Buscar:no more hits

John Winston Ono Lennon would have been 80 on October 9th 2020. In celebration of his life and the incredible pleasure his music has brought to millions in his lifetime, a new Best Of will be released. A multi-format collection, entitled GIMME SOME TRUTH., this set has been personally curated by the Lennon estate and mixes the biggest hits like the classic and timeless “Imagine” with campaigning songs such as “Give Peace A Chance” and the evergreen classics like “Happy Christmas (War Is Over)” and is culled from all of his solo albums including the posthumous “Milk And Honey”.

John Lennon is simply one of the most recognised and respected musicians of the modern era. As one half of perhaps the most successful songwriting partnerships of all time he deserves his place in history. That this partnership was with Paul McCartney in The Beatles means that he is also one of the most successful recording artists in history. With every succeeding generation falling for their genius, their legend continues to grow and they dominate the pop landscape.

Their split in 1970 allowed each of the band members, by now literally some of the most famous people on the planet, to find their own voice as solo artists and to grow beyond the confines of the band. For John Lennon, this meant throwing himself headlong into life with his new wife, Yoko Ono and eventually a new life in New York City.

Being a solo artist meant that he could delve deep within himself and realise music that was both deeply personal and challenging and which sometimes required a commitment from the audience too. His songs during his solo career mixed accessible pop melodies with sometimes stark and heart-rending simplicity and all points inbetween. His lyrics ranged from deep introspection and self-analysis to subjects that were more concerned with politics (of self, of relationships, of the campaign for peace, of the place of mankind as well as global politics). After a first rush of creativity, he took a step back from the limelight to care for his son, Sean, at home in New York, but when he was ready he returned to recording with one of his most successful and impactful albums. Double Fantasy, preceded by the single (Just Like) Starting Over had been released the month before his life was tragically cut short on 8th December 1980. But this album joins the rest of his solo canon as testament to one of the truly great and truly iconoclastic musicians and personalities of the era.

JON SPENCER, THE BLUES EXPLOSION MAN who put the BELLBOTTOMS on BABY DRIVER! The Top Cat who spread the
Secret Sauce in BOSS HOG! The Rockabilly Right-Hook from Heavyweight Outlaws HEAVY TRASH! The Swank-Fucking Master of PUSSY GALORE!

Jon Spencer is back! Often imitated, never duplicated, the original NYC underground-rock legend returns from the wilderness with twelve red-hot hits, each more powerful than the last!

This is Garage Punk for Now People! A wizard’s brew of rhythm & blues and subversive dance grooves, weaponized with sci-fi skronk and industrial attitude, calibrated for the Revolution, a Molotov cocktail of sound guaranteed to destroy any post-modern hangover!

Pulsing with energy, clanging with excitement, and dripping with radioactive soul and raw emotion, Jon Spencer opens up his heart like never before, exploring man’s modern condition with caustic guitars and outerworld crooning, asking and answering the musical question, “Is it possible to torch the cut-throat world of fake news and pre-fab, plastic-coated teen rebellion with the power of rock’n’roll?”

THE ANSWER IS YES! SPENCER SINGS THE HITS!

This is the truth serum America has been craving, the beginning of a rock’n’roll rebellion that takes no prisoners and puts the squares on ice!

Recorded and mixed with Bill Skibbe at the Key Club in Benton Harbor, MI. Featuring the talents of Sam Coomes (Quasi, Heatmeiser) and M. Sord (M. Sord). On tour in the Europe in Autumn 2018!

Charlotte de Witte mints her new KNTXT label with a suitably epic collaboration, joining forces with techno royalty Chris Liebing for ‘Liquid Slow’, due for release on 27th September. The CLR boss and German techno pioneer has been a regular at KNTXT parties over the years, not least at the sold-out stadium event at Antwerp's Sportpaleis last year where he will be returning to once again this November, alongside de Witte, just after the release of this new EP.
The influential pair spent time hanging out together at Awakenings Festival last year when they had the idea to collaborate. “I field-recorded the sound of a crane that was already taking stuff down next to us and thought it would be a good starting point“ says Chris. Whilst he admits the sample didn't made it on to this release, he teased a future collaboration saying "who knows, maybe there is more in the pipeline, I still have the recording". Current BBC Radio 1 resident Charlotte de Witte is once again in the midst of a non-stop summer that finds her taking her dark, stripped and powerful sounds to the biggest clubs and festivals in the world. She adds, “we have shared a lot of laughs, a couple of beers and a million different mixdown versions of both tracks. I consider Chris to be my friend and I’m very proud and honoured to have worked with him on this EP". Opener ‘Liquid Slow’ is seven minutes of heavy and hypnotic techno. It is stripped back to an acid bassline and earth rumbling kicks, with a meandering lead synth line and a darkly absorbing spoken word vocal over the top sure to lock in the dance floor for the duration. ‘In Memory’ ups the pressure with rumbling drums and bass sweeping you up as more acid twitches and tough hits nail down the groove. It is another powerful and compelling piece of techno from this vital pair.
This is the latest fascinating development in the story of Charlotte de Witte and her KNTXT brand. Now a label as well as a radio show and event series, KNTXT strives to be a progressive player within the vibrant techno scene.

