Buscar:nature

gyrofield is 22-year-old, Utrecht-via-Hong-Kong producer Kiana Li, who has put out several albums and over a dozen EPs since 2018, from self-released productions to projects on Metalheadz, XL Recordings and FABRICLIVE among many others.

Their next EP is Suspension of Belief, and it arrives on Objekt's label, Kapsela. (Following last year's Ganzfeld and Chicken Garaage, it's Kapsela's first record by an artist other than Objekt himself.) In keeping with her recent releases, it shows Li continuing a creative renaissance, moving beyond the outer fringes of drum & bass to present what they call "a set of deeper, shapeshifting tracks, cross-pollinating ideas from house, free jazz and techno."

Suspension of Belief was written between June and October of 2024, inspired by a summer spent in nature and encapsulating Li's lived experiences and personal reflections in this time. "Thoughts about the boundaries between civilisation and nature began to take on a charged meaning," she says. "How can we, as people, live on the backs of others’ suffering, and see emotionally vacant newscasting on the desecration of the world around us? We ought to be angry, but we also ought to find healing and love somewhere. A representation of this thinking exists in the record."

The result is an elegant paradox. From the warm upright bass on "Vegetation Grows Thick" to the rattling, "Spastik”-esque snare rolls of “Bolete”, the record is at once steely and organic, with dreamlike states giving way to depth and intensity. It’s functional enough for rituals of escapism but determined to confront the world as it really is. As Li puts it:

"Suspension of Belief is a play on the suspension of disbelief, the common convention for us to immerse ourselves in fictional worlds. In turn, the record’s title suggests the idea of immersing in the real world, an antifiction, facing reality.”



Mastered by Beau at Ten Eight Seven

Artwork and design by Brodie Kaman

Vinyl distributed by Rubadub

Le Chatroom, a record label established in 2016 by the English producer Kouslin, searches for the missing link between underground bass music and outer national sounds. Its music is defined by the blend of synthetic and organic tones, modern / classic instruments and low- end heavy percussive rhythms.

Pushing artists from all around the globe that share the same love for this newfound sound, Kouslin's aim with Le Chatroom is to promote musical diversity, open-mindedness and experimentation at a time when unity between cultures is crucial. With 'LCR001' the label advances into a new physical environment from which this release should be experienced.

Real talk and native percussion establish the steady climax of 'Brothers', the A-side of Le Chatroom's inaugural wax release. Kouslin cuts through this sediment with a bright flute, before the state of the sound switches into something far darker and meditative. By placing several samples at irregular intervals, the Londoner achieves a fascinating charm that'll unite us all.

Booming bass in 'Gyals' lingers with a steady pace while percy tribal hits forge a raw groove that's far from common. With this movement, the producer from Bristol disintegrates the sense of a generic production and sticks to his true nature. Through this it becomes clear that Galtier has his polyrhythms down to a science.

Londoner Sheik clinches the B-side with a craze that unveils a nearly psychotic sense of sample architecture. Pushing crystal clear 808 kicks in- between the haunting atmospheres and a wall of pressure simply becomes one of his most inventive takes documented on wax. If you love to swerve through a minefield, the odd 'Oxram' would be your favourite pick off this first outline.

The three producers that feature on 'LCR001' pass on their fundamentals to conjure Le Chatroom's philosophy red-handed. Together they do the imprint's name justice by handing over critical bass repertoire that'll excite many!

Music in the soul can be heard by the universe. This record is not considered a product, but rather a time stamp of the underground minimal house music culture of 2025. Thank you, Mother Nature, for providing the materials that allow humans to express their creativity. Mastered by: Rob Small. Graphics: Peter Koblinger

The album "THE ENTITY" is an esoteric-horror concept composed of 12 tracks (plus one bonus track) dedicated to The
Entity, the central figure of the DEATH SS project. Its literary inspirations range from Aleister Crowley—who sought to
free mankind by awakening its artistic genius—to characters by Hogg and Stevenson, who delve into the dark side of
human nature. It features figures such as Jack the Ripper, Walter Sickert, Cimiteria, and others, all deeply connected to
the band’s mythology. Produced by Tom Dalgety, renowned for his work with Ghost, The Cult, Rammstein, and more.

