers** were the first to enjoy this musical renaissance, before the baby boomers themselves took over and forever super-charged the soundtrack of the final days of imperial reign. Music is Ethiopia's most popular art form, and very often serves as the best barometer for the upsurge of energy that is critical for reconstruction. Whether it be jazz in Saint-Germain-des-Prés or the *zazous* who revolutionised both jazz and French *chanson* after the *Libération*, be it Madrid's post-Franco Movida, or Dada, the Surrealists and *les années folles* that followed World War I, the periods just after mourning and hardship always give rise to brighter and more tuneful tomorrows. Addis Ababa, as the country's capital, and the epicentre of change, was no exception to this vital rule.
**Two generations of Nalbandian musicians**
Nersès Nalbandian belonged to a family of Armenian exiles, who had moved to Ethiopia in the mid-1920s. The uncle Kevork arrived along with the fabled "*Arba Lidjotch*", the** "*40 Kids*", young Armenian orphans and musicians that the Ras Tafari had recruited when he visited Jerusalem in 1924, intending to turn their brass band into the official imperial band. If Kevork Nalbandian was the one who first opened the way of modernism, pushing innovation so far as to invent musical theatre, it was his nephew Nersès who would go on to become, from the 1940s and until his death in 1977, a pivotal figure of modern Ethiopian music and of the heights it. Going all the way back to the 1950s. Nothing less. And it is Nersès who is largely to thank for the brassy colours that so greatly contributed to the international renown of Ethiopian groove. While the younger generations today venture timidly into the genealogy of their country's modern music, often losing their way amidst a distinctly xenophobic historiographical complacency, many survivors of the imperial period are still around to bear witness and pay tribute to the essential role that "Moussié Nersès" played in the rise of Abyssinia's musical modernity.
Given the year of his birth (15 March 1915), no one knows for sure if Nersès Nalbandian was born in Aintab, today Gaziantep (Turkiye/former Ottoman Empire) or on the other side of the border in Alep, Syria... What is certain is that his family, like the entire Armenian community, was amongst the victims of the genocide perpetrated by the Turks. Alep, the place of safety – today in ruins.
Before Nersès then, there was uncle Kevork (1887-1963). For a quarter of a century, he was a whirlwind of activity in music teaching and theatrical innovation. *Guèbrè Mariam le Gondaré* (የጎንደሬ ገብረ ማርያም አጥቶ ማግኘት, 1926 EC=1934) is his most famous creation. This play included "ten Ethiopian songs" — a totally innovative approach. According to his autobiographical notes, preserved by the Nalbandian family, Kevork indicates that he composed some 50 such pieces over the course of his career. This shows just how much he understood, very early on, the critical importance of song as Ethiopia's crowning artistic form. Indeed, for Ethiopian listeners, the most important thing is the lyrics, with all their multifarious mischief, far more than a strong melody, sophisticated arrangements or even an exceptional voice. (This is also why Ethiopians by and large, and beginning with the artists and producers themselves, believed for a long time — and wrongly — that their music could not possibly be exported, and could never win over audiences abroad, who did not speak the country's languages).
Last but not least, one of Kevork's major contributions remains composing Ethiopia's first national anthem – with lyrics by Yoftahé Negussié.
Nersès Nalbandian moved to Ethiopia at the end of the 1930s, at the behest of his ground-breaking uncle. Proficient in many instruments (pretty much everything but the drums), conductor, choir director, composer, arranger, adapter, creator, piano tuner, purveyor of rented pianos,... he was above all an energetic and influential teacher. From 1946 onwards, thanks to Kevork's connexion, Nersès was appointed musical director of the Addis Ababa Municipality Band. In just a few years, Nersès transformed it into the first truly modern ensemble, thanks to the quality of his teaching, his choice of repertoire, and the sophistication of his arrangements. It was this group that would go on to become the orchestra of the Haile Selassie Theatre shortly after its inauguration in 1955, which was a major celebration of the Emperor's jubilee, marking the 25th anniversary of his on-again-off-again reign.
At some point or other in his long career, Nersès Nalbandian had a hand in the creation of just about every institutional band (Municipality Band, Police Orchestra, Imperial Bodyguard Band, Army Band, Yared Music School…), but it was with the Haile Selassie Theatre – today the National Theatre – that his abilities were most on display, up until his death in 1977. To this must be added the development of choral singing in Ethiopia, hitherto unknown, and a sort of secret garden dedicated to the memory of Armenian sacred music, and brought together in two thick, unpublished volumes. Shortly before his death (November 13, 1977), he was appointed to lead the impressive Ethiopian delegation at Festac in Lagos, Nigeria (January-February 1977).
His status as a stateless foreigner regularly excluded him from the most senior positions, in spite of the respect he commanded (and commands to this day) from the musicians of his era. Naturally gifted and largely self-taught, Nerses was tirelessly curious about new musical developments, drawing inspiration from the very first imported records, and especially from listening intensely to the musical programmes broadcast over short-wave radio – BBC *First*. A prolific composer and arranger, he was constantly mindful of formalising and integrating Ethiopian parameters (specific “musical modes”, pentatonic scale, and the dominance of ternary rhythms) into his “modernisation” of the musical culture, rather than trying to over-westernise it. It even seems very probable that *Moussié* Nerses made a decisive contribution to the development of tighter music-teaching methods, in order to revitalise musical education during this period of prodigious cultural ferment. Flying in the face of all the historiographical and musicological evidence, it is taken as sacrosanct dogma that the four musical modes or chords officially recognised today, the *qǝñǝt* or *qiñit* (ቅኝት), are every bit as millennial as Ethiopia itself. It would appear however that some streamlining of these chords actually took place in around 1960. It was only from this time onward that music teaching was structured around these four fundamental musical modes and chords: *Ambassel*, *Bati*, *Tezeta* and *Antchi Hoyé*. A historical and musical “details” that is, apparently, difficult to swallow, especially if that should honour a *foreigner*. Modern Ethiopian music has Nersès to thank for many of its standards and, to this day, it is not unusual for the National Radio to broadcast thunderous oldies that bear unmistakable traces of his outrageously groovy touch.
Neroli reaches release number 50 during its 20th anniversary and celebrates with a special project, an album of songs by some of the label artists and friends. The title reference goes back to 20 years ago when label’s honcho Volcov decided to give the label the name of Brian Eno’s Neroli album, an hour long ambient opus inspired by the oil derived by the flowers of the Seville orange. So after 20 years and 50 releases the label goes full circle and offers an album of delicate and heartwarming melodies and atmospheric songs. The talent of original UK dons Kirk Degiorgio, Dego and Ian o’Brien is enrolled once again to guarantee sophistication and depth. Patrice Scott and Fred P, who had recently released eps on Neroli, are joined here by fellow spacecadet Aybee…all delivering warm futuristic pieces! K15 and Linkwood debut on the label, opening and closing the album with class. And there is even a lost composition by Volcov himself with Detroit’s Gerald Mitchell and Pirahnahead as part of some 2010 sessions that might resurface soon…THE FIRST CIRCLE is complete!
Design by Al White. Manufactured and Distributed by Mother Tongue, Verona.
Die legendäre Performance von The Cranberries bei MTV Unplugged, jetzt das erste Mal auf Vinyl erhältlich!
The Cranberries traten 1995 in der MTV-Sendung „Unplugged“ auf, um für ihr Album „No Need To Argue“ zu werben, aber die Audioaufnahme wurde bis heute nie veröffentlicht. Nun erscheint die vollständige
45-minütige Performance mit 9 Songs einmal auf einer schwarzen 1LP, exklusiv auf einer limitierten Crystal
Clear Vinyl sowie einer White Alabaster farbenen Vinyl und als CD.
Mord is from Rotterdam.
Mord is short for Morderstwo.
Mord is a label project by Bas Mooy.
Mord is here.
Mord!
Early support by Surgeon, Adam Beyer, Shifted, Speedy J, Black Asteroid, Chris Liebing, Len Faki, Gary Beck, DVS1, Svreca, Perc, Ben Klock, Truss, Dustin Zahn, Paul Mac, Paula Temple, Xhin, Samuli Kemmpi, Tommy Four Seven, Rebekah, Developer,Pfirter, Jonas Kopp and more...
Manizeh Rimer, founder of London’s Love Supreme Projects, announces her debut album Mahku, releasing on vinyl and all digital platforms on December 5, 2025 via LEITER.
A bold contribution to contemporary spiritual jazz, the album was co-produced by LEITER labelmate ganavya – who recently released the celebrated Daughter of a Temple and Nilam. Recorded in early 2025 at LEITER’s Funkhaus Studio in Berlin, Mahku features eight chants, including a reimagined version of Fleetwood Mac’s Landslide, with ganavya appearing on three tracks.
The album brings together a stellar cast: Grammy-nominated Jai Uttal; bassists Ben Hazleton and Doug Weiss; harpist Miriam Adefris; pianist Jay Verma; and Manizeh‘s teenage daughter, Mahku Rimer, on vocals and guitar. Tracks range from a 3,000-year-old Zoroastrian prayer (‘Ashem Vohu’) to Sanskrit and Buddhist mantras (‘Asato Ma’, ‘Gate Gate Paragate’) to the devotional ‘Avan’s Sita Ram’, dedicated to Manizeh‘s late mother.
Mahku means “eclipse” and is also the name of Manizeh’s grandmother. Developed from her long-standing chanting practice and deep creative partnership with ganavya, the album opens and closes with three generations of women’s voices, exploring music as a timeless, intergenerational loop. Recorded in a space Manizeh describes as “suspending you in an infinite river of time,” Mahku is both personal ritual and universal offering, flowing through lineage, loss, and love.
A year after her rebirth on the 2.0 EP, Maedon returns to her Rant & Rave imprint with the intentions of her previous release now distilled and focused into bold new forms. Whereas before the artist was transitioning from her earlier work towards new directions, Matter & Form arrives as an extended concept piece featuring four variations on a bracing, developed sound, an equally impressive remix from Lady Starlight, and a contrasting mix of the opening track. Where 2.0 charted emergence, 'Entelechy I-IV' unites to actualize this potential into a single-minded purpose behind fundamental principles.
Immediately launching into territory her last release only hinted at, 'Entelechy I' is a showcase for her now-mature approach. Her rhythmic dexterity and groove focus remains, with drum programs subtly evolving phrase by phrase, but they now form the basis for layered, complex compositions in a decidedly contemporary vein. 'Entelechy II' shifts focus towards the arrangement while keeping its drums steadily driving, drawing attention to details in its densely designed sounds through deliberate, gradual processing. Relaxing the tempo slightly, 'Entelechy III' fills in the extra space with more dark atmospherics and finely detailed soundscapes, finding a heavy medium between dark ambience and hammering techno. Another deeper effort, 'Entelechy IV' counterbalances insistent, finely-tooled percussive bleeps and equally persistent bass figures against another sweeping bass pulse, at times breaking down into carefully-controlled atonal aggression. Lady Starlight's remix is skeletal in comparison, deploying its parts sequentially over ticker hi hats and a massive kick while using small shifts to incrementally build tension. 'Entelechy I (Bent Mix)' is more accurately described as hellbent, stripping out the original's harmonic elements to grind the heavy rhythmic workout against an unrelenting acid line.
A cult artifact from the dawn of German techno returns. Cyber Space Tracks Vol. 3 – The Quadrant EP by Jack U. Rebels is a raw, deep dive into the early ‘90s underground.
Originally pressed in 1992 on the seminal techno label Timeplan, this EP has long been a coveted gem among techno purists and collectors. Jack U. Rebels —an alias of key players from the German rave movement—channeled the spirit of rebellion and freedom into a sound that was both cerebral and physical. From hypnotic synth lines to cavernous, dubbed-out drum workouts, The Quadrant EP captures a formative moment in techno history—when genre lines blurred and the rave was still wild.
Lovingly remastered and faithfully reissued, this edition brings back the original energy while giving the tracks the sonic space they always deserved.
Coming From... Returning To... proudly presents this essential reissue— returning it to turntables where it belongs.
Tanzform Schwarze Tragetasche – Mind Portal Edition
Geheimnisvoll, exklusiv und straßentauglich. Die schwarze Tragetasche von Tanzform präsentiert sich mit dem von einem Undercover-Künstler entworfenen Mind Portal-Print und verleiht Ihrem Alltagsgepäck eine subtile und dennoch auffällige Note.
Diese Tragetasche aus der Tanzform Black Line besteht aus 100 % recycelter Baumwolle und vereint Strapazierfähigkeit, Komfort und eine moderne, minimalistische Ästhetik. Perfekt für die wichtigsten Dinge des täglichen Bedarfs, kreative Werkzeuge oder Wochenendabenteuer – ein vielseitiges Accessoire für ein Leben in Bewegung.
Hauptmerkmale:
Druck: Mind Portal-Design von einem Undercover-Künstler
Material: 100 % Upcycling-Baumwolle
Linie: Tanzform Black Line
Passform: Minimalistisch, vielseitig, für den täglichen Gebrauch
DJ Minx, Boogie Vice & N-You-Up, The People in Fog, and Jabes remix Radio Slave & Kameelah Waheed’s ‘All Rize’ on Rekids
Radio Slave presents the second remix EP for ‘All Rize’, releasing 19th December 2025, a follow-up to his May collaboration with Kameelah Waheed, enlisting DJ Minx, Boogie Vice & N-You-Up, DJ Sodeyama’s The People in Fog alias, and Jabes to reimagine the track. It follows the first remix package, featuring Harry Romero and Samaran in October, which won support from Laurent Garnier, Chloé Caillet, Saoirse, Honey Dijon, and many more.
Detroit’s First Lady of Wax, DJ Minx, follows her appearance at Rekids’ Panorama Bar takeover in August and steps up first. Her remix is a raw, club-ready workout built around a relentless groove and Kameelah Waheed’s commanding vocal mantra, as bleeps and whistles dance across the mix. Linking Cape Town and Southern France, Boogie Vice & N-You-Up follow their 2025 EP on REK’D and deliver a deep cut that slowly builds tension, its organic percussion and warm bassline leading toward a strobe-lit, tripped-out drop.
On the flip of the second ‘All Rize’ remix EP, Japan’s DJ Sodeyama, under his The People in Fog alias, drifts into more hypnotic territory. Lush pads wash over a low-slung beat and bassline, trading the club for the walk to the after-hours by carrying Waheed’s vocal into something surreal and dreamlike. Completing this left-of-centre B-side, Timedance and Kindergarten’s Jabes twists the original into a warped, textural trip with scratching layers and distorted vocal fragments that pierce through a dense atmosphere. If Sodeyama’s version is the dream, Jabes’ is the chaotic counterpart that follows.
Polymania is a collaboration between Earl Grey and Aroma Nice, both of whom hail from the North West of the UK and are known for their genre-pushing productions in and around the overlapping modern Drum & Bass, Jungle and Drumfunk spheres. This record is a euphoric ravey jungle affair with strong acidic inflections, extrovert and dancefloor-focussed, where effortlessly slick percussive flair shines and rolling acid lines squirt out through the seams - the result of two long-time friends with heaps of production experience having a lot of fun.
A-side opener 'Farce of Nature' sets the tone with high energy stabs and a big grooving bassline, rooted in 90s jungle techno but rendered in full high definition, while 'Happy Slaps' continues the theme with crisp drums dancing over an undulating resonant acid line. 'Tank Ammo' deftly ramps up the euphoria with a spiralling melody rising towards a lethal switch-up midway, using filtered choppage to burst the tension with extreme precision. Bouncy acid breaks bubbler 'Give U Up' closes the EP slowing the tempo a touch and dialling up the funk - a refreshing palate cleanser laced with rich braindance melodies and an infectious vocal hook.
