The Populists—the alias of Yan Wagner—are about to unleash their latest assault on the dancefloor with the hotly anticipated EP, Extrême Intensité. This drops on Deadbeat Records in July and comes equipped with a dark, dusty, electro-infused remix from Mr. Ho.
When these demos landed in our inbox, we instantly knew that we needed to release it. This couldn’t be more Deadbeat if it tried; ravey, playful, banging. Expect this to be on heavy rotation throughout summer.
Produced in the vibrant heart of Marseilles, France, Extrême Intensité is a raw, unapologetic salute to UK rave, early dubstep, electro, and acid - the sounds that make your head spin and your jaw shake. Yan describes the project as “probably the most heavy and ‘brainless’ (in the best way) bunch of tracks I’ve ever created; the most UK sounding too.”
This new EP was produced in Yan’s home studio in Marseilles in March 2025, amidst a fierce USBJ digging craze and emerged as a most welcome breath of fresh air as he was immersed in the production process of another, more sombre, project. It’s packing hallmark breakbeats, gritty samples, and vintage Roland synths, all wrapped up in a playful, confident package designed to obliterate the dancefloor.
And to cap things off, Mr Ho, one of the current scene’s biggest producers and close friend of the label, has delivered a dark and warehousey remix that’s guaranteed to keep dance floors ablaze. As a big fan of his, we’re buzzing to finally land him on Deadbeat.
c B1. Extrême Intensité vinyl only
Buscar:most
Since its founding back in 2014, Blume has carved a unique place in cultural landscape, issuing free-standing works, spanning the historical and contemporary, that represent singular gestures of creativity within the field of experimental sound. Joining their broad efforts in building networks of context and understanding that already includes the works by Werner Durand, Sarah Hennies, Bruce Nauman, John Butcher, Jocy de Oliveira, Mary Jane Leach, Valentina Magaletti, Alvin Curran, Julius Eastman, Alvin Lucier, and following the first ever vinyl release to attend to James Tenney's legendary Postal Pieces, the label now presents the first LP published by the visionary Swiss composer Jürg Frey. Drawing from the transformative power of breath and resonance, this release represents one of the most profound explorations of musical metamorphosis to emerge from the contemporary experimental landscape.
The completed work represents a "conjunction of these two artists" that has "activated a transformative form of experimentalism." These renderings "dance with an airy lightness, humour, and play, imbuing them with a beauty and emotiveness that can be rare within experimental music." They exist as "breaths, carrying the curiosities of life, belonging to no time and all time, to no one and everyone: a human music to be inhaled and pondered, for which the outcome remains unknown." In this liminal space between composition and interpretation, between breath and resonance, Zurria and Frey have created something that transcends the boundaries of experimental music itself, offering what might be called a metaphysical cartography of sound in its most essential form. As Bradford Bailey observes in his penetrating liner notes, "music is rarely a fixed entity," existing instead in a state of perpetual flux, "taking on the influences of its interpreters and performers." This fundamental truth finds its most eloquent expression in the transformative collaboration between Italian flutist Manuel Zurria and Frey, longtime member of the Wandelweiser Group. Where conventional recordings might preserve a definitive version, this release activates what Bailey calls "states of unknowing and continued experimentation," allowing Frey's compositions to evolve into entirely new dimensional territories. The original string quartet and piano works dissolve into breath-carried architectures of sound, where "the original remains in a constant dialogue with its transformation." This is not mere arrangement but ontological metamorphosis - an alchemical process through which crystalline harmonies are reborn as atmospheric phenomena.
The metaphysical dimensions of this transformation become clear through detailed analysis of the musical result. Where Frey's original compositions operate through what he calls "basic confidence in the clear and restricted material," Zurria's interpretation activates entirely new perceptual territories. Space holds almost atomic sense of weight against the airy punctuations of timbres, textures, and tones, creating "suspensions of time within which questions and identities posed by instrumentation fade." The Extended Circular Music pieces - each comprising "a small number of bars to be repeated an undetermined number of times" - become organizations of sound that defy being definitive or fixed. Originally scored for different combinations of violin, viola, cello, and piano, these works now exist as pure phenomena of breath and resonance, where "hanging, breath-length utterances dance and intertwine amongst complex harmonic clusters and conjunctions."
