Suche:re flex

Piezo returns to Facta and K-LONE’s Wisdom Teeth imprint with a 5 track EP of experimental, warping, majestic club music. Since his last outing on the label, the Milanese producer has refined and consolidated his aesthetic considerably: through a spree of crucial releases on his own label, Ansia, and then with the release of his essential debut LP, Perdu (released in 2020 on experimental powerhouse Hundebiss). LSD Superhero sees him bring together the goofy, club-ready aspects of his output on Ansia with the meticulously crafted cybernetic sonics of his debut LP, but with the addition of something new: melody. The title track opens the record with house lights up: glitching percs build around gasseous pads and trembling subs in a drawn out climax that finally collapses into a rolling technoiddembow beat at its midpoint. Next, ‘Unto’ squeezes the producer’s wonky, sub-heavy sonics into a 4x4 template - one of those special 5 am tracks that will appeal equally to dubsteppers and minimal heads. (Remember that time Shackleton appeared on Perlon?). ‘TB2’ - a collaboration with label head K-LONE - balances nectar sweet melodies with bust-up drums and glitching FX hits, while ‘Dijitz’ sees him flex his full melodic knack for an eyes down, half-stepping synth workout. To close, ambient wobbler ‘Xxx^_^x’ refracts bass music sonics into something sprawling and shadowy - like an old Benga track exploded and

Internationally-renowned British singer-songwriter Emeli Sandé with her forthcoming album Let’s Say For Instance, and her first release on an independent label, and it marks a new era of Emeli’s expansive artistry after a decade on stage and on the airwaves. Exploring new sonic territory through shades of classical, disco, nostalgic R&B and more, it sees Emeli freeing herself from the expectations of others, flexing her holistic skills as a songwriter, producer and vocalist in new, versatile ways. In her words: “‘an ode to resilience, rebirth, and renewal”.

The Source - nearly 30 years in the tradition of the infinite peculiar. The Source is a quartet with a long history. Actually started in 1993, with the founding members Ingebrigt Håker Flaten (bass), Per Oddvar Johansen, Trygve Seim og Oyvind Brække, who all by then studied at the Jazz Course at the Trondheim Music Conservatory. The new quartet album; " ... but swinging doesn`t bend them down" will be published in October on the legendary record label Odin. The title is an excerpt from the poem "Birches" by the American poet Robert Frost, a title that encompass a child's dream of climbing the treetops and swinging birch branches. It could be read as a reflection over the conflict between the free play in nature and the boundaries of adult life awaiting on the ground_ But maybe the ground can wait? Just join the sheer joy of climbing the trees and the careful balance that is needed not to fall and be at one with the flexibility of nature. After several season-related albums, like "The Source: of Christmas" and "The Source: of Summer", it is now a pure quartet display out in the tube, only based on original music. The pieces are all signed by the quartet members and covers a vast register; raga, shuffle, swing, lyrical spots, improv and even a rough trombone/drum outing, and more.The Source: Oyvind Brække, trombone Trygve Seim, saksofon Per Oddvar Johansen, trommer Mats Eilertsen, bass.

Founded in 2019, Astral Flex is a band of musicians/producers born of an ascendant local culture of producer based, improvised music in Melbourne, Australia. Recorded on the 50th anniversary of humankind's first step on the moon, their debut release "I Can See My House From Here" is presented here in two forms; as a spacey nu-jazz improvisation on Side A, and as a collection of house/electronic remixes on Side B.

Felix Meredith - Trumpet

Angus Gray - Keys

Horatio Luna - Bass

Odyssey Zelno - Drums

Munich’s most flexible shapeshifter comes equipped with three new weapons. Needless to mention he’s got full support of the RFR squad for his subversive revolutionary plans.
„Don’t try this at home“- a warning that has always been more of an encouragement to do forbidden things than inspire cautiousness. But basically correct, and for want of a booming club life, you better enjoy this Detroit burner with a proper car system or in an abandoned warehouse that is gettin cut into pieces by stroboscope lightning. Of course, under the correct appliance of all hygiene measures.
No, this ain’t a Trumpesque call to arms in order to charge for the Reichstag. On the contrary, it shows how any stable foundation can be undermined with a healthy dose of 90s acid. If you don’t believe it, just listen to Rakim’s „Stay in bed remix“ of „How to bring down your government“.
For the end of our adventure we are given a nice „Sidequest“. As for the reward, there’s a shiny loot box with legendary items, beautifully wrapped in trancey techno. Lovers of Aril Brikha might find some valuable treasure here.

Deluxe Moon Phase version includes a gatefold sleeve, poster and an extra track on a flexidisc.
Unlearning, the breathtaking debut from Glasgow’s Walt Disco, is steeped in metamorphoses, a stage show in two acts. It covers flings and romances, identities and bodies and change, profound familial love, and - of course - Hollywood glamour. The album plays out like a musical, with an emotional arc and even an instrumental interlude, winkingly titled ‘The Costume Change’.


While the themes of the album are universally relatable, Walt Disco’s gift is in the unique experience of discovery and heartbreak between queer people - something that frontperson James explores in depth on songs such as ‘Weightless’, ‘Be An Actor’ and ‘Hold Yourself As High As Her’. In Walt Disco’s eyes, it’s never too late to become what you might have been and there are plenty of possibilities to explore on Unlearning.

Cypress Hill shifts culture. Since releasing its eponymous debut album in 1991, the California rap group has regularly revolutionized rap. B-Real and Sen Dog’s innovative lyrics, distinctive voices and poignant street-centered subject matter catapulted the group to superstar status. Its first LP sold more than 2 million units and its second album, 1993’s Black Sunday, pushed another 3 million units thanks to the Grammy-nominated singles “Insane In The Brain” and “I Ain’t Goin’ Out Like That”.

Along the way, Cypress Hill earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, sold more than 9 million albums, and were nominated for three Grammy Awards. During a time increasingly defined by singles of the moment, rappers B-Real and Sen Dog wanted to make a statement by releasing an album. Back in Black, the group’s forthcoming tenth studio project, finds the group flexing its musical muscles and pushing itself creatively. With a mesmerizing mix of celebratory, confrontational, inspirational, reflective, and rugged songs, Cypress Hill shines throughout Back in Black. Entirely produced by Black Milk (Slum Village, Lloyd Banks, Pharoahe Monch), the LP is an homage to Cypress Hill’s return and its collaboration with Black Milk.

„Canê“ heißt das vierte Studioalbum von Rapperin Ebow, ein kurdisches Wort für „Liebling“, oder auch
„Seele“. Mit ihrem neuen Album geht Ebow nicht nur back to the roots, representing München-Giesing
und Free Kurdistan – sie geht den widersprüchlichen Sehnsüchten auf den Grund, die unsere Zeit in sich
birgt. Schnelle Autos und politischer Kampf. Schüchterne Flirts und die ewige Suche nach Trouble. Prada
Bags und Protest. Ebow muss sich kein Alter Ego zulegen, um Ambivalenzen zu verbergen, sie hält sie aus.
Die Rapperin muss sich nicht ausgeben für etwas, das sie nicht. Ebow ist beides: Widerständig und hyped.
Straße und Softie. Hochpoetisch und not giving a fuck. Oder um es mit dem Opener-Track „Dersim62“
zu sagen: „Mein größter Flex ist, dass ich ich selbst bin“.
Die zwölf Songs sind dramaturgisch so gesetzt, dass sie sich zu zwei Grundstimmungen zusammensetzen,
aus denen das Album besteht, wie zweite Seiten eines Mixtapes: Der erste Teil ist härter und schneller, es
geht ums Flexen und um Fun. Der zweite Teil ist reflektierter und behutsamer, dreht sich um Nähe, um
Widerstand und Überzeugungen. Es sind die zwei Seiten, die für die Gegensätzlichkeiten der Seele stehen
auf„Canê“

Gábor Lázár’s “Boundary Object” is a collection of eight real-time recorded, unedited tracks made in Budapest and Prague between 2020 and 2022 using a self-designed compositional interface. It's Gábor Lázár’s second album for Planet Mu following “Source” in 2020. The title comes from the idea of a Boundary object as a flexible concept of sociology and computation of how collaborations could happen between groups of people who have different kinds of backgrounds and different levels of knowledge. A Boundary object could be anything which translates between these groups to make a collaboration happen. Boundary objects are plastic, interpreted differently across communities but with enough common identity across social words and contexts to maintain integrity. This is a neat summary of how Gábor’s approach and working process led to his music on this album. Prismatic, flexible, and functioning on different levels of interpretation. On “Boundary Object”, the shiny surfaces and uniformity of “Source” have collapsed inward, leaving intact the recognisable pulse and frames of his music. While each individual track has a non-linear structure, the album as a whole has a strong narrative. Passages that start out Trance-like and familiar warp and weft into different shapes as if Gábor is examining the music like a 3d object, pulling at the edges, breaking and rebuilding what he examines, turning expectations inside-out. “Boundary Object” is intense, full-spectrum and a lot of fun.

The US-born, Norwegian-Mexican musician and producer Carmen Villain, real name Carmen Hillestad, has spent the last nine years and four albums gently unraveling song into the sound of emotional impulse. From the tilt and croon of her first two albums to the expansive warmth that flows and pulses beyond ambient in her more recent output, Hillestad's journey is artful musical deconstruction but also somehow spiritual growth.Hence new album Only Love From Now On, her fourth full-length and the culmination of a build-up that really began with the turn in sound evident from third album Both Lines Will Be Blue (2019, Smalltown Supersound) and the subsequent releases Affection In A Time Of Crisis (2020, Longform Editions) and Sketch For Winter IX: Perlita (2021, Geographic North). While the seed of her aesthetic was planted earlier, it has blossomed into something unexpected, benevolent in its composure and altogether luxuriant in its sensuality. If her themes, especially now, are wide, philosophical, and occasionally abstract, the emotional tenor of Hillestad's music is clear and purposeful. Makes sense that her key musical touchstones are dub, ambient, and cosmic jazz - flexible vehicles for tranquil wonder. While it may not contain voice or lyrics, as her two earliest records do, she describes it as, "wishing to maintain a sense of careful optimism for the future, while on the cusp of something unknown." Listening to Only Love From Now On is simultaneously comforting and alluringly strange. Partly it's the contributions of guests Arve Henriksen (trumpet, electronics) and Johanna Scheie Orellana (flutes). Partly it's the fluidity between instruments - such as clarinets - field recordings, the studio, jam, and careful composition. She calls the process a conversation with sound that occurs in her deliberate attempts to experiment with new methods, like granular synthesis, for her music-making. But mostly that strange comfort is in the peace and grateful contentment she has found via the stark recognition of her own privilege - laid bare by the pandemic. Only Love From Now On is fueled by the sense of scale in feeling small in the face of things so large, the contemplation of how the biggest impact we can have is in the people close to us, the attempt to make sure that impact is a positive one, and the choice to try to focus on love instead of fear.

One of Europe’s most popular queer parties launches its record label, showcasing the residents who made Adonis such a cult, must-attend event. The four-track ‘ADONIS 001’ EP is released on 25 February, featuring four tracks from residents Nyra and Wilson Phoenix, representing the different music styles experienced across both rooms at their infamous party which ended its four-year residency at The Cause with a bang on New Year’s Day this year.

Long-term resident Nyra delivers both A-Side tracks, presenting the uplifting, main-room house sound of Adonis. Opening with ‘Used To Love Me’ which evokes classic early New York house with its sultry “you used to love me, basic lover” vocal refrain alongside deep atmospheric beats and hypnotic saxophone sounds. ‘Visions’ sparkles with vibrant electro beats which bounce and shimmer throughout, combined with the Italo house inspired synth chords for an anthemic track perfect for peak-time dance-floors.

Resident Wilson Phoenix, known for delivering the faster paced, darker sound of Adonis, provides both B-Side tracks. As the BPM rises, the vibe gets harder. The thumping yet euphoric ‘Dash Und’ flexes its muscles from the out, with its punchy 909 matched by robotic synths and nostalgic acid and rave influences. ‘K-12’ ups the intensity; a sweat-soaked techno stomper with stabbing hi-hats which make for the ideal heads down cut.

First Word Records is very proud to present you with 'Peace + Harmony'. The first EP from our most recent signing, K S R .

Hailing from Moss Side, Manchester, this young talent has been steadily building a rep for himself over the past few years as one of the UK's most exciting soul vocalists, with his releases encompassing an eclectic assortment of alternative R&B, future soul, hip hop and D&B. Influenced by an array of neo-soul artists, such as D'Angelo and Anderson .Paak, his own soulful style has already seen him tour and collaborate with a number of UK peers; working on projects with label-mates Children of Zeus & Australia's REMi, and supporting the likes of Etta Bond & The Mouse Outfit, as well as performing sell-out headline solo shows in Manchester and London, and playing various festivals across Europe, including the We Out Here festival very recently.

Since he began developing his music in 2017, K S R has had support from the likes of 1Xtra, BBC Radio 1, BBC Introducing, Mixmag, NTS, Reprezent, Unity & Soho Radio, in addition to featuring on a slew of D&B tracks with artists like Lenzman, BCee, Emba & Redeyes. The collab with Emba was recently named a 'Kiss FM Future Selection' courtesy of Hybrid Minds and features have been supported on Spotify's 'New Music Friday' and 'Mandem - Kings' amongst others. His debut release 'Unfiltered' appeared on Polarface Records in 2019, which was followed by single 'Flex With Me' (also produced by Tyler Daley from Children of Zeus) then an independent second EP, 'Take Control', followed in late 2020 (during the pandemic) which amassed over 500k streams. Additionally to the releases, he was recently recruited by Manchester United as part of their 21/22 season kit announcements, as well as working with Nike and Size? on a special MCR-themed Air Force 1 release.

