Beats Vinyl New Releases - News

Give thanks and praises! After dropping the mighty Solemn Shores EP on Celsius Recordings earlier this year Scott Allen & Deeper Connection now return to Fokuz with a marvelous two tracker called the Zion Dub EP!

The EP features two dub/reggae influenced tracks tastefully put together by two of the most exciting producers out there. Deep subs, rolling drums and feel good vibes. Exactly what Fokuz is all about, don't sleep on it!>

A decade after releasing their debut EP through Planet Mu's Timesig imprint, Speed Dealer Moms—a collaborative electronic music project with a fluid line-up commonly made up of Aaron Funk, John Frusciante and Chris McDonald—are set to make their long-awaited return this summer with a new offering entitled SDM-LA8-441-114-211. The 3-track EP, arriving June 11 through Evar Records, offers a glimpse into the treasure trove of Speed Dealer Moms' unreleased material, with each song title alluding to the date in which it was recorded and in how many takes.

Over the years, Speed Dealer Moms have considered various ideas on how to release more of their unorthodox recordings in unconventional ways, with their latest to arrive in the format of a limited edition vinyl pressing. Although a lot has changed since first sharing their intricate creations with the world in 2010, Speed Dealer Moms have routinely gotten together whenever schedules and circumstances allowed, picking up wherever they last left off creatively and adding to their growing archive of recordings. While there are plenty of reminders that time is both irrelevant and an illusion—especially in the fickle music business where trends are fleeting—the chemistry these collaborators exhibit in the studio has no expiration date, offering a purity in approach that reflects the cherished importance of creating in the moment and subsequently celebrating timeless music.

During the writing process, which includes in-depth discussions and days of programming, Speed Dealer Moms record live to stereo with no overdubs or edits, improvising arrangements that often feel composed. In the same spirit of prodigal IDM acts such as Autechre and Luke Vibert, each Speed Dealer Moms session pushes the limits of what an arsenal of modular synthesizers and other machines are capable of, creating tracks that are driven by mathematics, mechanical understanding and musical spontaneity alike. As exemplified by their forthcoming Evar release, each recorded session captures an undeniable magic that is both distinctive and hard to describe, creating a listening experience that transcends genre lines and sonic boundaries.

The Humble Seaman 120 5x5 RTE/LP003 Craig Tattersall & Bill Seaman

Usually projects take a long time, with deep processing and thinking, for this project they attempted to work in the complete opposite way, to work as quickly as possible, absolute intuition! (2 weeks from start to finish if memory serves).maybe 4 Some very beautiful works arose via this process. Craig re-named our duo the Humble Seaman but we are also known as the Seaman and the tattered sail.

We tend to find things through process, moving through trying things out, abstracting things, adding new layers etc. until the final felt meaning is arrived at…

A message from the unknown.. limited to 200 copies

A message from the unknown.. limited to 200 copies

A message from the unknown.. limited to 200 copies

Australian producer 'Well Being' returns to the Fokuz imprint with that sort of track we would place in the 'halftime' segment nowdays. 'There's A Place' contains a soothing trumpet, spaced-out strings and delayed piano riffs all blending together perfectly. Souful vibes on this one!
On the flip Technicolour and Komatic deliver a track called 'Ever After'. It seems this duo has the Midas touch, they can simply do no wrong! A moody vocal, deep bassline and tight cuts. The kind of track track that makes you reflect on whats important.

Amsterdam producer Kaap steps forward on his own De Lichting imprint with three twisted jams of deep and playful techno. The passionate gearhead, known for his dubby takes on house and techno, started his Working Titles playground back in 2017 by running a niche cassette outlet Yield on the side. In late 2018 he merged into the prolific De Lichting collective and is a frequent guest on Indigo Aera's AEX series. After many years of hard work, Kaap's new solo EP is surfacing, and it's worth the wait. Over the course of three tracks, Kaap shows high levels of creativity. The first track 'Razor' is a bouncy bass wobbler, its rubbery acid lines and crispy percussion make it an ideal party starter. Title track 'Omen' reaches for deeper grounds, a deep and murky groover enlightened by tactical bleepy rhythms. Kaap's love for dub-techno triumphs on the lengthy b-side as a closer on this EP. With over ten minutes of hazy atmospheres and mesmerizing pads, it builds and builds towards the rolling fields of euphoria.

A bridging of minds and energies, a confluence of souls and spirits. Midnight Shift releases an exclusive collaboration between Prequel Tapes and dBridge - Ionize. Cast all genres aside, as two electronic worlds collide to produce a third sonic space.

