Beats Vinyl New Releases - News

We're delighted to announce Sonar's Ghosts' first full solo EP on 7th Storey Projects - In 'a Soul - due to drop mid-August 2020.

Featuring four tracks of ragga-infused jungly goodness, with a bit of ravey-gravy in the mix for good measure!

For their second release of the year, Josiah Hartley’s Phuture Shock label welcome up-and-coming Manchester producer Szajna to the ranks; armed with his debut solo 12” ‘M41’ EP.

Teffa makes a more than welcome return to Foundation Audio with the 'Advance EP' featuring four of his greatest productions to date! The more attentive dubstep connoisseurs amongst you might well recognise 'Advance' which has been doing the rounds for a hot minute now mashing up countless raves. The rest of the EP ain't no joke either.. pure FYAH from front to back! Love to Teffa each n every.

Vinyan (Thai for soul) is used to describe the intangible essence of something. The esoteric part that draws the line of one’s character, mystery, and spirit.

This cassette is a curated compilation of Vinyans bound in time and place and selected to form a continuity into a coherent whole. Re-contextualizing contemporary parallels between tribal elements, live instruments, drones and house themes; the ebb and flow between cosmic rhythms and eccentric landscapes drowning into a hypnotic blend. Psychonauts are invited into this warm and organic palette of sound textures from the East.

823 is a multifaceted Perth-based record label, fashion brand, and artistic community, founded by Australian producer and all-around creative, Ta-ku (846k monthly listeners on Spotify). With an ethos of attention to detail and appreciation for the everyday things in life, 823 doesn’t stick to any particular genre. 823’s releases include Cabu’s (800k Monthly Listeners on Spotify) “So Far To Go” EP, Ta-ku and matt mcwaters’s duo project “Black and White,” which featured Masego collaboration “Flight 99” (14 million streams on Spotify), their debut release with Australian producer and instrumentalist Kuzich, and multiple sold out clothing capsules. “All Things Considered Vol. 1” set off a collaborative series of curated compilations, featuring both budding and well-established artists around the world including Idealism, Wun Two, pastels, SwuM, Jinsang, Saltyyyy V, and more. “All Things Considered Vol. 2” sees the continuation of this project, this time in partnership with fellow Perth-based powerhouse, Butter Goods.

Butter Goods is a Perth clothing brand rooted in skating culture and style, but drawing inspiration from hip-hop, jazz, and music at large. Butter Goods has been featured in major publications, including GQ, Complex, and HYPEBEAST. They’ve collaborated on releases with Peanuts and Puma, and have reached international levels of popularity. Butter Goods co-founder Garth Mariano’s deep love for and eclectic tastes in music drive his creativity, and are front and center in his partnership with Ta-ku and 823 on “All Things Considered Vol 2,” where the two team up to curate a wide-ranging compilation.

Arriving on September 2nd, 2022, “All Things Considered Vol. 2” is an exploration of Ta-ku’s and Mariano’s extensive and often overlapping musical palettes in two parts. The record pays homage to the love of instrumental music and hidden gems of new school jazz and funk that act as a source of inspiration and nostalgia for the both of them. The collaboration brings together over a dozen producers and instrumentalists from Sydney to Chicago, including Jadu Jadu, Gnarly, Tenderlonius, silentjay, and more. Side A is curated by Ta-ku and 823. It’s as much a love letter to the past as it is a nod to the future of beat-making. Featuring sample heavy, drum looped beats, sprinkled with the occasional ear candy for the attentive listener, it presents cruisy soundscapes & easy listening. Side B is curated by Garth and Butter Goods. It’s a raw and eclectic companion to Side A, leaning heavily into the texture and grit of multi-layered jazz and funk-driven beats.

As with any 823 release, the project is as visual as it is sonic. The artwork and visualizers are a celebration of Garth’s love of thrift culture and old nature documentaries, fused with 823’s design aesthetic of bringing everyday inspirations to the forefront. CRT style visuals are paired with 90’s spin, slide and fade away transitions. When partnered with the music, each visualizer could easily work as the intro for an episode of a VHS series of nature docos.

1st single, “senzu bean,” arrives on July 7th and kicks off Side A, showcasing Ta-ku’s hip-hop-centric tastes. Sydney producer Jadu Jadu teams up with UK-based TAMBALA, apltn, and Makzo for a vibrant instrumental. From a head-nodding bassline beneath fuzzy synths, to soft horn licks sprinkled over electronic drums, “senzu bean” is sonically rich and multilayered.

2nd single, “Too Much” by UK producer saaaz arrives July 20th. It’s a moody and low-tempo beat that builds itself up over time, complete with cryptic vocal samples and syrupy drums and bass. Also off of 823’s Side A, “Too Much” maintains a laid-back hip-hop theme but with saaaz’s signature and definitive lo-fi twist.

