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This is a serious collaboration, two internationally acclaimed artists joining forces on a series of new recordings and live shows showcasing the unending diversity & innovation present in UK Reggae & Dub.

First up is “Sound System Girl” - digging deep into Sandra’s Sound System History on a future sounding re-cut of the Cuss Cuss Riddim , on the flip side ‘Fyah Bun’ is stepping spiritual dub music at it’s best.

Sandra Cross needs no introduction, she is a true legend whose career begun at the age of 14 with a no.1 hit in the UK Reggae charts. Since then she has gone on to be one of THE defining female voices of British Reggae. Sandra’s award winning career has seen her hook up with the likes of Mad Professor and Sly & Robbie for a near endless round of hit singles & albums.
Vibronics, the future sound of dub, have been vibrating the world with bass since 1996. Their music is at the forefront of the UK Dub scene, proven by over 60 releases on their own legendary SCOOPS label as well as a host of albums, singles and remixes for a myriad of other labels such as Jarring Effects, Dubhead and Jah Tubbys. In the studio they have worked with Michael Prophet, Iration Steppas, Macka B, Aba Shanti, Brain Damage, High Tone, Big Youth, Gaudi and an almost endless list of dub & reggae luminaries.

It was Memorial Day Weekend 2016, and the sun shined bright over the Detroit River. Pontchartrain stepped up to the decks at the Red Bull stage at Movement Electronic Music Festival donning his infamous "Detroit vs. Itself" t-shirt. His first song through the Rane rotary mixer was a dubplate made specifically for his set: “Afterlife”. It’s a brilliantly executed balearic daytime disco rework that warrants the praise of summer anthem that it’s earning.

On the flip is “Pool”, an equally sunny slomo beatdown rework from Blair French. It's a delightful blend of cerebral and soulful, and is finally getting a release after being originally championed by Peter Croce on his Le Mellotron Paris set back in early 2018.

This 7" is pressed heavy and cut loud at 33.3 RPM with a normal non-dinked hole.

Artwork by Gino

Picture Vinyl "A balance between things that you know people will like and things that you think people will like" is what John Peel had to say on his BBC homepage about Apparat's music programming concept. Apparat then appeared at the Peel Session in May of 2004 substituting like with die for in JP's statement. Indeed, it's sad but true: John Peel passed away a few months later to a heart attack while vacationing in Peru. Apparat could only find a more fitting farewell mood with the rerecording of his session: a sonic dedication to the huge mentor John Peel from Shitkatapult and their people.

Apparat is known as a fluctuating mood-maker by way of his computer companion. In this case he leaves his garb behind. Apparat swings the composer's stick with emotion to give yearning its segway by conducting pieces of lonely melancholic beauty with godly discretion. New strings are thanks to the violin and cello of Kathrin Pfänder and Lisa Stepf aka Complexácord, whose soul-drenched expression lets your mind sway.

The trio harmonizes with dream-like perfection. It reminds one once again of the experimental modus operandi combining classical instruments with electronic music. Singer Raz Ohara and clarinet/sax player Hormel Eastwood find their chosen virtuous and emotional space on this promising cloud. What remains are warm dark drops of elegiac pop the pour down the back of your heart.

This Apparat John Peel Session was remastered by Bo Kondren at Calyx Studios in February 2019 incl. the digital bonus track - Komponent as Telefon Tel Aviv Remix.
The physical appears as picture disc featuring the wonderful original design by Hanna Zeckau & Carsten Aermes on vinyl.
The original release from 2005 (Strike 153) also contained more Remixes by Bus, Rechenzentrum and Apparat himself.

ZamZam 72 comes from one of our favorite producers for the last few years, the elusive Andy Mac. Known in particular for his “Diving Bird” series, a buy-on-sight trilogy of 12”s on Bristol’s Idle Hands, the idiosyncratic producer also has releases on No Corner (in collaboration with Ossia), and the seminal Punch Drunk label. His unique style of chopped, techy, warm, pastoralist dubwise had us from the first, and the tunes he sent us flew through our A&R gauntlet with ease. His are records we return to again and again, revealing more subtlety with each listen, free from genre or tempo constraints.

“Dawner,” the first of two transmissions from Lands End, Cornwall, is a perfect encapsulation of the Andy Mac sound: melancholy yet uplifting, rooted in techno-steppers yet rough-hewn and organic, breezy yet piercingly introspective. Led by a staccato kick and insistent metallic snare, featuring a bubbling Hammond organ lead by Richard Blackbarrow of cult UK Rough Trade band “Bob,” this one shimmers with summer warmth, lens-flare refracting saturated side-light, made for dusk sessions and sunrise sets, preferably out of doors, far from any city.

Layered with field recordings of streams and sea, “Tawny Grammar” is an altogether deeper affair, a dark, hallucinatory journey into the power of repetition in a 140-ish style. Shaker, kick, and hi hat lay the foundation for a looping and loping Binghi drum and guitar chop that begin their journey hacking through a dense undergrowth of sound, only to find themselves ensnared in a web of backwards delays and psychotropic effects that suspend the unwary in a strange tension between minimal and claustrophobic… the dance’s dark beating heart.

The Jazz Diaries is proud to announce NYC’s favorite underground papi Toribio will be releasing his sophomore EP June 14th 2019. Hot of-the-heels of his Gator Boots 12” for Soul Clap, which received hands in the air support from Seth Troxler, Adam Port, and Soul Clap, Toribio makes you feel at home in the club with his expressive new EP - Capicua!

Growing up playing Dominican percussion instruments from an early age, and being a staple DJ in the NYC circuit for the last 7+ years playing with a who’s who of DJs (Danny Krivit, Rick Wilhite, Louie Vega etc), Toribio expands the palette of what dance music is, fusing his Dominican roots, afro-cuban latin riddims and 90s hip-hop to create a cultural melting pot that signals a change in the guard for NYC House Music.

