Beats Vinyl New Releases - News

For their sixth release London based record label and clubnight Snap, Crackle & Pop return with another slice of the post punk and kraut influenced electro/techno sounds that are coming to define the label. The latest release comes from Niv Ast and it serves as a follow up to his appearence on this summers Relish compilation. The EP leads with an ice cold slab of post punk swagger in the form of Quebec / Makolet which gets the remix treatment from previous collaborators Khidja, the Romanian duo strip the percussion back for the dancefloor and tease out the track's darker side with more than a hint of acidic malevolence. For the B-Side Disco Monroe offers a nostalgic slice of pitched down French Electro undoubtedly influence by the Djs recent residencies in Paris. Optimo Music's Mr TC rounds off the EP with his unmistakably left field vision to give the track a dark tropical re-imagining.

The Humble Bee & Offthesky come back with a second opus after their first one on IIKKI in 2019. Including Rin Howell for the voice and Cody Yantis on sax like previously. This second album is a perfect continuity with their first collaboration, a delicate and detailed piece with a dusty out of time atmosphere.

Originally from Kentucky, since 15 years, Offthesky is the prolific musician Jason Corder who currently resides in Denver, Colorado in the United States. His catalogue shows over 70 albums which have been released by a number of labels such as Databloem, Dronarivm, Eilean Rec., Hibernate, Home Normal, Rural Colours, SEM Label, Wist Rec.

The Humble Bee is the solo project from Craig Tattersall, a former member of The Remote Viewer and Famous Boyfriend bandmate Andrew Johnson. Tattersall's music can be found these days more often under his alias The Humble Bee; as a founder member of The Boats; and in his collaborative works with the likes of Bill Seaman in The Seaman And The Tattered Sail. He has run the wonderful label Cotton Goods from 2008 to 2015 and since 2009 he has recorded 11 albums on his moniker The Humble Bee.

The long awaited third album from much loved vintage synth maestros Billy Bainbridge and Mike Johnston, finally finds its home on Ghost Box Records. This is unironically joyful and melodic electronica; informed by library music, music for children’s TV and a deep passion for the history of music technology.

Plone are very much part of Ghost Box’s DNA. They were a central part of the 90s retro-futuristic scene in Birmingham that included Broadcast and Pram and to which the label has always had strong ties through graphic designer and co-manager, Julian House. They are also cited by the label’s other boss, Jim Jupp, as a major influence on his work as Belbury Poly.

The band was formed as a three-piece in the mid-90s and their debut single, Press a Key, was championed by John Peel. The first album, For Beginner Piano, was released on Warp Records in 1999. Their warm, witty and unfunky music stood out from the crowd, almost in defiance of the moody and masculine post-rave electronica of their contemporaries.

A selection of bootlegged demos from the early 00s was rumoured to be the follow up album, but it never materialised. After that Billy went on to tour with Broadcast and later formed Seeland with another former band member Tim Felton (also of Ghost Box’s Hintermass). Meanwhile Mike formed the ZX Spectrum Orchestra, released solo singles as Mike in Mono and was a member of The Modified Toy Orchestra.

Twenty years on and Plone have reconvened as a duo with a third album, Puzzlewood. It’s compiled from material recorded at various points since the “lost album”, right up to the present day.

7"
Limited to 300 handmade copies!
We only knew Pop's (Steven) singing voice as a whistle. He whistled while he worked, and he worked all the time. But not even a whistle accompanied him on the guitar. A woodworker by day, he brought his craftsmanship home, softly picking his patient melodies. Those few tunes were played over and over again, becoming smooth and refined as a carefully finished armoire.
It wasn't until Christmas 2008 that we really heard him sing. Our mother pulled out an old cassette tape labeled Steve at Marco's, a brief recording session from 1979. The first thing we heard was the song. The only song. Blue. A thick delay over the entire mix told us he was shy even back then. But then came that voice, which, underneath the wash, wasn't shy at all.
Blue, and the stream of short instrumentals following, seemed a rare capture at the heart of our origin with music. And as we shared these recordings with friends, we soon realized it wasn't just us who found them so warm and beautiful.
A proper closet musician, Pop would never share this music on his own accord, so we've taken the liberty of doing it for him. - Heather & Peter Broderick, August 2011

For the second release on Snowflake Soundtracks we introduce the mysterious Lineal. All three tracks in his Static EP share the same hypnotic stride towards a distant universe of atmospheric soundscapes and unfolding synth patterns. A masterful composition that already sounds like a classic.