Start your engines with 'Divisible Cause' speeding and hurtling into the great atmospheric unknown. Outlier for the freaks, 'Stray Thrills' amalgamates between the classicist EBM and futurist UK bass. Stumble through 'Pleasure Systems' with light sabres, wrangled beats and gun shots ricochetting off the walls in one heady disorientation. Then wander aimlessly into the warehouse at 170bpm with 'Mindless', led by twilight tones and menacing machines at every turn.

Freshly Re-pressed

Auf Einer Unscheinbaren Kassette, Die Nur Mit 'robert Rental' Beschriftet Ist, Liegen Diese Demos Seit Jahren Ungehört In Den Kostbaren Besitztümern Seiner Familie. Gepflegte Artefakte Eines Viel Zu Früh Geendeten Lebens.
Diese Lieder, Die Robert 1980 In Seiner Wohnung In Battersea Aufgenommen Hat, Geben Einen Verlockenden Einblick In Seine Allzu Seltene Soloarbeit. Meistens Arbeitete Robert Mit Thomas Leer, Daniel Miller Oder Anderen Musikern Zusammen. Es Handelt Sich Um Rohe Aufnahmen Auf Denen Seine Kreativität Durch Die Dunkelheit Scheint Wie Ein Ungeschliffener Diamant.
Mit Diesen Aufnahmen Scheint Sich Robert In Richtung Mehr In Richtung Songstrukturen Zu Bewegen Als Auf Seinen Früheren Arbeiten, Die Wild & Experimentell Waren Und Oft Direkt Aus Dem Fernsehen Aufgenommene Samples Beinhalteten.
Wir Kennen 2 Dieser Tracks Von Ihrer Späteren Neuaufnahme Für Die Mute Records Single'double Heart' Ende 1980. Robert Sprach Mit Freunden Über Seine Frustration, Seinen Sound In Einem Kommerziellen Studio Nicht Reproduzieren Zu Können - Es War Der Sound Dieser Demos, Den Er Nachbilden Wollte. Manchmal Kann Der Zugang Zu Den Rudimentärsten Geräten Das Kreative Talent Zu Etwas Schärferem Und Konzentrierterem Verfeinern.

Artwork by Hiroshi Yoshimura, 350gsm Sleeve with selected UV High Gloss Varnish, Liner Notes by Midori Takada, Satoshi Ashikawa, and Gareth Quinn Redmond, Sticker

Initially released in 1982 as part of the Wave Notation series*, Still Way is, without a doubt, a seminal Japanese environmental/ambient/minimalism album, often mentioned alongside Midori Takada's Through Looking Glass and Hiroshi Yoshimura's Green as one of the genre's most important pieces.

"Like the moment of stillness, after the wind passes through the garden, when the rain stops for a brief second…" Notably inspired by Erik Satie's Furniture Music and Brian Eno's ambient work, Satoshi Ashikawa aimed to compose music "intended to be listened to in a casual manner, as a musical landscape or a sound object…not something that would stimulate listeners but music that should drift like smoke and become part of the environment."
The result is simply phenomenal, subtle minimalism and emotional elegance exquisitely orchestrated by Satoshi Ishikawa and his team consisting of his wife Masami Ashikawa (on flute), Midori Takada (on vibraphone), Yuko Utsumi (on harp), Tomoko Sono (on piano), and Junko Arase (on vibraphone).
In conjunction with Still Way, WRWTFWW is releasing Laistigh den Ghleo, a companion album by Irish ambient/minimalist composer Gareth Quinn Redmond, inspired by Ashikawa's approach.
*The Wave Notation series also includes Hiroshi Yoshimura's Music For Nine Postcards album.

For DSD023, Bailey Ibbs serves up a killer with his ‘Gurl’ EP. The A side delivers 3 Bailey originals, each serving up a different mood best suited for the dance floor. Where the B side provides 3 completely different flips of ‘Gurl’ delivered to you by Groovy D, Denham Audio & AK Sports.

Welcome to the strange musical world of Tolley & Dara, an experimental duo whose incredible music held a marginal yet vital position on the fringe of the Australian music industry during the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Consisting of jazz bassist and synthesist David Tolley and percussionist Dure Dara, their union was a relationship of romance and intense creativity, a deep spiritual bond consecrated amidst banks of modular synthesizers and racks of exotic percussion instruments.