Emerging from the University of the West Indies (UWI) in Jamaica during the late 1970s, Main Attraction was a group of talented singers whose music captured the social and political energy of their time. With a sound that blended reggae and soulful ballads, their songs were both a reflection and a response to the challenges of the era.
The group originally featured Sonia Copeland, a gifted writer, arranger, and back-up singer, alongside Sharon Jones, whose velvet voice led many of their reggae tracks. They were joined by Allison Smith, Marjorie Smith, and Shahiba Ali, forming the group’s first lineup. As time passed, Michelle Thompson and Lileth O’Connor joined, further enriching the group’s dynamic harmony.
Main Attraction’s musical journey began with their debut recording, a cover of Once Upon a Time, produced by David Haughton under the management of Clayton Downie. Later, with Owen Palmer as their manager and producer, the group expanded their horizons, performing in cabaret gigs with the band Mind Benders and embarking on an overseas tour that showcased their talent in New York City. While Sharon Jones led reggae tracks like Jam Up, Allison Peart and Shahiba Ali brought their soulful touch to R&B songs, creating a rich, versatile repertoire that captivated audiences.
Jam Up was the group’s first original recording, composed and arranged by Sonia Copeland. Performed as part of the Reggae Song Competition during Carnival in 1978, the song is a rallying cry for unity and progress. With powerful lyrics and a Shaka rhythm, Jam Up calls on Jamaicans to come together, strive for economic growth, and uplift the nation collectively.
Sonia’s vision was clear: that Jamaicans from all walks of life would find inspiration in the song’s message, motivating them to improve their standard of living and contribute to the country’s growth and prosperity. Decades later, the lyrics remain just as relevant — a timeless call to action for social and economic strength.
Hold this record in your hands, let the music play, and feel the enduring power of reggae music to transform, uplift, and connect.
The interstellar electronics are once more pushed to the fore on closer '80 Axes', where jaunty synth lines combine with soft bongo hits to create an instinctive rhythm, and intergalactic melodies sprint between the speakers. You can dance if you want to, but lying down is very much encouraged.
As part of the label's mission to champion Dutch talent, Voyage Direct has always promoted new, up and coming, and little-known producers. Boss Tom Trago's master plan includes building a family of artists, in part through helping unheralded local producers to fulfill their potential.
On the label's latest release, he continues that approach, serving up a debut 12' from a mysterious young producer known only as Darling. Those paying close attention to the wider Dutch house and techno scene may have spotted his recent rework of Awanto3's 'Star Butchers' on Dekmantel, in which the man or woman of mystery added some killer keys to the Amsterdam legend's woozy, deep house original.
While that rework was undoubtedly superb, Jacob's Lead offers a truer reflection of the shadowy producer's previously hidden talents. As debut EPs go, it's a bit of a cracker.
The title track, in particular, is a beauty. Its' restless, hypnotic rhythm tips a wink to classic Dutch techno of old, while the undulating, analogue electronics and swirling pads recall the far-sighted retro-futurism of vintage Motor City material. Throw in some of Darling's trademark spine-tingling keys and a deliciously loved-up breakdown, and you have a choice chunk of life-affirming techno.
On the flip, Darling heads towards deeper territory with the bubbling melodies, starburst electronics and saucer-eyed chords of 'Video'. Unashamedly positive in sound and intent, it sounds like the kind of track that will be cited as a classic in two decades time. Melodious and infectious, it casts Darling as the Netherlands' answer to Larry Heard.
Yamaha's DX series of synthesizers has long been a source of inspiration for Tom Trago. The DX7, in particular, appeals to the Dutch producer thanks to a unique sound that he describes as glassy but classic and icy'. 34 years after it went on sale - the same year as Trago was born, interestingly - the synthesizer's sound still bristles with futurist appeal.
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Trago, who was partially trained in how to use the DX7 by studio friends Bok Bok, Sterac Electronics and Juju and Jordash, has decided to pay tribute to this most distinctive of synthesizers by using it as inspiration for Serene Waters, his first EP for Voyage Direct since 2014 epic Hidden Heart of Gold.
Across the course of five sparkling, spacey and melodious tracks, the Voyage Direct chief showcases the variety of sounds that can be teased from the DX7. Compare, for example, the delicate and rush-inducing melodies of dreamy, deep electro opener Harvest' and the two contrasting mixes of Opulent'', variations on a throbbing, futurist techno theme rich in glacial melody lines, bustling synth-bass and spacey chords. The dancefloor possibilities of the synthesizer's sound palette comes to the fore on the stripped-back Within Mix', where Trago's rolling stabs and cascading melodies are wrapped in tougher, denser drums.
The sparkling nature of the DX7's trademark sounds also come to the fore on XYZ', a crunchier and snappier electro outing that recall the effervescent brilliance of Trago's sometime label mate, Sterac Electronics. The track's combination of darting bass and mind-altering, alien electronics is as kaleidoscopic as they come.
Nestled slap bang in the centre of the EP is Red Room', where Trago manipulates his machines to get a far more psychedelic sound. While there's vibrant warmth thanks to some seductive background pads and stretched-out chords, it's the bubbling electronincs and futurist tunefulness that catches the ear. Like much of the rest of the EP, it tiptoes the fine line between poignancy and rush-inducing colourfulness.
The legacy of wipE′out′′ has transcended time and cemented itself as a true transgenerational phenomenon. Launched in 1995, it didn’t just revolutionise the gaming industry, it created a bridge between the gaming ecosystem and the raver community. Its futuristic aesthetics and forward-thinking sound left a mark not only on mainstream audiences but also on the most demanding corners of the underground.
Decades later, the game’s impact is still alive. The release in 2023 of The Zero Gravity Soundtrack on Lapsus Records proved once again that wipE′out′′’s accompanying audio will go down in history as much more than just an anti-gravity racing game soundtrack.
This is why we decided to go deeper into the slipstream and build the second volume you’re now holding in your hands. Drawn from the original archives of Tim Wright, aka CoLD SToRAGE, this new collection surfaces unreleased cuts, pieces that couldn’t fit on the first edition, and a suite of self-authored ambient reworks that translate pure velocity into wide-screen atmospherics engineered for the long straights, the drone of airbrakes, the blue hour between checkpoints. It also reconnects the circuit, gathering selections and variants tied to later chapters of the saga — wipE′out′′ HD and wipE′out′′ Pure — plus alternative mixes that, until now, only existed in the Sega Saturn dimension of the franchise.
Finally, the material takes a leap into the future in the hands of four remixers especially chosen for this release: Tim Reaper, SHERELLE, Mantra, and NikNak, who collectively forge links between CoLD SToRAGE’s pioneering musical vision, the sound world of the game, and the contemporary breakbeats and drum & bass vanguard.
Expect the DNA you remember — accelerated breaks, trance-vector synths, jungle influences, sub-bass rumbling neatly beneath the craft’s hull, and at times even echoes of classic hardstyle — now revealed with new angles and air. The previously unheard material carries the same aerodynamic design sense that made these tracks feel faster than the track map itself, while the ambient versions open the field of view with melodies hovering at the lip of overdrive. Without a doubt, here you’ll find a strong sense of nostalgia. But this isn’t just nostalgia; it’s also proof that this sound world continues to evolve when you ease off the throttle.
For the faithful — crate-digging ravers, speed-run obsessives, and design nerds — this is an essential expansion pack: compiling rarities, restoring context, and reframing the emotional core of wipE′out′′ for late nights and early mornings alike. Bridging memory and momentum, club and console, rush and afterglow. Strap in.
Detailed tracklist, with annotations by Tim Wright aka CoLD SToRAGE
· Scratch Pad 1: “This track was composed using incomplete tracks that were developed around the time of the first wipE′out′′. It’s so long because it was used for a marathon-length Psygnosis promotional video.”
· Messij Received: “Messij was a firm favourite with wipE′out′′ fans, so it made sense that there’d be more where that came from — this was one of those re-workings.”
· God’s Gift: “I was always very fond of Erasure’s track Love to Hate You with the canned crowd FX sounds. God’s Gift was a tongue-in-cheek reference to how some musicians think they are just that. This was way before I even played live as CoLD SToRAGE.”
· Tentative: “I wasn’t sure about introducing some wacky beats and distorted sounds into one of the tracks, because it was kinda heading away from the other tracks, hence Tentative — but it turned out OK.”
· Canada 2048: “When wipE′out′′ 2048 was launched I decided to re-make Canada as a kind of tribute, but in a slightly new-tech, laid-back way, using Propellerhead Reason and all software synths.”
· Wiped Out: “Based on a few riffs from a MIDI file unused at the time of the original wipE′out′′ game compositions, this featured on my debut album MELT.”
· Body in Motion (Body Plus Mix): “A more trippy interpretation of Body in Motion that featured on non PlayStation versions of the game e.g. Sega Saturn.”
· Onyx (“Dark Side of the Moon”): “Onyx was my sole contribution to wipE′out′′ Pure on the Sony PSP handheld gaming console. This version was something I developed in a darker style, that eventually erupts into a crescendo.”
· Messij Received (WSTWGBE Mix): “Like I say, Messij was a hit with most wipE′out′′ fans, so when I was asked to compose more music for non-PlayStation versions, I adapted this tune into a parallel-universe version for PC and Sega Saturn. By the way, WSTWGBE refers to Who Said This Was Going To Be Easy?”
· Canada (Drunken Ausländer Mix): “In early 2018 I released a fresh album called Ch'illout′′, a re-working of many of my wipE′out′′ tracks in an ambient, Sunday-morning vibe style — it was a few years’ work, here and there.”
· Tentative (Woffenfum Mix): “Another chilled re-working of one of my wipE′out′′ tracks, the mix named with a nod to a good friend of mine, Carl Woffenden — someone who I've worked with for many years in the games industry.”
· Messij (Bobbing Boat Mix): “A nice cheesy computer blip-blop start belies its deep and upbeat chilled-out melodic finale.”
· Body in Motion (Timeless Techno Mix): “Another classic track given the chilled-out vibe mix, as featured originally on my Ch'illout′′ album. This one’s a really trippy, deep-space take on the original.”
· DOH-T (AM / FM Mix): “The idea with this chilled-out mix was to imagine all the melodic parts of this varied track being broadcast on terrestrial radio, so each theme drifts in and out through the radio static.”
· ’95 Future Echoes: “Originally developed as a companion album for wipE′out′′ HD, this track actually has its roots in a tiny loop of a song that never progressed to anything special back in the mid-’90s when I was composing for the original game.”
· Turbine: “Also from my wipE′out′′ HD album, it leans heavily into the upbeat, uplifting tunes from the original game, but also steals a bit of vibe and energy from The Prodigy, with those distorted flute sounds.”
· Pencil Neck: “This excerpt from my wipE′out′′ HD album features lots of sounds centre-stage and forward from Propellerhead Reason’s Subtractor virtual synth. I learned to love this more than my JD-800!”
· Messij 2005 (New Science Mix): “Yet another take on the track that still raises a smile, this time through a mix of samples from the original and Propellerhead Reason — the ‘new science’ when compared to an Amiga 1200 running Bars and Pipes.”
For the first time, Endrik Schroeder and The Hacker have joined forces. Their unique sounds and styles have combined seamlessly to produce a 12” that draws on their own musical histories. The title track pulls the listener into a darkened sweaty basement, a space where neon lights leer and quivering speakers vibrate. Melting elements of new beat and rave revelry, the track is bawdy and bold. Robotic samples cut through siren blasts, clean snare rolls skidding in thick basslines and creamy breaks.
Two remixes follow, both care of fellow French producer: Back From The Wave. First up is the “Breaky Remix”. Adhering to the club origins of the source material, this remake sends melodies ever higher as drums lift elated lines to the stern refrain of “Emergency”. The “Indie Remix” closes. The glowsticks are sheathed in this version, instead it is the soaring keys that are given the limelight with beats bolstered for extra bite. Three tracks set to delight and ignite dancefloors.
No Static Automatic is proud to cap off the year with the electrifying *Cabin Pressure EP* from seasoned producer and sound designer **Luke Sanger**.
Set for release on limited edition vinyl, this four-track weapon is a potent fusion of classic electro rhythms and Sanger’s signature world of bleeps, wobbles, and modulated
chaos.
With a career spanning two decades at the nexus of music and technology, Luke Sanger is a relentless innovator. While his roots are often linked to techno, his artistic output defies easy categorization, constantly exploring the full spectrum of electronic music. On the
*Cabin Pressure EP*, he turns his focus to electro, injecting the genre with his uniquely off- kilter and captivating sound.
The EP is a masterful display of analog synthesis. Sanger crafts simple, infectious basslines and leads, then sets them in motion, allowing them to converse, modulate, and evolve into a complex tapestry of sound. The result is a listening experience that is as intellectually fascinating as it is physically compelling. Over a bedrock of sturdy electro beats, Sanger layers acid basslines with wild envelope modulation, distorted humanoid samples, and an array of wobbly, techy textures designed to bring dancefloors to a state of ecstatic, unstable bliss.
This is a record built for impact. The *Cabin Pressure EP* is not just a collection of tracks; it's a dynamic tool for DJs, guaranteed to become a secret weapon in sets that demand character and forward-thinking energy.
Efde's first release on Voyage Direct. Here he gets a chance to showcase his trademark sound on an expansive, four-track E.P for the Amsterdam-based label.
Some may be familiar with Efde's work through his occasional 12' singles for Nordik Netrecords and Soweso, where he distilled a variety of influences - think dreamy, ultra-deep house, the Chicago bump of Chez Damier, and the sci-fi pulse of Detroit - into tracks that had a distinctive vibe all of their own.
My Bleep' is arguably his most stunning production yet: a spine-tingling re-imagining of Detroit futurism built around sparkling, intertwined melody lines, dusty drum machine rhythms, hissing hi-hats and throbbing, analogue bass. While a thing of rare beauty, it also comes blessed with moments of sweaty percussive intensity, with stacked snare hits that increase in energy as the track progresses. The original's inherent beauty is emphasized further on the accompanying Ambient Mix', which recalls the glory days of Pete Namlook's FAX Records in the early 1990s.
There's more far-sighted dancefloor futurism to be found on the flip, where the spacey chord progressions, sprightly synth-bass and restless rhythms of Just Did It' capture the spirit of both the Motor City, and the classic UK techno-funk of Dave Angel and Luke Slater. A fine EP is completed by the ultra-deep shuffle of CMP135', which successfully draws on Efde's love of bumpin' U.S deep house whilst retaining the intergalactic sounds that are such a key part of the Dutchman's club-ready productions.
Amotik recruits Norway's Kameliia and Dallas-based Decoder for the third split EP on his increasingly essential AMTK+ label.
Kameliia's hypnotic and atmospheric music has appeared on the likes of Overbalance and Unterwegs, where she has previously flexed her sophisticated take on sound design and heady soundscapes with driving and physical grooves. Decoder recently started his new Toca label with Jay York and has previously appeared on labels like Subsist, Float and Jeff Mills' legendary Axis.
Kameliia kicks off with the heavy and thumping 'Beyond', combining forceful drums and a slow, mystical synth lead that encourages you to follow it deep into the night. '8-12' is another perfect fusion of the head and body with supple percussion smeared with balmy and cosmic chords for a classy and immersive cut.
Decoder opens the B-side with 'Kalpavriksha', a twitchy and paranoid cut laced with bleeps and pulses, crafting a futuristic soundscape that grows ever more intense. 'Swayambhu' brings experimental shades with its tightly interlaced drums and synths beneath an unsettling synth line that whistles like a storm. Closing the release is the excellent 'Velinattu,' a buoyant track that's warm and full of delicate percussive layers.
