Cerca:sands

2025 Repress

RIYL: Sufjan Stevens, Pearls Before Swine, Richard Dawson, Incredible String Band, Scott Walker. When Dominic Harris started work on the follow up to 2017’s “Rural Tonic”, he had a different kind of landscape in mind than the bucolic inspiration he’d mined for that album and its predecessor (2013’s “Woodland Casual”). Instead it was nostalgia for winters of a youth (mis)spent in 90’s Berlin.

With a lucky find of a Hohner Guitaret, (a 1960s electric thumb piano), Harris began writing lyrics around its sparse and austere accompaniment. And after reconnecting with an old friend from Edinburgh, Ricky White, now living in the USA, the plan became clearer: a winter-journey to the rural Mid-West to write and record an LP. Convening in White’s new hometown of Bloomington IN, Harris would work each morning in the county library, the pair then venturing out on long, aimless drives down country roads before returning to put their ideas and conversation into music. With songs written over two weeks, Harris and White headed to a small studio space in a derelict strip mall in Indianapolis, to capture the album in as minimalistic a form as was fitting to the wintry feel of much of the music; glimmers of pedal steel and recorder shining out amid the dual acoustic guitars and piano arrangements. After the pandemic cut its swathe through all plans, the recording sessions decamped to Scotland.

By then Harris’s longtime collaborator Robert McFall had written string arrangements for each song, effortlessly capturing the spirit of the original vision whilst elevating each song towards the universal. Still there were the frosty hedgerows and abandoned factories of the rural Rust Belt. But also now the sandstone architecture and cobwebs of Edinburgh, and the cold grey of the Firth of Forth. Diminuet, the cover artwork showing a catheter transformed into a flower, captures that fragile moment where the world seems forever frozen in time, even as the Spring prepares to transform us all once again

Have you ever been to Miyazaki? It’s a prefecture on Japan’s southern island of Kyushu, facing the Pacific. Palm trees. Humid subtropical climate. This is the home of Maple Fyshh, a musical artist whose late-80s/early-90s recordings have been collected and reissued here. Liberated by the advent of 4-track cassette home recording technology, inspired by a love of 60s pop oddball production mavens like Phil Spector and Joe Meek, as well as American hot rod and surf music, these Maple Fyssh songs glow with an outsider’s love of the transformative power of newly-available sound technology, allowing him to pull his inspirations across decades and oceans to his 1990s Miyazaki home studio. The tracks here are a d.i.y. dream-pop wonderland, compiling songs from his first LP “Mariko” and second LP “Dokitto Station!!”, both self-produced, both released in 1995. The A-side of this release features tracks from the concept album “Mariko”, a masterpiece of daydream pop introspection, recorded in 1994-95, inspired by a poem submitted to a manga magazine. The B-side features tracks from “Dokitto Station!!”, slightly earlier recordings that draw inspiration from a range of 60s pop including girl groups, surf music and acid folk. All the music here demonstrates Maple Fyshh’s deep understanding and appreciation 60s pop moves, and also his mastery of the limited technology at his disposal.

Remastered in 2024, the sound of Miyazaki has been reborn for a new audience. Available on Vinyl LP and download, with a DL card, English/Japanese lyrics and entertaining and informative English/Japanese liner notes by the artist.

