quête:s systems

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

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1
Breach One
9' 36''
2
Interlude One
3' 26''
3
Breach Two
7' 05''
4
Breach Three
9' 32''
5
Interlude Two
2' 29''
6
Breach Four
7' 34''
Breach dives into chaotic systems and reflects on the recent events of protests and riots in the world, exploring the build up and release of tension and energy in a new form of pitch black metal electronics and polyrhythmic structures.

Zeno van den Broek is a Dutch-born, Copenhagen-based composer and artist. Van den Broek works in a multi-sensory way to research and express physical, social and acoustic notions. He utilises audiovisual means to create site and concept specific works. This trans-disciplinary method has a strong conceptual foundation, originating from a background in architecture, which enables Zeno to comprehend and reveal the richness and complexity of spatial, visceral and physical perception. He works with a characteristic artistic language based on minimalist and fundamental elements such as sine waves, lines, noise and grids.

Eagerly awaited debut album from oft-cited UK's most out-there band, features in the works with The Quietus and Wire already.

180GM PRESSING - 500 COPIES ONLY.

Difficult times required difficult music, my Yarns, that's why we had Guttersnipe; with its own sort of energy-kind there then.Reiner: A singular yield, a singular yield now.Barns: A whot
Reiner: A singular yield mate! Rich guitar strang, flow motive pounding underneath.Vox like Death come winding through the fields. Barns:  Hell of a way to describe a vocal style.
Me: Nah but for real my Donny, Have you read a presser 1 sheet lately It's the most

They say the PR era, circa late 80's killed the golden age of music journalism:
They say Guttersnipe have continuously melted all the forms that they come up against. They are right.  Because Guttersnipe is not part of a tradition we know well. You will identify the departure from it though, immediately, upon hearing My Mother The Vent. This LP, the promotional version of which, likely sits in your hands (disk, whatever). The innovation here is a FIRM commitment to the flowmotive polyrhythm underwriting the seared, nay fried, tonal rainbow and de-reasoned vox.

Not Nate Nelson, nor John the masseuse dude from Sightings but TIPULA CONFUSA.  Don't want to put the captain obvious pants on so tight I can't jump around the yard because why waste a good yard hang. I'll put on my blighty nighty instead. UROCERAS GIGAS has bridged so many gaps, finally unlocked the AxeWeld CODE and is really playing the thing. Not to mention bringing forth a world-view so utterly unique.  Good luck finding anything like it.

Finally some REAL disjunction in the music; clear and intended. In an age when most computer music composers use stochastic systems and still manage to drop some linear pathground shit, the brawler drums and slanky guitar constructions on My Mother The Vent are a genuine treat.  I've spent too much of my adult life so far hearing too much of this shit to not recognize REAL GAME. And here it crawls out of the grey shadows of ol' BLIGHTY.

Our post-music age: after the fine human endeavour known as music, the result of letting the cybernetic run ITS horrible game on us. I'm not waxing confusingly in a rarefied tone here. Nor running the boring sci-fi script. I really think that is were we is.  We left the human-music-on-a-human-scale behind and much to our detriment. Here we sit in our crumbling reality. But Guttersnipe come paleo, like the rhapsodes with long ass memories rattling off Homeric verse well into the age of manuscript culture, but here, with future tones.  Luckily. Otherwise, me and the record label here wouldn't be wasting our time and yours with a 1 sheet for My Mother The Vent.

So a proper first time on wax for these amazing creatures is a welcome addition to the world of things.  These drums and these guit-lines are so cranké, as they say here in my odd neighborhood.  These voices are so utterly expressive without even the damn language at hand ; like the great horns. We'll rinse this record out, I'll put on my old blighty nighty and go dance in the street.  Alex Moskos, Montreal, August 2018Guttersnipe is:UROCERAS GIGAS - Guitar, Analog Synth, VoxTIPULA CONFUSA - Drums, Drum Synth, Vox

"Vintage killer addictive electronic reggae & dub selection by UK pioneers Alpha & Omega! These are dub-plate mixes of tracks from various Alpha & Omega albums. Volume 2 was originally released on CD in 1997. "We have always done alternative mixes for sound systems. This is Alpha & Omega's second volume of dub-plate mixes, normally only available to soundsystem operators."