Recorded over a series of live performances in the spring of 1979, the music featured on Cutheart was edited and assembled from eight improvised pieces recorded at the Universal Theatre Melbourne. Comprised of analogue synthesizers and a vast array of tuned and non-tuned percussion, Tolley and Dara sculpted a cluster of electronic abstractions and organic splashes of Gamelan-influenced percussion; a dense otherworldly soundscape coloured with trance-like vocal scatting and deranged muttering.

Known for his bass playing on the classic Australian jazz-rock album Carlton Streets by The Brian Brown Quintet and also as a member of EX-, (the collaborative project with Daevid Allen from Soft Machine/Gong), Cutheart sees Tolley explore the outer realms of heady improvised electronic music.
While the music of Tolley & Dara exists in a sonic universe all of it's own, similarities could easily be drawn to another likeminded musical partnership, the American husband and wife duo Annette Peacock and Paul Bley. Cutheart is a pioneering recording of extended synthesiser and percussion technique from the Australian experimental underground.

Since joining the GRM in 1963 and appearing alongside Pierre Schaeffer and Guy Riebel on 1967’s
’Solfège De L’Objet’, Ferreyra has divided her time between educational functions and developing a
style of free concrete composition that generally lay below the radar of most but the keenest ears
until Recollections GRM brought her work to wider attention in 2015. ‘GRM Works’ surveyed more
than 50 years of enchanted ideas, and her legacy has continued to extend into the public domain
through these beautiful Room 40 editions that do much to contextualise her work inside and
outside GRM’s hallowed canon.
Canto+ picks up more or less where Echos+ left off, opening with 1974’s ‘Canto del loco’ - a
13-minute passage into the characteristic sound of monophonic oscillators, here overlaid with
concrète echoes and distortion. 2009’s ‘Pas de 3 ... ou plus’ dials back the synths in favor of
pure concrète alchemy, with taped hisses and wordless syllables pushing on the dimensional
membrane, echoing the vanguard work of Ferreyra’s GRM contemporaries Luc Ferrari and Bernard
Parmegiani, while ‘Jingle Bayle’s’ makes a direct nod to the era, paying tribute to electroacoustic
titan François Bayle with its acousmatic weirdness.
1971’s ‘Etude aux sons flegmatiques’ is another lengthy high-point, as Ferrarya commands wavey
feedback drones, juxtaposing disharmonic tones to fabricate a glassy, psychedelic microcosm.
It’s important material, not just because Ferrarya began creating at a time when this kind of
experimentation was rare, but because she approaches heady, academic themes with a level of
creative wonder and a pure love of sound-shaping that lends her work longevity and energy.
As we mentioned with the release of Echos+, Ferreyra’s decades-long work finds strong
corollaries in our mind with everything from Joan La Barbara to Björk, Teresa Winter to Luc
Ferrari, and places her among the unsung voices of her pioneering generation. Without her
experimentation and groundwork, it’s hard to imagine the fertile creative landscape that
inspired artists like Keith Fullerton Whitman or Jim O’Rourke to venture into modular and tape
music excursions - despite the scant attention her work received until recent years. ‘Canto+’ is
an important archival document, but also a vital portrait of a still-daring composer at her most
inventive.

Following three epic 12”, “Magnetic Frequencies”, “Sync Execute” and “Locked Loops”, the Roma based imprint presents “Heterodyne”, another refine chapter in A Credible Eye Witness & Ghost Ride’s mighty collaboration! The Italian duo introduces on A side killer “Computerized”, a future electro classic surrounded by a nostalgic atmosphere. Characterized by groovy beats in sync mode with outer space swirls and dark strings laying in the background, the tune serves up exactly what you could expect from the electro activists: a high quality standard, that will make either loose your mind nor move your body on the dancefloor. Nasty “Linear Optics” is the second mayhem of the side. While acidifying loops and frantic drums drive you crazy, nice Kraftwerkian melodies will elevate your mind by the middle of the cut. Done the right way and craftily executed! On the reverse, spicy “Conceptual Intuition” opens the Side B with what will probably be the standout of the 12”. Dark Drexcyian synth flights combined with a fast tempo and attractive female vocals over some insane bubbling modulations turn the song into a milestone of an intelligent electro tune. An ace jam that can be read at different levels and an authentic beast on the dancefloor! Grade A to the samples taken from Michael Zagger Band’s “Let’s All Chant” at the end of the track. As a conclusion, final cut “Spacetime” goes deeper into the realm delivering familiar Acid sounds, emotive synth elements and hypnotic arpeggios to the mass. In the prolongation of the previous releases on ACEW, “Heterodyne” signs a premium EP calibered for maximum damages on the linoleum!

