Beats Vinyl New Releases - News

The world has found itself in a significant hurry. We have also found ourselves in the most distracted period of time in history; finding it tremendously difficult to remain in a moment of stillness, quietude, or allow time for self-reflection. Conversely, our vast universe continues its expansion into infinite development; a climate of deafening silence in a boundless four-dimensional continuum. It remains mesmerizing with a quiet allure that freely suspends in space-time; a true account of the beautiful unknown that sparks hope, reverence, and an awesome realization of impenetrable mystery.

"Stasis Sounds For Long-Distance Space Travel" is audibly rich in its delivery with an array of tranquil billows and patient tones. It is a journey and soundtrack that commences at Earth's thermosphere, gently moving towards the untraveled parts of space, lushly floating on forever.

These arrangements represent a group of celestial transmissions that are delicate in nature and intended for the listener to embrace moments of stillness, quietude and reflection, of which are on a trajectory of extinction at a place we call Earth.

Matière Mémoire presents the MMXX Series: In anticipation of the year 2020, Matière Mémoire asked 20 experimental/electronic artists to create an original 20 minutes piece and an artwork. Throughout this year, each quarter will see the release of 5 new vinyls.

Each record is limited to 500 copies and comes as a crystal clear vinyl featuring an original track of 20 minutes on one side, and a laser engraved artwork on the other. Each 12" is housed in a transparent sleeve printed with the MMXX logo, coming with a print of the artist artwork.

Participate in this series:
Franck Vigroux, John Duncan, Phill Niblock, Jim O’Rourke, Reinier Van Houdt, Stephen O’Malley, CM Von Hausswolff, Hampus Lindwall, Oren Ambarchi, Kevin Drumm, Bérangère Maximin, Kassel Jaeger, Daniel Menche, Charlemagne Palestine, Giueseppe Ielasi, Carlos Casas, Susanna Santos Silva, Joachim Nordwall, Karbé Dinel, Mauro Lanza

Architect John Körmeling worked on a system of music, that sets aside familiar Western tuning and is based instead on square roots, areas and volumes. In order to realise this music, he turned back to the harpsichord and adapted its jangling sound to an intonation that literally plays Pythagorean ratios - that's the idea behind the new instrument called Frogsichord. Körmeling then turned to the veteran rule-breaker Charlemagne Palestine, pioneer of long-form improvisations on harpsichord, harmonium and other neglected keyboard instruments. This LP documents Palestine performances on the Frogsichord made in Brussels, Rotterdam and in Cappadocia, Turkey.

The sound is strange, perhaps even estranging, but Palestine has made it his own, and created a music that is rich and detailed, not simply “exotic”. It’s no longer a question of “Western” tonality colliding with “non-European” harmonic systems. Here is music that taps into the universal language of mathematics, one that we are all programmed, however unwillingly, to understand. Meet the Frogsichord. It will change how you listen to music. It might even help you with maths.

Coletivo Vandalismo kick-start a new 12" series for the Contort Yourself label. Hailing from the city of Porto the duo also DJ under the name GAM and released their debut LP on Lake Haze's Eye For An Eye label. Their music has an immediacy that seems to stem from a background in live performance as opposed to polished studio sessions - an improvisational punk aesthetic that manages to carry this EP so strongly. Wild, crashing fx and unrecognisable vocal distortions layer atop wonky 90bpm drum machine grooves and the pair even show off what may be their turntablism skills on 'Zombie Zombie'. There's a nod to early concrete on the closing track 'Black Sun's Demise' with whirring, mechanical noise motifs suddenly jolting us into punishing gabber-at-33-minus-8 territory. The DIY spirit is alive and well here and the feeling that things could fall apart at any minute just adds to the tension.

Matière Mémoire presents the MMXX Series: In anticipation of the year 2020, Matière Mémoire asked 20 experimental/electronic artists to create an original 20 minutes piece and an artwork. Throughout this year, each quarter will see the release of 5 new vinyls.

Each record is limited to 500 copies and comes as a crystal clear vinyl featuring an original track of 20 minutes on one side, and a laser engraved artwork on the other. Each 12" is housed in a transparent sleeve printed with the MMXX logo, coming with a print of the artist artwork.

Participate in this series:
Franck Vigroux, John Duncan, Phill Niblock, Jim O’Rourke, Reinier Van Houdt, Stephen O’Malley, CM Von Hausswolff, Hampus Lindwall, Oren Ambarchi, Kevin Drumm, Bérangère Maximin, Kassel Jaeger, Daniel Menche, Charlemagne Palestine, Giueseppe Ielasi, Carlos Casas, Susanna Santos Silva, Joachim Nordwall, Karbé Dinel, Mauro Lanza

Electric Sewer Age’s »Contemplating Nothingness« is a lysergic tapestry culled from the deep end of the collective pop cultural unconscious. The project was originally started anonymously by the late Peter »Sleazy« Christopherson (of Throbbing Gristle, Psychic TV and, most notably, Coil) together with Coil affiliate and seasoned remixer Danny Hyde, who continued the project together with John Deek, who passed away in 2013. »Contemplating Nothingness« is the third release by Electric Sewer Age and the second one that Hyde finished alone. Having previously been only available on CD, it is now re-released by the Swiss Hallow Ground imprint on vinyl both as a standalone release and as a strictly limited bundle together with »Svay Pak,« Hyde’s 2011 EP under his Aural Rage moniker.

Hyde left his imprint on many of Coil’s seminal albums such as »Love’s Secret Domain«, co-produced Pop Will Eat Itself’s »Very Metal Noise Pollution« and remixed a diverse roster of artists such as Nine Inch Nails, Scorn, Chris & Cosey, Psychick Warriors Ov Gaia or Depeche Mode. With his work as Electric Sewer Age, he explores the vast open space between the dark psychedelic aesthetics that he has helped establishing together with John Balance and his long-time collaborate Christopherson with a postmodernist approach that is deeply rooted in studio practice and sampling.

