Search:six by six

Originally released as a strictly limited 10-inch vinyl record exclusive on Record Store Day 2012, this long sold-out must-have for fans of these two artists will finally be re-issued - this time in 12-inch format!
Erased Tapes label mates Ólafur Arnalds and Nils Frahm recorded and mixed their first collaborative record between Reyjkjavík and Berlin as a surprise release for label founder Robert Raths.
The ambient/electronic work 'Stare' is a true family effort with long-time collaborator Anne Müller joining in on cello and all graphics created by close label-friend and designer Torsten Posselt of FELD Studios.

Words by Nils Frahm: 'I heard 'Eulogy For Evolution' for the first time six years ago and I was totally captivated. Impossible to know back then that I was supposed to meet Ólafur many years later as my label mate. Later when he took me along a tour of his we also noted that we kind of like hanging out together, doing important things like cover versions of long forgotten songs or eating veggie pizza. Also he would join my live set for a jam and I would return the favour by playing along with his set.

All in all, I fell for Óli and after one memorable jam session we had in Berlin at Roter Salon in 2011, he finally proposed the idea to visit me in my studio in Berlin to work on 'some music'. I was happy and delighted about that idea, so we got together in April 2011 and after having a big pizza, I plugged in some old analogue synths and we played for four days until late in the night. Also queen Anne Müller stopped by after a show with Agnes Obel to record some cello at 5 am in the morning for 'b1'. Making music together with people is lovely!

The time I spent with Óli in Berlin made me very happy and the music wasn't like anything I have heard before. It was all very reduced and minimal and I felt like I couldn't have done this alone. So we decided to do another 4-day jam at Óli´s E7 studio in Reykjavik. So I flew there in the end of October 2011 to repeat the trick and record some out of this world ambient music. It didn't take us too long to write 'a1' and 'a2'. I can't wait for the follow up!'

Dark Entries is proud to release the sophomore EP from BEZIER entitled Telomeres. Bézier is the moniker of local SF musician ROBERT YANG, who also is part of the illustrious HONEY SOUNDSYSTEM crew. Telomeres is the follow up to Bézier's debut EP Ensconced, released in 2013. The title relates to themes of time, science, analytics and procedures. Bézier integrates the refrains of Spanish new wave and Italo disco with the attitude and aggression of underground styles like synth-punk and industrial. These six tracks were written, produced and mixed by Bézier at his home studio in San Francisco between 2014 and 2015, and feature the debut of his own vocals. All songs have been mixed by Mark Pistel (of Meat Beat Manifesto fame) at Room 5, San Francisco and EQed for vinyl by George Horn at Fantasy Studios. The vinyl comes housed in a jacket featuring an illustration by in-house designer Eloise Leigh riffing on early 80s computer graphics. The matted sleeve is meant to resemble the side panels of early computing instruments like Macintoshes or the Commodore 64. Each LP includes a postcard with a photograph of actual telomeres captured by a microscope camera by the Blackburn Lab at UCSF. Telomeres' are life's building blocks, changing the lengths of chromosomes to determine lifespan. This music is an investigation of a future in which time elongates as well as contracts.

Prolific electronica polymath Emika found acclaim once again this year with new studio album 'DREI', an opus that picked up Ibiza Spotlight's 'Album Of The Week' accolade and was called a fascinating album' by Rolling Stone. With six new remixes on this EP, further life has been breathed into her latest LP - with stunning results.
UK techno legends The Black Dog provide a foreboding rework of Battles, all brooding pads, electro glitchery and stomping breakbeats.
Kamikaze Space Programme's version is more dramatic still, returning the favour after Emika appeared on his own 'Choke' recently.
CNCPT (Brenda, Natch Records) kicks off the remixes of What's The Cure with an industrious slab of dubbed-out, reverb-heavy techno, doing away with Emika's vocals entirely and instead making use of her sound design expertise with subtle finesse.
Mysterious German Clone and Bunker affiliates The Exaltics tap into their electro roots on their rework with a thick, rubbery bassline working its way under a simple, atmospheric arrangement that allows Emika's honeyed delivery to take centre stage.
Borai (Tasteful Nudes) teams up with Emika herself to provide a stripped-back, heavily-swung, stomping take on the track, boiling it down to its melodic and textural essence.
Eomac rounds off the package with his stunning string-laden instrumental interpretation.

