Beats News

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

UK’s OPIA tell the tales of ‘Florence and the Machines’ via the form of otherworldly sounds. After a recent turn out on Melliflow, Etienne kicks off proceedings on the sixth release of the label with ‘Engage all Targets’. Distinctive drums and wavering synths zoning in on your senses. Belgian producer Innershades provides ’10,000 Steps’ a hard hitting jam, leaving nothing to the imagination. Rounding off the A side is sub heavy goodness from a man on fine form, Daif. Glitchy rhythms with the machine theme of the VA heavily embedded in its sound, ‘Vade Retro’ by name. Serving up on the B side are young duo and Slowlife affiliates, Primary Perception. Ice cold broken drums, riding an elastic bass that swallows you up. ‘Maelstrom II’ is one of their cleanest cuts to this day. Robotic conversations in the closing track from Berlin based Formas, the trio deliver a curious final chapter to the story with ‘A Su’. Another discerning VA from OPIA, bringing together vital and established artists once again.

Legend has it that Brian Eno’s concept of ambient music came to him while laid up in a hospital bed after an automobile ac-cident in the 70's. A friend brought him some records, playing them too low to be properly heard, and Eno couldn’t get out of bed to adjust the volume. While the record spun softly, Eno’s idea for music you could ignore as easily as you could give it your full attention, like a sort of sonic wallpaper, was born. It’s in that spirit of quiet isolation that Ghostly International, in associ-ation with Adult Swim, shares Ghostly Swim 2, our way of giving listeners a space to get away from the manic holiday bustle.

For those keeping track at home, Ghostly is wrapping up its 15th anniversary as an Ann Arbor/Brooklyn-based indie. 2014 has seen the company soundtracking video games (Playstation’s Hohokum), collaborating with awesome companies like Warby Parker and VOID watches, and clearing 300 releases of for-ward-thinking music with records from Tycho, Com Truise, and HTRK. What better way to end this banner year than to revisit one of our favorite partnerships from the past decade and a half?

Released in 2008, Ghostly Swim was praised for its adventurous survey of exploratory dance and pop music. Our curatorial focus has shifted this time around, moving further inward (spiritually) and outward (as far as our roster goes) to reflect the electron-ic underground in all of its hazy and vibrant experimentalism. Ghostly Swim 2 is a document of textured ambient zone-outs and woozy, granular house and techno that will help you find some downtime away from The Most Wonderful Time of the Year. So sit back, lower the volume, and enjoy our selections.

And the Black Loops phenomenon continues… Fresh from a whole slew of killer releases this year on
the likes of Happiness Therapy, Neovinyl, Madhouse and Smile & Stay High, the Berlin-based Italian
return to Pets with this almighty four-piece that runs their entire groove gamut.
The long-awaited follow-up to their evergreen ‘For The Lovers’ EP in 2017, once again they not only
tick every box but tickle every inch of your music-addicted soul. Easing us in gently with a little cosmic
UKG, ‘Gwei Lo’ is a two-step teaser with all the magic we’ve come to know and love Black Loops for.
Deeper again we rifle through the styles like 12”s in a dusty crate… ‘Unity’ keeps the garage theme
but with much more of New York or New Jersey style vibe, especially in those epically thudding kicks.
‘Keep A Secret’ is just beautiful deepness with shades of Europe and the West Coast. Somewhere
between Ian Pooley and Hipp-E & Halo in a state of perpetual sunset.
Last but not least, we hit ‘Born In The 80s’. Don’t be fooled by the title, this ain’t no nostalgic
throwback; it’s another timeless slab of deep house heaven where the era is referenced beautifully in
the gentle, dreamy but insistent melody that folds and pleats so majestically over the top, it’s one of
those tunes that really does make you forget where you are and what era you’re in. The type of tunes
both Black Loops and Pets excel in…

Burial releases 2 new tracks on Nonplus, out in October!!

There are still so many treasures to be discovered out there, but once you find a gem like this you can definitely put the research on hold for a little while and give it a deep listen. Recorded at Fono Roma in 1971, Eroina is a series of haunting improvisations - each one inspired by the effects of a different drug - made of whirling electronic glitches, skronky horns, pounded piano, funky drums and weird tape experiments delivering the best drone/spaced/drugged out free jazz performed by the legendary ensemble of Ennio Morricone, Mario Bertoncini, Egisto Macchi, Battisti D'Amario, Franco Evangelisti and Walter Bianchi. A timeless masterpiece.

The original sister label to Ram Records from the old Ram HQ studio in Essex, Liftin Spirit Records now celebrates it’s 25th year with a special ‘RELOADED’ limited vinyl series of remastered classics, alongside rare and previously unreleased tracks since the beginning in1992.

DAT's from artists such as Andy C, Ant Miles, Shimon, Joint Venture, Interrogator and Red One have been located in the archives.

Also from the Ram & Liftin HQ came tracks for the Deep Seven label in 1993 and all these rare DAT masters have been located and now re-cut by Simon, the original Ram & Liftin vinyl masterer at ‘The Exchange’.
Initially, Deep Seven remasters will present on a printed white label and unreleased tracks will have a black label.

Ironik is back for our 3rd Deep Seven Series re-issue (originally Deep 2R). Ant Miles's 1993 alias on Deep Seven brings you another 2 Hardcore destroyers. 'The Calling' & 'Believe In' Remix make up yet another sought after 12" that has been re-mastered from the original DAT and pressed onto our 180g heavyweight vinyl.

Promotion across chosen internet websites and Hardcore 12” vinyl communities.

TEK 9 album that brings the creative mind of dego to wax.

This album brings a variety of sounds and experimental beatz from the man himself. The obvious stand out tracks for the floor are The Last One, OOman, Adventure Game, Winking & Knightmare. The album contains tracks from 1995 to 2019.

Be sure to grab this LP as there will be no repress on this limited run.

Here is another amazing old skool reissue from Underground Music. This time from a label setup in 1993 called “Faceless Productions”. This EP has 3 classic 90’s old skool tracks that have been recovered from the original DAT master! Sounds better than the original pressing due to the amazing work from Finyl Tweek with the mastering. With prices upwards of £100 to grab a copy of the original it was well worth a reissue to make it available at a reasonable price for all the Djs & collectors!

repress !

The fourth release is a big one for Holding Hands as they branch out into brand new territory with their first new signing on the label. Breaka usually runs in very different circles, producing footwork, juke and DnB from his home in Leeds. These are the first tunes of his at a slower tempo to be released but you can certainly hear those in6luences loud and clear in these certified UK 125-130bpm bangers.

Rory's Theme has the tension of an early Metalheadz release but when it drops it makes the hair stand on the back of your neck. The synths fly high with exultation whilst the 808 sub kicks and rolls up and down your body. The track has the truly rare combined qualities of a pure elation mixed with enough stank face to get your gun fingers punching through the heavy air of a pounding club. Basically, it's a certified peak time weapon.

As has become customary for Holding Hands, Puffer Jackets sits bang in the middle of several difference genres and influences. The sound of 2009-2012 UK bass mixed with the grime and 2-step of 2018. This one will turn a club upside down and inside out. You better hope you aren't standing too close to the subs when it kicks in...

For the B2 Holding Hands head honcho Desert Sound Colony steps in for remix duties of Puffer Jackets. Slightly slowed and dubbed out, this one rounds out the EP perfectly with a deeper take on the Breaka sound. Perfect for the beginning of a night or for a hypnotic section of a set late on, this one is built to captivate you and take you drifting away...

All three tracks are produced and sculpted for the club. They want big sound systems and dark rooms. Close your eyes, hold hands and experience transcendental space flight...

Philippe Cam is the Thomas Pynchon of the electronic music world. Little is known about him and only a couple of pictures have been put online since he emerged on this planet to write his first and only album18 years ago. We know he worked as a sailor and that’s it. If you dig deeper you might find out that he worked as a DJ in the beginning of the 90ies in Brussels and began to study electronic music there and also began to write music for theaters and ballets.

The American distributor Forced Exposure once wrote that about him: „Philipe Cam is a star in his own field. He is among the few people who have succeeded to write hypnotic dance music without a conventional beat still conveying a thrilling, dramatic feel. Cam has developed an accurate, intense and complex formula of modulation-techno. Starting with music similar to Pan Sonic in 1996, his music turned towards a more elegant form of minimal music. Abstract soundtracks lead to an organic form of music, which was equally influenced by modern techno as Wolfgang Voigt's Studio 1/Gas or Basic Channel/Maurizio. Cam's music corresponds heavily to the Cologne scene, where his music is appreciated and played throughout the clubs by the likes of Michael Mayer, Tobias Thomas and various other DJs as well as experimental djs from the A-musik corner.“

So what’s new with his music? Basically the art of filtering is still his passion. Maybe he can be less associated with techno and the themes of his new tracks emerge in a more distinctive pattern? Well that’s hard to say, we would comment the energy of his early techno days in Brussels have returned here in a fierce way with some oft he tracks. The rhythmic movements are classy and stick with you. Whereas other tracks look for a distinctive relaxation of some kind.

