Mondo, and Jagjaguwar are proud to present a limited edition vinyl pressing of Sharon Van Etten's incredible song 'Let Go,' recorded for the 2020 documentary Feels Good Man, chronicling the emotional journey of comic artist Matt Furie and the discovery that his lovable creation Pepe The Frog had become symbol of the alt-right. A super powerful film about reclamation, artistic expression, and above all else Letting Go.
Featuring the aforementioned original song 'Let Go,' as well as a cover of 'Some Things Last A Long Time' by Texas legend Daniel Johnston as B-Side.
“After watching the documentary, I just followed the feeling of coming to terms with something and tried to evoke peace through my melody and words," says Sharon. "The song and film’s producer, Giorgio Angelini was a great collaborator and communicator and I was given a lot of freedom. That says a lot about the film and the people who made it."
Music by Sharon Van Etten
Suche:s johnston
Limited Transparent Magenta Vinyl. Enigmatic pop outsider Tony Gallardo makes music that's perpetually perched on the outskirts of Mexico's fertile electronic underground. Since 2008, he has been releasing music that inhabits its own artistic universe, a cross between Frank Zappa, Daniel Johnston, The Knife, OutKast and Rosa Pistola. He co-founded the Cocobass label, pioneered the fusion of L.A. noise and cumbia known as ruidos6n and has released music under a plethora of monikers: dark techno as Boi Patrol, ramshackle electronic pop as Maria y Jose, experimental surf rock as El Capricho and experimental dembow as La Fiebre X. "Selected Works" assembles some of Gallardo's most crucial material from a run of EPs released between 2008 and 2013. These tracks show the breadth of his output, running through sleazy, neon electro ('Bruja', 'Mi Presa'), neck-snapping tropical dance music ('Kibose', 'La Conquista'), and eerie Mexican trap ('Plata 0 Plomo', 'Ultra'). It's introspective, haunted music from one of Mexico's most original and most under-appreciated artists that paints a picture of a psychedelic musical landscape that's hard to resist. One listen to the album's closer 'Club Negro', originally released in 2013, should tell you all you need to know. This track is the perfect introduction to the world of Tony Gallardo, with screwed 'n chopped Spanish vocals, 7 doomy syncopated beatbox rhythms and wobbly houseparty electronics.
- A1: Strange Fruit
- Written-By – Luis/Allan*
- 3: 10
- A2: I Love My Man
- Written-By – Holiday*
- 3: 04
- A3: Lover Come Back To Me
- Written-By – Hammerstein*, Romberg*
- 3: 21
- A4: My Old Flame
- Written-By – Johnston*, Coslow*
- 3: 01
- A5: Georgia On My Mind
- Written-By – H.carmichael*, S.gorrell*
- 3: 17
- A6: All Of Me
- Written-By – Marks*, Simons*
- 3: 01
- A7: Love Me Or Leave Me
- Written-By – Kahn*, Donaldson*
- 3: 18
- A8: I'm Gonna Lock My Heart And Throw Away The Key
- Written-By – J.eaton*, T.shand*
- 2: 06
- 2: 55
- B2: Gloomy Sunday
- Written-By – R.seress*, S.lewis*
- 3: 1
- B3: Baby Get Lost
- Written-By – L.feather*
- 3: 14
- B4: Them There Eyes
- Written-By – Tauber*, Pinkhard*, Tracey*
- 2: 50
- B5: (I Love You) Porgy
- Written-By – G.gershwin/I.gershwin*
- 3: 1
- B6: The Man I Love
- Written-By – G.gershwin/I.gershwin*
- 3: 05
- B7: As Time Goes By
- Written-By – H.hupfeld*
- 3: 12
- B8: Night And Day
- Written-By – C.porter*
- 2: 58
- B1: God Bless The Child
- Written-By – A.herzog, Jr.*, B.holiday*
Roy Montgomery, a pioneer of the NZ underground,
believes there is always new sonic terrain to investigate.
His latest series of albums for Grapefruit marks forty
years of rigorous exploration in which he’s managed
to navigate disparate genres, scenes, and atmospheres,
always at the forefront of experimental independent music.