It's now time for a new extended project from Roosevelt Kazaula Sigsbert - better known as K S R . 'Peace + Harmony' is a solid set of alternative R&B, produced by Dom Porter and mixed by Eric Lau. Six tracks in all, including the single, 'Harmless' (which received support from the likes of Mr. Scruff (Worldwide FM), BBC Manchester and Victoria Jane (BBC Radio 1), was 'Track Of The Week' on 1Xtra/BBC Introducing, and saw the video racking up several thousand plays in its first weekend) and follow-up 'CGWY' featuring Children of Zeus on a brand new interpretation of their classic track 'Get What's Yours'. From the intro track 'I Wonder', to the downlow future soul of 'Lily Apart', to the autobiographical vibes of 'Born In '98', to the closing track 'Given Summer', also featuring the vocals of Ayeisha Raquel, each track on the EP is of course laced with Roosevelt's unmistakable silky smooth vocals, and is set to join his already impressive catalogue of underground soul classics such as 'Alien Boo', 'Stylin' and 'New Love'.

K S R says "my third EP, P E A C E + H A R M O N Y is a collection of my thoughts and experiences from my journey throughout the last two years of my life. Lots of aspects of my life changed over 24 months, along with everyone around the globe. When we were thrown into the unknown at the start of 2020, I stepped away from music for a while as I couldn't find any peace in my creativity and needed to evolve. I finally started to feel cohesive with my songwriting and music, and I could feel harmony between myself and my art once again."

'Peace + Harmony' by K S R is released on vinyl & digital on First Word Records, late 2021.

Even if Ancient Greek isn’t part of general knowledge anymore, the word mega is. Hence, you might admire our modesty to say that Roman Flügel’s first outing on Running Back in 2022 is perfectly headed. Greta, large, mighty and somewhat the love- or brainchild of his earlier Garden Party and the previous D.I.S.C.O., Mega pulls out all the stops: hi-nrg melodies, circus bells, cowboy funk and honey hooks at 140 beats per minute. While it is nearly impossible not to take this bait or decorate it with the Bobby-O medal of honor, Roman proves one more that you can be catchy and classy at the same time.
Rules on the other hand, puts some of these stylistic devices in reverse or down-tempo mode and feels like brushing your teeth after an extended feast or the perfect hors d’oeuvre.
Completing the picture with Film 1, Film 2 and Film 3, Flügel flexes his freethinking muscles and lands in-between art school new wave bands and soundscape science. Music that is masterly made, magical in its impact and perfectly described with a misquoted line from Get The Balance Right: it’s never predictable.

Lake Havasu is a community of winding hillside roads, launched in the 1960s alongside a brick-for-brick rebuild of the original London Bridge. “It’s this very synthetic, gimmicky place set in this soulful, desolate landscape,” laughs Pedro the Lion’s David Bazan, who moved to the Arizona city for one year in seventh grade. Bazan collected his earliest childhood experiences for 2019’s Phoenix, the prolific artist’s celebrated return to the Pedro moniker and the first in a planned series of five records chronicling his past homes. To write its sequel, Bazan traveled to Havasu four times over several years, driving past his junior high campus, a magical skating rink, and other nostalgic locations that evoked feelings long suppressed. “An intersection I hadn’t remembered for 30 years would trigger a flood of hidden memories,” he says. “I was there to soak in it as much as possible.” Driving the inscrutable loops of Havasu’s lakeside, Bazan listened through an audiobook of Tom Petty’s biography, eventually dialoguing with Petty’s voice in his mind. A revelation from the book—that Petty subconsciously wrote the song “Wildflowers” as an act of kindness toward himself—inspired Bazan to approach his own work with radical generosity toward his young self. “I wanted to be there for that kid,” he offers. “That twelve year old still needs parenting, and still needs to process.” To revisit his past with openness, Bazan modified harmful work habits he’d accepted as necessary. That meant doing away with deadlines, and accumulating moments of play as he felt moved to—“Rather than squeezing stones every single time. I’m on a slow journey away from that,” he clarifies. As he worked through the music that became Havasu, flexibility and curiosity informed the arrangements. Bazan began writing on a simple synthesizer and drum machine setup. He detoured to a more elaborate assortment of analog electronic equipment, then woodshed his original two-handed keyboard arrangements on fingerpicked acoustic guitar. Concurrently relearning his catalog for a weekly series of livestream concerts also renewed his gratitude toward songwriting. “I was trying to evaluate what I have to show for 20 years of kicking my own ass,” Bazan quips about the strenuousness of full-time touring. “But the garden of my songs is what I’ve been building. It doesn’t have to be an ego test.”

The Sound Of Love International 004 is a particular poignant collection of rarities, collectables and unearthed gems, pulled together by the Italian DJ and crate digger Budino. For the last two years, the pretty coastal town of Tisno in Croatia has been devoid of the (now) legendary Love International week-long celebration of music, leaving thousands of revellers and regular devotes with only the sounds of Love International to keep the spirits strong until the next time friendships are rekindled and dance resumes under the sun and the stars. Luckily, the fiesta is scheduled for a return to Tisno from 13th – 19th July 2022.

Budino, AKA Valentina Bodini, has a lifelong passion for vinyl, amassing an enviable collection of multi-genre LPs and singles via her years spent in Italy and now in Berlin. As resident DJ for Discodromo’s CockTail d’Amore parties, her enthusiasm for music and digging knows no boundaries, and her instalment into the Sound Of Love International series gives us an aural insight into her musical realm.

Musically, The Sound Of Love International #004 is a smorgasbord of sound. Opening with the glacial tones of Peter Seiler’s 1986 new-age gem ‘Serengeti’, the twelve track selection glides through proto-house, tribal ambience, industrial EBM, balearic dance and so much more. It’s a testament to the ground- breaking nature of these tracks that most of the music here was originally released some 30-40 years ago. Inclusions from Oliver Leib’s The Ambush project, Vibes Of Rhythm and Scott Edward stem from the post house & techno explosion of the early 90s, whilst the early proto-electronic experiments from the likes of Kirlian Camera, Clock DVA, Bourbonese Qualk and Pyrolator are welcomely revived for a new audience. Interestingly, a flexi-disc only release of ‘Hark’ by William Orbit & Laurie Mayer’s early 80s Torch Song project is also included here, elongated by Budino herself in the edit suite. Two brand new productions from DJ Blasy and Budino & Berko ensure that business is brought bang up to date, offering a unique and modern spin on the sounds of Budino, and her tantalising selection on this compilation.

Industrious Polish DJ, producer and live performer Szafran is summoned to Thabo's Berlin-based house imprint Home Again, debuting a new alias and sound in his arsenal as he reaches the spaces between house, breakbeat and acid house. The label's third release, Thabo grabs revered Parisian producer Leo Pol for a killer remix.
Previously releasing and performing as Oskar Szafraniec, he broke through under the mentorship of acid house legend A Guy Called Gerald, touring extensively together and developing his live show. His releases have come through notable labels Rawax, Deset and Cyclo, while collaborations with heavyweights Ricardo Villalobos and Pier Bucci brought more discerning ears, and basing himself in Berlin ensured that he'd play across the city's hallowed haunts, including Club der Visionaere, Watergate, Tresor and Salon zur Wilden Renate.

"After eight years in Berlin, I relocated to Croatia's Dalmatian coast last year. There was the enforced break from touring, but I also took a break from producing. I wanted to step back and find new inspirations. I was listening to a lot of Warp Records, feeling hugely inspired by the melodies in Aphex Twin and Squarepusher's '90s releases. My musical direction changed and I wanted to present these influences with my own touch. I feel my music is more emotive through the way I'm contrasting analogue, digital and organic elements and I hope people feel that." - Szafran

Packing punch and propulsion in equal measure is 'It's Just A Feeling', a striking, emotive track that cuts through with the sonic signature of the Roland TB 303. Prolific mastermind Leo Pol picks up the pace, giving the track a rerub with all the bang and bustle to vitalise a dancefloor. Prodigious outing 'You Don't Know' enters the field full of vigor with the breakbeat drum loops and 4 X 4 kick drum sequences giving it a propulsive, rousing pace, while 'Infuse' reaches through and closes the EP with a laidback flex.
Artwork by Ken Hanamura

This release is a special one; a moment where the two halves of the Mr Bongo record label unite, our heritage re-issues and our contemporary artists roster.

Minoru Muraoka’s 'The Positive and the Negative’ is a firm favourite at Mr Bongo. It sees a master of the shakuhachi, a traditional bamboo Japanese flute, flex his prodigious skill resulting in a unique mix of breakbeat jazz and Japanese folkloric music. 'The Positive and the Negative’ featured on the 1970 'Bamboo’ album, which Mr Bongo reissued in 2019. Heralded by DJ Shadow, Cut Chemist, Egon, and many others. The record’s cult status had us thinking how could we pay further homage to a sublime track such as this. The opportunity came to us in an email from Melbourne’s Surprise Chef with a link to the fabulous reinterpretation of the track which they had just recorded.

"Minoru Muraoka’s ‘Bamboo’ LP has long been a fixture in our record bags, mostly for the killer shakuhachi funk cut The Positive and The Negative. The record is possibly our favourite from Mr Bongo’s extensive catalogue of reissues, and certainly the most influential to Surprise Chef; The Positive and the Negative’s cinematic atmosphere paired with the wonky drum feels and dramatic performance makes it a near-perfect amalgamation of what we try to capture on Surprise Chef records. We’ve borrowed an element or two from the tune over the last few albums (such as the percussion on ‘The Limp’), so it felt right to go head first into reinterpreting the entire track for ourselves. We recorded the tune in Karate Boogaloo’s attic studio with our man Henry Jenkins at the controls and Hudson Whitlock on percussion. We spent an entire day trying to get the take; we felt such a deep responsibility to capture the intensity of the original, we must have done 20 or 30 takes before we were finally happy. We stuck a fork in it late into the night, satisfied that we’d had our best crack at paying homage to a masterpiece by the great Minoru Muraoka.” - Surprise Chef

Forged in their signature sound, "The Chef" have made 'The Positive and the Negative' their own whilst simultaneously treating the original with utmost respect. The shakuhachi and koto have been replaced by synths and guitars, but the breakbeat psychedelic vein flows richly through both instruments

The 7" vinyl format was the right fit for this release, so the original Minoru Muraoka recording which clocks in over nine minutes has been edited into a 7” version to accompany Surprise Chef’s new take.

Six years on since his latest appearance on the label's main series, Stroboscopic Artefacts boss Luca Mortellaro, aka Lucy, returns with 'Dyscamupia' - an introspective, multisensory techno triptych revolving around the core sequence of Albert Camus' classic existentialist novel, 'The Stranger'. Also known as the 'killing of an arab', this pivotal moment in Camus' seminal book - which also inspired The Cure their song 'Killing An Arab' back in the day, is here evoked through three variedly intense, deep and hypnotic techno variations - flexing from 120 to 130, onto 140 BPM - each of them translating a particular step in the author's minute, focal-shifting depiction of the unknown man's murder on the beach.

Embodying Meursault for a minute, Jason Snell lends his voice to the narrator and his inner demons, casting a strange, ominous spell on the club and its crowd. Willing to explore and dig up further into the textural wealth and crucial warmth of organic sounds and synthetic treatments, Lucy made wise use of the binaural microphones technology during the vocals recording process, greatly enhancing the immersive force of his compositions to create thoughtful, dystopic narrative bubbles that stand in their own right.
The first number, ' Dyscamupia (Forward)', happens before and right until the actual killing - hence time flowing at a metronomic, heartbeat-like tempo; the second cut 'Dyscamupia (Pause)' takes place right after the nameless man's death, when the narrator enters a kind of existential 'pause' and a whole new flow of consciousness begins; the third sequence, 'Dyscamupia (Backward)', plumbs the depths of the action itself as played backwards, like an equally hazed-out and dizzying reminiscence of the sad encounter's mechanism. Don't let its seemingly conceptual framework fool you though, like most of his past output 'Dyscamupia' also aims to bring dancefloors to a steady simmer, whilst maintaining Lucy's ascending momentum towards an all-round genre-busting, thought-provoking apex.

Spiralling through the space-time continuum, Alberta Balsam's debut EP amalgamates clipped breakbeat with lithe IDM and sawtooth electro. Inspired by the visionary author Ursula K. Le Guin, the vinyl is presented by Dekmantel Records together with a transcendental sci-fi narrative. Printed on a poster-inlay designed by British artist Alex Morgan, the story tells of a quest for survival on a planet ravaged by ecological collapse.

In a bid to rescue all lifeforms from impending destruction, a lone holobot frantically consults her neurobiological interface. Humans can no longer subsist on Earth: waterways are contaminated, and the unbreathable atmosphere has taken on a toxic purple, almost holographic hue. Faced with environmental apocalypse, she turns skyward, to take root among the stars. With nods to the utopian futurism, attunement to nature and alien visions of pioneering electronic artists such as Drexciya and Delia Derbyshire, Alberta transmutes a synergy that's entirely her own. Higher Dreams journeys elsewhere on a passage that's equal parts intergalactic and introspective, questioning how, on the brink of the abyss, we can find hope.

Blasting off the A-side with 'Atuan Tombs' – a reference to Le Guin's masterful Tales From Earthsea series – a cyborg voice narrates plundering through the skeletal remains of an urban landscape. Hollowed out kick-drums thunder in 'Cascade;' glitched-out beats that shatter into incandescent, intricate melodies. On the B-side, the titular track crescendos, it’s biblical vocals conveying the gravitas of an approaching dystopia. Yet Higher Dreams is far from doom-inducing – the EP closes off with ‘Suspended in the Manifold,' the vibrant Roland TR-808 rhythm fuelled by the colossal power of a solar flare.