Rocksteady and Reggae have long been a part of the rare soul scene, since its inception in the early Sixties. It’s easy to hear the influence of early American R&B in the development of ‘Ska’ and as ‘Soul’ music took over as “the sound of young America”, in the mid-Sixties, it too tinged the sound of Jamaica. No more so than our dance floor anthem “I Feel So Bad” by the legendary JACKIE EDWARDS.
Edwards was born Wilfred Gerald Edwards in Jamaica in 1938 and by the age of 22 had already scored a No.1 record on the island. He’d had four chart-topping hits before signing to Chris Blackwell’s new ‘Island’ imprint in 1962. He became an integral part of Island Records, as a prolific artist, songwriter, producer and general helper. He wrote “Keep On Running” and “Somebody Help Me” for the British R&B band The Spencer Davis Group, both of which went to No.1 on the U.K. pop charts.
“I Feel So Bad” was released on the distinctive ‘red and white’ Island logo in 1967 and was adopted by the burgeoning U.K. underground soul scene, most notably at the Twisted Wheel club in Manchester. It has been played on the ever evolving Northern Soul scene ever since and, a half-century on, commands a price tag of £700+ for a mint original. Fortunately our devastingly good-looking “official” reissue can be bought for a more modest sum.
Jackie Edwards is also responsible for our flip-side “Baby Don’t Wake Me” which he wrote and produced for reggae singer DEL DAVIS at the turn of the Seventies. The combination of Jackie’s well-honed soul-induced musicianship and Davis’ gravelly soulful vocals create the perfect Northern/Crossover dancer.
Two fabulous reasons to make this one of the top reissue 45s of 2020!

Over the years, the sonic world of Heist has grown into a place where energetic house, live instruments and worldly electronics move together in the most natural way. We're very proud of the fact that we can showcase artists that cross boundaries or simply create their own universe, while keeping a strong connection with the identity of the label.

Our next release, the 'Exposures EP' by Teleseen, fits perfectly into this aesthetic. Teleseen is the main project of nomadic DJ, producer and multi-instrumentalist Gabriel Cyr and draws influence from deep house, afro house, samba, batucada as well as the experimentalism and sound system cultures of his home town NYC. His sound leans heavily on polyrhythmic programming and he's nothing short of a synth wizard. His 'Exposures EP' features 3 originals, and a remix by Berlin based Italian house guru Black Loops.

The record features a number of collaborators and recordings of various instruments, ranging from percussive sections to synths and guitar. This live approach to electronic music is one that is deeply rooted into Gabriel's work. His upcoming release on Soundway as 'Thaba' is another good example of this approach and also shows how diverse his sounds really is.

The title track is a thrilling synth affair with tribal-like chants running through a vocoder. The combination of handclaps, crunchy synths and steady drums make for a thrilling afro house track that hints towards early motor city electronics.

Black Loops is known for his deep grooves and built his fame with his releases on Freerange, Pets and Shall not Fade. His take on 'Exposures' sees him upping the tempo to a pacey 130 bpm, where an introvert vibe of reverbed hits and bleeps take you into full dream mode. He expertly chops up the original into a contemporary track that fits somewhere between high tempo tech-house and minimalistic deephouse.

On the flip we get to hear more of the sonic world Teleseen has to offer. 'Dekalb' is a track that seems impossible to box into a genre. Its mood is set by a lovely section of free-flowing Rhodes chords and the chopped vocals and open synth- bass give the track a whole new feel. It is that ballsy electronic edge combined with dreamy textures and live rhythms that give 'Dekalb' its unique vibe.

