Crosstown Rebels welcome Tochno Techno label owner Yulia Niko to release her first full EP, Paradise, a captivating three track EP featuring jazz bossanova vocalist Sil Romero and Italian talent Cioz on remix duty. Opening track Caminando encapsulates Yulia’s inspiration from walking on the White Isle of Ibiza where she spent the last year living. The hypnotising deep house melody of swirly synth pads and Sil Romero’s beautiful dreamy vocals wash over skipping percussion in an emotive composition. Cioz puts his own melodic stamp on the remix, creating a progressive club piece with bright keys over a reshaped bass line. Paradise continues the warm, ethereal atmosphere of the EP, bongos dance on hats as lush, relaxing tones fade in and out. Russian-born DJ, producer and label owner, Yulia Niko learned her trade in the clubs of her hometown before moving to the US to work as a resident DJ at Verboten, Brooklyn and Heart in Miami. Now touring the world, she is based in Berlin and runs a vinyl only label, Tochno Techno. She has also released on other esteemed labels such as Get Physical Music, Nervous, Heisenberg, Natura Viva and Dee-P-erfect.
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Dutch Techno master Orlando Voorn has opened up his archive for the first of what will be an ongoing artist focused series brought to you by new imprint Above Board Projects.The compilation will be spread across 2 double 12" volumes and will feature tracks from many of Voorn's pseudonyms including; Fix, Baruka, The Ghetto Brothers, Mute & many more. We are proud to introduce the first of a 2-part archival collection entitled 'Diligence'. Each track featured on the compilation has been carefully selected and programmed in conjunction with Orlando Voorn and the Above Board Projects team. Voorn has an extremely long and storied career in making music and is severely underrated as a producer in our humble opinion. His DJ skills are, of course, legendary, with him winning the prestigious DMC mixing championships in 1986 in his native Holland and making a career as one of the country's leading Hip-Hop DJ's. As a producer he has long been linked to numerous legendary producers and releases, counting labels such as Fragile, Metroplex and more as homes for his output. His association and collaborations with Detroit have been the stuff of legend since day one and some of the music contained within these compilations celebrate that while showcasing some of the more overlooked tracks from the man's more than extensive catalogue. Part 1 includes some serious rarities and some straight up, futurist Techno heat, take the majestic technoid melodies of comp opener 'Diligent' from one of Voorn's most well loved alias' FIX for example, completely worlds apart from the jacking and sparse Funk of Baruka's killer 'Technision'. Flawless selections from the early 90's sitting alongside later productions only go to show how diverse and talented an artist Voorn is and how fresh and vital his music still is today. An essential collection for any serious techno lover.
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Dutch techno duo D&S - or Dennis & Stephan to their parents - hail from Rotterdam and have a penchant for the classic sounds of Detroit. Their previous releases on SK Black, Orbis Records, Indigo Aera's AEX compilations, ARTS and Girada Unlimited have earned them support from the likes of Adam Beyer, Marco Bailey and Ilario Alicante, and this tasty new EP for Abstract Reasoning looks set to find similar favour.
The pitter-patter of classic drum machine hi-hats drive the title track along with swooping, filtered pads and gentle licks of acid, the track gradually evolving into a veritable bubble bath of 303 goodness and gated synth swells. Incidence continues the theme, with gentle cymbal rides splashing over continually evolving acid blips and bleeps while mystical waves of chord melody envelope your senses in a foggy haze.
The second half of the EP flips the script beautiful with two broken beat tracks that show they have a real prowess for melody as well as rhythm. Lost In Sequence's thumping kicks are punctuated by the rolling tribal percussive elements and looming, sorrowful pads. Intricate rhythms and beautiful use of reverb and other FX create a dreamy atmosphere throughout. Partisan sees a morphing, resonant synth motif pulse over another pleasingly thick kick rhythm, and swirling, ethereal layers of atmosphere. All in all it's a superb release that has something for the dancefloor as well as the home stereo.
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Lock up your 303s, Roy Of The Ravers is back with a brand spanking new album and it's quite possibly his strongest and wrongest to date! Following a limited run cassette version of the album, Who Are Ya lands on gatefold vinyl and spans 10 tracks and nearly 60 minutes of top quality turns, which sees our star player's BPM rising up into tougher, more hardcore-esque territory (Supremacy Acid, Roy Shat Over Ref) Who Are Ya also takes in some seriously smoked-out, slow-mo squelchers (Phaelon Acid 4, The Box) essentially making it a game of 2 halves (no mid tempo tracks allowed - ok??!) Through-out all of the album's giddy twists and turns however, it's Roy's trademark 303 constantly on the boil that crowns him man of the match, as he dribbles it skilfully from in and out of the mix, making him top of the league for acid once again. Hoorar!!
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2024 Repress
ODD OKODDO is a Kenyan/German duo consisting of Olith Ratego and Sven Kacirek.
The two artists met in Kenya, about a decade ago, when Sven Kacirek was recording his "Kenya Sessions", an album that put Kacirek on the map of outernational producers. It was reviewed as a "World Music 2.0" (de:bug magazine), whose "fascination endures" (The Wire). Olith Ratego also made an appearance on the "Kenya Sessions”, on the track "Too Good To Be True".
The duo formed the project ODD OKODDO in 2018, with the two musicians joining their various talents which dovetail in perfection. Ratego writes the lyrics and vocal melodies while Kacirek composes, records and produces the arrangements of all nine songs on AUMA. They create a colourful, dynamic sound which is defined by both Ratego’s enormous vocal compass and range of timbres as well as Kacirek’s outstanding skills as a sensitive percussionist.
Olith Ratego sings in a musical style called "dodo", which originates from the shores of Lake Victoria in Kenya, high in pitch and soulfully expressive. He refers to his music as "dodo blues". His lyrics touch upon the topics of politics, family and of course: love. As a skilled luthier, Ratego builds his instruments himself, like the five-stringed Okodo which lends its name to the project.
