Search:pro tech

Killawatt takes the reigns for his fourth solo EP on Tommy Four Seven’s 47 imprint. Listen with reverence to the artist’s laser precision production talent, in these four explorative techno cuts destined to disturb sound systems

Koryu Budo Records is a new techno label based in Madrid. This is their second release, as for the first release, it will only be released on vinyl (300 copies).

This EP named ‘The Last Gift’ has been written and produced by HD Substance, the Spanish producer, DJ, journalist, owner of SUBtl recordings and teacher at The Bass Valley. 2018 marks his 30 year anniversary in electronic music and he keeps on playing techno all over the world, releasing techno in a constant basis, teaching techno at The Bass Valley, writing techno for Beatburguer, Clubbingspain, Pole Group or Falling Ethics and releasing other people’s techno in his own label SUBtl.

The EP opens with "No Body Cares", a complex and timeless track, an orgy of analog psychedelia, the sequences that seem extracted from old clocks are mixed together to offer a hypnotic and enveloping sensation.

In second place, we find "Red Lady", pure and raw techno that is nourished with a devilish bass line, that immerses us in a sinister and dark universe. Direct simplicity.

"Red Lady_Sarcoma version" follows the line of the original track, though the main bass line disappears and in its replaced by syncopated sounds that take away some of the aggressiveness of the track but nourish it with more groove.

A work of great maturity, which shows this producer as one of the great names of techno.

Supported by Villalobos, Dorian Paic, Mattia Trani, DJ Tennis, Verrina & Ventura , Giorgia Angiuli, Carola Pisaturo, Julina Perez
There are people who place their soul at a border between two worlds that are completely different one from the other.
Giulio Paternò has always split his heart in two halves: one beating for Pink Floyd's, Dire Straits' and Deep Purple's rock; the other for an electronic sound influenced by the likes of John Talabot, Nicolas Jaar or David August.The final result by mixing these two different souls is all channeled into his project Swoosh, where house and techno meet the psychedelic sound from the '70s. So here is a captivating and a magnetic sound which is shaped exclusively by a live act with Ableton, a Gibson Les Paul and various controllers.Swoosh's peculiarity drew the attention of top national venues and festivals such as Tenax in Florence, Circolo degli Illuminati in Rome, or Amore and Spring Attitude Festivals.By Spring 2016 Swoosh will be releasing his first EP "Over and Above" with Autum Records, a label based in Rome and New York.Feedback:> DJ TENNIS: Great record, Swoosh is a producer to keep watching... / Gran disco, Swoosh è un producer da tenere sott'occhio...> VERRINA & VENTURA: Great, the slow one is fantastic! / Complimenti, traccia lenta fantastica!
> CAROLA PISATURO: Liked it so much. / Mi piace moltissimo.
> GIORGIA ANGIULI: I really enjoyed the whole EP, tracks are so stilish! / Mi piace molto l'EP, tracce super stilose!> JULIAN PEREZ: Good listening, a good listening. / Un ascolto piacevole > MATTIA TRANI:above mi piace moltissimo bell'atmosfera!

The HARP EP is to be released on PRAH Recordings and offers a balance of movement and feeling. ‘Banshee’ and ‘Feeler’ are both dance tracks intended for the dancefloor, whereas ‘Why Can’t I Remember Your Name’ and ‘Heart’ are two tracks meant for times of contemplation.

Inspired by the time when hardware was the only real option for making dance music, applying the same limitation and tactile approach lead to the creation of these tunes from a technical perspective. The equipment used was primarily analog and outboard, with the utilisation of tape for recording ‘Banshee’.

London via Margate composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist Raven has collaborated with many well-respected artists including Kate Tempest, Paul Weller, Mica Levi, Kwes and Bullion. His music upholds a balance between the orchestral and electronic, abstract and conventional. Parallels can be drawn to the artist Arthur Russell,
in terms of their diversity, creating tracks you can dance to, but also songs and music for reflection.

All tracks are taken from the results of the second week of Raven’s PRAH residency in Margate which has seen the likes of Kelsey Lu, Adult Jazz, Ben Vince, Lone Taxidermist, James Greenwood, Deep Throat Choir, Flamingods Lung Dart & London Contemporary Orchestra. Each have spent time writing and recording in the studios
as part of a free artist residency program offered by PRAH Recordings’ arts wing the PRAH Foundation.