Alphahouse imprint deliver the 'YY' EP from Italian duo MFS: Observatory, backed with a remix from label-head Butane & Alexi Delano.

MFS: Observatory is the collaborative guise of Italian duo Matthias Tuchetti, Francesco Cozzolino. The outfit are relative newcomers having only released material since late 2014 and here we see them take a huge leap in their career stepping into international water via the Alphahouse imprint, slotting them alongside heavy hitters like Skudge, Mark Broom, Alexi Delano, Butane, and Ricardo Villalobos on the stellar roster. With a Little Helpers release also confirmed in 2015, this is a duo on the rise.

Opening up the EP is 'Observatory Y1' which see the duo deliver a haunting slice of electronica fueled by smoky atmospherics, meandering arpeggio synth hooks and raw weighty rhythms to smoothly set the tone for what's to come. 'Observatory Y2' provides a more reduced, but still heavy, groove with bubbling synth drones, menacing stabs, a bumpy bass hook and mesmeric vocal murmurs.

On the flip side Alexi Delano collaborates with Alphahouse founder Butane to reshape 'Observatory Y2' into pure vibe. The duo provides a typically infectious groovy number, which evolves over six and half minutes with a subtle dubbed out hook taking over the last half of the track. 'Observatory Y3' rounds things off afterhours-style, laying the focus on a sparse rhythmic foundation while howling sweeps and spaced out vocals fuel the psychedelia.

The enigmatic Amara Touré from Guinée Conakry finally getting a well deserved compilation showcasing all of the 10 songs ever released between 1973 and 1980. Cuban influenced music of a different kind featuring amazing spaced-out guitar works!! Analog Africa compiles a complete collection of Amara Touré's Afro-Cuban compositions, originally released between 1973 and 1980."Lamento Cubana and Temedy are the two finest Afro-Cuban compositions ever recorded. As if they were played in a smokey, poorly lit ballroom where dark rum was sipped ever so slowly" - Vikram Sohonie - Ostinato Records
Analog Africa to release a compilation by Amara Toure, the enigmatic Afro-Cuban musician from Guinea-Conakry, showcasing all of the 10 songs he ever released between 1973 and 1980.
"Latin music, is it really foreign to us Africans I don't think so. Listen to the drums, to the rhythm. It all seems very close to us - it feels like it's our own culture," declared enigmatic singer Amara Toure. It is the late 50s, and Senegal is going crazy to the groove of Son Montuno and Patchanga. Brought to West Africa by Cuban sailors in the early 40s, these styles were immediately adopted by a flourishing music scene that did not hesitate to embrace the Caribbean sound, mixed it with their own Folklore, and, in the process, created something new. Through the unique cultural fusion of West African and Caribbean influences, Latin music took on a new and unique sound - the format was reinvented. Producer Ibra Kasseì and his Miami nightclub acted as the spearheads of this movement. They brought a breath of fresh air into Dakar's nightlife, further energising one of West Africa's most exciting cities. The demand for ballroom parties and live acts exploded, attracting numerous musicians from surrounding countries. One of the musicians who answered this call was percussionist and singer Amara Toureì, from Guinea-Conakry. Spotted by Kasseì while performing with Dexter Johnson, Toureì was asked if he would like to be part of a new project. Little did he know that this project would become a phenomenon.Immensely important for the development of Senegalese modern music, Le Star Band de Dakar, led by Mady Konate, became a sort of musical incubator and workshop, where many musicians learned and practiced their trade before moving on to become stars in their own right. Toureì's talent on percussion was undeniable, but it was his powerful and raw voice that captivated the producer. The fascinating way Toure interpreted Cuban music was unparalleled, and it was this feature that encouraged Kasse to recruit the unknown artist.
Although already brimming with incredible talent, Amara Toure's joining of Le Star Band de Dakar in 1958 began the band's meteoric rise to the top. The band quickly became Dakar's number one orchestra, and it cemented the reputation of the Miami nightclub as the hottest spot in the country. The place was packed nightly, and Dakar was boiling.
Amara Toure's Senegalese adventure lasted for ten years when he received an irrefutable offer and in 1968, joined by a few talented Senegalese musicians, headed to Cameroon and immediately formed the Black and White ensemble. Many live gigs later and it was time for the first songs to be recorded. A total of three singles were produced between 1973 and 1976. These singles, representing the first six songs on this compilation, fully epitomise and distill the essence of what Toureì had learned during his career. His Mandingue roots fused with the Senegalese sound that he had mastered - the perfect foundation for the Toureì's Cuban interpretations.
If Toure's intention was to create the most sensual music ever recorded in Africa, he might very well have reached this goal. The musicians on the recording sound like they are playing in a smokey, poorly lit juke joint, where dark rum was sipped ever so slowly, and the pulse of the music took up a life of its own. How many couples have danced, swayed, and melted together to the distinct sound of Amara Toure Nobody can say for sure ...
Amara Toureì's success poured across the borders of Cameroon, and in 1980 he went to Libreville, Gabon, to team up with the powerful Orchestre Massako. Toureì recorded an LP at that time which is hailed by many music aficionados as one of the very best African albums. The songs from that LP are the last four on this compilation. It took only ten songs for Amara Toureì to become a legend. These ten treasures, representing Toure ìs complete discography, have been carefully re-mastered from original session tapes and vinyl records, and will be released by Analog Africa on 22 June 2015. After the release of his LP in 1980, Toureì seems to have disappeared. Apparently he was last seen in Cameroon but it is unknown if he is still alive today. His music though is definitely alive.

