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Original selecta of unrealese tunes, escaping the usual mental tribe sound to explore some more creative ways.

For instence that second tune on each side... crazy stuff !

Repress

Carthago: Rare Tunisian Disco Including Unreleased Instrumentals And Eight Page Booklet When we first decided to start Habibi Funk, a label dedicated to re-releasing "funky" Arabic music from the 1960s to 1980s, a band called Dalton was the first release we worked on. Dalton was a band from the Tunisian capital of Tunis and they played a unique mix of soul & funk with an Arabic DNA. We licensed the release from the band's composer Fawzi Chekili, and when we spoke to him on the phone in preparation of the release he mentioned another band he was part of, called Carthago. Our work with Habibi Funk is like a big treasure hunt. There are too many great bands that fully vanished into obscurity and didn't leave any traces in the digital sphere yet. We are so used to the internet providing all informations we might be looking for, but Carthago was one of those bands where the internet largely failed to provide any infos despite the fact that Carthago created some incredible music in the form of an highly infectious Tunisian take on disco music. Luckily most of the members of the 1970s musical scene of Tunis are still around to tell their story.

Carthago was founded in the late 1970s as a fusion of Dalton and a second band called Marhaba Band. Both bands frequently played at hotels and night clubs in Tunis and Sousse. They had similar musical influences and despite the fact that they were competition for the most part, they came up with the idea to join forces for a new band. Musically Carthago kept on walking on the musical path of Dalton and Marhaba but incorporated disco music, a new style that was making its way to North Africa from Europe and North America. The band had quite some success on local radio and played a number of big shows with thousands of people showing up. The band's concerts were a mixture of their own compositions as well as cover versions of the hits of the time from Stevie Wonder to Chicago. At the end of the 70s they went to Paris to record their only, self titled album. For our reissue we picked out two of our favorite tracks: "Hanen" and the outstanding disco version of the Dalton track "Alech" which has proved to work on every dance floor we played over the last two years.

When I came to Tunis for the first time after the Dalton reissue I met Fawzi in person. He still lives in Tunis and still works as a full time musician though his focus has shifted more towards Jazz over the years. Luckily he did not only keep a spotless copy of the Carthago album but he also kept the master tape of the instrumental versions of the album which to this day were unreleased. Being able to add exclusive content to a reissue is something that is rare and we feel highly privileged to be able to do so. Futher more we are so happy that we will be able to add something new to the bands legacy not only musically but also visually: One day I realized that most of the releases from Tunisia I liked, be it from Dalton, Carthago or Marhaba Band had the same photographer credit.Hassen Turki started taking photos at a young age and when he was 18 he started going to the gigs of the bands of the time that were playing in the Marhaba Hotel which was managed by his father at the time. He became friends with the bands and ended up being the person to be asked when it came to shooting the photos for the covers of the records. After some research I managed to get in touch with Hassen and met him in his hometown Sousse. Luckily he kept most of the negatives of the photos he took so we're more than happy to be able to share these unseen photos with whoever is interested.

LTD release

Collabs and acid labs !

Progressives bangers on the A-side... digging more mental on the flip...

Award-winning International DJ and Producers The Prototypes release their third album ‘Ten Thousand Feet & Rising’. The Brighton based Drum & Bass duo were previously signed to tastemaker label ‘Viper Recordings,’ home to Matrix and Futurebound.

The Prototypes’ potent, hard-hitting production and broadsword body of work on seminal labels such as UKF, Viper Recordings, Shogun Audio, Ram Records, Technique Recordings and Formation. Anthems that have been supported across the entire D’N’B scene such as ‘Pale Blue Dot’, ‘Pop It Off’ and ‘Kill The Silence’.

Their expansive and versatile remixes of acts ranging from Ed Sheeran to Avicii to Friction by way of their sought-after bootlegs of Fisher and Knife Party and unreleased dubplate remixes of Bad Company and Pendulum. Not to mention their extraordinary debut album ‘City Of Gold’ that exploded in 2015, took them around the world several times over and elevated them to headline status.

