Hit the North is a DJs’ movement
Not a label. Not a revival. A discipline.
Over the years, the collective travelled across multiple states in the US and parts of the UK, digging deep into private collections, basements, garages, storage rooms and forgotten boxes.
They weren’t looking for classics.
They weren’t looking for hits.
They were looking for attempts.
Artists chasing something bigger than themselves.
Trying to sound like Motown.
Trying to sound like Detroit.
Trying to sound like the records that saved them.
Many of them dreamed — at best — of becoming a one hit wonder.
Most never got that far.
Some never crossed a state line.
Some never crossed the street at the end of their block.
Some never played outside their hometown.
Some never played at all.
What they left behind were fragments.
Raw versions.
Unfinished recordings.
Alternate takes.
Rejected mixes.
Test pressings.
Acetates passed quietly from hand to hand.
Sometimes with real credits.
Sometimes with fake ones.
Sometimes with handwritten labels leading nowhere.
Titles that didn’t match the music.
Stories that changed every time you asked.
Often, the trail simply disappeared.
What remained was intention.
Energy.
Urgency.
Hope pressed into sound.
So the collective worked on it.
They edited certain parts.
Extended others.
Cut what didn’t serve the floor.
Not to modernise.
Not to rewrite history.
But to unlock the power that was already there.
The result sounds like Northern Soul pushed to its breaking point.
Fast. Physical. Emotional.
Built for movement.
Some circulated privately.
Others were never pressed at all.
Recorded in personal studios, borrowed studios, friends’ rooms, temporary spaces.
Always outside the system.
This is not nostalgia.
This is unfinished business.
After a brief hiatus, Cosmocities returns in 2026 with Tech Rico EP, the final release from longtime collaborator, visionary artist, and producer Erik Rico. Completed shortly before his passing last year, the EP stands as both a creative evolution and a tribute to an artist whose influence crossed genres and generations.
Erik Rico first connected with Cosmocities founder Matt Soulie through Inkswel during the release of Cosmic Love Affair EP in 2022, leading to further collaborations including The Rare Groove Project. Following that release, Soulie encouraged Rico to explore a more techno driven sound, which became the foundation for Tech Rico EP.
The EP sees Rico stepping into new sonic territory while maintaining the rich musicality that defined his career. “Tokyo By Train” marks his first full dive into techno with driving rhythms and atmospheric textures, while “Afro Beatdown (Let’s Go)” blends Afro rhythms and broken beats inspired by the spirit of Fela Kuti. “Summer In Chi Town” pays tribute to Chicago house with warm synths and skippy drums, later reworked by Inkswel with additional vocals from Erin Buku and Marley Love into a soulful bruk infused remix. Closing track “Madrid or Manhattan” delivers a hypnotic house groove layered with trippy vocoder vocals.
A singer, songwriter, multi instrumentalist, producer, and DJ, Erik Rico spent more than two decades shaping a sound that bridged soul, house, hip hop, and Afrobeats. His career included collaborations with Tupac Shakur, Q Tip, Ladybug Mecca, and Jurassic 5, as well as scoring work for HBO, MTV, and PBS.
More than just a release, Tech Rico EP celebrates Erik Rico’s artistic spirit, fearless evolution, and the deep musical connections he built throughout his life. Cosmocities is honoured to share this final chapter with the world.
Growing up just across the water from Italy, Clint Spiteri and Madeleine Baldacchino absorbed the shimmer of Italo disco long before Deadisko took shape. Their analogue pop celebrates the past while embracing the future. “1987” melts an addictive piano house groove with clean rhythms, a sleek and smooth sound with just a hint of romance. Cat-like, “La Costa” stretches before finding its funk-filled footing. Synth stabs are ruffled, teasing rhythm patterns opening avenues for melodies to bend, curve and race. The flip is introduced with the pop opulence of “This World.” Blue undercurrents are bolstered by Sean Kamati’s emboldening vocals, his smouldering voice accompanied by daring keyboard play. Brassy tones are veiled in smoke for “Ssunrise Drive.” Mechanical reverb is offered a human touch, organic warmth breaking through to an incandescent shine. Echoes of Italy that pulsate with the rhythm of Malta.
Berlin-based producer ZentaSkai returns with ‘Analog Assets Vol. 04’, a four-track vinyl-only EP focused on analog texture, dub-inflected atmospherics, and disciplined techno structure. Active since 1997 and operating Mask Records and its parent label, Zaijenroots, from his Berlin studio, he continues to refine a sound shaped by spatial control and steady, architectural pacing. Tracks unfold patiently, elements are introduced with intent, and nothing feels excessive.
Setting the tone with Cuddling Monsters’ partner, Laura Merino Allue, A1 features phased melodic textures and crisp percussion that gradually lock in the rhythm. A2 develops a filtered synth motif over a steady four-to-the-floor rhythm, revealing its full weight before pulling back. B1 is the most direct cut, driven by a firm, punchy beat and sharp rhythmic detailing built for peak-time focus, while B2 closes with rising string layers over a dub framework, balancing warmth and precision in a clean, measured finish.
With releases on Jerome Sydenham’s Ibadan Records and upcoming collaborations including Cuddling Monsters with Laura Merino Allue and a joint project with Thomas Grun for Rhythm Trax Austria, ZentaSkai’s work sits comfortably between minimal experimentation and functional dancefloor design.
Supported by artists such as Richie Hawtin, Joseph Capriati, Marcel Dettmann, Luke Slater, Laurent Garnier, and DVS1, he maintains a consistent presence within the underground without chasing trends.
Fiscal man of mystery, Clive From Accounts is back!
Fresh off the heels of his well received debut album on Razor N Tape, “The Very Best of Clive From Accounts” comes his new concoction, “Income Trax Vol. 1”.
The 3 track EP kicks off with “I’ve Been Waiting“, a 90s piano laden up-tempo house track with a twist of soulful sampled flute and vocals.
“Every Time” is a filtered deep disco house roller built around lush string samples, live bass and soulful vocal cuts. It’s sleek, assured and festival-ready.
“Superfine” clocks in and turns the energy up. A snappy pop-disco number powered by punchy strings, big vocal hooks and catchy synths. Operating somewhere between the dancefloor and the stationery cupboard.
After finding their feet with a couple of remixes for Before I Die, Talking Drums ditch their sea legs and swap the pirate booty of their cult edit series for a five-track EP of original productions, each swimming in LinnDrums, digital chimes and synth-vox sunshine. Summer sounds abound as the crew refract house, disco, ambient and dub through shimmering sea glass, bringing the beach to the bar, club, garden or grotto.
Inspired equally by tropical Sceneries (but Not Songs), Ecco the Dolphin and Echoes of Wally, as well as a few tall tales about trendy whales, this 16-bit caper makes a splash from wave top to bikini bottom. Written and produced as a cohesive EP over three sun-baked weeks in 2025, and stitched together with field recordings and found sounds from Sicily, rural France, Japan and Singapore, Pier Pressure sees each track flow into the next: distinct seas that make up one larger ocean.
Opener ‘Fashionable Whale’ surfaces with mystic motifs and dreamy pads arcing above the spray before a purring low end and drum-box shuffle plunge us into Balearic house depths. A rippling breakdown, bookended by insistent arps, provides respite from the rhythm before the low-tempo pulse returns to take us home. Sticking with Zone 2 cardio, ‘Salmon Hats’ serves wonky disco at Valium pace, its beatific vox and glittering sequences underpinned by a hip-swivelling bassline and topped with a future-primitive melody. After drifting into dream house for a sunset lull, it’s back to the beat and the enduring question of how best to dance on a lilo.
‘Mangrove’ offers an intertidal intermission as tuned percussion finds a place among the cicadas and lapping waves, gently unfolding into an RPGambient ode to humid languor. Refreshed, albeit ailed by a sunstroke haze, we’re back on the dance floor with the optimistic motifs and jolly polyrhythms of ‘Flutti Di Mare’, an uptempo, Afro-adjacent house workout designed to inspire mile-wide smiles. Then the EP sails off into the sunset with the fathoms-deep delight of ‘Squid Dub’, a Cousteau-coded cod-reggae stepper with digi-dub bass, pound-shop marimba and all manner of THCtinged FX. Don’t be deceived by the loose and limber opening: a solid sequencer emerging at the midpoint sees the Squid squeeze every bit of bump out of the finale.
Forget ATOL protection - Talking Drums deliver your summer holiday directly to your stereo.
Irish label Il Corpo returns for its third outing with a hard to pigeon hole 10” from 710 Exit. 2 tracks that sit on the electro end of things but with a generous nod to the sound of Detroit, early UK breakbeat, soul and the deeper realms of electronic music. Close To The Sun feels like more than just a cosmic position. A solid 808 foundation and loose percussion sit beneath a bed of synth lines and soaring pads that are guaranteed to stir the soul. The signal for nostalgia is strong but there are plenty more twists and turns to keep the listener engaged. Warped guitar and soul samples make Strat an infectious workout brimming with experimentation and originality. Effected chords take on an almost vocal quality which talks over the casual, understated funk on offer here. Ever changing tones draw you in and make it hard to distinguish between guitar, synth or human. A unique E.P. which will find its way into the sets of varying selectors at this summer’s gatherings.
Alt Dub boss Federsen once again joins forces with cv313 and Echospace Detroit to deliver a second instalment in their ‘Altering Dimension’ series, once again merging hazy textural sonics with delicate dub leaning aesthetics.
Detroit’s dub techno lineage continues to evolve as cv313, Stephen Hitchell of Echospace, teams up with Federsen for Altering Dimensions Part Two, another collaborative EP set to land on Federsen’s Alt Dub imprint.
A defining figure in the genre, cv313 has long shaped its language through seminal works like Seconds to Forever and the Dimensional Space LP, fusing enveloping atmospheres with tactile rhythmic structures. Alongside him here,
Federsen whose music can also be found on Echospace Detroit as well as Grayscale, Synchrophone, Lempuyang and Avant Roots, has carved out a distinct voice rooted in precision and analogue-rich depth. Altering Dimensions Part Two again captures the intersection of these two perspectives, linking Detroit’s enduring sonic heritage with a refined, forward-facing approach to dub techno.
‘First Dimension’ opens the release, laying down heavy doses of sub bass, bubbling percussion and ever evolving, murky dub echoes amidst a crisp, stripped-down rhythm section.
‘Second Dimension’ follows and leans into vacillating atmospherics, a swaying bottom end groove and hypnotic, subtle evolution that’s synonymous with the cv313 sound.
‘Third Dimension’ kicks off the b-side next, further embracing this introspective and immersive style as textural elements shift and mutate atop intricately modulating percussive hits, bubbling synth tones and weighty low-end percussion.
‘Fourth Dimension’ then concludes the release, reducing things down to bare bones of hypntic dub, embracing a beatless construction the composition relies on spatial depth, nuanced delays and an underlying tension that decays
LAAK returns with a limited new stamped vinyl release on Austere Recordings — deep textures, hypnotic rhythms, and raw underground energy pressed to wax for true collectors and selectors alike. Built for late-night systems and immersive listening, this release captures the unmistakable atmosphere and intensity that define both LAAK’s sound. Limited copies available — don’t sleep on this one.
Welcome back to a time when Bulletin Board Systems were the social media, it was too dark for influencers, hardware predated plugins, and a home studio was a cumbersome necessity in the absence of ghost producers.
The vinyl-only Kilotoni series returns with another faceless batch of radioactive techno from the previously unreleased tape archives.
A1 The classic acid techno anthem formula is utilized in its purest form for prime time main floor use. Steady build-ups keep the tension going in what is otherwise a simplistic live recording style performance.
A2 Compressed-to-death hard techno and a detuned lead that could have come straight out of late-90s Sweden. A rare cheeky vocal snippet from an old Trax record and submarine sonar pulses provide some relief from the pressure.
B1 Melancholic but funky acid house for warming up the dance floor in your local club basement. A bouncing bassline and flanging chords meet for the sweetest treat.
B2 Cruiserweight ghetto techno meets dubby, modulating chords — perhaps unexpectedly. The last sweat of the morning hours.
Samurai Music heralds a new seam of spacious, rhythmically curious exploration with the launch of the Saibai sub label, opened in mesmerising fashion by Brendon Moeller.