BACK IN STOCK NOW!! "Volume One is the debut album. It was the only album recorded with original guitarist Justin Marler, before he became an Orthodox monk. Volume One showcases a darker sound and stronger doom metal influence than Sleep's later work. The image featured on the cover is taken from the Salvador Dali painting "Soft Self-Portrait with Fried Bacon".
Their only album as a four piece of Al Cisneros, Matt Pike, Justin Marler and Chris Haikus

LP repressed for first time in many years.

allmusic
"For all their budding, precocious talent, Sleep's 1991 debut, Volume One, quickly betrays their still quite heavy debt to doom metal forefathers like Black Sabbath, Witchfinder, and Saint Vitus. Driven by Matt Pike and Justin Marler's lumbering mass of low-tuned guitar riffs, Al Cisneros' (still going as Luke here) serpentine bass and ragged screams, and drummer Chris Haikus' cyclopean kit pummeling, occasional highlights such as "The Suffering," "Nebuchadnezzar's Dream," and "The Wall of Yawn" prove less memorable than they are sensorially overwhelming. And yet, ironically, Sleep's rhythm guitars would never again be kept as under control, nor would their leads sound quite as refined as they do here (see the cleaner harmonies employed to good use on "Numb" and "Catatonic," for example). This was probably due to the onetime involvement of the significantly less stoned Marler, who would soon exchange the group for a monastery where he would study to become a monk. Fittingly enough, however, losing the versatility of a second guitarist was exactly what Sleep needed to focus their singular power into a crushing force, and the remaining trio would flourish immediately behind the sheer physicality of Pike's six-string style, as proven by 1993's superlative sophomore LP, Sleep's Holy Mountain."

Six years on from his debut album on Cadenza, Swiss DJ/producer Mirko Loko comes with the follow up to 2009's 'Seventynine' as he catapults us into the techno and electronica galaxy with 'Comet Plan'. 'Un voyage entre toute mes influences,' Mirko Loko shares, breaking into his mother tongue to describe the essence of his sophomore longplayer that was conceived in Berlin and later birthed in his hometown of Lausanne after a two-year gestation period. Literally translated as 'to travel between my influences', it's a fitting summation of an artist whose work has respectfully mined early inspiration from Detroit and Chicago that laid the foundations of the emotion-filled productions that we know of him from today. In addition to this, Mirko sees his connection with Luciano's Cadenza Music, a relationship that's been in existence since dot one and saw the likes of Ricardo Villalobos, Melchoir, Pedro and Rahdoo make up one of the most innovative crews in dance music, as leaving an indelible imprint on his musical DNA to this day. It's Mirko's strong sense of musical identity that is at the core of 'Comet Plan', a work that's equally informed by the artist's spiritual connection with the Motor City as his halcyon Cadenza roots. And one thing's for sure; he knows how to captivate: take 'Venus' whose trickles of melody and syncopated drum rhythms increases in intensity with each bar towards an eerie crescendo. Then there's 'U Special' that builds the kind of subtle party vibes you could imagine Luciano dropping to create one of those moments to a heaving blissed out dancefloor. 'Kolor' - the album's early single (also remixed by Carl Craig as part of an excellent EP package) is sprinkled with a dusting of xylophones, chimes and other bells as the melody is driven forward for a heady trip across the electronic galaxy.