As Toribio rightly puts…
“Capicua!” is an expression Dominicans yell as they slam the last domino of a certain hand with belligerent righteousness. It means you win on both sides of the table no matter which way you look at it. Top to bottom. This my musical way of saying in a Dominican style... I won on both sides with this record.

This is certainly true of EP opener ‘Get Up’, which hits you on the upside with a nasty dose of p-funk over a bed of live and programmed house riddims. The record showcases Toribio’s penchant for the funky, yet rhythmically inquisitive. It is this trademark sound that permeates the record and continues its way through the acid tinged ‘Make Your Mark’, where long time friend and collaborator Byron the Aquarius steps in on remix duties - providing a lush reprise from the frenetic afro-cuban percussion found in the original mix.

Last but not least, Toribio rounds of the EP with a sensual, take your girl home cover of ‘Household’ by Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs. The tune showcases the broad depth of Toribio’s musical portrait, prominently featuring his voice and guitar, further giving credence to the musicality and diasporic nature of the new Nu York, and further cementing Toribio’s place in it for years to come.

7 track EP/mini album by L/F/D/M 's Richard Smith - ‘Dream Bleeds’ overflows with body jerking industrial, raw acid/techno, and hints of the warehouse sound of the late ‘90s and the caustic spirit of EBM.

Richard Smith says about ‘Dream Bleeds’, “attaching meaning to songs is often arbitrary but when the visceral feeling of music, particularly instrumental body music, is laid bare, the interaction is immediate and physical. These tracks thread together; each starting point completely open, each new step informed by the last. I find it interesting that the process is the same but the outcome somewhat unexpected; shaped by emotion, inspiration or even constraints of time, they evolve as they do in that time. They reach a different end point due to that evolution of circumstance.”

Copenhagen’s Echocord welcomes YWF onto its roster this June with the ‘Replaced’ EP, backed with remixes from Berlin’s Freund Der Familie. YWF is a Copenhagen based Techno producer and DJ, most notably known for his output on the Freund Der Familie imprint, the founders of which step in to remix his work here, and Baum Records, the label run by Resoe, a good friend of Echocord label boss Kenneth Christiansen and with whom he forms the group Pattern Repeat. It seems it was only a matter of time before YWF became a part of the family. Title-cut ‘Replaced’ opens the package via a sturdy rhythmic foundation, wandering synth licks and winding modulations before ‘All Is Temporary’ embraces a cinematic aesthetic, edging in elongated sub drones, emotive strings and delayed percussive hits. Freund Der Familie take control on the latter half of the package, delivering two interpreations of ‘Cutoff’, first up is ‘Fdf’s Reshape’, employing an airy asmtopheric feel amongst fluttering low-end and dustry drums while the ‘Days Of Doom Remix’, as the name would suggest takes a darker approach, laying focus on menacing bass, expansive delays and menacing voices alongside heartbeat like pulses of low-end drums.

‘Just rain! Tell that to the dolphins!’
The brand new first-time vinyl edition of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to
the Galaxy: Quandary Phase comes on heavyweight blue vinyl,
packaged in the lavish style of the preceding Primary Phase,
Secondary Phase and Tertiary Phase LP releases.
Here, for the first time ever on vinyl, are Episodes 19 to 22 of the
BBC radio series. First broadcast in 2005, the Quandary Phase is
based upon the Douglas Adams’s fourth novel So Long, and
Thanks for all the Fish. This is the first ever publication of the
original radio edits of the Quandary Phase, as heard on their
original Radio 4 broadcast.
Hitching a lift back to Earth after it miraculously reappeared, Arthur
Dent returns to his cottage and tries to resume normal life. But an
encounter with a striking woman named Fenchurch leads to a
series of unanswered questions. Why has the planet’s entire
population of dolphins vanished, leaving behind them some very
charming crystal bowls? Who is Wonko the Sane, and what is
God’s Last Message to His Creation? Meanwhile Ford Prefect is
Having revelations of his own, and as for Marvin the Paranoid
Android…well, just don’t ask. Suffice to say, things may never be
the same again.
Starring William Franklyn as The Book, with Simon Jones as
Arthur Dent, Geoffrey McGivern as Ford Prefect, Bill Paterson as
Rob McKenna, Jane Horrocks as Fenchurch, Sandra Dickinson as
Tricia McMillan and Stephen Moore as Marvin the Paranoid
Android, with a guest cast including Arthur Smith, June Whitfield,
Stephen Fry, Jackie Mason, Rula Lenska, Patrick Moore and
Christian Slater, with music by Philip Pope and Paul ‘Wix’
Wickens. Adapted, Directed and Co-Produced by Dirk Maggs
Two 180g heavyweight coloured vinyl discs are presented in
illustrated wallets inside a rigid, bound 20 page book, including a
moving tribute to Douglas Adams written by Stephen Fry and
sleeve notes by Jem Roberts, Adams’s official biographer.
‘Whoooo…I’m flying…’

British blues-rock quartet Zior had their roots in the bourgeoning R&B scene that arose during the

late 1960s in the southeast coastal city of Southend; they built a strong reputation in live

performance, opting for ‘happenings’ in the style of Hawkwind and Pink Floyd that went beyond

mere musical events. By the time they recorded their self-titled debut album, issued on Larry Page’s

short-lived Nepentha label in 1971, they were clearly influenced by the emergent hard rock/

heavy metal scene of the West Midlands, drawing from Black Sabbath’s discordant riffs and occult

influences, along with shrill vocal attacks in Led Zeppelin mode; there were shades of Steppenwolf

and the odd Doors-sounding keyboard riff as well (and the Black Sabbath link was heightened

by an album design from Keith McMillan, who was responsible for Black Sabbath’s debut cover

too). The resultant Zior is a varied ride through different kinds of rock terrain, from blues rock to

hard rock and on to whimsical psychedelia and prog-rock, making it hard to classify. Though this

debut LP should have heralded a bright beginning, misfortune seemed to dog the band from the

start; other recordings were released under the name Monument, the band members listed under

aliases, and a second album, Every Inch A Man, was issued in Germany after Zior’s breakup in

1973, without the band’s knowledge or permission.