We are releasing the album as a double clear vinyl with cover art by Yvette Klein who also designed the cover for his Philippe Cam’s album 18 years ago. Graphics for "Rotterdam" come from Cologne designer Daniela Thiel. We also would like to thank the cultural department of Cologne for supporting us to finance the album and to see the artistic value in this piece of minimalism.

The album kicks off with the mellow and soothing "Cocoa Beach". A Gentle beat that moves like bodies swaying in the hot summer sun. The clock moves a step forward and then a step backward as evolution takes a rest.

"Manga" feels like an acceleration to the moon, the contemplative moments come in spurts and hide in the intervals of the chords which are on the loose. Philippe Cam is the most energetic person in the world when it comes to core activity, this is head banging stuff for the ambient lounge.

"Short Summer" is a heavy and violent recognition. As intensive as it is it knows when to stop and disappear. In the ear and brain of the listeners it leaves an indisputable echo which lingers on for minutes. We suggest not to make a pause but jump directly into "Vermillions Sands".

What can be said about into "Vermillions Sands"? Be prepared some Terry Riley might lure around the corner to offer you some oranges on a silver plate, but don’t eat them. This is luring and beautiful at the same time. Maybe the best ambient track ever written and yet who can ever venture to say that without making a fool of himself. "Vermillions Sands" comes in waves and they could be longer we think.

"Rotterdam" the home of Philippe Cam for a long time but not anymore. He moved away. So that changes the perspective. But when was the track written? "Rotterdam" seems mechanical and rusty and spooky and divided. This arrangement is very different to all the other tracks so far and is almost dub in style but way more fractured. A steady stop and go emerges. But the longer it runs the better it gets. At minute 6 the brain resets itself and tries to grasp what has happened so far, reconstruction as a result of its own phantasmic imagination and hardly true at all, wonderful. Applause included!

Here comes "Bis", a short episode of a track and before we can comment on it, it is already over.

"The Game" is a mule of a track. It has a quiet stubborn sequence that bites and kicks you in the back without any change in near sight. We can hear a voice whispering, which sounds like a miniature vocoder featuring the voice of a child calling out - never stopping. This is treadmill to some extend but starts to breathe towards the middle of the track and slowly changes perspective. In fact there are some changes taking place here which go beyond a sound design that works heavily on the stereo image. Stick with it and the experience will be a great one.

"Ultimate Fly For Halloway" somehow orchestrates how you might feel after you climbed a 8000 meter high mountain and reached the top. A rejoicing off a special kind. Lava for the ears. No cheerleader murder plot sorry.

"Last Track" is a perfect example of a true minimalistic pice of music that manages to make contact with other genres and does this with elegance, determination and a lot of soul.

key selling points: The key selling point is the fact that Philippe Cam once was referred to as one of the main protagonists of the minimal music scene along with Wolfgang Voigt's Studio 1/Gas and Basic Channel/Maurizio. A true artist with a vision which is very rare.

Philippe Cam has picked up the sound he was famous for but has developed it further without selling out to any genre and expectation that rules our daily business.

Exactly this is the strength of the album to create a vivid world of impressions by using instruments in a whole different way than all software developers would suggest.

"Rotterdam" is a piece of art that can set off a firework when you listen to it and it owes nothing to anyone.

Any historians keen on the subject of "French youth in the 1980s" are holding a treasure in their hands. As a true archaeologist of this decade dedicated to disposable culture, digger-in-chief Vidal Benjamin with his newest compilation, 'Pop Sympathie', offers them a unique journey in the heart of the cyclone of emotions that struck all teenagers during the first seven years of François Mitterrand's mandate. Fifteen musical nuggets, exhumed from the dungeons of history, each and every one of them teaching us about what really obsessed the youngsters at that exact moment, i.e. what happens when the city lights come on at dusk, when irrepressible urges that stir them to get lost even more appear until the end of the night.

The artists gathered here did not have the honour of breaking into the local charts, but they all individually reached for the sky. Each song of 'Pop Sympathie' tells more or less the same story: that of a girl who throws herself into the night like one immerses one's self into the void, who rushes into a one-night adventure to become a star. And too bad if in the early morning she finds herself back at square one. In all these miniature odysseys there is neon lights, lasers, smoke machines, broken glass on checkered tiles, strangers on leather benches, celebrities in the bathrooms, stolen kisses, alcohol, drugs and cigarettes, Polaroids, venetian blinds and radioactive tubes.

If the first opus of Vidal Benjamin, 'Disco Sympathie', focused on the funky mood of songs that could have been played at Le Palace, then 'Pop Sympathie' develops itself as the imaginary soundtrack of another nightclub, Les Bains-Douches, the capital’s epicenter of nocturnal drifts. So what do we listen to, blasé, at Bains-Douches? Mainly synthesizers. The child of punk and post punk, French New Wave celebrates the matrimony of machines and lolitas under the auspices of a retro trend that revisits the atomic age. Trying to surf on that wave and hit the charts, a bunch of producers (Stéphane Berlow, Laurent Stopnicki, Bernard "Black Devil" Fèvre, Johny Rech, Jean-Yves Joanny ...) will spot their talents amongst friends, in a travel agency or at the local bar. These virtual stars are called Cecilia, Laurent, Sonia, Janou, Fabienne, Anne, Arielle or Ronan, not even 20 years old, and often leaving just an overexposed photo and their first name on a single as the only memories of their swift passage in this particular musical story. It took all the love and sweet madness of Vidal Benjamin to bring them back in the light of day.

Clovis Goux

repress !

Warmly welcoming Gacha Bakradze on Horoom, we share the work of a Georgian artist that has gained international recognition in the past years. Opening with "Elevate" the track stays true to its name: elevating melodies guiding through a jungle of beats.

In a time where harder is better, Gacha Bakradze elegantly suggests a more minimalistic approach to the sound of electronic music. While "Toulouse" blends darker streams with aquatic hope, "Employee" enjoys a big drop in the middle, just to continue on a more melodic note. Well crafted music through and through, this EP combines the flavours of different genres without bending them.

UKNOWY music is back with a new installment on its more house-leaning "Plastic Garment" vinyl series. This time the EP title is "Midnight Impulse" as every track carries the treats of nocturnal life: it's dark, it's fresh and it's open to all possibilities! Starting with Salomo we have a delivery of a definite club banger with "Transform" - devotees of the likes of Kyle Hall or Steven Julien/Funkineven will definitely get their fancy tickled here. Next comes Italian break-beat maestro Sofa Talk with a rhythmically sophisticated yet deep "ALBA", much in the vein of earlier Plastic Garment releases. Munich house duo Rhode & Brown starts the B side with "You & Me" building intricate synth arpeggios over catchy chords. St. Petersburg's very own Dices closes things off with his more dreamy and at the same time incredibly complex and beautiful "See You There" - a track for the listener or the later hours of the night.

Apzolut & MC Goatzak are two brothers with a pretty damn unique background. These viking brothers measure over 2 meters in height each and most women out there wish they had long hair as good as them. Meeting them for the first time we expected them to come from somewhere near the fjords of Norway, but this turned out to be seriously mistaken...

These metal heads grew up in the Caribbean island of Aruba and lived there till somewhere in their 20's before finally making the move to the Netherlands. With no real metal scene on that tropical island
and definitely no breakcore scene it's still a bit of a mystery to us what drove these guys to start producing and playing such extreme music - but we are happy as f*** that they did.

This brand new 5 track EP is one seriously brutal death/black metal breakcore rave mash up. Definitely not suitable for the top 40 radio listening weaklings out there. But if you're a wo(man) that has a hard spot for extreme out of the box music, then this one just might be something for you.

To keep the nostalgic memories alive and as sort of an ode to those dark times years ago - when for a lot of the youth trading and copying cassette tapes was the only way to even be able to find and enjoy underground music - we've decided to make this release physically available only on cassette tape and those are limited to just 75 copies!!

Irish label, Subtle Audio and Opposide Records, based in St Petersberg, Russia, proudly present the ‘Ecstatic Gloom’ collaboration release - a meeting of minds and styles from two labels firmly committed to the deeper and more experimental sounds of Drum & Bass. Being based in countries with a tradition for the strange and the occult, it's no surprise that both label's selections positively revel in their dark, murky and eerie otherworldly-ness.

DJ Support
DJ Trax, ASC, Kyam, Eschaton, Macc, Code, Dissident, Clear Cutz

repressed !