* Hospital Records present their latest compilation 'Fast Soul Music' - a welcomed lesson in the art of soul-inspired drum & bass of the high-speed variety. After nineteen years spent building upon it's lounge-core esthetic their extensive library of smooth-rolling sounds is at the ready, now it's time to get retrospective.

* From the work of thirty artists, a carefully selected forty-six tracks highlight the quintessential sounds of soul music in the Hospital Records back catalogue. Not only effortlessly blending classics from Hospital mainstays London Elektricity, High Contrast, Danny Byrd, Nu:Tone, S.P.Y and Logistics but also showcasing the fresh wave of talent that's reached our ears in recent years. The work of Fred V & Grafix, Hugh Hardie, Keeno, Etherwood, Anile, Tokyo Prose and Technimatic showcasing just how prominent soul music is in drum & bass today.

* Accompanying this two-CD collectors item is a perfectly polished mix by longstanding practitioner and newest member of the Hospital A+R team, Nu:Tone. With over two hours of soul-inspired sounds that effortlessly create the ideal soundtrack for any daydream-filled afternoon.

* With a nod back to London Elektricity's '03 classic 'Fast Soul Music' and a look forward to the fresh influx of talent passing through, Hospital Record's latest compilation provides any drum & bass fan with a chance to rediscover those once forgotten gems and dust off the cobwebs from their favourite nostalgia-fuelling drum & bass anthems.

* Digital Marketing: Youtube upload schedule for music and video content on Hospital Records YouTube channel - (260k subscribers), cross promotion exclusive mix upload with UKF Youtube channel.

* Press / Promotion: Comprehensive campaign in-house serving all UK music and dance titles as well as national, regional and student press - Mixmag, DJ, Trap, Notion, Music Week, Future Music, Time Out, Metro, London Evening Standard, The Guardian, The Independent, Dazed + Confused, Vice, The Wire, The Fly, Vice Magazine, Clash. Kmag (interview), D&BA (interview). UKF Website and Youtube Channel. Reddit AMA, FACT Mag TV interview.

* Radio / Internet: Comprehensive in house campain from Hospital Records. BBC Radio1 & 1Xtra support from Mistajam, Friction, B Traits, Annie Mac, Andi Durrant (Kiss), Eddy Temple-Morris (X-FM), DJ Hype (Kiss), D&BA TV Takeover, Rinse FM Hospital Records Show, Hospital Podcast Hospital Records Podcast USA series, Kmag Podcast, Ministry of Sound Podcast. D&BA Podcast, Hospital records Website, Hospital Facebook (262K Likes), Twitter (64K Followers), Soundcloud (48k followers), YouTube (238k subscribers), Hospital Records Mailing List (53k Subscribers)






aG CD 1-7 | Logistics feat. Nightshade and Sarah Callander 'Crystal Skies'
