Legendary artist Mick Harris (Napalm Death, Painkiller, Scorn…) kicks off his 2019 with this EP of tar-black, bass heavy sonic violence. This EP features 4 reworks of “Salford Priors”, one of the heaviest tracks from his return-to-form album “Over Depth”, the first by Mick Harris himself, and 3 more by his longtime collaborators in the production guises of Fausten, Stormfield, and Monster X. The EP begins with an apocalyptic, dubbed out violent rework by the man himself, creeping in with a cold, calm eerie drone that quickly goes from zero to 100%, blasting into a full force attack of artillery percussion and strafing, shrapnel textures atop the landmine subs and characteristic Harris snarling mono-bass.

Julien Caraz has caused much distress over the years with the sheer rage and precision sonic assaults of his Monster X project. Here he eschews his usual frenetic tempos for a solid 130BPM, a sleek techno destroyer built for giant spaces and huge soundsystems in mind. The Combat Recordings boss has worked audiovisually with Mick since the Scorn AV at Bangface Weekend in 2011, touring with Fret AV in 2018. Here he switches back into audio mode to rework Salford Priors into a hard electro assault for the Stormfield remix.

Fausten is the shadowy, twisted collaboration between Monster X and Stormfield.
Having released a staggeringly twisted album on the legendary Ad Noiseam, Fausten
went into hibernation as the pair pursued their own projects, with only a few sporadic tracks surfacing over the years. The pair have been putting together an album’s worth of new material for 2019, beginning with a powerful remix of Salford Priors. Taking Fret back into it’s aquatic, fathoms-deep sonic territory, this remix is a behemoth work that moves at quarter-step tempo, allowing for more physicality and dynamics, the profound pulse of each profoundly deep bassdrum like an underwater volcanic explosion, with skittering percussion the resonates in the stillness.

Volume Three in the Mr Bongo Record club series. Another showcase of recent vinyl finds and favourites from our DJ sets and radio shows. This is an extra special one however, as it lands in 2019, the year that we celebrate 30 years since it all began way back in 1989.

Compiled by David Buttle and Gareth Stephens, assisted by Graham Luckhurst and Gary Johnson.

Poté returns to Benji B’s Deviation Music following the release of his acclaimed debut album 'Spiral, My Love' last year. 'Waters of Praslin' is the first in of a run of club-focused 12"s from the artist entitled the Versiclub series.

St. Lucia born and London-raised, Poté (real name Sylvern Mathurin) has always been drawn to African diasporic futuristic beats from baile funk to kuduro and gqom. Before Benji stepped in to release his debut record Poté put out multiple EPs for Enchufada, the independent record label founded by his spiritual forbearers in Lisbon, Buraka Son Sistema.

The Brazilian influence is definitely evident in opening track 'Jacquot (Waters of Praslin)', with its afro-samba rhythm laced with the metallic synth work of UK bass. Track 2, 'Sirens' feels like a future dance floor favourite that channels UK funky, dub step and of course the power of the siren in the dance.

"Waters of Praslin is my homage to the people and spirit of my hometown, Praslin in St.Lucia. These are the waters which gave us life, stories, joy and memories” says Poté “these waters saw many of us grow and and eventually pass."

DJ Varsovie's new EP takes place in September 2045, in a futuristic end of summer before we have to leave earth. The journey is supported by remixes from Anetha, Minimum Syndicat and Stephanie Sykes, each one gives a different perspective on this dystopic love story. Septemper EP is a double vinyl edition with a colored sleeve and the record is printed on 180 grams vinyl, some of the tracks are also in 45 RPM for maximum quality.

“Le Lisse et le Strié is a new work by french composer François J. Bonnet, released under his project name Kassel Jaeger. Based in Paris, Bonnet is the Director of INA GRM. He is also a writer and theoretician (The Order of Sounds, a sonorous Archipelago and The Infra-World have been published in english by Urbanomic). As a musician, Bonnet has been collaborating with artists such as Stephen O’Malley, Oren Ambarchi or Jim O’Rourke and most of his recent work has been published by Editions Mego.

Le Lisse et le Strié has been conceived as an exploration of the two antagonist concepts of “smooth” and “striated”, applied to the realm of electroacoustic sounds. If the “smooth” is linked to “nomos” as an open space of organic distribution, the “striated”, on the contrary, is associated to “logos”, as an enclosed space defined by a grid.

Elaborating a dialogue between these aspects, Kassel Jaeger draws here an intermediary space where pulsations become textures and layers, and where rhythmic elements are found in the qualities and bodies of sounds instead of being functionnalised, pre-determined sound objects, abstracted and frozen onto a temporal grid. The concept of “striated” is made audible only through the sonic landscape it inhabits, like the stripes of the camouflage fur of wild animals only exist as such in the woods and long grass, disappearing into a potentially uselessness in a desert plain.”

Yo Falty why don't you do the old school shuffle anymore What happened, maaaaan OK, held this one back from 2011. All the garage and 2-step workouts I made were inspired by hours and hours of listening to Horsepower Productions, Zed Bias, El-B, Darqwan... I studied them. This tune in particular inspired by Benny Ill himself. Ill Bent was never released, I always held back some exclusives for my sets. No one had it. Benny Ill remixed the track in fine style, both Straight up and with a Fat Larry spin. We were talking, Benny and I, and he mentioned he used to live in Brooklyn. So he submitted Is It Safe, a tune he made while living not far from where I live now in NYC, to conclude the EP. Heavy! (note, the first letter in Benny's last name is a capitol 'i') Track A1 produced by FaltyDL

A Quest Called Tribe begins with a series of portraits drawn by Stéphane Carricondo in
2017 dedicated to Hip-Hop legends. As close partner in art Medline proposed to create a
soundtrack for them, and first interpreting ATCQ's classics with elements of the past,
present and future. The best way to materialize this multidimensional tribute was obviously
a vinyl. And it's the one we unveil today.
On the visual side, ATCQ's portraits are composing the front cover and, assembled into a
great scene, are printed on a colorful A2 poster. Stéphane Carricondo's natural lines are
highlighting each member's soul map. The alchemy of the dark ink on emptiness gives to
them an impressive sparkle of life.
On the musical side, the classic themes are transformed into a polymorphic fusion, were
jazz, funk and soul from the original sample sources converse with Tribe's characteristic
beats. Medline added a hint of his magic, unique rhythms, improvisations, arrangements,
original orchestration and inspired melodies.
The album is an ode to the band that marked both artist's life and mind. A cultural print and
school of sound that designed Hip-Hop foundations. With a blooming expression Medline
and Stéphane Carricondo are going to the roots of ATCQ in a quest for the tribe.

