Beats Vinyl New Releases - News

Following the 20th anniversary - Monika Werkstatt album which features collaborations from all of the current artists on Moabit and monika, Gudrun Gut's monika enterprise now takes the collaborative process a step further with a collection of remixes taken from the werkstatt album.

The opening track on the single is a truly Nordic co-production with Charlotte Bendiks from Tromsø, Norway, remixing Finnish artist based in Berlin Islaja. Islaja's tracks are ever shrouded in a bizarre sense of mystery and Bendiks remix of Sappho's Gifts accentuates the surreal essence of this piece.

Blindholes by Columbian-artist-in-Berlin Lucrecia Dalt was the first track from the Monika Werkstatt album to be released as a preview and Romanian producer and DJ Borusiade harnesses its groove turning it into a hypnotic industrial stomper.

The B-side starts with LA producer Nite Jewel's utterly funky take on Barbara Morgenstern's song Grow. Suitably for Morgenstern, Nite Jewel turns this tune into next level pop including disco cowbells and the grooviest of synth licks. A feelgood track if ever there was one - ideal for house parties, or just dancing round the house on your own!

London-born, Berlin-based artist Perera Elsewhere (signed to FoF music in Los Angeles) a.k.a Sasha Perera (ex-Jahcoozi/ Bpitch Ctrl/ Kitty Yo) develops Love Parade founder Danielle de Picciotto's Desert Fruit into a doom-drenched piece of beat poetry layered with rich synth textures, emotionality and Morricone-esque melodics.

Closing the 12' is another Los Angeles producer, Daedelus (Brainfeeder/ Anticon), who's take on Sonae's Between Two Worlds is a luscious retro-futurist synth escapade traversing the fields of wonky, dreamwave and chill-out.

The Berlin-Los Angeles connection is a much loved theme for the monika label. This 12' draws on that theme by recruiting Djs and producers based in both cities to remix tracks from - Monika Werkstatt . In so doing it takes the collaborations started on Werkstatt to the next level. It's a truly international affair, bringing yet more diversity to already very diverse source material. (Dirk Markham)

Gatefold 2x180gr heavy weight vinyl. It's warm and widescreen music for the days when you need musical sunshine. Or as original Café Del Mar's José Padilla, has it: 'This is what I call Balearic.'

Optimo Music presents "Miracle Steps (Music from the Fourth World 1983 - 2017)", a 2 x LP compilation of Fourth World music compiled by JD Twitch & Fergus Clark. Also available as a digital release.
This compilation had been on the label's to do list for ages but it was only when Twitch and Glasgow's Fergus Clark started crossing swords over what actually constituted Fourth World music that the project really got going. Twitch decided that co-compiling the release with someone who had a slightly different take on things might make for a more interesting finished product, and so it came to pass that a cohesively thrilling compilation quickly materialised as each of them drew from a wealth of different artists and eras.
For the uninitiated, here's an extract from Fergus Clark's sleeve notes honing in on how the term Fourth World (an idea conjured up by Jon Hassell in the early 80s) might be defined -
'What we have attempted to gather across this compilation is a body of work which we feel directly resonates with both the literal definition of 'Fourth World' music and indeed our own interpretation of this unique sonic vision; from the work of the late Jorge Reyes, a Mexican musician who combined pre-hispanic instruments with synthesisers and digital sampling, through to the work of organic ambient ensemble O Yuki Conjugate. There are tracks which utilise custom, home-made instruments and there are tracks built from scratch using the latest in digital technology, but the undercurrent tying each piece together is this deeply personal feeling of intrigue and mysterious elation. Strange and unparalleled, this feeling manages to eschew geographic borders and rigid genre movements in favour of something which manages to evoke an inner sanctum, a musical private place for both reflection and assessment. This is music grounded in nor the past nor the present, music which manages to sound futuristic yet remarkably nostalgic. '
JD Twitch is one half of Glasgow's Optimo (Espacio) and runs the Optimo Music and Optimo Trax labels.
Fergus Clark is a writer, occasional DJ and avid music fan. He is a founding member of the music and art collective 12th Isle.
The 2 x LP version will be housed in a gatefold sleeve designed by the redoubtable Glasgow based visual artists Al White & Jamie Johnson.

An album by Roman Flügel is always a sensation. That holds true for his countless monikers and collaborations as it does for his 2011 Dial debut Fatty Folders. Being the first of its kind under his civic name, the long over-due association of Hamburg's cerebral label and its group of off-centre house and techno individuals with Frankfurt's favorite electronic music producer for the thinking man and woman, proved to be a seminal one.