Following the success of his ‘Love Dub So’ EP, Nick Barber’s Doof project returns to Mysticisms, delving back to his earliest recordings of his ground-breaking Trance project, presenting tracks from his previously cassette only release ‘The Love Mixes’.

A youth that had captured the psychedelia of Pink Floyd, Gong, Hawkwind and on to Psychic TV, as a self-taught guitarist, his first trip to India and Thailand in 1989 and witnessing the early electronic dance music at the Full Moon parties, had seemed rudimentary in nature compared to musicality of psychedelic rock.

Returning to England, the electronic / rock crossover of The Shamen’s ‘Progeny’ parties – featuring DJs like Paul Oakenfold and Mixmaster Morris with the live acts of Orbital and Ramjac Corporation – offered something new that turned his head, before finally finding his crew in the legendary squat / underground Pagan parties. There, residents Lol and Yaz first played the new electronic Trance sound, introducing Barber to the music of Eye-Q, Dance To Trance and the hugely influential Pete Namlook.

Recorded between 1990 – 1991, while living in Cambridge to study Philosophy, these are the first versions of tracks that formed the basis of his debut EP on Novamute, in 1993. Working with minimal equipment – an Akai sampler, Roland monosynth, Yamaha delay pedal, all sequenced on an Atari black and white PC and single MIDI output and then recorded straight to an 8-track Tascam cassette multitrack – the exuberance and rawness of the music are full of the excitement and naivety of youth.

Never intended for public release or initially even as a demo, Barber would play the music off the Tascam multitrack for friends at after parties. Dubbing a handful of cassettes himself and personally drawing the covers, around a dozen cassettes were handed out to mates. Eventually one copy found its way to Mute Records, who were looking to launch their dance offshoot, Novamute. Re-edited mixes of Gift Of The Gods and The Nagual appeared on his debut EP and history was made, before Doof went on to release for luminaries like TIP Records and Dragonfly and a career touring the globe was launched.

Remastered from the original tapes, this EP offers a snapshot of that time, the energy and joy of these early recordings is clear and overwhelming. Where Ambient, House and Techno met the birth of electronic Trance that truly stand up some 30 years later as originals then and now.

Trance The Mystery.

AN ATLAS OF LOSS

Do minerals dream of becoming semiconductors? Do they yearn to carry charges, amplify, switch, and convert energy into emotions comprehensible to humans? And what if, from the darkness of the underground, they had been listening to us sing in caves before the emergence of the first flute? Could they have guided us, through the course of history, to find them, extract them, and create new sounds through sinusoidal waves, to form valves and bend circuits?

If so, minerals would transition from what philosopher Eugene Thacker defines as the ‘planet’—that virginal and unreachable realm for humans that we study through geology, paleontology, and environmental sciences—to the ‘world,’ the space we inhabit, interpret, and synthesise in our daily lives. Sadly, we only remember the world when it erupts violently, through climate catastrophes or when a new virus emerges. Sometimes a tsunami collides with a nuclear plant, or viruses are cultivated as biological weapons in high-security laboratories, provoking a deep biological anxiety, hard to quell, which we all feel beneath our skin.

There exists a third realm, disconnected from both the world and the planet: the ‘earth’, an immense, dense rock floating in space alongside other planets, situated in the cosmological dimension. Relating to the earth is so complex that we only do so through theoretical speculations of a scientific nature or through science fiction, interweaving until one becomes the prophecy of the other, in an infinite, pendular dance. Beyond the darkness of space and Lovecraft’s cosmic horror, the fantasy of human extinction is the most recurrent: to reach a collapse so devastating that we do not survive it, even though the earth does, without us.

In a world where we quantify everything through body sensors, financial algorithms, nanometre-scale robots, and surveillance drones—a world in which everything that can be domesticated and controlled can also be commodified—a superior artificial intelligence would survive the collapse of the species (some speculate it might even cause it) and learn from our mistakes, thanks to our obsessive gathering of data.

Long after our voices fade, minerals will persist in the darkness of screens, in the silicon of chips, and in their pure form, still unexploited underground. Over the millennia, this intelligence might piece together fragments of our reasoning, as if an alien civilization finally connected with one of our spacecrafts loaded with messages cast into the void. It would sort through endless streams of data, unable to grasp the depths of emotion behind what it quantified, recreating simulations of our past, stripped of the nuance that once defined us and conducting experiments in sandboxes.

