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‘Rain, spit, ice, neon, plants, steam, mercury and soil. This is dream music categorised by a language of senses; visual, poetic, and abstract sound that draws on techno and dub ambient.

‘Somewhere between pastoral impressionism and cyber-noir, its surface evokes the tensions of a fluctuating, fizzing atmosphere, pictures emerging and dissolving in the mind’s eye. Thick layers of field recording flood tracks fabricated from erratic, oddly distanced rhythm.

‘The sensation whilst listening is not unlike hearing the world from a place within the body; swimming in the bloodstream, cutting through the turbulent landscape secure in a metal tube.

‘Or being over-exposed to lushly textured environments with the anatomy far receded; an out-of-body experience where subtler senses are heightened and the landscape begins to take on surreal qualities.’

“Jay Glass Dubs is back on Berceuse Heroique after his inaugural release and this time he is going straight for the jugular. Jay Glass took a small break from the 80's experimental pop of The Safest Dub and he invoked the spirits of German Kosmische Musik and the studio insanity of African Head Charge. Film Noir vibes are mixed with the greek ancient tragedies, leaving the Apollonian aesthetics of his last release and going for a darker, denser and completely Dionysian approach for this one. Medea meets Touch Of Evil. Harmonia and young Adrian Sherwood are getting loose on some pentatonic Greek Traditional music from Epirus. Jay did it again and we are very happy to release this one.”

Director Amanda Kramer’s prompts for composer Ben Babbitt’s soundtrack to her enigmatic film Paris Window read like magnetic fridge poetry – “warped ambient bumper muzak tension” – but the results skew closer to some hypnagogic contemporary noir: lulling, low-lit, and laced with lingering dread. Electronics, strings, and percussion swoon and seethe in heady mirages of dreams and delirium, romance and menace. The narrative it accompanies is equally opaque and out of time: two eccentric siblings psychologically unravel through divergent fixations, one obsessed with the hypnotic infomercials of a mysterious self-help institute while the other falls in love with an ambiguous doppelganger.
Babbitt’s background scoring experiential video games (Kentucky Route Zero) and collaborating with exploratory songwriters (Angel Olsen, Weyes Blood, Eartheater) is evident in his versatility and finesse, flowing fluidly between minimal and maximal modes. Like all dynamic film music, the pieces weave a story of their own. Serene synthetic swells decay into murmuring television static and eerie vocal fragments; close-mic’d drones turn acidic then claustrophobic, mirroring sleep paralysis transformed into panic. Babbitt builds a window into a surreal world, seen through shadows and smeared, street-lit glass.

Over the years Kid Loco has become a reference in the French electronic music landscape. Firstly, known for being an activist in the French underground music scene, he cofounded Bondage Records in 1982. With Bondage Records, he introduced several bands to the French alternative music scene like Bérurier Noir, Ludwig Von 88 or Washington Dead Cats. Alongside his activity of label manager, he composed and released under the name of Kid Bravo, an experimental music at the crossroads of rock and electronic. Astonished by the beginnings of the instrumental hip-hop of DJ Shadows, Jean-Yves Prieur aka Kid Loco experimented new ways of composing music with the sample technic in his own studio near Orly. This new musical adventure led to the birth of a mini album Blues Project released in 1996 on Yellow Productions.

Exploring further his own psychedelic universe, he released his first album A Grand Love Story in 1997 under the name of Kid Loco. Acclaimed both by the French and international music review, “A Grand Love Story” established itself as an iconic album of the trip-hop and electronic music scene. During the two years following its release, Kid Loco continued to invent his own musical universe nurtured by multiples influences. In 1999, he released Jesus Life For Children Under 12 Inches, an album featuring thirty remixes he composed for French and international artists (Pulp, Talvin Singh etc.) as well as his mixed compilation for the famous DJ KICKS collection released on the German electronic music label, !K7.

After a first European tour, Kid Loco returned to his studio, nicknamed “The Lafayette Velvet Basement” and composed his second album Kill Your Darlings released in 2001. Compared to his previous compositions, Kill Your Darlings features more tracks without sampled vocals. Eager to explore new musical horizons, Kid Loco produced in 2004 the original soundtrack of the American movie The Graffiti Artist directed by James Bolton (Narrative Feature Sound Award – Austin Film Festival 2003). Cruising to new musical galaxies, Kid Loco continued to compose and released the album Party Animals & Disco Biscuits in 2009 followed in 2011 by the album Confessions Of A Belladonna Eater. In addition of his albums, Kid Loco continued to experiment with the production of compilations celebrating the trip-hop music with “Trip-Hop Classics” released in 2010 followed by a second opus released in 2013 on Wagram Music.

2019 marks the return of Kid Loco with his track Here Comes The Munchies selected in the original soundtrack of the show Vernon Subutex (Canal +), the vinyl reedition of his cult album A Grand Love Story and for the first time the digital release of the album Confessions Of A Belladonna Eater with exclusive remixes.

Mais Alors !!?... c’est à l’envers is the first release of new French Label ICI BIENTÔT (Here Soon ...), launched by Paris Fleamarket’s Record Shop, Geminicricket. On the Menu... Suspended Time,
Unsung Heroes, Hidden Records and Next Door Marvels.
In 1983, NEF released their first and only album, Mais Alors !!?... c’est à l’envers. At that point, the band already had a long history, interwoven with that of various musical trends and alternative
movements from the late sixties to the early eighties. That’s certainly what makes this record so special and able to conciliate such different worlds as Electronic Prog, Film Score, New Wave …
The band’s destiny was most certainly tied to their native region, the South of France, an idyllic environment that attracted a number of musicians during the 1970s, allowing the group to attend many
concerts or share the bill with several groups that have gone on to become well known: Can, Ash Ra Tempel, Magma, Catherine Ribeiro, Zao, Chêne Noir, Art Zoyd …
Founded in 1975 by Richard Lorenzi, NEF started as a kind of Free Rock band with multiple influences, going from Prog to Musique Concrete, in which any method of making sound, any way of
bringing out sounds was good … 2 musicians and a photographer, full member of the band who was projecting slides over the music and influenced their dreamlike universe. In 1978, Vincent Tronc came on board with his keyboards and synths. While the group had been influenced by electroacoustic techniques until then, Vincent broadened NEF’s horizons, bringing in a host of new influences: Ash Ra Tempel, Kraftwerk, Klaus Schulze … the beginnings of electronic music. When the album is recorded in 1983, new directions were taken and changed NEF’s usual sound.
First, the idea of playing the accordion, clearly not a common thing and a new Drum Machine, the Roland CJ-5000. Pressed the day a figure of French Chanson died, NEF’s pressing is botched up, a
good part of the records were unusable since the records came out totally warped. Then, at the end of the eighties the small stock of remaining records is lost in the sadly famous flood of Nîmes. 2000
records had been pressed, but very few survived! All the more reason to reissue Mais Alors !!?... c’est à l’envers, an unsung record, free and multifaceted, a quirky and daring musical ovni, transcending eras and genres, between synthetic
Krautrock and Film Score, reminiscent of NEU! (with a red nose), François de Roubaix and Pascal Comelade.

Trentemøller returns with his fifth studio album 'Obverse' in September 2019! Anders Trentemøller is a well-known multi-instrumentalist, but perhaps the one he’s most adept at is the studio itself. 'Obverse' is the result of him expanding that skill even further. 'Obverse' often feels like an instrumental album because it started life as one, the driving philosophy being “what if the pressure of having to perform these songs live is removed entirely?” Granting yourself the freedom to chase down every idea a studio offers comes with privileges. What happens when you reverse a synth part mid-verse? Why not send an entire track through a faulty distortion pedal? Inspiration reveals itself in a variety of forms and, before long, a simple chord progression contorts into something entirely new. It’s a work method that yielded great results for the legendary German Kosmiche/Motorik experimentalists of the 1970’s. Intentional or not, 'Obverse' embodies more than a little of that spirit without even a hint of pastiche.

So it only makes sense that 'Obverse' would stray from its original roadmap. In due time, half of the nascent compositions featured singers, including Lina Tullgren, Lisbet Fritze, and jennylee, of Warpaint, another band deeply influenced by dream pop. While 'Obverse' was born from a different work ethic than previous efforts, it also continues an arc that started in 2006. Each successive effort has represented a logical next step beyond the album before, and 'Obverse' absolutely picks up where Fixion left off.

For the past decade Trentemøller has been perfecting this form of sonic chiaroscuro to conjure up images of severe landscapes, and to mirror the Scandinavian climate, where half the year the sun barely sets, and the other it barely tops the horizon. While there has been a film noir element in his previous work, 'Obverse' is the first time each song has felt like a collection of pocket soundtracks.

By fusing together a love of dream pop, dark synth-based music, film scores, and a deep connection with the stark Nordic panoramas, Anders has created an inimitable language. Ultimately 'Obverse' resides in a genre all its own.

Swedish composer and multimedia artist Marcus Fjellström's debut Miasmah release follows two critically acclaimed full length albums on Lampse (2006's 'Gebrauchsmusik' and 2005's 'Exercises In Estrangement'). In addition Marcus has had several commissioned works requested, leading to him working with, among others, the Swedish Royal Ballet, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, numerous ensembles, soloists and filmmakers including 'Salad Fingers' creator David Firth. Currently based in Berlin, Fjellström's compositions often combine aspects of modern classical composition and arrangement and more avant forms of music, be that acoustic or electronic.

'Schattenspieler' (which translates as 'Shadowplayer') takes the form of eleven compositions which explore ambience and melody, texture and silence. Haunting synth and orchestral instrument-based audio constructions, flowing from one moment to the next - the fleeting ghosts of Fjellström's melodies rise, only to be buried under a claustrophobic clutter of percussion and creaking background noise. These pieces do indeed feel like you're listening to something more implied than obviously stated, as if Fjellström wants only to expose us to the shadow of the music - the implication being perhaps a more terrifying experience than to be confronted outright…listen to 'Schattenspieler' and you may find your mind starts to play tricks on you…

The undeniably Angelo Badalamenti-esque descending synth strings of opening track 'The Disjointed', lay the foundations for Fjellström's 'Schattenspieler' album; music resting somewhere between the unsettling horror soundtracks of Jerry Goldsmith, the elevating melodies of Cliff Martinez, and the subtle audio constructions of Miasmah label mates Kreng and Jacaszek. Marcus' wide ranging abilities in composition and his willingness to let go of accepted form and function makes 'Schattenspieler' a perfect choice of release for the Miasmah label. The suspense laden 'Antichrist Architechture Management', with its harrowing and tense undertones, weaving synth lines and a wash of static hiss and flicker, is a particular standout track. Despite it's a strangely oppressive sound, shafts of light grace 'Schattenspieler'; pieces such as 'Untitled 090616' find gorgeous melodies are boxed in by unsettling arrangements and sparse background ambience. There is a coldness to many of these compositions - not without emotion, but somehow remorseless. 'Schattenspieler' is, for the main part, a defiantly bleak journey.

Vinyl edition ltd. to 300 copies, purple vinyl, incl. 8-page 12" booklet with drawings by Marcus Fjellström.

An artist who deliberately plays with labels, taking in contemporary and novel forms, boldly launching into experimentation (as demonstrated by her collaboration with percussionist Vassiléna Sérafimova), Chloé wanted to take the album’s tracks and transform them in front of an audience by feeding them with new textures and inspirations. Performed over a year at events such as Nuits Sonores, Sónar, Mutek (in Montréal and Mexico), The Peacock Society, and festivals such as Marsatac, Musilac and Colors of Ostrava, Endless Revisions’ live performance has evolved with every show. It was out of the question to let these new versions - replayed, recreated and restructured alongside the evolution of the performance’s very architecture - fade away without a trace Chloé’s prolific Lumière Noire label, in the wake of its first anniversary, had to produce a recording that bears witness to the work that these ephemeral creations represents. Slowly introduced by Dune, then propelled by the impulse of Because it’s There, the mix is articulated around the appropriatelytitled Outerspace, followed by Party Moonster and the bewitching The Dawn, heard here in “clubbier” versions and adapted to a context in which the audience (whose enjoyment of the performance was audibly captured in the recordings), must be kept in suspense, as if carried away in a narrative. The set leads up to Moonscape, an exclusive track created during the performance series, before the performance ends with a new version of Sometimes, Chloé’s relentless 2002 instant classic. At nearly 50 minutes, this recording is like a snapshot of a work’s vital momentum, remaining faithful to the spirit of Chloé’s Endless Revisions while detaching itself in order to conquer new territories. It is what music must also be: a moving creation that is activated and reacts in contact with its audience.

