Cerca:perc the drums

What's that, a new year means a new label from Burnski? We'd expect nothing else. The man has more imprints than a beach has grains of sand, but importantly they all serve a purpose and all kick out killer jams. Mikasa starts with this lush and lithe prog house EP from Abdul Raeva. Stylish opener 'Cream' is a bouncy, feel-good and sleek electronic house sound for peak time fun. 'Helico' is laced with acid and 'Tex Mex' has psyched-out lines rising through the uplifting drums while 'Vanguard' shuts down with a percussive edge and a killer bassline.

The Deep Series imprint operated as a sub-label of Diaphan Music, both of which released material between 2009 and 2014, as can often be the way for many artists family life and other responsibilities stepped up on the priority list and the label was put on hiatus.

Now back to reboot things with a fresh perspective and a focus on Georgios’ music and music from artists he admires, Deep Series begins its new chapter for 2022, bringing fresh deep and dynamic cuts and an uncompromising approach with its future direction. Leading the release and following on from his recent debut album on Dial is XDB with his ‘Back To The Roots Mix’, the title tells all as this Greek Techno aficionado delivers a classic groove fuelled by loose, bumpy drums, chugging synth stab sequences and twisted resonant loops.

‘Dark Path’ follows next, edging into dubby house territory with skippy percussion, expansive chords, choppy bass stabs and hypnotic vocal chants. Opening the b-side is ‘Distorted DRMS’, as the name suggest laying focus on raw, crunchy drums throughout while dreamy synth lines and heavy sub bass swells ebb and flow within. Lastly the original mix of ‘GR2’ rounds things out, stripping things back to hazy, ethereal textures, robust, low-slung drums and acid-tinged bass stabs.

Almost as soon as Σtella Chronopoulou began writing Adagio, her fifth album as Σtella, she knew the time had finally come to sing in Greek, her native tongue. It would be a first. She started the record almost by accident in 2019, during an 11-hour boat ride to the island of Anafi. Σtella had recently gone through a patch of personal turmoil and needed a break from home. On the ferry, she pulled out her cell phone as the boat clipped through the Mediterranean and began with a simple melody, steadily piecing together a rough instrumental. As psychedelic keyboards twinkled and swayed above staccato drums, the track suggested some deep exhalation, as if Σtella were letting go of long-unnecessary baggage. For a spell, she set the instrumental aside. She wasn’t ready yet, or in a rush. Σtella, after all, grew up in a slow place. During her youth in a relatively rural suburb of Athens, Greece, she and her friends played unfettered in empty streets, not worried about cars or permission, and living felt easy. But in the last decade life has steadily become busier for Σtella, now based in the heart of Athens. She has become one of modern Greece’s most popular musical exports, with three sophisticated, playful pop albums rendered with international élan. After her Sub Pop debut, Up and Away, in 2022, she catapulted beyond three million monthly Spotify listeners. That success was a blessing, but Σtella sometimes found herself pining for the slower pace of her youth. That longing is the thread that loosely binds together her fifth album, the entrancing Adagio. Borrowing its name from the term for music that’s meant to be played slowly, Adagio is a pop record that feels like a very warm blanket, its nylon-string guitars and featherlight percussion swaddling its listeners for three minutes at a time. Written and recorded over the span of five years, with a consortium of international collaborators including !!!’s Rafael Cohen and British songwriter Gabriel Stebbing, Adagio is a 27-minute meditation on love and desire, rest and time. Though the bulk of it is sung in English, Σtella delivers her first two songs in Greek here—“Omorfo Mou,” the one that began on the boat, and a cover of a 1969 cult classic of the Greek New Wave, Litsa Sakelariou’s “Ta Vimata.” It is a sign of the self-assurance that radiates throughout these tender and smitten little tunes. Start to finish, Σtella sounds more at ease and comfortable than she’s ever been on Adagio. These fetching songs will not slow her career or grant her that title track’s wish. But, for half an hour, Adagio adds a measure of warmth to the world, with time loosening its grip even if it doesn’t slow down.● Athens, Greece-based Σtella’s new album Adagio is a pop record that feels like a very warm blanket, its nylon-string guitars and featherlight percussion swaddling its listeners for three minutes at a time.● Features Rafael Cohen and British songwriter Gabriel Stebbing.• Σtella’s breakout hit “Charmed” from her 2022 album Up and Away has nearly 100 million streams, and was recently featured in the hit Max show Industry.• On Spotify, Σtella has 3.4 million followers, 66k monthly listeners.

