Beats News

Electro-Bass minimal music... Leftfield Dubstep ?

After his remix for Keita Sano's 'Legacy For Leyton' EP in 2022, Tokyo-based Dayzero is back on Row with a four-track EP. Drawing inspiration from his urban surroundings, the ‘Lurking in the City’ EP is a multi-tempo’d playground for dynamic rhythms and effects. This EP sets another highlight in his growing discography, including releases on Livity Sound, ZamZam, Vomitspit, Sentry Records, the Chikara Project, and Nostrohoodsystem.

Dope On Plastic a fresh new name in the jungle scene hauling from New York, but already making big waves among labels and DJ's across the pond in UK and Europe, with their ruff oldskool sounds and absolutely mental break choppage!
Definitely one to watch out for and happy to have their first release be on the Ruff 'N Tuff label.

Greg Foat is a London-based keyboardist, composer, bandleader and DJ. He claims his life-long love/hate relationship with the piano began at age 3, when he fell off a piano stool at his aunt's house. He started composing around age 11, and at 15 attended a jazz workshop with Jeff Clyne, Olaf Vas, Trevor Tomkins and Nick Weldon, igniting his obsession with jazz music. He furthered to study jazz at Middlesex University, and then studied for 6 months in Sweden on an Erasmus grant. He played his first professional studio session there at 21, and has been working as a professional musician ever since.

Snake Plant Shuffle and Spider Plant Blues are inspired by the the plants on Gregs bedside tables - which periodically move around the house dependent on his mood. The plants provide a good source of oxygen in the room and create a calm soothing atmosphere for Gregs musical projects. Together the tracks feature live drum kits by Ayo Salawu, Fender Rhodes and a plethora of Vintage Synthesisers.

Snake Plant Shuffle has had radio plays in Gemany, Poland and Canada, as well as being heavily featured in Amazon Music's Jazz playlists, including 'Fresh Jazz', 'Coffee Shop Jazz' and 'Café Jazz'. Both tracks are featured in Apple Music' 'Jazz Scene: UK' and 'New Latitudes' playlists.

Young LA star, Justin Jay, has already caught the ears of DJs and fans worldwide and released on the likes of dirtybird and Culprit. Last year, Jay shared an EP of deep house gold on Shall Not Fade sister label Lost Palms. Now he returns on their bass-oriented sublabel Time Is Now.

Hypnotized EP is a fun, breaks heavy romp featuring rave powerhouse trio Denham Audio and a remix by jungle mainstay Tim Reaper. From the off the energy is high, the title track rolling out pitched vocals and dramatic drops. "I Know" is ever more frenetic, breaks cascading over one another to a fever pitch, while Denham Audio collab "Swarm" brings out 303s and dramatic sub bass wobbles for a tour-de-force of hardcore dance vibes. Rising lofi house producer Angelo Jsn gives a euphoric, breathless edge to "Burgundy", an emotive space age trance number. Tim Reaper's untameable refix of "Swarm" keeps the heart racing to the end.

Butterflies go through a four-staged life cycle: egg, caterpillar, pupa (chrysalis) and then adult as a butterfly. The transformation from caterpillar to butterfly happens in the chrysalis where the caterpillar body dies to give life to a new, beautifully winged body. This album is an ideal soundtrack to this amazing phenomena, a representation to inner transformation and deep evolution.

The new LP by Krefeld-born, Berlin-based artist Philipp Otterbach entitled 'The Dahlem Diaries'.

Recorded in a little-visited corner of the German capital, 'The Dahlem Diaries' is a convergence of ideas, sketches and tracks, both old and new, most of which were produced between 2020-2022. Whilst eerie atmospheres, electronics and drums have played a pivotal role in Philipp’s earlier releases, his latest is a rather more introspective affair, in which the guitar takes a leading role. A role Otterbach uses to quietly bring light and hope to his music.

Speaking about his writing process, Philipp explains that, based around his original compositions, “Friends were nice enough to contribute additional parts on their instruments which I then reworked, put together and re-contextualized. The recordings encapsulate a very specific moment in time, one that would have sounded perhaps very different the day before or after.”

Combined with a strong use of effects and field recordings, 'The Dahlem Diaries' feels somewhat like a scene or fragment from a story, in which the narrative remains undefined. It is a playful album that is something of a blurred underwater adventure, sounding as bright as it is hazy, even psychedelic at times, yet with an almost melancholic positivity. In Philipp’s own words: “It could be an album about friendship and being at one with myself, whilst at the same time bringing a certain seriousness to my music, but not necessarily to myself; there is also a playful humour hidden in there. ”

Outsider ambient soundscape by two musicians from the Paris alternative : Désiré Bonaventure & Zach.

An enchanted yet psychedelic dream-like ballad recorded in one take in an ephemeral delirium; borrowing from dub, drone, IDM & techno, reflecting singular inter-worlds and inviting us to join them.

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Rue des Garderies is a distillate produced by the spontaneous collaboration of Désiré Bonaventure and Zach, two musicians evolving in the Parisian alternative scenes and so named in homage to a former local hotspot of other-music Rue des Gardes - now bygone - where this improvisation took place. Accustomed to exorcising time and space with the multidisciplinary collective †een▲ge g:-)d, Zach has also been evolving in various frequencies - beatmaking, mastering - for over 15 years. Désiré Bonaventure, on the other hand, is a member of the duo Euphonic Alliances Ltd. and R.A.F. Soundsystem.

Rue des Garderies was recorded in one take, using samplers and effects, amidst a tangle of cables, with eyes closed, as dawn approached, in anticipation for another moment of the present. Here, Désiré and Zach delve into the in-between worlds (musical, but not limited to), immersing themselves in their cracks, folds and emanations, attempting to narrate them to us.

From this material they shape a new alchemy lasting over 1h30, akin to a prolonged journey into psychedelia, drawing from various currents (such as ambient, drone, IDM, dub techno, and the English electronic scene of the 1990s), rich in organic and analogue textures that overlap, stretch, fold and expand.

The result is a grand and ethereal fresco, with shifting colours and textures, evoking astral projections and sporadic rhythms; a whole other world, populated by shapes, hues and new lives, forming a complex but enchanting sound essay.

Born of a fragile chaos, Rue des Garderies is an ephemeral harmony that accompanies moments of existence; a dance without tangible movement.

Another excellent EP from Subjects, an artist that can do no wrong! Each track on this EP is lovingly crafted to show the skills of an artist at the top of his game!

Inspired by the cassette packs shared amongst friends on the playgrounds of the 90’s, Tape Pack’s debut release on new imprint, Loom Recordings, aspires to communicate the essence and spirit of golden-era jungle/D&B, updated to incorporate influences from today’s thriving and diverse electronic music community. Too young for the rave in ’95 but buying records and experimenting with production since the early 00’s, the time has finally come for Tape Pack to kick things up a notch and start sharing the output. Classic meets modern – elements from the past, the present and the future, weaving the fabric for LOOM-001, with LOOM-002 and LOOM-003 already in the pipeline.

Loom’s debut release is accompanied by a special event on August 24th, 2024, at The Glove That Fits, London. Artists on the night to include: Datassette, Equinox, Forest Drive West, Kid Drama, L Major and more.

A continuation of a sound and sentiment from the mind of Pete Woosh (DiY Soundystem)

Love is the Most Important thing captures a unique moment in time with a meeting of spiritual, uplifting and healing sounds that ring true to Pete’s spirit. This first EP sees the debut of several lesser-known artists from Nottingham. Allow yourself to drift through a varied soundscape; from cosmic loops and gentle pads to uplifting mantras and rolling breakbeats.

RIP Pete Woosh aka The Peaceful Ones – 1965 - 2020

In contemporary usage, genius loci refers to a location's distinctive atmosphere, or a "spirit of the place"...

Genius Loci is a new audio work by sound artist Brian d'Souza (fka Auntie Flo). Referencing the notion of the protective 'spirit of place' from ancient Roman times, d'Souza used a vintage accordion to capture the acoustic properties of the Het Hem building in Zandaam, Netherlands. A former munitions and gun testing factory, Het Hem is a space full of character made up of a range of rooms that each hold a different acoustic property. d'Souza is interested in the connection between sound and space, using the accordion as a sound source with a variety of microphones placed around each room to capture the resonance and reverberation. The results are presented as part of an immersive audio visual website which incorporates generative audio technology developed by d'Souza's Swell Studio in collaboration with The University of Arts in London and is now available at https://thecouch.hethem.nl/genius-loci/ .