To celebrate 25 years of the label, Tearin Vinyl’s debut release ‘Brok Out/London Talk’ has been repressed on krome (silver!) 180 gram vinyl. Originally crowdfunded on Kickstarter in 2019, meeting it target in less than 24 hours!

DJ Krome & Mr Time take you back to 1994 with two heavy hitters that were heavily rotated back in the day. This is Jungle Music as it should be heard, written by two of the genres finest purveyors. It’s now 2020 and the Jungle scene paved the way for Drum and Bass, which has since spawned numerous other genres which built the foundations that have supported many of todays EDM producers.

Jonnine Standish (HTRK) listens to her inner guides on a captivating solo debut for burgeoning label Good Morning Tapes, leading on from their terrific XVARR EP and wayward shots by Tapes, Mahbunzi Nahgo Pihndi and Innsyter issued over the past year Resoundingly adored for her ice cool poise and penetrative lyrics in noirish dub-pop duo HTRK, Jonnine Standish’s music has long provided a timeless, classic antithesis to modernity. She is a rare, anachronistic spirit within contemporary music and brings a signature sense of restraint and class to ’Super Natural’; her debut suite of solo recordings channelling the sass of Twin Peaks’ Audrey Horne as much as Leslie Winer’s elegant, druggy proto trip pop.
Recorded between Peru, Hawaii, and Jonnine’s native Australia, ‘Super Natural’ unfolds a succinct grimoir or spellbook where she acts as liminal interpreter for immanent devotions that divine a poetic and romantic sense of mystery from the everyday. With thanks to Jonnine’s therapist, who encouraged her to explore a solo identity for years, she was able to tap into this insight and overcome a creative block, finally giving a confessional voice to ambiguous inner guides that have helped to prompt some of her best songwriting, as found here and on HTRK’s recent ‘Venus In Leo’ album.
In the deliciously woozy low pressure system of her opener ‘You’re Wanting It To Go This Way’, those spirits instinctively lead her down a path of self-reflective nihilism accentuated with curdled guitar and a thumping 808 heartbeat, before her husband and collaborator Conrad Standish (CS + Kreme) supplies backing vocals that tenderly accentuate the knackered tristesse of I Don’t Seem Myself Tonight’, which is also buoyed by Mona Ruijs’ subtly plangent gong tones But it’s HTRK’s groove engine Nigel Yang that distinctively underlines Jonnine’s mantric lyrics about the push/push of love best in ‘You Can Leave The Vampires’ with patented, pensile sensuality, before the EP shores up with ‘Scorpio Rises Again’, an instant classic framing Jonnine as the inner voice of Audrey Horne against stalking, plucked bass, finger-clicks and whistle by Conrad Standish, a denouement surely worthy of a closing scene in the next Lynch.
Classic..

Repress

Dispatch Recordings is proud to count the Manchester legend among its ranks from now on. You can't have missed one of the numerous top notch sounds he's been providing throughout his long career. He is now gathering a forward thinking and historically self conscious music that we could easily define as pretty unique in its genre. The Soul :R boss offers us this time a really valuable glimpse of what D&B should be nowadays : inventive, energetic and technically perfect. When all these elements meet the great sense of groove of the big Soul master, you have a result you can genuinely be happy with. So are we.A. 'Stark' Classic tune ! No doubt nobody else would have been able to orchestrate that well so a large scape of unexpected tonalities. These mastered wobbles and swinging rythm make definitely up Marcus' secret weapons. Some pure electric sounds dive you in a delicious nostalgic style of his own. The final result : afuriously original dance song.AA. 'Virgo' This is first a matter of musicality. A lively & lovely lead which is redolent of some of the biggest D&B anthems. A peerless technical and musical knowhow we can feel at every step of the tune. That percussive drum slightly enveloped by an ethereal melody creates a perfect wellbalanced ambiance. Absolute dancefloor killer.DJ support from: Ant TC1, Rob Da Bank, Calibre, Artificial Intelligence, Doc Scott, Fabio, Marky, DBridge,Rockwell, Octane & DLR, Need For Mirrors, Dabs, Lenzman, Survival, Youngsta, Skeptical, to name a few.

Black Vinyl Repress!

These are the lost tunes that were due to be released via 'Persons Unknown' on Candidate Records. Re-engineered in 2019 by Syko & Mike Badger these tracks ‘UNDERGROUND MAYHEM’ & 'NEEDS MORE BASS are finally pressed, 27 years later but who’s counting! This will be on a full colour printed sleeve. Written and produced S. Mccutcheon, piano riff by R. Haigh.

Prurient dispatches a bouquet of short, sharp noise shocks in a return to base forms following a series of increasingly ambitious long players.
In 20 snagging noise shards of high-register intensity Dominick Fernow bombards a form of “Airborne Electronics for the 75th Anniversary of Screaming Eagles Radio and 82nd Neptune Death Row”. What you need to know is ‘Garden of The Mutilated Paratroopers’ is proper, raw Prurient tackle, attacking in waves of powdered glass distortion, throttled CB comms, white-hot belligerance and chainsaw toothed power electronics rippers There’s no fancy attention to detail in the mixing or any of that bourgeois stuff, just a terrifying episode of adrenalising energy and sensory mutilation that should leave lovers of this stuff satisfied and picking bits out of their teef and ears. Basically, just what we needed.

Hospital Productions’ ‘90s noise scene trawl arrives at Slogun’s infamous 1997 blast for legendary NYC noise label Labyrinth, clad in a jacket listing “forgotten” murderers. True Crime Electronics, indeed.
“from the austere and frightening cover with the name of forgotten killers to the monolithic washes of analog synthesized grit and dust cloud vocals of the id, this legendary album first released as a limited cassette of 100 on the cult labyrinth recordings from nyc (one of the all time great nyc cassette imprints) and then famously reissued to wide distribution via cold meat industry sublabel death factory, ‘the pleasures of death’ came to prominence in the minds of the same era of release entertainment and descent magazine and alchemy records and bloodlust!.
never has there been such an in-depth, caustic, intelligent and evil exploration of true crime violence. slogun has managed to take familiar stories, untangle them and create deep profiles that leave the listener with unsettling conclusions that do not provide the answers we are commonly forced to accept. set against the decline of america, the abstraction of the victim landscape is shattered with the brutal and disturbing lyrics faithfully reprinted. wide spine sleeve, large format booklet and poster are are taken from the original cassette version and restored on the tombstone-esque format of vinyl. truly a classic of nyc radical art and true crime electronics.
f.t.w.!”

Adapted Vinyl was a UK based techno label active in the late 90’s that picked up regular DJ support from taste makers of the time ranging from Jeff Mills to Mr C.

This, the label’s 7th record disappeared before a public release when the Integrale Muzique distribution company went out of business in 2008, but now gets its first official release date after years of very limited availability

Label founder Suade is the artist behind this release and these days he is best known as a highly-sought-after mastering engineer working for artists like Dense & Pika, Paranoid London, Jamie Jones and Vitalic.

Focusing his energies into family life and the fine tuning of other peoples music it’s rare to see Suade’s own music on a new release, but this hasn’t stopped him from collaborating on original tracks with the likes of Magda and Radioactive Man in recent years.

The EP has four contrasting tracks all with different moods and tempos all blended with Techno’s classic motoric drive.

With it’s absence from the usual music marketplaces creating something of a mystery this record ended up receiving a new, unofficial name on Discogs - The Citadel EP which is a title taken from the broken-beat second track on the B side of the record.

The Citadel is just one of the highlights on this eclectic EP, as it’s a Latronic Notron sequencer workout that patiently deploys layered synths in ever-shifting cross-rhythms for a languid 5 minutes before its deep, underpinning bass arrives evoking desert travel and arrival.

Baikal, named after the huge freshwater lake in Russia, is another stretched out meditation on tone and harmony acting as a foil to the delicate and vibrant Latin American percussion that filters in and out through a massive stereo Moog Modular system creating an energetic yet static, ritualistic atmosphere.

Trajan - the most driving track on the EP, gives a nod to the Probe era Richie Hawtin sound with a touch of Drexciyan melodics with shuffled percussion and bleeps over a snaking TB303 shaped bassline where the classic Acid box is given the role of control sequencer only commanding the thick, dirty oscillators of the big Moog.

A1 track Felix is a contrast yet again. A big room melodic Techno piece with another massive bassline and an almost orchestral level of layering, building to nine counter-melodies in total before letting rip with a classic TB303 acid line that builds from the heart of the track.

