Beats Vinyl New Releases - News

Do we see what is really there? On the EP titled “Kelly”, the artist Eden Burns touches the topic of perception. How do we perceive and how do we channel our out-of-body experiences? The 4 tracks on this EP are the result of the artist’s extensive exchange with 4 objects. One track = One Object. The objects will not reveal themselves to the listener when experiencing the music. Not showing the objects alongside the music is a choice made deliberately. The meditative music is shifting, layers of sounds invite to form entirely new objects in one's head. Do we hear what is really there?

The "Duets" double cassette by Kristoffer Eikrem & Bendik Baksaas was awarded the Oslo-prize for "album of the year 2018" by Natt & Dag, Norway's biggest culture magazine. Due to many requests from our listeners we decided to pick the duo's 40 most precious minutes of music from the project and press a limited run of 300 copies on vinyl.

We are happy to welcome UK-based producer Native Cruise on Slam City Jams. The guy was on our radar since his releases on No Bad Days and Fruit Merchant that easily combined house music with new-age synths, a wave/EBM touch and balearic sounds.
His „Human Nature“ EP is no exception with five outstanding tracks that differ in tempo and vibe.
The opener „Crew Talk“ is a percussion heavy tune with lots of cowbells, a funky DX7 bass line, deep pads and dramatic chords that build up and up towards the end.
„Elsewhere" is the most housey track on this record, with four-to-the-floor 808s and bittersweet strings that burst out into euphoria. Closing down the A-side is „Fooled Again“, a balearic cut that feels like a day in the sun with it's little synth blips and arps.
On the flip we find the title track „Human Nature“ that might be the hidden jam on this EP. Hard hitting Linn Drums, digital synth bells and those haunting vocals we can’t get out of our heads. Finally we have „Not Long Now“ a perfectly atmospheric deep tune, that sits somewhere between ambient and reggaeton and will make fans of DJ Python more than happy.

Fresh from the release of their third album ‘Autonomy’ earlier this summer, comes Autonomy Variations: four brand new perspectives from four exciting, innovative kindred spirits of the avant-pop duo.

South London’s Medlar breaks the seal. Following a series of incredible live collaborations with Dele Sosimi (Fela Kuti), he’s has turned ‘Autonomy’ into a minimal, percolating house track. Swapping the acid spikes for analog bleeps, Medlar’s signature can be felt every step through this vivid energetic stomper.

Fabric resident Anna Wall follows with another beautiful subversion as ‘New Politik’ is given a smouldering take. Moody, intimate, downtempo; there’s some serious late night HTRK-esque vibes to Anna’s twist.

Further into the remix trip we glide to find Dischi Autunno, Ombra International affiliate Curses pulling ‘Electric Light’ into the fringes. Taking the upbeat, crystalline pop of Penelope and Stephen’s original and flipping it into a stark postpunk Bauhaus-inspired take, Curses’ live bass and driving new wave beat shine a whole new light on the original and write it a whole new chapter.

Finally, brand new act, Isolating have the honour of closing the EP with industrial modular apocalyptic take on ‘Infinity’. A vast playground of contrasts, at points it’s dirty and pounding. At others it’s quiet and menacing. File under ‘Dystopian Techno.’

Four extensions on one of the most interesting electronic albums released this year, if you haven’t treated yourself to ‘Autonomy’ yet, you’d be wise to. DJ Mag stated it’s The Golden Filter’s best work yet while Clash called a it a bruising return. These remixes follow with complete forward-thinking consistency. Enjoy…

The cult album from Tonton David originally released in 1991 is being reissued for the 1st time and with a 180g heavyweight vinyl.
Tracklist includes the hits ‘Peuples du monde’ and ‘Le blues des racailles’.

Clear Vinyl

Steve Von Till has charted an extraordinary musical path over the last several decades, from his main duties as singer and guitarist of the boundary-breaking Neurosis to the psychedelic music of his Harvestman project and the gothic Americana he's released under his own name. But No Wilderness Deep Enough is truly like nothing you've ever heard from him before—an album that's devastatingly beautiful and overwhelming in its scope, reminiscent of the tragic ecstasy of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' recent work as well as the borderless ambient music pioneered by Brian Eno, late composer Jóhann Jóhannsson's glacial compositions, and the electronic mutations of Coil. 

FOR FANS OF : MARK LANEGAN/MICHAEL GIRA/NICK CAVE.

Over the course of recent time, an aching, growing void has developed where our normal way of life has resided. Uncertainty abounds, and Steve Von Till's No Wilderness Deep Enough provides a voice of existential wisdom and experience to offer comfort and perspective in an era of uncharted territory. These six pieces of music shape a hallucinatory landscape of sound that plumbs the depths of the natural world's mysteries and uncertainties—questions that have vexed humanity since the dawn of time asked anew amidst a backdrop that's as haunting as it is holistic.

