Beats News

Serendipities surround the collaboration between Berlin's Stroboscopic Artefacts label founder Lucy and their most recent record with Malaysian Bangkok based emerging artist Wanton Witch. The release culminates in the reimagining of WW debut LP as seen and felt through the lens of Lucy. This is a follow up full-length album by Lucy not approached as a usual remixes record, but instead a fully fleshed out new body of work with the WW material being an integral part of Lucy's sonic palette.

Despite the label hiatus during the first year of lockdowns, the isolation of the pandemic helped create a fertile ground for a back and forth between Wanton Witch and Lucy's own distinct sound palettes to collide. With the normal every day pressures of touring lifted and enlightened by WW's sonic world, Lucy has seen this as a positive opportunity to manifest new pathways of connectivity and process a phase of personal growth. Not simply about the breaking of gender lines, but also about the blurring of creative boundaries, especially when making music.

Lucy's original patronage of Wanton Witch and her relatively fresh and new voice in the electronic music scene can be seen as a contribution to this idea of dismantling industry norms. In more than a decade of SA operations this is a reset moment for the label's mission focusing on empowering new talent, refreshing and growing with them, presenting a dynamic two-way process bewtween the label as a whole and the individual artists output.

Lucy's personal revolution has coincided with Wanton Witch's own discovery of her musical voice and their paths have created a synchronicity. This osmosis of thought and feeling, even through massive distances, can be so real and tangible. Lucy's new album is a testament to the power of connective tissue in collaboration. It is this catalyst of realisation that has allowed the creative work to flourish under the toughest of pandemic conditions.

Balmat is a new label with a cloudy outline.

Jointly shepherded by Philip Sherburne and Albert Salinas, two friends living in Cardedeu, Catalonia, and on the Balearic island of Menorca, Balmat grew out of Lapsus Radio, a weekly show on Spain’s Radio 3. Balmat’s mission is simple: to foster new ideas, expand upon personal obsessions, and put enveloping sounds out into the world.

“Balmat” means “empty” or “void” in Catalan. But quite apart from any negative connotations, we prefer to think of it in terms of possibility: a space waiting to be filled.

Balmat’s first release comes from Luke Sanger, a Norwich, UK-based artist whose two decades of electronic music making have encompassed a range of tools and techniques, from MaxMSP to modular synthesis. Along the way he has built an extensive catalog encompassing ambient atmospheres, abstract soundscaping, and more. With Languid Gongue, he puts multiple approaches into play. Experiments in microtonal composition balance out pieces in standard tunings, while esoteric electronic machines merge with familiar acoustic treatments and microphone techniques.

The result is a constellation of his signature sounds: freeform new-age fantasia; spring-loaded toytronic arpeggios; quartz-driven braindance clockworks. Drifting between consonant, almost lyrical compositions and shape-shifting textural sketches, the album drifts with the nonchalance of a sky-high cirrus cloud, and it glows as if illuminated from within. When we heard the material, we knew that it was the perfect choice to launch the label. To us, it sounds like a roadmap for points unknown.

Lunar3 means handcrafted liquid drum & bass, jungle, dub played live on stage. We are back with lots of new music and take you into the universe of Lunar3. You can be curious and look forward to what music we will be releasing in the near future

Mårble is the alias of musician and multi-instrumentalist Anton Glebov. “1691” is his first solo long-playing album after quite a long break, and this is a great comeback! The album is filled with spiritual and spaced-out jazz-inspired music, recorded mainly by Mårble all by himself in his former studio in Saint Petersburg during the years 2021 and 2022. The studio was a big inspiration for Anton. He and his friends made a really special place, where instead of their home studios, they finally had no limits and could play and record music with ease. Even the name of the album is an homage to the studio; the number of the studio’s door was 1691.

At the time when the album was in the process of making, Mårble was listening to a lot of Afro-Cuban music and Latin jazz. You start to hear it from the first seconds, and it’s such a unique blend of these genres and his rich musical experience and vision. “1691” is full of different moods and echoes, and yet it is a really complete work. The album starts with the track “Unified Force” and ends with “Magic”, those are two “new-agy”, spiritual tracks where your mind just wants to drift on the soundwaves peacefully, but in-between you get a huge variety of compositions. Each one has its own unique story that needs to be heard. Some of the tracks on the album are more intense, like “Chomga”, “3th of December” or “Pedritto”, where suddenly you get sounds of slightly distorted trumpet or singing in Portuguese/gibberish, and other tracks with a more relaxed atmosphere, like “Jr. Pomidor” you can almost call Balearic. Also, can’t forget to mention the great work of saxophone and flute player Slavik Ipatov who has recorded parts for tracks “Boss Latinoss”, “Yog Cave” and “Pedritto”.

The artwork for this record was made by an artist Alisa Gvozdeva, who’s been working on previous Mårble releases a lot. On the back of the “1691” vinyl record cover, you will be able to see the drawing of the studio, thanks to which the recording of this album became possible.

“1691” is a truly great and unique album from start to finish, and we hope you’ll enjoy it just like we do.

Plastik People boss Mark Cotterell keeps up the good form he sowed in 2022 with his first EP of 2023. It comes on Rhythm Vibe and features two more of his well-designed and well-swung garage-house groovers.

'Take You For A Ride' has choppy drums and hits with fresh piano stabs and soulful vocals and 'Move To The Groove' then gets a little deeper but with similar ingredients. A Ross Couch mix takes it into more airy and floaty territory while Mike Millrain's mix of 'Take You For A Ride' brings the 90s vibes.

Following up the massive conceptual "AH-FREE-KA" EP this time Marc Mac homes in on the Jamaican influence in broken beat. The mixture of Afro-Latin electro drums, dub style mix-downs and heavy bass-lines result in another instant BRUK floor filler, not for the faint hearted.

Artwork by Mitchy Bwoy is the icing on this musical biscuit. Available on limited edition vinyl and digital.

Usual support expected from a wide range of eclectic DJs and radio.

Banabila returns with a second LP release on Knekelhuis. The renowned Dutch producer is up there among the stars when it comes to ambient music and the so-called ‘fourth world’ legacy. On this eleven-track album, we witness soul-wrenching, kraut-tinted, and early-yet-modernist electronics.

Coming from his heart, these imaginative recordings center around otherworldly voices – fictional characters chanting in a made-up language, imbued with a captivating spirit, transcending linguistic barriers. Through remarkable complexity and technique, 'Unspeakable Visions' is full of sonic textures, together evoking a layered, emotional arc.

While the track 'Rattles' still references the artist's first album on Knekelhuis, 'Echo Transformations', the style of most other tracks departs towards an intriguing new mix of both pop-infused songs and gloomy abstraction, balancing between a sense of anticipation and desolation.

New album by the Berlin-based musician, composer and producer MIDORI HIRANO aka MIMICOF, entirely recorded using the EMS SYNTHI100 at Electronic Studio Radio Belgrade during an artist residency: contemporary electronic music / ambient for the advanced listener.

Midori Hirano is a Japanese musician, composer and producer based in Berlin. She started learning the piano as a child and later studied classical piano at university. Therefore the music she releases under her own name is based on the use of piano, but yet experimental and an eclectic mixture of modern digital sounds with subtle electronic processing and field recordings. So far, Hirano released 7 solo albums under her civilian name on labels such as Sonic Pieces and DAUW.

Under the moniker MimiCof she explores the realm of more experimental music and detailed rhythmic patterns, combined with an idea of drawing melodic shapes and harmonies. As MimiCof she performed at prestigious festivals and events such as CTM, Heroines of Sound Festival, Boiler Room Berlin and L.E.V. Festival, and was selected by Frank Bretschneider for the first volume of the "Sichten" compilation series on his raster label.

Besides producing her own works, Hirano has composed music for dance performances, video installations and films which have been screened at Berlin International Film Festival, Krakow Film Festival, SXSW Film Festival and HongKong International Film Festival (among others) and remixed tracks by artists including Rival Consoles, Foam And Sand aka Robot Koch, Liars and Pascal Schumacher.

While the last MimiCof album "Moon Synch" (2017, Alien Transistor) was recorded on the Buchla analogue modular Synthesizer at EMS Elektronmusikstudion in Stockholm, her latest effort "Distant Symphony" (the 4th as MimiCof) was created on a different synthesizer: the EMS SYNTHI 100 Synthesizer at Radio Belgrade. All sounds from this instrument were recorded as single sound samples at first, then mixed and modified into three long pieces of music, so that the audience can experience the machine's uniqueness and versatility of sound. Hirano understands this work as a gesture of respect for the SYNTHI 100's character: though a vintage instrument, it has never lost the beauty of its modern sound.

Retail version: 100 copies only

"The sea as the engine of imagination. Imagination as the engine to overcome the sea." Cees van den Oever"

Originally released in 1982 on tape.Paperless heat stamped special edition record kind of thing. *

The second studio album from Nigerian-German singer/ songwriter Nneka, No LongerAt Ease is a politically charged collection of songs which fuses an eclectic combination of Jamaican reggae, ‘70s soul-funk, drum’n’bass, and electronica. It is inspired by the Chinua Achebe novel of the same name. Its 15 tracks that are given a lo-fi edge, tackle a range of tough subjects, from the Niger Delta struggle to government corruption, to religious hypocrisy. This release features the single “Walking” for the first time on vinyl, and contains the tracks “Heartbeat”, “Suffri” and “Mind vs. Heart” a.o. Additionally, the album features performances by Pat Attah and Wesley Williams

official re-issue

Continuing its journey between decades, this time Repeat Repeat Repeat pays homage to Jason Goodings' - half of the pioneering jungle / drum & bass duo Hidden Agenda - sought-after Basics EP which originally came out under his NOS alias in 2001 on the Swiss record label Straight Ahead. Genre-wise, the EP itself was compiled with a good sense of proportion, including elements of breakbeat and garage, chilled house sound, tight drum & bass rhythms and warm downtempo moments.