Little information about the reign of Osiris appears in Egyptian sources; the focus is on his death and the events that follow. The murder itself is frequently alluded to, but never clearly described. The Egyptians believed that written words had the power to affect reality, so they avoided writing directly about profoundly negative events. Osiris is connected with life-giving power, righteous kingship, and the rule of Maat the ideal natural order whose maintenance was a fundamental goal in ancient Egyptian culture.

After his outing at the beginning of 2018, Amrint Keen (an alias of Lake People reserved for his rawer, broken and more experimental productions) is following up on Uncanny Valley with a new EP. And boy, nobody else does dance tracks so unpretentious, but still demanding. Oscillating between house and electro rhythms, the tracks once again show his midas touch of combining subtlety and fun on the dance floor. A track like TRANSIENT LOSS OF RESPONSE explores the corners of urban landscapes and finds melancholy, but also a pumping urgency for the club. MAYBE IT WON'T BE comes with a pretty funny but throughout stable track architecture consisting of many different toy blocks disguised as sounds. DOOZY OF A DAY is indeed a doozy of a track that maybe just fell in love considering the infatuated synths. And also CREPUSCULAR can't hide its romantic qualities after an abrupt start with impetuous drumming. As with the first Amrint Keen record, the artwork comes from Murat Oenen, a painter born in Istanbul and now a graduate at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts.

Tempo Dischi's second release is one of electronic music’s seminal albums; 1798 Italian space disco album: Automat by Automat.

A year after the release of Oxygène by Jean Michel Jarre, a milestone for electronic music, “Automat" was released in Italy, a timeless record that has influenced the years to come. Released in 1978 by EMI Italia, the album has been produced by two veteran italian songwriters and composers, Romano Musumarra and Claudio Gizzi after meeting Mario Maggi, one of the major innovators in the manufacturing of electronic instruments in Italy. Maggi invented the first programmable monophonic synthesizer ever made: the MCS70. Its sounds have been the basis for the production of the whole Automat album. That synth was used only for this record and remained a prototype, leaving a halo of mystery behind this record.

The album moves in the furrows of an atypical space disco, with abstract classical arias alternating with more sustained rhythms, which combine electronic experiments, progressive psychedelic journeys with cinematic themes. The A Side, composed by Gizzi is an electronic disco-tinged suite divided into three parts (The Rise, The Advance, The Genius). Ater a brief spatial intro, the insistent arpeggio expands into a soundtrack theme with a sumptuous melody, which slowly fades away to make room for a progressive psychedelic journey. The B Side, composed by Musumarra, is made by three tracks, including ‘Droid‘, one of the most representative songs of the electronic music of the early eighties. A magic sequence between the bassline, the electro drums, and the spatial disco theme with a futuristic and cinematic mood. This is a record that has influenced the music of our days and after 40 years may still sound contemporary.

REPRESSED

An ultra-pitch non skip DJ scratch tool on vinyl by Ritchie Ruftone, with one side at 100 bpm and the flip side at 133 bpm - includes non-skip drum loops!

2 cuts from Enrique for BANK7' series. Following up BNK-001 Enrique is back. Downtempo syncopated tracks echo the bleak industrial zone where we reside. Surrounded by the noise of garbage trucks and waste treatment facilities this music is a backdrop for the constant noise of police sirens resonating through the city. Great music for a midnight stroll. Say a prayer for your local club and raise a glass at your local squat.

Artificial Intelligence

2x12" 180g Clear Vinyl

Pivotal UK producer Kirk Degiorgio returns to De:tuned for his first new and highly anticipated As One studio album in 15 years. "Communion" covers a broad sonic palette, ranging from jazz and hi-tech funk dancefloor beats to minor-chord symphonies, all coming together "As One". A trademark 90s electronica sound shifting between the mind, body and soul, produced and recorded with Kirk's 25 years of studio work experience.

Kevin Foakes (Openmind, DJ Food, Ninja Tune) created all the graphic work. Mastered by Matt Colton at Metropolis Mastering, pressed on 180 gr vinyl and a separate digital version will be available from the usual digital shops. Stay tuned!

The newly founded label Yalanci brings you its first release from the series of deceptive music.

This debuting EP gracefully portrays a universe of atmospheric, bass-driven compositions, conveying a sense of spatial charm in its reverb-drenched sequences. Forming an alliance between dark and beautiful, the sinister vocals that are pronouncing poetry in Azerbaijani language, blend in a percussive conversation with the rustles, chirps and whispers that create a flavorsome sense of both gemlike lucidity and perpetual movement. The pensive hypnotic ambiance of some pieces in this EP is tastefully assembled together with machine-like percussive dynamics of others. This spiritually charged release allures into an exploration of darkness and light, emptiness and fullness; luring you forward but seeming to take you back. You don't know what you don't know.

Canadian composer Scott Morgan’s 12th long-player as loscil takes its title from an influential series of early 20th century photographs by Alfred Stieglitz, abstracting clouds into miasmic, painterly canvases of smoke and shadowplay.

It’s a deeply fitting analog for Morgan’s own musical process across the past two decades, fraying forms and tones into widescreen mirages of opaque texture and negative space.

The name Equivalents referred to Stieglitz’s notion of the photographs as being equivalent to his “philosophical or emotional states of mind;” the same could be said of these eight weighty, shivering chiaroscuros of sound. Each piece unfolds and evolves enigmatically, adrift in low oxygen atmospheres, shifting dramatically from pockets of density to dissipated streaks of moonlit vapor.

The entirety of the record was created specifically for the album with the exception of “Equivalent 7,” which began as a dance score for frequent collaborator Vanessa Goodman.

The album version of this track was reworked with Vancouver musician Amir Abbey aka Secret Pyramid.Cloud photographs taken by Scott Morgan at various locations throughout Cascadia in 2018.

Omochi’s debut single, Devil is an amorphous urban lysergic bass-pop expulsion. A motorbike ride through late night Tokyo, headlights and neon ooze across wind battered eyeballs. A sudden lurch takes the ramp up to the overpass, revealing the electrified vista. With a dime bag of psychoactive tweaks and bleeps, a foraging bassline - a Billy Cobham on K. Dial-ups cry out to connect, once the signal catches, it's moved out of view, as the organ mourns the hint of dawn on the horizon.

A Happy Moment: percussive spasm, bass once again lurches, unfolding. Omochi’s lyrical push-me-pull-you phased out vocal, the drum machine falls down the stairs, while church organ goes secular, concentrating on the notes outside - mind your pews and Qs.

Omochi, (honorific “O” before mochi - show some fucking respect) in daily parlance is actually a rice cake, a dense glutinous product suited to many recipes, be they sweet or savoury. Stick one under the grill, watch it burst open, wrap it in crisp seaweed and dip it in soya - a healthy snack, and a staple around Japanese New Year. Like everything, Omochi also has its dark side - each year it kills off a small section of the aged community, the gluey bolus a hard act to swallow - the unwary can quickly choke to death.

So maybe Omochi's music is best to sample in small chunks initially? Could be too much for the uninitiated? A 7” might be a safer initial taste of what Omochi is going to do to your brain - there's an album on the way - could be time to stock up on soft furnishings.

Omochi is in fact Tadaki Matsunaga, of early 2000s Tokyo three piece Femini Flyers. The Feminis were Tadaki (bass), Sachie (vocals) and Koji (drums). Their 7” single “Like You See” / “Masterbed” was an early Ethbo release - the most requested track from Japan Blues’ Boiler Room Collections video, since it was first aired, way back in 2014. Since that recording, Tadaki has built, and been working in, his home studio. Devil and Happy Moment are a hint of the album that Omochi has ready. Grill-ready - wanna bite?

Mastered by Kuratani, pressed at the only independent record pressing plant in Japan: Toyo Kasei. Housed in psychoactive sleeve and label artwork by Mishumaro Nakamura.

With airpay support from Ben UFO, On The Wire (BBC),
Do!! You!!! (NTS) and Japan Blues (NTS).

These two new tracks continue to push the band’s sound into new territory; ‘Overture 1’ is a brand-new composition from Ruby Rushton keyboard player Aidan Shepherd. Taking inspiration from bands like Weather Report and Soft Machine, it's explosive introduction leads you to a dub-like breakdown, creating an open space for Shepherd to let loose his synthesizer for some deep space, Headhunters’esque exploration.

Yardley Suite - is a song first conceived by band leader Ed ‘Tenderlonious’ Cawthorne back in 2012. Having lied dormant for several years it felt like an appropriate time to pull it back out the bag. It’s a composition inspired by Cawthorne’s solo work as an electronic producer, under his alias Tenderlonious. Always wanting to merge his various approaches, ‘Yardley Suite’ is the perfect mix of Jazz and House. With a steady four to the floor beat and snappy horn lines it's sure to work its magic on dancefloors around the globe.