With His Concept Ep grey Specters Of Dead Communication' Breaklab Aims To Explore The Atmospheres Of Computing Systems.
Focussing On The Processes Underneath The Surface Of Our Electrified And Digitalized Mechanical Age.

"Vintage killer addictive electronic reggae & dub selection by UK pioneers Alpha & Omega!These are dub-plate mixes (normally only available to sound system operators) of tracks from various Alpha & Omega albums. Originally released on CD in 1995, now for the first time on a limited & numbered 500 copies LP incl download. ""We have always done alternative mixes for sound systems. We had enough good ones to make an album so that's why we released Dubplate Selection Vol. 1"" "

- Released on vinyl for the first time
- Download included
- Numbered, strictly limited, 500 copies worldwide

Transversales Disques presents KSHATRYA, (The Eye Of The Bird), never released before
recording by french avant-garde electronic composer Igor Wakhevitch, who composed a bunch of
major experimental albums in the 70's such as Logos, Docteur Faust, Hathor, Les Fous d'Or,
Nagual and Let's Start.
During this 10 years period, Wakhevitch was close to Jean-Michel Jarre, the Pink Floyd, the Soft
Machine, and legendary choreographer Maurice Bejart having with him many conversations around
dance and music, human body and soul, spiritual path, collective life, new society, human evolution.
As a composer Igor Wakhevitch collaborated with Salvador Dali, Carolyn Carlson, and Terry Riley to
name a few. He's considered as one of the first French composer using synthesizers like Synthi
AKS, ARP2600 or Moog modular systems.
After spending almost 30 years in India, Igor Wakhevitch dug in his archives this unreleased work
recorded in 1999 on his 'Mysterious Island 88' system. Esotheric, sacred and cosmic, KSHATRYA,
(The Eye Of The Bird) is the logical follow up of Igor's early works and a monumental piece of
electronic music. A must!

Seasoned Producer Oliver Kapp Takes Us Back To The Glory Days Of Underground Techno Where Pounding Sound Systems Ruptured The Space Time Continuum For Fun. The Old Guard Will Already Know That Kapp Has Pedigree, From Running And Releasing On His Own Record Labels Indulge And Raygun To A String Of Appearances On Stockholm Ltd, Logistic And Gigolo, His Dedication To The Cause Is Unquestionable. Which Is Why His First Appearance On Cocoon Recordings Is Long Overdue. What We Get Are Dj Friendly Tools Designed For That Time Of Night When The The Second Hand Stops Ticking. Kapp Presents A Perfect Collection Of Timeless Warehouse Techno, Like The Genre Itself There Are No Beginnings Or Ends, Just A Constant Barrage Of Hi Octane Machine Funk, Underpinned By Heavy Duty Beats That Somehow Manage To Induce A Sense Of Weightlessness On The Dance Floor. Scaling Down The Bpms To A Sub 130 Tempo, The Ep Is A Masterclass In How To Balance The Old School With The New. - loud Whisper Is Both Tough And Relentless, Generating An Hypnotic State That Ensnares The Dancer In Suspended Animation As Strobe Lights Flicker Across Closed Eyelids. Scattered Hihats Motor Forward And Trance Inducing Sequences Splice And Dice Causing Mind And Body To Drift Apart. - mantash Is An Altogether Gentler Excursion. Loose Tribal Rhythms Slalom Through The Metronomic Kicks Before Giving Way To Distant Chords That Embrace The Dancefloor In A Warm Fuzzy Glow. This Lush Vibe Extends Over The Rest Of The Track While The Beats Roll On, Accompanied By Delicate Melodies That Enhance The Ride. Euphoria And Delirium Combine On The Aptly Titled - rapture , As Chopped Up Vocal Fx Alternate Across A Hard Hitting 909 Pattern Complete With Angular Snares And Ride Cymbals That Bang The Box Into Submissio

Social Lovers return to the dance-floor with a stunning white label release of "Lover's Flame / The Light" on Hobo Camp to close out 2018, following up their ltd 7" "Can't Get Enough". "Lover's Flame" is a mixture of street funk and freestyle, evoking classic 80s NYC synth feels, accompanied by Doherty's playful vocals. "The Light" channels soulful garage house feels, and keeps the vibe sensual, spiritual, and heavy. A true dance 12" with an additional 'Instrumental' version of the A side, and 'Keypella' of the B side, DJs are already banging these tracks out on systems worldwide.