The overarching premise of Saibai is to nurture a more delicate, meditative inversion of Samurai's physical, dense sound, leaning less on the dynamics of the dancefloor while holding true to the intricate drum play and dubby principles that bind the label's sound together.
In this open-eared, inquisitive environment, Moeller is the perfect fit as an artist with decades of diverse offerings across all kinds of dubwise manifestations. On SAIBAI1, the US-based, South Africa-born producer stretches out with a live-sounding drum palette and exquisitely rendered synth work loaded with detail, character and organic flourishes. It's a light-footed approach with plenty of air flowing through the mix, but there's considerable weight in every notch of the production, not least the imposing channels of sub bass coursing beneath the frequency range.
SAIBAI1 is a feast for the senses, wholly immediate and front-loaded with fascination, setting the perfect tone for Saibai as a platform for charming, immersive electronics that take a fresh diversion from the fundamental core of Samurai's sharply defined sonic focus.
Daïf presents Prezi, a new alias exploring a bold, uninhibited vision of electro house. Built for the dancefloor, the record unfolds like a transmission from another dimension. Inspired by the 2000s—echoed in its cover—it blends nostalgic energy with a colder, subtly dystopian edge.
The project arrives like a xenomorphic incursion, driven by raw, mechanical textures: sharp square synths, biting saw waves, and stripped, high-impact arrangements engineered for maximum club efficiency.
Seductive, disembodied vocals drift through the tracks, exploring themes of love beyond the human and shaping a vision of Post Human Desire.
New 10th anniversary fully remastered special silver-vinyl edition of Soul Jazz Records" ground-breaking Venezuela 70 featuring Vytas Brenner, Pablo Schneider, Angel Rada, Miguel Angel Fuster and many more. Venezuela 70 was the first ever compilation of its kind to take a look at the fascinating music scene created in Venezuela in the 1970s, a stunning blend of Funk, Latin Rock, European electronic experimentalism, Jazz and more! Venezuela during the 1970s was both a modern cultural and economic powerhouse in Latin America, rich from vast oil supplies. Situated at the northern part of South America, with neighbouring Colombia to its west, Brazil to its south and a north coast bordering the Caribbean. The country"s position and wealth led to an explosion in cultural activity during this time. Taking musical influences from all these surroundings as well as healthy doses of American musical sounds, the 1970s saw the evolution of a new generation of creative Venezuelan artists such as Vytas Brenner, Angel Rada, Pablo Schneider and Miguel Angel Fuster, who all explored the possibilities of creating a stunning "melting pot" mix of underground rock, synthetic electronics, funk, jazz and Latin American while simultaneously exploring their links with Venezuelan roots music, creating a new sound.
The Austrian imprint Fortunea Records took a little break to fill up their batteries and comes back now this summer with a release by the Bavarian duo Decent Rides. They are around for a couple of years and are also the masterminds behind the label Interloot Records.
On the ‚Like We Do‘ EP they are your guides for a versatile house infiltrated tour. The title-track is an energetic floorfiller with modulated synth sequences and heart stomping drum patterns. Definitely the killer app on this wax.
The second track on the A-side features the tune ‚Mind Maze‘. A funky bouncing bassline, reverberant almost siren sounding tones, staccato vocal samples and high accentuated hats make you blister your feet from your high intensively dance moves.
On track B2, the duo adds further "Colours" to the record. This melancholic deep house tune exudes a beautiful, somber, and yet captivating atmosphere that is impossible to resist. This track could be very effective when played during sunrise or sundown.
And finally, they round off this release with cosmic dub sounds and shimmering chords. "Lembo" invigorates the senses. Every beat on this tech house track is an invitation to let go and feels you the pulse of the underground scene.
Go check this out!
Limited to 200 records. There will be no repress!
Mastering by Patrick Pulsinger.
Luke Una introduces a new series of original, dancefloor-focused productions on his É Soul Cultura imprint, in partnership with Mr Bongo. True to the label’s ethos, the series pushes sonic boundaries into deeper, more expansive territories, delivering forward-thinking music for discerning dancefloors. The first release brings together UK garage royalty Zed Bias and the underground talents of MJK, as we’re served up a double hit of hypnotic, futuristic techno and house.
Zed Bias is an artist that needs little introduction. The main moniker of Manchester’s Dave Jones, over the past 25+ years he’s cemented himself as a crucial figure in UK garage and dance music as a whole. He’s remixed hundreds of artists including Whitney Houston, The Streets and Azymuth, been nominated for a MOBO award and, through his more experimental take on 2 step garage, helped lay the foundations for the development of bass music into dubstep. For this new release he teams up with Ghanaian-British producer and DJ, MJK. Earmarked as ‘One To Watch’ by DJ Mag, and similarly championed by Mixmag, MJK’s sound draws from the worlds of bass, grime, house and beyond.
Opening track ‘Keep On Livin’’ sees Zed Bias and MJK coming together in the studio. Passed to Luke by his manager If Khan, it’s a sonic alchemy rooted in black heart soul music yet seen through a prism of bass futurism. A heads-down cut of driving techno, with nods to Detroit, and firm UK foundations, that is both bass-heavy and otherworldly. It’s a simple yet effective, entrancing combination of percussion, bass, and keys, peppered with old soul samples that lock you into a groove and never let go. A track built for dancefloors big or small.
On the flip, MJK steps up solo with ‘Late to Camberwell’, diving into deeper, late-night territory. Known for his three-deck DJ mixing style, MJK has a real understanding of how to layer elements to keep people moving. A swirling cosmic feel reverberates through ‘Late to Camberwell’. Drum hits, shakers and synth loops are weaved together in style, creating a dose of deep, immersive rolling house. In Luke’s own words, “I found it very exciting to hear a new artist create such a beautiful sound that reminded me of Detroit and Artwork's late ‘90s techno alias Grain. It’s stripped-back raw house music of the highest calibre”.
ALERT: BIG 90s ITALIAN RAVE COMP - a lot of very in demand tunes on here.
Navigators
Franco Falsini and the Interactive Test Universe
There are musicians who follow their time.
And then there are those who seem to move along a different trajectory—like navigators crossing sonic eras without ever truly belonging to any one of them. The story of Franco Falsini belongs to the latter. It is a story that begins long before raves, before techno, before the word “electronic” had even become a recognizable musical genre. A story that moves across continents, technologies, and sonic visions, eventually arriving at a small creative laboratory born in Italy in the early 1990s: Interactive Test. This compilation is a fragment of that universe. But as often happens with the hidden histories of music, understanding it requires going back. Far back.
The Beginning: Machines, Tape and Space
In the late 1960s Franco Falsini leaves Italy and moves to the United States. It is not merely a geographical journey—it is also a journey into a new idea of music. At the time, synthesizers are only just emerging from research laboratories. Multitrack tape recorders allow musicians to build entire sonic worlds on their own. Technology is still far from standardized: every studio is almost an experimental workshop. In Virginia, Falsini builds one of his own. Among cables, oscillators, electric guitars and reels of magnetic tape, a kind of music begins to take shape that resembles nothing else being made at the time. It is not simply rock, and it is not yet truly electronic. It moves somewhere in the space between the two. Out of these explorations emerges Sensations' Fix, the project through which Falsini releases a series of albums during the 1970s. Records that seem to come from a parallel dimension: cosmic landscapes, electronically treated guitars, synthesizers drifting like satellites. Many years later those albums would be rediscovered as visionary works. But at the time they were simply the result of relentless curiosity. A curiosity that would never fade.
The City That Never Sleeps
In the 1980s Falsini’s trajectory leads him to New York. The city is a sonic organism in constant transformation. In its clubs and recording studios something entirely new is beginning to take shape: music built from drum machines, sequencers, and samplers, created for the body before the living room. It is the dawn of modern dance culture. Falsini works as a sound engineer, producer and experimenter. From close range he observes electronic music transforming into a global language. Machines become more accessible, computers begin entering studios, and rhythm takes on an increasingly central role. Yet even in this phase Falsini does not simply follow what is happening. He absorbs. Observes. Reimagines. When he eventually returns to Italy, he brings back not only technical experience but also a clear vision: the conviction that electronic music is an open space, a territory still waiting to be explored.
Tuscany, Early 1990s
At the beginning of the 1990s something is happening in Italy as well. In clubs, abandoned industrial warehouses and clandestine parties, a new scene is beginning to form. It is rave culture: a spontaneous movement bringing together DJs, producers and listeners in a collective experience driven by rhythm, technology, and creative freedom. It is within this context that Franco Falsini, together with his brother Riccardo, creates Interactive Test.
The name almost sounds like a scientific experiment. In many ways, it is. Interactive Test does not emerge as a traditional record label. It begins as a laboratory—a place where ideas, sounds and musical identities can be tested and explored. Around the Falsini studio in Tuscany a small constellation of artists and DJs begins to gather, helping to shape the sound of Italy’s emerging electronic scene. Among them are Andrea Giuditta, Francesco Farfa, Gabry Fasano, Roby Mastelloni, Roby J and many others. Each brings a different musical sensibility. But they all share the same intuition: electronic music is not a genre. It is a language.
The Laboratory of Identities
One of the most fascinating aspects of the Interactive Test universe is its constant play with identity. Franco Falsini releases music under several different names: Open Space, Youth Wave, Agent Fylfoyt, Man Myth Magic. These are not simply pseudonyms.
They are different sonic perspectives, as if each project were a window opening onto a parallel musical universe. Open Space, for example, explores more atmospheric and visionary territories. Youth Wave moves between electronic groove and club-oriented rhythms. Other projects experiment with digital psychedelia or hypnotic techno textures. Interactive Test becomes something more than a label. it becomes an ecosystem.
Domestic Machines, Infinite Worlds
Looking back today at the technology used in those productions, one might almost smile. Many tracks were created on Amiga computers, MIDI sequencers and analog synthesizers wired together in home studios—tools that appear modest when compared to today’s digital possibilities.
Yet precisely these limitations became a creative force. Every sound had to be built, shaped and reinvented. Sequences developed slowly, almost like living organisms. The tracks did not always follow traditional dance music structures; often they felt like genuine sonic journeys. Music built from space.
A Hidden Constellation
Many of the records released by Interactive Test in the 1990s remained for years almost invisible objects, circulating quietly among DJs, collectors, and devoted listeners. Yet it is precisely this underground existence that helped preserve them. Listening again today, one perceives something rare: the feeling of music that does not fully belong to its own time. Music suspended between different eras. Perhaps because it comes from a vision that both precedes and transcends trends.
Continuing the Journey
Looking at Franco Falsini’s entire path—from the electronic psychedelia of Sensations’ Fix to the rave culture of the 1990s—a surprisingly coherent line emerges.
A line defined by exploration.
Each project, each pseudonym, each record appears as a new route within the same great sonic voyage.
Interactive Test was one of its stations.
A laboratory.
A community.
A creative platform.
This compilation gathers some of its traces.
Not as a simple archive of the past, but as a map of a musical territory that continues to expand even today.
Following in the steps of last year's mysterious "Beyond the Garage" 12 inch, L.I.E.S. throws another curveball with a 30 track continuous LP from veteran West Coast producers, Vinny+Charlie. Each side running 20 minutes, this can best be described as a smoked out, haze filled afterparty beat tape on wax. Obscure samples, dusty sp-12 crushed beats, head nodding loops, sweet low rider soul..chopped, sped up, slowed down and ready to wreck your system. Limited edition white label housed in a lp jacket with custom art by LA artist SOB STORY. 300 copies worldwide.
Telling a tale of house music’s early days or roots without mentioning Tony Humphries as a club DJ, remixer and radio disc jockey would make it an incomplete, forged and most of all a bit of a yawn.
Born in Brooklyn in 1957, Humphries’ musical journey is synonymous with New York City’s dance music history and the evolution from uptempo soul music to house: from being a dancer at David Mancuso’s infamous Loft parties to becoming a mobile DJ and getting the call from Shep Pettibone to become his right hand at
the then new Kiss FM radio station, followed by countless remix offers and a legendary residency at Newark’s Club Zanzibar. Next to that one, is was especially his work as a radio disc jockey for said station during most of the 1980s until 1994 that gave him majestic clout. Breaking new records week in, week out,
putting New Jersey acts like Adeva and Jomanda or countless up-and-coming producers from there on the musical map, while simultaneously playing the hottest imports from Europe, trax from Chicago, dance classics and all things straight from New York’s music factory that never seemed to stop.