Entering its 26th year of activity, the morphing, Los Angeles based experimental outfit, Sissy Spacek, joins Shelter Press with Entrance, among the project's most captivating outings to date. Encountering the duo of John Wiese and Charlie Mumma joined in various configurations by an incredible cast of collaborators - Tim Barnes, Marco Fusinato, Aaron Hemphill, Brad Laner, Katsura Mouri, Ralf Wehowsky, and C Spencer Yeh - collectively transformed into a series a deeply intimate and delicate gestures of musique concrète, Entrance radically repositions the possibilities presented by group improvisation outside of time and place. Founded at the end of the last millennium, the Los Angeles based project, Sissy Spacek, initially emerged from the knotted, fiery context 1990s American noise and grindcore, producing sheets of visceral sonority that quickly set the scene on its head. Going through numerous evolutions, before eventually settling as a duo of John Wiese and Charlie Mumma - joined by a rotating and often recurring cast collaborators - over the last 25 years the band has continuously entered states of evolution that have defied the expectations of its own context, seeding the sonic extremes noise with subtle and sophisticated approaches to free improvisation and musique concrète. Fiercely positioning its efforts within the outer reaches of contemporary experimental music, while resisting the constraints of a singular sound or proximity, Wiese regards Sissy Spacek as being primarily centred around the practice of musique concrète and the pursuit of extremes. From its earliest releases - collage treatments of material gathered from the band's full throttle practice sessions - the project's conceptual framework has continuously evolved within a deeply engaged process of experimentation, not only reworking tactical approaches, but also definitions and perception regarding the location and action of their work. In recent years, this has led to an increasingly varied and diverse output. Percolating within, is a thread marked by a striking sense of delicacy and intimacy, driving forward while doubling as an unexpected challenge, in real time, to perceptions connected to the band's past. Entrance is the most recent of these. Embarking upon the four compositions that comprise the finalized four sides of Entrance, Wiese and Mumma enlisted longstanding collaborators, Tim Barnes, Marco Fusinato, Aaron Hemphill, Brad Laner, Katsura Mouri, and C Spencer Yeh, as well as new initiate, Ralf Wehowsky (of the seminal German electronic noise collective P16.D4), requesting a contribution of sounds from each, determined by a general set guidelines that dictated certain qualities the given sonorities, while allowing for the expression of each player's distinct creative voice. The sets of resulting recordings were then chopped, harvested, manipulated, and reassembled as the four tape compositions that make up the album - Web Of Unfolding Appearance, Figure Of Reflected Light, Trancher And The Inheritors, True Dimension (From The Opaque - Spike) - each blurring the lines of authorship and clear creative proximity in remarkable ways. Where historical gestures of musique concrète tend to draw upon non-instrumental sound sources - regarding its sonorous material as raw elements, unburdened by inherent meaning or association, to be transformed and imbued with musicality - Sissy Spacek turns this position on its head. Entrance comprises works of musique concrète that not only draw upon instrumental sound sources, with all their possible meanings or associations, but also individual characters and personalities of their players, crediting each resulting piece to its respective configuration of contributors. As such, Entrance is an effort of sound collage defined by a rare sense of intimacy and humanity: four pieces that often take on the resemblance of group improvisation, but have, in fact, been assembled outside of time and place. Bent under the ever-present hand of Wiese's tape treatments and manipulation, each of the album's four compositions unfurl startling states of sonic abstraction and percolating texture, marked by a striking sense of hard-shifting structure, that culminate as tense, driven manifestations of ambient music: scrapes, squeals, rattles feedback, rolling drums, bouncing tones, whispers, bent electronics, electric artefacts, and seemingly everything else under the sun, configured into immersive, sublime mediations in sound from the most improbable events.

Halo Studios und Laced Records haben sich zusammengetan, um die ikonische Musik der ursprünglichen Halo-Trilogie zum ersten Mal auf Vinyl zu veröffentlichen.

Diese Box enthält 83 Titel aus den ersten drei Halo-Alben, die speziell für Vinyl neu gemastert und auf acht heavyweight LPs gepresst wurden. Jeder Soundtrack befindet sich in einer breitrandige Außenhülle und einer bedruckten Innenhülle. Diese wiederum befinden sich in einer stabilen Sammlerbox aus Karton mit silbernem Laminatüberzug und geprägtem Halo-Logo.

Das Original-Cover-Artwork stammt von Art Director und Concept Artist Isaac Hannaford (alias Rhizus / Space Ship Guru), dem ehemaligen Lead Concept Artist und Mitwirkenden an Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST und Halo Reach. Das zusätzliche Artwork der Box wurde von der Grafikdesignerin Maren Landsnes erstellt.

Halo: Combat Evolved war der Inbegriff des Konsolen-Ego-Shooters und sein Soundtrack legte den Grundstein für den legendären Sound der Serie. Der Soundtrack ist von verschiedenen Genres inspiriert und kombiniert schwungvolle Orchesterklänge mit marschierenden Militär-Snares, Prog-Rock-Percussion und - wer könnte den gregorianischen Mönchsgesang vergessen?

Für Halo 2 taten sich die Komponisten mit hochkarätigen Musikern zusammen und verpassten dem Halo-Thema mit dem neuen „Mjolnir Mix“ ein Heavy-Metal-Makeover. Es war der erste Videospiel-Soundtrack, der es in die Billboard 200 schaffte.

Halo 3 zeichnete sich durch Tribal-Drums und Prog-Rock-Refrains aus, während Klaviermelodien, begleitet von einem 60-köpfigen Orchester und einem 24-stimmigen Chor, dem Soundtrack emotionale Tiefe verliehen.