Noir Music is back with their sub-label NM2 focusing on Melodic House & Techno.

Koma Saxo is a highly potent new five-piece produced by the visionary Berlin-based Swedish bassist-producer Petter Eldh. The lineup brings together five heavy jazz names on the Berlin–Nordics axis, including Eldh on bass, Christian Lillinger on drums and the frontline of three saxes: Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar and Mikko Innanen. Despite the top-billing names, make no mistake: this is not just another "supergroup", but a real working band with their own sound and musical trejectory.

Eldh's vision for the Koma Saxo sound is one step ahead of what groovy avantgarde jazz could sound like in 2019, involving postproduction work with the raw material recorded in Helsinki in connection to Koma Saxo's successful debut at the We Jazz Festival. Both studio and live tapes exist side by side, and Eldh goes deep in molding the final music to be heard on the upcoming Koma Saxo releases.

The first introduction into the world of Koma Saxo comes in the form of a 7"/digital single "Port Koma / Fanfarum For Komarum". Side A presents a restlessly dubby beat track, which would be ripe for hiphop sample use. The flip launches into a joyful full-on groovy free jazz fest which is hard to resist. Think Art Ensemble of Chicago at their swingingest but add a little "Nordic Noir" dropped right into the busy streets of Berlin's Kreuzberg.

Oblique Russian sound strategist Natalia Salmina’s latest forking path portfolio as Atariame, Voiceless, arose in the wake of a dissociative relocation to Moscow, where she found herself adrift amidst a manic metropolis, alone in a skyscraper staring out at trees: “It made me lose faith in my ability to communicate, in my ideas about life.” Days without speaking turned to weeks. Even in private she felt estranged from her voice, and soon ceased singing.

For solace she turned to her Waldorf Blofeld, mining its panoramic frequencies to craft a shivering suite of futurist-noir nocturnes and rhythmic noise vignettes, equal parts exorcism and manifestation, desperation and delirium. Track titles hint at the headspace – “Outside At 5 AM,” “Same Thought All Day,” “Stay Late” – mirroring the music’s mood of hoods up, headphones on, wandering empty urban tunnels under flickering streetlights. Enigmatically, Salmina slips in a sliver of spectral voice on the intro and exit songs (“Breathe Exercise” and “Deconstruction”), framing them as induction into and escape from the cryptic isolationist condition of the rest of the collection. Mastered by P. Nikolsky, Powerhouse Moscow. Design by Britt Brown.

“Acid Sensible EP” released by Johnkôôl Records is a compilation of tracks composed by french producer Botine (already seen on Acid Avengers Records) along those formative years. It is truly the fruit of back-and-forths between the stage and studio environment from 2013 to 2016.

The term Acid Sensible first appeared in Clément’s graphic work as he developed his musical adventures. It’s a tale in which pets, organized in a micro-society produce music that will free them from humans and their alienating lifestyle. Acid Sensible is how they name that musical genre they created and that Botine appropriated himself. Built on a complex mix of influences, Acid Sensible is a careful and melodious pop balance between new-beat rhythms and meditative sounds sourced from IDM, Braindance, Psychedelic Rock and Krautrock.

Most of the tracks on the EP were composed on analog devices. The recording was done in one take only, thus preserving its powerful esthetic sourced from the live environment.

Australian band Pleasure Symbols enter a new phase in 2019, physically and stylistically with the forthcoming release of their first full length record Closer and Closer Apart. Three years have passed since the release of their debut, self-titled EP through Avant!. The time away being a necessary moment of reflection and regeneration for singer, songwriter and bassist Jasmine Dunn. Joined by fellow musician Steven Schnorrer, the duo began the push towards a more 80’s inspired post-punk sound with a ‘pop noir’ twist. Deciding to record and produce the album themselves, gave the freedom to take time to grow and explore their new direction as a song writing duo. Despite current trends in popular music, Pleasure Symbols continues to focus on a more guitar based post punk, dream-pop sound, while slowly diverging from a previous minimal wave, synth based musical output. With themes of desire for desires sake and self confrontation, the new musical direction may seem initially harrowing, but look closer and you will see vulnerability and tenderness triumph over the struggle of the human experience.

“Style” can be defined as that special ability to watermark every track with an instantly-recognizable identity. Local Suicide, aka Munich’s Brax Moody and Greek-born Vamparela, has it in spades. And following releases on labels such as Bordello, My Favorite Robot, Multi Culti, Roam, Duro and OMBRA, it only made sense that the duo would eventually find its way to Lumière Noire. After all, “black light” (as per the meaning of Chloé’s label’s name) could describe the way Local Suicide’s music flirts with the more troubling zones of the listener’s psyche, where danger roams and aural comfort is no longer a guarantee. The EP’s two tracks set a dark, shifty sonic tableau, in which German-American multidisciplinary artist - and a unique personality of the Berlin underground - Nicki Fehr comes to blend his voice with Vamparela’s. With its swerving bass slithering over a slow tempo, Leopard Gum is the perfect slow burner, a slice of comatose disco that will find its way to the darkest corners of nightlife - and haunt its DJ sets. The synths that come crashing across the track’s Smagghe & Cross remix add their saturated signature that provide a different kind of hook through its breathless nine-minute run. The same measured tempo is found once more on the more ethereal Already There, where Local Suicide affirm their adherence to the more captivating signatures of new wave and post disco. Permanent Vacation stalwarth Lauer adds a surprizing electro pop shimmer to the track. With Leopard Gum’s opaque and impenetrable atmosphere, Local Suicide have released one of their strongest efforts to date.

A product of the transformative power of dance music, Ede moved Berlin after he experienced something magical while dancing to Ame at
Berghain. So enchanted was he by the pivotal moment that he set his sights on making music to be released by Innervisions… And that happened
three years later when his track ‘Jenny’ made it into the label’s ‘Secret Weapons 11’ compilation. Ede’s dark, new wave style has also
piqued the interest of Jennifer Cardini, who signed his music to a V/A on her Correspondant Music label recently. Now the producer joins the
TAU family for a full EP, featuring four original cuts.
‘Raum’ jumpstarts the collection with menacing allure. Whirring analogue forms the core of this deadly track, keeping it tight in the low end
while various layers of synth fizz and snarl. An urgent riff joins the fray, adding depth and energy. Across almost 10 minutes Ede showcases his
ability to create a dark atmosphere and imbue his music with spinetingling theatrics. Fans of the riff will be pleased to find a beatless version of
‘Raum’, which will be useful for creating dramatic moments during DJ sets no doubt.
On side B, ‘Zeit’ brings the pace down slightly. A melancholy synth line evokes feelings of sorrow, while the beat pumps along. Ede uses the full
8 minutes of this track to really build the tension, finally unleashing it halfway through. This could easily be used on the soundtrack for a cyborg
action movie set in the future.
Last up, ‘Unendlichkeit’ is a further demonstration of Ede’s love of futurism, new wave and film noir circa 2080. Here he tells a story with the
machines, each one adding their contribution to the narrative which gets more and more chaotic as the tune progresses.
A very impressive EP, and we’re sure you’ll agree it’s something quite special.

Alt-rock icon Josephine Wiggs is best known as bassist in The Breeders, rising to superstardom in the '90s and continuing to draw crowds and critical acclaim in the wake of their 2018 album All Nerve.
But over the years, Wiggs has released several of her own albums, all of which delightfully defy genre. Her new solo record, We Fall, is both a departure and a distillation of an enduring personal aesthetic: moody and spare but also melodic, at once contemporary and nostalgic.
Some influences are clear: We Fall is reminiscent of the experimentalism of Brian Eno's Another Green World and recalls the delicate, languid minimalism of Harold Budd. The album's classical inflections, sharpened by a dialog with electronic elements, evoke Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto. This is an album of juxtapositions: minimalist at moments, richly layered in others; ambient while also sharply focused; melancholy yet resolute.
There's something both dreamy and scientific about We Fall. Wiggs, an enthusiastic amateur mycologist, has an impressive collection of mushrooms she's photographed in her travels. We Fall could be the soundtrack to what can't be captured in a single photo—the growth and decay of miraculous creatures that a less astute and sensitive eye might overlook entirely.
Composed, performed and recorded by Wiggs, with drums and electronics by her longtime friend and collaborator Jon Mattock (Spacemen 3, Spirit , We Fall is a lyrical, bucolic album with an undercurrent of disquiet. Think of a wintertime walk in the woods as dusk falls too soon. True to the classic album form, the 10 almost entirely instrumental tracks on We Fall form a compelling whole: a crystalline meditation on paths not taken and words unspoken, an elegy for moments lost and last embraces.
JOSEPHINE WIGGS BIO
Josephine Wiggs grew up in an unconventional family north of London. Returning home from a summer holiday with a donkey riding in the back of the family's 1927 Rolls Royce was not considered at all bizarre. Wiggs studied cello as a child, segued from college in London to undertake a master's degree in Philosophy, and then, in a move few would have predicted, joined a rock band.
After making three albums with The Perfect Disaster (1987-1990), Wiggs left to join Kim Deal (Pixies), Tanya Donelly (Throwing Muses), and Britt Walford (Slint) in forming indie supergroup The Breeders, whose debut album Pod came out in 1990. Following a shift in line-up—with Kelley Deal on guitar and new drummer Jim Macpherson—The Breeders released Last Splash in 1993; with its hit single 'Cannonball' and 'Divine Hammer,' they became alternative rock superstars.
During the same period, Wiggs released two lower-key albums with Jon Mattock (Spacemen 3, Spiritualized): Nude Nudes (1992) under the name Honey Tongue, and Bon Bon Lifestyle (1996) using the moniker The Josephine Wiggs Experience. She also recorded and produced Klassics with a K (1996), the beloved and only album by the Kostars (Luscious Jackson's Jill Cunniff and Vivian Trimble). During a brief run of shows, Wiggs joined the band on drums, showing her range of musical ability.
In the late '90s Wiggs collaborated with Vivian Trimble as Dusty Trails, whose eponymous 2000 album is an homage to neo-noir soundtracks, spaghetti westerns, and Gallic pop. Time Out described it as 'one of the most subtly suggestive, understatedly elegant...things likely to have caressed your cochlea in years.'
Allusions in Dusty Trails to film music foreshadowed the next stage of Wiggs's career, writing scores for feature and documentary films—from Happy Accidents by Brad Anderson in 1999 to Appropriate Behaviour by Desiree Akhavan in 2014. Her new album We Fall began as a suite of short pieces for the documentary film Built on Narrow Land. Wiggs has also composed and recorded music to accompany live performance and short films by the acclaimed Brazilian choreographers chameckilerner.
In 2013, following the 20th anniversary of Last Splash, the classic lineup of The Breeders reunited for a world tour. Five years later in 2018 they released All Nerve, with Wiggs co-writing two songs and singing lead on the standout track 'Metagoth.' We Fall, Josephine Wiggs' third album of her own design and ninth album in a career spanning three decades, will be released on vinyl and available for download and streaming on April 12, 2019 by Sound of Sinners.

Fix Me is a techno symphonic soundtrack of the collaboration between the choreographer Alban Richard and Arnaud Rebotini, dandy of the French electro and César 2018 of the best musical composition for the film 120 beats per minute.

Interested by the sound energy, Alban Richard conceives a piece that draws its power in fervor. Eloquent bodies, sermons and slogans, this choreographic, musical and plastic montage is exhilarating. The four performers translate their actions into words: American evangelical sermons, political speeches and feminist hip-hop songs. The light worked on a vibratory mode bathes interpreters and spectators in the same hypnotic halo.

Driven by an incessant flow, music and dance interfere each in the sphere of the other and compete with energy to monopolize the eyes and listen to the audience.