Going to his vast and almost complete archive of radio shows from way back when he graced those airwaves, we at Running Back Records have pickedNew Release Information original recordings that symbolize his importance as an industry giant and ambassador of this style of music.
„But one thing I would like to point out is that, as a DJ, the music I play is not my music. I want to make it perfectly clear that it is music that is released, and it’s everyone’s music. I do not take any other credit than being the middle person exposing this music.“
(Tony Humphries in: What Kind of House Party Is This?, Jonathan Fleming, 1996)
This is a bit of a rare gem from the Ellis Dee. Back in 1995 he made the track 'Synthetic Disco' but for some unknown reason (I'll have to ask him and let you know) it was never released and remained a mystical track lost in time. The flipside 'Atmosphere' was only released as part of the Total Science 2 compilation that came out in 1996. Both tracks compliment each other beautifully and are both very much on a similar tip to his Norty But Nice 12" that we put out a few years ago. Deep but rolling drum and bass for the massive!
Kercha’s debut album ‘Open The Door’ arrives this April via DNO Records. The Black Sea artist’s mystical, disorienting style has set the tone for the label since he dropped the inaugural release six years ago. Now, across 16 tracks — including collabs with Mystic State, Congi, NST, Khromi and Finnoh — his smoky sampledelic dubstep is tighter, heavier, and more curious than ever, with a new sense of danger and bubbling rage that feels fit for our chaotic times.
Themes of movement and change course through the LP. On the opening gambit ‘A Path Into The Unknown’, twinkling arpeggios emerge from the gloom like stars lighting the way. Tracks like the eponymous ‘Open The Door’ and ‘Mind Extraction’ deliver that classic Kercha sound, where left-field samples dart in at right angles. ‘Dangerous Road’ weaves between the call and response action of grotty stabs and devilish subs. ‘Take A Break’, featuring Mystic State, goes on the attack with searing acid. ‘Can’t Wait For Today’, though lethargic in its pace, sees San Francisco-based rapper Finnoh deliver stream-of-consciousness bars that skewer our present and nudge us to revolution.
Work took place over the course of several years, during which Kercha relocated with his family from Russia to Georgia, where he now resides in the capital, Tbilisi. “Sometimes I wrote music while travelling on a bus, sometimes late at night while my family was asleep, sometimes just sitting on the grass in a park, and of course in my home studio as well,” he says. “By the time the album was finished, it included music from different periods, and it may vary in sound and concept.”
Any major upheaval in life will result in moments of hardship, but also hope. Both can be found throughout ‘Open The Door’. There’s times when the darkness threatens to envelope everything: during the cold, crackling ‘Disclosed’ and the eerie, dystopian ‘Infection Of Lies’; on ‘Trigger Activation’, with its grunting lows and broken glass hook, and ‘Ballistics’, where a wall of sub-bass is pierced by shrapnel stabs.
The balancing light comes on ‘4 AM’, featuring Nottingham duo Congi, when clashing swords and cinematic strings, meet a soft Rhodes piano — the juxtaposition between heavy low-end and floaty keys and vox reflecting those moments of transcendence often found in the early hours. From the injection of garage energy on ‘Bubs’, with Edinburgh’s Khromi. And on with ‘My Feeling’, featuring South Russian vocalist NST, which closes the album on a deep but expansive note, bookending the experience with more starlight synth tones.
“It’s a reflection of my life journey and the changes connected with emigration and overcoming various difficulties,” explains Kercha. “This period means a lot to me, which is why the album includes tracks from the time of preparing to leave up to adapting to a new country.”
Still, he wants listeners to be able to derive their own understanding. “I think the essence lies in the ability to contemplate, not in any predetermined meaning,” he says. “I can only say one thing: thank you for appreciating what I do and for your support. I hope it inspires you to make the same firm decisions to change for the better as it did for me.”
Out via 4 x 12” vinyl, ‘Open The Door’ is a captivating artistic statement, showcasing the journey of an artist with a truly original signature sound — a rarity that should be treasured and celebrated.
Rhythms of postmodern realism at the very bottom of the DNO.
Baby T is a space away from her work as B.Traits in which Brianna Price can lean more into the junglist, drum ‘n’ bass and hardcore sounds which she loves so dearly. With BSHEE02, the second drop on Price’s own Banshee label, Baby T delivers a darkside masterclass of an EP. This record is a quartet of system blowers which doesn’t let up for a single second from start to finish.
Opener ‘Times Up’ is urgent from the off - the initial strains of this joint find sirens wailing in the monitors over a twitchy kick/drum/hats combo. From here on it’s distilled raver perfection, the drums taking us on a wild Wipeout-style ride as the subbiest of bass skulks at the bottom of the mix. Imagine a more technoid take on the classic breakbeat freerides of Skanna and you’re not far off the ‘Times Up’ sound.
A remix of ‘Times Up’ from man like Aloka leans with devilish glee into the murky underworld that lurks beneath Baby T’s original. Aloka’s version is extremely eerie in a manner which makes you think of the darkest corners of a DMZ party. When things really kick into gear, driven by an irresistible kick dembow, the effect is hypnotic - think the dubwise junglism of the UVB-76 cohort.
BSHEE02’s B-side kicks off with ‘Coercive Control’. This is a cut which delivers on its title in spades, putting the listener in a trance with an interplay of low-slung bass, whirligig synth tones and more of those perfectly executed broken beats. The acid starts to kick in around the minute mark, and it turns out to herald a total earworm of a lead melody.
There’s plenty of dimly-lit malevolence to BHSEE02 closer ‘Dense Dickwood’s grinding atmospherics and gurgling bass throbs. However, Baby T opting for a half-time drum break here gives the cut a vibe not dissimilar to the weightiest jams of classic Massive Attack - that is, until an absolutely remorseless switch-up occurs halfway through, delivering volley after volley of intense drum hits.
Nonna Fab returns with the third release on his imprint, Movement and Soul Records, with a 5 track club-focussed EP 'Journey To The Outer Atmosphere'.
Following the success of his last release, we see a deeper dive into the more dance-floor orientated sound that Nonna is curating, spanning deeper soulful house across the release with influences of broken beat, jazz and percussive dance music.
The opening track 'Dawn Chorus' is a trip into a more natural soundscape and deeper arrangement of sound. A perfect track to take a steady dance-floor to higher heights.
The A2, 'Low Winter Sun', aptly named deep house music with no frills. Proper sub-bass tuned for tuned-up soundsystem use.
'Meditations' which is the final track on the A side has clear broken beat influences, percussive, deep and rhythmic. A breather for the dance floor.
The title track of the EP, 'Journey to The Outer Atmosphere' is a big peak time house journey to the cosmos. Expansive synths, 909 kit and if timed well, certified to blow the dance floor up. Clear François K inspiration here.
The final track of the release, 'First Light', is proper deep house music named suitably for an early sun rise roller with a huge hammond organ solo, enough to keep the leavers in the building.
Obscure disco gem from 1985. Singer Penny Mtya, like many others, journeyed from small-town South Africa to the bright lights of Johannesburg in search of fame. There her path collided with Muntu Semenya, the son of long-exiled stars Caiphus Semenya and Letta Mbulu, who had recently arrived from the US and was making his mark in SA as a producer and keyboardist. There demo secured a deal with the local office of WEA Records and they soon entered RPM Studios with co-producer Thokoza Memela to record three tracks.
‘Cassanova (Stop That Game)’ is a seven-minute Afrofunk workout reminiscent of Kiki Gyan or Sylvester, showcasing Penny’s sultry vocals and Semenya’s stabbing synths. On the flip side, ‘I Feel It’ is a chugging instrumental climaxing in a fuzzed-out solo from session guitarist Jethro Butow. Defying expectations again, the album closes with a Motown-worthy slow jam, ‘Memories’, a duet with Yandy Mgolombane featuring Mike Faure on sax.
Titled Penny’s Groove, the three-track EP received little promotion on its release and quickly disappeared into obscurity, with the label perhaps unsure of how to market the polished ‘international’ sound and diverse components. The tracks were never performed live and everyone involved in the studio project soon parted ways. Semenya and Mgolombane laid low while Penny returned disenchanted to her home in the Eastern Cape, where she remained active in music but never realised her dream of solo stardom.
Thirteen years have passed since their debut album, but now Oppenheimer MKII is ready to release their long-awaited second album "Embrace The Dark”.
Oppenheimer MKII is Andy Oppenheimer, singer, songwriter and formerly one-half of 1980s synth-pop duo Oppenheimer Analysis, one of the leading bands of the ‘minimal synth’ scene, and inspiration behind the New York-based Minimal Wave label and Mahk Rumbae, electronic musician and producer known for his work with Codex Empire, Mitra Mitra, and long-running UK industrial/experimental band Konstruktivists.
“Embrace The Dark” does exactly as its title suggests: it embraces dark, apocalyptic themes for our current turbulent times. In nine mind-blowing tracks, Mahk’s thunderous dance rhythms and addictive synth-pop melodies combine with Andy’s latest dystopian – and sometimes utopian – visions of our past, present and future.
From the atmospheric title track, greatly influenced by Andy’s lifelong obsession with space – ‘When you embrace the dark, you gaze back in time...’ to delusional tech-bro world domination in “I Went Too Far” – ‘The sky is not the limit; my wealth is infinite’ and the pounding paranoid lead track “Oh! My Mind is a Storm” – ‘When I go dark, I'm into demon mode’, the new Oppenheimer MkII album “Embrace the Dark” ventures deep into futuristic dreams and nightmares and is guaranteed to fill the dancefloor.
Tadan’s area127 returns with Sun & Moon, a two-sided exploration of modern psychedelia and exquisite sound design — balancing sprawling daylight hypnosis with nocturnal pull.
The LP’s “Sun” side reflects an uplifting current. Kaspiann’s “Lilja” deploys deep techno finesse, flowing through contours of luminous synth progressions and forest-dwelling resonance. A resurfaced 1996 cut, Deviant Electronics’ “Radio Silence” emerges from the Goa continuum — progressive chord sequences, sci-fi atmospherics, and euphoric momentum recalibrated for contemporary dancefloors.
The “Moon” side turns inward and nocturnal. Whrikk’s “Specter” drifts amid ghostly psychedelia, pairing dreamlike synth work with evolving arrangement pressure and submerged low-end movement. On “Seijaku”, Solarythm distills ritualistic hypnosis and rolling bassline into a fluid story — a forward-facing statement from the blooming wave of trance.
Simple Symmetry’s recent gig in Cape Town yielded studio magic as they connected with singer Asandisa Siswana of the Thanda Choir on ‘Inkwenkwezi,’ which literally means star in Xhosa. Representing guidance, hope, and good fortune, her immensely powerful vocal performance made for a super potent mix with SS’s big room styling, and great remix material for Lipelis who brings it all back to crowd-pleasing bubble-gum house, while Peaking Lights shine some acid on the proceedings and Multi Culti A&R Thomas Von Party gives his new Teenage Engineering drum synth a workout on the Riddim Mix.
Continuing its faithful documentation of the early years of Monolake, Field Records proudly present the first-ever vinyl pressing of seminal 1999 album Interstate. In a kaleidoscopic lattice of micro-rhythms and exquisitely dynamic textural work, Robert Henke and Gerhard Behles fully collaborated for the final time on this record — and created an electronica landmark in the process.
Monolake's evolution from their earlier dub-techno-tinted works saw their exploration of Max/MSP go further out. The duo yielded greater complexity in the behaviour of their sound palette to achieve an organismic quality that remains an enduring influence on so many strands of experimental electronic music today. Interstate is a vivid record that builds up eight different ecosystems of sound and subtly threads elegant grooves through their root structures.