- 83 Tracks aus Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2 und Halo 3
- Speziell für Vinyl neu gemastert
- Cover-Artwork von Isaac Hannaford (ehemaliger Lead Concept Artist, Bungie)

The Forlorn Divide by Accuser is back on vinyl, and it’s more intense than ever! Released by the German thrash metal legends, this 2016 album marked a triumphant return to their raw, relentless roots. Known for their blistering riffs, sharp precision, and aggressive vocals, Accuser captures the gritty essence of thrash metal with a modern edge, making this release essential for any fan of the genre. The Forlorn Divide dives deep into themes of alienation, societal decay, and inner turmoil, resonating with listeners through both its lyrical content and powerful instrumentation. The album’s standout tracks, including "Lust for Vengeance" and "Impending Doom," showcase Accuser’s refined songwriting and fierce musicianship, driving their iconic sound forward. With founding member Frank Thoms leading on guitar and vocals, supported by Dennis Rybakowski on guitar, Frank Kimpel on bass, and Olli Fechner on drums, Accuser creates a wall of sound that’s as intricate as it is unyielding. This reissue offers a chance to own a vital piece of thrash metal history perfect for collectors and metalheads everywhere.

The Forlorn Divide by Accuser is back on vinyl, and it’s more intense than ever! Released by the German thrash metal legends, this 2016 album marked a triumphant return to their raw, relentless roots. Known for their blistering riffs, sharp precision, and aggressive vocals, Accuser captures the gritty essence of thrash metal with a modern edge, making this release essential for any fan of the genre. The Forlorn Divide dives deep into themes of alienation, societal decay, and inner turmoil, resonating with listeners through both its lyrical content and powerful instrumentation. The album’s standout tracks, including "Lust for Vengeance" and "Impending Doom," showcase Accuser’s refined songwriting and fierce musicianship, driving their iconic sound forward. With founding member Frank Thoms leading on guitar and vocals, supported by Dennis Rybakowski on guitar, Frank Kimpel on bass, and Olli Fechner on drums, Accuser creates a wall of sound that’s as intricate as it is unyielding. This reissue offers a chance to own a vital piece of thrash metal history perfect for collectors and metalheads everywhere.

Marking the fourteenth chapter in the Swinging Flavors series, Beat Machine Records proudly unveils a gripping release by Helsinki-based producer DJ Sofa. Packed with deep, nostalgic energy, this installment delves into the darker side of drum and bass, with a sound inspired by the genre’s golden era of the late 90s and early 2000s.

DJ Sofa, known for their emotive and intricate productions, brings a raw, jungle-infused energy to the forefront. Drawing inspiration from jungle and breakbeat hardcore, their sound reflects a deep connection to the classic UK rave era while maintaining a forward-thinking edge. Known for captivating listeners with rich atmospheres and complex breakbeats, DJ Sofa’s music resonates strongly with audiences far beyond their Finnish roots, particularly within the UK underground scene.

“Drums For The Lost,” the lead track on Swinging Flavors #14, exemplifies this blend. A menacing roller, it marches forward with unwavering determination, offering a guiding light through shadowy soundscapes. With its haunting basslines, intricate percussion, and mysterious atmosphere, the track is a testament to DJ Sofa’s ability to create immersive and emotionally charged music.

The journey doesn’t stop there. Swinging Flavors #14 also features a remix of “Drums For The Lost” by Siu Mata. The Parisian producer reinterprets the track with their signature style, adding pulsating rhythms and hypnotic layers that elevate it to a peak-time dancefloor weapon. Siu Mata’s remix infuses the original with a modern edge, creating a vibrant and dynamic sound that bridges the gap between tradition and innovation.

Swinging Flavors #14 is available in both digital format and as a limited edition 7” vinyl, ensuring it finds its way into the hands of collectors and music lovers alike. DJ Sofa and Siu Mata’s contributions to the Swinging Flavors series underscore Beat Machine Records’ commitment to showcasing the best of underground electronic music. With its bold exploration of drum and bass and an eye on the future, this release is set to captivate audiences worldwide.

Another foggy day in Yorkshire. A steel grey sky. Raindrops tracing one another down the windowpane. Kirk Barley sits in his studio and assembles compositions from scraps of found sound and live instrumentation. Melodies swell, withdraw and repeat like waves. Time slows. Accelerates. Slows again. The light bends, tweaked at the edges. Twisted by rhythms that never quite resolve.

Written, recorded and produced by Barley in Yorkshire in early 2024, Lux picks up where 2023 LP Marionette leaves off, conjuring a mystical, reflective space between formal minimalism and sonic imaginaries of northern landscapes.

And yet, where Marionette relied at times on more recognisable field recordings, Lux leans into Barley’s skill as an instrumentalist and sound designer, working from a palette of short samples and utilising a variety of alternate tuning systems to build, layer and coax his compositions into being. Most evident on tracks ‘Vita’, ‘Sprite’ and ‘Descendent’, these tunings create an otherworldly harmonic language that is easier to perceive than describe.

Alongside more familiar instruments of guitar, bass, drums, organ and clarinet, here Barley draws on plastic saxophones and bells, and recordings of glass, wood and metal sound objects to provide the organic matter. Rather than directly representative of the natural world, Lux enters into a dialogue with it which, like the grasses and flowers of the album’s cover, exists somewhere between reality and artifice.

On album opener ‘Cache’, Barley constructs his own sense of time from a recording of an umbrella crank, a sparse and spectral piece which hints at memories embedded in the track’s title. Introspection blossoms into new life on ‘Vita’, crumpling again into the percussive ambience of ‘Verre’. A track that takes its harmonic lead from the clinks of glass, it features Barley’s long-time collaborator Matt Davies on drums, whose nuanced, tonally sensitive playing gives ‘Verre’ a fizzing, ice-like quality.

