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Re-mastering by: Ray Staff at Air Mastering, Lyndhurst Hall, London

This jazz recording is considered as the 'magnum opus' of master "drummer extraordinaire'', composer, arranger, producer, and leader Norman Connor's in a career that has spanned 4 decades. This recording is what many will consider the debut of the legendary vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater who has since gone on to a brilliant career. Connor's put together an all-star group with Herbie Hancock and Onaje Allan Gumbs on piano and Fender Rhodes, Dr. Eddie Henderson on trumpet/flugelhorn, Carlos Garnett on tenor/soprano saxes, Gary Bartz on alto/soprano saxes, Buster Williams on bass, drummer/vocalist Bill Summers and Kenneth Nash on percussion, and effective, crucial cameos by master flautist Hubert Laws. On the song, "Love From the Sun'", Connors added Nathan Rubin on violin and Terry Adams on cello.

The 'best of the best' begins with the exotic theme of Hancock's "Revelation", doubled wordlessly and beautifully by Ms. Bridgewater over Williams bouncing ostinato bass pattern with flights of fancy from Hubert Laws on flute, and superb, luminous solos from Henderson's exotic trumpet, Garnett on soprano, and Hancock on Fender Rhodes. Garnett's "Carlos II" is another great composition with remarkable solos. Connors' own "Drums Around The Worlds'" is influenced by African and latin rhythms with emotional vocals from Summers and a drum-only section that builds in intensity. One of the high points of the album is Dee Dee Bridgewater's awesome, glorious vocalizing on Richard Clay's lovely "Love From The Sun", in one of the greatest performances in her career, arranged by Gumbs. Elmer Gibson's "Kumakucha" (The Sun Has Risen) is a blazing display of uptempo musicianship by Connor's driving drums, the propulsive congas of Summers and Nash, and exciting solos from Bartz, Henderson on trumpet, and Hancock's furious piano solo. The set ends with a marvelous "Holy Waters" composed and arranged by Garnett in a scorching performance by Bridgewater on vocals, Garnett unleashing one of the greatest solos in his storied career, followed by Gumbs' astute solo.

My Highest Recommendation.

By John Braswell

Apollo proudly presents the return of SW, joined by partner SVN for a sublime 6 track EP. SW's lush sound design and hypnotic arrangements of 2017's 'The Album' had hearts and minds swooning following it's license from SUED to Apollo.
It's balmy glory won over Pitchfork ('deeply expressive debut album' 8/10), Rolling Stone (best electronic albums 2017) and XLR8R (Best releases 2017) amongst many others.
One year later, SW and SVN have gone into the studio, together; 'to make some original music specifically for Apollo. The results are the 6 tracks on this EP,' they share in a typically taciturn statement.Taking inspiration from the iconic house and techno of the mid / late 90s - SW and SVN combine dreamy melodies and mesmeric grooves with unfussy, focussed minimalism, their beguiling, modern take on classic sounds and rhythms remains thrillingly unique and elusive. While SW and SVN are more comfortable out of the limelight, this 6 track EP for Apollo once again proves that they are rightly worthy of the hype that swirls around them.

The long awaited debut release from Melbourne based producer / personality Mousse is here! Until now, Mousse aka Simon Barry has kept his craft close to his chest and we finally hear the result of years of hard studio labour in the bungalow. Barry has been a crucial part of Melbourne's dance community for the past five or so years, co-hosting the legendary disco party 'Misty Nights' with Danny Hotep as well being a fixture at The House De Frost and Animals Dancing parties.

On the A side we have the anthemic 'Sex and Acid' and 'Big Fat Party Popper' two raw house tracks with links to early Chicago classics. Quirky sound effects and catchy vocals simmer on top of hot acid bassline to give you a couple of the summers most memorable bangers! But don't be fooled, Mousse is no one-trick-pony. On the flip we step out of the bungalow and into 'Afternoon Bloom' where jazzy pianos dance around a playful machine rhythm. Rounding out the four tracker 'Bare With Me' delivers an evolving house jam with a conversive synth line and dubbed out chords.

A killer debut release from one of Melbournes rising stars.

After his debut single "Tell Me That You Love Me" on Timmion's Stylart imprint, Jonny Benavidez is back with a tighten uppish slab of Texas tinged soul. In "Let's Get Together" Jonny pulls out his best dance craze chops and delivers a positive message over the rolling northern soul rhythm track by Cold Diamond & Mink.

It doesn't matter if you get down to soul music in leather soled slicks or sneakers, this 45 should be your ticket to dance floor heaven. With these two tracks under his belt Jonny is set to continue melting hearts and moving feet anywhere you hear him on record or a live performance.

Bar by bar it starts to come clear that Jonny's gentle voice has some of the same emotive depth as legendary cats like Richard Caiton, so it's nice to know that he has fresh material in the pipeline. If you enjoy the crossover soul sounds of classic indie labels such as Ovide or San Antonio's Dynamic, you will undoubtedly get along nicely with this blast of sunshine.

Since his 2015 Night School debut E.P. Nouveauree, James Donadio - aka Prostitutes - has been traveling stages and rigs from Los Angeles to Berlin, from prestigious festival slots to slimy Glasgow basements, burning his own path through the modern techno and electronic scenes. On Aluminum Garage, Donadio is at his most playful, laying down unmistakably mid-tempo BPM early-electro jams indebted to early sampling before crashing the soundsystem with frantic, detourned Gabber. Unlike his previous LP for Spectrum Spools or indeed his Night School debut which rankled with austerity and minimalism, here Prostitutes is instinctive, multi-layered and unashamedly, brilliantly borrowing from myriad genres.

In past 3 years, Donadio has racked up critically praised releases on labels like Diagonal and CGI, refining his wares into a precise, bludgeoning toolkit that surprises and develops with each release. Aluminum Garage creeps into life with Born Wanderer, before a sub-heavy kick and bongo pattern blasts into a heavy break that feels like the earth moving from under your feet. With the utmost clarity, the track builds disparate layers - a white noise solo, warped sample piano chords straight from 1986 - into a Rave-o-matic climax, holding steady with the BPMs and immeasurably funky. Jah Elegant further blows apart any image we have of Prostitutes' music as austere' with a loping intro based on teased drum samples and a ghost MC. The Jungle break comes in by stealth before the heavy drop blasts the music into Drum + Bass momentum. It's both blistering fun and undeniably cheeky, a driving track that cuts up Remarc on a dimly lit table in suburban Ohio.

On Side 2, Errant Seagull takes the genre mess into techno territory though put through a heavily distorted grinder. Built around a skeleton of sampled bass guitar and thumping kick, the track layers drums upon drums, building in saturation until a searing synth strafes the criss-crossing rhythms. The effect is dizzying, insuring both a propellant, heavy forward motion and a grimey, angst-ridden climax. Before we're at the end of the track, the stereo field is so filthy with distortion and analogue muck the listener is desperate for a palette cleanser. Final track Shroud of Cellophane however, doesn't let up. With a ramped up BPM we're in a Cyberpunk Gabber club, nothing but 160 beats per minute, layers of frequency-tweaked noise and the light at the end of the tunnel racing towards us. It's sweet oblivion and we've earned it.

The Land of Look Behind soundtrack returns to vinyl in a remastered and expanded edition that includes a download of three previously unheard and unreleased tracks from the original sessions. Alan Greenberg, who wrote and directed this film documenting the funeral of Bob Marley, provided K. Leimer with location tapes which were used to originate many of the rhythmic patterns for Land of Look Behind. Loops of the monologues and phrases that exhibited more distinctive cadences and pacing, the words, glottal stops, clicks and coughs of witnesses were used as cues for the percussion instruments. In effect, speech became the organizing principle of the musical score. By eliminating the accuracy of click tracks, musicians were prompted to rove through the inconsistent intervals of the voice-derived patterns. Also included is a four-page insert featuring an essay by Paul Dickow.

K. Leimer founded Palace of Lights in 1979. Leimer's early work has recently been reissued by Autumn and RVNG, and his early cassette work is in the critically acclaimed VOD box set American Cassette Culture. Leimer has been actively producing music since the mid 1970s — his current catalog includes seventeen albums plus two collaborative albums with Marc Barreca.

Leimer's work is included in the collection of The British Library.

From his Saint Denis apartment, and with the help of his machines, Labelle has laid the foundations of an electronic maloya, modern and deeply rooted in its home territory: La Réunion. On 'univers-île' his latest album released in September 2017, the sound of the Creole Reunionese language played a key role. On 'Post-Maloya", Labelle release a fascinating EP of introspective trance music. Post-Maloya EP is characterized by vivid dream-like journey through which traces a path of exploration. Here you will find the maloya stamp, which is Reunionese traditional music, both in the rhythms and the instruments used, like the valiha. This traditional tubular harp from Madagascar is played by Vola on the track 'Jaojoby'. Vola was taught by Rajery himself, who is widely considered as master of this instrument. This track is an homage to Jaojoby, king of Salegy, a popular musician in Madagascar. The hypnotic sounds evoke distant dimensions and resonate like shamanic incantations whose aim is to gently lead us towards the trance. As the title suggests - 'Post-maloya' is the exploration of new musical processes mixed with the use of traditional maloya instrumentation. This is an appropriate name for this new opus, which is more electronic and percussive; carving an experimental path between electronic and traditional music. In parallel with the creation this EP, the Regional Conservatory of Réunion Island has given free reign to Labelle to create a series of live performances which he played all around the island last month, including an original creation linked to his expression of 'Post-maloya' supported by an ensemble of eleven musicians from Réunion Island's regional orchestra.

The Saqqara Ep Is A Multilayered, Sonic Canvas From The Mind Of Chris Barratt, As He Launches His New Alias, Baratt, For Life And Death. Fine Brushstrokes Move From All Areas Of His Musical Hideout, Spreading Over Five, Varied, Aural Sculptures, Each One Warping And Weaving On Its Own Cosmic Trajectory. Pooling From Key Aspects Of His Eagles & Butterflies Project, Barratt Induces New Musical Shades, Hinting At Moments Of Disco And Funk, Through A Lens Of Psychedelia. The Title Track Is A Late-night Floor-filler - A Bold Yet Uniquely Personal Necropolis Built From Riveting Delays And Arpeggiators. Time Bending Sees Dj Tennis Join In, Stepping Up With His Trademark, Rough Around The Edges Production Aesthetic, En Route To Unknown Destinations. Barratt Hones-in On A Confident, Stripped-down Style On Khaos - Rhythm Versus Melody - Just In Time For Festival Season. 1983 Soundtracks A Ride To Utopia On A Rocket-fueled Vespa, Leading To Collider, The Land Of Un-quantised Madness, Where The Most Treasured Of Synthesisers Live Amongst Their Drum Machine Counterparts. Flowing Yet Incredibly Interconnected, Saqqara Is Best Interpreted As A Mini Artist Album - The First Of Many Barratt Offerings.

With MEL011, it is Melodies International's immense pleasure to direct their focus towards both Soul and House royalty, selecting and reissuing two of Frankie Knuckles' scarcer remixes of an all-time classic: Womack & Womack - MPB (Missin' Persons Bureau). Now known as Zekkariyas and Zeriiya, partners Cecil and Linda Womack, two eminent members in an extensive lineage of music artistry (i.e. Bobby Womack was Zekkariyas' brother, Zeriiya is Sam Cooke's daughter) engaged in one of music history's most successful and exciting singing and song writing partnerships in the early 1980s. Zeriiya says her process with Zekkariyas flowed like water, their shared complicity and talent led them to write and produce strings of chart topping hits and classic albums as Womack & Womack but also for other renowned artists of the time such as Patti Labelle, Teddy Pendergrass and the O'Jays to only name a few. The original version of Missin' Persons Bureau was first released in 1988 on 'Conscience' (Island Records), a classic album with impeccable instrumentation and thoughtful and relatable narratives that reflect on the nature of life, true friendship, love or in the case of MPB, it's subsequent loss. Following the release of the LP, Island records founder Chris Blackwell introduced the idea of getting Missin' Persons Bureau reworked by House legend Frankie Knuckles and whilst the Womacks weren't originally set on the idea of having their songs remixed by other artists, Blackwell, who Zeriiya describes as a 'record label manager seriously involved in making sure the project is what the creators really want it to be", had earned their trust. With these remixes, Frankie managed to turn a radio hit into underground club classics. The Paradise Ballroom mix conserves the essence of the original, reinterpreting the rhythm section whilst drawing it out over 8 minutes, with expert tension building and release clearly aimed at the dance floor.

Tony Clarke is from Waterhouse, St. Andrew Jamaica. At the tender age of 10 he started following sound systems like Sir Mike The Musical Dragon with the great toaster Prince Ruff at the controls, and King Tubby's with the legendary U-Roy. Tony Clarke did his first recording in New York in 1971 at Hugh Hendricks recording studio called "Righteous Man" of which he played both bass and lead guitar. The band was later managed by the legendary band leader/trombonist Carlos Malcolm.