Sven Kacirek is a multi-instrumentalist who has been commuting between Germany and Kenya for many years now. In the past he has closely collaborated with various international musicians, among them Nils Frahm and Shabaka Hutchings. Kacirek’s sound builds upon a powerful bass marimba which is present throughout the album. It sometimes invokes the sound of a tuned 808 kick-drum. He works with Kenyan an arsenal of percussion instruments as well as household objects and found materials. Kacirek has now settled into a signature sound which has been described as "thrilling and dizzyingly inventive" by the Australian Cyclic Defrost magazine.
The LP comes with a printed inner sleeve with liner notes by Tabu Osusa from the Nairobi based label Ketebul as well as explanations about the song lyrics.
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DJ Richard's first release of 2019 sees him drop four invigorating electro tracks on Flexxseal titled "Eraser".
Emerging from the Providence noise scene, DJ Richard forges a path of disciplined selectiveness as a producer and DJ with his idiosyncratic style allowing him to make impressive, self-assured connections between 80s EBM, new beat and Italo disco, electro, techno and "post-minimalist" house. DJ Richard's feral approach evolved from the roots of his White Material imprint which quickly achieved cult status after early releases from himself and co-founders Galcher Lustwerk and Young Male.
As a solo artist, DJ Richard continues to push the boundaries of his talent and influences reflected in his two utterly distinctive and bewitching albums released in alliance with influential German electronic label, Dial. "Eraser" sees him join up with fellow American Christopher Joseph and his Flexxseal imprint as DJ Richard masterfully maintains his skill in propagating ephemeral and raw sounds with his aptitude for electronic body control.
"Critical Damage" kicks things off with resilient oscillations fused beautifully with angelic leads and thudding percussion reflecting a post-punk aesthetic while "Eraser" delivers tough, acidic swirls undulating beneath sharp, broken grooves and growling undertones.
On the flip, a slow, chugging drum sequence balanced with haunting modulations and machine-like vibrations that echo throughout take the focus in "His Threshing Floor" before "Casca's Theme" concludes the EP with meandering, robotic synth flutters and distorted bass resonations driven by hypnotic rhythms and world-ending atmospheres in this powerful electro cut.
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"Nicolas Gaunin's surreal sound experiments lift you out of the everyday and transport you to an off-world Tiki lounge set high amongst the tree tops of a tropical rainforest, where you're surrounded by bizarre, colourful creatures and weird psychotropic plants. Noa Noa Noa is modern Dada, a neon soundtrack to your most outlandish fever dreams.
Nicolas Gaunin is the alter ego of Nicola Sanguin, part of the vibrant experimental music scene around Padua, Italy where he plays in outsider rock groups The Lay Llamas and Orange Car Crash. Nicolas Gaunin is his solo electronic project, a bright and playful cosmic mash-up that uses the rhythms of traditional African percussion groups and skews them slightly to create unsettling, off-kilter grooves. These drum machine experiments are laid over a teeming microscopic sound world of bird calls, insect chatter and weird jingles reminiscent of advertising earworms or video game soundtracks.
Noa Noa Noa takes its influences from music from around the world, and inspiration from high and low culture; from composer Gyorgy Ligeti to the cosmic sounds of Italian DJ Danielle Baldelli, from the experimental music of Moondog or Harry Partch to the playful sounds of Francis Bebey or the exotica of Martin Denny, from Iannis Xenakis to 8-bit video game music. Noa Noa Noa ends up sounding something like the imaginary soundtrack to the Nintendo Gameboy version of a lost William S. Burroughs novel.
Incredibly, most of the tracks on Noa Noa Noa were recorded live in one take with the express intention of creating music that is, in contrast to much of today's electronic music, bright, sunny, light-hearted and mischevious. The resulting album is both totally essential and also completely throwaway.
These tracks were originally released in 2018 by Artetetra Records (Italy) as Noa Noa (cassette & digital) and Danse de l'Oiseau (digital only). Hive Mind Records are proud to present Noa Noa Noa on vinyl for the first time."
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Kangding Ray consistently fascinates the scene with his unique style that is bridging the dance floor and abstract electronic composition, talking equally to the mind and the body. His first record for Figure spans exactly that arc, introducing to the label something both for headphones as it is built for the big clubs.
The tracks on X13 feel as intimate as the artist‘s work on other long players but are focused clearly on impacting the physical realm. Teeming with ideas, he first lets his modular synths sway and turn loosely before switching it to a more bassy and propulsive approach on the flip. Balancing cinematic strings against stepping rhythms, the EP‘s closing track is another prime example of this producer‘s skill to craft something which holds up as an abstract piece of art as much as it does yield a lot of emotional tension.
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Dj Brisk is a legendary old skool artist who has been a force in both the hardcore and the hard house scene for decades, and remains committed to his craft in a way that many artists have not.
These timely remixes of his classic anthem “Airhead” run the gauntlet is style and texture, with the superb work from all involved. Sanxion brings a proper birth of rave feel to his remix, while Fracus & Darwin take it right up to today’s sound. The Sunny & Deck Hussy remix is an amen workout worthy of any 1995 set, and Audio X throws down a bright d’n’b roller.
Club/DJ Support: Billy Bunter, the Fat Controller, Dj Brisk, Glowkid, Slipmatt, Dj Jedi, Dj Luna-C, Dj Brisk, Clayfighter, Jimni Cricket, Bustin, Sc@r, Doughboy, Saiyan, Dave Skywalker, Liquid, Hyper On Experience, Ant To Be, Ponder, and ... many others.