Although Itta (Vocals, Harmonium) and Marqido (Analog Synthesizers) have been regular fixtures in Seoul's experimental music community for years, the vinyl release of Spiritual reflects the growing international recognition of their singular sound, described by The Wire as 'meditative synthesized vistas.' Spiritual certainly embodies the meditative element of their music, layering hypnotic modular synth with Indian harmonium drone and Itta's transcendental vocals. This is more than functional music for the metaphysically curious, however. Perhaps more than any of their previous releases, Spiritual offers an open accessibility, owing at least partly to the channeling of krautrock-influenced rhythms. Tracks like 'Luft' and 'Morgen Tempel' wouldn't sound out of place in any DJ set with kraut or psychedelic leanings, while 'Barabonda' and 'Dodeuri' dig deep into a more meditative place, serving as perfect expressions of the album's title and intent. Fans of Neu!, Kraftwerk, Laraaji or Klaus Schulze might find themselves in a comfortable yet unexplored place.

Spiritual was originally released in 2017 as a limited-edition cassette of 250 copies, produced in collaboration with Seendosi, an arts enterprise in Seoul Euljiro district, the city's heart of printing, packaging and electronics manufacturing. The cassette sold out within a year of its production, prompting Extra Noir, who had previously released Tengger's 'Breathe In, Breathe Out' on their Extra Noir Vol. 1 compilation, to propose reissuing Spiritual on vinyl. Working with Seendosi once again, the result is a beautifully produced piece of work. Closely attentive to the band's vision, the gatefold sleeve features rich landscape motifs that evoke Tengger's commitment to earthly travel and the less accessible places beyond. Pressed onto clear vinyl, the design of Spiritual has been carefully constructed to reflect the entirely unique music within: heavy ephemerality, dense transcendence and grounded wanderlust.

Over the past few months, Bajram Bili has been a revelation at Lumière Noire. On the labels compilation From Above, the French producer drew praise from listeners, DJs and critics alike with the eight housey, cerebral minutes of his contribution, Restart.
Bajram Bili is far from being a newcomer: Adrien Gachet has been making music under the exotic moniker for several years, combining krautrock and IDM influences into a rather convoluted genre. On his previous album, 2017s Remembered Waves, he had opted for a metamorphosis, bringing a new sense of freedom to club music, and this debut Lumière Noire EP is bound to elicit further interest in the artist.
Stretching over nine minutes, the playful No Fugue is complemented by a vocal track that seems to encourage the listener to visit the euphoric spaces in between. The Dantean, techno-accented Fluttering maintains this unsettling pace and amplifies, building up anticipation by bouncing from hot to cold and culminating in an epic journey. The beatless Mother presents a complete change of scenery, with Gachet offering up a contemplative composition haunted by tinges of Vangelis and Carpenter. With its acid accents, red-hot closing track Divided Flash completes the EPs musical register, closing the ambitious four-track arc and leaving the listener hoping for more and soon..

On People of the Sun, Strickland blazes down that trail fully at the helm of his music—performing, writing, and producing with his outrageously able Twi-Life band on deck—even as he sonically and socially traces the African diaspora from present to past in an effort to unpack his identity. "I'm thinking about where we came from," says Strickland, "and how that clashes and goes hand in hand with what we've created here as Black Americans." The result is an album that's busy and beautiful, inventive and contemplative, an amalgam of influences from West Africa (griot culture, Afrobeat, percussion) and America (post-bop, funk-soul, beat music) performed in the key of revelation. Another facet that sets the album part is Strickland's lesser-known woodwind obsession with the bass clarinet, which adds its noirish hues to so many of these songs.

'Sometimes it's hard to say how you feel,' says songwriter-vocalist
Jade Vincent. 'These songs are vulnerable stories for me to tell -
they're things I couldn't say out loud. But I found that I could sing
them. And then I closed my eyes when they would listen.'
Listening to Vincent's songs were her partner - producer/composer
Keefus Ciancia - and DJ and producer/composer David Holmes.
Together, Vincent, Ciancia and Holmes make up Unloved, the musical
project that evolved out of a late-night Hollywood bar in 2015,
releasing a stunning debut album the following spring and this year
crafting the soundtrack to Phoebe Waller-Bridge's acclaimed new
series 'Killing Eve'.
Introduced to Ciancia through soundtrack work, Holmes found
himself invited to DJ one night and to curate other nights at the
Rotary Room. To invite Holmes to DJ is to unleash a kind of whirling
dervish of musical enthusiasm but through those nights the trio
discovered a shared love for 60s girl groups and French pop and film
noir soundtracks, Brigitte Fontaine, Shuggie Otis, George 'Shadow'
Morton, Bruno Nicolai, Lee Hazlewood and Jack Nitzsche, along with
a tremendous desire to work together.
Their debut EP - 'Guilty Of Love' - and the full-length, self-titled
album that followed in the spring of 2016, offered a quite remarkable
thing: a sound at once hauled out of the silty depths of the past and
simultaneously wholly modern. There was the soft hiss of a lo-fidelity
recording - the murky crackle of sample, beats and half-remembered,
long-lost favourite tunes. However, much of the songs' success
belonged to Vincent's sublime voice and lyrics, both possessed of an
aching, rich-smoked tone of loss and love.
Unloved's second album, 'Heartbreak', is about love. The album plays
out each song like a vignette of nothing but love. The songs that rose
up were in some ways surprising, but also felt insistent. 'They're real
feelings and real experiences that I had the guts to finally say, but
always ambiguous, this is very important to me,' she explains, 'and
always about love, one way or another.'
LP pressed on red coloured vinyl with digital download code.

'Pavel Milyakov aka Buttechno is mostly known for his brilliant take on dance music, but we're also big fans of his avant-garde ambient material. This LP combines the amorphous electronic soundscapes of Artemiev with the strangeness of Chiastic-Slide Autechre and the beautiful expansiveness of Pete Kember's best work. It could be a spiked film noir soundtrack... and it's also great because it sounds like a late night walk around Moscow (at least to us).'

Gatefold sleeve by Will Bankhead.

Vinyl limited edition, includes lyrics booklet, white vinyl, silver layer printed on cover art, % donated to charity.

To be released on World Mental Health Day, part of the album's proceeds will be donated to a UK-based mental health charity. 'I often wonder how sadness moves through people,' Emika says, 'through time, through stories and history, and if it's something that becomes us rather than coming from us.'
% of album sales will be donated to charity Help Musicians UK
emikarecords. com Invites fans to anonymously share their experiences of depression and create a waterfall of comments inspired by the song Wash It All Away
Studio video promoting the album via Soundcloud, Autumn
Live / DJ video, promoting the album with Beatport, Autumn
Live streaming of the album from Emika's studio via FB, Insta, YT, September.
Bookings by Christopher at Melt Bookings. Team chose to give fans time to listen to the album first, shows starting early 2019, special album show with live band and dome visuals planned in the Berlin Planetarium Feb 2019. A few promo shows summer / fall 2018.
Boiler Room live show as part of Open Dance Floor series tbc
* Given its years of manifestation behind the scenes of other projects, Falling In Love With Sadness reflects a renewed understanding of Emika's own genealogy, kindred lineage and its connection to modernity. Marking a drastic departure from the menacing, stripped-down qualities of albums past, Dva and Drei, Emika has surfaced with a new upwelling of sound gracing the bittersweet, melancholic and sanguine.

* With the interplay of myriad genres both rhythmically and melodically intertwining between spacey, dub tinged Promises, lush synth pop hooks on Escape and the title track's soulful electro, a full spectrum of musicology remains primary to the ever-evolving chroma of Emika's umbrous sound.

* Further characterised by the breathy sibilance and sultry tones of Emika's noirish, vocal aesthetic, the album navigates through the morose and trappings of misanthropy by illuminating a narrative of emotional resilience and recovery.

* Co-produced with Robert Witschakowski of The Exaltics, and continuing her collaboration with guitarist Chris Lockington (as heard on Drei and Dva), Falling In Love With Sadness provides a fifth solo album for Emika, but moreover, defines itself as an overture for her future works.

A Credible Eye Witness teams up with enigmatic Ghost Ride to create a new aesthetic and musical identity to his ACEW project. Loud yet energetic "Stellar Tunes" introduces four dancefloor electro cuts characterized by European noir tones and US funk sororities. From the Detroitish influences of opener "Sound Odyssey" to the ultimate 90's groove of synth pop 'Political Collapse', passing through the cosmic analog style of emotional "Purple Sky" or the hammering vibes of psychedelic "Obsidian", the 12' brilliantly combines acid abstract sounds, experimental and structural elements that underline the mastery of Emilio Urbano in developing original and intricate electro music. 'Stellar Tunes' sees the Italian moving on a bit from his first productions to explorate funkier landscapes. Expect nothing but electro at its finest!

I Conceived 'darkly' In 2015 As A Piano Album. I Was Fascinated By This Instrument And Couldn't Think About Electronic Music At All. I Spent A Lot Of Time In Front Of The Instrument Before My Fingers Could Play What Was Needed. And At Some Point, I Got A Few Solo Piano Tracks, But They Sounded Very Raw And Unfinished. Almost At The Same Time, I Was Getting Back Into Experiments With Electronic Music And Focussed More On Recording Piano In An Electronic Context. Paying More Attention To Different Textures And Multilayeredness. I Was Working On Soundtracks For Films By Noir Films And This Helped Me Finish Two Compositions, Which Later Determined One Of The Directions Of The Album And Served As A Bridge Between The Solo Piano Compositions I Recorded At The Beginning, And The New Electronic Tracks. At The Beginning Of 2018, I Got Back To The First Solo Piano Tracks To Give Them A Finished Form, Adding The Missing Elements That I Could Not Hear Three Years Earlier. I Wanted To Make A Piano Album, But I Got The Album Which Was Formed By Itself And Became A Result Of My Experiences, Worries, And Events Of My Life That Occurred During These Few Years. I Dedicate This Work To A Human, Which Shares This Life With Me, Supports Me And Believes In Me Like Nobody Else! I Dedicate It To My Wife.

"darkly" Comes Out On Limited, Double, Grey Vinyl (including Download Code)

Invigorating, skewered electronica and bristling, off-kilter techno drive the first release in 15 years by Dublin electronic duo Ambulance (Sunken Foal & Dave Nuremburg), delivering the first EP on the Open Ear label, the latest adventure in sound from the eponymously-titled Irish music festival.

Previously of Planet Mu and Front End Synthetics, the Ambulance project had been put on hold in any capacity this decade until 2017 when they were invited to close out the 2nd edition of the Open Ear festival, Ireland's leading experimental & alternative electronic music festival. Inspired by this performance, the pair returned to the studio and the first fruits of this labour make up the Combover EP. This also marks the first release by Open Ear on it's label which, like the festival, will serve as a platform for experimental dance floor & avant-garde music from the Irish underground.

Kickstarting with the sprawling, ever-evolving, glitched funk of "Caitríona Chéile", the tense, paranoid techno of "Douche Noir" then takes over with the following "Luxury Crackers" keeping the unsettling atmosphere pitched up before it opens up to reveal aslightlygentler side. The EP closes with the *Greasy* title track, a collage of shimmering synthesisers, jittery, free-wheeling drums and oddball sampling, all reaching for air at the same time.

Django Reinhardt devised an astonishing new technique of playing guitar built around the two fingers on his left hand that were left with full mobility after a devastating fire and, together with Stéphane Grapelli, he was responsible for defining the gypsy jazz genre. A nomadic spirit whose life became a never-ending quest to journey to wherever his precious talent would take him, Django Reinhardt will forever be revered as one of the most unique, gifted and influential musicians of the 20th century.

The Noir Music sub-label relaunches itself with a bang - a heavy double A-sider with strong Remixes from Skudge and André Kronert - finished off with a nice new overall cover artwork.