Now, that sort of Happiness Is Happening again. Roman Flügel's follow up on Dial takes off, where Fatty Folders landed: on a runway that acknowledges the roots of house and techno as well as its fruits, but leads to a different location. Exempt from the burden that a concept album can lay on its author, Flügel seems not to be concerned with the current trends, retro fashion or a pre-conceived topic. Free-wheeling and with a freshness akin to morning dew, he rather takes us by the hand and through ten tracks that sometimes feel like songs without a voice.

Having said that, the strongest point of Happiness Is Happening is that it has a voice. The voice of a maker who is not afraid to mix joy and pain, ambient textures with remnants dance floor euphoria, quiet spaces and loud places. So you have an almost Depeche-Mode-like ballad that the "Friendship Song" is, next to the techno city ghost story of "Occult Levitation". Slow-motion robot disco ("Wilkie") appears as much at home here as the bulky "Stuffy" or the sudden impact in "We Have A Nice Life". That list goes on and on. The most startling fact about Roman Flügel's tour de force is that its sum is as great as its parts. Nothing feels superfluous, ill-paced or forced here. Its a condensate of a life that has been spent in techno, house and its various mutations and archetypes with a sensibility for pop music, a consciousness of indie culture and an affinity for the avant-garde as such.

Happiness Is Happening is like a concept album without a concept. A testament to the fact that the concept of an album that works within the realms and boundaries of "electronic (dance) music" can be so much more than a loose collection of 12-inches or just an exercise in style: it can be, after all, a piece of art and at its best comparable to a successful singer-songwriter album without words. Especially, when the creator of all his seems to be truly comfortable with himself and at his best. Then, Happiness Is Happening, indeed. GERD JANSON

Following their much-acclaimed surprise debut album VERMONT from 2014, Motor City Drum Ensemble's Danilo Plessow and Innervisions' Marcus Worgull reunite for more synth daydreaming on the suitably titled II'. The new outing continues where the first full-length left off, strolling further down the luminous and undulating path that the duo turned into, influenced in equal measures by kosmische, krautrock, minimal wave and synth soundtracks.
This latest batch of instrumental cuts opens with the strictly balearic vibe of NORDERNEY, a softly swinging, light-footed recording with a keen sense for structure. Featuring a guest performance from Robbert Van Der Bildt (aka Kaap) on guitar, it's a telling starting point for the album that - similar to Vermont's self-titled debut - successfully navigates between economic, careful studio arrangements and playful, incidental exploration further pushing into jam session territory. Van Der Bildt's guitar returns on the plucky, curious UFER, where Vermont showcase a renewed sense for jazz-like improvisation - same as on the cuts DSCHUNA, CHANANG and WENIK, which also include contributions from Dermot O'Mahony and Tadhg Murphy on strings.
Still, Vermont's synth contraptions remain the album's main attraction, with the extensive array of gear encompassing an entire panopticon of analog bling - from Arp Oddysey and Moog Prodigy to Fender Rhodes, Juno and Prophet, list-studying gear heads will find lots to drool upon. Consequently, tracks like CHEMTRAILS, UNRUH or GEBIRGE err on the machine side of things, expertly interweaving arpeggiated sequences for maximum atmospheric effect. Foreboding, slightly menacing synth motives as on SKORBUT or CHEMTRAILS are perfectly balanced with the casual ambient of HALLO VON DER ANDEREN SEITE and the nostalgic warmth of DEMUT - while the gentle push of the masterful KI-BOU even carries a whiff of classic deep house, linking the Vermont project to Plessow and Worgull's main careers as dance floor movers and shakers.
Continually intriguing, immersive and texturally rich, each one of Vermont's new pieces betray the experience, precision and determination of the producers involved - while opening up Worgull and Plessow'a vocabulary for patient experimentation and subtle discoveries. A musical treat for synth aficionados - and everyone else, if you ask us.

Sound Mirror presents the debut release of another new talent from the Orson Wells clique. Hailing from the deeper westside of Frankfurt (South Hessia), please welcome: Gerait, head honcho of Bockenheim Housenation. Sweet ambient sounds slide into an epic deep house stomper on side A, followed by an atmospheric and lush minimal synth disco track on B1, plus a bass heavy, slightly eery and sort of tribal rhythm track on B2. Another great eclectic and well rounded 12 EP.