DISC 2

Factory Benelux presents a new studio album by cult Manchester postpunk group Crispy Ambulance, issued in a
limited edition of 500 vinyl copies to mark Record Store Day 2015.
In many respects Compulsion is the second album Crispy Ambulance might have recorded in 1982 after the release of
The Plateau Phase, with six of the eight tracks written and performed live at that time. To these are now added Rain
Without Clouds, an outtake from The Plateau Phase newly restored from the original multitrack masters, and WMTP.2
with added synth lines by producer-cum fifth member Graham Massey, of 808 State and Biting Tongues.
Almost uniquely, Crispy Ambulance has retained the same line-up since the group was originally founded in 1978: Alan
Hempsall (vocals, keyboards), Gary Madeley (drums), Robert Davenport (guitars), Keith Darbyshire (bass).
'There's a sense of feeling compelled by irresistible forces,' explains Alan Hempsall. 'Compulsion is an apt way to
describe our constant urge to go back and make music with people we've known since childhood. While the world may
have changed, our music continues to be the product of the same influences - the passing of time, the changing of the
seasons, the content of our sleeping dreams, and the existence of space.'
Cover art by Peter Staessens. The package also features a free digital download of the album.
Praise for The Plateau Phase: "One of the best albums Britain's second city has unleashed" (Q, 03/2006); 'Perfect,
wonderful and with a compelling gravitational pull' (Record Collector, 03/2013); "17 years on The Plateau Phase
sounds like what it probably always was: urgent, postmodernist psychedelia with less debt to Joy Division's music than to
the universal abstract existential tension that comes with being young" (Uncut, 12/1999); "Cold and ferocious, but with
enough inventive melody to lighten the black abyss of the overall mood" (Les Inrockuptibles, 02/2012); "An enthralling
glimpse at a moment in musical history when the DIY ethos of punk gradually gave way to experiments with electronics
and song structures" (NME, 01/2000); "Mixes driving rock, gritty new wave and odd atmospheric stuff" (Option, 1990)

LP version comes with free download card.

Radio support from Benji B & B Traits (BBC Radio 1), Nemone (BBC 6 Music), . DJ support from Ben UFO, Joy Orbison, Caribou, Tessela, Mosca, Kowton, Ron Morelli, Bok Bok

Print features confirmed in Groove, Beat Mag, Faze (DE), Tsugi (FR), DJ Mag (IT), Volkskrant (NL), The Gap (Austria)

Print reviews confirmed in Mixmag, The Wire, Crack, DJ Mag, Uncut (UK), Blow Up, Rumore, Rockerilla (IT), Irish Times (IE), Musikexpress, Doppelpunkt, Westzeit (DE), Exclaim (CA)

Online features / premieres: The Fader, NPR, XLR8r (USA), The Quietus, Dummy (UK), Wasabeat (JP),

Hessle Audio are excited to announce the release of the self-titled debut album by Pearson Sound, aka label co-head David Kennedy. Characteristically minimalist in approach, its nine tracks use a handful of elements to craft mesmerising, self-contained worlds, alive with motion and near-subliminal detail: from vast and inky landscapes, to electrifying rhythm tracks, where layers of percussion and bass tumble over one another like rocks in a landslide. Recorded between 2013-4, Pearson Sound documents a distinct phase of Kennedy's studio explorations. "I had a signal chain set up that I was really happy with, and I started sending my machines through the same processes" he says. Expanding upon the techniques underpinning his recent REM and Starburst 12"s, its tracks emerged swiftly through improvised jam sessions, some were captured in a minimum of takes, while others later took shape through extensive sculpting and post-processing. "A lot of it was made by feeding the the same sounds between two different pieces of equipment and they'd end up feeding back between each other and snowballing. On some tracks it's about harnessing that and taking it to the brink before it disintegrates, and some of them are about just letting it go full-blown out of control." The result is a record of striking contrasts: bold, stark and visceral, yet also subtle, harmonically complex and deceptively playful. While Pearson Sound's livewire percussive energy remains inextricably rooted in the club, this exploratory studio process has created Kennedy's most wide-ranging yet coherent body of work to date: a suite of thrillingly impulsive, expressive and open-ended music, untethered from restrictions of form.

THE company focused on realeasing original obscure dance classic and everything's that sounds fine to their ears !What a special one we have here on Skylax Classic! Damien Zala, the man who put out the superb album 'Lonely Happiness' on Rowtag Records in late 2012, who gets heavy support from the great Theo Parrish, dishes up six special tracks for our next release. Before diving in, it is well worth noting that a selection of Damien's album tracks had remixes by the likes of house icons such as DJ Jus-Ed, Rick Wade and Boo Williams! If those names register even the slightest blip on your radar, which they should, then this record might be the treasure you've been searching for. Damien's sampling technique has a certain air of grandeur to it. 'Shake Vibration' makes this apparent right from the start with intricate layers of vocals, guitar licks and keys. 'All My Respect' and 'Come Around' both follow suit whilst 'Dizzie' picks up the B side with a bit more energy and frenzy compared to what has come before it. The record rounds out with two tracks taking things a bit deeper. 'Stay Where You Are' drives forward with filtered pad chords that accompany jazzy sax and vocal cuts while conversely, 'Z To The Jz' brings in a moodier vibe with its jazz samples and smoky drums.
Do not miss the chance to get such a gem of a record from Damien Zala!, C L A S S I C ! A must to have in every djs collection. Essential Item No Digital .