The Esoteric roller express repressed!!

The ageing process has you firmly in its ever increasing grasp if you never feel the urge to deliver the goods even harder. London-based DJ, producer and engineer Jason Cambridge aka A Sides just celebrated his 50th birthday, and it’s fair to state that he’s far from being tired to add essential musical footprints to an already impressive discography of epic proportions.

Hot off the heels of an extended SUNANDBASS tour through Australia and New Zealand earlier this year - together with Patife, Delicat and Stamina MC - A Sides now makes a glorious return to the festival’s very own label with a four-track EP that sees him in deadly form. Aptly titled “Fours EP“, this particular release isn’t only working as a showcase of A Sides’ undisputed prowess in the studio and his versatile musical nature, but as an urgent reminder why you fell in love with this music - and the annual SUNANDBASS festival on Sardinia that sees its 17th edition this year - in the first place: massive basslines, delicate melodies, skilled programming and a hi-def production form an entity with blustering impact. Add MC Fats’ unique, soothing vocal style to this list, and you know you’re in for a musical treat you simply can’t get enough of.

“Being drafted in to do this project was something special for me, as I hold my SUNANDBASS memories close to my heart. When I created this EP I wanted to use these festival experiences as forms of inspiration, which enabled me to experiment in different sub genres of drum & bass. “Arctic“ is very deep, emotional and rather special as I also feature MC Fats on vocals. “Follower“ is more of a reggae influence roller, “Need“ is liquid funk inspired by house music, and “Conscious Dub“ leans heavily on my dub/reggae influences“.

“Fours EP“ is serving up a stunning investigation of state of the art drum and bass and beyond, which comfortably sits between the angular and the alluring. Floor-filling guaranteed.

Alpha Omega returns with a serious LP of some of his previously unreleased music and we are proud to have this on the label.

Alpha Omega fans will remember his album on Reinforced Records The 9th Level, when Alpha Omega returns to the 9th level with a stunning lp that cover most genre in jungle / DnB. Alpha Omega was so ahead of his time and his music still sounds fresh today.

The album will have 8 tracks that span across the DNB genres on 2 pieces of black vinyl.

Repress!

Following his versatile Alone With Everybody EP, FD returns to The North Quarter with a stunning 16 track debut album: Better Days.

Largely written in a three month window, FDs (real name Freddie Dixon) new long player on The NQ undoubtedly brings the best of the Zurich-based/London-born producer. Better Days is an album that delivers a rare synergy of drive, harmony between subtle & raw and just sheer fun. A versatile yet coherent project drawn from a large pool of sketches, finalised in intricate detail with focused studio dedication.

Drawing influences from Dub, Jazz, Hip Hop, Soul and the Mid 90's Drum & Bass “GoldenAge”, Better Days bridges the gap between genres, as FD enlists carefully considered vocal collaborations. Manchester donny Fox shines on the dubbed out Better Man and Washington DC soul diva Cecily shows shades of Minnie Riperton on Sycamore. Meanwhile Ribs is lifted to one of the album's stand out tracks with Maverick Soul on the keys and the enigmatic Issac Rosie on the boards.

For some the better days in life are in their childhood memories: nostalgia-infused wonderings of the mind to a care-free time without today's online distractions. Although FD’s debut album 'Better Days' is inspired and informed by a period earlier in life, his best days musically are definitely in the present. To put it into the man's own words:

"I’ve been wanting to do an album for quite a while now, but the circumstance never felt right. Once I started working with The North Quarter that all changed – it feels like being part of a team all pushing in the same direction, all supporting one another, all wanting to do the best for each other. Once we’d done the first EP together, for me, it was only a question of when."