* Over the past six years, Dimensions has become a leading name in the underground, with its festival, International Series, DJ Directory and Dimensions Soundsystem. Now, Dimensions extends its influence with the start of its label - Dimensions Recordings. The label launches with a 12-track compilation across three separate discs. 'An Introduction' makes a huge statement in setting out the label's intent and breadth. With artists established and new stepping up to present 12 exclusive tracks.

* Dimensions Recordings explores its darker side on An Introduction Part 3 with intergalactic oddities and twisted techno constructions, the release is definitely ones for the late hours. 'Crosstalk' from gear heads London Modular Alliance opens; a squelching, electro, hardware excursion demonstrating a small snippet of what's to come from the talented trio. Next, French artist, Upwellings steps up to demonstrate his purist approach as he unites elements of dub and techno to create the beautifully spacey 'Soft Shadows'. The third offering comes courtesy of Fachwerk label boss and prolific techno artist, Mike Dehnert; who presents raw but melodic track in 'Tokio,'which maintains his minimal and stripped back aesthetic beautifully. Chicago's Steven Tang in his Obsolete Music Technology rounds off the release with 'Comb Freq,' a devastatingly powerful mix of acidic, bleeping dance floor energy!

Two years on from the release of his debut album called 'Natureboy', Dario Rojo Guerra, aka Natureboy Flako, is back with a new six-song Mini Album EP on Five Easy Pieces.

Two years on from the release of his debut album called 'Natureboy', Dario Rojo Guerra, aka Natureboy Flako, is back with a new six-song EP on Five Easy Pieces. 'Natureboy Flako' is a self-titled collection of music culled from over 200 recording sessions since Guerra moved from London to Berlin in late 2015. It's the first work that unites the artistic identity of Flako with that of the Natureboy persona at the heart of his debut album, and is the debut for a new artist name: Natureboy Flako. Moving away from the live instrumentation of his debut LP, 'Natureboy Flako' is the most electronic-sounding record he's made, using old analogue equipment such as Korg's MS-20, ARP Odyssey and Roland's SH-2000 synthesisers, as well as new instruments such as Arturia's MiniBrute. Where previous songs relied on overdubs, most of these songs were recorded in one take, with little overdubbing, making it his most live record to date. As with 2015's album 'Natureboy', the six-song EP sees Guerra searching for musical balance. Both sides of the record offer contrasting energies, with the A-side featuring some of the heaviest tracks he's made and the cinematic B-side made up of more reflective compositions. However, both sides are equally propulsive, with driving arpeggios forming the backbone of much of the EP.

After only 3 short years, my second album o u r w a l l s is out. It comes clad in vinyl, polycarbonate, bits and bytes and I'm very happy and relieved to finally let go of this one. The cores of its 10/11 (CD/2LP) Tracks were developed on a loop pedal at home. Lyrics spun here and there. Almost all of them are trying to extract levels of meaning from an everchanging knot of emotions. They take their time - ranging between t h r e e m i n u t e s f o u r t y to t h i r t e e n m i n u t e s f i f t y s e v e n - to clinically isolate, examine and name the elementary building blocks constituting the knot. o u r w a l l s is about the ups and downs of your everyday-mercilessly-hopeless love relationship, about staying mild when things get rough, fabulous metaphors, childish selfdefence mechanisms, the burning space in b e t w e e n words and o u r very personal w a l l s that have so far always kept us safe..

* Following two previous 12'' releases from various artists such as General Ludd, Prequel, HVL and Akwaaba, the latest release on Transfigured Time comes from label co-founder Bakradze aka Gacha. Before Time Altered Them includes 5 tracks from him and a space edit of Sea Of Step by HVL.

* The EP is inspired by the poem of the same name by Greek poet C.P. CavafyPhoto on the cover is by a talanted young Georgian photographer Andro Eradze.

Benjamin Wynn a.k.a. Deru is an Emmy Award-winning composer, sound designer and producer. Deru grew up in Chicago, where his earliest influences came across the airwaves of the legendary University of Chicago radio station, WHPK. Listening to hip-hop and specifically its use of static in music, Wynn began his first forays into manipulating sound. He continued his sonic explorations at the California Institute of the Arts, where he
studied synthesis, digital signal processing, acoustics, music theory and composition, and earned a Bachelor's degree in Music Technology. While at CalArts, Ben also delved into world music,
studying Balinese gamelan, African drumming and hand percussion. His multi-layered musical sensibility combines hip-hop, electronic, world music and classical composition.