The White Chief project has been defined by her creator as the background character for self_sabotage deconstruction. Deeply inspired in early Industrial, Noise and Power Electronics taking, musically and conceptually some development model acts like Throbbing Gristle or Whitehouse, and certain complex lyrical compositions like could be some Fad Gadget tracks, Maria Barros, a colombian dj and producer known as Gatasanta delivers 5 dense, raw, noisey and dark cuts with the aesthetical connotation of the violent modern times, created among other analogical sounds with multiple Moog bass lines. This record includes also, two tracks from AMAS, Gatasanta's first live project with artist performer Ivana Ray Singh, both artists based in Barcelona. These two tracks appears on the EP as a tribute to the duo's early years of electronic production and performance tours around. All tracks has been produced 100% hardware.
The 12-track record is the first album on SHDW's influential label and explores the past, present, and future of techno.
Planet X label head and 20-year scene veteran Exos, hailing from Iceland, draws on his native country's influences in his work, which explores the interplay between light and dark, warmth and cold. His high-octane sounds over the last 20 years have appeared on vital imprints like Tresor, X/OZ, and, of course, Mutual Rytm, with his releases for
the label having been extremely well received, garnering support from the scene's key DJs. Whether dubby or hard, his techno is always authentic and channels the purity of the 90s style. This new album follows Exos's inaugural X-Release, the Infrared 10", the Icebreaker 12" from last year, and his track on the latest Federation of Rytm IV compilation. It's a real journey through all facets of his sound, including a trip back to his dub techno roots, ambient
explorations, and emotional vocal pieces with lifelong memories fused into sounds that reflect the artist's decades spent in Iceland.
'Sweet Dreams' opens with an atmospheric intro in the form of a 28-year-old collaboration with his father. This full-bodied analogue ambient piece is rich with the mysterious tones of the Nord Modular and was recorded during their shared studio days at D17 in Reykjavik. The title track is a hypnotic, linear groove with icy synth modulations and glistening melodies. 'Hinn Vioforli' then brings dub warmth while 'State of Mind' recalls the spirit of the legendary Reykjavik club 'Thomsen', a cornerstone of Iceland's late 90s underground scene. 'Glaour Og Reifur' and
'Fogur Er Hlioin'pay homage to the echoes of ancient Viking heritage, 'North of January' conveys the cold of Exos's homeland, and 'Hvarvetna' brings textured percussion and darker undertones before '101 After Dark' slows to a bass-heavy broken beat exploration of texture and post-dubstep pressure.
After the heady and atmospheric sound of 'The Dolphin Oracle', another key collaboration comes with 'Freefall', an emotional breakbeat piece featuring vocalist Amelia Rodriguez,' who also lends her voice to 'Shock', a magnificent track that channels Exos's modern techno energy. The album closes with a haunting paradox, 'Paradise Lost,' questioning whether our sweet dreams are truly moments of bliss or simply reflections of what we've already left behind. The three bonus digital cuts offer sleek minimalism, punchy deep techno, and suspenseful ambient.
Kid Katana Records teamed up with Dotemu, The Game Kitchen and KOEI TECMO GAMES, to bring you the highly anticipated NINJA GAIDEN: Ragebound OST on vinyl.
The physical edition is a 2LP designed in close relationship with the game's creative team:
- 2 colored vinyls: transparent blue & magenta, matching the cover art & the color-code of the two protagonists
- exclusive poster with extended credits & liner notes giving insights from the game’s creative team and featured artists
This album illustrates the incredible return to the saga's origins, embodied by Ryu Hayabusa's disciple Kenji Mozu and The Black Spider Clan Kunoichi Kumori, both united to repel the sudden onslaught of demons. It takes players back to its roots: a side-scrolling, brutally precise action-platformer set between the events of the first three episodes of the NINJA GAIDEN 8-bit era. The game’s OST blends different genres: rock, retro tunes and action-packed arcade music that respect the IP music legacy while modernizing it.
Venice, Italy – 2025 Paolo Mosca, the Italian producer, composer, and DJ acclaimed for his soulful approach to electronic music, unveils his new alias I.O.N with the forthcoming debut EP Signals, set to be released on Ritmotherapy. Known for releases on Slow Life, Altered Circuits, and a recent collaboration with Alex Neri, Mosca now steps into uncharted territory fusing experimental electronics with rock-inspired textures and raw energy for the dancefloor.
Signals is a daring reimagining of 90s sonic aesthetics, drawing inspiration from the breakbeat and hip-hop influences of cult films like Blade & The Matrix. Each track on the EP blurs the line between nostalgia and innovation, layering hypnotic riffs, rolling basslines, and gripping vocal samples with futuristic precision.
The EP kicks off with “Camouflage” , where breakbeat rhythms and hip-hop flavors meet futuristic atmospheres. A grabbing vocal, heavy low-end, and hypnotic riff drive the track into a world of cinematic tension and release.
“Escape” follows with a slower tempo, but its restrained pulse only builds anticipation. Classical violin lines cut through break-driven drums, leading to a long-awaited drop that delivers an overwhelming yet deeply satisfying release.
Next, “Neo” builds momentum with a gritty 303 bassline and sharp synths, locked into a relentless 4x4 rhythm. The track feels like an expedition through acid-soaked landscapes, equal parts raw and refined.
“They Are Looking at You” closes the EP with explosive energy, bursting with hip-hop vocals that command “don’t stop. ” Propelled by a nasty bassline and oriental-inspired synth melodies, it’s a track built to ignite dancefloors and spark spontaneous breakdance energy.
With Signals, I.O.N presents more than just an EP; It's a manifesto for a new era of club music. It’s heavy yet soulful, experimental yet deeply physical, and above all, a fresh signal to the global electronic scene that something new has arrived. Reserved for their official release on Ritmotherapy, the anticipation around this project signals a bold new chapter for both artist and label.
SPHERART Records returns with its ART series and a brand new Various Artists release "A TODO RITMO 002" a true piece of art featuring six atomic bombs designed to accompany every selector on their hypnotic journey.
ART002 brings together an exceptional lineup of talents including Andy Somoza, Aka Juanjo, Shkedul, JPG, Ffrvnco and Marino. Each track carries a pure essence, guiding you through a hypnotic and progressive voyage across electro Dracula, acid grooves, and 90s inspired techno percussion.
Our journeys into uncharted lands of the Reducerverse continue.
Essential must-buy shit for all disciples of: The Rootsman x Muslimgauze, Love's Secret Domain era Coil, Chris & Cosey, Meat Beat Manifesto, early Reinforced Recs, Shut Up & Dance, He Dark Age, Zombies Under Stress, SPK.
If you've just joined us: Reducer ARE the greatest lost dub punks. Rumoured to have almost signed to On-U Sound but told Sherwood to stuff it when he wanted his hands on the desk. Fame never found them, cos they didn't want it anyway. Living in the obscure memories of the select squatters and weirdos lucky enough to have had their minds blown, their first recordings were scraped off the linings of the cosmic dustbin recently through a series of self-released 12"s, cassettes, USBs and strangest of all a 3D performance screened at the Cube (in association with pals Bokeh Versions).
In short: Reducer's the most thrilling fairytale resurrection these pages have been privy to, joining 23 Skidoo, Killing Joke, PiL, Slits, Terminal Cheescake etc on the Mount Olympus of the Punky Reggae Party.
This latest slice of karmic justice comes from The Human Aerial aka Reducer's guitarist and prime mover Hooly. And ohhhh what a justice it is. Drawing on 40 years of private solo recordings across 7 tracks from Abu Ama style dabke jaguar steppas punishment to thumping bass-led electro, peak Depth Charge dubby big beat to careening breakbeat hardcore, trashcan gamelan spirituals and Jamie Vex'd style maximalist beats blissouts,
Tying together this jaw-dropping range of styles and fashions is a relentless sampladelic bombardment. The Human Aerial's habitual pilfering of TV and radio for into lovingly spliced tape loops and samples showcases humanity at its best and absolute worst. Tele-evangelists rub shoulders with long dead chieftans: "there is no death, only change of worlds" "We're MAD AS HELL AND WERE NOT GONNA TAKE IT ANYMORE" "THe land is sacred, a cathedral of the spirit". These wisdoms and grave sins slip into us subliminal through the dance, the needle drops like a waking dream.
While the Reducer archives may be running low, we assure you the Human Aerial coffers are full. And long may our minds be blown by this ongoing renaissance.
Six years after Nazamba’s first offering, he delivers his final gift: A Message From Zion.
The journey begins with George ’Nazamba’ and Rico ‘O.B.F’, two kindred spirits connected by sound. Countless cross-ocean visits between Kingston and the French Alps, from enjoying hot beers on the beach to reasonings in snowy mountains. Moments that forged a pure brotherhood.
Out of this friendship grew his first album, the self-titled Nazamba in 2019. Now comes his second, a collaboration between Thompson Sound and Dubquake Records. Together, they unite two generations of reggae powerhouses. Produced by Rico O.B.F, the record reimagines classic Thompson Sound gems. Nazamba’s musical storytelling is accompanied by the Roots Radics, with guest appearances from Linval Thompson & Barrington Levy.
Then came silence. In 2022, Nazamba passed on to Zion. The album project was unfinished, yet full of life. What remains is raw, unpolished and painfully beautiful.
A Message From Zion, a celebration of Nazamba’s universe. His voice, wisdom, poetry, heart and spirit. Forward we ah go. Ah true.
Cosmic Voodoo is an immersive musical experience that combines the best of cosmic disco with the pulsating energy of contemporary electronica. Through alternating synthesizers and acoustic instruments, this project presents an irresistible arsenal of sound.
This is the second volume of four that will create a unique graphic work created by the famous Aldo Drudi.
Written and produced by Daniele Baldelli, undisputed master of cosmic-disco, and Mattia “Matta” Dallara, sound explorer and producer of Cosmic Temple, this EP is a journey that evokes dreamy and nostalgic atmospheres, perfectly in line with disco roots.
The tracks unfold between enveloping grooves, spacey synthesizers and rhythms that pay homage to the 1980s, generating a sound that is both classic and innovative. An electronic tribal ritual, a dancing spell that can transport the listener to a parallel universe full of psychedelic sounds and magnetic beats.
Ideal for those who like to lose themselves in the depths of sound and be guided by vibrations that oscillate between past and future.
‘The second volume of Elementa Obscura moves with even greater force toward the dancefloor : six tracks straddling the lines between industrial, electro, and wave. From FIUME’s cold, pounding opener to Memorex’s spacious analog explorations, Nyxloid’s metallic EBM visions, and Ole Mic Odd’s razor-edged electro workout, the compilation spans the full spectrum of the underground. Spanish newcomer Thai Lady Boy brings chaos with a fractured industrial techno cut, while RNXRX closes with a ritualistic music excursion.
Strictly limited to 250 copies, vinyl-only. No repress.
With CAPTAIN, BNXN takes the wheel. The Nigerian singer-songwriter has always blurred the lines between afrobeats, R&B, and soulful introspection—but this time, he’s driving with full control, no co-pilot. The album marks a defining moment for BNXN (pronounced "Benson"): a confident, fully-formed statement from an artist who’s learned to trust his instincts, sharpen his pen, and follow his own creative compass.
From the cinematic opener to the late-night confessionals tucked between glossy hooks, CAPTAIN feels like a diary written at cruising altitude. BNXN threads personal stories through rich instrumentation—balancing Yoruba and English lyrics, weaving between amapiano pulses, stripped-down ballads, and smoky alt-R&B. Standout moments find him unpacking fame’s isolations, questioning loyalty, and wrestling with what it means to lead without losing yourself. There’s growth in every verse, not just in what he says, but how he says it: sharper, more intentional, and wholly unafraid to take risks. This is BNXN unfiltered—charting new territory without ever losing sight of home.
Dana Ruh offers up part 2 of her ‘This Journey So Far’ project via Yecad here.
As a long standing and widely respected figure in the world of underground house and techno through her releases on the likes of Slices Of Life, Ostgut Ton, Cocoon, Cave and of course her own Brouqade, Dana Ruh’s reputation stands tall as one of the finest purveyors of this sound. Amongst her releases, Dana maintains a heavy tour schedule taking her across the globe each year to many hotspots in key cities, here she marks another milestone in her career with a double 12’’ release, entitled ‘This Journey So Far’, as a musical reflection on all that’s led to this point.
Following the success of Part one, the second instalment now follows - kicking off the release is ‘MF Now’, stripping things back to a shuffled, bumpy rhythm section, resonant synth chimes and billowing textures. ‘Grey With Some Light’ then leans into a more experimental glitch realm via twitchy oscillating percussion, unfurling atmospherics and drifting keys. ‘The Look’ leans back into House territory with raw stabs, sax lines, metallic chimes and vacillating low-end tones before ‘Song For The Lonely’ concludes the project, encapsulating the essence of deep house with ethereal pad swells, circling stab sequences, low-slung drums and cossetting subs.
Oliver Dollar presents the ‘Contemporary’ LP on Rekids. The album features collaborations with producers and vocalists like ADMN, Seven Davis Jr., Brillstein, APROPOS, and more, releasing on 21st November 2025.
German House artist Oliver Dollar announces his ‘Contemporary’ LP on Rekids, arriving 21st November 2025. Since 2024, he has released four EPs on Radio Slave’s label, featuring collaborations with over a dozen artists and singer-songwriters, supported by the likes of Dam Swindle, Louie Vega, Honey Dijon, Hunee, Kai Alce, and more.
Since 2011, Industry Standard label boss Oliver Dollar has become a trusted name in House music, he was one of the leading proponents of its Fidget subgenre in Berlin at the height of its popularity, propelling him towards releases on labels such as Snatch!, Classic Music Company, and Defected, alongside a reputation as a formidable collaborator that’s worked with the likes of Crazy P, Mousse T, and Todd Edwards. For the ‘Contemporary’ LP, he doubles down on this spirit of partnership, bringing together a transatlantic cast of friends and peers, linking Berlin and Detroit through a shared House vision. The album begins with ‘The New Is Here’, where Oliver Dollar teams up with Nils Ohrman for a soulful sermon that sets the tone with warmth and gravity, which was previously reimagined into a club-focused dub for ‘Contemporary Part Four’. From there, the mood shifts into ‘Downtown’ with Phil WZK, a deep, Jazz-inflected groove underpinned by a spoken monologue that feels both intimate and eternal Vocalists like APROPOS, Boog Brown, and Billy Love then bring soul and gospel fire, while producers including ADMN, Seven Davis Jr., Harvard Bass, Brillstein, and Austin Ato shape grooves that range from Disco-tinged uplift to deep, dubby hypnotism. Rather than a showcase of features, the album flows as one unified statement, a celebration of community, connection, and the timeless energy of House music.
Founded in 2006, Radio Slave’s Rekids has since launched the Techno-focused Rekids Special Projects in 2017 and its latest sublabel, REK’D, in 2024. With Matt Edwards as the sole A&R, Rekids has been instrumental in developing emerging artists and remains a trusted home for House and adjacent sounds, recently featuring names such as Hilit Kolet, Tal Fussman, Frankey & Sandrino, Mathias Kaden, Huxley, and many more. Oliver Dollar’s ‘Contemporary’ LP on Rekids is a genuine team effort, bringing together some of the brightest voices and producers for a masterpiece that seamlessly blends modern and classic House, Dub, and Disco.
UK-based DJ and producer Wallace debuts on Phantasy Sound with an irresistible double A-side single, ‘Cravings (ft. Love Letters) / Concourse.’ Bubbling with sensuality and euphoria, both tracks reinforce Wallace’s burgeoning reputation as one of electronic music’s most impressive new voices, a crowning moment on Erol Alkan’s long-running label following a stellar run of singles for imprints including Cooking With Palms Trax, Rhythm Section, and Moxie's much-loved On Loop.