Fuelled by the Berlin-based duo's love of club music in all its forms ''FJAAK THE SYSTEM'' is FJAAK's most definitive album to date, a winding sonic odyssey that surveys the rave landscape, dipping between frantic euphoria and deep contemplation. Featuring sizzling collaborations with Modeselektor, Skee Mask, Red Eye and J.Manuel, the album draws a bold line under FJAAK's 15 years of mischief and mayhem, pulling together 23 tracks (culled from over 300, no less) that truly reflect the duo's boundless enthusiasm for the dancefloor. Grazing UK breakbeat, techno, 2-step, d'n'b, jungle, trip-hop and ambient, these elasticated, hybrid bangers paint a vivid picture of FJAAK's utopian club ideal, a place where genre boundaries evaporate and only the groove remains. Since graduating in audio engineering in the early 2010s, FJAAK have been challenging the logic of a maddeningly conservative club scene with their hardware only live shows, DJ sets a myriad of record releases. In 2019 they launched the label and platform Spandau20 with a steady flow of records and a mixtape series featuring new talent and established artists. With their rebellious attitude and notoriously energetic live sets, the duo have brought back a crucial lost ingredient to the rave: playfulness. And if their well-loved albums 'FJAAK', released on Modeselektor's Monkeytown imprint, and 'Havel' set the scene, 'FJAAK THE SYSTEM' rises above and beyond expectations, creating a new benchmark. It's not just blood, sweat and tears either, FJAAK's advanced technical knowhow and love of synthesizers and drum machines helps them formulate a sound that's conscious of dance music history, but focused on a brighter, more equitable future. Their second single 'And You Feel' is an emotional rollercoaster combining UK breakbeat with a dubstep-influenced bassline wobler and alluring vocals, emulating the moment the mind becomes a tranquil void through the crescendo of adrenaline like a strain of physical exertion. This is reflected on their new music video which shows an unexpected ''rage room'' scene.

For the fifth release called "SAI MATIKA" Rambadu and Claudio PRC immersed themselves into an aquatic landscape and explored its properties.

"Sai", The natural occurrence of ebb and flow, a sacred dance of the earth and our moon.

"Matika", alluring hymns and the rhythmical sounds of air rising up from the deep.

"Aqua", exposes you to the slow churning of the marine blue sea, engulfing us until we are unable to feel the bottom and vortexing sands.

Scan the QR code on the outersleeve for a cymatic experience, visualizing the effects of "Sai" on our fluid bodies.

All sleeves are hand-made with love!

Embark on a rhythmic journey with our latest vinyl release, F4E006 from Frieds 4 Ever. This 180-gram vinyl features two tracks recorded at 45 RPM, each a unique exploration into the heart of African musical traditions. On the A side, lose yourself in the enchanting beats of “Touareg.” Inspired by the nomadic Tuareg people, this track weaves a tapestry of tribal rhythms and modern sounds, capturing the spirit of the African desert. Let the music carry you across the sands with its hypnotic groove. Flipping to the B side, discover the pulsating rhythms of “Afreekah.” This track takes you deep into the heart of the continent, blending traditional influences with contemporary flair. Immerse yourself in the vibrant sounds of Africa as “Afreekah” unfolds, echoing the diverse musical landscapes of the continent. F4E006 is more than a record; it’s an exploration of cultural richness through music. Limited in its release, this vinyl promises a premium auditory experience, where the weight of each beat is felt in the depth of the 180-gram vinyl. Spin it, feel it, and let the rhythms of Africa resonate through your speakers.

WAREHOUSE FIND

Deviation Classics celebrates the legacy of the legendary London club night and record label created by Benji B and Judah in 2007. Famously "one of London's most aurally audacious nights”, Benji B’s Deviation is a name synonymous with music and at the forefront of London’s culture scene and within music internationally.

The collector’s box will include four 12” vinyl including 20 carefully selected tracks, many of which have previously been unavailable on vinyl or hard to find and all capturing those key moments from the past 13 years. The compilation will also be accompanied by an exclusive mix curated by founder Benji B marking the end of this chapter for Deviation, the mix will be available to purchase on CD and streamed or downloaded on Bandcamp and all major digital platforms.

Spanning all genres of music, the compilation comprises tracks from Moodymann, James Blake, Joy Orbison and Flying Lotus and many more from across Deviation’s impressive roster of guests. Though several of the tracks went on to become hits, all of them became part of Deviation’s regular playlist and are now considered to be part of the Deviation DNA - a club night that has its own sound, its own hits and its own classics. The tracks highlight how the best club residencies can hone and shape their own identity, where reactions from the dance floor can influence which tracks make it into the resident sets to become future classics, and how a single tune can conjure the nostalgia of an era, venue, place and time.