In just a year of existence, Chloé's Lumière Noire has brought emerging artists and promising newcomers together - and this first compilation of 13 brand new tracks expands the roster, exposing the label's eclectic vision in full daylight. When Chloé talks about her label, she puts forward the fundamental values that informed her own musical journey, her trust in her own musical taste - and, of course, the predominance of human relationships: 'I followed
my bliss and only commissioned tracks from artists that I respect and whose music I love. That to me is Lumière Noire's musical palette.' With this 13- track, unmixed compilation, Chloé makes a case for a label aesthetic that is based in open-mindedness. Familiar, elemental Lumière Noire artists are represented, as are new faces, producing a kind of group photo presaging what's next for the fledgling label. Lyon's Markus Gibb leads the track listing with Kuru with a deep chiaroscuro matching the label's ethos, followed by other mainstays Il Est Vilaine's Farenheit 451, which evokes Ray Bradbury's retro-dystopic angst with the
band's usual electro-pop elegance. Sutja Gutierrez, who released in debut EP, The Legend of Time on Lumière Noire in April, pursues his electro Shamanism with the ceremonial Allodoxaphobia, while Iñigo Vontier (whose EP Aluxes came out on the label in late 2017) brings his C O N T R A project
online with track Taurus, a further development in voodoo house. Elsewhere, Suuns lead singer Ben Shemie, who lent his fascinating art-rock croon to Recall, a single from Chloé's Endless Revisions LP, contributes A Million Kinds, a synthy, psych-pop debut that is as brilliant as it is surprising. On to the freshman class: Dutch producer Drvg Cvltvre (who gets personal kudos
from Chloé with each new 12') brings the uncompromising dark electro of his hypnotic and claustrophobic Last Rites. Jonathan Fitoussi's airy, minimalistic Cercles Polaires brings the respite of his recent Versatile Espaces Timbrés LP (a collaboration with Clemens Hourrières): 'I met him at Xavier Veilhan's
Studio Venezia at the Venice Biennale. He's a great guy, and his universe is unique,' says Chloé. Benedikt Frey's deep techno track Iaon, is on par with his smash 2017 album, Artificial, out on ESP Institute. First-timers are also part of the recruits: Bajram Bili with the ten cerebral minutes of Restart, Théo Muller with the ultra-deep Douce Transe, and Lumi, a Basque band that fuses
electronic sounds with acoustic instruments, brings the ompilation to a close with a track commissioned by Chloé. These audacious choices are anchored down with the likes of Permanent Vacation pioneer Lauer's hooky, 80s-infused Pythor ('Just like him, I was a resident of the Robert Johnson, and he was a guest of mine at one of my Lumière Noire nights at the Rex. He is one of these people whose music I highly appreciate'); Aergeworc & Franck Agrario, half of English duo Swayzak David Brown's project, weaves an ethno* mood into Grace's techno. Bringing together different generations, genres, and styles That may not necessarily be Chloé's MO. She invokes a more arbitrary, personal logic: 'I like to mix of-the-moment tracks and more timeless one, but the rule is above all 'do I love this or not'. That was my ethos when I started Lumière Noire.' In that way, the label is definitely in keeping with its time

To be released on World Mental Health Day, part of the album's proceeds will be donated to a UK-based mental health charity. 'I often wonder how sadness moves through people,' Emika says, 'through time, through stories and history, and if it's something that becomes us rather than coming from us.'
% of album sales will be donated to charity Help Musicians UK
emikarecords. com Invites fans to anonymously share their experiences of depression and create a waterfall of comments inspired by the song Wash It All Away
Studio video promoting the album via Soundcloud, Autumn
Live / DJ video, promoting the album with Beatport, Autumn
Live streaming of the album from Emika's studio via FB, Insta, YT, September.
Bookings by Christopher at Melt Bookings. Team chose to give fans time to listen to the album first, shows starting early 2019, special album show with live band and dome visuals planned in the Berlin Planetarium Feb 2019. A few promo shows summer / fall 2018.
Boiler Room live show as part of Open Dance Floor series tbc
* Given its years of manifestation behind the scenes of other projects, Falling In Love With Sadness reflects a renewed understanding of Emika's own genealogy, kindred lineage and its connection to modernity. Marking a drastic departure from the menacing, stripped-down qualities of albums past, Dva and Drei, Emika has surfaced with a new upwelling of sound gracing the bittersweet, melancholic and sanguine.

* With the interplay of myriad genres both rhythmically and melodically intertwining between spacey, dub tinged Promises, lush synth pop hooks on Escape and the title track's soulful electro, a full spectrum of musicology remains primary to the ever-evolving chroma of Emika's umbrous sound.

* Further characterised by the breathy sibilance and sultry tones of Emika's noirish, vocal aesthetic, the album navigates through the morose and trappings of misanthropy by illuminating a narrative of emotional resilience and recovery.

* Co-produced with Robert Witschakowski of The Exaltics, and continuing her collaboration with guitarist Chris Lockington (as heard on Drei and Dva), Falling In Love With Sadness provides a fifth solo album for Emika, but moreover, defines itself as an overture for her future works.

On her debut EP, Brussels-based multi-instrumentalist Esinam gives us an entrancing insight into her eclectic world of jazztronica.

Released 21st September via Sdban Ultra, her self-titled EP carries influences from different worlds geographically, culturally and musically. Blending traditional and modern instruments with her soulful voice, the acoustic sounds of the instruments are allowed to evolve and take on new dimensions, opening up a kaleidoscopic spectrum of sound and colour.

Esinam Dogbatse is part of a new generation of musicians bringing forth a cultural blend of music. Having opened for the likes of Nakhane and Témé Tan at Les Nuits earlier this year, Belgian rapper Baloji invited her to guest on his latest critically acclaimed album '137 Avenue Kaniama'. She has also supported Alsarah & The Nubatones, Selah Sue and Melanie De Biasio on her sold-out shows at Ancienne Belgique.

For the recording of the EP, Esinam joined forces with Jules Fradet from Studio Planet (Damso, Afrikan Prötökol). Producing and playing most of the instruments herself, the EP was mastered by LA-based producer Kelly Hibbert aka Almachrome (J Dilla, Madlib, Little Dragon, Flying Lotus, Ebo Taylor, Mark de Clive-Lowe and Arca).

Lead track 'Birds Fly Under a Heavy Sky' is a mesmerising opener that smoulders effortlessly against a backdrop of subtle beats and sensual rhythms, with Esinam's soft vocals and hypnotic flute providing the groove.

On 'Do Not Go Into That Black Night', she is dark and direct. It's a magnetic take on jazz noire that doesn't distract from the sultry inflections of her voice, while 'Gavoé' recalls the spirit of her Ghanaian roots in a ballet of instruments that display a level of personal freedom and sensitivity. Through merging different genres of music, we are warmly welcomed into Esinam's musical universe.

Esinam teamed up with Senegalese DJ and producer Ibaaku on the highly charged 'Electric Lady', who provided some distinctive musical hues. A track drenched in afro-futurist colours, sonic samples and collages freely mix with electric and raw sounds, supporting the energetic playing of the flute. The structure of the song remains true to Esinam's signature sounds: surprising ruptures, poetic atmospheres and constant affirmation of groove.

When Esinam performs live, she juggles traditional instruments such as the tama, kalimba and pandeiro, which she loops and blends with the sound of her flute and voice. It sometimes triggers dance, sometimes contemplation

Hypnotizing rhythms and stormy bass cuts make up Various Visions 2, as D-Operation Drop, Zygos, Hebbe and mrshl unite on the Copenhagen based label's 9th vinyl release.

Various Visions is a new series of vinyl releases by Circle Vision, launched to present an umbrella of artists from around the globe, who share the label's vision of sound design and affection for immersive bass music.

The music on this EP was conceived in China, between 1989 and 1993. The original tracks were mixed to DAT in real time, in a small neighbour-proof studio inside my apartment in Macau, a 19th floor with a view to the hurricanes. There's a small, unexpected or improbable story behind each track, some little magic fused with the local atmosphere, certainly guaranteeing their lasting authenticity 25 years later.

TAIPEI DISCO
Late 80s Guangzhou was an exotic city where the traditional past coexisted in harmony with the present and even already with the future.
I'd rather spend my weekends in Guangzhou than diving into Hong Kong consumerism - as most ex-pats in Macau did. I took a cab at the border and travelled 150 Km through chaotic roads with family and friends until reaching the hot, humid, mega South China metropolis.
We ate on street joints in the evenings, went on to a karaoke bar and ended up at Taipei Disco, the only proper club in town. All the others were inside hotels and played generic music or they were seedy, sleazy, smoky cabarets.
Taipei Disco used to be a cinema and played cantonese pop music and anglo-saxon pop/rock (that was new). The spacious dance floor was generously lighted, the atmosphere was airy and modern. Boys and girls were in the habit of dancing in pairs, one in front of the other, observing a respectful yet sensual distance. When the girl took a few steps back, the boy went along and vice versa. With legs and feet (more than the upper bodies) synchronized with the music, they never exceeded in extroversion. Cool.
I always carried a MicroComposer and a portable DAT recorder in my travels through China and weekends in Canton. Any spontaneous musical idea was imediately recorded and memorized. The MicroComposer allowed multitrack recording, which was very handy on the road. Based on the emphatic choreography of Taipei Disco's dancers, i started to compose a rhythm track while sitting at a table, with headphones, listening to Cantopop in the background. As if by magic - not a rare occasion in music - everything began fitting together. Odd as it may seem, the track ended up sounding more germanic (Kraftwerkian) than Cantonese pop.

The story ends in a circle: the cantonese DJ at Taipei Disco, whom i used to ask to play certain records, wanted to play my music at the disco when it was basically only just a rhythm track and little else. From a cupboard under his set up he took out a battered keyboard (unrecognizable brand) and invited me to play over the track with the available sounds on the keyboard. The circle was complete, with Cantonese clubbers happily dancing forwards and backwards, as if it were another Cantopop hit.
I didn't get payed but the house offered us free ice cream cups in which little Portuguese flags were sticked.
The track would be finished later, in studio, with vocoder strings ensemble and synth solos.

TAIPEI DISCO (LIVE)
The live version of 'Taipei Disco' was recorded during a live set at the China Pop venue, in Macau, 1993. China Pop was a rock club built in the ample space of an old fishing warehouse, located in the labyrinthic Inner Harbour area. It was decorated with large Mao Zedong and Cultural Revolution posters and memorabilia and had a unique atmosphere, fusing Pop Art with film noir. We began our performance at 1AM, pretty early for Macau's nightlife standards. We were lucky. An audience showed up. And in Macau there were always several friends among the audience, which tranformed a musical performance into a relaxed party.
The atmosphere was particularly surreal on that night. The front row was dominated by French Crazy Horse dancers, a sort of Oriental Moulin Rouge. The girls had finished their last performance of the evening at the Crazy Horse and were still energized from their show. During our performance, right in front of us and perfectly synched, we could hear the famous irreverent screams of can-can dancers. You always had to expect the unexpected in Macau.

RED MAMBO (IMPROMPTU)
I was familiar with the Portuguese-speaking African countries well before having lived in China. I found myself returning several times to one in particular, always attracted by its magic and very distinct, identitary culture and music: Cape Verde.
During the early years of DWART a lot of the inspiration for drum machine rhythms (Roland's TR series) came from African music, especially from new musical trends that gained full autonomy with Cape Verde's independence from Portugal, as was the case with funaná.
I had the privilege of having known and befriended some of the greatest Capeverdian composers, musicians and singers during the 70s and 80s, such as Bana, Luís Morais, Cesária Évora, Paulino Vieira, Chico Serra, Tito Paris, and historical bands such as Bulimundo (ambassadors of funaná) and Os Tubarões (great innovators of morna, coladera and funaná, with the sonic impact of an afro-beat big band).
When Luís Filipe de Barros began playing Os Tubarões for the first time on Portuguese radio, that was the turning point for African music in Portugal. The 'Tabanca' album was so widely heard and talked about that it quickly got a Portuguese release through one of the big labels of the time.
The mystic of this band from the Santiago Island would reach the East. Os Tubarões played to a packed room in Macau in 1992, and after the bombastic gig we arranged a dinner and party at my place.
We ate and drank generously and the moment came for a jam session at the small studio on the 19th floor. Because Os Tubarões didn't all fit in the studio, we recorded an impromptu with only three of the musicians: Tótó Silva (electric guitar), Mário Russo Bettencourt (bass) and Zeca Couto (piano). And there we were improvising without barriers, suddenly detached from cultural roots, labels and constraints, a truly unique moment. The track is now being released exactly as it was recorded, imbued with the real communion between the musicians. And it could only be titled 'Red Mambo'. I wish to dedicate it to the memory of Ildo Lobo and Jaime do Rosário, founders of Os Tubarões, sadly and too soon departed from the land of music.