Schlammpeitziger's album yields even more fruit. Six weeks after the release of his longplayer "What's Fruit" Pingipung releases this 12inch EP with remixes. The motley set of six electronic musicians and bands dice Schlammpeitziger's countless melodies into a delicious fruit salad! Candie Hank (Patric Catani) deals with the title track "What's Fruit" and beams the mantra-like vocals of the original unerringly to the dancefloor. Andreas Dorau, the infamous hero of German New Wave music form the 80s, is a year long companion of Schlammpeitziger. He sings about autumn leaves, on top of the instrumental hit "Balcony Sofaune", which is transformed into a disco piece by Dorau's producer sdfkt. (Golden Pudel Club, Hamburg). Springintgut dedicates himself to the complex melodic layers of "Pipe Claphorse", waves a giddy tambourine and tops it off with a three voiced cello chorus. The B side is opened by Mouse On Mars who turn "Balcony Sofaune" into an ever growing and collapsing bass monster, while focusing on the bold brass theme of the original. Thomas Mahmoud Zahl slows it down with a head- nodder. He thwarts the melancholy of "Schneid ein Stück aus der Zeit" with a stoically bouncing beat, which dubs and grooves like it wants to go on forever. Dub-Master hey (one half of Pingipung's Hey-Ø- Hansen) sends the same track through his studio, offers new harmonies with his quiet acoustic guitar and sugars it all with a galactic vocoder.

My Panda Shall Fly AKA musician and visual artist Suren Seneviratne, is set to release 'Tropical' It's a brand new 6 track vinyl release.

A kaleidoscope of rainbow textures and rhythms disperse into the exotic soundscape of 'Tropical'. Electronics, real folk instruments and noise-making objects feature here generously on this six-track concept album, blending together a sonic palette influenced by a rich variety of music, people and places.

The material was initially written over the course of a few months during what Seneviratne called "a beautiful burst of inspiration". Working with veteran producer Asier Leatxe Ibanez d'Opakoa (Electric Lady Studios, NYC), Seneviratne then set about disassembling all the songs and re-working them meticulously, enriching the sounds by adding a huge range of live instrumentation, before processing the audio through vintage analogue studio gear.

Suren Seneviratne, born in Sri Lanka before settling in London in 1996, first caught the attention of the music world with a remix that featured on Pitchfork back in 2010. Since then he has released a plethora of diverse records, gaining support from the likes of Clash Magazine, The Fader, Mixmag and Dazed Digital, as well as regularly touring internationally. He has also remixed the likes of The Weeknd, Stay Positive & Little Boots as well as appearing at festivals like BBC Hackney Weekender, Outlook Croatia & Glade as well as performing at prestigious venues such as The Design Museum, Tate Modern & Barbican.

With the release of 'Tropical', My Panda Shall Fly has yet again set himself apart as one of the most unique contemporary electronic musicians around today.

Steve Frisco, of Serie Limitee fame, brings us the latest bundle of hot tracks to hit Wax Classic in 2014. As the title suggests, Steve takes us on a journey through low fidelity sounds and production techniques. Think dark, moody, yet crunchy basement house tracks with inspiration taken from all over the U.S and the rest of the house world. It's a generous offering as well. Six whole dusty tunes for those diggers who are looking for something with a bit more range than another record of generic piano laden, house-by-numbers pieces that still seem to be flooding the record store shelves in 2014. The moods do vary from track to track, but they remain very reflective and almost melancholic at points. The title track, 'Adventure in Lo-Fi', is the deepest of the lot with filtered chords, echoing claps and a sporadic kick pattern that often clears way for the track's bass hits. Now, compare that to 'Da Brooklyn Beat'. Whilst the former had a distinct sunrise/sunset kind of feel to it, the latter is definitely more of a club affair. Skippy snare hits and a strong organ lead the track on, and at the risk of utilizing very overused buzzwords such as 'raw' and 'ruff', this track, and the rest of the A-side for that matter, certainly captures that essence.Stalwart Wax Classic fans will no doubt be picking this one up to add to their collection. However, I strongly recommend this EP as a jumping in point to the label for any newcomers out there!