3rd single, “Goodmorning” from Baro Sura and silentjay of Melbourne arrives August 3rd, kicking off Butter Good’s Side B. The track is bright from start to finish and is a sun-filled track perfect for closing out the summer with. Final single, “Fool’s Gold” by Los Angeles producer L.Dre arrives August 17th. The infinitely creative beatmaker layers soft hums and the sounds of crashing waves over crisp drums and an infectious bassline. Together, it makes for a beat that sounds like it was made outside, under the sun, and is best enjoyed in the same way.

Focus track, “Seventh Wonder” by Tenderlonius, comes off of Side B, and is a window into the ideas and palettes on both sides of the compilation. The beat slowly fades in, one sound at a time, until it reaches a full-fledged groove, soaked in synths, bass, and horns, that’s impossible not to move to.

On the whole, “All Things Considered Vol. 2” is a forward-focused, sonic journey into the minds behind two of today’s great creative brands, and is as artistically eclectic and varied as those minds are, and a proud follow-up to its first volume.

LP contains A2 poster on uncoated stock.

Lustmord is a Welsh electronic musician, composer and sound designer based in Los Angeles. Active since 1980 he has released a prolific body of work across various labels such as Touch, Hydra Head and Blackest Ever Black. Often credited for starting the dark ambient genre with his ‘Heresy’ album in 1990, Lustmord’s music has been described as sweeping and profound, a vast dreamlike soundscape that utilises organic and real-world scenes as source material. Lustmord albums have been made from caves, crypts, car crashes, cosmological activity, the Los Alamos National Laboratory and the site of the first ever nuclear detonation. Lustmord and Cargo Records are happy to announce the launch of Vaultworks. Originally an imprint intended to release short editions of live CDs at his live shows, it is now launched as a wider platform for his work in general. Kick starting a planned series of new releases and reissues is the first time Vinyl and CD release of his soundtrack to Paul Schrader’s 2017 film First Reformed, starring Ethan Hawke, Amanda Seyfried and Cedric Kyles. The release features extended versions of the score formatted as a standalone album. The double vinyl edition includes an extra track “Venice” which was featured at the Venice Film Festival red carpet event. The CD edition has tracks formatted to crossfade into each other for a continuous listening experience.

Dubbing Sun x Echo Ranks x Radikal Guru bringing the conscious vibes once again.

The mysterious musical group ,debuts on the Faith Disciplines label with an album of industrial music with a variety of ethnic influences, voices and traditional instruments fused with powerful rhythms

Produced by Jeremy Sylvester.
Massive reissue/reboot business. Back to 1997 for these speed garage blueprints from Jeremey Sylvester and Mike Millrain's G.O.D project. Fitting name; these were god tier jams the first time and they remain just as bubbly, badass and sexy as they did 23 years ago. "Watch Ya Bass Bins" comes in its original form and a beefed up twist for 2020 while other classics still do the business: "Got 2 Go" is all about the swagger while "Come Into My Heart" blinds you with its juicy organs. Timeless

Made up of six tracks but presented as two ~17-minute pieces, the record meanders through warm chordscapes, glistening synths and loose live percussion, weaved together with field recordings and ambience.

pH 1 released his "Technicolor Vision" cassette album on Help Recordings in 2016, but is also part of the
group Hi Mount along with Central and DJ Sports. The three have released together on Regelbau. The
name pH 1 bear a less than subtle reference to the sound of acid, and his productions definitely reflects
early UK house and break beat with elements of acid jazz. He first crossed paths with Multiplex while
performing a live set in his hometown before Steen Kong was to DJ. The two quickly connected and we
are happy to welcome pH 1 to the Multiplex family.

Born and raised in Aarhus, Denmark but often traveling to UK where he also spent his teens. He started
playing guitar at age eight, but once he'd felt wax on a 1210, saved up for a pair of Technics.

His Lucid EP opens with "Time of Day" a beautiful house production, "Infinite Pressure" presents a deep,
cinematic journey, while "Bonafide Platter" is a playful, acidic tune. Titonton Duvanté delivered the
amazing Futurity EP for Multiplex in 1998 with four funky acid tracks, the perfect candidate to add to pH
1's universe. Titonton has remixed "Make Your Reality" on the B-side and the original mix of that track
gets the final word of the EP.

The return of our VA series is marked with the new chapter ‘Freaky Friends Volume 1’ featuring the likes of P.Leone, Nasty King Kurl, Sentient State, Ole Mic Odd, Dj Swagger, and Main Phase.