The story of TodoTodo is one of the most incomprehensible and surprising in the history of Spanish electronic music. Without doubt it is, sadly, also one of the most ephemeral. The curse that has haunted them since their forming in 1980 and during their short year and half of life is already legendary. Domestica Records did justice to the group in 2012 with a comprehensive compilation and this EP joins this initial tribute as it reimagines some of these trailblazers most representative productions: Digital Dancer and Autoga´s.
Almost forty years later, Frigio is bringing some of their music to a fresh audience. Juanpablo with his extended edit of 'Digital Dancer.' A steady kick tethers a tripping mechanical melody, a melody that bubbles and simmers as toms, horns and daring funk collide for this seven minute odyssey into the world of Iberian underground synth. The original version from 81 closes the A, a brief and brilliant piece of proto-techno. The flip is introduced by Catalan Dj, journalist and author of ¡Bacalao! Historia Oral de la Mu´sica de Baile en Valencia, Luis Costa. Costa re-imagines 'Autogas' with his Tool Edit, reshaping the off-kilter keys and future highways and byways of the original. The finale is a true treasure from the annals of time. A live version of 'Autogas' from the legendary Rock'Ola club in Madrid, an unreleased work that is as audacious and bold as it was when it was first performed in 1981.

For the 8th installment on Lossless Music's Dope Plates sub-label sees label boss Soul Intent drop 3 rave and jungle infused gems.

With Jungle making a come back Soul Intent thought it was important for the kids to not forget about rave and hardcore so "The Old Skool Is So Kool" was born. Five minutes of breakbeat hardcore and rave nostalgia... so much so when playing it out in clubs Soul Intent regularly gets ravers asking "which Ratpack tune is this again?".

"Lick Down" is an out'n'out classic amen and 808 bass roller (and we mean roller!) while "Got The Music" blends old and old vibes and production techniques resulting in a very fresh and unique sounding track.

Civil Disobedience's seventh and debut vinyl release welcomes Polish artist, TAKA, to the family. TAKA presents 1610, an exceptionally personal and moving collection of music written and produced during a period of coming to terms with her father's passing. In her own words, "I began to feel strong again when I was creating this music." This is an EP where emotions of the darkest and lightest kind dance together.

TAKA executes her story in rough and ready beats, quirky and randomised percussion, with intense and emotive leads progressing throughout each track.

Entrusted to remix such precious material is TAKA's friend, Gareth Wild, who has crafted a signature heavy duty techno destroyer of "Cry Cry. "Cry Cry" especially promises to leave its mark on listeners, its leading chords are a raw melodic masterpiece, underpinned with a pummelling bassline. This piece of music penetrates the soul, awakens the subconscious, and leaves you radiating with profound hope and knowing. Those who hear it do not forget it.

Under the alias Ciel, Xi'an-born/Toronto-based producer, pianist, DJ, and Discwoman affiliate Cindy Li embodies the social conscience of progressive electronic music. She is at once a local and global artist, having flourished at the fringe of cutting-edge club culture since 2015, firmly rooted in her adopted city while reaching increasingly outward, her sets echoing from Berlin’s Berghain to Chicago’s Smartbar to Lisbon’s Lux Fragil. Back in Toronto, she co-runs the label Parallel Minds and event initiative Work In Progress, an extension of her radio show in both name and M.O. to improve female representation in the scene. She’s helped write safe space policies, hosted DJ workshops, and applied activist pressure on promoters through varying methods with a single-minded resolve. Those efforts have evoked responses, which Li has spent time reckoning with over the past two years. Now, manifesting as a self-guided reaction to her experiences as an artist and activist is Ciel’s Spectral Sound debut, Why Me?, a deeply personal and physical work.

Ciel’s stylistic pocket as a producer remains that of “soft-touch slammers,” but fans will note the material on Why Me? hits harder. “I wanted to write something that was heavy,” she says of the title track, the result of processing the noise leveled at her specifically after she amassed a database of female and nonbinary talents to highlight the lack of bookings amongst a subset of clubs in the community. “I was dealing with a lot... anger, despair, paranoia, feeling unjustly targeted.” She channeled these antiphons into her art. The cut’s namesake is sourced from the foregrounded sample, a snippet of dialogue from an old film about a man who believes he’s been abducted by aliens. Pulsing metallic drum patterns steer through the hypnotic passage; permeating beneath the beats are lush pads, washing the rattled urgency with unease.