Led by a longing, inquisitive performance from vocalist and underground house music luminary, Love Letters, ‘Cravings’ builds from a simple throbbing bass line to an eruption of lyrical and musical joy. Exploring onset desire – risk, uncertainty, and ultimately, reward – Wallace’s deep and celebratory arrangement interweaves with Love Letters’ queer perspective to deliver universal satisfaction.
While ‘Cravings’ looks inward to find release, ‘Concourse’ goes for the jugular with a darker, more epic sensibility than Wallace has previously indulged. His flawless production touch seamlessly gifts magic to a widescreen techno epic that might not sound out of place on the terrace at Circoloco or else a field near early-nineties Frankfurt, repeatedly working his acid-oriented machines into a lather and conjuring cosmic drama from eerie, choral voices beneath a powerful groove.
Underground mainstay and long-time melodic and progressive champion Guy Gerber is back on his own Rumors label with Every Time We Say Goodbye, a new EP that shows he continues to evolve his style without forgetting his signature.
Gerber has been a core part of the underground for years, heading the world's most revered clubs and festivals, bringing all new party concepts to Ibiza and serving up serene and synth heavy soundscape that move people physically and emotionally on labels like Cocoon, Italians Do It Better and of course Rumors.
Every Time We Say Goodbye (feat. Blanca) is light and melodic with shimmering pads and ethereal textures. Blanca’s treated vocals float effortlessly above rolling percussion and delicate synth melodies, delivering a warm, emotional energy that feels both modern and timeless.
The 18th Floor is a hypnotic journey built on dubby low-end grooves and fluid, meandering leads. Angelic, reverb-soaked vocal fragments drift through the mix, giving the track a dreamlike atmosphere that’s equally suited for peak-time or deeper, introspective moments.
On the flip is Under the same Moon, an introspective journey through deep emotion and atmospheric house. Under the same Moon is a sonic meditation, melancholic yet hopeful, with textures that evoke twilight memories and introspective dancefloor, lastly The Bigger Person takes a more laid-back approach, driven by warm guitar lines that showcase Guy’s instrumental finesse.
Barcelona-based label Raru Cultural Movement continues its mission of curating forward-thinking underground sounds with its fourth vinyl release, Mad Riz, by Ukrainian producer Silat Beksi. Known for his refined minimalism and deep rhythmic sense, Beksi delivers an EP that moves between precision and warmth, layered grooves, subtle textures, and hypnotic energy that unfold naturally across each track.
Rooted in Raru’s philosophy of craftsmanship and cultural connection, Mad Riz reflects both the label’s dedication to high-quality vinyl culture and Beksi’s unique approach to sound design. A pure expression of the contemporary underground — timeless, detailed, and built for lasting resonance.
Cosmic Romance proudly presents "Amour Propre", the new album by Berlin-based multinational band Stella & The Longos and 5 release on the label.
Following the acclaimed 2022 release "Détends-Toi", the first electrifying collaboration between lead singer Stella Zekri and producer Ed Longo, "Amour Propre" crowns two years of relentless touring, growth, and evolution. On the road, the duo forged a powerful live ensemble of Berlin’s finest musicians. That synergy now explodes onto record, expanding Stella & The Longos’ sound into something more organic, daring, and deeply alive.
On "Amour Propre", Stella’s sultry, magnetic voice weaves through lush layers of live drums and percussion, funky guitar riffs, shimmering keyboards, intricate brass lines, and the unmistakable hi-fi production flair of Ed Longo. The rhythms oscillate in a melting pot of musical styles, where Afro-Caribbean influences overlap with vintage boogie beats and quelching synths flirt with smoky Parisian midnight moods. Stella’s voice remains the heart of it all, sensual, husky, and brimming with raw emotion. Her lyrics explore love, longing, and reflection, while also capturing moments of dancefloor euphoria and universal connection.
With The Longos as her powerhouse backing band, every track radiates the energy of a live performance: intimate, enchanting, and unforgettable.
Vibe Ride is the sixth release of Adam Rudolph's Hu Vibrational project and marks his 60th release as a leader or co-leader. Comes with insert and download code.
“With every record, the goal is to explore new creative territory,” explains Rudolph. Vibe Ride continues a deeper exploration of a trance-like groove and a conceptual framework known as Sonic Mandala. This album marks the most complete realization of that idea, partly due to the group's experience touring beforehand. That time on the road helped to refine ideas and strengthen musical chemistry. The recording process unfolded organically—likely due to the long-standing collaboration within ensembles like Go: Organic Orchestra and Moving Pictures, where the musicians have developed a deep familiarity with the shared musical language.
Sonic Mandala refers to a musical approach distinct from traditional linear structures of theme and development. Found in cultures across the globe, it may represent one of the oldest forms of musical expression—predating written history by tens of thousands of years. Today, it is most vividly preserved in the music of the Ituri Forest peoples (Aka, Baka, Ba Benzele, Mbuti), whose sound traditions revolve in cyclical, orbit-like patterns. Vibe Ride seeks to bring that ancient sense of circularity into a contemporary—and perhaps even futuristic—context.
The ensemble of Vibe Ride—Alexis Marcelo, Jerome Harris, Harris Eisenstadt, Neel Murgai, Tim Kieper, and Tripp Dudley—brings exceptional creativity and skill to the project. While grounded in the sonic languages of today, their performance channels an ancient vibrational lineage, connecting with ancestral sound makers who were attuned to the rhythms of the sun, moon, stars, and seasons. Human beings have always been deeply responsive to natural cycles.
Like a mandala, where the circle reveals itself as a spiral—always returning, but never to the exact same point—the Sonic Mandala musical experience spirals through motion. Refined signal patterns emerge through overtone-rich instrumentation. The groove becomes a threshold, shifting the listener from passive observation into active, even transcendent, participation. With open ears and an open mind, the sound spirals inward—toward a primal center—and outward into the cosmos. When this elevated state is shared among participants, it creates what mystics describe as resonance.
Vibe Ride thrives on the distinctive sonic voices of its players, interwoven with care and nuance into the compositions. Hu Vibrational merges elements of world music, electronica, and improvised jazz into something both funky and spiritual, intense and soothing.
Using signature techniques of organic orchestration, layered arrangement, and electronic processing, the compositions are sculpted from percussion, electronics, and ethereal textures. Rhythmic foundations drawn from diverse traditions serve not as endpoints, but as building blocks. As the saying goes, “Orchestration is the key.” In shaping the sound, the aim was to discover fresh ways of balancing structure and sonic color. As Don Cherry once said: “The swing is in the sound.”
The audiophile LP was carefully recorded, mixed, and mastered by James Dellatacoma—longtime engineer for both Bill Laswell and Rudolph—at Laswell’s Orange Studio.
“This crew artfully blends together to create a seamless tapestry of rhythm… the end results are mesmerizing. Hu Vibrational is all about communing with the groove spirits and creating worlds where earthy rhythms and other-worldly sounds are one.”
— Dan Bilawsky, All Music Guide
“You can be sure that when Adam Rudolph and an ensemble of breathtaking drummers get together mystical and wonderful things will happen.”
— Raul da Gama,
“A stunning effort, enjoyable and grows with repeated listening.”
— Stefan Wood, Freejazzcollective
12” vinyl, full sleeve artwork with Mordançage front cover artwork by artist Jo Torres, design & centre labels by Ciaran birch. Limited run of 300.
“Singing Vessels” draws inspiration from the sonorities and aesthetics of Amazonian medicine ceremonies and traditional Andean music. At its heart is a collection of clay whistles from ancient South America, whose timbres conjure the vibrant soundworld of the Andes. The piece also incorporates shamanic instruments from the Amazon, such as the shacapa — a bundle of dry leaves whose rustling produces a deep, soothing texture with remarkable sensory resonance.
Interwoven with generative electronics, live looping and synthesisers, these organic timbres create evolving psychoacoustic spaces where the mystery of nature meets inner realms of perception and consciousness. The piece unfolds as a ceremonial passage through a shamanic ritual: beginning in a dense jungle of sounding entities, rising into moments of cathartic purging, dissolving into states of blessing and communion, and finally returning to the here and now with renewed awareness.
Nervio Cosmico is an electroacoustic experimental duo based in Bristol, formed by Chilean composer Daniel Linker and Italian sound artist Matteo Amadio. Blending acoustic instruments from ancient South American shamanic traditions with live looping, generative sound design, and live electronics, they craft sonic journeys that explore perception, consciousness, and a spiritual connection with nature.
During the 35 years of making music, Dave Lee has constantly been searching for new singers and writers to work with. A search that’s ended up with many fantastic collaborations and releases with the likes of Thelma Houston, Taka Boom, Dianne Charlemagne and Seal. More recently this quest led him to Maurissa Rose and the creation of their album ‘London / Detroit’. After hearing Maurissa's voice on a Theo Parrish record Dave reached out to her and after a few long phone conversations and mp3 swaps they both agreed a visit to London would be much more fun than trying to work together remotely. Maurissa made the journey from her home in Detroit to write and record an album with Dave at his studio in March 2022 - as they both feel that creating music together in the same room is always better. The fruits of their labour yielded 11 brand new songs (and 1 cover) tapping into their collective love of Soul, Disco and R&B, with a sprinkle of Soulful House. This album is a special one for Dave Lee as it’s the first time in his career he’s recorded an entire album with same singer on every track.
In the album’s liner notes Dave talks of how Maurissa is a naturally creative person, full of ideas, warm & unpretentious which is reflected in her vocal performances throughout ‘London / Detroit’. Dave’s expertly crafted music is backed up with a deeply passionate yet effortless delivery from the Detroiter, a marker of someone who has honed and perfected their art. When it comes to the music side of this LP, Dave Lee is once again proving he’s still at the top of his game and shows no sign of relenting. Drawing from his encyclopaedic knowledge of all things Soul/Funk/Disco, we are treated to a range of styles, BPMs and influences from 95bpm street soul to more uptempo disco and boogie flavours. Be it the rippling synth voyage opener of ‘You Decide’, taking the Johnnie Taylor classic ‘What About My Love’ into a modern Boogie realm, upping the tempo on the soulful houser ‘I Feel the Sun” or bringing the tempo back down to the bassy acidic chug of ‘You’re Giving Me Life’. Mr Lee is truly adept at creating a modern disco soul sound without the usage of samples.
London and Detroit might be two very different cities on opposite sides of the Atlantic but this album is proof that creative synergy knows no distance.
Out everywhere on Feb 28th on Gatefold Vinyl, CD and Digital/Streaming.
‘Before the Odysee, there was the Iliad; a tale of the golden age of heroes and warriors.'
The idea behind the Iliads series was to return to the sound of the golden age of Jungle/Drum & Bass, and more specifically the original ‘heroes’ of the Odysee label.
This fourth and final instalment concludes the series; bringing all the different styles of the original Odysee sound together in a grand finale. From deep atmospheric beauty to sinister dystopian breakbeat fury; Iliads IV has it all.
Oubliette immediately creates a feeling of unease and paranoia. The rapid injection of different breakbeats gives the track an unsettled feel; with nervy piano jangles and moaning samples adding to this atmosphere. The track drops with punching subs and razor-sharp curling breaks from amidst the desolation of the atmosphere of the intro. The call and response style is used to cut from break to break maintaining the unease of the intro. The drums & bass break down into a
dystopian landscape of sound, before dropping once more to take the track towards its conclusion.
A Point In Time with its obvious reference to a compilation series on a certain well-loved atmospheric Jungle label is all about conjuring nostalgia. There are notable references to bygone days; the infamous bulb bass and bleeps of the Warehouse days of glory, and the tearing mentasms that enter in the approach to the breakdown. The breaks are crisp and complex, the sub-lines deep and dark; a track truly built for a dark sweaty basement club where the bass bins
are pushed to their limits!
Love & Desire is a sultry deep atmospheric roller full of subtle references to the early UK Garage sound of the mid 90’s or even Deep dub Tech-House. The elegant curls of the Apache break that takes centre stage in this track are complimented by sweeping pads and a set of deep synth stabs that form the rhythmic backbone. The subs drop deep amidst a palette of avant-garde electronica, as the spoken word vocals call out “my love....my desire.”
We really hope you’ve enjoyed the Iliads series as much as we have; they represent a very special sound that is close to the very heart of what we at Odysee are about. As much as they focus the lens on the past, we truly believe they have had a profound effect on our future....in as much as they have brought us back to the raw essence of our sound.
Andy & Tilla
LSD or Linear Sound Delivery In audio, means a system reproduces an audio signal without altering its characteristics, except for a consistent change in volume. This means that all frequencies within the signal are delayed by the same amount, preserving the temporal integrity and natural sound of the original audio. Straight from producer to consumer, no filters, my input is your output.
Natasha Pirard returns with her most personal project yet, dedicated to her mother and late grandmother, whose care shaped her life. Fernande, Cecile is a photobook of songs, weaving voice, field recordings, synthesizer, and violin into an ode to her matrilineal line. Pirard lost her grandmother at seven, yet Fernande’s warmth stayed with her as a touchstone. Her mother, Cecile, has been a constant presence, guiding her through difficult years.
Alzheimer’s—her grandmother’s illness—and the fragility of memory permeate the work. A conversation with her mother sparked the album: over coffee, Cecile placed a hand on her heart and said, “If I ever develop this disease, don’t forget I’m still here (inside).” That moment became central to the compositions, which translate Pirard’s gratitude and love into music as tender as possible.
The music moves in fragments—notes, chords, loops—evoking gardens, sunlight, and childhood afternoons. Rhythms shift like life itself, carrying echoes of loss and the persistence of memory. Ambient textures brush against her voice and instruments, sometimes punctuated by her grandmother’s favorite bird.
The album unfolds in two parts: Fernande, capturing her grandmother’s warmth and fading recollections, and Cecile, honoring her mother’s care and resilience. Track titles trace memories while the music drifts through longing and gratitude, articulating what words cannot.
The album was written and recorded by Natasha Pirard, produced and mixed by David & Stephen Dewaele of Soulwax/2manydjs at DEEWEE.
Syncretic marks the debut full-length from Australian duo Bhairavi Raman, a Western and Carnatic violinist, and Nanthesh Sivarajah, a mridangam player and versatile percussionist. Both artists share a Tamil heritage, a current that hums across the album. Raman, from South India, and Sivarajah, from Sri Lanka, draw lines that connect Western practice and Carnatic tradition. This hybrid is central to Raman’s approach as a violinist, an instrument itself caught between East and West since the late 18th century. Her playing folds history, lineage and experimentation into music that acknowledges inheritance while gently rewiring its circuitry.
Expanding on traditional music can be a precarious practice, but Syncretic never feels heavy-handed. Raman and Sivarajah exercise measured restraint, letting the Carnatic framework breathe even as it is refracted through contemporary tools. Delays, looping, subtle layering and synthesized harmonies tilt tradition into a new light without disguising it.
Even within a contemporary framework, Raman’s rigorous Carnatic training under gurus Sri S. Varadarajan (India), Sri Murali Kumar (Australia) and Sri Gopinath Iyer (Australia) is unmistakable. She captures the spiritual and emotional essence of each raga: on Seven, the playful raga Bahudari becomes both centrepiece and conduit, while on the traditional piece Thunbam Nergayil, drawn from a Tamil poem, we hear a deeply personal iteration, a weeping euphony of mixed emotions hitting all at once. Tradition here is absorbed, expanded and reframed.
Sivarajah’s command of the mridangam, honed by his gurus Sri Jambunathan (Sri Lanka), Sri Balasri Rasiah (Australia) and Sri T. R. Sundaresan (India), is central to his original composition Guardian. He sustains tradition while extending it through layering and sound-spatialisation. The mridangam here functions as both a structural and ornamental force, mapping continuity between inherited form and contemporary sonic architecture.