Tony Clarke decided to write the song 'Going Home' to reference the roots of his music. In those days and even now good reggae music that was being recorded in the United States was not receiving the approbation from home because, in Jamaica they felt that the best reggae music could only come from and be created in Jamaica to substantiate the true feeling of the genre. So he decided to go back to Jamaica and record 'Going Home' at Harry J Studio with Sylvan Morris as engineer. The rhythm track was played by Lloyd Parks (Bass), Devon Richardson (Drum), Andy Bassford (Lead Guitar), Winston "Bo-Pee" Bowen (Rhythm Guitar), Franklyn "Bubbler" Waul (Keyboard), David Madden & Junior "Chico" Chin (Horns). He also recorded the cover version to 'Hey Little Girl' originally done by Dee Clark. For this 12'' vinyl edition, the artwork was done with a vintage photo of Tony Clarke in front of his house at Waterhouse and extended liner notes on the back cover.

eturning with renewed force after Henning Baer's unbreakable debut LP, MANHIGH's sixth release comes from a name already well-known in techno circles. Sciahri is the Italian producer whose luminous 2014 debut on the celebrated Ilian Tape's ITX experimental series immediately announced his presence, followed by another on the label and two EPs for the highly-rated Black Opal offshoot of Opal Tapes by 2016. He was simultaneously occupied with his ambient-leaning UNKNOT duo with Emanuele Porcinai, better known as WSR on Samuel Kerridge's Contort label. 2017 saw the launch of his Sublunar imprint and a tripartite release from him featuring a more streamlined sound than the craggy broken-beat style familiar from Ilian Tape. Sciahri's MANHIGH EP opens with 'Demur', showcasing his most dour, industrial sounds, scraping metallic highs against the unrelenting impacts of reverberating kicks and subbass drone. 'Forbidden' holds its forces more in reserve, the cycling, mechanical soundscape maintaining a spacious, ambient aspect, worked against a broken rhythm more implied than explicitly stated. Returning to full intensity for 'Reliance', he tightly coils the core elements around deftly-deployed percussion and a militaristic, pounding rhythm in the bass and kicks. Henning Baer's reinterpretation of 'Demur' saves little from the original apart from its overriding tension, instead adding a layer of nearly-tonal pads and an unremitting acidic bass throb pushing forwards inexorably.

Ein 44 Minuten starkes Instrumental-Album inklusive eines Akere Vocal-Features.

Es ist Ansichtssache, ob ein Antlitz unfassbar schön oder besonders verstörend sein kann, sodass der bloße Anblick den Betrachter seiner Handlungsfähigkeit beraubt. Man sollte sich jedoch nie einzig von einer Erscheinung erstarren lassen.

Also heißt es:
Augen schließen und die Schönheit einer Mischung aus zeitlosen Vibes, warmen Klängen und verschobenen Rhythmen irgendwo zwischen Trip Hop, Boom Bap und G-Funk auf sich wirken zu lassen. Die Reise führt durch Höhen und Tiefen, beeinflusst von Musik aller Himmelsrichtungen und Sonderbarkeiten verschiedener Genres.

L One´s Medusa ist durchaus in der Lage den Hörer in den Bann zu ziehen. Jedoch ergibt sich dadurch keine langfristige Betäubung, sondern vielmehr ein Moment, der sämtliche Wahrnehmung der äußeren Welt an einen Ort unendlicher Möglichkeiten lenkt. Wo es hingeht und was passiert, bleibt jedem selbst überlassen. Quasi ein Mythos!

Medusa ist nach der Farska LP bereits die zweite Zusammenarbeit zwischen dem jungen Münchner HipHop Produzenten und dem jungen Münchner Label Beat Art Department und erscheint in Kooperation mit dem renommierten HipHop Label 58Beats, dem Label der Band Main Concept.

Mercury Music Prize album of the year 2014

Deluxe remastered gate-fold double-LP with three bonus tracks (black vinyl version).

Noted for their hypnotic melodies, visceral bass-lines and tidal rhythm, Manchester-based leftfield piano trio GoGo Penguin are pianist Chris Illingworth, bassist Nick Blacka and drummer Rob Turner. Their music has been described as acoustic-electronica but they draw equally on rock, jazz

and minimalism, game soundtracks and glitchy-electronica to create their unique music. They are now one of the most successful bands in contemporary music, topping the jazz charts globally and playingsold out shows around the world and have just announced their biggest tour yet including the Royal Albert Hall in London (Nov 12).

Originally released in March 2014, v2.0, was their breakthrough album and the first to feature the rebooted line-up with new bassist Nick Blacka, pianist Chris Illingworth and drummer Rob Turner. It was named a Mercury Prize album of the year 2014 alongside albums from Damon Albarn, Young Fathers and Jungle.

The extended version was first released on 2xLP for RSD 18 on clear vinyl. This version features the same extended tracklist on black vinyl.

Newly remastered for vinyl (by the original engineer)
2xLP deluxe gatefold edition.

v2.0 includes the hit singles, Hopopono, Garden Dog Barbecue and Kamaloka as well as the remarkable One Percent and live favourite To Drown in You. Included here for the first time is theincessant 'Break' featuring a killer groove that offers a notdto the one and only Squarepusher, 'Wash', a haunting slice of the band at their most ambient and the wonderful 'In Amber', the first track that the new line-up wrote completely together.

3x12"

Listening back to Roman Poncet's first releases on Figure just a couple years ago, they already hinted at the producer's keen technical abilities and a knack for rich texturing, resulting in tracks that were
both carried by force and form. What he delivers now is an impressively mature debut album, ripe with personal creative realization.

On Gypsophila the French producer uses the extended format to slowly shape up a scenery of epic proportions where surprise and constant change lurk around every corner. A certain sense of
progression and evolution runs throughout Poncet's music; it invariably keeps one locked in, no matter for the opening drones of Do Not or the patiently growing Thick Vegetation, which fuses tribal
percussion and choral chants to showcase another of this LP's key features: its dense soundscape, which at once feels inherently electronic yet deeply organic, translating the abstract futuristic themes
of techno into something jam-packed and heady albeit steadily grounded - a listening experience that is as dreamy as it remains tangible.

This holds true for the highly atmospheric synth-lead pieces, such as the cinematic intro Hello You, the elevating arp-ride Epreuve or the suspended celestial groove of Atlas. But equally goes for the floorfocused
rhythms, like relentless steam engine-workout Piege or mid-album mind-trip In Aeternam. Adding even more variety and depth to the mix, the tidal title track is given its own side to explore the
sheer endless expanses of dub...
Bundling the complete range of his influences, Gypsophila marks the pinnacle of Roman Poncet's work to date. Covering a spectrum this broad in his very own way, the album proves as relevant for the
current club scene as it will be for repeated return visits.

Grammy-nominated Ostinato Records presents "Abu Obaida Hassan & His Tambour: The Shaigiya Sound of Sudan" in a gatefold LP packaging with vintage photos and authentic Sudanese designs.
A complex blend of Arab melodies, Nubian rhythms, and signature Sudanese call and response by a legend of Shaigiya music from nothern Sudan.

Abu Obaida Hassan and the wonders of his five-string tambour remained largely a mystery. In the early 2000's, a prominent Sudanese newspaper declared him dead. Internet forums confirmed his passing. Many in Khartoum, Sudan's capital, said he had indeed died.
But rumors that he was still alive persisted.

What was always certain is Abu Obaida Hassan's mercurial talent.
His command of a modified tambour, backed by a chorus and two drummers, unleashed swirling melodies alongside complex Nubian rhythms and hypnotic Sudanese call and response. His bands roster constantly changed, but he remained at the helm, playing for sold out shows in cities across the country and capturing the dancefloors and youth of 1970's and 80's Sudan. This is a rich, raw example of the human experience with sound from northern Sudan, an ancient part of the world, and the birthplace of civilization. Music like this isn't mastered overnight.

The Ostinato team first came across Abu Obaida's recordings in 2011, finding scratchy bits and pieces along the years. We traveled to Sudan in 2016 to find the clues to piece together the Abu Obaida Hassan puzzle. Through some extensive detective work with our man in Khartoum, Ahmed Asysouti, and a generous dose of good fortune, we tracked Abu Obaida to the rural outskirts of Omdurman, the old capital just across the White Nile from Khartoum. Age has taken its toll, but he remains full of life and music, ready to jointly curate a selection of his eight best cuts. He has written over 100 songs, only 30 were recorded.

Abu Obaida comes from the Shaigiya people, whose culture is spread around the ancient city of Merowe, home of traditional Nubian culture, where pyramids older than those in Egypt still stand. They trace their entire lineage to one man, Shaig, who migrated from the Arabian peninsula in the 15th century. An endlessly rhythmic syncretism between Arab and Nubian styles, Abu Obaida's Shaigiya music was an in demand party affair in an era when a vibrant nightlife and roving sound systems were a staple of life in Sudan.

It was music for a modern era, and Abu Obaida, at just 19, rebelliously abandoned traditional Shaigiya music traditions, pioneering a new sound by adding an extra string to his tambour and electrifying an instrument adored across East Africa. The result was complexity in simplicity and a hyper-talented artist who mirrors the story of Sudan's highs and lows, from the leading tambour maestro of the hour to such obscurity on the fringes that he was believed dead. "They killed me!", he likes to joke.

Abu Obaida Hassan, his music and the musical traditions of the Shaigiya remain alive and kicking. A culmination of a 7-year journey — from first hearing Abu Obaida's distinct sound, found only in Sudan, to finding the man — has produced the first global release of Shaigiya music and is just the beginning of Ostinato's immersion into Sudan, with a full compilation of the lavish musical history of one the most diverse countries in Africa due later this year. All brought to you by the Grammy-nominated team behind last year's "Sweet As Broken Dates."

Combo Lulo is that rare possibility of true magic moments manifested. Embodying the classic sentiment of a New York supergroup with an ensemble of friends and like-minded musicians whose resume is too full of credits and accolades to grasp in one shot, the band is a testament to what can happen when locked together for a two-day session in a Brooklyn studio.

Drawing inspiration and direction from band leader, composer and multi-instrumentalist Mike Sarason, Combo Lulo moves side to side from effortless Jamaican foundation rhythms into the further reaches of Caribbean influence...incorporating a natural transition between Jamaican classics and the essence of Afro-Latin ritmo. It's a musical match made in heaven and, more importantly, it's carried out with the gentle and deft touch of veteran studio musicians with deep appreciation and nuanced understanding. Together with Names You Can Trust, it's a locked in groove that is a perfect slice of roots, collaboration & present day experimentation that is sure to have any listener feeling nice.

For the second release, we bring you obscure 1985 North Carolina boogie/gospel/electro banger filled with crazy bass synths, piano chords and rhythm machines. Very proud we managed to put out this unique record.

Also supported and played by Peanut Butter Wolf from Stones Throw!

Few words from the man himself:

"I was 32 years old when I did "Come Together", I recorded it in the studio in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA. It was my first studio project. I wrote it to reflect on how we all are God's creation and we all need each other no matter our skin color or background, we should love each other as God tells us to. I always wanted my music to go mainstream and worldwide to reach everyone. Shurfine gospel record company picked up my record and the rest is history..."

Following his debut Campello LP Deepbass returns with his second album 'Contact With The Machine' Recorded in sessions of live jams with a more melodic approach than his previous works.A journey across uplifting, rhythmic, deep and atmospheric soundscapes but always powerful and always evolving.

Renato Cohen is one of those names that you can freely utter anywhere and it will get instant recognition, especially among seasoned Techno lovers who enjoyed his powerfully legendary tracks of yore. However, this is not the main reason why he is helming the fifth installment on Gop Tun's label. This has more to do with the relentless drive and irresistible swing that he can imprint onto any of his works, regardless of genre.
"Party Jam", as the name aptly suggests, packs the type of torque and wit that, wrapped in a bubbling bassline, delivers what it's simply expected from it: pure danceable energy.
A force intensified greatly on Whatever Whatever's reinterpretation, where these elements are enhanced by the experient ears and hands of Justin Strauss, a man whose knowledge and expertise on that kind of job is as vast as the Amazon jungle."Dynadisco" is another forthcoming statement for the dancefloor whose qualities rely heavily on its rhythmic dynamics, creating a gargantuan groove that will likely leave few survivors on any dancing space where it is unleashed.unleashed."

A native of the Caribbean coast of Colombia, Abelardo Carbono achieved legendary status in his country's storied ranks of musical icons by combining the homegrown sounds of cumbia with the chiming guitars of West African soukous, enormously popular with the local tropical sound systems, and drenching the whole thing in his off-kilter, surreal and slightly psychedelic sensibility.

With the exception of a well-received compilation of songs from his 1980s heyday, Carbono has been rarely heard from outside the sweaty dancehalls he still commands in his hometown of Barranquilla. Now, Names You Can Trust has welcomed the reclusive guitarist and singer back to the vinyl format with a simmering Afro-Carib beast of a cut, recorded with the assistance of Will "Quantic" Holland on rhythm guitar and Mario Galeano (Frente Cumbiero, Ondatropica) on keys and in conjunction with Lucas SIlva of Palenque Records & Polen Records. It's a true cross-generational and international collaboration that is uniquely possible via Colombia. The first release of this expansive & power packed studio session is a cover of vallenato pioneer Guillermo Buitrago's La Piña Madura. This updated take veers heavily towards Africa on a rock solid foundation of bass and drums, with Abelardo's trademark guitar and quirky vocals leading the way.

First Word Records is very proud to present the triumphant return of the UK's finest Hip Hop Soul duo, Children of Zeus, with a double-header of brand new material.

Since the release of 'The Story So Far' EP in 2017, Konny Kon and Tyler Daley have proceeded to draw in the attention of tastemakers across the world, receiving big ups from Hip Hop, Soul and dance music royalty, such as US legends Jazzy Jeff & DJ Spinna, and UK heavyweights Stormzy & Rag'n'Bone Man.

In addition to relentlessly rocking stages and studios all over Europe, Children of Zeus have somehow found the time to write and produce their debut album proper. This is the first taste..

'Slow Down' is a sure-shot Summer anthem, with a twist. A deceptively soulful slow jam that lulls you into a false sense of filtered smoothness, before a floor-shaking beat & trill hats drop in from above, as if thrown in via a thunderbolt from Zeus himself. On the flip, we have the uptempo boom-bap steppa, 'All Night'. Konny sets this one off on some straight b-boy isht, riding a rhythm that's guaranteed to make grown Hip Hoppers reminisce, before Tyler's sweet swing-tinged vocals glide into play to keep you firmly steppin' - this one again illustrating the Mancunian duo's craft of creating timeless Hip Hop Soul music.

