Beats Vinyl New Releases - News

Repress

In 1981, Alexei Borisov, a history student at the Moscow State University, formed his first band "Prospekt (Avenue)", drawing inspiration from kitchen table talks and new wave music coming from the West. They broke up in 1984 and a year later Borisov joined forces with Ivan Sokolovsky, an electronic music enthusiast and a connaisseur of rare synthesizers, to introduce the new and "updated" version of the band. By becoming Notchnoi Prospekt (Night Avenue), Borisov and Sokolovsky started moving towards industrial music and viscous, psychedelic synth pop.

In 1986, after a few conceptual, revolutionary albums as Notchnoi Prospekt, various solo projects and collaborations, the duo reunited in the studio to record their only instrumental album "Kurorty Kavkaza" (Resorts of the Caucasus). Built around the hypnotic meshing of afro-caribbean drum machine percussion and vintage Soviet and Italian synthesizers' vivid sonic palette, the resulting record was something that was absolutely different from Borisov and Sokolovsky's dark signature sound and wasn't well received both by the public and underground scene.

Until now, these tracks were never released and Notchnoi Prospekt never performed them live. Shortly after the recording session the duo focused on a return to their industrial roots that resulted in a number of monumental albums including "Kisloty" that became an instant underground classic.

"Kurorty Kavkaza" lay dormant and forgotten decades, and thirty three years after its recording, it gets the deserved official release.

unning Back Incantations present Yogtze!
A joint venture of Daniel Helmer - musician, producer (Mantra Mantra, Gudrun von Laxenburg)and filmmaker from Vienna and Daniel Meuzard - (Feater, Skymax, Vallay) and a headstrong trip deep into the tune-in-turn-on-drop-out-mentality of European minds outside of their natural environment. Helmer and Meuzard met around 2005 in Peru where they both participated in an ayahuasca ceremony.
After this experience they decided to travel and discover South America together for some weeks. During that journey, the idea of a musical project (Yogtze) was born.
Two years and many miles later, Helmer and Meuzard saw Alejandro Jodorowsky’s „Montana Sacra“ at a small film festival in Paris. The movie inspired them to create a musical composition that reflects its spirit and atmosphere. In order to do so, they decided to travel Morocco and record music on a small 8-track tape machine at a friend’s home studio in Essaouira. "The artistic process felt very natural. All we had to do was to open up to the cosmos and let the music flow through our bodies“, said Meuzard. Neither Meuzard nor Helmers intented to release those recordings, since the sessions were more of a personal nature and meant to create a musical experience for themselves.
A decade later, their moroccan friend, who stumbled upon the tapes while cleaning his storage, urged them to release their recordings so everyone could experience the same musical journey as they had back in 2007. "It would be a grand act of selfishness not to share this work of art with others“ he told them. Luckily for thew world, Helmer and Meuzard decided to finally edit, mix and master the rest of the material in 2018/2019 and named their project „YOGTZE“. Expect a record full of wondrous soundscapes, haunting melodies and capturing themes that would fit in many categories or definitions and none at the same time. Music from and for memories, tangerine dreams and chessboards.

Breaka presents ‘Breaka 001’, the first release on his own self-titled label.

“This record is a special project for me. Releasing myself has allowed me to collect four tracks reflecting different sides of my musical world. ‘Breaka 001’ opens with ‘Icy Grills’, a classic Breaka style track based on Breaks, 808s and euphoric melodies. ‘Stretch 130’ is a portal into the world of Stretchy Dance Supply, a workout-based club night I co-created. It’s one to limber up and get down to. The B-side starts with ‘Apricot Cocktails’, a track inspired by the classic Broken Beat sound. I made the instrumental in 2018, but the track got a new lease of life when paired with vocals written and performed by soul diva Lydia Kotsirea. The EP comes to a close with another collaboration, this time working with producer and session guitarist Bradley Hutchings (Guava). I often open my sets with this one. I think you’re going to love it.”

Four fresh cuts by the one and only Sven Weisemann, showcasing what he is doing best.
Let the music speak!

Edit Service is proud to present its 6th release, this time featuring Youkounkoun, a duo comprising of Jeff Lasson of Get A Room and Gaëtan Rossi.

After releasing on Multi Culti edits and Edits du Plaisir, the duo delivers a mini-LP with a diverse range of tempos and moods, from dancefloor-friendly cuts to weirder tracks with Gallic oddities, Dutch new wave, Spanish minimal wave and experimental Iranian music used as the source material. The unsettling post-punk, industrial and mutant kraut energy in those tracks could not be further removed from lazy run-of-the-mill disco edits. In true digger spirit, Youkounkoun picks tracks never edited before and painstakingly re-arranges them by adding a lot of additional production to completely transform these tracks for the dancefloor. The digital files for this LP will be officially released 6 months after the vinyl record is out.

A1 Qu’est-ce que je fais ici The LP opens with this plodding downtempo edit, where a cold but funky groove provides the backdrop for French lyrics about modern alienation, with a chilling result, like standing under pasty neon lights for too long.

A2 Novotel cocktail Slightly faster but still resolutely downtempo, this track features a dance-inducing rhythmic section with spot-on sequencing, understated but unsettling melodic elements and last but not least a range of vocal elements that give the tune an embodied but wholly dehumanized feel.