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Felix Lee has created a world for his debut album “Inna Daze“, a kind of post-human environment where the sun never really rises and everything is lit with a burnt out glow. These are survival ballads for the near future, whose vocals, mutated to fit into this setting, drift in a haze of dissociation. Musically, at first glance, it's sparse and minimal but with continued immersion, subtle iridescent-light shadows shimmer around grainy colour, sub bass rises through kicks and snares retooled from their surroundings, not so much refixed as decaying. Felix has been here before in his incarnation as Lexxi, making his debut appearance on Total Freedom’s 2012 “Blasting Voice“ compilation, and as a co-producer on Elysia Crampton's “Demon City“ album. He then went on to release his first instrumental EP “5TARB01” in 2016 on his own imprint Endless. He also runs an NTS show of the same name, along with previously holding raves, cross pollinating and interacting with the vanguard of the electronic underground. The punky crunch of those earlier releases is reflected in tracks like “Smoke” made with long time collaborator and southside resident Kamixlo. These club moments inevitably give way to the vocals, conveying a feeling of loss and renewal. Intended to exist both inside and outside the club, it's an electronic music that at times feels like a skeletal take on shoegaze, solidifying that feeling with the intense rising synths of the album closer “Slow Decay“.
Inna Daze's features include Drain Gang members Ecco2k and Whitearmor, Yayoyanoh, Quantum Natives' Oxhy, and Gaika, as well as Felix making his debut as a vocalist, his voice filtered through effects to give it a slippery, steam-like texture, echoing around the songs, giving them a second skin of sensed abstraction. One of the most thoughtful and interesting debuts of 2019, “Inna Daze“ beckons the listener into its simultaneously toxic and beautiful sound-world. Keeping enough distance to provoke more questions than answers, the album unfolds in a different way on every listen.
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Picnic Record's founder Captn K is back and while he was gone he got a 909, "What are you gonna do with your 909 Captn K?" – "Try doing a bit of house I guess." So with this release the West Australian producer lends his unique style to a bit of 90s inspired house.
Sometimes you just gotta get it off your chest, and with the world the way it is there's a fair bit to get angry about. On R U COOL? Captn K shakes his fist at the sky and gets old school with his 909 and trusty bass synth to let it all out. A rant filled bad-ass-belter that cranks you up and kicks out the bad vibes. It's funny but relatable. It's simple but it's big! Included is a dub version for the club when you want the wriggle without the rant.
On the flip we got Tonite We Flying, a sexy piano driven builder that launches into a vocal filled disco/house track. Amazing husky vocals from Captn k's mate, Britt Bro tell the story of a night out and the desire to be free. Chugging piano n bass, juicy synth swells n sweeps and funky percussion get jiggy with their long time pals, 909 kicks n claps! Together it creates an uplifting energy filled anthem that makes you want to soar into the night!
Let you ears and sub be the judge, chances are you'll find a place for this one in the crate at your next party.
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Atom™ & Tobias.’s CUANDO is the first in a series of three upcoming take-no-prisoners techno EP’s. Atom™ & Tobias. showcase their unique skills for hypnotic dance floor killers in unmatched sound design and once more prove that they are playing in a league completely their own.
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May not know Maedon, the artist formerly known as pulsewidthmod, but you will soon; she has been pulverizing select dance floors with live sets since her arrival in Brooklyn late summer of 2018. Shrouded in mystery, there is one thing known about her, she’s a wizard with the hardware driven by some fierce passion for the music.
After having toured across the country on her own, she released a 12″ EP with the highly-respected Detroit Underground. Now she is ready to bring her work to the next level with a hard-hitting EP that epitomizes her sound on Adam X’s legendary Sonic Groove label. The label, of course, is known for delivering some of the hardest and intricate records in EBM and industrial, having releases from Rebekah, Dasha Rush, and Orphx.
Against His Will opens with the uncompromising ‘Illusion’ and its all-out destructive energy. Industrious and unforgiving synths dominate this cut, while a riff shifts in and out of chaos. The unrelenting percussion almost calls out like demons, as if you’re making your way down the river Styx, but instead of a boat, you’re on a mechanical conveyor belt.
Tasked with the difficult job of following that opener is ‘Limited Hangout’ which ends up proving as powerful as the first. A bit more punchy, this track has more body to it, the percussion is enchanting, and through all the chaos you will be dancing and stomping.
Next up is ‘Special Report’ in an attempt to tame and focus the disarray. The track has less overall unpredictable texture, and more EBM flared body banging beats. Still an absolute powerhouse, it uses door-pounding percussion to drive it along with modulated synths and riffs generating a menacing presence.
‘Alchemy’ brings the proceedings to a close. The textured cut is a slow down to things. Well-thought-out and more EBM than industrial, it demonstrates Maedon’s dynamic range of skills. Rhythmic drum patterns sway the beat while swirling and electric modulations percolate and oscillate throughout. The dark stabs evoke an underground feel, and although the track evokes smokestacks and assembly lines, it is inherently primal.
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Kanot is Jesper Jarold and Anton Kolbe. With their wide open ears and sharp sense of adaptation they have been involved in some of the last year’s most interesting Swedish musical acts - Fontän, Tross, Uran Gbg, Ultra Satan among others. With the help of Lindha Kallerdahl’s expressive vocals, Jarold and Kolbe weave an eclectic yet durable sonic textile. Call it music for psychadelic hiking, primitive dance beats or speculative folk music - most of all, it is unrestrained music, for the smartest and the dumbest kid in the classroom. In the dense, and at the same time airy production, some drums anchor themselves steadily into the ground while others lash out like reverberating rhythmic gunshots. The tones from Jesper’s guitar and fretless bass float like leaves on the Drangme Chhu River, at times almost drowning in effects only to resurface in surprising and skillfully chiseled melodies that could play forever. This Höga Nord Rekords 7” is just a teaser of an exciting collaboration of which we have yet only seen the opening credits!