The philosophical implications of this transformation illuminate a lineage of composers who have moved "away from abstraction and responding to the need to create" something beyond mere technique. Drawing parallels to Morton Feldman's understanding of non-functional harmony, Zurria's approach represents "a transformative form of experimentalism" that activates what Frey calls the "thaumaturgic power" of music - its capacity to heal and transform consciousness itself. The result is "a radical reimagining of ambience: sprawling sonorities and resonances adrift in space, carrying the liberated traces of the work's former incarnations and their truths." In Zurria's interpretation, Frey's String Quartet n.3 becomes something approaching "an organ played in slow motion, its seals leaking," while the Extended Circular Music pieces transform into "glacial chords from a diverse palette of voicings, harmonies, timbres, and tones."
Performed by Manuel Zurria. Recorded and mixed by Zurria at BigCardo, Catania between 2022-2024, with mastering by Bruno Germano at Vacuumstudio, Bologna, this Blume release represents a profound exploration of musical transformation.
3XL boss and scene hyper-connector Special Guest DJ (aka uon, shy, Caveman LSD) lands on their own label with a debut album of hazed ambient noise and aquatic club anarchitextures, with a patented, heady style bent into new shapes.
For nigh on a decade, Berlin-based American producer, label boss, promoter and DJ Shy has operated at the centre of a scene that's still not fully defined. Their mythical DJ sets, where you're likely to hear precision-tweaked dubstep, dreampop, decelerated rap and dubwise ambient blended into vapour; gives some sense of the vibes at play, and a comb thru their spiderweb of a catalog - as Caveman LSD or uon, as part of Ghostride the Drift, Hoodie, crimeboys, virtualdemonlaxative and Cypher, or as the figurehead of 3XL, Experiences Ltd, xpq? and bblisss labels - further blurs that gist.
They've been caught in the crossfire of Big Ambient, sure, but there's always been something scrappier, sexier and more present going on under the hood. Shy and his network of associates - Huerco, Ulla, Perila, Ben Bondy, Naemi/Exael, Ponteac Streator and Arad Acid, among others - have asserted the interrelatedness of their discrete approaches. So-called "ambient" music doesn't exist in a vacuum, it un-focuses elements that undergird so many more corporeal sounds, and for Shy, their music reflects the druggy, DIY, genre-agnostic ethos of a trans-Atlantic neo-punk underground that exists in some liminal zone between the club, the bedsit and the basement.
Concerned with themes of “anger, sensuality, and dreaming”, the 40 minute roil of ‘Our Fantasy Complex’ frames Special Guest DJ at their most unapologetically oblique and illusive, expanding and contracting between whorls of shoegazing dynamics and extended portions of quasi-speed D&B x dub tech smeared on the mind’s-eye, with a vivid sense of bruised lushness that’s perfused all shy’s work thus far.
Joined by kindred collaborators Ben Bondy, Arad Acid and mu tate, and suspended in agitated bliss by Rashad Becker’s lucid mastering, the results feel out some of 2025’s most considered and distinctive within an amorphous zone that’s become a world unto itself. Ambient music’s fluffier signifiers are swapped out for a sort of sublime tension that, like the sound’s original ‘90s explosion, can be heard to reflect states of altered consciousness - both individual and collective.
Shy's layered, undulating productions are more like the chewed remnants of a thousand mixtapes cooked into a stream-of-consciousness hex. Save for the glistening, zoomed-out parting piece ‘Dream’, it all mostly avoids pretty melodies in favour of a spatio-textural sensuality that wraps us up, sometimes uncomfortably intimately, in shy’s thoughts. That oneiric closer is one of three gritty palate cleansers that swirl around its peaks, where elements of Reese-bass are suspended, writhing below looming atmospheric pressure in ‘How Long Can I Burn?’, emerging charred and flecked with rattled percussion on ‘Yoro (pt I & II)’, as though K-holing thru a blazing summer’s day.
In step with Perila’s notably darker turn of events on her ‘Omnis Festinatio Ex parts Diaboli Est’, album, or the unexpected ferocity of recent Space Afrika live shows, it’s not hard to hear a darkside gravitational pull on this one, where ambient music is no longer just a balm for troubled souls, but also suggestive of humanity’s most frightful odours.
The incredible story that began with The Most Mysterious Song on the Internet (TMMS) now enters an exciting new chapter: Skyscraper, the debut album by FEX.
Skyscraper features ten original tracks recorded in the early to mid-1980s-carefully re-transferred, remastered, and brought back to life. The album cover, designed by Darius S., brings the story full circle. Darius is the very person who preserved the now-iconic track Subways of Your Mind by recording it from NDR radio in the mid-80s. Without him, FEX may never have been discovered.
FEX's debut opens with its namesake, Skyscraper-a brooding, previously unreleased track the band once described as part of their "psychedelic phase." With haunting synth-helicopter textures and deep guitar riffs, it immediately sets the tone and raises tension.