Syncretic resonates as a space where Tamil heritage, diasporic memory and contemporary practice coalesce. Culture, like sound, circulates, transforms and persists. Tradition is not an archive but living material, a soundworld that lingers in the ears and the imagination.
DJ Support: Antal, I Cube, Noel Watson, Colleen Cosmo Murphy, Sean Johnston, San Soda, Takaya Nagase, Tina Edwards, Pete Herbert, Kenneth Bager, Severino, Aaron Paar, Felix Joy, Harri Harrigan, Laroye, Telford, Darker Than Wax, Rocky (X Press 2), Shane Johnson, Dan Tyler, Felix Dickinson and many more
Having previously released selected retrospectives focused on the musical output of Ryo Kawasaki and Joan Bibiloni, NuNorthern Soul has now turned its attention to the vast back catalogue of Jasper Van’t Hof’s pioneering electro-acoustic, Afro-fusion collective, Pili Pili.
The band was established in 1984 by Van’t Hof, a Dutch pianist who began his career in Europe’s jazz scene of the late 1960s, as a way of combining his love of jazz-fusion and the music of North-West Africa. Van’t Hof already had a reputation for combining roles in traditional jazz combos with more experimental and abstract projects. These included a spell in violinist Jean-Luc Ponty’s first band, years spent masterminding jazz-rock outfit Jasper Van’t Hof’s Porkpie, the recording of an all- electronic album (1982’s Visitors), and a celebrated collaborative live album with the great Archie Shepp, Mama Rose.
Pili Pili, though, was another step forward for Van’t Hof. Working with percussionists and vocalists from Benin and Mali (including the now legendary Angelique Kidou) and a string of adventurous jazz soloists (saxophonist Tony Lakoto and trumpeter Annie Whitehead included), Van’t Hof’s collective frequently combined live and programmed percussion, electronic and acoustic instrumentation, and the talented improvisor’s own memorable melodies and impactful solos.
NuNorthern Soul’s retrospective focuses on the most productive and celebrated period of Pili Pili’s near three-decade history, showcasing tracks originally recorded and released on studio albums released between 1984 and 2002. The six tracks on show offer an essential glimpse into the musical gold to be found across the Pili Pili catalogue.
In keeping with NuNorthern Soul’s previous retrospectives, the vinyl version of Selected Works 1984-95 comes with extended liner notes telling the remarkable story of this most unusual of cross-cultural collaborations. These feature extensive quotes, reflections and memories from Jasper Van’t Hof and were written by music historian Matt Anniss.
Some records are answers to questions no one asked out loud. With Where is Acid Eric, Cornelius Doctor & Tushen Raï deliver a psychedelic missive from a parallel timeline — a time-traveling tribute to Goa’s golden age, filtered through their unmistakable signature.
Returning to their home base, Hard Fist, the duo steps into new territory with this release, and yet, it feels like they’ve been heading here all along. This isn’t a retro-fetishist trip, nor a copy-paste homage. It’s a reimagination of a sound, a space, and most of all, a spirit.
The EP is rooted in the mythic nights of late-80s and early-90s Disco Valley, where British acid house collided with Indian hedonism, where freedom wasn’t a pose but a necessity, and where dancefloors became temporary utopias. But in the hands of Cornelius Doctor & Tushen Raï, this past gets warped, stretched and reanimated with 2025’s tools and sensitivities.
Across three extended tracks, the duo summons a sound that’s dense yet breathable, tribal yet precise, nostalgic yet futuristic.
They weave Goa’s swirling trance lines with broken rhythms, analog squelches, and post-industrial textures. The acid lines are sharp, but never cliché — more mantra than gimmick. Voices float in and out like half-remembered chants. Basslines slide, hypnotize, and then vanish in a cloud of smoke. It’s not a flashback. It’s a vision.
The title, Where is Acid Eric, feels like a lost broadcast — part question, part invocation. Eric is a symbol. IS Eric a ghost ? The true legend of a forgotten raver on a dusty Anjuna morning. What matters is the search. The longing. The dance.
Hard Fist, true to its form, continues to blur the lines between ritual and rave, tradition and invention. And with this record, Cornelius Doctor & Tushen Raï don’t just revive a genre — they reconnect with an ideal: dance music as exploration, as transcendence, as resistance.
One foot in the dust, one foot in the cosmos. The answer isn’t important. The trip is.
Continually are proud to present Tonchius - Waiting for Tee EP, the long-anticipated debut EP from Continually label head and boss-lady Tonchius. This four-tracker move between steady percussion rhythms, minimalistic acid grooves, electro-breaks, and rooted in the raw energy of hardware drum machines and synthesizers. Crafted over several years, each track weaves together influences from Norwegian woods, mythology, and layered electronic soundscapes. A-side opens with "Metawoods" which builds on hypnotic evolving acid lines and grounded percussion, while “Ørret” continues the acid with a psychedelic flavour. On the flip-side, the title track "Waiting for Tee" pushes into bass-filled and breaky patterns, before "Pica Pollo" rounds off with a playful, percussive flow carried by a dreamstate foundation.
Various Small Whistles and a Song, the new album by Chicago-based artist Lia Kohl, incorporates notions of space, social relations, and humor. As the title suggests, the album responds to Ed Ruscha’s 1964 photographic artist book Various Small Fires and Milk, which Kohl sees as a wondrous celebration of ordinariness, one that reveals Ruscha’s trademark deadpan humor and depth. In the spirit of that publication, Kohl created her own series of sonic vignettes, with guest appearances from her close community of collaborators including claire rousay, Macie Stewart, Patrick Shiroishi, and others, reflecting the same sense of humor and mundanity.
The structure of the album—16 one-minute tracks—directly mirrors Ruscha’s book, which comprises 15 photographs of fire and one of a glass of milk. Ruscha’s “small fires” are represented here by recordings of whistles—mostly human whistling, with occasional appearances by train whistles, emergency whistles, and a woman selling penny whistles on the street in Guangzhou, China. About this choice of material, Kohl writes: “I’ve always been captivated by whistling—it’s musical but often a bit unconscious; usually solo but often done in public places. There’s something tender and human about hearing someone whistle, a socially acceptable version of hearing their mind wander.” As with Ruscha’s photographs, the whistles are not random snapshots but windows into social situations, narratives, or spaces.
The “milk” of the title — the 16th photograph in Ruscha’s book — is interpreted here as a single recording: a group of people singing together in Barcelona around 6 a.m. on New Year’s morning, captured through the floor of an Airbnb. Kohl describes this as a social, collective sound that contrasts with the solitary nature of whistling. The song functions as a counterbalance—a quiet celebration of shared experience.
Lia Kohl is a composer and sound artist based in Chicago. Her wide-ranging practice includes composition and performance, installation, improvisation, and collaboration. She tours nationally and internationally, working in theater, jazz, rock, and experimental contexts. Her work centers curiosity and patience, an exploration of the mundane and profound possibilities of sound.
Samuel Kerridge, with his signature sonic arsenal, stands alone in the worlds of rhythm and noise. A singular artist, his music is to be appreciated on its own terms. Here, he returns to James Ruskin's Blueprint Records with the eleven track album, "Memoir Of Disintegration".
The British producer has been carefully turning techno inside-out for over a decade. Taking a distinctly post-punk approach to the genre, he has become an integral part of Regis' legendary imprint Downwards. Kerridge has helped to define the label's contemporary sound: broken techno and snarling punk, informed by industrial music and metal.
Samuel Kerridge has released seven EPs and five albums (including a collaboration with Dva Damas' Taylor Burch) and his recent, "Kick To Kill", has become something of a statement of intent, blossoming into a new label and event series with a focus that broadens beyond techno tracks into full-blown song writing. Aside from his solo work, he collaborates with OAKE in what he describes as the "power metal techno" duo UF, and has recently started his own guitar band, Death Disco.
Kerridge ran the Berlin-based Contort label and party series and curated the legendary Berlin Atonal festival for three years, underlining his credentials as a stalwart figure in the world of experimental, boundary-pushing techno. He's also an accomplished live performer, most recently developing a hybrid live-DJ set that dismantles hundreds of tracks into a sampler to make new music in real time. It's an inventive process that places him in the lineage of iconic and ground-breaking techno acts, while still carrying the flag for the darkest corners of underground electronic music.
Puglia-born Bress Underground brings his reverence for early US house and garage to a new outing for Spanish label Mate. 'This House' opens with chopped up vocal stabs, acrobatic drums and percussive rhythms. 'Connected' is smooth and seductive with dusty swing and muted chord work. 'Ready Or Not' brings some electronic futurism with sleek, liquid metal lines over deep, dynamic drums and 'Take Me Higher' is a big finish with Kerri Chandler kicks and chords, all finished with a true school house vocal. It's timeless, effective tackle for cultured floors.
Third outing here from Benedict following two incredibly well-received debuts
His familiar sound palette is in place across these four cuts, stripped down, classic, driving House music with hooks for days...
Positions of Power is the debut EP of Berlin-based DJ and producer Souci. This love letter to Detroit pays homage to the foundations of house and techno, and features several of the Motor City's rising stars. Blending hi-tech production and dusty drum machine loops, Souci and her remix artists deliver six driving floorfillers for basements and ballrooms that continue the musical lineage connecting Berlin and Detroit.
Bruno Bar returns to Beast River Records with “Movin’”, an almost-peak-time but still classy New York house workout featuring Marie Berson’s whispered vocal that blooms into a soulful hook, in that Floorplan-inspired space of gospel energy and driving drums. Tour-Maubourg flips it into a
dubbed-out Balearic trip with Rhodes, strings and elastic bass for longer sets. “Feel The Dub” goes deeper with bass up front and tasteful vox, while “U Can Dance 2 Jazz” closes with jazzy chords, a sophisticated sax line and a garagey lift
High Focus Records is proud to unveil the artwork for the forthcoming Verb T & Illinformed collaborative album: ‘The Land Of The Foggy Skies’, designed by Siou Escalon.
As you would expect from two of the hardest working artists in the UK rap game, Verb T & Illinformed have delivered a fitting sequel to the iconic 2015 release ‘The Man With The Foggy Eyes’. The pair have both raised the bar, taking their already incredible chemistry to new levels, as demonstrated with singles ‘Rotten Luck‘ & ‘New Paths‘.
An all encompassing cinematic opus, ‘The Land Of The Foggy Skies’ once again proves why Verb T is one of the most decorated MC’s in UK Hip Hop and why Illinformed is in a class of his own when it comes to production.
The electronic producer Franz Kirmann returns to Bytes for his eighth solo album. The “Almadies” are long wooden boats used by Senegalese fishermen. It is also the name of the neighborhood where Kirmann grew up, in the suburbs of Dakar, Senegal, near the Atlantic Ocean. "These new compositions are the result of sound experiments conducted over the past few months and reflections on the concept of mind-constructed geographies," Kirmann explains. "The way memories and souvenirs shape an image of a place or country that is part reality, part fantasy, part cliché, yet also deeply personal. This experience is influenced by education, social background, history, and other socio-economic factors. " The ten tracks are crafted from collages of electronic sounds blended with field recordings from various places Kirmann has visited — from Dakar to the Caribbean, as well as London and Paris. His aim is to blur the line between electronically generated sounds and real soundscapes, creating music where it becomes difficult to distinguish the real from the constructed. All the sounds on the album were produced using synthesizers and field recordings. No drum machines, percussion or traditional acoustic instruments were used. Influences include Brian Eno and John Hassell’s Fourth World, Vol. 1: Possible Musics (1980), described by Hassell as "a unified primitive/futuristic sound combining features of world ethnic styles with advanced electronic techniques" , which also works in the context of Almadies. Another big influence was Ariel Kalma’s Le Temps Des Moissons (1975) as well as artists including O Yuki Conjugate and Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe to Susumu Yokota and Michael Banabila.
Wewantsounds is delighted to reissue Fairuz"s classic album Chat Iskandaria released on Relax-in in 1987. The album sees The Lebanese Diva going back to her roots and interpreting classic songs by the Rahbani Brothers in her own style accompanied by hypnotic traditional orchestral arrangements. Coming with its original deluxe gatefold sleeve, The album - curated by Mario Choueiry from Institut du Monde Arabe (Paris), who also wrote the liner notes (Fr/En) - has been newly remastered by Colorsound Studio in Paris.
“I Don’t Know Why”, sung by Chiara Castello, is the second single from The Dining Rooms’ next album: an urban funk ballad, with a powerful and deep rhythm accompanied by great bass lines and cinematic guitars and piano. It is an intimate reflection on the fragility of personal bonds suspended between light and shadow. On this 7” the B-side is a remix of “On And On” - taken from TDR’s previous album “Songs to Make Love to” - by FUTURESLOWDUBDISCO, a music project initiated by Roman producers Simone Ticconi and Francesco Colagrande. The duo explores soundscapes that combine downtempo, minimal techno and dub. Originally a soul ballad, it has turned into an unforgettable rhythmic, ethereal and psychedelic journey sung by Egeeno from the Tropicantesimo collective.
GATEFOLD VINYL 2LP - TRANSPARENT BLUE + ORANGE, A2 Colour Poster, 5x Film Set Photos, Flexi Disc, Sticker Sheet
Blurring the lines between fiction and documentary, the seminal film Wild Style, directed by Charlie Ahearn and developed alongside Fred Braithwaite aka Fab Five Freddy, offered an iconic snapshot of the emerging New York hip hop scene in the early ‘80s. Considered one of the first hip hop films, it documents the styles, culture, attitudes, and most importantly, the music of this evolving era. The accompanying soundtrack remains one of the most influential in hip hop history, featuring a who’s who of artists who stood out during the movement’s nascent block party days.
“Making hip hop’s first and most beloved feature film, Wild Style, with Charlie Ahearn and creating the original music is one of my proudest accomplishments.” - Fab 5 Freddy
In celebration of Arrow Films restoring the original Wild Style film in 4K, Mr Bongo is proud to present this special-edition reissue package. The release comes as a double LP pressed on transparent blue and orange vinyl, offering a freshly curated tracklist that brings together the finest songs from previous editions, the full sought-after instrumental album, and Kenny Dope’s top edits. Also included are an A2 colour poster, five film set photos, a flexi disc containing Fantastic Freaks Live at the Dixie, and a Wild Style sticker sheet.
Originally released on Animal Records, founded by Chris Stein of Blondie fame, the soundtrack focuses on the hip hop scene as it evolved from the streets to the recording studio. Co-produced by Stein and Braithwaite, it features the Double Trouble pairing of Rodney Cee and KK Rockwell, The Chief Rocker himself Busy Bee, and the mighty line-ups of both The Cold Crush Brothers and The Fantastic Freaks, to name but a few. The music offers a transportive glimpse into the streets of the South Bronx, capturing the free-form, roaming nature of the film - it’s rough around the edges, but utterly absorbing.
Behind those foundational voices of hip hop’s first wave was a selection of backing beats that have underpinned and influenced the genre ever since. Easily mistaken for lifted breakbeats from old records, the songs on the Wild Style soundtrack are all unique creations. Overseen by Braithwaite and Stein, with Stein also on guitar and effects, they were intended as a homage to those early breakbeats. Drummer Lenny “Ferrari” Ferraro, who played for Aretha Franklin before emerging on the punk scene, and bassist David Harper laid down many of the iconic grooves, two somewhat forgotten participants in shaping a legendary sound.