The original artist versions of Genius Loci are available on this release for the first time, available on 12 inch vinyl and download.

A State of Flo supports Earth Percent. 10% of the revenue generated from this release will be paid to environmental charities.

Gregory T.S. Walker’s Minstrels & Minimoogs was self-published by a young, nomadic composer and virtuoso in 1988 to accompany an immersive multimedia performance at the University of Colorado Boulder’s Fiske Planetarium. Created with this outer, and other, world setting in mind, the four tracks find Walker stretching toward an ancient-to-future vision where Egyptian myths and Hieronymus Bosch-ian tableaus are rendered in a screaming three dimensional circuitry of electronic drums, synth guitars, and, of course, Minimoog. Given the musical terrains and outmoded topics traversed, and that this entirely DIY effort was originally released as a micro one-sided 12” edition, Minstrels & Minimoogs is as perplexing and euphoric a document lost-to-time as it is now found.

Born in 1961 into an intensely musical family spanning four generations, Gregory’s mother Helen Walker-Hill was a noted musicologist specializing in the rediscovery and work of historical Black female composers, while his father, George Walker, was the first African American composer to win the Pulitzer Prize for music. Both parents studied with the famed (and famously strict) Nadia Boulanger in Paris in the 1950s, and held to lofty aesthetic standards in their home life. Walker began studying the violin as a child, but when a burgeoning interest in the electric guitar and rock music as a teen manifested, it was largely verboten in the household. The rule was that the music played in the home was to be acoustic and classical. Although the elder Walkers eventually relented and allowed Gregory’s guitar to be plugged in for a brief interval on the weekends, the remaining days he settled for strumming it sans amplification.

Gregory, conditioned and eager for a life in music but looking to get out from under the influence and yoke of his famous composer father, ultimately chose to study computer music at the University of California at San Diego, where he earned a Master of Arts. This was followed by another MA in electronic music composition at that hotbed of West Coast experimental music, Mills College. Intermedia and multimedia in the arts was the rage in the 1980s, and Mills was one of the centers for it; audacious spectacle meeting visionary performance, such as one of the realizations for Anthony Braxton’s music for multiple orchestras a young Gregory performed in with his violin.

After a series of solo synthesizer concerts around California, Gregory followed a girlfriend on a mid-country move to Boulder, Colorado. After picking up yet another composition degree at University of Colorado Boulder, his life as a composer really started, writing a piece for extended technique for guitar, a passacaglia for vocoder and orchestra, as well as Minstrels & Minimoogs.

Envisioned as a multimedia performance such as the kind he’d experienced at Mills (which was all but unknown in Boulder at the time), Gregory roped in a number of college going or aged friends of varying skill levels and musical sympathies to accompany him with distorted sax or oblique spoken interludes. Confronted with a lack of finances, but driven to get his ideas captured in a complete musical package, the album was recorded in his brother’s apartment. If not every player assembled was on Gregory’s virtuosic level, so be it; it was more about capturing the spirit of his intentions and embracing the serendipity of mistakes.

An inspired attempt at world building, Minstrels & Minimoogs draws on the deep well of musical knowledge Gregory gathered from his parents and teachers, but all the while subverting that historical basis by incorporating mutant strains of prog and pop music. The work accumulated is not unlike the playful 1980s work of Gregorio Paniagua, where medieval estampies and rondeaus are wrenched into an anachronistic present where Hildegard Von Bingen and Kate Bush are contemporaries. Ars nova, new art, a 20th century minimalist jester and troubadour.

A one sided LP was the cheapest option Gregory found to have Minstrels & Minimoogs memorialized on vinyl, so somewhere between 50 to 100 copies were pressed. There was no distribution, outside of copies that were handed out to friends or sold at the performances at the planetarium. Gregory T.S. Walker’s cosmic-futuristic forays into oblique pop and baroque subversion could forever reside perfectly in both the domed simulacrum of our universe for which it was composed, in the formats it is being reintoduced now, and our own biblical firmament. For in the words of Gregory, straight from the original liner notes: “God Is A Minimoog”

Gregory T.S. Walker’s Minstrels & Minimoogs arrives again August 23, 2024 on vinyl and digitally as part of uncommon¢ (“uncommon sense”), an open-ended, serialized endeavor from Freedom to Spend that provides new meaning for rarefied recordings from music's outermost fringe.

Perhaps best described as a pioneer of the underground experimental scene, the signature of Jørgen Teller on the musical landscape of Denmark traces back to the late 1970’s. Sprung out of a whirlpool of post-punk and art school ideas, Teller has relentlessly been chiseling away on the constrictions of music in various bands, collaborations and solo projects ever since. Searching out its farthest outposts - be it free jazz, noise or acousmatic music - Teller has strived towards an approach to music without rules, often by way of improvisation and usually with the aid of electric guitar.

This album is based on a live performance held at the Inter Arts Center in Malmö in early 2022, where Teller performed a semi-improvised piece in homage to the poet Poul Borum, whom he had worked with in the mid-90’s closely before Borum’s death in 1996.

As a composer, Teller relies on a set of “basic choices” that becomes a “precise point of departure” - where he can then go against his “good knowing” of the science, trends and different schools of music and go straight into his own instincts as a performer. For this performance, he used pre- recorded material of three rhythm boxes (all out of sync), timbales and sessions on Erica synths.

In dialogue with the label, Teller has focused on extracting the recording of the rhythm boxes and timbales alone, emphasizing the tension between the rhythms. With minimalist drum sequences that could easily be placed in a proto-techno context, and the whooshing of what might be an ancient rhombus instrument, there is a feeling of a primitive presence to Teller’s rhythmic excursions. A throwback to the spiritual realms of a wordless society fighting the demons of chance.

Occasionally pierced by stark industrial drum crashes and rattling post-punk percussion, it also conjures echoes from the darker side of the 1980s. In citing Borum as its inspiration, Teller shares that he channels the poet’s energy and their shared love of “noisy stuff and darkness”.
But the pace can also go somewhere close to breakbeat on track B2, where a whirlwind of rhythmic elements clash into a deranged deconstructed club tune.

The album also features a remix by a fellow colleague of the acousmatic community; the composer Jacob Riis. On the closing track B3, Riis quietly manipulates and balances the elements of Teller’s recordings and gently releases them into a contemplative pool of static.

Facta & K-LONE’s Wisdom Teeth imprint continues its busy schedule of 10 year celebrations with the debut LP by H TO O: a new collaborative project by Japanese ambient artists H. Takahashi and Kohei Oyamada. Set across six distinct movements, the LP maps the different stages of the cosmic cycle through a series of dynamic ambient set pieces: from the exponential expansion of the universe in its infancy - here invoked by the bright, chiming album opener ‘Inflation’ - through to its inevitable collapse and rebirth, captured by the record’s driving, ominous closer, ‘Ever’. The record started life in Takahashi’s hands, initially intended as a solo follow-up to his acclaimed 2018 LP, Escapism. The Kankyō Records founder shared his early sketches with friend and collaborator Oyamada, who began to play with the arrangements, taking the work in an experimental new direction. Naturally the project evolved into a cooperative effort, and its final form is the result of an honest and fluid back-and-forth between the two artists. The collaboration marks a considerable shift in energy to the artists’ previous works - most of all in its foregrounded use of rhythm. Where Escapism was built from a series of gently lilting, dream-like vignettes, each movement of Cycle has a clear sense of forward momentum and purpose. Each composition builds from a set of sparse, meandering elements into something dense, cinematic and, at points, discordant. Although Cycle is at heart an ambient record, there is a club-informed feeling of forward motion running through the record, placing it in a similar sonic world to the beatless-but-rhythmic ambient techno of artists like Barker, Lorenzo Senni and Sunareht. Delicate and dramatic in equal measure, Cycle is a vital and exciting debut dedicated to the building of worlds - and to their eventual and inevitable dissolution. Genre: Electronic / Ambient

Kevin Richard Martin (The Bug, KRM) und Joseph Kamaru (KMRU) schliessen sich für "Disconnect" zusammen, einer kraftvollen Studie aus Angst, Hoffnung und profunden Sounds, die tiefgründigen Dub mit Kamarus Stimme, Ambient-Sensibilitäten und Negativraum verbindet. Martin wurde durch die Musik zur Kurzdoku "Under The Bridge" (2020) auf den kenianischen Ambient-Musiker KMRU aufmerksam. Das Ergebnis ist ein kreativer Dialog, bei dem die fesselnden Vocals - irgendwo zwischen Intonation und Spoken Word - beschwörende Geschichten erzählen und ihre Poesie sich in die grandiose Graustufen-Musikarchitektur der beiden Produzenten einwebt.