Manchester has been riding a wave of immense creativity & musical prowess in recent years. Children of Zeus exemplify the heart and soul of Manny's now-movement - but don't get it twisted - the vibe is universal, and they definitely ain't new to this. Two decades on from the inception of Broke'N'£nglish and Hoodman, Tyler and Konny have consistently persistently held their corner, stayed true to the music they love and nurtured their own unique sound. It's almost time to drop that album... But for now, here's more future classics.

It's rare to come across a debut album that delights and surprises in equal measure, but that's exactly what you can expect from Human Call, the first full-length excursion from daydreaming dancefloor fusionists Earthboogie.The East London-based duo of Izak Gray and Nicola Robinson has previous form when it comes to creating beautiful, funk-fuelled fusions of soundsystem-ready rhythms, humid instrumentation and intergalactic audio explorations. To date, they've released a pair of fine EPs on Leng, both of which did a splendid job in showcasing their unique musical vision.Even so, this vision has never been clearer than it is on Human Call, a vibrant eight-track missive that fixes the sticky tropical cheeriness of African and South American dance music - be it Afro-disco, Afro-funk or samba - with a wide range of complimentary sounds, styles and influences, from spacey analogue electronics, sun-kissed Balearica and hazy West Coast jazz-rock, to chunky dub disco, snappy retro-futurist house and bouncy, dub-fuelled club workouts.Throughout, Gray and Robinson showcase an impressive level of musicianship, variously combining crunchy drum machine hits and dusty old synthesizers with razor-sharp electric and acoustic guitars, rich bass, cascading saxophone solos and hazy, life-affirming vocal harmonies.The result is a string of memorable highlights, from the sticky tropical-house-meets-dub disco futurism of 'Human Call' and fuzzy disco-funk righteousness of opener 'Overground', to the post-punk disco jauntiness of 'Stargazing' and samba-infused dancefloor bliss of Nina Miranda collaboration 'Silken Moon'. Cheery, absorbing, imaginative and hugely entertaining, Human Call offers a perfect snapshot of Earthboogie's distinctive musical world.

Over the course of four unforgettable EPs released on Throne of Blood since 2013, Hardway Brother Sean Johnston has cultivated a broad international following for his singular brand of dancefloor fodder.

Best known as one half of legendary DJ team A Love From Outer Space alongside the one-and-only Andrew Weatherall, Johnston's roots in the dance music scene include a clutch of leftfield 90's era bangers on labels like Sabres of Paradise and Flashcomm. Beyond his original output, Johnston has also remixed the likes of Man Power, The Asphodells, Museum Of Love, Split Secs, Clandestino and many more.

The Laser EP is peaktime Hardway Bros business. 'Friedman Feedback Loop Revision' (a nod to TOB boss James Friedman's highly-valued opinions) is a masterclass in efficient simplicity, elevating a few basic loops into an exhilarating 8 minute monster. 'The Laser' rounds out the a- side with a classic electro rhythm/bass/vocal sample combo could easily have landed in retro territory. Instead, Hardway Bros easily flips a clutch of oldschool tricks into an utterly modern execution. The b-side finds TOB's label manager Max Pask injecting 'Friedman Feedback Loop Revision' with his love for all things analog and Italo. With his impressive collection of synths brought to life by Chinatown Records' Brennan Green, the song is transformed into an epic set- closer that's already devasting dancefloors like Berlin's Panorama Bar. The EP closes with 'Afro Sirene,' a midtempo groover with melodic arpeggios built for the discerning DJ's warm-up set.

"Theoretics, the theoretical part of a science or an art. Hugely inspired by early house & garage, Berlin based Nat Wendell serves up 3 raw-emotive, straight to the point house joints to launch his new imprint; Depth of My Soul - which is his art in physical form. With swinging snares and it's subby bass; "The Way (Part 2)" is an energetic, club ready track with a driving kick & consistent lead that's progresses as the track builds. Theoretics kicks off the B-side and delves deeper whilst still maintaining its dancefloor-ready appeal. The subtle euphoric vocal samples & prominent chords give you something to hold onto, whilst the rhythm keeps you moving. Providing you with a more soulful offering, "Release Your Soul" is reminiscent of a classic 96' style house track, with all the right elements to match. Snappy snares, smooth chords and a warm baseline.

Aus Music follow up a string of exclusive releases from Primitive Trust with Tee Mango (one half of PT) Having released on Clone in 2017 Tee Mango comes back to AUS for his second EP in as many years. EP#2 carries forth much of the the same classiness he's well know for. A side 'Come A Little Closer samples a personal favourite 'Make It Last Forever' by Inner Life which is paired with playful drum rhythms and smooth rhodes chords. Prototypical opts for punchy drums and a swinging bass, a track that would work as well peak time as it would warming up. Wazoo rounds off the perectly balanced EP a deep cruiser with a pinch of acid.

From Hip Hop to Soul, then from Soul to Beatmaking, Sly Johnson never really changed universe. Today, it's immersed in the mechanics with processors and printed circuits that we find him, under the alias of TAGi, producer-beatmaker who, for the occasion, has joined the services of Steven Beatberg. It's together, in artistic autarchy with the only presence of softwares, samplers and sequencers, that they have built their pieces in the light of their computer screens.
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After three EP dominated by instrumentals, the duo finally chose to realise their dream: to craft a multi-voice album where customized production for each guest would guide the creative process.

Rapper Big Pooh, the former member of the Little Brother group (With Phonte & 9th Wonder), the contemporary soul of Lisa Spada, but also the rapist #madeinfrance Pumpkin (worthy descendant of MC Solaar, Fabe ...), multi-faceted Georgia Anne Muldrow, the MC Finale, the new rising wave of artists of the Hip-Hop scene in Detroit. Tiemoko from Paris, Saga an MC who follows the pure tradition of the New York Hip-Hop, the very smooth-jazzy Elodie Rama and Dilouya, the producer of the previous record of Sly (The Mic Buddah), are of this casting where men and women share the roles and where TAGi as soon as the mic presents itself to him, becomes again Sly Johnson for some refrains, choruses or solo rereading of the sublime "Retrograde" of James Blake.

Guided by Hip Hop since the 90's until today, worked in great detail, YOUARESURROUNDED highlights vintage keyboards on granular rhythms, injecting a lascivious Soul, P-funk, electro futuristic or melancholic in black and white touches on 13 tracks that are as atmospheric as they are emotional.

Berlin based Jens Dohle is a man of many talents. An accomplished composer and arranger for theatre productions across Europe, classically trained multi instrumentalist, explosive live drummer for YE:SOLAR, Munk, Hot Coins, Sado Opera. Longtime collaborator with Danilo Plessow aka MCDE and Noema from African Shakedown fame. Remixer for Jazzanova and 4 Hero. There's not enough room here to list his amazing work.

2018 ushers forth a new identity to his already enviable C.V with his first EP as James Dole (a jokingly anglicised version of his birth name). The 3 tracks here all showcase his ability to create a strong mood and use great splashes of melody and rhythm but without ever losing the groove. Written during a period of 'introspection' in deepest, darkest Berlin, each one tells a different story.

Ex is a moody monster of a track. It builds and builds into a pounding nightime symphony with a kind of epic-ness which hints at many years spent mining the highs and lows of music, love and life. Big room yet with a gut wrenching soul beneath the slightly flamboyant majesty. Made in East Berlin and well road tested in the cities debauched nightclubs.

Fantasia shows off Mr Doles jazz and broken beat background with rolling, funky drums sashaying with hip hoppy live jazz keys. Then those signature euphoric yet melancholic synths appear halfway through the track to create an emotionally halcyon mood. WIBES.

The EP closes with Grande. Super melodic yet cinematic with amazing synth work and a sophisticated arrangement showcasing James's well trained musicianship and artistry. An opus of melody and longing built for Italian arthouse films about unrequited love.


DJ Support from - Midland, Honey Soundsystem, Sandrino, Jimpster, Ame, DVS1, Shadow Child, Joe Goddard, Red Rack'em, Futureboogie, Soft Rocks, Domenic Cappello, Downtown Party Network, Danny Russell

One of Sonic Groove's longest standing label artists, Realmz returns with an infectious well rounded four cut extended EP entitled 'Mindfold'. Straight out of Pittsburgh the steel city capital of the USA Realmz has been involved in electronic music since the last decade of the 20th century. Growing up on a steadfast diet of Industrial/EBM/IDM/Detroit techno and Drum & Bass, Realmz has taken inspiration from these many underground forms of electronic music. In his signature style, the Sci-fi sound design on 'Mindfold' weaves it's way in an out of bleak futuristic overtones set across a multitude of uniquely written broken beat and 4/4 drum rhythms. This heavily thought provocative & extremely well produced, contemporary Industrial Techno EP is a must for any aficionado of the genre.

'Harnessed To Flesh' is the new release from Berlin based industrial project OPERANT (Instruments of Discipline's founder and sub, respectively, Luna Vassarotti & August Skipper). Since 2016's 'ZK-II' & 2017's 'Zero Knowledge' Operant have been consistently touring, enforcing their reputation as a live act, melding chaotic noise with a disturbed, euphoric techno.

With this new release Operant engage a sense of intimacy which encapsulates their live performance; there is the familiar sense of hypnotic rhythms and collaged sound seen in the earlier works but the duo's production and focus have evolved, opening up new spaces and textures to their sound.

The opening track, 'Also To The Inorganic World' reflects the more noise oriented moments of their live show, improvised fragments, contact mic's and metal sheets combine with soundtrack like synths that seek to bolster a sense of unreality and pervert lo-fi expectations, 'Be A Boy' is a slow build, punctuated by car-crash impacts with the most coherent, almost narrative driven vocal of the record, concluding with a jarring, rhythmic seizure. Side-A finishes with 'Chancellory', an underlying sense of being underwater pervades, choking vocal sounds straddle the line between disturbing and playful. The B-Side sees a more direct and aggressive approach, 'The Sacrifice of Meaning for Power' is a dance floor oriented storm of percussion and punishing snares, Luna's vocals violently penetrate at moments, creating a feeling of vertigo within the locked rhythm, 'Dead Realities VIII' closes the record, beginning with a gabber influenced, rhythmic groundwork that unravels into a dronescape where an already torn reality is utterly destroyed.

Since the release of their critically acclaimed debut album in 2013 on Names You Can Trust, La Mecánica Popular has quietly been contemplating the evolution of the group's sound, philosophy, and overall approach to making music. Band leader Efraín Rozas' experimental nature has continually pushed the boundaries of his own definition of not only Latin American music, but its broader relationship with music's global culture and history. The sound of "psychedelic salsa" that LMP helped capture in their debut was destined for further outside-the-box interpretations, and with the formation of a new quintet lineup over the last few years, LMP began to incorporate a more free, improvised and instrumental-focused performance of Rozas' increasingly radical compositions. The band subsequently took this liberated approach directly into the studio, recording Roza Cruz live, in its entirety. It was a cathartic experience, a necessary methodology for the new album's concept that embraced the intimate performance of its players and did away with standard techniques of isolation and overdubs.

The evolution of the band's sound on Roza Cruz brings forth a blend of styles rarely heard together, a touch reminiscent of electric-era Miles Davis or Eddie Palmieri at his most experimental, as the driving force of timbales and congas provide a bed for a wave of lush, analog amplification that mirrors the dueling leads of fuzz guitar and electric piano. But as far out as those instruments take the listener, the raw rhythm — the clave — always keeps it tethered to the earth and the dance, a cerebral yet visceral gift for the mind and feet.

Having pinned to perfection the sonics of the Adriatic, Croatia's Love International Festival bottles up their blissed out rhythms and sunrise sessions for the inauguration of Love International Recordings, fittingly, with a first release from UK producer Begin.

Bringing the Love International feel to wax and digital, the label will encapsulate the range of music the festival's secluded party paradise has become renowned for. All the way from the balearic tinges of this first release, to the meatier house, techno and electro selections on show at Barbarellas.

Begin aka James Holroyd has a long history with Love International. Dating back to the early 2000s, Holroyd was one of the first guest DJs at the old Garden festival on the former festival site in Petrcane. Long serving Chemical Brothers tour DJ, Back to Basics resident since the 90's and Bugged Out co founder, Begin has long paid his paid his dues to the scene. In the words of Dave Harvey: 'he's been an absolute workhorse in dance music for time'.

Love International 001's tracks seemingly fit the festivals own daily lifecycle. From the docile guitar picking of meditative EP opener 'Wood Trees' to the slow daybreak funk of 'Daypulse' where synths pierce through the track like sun rays through the Adriatic dusk, the EP is a holistic reflection of what one might hear at one of the festival's fabled sunrise sessions. 'Garden Interlude' ushers in a fresh burst of energy, with the revitalizing sounds of piano house, paired with warming neo soul vocals. 'Into The Fun' is a self fulfilling prophecy, closing the EP on a quintessentially balearic note.