Some remnants of our existence—faint echoes of forgotten beauty—would be pieced together in an atlas of loss, buried beneath layers of numbers, decayed bots, and corroded hard drives. What will follow? Perhaps bison will once again roam—trotting to the strange pulse of techno, their ancient forms framed by the ruins of our cities.

Buildings will crumble, slowly dissolving under the soft touch of ambient music, and a thousand flowers will bloom with that ancient music created through electrical signals and computation. 7 songs for a future both improbable and inevitable—a final message from a world lost to itself, from planet Earth to planet Earth.

Alfons Pich, 2025

Bruce returns blistered and ablaze, with three flame-licked, windswept and deadly dancefloor deities on 12” vinyl, for the second edition of Poorly Knit.

Following on from it’s daft and fisty older brothers on The Price / Mimicry, the raw power of wind and fire takes over on Belly / Burned Alive, as we are plunged into devastating sonic worlds, adorned in UK sound-system badness and Mother Nature’s vengeance.

Providing elemental catastrophe catharsis, through sound exploration, Belly’s steppas storm of wailing wind and clattering thunder is backed by Burned Alive’s soaring and demented UK garage inferno, to finally subside to the smoldering, dubbed-out vocal remains from Hot One (Chapped Lips Version).

With a continued emphasis on the importance of physical medium within dance music, the digitals are an abridged edit of the full release; Hot One is vinyl only and only on the vinyl can you hear the full mixes of Belly and Burned Alive. Pressed on eco-friendly “Eco-Mix” reground PVC and sleeved in DIY lino printed sleeves, each record is a unique shade of marbled storm grey. Cut loud at 45rpm, not only does this sustainable slice of dance floor mayhem come at an attractive price tag, you can rest assured that sound quality has not at all been sacrificed.

Ohio'Ohio's James A Donadio returns to Diagonal via his StabUdown Productions moniker, delivering the hyper spiritual "Tinge of Ascension" 9 track LP. This album is about the beauty of building something new by surrendering everything once learned. It's the culmination of 12 months working with a reappraised creative ethos. Throughout the process, Jimmy's interest in Krishna Consciousness & Dharma Yoga was deepening. Both went on to become deeply infused in this music. All tracks are ethereal in nature. Tempos are varied and rendered irrelevant. Jimmy's masterful use of sampling is on display as ever but the samples do not overburden. Tracks vary in energy but a bracing spirituality unites them all. Bráulio Amado (who has recently worked with Frank Ocean and Andre 3000) and Guy Featherstone (Diagonal's own aesthete force of nature) unite once again to deliver sleeve art which perfectly renders the music's preoccupation with the search for inner peace and purpose.

An immersive long-form composition in two parts that seamlessly blends a collage of spoken word, field recordings and drones with elements of dub, jazz, fourth world and ambient music.

Son Of Chi is the latest project of Rotterdam-based multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer Hanyo van Oosterom. Van Oosterom’s prolific career spans multiple decades and genres; among countless projects he has been involved in, he is known for founding the Dutch ambient collective CHI in the early eighties, and in recent years for his prolific collaboration with CHI co-founder Jacobus Derwort as Chi Factory. Following Derwort’s passing in 2019, van Oosterom decided to close the CHI circle with the birth of Son Of Chi.

Sonically, the world of ‘We Carry Eden’ is fully immersive; it ripples with depth and shimmers in detail. Motifs, ideas and fragments, arise and disappear like passing thoughts, drawing the listener deeper and deeper inwards. For those familiar with Oosterom’s work as Chi Factory, the depth and meditative nature of the work will come as no surprise; however it is Oosterom’s skill with grooves that shines equally bright here; his infectiously dubby basslines and percussion rise up from the ether, grounding the listener to the earth. ‘We Carry Eden’ at times invokes the fourth world landscapes of Jon Hassell, (with whom Oosterom has collaborated) but as a whole, it remains the unique work of an artist fully in tune with their vision.

Thematically, storytelling traditions lie at the heart of ‘We Carry Eden’, with van Oosterom’s long-time collaborator Omar Ka playing a central role. Ka, who hails from the West African nomadic Fulani tradition of storytelling, responds to the collage of field recordings and sounds collected by Oosterom. His voice is woven throughout ‘We Carry Eden’, creating a narrative that binds the multiple sound sources of the album together.