Led by head-producer Matty P, and the sultry voice of Megan Doherty, Social Lovers are a collaborative group that sprung up from the desert of Phoenix, Arizona and soon to spread to both coasts. Now with their core members sharing home-bases in both New York City and Los Angeles, their smooth sound is best defined as 'street funk with a splash of class'.

Rian Treanor will release his anticipated debut album 'ATAXIA' on Planet Mu this March. The striking full-length follows singles for The Death Of Rave and Warp's Arcola imprint as well as live sets at Boilerroom x Genelec, Nyege Nyege festival, tours in India and various high profile EU shows.

The title 'ATAXIA' means 'the loss of full control of bodily movements' and relates to Rian's music which is 'intended to make people's bodies move in unpredictable ways.' He adds 'the angles in the letters, the phonetics seem to mirror the geometry and idiosyncratic patterns in the music.' Rian explains that components of the tracks were made by generating a series of irregular events and re-structuring them, or by destabilising a pattern that is constant.

When asked how the album compares with his previous releases, he says 'My earlier EPs share a similar interest in angular and asymmetrical rhythms that are designed for club sound systems,' adding 'they were more improvised, focusing on sequencing and pattern modulation, using standard drum sounds and synthesiser patches. ATAXIA is more focused and stricter, it's more co-ordinated in terms of the track selection and the rhythmic structures. I spent more time refining the synthesis and sound design, pushing it further than the previous releases.' He expresses an interest in exploring opposites in his music: 'fluidity and syncopation,' 'systematic and unpredictability,' 'reduction and extremity,' 'irregular symmetry,' 'easy listening and brutal'.
There's clear a conceptual backdrop, but the music itself is not overthought. There's an immediate joy to much of the album - check out ATAXIA_D3 with its wonderful cut-ups and modulations of the phrase 'people don't understand people.'

The roots of Rian's playful sound are directly linked to his love of the music he grew up with. Coming from Sheffield, you can hear elements of industrial, synth-pop, bleep, extreme computer music and speed garage at play. From Cabaret Voltaire to Warp and beyond; the sound of his city has been, and is, an integral part of his musical development and is still a direct influence.

Last year, he noted in an interview that "I'm not a computer programmer, I'm not an articulate person in that kind of way. I'm a visual artist." Now he elaborates 'I meant more that I'm a visual thinker.' Drawing and visual art have been a fundamental part of his life 'since I was a child. I got really into graffiti as a teenager and around the same time I got into mixing and these both developed together.' You can sense the mind of a visual artist at work in his music which is also reflected in the artwork he created for this project.

As well as his visual art, installations and multichannel sound works he is involved in numerous collaborations such as with composer Nakul Krishnamurthy exploring the common ground between Indian classical music and electronic music and his work with improv saxophonist Karl D'Silva, plus his time studying with Lupo at Dubplates and Mastering in Berlin (who taught him the 'importance of reduction') have all helped shape and push his sound into other unique and adventurous zones. Treanor is developing on different levels and in different forms all at the same time, re-imagining the intersection of club culture, experimental art and computer music, presenting an insightful and compelling musical world of fractured and interlocking components.

Already having garnered support from the likes of Mixmag and other vital taste makers around the globe, Overdue's continued onslaught is led on by none other than the highly talented, US based artist Dalek One. Keeping the torch brightly lit, the eerie soundscapes and forward-minded arrangements, spellbound within the "Witchcraft EP" serve as a perfect follow-up and yet another example of superb quality.