Alex "landy" Hill's musical journey began in the early 80s with the DJ collective Control Crew, performing live DJ sets & rap shows at the birth of turntablism in Oakland California. Alex was the one guy who had two technics 1200s, a costly investment for any teen at that time. In 1982 Alex and high school friend Marcus Thompson formed Timex Social Club. Alex wrote the 1986 anthem "Rumors", a song often cited as the precursor to New Jack Swing. Shortly after high school, Alex would already have a #1 hit on the Billboard R&B charts with Timex Social Club, and tour dates with RUN DMC, Beastie Boys, and LL Cool J, performing at Madison square Gardens, TWICE! Alex went on to produce music for Jay King / King Jay Records, Club Nouveau, LaRue, and Michael Cooper. Aside from music, most of landyhill's fans and followers are from his time as an avid blogger in the 90s, remember Mr. Blunt's Hip Hop Homepage??

Marysia Osu’s debut album, “harp, beats & dreams,” is a captivating journey of self-exploration and emotional expression, blending classical harp with innovative electronic production. A graduate of Brownswood’s ‘Bubblers’ academy and a key member of Levitation Orchestra, Marysia brings a unique background, including a classical music degree from Trinity Laban. The album, entirely homemade, captures intimate moments and raw emotions, featuring notable tracks like “seatime,” which celebrates self-acceptance, and “memento mori,” inspired by stoic philosophy. Collaborations with artists such as Emma Barnaby (cello), YUIS (flute), and Plumm (clarinet) enrich the project, which reflects Marysia’s classical training infused with modern experimental sounds. The album offers an absorbing and elevating listening experience, perfect for those seeking a peaceful, calming sonic sanctuary in an uncertain world

2024 Repress

Dauw welcomes Berlin based musician Midori Hirano to the label with her new album Soniscope. Award winning composer Robot Koch provided a rework of the track Patterns under his recently announced new ambient project Foam and Sand.

With releases on acclaimed labels such as Longform Editions, Sonic Pieces and Alien Transistor, Midori Hirano is no stranger within the field of electro-acoustic piano music. While she is more known for her studio-work, it is often forgotten that she also has a long tradition of writing for films and theatre productions. This forms an important part in her work and a constant inspiration for her autonomous work. Soniscope is no exception in that regard. While working on the film Mizuko (Kira Dane, Katelyn Rebelo, 2019), a still of many little Jizo statutes got her attention and came to be the first steps of her new album.

“I was fascinated by the combination of the image and sound which well emphasized the stillness with a slight of emotion.” (Midori Hirano)

With the Jizo statutes on her mind, Midori Hirano wanted to make an album and started envisioning several personal narratives. Soniscope can be considered as the soundtrack of her own personal stories related to these statues of which Mizuko Jizo was the starting point. With Soniscope, Hirano continues in the same vein as her previous albums in which piano and electronic arrangements hold a central place. However, on this record she specifically explored new possibilities in terms of techniques and instruments.

Midori Hirano is a Japanese musician, composer and producer, born in Kyoto and living in Berlin since 2008. She started learning the piano as a child, and this triggered what was to later see her study classical piano at university. Therefore her productions are based on the use of acoustic instruments such as the piano, strings or guitars, but yet experimental and an eclectic mixture of modern digital sounds with subtle electronic processing and field recordings.

Her first two albums were released on noble records, and her second, “klo:yuri”(2008), saw her further develop of her sound, garnering critical acclaim from various media including TIME magazine , BBC radio and FACT Magazine. Over the following years Midori has performed in venues and festivals as diverse as Club Transmediale, Heroines of Sound Festival, Erased Tapes Sound Gallery, L.E.V. Festival, Boiler Room Berlin, and Wonderfruit Festival.

The nine solo albums and numerous single track releases to date include the works of her other moniker MimiCof, in which she explores the realm of experimental music and detailed rhythmic patterns, combined with an idea of drawing melodic shapes and harmonies. Her recent works have been released by labels such as Sonic Pieces, Daisart, Alien Transistor, raster-media, 7k! Music and Longform Editions.

Besides producing her own works, she composes music for films, video installations and dance performances. The films that have commissioned works by Midori have been screened at Berlin International Film Festival, SXSW Film Festival, International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam and among others.

You're about to witness the return of Seahorse to BCSM. After he set the start for BCSM Records back in 2018 with the legendary BCSM001, we're more than happy to welcome back the Munich based producer with a brand new 12" vinyl release.

It can't get deeper than on this one. The Black Hole EP comes with four new productions ready for the soundsystem. Expect a overwhelming mixture of contemporary steppers dub, original dubstep niceness and outerworldly bass works. Imagine yourself getting caught in a blackhole and enter a different dimension full of wobbling bass and auditory deepness. This is the sound that makes walls fall into pieces.

Seahorse developed his production style over the last years to the max, so get ready to fulljoy this heavy bass shower.

For the extra portion sub, LXC lifted the frequencies again.

Music From Memory is pleased to announce the upcoming release of ‘Salt And Sugar Look The Same’, a collaborative album from Tim Koh and Sun An.

Tim Koh is an American multi-instrumentalist and visual artist born and raised in Los Angeles. He has been touring, releasing music and showing art works internationally for nearly two decades. Sun An is a Southern California-based graphic designer, art director, and sound designer who has self-released music since 2012.

‘Salt And Sugar Look The Same’ plays somewhat like a dreamlike collage; across 18 short compositions, finger-picked guitars melt with electronics and warped samples to create a form of American Primitivism bent and refracted through Tim and Sun’s unique lens.

Their collaborative journey unfolded gradually, exchanging snippets via email over the span of a year or so, Sun in LA and Tim in Berlin. Amidst personal struggles and uncertainties, the act of recording and composing became a refuge, a safe space where they could navigate life's complexities together. Though they didn't converse much, mostly just sending music, their musical dialogue spoke volumes, shaping a narrative that evolved naturally over time. As they shared their musical ideas, they discovered a profound sense of connection and understanding with one another. The music became a conduit for healing, bridging the gaps between them and offering comfort in times of need.

Their musical influences and backgrounds anchored them. From reminiscing about past scenes to exploring cultural intricacies of being Korean American in Los Angeles, infused with a natural sense of shared identity, their collaboration reflected a mergence of old and new memories into a hallucinatory, dream-like experience. Across the 18 compositions that make up the album, incense emerges as a poignant motif, symbolizing the passage of time. Each incense stick becomes a vessel carrying the essence of moments gone by, while the holder becomes the custodian of these ephemeral memories.

‘Salt And Sugar Look The Same’ invites the listener on a boundary-transcending journey of introspection, joy, and pain, creating an experience that lingers long after the last note fades.

Sleeve art by Brian DeGraw, design by David McFarline.

An assortment of grooves of artists from many walks of life all on one 180g piece of vinyl...

Reptile Mob is back with a third part of its superb on going compilation series and this one looks at different aspects of the garage house sound. Side a-begins with some fresh four-four grooves no least the opener from the legend that is Perception with Andy G and their dubby 'Let's Go'. Conspiracy Dubz keeps it bumping with the old school feels of 'Musical Rush' and on the B-side it is more of a 2-step sound that emerges with jazzy melodies and female vocals. Groovy D's 'Another Chance' is the real standout for us with its classic vocal sample worked into a nice kinetic rhythm.

UK's Will Hofbauer, who has released on his own Third Place and other popular labels such as Wisdom Teeth, Rhythm Section International, Rinse Recordings and Aus Music, appears on Ladybug split series 'SF Traxx' These 3 dance tracks are made up of delicate rhythms and Will's unique sound.

