Beats Vinyl New Releases - News

' Far away and yet so close: the first release of „dispari“, a freshly launched venture
by Hamburg based artist Phuong-Dan, is transitionally sublime. The vinyl record
composes inherently different, distinct elements into one bewildering story arc.
There is no A or B side; endlessly endless, both sides transmit transcendence. One
side brings An Afterthought – an almost eight minute long infinite, ambient musing
by Greek producer Anatolian Weapons. The short-termed opposition features
French composer Hector Zazou with US-American artist Laurie Anderson, diving for
a brief 53 seconds Into Your Dreams. Two disparate sides, which manifest
„dispari’s“ desire to follow the extensive path of music and not the narrow road of
style. It hopes to open doors for a variety of outlooks on the language of sound and
beyond. For „dispari“, any format appears interesting, and with the potential for
collaboration. Interdisciplinary projects in disparate media natures like text and
film, or simply unfathomable phenomena, are all possible future propositions.
Maybe the next signals will come as an auditory publication, an art space
performance, or just as a night in a bar, where dissimilar atoms dance for similar
desires. For now, length eats briefness and brevity defeats the epic in a dream of
strange disparity, walking on weightless soles, aglow in starry zones. '
Michael Leuffen

ww.dispari.de

Awake at an undefined hour. Floating between the realm of dreams and open awareness. Accept it — you're a headspace passenger. Talking to a machine is a thrill for a moment or two. You want to go out, need to get lost. It's still yet all under the surface ... but you know it's going to happen, eventually. What you need to do is: return to the same old place. What you think is:

I hope the roof flies off, and I get sucked up into space.

This is the debut album by Berlin-based musician and futurist Andre´ Uhl. Crackling noise, moody arpeggios, and haunting melodies tell tales of the hazy past, moving into the twilight of the future. Each of the 13 songs is a dark and cinematic piece on it's own - altogether combined a compelling story, here for the listener to explore.

The album is available digitally and on vinyl in a limited edition of 300 copies, including a booklet of 13 short stories by different writers like the Czech visual artist and poet Katarina Hruskova, Berlin-based subcultural magickian Daniel Jones, and the British novelist Chris Brownsword - each story inspired by one of the 13 songs. I hope the roof flies off, and I get sucked up into space is the first trueness presented by Neofakt, a new label for audio, text and visual art.

Mekanik Kommando was a post punk / New Wave band from Nijmegen, the Netherlands founded in 1979 by Peter van Vliet and Laszlo Panyigay. The duo became a quartet with the addition of Simon van Vliet and Mirjam van Hout. The name Mekanik Kommando comes from the album ?Mekan?k Destrukt?w Kommand?h? by the French progressive rock band Magma. Inspired by a DIY ethos, Kraftwerk and Magma, the band began recording songs at home using two tape recorders. Their demo cassette was discovered by Wally van Middendorp of Minny Pops and owner of Plurex Records, who booked them for a gig at Paradiso in Amsterdam. In 1981 they were asked to contribute music on a flexidisc for the first issue of newly established magazine Vinyl. In the summer of that year the band recorded their debut album ?It Would Be Quiet In The Woods If Only A Few Birds Sing? released on Torso. In February 1982 the band secured five days of studio time at Salisbury Sound in Dordrecht. The end result was the mini-album ?Dancing Elephants? released on Torso later that year. Musically, the five songs are a mix between cold wave, experimental electronic and industrial pop. The band utilized two bass guitars plus a Korg 770, KR-55 drum machine, violin, effects, metals and plastics. Lyrics explore themes of decay and morality, hypnotically spoken on top of playfully metallic sounds. All songs have been mastered by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. Each EP is housed in a replica of the original jacket, which features artwork by the group members, and includes a 4-page booklet with lyrics and notes designed by Eloise Leigh.

Almost a year on from their debut joint single ‘Jesse James’ on WotNot Records, South London producer Dampé and Bristolian MC Mushkilla once again join forces, this time taking to XVI Records for their driving new single ‘Ghost Mode’.

With Mushkilla working closely with rising dubplate label EC2A, and Dampé putting out a series of heralded 12”s on Capitol K’s Faith And Industry Records and Singapore-based imprint Darker Than Wax, both artists have been riding busy schedules since their first release. With praises coming from Tom Ravenscroft, Mixmag, Dummy, DJ Mag, Jamz Supernova & more, they have both cemented themselves as artists to keep a keen eye on in the UK’s bass music communities.

‘Ghost Mode’ sees Mushkilla’s signature baritone vocals gliding over Dampé’s shifting sonic backdrop. Subterranean basslines, chopped breaks, vinyl crackles, stuttering vocal snippets and saturated eski-beat melodies reverberate through the murky haze in this twisted UKG stepper.