There's a house-like undulation to the low-end driving 'Tangent-I' and 'Tangent-II', but the infinitesimally detailed layers of sound on top swoon from techno synth shimmers to trickling waters, snaking delay trails and pin prick percussion. You can hear the unmistakable, snappy rhythmic thrust of drum & bass driving 'Ginza', but here it's used as an engine for the crispest array of designer percussion and dub-soaked synth chirrups. Across every track, Henke and Behles demonstrate a potent combination, both groovily instinctive and eternally fascinating to try and pick apart.
After Interstate, Behles departed to focus entirely on the development of Ableton Live and Henke steered Monolake towards a leaner — but no less pioneering — sound. Every Monolake record has its own unique context and sound, and the circumstances of Interstate could never be repeated. Capturing the leaps in progress that were being made in digital music production at the end of the millennium, it's an information-rich document of a moment in time that still sounds wildly futuristic 27 years later.
Seven - a number steeped in mystery and meaning, woven into the very fabric of time and space. Throughout history, the number seven has stood as an immutable symbol: from the days of the week to the alchemical metals, from the kings of Rome to its seven hills. An archetype that unites astronomy, myth, and ancient civilizations, finding its deepest expression in Rome.
According to legend, the Eternal City guarded seven sacred relics, the Pignora Imperii, objects whose possession ensured divine protection, prestige, and political authority. Ovid referred to them as the "pledges of power": testimonies of Rome's Trojan heritage and its connection with peoples such as the Sabines, Etruscans, and Greeks. These artifacts, now lost, were:
I. Lo scettro di Priamo
II. Il velo di Iliona
III. Il Palladio
IV. Le ceneri di Oreste
V. Lo scudo ancile
VI. La quadriga di Veio
VII. L'ago di Cibele
From this mythology emerges the new project by Lykos Records: a narrative journey in seven chapters, each dedicated to one of these relics, unfolding through the various artists releases corresponding to catalogue numbers 7, 14, 21... up to LYKOS-XLIX.
Chapter I, "Lo scettro di Priamo" LYKOS-VII, is dedicated to the symbol of Troy's power, brought to Latium by Ilioneus on Aeneas' command as a pledge of alliance and reconciliation. It is said to have been kept on the Palatine Hill.
To inaugurate this journey, seven Roman artists - PixFoil, DJ Red, Brando Lupi, Luigi Tozzi, Feral, Sunday Bath, and Worg - will give life to a sonic mosaic celebrating the musical heritage of the capital. Their tracks will form a collective work that bridges generations and diverse artistic visions.
Each double vinyl will feature an original illustration by Roberto Mulliri, wrapping the entire front and back cover and included inside as a poster.
Within the Pignora Imperii lies the strength and power of Rome, witnesses of the city's epic saga; likewise, Lykos Records weaves its destiny into the history of these sacred Roman objects, becoming a messenger of their enduring legends.
Sciahri and his label Sublunar are thrilled to present "VEIL OF ECHOES," a new project that brings together both emerging and established talents from the label.
This release showcases
a fresh dimension of techno and electronic music, celebratingf originality by combining timeless cuts from the past with cutting edge sounds of the present and future. The journey begins with "IIum" by Temudo, an entrancing track with hypnotic synths that seamlessly transitions into Troys Awakening, featuring an irresistible and cerebral groove. Neel takes over with Follow Me, pushing the boundaries with intricate sound design crafted to move your body, followed by Marcal's Ancient Swing, renowned for its unique sound and processed vocals. Kameliia's Insolitam then transports you to another dimension with its deeply immersive and mental vibes.
Kaiser kicks off the next phase with Fearless Attitude, a powerful yet refined track, while Roll Dann continues the momentum with "Area 24," offering a softer yet penetrating synth line.
On side D, Cirkle's "Mooree" showcases his talent for
creating minimalistic yet razor-sharp tracks, leading into Juri Heidemann's "Reger," a mysterious piece with a groove designed to carry you to another realm. The project culminates with Kerrie's Jump The Gun, featuring intricate synths and a mind-bending bassline.
With "VEIL OF ECHOES," Sublunar aims to share a visionary collection that encapsulates the essence of techno and electronic music, bridging past influences with future innovations.
The new 12" release, "Call and Response", by the enigmatic artist MD, is a masterclass in the resurgence of retro techno, bridging the gap between the raw industrialism of early 90s Detroit and a modern, high-fidelity punch. The A-side is defined by its massive, anthemic vibes, built around a thundering TR-909 kick and a soaring, crystalline synth lead that feels both nostalgic and startlingly fresh. What truly sets this record apart, however, is its intricate counterpoint structure; rather than relying on simple loops, MD weaves multiple independent melodic lines together in a rhythmic dance of tension and release. The "call" begins as a jagged, percussive stab that is immediately answered by a "response" of lush, interlocking minor-key arpeggios, creating a sense of constant movement and architectural depth. It’s a track that demands attention on a massive sound system, proving that the classic techno blueprint can still be expanded into something grand and deeply intellectual.
You can't put Bebe Rexha in a box. From her Grammy-winning songwriting roots on Eminem's "The Monster" to global chart-toppers with David Guetta and Florida Georgia Line, Rexha has established herself as a premier musical chameleon. With her latest project, Dirty Blonde, she officially enters a new era as an independent powerhouse. Now signed to EMPIRE, the Brooklyn-born star has crafted a 13-song "genre kaleidoscope" that serves as her first-ever visual album, representing a total creative rebirth and a departure from the major-label system she's known since she was a teenager.
Recorded across London, Tokyo, and Europe, Dirty Blonde captures the energy of Rexha's global travels. The project seamlessly blends heavy-hitting dance floor anthems with deep, personal storytelling. With the lead single "New Religion" she takes us straight to the club by reimagining the iconic dance record "Insomnia" by Faithless. On "Tokyo," she explores a drum & bass pulse inspired by a late-night rendezvous in Japan, while "Cike Cike" (produced by long-time collaborator DJ Snake) sees Rexha embracing her Albanian heritage by mixing traditional linguistic roots with modern 808 basslines.
At the emotional core of the album is the lead single, "I Like You Better Than Me." The track strips away the pop-star veneer to tackle themes of insecurity and self-scrutiny, blending raw lyrics with a pop-rock edge. From the Jersey-bounce-meets-country vibes of "Drink and a Little Love" to her vulnerable reflections on fame, Dirty Blonde is a celebration of an artist who is finally playing by her own rules. As Rexha firmly asserts, "The old Bebe is dead," leaving behind a focused, stronger creator who is making the music she truly loves.
Fresh from a run of must-check EPs on Syncrophone Recordings, Black Jazz Consortium man Fred Peterkin inaugurates a new label, Base. The New York-based producer appears to be the man at the helm, since his next scheduled release also appears on the freshly minited imprint. He begins with 'There & Back (Long Player)', a languid, mid-tempo chunk of string-laden deep house classiness, before opting for a breezier, dreamier and sunnier sound on the impeccable 'Something For The Road'. Peterkin's ability to fuse looseness, heaviness and subtly soul-flecked instrumentation comes to the fore on EP highlight 'Rhythm & Movement', while 'BTA10711 (4am Mix)' tiptoes the fine line between dubby deep house and spacey, far-sighted futurism.
FPTAM01 marks the 10th vinyl output on Futurepast and introduces a new subseries initiated by T.A.M.22.
Conceived as a time-based operation, the project moves between memory and projection, reactivating past structures in a forward, anticipatory mode. The tracklist is inscribed as time codes, each one indexing a separate temporal trajectory.
The core of the project relies on a reduced setup: Jomox Alphabase, a single synthesizer per track, and a one-take recording approach, capturing a specific moment in time. Post-editing is kept minimal to preserve its raw, live character.
Across the EP, transformation unfolds through shifts in perception, dissolving any stable sense of reality. Temporal drift replaces fixed structure. The sonic language focuses on raw drum architecture, low-end pressure, and submerged textures.
This new volume of Casquiat diesel into the streets of LA and mixes up the raw realities of life and plenty of lyrical and production innovation across mutant rap, hip-hop, breakbeat and dub sounds. 'Mexican Illegals' is a big opener with distorted bass blasts and ice-cold analogue beats with a stylish delivery up top that twists and turns between the drums. 'Fuck Ice (bonus beat)' is menacing and full of swagger with saw tooth synths and infectious syncopation, then 'Pistol Grip Pump' (Casquiat remix) is an early rap sound made freaky with sci-fi production touches and larger than life bars.
Full Dose welcome DJ Firehouse to the fold with a four-track suite that drifts deep into fogged-out space. Rooted in the lineage of late-2000s innovators, this is a record that leans into atmosphere as much as it does low-end pressure.
“Hamilton Hill” sets the tone with metallic percussion and submerged chords, locking into a hypnotic groove that feels equal parts system music and head music. “Gardening” follows with a blurred palette, combining rippling textures, tape hiss and a hypnotic vocal loop to pull you further inward. On “Starpol 666”, Firehouse eases off the pressure with a more abstract, interlude-like piece, where drifting mid-range pads and liquid movement hint at a more experimental edge. Closing track “Cross Fader” stretches things out into a dubbed, slow-burning finale. Breathy ambient layers give way to dembow-leaning drums, with thunderous hits and long-tailed echoes building a quiet but undeniable tension.
Celebrating a decade since its live debut, Detroit-based artist Rebecca Goldberg announces the first-ever vinyl release of her original score for A Trip to the Moon, the iconic 1902 silent film by Georges Méliès. Composed in 2016, Goldberg’s reimagining of the groundbreaking film—originally titled Le Voyage dans la Lune—translates early cinema fantasy into a minimalist electronic soundscape shaped by synthesis, texture, and composed foley.
Goldberg’s approach honors the wonder and theatricality of Méliès’ vision while grounding it in Detroit’s lineage of forward-thinking electronic music. The score premiered in Paris in 2016 with live performances at Silencio, the club founded by David Lynch, and at Bar à Bulles, located above the legendary Moulin Rouge. The Paris events were produced by Why So Serious Productions and marked a rare convergence of experimental electronic performance and historic cinematic space. Goldberg also presented the live score in her native Detroit, reinforcing the transatlantic bridge that has long shaped her conceptual record projects.
Now, ten years later, the score will be released for the first time on vinyl in a limited edition of 300 copies. The pressing captures the nuance of the original live compositions while offering listeners a new way to experience the interplay between silence, rhythm, and sonic illusion. As with Goldberg’s previous conceptual 12" releases, the vinyl format serves not only as a medium but as an artifact that preserves and reframes cultural memory.
Some records feel like they should have existed. This is one of them.Originally buried as an album cut in the catalog of C. C. Catch, ‘Stop – Draggin’ My Heart Around’ never received the maxi single treatment it always deserved. For decades, fans of Dieter Bohlen’s signature sound have been left wondering what could have been… no extended mix, no dub, no proper club version… Until now.
Julie Chrome steps in with a strikingly faithful reinterpretation, capturing the emotional tone and melodic essence of the original, while Ryan Benson carefully reconstructs the sonic blueprint, staying true to that unmistakable mid-80s German disco aesthetic of Luis Rodriguez. Think shimmering synths, tight Linn-style drums and that bittersweet, dramatic tension Bohlen/Rodriguez and Co. perfected. But this release goes further than nostalgia. On this maxi, the track finally unfolds the way it always should have. Fully extended, club-ready, and built for the dancefloor. The Long Version delivers that essential 80s arc: slow build, emotional lift, and extended instrumental passages made for mixing. The Dub Version strips it back into a hypnotic tool, pure drums, synth stabs and atmosphere, tailored for late-night transitions and deeper sets. The Radio Version and Alternative Radio Version complete the package, offering two concise takes that still retain all the charm, drama and melodic punch of the original composition. This is more than a tribute, it’s a carefully crafted time capsule. From the production to the artwork and label aesthetics, everything here is designed to transport you straight back to 1986. For fans of classic German disco, collectors of lost Italo-adjacent gems, and DJs who know the power of a well-placed nostalgic moment – this one hits deep. A record that finally corrects history.
