quête:seldom seen

No stranger to the Spatial family following the release of his excellent Age of Awareness EP back in 2023, Eusebeia brings his eclectic breakbeat driven vibes to sister label
Curvature for an EP spanning a variety of energies with a free-spirited approach to drum patterns and atmosphere you wont want to miss.

A1 Set In Motion
Shimmering melodic keys and light hi hats quietly introduce Set In Motion, as Eusebeia takes a laid back opening approach to his Curvature debut. Clean, wandering breaks enter the mix and develop continually, as a subtly used, luscious female vocal greets the listener with a curiously soothing vibe. Following the breakdown, a deep, pounding bassline punctuates skillful synthwork riddled with intrigue and atmosphere to round off
a unique, eclectic track.

A2 In Perpetuum
Stepping things up with a doggedly breakbeat focus, In Perpetuum is an energetic piece with an opening backdrop akin to an aging printer being coaxed back to life,
before an echoed vocal welcomes hyperactive, rasping breaks, edited and chopped with the scintillating talent we have come to expect from Eusebeia. The latter half of the
track changes up the vibe slightly with inquisitive padwork gliding above the omnipresent edits.

B1 Flow State
Subtle cowbell style cymbals and gentle melodies introduce Flow State, before an inimitable duality of old school atmospheric breaks pass the baton repeatedly through the track in typically impactful style from Eusebeia. The melodies and an understated bassline wrapped around kickdrums continues through the various phrases before the beats depart, leaving the listener to reflect on a truly captivating track just as the title
suggests.

B2 The Cure For What Ails You Reverberating percussion and classic whale sounds instantly grasp your attention
before ominous 808 bass ushers in a thunderous helping of pure amen pleasure sent straight from the old school - edited and programmed to perfection by Eusebeia with a
finesse seldom seen in modern production. Dense kickdrums vibe perfectly with the highs and mids of a track destined to headline many an atmospheric junglists set.

Aural Imbalance has enjoyed a colourful and celebrated journey through music over the years, taking in ambient soundscapes, deep house and of course, a pioneering role in atmospheric drum & bass. With Spatial, he has unearthed a pure, varied musical prowess seldom seen, with the ability to control both the lighter aspects of the mix as well as expert breakbeat craft. Infinity Spectrum showcases the breadth of talent Aural Imbalance possesses in one incredible package, not to be missed.

A1 - Aurealis
Opening the album with a wonderfully serene track, Aural Imbalance delicately rolls out his trademark smooth ambience with building cymbals and an energetic break merging perfectly in the mix - along with a great, pounding undertone of bass. Riddled with old-school sensibilities, Aurealis layers the building blocks until the track opens up further through a superbly lush breakdown, blooming like a flower in the summer sun before the breaks return.

A2 - Glistening Stars
Washing strings and the chitter-chatter of playful effects introduce Glistening Stars, before familiar, crisp old school breaks steal the limelight. A happy earworm melody soon reveals itself, and the breaks are gradually filtered back in following an other amazing breakdown before the melody takes on new life. Packed with detail and soul, this track will repeat on you long after you've moved on.

B1 - Alpha
Curious, apprehensive tones punctuate a fascinating intro, with a deep old school bassline creeping out first to greet us, before the hi-hat laden break loses its inhibitions and roams free.
Crafting a deliciously textured atmosphere, Aural Imbalance continues to showcase the breadth of his production techniques in his Spatial form, flecking the track with sumptuous melodies to create yet another gem.

B2 - Stargazers
This piece opens with a special blend of quiet, epic serenity, evoking hope and wonder as amen cymbal work and a stabbing snare-heavy break pattern rise and fall in the surrounding symphony. The quietly musical bassline plays a key role in the aural world-building here, complementing the breaks it harmonises with superbly. Aural Imbalance allows the composition to breathe and flourish for a superbly executed final act. Delightful.

C1 - Slow Motion
Introduced with quietly filtered breaks, Slow Motion dials back the pace with a break pattern which relaxes the snare while still maintaining a playful energy as the kicks and bass bumble along below. A uniquely atmospheric yet eccentric melody takes shape with dreamy pads filling the backdrop, and calming scatterings of echoing effects colliding and combining to generate a blissful collage of sound.