Repress
2x12"

'They hit the limit. The limit hit back!'

Vision Recordings presents 'Dead Limit' starring Noisia & The Upbeats

'Jones' depth of character is mouth-watering 9/10 RuPaul LeSnack, Variety

'Great stunt sequences hampered by a terrible soundtrack' 2/10 Mario van Peebles 2015 Shark Documentary Festival Awards Honorary Mention

'Depicts gravely the ongoing struggle between man and wild insects' 7/10 National Geographic

First time available on vinyl LP (with limited edition color variants - black and clear) and on digital formats.- Artwork packaging by artist J.S. Aurelius (Ascetic House) with reflective linear notes by Ragnar Grippe. - LP comes with download

Recorded between the release of Sand (1977) and Lost Secrets(1981), Symphonic Songs is a formerly unreleased work that chronicles the dynamic shift and development in experimental Swedish composer Ragnar Grippe's canon.

Following his seminal release Sandin 1977, Swedish experimental composer Ragnar Grippe worked on various art and performance commissions, often returning to Stockholm during the summer months to focus his efforts on his compositional practice. It was there at the famed EMS Studioswhere he began employing the Buchla synthesizer and the facilities multi-tracking capabilities as new instruments to map his mining of sound and movement.

During the late 1970's, Grippe formed a creative collaboration with choreographer Susan Buirge, specifically writing compositions for her works Restes and Tamis, thus pushing Grippe to start working in a more intricate studio environment. These passages inspired Grippe into a more complex layering process that focused more on placement and structure, rather than the aural floods and flourishes of his previous Sand album, eventually germinating in his first full 24-track composition entitled Orchestra.

After debuting Orchestra in 1980 at the Electronic Music Festival in Stockholm, Grippe holed up at EMS Studios with those lessons and the fussy Buchla synthesizer, in which Grippe affectionately recalls needed to be tuned and calibrated every 20-30 minutes. He emerged with a new commission for Susan Buirge later formally titled Symphonic Songs and used in her avant-garde theater piece Ci-Déla which debuted in Paris in 1981.Symphonic Songsshowcased Grippe's sound au courant, pushing dense against sparse, calm into cacophonous, using each track as its own intersecting plane. Using the machinations of studio and structure to drive Symphonic Songs' voice, Grippe culled a haunting, often cinematic electronic work that dots and darts into unexpected corners with curious aplomb.

Listen to the words, both terms have their root in classical music, but not in its form but because now I had so many more stems or voices that could be played simultaneously compared to my earlier pieces. Coming from a classical background, but with big nostrils for pop and jazz music, I can now see a thread in which classical got a new costume, dressed up in Buchla synthesizer and real bass sounds Grippe says. Since its live theater debut over 37 years ago, Dais Records releases for the first time Symphonic Songs, one of Grippe's most ambitious compositions, as a deluxe double vinyl LP (with limited edition color variants) and on digital formats. Artwork packaging by artist J.S. Aurelius (Ascetic House) with reflective linear notes by Ragnar Grippe. e

The first Studio Barnhus compilation, Studio Barnhus Volym 1, is coming out at the end of August.

The 19-track release will feature music from the Stockholm label's three founders—Axel Boman, Kornél Kovács, Petter Nordkvist—plus various associates, ranging from local newcomers to superstar friends of the label like DJ Koze, John Talabot and Superpitcher.

It'll be available on triple-pack vinyl, double CD and in all digital formats from August 31st.

Numero Group: A.R.T Wilson: Overworld. A new age album that draws as much from ethno-groove, Chicago house, and G-funk, as it does from primitive percussion and ’80s library music. Relaxing, gentle, and warm, the 10-song ambient suite was made for a multidisciplinary modern dance performance described as “Neo-Paganism, Pop Divas, YouTube, Yoga, and Death Metal side by side in a live performance that searches for transcendence in the most unlikely places.”

Rising Australian DJ and producer Andy Garvey debuts on X-Kalay showcasing her take on deep and breaksy electro.

Title track and A1 “More Than Meets the Eye” is a thoughtful, finely crafted cut. Built around a weighty acid riff, stacked pads and a delicate twinkling melody, it’s as equally suited to the introspection of headphone listening as it is the club. Next up, “This Silence is False” darkens the mood and ups the tempo - the stepping rhythm and frantic breaks making it perfect material for those later floors.

On the B “Double Planetoid” has echoes of early Massive Attack; a superbly expansive track of swelling pads and undulating bass, it drifts in and out of focus underpinned by a chunky breakbeat and shimmering hi hats. Finally, closing things out is fellow Australian Tred’s rework of “This Silence is False”. He remixes Andy’s original into a 160 BPM techno monster, utilising the acid line perfectly and pumping it with pure 4x4 energy. Heat!

