Beats News

Debut album by electronic producer BABii co-produced by Adrian Sherwood (On-U-Sound system). BABii produces incredibly forward thinking electro tinged pop/R&B which features skittering beats and incredibly thick, layered synths with heavy bass with a semi industrial feel to them. The lyrics are dark yet the vocals are sweet. Despite its incredible pop hooks the whole LP drips with an undercurrent of darkness. BABii wowed SXSW this year playing 8 shows in 7 days and being compared to everyone from Grimes to FKA Twigs and while those comparisons give you a jumping off point they also feel lazy as BABii definitely inhabits her own unique world and Death Waltz Originals are very excited to give you your first dive into it.

Following 2018's 'Brilliant Pebbles'—swiftly snapped up by Howie B's legendary Pussyfoot label for their much-lauded relaunch compilation 'Space is the Plaice'—Hong Kong trio Blood Wine or Honey return with TOMORROW; a spirited, gleamingly reflective and instantly engaging future classic. It arrives alongside a rash of remixes from the BWoH vaults, created by an idiosyncratic pack of veteran producers, underground mischief-makers and in-house tinkerers.

Loosely referencing Ian Dury's 'Reasons to be Cheerful Part 3', Herbie Flowers' slap-back picked bass, Ethiopic jazz abstractions and a certain Chow Yun-fat classic, TOMORROW is a rhythm-heavy, mantric tropical ritual dressed up in smooth city lights. Evoking super-bright LEDs drenched in monsoon madness and otherworld longing, the track's glacial cool melts into dance-floor heat with de-tuned drums, loved-up sax, big-mood vocals and dream-like synths.

Then there are the quartet of genre spanning remixes. There is ‘Undying Overrated (Biggabush remix)’ with Biggabush’s trademark dub-expressionism, giving the surreal lyrics space and pinpointing pops, echoes and off-beat piano before erupting into a heavy heavy dub-club future-stepper. ‘Orwellian Woman (Medlar remix)’ where Medlar creates a synchro-synth-clap deep disco abstract banger. In ‘Peak Helium IV (Fancy Cat remix)’ the enigmatic Fancy Cat recalls Moodymann's avant-house auras and Blake Baxter's techno spirit. ‘Tomorrow (#normal remix)’ has skewed vocal clips and shimmering atmospherics kick into huge drums, flipping the rhythm of the title track inside-out, along with bass weight and sampled snatches of vocal and sax refrain. And finally in ‘Loosefoot (#normal remix) the usually anthemic Loosefoot is transformed into a slow-burning spartan salutation with minimalist echoing

Internationally recognised touring music producer Bluetech has released over 27 album/EP and is a master of analogue/modular sound synthesis. His passion for sound design and cutting edge audio exploration shows in all he touches and transcends the constructs normally associated with an ‘electronic artist’. With a unique and modern palette of electronica and dubwise music, Liquid Sound Design was the perfect home for this dub influenced remix album.

Birthed from Arizona’s regaled Ascetic House collective, Body of Light is a dark synth-pop outfit comprised of young brothers Andrew and Alexander Jarson. What began as a vehicle for their exploration of noise and sound during their early teens has evolved into an established production over the last decade, as Body of Light continues to carve out their own style of complex, structured, and moving dancefloor electronics.

Their music is not only individually personal, but drawn from experiences shared between the two brothers – and calls on elements of new wave, freestyle, goth, and techno to create timeless and singular tracks without fear of trend or passing fashion.

On their third album Time to Kill, Body of Light refines their brand of cold and driving synth pop with a bold pallet of sounds and a focus on uncharted technique and purpose. Like the pale digital stare of the modern devices surrounding our daily lives, the album weaves stories of love and obsession in an era of technical bondage and fleeting exhilaration. Written over a period of intense and profound change, Time to Kill stands as a startling reminder of how important our existence truly is. Haunting keys, swelling pads, and punching rhythms score their work as Alex Jarson presents an alluring and romantic dialogue with confident projection. The title single “Time to Kill” kicks off the album with a merciless signature beat, complimented by distorted sample patterns against an infectious, moving bass groove