Full Cover Art 1LP Print - The new 2nd Solo Album by Ezechiel
Pailhes.

Beautiful piano melodies, ballads drawing their inspiration from jazz, classical music and cinematic imagery, hummed choruses, a mood at the crossroad of nostalgia and reverie, instruments with uncanny timbre and charm, chiseled percussions, added to a subtle electronic production, this is the recipe for Tout Va Bien, the second solo album by French composer Ezechiel Pailhès. All this is reflected in the opening track, River Day, which begins with 'prepared piano' sounds (a technique mastered by Ezechiel, which consists in placing different objects on the strings of the piano, to create singular percussive notes). This deliberately mysterious and poetic introduction, supported by light electronic effects, is soon combined with a light beat, organ chords and vocalisations by the artist, which gradually transform the track into a ritornello, with both nostalgic and lighthearted tones. As the artist states it: 'We could describe this type of emotion as a kind of endearing nostalgia, close to saudade,' i.e. the Portuguese term expressing the idea of a light melancholy stripped of its sickly aspect, or a 'haunted craving' as the singer and composer Pierre Barouh nicely put it. 'This feeling comes naturally to me when I write. Generally, in my music, I seek a form of soothing, of eternity even, (without meaning to sound pretentious). This is something I encounter in classical music, which is what I listen to most.

Chains EP, is a meltin pot of dub vibes, breaking leads, and melancholic vocals.
An obscure path through secret prophecies, sewing new worlds, combining ash and bones.
A born spell, takes you into uncharted lands, a journey up to a mirage of a desert lake.
Axel Boman remix is fresh breath into e melancholic landscape, as a shaman hypnotizes you , and takes possession of your most magical vibration.
Beacon Remix is a velvety story into a melody that cradles you in a soft dream without break away from a wild energy.

REPRESSED !!
(part 2 of 3) 'Ritual Chants' is a stellar earthbound and outer space odyssey spanning 3 chapters, respectfully embellishing Psychemagik's taste and passion for the wonderful, the sublime and very often unusual.

Ritual Chants skilfully shows insights into applying retro finds into a contemporary setting, much of the material acquired via world tours and capturing the excitement of finding lost jewels and sharing them to crowds across the planet.

Compiled by Danny McLewin, the renowned record digger of the duo, the compilation is carefully programmed and sequenced into 3 themes: Beach, Love & Dance, all of which tenderly demonstrate curious ears with a respectful nod to the past and the future.

On part 2 (Love) the semi discordant funk of Zru Vogue's 'Do the Zru', reminiscent of a later era Can, laced with thumb piano and an addictive head nod groove finds its place alongside the Gallic seduction of 'L'Amour Joue Au Violon' by Jeanette, a real string-swept lost masterpiece reminiscent of 'Melody Nelson' era Serge Gainsbourg. The booming drum machine mechanics of 'Hangin' Out In Space' by Tony Wilson does exactly what it says: a galactic deep fried boogie which will have even robots shaking their metalware into the long wee hours.

Psychemagik are unique in their perspective, not only is their ability to seek out rare musical treasures from the worldwide musical domain astounding, but there's also a supernatural nature to their curation. They are a duo as infamous for their production technique as their DJ skills, their prolific edits laced with subtle studio production re-interpreting vintage gems and giving them a contemporary bounce. Mixmag named them their 'Stars Of 2012' and their remix output includes Bryan Ferry, Roisin Murphy, Noel Gallagher, Haim, Azari & III, Wang Chung, Paul Weller and Metronomy, with FACT mag summing up their skills best when they observed their "ear for mind-expanding dance floor mysticism".

REPRESED !!
(part 3 of 3) 'Ritual Chants' is a stellar earthbound and outer space odyssey spanning 3 chapters, respectfully embellishing Psychemagik's taste and passion for the wonderful, the sublime and very often unusual.

Ritual Chants skilfully shows insights into applying retro finds into a contemporary setting, much of the material acquired via world tours and capturing the excitement of finding lost jewels and sharing them to crowds across the planet.

Compiled by Danny McLewin, the renowned record digger of the duo, the compilation is carefully programmed and sequenced into 3 themes: Beach, Love & Dance, all of which tenderly demonstrate curious ears with a respectful nod to the past and the future.