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Director Amanda Kramer’s prompts for composer Ben Babbitt’s soundtrack to her enigmatic film Paris Window read like magnetic fridge poetry – “warped ambient bumper muzak tension” – but the results skew closer to some hypnagogic contemporary noir: lulling, low-lit, and laced with lingering dread. Electronics, strings, and percussion swoon and seethe in heady mirages of dreams and delirium, romance and menace. The narrative it accompanies is equally opaque and out of time: two eccentric siblings psychologically unravel through divergent fixations, one obsessed with the hypnotic infomercials of a mysterious self-help institute while the other falls in love with an ambiguous doppelganger.
Babbitt’s background scoring experiential video games (Kentucky Route Zero) and collaborating with exploratory songwriters (Angel Olsen, Weyes Blood, Eartheater) is evident in his versatility and finesse, flowing fluidly between minimal and maximal modes. Like all dynamic film music, the pieces weave a story of their own. Serene synthetic swells decay into murmuring television static and eerie vocal fragments; close-mic’d drones turn acidic then claustrophobic, mirroring sleep paralysis transformed into panic. Babbitt builds a window into a surreal world, seen through shadows and smeared, street-lit glass.
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Die Acid-House-Pioniere 808 State melden sich mit ihrem ersten neuen Album seit 2002 zurück. 808 State gehörten zu den wegweisenden Acts der Manchester-Rave-Szene und feierten mit dem zeitlosen Klassiker "Pacific State" ihren grössten kommerziellen Erfolg. Auf "Transmission Suite" kombinieren sie ihren typischen Electro-House-Sound mit der Industrial-Vergangenheit ihrer Heimatstadt und Einflüssen aus klassischem Detroit Techno zu einer futuristischen Electro-Vision.
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Pregnant Void returns with another of their deeply involving and thought-provoking albums, this time from Berlin based sound designer and live-performer Francesco Devincenti.
Devincenti has been making music all of his life and quickly established himself back home in Northern Italy. To further his talents he headed to Berlin to study at the S.A.E. Institute and soon went on to a job at Analogcut mastering studio. As such he is a sound design wizard with an exceptional ear for detail and someone who can get real meaning and soul of out the machines he often solders together himself. He is part of a couple of live hardware duos - MORK and TDV - and always fuses ambient, techno, distorted grooves, jungle beats and dub moods into his immersive recordings.
This new album draws on ten years of life experiences and uses music as a way of telling his own autobiographical story. "With the album I try to explain what I have inside in a way I cannot using only simple verbal communication: those moments of Brutal Reality where you lose something very important and cannot fully express yourself." Though always obsessed with finding his own musical voice, Devincenti is also inspired by studio masters like King Tubby, Adrian Sherwood and Mark Ernestus. His experimental music follows no existing path and is made on modular systems that result in unpredictable and unconventional ambience and rhythms. A number of collaborations add more flavours to this most rich and rewarding album, including friend Hi.Mo, label boss Simone Gatto and vocalist Alice Lobo.
Brutal Reality is filled with truly freeform electronic music - sounds without borders, but with very real narrative and an absorbing sense of emotion that makes it a moving listen in more ways than one.
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PBR Streetgang return to their newly launched KURTZ imprint this October to deliver ‘Acid Tools’, accompanied by Wilde Renate residents Longhair on remix duties.
Founded in Leeds but now found touring the international scene week in, week out, Bonar Bradberry and Tom Thorpe, aka PBR Streetgang, have cemented their position as leading names within the current house and disco landscape via a slew of stand-out releases on imprints such as Skint, Crosstown Rebels and Futureboogie, plus appearances in 2019 alone at Glastonbury, Love International, Printworks and a summer residency at Pikes Ibiza to name just a few. Launched earlier this year, their new KURTZ imprint quickly found favour amongst a who’s who of the industry’s leading names, from Andrew Weatherall to Bicep, Hot Chip to Soul Clap, and here we see the duo step out again on home turf to deliver the second instalment as they reveal their Acid Tools’ EP, featuring three versions of the up-front ‘Ron’ - each of which have been doing damage in their sets across the summer months - backed by a remix from Wilde Renate residents Longhair.
Up first and delivering the ‘Full Fat’, version one sees Bradberry and Thorpe introduce punchy analogue percussion arrangements in tandem with a chunky, menacing acid line at the production’s core, whilst infectious vocal samples and hooks ebb in and out of the mix to guide the production as it chugs along, whilst the ‘Half Fat’ mix strips back the vocals to reveal a driving and warping journey across six-and-a-half minutes. Next up, Berlin duo Longhair’s remix welcomes a low-slung interpretation armed with delayed effects and sci-fi atmospherics to provide a combination of rich depth and space, before rounding out proceedings via the ‘Fully-Skimmed’ mix – a high-energy 909 fueled workout set to feature as a favourite for many across the months ahead.
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Leifur James released his debut album A Louder Silence in October 2018 on Late Night Tales original artist label Night Time Stories; home to Texan trio Khruangbin and the iconic Late Night Tales series. The record attracted immediate support from Pitchfork, KEXP, XLR8R, Mixmag 8/10, Future Music UK 9/10, Electronic Sound 9/10. In April 2019 ‘Wurlitzer’ was the first piece of music he revealed from a new creative period after those sessions. The video was created by animator/director Balázs Simon, premiering on Boiler Room and was nominated for the BMVA Berlin Music Video Awards in the experimental music category, airing at the British Film Insitute BFI Southbank London.
Now in September 2019 he has prepared a remix EP 12" of the debut album A Louder Silence, featuring a slew of the finest musicians in electronic music today. Blueberry Records founder FaltyDL aka Drew Lustman comes first with a deep, skipping 2-stepping reversion of Mumma Don’t Tell. Bruce coming off the back of his hugely well received debut album for Hessle Audio has a “resymph” of Osho in typical mind-bending austere electronic style. Whities producer and Tirzah/Mica Levi collaborator Coby Sey reconstructs Suns of Gold with his sampler, and also accompanying it, is Leifur’s own remix of suns of Gold.