Renowned for her live hardware-based sets, Alberta flexes her immeasurable skill as a tech-savvy producer adept at constructing danceable, yet simultaneously lush and expansive interludes. Having trained as an epidemiologist, the theme of care reverberates through her music. Crucially, she regards dance as medicine – a primordial remedy to sustain our interconnected existence.

Nicfit are a four-piece punk band from Nagoya, Japan. Comprising Hiromi on vocals, Charley on guitar, KenKen on bass and Kuwayama on drums the group are by turns melodic and menacing. Nicfit are a nervous itch, incessant and impossible to predict. They flip between head-down tumbles of hardcore bounce and freaked feedback clamber with glee, sounding as casual as a slap in the face.
Formed in 2009 after Charley relocated from San Diego to explore the Japanese punk underbelly, Nicfit bonded through a mutual appreciation of Essential Logic, Magazine, Black Flag and Wire. They quickly recorded a demo and started opening for groups like DMBQ, Thee Oh Sees, Total Control and Wimps. To date the band have released a debut 7” EP, a split cassette with Pinprick Punishment and most recently shared a 7” with their comrades M.A.Z.E. too. Now they’ve gathered a spiky new batch of hyperactive songs together into their enthralling debut LP entitled ‘Fuse’, which Upset The Rhythm will release this December.

‘Fuse’ is a flexing treat of a debut album, packed with browbeaten stomp, taut breakouts, guitars that sound more akin to warning sirens and an astute railing vocal delivery. ‘Fuse’ was recorded, mixed and mastered at the Geru Studio in Toyota City with the help of Shigeru Matsui at the board. These ten original blasts of song, and one cover of the Urinals (‘Ack, ack, ack’) are as pummelsome as they are keen to race against the clock. Total life-affirming trample, with pointed metallic moments and glammy undercurrents that forever soar out of the sprawl.

Scottish DJ Ewan McVicar is tipped for big things, having found support in the likes of Annie Mac and Fatboy Slim. After a stellar year crowned with a release on the hallowed Nervous Records, he makes his debut on Shall Not Fade's "Basement Tracks" series with five explosive earworms.

Amnocairn EP collects the most classic sounds from the dancefloor and melts them together, styles blending throughout songs to keep listeners on their toes and dancing. The title track is a sweeping marriage of insistent house piano and washy dub techno synths, leading into the sugary, hardcore "1001 Freestyle" that calls back to early Lone tracks. Then one for the after hours crew, "Ha Mez", a syncopated 303 techno roller.

McVicar keeps the party atmosphere close across the B-side, flexing laser-cut synth arps with a dark, big-room edge on "Stu Boy", before crowning the EP with a gorgeous sun soaked party number "See U Thru My Eyes", jazzy inflected house with a 90s aesthetic. This EP has something for everyone, bringing together eclectic influences into a smooth festival-ready record.

Pressed On Sky Blue Vinyl! To say Harry Fraud is on fire is an understatement. In just two years, he has fully produced four projects with Curren$y (The Marina, The OutRunners, Director’s Cut, Bonus Footage), The Plugs I Met 2 with Benny The Butcher, HOFFA with Dave East, and now Borrowed Time with Dark Lo. The new collaborative effort showcases 10 tracks with additional features from AR-Ab, Boldy James and 38 Spesh (on the bonus Flexi Disc version of "Ringing Shots"). The lush production is perfect for Dark Lo’s gritty bars and tales of life on the Philadelphia streets. Facing sentencing for a federal witness tampering charge, Dark Lo has been working relentlessly all year. With the recent release of Charlie Pope with V Don and Extreme Measures with Havoc (of Mobb Deep), Borrowed Time serves as the perfect addition to Dark Lo’s impressive catalog

Interiors, the title of this new release from Ultramarine, may have a topical resonance for many listeners who have found themselves in involuntary confinement during the past year, but the five tracks on this EP were actually recorded in 2011, and they represent a significant opening out of the duo's evolving musical perspective.

Ian Cooper and Paul Hammond, who had become friends while growing up together in the Essex countryside, formed Ultramarine in 1989. Throughout the 90s their distinctive music, an enticing blending of acoustic with electronic instruments, secured a loyal following and won critical acclaim. Then, throughout the whole of the next decade, Ultramarine lay dormant. Interiors documents their reawakening, with Cooper and Hammond exploring approaches to music-making made possible by recently developed software, designed specifically with live performance in mind.

Four of the five tracks to be heard here were issued digitally last year. But as Paul Hammond has pointed out, "with Ultramarine the whole point is to create an artefact, so the form and the look of the finished product is central." That's an outlook shared passionately by Simon Lewin's label Blackford Hill, and the music now available on this vinyl record is appropriately enhanced with cover art by printmaker Katherine Jones. Her imagery matches the music neatly in its nuanced interplay of solidity and shadow, line and colour, geometric form and organic growth.

Ultramarine returned refreshed in October 2011, bursting back into public awareness with "Find A Way," issued as a 7" single on their own label, Real Soon. Clive Bell, writing in The Wire, extolled its engaging mix of electronic beats with cool vocals and tropical percussion. More generally Bell embraced Ultramarine's thoughtful hybrid electronica as "music you could enjoy at home without feeling your intelligence was being scorned, or that if you were not physically in a club, you were wasting your time."

On Interiors, the roots of that slinky single are laid bare on the purely instrumental track "Find A Way Back." Its two distinct parts stretch out the beats and flaunt those tropical flourishes, shuffling and flexing, vibrant and heady, languid and sultry. This is techno filtered through the fabric of magic realism, an exotically spiced concoction, chilled and ready to be savoured at home.

With the diagrammatic clarity of its punchy thrust and spooling loops "Even When" distils the essence of Cooper and Hammond's way of working with their musical material: layering and shaping, nurturing textures, plaiting rhythms and juggling accents. The cumulative impact is almost sculptural in its physical immediacy and looming presence. In contrast, on "By Return" the duo skew the outcome, projecting a selection of limber figures into dub's auditory hall of mirrors. They are clearly revelling in the reverb, relishing the recoil and decay.

Interiors ultimately opens out onto "Decoy Point (Version)." With its ozone saturated ambience, this closing track evokes marshland and mudflat soundscapes, seabird mews, maritime signals and tidal wash. Cooper and Hammond feel deep attachment to the Essex landscape and, in particular, to the local history and physical features of the Blackwater estuary. Blackford Hill provides an accommodating home for Ultramarine's ongoing project Blackwaterside, which has featured to date a 7" vinyl record plus 28-page booklet, and a photo film with soundtrack. Now, delving into the Ultramarine archive, this welcome incarnation of Interiors offers a fascinating glimpse of the duo finding their bearings, at a vital stage along the way.

‘Expressions of Interest’ is the debut album from Melbourne/Naarm post-punk group screensaver.

Sonically, the 10 track album is rich and detailed, and pays homage to its era of inspiration (late 70s-mid 80s post-punk and new wave) with gripping vocals, dissonant guitar, melodic basslines, washes of synths and motorik drumming. Engineered by Julian Cue alongside band member Chris Stephenson and recorded over multiple studio sessions between 2020-2021

The album opens with the ominously titled ‘Body Parts’, an immediately arresting song that showcases the bands penchant for blending classic post-punk elements, leaning into a sound somewhere between the Banshees and Protomartyr.

Maynard doubles down on these themes in the frenetic second track, ‘No Movement’. Guttural organ tones swim under overdriven guitar, jagged and intense. Additional textures and sound effects are used percussively to embellish the dynamics, creating a feverish atmosphere with some Martin Hannett like flourishes.

The album takes a surprising turn into electronic driven krautrock on track three with 'Buy, Sell, Trade' - a rollicking piece of danceable ephemera, dominated by swirling synth sounds and punctuated with electronics reminiscent of Sparks/Moroder collaborations. Chris Stephenson's masterful guitar work begins with Greg Sage-esque determination before a crescendo into a lush Frippertronics outro.

'MEDS' transports us back to the foundation established on 'Body Parts', a gothy piece, full of tribal toms and dirge-y synths. Industrial punk rock nearly swallowed whole by the keys in the middle and slowly building back to complimentary guitar and vocal hooks.

It's from this point in the album that the band let's their other influences rise to the surface, as they explore touches of EDM on 'Static State' - a brutal, death-disco style track, Krystal Maynard's lead synth and gloomy vocal complimenting the pounding drums and dub-esque bass line culminating in a track worthy of the dancefloor.


Opening side two we have 'Skin', beginning with a solid and simple backbeat, James Beck’s post-punk percussion provides a steady and minimal framework for the rest of the band to colour in with great depth and detail. Giles Fielke’s bass guitar wobbles brilliantly leading the verse melody, whilst Chris Stephenson’s guitar drives the chorus that folds neatly in on itself.

In ‘Attention Economy’, Krystal Maynard is flexible with her lyrical style, and knows how and when to lend her voice to the greater backdrop of the composition. ‘Attention Economy’ has an almost Kraftwerkian structure - repetitious, but engaging with its constant tom driven beat, lush synth lines and minimal bass tones.

Just when you thought things had slowed down, screensaver ramp things right back up again with ‘Overnight Low’ - a no holds barred thumper. Giles Fielke underpins the hard-edged sound with his bassline, keeping things smooth and tight. It brings to mind a hybrid of PiL’s ‘Annalisa’ and Wire’s ‘Two People In a Room.’

Before you can catch your breath, we have ‘Regular Hours’ - another industrial track, and perhaps the sister song to ‘Static State’ heard earlier on side one. Seething electronic drum samples cut through an abyss of growling synths, Giles Fielke hanging up the bass temporarily to accompany Krystal Maynard on synth duties.

The album closes with the fittingly titled ‘Soft Landing’, literally bringing the listener back down...softly. The song is heavy on atmos, and resembles the aesthetics previously encountered on ‘Attention Economy’ a few tracks earlier.

‘Expressions of Interest” was recorded at various locations across Melbourne, with a handful of songs being captured before the start of the Covid pandemic in January 2020. With the recording timeline being drastically altered, the band shifted focus to work on what would become their first single ‘Strange Anxiety’, throughout the first months of the Melbourne 2020 lockdown.

"‘Arise, Dan Sartain, Arise’, the latest studio album by America’s infamous rock ‘n’ roll troubadour Dan Sartain, will be released by One Little Independent Records. Made up of thirteen wickedly wisecracking, vintage surf-rock bangers, this concise and classic record incorporates everything that’s made Dan Sartain the genres favourite underdog over the last two decades.
Seeped in obsidian black humour with tracks like ‘Glasses Houses’, ‘Rooster In The Henhouse’ and ‘I Heard Laughing’ ruthlessly calling out those who would slight him while also riding the hard line of self-awareness, the biting witticism of these tracks pair wonderfully with the playful tone of Sartain’s slick-back dark doo-wop. Elsewhere on the likes of ‘True Love’ and ‘Fires and Floods’ the crooner gets a chance to flex his punk muscles, pushing the guitars further into distorted territory taking the late 50s garage-rock influence via the late 70s in much the same way The Ramones and The Damned did. But we’re transported right back again when Sartain slows down for ballad standouts such as ‘Kisses In The Morning’ and ‘Personal Injury Law’. Throughout ‘Arise, Dan Sartain, Arise’ searing surf guitars intertwine with beautifully haunted organ jabs, with rhythms pulled straight from saloon bars way out west, and cheeky wink-to-the-camera lyrical whimsy."

Following March’s 9696 Dream mixtape and July’s Flex Time EP, this new album sees 96 Back shine the spotlight on his own vocals for the first time, at points (such as on lead single ‘9 To Find 6’) operating fully in the realms of experimental pop. At other times, such as on ‘Teach Me Tenderness’ and ‘Feel Hard’, 96 Back stretches and processes his vocals to almost breaking point, while album closer ‘Melt You’ sees him duet with past collaborator Iceboy Violet, ending Love Letters on a sombre but romantic note. That’s not to say Love Letters is fully removed from the dancefloor, however: tracks like ‘Don’t Die’ and ‘Love Compact’ are precision-tooled for the club, while the likes of ‘Felzin’ and ‘Vibrant Colours’ continue to explore the intricate but emotive electronics that 96 Back has been so successful with in the past. More varied and vivid than any of 96 Back’s releases to date, Love Letters feels like a coming of age moment. It casts its net incredibly wide at points, and it’s an album full of ambition, but it meets every challenge it sets itself — as affecting in its quieter, tender moments as during its dramatic peaks. In 96 Back’s words: “This is a record I feel like I’ve been trying to write for years, it feels like the most accurate body of work to match the ideas in my mind. Trying to project a lot of the records I hold very dear to me through this lens, interpreting how they sound to me and merging them with ideas of finding the drama and excitement in the full spectrum of emotions on the tip of my tongue, that’s what ended up being Love Letters, Nine Through Six.”

LTD. COLORED VINYL

Somewhere Between: Mutant Pop, Electronic Minimalism & Shadow Sounds of Japan 1980–1988 hovers vibe–wise between two distinct poles within Light In The Attic’s acclaimed Japan Archival Series—Kankyō Ongaku: Japanese Ambient, Environmental & New Age Music 1980–1990 and Pacific Breeze: Japanese City Pop, AOR & Boogie 1976–1986. All three albums showcase recordings produced during Japan’s soaring bubble economy of the 1980s, an era in which aesthetic visions and consumerism merged. Music echoed the nation’s prosperity and with financial abundance came the luxury to dream.