Breakbeat Paradise Recording is back at it once again with the third installment of the heavy hitting Toxic Funk series. This time around we see label boss man BadboE teaming up with his ol' time partner in crime DJ/producer extravagant: Prosper.

When these 2 beat master come together you know there will be funk and there will be dancefloor weapons, which is what the Toxic Funk is all about.

This 7" inch party packing vinyl is following up on BadboE & Showtime and Gramophone Soul vol. 1 and 2 that both sold out within the first 6 month of release. Following the same concept Propser and BadboE set out to produce some epic party jams that oozes funk, soul and breakbeats.

The A-side takes on some Beastie vocals and pairs it with some big funky grooves and some fresh steady rocking breakbeats. A winner combo that will be sure to set dancefloors on fire and become a goto weapon for funky DJs across the globe.

The B-side picks up the funk where the a-side left off with a new funky housy twist on some classic cut and paste action. Inspired by their successful Freak Hop jam from 2011 the producer duo is back at mixing and matching pieces of music that nobody would have thought belong together. The result is a true timeless mash-up joint that comes with guaranteed dancefloor destruction.

Once again Breakbeat Paradise Recordings is on point to deliver you the funkiest soul and breaks available anywhere out there…

Breaks 'N' Pieces returns with another cut of bass driven dance music from rising producer DJ Sunroof.

Australian DJ // producer DJ Sunroof has had a killer year with notable dance discs on imprints such as Nerang, 3 Feet Deep and contributing to the recent Breaks 'N' Pieces Vol.3 various artists release to top. His debut full vinyl EP via rising UK label Breaks 'N' Pieces hits the stop, weighty breaks meet chest rattling bass on this 2-step laden cut.

Back in Y2K !

Side A fits a minimal Drum & Bass dynamo.... This 5 frequencies track is defenitly dancefloor. Prepare your bobsleigh ! Minimal killer inna Bad Company style!!

THE FLIP is even better : a jungle bassline, "not too mutch amen" breaks that could be the Human Traffic OST. Humble in the pure "Sirius Connection" (NTW-23-15) style.

MUST HAVE !

You Can See Your Own Way Out is the first collaborative record between Ilyas Ahmed (Geographic North, Immune, Mie Music) and Jefre Cantu-Ledesma (Shelter Press, Mexican Summer, Type). Long-time friends and satellites orbiting the same communities and scenes, You Can See's inception was never really a question of if, but when. Combining Ahmed's explorative guitar/synth-work and Cantu-Ledesma's field recording, sound processing and electronics, the result presents as a book of short stories or vignettes highlighting their individual strengths. At times evoking pastoral landscapes, others frayed edges of disintegrating photographs, there's always the suggestion of a forked path or a promised destination. Jonathan Sielaff guests on bass clarinet.

Interstate brings a 2 step.
Keita Sano dives deep.
Dubbyman has the dubs.

3 distinct remixes of the incredible “Mile High” from German / French producers Mystigrix and Reo Seis and Chicago legend Paris Brightledge on vocals plus an original. Take care of yourselves and stay safe!

NORTHSIDE documents the formative years of jungle / drum & bass scene in Finland. Complemented by extensive sleeve notes exploring the country’s earliest DJs, producers and clubs, NORTHSIDE is an intriguing look into how far the music has travelled from the UK and at the same time represents Finland's own sound, energy and character that remains distinctive to this day.

The double vinyl features sought after classics by Fanu ("Two Drummers"), Resound ("Ghetto Funk") and Muffler ("It's The Way", originally scheduled as SUBB 003). The spotlight is also on unsung pioneers like Samuel & Nasley, Breakwater Crew and Champagne while dubstep don Tes La Rok dusts off his d&b moniker Dice for a fresh rework of his early '00s favourite.

Speedcore breakcore Driller... Electronica Hard stuff.
A bloody surprise on OFOT records !!

BIG !!!

It’s a great joy to host our long time friend and collaborator, Theo Delaunay aka Panoptique aka Constance Chlore, to release his first solo album on Macadam Mambo. Head of the Simple Music Experience label (dedicated to release punk experiment on tape), member of Violent Quand On Aime, Succhiamo, Simplists, Ono Omen and United Assholes, he had previously been part of the “Danzas Electricas” volumes 1 and 3, released a little single in 2019 and curated the “Simple Music Experience Vol.2” compilation in the house. Panoptique stick to what he knows to do the best, to present his stories, singing spoken words, gogolitos deliriums, whispers and rough voices on Minimal Synth Wave ballads or Drexciyan’s Electro bangers, it’s brut, mental, sometimes brutal and so so groovy in the meanwhile. Special mention to his guest Fiesta En El Vacio for her ‘caliente’ featuring on “Menta Y Regaliz”.
Now you know how you find him

Late Music offer an official reissue of Davachi’s acclaimed 2017 LP ‘All My Circles Run’, originally released in a small run on the Cincinnati-based Students Of Decay label.