Black To Comm's Marc Richter returns under his Jemh Circs guise for a 2nd album of sonic abstractions. In contrast to Black To Comm's analogue tape and vinyl based sound, in Jemh Circs he works with digital sources by primarily sampling modern Pop Music (and various other oddities) on YouTube (et al.) and sending chunks of it through a variety of arcane transformations and mutations.Using similar esoteric methods as on his 2016 debut album but with very different results the record deconstructs the hypermodern sound of Pop Music with a Post Punk attitude, energy and primitivism. Richter's combining disparate elements that shouldn't really work together but somehow all the chaos is making strange sense creating a collection of oddly diverging sonic vignettes with a surreal and anarchic spirit. This is music deeply rooted in the present but still difficult to pinpoint to a certain year or style."(untitled) Kingdom" converts a seemingly one-dimensional concept into a complex puzzle of ideas, sounds and narratives, completely assimilating the original sources and transforming them into novel entities with an unexpected melodic and rhythmic quality.Some press clips for previous releases:The overall effect is quite remarkable. Each track is like a hologram of pop music itself, a tiny part that reflects the whole. You almost feel that you could open them out and re-create entire popular music cultures. We'll be grateful for that when the next solar storm fries all of our hard drives. (Ian Sherred / The Sound Projector) In that way Jemh Circs is a record about process - not just how Richter loops and distorts and mutates his samples, but how the sounds of pop music create a particular sonic signature, one that gets more interesting the farther they're pulled from their original context. (Marc Masters / The Out Door) Recycling random audio off YouTube, Jemh Circs' process couldn't be less sentimental, but the results turn out to be sneakily emotive. (Philip Sherburne / Pitchfork)

The Finnish tropical troupe Maajo is back with a two-track EP. In contrast to the Afro-Balearic sound of their 2016 debut Tropic of Tulli, the new Defo / Mansaba EP is a step in a deeper and sometimes darker direction.

Defo kicks off the EP with a driving 5/4 rhythm. Reminiscent of Mark Ernestus' Ndagga sounds, it is a tribal tune with Maajo's signature ethereal disco elements.

Trevor Deep Jr.'s version straightens out the original's unconventional time signature and focuses on a four-to-four beat and plenty of Berliner dub. The remix is a solid dancefloor tool, traversing the original like a train making its way through a dark rainforest.

The B-side is entirely covered by Mansaba, a 14-minute long journey into inwards. This studio jam, recorded largely live, is a wild mixture of polyrhythmic sequences, krautrock guitar licks, equatorial forest percussion and violin synths. The trip starts slow and soothing, sneakily picks up pace and keeps grow and growing, eventually exploding into a full-on tribal dance.

Wave Stu might just be the Platonic ideal of icy, emotionally fraught synth-pop. On his debut release for Origin Peoples, Stockholm-based musician Michel Isorinne puts paragons of this style like Orchestral Manoeuvres In e Dark in his slipstream. Laced with spoken-word passages from films and television shows, Wave Stu weaves a loose tale about the nature of time, physics, and mortality that can be summarized by the key phrase, uttered by a woman scientist somewhere throughout the album, 'magic is in the molecules...'

Isorinne essentially creates introverted minimalist symphonies in which sprightly synth leads peacefully coexist with melancholy, drone-y undercurrents. Throughout the record, Isorinne's melodies bear a fruitful contrast between the morose and the jubilant. He repeatedly places exceptionally delicate and beautiful tunes amid subliminal waves of pensiveness. It truly is a masterly balancing act. e zenith of this approach is Side A's closing track, in which gorgeous countermelodies intertwine like lovers on a tropical beach while a pistoning rhythm pumps up the libido. It's instant paradisiacal bliss.

Side B contains Wave Stu 's most cheerful, uptempo track yet it never bursts into full-on euphoria. Elsewhere, Isorinne reverts back to more somber moods: an eerie, methodical chiller full of quiet wonderment and subdued sparkle reminiscent of Casino Versus Japan, Plone, and others of their gnomic ilk; a low-key anthem in which '70s Vangelis grandiosi meets the workmanlike bass-synth chug of Ulrich Schnauss; an elegiac piece that conjures an intimate majes ; a bass-heavy dirge festooned with forlorn wisps of melodiousness.

The complex, paradoxical happy/sad pendulum at the heart of Isorinne's music lends Wave Stu a tingly resonance that will reward repeat listens. Please welcome an extravagantly rich synth-pop classic.

His latest release I KNOW from Elypsia Records is a quintet of Detroit inspired remixes of the song 'I Know'. Inspired by Kevin Saunderson, his original TECHNO MIX (7:06) is a hardcore and high energy track with intensity to match the wildest of crowds. The EP also contains 3 remixes of the track, each exposing and accentuating the brilliant aspects of his complex tune. It begins with the LUCIEN FOORT REMIX (6:41), a lively big room hit with a punch fit for an epic Saturday night. UK MIX (6:46) follows with subtle electric melo-dies and rhythmic drum and bass patterns that give listeners the feel of wonder and excitement under a clear starry sky. With a clean and gravitating groove BIT FLOAT REMIX (7:42) would fit perfectly in any Ibiza party with flair and style. This release is a masterpiece of its own and nothing less than the product of a man who was born with beats and melodies ingrained in his soul. For Orlando Voorn, making music is more than a way of life, it's a necessity. From the early age of 9 his natural intuitions became apparent when his drum teacher told his parents he could play everything that was shown to him, even though he had no ability to read a score. He began to DJ at the age of 12, and 3 years later won the World Mixing Championships of 1983 at just 15 years old. Steve Clisby, from the popular American band 'American Gypsies', recognized Voorn's ability and taught him chord structures, which gave him the tools to begin composing tracks using keys and bass. His artistry then took off, making a name for him-self with his vibrant dance tracks under the alias 'Frequency". Today, he's known as one of the Netherland's most inventive and ingenious producers in the world of electronic dance music. Having produced a wide variety of music under a number of monikers including 'Fix', 'Format', 'Urban Nature' and 'X-it', his diverse ability stems

Orlando Voorn is back on Tarvisium Electronique with 'Secret Society,' a mysterious, obscure and psychedelic EP exuding the essence of Detroit techno. Side A of the vinyl features the title track in which Voorn melts the analogic rhythm with a spectral melodic pattern. Side B features two tracks; 'Playing for keeps,' a techno bolt of lightning bound straight for the dancefloor and 'Rush,' a track characterized by a mechanical, analogic and highly experimental sound.

To conclude the EP the label manager, Steve Lorenz, has composed a remix of 'Secret society' with an avant-garde fusion of minimal, acid and Detroit techno.

Mikkel Metal returns to Copenhagen's Echocord this May with his new mini LP 'Just Enough Light', comprising six originals from the Danish artist. Copenhagen based producer and DJ Mikkel Metal has been a beacon of light in the Danish electronic music scene and further afield for nearly two decades now, with the Dub Techno imprint from his hometown, Echocord, being the predominant home for his output, whilst also releasing material on Cologne's Kompakt, Tartelet, Semantica and Avant Roots, a telling sign of the quality embodied in his work. Here though we see Mikkel deliver a mini album concept in the shape of 'Just Enough Light' and opener 'Awake' perfectly sets the tone with emotive, dynamically unfolding atmospherics, tension building bass drones and spiraling dub chords subtly easing us into the project. 'Bregnan' then stirs in some classing Dub-Techno tropes with billowing stab sequences, lumpy subs and off beat high hats carrying the hypnotic groove for six and a half minutes. 'Jech' then strips things back to an almost beatless amalgamation of murky chords and modulating synth whirrs. Opening the flip side of the release is 'Include' which embraces a brighter feel via ethereal pad swells, jazztinged synth melodies and bumpy 909 rhythms before 'Konkin' edges back into the eerie, brooding aesthetic with bubbling echoes, broken drums and menacing bass swells at its core. 'Restore' then closes the package on a stripped-back vibe, laying focus on an ever- eveolving singular dub chord to ebb and flow around thunderous subs, kicks and bright hats.

It's been 4 years since the last music compilation on MindTrip. Mutable Minds brings together a mixture of five exceptional and talented artists whose sound matches perfectly with the MindTrip philosophy. Head honcho, Pfirter, and Swedish Pär Grindvik contribute the first track of the release with their diversified collaboration embodied in a hypnotic and extraordinary tune whilst Diego Amura takes the lead with a track that is characterized by driving rhythm and haunting sequences. Savas Pascalidis debuts on the label with a trippy-sci-fi interpretation and the release closes with one of the latest guests on MindTrip Podcast, Fanon Flowers, who takes us into a dark, mental and conceptual techno journey. The final outcome is mesmerizing and all four tracks can be seen on different aspects of an all night long set. This is MindTrip!

In the Eighties there was an incredibly interesting underground scene emerging in the Belgian Leuven area. Bands like 'The Neon Judgement', 'Sovjet War' and countless others all came from that area and era. One of the most underestimated bands in that scene was 'Company Of State', a duo with a unique sound that played dark moody guitar-electro with a minimal DIY touch. Influenced by a wide array of artists (such as Joy Division, Velvet Underground & Edith Piaf) the duo Rudolf Hecke & Paul Taes formed the band 'Company Of State' and recorded their self-titled debut (a four track 7'EP) on their self-founded label in 1983. Best described as: wild guitars with all kinds of feedback & distortion combined with a heavy bumping rhythm-box in the background... and once the vocals kick in you get that melancholic magic that makes this EP a true classic. With this kind of pedigree, it was only logical that the band landed in the stable of Ludo Camberlin and his label 'Anything But Records', where Belgian dark & danceable underground groups such as 'The Neon Judgement' & 'Aroma Di Amore' resided in those days. Later the band would move to Maurice Engelen's label 'Antler', in company of similar acts such as '2 Belgen', 'Nacht Und Nebel', 'Siglo XX' and many others.

Bergen is the next, and natural step in the expanding career of Dutch producer Tom Trago. The acclaimed producer behind Voyage Direct will release his fourth LP, with the label and crew he's built a close relationship with over the past ten years - Dekmantel. With a new studio and approach to music, Bergen is Trago sounding at his very finest, returning to his roots with a focussed, and dedicated production ethos.
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'If you change your environment, your music will also change with you,' Trago reflects on the new album. A staple in the Amsterdam club scene, Tom Trago has been a familiar face at the Dekmantel events for over ten years. 'I was even playing Dekmantel parties, before they were even called Dekmantel,' he states. Tom Trago's collaboration with Dekmantel has allowed him the space to grow and finish his most accomplished, and honest album to date. Bergen is an LP that connects his legacy, family, and commitment to dance music in one resplendent package.


Having relocated from Amsterdam, Tom Trago set up his new studio in the coastal town of Bergen, located in the northern Netherlands. Recorded in his family house, with the sea at one side, and the countryside to the other, the resultant record is a craftful piece of art, full of space, and the classic machine-driven, house music aesthetic that has come to represent Trago's sound. Bergen was made with the aim of re-creating a global-music sound, along with the music that has influenced him throughout his life, with a new approach influenced by Trago's immediate natural environment. 'I would take long walks in-between tracks,' explains Tom about the music making process, "and the creative ideas would happen in the forest."

The spacey-passively-paced LP intro 'Bergen' was the first to be picked up by Dekmantel's Casper Tielrooij, who upon hearing the track stated - 'now we are talking album business'. Yet it was the electro- orientated 'Zeeweg' that became the template for the rest of the record. 'The LP was built around this track,' Trago states. The b-boy electro vibe, with its melodramatic synth melody was influenced by the road that leads to his scenic retreat - with slow, steady curves, and a gentle, upward trajectory, Zeeweg and its album namesake, twist and turn in fluid synchronicity. 'The Creation of Lalibela' plays on this world music vibe, with ethereal and fun key patterns, influenced by the work of Mulatu Astatke. 'Always be with you' is one of the LP's standout tracks, epitomising the new album's country settings, and featuring his girlfriend on vocals; it swings at a steady, up-beat pace, rich with harmony, colour and melody. Elsewhere on the album, Trago sticks to his dance floor roots, 'Faith Belongs to Us' is moulded in a Chicago-to- Amsterdam house style, while album closer 'Working Machines' plays with resonance and atmospherics, creating a moody, pulsing yet stylish rhythm.

Having been raised in a musically-driven, and open-spirited household in which the producer grew up learning the piano, it didn't take long for Tom Trago to be indoctrinated into the new school of Amsterdam producers. Studying at a private jazz school while still a teenager, Trago would eventually come to cross paths with the hip-hop loving Dutch duo Rednose Distrikt, who left a permanent imprint on his approach to music. 'They showed me a world of music making using the MPC,' Trago says. 15 years later, the Dutch producer still sticks to this template. Looking to recreate this production approach that influenced him from the very beginning, Trago stripped down his studio to a simple setup with just a few, key 'weapons of choice'. Removing the computer from the setup, the MPC 2000 XL once again became the heart of the music making process. Bergen's analogue tools lend to its organic sound, one honed and crafted by its natural surroundings, and matured approach by one of the Netherland's most accomplished producers.

Instant is the trio of Bernd Schöll (Bass, Vocals, Rhythm), Mike Hauer (Guitar, Synth, Percussion), and Marion Siekmann (Vocals) from Munich, Germany. They formed in 1980 after meeting through mutual friends attending the local art and graphic design school. The trio were dissatisfied with their surrounding musical environment. Inspired by the Velvet Underground, Kraftwerk, and Giorgio Moroder, they set out to create their own brand of Neue Deutsche Welle fusing Dada, disco, and Krautrock.

Over the course of 2 weeks in Summer 1980 the band teamed up with local producer Mario Strack to record 6 songs. These would make up their debut eponymous album that was originally self-released on 10' vinyl in 1981. They utilized a simple set up of guitar, bass, and keyboards, plus the BOSS DR-55 Dr. Rhythm drum machine. Metal scraps clanging appear on the tracks 'Do Not' and 'Optimate Minimum', and a washing machine was sampled on the track 'Joyboy', which features Marion reading from the appliance's instruction manual. The A-side features 4 tracks in 11 minute, while the B-side hosts 2 songs in the same stretch of time. 'Charade' features no wave saxophone accompaniment from Kai Taschner of Munich New Wave band Luna Set. Marion's vocals are between Nico's Teutonic chill and Alison Statton's (Young Marble Giants) playfulness, while Bernd takes a monotone approach. Lyrics for 'My Boy' and 'Everybody's Gotta Mutate' were adapted from 'Rotwang', a fragmented novel written by Tim Hildebrandt, one of the brothers famous for illustrating the works of Tolkien.