Oblicuo, Madrid-based techno artist announces debut EP 'Another Possible Version' due March 4.

Where To Now? are proud to present the new album from Irish born, NY based Orlando FitzGerald. Previously recording as ‘Orlando’, FitzGerald has released music via ‘Local Action’, ‘Gobstopper’, and All City affiliated label ‘First Second’. Where Orlando’s previous works have focused on the dance floor, here we see a pivot towards a Cello led sound which embraces experimentation, space, and solitude.

FitzGerald's approach to music is born from punk, and he carries this DIY approach towards the weighty world of the Cello. With no formal training FitzGerald instead takes an intuitive approach, quietly seeking out expression and treating his sounds to create a unique basin of tension, warmth, and paced release. With percussive contributions from Matthew Byas (of Phony Ppl), restrained Sax skronk from the brilliant Kate Mohanty, synth work from Evan Shornstein (also known as Photay), and vocals from none other than NY Post-Punk legend Anna Domino, FitzGerald has created a cinematic record that moves between worlds of unnerving dread, and lush, hopeful melancholy.

‘Slow Drift’ opens with the unsettling ‘Infinite Life’, where layered Cello and Sax murmur set the scene and accompanying bass rattle evokes the feeling of mechanical motor drift. This melding of the mechanical and organic will become a central theme to the album. ‘Anticipate The Heat’ follows, with the album's most Jazzwise moment - where Byas' scattered hand drums punctuate Mohanty’s mellow flutters.

‘Wind’ is where we find Orlando at his most cinematic and melodic, presenting a serene, bubbling movement where hushed picking and restrained playing recalls the quiet ambience of Helios, or the melancholy of Bruce Langhorne at his most desert swept, staring into an endless horizon.

‘Unfolding’ opens with Anna Domino’s unmistakably fragile, sensual, and affecting vocals, for which the Cello compliments in call and response fashion, allowing Anna’s vocals to lead, creating a moment which appears to explore themes of regeneration, loss, and hope - which again, is refracted and responded to by Orlando.

Next we have a triptych of ‘Grid’ movements, which continue to explore the above themes, drifting between meditative minimalism and abstract discordance with hypnotic effect - Orlando approaches these pieces with such considered interplay, fully embracing space, silence, and cyclical repetition to create a devastatingly emotive, and desolate landscape, which continuously attempts to regain focus, yearning for stillness.

Finally the album ends with "One" a meditation on wholeness and unity where moody, yet serene guitars balance wailing cello.

Four years on since the portal to Glasgow outsider artist Kay Logan's Otherworld creaked open for the first time, we sit back and admire 'Mad Wee Light' in newly remastered form. Committed to both black and white vinyl editions, her masterpiece glows like a restored AI generated painting, binary scrubbed and winding with fractal strangeness towards its core.

Praise for Otherworld, from Boomkat:

"Stunning, perfectly zonked and secretive drone visions from Kay Logan's Otherworld for her Anxiety bandmate Michael Kasparis' ever-surprising Night School - a real shout for fans of Zoviet France, Two Daughters, Coil, Kevin Drumm

A lowkey jaw-dropper ... The music is really of the rarest drone ambient ilk, spun from real instruments and tape loops with a sort of supernatural, atavistic and prelinguistic quality that gets us slack jawed and heavy-lidded in the most special way.

Spanning tracts of scudding windswept ambience recalling the lushest sort of loopy ambient regressions of Zoviet France, to rawly Scelsi-esque one note drone intensities and the kind of acidic didgeridoo scapes Coil would dream of, Otherworld is making exactly the kind of quietly immanent, life-affirming, expansive musick that we need right now..."

Otherworld is Kay Logan, a multi-disciplinary artist, instrumentalist and sound engineer from Airdrie, now living in Glasgow. Her guitar and bass work in sweaty, thrashing outfits like Herbert Powell and Anxiety are an inverse corollary to the curious tapestries in which Otherworld takes shape. The preternatural stylistic sensibility Logan exhibits in all of her work isn't limited to sound, either – she's a prodigious visual artist with the kind of signature sartorial sensibility that could launch a thousand ships, or lookalikes. Logan's Otherworld project is a musique concrete excursion likely to appeal to fans of Zoviet France or Coil.

In the heady days prior to the pandemic, on October 23, 2019, Pye Corner Audio headlined Sonic Cathedral’s 15th birthday bash at The Social in London (on a bill that also included bdrmm and Andy Bell). Now, following a limited cassette release in 2020, the incendiary performance – which mixes improvisations with reworked material from across his career – has been remastered by Antony Ryan (ISAN) and is to be made available on vinyl for the first time. Wryly titled ‘Social Dissonance’, it comes on green and blue swirl vinyl in a striking fluoro green and neon blue sleeve by designer Marc Jones. “This is a recording of a gig in a small space with a big heart,” says Pye Corner Audio, aka Martin Jenkins. “A memory of a night before the world changed completely. However, new alliances were formed and friendships made in that basement in Little Portland Street.” Indeed, Pye Corner Audio went on to collaborate with Andy Bell on an acclaimed series of remixes and the Ride guitarist returned the favour by playing on some new recordings that will be coming out on Sonic Cathedral later this year.

Pye Corner Audio releases an EP of remixes by Spacemen 3 legend Sonic Boom on October 28. Let’s Remerge! takes three tracks from the recent album Let’s Emerge! – which went to Number One in the Official Charts’ dance chart following its release in July – and gives them all appropriately weird and wonderful twists. ‘Haze Loops’ gets turned inside out, the smoke clearing to reveal some new shoots; Andy Bell’s guitar is brought to the fore on ‘Saturation Point’, keeping things together as the rest of the track spins out of control in the background, like a cross between Khruangbin and Ennio Morricone; previous single ‘Warmth Of The Sun’ is put through an acid blender, blurring all the edges and giving us one much-needed final hit of serotonin as the summer recedes into the distance.

“When Nat from Sonic Cathedral said we should ask Sonic Boom for a remix, I thought he was kidding, but as a huge Spacemen 3 fan I felt we should give it a shot,” says Pye Corner Audio, aka Martin Jenkins. “Happily, he ended up remixing three tracks and I couldn’t have been more pleased with the results. He really took them somewhere special.” “Friends kept mentioning Pye Corner Audio. Friends with good taste. And when I listened, I could hear why,” says Sonic Boom, aka Pete Kember, who has just released Reset, his acclaimed collaboration with Panda Bear. “When Sonic Cathedral approached me about a remix, with Andy Bell in tow to boot, I asked for the stems of the three tracks that I liked the most… and sometimes in life things just flow. “Three tracks and three remixes later, here we are, finally sending them off into the world to do their thing and for us to float and oscillate into their textures. These songs were medicine during troubled times for me. I can’t think of a better endorsement.” Praise for Let’s Emerge! “It was an amazing thing to realise that people connected so positively with Let’s Emerge!” says Martin, “as it was such a personal record to make.”

“The sound of an artist surfacing from his dank hypogean world and embracing a new warmth”
– Mojo

“The music has a radiant glow, reflecting the white heat of lysergic exploration”
– Clash

“Epic and ambitiously so”
– Moonbuilding

“A beautiful blur swaddled in echoing, blissed-out guitars”
– Uncut

“Pure acid-soaked bliss”
– Shindig!

“One of the year’s most exciting electronic releases. Brings warmth and optimism to a year that has so far lacked many reasons to be cheerful”
– Electronic Sound

“Blending art-rock minimalism, experimental synths and blissed-out Balearica… Let’s Emerge! is an unexpected feel good hit of the summer”
– The Arts Desk

White Marbled Vinyl

Rico Friebe (otherwise known as Rico Puestel) enters the stage, carrying the weight of his peerless debut album "Jenni". Based on completely unanticipated events from personal matters, the album quickly emerged during a state of deeper challenges, worries and depression, subversively operating as reprocessing and self-reflective counselling in a state of uncertainty. A fusion of electronic and organic origins, combining sensitive production work and vintage songwriting, tells an incisive story within a widespread stilistic diversity from the realms of Ambient, Trip Hop and beyond. An album of esteem and acknowledgement with a deeply personal tiding. A salute, a tribute, a reminder.

Rico Friebe (sonstig umtriebig als Rico Puestel) betritt die Bühne, die Last seines vergleichlosen Debüt-Albums "Jenni" tragend. Auf gänzlich unabsehbaren Geschehnissen persönlicher Natur basierend, entstand das Album in einer sehr kurzen, dennoch hochgradig intensiven Zeit tiefgehender Herausforderungen, Sorgen und Depressionen und fungierte daraufhin zugleich als Methode der Aufarbeitung und Therapie im Status der Ungewissheit. Die Fusion elektronischer und organischer Ursprünge, die einer Vereinung feinfühliger Produktion und klassischen Songwritings zugewandt ist, eröffnet die Erzählungen zu einer einschneidenden Geschichte mit dem Sprachrohr breitgefächerter, stilistischer Strömungen aus den Sphären von Ambient, Trip Hop und darüber hinaus. Ein Album voller Wertschätzung und Anerkennung mit einer zutiefst persönlichen Botschaft. Ein Salut, eine Widmung und Mahnung zugleich.