The release flows naturally into the energetic and fully remastered studio version of Subways of Your Mind. This version of the TMMS - re-discovered on the "yellow label tape" by Reddit user Marijn-was long believed to be from a smaller home studio, but was actually recorded in November 1984 at Hawkeye Studios in Ganderkesee, near Hamburg.
Goldrush, first teased in raw form on FEX's YouTube channel, bends toward mechanical rhythm and shimmering synths, a snapshot of the band's experiments with programmed drum machine sound. Rückwardt's lyrics point to greed and criticizes materialism, and while the music leans toward pop sensibilities, it carries a raw, fractured edge.
Heart in Danger and I've Got My Eyes On You offer contrasting experiences-one rooted in classic post-punk tension, the other floating in melodic synth layers. The latter in particular feels like a fragment from a parallel radio history: a precise and one of a kind synth pop love song with a progressive touch.
From a rehearsal tape comes Dirty Slapstick, its urgency intact. Missing keyboard parts were later reconstructed by Michael Hädrich using his original DX7 synthesizer-recovering lost elements without rewriting the past. The lyrics take a wry look at forced optimism. Also included are the songs Talking Hands, Jenny and Strange Feeling, the latter being a slower blues-tinged cut, revealing yet another facet of the band's reach and Rückwardt's songwriting diversity.
The album closes where the legend began-with the original radio recording of Subways of Your Mind from Darius' cassette. This version of The Most Mysterious Song features alternate vocal effects, contributing to the track's enigmatic aura. Digitally transferred using a high-end Revox machine and carefully remastered, it now has its long-deserved official release.
The cover features a photo of the Eichenberg Bunker in Kiel-one of FEX's original rehearsal spaces and a symbolic monument to their sonic legacy.
- A1: Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence Main Theme (From "Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence")
- A2: Endroll (From "The Last Emperor")
- A3: Rain (From "The Last Emperor")
- B1: The Sheltering Sky Main Theme (From "The Sheltering Sky")
- B2: High Heels Main Theme (From "High Heels")
- B3: Wild Palms Main Theme (From "Wild Palms")
- C1: Acceptance (From "Little Buddha")
- C2: Snake Eyes Main Theme (Long Version) (From "Snake Eyes")
- C3: Bolerisch (From "Femme Fatale")
- D1: Bibo No Aozora (From "Babel")
- D2: Small Hope (From "Hara-Kiri (Ichimei)")
- D3: Yae No Sakura Opening Theme (From "Yae No Sakura")
- D4: The Revenant Main Theme (From "The Revenant")
Black Vinyl[41,13 €]
Yellow-Black[46,85 €]
Lime Green with Black Splatte Vinyl[46,18 €]
From small beginnings in 1974 as a local cinema and university event, Film Fest Gent has grown yearly in stature and is now recognised as one of the major destinations for the film industry. A vital component is the celebration of film music in the shape of the World Soundtrack Awards which honours the very best composers at work in the world of cinema. In 2016 the award went to one of the most brilliant composers of his generation, Ryuichi Sakamoto. This is the first overview of his remarkable catalogue of film scores, fully approved by the composer and performed by the masterful Brussels Philharmonic under the baton of Dirk Brossé. Sakamoto was already a celebrated pioneer in electronic music and composer/pianist/singer in Japan when director Nagisa Oshima asked him to write the score for Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence in 1983 and also to star alongside David Bowie. In a 30 year plus career since then he has worked with the cream of film directors including Bernardo Bertolucci (The Last Emperor), Brian De Palma (Snake Eyes), Pedro Almodovar (High Heels) and most recently Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (The Revenant). This compilation is a fitting tribute to his status as one of the greatest living musicians and film composers.
- A1: The Promoters
- A2: Nba Superstar
- A3: Acting Hard
- A4: Get Your Groove On
- A5: Giant Stadium
- B1: Steroids (Feat. Jojo)
- B2: Fly Ass Nigger
- B3: What You Doing
- B4: Animals In The Projects
- B5: Lyrical King
- C1: Cornfield
- C2: Traffic Jam
- C3: Knock On The Door
- C4: Seattle Tacoma
- C5: Shit Stains
- C6: Bob Boss
- D1: Report
- D2: Bushman Tells It
- D3: Rundown
- D4: The Caribbean
- D5: Running For Congress
- D6: Border Patrol
For the first time ever, The Commi$$ioner Vol. 1 & 2 by Kool Keith lands on wax. A cult classic across underground hip-hop circles, these volumes capture Keith at his most raw and unfiltered. From cosmic rhymes to gritty boom-bap, it's a wild ride through the mind of rap’s most eccentric visionary.
