Cerca:second effect

2025 Reissue.



Münchenbuchsee, a suburb of Bern, Switzerland. Stephan Eicher is the youngest of three children. His father, a radio and TV repairman, is also a jazz violinist and a sound tinkerer in his spare time. In the family home's converted fallout shelter turned studio, Mr. Eicher experiments with homemade sequencers, tortures handcrafted drum machines, and abuses reel-to-reel tape recorders—all under the fascinated gaze of young Stephan.

The boy quickly develops a musical curiosity, exploring sound through various experiments and wanderings. Alongside his younger brother Martin, Stephan crafts audio plays on a homemade multi-track recorder (essentially several cassette decks hooked together!), which they write, record, add sound effects to, and perform for family and friends. Just a couple of nice kids, really...

Then comes 1972, and Lou Reed's Transformer album changes everything for the Eicher kids. For 13-year-old Stephan, it's a revelation—especially "Vicious", the opening track, which he plays on repeat for months. He convinces his father to buy him an electric guitar. Not stopping there, his father also builds him a tube amp using an old radio.

Then comes adolescence. A rough one. Stephan leaves home at 16 and moves to Zurich. With obvious artistic talent, he persuades his art teacher to help him get into F+F, a radical, alternative art school—despite his young age. Accepted, he starts learning video techniques, determined to become a filmmaker.

At F+F, Stephan organizes Dada-style happenings and concerts with a group of friends known as the Noise Boys. Among them: one of his teachers on bass, Veit Stauffer on drums (who would later found ReR/Recommended Records), his girlfriend Sacha on vocals, and Stephan on guitar. In one of their early performances, they release a remote-controlled mouse covered in dull razor blades into the audience to create panic and chaos. Keeping with this aggressive, confrontational spirit, they once played a concert while wearing headphones blasting Tristan and Isolde, trying to perform their own songs simultaneously—to maximize the cacophony. The goal was always the same: clear the room.

Their “songs,” if you can call them that, followed suit. Take "Hungeriges Afrika", for instance—performed entirely with power drills and some drum feedback.

To make ends meet, Stephan returns to Bern on weekends to work as a waiter at the Spex Club, the city’s main punk venue. On September 16, 1980, during a show by proto-electro group Starter, the police raid the club and arrest everyone. Stephan, who manages to avoid arrest, seizes the opportunity to “borrow” Starter’s gear left behind. He suddenly finds himself in possession of a Roland Promars synth, a Korg MS20, and a gorgeous CR78 drum machine, which he runs through a Big Muff distortion pedal to get that perfect gritty sound.

He then sets out to reinterpret some Noise Boys tracks, reworking them during impromptu sessions recorded on a dictaphone (yes, a dictaphone—now the lo-fi sound makes more sense, doesn’t it?). He ironically titles the resulting cassette "Stephan Eicher spielt Noise Boys" ("Stephan Eicher plays Noise Boys"). This gem features seven tracks, which are the ones reissued here.

Back in Zurich, he visits his friends Andrew Moore and Robert Vogel, who have a DIY cassette duplication setup. They make 25 copies of Stephan Eicher spielt Noise Boys for Stephan and his friends. Robert encourages him to visit Urs Steiger of Off Course Records and play him the tape.

Without much hope, Stephan shows up at Urs’s office. But Urs is instantly hooked and suggests releasing a 7” single. Due to space constraints, they reluctantly drop two of the seven tracks ("Hungeriges Afrika" and "One Second"). As for the musical score featured on the cover—it was randomly chosen and remains a mystery to this day. Calling all music theory nerds!

The 7-inch is pressed in 750 copies and released in the first week of December 1980—a date Stephan remembers well, as it’s the same week John Lennon was killed. Smartly, Urs sends a promo copy to François Murner, Switzerland’s answer to John Peel, who hosts a show on alternative station Sounds. Murner falls in love with the record and starts giving it airtime. To Stephan’s surprise, sales follow—and people actually seem interested in his music.

Even this modest underground success scares Stephan a bit. He stops making music for a year and moves to Bologna, where he works as a programmer at Radio Città, a feminist radio station.

Meanwhile, Stephan’s younger brother Martin, who’s also involved in the punk scene, joins the band Glueams as a singer and guitarist. Glueams, named after the fanzine run by two of its members (drummer Marco Repetto and bassist GT), eventually rebrands as Grauzone. Stephan is invited to their shows to project hacked Super 8 visuals live on stage.

Urs Steiger, now working on a compilation titled Swiss Wave – The Album, asks Grauzone to contribute alongside bands like Liliput, Jack and the Rippers, The Sick, and Ladyshave (Fall 1980).

For the album, Martin tasks Stephan with producing their recording sessions. Under Stephan's artistic direction, two tracks emerge: "Raum" and "Eisbär". During "Eisbär", Martin plays a minimalist bass line borrowed from post-punk band The Feelies (just an open string). Drummer Marco Repetto struggles to keep time. Later that evening, unhappy with the takes, Stephan builds a four-bar drum loop from a ¼-inch tape and uses it instead of the flawed original. He then adds bleepy synths and wind sounds to complete the track’s icy vibe before handing it over to Urs.

The Swiss Wave – The Album compilation is released quietly at first, but things snowball thanks to "Eisbär", which eventually becomes a smash hit—selling over 600,000 singles.

Meanwhile, Stephan plays in a rockabilly band called SMUV (named after Switzerland’s social security agency) and begins producing artists, including the debut album of Starter (1981), which includes a more pop-oriented version of "Minijupe".

By early 1982, Stephan starts spending time with the post-punk girl band Liliput (formerly Kleenex). They’re older than him, and he happily drives them around in his Renault Major, acting as their roadie.

By 1983, Grauzone—signed to the major label EMI, which turned out to be a misstep—is falling apart. Stephan begins to pivot toward a more mainstream pop sound with his debut solo album Les Chansons Bleues.

But that... is already another story.

TWINS from Dresden, Leipzig, and Berlin present their second album in a particularly antiquated format: the LP in the truest sense of the word. Eight songs that are actually one. Without noticeable boundaries. Musically fragmentary, yet consistent and coherent. An album from which no song can be easily extracted; at least not without partially losing its actual effect in the process of separation. All components of the album need each other in a certain way, and it is precisely this peculiarity that gives rise to its musically emancipated strength. "it"s_complicated" is an album like a strange, brittle radio play amidst idiosyncratic post-hardcore, math rock, screamo, noise, and indie elements. A journey of musical possibilities.

At the beginning of the 1960s, at the Berklee College of Music, Byard Lancaster met some feisty friends: Sonny Sharrock, Dave Burrell and Ted Daniel. It is easy to see why he rapidly became involved in free jazz. Once he was settled in New York, he appeared on Sunny Murray Quintet, recorded under the leadership of the drum crazy colleague of Albert Ayler.



In 1968, the saxophonist and flutist recorded his first album under his own name: It’s Not Up To Us. The following year he came to Paris in the wake of… Sunny Murray. He would come back to France in 1971 (again with Murray) and in 1973 (without Murray for a change). This is when he met Jef Gilson, the pianist and producer who encouraged him to record under his own name again.

On Palm Records (Gilson’s label), he would release four albums: Us, Mother Africa, Exactement and Funny Funky Rib Crib.



A few months after recording “Us”, Lancaster recorded “Mother Africa” along with Clint Jackson III, a trumpeter, partner of Khan Jamal or Noah Howard on other recordings.

On march 8th, 1974, Lancaster and Jackson headed up a group composed of Jean-François Catoire (electric and double bass), Keno Speller (percussion) and Jonathan Dickinson (drums).


Together, they create an immediate impression. From the first seconds of “We The Blessed”, they develop a free jazz which rapidly abandons any virulence under the effect of blues and soul based interventions.

When Gilson’s composition “Mother Africa” begins, listeners are transported into the studio, listening to the musicians setting up: chatting and joking… Then comes the melody: a dozen or so notes of a repeated theme which is accelerated and deformed according to their whims… The jazz played by the association Byard Lancaster / Clint Jackson III is rare: creative AND recreational. “We the blessed”, is apt listening to this again today!

This CD edition contains a bonus track, the magnificent “Love Always” that was originally released on the fourth (and last) volume of the Jef Gilson Anthology series released in 1975.


Recorded on 8th March 1974, it is a beautiful 15-minute-long modal jazz piece. Four notes from the bass (the relentless Jean-François Catoire, who makes up the rhythm section alongside drummer Jonathan Dickinson and percussionist Keno Speller), and the group is up and running!