Lift To The Scaffold Or, In The Original French Title, Ascenseur Pour L'échafaud, Is A Brilliant Film Noir From 1958 That Helped To Establish The Nouvelle Vague And The New Modern Cinema Scenes. No Less Brilliant Is The Score, Composed By Miles Davis And Featuring Mostly French Musicians, Including The Great Barney Wilen On Tenor Saxophone, As Well As Kenny Clarke On Drums, This Is Some Of The Most Lonesome And Morose Music Davis Recorded In His Career. Perfectly Matching The Stark, Dangerous, And Grim Moods Of The Film, This Is A Truly Amazing Score By One Of The Biggest Names In Jazz Music History.

Elektroliza is a series of club events formed by a group of dedicated electronic music enthusiasts in 2006. It is hosted by Ljubljana's Channel Zero, a legendary club that is part of the autonomous social centre Metelkova which used to be the Slovenian headquarters of the Yugoslav National Army.Filling a void in Slovenia's electronic dance scene, the night was a hit from the start and quickly grew into a diverse and successful series focusing on new and exciting electro, acid and dark techno.Elektroliza hosted many memorable DJ and live acts by performers/producers/pioneers coming out of international music incubators in Gothenburg, The Hague, Berlin and as far as Detroit. Even more importantly, it brought together producers and crews from the former Yugoslav republics of Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and Macedonia. Inside the former Yugoslavian military barracks DJs and producers from Skopje to Ljubljana began bonding again through music, forming new friendships, starting new collaborations and dancing the night away... in 'Electro City Ljubljana'.This first double vinyl compilation of the Balkan Elektroliza family is a collection of our shared memories and visions of the future to come.

A continuation of his kaleidoscopic sun-dappled cosmic-disco, Neon Leon was the much-loved CD-only sophomore album by Sorcerer. Just in time for Spring/Summer, we present the first ever vinyl issue, released as a deluxe double LP.

A perfectly formed suite of ten tracks featuring soft guitars, subtle synths and lightly grooving percussion, Neon Leon magically evokes that elusive summer feeling throughout. The guitar-driven "Algorhythm" serves as the album opener, blasting bold, sun-drenched jazz chords atop bright synths and groove-based drum programming. "Ride The Serpent" and "Distort Yourself" are guided by a more sultry, slo-mo disco impulse whilst the staggering "Chemise" and strident "Face It" merge 80s West Coast production sheen with Sorcerer's trademark laid back, gentle disco. "Raydio"'s undeniable head-nod groove adds a rare vocal to the proceedings, joyously combining with the bubbling cosmic funk.

Since its initial release in 2009, exceptional producers have created vibrant variations on the dreamy, dubby, melodic nu-disco theme. Happily, the emergence of such luminaries as Jex Opolis, Harvey Sutherland, Suzanne Kraft, Tornado Wallace et al has only served to make the master - Sorcerer - sound ever more brilliant and vital.

Utilising his array of guitars, drum machines, synths, and trusty MPC, the loved-up Sorcerer sound inspires halcyon memories of warm days, endless sunsets and pure youthful abandon. Influenced by surf, 80s dance pop, acid-R&B, space jazz, krautrock, disco, dub, and am radio gold, his music maps a tour through a uniquely Californian lifestyle. Yet when music so vividly captures a vibe and a feeling, it can make writing about it appear almost redundant. Instead, to glean the full colour of what your turntable will soon gratefully radiate, we prescribe the generous soundclips presented here.

And, for a unique insight into the process behind the wonderful sounds conjured up, here's Sorcerer himself:

"Neon Leon's is the name of a bar in a Elmore Leonard book I was reading on a vacation to Belize with my future wife. I was soaking up his brand of noir during the making of the songs on this record, along with another favorite Ross Macdonald. We were living in a small apartment in the Mission District of San Francisco where i had my own room to jam. It was painted Orange and Turquoise and was a very inspiring place to create and focus. I could walk out of my house to any number of hole in the wall bars where people were deejaying, hanging-out, and knew about me and my music.

After White Magic I developed more confidence in my style and process so I stuck with it and I believe it shows in the tunes I selected for the record. The sounds are rich and I dug deeper into sampling from obscure dollar records and getting looser musically. I made a handful of collage videos for the tracks at this time as well, which represent where my mind was at visually. In my mind it's Cosmic Funk that rules the day and I am thankful to have the opportunity to share it with the world again."

Lovingly remastered by the esteemed Simon Francis, cut reassuringly loud on to heavyweight double vinyl and presented in a deluxe gatefold jacket with freshly commissioned artwork throughout from original designer Rich Robinson, this limited edition of 500 copies is sure to fly.

WHEN YOU'VE FINISHED LOOKING AROUND THE WEBSITE, YOU CAN FIND US ON THESE SOCIAL CHANNELS

Extra Noir is a coldwave, minimal synth and post-punk soundtrack based in South Korea. This is the first of a series of compilations, featuring artists from the hosts' three most recent homes - Scotland, Korea and Texas. Available on digital and limited release vinyl. About the artists:
Aadm Our Hatley is a Texas-based multi-instrumentalist who has played in a long list of underground Austin acts, such as Red X Red M, Attack Formation, Those Peabodys and Bangaar. He currently plays guitar in Chamberlain Greene and drums in Boss Eye. Straddling the dank border between industrial and no wave, Glasgow duo Total Leatherette also brings pervy disco fetish to their sleazy brand of mutant music.
Kübler-Ross is one of the many aliases of Glasgow electronic producer / remixer Dave Clark. A versatile and prolific producer, Clark has worked with JD Twitch of Optimo as one half of the Optimo (Espacio) remix team, played guitar in Badalamentian blues band Big Ned, and has been recently recording synth-based solo tracks as Kübler-Ross.
Comprised of techno producer Seonggu de Kim and minimal ambient artist Eajik, Airy Textile is a synth duo originally based in Seoul, South Korea. Their contribution to Extra Noir Vol. 1 marks their first release on vinyl. Tengger are an electronic psychedelic duo from Seoul, South Korea, comprised of Itta (harmonium and vocals) and Marqido (modular synth).
Texan synth wizard Xander Harris is one of the most influential artists in the 'horror disco' genre, and has consistently delivered tense, garish and unflinching journeys into the darkest domains of dance music. This track, 'The Velvet Hand', is exclusive to Extra Noir Vol. 1. Pecht is the nom de plume of a Manchester-based solo artist who retreated to the wilds of northern Scotland after years in the London entertainment industry. His self-titled debut album was recorded during his exile on the north coast. 'unlock' is Pecht's first release on vinyl. Cucina Povera is the musical identity of Maria Rossi, a Glasgow musician and vocalist originally from Finland. She is a collaborator in Luxos with Daniel Magee of Lo Kindre, and a former DJ on Glasgow's Subcity Radio. Her debut LP, Hilja, was released in January 2018.

Coco finally available on double vinyl for the first time. With his unmistakable sound-mix of Jazzand Swing samples and electronic music, Parov Stelar has secured his own unique position in the world of music.

The double vinyl starts off where his former successful LP's ended. On the other hand he is consequently developing his established jazzy sound, by adding new stylistic elements to his tunes. Also his dancefloor-productions, which

have been published only as singles, now find a debut to a greater extent on this album. They meet with Stelar's melancholic-melodious trademark-sound, which is well known from his earlier albums, but now also spiced up with Hip-

Hop beats and synthpads. An electrifying album to fall for. The two vinyls are originally thought of as one with tracks that can be danced to and one with tracks just for listening. Nevertheless the line between those two approaches becomes blurred in Parov Stelar's newer compositions. The

album makes your feet tap more and more with every track. The musician himself sees the LP as a 'book for musical readers' which is classically defined in introduction, middle part and end. Because of streaming hit singles the

consumer behaviour changed, people don't listen to albums the same way they used to. The whole experience that includes refelecting on less prominent tracks somehow got lost. Parov Stelar sets 'Coco' as a statement against this habit.

· Bart Davenport's 7th album since his 2002 solo debut
· West Coast yacht rock meets '80s English pop
· Produced by L.A. Takedown's Aaron M. Olson
· Confirmed live dates in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, San Diego, Vida Festival (Spain)

Recorded in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, Blue Motel is the new album by Bart & The Bedazzled, a brand new musical enterprise by Bart Davenport and his seventh album proper since his solo breakout in 2002. Alluding to Los Angeles with the lights down, it's an amalgam sound of '80s English pop and West Coast yacht rock jams, sprinkled with cinematic flourishes clearly influenced by the understated production of L.A. Takedown's Aaron M. Olson. The jangly pop aesthetic, resplendent with choppy chorus tinted guitar, snappy snares, sax and bass is underlined with life trodden stories about day jobs, dating, financial insecurities, lost innocence and most prominently, time travel.

The album lives somewhere in an imagined past (or future) that is curiously both the 1960s and 1980s conveying the groups's nostalgia for a fantasy world with a cheeky cynicism, despite a perception of a world that is, for Bart, on the downfall. To that end, Davenport's songs are, as always, delivered with a happy and sad sensibility reminiscent of the great Burt Bacharach. From the surreal yet humorous 'The House That Built Itself' to the sad surf music of 'Halloween By The Sea' or the romantic L.A. noir of the title track, Blue Motel arrives with a spoonful of tears, a nod and a wink.

The Bedazzled band lineup, united by their love of the 'Elegant '80s', includes the guitar of Wayne Faler (Dream Boys), drums, percussion and beats by Andres Renteria (Jose Gonzales) and post-punk bass lines from Jessica Espeleta (L.A. Takedown). The four friends from Los Angeles, united in their affection for the more sophisticated sounds of English '80s groups like Prefab Sprout and Style Council give the setlist a more distinctively pop flavour compared to Bart's soulful last outing on his album Physical World, also released on Lovemonk. Blue Motel features regular appearances from female vocalist Nedelle Torrisi (Domino, Asthmatic Kitty) who notably adds the lush layers of harmony on 'The Amateurs'. Saxophonist Billy McShane is also featured on three songs with improvisations that evoke the scene of whales in outer space.

Producer Olson often incorporates soundtrack and avant-garde elements in his own work. His gift for song arrangement, understanding of the synth and penchant for subtlety all shine brightly on Blue Motel.