A is Will's side, 'Cricket' transitions from breakbeats to 4/4, the experimental dance track 'Clod', and 'Cocodrilo' trips with unsettling synth and unique sound design.
All are wonderfully balanced dance floor tracks, uniquely distorted and loose.

On the flip side is Igaxx, a well-received release on Macadam Mambo and Angis Music.
It features the funky synth track '4.5 SL Trip', the floating breakbeat of 'Liquefy' and the mysterious downbeat cut with swirling bass and raspy distorted guitars 'Ray In Space'.

A split EP then, but one which highlights the individuality of both artists.

A 12" outing for the Ø:'s excellent Fermionit + the unreleased Kulmamomentti coming in the form of edits from members of the sähkö recordings crew (Kaukolampi & Jimi Tenor). Huge Tip!

Mika Vainio was recording a new Ø-album since 2014. He almost got it ready before his too early passing in 2017. Mika's girlfriend Rikke Lundgreen from Oslo has been going through Mika's notes, numerous versions and takes of the album tracks. Now the collection of the tracks is completed, there were two tracks that Mika thought should not be included the album. They make this release. The shoter track Kulmamomentti is edited slightly longer by Jimi Tenor and Timo Kaukolampi.

A recontextualized hybridization of that which is familiar to create the foreign....
Using classic Chicago, Detroit and New York as a reference, I sought to explore new sonic possibilities while limiting myself to the classic machines and sounds of the era that inspired me to dedicate my life to this art-form.
Revivalism was not my intent. Perhaps neo-futurism if any ism's must be assigned. That, and a strict code of minimalism. I aspire to use time, space, and absence, as well rhythm and sound, all in equal measure to create suggestive music (pun intended). Defined as much by what is not there as by what is. Music for travel. For Dance. For Contemplation. In a club among hundreds, or at home in bed.
An album. Along player. A fantastical voyage through the soul and mind via abstract, minimalist etudes exploring the range of emotions that are joined to a particular year in my life. Using as few elements as possible to create the most emotive material I could, these studies are recorded documentation of one student's pursuits to master the craft of creating raw, yet elegant. Rich and sonorous, yet stripped down modern electronic music. For the club, at home, and everywhere between. Modern music for modern living.
I hope to contribute to the progression of the form and create excitement in the next generation so that some of them will also be inspired to expressively create and add on to the culture. Peace

South London producer/musician, Ben Hauke, is se tto release his highly anticipated debut album,"Club Cute," under forward-thinking London-based label Touching Bass, run by Errol and Alex Rita. The dynamic genre-blending artist known for his electrifying music production, has been forging a path of his own over the last decade, and now it"s time for him to unleash his debut full length project, "ClubCute". Hauke collaborates with acclaimed artists and local peers such as Goya Gumbani, Katy B, ShyOne, Brother Portrait, Jadadsea, and more, showcasing his remarkable ability to seamlessly blend diverse influences into a cohesive musical tapestry.

- 2024 repress -

Comparsa is the third studio release by the musical group Deep Forest. The group consists of the duo Michel Sanchez and Éric Mouquet and are known by composing a style of world music, mixing ethnic with electronic sounds and beats. Comparsa features a pronounced focus on Latin and Caribbean grooves, provided by musicians from Cuba, Belize, Mexico and Madagascar, among other places. It became #8 French export album of 1998 and was certified Platinum by SNEP Export Awards, with more than 500,000 albums sold outside France.

The new label kicks off with a tribute by the late EDO8. Four tracks that get the label started.

PRSPCT Recordings and Redrum Recordz are a match made in the underground.

They bring you another groundbreaking release, this time building sonic bridges between the UK and The Netherlands.

Dutch Jungle legend Mike Redman is known for internationally spreading the Hardcore Jungle gospel as Deformer, Voodoom and under his own name since the early 90's. Recently his well received 'Roffadamn Jungle' track set international dance-floors on fire while paying tribute to the nightlife connoisseurs of bygone times, mixing UK inspired Jungle with uncompromising Rotterdam Hardcore.

This time around he's supported by the most legendary artists in the field providing stunning remixes. Such as UK Drum 'n Bass heroes Bizzy B and Ed Rush, both founders of the genre, providing remixes that knock you off your socks. He's also teamed up with hardcore legends Akira, Rotterdam Terror Corps as well as Mackadena providing that original sound of Rotterdam. Not to mention Redman's own ear-shattering remix under his alias Deformer, making this album a must-have for anyone that likes it ruff. By the way, the cover art by legendary graffiti artist Cosh is worth framing too!

4 tracks of hypnotic basslines, breakbeat, trippy analog sounds and dreamy blissful house makes this a perfect EP destined for dancefloor rotation. TIP!

ALONZO and M PARENT join forces bringing their gutter-laced sound, through combining their analog and modular studios into a dark cohesion for Juanita Recordings. ALONZO is a Brooklyn based producer, originally from Miami and has released on W.T., ZEMENT, Cultivated Electronics, Kraftjerkz, Rotterhague (as Lithium Parasites with Vidrio), and LSE amongst others. M Parent is a Philly based producer, originally from Connecticut and has released on ZEMENT, Sons of Traders, Acid Camp, Lost Soul Enterprises, and Spectral Sound (as SEER with Maroje T) amongst others.

Pink Vinyl

Time Is Now regular Soul Mass Transit System returns to DJ Mag's 'breakthrough label of the year' with an absolute monster speed garage cut. TIP!

Subjects remains one of the most reliable and prolific of the current jungle artists, laying down the fattest beats and bass and releasing one huge jungle slammer after another. New Hope and Your All continue the run of frankly stunning EPs from this seminal artist.

Music From Memory are excited to present the latest chapter in their ongoing collaboration with seminal Spanish ambient musician Suso Saiz. 'Resonant Bodies’ is Suso’s seventh album project with the label and again raises the bar of his musical output, embracing a conceptual approach of which Suso himself says the following: “A body vibrates producing a sound that reaches another body and makes it vibrate and generate a new sound that makes another body vibrate that generates another sound... Imagine an infinite orchestra of bodies multiplying their sound vibrations creating the symphony of RESONANT BODIES. Resonance as a principle of COMMUNICATION; sound as a builder of ties and interrelations between men. RESONANT BODIES pieces are part of a whole and are both generators of it. Unlike other works, during the approximately two years it took me to finish RESONANT BODIES, the pieces were gradually completed and small sound particles were added caused by the vibrations generated by the previous layers until creating imperfect and synchronized sound objects. COMMUNICATION.”

Initially released exclusively in digital format two years ago, the already cult favourite Whispers Of An Ancient World finally makes its way to vinyl courtesy of Mystic & Quantum but in highly restricted numbers. Featuring artwork by Kilian Eng, this red edition offers a mesmerising auditory journey. Ambient landscapes and evocative ancient ceremonies coalesce with explorations through lush jungles, tranquil acoustic melodies, and edgier dub motifs hinting at a looming dystopian future. Contributions from artists such as Diagonal, Mason Bee, and State Azure enrich its allure as the whole thing adds up to a cinematic tapestry that captivates with atmospheric depth.

Originally a digital-only project back in 2022, Whispers Of An Ancient World now makes the magical leap to vinyl as Mystic & Quantum press it up in hugely limited quantities for those lucky enough to cop it quickly. This is a green version with artwork by Kilian Eng. Musically it is a delightful escape. Ambient soundworlds and suggestive ancient rituals sit next to ambles through humid jungles, soothing acoustic string lullabies and more turbulent dub sounds that speak of a dystopian future looming on the horizon with artists like Diagonal, Mason Bee, State Azure and more all adding to its charms.

Yoeri Crew debuts on Juanita Recordings!

Three years in the making, Livity Sound alumni Azu Tiwaline and Forest Drive West combine their distinct but compatible styles into an EP of advanced, reduced soundsystem immersion.

The idea for the collaboration took shape not long after Tiwaline’s first Livity release, the Magnetic Service EP, and the pair took time to settle on a sound set which now shapes out Fluids In Motion. Drawing on a cohesive palette, the tracks they pieced together in a remote exchange between Tunisia and the UK explored a variety of tempos and rhythms ranging from pure ambience through to spring-loaded 4/4, with a focus on minimalism and dub-spirited spatial sound design.

The end result naturally evolves from each artist’s existing work, matching subtlety and space with intricate detail to present a complete, considered release that runs as deep as an album over the course of four tracks.