A3 Musique du texte More than just an edit, in this track the duo blends the French and Japanese spoken words and oriental-leaning melodies from a largely beatless track with a totally new and different rhythmic section featuring a funky post-punk bass guitar and a four to the floor groove. The result is dizzying and irresistible.

B1 Mouvement perpetuel On this particularly mutant cut, bass guitar licks, tight drum programming and dreamy 70’s synths are used with dramatic effect by the duo to highlight the weirdness of French spoken word about perpetual movement: nothing is lost and everything is transformed.

B2 Metallic waves With a much more synthetic feel than the rest of the record’s hybrid offerings, this tune immediately stands out with its heavy and compelling groove, where eerie voices and a flurry of uncanny sounds create a strange and disorienting effect to which the most appropriate response seems to start dancing.

B3 Je veux pas danser In this dissonant and neurotic track, it is highly likely that a relentless synth bassline, an uptempo groove, morbid sound effects will set bodies in motion, even when unsettling Flemmish vocals about not wanting to dance try to convince listeners otherwise.

B4 In my castle In this hallucinated edit where sounds reminiscent of oldschool Chicago house and dub music are used for completely different purposes. Dance-inducing and hypnotic, it plays on the repetition of melodic and rhythmic elements. Delightfully off-kilter, it closes the LP in style.

The next strike on Zement will be by Alonzo who released on Kraftjerkz and W.T. Records. No discription needed. Six 808 bass music tracks straight from the bottom.

Made using field recordings captured by Archiver on a trip to Japan in 2015, i&i Musik 002 is a two track Jungle release with layered breaks, 808 basslines & chopped up samples. “Jinja” meaning shrine in Japanese, uses recordings taken in & around the sacred Koyasan temple complex in Japan. A deep 808 sub bass backbone & classic breaks have been added to complete the picture on this unique amen roller. On the flip side, “Echo Park” combines snippets from a walk around Shinjuku Gyoen park in Tokyo, with it’s echoed announcements & footstep sounds, together with recordings taken from some of Wakayama’s temples & shrines. Layered classic breaks & an 808 bassline complete this distinctive track. Written & produced by Archiver & mastered by Loz at Fat As Funk. Individually lathe cut by Archiver & released as a limited edition run of 55 hand stamped & hand numbered 10” dubplates. An exclusively vinyl only affair, with no digital release.

4x12"

A massive influence on Prurient and Hospital Productions, Incapacitants’ seminal Japanese noise onslaught ‘Stupid Is Stupid’ reissued on vinyl for the first time since the 1993 double-cassette releaseSpawned by Osaka-based bank clerk Toshiji Mikawa as a solo offshoot from pioneering improv/noise unit Hijokaidan, Incapacitants initially revolved Mikawa and his self-titled feedback
instrument for three albums during the ‘80s, before he was joined by civil servant Fumio Kosakai (C.C.C.C.) circa 1991, and the pair have wreaked havoc ever since. ‘Stupid Is Stupid’ features some of their earliest and fiercest “pure noise” recordings from 1991 and was issued by legendary french noise label Sounds For Consciousness Rape (Anne Gillis, Con-Dom, Smell & Quim), and became a
cult staple of J-noise, hailed by everyone from Russell Haswell to Prurient, who now picks it up for this lovingly pieced-together vinyl edition, painstakingly restored by Kris Lapke (Alberich), and encased in sleeve art that mimics the original tape’s wire-mesh enclosure.
Selt-mantled as the “King of Noise”, Mikawa lives up to his lofty standards alongside Kokosai to the fullest across the 2 hour breadth of ‘Stupid Is Stupid’. Working hard within their style of “pure noise”, and with no concession to boring old musicality, the results are utterly febrile and seething with apocalyptic, spirit-wrenching drama; gushing torrents of high frequency squall that absorbs and spits out all that’s ferocious and effective from their influences such as Whitehouse, The New Blockaders, Borbetomagus and M.B., with a white hot sense of ecstasy that simply does not let up.
Thrilling in its sensory evisceration, the results push right up to the definition of their name, leaving listeners petrified and dealing with their own fight or flight responses to the sounds ultra violence sadism. But, as many lovers of the most effective noise might tell you, Incapacitants’ radical levels of panicked data overload are possibly, conversely meditative when you get into it.
Either way, this stuff is rarely surpassed in terms of sheer menace, and the fact that it comes from a pair of guys who wear suits to their day jobs only makes it that bit more potent and emphasises its necessary, cathartic nature.

Italo-disco inspired house music, IN MY DREAMS is the latest single from New York/Moscow duo IPF aka INTERNETPOWERLIFTINGFEDERATION. A warm, galloping bass line fuses with razor-sharp synth stabs, creamy pads and late-80’s house drums. A dual-vocal exchange explores self-delusion, obsession and a single-sided relationship between girl and the boy who lives in her head. Melancholic yet pop-y, IN MY DREAMS wouldn’t be out of place in club run by Erasure, Depeche Mode or Human League at their most soulful and dancefloor-ready. In the spirit of classic 80’s dance music traditions, the original mix gets three additional reworks: a classic Electro version, a “big room” friendly HI-NRG version and stripped down version. This is the first release from New York city based label Daddy Issues, limited pressing 150 copies only.