‘Shadows’ is the first single from the new album, which they explain as ”a throwback to the Hardcore scene from the late 90s, with a piano line influenced by pivotal names through the history of the UK’s rave scene such as Vibes & Wishdokta, DJ Dougal, Slipmatt, and Nookie, to which we added a straight up banger of a bassline”.

Featuring Ulta Music’s singer Lily McKenzie, known for her collaborations with industry heavyweights including Giggs, Conducta and Wiley, as well as featuring on Crazy Cousinz’s 2017 smash hit, ‘No Way’, alongside Yxng Bane and Mr Eazi signed to Ultra Music.

Previously supported by the likes of Zane Lowe, Annie Mac, Andy C, Roni Size, Friction, J Majik & Wickaman, Pendulum, DJ Fresh plus many more.

3 honest mental techno tune and a bombastic finish from SAEDEM

Mental metallik acid shouter... or shower... Rainy bleeps and sub-terranean beats.

Massive!

Arkham Audio presents yet another delicious techno EP by renowned French electronic musician Electric Rescue alongside a solid lineup of remixers. 'Dream Warriors' follows on from Electric Rescue's recent album release on none other than John Digweed's Bedrock Records, and comes bearing more of the intoxicating rhythms that we have grown accustomed to and equally as indulging reworks by Denise Rabe, TWR72, and Arkham label head Cri Du Coeur. This record firmly establishes that his hypnotising yet adrenalizing sound is a force to be reckoned with as he unveils a relentless yet minimalistic techno sound that shows inspiration from his friend and mentor Laurent Garnier.
The rave begins with the original mix of 'Dream Warriors', which leads with an infectious beat and hazy serpentine melody that thrusts your mind into a powerful yet entrancing oblivion. Heavy percussions and lively daunting melodies set the tone for rest of the record. Cri Du Coeur's rework of introduces itself with a pommelling baseline, layers of stimulating hi-hats, and transcendental melodies that create the perfect inebriating brew. The Denise Rabe remix spices things up with a mind-numbing visceral baseline and spooky industrial sounds that echo throughout the atmosphere.
Next up is 'Einoeino' which has a playful beat that contrasts with a dark and fuzzy looping melody to create the ultimate heart-racing and thrilling experience for the listener, leaving you to imagine being chased around a haunted circus. The remix of 'Einoeino' by TWR72 delivers his signature sound that encompasses pulsing rhythms, unyielding muffled baselines, and a slightly off-beat groove that concocts the perfect smoky dancefloor track.
Bringing together an innately well-suited collection of artists, Electric Rescue showcases his industrial techno-wizardry and prowess in putting together enthralling and boundless soundscapes with his new EP 'Dream Warriors' on the newly-founded yet tenacious Arkham Audio label.

Warok music releasing the fourth featuring collaborations with various artists, from breakbeat techno to mental driving techno.

In the Ponorogo series, Warok is continuing revealing the story behind the label which is inspired by the fascinating Indonesian culture.

French artist JC Laurent returns to label with a hypnotic cut in collaboration with label co-founder Coltur entitled "The Vault" featuring syncopated, spacious rhythms, zappy synths revolving underneath the reverberating bass grooves before Enemy Records' Blenk & Materia's Ruhbarb join to create a shimmering techno roller in the form of "Day One" which pulsates with breaky drums and rubbery modulations.

On the flip, Skrypton's Moteka & Shekon provide a psychedelic experience within "Gallia" featuring tunneling oscillations, rising synths and undulating effervescence taking you on an otherworldly trip until Eyth & Hearthug round things off with "Patchworks" which offers up acid squelches, alleviating, angelic pads and scattered, broken percussion which keeps the enthralling energy flowing until the end.