repress on black vinyl

Aborted At Line 6 was a project that emerged from the inside of a Swiss company which sold electronic equipment and batteries. Carlos Perón (founder of Yello) sat on the same desk as the later publisher Urs Steiger. The other members Martin Sturzenegger, Moritz Faccin and Andrea Fürer sat separately through a glass pane in their own office and sold TEAK products. Chris Lunch was the only not employed in this company. He was working on some stuff at the Slatt Studio owned by Carlos Perón. They all had a ritual to drink a bottle of Mumm champagne early in the mornings. Since it was not allowed to drink in the workplace, the glasses were disguised as a coffee mug and used the winged word “Mümmli”.
It’s in this situation that Aborted At Line 6 developed into a “crazy idea”. They did some recordings in the studio of Andrea Fürer and mixed everything in just one go. The equipment used included one 808 Roland Drumcomputer, a Roland Drumatix, a Roland Bassline, one EMS Synthi A1, a Duke guitar and a Roland SH 3A operated and programmed by Carlos Perón and Chris Lunch. All this took place in 1982 and a 12″ single was released by Off Course Records (home of Grauzone and Stephan Eicher).
This iconic and very hard-to-find single is re-issued included the original tracks. Limited run of 350 copies on pink vinyl with a postcard.

Grungy, angular fuzz from South London - proper grim, claustrophobic stuff that feels completely
in tune with the country’s suffocating descent into fascism.
The second EP from Leisha Thomas under the Alpha Maid moniker, “CHUCKLE” is nowhere near as
upbeat as the title might suggest. Grey and overcast, it ties together crunchy Slint-adjacent postrawk technicality with the DIY grit of ‘90s Seattle, but roots everything in contemporary London.
Thomas’s vocals lash out with range: sometimes a disquieting snarl, sometimes a pleasing,
echoing hum, but always entrancing.
There’s an eccentric spirit that recalls This Heat in Thomas’s disregard for stasis or formality.
She pieces the record together like a sketchbook, cutting-and-pasting samples and editing her
instrumentation with gleeful anarchy. It’s rock music, just about, but charged with South London’s
hybrid energy and a distinctly British sense of socio-political unease.

Black Yukon Sucker Punch returns with a bare-knuckled follow-up to his 2020 debut. "Buried" is a bulldozing reese-bass monster with all the mettle and simplicity of its classic neurofunk influences. The flipside harbors a fearsome, high energy remix by Vegas of Bad Company UK / Bad Taste Recordings.

Buried is pressed on 12" black vinyl / sleeve includes a download code.

This Saturday Musique Pour La Danse invites you to rock your body and free your mind with Break The Limits at Marshgate Lane, for a fourth EP celebrating the pivotal work of the visionary duo composed of Bay B Kane and Mister E.

Together, they produced some of the most innovative music of the era, a blueprint for the emerging warehouse / hardcore / breakbeat scene in the UK. After three reissues focusing on their 1990 output, Musique Pour La Danse takes you back to 1991.

Picture this: a low ceiling sweating red brick basement somewhere far, far away at Marshgate Lane, where multicolored lasers, turbosound, wacky dancers are all part and parcel of the ecstatic rush.

With one track per side, remastered and cut loud at 45RPM, this faithful reissue of the sought-after PARANOIZE EP is keeping it old school.

On the MAD (A) side, Paranoize is an Amen break driven banger, where swirling 303s and samples of a proto horror-core persuasion. In 30 years, the track hasn't lost an ounce of its potency and is still an irresistible invitation to rave.

On the BAD (B) side, The Thinker is a deeper cut, led by a broken beat where synthetic voices, melodic leads, and a rave piano form a lush tapestry of sound that is both highly danceable and full of emotion.

Repress

A year has passed since Cyan85 first graced the VOITAX catalogue with his successful summer debut EP - "Bay Of Sampieri". His dreamy pads, avant-garde take on retro arpeggios and slamming 808 beats have been continuously conquering our ears ever since, making him a young talent to watch within the electro circuit. He now returns to the imprint with his very first album - "Lucid Intervals", demonstrating his knack for crafting ambitious pieces to establish himself as a respected producer. The LP aims to explore a variety of dystopian atmospheres and energies throughout nine infectious and carefully crafted tracks that build on electro's rich heritage without failing to infuse it with Cyan85's very own remarkable, dreamy electronic signature.