There are several moments where Lux picks up on themes Barley explored under electronic moniker Church Andrews on recent works with Davies, stretching and distorting temporalities most explicitly on ‘Descendent’, whose ritualistic air unfurls around a pattern in exponential decline.

Embracing the surrealism Barley absorbed over years watching classic film noir and the works of David Lynch and Federico Fellini, Lux wends its way through the enchanted sound worlds of ‘Sprite’ and ‘Balanced’ before arriving at the album’s title track.

An expression of his recent experiments in live, prepared guitar, ‘Lux’ brings the album back to earth, returning us to the room where the rain has stopped, the clouds have parted, and the soft warmth of the spring sun is pouring in through the open window.

Bugge Wesseltoft has long been a shaper of his own jazz idioms, through his diverse solo albums, his group projects such as New Conception of Jazz, OKWorld! and RYMDEN, and collaborations with artists such as Sidsel Endresen, Henning Kraggerud or Henrik Schwarz.

"Am Are" features special constellations of superb musicians that spans both generations and styles, and is an exploration of sonic textures, dynamic contrasts of mood and style, and ranges from sparse arrangements through to complex layers of dubs and loops and improvisational interplay.

The album begins with Bugge alone on "How?" with layers of undulating atmospheric synth, brought into focus by Bugge's piano at the forefront, creating a minimalist miniature that is both emotive and serene. For "Villrein" Bugge is joined by Elias Tafjord on drums, beginning with a santur-like synth figure, floating over ominous formant sci-fi bass synths bubbling and pulsing, and overlaid by phrenetic piano that only stops to lock into the santur figure before relaunching on its own journeys, all underpinned by Elias Tafjord's expressive drumming. "Is Anyone Listening?" demonstrate's Bugge's songcraft, layering muted percussive piano behind Rohey's distinctive and beautiful vocals punctuated by Martin Myhre Olsen's tenor saxophone, creating a soulful mood tinged with desperation.

"BAG" presents the first classic piano trio of the album - Bugge on piano and synths, Arild Andersen on bass, and Gard Nilssen on drums - announcing itself with an insistent riff, chattering drums, breaking into a progressive rock-style passage of bass and piano in unison. "Reel", the second track from this trio, is a mellow soundscape that evolves to become hazy urban downbeat jazz.

The second piano trio of Bugge (Rhodes and Korg MS20 synth), Sveinung Hovensjø (Electric Bass), and Jon Christensen (Drums and Bells) offers a completely different perspective. The first track "Render" features Bugge's Zawinul-esque Rhodes and monosynth leads, Sveinung's fuzz bass in something of a leading role, all carried with chattering gusto by Jon Christensen's dynamic drumming that brings texture and space as well as rhythm to the piece. "Vender" begins as an atmospheric piece, with reed organ-like synth washes, and octave-processed bass with a somewhat sitar-like tone, meandering until the track breaks down into drums and bass weaving around an insistent drum machine loop, dripping with synth pads and monosynth lead.

"JazzBasill" introduces the third piano trio - featuring Bugge (Piano), Jens Mikkel Madsen (Acoustic Bass) and Øyunn (Drums) - and offers a classic piano trio style with urban sophistication, that is lyrical, and interspersed with staccato cadences, giving a feeling of broken swing, slightly staggered yet driving forwards. The title track "AM ARE" is late night jazz, with baroque whispers, and distinctly melodic.

The final track, "Think Ahead" features the non-standard trio of Bugge (Piano/Organ), Oddrun Lilja (Guitar) and Sanskriti Shrestha (Tablas/Harp). Beginning with a minimalist piano figure, table, and sustained guitar, the track breaks down to a noise surge and ambient windscape, with guitar birds and abstract grinding, before returning to minimalist melodicism.

The shifting personnel across the album, as well as the three different studios in which it was recorded - Village Recording in Copenhagen, Rainbow Studios in Oslo, and his own Buggesroom Studio - creates a feeling of dynamic change and musical variety that is unified by Bugge's piano and keyboards. His playing moves between foreground, where he allows the music to elevate him, and background, where he move gently like a beneficent presence, tending to the demands of the spirit of the musical moments he has captured. It is an album powered by restless exploration and shaped by distinctive musical personalities; it is a journey through different moods, illuminated and brought into focus by Bugge's measured approach and guiding hand.