On »Contemplating Nothingness,« disembodied voices mingle with subdued rhythms, muffled harmonies or menacing string themes. Over just a little bit more than half an hour, Hyde conjures up traditional and contemporary production techniques and genres like plunderphonics, Leyland Kirby’s V/VM project or early vaporwave, all while retaining his singular voice. Throbbing industrial gives way to jazz-inflected quasi-rap, autotune balladry and ethno ambient, before closing on eerily alienated synth pop sounds and a stunning exercise in psychedelic minimalism. »Contemplating Nothingness« is an album as surreal and beautiful as a half-remembered dream, constantly navigating through the liminal zone of the familiar and the great unknown.

Ellen Fullman began developing The Long String Instrument in her St. Paul, Minnesota studio in 1980 and moved to Brooklyn the following year. Inspired by composer and instrument builder Harry Partch, Fullman’s large-scale work creates droning, organ-like overtones
that are as unique in the world of sound as her vision of the
instrument itself.

Along with her 1985 debut album—appropriately titled The Long String Instrument — Fullman’s only output in the 1980's would be two self-released cassettes, In The Sea and Work For Four Players And 90 Strings, recorded in 1987 at an unfinished office tower in Austin, Texas. This double LP collection features music from both cassettes as well as a previously unreleased piece from 1988 at De Fabriek in
Den Bosch, Holland.

Ethereal and exquisitely paced, these rare recordings capture minimalism’s quiet radiance. Within a musical landscape that has seen the rise of contemporary drone practitioners like Ellen Arkbro and Kali Malone, Fullman is sure to find a legion of fans. Superior Viaduct is honored to present this long overdue archival release that marks a particularly vibrant period of Fullman’s pioneering and timeless work.

A mix of Istari tracks mixed by himself: Felix Raeithel is a Hamburg Breakcore mainstay since 1999. He's also running the Sozialistischer Plattenbau label.
The cassette marks his 20 years anniversary!

Electro and Drum, very Breakbeat in the ambiances... Cheezy and punks... Pink Punk sound rules !

A Sunken Mall is a new label from Vaagner for limited vinyl editions in special packaging.

The story of the Southerner who leaves the South will forever carry with it a certain poetic solemnity, as though the mystic doom of Faulkner, and his Yoknapatawpha County, follows them elsewhere, follows them everywhere. The cruelty of the Country’s history is embedded in their every move, their every utterance, their voice itself. One need only to sit with Rejoice!, the new album from Brooklyn-by-way-of-Nashville artist Jeremiah Carter, once, to comprehend the significance of such antiquities and their reflections both on self and world alike. The cinematic samples of stringed instruments on the opening Title Track, along with a great deal of the A-Side, paints a thousand overlapping landscapes, of plains, of prairies, of mountains. They clash at times, in prickling discord, like dragonflies disturbed in their hovering atop endless fields of cattails. But, at others, they mingle with Carter’s gorgeous, lush synthesizers, graciously oozing a fullness both enriching and wholly melancholy. These tracks are simultaneously irksome and soothing, the A-Side echoing holograms of a similarly sad theme throughout—taking its time with us, for the benefit of our own self-reflection. The incorporation of the spoken word of Roberto Bolaño’s “43. Like A Waltz,” on the track of the same name, humbly nods to timeless and scenic summers, or not summers—a beautiful forgetmenot.

Static and droning highs overtake the air on Side B, like a rainforest mist, the synths returning as sunbeams through the treetops. It becomes all the more warming and loving than its preamble. The glowing tones of “Perfectly Red Ochre,” and “Abandonment Veil,” beckon us away form the previous perils of dissonance. They hover like the haze after a much needed rainfall, as if to say, “See? this land is not doomed.” Organic instrumentation interrupts the drones on this Side—solitary acoustic guitar on “Over Your Cities,” and piano on closing track, “Silence Belongs To Us.” It’s Carter’s reminder that a human voice lay behind all this, that someone is playing these instruments, composing these epics. By its end, Rejoice! has done what historians will forever aim, yet consistently fail, to do—it captures the soul of a land. It channels Carter’s voyage from Southern States to Northern, with the conflicts of his past, and the land’s, trailing behind him like a cape. He wears these sounds, and he wears them beautifully.

Deluxe Hi-Fidelity vinyl picture disc. All music & art by Macintosh Plus aka Vektroid. Limited edition including digital download.

Where have the alienated masses gone after vaporwave? Producer Ramona Andra Xavier, aka Vektroid, Macintosh Plus, Laserdisc Visions, New Dreams Ltd., and a few others, is a good resource, being a reliable throughline from the genre’s peak to our current moment. Since her most recent studio album Floral Shoppe in 2011, Xavier has traveled further and further away from slowed-down R&B samples, challenging and complicating her own production style. But “Sick & Panic (First Mix)” is her first return to the Macintosh Plus name since 2011, and it sounds almost entirely unlike the curious complacency of Floral Shoppe. This new twelve-minute track breaks apart a few key components of vaporwave, but more readily takes influences from glitch music and the freeform design of a DJ set. But by calling this a Macintosh Plus record, we’re forced to see it with a strangely human face. Between the hundreds of interrupted thoughts and microscopic silences, something organic is growing.

This is the sort of music nobody is really built for, but that one learns out of idle curiosity. While we may not be androids for a few more years, this compact, biting music speaks to some metaphysical data analysis we’re hardwired to be fascinated by. In a twelve-minute span, it has more than exhausted every notion and idea. It’s a tactical deployment of thoughts too scattered to fit into their own slots. Which is where it wraps around again to vaporwave, because nothing ever changes.