The final track of the EP -'Transfer'- takes us down to a mid-tempo percussive workout with a balearic twist. The steady electronic groove and the free flowing guitar take you to yet another corner of Teleseen's beautifully crafted universe.

Enjoy the music and play it loud!

Yours Sincerely,
Lars & Maarten

"Lugar Alto's newest project is the idiosyncratic album MUMIA (portuguese for MUMMY). Never released before, it is a work that was originally recorded on cassette and combines elements of post-punk, industrial and ambient music.

Kodiak Bachine and Celso Alves formed the ephemeral and eponymous duo in 1988. The partnership resulted in a single recording derived from improvised sessions using minimal amounts of electronic equipment at Celso's country house, located in the interior of São Paulo.

Bachine was an important figure in the São Paulo underground. His most renowned project was the band Agentss from 1981, which also consisted of Miguel Barella, Eduardo Amarante, Elias Glik and Lyses Pupo (later replaced by Thomas Susemihl). In its brief duration, the band released only two seven inches that were considered seminal artifacts in the Brazilian post-punk scene: “Agentes / Angra” from 1982 and “Professor Digital / Cidade Industrial” from 1983. These two rare records are highly sought after by collectors and DJs from around the world for their inventiveness and originality.

Similar to Agentss, MUMIA brings with it extreme authenticity, managing to extrapolate the barriers of more traditional Brazilian music and interact with unorthodox elements. The lyrics are a mixture of Portuguese and English and it is still possible to identify picturesque fragments of Spanish, French and German. In addition, sonically, the record portrays aesthetics from the eighties and dialogues with themes relating to LSD. Another notable feature is the fixation on Egyptian post-mortem themes, providing a cinematic and lysergic experience of the desert landscapes from the African country.

It is a recording with comic passages which provokes an unpretentious reaction from the listener. However, it still has more ethereal and atmospheric moments, such as the opening song “Ave do Deserto”. In the final two tracks, it is possible to enjoy a darker MUMIA, which with “Massacre da Serra Elétrica I” and “Massacre da Serra Elétrica II”, provide a sound experience capable of accompanying intense scenes from the macabre productions by Tobe Hooper and George Romero.

The striking new artwork was created by the Sometimes Always studio, a partner of Lugar Alto and responsible for diverse graphic collaborations with artists, venues and parties in Brazil. The album, mastered by the prolific Arthur Joly, also has a booklet containing Kodiak’s texts in Portuguese and English, in addition to the lyrics, which serve as a logical exercise for further understanding of the album.

MUMIA was unearthed by the renowned Brazilian DJ Millos Kaiser, who in addition to kindly curating this album, put together the compilation “Onda de Amor: Synthesized Brazilian Hits That Never Were (1984-94)”, released by Soundway Records.

Now, after 32 years in its tomb, the MUMIA has risen and thanks to Lugar Alto it can finally be celebrated and appreciated."

Tectonic is very proud to welcome Lamont to the team!

Bristol’s bendy-beats whizz kid is mainly known for dropping jaws with his releases on Swamp 81 and it’s various offshoots. This time, he’s been chipping away at 4 fine-cut gem, especially for Tectonic - bringing some darkside vibrations in addition to his usual bounce.

‘Hold Dat’ runs at 135bpm, sitting in-between grime, dubstep and housey/techno/whatever that thing Lamont usually does! Charged with a disgusting, totally greasy bassline, this one drops hard and keeps going - quality moves for (now, mostly imaginary) dancefloors.

‘Push’ takes it down a notch, to 130 for a more heads-y work out, laden with crackling, fizzing sonics - and heavily punctuated by sub bass hits. The energy levels step back a touch, while building intensity.

‘Brain’ sees Lamont working more familiar territories - sending a pounding 4/4 kick drum out to hold together a series of collapsing percussive hits and warping melodies - as a ‘brain’ sample, simply haunts your brain.

The EP closes off with ‘Open Letter’, taking things into a dread-space; dub wise, deep and dangerous. The lurching bass hits take charge and push you through layers of echo’ed hits and micro-melodramas, to round off this great EP in fine style.