dreamcastmoe is the recording project of singer, songwriter, producer, and DJ Davon Bryant, a lifelong resident of Washington, DC. His music moves freely between moods and modes, hypnotic, romantic, traversing electronic, R&B, funk, soul, and hip-hop... Resident Advisor dubs it "soulful, cross-genre dance music." This ability to adapt and finesse, to twist in different directions while staying true and coherent in vision, can be traced to his home city and its complex cultural history. "Most Black kids in DC don't ever get to this point," he says. "This is what I am making this music for, in the DC tradition of soul and empathy and love that is rooted in this city. My music is for real people dealing with shit every day." A versatile, modern artist and collaborator, dreamcastmoe has thrived in the underground since his first uploads to Soundcloud and Bandcamp in 2017 and subsequent releases with labels like People's Potential Unlimited, Trading Places, and In Real Life Music. Bryant's laid-back personality, emotional honesty, and infectious energy shine through his work and how he talks about it, as Crack Magazine notes in their 2021 Rising feature: "a steady combination of confidence, creativity, and calmness." He grew up playing drums in church; he's worked dead-end jobs, had ups and downs, even sold off all his gear one time, but never stopped reinvesting in himself. He is quick to praise his co-producers, rattle off influences _ the visual feel of NBA 2K, the comedic timing of Bernie Mac, the savvy legacy of Duke Ellington, for starters _ and credit resourceful DC breakouts like Ankhlejohn that showed him the roadmap. His voice, a steady instrument, seemingly connects it all, capable of slow falsetto flow, swaggering talk-rap, and outright croon. His storytelling style is choppy yet fluid, like a mixtape, which is how Bryant sees Sound Is Like Water, his debut on Ghostly's International's freeform label, Spectral Sound. The two-part project culminates as a full-length LP release in November 2022. The first side, released as Part I, opens on the blurred beats of "El Dorado," which dreamcastmoe dedicates to his journey. It's a head-nodder, an off-kilter earworm co-produced by Max D (Future Times, RVNG Intl, etc.), with Bryant harmonizing hooks with synth jabs and a pitched-down presence. "Complicated" is the slow jam, delivered smoothly from a Saturday night crossroads. dreamcastmoe is contemplative and committed... gliding and locking ad-libs into skittering rhythms courtesy of co-producer Zackary Dawson _ but also willing to let something go, "acknowledging that everything in life IS NOT easy." "RU Ready" takes off from the jump as a tribute, challenge, and promise to his partner and his city ("The times you sat with me when I needed you the most / Told me the things that I needed to see / Young black man, really trying to be what I can be / And I'm really from DC). In its potent two-plus minutes, the sonics (co-produced by ZDBT) press the message, all cymbal crashes, breakbeats, and serrated synth lines. "Cloudy Weather, Wear Boots" is a blitzing dance-punk track made in collaboration with Jordan GCZ on Bryant's first trip to Amsterdam. The album's flipside opens on "Much More," the first of two synth-and-beat ballads co-produced by ZDBT. Later on "Long Songz," he claims, "I'm not writing love songs no more," prioritizing the vibe with "all my day ones." He calls it "a cry for more normal moments. Everything doesn't have to be a fantasy love story, more time spent getting to the money, growing, and making a way." He saves two of his most propulsive cuts for the finale, co-produced by Sami, co-founder of DC dance label 1432 R. As their titles suggest, "Take A Moment" and "Make Ya Mind" operate as anthems for movement, with Bryant free-flowing commands above wildly-styled percussion. Per Bryant, the latter is both "wake & bake jam" and a "dance floor bomb." His parting line: "Action / You got to show me action / Reaction." The world of dreamcastmoe straddles virtual reality and the realness of DC, images both imagined and lived-in. Bryant has a knack for unexpected melodies but what makes his music so exciting is his capacity to defy the expectations of genre and image. A fluid ingenuity and vulnerability bottled by Sound Is Like Water, and this is just the beginning.

"Daft Punk brought me here, he brought me Daft Punk"

Just knowing that this slice of hyper-rare disco dynamite was crafted by Thomas Bangalter's dad should be enough for you to buy this on sight, if only to understand a little bit more about Thomas and Daft Punk's background. But this is so much more than a Daft Punk family curio.

Born Bangalter in 1947, Daniel Vangarde is a French songwriter and producer. In 1975, Vangarde founded his label, Zagora Records, who we have worked closely with on this lovingly curated reissue. For years, Vangarde wrote and produced songs that remained underground, under several pseudonyms and for various artists. Dubbed "the secret father of French disco" this here groove-fulled firecracker - using his Who’s Who moniker - is for disco-funk, library music and cosmic beat lovers.

The intense, evocative opener "Palace Palace" positively throbs with raw energy and sounds, honestly, like something off Daft Punk's Discovery. The title refers to the fashionable Parisian club Le Palace, essentially the Parisian Studio 54. "I’d been to a nightclub in New York, a big ring where people were roller skating with a whistle. The atmosphere was great. The music was all disco. I made this song when I came back. A vocoder transformed my voice. Back then, it wasn’t used much." The track rides a killer groove and is deceptively complex, with layers of fantastic percussion and ace synth work going on all over it. Listed to on repeat, it's brilliance is simply undeniable.

The louche, slo-mo heater "Hypno Dance" is, in Be With's opinion, *the* deadly dancefloor track. A svelte slice of ace space disco again geared towards the roller skating dance mania of the day. So deep, so disco, so instrumental. An unreal track and, as the title hints at, totally hypnotic. The side closes with the somewhat throwaway "Popeden" - it's a jaunty number that you're probably best skipping, in all honesty. Have we ever steered you wrong?

The B-Side opens with the frankly enormous "Roll Jacky Roll" is another thrilling, high class roller-rink jam with beautiful melodies that's adored the world over. The wonky, abstract "Ad Libitum 80" is a super dope, swirling, staccato electro-funk bounce which sounds light years ahead of its time. This might be the real lowkey sleeper gem on this record. CHECK! This remarkable LP rounds out with the huge "Dancin' Machine". It's got sleek drums that emit an absolutely ace swagger and elements of Italo synth funk feels. A relaxed, slow rhythm throughout ensures you can't help but get your funk on when this crashes soundsystems. We'll leave the final word on this to Daniel: "It amuses me to think that my son Thomas was influenced by "Dancin’ Machine" for "Around The World", he says. Both songs being based on an hypnotic repetitive refrain. Both songs being, of course, timeless pieces of Euro genius.