Vinyl premiere of Masonna’s bona fide 1990 J-noise classic; a tortuous and shrieking example of Osaka’s most feared performer at an early crest of his powers.
A combustible force of nature working at the crossroads of alternative rock, death metal, and psychedelic synth music, Masonna’s music came to blisteringly define the “harshtronic” sound of Japanese noise as it lurched into the ‘90s. Following his 1989 debut ‘Open Your C*nt’ and a sick job on Bananarama (yep, them!), ‘Shinsen na Clitoris’ was issued in 1990 as the 3rd Masonna album
and it has since been staked in the annals as unmissable entry point to his savage and forbidding catalogue.
Maso Yamazaki aka Masonna would go on found prog-noise group Flying Testicle with close affiliate Merzbow in 1992, but in the years before he established a mean reputation for bringing unhinged human behaviour to his powerful live performances, known to last only a few seconds.
We can surely feel that energy unleashed and channelled into ‘Shinsen na Clitoris’, one of his best loved and notorious slabs. Gut-wrenched shrieks trigger torrents of hurtling distortion, limpid whimpers become barrages of face-melting abrasion, and collapsing tonnes of junk metal transmute into Tetuzi Akiyama-style guitar primitivism, always keeping recipients on the edge of their seat either out of exhilaration or a genuine fear for their own safety.
This is exactly the kind of stuff that has gassed the likes of Russell Haswell and Dominick Fernow (Prurient/Vatican Shadow) for decades now, galvanizing some of their strongest work with the feral nature that Japanese Noise is so widely praised for.

Monty has made a real name for himself in the drum and bass scene, and has truly put Toulouse on the dance music map. This is his 5th solo EP on the label, and include collaborations with fellow Toulouse based Visages, who are also part of the 1985 Music family, as well as label head and long time co-conspirator Alix Perez. Monty’s signature is strong in this EP, and really showcases how truly mature and diverse Monty is, and shows why he stands out in drum & bass today.

Blue Vinyl

Autoerotochrist’s Anjilla dons his Moonbeam Terror alias for a crushing solo debut with Hospital Productions. Laying rubble to your ears, ‘Comfort Knife’ blends teasing sampled dialogue and stark atmospheres with sheets of blistering hot noise for the faithful and types who prize their tinnitus.
“a startling and confrontational document of sheer noise textures from the immortal corpse or the corpse you can’t get rid of. the unstable and disturbing currents of riverbed noise clattering across the rocks of silt cliffs bubble up before receding again down the reverse side of the waterfall.
super crushing heavy electronics - ophelia has risen from the creek and will bring shame to her admirers. be sure not to miss moonbeam terror this year at hospital fest 12/7 in nyc! mastered by r.
mason (autoerotichrist/enemy soil).”

Red Vinyl 2x12"

Torrents of harsh filth from Black Leather Jesus man Richard Ramirez, recorded in 1999 and now sequestered by Hospital Production
“’amplified tactics’ collects 4 segments of live performances from texas and mexico in 1999, rolling back to an era when live noise shows were isolated mysterious affairs or opportunities to infiltrate mundane society via bars, tea shops, art galleries, youth centers and goth clubs. richard ramirez, who is one of the first and last standing harsh noise originators from the texan deserts
and humid turf that would spawn me of the most influential and dirtiest units to ever grace the xeroxed pages of zines ranging from industrial to grindcore. having touched all the most essential noise imprints of his time (tesco organization, praxis dr. bearmann, release, membrum debile propaganda, msbr, self abuse records, mother savage, etc.) continues to define ‘fetish’ in noise.
since the application of live recordings was a cornerstone of the artist’s studio process these live sessions are as wide ranging, fluid and climactic as any proper ‘studio’ releases from the vast library of sm noise that mr. ramirez has explored on the eve of 30 years of existence. if you’re looking for a entry point to probe the inner working of ramirez’s most iconic visions of noise - ‘amplified tactics’ is essential with its saturated ripping and wild envelopes, edited from the original 2xcdr originally released in an edition of 50.”

Fresh collab from Multi Culti’s Thomas Von Party and Calypso’s Iñigo Vontier — SALSA FINGERS debut on Pigmalião’s ‘I Lost My Poncho In Istanbul’ with two downtempo chuggers. Coco Fantasma takes it's name from the forthcoming coconut and ghost pepper salsa that the Canadian-Mexican duo have cooked up. ... For real.

Mouth harp, tribal drumming, and a haunted flute hook make for a low-key floor-filler for the slow-mo house DJ's and global neo-shamanic cult builders alike.
Amor Modular takes the familiar Cumbia groove into new territory with a modular synth riff, tight Latina voices take the heat up to 11 and once again, the Salsito’s trademark flute hook brings a perfectly dosed hit of folklorica.

2x12"

A fetid Yorkshire noise classic resurfaces on Hospital Productions like something that died down your drainpipes in the ‘90s.
Smell & Quim curled out ‘Cosmic Bondage’ back in 1995 and it’s remained a firm favourite of Prurient’s domineering label since then. Helmed by Milovan Srdenovic and Jack Shit, Smell & Quim dwell in the gutter of culture and their music is suitably obsessed with themes of porn, fetishism, alcoholism, necrophilia and basically anything that gets the Daily Fail clutching their handbags.
They’re notorious for mutilating and burning a pig’s head live on stage, before being promptly ejected from the venue (run check the clips on YouTube!), and have an abject, black sense of humour that’s totally germane to UK noise and freakish noise offshoots such as Goregrind. They’re fucking off it, basically.
‘Cosmic Bondage’ is one of S&Q’s earliest and most revered outings. Newly clad in cover photo of the hirsute Barbie doll trussed with rope that came with the original tape released by Stinky Horse Fuck, the music is just awful in the best way, ranging from blitzed anal hardcore to gut wrench soreness and a final work of freeform squall starring Hakim Tubitz and Ibrahim Ibrahim on North
African lung pipes.