For anyone who can remember, Arca's &&&&& was a moment. Its 25-minute stretch of coiling, contorted grime and glitch; dub and hip hop dropped with the buzz of an impending co-production credit on Kanye West's Yeezus in 2013. It included cuts of sound and beats that were too weird for that pop project, while becoming a piece of experimental art that what would come to define what is by now broadly known as a `post-club' sound. It's music that is as visceral as it is experimental; made as much for the mind, as it is for the body. Released with no warning seven years ago, &&&&& became a bridge between Alejandra Ghersi's time partying and collaborating with her queer peers, while still living in New York to the next stage of her career releasing on Mute in London. She'd go from making beats for rapper Mykki Blanco and fashion label Hood By Air, posting lurching bass reworkings of pop hits on YouTube, and producing her first fluid mixtapes with DIS Magazine, to finishing off this seminal mixtape on the synths in Daniel Miller's studio. After dropping three impressive EPs the year before, &&&&& marked a transition. Continuations and extrapolations of material from Stretch 1 and Stretch 2 appeared in the mangled RnB sampling of "Century" and Arca's signature vocal layering in the pitched flow of "Waste". Along with the fluttering, muted heartbeat of "Obelisk", and the lumbering piano chords of "Mother", fourteen sonic sketches were elegantly woven together into a single, downloadable whole. As Alejandra's course turned toward moving to Europe from the United States, &&&&& became a remarkable challenge to the form of the mixtape, which was a relatively new trend taking hold of the online-oriented underground at the turn of the 2010s. But where many, if not most mixtapes where treated simply as a showcase of individual tracks presaging a more `official' release to come, &&&&& was a complete piece in its own right. "I wanted to make something that was my best work," Alejandra says about a record that has stood the test of time, "I listen to it very fondly today." This reissue of Arca's 2013 debut mixtape &&&&& features an etching on side B of the vinyl.

First up is Nehuen, an Argentinian born but Barcelona based artist who is notorious for his abrasive dance floor workouts on I Love Acid, BNR Trax and the Classicworks label he co-owns with Cardopusher. Cardopusher is, of course, a true electronic legend from Venezuela. His dizzyingly diverse sound takes in rave, acid, electro, techno and house influences and distills them into hugely
Raw and energetic new forms.

Nehuen's Psyops Part One kicks off with the excellent title track, which contorts acid and electro into a writhing monster filled with dark energy. The visceral 'Toxic' is built on slapping hits and spangled basslines that will tie you in knots as the bumping drums drive things forward. The late-night menace continues on 'Bailar', with tight synth arps layered up in robotic forms over clunky drums that are industrial and futuristic in equal measure. Last but not least, the eerie 'Desire' strikes a more twisted note with double kicks juddering beneath echoing hits. It's pure, filthy, brilliant body music.

Cardopusher kicks off Part Two with the fantastic 'Disobedience' (feat. Lbeeze) a slow-motion drum workout that is like dark disco mangled through a psychedelic filter, with robotic vocals and stiff arp
jerking your body. 'Abyss Antidote' is then a flurry of drum breaks and electro bass, frazzled synths and whipping hits that keep you on the edge of your seat. Darkness abounds on the gritty 'Initial Decay' (ft. Lbeeze), which layers up taught drums and hits with spraying synths that come from a dystopian planet.

Closing out this epic mini-series is 'Mutant Brain', a cyborg techno meltdown with manic acid for
company.

These are devilishly distorted tracks from two of the best producers around.

The first notes of Relapse’s “Underground Rave Hits for a Shuttered Club” are obscured with abrasive noise. For this Pinecone Moonshine album, the Bristol based musician known for drum and bass drew from many influences. Melodies and harmonies suggest ideas from extreme metal, blues, folk, and unique medieval, ritual notations. The album ranges from slower tempos like the funky 100 bpm “Curse, or a Swan” up to the 200 bpm breakcore “Hitroll Beat Heart.”

The next release in the Phonica Special Edition series comes from Ukrainian duo Asyncronous who first came to our attention after hearing their critically acclaimed debut on Berlin label Slow Life, 'The Art of Fighting In A Dream'.
A Phonica favourite, it provided the soundtrack to many days in the shop throughout the year, culminating in its inclusion in our top ten Best Singles of 2019!

The Phonica Special Edition series is focused on one-off projects, special remixes or collaborations, highlighting music that is slightly left of the dance floor and pairing it with unique artwork.
This time featuring a beautiful piece by celebrated Ukrainian artist, Mykyta Storozhkov.
The pair initially joined forces in an effort to explore human imagination and life experiences through music, focussing on creating feelings and atmosphere rather than be constrained by genre limitations. The result on this EP is a hazy cosmic trip through their universe of synth swells, deep sub bass and meticulous percussion.