Von Till’s fifth solo album is a swirling and iridescent blend of ambient, neo-classical, and gothic Americana that swan-dives into the darkness of modern life, with the resulting emergence a sonic document of rural psychedelia that transcends the physical world—towards a greater spiritual acceptance that connects naturalism, spiritualism, and the corporeal form.

With a foundation of simple melancholy piano chord progressions embellished with mellotron, cello, french horn and electronic treatments Von Till's scorched ache spreads across the terrain of No Wilderness Deep Enough like a brushfire, adding a tactile level to his sonic creation as well as an inviting level of friction to the burning beauty painted across the album's framework.

With a foundation of simple melancholy piano chord progressions that came to fruition during jetlagged nights in his wife’s childhood home in Germany, No Wilderness Deep Enough was further embellished with mellotron and electronic treatments in Von Till’s home studio in North Idaho.  Viewing the emerging result as an ambient instrumental album, he consulted friend and engineer Randall Dunn (Marissa Nadler, Earth) about adding live cello and french horn and piano in a proper studio.  After enlisting Brent Arnold on cello and Aaron Korn on french horn, he challenged Von Till to sing over the music and make it his next solo album—which is exactly what happened, with final work being completed at Tucker Martine’s (the Decemberists, Neko Case) Flora Recording and Playback in Portland.

Fresh from their release on John Digweed's Bedrock Records under their more covert Techno guise 'Cypherpunx' the Brighton based duo Flip Fantazia unleash their debut album ‘The Trip’.
Touching on influences from Air to Bonobo, The xx to DJ Shadow, ‘The Trip’ guides you down a road less travelled meandering through Downtempo, Electronica & Trip Hop with a few Jazzy twists & turns.
Essentially Flip Fantazia is a meeting of two minds,
four hands, several synths, quite a few guitars, some very clever computer software with a variety of drum machines. The prolific duo spend most of their time writing, recording, producing, mixing & mastering original music down in an old bank vault in Brighton... well, Hove actually! Their real names… Douglas Horner & Tim Belcher.
Born from a project focussed mainly on music for Sync, writing for Ninja Tune PM, Cavendish Music, Delimusic, BMG PM & Deep East + more this is their first artist album to be commercially released.
Their first brief for Ninja Tune’s Production Music company was to create an authentic 60s sounding Samba song and a Boogaloo / Salsa, both of which appear on the Ninja Tune Latin Excursions album.
Along with a contemporary breaks / glitch remix of the classical masterpiece Flight Of The Bumblebee and a piece of funk with a foodie flavour for two other Ninja Tune production music albums. Another brief came in for some Australian influenced Beach House from delimusic to be used on the BBC Commonwealth Games Gold Coast 2018 coverage, so out came the Didgeridoo and five new tracks were born. Writing to brief is a delight & an adventure for Flip Fantazia covering many genres from authentic Samba to electro disco new-wave post modern cosmic soul funk afro-boogie punk alt+indie dance crossover and everything in between! So it was tough to narrow The Trip down to 10 original tracks which best illustrate the authentic Flip Fantazia sound.

Modest techno for mindful people. Venezuelan born, Swiss raised and Berlin living artist Arutani developed his own signature sound from early on. Very reduced, but sonically rich, reviving the golden era of minimal in his own in- terpretation. Subtle and detailed, dark at times, but always uplifting. Luise is proud to give home to his rst album. Hello Arutani.

Clear Vinyl

Visiting an antique shop is a journey into an uncertain past in which one finds objects that are dormant but still loaded with aesthetic, historical and sentimental value, waiting to be rescued in order to perpetuate their identity and, perhaps, to allow them to live a second life.

In "Anticuario", Alex Alarcón aka Sustainer uses digital restoration and sound processing tools to exhume forgotten musical genres, giving them new form and structure. The objects in his "Anticuario" are old recordings of popular music that have fallen into oblivion but have not completely faded. Now, after a long and meticulous process of editing akin to sound archaeology, he presents these forgotten objects to us, preserving their identity while creating a very different appearance.

Matthias Vogt is back on Polytone with two strong original tracks, plus legendary producer Carl Finlow is adding his remix magic. The title track "Imaginary Friend" is an ode to Electro, with a hint of Pop and both: taking us back to the sound of the 80s, yet still sounding fresh and crisp. Carl Finlow's transforming Imaginary Friend into a sci-fi-something - it's out of this world. The B-Side is all about "Crevasse", a timeless beauty - we are in love with this Matthias Vogt trademark sound.

7" Yellow Vinyl

Nearly seven years after the release of the debut album “ALFA", FDF still has not enough. Two track EP with remixes by none other than Filburt and the probably most underrated artists from Berlin “Even Drones".

"Eye Contact" is the World's first look at Detroit's Symptoms of Love. Ryan Spencer (of Freakish Pleasures) and Ben Christensen (co-head of Sector 7G) display affection for their community through 3 tracks crafted in Hamtramck, Michigan. Auxiliary percussion and a plethora of classic synths makeup these sludgy, intuitive, melody saturated disco hits. Sticking with the theme of community, featured musicians include Antonio Manzari and Paul Taylor.