A Marco Dalpane's unreleased recording (mainly known for the cult album “Scorie” released with Tiziano Popoli) produced in 1991 for Radio Rai as an accompaniment to the reading of Italo Calvino “Le città invisibili” ("Invisible Cities”).

First thing you notice is how Marco Dalpane personal soundtrack for “Le città invisibili” could be seen as a link towards the combinatorial approach adopted by Italo Calvino in the book, where he used the language as a semiotic system and the literature as a mechanism of possibilities, with the reader becoming active part in the process. You can see Dalpane detaching from a linear handling of the compositional resources, working instead with computer algorithms and emerging with a sound-sphinx that multiplies the listening interpretations, a sound that is characterized in form and timbre but at the same time is full of suggestions and summoning elements that the listener has to relate. In this it’s evident a constant in the Dalpane’s music, its sensitive side, away from every technical or conceptual precondition. In the five tracks created for this soundtrack, that finally are collected in this album, as in his other works, Marco is always capable to decode aesthetics coordinates of the cultural or temporary universe of reference, but mainly he is the vehicle of an artistic vision that is plausible incarnation of the essence of things, the very spirit of being a musician.

- Christian Zingales

Lose yourself in the circuitry of the original 1965 Buchla 100 with NYZ (Dave Burraston) as he utilizes Barbara Hero's Lambdoma tuning theories to create two slow, deeply layered, subconscious, organic and meditative compositions.

David Burraston is an award winning artist/scientist working in the areas of technology and electronic music, operating Noyzelab as an independant art/science music studio since 1981. His experimental arts practice encompasses field recording, landscape-scale sound art, chaos/complexity, practice-based research, sound synthesis and electronic music. He performs, lectures, conducts workshops and creates art installations in Regional NSW and around the world. David also designs and builds sound synthesizers based on his theories of chaos/complexity science. He was recently interviewed by Bandcamp Daily and The Wire Magazine.

David has worked with many diverse collaborators such as Aphex Twin, Chris Watson, Doug Quin, Russell Haswell, Robin Fox, Oren Ambarchi, Sarah Last, Cat Hope, Garry Bradbury, William Barton, Alan Lamb, MIT Media Lab and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. In 2014 he independently published the legendary "SYROBONKERS!", the most technical and in-depth interview ever given by Aphex Twin.

Recorded at Center for Contemporary Music, Mills College, Oakland, CA, USA on 5th April 2015
Mixed and arranged at Noyzelab, NSW, Australia between July 2015 & Febuary 2016
Sound Source: Noyzelab 4 Voice Digital Microtonal Oscillator
Processing: Buchla 100 Modular Synthesizer

NYZ's split 12" with ELEH will be released at the same time as Millz Medz and both records are available in a first pressing of 500 copies.

Matière Mémoire presents the MMXX Series: In anticipation of the year 2020, Matière Mémoire asked 20 experimental/electronic artists to create an original 20 minutes piece and an artwork. Throughout this year, each quarter will see the release of 5 new vinyls.

Each record is limited to 500 copies and comes as a crystal clear vinyl featuring an original track of 20 minutes on one side, and a laser engraved artwork on the other. Each 12" is housed in a transparent sleeve printed with the MMXX logo, coming with a print of the artist artwork.

Participate in this series:
Franck Vigroux, John Duncan, Phill Niblock, Jim O’Rourke, Reinier Van Houdt, Stephen O’Malley, CM Von Hausswolff, Hampus Lindwall, Oren Ambarchi, Kevin Drumm, Bérangère Maximin, Kassel Jaeger, Daniel Menche, Charlemagne Palestine, Giueseppe Ielasi, Carlos Casas, Susanna Santos Silva, Joachim Nordwall, Karbé Dinel, Mauro Lanza

How does one describe such a supremely crafted tapestry of sound and composition when there is such a rich canvas of details to appreciate it? As a homage to ancient music, Musci, Venosta and Mariani blend a powerful undercurrent of otherwordly intrigue and mysticism throughout their structures, resulting in an emotionally engaging experience unlike any other CD recording I’ve encountered. Most of the real-time playing is placed alongside and distinctly from the computer world, creating both a stimulating, dynamic and crossover references. There is much originality to reward both close and repeat listenings. This isn’t jazz, nor improvised; in their words, “Losing the orthodox path” is an homage to ancient music, but through an electro-acoustic approach. Our jazz and/or rock souls do the rest” - Michael King

ROBERTO MUSCI - sampler, prepared electric guitar, tapes, CD player, treatments, synthesizer, rain-stick
GIOVANNI VENOSTA - prepared piano, organ, spinet, voice, ocarina, mouth, percussion, jew’s harp, sampler, synthesizer, tubes, digital percussion, pandaa (zither from Burkina Faso)
MASSIMO MARIANI - digital treatments & FX, voix, electronics, electric guitar, detuned acoustic guitar, harmonica, mouth, tapes, digital glockenspiel, mandolin, double bass, sampler, valiha (zither from Madagascar)

Sandro Cerino - baritone, soprano & alto saxophones, contrabass clarinet
Moni Ovadia - Greek chant
Silvia Mandolini - violin
Roberto Zanisi - darbukas
Ciaccio De Rossi - violin
Cesare Picco - fake muted trumpet sound produced using mouth
Liliana Bancolini - voice / Laura Pone - voice / Amelie Gerson - voice & flute / Didier Aschour - voice

Slow Reels combines Ian Hawgood's love of reel-to-reel tape machines and vintage synthesizers with James Murray's melodicism and richly textured digital sound design. Their Morr Music debut, ‘Farewell Islands’, is an arresting, fluorescing album that blends full-frequency dronescaping with a slow-burning ambient minimalism.