All songs have been remastered for vinyl by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. The vinyl comes housed in a replica of the original jacket design, which features a neon red screen-printed drawing of a cut-out doll family on a stark white background. Each LP includes a postcard insert with lyrics.

Das Darkwave Elektronik-duo Boy Harsher Aus Northampton, Massachusetts, Startet Sein Eigenes Label Nude Club!

Auf Nude Club Werden Am 27.04.2018 Erstmals Die Beiden Kult-alben - lesser Man (extended Version)" Und "yr Body Is Nothing" Wiederveröffentlicht, Die Es Bis Dato Nur Als Importe Gab. Boy Harsher Sind Ein Gegenentwurf Zum Normalo Elektropop Und Haben Sich Über Die Letzten Jahre Bereits Eine Sehr Treue Untergrundgemeinde Erspielt, Zuletzt Eine Triumphale, Restlos Ausverkaufte Tour Durch Europa Gespielt, Und Das Was Leute Am Himmel Für Chemtrails Halten, Sind Tatsächlich Ihre Nebelschwaden Und Trockeneis-reste. Ihre Verbindung Aus Düsteren Dance-beats, 80er-jahre-versatzstücken Mit Extrem Nach Hinten Gemixten, Sehr Ätherischen Vocals Schafft Eine Unheimliche, Intensive Und Fesselnde Klangwelt. Augustus Muller Entwickelt Den Unterbau Seiner Tracks Aus Präzisen Und Kraftvollen Beats, Die Irgendwie Nach Damals Klingen, Aber Von Heute Stammen Und Schleift Darüber Noch Sägende Synthies, Während Jae Matthews Dazu Flüstert, Schreit Und Singt Als Gäbe Es Nun Tatsächlich Kein Morgen Mehr. Diese Kathartischen Aber Auch Magnetisierenden Tracks Wurden Innerhalb Kurzer Zeit Zu Hits Eines Real Existierenden Untergrunds. Fernab Von Playlisten Und Pr Gedöns Bildete Sich Das, Was Man Früher Eine Kult-fangemeinde Genannt Hätte. Heute Sind Es Die Anfänge Des Widerstands Gegen Die Veralgorythmisierung. Glauben Wir Zumindest Hoffen Zu Dürfen.

"yr Body Is Nothing" Wurde Ursprünglich Auf Vinyl Von Dka Records Veröffentlicht, Dreimal Gepresst. Alle Pressungen Waren Innerhalb Weniger Wochen Ausverkauft. Mit Einem Starken Fokus Auf Rhythmus Und Atmosphäre Zeigen Die Hier Präsentierten 10 Songs Einen Songwriting- Und Produktionsstil, Der Raffiniert Und Einzigartig Ist, Dunkel Aber Kraftvoll Erhaben. Der Klang Ist Paradoxerweise Massiv, Aber Minimal Und Bietet Den Perfekten Raum Für Jae Matthews Reichen, Tiefen Und Emotionalen Gesang, Mit Dem Sie Gemeinsam Mit Gus Muller Den Hörer Mit Jedem Einzelnen Song Immer Tiefer In Ihren Bann Zieht. Auch Zum Ersten Mal Auf Cd Erhältlich!

Der aus Oxford (UK) stammende Emseatee ist ein wenig besonders. Wie ein Forscher, in einem versteckten Labor, beginnt er mit der aufziehenden Nacht, Atmosphären, Stile und Rhythmen zu kombinieren. Er ist immer auf der Suche nach einer neuen Formel und bindet auch natürliche Sounds in seinen organischen Mix. Emseatees Experimente brauchen Zeit und gehen zurück auf den 21.06.2014. An diesem Tag bekam er Besuch von Minerva und zusammen legten sie den Grundstein für dieses Release. Die Veröffentlichung via Modularfield erfolgt am 27. April als 12'' weißes Vinyl und Digital.

Don Dini geht wieder an den Start! Compost's langjähriger House-Spezialist Shahrokh Dini überzeugt mit zwei wahren House Sure Shots, abgerundet mit eleganten Remixes von Karim Sahraoui, LoYoTo (Eva Be und Clé aus Berlin) und einem schön fluffigem Digital Bonus Remix von Flo Førg.

House- und Hoflieferant der DJ-Spitzenriege Shahrokh Dini erfuhr in seiner langen Karriere schon immer breiten Support als DJ und authentischer House-Produzent. Bereits in den 90ern hatte er Releases auf Strictly Rhythm und mit etlichen Releases auf Compost Black Label geriet er seit jeher in die Plattenkoffer von Âme, Ron Trent, Jimpster, Dimitri From Paris, Rainer Trüby, Sasse, Laurent Garnier und vielen mehr.

Übrigens ist Shahrokh nicht nur House Produzent und -DJ. Er betreibt auch Clubs und Venues seit Mitte der 90er, promotet von Zeit zu Zeit große Musik-Events, hat mehrere DJ-Residencies und besitzt auch seinen eigenen Laden - Monk in Karlsruhe.

7"
*Something fresh out of the Echobus stable in Dublin, Ireland with a tune with a solid
80's vibe using a Casio MT-40 and a Yamaha CS-01 but with a slight nod towards Basic
Channel / Rhythm and Sound.
* Vocals controlled by Lariman, longtime sound system mic man.
* Flip over for a minimalist dub wise excursion from Dan Taliras.

* Breaking into a new century, following last months 100th release on the label, Ishan Sound collaborates on 2 killer tracks with Bristol-based Hodge and Alex Hughes aka Muttley.

* 'C5' refers to cold explosives and makes for a perfect title for this stark, cold rhythm. A circling melodic synth line sets a moody context before the floor drops out and an industrial strength sub drives things forward at 130bpm. Deep, hard, dark, original. Exceptional quality from Ishan Sound and Hodge.

* Flip for a 140bpm excursion from Ishan Sound & Muttley, melding elements of trap, grime and dubstep meticulously to form an engaging sonic that is both fuel for the dancefloor as well as providing introspective qualities for bass weight meditation. 'Still Smoking' sums it up appropriately.

Kingswood Drive and Accidental Return were an early teaser of this new set, due in April. Displaying their signature analogue sounds and arpeggios, alongside broken beats and soul, you wouldn't be alone in hearing the influences of Dam Funk, Herbie Hancock or Bugz In The Attic coming through on these two.
Elsewhere more jittery, playful rhythms underpin Croydon Rooftop Café Culture. As well as in the calming and ethereal Prints On The Heath, a subtle tribute to mutual hero Prince, who passed away on the unusually prolific day this and two other, currently unreleased, tracks were written and recorded.Throughout the EP the duo nod at their London home from the "Heath" to Kingswood Drive and more obviously Croydon itself. The sound of South London is threaded throughout this record with pride.
Even down to the mechanical sunset sound of EP finale Thorns, capturing some of the essence of the studio view over London from their high point on the hill in Thornton Heath.
The first EP from Albert's Favourites co-founders and synth-production duo Modified Man focused on throwing out heavy editing, recording music with as few processes as possible and grabbing performances as single takes. Blending warped cassette recordings that touched upon early jazz-funk/brit-funk influences with the energy of broken beat and experimental electronica, won them support from Patrick Forge, Osunlade, Thris Tian, Yam Who and Titeknots to name a few.
Since that release they premiered new track Thorns live on Boiler Room, going on to deliver a full, three-hour live performance and DJ set for the infamous global community.They also provided remixes for Dele Sosimi, Amp Fiddler, Makadem & Behr and Hector Plimmer, meanwhile, busily preparing a series of four, six-track vinyl EPs which will be released over the next 18 months.

Initially paying tribute to the analogue absurdity, sonic diversity and sheer imagination of the early 90s dance music landscape, Future Four returns after a hiatus of several years, pushing into new eras, machines and ideals with 'Connection'. Initially a solo project of Andy Meecham, the brains behind Emperor Machine, Chicken Lips, and Bizarre Inc., 'Connection' is the first Future Four release to feature the contribution of Erol Alkan as a permanent member, and is a coupled with a remix from I:Cube.

A veritable powerhouse of synths, vintage drum machines and all man-ner of effects, 'Connection' unfolds with minimal tempo and maximum impact, as sequences of unexpected electronics gradually build from every direction, each landing with the razor sharp precision associated with their composers. Cascading synths overflow like fizzy drinks, pro-pelling the track along an electronic patchwork of FM synthesis and psy-chedelia.

On the remix, I:Cube takes the unpredictable rhythm of 'Connection' and coaxes it's versatile, multiple elements into a timeless slice of boogie house. Nurturing the outsider Casio feel of the track under a musical heat-lamp, the always forward-thinking Frenchman emerges with a cut that could easily soundtrack both sun deck and space station.

Ultra tight & rare Soul / Funk stylings from Mississippi's Natural High outfit. Originally released in 1979 on the Chimneyville label, an obscure soul imprint operating as part of the Miami Malaco label family tree. This one has it all - lush strings and orchestration, tight as rhythm section, amazing songwriting and everything else in-between.
Amazing that this group only cut one LP and a handful of singles. The talent on display here is truly of another level and one wonders how such an album came to be.
Either way, this is an amazing set of rarest of rare grooves and the LP has been a heavily coveted item by the rare record cognoscenti in the past. This is a 100% legit repress, made in conjunction with the rights holders and remastered to the highest possible standard, a truly essential record for fans of quality underground soul & funk. Now's your chance to bag a copy for a decent price! Quality all around

Sam Vicary A.K.A Hunrosa (meaning "to dream") is an electronic music producer capturing the wild organic senses of his childhood and anchoring it with a darker 2am undercurrent. Based in Manchester, he is principally a bassist and currently a member of The Cinematic Orchestra, Paper Tiger and The Dominic J Marshall Trio, as well as performing with Manu Delago, Imogen Heap, Matthew Halsall, Anil Sebastian and Stuart Macallum.

His latest offering 'Ransome' is a heavily rhythmic journey, full of textured hand percussion and soaring strings, accompanied by the beautifully melodic vocals of Alice Higgins drifting overhead. The Clap Clap remix sees the Black Acre mainstay exploring expansive territories, polyrhythmic hand percussion and textured electronica perfectly intertwine, drenched in dub ambience, heightened by scattered arpeggios and swirling synths. The music is inspired by a coastal upbringing, represented in the music via field recordings, as well as being aided by visual stimulus throughout the writing process.

Desolat's Loco Dice joins the roster of Martinez Brothers Cuttin' Headz label this April with
'$lammer', backed with a remix from Detroit Techno veteran DJ T-1000.
Du¨sseldorf's Loco Dice has long been one of the most respected figures in contemporary electronic music with releases over the years on leading labels like Cocoon, Cadenza, Ovum and of course his own Desolat as well as a heavy touring schedule taking him across the globe year in year out. Here though we see Dice offering up his new single courtesy of Cuttin' Headz, a platform the Martinez Brothers and associates to deliver high octane, dance floor focused House and Techno.

The original mix of title track '$lammer' leads with spiralling brass like bass tones, flute licks, shuffled shakers and resonant synth hooks running alongside a bumpy bass line and an amalgamation of heady, processed vocal lines.

Following is Detroit's DJ T-1000 stepping up on remix duties, stripping back the aesthetic of the original to lay focus on robust rhythms and various vocal refrains from the original whilst chugging bass and tension building atmospherics gradually unfold throughout.

Soul Jazz Records/Universal Sound are reissuing jazz composer Oliver Lake's 'NTU: The Point From Which Creation Begins', his stunning rhythmical Afro-centric deep spiritual jazz debut album originally recorded in 1971. This classic spiritual deep jazz album has been digitally remastered and is available in bespoke original exact reproduction artwork on hardboard Japanese-style boxcase CD, very limited (1000 worldwide) heavyweight 180gm audiophile vinyl, and digital download. This album features in Gilles Peterson/Soul Jazz Records' own 'Freedom, Rhythm And Sound' large-format book of revolutionary jazz.

Masamune EP is Riciar's latest trip from minimal to break beat. A mixture where smooth ambient sounds becomes the perfect landscape for Acid lines and hypnotic rhythms.

Haiku's Raw Waxes label is delighted to welcome the famously unconventional Stanislav Tolkachev with a new track EP of experimental techno and IDM sounds. Entitled Champions' Breakfast and with brilliant artwork from German Benedikt Rugar, the releases features six cuts, one of which is a previously digital-only track landing here on vinyl for the very first time.

Haiku has long been a fan of Ukrainian Tolkachev having previously collaborated on a remix for the label, while Tolkachev has also released on Haiku's other label Inkblots. This new EP is one that not only shows off the label's willingness to take risks and put out diverse and interesting electronic music, but also one that proves Tolkachev is a truly unique artist with his own musical voice. He has been that way for more than a decade now, and has put out three long players as well as countless EPs that get heavy support from the tastemakers of the day. This latest offering contains his take on the essentialness of groove, enriched by his use of atonality, dissonance and acid-not-acid textures, all in a minimal style.