'Memory Box' - the new album by Rodney Cromwell - fuses a European synthpop sensibility with a world of magical realism. It was inspired as much by the literature of Alice in Wonderland, Franz Kafka and Anna Kavan, as by its musical influences of artists such as Kraftwerk, Neu!, The Cure, Silver Apples, Oppenheimer Analysis and Polyrock. The sonic pallet of 'Memory Box' is rich, colourful, often surprising and utterly unique. Since the release of his debut 'Age of Anxiety' album in 2015, Rodney Cromwell has been featured by the likes of NME, Electronic Sound Magazine, Huffington Post, Paste, BBC6 Music and national RNE3 in Spain for whom he recorded a live session. 'Age of Anxiety' was included in a wealth of Best of Lists, not least that of Electronic Sound. He has appeared on compilations alongside Cavern of Anti-Matter, John Foxx, Devo, OMD, Katy Perry and many more. Rodney Cromwell is the project of Adam Cresswell. The first band he founded was SALOON, who were John Peel darlings, who recorded three Peel Sessions and the Festive 50 number 1 of 2002. They released three acclaimed albums on Track & Field (UK) and Darla Records (US) and played with a host of alternative acts including Stereolab, Electrelane, Quickspace, Laika, Of Montreal & Movietone. He followed Saloon with ARTHUR & MARTHA the acclaimed tweetronica duo that released the sole album 'Navigation' before vanishing. In addition to performing as Rodney Cromwell, he runs the Happy Robots record label. The Rodney Cromwell live set is a joyful mixed-media extravaganza, incorporating analogue synths, video visuals and live instrumentation, interjected by Rodney's 'offbeat wit'. His debut festival appearance at Indietracks in 2015 was described as 'like a spiritual experience". He has shared stages with acts including Pram, Marsheaux, Death & Vanilla, Rowetta and Steve Davis. His sole performance in 2020 was as part of Damo Suzuki's backing band. He will be promoting the album with a series of live-dates in 2022. Cromwell's recent singles 'Memory Box' and 'Get Me To Prague' received play on BBC 6 Music as well as national play in Spain, Finland and Japan. 'Memory Box' featured in the Official Festive 50 on Dandelion Radio. To coincide with the album we have early confirmed reviews with Electronic Sound Magazine and interviews with ElectricityClub, Pennyback Music and You haven't heard this music vodcast.

Crumb is the collaboration of Brooklyn-based musicians Lila Ramani (guitar, vocals), Brian Aronow (synth, keys, sax), Jesse Brotter (bass), and Jonathan Gilad (drums). The friends came together in 2016 with the goal of developing and recording a collection of songs Ramani had written in high school and college, the work ultimately resulting in the band’s first two EPs, 2016’s Crumb and 2017’s Locket. Encouraged by the warm reception online and at shows, the band evolved into a full time touring and recording project.

In June 2019, Crumb will release Jinx, their first full-length album and best distillation to date of their singular blend of psych-rock and jazz. On Jinx, Ramani continues to helm the songwriting, with Aronow, Brotter, and Gilad each bringing distinctive ideas to match her ethereal, intimate vocals and luminous guitar lines. Informed by two years of nearly non-stop touring, the songs sweep and swell to capture the beguiling live spirit of Crumb shows, while taking listeners one step further down the band’s dizzying, hypnotic path.

Crumb is the collaboration of Brooklyn-based musicians Lila Ramani (guitar, vocals), Brian Aronow (synth, keys, sax), Jesse Brotter (bass), and Jonathan Gilad (drums). The friends came together in 2016 with the goal of developing and recording a collection of songs Ramani had written in high school and college, the work ultimately resulting in the band’s first two EPs, 2016’s Crumb and 2017’s Locket. Encouraged by the warm reception online and at shows, the band evolved into a full time touring and recording project.

In June 2019, Crumb will release Jinx, their first full-length album and best distillation to date of their singular blend of psych-rock and jazz. On Jinx, Ramani continues to helm the songwriting, with Aronow, Brotter, and Gilad each bringing distinctive ideas to match her ethereal, intimate vocals and luminous guitar lines. Informed by two years of nearly non-stop touring, the songs sweep and swell to capture the beguiling live spirit of Crumb shows, while taking listeners one step further down the band’s dizzying, hypnotic path.