Going straight for the flip-side, "Witchcraft" lunges straight into a tribal encantation of overdriven tape - rhythms like water luring you towards mammoth bass surges - ecstatically driven forward by bold drums and unparalleled groove. Swaths of low
frequencies hitting your every fibre alongside enthralling percussive movements - danger of high impact on sound systems guaranteed.

Lowering the needle on the other side, "Breakthrough" does literally that. As it sets off with a rainy storm - industrious drone and thunder - metallic clangs propelling us onward into what turns out to be an absolute destroyer, full-on armageddon kind of banger. Heavily overdriven bass surges kick some sense into you as the off-kilter drums and experimental switch-ups keep you yearning for more. Minimal sound system
music executed at its finest.

Finishing off this highly combustible collection of music, "Terror Strike" leaves no prisoners as its tribal atmosphere baits unsuspecting listeners into a low frequency rapture, showcasing Dalek One's intricate sound design once again.

Heavy-weather, beyond-good-and-evil soundsystem poetics, channelling raw and rootical techno, Isolationist abstraction, and dub at its most turbulent and raw-nerved and space-time-warping. New worlds ahead... Equal parts tuff, tail-thrashing dancehall pressure - see 'Hell Dub' - and art-of-darkness ambience and introspection, culminating in the slow-burning, third-eye-opening 23-minute dreamweapon, 'Vertigo'. Part of the Young Echo crew, Ossia embodies the best tradition of Bristol underground music in that he doesn't pay much mind to tradition, just does his own thing. Yes, Devil's Dance shares DNA with those sullen masterpieces we will always associate with the city, from blunted 90s street-soul/hip-hop to sub-loaded dubstep - but like his forebears Ossia is ultimately a mongrel breed, drawing from his own, very contemporary and idiosyncratic well of influences: grime, jazz, steppers, dub, post-punk and industrial abrasion, concrète minimalism... Devil's Dance could easily be not just a forbidding, but a suffocating proposition. But even at its most angst-ridden it feels lithe and aerodynamic, its darker impulses both intensified, and offset, by a pure soundboy's delight in detail and colour and higher dancefloor mechanics. The music pulses with energy, a fever to communicate...and Raki Singh (violin), Jasmine (vocals) and Ollie Moore (saxophone) add vivid flesh-tone to the punishing, plasmic electronics. The record was mixed at an infamous, subterranean Bristolian recording studio, using an arsenal of spring and plate reverbs, modded pedals, tape-delays and compressors: systems of black magic crucial to the album's intense presence and physicality and carefully modulated dread. In the end what we are witnessing, and experiencing vicariously, is a purging, an exorcism: find the devil, dance with the devil... and then chase, chase, chase him out of the earth

Too $hort's legendary 1992 effort 'Shorty The Pimp' is back in effect on vinyl thanks to the hip hop preservationist at Get On Down. Though many don't consider this to be one of Too $hort's strongest releases, the project did move well over 80,000 in its first week of release landing at Number 6 on the Billboard Top 200. Taking the title from the incredibly rare 1973 Blaxploitation film, Too $hort does what he does best on Shorty The Pimp: funk beats, boastful braggadocio, a few conscious rhymes and layers of straight up pimp talk. The lyrical content can certainly be considered comical and entertaining. 'Shorty The Pimp' is also a stand out project for producer Ant Banks who did many of the beats for the project, his first works with Too $hort with many more to follow over the next decade. Oddly enough, one of the best comments on 'Shorty The Pimp' comes from a random guy on the internet who commented on his experience listening to the release, 'I ran my car into a tree after listening to 'It Don't Stop' Definitely made for cars with the booming systems!'

ESS - Sometimes we need to revisit the past to discover the future. That's why we are so happy to present the incredible Electronic Speech Systems 'Capsule Collection' (by Dublin's electro modular warrior DeFeKT). A selection of his finest works from his three only releases in 2011 on 'New Flesh', 'Takeover Recordings' & 'AC Records' have been remastered to form an electro tour de force.