On piano, Gilson shows the subtle tact of a sideman, leaving the lions’ share of the place to the horns. This allows us to hear the trumpet of Clint Jackson III and the alto (which sometimes sounds almost flute-like) of Byard Lancaster each staking their claim in a long hallucinatory march which moves from moments of direct exaltation to profoundly sensitive collective playing.

After the highly successful release of their second album “March Of The Unheard” in January 2025, which charted #3 in Sweden, #4 in Germany and Austria, #8 in Finland and Switzerland, melodic death metal all-star group THE HALO EFFECT celebrated a triumphant series of shows on their first EU headlining tour (supported by fellow Swedes PAIN), now follows an EP with cover songs handpicked by each member of the band offering a stunning and surprising insight into THE HALO EFFECTS’ diverse influences.

»La Traversée« (»The Crossing«) is Matthias Puech’s second album for Hallow Ground and follows up on 2023’s »Mt. Hadamard National Park.« Profoundly inspired by re-reading »The Odyssey,« the French composer, instrument designer, and scholar used a Eurorack modular synthesizer to create four pieces that are by far the most intuitive and emotionally charged in his ever-expanding catalogue. Puech’s masterful command of sound comes to the forefront with even more urgency on this record. A wandering meditation on the human condition, »La Traversée« is an album that is constantly in motion—complex electronic music at its most gripping and evocative.

The foundation for »La Traversée« was laid when Puech prepared a live set for a tour organised in collaboration with Hallow Ground in support of »Mt. Hadamard National Park.« Before writing the first three pieces—»Ennosigaios,« »Polyphármakos,« »Nekuia«—the 18½-minute-long »Ithâké« was composed in near-total isolation in the South of France at the end of 2023. Puech performed the material live several times before taking a step black from it for a while. He revisited the pieces when preparingthem for a release. »I was struck by how the technical process and the intention behind the music had completely vanished from my memory,« he says.

What remained intact, however, was Puech’s association of the material with one of the most influential texts of Western literature. Reading a graphic novel adaptation of »The Odyssey« with his two four-year-olds, he noticed the effect that it had on them and himself. »Its themes of longing, fear of and attraction to the unknown, unresolved quests, and the struggle for control felt topical,« he says. »I was completely taken. Every story ever told seemed contained in this ancient tale; every story I have ever tried to tell as a composer seemed inscribed in this framework.« This also extended to formal motifs such as the repetition of incidents, narrative developments, or dramatic effects that also mark »La Traversée.«

Puech says that he perceived Homer’s writing as musical, »like an old Delta blues or a Renaissance counterpoint,« which inspired his writing process. »With a couple of knobs on my Eurorack system, I could control the unfolding of a story,« he notes. »This made me pass through different emotional statesand led to moments in which everything made sudden sense—when you as an artist get a glimpse atsomething essential, can touch upon something universal.« This shines through »La Traversée,« a wildly imaginative album that is deeply personal while also telling a story far more wide-reaching than that of its creator.

Do you believe in spring? Simon Wangen (cello) and Philipp Sutter (piano) pose this question as the title for their new project. Whereas Bill Evans made a demand in 1981, the two Cologne-based musicians believe that in times of uncertainty, crisis, and environmental destruction, it is ok to set a questin mark here. But politics and world events aside: Do you believe in spring? Of course! It's never too late to start something new, get creative, and test your own limits. Simon Wangen is a classically trained cellist, Philipp Sutter a trained jazz pianist. Their different musical roots merge on this instrumental album into a lively mix of neoclassical, new jazz, and Cinéma Nordique. Ten pieces come across as sometimes dark, sometimes wild, sometimes delicate, always focusing on the dialogue between the two instruments that harmonize so well. The subtle use of electronic effects constantly opens up new perspectives and builds a bridge to contemporary sound aesthetics. Cello and piano—this combination has been established for centuries, but can still add new facets today. Do you believe in spring? begins stormily and turbulently, oscillating between romantic, sad, and beautiful moments, and leads from a rather dark beginning to the final and eponymous piece in C major, which leaves the listener with a glimmer of hope. Do you believe in spring? From October 24, 2025!


Do you believe in spring? Simon Wangen (Cello) und Philipp Sutter (Klavier) werfen den Titel für ihr neues Projekt als Frage in den Raum. Wo Bill Evans 1981 eine Forderung formulierte, sind die beiden Kölner Musiker der Ansicht, in Zeiten der Unsicherheit, der Krisen und Umweltzerstörung durchaus ein Fragezeichen setzen zu können. Aber abgesehen von Politik und Weltgeschehen: Do you believe in spring? Natürlich! Es ist nie zu spät, etwas Neues zu beginnen, kreativ zu werden und die eigenen Grenzen zu testen. Simon Wangen ist klassisch ausgebildeter Cellist, Philipp Sutter studierter Jazzpianist. Die unterschiedlichen musikalischen Wurzeln verschmelzen auf diesem Instrumentalalbum zu einer lebendigen Mischung aus Neoklassik, New Jazz und Cinéma Nordique. Zehn Stücke kommen mal düster, mal wild, mal zart daher, stets die Zwiesprache der beiden so gut harmonierenden Instrumente im Fokus. Der dezente Einsatz elektronischer Effekte öffnet immer wieder neue Perspektiven und schlägt eine Brücke zur zeitgenössischen Klangästhetik. Cello und Klavier - diese Besetzung ist seit Jahrhunderten etabliert, aber kann auch aktuell immer wieder neue Facetten hinzubekommen. Do you believe in spring? beginnt stürmisch und aufgewühlt, changiert zwischen romantisch - traurig - schönen Momenten und führt von einem eher düsteren Beginn hin zum letzten und namensgebenden Stück in C-Dur, das die Zuhörenden mit einem Hoffnungsschimmer entlässt. Do you believe in spring? Ab 24.10.2025!

2025 REPRESS

A DJ, producer and significant figure in contemporary electronic music, Marcel Dettmann steps forward to contribute to Running Back’s ongoing Mastermix series. Whereas previous editions of Mastermix have taken an ear to the sound of lapsed, legendary clubs such as Wild Pitch and Front, Dettmann’s curation deftly captures the man himself in ongoing perpetual motion, raiding the vault for his own precision-tooled edits, long-employed on dancefloors to devastating effect. Alongside a continuous mix, this release arrives as a 3LP gatefold, and as a limited edition cassette.

Closely associated with Berlin’s techno landscape, Dettmann was born and raised in the former GDR, then later immersed in the bleary-eyed counter cultural landscape of post-unification Berlin. Initially oriented by post-punk, industrial and new-wave music, Dettmann has been DJing since 1993, always expanding and perfecting his repertoire. He later began working behind the counter at the city’s tastemaking rave boutique Hard Wax, and a decade after he first dropped a needle, became (and remains) resident at notable local nightspot Berghain/Panorama Bar, where his instincts have helped sculpt the signature sound of both main dancefloors.

Of course, you’re probably not asking, “Who is Marcel Dettmann?” More importantly, you might want to know; just what treats has he gifted us here? The trip begins with a simple pitch-shift skywards, transforming Identified Patient’s creeping ‘The Female Medical College of Pennsylvania’ into a peak-time freakout, before an alternate take on Toctronic’s ‘Bis uns das Licht vertreibt’ emerges from the vaults for the first time. Dating from 1995, and one of Dettmann’s all-time favourites, Cristian Vogel’s ‘Untitled’ clambers back into the box with respectable cuts, while John Bender’s ‘Victims of A Victimless Crime’ kicks off the flip sporting a new arrangement, transporting us back to the foundations of a confident, stripped-back sound.

A few subtle edits to Clark’s perilously funky ‘Dirty Pixie’ takes us to Dettmann’s remix of Junior Boys. Produced in 2010, it transposes the Canadian duo’s sophisticated pop with our curator in his minimal prime, and has since become an irresistible prize for high-minded diggers. The same can be said for Experimental Products’ explosive proto-electro anthem ‘Who Is Kip Jones?’, empowered from pricey Discogs purgatory with just the slightest of tweaks. It’s deservedly sandwiched between the guiding influences of Chicago and Detroit in the form of Mutant Beat Dance’s raw ‘The Human Factor’ and a shimmering new version of previous solo production ‘Water’, featuring close friend and Ostgut Ton ally, Ryan Elliot.