Boogie-down cosmic funk from late-seventies Nigeria — like full-throttle Roy Ayers, at his most brilliant.
Jimi Lee Adams packs his inner Hendrix off to Funky Town; the horns are the horniest; Mona runs it all down with an irresistible West African tilt.
Afro-jazz scorchers, both sides.

Breaking through with The Sunflowers in Nigeria's late-sixties soul explosion, Mona moved to the US after the group's equipment was destroyed in a car accident. There she was active in the new jazz scene, before returning home towards the end of the seventies, and forming The Sensationals with guitarist Jimi Lee Adams. An unsung pioneer, Mona was Nigeria's first female pop bandleader.

Fifth in the series: all remastered at Abbey Road, cut at D&M, pressed at Pallas; and presented with a 24" by 12" full-colour poster.

Fokuz Recordings, founded early 1999 by Dreazz and Drum Origins, has been through a lot over a long, winding road. Thanks to the boundless dedication of our talented artists and the loving fans, we can now celebrate our 15th anniversary! Expect six 12'' records and a double CD packed with tracks by some of the most upfront names in present day drum & bass. This is 15 Years Of Fokuz - Episode 2.3.

In this last part of the 15 Year vinyl series we find drum & bass all star Lynx remixing 'Midnight Runaway' by Intelligent Manners & Enei. Fresh sounds all over, we're very happy to have him as a part of this project. On the flip Amaning and Dramatic deliver the goodness with Moods! Superb rolling sounds that are perfect for sunny, chilled days. Better get both tunes for the full effect!

Fokuz Recordings, founded early 1999 by Dreazz and Drum Origins, has been through a lot over a long, winding road. Thanks to the boundless dedication of our talented artists and the loving fans, we can now celebrate our 15th anniversary! Expect six 12'' records and a double CD packed with tracks by some of the most upfront names in present day drum & bass. This is 15 Yearz Of Fokuz - Episode 2.1.

We're proud to have the mighty Bcee featured on this milestone album. Once again he delivers effortlessly with 'Praying Man' and 'Magic Mirror'. Watch out for these deep, soulful emotional rollers dropping soon on Fokuz! Perfect material for those who like their beats with soul.

Fokuz Recordings, founded early 1999 by Dreazz and Drum Origins, has been through a lot over a long, winding road. Thanks to the boundless dedication of our talented artists and the loving fans, we can now celebrate our 15th anniversary! Expect six 12'' records and a double CD packed with tracks by some of the most upfront names in present day drum & bass. This is 15 Yearz Of Fokuz - Episode 1.2.

On the A-side Malaky brings the sweetness with 'Connected'. Heavy delayed chords, spacious strings and vocals in combination with a warm bass make this an abolute beauty! Great sounds coming from a producer you need to watch.

On the flip 'With U' by Moscow based Impish turns up the heat. Don't let the groovy intro fool you because the drop comes in unexpected! Rolling amens with soaring bass sounds make this a proper dancefloor banger, with a bit of class ofcourse. Not to be missed!

Fokuz Recordings, founded early 1999 by Dreazz and Drum Origins, has been through a lot over a long, winding road. Thanks to the boundless dedication of our talented artists and the loving fans, we can now celebrate our 15th anniversary! Expect six 12'' records and a double CD packed with tracks by some of the most upfront names in present day drum & bass. This is 15 Yearz Of Fokuz - Episode 1.1.

On the A-side we find the mighty Lenzman on remix duties! With an album forthcoming on Metalheadz he's one of the major players in drum & bass today. Exactly the reason why he delivers effortlesy with this fresh, smooth take on 'Rock Steady' by Command Strange.

On the flip London based outfit Reds come correct with 'Meraki'. Their diverse production makes them stand out from the pack although this particular track leans more towards a more classic liquid funk sound. It contains gentle piano keys and tight drums that roll along nicely for the duration. Add a warm sub bass that shines through from below, little edits adding interest and you've got something exciting!