Sonically, Somewhere Between mines the midpoint between Kankyō Ongaku’s sparkling atmospherics and Pacific Breeze’s metropolitan boogie. The compilation encompasses ambient pop, underground electronics, liminal minimalism and shadow sounds—all descriptors emphasizing the hazy nature of the nebula. Out–of–focus rhythms wear ethereal accoutrements, ballads are shrouded in static, and angular drums snake skyward on transcendent tones. From the Avant–minimalism of Mkwaju Ensemble and Yoshio Ojima, to the leftfield techno-pop of Mishio Ogawa and Noriko Miyamoto (featuring members of YMO), and highlights from the groundbreaking Osaka underground label Vanity Records, these are blurry constellations defying collective categorization.

These tracks also exist in a space of transition when the major label grip on the Japanese recording market began to give way to the escalation of independents. Thanks to the idyllic economic climate and innovations in domestically–manufactured music gear, creators on the edges were empowered to focus on satisfying their artistic visions in the open headspace of home studios. While labels like Warner Music and Nippon Columbia explored new sounds through traditional channels, it was possible for Vanity, Balcony and other indie labels, not to mention self–released artists like Ojima and Naoki Asai, to publish their work via affordable media such as cassettes, 7" vinyl, and flexi–discs.

Expertly curated by Yosuke Kitazawa and Mark “Frosty” McNeill (dublab), Somewhere Between is a collection of music, much of it released for the first time outside Japan, that is bound more by energetic vibration than shared history, genre or scene. They are the sounds of transition and searching—a celebration of the freedom found in floating.

Note: The track “Days Man” by Yoshio Ojima is only available on the LP and Cassette versions.

With sunshine, blue skies and good times on the horizon, Toolroom is ready to usher in the summer in a huge way with the brand new summer hit from Siege – ‘Reach Out’. Making his return to the label, Siege is back with a record that promises to steal the spotlight and your all-time favourite tune. Big favourite of Carl Cox, Alan Fitzpatrick and Adam Beyer, Siege has firmly planted his foot in the scene having released a selection of quality records already this year like, ‘Give It Up’ with Mark Knight, a collab with Eli Brown and a killer remix of Green Velvet and Technasia’s hit ‘Suga’.

Flawlessly proving just why he is one of the most exciting artists and producers out there in Dance Music right now, Siege flexes his talents on ‘Reach Out’. One of his best releases yet, Siege has reworked classic George Duke’s classic 1983 hit ‘Reach Out’ into the feel-good dance track of the summer. The track itself is pure ecstasy, from the sublime vocals and chorus melodies to the solid instrumentation of the record itself. Siege manages to retain every single drop of the feel-good magic that resonated throughout the original, reinvigorating the sound for the clubs of 2021.

The single also features a killer remix from Michael Gray and Dr Packer who bring their signature style and sound to the record, emphasising the Disco elements to a whole new level and an exclusive VIP edit from Siege himself. This is a euphoria laced Disco House record through and through, ‘Reach Out’ is a sure fire summer hit, classic in the making who has brought the infectiously catchy classic record back to life in a completely fresh and new way.

t’s September 1981 and it’s matter of weeks away from the release of ‘I’M A RAINBOW’, the second album
Donna Summer had recorded for Geffen Records, which had also been produced by Giorgio Moroder and
Pete Bellotte.
• At the time that the album was being recorded, the musical landscape had changed and production
techniques were developing further. Geffen also wanted a more R&B-influenced album, despite the album
having a more R&B feel than ‘The Wanderer’ had done. The songs and their lyrical content were very strong
and Donna’s voice had never sounded better, which was always a tough comparison against previous
albums.
• A decision was taken by the label to withdraw ‘I’M A RAINBOW’ just prior to its release. David Geffen then
brought-in Quincy Jones to produce the next new album; 1982’s ‘Donna Summer’.

a a1. I'm A Rainbow Junior’s Shiny Rainbow Edit
[b] a2. I Believe (In You) (duet with Joe “Bean” Esposito) [Figo Sound Version]
[c] a3. Back Where You Belong [Jean Tonique Remix]
[d] a4. You To Me [Oliver Nelson Remix]
[e] a5. Don't Cry For Me Argentina [Ladies On Mars ‘Buenos Aires’ Remix]
[f] b1. Sweet Emotion [Le Flex Remix]
[g] b2. Brooklyn [Ladies On Mars ‘Child Of Rhythm’ Remix]
[h] b3. Romeo [Ladies On Mars ‘Luv-NRG’ Remix]
[i] b4. Highway Runner [Ladies On Mars ‘Street Race’ Remix]
[Ladies On Mars ‘Independence’ Remix]

Auch auf Vol. 3 der Vinyl Compilation-Serie “ZYX Italo Disco New
Generation“ gibt es 8 handverlesene Italo Disco Perlen.

Recruiting some of his closest friends–who also happen to be some of rap's biggest stars–to help realize his vision, Scheme shares FAMILY, his debut album. Recent single "Soda" (over 2.5 million Spotify streams) connects unlikely kindred spirits Cordae and Ski Mask The Slump God over a stomping piano-led beat by Scheme and Take A Daytrip. Scheme also finds new angles for artists who share similar styles, creating a smoothed-out West Coast riders' anthem for Lil Mosey & Ty Dolla $ign ("Bussin' Out") and reuniting Ski Mask, Lil Yachty, and Danny Towers for "E-ER," a spirited sequel to their Gold-selling collab "How You Feel" (which also appears on the project). An ambitious debut for the multi-talented DJ/Producer/Artist, FAMILY establishes Scheme as a tastemaker with a distinct aesthetic and a wide musical range. Featuring additional appearances from Skrillex, Zacari, Lil Gnar, Shakewell, TheHxliday, Tes-X, and more.

Portland, Oregon-based musician Graham Jonson started early: playing piano as a toddler, finding the music of J Dilla in fifth grade, and self-releasing singles by age 16. First appearing under the name quickly, quickly in 2017, his project’s profile has since grown fervently with fans in the beats-oriented corners of SoundCloud, YouTube, and Reddit. Some of his early tracks tally north of 10 million plays on Spotify. The figure isn’t meant to flex as much as it is to point out that Jonson’s work has resonated without the traditional industry levers; he is a wunderkind DIY internet success story, but, by his own assessment at the present age of 20, he’s only now getting serious. With The Long and Short of It, his Ghostly International debut, Jonson reinvents his project as a full-fledged

SUB PLATES Vol 5!! - SUB PLATES is back and in the original format that made it such collectable item when it launched back in the day! 2 x 10 inch vinyl replicating the dubplate style acetates. And picking up from where it left off with Vol 5 like it's never been away!

First up is the return of Suburban Base recording artist Cool Hand Flex, who had music featured on the first generation SUBPLATES! The track here 'Get Down' is a piece of uncovered treasure that has been rediscovered having sat on DAT master in storage since around 1994 and never been released. Exclusively held on dubplate by Randell, Hype, and Flex himself, it is finally getting a release as part of this special package.

Next up we introduce brand new music from brand new Suburban Base recording artist Sound Shifter collaborating with the legend Marvellous Cain on the beautiful 'Light Source One', a rolling piece of DnB which manages to keep classic elements of production whilst at the same time delivering stunningly fresh Drum & Bass.

Subbase veterans Sophisticated Bad Boyz open record 2 with the DJ Phantasy VIP '94 Dubplate version of 'Feel The Magic', only held on Dub Plate by a very select few, and appeared only once on the D&B selection album 3 (The Dub Plate Selection) with very limited vinyl of that cut as 5 tracks per side, now for the first time ever you can get this stunningly remastered dubplate cut on a side all by itself sounding truly amazing.

Flipped with another much sought after classic dubplate special 'Intelone' by Asend was a Kool FM only VIP Dubplate around the time Asend aka Dead Dred hosted his show on the Midlands version of the infamous pirate radio station, it made only one appearance on a 1996 Kool FM dubplate special project and has been hard to find ever since. Remastered and sounding incredible!

4 amazing tracks on one highly collectible EP including unreleased tracks and limited dubplates, stunning value from SUBURBAN BASE RECORDS once again, in stock and ready to ship!

D’CRUZE ‘WATCH OUT’ The lost dubplates from rare DAT studio tapes that have been saved!

The Legend of The Lost Dubplates...

Prior to the original 1994 release of the D'Cruze classic 'Watch Out' our good friend and rave headliner Micky Finn requested a special version for his DJ sets, he went to the studio with D'Cruze and created a VIP dubplate special in the truest sense. Only held on dubplate by Micky himself and only ever heard in his sets it became stuff of legend. Fast Forward many years later a clip of it emerged on Soundcloud from a Micky Finn mixtape and the buzz for it started again. In 2021 Micky found the original DAT masters and supplied them to us for some restoration and remastering.

While searching for the lost classic we came across a DAT with the writing Watch Out - Flex, a remix by Cool Hand Flex that didn't make it in time for the original release and has remained on DAT since 1994! So now, together with the original version and a totally unique 2021 take on this classic from Chimpo, finally we are able to bring this lost treasure to you!

Grab yourself a piece of future history now whilst we have these available in stock, because these will never be repressed.

Dublin’s Woozy label premieres on wax with Radial, the debut EP from newcomer Coe. 3 dubstep-informed club weapons b/w a percussive rework from Or:la.

The title track recalibrates mid-noughties FWD> pressure, suspending us in an E-licked smog before puncturing the rave-lry with thrusting bass stomps and fervorous IDM-adjacent drums for an electro-id crazed stomper. Say (KL Tribute) flexes Coe’s wub mechanics, presenting computerised sound chaos before dropping a half-step hungry wobble fest, mounting the pressure on the ‘floor to a near combustible, skanking peak.

On the flip, 403 slightens the pace for a chugging techno/electro zinger with a faint dembow shell, sounding like the soundtrack to a sinister salsa dance. Or:la’s drum-tastic Radial rework sees us out, conducting an orchestra of percussive pistons akin to a ravey engine room for a mid-tempo grooving killer.

Power punks, Hot Milk, have announced their second EP, ‘I JUST WANNA KNOW WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I’M DEAD” via Music For Nations.

It follows the success of the band’s first EP, 2019’s ‘Are You Feeling Alive?’, a fizzy collection of gutsy emo-pop which established them as one of the most exciting new bands in the UK. Their 2019 was a whirlwind year that saw them tour with Foo Fighters, Deaf Havana and You Me At Six, as well as playing some of the UK’s biggest festival stages.

The band were formed in 2018 by vocalist and guitarist duo, Han Mee and Jim Shaw, two friends who met working behind the scenes in the Manchester music scene. Yet they yearned to be in a band themselves. “We got to the point where we were why not? What else have you got to lose?” says Jim. “We thought, we can go for this or we can get to 60 and know we didn’t do right by ourselves.”

Debut EP, ‘Are You Feeling Alive?’, which was penned during a drunken songwriting session, was an effervescent refusal to settle for second best in life. “We’ve both realised that life you don’t get another face,” Han continues. “You get one face and then you’re done, and you will never exist ever again.”

That sense of not letting life slip through your fingers is at the core of Hot Milk’s punk-indebted ethos. And having taken a leap of faith to grasp their platform, the band, completed by bassist Tom Paton and drummer Harry Deller, aren’t about to let it go to waste. “Art is about your interpretation of your own experience,” adds Jim. “The first EP was written five years ago. We’ve grown up and realised who we are and what the world is like right now.”

‘I JUST WANNA KNOW WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I’M DEAD’, which was produced by Jim Shaw, is another vivacious call to arms, rammed with sharp hooks and huge, catchy choruses, to encourage everyone, everywhere, to follow their dreams. But elsewhere, the lyrics are more personal, with the band bottling the anxieties and frustrations of their everyday lives. ‘Woozy’ openly tackles depression, ‘Good Life’ takes on societal corruption and the distribution of wealth, while elsewhere the band address the pursuit of happiness in a modern world.

“These songs are honest,” says Han. “I have nothing to hide. Everyone’s on antidepressants these days. It’s the world we live in, it makes people sad. Capitalism. Is it broken? 100 per cent. I’m angry that the fact that we’re sold a world that actually doesn’t make your inner peace happy. Humans need love and community and a lot of the time, there is no love and the community has dissolved.”

“The anger resides in us at the unfairness of the world,” adds Jim. “Online communities are all about flexing and battling your peers to look or sound a certain way that is better than everyone else. It’s constant and it’s dangerous. You’re teaching kids that to be content, you have to be best. It’s a question again. Are you really living?”

“We’re angry, both politically and existentially in terms of the system we now live in. But also, we’re angry at the fact that we’re sad quite a lot,” continues Han. “But we’re trying to not just sit there and take it. We’re trying to fix it, by building a family through this band.”

Walk into any Hot Milk show and you will feel that sense of community. Through their honest lyrics and inclusive approach, the band say their aim is to create an “aggressively space safe” where fans are empowered to be themselves, “authentically and unapologetically”, as well as opening up a dialogue for people to talk. That will become clear later this year when the band get their chance to air the new material. This summer, they will return to Reading and Leeds Festivals, this time to play the main stage, as well as embarking on a headline UK tour in September. And believe, when the times comes to finally get back into those sweaty pits, these new songs will provide the perfect, life-affirming soundtrack.

“Life is fragile,” says Jim. “You can’t take things with you, but you can make the best memories. That’s the most important thing in life. Your currency is your memory.” “What you can take with you is something that absolutely makes the blood pump round your veins and gives you goosebumps,” agrees Han. “That’s what this band is to us. It’s our passion. That’s what this EP is about.”