A welcome re-press since Em's reissue from way back in '09. Young's first venture into radical, spiritual jazz with atmospherics and electronics, from 1980, still inspires.

"Social injustices are implanted into our society, and the powerful are not willing to make way for real change. Urgency is the force driving us both in musical improvisation and life. Our sounds are war sirens against an ongoing disaster."- Simon Grab & Francesco Giudici

Simon Grab & Francesco Giudici's 'No Surrender' is a strong and uncut manifest against social injustices, packed into screaming feedbacks and towering drones. Grab lures tender noises and pulsating frequencies from his fragile no-input-mixing-setup, while Giudici adds linear and visceral guitar drones, opening a dialogue between the two musicians, the room, and the surrounding context. Together, they create a uniquely soft but angry musical creature that feeds from emotions of loss and anger to become a haunting call for change.

The album's cover presents a portrait of 'Madame Rochat' by photographer and film maker Aline d'Auria. The seemingly indestructible concierge was stripped from her home of half a century on the day of her retirement. Still, she persistently continued to fight for the working class' rights. '

Focusing on reduction and the peculiarity of self-referential systems, Simon Grab plays fragile feedbacks, pulsating drones and opulent outbursts of noise on a no-input-mixing setup. His has previously released"Posthuman Species" and "Extinction" on -OUS, while "Diamonds", a collaboration with Togolese rapper Yao Bobby and Asian Dub Foundation's Dhangsha, came out via LavaLava.

Experimental musician and sociologist Francesco Giudici plays guitar in bands and creates music for films, installations and theatre pieces. He has released three albums with his band 'Black Fluo' on PulverUndAsche Records. His research as sociologist and demographer focuses on social and economic inequalities, social gradient in health, gender inequalities, occupational and familiar life trajectories.

With a service record that includes excursions on Dub Communication, Soil & Sound and Brightest Dark Place, Skruff was the ideal candidate to operate the 12th descent.

The results: two tracks that deftly straddle the line between conscious roots music of old and the vast, cavernous soundscapes of contemporary dub.

Limited run, hand stamped, available exclusively on vinyl.

Five tracks from hot new Ninja act

Before drum‘n’bass there was Jungle. Born on the progressive reggae sound systems of the early 1990s, jungle was the UK’s answer to dancehall and one of Soul II Soul’s enduring legacies - take what’s already there and adapt it to make it unique. Fittingly, next up on the Funki Dred label are two of 1995’s most elusive jungle mixes: the sought after version of 'Missing You', giving vocal outtakes a deserved new life; and Dillinger’s Genius mix of 'Do You Love Enuff'. Both only previously available as limited-edition white labels, each has a strictly junglist foundation – edgy, headrush and dubwise haziness – overlaid with dreamy Funki Dred-style vocals, as Soul II Soul in the jungle gives a distinctive take on an under-appreciated black British style.

Soul Jazz Records Deutsche Elektronische Music Volume 2 is now available as two separate double LPs for the first time in over 10 years!!

Soul Jazz Records’ ‘Deutsche Elektronische Musik 2’ is their second voyage into the world of Krautrock and German electronic music from the 1970s and early 1980s.

Two double LPs (with over 2½ hours of amazing music) features a stunning line-up of seminal German groups, including Can, Faust, Popul Vuh, Neu!, Cluster, Amon Düül II, La Düsseldorf, as well as a host of lesser known and more obscure groups and artists such as Agitation Free, Bröselmaschine, Niagara and many more.
As well as the original pioneers, ‘Deutsche Elektronische Musik 2’ also features many of the second wave of German electronic artists and groups from the late 70s and early 80s (DAF, Asmus Tietchens, Rolf Trostel), who successfully connected new wave, minimal synth and a European post punk avant-gardism with the earlier more established Krautrock pioneers who began at the start of the 70s.
Influenced as much by the electronic experimentalism of Stockhausen as the progressive rock of USA and UK underground rock, young German artists seamlessly created a new music with its own unique identity, which they ironically entitled Krautrock. By the end of the 1970s, with the arrival of new wave synthetics and complex drum machines, this music had mutated once again into new electronic visions reflecting a new Germany.

The vinyl edition comes in two volumes of heavyweight, super-loud vinyl double albums, featuring all sleevenotes and text.

Dutch pioneer Sp@sms returns to U-TRAX with 'From A 20th Century Box' LP, backed with remixes from Bloody Mary and Cosmic Force

On 'From the 20th Century Box' Arno Peeters, aka Sp@sms, returns to U-TRAX with his debut full-length album. Showcasing years of sonic exploration stemming from his time in various groups including Random XS and Voltage Control amongst others, the LP also draws from his experience studying and teaching music at the Centre for Electronic Music as well as his work in project-based sound design.

Filled to the brim with pulsating arpeggios, crunchy drums and dark, moody atmospheres, the LP is marked by a retro yet timeless feel. Inbetween its snaking, squelchy synth lines and old school electro grooves Sp@sms masterfully incorporates playful textures and elements from found recordings and unused projects, resulting in a vastly versatile and experimental album fusing all things techno, acid and EBM.

An expert lesson in sound design and composition taught by one of the Netherlands' most trusted and experienced artists, the LP also contains remixes from Dame Music's Bloody Mary and Utrecht electro stalwart Cosmic Force and arrives via heavyweight, colored double vinyl, digital, CD and cassette mediums.

As is typical for a U-TRAX release, each physical version has its own set of tracks. The vinyl and CD versions also come with a in-depth interview with Arno Peeters, as well as extensive background notes for each track (on the album's inner sleeves and a 24 page booklet, respectively).

The team at Diskotopia are extremely proud to present London via Tbilisi producer Sseq's debut self-titled LP. Sseq has been honing his craft over the past several years releasing music as part of the Body Thrills duo as well as DJing and playing live at Georgian clubs and festivals before making his move to the UK. Here on his stunning self-titled debut LP, Sseq materializes twelve abstracted and microcosmic jewels of interdimensional techno alchemy. The compositions bend and weave, flutter and spiral across synthetic textures and abstract rhythmic expressions that at once beguile and inspire. Sseq's sound is like an interstellar interpretation of what a sentient Buchla synth might dream of in zero gravity. RIYL Actress, Beatrice Dillon, Patten, Drexciya, Pole, and Björk-era Mark Bell productions. Sseq's debut LP was mastered by Dominic Clare at Declared Sound and will be available as a limited-edition cassette.

Red Vinyl

"The tape is bleak, quite literally – the entire narrative is subsumed by the slate-grey oppression of winter, seemingly every scene soaked by perpetual torrents of North West rain. In fact, you'll probably never find a better evocation of the foul weeks before the respite of Christmas sparkle; those late November days of frozen, sodden-coated darkness on the silent walk home from work." – Stonecirclesampler.

2024 Repress

Finders Keepers invite you to witness the incredible first ever Buchla synthesiser concerts/demonstrations providing a distinctive feminine alternative to The Silver Apples Of The Moon if they had ever been presented in phonographic form. This is history in the remaking.

This spring Finders Keepers Records are proud to release an archival project that not only redefines musical history but boasts genuine claim to the overused buzzwords such as pioneering, maverick, experimental, groundbreaking and esoteric, while questioning social politics and the evolution of music technology as we've come to understand it. To describe this records as a game-changer is an understatement. This record represents a musical revolution, a scientific benchmark and a trophy in the cabinet of counter culture creativity. This record is a triumphant yardstick in the synthesiser space race and the untold story of the first woman on the proverbial moon. While pondering the early accolades of this record it's daunting to learn that this record was in fact not a record at all... It was a manifesto and a gateway to a new world, that somehow never quite opened. If the unfamiliar, modernistic, melodic, pulses, tones and harmonics found on this 1975 live presentation/grant application/educational demonstration had been placed in a phonographic context alongside the promoted work of Morton Subotnick, Walter Carlos or Tomita then the name Suzanne Ciani and her influence would have already radically changed the shape, sound and gender of our record collections. Hopefully there is still chance.

In short, Suzanne was a self-imposed twenty-year-old employee of the Buchla modular synthesiser company, San Francisco's neck and neck contender to New York's Moog. Buchla was run by a community of festival freaks and academic acid eaters whose roots in new age lifestyles and the reinvention of art and music replaced the business acumen enjoyed by its likeminded East Coasters. In the eyes of the consumer the creative refusal to adopt rudimentary facets like a piano keyboard controller rendered the Buchla synthesiser the more obscure stubborn sister of the synth marathon, steering these incredible units away from the mainstream into the homes and studios of free music aficionados, art house composers and die-hard revolutionaries. Championed and semi-showcased by composer Morton Subotnick on his albums The Bull and Silver Apples Of The Moon, Buchla's versatility began to open the minds of a new generation, but the high-end design features and no-compromise modus operandi was often confused with incompatibility and, in the pulsating shadow of Moog's marketing, the revolution would not be televised nor patronised. Suzanne Ciani, as one of the very few female composers on the frontline (and also providing the back line) did not lose faith.