Livity Sound is a label set up by Peverelist in 2011 as a vehicle for a raw and exploratory strain of UK techno, rooted in the heritage of UK dance music and sound system culture. It has since become one of the UK's foremost protagonists for cutting edge underground electronic music.

Nova is the third album on Ghost Box for Lisbon based band Beautify Junkyards. As ever, the songs have a wide instrumental palette with ethereal vocals from both João Branco Kyron and new singer Martinez. This time around however, there’s a more electronic feel to proceedings and the usual rich and melodic songwriting has a somewhat more experimental and Avant-pop sensibility. Kyron’s synths and electronics are now augmented by the most recent recruit to the band Bernard Loopkin. Together their contemporary sound design combined with meticulous period sampling evoke a world of 60s & 70s movie soundtracks, library music and vintage electronica; the sounds reminiscent of White Noise, Piero Umiliani, Mort Garson and Broadcast.

This is not machine music though; Antonio Watts’ mesmerising drumming and percussion beautifully underpin the songs and the bass and guitars of Sergue and João Moreira intertwine throughout, ensuring that there’s always a sinuous, human feel.

Lyrically the songs explore a surreal and abstract dreamscape, taking stylistic cues from situationism, Dada, cut-up and the wider reaches of the psychedelic imagination. This is reflected in Julian House’s beautiful and carefully researched design work for the album, which draws its inspiration from the situationist and revolutionary underground press of 1960s Europe.

Special Guest Artists:

Beautify Junkyards have always enjoyed working with writing and performing collaborators. Nova is no exception and features some very special guests. Paul Weller sings and plays guitar on the co-written song, “Sister Moon”. Dorothy Moscowitz (of United States of America) co-wrote and sings on “Turn the Tide”. Jesse Chandler (of Pneumatic Tubes, Midlake and Mercury Rev) contributes flute on “Groundstar”

Tracklist:
Black Cape / Dancers Reward / Sister Moon / Sonora / Here everything is still floating / Raridade de Contrastes / Somersault / Groundstar / Orbit / Pulsing Abstractions / Turn the Tide

returning, dream’ is the second album from Paradise Cinema – the‘Fourth World’ inspired project led by multi-instrumentalist Jack Wyllie (Portico Quartet/Szun Waves). While Wyllie’s other projects move between tightknit electronica, widescreen minimalism and improvised ambient sounds, ‘returning, dream’ contains nods to Jon Hassell, Terry Riley, Don Cherry and Midori Takada as well as more contemporary electronic, ambient and non-western music and even draws inspiration from physics and science fiction.

The first, eponymous, Paradise Cinema record, released in 2020, was recorded in Dakar (Wyllie lived in Senegal for a while in the late 2010s) and featured the dense rhythms of Mbalax music combining with Wyllie’s textural saxophone and synth playing, but here he takes a step into the unknown:

The music is no longer built primarily around the rumbling
propulsiveness of Mbalax, but takes its inspiration from the Many-Worlds Interpretation of quantum mechanics, which suggests that there are many different worlds that branch off from our own. Wyllie explains: “It is an imagining of what music could be like in a different time and space, ancient and futuristic from everywhere and nowhere at once. I was listening to a lot of physics podcasts when I created this record. I loved the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics; about the multiple paths we are taking each time a quantum decision is taken. The different worlds then splitting off like branches on a tree. I could imagine different histories and worlds and multiple versions of myself, others and even other societies existing. In this album I’ve dug into these ideas andattempted to make music that would come from those different spaces, trying to poke my finger through to the other selves and stories. Effectively a form of composed science fiction, the music is an idea of what might be occurring or have occurred on a branch of the tree in a different world. But I like to think the tracks might actually have been composed somewhere or sometime.”

Created in London by Jack Wyllie with additional recordings from Dakar and Sydney, ‘returning, dream’ blends sounds that do not typically live together. It features Khadim Mbaye (sabar drums) and Tons Sambe (tama drums) who provide the dense Sengalese rhythms, plus Szun Waves colleague Laurence Pike, also on drums.

The first release on deadbeat Records comes in the shape of an EP by Rnbws. Pressed on ltd edition 140g vinyl. Only 300 records pressed. All profits will go directly to the artist for this release.


DJ Support:

Jay Carder
“Rnbws wake up / don’t say a word - sweet Jesus what belters”

Adam Curtain
“Tracks are sounding wicked btw! Will play the A1 for sure, it's a great EP”

Adam Shelton
“DOPE trax! full support on this BOMB!”

Farsight
"Rnbws release is sounding sick! Been playing 5321 and Spinner"

Adam Antine / Dawn Razor
"Great release mates!"

Oldfield
"Sick release - been playing 54321 out loads"

* Spearhead boss BCee returns with his 5th studio album.
* From the dancefloor destroying 'Prozac Dub' to the singalong vocals of 'Remind Me', 'Shouting About Nothing' is an album packed full of variety and depth.
* Album of the month - Mixmag.
* Support from Rene LaVice, SpectraSoul, DJ Marky, LTJ Bukem, Nu:Tone, Doc Scott and loads more.

Exzellente Werkschau von DJ Cam, Mitinitiator des French Touch, auf pinkfarbenem Vinyl. 11 fein selektierte Tracks aus seiner über 20-jährigen Karriere zwischen French House, Jazz, Hip-Hop, Trip-Hop.

Invisible Inc once again presents another incredible full-length album from the talented Double Geography. Following on from 2020's “The Indoor Gardener”, the new LP “Open Water” is bathed in a similar blissful atmosphere...it would be appropriate to describe it as rather sublime.

Double Geography aka Duncan Thornley (one half of Weird Weather and studio engineer at MAP Studios), following the success of his debut album “The Indoor Gardener” (also on Invisible Inc) had sent Invisible Inc label boss GK Machine demos of his second and third album, which the label reluctantly declined on the basis that the music didn't sound quite right for the label. However, this fourth studio album fits the bill perfectly. Leaning towards the label's more ambient and laidback output, the album is themed around water, moving on and escape and sounds as unshackled and free-flowing as you'd expect...you can almost feel the breeze in the air and the sun on your skin.

The album is a progression from his previous releases, this time featuring several additional guest musicians, including stalwarts of the London jazz scene Greg Foat and Kaidi Akinnibi, to compliment Thornley's electronics...adding a complexity and depth to each of these compositions and an overall 'organic' quality that makes these new pieces sound like quite a departure from the first album. Fretless bass, clarinet, piano and saxophone decorate the music with refrains and melodies that have been enchanting our reveries since first hearing them.

“I wanted to incorporate some live musicians on this release so called upon some of the talent I'd worked with as an engineer at MAP Studios...that was the main drive behind the music for this release. The tracks are named after things that relate to either leaving behind canal boat living, e.g. Goodbye Great Escape (Great Escape was the name of our boat) or memories from a trip to Hydra, Greece. All sorta water related… On one of our walks around the island we ended up sharing a beach with Pierluigi Collina hence Famous Italian Referee! That track felt like the weirdest of the bunch so it got designated the weirdest name / memory!” (Duncan Thornley, March 2024)

Duncan Thornley - synthesizers, programming, percussion
Adam Hayes - drum kit, roto-toms (A1, A3, A5)
Pike Ogilvy - congas (A2, A3)
Jasper Osbourne - fretless bass (A1, A3, A5)
Kaidi Akinnibi - tenor and soprano saxophones (A1, A5)
Simeon May - bass clarinet (A2, A3, B2, B4)
Greg Foat - piano (B1)

Recorded and mixed at MAP Studios, London
Mastered by James Savage at Milk Mastering
Cyanotype photography by Lydia Dique
Sleeve layout and design by Gordon Mackinnon

Parallel zu seinem neuen Album 'Sound Vagabond' veröffentlicht Thievery Corporation-Mitbegründer Eric Hilton drei 7inch-Singles auf farbigem Vinyl mit je einem Albumtrack plus je einem unveröffentlichten und exklusiven Track auf der B-Seite, der sich nicht auf dem Album befindet.