Have you ever felt like you’re being watched? Have you felt unseen eyes staring at you, monitoring your every move? Composer and guitarist Daniel Davies reflects on this familiar paranoia on his new EP, Spies. Across its five stirringly atmospher- ic tracks, the frequent John Carpenter collaborator evokes the tingle you get on the back of your neck when you sense you’re under surveillance - a feeling some psychologists have dubbed the “psychic staring effect.”

The songs for Spies were composed in the fall and winter of 2020, in the depths of pandemic lockdown. Working in isolation in his L.A. studio, Davies composed the five tracks entirely alone. With no collaborators, his gaze turned inward, and the songs feel intimate and intense. Yet at the same time, they would become the most sonically expansive material he’s ever put on a solo record. His guitar and synthesizer are bolstered by double bass, cello, viola, and violin, adding a new depth to the music.

As he did for his 2020 full-length Signals, Davies teamed up with acclaimed visual artist Jesse Draxler for the artwork. The stark, black-and-white piece that Draxler contributed for the cover of Spies perfectly captures the mood of the record. Eyes are cut out, disassociated from faces, their gazes made inscrutable. Yet they seem to fix on the listener. Have you ever felt like you’re being watched? Maybe you are.

Fourth volume of Library Music miniatures by Daniel O’Sullivan (Ulver, Æthenor, This is Not This Heat, etc) for VHF, this time commissioned by the legendary German Music Library, Sonoton. Another sampling of O’Sullivan’s versatility and brilliance as a composer, performer, and sound designer, the focus on The Pastoral Machine is more “electronic” compared to the three previous albums O’Sullivan recorded for KPM (also issued on LP by VHF), with simpler arrangements and a focus on gentle and emotive synthesised soundworlds. Even without as many full ensemble arrangements, there’s still a wealth of diversity—“Empathogen” opens the record with latticed arpeggiating sequences recalling Japanese “environmental music” or Persian Surgery-era Terry Riley, “Fruit Of Stream Entry” burbles with gentle ripples evoking the album’s title, while “The Silversmith Of Space” mines a simple chord sequence evoking Eno’s ’70s classic short instrumentals. “Superstrings” is a series of hypnotic overlapping guitar patterns, like a lost Ash Ra or Achim Reichel track. The brief “Star Lore” is a heavy highlight with deep bass washes and grainy, tape-laminated melodies, followed immediately by Rose Keeler Schaffeler’s vocal feature on “The Oscillating Love” recalling futurist new-age pop in the vein of Enya or Virginia Astley. Housed in a jacket and heavy euro-style inner featuring collages by O’Sullivan, soon to be the subject of an art book published by Timeless Editions in mid-2024.

The album is presented in a spectacular red/silver pressing with beautiful cover/inner sleeve artwork from Nick Taylor.

Unlike much you have heard before, Dean Honer and Supreme Vagabond Craftsman build a creepily paranoid world of ‘objects’, which is believable and strange… and strangely affecting.

“Set in a bleak corner of the Peak District, it’s perhaps our only opportunity to hear a one-time mainstay of Pulp and a former cast member of The Tomorrow People acting together in earnest. For that reason alone, surely it must be cherished. Submerged by analogue bleeps and beats, Russell Senior and Richard Speight throw themselves into two narrated suites of glorious post apocalyptic oddness.” - Bob Fischer, Electronic Sound

Dean Honer:
In 2015 I edited various pieces of music I had written on an EMS Synthi and a tape echo, into one hour long piece. I didn't know what to do with it. I knew Will (Goddard) from his Supreme Vagabond Craftsman records. I liked his writing style, always a bit twisted. I also knew that he wouldn't be put off by my atonal discordant Synthi burblings. So I asked him to write a sci-fi story to put over the music.

He came up with Frogman. I loved that it was set locally to Sheffield in the Peak District, a place that I am very familiar with. That gentle yet dramatic landscape was perfect for an alien/viral incursion. It had the bleak English atmosphere of classics such as Quartermass and Threads.

The idea developed into a play voiced by various characters rather than a solo narrator. Therefore we adapted and created new music to reflect the characters and the narrative. But much of the original Synthi score is still present.