Newly mastered for vinyl by Davide Bassi and featuring brand new cover artwork by Alejandro Torrecilla this is a true collector’s piece — vivid, strange, and unmistakably Keith. Originally CD-only, this long-overdue vinyl treatment is the format it always deserved — file under essential.
- 1: Never An Absolution
- 2: Distant Memories
- 3: Southampton
- 4: Rose
- 5: Leaving Port
- 6: Take Her To Sea, Mr. Murdoch
- 7: Hard To Starboard
- 8: Unable To Stay, Unwilling To Leave
- 9: The Sinking
- 1: Death Of Titanic
- 2: A Promise Kept
- 3: A Life So Changed
- 4: An Ocean Of Memories
- 5: My Heart Will Go On (Love Theme From Titanic)
- 6: Hymn To The Sea
Titanic is a 1997 American epic romance-disaster film directed, written, co-produced, and co-edited by James Cameron. The movie stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet as members of different social classes who fall in love aboard the ship during its fateful maiden voyage.
Upon its release on December 19, 1997, Titanic achieved critical and commercial success. Nominated for fourteen Academy Awards, it tied with All About Eve (1950) for the most Oscar nominations and won eleven, including the awards for Best Picture and Best Director, tying Ben Hur (1959) for the most Oscars won by a single film. With an initial worldwide gross of over $1.84 billion, Titanic was the first film to reach the billion-dollar mark.
Titanic is available as a 25th anniversary edition of 10,000 individually numbered copies on silver & black marbled vinyl and includes an 8-page booklet, XL fold-out poster and a print replica of the historical newspaper front page. The 2 LPs are housed in a deluxe heavyweight gatefold sleeve with alu-brush finish and metallic embossing.
- A1: It's All True
- A2: If I Could Talk I'd Tell You
- A3: Break Me
- A4: Hospital
- A5: The Outdoor Type
- A6: Losing Your Mind
- B1: Something's Missing
- B2: Knoxville Girl
- B3 6: Ix
- B4: C'mon Daddy
- B5: One More Time
- B6: Tenderfoot
- B7: Secular Rockulidge
- C1: If I Could Talk I’d Tell You (Single Version)
- C2: The Outdoor Type (Remix)
- C3: Pin Yr Heart
- C4: Balancing Act
- C5: Galveston
- C6: Arise
- D1: Keep On Loving You
- D2: It’s All True (No Drums)
- D3: Losing Your Mind (Live Acoustic Version)
- D4: How Will I Know (Acoustic)
- D5: I Don’t Want To Go Home
- D6: Fade To Black
- D7: Live Forever
Car Button Cloth' is an extraordinary affair of musical and emotional extremes, a soundscape spanning “the most beautiful piano-led mourning in the history of the broken heart” that switches into perky jangle-pop for fleeting moments and contains the ultimate self-deprecating classic ‘The Outdoor Type’, penned by Smudge cohort Tom Morgan, as well as a cover of the bluegrass standard ‘Knoxville Girl’ and ‘If I Could Talk I’d Tell You’ co-written with The Vaselines’ Eugene Kelly. All bases are covered. “One of the most distinctive voices of the ‘90s” The New York Times. To further unravel where Evan’s head was at during the period of its creation, this deluxe double album comes with a record of exquisite and typically eclectic scene setting covers that occupied B-sides and alternative format versions, plus other super rare offcuts, live takes and remixes. A diet of Volcano Suns, Glen Campbell, The Jacobites, The Sir Douglas Quintet and Whitney Houston influenced Evan’s thinking and added further colour to an album that remains something of a Dorian Gray-style masterpiece. The first side of extras is rounded off with the never before released ‘Arise’, originally set for the remake of Great Expectations and later realised as Rancho Santa Fe on solo album ‘Baby I’m Bored’.