Varme imprint continues it's musical journey, bringing four killer trancey cuts by "Kashawar"!

Warm Fiction proudly announces the label's fifth record from N-Gynn. N-Gynn's Espetta EP sees the London producer experimenting with cosmic, driving sounds that draw influences from UKG, Techno- and Electro across four unique tracks aimed squarely at the dance floor.

Downwards descend on Mute’s legendary producer/engineer Paul Kendall, serving as the label’s inhouse producer thru the 1980s and ‘90s, working with Nine Inch Nails, Depeche Mode, Nitzer Ebb
and Wire - for a new album of surgically precise and invasively curious post-industrial thrills and
murky intrigue that comes highly recommended if yr into anything from Mika Vainio to Masami
Akita, Recoil to Bruce Gilbert.
Kendall’s oeuvre has paralleled the alternative history of post-punk and industrial music for
over 40 years; after crossing paths with Karl O’Connor (aka Regis) in 2018, Kendall now takes
his solo bow, proper, on Downwards with the fiercely uncompromising and absorbing results
of experiments executed during the pits of lockdown in 2020. They arguably resemble a form of
disembodied industrial techno searching for a fleshly new host to inhabit, all amorphous and
bristling malforms untethered from percussion and sent to rabidly gnaw the senses via various
strategies of blizzarding attack, textural attrition, and structural abstraction which can be heard as
a side effect of Paul’s ongoing hearing loss from too many loud studio sessions.
It’s not hard to clock why Regis was smitten with the material as the pair clearly share a lust for
gristly scuzz and tempered, concentrated emotion. However Kendall’s music is more obtuse
and comes from a warped perspective inspired by his fascinations with macro photography
(magnifying minutiae), with his famously keen ear for detail leading the album into stranger
spaces between the wires and noises. Effectively hashing the limen of perception, he invokes a
spectra of ghostly, hallucinatory tones by combining recordings of his voice and a Leaf Audio
“Microphonic Soundbox”, an experimental wooden instrument with metal springs, rods, sand
paper and a kalimba, and then funnels them through processors and FX.
The result is a sequence of layered, alien-sounding tracks that push thru industrial and harsh noise
zones, yet sound as sonically focused as the heaviest techno - between the fetid clank of ‘Restless’
and drone rock torpor of ‘Are You In?’, drawing us into the gooch clammy integers of ‘InHarmonic’
and animated maelstrom of ‘Nowhere. Twisty,’ to recall the surreal insights of CoH Plays Cosey on
the roiling sensuality of ‘Missing The Fence,’ and serve serious head swill material in ‘ReBurst.’

Brittle tape-fluxed music box lullabies from art mystics Matt Krefting and Rick Myers, assembled and released
via Andy Votel & Sean Canty’s Pre-Cert Home Entertainment label and sounding something like Colleen’s array
of music boxes let loose at the GRM basement.
Myers (former member of MancRap unit Violators of the English Language with Andy Votel, and whose
artwork adorned classic ‘90s release by everyone from Lamb to Doves and Badly Drawn Boy), and Krefting
(veteran of idiosyncratic tape miniatures and improv oddness for labels like Penultimate Press, Graham
Lambkin’s Kye, Thurston Moore’s Ecstatic Peace! and cult Vancouver imprint Ascetic House) produce
something much greater than the sum of its parts here, using a antique hand cranked Reginaphone - an
archaic machine that plays both music box discs and 78s - to transport us into a crumbling, cassette dubbed
wonderland.
The pair explore the various anachronisms of the 100 year old family heirloom with results that are part
sound art/sound poetry and part mechanical musical curio, delving into its cogs and wires with wonderfully
time-out-of-joint effect springing fractured melodies and a drowsy oneiric ambience that gets under the
skin.
In five parts of fragmented melodic thought, plus a tremulous 13 minute coda, ‘Movements For Reginaphone’
modestly enchants to the horizontal, casting its magick in fairy dust sprinkles of music box melody and
workshop detritus, with a rustling airiness that beautifully complements quieter listening spaces and
mindsets, achieving a hazily nostalgic wooze that throws back to a barely plugged-in era, when one had to
physically crank up their kit to get it working.
It’s a fascinating, switched-on slice of sound that falls completely outside of easy classification; part history
lesson, part turntablism and part tape music, an oddity that’s unmissable whether you’re into Cécile Schott’s
filigree “Colleen et les Boîtes à Musique”, Graham Lambkin’s deeply personal environmental music, or DJ Olive’s
genre-shifting, languorous experiments = one of the most quietly messed up but beautiful albums we’ve
heard this year.