786 Recordings launch another series from a new roster addition: ISKELETOR
The 78666 is a series born with the idea of having NO RULES AT ALL. Every BPM / Track Length / Structures is admitted. What’s important? Music have to come directly from your worst nightmares.

Leif presents the third instalment of his 10" vinyl series exploring off-kilter, shimmering rhythmic and melodic abstractions

Limited edition of 300 copies of Natureboy Flako's all new 4-track EP "Besito".

Dario Rojo Guerra aka Natureboy Flako is set to release a unique musical room shaker. Picking up the energy of productions such as “Kuku” from his debut album, these four new banging tracks invite to dance and have fun while bouncing them out loud. The title track “Besito” is carrying a sincere message of love with an unmistaken production quality, also found on his previous release entitled “Theme For A Dream” which explores the boundaries of music, science and spirituality. His rather unpredictable but inspiring output will be continued with a full length album of library-like songs & soundscapes which is set to be released before summer also. But for now level up the energy and enjoy singing along to “Besito”.

“WOW I’m happy you are still making such incredible heat! I actually lost my fucking mind as well as the rest of the club.” - Gaslamp Killer

Infernal Sounds welcome back Taiko to the fold as they celebrate their 20th release on the label with a stinking 3-track EP from the Sheffield-based producer. Having previously featured on IFS009 with Darkimh on the track 'Unwarp', it's time for him to take centre stage and unleash this all-rounded release, showcasing exactly why he's one of the most sought after producers under the 140 spectrum. The 'Giant Big Man' EP delivers all of the known traits from Taiko's productions - a dynamic percussion, intricate use of vocal snips, laced with grimey undertones. The EP is pressed on 180g vinyl, and finished with a full sleeve design from returning illustrator, Emily Dayson.

Having received major support from the likes of Sicaria Sound, N-Type and Truth, amongst many other top drawer DJ's, this is a must-own piece of art to add to your collection.

Jazzy Couscous founder Alixkun comes back with a 2nd volume of "Kumo No Muko", 12 Japanese music gems from the 80s exploring Ambient & Synth-Pop atmospheres. It opens with Miwako Saito's "12 No Garnet", a soft, slow paced and dreamy piece of synth-pop. Following are Yoshio Suzuki's "Touch Of Rain" and Ayuo Takahashi's "Mizu Iro No Kagami", both flirting with Jazz, Ambient & New Age influences. Traces of YMO members can be found with Hosono produced Tomoko Yasuno's "Sur La Terra" & Flat Face's "Hibi No Awa", released on Sakamoto's related label. While going through more exotic vibes with Shi-Shonen's "Harvest (Long Size)", Alixkun doesn't forget more chill out ambiances: Toru Hatano's "Kanki" is a singular mind trip led by a guitar solo a la Pink Floyd. The project closes with Mio Fou's "Picasso No Ao", a moody track illustrated by a combination of acoustic guitar and solo piano.

Acid Waxa are thrilled to present the debut release of AYU Acid aka Sheffield laddies Christopher Rave and Tich Off Me Nut in this Crystal Maze EP of highly infectious, feel good acid bangers!

Holy shit! If it isn’t three unheard 1960s and 1970s reels from the unreal and unreleased Basil Kirchin Tape Archive. Sublime pastoral jazz, autistic children screaming, spooky vocals, experimental tape manipulation and more from the master of such thing.

HISTORY:
The three parts of this new Basil Kirchin album come from three very different tapes from his archive. All parts were unreleased until now.

“Pat’s Pigs” actually sounds to me like a Basil bird recording, slowed and treated, mixed with simple improvisation. But it could well be pigs. Pat’s pigs. This whole tape recording may have been an early experiment towards what was to become Worlds Within Worlds Parts I and II. A lot of Basil’s work was headed in that direction.