Alina Valentina ignores rule books. When it comes to making music, she bends genres to her own sound and vision. Acid, electro, synth wave, vocoders. All are melted to produce a bracing style that is floor focussed and strikingly individual. It is this distinctive perspective that The Hague based artist brings to Schrödinger’s Box for NPC Dream, eight tracks that map a journey that disregards genre limitations. The intent and mood are immediately set with the fierce “Air Slasher” plunging through the fog as kicks roll and beads of acid bulge. Raw electro is further coarsened by scything keys and vicious vocoder words in the title piece before the technoid mutations and pain-streaked “Echo of Ecco.” The ground is never stable, the direction and ideas darting and shifting to new sonic territory. Punishing and pure, “Mine Cart Madness” is EBM-encrusted cruelty. Tempos shift on the flip, the slow and cinematic atmosphere of “Pixel Swamp” feeding into the sinister and snarling snares of “Wishing Engine.” Paranoia and tension collide in the stabbing chiptune chords and spiking percussion of “Come Get Some”, acid barbs ballooning into a blistering barrage in this warped wrecking ball. “Light Warrior” is cut from the same raucous cloth. Knobs splinter against machined lyrics, sirens blare as kicks thump in this basement lurking beast.
NPC Dream is a relentless record. From the needle drop, Alina Valentina enforces her sound as she teases and taunts styles. Fiery and brimming with energy, this 12” encapsulates the sound of an exciting talent who carves their music with a truly unique ear.
“Nimm die rosa Brille … sag was Du siehst … alles viel besser”
44 years after its original release, one of the most idiosyncratic DIY minimal electronics / synth / new wave records of the early ’80s returns: the legendary 7” by German group DEUTSCHE SCHÄFERHUNDE (engl. German shepherds)—now remastered and reissued for the first time as a one-sided 12” on Anna Logue Records. Recorded in the winter of 1981/82 between rehearsal space, provincial disco and bar nights, and a humble four-track setup, these tracks capture the raw spirit of a generation that simply started creating—no formal training, but plenty of attitude. Minimalist, uncompromising, and inspired by krautrock, punk, new wave, electronic music and dub, the songs move between raw electronics, percussive noise, new wave experimentation, and sharp social commentary. „Rosa Brille“ (rose coloured glasses) in particular feels as urgent today as it did back then—a track that has lost none of its relevance, „Gasmasken“ tells of gas masks dancing in the woods to the sound of sirens, and a timeless Holger Czukay/Jah Wobble inspired „Mein Herz“ (my heart).
Originally pressed in a small run of just 500 copies and later becoming a sought-after collector’s item now worth 200€, the record now returns in a carefully crafted edition featuring a laser-printed reverse side and additional materials such as original lyric sheets and articles, postcard and poster. DEUTSCHE SCHÄFERHUNDE thrived on paradox—a provocative name paired with a clear stance, and lyrics that still resonate today. Shaped by Cold War tension, political unease, and youthful rebellion, their sound refused to fit into any neat category. Only few other bands, such as Der Musikant, Im Namen des Volkes, Thorax Wach, Klinisch Sauber oder Stephan Eicher spielt Noise Boys come to mind.
This release is more than a reissue—it’s a document of its time that still hits with full force.
12″ features: limited to 400 copies, hand-numbered, one-sided 180g black vinyl, laser-etched B-side, outer sleeve printed on reverse side of the board, printed inner sleeve with original lyrics sheets and original articles, DIN A3 poster, double-sided postcard
SLF IMG is a dark synth pop project channeling the shadowy elegance of the 80s while injecting raw EBM drive and the hypnotic, sun-bleached nostalgia of classic italo disco. Their forthcoming EP “Carne” – Italian for meat – sinks its teeth into the genre with sleek, modern production, razor-sharp hooks, and basslines so catchy they feel almost carnal. Seductive yet menacing, “Carne” strips the sound back to its pulsing, flesh-and-wire core: dancefloor-ready grooves wrapped in velvet darkness.
Telling a tale of house music’s early days or roots without mentioning Tony Humphries as a club DJ, remixer and radio disc jockey would make it an incomplete, forged and most of all a bit of a yawn.
Born in Brooklyn in 1957, Humphries’ musical journey is synonymous with New York City’s dance music history and the evolution from uptempo soul music to house: from being a dancer at David Mancuso’s infamous Loft parties to becoming a mobile DJ and getting the call from Shep Pettibone to become his right hand at
the then new Kiss FM radio station, followed by countless remix offers and a legendary residency at Newark’s Club Zanzibar. Next to that one, is was especially his work as a radio disc jockey for said station during most of the 1980s until 1994 that gave him majestic clout. Breaking new records week in, week out,
putting New Jersey acts like Adeva and Jomanda or countless up-and-coming producers from there on the musical map, while simultaneously playing the hottest imports from Europe, trax from Chicago, dance classics and all things straight from New York’s music factory that never seemed to stop.
Going to his vast and almost complete archive of radio shows from way back when he graced those airwaves, we at Running Back Records have pickedNew Release Information original recordings that symbolize his importance as an industry giant and ambassador of this style of music.
„But one thing I would like to point out is that, as a DJ, the music I play is not my music. I want to make it perfectly clear that it is music that is released, and it’s everyone’s music. I do not take any other credit than being the middle person exposing this music.“
(Tony Humphries in: What Kind of House Party Is This?, Jonathan Fleming, 1996)
Danish producer Kasper Bjørke returns with a new release on Tropical Animals, the “Veri/Gliss” EP a work that fully captures his signature blend of cinematic depth, refined production, and forward-thinking electronic aesthetics.
“Veri” opens the EP as a richly layered and immersive experience. Built around an evolving tapestry of textures, the track unfolds through pulsating synths, shifting sonic details, and a steady yet powerful rhythm. The result is a truly intergalactic journey, where each element seems to orbit around a constantly transforming emotional core. This is Bjørke at his most visionary-bridging club functionality with intricate sound design in a hypnotic and expansive narrative.
On remix duties, label head Ricardo Baez reinterprets “Veri” with a sharper, more direct approach. Stripping back the original’s layered atmospheres, he delivers a driving electro version that’s lean, tense, and fully focused on the dancefloor. With its tight groove and immediate impact, the remix is built for peak-time energy and club intensity.
On the flip side, “Gliss” reveals a more intimate and emotive dimension of Bjørke’s sound. A modern electronic ballad, the track blends sensual rhythms with delicate, suspended melodies. Its subtle yet captivating groove carries the listener to an unknown planet, where everything moves in sync, locked into the same pulse and flow. It’s a piece that radiates both mystery and warmth, showcasing Bjørke’s ability to craft deeply atmospheric yet rhythmically engaging compositions.
With the “Veri/Gliss” EP, Kasper Bjørke and Tropical Animals reinforce a shared artistic vision where sonic exploration meets club-ready precision, balancing introspection and dancefloor energy, cosmic textures and physical groove.
An introspective journey led to the recovery of five tracks that form Unearthed Forms: The new 12” EP by Gent1e $oul & Finally Julius on Fast Castle. Focused on rhythm, texture, and low-end pressure, the record is built around contrasts between organic movement, sharp percussive design, and fluid, broken rhythmic sections.
The A-side opens with Pantanal, a slow-building, humid groove driven by deep sub pressure and layered percussion. Obsidian Arrows introduces a tighter, more direct energy, a modern fast-paced dub stepper with future-facing sound design. Spore Inscription shifts into more evolving patterns, where rhythmic elements gradually reorganise and reconfigure over time.
On the B-side, Where liquid forgets to flow breaks away from steady structure, moving into unstable, shifting rhythm work and loose timing. The closing track Bloom Archive brings things back into a warmer, more open space, with smoother textures and a slower, more continuous flow that feels reflective rather than resolved.
Across five tracks, the EP moves between dub-weighted bass systems, broken beat influence, and techno-focused arrangement — keeping a strong focus on physical low-end and detailed percussion throughout.
Dewa Alit, master of radical Balinese gamelan, returns to Black Truffle with Baur Bentur. Genetic (2020, BT063) introduced international listeners to the magical sound-world of Alit’s Gamelan Salukat, who perform on instruments tuned to a unique scale derived from modified versions of two traditional Balinese scales. The two pieces heard on Chasing the Phantom (2022, BT093) further demonstrated his radical fusion of tradition and experimentation, with passages where unorthodox techniques make the acoustic ensemble resemble glitching electronics. Baur Bentur now highlights another aspect of Alit’s work, presenting pieces composed in 2024 and 2025 where Gamelan Salukat performs alongside virtuoso pianist Sri Hanuraga. Alit’s music is grounded in deep reflection on the tradition of Balinese gamelan and its place in the contemporary world. His title, ‘Baur Bentur’, which translates as ‘mixing and smashing’, points to his embrace of the intercultural mixture of Eastern and Western elements in the search for innovation. Against the calcification of Balinese music into tourist entertainment, Alit poses his searching, experimental work, which celebrates the communal values and performance practices of traditional gamelan while pushing into startling new directions.
‘Sukat Tacara’ is a study in layered tempos, meters, and polyrhythms, a constantly shifting dialogue between piano and the instruments of Gamelan Salukat. It begins close to a traditional concerto, pairing a brisk sequence of melodic variations from the piano with a spare but propulsive accompaniment of drums and hanging metallophone tones, punctuated by low gong strikes. The piano builds in volume and density across a rapid succession of fragments, at points recalling George Antheil’s ticking wind-up machinery, though Hanuraga’s jazz background shines through in the fluidity with which he navigates the complexities of the score, where chromatic movement co-exists with bluesy phrases. An abrupt change in the piano to patterns of dense clusters introduces a new episode, during which the metallic instruments of the gamelan enter the foreground. The piece dazzles with its inventive rhythms and dynamics, building to a stunning passage featuring the signature heavy muting technique of the Gamelan Salukat metallophones in kinetic patterns that would be at home on a Príncipe release.
The title piece begins at high intensity and rarely lets up, working through bracing unison ensemble melodies and punctuation points where piano and gamelan together seem to become a single, thudding drum. For much of the piece the piano is tightly integrated into the ensemble, the harmonic extensions of the melodic line subsumed into a moving cloud of complex overtones generated by the gamelan instruments. Wildly kinetic on the rhythmic level, the piece swarms with microscopic movements of beating patterns generated by the ‘blend and crush’ of three simultaneous tuning systems: the equal temperament of the piano and the saih cenik (small scale) and saih gede (big scale) used by the gamelan instruments. Accompanied by the composer’s thoughtful liner notes and images of the musicians, Baur Bentur is a stunning next step in Alit’s radical combination of tradition and innovation.
DJ support from Soul Clap (Soul Clap Records) / Walla P (Voyage Funktastique) / DJ Notoya (Tokyo Condition)
Minoru “Hoodoo” Fushimi is something of a cult favorite among purveyors of obscure Japanese sounds from the 80's. Running parallel to the city pop phenomenon but existing distinctly outside of it, Fushimi's sound is a lo-fi blend of electro synth funk, drum machine beats, & early hip hop. His “Thanatos Of Funk” album lives on many a record collector's want list, and has already been
reissued more than once. Upstart imprint Tokyo Love Song, a spin-off of XL Middleton's MoFunk label, brings one of Fushimi's signature cuts, “In Praise Of Mitochondria,” to the 7” format for the first time ever. On the flip, Middleton himself teams up with Japan's leftfield modern funk favorites Milk Talk to deliver a remake of the song, entitled “Funkin Me Up.” This quasi-cover blends XL's signature squiggly funk sound with the quirky vocal stylings of Q.i, along with guitar & bass licks courtesy of Hairkid, the other half of Milk Talk.
Zero Idea makes a resounding debut on AnalyticTrail with The Rush, a sprawling six-track EP (plus digital bonus) that captures the high-velocity spirit of the modern underground. Following in the footsteps of the label's Neapolitan heritage, this release is a masterclass in tension and groove, blending raw analog energy with sophisticated, peak-time precision.
As AnalyticTrail continues its relentless evolution, The Rush serves as a bridge between the classic warehouse aesthetic and the future of the genre. Zero Idea delivers a versatile toolkit for the dancefloor, further bolstered by two high-profile reinterpretations that elevate the EP into an essential piece of wax for the 2026 season.
The A-side opens with the title track, The Rush, a driving, percussion-led anthem designed for maximum impact. Italian duo Fireground take the reins for the A2, injecting their signature soulful yet industrial flair into a masterful rework, followed by the syncopated, high-energy rhythms of Funk Is Back.