Ian and James met on the UK minimal music scene releasing each others' music on their Home Normal and Slowcraft labels. Their recording collaboration began remotely while Ian lived in Warsaw, spending long nights with his collection of reel-to-reel machines: “I created a number of loops with an old and sadly dying Akai which was noisy and would stutter quite a bit. I also found myself using older tape on cracked reels and the effects of this really helped develop a newer path for my own work”. James began to weave piano, guitar and synthesizers into the material from his London studio, combining the two artists' tonalities into something so unexpectedly compelling it took them both by surprise. Ian then transferred these manipulations back onto tape, further refining and defining the sound during deep dive experimental analogue mastering sessions.

The role of old technology in Slow Reels' work lends a sense of decay and transience sure to resonate with admirers of William Basinski, Rafael Anton Irisarri and Benoît Pioulard, but the underlying melodies set a clear counterpoint: a longing for the vivid is deeply grounded within this music. The four cinematic, long-form movements of ‘Farewell Islands’ possess a delicate romanticism and emotional urgency that engages and gradually overwhelms the listener.

The islands of the title are both real and notional, as James explains: "places of meaning to both of us in our lives, found now only out of time, belonging outside the present and out of reach”. This nostalgic farewell also marks a fresh beginning, as the duo's ongoing Brighton-based studio sessions generate further reels of unearthly electronic landscapes that seem to hiss, warble and granulate their own way onto tape.

Yes sophmore release brings us a 6-track EP by label's founder Stevie Whisper including collabs with Andria, 33.10.3402, Wilson and Mystee.

Nofield music with some spoken-word-shoegaze. Belgrade all in.

The highly esteemed Irish duo Zero T & Beta 2 are back on Metalheadz with the 'Exiles EP' - a true, modern-day reproduction of the vintage Metalheadz sound that cemented the labels roots 25 years ago.

Comprising of 6 tracks on the full release, the EP can at times destroy dancefloors with the likes of 'Exiles' and 'Dead Cert', whilst the richly enchanting tones of 'Misdemeanour' and 'Altered Destiny' swiftly serenade the listener at every opportunity.

This is a true epitomisation of the definition of a complete package and one that has so far had a strong response from the duo’s peers and heroes within the scene, with a call from Dillinja to Goldie justifiably being the icing on the cake.

For Hyperdelia’s newest release "For Always" LP, Andreas Dzialocha creates an enchanting ghost music. Animated by his solo bass playing and haunted by aleatoric acoustics, the record unearthes the instrument’s low end harmonics. A spectral music that sits somewhere between the timbral finesse of Julia Reidy, Tim Hecker’s noise gestures and the spaced out reclusivess à la Arthur Russell. The vinyl is a cute transparent blue and comes in a see-through PVC cover: limited edition of 200 copies.

For Always LP is produced in collaboration with Sam Slater (Hildur Guðnadóttir, Shapednoise, Zebra Katz, Mica Levi) and with support by composer/violist Marta Forsberg (Passepartout Duo, Ellen Arkbro, Stellan Veloce) and sound artist/singer Fågelle (Henryk Lipp).

Dzialocha recorded the initial bass material residing at the Baltic Sea in Lithuania. Afterwards and in collaboration with Sam Slater, he reworked the material in Stockholm: here they reamped the original stems and turned the studio itself into a living dub creature. Dzialocha, who is also a programmer, created an algorithm to sequence and filter the bass inputs. This software in turn randomly enables loudspeakers, headphones and tape machines that were placed in corridors and staircases. As an eerie result, we hear both Dzialocha’s stripped-down bass playing, the (non)logic of the algorithm as well as the specific resonances of the room acoustics: all of these have merged into one sentient instrument.

For Always LP is populated by a myriad of these machinic, acoustic and indeed personal traces. Marta Forsberg and Klara Andersson join by providing viola (on IV) as well as guitar, voice and lyrics (For Always). The record is animated by all of these forces and in ensemble they sing a wonderfully abstracted ghost music: for always.

Andreas Dzialocha is an electric bass player, producer, composer and developer. His work consists of both digital and physical environments, spaces, festivals, software or platforms for participants and listeners. In his work the computer itself serves as an artistical, political, social or philosophical medium; it deals with computer culture, machine learning, platform politics or decentralized networks. He is founder of the Berlin based ensemble Serenus Zeitblom Oktett, member of AI UNIT, a network for machine learning based art projects, co-publisher of the self-curated magazine platform BLATT 3000 and co-founder of the intermedial score platform Y-E-S. He studied art history, musicology, media philosophy and computer science in Berlin where he also lives and works.

Reissue of the fantastic debut LP from France's pioneer avant-electronic unit ART & TECHNIQUE. Originally released in 1981 by Hi-Tech records. Haunting obscure minimal electronic sounds, ambient and atmospheric ventures, abstract minimal wave with some ethnic elements. And excellent use of rhythm boxes, sound generators and strange vocals, reminds of 23 Skidoo's “7 songs”, early Muslimgauze, O Yuki Conjugate´s sound and the atmospheres of Jon Gibson or Jon Hasell.

Re-mastered by former member Bernard Filipetti. Limited edition of 300 copies.

Asa Tone is Jakarta-born Melati Malay and New York based Tristan Arp and Kaazi. In January 2018 the trio travelled to Indonesia during Melati’s annual return home, set up a temporary studio in a house nestled in the jungle’s canopy and recorded a series of improvisational pieces together, later edited for brevity. The music incorporates both digital and analogue processing and largely draws upon the group’s collective voice, a small selection of instrumentation and their immediate environment. For fans of Mensch, Golden Teacher, New York duo Georgia.

Second volume of 'The Encyclopedia of Civilizations', a collection of split LP's where selected artists offer their own insight into fascinating ancient cultures.