 Featuring a suite of extended pieces for strings, voice, organ and piano, it is said to hover “somewhere between the conscious and the unconscious, barely there and indisputably present” - Pitchfork

 “The concept behind ‘All My Circles Run’
came together in my head very quickly sometime in early 2015 - I’d been working with synthesizers a lot up until that point and often pairing them with mutual acoustic instruments like organ, flute, and strings, but I had been wanting to focus on the acoustic side of things and enter new territory, like writing choral music. So, I thought, why not just create individual pieces with those textures, like a series of longer studies, and see where that goes.” - Sarah Davachi

 Recorded at Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s analogue recording studio in Montreal, Hotel2Tango, the album sees Davachi’s keyboards supplemented by Camille
Hesketh’s soprano vocals, Jessica Holmes on cello and Jessica Mosson on violin.

 Gold vinyl with digital download card.

REPRESS
* Described by Mixmag as 'the best drum & bass album in years' and earning a place in their top 10 LP's of 2014, Technimatic's debut 'Desire Paths' was a triumph in musically rich, fresh and eclectic drum & bass that saw them receiving support from the likes of BBC Radio 1, 6 Music, 1Xtra, Thump (Vice), DJ Mag, Resident Advisor and many more.

* Two years on, the stage is set for album number two 'Better Perspective', ready to soundtrack the 2016 summer with that ever-special Technimatic blend that has earned so much accolade. Sure to quench their fans' thirst ten times over and achieve many more in the process, 'Better Perspective' is another highly accomplished piece of work showcasing one of the finest talents we have in drum & bass today.

* Some find it in foreign travel: the chance to get away from everyday life and all its pressures and compromises, the opportunity to be someone else, somewhere else, for a while. Some find it on night drives, speeding away from home and everything it means, steering a lone course into the dark. We find it in music, and always will: liberation, renewal and above all, a better perspective.

* Making this album was a lesson in the endless possibilities that can be created from familiar elements, and the ways in which structure and form can stimulate new ideas and directions. We came to it not knowing what we would discover, it's left us with a new love for what we do. We hope you enjoy it.' Technimatic 2016 for what we do. We hope you enjoy it.' Technimatic 2016

Leeds based TOROM brings some immaculate fourth world chugging beats - a tight concoction of the primitive and the futuristic - tied together for both the dance-floor and at home listening. A real journey into sound and a must have for any avid DJ or listener.

Clear Vinyl
Rare musical magic from the Bruton library catalogue – ambient, spacey, pastoral and electronic. Music by John Cameron, Alan Hawkshaw, Fran-cis Monkman, Brian Bennett and more – all total masters of the scene. All very cool. All very now. All will sell very fast.

Over the last three decades Jonny Trunk has collected and written about library music. But he’s never had a great deal of luck with the Bruton catalogue. By this he means that he’s never stumbled across a massive stash, or lucked-out buying a huge run for practically nothing –that’s the kind of thing that used to happen in the 1990s and the early noughties if you were out there looking hard for library music. But he did manage to get about 25 in one hit about 20 years ago when the BBC shut down their “TV Training Department” near Lime Grove and also when a box of Brutons ended up being dumped at a hospital radio, and they didn’t want the records, so Jonny got a call.

There are lots of Bruton albums in existence – over 330 LPs in the vinyl catalogue, issued between 1978 and 1985. That’s a lot of music to wade through if you are looking for sublime modern day sounds. For many years now the “trophies” from the Bruton catalogue have been the beat or action driven LPs – the two Drama Montage albums (BRJ2 and BRJ8) have always been the big hitters, and others such as High Adventure (BRK2) too.

But Jonny has always found himself drawn to the lime green LPs, the pastoral, peaceful albums (The BRDs), which were full of the kind of gentle, lovely music that would turn up in Take Hart as Tony was paint-ing a woodpecker or a badger or an Autumn tree. The other Brutons he likes are the orange ones (The BRIs) simply because they are full of ex-perimental futuristic electronics and would remind him of 1980s ITV backgrounds. This LP series includes Brian Bennett’s cosmic classic Fantasia (BRI 10). Jonny has been knows to refer to this style of library music as “Krypton Factor library”, because it’s exactly what that strange but successful 1980s TV quiz show sounded like.

In recent years as interest in library music has expanded, we’ve watched
the price of a handful of Brutons really going through the roof - not the just the action and drama ones, but the more esoteric and experimental LPs too – like the BRDs and the BRIs. Jonny gets the vibe that people fi-nally want to hear this other more interesting and experimental side of the Bruton catalogue. So what better time than now to put together a compilation of such sublime period sounds.