We pull the trigger with his deadliest of weapons 'Trigger My Sequencer'. A full throttled four-to-the-floor doppler dance werk out. The expelling of his drexciyan demons continues with the polar cap melting 'Thermo Drive', a deep dive into aquatic funk & electro dub waves.

On the flip, slicing chord stabs and pulsing signals launch us back into the milky way with 'Halley's Comet'. The fusion of Kraftwerk inspired grooves & pulsing alpha juno synth lines pair perfectly to make it a certified electro cult classic. Lastly JX10 brings it home with a beautiful arrangement and showcase of perfectly executed electronic architecture, leaving us speechless.

Erol Alkan welcomes Joshua James to Phantasy for his debut release 'Coarse' featuring The Bunker NY producer Justin Cudmore on remix duties.

A fixture of London's dedicated queer club scene, James maintains a trio of distinct residencies, including XOYO, the notorious 'Savage' parties, as well as fortnightly on Rinse FM. On this unapologetic and upfront track, the DJ-turned-producer instantaneously captures the raw energy and sexuality that underpin his life by night, backed by a remix from a key figure in the US underground, Justin Cudmore.

Designed with sweatboxes and serious sound-systems in mind, 'Coarse' wastes no time in establishing its rude intent; hammering jack-bass, orgasmic cut-up vocals and larger-than-life synthlines flirt expertly from the off, before the track descends into outright sleaze in the spirit the of gnarlier edge of acid-house. Only a series of breathless gasps indicate you've safely reached the other side... A personal weapon for James each week behind the decks, as well as for Phantasy founder, Erol Alkan, 'Coarse' is a powerful dancefloor paean with only one (well, maybe two) things on its mind.

Having turned heads with his own uncompromising acidic perspectives on labels such as The Bunker NY, Phonica White and Honey Soundsystem, New York-based DJ and producer Justin Cudmore unfurls 'Coarse' in a trippier, deeper direction, nonetheless still bumping in a style that subtly recalls the peak-time sound of classic 90s NYC clubs like The Tunnel.

ESS - Sometimes we need to revisit the past to discover the future. That's why we are so happy to present the incredible Electronic Speech Systems 'Capsule Collection' (by Dublin's electro modular warrior DeFeKT). A selection of his finest works from his three only releases in 2011 on 'New Flesh', 'Takeover Recordings' & 'AC Records' have been remastered to form an electro tour de force.

We pull the trigger with his deadliest of weapons 'Trigger My Sequencer'. A full throttled four-to-the-floor doppler dance werk out. The expelling of his drexciyan demons continues with the polar cap melting 'Thermo Drive', a deep dive into aquatic funk & electro dub waves.

On the flip, slicing chord stabs and pulsing signals launch us back into the milky way with 'Halley's Comet'. The fusion of Kraftwerk inspired grooves & pulsing alpha juno synth lines pair perfectly to make it a certified electro cult classic. Lastly JX10 brings it home with a beautiful arrangement and showcase of perfectly executed electronic architecture, leaving us speechless.

Sinking Into A Miracle is the debut album by Glasgow's AMOR, a quartet of musical travellers exploring the sonic open-ended-ness of dance music. Following two critically acclaimed 12-inches, this is a fully developed treatise on ecstasy and transcendence. Here, Richard Youngs, Michael Francis Duch, Paul Thomson and Luke Fowler are more honed, razor sharp in focus and timing, testing their instrumental prowess on condensed song structures and new, enlightened feelings of expansive hope and bliss. From the outset, it's an ambitious yet ultimately inclusive journey. Recorded to 24-track tape at Chem 19 and mixed by Paul Savage and Richard McMaster (Golden Teacher), this full length retains the elastic grooves of Paradise and Higher Moment, the group's previous singles, but relinquishes the classic Philadelphia International-tinged sound in favor of looser rhythmic patterns. There are new depths to the compositions: a more free-flowing approach to percussion and deft experiments in hybridity make for a full and rounded, emotionally tinged record. Indeed, there are times when AMOR sound like the lost house band from David Mancuso's Loft parties: Richard Youngs' uplifting, gospel-tinged lyrics talk about moving beyond, universal truths, sailing through the horizon. It's a wideeyed optimism Mancuso would perhaps have approved of and which is embroidered with spectral details that begs to be auditioned on large, tweaked out sound-systems.
Fantastic cover art by Robert Beatty.