The journey begins on 'Padma Kirtanam' with a constant drone providing the backbone to a building tension scattered with drums. The tension releases and makes way for A2 'Shinkansen', a beautiful track with minimal drums and dubbed out synths which echo around the listener's ear. Closing the A side 'Volta' continues this aesthetic but adds a 4x4 kick drum upping the groove to a cosmic deep house jam.

'Avalanche' kicks off the B side of the record with a syncopated bass line and skitterish hi hats. The energy is at its highest level here and only stops to make way for the next track 'Blocks of Despair'. The tempo drops and drum hits reverberate above stretched out bass notes creating arguably the most heartfelt tune of the release.
The EP ends with 'Midnight Sun' an ambient excursion that invites you to drift off with Asyncronous into outer space.

Today we have many opportunities to discover the world and travel through it without leaving your own room. In the age of globalisation, with the help of knowledge, technology and imagination, you can instantly teleport yourself to mystical temples of India or see the sun above the polar desert at midnight. No more borders - we are connected like never before, as if we are not at different ends of the globe, but on a single and indivisible continent that is not mapped but exists in a plexus of global events, information flows and digital environment.
This is our common home. Our new Pangaea.

First up is Nehuen, an Argentinian born but Barcelona based artist who is notorious for his abrasive dance floor workouts on I Love Acid, BNR Trax and the Classicworks label he co-owns with Cardopusher. Cardopusher is, of course, a true electronic legend from Venezuela. His dizzyingly diverse sound takes in rave, acid, electro, techno and house influences and distills them into hugely
Raw and energetic new forms.

Nehuen's Psyops Part One kicks off with the excellent title track, which contorts acid and electro into a writhing monster filled with dark energy. The visceral 'Toxic' is built on slapping hits and spangled basslines that will tie you in knots as the bumping drums drive things forward. The late-night menace continues on 'Bailar', with tight synth arps layered up in robotic forms over clunky drums that are industrial and futuristic in equal measure. Last but not least, the eerie 'Desire' strikes a more twisted note with double kicks juddering beneath echoing hits. It's pure, filthy, brilliant body music.

Cardopusher kicks off Part Two with the fantastic 'Disobedience' (feat. Lbeeze) a slow-motion drum
workout that is like dark disco mangled through a psychedelic filter, with robotic vocals and stiff arp
jerking your body. 'Abyss Antidote' is then a flurry of drum breaks and electro bass, frazzled synths and whipping hits that keep you on the edge of your seat. Darkness abounds on the gritty 'Initial Decay' (ft. Lbeeze), which layers up taught drums and hits with spraying synths that come from a dystopian planet.

Closing out this epic mini-series is 'Mutant Brain', a cyborg techno meltdown with manic acid for
company.

These are devilishly distorted tracks from two of the best producers around.

What is Randolph & Mortimer? A folk duo, a pair of accountants, a techno act…a law firm? What started off as an ‘art project’, influenced by 80s Industrial, 90s rave music and inspired by the documentaries of Adam Curtis, has morphed into a full on New Beat / Body Music dance-floor moving machine. Their studio releases have gained support from some of the biggest underground DJ’s in the world like Ancient Methods and gone on to top various genre sales charts on Bandcamp. Whilst the R&M live shows have seen them share bills with Godflesh, Youth Code, PIG and 3Teeth.

In 2019 it was time for R&M to throw a marker down and so came “Manifesto For A Modern World”, the debut album comprised of tracks from the “$ocial £utures”, “Hope Tragedy Myths” and “Citizens” EP’s plus some additional songs. This album is basically a greatest hits of Randolph & Mortimer. A statement of intent. All killer and no filler. The original limited edition CDs and tapes sold out and it had some incredible reviews. A Model Of Control called it “An absolutely outstanding release” and super cool New York DJ Andi Harriman (Synthicide) made it one her of top 10 albums of 2019 on Post-Punk

So here we are in 2020 and the Randolph & Mortimer story has seriously stepped up a gear with this double vinyl version of the album featuring all Manifesto tracks plus the acid styled dance-floor favourite “Apply Yourself” and four brand new tracks (“Crystal Peaks”, “Stateless”, “What Are You?”, “Fantasy Land”) which make up a whole new EP.