The second half of the Mastermix seamlessly connects the mechanical past and digital present of EBM and industrial in the dance, with Dettmann’s instincts as a guiding hand. Severed Heads’ iconic ‘We Have Come To Bless This House’ emerges with mere nips and tucks, while Nitzer Ebb’s ‘Shame’ is significantly reimagined as a highwire act of rhythm and tension, setting up a sensual second take on a 2017 remix of ‘Limbo’ from Swiss synth heroes, Yello.

Core musical memories are shaken and stirred with a context-shifting take on Frank Duval’s emotional classic ‘Ogon’, while Ian North’s ‘Sex Lust You’ and Ford Proco’s notable Coil collaboration ‘Expansion Naranja’ effectively throb with only minor adjustments, respectfully imagined as “shadow versions”. Meanwhile, a simple breakbeat lifts Albert Kuningas’s ‘Astraalprojektio’ in the direction of wide-eyed dancefloors, while a fresh take on K-Alexi Shelby’s ‘Season of The Real’ inexplicably emerges somehow even funkier than before.

The conclusion of the compilation leads back to Das Tier from the prolific experimentalist Conrad Schnitzler, whose swirling synths and hypnotic vocals are duly tightened by Dettmann, but only as he puts it, “in conversation with the original.” Concluding three discs and thirty years of commitment to the dancefloor, this Mastermix not only offers us the opportunity to eavesdrop on this endless exchange, but to gain some sought-after material for our own record collections.

Kalita are proud to present a 2-year anniversary repress of Emerson’s 1988 mythical electro boogie grail ‘Sending All My Love Out’, accompanied by two remixes courtesy of the genre’s most respected innovators, Egyptian Lover and Detroit In Effect. Limited to only 500 copies, pressed on electrifying yellow 12” vinyl.

Originally privately released as an obscure 7” single on LAS Records, operated by visionary power couple Emerson and Leora Sandidge, ‘Sending All My Love Out’ has since transformed into a hallowed grail among dance music collectors, enthusiasts and DJs alike, commanding sky-high prices on the second-hand scene.

A late 80’s electro boogie anthem, featuring a heavy mix of synthesizer and drum-machine euphoria, overlaid with Emerson and Leora’s own vocals, the recording truly is in a league of its own.

And to do justice to its legendary status, Kalita has dusted off the original multi-track master tapes and enlisted two of the electro scene’s most revered figures, namely Egyptian Lover and Detroit In Effect, to remix and elevate the track in their own signature style.

A truly special release.

With HANKY XX, James Eleganz (formerly of Success) and Goulven Hamel (Philippe Pascal, Santa Cruz, The Celtic Social Club) reinvent country music by blending it with sound effects, samples, and a striking cinematic universe. Their debut album, Under A Western Sky, produced by the ZRP label, is a powerful and unique concept album that explores madness, identity, and reinvention. Between poetic narratives and sonic experimentation, HANKY XX surprises with its audacity and originality. The highlight: a completely reinvented cover of Taylor Swift's cult song "The Last Great American Dynasty," already tipped as a hit single. With a vinyl and CD release, HANKY XX offers an album that will appeal to folk and indie fans alike, as well as those curious to discover new musical experiences. A project at the crossroads of genres, tailored to appeal to a demanding audience... and naturally find its place in record stores.

Chris Menist pares his sound right back for A book of imaginary beings, his fourth Awkward Corners outing with a project of electronic and abstracted global grooves. Experimenting with simple melodies and uncluttered arrangements, as well as taking inspiration from the Borges' short stories alluded to in the title, the project took shape in the early part of 2025, in the shorter days and dark evenings of January.

The initial challenge was to knock a basic track into shape each evening after work, then refine it later. There's a melancholy in the air in late winter, compounded by the creeping threat of national and geopolitical instability. Ulla, Natural Information Society, Jabu, Torso and Dawuna formed some of the background soundtrack as each tune took shape.

The track titles came after sitting with the sounds for a while, giving shape to images of people, creatures and their stories for a book that is yet to be written.

Two former friends sets the tone for the album perfectly as a minimal electronic piece with a slowly simmering synth bassline underpinning the groove whilst the trademark Awkward sound of the Shahi Baaja enters drenched in effects. It's the first demonstration of Chris' unique ability to create a world from apparently very little.

Dance of the silver beetles is completely unique in that we can hear chopped up Illimba samples seemingly playing backwards and forewords sometimes alone, sometimes together in duet with Chris' conga rhythms. Add to that a more conventional Illimba melody and added shaker percussion and you have one of A book of imaginary beings most curious chapters.

Anxious shadow puppets is closer to the Awkward Corners sound from previous albums as electronic pulses move around the arrangement with the urgency that the track title suggests. Chris' percussive roots move to the fore with the congas that tie down the Paradise Bangkok Molam International Band's sound. Here, the bassline is more playful and works together with one of Chris' many African Illimbas.

Fans of Chris' adventures on his Roland 808 will dig A leopard with no spots, although the minimal mood continues to flow through on this track. The lolloping, but hard-hitting rhythm track provides the grounding for strange and twisting feedback-sounding tones to work the soundscape.

Abandoned boy (left in charge of the family business) is Awkward Corners at his atmospheric best. Drift off to the sublime sounds of Chris exploring the Shahi Baaja, whilst a soft, repetitive synth line and abstracted pads give the listener that feeling of meditation and peace.

Flamingo with bandaged neck is A book of imaginary beings' perfect coda and is exclusively Shahi Baaja draped in reverbs and delays. It feels like the resolution and the closing of a book that – as of yet – remains unwritten.

Awkward Corners is Chris Menist, a musician, DJ and writer. It started life as a small project in Islamabad, where Chris was living at the time. Initial recordings were made with local musicians in Pakistan and then subsequently in Thailand. This culminated in the Sweet Decay LP that came out on Finders Keepers' Disposable Music in 2014, and in turn led to a limited tape release on Boomkat/Reel Torque of original compositions and re-edits of Thai 45s the same year. Chris released – Dislocation Songs – his second LP proper with Shapes of Rhythm in May 2020, collaborating on many of the tracks with award-winning performer Sarathy Korwar. The LP was picked up by many radio stations including NTS, Resonance FM, BBC 6 Music, Balamii and many more. It made Tom Ravenscroft's LPs of 2020. Amateur Dramatics, Chris' second LP arrived just a year later in 2021 and was a more ambitious project featuring more jazz-focussed compositions and featuring Tamar Osborn and Kitty Whitelaw. Shortly after that came another pivot with the heavier, dancefloor-friendly EP Somebody Somewhere. Somebody Somewhere is Dancing in a Field brought the House (yes House!) vibes, whilst Hector Plimmer turned in a remix of No Words in the same club mood.

As one of NTS Radio's longest-standing presenters, Chris continues to hold down the Paradise Bangkok show. Playing drums and percussion since he was a kid, Chris is the percussionist for The Paradise Bangkok Molam International Band as well as co-founding the record label of the same name. Chris has curated compilations for labels such as Finders Keepers, Soundway and Dust-To-Digital. He has been featured on the Boiler Room, Vinyl Factory Collections, played at the Four Tet curated Nuits Sonores festival, and has put together an edition of Volumes which featured unreleased Awkward Corners compositions.






[d] 04: All the Goodbyes (You Tried to Defer) [Original]





[j] 10: Abandoned Boy (Left in Charge of the Family Business) [Original]

Stone classic Bullwackies (as excursioned by Rhythm & Sound for Burial Mix), sensationally featuring two unreleased dubs, newly extracted from the master reels. Both are equally unmissable but quite different, with contrasting effects: the second dub adds ninety seconds, including whip-dem spring reverb. Drawn from the Selective Showcase LP, the vocal mix is more open and dubwise than the Sing & Shout LP offering, with less keyboards.
Asked whether it should be mash or march, after some pondering Bullwackies replied: "That's a good question.'

“Warning! Night Time Listening Advised!”

In early spring 2023, with the end of COVID-19 in China, MK helped produce this album for Rubey. Focusing on the piano atmosphere and framework of the Night Piano Project, MK added some flowing sounds and textures to Rubey’s original tracks using a guitar, delay effects, and a synthesizer. At the same time, Ding Mao, another member of the band Hualun, contributed on two tracks. Of course, all production processes were completed at night; capturing the quiet atmosphere of traditional Eastern natural landscapes and transforming them with indoor amorous feelings. These melodies and notes wander and travel through different times and spaces, and ultimately converge in different rooms.