Chicago-based contemporary electronic musician Steve Hauschildt has composed panoramas of synthesized sound for over a decade. First within his former band, Emeralds, an American touchstone of 2000s home-recorded psychedelic noise music, and later across a steady and critically-acclaimed stream of solo releases spanning ambient techno, arpeggiated electronica and post-kosmische styles utilizing synthesizers, computers, and digital processing. In 2018, he extended a collection of rich, visceral tracks titled Dissolvi, his first release on Ghostly International and his most collaborative work to date. Just a year later, Hauschildt returns with Nonlin, an album that's freer, leaner, and looser, both structurally and conceptually; less linear compared to its predecessor, but still captivating. Developed and recorded in several studios during and around the edges of tour - Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Tbilisi, and Brussels - this material emulates an alienating encounter with a smattering of places, a replicant of culture shock, a solitary and stark experience with uncanny environments, melody and dissonance as oblique locales. Nonlin finds Hauschildt evolving his palette of tools, integrating modular and granular synthesis. The improvisatory and generative nature of modular systems, when paired with his signature grid-oriented and hand-played techniques, guides these compositions slightly out of line to hypnotic effect. Opener "Cloudloss" permeates the mix with an unsettling smog, which reappears and all but engulfs "A Planet Left Behind." On cuts like "Attractor B" and "Subtractive Skies," pockets of air rest between sequenced pulses, whose crumpling and flattening folds build into a restrained rapture of crisp frequencies and milky reverb-swallowed coruscations. The album's title track and centerpiece logs on to a foreign network, a fractured percussion signal that modulates and stutters into static amidst curious melodic sparkling in the hazy bandwidth. "Reverse Culture Music" casts an elegant and brooding stream of strings, pizzicato and churning bow from Chicago cellist Lia Kohl, against chiming minimalist synth frameworks. A surprising pattern emerges in the taciturn systems at work. Hauschildt continues to expand his already horizon-wide repertoire, here exploring the effects of corrupting coordinates; a flight subject to the collapsable abilities of time in remote spaces, a smearing of the axis to elegiac ends.

After his sold out "Fight dem Back/Nu Gun" 12" in 2017, Sun People is finally back with a banger of an EP for Through These Eyes.

In the last years he crafted his very unique and distinctive style at 160 bpm, which he now fully expresses on the "Stumble & Grow EP". Successfully he combines the powerful rhythms of Footwork with the deepness of (old school) Jungle and spices everything with a hint of Detroit.

There's a thin line between doing the same thing over and over again and having a true signature sound, Sun People is demonstrating the latter perfect with these four tracks.

We start the journey with high energy and fast kicks on "It's Yours" before Sun People takes us to the hidden depths of "Stumble & Grow". The title track truly lives up to its name, the rhythm sucks you right in and lets you dive deeper and deeper as the track progresses.

The B-side opens with "Work", a naughty, bass-driven dancefloor anthem which is powerful and vigorously but funky and soothing at the same time. The EP closes out with "All Good", where Sun People deconstructs the best parts of old school Jungle and puts them back into a modern dancefloor monster with a very intense atmosphere.

One of the most enigmatic projects we’ve encountered in recent years returns with a gripping 2nd volume of rtecordings constructed entirely out of Youtube sample - conducting disparate, glossolalic voices in a spellbinding, etheric communion for Andy Votel & Demdike Stare’s Pre-Cert Home Ents label.
Helmed again by Sam A. McLoughlin, Tongues Of Light dip back into a rhizome of spirit-channelling YouTubers which has expanded since the previous volume of ‘Channelled Messages At The End Of History’ had us rapt back in 2016. Acting as a lightening rod for the nline phenomenon of light language transmissions, Tongues of Light finds that the styles of glossolalia have “developed and diversified, as have the belief systems and rationales surrounding the practice”.
Effectively hitting square between the eyes of, say, performance artist Breadwoman and EVP expert Carl Michael Von Hausswolff, ‘The Myth of Separation and Selfhood’ doubles down on the project’s convictions, and those of the channellers, with two side-long collages that augment and accentuate their spontaneous intuitions with light processing and sensitively synthesised backdrops of haunting, new age-related pads and recordings of electro-magnetic fields that subtly mirror and emphasise the contours and cadence,
or musical qualities, of the vocals.
When abstracted away from the respective video’s relatively prosaic, everyday settings - living rooms, bedrooms, captured on a laptop/desktop camera - the results perhaps reduce the listener’s cynicism and allow the messages to come thru clearer, better
manifesting the idea that these ‘Tubers aren’t silly spuds but actually attuned to an expanded consciousness from distant galaxies, and genuine aspects of our “higher selves”, or as Sam follows, they are “ultimately emanations from the same source that produces our subjective sense of self”.

Next up for Bristol's Phuture Shock is the fifth instalment of 'EXCURSIONS' - via its vinyl-only, 'Anything goes' offshoot, Phuture Shock Excursions. Functioning in a similarly eclectic vein as previous V/A issues, 'EXCURSIONS #5' presents four genre-hopping cuts - spanning the outer realms of electro, house, techno and broken beat - courtesy of an international roster made up of both up-and-coming and established talent from across the dance music underground.