Hardware-built tracks “Go Fish” and “Uri’s Song” came together over studio time with friend and occasional collaborator Colin Sims aka Wiretapping. Ciel brought her sampler to the sessions, with Sims contributing additional drums, which she’d arrange further at home, adding synth parts and basslines and effects, distilling it all down to its most potent core. The latter track — an effervescent minimal techno exercise both tender and tough — expresses Li’s reflections on today’s cyclical conditions for activism, dissension, and, ultimately, optimism. “These are harsher sounds but they also have elements that are really beautiful about them. I wanted to communicate that nothing is permanent, that there’s always hope for understanding and resolution.”

Underground techno fave Path Records is kicking off 2019 with a repress of its highly sought-after first release which came out way back in 1999. The excellent 'Why 2K' EP, a gorgeous piece of techno from Fate 258 a.k.a. label boss Reade Truth, remains a staple on the world's most underground dancefloors and has been widely regarded as a digger's trophy.

Reade Truth, an offspring from New York's Sonic Groove, has been spreading the message of electronic music since its beginnings. He has continuously released high quality techno on many seminal labels including Planet E, NSyde, and his recent album on Cartulis Music.

Path Records is known for their uniquely deep electronic visions. With a steady mixture of both new material and old unreleased tracks, the label remains hotly anticipated. Path 001x is the start of big things for Path this year, with forthcoming releases ahead from some of its other big projects Upsetting Keys and The Lotus Project.

'Buntús Rince' translates from Irish as 'basic rhythms', and this new compilation explores how Irish musicians were influenced by strands of different genres of music from around the world, merging them to create their own unique sounds. The compilation features some of the most innovative and talented figures in the history of Irish music and includes rare Irish jazz, fusion and folk outliers from the 1970s and early 1980s from musicians relatively unknown outside of Ireland.

Often regarded as a musical backwater, the 1970s finally saw Ireland begin to make its mark on international music. The nature of this feat is all the more commendable, considering how isolated and conservative the country still was in the middle of the last century. The emergence of acts like Skid Row, Thin Lizzy and Van Morrison instilled in budding young Irish musicians the belief to dream big.

Unlike many other European countries, Ireland had not benefited from the cultural impact of immigration. Pioneering Irish musicians did not have access to the type of vibrant music scenes ubiquitous to most European cities at that time. With no talented players or even in some cases recordings of the music, they had to cultivate and invent their own small scenes.

A jazz scene had begun to blossom in Dublin in the late 1950s. Self-taught players like Noel Kelehan and Louis Stewart emerged as the Irish standard-bearers. Their level of musicianship saw them play with some of the world's most renowned artists. The 1960s would see the emergence of the 'beat' scene in Ireland, with groups like Granny's Intentions, Taste and Eire Apparent finally challenging the hegemony of Irish Showbands. Change was in the air.
The late 1960s also saw many Irish emigrants returning home, bringing with them inspiration from the new styles and sounds of London and further afield. The arrival in the late 1960s of pirate radio stations like Radio Caroline, new music magazines and the availability of music on vinyl meant that different genres were now becoming more accessible. The musical landscape of the country began to transform and evolve, influencing a new generation of musicians in the process.
The 1970s saw advancements in studio technology. 8-track studios began appearing in Dublin, offering more opportunities for groups to record singles and albums. Synthesizers and other instruments were also becoming easier to acquire as the younger generation turned to electric jazz and fusion music.
While the level of musicianship was high, the levels of opportunities in Ireland were still very limited. Many groups and solo musicians had to emigrate to try and succeed.
Thankfully for those who remained, this new emerging scene didn't go totally unnoticed and local labels began to take a chance on more obscure Irish groups. Labels like Mulligan and also producers like John D'Ardis and Terri Hooley championed and documented music from the Irish underground of the 1970s.