“Electronic” – first of all this is not that electronic. There are elements of the classic Kirchin drone sound here, mixed with multiple and treated recordings of the autistic children of Schurmatt, along with Esther, his wife, singing. I remember speaking to Basil many years ago about his Schurmatt recordings. Esther worked as a nurse with the children, Basil got to know many of them, and became fascinated by the extreme musical noises they would make with their voices. This recording is not necessarily for the faint hearted, but makes for extraordinary listening, based on the fact this would have been made and mixed, simply as a classic and progressive Kirchin experiment, back in the late 1960s/ early 1970s. This also has untreated elements that would eventually contribute towards Quantum, his preferred version of the W W W concept.

“The Suspended Fourth” comes across like a soundtrack, so it could well be part of what Basil called his “imaginary film music period”. It has a very distinctive and pastoral Kirchin style leitmotif that repeats along its glorious and slightly disturbed 21 minutes. It’s very well produced, possibly built up and improvised over a few days, could well have been an experiment, a pitch or just something that had to come out in the groovy studio. The tape itself states that this is The Suspended Forth with a subtitle: “The Musical Study Of A Mind, Part 1 Schizophrenia”. It therefore could even be something to do with a soundtrack he was asked to make for a mental heath conference for psychiatrists at Earls Court in the late 1960s (see States Of Mind, JBH005LP – the British jazz musical line seems like it could well be the very same). But who knows for sure? I shall continue looking in the archive for other possible parts.

Before I go, the original title for this album and the artwork come from an empty tape box in the archive, which I think sums up all sorts of things about Basil, his awesome music and the tape archive all at the same time.

More reel discoveries will follow. Thanks for listening as always.

After a little break, infiltrate is back dropping there 3rd release, a serious electro workout.

The second album to be reissued by Mannequin and Platform 23 Records of the music from Bourbonese Qualk, Hope saw the politically active musical entity expand on their mix of music, art and politics.

Staunchly independent, doing the recording and design via their Recloose Organisation label, by 1984 the group had occupied a large disused building on the Old Kent Road, becoming the base for the band's activities as well as other creative and political activism.

Recorded at the Ambulance Station, Hope is full of unceasing drum machine rhythms, electro pulses, echoing samples and lo-fi synths matched with strummed guitars and dub bass. The accompanying drones and snarled vocals go beyond any early 80's industrial tag to be something more unique, with the uncompromising, conceptual and avant flashes showing a more experimental buzz, an awkward quasi-funk noisy nuisance.

Remastered by Rude 66, this is music as much for then and today, a radical, revolutionary cultural force that acts as a positive social charge.

Break is back with new material for 2020, kicking off the year with his new single on Symmetry. Armed with a with a plethora of new material for the decade, this release is the first instalment of Break tunes and remixes set to drop this year.

Digging out some old equipment and combining this with new outboard studio toys Got A Feelin’ was created with a minimal but big sounding approach. Giant wobble bass and grinding 808’s keep this stepper moving through the sub switches and vocal stings.

Sesame Seeds pays homage to the famous jungle break heard on countless records but utilising many of the unused and unheard variations of the original breakbeat. Starting from scratch combining new edits and patterns, this subby Jungle roller has a reminiscent sound, but with a sonic twist keeping things fresh.

Carl Finlow returns with a double vinyl 8 track album, following a prolific run of singles for Lone Romantic, Electrix, Craigie Knowes and Orson. Apparatus is a forward thinking album that reflects Finlow's return to live touring with many tracks hitting harder and darker, pushing his electro sound into new directions and soundscapes. Flawless production is something we have come to expect from Mr.Finlow yet he has managed to raise his game yet again with Apparatus. The album means business from the start, kicking off with the title track, 'Apparatus', a no-nonsense assault on the system with fast tight drum programming, heavily vocoded vocals and powerful synths. The pace continues on the record with 'Bind' and 'Carbon Deposits', Structure' but there are also pure electro cuts like 'Differential' and moody grooves in 'Ampere' and 'Viroids'.
Finlow has been on a staggering run of form and Apparatus continues this remarkable purple patch with a new lease of electro energy. It's not surprising that every credible electronic master on the planet from Weatherall and Craig Richards to Dixon and Maceo Plex are all fans of his work.