In this volume the music is inspired by Atlantis, a legendary civilization surrounded by mystery. The LP is presented in a special limited edition (500 copies) with an extensive booklet that tries to shed some light on the myth of Atlantis and will help you to immerse yourself in this fascinating civilization while you listen to the music. The sleeve is printed in the old way, letterpressed with metal movable type as Gutenberg used to do it, as all of the Abstrakce editions.

DSR lines is the project of Belgian electronic artist David Edren. He's been releasing his music for almost two decades on labels such as Ultra Eczema, JJ Funhouse or Black Sweat. His Atlantis tracks are one of his best works (if not the best) so far, developing an exquisite use of modular synths. David presents a mature work, the result of an intense experimentation with synths such as Buchla 200 or Serge Synthesizer Systems. His arpeggios and oscillations sound like music that would be played in an Atlantean temple worshiping an ancient god (probably Poseidon or Minos) if this wise civilization had reached our days. Organic minimal electronics developing a very personal sound, a spiritual approach that could be a modern continuation of the investigations started by JD Emmanuel, Ariel Kalma or Michael Hoenig.

Bitchin bajas is the project by Cooper Crain (also from the band Cave), Dan Quinlivan and Rob Frye. They have released material on labels such as Permanent records, Drag City, Hands in the Dark and Important records. They present an astonishing 20-minute-track inspired by the diaspora of the Atlantean people after the great cataclysm that sank their island at the bottom of the ocean and plunged its splendor into darkness forever. Warm, instrumental, psychedelic and melodic music that drinks from the electronic minimalism of the 60s and 70s (Terry Riley, La Monte Young..) blended with the spatial feeling of the kosmische maestros (Klaus Schulze,Harald Grosskopf, etc.). Deep electronics, hypnotic pulses and enigmatic melodies introducing acoustic instruments such as flutes or xylophones that will make you float in space while thinking about our Atlantean ancestors.

Rick Lenoir and Larry Thompson aka Black Traxx dropped several volumes of their own brand of chopped up Disco sampling, deeper side of House. From 1991 through to 1994 the Black Traxx EP's were showing up in record stores, obviously giving respectful nods to other Chicago DJ's and producers the tracks included on the EP's contained a DIY spirit and rawness that were key ingredients. Lenoir, with the technical assistance of Gary 'Jackmaster' Wallace has revisited these classic releases for 2017 and the pair have turned in some special, exclusive extended versions of some of the highlights from the series.

Kicking off the first Black Traxx sampler is 'Climaxx', a stripped back, slow burning acid cut with more than a similarity to 'French Kiss' complete with ultra slowed down section in the middle. Far from a copycat, 'Climaxx' is it's own beast, a truly atmospheric track that tweaks in all the right places! 'Doctor's Housecall' is up next, a cut-up of Disco burner 'Doctor Love', a Chicago staple for sure. This is a brand new extended version of this jam, serious heat on this one, you all know the sample by now! Undoubtedly a nod to the legendary Ron Hardy and his mythical Muzic Box club, this one hits the spot.

On side-B we get a new version of 'Your Mind Is So Crazy' lifted off Volume III, this one's a pumping, breakbeat laced party starter. Vocal samples, synths and swinging drums all collide to form a real peak-time monster of a track, pure 90's style runnings! 'Retrospace' is the last track on sampler 1, it's a melding of Chicago House, breakbeat and bleeps. If you dig the sounds that emanated from Sheffield way back when, or the you're into the early hardcore sound pre-Jungle then this is the cut for you. Fast paced and funky, 'Retrospace' is a real hidden gem of a track, featured here in it's original form lifted from volume II.

This reissue has been realised with the full involvement of Rick Lenoir and Gary Wallace and is 100% legit! All exclusive extended edits have been made by Rick and Gary specifically for this release. Don't snooze, this one deserves a spot in any self respecting House heads record bag or DJ set, classic material made available again for 2017 - You can't stop it!

Beside Myself is the second full-length release from Canadian sound artist crys cole. Known to many through her extensive collaborative practice with artists such as Oren Ambarchi, Leif Elggren and James Rushford, in her solo work cole uses contact microphones, voice, simple electronics and field recordings to create sonic environments that linger uneasily at the threshold of perception. Demonstrating how cole’s work has developed and deepened since the relative austerity of her first solo LP Sand/Layna (2015, Black Truffle), Beside Myself offers two lushly immersive side-long pieces that explore ideas of compositional drift.

'The Nonsuch' is inspired by the aural hallucinations experienced in the hypnagogic state during the onset of sleep. Opening with scratching contact mic textures and unintelligible vocal murmurs, the piece threads together live and studio performances with field recordings of urban environments to create a texture that is at once seemingly consistent and marked by constant transitions. Individual elements rise up from the background thrum only to disappear just as we become conscious of them; heterogenous sounds and spaces succeed one another with the unassailable logic of dreams.

'In Praise of Blandness (Chapter IX)' also focusses on drift and transition, but in a much more single-minded way. Over a rich, slowly-evolving organ drone, cole reads a passage from the French sinologist François Julien’s book In Praise of Blandness exploring the concept of ‘blandness’ in the Taoist aesthetics of sound. Beginning crisp and clear, cole’s voice becomes gradually less distinct over the course of the piece, the spoken words blurred by resonant frequencies à la Lucier’s I Am Sitting in a Room until we are left with only the rhythm of incomprehensible speech. The text that cole reads acts a perfect description of her aesthetic project: ‘We hear it still, but just barely, and as it diminishes it makes all the more audible that soundless beyond into which it is about to extinguish itself. We are listening then, to its extinction, to its return to that great undifferentiated matrix’.