Their valuable work is a common thread which connects many of the tracks on this compilation. From the soaring flute playing of Brian Dunning, to the swinging piano of Noel Kelehan and the sonic force of Jolyon Jackson's synthesizers; 'Buntús Rince' lifts the lid on a vastly underappreciated period of Irish music history.
One for the collectors.

Dark Grooves Records starts with the aim to rediscover cult tracks from Deep-House to Uk Garage and old-school Techno. This third release comes from the Philly producer Dozia Blakey, who put out this ep on 1996 under the alias Music From The Trees. The whole EP is a quality Deep House / US Garage record, also including a remix by King Britt (Dynamics Birthday Mix). On Side B we also find "Back to Basiks" which which showed up as the first track on Prosumer Boiler Room mix from 2012.

Debut album from Bay Area producer - 10 tracks spread across 2 slabs of vinyl and a bonus flexi disc.

Vin Sol is a third-generation San Franciscan of Salvadorean descent who has released on Unknown to the Unknown, Clone, Delft, Honey Soundsystem, and Ultramajic. His DJ sets expertly span the genres of house, electro, techno, italo, disco, soul, funk, and whatever other finds he digs up. He's also a musical partner of Matrixxman, AKA Charlie Duff, with whom he started the Soo Wavey label. His current focus is on the wild monthly party and label Club Lonely, which he runs with Primo Pitino and Jeremy Castillo. 'Planet Trash' consists of 10 tracks spread across 2 slabs of vinyl and a bonus flexi disc. Vin started working on the album in the winter of 2017 while taking a break from making club tracks. Simultaneously he also wanted to disconnect from the grip of the internet and 24 hour news cycle. Spending more time outside, he became entranced by the Bay Area fog. Sutro Tower wholly enveloped in mist is a view that inspired the ambient tracks on the album. You will also hear hints of the Latin freestyle and classic acid that informed Vin's youth. By spring of 2018 Vin headed to Berlin to finish the album and work on a collaboration with Matrixxman, an homage to SF musical institution Bottom of the Hill that kicks off side C. Vin's musical approach is honest, using the tools of the trade to both innovate upon and pay respect to classic forms. All songs have been mastered for vinyl by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. Each copy is housed in a jacket using photos by Vin Sol, and designed by Kevin McCaughey of Boot Boyz Biz. It includes a 4-color giant newsprint fold-out poster and golden flexi disc.

ELLLL continues her prolific 2019 run with a new EP for the expertly curated (and newly revived) Paralaxe Editions label out of Barcelona. Fresh off releases on Glacial Industries and First Second, the Irish-born, Berlin-based shapeshifter takes a creative turn here, setting aside her bassy excursions and techno flirtations for something much more cinematic in scope. Rich in melody, this record finds ELLLL taking an orchestral approach, weaving together piano swells and delicate strings to create a truly immersive listening experience. Mastered by Rupert Clervaux.

Independent record label YGAM presents "Les Bergers du Galetas", Magnétisme Animal's debut EP, in which they share their intimate view of society. 

Formed by brg and Catartsis, the French duo invites the listeners to dive into a journey through the density of the modern metropolis. In a time of materialistic fetishism, where superficial occurrences and capitalism rule, the 4-track EP acts in opposition to these current matters. However, rather than trying to create a contrasting sonic landscape, Magnétisme Animal use sounds recorded in their environment to elaborate pieces that bear the heavy and frenetic industrial atmosphere of our urban sceneries. All sorts of clanging metal, steam discharge, electromagnetic static noise, train rails frictions, sirens and distant traffic, are combined with breathing, footsteps and vocal humming to create an oddly industrial as much as organic soundscape. The EP starts with a noise track that recalls some of the compositional processes of musique concrète, to then slowly drifts towards rhythmically oriented pieces. "Être c’est être coincé", with its ponderous bass and distortion work, appears as a peculiar blending of noise and techno, while "L’Enthousiasme des statues" displays a more traditional and dance floor approach to rhythm and drums, but still leaves space for an uncanny sound decor to unfold. The project ends with "La Toute-Toute", a repetitive ambient track filled with subtle sounds, where one can wander as spoken words underline a sense of melancholy. "Les Bergers du Galetas" is an unsettling industrial tapestry, a strange study of noises, that depicts the contemporary frenzy of the artists’ environments they referred to as the urban jungle. A landscape where one is a witness of the disparity of human conditions, where mind and body coexist with difficulty, where one is subject to conformism, where one is lost in the smog while carried by the masses through the cemented maze.