Not only does this album bring together a set of fabulous cues that would cost the average man in the street a month’s wages (if the origi-nals were all wanted and if you could even track them all down), but it also chops out the need to listen to other tracks on library albums that are nowhere near as good.

The cues here all date from between 1978 and 1984. They come from the BRD, BRI, BRH, BRJ, BRM, BRR and BRs catalogues.

The composers are all legends within the genre, and here, were doing what great library composers do best – fulfilling a brief and utilising modern studio equipment to both commercial and beguiling effect.

Delsin are pleased to gather together some of the highlights from the rich and varied catalogue of Manchester-based producer Claro Intelecto. From his earliest works on Ai Records through a prolific run on Modern Love to his more recent outings on Delsin, Mark Stewart has continually presented a vision of electronic music that uses the Detroit blueprint as a launch pad for his own distinctive strain of techno. Moving from elegant beauty to rabid intensity while grounded by a firm sense of rhythm, his catalogue runs deep and wide. The second volume in this expansive compilation series filters out select highlights from across his discography, and reframes them as a compelling overview of a truly distinctive voice in modern electronic music.

The Panda Men were an ancient warrior cult, fabled to roam the deep African forests in search of the elixer Bonfirma which would grant them super human strength, allowing them to transform into Pandas and thus continue their bloody reign. This classic early Legowelt is finally back in print for the first time in 13 years, celebrating Creme's 20th birthday!

It has been almost 30 years since Mantris shared music with the world. Together with his good friend Christoph Waelkens, the producer was the driving force behind pioneering house outfits The Black Sun and Brown Hardware Inc. Their creative connection led to three consecutive releases in 1992 on cult label Elektron, a short-term sublabel of USA Import Records. A productive music career was forecasted, but Mantris vanished into thin air and no more music was ever heard of him.
Until early 2020, when Brussels based Kong DJ got his hands on a mysterious playlist. Sent from Bombay in India, little information was annexed apart from a reference to the above mentioned records Mantris produced - favorites in Kong’s record bag for many years. Blown away by what he heard, the DJ decided to launch a new record label and invited good friends Hill Men to join forces. Borrowing the original playlist’s title ‘Souvenirs From Imaginary Cities’ as label name, their first release is what you hold in front of you.

mantris, real name Dirk Eggermont, prefers to stay under the radar. In his small apartment in Bombay he hasn’t stopped making music ever since he left Belgium twenty years ago. He composes instinctively, far away from hypes and contemporary scenes, creating intriguing and timeless jams. Utterly cinematic, his story-telling is rich and phantasy provoking. Each of the 10 tracks pencils a singular atmosphere, yet the 40 minutes entirety comes as a coherent whole full of surprising sounds and meandering dreams. Close your eyes for a unique musical vision here offered as a 12” album, reminiscing of the finests UK leftfield experiments, Detroit future sounds of jazz and sophisticated house not house.

Jamaica Queens born artist Rat Porridge’s work is layered, complex and presents multiple entry points from which one can absorb its potent combination of intensities. One of these is the translucent green of the cassette tape and cover artwork that hold her inaugural release on Voluminous Arts in physical form. Another is the title of this debut album, Live from the Plant. Together these two creative choices already present an interwoven set of meanings and associations that allow entry to the depths that lie within her surging condensations of sonic information. The color green evokes both effusive botanical growth and the toxic sludge produced by manufacturing, while the words “Live” and “Plant” evoke similar associations through language. In her own words, “it’s very multi-meaning, the ‘plant’ is the organic plant of earth, and then there’s the ‘plant’ of the industrial plant. The plant could be a lot of different things, and it’s all those things.” On Live from the Plant, Rat Porridge uses the permeable and malleable properties of sound to engage the relationships between these multiple meanings in ways that orient themselves towards healing and towards ancestral time, rather than colonial models of binary opposition and categorization. Space and its relationship to the body is a core concept connecting multiple threads of meanings in Rat’s work. Her songs are permeated by field recordings, gathered from spaces, such as shuttered shopping areas, within her environment that have been left empty of commerce and full of possibility after outliving their use to extractive commodity-based market interests. They also reverberate with the physical spaces in which they were recorded; bedroom and basement, critical and traditional sites of underground artistic exploration and community building. Her voice resonates from within the space of her physical body and echoes back from the rooms she works in, creating one of many cumulative forms of repetition present in the work. Repetition also plays a role in her lyrics, which repeat enough times to give listeners added meaning with each engagement. This awareness of space, and of one’s place and power within it grows from her engagement with performance art, activism and the communities she is a part of. As one listens to the album, it becomes a transcription of these interrelated activities, one that charts a trajectory of both individual and collective healing as she ecstatically expands on the rhythmic cycling present in both dance floor oriented music and what mental health practitioners refer to as “circular thinking”. With repetition and a circular continuity at their pulsing core, Rat Porridge’s works on Live from the Plant unleash a regimentation-shattering energy that is saturated with multiple temporalities, locations and emotions. Rat’s music, with all of its texture and performance, subverts expectations of what healing art should be: “I feel like there’s an association with