"The kind of melancholia I'm talking about, by contrast, consists not in giving up on desire, but in refusing to yield. It consists, that is to say, in a refusal to adjust to what current conditions call 'reality' - even if the cost of that refusal is that you feel like an outcast in your own time." (Mark Fisher, Ghosts Of My Life, Zero Books 2014, p. 24) In Ghosts of My Life: Writings on Depression, Hauntology and Lost Futures', the author Mark Fisher outlines - to put it in a big way - a resistant melancholy. This stands in contrast to leftist melancholy resignation', as well as something which Fisher does not talk about: its common masculine counterpart, habitual post-left cynicism - as in seen it all before'. Fisher calls this hauntological melancholy. Haunting, spooks, ghosts and apparitions are an almost constant presence on I Started Wearing Black', the second album by the Cologne-based artist Sonae (pronounced so-nah'). The term hauntology shares a fate with retro-futurism when it comes to inflationary overuse and abuse. It's a conceptual container that looks good and can hold a lot, indeed, too much. Furthermore, hauntology has its peak season behind it, a term on the threshold of its expiration date. Nevertheless, I would like to rehabilitate hauntology and use it properly to characterize I Started Wearing Black', because the term is rarely as compelling to describe music as is the case here. The most recent other example could be Asiatisch' by Fatma Al Qadiri, but with a completely different frame of reference. What are the ghosts of this music It rustles, crackles, ruffles, crunches, rattles, scrapes, sometimes a beat emerges from the constant noise, sometimes an obscure voice mumbles incomprehensibly, sometimes a melancholy piano figure is prevented by this noise from coming too much to the foreground. It definitely is eerie - to bring into play another term used by Fisher in the title of his latest book, The Weird and the Eerie'. In British pop-jargon, eerie first occurred to me more often when referring to particularly leftfield, spooky and... well... ghostly dub, a bass-heavy, echoing noise, from Augustus Pablo to Creation Rebel to Burial. Unlike the Wald & Wagner records by Wolfgang Voigt, Sonae is not a kind of neo-romantic veiling with a tendency for escapist nebula. It is more a noise of latency. The noise signals a latent - not necessarily acute - threat, a latent uneasiness about... yes... about what About a System Immanent Value Defect' That's the name of a track on I Started Wearing Black' where something that sounds like a French Horn (or a foghorn) battles for attention through or against the background noise. An email from Sonae: The piece 'System Immanent Value Defect' should actually be called 'I See Turkey'. I wrote it for my fellow student Elif - she is a pianist and Gezi Park activist from Istanbul. Through her I witnessed the inner conflict and agitation that political circumstances can create: her feelings of guilt when there was an attack, with her safe in Germany as a student, watching the events from afar. It was horrible. When her mother begged her not to come home because she feared for her safety, I felt a cold shiver run down my spine. I started with the piece from this mood, beginning with the piano, then the noise (modulated sinusoidal curves), which reminded me of waves and the then heatedly discussed Mediterranean sea: atmospheric, melancholy motifs. In contrast is the anger, the pressure, represented in corresponding sounds - hopefully audible! - During this time I started to think about world views as they can be found around the globe, in how far they held by societies and their political representation. I realized that I know of no political system that is actually about the people and what would do them good. It's always about positions, power, money. I thought that was a lot more frightening on a global scale than merely viewing Turkey in isolation. That's why the piece is called "System Immanent Value Defect", because our world suffers from precisely that. Everywhere, it's all about the wrong things.' Between the wrong things there are happy moments. In the title track, after 184 seconds of rattling and hissing, a beat is unleashed, like an arrow released from a spanned bow, a beatific relief, if there is such a thing. White Trash Rouge Noir' first meanders along spookily, then after 144 seconds it transforms itself into a distant cousin of Einstu¨rzende Neubauten's Yu¨ Gung', but there is no Big Male Ego to be fed here, and the black in the album title is a completely different type of black from that of the Neubauten. Furthermore, I Started Wearing Black' was finished long before the black dresses were worn at the Golden Globes as a sign of protest against sexual violence. Sonae writes that she herself started wearing black some time ago. Her reasons are so-called personal ones: ... resulting from an individual situation (lovesickness), I started to wear black (gaining weight and feeling ugly).' The political dimension of gaining weight, feeling ugly and therefore dressing in black in I Started Wearing Black' lurks within the noise and never becomes explicit and only rarely manifest - or a manifesto. Sonae writes about the track We Are Here': A piece for minorities... in this case, considering the current pop-feminist discourse, explicitly for women. Female artists have long been saying loud and clear that 'we are here' and 'electronic music is not a boys club!' But this pop-feminist moment should only be seen as one part of the dedication of the piece. It is for minorities, for the oppressed, who didn't belong enough.'

Klaus Walter

* Taking its title from a Minoan legend that deals with rage, greed and destruction, the latest release from Abyss X expands and reconstructs conceptions of aural space and time. Out on February 16 on Danse Noire, Pleasures of the Bull finds the multi-disciplinary artist and producer flirting with the sounds of hard jazz while mystifying the parameters of experimental music across several distinct movements, thus allowing the listener to break free from their sonic principles.
* Intoxicating, ambient textures mesh with Abyss X's own expressive vocals, as well as the sounds of the traditional Cretan lyra, played by Maria Skoula. Her sound modification creates a collage of temporalities - allow yourself to move outside linear dimensions, and her to confide in you. Prog rock guitar lines twist stolidly beneath warped vocal samples, and the timbre of the bowed lyra permeates the atmosphere in a thick, suffocating haze.
* As the listener travels through space and time, so too does the artist. Abyss X delves into the fullness of her craft, drawing from her background in theater and performance, in addition to the frenzied energy of her live shows as a musician. The music throbs with a frantic yet unmistakably deliberate drama. Pleasures of the Bull feels like a gentle punch in the gut; a compelling auditory performance and a bold exploration of the narrative album format.

LP Maxime Daoud, a much sought after musician accompanying Forever Pavot and his brother Adrien Soleiman, has released under the alias Ojard a first album of soft and delicate instrumental vignettes. If '' Euphonie '' calls for cinematographic comparisons (Vladimir Cosma, Basil Kirchin), the minimalism of the arrangements, the simplicity of the melodies conjure up to Erik Satie's '' furniture music '' and Brian Eno's 'thinking music.

This is the 2nd installment of Sable Noir recordings: the Jojoe EP, a 4 track vinyl exploring a deeper, sometimes darker minded side of the 170 spectrum.

The first 2 tracks by Jojoe are some really deep, clean, and strong tunes, and also dancefloor destroyers, we saved them for years until finding the right idea to release them and this is whats happening now with this vinyl.

The first track untitled is a deep and dark minimalistic tune with a really strong bassline and some great cuts that makes it a fantastic dj tool for your sets.

The second track "97" is a clean and deep tune driven by some analog pads and a reese bass that will make a great job on any
systems!! Watch out for the switch in the second drop!!

The 2 tracks on the B-side are by Joakuim the first one "To Chant Down Babylon" is a halftempo dub influenced tune @ 170 bpm with a strong vocal sample and dubby bassline! The last track "Snow" leads you onto a world of deep and cold atmospheres with a rolling beat and bassline!

This vinyl is done in the memory of Joe Holland, beloved friend and music producer. This EP is done for him!!

Air Lows is the debut solo album by Silvia Kastel. The Italian artist has been a fixture of the underground since her precocious teens, clocking up many miles in Control Unit with Ninni Morgia ('It's like Catherine Deneuve dumped two cases of post-Repulsion psychiatric notes over Pere Ubu's Dub Housing, lit the fuse and, ahem, stood well back" - Julian Cope), including collaborations with the likes of Smegma, Factrix, Gary Smith, Aki Onda and Gate (Michael Morley of The Dead C). Both solo and in her work with others, Kastel has explored the outer limits and inner workings of no wave, industrial, dub, extreme electronics, free rock and improvisation. Air Lows is both her fullest and most refined offering to date, a work of vivid, isolationist electronics which draws deeply on her past experience but assuredly breaks new ground. Prompted by a late-flowering interest in techno and club music, Kastel sought to create something which combines a steady rhythmic pulse with the otherworldly sonorities of musique concrete, and avant-garde synth sounds inspired by Japanese minimalism and techno-pop (Haruomi Hosono's Philharmony being a particular favourite). The formal artifice of muzak / elevator music, the intros and outros of generic popular songs, the extreme light-heavy contrasts of jungle, the creative sampling of hardcore, and the very 'human' synths in the jazz of Herbie Hancock's Sextant and Sun Ra: all were touchstones for Air Lows' conception and composition, and all strains of music addressing - or complicating - the relationship between the human and the technological. By extension, visual inspirations also proved important: anime, and the avant-garde fashion of Rei Kawakubo. What does that shirt or dress sound like Though used sparingly, Kastel's voice remains her key instrument, whether subject to dissociative digital manipulations as on 'Bruell', delivering matter-of-fact spoken monologues, or providing splashes of pure tonal colour. Recorded between her expansive Italy studio and a more compact, ersatz set-up in Berlin, Air Lows gradually takes on some of the character of the German capital: you can hear the wide streets and uninhabited spaces, the seepage of never-ending nightlife, the loneliness. Air Lows is The Wizard of Oz in reverse: the glorious technicolour J-pop deconstructions of its first half leading inexorably to the icy noir of 'Spiderwebs' and 'Concrete Void'. These later tracks are reminiscent of 2015's magnificent 39 12', Kastel in the role of numbed, nihilistic chanteuse stalking dank, murky tunnels of reverb and sub-bass. But in fact there is contradiction and emotional ambiguity to Air Lows from the outset, and throughout - a sense of both infinite space and acute claustrophobia; energy and inertia; fluency and restraint.

SPECIAL LIMITED EDITION X 300 WITH BONUS 7 :
Limited special edition with the 7" containing the track "Lune noire", in 2 parts - one per side.
It's already been 5 years since the last Zombie Zombie album 'Rituels d'un Nouveau Monde', after which the group explored other territories by signing 2 film scores, namely 'Loubia Hamra' by Narimane Mari and 'Irréprochable' by Sébastien Marnier, as well as creating the music accompanying a contemporary circus show called 'Slow Futur' created by Martin Palisse and Elsa Guérin. Wouldn't these beautiful parentheses make you want to return to the sources After 10 years at Versatile Records, 2017 also marks the decade anniversary of the release of their first album 'A Land for Renegades' in 2007, at the time considered to be one of the 10 best albums of the year according to Rough Trade.
'Livity' - Zombie Zombie's latest opus seems to plunge us deep into science fiction, with a cover designed by the mythic cartoonist Philippe Druillet, who is also the founder of the cult Métal Hurlant comic series. The title of the album is somewhat misleading, as one could mistakenly think of a certain dub record made at
the famous Island Records Compass Point studio in the Bahamas. For the uninitiated 'Livity' or 'Life force' is actually a Rastafarian spiritual concept based on the idea that an energy exists within, and flows through, all people and all living things. The record was recorded last winter in Paris, in a very short time frame. 7 tracks played live in 7 days, by Etienne Jaumet (synthesizers / rhythm box / metallophone / sax), Cosmic Neman (drums / vocals / sound effects), and Dr. Schonberg (percussion / electronics / trumpet), recorded at the Red Bull Studios by Thibaut Javoy and Jerome Caron, 2 very competent engineers. To keep it in the family, the album was then mixed by another member of the Versatile stable, the mysterious and legendary DJ/producer I:Cube, done in the label's Victor Studio.
On this album the principles that are dear to the group rest being respected, still as far away as always from the standards of 'radio play', A living kind of music, composed of long instrumental moments recorded with analog synthesizers and drum machines, accompanied by drums and percussion. But I:Cube's touch may bring the unique energy that one may find at Zombie Zombie's concerts; on certain cuts like title track 'Livity' that the group recorded in Laos, a wild combination of 808 kick drums and bewitching jungle sounds that sound quite unlike anything else out there, and especially on 'Hippocampe', which gives the impression of hearing an old school hip hop rhythm with the power of a metal band who have replaced their guitars with an army of synthesizers: we recommend you listen to this particular track in a convertible while speeding down the highway.
As with all of Zombie Zombie's music the cinematic component is still strong, on titles like 'Ils existent..' 'Acera' which was originally composed for ciné-concerts accompanying the films of Jean Painlevé et Maurice Pialat. The energy of the beginning is still very present, as is - of course - the kraut inspiration. But it's also an album that takes new directions and sonic risks, like on 'Looose', which brings to mind the Art Ensemble of Chicago, or the groove of James Chance in New York in the early 1980's, featuring the free sax solos of Etienne Jaumet and Dr. Schonberg on the trumpet. The group also offers some slower and calmer titles, like 'Heavy Meditation' as well as exploring more experimental tracks in the line of French 70's groups such as Lard Free or Richard Pinhas, for example on the bonus track 'Black Moon'.
Please - Take your time, and enjoy listening!

The sub label of Sonic Groove, 'Sonic Groove Experiments', returns after a 4 year hiatus with a stellar re-release of the Electrowave classic 'Eruption' by Beta Evers. Originally released as a Limited Edition 12' back in 2005 on Beta's own Kommando 6 label. Now in 2017 the original pressing goes for quite a fortune on the record collecting market. Often exceeding €60 for a mint copy. For the first time in a dozen years this release is available on vinyl in its original running order but with very sleak new artwork for the normal asking price of a new store bought 12'.