To commemorate, Grapefruit will be releasing four new
Montgomery albums in 2021, which can be purchased
individually or via subscription.
The third release of the series, Rhymes Of Chance, is the
darkest entry of the four. Songs sound particularly spacious
and minimal, with two tracks centering forlorn melodies
around trusty collaborator Emma Johnston’s singing and
two others sung by Montgomery himself. While Side A
presents the six-part “Rhymes Of Chance” suite, Side B’s
“Aspiratory” holds a clue to Montgomery’s approach on this
record; a floating dirge stretches time, much in the manner
Mark Hollis (to whom the song is dedicated) approached
music.
Biffy Clyro will release the surprise new project ‘The Myth of the Happily Ever After’ on October 22nd. The record is a homegrown project that represents a reaction to their #1 album ‘A Celebration of Endings’ and a rapid emotional response to the turmoil of the past year. It is the ying to the yang of ‘A Celebration’, the other-side-of-a-coin, a before-and-after comparison: their early optimism of 2020 having been brought back to earth with a resounding thud. It’s the product of a strange and cruel time in our lives, but one that ultimately reinvigorated Biffy Clyro.
“This is a reaction to ‘A Celebration of Endings’,” says vocalist / guitarist Simon Neil. “This album is a real journey, a collision of every thought and emotion we’ve had over the past eighteen months. There was a real fortitude in ‘A Celebration’ but in this record we’re embracing the vulnerabilities of being a band and being a human in this twisted era of our lives. Even the title is the polar opposite. It’s asking, do we create these narratives in our own minds to give us some security when none of us know what’s waiting for us at the end of the day?”
Grounded by lockdown, Biffy Clyro recorded ‘The Myth’ in a completely different way to how they approached ‘A Celebrations’. Rather than spending months in Los Angeles, they traded one West Coast for another by recording for just six weeks in their rehearsal room (converted DIY style into a fully functional studio by rhythm section brothers James and Ben Johnston) in a farmhouse closer to their homes.
The trio went in with the intention of completing some unfinished songs from ‘A Celebration’, but instead ‘The Myth’ took over as it started to take shape late in 2020, with everything written and recorded within a ten-mile radius. Traditionally, 90% of Biffy songs have been written in Scotland before the band head to London or Los Angeles for recording, but this represented the first time they’ve ever recorded in their homeland. As Simon jokes, “It’s our first full-on tartan album!”
‘The Myth’ blends experimental flourishes with flashes of old school Biffy. ‘Existed’ is the moment that shaped the record an elegant expression of self-doubt that redefines the sonics of the band’s catalogue of vulnerable slowburners, while ‘DumDum’ is an even bigger departure, having been constructed primarily around soft synths sampled from Simon’s voice. And ‘Slurpy Slurpy Sleep Sleep’ is just as audacious a closer as ‘Cop Syrup’ from ‘A Celebration’. It also represents one of a selection of “easter eggs” or “turns of phrase” that subtly complement and contrast the two records.
At the other extreme, devoted fans will connect with the feral anger of ‘A Hunger In Your Haunt’, the arena-scaled drama of ‘Errors In The History of God’ and the sheer catchiness of ‘Witch’s Cup’.
‘The Myth’ has been launched alongside the new track ‘Unknown Male 01’. In six adventurous minutes, the band explore every facet they’re renowned for, taking in the unguarded emotion of its introduction, a skewed off-kilter breakdown, and a jagged, spiralling riff that builds towards a cataclysmic crescendo. The song reflects on friends who have taken their own lives.
“When you lose people that you love deeply and have been a big part of your life, it can make you question every single thing about your own life,” he says. “Like a lot of creative people, I struggle with dark thoughts. If you’re that way inclined you realise you’re staring at darkness, but you don't want to succumb. Those moments don’t stop. As the song says, ‘The devil never leaves.’ There’s never a day where you wake up thinking, ‘I feel great, it won’t cross me ever again.’”
A recurring concept of the album is the power of personal convictions, which have taken on an almost religious fervour via the echo chambers of social media and news platforms. But that idea has the nuance to rise above contrasting sides of an argument, arguing that greater unity and open-mindedness is the only way forward. Elsewhere, it spans everything from gaslighting to the ultimate devotion of cults and the beautiful failure of a Japanese racehorse.