Over time, the Wild Style soundtrack, with its Charlie Chase and Grand Wizard Theodore scratches, recurring sounds and motifs, and indelible lyrics, has become a hip hop touchstone: endlessly sampled and referenced, the bedrock of so much music to follow. It perfectly encapsulated the essence of the film, the scene, and hip hop’s emergence from the Bronx to the attention of the wider world. It was, and remains, the blueprint.
Brat pack crossover stars Charlie XCX loved Altern 8 rave generation anthem FREQUENCY so much they not only sampled it for the remix of their smash 365 but started their live shows with the remix.
The resulting renewed interest in FREQUENCY has led to four 2025 remixes of the gem which was originally released as a 10,001 numbered limited edition in 1991. That sold out instantly and is now acclaimed as one of the Rave scene’s most enduring classics.
Altern 8’s Mark Archer links up with long time collaborator Shadow Child for the A1 M.A.S.C Extended Remix which delves into the tougher strata of House. A2 comes from Tenerife’s DJ Jonay who delivers a stunning old skool influenced breakbeat mix. A3 is the Aires remix. This was done especially for Altern 8’s appearance at Glastonbury and various other summer festivals where IT WENT OFF! A4 Kin’s Back To 91 Remix is full on drum & bass.
Label artwork is a “tribute” to Charlie XCC graphics - the samplers got sampled and repaid the compliment. Limited edition vinyl.
Als Pionier der elektronischen Musik, vereint The Bloody Beetroots seit 2005 Elemente aus Electro, Punkrock und Dance zu einem unverwechselbaren, genre-übergreifenden Sound. Hinter dem Projekt steht der italienische Musiker und Produzent Sir Bob Cornelius Rifo, der mit Tracks wie „Warp 1.9“ (feat. Steve Aoki) und Alben wie Romborama, Hide und The Great Electronic Swindle internationale Bekanntheit erlangte. Jetzt kehrt „The Baddest Man in Electronic Music“ mit seiner neuen EP “FOREVER PART ONE” zurück. „Dieses Projekt ist mein Leben“, sagt Rifo. Und das spürt man in jedem einzelnen Beat. Keine Grenzen, keine Kompromisse. Stattdessen persönliche Geschichten, Gedanken und Momente, die The Bloody Beetroots über Jahre hinweg geprägt und geformt haben. „Dieses Release ist sowohl ein Danke als auch ein Statement. Denn in einer Welt, die Anpassung belohnt, glaube ich immer noch daran, dass wahre Rebellion darin besteht, sich selbst treu zu bleiben.“ - Sir Bob Cornelius Rifo Das ist The Bloody Beetroots. FOREVER.
FOREVER PART ONE erscheint als Digipak CD und auf limitiertem Grey Marble Vinyl.ist eine Auseinandersetzung mit dem eigenen Werden: damit, was passiert, wenn man sich der verzerrten Version seiner selbst stellen muss - der Version, die durch Schmerz entstanden ist.
Bread&Butter Records celebrates its 10th EP with a powerful statement from Romanian duo NTFO, a name synonymous with precision minimalism and timeless groove. The release unfolds across four masterfully produced tracks, each one engineered for those moments when the dancefloor turns into something deeper, heavier, and unforgettable.
Calibre sets the tone in classic NTFO fashion. Its stripped-bacb bassline rolls with hypnotic intent, carrying just enough weight to lock the floor in. By the three-minute mark, subtle shifts into a trance-like state, gently elevating the room into waves of euphoric release. It’s understated yet devastatingly effective, the type of cut that DJs treasure for its power to transform the atmosphere without ever shouting too loud.
Electr pares things back even further, pushing into pure minimal territory. Built on a sleek harmonic groove, it’s a masterclass in restraint, every sound feels perfectly placed, every movement precise. This is a track that thrives in the early hours, where tension, patience and subtle shifts in rhythm rule the floor.
Forap flips the script, injecting an upbeat energy that hits with instant impact. Around the three-to-four minute mark, a vocal element cuts through, commanding attention before the groove locks back in with unstoppable momentum. Hypnotic yet uplifting, it’s the perfect peak-time tool a track that lifts the room into a collective high, as though flying on pure feeling.
Nanomos closes the EP with finesse. A deeper, darker exploration, it glides through murky textures and intricate percussive details, carrying an otherworldly atmosphere that keeps the listener suspended in motion. It’s a slow-burner that lingers long after the last note fades, a testament to NTFO’s ability to balance groove and emotion in equal measure.
With this release, Bread&Butter not only cements its reputation as one of London’s most exciting underground imprints but also showcases NTFO at their most refined. Four cuts, four moods, all bound by that unmistakable Romanian touch that continues to set standards worldwide.
Operating on the fringes of pure improv, organised chaos, minimal composition, lo-fi electronics and Italian spaghetti westerns, wide-eyed and with a healthy dose of DIY aesthetics lies the world of Jaan. It’s a poetic & cosmic universe, exploring “discreet music” whilst wandering on the edges of the Cat People soundtrack & Brian Eno’s more experimental output, in which you might yourself find floating, wandering or in the middle of a market place.
Jaan is a collective of one, a deliberately anonymous activistic unit with strong ties to the international art scene. Purposefully bypassing the know-it-all of the the internet & embracing the bygone mystery of dusty old archives and deep-dive searching, remarkably little is known about this project. Jaan is lead by veteran experimental sonic alchemist Jaan; they operate between Greenland, the Middle East and Europe, with frequent associates Lisqa, Mashid & Schneorr N. acting as local hubs for collaboration and exploration.
The purpose of this wilful obscurity: full focus on the actual music, whether live events or on recordings. Which brings us to Baghali, their first for World of Echo. It’s a deeply personal album, much like slowly browsing old family albums filled with vaguely remembered tales, some still very much present, some faded, leaving but a ghost-like reflection of what once was. Baghali was compiled over the course of a year on the road, trapped in snow storms, waiting for cancelled flights and stuck rides. It’s made up of snippets of diary, quick recordings on road sides, abandoned buildings, garden ruins, vast desert and focussed studio sessions, following a collage-like aesthetic and steeped in an exploration of non-lineair storytelling. There’s broken memories, a sense of displacement and an occasional yearning for what can’t be again, clouded in fever and unrest, but there is also hope, wonderment and bright colours seeping through the cracks in the wall. Jaan weaves home-made instruments, old tape loops, broken synths, beat-up reeds, dusty beat boxes and the occasional doom guitar squall into a tapestry of fractured sound, with tracks following their own inherent logic rather than following formats. Sounds crash in and out, field recordings placing the listener firmly in an environment then throwing several perspectives at once onto them, with individual elements - a wandering clarinet, a lone mandoline, a beat out of place yet perfectly in place - slowly walking in and out & doing their thing.
The whole album is alive, breathes, takes a wrong turn, gets lost, somehow finds its way again - effortless and with a unique sense of space and flow.
Baghali is released digitally and on vinyl in an edition of 300 on 3rd October 2025.
A Bristol x Paris link-up between SSSLIP and Bamao Yendé delivers with BP028. A label debut for both artists on the BPR original series. All killer no filler ear worms from across the spectrum. “On The Dial” and vinyl only cut “Don Plz” offer something for those sillier hours, while “Brek Stance” and “Kalypso” host the artists' deeper servings. A balanced collection of functional low end tools for the dance.
Bristol-based producer SSSLIP, known for their experimental club hybrid productions and a growing back catalogue of strong outings on No dice, ec2a and their own imprint SSS Audio. Sharing the EP with Parisian DJ and producer, Bamao Yendé, head of Boukan Records, blending inspirations through garage, broken beat, and Kuduro.
Mythology has a recurring theme: creating ambiguity by rearranging worlds and creatures that normally don’t belong together. Centaurs, Minotaurs, Hydras and so on: mockery and mystery intertwine into entities that are in equal parts magnificent and ridiculous. Referencing this idea in the present, Loris S. Sarid conjures 12 compositions simultaneously showing traits of dreamlike trap, candy-flavoured New Age and Spoken Word. The lines between spiritual and mundane, drama and parody are bent and questioned, used as raw material and treated with the same importance. Binding the work together is the sense of feeling peacefully lost inside a shuffling iPod, buried in a quiet zen garden inside a noisy shopping mall or vice versa. What connects Ambient music, which often anonymously swims into endless sleeping playlists with monthly subscriptions to well-being, to the mainstream output of commercial music? "Ambient $" doesn’t explore the social aspect of this question, but rather celebrates the beauty of its paradoxes. This album is the morning choir of forgotten NFTs, brewing lyrics in their binary exile. The television homily of a wrestler turned priest, turned influencer chef, then hermit and then rapper. Randomness is reclaimed as a human quality, and the aesthetics of mass music consumption are repurposed into a rather inexpensive guide to streaming-service-enlightenment.
Glimmers of a missing link in the connective tissue between the hardcore continuum and Dub-Spectrum arts. A tome all its own, as if one is sifting through an archeological dig in aural form, hearing layers of the past, present, and future.
France via Hong Kong, Taiwan and now Lisbon–based producer and DJ Romain FX delivers his Memory Muscle label debut, Floating World EP. As a true kid of the world, Romain FX draws on a life across continents to create a sound that fuses global influences with overground club sensibilities.
A prolific name on the scene over the past few years, he has released on Sound Metaphor’s Bless You, Sound of Vast, Kalahari Oyster Kult, Toy Tonics, and his own label Fauve. The EP opens with the title track Floating World, a percussive roller packed with drums, colourful synth stabs, and hypnotic swirling melodies that build into an ethereal vocal hook. Who Knows takes things further with crunchy acid lines locked to a pummelling breakbeat groove.
On the flip, Track ID? channels classic 90s house vibes with a stomping 909, bubbling basslines, organ stabs, and euphoric vocal samples. Rounding out the release, Memory Muscle’s London duo deliver a direct club remix of Who Knows, featuring filtered pads, driving breaks, 808 thump, and their signature M1 organ bass.
Ruta5 presents Yellow Fever, the debut EP from Chilean duo Yellow Fever — vocalist Nara Back and dj Haiti — a project born to ignite the dancefloor through hybrid sets that blend live vocals, DJ energy, and a visual world steeped in groove and color. Their first release channels over two decades of electronic roots into fresh, immediate form.
The record opens with ‘Díganle (Dandy Jack Remix)’, where Dandy Jack — a pioneering force in Chilean electronic music and co-founder of Ruta5 — transforms the track into a playful, stomping roller: punchy kicks, rolling bass, groovy percussion, and glitchy vocal fragments that nod to his legacy of bridging Chilean and European underground sounds. ‘Fiebre Amarilla’ (Yellow Fever) leans into space and motion, driven by growling bass stabs, modulated synths, and vibrant vocal energy that flirt with house textures while radiating raw dancefloor sensuality. ‘William Borrow’ brings crisp, electro-leaning drums and syncopated grooves that twist through dynamic shifts, hinting at synth-pop while maintaining tight club precision. Closing the EP, ‘Inspector (feat. Pier Bucci)’ folds in Pier Bucci’s unmistakable touch — a deep, minimal-house hybrid rich in warmth and Latin sensibility, connecting Santiago and Berlin with effortless lightness.
Founded to amplify electronic voices from underrepresented regions, Ruta5 remains a cultural bridge — its sound deeply Chilean yet globally resonant. Dandy Jack’s and Pier Bucci’s presence reaffirms that lineage, while Yellow Fever injects it with new energy: a reminder that consistency in quality need never mean predictability.
Modern flip of Marco Bosco's classic, Metalmadeira
"In 1983, Grammy-winning Brazilian percussionist Marco Bosco released Metalmadeira — a groundbreaking fusion of hand-built percussion, early drum machines, and lush synth textures. Four decades later, celebrated Curitiba-based collective Alter Disco (Bárbara Boeing, Phil Mill, De Sena) reimagine the album for today’s dancefloors.
Working from the original stereo recordings (the master tapes long since damaged), Alter Disco preserved the organic feel of Bosco’s unquantized rhythms while infusing them with deep, modern grooves. The result is a cross-generational dialogue between Brazil’s early electronic avant-garde and contemporary club culture.
Highlights include Pedra, pulsing at 130 BPM with a vintage vocoder line nodding to Detroit techno pioneer Juan Atkins, and Camila, which wraps Bosco’s sharp percussion in atmospheric synths and hypnotic beats.
Metalmadeira II is raw yet refined — live instrumentation and electronic production in perfect balance, blurring the line between archive and innovation.
CMDRPX09 - VARIOUS ARTISTS On side A, three Ligurian artists bring their dark style: A1 @gianluca.pellerano Techno/Postpunk/ebm. A2 @francescolazzatifrnk Techno/Industry/ebm and track A3 @f_phonosnds New Wave featuring scratchy synths and '80s sounds. On side B, two guys from @vertigini_events , cmdrpx residents, bring two dancefloor-ready but very mental tracks: B1 @gela__________ with his Techno/Electro style, and @mathi_____v with his square-wave synths.
We’re glad to welcome Enrico Dragoni, part of a generation of artists in which the UK sound is evident and someone who has quietly but steadily built a presence over the years. Alongside his work with Stabs Mechanics, we had long intended to bring him onto the label making this first appearance feel both natural and long awaited.
Anchored to his early foundations this release looks back to origins rather than attempting to cover the full breadth of his work. The A side is club oriented, leaning towards a deep bumpy and tribal yet remaining in the soulful lineage. The B side softens into easy listening reminding us of the finesse of early House and Italian dream house.
Though often described as a chameleon Dragoni’s foundation remains clear and aligned with the sound of Cosmic Breeze Records.
Theory Therapy is pleased to present ‘we’re here all the time’ by jp (aka J.P Wright) – the New York producer behind one of last year’s shinetiac remixes on the OST label, and a member of Housecraft Recordings’ trip-bient group Ahem.
Compiling several years of well-worn material, the Brooklyn artist’s debut solo LP was the result of many hours of hardware jams and happy accidents, later meticulously edited down into these seven arrangements. Blending first-thought-best-thought spontaneity with extended DAW labouring, Wright delivers some of the most immediate music yet on Theory Therapy.
The album is reminiscent of ’90s and early-’00s IDM. Syncopated rhythms and atmosphere swirl into a mutable whole, as hardcore breakbeat, ambient trance and acidic electro bleed together into a liquid mélange. The sequencing drifts from gauzy, ethereal openings into tensile, club-ready pressure before swerving toward moments of stillness – like lingering in an emptied club hours after the crowd has gone.
There’s a distinct physicality to the music too. Kick patterns jitter like loose live wires, delays ripple through the fog-soaked air, yet the album’s finest moments lie in its more subtle textures and tonal shifts. This is proper braindance that keeps you suspended in its pulse, caught in non-linear time. Wright lets the music wander in unpredictable arcs, moments folding back on themselves, stretching in multiple directions at once – tracing and retracing a memory that refuses to settle.
Matching brooding, tense undercurrents of drone with strained soulfulness, Malcolm Pardon makes a notable shift in his creative approach on his third album.
Leaving his piano behind, the Stockholm-based artist explores the richly varied tones lingering in the background of his past compositions.
Born from his extended live improvisation for Gustaf Broms’ Köttinspektionen exhibition in Uppsala, Flesh & Bonesbecomes a haunting suite of compositions focused on texture and spatial processing, mixed by longtime collaborators Aasthma (Peder Mannerfelt & Pär Grindvik). From Hidden Path’s cavernous wells of low-frequency tone to Under Over’s sustained synth blooms, and the woozy two-chord refrain of Speaking In Tongues, Pardon's seasoned approach to dramatic scene-setting leads his music into its own captivating, compelling sphere, where emotions entwine and conjure strange new plains of expression.
This is the story of how a tiny label from New Jersey changed the course of music history not once but twice.