Part 3 (Dance) opens the door to the thick of the night, with phenomenal and unknown cuts such as 'Love and Happiness' by Mansour Sallas and Ennio Morricone's disco infused hybrid cut 'Dance On' adding magic and mysticism to this bountiful line, and high quality floor polishers such as Popcorn Makers 'Nothing', a sweaty gyrating slice of European sleaze bringing the delightful 3 course meal of 'Ritual Chants' to a close.

Psychemagik are unique in their perspective, not only is their ability to seek out rare musical treasures from the worldwide musical domain astounding, but there's also a supernatural nature to their curation. They are a duo as infamous for their production technique as their DJ skills, their prolific edits laced with subtle studio production re-interpreting vintage gems and giving them a contemporary bounce. Mixmag named them their 'Stars Of 2012' and their remix output includes Bryan Ferry, Roisin Murphy, Noel Gallagher, Haim, Azari & III, Wang Chung, Paul Weller and Metronomy, with FACT mag summing up their skills best when they observed their "ear for mind-expanding dance floor mysticism".

Limited to 500 copies. 180G Vinyl.

Edizioni Mondo presents Serie Due! While the first chapter with four releases dedicated to seascapes ended with the compilation Collezione, we are now delving into a new part of Edizioni Mondo's world that presents new views and also artists. Niagara, the first release, anticipates the L.u.c.a. album and contains 3 different versions of the same track: one from Rotla, one from Polysick and a L.u.c.a.'s own quirky version that is surprisingly dancefloor-friendly. The name MONDO has its roots in MONDO MOVIES' is inspired by libarary music and has the goal to produce music that is descriptive of concepts, images and environments. Good listening!

Super Bossa Compilation, a Collection of Unpublished and Revisited in Perfect Style Lounge / Bossanova .

Kalakuta Soul Records proudly presents the Homewreckers new full length album, Machinekiss. The Ruhr valley-raised trio have been heavily involved in the underground dance music scene for many years and the soulfulness of their output is unquestioned. Now Machinekiss might come as their masterpiece. Recorded over the past three years the album´s nine tracks evolved out of a long in-depth investigation of blues and funk recordings from 1910 to 1980. As the sole sonic sources, the musicians - Johannes Ehmann, Gregor Pottmeier and Krischan Wesenberg - use their own music collections, making the work a reflection of their personal and collaborative history and backgrounds.Micro particles of guitar chords, organ sounds and drum elements reappear in new contexts and are fused with contemporary synthesizer and bass motifs. The results are deep, rhythmic, complex and eccentric, leading the listener into the melancholic, more obscure sides of urban life. The Homewreckers have previously released on Thee Blak Label/Radikal Fear (Chicago), Groove Attack Productions (Cologne), Unique Records (Düsseldorf) and Circus Company (Paris). Featured Artists Johannes Ehmann Bass, Digging, Sampling, Arrangement, Slicing Gregor Pottmeier Organs, Reeds, Fractured sampling, Dequantizising Krischan Wesenberg Drums, Engineering, Shaping, Balancing

We like to let our artists speak for themselves about their music whenever possible so asked Penelope to tell us about her album -

'In 2016. I rented out a small piano studio in East London for nearly the whole year and set out to write an introspective, trendless, and mostly beatless album. Inspired by albums from This Mortal Coil and Scott Walker, who also sought freedom to work outside of the expectations of their previous work, I limited the instrumentation to mostly an acoustic piano and effects, which left space to expose a lot of emotional vulnerabilities about myself and people close to me. Writing lullabies about being a mother in a dystopian world, with pensive words about swimming against the current as a female artist, I felt free enough to tell untold truths that I've never felt comfortable talking about within music. Free, liberated, empowered. naked.'