- Francis Plagne (November, 2019)

Repress

It's team time again as we issue yet another huge collaborative effort from some of the scenes most accomplished producers and biggest names. DIS070 draws together the collective powerhouse force of DLR, Hydro, Villem, Fields, Mako and Linden over two tracks to provide an outing of gigantic proportion, individually each producer within their own right is more than capable of delivering the goods in solo work mode, so imagine the results you would get from locking them all up in a dark studio room together for hours on end to channel their combined genius! Well the result of that scenario is right here and is everything and more you may expect it to be. 'The Formula' sees DLR, Hydro, Villem & Mako in combination for an effort that is nothing short of sublime, each bringing their own finely tuned skillset to the table in perfect compliment to each others skills whilst at the same time adding their own perfect measure of individual ingredients to produce a near perfect recipe. This one has already had the Friction seal of approval and thus has been aired twice to date on his weekly BBC Radio 1 show. The flip sees Villem, Linden, Fields & Mako jump in together for 'Saturate' This time the result is a massive heavyweight roller underpinned with a frightening amount of low-end grunt. The perfect compliment to the A-Side and a devastating track for any dance floor regular.

Avantgarde electronic ambient walking through the paths of Brian Eno, Harold Budd or Roedelius. A conceptual and contemporary approach to Early music, exploring its ambiences, timbres and feelings. Delicate experimentation with sound textures where different tones of white noise can meet the strings from a viola da gamba. A cinematic work, very touching and emotional. Almost mystic, spiritual ambient.

Presented in a very careful edition, the record comes packed in a folder printed in letterpress with wood and lead types. Six letterpress cards -one per track- are also included contextualizing the artists' references used as an inspiration for their compositions.

"These three pieces spring from a love of Early Music, specifically the works of Sainte-Colombe, Marin Marais and John Dowland. Each of these composers — their lives spanning a period of great musical innovation and change from 1563 to 1728 -- is represented by a track included here. While there are no direct quotations present from any of their pieces there is a now familiar reliance on timbre and even on drone, elements that flourished in the often slowly-paced and harmonically narrow style of Early Music. Those stylistic elements have been taken up today, deliberately or not, by Ambient, Dark Ambient, Post-Ambient, and Slow Music artists. In atmosphere Early Music often evokes a melancholic — even elegiac — sensibility appropriate to the present time." — K. Leimer

"These three tracks were inspired by the shadows, streams of sunlight, muted colors and peaceful interior ambience of Spanish cathedrals. Calm and mystery combined." — Marc Barreca

K. Leimer and Marc Barreca are two american synth/multi-instrumental musicians that have been active since late 70's. They have some previous collaborations released in Leimer's imprint Palace Of Music. His large and wonderful work have been reissued by labels like Vinyl on Demand, Rvng Intl and Freedom To spend.

Luz Azul is a group started by LA-based vocal and performance artist Anna Homler (aka Breadwoman) together with musicians Marcos Fernandes and Robert Montoya in 2007. On this record they compose their own mesmerising cosmic universe where the hypnotic speaking in tongue voice of Anna Homler blends mesmerising together with the sound of her found toys intensified by the shamanistic percussion of Marcos and the pulsating electronics of Montoya.

As fellow percussionists and sound artists, Marcos Fernandes and Robert Montoya's collaborations began in 1983 and ran the gamut from ambient to noise, rock to electronica to improvisation. Both were founding members of Trummerflora, a collective of creative musicians based in San Diego from 1999 to 2009.

All three artists were active in the improvised music scene in Southern California and met at Spring Reverb 2006, an annual festival of experimental music curated by the Trummerflra Collective. At the time, Fernandes was experimenting with processed percussion as well as phonography and samples while Montoyawas exploring improvisational possibilities on the computer.

Fernandes and Homler expressed their mutual interest in collaborating but it was not until the fall of 2007 that they performed a series of concerts together. Pleased with the results, they performed together again in the spring of 2008 with the addition of Montoya. There was chemistry and the trio promptly decided to enter the studio to capture their collective magic. The session yielded the music found on Luz Azul.

Anna Homler - voice, pocket theremin, sample sticks, whistles, assorted dry and squeaky objects, greeting cards, wood devil, tiny metals and motors and potato slicer
Marcos Fernandes - percussion & electronics
Robert Montoya - electronics

Third volume of the series MATERIAL ELÉCTRICO this time released on vinyl. Compilation of international mutant electronic underground.

A tour around experimental electronics covering abstract rythms (Santiago, Black Zone Myth Chant), industrial new ebm beat (Celldöd, Klack, Violet Poison, Bässt), minimal wave (Circa Tapes, Sam de la Rosa) and the great collaboration between Sam De La Rosa & Kyle Dixon (Survive, Stranger things soundtrack)

Limited edition of 260 copies. Mastered at Sountes Studio. Artwork by Joni Kosmos and typogragpy by Israel Pinilla.

“Creating collages of avant-garde ambience using instruments from the many corners of the earth, along with tape loops and samples, Finis Africae created a fourth world sound that was both exotic and mysterious.” – Andy Thomas

First vinyl edition ever of this lost experimental Spanish essential album. A delicate work that absorbs specific aspects of different music – minimalism, tribal sounds, new age, ambient, spoken word – to create its particular universe.

With an absolutely contemplative recording climate, the poems and their sound environments explore the deepest self of the poet and singer from Extremadura, Pablo Guerrero. The work combines memories of childhood through the valleys of his native village, Esparragosa de Lares, with the evolution of life to reach the contemplative state in adulthood. A score written in a collaboration with two old friends, Juan A. Arteche Gual andJuan C. Fdez Puerta (Finis Africae), who weave a beautiful tapestry of electronic sounds so that the deep and serious voice of the poet shells all the images that his ode encloses.