Including regular staples from Benji B’s resident sets, the DJ comments: “This album showcases the tunes that got the biggest reactions month after month, drawn from my sets at Deviation over the years. They would not only be my choice, but also the choice of the Deviation regulars. Not all of these were necessarily big tunes outside of the club night – some would go on to be, but some could be 12-inch B-sides, album cuts or unreleased dubplates that went off when dropped for the very first time, and then became our own classics: all certified Deviation anthems in their own way”

K S R introduces this pulsating collection features Lee Holman's EP, showcasing his mastery of the genre. Don't miss the mind-blowing remix by "Kaiser", the label owner. Brace yourself for an exceptional auditory adventure. #KSR011

The latest by New York-based producer Lamin Fofana further refines his cinematic dialect of fractured soundscapes, displaced rhythms, and tectonic unease. Unsettling scores aptly describes itself: grainy, bristling, and bruised, rippling with dread disguised as grandeur. The collection emerged from an extended reworking of his 2016 composition, “A Symbol of the Withdrawn God,” mining deeper into the piece’s “unvoiced fragments, shards, and utterances.” Other tracks were inspired by recent readings on climate emergency and its “specific implications for Black life, from hurricanes in the Caribbean to mudslides in West Africa.”

Fofana has spoken of his music as part of a “legacy of resistance,” spanning the roots of Detroit techno to the outer reaches of contemporary sound art as championed by his labels, Sci-Fi & Fantasy and Black Studies. His work here vividly embodies that spirit, seven hyper-textural transmissions of rumbling lament, shifting sands, and restless innovation, tracing jagged silhouettes of indeterminate futures: “The instability is worldwide.”

Carved out from between the cracks of life over a 2 year period, Low Flung presents his eighth full length album ‘The Wheel’. Together, the 11 tracks provide a space to process and sit with difficult change. This takes the form of microscopic minimalist landscapes. Presented in both audio and physical form as micro grooves on a 12” vinyl.

At times the sound wanders and walks, other times it remains still, clear and precise. The omni-present artifacts found in ‘The Wheel’ are left to breathe a different life during each listen. Drones act like familiar trails losing their path as space transforms like a breeze over a table of sand. Hyper focused spores evolve around blurred waves of time. Electronic tones are captured flowing to the rhythm of a decaying natural world.

‘The Wheel’ is a patchwork of sonic experiments made using modular synthesis, fixed architecture synthesis, Buchla Music Easel (replica), outboard effects, cassette manipulation techniques, samplers and field recordings taken along the texturally rich and historically questionable eastern coastline of Australia.

The tracks have been composed with a materiality that embraces the acoustics of different listening environments. Much like mood, this means each listening experience is unique due to the natural acoustics of your listening space. The sounds on this album embrace this phenomena, creating a rich, visceral listening experience that slowly scratches away at discrete moments of time

Rather than attempting to traverse new sonic fields of experimentation in ‘The Wheel’, the album touches on the various spaces Danny has explored over the past ten years as an Audio Visual artist. Although technically eighth, it would be more fitting to say this album draws a clear line from ‘Blow Waves (2018)’ to ‘Outside The Circle (2020)’ to become the third and final chapter in the expanded non linear, unintentional landscape series. Serendipitous that each was conceived over 2 year periods of time.

While the key focus is sitting with difficult change, this album is also a celebration of any moment you might find yourself in. Good, bad, easy or hard, this album is an attempt to help with feeling content wherever you are along your path. With each cycle a new context.

repressed !

It takes a lot to achieve the status of legendary or era defining in dance music, its sands shift so quickly artists, genres and labels have often come and gone before you realise.

So it's with some pride and deserved justification that Yoshitoshi marks its 20th anniversary with celebratory remix packages of its most iconic tracks.