White label roller from Roger That taking one of dance music's most iconic vocals, New Order's 'Blue Monday' and flipping it into a heavy hitting, tech house heater. Packed to the rafters with punchy, reverberated stabs, low-end weight and lip-smacking dancefloor grooves it's already steamrollering the club scene - ever extending the reach of those immortal lyrics.

Hammered all summer long by the likes of Solardo, Camelphat, Marco Carola, Jamie Jones and Leon, it's is now available on a limited 12' vinyl.

First Word Records are very proud to present a heavyweight EP in collaboration with seminal groove collective, CoOp: 'Selectors Assemble'.

It's been almost two decades since a bunch of music makers, bored of the genre constraints of their time, began toying with time signature and syncopation to birth what is now known as broken beat. Summer 2017, the 'Selectors Assemble' EP is in our laps and we have a fitting reminder and long-overdue renaissance of one of London's most valuable musical movements.

IG Culture and Alex Phountzi were integral to this movement, the focal point being the CoOp club night, which ran predominantly on the famed floors of Plastic People, up until 2007. CoOp remerged late in 2015 as a Boiler Room session, in which the originators linked effortlessly with new school players such as K15 and Alex Nut. The following day, a session was inspired between an assortment of artists, and the seeds were planted for the 'Selectors Assemble'.

Here we have the first offering. The steady-paced roller of 'Gangz' (IG & Seiji), the dutty wine-ready getdown of Henry Wu's 'Substance', the heads-down low-end theory of '2nd Intention', the dominant soundclash call-out of the 'Spartan Riddim', riding out with the garage-flecked jam 'Can't Hold It', also featuring Sonar's Ghost (Domu). Five tracks deeply rooted in groove and as beautifully diverse as Bruk ever was.

Pressed up lovingly onto 140g vinyl, this release is accompanied with a fully-printed insert, featuring an extensive piece on the history of Bruk, written by Andwot (Touching Bass), classic photography by Sarah Ginn, and full-colour artwork by Mitchy Bwoy, a legendary artist to the original scene in his own right. This is an essential artefact for followers of the sound, new and old.

First Word prides itself on its ethos of musical diversity, and we're ecstatic to welcome aboard the CoOp foundation to the stable. A crew of British dance music pioneers, sound-system legends, and now-school heavyweights, this is but a taste of what's to come. Lead by the don IG Culture, the family spirit has quickly formed, the selectors have assembled.

The stage has been set for bruk's second wind. Be ready.

A A1 | Henry Wu - Substance (IG Culture & Alex Phountzi Remix)

2x12"

Touched Music and Furthur Electronix two forward thinking labels have merged together to put out exclusive compilations. Putting some of the best music in the electronic genre in one place.

The wave is back!. On this fourth edition you will find precious american synthwave, exquisite neue deutsche welle and british post-punk, representing all of them perfectly the actual palette of dark romantics sound. RIDE THE WAVE IV Ltd. Edition 12″ EP presented in a ONE-OFF truly limited edition of 300 copies lacquered pressed on 180 gr. high quality SOLID GREEN vinyl. All tracks have been specially remastered for LONG CUT vinyl by Daniel Hallhuber at Young and Cold Studios.

The connection between Dr. Atmo and Mick Chillage goes back to one of the finest labels to ever grace this planet, FAX records. Many will remember the defining collective for their deep, extended excursions into the far-reaches of ambient mysticism - a style that is still revered to this day.

Ruhleben sees a welcome return for Dr. Atmo who, after appearing on some of the very first FAX releases under his own name and different guises throughout its tenure, has been somewhat elusive of late with side-steps into other genres. Now, partnering with another FAX alumni and a foundational figure within today’s ambient music genre, Mick Chillage, the pair have returned to their roots and a defining style of ambient music.

Taking Dr. Atmo’s distinctive hooks, haunting loops, and graceful melodies, Mick Chillage improvised on these foundational elements further with fine-tuned details such as delicate bass additions, rhythmic looping signals, or more organic fixtures like a finely woven Harp and extended Piano loops. Across its four extended tracks, Ruhleben is an infinite flight into mystical formations that yearn for dramatic soundscapes. A time-lapsed, slow-motion soundtrack, where Mother Nature breathes destructive fire from the depths, breaking the Earth’s surface to form dramatic cathedrals, scarred by super-natural atmospheres and eventually flooded with the life we know today.