»Efia,« the sophomore album by Rosaceae, picks up where the Hamburg-based sound artist’s 2019 debut on Neoprimitive left off, further exploring the topics that had already informed »Nadia’s Es- cape«. From its confrontative front cover to the eight tracks on the album, »Efia« is fully dedicated to the motif of resistance, but does not exhaust itself in polemics. Rather, it masterfully translates the complexities of its underlying central themes into a visceral narrative.
»Efia« was originally conceived as a commissioned work for the 2019 edition of Hamburg’s Noise- xistance festival and departed from a sentence uttered in the British 1980s TV show »Sapphire & Steel« which inspired cultural theorist Mark Fisher in his analysis of what he had coined »hauntolo-gy,« a term originally coined by the Algerian-French philosopher Jacques Derrida in the early 1990s: »There is no time here, not anymore.«
The album again showcases Rosaceae’s knack for combining abstract experimental sound art with a form of storytelling that had already been at the centre of »Nadia’s Escape« and which relies on both verbal and musical means of giving a voice to the voiceless. The disembodied voice of - amongst others - Jesseline Preach and manipulated vocal samples blend in with dense soundscapes, elements of Neue Musik and occasional pure harsh noise. It’s a mix that deliberately puts different artistic tradi-tions into a dialogue with each other: the hallmarks of European salon culture are con- fronted with Kurdish wedding music and the unnerving loop of someone demanding a »Zugabe« (»encore«).
Thus, »Efia« not only blurs the lines between cultural and regional traditions, but also conjures up the ghosts of a past, ghosts that are more than ready to haunt the timeless present trying so hard to repress the atrocities happening at its fringes. As a whole, this makes »Efia« both a chilling work of sound art and a vibrant political statement fuelled by burning hot energy.

The premise for Quindi Records is simple – to represent music with a universality at its core.
Without adhering to specific genre tropes, the releases are intended to have a meaning and purpose in all kinds of situations – a social soundtrack as much as a stimulating experience,
feeding emotions and the psyche with a sentimental palette of sounds. Lovers’ music, loners’ music, music for friends and family alike.
Woo makes for a perfect choice to meet this loose concept head-on – the music of Clive and Mark Ives straddles disparate worlds and finds its own peculiar balance. On one hand it’s delicate synthesizer music with a minimalist bent, while on the other their joyous, twinkling harmonies have an immediacy that speaks to the soul. You can detect privacy in their craft – the brothers originally recorded their music in relative isolation in London in the 70s, 80s and early 90s. It’s only in recent years their sublime work has enjoyed a wider audience through an extensive run of reissues.
Arcturian Corridor ? presents a rare, previously unreleased piece of music from Woo – the expansive suite of the title track that unfurls across five parts. It’s an enchanting listen that shows a new breadth and depth to the duo – detailed drum programming and a broader palette of synth tones cascading in elegant unison. The name refers to Arcturus, the fourth brighteststar in the night sky. As Woo themselves explain, “The Arcturian Corridor is said to be a channel of light that brings unconditional love and wisdom from Arcturus to Earth.”
In addition to the 20-minute A-side piece, Woo also presents a new version of “Love On Other Planets”, a standout piece from their 1990 album ?Into The Heart of Love? . The fragile subtlety of the original has been embellished here with rich new passages that turn it into a kind of electronica epic, although still marked out with the sensitivity one expects from a Woo record.
Two remixes complete the set, both furthering Quindi’s modus operandi as a genre-agnostic force for cosmically charged music. Dublin’s Wah Wah Wino collective present their Wino Wagon manifestation for a tastefully strange house version of the fifth part of “Arcturian Corridor” that channels the freakiness of Pepe Bradock, the robo-funk of Metro Area and a soupcon of pop nous. British duo Ultramarine maintain the stylistic ambiguity as they channel decades of expressive experimentation between live band dynamics and machine soul on their version of the title track’s second chapter.

'Intraverso is a journey in that momentary 'inbetween land' that many of us experience sometimes. It explores the turmoil of feelings of when one gets stuck in the middle, floating in between ambition and complete stillness'.

Fabrizio Lapiana is a well-known name on the contemporary Italian techno scene. He has been involved in music since the 90's when he started DJ'ing in his hometown Rome. To date he has over two handfuls of releases on labels such as Figure Jams, Arts and M_Rec Ltd - as well as his own imprint, the well renowned Attic Music, founded in 2008.
Intraverso is Fabrizio's debut album, set for release on his label. The record is a very personal journey, according to the artist himself. You here find him examining different territory than where he usually heads within his productions. The album, which consists of nine songs in total, was composed between April 2016 and February 2017 in his studio in Rome. Written in a state of 'introspect', we here see an artist in motion. Changing. Evolving. The perfect moment to explore something new and unveil a different side of yourself to the world.