As C418, composer and producer Daniel Rosenfeld designs sounds to resonate in both physical and pixelated realms. Best known for his original soundtracks to Minecraft, the single best-selling video game of all time, he's developed a discography of instrumental music over the last decade that traverses electronic pop patterns, neo-classical dreamscapes, and sparse ambient motifs. The latter element has broken from the "8-bit" pigeonholing of game music and earned him accolades that reference artists like Erik Satie (The Guardian) and Brian Eno (VICE). In 2015, after quietly self-releasing Minecraft Volume Alpha and Minecraft Volume Beta, Rosenfeld partnered with Ghostly International to reissue Minecraft Volume Alpha on vinyl and CD. The release garnered attention from proper music critics and the gaming community alike, becoming one of the most sought after records in the Ghostly catalog. Now, following several restocks of Alpha to fervent fan response, it is time for the soundtrack's second installment to shine. For the legion of listeners and players to, at long last, have Minecraft Volume Beta in tangible formats. Originally self-released in 2013, Minecraft Volume Beta was C418's longest batch of music to date at nearly 140 minutes. The collection features tracks that were "silently" added to Minecraft during its music updates and a few that never officially entered the game. The run time is now adapted to fit the double LP format, while digital downloads include the full set. Rosenfeld's unmistakable abilities are on display; he creates a sweeping variety of musical ideas that mirror the limitless universe of Minecraft. Ghostly International is thrilled to give this unique collaboration its due treatment and hopes to see the creative inspiration which drives Minecraft and Rosenfeld continue to disperse by virtue of this unexpectedly universal music.

Dark Morph is a collaboration between sound and visual artists Carl Michael von Hausswolff and Jón Þór "Jónsi" Birgisson. Today they have announced a new release ‘Dark Morph II’, for release on May 1st via Pomperipossa Records – the Swedish record label led by von Hausswolff’s daughter, Anna von Hausswolff.

The release is dedicated to the oceans of planet earth and to the lifeforms that live in and around them, with the duo stating: “The exploitation of the oceans, in conjunction with the heavy pollution (from plastic waste to nuclear radio-activity) has to stop, and be replaced by collaborative manners co-operating with all life on or globe.”

Carl Michael von Hausswolff is a renowned artist, active in the art and music world with solo and collaborative projects for many years, and Jónsi’s work in the Icelandic group Sigur Rós, as well as his collaboration with composer Alex Somers, is recognised across the globe. Dark Morph formed when the two artists met aboard the M/Y Dardanella ship in Fiji invited by TBA21–Academy in 2018. The ship is a creative platform equipped with sound and video recording systems, and the result of the duo’s first voyage was released in May 2019 at the Biennale di Venezia. This second album consists of material recorded in Fiji and Tonga and was produced and mixed in GeeJam Studios in Jamaica in January 2019.

Step in the Arena is the second studio album by hip hop duo Gang Starr, printed as a 1990 release and commercially released on January 15, 1991. The album received critical acclaim and was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. The Source magazine stated: “Step in the Arena stands alone on a musical level, yet it also remains true to hip-hop’s underground heritage.” In 1998, the album was selected as one of The Source’s 100 Best Hip Hop Albums. Urban Legends/UMC will reissue Step In The Arena on 2LP 180 gram black vinyl on 28th June, 2019.

Compilation album curated by Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith

The directive for the composers featured on Breathing Instruments was, in effect, to accentuate the ways in which instruments sound like they are breathing. Some have recreated the literal experience of feeling or hearing the human breath. Others take a more abstract approach, where “breathing” is more motif than object of emulation.

From hushed pulsations and distant vocals in Kathryn Shuman’s ‘Objects creating a womb-like environment to Julianna Barwick’s blissful ‘Newborn’ the tracks give sonic form to the experience of emerging from the womb.

There is also a striking concurrence of woodland sounds throughout this collection from the ghostly tones of Emily A Srague’s ‘Flew’ to Cool Maritime and Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith’s dew dripped ‘Daybreak’.

Meanwhile the undulating seascape of Geotic’s ‘Uncaught’ conjures moments of Evening Star by Fripp/ Eno, but supplants that album’s crystalline production with the warm crackle of vinyl.
If we learn anything from Breathing Instruments it is that we are inextricable from the natural world.

Re-release of the album which MARC WEISER (RECHENZENTRUM, zeitkratzer) and JÜRGEN HENDLMEIER (producer for THE FLAMING SIDEBURNS, THEE ULTRA BIMBOOS) created as ARURMUKHA. With the use of soundbites, field recordings, and stylistically diverse tracks, they reprocess the eviction of 13 squats on Mainzer Straße in Berlin-Friedrichshain in November 1990, forming it into an acoustic scenography in the style of the "Maifestspiele" by EINSTÜRZENDE NEUBAUTEN.

Re-release of the album which MARC WEISER (RECHENZENTRUM, zeitkratzer) and JÜRGEN HENDLMEIER (producer for THE FLAMING SIDEBURNS, THEE ULTRA BIMBOOS) created as ARURMUKHA. With the use of soundbites, field recordings, and stylistically diverse tracks, they reprocess the clearing of 13 squats on Mainzer Straße in Berlin-Friedrichshain in November 1990, forming it into an acoustic scenography in the style of the "Maifestspiele" by EINSTÜRZENDE NEUBAUTEN.