When John Selway brought his dancing hands to the keyboard to begin work on his first full EP on Serotonin Records since ‘Zoids Vol 2’ in 1998, he channelled cosmic soul to create the next generation of intergalactic funk. His EP ‘Light Language’ surfs the solar winds to the space between breaks and electro where his musical adventures are free to explore the frontiers of dance. ‘Light Language’ permeates with the angelic voices of our true selves. The voice is the primary and complete musical instrument. When John was not yet born his mother sang to him in utero. A musical soul so innate it resonates celestial tonalities. All captured here on this twelve inch disk delivered by the galaxian voyager and pressed for human kind by Serotonin Records.



John Selway became an indispensable element of the history of the New York sound by virtue of building an extensive catalog of high quality releases spanning almost three decades and multiple genres of electronic music. From his first success in the techno world as part of the seminal New York duo Disintegrator to the most successful of his collaborations, Smith & Selway, and his deep and minimal techno label CSM; from the intelligent electro-funk of Synapse and Serotonin Records to his darker explorations as Semblance Factor, Selway has created one of the richest bodies of work in the world of electronic music.

Schmer Schmer has been looking for the next Prototype 909 since 1995. While they may never be found, we have instead found a few artists that with the same spirit of adventure have taken electronic music to new frontiers of unimaginable creativity. Primary among them is Lena aka Galcid aka Lenacid.

Lena's electrifying live performances utilizing eurorack modular synths with vintage and modern machines follow three simple 3 rules:

NO PCs, NO Presets, NO Preparation!

She has been called Jeanne d'Arc of modular because her style her appearance and her fearlessness.

For Schmer, Lena has created an EP made for the melting of your mind, if it doesn't first melt your speakers.

Lena uses her electronics in the most effective way possible. The classic acid machines are deployed to establish the themes the modular synths bring in sounds that take these tracks to another level. The eponymous track will hypnotize you into the state of focus necessary to allow you to go deep inside. Then the Acid Police show up! A funky drum machine rocker sure wake you out of your trance. Steel Vein has the intensity to rewire your modular mind. bpmf provides an hard driving aggressive take on Melting to help us turn on the switch.
Legendary DJ and producer Hisashi Saito has been making acid and techno since the early 90s. Using his unique
skills this EP has a rare clarity of sound not often heard on such ambitious recordings. Lenacid “Melting EP” opens up a new frontier for acid, for Schmer and for Lena that you are invited to explore with us this spring.

As Galcid, she has played alongside world renowned artists such as Nina Kraviz, Daniel Miller, Oval, DJ Nobu, Isao Tomita, Takkyu Ishino, Ken Ishii, G-man (LFO) among others. In 2016, she was invited by the Japan Media Art Festival to play at the special exhibition, held at the Eyemyth Media Arts Festival in Mumbai, India. Her 1st album “Hertz" received a worldwide release in digital format on the Detroit Underground label. The release attracted the attention of Karl Hyde (Underworld), Chris Carter (Throbbing Gristle) among other well-known musicians the world over. Shortly thereafter, Galcid played at "Boiler Room Tokyo". In July 2017, she embarked on her first EU tour playing shows in Barcelona, London, and Madrid, after she came back, she participated in Iron Island Festival and Mutek Japan garnering high praise in the media. In December 2017, she was invited to headline Future Mix's 20th Anniversary event and workshop in Shenzhen where she performed and held a talk with techno pioneer Mijk Van Dijk.

Power Culture is the union of Emmanuel and Tim Tama. "Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships." This project aims to melt the experience and the world of the two artists in one single place. Both known for their very unique style started to work naturally on music, figuring out lately that the entire project was right there, in front of their eyes, Power Culture is the result of the collision of many styles that dominated the 90's but look forward to the future, with a wider angle. Techno Culture has been crucial to the development of many crafts, and once in a while some projects tend to define a line in time, this is the aim of this project.