The deep 'Shady' kicks things off with spangled synth lines and eerie pads off in the distance. It's a lonely and insular piece with kinked rhythms that keep you locked. The excellent 'The Main Thing Is To Survive' is then less constrained, with kicks that rock back and forth as off kilter synth lines warp and wrap around each other in mind melting and tripped out fashion. Switching up the mood with ease, 'Fuck This Guy' is a dark and musty passage of humid ambient techno with static electricity buzzing about over smeared pads that are filled with menace, then the curious 'Hair In My Mouth' is about blurting, busted frequencies, loose and scattered drums and glassy melodies. It's a mangled and mashed up track that sounds like little else. 'Negative Space' is horror soundtrack techno with urgent, driving drums and nervy sound design that keeps you on edge, and closer 'Self Destruction' is built on broken, bristling beats. A rhythm slowly emerges from the haze and it is one that is physical and restless and sure to make a big impact in the club.

This is a varied and vital EP that oozes essential electronic invention.

After a short break in the African wilderness, Black Rox return for part 4 of this acclaimed series. 'Date With The Rain' sees Soft Rocks turn in an 11 minute 'One For The Lion King' manipulation of a joyous and uplifting jam that fuses traditional rhythms (think a humm-ba-ba) and vocals that are underpinned with a strong 4/4 kick.On the flip side,Roots Unit perform some major surgery with a 'Pump Up The Jam' reconstruction on 'Le Beat Is Technotronic'. Crazy percussive jungle rhythms and wonky vocal hooks rule the roost until it merges into a future 'techno-techno' Amazonian world.

Was haben Dr. Doom, Rhythm X, Dr. Octagon, Big Willie, Mr. Gerbik oder Black Elvis gemeinsam
Alles Pseudonyme des HipHop-Urgesteins Kool Keith. Da kann man schon mal den Überblick
verlieren, zumal der Ultramagnetic MC's-MC sich auch noch in zahllosen Kollaborationen verstrickt.
Einen künstlerischen Höhepunkt erreichte er aber zweifellos als Dr.Octagon. Und nun erscheint
endlich MOOSEBUMPS AN EXPLORATION INTO MODERN DAY HORRIPILATION - das Follow Up
Album zum 1996 erschienen Dr. Octagonecologyst. Zum ersten Mal seit mehr als 20 Jahren ist das
Dreamteam Dan 'The Automator' Nakamura, MC Kool Keith (Keith Thornton) und DJ QBert (Richard
Quitevis) wieder vereint.

2x12"

Tinfoil is the project of DeFeKT and Sunil Sharpe. Initially forged as a studio collaboration in 2014 (and later as a live show), the pair have since racked up an impressive catalogue of 12s on their own self-titled label. Tinfoil's sound is unique in today's scene, reflecting the versatility of both artists, plus a combined know-how of techno and electro. Their music comes primarily from live studio jams, enforced by a desire to get quickly to the point in what they do. This is no surprise given the fast, technical way in which they each perform solo.

For their debut album, Tinfoil provide a varied but cohesive collection of tracks. Following the intro's epic synth blasts, they open with a bang through 'Caravan Life' - a sinister, bassline-driven destroyer that builds and builds over a blend of claps, filter zaps and crying feedback. 'Beads' continues in a heads-down vein, this time with a more musical EBM type bass and knocking rimshots that mark the first appearance of Sunil's role-playing, haunting lead vocals.

'Friendly Safe Fumes' marries playful bass notes to a singing lead line, as fizzling closed hats and busy claps whip things into a frenzy. Next enter the otherworldly mutant electro of 'Meadow Pulse', signaling a well-timed lull in mood to explore a silkier side to Tinfoil's production. 'Every Saturday Night' starts with a taxi conversation about horses and carbolic soap in bygone Dublin days, before launching into a volley of clattering beats and hip-shaking FM sequences.

'Multi-DOMINATION' retains some of the FM wonk and treads a broken-beated path, featuring vocals this time akin to a ritualistic chant or perhaps the murmurings of a possessed baby. 'Both Roads To Triogue' meanwhile, brings us to a short intersection, splicing odd voices with a dense tribal rhythm. 'The Wolves Of Hellfire' is Tinfoil in more minimal dancefloor mode, as drones filter in and out under a resonating bass that detonates at all the right times.

Closing with 'Resting Point', the climax becomes deadly. The beats are stepped and the bass boisterous, while pained screams become quickly uncontrolled, setting up for a crescendo of roughneck rhythms, ricocheting kicks and turbulent modular wails.

Tinfoil have been on a roll since the beginning but maybe 'On A Roll' emphasizes this a little bit more now.

For over 4 years, David Coccagna aka Chaperone has been a constant part of Great Circles, as musician, art director, and muse. With Snapback Balaclava he once again fully embodies all of those roles, delivering three inspiring tracks, selecting his remixers with specific attention to their musical histories, and designing his cover art.

Across the A-side, Chaperone scrapes away at the grit - personal grit, the grit of anxiety, and Philly grit. These are meditations on loops, and loops on meditations. Each one appears on the surface to be a brief quote, but time dilation takes over, and minutes later we discover that Chaperone has welcomed us into and back out of his own healing moment.

Like Chaperone's P O N D release (GRCR-009), the B-side of Snapback Balaclava is a Great Circles extended family affair with a trio of diverse remixes that expose and exploit fragments of the chaos Chaperone so carefully contained.

Hitoshi Kojima (Thrive) reinterprets Pulse Feels Swells Beating with relentless syncopated rhythms and synth lines that hang like massive string drones. M//R lays down a signature percussion ensemble palette, zeroes in on otherwise peripheral elements of Grit Neglect, and then deftly navigates sea change with both. Matt Korvette and Sean McGuinness of Philly punk band Pissed Jeans open up the pit and finish the story, taking Femur Baseball Bat to its literal and brutal potential with monstrous vocals and kicks.

VENT forges new alliances, as Dee Grinski and Tolga Baklacioglu joins forces to explore musical synergies on a collaborative LP release of drone alchemy, eternal rhythms and harrowing vocalisations, which explores the lightless mazes of subconscious voids, teasing at barely understood taboos. Tolga's past explorations of unrelenting industrial sounds are further refined, and enforced with Dee's vocal talent that covers a wide range of expression - from commanding and authoritative to harrowing howls of disembodied despair. They invite us to come with on a journey towards the lightless fringes of cognisance.

Headed up by mult-instrumentalist (and Gentleman's Dub Club member) Nick Tyson, XOA fuses golden era 1970s Afrobeat with deep grooves and contemporary electronic productons sizzling with analogue synths, guitars and percussive rhythms. Collaboraton has always been at the heart of the project, with an
emphasis on live instrumentaton, crucial to transmitng a rich energy on the tracks.
Hailing from London, Tyson has been building a keen following with his live gigs and DJ sets, including a sell-out live show at the Jazz Cafe featuring Eva Lazarus and Dele Sosimi on vocals. The new release on Soundway refects his steady progression towards sophistcated producton and collaboratve processes, as well as his ability to efortlessly cross multple genres.

A high-speed car chase between a Dodge Charger and a Ford Mustang, with super-cop Bullitt at the wheel, who forces the hitman off the road and into a petrol station, which explodes and incinerates him. Prior to that, harsh clashes of metal, hubcaps flying all over the place, and the chief character Steve McQueen, who grimly changes gears and hurtles through the streets of San Francisco, wheels screaming and rubber burning. That was how Hollywood staged one of the longest and most dramatic car chases, long before the days of the Anti-Blocking-System and Anti-Slide-Control.

Very up-to-date and just as exciting as the screenplay is the music Lalo Schifrin wrote for the film, which embeds the characters, places and events in a musical context. For example, "Bullitt": the metrically angular main theme portrays a mysterious, cool character who sums up a situation with keen alertness and then makes his attack with the speed of lightning.

Initially the music travels through easy-going Latin terrain. But gradually the rhythmic texture changes and takes a rougher path, with clicks, knocks and hammering. Legendary flute lines create a compensatory placidness with airy clouds floating above the sharp mix. A really special track is "Shifting Gears": here you can listen to Schifrin tuning the car, how he manipulates a jammed springy bossa to take on the sound of clean, smooth-running rock.

This Speakers Corner LP was remastered using pure analogue components only, from the master tapes through to the cutting head. All royalties and mechanical rights have been paid.

Mouse on Mars' Andi Toma and Jan St. Werner return with their most
inventive album to date, Dimensional People. The electronic music pioneers
have been critically acclaimed for their playful and inventive sound and
production techniques on releases spanning from the early '90s to now. In
demand from a surprising array of artists their most recent contributions are
featured on the Grammy award winning album Sleep Well Beast by The
National.
The duo are joined on Dimensional People by an impressive list of guests
: Justin Vernon (Bon Iver), Aaron and Bryce Dessner (The National), Zach
Condon (Beirut), Spank Rock, Swamp Dogg, Eric D. Clarke, Lisa Hannigan,
Amanda Blank, Sam Amidon, Ensemble Musikfabrik, and about 20 more
musical collaborators. The cast of characters are as unique as they are vast,
clearly a rich quarry for the prodigious duo.
Dimensional People is by it's nature a collaborative album. Originally
premiering as a spatial composition using object-based mixing technology
playing with the possibilities of sonic design (4D Sound) and collective
musicianship, the recording expands upon these ideas. Dimensional People
expresses itself as a dynamic 50-piece orchestra, telling a story in sound.
Mouse on Mars offer sound as a means to encourage open-minded societies,
aided by cutting-edge technology including their own MoMinstruments
music software or a spatial mixing technique called object based mixing,
with which a spatial version of the work was created. It is a conceptual
puzzle composed around one harmonic spectrum within one rhythmic
scheme, mostly in the tempo of 145bpm (inspired by Chicago footwork,
so the dance oor is not entirely absent). Looking ahead, Dimensional
People will also be realized through installation, presenting the work as an
immersive listening experience, as well as performance.

Wælder are moving between ambient, industrial and pop. Their rhythms and soundscapes of voices, obscure samples and distorted field-recordings build spaces of barren material and soft ground, which teem and crawl - strange and harmonious. To present their music live, Wælder are mixing analogue and digital effects with guitar, synthesizers, vocals and loops. Rhythms and atmospheres blur, dissolve and re-assemble. Their live shows are often framed by visuals, generated in collaboration with various visual artists.

Dublin based musician Lerosa has built an impressive discography throughout the years. With his first efforts dating back to 2005 the producer who has a broad palette of sounds has already been around for over 10 years with releases for a vary of respected labels.

For the first release on SAFTX , Lerosa hands out a taster of the labels new series ambitions. Vivrant house music is most definitely the back bone of Playa De La Guancha as a whole. The opening is packed with a strapping rhythm section and a vocal cut that is reminiscent of the Trax Records classic House Nation . Julius Steinhoff (of Smallpeople fame) gives Soul Tracing a modern sounding treatment that completely shifts the feel of the original and turns it into an adventurous piece of contemporary electronics.

Lerosa opens up the B side with Bruised which is a work out of alternating basslines and brutal machine claps that give the piece a club oriented feel. Acidic sounds cut through the mix with determination and wobbly synth sounds serve as a pleasant sauce for this intergalactic sounding work. Marauder is a hefty bit at a slower tempo than it s predecessors. A loose rhythm section is causing for the listener the focus on the immense LFO threated sounds that float on to and the low down bassline that supports the overall atmosphere in a grounded manner. Playa De La Guancha will be available through all specialized retailers starting early April.

Kicking off Vivod's new pheasant series and making their debut on the label, UNI.OMNI are a Glaswegian duo comprising of MWX and Wave Energy Converter. Inspired by feelings of duality and the unpredictability of our dynamic world, UNI.OMNI respond with challenging dark electronic notes, driven vocals and expansive percussive backdrops. Their tracks emit contradictory feelings of chaos and calm, motion and stillness, frustration and excitement, whilst using the energy and turmoil of big city life as motivation for their first EP. "Acceptance Resistance" kicks things off with an experimental, cavernous foray that shifts to the rhythmic, subliminal undertones of "Metaphysical Lives". Both "Sequential Self" and "Viral Dread" are attuned to empowerment, exacerbated by the strains of the modern world, with strong vocals reiterating the need for resilience in the forgotten generation.

Molten Moods releases another finely curated various artists record with tracks by Skee Mask, Kessel Vale, Jonas Yamer and Konrad Wehrmeister. Kessel Vales opening track Voguing Geisha' is an unconventional breakbeat masterpiece following his sense of harmony and rhythm already shown through previous releases on Tanstaafl Records and Rhythm Nation. As the track unfolds it reveals musical storytelling by integrating a technoid polyrhythmic loop structure into melodic synth figures, slowly deconstructing in the end. Skee Mask collaborated with Molten Moods labelhead and Carl Gari member Jonas Yamer on Fanta Ocean', it being the first release ever outside of his Ilian Tape homebase. The outcome is a moody IDM piece with cinematic qualities, complex but soothing. The B-Side begins with Xenomorph' by Konrad Wehrmeister, who is known by his releases on Public Possession and SVS Records. This trancy yet distorted and detailed electro banger surely takes on the role of the records dancefloor highlight. The closing track Insgeheim' is delivered by Molten Moods head honcho Jonas Yamer. Here groovy kicks, distorted chords and a psychedelic pad are woven into one compelling 10 am techno track. The common thread of Molten Moods 4 is four young Munich artists going on a joint trip into idiosyncratic electronic music. The resulting tracks intertwine as one modern and diverse techno record. Out on 12 vinyl and wav by the end of March 2018. In the tradition of Molten Moods' cost-conscious design strategies by Paul Bernhard, the record comes with a xeroxed low budget sticker set.
Mastered by Manmade.

Dapayk Solo, Berlin based producer and veteran of the minimal techno scene, announces the release of his 10th studio album 'The Calling'. This latest project will be the producer's first solo album since
2015. The 8-track double 12inch LP will be available via Dapayk Solo's label Mo's Ferry Productions and comes with a free download voucher for the extended 12-track digital album.