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The always on-point and culturally significant Tuskegee Music is back with more essential music, this time from venerated American producer D’Marc Cantu. Over the course of a distinguished career, Cantu has contributed to everything from jackbeat to acid, house to techno on labels like Creme Organisation and Les Disques De La Mort. Always serving up raw-edged, uncompromising sounds, he does so again here on another standout EP. Opener ‘Beat The Move’ is an urgent, high tech piece of slick and supple acid house with 303 undulations, dark vocal loops and the sort of hammering drums that get the club locked right in.
The sublime ‘In The Forest’ is a tripped out bit of restless electro with skittish hits and rueful pads that gets right to your heart. Last of all is the militant, marching ‘A Narrow Connection’ which closes things out with crisp kicks and scintillating sheet metal drums that straighten your back and get you stomping.
These are utilitarian yet wonderfully unique club tracks from a real master of the form.
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50 years ago, a young Panamanian singer by the name of Ralph Weeks, who a few years prior had cut his teeth in the US music landscape with the group Johnny & The Expressions, self-produced and independently released a record with an absolute monster of a soul ballad called "Something Deep Inside." It was a song that Weeks had come up with on the spot during one of many gigs in the heart of Brooklyn's Prospect Heights, at the time a cultural hub and community for many Panamanians living in the borough. Along with his group, The Telecasters, Weeks often played at a Panamanian-owned club in the neighborhood called 4 Star's (STA4R's) which would independently sponsor the release of the tune on a 7-inch single.
Fast forward to 2019, where a serendipitous meeting between Ralph Weeks and Names You Can Trust turned into a solid formation of musical synchronicity, bonded over a shared belief in musical fusion, a weaving of musical threads that was similarly the foundation of that earlier era in Panama. It's a fusion that has become a constant theme throughout the Names You Can Trust catalog in the last 10 years, connecting the dots from NY, the Caribbean and Latin America. An immediate plan was put into motion: return Weeks to a studio atmosphere that had eluded him in the preceding decades, a vibe and live musical presence that would be reminiscent of his time recording with The Telecasters and The Exciters in Panama.
In the ultimate tribute to Weeks and that foundation, NYCT label mates Combo Lulo unpacked the 50-year old original tune and refashioned it into a timeless rocksteady ballad. It was an opportunity for Weeks to acquaint himself with a new band and a new generation of musical talent. Ultimately, it was an unexpected chance for Weeks to reconnect to the music he wrote one fateful evening in a Brooklyn club. For Combo Lulo, Names You Can Trust, and now the rest of his musical admirers, it's a chance to hear how gracefully Weeks' voice has aged, still silky smooth with those beloved falsetto runs, sweet and rounded like a barrel-aged añejo rum. It's a testament to the timelessness of Weeks' original music, and certainly another reminder of how far and wide even the smallest of musical blips can spread.
Presented as a double-sided bilingual 45 single, both versions of Weeks' classic tune, "Algo Muy Profundo" and "Something Deep Inside," have been formatted in the traditional Jamaican style, skillfully cut live and mixed under the guidance of NYCT and Combo Lulo's talented musicians. It's a tribute to a brilliant record and an unsung architect of Latin American sweet soul, but also a love letter to a very particular NY-Caribbean fusion that theoretically could have happened 50 years ago, depending on the borough you resided in. After all, there was always something deep inside. Comes with NYCT / STA4R'S Company Sleeve & Liner Notes.
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Having spent the past few years quietly building up a dedicated crowd of followers and dancers as a club night, Scenic Route step out for their first offering as a label with three expertly crafted club cuts from Desert Sound Colony, an artist whose pumping productions have provided some of the parties’ most memorable moments. Since his debut release in 2014 on New York’s Scissor & Thread, Desert Sound Colony (real name Liam Wachs) has been refining a deeply personal club sound with releases for the likes of Futureboogie, Me Me Me, his own Holding Hands imprint and most notably of late, Nick Höppner’s Touch From A Distance. In addition to his productions garnering support from the likes of Midland, Raresh, Andrew Weatherall and Lena Willikens, Wachs himself is also a highly sought after DJ whose skills have seen him land bookings at some of the world’s most well respected clubs and festivals, including two stints at Berlin’s Panorama Bar already this year.
His prowess as a DJ has undoubtedly informed the music featured on the Cartographer EP. All three tracks are primarily designed for club use yet their intricate arrangements and undulating instrumentation ensure they remain captivating, despite the effectiveness of their functionality. The EP’s opener, “The Cartographer”, is a sleazy machine-driven odyssey, continuously building and evolving until snapping back into its original groove with a vengeance. “Gypsy Moth” sees Wachs team up with fellow Holding Hands affiliate Guava (real name Bradley Hutchings) for a dangerously syncopated drum workout doused in warped agogo bells, spliced vocals and a two-note bassline with a distinctly London flavor. Rounding the release off is “Budapest”. The combined power of the track’s interlocking kick and bass provide a solid stage for Desert Sound Colony to unleash an eerie arp and pads combo alongside a flurry of stuttering percussion and twisted samples while intermittently sprinkled with an unintelligible and downright ominous pitched down voice.
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Stiletti-Ana aka Ilari Larjosto is known for his wide output in the world of cosmic, techno, leftfield, disco and ambient music.
Producer, drummer and sound engineer in all forms Stiletti-Ana will always keep making music and keep the main focus rather on timeless quality releases than searching for the hype. His projects include bands like JESSE and Tähtiportti, Austrian Finnish trio Skymax and collaborations with the likes of Dj Fettburger as 358 Men and Skatebård. His new solo album Ab Ovo is the first full length Stiletti-Ana LP and represents his discoveries in the world of heavenly cinematic arpeggios, conga driven ambient and physical 3D drone compositions
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Chief Udoh Essiet believes in rhythm. He serves it Hot-and-Spicy on his new album Afrobeat Highlife Crossing, from the depths of his soul to the beat that emanates from his hand-made
antelope-skin congas and talking drums from his native Nigeria.