BERRIES new single 'The Expert' is released on 10th August 2021. The single follows on from the success of single 'Copy' released earlier in the year that received praise from Radio X, Amazing Radio, BBC London and 6Music as well as acclaim in key online press sites such as RGM, When The Horn Blows, Little Indie Blogs, Loud Women, New Noise, Get In Her Ears and God Is In The TV. Copy was #64 of Hot New Releases now @ AMZ UK, and added to the Amazon 'Best New Bands' playlist http://amzn.to/BestNewBands The single coincides with a headline London show at Grace on 12th August. Further shows in the calendar are Hull Zebedees Yard on 3rd Sept supporting Frank Turner and other Xtra Mile artists and a slot at Frank Turner's Lost Evenings IV Festival at Roundhouse, London. The Expert will later be released on flex-disc as a double A side single - together with their cover of Sleater-Kinney's 'Dance Song '97' - originally recorded for Kill Rock Stars 30th Anniversary compilation.

"Yoofee flexes his producer and piano muscles on this 4 track EP. Heavy influenced by artists like Kaidi Tatham and the 70's fusion jazz sound this EP will surely blow dancers away and is gonna be stacked in many DJ bags for sure!
Cop this EP if you are into broken beat / nu jazz and all things funky!"

The core tenets of Morgan Wright's music have long tested club music's context; the rituals and customs that define it, and how each of those genres change once removed from their traditional settings.
It's a space Morgan Wright feels at home in; one where he's constantly asking questions of the structure club music resides within, and what it means to create a new space for familiar sounds. And over the course of his debut album, Class Tourist, Morgan has found new ways to elevate those same questions - whether by way of intention, or a pandemic-induced coping mechanism.
In Class Tourist, Morgan again borrows from familiar strains of the subgenres which have come to form his musical identity. This time, he fuses sounds of post-punk, IDM and breakbeat, hopeful they converge to form a bastardised rendition of the latter, with "Australiana" at its core.
It's a sound that was made possible by a change to his songwriting approach, after pivoting from a loop-based production style - one which he has applied to a slew of other projects, for the better part of five years - to one which lends itself to a more standardised, contemporary format.

Moving through the record, Morgan toys with musical tropes of contrast with a calculated refinement unheard throughout his previous work. The coalescence of melodic optimism and bleak, mournful soundscapes feature on Class Tourist again, as you would expect. But this time, contemporary structure - with the exception of a few songs - along with the features of label-mate, Purient, and frequent collaborator, ENDL355, breathe new life, and even a new genre, into Morgan's work.

K Records continues to serve up a variety of music that perhaps wont fit anywhere else in Kniteforces deep catalogue of labels. This time we hit the ground running with one of the darkest releases ever to come out of the KF studio. Luna-C flexed very different muscles in the studio for this release, and it was perhaps too different at the time of release…Initially released on its own sub label, and limited to 300 copies, this slice of early d’n’b / dark sounding jungle has gained more and more acclaim over the years and changes hands for serious money with collectors on Discogs due to its scarcity.

A deep dive into the one of most collectable jazz catalogues in the world, a selection of some of the rarest and most sought-after recordings from the 60s and 70s, a time when British jazz began to find its own identity. Drawn from the iconic labels of Decca, Deram, Argo, EMI Columbia/Lansdowne Series, Fontana, Mercury, & Philips. Kenny Wheeler was born Canada in 1930 and, with encouragement from his father - himself a trombone player - began playing trumpet at age 12. After studying at Toronto’s Royal Conservatory, he arrived in London in 1952, his playing enveloped in the sounds of Miles Davis, Booker Little, and Fats Navarro. In 1959, Wheeler joined the Johnny Dankworth Orchestra and stayed there until 1963, although he returned frequently for shows and other projects in the years that followed. He quickly become a distinguished soloist in the Orchestra and appeared on Dankworth’s key sixties albums. Wheeler met and played with the rising artists of London’s free jazz scene. Players such as Trevor Watts, Derek Bailey, and Evan Parker, musicians who would challenge the conventions of the day, eschewing formal composition and structure to embark on group improvisation. For a musician thoroughly schooled in all the conventions of charts and dance bands as Wheeler was, this was a radical departure. Wheeler’s contributions proved his ample flexibility and showed he was capable of inhabiting both the free environment and the more formal and controlled settings of a big band and orchestra. This was shown most clearly on his debut album, Windmill Tilter, recorded for Fontana with the John Dankworth Orchestra. The album features a young John McLaughlin on guitar along with bassist Dave Holland and a roster of talented and well respected musicians playing on one of the greatest modern jazz big band and orchestral albums.

* Pressed on special RSD color wax.
* Includes bonus limited edition flexi of an ultra rare recording performed by Roky Erickson.
* Pressed at RTI.

Texan Roky Erickson was one of the true mind-blowing pioneers of psychedelic music. The original leader of the Austin-based 13th Floor Elevators formed in 1965, Erickson and band invented a brand new style or rock & roll, one that was slightly unhinged while it explored the consciousness-expanding influence of LSD on music. After three years, the group imploded with mental issues and legal challenges, ending with Erickson being incarcerated for several years in the Hospital for the Criminally Insane in Rusk, Texas. When he was released in the early '70s the musician continued on his own trail, recording songs that had come to him in his far-flung cerebral wanderings. Erickson, who passed away May 31, 2019, is now celebrated on this 12-track tribute to one of the most original rockers ever.

The participants range the whole world of modern music, and each chose one of Erickson's originals to stamp their own imprint on. They include Billy F Gibbons, Lucinda Williams, Mosshart Sexton (a/k/a Alison Mosshart & Charlie Sexton), Neko Case, Mark Lanegan & Lynn Castle, Jeff Tweedy, Margo Price, Gary Clark Jr & Eve Monsees, Ty Segal, Chelsea Wolfe, The Black Angels and Brogan Bentley. The album is co-produced for release by Bill Bentley, executive producer of the 1990 Roky Erickson tribute album Where The Pyramid Meets The Eye on Sire Records, and Matt Sullivan, co-founder/owner of Light in the Attic Records.

The songs range from Erickson's debut iconic original, "You're Gonna Miss Me," recorded when he was a member first in The Spades and then the 13th Floor Elevators during the early '60s in Austin, to some of Erickson's later songs, like "If You Have Ghosts," which heard him exploring some of the outer limits of the human psyche. Each new recording is a stunning modern take on the sound that Roky Erickson gave the world over a half-century of writing, recording and touring. No one has ever equaled those explorations.

This truly is the music of the spheres, as Erickson once sang about his sound, as seen through the eyes and ears of those who are united in their love and respect for a person who dedicated his life to rock & roll. Roky Erickson, through the trials and tribulations of a man both imbued with greatness and haunted by darkness, never quit in his quest to share with others what he heard and saw. As he sang on the 13th Floor Elevators last recording, "May the circle remain unbroken."

WOLF Music welcomes Amsterdam’s Retromigration to the family with a five-track summertime sizzler, ready-made for hazy parkside sunsets and beach jaunts alike.

Hotly tipped and rarely skipped, Retromigration has been lighting up the scene with a string of killer releases over the past 18 months on labels like Healthy Scratch, Ltd, W/Lbl, GLBDOM and Ravanelli Disco Club.

Flexin’ that signature chopped and looped style across the EP, the A side is a double dose of house joints via ‘Bloom Street’ and ‘Brining It’, the former a bumpin’ New York nodding cut, the latter an synth heavy roller.

Flip it to find a more jazz-tinged affair but with its feet still firmly in the house domain. ‘Free Spirit’ channels a groove that could last forever, with a bass and keys combo that riffs away any creeping anxieties, before Arthur Dudley joins for ‘One Night With Colin’ a late night, smoked out, jazz joint trip.

‘Slick Walkin’' closes out the EP – a lesson in how to make samples dance any which way you want them to, as piano melodies flicker over a double nice bassline and tasty synth touches.

Quartz gehören nicht nur zu den ältesten, aktiven Metalbands, sondern auch zu den Gründungsvätern der NWOBHM. Zusammen mit Samson und Marseilles fegte man die angesagte Punkbewegung der späten Siebziger, quasi als Vorhut zu Iron Maiden oder Saxon, zur Seite – noch bevor der Begriff „New Wave Of British Heavy Metal“ wenig später entstand. 1977 erschien das stark an Black Sabbath erinnernde Debütalbum „Quartz“, später als „Deleted“ ein zweites Mal vermarktet, auf Jet Records (u.a. Ozzy Osbourne). 1980 wechselte man zum nächsten Branchenriesen: MCA. Dort bescherte man uns im gleichen Jahr die LP „Stand Up And Fight“. Beide Alben sind heute beliebte Klassiker, doch zwischen diesen Veröffentlichungen gab es eine spannende Phase, die zwei Singles und eine Live-LP hervorbrachte. Und natürlich den Signature-Song von Quartz:
„Satan´s Serenade“! Zwischen den fetten Majordeals kümmerte sich das kleine Label Reddington´s Rare Records um die Band. Wie der Name schon verrät, handelt es sich eigentlich um einen Plattenladen, was direkt an die Geschichte von Metal Blade und Brian Slagel erinnert. Man merkt die Liebe zum Detail: „Satan´s Serenade“ erschien als 12“ in rotem Vinyl, während „Nantucket Sleighride“ eine 7“ Single war, die dafür in fünf Versionen erschien (farbiges Vinyl und rotes oder schwarzes Cover). Getoppt wurde dieser positive Wahnsinn mit einer durchsichtigen 7“ Flexidisc, die als Promocopy verteilt wurde. RRR waren übrigens auch für Paralex und
Mayday verantwortlich. Golden Core sind extrem stolz, beide legendären RRR-Singles nun als 12“ EP (Spieldauer: 25:47) in einer limitierten Auflage von 300 Stück zu präsentieren. Die LP beinhaltet ein bedrucktes Inlay und einen Nachdruck der „Nantucket Sleighride“-Single (auf Papier). Als Liner-Notes findet man ein aktuelles, exklusives Interview mit Drummer Malcolm Cope! Die Original-Singles wurden von Patrick Engel überspielt und audiogereinigt, danach von Neudi remastert und von Vadim Kulin (ZYX Studio) auf das Medium Vinyl angepasst. Das riecht schon im Vorfeld nach einem Sammlerstück…

If you don't yet know, Flexi is a record store and music label based in Italy and run by Simone and Lorenzo.

Over the years, Flexi have gained both the respect and recognition of the music scene, earned by almost forty years of experience in the world of music and with the support of many DJs, artists and fans

Finally Flexi Cuts returns with a brand new release pressed on a “raw transparent" vinyl called “Velvet Series” no 2 – six quality tracks from six superb artists for an electronic journey that makes you fly over “velvet”.

Selection of the works wasn't easy; the tracks were chosen tryin' to maintain a high quality level, such as the oldest (v. series part 1) which have been so appreciated out there.

The A side opening is by Bologna-based Brine, with “YR Body” that provides a Juno-ish bassline with a catchy vocal and a jazzy mood.

Then we have “Benerice" from Daughters and Sons (aka the master Luca Fronza) who throws us into a beautiful Detroit-inspired analog jam.

This side ends with our very own Sicily man Manuold with fresh Italo-House vibes absolutely made for the dance floor.

On the B side, welcome back the veterans Tengrams (formerly the Piatto brothers from N.O.I.A Records) with the outstanding "Rapid Eye Movement"… travelling across retro-future influences and 808 patterns… under a dystopian-sci-fi movie theme.

B2 track is by the Calma duo who plays with a few elements to build a neverending techno climax...did you recognise the sample?

The last track is a sort of relaxing downtempo sunset closure complete with bells, from the California producer Gloved Hands, a name that speaks for itself.

• With more than 60 MILLION STREAMS across his catalogue listened to by fans all around the world, ‘…TO BE CONTINUED’
is the best ‘greatest hits’ album that you’ve never heard!
• This 12-track Limited Edition Vinyl LP collection, with a brand new floorfiller, features his most popular tracks and fans’
favourites, and this is his first Physical release album to celebrate, LE FLEX has signed 500 prints for this Limited Edition.
• Although LE FLEX clearly states that “I just make Pop music”, his 6 EPs and 6 Studio albums are nothing short of serious and
brilliantly creative blends of nudisco, poolside vibes and slow-jams but retaining the essence of his familiar ‘80s
synthpop/dance-based infusions. The accompanying videos are purely tongue-in-cheek, with more than a smattering of
self-deprecation, as you will see on his dedicated YouTube channel.
• Judging by the comments from long-established fans and music lovers from South America to Australia, via the UK, through
Europe and the Far East, discovering LE FLEX for the first time, they are quick to state that his vocal inflections share more
than a passing resemblance to George Michael, an icon about whom LE FLEX modestly says, “I’m not fit to shine his shoes”.
• LE FLEX is a renowned Producer with his popularity rising, having worked with Jaki Graham, Lemar and Ben Macklin and
was commissioned to produce new Donna Summer remixes in 2020.
• Released on heavyweight 180g Clear Vinyl, if you fancy summery escapism, there aren’t many better ways than doing so
than with LE FLEX

Up to kick off 2021 in the most adequately frenzied, thoroughly corrosive fashion, DDS04 serves up a quintet of chrome-tanned, hi-velocity beats courtesy of Italian hardware fetishist Anna Funk Damage (previously heard on the likes of Mind Records, Lux Rec, Lazy Tapes and more) and Austrian-Hungarian outfit Dutch Courage - alias Superskin & Új Bála - each of whom step up to the plate to deliver an exquisitely ear-wormy slice of their deranged industrial gospel.

A-side starts off to the sound of AFD's hard bouncin' "48 Hours Death" - a raw-cooked deluge of head-reducing EBM grit, flaring binary signals and Giallo-infused arpeggios out a blood-stained Suspirian tale. Fear for the deadly scalp hunters lurking in the club's darkest nooks, they've just sniffed out your trail.