Featuring artwork by Tomas Jirku and mastered by Rafael Anton Irisarri.

Nach den Erfolgssingles 'Strange Nights' und 'Cara Keeps Running' veröffentlicht der in Deutschland ansässige Synthwave-Produzent MORPHOICE sein Debütalbum 'Vinyl City', eine Liebeserklärung an die von Blade Runner inspirierte Cyberpunk-Kultur und die Musik der 80er - mit Syst3m Glitch, Clint Alford und Mayah Camara on vocals, Jesse Molloy (The Midnight) am Saxofon und dem deutschen Multiinstrumentalisten Tim Eden. Gemastert in den Londoner Abbey Road Studios, ist das Album ein Lebenstraum des Künstlers, ein neues Kapitel seiner persönlichen und musikalischen Entwicklung, das tiefe Freundschaften und Vertrauen unter den Mitwirkenden entstehen lassen hat. MORPHOICE taucht tief in die 80er-Retro-Nostalgie und in kybernetische Zukunftsvisionen ein, eingehüllt in rosa-lila Neonlicht. LP auf 180g Clear Vinyl mit blau-violettem Splatter.

Bjarki returns to with another EP brandishing five restructured doses of IDM from another galaxy. Using marching kick drums as a basis, oli gumm takes references from techno, gabber and trance and morphs them into something far less easy to categorise.'oli gumm 2-2' switches frantically between glistening synth cascades and bouncing kicks. 'fork2-2' is a subdued excursion through ominous, trance-inducing strings and skeletal percussion. Opening the B side, '7 filakaramellur lion bar' spirals through warped vocals and acoustic contortions, followed by 'hatann satann', a high speed voyage through a demonic parallel universe. Closing off the EP, 'sleikjó' uses rolling drums to circle around a pit of sparse sonic oddities.

This is the first in a series of remixes from Chari Chari’s new album “We hear the last decades dreaming” which was the first album in 18 years under the name of Chari Chari, a project by Kaoru Inoue who has been working as a DJ and producer for over 25 years.“Luna de Lobos”, originally over 10 minutes of deep house journey, is remixed by Kuniyuki - one of Japan’s world-famous creator from Sapporo - that is reminiscent of Jon Hassell’s african session leads us beyond 4th world. The other 3 tracks were reworked by Kaoru Inoue himself.

The entire output by the Italian cold wave pioneers 'DER BLAUE REITER' was written between 1980 and 1981 and recorded in 1983 but all songs were shelved and unreleased back then. It was a real honour for us to make them public for the first time on our long deleted EPITAPH 1980-1983 album in 2016.

However ... Stefano Tirone, the widely experienced musician, producer and mastermind behind DBR always had the idea of bringing those great old songs up to date in a more electronic approach. Hence, in 2017 he decided to start re-recording the tracks using his vintage, exceptionally well-kept synthesizers and drum machines.
The only non-electronic instrument here is an old F.H. Kühling vertical piano.

For the vocals, Stefano used the original 1983 recording which together with the distinctive, analogue sound of all the instruments have preserved the minimalistic, primary feel of these cold wave anthems. So, are they modern? YES! Are they classic? YES!
They sound just the way we love early electronics to sound and with an astounding technical quality! Minimal synth at it's very best!

LTD. BLUE SEAGLASS WAVE TRANSLUCENT VINYL

Last spring, Devendra Banhart and Noah Georgeson started to make a record that was like nothing they had made before _ an ambient album that would be both a haven from a suddenly terrified world and a heartfelt musical dialogue between two artists who have been friends and collaborators for over two decades. Refuge is an album of profound meditative beauty which offers the listener a much-needed sense of peace and renewal. But while it was recorded in 2020 its roots go back much further _ all the way to the start of their friendship and, beyond that, to the shared sounds and ethics of their childhoods. Devendra grew up in Venezuela while Noah, six years older, is a native of Nevada City, California. But as they got to know each other, they realised that they had a similar history in the New Age subculture of the 1980s: a world of meditation, Eastern music, the Bhagavad Gita and The Whole Earth Catalog. Childhood memories were coloured by the aromas of health food stores and the sound of New Age labels like Windham Hill Records. Noah, whose production and mixing credits include Joanna Newsom and the Strokes, came on board as co-producer of Devendra's 2005 album Cripple Crow and they have been working together ever since. It was while making Devendra's 2019 album Ma that the pair finally decided to make their ambient record. Despite complicating logistics, 2020 created an emotional craving for music with this contemplative, therapeutic quality. Inspired by both memories of the past and the needs of the present, Refuge is an act of companionship and generosity which gives the listener room to breathe. "We're hoping to create a sense of comfort and coming back to the moment," Devendra says. "It's really important to have a little bit of space between us and our anxieties and impulses. What you do with that space is up to you." Dorian Lynskey May 2021