Who's Who really is a fantastic late-70s-early 80s roller disco-funk essential. The audio has been carefully remastered by Be With regular Simon Francis, ensuring it sounds better than ever. Cicely Balston's expert skills have made sure nothing is lost in the cut whilst the records have been pressed to the highest possible standard at Record Industry in Holland.

When it came to the sleeve for this we were presented with an unusual problem: we usually have to rely on an original sleeve as the starting point for the restoration, but instead we were able to scan the original 35mm transparency of the front cover photo. The problem is that with a modern scanner the results were far sharper than when they made the original sleeve. We’ve played around with the exposure and the colour grading but we’re sorry to say that our version of the front cover still ended up looking too good! Don’t hate us.

DJ Support: Erol Alkan, Kenneth Bager, Leo Mas, FFan, Sean Johnston (ALFOS), Max Essa, Coyote, Ban Ban Ton Ton, Chris Coco

Hell Yeah series File Under Balearic Gabba continues its mission to bring some vital, previously digital-only Balearic Gabba weaponry to vinyl for the first time. This second volume has artwork by Planet Luke and features Wallace next to new school stars SIRS and Pedro Bertho.

Tartan Records label head and British talent Wallace opens up with a remix of Sewell And The Gong's 'Better Words' that has been a real summer hit for label head Marco Gallerani.

The original came on Jason Boardman's fine Before I Die label and is one of those jams that transcends genre and wins over techno heads, Adriatic beach groovers and festival main stages alike. It is 'proper Balearic Gabba' says Marco with its tropical percussion, humid pads and watery droplets all adding lush atmosphere to the dubby drums. The chords and reedy leads are beautifully delicate but get floors in a blissed-out, loved-up trance.

SIRS is an artist on fire right now and already impressed on this label with his remix of Aura Safari which is one of the year's standout Balearic house jams. He has a new single on the way for Hell Yeah but first flips label mate My Friend Dario's 'Tellaro' into a wobbly, psyched-out dub disco and breakbeat chugger. The zippy synths and shimmering keys are underpinned with a taught bassline and playful vocals that bring great fun and irresistible party vibes to any set.

Hell Yeah mainstay Verdo then has his 'Boulevardier' remixed by Pedro Bertho, a rising talent from Brazil with a steamy South American style. This one is a modern beach classic that unites both young and old heads with its frayed analogue drums and snappy percussion joining the dots between 80s Chicago house, new age and Balearic with its big piano chords and phased bass all getting hands the air.

Founded by Robbie Redway and psychedelic researchers Mathieu Seynaeve and WaiFung Tsang, UK-based 'United Freedom Collective' has grown into a network of artists including Jordan Stephens, Falle Nioke, Eliza Shaddad, Labdi, William Rees and Facesoul. Originally conceived around psychedelic therapy sessions, online yoga and breathwork channels, the musical scope has expanded on each of the four EPs released on Maribou State's 'Dama Dama' label, and here continues with their debut on Multi Culti. This time Robbie takes the lead on production and sole vocal duties on all five tracks, presenting a range of influences and style. Lead single 'Between Memories' blends tropes of ecstatic dance with uplifting vocal piano house, somehow making flutes fit in with Detroit strings to epic, hands-in-the-air effect.' Title track ‘Bright Patterns’ bridges the gap between Jungle, Jai Paul, and Jamiroquai, a fusion of funky filtered disco-house and electroclash with side-chained pop vocal hooks. ’El Yo’ smooths things out, a dope, laid back groove with a measured reflection on psychedelic healing and the perils of spiritual bypassing. ‘Higher Drums’ warms things back up for the dancefloor with trumpet, afro-latin percussion, and flute flourishes. Finally, ‘Moonshine’ is a soaring, Amapiano-inflected post-desert-house ballad. Influenced, in their words, 'by birds, trees, Buddhism, yoga, headless way meditations, Jungian analysis, Zen Taoism, Chinese plant medicines, indigeneity, Amazonian and psychedelic cultures, icaros and world healing traditions,' the music is eclectic, ranging from afro-inspired jazz to Chinese folk, psych-rock to dub and dance music, an ambitious and inclusive range, collabs that extend well beyond the borders of western musical traditions. Their sound was described by Clash Magazine as an 'aural mosaic that glitters with colour and potential,' and while the sheen of the production and precision of the arrangements might seem a departure from Multi Culti's left-field endeavours, the psychedelic idealism and global connectivity make it a natural fit with the open-ended ethos of the label. Having already had radio support from KEXP, BBC6 Music (Laverne, Ravenscroft, Charles, Nemone, Letts), Jazz FM and Worldwide FM (Gilles Peterson), with a live show that sold out Dalston Curve Garde and The Waiting Room as well as supporting Maribou State for their recent comeback show at Islington Assembly Hall in London the collective's future is looking exceptionally bright.

What lies on the terrain for which no map exists? Tifra has volunteered to take the plunge and find out. For the 28th record on Haŵs, the Dutch DJ/producer steps up to the frontline with ‘Terra Incognita’ - a primitive force to be reckoned with that reveres the hypnotising, ominous unknown. Four investigational tracks unify the checkpoints, wandering through themes of 00s/90s leftfield house, prog, and continuous, undulating grooves.