Brutal churner "Youssef" picks up the torch and pulls out the quake-inducing breaks without further ado, dressed out with languorous Orientalistic melodies and steely distortions tailored to bend mind by the dozens. Forged in the furnace, the full-out punk-minded "I Come From Fire" rounds off the side on a drum and bass-heavy note, drawing as much from 60s psych-garage as it does from 80s deconstructionist tape music.

Flip sides and here's Budapest unit Dutch Courage taking the reins with the off-kilter treat "Hand Of The Sword" - navigating a weird zone of its own, floating astride post-apocalyptic Bristol bass, sliced-and-diced abstraction and overly textured yet equally bone-bruising riddims.

Wrapping up the journey with both force and serenity, "Neo-Soulmates" follows a similar path with its warped synth flexions and raucous machine cries making the rounds from one end of the spectrum to the other effortlessly, merging to give birth to something genetically contrasting from any contemporary. A most fitting finale to an EP that celebrates and encourages sonic bizarro in all its forms and manifestations.

Esteban Adame aka Frequencia drops the track list for an intergalactic backyard party with the Chicano Boombox EP. Esteban’s music career started as a DJ in L.A.’s East Side backyard party scene, he then stepped up his musical game by collecting gear and studying the piano. His evolution into a professional musician led him to gigs around L.A.’s jazz and salsa scenes. But he never lost his love for DJ culture and electronic music and that led him to join Mad Mike’s Galaxy 2 Galaxy band through his mutual friendships with UR’s Santiago Salazar and Yaxteq’s own DJ Dex. He’s released music on esteemed labels such as Underground Quality, Dolly, Mister Saturday Night, EPM, Jealous God and more. He also collaborates with DJ Dex as El Coyote.

“Rush The Floor” makes you want to do just that with its hypnotic lead synth and a breakdown that will leave the dancefloor wanting more. “Deep Function” flexes musical chops via soulful chords and a perfectly timed solo all riding over a thumping house beat. “Still Here” recalls classic Detroit Techno methodology as a reminder to keep the inspiration flowing. The EP is rounded out with “The Promise” a driving yet euphoric track perfect for watching the sunrise after a long night.

Following in the footsteps of the pathbreaking Minna Miteru compilation of Japanese indie music, Morr Music and Alien Transistor have again joined forces to release The Fruit Of Errata, a compilation introducing the world to the intimate DIY pop of yumbo. Led by songwriter, pianist, and occasional vocalist Koji Shibuya, the Japanese band has released four albums since forming in 1998. This compilation draws fifteen songs (eighteen on vinyl) from those albums, and some ancillary releases, to uncover a biographical narrative of yumbo, showing how Shibuya’s songwriting, and the group’s limber, sensitive playing, has developed over the decades. It also places them squarely within a tradition of home-spun but ambitious Japanese pop that takes in Maher Shalal Hash Baz, Tenniscoats, Nagisa Ni Te, Yuzo Iwata, Kazumi Nikaido and more.

yumbo is very much the vision of Shibuya, an amiable iconoclast whose songs seem informed by some of his early listening – there’s the playful seriousness of Maher Shalal Hash Baz’s Tori Kudo here, an avowed long-time hero for Shibuya, but also the flexibility of freely improvised music. You can also hear Shibuya’s fondness for Mayo Thompson and The Red Crayola in both the idiosyncracies of the writing and the egalitarian looseness of the playing. Shibuya also carries those energies into the group’s membership – there are fantastic stories of him having a conversation at a record shop, or overhearing someone speaking, and asking the person in question to join yumbo as one of their various singers. He seems open to chance as a driving force, as a way to make space for unexpected possibilities to blossom.

The great achievement of yumbo and Shibuya, though, is translating all of this into beautiful, unpredictable pop songs. There’s a gorgeous soul-inflected lilt to “A House” that makes it delightfully affecting; the swaying brass on “Storm” propels its melody to a moody, dreamlike conclusion; the nakedness of “The Sweetest Mass” is slightly reminiscent of Carla Bley’s more pop-focused writing, crossed with the classicism of the songs that spilled from the Brill Building in the ‘60s. Throughout, Shibuya renders pop a deeply personal experience; you can hear musings here on friendship, family, intimacy, the complexity of relationships, mortality, and imbalances of power. These musings are also shadowed by real-life events: the effects and impact of the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011 are captured in songs like “Umbrella People” from Onibi.

Throughout the performances on The Fruit Of Errata, Shibuya and the group play with tenderness; they also often draw on other players to flesh out the music even further, two such guests being the aforementioned Tori Kudo (on “Umbrella People”) and Olympia, Washington’s LAKE (on “The Devil Song”). Community-minded and generous in approach, the writing of Shibuya and the music of yumbo is never less than lovely, and The Fruit Of Errata is a welcome introduction to their world. Open and gentle, confident and generous, these pop songs are filled with charm and spirit.

GREEN VINYL

The long-awaited 3rd and final part of Data 3’s ’Matter’ series is here. ‘Atomic’ contains four incredible tracks from the dynamic trio based in Manchester and it comes after the global success of their remix of arguably the biggest drum and bass tune of all time ‘Up All Night’ by John B on Metalheadz earlier this year.

Scottish DJ Ewan McVicar is tipped for big things, having found support in the likes of Annie Mac and Fatboy Slim. After a stellar year crowned with a release on the hallowed Nervous Records, he makes his debut on Shall Not Fade's "Basement Tracks" series with five explosive earworms.

Amnocairn EP collects the most classic sounds from the dancefloor and melts them together, styles blending throughout songs to keep listeners on their toes and dancing. The title track is a sweeping marriage of insistent house piano and washy dub techno synths, leading into the sugary, hardcore "1001 Freestyle" that calls back to early Lone tracks. Then one for the after hours crew, "Ha Mez", a syncopated 303 techno roller.

McVicar keeps the party atmosphere close across the B-side, flexing laser-cut synth arps with a dark, big-room edge on "Stu Boy", before crowning the EP with a gorgeous sun soaked party number "See U Thru My Eyes", jazzy inflected house with a 90s aesthetic. This EP has something for everyone, bringing together eclectic influences into a smooth festival-ready record.

Electronic producer Intriguant with his 3rd album Spirits on vinyl as a limited release under record label from Singapore, TAV Records.
When it comes to the relationship between electronic music and its interaction with Singapore, we always find the theme of longing connectivity through its panorama even within the many concrete walls and high-rises we have grown accustomed to living in. With Spirits, Intriguant takes the role of an observer and explores the landscapes of many different cultures and sounds that have taken habitat past and present. Driven by hauntingly futuristic break-beats of the 90s, shaped 808s, imagined club sounds of dancing folks, bass-heavy textures reminiscent of Burial, Spirits is both for the late- night vanguards and personal home listening rooms. Intriguant's third album encompasses his experiences as an artist most vividly, highlighting his ability to use the flexibility of electronic music to link floating ideas to the physical world.

The Analog Vault is honoured to be working with Intriguant for our third release as TAV Records.

Minimal Wave presents ‘Recordings 1980-1982’ (MW077), a triple 7” box set by pioneering south Florida synth-punk band Futurisk, in honor of their 40th anniversary. Founded by Jeremy Kolosine in 1978, Futurisk recorded many songs and performed live throughout the early 1980s. Though they had released two 7”s that sold out, had a legendary live show, and even some videos, by 1984 Futurisk was history. Eventually, the main core of Futurisk would be the Jeremy Kolosine, Richard Hess, and Jack Howard line-up though much happened leading up to this point.

In 1979, the teenage Jeremy Kolosine won studio time and money in a competition with his drum-machine-triggered guitar-synth act called ‘Clark Humphrey & Futurisk’. He decided to form a band around the name to record a more punk release titled The Sound of Futurism 1980 / Army Now. It was an ambivalent anti-war anthem with Jack Howard on drums, Frank Lardino on synth, and Kolosine on vocals and guitar synth. Many live shows ensued with the line-up which included Jeff Marcus on bass and Vinnie Scrimenti on drums but in 1981 a rift between the band caused them to part ways. They continued for a bit as ‘Radio Berlin’ (no relation to the Vancouver act) and Kolosine, who had gotten absorbed in a new analog synthesizer with sequencer continued as Futurisk.

He recruited synthesist and recording engineer Richard Hess who had a myriad collection of Moogs, Oberhieims, and CATs. Jack Howard returned on drums and syn-drums and the lineup for the Player Piano EP was cast. The EP, like the live show, was a strange blend of punk, minimalist, and disco-influenced electro-pop, with drum machine triggered synths and often frantic real drums all led by Kolosine’s schizophrenic Bowie / Ferry / Foxx adulations. It was recorded by Richard Hess and the band in the rooms of a friend’s house. The drum sound, recorded in a bathroom, rocks, even today. Reportedly, Futurisk may have been the first synth-punk band in the American South, and their 1981 track ‘Push Me Pull You (Pt. 2)’ was an early pre- ‘Rockit’ excursion into electro-funk.

The ‘Recordings 1980-1982’ box set includes three 7”s, an Army Now (1982) Flexi 5” x 7” postcard, and a 16-page full-color booklet featuring unpublished photographs of the band, the history of the band, and an interview with founder Jeremy Kolosine. The three 7”s are The Sound of Futurism 1980 / Army Now which includes an unreleased track from the same session, the Player Piano five-song 7” EP from 1982, and the Ocean Sound 7”, which has not been released in this format until now. All three 7”s are remastered, pressed on heavyweight 70-gram vinyl, and housed in heavy color printed matte sleeves featuring the band’s original artwork. The box is case wrapped and depicts an early illustration of the band printed in black on white with a spot gloss. Limited edition of 600 copies.

REPRESS!!

These tracks were recorded by Kevin Low and Fiona Carlin in Kevin’s bedroom in Gayfield Square, Edinburgh, in 1986. Me and my dad, Kevin, dug out a huge bunch of his tapes over the lockdown (about 80 of the them at first). Some were…better than others, however, the Gayfield Square demos were the pick of the lot. Previously Kevin and Fiona were part of the Post Punk / indie band ‘Wild Indians’, whose first release “Stolen Courage” had come out in 1983 – released on Flexi Disc via the Edinburgh fanzine Deadbeat. Throughout the mid-1980s they performed across Edinburgh’s clubs, including at the Hoochie Coochie Club (name checked on track 7), where they played alongside bands and close friends Pop Wallpaper and Visitors. The band went on to release two 12” singles, “Love of My Life” in 1984 and “Penniless” in 1986.

After the band broke up Kevin sold his guitar amp and 7inch collection, Fiona her saxophone and they went out and got themselves a Yamaha RX-5 drum machine, Yamaha QX7 sequencer and a Yamaha DX-100. These bedroom tracks are the fruits of their first venture with this hardware, combining their experimentation with synthetic sounds (mostly the DX-100’s famous pre-sets) with a post-punk vocal style.

These eight tracks are also, in part, the fruit of the “Enterprise Allowance scheme” - a policy venture of Margaret Thatcher’s UK government that gave unemployment claimants access to an extra £40 to top up the basic dole money. Following Thatcher’s election victories in 1979 and 1983, the policy sought to reduce the figures of mass unemployment which hung over Britain well into the 1980s. This policy, according to Kevin, helped to keep up the credit payments. He notes that, “when Fiona and I turned up at the DHSS office with the sure-fire money-making plan of making a business as a ‘song-writing’ duo they signed us up. However, I still think they thought we said, sign writing as they were filling out the form.”

Kevin and Fiona stopped making music together shortly after these tracks were recorded so unfortunately, they never saw the light of day…until now!

Fiona went on to work in Film and Television sound. Kevin became a photographer, working mostly in theatre. He is now an artist/painter working in Glasgow.

We are in 1987 and 2 years have passed since Vinicio Adames debut album "El Comienzo Del Camino" when Venezuelan painter Ernesto Leon asks Vinicio to compose music for his New York Art Exhibition at Lincoln Centre. The result is an exceptional composition and modern sound interpretation of their national heritage the Amazonas. Both Amazonia I + II, each version in its own way, honor the majesty and mystery of one of worlds greatest nature reservoirs. Both compositions were never intended for commercial release, and were only given out by hand in Flexidisc format during the exhibition. We at TrueClass Record felt, that the time has come to present this gem to all musiclovers worldwide.
Short Info:
Venezuelan Electronic Music Pioneer Vinicio Adames Synth-Pop Masterpiece from 1987.

LP on light blue marbled vinyl.Steiger eagerly explore the outer margins of jazz and dive into other universes (contemporary music, electronica, pop, free improvisation), yet remain faithful to the genre's long-standing core principle; that of a flexible transformation.

We kick start the return of Wigflex records with a brand new release from first time flexer and Nottingham's biggest blades fan... Son of Philip. Inspired by the story of how Cans drummer Jaki Liebezeit was once told to "play monotonous" during the LSD-induced ramblings of a fan; and the experimentation into repetition which followed.
We first heard Rubber Stamp during a wonky walk around Dam in the early hours of the morning, it made perfect sense then and still makes perfect sense now. King of hazy, crystallised electronics Actress steps things up a notch and takes the ep away from a Hoffman-esque bicycle ride and onto the dance floor.

Der legendäre Italo Boot Mix ist zurück !!
ZYX Italo Disco Boot Mix Vol. 1 knüpft an die großen Zeiten dieser Kult-Serie an. Zuerst gibt es die beiden Mixe als CD, einige Wochen später veröffentlichen wir die Boot-Mixe für alle Vinyl-Liebhaber als LP.
Auf Vol. 1 vertreten sind P. Lion, Duke Lake, Koto, Valerie Dore, Radiorama uvm.