“In Different Rooms” is the second solo album by Rubey, a keyboardist from the band Hualun. It is also Rubey’s second album release since producing the soundtrack for the movie “Virgin Blue” in 2022. It includes 8 works created between 2020 and 2023. Rubey and MK are located in Beijing and Shenzhen respectively. Just like many of Hualun’s works, the original idea for “In Different Rooms” came from Rubey’s daily piano improvisation practice. Named the “Night Piano Project”, Rubey would spend his nights playing his YAMAHA electric piano.

With his first EP on Token, Phara conjures up four tracks detailing dancefloor impact with robust personality. In 'Second Skin', the Belgian artist is eager for resolution, keeping tension high with the bold analog sound he's known for. Coming eye to eye with the label's sound, Phara pays homage to Token while fiercely defending years of artistic direction - layering the label's astral ambiance with his unstoppable movement.

'Second Skin' sets Phara's intentions clear. The titletrack rolls forward like heavy machinery with what seems like shifting vocals breathing life into the stereo image. This first cut is a gold standard of peaktime production, creating a sense of purpose at the core of urgency. Claps and rides boom and whip around the track that lumbers on with chord stabs to add soul to flare. 'The Ring', however, takes the listener into another direction. Heavily centered on the drum sequence with a sharp slap-back delay, Phara plays with resonance, sparking psychosis amongst movement. Playful in the short term, 'The Ring' proves to be an ultra-hypnotic track reserved for a set's high intensity stretches on an already surrendered dancefloor. Taking this energy and pulling it in, 'Neon' comes to establish a bit more intimacy at first. Here, the producer diffuses his elements into themselves and, in turn, creates a thick ambiance that drives the record forward in space and dissonance. 'Neon' is inquisitive and almost spiritual in its effect, playing with the line between a unified dancefloor and an introspective journey. The conclusion to the EP is 'Blood', a return to dryer production - at least in the beginning. Ambient, almost psychedelic synth work sucks in the listener over unwavering energy to create a closing track worthy of its name. Rolling through to the end, 'Blood' delivers the final blow to an insatiable record on Token by Phara.

Carrboro, NC’s inimitable synthesizer duo MARV follow up their well-received 2021 opus Keyboard Suite I with a second volume co-released by enmossed and Softer Recordings. As a (regrettably) posthumous release, Keyboard Suite II documents MARV in their fully matured state with melodies that eschew easy categorization and a much-expanded studio effects and processing palette. But the same dreamy languidity marking their previous releases remains, drawing us into their visions of a summer day spent in the shade, by a babbling creek. As a storm approaches from the distance - keyboards saturated by tape into distortion, bursts of noise from idiosyncratic electronics, aleatoric stuttering - MARV grants us an album’s worth of sonic sublimation.

South London live dub outfit SLICKnBOBBY return with their second dosage of deep dub and steppers sonics on this double single with Liam Bailey.

Fresh from supporting Greentea Peng at her largest London show, and playing Glastonbury and Notting Hill Carnival, the South London live dub outfit return to Touching Bass with "Dance Affi Nice/Juicy Bubble". SLICKnBOBBY and soul troubadour Liam Bailey fuse modern ragga and steppers dub with deep effect.

Lard’s Pure Chewing Satisfaction is the second landmark album of the industrial-hardcore collision between vocals of Jello Biafra with the patented wall of noise assault and studio wizardry of Ministry founders Paul Barker and Al Jourgensen!
Originally released in 1997, Pure Chewing Satisfaction is a dark, frightening look at everything wrong in America, and it rings as true now as it ever has. Lyrically its pessimistic and apocalyptic, tackling topics like looking for work, the legacy of the Me Generation and their failures, to environmental disasters. Sonically, the album is an avalanche of both real and electronic drums, menacing effects galore, and layers of machine gun guitars. Not quite punk rock, nor completely industrial—this is Lardcore for the people!

A must have for fans of Jello Biafra’s work and of Ministry, the result remains another classic release from this legendary collaboration. This long awaited repress now features in addition to the wide release on black vinyl, a limited solid-pink vinyl edition!
Praise The Lard!

SIDE B returns with the second installment of its newly established label, this time with Rill at the helm. Staying true to effect, the young German producer has honed his percussively forward style with a string of steady releases and performances over the past three years. In his EP 'Friss', Rill delivers three highly concentrated club tracks with a Beste Hira remix closing out the project, assembling a record destined for unforgiving sound systems and frenzied dance floors.

Driving and mental, Rill brews up a viscous first track 'Silky Stones' to make his intentions clear. Shooting through a bubbling lead with percussive stabs wide in the stereo field, the producer uses the element of surprise by sharpening the edge with a sharp key sequence, doubling down on tension to an already hypnotic cut. With no time to waste, the needle slides to 'Rakija', with an imposing groove and quick, dry hats. Characteristically, a dystopian melody warbles over a robust rhythm to ensure maximum movement. Two tracks in and Rill already proves to balance his tools with attitude. Taking a turn on the record flip, the B1 ups the audacity with the title track 'Friss'. Techno usually prioritising kicks is a rule that Rill sweeps aside in exchange for an intimidating bassline with an ecosystem of high frequency ambiance. A testament to balance and spatial definition, the German adopts in fitting chord stabs in the second half to up the ante in a contained manner. To conclude, celebrated Beste Hira puts her spin on the latter for a drum forward eye roller, versatile for almost any dancefloor. Reconceptualizing the rhythmic identity of 'Friss', Beste Hira is able to weather the far off atmospheres while maintaining an emphasized festivity. Combining the best of groove-focused club music with a touch of niche psychedelia, Rill and SIDE B prove that techno is very much alive no matter what side of Europe you search for it.

Words by Noah Hocker

After persistently fine crafting their sound in the studio for two years, the dynamic duo Blame The Mono return to Molekul with a powerful second opus.
Pulse Persisters is an explosive 4-track EP showcasing their vision of fun, creative and genre-bending techno.

Podgorica sets the tone of the EP with its swelling lowend, 2000s evocative acid bassline and intense breakbeat build-up.

Flip The Phase sends you on a face melting journey strewn with stuttering dub chords, playful vocal chops and a jungle section that completely flips the script.

Digital Diva loops a catchy 80s pop diva vocal and combines it with a frantic dub-tinged groove for effective dancefloor results.

Molly Pop sees the duo collaborate with German producer Lifka on an unrelenting psy-influenced peaktime weapon that closes the EP on a strong note.

With its cinematic origins The Odd Couple is the natural title for the second album by a pair who seem to spend as much time in wardrobe as the studio and whose recordings are often compared to film scores. Their greatest hit, 2006's "Crazy" was even built around a chunk of a spaghetti western soundtrack. Yet after the success of 2006's excellent St Elsewhere, the collaboration of singer Thomas "Cee-Lo Green" Callaway and producer Brian "Danger Mouse" Burton has become a permanent institution.

Two years on, The Odd Couple stands up proudly alongside its predecessor. The basic recipe hasn't been drastically altered--Danger Mouse's skittering beats and snap-crackle-pop production still provide the perfect platform for Cee-Lo's mighty, soulful wail. If anything, the pair have refined and sharpened their approach to a razor's edge. The key is the way the musical flavors intersect: the Arthur Lee-meets-N.E.R.D. stroll of "Surprise," the jubilant jumble of gospel/soul/synthpop on "Going On," the Otis Redding-shares-a-treadmill-with-Outkast feel of the single "Run (I'm a Natural Disaster)." The cumulative effect is one of a group whose trick-bag has a never-ending supply of happy surprises.

Ukrainian Riot Grrl Trio 'Death Pill' Return With 'Sologamy' Their Much Anticipated Second Album. Two years on from their sensational debut, Ukrainian 'Riot Grrls' Mariana, Anastasiia and Nataliia, aka Death Pill are back. And back in full force, locked and loaded with a mighty set of tunes, _ as they put it. 'A bold exploration of personal empowerment'. 'SOLOGAMY' is fierce, heavy and melodic. The album's 10 tracks mark a bold evolution in the band's sound and Death Pill really deliver with ferocity and belief through multiple gear changes and genres as if it were easy. Hardcore, punk, grunge, thrash, riot grrrl, emo, are just some of the touchstones this album moves through, and all with the accomplished ferocity and memorable melody the band introduced on their debut. There are cellos, piano's, sound effects and ornate arrangements that open out their sonic palette, there's a bit of pop and even a bit of prog. But rest assured _ It's all pure 'Death Pill'. Thematically 'Sologamy' is, at its core, a celebration of the self! DP says: "The title, inspired by the concept of marrying oneself, speaks to the importance of making a personal commitment to self-care, happiness, and emotional well-being. In an era where that can sometimes be misconstrued as selfishness, Death Pill pushes back against these misconceptions, inviting listeners to embrace the power of prioritizing their own mental and emotional health." "Each track on the album is quite different from the last, and we see this as a way of accepting and supporting yourself in any emotional state. You arrive in this world alone and you leave it alone. The bottom line is: You're the only person you've got. "Every song on the album is a story that happened to us. Maybe it'll happen to you too. But every story deserves to become a song." "Sologamy" is more than just an album-it's a call to action" The very special LP version is not only frosted clear vinyl, but comes w/ foiled sleeve art, poster, sticker and free dlc! CD is nice too.