The Frogman became unnervingly prescient with the outbreak of the Covid pandemic. The splits in society, anti vax Vs pro vax, leave Vs remain, and the fragility of a "civilised " society.

Will Goddard / Supreme Vagabond Craftsman:
Staying in a B&B on the south coast about 15 years ago, I was given a map which the owner had hand drawn and photocopied for guests to find local chippies and nice pubs. The map featured a bizarre symbol among the spaghetti of wiggly lines depicting local streets: a sort of series of circles encasing triangles within a flaming star shape. It looked faintly occult. I went to the spot indicated by the symbol hoping to find some kind of spiritual inundation. It was a lorry park.

I started to wonder what would happen if large objects appeared all over the world and seemed to draw people to them in a sort of religious pilgrimage; people walking from one to another and entering a state of ecstasy when they arrived. I liked the cosy catastrophe novels of the '60s, John Christopher and John Wyndham, and the 'slipstream' weirdness of M John Harrison. I particularly liked Christopher Priest's novel 'Fugue for a Darkening Island' and decided to rip off its fragmentary structure. I seem to remember buying a copy of Sam Delaney's 'Dahlgren' on the same trip. I liked the idea that a certain proportion of the world's population would be drawn into these religious pilgrimages and become a sort of shifting population of maligned devotees with an incomprehensible clicking language. This idea kicked around for a few years but I'm no good at writing fiction. When Dean mentioned a science fiction story with a sort of electronic score it seemed it could finally come to life.

Six songs that are worth it. Manic electropunk that somehow - consciously or as collateral damage - manages to pack that seventies goblin horror movie vibe (on one track it's also a video game soundtrack) into catchy and contemporary songs that just move forward. Big guitars, big synthesizer, big drum beats and those nasty melodies that can still accelerate demons in 2023. A bit of VOLT could be mentioned as a reference, but the band from mighty, mighty Offenbach (for a world career I would suggest Frankfurt) clearly has its own flair and, despite the home recording, seems so powerful that it hurts. Compared to the Bandcamp stream on vinyl and a decent system, “Havana Syndrome” sounds much more powerful. The almost cheap beatbox is the real icing on the cake, because the guitar, the bass and, above all, that divinely played synthesizer are so amazing that I'm inclined to want a child from a band for the first time. I'll tell you straight away, it won't be pretty, but at least it'll be talented. Exquisite 12”, which especially calls for a second helping! Shortly before the ten points, but there is still something going on.

After a four-year hiatus exploring ambient and meditation music, Danish multi- instrumentalist Anders Rhedin has returned to his indie roots. Dream Work, his third album as Dinner, is a lush collection of synth and guitar-laden indie pop that expertly channels Ryuichi Sakamoto, early British indie, and the sound of water.

Like most worthwhile pursuits, the path to Dream Work hasn’t been straight. After signing to Captured Tracks in 2014, he released a series of synth-based avant-pop albums and toured the world with the likes of Mac Demarco, Sean Nicholas Savage, Prince Rama, and King Gizzard, all while splitting his time be - tween Berlin, LA and his native Copenhagen. This whirlwind period ended when, following the release of 2017’s New Work, Rhedin relocated to Copenhagen and took a step back from the Dinner project in order to explore his long standing personal interest in ambient production and guided meditation. Over the last few years, he’s released a series of ambient releases under his own name geared towards meditation, sleep, and relaxation. He’s also led live guided sound baths and meditations at art museums, churches, and rooftops all over the world.

Tom Mcdowell’s Dream Division returns with 'Lumarain' an invitation to an electronic odyssey. The album's expansive synth soundscapes stretch out like vast, unexplored galaxies, inviting the audience to embark on a thrilling journey. McDowell's deft touch on the synthesiser’s manifests in otherworldly textures and pulsating rhythms, forging a unique sonic experience that captivates from start to finish with each track unfolding like a chapter of a lost dystopian science fiction novel.

The fusion of Jorja Chalmers' evocative saxophone and McDowell's otherworldly synth arrangements creates a rare and distinctive combination, a harmonious convergence of the traditional and the futuristic, resulting in a sound seldom heard in the contemporary music landscape.