The intro 'Early Morning Waves' opens the album with its own quiet dramatic tone, waves hitting the shore as we move into 'Bret'. A cloud-walking kind of melody welcomes you, accompanied by a curious beat driving the journey forward. A deep heavy bassline and almost ancient sounding melody rises in 'Onironauta' (reflecting 'Early Morning Waves' mystical mood) until more playful elements blends in. The contemplative bass elements continue in the title track of the album; 'Intraverso' is a track of mind traveling discovery, yet before drifting too far you are grabbed by a snare, a clap of white noise and a pulsating beat to keep you on track. Further on, 'Lost In Negative Thoughts (reshaped)' reveals itself with its heavy ominous drumbeats and a dark spun web of strings is joined by sounds of distant life and machinery. Then there is 'Distance' which is the album's first flirt with more dancefloor friendly territory. Still under a veil of ill-lit melodies, expertly programmed percussion and claps creates something for a more personal body move experience. Moving into 'Again' sees the expedition continuing journeying through the dancefloor, albeit in a deeper landscape where flickering extraterrestrial sounds watches you go along. In 'Backlit' you find the albums most organic moment, an ambient slow thoughtful walk through the consciousness of the producer - only to end up with the album's final moment; 'Freckles (beatless)'. Here we drift deeper off into slow ambient melodies with a comforting thoughtful bassline taking us to the end of our voyage.

Lapiana has composed an album where you get to travel with him on a sonic journey into the deepest corners of his mind, baring vulnerabilities as well as strengths. Intraverso carries a feeling of ancient atmosphere via its melodic language through its whole running time, perhaps since the foundation of the album is based on emotions and the mind. Thoughts, feelings and mental states that always have been with us, no matter the time and place. It is a mature debut album for an artist that proves he is willing to risk going into different areas than the tried and tested ground. One might say Intraverso is a record created for an introvert introspective dancer, willing to see what lies beyond that of which is visible at first glance.

Wir sind stolz die Vinyl- und CD Wiederveröffentlichung eines der besten und komplexesten japanischen Fusion Jazz Alben anzukündigen. - Breeze ist das 3.Album der Band Atlas bestehend aus Hiroyuki Namba, Eiji Kawamura und Toshiro und erschien 1987.

DRUMIRA features four heavyweight tracks by Stefan Schneider, ghanaian drummer Nicholas Addo Nettey and percussionist Sven Kacirek (Hamburg).

Nicholas Addo-Nettey was a former percussionist with Fela Kuti and his famous Africa 70 band during the most legendary years of his career. He has left band in 1979 in Berlin where he has been living ever since. His early solo album PAX NICHOLAS from 1971 has gained fame through a reissue in 2009.

It is interesting to note that DRUMIRA was first released anonymously in 2011 in a minuscule private pressing edition which only had a Spiegelmotiv hand stamp on the sleeve. Due to legal issues in 2009 with some of the mapstation releases, Stefan Schneider decided to put his project on hold until things got cleared. After nine years the record finally finds a place in the mapstation catalogue and gives full credit to all musicians involved. The EP comes with a luxurious hand assembled sleeve in a small edition.

Music-wise this EP is most distinguished by the combination of slow paced dark electronics and inimitable percussion patterns by Nicholas Addo-Nettey.

Nicholas Addo-Nettey: Percussion
Stefan Schneider: Electronics
Sven Kacirek: additional percussion

Keep It Moving is a 6 track groove-oriented release that ventures between techno, beatdown, and downtempo styles. The release starts out with a pair of harder-edged techno cuts. The pensive, smoky "Martial State" leads the way, followed by "Struck Down Strike Up."

Next, the Chicago-based artist dives into slower tempos with the pleasingly dissonant "Cyborg Proposition" and the acidic, atmospheric, "They Don't Know". The record picks up in terms of mood and tempo for the house-leaning, "Rising Poem", before closing out with the catchy, head-nodding title track.

Samples are peppered throughout the release that help guide this record's narrative. Artwork by Chicago-based artists Ruby T. and Betty Heredia help capture the mood of the A-side and B-side respectively

After the major success of Part 1, Cosmo Vitelli & Malka Tuti are presenting Holiday in Panikstrasse Part 2, the 2nd and final part of Cosmo’s 2XLP on the label.

After collaborating with Fantastic Twins on Part 1, the amazing Julienne Dessagne’s vocals are back on Part 2 as well for the opening track Fragments of Reality. Another collaboration on the record is with Croatian singer and vocalist Tanja Vezic, whom we’ve already seen collaborating with Cosmo on his Les Disque De La Mort release, and who gives a cinematic sort of feeling to the track Party old boy.

With “He just wanted to hang out with the DJs” Cosmo creates a slow burning dark banger that will not go unnoticed.
The final track Irritable is the perfect mixture between German Krautrock heritage and the French disco-synth touch of the 80s - emotional, growing and cathartic, one cannot stay indifferent to it.