The new darlings of the American post-rock underground present a collection of well-wrought bangers on their debut full-length album. Powerfully melodic and heavy at the same time, Wield shows the Philadelphia-based quintet mastering their game of creating compelling melodies that sound larger than life. 2022 saw HIROE burst onto the scene with an explosive debut minialbum "Wrought" full of soaring anthems and sublime soundscapes. Combining the sonic expansiveness of Deftones with the dynamic heaviness of bands like ISIS and Caspian, HIROE already figured out how to make the most majestic sounding post-rock early in their career. "Our first, Wrought was a statement of creation," explains principal songwriter EricKusanagi about the intent behind their debut. "This second record is about what to do with that creation. The thought was, we've created this, now how do we wield it?" "We wanted to show a larger range of musical themes on this record," continues Eric. "You'll hear us dive into some synth work, some piano work, some really interesting effects that Mario helped us dial up." Wield packs a lot of details, which are fun to uncover over repeated plays. «Collider» is almost completely driven by high precision tapping leads, which are ingeniously mirrored by the chords on the final climax. «The Crush» sees the band's three guitarists chugging away happily over a clever 7/8 rhythm subtly exchanging thrashy, sludgy and prog-inspired stylings. Nevertheless, Wield is still an affair of instant gratification for fans of guitar driven post-rock. From the soaring leads of «Tides» to the epic finale of «I've Been Waiting For You All My Life», HIROE show they've upped their game in every department, but especially the one that tugs at your heartstrings. Wield presents the brave new future we all need in these confusing times. A new American frontier on which we can build our wildest dreams and our most daring ambitions! FOR FANS OF Caspian, Isis, pg.lost, Red Sparowes, If These Trees Could Talk, Shy Low, Ranges, Pray For Sound

The new darlings of the American post-rock underground present a collection of well-wrought bangers on their debut full-length album. Powerfully melodic and heavy at the same time, Wield shows the Philadelphia-based quintet mastering their game of creating compelling melodies that sound larger than life. 2022 saw HIROE burst onto the scene with an explosive debut minialbum "Wrought" full of soaring anthems and sublime soundscapes. Combining the sonic expansiveness of Deftones with the dynamic heaviness of bands like ISIS and Caspian, HIROE already figured out how to make the most majestic sounding post-rock early in their career. "Our first, Wrought was a statement of creation," explains principal songwriter EricKusanagi about the intent behind their debut. "This second record is about what to do with that creation. The thought was, we've created this, now how do we wield it?" "We wanted to show a larger range of musical themes on this record," continues Eric. "You'll hear us dive into some synth work, some piano work, some really interesting effects that Mario helped us dial up." Wield packs a lot of details, which are fun to uncover over repeated plays. «Collider» is almost completely driven by high precision tapping leads, which are ingeniously mirrored by the chords on the final climax. «The Crush» sees the band's three guitarists chugging away happily over a clever 7/8 rhythm subtly exchanging thrashy, sludgy and prog-inspired stylings. Nevertheless, Wield is still an affair of instant gratification for fans of guitar driven post-rock. From the soaring leads of «Tides» to the epic finale of «I've Been Waiting For You All My Life», HIROE show they've upped their game in every department, but especially the one that tugs at your heartstrings. Wield presents the brave new future we all need in these confusing times. A new American frontier on which we can build our wildest dreams and our most daring ambitions! FOR FANS OF Caspian, Isis, pg.lost, Red Sparowes, If These Trees Could Talk, Shy Low, Ranges, Pray For Sound

"...When I make music, I'm always trying to create a temporary refuge for myself, a refuge from the increasingly frightening world out there. A kind of remote island where I can hide, switch off for a while, feel at peace. In any case, I feel inner peace when making this music, and I hope, in some way, it does the same for you..."


"Dub Tapes. Volume 2 picks up exactly where its predecessor left off, employing a very similar sonic palette, drawn from analog instruments and effects. All 4 tracks are driven by Lars' live B-line virtuosity. He's played bass for a host of jazz bands and it shows. The bottom-end throughout is a constant, reassuring, warm, womb-like presence, that packs a deceptively powerful pulse. The subtle splashes of studio trickery might have their root in Basic Channel-esque techno, but the results reside somewhere far less minimal, more relaxed, more melodic and musical.
The reverb and delay twisted into soothing, rather than room-shaking shapes. Resembling birdsong and mountain streams.
Lars' piano improvisations are also integral to everything...Stuffed with rich, diverting detail for stoners and siesta seekers, the EP is certainly a set that you're supposed to sit back, settle into and savour."

"All four tracks are superb, the opener 'Ferry From Torkwrith' setting the scene - languorous, beatific Balearic dub from Berlin, music to hide inside, to temporarily block the outside world with.
Second track 'Morning Hour' is slightly more sunlit, a guitar joining the mix. 'Starlings' sets off with birdsong and the thud of a kick drum, a wave of synth chord and some bass guitar, unhurried and mellow.
Fourth track 'Isle Of Stonsey' drifts in, a nine minute excursion into a chilled-out version of space, Hawaiian guitar and dub bass prodding us gently into the cosmos."

Neo Gibson, born in Virginia and based in New York City, records, performs, and produces as 7038634357. This numerical alias, under which Gibson has been releasing work since 2016, offers a window into the careful ambivalences of the musical project. It conjures the impersonal_the opacity and randomness of data, a number that is hard to remember or even say out loud_while also suggesting a direct line of communication with the artist, down to an area code indexing their biography. 7038634357 uses a restricted palette to achieve music that is formally precise and emotionally direct. Their digital-native approach to production, in which frank melodies cross paths with heavy distortion, contains traces of both trance's maximalist arcs and a songwriterly intimacy. Expressive details may appear submerged or abraded, subjected to a canny sense of dynamics and textural specificity. Waterfall Horizon, Gibson's second vinyl record with Blank Forms Editions under the moniker 7038634357, was written for live performance and workshopped over successive shows during their 2022 European tour. Here, hallmarks of their earlier, studio-crafted recordings_digital distortion that obfuscates their lyrics and a slow-burning ambience_are noticeably pared back. Instead, Waterfall Horizon takes on a pop inflection, adopting more traditional lyric scaffolds so that the interstices from verse to chorus or track to track can flourish within their limited tonal range.Across recordings and performances, Gibson activates wide-ranging mechanisms of audience connection: from the relative anonymity of internet platforms to live experiments with the spatial effects of amplification. They have a particular interest in site-specific performances in non-musical spaces, and have performed in a variety of contexts, including the mezzanine of the West 4th Street subway station in New York City and INA GRM/Radio France's Présences électronique festival. Under their own name, Gibson has maintained a longstanding collaboration with the artist Charles Stobbs, working primarily with FM transmission and techniques derived from the early-seventeenth-century English tradition of change-ringing bells. The first 7038634357 vinyl record, Neo Seven, was released on Blank Forms Editions in 2023; previous releases include self-released cassettes and CD-Rs, as well as a pair of EPs on Genome 6.66 Mbp (2018, 2019).