As with much of van Oosterom’s musical output, inspiration is drawn from the Greek Island of Patmos and the wisdom and prophecies of the Native American Hopi Tribe. Since his work with CHI in the early eighties, van Oosterom has often incorporated quotes from Hopi Elders into his music. Gods, spirits, animals and humans, all existing in one unchangeable relationship tied to nature; ‘We Carry Eden’ is rooted in this philosophy, serving as a peaceful message of beauty, harmony and respect for the wisdom of the Elders and ancient traditions.

Sleeve art and design by Michael Willis.

SAISEI founder Junki Inoue continues his vital archival work uncovering the riches of Japan’s distinctive electronic music scene and bringing them to new audiences around the world.

HERO U.D.A. aka Hiroyoshi Udaka is not someone you can easily google, but he’s sure lived a life worth retelling. His story starts back in the late 80s when, inspired by the acid house emanating from the UK — during what was fondly christened the Second Summer of Love — he picked up DJing and made the move from Japan to London. Throughout the 90s he DJed at underground techno institutions like London’s The End, CLUB UK and Silver Fish, as well as at the infamous Tribal Gathering raves, periodically returning to Japan to support techno greats like Colin Dale, Mad Mike, Suburban Knight and D. Wynn on tour.

The tracks on this EP, previously unreleased except for one, were all recorded after Udaka moved back from London to Tokyo, between 2002 and 2005. Yet they sound strikingly modern, drawing on a rich range of sounds that have come back round again two decades later: broken beat, acid jazz, dub and breaks. Deceptively simple grooves are given depth by layers of textures and micro samples, for example the surface noise on ‘On The Way’ that glues together an otherwise sparse skeleton of dubby pads and body popping drums. ‘Mature Missile’, ‘So Good’ and ‘Night Driver’ employ raw broken beat templates with acid accents, whimsical melodies and vocal interjections for a playful mood. ‘Sin City’ takes a darker turn, off-key piano hits and plunging bass adding to the wonkiness. The EP closes with a wiggly vignette, ‘222AM’, reminiscent of early 00s contemporaries like Mouse On Mars. Now these hidden treasures from Udaka’s archive gain a new life on SAISEI.

———

SAISEI is a Japanese word which translates to ‘reproduction’ and ‘to play’ (as in playing records). Japanese culture is widely known for its traditional nature just as much as it is for being forward into the future and this label’s concept does justice to exactly that. Having started digging for records as early as 16 years old, Junki Inoue delved into productions from 1990s Japan to uncover these native gems. SAISEI’s core concept is to recapture and reintroduce unique pieces of Japanese electronic music onto vinyl, to an audience it never reached before as most of this music was only released in Japan.


b A2. So Good Acid Funk

Auntie Flo finds a natural home for OUTERNATIONAL DANCE on Multi Culti Throughout his long career in music, Brian d’Souza aka Auntie Flo has made a name for himself for his adventurous and open minded approach to music making. Travel and collaboration is key to his work, and over the course of four albums and various singles, he’s showcased music made in Cuba, South Korea, Uganda, Brazil and more, often fusing long standing musical traditions, field recordings and artist collaborations with a modern production techniques. As Auntie Flo, he has bridged not only cultural gaps as a Scottish-Goan in hybrid genres like Afro-disco, Indian Classical and Dub-Techno, but recently crossed over into bioelectrical music, with his Plants Can Dance, Mushroom Music and full-blown ambient psychedelica all housed under his A State Of Flo label and Substack. Outernational Dance helps define this expansive sound with a set of tracks that brings dance culture back to nature, inspired by ‘Esperanto’, a form of universal language created by L. L. Zamenhof in 1887. The notion of music as the universal language has always been at the heart of Auntie Flo’s practise and makes this new EP a perfect fit for the boundary dissolving reverie of the Multi Culti ethos: pointing the way to a better world, borderless, free and in symbiosis with nature.

“To Model Phenomena” is a scientific concept that describes a computer’s ability to emulate, regardless of whether the emulated phenomenon exists outside its circuits or is purely imaginary.