These concerts' are the epitome of rare music technology historic documents, performed by a real musician whose skills and academic education in classical composition already outweighed her male synthesiser contemporaries of twice her age. At the very start of her fragile career these recordings are nothing short of sacrificial ode to her mentor and machine, sonic pickets of the revolution and love letters to an absolutely genuine vision of and 'alternative' musical future. In denouncing her own precocious polymathmatic past in a bid to persuade the world to sing from a new hymn sheet, Suzanne Ciani created a bi-product of never before heard music that would render the pigeon holes ambient' and futuristic' utterly inadequate. Providing nothing short of an entirely different feminine take on the experimental records' of Morton Subotnick and proving to a small, judgmental audience and jury the true versatility of one of the most radical and idiosyncratic musical instruments of the 20th century. These recordings have not been heard since then.

The importance of these genuinely lost pieces of electronic musics puzzle almost eclipses the glaring detail of Suzanne's gender as a distinct minority in an almost exclusively male dominated, faceless, coldly scientific landscape. Those familiar with Suzanne's work, a vast vault of previously unpublished non-records', will already know how the creative politics in her art of being' simultaneously reshaped the worlds of synth design, advertising and film composition before anyone had even dropped a stylus in her groove. Needless to say this record, finally commanding the archival format of choice, courtesy of the Ciani and Finders Keepers longstanding unison, was not the last first' with which this hugely important composer would gift society, and the future of a wide range of exciting evolving creative disciplines.

You have found a holy grail of electronic music and a female musical pioneer who was too proactive to take the trophies. With the light of Buchla and Ciani's initial flame Finders Keepers continues to take a torch through the vaults of this lesser-celebrated music legacy shining a beam on these non-records' that evaded the limelight for almost half a century. You can't write history when you are too busy making it. With fresh ink in the bottomless well, let's start at the beginning. Again. You, are invited!

The mercurial talent that is SW. back in the building with a new album, and if it weren’t already apparent, OYSTER45 goes some way to assert his place in the pantheon of pioneering producers. In fact, nobody can question his position right at the vanguard of forward-facing dancefloor dynamics.

myDEFINITION part II catches the SUED co-founder as vital as ever. Keeping it on that dusty, low-key flex that has long been his trademark, it harnesses ingenuity to conjure some of the most intriguing gear you’re likely to hear from a limited studio setup. Gone are the hi-tek jazz and ambient flourishes of the near-mythical ‘Untiled’ album, opting, instead, for pure dancefloor headiness. Precision-tooled breakbeats, opulent IDM cybernetics, tuff bleep n’ bass and late nite electro across 10 distinct trax.

Side quests into more abstract realms are fleeting. Dappled melodies evoke warmth in hues of pink and orange but any ambient-dub ephemera quickly dissipates into the peripheries in favour of club-ready pressure. The spectre of mid-‘90s dance music looms large but the SW. blueprint, with its captivating free-form approach, spins those vintage tropes into a distinct sound unto itself. Masterful, cinematic and hallucinatory.

Often drawing comparisons with B12’s seminal brand of ambient techno, SW. will surely be a stylistic reference point in his own right for years to come. Such is the indelible influence he has cast on contemporary electronic music.

A 2024 edition of Terry Riley's »Descending Moonshine Dervishes,« originally recorded live in Berlin in 1975 and released by Kuckuck in 1982. This will be the first time the remastered album has been available since 2016.

Using just intonation and a modified organ, Riley conjures forth a rich and layered sound that challenges the Western ear, reflecting his associations with Indian classical singer Pandit Pran Nath and La Monte Young, whose Well Tuned Piano was well underway. »Descending Moonshine Dervishes« is a virtuosic and kaleidoscopic performance, standing as one of the finest works of a revolutionary composer and musician at the height of his powers.

»Descending Moonshine Dervishes« dates from 1975 and it belongs to a larger Dervish series of compositions whose origins predate Riley’s two signature works of minimalism, »In C« (1968) and »A Rainbow In Curved Air« (1969)… the piece is structured around just intonation, which stretches the listening experience into new areas. Played on a Yamaha organ with a bit of tape delay that allows Riley to duet with himself, the music of »Descending Moonshine Dervishes« is an ear expansion that goes through skittering arpeggios and long, droning notes that indicate something of the many levels that it operates on. – Louise Gray, The Wire Magazine (March 2017)

California composer Terry Riley launched what is now known as the Minimalist movement with his revolutionary classic 'In C' in 1964. This seminal work provided a new concept in musical form based on interlocking repetitive patterns. It's impact was to change the course of 20th century music and it's influence has been heard in the works of prominent composers such as Steve Reich, Philip Glass and John Adams and in the music of rock groups such as The Who, The Soft Machine, Tangerine Dream, and many others. His hypnotic, multi-layered, polymetric, brightly orchestrated eastern flavored improvisations and compositions set the stage for the prevailing interest in a new tonality. Riley has worked with Kronos Quartet, La Monte Young, members of Fluxus, Chet Baker, Pandit Pran Nath, his son Gyan Riley, choreographer Anna Halperin, and many others over the years.

This 7-inch circle of curiosity is packed full of thought provoking expressions, unrelenting dedication to sound design and a clear curiosity for explorative structures.

Taken from Jo David Meyer Lysne’s concerts in Tokyo and Chiba in Japan, 2017 – the remixes by Joar Renolen and John Derek extract from and add to the original recordings in equal measure. What they maintain is a pensive and ethereal essence, complimented with personal sentiments that are reflective of the unique exchange between an artist and their environment.

An overarching message of this work was to focus on the feedback loop between an artist and their environment. The artist impresses their experiences, beliefs and feelings upon their surroundings and the surroundings reply with a life of their own.

Encapsulated in this dynamic relationship between artist and environment is the freedom to express spontaneously and build a journey distanced from traditional parabolic song structures. The desire to question and explore is overt, as always with Dugnad Rec, but it’s clear that the journey is what matters most. Maintaining the high standards of the label, this release bears a stamp of finery from the eloquent work of three pensive musicians.

A1 - Not scary, nor dark, but curious. The warm resonance of low frequencies leaves little room for distraction as the song builds a foreboding mood and we appear to have taken our seats. Interludes of real-life conversation break from quiescence to life and we traverse forward between music and human interactions. The structure opens up into elongated, enduring tones that bear semblance to the whale call, or the eerie chant of ocean sirens.

The piece does not need to confuse for it to be complex. Textural layers allow leads to punctuate and give structure to the field recordings that rise to the fore. We experience feelings of fleeting security before rustling chimes and susurrus whispers lead us away once more.

B1 - A less ominous introduction gives way to an airy and spacious beginning. Gentle chatter arises in the form of field recordings, this time coupled with a celestial tone of voice through thin chimes and pads that could glisten even in the dark. There is a warmth that remains subtle during the piece and as it progresses towards higher octaves, relief seeps deep into the fabric of the sound. Low and slow rumbles lead us away from these celestial gates as we fade back into reality and the song drifts gently to its close.

Uni Son is the new ‘nom de plume’ of Jonathan Pardon aka Just Nathan, a long-time friend of the label and connoisseur of all things classy. So when he sent his album to WPH label boss Red D for an honest opinion and some pointers as to which label would like to release this the die was very easily cast. So for the third artist album on We Play House Recordings we present you ‘Moments In Unity’.

Inspired by those 4AM dancefloor moments where all are one and the whole history of club music ‘Moments In Unity’ is a stunning debut on all accounts. Uni Son has his very own sound that takes in original deep house, Balearic, acid, ambient and a lot more and delivers an instant classic from start to finish that will appeal to a wide variety of ears and tastes. Time to unite, both on and off the dancefloor.

Sleepers Poets Scientists is an Umbrella for female composers and music producers. Vol. 2 compiles 8 Georgian composers: Anushka Chkheidze, Natalie Beridze, sTia, Tamo Nasidze, Tamta Gqarliani, ELY ANN, Nasi Chavchavadze and Nina Simonishvili, all of whom are CES graduates of Music Production course led by Natalie Beridze, one of the most successful Georgian producers on the scene of Georgian electronic music.

The retro cover is a nod to the famous group shot from the 1927 Solvay conference, which brought together physicists like Albert Einstein, Erwin Schrödinger, Marie Curie, and others. With this in mind, the name Sleepers, Poets, Scientists rings like a call to action for today's brightest minds, to wake up and save our chaotic, troubled world.

Year is 2020, in the middle of the pandemic outbreak, “En el fin del mundo, hasta el fin del mundo” (In the end of the world, until the end of the world) is the first production of the Chilean label EMA Records, including local and international artists, active in different musical fields (improv, post rock, electronica, ambient, etc).

The structure and artist selection of “En el fin del mundo, hasta el fin del mundo” has the intention of capturing/expressing the Chilean geography from a soundscape perspective, related to the country's remote geophysical location, submerged in a new gloomy reality, the pandemics. This little exercise was somehow the starting point for each artist to develop their tracks, without any particular disclaimer or artistic restriction. All tracks on the compilation have been previously unreleased by each project, then first came out digitally and now - finally - on vinyl.

The complete compilation (21 tracks) will be released on 3 separate vinyl albums. The first LP is featuring tracks by Pita, Abul Mogard, Pan American and others.