‘The Myth of the Happily Ever After’ is now available to pre-order here, with ‘Unknown Male 01’ provided as an instant download. It will be released on CD and digital formats, as well as a limited edition red vinyl which is packaged with a must-have bonus CD for fans: full audio of the acclaimed livestream show that Biffy Clyro performed at Glasgow Barrowland in August 2020 to commemorate the release of ‘A Celebration of Endings’.
After headlining Reading and Leeds in August, Biffy Clyro will also play further large-scale outdoor gigs this summer at Cardiff Bay and Glasgow Green. Plans for 2022 are also taking shape, with April’s long sold-out ‘Fingers Crossed’ intimate tour and a huge Saturday night headline set at Download. Please see the band’s official website for a full list of shows and ticket information.
This route is not direct. The time of embarkation is summer 1989, our point of departure, Club Barraca, Valencia, the epicentre of La Ruta Del Bakalao. Passengers on this journey are Martyn Walsh, bass player and songwriter of Manchester band Inspiral Carpets and Sean Johnston, the band's booking agent and aspiring DJ. Our passengers will travel via separate routes, Martyn will sign to Mute Records and become the author of numerous top 40 hits and perform a myriad of worldwide shows. Sean will become a successful underground dance music producer as the Hardway Bros and DJ partner to the late Andrew Weatherall as A Love from Outer Space. Pulled back together by the gravitational waves of Weatherall's untimely demise earlier this year, this is the music of their journey ,¡La Ruta!
From the cosmos of Stretford on the outer realms of Manchester comes the kaleidoscope view of the world according to Psychederek and it's an explosive trip of shoe gaze soaked balearica.
Lead track Screamadereka heads straight into orbit from the get go with a stop off to thank the likes of The Cocteau Twins & Death In Vegas for their influence along the way. Huge drums, spaced out synths, warped guitars & a fully charged love in style vocal all wrapped up in a mushroom flavoured microdot with a pretty empowering finale.
I'm Alright steps up the ante a bit more and goes all Tomorrow Never Knows on us but with added warehouse acid squelch & rasps throbbing out from a beat that is broken (but not break beat!) whilst still retaining the psychedelic tendencies of its predecessor.
Sean Johnston steps off the ALFOS rocket ship and joins forces with Duncan Gray for their Hardway Bros Meet Monkton Disco Dub take of Screamadereka and the result is a hive of cosmic mutant disco brilliance whilst Manchester's finest 6 piece See Thru Hands turn I'm Alright into bombastic focused UKG style wig out duet complete with new vocal takes by DNCN for seriously wonky floors & like minded souls.
Includes beautiful insert artwork by Emma Evans
- A1: My Life Is Starting Over Again
- A2: Honey I Sure Miss You
- A3: A Ghostly Story
- A4: Tell Me Now
- A5: Easy Listening
- A6: I Know Casper
- A7: Startling Facts
- A8: Hoping
- B1: It's Got To Be Good
- B2: Happy Soul
- B3: The Dream Is Over
- B4: Love Of My Life
- B5: I Killed The Monster
- B6: Laurie
- B7: Fate Will Get Done
- C1: Devil Town
- C2: Spirit World Rising
- C3: Held The Hand
- C4: Lord Give Me Hope
- C5: Some Things Last A Long Time
- C6: Tears Stupid Tears
- C7: Don't Play Cards With Satan
- D1: True Love Will Find You In The End
- D2: Got To Get You Into My Life
- D3: Careless Soul
- D4: Funeral Home
- D5: Softly & Tenderly
Reissued double album, 10 years out of print. 30 years since the original release of Daniel Johnston’s most revered recordings.
Songs include ‘True Love Will Find You In The End’, ‘Devil Town’, ‘Some Things Last A Long Time’ and ‘Honey I Sure Miss You’.