The EP sets sail with ‘Invoke Hysteria’, scavenging through malevolent, hostile waters and a caution of pad synths, drums and agitated melodies.

Relenting onwards, ‘Serpent’ slinks into a mellow respite, moving slowly and deliberately like a snake in the moonless dark. Deep, resonant synths coil around the percussive heartbeat of the track, weaving together velvet layers of bass, wind instruments and steady, surrendering exhalations of breath.

The titular ‘Terra Incognita’ hoists up the anchor and yields to the trance of the summoning liquid night. Repetitive melodies form the contours of its shifting course, moulding a ritualistic rhythm under the dissolving face of the sky.

Admo steps up to the wheel for the remix, smoking out the initial perfume of the atmospherics into a new, tough brutality. Hauling the track out of its initial spacey orbit, he re-embellishes it with dour synths, drums and a primal, subterranean growl.

Some say that there is no worse poverty than that of connection, so why not be the first to take the risk, break the divide and find out what lies beyond the veil? Otherwise, make your own guesses, and then let them guess who you are.

Measure Divide makes his full debut EP for Mutual Rytm X with his latest release, 'Everything Is Porridge'.

Karachi-born artist Measure Divide now resides in Toronto, where his FORMAT parties have revived the techno scene over the last decade. In that time, he has eschewed techno by numbers with innovative sounds on Clergy and Mutual Rytm while appearing at iconic clubs like Berghain, K41 and Tresor. Outside of the underground, he has years of experience in sound design and scoring for animations and films, and that is what he channels here into a uniquely playful sound with a vibrant and playful departure from his usual serious tones for his first full EP on SHDW's Mutual Rytm X.

A record for adventurous DJs and listeners craving bold, mischievous and innovative sounds, the EP's title, inspired by an inside joke about calling anything edible "porridge", reflects the chaotic and unpredictable state of the world - a mushy mix of uncertainty. This same unpredictability shines through the tracks, which combine techno, breaks, modular experimentation and plenty more.

The superbly original title cut begins with a restless mix of unusual percussive sounds and fizzing synths over thudding drums. It's tense and twisted and sounds like nothing else. 'Wormy Wonderland' is another brilliantly outthere cut with freaky noises and scuzzy textures over body-popping techno drums, and 'Eeeeeermmmm' then slows down with a menacing synth buzz and caustic broken beats. Digital bonus tracks 'Shrew Cascade' and 'Clumsy Clatter' further challenge techno norms with watery sound effects, twisted synth lines and inventive rhythmical patterns.

Cross Record's new album, Crush Me, is steeped in the pressures and wonders of existence—a profound statement, especially coming from artist and death doula Emily Cross. A two-and-a-half-year gestation period offered challenges, disappointments, and joys reflected in the cramped space of the album, which explores how we handle the weights we carry. Emily Cross had held hundreds of Living Funerals and was as many episodes deep into her podcast, What I’m Looking At. She was five years into serving clients as a death doula and fresh off a tour with Loma, her band with Jonathan Meiburg (Shearwater) and Dan Duszynski, when she began work on her fourth album. After moving from Austin, TX to Dorset, UK, she established the Steady Waves Center for Contemplation (named after a track from her second record, Wabi-Sabi ), where she hosted Living Funerals, met clients, scheduled mindful tea sessions, and showcased experimental music nights. All the while, she was scribbling down song ideas. Cross’s Tascam four-track demos finally reached readiness, and she sent them to an interested major independent label. She was encouraged to push her imagination to the limits of what a record could be. So, unlike her usual process of recording as inexpensively as possible, she prepared a two-week recording session in Germany with a group of skilled musicians from around the world. True to her previous work, Cross left plenty of room in her demos for experimentation, collaboration, chance, improvisation, and complete obliteration, then resurrection when necessary. Comfort and traditional structure were eschewed in favor of unaccountable magic, prayers whispered into The Void. Cross is comfortable with the chaotic and unpredictable, a perspective demanded by her work and writing style. The Berlin Airbnb was packed with people, instruments and luggage. During a ride down in a tiny elevator to the studio, Cross realized how central the sense of being crushed was to the album. “I thought of it later and it dawned on me that ‘Crush Me’ perfectly embodied the record,” says Cross. Yes, the weight of a body laying limply atop yours, or the tight squeeze of a hug, can be pleasant. Go too far, and you’re in the hands of a cruel, adolescent god. Upon leaving Germany, the record was unfinished, and without a roadmap. As passages were recorded as isolated parts, Cross and musician Marcin Sulewski collaborated, facing a haphazard brick pile, waiting to be assembled. Work dipped in and out of view like a buoy bobbing in a violent sea over many months. During that time, the aforementioned interested label went radio silent, suddenly not seeming so sure of a thing. Collaborators disappeared, continuing the themes of abandonment, surrender, and disarray that followed the project. Cross physically felt her entire body go numb: In a twist of fate, the record was rescued by long-time friend and supporter Ben Goldberg at Ba Da Bing Records who was eager to help realize the project. Cross worked for months on the album, all the while nursing a pregnancy and continuing her full-time funeral work. The last minute participation of Seth Manchester of Machines with Magnets, who mixed and mastered, was an essential liferaft. He gave true final form to the abstracted songs. Crush Me has the effect of a spell being cast, with songs balancing heaviness and levity. Vocals, guitars, and keyboards float above, as drums and upright bass (often bowed) lurch beneath. On “Rolling Backwards” percussion wanders about while feedback squeals and persists in the distance. “Dorset Area Of Natural Beauty” starts with a thick, unhinged church organ progression punctuated by the disquieting sounds of laughter reaching the point of hysteria. “God Fax” is a slow-moving panic attack, with shallow breaths in and out framing a guttural cacophony like a wooden freighter encountering increasingly turbulent waters and vocals struck emotionless by autotune. The album ends with “Twisted Up Fence,” a reflection on life from outside the wall--wistful, warm, and comforting. Cross, likely with a smile on her face, sings: “You say it’s an endless abyss” “And I say the abyss is the best”