Necessary first vinyl edition of Hollywood Medieval, the debut album of psychogeographic dramaturgy by Manchester-born soundtrack composer, Maxwell Sterling. It was initially issued
as a digital release on LA-based Memory No.36 Recordings in 2016 to a round of acclaim from Fact Magazine and The Wire and has now been re-mastered by Matt Colton for this vinyl edition.
It sounds as plasticky sensuous as it should, and arguably looks worthy of a wall or pedestal in a Bel-Air or Moss Side pad thanks to its striking bespoke cover art collage by radical feminist and
Manchester punk legend, Linder (Sterling), aka Maxwell's mum.
Hollywood Medieval is an album about the glaring disparities and elaborate, underlying convolutions the composer observed and felt while working as a nanny for wealthy parents during his film composition studies at UCLA in the early part of the 2010s. Using an augmented palette of classic DX7 and Juno 60 synths along with a severely warped bank of library samples and iPhone recordings, it spells out a queasily evocative simulacra of the city in flux, animating a sort of Ballardian tableaux that's hyper-descriptive in its rendering of the hazy, dosed-up, and often
delirious transitions between Hollywood's glamour and grime, using LA's gurning facades and ostentatious wealth as prompts for a richly visual side of sawn-off emotive signposts and jazz-
taut turns of phrase that vividly etch on the memory in neon freehand.
From the dizzying sugar rush of the opening sequence, Hollywood Medieval I, to its spiralling counterpoint in Hollywood Medieval II, the album is an inception-like concerto, with Maxwell smartly subverting the film score composer's role by placing the music centre stage and allowing the narration to be carried by virtuosic flourishes owing to the artist's classical and jazz music
schooling,
In a sense, Hollywood Medieval resonates with the way Sam Kidel subverted the nature of ambient music on Disruptive Muzak (RAVE014), and offers an alternative, lucid view of the hazy LA offered by Delroy Edwards' Teenage Tapes (RAVE005), and likewise, works like a present diagnosis of the dystopian future worlds dreamed up in The Sprawl's dystopian, widescreen visions on EP1
(RAVE013), effectively broadening and illuminating The Death of Rave's own sonic hauntology.

The three sides of Audrey and why she's all alone now/No one is looking at U Recorded in New York City between 2011 - 2015

The sferic label bubbles up from Manchester city centre with Echium's debut suite of charming ambient gestures, neatly expanded by empathetic, weightless house remixes
from local cuties, Perfume Advert and Space Afrika.
Their mutual first move, Synthetic Space (sferic 001) positions both Echium and sferic within a well rooted tradition of Berlin kosmische, dub and Detroit techno-informed electronics emanating from the rainy city, convecting a wistful spirit that resonates with Martin Hannett's work for The Durutti Column as much as J.S. Zeiter's mutable dub techno and the humbly mannered moves of the CCO and meandyou. labels.
Its eight original tracks oscillate between effervescent tones and grained electronics with a carefully realised, cybernetic nuance, locating a lush balance of haptic nudge and detached process that really gets under the skin in altered states. It's active in the opening cut, Blended Textures' swirl of arid chords and frothing acid, and smudged deeply into the glowing pores of Juum and the noumenal bleep space of Looum, and aching with a
lovebot sentience in the Shinichi Atobe-esque title track, all on the A-side, whereas the the B-side subtly edges up the bass to tactile, insistent degrees with the air-stepping
Ethereal and Activation beauties giving way to the arabesque vignette, Jazz Interlude.
Special mention, then for the remixes, with Salford's Perfume Advert playing to their Anxiety Support Group tendencies with nervously deferred but soothing results, and the ascendent Space Afrika duo hustling a rolling, heads-down Tribalist Dub version that leaves the disc simmering for another spin ahead of their debut LP, as promised for sferic in the near future.

Blinding first volley of ambient grime feels by Belgium's Sky H1, crystallising one of 2016's most striking entries with a debut for Pan X Codes.
If you've had an ear to PAN's recent NTS shows or frequent the likes of Berlin's Creamcake or London's Bala Club, it's possible that you've at least seen her name, if not been wowed by Air - a
pensile, elegiac wonder rent in noctilucent chorals and arcing Autechrian pads - which heads and opens up the emotional floodgates of Sky H1's debut EP.
Drawing from a background of widely-varying musical tastes from Ambient to Grime, her own work is an amalgamation of emotive compositions of orchestral Elysian synths, often displaced
with sparse percussive elements.
'Motion' is a highly personal endeavour, constructed from the results of a turbulent time - she describes it as 'a flash of her emotional state over the last few months'. 'It signifies leaving behind a period in my life and stepping into something new.' She explains.
Moving through bleak soundscapes layering vaporous choral synths, ethereal vocals and glassy,
lucid tones crafted in complex structures, the record bears moments of melancholy as well as joy on tracks like 'Tell Me' and 'I Think I Am'. Where many other producers are currently playing out hyper-violent beat-em-up scenarios, Motion indulges a plangent lushness to aching affect; oscillating nervous percussion and agonised choral cadence with glassy soft and weightless chimes and R&B variants blessed with an ambient aura.
It's all inarguably up there with the best, most addictive new music we've heard in 2016, and hugely recommended if you know what's good.