For the second release on the Galaxiid imprint, a label of electronic music archeology and quality, we are transported to the strange sonic world of an elusive 90s pioneer. Solar X's 1997 album X-Rated will be released for the first time on vinyl, as well as reissued digitally, with new artwork by the Japanese artist Keiichi Tanaami. Two worlds connecting sonically, visually and culturally.

Solar X enjoyed a burgeoning career in post-Perestroika Moscow making playful, low-tech electronica from Soviet analogue instruments, which he masterfully configured to forge animated compositions and dancefloor rarities. Fascinated by chaos and complexity, his music explores the ways in which our minds can be manipulated by structure - an endeavour quite plausibly linked to his other career as a lecturer and researcher of AI, information theory and cognitive science, his interest in which was in turn triggered by his young experiments in computer music.

Solar X gained international attention at a time when Russia was (quite unfairly) seen as a vacuum for electronic music, but was exploding in the period of piracy, poverty and freedom following the collapse of the USSR. Young Russians had benefited from the soviet education system and there was a strong DIY computer programming and music scene, fuelled by hackers, gear freaks and party animals. Viewed from today, the album is reborn at a time of further political and social strife, which many see as fuelling the huge creativity and radical thinking of modern Russia's young creatives.

X-Rated treats tempo and form as fluid concepts, administering sudden changes to its sonic landscape with disorienting effect, underlain with a subtle dose of humour and experimentation. Downtempo trip-hop sits alongside frenetic IDM and blistering electro, all bound together by peculiar melodic inflections and lively distortions. Warm, trippy harmonies and robotic synths are offset with angular drums, shifting erratically through moods and genres with cunning intent. Much like his contemporaries from the era, it's his ability to breathe life into a humble production setup that makes his music so compelling some twenty one years later.

The track titles are from a book of call girl cards in London phone booths, that reached the artist in Moscow in 1995. "I liked the titles from these cards, which were self-promoting and offering pleasure (e.g. "Mistress awaits you"). So, I thought since my tracks also offered some kind of pleasure, they might as well advertise this through their titles.'

Label head Nina Kraviz was introduced to the work of the 83 year old sensei Keiichi Tanaami by Ukawa Naoshiro, founder of Dommune in Tokyo, one of the brightest figureheads for the arts in Japan, responsible for the graphic design of the cover. In September 2017 Nina played for the opening of Tanaami-san's first exhibition in Moscow at Gary Tatintsian Gallery. Nina performed a live sound palette, to accompany the looping 7 minute animation, of experimental music from the Soviet Union, Russian pioneers of electronic music like Species Of Fishes and SolarX, Soviet-time pioneer Lev Termen, Kuryochin, avant-guard rock mixed with some Stockhausen and just pure abstract sounds, as well as treasured artists like Biogen.

Tanaami's illustrative work has strong sexual elements, so out of the five art pieces Nina selected and commissioned for Galaxiid, the first fits perfectly for 'X-rated'. The vertical line of text on the left is the traditional form for Japanese covers of foreign releases. The cover, together with the accompanying poster and sticker, are printed in Japan to ensure the highest print quality and purity of the colours.

Anadol is a psychedelic synth folk project by Gözen Atila, a Turkish sound artist and photographer based in Berlin. Her third album Uzun Havalar is based on collective improvisations of middle eastern folk songs called „uzun hava“. They turn out as rich, atmospheric synth ballads. A diverse roster of improvising musicians creates their fascinating complexity. Anadol recorded them during extensive sessions in Istanbul. You can hear drummers laughing and playing guitars, composers howling, announcements in French and screams in no language, record collectors playing oscillators, and trumpets through spacious echoes. Anadol represents Gözen Atila’s liberation from a rather academic approach to electronic composition which she pursued during her music technology studies in Istanbul. She calls her education the „darkness of serious music“ where she first tried to belong, then to break free with the help of lo-fi synth pop. As a producer of radio plays and an expert field recording artist she has developed a distinct sense of timing, editing and sound design. Her Anadol project walks in the footsteps of lone synth experimentalists like Bruce Haack and The Space Lady with their childlike curiosity for electronic sounds, pushing the boundaries of minimal equipment. On Uzun Havalar she translates her experimental background into these floating folk ballads. The album was originally released on tape via Kinship in 2018.