Rock’n’roll revivalists Split Dogs are not here to make 15 second viral videos, they’re not here to sell you a lifestyle, they’re here to destroy. Born from the frustration of seeing music become commodified and soulless, vocalist Harry Atkins and guitarist Mil Martinez had the idea to form a band as far back as 2015, with the name ‘Split Dogs’ pulled from the classic zombie film ‘Return of the Living Dead’.
In South London, a young Martinez would hear Status Quo, Bachman Turner Overdrive and Dire Straits on the car radio while his father drove him to school. At home he would invade his older brothers’ record collection which leaned towards the harder sounds of punk and heavy metal. Meanwhile in the Black Country, Harry’s mother instilled a love of Northern Soul, Slade and rock’n’roll, with stories of nights out at Club Lafayette and family singalongs at home. According to Martinez, “Our sound is a culmination of all those early influences and, to be honest, it really shows.”
It wasn’t until 2022 that Split Dogs officially arrived on the scene with bass player Suez Boyle joining the band in 2023. Already a prominent figure in the queer punk scene, Suez played the first ever Rebellion Festival at the tender age of 16 with her band The Walking Abortions. Up until that point, drummer Chris Hugall, an old friend of Martinez and former member of ska punks Mouthwash (signed to Rancid’s label Hellcat back in the day), was only on hand to help design artwork. It wasn’t until 2024 Hugall joined the band full time, cementing the current line-up.
The raucous live shows and infectious lyrics saw the four-piece make a name for themselves among the punks of Bristol, a scene that has always welcomed LGBTQ+ and marginalised people. As word spread, so did the gigging, and soon enough Split Dogs were playing to sold out rooms in mainland Europe, eventually grabbing the attention of UK label Venn Records (Gallows, Bob Vylan, High Vis). ‘Here to Destroy’ was recorded over three days at Middle Farm Studios by producer Peter Miles. All tracks were laid straight to a 16 track reel-to-reel tape machine, no autotune, no effects pedals, no computers. To add to the music’s authenticity, the album was recorded live, with Harry singing along in a vocal booth. No cutting and pasting, just nailing takes. According to Martinez, “It was a blast! We fully immersed ourselves, sleeping in a small apartment below the studio, cooking meals and listening to Pete’s extensive record collection”. While the final result is a step away from Split Dogs early punk sound, the attitude is still there in droves. “We wanted the album to have a raw bones feel,” Martinez tells us, “real 1970s rock’n’roll!”. Harry channels the spirit of Motörhead’s Lemmy Kilmister as they tear through hook after hook, singing about the Northern Soul clubs their mother once frequented (‘Lafayette’), the Orwellian nightmare we’re heading for (“Stay Tuned”) and a touching homage to British working class culture (“And What?”). As the album title makes clear, Split Dogs are here to destroy, but they’re also here to rebuild and remind us of music’s essence. “We’re not beholden to the digital age, we don’t want to get famous on social media, we just want to show the world that rock’n’roll is alive and well”.

Icons Of Hip Hop a new label out of Toronto with their second 45. Two hip hop heavyweights make use of an unmistakeable 70’s soul legend sample to killer effect.

Limited hand-stamped dinked 45s.

On his second EP for Altered Circuits, "Signal Drift", Jacopo Latini further distills his sound. Taking a more minimalist approach, he unreservedly treats the groove as the focal point. Still relying on his staple talent for weaving melodies and hooks, he delivers four trippy club tracks that show more can be done with less. Opener "Sharp" delivers immediate proof. After starting with a sequence of eerie sci-fi atmospherics and recondite vocoded vocals, the adding and subtracting happens so ingeniously, the track switches to club velocity 303 squelches and enhanced drum programming seamlessly. Similar techniques in building and layering are deployed on "Impulse", but this time, the shifts seem a tad more dramatic. The track revolves around an FM bass melody that's equally effective as it is simple, and its return to this stripped theme, surrounded by characteristic jittery hats, squashed claps, and a little more frills, keeps the listener on his toes. A bass patch, its sustain knob turned wide open, somewhat buried in the mix, drives "Bright Sound" together with a heavily modulated formant mid lead. Deadpan vocals add icing, and slightly euphoric, phased chords bring in a touch of subtle contrast. Closer "Rave Harvey" is a rare diversion as it starts in medias res with chords that reconfigure nineties trance and a distinct bassline immediately going for the limelight. It also shows Latini switching up his palette, trading restraint for vigor, with a slab of direct, unfiltered hi-energy as a result.

»Mother Nature« is the debut solo album by Berend Intelmann, a key figure in the German indie music scene since the late 1980s. Having made his name as a member of groups such as Hallelujah Ding Dong Happy Happy, Guther, and Paula, Intelmann most recently focussed on his work as a producer for artists such as Jens Friebe, MissinCat, or Fotos. »Mother Nature« sees the multi-instrumentalist and singer navigate between pop sentiment and his penchant for classical music on these eight pieces, three of which feature additional contributions by Karaoke Kalk label mate Marla Hansen, synth pop iconoclast Der Assistent, and the versatile Mieke Miami, respectively. »Mother Nature« combines a sense of playfulness with cunning compositional rigour to stunning effect.

Intelmann took full creative licence and worked with the instruments that he feels most comfortable using: the drums, synthesizers, and his voice. While inspired by his life-long passion for pop music in all shades, he also took some cues from his more recent passion for classical music. »The synthesizer melodies are arranged like string quartets, while the songs are presented as musical themes strung together so that they form a coherent story,« he explains. The resulting sound isn’t quite as »krauty« as someone called it, instead the artist prefers to call it »slow-kraut—1980s synth sound with 1970s George Duke-style beats,« though of course he never attempted to fit in one specific genre or replicate a certain sound: This is simply the essence of Berend Intelmann as a composer and storyteller.

The lyrical matter of »Mother Nature« is inspired by life and death. This informs an album that masterfully creates contrasts and utilises the friction generated between them to tell its stories. The album opener and second single »All Gone« greets its audience with the couplet »In the long run / We’re all gone,« but sets this to soothing sounds that form a joyful counterpoint to the fatalism of the words. Also the slowly-unfolding first single »Life Of Another One« sets the stage for a reflection on memories that have become so distant that they feel like belonging to another person altogether with sombre, intertwined melodies. However, these darker tones slowly give way to laid-back grooves, Intelmann’s smooth vocalisations and whirling synthesizer sequences.

The collaborations—a vocal duet with Marla Hansen on »A Focused Mind,« Der Assistent’s subtle theremin contributions to »The Less We Cared« and Mieke Miami flute and saxophone playing on »Mother Nature«—further enrich this album that the artist claims has been »co-produced by friends and family.« Indeed, »Mother Nature« might be Intelmann’s solo debut proper, but he remains a teamplayer at heart.

Much has changed for Ilan Pdahtzur since the release of his Night City Life compilation six years ago. Back then, he was a little-known record collector who shared obscure, synth-heavy music that “captured the night-time glow” of the city he calls home, London, via a dedicated Instagram page. Fast forward to 2025 and Ilan is now a respected member of the international digger-selector community, having delivered must-check mixes for the likes of Bordello A Parigi, Bayete, Hunee’s Lifetones and Sound Metaphors.

It seems a fitting time, then, for Spacetalk to unleash Night City Life II, a second deep dive into Ilan’s distinctive, neon-lit sound world – a place where European synth-pop rarities, Italo-dance treats, dancefloor-focused post-boogie instrumentals soundtrack strolls around shuttered skyscrapers, dockside housing estates and wharf-side warehouse conversions.

In the six years that have passed since the release of Night City Life, Ilan has uncovered many more rarities, private-press gems and slept-on treats, with 14 of these featuring on the dusty-fingered crate-digger’s sublime sequel. As with its predecessor, much effort has been made to track down the artists behind the synth-heavy songs on show, with the vinyl edition featuring extended liner notes where some tell the story of their track in detail. Musically, there’s much to set the pulse racing within Ilan’s superb selections, from the slow-motion shuffle of Playground’s self-released 1984 B-side ‘Rainy Day Woman’ and the brilliance of Shamor’s 1985 South African synth-pop special ‘Close To You (Bwela Pafupi)’, to Sharon & Tracy’s ‘The Sheik’ – a belly-dancing inspired slab of TB-303 bass-driven house – and the kaleidoscopic, piano-rich 1992 Euro-house brilliance of ‘Come Into My Life’ by Jennifer.

Dive deeper into the collection and more under-appreciated musical masterpieces make their presence felt. There’s Sicilian musician Claudio D’Ignoti’s lesser-known boogie-era single ‘Anche Per Noi’, where rubbery bass guitar, Nile Rodgers style disco guitar licks and spacey synths dominate the sound space, Lena’s fashion circuit-inspired, early Pet Shop Boys-esque ‘Embrasse-Moi (Strumentale)’ – one that members of Milan’s Paninaro movement would surely have enjoyed – and a sublime, spaced-out and effects laden dancefloor dub of ‘Rescue Me (Imagination)’ by Jimmy D, a genuinely sought-after jam originally released on a now impossible-to-find seven-inch single. Offering another genuinely distinctive, carefully curated collection of lesser-known musical treats, Night City Life II is another essential, immersive and synthesizer-powered journey through Ilan’s unique sonic world.