Vinyl Only

Mr. Matthew Puffett presents his own label with new, unreleased music from the past and of course with re-issues of FBA's timeless productions. The kick-off will be the re-issue of "Mode 2" which was originally released 1996 on Void records. This beauty comes as remastered vinyl only release!

John Beltran, Mark Archer, Future Beat Alliance and max 404 line up on this third 10 years anniversary 12" for De:tuned. Both John and Mark deliver a timeless, Detroit tradition indebted techno vibe, resulting in 2 dancefloor-friendly tracks. While FBA and max 404 activated their DAT recorder, culminating in unheard crisp yet sensitive cuts.
Kevin Foakes (Openmind, DJ Food, Ninja Tune) created all the graphic work. Mastered by Matt Colton at Alchemy Mastering, pressed on 180 gr vinyl and a separate digital version will be available from the usual digital shops. Stay tuned!

LIMITED EDITION COLOURED VINYL

S&W and Gustaaf make up three fifths of Prongof108 which started out as a radio show on Berlin based Cashmere Radio in 2015 and turned into a record label a few years down the road. After some solo records and the release of a split EP on Turnland Records, they are now teaming up for their upcoming “It’s More Fun to Commute” EP on Prongof108. Combining the forces of three guys seems like a natural fit, or to put it differently: it just happened. They’ve been DJing together and sharing a mutual passion for UFOs and palm trees since quite a while. Expect a mix of 80s boogie and proto house vibes sending kisses to tropical and pacific sounds and taking you on a journey from proper house club crowd bouncing to teenage heartache downtempo electronica - always smart and with a smirk, definitely never too intelligent to dance to.

De:tuned continue to celebrate their 10th anniversary with this second EP of the series and dive deep down into the ambient techno world. The A side makes you drift away on a rare Sun Electric get together, followed by a Higher Intelligence Agency piece of beauty. DeepChord's dubbed lushness completes this highly intense journey.
Kevin Foakes (Openmind, DJ Food, Ninja Tune) created all the graphic work. Pressed on 180 gr vinyl and a separate digital version will be available from the usual digital shops. Stay tuned!

LIMITED EDITION COLOURED VINYL!

new quartet by Samuel Rohrer, Max Loderbauer, Stian Westerhus & Tobias Freund In the present era of media saturation, the artist's dilemma has shifted away from the question whether to fuse disparate stylistic elements, towards the decision of which energies to draw upon: a situation most rewarding for those who listen to musicians navigating this limitless terrain. One such journey, the captivating full-length release from Samuel Rohrer's new Kave quartet coming out this May, is bringing together players who are equally well-versed in the quick-thinking mechanics of free group improvisation and the compositional strategies of contemplative / ‘ambient’ electronic music. With Rohrer acting as creative director and most of the quartet sharing synthesizer duties, there’s a strong sense of unified purpose to this set, and a narrative flow that never causes the listener to focus on one constituent part at the expense of the whole. At the same time, the players know all well that cohesion counts for little without those constituent parts being compelling in their own right. Rohrer and Loderbauer, for example, have previously crafted a unique techno-organic approach with the Ambiq trio, and the lessons learned from that partnership are put to inspired use within this new configuration. Stian Westerhus’ contributions on guitar and vocals, along with Tobias Freund’s electronic reinforcements - Freund also has worked since many years with Max Loderbauer as NSI - all conspire to make something that Rohrer aptly compares as “forest”-like. It’s a descriptor that will have vastly different meanings for each listener. For Rohrer, it refers to music that is confident in the “deep-rootedness” of its foundations and defined by a density and mystery easily confused with darkness, while nevertheless proving its bright vitRight away, on the introductory odyssey 'Cambium' the quartet sets out to make good on this metaphor, creating a hypnotic foundation for what is about to unfold during the next 42 minutes, with brooding, slow, 'searchlight in a fog,' synth washes and percussive stridulation. The twin 'Hibernation' tracks show all the unique elements beginning to coalesce: the emotional tenor is one of vulnerability that melts into the determination of 'staring into the void', a temperamental state challenging to represent authentically in music. The atmosphere of psychic challenge effort lessly gives way to the faintly nostalgic glimmers of 'Giant Peach' - a literary reference to the macabre whimsy of Roald Dahl.
The ultimate dissolution of barriers between organicism and synthesis is accomplished on the majestic 'Divided We Fall', a title referring to Westerhus’ smoky vocalization that winds into a double helix formed from electronic surges.
Again, the ease with which it all comes together is mesmerizing, and while there’s an aura of risk accompanying this walk through the woods, there’s a much more enduring impression of carefully orchestrated growth and change.

Hot on the heels of "Vegator", we give you Øyvind's Magnum Opus: "Lullaby To A Never Ending Sunset".
Including a variety of tempos, moods and emotions, we hope this EP gets a premiere spot in your record box, on your digi stick
or youtube channel for some time to come.