James Johnston (Gallon Drunk / Nick Cave / PJ Harvey) and Steve Gullick (renowned music photographer) are pleased to announce their new album out on the 26th Feb 2021. It's a dark but beautiful trip. After working together on an art show in late 2019, the idea of making music again immediately resurfaced. Without any firm strategy, Johnston and Gullick began recording, unprompted, drawing upon a shared love of noise, folk, and classical. After the first tracks began to evolve, however, they knew they’d unearthed something compelling and fresh, not to mention unexpectedly mysterious. This became WE TRAVEL TIME.The result is a deceptively crafted album that slowly reveals – and, more importantly, embraces – beauty in its cracks. Piano, voice, violin and guitar create a drifting haze, with the focus on these acoustic elements forging an imagined soundtrack which offers echoes of Big Star, Nico, Lee Hazlewood and Palace Brothers, as well as the gentle, haunting influence of contemporary minimal classical. Ambient sounds – birds, rain, cars, clocks, distant voices – also drift in and out, melting into the music’s fabric via windows left open during the early 2020 heatwave. WE TRAVEL TIME, nonetheless, resists definition, remaining enigmatically timeless.
Back by popular demand, Memorials of Distinction is rereleasing Porridge Radio's shed-recorded debut album on a limited pressing of 1000 clear vinyl and CD. This comes after a year in which Porridge Radio's Every Bad, their first on Secretly Canadian, led to top reviews in Pitchfork, The Guardian, NME, The Times, The Quietus, Clash, Uncut, Q, The Independent, LOBF, DIY, Stereogum, Paste, Vice, amongst others, and then being shortlisted as one of the Hyundai Mercury Prize's 12 Albums of 2020. Porridge Radio started as Dana Margolin’s bedroom project, but grew to a Brighton-based band who, on this debut, inelegantly knotted together tender melodic pop songs with vicious and furious emotional outpour. After a series of home-recorded solo demos and the growing legend of their live shows on the UK DIY scene, they originally released this lofi debut full band LP in 2016. The album documents struggles with life, love and boredom - spelt out with sticky fingers by five idiot savants. RP&OF's lyrics, title and artwork, as well as the group's name, brings to mind a certain scrapbook absurdism at the core of Porridge Radio's earlier work. Faced with the dark abyss of existence, Margolin and co. scrape together some value from the nonsensical and the pointless, and then cling to it, giggling, for dear life.
US based label, Lurid welcomes Spanish producer Señora for a stunning new double gatefold album entitled ‘Fósil’ that showcases his unique take on hypnotic rhythm, found sounds and sampling.
Señora became a firm favourite with the likes of Andrew Weatherall (R.I.P.) and Sean Johnston for his rugged grooves and innovative approach to production, melding the sounds of machines, animals, electricity and other weird noises in a flurry of FX and sonic experimentation. He debuted on this label in 2017 and has also landed on Shango Records, Night Noise and LNDKHN since then. Now based in Berlin and a regular at clubs and festivals round Europe he offers up a debut album that features nine stunning pieces that ”aim to reflect on the next evolutionary steps of the human race".
The otherworldly ‘Preludio: Ocaso Hominido’ kicks off with a swampy bass sound overlaid with cosmic details and downtempo drums. It’s a brilliantly mysterious opener than leads on to ‘Antropoceno’, a spacious soundtrack with bubbling synths, undulating drums and plenty of sonic details that paint a picture of a starry night sky up above. The tumbling drums of ‘Segundo Sexo’ sink you into a dubby reverie with bird calls and wordless vocal sounds mixing with percolating percussion.
The excellent ‘El Elefante Que Siempre Andaba Solo’ is a perfectly flabby and chugging dark disco cut with bright chords and scintillating drum work while ‘Código y Marfil’ is a futurist landscape in outer space with modulated synths and deft astral details making it colourful and cinematic. This most escapist of listens then plays out through the supple bass warbles and spacecraft sound effects of the entrancing ‘Papaver Somniferum’ and churning drums and twisted bass funk of the brilliantly slow burning ‘El Último Discurso’ before closing on ‘Fuga: La Gran Desconexión’ a downbeat offering with myriad pads circling the skies above a deeply rooted rhythm.
This is a hugely atmospheric album of perfectly realised inter planetary sounds, the whole thing taking you on a cerebral and evocative journey far away from here.