Like so many other disenfranchised kids in the heady days of mid-eighties United
Kingdom, Magic Roundabout came armed with leather jackets, charity shop instruments, singles
by The Fall and Buzzcocks, good haircuts, a healthy VU obsession and a little psychedelic
inspiration. Influenced into existence at early gigs by The Jesus and Mary Chain and Shop
Assistants, The Roundies wanted to change the world or at the very least make some noise,
shake things up and be a part of the happening.
The gang established a clubhouse in early 1986 and began rehearsing, recording and
gigging. Playing a ton of legendary shows with the likes of The Pastels, The Blue Aeroplanes,
Spacemen 3, Loop , My Bloody Valentine, Inspiral Carpets and picking up a bunch of fans along
the way. Rumor has it that Noel Gallagher roadied their final show.
There was one song released - She’s a Waterfall Parts 1 and 2 on Mark Webber’s
(Pulp) Oozing Through The Ozone Layer cassette compilation - and that’s it. There were also
talks of a flexi-disc that, for whatever reason, never saw the light of day. But by the end of the
80s, the gang had all gone their separate ways and the recordings along with so many other
things were thought to be lost forever…
Now, these 1987 recordings recently unearthed by Ian Masters (Pale Saints) and Third
Man Records and given the “treatment” by Warren Defever are presented to you lucky ones as
the debut single by Magic Roundabout. 34 years too late or perfectly steeped and presented at
just the right moment in history? Tune in, turn on and make up your own mind. Enjoy the trip.

“Nothing ever really disappears,” Cassandra Jenkins says. “It just changes shape.” Over the past few years, she’s seen relationships altered, travelled three continents, wandered through museums and parks, and recorded free-associative guided tours of her New York haunts. Her observations capture the humanity and nature around her, as well as thought patterns, memories, and attempts to be present while dealing with pain and loss. With a singular voice, Jenkins siphons these ideas into the ambient folk of her new album.
An Overview on Phenomenal Nature honors flux, detail, and moments of intimacy. Jenkins arrived at engineer Josh Kaufman’s studio with ideas rather than full songs — nevertheless, they finished the album in a week. Jenkins’ voice floats amid sensuous chamber pop arrangements and raw-edged drums, ferrying us through impressionistic portraits of friends and strangers. Her lyrics unfold magical worlds, introducing you to a cast of characters like a local fisherman, a psychic at a birthday party, and driving instructor of a spiritual bent.

Jenkins’ last record, 2017’s Play Till You Win, confirmed the veteran artist’s talent. Evident of Jenkins’ experience growing up in a family band in New York City, the album showcased her meticulous songwriting and musicianship, earning her comparisons to George Harrison and Emmylou Harris. Jenkins has since played in the bands of Eleanor Friedberger, Craig Finn, and Lola Kirke, and rehearsed to tour with Purple Mountains last August before the tour’s cancellation. Her new record departs from her previous work in its openness and flexibility, following her peripatetic lifestyle. “The goal is to be more fluid, to be more like the clouds shifting constantly,” she says. The approach allowed Jenkins to express herself like she never has.

On album opener “Michaelangelo,” before the heavy drum beat and fuzz guitars enter, Jenkins sings quietly “I’m a three-legged dog, working with what I’ve got / and part of me will always be looking for what I lost // there’s a fly around my head, waiting for the day I drop dead.” Phenomenal Nature thrives in this dichotomy between ornate sonics and verbal frankness, a calming guided tour to the edge. Later, on “Crosshairs,” amid lush strings, she sings conversationally: “Empty space is my escape / it runs through me like a river / while time spits in my face.”

“Hard Drive,” the third track and album centerpiece, opens with a voice memo Jenkins recorded at The Met Breuer: a guard muses about Mrinalini Mukherjee’s hybrid textile and sculpture works, which were then on display in a retrospective titled Phenomenal Nature. “When we lose our connection to nature, we lose our spirit, our humanity,” she explains. Stuart Bogie's saxophone & Josh Kaufman's glittering guitar make way for Jenkins' spoken word which constellates scenes from her life, gradually building and blossoming as she recreates a meditation guided by a friend who incants, “One, two, three.”

Sounds of footsteps and bird calls run through the album’s glittering conclusion, “The Ramble.” Meditative and bright, it recalls how Jenkins felt while writing and recording her new material: “Everything else is falling apart, so let’s just enjoy this time,” she said. If Phenomenal Nature has a unifying theme, it’s the power of presence, the joy of walking in a world in constant flux and opening oneself to change.

Gator Boots returns… On the A side, Roy deeply flipped and reinterpreted with underground appeal for the discerning DJ. On the B side, an absolute Wonder classic. Rounding it out 'Send a Letter', expanded and splashed out with lush pads, warmth and a lil' drum machine flex to boot!

With a name as bold as Junglepussy and an artistry to match, Shayna McHayle is New York's premier rap rule-breaker. Honest, funny, and freaky, her rhymes span from the explicitly audacious to the tenderly relatable. Her unfailingly confident flow accentuates her roots in Brooklyn (her parents are from Trinidad and Jamaica), and her bars land with cool impact. In the universe that is Junglepussy, relationships are complicated, vegetables are magic, and an excellently delivered flex on an ex is one punchline away. Jp4 is Junglepussy's stellar next phase. With contributions from vocalist Ian Isiah, rapper Gangsta Boo, and producers Dave Sitek and Nick Hook, Jp4 is Junglepussy ascended. After almost a decade of experimenting, Junglepussy feels she's finally living up to her name. The numerology of four, in its foundational symbolism, is an apt frame for Jp4. Over an eight year career, Junglepussy's music has led her to lecture at Yale and Columbia, create her own Junglepussy Juice, star in 2018 feature film Support The Girls, and embark on sold-out domestic and international tours. For Junglepussy, Jp4 is a culminating moment_one that holds the essence of closure while hinting at an exciting and expansive future.

With a name as bold as Junglepussy and an artistry
to match, Shayna McHayle is New York’s premier rap
rule-breaker. Honest, funny and freaky, her rhymes
span from the explicitly audacious to the tenderly
relatable. Her unfailingly confident flow accentuates
her roots in Brooklyn (her parents are from Trinidad
and Jamaica) and her bars land with cool impact. In
the universe that is Junglepussy, relationships are
complicated, vegetables are magic and an
excellently delivered flex on an ex is one punchline
away.
‘Jp4’ is Junglepussy’s stellar next phase. With
contributions from vocalist Ian Isiah, rapper Gangsta
Boo and producers Dave Sitek and Nick Hook, ‘Jp4’
is Junglepussy ascended. After almost a decade of
experimenting, Junglepussy feels she’s finally living
up to her name. The numerology of four, in its
foundational symbolism, is an apt frame for ‘Jp4’.
Over an eight-year career, Junglepussy’s music has
led her to lecture at Yale and Columbia, create her
own Junglepussy Juice, star in 2018 feature film
‘Support The Girls’ and embark on sold-out domestic
and international tours. For Junglepussy, ‘Jp4’ is a
culminating moment - one that holds the essence of
closure while hinting at an exciting and expansive
future.
First-ever physical release for Junglepussy.
Remixes / features / collaborations include Kelela,
Vic Mensa, Gabriel Garzón-Montano, Rico Love and
many more.

Montreal-based producer & DJ Slick Shoota brings us Function, his debut LP and first solo release on the Teklife imprint. A native of Norway known for his renowned Oslo club night Ball Em Up, he's been a member of the elite crew since 2015, contributing tracks to the label's compilations such as On Life Vol. 2 and VIP Trax. Using a unique palate that combines both traditional footwork drums and eclectic otherworld sonics, this album expands on the signature sound he's been brewing during the course of his career, celebrating his longtime love of the Chicago soundscape, with a healthy helping of UK rave, jungle, and vibes from other fast paced club realms. Slick starts the record off with Hovercraft, a big burly mutant rap beat riding a glowing titanic wave of jungle subbass, with vicious hi-hats stabbing through the mix. Desire Path follows with hysterical horns cruising along a stampede of erratic Chicago percussion. A glitchy, malfunctioning computer meets drumline stomps on See Me Flex, resulting in a psychotic, yet psychedelic sci-fi soundscape. Ultra-distorted hardcore kicks open up Jellyneck, dropping straight into a dungeon of ghostly vocals and headlong toms. Warehouse 2K opens up the B-side with R&B chops and lasers floating on a charming cloud of pulsating pads. Mad doppler sirens loop around your head on Delahaze, as distant clangs and crashes fight an impatient, throbbing bassline. Classic rave atmospheres are met with Slick's elegant sound design on MTL Hardcore, his ode to his adoptive city. The album closes off with Special Tek, channeling the signature quirky drum sounds of the late DJ Rashad over a pounding, fast paced house beat, a wonderful nod to the Windy City and its influential sonic culture. Carving out his own sound from the legacies of Chicago, the UK, and other underground club hotspots, Slick Shoota has found his own recognizable voice within these realms of dance music, and this LP serves as documentation of that solidified voice. Years of studying the masters and immersing himself with their work has clearly paid off, and he's respectfully taking these sounds he loves in exciting new directions. Bridging gaps both historical and geographical, Function marks a pivotal point in his career, and is clear evidence that Slick Shoota is vital member of the legendary Teklife family.

Mercurial bassist and bandleader Charles Mingus was signed to Columbia Records for the briefest of time during 1959. His Columbia recordings, however, remain some of the most inspired, mood-jumping jazz in history. The flowing sadness of "Goodbye Porkpie Hat" rings like a funeral chorus that pitches headlong into a celebration of Lester Young's life and improvising flexibility, rather than his death. And there's the funky furnace blast of "Boogie Stop Shuffle" , which reaches its glory with Booker Ervin's Texas tenor sax, wrapped tight in bluesy tone. With the index of emotions captured, these songs nail why Mingus is possibly the most relevant jazzer for the '90s generation. He swings and shouts and hollers and somersaults. His tunes either induce foot-stomping with their intensity or reach for poignant yearning with their lyrical tapestry of orchestral colors. --Andrew Bartlett

Somewhere Between: Mutant Pop, Electronic Minimalism & Shadow Sounds of Japan 1980–1988 hovers vibe–wise between two distinct poles within Light In The Attic’s acclaimed Japan Archival Series—Kankyō Ongaku: Japanese Ambient, Environmental & New Age Music 1980–1990 and Pacific Breeze: Japanese City Pop, AOR & Boogie 1976–1986. All three albums showcase recordings produced during Japan’s soaring bubble economy of the 1980s, an era in which aesthetic visions and consumerism merged. Music echoed the nation’s prosperity and with financial abundance came the luxury to dream.

Sonically, Somewhere Between mines the midpoint between Kankyō Ongaku’s sparkling atmospherics and Pacific Breeze’s metropolitan boogie. The compilation encompasses ambient pop, underground electronics, liminal minimalism and shadow sounds—all descriptors emphasizing the hazy nature of the nebula. Out–of–focus rhythms wear ethereal accoutrements, ballads are shrouded in static, and angular drums snake skyward on transcendent tones. From the Avant–minimalism of Mkwaju Ensemble and Yoshio Ojima, to the leftfield techno-pop of Mishio Ogawa and Noriko Miyamoto (featuring members of YMO), and highlights from the groundbreaking Osaka underground label Vanity Records, these are blurry constellations defying collective categorization.

These tracks also exist in a space of transition when the major label grip on the Japanese recording market began to give way to the escalation of independents. Thanks to the idyllic economic climate and innovations in domestically–manufactured music gear, creators on the edges were empowered to focus on satisfying their artistic visions in the open headspace of home studios. While labels like Warner Music and Nippon Columbia explored new sounds through traditional channels, it was possible for Vanity, Balcony and other indie labels, not to mention self–released artists like Ojima and Naoki Asai, to publish their work via affordable media such as cassettes, 7" vinyl, and flexi–discs.

Expertly curated by Yosuke Kitazawa and Mark “Frosty” McNeill (dublab), Somewhere Between is a collection of music, much of it released for the first time outside Japan, that is bound more by energetic vibration than shared history, genre or scene. They are the sounds of transition and searching—a celebration of the freedom found in floating.

Note: The track “Days Man” by Yoshio Ojima is only available on the LP and Cassette versions.

Second album release on Columbia Records from US hip hop/drill/rapper/singer/songwriter/producer. A 16 track double LP set on black vinyl. Collaborators include Juice WRLD and Lil' Baby. Specialist promo/marketing activity across all media outlets. The album reached #2 in the US Billboard charts when released earlier this year.

*repress*

Justin Cudmore returns to the Phonica White shelves with four new tracks, and his long-awaited first full EP since 2017's "Forget It" for The Bunker New York. With the dancefloor seeming far outside our reach right now, 'Train Dance' transports us back to a simpler time lost in the mix.

Across the disc, Cudmore reflects on the sounds and scenes closest to his heart and record bag, flexing his knack for crafting catchy hooks and the kind of ear-worm melodies that helped cement his status as one of house & techno's fast-rising stars. A1 "Train Dance" is his ode to the urban symphony of train cars whirling past his apartment in Brooklyn, with eight minutes of swingy, jacking house built for a sunny afternoon set across the pond at Panorama Bar.

"Club Fetish" shifts to a more introspective, heads-down vibe crafted instead with a dark and sweaty basement in mind. A touch of psych à la classic John Tejada, Cudmore's subtle, squelchy synths rub shoulders with cerebral drums and floating basslines.

The B-side nods to Cudmore's acclaimed acid sound for two deep slow rollers. "Expectation Game" and its no-nonsense 303s chug through a couple of understated breakdowns, while "Realize" was written with a Detroit outdoor patio in mind, with a sleazy acid bassline and cut up vocal groans sounding like Cudmore riffing on a late-night Moodymann jam.