Prins Thomas, Oslo, January 14th 2020

Where does electronic music lead you? To the inside, to a calm and warm place where sound resonates with your body in quiet bliss, or to the outside where the rhythm wants you dance, even without moving? „WTMCT“ gives an answer to these questions that is complex yet extremely easy to understand in an immediate sentient and emotive way.

Menelaos music is unusual and unlikely both with respect to the structure and arrangement of tracks, and the materiality and spatiality of the sound. And yet these sounds convey an immediate sensation of familiarity and ease, of beauty and relaxation. Menelaos utilizes loudness and extreme dynamics in a thoughtful and intriguing way to accentuate strange runaway sounds while maintaining the continuity of the flow of the tracks, which is Ambient to the core. This is a rare art in our time, where hypercompressed and superoptimized glossy sounds dominate most of Ambient, drone and even deep listening music.

In this aspect the album follows and refines the subtle production skills of seminal electronic artists like Jan Jelinek or Terre Thaemlitz a.k.a. DJ Sprinkles. What is genuinly special about Menelaos music is the natural and seemingly effortless fusion of challenging experimentalism and a warm and soothing organic sound-design. This shows exemplary in the collaborative tracks with trombonist and bass trumpet player Achim Fink, a founding figure of the Cologne jazz and free improvisation scene of the eighties. Achim is uncompromisingand in times disruptive play merges perfectly into Menelaos serene soundscapes.

This way „WTMCT“ became a genuine album. It tells a story. It invites deep exploration but it does not demand it, thus transcending common notions of how Ambient or Electronica should sound. Text: Frank Eckert

The Album includes also some warm sampels (my live with the wave vol 1+ 2) from the Detroit legend Mike Huckaby to whom i very thankful.

Limited edition of 170

Faitiche presents Jan Jelinek’s album Tierbeoachtungen in a limited pressing on vinyl for the first time. Originally released on Scape in 2006 as a CD and download, the album’s six tracks took their cues from Jelinek’s live concerts of that period: dense, slowly unfolding loop improvisations made with a laptop, various effect pedals and miniature synthesizers. It is music that floats in a semi-conscious state between dream and awakening, always slightly mysterious, leaving traces that lead directly to the psychedelic-cosmic music of the kraut era.

In his release notes for Tierbeobachtungen at the time, the late lamented Martin Büsser wrote:

"The animal is experiencing a renaissance in music. It provides a reflective surface for our notion of the unbridled and irrational, of that Other the philosophers Deleuze/Guattari – as part of their ‘Animalisation’ – called the embodiment of artistic deliverance. And yet, how much of a liberation can art actually tolerate? To what extent can music truly throw off its fetters without descending into chaos? Jan Jelinek’s album title provides a first hint of this development: Tierbeobachtungen (animal observations) is his fourth album for ~scape, and it addresses the issue of release and liberation. Recorded almost in transit, while preparing his move to a new studio, the tracks reveal and relish in their improvisational character, and drifting, lost sound – yet they never lose sight of their underlying structure. Tierbeobachtungen might be Jelinek’s freest and most personal work, with simply arranged tracks based on four to five layered and modulated loops, while his own studio equipment provides the main sampling sources, from synthesizer and guitaret to vibraphonette. Jelinek takes on the role of observer on this record, with a level of reflection remaining audible throughout. However, this is by no means intellectual, distanced music – Jelinek leads us straight into a thicket, an acoustic jungle where sumptuous splendour meets the uncanny. A long tradition of psychedelic music pervades the recordings – Amon Düül, Cluster, My Bloody Valentine – yet whatever musical memories might vie for our attention, these are no clear-cut references, just loose associations. On occasion, one might even be tempted to take them for field recordings – gems discovered, stored and returned from their travels by ethnologists fifty or a hundred years ago. Similar to the pioneers of industrial music, like Cabaret Voltaire or Zoviet France, who experimented with field recordings to challenge Western listening habits, Tierbeobachtungen takes us to new, unknown territories and brims with sounds that defy geographic or stylistic classification, not unlike the semi-conscious state between dream and awakening. (...)" Martin Büsser, 2006

International Feel's minialbum series. From their base in Los Angeles, intrepid musical voyagers Pharaohs have imagined a place far from the city for their first stand alone release on International Feel.

Cofaxx delivers Exotic Robotics 004, showing off his talent with an EP spanning ethereal house, liquid jungle steppers, hazy ambient vibes and low fi grooves.

Nuron, the seminal and elusive producer in the realm of melodic and emotive techno, is back! Almost 25 years after his output on Likemind Records, Nuron finally re-appears on the Belgian De:tuned label with long-awaited new work that sounds every bit unique and fresh as back in the day. "La Source" opens with Nuron's take on lush Detroit fused techno, a masterclass of mixing belly-fluttering synth arrangements with outstanding drum programming. Turn the record over for two exclusive Nuron remixes of As One (Kirk Degiorgio) tracks from the recent "Communion" album on De:tuned, resembling Artificial Intelligence vibes of the highest order. Pure bliss!