Having focused on improvisation and more “open” compositions in the past, the bands new direction is geared towards tighter, more groove-orientated arrangements. This exciting new material is yet further evidence that this is a highly prolific band at the top of their game, continually evolving, stretching out their own unique sound across the full jazz spectrum.

DJ Support: Tom Ravenscroft, Bradley Zero, Huey Morgan, James Endacott, Kev Beadle, Chris Phillips, Tony Minvielle, Tim Garcia, Delia Tesileanu, Kamaal Williams, Al Dobson Jr, Contours, Poly-Ritmo.

Anoyo ('the world over there') draws from the same sessions with members of Tokyo Gakuso which led to the 2018 work Konoyo, but rendered starker, solemn, and stripped back, with more of a naturalist tint. Hecker's processing here moves in veiled ways, soft refractions and whispered shrouds woven within improvisational sessions of traditional gagaku interplay, evoking a sense of vaulted space, temples at dawn, shredded silk fluttering in the rafters.
This is boldly barren music, skeletal and sculptural, shaped from wood, wind, strings, and mist. Modern yet ancient, delicate and desolate, Anoyo inverts its predecessor to compellingly conjure a parallel world of illusion, solitude, and eternal return.

On Laughing Gas, the third EP from Wild Nothing, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jack Tatum delves deeper into the territory where he thrives: namely, the synth and sophisti-pop of the 1980's. Working within a more mechanical and synthetic framework than his previous releases, Wild Nothing continues to delicately toe the line between the organic and the unnatural. These are still pop songs, but there’s an underlying sense of uneasiness that threads the music together.

Recorded in Los Angeles, CA and Richmond, VA with the help of Jorge Elbrecht, these five songs were originally imagined alongside last year’s Indigo and were written and tracked simultaneously with the album. When work on the full-length was nearing completion, Tatum set these ideas aside; they seemed to fit better on their own.

In spare moments between tours, Tatum began to look back and piece the songs together at his home studio in Richmond, reconnecting with Elbrecht to mix the EP. With Elbrecht in Denver and Tatum in Richmond, the two went back and forth on the final touches, molding a common thread from the Lô Borges inspired new wave of “Sleight Of Hand” to the propulsive, icy synth funk of “Foyer”.

Often considered a secondary or transitional format, Wild Nothing has always used the EP to further explore new ideas and influences. Laughing Gas is no exception.

Post Pluto's third release "Abercrombie St" brings together Sydney based producers Adam Stromstedt, t.hanks and Subaske for a diverse EP suitable for the dark room. All three producers bring their own flavour to the release which traverses tripping techno, booty shaking house and dubby electro

Andy Rantzen, Sydney, Australia.
This one is a special for us as we love dub and lo-fi music and also love the experiments of Andy Rantzen like "Rain in the Morning, Sun in the Afternoon / Dark Sea".
The more interesting part of the story is, that both tunes are written and recorded nearly 20 years ago by Andy - 1999-2000. But definitely still hot and vibing our sweet and sour DIY motto. We like!!!
A must in your collection!

A DECLARATION IS NOT A REENACTMENT. A Pastime For Semi-Gods is an evidence to a new mythology, is the genesis of a collisions. Of waves to a statement on the static, extending in perpetual change. With this album, Ekman is describing the chaos of erotic imagery that is unbroken. On the border of mythology and science fiction.
A Pastime For Semi-Gods is Ekman's fourth release on Bedouin Records and his album debut on the label.

Repress

In Spain the soup is harsh but tasty served cold to staff in empty winter discos it replenishes their souls devoid of joy as they scavenge through left behind belongings The Beatle grins and stirs the pot His recipe of gruesome memories reverberates through the stagnant air As tears fall into stale sangria.

12" (Black Vinyl) +CD+3 Posters

As a follow-up to the Roads series, it is in the Faroe Islands that the prodigy of the French electro scene, Thylacine, decided to record his new EP on board his Airstream caravan.

This Vol 2 is the continuation of a creative journey, the story of which begins on board the Transsiberian, the famous train that links Moscow to Vladivostok where he recorded his first album (2015), which revealed him to the scene.

He continued his journey with the Airstream caravan, transformed into a mobile studio and with which he travelled along the Andes Mountains on the Argentinean side to write his second album, Roads Vol.1.

These four new tracks tell the story of the wild and powerful environment of the Faroe Islands. Eysturoy subtly combines the aerial melodies of Moderat with the techno power of Paul Kalkbrenner. The amazing voice of the Faroese diva Eivør.
Saksun transports into Nordic atmospheres with the presence of strings in an ethereal and minimalist style.

Stormur is reminiscent of the hypnotic tablecloths of a Jon Hopkins. Alda projects a bewitching electronica where Thylacine's favourite instrument, the saxophone, mixes with the sound of the waves.

2LP + 7x Posters

Following the release of the second volume of Roads from the french
electronic prodige Thylacine, Intuitive Records presents a deluxe version with Roads Vol 1 & 2, coming in a 2LP slipcase including 7 posters. Also available as 2CD slipcase + 16p booklet.

This boxed set retraces the two journeys of the prodigy of the French electro scene in his Airstream caravan transformed into a mobile studio. Vol.1 was recorded on the roads of the Andes Cordillera and Vol.2 in the Faroe Islands, drawing inspiration from Moderat eerie, Jon Hopkins textures and Paul Kalkbrenner power.

Control Voltage Project is a long running project of Alper Maral and Mert Topel; Alper Maral is one of the most significant sound discoverers around Turkey through auditory and academical researches he has made about experimental electronic music. Mert Topel is a versatile musician, one of the most important keyboardist for many artists in popular music in Turkey. He has released his first solo album “Serendipity” in 2017.

Control Voltage Project is named after the electric signals which are used for the interactions between various physical sound layers. Recordings of CVP -first album from the duo- was finished in 2005 and released in 2015 on “Müzik Hayvanı” as free download on web.

The album is making its roots through an endless sound pool that created by synthesizers, vocoders and tape recorders such as KORG MS 20, YAMAHA Motif 8, PROPHET 5 and TASCAM MS 16 which have characterized by different styles and times. The duo’s 12 track album is a complete adventure from abstract and fragile moments to groovy but spooky sounds. Control Voltage Project is finally released on vinyl via Müstesna Records.

The much anticipated debut album by Giant Swan, the brainchild of Robin Stewart & Harry Wright; an acerbic marriage of industrial percussion, abused guitar, hypnotic bass and liberal vocal manipulation.

Having built a formidable reputation for their hi-octane improvised performances, relentless international touring and a succession of acclaimed EPs on respected imprints such as Whities, Timedance and Mannequin. 'Giant Swan', on their own freshly minted Keck label, sees the pair stepping things up significantly.
A full-length musical statement that bristles with the galvanising energy for which they're known while introducing a fresh depth, range and sonic nuance to the equation. File under: techno-not-techno.

Named after a beloved track by screamo overlords the Blood Brothers, Giant Swan was originally conceived as a side project from the duos role as guitarists in the band The Naturals, with formative influences such as My Bloody Valentine and Lightning Bolt being distilled over time with inspiration from the varied and always vibrant local music scene in Bristol.

From dub soundsystem teachings at the Trinity Centre and Black Swan or the fiercely experimental early transmissions of friends in the Young Echo collective. Equally at home setting up their table of machines and pedals in the middle of the dancefloor at legendary clubs like Berghain and Tresor as they are playing the Glastonbury Festival, Supersonic or the Royal Albert Hall, Giant Swan have grown to take their place as one of the most singular and determined groups to emerge from the UK underground in many years.

From Bryan Ferry’s side on stage for the past decade to lighting up your night sky with a neon symphony, Jorja Chalmers’ debut album Human Again is here … Beware! Rewind.

In 2004 Jorja Chalmers moved to London from Sydney, Australia with zero cash, her saxophone & a massive crush on an English boy she met while he was visiting Australia. Fast forward 3 years later … Bryan Ferry’s assistant caught Jorja performing at a nightclub in London. The next day she received a message inviting her to audition for his band. She met Ferry at his studio, played some Roxy Music tunes & as anyone who has caught one of Ferry’s live shows of the past 10+ years knows, has been a salient addition to his band ever since.

Human Again was written & recorded by Jorja in hotel rooms after performing Roxy Music & Bryan Ferry songs drenched in sweat each night. Finishing touches were added & distilled inside Ferry’s London studio & then brushed by Johnny Jewel’s glittering hands with Dean Hurley at the legendary Asymmetrical Studio in the Hollywood Hills. The combination is intoxicating.

Human Again bottles that stark loneliness the artist faces night after night on the road. Sonically, the album explores the spaciousness alive inside the minimalism of Bowie & Eno’s Low, her vocal reflects early Laurie Anderson alongside the troubled smoke of Badalamenti’s score for Lost Highway, & the impeding doom of Goblin. Chalmers embraces the claustrophobia of a John Carpenter film cut with the patience & precision of Amon Duul. The quest to be Human Again is to be a stranger in a strange land.