OTOROKU is proud to reissue Evan Parker's first solo LP "Saxophone Solos". Recorded by Martin Davidson in 1975 at the Unity Theatre in London, at that time the preferred concert venue of the Musicians' Co-operative, Parker's densely woven and often cyclical style has yet to form; instead throaty murmurs appear under rough hewn whistles and calls - the wildly energetic beginnings of an extraordinary career. Reissued with liner notes from Seymour Wright in an edition of 500. "The four pieces across the two sides of Saxophone Solos - Aerobatics 1 to 4 - are testing, pressured, bronchial spectaculars of innovation and invention and determination. Evan tells four stories of exploration and imagination without much obvious precedent. Abstract Beckettian cliff-hanging detection/logic/magic/mystery. The conic vessel of the soprano saxophone here recorded contains the ur-protagonists: seeds, characters, settings, forces, conflicts, motions, for new ideas, to delve, to tap and to draw from it story after story as he has on solo record after record for 45 years. 'Aerobatics 1-3' were recorded on 17 June 1975, by Martin Davidson at Parker's first solo performance. This took place at London's Unity Theatre in Camden. 'Aerobatics 4' was recorded on 9 September the same year, by Jost Gebers in the then FMP studio in Charlottenburg, Berlin. Music of balance and gravity, fulcra, effort, poise and enquiry. Sounds thrown and shaken into and out of air, metal and wood. It is - as the titles suggest - spectacular." - Seymour Wright, 2020.

Honour's debut album is a ligament stretching from Lagos to London and to New York, curling across the diaspora and brushing the darker hues of blues, hip-hop, free jazz, ambient, gospel with Christian mythology and Yoruba folklore. As cinematic as it is painterly, Alàáfíà is a meditation on themes of life, death and love that pulls inspiration from the unexpected poetic profundity of casual conversations, field recordings, literature, ephemera, or personal archives. The result is an impressionistic vision in Black and Blur that both exhausts and implicates language_substantiating a mythos proposed by Fred Moten that sublimates boundaries between everywhere and nowhere; history and the present; the individual and the universal. Alàáfíà delineates a gothic landscape cut by overdriven beats, swooping orchestral blasts, choral bursts and ear- splitting fuzz, where the fleshly and spiritual realms commune. Dedicated to Honour's late grandmother, the title track began to take form after their last embrace and remains steeped in her influence and spirit_a tape-saturated composition that starts in Lagos and ends in London's smoke-stained cityscape, the song's dream-like quality developed out of the artist's grief and PTSD coping with this loss. Beneath the stretched guitar drones and stuttering loops, their grandmother's shared faith bubbles to the surface. "When Angels Speak of Love," borrows its title from two works by Sun Ra and bell hooks, respectively. Sculpting echoes of praise music into disorienting spirals perforated with syrupy DJ Screw-inspired breaks and sharp splinters of melancholic guitar, "When Angels Speak of Love" engages a conceptual dialogue with the spirits of both late thinkers, folding them into Honour's pantheon of ancestral guides. The album's ninth track, "Giz Aard ($uckets)," is a dirge of regimented drums which anchor this somber melody as it whirls into a blizzard of heartache, uncertain if its consequence will be death or eternal joy. The album's sole lyrical offering, "Pistol Poem (Lead Belly)," begins with a darkly humorous bar, "He went thru hell and back/ came back/ 2 get the strap," that swells into a haunting allegory based on the life of Philip "Hot Sauce" Champion. A modern take on the Blues, Honour's lyrics reify the artist's status as a student of both literature and popular culture, crossbreeding the artist's clever wordplay with additional references to Richard Pryor, Robert Johnson, Kelly Rowland & Bryon Gysin. Setting core principles of hip-hop, R&B, jazz and gospel music to atemporal soundscapes and compositions, Honour crafts a record that marinates in its own knotty contradictions. The ghosts that sit on the artist's shoulders have never been more tangible than with this emotive debut.

London outfit Kassian continue their broadly- evolving yet highly detailed journey through and beyond sound towards something ever more expansive. Their second release for !K7 Records comes in the wake of creating a dedicated hardware-forward studio in a Northeast London container complex, where they have the freedom to interlink their machines. This renewed focus brought them to Supercontinent EP, named for the ancient geological era when Africa and South America were joined as Pangea.

A reformulation of rhythmic ideas inspired by South= African Amapiano and South American Baile Funk governs the two hemispheres of the record. The pair examine and deconstruct dancefloor material, eschewing 4/4 for interlocking shaker patterns, searing acid lines, cracking breakbeats, and vocal samples in Zulu and Brazil Portuguese.

The immediacy of the restless rhythm and bass-led funk of “Yena” (the word Yena translates to ‘he/him /man’)forms a sweet spot where double-time and half-time can coexist. “Yami” (‘mine’ in Zulu) is a slinkier proposition which sheds prominent percussion in favour of a weighty, fluid, acid-informed bassline undulating from below.

An ascending percussive riff marks the arrival of “Pulgueiro”, followed closely by break beats and the nostalgia of distinctly British acid electro; it is an intentionally future-forward retelling of a vintage sound, replete with a mind-melt breakdown of rave pads.

A dubbed-out groove dominates the bottom-heavy “Sistema” – a groovy, steady roller that chugs and propels and chugs with head-nod hypnotism through an intricately minimalistic approach.

Das Italo-Berliner Brüderduo Mind Against hat die Gabe, mit Synthesizern und perkussiven Instrumenten Emotionen zu erzeugen; seine clevere, bewegende Art von Techno sorgt für besondere Höhepunkte auf Festivals und Dancefloors. Ihr Fabric-Mix greift auf psychedelische Hooks von 1980er Soundtracks und die Betonung des Sounddesigns in der modernen Dance Music zurück, um einen unverwechselbaren und immens kraftvollen Mixsampler zu schaffen. Elf exklusive Tracks zieren die achtzehn Tracks, die alle auf das melodische Genre abgestimmt sind und von Freunden der Fognini-Brüder geschrieben wurden. Ein herausragender Höhepunkt des Mixes ist die Schlussnummer - eine transzendente Kollaboratione zwischen Mind Against und dem jungen Innovator Dyzen.

Das junge italienische Duo Reform meldet sich mit vier Tracks innovativem, knallhartem und ungewöhnlich anspruchsvollem Techno voller pochender Kicks und triftiger Synthese auf Pan-Pot's Label zurück. Die außergewöhnliche Gabe der beiden Italiener, unterschiedlichste Elemente zu etwas Ungewöhnlichem, aber völlig Tanzbaren zu verschmelzen, zeigt sich durch und durch auf der ganzen EP durch das Einsetzen Techno-fremder Breakbeat- und Jungle-Elementen.

Manchester independent Dark Red Records brings it's 4th instalment in the form of a multi-artist EP from Ego-Free Sequences, rising new French talent Sqimer (also on mastering duties for this release) and label regular Darsk, all coming together to provide a satisfyingly varied selection of dark, meditative Drum & Bass and Jungle tracks which meld together classic breaks and editing with a distinctly modern and experimental approach, all finished in a wholly organic and listenable style. Feedback and support has been very strong across the board with two tracks played by scene legend Klute on his Kool FM show in February.

DEXT Recs revive there DEXT LIMITED imprint for a brand new vinyl compilation series , Volume 1 features 4 weighty Bass heavy jams from K-65 , Krotone , Local Group & Dawn Razor all cut to transparent vinyl enjoy !