The wonderful Ian Anderson at The Designers Republic created all the graphic work. Mastered by Matt Colton at Metropolis and pressed on 180 gr vinyl. A separate digital release will also be available at the usual digital shops. Stay tuned!

Studio Mule drops “Anthologia”, the final chapter of a close look on the work of the Tokyo born DJ and producer Takayuki Shiraishi, a jack of all trades, that sways through Tokyo’s vast music scene since the late 70’s, a time when post punk grooves called the tune. As part of the band BGM he released in 1980 the album “Back Ground Music” on the legendary Osaka based underground label Vanity. Last October Studio Mule reissued BGM’s no wave, free funk mini-mal treasure. A few Month earlier Studio Mule already published “Missing Link”, a thrilling retrospect on Takayuki Shiraishi's unreleased material from the late 1980s, a creative period of which only a little ever saw the light of the day.

And now “Anthologia”, a record that is dedicated to his work during the years 1990 to 1996, a time span, in which Shiraishi moved on to produce house, downbeat and playful electronica. In 1995 he released the ambient/techno 12inch “Spectral Colours” on the R&S sublabel Apollo under the alias Planetoid. Two years later he manifested his techno leaning creativity under his given name on the album “Photon”, a record that helped launching Japan’s techno scene. It was followed by two more long players, that display his wide musical taste with ambient, house, breakbeat and other genre blending styles. Besides producing, Shiraishi was also a prominent figure of Tokyo’s club nightlife, DJing alongside Jeff Mills as well as Krautrock icons like Holger Czukay.

“Anthologia” features three unreleased tunes of this lapse of time, as well as highlights some work Shiraishi produced together with his friend Jun Sonohara as Musica Nova and a hidden gem he tuned in for the “Isolated Audio Players 1” compilation, published by the Tokyo based Pickin' Mushroom Recordings label in 2000.

The three unreleased tracks display his love for diversification. “Distant Thunder” is a drone driven ambient voyage, that slowly melds into a gentle rhythmic sensation driven by loose hi-hat patterns and a soft chord crescendo. On the opposite, “Lapis Lazuli” comes around as a mellow melodic downbeat trip enlarged with twisted rhythms and cosmic infiniteness. “A Voy-age” shows his love for house music with a grooving arrangement that comes close to the kinky house gems of contemporary producers like Lowtec. Also, the already known “Isolated Audio Players 1” compilation tune “Flicker” is located in the house spheres, delivering nervous jacking minimal vibes emerging from a precise produced dance of melodies, grooves and sound effects.

In comparison, the four Musica Nova tracks show again another side of Takayuki Shiraishi’s many musical talents. “Birds in Paradise” is an elegant triphop tranquilizer, while tunes like “Nocturnal Tribes” and “Green on Green” express his passion for electronic arrangements that think out of the box with airy melodies, slow-motion big beat rhythms, jazz particles and an overall cosmic sound complexion. The tune “Shifting Sand” goes the same direction, while adding esoteric reverberations and a touch of Drum and bass.

Together the eight tracks turn “Anthologia” into something more than just an anthology of Takayuki Shiraishi’s work. In association, all compositions work like an album that overwhelms with a reasoned story-arc, who slowly rises to a hypnotizing peak, from where all downswings to a calm finish, that makes you want to start all over again.

Rome's Egisto Sopor has been making little waves with his releases for quite a while now. As Polysik, he’s put out music on Legowelt’s Strange Life Records, on 100% Silk label, and on Mike Paradinas' Planet Mu. As ‘TheAwayTeam’ he’s released a DVD ‘Relax & Sleep’ and a cd ‘Star Kinship’ on Japanese label Moamoo, and he's also one half of the low key video unit AAVV (whose work has graced many of the important releases of new lofi electronic movement). This time around he delivers another fine instalment to the Edizioni Mondo's kaleidoscopic catalogue. If you've been following Egisto Sopor's productions over the years, chances are you're already familiar with the visual, highly cinematic, quality of his works – it's music that don't evoke just emotions, it suggests landscapes, painting vivid pictures as it builds up. In the same way, Flora e Fauna tells the story of an extemporaneous, surreal walk in Rome. The 8-track album, organically navigates through imaginary urban and maritime scenarios, with an expansive sound palette that draws on deep and shimmering atmospheres, occasionally drifting from blissful textures and sub-aquatic, swirling moods to eerily quiet, suspended moments, often perfused by subtle field recordings of city life, wild animals and distant shores. Take a deep breath and soak away.

Some bots run automatically, while others only execute commands when they receive specific input. MATRIX EP!

13 summer cruising tracks very much in the style of Legowelts PPU release from last year. 2 x vinyl edition.