C2 - Apparition
Switching up the vibe we have Apparition, which boldly utilises long, tranquil yet purposeful pad work before an immense break pattern riddled with stark snares and a jumpy bassline which rides the smothered kickdrums so well, they appear to be fused as one. The breaks on this are truly special and will move the discerning dancefloor for sure, Aural Imbalance continuing to reveal a never-ending depth to his sound.

D1 - Artificial Satellite
Introduced with smooth synths and DJ-friendly hi hats, Artificial Satellite sees Aural Imbalance laying down a fresh showcase of old-school breakbeats, laced with that inimitable Spatial flavour. A swirling low-key sci-fi vibe punctuates the breakdown before the beats re-emerge. A deep, brooding bassline pulses beneath throughout, while the perfectly executed breaks enjoy their final flourish.

D2 - Unknown Forces
Finally, up steps Unknown Forces for a blistering finale to the LP. Aural Imbalance is at his amen-editing best here with a truly superb showcase of analogue break patterns to nourish the ears and set pulses racing on the dancefloor. Deep bass elevates the gentle intro before thumping kicks begin an epic workout, chopped to perfection with synths and strings flying gracefully above. We couldn't have a Spatial LP without an amen banger could we? What a way to end

Words by Chris Hayes (Spatial/Red Mist)

elbow release their ninth studio album, ‘Flying Dream 1’, on 19th November 2021. The band wrote ‘Flying Dream 1’ remotely in their home studios before coming together at the empty Brighton Theatre Royal to perfect, perform, and record the songs.

Che spent her formative years living the troubadour life playing local clubs in
Vancouver, becoming embroiled in the Toronto indie music scene and touring
worldwide as a solo artist and with her critically acclaimed band 'Casualties of
Cool', a joint venture with prog behemoth Devin Townsend.
The Crowned shows a side to Che seldom seen on record before. A more
confident and determined thread runs through these songs, signalling the birth of
a new era for Che.
Inspired by her love of Trip Hop, Folktronica and Soul, The Crowned has Che's
signature all over it whilst reaching out into new sonic environments. Half of The
Crowned's tracks produced by Bob Rock pre-pandemic and half of the tracks selfproduced post pandemic, this album tells a story of an artist's evolution and
growth.
You are looking at a woman who still has a sense of individualism combined with
a drive and vision that is growing increasingly rare in this day and age. An artist in
the truest sense of the word, a product of passion and not curation.
She has previously worked with LA with hitmakers Greg Wells, David Foster and
Kara Dioguardi; performing with Michael Buble, Kim Churchill and Dan Mangan
and releasing music with industry heavyweights Andrew Loog Oldham (Rolling
Stones) and Tom Sarig (Lou Reed). Most recent work includes a collaboration
with Juno nominated EDM duo Young Bombs, a darkly lit duet with the late Gord
Downey (The Tragically Hip) and a featured performance on Devin Townsend's
'Lightwork'. She also collaborated with Townsend on 2014's Casualties Of Cool.