Tàrrega 91’s straightforward take on Discharge-inspired hardcore punk is a glass of fresh water in a polluted sea of bands trying to break through the algorithm and grab a few seconds of our ever-decreasing supply of attention. There are no gimmicks on Ckaos Total, just simple three and four-chord riffs, a driving drumbeat (you can guess which one), and thoughtful lyrics delivered with power and passion. Tempos vary from fast, to really fast, to ultra fast, with most songs in the latter category. Without studio effects, silly costumes, or metal chops to distract, the focus falls on the songs themselves, which distill a profound sense of hopelessness and frustration into a few defiant words to yell into the void. In their lyrics and artwork, Tàrrega 91' continues to draw inspiration from the 1991 uprising in their town that ended with the arrest of 86 young people, a history that makes them keenly aware of exactly what they’re pushing against. While so many contemporary bands emulate the aesthetics of punk’s classic era, on Ckaos Total Tàrrega 91 taps into the power of bands like Discharge, Wretched, and MG-15 by creating simple, sincere—and sincerely pissed—protest music.

Bestselling second album from 2009 with eleven songs recorded in Mexiko, no overdubs, no effects ! - "Rules" followed the successful debut album "Dreams" from 2006. The song "1517" was used in the video game FIFA 10.

C r e d i t s
Bass: Marcin Öz
Drums: Sebastian Maschat
Electric Piano, Synthesizer: Daniel Nentwig
Vocals, Guitar: Erlend Øye
Vocals (A2): Denitza Todorova, Marcin Öz, Simone Rubi
Mixed by Norman Nitzsche
Recorded by and written-by The Whitest Boy Alive
Lyrics by Erlend Øye
Recorded at Glass Cube Studio and Funkhaus Nalepastraße, Berlin
Mixed at Villa Qrella
Artwork by Geoff McFetridge
Mastered by Bo Kondren

After a strong first release on Fuse Imprint with 'The Wall', resident Phara returns to his home base for a mirage of introspective tracks. Furthering his research of emotive club music, 'Soft Glow, Fierce Light' seems more than appropriately named. Shimmering melodies, swinging rhythms, and a comforting ambiance, Phara proves that his constantly evolving musical persona and relationship with the Brussels club are built to last.

Beginning with 'Unfold', the Belgium-native sets the board with a warm introduction. Reminiscent of his recent endeavor as In Glass, a balance is struck between the slower tempo dub techno of his secondary alias and the higher club energy that he's been known to bring as Phara. Steady at first, filters open wide half way through the track to ensure maximum euphoria off or on the dance floor. 'Flow' follows in suit and here the producer keeps the level constant and tense with intricate melodic design. A steady groove with blossoming synth lines make 'Flow' a beauty to witness unravel. Warm chord stabs make for a nostalgic EP and shows once more that the seasoned producer frequently enjoys prioritizing emotion over drive. Flipping the vinyl to the other side, 'Wave to Wave' points a finger to all things dub, even a discrete appreciation of house music, through the harmony of his keys to the sound design of his square bass, and its common borders with techno. Juggling in snare rolls and rides throughout, Phara sets the tone with a soothing piece of work for lovers of the eyes-closed genre. To conclude, 'Solitude' brings a polished vintage effect to the project that 'Wave to Wave' introduced, this time with heightened intensity worthy of a set closer. Punchy stabs make this a particularly extraverted track, fitting into almost any record bag - Room 01 or Motion Room friendly. Thundering claps over an electric melody, these kinds of tracks aren't new to Phara. Pouring soul into his tracks, Phara proves once again to be a truly central artist in developing the Fuse sound and continuing his stylistic journey.

The signal mutates. Following the first installment, Parallax Effect PT.2 finds Versalife shifting gears, distilling his unmistakable rhythmic instincts into something even more elastic and unpredictable. Smeared low-end and restless sequences coil around a framework of percussive movement, flickering between restraint and momentum. There's an underlying tension--one moment held in suspense, the next unfolding into fluid motion. The machine logic remains intact, but with an organic pulse running through it, shaping each track in real time. A fitting counterweight to PT.1, this second chapter bends the perspective once more, closing the series with a sense of motion still lingering in the air.

A second appearance of Tammo Hesselink on the Mantis series. Fusing the spatial effects treatments of dub with the metallic clang of industrial percussion and the stark negative space of minimal, Tammo Hesselink's sonic practice continues to create compelling, complex forms. His exacting style toys with atmospheric processing and mechanised motifs in place of traditional melodic elements, unearthing nuanced expression from timbre and rhythm while delivering firm structures for advanced soundsystem immersion.

Aguaturbia's second LP "Volumen 2" (1970) is an essential album to understand the construction of what we know today as Chilean rock. Aguaturbia's debut album was originally released in 1970 and showcases one of South America's most significant psychedelic bands from the late 60s and early 70s. Their influence in their native Chile -and beyond- was groundbreaking. In July that same year the band recorded "Volumen 2" that, just as raw and dynamic as the debut,delivers even heavier intensity than their debut LP. As expected, this album is raw and dynamic, featuring heavy rhythms, distortion, and exceptional phased female vocals reminiscent of Jefferson Airplane. Comparisons with the Grateful Dead, Country Joe and the Fish and Led Zeppelin can be drawn. Splendid heavy psych and proto-stoner tracks make this album a pioneer recording in the history of South American rock. The LP showcases breathtaking moments, like the psych-blues 'Heartbreaker' or 'I Wonder Who' where guitarist Carlos Corales shines. When he played solos at the gigs, the effect on the audience was silence and euphoria at the same time. In fact, Carlos Corales (guitar) and Willy Cavada (drums) were both professional musicians who had made a previous career in rock and roll bands. Other outstanding songs are 'Blues On The Westside', 'Waterfall' and the magnificent 'Well All Right'. Controversy accompanies the release of the album once again. In this case the cover artwork, a tribute to Salvador Dalí, scandalizes the most conservative sector of Chilean society. This outstanding album is now available again on vinylafter many years out of stock.

*REPRESS* 2x12"

Poland's finest reggae dubstep export is back to guide us through the long dark winter with his highly anticipated second studio
album, Subconcious. Mat Miller solidified his position as one of the most exciting global ambassadors for the sound with his 2011
debut album and he returns to the mighty Moonshine Recordings with another killer full length selection of thick dread bassweight
and proper roots vibes. Matt's influences have always been varied, and his music's rich diversity is in full effect across the LP as he
adeptly shifts between tempos and moods, utilising his ear for melody and rhythm to create an absorbing collection of timeless
sounds. The ground shaking sub-frequencies central to each track are built to challenge soundsystems and ignite dancefloors,
whether it's on the livewire rhythms of his jungle indebted track 'Wicked Dub', the driving sonic force of the drum and bass styled
'Different Dub' or the dubbed out, skank-ready movements of tracks like 'Earthwalker' and 'Indra'. As well as the all-powerful bass
pressure, Radikal Guru works with a colourful array of instrumentation, and brings in characterful vocalists YT, Danman and Echo
Ranks to provide melodic lead and reggae lyricism on 'Stay Calm', 'Know Yourself' and 'Warning!' respectively. The final result is
shining example of modern roots/ reggae-centred music in 2013, executed brilliantly and certain to last the test of time.