Today, beloved DJ, producer and songwriter Lauren Flax announces her forthcoming EP, Out Of Reality out August 6 via 2MR. Much of Out Of Reality’s cohesion comes from Flax’s expansive production, using simple elements to craft intricate backdrops for the questions posed by her songs. On the EP’s titular track, Alejandra Deheza (School of Seven Bells)’s crystalline vocals are woven against a delicate tapestry of arpeggiated keys, sparse percussion and haunting cello. Watch “Out of Reality” here.

Detachment isn’t always detrimental; sometimes you have to step outside to get a better view. Lauren Flax knows this - as a DJ, producer and songwriter, her discography is notoriously genre-defiant, consisting of an impressive array of solo tracks, collaborations, and remixes. The most recent of these – her mesmerizing take on Pale Blue’s “Breathe” - saw her experimenting with a new style of writing. “I wanted to explore that sound more,” Flax explains, “more of a synth exploration, textures with less beats.” The pared-down songwriting approach lent itself to thematic considerations as well: she’d been thinking about the repetitive nature of the life cycle - the Indian concept of Samsara - and felt a general disappointment at humanity’s lack of progress. On her new EP Out Of Reality, she washes that disappointment in lush sonic hues, stepping outside the quotidien for a new perspective.

Though its themes span beyond the scope of our current socio-political moment, Out Of Reality feels, right now, like an especially tantalizing proposition. Pandemic-driven escapism has bred a new crop of otherworldly music designed to transport the listener somewhere better. But Flax isn’t interested in escapism for its own sake - there’s still work to be done here on Earth, after all. Instead, through a combination of live instrumentation and ethereal synths, Out Of Reality grants us a respite from the real so we can return to it with a clear head.

Ian McDonnell is an Irish producer living in Wicklow near Dublin. Alongside his solo releases as Eomac he's also one half of the duos Lakker, noeverything and Lena Andersson. 'Cracks' represents a change of scenery and a change of practice from his previous two albums which were both conceptualised from the outset and recorded while living in Berlin. In contrast 'Cracks' was made in a beautiful rural part of Ireland without any outside pressure. These circumstances allowed Ian to wipe the slate clean and make an album guided by his mood on any particular day, connecting into the subtle power of his new environment and reflecting it, rather than working to please the suffocating demands of clublife. The title 'Cracks' comes from the idea that, to quote Leonard Cohen, a crack is "how the light gets in", but also of course it's a title that bears witness to the cracks fomenting in the world right now. The music comes across with depth and passion, sounding deep and mossy with Eomac's penchant for punchy, shuffling drums underpinning the emotive tracks. From the off, the furious 'Mandate For Murder' flips and repeats Akala's protest about systemic racism, rushing deep into the panicked sirens of 'Portuguese Man O' War'. The album settles into a sense of mystery, wildness and dark otherworldliness with the foggy drone and timber kick of 'Ancient Self' reflecting the awe and spiritual connections to his new environment, much like the gorgeous strings and aqueous bleeps of 'Seashells' or the pitch-shifted shoegaze of 'Prophetess'. At other points it responds to the human condition, for instance the cathartic 'Falling Through the Cracks' where a broken scream is pitted against clattering drums. At other moments it simply reaches out; 'Reasons to Live's' whispered mantra of "I know you are loved by somebody" is gently insistent. It ends with a reference to a place he's left behind, seen through the lens of nature. 'All the Rabbits in the Tiergarten' could be a missing track from Aphex's Ambient Works, albeit with cut-up scissoring drums. The album is a fruitful move, inwards and forwards.

“Nailgun” sees Friske reunite with fellow Horsemen alum Gremlinz and Aspect to lay down a lesson in the type of contemporary Rufige that all three have been the vanguards of for close to the last two decades.

“Musically Speaking” sets up a floating Speed era aesthetic before giving way to the more punishing brutalism of Headz, the contrast executed with perfect understanding of the dichotomy between the two with expert precision.