On board for this latest venture is South Korean DJ/producer DJ Bowlcut, a rising talent and prominent figure of Seoul's blossoming underground electronic scene, whose career has swiftly gathered pace over the last year. Having debuted with 2017's 'Colmena' EP on local label Honey Badger Records, he's since racked up a growing number of compilation singles via fledgling imprints including Nerang and Neo Violence. Another relative newcomer with strong promise arrives in the form of Cologne-based producer and DJ Sandilé, here making her debut outing on vinyl, following a handful of digital releases on various labels within her hometown. While signaling a third appearance on the imprint and needing little introduction is bass music veteran Nubian Mindz, offering up his first new material in almost 18 months. And last but not least is Bristol's experimental beat-smith and composer William Yates aka Memotone, here operating under his dancefloor-leaning guise Half Nelson - a side project that came about last year with a 12' on London's Breaker Breaker.

Taking the helm on side A is DJ Bowlcut with 'Aurora Borealis', an electro-inspired ode to the natural phenomena of the Nordic skies which lends the track title its name; where glacial synth hooks and spectral voice pads interplay against a backdrop of ethereal soundscapes that swirl around skittering hi-hats and muscular beats with an added lo-fi edge. Sandilé takes the reins on the A2 cut with the curiously titled 'Not Drum & Bass', a sprightly deep house roller, built around glimmering, jazzy keys and bright synth stabs, anchored by UKG-imbued four to the floor drums and the kind of deep, pulsating subs that suggests an ironic doff of the cap to the genre that the track title alludes to. On the flip things take a more experimental turn, where first up dwells the futuristic bass oddity 'Madcap Voxist' from Nubian Mindz; which straddles the borders of bruk, techno, bashment and UK funky through a roving-b-line, filtered piano stabs and crisp, syncopated snares interposed between bleepy electronics, and an onset of guttural rumblings from what might be an extraterrestrial species lurking beneath the surface. Reprising the sci-fi narrative and closing the disc is the sludgy, mid-tempo stomp of Half Nelson's 'Alien Future', where choppy hi-hats and frail 4/4 kicks chug their way through nebulous textures, before converging with a deluge of squelchy, analogue bass and an oscillating synth pattern intent on causing mass disorientation. In short, the soundtrack to a post-apocalyptic vision where aliens have invaded planet earth as we know it and wiped out all human existence

Kicking off the year in style, with a new album by someone we've greatly admired and whose music we've followed for many a year; the mighty William Burnett aka Willie Burns / Speculator and Black Deer.

We first were introduced to his music through the wonderful Grackle remix by our pals T.Keeler & Capablanca. Over time we've followed his many aliases with much enjoyment and can still recall hearing the first Black Deer music being played one afternoon in Phonica and NEEEEDING to know everything about it. There's also fond boat party memories in Stockholm soundtracked by the UTTU release. Not to mention WT Records putting out some brilliant records by now familiar faces - our favourites include Art Crime, Kartei and Tummy Tummy!

Recently, William has started a new long form interview podcast, Talk Video on The Lot Radio and Marc Maron comparison isn't far off the mark. Well worth digging into. He's also been making music for himself and we're chuffed to be releasing some of that with you now.

Artwork by Belgrade's finest, floating.bstrd

Japanese 3 piece electronic band “D.A.N.”’s world wide debut single on mule musiq’s sister label “studio mule”. D.A.N. is a probably most successful japanese band in a electronic music scene at the mo-ment, they’ve performed with james blake, the xx, bonobo and name a few in japan. “Sundance” is a first single cut from their 2nd album (it’s released in only japan). It’s a electric boogie track which some people bring “the xx” to mind.

Following 'Slow Fade for Hard Sync' (2009) and Location Momentum (2010), Living Space is Eleh's third physical release for Touch. Seven years in the making, this new release consolidates the artist's parallel narrative between a series of vinyl and CD releases for Important Records – where the emphasis is on a minimalist aesthetic – to a visual counterpoint that hints at the cinematic and painterly qualities of the music. NOW AVAILABLE ON VINYL.

After Où poser des yeux in 2009 and La paroi de ton ventre in 2013, Les Hommes-Boites are back with La copie d'un autre which will soon be released on Brussels' young and sparkling label Gnignignignigni. Composed of Carl Roosens, Emmanuel Coenen and Pascal Matthey, the band Les Hommes-Boites tells and sings funny stories of animals, look-alikes and dark rooms on happily haunting electronic, not to say pop-music. "On est toujours la copie d'un autre" ("We are always the copy of someone else").

It's been a year since the magnificent 'Dark is the Sun' first enchanted listeners back in 2011, and we're thrilled to announce the next installment of mesmerizing non-contemporary jazz by the Greg Foat Group with their new album 'Girl and Robot with Flowers'.

One of Sweden's most acclaimed bassists and Grammy award winner (producer 'Thåström - "kärlek är för dom", "beväpna dig med vingar" and "Den morronen") and collaborations with, among others, Bill Laswell (Material, Herbie Hancock, PIL, Mick Jagger), Youth (Killing Joke, The Orb, The Verve) and Mick Harris (Napalm Death, Scorn, Lull) release his solo debut with the album 'Lower Zone'.