The recording, through fourteen poems, breathes an aroma of maturity, balance and total freedom. Maturity and balance with minimal arrangements, small gestures surrounded by abundant silences. Total freedom with instruments of the most varied, without restrictions or complexes: samplers, synthesizers and field recordings mixed with rattles, self-arches of the Appalachian Mountains, zithers, saxes made with reeds, conches, shortwave radios, plastic pipes, Hindu harmoniums … beauty can arise from any element and all these minimal arrangements come together to create the perfect ambience that sublimates the poem.

Completed in the spring of 1996, the recording was moving in no man’s land until the end of 1999 saw the light in book format of poems, accompanied by a CD. A co-edition of Música sin-Fin ( Juan A. Arteche own label) and Cicón ediciones (a small Extremaduran editorial) that, when released in book format, went unnoticed. Abstrakce records aims to recover this masterpiece of experimental Spanish music, contributing its bit to place the album where it deserves. Therefore, a very careful edition is presented, with a folder printed in letterpress with lead types, accompanied by an extensive booklet in both English and Spanish containing liner notes, lyrics, an interview with Juan F. Puerta and a text by Juan A. Arteche about of the recording of the record.

Pablo Guerrero: Recitation, gong, seeds, guitar, choirs, synthesizer and wind claimer.

Juan Alberto Arteche Gual: Marine Saxos, corrugated pvc pipes, jellyfish keys, carillon, tambourines, tar drums, zithers, tanpura, recited, choirs, accordion, tapes, computer composition, shortwave radio, legüero drum, hindu harmonium, Tibetan bells and sharpener pan flutes .

Juan Carlos Fdez. Puerta: Samplers, cowbells, autoharp, bells, guitar and keyboards.

Remastered at Sountess Studio in 2018 by Pablo Peiró

About the authors:

José Pablo Guerrero Cabanillas was born in Esparragosa de Lares in 1946. During the 60s he was a well-known singer who already used a poetic and sober style in his lyrics but also involved in political protest. Initially influenced by American folk, over the years he became more interested in African rhythms and other cultures, as well as more avant-garde sounds such as minimalism, ambient and experimental electronic music. He collaborated with musicians and basic groups of Spanish experimentation such as Juan Alberto Arteche, Luis Delgado (Mecánica Popular), Orquesta de las nubes, Suso Saiz… of all these collaborations in experimental key perhaps the best known is “Un hombre oscuro “with Suso Saiz, theme that opens the Music From Memory compilation by the Spanish guitarist edited in 2016.

Finis Africae was a Spanish band of avantgarde ambient music, formed in 1982. Captained by Juan Alberto Arteche, various musicians linked to folk, new age and experimental music as Luis Delgado, Javier Bergia, Javier Paxariño, Markus Breuss and Juan Carlos Fernández Puerta where involved. The group takes its name from Umberto Eco’s novel The Name of the Rose, in which Finis Africae is a secret area in the library of a monastery, in which books are hidden that the librarian considers dangerous for the Christian faith. It has recently been the subject of several reissues by the Japanese label EM records.

‘The Pandora Star Sessions’ were recorded live at No Bounds festival 2019 in Sheffield, during Debbie Chia’s ‘Light and Sound Bath’ installation. Festival organiser Liam O’Shea was introduced to Chia through Prequel Tapes, and things fell into place for the performances when it emerged that the ‘Pandora Star’ - a specialist lamp that Chia uses in her phototherapy project - was developed and continues to be manufactured in Sheffield.

During the ‘Light and Sound Bath’, each ‘Pandora Star’ lamp is positioned above 5 reclining audience members. For the two Prequel Tapes sessions, the ‘LSD’ setting on the lamp was activated. Strobing, undulating light combines with sound to induce an hypnagogic, psychedelic state. Geometric, kaleidoscopic shapes form and dance on the inside of the eyelid.

Prequel Tapes took two distinct compositional approaches for the sessions. Session 1 is a delicate, immersive sound world of rolling drones and barely audible whispers, as if spoken to the sleeper from outside a dream. Session 2 is by contrast more playful and dynamic. If the first describes place, then the gentle yet driving melodic synth lines in Session 2 seem to tell a story. Each invites the listener to follow their gradual evolution, whether taking a trip or listening at home.

GAFFA 04 is a limited edition tape release and digital. On the tape version the story culminates in an abstract final track ‘528 re-enter’, a stunning piece of haunting, desolate ambience.

ISAN’s Robin Saville reveals an ambient album, which merges the Electronica aesthetics of his main project with field recordings, drones and acoustic instrumentation.

A lot of things have been written about what happens to the mind when the body starts moving. Instead of reciting poems of the inevitable self-help books, let’s get straight to the point: For many, taking walks on a regular basis is both liberating and empowering. It is not necessarily so much about the exercise, but rather finding one’s own rhythm in life. Robin Saville – of ISAN fame – is such an ambler His walks inspired him to base his third solo album – his first one for Morr Music – on the out of the way places he came to see and experience while being out and about.

Clocking in at just under 40 minutes in total, "Build A Diorama" is both a subtle culmination and a poignant antipode to what Saville has achieved together with Antony Ryan as ISAN. While the aesthetics might seem similar in places, Saville opts for a decisively different pace when it comes to writing and producing. Progress is steady, and change, however, is slow – like looking at a diorama for a long period of time in the ever so slightly changing light or as a flaneur focussing on one particular spot, a found object so-to-speak, waiting for the mind to orchestrate it appropriately, giving it sense and meaning.