14.11.2020 marks the 30th anniversary of the clearing of 13 squats on Mainzer Straße in Berlin-Friedrichshain. The violent confrontation between the police and about 500 squatters, involving armored vehicles, helicopters, and 10 water cannons, was the biggest police operation in Berlin's post-war history, with 4000 officers deployed, and is deemed to be the last big "battle" of left-wing squatters in Germany. The insert for the LP provides a detailed chronicle of the events (taken from the book "Berlin Mainzer Straße: Wohnen ist wichtiger als das Gesetz Berlin Mainzer Straße: Housing is more important than the law", published in 1992 by Basis-Druck).

On the occasion of the anniversary, the Berlin label KARLRECORDS is making a contemporary document that has been out of print for more than 25 years available to the public again. The album "14.11.90" by internationally renowned electronic musician and co-founder of the CTM Festival MARC WEISER (RECHENZENTRUM, zeitkratzer a.o.) and JÜRGEN HENDLMEIER (producer for THE FLAMING SIDEBURNS, THEE ULTRA BIMBOOS a.o.) was originally released in 1993 as a vehicle for them to work through their personal experiences as contemporary witnesses of the eviction, on the label GOLDRAUSCH-TONTRÄGER, which was founded for the release. The project's name, ARURMUKHA – "avaricious demons", is a term from Vedic mythology, here alluding to the capitalist logic of exploitation guiding the West German corporations that bought out the former GDR after reunification.

Shunning the popular clichés of squatters, the duo processes original recordings of the clearing action, as well as material from radio and tv as their musical-textural starting points, composing them into a densely packed acoustic psychogram, recounting the events of the time with dramaturgic skill, in chronological sequence over the course of the two sides of the vinyl. Armed with a sampler as their main instrument they create an acoustic scenography which, as a sonification of memory, pits itself against oblivion. While constructed as a soundtrack, the heterogeneity of its styles gives the album the character of a compilation, aggregating drones, industrial, electronics, post punk, outsider music and political texts into an imaginary meta music film of resistance. The subject matter and music may suggest comparisons with EINSTÜRZENDE NEUBAUTEN's piece "Maifestspiele". The covers of the original edition at the time were individually designed by many different friends of the scene in the form of a "social sculpture" of the squatters' movement and comprised screen prints, collages, graphics, and photos. Selected for the re-edition of the LP: a picture by the Berlin photographer HARALD HAUSWALD, who is considered one of the most famous photo-chroniclers of the GDR and who also provided a collection of hand prints for the original.

Despite its age, the album is an alarmingly relevant one, with its contents not having lost any of their urgency. Especially in view of the displacement of affordable housing and free cultural spaces in metropolitan cities, "14.11.90" is a plea for creative resistance culture with the hope for change in the existing conditions.

Banco de Gaia has been performing and releasing for over 25 years now, along the way becoming one of the music industry's most maverick innovators. His legacy is as glittering as it is diverse, ranging from Hollywood film sound credits to the critically acclaimed 'Last Train to Lhasa', first released in 1995 to a rapturous reception. His live act still packs out venues and festivals all over the world, with audio visual performances renowned for their explosive, cutting edge quality: from sampling wizardry fused with haunting vocals and poignant acoustics to genre-hopping musical instrumentals, all accompanied by socially engaged visuals.

This was Banco de Gaia's ninth studio album, released to critical acclaim in 2016.

Research Records presents Melbourne electronic quartet Big Yawn's second contribution to the label, South Preston Garage. A title to honour the bands beloved bandroom, S.P.G compiles demos extracted from the studio for a digital release with a limited run of cassettes.

S.P.G embodies Big Yawn's trademark pastiche, fusing together rich percussion and sweeping synthesizers that are recontextualised through an extensive shed jam. The band characterises the first two tracks British Teeth and Burno as "Big Yawn flavoured DnB," with "refracted drum phrasing and unrelenting delays." Cascading acid-tinged bass rules in the quivering 4 Dads; a venture into the band's stockier temperament. The panoramic Burton Bell delivers raw and biting percussion, while remaining faithful to electronics with it's layered sampling. The release then disperses into seaside rapture with it's farewell Bad Boy. On Bad Boy, the band comment that the track "is perhaps our most melodic number to date, with heavily looping synths evoking a Hiroshi Sato/city-pop feel."

Having played guitar with the likes of Iggy Pop, Arno and Alain Bashung, to name but a few, Geoffrey Burton's guitar wizardry is set firm in his love for minimalism, fragmented chords, and off-kilter melodies.

On 'Me Ta Podia' (Greek for By Foot), Burton explores his instrument and connects it to his inner world, easily managing to surpass merely showing off skills. Burton creates an atmosphere that is uniquely his own, at times making his guitar sound like anything but a guitar.

Save for two tracks, 'Kuhlmannlaan 8" and 'Bababachable', 'Me Ta podia' was recorded live without any overdubs. This way of working is becoming a staple in the Gong Ear label philosophy, steering their artists towards live in-studio recordings that capture the magic of the moment.

With the sleeve designed by Burton's wife Sarah Yu Zeebroek and typography by Gert Dooreman, Burton is set and ready to showcase his own music, under his own name, for the very first time.