Outstanding and legendary Italian Library album out of the vaults of Cometa Edizioni Musicali featuring tones of mental Jazz-Funk and Psychedelic beats. The listener is constantly kept by the incredible music that swings between Psychedelic Funk, Esoteric Jazz and Cinematic/Love themes. Tracks like "Love For Sale", "Privacy", "Metropolis Notte" and "Dopping 2000" are simply timeless, with a stunning sound that perfectly plunges in the universe of great 1970s vibes and golden Italian library/film music of the time. Originally issued on Limited Edition serie for collectors, this gem has been repressed on 180gr. wax again with improved sound quality remastering from the original master tapes.

Turned on by a new dawn of chemical love, Sydney dance-funk combo Bellydance laid down their sampledelica blueprint in 1991, thinking in parallel with Weatherall's revelatory work with Primal Scream. A candy flip of streetsoul, festival jam band and Chip Monck's cautionary brown acid address, 3 Days Man! was primed for open fields and discotheques, in an age when the deejay was royalty.

With an elastic lineup that boasted up to 9 members, Bellydance synchronised more with the club scene than the city's straight-ahead pub rock racket, naturally recruiting hometown heroes Peewee and John Ferris to remix their multi-track concoction. A certified party closing anthem, the brother's sun-smacked breakbeats elevate a collective consciousness beyond the clouds.

Originally issued on Regular Records sub-label Boomshanka Music as a precursor to their album One Blood, the now sought-after 12" sports characteristic artwork from Mambo visionary and Mental As Anything co-founder Reg Mombassa. Instigated by Sydney selector Ben Fester, this Efficient Space reboot arrives fashionably late to Woodstock's 50th anniversary but just in time to help soothe universal division.

Released in 2011 on the compilation «Mental Beauty » on record label, Composite Records, DJ Yellow teamed up with his friends,Tiago Fragateiro and the sublime singer Tracey K, to create the song "Special". This track had major success in the clubs and on the radio, with DJ’s like Hot Since 82 featuring it on his Pirate Ship Mix, as well as it landing in the Beatport top ten.Now Poussez Music has decided to re-release « Special » on vinyl and digital including a new mix of the original , DJ yellow’s Sleep No More remix, and a brand new track « Don’t you know ».This EP will be released on 12" vinyl and digital on Poussez Music in May 2020.

Even if you don't know her name - you will know her voice. It's 'Melbourne's High Priestess Of Soul' Kylie Auldist's unmistakable vocals on the 2016 global dance hit 'This Girl' by Kungs vs Cookin' on 3 Burners - the track that not only topped almost every pop chart across the planet, featured in many TV shows, adverts and films and social media memes, and has achieved over 1 billion streams & climbing. But of course, that's far from the whole story. Kylie established her enviable reputation as the featured vocalist in the awesome Australian outfits The Bamboos, and Cookin' On 3 Burners, and her fantastically well received solo albums for Tru Thoughts; 'Just Say' (2008), 'Made of Stone' (2009) and 'Still Life' (2012) and 'Family Tree' Freestyle Records (2016). Kylie's brand new album - 'This Is What Happiness Looks Like', her first for Greg Boraman's brand new label Soul Bank Music, further develops the musical approach she began on it's predecessor 'Family Tree' - and is very firmly entrenched on an electro boogie tip, rooted deep in the New York club scene of the early 80's. The opening track 'Everythink' sets out that 1980's electro-boogie sound and then fuses it with the song writing of a classic Wham or Hall & Oates tune - it has an infectious, slinky Moog synth bass line that will lodge itself in people's minds. Kylie's simply stunning vocal performance on this breezy and summery tune will surely make it a future classic. Producers Warren Hunter and Lewis Moody skills in the studio have brought forth many musical highlights on this album, but special mention has to be made for Is It Fun? This is where a brilliant and incredibly infectious composition is further enhanced by some top notch instrumentalists, perfectly executed production, a simply beautiful vocal performance, and results in what should surely end up being an anthemic, brand new 'soul weekender' style classic. Soul boys & girls, funkateers and disco fans won't be able to stop themselves falling deeply for this new collection of tunes, because it's not only a highly original take on a classic sound, but it was conceived, performed and recorded with a genuine passion and love, as Kylie says "Some albums are written fast, some take a long time, some albums experience setbacks, become beset by creative blocks and personal issues, and can generally be a whole lot of hard work which makes you question why you even bothered to start it in the first place - this was not one of those albums - hence the title 'This Is What Happiness Looks Like'!