Special Remarks: 1 colored green LP in single sleeve with 3mm spine. Printed inner-sleeve. Collectors edition CD album included.

Vinyl (Limited Colored Edition)

Bananarama"s third album "True Confessions" features the smash hit "Venus" which hit the top spot in the US on Billboard Hot 100. The track was a huge dance floor hit across Europe, South American and Asia.
The album includes the singles: "A Trick Of The Night", "Venus", "Do Not Disturb", "More Than Physical".
Bananarama are often cited as the UK"s most successful ever girl group with 5 UK singles and 10 top 10's.
They were the girl group that defined the eighties with their run of pop hits which soundtracked the lives of fans around the world. The news of Bananarama"s reunion, after nearly 30 years, was met with universal approval and saw the band celebrated all over again. In 2017 the trio reassembled for a UK & USA Tour in a pop reunion only dreamt of in the wildest imaginations by many quarters. The band reunited in their original line up for the first time in years. For many Siobhan stepping back into her natural habitat once again is pop"s very own version of Morrissey and Marr re-uniting. The band play their final dates as a trio this summer in a run of gigs including Edinburgh Castle, British Summer Time and Smukfest.

Endlessly sampled across the board, for those dreamy guitar licks, killer Rhodes keys and luscious strings, Goody Goody ‘It Looks Like Love / Super Jock’ is a 1978 masterpiece of disco gold. Original copies of the Atlantic Promo 12” sell for upwards of £65 so it’s about time a remastered, officially reissue landed.

Produced by Vince Montana of MFSB and The Salsoul Orchestra fame, ‘It Looks Like Love’ was a Larry Levan / Paradise Garage classic and still commands dancefloors the world over. Flowing flutes, sultry vocals and xylophone twinkles open up proceedings, as those iconic, funk-flavoured staccato guitars and rising strings step up to the plate. Combined they produce a glistening groove that captures the feel-good factor of NYC’s disco apogee.

Delectable disco, fuelled by an undeniable funk that continues to be harnessed, chopped and sampled by some of house music’s biggest players from Nick Holder and Armando, to Tom Trago and Glenn Underground.

On the B side, soul-searching cosmic fluctuations via ‘Super Jock’, with interplanetary vocal refrains stretching out above a full-bodied bass, tight drumming and spacey Rhodes. Montana’s world class arrangement sees bongo-led percussive interludes and dancing keys solos take listeners to a mesmerising galaxy, far far away.

A double dose of that good stuff!

Dark Star Safari, a newly formed group featuring Samuel Rohrer, Jan Bang, Erik Honoré and Eivind Aarset, present its eponymous recording debut, an evocative song-driven album. These songs conjure shadows of memory, clouds of dreaming and silhouettes of foreboding through the album’s layered, many-textured fabrics and Jan Bang's silken delivery of Erik Honoré's acute lyrics. Dark Star Safari is the work of four kindred spirits, their open modus operandi, and a remarkably interconnected creative nerve system. Key to their collaboration is an organic freedom that enables the music “to fill itself in", to be self-actualizing via the musicians as medium. The music of the 10 songs resulted from a two-stage process: an initial phase of free flowing open improvi- sation, and a subsequent exploratory phase where hidden potenti- als were discovered and nurtured. The groundwork of the album’s music originates from a session initiated by Samuel Rohrer, who invited Jan Bang and Eivind Aarset to the renowned Candy Bomber studio in Berlin. The ses- sion was run under the imaginative craftsmanship of sound engi- neer Ingo Krauss, who worked in the famous Conny Plank stu- dio, and its recording and mixing employed sophisticated use of vintage analogue equipment alongside cutting edge digital pro- cesses. This meeting opened the door for something larger to emerge. The group did not settle for just the outcome of the initi- al open improvisation. They were driven to dig deeper, to atten- tively examine and manipulate the material, in order to discover what it had to offer. This caused a creational chain reaction, forcefully spreading across the group. During this second phase, Jan Bang, while meditating upon the possibilities and reach of the improvised material, felt a strong urge to give additional shape and colour to it by singing. Thus, he organically stepped into the role of vocalist, a role he had not pursued since the early days of his musical career. He sent the results to Erik Honoré, who immediately was inspired by its po- tential, quickly penning lyrics and providing the project with its name. Honoré composed two additional songs, Mordechai and Fault Line, and thus rounded the project out towards a fully reali- zed opus. The group continued this back and forth process, with Samuel Rohrer and Eivind Aarset bringing in fine-tuning and e nrichment to the song structures and textures.

French modern-classical quartet astrïd return on May 10th with the first part of a new release entitled A Porthole.

Conceptually the two records work in unison, focusing on portholes into the abyss, with part one delving into the depths of the deep sea. The tracks are named after various strains of seaweed, the artwork depicting dark waves and uncertainty. Part two will follow in a years time and will turn its attention to the night sky and constellations.

A Porthole continues astrïd’s signature style of billowing guitars, strings and woodwind. Each element intertwined with another, linked perfectly together through restrained jazz-tinged percussion. 2017’s highly-acclaimed release ‘Through the Sparkle’ with renowned pianist Rachel Grimes (of Rachels) set the bar extremely high for this release but astrïd have matched the depth, melody and quality of that record here.