"Lugar Alto's newest project is the idiosyncratic album MUMIA (portuguese for MUMMY). Never released before, it is a work that was originally recorded on cassette and combines elements of post-punk, industrial and ambient music.

Kodiak Bachine and Celso Alves formed the ephemeral and eponymous duo in 1988. The partnership resulted in a single recording derived from improvised sessions using minimal amounts of electronic equipment at Celso's country house, located in the interior of São Paulo.

Bachine was an important figure in the São Paulo underground. His most renowned project was the band Agentss from 1981, which also consisted of Miguel Barella, Eduardo Amarante, Elias Glik and Lyses Pupo (later replaced by Thomas Susemihl). In its brief duration, the band released only two seven inches that were considered seminal artifacts in the Brazilian post-punk scene: “Agentes / Angra” from 1982 and “Professor Digital / Cidade Industrial” from 1983. These two rare records are highly sought after by collectors and DJs from around the world for their inventiveness and originality.

Similar to Agentss, MUMIA brings with it extreme authenticity, managing to extrapolate the barriers of more traditional Brazilian music and interact with unorthodox elements. The lyrics are a mixture of Portuguese and English and it is still possible to identify picturesque fragments of Spanish, French and German. In addition, sonically, the record portrays aesthetics from the eighties and dialogues with themes relating to LSD. Another notable feature is the fixation on Egyptian post-mortem themes, providing a cinematic and lysergic experience of the desert landscapes from the African country.

It is a recording with comic passages which provokes an unpretentious reaction from the listener. However, it still has more ethereal and atmospheric moments, such as the opening song “Ave do Deserto”. In the final two tracks, it is possible to enjoy a darker MUMIA, which with “Massacre da Serra Elétrica I” and “Massacre da Serra Elétrica II”, provide a sound experience capable of accompanying intense scenes from the macabre productions by Tobe Hooper and George Romero.

The striking new artwork was created by the Sometimes Always studio, a partner of Lugar Alto and responsible for diverse graphic collaborations with artists, venues and parties in Brazil. The album, mastered by the prolific Arthur Joly, also has a booklet containing Kodiak’s texts in Portuguese and English, in addition to the lyrics, which serve as a logical exercise for further understanding of the album.

MUMIA was unearthed by the renowned Brazilian DJ Millos Kaiser, who in addition to kindly curating this album, put together the compilation “Onda de Amor: Synthesized Brazilian Hits That Never Were (1984-94)”, released by Soundway Records.

Now, after 32 years in its tomb, the MUMIA has risen and thanks to Lugar Alto it can finally be celebrated and appreciated."

Sophie Barker's distinctive and critically acclaimed vocal range, paired with her emotional song-writing skills, have yielded world-wide chart-topping singles, million-selling albums and music collaborations with artists as diverse as David Guetta, Zero 7, Groove Armada, The Egg and Robin Guthrie (Cocteau Twins).

Having formed her first group at 9 years of age, as a teenager, Sophie went on to write and perform songs with her guitar at venues across the UK. After completing her degree at UCL, she moved beyond her mid-90s record deal with Sony, to join downtempo lounge wizards, Zero 7, and co-wrote their huge hit 'Destiny' with Sia Furler.

Her evocative vocal delivery and charismatic stage presence became an integral part of the Zero 7 sound and live show. Capitalizing on her fan base, she began to release as a solo artist. Her first two albums 'Earthbound'(2005) and'Seagull'(2011)gained support from DJs as varied as Don Letts and Janice Long, earning her radio plays on BBC6musicand Radio 2 among a plethora of other UK stations.

Herlong-awaited 3rd solo album, 'Break the habit'took 4 years to record but sees her more comfortable than ever in her own skin. Undoubtedly her best work to date, the LP effortlessly flows between her upfront live sound, finely-honed from intense touring and appearances with her band at festivals andvenuesacross the UK and USA, and more atmospheric, mood-driven electronica.