Our new slice of wax comes this time from outer space made somewhere between unknown galaxies and black holes. The spaceship’s pilot is 30drop, a mysterious alias that has been running its platform 30D for a long while now and is not often seen outside its realm. So it’s an honor for us to have 30drop onboard.

For this special occasion 30drop provides six cuts of futuristic techno but with a ravey approach in a time backspin that brings us back to the 90’s via Sci-Fi, reminding in some way of the early UR records, when Mad Mike and Jeff Mills worked together on the soundtrack of the future.

This is our first mini LP with 3 cuts per side. The first cut is Brain reset, the short drone intro soon leads to a relentless groove made of repetitive sequences over a fast groove. Intense and obsessive.

Mental Understanding brings more minimalistic ingredients, absence of hi hats, just kick drum and synth lines.

Brain effervescence showcases the infamous 90’s hoover sound bringing the rave element and 303 acid lines all merged in a lawless and dense mixture.

B side opens with Self awareness, starting with ethereal atmospheres, spiced with resonant bleeps and micro drones in a beat-less exercise.

Klapaucjusz brings back the 90’s feeling again with analogue arpeggios and melodies, again over a clean groove in a Detroit oriented number.

Closing the release, Knowledge, a space odyssey of strings, abstract synth lines and flotation.

A work that showcases the skills of this well-seasoned producer that stands apart from any trends, futuristic, atemporal and scientifically crafted.

W&P by 30drop

Good Vids, Vile Times is the second album by Ant Antic. Its central themes are the never-ending flood of information and its effects on us. The Berlin-based singer and producer Tobias Koett wraps serious questions into radiant pop songs. What does constant bombardment of information do to us? What's lost along the way?

On his new album, Ant Antic observes the emotional power of media and information. The helplessness we feel in the face of predominantly bad news and the growing inability to take pleasure in good news. The way an overload of junk information leaves no mental capacity for real social connections. As a child of the first globally connected generation, he witnesses geographical boundaries dissolve and people consider humanity as one. At the same time, everyone seems to struggle to come to terms with a reality overflowing with possibilities. Slowly, we collectively turn into superficial nihilists.

"When I wrote my first album Wealth I looked inward to examine my own emotions, asking myself "How do I really feel?". For Good Vids, Vile Times I was focusing less on the how and more on the question of why. "Why do I feel that way?"", Tobias explains the creative writing process behind his second album as Ant Antic.

"I'm a bag of hot air / Push me up density / Feel like a millionaire / Don't bring me down gravity", he admits on the single Yellow Press. Referencing the album's cover artwork by Austrian photographer Erli Grünzweil, Tobias describes how it feels to advertise his own life to other people - when behind the meticulously crafted presentation, there's sometimes nothing left but emptiness and anxiety.

Good Vids, Vile Times is an album rich in variety, ranging from indie-pop to contemporary R&B. In stark contrast to the somber tone of the lyrics, the songs radiate a cheerful liveliness. Fueled by analog synthesizers and an electric guitar often not discernible as such, the record builds on Ant Antic's signature sound. It's all Tobias on Good Vids, Vile Times - writing songs, recording vocals, guitars and synths, all the way to production and mixing. Essential elements and ideas are put into focus by getting rid of everything else. At the same time, the new album sees singer and producer Tobias openly flirting with pop, exploring new sounds and aesthetics, and maturing musically and lyrically. No song is alike, each one tells an honest and relatable story - all held together by the magic glue that is Tobias' distinctive voice, which might stay with you forever.

Soul Development AKA Deka Selector is a DJ and music producer from Barcelona. He started playing vinyl and performing as a DJ in Ibiza from 2002 at Warhol Club, Diosa Discotheque and Tira Pallá Bar, and also played twice at international festivals like Sziget Festival in Budapest.