2018 played host to a bumper crop of sounds from some of Philly's grittiest, including Great Circles mainstays M//R and Chaperone. To close out the year that was, we are pleased to present Heckadecimal's 'Murder Tape.'

A Minneapolis-based producer and acid auteur, Heckadecimal has been a fixture within the vibrant Midwestern electronic music community for nearly 20 years. Founder of the legendary 'Anti-human' events and co-curator of the ever-prolific Always Human Tapes imprint - alongside Ryan Wurst and Peter Lansky - Heckadecimal's reputation is one of unrelenting creativity and tireless advocacy for sonic experimentation. His work has found its way to light via a slew of pseudonyms and stage monikers, including The Worm, noface and Wonder Sirens.

In short - Heckadecimal lives and breathes the sonic matter that he leaves pouring out of studio monitors, busted bar systems and finely tuned rave stacks, wherever his travels take him.
Live performance lies at the core of Heckadecimal's practice. When he stormed through Inciting HQ in Philly earlier this summer, he took command over an arsenal of hardware that reminded us of how Octave One or Shawn Rudiman might show up. These were machines that he had lived with; touched with custom modifications, hand-drawn stickers and pockmarks incurred in battle, one got the sense that the gear was a personal extension of the artist.

Perhaps it's a bit maudlin, but we feel a certain kinship with this project. Indeed, these tracks at times feel very much of a piece with the gnarled tonalities in which our stable typically traffics; all low-slung riddims that reach at equal lengths towards mutated IDM aesthetics and post-Packard Plant techno extrusions. These are future perfect grooves that glide along under the vast Midwestern sky, providing a fertile communication conduit with the City of Brotherly Love.

Give thanks for acid. Great Circles will see you in the New Year..

2018 played host to a bumper crop of sounds from some of Philly's grittiest, including Great Circles mainstays M//R and Chaperone. To close out the year that was, we are pleased to present Heckadecimal's 'Murder Tape.'

A Minneapolis-based producer and acid auteur, Heckadecimal has been a fixture within the vibrant Midwestern electronic music community for nearly 20 years. Founder of the legendary 'Anti-human' events and co-curator of the ever-prolific Always Human Tapes imprint - alongside Ryan Wurst and Peter Lansky - Heckadecimal's reputation is one of unrelenting creativity and tireless advocacy for sonic experimentation. His work has found its way to light via a slew of pseudonyms and stage monikers, including The Worm, noface and Wonder Sirens.

In short - Heckadecimal lives and breathes the sonic matter that he leaves pouring out of studio monitors, busted bar systems and finely tuned rave stacks, wherever his travels take him.

Live performance lies at the core of Heckadecimal's practice. When he stormed through Inciting HQ in Philly earlier this summer, he took command over an arsenal of hardware that reminded us of how Octave One or Shawn Rudiman might show up. These were machines that he had lived with; touched with custom modifications, hand-drawn stickers and pockmarks incurred in battle, one got the sense that the gear was a personal extension of the artist.

Perhaps it's a bit maudlin, but we feel a certain kinship with this project. Indeed, these tracks at times feel very much of a piece with the gnarled tonalities in which our stable typically traffics; all low-slung riddims that reach at equal lengths towards mutated IDM aesthetics and post-Packard Plant techno extrusions. These are future perfect grooves that glide along under the vast Midwestern sky, providing a fertile communication conduit with the City of Brotherly Love.

Give thanks for acid. Great Circles will see you in the New Year..

'J. Spaceman recorded this strange record at his own Amazing Grace Studio in June 2005.

Hard to describe in words, it contains elements of systems musics with gamelan-like overtones. Looped cells are contained within longer improvisations, forcing the listener to engage with and make some order from the insistent chaos.

Music without precedent or tradition- a perfect companion piece to the new Spiritualized LP.'