Isoviha was recorded four years ago, inspired by ideas that Sasu Ripatti (aka Vladislav Delay) had been reflecting on for a long time. This album is a counterpart to his two Rakka albums which were a personal reflection on the nature and sound-world of the northern Arctic wilderness, 1000 kilometres north of where he lives on the Finnish island of Hailuoto. It's an area he loves to explore, trekking out alone to enjoy its rugged power. However the sound world of Isoviha is a return to man-made civilization. Musically Isoviha presents a more complicated world than Rakka; overloaded and unpredictable, audio archaeology that layers and juxtaposes everyday sounds into intense sculptures of noise and drone. As a musical observation internally and externally, it's influenced by the heightened anxious intensity Sasu feels when returning from the empty wilderness. The ratcheting up of urban noise on Isoviha is built with insistent loops that seem to malfunction the faster they spiral and the dangerous overwhelming potential of ordinary objects and events: shimmering, hammering, crowds, radio distortion, ancient backfiring engines. It's hypermodern musique concrète, married to a jazz drummer's intuitive sense of rhythm. Going back even further in time but still tethered to the local, Isoviha also means 'the great wrath' and refers to a time in Finland under Russian occupation in the 1700s. A time when all the Islanders of Hailuoto were killed, apart from a single couple who were left to bury the dead. As if time is non-linear, the response to toxicity and madness that drives the album feels even more appropriate now than when it was written four years ago and confirmation that the horrors of the past still darken the present.

Based in rural New Mexico, William Fowler Collins (b.1974) is a composer, recording artist and performer. His music extends across and beyond many genres including drone, minimalism, and free improvisation. He records and performs in both solo and group contexts. Collins has released music on the SIGE, Type, Blackest Rainbow, Handmade Birds, Sicksicksick and Root Strata record labels. In addition to his work as a solo artist, Collins has several collaborations including Thalassa with Aaron Turner and Mesa Ritual with Raven Chacon. He has also collaborated with Marshall Trammell, James Jackson Toth, Mamiffer and is currently working on new music with Margarida Garcia.

Alone Inside the Walls of Night is music for Mellotron, violin, synthesizers, and electric guitar. It was completed in 2022 and is dedicated to Maria Valentina Chirico. It features Heather Trost on violin. Artwork by Chris Bigg.

Absolutely essential. Deluxe 2LP edition of this impeccable album from 1988. The spot glossed Gatefold jacket features artwork including archival photos & drawings from Woo’s archives as well as liner notes by Clive Ives (one half of the band). Issued for the first time in its entirety on vinyl, spread over two LPs, and remastered from newly discovered hi-quality DAT sources, we’re thrilled to present the definitive version of Woo’s most fully-formed album. A cosmic testament to the healing power of love, utilizing vocoded clarinets, pastoral guitars, homespun folk lullabies, and lilting electronics, coalescing into a an hour plus long journey through their otherworldly soundscapes. A prime entry point to Woo’s sound, containing some of their most beloved songs, such as ‘Make Me Tea,’ ‘It’s Love,’ ‘Hopi’ and many others, and also including a never-before heard bonus track – the vocal version of ‘It’s Love.’

Into The Heart Of Love was originally self-released on cassette in 1988, with a wider cassette release in 1990. Compiled from home recordings from the preceding years, and released during a transitional point for the band, the Ives brothers see this album as their most complete work, offering space to the listener to stretch out and immerse themselves into the warmth of their sound.

Woo is the uncategorizable project of Clive and Mark Ives from Brighton, UK. Since the 1970s, the duo have been recording a plethora of eclectic sounds, most falling under the blanket genre of new age, but spiraling out toward notions of ambient sounds, jazz, and other spiritual takes on modern music. They received some acclaim for their early releases, including 1982's Whichever Way You Are Going, You Are Going Wrong and 1989's It's Cosy Inside, but their work began to receive renewed appreciation during the 2010s, when labels such as Drag City and Palto Flats reissued the band's albums. The brothers remained active all the while, digitally self-issuing material.

Loud UK Drum & Bass and Roots Ragga Jungle. Masterpiece for Master Peace Jamasky ! Mastering is louder than ever... The sleeve is wicked ! Enjoy the little Jamaksy special speech bonus on track 5...

This EP is the latest from Dj Koncept, and leans heavily into deep bass, rolling drums and warm atmospherics, creating a superb 4 tracker with various slices of goregous jungle / d'n'b. A dancefloor and cerebral smash in every respect...

An epic slice of rolling jungle comes in from Falling Angels, authentic old skool sounds and modern prodution values compliment an eerie vibe to both tracks, showing a depth and skill expected from the Creative Wax team.

Emerging from a generative paradox of laser precision and fluid dynamism, Metallur fuses percussive, metallic force with warping tempos and a field of ethereal resonance and debris.

The result is an insurgent, elemental, time-smearing of hyperspace, where "tellurian beats merge with alien glossolalia and vocal samples blip tesseracts of human affect into a ghostly, melodic aether".
Music for a crushed infinity.

New Interplanetary Melodies, continues its space journey, among the most interesting musical galaxies of the Italian electronic music scene. For this new release, Simona Faraone, relies on the skilful hands of producers and musicians Marco Antonio Spaventi and Enrico Demuro, who return to work together after the experience of The Great Walk to give us this dense musical experience in the imaginary soundtrack form of a retro-futuristic sci-fi movie that embraces the ever more topical theme of survivalism.

Merzbild Schwet, the second album opus released in 1980, is considered one of Nurse With Wound's major releases, and is part of the famous "Silver Edition" on Rotorelief Records, with a luxurious chrome-plated cover in double Gatefold sleeves, and sumptuous 200g vinyl discs issued in 300 copies on silver and black vinyl, and 700 copies on black vinyl.

The first track, Futurismo, begins with clanking rhythms, record skip clicks, and horn riffs before veering off into a crazed quilt of women singing, laughing, and talking in French. About halfway through, wild screeches of distortion disrupt the piece, and then more bizarre sounds take over before the piece ends with a collage of over modulated electronic hum and rambling piano. The other cut, Dada X, goes further into weirdness with lots of silences, creepy creaking noises, tones that build up and collapse, and scattered spoken word in French and English from Eve Libertine from the political punk band Crass, and the piece certainly lives up to the Dada of its title.

Repress!

Artificial Intelligence was born in 2005 with the AI Series events in Madrid as a deep and sincere tribute to the pioneers of the early Bleep, Braindance and Idm sound. Thanks to labels such as Warp, Planet Mu, Skam Records, Rephlex… and artists such as Richard D. James, Autechre, Jega, Boards of Canada…

Almost 20 years later we are back as a label with this first volume of 14 tracks by 14 different artists with the usual suspects along with some new faces where we want to express our love and respect for this sound.

"“The New Backwards” was conceived by Peter “Sleazy” Christopherson in 2007, revisiting stray tracks which hadn’t seemed to gel with the material he had chosen for the more somber “Ape of Naples” from 2005, COIL’s initial posthumous release, a sort of requiem and a kiss-goodbye to his then recently deceased partner John Balance.

Significantly different to its sister release, this album collects the brilliantly chaotic and outrageously rhythmic material from the original sessions for the album that was begun as early as 1993 and had originally been conceptualised as the follow-up to “Love’s Secret Domain”. These songs are as diverse and wild as the places they originated from, partly infamously spawned in Sharon Tate’s former home in the Hollywood Hills, the Nine Inch Nails home base in New Orleans and London’s Swanyard, remixed and restructured with the help of long-term friend Danny Hyde in Thailand, this collection has its own unique flow and an atmosphere not found on any other COIL release.

Both “AYOR” and “Backwards” had by the time the album was first released already become favourites in COIL’s manic live performances. Some of the other tracks had only leaked in demo versions and are here presented updated and polished as Christopherson and Hyde intended them to be heard. It is interesting to consider Balance’s vocal contributions, too. Whilst on the albums COIL did release at the time this material was first put aside (“Black Light District” and “ElpH”) his voice is all but absent, his vocal performances and his lyric writing here are arguably more closely indebted to the previous “Love’s Secret Domain” era, especially the epic “Copacaballa” is noteworthy in that respect.
The New Backwards” effectively became the final official COIL studio release of all new material whilst Peter was still alive and is here presented for the first time fully supervised by Danny Hyde, its co-creator.
The stunning cover uses a detail from artist Ian Johnstone’s “Cubic Raven” painting, licensed from the estate of IJ..

It is high time to rediscover this timeless album with the Infinite Fog release boasting eight further tracks of previously unheard material from the same sessions, rough working stages and surprising remixes which will surely delight the dedicated COIL archaeologists, as they shine yet another light on the creative process and on what could have been.

Recorded at Swanyard, London and at Nothing Studios, New Orleans, 1996.
Thanks to everyone there, especially Trent Reznor who made it all possible.
Written & Produced by Coil & Danny Hyde.
Remixed by Peter Christopherson & Danny Hyde, Bangkok 2007.
For that session Coil were: Peter Christopherson, Jhonn Balance & Drew McDowall.
Mastered by Jessica Thompson.
Front artwork by Ian Johnstone.
Artwork licensed from The Estate of Ian Johnstone.
Layout Cold Graves and Oleg Galay."

Rolling through with number 16 in our AGAIN series and we're very happy to welcome DJ D Lux to the label. We've been a big fan of his music for years so found it hard to select four tracks from his flawless back catalogue. We landed on a selection originally released between '97 - '98 spanning a number of moods

"Pacifying The Population" thrusts us into a world where the dominator culture acts like a ruthless drug cartel, us it's compliant consumers. The highly-charged ten tracker LP evokes a narcotic frenzy like atmosphere that surges into the consciousness and pulses through the body like a craved hit. Once again Kastner propels us through a unique musical landscape at the very edge of the sonic territories.

The dominator culture enforces what is moral, ethical, worthy or valid, selling lifestyles, enforcing rituals, “pushing” values, incentivizing the pathological, imposing our needs and beliefs. Increasingly displaying hallmarks of a cruel drug cartel /drug addict, dependency dynamic. The population hooked and enslaved to it's destructive needs.