Samuel Rohrer CONTINUAL DECENTERING
With his Arjunamusic label and a growing catalog of categorydefying releases, Samuel Rohrer continues to quietly, yet confidently, make a name for himself as a genuinely unique Gigure within the European electronic music realm. In the current era, talk of blurring boundaries between musical genres and attitudes is more the rule than the exception, but not always something done with any degree of success. Rohrer is one of those rare alchemical explorers to have truly created a hybrid which is all his own, one that does not just exist to melt distinctions for its own sake, but is a natural result of years of experimentation with both the determination of electronic music and the ludic spirit of ‘free improvisation.’ On his newest offering, Continual Decentering, this vision is applied to a set of mostly in real time (live) performed explorations. 
In keeping with his many years’ worth of fruitful collaborations, the tonal palette on this new record is one that is expectedly rich for those familiar with his work, yet still surprising in terms of how exactly the differing tonal colors come together. Representative tracks like Spondee and The Fringe are brimming with dub pulses, noir shivers and blooming timbral variations that are in many places carefully isolated / focused and in other places blended together in vivid fusions. In terms of the emotional atmosphere created here, the pensive and questioning tone hearkens back to the ‘wide open’ state of electronic music in the mid-late 1990s, yet with a greater clarity and maturity of vision that makes this music feel like a possible answer to aesthetic questions being raised at that time. As with Rohrer’s most recent solo work, like the Range of Regularity LP, Continual Decentering showcases the artist’s skill in turning the drum kit into a lead instrument. While the term “lead instrument” denotes a kind of exuberant “Glash,” or a clear separation from the rest of the voices in an ensemble, we can take the term to mean something different throughout this listening program of 13 short vignettes: that is to say, everything else within the audible environment exists to complement the character of the percussive playing rather than to stand apart from it. It helps that Rohrer has, in fact, developed a unique and complex hybrid system in which drum hits trigger modular synthesizer processes, the use of which makes for an incredibly fluid response time between distinct sonic events. In contrast to the previous Range... LP, this new offering is propelled less by interlacing threads of intensity and more by a shared sense of deep listening. As displayed on pieces like All Too Human, there is a profound sense of attention to silences or thoughtful pauses that maybe hints at another crucial aspect of Rohrer’s style: over the course of this program, we tend to hear the player not only playing but listening, an activity which makes perfect sense given the sense of instrumental dialogue already mentioned. All of the above come together to give Continual Decentering a “live”-ness that will easily translate from recorded document to dynamic performance.

Icelandic producer Adalsteinn Gudmundsson aka Yagya now launches his own new Small Plastic Animals imprint with a brand new album, Old Dreams and Memories. After nearly two decades of releasing his Icy dub techno on labels like Sending Orbs, Delsin Records and A Strangly Isolated Place, his latest album marks a subtle move away from the sound he has dealt in before. Still slowly propulsive rhythms underpinning every track, but they are only a small part of the overall picture. Old Dreams and Memories is a rich symphony of luxurious sound, with transportive rhythms and hugely evocative layers of melody, the human voice and cinematic sampling all showing a further evolution in the art of this standalone producer. With vocals by Natsuko Yanagimoto, poems by Michizo Tachihara and saxophone by Oskar Gudjondsson.

Dutch studio wizard Billy Ray de la Haye drops a timeless and spaced out Mini-LP on eudemonia with six tracks made between the 90’s and 2019.

Marquis Hawkes returns to AUS after his second album for Houndstooth, a slew of eps for Unknown To The Unknown and a 12” for Bassiani’s in house label, Horoom. ‘Hashtag Life Goals’ is a three track EP that's deep, raw and timeless.

Epic link-up between two of the top live techno and house performers working today. After playing a few rare sessions with Juju & Jordash at Dekmantel Festival 2018 and Pittsbugh, Shawn Rudiman and Jordan GCZ spent a few days in Amsterdam laying the foundations for this collection of music. The tracks were transported to the Synthdrome in Pittsburgh and completed with love and craftsmanship. Spanning the gamut of electro, house, dub techno, and future jazz there is something for everyone. Enjoy this rare convergence of the creative energy of two masters.

Matthewdavid is a co-founder of the Los Angeles label Leaving Records, and a collaborator of Flying Lotus, Sun Araw, Julia Holter, Laraaji, Odd Nosdam, among others. Experimental Bliss is his first album on Umor Rex, two long pieces devoted to the bliss of experimental music creation. This is unconventional music, aiming to assist the listener in attaining a state of bliss or relaxation. It incorporates obvious artifacts of compressed noise and texture with harmonic tonal elements. The creative process is always evolving and changing, often relying on digital music software and hardware technology to process and re-sample collected 'organic' sounds from analog or environmental sources. Side A, Lo-fi bliss music, was recorded and performed live at the Leaving Records modern new age night event, using dynamic compression experiments with a processed & looped Critter & Guitari pocket piano, and ocean sounds samples from a cassette. Dynamic rhythmicals was recorded live at home, using digital marimba samples.