Part one of this journey features some sublime compositions with Cyril Secq’s expressive and bold guitar playing carrying the pieces into chamber music territory, joined seamlessly by a variety of other instruments that swell and soar and fit perfectly into the story being told. Everything seems to have its place, nothing is overplayed or out of step here, there is an organic nature to the way this quartet plays and interacts with one another as melodies circle back and fade away in the same beautiful breath.

A Porthole is a deeply charming record, exercising glorious, nuanced refrain and offering a sort of hope rarely found in music these days.

• Aqua blue vinyl - limited to 300 copies w/ download code

• The album was mastered by Harris Newman (Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Tindersticks etc)

• The artwork is extracted from an original one of a kind monotype print by Gizeh overlord Richard Knox.

Focus on your steps for this 3/4 sample-based tune by Rubini, the psychedelic cactus “San Pedro” will bless you with a magic trip.

ZamZam 70 is our first team-up with the man of mystery known as Marcus Anbessa. An enigmatic figure whose identity must remain secret for the time being, his infrequent releases on labels such as Lion Charge, Tribe 12, and The Most High (as “Unknown Artist”) are eagerly awaited by those who know, charting an uncompromising vision down a path untrod by the weakheart or the follow-fashion. We love music that builds its own sound world with only passing reference to familiar genres or signposts, music that believes in itself utterly - for this reason we feel genuinely blessed to present these two sides.

“March of The Falasha” is pure roots music that, firmly planted in the soil of dub and sound system, reaches back even further into the mists of time through technological means. Downbeat steppers is the idiom, pure heartbeat is the pulse. Like an old soul young in years but full of wisdom, a distorted flute melody wanders ahead through the undergrowth of bass, light filtering through the ancient canopy above in the form of swung percussion and flickering echoes overlapping and intertwining like vines and creepers weaving on temple walls. Ancient-to-the-future.

“Creator” strikes a different yet equally dread chord, 140-ish post-apocalyptic Rasta business focused squarely on bass and space, hard, insistent drums and infinite echo trails flinging from the snares and percussion, creating hypnotic tracers like sparks swirling heavenward from a well-tended fire in blackest night.

Imagine African Headcharge on Jah Tubbys, or a rootsman groundation resuscitating ancient machines in the crumbling ruins of a near-future world and you begin to see what Marcus Anbessa brings. This music reminds us that nature herself will some day claim Babylon and grind it to dust, regardless of our efforts to save it or hasten its fall.

Charlemagne Palestine's majestic 1976 work The Golden Mean, originally performed by Palestine on two pianos, is revisited here as The Goldennn Meeenn + Sheeenn, a new collaboration between Palestine and enigmatic musician Rrose.

March 2018: the Festival Variations in Nantes commissions Charlemagne Palestine to reinvent The Golden Mean for two pianists. Palestine chose Rrose to join him in this new rendition of the work. Together, they performed The Goldennn Meeenn + Sheeenn onstage at the main opera house in Nantes -- the sumptuous Théâtre Graslin – with extraordinary results.

The concept of the 'golden mean' goes back to the roots of mathematics, and ancient Greek philosophy. It is an important work in the Palestine mythos, embodying his total immersion in the power of the interval. "It's probably his most systematic work . . . a step-by-step journey through the intervals of the octave," says Rrose. "When we rehearsed it, we were noticing how each interval is like a universe of its own -- with its own history, emotions, and sonic qualities all mixed up together. Every time you move from one interval to the next, it feels like moving into another world."

"I love the interval," Palestine told me in a recent interview. "I love when it plays with itself. That's what I learned from organ musics too. You can just do an interval, and if they're just slightly out of tune with each other, then they shimmer . . . they play themselves. And it sounds like somebody's playing lots of notes. In your ear, it's like an aural phenomenon . . . that's my whole concept. I make something that then does itself somehow. It continues by itself. So I don't have to always be there. And that makes my music a little less egocentric. So there's more space. Also for the listener — the ear plays with these things, and you're not always being given orders. Your ear isn't given orders all the time of what to listen for."

Beautifully recorded, with mastering by Rashad Becker of Dubplates and Mastering, The Golden Mean + Sheeenn feels expansive, radiant and hypnotic, opening new ears to its enduring mystery.

Rrose adds this note to listeners: "Do not focus your attention on the notes being played, but on the ocean of overtones swimming, suspended, overhead, brushing against one another, kissing one another, melting into one another."

Visions Recordings is back with the second volume of their compilation 'The chromatic Universe' presented by Alex and Stephane Attias. This second opus is full of exclusives tracks mixing styles and genres with a colourful palette of grooves from Paris to New York, from Detroit to London, from Italy to Switzerland and beyond. This compilation is international as you can see and Visions is very happy to release 3 vinyl singles as the compilation to have a collection and a better sound quality rather than squeezing all the tracks on an album. We will also have the digital release and an exclusive very limited CD.

Those three Ep are holding 4 tracks of pure gems. This SECOND part is again pure bliss and fire from the likes of Alex Attias with dope vocal delivery by the unique Georgia Ann Muldrow, a killer acid boogie dancefloor tune by the one and only New York City Star Dj Spinna, the soulful boogie groove of Stephane Attias team up with London vocalist Xantoné Blacq plus a dope house broken tune by our brother Philippe Quenum the nicest man on planet earth. There aren't words to describe perfectly those jams but you know those producers deliver always the goods.

Visions Recordings is back with the second volume of their compilation 'the chromatic Universe' presented by Alex and Stephane Attias. This second opus is full of exclusives tracks mixing styles and genres with a colourful palette of grooves from Paris to New York, from Detroit to London, from Italy to Switzerland and beyond. This compilation is international as you can see and Visions is very happy to release 3 vinyls singles as the compilation to have a collection and a better sound quality rather than squeezing all the tracks on an album. We will also have the digital release and an exclusive and very limited CD.