The music of Chel White is celebrated in Automaton, a collection of mostly unreleased recordings from 1985 to 1991, by this innovative animator, film maker and visual artist.

Having studied music theory in grade school, White taught himself drumming and played in a new wave band until, in 1981, together with Dan Gediman, they formed the minimal wave duo Process Blue (Alternative Funk, 1985 / Dark Entries, 2018). Here their experimentation went way beyond playing drums.

His interest in industrial music, fostered in the late '70s and early '80s while working in factories as a way to put himself through college, informed his use of electronic instruments, tape manipulation, noise and unconventional percussion.

By 1985, as a now solo artist buoyed by newly affordable audio sampling technology, White tapped into his earlier teenage fascination with the art and films of both the Surrealist and Dada movements - in particular their disparate and fragmented imagery and sound - as a means to create striking new sonic palettes.

Science & Industry - a track largely influenced by Balinese monkey chanting and the consumer excess of American in the 1980's - is a clear example of "music collage". Photocopy Cha Cha, made for the short animation film Choreography for Copy Machine (Berlin International Film Festival, 1992 / Sundance Film Festival, 2001) moved his music into the realm of early multi-media.

Experimenting further, tracks like Liquid Shadows and Pensive provide minimalist moments, before the drone-like Dream #630 and Forest Song point to a future that included music video works (David Lynch/Thom Yorke).

UPFRONT HEAT
A short story soundtracked by Consulate:
Track 1 - skipping into the rave, reefer on the go, and you're just about to hit a tab...!
Track 2 - you stumble into the blue room, gun shots going off!!! locking and loading all over the place..? f*!!
Track 3 - huh? sounds like the DJ is playing a lost Photek production at half speed - oh wait...I'm tripping, good sh*t though!
Track 4 - you're out the other side, pure rave/ euphoria..."I love my m8's, now where did I leave them?!"

A short description:
4 dubbed-out cuts in deep rave mode...


DJ Support
Gerd Janson, FaltyDL, Happa, Pugilist, The Black Madonna, Ronan, Claire Morgan, Neil Barnes (Leftfield), Yushh, DJ bwin, Extrawelt, Vera, Darwin, Stacey Sexton, William Djoko, Butter Sessions, Matthew Herbert, ItaloJohnson, Animals Dancing, Danny Daze, Karima F, Object Blue, Sherelle, Amy Becker, Andy Garvey, Upsammy, Kikelomo, Nina Kraviz, Chris Farrell, Marco Zenker, Gigsta, Vladimir Ivkovic, Photonz, DJ Barely Legal, Asquith, Dogpatrol, Breaka, Jossy Mitsu, Ciel, Mad Miran, Nick Craddock, JD Twitch, Mosca, Mark Archer, Lovefingers + more to follow

Uniformity of Nature, the second release on Prague based Detach Recordings, marks an exciting collaboration between Romanian producer DYL (re:st, Alpha Cutauri, Skutta) and Germany's Senking (Raster Noton, Karaoke Kalk).

DYL pushes the bounderies of his sound beyond his 170 roots, with the powerful electronics of 'Phrases' and the electrifying team-up with Senking on 'Destroyed City Lights'. Two tracks see DYL in the more familiar peripheries of D&B. The percussive 'Words', with its curious background atmospherics, and the driving, hypnotic collaboration with DB1 on the title track 'Uniformity of Nature'. 'Launch' sees Senking slow the tempo down and delve into a more murky space, yet still highly-charged with razor-sharp sound design.

DYL closes the EP with the abstract 'Semantics', a further excursion into experimental electronics. The record comes housed in a screen-printed transparent sleeve, with a limited edition insert by Romanian artist Teodora Gavrila.