In ‘Red Light’ metal machine magic grinds as a wish is granted. The saxophone wails, humming a new strain of serpentine song. The triggered, vast descent of ‘Suburban Pastel’ unfurls as the landscape expands the mystery. This is visual music that slowly coils its wings around the listener. Jorja’spale blue eyes glance across the vivid landscape. Suspended in reverie, bathed in sound, adrift until the tidal brass of ‘This Is Where The Night Sky Begins’ calls the dreamer back down to earth.

As the needle drops again, the petal soft synthesizers sprawl toward the event horizon, hypnotized by the distant call of the Siren. Visions of intimacy & sentient contact triggered by endless weeks on tour. The human heart of a Saturday night still beating on Tuesday morning. The album’s closing track ‘Ship In The Sky’ is the heroine’s journey into the unknown, without a compass.


INFORMATION ABOUT PRODUCING THIS LP: Recorded & Produced By Jorja Chalmers. Executive Produced By Johnny Jewel. Mixed At Asymmetrical In Hollywood By Dean Hurley & Johnny Jewel. Photography By Karolina Paczkowska. Artwork By Johnny Jewel. Additional Sax & Vocals Recorded At Studio One By Chloe Beth Smith. Mastered By Mike Bozzi At Bernie Grundman Mastering.
Vinyl Cut By Bernie Grundman.

After years of releasing other artists on the label, Martyn returns to 3024 himself with two brand new tracks. Properly reflecting the music he has been DJ'ing out recently, these are two high energy drum workouts that can go straight in the bag. One Eye is an electro based melodic builder, while Nerve Centers is heavily inspired by a more international Drum sound, forwarded by producers such as Noire, NKC, Ahadadream, Principe crew etc.

Mastered by Juke and Footwork Prince from Poland, Rhythm Baboon. The Mix was made by DJ Earl from ''Teklife'.

Originally a collaboration that started in 2004 between the talents of electronic music aficionados Michael Sickinger (USA) and Jonas Thor Gudmundsson (Iceland), Octal Industries has been sketching out cavernous sounding, glacial tinged, dub-infused techno that carries with it a unique radiance that is all too often missing from the genre. Now solely the oeuvre of Jonas Thor Gudmundsson better known under his Ruxpin guise, the Octal Industries catalogue spans over the last 15 years and totals nearly a dozen releases.

After a couple of meetings between Jamie (Exalt Records) and (Andy Verdant Recordings) bosses, the idea of a label collaboration seemed a natural progression for both imprints and ‘Vertex’ was spawned. To honour their common love of music that have depth, width and atmosphere, approaching Gudmundsson for material to kickstart their new venture was an easy choice for both involved.

As the title suggests, “Our Seasons” is a 10 track excursion into the soul of the Icelandic experience, a reflection upon the stark contrasts found in their natural environment. A collection of music that continuously morphs and throws down a variety of tempos and soundscapes over two records: the total sum retains a certain character that is unique to Gudmundsson’s touch.

Setting the scene on record one with the welcoming tones of “Borg Tekin”, you’re met with an expansive sonic vista that seeps into your consciousness - vocal elements calling back and forth. Like the passing of a restless midsummer night, “Thorp | Vanda” digs further down and focuses on the pulsating axis of sub bass and swirling pads that eventually find their peace. The heavy fog of “Roblegt” is more intense by contrast, the cyclical ambience closing in with little room as tension builds. “Dreki Flyr” eases back off: gentle curves, whispering synth patterns and rhythmic patter join as they flit through the night-air.



Switching to the second record, expansive percussion and glistening atmospherics characterise the dreamlike state and playfulness of “Forever”. After which you’re brought back by the slow march of “Winter Techno”, a reflective mood brought to the fore through icy shards of synthesis that take hold. As if waking from a deep slumber, the slow poise and airy tones of “Asleep” capture that peaceful, hazy moment where light breaks in and life begins to stir. The onwards and upwards feel is continued with the fresh energy of “Another Day”, the breezy composition bathing you in the warm glow of a summer’s morning. However, the juddering intensity and tones of “Lullaby” steep you in an almost unexpected surge of heat, before the closing notes of “Times fade” bring you back to an uneasy serenity that is somehow magically unerring – a perfect summary of Gudmundsson’s vision and how he feels the world around him.

Jonas’ recordings have been lovingly engineered by José Diogo Neves and cut by Curvepusher. Consistent with both labels passion for releasing beautiful records, Our Seasons presents commissioned artwork from Andrei Kedrin with layout by Grid Pattern.

The LP will be a limited 250 edition with bespoke artwork printed on 400gsm paper inserts, printed labels, stamped outer sleeves all housed in heavy PVC outer liners.

No.17 marks the return of Sepia to Infernal Sounds as he pops the lid open on some long-lasting dubs from his locker. The title track, 'Flutez' is an uplifting journey, and has been in constant rotation across the dance floor for over 3 years now, having received support from the likes of Truth, Foamplate and Sicaria Sound.

The B1 'Cross The Line', a more recent creation from the Bristol-based producer switches it up and delivers a more direct, cut-throat aggression through the chopping synth, conjuring up a sense of anguish, with the appropriate addition of a daunting vocal sample. Stripping things back and rounding things off is 'Tales From The Crypt', a perfect way to bring things down and lay out that trademark Sepia sound. Emotive notes and progression gives this track a real all-round feel of solace.

The EP has also received support from Mala, Distance and Darkside, amongst others.

'Benjamin Lew was an enlightened amateur, in the noble and almost Renaissance-like sense of the word: he dabbled with equal grace in photography, writing, visual arts ... and worked part-time as a cocktail mixer in a tropical bar which was one of the favourite watering holes of Brussels' thriving artistic community of the early '80s. Tuxedomoon had just moved to Brussels, and Steven Brown was among the many musicians, designers & artists who patronized the bar. Benjamin had a secret passion: he wasn't a musician, but had acquired a small analog computer, with which he had started creating these strange mysterious little pieces. Benjamin played them to Steven and asked him if he'd agree to record with him. Steven was taken with them and accepted. The Douzième Journée was largely created in the studio by both protagonists, with the help of Gilles Martin and myself, in the spring of '82. Listening to his albums (he went on to record four more with Crammed) is like embarking on a dream journey to the Sahara or the Far East. You'd think that some of the pieces feature non-European musicians or samples but: no... this is just Benjamin's imagination, his synths, and his friends...'

Marc Hollander, Feb. 2019

Western Lore closes out the year with a special edition record, featuring a collection of unreleased tracks that have seen constant rotation in Dead Man’s Chest’s DJ sets over the last eighteen months.

Sampling an early 90s snippet of Fabio & Bukem (discussing the roots and inspiration of Jungle music), ‘Lo-Freq Soul’ sets the tone with shuffling half time grooves and morphing acidic bass tones before dropping into an eclectic collage of soul, reggae, and stepping breaks. The ‘Soundboy Version’ hones in on the outro rhythm of the original, offering a more subtle, rolling and progressive take on the low end groove.

Western Lore’s resident DJ Josimar makes a co-production appearance on the Ruffneck version of Haunted Dub; A machine gun assault of b-boy breakbeats, dancehall chants, saturated dub hits and rasping darkside tones. The ‘Rubadub’ version sees Dead Man’s Chest on a drunken dubwise flex, re-working the samples over a smoked out 70s bass riff, staggered percussion and skeletal 4/4 reggae kicks.

Welcome to 7th Storey Recollective, our new sister label dedicated exclusively to previously unreleased and re-issued classics from the 1990's! Kicking us off with our first offering are two incredible tracks from the man like Model (Intelligent Minds, Abstrakt Mindz, Liquid & Model & HLS).

Both produced in 1995, and previously unreleased, these tracks are true unearthed gems of the atmospheric jungle genre. On the 'A' side is 'Jupiter', an epic, ethereal track - featuring beautifully blissed-out atmospherics and razor-sharp drum work, sit back and prepare to be taken on a journey though the clouds... Turning to the 'B' side we find 'Surroundingz', clocking in at over 9 minutes this has a slightly darker vibe - with haunting pads woven into it's fabric of complex breaks. Pressed on 12" black vinyl, and complete with full colour sleeve designed by Model himself.

Presenting 'Fire Zone'. Album written, produced & mixed by Zane Reynolds and pressed on 180g vinyl, by Ekster. Coming out May 2019, including poster 57x57cm artwork by the artist. Mastered & cut by Helmut Erler at Dubplates & Mastering.