With electric bass and various electronics, Ulf creates magical sound worlds somewhere between dark ambient and industrial.The idea for this solo project came up in 2015 when Ulf decided to challenge himself in a way he had never done before: to go up on stage, alone with electric bass, effects, loop pedals and a wall of amplifiers without knowing what to do.
A blank paper, what happens can happen based on what instinct and impulse decide together with the technology and the instrument. Improvisation with elements of ambient, dub and free form.

When Kompakt came across Amsterdam-based Harm Coolen and Merijn Schotte Albers aka WEVAL back in 2014, we were blown away when we heard their slow-burning, darkly emotive tracks.

Their debut EP 'Half Age' on Atomnation featured painfully intimate and surprisingly kinetic electronic chamber pop that convinced us they were a perfect fit in Kompakt's family. Following two widely acclaimed EPs for Kompakt and playing numerous festivals including DGTL, Reeperbahn, Iceland Airwaves and Piknic Electronik, we now see the two tackle their self-titled debut full-length WEVAL. What you have before you is not a mere collection of tracks, but a complete listening experience with organic flow, emotional heft and a narrative thread.
Smitten with WEVAL's uniquely personal and catchy approach to producing dark electronic music, it didn't take much to win us over... and so came WEVAL's acclaimed 2014 label debut EASIER EP (KOMPAKT 318), followed by the bold and beautiful 2015 offering IT'LL BE JUST FINE / GROW UP (KOMPAKT 344) which saw the two soundsmiths digging deeper into the granularities of electronic funk than ever before. However, Harm and Merijn's music - while astonishingly fully-formed even in its earliest stages - always seemed destined for more, a bigger format, more space to explore the nooks and crannies of their rapidly evolving sound cosmos. Simply put, they needed to think about an album and their beloved living room studio wasn't cutting it anymore.
An old school building became WEVAL's new home, repurposed to house small creative businesses - but in the summer of 2015, it was abandoned most of the time, with everybody out in the sun while our heroes turned the building's attic into a sweet spot to make some noise, have 24-hour access and lose track of time. And apart from a sketchy tenant being evicted, the occasional soccer game with friends and live gigs across Europe, there really was no interruption to the focussed vibe. It's not like they were looking for distraction anyway: "working on the album all by ourselves in this bloody hot attic was all we had on our mind", the artists admit. And they decided that their album shouldn't sound too clean: "We try to find the beauty in imperfection. It makes things sound more human".
Weval draw their inspirations from no single genre of music but a cumulation of music that inspires them. The results present an astonishingly coherent vision - cuts like the dramatic THE BATTLE, bass growler I DON'T NEED IT or the trippy epic MADNESS share the same DNA of zestful nostalgia, a knack for immersive sound-sculpting and that certain kink in the groove. They also feed on deeply personal experiences and moods, as exemplified by the haunting electronic ballad YOU'RE MINE, the carefully layered, polaroid-tinted JUST IN CASE or the beautifully voiced closer YEARS TO BUILD. And sometimes, it's just an old, out-of-tune piano that stands in the hallway: "Whenever I'd pass by it, I couldn't resist playing it", says Merijn, "so Harm decided to start recording and it became an integral part of YOU MADE IT (PART I)". No doubt about it: this is WEVAL's most powerful and organic material yet - which means a lot, considering the amount of skill already on display in their small, but weighty portfolio.
(de) Als sich 2014 in Amsterdam Kompakts Wege mit denen von Harm Coolen und Merijn Schotte Albers aka WEVAL kreuzten, waren wir sofort Feuer und Flamme für ihre schwelenden, emotional aufgeladenen Tracks. Ihre Debüt-EP "Half Age" auf Atomnation präsentierte intimen und überraschend kinetischen, elektronischen Kammer-Pop, der wie angegossen zu Kompakt zu passen schien. Nach zwei vielbeachteten EPs auf dem Label und einer Reihe von Festvialgigs (inklusive DGTL, Reeperbahn Festival, Iceland Airwaves und Piknic Electronik) nehmen Weval nun mit dem gleichnamigen Release ihr erstes Album in Angriff. Und legen dabei nicht einfach nur eine Ansammlung von Tracks vor, sondern kreieren eine komplette Hörerfahrung mit organischem Flow, emotionalem Gewicht und einm roten Faden.
Angetan vom einzigartig persönlichen und mitreissend düsteren Klang WEVALs brauchte es nicht viel um uns zu überzeugen... und so kam es 2014 zum gefeierten Labeldebüt EASIER EP (KOMPAKT 318), gefolgt vom kühnen und wunderschönen 2015er Release IT'LL BE JUST FINE / GROW UP (KOMPAKT 344), für das die beiden Soundtüftler tiefer denn je in die Granularitäten des elektronischen Funks abtauchten. Nichtsdestotrotz - und obwohl sie schon von Anfang an ausgereift klang - schien die Musik von Harm und Merijn auf dem 12"-Format stets bestimmt für mehr: mehr Freiraum um auch die äussersten Winkel ihres rapide expandierenden Soundkosmos zu erkunden. Sie mussten schlichtweg zum Langspielformat wechseln, und ihr heissgeliebtes Wohnzimmerstudio konnte da nicht mehr mithalten.
Ein altes Schulgebäude wurde schliesslich WEVALs neues Zuhause, umfunktioniert für kleine Kreativunternehmen - doch im heissen Sommer 2015 stand es zumeist leer, da alle draussen in der Sonne badeten, während unsere Helden im Schweisse ihres Angesichts das Kellergeschoss in ein lärmfestes Aufnahmestudio verwandelten. Mit Studiozugang rund um die Uhr liess es sich bestens die Zeit vergessen. Und abgesehen von der Räumung eines zwielichtigen Nebenmieters, dem gelegentlichen Fussballspiel mit Freunden und natürlich Live-Gigs in ganz Europa, gab es auch keine Ablenkungen vom hochkonzentrierten Kreativfluss. Ablenkungen, die das Duo ohnehin nicht suchte: "ganz allein in diesem verdammt heissen Keller am Album arbeiten war alles, was wir im Sinn hatten", geben die Künstler zu. Und sie entschieden sich, dass ihr Album nicht zu sauber klingen sollte: "Wir versuchen die Schönheit im Makel zu finden. Es lässt die Dinge einfach menschlicher wirken."
Weval beziehen ihre Inspiration nicht aus einem einzelnen musikalischen Genre, sondern eher aus einer Akkumulation von Musik, die sie inspiriert. Die Ergebnisse zeichnet eine beeindruckend kohärente Vision aus - Aufnahmen wie das dramatische THE BATTLE, der Bassknurrer I DON'T NEED IT oder die Trip-Saga MADNESS teilen diesselbe DNA aus schwungvoller Nostalgie, einer Schwäche für immersive Klangschnitzerei und einer gewissen Delle im Groove. Sie nähren sich auch aus zutiefst persönlichen Erfahrungen und Stimmungen, wie zum Beispiel bei der eindringlichen elektronischen Ballade YOU'RE MINE, dem vorsichtig geschichteten, polaroid-gefärbten JUST IN CASE oder dem wunderschön gesungenen Schlussakt YEARS TO BUILD. Und manchmal ist es nur ein altes, verstimmtes Klavier, das im Flur herumsteht: "Immer wenn ich dran vorbei lief, musste ich darauf herumklimpern", erklärt Merijn, "also wurde es ein zentraler Bestandteil von YOU MADE IT (PART I)". Kein Zweifel: dies ist WEVAL's stärkstes und organischstes Material bisher - was durchaus was bedeutet, wenn man das Talent bedenkt welches bereits in schmalen, doch gewichtigen Portfolio der Band steckt.