Franck Collin, a.k.a. Fleck E.S.C, brings some excellent winter-time electro to the London-based label untitled (recs) for their third u(r)blue record. The French-born, Tokyo-based producer has received praise from the likes of Jensen Interceptor, Dave Clarke, Laurent Garnier, and Helena Hauff. This record takes cues from several sci-fi soundtracks, and taps into Fleck's wider thoughts on cinema. After having studied film and worked in movie production for several years, he believes that movies need to be a kind of fairy tale usually a poisonous one. Likewise, u(r)blue003 delivers a capacious blend of texturesiat times delicate and expansive (e.g. 'Shelters', 'Skins & Scales'), at others assertive and grinding (e.g. 'KVFM, 'Roundup'). Together, this strikes a balance between deep club cuts and listening session tracks. Thanks to the mastering of Aphex Twin-collaborator Beau Thomas, these textures really stand out. Listen loud!

After successful releases on Black Orpheus and Oscillate Tracks, UK rising talent and Super
Hexagon boss, J.Wiltshire returns to MUSAR for his debut album ‘Resa’, a pure listening experience of ambient soundscapes and forward-thinking sci-fi cuts, the second release
in MUSAR's new limited Cassette Tape series, that focusing on producers edgy sides.
'Resa' finds Wiltshire sharing 11 sci-fi and futuristic ambient gems, blends melancholic
movements with rich layers of harmonics, resulting in a sequence of slowly unfurling tracks
that sounds brilliant first time around, but also reveal more intricate details once you've listened a few times.
Listening through from start to finish, where it comes on like a genuine soundtrack to a
melancholic, space film, it's an evocative musical journey that stirs the senses and toys with
your emotions.
Opener 'Barefoot Pilgrim' is a welcoming hazy warm-up atmospheric piece, together with
'Lumb' and 'In The Position' reflects on how Wiltshire maps human calm and tranquillity onto
the softer parts of the natural world, a place where everything sounds calm and peaceful, in
his own words: "I was using music composition for a creative release but mainly as a tool for
calming anxiety."
There are also intense ambient moments and post-IDM dreamscapes inside, such as - 'Dismantlers' and 'Denied', It is in turns icy, futuristic, introspective and blindingly picturesque.
'Other Fruits Resplit' is a particularly standout highlighted track of a sharp and catchy vocal
chop melody, while 'Same Thing Twice' and 'No Longer Concerning' are gorgeously melancholic.

The Hong Kong based Homesick team are back with their yearly release of quality reworks that has made the label sought after since their first release back in 2014. For the 7th opus they've worked with Indonesian artist Jonathan Kusuma (Previously on Cocktail D'Amore and I'm a Cliche) for two reworks that have been thoroughly tried on Asia's dance floors for the past two years.

Produced by Digital.

This EP produced by Noise Factory in 1993 expresses the full on depths of Junglistic Hardcore at its best and was driven by the rare groove of the sample patterns we like to call it of jungle with a groove.

These are unreleased tracks by S. McCutcheon (Syko) & R. Haigh (Omni-Trio) under the name 'Persons Unknown'. These group of artists collaborated on a number of tracks which were released on the Candidate Records label (a sublabel of Rob’s in-house label, Parliament Music). However, there were a number of unfinished, archived and VIP remixed tracks that are now scheduled for release on Blueskinbadger Records”

Rave had become hardcore – from which a strand called breakbeat house developed. This morphed into breakbeat techno, which became jungle techno. And I turned around to find myself part of a movement that was now known as drum & bass. This further splintered into (labeled by journalists) jump-up and “intelligent drum & bass,” darkcore, artcore, and so on. But the point was that it was always pushing forward; trying out new ideas, never settling on one definable style...” - Rob Haigh

Emotional Response presents the final recordings of the Saint Petersburg Disco Spin Club, a loose band alias of Kirill Sergeew aka Kito Jempere. Principally active for just a few years, these recordings were never finalised - lost as such, until now.

Growing out of Kito's productions, the 8-piece band, including friends Lipelis (Public Possession / Animals Dancing) and Sergey Lipsky (Simple Symmetry), was developed to create live transformations of his music.