Limited edition of 400 copies with folded poster/insert and sticker.

During the 1970s George Jackson made a series of sublime southern soul recordings at Sounds Of Memphis studios. This LP gathers together rare singles and tracks that were unreleased at the time to showcase this golden period in the soul singer-songwriter’s career.

Recorded using many of the players from the Hi house band, who were at the time being featured on the recordings of Al Green and Ann Peebles.

Four tracks are making their first appearance on vinyl, whilst the compilation features both sides of his rare 1975 Chess single ‘Macking On You’ b/w ‘Things Are Getting’ Better’ and his ER single ‘Talking About The Love I Have For You’, which regularly sells for over $1000 on auction.

Jackson had a long career that saw him write hit singles for artists such as Candi Staton, Clarence Carter, the Osmonds and Bob Seeger, whilst covers of his songs have been UK hits for both Yazz and Joss Stone. However, his success as a writer somewhat obscured his talent as a performer, something that our series of releases focused on him has sought to rectify.

Multidisciplinary NYC artist Gavilán Rayna Russom launches her own label Voluminous Arts, dedicated to highlight electronic and experimental artists whose work challenges fixed categories of genre and categorization. Her aim is to create a platform for multidisciplinary work and events. The inaugural release being her second solo album as Gavilán Rayna Russom 'Secret Passage', following up last years 'The Envoy, an homage to the East Side Rail Tunnel in Providence, Rhode Island, and the friendships she made there.

In Rayna’s words:
“I grew up in Providence, Rhode Island in the 1970’s and 80’s. The booming jewelry and textile industries of the previous decades had pulled out by that point. The Italian mob ran most details of the day to day operations of the city. As kids coming up in that environment, before the internet, me and the people I hung out with didn’t know anything else and we worked with what we had to entertain ourselves. We found places that had been forgotten by market interests and made them spaces of creative community building. One of the most special of these places was the East Side Rail Tunnel. Running for almost exactly one mile beneath the city’s streets, the tunnel and nearby Crook Point Bridge were unsupervised autonomous zones where I tasted the possibilities of a world without surveilance. The tunnel was particularly important in my creative development because not only was it a marginal zone apart from monetized spaces of creative consumption, but it also had specific experiential properties. It had a bend in it which meant that when you got to the middle of it you were in complete darkness, and I learned quickly that when you spend enough time in complete darkness you start to hallucinate, which I liked. The acoustics were also remarkable; long natural delays and harmonic-reinforcing reverberances. Making any sound in there added layers of acoustic effects which made noises physical and fluid and, combined with the complete darkness, absolutely dissolved boundaries between internal and external experience. I started hanging out there when I was 14 and continued to return there regularly until development, gentrification and policing eventually made it inaccessible. By the mid ‘90s it was sealed off with progressively more impenetrable barriers. Nowadays it looks very different. This music is about some of the significant experiences I had in this beautifully neglected place and the people I had them with.”

Steel drum cover of Grace Jones. Steel drum cover of Erykah Badu. Third full length album coming in 2021. Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band is back with another crushing two-sider that is guaranteed to set dancefloors on fire and get heads nodding around the globe. The mysterious steel pan outfit hailing from Hamburg, Germany has become a staple in DJ sets from Europe to Japan, from the US to Brasil, and anywhere else these tunes have found their way to speakers. They have released a slew of classic 7”s and two critically acclaimed full length albums. With that they have set a high bar for themselves, one clearly they intend on pushing higher with this new offering. Side A is BRSB’s take on Grace Jones’ nightclub classic “My Jamaican Guy”. They take the tune to a new height from the first beat, laying down an infectious groove that will get people out of their seats immediately. Heavy duty drums and bass shake the speakers through the intro then the pans reveal what they are covering as they play the instantly recognizable top line of the original. Rhythm guitar, heavily echoed percussion hits, and the different pan sets all combine to make this yet another instant classic from Bacao. BRSB has received a lot of praise for their choices of covers. Occasionally reworking hits, but, most notably pulling the album cut gems from artists typically more championed by the underground. Well...here they go again, covering Erykah Badu’s homage to the late great J Dilla “The Healer”. This is the type of thing to make Spice Adams jump on his kitchen counter and scream. From the instant this comes on, necks will be snapping and faces will scrunch up as they take the original beat produced by Madlib and give it a run for its money. Shaking subwoofers with the eerie tremolo bass they replay E. Badu’s vocal melodies on the pans adding their own flourishes. Glockenspiel plays the downbeat and a clap like thunder keeps the two-step swaying, all coming together to make this another must have two-sider from Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band