On the flip, On Sight plunges into deeper, hypnotic territory before Mezer The Architect provides a sophisticated, architectural remix that reconstructs the original into a brooding, late-night weapon. The vinyl journey concludes with Body Language, a rhythmic workout of sharp hi-hats and undulating bass, while the digital-exclusive Go Higher offers a final, soaring peak-time moment.
A comprehensive exploration of modern techno, The Rush is a definitive statement from Zero Idea and a powerful addition to the AnalyticTrail legacy.
Straight from the depths of techno, Lewis Fautzi delivers an intense EP where each track pulls you deeper into a raw, immersive soundscape.
Featuring five tracks that explore deep textures, driving rhythms, and dark atmospheres, "Ghosts Don't Text Me" reinforces his unmistakable signature style.
5 tracks. 1 identity. Pure energy from start to finish.
Errortica takes the scene by storm with here new mini-album — 'I'm Good'. The four-tracker includes previously dropped singles 'Copy Me' and 'Psycho' (feat. Reptiloid), as well as two fresh tracks feat. nashnocap and Blessna. Highlighting her serious studio skills, Errortica mixes different genres: dirty rave vibes with distorted basslines, hardcore hoovers, mixing breakbeat drums and gabber-inspired kick, with a contemporary vocal mix attitude that’s raw, tough, and sexy. In a chase of a perfect dancefloor hit, Errortica continues to drive her dancefloors into a wild, electrified zone for some unforgettable experience. In a chase of a perfect dancefloor hit, Errortica continues to drive her dancefloors into a wild, electrified zone for some unforgettable experience.
Network 23 Recordings proudly unveils its first full digital album release since its revival in partnership with Triple Vision Distribution. It will also release as 3 Vinyl EP's over the course of this year.
Better Than Drugs, the latest album from Crystal Distortion, delivers a high-impact sonic snapshot of both personal upheaval and the turbulent state of the world today. Framed by flashes of media soundbites old and new, the album tackles themes ranging from gentrification in Landlords Hooked On Crack (Breakbeat Version) to the right to protest in Got2StopThem, and the mass manipulation of society in The Chicken Strikes Back.
Launching with a hard-techno surge, the record moves fluidly through a spectrum of tough, mid-tempo rhythms, accented by breakbeats, electro-leaning syncopations, and bass-driven cuts like StepGPT-all while staying firmly rooted in dance-floor intent. Designed for movement and built for impact, Better Than Drugs is a versatile, high-energy release ready to ignite any setting.
Crystal Distortion is a pioneering force in the underground electronic music scene, known for fusing hard-driving techno, breakbeat energy, and improvisational live performance into a signature sound that helped define the European free-party movement. His work blends raw analog textures with relentless rhythmic experimentation, creating high-intensity sets that feel both chaotic and meticulously crafted. As a long-standing member of the Spiral Tribe collective, he has influenced generations of producers and performers, pushing the boundaries of what electronicmusic can be in both form and context.
Dario Rossi approaches electronic music like few others. His work as a percussionist has brought his unique rhythmic abilities to audiences around the globe. Born in Italy, Rossi combined percussion with samplers and synthesizers. His energy and talent have allowed these machines to be incorporated into his distinctive palette with very special results. 07Sep83 is his Bordello debut, with the title piece opening the four tracker. Beats cascade as analogue warmth laps the shore. Slow with a magnetic groove, elements of italo, wave and synth-pop intertwine to create a clean, bright sound that is at once familiar and totally unique.
Vocals arrive with “We’ll Meet Again.” Tempos rise while keys are emboldened by rich guitar strings. Lyrics counter with a melancholic tone that shifts into hope and fortified belief as melodies rise ever higher. The flip is “Lost.” Sharp drum patterns support notes that hark back to the majesty of Bobby O, the live sax by Augusto Pallocca and disco glory combining in this journey through genres. “Beat the Devil” closes. Sizzling from the outset, snares roll and snap. Rossi’s percussive prowess is on full display as synthlines flow over rhythmic ripples to the subtle and soulful strings that bring down the curtain.
Take Me, I’m Yours is the first collaboration album between Alan Abrahams and Jan Jelinek. Released through the latter’s faitiche, it builds upon multi-layered vocal sketches by the former. The Paris-based artist, primarily known for his work as Portable and Bodycode, supplied Jelinek with multi-layered song sketches that the German artist subjected to a rigorous process of manipulation, excavating the ambiguities of the original material and transforming its rhythms into subtle pulses. Take Me, I’m Yours is neither a typical Abrahams record nor a classic Jelinek album—it is something third, mediating between the physicality of the voice and the abstraction of electronic sound design.
The two had crossed paths before really getting to know each other after Abrahams invited Jelinek to play at one of his Süd Electronic parties. The idea of a collaboration emerged slowly. “It started as an experiment, and over the past few years grew from a few tracks into this album,” says Abrahams. He describes recording the basic material as a “tantalizing” process, not knowing how Jelinek would transform his material, some of which was based on wordless chanting, while other tracks were working with lyrical content. However, their mutual trust allowed Jelinek to remove the harmonies, radically reduce the rhythms, and concentrate on Abrahams’ voice.
Jelinek heard something “fragile” in this voice, “moments of doubt and dark premonitions.” He points to Forever as an example. “Alan’s original song reminded me of classic vocal house, but his voice seemed to almost break,” he says. “This contradiction made the piece even bigger, because we hear a singer in the moment of an awakening.” He further accentuated such tensions through arrhythmic synth modulations and time-stretching algorithms, while also adding concrete sounds from a variety of sources. With its dedication to both transforming and amplifying the emotional qualities hidden within Abrahams’ pieces, Take Me, I’m Yours functions as a dialogue between those two singular artists.
POEME ELECTRONIQUE was Dave Hewson (synthesisers, production), Sharon Abbott (lyrics, lead and backing vocals), Julie Ruler (backing vocals) and Les Hewson (bass), formed in 1980 by Dave Hewson in South London, UK, in 1980. Dave was studying music and as a rare kind of student species he had a deep fascination for New Wave and electronic music thus also playing and recording electronic music ever since like using the Boss DR-55, Cosmo Sound Super Drum, Elka Rhapsody 610, EMS Synthi AKS, Korg MS-20(X2)/Polysix/Polyphonic Ensemble 1000/VC-10 Vocoder, Linn Electronics LM-1, Octave Kitten, Roland RS-09/VP-330 Vocoder Plus, Simmons SDS-V Kit and Yamaha CS-80 on this retrospective POEME ELECTRONIQUE album with original material from 1981/82 only. Over the period of more than two years, Dave has remastered these tracks using the latest high-end tools making them sound better than ever before. The deluxe 2LP vinyl album comprises 16 tracks of which 14 have never been published before. “The Echoes Fade” and “Voice” are the original versions taken off their original 7” from 1982. The album “The Echoes Fade” cannot be described other than being a masterpiece and one of the best-ever early 80’s electropop records ever, and it surely has to be lined up with Rational Youth or Experimental Products’ cult albums (in terms of being minimal synth/wave scene reference albums), but to be frank, Anna thinks that POEME ELECTRONIQUE were even above their level.
Truly, they had deserved to go on the successful path like Depeche Mode, OMD or Soft Cell, but fate was against them as it seems. The main difference to other electropop groups of the time was definitely that Dave did not only master his synths technically-wise, no, he also knew how to actually play, and when you hear his amazing multi-track ‘manual sequencing’, programming skills, great harmonies and melodies throughout the tracks, along with the two girls’ performances – well they can really sing! – you will agree there is some something remarkably extraordinary in these tracks. You will find minimal electropop super hits like “Rendezvous”, “She’s an Image”, “Fragile”, or “Dilemma”; hauntingly beautiful melancholic tracks like “A Mourner’s Lament”, “This Night” or “It’s in the Atmosphere”; darkest minimal electronics on “Inside his Head”; and even more poppier tracks like “Follow”. This record will hopefully be loved by any electronic music lover and most probably marks the highlight in the growing Anna Logue Records catalogue – therefore Anna did not shy away from any costs and the album is truly an outstanding release in every single aspect including sound and artwork presentation. Apart from the bonus tracks you will find in the 2LP deluxe vinyl edition glossy inner sleeves with lyrics to all songs, as well as individual mini 7” sleeves for each song designed by our dear graphic designer Steve Lippert plus many additional group photos on the gatefold sleeves’ inner. After so many efforts and more than two years passing by, Anna is so over the moon to see this release being ready now and we have done all we could to make this an outstanding release, so now it’s up to you to give the band their final glory, but Anna is in no doubt that – at least after hearing the sound samples – you will.
San Francisco artist Ross Hogg has been grafting away on his grooves for many years. He has plenty of styles in his arsenal and here digs into some sun-baked reggae and lovers' rock. Up first, he reworks 'Rose Inna Di Dark', the title cut from the debut album by British soul singer Cleo Sol. Her angelic vocal rides a clean reggae rhythm with sleek melodies reflecting rays outwards. On the flip is 'Come Around & Kick It', a deep cut groove with an r&b vocal and classic reggae guitar riffs. It's a steamy combination that's designated to get plenty of backyard parties and beefy sound systems ablaze as we head into the warmer months.
No filler, no detours, just floor-focused disco from Berlin's Delfonic, who is always on point. 'Welcome Black' wastes no time snapping into action with driving drums, elastic bass and bright string stabs that demand full body movement. 'Dancing Facts' keeps it lean and punch with vocals and tight percussion, doing exactly what's required. Flip it over and 'Got To Know Your Body' rolls out classic disco funk, warm chords and a flash of soulful heat cutting through the groove. 'FM4 Me' goes deeper, chugging rhythm and filtered synth lines primed for locked-in, late-night sessions. Functional, effective and quality as ever from Delfonic.
Sweden has long had a celebrated techno scene and you'd be hard pushed to find anyone who has contributed to it as significantly as Cari Lekebusch. He has a vast back catalogue dating back to the mid-90s under many different aliases, including this one, Phunkey Rhythm Doctor, which yielded his 'Underground Poetry' EP back in 1995. 'Jazz Maze' is an exceptional start - urgent and punchy with freeform melody that brings the fun. 'Mad Poet' is much darker and has a doom-laden vocal over stiff, crisp drums. 'Sugardaddy' is a dubby bumper with a wobbly bassline and wispy synths, cyborg electronics and a cavernous groove. Don't sleep on this one.
"I don’t understand Bernardino. He seems to take pleasure in sabotaging himself."
"Or maybe I’m simply refusing to play the game someone else wrote for me?"
Memoirs of Self-Sabotage unfolds as a musical drift: fragments written and recorded on tour between France and Italy, shaped by precariousness, administrative tension, loss, and paranoia. The tracks emerge like scenes from a psychological film noir—a distorted discotheque of monologues, songs, skits, and anachronisms—where the voice oscillates between seduction and rupture.At its core lies a troubling insight: the most insidious exploitation is that of one’s own intimacy. As emotions and desires become commodities, the project resists absorption. Each track becomes a site of desertion—refusing roles, codes, and systems of control, even those posing as critique. Alliances blur, betrayals loom; lucidity tips into paranoia.Warped echoes of nostalgia, cinematic layers, voices in tension: the music becomes an unstable space, a laboratory of drift and survival. Neither record, manifesto, nor autobiography, it unfolds as a mental disco where desire, fear, and self-sabotage coexist.
Mit "Deep Hate" präsentiert Marc Dwyer (Buzz Kull) aus Sydney sein bisher intensivstes und zugleich raffiniertestes Werk. Die vier neuen Tracks bilden eine mitreißende Suite aus Industrial-Pop-Hymnen an der Schnittstelle zwischen Darkwave, Minimal Synth und Industrial Dance Music – unerbittlich und treibend, durchdrungen von einer Atmosphäre der Distanz und Sehnsucht. Jeder Song verkörpert den Puls der modernen Nacht, für die Außenseiter, für das Herz, das in der Leere noch schlägt. Eine moderne Fortsetzung der Tradition von Depeche Mode (Black Celebration) und den energiegeladenen Rhythmen von Front 242, neu interpretiert durch eine moderne Linse. Dwyer tourt mit Cold Cave, Boy Harsher und Molchat Doma. "Deep Hate" ist sein erster Release seit 2022 als 4-Track-Vinyl und CD mit zusätzlichen Remixen von PIG, Kontravoid, Cold Cave und Spike Hellis.