Those three Ep are holding 4 tracks of pure fire. This FIRST part is offering you a new version of Just One 'stay my way remixed by Detroit/Atlanta star Kai Alçé on a house journey with a killer bass groove and keys. We got on the same side a deep experimental groovy number by Daniel Maunick aka Dokta Venom taking us on a spacey journey with fat beats and unique shuffle. On the B side Hugo LX Parisian rising Star is providing a deep jazz house special jam with Florian Pellissier on keys and the last track is an intense electronic future jazz fusion jam produced by Alex Attias. There is music for everybody who love jazz, soul, house, fusion and broken rhythms.

Visions Recordings is back with the second volume of their compilation 'The chromatic Universe 'presented by Alex and Stephane Attias. This second opus is full of exclusives tracks mixing styles and genres with a colourful palette of grooves from Paris to New York, from Detroit to London, from Italy to Switzerland and beyond. This compilation is international as you can see and Visions is very happy to release 3 vinyl singles as the compilation to have a collection and a better sound quality rather than squeezing all the tracks on an album. We will also have later the digital release and an exclusive very limited CD.

Those three Ep are holding 4 tracks of pure fire. This THIRD and last part of this compilation is just what we do love, a mix of styles in the groovy genre of electronic music, Alex Attias teaming up for the first time with Sassy J for their collaboration that sees the day of a groovy monster mixing elements of afro, deep Detroit house, jazz and latinesque vibrations followed by Detroit kid Javonntte with a jazzy bossa track re edited by Alex. On the flipside, we got a new version of Alex Attias and Luman Child disco track ' Cookie Monster ' from last year here taken to a housey journey by the two Italian heroes Patrick Gibin and Volcov. Last but not least, a newcomer from Switzerland under the name of Sebastien Loopes, a talented young producer mixing various styles, release here for the first time a heavy afro electronic massive clubby jam that will make you move on the dancefloor.

"Vintage killer addictive electronic reggae & dub selection by UK pioneers Alpha & Omega! These are dub-plate mixes of tracks from various Alpha & Omega albums. Volume 2 was originally released on CD in 1997. "We have always done alternative mixes for sound systems. This is Alpha & Omega's second volume of dub-plate mixes, normally only available to soundsystem operators."

In 1980, the 9th Creation began working on new music at a Modesto studio, South East of Stockton. The studio was suspiciously cheaper than all of its competitors. After recording weeks of material, the band discovered the reason. 'We didn't know that the guys that were running the studio were drug dealers,' A.D. Burrise recalls. 'There was a big raid.' All the studio's master tapes were confiscated by the DEA. J.D Burrise unsuccessfully sued the DEA to recover the tapes but to no avail. Luckily Mike Micenheimer saved cassette mix-downs of some of the group's songs from those sessions. 'A Step Ahead' is the the 9th Creation's lost album. 8 unreleased songs of pure soul, funk, disco and boogie.

We are proud to present this lost album for the first time. The ultra talented Jacob Arnold also wrote the complete story of the band that we are presenting with never seen before pictures.

Finally the CD version includes bonus tracks from the Love Crime 12', the Mellow Music 7' and 3 previously unreleased (rough) demos.

(Because of the source of these recordings, please know that (sadly) some of the songs have drops in stereo and are not 100% audio quality.)

Cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin, November 2018
Mastering: Mathias Durand

Translations: Valérie Vivancos
Layout: Stephen O'Malley
Photos: Stéphane Ouzounoff, Bernard Bruges-Renard

Coordination GRM: François Bonnet
Executive Production: Peter Rehberg

SIDE A
Contrée (2013), 20'

SIDE B
Allégeance volatile (2002), 8'46
Esquive (2010), 10'10

The mastering of these tracks was done by Mathias Durand at François Lê Xuân's Studio 101, in Paris. I would like to warmly thank him for this.

Allégeance volatile and Esquive each tackle the same issue in their own way. Overcoming time: whether it be successive, additional, enumerative, or repetitive. However, there is nothing here about the ensuing nature of so-called "repetitive" music. These are types of high-end music. And it is more about insistence, the obstinacy of an individual who keeps knocking on a door that will never open.

Allégeance's rustic drumming, talkative, acidulous, colourful and overarticulated, with almost clownish desinences, eventually dies out in this very respite. The iterative and puffy shimmering of Esquive with its dull, thin and precise sounds, shifts and is engulfed into another sonic world — which appears as a gaping and collapsed response to this prime insistency.

This is, indeed, a 'volatile allegiance' and 'avoidance' from the sonic to the musical elements: the musical phenomenon anticipated and pursued as the non-sound of sound — or, in other words, the void of sound. This seems to be the lesson of the concrete attitude in music. Such is the kind of questioning that stirs the composer.

He returns with another title: Contrée, which, once again, speaks of a counter-event. Here, the movement is broader, more generous, more confident. Time spreads and stretches out. What seems to be a landscape of entanglements, trajectories, influx, masses and points emerges. "Something" rises and presents itself out of the sounds - these escaping beings, these "relatively short combustion flames " (Schaeffer).

The piece consists of five consecutive and uninterrupted parts: Entrée and Stance I — Véhémence de l'air and Stance II — Grande Allure. It is the central section of an electroacoustic triptych with Sables (2011) as the first and Nil (2017) as the last.

Part of the Atøms √ë¢tœrs Pix£ls Gh©sts™ series with The Designers Republic™.


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Info:
Valance Drakes and Kero team up for their first collaborative endeavor. The EP, Abstract Thought is an evident fusion of both artist’s unique styles, bringing together elements of glitch, Hip hop, Detroit techno, and a whole lot of space vibes.


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My hands float before my face, drifting in defiance of gravity, willfulness brought on by forces beyond my own. Things stop very abruptly with a crash the shakes my eyes in their very sockets, rattling reverberation pushing painfully through my skull.


One thousand days in space feels like nothing and everything all at once. Children grow, faces fill with wrinkles and I stay still.


Until my eyes begin to shake and everything turns to television static flashing somewhere inches behind vision. Is someone stepping on my throat?