Beta Evers is Brigitte Enzler from Augsburg, Germany. An artist with a substantial amount of accomplished work to her credit including an early release on the storied Hague label, Cre`me and her side project Black Spider Clan. After ceasing Kommando 6 operations, Beta Evers continues on independently releasing music on her other labels Bodyvolt and Venus Noir. Her most recent release is the 2016 awesome 'Delusion' album on legendary Industrial/EBM pioneer Dirk Ivens prestigious Daft imprint.

The opening track's title serves as a warning, titled 'Don't Be Afraid', a cold introduction led by sinister synth lines soliciting our attention to expertly crafted true analog electronic percussion in the EBM/Dark Electro disciplines. Surreal, deep and seductive vocals lie in the wake at the center of the composition giving us a melancholic piece worthy of deep contemplation during listening on or off the dance floor.

The following track 'Move In My Body Rhythm' continues in the same sinister and dark aesthetic in a more driving manner, this track continues to bring forth energy with a precise beat and rhythm accompanied by acidic synth modulations.

Side B continues to hold the heavy weight of this extended player with the track 'Eruptive' This reference track to the title of the EP. is an electronic/vocal robotic analog circuit breaker suitable for dawn light on the floor. Traditional arsenal of classic analog sounds are arranged and rearranged with sonic manipulation at the test. Mutant dance music for cosmic venues.

The closing track, 'Destination Lost' is comprised of lyrics of urban angst and disturbance whispered out through sultry vocals. Dark minimalist and cinematic cyberpunk breaks reinforced by low drone synth waves and crystals of lysergic analog bleeps drifting along the perimeter. Dead serious wave infected electronics.

This sonic document also serves as a good example of a roots approach to creating music whilst at the same time giving us something entirely innovative. This is as futuristic as it is timeless and that reflects the elements of a masterpiece.

Emotional Rescue starts its 5th year by shining a light on one of Europe's best underground 80s' label in Spain's Auxilio De Ciento. Their Terra Incognita Volumes I and II collated an international mix of synth-pop, new wave, world and industrial sounds to a small but appreciative following. Released in 1985 and 1986, the Volumes have become highly regarded and rightly sought after, finding a place in discerning playlists from London to Amsterdam and Dusseldorf to Glasgow. Here, taking a premise of avoiding the songs unearthed on other recent reissues, is a unique album itself. Starting with Denis Mpunga & Paul K's esoteric Criola, a fusion of fourth world ideals and poly-rhythmic funk. The music of Mal, Bene Gesserit and La Caida De La Casa Usher, however, soon highlight that the decade also belonged to dark, minimal synth as to shiny balearic ideals. The inclusion of Hector Zazou with Bony Biyake and their contribution Komba, is a fitting continuation from their cult Noir Et Blanc LP before, things continue with US avant-artist Danny Alias and his humorous Big Brother "response" to Laurie Anderson's Superman O. Image Pour Image loose indie-pop and the inclusion of seminal Beast Of Burden lead again to a Zazou contribution, this time in his collaborative Stranger In A New Light, before the compilation eclectically ends with the dadaesque Lakota and the post punk dub of Instead Of's closer, Angels .

''Noir Jungle Part II'' finds the Italian producers 'Cardace & Perazzini' once again demonstrating originals and exciting modes of expression, not to mention the extraordinary level of detail in their music. It rounds the project off, with yet more unpredictable diversions of their immersive sound design to paint a vivid and unique landscape at its most dynamic framework. 'Swinging Plans' places the drums at the forefront of the mix, using incredible layers of brushed, rolling an expressive live recordings to create a truly thrilling experience that speaks to the deepest human instinct for rhythmic sound. 'Internal N.5', intensify the Techno-influenced energy as it races ahead on a tightly wound rhythm, adding a rich array of sounds into the mix to create a focused and detailed trip loaded with cinematic tension. 'George Is There', takes rich chords running through delay and reverb while maintaining a pronounced house groove with perfect and subtle touches of jazz into the track, invigorating sonic experience aimed at both, the mind and the dancefloor. 'Below the Earth', This is a perfect example of Cardace & Perazzini's exercise of restraint, keeping the mood simmering while still displaying their love for ear-snagging samples in between the folds of the track. 'Really Low Mind' sets a thrilling tone straight away with a rolling drum beat taking the lead and subtle tonal sweeps filling in the space around. It's a testament of skills when sequencing drums, not least when it peaks after a tantalizing breakdown. 'Night Train' sits easy on the ears but there is a deep level of production at work that reveals itself as the heavily processed samples of instrumentation starts to unfurl halfway through the track.

Beautiful Full Cover Art, Limited to 300 - Lumière Noire - The new label by Chloé!

Il Est Vilaine aren't from Brittany, but they sure are tricksters. The Francophiles among you might have caught on to the corny pun in their name (beating a certain presidential candidate to the punch all while turning the name of the pastoral Ile-et-Vilaine region into, literally, 'he's a nasty woman") but the real takeaway is that these born-and-bred Parisians don't take themselves too seriously - especially in an era in which there is much too much of that happening. It was in 2014 (and on Dialect Recordings) that Florent and Simon tossed their debut 12 into the ring, the rightfully named Scandale - a tight little bombshell released that roused the electronic music scene out of its complacent little catnap.So there we had it, two outcasts refusing to eat at the same table as the tech-house scene queens, serving up three whiplash-on-the-dancefloor cuts drenched in sweaty hedonistic disco and wrapped in a battered motorcycle jacket (with a gooey post-punk-pop core for good measure.) A clear mission statement right out of the gates, watermarked with mystical incantations and throbbing with rock 'n' roll's primitive drive. Everything and the kitchen sink, and a bag of chips - an invitation to just let lose that's even better than the sum of its parts. Moving on to this new platter. We set the scene: motorcycles blazing from the airport strip to the strip joint, our heroes traded their Oberkampf stomping grounds for a sleepless weekend of Spanish groupies, discount bikinis, whiskey and bukkake. And a creative spurt that left us with a mutant of a record, the sound of rock and techno crashing through a drum kit mid-coitus, interrupted by La French Chanson

Over the years, Phil Mison has become the go-to selector for those looking for Ibiza-themed compilations. None of his previous collections, though, have been quite as personal as Out Of The Blue, a compilation inspired by his first spell behind the decks at the Café Del Mar in 1993 - and the remarkable chain of events leading up to it.

Mison made his first trip to Ibiza in the summer of 1991 and quickly fell in love with the magical music being played by Café Del Mar resident DJ, Jose Padilla. On his return to the UK, Mison began to cultivate his own take on the laidback, open-minded style, recording mix-tapes of Ibiza style chill out' tunes to give to friends.

In November 1992, Mison was hanging out in Tag Records, Soho, when Padilla walked in. He plucked up the courage to speak to the Spaniard because earlier that summer Mison had given one of his friends some tapes to take out to Jose in Ibiza so he wanted to see if he had got them. During the conversation Mison invited him down to his next DJ set at Nicky Holloway's club, the Milk Bar and less than three months later, and clearly impressed by what he'd heard on the tapes, Padilla invited Mison to fill in for him at the Café Del Mar, beginning in April '93.

It's that first trip to DJ in Ibiza - a crazy six-weeks spent dividing his time between spinning records at Café Del Mar, hanging out in Jose Padilla's house in the hills, and meeting some particularly eccentric White Isle residents - that proved the inspiration for Out Of The Blue.

The compilation contains a mixture of records that Mison played in his earliest Ibiza sets, those that remind him of that period, and recent discoveries that boast a similarly warm, loved-up vibe. Mison is at pains to point out that it's not a track-for-track representation of his first sets, but rather a collection inspired by this most momentous of experiences.

As you'd expect from a selector of Phil Mison's standing, Out Of The Blue is an outstanding collection. Some will no doubt hear the influence of his mentor - the man he credits with effectively turning his DJing career around - in the undulating rhythms and new age melodies of Kamasutra's Sugar Step', the meandering synthesizer solos and Spanish language vocals of Congarilla's sublime Sacred Tree', and the lilting flamenco guitars of Gambarra', an unreleased mix from Mison's popular Cantoma project.

Elsewhere, listeners can marvel at the starry ambient bliss of Belgian legend Frank De Wulf's The End', recline to the saucer-eyed fusion jazz of the Christoph Spendel Group, shuffle along to tactile, hard-to-find period deep house from Language, Moodswings and Don Carlos, and marvel at The Cactus Rose Project's ridiculously rare Jelly', a sparkling, disco-era jazz-rock outing partly inspired by the Doobie Brothers' Long Train Running'.

Out Of The Blue may well be a very personal selection of tracks celebrating a moment in time, but it's happily one that we can all enjoy.

Jacob Long's newest recordings under the Earthen Sea moniker deepen his compelling synthesis of shadowy rhythms and opaque atmospherics, drawing on the most potent qualities of melancholic ambient and dub techno.

An Act Of Love' follows 2015's Ink,' released via Ital's Lovers Rock imprint,
and was inspired by internal tribulations and the experience of exploring an empty nocturnal metropolis. Careful waves of tones drift and decay, beats materialize and pulse across twilit landscapes, a noir mood reigns.

Given Long's background as bassist for revelatory tribal-punk trio Mi Ami, An Act Of Love' showcases a musician in the midst of transcendent redefinition, crafting an immersive language of texture and motion.

From Jacob Long:
This record was made over the course of the most emotionally difficult and stressful year in my life thus far. As such, it is both a reflection of that experience and also something that gave me space to begin working through issues to see a way forward, to a better place both psychically and physically.

An idea that was also central to my thoughts while creating the album was the concept and reality of being out in the city at night, wandering around a large urban area after dark - the contrast of empty streets but with life still going on all around, and the openness and possibilities that can bring. This music was an attempt to capture that feeling.

Six years after his last album on Miasmah, Schattenspieler, it's great to find Marcus Fjellström resurrected after several long years spent composing his audio-visual opera Boris Christ.

Born out of shattered dreams and an obscured vision of the future, Skelektikon is a delirious yet lucid exploration of the farthest and most conflicted reaches of the heart, teeming with confusion, passion, and ghostly shadows. Being no conventional composer in any way, Marcus stumbles further down his musical domain of detuned orchestral (re-)arrangements and pain-inducing synth passages, arriving at a most unique and personal result. Where Schattenspieler gave way to noir filled alleyways, Skelektikon fills them with paranoia. It's the sound of Limbo, of dancing amoebas, of deviant skeletons, nostalgia and futurism, or quite possibly none of that.

Inhabited by the bizarre and the beautiful, Marcus's music is a blurred yet encouraging representation of how you can never trust your own feelings - or eyes and ears for that matter. And yet, we can't shake the idea that the truth is to be found somewhere within this alien language, as delivered to us through the speakers. Opening our eyes after the final track has dissipated, we wouldn't be surprised to find someone or something there, staring at us, in silent and unsettling knowledge.

the half Mexican half French drum and bass label, based in
both country, and launched in 2016, created and owned by
Joaquim Plossu in order to release deep and liquid jazzy
music @ 170 bpm, and also at other tempos. Sable Noir
Recordings provides us with a platform to release quality
music.

The return of The Hague's black magician! It has been 13 years since The Parallax Corporation / Conservatives projects together with I-f and now Intergalactic Gary is back. I-G hooked up with a new musical partner, the lovely and talented Pasiphae from Greece and together they deliver four very well-crafted tracks of contemporary machine-driven techno romance, with the ecstatic title track 'Made of glass' being the floor burner that will unite dancefloors worldwide. With the 'Made Of Glass' ep Bio Rhythm proudly presents the absolute creme de la creme of the current Dutch West Coast 'noir' scene.