Mr Bongo presents a reissue of one of the rarest releases on the illustrious and now ultra-rare tax scam label TSG Records. A label with a checkered past, operated by Lloyd Price and with alleged ties to boxing promoter Don King. The album in question, Disco Party by Reality, is a stunning journey through ‘70s dancefloor-focussed funk into early proto-disco grooves. Back in mid-‘70s Manhattan, Dr. Otto Gomez and a group of fellow New York musicians including Tony Dixon, Norman Drayton, Tony Dupree, Al Jones and Fred Nanton were brought in for a recording session by songwriter and producer, Billy Nichols. Laying down one of Nichols' songs and a selection of the group's own, they were paid as session musicians and thought little of it. The tapes came to the attention of Lloyd Price who struck a deal with Nichols unbeknownst to Gomez and the rest of the band. Price then pressed the album and put it out in 1976 on a newly formed subsidiary label, TSG Records, that would later be documented as one of the US tax scam labels of the ‘70s. Such labels were created to exploit a loophole in the US tax system, running up inflated production costs / losses that investors or the parent label could write off against their tax bills. Releases on these labels were never intended to have commercial success. They would usually be produced in incredibly limited pressing numbers and have little to no promotion or distribution. As such many of these records instantly fell into obscurity, becoming mythical amongst DJs and record collectors. Sadly, this meant that artists like Dr. Otto Gomez and friends never had the chance for their record and their talents to shine at the time. In fact, it was only when Jazzman reached out for their 2022 reissue that Dr. Otto Gomez became aware that the album had ever been released and heard the story behind it. Disco Party is a time capsule where ‘70s instrumental funk edges and intertwines into an early disco sound. The sessions are for the dancefloor, minimalist and groove-based. The bass and drums are at the forefront, providing the pulse of the album. Driving funky guitar licks, and a brilliant horn section weave their way in and out of the productions. Highlights include the uplifting feel-good ‘Let's Party People’, the early disco swagger of ‘Reality’, and ‘Disco Party (Let's Have A)’ with its wah-wah groove and percussion break, which could easily have found its home on a Blaxploitation film soundtrack of the period. It’s not just rarity that makes this record so sought after, but rather the fact that it is a superb example of dancefloor-focussed mid ‘70s funk and disco.
Hyperdreams returns with Caim — Dream Ritual, a transmission pulled from a forgotten exoplanet where forest and machine have fused into a single ecosystem. Synthetic vines wrap through dead circuitry. Somewhere inside it, an alien tribe is still performing rituals to keep the system alive.
Kätte returns with their second vinyl release with 4 industrial bangers. The project runned by C-System, Nöle and NX1 joins forces to provide a highly intense musical journey.
The Trip To Vega is about deep outer space odyssey that occurs in the process of traveling from Earth through the Cosmos to another "favorable" star system 25.3 light-years away.
The time is year 2097, Sept 23rd.
To this day, Earthlings have managed to dodge some of nature's more dangerous extremities, massive volcanic eruptions, Earthquakes, solar burst that knocked out the Planet's entire electrical grid for 3 years, numerous plagues of disease, food and fresh water shortages, domestic and International Wars and many other life-changing operas, but for this event, what remains is a realization that has no remedy. The cause: Earth's physicality has changed. It is no longer favorable for living things.
It is the constant shifting of the planet's internal tectonic plates which has unfortunately produced an unexpected and impassable dilemma.
Because of the collisions, deep within the planet's core, the planet is now producing an extraordinary amount of sound that includes a specific harmonic frequency that erodes the natural senses of all life on Earth.
It is intensifying. It is intolerable and it is unlivable.
Yet, some humans prefer to stay, to "ride it out" like the Titanic captain going down with his ship. Some, in total disbelief as some have concluded it is the second coming of Jesus Christ. But for most, the decision is clear. Tolive another day, leaving is the only rational choice.
At an increasing rate, scientific research data shows that humans and most animals, excluding the Jellyfish will eventually lose the usage of hearing and are to greatly suffer from an array of other neurological and psychological effects. The sense of touch and taste, sleep depreciation, severe nerve damage, constant hallucinations. Everyone will lose many of their cognitive abilities within an estimated 12 months from now.
On this day and every 7 days afterwards until all registered passengers have departed, the first of a fleet of large number of massive size spacecraft carrying approximately 1 million humans per vessel will permanently leave Earth to begin the long and adventurous trek across outer space to a new home: Vega.
This is not a precautionary tale as there is nothing to learn. Instead, a decision has been made and a Trip To Vega is the consequence.
M-Plant's Perpetual Masters series continues throughout 2026 with Robert Hood's "Spectra" EP up next. Remastered once again by legendary German producer, Thomas Heckmann, the individual tracks have been dropping digitally through April and are now followed by a full vinyl release in June.
Robert Hood's "Spectra" EP, originally released in 2001, stands as a defining example of his stripped-back, conceptual approach to techno. It sees Robert Hood operating at his most stripped-down and hypnotic, built from tightly looped drum patterns and shadowy synth fragments that slowly evolve. Hood's precision is evident in every detail, as he balances repetition with crisp percussion and a tightly controlled groove.
More deep, immersive and hard-hitting minimal techno from the master.
Balancing glitch-pop and contemporary piano, the Belgian pianist explores the edges of her voice, language and twisted electronica
The Belgian pianist and producer maya dhondt releases a new album titled 'wow, x', marking her debut solo album under her own name. Navigating between bedroom glitch-pop and contemporary piano, she presents sounds of alienating beauty.
The album ‘wow, x’ will be released on September 13 on vinyl and all digital platforms via VIERNULVIER Records.
“I find beauty in the uncomfortable and disorienting" - maya dhont
The first single, 'desire,' is a mutated synth-pop track that gets under the skin. The song centralizes longing for something you don't know (yet). Perhaps it's the smell of damp earth, which can be both pleasant and unsettling? The single is now available on all streaming platforms and comes with a schizophrenic video by Sakis Brönnimann.
The first release show is scheduled for Saturday, October 5, at De Koer, Ghent.
More shows will be announced soon.
A postmodern cramp, that's how one could describe the music of pianist and producer maya dhondt. Her music is an intuitive and a never ending exploration that has the potential to be and become a multitude of things at once.
On her first solo album under her own name, 'wow, x,' she presents 10 varied tracks in which she creates equally idiosyncratic sound worlds. She takes the liberty to endlessly experiment with vocals, piano, and a mix of distorted lo-fi electronic sounds with an open mind. The result is sometimes synthetic and weird, sometimes compellingly beautiful, and always captivating, drawing you into its underlying melody. These intelligently crafted productions are connected by a penchant for alienating beauty: like a warm, but damp cave where it’s pleasant to linger just a little longer. Her original sound moves within a sonic spectrum reminiscent of contemporary artists such as Lolina, Astrid Sonne, claire rousay, aya or Carla Dal Forno.
"What I create never stands alone, it can be many things at once"
If the world were a sculpture garden, maya dhondt eagerly picks from it to draw inspiration from both visual and literary passages as well as personal experiences. Her highly personal bedroom productions are grounded firmly in the world due to philosophical references and politically charged messages. And the world she lives in is being questioned on 'wow, x', as the title refers to "What Or Why?". This is evident in the single 'desire': "What is the thing that matters / to exist / or to know you’re existing?" What does one choose in life: to live in the moment or to live to remember that moment?
In the lyrics on 'wow, x', maya dhondt plays - at times childishly - with language and its boundaries. On 'tip toe tip,' banal wordplay leads to an unexpected confession, and the seemingly simple phrases in 'untitled' conceal hidden life lessons. dhondt's world of words is multilayered and multilingual: Dutch ('kleine cijfers, groot verlies'), English ('desire'), and French ('untitled') are at her disposal. And on the fierce track that is 'minimalinvasiv,' not only she turns to hardstyle, but also to German - a language dear to her due to her Swiss heritage.
Esfand ist der letzte Monat des persischen Kalenders, der mit dem Nouruz-Frühlingsfest endet. Seit 2020 ist ESFAND auch eine Band - bestehend aus dem Iraner Rouzbeh Esfand und dem Neuseeländer Patrick Stewart. Ein Duo, das traditionelle iranische Folk-Elemente mit westlichen Beats und Vocal-Features bekannter exil-iranischer Künstler*innen zu etwas völlig Neuem verschmilzt. Ihr Debütalbum "Piltan" ist ein fulminant tanzbares Statement ohne Anflüge von Ethno-Kitsch. Pure Instinktmusik. "Wir haben die Samples ausschließlich aus musikalischen Gesichtspunkten ausgewählt. Das Folk-Element in unserer Musik ist groß, aber es ist nicht unsere Aufgabe, die Reinheit dieser Kultur zu wahren. Wir werfen iranische Traditionen nicht weg, wir behalten einfach die, die am besten passen. Am Ende des Tages sind alles nur Sounds." "Piltan" ist eine akustische Reise quer durch ein riesiges Land voller kultureller Eigenheiten: von den Zar-Ritualen aus dem Persischen Golf im Süden zum Reiter-Volk der Bachtiaren im Südwesten, bis hin zu den Qaschqai im Westen und zu den Kurden im nordwestlichen Iran mit ihren Derwisch-Ritualen. Die ersten beiden Songs haben ihren Ursprung in den repetitiven Rhythmen der Zar-Rituale, bei denen der Dämon Zar Personen in Form eines Windes befällt. Der Begleiter der zu behandelnden Person wiederholt bestimmte Phrasen immer wieder, um den Patienten in Ekstase zu versetzen. Auf die von Handtrommeln befeuerten Techno-Beats in "Bibi Saghi" folgen die düster-hektischen Synthie-Grooves von "O"seda". Ob der dunkle Dub von "Shawl" oder die maschinell stampfenden "Zar Bits" und "Without Foot, Without Head" - alle acht Songs sind raffinierte Produktionen auf höchstem technischem Niveau. Auf zwei Songs ist der Sänger und Perkussionist Habib Meftah vertreten (Rouzbeh: "Ich liebe seinen Instinkt für Songs!"). Auf "Shawl" gastiert Mohsen Namjoo, der sich ähnlich viel mit Folklore befasst hat und hier Texte der bekannten iranischen Dichter Daqiqi und Farrukhi Sistani singt. Aus einer jüngeren Generation stammt die Londoner Sängerin Misagh Moradi. Ihr "Without Foot, Without Head" basiert auf Texten des weltbekannten Dichters Rumi. Sich im Moment verlieren, sich dem Rhythmus hingeben, ganz unabhängig vom eigenen Hintergrund - das geht mit der jahrhundert- und grenzüberschreitenden Musik von ESFAND. Loslassen, abschalten, ohne Kopf und Füße zu kontrollieren. Darum geht es ESFAND. Übersetzt heißt es im Text von "Without Foot Without Head": "Oh du mit der anmutigen Taille, wirbele herum! Tanze weiter!"
Komatssu, Lefrenk, Vema Diodes y Celine Arnauld comparten este various artists de cuatro cortes para el tercer disco de Undancel.
La tercera referencia del sello discográfico de Undancel se caracteriza por una fase de transición entre varios sonidos. Representado un punto «ni aquí ni allí» donde la identidad o el estado anterior se disuelve antes de alcanzar uno nuevo, cuyo nombre LIMINAL.
Cuatro cortes en vinilo de 12″ de varios artistas más una canciones extra en formato digital con código de descargas en su interior.
A1_KOMATSSU_DESTRUCTOR DE MUNDOS: En activo desde 2005, Komatssu es el proyecto más personal de Héctor Sandoval (Tensal y 50% del reconocido proyecto Techno Exium). Un proyecto cimentado sobre la fusión natural entre la IDM más melódica, el Electro, el Breakcore y el avant-techno espectral que concibe el sonido como catalizador de emociones, dando lugar a un imaginario sonoro sumamente personal.
A2_LEFRENK_INDECENT: Lefrenk es un productor y DJ coruñés con más de 20 años de experiencia y más de 100 lanzamientos.
También es profesor en Fanzine School.
En el ámbito editorial, destaca como cofundador del sello Deep Different junto a Ikke Alra y fundador de Knerfel, su sello centrado en el techno.