Known for his grainy, analogue dance floor hits, Hungarian artist Norwell has returned with a powerful and transcendent 4-track EP, releasing through Fanzine Records. "In Between" EP is a drum-heavy, intricate series of grooves and soundscapes that draw the listener in from the beginning. While remaining faithful to the tendencies of techno, this record brings something of its own to the table in the form of acidic basslines and retro Kosmiche synth parts, resulting in a stunning array of textures.

"Eastern Echoes" is the opening track on this EP, and it deserves that spot. Combining an intense, Aphex-esque drum beat with hazy, dreamlike Middle Eastern inspired vox and pads, this track is a pumped-up monster of an introduction to the EP. This is immediately followed up with "Evaporate Yourself", a dark and brooding beat with a serpentine bassline that creeps its way through the track and combines with the lush, ethereal ebb and flow of the detuned synths and horror-themed vocals. This track is as cosmic as it is industrial, and sits on the fence between the two in a very unique way. "Model 244" on the other hand utilises a much more 70's modular sound reminiscent of early Kraftwerk hits adapted to the modern age. The track builds layers upon layers of left-field percussion that dance around the central arpeggiated bass in a very pleasing way, and Norwell doesn't leave out his signature glitchy, mechanical soundscapes, which give the track its glorious tension and release. The EP is rounded off with "Repetition Void", potentially the most experimental of the four tracks. Flanged hi-hats dance around the listeners ears and hazy analogue keys induce a hypnotic trance, exacerbated by the almost Papal choir vocals that fit seamlessly into the background.

As Norwell's first release through the Fanzine Label, this EP is dark, it is foreboding, and with the unexpected turns the rhythm takes, it doesn't care about your feelings. If you're ready to be punched in the face by this sci-fi horror listening experience, watch for the release of this EP, Fanzine latest addition to their roster of tasty electronic jams.

If Galaxy Lane’s first EP didn’t send the portals of time and space upside down, then the second EP will throw you down a vortex of hypnotic grooves juxtaposed with eerily erratic rhythms built in outer space.
The first of two EP’s to be trusted in the hands of Lone Romantic, ‘Night’ and ‘Later That Night’ will explore the concept of capturing moments in time.
Maybe Galaxy Lane can best summarise…

“I want people to really feel the mistakes in this music, the dirt, the rough and raw approach, the ‘sitting on the floor surrounded by wires at 3am messing with synths’ approach. That to me is the magic of this music, the interaction of man and machine, to hear the nuances, the tweaking of knobs and pushes of faders. I think we have lost that somewhat with digital technology, and have lost a lot of feeling in the process”

‘Night’ will propel the listener into ethereal textures layered over rough and raw beats, as outlined on opening track ‘Deep Space Nine’. If that sets you up for thinking this will be a dreamy ride, ‘Communication’ hits hard at the rear of the spaceship, coming at you with intergalactic bleeps, zaps and back cracking rhythms made for getting down.

Side 2 sets off on an exploration of wild eyed boundary flexing in the shape of ‘Enter The Light’. Pushing the machines to near breaking point whilst just hanging on, it’s a track that shows what can be done when the spaceship is left to drive itself, you can do nothing more than go with it and and see what happens.
‘Snow Day’ is perhaps the perfect way to round us back in. A more calmer, smoother ride, it’s unmistakable polyrhythms soothing the soul and setting us up for the next chapter…

If Galaxy Lane’s first EP didn’t send the portals of time and space upside down, then the second EP will throw you down a vortex of hypnotic grooves juxtaposed with eerily erratic rhythms built in outer space.
The first of two EP’s to be trusted in the hands of Lone Romantic, ‘Night’ and ‘Later That Night’ will explore the concept of capturing moments in time.
Maybe Galaxy Lane can best summarise…

“I want people to really feel the mistakes in this music, the dirt, the rough and raw approach, the ‘sitting on the floor surrounded by wires at 3am messing with synths’ approach. That to me is the magic of this music, the interaction of man and machine, to hear the nuances, the tweaking of knobs and pushes of faders. I think we have lost that somewhat with digital technology, and have lost a lot of feeling in the process”

‘Night’ will propel the listener into ethereal textures layered over rough and raw beats, as outlined on opening track ‘Deep Space Nine’. If that sets you up for thinking this will be a dreamy ride, ‘Communication’ hits hard at the rear of the spaceship, coming at you with intergalactic bleeps, zaps and back cracking rhythms made for getting down.