The first track on this LP 'The Calling' shares its name with the album and starts off with a pang of energetic, chopped beats before exploding into a brassy melody, continuously gaining momentum.
'Blackout' immediately announces itself as a next generation Detroit House anthem. The rolling synths, hi hats, and vocals make this one of the most outstanding tracks on the album. 'Aurora' stays true to its name with a buildup composed of throbbing ethereal synths that give the track an otherworldly vibe. 'Flood' transports listeners to the dancefloor with its pulsating bassline combined with Komplement's quaint vocals.

The second part of the album begins with 'After All', one of the most enticing tracks on the album. It combines the groovy rhythm of four to the floor percussion with tantalizing vocals by VARS before New Release Information 'Low Tinnitus' reverts to Dapayk's signature minimalist sound. The transition into 'Wanderer' continues the momentum built up by the previous tracks. The closing 'Walk With Me' is a deep-house jam that features a rhythmic shaker layered under Mental Bend's powerful vocals.
Dapayk Solo, alias Niklas Worgt, isn't afraid to try new things. With 5 aliases under his belt, he continuously strives to experiment with different styles and production techniques to create innovative sounds. Throughout the span of two decades he went from producing drum'n'bass to house to ultimately crafting the groovy, edgy techno sound that he's now known for.

With more than ten LP releases and over 70 single releases on his record, he is one of the main protagonists in the world of underground electronic music. In 2017, he released an LP titled 'Harbour' with his wife Eva Padberg under one of his many projects, Dapayk & Padberg. While that album aimed to steer away from traditional club beats, 'The Calling' sees Dapayk reassume his deep, dark, and infectious sound. While Dapayk is often categorized as a minimal producer, the LP proves that he is capable of extending beyond the scope of a single genre. 'The Calling' is just another example of why Dapayk has managed to stay in the scene for so long: he loves electronic music and he's great at
making it, too.

The second of Alma Negra's 12 Rhythms Series is dedicated to the Maloya sound from La Réunion, a tiny island where a
melting pot of cultures is reflected strongly in its music. Maloya's roots go back to the time of slavery, its quick tempo and raw
energy making it not only a popular dance music but also a powerful protest through movement.
On their Maloya EP, the Basel collective pay tribute to the hypnotic rhythms that were feared both by the Catholic Church and the French government for the musical form's subversive part in the rebellion against colonialism.
The release revolves around two contrasting Alma Negra re-workings of Lindigo's Tany Be. The first takes a classic call &
response structure in 12/8 and 6/8 rhythms, adding a driving bass line and guitar licks. A solid 909-kick locks things in step,
along with a sax flourish and FM synths. Their re-imagining of African and Tamil influences for modern dancers is a triumphant
manifestation of the music's origins.
With the main reworking focusing on a rolling dance floor groove, the Dub Mix concentrates on trance-inducing aspect of
Maloya. Using a modular set up to pick apart layers of percussion, it is a dense and heady trip into the spirit world.
The B side focuses on Christine Salem, one of today's stars of the Maloya scene. Without wanting to squeeze the soul from her
deep tones, Kabaré is slowed down a notch, with drums added sparingly. This sensitive treatment gives the track just enough
weight and tension to punch in on todays dance floors without losing the intent of the original.
The source material for this EP has been road tested from the very beginning of Alma Negra's journey. The collective have gone
to great lengths to ensure the original creators are on board with their treatment of their music and are honoured to be given the
chance to distil their own ethos into a record that is bubbling with today's dance floor drive. Their reverent treatment aims to
preserve the power and beauty of the source material, to bring uncovered gems to a new audience.

Originally from the United Kingdom, funky soul-jazz veterans The New Mastersounds have been touring USA, Europe and Japan for over a decade and return here with their twelfth studio album, recorded in New Orleans and Denver and featuring a slew of musical guests.

"Renewable Energy" expands on the NMS template while still providing plenty of the band's trademark sounds. Guitarist Eddie Roberts, drummer Simon Allen, bassist Pete Shand and keyboardist Joe Tatton are joined on this 11-track effort by a number of guests: Sam Bell, one of the founding members of NMS precursor The Mastersounds who also guested on two previous NMS albums, plays percussion on most of the tracks. Mike Olmos and Joe Cohen of the West Coast Horns once again provide added horn action as they did on "Made For Pleasure" from 2015, while Adryon de León from LA band Orgone contributes vocals on "Gonna Be Just Me". Uptempo numbers "Tantalus" and "Yokacoka" see the band flexing their playing chops over a tightly-wound rhythm, while "Green Was Beautiful" and "Groovin On The Groomers" are toe-tapping slabs of soul jazz. The band's cover of James Gang's "Funk 49" takes the album in a fuzzed-out psych-rock direction with Eddie singing the lead, while the moody Hancock-esque inflections of "Stash" and the sweet mellow vibes of "Swimming With My Fishies" add the final brushstrokes of colour to the canvas.

Arandel 'Turbatrix' (Computer Club)

'Turbatrix', the eighth release on Sheffield's Computer Club imprint, is provided by mysterious French artist Arandel. No newcomer to the musical spectrum, Arandel has long been associated with the French label InFiné, alongside global names such as Carl Craig and Apparat.

'Locus I' surprises as analogue rasps and pings spar with lush synths and a driving 4/4 rhythmic code. Key track 'Locus II' is a siren to the ghosts of Sheffield's electronic musical heritage, with relentless bleeps and a concrete sub-bass.

'Locus III' is a midnight romp through a neon-tinged city where only the holograms know your name. The fourth and final track, a blissed-out ambient piece soaked in celestial sounds, is a meditative end to a thrilling journey of invention and musical mastery.

DJ Katapila's Aroo EP is the latest addition to the iconoclastic producer's catalog of fast-paced, pan-West African-influenced dance music. From a young age, Ishmael Abbey was a beloved local DJ in Accra, Ghana's competitive and rapidly-evolving music galaxy. DJ Katapila's debut release with Awesome Tapes From Africa, 2016's reissue of Trotro, ignited international acclaim for the Ghanaian DJ and producer: The New York Times, Pitchfork, Resident Advisor and FACT heaped praise on his work. Katapila launched a touring career beyond his grueling schedule of all-night parties around Ghana's southern coast and neighboring countries, heading to Europe and the UK, where he performed at festivals and clubs the pasty two years. Katapila brought Ghana's street party culture to audiences overseas, a wave of joy and happy dancers were left in his wake. The song Aroo' uses his earlier song Cocoawra' as a jumping off point and expands upon its endearing quick-rhythmed interplay of vocal hiccups and percussive clinks. Katapila thinks of Aroo' as a simple math equation: Francophone rhythms plus techno equals so hot and danceable.' While traveling this past summer in Europe, he continued to work on the minimalist electronic music steeped in his hometown rhythms that has made him a growing and singular voice in West African music. Having never travelled outside his region before, the contemporary sounds of London impacted his sonic palette, triggering new song African Techno.' He explains, In Europe and the UK they like these techno songs and house music. They have songs that sound like African music, and we have songs that sound like house music and techno music.' Ghana Baby DJ' references his ongoing development of Ga dance music style gbe ohe. It also conjures his daughter's voice and inimitable vibe and blends it with the characteristic clave rhythm of this. The EP's final cut is a track released with a an eye-catching music video this summer called "Monkey." Following radio play in Ghana and demand from fans online, this track makes its debut on vinyl. Awesome Tapes From Africa is proud to present new music from this unmistakably original artist with an honesty and unpretentiousness that feels good at this current point in history.

Running Back welcomes Andreas Grosser for the start of it's non-dancefloor series 'Running Back Incantations'. Think Tornado Wallace's 'Lonely Planet' or Suzanne Kraft's 'Missum' who both would have been good and early contenders for a series like that, and you are half way there. Andres Grosser though, was 'there' and that way before. Probably best-known for his 1987 collaboration 'Babel' with Klaus Schulze, Grosser is a bit of a dark horse in the universe whose big bang was krautrock and that went on to be called cosmic, space music or simply new age.

A native East-Berliner, Grosser crossed the Wall in 1981 and next to studying piano, his day job was to advise, sell, maintain and invent electronic music instruments. Naturally, Grosser had a good connection to and support from local Berlin musicians and groups, while working at night in his own studio and in those of others. Fast forward 37 years and Andreas is now one the worlds leading microphone technicians specialising in German and Austrian vintage types.

'Venite Visum' is an anthology of recordings made between 1976 and1980. Released in 1981 on UK's York House Recordings as a cassette tape only, it features some of the most out there, hypnotic and still state-of-the art space music ever to be known to man. For the first time transferred onto vinyl, compact disc and available as a digital download, it was perhaps best described by one reviewer at the time as; "powerfully relentless, repetitive themes which are constantly embellished and subjected to variations in tone colour and instrumentations. The music surges, coming in waves that approach and recede, but with each surge the waves seem to be higher up the shore.'

Now carefully transferred from an archived tape, remastered and compiled on a double album for the first time, it features the previously unreleased and not less mesmerizing 'The Quantum Leap'. Come and visit the hidden and almost forgotten

Toby Tobias has a lengthy history of disturbing the peace. This is his second offering for the ESP Institute. On side A, Second Stimulus stirs shimmering staccato chords, roaming pipes and detuned robotic sighs into quite the disorienting stew—the loose arrangement remaining fragmented over 9 minutes of touch-and-go 808 programming, picking up a pseudo bassline assembled from sub toms, introducing a gritty break loop and eventually blissing out into oblivion. With side B's Synchro Surfer, Toby plays with the notion of suspense by gently teasing a muted kick and percussion rhythm under washes of white noise, bleeps and sirens that are tape-dubbed and which, over time, begin a dialogue with each other, as if the machines have declared mutiny on the garage. Toby continues to stretch his limits with his output for the ESP Institute, possibly headed toward a full-fledged devolution of conventional dance music. These two songs may have you arrested for public nuisance.

Spread across two 180g discs, spanning 24 cuts and served in a gatefold sleeve designed by members and affiliates, the Young Echo LP is a capsule intended for cementation through time.
It's been almost five years since their last album. As a group, extended radio submissions, prolonged studio sessions and notorious club nights make up the cogs of time. Over the course of these years, the network has grown continually, both as one, and with singular, multi-directional paths from each of the 11 artists that make up the Young Echo collective, counting Jabu, Vessel, Kahn, Neek, Ishan Sound, Ossia, Manonmars, Bogues, Rider Shafique, chester giles and Jasmine towards the crew, with projects such as Bandulu, FuckPunk, O$VMV$M, Gorgon Sound and ASDA adding to the table in their individual ways.However, this record aims not to be judged on any single producer or vocalist. It is most effective as a whole, simply titled Young Echo. Of course each of the artists has an important part to play, but it is very much about the act of balance, accepting individualism to form a greater whole.A good example is the welcome addition of new energy coming from Jasmine (1/3 of Jabu) who injects endless space with her vocals, perfectly answered by the cool-killin' wordplay of Manonmars - who makes his long awaited debut here - sharing stage with the immediate poetry of ASDA's very own chester giles, along the mighty sound of Rider Shafique, and Bogues' versatile style that can flit between rap & song within seconds. Five very different vocalists that could've tried to find a compromise, but instead choose to connect in different ways, finding their niche in the equal range of rhythms and sounds that sprawl in this shared space, the juxtaposition.
Detuned soundsystem stylings, love songs swaying in hacked up ambience, skeletal dancehall, microphone technique, dread electronics, outsider pop, this record manifests the outcome of the shapeshifting anarchy which rears it's head when no one idea can rule, embracing the diversities when one path must be made up of many.

Gitkin sold guitars. To be precise, he re-branded, sold and traded knock-off Gibsons. A lone, travelling salesman, he toted his counterfeit wares to guitar stores and music emporiums. His trade took him to most corners of the USA, passing through big, smoggy cities and nowheresville small towns. His nights were spent at not-so-salubrious motels. It was at those nocturnal stop-offs that he'd often cross paths with newcomers to the States. His fellow travellers were mostly immigrants, newly-arrived, from places like Ethiopia, Mexico, Indonesia.

Or at least, that's the story as Brian J Gitkin has been able to piece it together. This album, '5 Star Motel', is by a different Gitkin, an ode to the one described above. Or to put it another way, this is the younger Gitkin's homage to his elder relative: the elusive, guitar salesman uncle he never met. A steady drip of anecdotes have construed an image of his relation's itinerant, huckster lifestyle. Finding a cassette of his recordings, it spoke of the effect of those encounters: lo-fi and scratchy, the music leaped seamlessly, in difficult to discern ways, between different far-flung styles.

On '5 Star Motel', that younger Gitkin (henceforth referred to simply as Gitkin) has sought to expand the philosophy he encountered on that tape. The guitar is common thread, the raft to navigate a sun-dappled stream of ideas. It's an embrace of cultures where folkloric stringed instruments still rule, or where they've led to a more recent embrace of the electric guitar. He traces the loose, meandering paths which join them together.

It's about America, the world outside its borders, and the inscrutable, inevitable dialogue that exists between them. Take 'Cancion Del Rey', where the sound of Peruvian chicha - steady-moving, alluring, and lyrical - winds its way through Gitkin's fuzz-filtered licks, and the rhythm underpinning it. Or 'Yama', where Middle Eastern influences echo out of grooving, cyclical riffs. Touching on the distinctive tones of Tuareg music and the Sahara, too, 'Grand Street Feast' charts a sand-dusted, melodic misadventure.

In a scenario of overwhelming number of instruments, musicians often do not take the time to deepen and explore the creative possibilities of each gear they possess. One Instrument aims at counter-acting this tendency by challenging and limiting each artist in producing a composition by using only one instrument of their choice.