Supported by: Tim Sweeney (Beats In Space), Dr. Rob (Ban Ban Ton Ton), Balearic Mike, Elena Colombi (NTS), Andrew Wowk (Decoded Magazine), Faze Magazine Germany, DJ Mag Espana, Future Music UK, ClubbingSpain, and others.
Fragile X is an exciting new collaboration between vocalist Inga Schunn and producer Dylan Chase.
The group began in 2019 when Schunn posted an iPhone voice recording on Facebook in which she sang an acapella in her native German. Her friend Chase, who was recording and releasing at that time as Caffeine Worldwide, heard the 30-second clip and immediately asked Schunn, at that time only an acquaintance, if she might like to record something. Neither of them realised at the time that the first sessions would lead to a debut 4-track EP that capably references as many styles as most full-length albums from established artists, while also setting a blueprint for a project that could go anywhere from here.
The opening track alone, 'Lifetime', opens with a woozy blend of UKG rhythms and Royksopp synths, before giving way to Schunn's sedate rendition of Daniel Johnston's 'Some Things Last A Long Time'...basically the years 1990-2002 distilled into 5 furious minutes of 5am energy.
Across the whole release, Chase's productions show the same cinematic flair that made his previous releases on French Press Lounge, Third Try and Human Concrete Block must-haves for your late-night record bag.
A2 'Prix' with the kind of R&S attitude that would make forebears like LFO or Lone proud, could be the soundtrack for an illegal outback rave or a sunset drive over a Big Sur overpass.
The album closer, 'Fragile X Theme,†sounds something like if late 90's Bjork was commissioned to soundtrack the movie Hackers with Akai samplers on loan from the Hartnoll brothers.
The whole release may be overshadowed by the B1, 'Karaoke Girl', a track Schunn and Chase wrote in Mexico City in 2019 after a rough night at a Zona Rosa karaoke bar.
Opening with dripping synths as soft and inviting as the last drink before sunrise, Schunn tells a story of a woman who overstays her invite at an intimate birthday party between friends, taking the mic from the birthday girl and singing "Seal, Rush and Kate Bush" with a "death grip on the mic."
It's a bizarre, vivid song for such new artists to have come up with, and the lyrics are underpinned by Chase's equally adventurous combination of Nordic disco elements with heavily treated bursts of Japanese koto.
The Lifetime EP's title is a reference to the laborious process that it took to make the record, with multiple recording sessions across two countries followed by endless edits and a Covid 19 related vinyl slowdown bringing its release to a crawl.
The record itself is a fast-paced, dopamine rush debut that we are proud to share with you as both the culmination of a long process, and the beginning of a strange new story.
After being summoned from Ohio to London by Adrian Sherwood, Nick Riggio and Rebecca Magnetic have brought their Midwest musical experience to the South London electronic music scene with a unique creative vision. Fusing elements of techno, post-punk and psychedelic rock they explore spiritual connections and transcendence while Rebecca Magnetic's introspective vocals set against a tough backdrop of Detroit influenced rhythms and vibrations leave you in awe.
Their superb single 'My Future' is a brilliantly cosmic exploration of spaced out and spacious grooves. Crashing hits bring an edgy mood, while lurching drums drag you forwards.
Molten acid synths and the strained and pained vocals from Rebecca add further layers of intrigue to this most adventurous electronic trip.
First to remix is Oosh! man Dan Wainwright, and his version is laced up with sci-fi chords and echoing vocal sounds. The downtempo drum rotations are superbly heavy and trap you in a trance.
Next up, Retroforward is Al Mackenzie's solo remix/music project named after his successful Birmingham night.
Al is one half of Field Of Dreams. His 'No Future' remix is an airy and atmospheric remix that takes the track to the farthest edges of space on smooth, hypnotic grooves and beautifully astral melodies.
Lastly, Richard Sen has already been getting support for his remix from ALFOS man Sean Johnston, and he goes for a superbly rugged yet slow motion chugger that is dubbed out and expansive thanks to the arching guitar riffs that ring out to the heavens above fat-bottomed drums.
Whether experienced on the dance floor or in metaphysical states, this music is medicine for the mind and body.
The long awaited third album from much loved vintage synth maestros Billy Bainbridge and Mike Johnston, finally finds its home on Ghost Box Records. This is unironically joyful and melodic electronica; informed by library music, music for children’s TV and a deep passion for the history of music technology.