It's been four years since Sweatbox Dynasty, the fourth solo LP from Pennsylvanian experimentalist TOBACCO. In that time, Tom Fec's project has toured with Nine Inch Nails, provided the theme song to HBO series Silicon Valley, and teamed with Aesop Rock for a collaborative album as Malibu Ken. He now returns to Ghostly International for Hot Wet & Sassy, a full-length album oozing with his most playful and approachable songs to date, which, conversely, express notions of antilove, self-hate, and disappointment in others. Pop impulses have always surged beneath the surface of his sound - blown-out bass, analog synths, drum machines, and Fec's unmistakable analog gurgle and hiss - here they've bubbled to the top. "I feel like it's the most I've been able to refine what I'm doing," says Fec. "For the past decade I've had this motherfxcker on my shoulder that makes me pick away at structure and melody. Purposely covering up moments because I can. That really came to a peak on Sweatbox. So I wanted the opposite this time. Write the songs without ripping them in half. I went from 'what would the Butthole Surfers do?' to 'what would Cyndi Lauper do?'" And what would Trent Reznor do? Fec found his answer straight from the source. Their collaborative track, "Babysitter," fuses their voices into one deranged presence: "I'm the new babysitter," they alert, before pivoting into a menacingly saccharine bridge. The track tumbles on a tom fill, then a punishing synth line rips into a cacophony of drums and feedback like a lawnmower gnawing through the living room carpet. "This was new for me, but I wanted to write a song that was everything I am and have been, and then like one notch further. Trent was the notch further," adds Fec. The collaboration is a work of alchemy seamlessly blending TOBACCO's trademarks with Reznor's industrial rust and sonic gore. Downcast, sincere, woozy, "Jinmenken" might be the closest Fec has come to a ballad. "Maybe you can find me down the line," his vocoded delivery bounces along the beat. "It's me trying to write a Jets song," says Fec. Album opener "Centaur Skin" presents the stylistic concoction that has been the TOBACCO MO from the beginning, crossing dreamy melodic shimmer with the sinister tones and slime. This has become easier to digest, but also far more potent. A motorik beat steadies the track's galloping arpeggio, acting as a springboard for Fec's dark ruminations as well as an uncharacteristically crystalline synth solo. "It's my feel good self hate anthem. Don't worry, I'm good. It was fun to write." TOBACCO hasn't been reinvented, but it has been refined and distilled. Brighter, sharper, and far more dangerous because of it. Hot Wet & Sassy is practically staring at the sun without shades and feeling those corneas roast. Everything looks good as your vision fades. The pop-forward structures exert their undeniable hooks with baneful precision, pulling listeners into their clutches; once there, sugary melody rewards submission.

These last 10 years, Valance Drakes (formerly known as MusSck) has recorded a lush bunch of albums and EP's, solo and in collaboration with various music artists. His solo works of surreal experimentalism, turntable styles and textured and layered sound sculptures have been released on Detroit Underground, Amek and M-Tronic. "Freedom Is Its Own Kind Of Salary" is his 4th solo album.

"The underground hasn’t the time for vocation to stay in the shadows as those need to give the message of an alternative as when the image becomes more important than the substance everything goes wrong. Valance Drakes is an experimental beatsmith from somewhere in Europe. His sounds usually incorporate field recordings, vinyl samples and software glitches."

"You know, hyenas aren't the bad ones... These days it's humans you should fear."

Erik K Skodvin's first solo film score evokes otherwordly dreamscapes that capture the atmosphere of the film Anbessa (2019), shot in Ethiopia by director Mo Scarpelli.

As a "creative" documentary the film follows Asalif, a 10 year old imaginative boy caught between the ancient and the new, navigating modernization on his own terms. Asalif tries to make sense of things while living in a shed on the outskirts of Addis Ababa with his mom. A place where capitalism and “progress” is closing in on all fronts, and threatening their lifestyle. By becoming a lion (anbessa) he can fight back against the forces outside of his control.

Pursuing escapism and moments in sound is something Skodvin has been dedicating his life to the last 20 years, with his various projects: Svarte Greiner, Deaf Center, Miasmah. Often in the darker, shadowy corners of sound, but never without glimpses of light and humanity. Anbessa can at first seem like an unlikely film to be his first venture into solo film scoring, and second in total, after his collaborative score with Raúl Pastor Medall for Birgitte Stæremose's thriller Darling (2017). But somehow, the playful, dreamy character of Asalif fits perfectly with his sound. The choice was made to mix field recordings from the film with the music, which creates a type of audio cinema that fully captures the atmosphere of Asalif’s world: Screaming hyena's, birds, animals, nature, Asalif repairing found electronic devices, talking and singing, seemlessly blend in with bowed guitars, electro-acoustic instruments, trumpets, long pipes and clay drums, played by Skodvin and by Volcano The Bear's Aaron Moore. The result is an affecting journey. An escape into something hopeful.

For the LP edition, the score is set to one vinyl side, while the other side has a series of lone field recordings with locked grooves that creates an eerie further immersion into the world of Asalif. A photo/screenshot from the film comes with the vinyl.

Watch the film on MUBI from August 26th (for one month). Also available for rent or purchase through Video on demand.

John R Holmes debut release for Sores is an one hour long, lush and atmospheric journey with meditative organic textures, analog electronics and treated guitars rooted in Berlin-School masters such as Klaus Schulze and Edgar Froese.