New Perspective EP sale item
A/B vinyl
clear vinyl

transparent purple marbled vinyl

Future Ethics’ first release is an eight-track compilation on a special USB stick with an accompanying zine. The label wanted to foster a spirit of collaboration with an unusual compilation-building structure. Artists gradually added to the compilation as it grew: each artist received the existing tracks and was asked to contribute or remix a track from the compilation. This took time, but resulted in a cohesive and beautiful compilation, rich in emotion, ranging from a vintage club rant from tati au miel; disoriented housy jams from Bergsonist, Beta Librae, and Violet; tense experimental compositions from Englesia and Odete; a 139 BPM banger from softcoresoft; to a dancefloor-melting System of a Down edit from Estoc & Bored Lord.
The zine features an interview from Discwoman’s Frankie Decaiza Hutchinson, writing on off-Facebook event organizing from Adwoa Afful, a beautiful cover from collage artist Fenna Fiction, and a guide to recognizing opioid overdoses and administering Naloxone from Liz Singh and Sara Martin in Toronto. It also features a comic from Berlin-based artist @juicycomics and a poem from Wafa Ktaech.

New Perspective EP sale item
C/D vinyl
black vinyl

English aural terrorist Never Worse debuts on Strange Therapy with the 6-track cassette Gutter. Being true to its name, the work is a series of grinding assaults in which modern industrial/noise music with rhythmic tendencies becomes a template upon which brooding soundscapes are sculptured.

Bite The Concrete welcomes us with its haunting dark vibes, before it explodes in an industrial march made of mechanical movements and ominous lines. The rhythmic mantra uses pauses in order to convey a sense of dread. The listener will find himself crushed under the obsessive track. Dead Tooth presents grinding distortions and shrilling effects, evoking a factory-in-hell wherein an obscene ritual is consumed amidst the ever-functioning machines. An eerie atmosphere pervades the number, but the grittier side of the music is not forgotten. Cannibal is a dissonant tour de force with ritualistic noisescapes among which ghostly harsh vocals moves, preying on our fears. An ancient world made of prehistoric rules collides with the industrial setting, fusing past and present in an ominous mantra.

The Title Track is a dark dimension with grim landscapes and underlined tension, an affair full of grit and epochal visions. It slowly adds the usual ritualistic elements in a well crafted structure in which a suspended tension never find its climax, losing itself instead into nothingness. Misery is a dark ambient voyage exploding with considerable disturbances and droning effects. A crawling movement guides us toward ominous moments of silence, ready to be assaulted by obsessive marches. The last track is a remix of Bite The Concrete by experimental artist Oil Thief, who reworks the track into a more experimental take on noise music, full of shrilling effects and compulsive stomping attacks. Rhythmic noise innuendos enrich the palette here used, offering a hypnotizing repetition. But it doesn’t end here: the second half sees a different course dwelling in melancholic synth-lines, before returning to harsher territories.

Andy Stott’s first release since 2016 and first EP since 2011,
‘It Should Be Us’ is a double EP of slow and raw productions for the club, recorded this year and following a series of EP’s that started
with ‘Passed Me By’ and ‘We Stay Together’ early this decade.