Nowadays he is focused in music production, composing his own music with rhythm machines and synthesizers. His first release was in 2016 called "Poker Hat", and "Roots" in 2017. Now, under the label Sounds Of Mass Distraction (SOMD) Soul Development is about to release his first vinyl EP in September 2020, "Treballa Dorm Consumeix".

"Treballa dorm consumeix" is the new artwork of "soul development" who, at this time, edits as an EP on vinyl format as also on the current streaming nets. The title disc mentions and actually criticizes, the consume urban society where the majority population in the world live.

The author, Javier Ortega Cejas, pretends to generate consciousness about our fail system where we walk: every day, we awake and go to our job posts to spend a huge part of our daily time to generate incomes to later on, spend and spend in objects, sometimes, not really needed. If so, eat, we need to eat, sometimes we get satisfaction just purchasing and purchasing objects totally superfluous. Do not lie to ourselves, to buy, generates satisfaction, but maybe, at a high cost: our health, physical and mental.

As Dalai Lama said with his own words, that, resumed would be: "occidental man spends its health to get money, later on, spends its money to get again health, and lives the present thinking so much on the future that finally, lives like it wouldn't never die, and dies as it wouldn't never have lived".

Mental delice !

Prolific American artist Jon Hester returns to Rekids for the first instalment of his new album, ‘Converge’, this September.

Jon Hester grew up in the Midwest US, living in Chicago and Minneapolis while taking musical cues from Detroit. Initially he was a dancer, and later transitioned to the decks with a refined understanding of what it takes to move a club. He progressed to hosting his own events, holding residencies, and working at a record shop, and now brings his physical rhythms and adventurous drums to his productions, with output on respected labels such as Transmat, Deeply Rooted, Dystopian, Klockworks, and LET Recordings, not to mention multiple appearances on Rekids.

Continuing to show fine form on his debut album, Hester now serves up eight of his signature house and techno fusions with plenty of his trademark directness across four sides of vinyl. The superb 'Sending Signals' opens the album with scene-setting synth modulations full of sci-fi atmosphere. It's the calm before the storm as 'Metropolitan' then immediately sets off on a cantering groove that is eventually run through with busy, jazzy piano keys that bring the soul.

'Haze' has excellently taught kick drums with hypnotic synth tones adding colour, and features Hester on saxophone. When 'Rain' comes, things grow darker and more menacing, with shakers and urgent stabs keeping you moving at a slick pace.

The second half of this compelling record features the loopy punches and pulses of the super smooth 'Dreamstate', beautifully cosmic and widescreen techno of 'Free' and pensive but urgent deep electro of standout cut 'Flex.' Last of all, 'Equinox' is lit up with distant chords which bring a far-sighted gaze to the rolling, robust kicks.

On August 21st rising DJ/producer Haider presents the ‘Endless Clouds’ EP on his own label Breaker Breaker, where pristine future electro meets high tech funk and raw, jacking house. This new release follows praise from a wide selection of world-class DJs and media for his past 12”s, not to mention achievements as label owner, party promoter, canny early spotter of talent and general proactive instigator. Now based in Berlin but originally from Sheffield via a stint in London, there’s a commonality throughout all of Haider Masroor’s music that links both thematically and geographically. His
productions recall both Steel City bleep and its distant younger cousin bassline, using only sparse elements, with beats and bass at the fore, to deadly effect. London is audible too via
the spiky energy of grime and the swinging shuffle of UK funky, and so is Berlin, evident in the sleek sheen and efficient precision.
On ‘Maracuja’ lush pads, pitched-up vocal snippets, bleeps and proper electro beats ride atop a deep, purring bassline that unfurls like giant waves, with sub bass punctuation adding further hefty depth.
The bouncy, punchy beats and pristine gleam of ‘I Came To Destroy’ are somewhere between celestial Miami bass and the aquatic grooves of Drexciya, again propelled by gigantic slo-mo bass tones.
A modern take on the cut-up samples of 90s house, on ‘Grove Street’ Haider mixes elements of classic French touch, Chicago rawness and low fi outsider grit, to create something very enticing indeed.