Modeling communication platforms enables us to interact with each other or with computers. Modeling behavior patterns, nuclear fusion, or, as in the case of scientists from the Human Brain Project, a virtual human brain, allows us to simulate cognitive processes such as perception, memory, and decision-making, providing insight into the nature of human thought.

In this record, the phenomena modeled are those moments when the mind leaps into the void, confronting new paradigms. For instance, when science, art, or mass media introduces new information, propelling us into a transformed reality.

From this starting point, European musician Shifting Heigo maps a path between realities, evolving his narrative as his music unfolds. This work draws inspiration from Curtis Roads (vice chair of Media Arts and Technology at the UCSB) and his studies on granular synthesis and time scales, where each track on To Model Phenomena evokes a sense of movement, where nothing begins or ends in quite the same way.

A musician with strong ties to new technologies, Shifting Heigo has collaborated with the University of Málaga (Spain) in its PH Degree Program in video game design, composing interactive music, while also singing as part of the tenor section in the Qatar Concert Choir, affiliated with the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra.

Currently based in Abu Dhabi, he is now part of a circle of electronic musicians surrounding the New York University Abu Dhabi, an institution that supports electronic and experimental music across the Middle East.

To Model Phenomena is the result of his search for a unique voice as a musician, where ternary rhythms, noise, and silence shape the narrative. This is a discourse from a musician’s perspective on the changes that science, technology, art, and the rapid flow of information demand of us. A direct gaze into the fear of change.

This 15th Anniversary celebration marks the first time this album has ever been available on vinyl , Bonus Tracks

With Heilun, Hyldipi makes a stunning debut on ambient powerhouse Past Inside The Present by presenting seven meditative compositions shaped by his native Iceland's raw, introspective beauty. Crafted entirely with guitar and minimal hardware, each track feels like a gentle conversation with nature, ephemeral and soul-soothing. From the delicate strums of 'Opnun' to the deep serenity of 'Hvild,' the album flows like glacial melt, patient and healing. 'Fadmur' blooms with aching emotion, while 'Kyrrd' closes the journey in subaquatic calm. This is ambient music for deep listening-an improvised, transcendental escape into stillness, where the ego dissolves and all that remains is presence and peace.

One of Europe's most popular alternative / dark wave bands. Lebanon Hanover have over one million monthly listeners on Spotify. Following their first US tour in over a decade, Lebanon Hanover returns with a soul-stirring double A-side single release, marking their first new material since the captivating 2020 album, 'Sci-Fi Sky.' Now, the enigmatic duo of William Maybelline and Larissa Iceglass beckons listeners into unventured sonic domains, intricately weaving folk-driven acoustic dream pop with the vulnerable essence of post-punk in a contemplative exploration of life's ephemeral yet profound nature. Embarking on a Cure-like sonic voyage reminiscent of the 'Head on the Door' and the 'Kiss Me’ era, title track 'Better Than Going Under' manifests as a romantic, sombre daydream. William Maybelline's brooding baritone intertwines with sighing back vocals, narrating an ode to life's fleeting yet boundless vistas. The acoustic strums initiate a folk-driven narrative which, when coupled with a celestial choir, crafts a contemplative soundscape of cautious optimism, reminiscent of Echo and the Bunnymen or The Church.. KYIV: Bearing the name of Ukraine's capital, 'KYIV,' voiced by Larissa Iceglass, delves into a narrative reflective of the sorrow and despair entwined within war-torn regions like Ukraine and beyond. The acoustic guitar and drum machine create a Cocteau Twins' 'Treasure'-esque soundscape, evoking a melancholic yet beautiful auditory journey. Iceglass's voice, transitioning from her husky baritone to a more resigned lament, embodies a poignant reflection on the harsh realities faced by those embroiled in conflict-ridden landscapes.

Brand new Emika EP ‘Frames’ just for RSD25.

* Comes with two remixes from the hugely adored Italian DJ Producer Adiel, and Ukrainian Electronic sound artist Hanna Svirska, who is newly signed to Emika Records.