Recorded fast and loose over the summer, these 9 tracks (8 on the vinyl) harness a pure and bare-boned energy, melodies subsumed by drum machines and synths; slow, rugged hedonism.

It’s all about rhythmic heat and disorientation, pure dance and DJ specials rendered at an unsteady pace, from percolated house and percussive rituals to moody tripped-out burners.

There’ll be a new Andy Stott album in 2020, but in the meantime ...
this one’s for dancing..

LTD edition - Splattered Transparent - Shrinked Prinetd Sleeve - 10 Inch

A side offers a superb Crossbreed, total killer of a chaos... the flip opens with a Badman Drum Booster that turns into hardcore after 2 Minutes... More poregressive and bringing hell on the dancefloor !! Massive LTD edition, Splattered transparent, with a shrinked printed sleeve... Hi Quality sound. Superb !

Swiss bass music maestro Bit-Tuner presents a widescreen ambient album about interactions and the traces they leave behind.

Bit-Tuner's 7th album "EXO" marks a milestone in his work: the widescreen and mostly beatless opus focusses on musical storytelling and atmospheric depth. The album was written and recorded towards the end of Bit-Tuner's 2-year stay in Athens.

Influenced by topics like the social and structural turmoils of the past years, the strong connections between communities and the sensation of being in an economic deadlock, Bit-Tuner wrote an album that urges to be listened to in a (self-)reflective way.

It is a call to listeners to listen closely, delve into the sounds surrounding them in any given moment and draw a quiet but firm inspiration from within. Following his field recording-based albums "The China Syndrome" and "The Japan Syndrome", "EXO" highlights his interest in cinematic music and soundtracks.

For the album, Bit-Tuner is collaborating with film maker Joerg Hurschler, who is creating animated footage that will be screened, mixed and live scored at Bit-Tuner's shows in 2020. Joerg Hurschler's work tells the story of molecular objects being propelled into a world similar to ours, where they operate, interact and affect their surroundings, creating and leaving behind something new and strange. What is it that surrounds us, and how do we approach and interact with forces that are beyond our (apparent) reach?

This is Freebreak : an alliance between tribe datas and the break free spirit... Heard that long time ago on the Strange breaks from the Spiral tribe, anbd after ward with Kamehouse (Capsule) and after again with Cycloscotsch (Hokus pokus), or Rislo (Triphase)... This long tradition of beautiful « hard to sell records » leaded to some really nice mixes... and a sweet dance in parties.. Hopefully this record reaches his public because it's quiet courageous and deserve a true audience. Big up to all Freebreas makerz !

It’s time for your next treatment. The latest strange therapy session, led by Tomohiko Sagae, guarantees to break through your blood-brain barrier immediately after entering your ears. His Deba Bōchō EP is a brain damaging mind cracker, packed with five tremendous tracks.

DB#1 kicks off the session with pulverizing power. Beams of nerve wrecking noise crash into you. Grinding and screeching, slowly flowing up and down, this one clears your head of every last bit of clarity and sanity.
DB#2 marches onwards with mechanical mayhem. The steam-powered mechanism propels itself with distortion. Get rolled over and beaten down by a gabber’esque flurry of punching and pounding, crushing all matter it comes across.
Operant remixed DB#2 into an evenly intriguing piece. The steam makes place for electricity. Twisted vocals like ghosts stuck in the circuitry peek above the static-drenched, rhythmic layers. It keeps on kicking, surging with low-end energy.

DB#3 hits harder than the heaviest machinery. A distortion-tipped drill digs deeper and deeper, eradicating everything in its path. Metallic hammering and system shattering sounds lay bare the core of crude craftsmanship.
Stave’s remix of DB#3 works like a tension building sharp-shooter. Stripped down of excess energy, it stutters onward, grabbing you tight in bursts of beats like a Gatling gun. It’s a straight up skull shaker

Unhuman brings you balance between body and mind, with both intriguing introspective atmospheres and energetic activating sounds. This is the newest Strange Therapy session, a spiritual and physical treatment. A journey through the brain and the body.

Shadow Of The Serpent kicks off. It creeps up your spine with a gnarly crawler of a synthline. A good old break-beat boulders underneath the soul-sucking background sounds. Its sharp teeth create craters deep enough to let you bathe in their shade.
Fire Rash Peeling leaves you no time to rest and punches your body straight into EBM’s dirtiest territories. Dangerous dancefloor material, complete with industrial strength claps, perforating percussion and pads forged in feedback. Feel it from your face to your feet.
A moment of meditative mayhem follows with White Bone Spirit, a halftime wave weapon. An anxious arp drives a battering bassline forward with high velocity, boosting its impact as the sustain increases. No light is left by its dripping drums and ghoulish growls. Deep, dark, doom.

The Fallbeil Remix of Shadow Of The Serpent allows you to reflect on your beginnings through a completely morphed mirror. An evil alien energy disrupts your last peace of mind. This is how: crushed up corrosives, vague voices, an everlasting eerie ambience and an 808 loaded up with extra hate.
Autumns is responsible for the final treatment of this session with his own interpretation of White Bone Spirit. Lunatic loops and metallic mayhem make you move your body parts until you lose ’em. It’s driving, it’s terrifying, it’s wonderfully classic horror like dancing with the dead.
credits