- Trophy Girlfriend
- K-Klass Kisschase
- Space Manatee
- Ben Sherman
- By The Way
- Cut Off
- Nous Ne Sommes Pas Des Anges
- Mark Angel
- Fat Lenny
- Snail Trail
- Pet
For most members of the band it's the best album. But, tragically, the release of Operation Heavenly in 1996 was overshadowed by the sudden death of drummer Mathew Fletcher. The promotional tour was cancelled, the surviving members of the band went into emotional hibernation and no-one could bring themselves to celebrate these vibrant, upbeat songs. So, this release by Skep Wax Records, nearly thirty years on, is more like an album launch than a re-issue. Time has healed most wounds, and the songs on Operation Heavenly feel like they can finally emerge onto the stage, with Mathew's spirit very much alive: his effervescent witty drumming sounding as fresh now as it did then. These tracks are gleeful, melodic, sophisticated and knowing. The tough riot grrrl edge that Heavenly had developed a year before with seminal singles P.U.N.K. Girl and Atta Girl, has been blended with a deliberate quantity of Britpop styling. Heavenly were clearly listening to what was going on, liked the energy, but didn't necessarily feel the need to join in. Some of the tracks (eg Ben Sherman) are as jaunty as early Blur, but the lyrics, mocking a narcissistic boyfriend for his obsession with hair, clothes and his own erections, show that Heavenly didn't need or want to be part of the la - or even ladette - herd. Operation Heavenly was the band's first release on a label other than Sarah Records. Matt Haynes and Clare Wadd had brought that exceptional label to a deliberate and dramatic end. The liaison with US punk label K Records continued - as did the duets with Calvin Johnson: Pet Monkey is a moving duet between a growling Calvin Johnson and a sweet-voiced Cathy Rogers, as they dramatize another complex, maybe doomed relationship, with another self-centred boy finding himself frustrated by a girl who won't take any shit. But in the UK, Heavenly needed to find a new home - and Wiija Records were welcoming hosts, ushering the band into a brasher, less cloistered world: the production on this album is brighter than before, the artwork is colourful and upbeat. With tracks as catchy and as complete as Fat Lenny, Trophy Girlfriend and Space Manatee there was an expectation that Heavenly might finally emerge from the indiepop shadows and trouble the charts. And who knows if this might have happened. Mathew was lost before the album was released, and the band had no choice but to bring things to an end. This reissue also contains two tracks that appeared on the B side of the 7" single of Space Manatee. They are both cover versions, and along with Serge Gainsbourg's Nous Ne Sommes Pas Des Anges on the main album, these vivacious assaults on Art School by The Jam and You Tore Me Down by The Flamin' Groovies show that the band, briefly in its prime, could happily embrace any variant of pop music and make it something Heavenly.
- A1: Peeping Tom
- A2: Revival Reggae
- A3: Give Peace A Chance
- A4: Gold And Silver
- A5: The Preacher
- A6: Bla Bla Bla
- B1: African Doctor
- B2: Sun Moon And Star
- B3: She’s My Scorcher
- B4: Monkey Man
- B5: Pressure Drop
- B6: I Shall Be Free
The Jamaican musical group The Maytals can be considered as one of the best known and most important ska and rocksteady groups of all time. Frontman Toots Hibbert penned an impressive catalogue of songs during his time in jail, and after his release he reunited with his bandmates and entered the studio with the brilliant producer Leslie Kong. Some of the great tracks he recorded during that time are included on this record, like “Monkey Man” (covered by the legendary Amy Winehouse) and “Pressure Drop”. The quality and great energy of this band is very well represented on this release.
Major Keys work their magic once more with the release of two iconic tracks by celebrated Jazz musician, Donald Byrd. Known for being one of the few jazz artists who successfully explored funk and soul music in the 70s, whilst remaining a leading figure in Jazz (much to the disgruntlement of purists)
This 2-track EP salutes 2 records from that exploratory era with the official license and 12 inch reissue of ‘Think Twice’ & ‘Where Are We Going’
Think Twice - Taken from his 1975 LP ‘Stepping into Tomorrow’ released in 1975 on Blue Note Records and produced by the legendary Mizell Brothers, responsible for producing other artists including Gary Bartz, Johnny Hammond, Bobbi Humphrey, as well as Michael Jackson and Marvin Gaye. One of Byrd’s most recognisable records and a highly sampled song amongst a wealth of hip hop and house artists in recent years.
Where Are We Going – Taken from the 1973 album Black Byrd, the very first release of Byrd’s on Blue Note Records and was released in collaboration with Motown Records. Produced by Larry Mizell and Larry Gordon, then later performed by Marvin Gaye. The album still stands amongst some of Blue Note’s bestselling releases
Roughly two years after the release of their initial statement of intent, debut single “Toutpartout PT2” with its hypnotic ripples, Andi Haberl and Florian Zimmer aka Bella Wakame have successfully channeled the magic of a 2024 live recording (captured at Berlin’s Donau115 & Silent Green) into their first proper studio offering. You can hear inspirations ranging from Bitchin Bajas, Jeremiah Chiu to Groupshow (Jelinek, Leichtmann, Pekler), the hypnotic, intricate battle between form and freedom (the fun of momentary formlessness) continues to unfold over the course of 10 new tracks, featuring album guest Indra Dunis (Peaking Lights). Their first single "Shadows of Nambei" was very much inspired by the wonderful band Spirit Fest and their song "Nambei".