Chief Udoh is a veteran artist, singer, songwriter and virtuoso percussionist. His musical journey took him from the traditional rhythms of his village to Swinging Lagos in the 70s, where
Udoh apprenticed with Dr. Victor Olaiya’s Highlife Band while still too young to reach the tops of the congas onstage. (They stood him on a Coca Cola crate!) He has personally worked
alongside the biggest artists from Nigeria in the 70s and 80s, including the legendary Fela Anikulapo Kuti, creator of Afrobeat, at the height of his fame. Afrobeat Highlife Crossing has all the elements of these Old School styles, effortlessly blending the essence of Afrobeat and Highlife grooves, resulting in a sound that’s purely original. The percussion is out of this world, the bass is melodic, the horn arrangements are next level, the BVs are perfect and the ‘Pidgin’ language Chief Udoh sings tops it off with some Nigerian seasoning, like a dash of Hot Pepper on Stew!
His lyrics speak the cold-blooded truth, telling us to look inside ourselves and fight against corrupt governments that keep getting us into corporate-sponsored wars, leaving innocent civilians to live with the consequences. His label Uwem Music’s motto is “Right now is the best time to play the record” and we agree!
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Following his debut on Phantasy earlier in 2019, Joshua James returns to the label with ‘Journeys In Love’, complimented by a propulsive remix from Joe Goddard. Flipping the ruthless sleaze and hi-NRG of ‘Coarse’ on its head, the XOYO and Rinse FM resident presents a release that soundtracks the deeper, more vulnerable and always joyous aspects of London’s queer nightlife culture. ‘Journeys In Love’ lands with immediate effect, building steadily and confidently around a trippy sample and the hugely pleasurable push-and-pull of James’ synths. Breathing deeply and suspended in red-light, James’ new production tastefully recalls the late-hour, sensual attitude classic NYC deep house, while transmissions of a bottom-heavy bass weight anchor the track in the capital’s defiant after-hours scene. As a digital exclusive, the Super Drama remix utilises skittering percussion and cymbal rushes to drive things forward, dissolving with a playful acid coda.
Needing little introduction, Hot Chip and Two Bears co-founder Joe Goddard delivers a soaring and complementary reinterpretation of ‘Journeys In Love’, one built on halcyon, analogue sounds and further bathed in ecstasy and melancholy.
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Patrick Conway keeps a low profile and wobbles through the alleyways. This is his first offering for the ESP Institute. Side A’s Know The Future is properly moody, a UK rave track skirting the fringe of everything we hold dear from the days of our youth—big grey melancholy chords, mild shuffling breaks and anonymous diva cries peppered sparsely throughout—yet the artist manages to skillfully tick our nostalgia boxes whilst avoiding the road into full-blown pastiche. It's a versatile track, easily suitable for both the early hours in the warehouse or the tender drive home where your terrible Tuesday awaits. On the flip side, Patrick continues his plunge into emotional depths, summoning layers of ghostly sighs, chopping up the beats in half time and introducing a more prominent use of bass, but midway through Digital Warfare he jettisons the angelic pleasantries in favor a more deranged headspace. He’s had us swallow the wrong pills, sending us through a labyrinth of mirrors and echoes for the second half of the track, only to partially find our footing in the last minute. These two songs will send you to another time and place.
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rRoxymore's long-anticipated debut album, Face To Phase, was born of her annual creative hibernation practice. Whereas her previous appearances for Don't Be Afraid - Thoughts Of An Introvert, Parts 1 & 2 - revealed inner worlds of saturated colour and natural expressiveness, she retreated into her studio at the turn of winter 2018 occupied with the idea of dismantling the dancefloor-centric pressure paradigm.
The resulting album, Face to Phase, finds rRoxymore methodically and mindfully stripping back to fundamentals: rumbling minimalist dub, sparse polymetric drums, boldy unpredictable melodic narratives and subtleties which hover out-of-reach or disappear into vapour. Forged by the spirit of club music cultures, Face To Phase favours deep listening; resisting the temptation to reflect on the past or project towards the future, it's an album that is firmly rooted in the contemporary.
Sparked by her own archive of field recordings, and produced primarily but not exclusively in the box, Face To Phase adds several facets to rRoxymore's already wide repertoire. The pensive and beatless opener "Home Is Where The Music Is" was inspired by her longtime friend Planningtorock, while "Forward Flamingo" is a spiraling dream-state of house music dissociation; elsewhere "Energy Points" remains anchored to the ocean floor, radiating heavy dub waves, "Passages" is a ghoulish skeleton of UK break beats, "What's The Plan" closes the album in a blissfully blunted fashion, while twisting, shape-shifting rhythms push and pulse "PPS21" into series of ever-evolving shapes and forms.
Through and in between the eight songs of Face To Phase, rRoxymore fortifies her status as a seasoned artist, grounded by over a decade of live performance and touring, collaboration, composition and experimentation. With a new live performance collaboration with a percussionist set to debut the LP at Atonal on 1st September, rRoxymore is primed to expand her reputation even further as one of the most vital and distinctive artists on the fringes of contemporary club culture.
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Finally, the long awaited follow up to DJ Duke's house classic "Old Skool Deep Sampler Vol 1, which featured homages to Marshall Jefferson (Jefferson), Fingers Inc (Fingers), Larry Heard (Heard) and Ron Trent (Trent). This follow up E.P. (Vol. 2) features another string of worthwhile homages to the late Frankie Knuckles (Knuckles), Farley Jackmaster Funk (Farley), Chip E (Chip E.xtacy) and Boyd Jarvis (Jarvis).