Cheri Records was established in 1974 in New Jersey and run by one Boo Frazier. Cheri's output was limited, producing a catalogue of just eleven releases between the years 1974 and 1982. On the face of it, this appears to be insubstantial output. However, if you dig a little deeper, the quality released on Cheri Records reveals an exceptional legacy of groundbreaking music.
A dark horse in the world of record labels, a true unsung legend that would go on to alter the course of musical history and intersect with a remarkable array of talented artists, bands and DJs. From Rare Pleasure; Sandy Barber; Julius Brockington; Boo Frazier; Patrick Adams; Tom Moulton; Larry Levan and MF Doom: Cheri Records has directly impacted their artistry in significant ways. Cheri's influence even extends into the present, with DJ icons like David Morales, Dave Lee, Danny Krivit, and Colin Curtis continuing to champion its contributions.
This compilation brings together the most compelling tracks from the Cheri Records catalogue, shedding light on the label's extraordinary story and underscoring the idea that music, no matter how unassuming its origins, can transcend boundaries and reshape, influence and inform music to come for future generations.
This collection also represents the start of a new series here on Miles Away, a series that will delve into the labels and studios that were responsible for leaving a lasting imprint on the musical world. We've named this seriesEchoes From,and this compilation will be the first of many.
The vinyl package comes in a gatefold sleeve with in-depth liner notes and features interviews with Colin Curtis and David Morales. Also available on CD and digitally.
Dot / Stephan Bazbaz - Split EP Vol. 2 (Depthful002)
Depthful returns with its second release, following the success of the first release by label owner and artist Dotan Bibi aka Dot.
In the second release, Dot returns to collaborate with his close friend and artist Stephan Bazbaz for their second split EP, following the great success of the first one released back in 2017 on Stephan's label, "No waves"
A1. opening With Dot's track 'Hoag’s Object'. is an intriguing fusion of house and dub influences, balancing the pulsating energy of house with the relaxed, spatial vibes of dub. From the start, listeners are greeted with a deep, groovy bassline and lovely acid line, that immediately establishes a rich foundation for the track.The rhythm section and congas is tight and persistent, with the signature rolling beats of Dot's sound laying the perfect backdrop for the track's sonic landscape.
A2. 'Fading Fast' isn't just a track; it's an experience. If Hoag’s Object laid down the groove with subtlety, 'Fading Fast' fully submerges you in its rich, atmospheric depths. From the very beginning, there’s a sense of movement - like something slowly emerging from the mist, with deep, resonating bass frequencies that pull you into the track.The rhythm section feels almost submerged, like you’re hearing it from underwater. The inclusion of short, scattered vocal samples in 'Fading Fast' adds an extra layer of intrigue and emotional depth, without pulling focus from the track's atmospheric core. Rather than traditional, lyrical verses, these vocals appear like fleeting whispers - fragments of a larger story, almost like half remembered phrases.
B1. opening with Stephan's track 'Overload' and it feels like an immediate shift in energy, where the vibe ramps up with pure house power. This track is all about the rhythm, the groove, and, most importantly, that bassline that keeps you locked in.
From the first beat, it’s clear 'Overload' isn’t messing around. The drums hit with a sharp, punchy attack, but it’s the bassline that truly makes this track shine. Deep, low, and relentless, the bassline pulses in a way that feels almost like it’s driving the entire track forward. There’s something about the way the low end sits in this track that makes it feel alive especially with the warmth of the lovely deep pad Holding the whole track underneath.
B2.'Better in Space' is the closing track of the record, it feels like a natural continuation of the vibe that’s been built, but also a final statement that allows the listener to fully sink into the deep, spacious world Stephan is known for. With this track, we’re stepping into a place where dub and deep house collide seamlessly, creating an atmosphere that's both expansive and intimate - taking us out there but also pulling us inward. From the very first moment, 'Better in Space' sets the stage with a warm, enveloping bassline that instantly grounds you.
Pacific Northwest native and a mainstay of the Portland and Seattle scenes since the late 90s, Trevor Vichas, now becomes part of the Selections label family with the sort of smooth cruising EP that will quickly become a staple in the record bags of deep house heads. 'With You' opens with the sort of gentle, meandering chords that get you daydreaming while the subtle sax lines add some soul to a warm groove. London's Max Sinal of Soul Quest Records remixes with extra drive, then 'Your Love' brings a Terrence Parker-style soul to the EP. Rising Toronto DJ and producer Nicholas Nothing adds a more funky perspective to round out a diverse and delicious EP.
The first ASFON release has been a year-long labour of love that has come into being from what felt like a lucid dream, off in the distance, too crazy to believe was real. From our first meeting in the Freerotation yurt to late-night exchanges in Bristol, Winkles (Jamie Slater) has been sharing tracks that lingered long after the party ended. Their raw textures and warped sense of time found a natural home in our sets, eventually leading to the emergence of ‘The Unavoidable EP’, a collection of four diverse tracks which form a singular, immersive experience.
On A1 journey, The Unavoidable Consequence Of Familiarity, a knocking kick opens the door to this new sound world, introducing us to the granular clicks, crazed telephony and vocoded grunts which populate the deep space of Winkles’ imagination. Machines whir and perception shifts in the space between distant synth stabs, while a pulsating bassline battles to break through the filter and create a throbbing low end. Hallucinatory and deep, this is the perfect introduction to both the EP and the ASFON outlook.
Semi Stretches sees Winkles pick up a signal from beyond the outer rim, fire up the hyperdrive and lock into the rolling hum of intergalactic techno. Juggernaut bass forms the perfect counterpoint to the rapid fire rim shots trembling away up top as this Venusian club craft battles static, drives through the milky cosmic and transports the dancing bodies to a Multicoloured Plasticine Universe.
Cutting the engines and switching to suspended animation, Winkles lets us drift through a hazy dream-space where there’s no up or down, where twinkling arps, insectile electronics and hazy sirens coalesce into a psychotropic swirl.
Out of this multicoloured mirage comes Osaka-based astral traveller Erik Luebs, who translates that peak-time ambient bubbler into a Balearic chugger which emerges from the ether to add another dimension to the EP. Rubberised bass, velvet pads and nuanced percussion ensure this is perfect for poolside play in a land of pink sand and sideways tides.
Deep Logics is the new imprint from Amsterdam´s Techno & House veteran David Labeij.
A long-lost track, never forgotten. Over 20 years ago, during the early 2000s, Swalmloop was created by two of
David’s close friends, Frodo & Pep, during a time when they briefly shared a studio. Though the track hadn’t
been heard since, it always lingered in David’s memory. Every few years, he would ask about it—and finally,
buried deep on an old, forgotten hard drive in storage, Frodo & Pep found the original file earlier this year.
And just as David remembered, the track was every bit as beautiful to him. Now, after two decades,
Swalmloop is finally being released—accompanied by two amazing remixes from Rotterdam’s own Tapirus and
Deep Logics own David Labeij.
Advanced Art was formed in Tampere, Finland, in 1985 by Jana, Pete, and Vince. Too young to be part of the first wave of Finnish groups inspired by German synth pioneers and New Romantics, they instead forged their own path and soon became pioneers themselves. For the next ten years, Advanced Art defined and dominated Finland’s small but growing electronic underground. They inspired a new generation of Finns to experiment with synthesizers, built an international cult following, and were deeply involved in the local scene—running clubs, organizing events, and performing at some of the very first warehouse parties in the country.
Although the line-up shifted over time, the group’s creative drive consistently came from the partnership between Jana, who supplied the voice and words, and Vince, who shaped the music with his machines. Together they defined the band’s distinctive blend of sharp electronics and lyrical vision.
After several cassette demos and two 7-inch singles, Advanced Art signed to Poko Rekords in 1991. The EPs Scar and Time raised their profile both at home and abroad, especially thanks to valuable exposure on MTV Europe’s 120 Minutes. Known for their perfectionism, they finally released their debut album Product in January 1993. On Product the line-up was Jana (lyrics, vocals), Vince (music, production), and Factor (percussion, studio work). Having moved through phases of synth pop, EBM, and industrial, the album showcased Vince’s vision of a unified sound and style more clearly than ever before.
Force followed in 1994, conceived as a multi-part concept album (Update / Live / Retro). Recorded with live percussionist PW joining Jana and Vince, it expanded on the groundwork of Product with new beats, ideas, and a sharper, more defined identity.
By 1995, exactly ten years after their founding, Jana and Vince decided to bring Advanced Art to a close on the band’s birthday, 13 October. Their run had been precise: one decade of creative output, ending with a legacy that laid foundations for Finland’s electronic scene.
Now, conveniently coinciding with the band’s 40th anniversary, Advanced Art present Forced Product. This double-LP set, fully remastered, features Product in its entirety, alongside the Update and Retro sections of Force, plus additional EP tracks and remixes recorded between 1991 and 1994 at “Audible Art” – less a studio than a concept, existing wherever machines and people met.
Limited to 450 copies, Forced Product comes in a gatefold sleeve with poster and sticker, offering a definitive document of Finland’s pioneering electronic cult heroes — a band that helped invent their country’s scene and left a lasting influence far beyond it.
DJ Support: Axel Boman, Coyote, Rune Lindbaek, Dr Rob (Ban Ban Ton Ton), Lefto, Johan Blende, Feel Fly, Marco Gallerani and many more
Secret Soul Society, aka South Wales's Cal Gibson, continues his red-hot streak of form with four original jams for Hell Yeah that effortlessly weave decades of influences into intimate, unusual sounds that go from Balearic daydreams to after-hours soul burners.
Gibson was one-half of Nottingham's deep house and downtempo outfit Neon Heights back in the 2000s, a collective that label head Marco has long admired. He has landed here before with the superb Keep The Mystique in 2023, a 15-track collection of brand new curveball cuts built from lovingly sourced samples. Since then, he has continued to collide jazz, funk, Afro, beats, dub, soul and reggae on Paper Wave and Magic Wand.
'To Be Happy' opens with gentle, sun-soaked grooves, swirling keys and dreamy pads that evoke a hazy Mediterranean sunset. Nostalgic soul samples tug at the heart while the track’s laid-back vibe is perfect for golden-hour moments. 'Orange Surprise' is a magical slice of downtempo bliss with hints of romantic vocals. It's built on soft broken rhythms and drifts between ambient soul and laid-back electronica, perfect for introspective moments or late-night winding down.
'Keep On Trying' flips the script with more texture. The synths are crystalline, the pads are sugary, and the meandering bassline unfolds in wonky fashion while soft male vocals bring a steamy edge. Last but not least, 'What You Do To Me' is funky and slow motion disco with 80s synths and reverb that drowns you in good vibes.
This EP is Secret Soul Society at his most expressive and emotive.
Hasvat Informant's debut album, Pluripotent XII, is a 12-track journey that reads between the lines of psychedelic electronics and contemporary techno. From driving, precise grooves to slow, textured explorations, the album carries the organic resonance of Australian underground culture while threading sharp influences from Detroit and beyond into a singular, unmistakably distinctive sound.
On this dual release, Naarm-based artist alternates between his Hasvat and Intellegama personas, moving between them like a figure navigating parallel realities. Each track balances mechanical precision with expansive, trance-infused textures, creating a liminal space where urban and natural influences converge.
More than a display of technical skill, this debut conveys a sense of place, heritage, and lineage. Dwelling in both conflict and harmony, Pluripotent XII invites listeners into an otherworldly, lysergic landscape - complex, evolving, and fully realized.
After over a decade in the shadows, the mysterious and elusive Creative Use return to their secret headquarters for brand new manoeuvres.
Freshly kitted out with new prescience, flair, and a Maestro Echoplex EP-3, they deliver Creative Use 11 via newcomers, Powerhouse Jim & The Fitness Centre, direct from their dojo in the North of England.
The trio of delights offer something for all discerning DJs and collectors alike. This EP won’t be around for long, so we advise to buy or cry.
Transversales is very glad to announce the release of « Unreleased & Rareties » spanning 1972-2002, revelatory collection of short and secret music by electronic music pioneer, Jean SCHWARZ. He served as an engineer at the CNRS in the Ethnomusicology Department of the Musée de l'Homme in Paris, and was a member of the Groupe de Recherches Musicales (G.R.M) from 1969 to 1999.
This compilation allows us to discover some of unreleased rarities from Jean Schwarz’s personal archives and unpublished recordings which were composed for the dance, screen or the performing arts.
Remastered high-resolution audio transferred directly from the original master tapes.
Exclusive liner notes. Deluxe LP with printed innersleeves & OBI
Second Circle is very excited to announce ‘In Dream’, the eight-track debut album from Tokyo-born, Berlin-based producer and DJ Courtney Bailey.
Sonically, 'In Dream' unfolds as a rich, lush soundscape, woven together with expansive digital synth pads, Fairlight-esque stabs, and vibrant acid bass lines. At times the EP leans back horizontally to evoke the balearic spirit of Yello ('Burnt Moon'), at other times it leans more upright towards to dancefloor ('In Heaven'), but what remains throughout is a sense of intimacy, gracefully guided by Bailey’s whisper soft spoken vocals and gentle melodic vocal lines.
Building on an initial spark of inspiration that arose when listening to the work of Japanese artist Dream Dolphin aka Noriko Kodera, ‘In Dream' is Bailey’s direct creative response to new feelings, energy and emotions. Time spent in the outdoors, specifically in the natural landscapes of Australia also had a profound influence on the making of the record; opener ‘Kodou’ was directly inspired by a moment in Melbourne watching rainbow-colored parrots in a pink-flowering tree. Similarly, 'Burnt Moon' captures the essence of watching moonlight shimmer on ocean waters. At its core, 'In Dream' embraces a child-like wonder for the beauty of nature, an act which infuses the music with a radiant, luminous sense of positivity.
Capturing the essence of stepping into the unknown and more importantly, doing it with curiosity and optimism, ‘In Dream’ paints a vibrant, multi-colour vision of life, with Bailey inviting us all to immerse ourselves in it’s wonders.
Updated remixes of two big Balearic classics on Best Record! "Describing Linda Di Franco is no easy task: a reserved, sometimes elusive artist with a career that is difficult to define. From an early age she was interested in various artistic fields. Working as a DJ in clubs, then on the radio, she took the opportunity to record her first musical demo, Stage, obtaining international recognition which quickly took her to England and to the States, where she recorded her first compositions, My Boss and T.V. Scene. The songs are of great value and achieve unexpected success, also included in The Rise Of The Heart, a milestone in the nascent revolution of club culture, a Balearic classic supported by DJs in love with the indefinable sound of Ibiza. But Linda is extraordinarily ahead of her time and despite the enormous fame has gained with her songs she is already oriented towards a career as a music video director. For this reason the Turin singer-songwriter turns out to be one of the least fruitful artists of her time, while her CV in Hollywood is impressive in various roles which she holds, in addition to that of actress and director, that of impeccable sound technique. Intelligent artist, full of good and positive feelings and certainly also ambitious, but extremely scrupulous by subjecting sounds in cinema to careful review. Yes! The "sound" is an investigative tool for her, a way of understanding art. Linda Di Franco is - willy-nilly - still the undisputed queen of the Balearic sound today. So, she decided to produce Redux, a limited edition album published by Best Record, in which her most intrepid and famous songs are re-proposed in the jazz versions edited by her friends from Turin and Los Angeles. Then she had to give in to the boundless passion of Danilo Braca, the Italian DJ based in New York, who deserves credit for the successful combination of refined and ethereal songs with the disco genre. TV. Scene - Epic Remix, TV. Scene - Costa del Sol Mix and My Boss - Remix are Danilo's pearls, created with the help of excellent international musicians who with more defined and current sounds have added their art to that of Linda."