Seduced, hooked, strung-out on the promise of instant gratification, short-term satisfaction, shiny gadget infatuation, pre-packaged trash values, the cultish, totem imagery of a moribund, redundant culture. An accurate sense of the lived experience obscured by a junkie haze of stupefied confusion. Addicted and hooked, it holds us hostage, keep us compliant, increasingly we are unable to locate ourselves in the maelstrom of noise. Attempting to operate outside that paradigm rendered almost impossible with countless cultural, social and practical obstacles to overcome. Not "playing the game" is seen & treated as subversive, anti-social, madness.

Opening the album “Sanctioned Sedatives” literally kicks the door down with a massive base line that cuts through disorienting distortions. “Restoring The Connection” sounds like the way out of a tunneling drug habit, a subdued claustrophobic feel in the beginning drive the track to a mind altering, rising wall of pads.

On side B calmer moods create the appropriate environment for the hazy ambience and the suffused positive feel of B2, which, as the title may suggest, sounds like an invitation to get out of the loop, in order to “Unfuk Your Mind”. The title track “Pacifying The Population” begins side C, grand in scope, pounding drum workouts, a sinister spoken narrative, symphonic strings, mind-mangling resonant acid make this an epic trip.

The closing track “Apocalyptic Signs (Eulogy)” is deeply layered, orchestral. Ethereal synth melodies and heavily warped voices from far out territories induce a deep reflection on the whole album, despite the title it sounds like an unexpected ode to life or maybe as the relief from all human pains.

Pacifying The Population evokes an oppressive feel, a sense of constant tension, modern living. The dense atmospheres, the abrasive and repetitive grooves, Consuming and devastating as a drug habit, the elements that perfectly capture the essence of the whole album. Despite that, it still sounds like a way out from all that is possible, a way to restore the connection within ourselves and between each other. A therapeutic purge.

The return of Gaussian Curve - Gigi Masin, Jonny Nash and Marco Sterk’s much-loved trio are back for the first time since their 2016 sophomore album 'The Distance', presenting two new tracks entitled 'Winter Sun' and 'Fever Dream'.

Both tracks originate from recording sessions that took place in Amsterdam in 2016 for 'The Distance'. Despite not finding a place on the final album and being left as unfinished sketches for six years, the tracks represent an important part of the Gaussian Curve story which the band felt compelled to complete. Coinciding with the decision to perform a handful of live shows in 2022, they finally revisited the sketches, mixing and arranging them with the goal of giving them the full release that they deserve.

The trio’s trademark sound hits from first moments of 'Winter Sun'; a lush slow builder with all the classic GC ingredients; Nash’s airy and spacious guitar lines interplay with Masin’s warm rhodes, underpinned by Sterk’s subtle use of electronics and the minimal rhythm of a CR-78 drum machine.

On 'Fever Dream', the trio subtly expand their palette; a gently building 303 bass line and 808 rhythm form the foundations of the piece, with Masin’s vocals adding to a slow-burning intensity. Arguably a fuller sound hinting at new areas of exploration for the trio, but unmistakably Gaussian Curve.

This is a rebuild of a classic underground track. The original masters were long lost, but the tracks have been lovingly recreated, and then remixed, by legendary Kniteforce duo, Sunny & Deck Hussy, for this repress.

Sunny & Deck Hussy have done a superb job. They have kept it as close to the original as possible, only it sounds much better produced and it comes with some remixes too!

Another Interplanetary STAR CREATURE team up for a Chicago Tokyo expedition across a soundscape ranging from bossa nova lounge to pre-vaporwave exotica; new age city pop to minimal library boogie. JUNE CHIKUMA is best known now for her ground breaking Video Game soundtracks throughout the late 1980s and early 90s, most notably the now cult-classic status Bomberman Hero OST for Nintendo. During this same period she produced many recordings for a wide variety of clients including Japanese Public Transit Commercials, Video Game Arcades and VHS Nature Documentaries. STAR CREATURES combed her archives and selected a nice mix of tracks as entry point into her work. These tracks have been rescued from obscurity, remastered and waxed up for contemporary universal enjoyment. 500 Copies. Pressed in Detroit.

Los Angeles-based video artist and producer Laskfar Vortok makes his first appearance in the EVAR catalogue with "Erbsat Esrhosc." An unusual title that reflects the artist's interest in the bizarre, whether he's making music or producing videos and visuals, "Erbsat Esrhosc" bristles with erratic patterns, anarchic atmospheres and glitchy soundscapes. The Mexican-born talent explores ideas based on the hypothetical concept of a planetwide city, otherwise known as an ecumenopolis, weaving such ideas against a cinematic backdrop, nodding to his long-running love for cinema. Across the five-track EP, he also draws inspiration from the heated and hectic energy of L.A, where he's resided most of his life.

Produced in memoriam of Michael Gregory Harrison, aka Bad Timing, and following a period of introspection and creative and personal challenges, Laskfar Vortok began work on "Erbsat Esrhosc" in 2018. The EP honours Michael's brilliance as an artist and a friend;the title being an anagram of a phrase that they shared between them.

"Eclipse" opens the EP on a haunting note. A spidery melody and chilling pads punctuate the witchy soundscape before syncopated sequences collide with snafued textures, signifying a sharp left turn into breakcore. With its nebulous atmosphere, this track offers the first glimpse into the concept of an ecumenopolis. On "Hyperdrive", frenetic percussion dominates while zappy noises and a doomsday melody slink in and out of earshot. Bursts of broken wub exacerbate the uneasy mood while cinematic, almost ethereal chords twinkle in the background.

"Base" offers a moment to recover one's brain cells after the nosedive into the near future. A lugging kickdrum and broken, woody percussions swirl around the troposphere while creepy pads convey a sinister aura. "Mutation" catapults us back into chaos with claustrophobic polyrhythmic structures, smatterings of kickdrums, and a sporadic mad-scientist-type synthline, adding a jittery layer. An unexpectedly orchestral outro completes the bizarre nature of the track.

Closing out on "Send Off", Laskfar Vortok blends freezing-cold chords with snaggy synth notes and a tangle of drum constellations tied up with a gossamer melody and splattered across an eerie terrain.

Using Bitwig Studio, orcλ, TidalCycles and Renoise as his modus operandi, Laskfar Vortok produces a trip that intrigues but disturbs, serving a shimmering yet terrifying squint into a technoid-led utopia. And we're only just getting started.

Absolutely KILLER Full length double lp from drummer, Takafumi Okada of GOAT, straight from the depths of Japan delivering nine tracks of mutant technoid nowave teeth grinding body music. Fast paced, tense and focused motoric metallic drumming fueled by manic vocals which treads the line between the sonic equivalent of futuristic sci-fi nightmares or the remains of post apocalyptic metropolis' in flux. Full on intensity a bad trip in a seedy rock club, spiked drink stumbling, face hits ground glued to muck ridden floor boards, spinning out of control... eyes to the ceiling.. lights flashing as the music pounds you into an oblivion. This is "BODY OF VOID"!

Coming from a diverse background of equal amounts hip hop and rock, the producer behind the alias of nrl:ndr got into dance music late in his musical career. After playing in kraut-oriented bands like So Many Mammals, parts of that group reformed into the live techno outfit Tren Né, with the goal of fusing techno elements with live drums. Playing for illegal raves with a punk-like energy, nrl:ndr has cemented his relationship with his machines in service of the dance floor.

But his solo debut on blundar is quite far removed from that scene. To understand this music, one should be aware of the conditions under which it was manufactured. Reluctant to consider himself an artist in the traditional sense, nrl:ndr makes his music free of anticipation and without apparent goals. To glean into this outré musical space is like putting one's ear to the boarded up windows of the photograph that adorn the front sleeve.

The album makes extensive use of the Roland JV-2080, a sample-based synth rack from 1996 with a distinctly clean sound. Our producer dives deep into the expansion cards (labeled after genres like “Hip Hop” and “World”) for curious and sometimes cheesy samples. But he also forces the JV-2080 to do things which are not its forte, like the arduous task of programming decent kick drums.

Another technique that is testament to his experimental view on music making, is the idea of using sketches of unfinished tracks with different time signatures, and mash them together into something new - of which the results of one of these experiments can be heard on the closing track and its bilingual conversation between ambient and tribal.

Full of stunted rhythms and eerie melodies, the unclassifiable nature of the music of nrl:ndr lies somewhere in the vicinity of IDM, classical avant garde and private press synth. From the epic opening track - echoing the post-kraut drumming style of Michael Shrieve - to juggling with chopped up vocal samples and treading into almost trap-like territories on A4, he crosses into a multitude of genres without getting his hands too dirty with nostalgia.

* Following up from the immense Phil:osophy outputs, our resident soulster Phil Tangent returns to Integral with a new solo installment - the absolutely stunning and highly anticipated Universal Sigh EP. Comprising of four silken future cuts that showcase the newschool of liquid funk, these musical gems of intricate beats, bass-scapes and dreamlike musicality, push boundaries, encapsulate hearts and are certain to transport listeners to otherworldly places.

* Dropping 7th December, this masterpiece will launch across all formats. Make sure you reserve your limited vinyl copy now to avoid disappointment!

Diffuse Reality presents Wonch like Woo by QphoriQ, includes remix from The Exaltics.

Five original tracks by QphoriQ a perfect blend between drums, jungle, bass, breaks and electro stuf!

Featuring a trademark remix by The Exaltics to rock any dance floor.

Repress!