so-called ‘healing’ music that it should only be soft, ambient or like easy listening or something like that… relaxing… I listen to things like that, and it's not like I’m not using some of those sounds… but there’s something with just like addressing the brokenness, or addressing the really difficult parts as well, that is like, a step towards the deeper healing.... I’m opening up and so is the art.”

Need for Mirrors vinyl containing the tracks Coco & Witch Shark taken from NFM's new album "Flames". "We don't really do albums on 31, so it has to be something special, something a bit different and not just a collection of DJ tracks. What really drew me to this project was the vocal tracks that NFM had produced, they really are different and have a quality to them that I don't hear very often in DNB, coupled with the other experimental tracks and straight up rollers, this to me really is an excellent example of what a DNB album should be".

Houndstooth present ‘S.L.F. Versions’, a set of cutting-edge radical reworks from Aïsha Devi’s widely-praised EP ‘S.L.F.’.

Hotly-tipped Chinese scene stalwart 33EMYBW delivers a thunderous percussion-heavy take on ‘Two Serpents’ and rising Indonesian duo Gabber Modus Operandi overhaul ‘Uupar Theory’ with pummelling kick drums encircling frenzied, swirling synths.

Nordic maverick Varg adds jungle breaks and pitched- down crunch to Devi’s pitched-up ethereal voice, whilst lauded JA collective Equiknoxx Music‘s vibey avant-dancehall version gives shout-outs to Devi from vocalists Gavsborg and Shanique Marie.

In addition to acclaim gained for ’S.L.F.’, over the summer Devi toured extensively, performing at some of the world’s most prestigious and forward-thinking events. At Dark Mofo x Atonal in Hobart, Australia she premiered her new AV show ‘∞E=TRv’, an innovative collaboration with visual artist MFO using light in space and reflective surfaces. Centred around Devi’s transcendence/continuum energy formula and inspired by Planck’s Constant in physics, these special shows have wowed and inspired, as have AV events staged with Emile Barret and Devi’s solo shows, where audio takes centre stage.

First Vinyl release from WAM (We Are Music agency) from
SOMTATIC RESPONSES 140gr 12" full color sleeve

Originally released in 1980, ‘Amanita’ is an early approach of Canadian artist Sherine Cisco, formerly known as Stu Cisco, to the limitless world of synthesizers in music, through ambient, progressive rock and drone noise.

A unique combination of ambient, progressive rock and even drone noises and space-age that converged in ‘Amanita’, her first full album and a piece of music history. This LP marks a milestone in the investigation, experimentation and evolution of musical instruments, where the Mini Moog demonstrated its versatility and creative potential, opening Sherine a path of limitless possibilities.

By the time ‘Amanita’ was first released in 1980 (only 300 copies were pressed at the time), Sherine had been playing synths for seven years. But far from acknowledging how traditional instruments were played, she tried to do things her own way, creating moving landscapes and a unique language of sound. This DIY approach to music was, as well how the album was made, in her own studio, with synthesizers that were originally meant for live performances such as the Elka Rhapsody or the Elektro Harmonix, channeled through a Dokorder 4 Tape Recorder.

However, what Sherine Cisco was living in her personal life, a gender transition, was as important to the record as the instruments she used to create it. “Beginning in the early 1980's, I began experimenting with taking the female hormone, estrogen. I felt like I was gradually being re-born. It affected my music, the mood of the music, and me, physically and mentally”.

A spacey vibe surrounds each of the 12 cuts that compose ‘Amanita’, waving from ambient to experimental music, introducing drone noises that add mystery to the whole piece and creating epic moments, with the Mini Moog accompanied by Randy Gray’s drums. To close things off, a synth pop infused track works as a masterpiece ending to this story.

Yoofee defines his own laws in dubstep in his Albion Collective debut. Off-kilter rhythms, spring-loaded progressions and intelligent basslines characterise the Berlin-based jazz musician’s electronic output.

"Tokyo’s Conatala label plunges deep into the subterranean world of the 80s cassette scene with a debut vinyl compilation of mythical home-recording figure Steve Hartwell aka The Dead Goldfish Ensemble. In the 80s Hartwell represented a cornerstone within a disparate group of people making music at home, recording onto cassette and using their own contacts for distribution, utilising the increasingly accessible, emerging electronic technology as a means of production.