Duke has always respected the pioneers that created the house/club scene and set the grounds for what's become of the biggest music crazes in the world. For example, Boyd Jarvis used to play live on air with Timmy Regisford on NYC radio station 107.5 WBLS using drum machines for the beats and then play keys on top of it. Duke tried to keep the tracks as close to the feeling of these pioneers, selecting the right drum machines, sounds, and overall vibe, but still keep the tracks fresh and not derivative.
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Trentemøller returns with his fifth studio album 'Obverse' in September 2019! Anders Trentemøller is a well-known multi-instrumentalist, but perhaps the one he’s most adept at is the studio itself. 'Obverse' is the result of him expanding that skill even further. 'Obverse' often feels like an instrumental album because it started life as one, the driving philosophy being “what if the pressure of having to perform these songs live is removed entirely?” Granting yourself the freedom to chase down every idea a studio offers comes with privileges. What happens when you reverse a synth part mid-verse? Why not send an entire track through a faulty distortion pedal? Inspiration reveals itself in a variety of forms and, before long, a simple chord progression contorts into something entirely new. It’s a work method that yielded great results for the legendary German Kosmiche/Motorik experimentalists of the 1970’s. Intentional or not, 'Obverse' embodies more than a little of that spirit without even a hint of pastiche.
So it only makes sense that 'Obverse' would stray from its original roadmap. In due time, half of the nascent compositions featured singers, including Lina Tullgren, Lisbet Fritze, and jennylee, of Warpaint, another band deeply influenced by dream pop. While 'Obverse' was born from a different work ethic than previous efforts, it also continues an arc that started in 2006. Each successive effort has represented a logical next step beyond the album before, and 'Obverse' absolutely picks up where Fixion left off.
For the past decade Trentemøller has been perfecting this form of sonic chiaroscuro to conjure up images of severe landscapes, and to mirror the Scandinavian climate, where half the year the sun barely sets, and the other it barely tops the horizon. While there has been a film noir element in his previous work, 'Obverse' is the first time each song has felt like a collection of pocket soundtracks.
By fusing together a love of dream pop, dark synth-based music, film scores, and a deep connection with the stark Nordic panoramas, Anders has created an inimitable language. Ultimately 'Obverse' resides in a genre all its own.
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Will Saul is a key figure in UK dance music. Approaching his twentieth anniversary as a DJ, producer and label founder, Saul has helped break the career of key artists such as Leon Vynehall, Midland and Dusky via his Aus Music label, has himself played some of the world’s finest nightclubs and contributed to !K7’s storied ‘DJ Kicks’ mix series, which he also curates.
Finally returning to the production fold himself with his first full-length album in thirteen years, ‘Open Too Close’ is a condensed trip through the influences, discovery and sense of history that have helped shape his career and drive a forward-facing, unblinking passion for new music. The record’s concept reflects Will’s enormous skill and knowledge as a DJ, and as it’s title suggests, “"represents what I play in a club if an 8 hour set was condensed into 10 tracks.”
Having held residencies and made regular appearances at some of the world’s finest clubs including The End and Fabric in London, Panorama Bar in Berlin, Trouw in Amsterdam and Robert Johnson in Offenbach, Saul is uniquely qualified but this refreshingly straightforward approach. Eschewing the lingering, almost cliched expectations for a dance artist to create an album “that sounds good at home, as well as in the club”, ‘Open Too Close’ instead draws on the timeless futurism at the heart of the music that drew Saul into electronic music culture. Simply put, futuristic, melancholic sci-fi soundscapes meets stripped back raw sample driven house music, all executed with the precision and panache of an artist who truly understands how to move a dancefloor.
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Aaaron continues his journey through mystic synthesis with his 5th ep for connected , “Cosmic Soul”. It seems with each release he gathers more depth to his music and minimises his style and production to naked artwork in sound where each instrument has its space for the the listeners imagination. Abstract yet magnetic , tribal and futuristic. Sink in the shadows and rise on the waves.
1.COSMIC SOUL A rhythm section playing robotic funk against an esoteric drone meets a melancholic piano refrain and pleading vocal monotones that go dubwise. The landscape of the track rises and falls to a vocal and piano breakdown with electronic flutes piping in the distance , peppered with percussive stabs throughout as the emotive waves surge to find earth. Quite beautiful. 2.MERCY Synthetic textures reminiscent of Blade Runner 2049 form a backdrop for a skeletal drum figure, as soft Kraftwerk like notes filter in and out and a skinny sequencer drifts across the track like crosstown traffic. A vocoder pulse and dreamy synth horns hold the scene in the shade of a hot sunny day as the city flies by in stop motion. 3.ITS NOT OVER Imagine a classical symphony based on 2 or 3 chords , revolving and hypnotising by its simplicity and gradually rising in sonic temperature. Set against a drumscape of toms and unnaturally pitched and distorted snares and phasing plastic synth percussion like a drifting cloud of locusts. The vocal “Its not over between you and me” is haunting and irresistible and the song draws you in, mystified by its simplicity . Devoid of frills , cold and heartbroken yet the embers of passion still glow. Innocently executed , Aaaron at his futuristic high.