RYUICHI SAKAMOTO'S 1985 ELECTRONIC AND AMBIENT CLASSIC RELEASED OUTSIDE OF JAPAN FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE ITS ORIGINAL RELEASE WITH NEW LINER NOTES BY ANDY BETA AND AUDIO REMASTERED BY SEIGEN ONO

Wewantsounds continues their Ryuichi Sakamoto reissue series with the release of the 1985 album "Esperanto", composed for a performance by New York avant garde choreographer Molissa Fenley. Produced and performed by Sakamoto with contribution by Arto Lindsay and Japanese percussionist Yas-Kaz, "Esperanto" is a fascinating instrumental work mixing electronica, ambient and synth pop. Released in Japan in 1985 on Midi Inc.s' School label, the album has never been released outside of Japan until now. This special reissue comes with original artwork including a 2 pages insert with a new introduction by Journalist Andy Beta. The audio has been remastered in Tokyo by Seigen Ono.
"Esperanto" originally came out in 1985 and was Ryuichi Sakamoto's sixth solo album. Coming after his stint with the influential Yellow Magic Orchestra, and also the worldwide success of Sakamoto's 1984 soundtrack for the film "Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence" (in which he starred alongside David Bowie), "Esperanto" was a return to Sakamoto's leftfield roots.
?Composed as the soundtrack to a performance by New York choreographer Molissa Fenley (a show commissioned by Japanese producer Shozo Tsurumoto), the album was masterminded by Sakamoto with the help of the cutting-edge electronic technology of the time (the only external contributions are by Arto Lindsay on guitar and Japanese composer Yas-Kaz on percussion).
?Indeed, the album is a fascinating soundscape experimenting with the new sampler technology - which, according to Ryuichi Sakamoto from a conversation with journalist Andy Beta mentioned in the liner notes, needed a computer that was huge at the time.
?Esperanto is composed of eight tracks displaying a varied mix of influences. "A Wongga Dance Song" is pulsating with rhythms while "A Rain Song" adopts a minimalist mode with its distinctive
repetitive pattern. "Dolphins" and "A Carved Stone" are captivating ambient pieces showcasing Sakamoto's talent for setting beautiful abstract melodic ornaments over atmospheric tones.
?One of the highlights of the album is "Adelic Penguins", a fascinating proto techno piece with a funky twist stretching over six minutes which echoes the electro funk of 1981's album "Hidari Ude No Yume." "Ulu Watu", a collage-like piece featuring bird motives and a tropical soundscape closes the album with an experimental note. It's interesting to note that, a year later, the tracks from "Esperanto" would be turned into an experimental video project by New York visual artists Kit Fitzgerald and Nam June Paik collaborator Paul Garrin.
?A unique album in Ryuichi Sakamoto's rich discography, "Esperanto" is a groundbreaking work worth rediscovering in its full glory.

Cafe Del Mar chill out classic classic from 1992. Tap into your subconscious and conquer anything with these 4 different mixes featuring the voice samples of new age hypnotist Barry Konicov, known for an outstanding proclivity towards not paying Federal Tax in the US, but also for being the founder of Potentials Unlimited, a self-help hypnotism program that became especially popular in some circles during the 80s and 90s. From beat less ambient excursions to rhythmic drum samples these mixes explore modern Balearic themes in different ways - take a trip.

Synth wizard, soundtrack composer, and Zombi member, Steve Moore expands further on his stark and drama filled cosmic sound with a new six track lp. These tracks call to mind to his early-L.I.E.S. releases, where Moore focused on cold arppegations and basic beat constructions to fuel his epic productions which center around pristine soaring synthscapes. A master of the genre, Moore gives us an equal mix of explosive, creepy home at the end of a dark street floor fodder as well as slower tempo cosmic headcrushers, all capable of getting your head or niteclub in a frenzy. Beyond epic!!!

2024 Repress
First vinyl pressing of Baroque by Japanese composer and multi-instrumentalist Susumu Yokota. The full length album was originally released by United Sounds Of Blue in 2014, a subdivision of Frogman Records in CD format. Now it is being re-released by Barcelona-based record label Modern Obscure Music as a double LP and in digital format. Baroque is one of the most significant albums of Susumu signed under his original name, and this is the first time the album will be pressed on a double LP 12". Yokota, was an eclectic, highly prolific electronic musician and composer from Japan who died in 2015 at 54. "There is always fear, rage, and ugliness existing behind beauty. I have been trying to express ki-do-ai-raku (the four emotions: joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness) through music. I would like to express even one's hidden emotion with reality. It's my eternal goal." Baroque is a clear example of this, thought the deep listeing of the album you can experiment all of that feelings in just one record and feel how his music infulenced the next generation of producers during the two next decades till today. The Tokyo-based artist devoted his time and creative energy to achieving this goal, and the result is a vast discography that begins with banging early acid house tracks in the 1990s, moves across the next two decades to include deep house and Detroit-influenced techno, a stunning run of ambient electronic albums and, in his last decade, a glorious confluence that wove his various skills into a series of borderless electronic records. Modern Obscure Music team is really excited to bring this gem to the light, Baroque is remastered and distributed in two 12" to be played in clubs and home sound-system bringing the best quality of sound to have the best experience. Susumu Yokota (?? ? Yokota Susumu, or ???·??? Susumu Yokota (April 22,1960 - March 27, 2015) Also known by the pseudonyms Stevia and Ebi, among other.

On her sophomore album "Germ in a Population of Buildings", upsammy moves through her surroundings with the curiosity of a place-bending landscape architect. The album is rooted in her interest for ambiguous environments in constant shift, and the feeling of discovering strange patterns in different ecosystems. Often, the Amsterdam-based artist finds herself zooming in and out beyond a place's most recognizable surface features to inhabit the microscopic and gigantic. Gathering field recordings and evocative environmental sounds, she shapes this source material into vibrating electro-acoustic rhythms and unstable, psychedelic textures. upsammy's debut album, 2020's critically-acclaimed "Zoom", was praised for its careful reimagining of IDM, evolving vignettes that nodded towards the dancefloor without being shackled to its rigid set of rules. On "Germ in a Population of Buildings" her process has evolved considerably; the skeletal trace of IDM is still present but it's been trapped in amber, allowing her unique sonic landscape to develop organically. 'Being is a Stone' is a proof of concept in many ways, layering upsammy's contorted voice in rickety patterns beneath a lattice of fragile rhythms and faintly melancholy synths. It's never immediately obvious where the sounds are coming from - a hiccuping beat might be glass cracking underfoot, and larger pulses could be wet concrete, rusted iron or bent plastic. As the sounds develop they morph into each other, demolishing what came before and building on top of the ornamental wreckage. On the dynamic 'Constructing', upsammy's sound design fluxes through hyperactive bass music structures, abstracting expectations at every turn. Often her sounds are whisper quiet, rattling and vibrating until heavier masonry drops and disrupts the structure. And when discernible rhythms subside into the background, like on the album's eerie title track, they become almost illusory, morphing between the real world and the electronic. upsammy's processed voice works like a bridge between these realms, snaking between stark, whimsical melodies on 'Patterning', arching from AutoTuned detachment into cooing, dreamy intimacy. By considering the harmonies between each location she's visited, upsammy has been able to build a unique topology that's an uncanny digital amalgam of her lived experience. It's a thoughtful alternative in an era more concerned with flatting the landscape than crumpling it and examining its peaks and troughs.

Vanishing Twin’s expansive and magical psychedelic epic with lyrics adapted from A.E. Housman’s 1922 poem, ‘Tell Me Not Here, It Needs Not Saying’ was initially commissioned by The Quietus for Sound + Vision subscribers before being released as part of state51's ongoing Singularity series. Here it's presented in transparent vinyl, over two sides.

Vanishing Twin fly deeper into their sonic universe, blending elements from an improvisational session, raw recordings of the natural world, and early 20th century poetry to create sublime, cosmic pop.

This twenty-minute piece has embellishments of sparkling synth and lyrical vignettes that are reminiscent of English folk melodies.

The qualities of that object may be summarized as follows: 1, Formal legibility of plan; 2, clear exhibition of structure, and 3, valuation of materials for their inherent qualities „as found“ “ Reyner Banham „The new Brutalism“ Architectural Review (1966)

Following on from our audio visual experiences in St. Gertruds church in cologne, this album contains eight excerpts from live sets, specially produced for the unique space of the building designed by Gottfried Böhm, in an attempt to capture its architecture and sound. Since 2015, our goal has been to establish a format at the interface between pop and club culture, as well as "academic" electronic music, in which media art, visuals, sound installations and dance performances play a central role in an immersive and architecturally memorable environment alongside the sophisticated musical program.

ZULI's widest-reaching and most ambitious album to date, 'Lambda' is a conspicuous left turn for the Berlin based Egyptian producer. Draped in gauzy, granulated textures and woven with enigmatic vocal flourishes from collaborators MICHAELBRAILEY, Coby Sey and Abdullah Miniawy, it's a vivid, soul-searching set of polychromatic reflections that sets fire to the boundaries between ambient, trip-hop, industrial music, chamber pop and symphonic noise.

In some aspects, 'Lambda' reveals ZULI's softer side; gone are the earth-shaking chopped rhythms and stopstart outbursts of corroded static that characterised his last full length, 'Digla Dive - Live'. But peer beneath the brain burrowing vocal melodies, mangled instrumental loops, anxious poems and subtle, harmonic synth washes and a new kind of intensity lurks in the shadows.