Already riding high in the Beatport charts with the success of the Uto Karem and Robosonic mixes of Eddie Amadors House Music, the latter of which has spent the past month in the overall top 5, the label now plans a one, two punch with the follow-up: Alcatraz seminal Giv Me Luv.

We thought long and hard about how we scheduled this 20th anniversary project, says label boss Sharam, little point launching big and then following up with a whimper so we deliberately chose Alcatraz for this difficult task.
But the challenge didnt end there; a massive record still deserves a massive remix and I think its safe to say we found the perfect woman for the job...

Step forward undisputed techno titan Nicole Moudaber who leapt at the opportunity to remix the track.
Ive got so many fond memories of Giv Me Luv, it was one of my favourite tunes from my formative clubbing days, recalls Nicole happily, so, when Yoshi mentioned the idea of me remix-ing it I just couldn't say no.

In fact I was so familiar with Alcatraz I was already awash with ideas of what I could, or should, do with it.

As I got into the mix one of those ideas just grew and grew, namely an extended breakdown that constantly builds; layering the memorable vocal to an intense pay-off and (hopeful) moment of real dancefloor drama. Nicoles humble description doesn't quite do the end result justice, which is a modern, masterful take on the classic.
Her iconic techno beats, dark twisted stabs and arrangement of that bassline drive toward the mentioned break, which will undoubtedly rival the fireworks of any impending NYE celebrations. In fact, expect this track to be THE soundtrack to many a dance floor come the all-important hand-over to 2015. And, just in case that weren't enough, Yoshi has also secured the skills of Tent Cantrelle to deliver the perfect deep house foil to Nicoles techno ferocity as Sharam concludes, We wanted a real slice of contemporary funk from the companion mix.

Yoshi is synonymous with exploring the line between deep house and techno, perhaps no more so than during its formative years, so this re-mix completes the package perfectly.

Tigercub are a UK alternative rock trio known for their dark, cinematic sound that blends heavy riffs with melodic depth. Fusing elements of grunge, alt-rock, and post-punk, the band delivers emotionally charged songwriting and powerful live performances. Praised for their balance of aggression and atmosphere, Tigercub have toured with acts like Royal Blood, Chevelle, and Highly Suspect, cementing their reputation as one of the most dynamic bands in modern rock.

TOULOUSE'S BEATMAKER'S NEW ALBUM

AN ALBUM BLENDING HIP-HOP, TRIP-HOP AND ELECTRONIC MUSIC

FEAT. SAILORMO, YFFA, BVA, JMAN, BLACKOUT JA, YUGEN BLAKROK, CESCHI, GRIN, PALOMA PRADA

It’s been 12 years since Karizma’s last album, and in that time the world has changed beyond recognition.
What has remained constant is Karizma’s commitment to constantly pushing the boundaries of his sound and defying categorization, effortlessly moving from down-tempo soul, hip-hop, house and electronic dance, and connecting it all with his emotive production and his ear for moving a dance- floor.
“Can’t Call !t” is a double album that sees Karizma craft 17 tracks to take his music in ever new directions. As always, he pours his heart into every cut, always with a message and purpose of intent.
Like all of us, Karizma’s wondering what comes next, which way things will go. Can you call it?

Soul of Anubis is a power duo formed in 2010 from the North of Portugal. Their music is a blast on stage with a ferocity of sound that goes from thrash to sludge, capturing doom and post-metal at same time, performing energetic and contagious live acts. "Ritual" represents the passage from life to death and rebirth into a new cycle. During these last years, we have lost beloved ones, we have lost the freedom to breathe, we have lost some companionship and we had to fight to lift our souls back on trial. In Egyptian mythology, Ra, God of the Sun, goes down to the underworld every night to help the dead cross to the other world and ensure that a new dawn would happen. So, "Ritual" is a memorial to our beloved ones who passed away, speaks for the mental struggle that everyone has to face to overcome their demons and glorifies the victory of rebirth. As we have our demons, this is our ritual to cross our pathway.