You can either shorten the reins, or you can loosen them – and give things more slack. With Bella Wakame, it’s definitely the latter. Constantly challenging each other, they’re tapping a whole new energy. Tons of different energies.
Based on the impulsive, propulsive interplay between drums/sensory percussion (Andi Haberl) and modular synthesizer (Florian Zimmer), the frenzied, free-form results take listeners into completely new dimensions – sonic worlds that don’t really sound anything like their other musical outlets (The Notwist, SUN, Saroos, Driftmachine etc.).
Whereas most bands tend to notoriously overthink names/monikers, these guys obviously only care about the ecstatic push-and-pull that occurs once their instruments meet and overlap: it’s wildly explosive textures with a booming heart. Moving restlessly between motorik club, electro-acoustic jazz experiments, ambient excursions, and fast-paced instrumental anthems that seem to explode at the seams, one can immediately tell how much they enjoy the newfound freedom, the turbulent encounters born on the spur of the moment.
It’s all about a quick-paced exchange of friendly blows, a chasing of tails into ever-new musical terrains. Relying on just enough form for that wildness to blossom within, their just-in-time dashes continually unfold, refold, return, grow bigger – and leave you startled.
Vinyl A Coloured Vinyl[20,59 €]
Vinyl B Black Vinyl[12,56 €]
Vinyl B Coloured Vinyl[20,59 €]
Known for his ability to create captivating, emotionally charged techno, Jonathan Kaspar eventually returns to Cocoon Recordings with his third contribution Twofold Split. One, yet simultaneously two releases that once again showcase his extraordinary talent through condensed techno with a pinch of trance, weaving together driving rhythms and atmospheric textures in a way that feels innovatively progressive.
Drifting hypnotically, this might be the most fitting way to describe what Jonathan Kaspar unfolds before us here. The rolling percussion grooves seamlessly intertwine with the siren's spectral tone, gradually blending into the alchemy of ‘Yah’ as it erupts into the mix. By the time the peak arrives, there’s a raw intensity in the air - the track seems to bend and stretch then drills and twists until it cracks, but never loses its sense of purpose and remainsanchored in its deep, pulsating groove. On the flip side, ‘Silver Lines’ stands as a counterpart, offering a contrast in both sound and atmosphere. With its minimalist arrangement, the track first nestles in gently, lulling the listener into its world—only to tighten its grip as a synth sequence gradually opens its cut-off filter, slicing through the calm, drilling into the mind, and shifting the mood from tranquil to tense.
Emotional Especial reaches a landmark with its 50th release. Started in 2012 as a “dancier & trippier”, club friendly spin off, sub label to Emotional Response, it has gone on to forge a path, releasing a myriad of artists including the opening release by Jamie Paton (Cage & Aviary / ESP Institute) to Richard Sen (Bronx Dogs), the debut of Khidja (Malka Tuti / DFA) and on to unearthing the breaks masters Alphonse (Klasse Wrecks) and Junior Fairplay (Crimes Of The Future), the uplifting Italo influenced Lauer (Robert Johnson), the new wave anthem of Sfire (featuring Sophie), plus perfect remixes bt Kris Baha (CockTail D’amore) and INHALT (Dark Entries), the NYC pop-rave-vox of Kim Ann Foxman, through to showcasing upcoming artists like Berlin’s Giraffi Dog (Aiwo Recs) and the global acid adventures of Akio Nagase (Chill Mountain) to most recently, the slo-mo trance muscle of 53X and post-rave uplighters of Remotif (Space Lab) and DJ 1985.
As with every 10th release on the label, the label present a various artists “Showcase” of what and where the label is. Aptly it is recent signing 53X who opens Gracias Especial with the bounce of Radar. Finland’s Jonne Lydén debut EP on Especial, Zen ’23 came out of nowhere, more than simply riding a zeitgeist of the “Trance Revival”, his all-live analogue symphonies drop the bpms, presenting widescreen beats, darkroom bass, sirens and tripped out vox all mix to propel a singularly driven.
Taking things much deeper has been the hallmark of Jamie Paton’s remixes for the label. As well as providing the opening EP in 2013, designing every sleeve and producing 20 remixes and counting another 2 for the label here, it’s impossible not to associate Especial with Jamie’s music. First, he reworks rising star DJ, but recent break out producer Chez De Milo, with a trademark dub excursion that takes the ethnic origins of Kremer to a space echo wonderland. Space is the place, the lulling beats, see you falling through the gaps, true dub style.