Imaginative re-workings and improvisations by Andrew Tuttle of the late great Michael Chapman's unfinished instrumental album. Sonic explorations that bridge the Southern and Northern Hemisphere via the Caribbean, remote Northumberland and sub-tropical Australia. Navigating calm seas and turbulent waters of ambient corals, new-age pirates, waves of lapping banjos and drifting eroding guitars.
When Michael Chapman passed away in September of 2021, at the age of 80, he did so – as he spent much of his life – as both a pioneer and a legend. A veteran of the British blues/folk/jazz scene, Chapman emerged in 1966 and continued working throughout his life, always pushing the boundaries of his creations while collaborating with a slew of similarly heralded musicians along the way: Bert Jansch, Mick Ronson, Elton John, Thurston Moore, Steve Gunn; to name just a smattering of those he worked alongside over the years.
It's the latter of those – Brooklyn guitarist and songwriter Steve Gunn – who Chapman flourished alongside in recent years, the two collaborating on 50 and True North, two of Chapman’s final and finest records. It was through that friendship that Chapman’s music found Andrew Tuttle, the Brisbane-based multi-instrumentalist who has toured Australia several times alongside Gunn.
In the aftermath of Chapman’s passing, his partner Andru discovered Tuttle’s Fleeting Adventure LP, describing it as “one of the albums that kept me sane during that first brutal winter on my own.” The pair met in Australia shortly after, and before Andru had even made it back home to the north of England, Tuttle had begun working on the recordings she shared with him at that time. Those recordings were part of a project Chapman was working on at the time of his death, called Another Fish – what would have been a companion piece to his previously-released LP, simply called Fish.
Though Chapman had spent time in his local studio playing all the guitars, layering the different sounds and effects, he’d always intended to do much more work on the songs, however fate had its way and he never got to ribbon-bow those ideas and bring the album to its conclusion.
Though there was little intention in terms of how to finalise the project, Tuttle spent valuable time with those recordings. What materialised, eventually - with time, care, and diligent attention - is a two-disc set Another Tide, Another Fish, something both unusual and completely distinctive. The first disc, Another Tide is centred around Tuttle’s own work, which shaped all seven of Michael’s songs and ideas into new songs of their own, and the second disc which simply incorporates the recordings that Michael left behind.
“On all of the tracks I also ‘played along’ on banjo to the originals several times until I learned an approximation,” Tuttle continues. “This ended up resulting in a ‘hybrid’, where some works are easily identifiable to those who know Michael’s originals, and some took that inspiration to head altogether elsewhere. Each of the tracks, even where not obvious, does have at the very least a trace element sample of the original recordings so that it’s a true collaboration.”
What we’re left with is indeed a hybrid: part remix album, part cover album, both a solo work and a collaboration, of sorts. Inspired by Chapman’s original ideas and with new track titles directly referencing the numbered but otherwise untitled source material, Tuttle adds his own flashes of colours throughout, including editing, sampling, MIDI transposing and signal processing that twists these songs into beautiful new shapes. Perhaps Tuttle’s greatest achievement here then is that Another Tide sounds so effortlessly free of all this context.
Whether you know Michael’s, Andrew’s or even Andru’s story or not, these recordings will bristle with enchantment and intrigue, worlds are built, and while some thrive and grow, others fizzle out in a burst of light, such is the way. “It's been a long, long road but we got there and I think it's been more than worth it,” Andru says in the record’s liner notes. “I really hope you think the journey was worth it too.”
Guitars and effects by Michael Chapman recorded by Alex Warnes at Phoenix Studio, Brampton, Cumbria, 2017 Banjo, effects and edits by Andrew Tuttle at Bella Vista, Brisbane / Meanjin, 2023-2024

A new album is finally on Drivecom. A 2xLp full of new tracks recovered and rearrenged around 2022-23. No doubt the legacy of the past works are represented. Some arpeggios and melody lines will remember us to sonic landscapes from the “La Hora de las Máquinas” or “The Source” albums by Boris Divider but with a new and refreshed production sound, for sure this will be a must item for all the electro community and fans of the label.

The album opens with the intro track “The Way You Feel Me” a mix between electro and synthwave with a moog bass and arpegio reminiscent of some Arpanet’s “Wireless Internet” tracks. Then followed for the “Letters From A Sleeper” theme. As the track’s name reflects, it's a clear tribute to the synth era of David Harrow/Anne Clarke’s “Sleeper in Metropolis” just like a reply from a postnuclear future, with a big role carried out by the initial synthline. Then the first slow bpm track is for “Distante” where synthlines a la Tangerine Dream are crossed and mixed with vintage digital rhythm machine sounds and the pattern seems to be taken from those Dire Straits’ “Money for nothing” intro drum arrange in an infinite and repetitive way.

In the B Side “You Know What I Know” track is again showing an Arpanet-ish intro synthline followed by a sequential prophet's arpeggio which bring us back to the old “La hora de las máquinas” sound. Closing the first 12 inch is “Sin Mirar Atrás”. One of the most important tracks of the album for the author. A big dimensional and introspective track full of vintage synthlines and reverb. Time for “Your Light” track is again here. This song was already presented with its own reference on Drivecom. A future pure Electro classic which was announcing the album months before.

In the same side, we find another slow tempo theme called “Recursos Infinitos” an instrumental track which implements several synthlines that interlink themselves into an infnite Tangerine Dream’s soundtrack that serves as a little break to the power and darkness of “Cenital”. Electro rhythm patterns and dark arpeggio synthlines in the vibe of Vangelis’ Blade Runner are mixed in this cold dystopian agressive dancefloor track. Later we find the theme that gives name to the album: “ Memories From The Dust” a slower track which mixes sounds and melodies between “La Hora de las Máquinas“ and other 80's digital keyboard sounds. The last track is just an outro theme called “Out of Sync”. Its name is a clear statement of its own musical arrangement, synthlines are full out of timing and synchro, it was recorded in realtime from a modular synth to a digital device in one take.

Clan Caimán, led by composer Emilio Haro, is a group from Argentina, but their timeless, organic music transcends nationality. “Pica-Pau” (woodpecker), their third album, is their most abstract and minimal to date, but this is not a cold abstraction nor an austere minimalism; the music here, with its focus on rhythm and texture, is warm and hypnotic, seeming to have existed forever despite the fact that it was recorded in 2023-24. As on their previous albums, all with EM Records, the music is driven by the kalimabafon, Haro’s self-made tuned percussion instrument. The kalimbafon’s patterns weave through waves of reverb-drenched lap steel and guitar, as bass undertow and sans-cymbal percussion allow the music to flow music inexorably forward, like a broad, timeless river. The compositions here have a feeling of being immersed in deep night, surrounded by life, away from the enclosed isolation of the urban environment. As with previous albums, the compositions are instrumental, the exception being the final song, a vocal version of the opening track, sung in a language invented by Haro.

The full-length debut by Detroit duo Giovanna Lenski and Christian Molik aka Clinic Stars both refines and redefines their pitch-perfect fusion of downer-pop balladry and featherweight shoegaze: Only Hinting.

Recorded and produced at the band’s home studio, the album was crafted across 2022 and 2023, patiently layering FX and spatial depths to give each song a swirling, subconscious undertow. From the strummed whirlpool of “I Am The Dancer” to the gated reverb of “Remain” to the greyscale guitar reverie of “Isn’t It,” the record aches as much as moves, daydreaming of escape and transcendence.

OKTEMBER is the second EP release under Wolfgang Voigt’s mythical GAS project. Originally released in 1999 on the iconic Frankfurt imprint Mille Plateaux, and then reissued in 2016 as a part of GAS “BOX”, OKTEMBER is now released on his own label KOMPAKT on 180 gram LP vinyl in its original artwork. This reissue features the single “Tal ‘90“ – originally released as a part of the Pop Ambient 2002 collection.

This two-track long player starts with A-Side “Tal 90”. Sampled strings and guitars soundtrack a more uplifting side to what is typically accustomed to being the sound of GAS. The title track “Oktember” is a dense, hypnotic affair that conjures a unique vision of dub techno that few have been able to replicate.

A monumental soundtrack to uncertain times.

This is the second package of remixes for the hypnotic folk music of the Ainu a cappella group Marewrew. 
Ukouk Remixes Pt. 02 is dedicated to dub-infused remixes, featuring Elijah Minnelli and Peter Presto on a 7" single.
Elijah Minnelli is a producer of dub music. The London-based artist specialises in a fusion of folklore and dub, which he masterfully demonstrates on his latest release Perpetual Musket on the FatCat label. His remix of Marewrew's Uekap is a deep and breathing take on the mesmerising round singing vocals, dubbed in a live take through his mixing desk. The chopped vocals are used like percussion instruments. Elijah Minnelli has also contributed a moody DJ mix to the Pingipung podcast series, sharing some of his knowledge of pre-reggae roots music from the Caribbean and South America.
Pingipung founder Peter Presto remixes the same track, Uekap, with his unmistakable dubby playfulness. The vocals are merry, the groove stumbling and slow. The flute melody qualifies as a perfect stress antidote.
The electronic dub trio Cloud Management added their version of Honkaya to the digital package. There is an Andi Otto remix in the bundle, Hunpe Yan Na. The song is about a whale that has stranded ashore; Otto dubs the song with Heiko Gogolin’s bass clarinet, blown organ pipes and his cello. Finally, Californian folk wizard Contact Field Orchestra adds his atmospheric, haunted version of Etukuma Kara.