Modelisme is proud to welcome the french talented and prolific artist Anaxander we use to
see on labels as Pokerflat, Tasteful Nudes, Quintessential, Local Talk to name a few..
House - Techno moods have no secret for him, and for this 30th release on the label, he
delivers a surprising and solid EP based on House Music mainly.
B1 - « Turn Out » is a great boogie house track, plenty of Disco Funk influences built on a fat
groove with a slight mainstream vocals.
B2 - « Party Track (Midnight In Malmousque Mix) » is an exceptional Slow Deep House
Techno with a slight Soul Electro Funk touch, solid and floating, warm bodies and sunglasses
ready to make dance under early sunrise or smoked club dance floor inside.
A1 - « Party Track (Kai Alce Remix) » remixed by one of Deep House fathers Kai Alce,
NDATL label Boss and author of numerous Eps on Track Mode, Mahogani Music, FXHE,
Deep Explorer.. This superb remix is in classical Deep Chicago House vein, close to some
Glenn Underground works, Jazz Funk influences and subtle grooves.
Already Supported by Jimpster, Ooft, Kelton Prima, Grego G, Jee, Mugwump, Hardrock
Striker, Oyvind Morken, Dj Steef, Jona Saucedo, Michael Zucker, Hydergine, Kriss
Liferecorder, Dawad & Mokic, Virgo Music, La dame Noir & more...

Reaching the milestone of its 100th single/EP release, Circus Company welcomes back Aquarius Heaven with a new EP of poignant, uplifting house music loaded with a meaningful message for these transient times. It's nearly three years since Brian Brewster delivered the Parallela Mundi 12', and in that time he has been on a relentless mission to spread his unique blend of house music, Caribbean roots and psychedelic magic across the globe in a whirlwind of live performances and collaborations. In a manifestation of his well-travelled soul, these new pieces call upon traditional influences in amongst the modern motifs that Aquarius Heaven has been built on, while lyrically dealing with the pressing issue of refugees escaping conflict, poverty and famine. The proud drum throwdown and carnival bleeps of 'Bato Chargé' conceal the seriousness of its theme. In Brewster's native tongue Creole, bato chargé translates as overloaded boat. With the Caribbean as equally rooted in the history of displaced humanity at the hands of sinister powers, the groove of 'Bato Chargé' takes on a defiant, hopeful tone directly inspired by the traditional percussive music style Gow Ka. '50 Drops' by way of contrast takes on a noirish tone with its gritty, street-weary tale and nocturnal melodics played out through enchanting arpeggios and warbling leads. Cooling off the tempo and heading into a digi-dub skank that plays off Brewster's roots in reggae and dancehall, 'Marie Galante' takes those same warm synths and runs them through a low-but-heavy stepping landscape; the perfect backdrop to the vocalist's dexterous ramblings on the mic. It's not often you hear Creole New Release Information delivered in contemporary electronic music, with a rare exception being the legendary work of Tikiman et al with Rhythm & Sound in the 90s.

There have been many different ways in describing the personal stories behind the protagonists of the electronical music scene in the 90ies. It´s in the nature of things that especially producers, whose place of work is the studio, remained rather in the background.
One of them is Ralf Hildenbeutel. He was the producer of Sven Väth´s most important releases such as "L'Esperanza" or "Fusion" and an essential creative part of the Eye Q label in the 90ies. His "Earth Nation" project was the first live act from that genre who was taking a drummer on the live stage, playing on international festivals and stages including the "Montreux Jazz Festival". The vita continues. While many other musicians kept on working on techno, Hildenbeutel composed for artists such as Laith Al-Deen or Phil´s son Simon Collins and wrote filmmusic for movies such as "Hommage á Noir" which won the Goldmedal for music on the New York Filmfestivals. The film adaption of Martion Suter's "Der Koch", "Ausgerechnet Sibirien", TV thriller such as "Kommissarin Lucas" or even the series of "Verbotene Liebe" have been scored by Ralf Hildenbeutel. His filmmusic for the international multi-awarded shortmovie "Momentum" was nominated at the Newport International Filmfestival. On "Moods" Hildenbeutel finds more back to electronical music. Fans of artists such as Ólafur Arnalds, Nils Frahm or Jon Hopkins will enjoy this longplayer. Hildenbeutel mixes complex string-arrangements and piano pieces with clicks & cuts and invents his own coherent language which allows both directions to live in harmony. Elegiac compositions and vivacious, percussive breakouts as in "Spark" (for which an video by award-winning filmmaker Boris Seewald will be made) meet on this album.
An album which grows and gains depth with each hearing.

In 2012 Society of Silence released their first ep on their own imprint and, by being supported by such artists as Shake Shakir,
Efdemin, Signifying Monkey ep has been a great sucess, Nick Hoeppner has played their track 'B Workin' on his Fabric
podcast.2013 began with 'Matin noir' on Fragil musique. Once again they are exploring the expanse of Techno music and the
single is backed by a stunning remix from Ukrainian producer Vakula. And in june 2013, it's on Dj Gilb'R label Versatile that
Society of Silence fourth ep Unijambist has been released, followed by To the Maggot ep in january 2014.Now it's time for the
parisian duo to reveal SOS02, their new maxi, back on their own imprint. Chroma is a jacking techno track with deep dub
synth's chords. The release also comes with a Tunnel track, for dark clubs and Tascam Dub, which is a low-fi tape stretched
track. The ep is already supported by Nick Hoppner and Anton Zap

As if our recent releases hadn't already been spreading the sound of Circus Company into new and exciting places, now our very own silver-tongued enchanter JAW emerges with the first details of his own autonomous project. Somewhere in between the electronic drive of his day job in dOP and the folky, organic instrumentation of Les Fils Du Calvaire, JAW shares with us a new venture that has thrust him into the studio with Lebanese musician Kevork Keshishian. After a chance meeting on the streets of Beirut, the pair struck upon a creative buzz and so "Hazihi Laylaty" was born. Translated as "this is my night", the title references one of the most famous pieces sung by the celebrated Egyptian singer Umm Kalthoum in the early part of the twentieth century. The dusty crackles and haunting strings that begin "Hazihi Laylaty" instantly call to mind the mystery and allure of traditional Arabic music, and the track as a whole fuses this spirit with a subtle wielding of modern electronics to create a thoroughly moody piece of pop-noir. Paying full respect to the complexity and consideration of the original version, both The Sorry Entertainers and Soul Clap embark upon unusual approaches for their remixes, managing to enhance the electronic elements in the track through more prominent production without losing the core ambience of Jaw and Keshishian's creation. JAW has been quietly working on a solo project for many years whilst also engaged with the relentless demand of his life in dOP, and now finally the time has come for people to hear the first snapshot of this venture. Bringing together a vast array of people, singers and producers from all corners of music, JAW's voice provides the glue with which a brave and boundary-l

Brodanse´s 'Danse Club Records' returns with another 90`s New Jersey gem reworked for 2013 with remix duties this time going to Just Be, Lula Circus & Chubby Dubz ... Danse Club Records, the label started by DJ/production sibling duo Brodanse has made a sterling start so far with releases of classic 90`s US house cuts remixed by the likes of Matt Tolfrey, Oliver $, Moodymanc & Brodanse themselves.

The reaction has been outstanding at a time where there is an obvious embracing of all things nineties and DJs such as Danny Tenaglia, Maxxi Soundsytem, Seth Troxler, Huxley & Dusky have been queuing up to lend their backing. For their latest release Danse Club look once again to New Jerseys historic shores, this time picking up an old record from US soul house duo The Burrell Brothers and drafting in three hot production acts to rework this much loved tune.
To start the package we have the original "club dub" version, giving an insight into the records history with it`s mid nineties feel and production still standing up wonderfully.

The first of the remixes sees Crosstown Rebels and Get Physical artist Just Be AKA Matthew Bushwaka deliver his"Insomniac mix",
a bumping slice of underground house music that marries a bass driven groove, organic percussion and subtle melodic elements with snippets of the vocal to supreme effect.

Next up we have Italian production duo Lula Circus whose releases for the likes of Culprit and Noir have been creating quite a stir. Here they deliver a brilliant rework of "Non Stop" in the shape of a deep old school house workout that makes the most of the soulful vocals with its simplistic, hypnotic backing. With its timeless quality, this mix is certain to be mainstay in DJ boxes for months and years to come.

The penultimate version sees the excellent Chubby Dubz offer up an outstanding mix that cuts and pastes the original parts in a raw house style. Closing the package there is a bonus dub of Just Be`s Insomniac mix that rounds things off nicely. This is another winning package from the Danse-Club label and with original artist material from Brodanse in the pipeline alongside further remix packages there is much to look forward to.

There's no need to do a big introduction of Deep Space Orchestra. Si Murray and Chris Barker have releases on a number of heavyweight labels (e.g. Delusions of Grandeur or Use of Weapons) and regular guest appearances at club nights and radio shows throughout the UK and rest of the world. Their second EP for Quintessentials is some raw and analogue business topped with the DSO funk! Wolf Music hot shot KRL adds some piano and old school power on his remix and we must admit we're delighted!

Rockwell's rise to prominence as a rare, distinctive talent has been exciting the electronica music circuit the world over. Critical, thankfully, being the trusty forefront for all things audio-aesthetically delicious, presents the 'Aria EP' - 4 tracks of sound sublime, exemplifying Rockwell's refreshing angle on energy in the club combined with the characteristic, meticulously playful technicals, precise and thrilling as ever.The charmingly rustic intro of 'Aria' unleashes striking Flinstones-esque wooden triplets, scaling the track as stirring vocals weave through; haunting and uplifting at once, the title-track exudes sheer class. Slightly more buoyant, 'Live For The Moment' infuses an energetic tempo with profusions of ear-carressing funk and those ever-characteristic percussive twists - naughty all over. Swiftly plunged into apocalyptic darkness, the Ulterior Motive boys take a sinister liking to 'Noir'. Distinctly menacing and genuinely frightening, what better to bully the atmosphere than Hell-raising bass and staccato violins. Listen out for the breakdown bass - horrific and enriching, this track is dark by Devil's definition. Icing on the cake collaboration with underground legend Untold comes in the form of 'Rehoku Sunrise', a tribal earthy worldly masterpiece of running drums and raw, wild samples, glazing the soul in bliss. Bellissimo.

Lowfish originally released his 'Burn The Lights Out' LP in 2007 on the US label Satamile but we have found some copies of it in the warehouse. Synth-pop meets breakbeats in an electrifying fusion of emotive melodies and bass-heavy beats across all four sides of the long player with ten then-new tracks and two classics from his Sat.31 EP. They all show that his music, complex yet accessible, evokes images of Blade Runner, Wave Noir, or William Gibson. It is post-modern in approach as it skilfully blends past and present styles to create a sound uniquely his own, seamlessly bridging the gap between eras while pushing the boundaries in his own way.

“A Typical Night in the Pit” is a collection of new music by Los Angeles’ Nick Malkin. It is an album that finds the artist absorbed in the density and chaos of the urban complex. It is unquestionably an “LA album”, but not the LA of hi-fi listening bars and twinkling, Instagram-ready New Age. Rather, Malkin navigates something more akin to the LA found in the films of Robert Altman or Alan Rudolph — overheated, tense, hazy, frayed — with blue-lit, nocturnal compositions that at times recall Mark Isham’s noirish scores for those subversive (anti-)Hollywood pictures. Enlisting a revolving cast of LA experimentalists, Malkin has assembled a record that is as chameleonic as it is cohesive, offering up vignettes ranging from the skewed MIDI-jazz of “Sixth Street Conversation” to the skulking menace of “Estacionamiento Privado,” before giving way to the wide-eyed, cloudy closer “View From Two Perspectives.” C’mon, let’s go in here and get outta this heat.

Mastered by Kassian Troyer at D&M, Artwork by Alex McCullough and Niall Wynne Lewis.

Iggy goes West! Soda Gong welcomes back Kansas City-based musician Iggy Romeu with his latest collection as Mister Water Wet. "Cold Clay from the Middle West" is a (characteristically) sharp left turn from his last two records, with Romeu offering up a surprising and addictive melange of crackpot Americana and smoky noir beat science. “Cold Clay Suite” opens the record, a five-part ride into the sunset that features Cooder-esque guitars, cat-gut fiddle, horse-hoof percussion, stadium organs, penny whistle, and bleary-eyed polysynth ruminations, among sundry other ephemera. Multi-instrumentalist Will Yates, known to most as Memotone, shows up three times on the album, lending clarinet, keys, guitars, banjo, sarangi, and vibraphone to these kaleidoscopic productions. It’s a wild ride of a record akin to following a dotted bridleway on a crumpled old map, marvelously variegated and stitched together as only MWW knows how. Get along, now.