Su trabajo se distingue por la fusión de texturas sonoras orgánicas e innovación digital, lo que refleja una constante evolución personal y creativa. Siempre innovando, Lefrenk ha expandido su influencia a través de colaboraciones dinámicas y actuaciones en directo junto a figuras de renombre de la industria.
B1_VEMA DIODES_MINDNIMALIST: Productor con raíces en el Baix Llobregat, cuya identidad se define por la experimentación técnica. Su trabajo es una exploración constante de la síntesis, donde las máquinas dictan el mensaje.
Desde sus primeras producciones en 2002, ha refinado un sonido que transita del electrobass crudo a estructuras más complejas y horizontales, fusionando la calidez analógica con la precisión digital.
Fundador del sello ÚTIL Records, Gente Seria Viste Chándal y Dialecto Periférico, plataforma desde la que reivindica el sonido de máquinas icónicas como la TR-808, tratadas con distorsiones y texturas de corte industrial.
Entiende el electro no como un género rígido, sino como un proceso de «electrificar» la señal. Su música es un equilibrio entre ritmos sintéticos y pinceladas de IDM, buscando siempre una narrativa sonora avanzada.
B2_CELINE ARNAULD_GLITCHED DANCE SYSTEM: Celine Arnauld es el nombre artístico de Pablo Miranda Caballero, artista y productor de música electrónica especializado en géneros como el IDM y el glitch con texturas ambientales. Recientemente, ha creado los alias DJ Don’t Sleep, donde da rienda suelta a la vertiente más rave del jungle y el breakbeat, y Paul Basscoigne, donde explora el electro, el acid, el IDM y el braindance.
Ha publicado su música en varios sellos, como EVEL, Clean Error, Dynamic Form, Mahorka, Hypnotica Colectiva, EC Underground, Dead Trax, Not 4 Human Consumption, New York Haunted, Point Source Electronics Arts, Moatun 7, Polygon Network, Colorsquad Records, Opal Tapes y Zabra Records.
Cultivated Electronics Ltd For The Floor series began in 2022 and features split EPs available on vinyl (only) with Electro tracks aimed strictly at the dance floor, bringing together CE regulars and new artists. Volume 5 features Umwelt on the A- side and DJ MELL G x Unklevon on the flip, as well as a remix by label head, Sync 24 alongside Controlled Weirdness. New Flesh founder, Umwelt is known for his dark, industrial-leaning techno that blends dystopian atmospheres with driving rhythms. Here, the French producer delivers two hard-hitting cuts in Memoryscape & Morphing Sequence to open the EP. DJ MELL G from Juicy Gang Records brings a raw, high-energy fusion of electro, breakbeat and techno; fast paced and with bold sound design. She teams up with Unklevon who produces sleek, futuristic electro with crisp drum programming most notably for Boysnoize Records, on Get Down. While Sync 24 & Controlled Weirdness close out the EP with their tough and wonky rework.
4th installment of Sound Synthesis techno approach is on the way! His Submersive Underground label has recently been gaining strong support amongst the techno community, and will without any doubt grow even stronger with this release. What Is Reality EP features 4 perfectly executed and driving atmospheric bangers, TIP!
New Trance Pandemic, a dark, hypnotic release with deep, dense sound and atmospheric rhythms. A dive into a deep state through shadowy textures, pulsating groove, and minimalist energy that truly unfolds on big sound systems. Perfect for late-night sets and intimate dancefloors.
Nous'klaer Audio introduces Maask with four sculptural works of sound: layers upon layers, each carrying a sense of life moving through every frequency. Built from field recordings gathered in remote corners of the world and transformed into powerful tracks for the dancefloor. Across these tracks you can hear a storm moving the branches of an oak in Powys, reeds photosynthesising beneath a lake in Rajasthan, highland moss, thunder above Kumasi and wind moving through a neolithic burial chamber on an island off Cornwall. As delicate as these unprocessed sounds are, as powerful are the synergies in their final forms.
Spaceships on the Blade is the 2022 solo album from San Francisco legend, entrepreneur and rapper, Larry June. The 20-track album features the singles, “Private Valet,” & “In My Pockets,” and sees production from a wide range of producers such as, The Alchemist, Jake One, DJ Khalil, Cardo, DJ.Fresh, Chuck Inglish, Turbo & more. Enlisting the help from fellow rap luminaries such as 2 Chainz, Babyface Ray, Curren$y and more, Spaceships on the Blade shows that Uncle Larry always has an eye on expanding and diversifying income steams and will continue to do numbers for a long time. Good Job, Larry. 2xLP, Black Vinyl, Widespine Jacket, Printed Sleeves.
Destination Unknown is an EP by Unpronounceable born from an archive of sounds collected between 2019 and 2024—sonic fragments that took shape without a predetermined direction guided only by an open idea in constant transformation. The original track conceived as a “destination unknown” composition developed its own independent identity. However precisely because of its fluid and cross-genre nature Unpronounceable chose not to place it within a traditional EP context instead opening it up to a multiplicity of perspectives by inviting five artists to reinterpret it freely without genre constraints.
The result is an EP that unfolds like an alternative map of the same sonic territory where each remix explores a distinct direction transforming Destination Unknown into a multifaceted and ever-evolving experience.
In Carl Finlow’s remix Destination Unknown takes on a strong cinematic and narrative dimension. Inspired by the title Finlow imagines a mysterious journey toward a futuristic dystopian city turning the track into a kind of electro soundtrack—dark yet ironic rich in character and capable of evoking vivid images and motion.
MANASYt pushes the track toward more physical and ritualistic territories focusing on the dark pads and the more oneiric vocal elements of the original. The result is a hypnotic pulsating tribal-industrial reinterpretation where rhythm and sonic material become central intensifying the track’s most visceral qualities.
With Gay Horror the focus shifts to an emotional and narrative dimension. The vocals are deliberately made elusive and undefined while the structure develops through a slow controlled crescendo that recalls the atmospheres of ’90s trip-hop. This version also reflects a long-standing human and artistic relationship conceived as a story that travels through time and reaches the present day.
Kevin Follet adopts a more conceptual approach overturning the perspective of the original track. Rather than working with its main elements he brings the underlying structures to the foreground transforming what usually remains hidden into the core of his reinterpretation. His remix is elegant and deep balancing sound exploration with a strong attention to songwriting.
Closing the EP is GP The Synth Roller with a radical and highly experimental reinterpretation. The track behaves like an unstable system: parameters shift without warning surfaces lose coherence sudden accelerations collide with moments of arrest. There is no resolution only a sonic condition in constant tension eventually condensing into a dark compact mass.
Taken as a whole Destination Unknown is far more than a simple remix collection: it is a collective exploration of the potential of a single composition. Unpronounceable’s original track and the reinterpretations by Carl Finlow MANASYt Gay Horror Kevin Follet and GP The Synth Roller move across electro techno industrial and experimental territories offering six different perspectives from the same starting point. An open journey with no fixed destination where every detour becomes an integral part of the path.
Steyoyoke Anniversary, Vol. 15 marks a special chapter in the label’s history with a double vinyl edition dedicated to the sound, artists, and identity that have shaped Steyoyoke over the years. Across eight original tracks, the release brings together Soul Button, Clawz SG, Nick Devon, 2Qimic, Monarke, MPathy, Seismal D, and René Diehl, forming a carefully curated journey through the label’s Ethereal Techno sound.
From the emotional depth of Silent Truth and the shadowed atmosphere of Lumen Obscura, to the melodic tension of The Day You Decide To Change and the introspective movement of My Dreams, the first part of the vinyl sets a deep and immersive tone. The second half expands the energy with Pressure, Sora, Consciousness, and Pulse, moving between driving grooves, cinematic textures, and refined club-focused intensity.
Pressed as a double vinyl, Steyoyoke Anniversary, Vol. 15 stands as both a celebration and a reflection - a collection built around memory, connection, and the unmistakable emotional language of Steyoyoke.
Polyamore presents “Ritmo Magnetico EP” by Disco Strummer, a vibrant blend of disco, funk and Italo grooves. The title track delivers deep basslines, bright keys and uplifting energy made for the dancefloor, while “Stardust” takes a cosmic turn with space‑disco atmospheres and hypnotic synths. Together, the two tracks celebrate movement, freedom and Disco Strummer’s signature blend of sunny groove and cosmic flair.
Precisely one year after Lézire, Crush of Souls is back with his third full-length album.
The musical endeavour of Charles Rowell – active in the indie/punk global scene since 2008 with bands like Crocodiles, Flowers of Evil, Issue – is just like its creator: always cooking up something. Relentlessly.
Now, as it was perceivable by the trajectory undertaken by after his previous LP, Captive Youth leaves goth rock and dark folk aside and head swiftly towards some old school 80’s EBM & 90’s Industrial dance vibe. After all, any album exploring themes of dystopia, politics and sexuality requires a strong rhythm. So how could this new chapter not mention seminal synth-pop and body music classics such as Technique by New Order, Belief by Nitzer Ebb, Towards Thee Infinite Beat by Psychic TV and Pressure Points by Anne Clark?
Forever a displaced soul, Charles’ album number three feels like a revision of Crush Of Souls and also a reanimation of his captive youth spent moving from town to town. The energy of the wandering worker poet. Warehouse basslines, artillery fire backbeats. Romance and melancholy wrapped in barbed wire. All this and more oozes from nine new tracks that inevitably deliver that blurry sexy urban vibe that’s become the project’s trademark.
Features collabo hit single Domination with Sade Sanchez from L.A. Witch.
Maman Küsters return to Oráculo Records with “Oniromancia Completa”, a third vinyl release carved from tension and precision. The duo—Gaël Loison and Cyril Pansal— refine their language into something sharper, harder to define: a rigid hybrid of EBM and electro where structure becomes intensity. Furious step-sequenced arpeggios cut through dense low-end pressure, while knife-edged drums lock the body into a mechanical trance. On “Dos Mundos”, Pedro Peñas (UPR) enters the system with vocals that fracture the surface, adding a human pulse to an otherwise relentless machine. Built for dark rooms and uncompromising floors, Oniromancia Completa is not just played —it is deployed. There is no ornament here—only function, force, and control. A decisive strike for both electro and EBM purists.
Massimiliano Pagliara celebrates 20 years of music production with a special anniversary compilation on Funnuvojere. The release brings together solo productions and collaborations spanning a rich and abundant period that began when Pagliara acquired his first analogue machines, five years after moving to Berlin from Milan, where he worked as a professional dancer and choreographer.
The compilation features 20 previously unreleased tracks, deeply infused with italo grooves, wonky bass-lines, balearic pads, drama, love, sex, and dreams. These tracks evoke a wide spectrum of moments, ranging from intimate, pleasure-driven home listening to full-blown dance-floor euphoria. Throughout the compilation, one can feel Pagliara’s enthusiasm for discovery—his excitement in encountering new machines and immediately putting them to work.
Pagliara’s sonic identity is unmistakable, present in every track and in the compilation as a whole. Like the facets of a crystal, the music reflects his many nuances while maintaining a strong, coherent core. Tracks such as Waves of Desire pay homage to Dream House, reimagined through contemporary production with cosmic tones and infectious drums. Flicker Of Us reveals a dramatic tension between a rowdy bass-line and melancholic pads, while We Can Touch The Sky features Pagliara himself on vocals, blending synth-pop with elements of new wave and glam rock. Cool Breeze unfolds as a sunlit, optimistic walk through a wide Berlin avenue—funky, warm, and filled with curiosity for what lies ahead.
A notable strength of the compilation lies in its collaborations, which highlight Pagliara’s joy in working with other producers and vocalists. Each collaboration reveals a distinct character: the balearic sensibility of A Journey of Discovery with Gatto Fritto, the French house flavour of Neon Memories with Alinka, the 70s disco inflection of It’s In Your Eyes with the late Aérea Negrot, and the driving techno attitude of Whirlwind with Fabrizio Mammarella, to name just a few.
Ultimately, this compilation stands as both a gift to Massimiliano’s long-time fans and an open invitation to new listeners. It offers entry into a world shaped by beauty, order, balance, and ecstasy—guided by an enduring love for the craft.