As a founding member of Dublin experimental folk group Lankum, Ian Lynch explores submerged leylines of music and song. Forging a musical path that is all at once dark, mysterious and foreboding, but ultimately transcendental. His new solo project One Leg One Eye sees him taking a fresh approach to musical arrangement culminating in a sound that is more rooted in the raw aesthetics of second wave black metal than contemporary folk. The project was born across 2021, a period in which Lynch was able to enjoy the freedom of experimenting and exploring different paths of sound design without expectation or pressure. Seeking out interesting settings to record music and gather field recordings, there are several environments, external and interior, whose respective essence have seeped into the spirit of the music and come to represent Lynch’s artistic approach and development with this singular debut album, …And Take The Black Worm With Me. Rediscovered spaces in Dublin and the familiar enclave of his bedroom are intrinsic to the distinct and sometimes harrowing atmosphere conjured throughout the album’s five enveloping compositions. One particular location, an abandoned factory where his father worked when Ian was a child, provided a space of great inspiration and intrigue during this time. Lynch frequently visited the large abandoned warehouse and sang with his shruti box, contented in his solitude. ‘I’d Rather Be Tending My Sheep’, grew into existence from those initial sessions, eventually finding a home as an emotive centrepiece to the album. Reflecting on the overall recording of …And Take The Black Worm With Me, Lynch says, “Everything I was doing with these songs was all kind of new to me; experimenting with different sounds, textures and palettes and seeing what I could come up with by piecing it all together. I spent about a year making the album. I loved the whole process because it was basically just me in my bedroom recording everything. The experience of recording like this and having my own time to do it was amazing. I could focus on recording a specific element and happily spend all day working on that one part, doing it as many times as I wanted. At the end of the day if it didn’t feel right, I could just try it again the next day. When you’re on your own you can spend as much time as you want on particular parts until you feel that it’s absolutely perfect. I found that to be a really liberating experience. It was probably my favourite experience recording music.” The collection of songs (and their chronology) featured on …And Take The Black Worm With Me tell a story unique to Lynch’s experiences with anxiety and recognising his shadow self. Whilst the album became an outlet of personal expression for Lynch, the overarching themes and subsequent journey to confront one’s internal dichotomy of light and dark before accepting this inherent duality is universally shared. The eerie and often unsettling world contained within the album’s texturally dense opener ‘Glistening, She Emerges’, driven by the captivating drone of distorted uilleann pipes, immediately immerses the listener in this transportive work. It descends with a great heaviness, yet woven throughout the arrangement is a fascinating and indescribable entity that draws you further into this otherworldly dimension. This mood continues as the tracklist progresses and transitions into Lynch’s haunting realisation of ‘Bold and Undaunted Youth’ which further demonstrates a cinematic influence to Lynch’s compositional style. Sonically, Lynch effectively builds an impressively vast terrain with brilliantly murky lo-fi recording techniques and an unshakable curiosity to move beyond conventional structures and play with the timbre of the instruments available to him. From recording hurdy-gurdy or concertina to tape and experimenting with loops and effects pedals to stitching field recordings together, there’s an intimacy established between Lynch and his audience established through the simultaneously eerie and beautiful tones courting through …And Take The Black Worm With Me. This culminates in ‘Only the Diceys’, the extraordinary closing track in which we reach a place of resolution mapped into the album’s narrative structure. Mixed by longtime collaborator John ‘Spud’ Murphy in his Dublin-based Guerrilla Sounds Studio and mastered by Harvey Birrell …And Take The Black Worm With Me features contributions from Ruth Clinton (Landless) on church organ and vocals by Laurie Shanaman (Ails, Ludicra). Of Shanaman’s participation, in particular, which further illustrates the lo-fi and DIY ethos to the recording, Lynch says, “Laurie is my favourite black metal vocalist of all time and so I reached out to her hoping to have her involved in some way. She did, and she features on the opening track by providing some incredible screams. She recorded them into her phone and sent them over to me; what appears on the album is literally a phone recording of her screaming in her kitchen!” …And Take The Black Worm With Me continues Ian Lynch’s groundbreaking work with Lankum; recontextualising traditional forms and generating new spheres of music in his wake, confirming his status as one of the most interesting and innovative artists working in Ireland today.

Cross Record's new album, Crush Me, is steeped in the pressures and wonders of existence—a profound statement, especially coming from artist and death doula Emily Cross. A two-and-a-half-year gestation period offered challenges, disappointments, and joys reflected in the cramped space of the album, which explores how we handle the weights we carry. Emily Cross had held hundreds of Living Funerals and was as many episodes deep into her podcast, What I’m Looking At. She was five years into serving clients as a death doula and fresh off a tour with Loma, her band with Jonathan Meiburg (Shearwater) and Dan Duszynski, when she began work on her fourth album. After moving from Austin, TX to Dorset, UK, she established the Steady Waves Center for Contemplation (named after a track from her second record, Wabi-Sabi ), where she hosted Living Funerals, met clients, scheduled mindful tea sessions, and showcased experimental music nights. All the while, she was scribbling down song ideas. Cross’s Tascam four-track demos finally reached readiness, and she sent them to an interested major independent label. She was encouraged to push her imagination to the limits of what a record could be. So, unlike her usual process of recording as inexpensively as possible, she prepared a two-week recording session in Germany with a group of skilled musicians from around the world. True to her previous work, Cross left plenty of room in her demos for experimentation, collaboration, chance, improvisation, and complete obliteration, then resurrection when necessary. Comfort and traditional structure were eschewed in favor of unaccountable magic, prayers whispered into The Void. Cross is comfortable with the chaotic and unpredictable, a perspective demanded by her work and writing style. The Berlin Airbnb was packed with people, instruments and luggage. During a ride down in a tiny elevator to the studio, Cross realized how central the sense of being crushed was to the album. “I thought of it later and it dawned on me that ‘Crush Me’ perfectly embodied the record,” says Cross. Yes, the weight of a body laying limply atop yours, or the tight squeeze of a hug, can be pleasant. Go too far, and you’re in the hands of a cruel, adolescent god. Upon leaving Germany, the record was unfinished, and without a roadmap. As passages were recorded as isolated parts, Cross and musician Marcin Sulewski collaborated, facing a haphazard brick pile, waiting to be assembled. Work dipped in and out of view like a buoy bobbing in a violent sea over many months. During that time, the aforementioned interested label went radio silent, suddenly not seeming so sure of a thing. Collaborators disappeared, continuing the themes of abandonment, surrender, and disarray that followed the project. Cross physically felt her entire body go numb: In a twist of fate, the record was rescued by long-time friend and supporter Ben Goldberg at Ba Da Bing Records who was eager to help realize the project. Cross worked for months on the album, all the while nursing a pregnancy and continuing her full-time funeral work. The last minute participation of Seth Manchester of Machines with Magnets, who mixed and mastered, was an essential liferaft. He gave true final form to the abstracted songs. Crush Me has the effect of a spell being cast, with songs balancing heaviness and levity. Vocals, guitars, and keyboards float above, as drums and upright bass (often bowed) lurch beneath. On “Rolling Backwards” percussion wanders about while feedback squeals and persists in the distance. “Dorset Area Of Natural Beauty” starts with a thick, unhinged church organ progression punctuated by the disquieting sounds of laughter reaching the point of hysteria. “God Fax” is a slow-moving panic attack, with shallow breaths in and out framing a guttural cacophony like a wooden freighter encountering increasingly turbulent waters and vocals struck emotionless by autotune. The album ends with “Twisted Up Fence,” a reflection on life from outside the wall--wistful, warm, and comforting. Cross, likely with a smile on her face, sings: “You say it’s an endless abyss” “And I say the abyss is the best”

Issued on le Kiosque d'Orphée in 1979, Voyage aux fonds de la Mer is the only LP by Alain Meunier (not to be confused with French classical music cellist of the same name), and is one of the most elusive collector pieces of the 1970s electronic experimental French scene.

This rare sought after album starts with an instrumental guitar introduction but from the second track onwards it becomes a totally electronic experimental psychedelic trip that can be aligned with the most kosmische side of kraut rock, and of course also with other works by French experimentalists of the era like Pascal Comelade's Fluence or Richard Pinhas' production (including Heldon). Guitar comes in now and then showing also a certain Robert Fripp influence.

Instruments used according to the insert sheet that came with the LP are a Korg 800 DV synthesizer, a K.O. Welson Clavinet, effects like a Fender Echo or a Electroharmonix Small Stone phaser and a fuzz pedal, plus Meunier also used a Gibson Les Paul Custom Guitar, a 12 string acoustic Eko guitar and a 6 string Morris guitar.

First ever vinyl reissue. Limited edition to 500 copies only. Remastered sound.

Goodtunes is back and this time with a highly regarded compilation of various artists.

Kicking off this label’s second release we have Mungo Sound Machine. Positioned as the A1, ‘See You Next Thursday’ functions as one of the heavier tracks on the release. With a downright dirty bass line, crisp percussion, and creative arrangement, this track tells a story that will never get old.

On the A2, comes ultra-talented friend of the label and NYC resident, Chuwee. Here he delivers with a magical evening steamer in ‘DX Tornado’. Shuffled drums and a deep rolling bass line accompanied with funky stabs and tripped out Japanese vocals are the perfect combination to start a party or keep it going.

J. Feierabend is no stranger to the punch. Sharp and ripe kicks, snares and a thick bass line drive this clubby groover to great heights. Bright vocoders and tech’d out bleeps take this one step further. When it comes to being simple but effective, the B1 ‘Listen’ knocks it out of the park.

Lastly, worlds collide from the Berlin to Paris link-up between Natebytheway and Local DJ. Crafted on a sunny day during the Olympics in Paris, this collaboration is a gentle taste of the deep and clubby combination the two producers love. Techy, gritty and soft in all the right places. Let ‘PB Saucers’ and the others aforementioned take you and your loved ones to brighter places.