Built around quiet field recordings, Saville’s six compositions transform this highly personal and, therefore, difficult-to-convey experience into a comprehensible exploration of beauty. Where ISAN almost exclusively uses electronics, Saville deliberately expands this well-established palette with acoustic instruments like bass guitar, chimes and glockenspiel, aiming for an even more suitable musical manifestation of what the walker sees and feels once he fully engages in his passion. Ranging from blissfully pulsing pads allowing for complete associative freedom ("The Deepdale Halophyte Economy") to the playful minimalism of an orchestra dominated by busy bells ("Bosky"), Saville’s "Build A Diorama" is not just a valuable addition to his musical output, but an essential audio guide for those striving to explore, learn and understand.

Jungletrain resident Trainspotter debuts on Vivid’s first black label
series release. Spaced out ambient pads, noisescapes, and sparse
percussion take you far out and bring you to a place entirely new and
yet somehow familiar. This series is dedicated to individual, abstract
conceptualizations of the jungle / drum n bass landscape, exploring
freedom from formulaic beats while taking you to the fringe of
160-170+ bpm music. Fading Train EP is a truly unique take on this and excellent for bringing a sense of space to busy mixes.

Versus Volume Four welcomes three new pairs of talented producers to the Lossless camp. Finnish duo Trisector & Infader bring some tough and dirty stepping vibes with 'Who Are You'. Austrian pairing Faible & Konfusion deliver the ultra funky roller 'Innocent'. Brothers Slider and Expose drop a half time monster in the form of 'Soundsistem' and Soul Intent teams up with Nottingham best vocalist e with the cinematic 'Snow'.

Club Culture is back with its second instalment of the series. Following the overwhelming response from Volume one in 2018, we felt the need to get planning on the next journey. Each track providing a different mood to bring us 4 tracks tailored for the
dancefloor.

10x12" Boxset

Fundamental Records celebrate their 10 Years with the project they love the most, the Time Capsule aka 808 Box. This is the 6th 808 box and with the 10 new records included in this 808 Box, Fundamental Records have released a total of 56 vinyl records as part of this project, showcasing modern electro in all its varieties. This wooden box includes 10 vinyl records, 66 tracks by artists from each corner of the world, more than 5 hours of pure electro by Acidulant, Alek Stark, Aquatronics, Brice Kelly, Carl Finlow, CEM3340, Cignol, Cygnus, Das Muster, Datawave, Dibu-Z, Digitizer, DVS, NME, Faceless Mind, Foreign Sequence, Franck Kartell, Heimelektronik, Holtz Inkamera, Johan Inkinen, Kan3da, Kind Human Being, Kitbuilders, Kuldaboli, LCTR, Luke Eargoggle, MagikBitum, MetaComplex, Methylgruppe, Microlith, Moodex, Mr Velcro Fastener Mutex, N-Ter, Nebenprodukt, Noamm, Noise&Noise, Nullptr, Obergman, Planetology, Plant43, Proto, Reedale Rise, Repeat Eater, Scape One, Sound Synthesis, T-Error, The Abstract Eye, Vema-Diodes, Vertical Dimension and Viewtiful Joe. Additionally comes with pictures of the original Roland TR-808 in each cover, a high quality t-shirt and certificate of the limited edition.

Were you ever really here? Plug in to the history of feeling with four beautiful cuts of post-genre sentimentalism from YS. Traversing the landscape of urban emotion, the duo find solace in the momentary states of being in this post-internet epoch. On the A-side ‘Music Angel’ and ‘Dreams We Share’ explore the processing of healing through poignant dub and empathetic ambience. On the flip, B1 ‘Touch’ raises the tempo with a timeless slab of ghetto nostalgia straight from the early days of Databass Records. Closing things is ‘The Future’, a bold not-so-sanguine gambit around the end of modern times; truly a beast of its own. So here it is - now and always x

Official remastered limited edition of Cellophane project from 1984 produced by Alessandro Novaga, one of THE major influences on Chicago House Music with his trio of releases -Drums-, -Electronic Drums- and -Faces Drums-, all essentially EPs of tough electronic bonus beats, creating the blueprint for many early Windy City productions. He was also behind other such hugely influential cuts as Stopps -Im Hungry- and -Ali Shuffle- by Camaros Gang. Here on his Cellophane album, which came after the huge -Gimme Love- single, we get what I guess you could describe as his magnum opus. The album consists of just two long tracks (or suites perhaps?) that take the listener of on an epic psychedelic italo /space disco trip like no other. Heavy use of synths and drum machines expecially on the part 3 !

Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith is an American composer, performer and producer, originally from Orcas Island and currently based in Los Angeles. After several self-released albums, Smith was signed to independent record label Western Vinyl in 2015, who released her first official album, Euclid, in January 2015. Her latest album, T ides: Music for the Meditation and Yoga , was released in January 2019.
Smith grew up and was home-educated on Orcas Island, Northwestern Washington. She left the island to study composition and sound engineering at Berklee College of Music in Boston, before returning to the island after her graduation.
It was after returning home that Smith discovered synthesizers, when a neighbor introduced her to the Buchla 100 Synthesizer. Having originally intended to use her voice as her primary instrument, and then moving to classical guitar and piano, Smith switched to the use of synthesizer after being leant and experimenting with the Buchla 100 for a year.
Smith formed indie-folk band Ever Isles whilst still at Berklee but left the project after discovering the Buchla 100, explaining, “I got so distracted and enamored with the process of making sounds with the Buchla’s potential that I abandoned the next Ever Isles album”.
When developing her composition skills, Smith used visual aid as inspiration for her music. She has said that she is always composing to a visual in her head, explaining, “Sometimes I let the sound create the image for me and then I build off that. Or vice versa: I come up with imagery that is inspiring to me, or I see something that is inspiring, and then create sounds that I feel match it”.
Recorded in 2013, Tides is a glimpse into the early phase of what has become Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith’s signature approach to electronic music. Composed and played on a Buchla Music Easel––the modular synthesizer that gives Smith’s music its organic feel––this collection of instrumentals is at once uplifting, transportive and meditational.