Available from Blank Forms for the first time since its original 1980 release on ALM-Uranoia, New Sense of Hearing documents a collaboration between Takehisa Kosugi and Akio Suzuki, two luminaries of Japanese experimental music in the lineage of Fluxus. Blank Forms's high-quality reissue of the sought-after, long out of print LP, is produced by musician-artist Aki Onda and mastered from the original tapes recorded on April 2, 1979, at Tokyo's Aeolian Hall. Described by Suzuki as the "culmination" of their sound,New Sense of Hearing features the two musicians improvising together in that empty Tokyo theater, Kosugi on vocals, violin, and radio transmitter and Suzuki on the Analapos, his namesake glass harmonica, spring cong, and kikkokikiriki, all apparatuses of his own invention. Suzuki and Kosugi first met at the city's Minami Gallery in 1976 on the occasion of "Sound Objects and Sound Tools," an exhibition of Suzuki's homemade instruments. Two years later, at the Festival d'Automne in Paris, Suzuki invited Kosugi to join him for a suite of performances as part of the exhibition "MA: Espace - Temps au Japon," organized by architect Arata Isozaki and composer-writer Toru Takemitsu. Suzuki and Kosugi performed together at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, nearly fifty times, honing their approach to mutual improvisation, before traveling with the exhibition to Stockholm and New York_critic Tom Johnson wrote in the Village Voice that he had "seldom seen two performers so completely tuned in on the same types of sounds, the same performance attitude, the same philosophy, the same sense of what music ought to be."For New Sense of Hearing, the duo reunited in Japan and produced an extraordinary dispatch from their collaboration of arioso violin, echoing vocals and bangs, and metallic twangs. As Johnson observed in 1979, Kosugi and Suzuki are "in a very subtle artistic world where there can be no direct relationships. . . . Only coincidence." Takehisa Kosugi (1938-2018) was a composer, artist, and violinist from Tokyo. In 1960, Kosugi founded Group Ongaku, the country's first improvisational performance collective dedicated to Happenings, with Mieko Shiomi and Yasunao Tone. Four years later, Fluxus leader George Maciunas published Events, an eighteen-piece set of his text compositions. Between 1971 and '74, his band the Taj Mahal Travelers produced four live albums. In 1977, the Merce Cunningham Dance Company invited Kosugi to be their resident musician; from 1995 to 2011 he served as the company's musical director. The Whitney Museum of American Art presented "Takehisa Kosugi: Music Expanded," a two-day retrospective of Kosugi's work, in 2015. Akio Suzuki (b. 1941) was born in Pyongyang, North Korea, to Japanese parents. For the artist-musician's first Fluxus-style work Kaidan ni Mono wo Nageru (Throwing Things at the Stairs), 1963, Suzuki tossed a bucket of miscellaneous objects down a flight of stairs in Nagoya Station and listened to the sounds it produced. During the next decade, he would create original instruments including the Suzuki-type glass harmonica and the echo instrument Analapos. In 1976, Tokyo's Minami gallery hosted his first exhibition, "Akio Suzuki's World: Sound Objects and Sound Tools." For his 1988 performance piece Space in the Sun, Suzuki spent twenty-four hours listening to his surroundings on the meridian line which runs through Amino, Kyoto. Suzuki has performed and exhibited at many venues and music festivals, including Documenta 8 (Germany, 1987), the British Museum (2003), Musée Zadkine (France, 2004), Kunstmuseum Bonn (Germany, 2018), and the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (2019).

On April 29, MCC Magna Carta Cartel broke the 5 years silence with the
new speaker-breaking single "Silence", the first from their long awaited
second album "The Dying Option" - An album best described as rock
music from the world of dreams
Led by Martin Persner, one of the Nameless Ghouls of Ghost. MCC create
cinematic sounding themes with captivating melodies and poetic lyrics. Their
upcoming album "The Dying Option" offers a ticket into a state of mind seldom
seen or heard in modern music. Here they manage to use classic rock to create
an ambience beyond the regular riffs of today's rock and deliver ten fantastic
songs far beyond what anyone could have expected. "The Dying Option" is
produced by Niels Nielsen (In Flames, Ghost, Dead Soul) together with MCC. The
album artwork is created by the renowned film director Claudio Marino
(Behemoth, Watain, King Dude) and David M. Brinley (Ghost). MCC teamed up
with acclaimed Swedish film director Sebastian Jern for the Silence-video.

Limited vinyl featuring producers Seldom Seen, Force Placement, DELINSTR, and IvanAM. 4 underground trax ending out 2021 with this bang for your buck release!! L.A. West Coast focus: Caltechno, deep groove and electrofunk beats! Digital download code included (code sealed inside behind label sticker)

Lift-top box including the first 10 numbered records and objects, with a 60-page exhibition style book, plus a bonus 12” single and 2CDs of unheard Joy Division interviews. Strictly limited and numbered to 4000 units WW.

Use Hearing Protection: Factory Records 1978-1979 contains facsimile editions of the first 10 numbered Factory items: 4 vinyl records, 3 posters, a short film, Factory stationery and an egg-timer design. The early history of the label is traced in a 60 page book with text by James Nice, photos by Kevin Cummins and archival interviews with Tony Wilson, Rob Gretton, Joy Division and more.

All 3 original Factory posters are contained in the box as well as the first 4 records: The Factory Sample EP (Fac 2), including the Fac2 stickers, All Night Party by A Certain Ratio (Fac 5), Electricity by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (Fac 6) and classic album Unknown Pleasures by Joy Division (Fact 10).