The time has finally come to have Kwartz in this house again and we couldnt be more satisfied with the quality of the work he has delivered. It is clear that his new residency at the best techno club on the planet, Berghain, has helped his inspiration multiply exponentially and this is definitely reflecting in this brand new work that leaves us wanting more.

Four slices of techno with all the letters, which define exactly what the genre should be without seasonal additives, dynamic electronic dance music, without an expiration date, which could be signed thirty years ago or in the distant future.

Mario does not entertain himself with extreme speeds, nor with predictable developments, nor with pre-cooked sounds. His approach to musical creation is slow and artisenal, meditating and maturing each of the ingredients he uses without fear of being left out of the media radar.

This enitre procedure is reflected un the excellent result, The Golden Hour is a perfect example of everything said above. Strong and firm rhythms, constantly evolving arrangements, elaborate sound design and a firm dance attitude.

Enter The Zone turn rhythms towards broken bass drums, slightly presses the accelerator and introduces disturbing atmospheres combined with organic percussion details in a masterful way. A true catalyst for expert mixers.

On side B, Under Control once again breaks tradition with a broken, hypnotic and continuous rhythms, a first-rate brain driller for the clubs peak moments.

The EP ends with Animal Instinct, which does not lower the intensity one bit, adding an overwhelming rhythm with dynamic percussive details, with no room for rest, perfect for the dancers to travel to unknown dimensions.

Four years since her last dancefloor 12", upsammy returns with a four-track exploration of gleaming, sprightly drum and bass with a restorative centre. Thessa Torsing's moves in upper tempo zones have been defined by her light touch, finding power and presence in finely chiseled sounds and sculpting space between intricate, interwoven rhythms.

The dynamic movement of her pristinely moulded percussion is absolutely geared up for the club, but it's also matched with an uplifting, meditative sound palette which tempers the busy energy of the drums. Pushing and pulling on her arrangements with ever-increasing expressiveness and revelling in the subtlest of modulations to her kinetic beat systems, upsammy proves once again that moving in time to fast music can be an incredibly restorative experience.

A new artist appears on the streets of City HC Records, he is Andrey Orenstein
multidisciplinary artist, part of the alternative Rock band ‘Tequilajazz’, with several solo musical incarnations such as: Amor Entrave, for electronic Indie beats with tocuhes of IDM of broken beats, Do you like trains? for Acid House, and 50DIX, dedicated to street beats such as jungle, drum n bass, ghetto house, Juke and Footwork, and the pseudonym he uses for Go Ahead! EP, the new and multifaceted 22nd release from the Valencian label.

IF U WANT 2 is the elegant track that takes us into the bustling avenues of the 2st century megapolis, where the urban rhythms of the dance battles in Chicago, Footwork and Juke, along with brief Jungle passages alternate in a brilliant composition with funk and jazz nuances accompanying tight percussion and distorted kicks at 160 BPM.

Tough and Ghetto House and rugged acid define FOOLZ, second track of the A-side in which the demonic power of the 303 sounds embrace the thick and husky voice that together with infectious laughter set a rhythm as pugnacious as it is playful.

FETTA DI LIMONE, Juke, Footwork and Jungle, a perfect combination of American influences, legacy of Dj Rashad together with the English tradition around bass music, are fused by 50DIX with the unexpected and playful Italian lyrics of Tomasso Girardi, in perfect conjunction with the pianos, ethereal pads and mutant synths, that forge the development of the track. Already anthemic before the first beat sounds.

Juke, IDM, Halftime and abstract broken beats combine for the ultimate dance elixir, in the last track of the vinyl titled ICE FEELS KEEN, reaching 170 BPM in a catharsis of braindance, soul and acid exaltation in a dreamy harmony, where the syncopated notes of Oleg Egorov's bass and the velvety voice of Julia Garnits (Ice Hokku) commune.

Bonus digital track - 50Dix ICE FEELS KEEN (DZA REFLIP). Hypnotic, sharp and minimalistic, DZA's remix transforms the original track into an intimate and evocative experience, in which every sonic element acquires more prominence and presence.

Bonus digital track 2 - Fetta di limone (Kaxtelian remix) Inspired by the classic hardtrance sounds of the 90s, from Valencian dance temples such as Chocolate, Kaxtelian reinterprets the track with distorted drums, catchy melodies and Rave spirit at 165 bpm.

Mastering by Steve Voidloss at Black Monolith Studios in London (UK), except for the Bonus track 2 mastered by Raszia.

Once again, artwork and design by Dani Requeni, giving artistic coherence to the label's aesthetic.