After only 3 short years, my second album o u r w a l l s is out. It comes clad in vinyl, polycarbonate, bits and bytes and I'm very happy and relieved to finally let go of this one. The cores of its 10/11 (CD/2LP) Tracks were developed on a loop pedal at home. Lyrics spun here and there. Almost all of them are trying to extract levels of meaning from an everchanging knot of emotions. They take their time - ranging between t h r e e m i n u t e s f o u r t y to t h i r t e e n m i n u t e s f i f t y s e v e n - to clinically isolate, examine and name the elementary building blocks constituting the knot. o u r w a l l s is about the ups and downs of your everyday-mercilessly-hopeless love relationship, about staying mild when things get rough, fabulous metaphors, childish selfdefence mechanisms, the burning space in b e t w e e n words and o u r very personal w a l l s that have so far always kept us safe..

Kindred Phenomena marks Mattheis' debut album. After two cosmic EPs on Nous'klaer and a mini-album on tape for Ecstatic Recordings, he now returns to Nous'klaer for his first full story. An album shaped for every occasion: driving from the city to the island, dancing in the living room, or raving at sunset. On Kindred Phenomena Mattheis picks up where he left off: 'Swell' serves as another episode of the prisms, the modular synth excursion of 'Bit Fragments' pushes his arpeggiator solos a step further, and album standout 'Ben_M' provides his most beautiful dance of melodies yet. The album consists of eight tracks and comes as a double 12 inch for deejay convenience; and for the ultimate experience: go see Mattheis perform his album live on the road.

The name MONDO has its roots in 'MONDO MOVIES", an Italian movie genre born in the 60's. Mondo movies are characterized by documentary-like content that addresses several topics from around the world ("mondo"). Edizioni Mondo label has the goal to produce music that is descriptive of concepts, images and environments. Edizioni Mondo is inspired by library music, a genre frequently used as theme or background music in radio, film and television in that very same period. Numero 7 by the trusted in-house band Odeon pushed all the typical and beloved Mondo buttons. Accompanied by version from Roman ambient hitmaker Panoram (see his album on Firecracker for further reference) and label boss L.U.C.A. with one of his quirky dance mixes and the usual great artwork, this deserves a good place on every Balearic bookshelf. Keep your eyes open for the up and coming Odeon album 'Galaxies". Good listening!

Sweet groove, housy and trip hop.

sweet as hell album from DJ CAM's singer, friend and protegee : IN LOVE. Following up on her ''FOR MINNIE...'' single release.

tags: devotional idm ambient electronica electronics techno Stockholm

Olim in latin can be used to indicate a time in the past or in the future. It can mean 'once upon a time' and 'someday in the future'. A name and a project to try to move away from trends and genres, by taking inspiration from the past but at the same time leaving it, moving forward to shape a different and more narrative sound. The first attempt to do so is Recursively: an 8 track album, opening with a sentence from Bunny Marrett sampled from an old documentary about St Paul's and the Jamaican immigration in Bristol during the 80's. Inspired by those intro words, Recursively is a journey born from many years moving around, packing and unpacking suitcases, leaving villages, finding cities,leaving friends and finding more, emigrating, integrating. It's a story about an entire generation trying to find the peace somewhere, somehow, sometimes by repeating the same steps in a loop of actions which seem to be the same but ultimately never are. It's a soundtrack of those feelings and at the same time a message of hope to continue the journey through the faith that the meaning is the infinite journey itself. An infinite loop masterfully represented in Carol Rollo's illustration. A story to be continued.

Abstraxion returns to his own Biologic Records to release this impressive revisited album - giving Tuff City Kids, Kasper Bjørke, Vessels, Clarian, Conforce, Mattheis, Ripperton, INIT, Eduardo De La Calle, Cleveland the freedom to have their own take on tracks from Abstraxion's 'She Thought She Would Last Forever' LP released in October 2016. Ripperton's first mark on Spazieren is one of meticulous sound design and textures complemented by a poignant vocal that provides a wicked ambience. His second offering is rapt around a warm bassline with orderly percussive stabs. Init's remix has been crafted with precision - an unhurried and mysterious track that builds and anticipates smoothly due to the precise instrumentation and adept reverb that's been applied on the vocal. Conforce closes out the EP with intent by delivering a dark, forceful and abstract take on Spazieren. PR report : DJ Feedbacks : Supported by : Barnt, Mano Le Tough, Jennifer Cardini, Joris Voorn...