Plone are very much part of Ghost Box’s DNA. They were a central part of the 90s retro-futuristic scene in Birmingham that included Broadcast and Pram and to which the label has always had strong ties through graphic designer and co-manager, Julian House. They are also cited by the label’s other boss, Jim Jupp, as a major influence on his work as Belbury Poly.
The band was formed as a three-piece in the mid-90s and their debut single, Press a Key, was championed by John Peel. The first album, For Beginner Piano, was released on Warp Records in 1999. Their warm, witty and unfunky music stood out from the crowd, almost in defiance of the moody and masculine post-rave electronica of their contemporaries.
A selection of bootlegged demos from the early 00s was rumoured to be the follow up album, but it never materialised. After that Billy went on to tour with Broadcast and later formed Seeland with another former band member Tim Felton (also of Ghost Box’s Hintermass). Meanwhile Mike formed the ZX Spectrum Orchestra, released solo singles as Mike in Mono and was a member of The Modified Toy Orchestra.
Twenty years on and Plone have reconvened as a duo with a third album, Puzzlewood. It’s compiled from material recorded at various points since the “lost album”, right up to the present day.
Deliberately breaking all the rules Mr. Hornby once famously outlined regarding the creation of homemade (tape) compilations, Saroos’ members indeed had the term “mixtape” on their minds while working on their latest full-length – albeit in the hip-hop sense: a sonic snack box, interconnected shots from the hip, something that just came together and immediately felt right.
Whereas hip-hop folks nowadays often use the vacuous term “project” in order to steer clear of the ontological debate caused by the almost synonymous use of album/mixtape, Florian Zimmer, Christoph Brandner, and Max Punktezahl, otherwise busy with The Notwist, Driftmachine & Lali Puna, stick to the classics: their new 16-track project “OLU” (Off Label Use) is, officially, still an album. But it’s wild and vibrant like a mixtape, interwoven like its cover: a seamless burst of ideas, impulsively combined to form a split-screen snapshot of recent moments and momentums.
Re-appropriating the term “Off Label Use” – which actually means: using prescription drugs in ways that aren’t mentioned on the instruction leaflet – in their own “off-label” way, Saroos never sounded more loose-limbed and elastic. Whereas the trio’s earlier releases were rather conceptual and homogenous, “OLU” indeed has a more loose, spur-of-the-moment feel, a spontaneous force at its core. Checking the weighty sci-fi inspirations at the door, they use that Bomb Shelter-type of freedom to reinvent themselves at every turn, chasing sounds that happened to emerge in the group’s triangular energy field.
Kicking it off “with a killer, to grab attention” (Hornby/Cusack, after all), the massive reverb-stumblin’ adjustment between beats and bass of opening track “Quarantaine” cross-fades smoothly into “Humdrum Rolloff,” an early hint at the group’s off-label practices: the underwater creepers floating around here were really voices (mostly). From majestically built oriental sound-pieces (“Looney Suite Serenade”), synth-based “End House Mario” and a triptych of speaker-boxxxing gas lamp experimentations entitled “Cord Burn 1-3,” Saroos have rarely sounded this playful and unrestricted: there’s a new energy at work that welds all the different sonic playing fields together to create one continuous 40 minute mix.
For the B-side descent, “Tatsu Jam,” at less than 4 minutes still the longest cut, billows over the kind of sizzling hi-hats you’d expect to hear on real trap tapes from Hotlanta. A prelude to a bunch of quicker-paced instrumentals (“Scratch Pets”, “24h Love Gumbo”) and ambient sun showers, until the next “Plateau” (Mo’Wax vibes!) brings the beats to the fore once again (“Tomorrow’s Kudos”), and the ultimate “Whirligig” sounds like a mix of Oktoberfest 2020 and Johnston’s “Casper The Friendly Ghost” coming apart at the seams.
Whatever you wanna call it – album, LP, mixtape, project, who cares? –, it’s definitely a double A-side tour-de-force.