I’ve crashed into something hard and barren. Is that electricity I see, clinging to my hands?


I spring across an earth or planet or meteorite that crumbles beneath my boots and sways in the air moving so swiftly about my body, dust flying up into the visor of the helmet that saves me, threatening cracks, ruckus.


I can hear my heartbeat in here. I wonder if this is what it sounds like in the womb. The rope connecting me to the ship is something like an umbilical cord. Is it not? Maybe it’s a vacuum. Maybe I’m not born yet after all.

A very rare remix package of STL's original material from Sebastian Mullaert on very limited edition 12" vinyl.

When I get a request to do a remix, I take that as an invitation… an invitation to express.

The sounds from the original composition become doors / gates… stepping stones for me to travel into this very moment and investigate how it is always changing (that changing being me).

I start working with the sounds… looping, playing, shaping… like a ceramist working with the clay, a painter working with the brush and paint, or the baker working with the dough. This process becomes a mantra; a meditation, and my studio becomes filled with sounds and rhythms… echoes from the original song, filtered by this very moment, temporary passing through "someone" being called Sebastian Mullaert or Wa Wu We.
Expression taking place and there are "NO MORE WORDS". Music becomes being, just Being.

STL is one of my absolute favorite artists, this specific invitation felt very special to me and the journey around the creation of the remix has been very deep.

Now I invite You to take part of it, let your consciousness express this very moment through the experience of the music. Again, being is just Being.

Much love
Sebastian Mullaert & Wa Wu We & …

Born out of a chance encounter in 2012 that led to a lasting friendship, Rhythm Section Int'l & producer, DJ, label boss, radio host, and record store owner Ruf Dug join forces to present 'The Committee'. Sitting somewhere between fictional band and studio collaboration, the record is the first fully in-house production for Rhythm Section, recorded start to finish at their own South East London studio and featuring vocals from label founder Bradley Zero and label mate FYI Chris's Chris Watson.

Right from the studio's initial creation, Ruf Dug felt inspired by the space's unique musical identity, jumping at the opportunity to create a collaborative record there over a two week studio residency. And between his DJ residencies at Pikes, Gottwood and NTS radio the Manchester-via-Ibiza computer game freak and renowned vinyl digger found the time to meld his wide range of influences. Having been a key driving force behind Be With's Holy Grail reissue of Bô'vel's - Check 4 U , Ruffy has more than earned his stripes as a boss level Street Soul collector, pre-empting the resurgent interest in the genre, which began in the mid 80s and is still a popular sound in Manchester today. This new release draws parallels between the DIY attitude of Street Soul labels like TSR, Intrigue, Jam Today & Elite and the modus operandi of the RS studio.

A wholly synergetic work, the project's title 'The Committee' reflects the collaborative nature of this release, as Ruf Dug states: 'Authorship is a strange concept at the best of times but this genuinely is a group effort and I very much enjoyed feeling like just one piece of a larger entity - the complete opposite to my usual production experience of being all alone in my room for days at a time.' The EP also features additional production from Rhythm Section's own Mali Baden-Powell, who DJ's and produces as Z Lovecraft and comes from a background in Street Soul music, his father was also in legendary UK acid jazz collective D'Influence. In addition, the record features a dynamic range of vocalists: sultry deliveries from Natalie Wildgoose and Sienna Mustafa, a rap from her sister Nadina, and the vocal debuts of FYI Chris's Chris Watson and Bradley Zero. 'I had been joking with Bradley that he needed to be on the record somehow and he did appear, playing an egg shaker at one point, but his singing wasn't in the least bit planned... I got back from lunch, and the next thing you know he just starts singing...So I dragged him reluctantly down the corridor to the studio and that's it- now he's a pop star!'

Also playfully melding digidub, soul, chicago house and acid jazz, the release not only marks a new chapter in the development of the Rhythm Section sound, but also catalogues a crucial turning Point in Ruf Dug's musical development. Still oozing with the cheeky DIY approach that won his own label, RUF KUTZ an army of fans, this latest Collab steps things up and opens a whole new realm of possibilities for one of Manchester's favourite sons.

Cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin, November 2018
Digital transfer: Jonathan Fitoussi & Diego Losa

Translations: Valérie Vivancos
Layout: Stephen O'Malley
Photos: Jacques Brissot, ARR

Coordination GRM: François Bonnet
Executive Production: Peter Rehberg
Remerciements: Brunhild Ferrari

SIDE A
Music Promenade (1964-1969), 20'29

Electroacoustic Music
World premiere for the Théâtre de la musique, March 16, 1970
" Hétéro-Concert ""

Permanent version for four stand-alone tape recorders. A series of colliding realistic sounds and sonic images. Whilst walking, a man is struck by the violence of his surroundings. Nature has disappeared in a whirlwind of warfare and industry in the midst of which he encounters a dying folklore and a lost young girl.
The "Installation" version is used to sonify a place in which walkers are free to choose their musical itinerary.

SIDE B
Unheimlich Schön (1971), 15'40

Musique concrète made in 1971 in the studios of the Südwestfunk in Baden-Baden.
Voice: Ilse Mengel.

"How does a young woman breathe when thinking about something else "
To be listened to at a low volume.

After the praise for Morning Worship, released back in 2015 on Royal Oak, Portuguese duo Sabre returns to releases with the EP "Fora de Turf", pointing directly towards the dance floor. There is in "Fora de Turf" a certain idea of transient existence as a series of car journeys cruising the night with no clear sense of direction, recalling the gradual disappearance of public space and loss of community. The weight of Kraut references such as Kraftwerk's Autobahn or Stratosfear by Tangerine Dream is somehow clear in its alignment with a 1995 Carl Craig who had just released Landcruising

On the A side, 'Condor Sense' and 'Sem Terra'. The first one is a banger built around broken beats and repetitive synth chords that guide us through the drone landscapes on the background, very clearly marked by the 808's rhythms. The second one is anchored in a broken kick and on a growing acid line, punctuated by warm chords and some sliced pads that reminds us of the pulsating heart of the city of Detroit.