The music of Zane Reynolds AKA SFV Acid celebrates lysergic life in small town America. His are urban hallucinations. Conceived in 'business parks, strip malls', in 'blue collar luxury'. On a diet of 'diner burgers'. From the self-released, hand-painted cassettes of his high school years, he has moved to work commissioned by locals 100% Silk, Japan`s Big Love, and Dutch imprint, BAKK. His latest long-player, Fire Zone, will be issued by Belgian label, Ekster.

The album continues to reference Zane's Los Angeles home, and in this case the devastation that rages there every Summer. The concept however, reaching away from the horror and flames, to offer an escape.

There are moments, interludes, that hint at, and hide, something darker. Where drone twists from tape hiss. Bends. Out of shape. Where chords distort. Their degraded edges disintegrating. Charred perhaps But Ai welcomes you to 'San Fernando Valley', and a low-riding 808 booms. Less L.A. More Overtown, or Liberty City. Its racing booty bass calmed by wind chimes. The rapid Electro-Funk clip countered by modal synths. Its sunny disposition reflecting the SFV climate.

Playful rhymes, fragmented dialogue, and answer phone messages, rub up against Rave sirens. Roland`s silver box squeezes out a Sci-Fi Jazz. Through ping-ponging percussion. Through a drum and bass battery. Punched by keys that wanna be horns. Rewinds that create a bin-blowing vacuum. Shore-line samples washing the more head-nodding tempos. Euphoria rising while a perfect beat pops and locks. (text: Robert Harris)

Ghost Tropic is first and foremost the name of the third feature from acclaimed Belgian writer-director Bas Devos. The film tells the story of Khadija, a middle-aged cleaner who has no other option but to walk home through Brussels on a cold night after falling asleep on the last train. The journey is a reflection on motherhood and expectations, pride and unknown struggles, stories of the ghostly magic of a lonely night in a big city, of the kindness of strangers and the hurt felt seeing the vulnerability of someone you love.

Brecht Ameel, from the band Razen, uses his classical guitar training and his experience with various string instruments to craft a beautiful soundtrack of minimal ambient acoustic music. The Belgian musician’s intention was to create music that would be a warm blanket for the nocturnal odyssey of Khadija. A melody and rhythm to accompany her walk through the cold night, a sort of guiding light.

Ghost Tropic was premiered at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival and is set to be released on 1st January 2020. The accompanying soundtrack recording is out 2 days later.

Infernal Sounds welcomes their newest member to the imprint, Dark Tantrums. After a brief hiatus from releasing music, the producer who's had previous EP's out on both Deep Medi and GetDarker is back with a bang. From the millitant march of 'Command', to the distorted and twisted mind of 'Darkside', with 'Time Warp' rounding things off in a typical old-school fashion, this EP will knock your socks off and deliver a punch for the dance floor. IFS011 not only displays his ability to adapt his style under the 140 spectrum, but continues to prove why he's one of the most underrated artists to grace the scene.

Edouard Cheritel is a Paris based French composer who has been working on classical compositions for almost 25 years. At the age of four he started to learn the clarinet at the National Conservatory of Lyon and stayed there for 21 years. During this long development of his musical capabilities he has learned to write and play chamber and symphonic music - he studied classical composition for 15 years - and worked in the fields of modern composition for another 6 years.

In the meantime Edouard always experimented with electronic music while being a member of several electronic and pop bands. The biggest commercial success was his project "Employee Of The Year", which has released two albums, played several times on the French national television, has done remixes for SOHN & Wild Belle and provided several pieces for advertisements.

After building this foundation as a very versatile artist over years, Edouard Cheritel finished his first solo compositions called "Suite No1" in 2019. They form a compact debut Suite consisting of four movements combining the classical composition skills of Edouard with his sensitivity for electronic tunes and a lightly pop appeal, resulting in a partly melancholic and partly very energetic journey.

Beside the activities regarding the ongoing Suite series, Edouard Cheritel currently works on his debut solo full length and a project called "People" that he will realize in 2020. For "People" Edouard will compose music day-to-day together with and for the people in the pedestrian areas of Paris. Concrete plans for this project will be revealed at the end of 2019. In the future there will also be opportunitities to see his pieces being performed by himself solo in an intimate context or with a complete live orchestration he is currently working on.

Jac Berrocal, David Fenech and Vincent Epplay return with Ice Exposure, their second album for Blackest Ever Black. A sequel and companion piece of sorts to 2015's Antigravity, its title couldn't be more apt: sonically it is both colder, and more exposed - in the sense of rawer, more volatile, more vulnerable - than its predecessor, capturing the combustible energy and barely suppressed violence of the trio's celebrated live performances with aspects of noir jazz, musique concrète, no wave art-rock, sound poetry and spectral electronics all interpenetrating in unpredictable and exhilarating ways. While there are moments of great sensitivity and even a cautious romanticism, the prevailing mood is one of anxiety, paranoia, and mounting psychodrama: close your eyes and Ice Exposure feels like a dissociative Hörspiel broadcasting from the seedy backstreets of your own troubled mind. Before he picks up an instrument or opens his mouth, Berrocal's unique and compelling presence can be felt: a combination of studied, glacial cool and anarchic, in-the-moment intensity that has served him well over a long and storied career. It was honed during his time as a theatre and film actor, and in the 70s Paris improv scene, it powered his influential Catalogue group in the 1970s, numerous seminal, sui generis solo sides, and far-sighted collaborations with the likes of Nurse With Wound, Lol Coxhill, Pascal Comelade and James Chance which have seen him come to be valorised by two generations of avant-garde agitators and eccentrics. Now in his eighth decade, it comes with an added gravitas, perhaps, but no less energy or vitality. On Ice Exposure, his lyrical, instantly recognisable trumpet playing is a key feature - see especially the ghostly, dubwise take on Ornette's 'Lonely Woman', the dissolute exotica of 'Salta Girls', and the sublime echo-chamber soliloquy 'Opportunity'. But more often it's his voice that commands centre-stage, whether casually discharging surreal poetic monologues or moaning in animal despair - a vocal tour de force that transcends language and culminates in the Dionysian frenzy of 'Why', Berrocal's half-spoken, half-howled exclamations jostling with David Fenech's slashes of dissonant guitar, over Badalamenti-ish, panther-stalk drums. Fenech's origins are in the mail-art scene of the early '90s, when he led the Peu Importe collective in Grenoble, and since then, in addition to his own recordings he has worked as a software developer at IRCAM and played with Jad Fair, Rhys Chatham and many others. Together with Vincent Epplay he is responsible for Ice Exposure's inspired arrangements and vivid, vertiginous sound design. Epplay is a visual artist and composer with particular interest in aleatory composition, concrete, and the reappropriation of vintage sound and film material. He and Fenech fashion a remarkable mise-en-scene for Berrocal to inhabit, one that embraces cutting-edge electronics while also paying homage to the best traditions of outlaw jazz and libidinous rock'n'roll ('Soundcheck' invokes the brutish spirit of Berrocal's hero Vince 'Rock N Roll Station' Taylor). On 'Blanche de Blanc', Berrocal's voice is framed by a groaning, ghoulish orchestra of industrial drones, while 'Equivoque' evokes the most humid and hostile Fourth World landscapes and 'Panic In Surabaya' lives up to its name, a hectic, pulse-quickening concrète collage that leaves you gasping for air. This is a searching and singular trio operating at the absolute peak of their powers, with an interplay that transcends studio and stage and occurs at an almost telepathic level. Ice Exposure is a triumph of that group mind, an underworld dérive as life-affirming as it is unnerving and psychologically precarious.













Panic In Surabaya

These two really need no introduction, as they have had many releases on some very credible record labels.

Madcap, co label manager of Creative Wax, is known for his nicely rolling style of production and 'Empire Dub' & 'Warning' fit that style just perfectly.
With releases on labels like Mac II, Good Looking and Soul Deep on his list, Elliott has gained a lot of respect throughout the scene.

DJ Trax is mostly known for his connection with Moving Shadow, releasing under the names Mixrace (alongside Paradox) and DJ Trax, but also has a list of great releases for other labels.

His two tracks, 'Alien Forces' & 'Can't Stop Won't Stop' show just how versatile Dave's style of production can be. It's an honour to have both of these legends finally representing Skeleton.

First time release of these live-recordings by Phill Niblock from 2007 and 2019.