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Microdosing is a series of compilation 12”s selected by Julienne Dessagne aka Fantastic Twins, and designed in collaboration with French visual artist Geff Pellet. Microdosing is a collective experiment aimed at helping you fighting back your modern obsession with happiness. You may deserve a nice day but the day does not need a nice you, nothing should be forced, everything is permitted. Microdosing will provide you with sonic healing weapons on regular basis and at irregular dosage. Those doses will favour psychedelic social techniques against self help tyranny, creation over soma, provoking over numbing, our outer-selves over our inner-selves. Microdosing refuses the fatality of the pleasure principle. Life is a struggle, time to embrace it. —— "My battery is low and it’s getting dark” We at Microdosing will make Opportunity’s famous last words fully ours. Some would see these as an epitaph on a black screen, we embrace them as a reclaimed fragility. Are we grains of sand wandering in space, hoping for a goal? No. We are the cosmos, the cosmos is us, unafraid of the end, unafraid of the void. Before the rise of the infinite silence, Microdosing brings you new guiding lights, white sun or black hole being a simple permutation of the kinetic rainbow. Oceanic’s “Parallel Lines Of Stripes” is a meandering mantra, an synthesised Moebius ring, a mission to your heart, that furthest star in the sky. Gilb’R’s “Cosmogonie” simply reminds us of the profound relation between spatial systems and the holy act of birth (cosmo, world and gon, conceive). The universe is a body, your body is your universe. Lucas Croon’s “Threshold Stimulus” is the soundtrack of a never ending voyage, the man is on a trip to the core sanctum. Imagine Space as a reverberation room cladded with bakelite. Losing yourself in delay repeats sometimes is the shortest way. Neuzeitliche Bodenbeläge & Sam Irl’s “Faeden” is another hymn to the umbilical chords joining us to the outer world, a black monolith of kraut acid, a pagan dance as portal to a destination only you can choose. Microdosing will be back soon with more enablers, helping to turn your petty struggles into a search for a meaning of life. The Quest lives on.
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Limited pressings of analog techno and electronic music .
The project highlights the personal outlook of Gaffarel’s underground sound.
known as Gaffy on his previous singular productions, percussive DJ sets and stupendous live acts, this imprint is a new platform for the Parisian artist to introduce his solo work, collaborations and remixes.
He has skillfully blended forthcoming EP’s with a mix of complex mental grooves, meticulous frequencies, conspicuous themes and textures, capturing a musical universe with remarkable knowledge.
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The mysterious Urban Inc producer that gave chills to many with its first release “pleasure planets” is back 4 years later with a HUGE LP ! (the first one on WAX CLASSIC). And honestly we are proud to say that this one of the best release we've ever done. ESSENTIAL ! SKYLAX RECORDS 4 EVER
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Wanubalé - nine guys from Berlin, inspired by the city's fresh Jazz scene and distinct club culture. Wanubalé met at school. Five of the nine in the band went to the same musical high school in Berlin.
Heavy influences from Jazz, Neo Soul and Funk shape their compositions. However, electronic sounds are just as important to Wanubalé. All of the nine are in their early twenties. All of them are into Dub, Bass Music and Broken Beats. And several members are DJs, as well. The Wanubalés are first rate musicians. They tend to take their time writing arrangements, yet they are careful not to overly emphasize their Jazz skills. Songwriting is a collaborative affaire, everything is developed organically.
Just like the band name, which dates back to the days of fooling around in the schoolyard, playing with syllables ("nuba" came first). Sound was crucial. Some say "Wanubalé" means "brother" in Swahili. Wanubalé: four horns, two drummers, guitar, bass, keyboards. Nine musicians with a knack for funky breaks, mighty brass sounds and great melodies. The musicians don't hide their influences: Snarky Puppy, Fat Freddy's Drop, plus younger acts like Hiatus Kaiyote. But Wanubalé do their own thing.
Wanubalé: four horns, two drummers, guitar, bass, keyboards. Nine musicians with a knack for funky breaks, mighty brass sounds and great melodies. All songs are written, produced and arranged by Wanubalé. Recorded at Jazzanova Studio, Berlin.
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An entire decade has passed since the release of Nosaj Thing's critically acclaimed masterpiece of an album, Drift. In listening to how effortlessly this album has held up over the past 10 years, it is evident that Jason Chung is nothing shy of an exceptionally talented
record producer, composer, and DJ.
Coming from the Low End Theory beat scene in Los Angeles, one of the most influential hubs of experimental music, Jason has worked alongside some of the most prominent figures in the industry.
Having produced and made remixes for the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Chance the Rapper, Philip Glass, and Flying Lotus, it is clear that his production skills are unparalleled and stretch across countless facets of the music sphere- ranging from ambient, to hip hop, to club music.
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DJ Oonops presents Volume 2 of his extensive compilation covering genres from Dub, Jazz, Funk, Soul to Beats and Hip Hop featuring pretty well known artists as well as zooming newcomers. He spent more than one year to select artists from around the globe who reflect the sounds of his "Oonops Drops" broadcast on Brooklyn Radio (NYC).
Be that jazzy beats or virtuoso live jazz drums, keys and guitars from Japan by Kazumi Kaneda, RF and 45 a.k.a. Swing-O, a first-time- on-vinyl dub remix by Great Britain's Coldcut or a brass cover version of Rihanna's "Stay" by Sly5thAve out of the US. Most of the tracks are exclusives or first time available on vinyl for this compilation, like the song "Measly Peace" by Magic In Trees out of Nashville, German beatmaker Twit One with an ill Jazz instrumental or London based rapper and singer Amy Tru featuring Nubya Garcia.
Also you gonna hear a unique and rump-shaking cover version of Blackstreet's "No Diggity" by T Bird & The Breaks, John Turell's powervoice over some heavy beats by Soopasoul, Kinny with a catchy tune, Igor Zhukovsky from The Soul Surfers & MRR Drumetrics with an exclusive, pumping psychedelic drum track and Schemes from Montreal who take all the credits at the moment from the web by Vice, Okayplayer, Music Is My Sanctuary and many more. For the artwork Oonops collaborated once again with San Francisco based artist Lindsey Kustusch who mirrored the atmosphere of New York City on point with her oil painted artwork.
Be sure to get your hands on this limited peace of work before it's gone like Volume 1. About Oonops: beside his vinyl only show on Brooklyn Radio he is spinning banging club sets to relaxed mixtures for vernissages, museums or theaters. And furthermore he works as a product designer and he's listed in the top 50 of Germany's best table tennis players and focuses all his skills in an event which will bring all this together.
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