The EP captures SPDSC at their peak; working with a desire to experiment via live improvisation. Can't You See Me, their version of an earlier studio release, morphs the original's melodic 4/4 in to an expansive, surround sound slo-mo Balearic funk experience for the heavens.

This is backed with a remix by Auf Togo Meets Becker & Mukai. After EPs on Leng, Aug Togo, aka Clement Cachot-Coulom and Sasha Crnobrnja (In Flagranti), previously teamed up with Jean-Gabriel Becker and Susumu Mukai (Zongamin), for an acclaimed EP on SaS Recordings. Their remix sensually creeps up, skilled musicianship creating a warm dub, as soothing bass and laid back vocals float to sunset horizons.

As finale, Simple Customers is an 11-minute whirl of lazy, psychedelic beauty. The interplay between bass, drum and guitar is water tight, letting vocals shine to some latter day anthem. A fitting epitaph, a band at ease, confident and as one, these proved to be their last output before Kirill regrouped as today's Kito Jempere Band.

Keep It Moving is a 6 track groove-oriented release that ventures between techno, beatdown, and downtempo styles. The release starts out with a pair of harder-edged techno cuts. The pensive, smoky "Martial State" leads the way, followed by "Struck Down Strike Up."

Next, the Chicago-based artist dives into slower tempos with the pleasingly dissonant "Cyborg Proposition" and the acidic, atmospheric, "They Don't Know". The record picks up in terms of mood and tempo for the house-leaning, "Rising Poem", before closing out with the catchy, head-nodding title track.

Samples are peppered throughout the release that help guide this record's narrative. Artwork by Chicago-based artists Ruby T. and Betty Heredia help capture the mood of the A-side and B-side respectively

Rarefied is back for 2020 in a big way. 3 prime cuts from one of the quickest rising duos in dubstep.

Another storming EP from the mysterious Bring Back Records.

Harking back to the 90s breakbeat/jungle era, the A-side sounds like it could easily have been made back then. With its faultless structure and memorable melancholic flute element, it's set to become another underground anthem.

B1 offers an atmospheric, rolling remix of Sweet Murda (BRINGBACK002) from Dwarde & Tim Reaper - well-known for their Globex Corp series.

B2 contrasts to excite those who value music with character and innovative moves. Full of unexpected twists and sophisticated drum patterns, this cinematic horror breakbeat/jungle track smashes boundaries and leaves heads spinning.

This is the bad bwoy approach as it should be. Get your goosebumps on!

Brooklyn-based outfit Wetware (Roxy Farman and Matt Morandi) return with the intense follow-up album to 2018’s Automatic Drawing, an electronic dirge, simply titled: Flail

Formed in 2015 and known for their odd and unpredictable live performances, Wetware’s new album captures this disorienting confusion in a series of definitive documents that encompass a concentrated, noisier sound that pushes and pulls against electronic textures and frenetic vocals, creating a palate of wild, unhinged sonic collages.

Presented across eleven new tracks in a tightly wrapped and smartly delivered album, Flail is exemplary of Wetware’s dynamics and tension. The 42 seconds of “Car Dancer,” act as a trailer for tension, setting up the episodic blast of “Kismet,” challenging the listener to find a wall to grab. Lead single "Exaggerated Bliss" pulsates before spinning unexpectedly into a chilling spoken narrative. Bitterly terse storytelling follows the staccato map of emotion, and as sparse as “Divided In Halves” is, “Rivalries Regulars” immediately answers with a dense oration that features Farman cursing “I know the reason for it” in stoic repetition, agnostic of rhythm yet in sync with mania.

We wanted to make a promo text for this release, but then this message by Alphabets Heaven came thru:

Subtitles is my love letter to salsa. A torn, scribbled, badly translated love letter to an old address that the resident left years ago. But fuck it, it's still a love letter.