Produziert und aufgenommen von Arca, definiert KiCk i eine neue Ära in der Multiplex-Welt der venezolanischen Künstlerin, Sängerin, DJ, Performerin und Komponistin. Mit Björk, Rosalía, Shygirl und SOPHIE hat Arca zum ersten Mal Kollaborateure in ihre Welt eingeladen. Zuvor produzierte sie für Björk, Kayne West und FKA twigs, komponierte Musik für das MoMA, erschuf gewaltige Noise-Skulpturen oder legte bei Festivals als DJ auf. Mit KiCk i wird nicht nur die Freude gefeiert, die Arca in ihrem Leben finden konnte, sondern auch der manchmal beschwerliche Weg, den sie dafür zurücklegen musste. Ihre Bemühungen, ihr venezolanisches Erbe und ihre trans-lateinamerikanische Identität zu versöhnen, entpuppen sich als Reggaetón und spanischem Pop. Aber KiCk i ist nicht nur eine Pop-Platte oder eine experimentelle Platte, oder auch nur eine Mischung aus beiden, sondern alles auf einmal - und noch so viel mehr. Je nachdem, wo man die Nadel aufsetzt, findet man Bubblegum, raue Geräusche, elektronische Psychedelia, Balladen, Knaller, Gelächter, Tränen, Leidenschaft und Glaubensäußerungen - Klänge und Ideen, die nicht einfach miteinander verschmelzen, sondern gleichzeitig in einer Quantenüberlagerung koexistieren. "Ich möchte nicht an ein Genre gebunden sein", erklärt Arca. "Ich will nicht als eine Sache abgestempelt werden." Wo sie jetzt ist, endet das Nicht-Binärsein nicht mit ihrer geschlechtlichen Identität. Es ist zu einer Denkweise geworden, bei der keine eine Sache nur eine Sache sein muss, bei der mehrere Bedeutungen, mehrere Realitäten in überlagertem Gleichgewicht koexistieren können. In diesem Raum zwischen den Staaten, in dem das eine Ding das andere ist, hat Arca ein riesiges Feld unerschlossener kreativer Kraft entdeckt.

‘Débuts’ is France-via-Brussels duo, Nikitch & Kuna Maze’s aka Nicolas Morant & Edouard Gilbert first full length album. Building on their collaborative EP “Mush”, ‘Débuts’ continues to explore the melting point between jazz and club culture, interspersed with the signature sounds of broken beat, Chicago footwork, UK garage, Detroit house, and underpinned by their road-tested new live format.

‘Débuts’ see’s the band push their musical and creative development even further, a result of touring extensively around Europe with a live drummer, from high-brow jazz festivals to sweaty basement clubs. “We would be lying if we said our gig experience didn’t influence us on this record” Edouard explains. “We discovered new aspects to songs such as “Bruk” and managed to push forward the energy side of the music from the rawness of the live shows. This energy empowered to produce and compose new material in the same vein”.

Amidst her work with the primitive-futurist neo-psych outfit Zen Mother and as a touring member of Daughters, Monika Khot creates apocalyptic dirges combining modern classical explorations of electronic ambience with hardware-fueled industrial barrages under the name Nordra. The project has taken her across North America and Europe, performing in both the high-brow art world and in the underground rock trenches on tours with artists like SUMAC and Algiers. Nordra’s third full-length continues her penchant for chilling digital drones, thunderous clatter, polyphonic idiosyncrasies, and a search for a harmonious balance between wrangling sounds out of new technology while exerting an undeniable human presence over the machinery. This final factor was of particular importance to choreographer / multi-media artist Colemxn Pester, who enlisted Khot to score their modernist dance performance trilogy PYLON, which explores the themes of resilience in the age of technology, surveillance, and other man-made impositions on the human body. Nordra’s second outing, the commissioned score for PYLON II, was a hard-edged martial exercise— fitting for the dystopian nature of the series’ second installment. But for PYLON III, Pester was looking for the light at the end of the tunnel and requested that Khot instill her work with hope and calm in order to serve the utopian aims of the performance.

Despite this direction, Nordra’s latest offering retains a certain tension and power present in her early work. “All of the writing techniques I intended to use remained in place, but I think the emotional resonance of this piece of music changed over the course time,” Khot reflects. “I don’t think this piece embodies utopia or the shedding of a corrupted society at all even though that’s what I set out to do... there’s a dystopian destructive sound that I can’t shake just yet.” That unwavering sense of foreboding is evident from the first note of the record, a massive square-wave pulse that ushers in “Prologue.” But the musical embodiment of hope follows close behind with sublime electronic drones that continuously push and pull the composition between major and minor keys. Digital hisses, the clatter of machinery, and the doomsday clock-tick of the hi-hat nudge the tone back into dire settings while swells of pocket trumpet and ethereal choral vocals struggle to provide solace. The duality of hope and despair was perhaps inevitable given the climate around PYLON III’s creation, with Khot dealing with a close friend’s cancer diagnosis and Pester’s performance preparations interrupted by technical setbacks and injured dancers.