- A1: Baby Came Out Like Good Gear In The Sun
- A2: I Took On Petrol So The Church Got Rubbed Out
- A3: Super 32
- A4: Elsie Got Tar Sunglasses
- A5: Earth Household
- A6: Tony
- B1: 92 Inside An Escort
- B2: We Are Over The Kop
- B3: Everyone Gets Everything He Wants
- B4: You Will Not Remove Shit
- B5: How Night Works On The World
- B6: Here I Come Again
Death Is Not The End offer up a vinyl reissue of Louis Johnstone aka Wanda Group's LP 'Tough Cunt', recorded under his The Hers alias and originally released on Sex Lies Magnetic Tape in 2012.
Fjordfunk is Jann Marius Dahle. He started releasing records back in 1998 and is part of the Norwegian disco scene. His earlier productions has gained the support of diverse people like Idjut Boys, Francois Kevorkian, Anu Pilai, Laurent Garnier, Andrew Weatherall, Headman, Michael Mayer, Steve Bug, Bjorn Torske, Prins Thomas and Tim Sweeney. This album is inspired by ambient, Detroit techno, disco, funk, rock, dub, jazz and latin. Already getting early support from the A love from outer space outfit of Sean Johnston and Andrew Weatherall. He's already booked to play at their Convenenza festival in France later tihs year where he will perform live with Amy Douglas(DFA).
Mahoney's voice vacillates smoothly between ghostly and falsetto, while McNany's arrangements and instrumentation bump, click, and whirr like a lovingly tuned Rube Goldberg jukebox. Not too surprising, perhaps, considering they named the band after a song by schizophrenic outsider favorite Daniel Johnston, and they cite Harry Nilsson and Roxy Music as influences. - VIBE
DJCJ returns to his home on West End Communications, after a solid 4-tracker released on the the SMS digital series earlier this year. Powerful and energetic tracks to start, balanced with electro/ambient cuts on the flip."
DJCJ (real name Craig Johnston, CJ) (22 years young) has also released with my friends over at Craigie Knowes, both solo and under the Highfield Casuals alias as a collab project with our very own The Burrell Connection.
Following on from the release of FBA21 Collected Works 1996 -2017, which was released November 2017 Matthew Puffett decided to wrap up the project, with a handpicked selection of artists to remix key tracks from the compilation. Amongst these figures are some significant influences on Puffett`s early years The set includes Kirk Degiorgio, whose reworking of 'Cross Dissolve' reimagines the track in full machine mode, serving up a slab of driving techno for the main room. A fan since the early 90s, Kirk and Matt have been in contact over the years, culminating to this powerful re-creation. Steven Rutter (B12) has also reworked 'Cross Dissolve', but in contrast to Degiorgio, Rutter's mix brings out an almost abstracted, ambient mood, a characteristically expressive and textured piece from one of the leading figures in UK electronica. Hardway Bros, Sean Johnston (Andy Weatherall's partner in 'A Love From Outer Space) tackles 'Mourning', a piece of melancholic euphoria. In typical Johnston style, Sean slows it all down, bringing it to a mid-tempo Balearic vibe. A big influence on Matthew in the 1990s, Lee Grainge used to work at the infamous Fat Cat records. A renowned arbiter of sounds, Grainge turned Matt onto countless records from Detroit and beyond, which was crucial in shaping FBA's sound. Here, he remixes 'Diagram', in a manner reminiscent of classic dub techno, Basic Channel. Another influence on FBA's sound is former Eevo Lute Muzique boss from Eindhoven, Stefan Robbers. FBA recorded a mini album for EevoNext in 2009, and the pair team up again here to reinvent 'Machines Can Help'.
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.
Following the massive buzz a round the label's last release (voted THE record of 2017 by some 400+ international DJs and tastemakers on Bill Brewster's DJ History Podcast/poll (2017 Furtive 50) , Hobbes Music kicks off 2018 with a heavy slice of warehouse techno backed with deeper electro flavours, a second double-A-side 12" outing by the anonymous DALI.
You may remember DALI (NB all caps in the spelling) released a debut 12" around this time last year. Support came from Ben UFO, Laurent Garnier, Domenic Cappello (Sub Club), John Heckle, Chris Duckenfield, The Revenge, Tom Findlay (Groove Armada), Sean Johnston and XDB (among others) and a repress happened swiftly, with Laurent Garnier and Avalon Emersonalso supporting most recently (on WWFM and at Berghain, respectively).