Side 2 sets off on an exploration of wild eyed boundary flexing in the shape of ‘Enter The Light’. Pushing the machines to near breaking point whilst just hanging on, it’s a track that shows what can be done when the spaceship is left to drive itself, you can do nothing more than go with it and and see what happens.
‘Snow Day’ is perhaps the perfect way to round us back in. A more calmer, smoother ride, it’s unmistakable polyrhythms soothing the soul and setting us up for the next chapter…

Who put the dance into Factory Records?”

Be With would like to refer you to FAC 59.

Working with founding member Tony Henry, we’re honoured to present the reissue of 52nd Street’s crucial debut single “Look Into My Eyes”, backed with “Express”. Originally released on Factory Records in Summer 1982, this ultra-rare 12" is a double-sider in the truest sense. Unrivalled Manchester jazz-funk-boogie-soul.

Both “Look Into My Eyes” and “Express” came out of a five day recording session in the spring of 1982 at Revolution Studios in Cheadle Hulme, just outside Manchester. Rob Gretton had just signed the band to Factory, snatching them from under the noses of RCA and WEA Records who had been sniffing around and seemingly ignoring Tony Wilson’s concerns that Factory might not be the right home for a black soul act. Rob clearly thought different.

The band of Tony Henry on guitar and vocals, bass player Derek Johnson, drummer Tony Thompson, lead vocalist Beverley McDonald and John Dennison on keyboards were put in the studio with A Certain Ratio’s drummer Donald Johnson producing the sessions. The band also found themselves with an interesting new member.

The back cover of the finished record credits synth F/X to a mysterious “Be Music”. Turns out that’s Bernard Sumner. Yes, that one. Tony Henry explains that bringing Bernard in was another part of Rob Gretton’s plan, “Barney was a real soul boy at heart and had always wanted to produce and work with black artists… with 52nd Street, he was an honorary member”. The results suggest he fit right in.

“Look Into My Eyes” squeezes so much aural pleasure into one side of a 12" single. A strutting, rich, soul-gliding funk with bass and guitar high in the mix above twisted, bubbling synths. Like Nile and Barney drenched outside the Haçienda that first summer. How can something be this liquid loose whilst sounding so, so tight? The hypnotic, naïve-cum-insouciant vocals from McDonald, backed by her fellas, only add to the track’s charm. Put simply, it sounds like nothing else.

On the flip, “Express” is sheer drama on wax. Tony’s opening lesson in good manners (“Excuse me miss, is this seat taken?”) sees us strapped in for a wild, chaotic, rhythmic ride. All bold keys, synth brass blasts, insistent bells and a galloping groove giving *that rush* atop a bassline to die for. No surprise it was a Frankie Knuckles favourite. Blistering heat.

The 12" was Paul Morley’s single of the week in the NME but his approval did little to get daytime radio play or to sell the record when it was released. It probably didn’t help that, in Tony Henry’s words, Factory were a label “notorious for not promoting their bands, not wanting any communications with the written press and not answering their office phones.” It came and went with none of the fuss that music this good deserved.

But in the near-40 years since they were released, these two tracks have gone on to become cult underground hits for those in the know. Of course that means those original 12"s have gotten rare and pricey. So here’s your chance to own this particular piece of post punk Factory Records funk.

But this record isn’t just a vital slice of Manchester soul history. Tony’s not shy about just how important he thinks the collaboration between 52nd Street and Bernard Sumner was: “this worked out quite well for us in the band but even better for New Order and Factory Records as Sumner studied grooves, rhythms and how to write and construct funk and dance music from 52nd Street and producer Donald Johnson”. You just have to listen to Blue Monday to hear what Bernard did when he started putting what he’d learnt into practice.

“Look Into My Eyes” and “Express” come from a chapter of the history of Factory Records that no-one seems to have gotten around to writing. Working with Tony to reissue the original 12" is the start of putting that right. The story of 52nd Street is more than just a footnote.