Every since I heard Larry Harlow's La Cartera about 12 years ago I've been trying to find out as much as I could about salsa. So much of it runs counter to everything I know about dance music, and yet it so clearly bangs. So on and off for the last 10 years I've been buying salsa, trying to work out how many imprints of Fania there were, trying to get my head round the horn arrangements, and generally having a great time with basically no contact with anyone who was actually a part of the culture in anyway. My Spanish is pretty bad as well, so all I really know is quite a few songs are about farmers.

Subtitles is my shot at salsa. My completely uneducated stab at something that's way too complex to just guess at. Not surprisingly, it sounds nothing like salsa. What's weird is that it sounds like pretty much everything else I listen to. I think in many ways it's the most honest thing I've ever made. By completely failing at making salsa I've managed to blend together all the club music, art music and everything else I've loved. You might hear some UK funky, or whatever the 2019 version of that is called. You might hear some minimalism. You might hear some psyched out shit. You also might hear a gigantic fucking mess. Subtitles is a translation to a film done so badly you find out more about the person who translated it than the film. I was trying to tell you about the film, but maybe you'll like the subtitles.

Shout to London Afrobeat Collective for the horns Memotone for the cello Deft for the Woos. Shout out to Scratcha DVA for being Scratcha DVA.

Re-Release

Black Truffle is honoured to present the premier recordings of two recent works by legendary American experimental composer Alvin Lucier. A friend and contemporary of pioneers like Robert Ashley, David Behrman, Gordon Mumma, and Christian Wolff, Lucier has been crafting elegant explorations of the behavior of sound in physical space since the 1960s. Lucier is perhaps best known for I Am Sitting in a Room (1970), in which he repeatedly re-recorded his own speaking voice being played back into a room until the room's resonant frequencies entirely obscure the spoken text. Beginning in the early 1970s, he has written a remarkable catalogue of instrumental works that focus on phenomena produced by the interference between closely tuned pitches, such as audible beating, often using pure electronic tones produced by oscillators in combination with single instruments.

Demonstrating the restless creative drive of an artist now in his 80s, the two recent works presented here both feature the electric guitar, an instrument Lucier has just recently begun to explore. In Criss-Cross, Lucier's first composition for electric guitars, two guitarists using e-bows sweep slowly up and down a single semitone, beginning at opposite ends of the pitch range. The piece is a model of simplicity, exemplifying Lucier's desire not to 'compose' in the conventional sense, but rather to eliminate everything that 'distracts from the acoustical unfolding of the idea'. In this immaculately controlled performance of Criss-Cross by Oren Ambarchi and Stephen O'Malley, (for whom the piece was written in 2013), a seemingly simple idea creates a rich array of sonic effects - not simply beating patterns, which gradually slow down as the two tones reach unison and accelerate as they move further apart, but also the remarkable phenomenon of sound waves spinning in elliptical patterns through space between the two guitar amps.

In the comparatively lush Hanover, Lucier draws inspiration from the beautiful photograph that provides the LP with its cover, an image of the Dartmouth Jazz Band taken in 1918 featuring Lucier's father on violin. Using the instrumentation present in the photograph, Lucier creates an unearthly sound world of sliding tones from violin, alto and tenor saxophones, piano, vibraphone (bowed) and three electric guitars (which take the place of the banjos present in the photograph). Waves of slow glissandi create thick, complex beating patterns, gently punctuated by repeated single notes from the piano. The result is a piece that, like much of Lucier's instrumental music, is simultaneously both unperturbably calm and constantly in motion.
Stunning LP design by Stephen O'Malley including an inner sleeve with a portrait of Alvin Lucier by Kris Serafin.
Criss-Cross' recorded at Studios Ina GRM, Paris by Francois Bonnet and mixed by Alvin Lucier. Hanover' recorded in Zurich and mixed by Alvin Lucier.
Mastered and cut by Rashad Becker at D&M Belin.
Criss-Cross' recorded at Studios Ina GRM, Paris by Francois Bonnet and mixed by Alvin Lucier. Hanover' recorded in Zurich and mixed by Alvin Lucier.
Mastered and cut by Rashad Becker at D&M Berlin.