DALI has a passion for analogue synths, abstract, hypnotic dance music and all things psychedelic. Don't bother looking her up on the net, social media etc. DALI is eschewing all that, to let the music do the talking for now.
Mugwump's debut album, « Unspell » has recently
received serious accolades in the music press, from the
likes of Uncut, Mixmag & Mixmag Germany DJ Mag,
Nowness or The Fader to Les Inrockuptibles, Le Soir, De
Standaard or Metro and been dubbed as « Belgium's
underground answer to Daft Punk » by German
electronic bible, Groove magazine. After two singles and
remixes by Andrew Weatherall, Mark E & Jack Savidge,
Subfield are now launching a massive remix campaign with
the album's opener , « After They Fall » getting the remix
treatment by dance duos only. Mugwump old
acquaintances Tuff City Kids are man-of-the-moment
Gerd Janson (Running Back) paired with producer-of-the-
moment Lauer (Live At Robert Johnson), both delivering a
bonafide italofunk-house anthem (vinyl-only !). Runaway
are Mugwump's NYC buddies Jacques Renault (Let's
Play House) & Marcos Cabral (L.I.E.S), exceptionally
reuniting here for a big Mood2Swing revival moment,
recalling the pioneering duo at their hypnotic best. Eskimo
Twins stay faithful to the original while injecting some
London acid chug and that ALFOS flavor while Mugwump
finally rewrites his killer original with fellow partner DC
Salas into an arpeggiated disco-techno monster (digital-
only). All bases are duly covered with this summer
package. Early support by Andrew Weatherall, Sean
Johnston, D'Julz, Erol Alkan & Jamie Jones.
'We Start Over' arrived on the desks at International Feel and it felt perfect for us. Deep electronics, a lovely mood, forward thinking and a gorgeous vocal from Trudie Dawn Smith. Lots to play with from a remix perspective and a great original track in itself. Steve Cobby is a British producer, musician, composer, and DJ, based in Kingston-upon-Hull, Yorkshire. He co-founded Fila Brazillia in 1990 and released 10 critically acclaimed LP's and produced over 70 remixes for artists as diverse as Radiohead, Busta Rhymes, Black Uhuru and A Certain Ratio. Cobby now releases music via his own label Déclassé label. His latest and third solo LP 'Saudade' was released in March 2014 and received considerable critical acclaim.
The first 12" consists of the original version and on the flip a remix by Apiento & Lx (their first track together since the underground classic 'The Orange Place' ). The remix is slow trance in its purest sense, made for lasers and dark nightclubs. It's already receiving club play and has been named by Andrew Weatherall and Sean Johnston's ALFOS as "one of the records of the summer". High praise.
On the second 12" the reins have been handed to Gerd Janson & Phillip Lauer a.k.a Tuff City Kids - two people making some of the finest house at their at the moment with Janson also getting massively known globally for his DJing. Their remixes are made for the clubs. The 'Garage Dub' is classic New York house that is as deep as you like and one of those hooky ones that does everything perfectly. The other, 'Private Acid Mix ' goes heavy on the beats and drops the 303 in a fine style with the vocal looped and twisted.
As you would expect from International Feel this is classy and classic club music covered from all angles from a balearic original, a deep chug remix from Apiento & Lx and the Tuff City Kids bringing the house vibe. Deep deep deep.
Next up on Magic Feet is a release by Dark Strands.
Tony's first release came via the first Magic Feet label sampler. Since then his releases have caught the attention of a number of acclaimed DJ's, with Daniel Avery citing one of Tonys tracks as one of the best he had heard last year.
This is Tonys first full vinyl release and shows exactly what he is capable of.
The title track 'Return Of The Oscillator' has had people running to the booth every time its been played from London to Croatia, as well as being fully road tested at ALFOS by Sean Johnston who also provides a superb remix under his Hardway Bros guise.
The second track 'Galactic' slows the pace down and is perfect for those warm up sets.


