Pressed on 180gm Earth Crystal blue marble vinyl

Research Records teams up with organist and synthesist E. Bobby G. to release his sophomore album, Bobby Business. Once again, the album is primarily centered around the 1982 Kawai DX900, but it masterfully explores more genres than his debut, Giving You M.O.R.E.

Bobby Business was recorded in 2022 after E. Bobby G. received an eviction notice from his beloved sharehouse of 12 years. After moving out, he stored the organ at his workplace, Bakehouse Studios, where his boss let him use the space overnight to record until the early hours. The remainder of the album was recorded in his old studio space, NGBE.

The first track, "Ha-Ha," is as meditative as it is glittery, with floating sustained chords. "Big Boy" and "Disco Shift" bring back a slightly more polished E. Bobby G. sound—lo-fi library music with bright tones that will appeal to fans of proto-electronic icons like Brian Bennett. Tracks like "Lucky Strike" and "Tropical Dino Ride" are video game music dreams, featuring West Coast lead lines and strutting percussion. The second half of the album explores spaced-out '90s downtempo and dub elements, with a distinctive refinement that hides the fact it was created primarily using the Kawai DX900.

Bobby Business closes with "Lillian," a sonic dedication to the artist's Grandmother, with a more traditional song structure that hints at what Bobby has planned next.

Since the release of her debut album Metalepsis in 2015, Alexandra Drewchin’s Eartheater project has evolved into new performance styles

and cycled through a diverse menu of genres, while she has introduced her music to scenes and new contexts all over the world over years of

international touring. With Hausu Mountain’s reissue of Metalepsis, appearing on vinyl for the first

time with updated artwork, we travel back five years to a period of her work where you would more likely find Drewchin’s three-octave voice swooping

through gorgeous cascading melodies as she fingerpicks through ornate chord progressions on her acoustic guitar, rather than pouring out lacerating noise

texture and technoid beat structures from a pair of CDJs. The idea that these two (of many) sides of her project are at odds with each

other, however, is a total fallacy, as Eartheater’s holistic practice remains in a state of constant recombination and willful juxtaposition. Her recent sets have

come to balance her heavier post-club material with a reincorporation of long passages of stripped down voice-and-guitar performance. With this in mind, a

reconsideration of Metalepsis could not come at a better time. Tracks like the majestic ‘Homonyms’ and the stripped-down finale ‘Infinity’

float the closest to legible structures in keeping with folk artists like Vashti Bunyan or Linda Perhacs. Drewchin’s songs latch into temporary cycles for a few

stanzas before jetting off into one-off flights of harmony that stand behind her soaring vocal lines. On ‘Homonyms,’ she winds her way through a labyrinth of

tumbling melodic figures that range from tongue-twisting, almost rapped midrange cadences to bursts of color in the highest of falsettos. Drewchin tries

on hard-effected belting closer to 90s alternative rock (‘Youniverse’), layered wordless coos and chirping vocalizations (‘Macro EV’), and pensive spokenword

whispers (‘The Internet is Handmade’). Her lyrics toy with themes of humanity’s increasing integration with technology, with our tiny role and self-perception

in a vast universe, and with the boundaries between the imagined dreamworld and the (u)(dys)topia expanding before us. For all of her mastery of voice

and traditional instrumentation, Eartheater’s omnivorous, collage-like approach to production pushes Metalepsis beyond the limits of singer-songwriting

and out into the deep end of modern electronic experimentation. Shorter sketches like ‘View Point Strata’ and ‘Youniverse’ stand as miniature

flights through contrasting sound sources and broken anti-structures. The chirps of Drewchin’s pet birds join with peals of atonal violin, while a jovial

verse by an anonymous Russian rapper arises out of a sea of garbled, heavily processed vocal fragments. Even the tracks that skirt closer to more conventional

forms play host to detailed electronic backdrops of percolating percussion patterns, sliced and looped synth formants, and swathes of pure synth texture.