Alphonse makes a rightful return to Especial, with Raze Rave highlighting the allusive producers’ unique understanding of the varied history of rave culture via a techno-suite of soundscapes, perfectly mixing uplifting breaks, memory inducing vocal samples and dub bass, with a nod to the pop sensibility that rave encompassed, while being that allusive “lost chord” moment of man and machine.
The finale returns to the trance acid expanse of 53X, with the mastery of label stalwart Jamie Paton. An apt marriage, Paton takes the title cut from Lydén’s debut EP and crafts a trademark durge-dub, where TB303 and space echo intertwine with the De Witte vocal, hinting at touches of dub, new wave, trance and acid house all in one melting pot of sound the label optimistically termed “Protoid” back at inception of summer 2013.
- A1: Intro
- A2: Quit Rappin
- A3: Tell You The Truth
- A4: Gta Vi
- A5: Backflip Or Sumn
- B1: Keep It 100
- B2: R.i.p. Barneys
- B3: Bad Timing
- B4: Social Media Can't Help You
- B5: Maestro's Tension
- C1: Fuck The Party Up (Feat. Rio Da Yung Og)
- C2: Chalkzone (Feat. Lil 9)
- C3: Pressure
- C4: I Want It All
- C5: It's A Secret (Feat. Allblack)
- D1: Spousal Abuse
- D2: Ice Chili
- D3: To Be Honest
- D4: Fictional
Thank You For Using GTL is a 2020 album from vaunted Los Angeles rapper, Drakeo the Ruler. The album contains verses recorded entirely through phone service from GTL while Drakeo the Ruler was incarcerated at Men’s Central Jail in Los Angeles, California. The album focuses on topics such as the targeting of rap and rappers by the US criminal justice system, the prison-industrial complex, incarceration, capitalism, and the gray area between what’s real versus fiction in hip-hop. Lauded by Pitchfork as “Likely the greatest rap album ever recorded from jail,” and included at number 32 on their 50 Best Albums of 2020, the album serves as an interesting moment in hip-hop, further cementing Drakeo the Ruler as one of LA’s most beloved rap luminaries. For the very first time, for any album, on any format, Drakeo’s music will be available on vinyl for fans. Pressed on Green & Blue A Side B Side vinyl and limited to 1700 copies.
- A1: Push The Line (Feat. Whispers, Sheek Louch)
- A2: So Much To Say
- A3: Give N Take
- A4: Deadman (Feat. Jadakiss, Nino Man)
- A5: Raw Dreams
- A6: Filthy (Feat. D-Block Europe)
- B1: The Professionals (Feat. Lil Fame)
- B2: What's Up Boy (Feat. Nino Man)
- B3: Change (Feat. Cris Streetz)
- B4: Out In The Jungle
- B5: Really Us
- B6: I Ain't Shit
On his brand new studio effort Styles P proves his key to success has always been consistency. The born in Corona, raised in Yonkers, NY native has really worked harder than most to earn the name GOAT, and by naming his album “S.P. The GOAT: Ghost Of All Time” you know he’s not bragging about it, in fact he’s getting his flowers while he’s alive from Hip Hop connoisseurs who know fire bars when they hear them. With productions by Vinny Idol, Termanology, Dayzel the Machine, and Noah Idol among others and guest appearances by Sheek Louch, Jadakiss, Nino Man, Fame of M.O.P, Whispers and Cris Streetz, the legendary LOX and D-Block member proves once again he’s aging like fine wine.
- A1: God Put A Smile Upon Your Face (Feat. The Daptone Horns)
- A2: Oh My God (Feat. Lily Allen)
- A3: Stop Me (Feat. Daniel Merriweather)
- B1: Toxic (Feat. Tiggers, Ol’ Dirty Bastard)
- B2: Valerie (Feat. Amy Winehouse)
- B3: Apply Some Pressure (Feat. Paul Smith)
- B4: Inversion
- C1: Pretty Green (Feat. Santigold)
- C2: Just (Feat. Phantom Planet)
- C3: Amy (Feat. Kenna)
- D1: The Only One I Know (Feat. Robbie Williams)
- D2: Diversion
- D3: L.s.f. (Feat. Kasabian)
- D4: Outversion
Heavily influenced by Motown and Stax soul sounds, Version is the second studio album by British DJ
and producer Mark Ronson, a triple platinum success in the UK that is by far his most successful and
helped to win him the BRIT Award for Best British Male Solo Artist.