Armed only with the tools that were necessary, the output of DGE is a playful, polyrhythmic fantasy land representing the pure essence of the DIY ethos, but also tapping into and attempting to recreate some of the perceived ideas about the US minimalist scene of the time.

It’s hard to picture now with the world of information at our fingertips, but reading in magazines about how American composers such as Steve Reich were experimenting with phasing and minimalistic structures, but not being to hear them, could easily lead to this novel, home-brewed interpretation.
Despite the slower means of correspondence during the 80s, the music of DGE found its way onto over 40 pan-European compilations, including revered outposts such as Insane tapes (Belgium), UK-based fanzine IRRE Tapes, Germany’s Tonspur Tapes, French label Organic Tapes, and a dizzying number of other near-impossible to find (and totally unknown) issues. However, the seasoned hardcore music-obsessives behind the scenes of Conatala have been with him every step of the way are certainly best placed to make sense of this fascinating cult UK artist."

Rubbed/tickled strings, drone-based undercurrents, leviathanic apparitions, squeals of insects, molluscs & intriguing shells, underwater singing moans, the work of the Belgian musician and performer Anaïs Tuerlinckx plunges entangles us into a captivating constellation

AIDAN BAKER (NADJA, B/B/S) and bass clarinetist GARETH DAVIS continue their fruitful collaboration with "Invisible Cities II" - five new tracks of finest ambient/chamber jazz/subtle drones of a highly meditative quality. Two years ago, the Canadian guitar player AIDAN BAKER and clarinetist GARETH DAVIS from Belgium released their duo debut "Invisible Cities" that surprised many by it's quiet, even meditative quality.

DAVIS had made himself a name in a wide range of fields, from the postrock of A-SUN AMISSA or OISEAUX-TEMPÊTE, new music (PETER ABLINGER, BERNHARD LANG), or experimentation with the likes of ELLIOTT SHARP, MERZBOW or SCANNER, while BAKER is mostly known for his drone/postmetal duo NADJA, but that's just one out of several steady projects (e.g.B/B/S with ANDREA BELFI and ERIK SKODVIN aka SVARTE GREINER) and a multitude of solo albums.

On "Invisible Cities" the duo explored the calmer side of things – from chamber jazz to ambient/drone and back, giving much space and air to breathe to their respective instrument. Subtle guitar drones, sonore clarinet sounds, a sonic scenery of peacefullness and meditative introspection – all this you'll also find on the new album "Invisible Cities II" which is an accomplished continuation and refinement of the duo's first collaborative effort from 2018.

Recorded between 2018 and 2019 in Berlin and Amsterdam, mastered and cut at D&M Berlin by KASSIAN TROYER.

The hardest hitting track from Drumskull's blazing debut album of last year gets the full 12" and digital EP treatment, re-mastered and cut here by Beau Thomas at Ten Eight Seven, and followed by a high pressure 'Nosebleed' remix by the brilliant ETCH. On the flip, solid reworks from Benny iLL of Horsepower Productions and the prolific Coco Bryce supply contrasting takes on the Drumskull album tracks 'Battle Stations' and 'Interlocked' respectively.

Whether dancefloors and other party spots prove to be accessible this year or not, these four sure shots offer all the pressure and intensity you might require to continue to negotiate your way through the current global shit storm. Whether you are seeking escape in whatever vehicle you might have to hand, or are just getting down creatively, this EP should no doubt keep the imagination lit.

finally repressed

Kuldaboli returns to bbbbbb records, this time with a 6-track EP on which his idiosyncratic sound of icy, cryptic electro fully emerges. BBB015 being the second release of Kuldaboli on bbbbbb records is destined to be a historical release for the Icelandic dance music scene and a very important one for Kuldaboli’s legacy. The EP title ‘Ekkert nema ískaldur veruleikinn’ roughly translates to “nothing but the ice cold reality” and that is exactly what is delivered across the six tracks laden with poetic lyrics and spoken word.

In the opening track ‘Ég er bara ég’ Kuldaboli’s signature sound of uncompromising electro is overlaid with haunting vocals recited in Icelandic saying “I am only me and you are only you, people exchange words measuring each other out, trying their best at discerning life’s riddles’’. It is easy to say that Kuldaboli knows how to capture the listeners with deep reflections on subjects that most people are aware of but hardly ever speak of.

A2 ‘Ískaldur veruleikinn’ or ‘the ice cold reality’ is the most bouncy dancefloor track of the EP with the openings lyrics saying ‘’Are you telling me the truth? If I were to guess you are lying cold to my face’. The power of word play in this release is by far the most interesting poetic turn for Kuldaboli to date, where he shows great insight to the subconscious and human behaviour.