“I want to give you a killer sound, before the time will waste it all”, Eugene sings on the first verse. “Radiowave” is not a love song, neither an ode to retro-technology: it’s the search for a safe and inspirational place to be and for a method to evade oblivion. The song features two important artists coming from the avant-garde pop music scene: the acknowledged father of italian new-wave Garbo along with Andy (co-founder of the MTV Award winning outfit Bluvertigo, besides being an acclaimed painter and visual artist), the first singing the Italian verse of the song with his haunting and unique voice, the latter performing a dreamy and abstract saxophone solo. Radiowave is a pure electronic-pop anthem, a cool clash of energy and elegance. Music video has been made with American video-art foundational artist and friend Gary Hill, who processed a live footage of Eugene singing the track through an early-70s analog video-synthesizer, generating hundreds of dancing green arabesques, deconstructing and re-composing Eugene’s face and surprisingly creating a futuristic vision without using computer-graphics at all. Besides the main track, this vinyl release also contains a special alternate mix (MHZ Version), the song “Insistence is Futile” feat. experimental artist Kudu and a fab industrial/EBM remix by Plaster. Each copy of the record comes with a download card (and there are seven types of cards, each one of them personalized by hand) to download full release and three extra tracks: two blasting remixes by Strobo (prog house), and UnicornTV vs Sixthclone (vaporwave), plus previously unreleased instrumental “Intermission”. Calling all good music and high-quality production lovers, something really exciting is coming to you.


[b] 2. Radiowave (feat. Garbo, Andy) [Mhz Version]

[d] 4. Radiowave (feat. Garbo, Andy) [Plaster Remix]

Selected Classics presents a crucially curated cross section of Colorado producer Andrew Dahabrah, aka FOANS’ finest work, sourced from a nearly six-hour self-released vault of tracks posted to his Bandcamp in 2018. Simply called Classics, the sprawling 100-song digital collection was intended as the project’s final offering- a comprehensive culling of the hard drive, after which there’d be “no looking back”.

Fortunately, minds have changed, and FOANS remains extant, but an air of finality and desperation still haunts these tracks, born of bruised emotions and the burnout of working seven days a week “in the middle of nowhere” as an electrician in isolated oil fields. It’s music of hidden hours and private survival, slipstreaming through sleek cybernetic house, gauzy matrix ambience, low-slung dusty jack, and woozy fractal techno. Placeless and weightless, heady and kinetic, Selected Classics distills Dahabrah’s sidewinding inner vision to its swooning fiber optic essence.

After the deeply ambitious three EP trilogy Impossible Objects of Desire in 2017, Fujiya & Miyagi are to release their 7th full length album. This record

started life as our funk record, says Fujiya & Miyagis David Best. Yet once we got into the production stage our embryonic funk songs moved closer

to electro in feel. Although this is our funkiest album to date and the funk is deliberate.



Its not surprising that a sense of evolution and stylistic shift would take place within the process of putting together a single record, given Fujiya & Miyagis

near two decade career of genre-hopping across Krautrock, Electronica, Disco, Pop, Funk and anything else they feel like throwing into their smart yet

deeply accessible take on electronic music. Whilst this album might be rooted in nostalgia, with everything the pair do theres still a feeling of momentum and

something fresh. A tired re-hash of familiar sounds this is not. Instead it finds a group re-connecting with the potent music of their youth and connecting it with their

well-learned musical chops as adults. The pairs recent listening habits of African music can even be heard faintly amongst the dance floor-destined

blasts of electro. Its creeping in here but will be even more apparent on the next record, Best says. The album is ultimately one about escape and abandon.

About embracing and reliving lost moments on the dance floor charged by the surge and power of youthful remembrance. Or, as Lewis says, Flashback is a

flashback to less complicated times with no responsibilities. Its also about the odd fragments of memories that stay with you.

Debut LP from Graham Reznick on Death Waltz Originals, his is a name you may not know but you have certainly seen and heard his work over the last ten years or so. Sound designer on House Of The Devil & Innkeepers as well as co-writer of the video game horror hit Until Dawn.

For his first solo LP he has used his home town of Los Angeles as his muse, lush electronic soundscapes buzz under neon soaked streets, providing a warm, hazy record that shimmers with positivity. The record is split between rousing electronic Bangers and more contemplative tracks and makes the perfect late night listen whether you are crying in the car or home on your sofa.