Recorded during a productive time of new beginnings and positive headspace, ‘Train Dance’ comes out during a strange and unclear present for Cudmore and many of his contemporaries in the scene. However given it all, Justin remains excited to share new music and sounds, and hopes to return to the dance floor with everyone again as soon as safely possible.

Artwork as always is supplied by the talented Pedro Carvalho de Almeida

Fresh from Pedro Vian's full LP release, here are club ready remixes of Flexible Girl and Darwin's Nightmare. These are remixes made with the dancefloor in mind. The Flexible Girl remixes come from Chicago's renowned sound sculptor Hieroglyphic Being who supplies a key led version, Barcelona based Cardopusher with an 80s bass driven revision and a submerged acid remix from Portuguese producer Da Silva. The remix of Darwin's Nightmare is a trippy version by legendary Ukrainian producer Vakula.

A name, a man, an attitude, Amsterdam Dj and producer San Proper is one that needs very little introduction. His intricately minimal, yet highly musical productions have seen the light of day on Dekmantel, Perlon and Rush Hour Records alongside his own label, Proper's Cult. Now, this renowned crazy cat presents a new set of works, 'Home' EP with MUSAR Recordings.

Teaming up with drummer, producer and long-time collaborator, D. (real name Derek Van Beelen) who has also appeared solo on 'Proper's Cult', the two come together on 'Home' to explore the genre of house; expanding it into new, idiosyncratic forms.

Across 'Home' EP, the flamboyance and quirks of San are deeply embroidered. From the frenetically charged, punk-esque 'Home' to the mid-tempo trip of 'Get On Down', each see the musical talents of D. underpinning the cursive vocals and hardware slurs of Proper. Whilst closing track 'Licks & Tech' provides an off-kilter take, pairing woody, linear percussive parts with sweeping and insidious modulations.

Tokyo's very own 'Watechno' originator and MUSAR associate, Hoshina Anniversary comes through with a rework of 'Home'. Flexing over San's vocals with jazzy keys and native Japanese instrumentation, striking experimentations in-keep with the expansive nature of 'Home' EP.

Caught somewhere between environmental sound studies and surrealist sonic architecture, SUGAI KEN helps mark the 30th release of Field Records with an ambitious new album. Commissioned by the Dutch Embassy in Tokyo, Tone River is the product of a year’s intensive work between artist and label, created in part to examine the relationship between Japan and the Netherlands with regard to water management.

While its doors to the Western world were closed during the 17th and 18th centuries, Japan kept abreast of Western science via a Dutch trade post in the bay of Nagasaki. When the country changed from a feudal society to a modern democracy through the turn of the 19th century, Dutch engineers lent their expertise to large-scale water management projects. One of the most prestigious projects of the time was the Tone River, which stretches 322 kilometers across Honshu, Japan’s largest island.

For this project, SUGAI KEN travelled to three points across the Tone River and used regular, binaural and underwater microphones to record environmental sounds, seeking to express the change in landscape of the river in its flow into the Pacific Ocean. On Tone River, these varied recordings are interspersed and juxtaposed with Ken’s distinctive take on synthesis, where raw and precisely sculpted textures and tones interact in stark, neutral space.

On this conceptually rigorous, yet beguiling and free-flowing record, SUGAI KEN glides between the elemental and hyper-synthetic in a flexible exploration of sound and story

“The Grind” by El Agua Es Profunda is a beautiful, ever evolving track. Building from a basic rhythm, layering and layering into an anthemic state. Fans of John Hopkins, Kaito, The Field, Gui Boratto will find a familiar vibe in The Grind, but this vivid and cinematic ten and a half minute production triggers memories of epic moments in any dancer.

The B-side holds a remix by Copenhagen‟s Kasper Marott. Highly regarded for his releases on Modeselektor 's Seilscheibenpfeiler, Courtesy's Kulør, and most recently his own Axces imprint. Marott has taken The Grind on a more intense trip, enhancing the percussive elements for the floor.

Behind the artist name El Agua Es Profunda we find the Danish music producer Jacob Funch. He has previously released four digital EPs as well as the abum “Circumnavigating Lueena“ through his own Gold Records. The productions vary in genre from melodic soundscapes and synth-pop to dance music. Besides his solo work he is a frequently used producer for several other artists on the global leftfield indie scene.

Infernal Sounds welcomes Cluekid back to the fray, returning to release two of his most sought after dubs in 'Electric Avenue' & 'Horizontal'. The legendary producer throws you right back to the '08 days on the A side, taking you in with straight junglist sampling and a low-end wobble of a freshly set blamanche. 'Horizontal' displays the same sort of traits, but gives you an added dub-flex through the backdrop melody, and a low-end you'll feel right down in your stomach. It's an ultimate double XL.

Society is shaped by its history, stories that have evolved over time and held to be true. Stories of the imagination, stories from the ill-informed, stories conjured by favored subjects, but all loosely wrapped in the truth. Systems such as morals, religion, politics, and a culture are powerful enough to influence the mind of one and the minds of many and therefore direct the evolution of the species. Unseen Forces is a conceptual work that dissects this idea. A collection of four songs cause the listener to re-examine not only what they believed to be real and true but also why. Side A dives head first into testing your belief system by introducing the first stage of influence - Disruption and Experimentation. Introducing a simple question into the belief system that cannot be answered and observing the result. The Disruptor - subtle but powerful making its point with eerie, off center synth lines, and synthesized drums. Driving a wedge between the listener and the comfort of familiarity. Dr. Blowfin's Experiment - a long time and highly revered classic previously released on SID, continues to re-evaluate beliefs with modifications to the original. The question of why is still unanswered. Beliefs are broken and chaos ensues. Side B begins to take direct the chaos with another classic - Crossphaze - injecting live funk and modulated filters with this flexible floor mover previously released on Accelerate. Crossing into another realm unfamiliar to the listener as new beliefs are formed. Deconstructing the Immortals - leaves the listener with no other choice but to eagerly leave their old world behind and everything they know in ruins. This offbeat and mesmerizing anthem makes the question of why unimportant, because the answer is what now.

The Allergies are back with the latest in a long line of party starting gold nuggets on 7" vinyl. 'Get yourself Some' sees the guys channel a bluesy stomping soul style reminiscent of Sam & Dave and the Motown greats. Screaming blues harp, hammond organ stabs, lyrics about making it all by yourself, and a steady groove make this one sounds like it could have easily been played by The Swampers in a long-lost Muscle Shoals session.

Meanwhile on the flip, The Allergies enlist two UK hip hop titans - Dr Syntax and Skunkadelic to trade bars on the driving and energetic 'I'm On It'. Funky sax licks, party bongos and a bassline you could set your watch to all complete the perfect beat for these two to flex their microphone skills over. And the end result is another blistering cut taken from their album 'Say The Word'.

After their 2016 dancefloor burner "Jump," Poirier and Red Fox are pairing up once again for "Pull Up Dat" taken from Poirier's new album "Soft Power." Rooted in a dancehall style, "Pull Up Dat" is full of good vibes with Red Fox confidently leading the dance. Poirier brings a modern touch that relates to the 90's dancehall scene. On the B-side, Patexx is all about delivering an uplifting message with the collaboration "Unity & Strength." As Patexx says at the beginning of the song: "United we stand, divided we fall." Then on the remix tip, young and upcoming producer SIM from Montréal flexes to new heights, turning "Pull Up Dat" into a set-ready banger.



With his first album dating back to 2001, Poirier is a prolific, creative and eclectic Canadian producer / musician with a 20 year journey of creating music. Constant in his albums and DJ performances is a desire to build bridges between different languages, communities, and cultures. His open, uninhibited musical mind means that his works bend boundaries, resulting in compositions that mix several styles and eras. He has now produced a total of 11 albums and many EPs with labels such as Ninja Tune, Nice Up Records and, more recently, Wonderwheel Recordings. Active in Montreal, his successful monthly dance party Qualité de Luxe is dedicated to African and Caribbean music, attracting crowds for over six years. Poirier is also the man behind Bounce le Gros and Karnival, parties with legendary status in Montreal nightlife history.



"Pull Up Dat" is available digitally as a single pack and as a limited edition 7" vinyl record on September 25th, 2020.

Vanish is Julia Reidy’s yearning, fat debut for Editions Mego. Since 2019, Julia’s bubbling 12-string guitar work - sighing streams of crystal plucks drawn closer or echoing on - has moored a tactile, ever-lusher sound. On ‘Guitar’, the Australian, Berlin-based musician melts down sharp synths; electric fuzz and flex; uncanny found sounds; and autotuned voice and harmonica in a heady, overpowering potion.

Reidy’s music sweeps you up. It’s restless, always travelling on. Lonesome tones into machine chorales into hesitant hum. The LP’s side-long cuts sway between scenes but are always rooted: Julia’s guitar and vocal lines seem mapped to the natural ebb and flow of breath and thought, they lull you as they push through vast and secret spaces.

Vanish completes a trio of releases begun with last year’s ‘brace, brace’ (Slip) and ‘In Real Life’ (Black Truffle). The delicious unease, the anxious burning of the preceding volumes has settled, becoming more wide-eyed and resolute. For all its poise, the album’s sense of build - electric licks rasping into glistening synths, punctured by distant kicks - feels freshest. When 'Oh Boy'’s smudged whistle comes, it has fought its way out of the thickets, and hits like heartbreak.

Prolific American artist Jon Hester returns to Rekids for the first instalment of his new album, ‘Converge’, this September.

Jon Hester grew up in the Midwest US, living in Chicago and Minneapolis while taking musical cues from Detroit. Initially he was a dancer, and later transitioned to the decks with a refined understanding of what it takes to move a club. He progressed to hosting his own events, holding residencies, and working at a record shop, and now brings his physical rhythms and adventurous drums to his productions, with output on respected labels such as Transmat, Deeply Rooted, Dystopian, Klockworks, and LET Recordings, not to mention multiple appearances on Rekids.

Continuing to show fine form on his debut album, Hester now serves up eight of his signature house and techno fusions with plenty of his trademark directness across four sides of vinyl. The superb 'Sending Signals' opens the album with scene-setting synth modulations full of sci-fi atmosphere. It's the calm before the storm as 'Metropolitan' then immediately sets off on a cantering groove that is eventually run through with busy, jazzy piano keys that bring the soul.

'Haze' has excellently taught kick drums with hypnotic synth tones adding colour, and features Hester on saxophone. When 'Rain' comes, things grow darker and more menacing, with shakers and urgent stabs keeping you moving at a slick pace.

The second half of this compelling record features the loopy punches and pulses of the super smooth 'Dreamstate', beautifully cosmic and widescreen techno of 'Free' and pensive but urgent deep electro of standout cut 'Flex.' Last of all, 'Equinox' is lit up with distant chords which bring a far-sighted gaze to the rolling, robust kicks.

West coast composer, artist, and producer Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith has chartered a pioneering career with multiple critically-acclaimed albums since 2015. Following the release of The Kid in 2017, Smith focused her energy in several directions. She founded Touchtheplants, a multidisciplinary creative environment for projects including the first volumes in her instrumental Electronic Series and pocket-sized poetry books on the practice of listening within. She's continued to explore the endless possibilities of electronic instruments as well as the shapes, movements, and expressions found in the physical body's relationship to sound and color. It is this life-guiding interest that forms the foundational frequencies of her most recent full-length, The Mosaic of Transformation, a bright, sensorial glide through unbound wave phenomena and the radiant power discovered within oneself. "I guess in one sentence, this album is my expression of love and appreciation for electricity," says Smith. While writing and recording, she embraced a daily practice of physical movement, passing electricity through her body and into motion, in ways reflecting her audio practice, which sends currents through modular synthesizers and into the air through speakers. Not a dancer by any traditional definition, she taught herself improvisatory movement realizing flexibility, strength, and unexpectedly, a "visual language" stemming from the human body and comprised of vibrational shapes. Understood as cymatics, as Smith says, "as a reference for how frequencies can be visualized," much like a mosaic. Smith describes her first encounters with this mosaic; "the inspiration came to me in a sudden bubble of joy. It was accompanied by a multitude of shapes that were moving seamlessly from one into the other...My movement practice has been a constant transformation piece by piece. I made this album in the same way. Every day I would transform what I did yesterday...into something else. This album has gone through about 12 different versions of itself." As it has arrived, in a completed state, The Mosaic of Transformation is a holistic manifestation of embodied motions. Smith's signature textural curiosity that fans have grown to adore pivots naturally into a proprioceptive study of melody and timbre. Airy organ and voice interweave with burbling Buchla-spawned harmonic bubbles. "The Steady Heart" quivers to life, peppering blasts of wooden organ between winding vocal affirmations. As with a body, moving one portion requires a balance and counterbalance; here, subtle tonal twitchy signals fire in conjunction with coiling arias to create a mesmeric core. When the beat arrives at the midway mark, a swooping and jittery waltz, a sense of stasis in motion, a flow state, is sonically achieved. As soon as it syncs, it disappears back into the swirling ebbs of electric force. Other tracks stray into more ruminative physical realms. "Carrying Gravity" is built around string-like pads that expand and contract like a solar plexus, becoming taught and then loose. If the record could be summarized in a single movement, it is the 10-minute closing suite, a rapturous collage called "Expanding Electricity." Symphonic phrases establish the piece before washes of glittering electric peals and synthesized vibraphone helix into focus. Soon, Smith's voice grounds it all with an intuitive vocal hook, harmonized and augmented by concentric spirals of harp-and-horn-like sounds. Smith's music doesn't capture a specific emotion as much as it captures the joys of possessing a body, and the ability to, with devotion and a steady open heart, maneuver that vessel in space by way of electricity to euphoric degrees.