It’s impossible to convey resilience without also capturing hardship, and the album’s second track “Remembering” excels at communicating a sense of calm while some vestige of danger percolates beneath the surface. Khot’s dreamy wordless-vocals sit at the forefront of the piece while stuttering percussion and groaning drones bubble up from below like buried memories. On “Monologue On The Beach,” Khot uses sporadic guitar harmonics, fractured piano melodies, and soothing digital hums in a manner that feels spontaneous, fluid, and human, effectively creating an underlying sense of peace amidst disorder. This dichotomy between chaos and calm was one of the shared themes between Pester and Khot’s work, and it manifested in a variety of ways on PYLON III. One of the most obvious examples occurs on “Searching In Fields For Elements,” where Khot filters digital noise through a MIDI note interpreter and inserts the resulting melody as a sequence of synthesized bell notes. “I wanted to create an actor that represented this industrialization so you could see if you found it endearing or not,” Khot explains. Our response to these random elements opens up a dialogue about the will of the element. “Some days I’m an anarcho-primitivist and some days I’m curious about what the exploration of machine-learning has actually taught us about our own consciousness,” she continues. The notion that technology could accelerate our journey towards enlightenment is perhaps the most utopian vision one could have in our current age.

Ultimately, the music of PYLON III provides one context as backdrop to Pester’s multi-media performance, but it has its own life and own character when absorbed on its own. In terms of emotional timbre, it’s a departure for Khot, even if the instrumentation and hardware tonalities are consistent with her self-titled debut LP and PYLON II. “I don’t think I would write the music on this record with no context,” Khot says. “It is completely fueled, adapted, and created with thematic, visual, and choreographic content in mind.” And yet even without those components, the experience of listening to PYLON III is haunting, compelling, and ultimately redemptive.

ALBUM RELEASE
Pylon III
ARTISTS
Nordra 3
LABEL
Sige Records [43]
AVAILABLE FORMATS
SIGE 071 LP LP September 04, 2020
GENRES
Electronic Industrial

Revolting Cocks' origins date to late 1984, when Front 242 started their first American tour as an opening act for their then-label mates Ministry. Afterwards, Alain Jourgensen asked Richard 23 to join forces and produce a dub-remix project. After returning to Brussels, Richard proposed this collaboration to Luc Van Acker who decided to team the band just after talking with Al over the phone.

“Big Sexy Land”, originally released through the legendary Wax Trax! Records in 1986, is the debut studio album by this supergroup featuring a mix of industrial, hard rock and EBM with dominating sampling and strong synthesized beats. It was composed mostly using a very expensive Fairlight CMI II synthesizer, sampler and work station that Al Jourgensen got funded by Sire Records. Luc Van Acker attributed album's mixing to Jourgensen's sessions with Adrian Sherwood on Ministry’s “Twitch”. Al surreptitiously took notes on Sherwood's settings, but, without any context for the numbers, they had to later guess at what the settings were for, such as reverb and delay time.

Album's title is a reference to a strip club in West Berlin. Al Jourgensen said that club neon sign was “the biggest capitalistic tease” for citizens in East Germany. The idea to use Revolting Cocks came from an incident that took place in a Chicago bar. According to Luc and Al, they all was trying out "insulting French expressions" on a waiter, ordering something they said meant “revolting cock” which led the waiter to say, “You are revolting cocks!”.

“Big Sexy Land” would be the only album made by the original incarnation as Richard 23 quit in 1986, after falling out with Jourgensen over an Adrian Sherwood's remix of the song "You Often Forget”.

Limited edition re-release on double vinyl with gatefold sleeve and expanded artwork including all original tracks plus the singles “No Devotion”, “You Often Forget” and another remix of “T.V. Mind”.

The awaited annual collection of Pushers from all over the world finally lands in this pandemic scenario.
A storytelling of 18 tracks, from ambient to electro.
NON SUMMER COMPILATION -

The release will be available from September in a limited series of 30 transparent red tapes series + digital download code.
Compiled by Asymmetrical
Mastered by Giovanni Inglese at FAUNA53

Fresh off the back of two sold out releases, UKG imprint Time Is Now returns with another slab of dancefloor weapons from London based producer Holloway.

A very special boxset that will see for the very first time, the iconic Ram Trilogy Chapters 1 to 6 (produced by Andy C, Shimon & Ant Miles) brought together in a bespoke set. It will also include a 1 off slipmatt. The seminal 6 parts released from 1998 to 2002 by RAM Trilogy (Andy C, Ant Miles & Shimon) brought together for the very first time in a limited edition boxset. In celebration of 10 years RSD & 25 Years of RAM Records

After three years of throwing parties, we’re thrilled to announce something we’ve been
dreaming of for a while now, the launch of our label and the first Awkwardly Social record
release.

Similar to our events and mix series, it is our goal to use the label as a platform for exciting, up
and coming artists from within our community and beyond. Working together with our friend,
the very talented Greek-born, Berlin-based DJ and producer Aroent therefore has been a real
pleasure and something that felt natural from the get go. We hope you enjoy this wicked set of
forward thinking club tracks as much as we do!

Early plays by Ben UFO, Bonebrokk, E-Unity, Gramrcy, Opium Hum, Natureboy Gold, Yushh
and more. Big ups to everyone supporting the record so far!
Artwork by VOJD
Mastering by Andreas Lupo Lubich

Next up on Lost City Archives we have 4 dance floor specials from the man himself Coco Bryce. Essential for any ravers crate. Don’t Sleep.