Early support from Timo Maas, Paco Osuna, Ilario Alicante, Just Her, Adriatique, and more. Igor Vicente joins forces with Dka for the ‘Ecstatic’ EP this November, released via Belgian imprint Move Recordings, including a remix from Gregor Tresher.
Move Recordings is a Belgian electronic music label founded and helmed by veteran DJ/producer End-Jy (Jérôme Naujoks), known for his roots in the 1990s techno scene of Tournai and major collaborations with acts like Marco Bailey. Now reborn in 2025, the label returns with more powerful electronic music for the modern-day discerning listener. This time, it welcomes fellow Belgian DJ and producer Igor Vicente, renowned for his genre-blending style and releases on labels such as Mobilee, Hot Creations, and Visionquest, once again in collaboration with fellow Belgian DkA, who’s racked up releases on labels like Get Physical, Constant State, and Mau5trap Recordings—a striking sign of his ability to explore a variety of genres and styles.
The original version of ‘Ecstatic’ leads, featuring subtly blooming atmospherics, a nuanced synth hook, oscillating percussion, and raw drums, all building towards a climatic breakdown and a powerful drop in the latter stages. Gregor Tresher reshapes the original with his signature twist, extracting fragments of the track and fusing them with elongated bass grooves, heavily shuffled, crunchy drums, and intricately intertwined melodious elements.
‘Planets’ opens the B-side, a nine-minute excursion through squelchy acid bass notes, cinematic pads, robust drums, and chuggy arpeggio synth lines. The ‘Ecstatic (Dub Mix)’ then concludes the EP, shifting focus solely onto the raw groove and hypnotic melody of the original composition, as the name suggests.
Dutch record label, shop and club platform One Eye Witness presents a lively new entry in their V/A series with WITNESS08. Honing in on more fresh talent from across the globe, Amsterdam’s wandering eye gathers producers Sinqmin, Salomee, Kate08 and elusive duo The Evil B-Side Twins (DJ Tool & Yazzus) for another trip into tech house — and beyond!
Kate08’s “Sticky Toffee” is suitably viscous, burbling and oozing its way across shifting sections. The London artist delicately balances percussion atop warbling bass tones and synth lines that pop in and out. Salomee gets moody on “Night Behaviour”; lurking in the shadows, the track’s acid squelch and interlocking melodies point to the psychedelic, with a purring bassline that keeps things grounded.
The Evil B-Side Twins lay in wait on the flip, springing into action with the tightly-wound “Spindrift”. Propelled by a spiky break and cascading delays, its 303 lines sound like rubber, bouncing between the other synths deployed by the duo. All manner of FX trickery is woven into the production: the Twins layer up and load the track with intricate details. Supplying an unexpected respite from the club action, final cut “Aesthetics For Destination” marks the debut foray into hip-hop for OEW. Produced by Seoul-based Sinqmin and featuring the sultry vocals of 문선 (MOONSUN), the track’s sparse beat and ghostly samples make for a mellow, head-nodding end to another hit from the label.
Triple Five Sol drop 75 Racks on Dark Entries, an EP featuring 5 cuts of raw and jacking house music. San Francisco-based producers/DJs Johnny Five and Vin Sol linked up during a trip to New Orleans, and they began hatching plans to collaborate. After setting up a new home studio in Vin Sol’s abode, jam sessions ensued, and soon the duo had cemented their sound. Their analog house tracks harken back to the roughshod and unembellished vibes on 80s Chicago and New York labels like Nu Groove or Gherkin Records, influences they wear with pride. “Boxxx that Rocks,” “Just a Freak,” and “Everybody Loves Triple Five Sol” deploy chunky beats with sprees of minimalist bleeps, sounding like Chip E retuned for the 22nd century. It’s not all jagged drums and acidic squelch on 75 Racks, though; “Gonna Get Out” and “Halfway Home” saunter with the confidence of a New Dance Show participant, soulful and grooving with a dash of garage. 75 Racks comes in a sleeve designed by Primo Pitino featuring bold retro primary colors. Triple Five Sol brings us timeless dance music: deep, real, and weird.
Domenic Cappello has prepared an oasis of electronic style through “The Retroactive Future” for Analog Concept Records.
Side A doesn’t hesitate to show a deep mood, via the therapeutic sun pads, jamming New Beat House hybrid that is Hutt’s Groove, followed up by the cinematic late nite synth progressions and the delicious electro techno that thrives in Midnight Drive.
On the flip, we are welcomed to Time, an ethereal trip of aquatic electro, complimented naturally with cloudy synth vibes and charming acid lines.
The dynamic EP affair concludes with the timeless Detroit attitude, sharp percussion, and meditative sunset to lucid nite sky auras that are shining from Constillation Fela.
Analog Concept Records is delighted to bring you this vinyl selection suited for your tastes in classic future House to Techno, “The Retroactive Future” by Domenic Cappello.
Seoul-based DJ and producer DJ Botermelk launches his new vinyl label Venn with a solid four-tracker of club-ready tools.
Kicking off the EP, ‘Rubber Glover’ is a wonky stomper layered with hypnotic vocals and percolating FX.
A2 settles into a deeper, minimal groove with dubbed out synths perfect for a cheeky jaunt down the streets of ‘Milwaukee’.
On the flip, ‘Rearview’ takes on a more sinister tilt, with a rumbling bass line, menacing vocals, and a punchy drum workout to keep things driving forward.
Fresh off a run of standout releases on Mindhelmet, Limousine Dream and Sex Tapes From Mars, Bristol-based producer Boulderhead closes out the EP on a more optimistic note with his bouncy remix of ‘Rubber Glover’, driven by razor-sharp drum programming and pulsing drones.
Cybernetic disco maestro Patrick Cowley graces Dark Entries once again with Hard Ware, an LP of far-out funk and synthpop celebrating what would have been Cowley’s 75th birthday. Best known for his chart-topping disco anthems, Cowley left us with an incredible body of work before his tragic death in 1982 due to AIDS-related illness. Since 2009, Dark Entries has been working with Cowley’s friends and family to uncover the singular artist’s lesser-known sides, including his soundtracks for gay pornographic films, which the label chronicled on compilation albums School Daze, Muscle Up, and Afternooners. Hard Ware presents the closing chapter in a trilogy of unreleased Cowley dancefloor bangers that began with 2022’s heavy-hitting Male Box and was continued with the soul and garage-inflected From Behind in 2024. The most expansive release in said trilogy, Hard Ware delivers ten tracks of pure, uncut Cowley: sultry, psychedelic, sarcastic, and just a bit sleazy. Cowley devotees will delight in “Tech-No,” a sparse instrumental demo version of his epically dystopian “Tech-No-Logical World.” You could soundtrack your next aerobics session with cheeky numbers like “Pajama Party Massacre” or “Shake It Up,” both of which feature Cowley himself on vocals. The frenetic “Big Ass in Motion” is built around samples from Rudy Ray Moore and The Madam’s infamous “Sensuous Black Woman,” an X-rated comedy record that would later feature in classic booty house records. Mid-tempo cosmic groovers are well-represented with jams like “Hellfire” and “Megablue,” which perfectly capture Cowley’s bathhouse-in-outerspace sensibilities. No collection of Cowley’s work would be complete without an interstellar floor-filler, and we’ve got quite a few here, like “Jungle Jump,” which pits whirling beats with dub-laced swirls of synth, or “Spellbinding Lover,” a Donna Summer-indebted melancholic boogie masterpiece that features Sylvester backup singer Jeanie Tracy. Hard Ware closes with the chilling synth-hymn ”Ice Age,” in which Loverde vocalist Peggy Gibbons sings of a coming frosty apocalypse. The story told in “Ice Age” mirrors the coming AIDS crisis and feels like a haunting premonition from Cowley. The record comes in a sleeve with a hand-airbrushed circuitboard-inspired design by Gwenaël Rattke, and includes lyrics as well as liner notes by Andrew Ryce and Peggy Gibbons. Hard Ware is another crucial document of a tremendous talent taken too soon.
Evelyne/Masao bring TESTPATTERN to Dark Entries for the label’s first foray into vintage Japanese electronics. Masao Hiruma and Fumio Ichimura’s project Testpattern is known for their release Apres-Midi, a cult slab of synthpop perfection released by Yukihiro Takahashi and Haruomi Hosono’s legendary Yen Records in 1982. While Hiruma and Ichimura parted ways following Apres-Midi, Hiruma’s musical endeavors would continue after meeting French/American model and vocalist Evelyne Bennu in 1984 at a café bar where she would sit and write poetry. Their collaborative efforts as Evelyne/Masao were fruitful, and the duo first performed together in June 1984 on a television program called TOKYO ROCK TV. The album TESTPATTERN comprises seventeen songs recorded in Hiruma’s home studio, which have never been released previously. The Evelyne/Masao duo continues building on the soundworld of Apres-Midi: lush, sophisticated electronics with intricate yet minimalist production. Tracks like “Sakuramochi” and “Bird Island” bear influence from Hosono most clearly, their soaring melodies revealing a subtly ironic redeployment of East Asian musical tropes. But TESTPATTERN is more than homage to Yellow Magic Orchestra. “Tabac” and “Le Soleil Se Leve” display oddball sensibilities closer to Sky Records icons Asmus Tietchens or Cluster. Elsewhere, the project shows affinity for the punkier ethos of continental DIY electronics, like on the quirky “Alien Go Home” and a positively skewed cover of “Singin’ in the Rain.” Bennu’s vocals provide a common thread through these explorations, as she alternates deftly between New Wave deadpan and unhinged chanson singer—check her waxing maximally Francophone on “Au Clair de Lune,” based on an 18th century French song. TESTPATTERN will be available on both double LP as well as CD, and includes a fold-out poster with liner notes with lyrics. This album is dedicated to Masao Hiruma, who passed away in 2011.
WRWTFWW Records is very happy to announce the first-ever vinyl release of Japanese electronic music producer Virgo's unheralded sophomore album, Remnants, a sleeper underground hit from 1999, now finally available as a limited edition 45rpm cut double LP housed in a heavyweight sleeve.
Released only on CD in 1999 by Tokyo-based cult label FORM@ RECORDS, Remnants is a quietly visionary record: mellow ambient techno, fluid electronica, and soul-laced atmospherics with the spirit of Detroit close to the heart. As the follow-up to his essential debut Landform Code, Virgo expands his palette here - working in widescreen textures, warm synth tones, and patient, emotive arrangements that feel both intimate and cinematic. The result is lush, heartfelt, and simply brilliant - a late '90s statement that rewards deep, repeated listening.
Remnants sits comfortably alongside the era's best explorations in soulful techno, ambient, and IDM, recalling the sensibilities of B12, The Black Dog, Ian O'Brien, and the lineage of labels Warp, Likemind and Clear, while remaining distinctly Virgo - subtle, sophisticated, and unexpectedly moving.
The album is released alongside Virgo's Landform Code, also available on vinyl for the first time ever, as part of a collaborative reissue series between WRWTFWW and FORM@. It aslo signals more archival treasures to come : vinyl pressings of FORM@ compilations Art Form I (1997), Art Form 2 (1998), and Re-Form Ver-1.0 (1999).
Pioneer of the electronic scene and co-creator of iconic projects like Age Of Love and BBE, Bruno Sanchioni returns with the fourth installment of his acclaimed series: Capture EP 4.
This new chapter delivers four powerful and hypnotic tracks, each crafted with the precision and flair that define Sanchioni’s legacy. With deep grooves, acid-tinged lines, and a finely tuned sense of progression, the EP invites listeners into an immersive and energetic sonic journey.
Capture EP 4 further cements Sanchioni’s reputation as a master of electronic storytelling—pushing boundaries while staying true to the spirit of the underground. A compelling addition to his ever-evolving discography, and a must-have for those who seek depth and intensity on the dancefloor.
French:
Pionnier de la scène électronique et co-créateur de projets emblématiques tels que Age Of Love et BBE, Bruno Sanchioni revient avec le quatrième volet de sa série acclamée : Capture EP 4.
Ce nouvel opus dévoile quatre titres percutants et hypnotiques, façonnés avec la précision et la sensibilité sonore qui font la marque de Sanchioni. Entre grooves profonds, lignes acidulées et constructions immersives, cet EP embarque l’auditeur dans un voyage aussi intense qu’élégant.
Avec Capture EP 4, Bruno Sanchioni confirme une fois de plus son statut de maître de la narration électronique — explorant de nouveaux territoires tout en restant fidèle à l’ADN de l’underground. Un disque incontournable pour les amateurs de sons authentiques, profonds et puissants.
Latest record off the Kalahari production line comes courtesy of a real one. Klon Dump in the building, moving like a madman across four barrelling tech house scorchers.
Part-producer, part-engineer and a long time co-conspirator of A Colourful Storm’s Moopie. Better known to some under the alias Mark, but always surefire for some serious dancefloor potency. Doubters, look no further-this is another demonstration of his mastery.
Big with the radiant stabs, even bigger on the earworm groove. Ploughing the furrow of tough, direct but deft as the Klon Dump faithful will have come to expect by now. Proper belters.
Always flexing outstanding rhythmic ingenuity, whether it’s hardcore hybridity as Mark or the tech house innovation shown here. If anything in life is certain, it’s that a KD record will lay down some serious torque.
There’s also an off-kilter playfulness that kinda feels reminiscent of T+++’s ‘Space Pong’ or Fiedel and Errorsmith’s MMM project. Another ace in the hole from the Antipodean shapeshifter.
When Los Amigos Invisibles first released "The New Sound" (1998) - more than a quarter of a century ago!) - was the ultimate party album. Time has passed, but the party has kept on - and this party music, full of non-stop funked out grooves-traveling through house, funk, acid jazz, and bossa nova, to name a few musical avenues - is a journey deep into the pants of rhythm. (We won"t even mention the old sound of the Venezuelan Gozadera).
For their first album as Gilla Band (formerly Girl Band), the
foursome have redrawn their own paradigm. ‘Most Normal’ is like
little you’ve heard before, a kaleidoscopic spectrum of noise put in
service of broken pop songs, FX-strafed Avant-punk rollercoaster
rides and passages of futurist dancefloor nihilism.
Lockdown robbed Gilla Band of any opportunity to try the new
material out live, but the pandemic also incinerated any idea of a
deadline for the new album. They were free to tinker at leisure, to
rewrite and restructure and reinvent tracks they’d cut, to, as
drummer Adam Faulkner puts it, “pull things apart and be like,
‘Let’s try this. We could try out every wild idea.’”
The group also fell under the spell of modern hip-hop, “where
there’s really heavy-handed production and they’re messing with
the track the whole time,” says Fox. “That felt like a fun route to go
down, it was a definite influence.”
‘Most Normal’ opens with an absolute industrial-noise banger that
sounds like a manic house party throbbing through the walls of the
next room as a downed jetliner brings death from above. What
follows is unpredictable, leading the listener through a sonic house
of mirrors, where the unexpected awaits around every corner.
The common thread holding ‘Most Normal’’s ambitious Avant-pop
shapes together is frontman Dara Kiely. Throughout, he’s an antic,
antagonistic presence, barking wild, hilarious, unsettling spiels,
babbling about smearing fish with lubricant or dressing up in binliners or having to wear hand-me-down bootcut jeans (“It was a
big, shameful thing, growing up, not being able to afford the look I
wanted and having to wear all my brother’s old clothes,” says
Kiely).
‘Most Normal’, then, is a triumph, the bold work of a group who’ve
taken the time to evolve their ideas, to deconstruct and reconstruct
their music and rebuild it into something new, something
challenging and infinitely rewarding. It’s a headphone masterpiece.
It’s a majestic exploration of the infinite possibilities of noise. It’s a
bold riposte to your parochial beliefs on whatever a pop song can
or should be. It’s the best work these musicians have put to
(mangled) tape.