A SIDE

UNMOUNTED / MUTED NOUN, 2019: for organ AND 4 pre-recorded tracks. Commissioned by Musica Festival Strasbourg for Hampus Lindwall

B SIDE

NAGRO (AKA - ORGAN), 2007: for organ and tape. Tape material was recorded May 1, 2007 at the Joseph Gatto Organ (1787) in Sankt Kirchberg am Wagram, Austria by Emanuel Schmelzer-Ziringer

PAN tout a real beauty with Stine Janvin’s scintillating vocal suite ‘Fake Synthetic Music’ - a transfixing and distinguished demonstration of the voice as a hugely flexible instrument, presented in a range of minimalist yet extreme, probing scenarios providing a radical new perspective on familiar sounds.
Conceived as a full-body physical and ambient live performance for theatres, clubs and galleries, ‘Fake Synthetic Space’ is an intently focussed and singular follow-up to Stine’s previous solo LP ‘In Labour’ Pica Disk, 2014 and her input to last year’s Native Instrument release ‘Camo’ for Shelter Press. Where both of those releases found her vocals combined with field recordings in myriad ways, the Norwegian artist’s latest side is stripped right back to vocals and FX, offering a visceral investigation of her full frequency range with results that explore the deeply uncanny auditory phenomena of otoacoustic emissions in melodic, minimal sequences referencing pop, techno, and trance.
Placed in a broad history of extended vocal investigation ranging from Dadaist poetry to the resonant acoustics of Alvin Lucier, the minimalist abstraction of Steve Reich, and the unearthly sonic spectrum covered by Maja Ratkje, ‘Fake Synthetic Music’ is anchored in the modern day by its use of clinically technoid pulses and repetition, and not least by its ambiguous title, especially in the age of fake news. Through the prism of the voice, Stine both literally and metaphorically reflects contemporary obsessions with authenticity and artifice, using trickery and illusion to strangely reinforce her own sense of self and likewise provide listeners with a life affirming experience.
Between the alien cadence of ‘Mood’, the playfully invasive sounds elicited from Glitch’, and most strikingly in the mesmerising stereo swing of ‘Like Right Now’, Stine presents genuinely shocking rearrangements of her voice quite unlike anything out there right now, and by the time the escalating pitches of ‘Tripple A’ and the whooping avant-jazz-techno of ‘Zen Garden’ have exerted
their effect, it’s becomes patently, piercingly clear that Stine’s sound art operates on a remarkably incisive plane of synaesthetic perception.

Since 2004, Shogun Audio has left an indelible footprint on the Drum & Bass scene and are now proud to release this beautiful 3 x 12" limited edition box set including an exclusive collectable signed print from label bosses Friction and K-Tee.

This celebratory 15 Years compilation comes in a custom made slip case and consists of 15 brand new tracks from artists past and present - highlighting our ever-growing team and extended family who have contributed to Shogun Audio inventory over the years.

Shogun Audio has been responsible for breaking many of today's drum & bass stars, and releasing some of the genre’s biggest anthems. 2019 marks fifteen years since the label started and the drum & bass juggernaut is showing no signs of slowing down!

Classy, & highly effective breakbeats tinged IDM Techno / Electro hybrids.

Opening with 'Squid Girls', the A side emphasises the washed-out gloom we're used to from Agrippa. The title track, however, drives his rhythmic intentions home in no uncertain terms, and exemplifies his recent progression towards producing certified depth charges, strictly for club deployment.

On the flip, Agrippa further demonstrates an aptitude for creating sounds with a wonky edge to them. The low-passed, scything lead in 'Spice Raiders' harks back to his 2018 release on Version, and rolls along with similarly battering perc. While the rumbling lows and sparkling tops of 'Scabs' fall away in a decidedly minor key, ending the communication on a characteristically sombre note.

Clearlight brings his wonderfully tripped out production wizardry to Foundation Audio for a 3 track journey into the void!

Clearlight has always stood out from the crowd and pushed boundaries with his unique take on the genre. It sounds like dubstep swallowed a bottle of LSD… or smoked some DMT… There’s no point going into detailed track summary as it won’t do the music justice, - just sit back, spark one up and get sucked into another dimension.

The expression of two years' field recording on the Greek islands of Kalymnos and Lesbos — deep inside a network of caves, and in the teeth of torrential winter storms — with added strings, grand piano, live drumming and orchestral percussion, in it's confluence of 'modern classical, metallic drone, dark ambient, and fuzz'. Guided by Steve Reich, Mika Vainio and Henri Bergson, haunted and spurred by the refugee crisis.

It's the third album by drøne for Pomperipossa Records - Anna von Hausswolff's label. drøne is called 'Mark Van Hoen' and 'Mike Harding' - and for 'The Stilling', guest musicians include Charlie Campagna (Player for Cello & double bass), Katt Newlon (Also Cello) & Zachary Paul (Player of Violin). With the trademark drøne sounds of static, radio voices, field recordings, modular synths and found sounds, recording chance sounds right up to the final mix add to the dynamism and energy of the album.

In the last few years, Lewis James has gone from being an artist on the rise to establishing himself as one of the most exciting act to emerge from electronic music. His debut EP on Exit Records backs this statement up without question. The features on the EP speak for themselves: Lorn, dBridge and Alia Fresco. Aesthetically Lewis James has put together an EP that traverses different shades of electronica whilst not losing a sense of identity, an identity that is truly Lewis James by way of Exit Records.

The fair was a symbol of the unity of the estate – a multi-ethnic working class community bound together both by the looming presence of the car factory (where a massive portion of the residents worked) but also the long simmering social divide in Oxford. Since the founding of Oxford University, the country’s elite have needed people to do their dirty work, predictably exploiting and marginalising them in the process. As the city and its colleges expanded, so these communities were ushered out of town. The tensions between the classes reached a flash point repeatedly throughout the centuries, and it was no different during the 1991 riots on the Blackbird Leys estate.

As with similar riots elsewhere in Britain – Brixton, St Pauls, Toxteth, and elsewhere – heavy handed, not to mention misguided, police tactics loom large in the story, where the elite and the authorities fail to understand the community, how and why it functions the way it does.

Drawing on this snapshot of Oxford life, far from the international facade of the city’s privilege and power, with a deep-rooted, personal perspective, Low End Activist channels the raw energy and expression of Muzikon’s sound and frames it in the dread bass pressure that such soundsystems directly led to. It’s not dark music, but rather an intense one, defiant and proud like the Blackbird Leys community and so many of the social situations that gave rise to rave culture in the late 80s and early 90s.

The people from the estate would take their skill, knowledge and access to ‘the factory’ and use it to joyride high-end sports cars – a celebration of personal liberty in the face of social barriers enforced by the very people who would buy such things. Now Low End Activist applies his own craft to an amazing artefact from decades past, not so much joyriding with it as respectfully doffing his cap to the community in a show of solidarity, letting the jubilant sound play out once more.

DJ Support
Nina Kraviz "Thank you for the music! sounds dope!"
Toddla T "Low end activist stuff is weighty. sold.. sick story too"
Denham Audio "Really like this EP man! can really hear the influences"
Plastician "Yes mate some interesting bits in there! Old school vibes, enjoyed the use of the samples too."

Blawan, dBridge, Sim Hutchins, 96 Back, Szare, DJ Plead, Breaka, Dr.Banana, Loraine James, Perko, Gigsta, Nazira, DJ Barely Legal, Vladimir Ivkovic, Appleblim, West Norwood Cassette Library, Barker, Nick Craddock, Rob Smith/ RSD, Etch, Minimalviolence, Kate Miller, Photonz, FaltyDL, Filter Dread, Wheelman, Dead Man's Chest, Morgan Wright, Pugilist, upsammy, Sinstarr, Addison Groove + more to follow

"Drugstore phones" is a double LP from Russian wizard Piper Spray. This enigmatic producer is a hidden gem of Russian electronic underground. The album is taking you on an unexpected trip in many ways - it's hard to define the genre but one can feel the author's willingness to experiment and explore new sounds. This sonic documentary of Piper's world is breathing and constantly changing, though it's the most balanced and mature work of the author. A spectacular opener for GOST ZVUK's gatefold LP series.

After a busy year putting on the hypest club nites and radio shows all across town, the Munich based club label Ruffhouse joins forces with the dynamic duo of Schlachthofbronx and their Rave & Romance imprint to bring you a long awaited 10“ record by Tymotica - a founding Member of Ruffhouse who now resides in Berlin.

Primarily Known As Codex Empire, Mahk Rumbae Slides His Antechamber Project Over To Horo For An Ep Of Crushing, Relentless Stagger-tech.

Following On From His S/t Antechamber Debut For Instruments Of Discipline, Rift Sees The Artists Minimalist Brutality Refined Into An Even More Dominant Language. From The Nightmare Grinds Of Dagger Complex And Rift To The Sinister Rhythm Of Repudiation And The Conjuring Ambience That Emanates From Arch Of Hysteria, The Rift Ep Offers An Intimidating Assemblage Of Doom Laden Sonics. The Limited Vinyl Edition Of This Release Is A 10" Cut Onto A 12" Plate.