Since his early releases on Lee Gamble's UIQ label and his 2018 breakout 'Trigger Finger', ZULI has notched up major global acclaim for his futuristic, kinetic musical diversions. He cut his teeth supplying beats to local rappers back home in Cairo, soon shifting his attention to the city's burgeoning dance underground, promoting events, DJing prolifically and tirelessly supporting the scene's most experimental fringe. In 2019, ZULI teamed up with Rama to curate the irsh series of video transmissions, evolving the project into a label shortly afterwards. And now situated in Berlin, the duo have extended the concept to encompass an ongoing sequence of genre-averse club nights. All this experience and constant creative motion is etched into the foundations of 'Lambda'. It's an album that plays liberally with euphoria, but feels constantly precarious, intrepidly peering out from its tense internal world.

Arkajo is back on his own label with two originals and two remixes by kindred spirits, Polygonia and Konduku. Starting with the warm Entwine, stepped-out beats laced with swirly stabs. Polygonia's finishes off the A-side with an organic and atmospheric rework; saturated in deep, trippy, rattling tonally percussive flows. Arkajo's Signature leads the B-side: broken drum patterns with whispers from the realm between where Sweden and the UK meet. Konduku settles the score with his dark and eerie 4x4 techno take. A diverse record to keep in the bag for both hazy basements and the upcoming summer season.

Far Out Recordings re-release the seminal debut album from Azymuth. Having never seen a vinyl release outside of Brazil, Far Out have given 'Azimuth' the LP gatefold heavyweight vinyl treatment. The album contains some of the band's most incendiary tracks and is quite simply a milestone album in Brazilian music.

Azymuth - Jose Roberto Bertrami, Ivan Conti, and Alex Malheiros & Ariovaldo - formed in the late 60s just as Os Mutantes released their debut record. Whilst Mutantes were honing a psychedelic 'Amazonian' version of western pop music, Azymuth were creating a futuristic, electric interpretation of US Jazz - also driven by the same rootsy Brazilian 'swing' that Mutantes had harnessed.

The original line up of Azymuth consisted of José Roberto Bertrami on keyboards and synths, Alex Malheiros on bass, Ivan Conti (aka Mamão) on drums and timbalas, plus Ariovaldo Contesini on percussion. Bertrami was the drive behind Azymuth's sound - a control freak and musical genius obsessed with the latest technology who wanted to use it to push the boundaries of music in a way that no one else in Brazil had done. His use of keyboards has drawn comparisons between Azymuth's work and Herbie Hancock's early 70s output, yet with it's Brazilian swing Azymuth's electric jazz sound is unmistakeably their own. Conti is an impulsive and an incredibly energetic drummer, and the real hardcore Carioca of the trio. Alex Malheiros, who learned his trade playing with the master of Brazilian swing, Ed Lincoln. Alex is respected in Brazil as one of the original groove masters.

Bertrami rose to fame as an arranger in the mid-60s and by the late 60s he was arranging for the queen of Brazilian music, Elis Regina. This pushed him into the major league and by the early 1970s he was arranging for the burgeoning TV novella scene. When he was not working, Bertrami made trips to New York to buy the latest keyboards and synths, ensuring he had the most up to date range of keyboards in Brazil. His work in TV Novellas meant Bertrami knew most of the A&R people in the Brazilian music industry, yet when he shipped the demos that became the core of this album round to them in 1973, they didn't share his vision - one label even going as far as to say that the music was 'wrong'.

Released in summer 1975, the album was a minor commercial success selling 200,000 copies. Opening track 'Linha do Horizonte' - a sublime piece of melancholic electronic saudade where deep cinematic synths melt into gently strummed acoustic jazz guitar - was chosen for a TV Novella and went on to sell half a million, propelling Azymuth onto the Brazilian music scene.

The rest of the album doesn't disappoint - track 2, 'Melô dos dois bicudos', sees Azymuth plugging them into the Brazilian national grid for a slice of electrified psyched out samba funk with crashing military drums, shrieking sirens and psych synths. Track 3 'Brazil' is a lolloping bass led groover with Bertrami's melody giving the track a charming, innocent naivety, and track 5 'Caça A Raposa' is a boogie jazz funk groover with Bertrami adding a Flora Purim style vocal melody.

Azymuth went on to become one of the best-selling jazz artists of the 80s with their future albums for Milestones, unquestionably the biggest jazz label of that decade. 'Azimuth' is the album that kickstarted it all for them, the record that was the blue print and definition of their 'samba doido / crazy samba' sound.

To mark the 40th anniversary of the seminal debut album, 'Azimuth', and in homage to the late Jose Roberto Bertrami, the band will be touring the album in Europe. (Tour dates and venues on Page 1)

A variety of ambient and experimental cuts to be found here. A re-release of sorts, all original tracks were done by Enitokwa (Takashi Hasegawa) as rehearsal for a live performance at Tokyo - Batofar Festival in Paris in 2001 and were released on a limited CDR "promo." in 2002. All 8 tracks were recorded and mixed live in one sitting, and have been remastered, given names and pressed on heavy vinyl with a beautiful cover design by Berlin artist Nik Patrick.

The sample sources were largely inspired by records that Takashi listened to in High School - and feature two hugely well known British hands (one of whom have just reformed and have a new album out…), some old Jazz, Bossa Nova and Hawaiian records, as well as samples from ambient legends Deep Forest and Brian Eno. The result is an earthly nostalgic feel with deep moods to match the times we are living in.

The first track ‘Pop’ bursts into life with an etherial presence. ‘Ssab’ and ‘Chinese Girl Goes to Hawaiii’ have a rather filmic quality to them, whilst ‘Resonating’ seems to float over the wreckage of human activity, a post apocalyptic vision of Planet Earth. ‘Liquid Sky’ is a minimal groove which could be a sonic report from an eerie space station, which is itself a remix of Dub Sonic aka Takehito Nakazeto’s ‘Donigma Dub’.

‘Hope on Hop’ will appeal to today’s generation with its Techno and D’n’B influences, and features voices taken from Wim Wender’s ‘Paris Texas’. Track 7, ‘Mingos’ turns Gal Costa’s voice into a soaring atmospheric haze of digital memory, and the track ‘Holy Spiral’ is a combination of this one and ‘Resonating’, an ascendent 12 minute march to the release’s final close.



Takashi Hasegawa is a respected DJ, producer and live performer who plays live electronic and DJ sets regularly today in venues and festivals across Japan. He has been producing house, techno, experimental and ambient music since the 90’s - spending some of that time in the United States, including working in the music scene in the New York, before returning to Japan working as a sound engineer, A&R and producer for the famous Tokyo-based record label Club Yellow. Now based in Osaka-Fukuoka, Takashi’s music is still resonating with fellow music lovers around the world.



Now, 20 years on from its creation, this music is rediscovered and given a wider audience. The sound on ’Re-Promo’ interestingly gives an insight into the music Enitokwa is currently working on - reflecting the cyclical nature of creative output - and represents a slight departure from the swirling delicate ambient textures that you can hear in o.n.s.a and on the intricate and more musical 2069, released in 2017 and 2016 respectively.



Each track has a video accompaniment to be released in various media outlets, the label head Tom Ransom having partnered with diverse artists in Colombia, Denmark, Japan, Poland, France, Britain and China to create a wide range of visual outputs.



The release also sees two digital only remixes, one coming from London and Wigan’s enigmatic Isherwood (Edward Regan), and the other from Mat Fink - a unique DJ and up and coming producer raised in Pittsburgh and Berlin. Watch out for these…



Machines used:



Yamaha SU700

Sequential Circuits Pro One

Roland TR909

Roland TR808,

TC Electric D-Two

MAM RS3

Pedals



Remastering and additional audio treatment by Kabamix (LMD) on Dec.4.2017.

Dedicated to Takehito Nakazato (SONIC PLATE)

Sheffield's hugely talented producer Hedge Maze lands on Selvamancer. Years in the making after a long search to decipher an unreleased tune from an unknown alter ego found online (title track Riding The Wave), we're excited to finally bring it to the masses. Morphed industrial violence, tearjerking post-dubstep-trap and the ruthless title track bounce off the walls. Let's commence! Face to the glass. "You use a mirror to see your face, you use a work of art to see your soul." G.B.Shaw... but if you stood with your breath appearing on the canvas what would you say to a Mane or a Rothko three inches away from it. As you push your nose up to the mirror of your soul, what to say to it in response. To listen to one's soul is to hear its depth, for it has many voices, but which voice to listen to. Fear be a man's best friend, he will accompany you should you wish. Forever on your coattails, a whisperer of half unseen truths: distorting perceptions. grief, illness, disappointment, pain, struggle, poverty, loss, terror, heartache, All to be feared. Yet, all features of a life lived! Courage then is simply to live and to live well, choose the voice that gives light. Throw the house out of the window so some say, throw yourself too, say I. Mark Warren. - written whilst listening to Strukku's Beat on Hedge Maze EP

Kitchen sink Scuzz n’ Bass from 1998 Tokyo underground. Existing somewhere between Drum n Bass, Musique Concrète, Noise music, and Free Jazz, and yet occupying a space all its own, Jigen was an integral part of the shadowy yet prolific Shi-Ra-Nui imprint and greater Tokyo underground music scene in general, working as much behind the scenes as in front of them. Originally released on CD by Shi-Ra-Nui in 1998, ^ ^ is proud to present the first officially licensed vinyl pressings of both albums by Jigen. RIYL Christoph De Babalon, Source Direct, Yamatsuka EYE DJ mixes, officially licensed by the artist.