On the B side, "Condor Senses" and "Driving Bruno" got some sort of a gliding character. "Condor Senses" is the only track on the EP to accept the classic four-on-the-floor to guide some dubby chords along a quieter landscape where organic and natural sounds lurk. Is it dawn arriving No. On the last track of the album, "Driving Bruno," Sabre get in the car and step on the throttle, full speed, on a bassline that could resemble some synthwave releases if synthwave had been lucky enough to be born a decade earlier and in the center of the state of Michigan.

Véronique Sanson is one of the most famous French pop oriented female
singer, songwriter, and composer of the 80s. She began her career in the 70s,
and was the girlfriend of genius composer Michel Berger. Her world turnt
upside down when she met Stephen Stills of Crossby Stills & Nash. One Day,
during a recording session in Paris, she left the studio pretending to go buy
cigarettes, but never came back... She flew overnight to the USA, where she
married Stephen Stills. In LA, she records new music with superstar
composers such as Ray Parker JR and Harvey Mason. "On m'attend là-bas",
produced in 1974, was one of the single of the album Le Maudit.
Funky French League is an intergenerational collective (based in Paris)
formed by Young Pulse (Gamm) , Dabeull (Roche Musique), Arthur Chaps,
Woody Braun (Malka Family), Mr Willy, DJ Asko et Uncle T (Groove
Deluxe). All coming from different universe from hip-hop, to electronic music,
but united by their love for the groove and the funk.

Since Danielle Mana's 2017 debut EP for Hyperdub, 'Creature', which was a taut, evocative suite of beatless, almost neo-classical electronics, we now find his music has caught an alien virus and started hallucinating. On 'Seven Steps Behind', the borders between reality and the weird have collapsed on each other, and with each listen through its zigzagging course, you're rewarded by its strange twists and turns. 'Seven Steps Behind' is an electronic album that doesn't always sound electronic; a great deal of the record has been created to sound like prepared pianos, harpsichords, cellos and flutes. At other times, sampled acoustic instruments and specially recorded sessions have been processed through software and careful editing. It's this sophisticated layering of contrasting versions of the same sources that help give this record its uncanny balance. The album also plays with your sense of time in its mostly drum-free hall of mirrors, pulling from minimalism, chamber music, dark jazz, and synthesiser experiments. Mana's singing voice also makes it's debut here, albeit adorned by abrasive FXs. His lyrics are encrypted in noise, in fitting with the music's chimeric character, casting images for the listener to decipher. His heavily manipulated voice enters on second track 'Myopia For The Future', sounding something like a singing motorbike pitched over bouncing ostinatos, or on 'No Body's inhuman, word-less range, where it's impossible to tell where the human finishes and the machine starts. Or in the case of 'Leverage For Survival' it's animal and machine. Here, as with the album's eponymous final track, a sensory assault subsides to reveal a heart-wrenching melancholy that anchors the record. Listening to 'Seven Steps Behind' is like stepping into a dream, with all the curious emotions and buried meaning that involves. Yet for all its restless, shifting energy it manages to hold both dissonance and melody in sweet proportion.

In the last few years London has become the centre of the Jazz Renaissance. A

new burst of energy and attitude brought by young musicians, equally inspired

by the likes of John Coltrane, Pharaoh Sanders or Sun Ra, as well as

Madvillain, J Dilla, Flying Lotus and Floating Points, has brought a welcomed

freshness to the London Scene. This exciting new environment brought a group

of young musicians together, all with a mutual desire to discover a new form of

expression. Together they created Cykada.

New York's indie disco freaks Phenomenal Handclap Band is back with a second single on Toy Tonics: Jail. With remixes by Detroit's Waajeed and Marcel Vogel of Lumberjacks in Hell. Including a club edit by Toy Tonics head honcho Kapote. The band was responsible for one of Toy Tonics' biggest tracks in 2018: Judge Not: The Ray Mang version became a hit on open minded dancefloors around the globe: with support from DJ's like DJ Harvey, Cassius and Gilles Peterson (who put it int his - best track of the year' list) but also more house DJ's like Berlin's Keine Musik Crew, Soundstream or Superpitcher. The band's members are kind of heroes to many connoisseurs of the funk/ disco scene. The band leader Daniel Collas was playing keys in Amy Winehouse legendary backing band. Other members are connected to Mark Ronson's crew or San Francisco's Stones Throw universe.. just to give u the bigger picture. With The Phenomenal Handclap Band they blend the unique vibe of 1970ies Power-Soul in the traditon of Charles Stepney and Rotary Connection with today's new disco vibe. Parcels, Toro Y Moi, Roosevelt are not that far. Important fact: All played live, no samples. Mixed by the champs at DFA. The band is part of Toy Tonics's masterplan to expand their dancevibes into more live played scenarios.. stepping out of the strict DJ context. Fun fact Paul McCartney wrote the band a letter saying how much he loved their music when he first heard the band on BBC Radio 1.

* Welcome to the DUB SOUND from Jamaica. The vocal records cut back to the bones of bass & drums, with the instruments and vocals faded in and out sometimes with echo and reverb to make a great new VERSION!!. Although remembered as an early 70's phenomenom, the dubbed sound can be dated back as early as 1968. But by the mid- seveties it became the norm for records to carry a Version (dub) b-side and in fact many records were brought for this reason especially if they were known to come from the hands of the dub master himself King Tubby. So sit back and enjoy this dub excursion, many from the hands of King Tubby but all classics in their own right.
1 Why Fight The Dub
2 Conversation Dub
3 A Better Version
4 General Dub
5 The Jehovah Version
6 Care Free Dub
7 A Wicked Dub
8 A Truthful Dub
9 Rocking Dub
10 Step Inna Dub Style
11 A Good Version
12 My Brethren In Dub
13 Rub This Dub
14 Creation of Dub
15 Invasion Dub*
16 A Lonely Dub*
*CDBonus Tracks