Double EP release: A-side includes their new Undress EP (released 02 May), and the b-side includes their previous, self-released, Jacket EP (which hasn't be pressed to vinyl yet) 3mm spine, 12" jacket format Includes .wav download card

Rising Melbourne-based producer Thrupence releases his latest creative piece, Ideas of Aesthesis, featuring track 'Rinse Repeat', guest feature from Wafia and his brother Edward Vanzet

Hailing from the Ruhr Area in Germany, the Homewreckers have a long history to look back on. Numerous projects have involved the three band members Johannes Ehmann, Gregor Pottmeier and Krischan Wesenberg in the past 20 years always meandering between the realms of Jazz, Blues, Soul, House and Techno. Between the profound bags of DJs and the shelves of audiophile heads. Their unique sound spans from deep dancefloor oriented electronic music to film soundtracks that, amongst others, underlined the infamous productions of the artist Harun Farocki. Confusion EP is an excerpt of their upcoming album 'Machine Kiss' that sums up six years of research and work and melts the influence of more than 25 years of knowledge onto one record.

The Ukrainian based producer follows up his remixes for GLENVIEW (for ONUR ENGIN's "NIGHT IMAGES" and LUSTY ZANZIBAR's "EMPRESS WU HU") with this 4 track EP of original tracks. A mix of deep and eclectic house: "AFFELAY IN TROUBLE", "PLAYAZ BREEZIN", the title cut and "RED RASH". Full picture sleeve. This is essential, don't miss it.

Brand new Lurid by Anatolian Weapons, with a splendid Khidja remix.

Following their "Atalanta"12", Stockholm-based Farbror Resande Mac returns to Horisontal Mambo with this extended EP of b**earic bliss.

Through releases on labels such as Aficionado, Back to the Balearics and Is It Balearic they've carved their own niche in the tropical music climate we northeners like to embrace. Although it's hard to to escape the use of the dreaded b-word it might be the most fitting label still.

Anyway, we love it and we hope you do to.

Marcus Worgull and Danilo Plessow (Motorcity Drum Ensemble) are the members of the Vermont project.

With an artist roster as prolific and well-established as Kompakt's, you won't find much downtime that could be used for new entries to the catalogue. That's why we are especially happy to not only present the inaugurating full-length of VERMONT, but also introduce two distinguished producers to the fold that have built their impressive careers in our immediate vicinity, albeit appearing on the label for the very first time: Innervisions' MARCUS WORGULL and DANILO PLESSOW (of MOTOR CITY DRUM ENSEMBLE fame), two floor familiars praised for their gripping club tunes that showcase a surprisingly unwound and novel side to their respective artist personas.

With VERMONT, MARCUS WORGULL and DANILO PLESSOW submit a noticeably mature work that seems to come from a well attuned production duo, effectively concealing the fact that this is their first collaborative effort... and a decidedly informal one at that: these cuts were not conceived with specific aesthetic goals in mind, but emerged from a series of loose jam sessions disclosing the trespassing spirit of the sonic adventurer. It's in the sanctum of Danilo's former Cologne studio, surrounded by an armada of vintage analogue synthesizers, that the two music buffs somewhat inadvertently tapped into the city's collective subconsciousness and minted fourteen sleek soundscapes of almost krautrockish proportions.

Exhibiting high amounts of arpeggiated curiosity and following a factual no-sampling policy, tracks like wonderstruck opener YAIZA, undulating bleepfest DYNAMIK, the cinematic

ELEKTRON or ambient ballad MAJESTÄT are immersed in the enticing allure of freeform sequencing, even deciding to forego the full-blown percussion kits we've come to love in the two producers' main bodies of work. The restricted rhythmic pallet pays off extraordinarily well, as can be heard in the rich, breathing textures of KATZENJAMMER, DROIXHE or EBBE: if inclined to do so, one could label them as introspective synth poems, albeit with a strong sense for structure and dramaturgy that speaks volumes about the musical kinship of their originators - with or without drums.

Paco Sala return with a fifth full length album. The Silent Season is the net result of a full tibiofemoral dislocation, a lot of surgery, a lot of really heavy drugs, a seemingly open-ended period of housebound isolation & a subsequent hazy regression to roots and influences. The Silent Season is a fever-dream, embodying the period of physical stasis & marking a shift from the outsider pop structures of previous releases. Here instead the duo employ delirious, morphing synth structures intertwined with semi-lucid samples and haunting vocals.