* Brand new bass-heavy, moody pop songs, taking it back to her Bristolian roots: Emika delivers 4 tracks ‘Frames’ which documents her life in sound, lyrics and minor chords as she transitioned from Berlin after 17 years, to The Black Forest. Having unknowingly let the devil in the back-door, the EP tells the story of how self-taught spirituality and meditation brought no light, and a return to nature saved her. ‘Frames’ is about putting hard experiences into a frame, to respect and remember them. Emika put them here into some heavy songs.

* Emika included an instrumental and vocal acapella like in the good old days.

Exploring the water engineering relationship between Japan and the Netherlands across a trilogy of experimental releases, the third and final part of Field Records' Waterworks series is courtesy of Yui Onodera. Pairing delicate synthesis and instrumentation with field recordings and negative space, the accomplished artist and sound architect examines the impact of water engineering on Japan's Kiso Three Rivers.

The location refers to the confluence of the Kiso, Nagara and Ibi rivers on the Nōbi plain in Gifu prefecture. In the late 19th century, Japanese authorities collaborated with Dutch engineer Johannes de Rijke to separate the three rivers at the lower part of the Kiso delta. These extensive improvements, which were finalized in 1912, successfully shielded the city of Nagoya from regular flooding.

Onodera's minimalist palette and detailed approach to spatial sound design balances microscopic field recordings and tonally-rich traditional instruments, which he applies with stark focus to the subject of the Kiso Three Rivers across eight extended pieces of music arranged into two distinct parts. The A side's shorter tracks are delicately sculpted miniatures interweaving chiming bell tones, treated guitar impressions and hushed pads. The B side's two longer suites are more overtly minimal in nature, emphasising sampled water sources accented with patient brush strokes of synthesis.

This project is supported by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Tokyo, Japan.

MM Discos presents 'Freedom Spirit' by Pleasure Voyage: a sonic journey into the essence of Balearic Beat From the sunniest corners of the Balearic imagination, MM Discos opens the doors to a new musical expedition with Freedom Spirit, the highly anticipated vinyl release by Pleasure Voyage. A tribute to freedom, nature, and the connection to the ethereal, this EP encapsulates the spirit of eternal summer with six carefully crafted tracks that move between ambient landscapes, hypnotic downtempo, and immersive grooves. This work is a testament to Pleasure Voyage's talent for capturing the magic of the sea breeze and the ebb and flow of the waves in sound form. From the first chord of Cloud Waves (New Age Balearic Mix) to the deep reflection of Cloud Waves (Ambient Meditation Mix), each track is a gateway to a state of escape and immersive enjoyment. Side A kicks off with Cloud Waves (New Age Balearic Mix), an enveloping anthem with celestial pads and floating arpeggios, followed by Surf Meditation, an ode to the ocean with pulsating basslines and ethereal percussion. Verano Española closes the A-side with a warm groove and guitars that evoke golden sunsets and cocktails by the sea.

We all remember with mixed feelings the past two years of domestic isolation: a temporary anomaly in which the world had to adjust to a new routine, a new rhythm. In these daunting yet precious circumstances, Italian producer Markeno has found his rhythm back, dusting off old records and re-approaching his past musical love affairs that he believed to be long forgotten. Here, in the fertile limbo that connects past and future, “Dock lown (exploring)” is born: a 3-tracker release with a chameleonic nature and an undeniable groove, in which Markeno is able to tactfully combine different genres such as indie, post-rock, African mu- sic, electro and funk.

In the contemporary music scene, overly saturated with catchy melodies and seductive lyrics, it is refreshing to encounter a composition like “Fase 01”, which starts from a purely percussive structure. Just when the ear is settled and well inserted into the tangle of drums, here comes the melodic twist, no less than at the fourth minute, injecting an unexpected groove and chalking out the contours of a track with multiple personalities: a little esoteric, a little synth-wave, quirky and badass. The temperature rises with “Zona Ros- sa”, in which the electro hint sketched in “Fase 01” becomes more pronounced, opening the doors to a dense psychedelic scenario. A shamanic loop accompanies the electric bass and escorts us through the smoke of the bonfire, veils swayed by the wind and colored lights that sparkle in the night. The ritualistic humming of ‘’Zona Rossa”’ is still hearable, floating in the rarefied atmosphere, while the last track “Limbo” makes its entrance and confirms once again the poliedric but congruous essence of this release, whose percussive attitude lures you in and whose hypnotic and groovy body makes you stay. At least for one more dance.

Sara Berton