Repress.

Welcome to “Through Lines”, a collection of hand picked tracks by genre nomad and bass innovator Martyn, made between 2005 and 2015, carefully recovered and remastered for vinyl and digital release on 3024. Previously only available on 12” across a scattering of different labels, this set includes essential ‘Martyn Music’ (as the producer likes to classify it); tracks like “Vancouver” (A 140 staple to this day), “Mega Drive Generation” and his classic remix of TRG’s “Broken Heart”, as well as deeper cuts like the rare “Friedrichstrasse” and house gem “For Lost Relatives”.

This is not just a compilation of remastered music, it’s a document of an era of UK inspired dance music where ideas, genres, tempos and scenes seemed to rapidly merge and splinter off. An exciting time where producers constantly tried to one-up each other with new ideas and influences, in a vibrant international scene of small club nights from FWD>> and DMZ in London to Red Zone (co-run by Martyn) in the periphery, the earliest online forums like Dubstepforum and radio shows like Dj Flight’s BBC 1xtra show and Mary Anne Hobbs’ Breezeblock. Innovation in music never happens in a vacuum and is always a product of community, producers, writers, and other makers continuously inspiring and pushing each other to come up with the next thing. This ethos is present in all of Martyn’s music throughout the years, but also in his work with Jeroen Erosie as 3024 and within the 3024 Mentoring Program he runs today.

Nach ihrem Karrierehighlight "Long Gradus" 2023, der aus der seltenen Gelegenheit entstand, monatelang mit einem Streichquartett zusammenzuarbeiten, bringt Sarah Davachi auf ihrer zehnten Late Music-LP ihre elektroakustischen Studio- und Live-Kammerpraktiken zu einer atemberaubenden Verbindung zusammen: "The Head As Form’d In The Crier’s Choir" basiert auf zwei Werken des altgriechischen Orpheus-Mythos - Rilkes Gedichtsammlung "Sonette An Orpheus" (1922) und Monteverdis frühe Barockoper "l'Orfeo" (1607), bildet mit den Vorgängern "Two Sisters" (2022) und "Antiphonals" (2021) eine 'lose Trilogie' und stellt Davachis bisher ganzheitlichsten Ansatz an Komposition und Aufführung dar. Mit einer reichen Textur, die sich in jedem Stück wellt, es durchdringt und emotionale Höhepunkte erreicht, präsentiert Sarah Davachi auf "The Head As Form’d In The Crier’s Choir" einige ihrer bisher zartesten und ausdrucksstärksten Werke.

Isaac Helsen and Zach Frizzell, the unfathomably prolific ambient producer known as zake, have been collaborating together again. They both run the Past Inside the Present label and despite great musical kinship have only put out two records to date: beliefsystems in 2021, and Atonements earlier this year, which first came on Zake Drone Recordings and now gets a cassette reissue on Past Inside the Present. It's a gorgeously hazy analogue affair made with a reel-to-reel and Korg Minilogue. "This album embodies the theme of letting go and moving forward with acceptance," they explain, and what a beauty it is too.

Since its founding back in 2014, Blume has carved a unique place in cultural landscape, issuing free-standing works, spanning the historical and contemporary, that represent singular gestures of creativity within the field of experimental sound. Joining their broad efforts in building networks of context and understanding that already includes the works by Werner Durand, Sarah Hennies, Bruce Nauman, John Butcher, Jocy de Oliveira, Mary Jane Leach, Valentina Magaletti, Alvin Curran, Julius Eastman, Alvin Lucier, and shortly after returning with the first ever vinyl release to attend to James Tenney’s legendary “Postal Pieces”, the label is now offering a brand new, ambitious work by the American composer Ben Vida, entitled “Vocal Trio”, conceived, performed, and recorded in Bremen, Germany, during the Spring of 2022. A truly stunning work of compositional conceptualism, combining the ideas of systems based synthesis with real-time vocal collaboration - issued in a highly limited vinyl edition of 200 copies mastered by Stephan Mathieu, featuring specially commissioned liner notes by Bradford Bailey and a leporello insert offering the piece visual score - it’s a landmark in contemporary experimental practice and arguably the most forward-thinking and exciting piece by one of the most exciting American artists working today.

Ben Vida first emerged during the mid 1990s within a loose constellation of experimental musicians, centred around a performance series of improvised workshops at the Myopic Bookstore in Chicago, alongside Jim O'Rourke, Kevin Drumm, Chad Taylor, and the other future members of Town and Country - Jim Dorling, Joshua Abrams, and Liz Payne - the band within which he would gain widespread recognition over the following years. Like many other members of that scene, Vida remains a restless product of a fleeting context - Chicago during the 1990s and early 2000s - continuously undermining concrete notions of idiom and signifier within a practice that witnessed him rendering bristling abstractions within Pillow, glacial melodies with Town and Country, the art-rock mayhem of Bird Show Band, and the angular, driving indie rock of Joan of Arc, before becoming immersed in a practice of systems based synthesis, beginning in the 2010s, that guided much of his first decade of output as a solo performer and composer.

As early as 2013, he began to incorporate acoustic sound sources - specifically the human voice - into his work. It was this shift, evolving and refining itself over the last decade, that underscores radically the leap in his practice represented by “Vocal Trio”, a work that encounters Vida composing for the human voice with the ideas that allow for synthesis - transferring the underlying concepts and structures of both subtractive and additive synthesis to the acoustic realm - without using a synthesiser.

During the Spring of 2022 Vida was in Bremen, Germany, collaborating on a dance piece with the choreographer Fay Driscoll, when the production fell into delays. Finding himself with time on his hands, a space at his disposal, and the company of two dancers - Amy Gernux and Lotte Rudhart - who were also singers, the idea for the piece - to utilising the larynx as audio paths (multi-harmonic or harmonically pure) while conceptualising each person’s mouth as a filter to sculpt the timbre and resonance of a given tone - began to take shape in his mind. Considering how typographical scores might be developed into a non-linguistic social framework, Vida drafted a single page of text - what became the score for “Vocal Trio” - accompanied by a set of harmonic suggestion and loose parameters, seeking a core meaning from each word's phonic make-up by each of the three singers (Vida, Gernux and Rudhart) singing as slowly as possible.

At the core of the pulsing vocal drones - intoxicating, harmonically rich long-tones - that make up the duration abstraction of “Vocal Trio”, is Vida’s regard for music as a social space. It is an experiment that seeks liberation through the act of collective music making, by challenging the terms through which the act of composing is perceived and then relinquishing control. The piece’s rehearsals were simply the three performers hanging out, allowing their knowing each other and natural dynamics to contribute to its form as the score, before recording during a single afternoon at the end of a number of days sharing company and space.

Creatively visionary and groundbreaking on numerous terms, as well as being intoxicatingly beautiful and remarkably listenable, Ben Vida’s “Vocal Trio” represents a striking step forward for one of the most ambitious and outstanding sonic artists working in the United States today. Issued by Blume in a highly limited vinyl edition of 200 copies mastered by Stephan Mathieu, featuring specially commissioned liner notes by Bradford Bailey and a leporello insert offering the piece visual score, this is hands down one of the most important contemporary records we’re likely to encounter in 2024.

arbitrary presents the second in a series of 10" vinyl remix collaboration releases by Danish musician Mads Emil Nielsen and Chromacolor.

Side A features Heartbeats, a composition Nielsen originally made for a radio soundtrack. The track is derived from loops and granulations of sine waves and pulses from Nielsen’s modular synth, which he later combined with recordings of synthesized bass and layers of organ-like tones.

On side B is a remix by German sound artist and producer Hanno Leichtmann under his Chromacolor moniker. As on the first split 10" (Constellation, 2022), Leichtmann worked with sounds from the original mix, combining it with his Hohner Guitaret, Fender Rhodes and Moog bass. Additional cello tones by Anthea Caddy and vocal contributions from Annie Garlid round out the remix.

Heartbeats written & produced by Mads Emil Nielsen in Copenhagen. Heartbeats / Chromacolor Remix written & produced by Hanno Leichtmann. with: Annie Garlid: voice, Anthea Caddy: cello.
Mastered and cut by Kassian Troyer at D&M, Berlin. Artwork by Karel Martens.

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