The smooth sounds of possessed Italo disco on A3 ‘Finn innri frið’, along with the funky bassline and trance like synths has perhaps the most positive vibe to it if you are not familiar to Kuldaboli, along with the playful opener of B-side ‘Afi kenndi mér íslensku’.

Following B2 no-bullshit-electro-track ‘Kuklari’, the final track B3 ‘Fönix úr ösku’ shows the haunting dark depth of depressurisation that vocal and electronics can create, where melancholic lyrics convey images of lost dreams of former lives.

Five years after the release of ‘Pressure Loss’ the modern master of electronic minimalism Nicola Ratti returns to Where To Now? in collaboration with Japanese MC ‘MA’, for a suite of submerged, outsider Trip-Hop.

‘Shinkai’ meets at the crossroads of the gloomy sonic snapshot world of Tricky, the South London DIY avant pop bloom of Curl/Mica Levi, the outer fringes of Hip-Hop heralded by the Anticon crew, and the deep textured minimalism of Machinfabriek.

‘Shinkai’ heralds the first time Nicola Ratti has worked with a vocalist, and MA’s unique brand of ritualistic vocal methods and experimental approaches to intonation and inflexion only enhances Ratti’s otherworldly soundscapes. The depth of meaning behind MA’s lyrics further expands this sprawling sound world, revealing a twisted beauty, a deep insight into the melancholic world MA reflects upon within his abstract wordplay – on ‘Suiso’ MA laments above Ratti’s mourning electronics….

“A ship with the wind in the sails erased a path to the skies.

Gone forever,
In sandy finality,
A scene never to be repeated,
Never to be understood.

Never to hatch,
Dreams of never continuing beyond the crossroads
A painting dissipates as the allure runs dry
Without consulting the dusk, dawn never arrives.

Agonising over the silence brought on by a stumble,
Attacked from all angles until I find my ground once more.
What comes next does not matter - just as long as it comes.
A not-so-distant-future, born from certain uncertainty.

Let me face it with wavering reservations,
Bury me in it
My sins left unanswered
Cover the snow on which it falls.

An unthawing aquarium.
An unanswering aquarium.

Hiding, evolving, recollecting, transferring,
A precarious contradiction befalls.
Timeframes cut, edited and replaced with resentment
The ritual aesthetics of a secret ceremony.

The thoughts of once again,
Fills me with dread and rage.
Painted in blood.

Alas, it was fun...”

On the surface this is an unlikely (yet inspired) collaboration – MA has been a part of the Tokyo Hip-Hop underground for many years, over which time he has stylistically leapt into noisier, more experimental territories. We have Rabih Beaini to thank for shining a light on MA’s talents, with the 2019 LP ‘AMA’ being released on Morphine records, and Beaini opening new doors for experimentation and collaboration.

‘Shinkai’ was composed and recorded between January and April 2020. The pair had met a couple of times in Japan first and then in Europe, undertaking a live collaborative experiment combining sounds and words that had not been designed to be performed together, ‘Shinkai’ reflects the fluidity of this encounter and is in essence a consequence of it.

Ratti assigns the following poetic grounding to the intentions and thematic form of the album – “Shinkai means deep sea, a place most of us will never see except on the surface. The sea depths do not belong to us, they are not places for us, we do not know them and they disturb us, they are a material that we can look at without seeing. I have always thought that height, verticality in general, was not a familiar dimension except in relation to our physicality. The horizon reassures us, the depth disturbs us. The Italian language is written and read horizontally, from left to right, the Japanese language can be written vertically and read from right to left. Does the horizon still reassure us?”

In March 2018, Danny Berman aka Red Rack'em left behind the grey insanity of Berlin and headed off to the idyllic Devon Analogue Studio for the first of several productive musical retreats, giving him unprecedented access to high end synths plus the time and space to create without distraction.

After a solid 18 months of activity post album, which combined some serious air miles, relocation back to the UK (after nearly a decade living in East Berlin) some pretty magical moments, he's back with a heavy EP of genre crossing magic which ushers forth a more edgy, psychedelic sound.

Like its disco leaning predecessor, Wonky Techno Banger is just simply a track that you have to have in your life. Combining a demented fairground melody, flappy off beat bassline and manic peak time flavour, it's an absolute thumper which has the potential to radically transform your night/life.

Devon Analogue 4.2 comes from the same session and sees the Bergerac boss man go into euphoric electro funk mode with distorted claps, an 'ecstasy' synth and live slap bass.

Meanwhile back in Berlin, Rack'em was also working in Iron Curtis studio while he was on tour in the US so final track Nave Gazing was written using just the Waldorf Nave for a thoughtful ambient number to close off the EP. WIBES.