Bonus items include a white label 12” single by The Tiller Boys (originally intended as FAC3 but ultimately not released), and a lengthy audio interview with Joy Division, Tony Wilson and Rob Gretton, conducted in August 1979 by journalist Mary Harron, never before heard and now restored across two CDs. Also newly restored, and seldom seen since 1979, is evocative 8mm short No City Fun (Fac 9), featuring music by Joy Division.

The Miami Maestro is back with a superb slice of moody, mid-tempo Latin Soul. Anyone who has had the pleasure of seeing one of Jason's passionate live performances can attest that he exudes raw energy and emotion on a level seldom seen on today's soul scene - attributes that Jason delftly applies to the pen.
Drawing from personal experience, “Se Acabó” is a bilingual lament about the challenges of navigating mental illness within the context of a romantic relationship. Jason pleads "Her heart was a butterfly flying through the winds of the hurricane of her mind" as he comes to grips with the fact that in spite of his undying love she may never return.
Accompanied by a grooving, unrelenting beat, he distills the pain down to an elixir of high-proof soul sure to requite the lovelorn among us. Yet another Penrose playbox essential by one of the hardest working players in the game.

Global electronic sound specialist - Producer and DJ Oliver Williams aka "The Busy Twist" is at it again. Among his numerous projects as a producer, this double-sider, dancefloor-focused EP is one of his seldom seen, more personal works in the vein of what he does best: an uptempo, bass-heavy madness, influenced by his regular trips to Africa, Latin America and the West-Indies, packed with undeniable British club music culture and production technique. Highly infectious energy, pure sunshine, 100% good vibes. Following up on The Busy Twist previous collaborations with Congolese singer Tres. "Nanko" is another joyful, sun-soaked, highly danceable Electro-Soukous party joint, loaded with captivating guitar grooves and soulful vocals. On the flip, "Rwendo Rweupenyu (The Journey Of Life) Remix" is an outstanding take on Zimbabwean Sungura Music (one of the country's most popular genres), originally performed by street band Daniel & Gonora Sounds, led by singer-guitarist Daniel Gonora and his drummer son Isaac. Respectfully using Daniel's mind bending guitar riffs and highpitched, uplifting vocals, The Busy Twist and his collaborator delivers an inspiring and remarkably effective version of the original song. Vinyl contains exclusive extended and instrumental Dj-friendly versions of both tracks that won't be available for download anywhere.

She Lost Kontrol is thrilled to announce the debut full length album by the collaboration between the Berlin based producer Unhuman and the performer – activist Petra Flurr .
The two artists return to the label after their single releases in the two volumes of Surviving in Europe and for Unhuman, after his mighty Aktion Mutante ep in collaboration with Violet Poison back in 2018.

Marking our 14th instalment on the label, ‘’Cause Of Chaos ‘’ comprises eight tracks filled of energy and steeped in to gothic nostalgia and electronic body music. The well-known artists create a mix of post-punk and synthesizer electronics shaped by their uncompromised textures, that glides through genres with ease and combines modern style with retro goodness. An abstract style of contamination seldom seen within the modern music spectrum.

The Deutsch Italo- Griechisch duo offers us an immersive, futuristic and solid sound, inspired by the music which the two artists grew up with, following a natural evolution to their roots in post-punk, electronic and guitar music. Absolutely an album that will find its space on the shelves of passionate collectors of DAF, Liaisons Dangereuses, Virgin Prunes and beyond.

Edition of 350 copies

The second release on Eclair Fifi’s River Rapid Imprint comes from none other than Santiago Salazar.

Following on from the Afrodeutsche RR001 EP - This new release brings 2 brand new tracks from Salazar - Piano Adjacent and Cosmic Powwow both secret weapons from Eclair Fifi DJ sets.

Santiago Salazar relocated to Detroit in the early 2000s to work with the legendary Underground Resistance Collective. Becoming part of Los Hermanos he continued the traditions of Latin Techno established by DJ Rolando in 1997 as well as releasing under his own name and as S², Seldom Seen and as part of Galaxy 2 Galaxy as well as an incredible amount of other music and projects for labels such as Planet E, Rush Hour, Seventh Sign and many more. RR002 Follows his other releases in 2019 including “The Night Owl” Album on Love What You Feel.

River Rapid is the new label from acclaimed DJ Eclair Fifi. Known for her tastemaking dj sets steeped in upcoming exclusives and unknown rarities as well as her essential monthly radio show on NTS.