Released in April 2007, it is entirely comprised of carefully selected cover versions produced with an
impressive cast of collaborators (from Ol’ Dirty Bastard to Robbie Williams) that produced three top
ten hit singles: ‘Stop Me’ with Daniel Merriweather, ‘Oh My God’ with Lily Allen and the timeless
Valerie featuring Amy Winehouse.
The New Eves are a Brighton quartet who have been labeled as one of the country's most spellbinding new bands. Nestled somewhere between primal rock'n'roll live performance and transcendent ritual, there's an unmistakable alchemy that happens when Violet Farrer (guitar, violin, vocals), Nina Winder-Lind (cello, guitar, vocals), Kate Mater (bass, vocals) and Ella Oona Russell (drums, flute, vocals) step onto a stage together. Now, they've distilled this visceral energy into their extraordinary debut album The New Eve Is Rising: a lighting rod of inspiration channelled by a quartet with the ability to create something greater than the sum of their parts. The New Eve Is Rising was written in Brighton and at an artistic residency at The Cornish Bank, co-produced by The New Eves and Jack Osbourne (Bingo Fury) and recorded at Rockfield Studios and Bristol's Cotham Parish Church.
- The Luckiest Man
- Sewing A Button
- Board Of Desire
- Lot Tour
- Meeting Peter
- Michael Winning
- Michael Losing
- Detective Chuck
- Chuck Sad
- Michael Giving Up
- Bill’s Bargain
- Patricia’s Theme
- Patricia’s Theme Reprise
- The Whammy
John Carroll Kirby brings his signature sound tofilm scoring with the official soundtrack album forfeature film ‘The Luckiest Man in America’, whichpremiered at the Toronto Film Festival andreceived a wide theatrical release.
John Carroll Kirby’s background is steeped in jazz,but his signature sound blends genres and styles.He has collaborated with artists ranging fromsuperstars Solange, Frank Ocean, Harry Stylesand Steve Lacy (earning him a GRAMMY nod forthe smash hit ‘Bad Habit’) to beloved indiemusicians like Connan Mockasin, Yves Tumor,Eddie Chacon and Liv.e.
John Carroll Kirby has released several recordswith Stones Throw, most recently ‘Blowout’ in2023, which Pitchfork called “endlessly vibey… hismost energetic and immediately enjoyable releaseyet.”
His records have received previous support fromPitchfork, The FADER, LA Times, The Guardian,BBC Radio 1, BBC 6 Music, MOJO, Clash andVICE, among many others.
Kirby has toured extensively across NorthAmerica, Europe, Australia / NZ and Asia, and ison tour throughout Summer 2025 with Khruangbinin the US.
For fans of Duval Timothy, Sam Gendel, AlabasterdePlume
Whispers of Granite is the exciting new collaboration between Norwegian vocalist and vocal composer Trude Eidtang and German keyboardist and composer Andreas Hack. Their debut album, Liquid Stone, offers a unique fusion of melancholic folk, indie and progressive rock, enriched by Trude's expressive vocals and Andreas' atmospheric instrumentation. Trude Eidtang is renowned for her evocative, haunting voice and deep emotional resonance within the progressive rock genre. She first gained recognition as the lead vocalist of White Willow, later founding her own project When Mary, where she crafts vocal-driven organic-electronic music that blends art-pop, indie, and conceptual storytelling. Andreas Hack is a celebrated German composer and keyboardist known for his innovative work in progressive rock. As a founding member of Frequency Drift, Andreas helped shape the band's distinctive, atmospheric sound. He has also expanded his creative range through projects like Feeling of Presence, which delves into ambient and post rock, and most recently, Haven of Echoes, known for its progressive and evocative sound. The collaboration between Trude and Andreas in Whispers of Granite brings together their individual strengths to create a compelling and immersive musical experience, drawing influences from folk, indie, and cinematic music, combining melancholic progressive rock with lush, atmospheric textures. Trude's vocals are at the heart of the music, intertwining seamlessly with Andreas' atmospheric keyboard work and intricate guitar arrangements. Together, they craft a sound that balances melancholy and hope, fragility and strength. The album's title, Liquid Stone, reflects the thematic duality that runs throughout the project. It symbolizes the tension between fluidity and permanence, capturing the transformational shifts Trude explores in her lyrics. The fusion of organic and industrial elements in the music mirrors the interplay between raw human emotion and the rigid structures of the world. Liquid Stone marks a bold step into new musical terrain.




