The LP opens with a composition by In Bloom, the new project of Martino Bertola, who drives us directly into a melodic ambience. To follow it is the dense, polyrhythmic experiment by Fabian Kempe's project 'Korridor'. Serena Butler's piece is built around spacey sounds and breezy rhythms.

Yhdessa, the newly born Dutch-Italian duo formed by Grand River (Aimee Portioli) and Enrica Falqui, leans towards ambient atmospherics and ominous sonorities with a refined Northern European touch. Yair Elazar Glotman ventures us across his contrabass player skills giving an acoustic touch to the record.

Swedish producer, Fjader (Ida Matsdotter), handles the flip with a moody techno cut filled with evasive analog acutes.

Claudio PRC delivers an electroacoustic soundscape created with a tiny, graceful drone machine.

The Dutch duo, Wanderwelle, closes the LP with a dreamy and delicate excursion evoking the mysterious sides of nature.

After hosting Farron to perform for a showcase in Matera, South Italy, and following a solid, immediate aural connection with the crew, XCPT now invites the Bavaria-based artist and Shaw Cuts shaolin master to submerse himself in his talent of wielding harmonious synths, championing percussion and corruptive basslines for the label's third release, 'Bistro Baggio'. The release offers three original cuts plus an interpretation of one of the tracks, 'Paneth', by label honcho Nothus, exploring calculated rhythms and sounds that delve into varying atmospheres and transporting you from a blacked-out club to a quaint starlit stream in the woods.

* After two years of the "Anubi" released, awaited return on the Italian duo Beat Movement has embarked a new journey in Berlin and unveils this landmark sequel under Luciano Lamanna's Love Blast, among their own label Dlbm. the duo has released Ep's collaborating various artists like Endlec and Umwelt. Moving into the future sound, Beat Movement envisions a new era of dynamic techno by curating futuristic and punchy form of music dismissing the most commonly used of dark frequencies which break all the usual boundaries of techno music. Entrainment is a futuristic prodigy with hypnotic synthesis, syncopated basses, and progressing into intense rhythms that will encapsulate the mind and body, transporting it to a full-blown raving era.

Soren Jahan launches a new limited series from the Ygrok camp, (ssto). Variations on an Oud melody combine with his signature complex rhythm programming. Taksim Part 1 and 2 are two different recording sessions live sequenced directly to cassette. Mastering by Anscorm.

There are some records that manage to sound both of a time and utterly timeless and Bon Voyage Organisation's Jungle Quelle Jungle (a nod to Supertramp's Crisis What Crisis) is one of those albums. Its silken-smooth production, irresistible grooves, funk-tinged guitars, lush soundscapes and general glowing presence could easily lead one to believe that have dug up a lost disco gem from the 1970s. However, behind the disco-pop gleam lies eerie dystopian sci-fi ruminations of a futuristic bent and tones that can often feel as French as they do Asian or African.

This sort of cross-continental exploration is an expansion on BVO's previous two EPs, the man behind the Organisation, Adrien Durand, says. 'I tried to continue the musical expedition between dystopian Science-Fiction Haunted Africa - plus Haitian Vaudou on 'Soleil Dieu' - and futuristic Asia. Addressing, in a double entendre manner, some of the political issues that I am sensitive to.' In fact the jungle in question in the album's title is a metaphorical one and one that creates a vast series of environments for Durand to explore such subjects as world trade, utopian ideals and themes of idols, as well as of time and communication. However, one will need to speak French to decipher such explorations, as well as shake off the natural impulse to move with every glorious beat on its 13 tracks, of which are moved along by Maud Nadal and Agathe Bonitzer's golden vocals.

Durand is a full-time producer based in Paris, working with the likes of Amadou & Mariam, so it makes sense that this record would absolutely sparkle in this department. Durand feeds off the variety of musicians coming and going during recording sessions as well as the rotating members and numbers of people involved with the band but fundamentally he writes all songs on piano first before bringing them to record live. 'We recorded a rhythm section of five - drums, percussion, guitar and myself on bass/synth bass and keyboards - at La Frette which is a studio located in a mansion outside of Paris and fitted with a beautiful 1973 NEVE desk. We only used analogue gear, by taste really, and found it a pretty reliable way of doing things. This simply consists of putting good players together in a room and waiting for the right take to happen.' Two four-day sessions and a 'cooling off' period (to let the recordings settle) soon followed before Durand picked the material back up to give it a final polish.

The resulting album is one loaded with intricacies and idiosyncrasies, something that Durand puts down to his own unique approach. 'I don't consider myself much of a songwriter but I love arranging rhythm sections and I'm pretty proud of the ones on this record.' This applies when it comes to working with such musicians as Inor Sotolongo Zapata, who with Durand used traditional Cuban percussive instruments and explored Haitian rhythms. When Durand expands on some of the ideas and influences that were funnelled into the record, you begin to get a sense of the vastness of the sounds that fill his world, from Trevor Horn's production work on ABC's Lexicon of Love, to the literary work of JG Ballard to the visual flair of the original Blade Runner and even the Tuareg sounds of Tinariwen, due to the fact that his studio neighbours their manager's and he would hear their rhythms bleeding through the walls. You therefore end up with an album that offers tracks such as 'GOMA' that fuses Chinese and African rhythms as well as 'SI D'Adventure' a piece of pop music that is dazzlingly hook-laden.

As a result of this cooking pot of sounds, influences, thoughts and creations, Durand has more of a gumbo approach to making this music than a set-out scientific formula. 'There is no definite recipe for me to like the production of a record,' he says. 'Of course it really sticks out that my work is really influenced by the 1978-1983 period, the golden age and last stand of analogue studios and session musicians.' Whilst Durand adores the traditional and conventional music, he really views this as something bigger and wider. 'I have a taste for the otherworldly vibe from records coming from less sought-after musical scenes, particularly Poland, Haiti, Ethiopia, Somalia, Congo and early Cantonese pop. Languages and the rapport of the people involved in the making of those records really inspires me. I particularly hate the use of the word 'World Music' as a potpourri for everything that doesn't sound quite western enough.'

It was chance that brought about the release of One/Three, Dabrye's debut album. Early demos were tucked on the B side of a cassette Tadd Mullinix passed to Sam Valenti in 2000 while working at the Dubplate Pressure record shop in Ann Arbor. Mullinix had spent the late '90s producing jungle, techno, house, hip-hop and more using the All Sound Tracker software as a primary instrument. Each style pulled from a similar sound palette as Mullinix used limitations to define the contours of di-erent musical personalities. Dabrye was his hip-hop wildstyle, a captivating collage of sparse instrumentals inspired by the laid back vibes of midwestern hip-hop and east coast boom bap, the futuristic funk of Umma-era Jay Dee, and the calculated subtlety of Detroit dance music. Released in 2001 as the first in an intended trilogy, One/Three announced Dabrye's arrival with an unavoidable contribution to Detroit hip-hop. Ghostly International is reissuing the album in 2017 for the first time, including a long overdue vinyl edition.

On its release One/Three was the rare album that appealed to both fans of Slum Village's smooth yet rugged hip-hop and enthusiasts of the distinct American IDM released by labels like Schematic. Over the following decade, the inadvertent demo submission turned into a body of work that placed Dabrye alongside innovators such as Prefuse 73 amid the cannon of a new generation of producers. Today, One/Three remains a concise and intriguing study in instrumental hip-hop that helps join the dots between J Dilla and Flying Lotus.

One/Three is a record that says much with little. There are no obvious hip-hop tropes. Instead Mullinix captures the ingenious minimalism of '90s hip-hop instrumentals to build tracks both supple and hard, joyous and melancholy, full of sharply angled rhythms and warm rubbery basslines: 'The Lish' throws a sickly sweet saxophone against digitally fragmented melodies, 'How Many Times (with this)' draws you in with an irresistible, clipped guitar groove, the rhythmic stutter of 'Smoking The Edge' makes your head spin with pleasure. Playing with his inspirations, Mullinix injects omitted downbeats for imagined rhymes and repurposes the intricacy of ragga jungle for breakdowns.

But what really defines One/Three is the rhythmic sensibility and metric modulation of Detroit's school of hip-hop production, which Mullinix was a fervent student of. The beats feel like they're constantly escaping a rigid tempo grid even though they are, in fact, pretty tight. A lot of it is nuance,' Mullinix explains. I've been known to say that I'm not impressed by spectacle. I think that nuance is what really captivates people.'

If you like your beats with a dash of class, do not miss this. An essential purchase of the highest order.' -BBC

- First time all tracks from the original 2001 release appear on vinyl.
- Remastered by Daddy Kev
- Standard weight black vinyl is inserted in to 3.5mm matte finish vinyl jacket.
- Download card includes free download of the Payback EP

Portuguese artist Ka§par gives Parisian label Escapade its third release. The four tracks span across a wide range of electronic sounds, telling a story that calls on many emotions. 'Wail Of A Loon' opens the record with an experimental atmosphere. After this laid back introduction, Ka§par goes into a much stronger style: 'Rigged's energy and catchy, twirling melody make it a total banger. On the B side, the mood gets much warmer and groovy. 'Vital' is the perfect tune to warm up a dancefloor, thanks to a swinging rhythm, mesmerizing vocal samples and funky synth lines. 'Alma D'Ouro' rounds up the record with strong jazzy vibes. Beautiful chords and piano solos never dissapoint!

Ghanaian music legend Ebo Taylor returns with perhaps his finest album to date.
But don't take our word for it. That's coming straight from the man himself.
And he should know after more than 60 years in the business.
The 81-year-old composer, arranger, guitarist and vocalist has been a key figure in the evolving afro-funk sound since the Seventies, working with the likes of Apagya Show Band, CK Mann and Pat Thomas.
Famously, he rubbed shoulders with Fela Kuti while studying in London in the Sixties, before going on to lead the Ghana Black Star Band (featuring Osei and Sol Amarfio from Osibisa) and later the Uhuru Dance Band back in Ghana. Like Fela, he is always pushing forward, constantly reconceptualising his sound and
attuning it for a new generation. Part teacher, part messenger.
Listen to Yen Ara and you will not only hear the high-energy afrobeat, sweet highlife, jazz and konkoma influences that he's famous for. There is also a disco pulse and hard-hitting percussive edge to the tracks, which were produced by Justin Adams (Tinariwen, Rachid Taha, Robert Plant) and recorded in the live room at Electric Monkey Studio in Amsterdam. An Ebo Taylor for these times, you might say.
His group, the Saltpond City Band, are all handpicked local musicians featuring two of his sons. An appropriate line-up on an album whose titles means we'.
And they are on fine form, ripping through tracks such as 'Krumandey' (a surefire party starter) and 'Mind Your Own Business' (a simple message delivered over a frenetic drum rhythm).
Elsewhere, 'Aboa Kyirbin' will please fans of tough afrobeat grooves, while Taylor could well be inciting a riot at his next gig with 'Mumudey Mumudey', We hear him calling for 'preshaaah' and leading us into a call and response as the trumpet takes us higher. And the lift of those horns on 'Ankoma'm' evokes some
of his finest work such as 'Love & Death' and 'Come Along', the latter recorded with the Pelikans and featured on a recent Mr Bongo reissue.

The latest release on Francis Harris' Scissor & Thread label out of Brooklyn is another exercise in deep and meditative atmospheres. The label, comprised of a tight knit collective of multi-faceted composers, vocalists and instrumentalists, always strives to develop new projects based on a shared aesthetic, and this five track EP is both boundary pushing and fully synchronized with the label's approach. With Melquíades' 'Blue Caves' Melbourne based Composer and Sound Designer Alexander Albrecht presents his solo debut EP following on from the 'Tidal River' album he released as part of the Albrecht La'Brooy duo. The title track 'Blue Caves' is a skittering, weightless exploration of space, seemingly built around lush field recordings and fragments of melody developing out of the ether. 'Avlemonas' flows from a similar source, but crystallizes around an off kilter rhythm and occasional subby bass, balanced against swooping pads and piano motifs. 'Morning Breeze' seems to revel in the evocative nature of its title, with hand played percussion backing more wistful, emotive piano sketches and wandering bass notes, before the track settles into a hypnotic groove. Label head Francis Harris provides another take on the track for his Re-form version, a more dancefloor aimed excursion that draws deeply from the classic deep house of the New York and Detroit masters. Ending the relases is 'Patio', which drifts back towards the ambient territories of the opening tracks, with exquisite, understated instrumentation and a melancholic yet elated vibe.

Paris club kid MAXIME IKO joins BPitch with this five-track trip into the depths of his mind !

Infused with acid licks and electro motifs, this is a scintillating debut from an artist who represents diversity and inclusiveness - two cornerstones of club culture. Maxime's influences range from the gothic, dark and lurid through to the often flamboyant gay culture, launching his own highly-regarded gay event at Rex Club called 'Cockorico' and, later, putting on 'Le Bal Con' at Badaboum - a party that celebrated the wild, creative side of nightlife with art performances and lots of crazing dancing. Maxime's 'Concilium' EP starts with the frenetic 'Achartade', a track which pulsates with eerie vibes, closing with the multi-tempo closer 'Concilium' - a demonstration of Maxime's penchant for playfulness and experimentation. In between those two killer cuts we have 'Repulsion', where the main riff has a jaunty, arpeggiated rhythm, 'Timeline's Wrong', a heads down acid roller with vocal stabs and a totally absorbing atmosphere and finally, 'Closure' a spine-tingling emotionally-charged adventure. One that will lift the roof off anywhere it's played. An accomplished collection from a man who values the roots of electronic music culture and brings his own unique vibe with each performance and new release... allez!