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Very special material found in the legacy archive of a Ukrainian rock'n'roll star from the '90s, the frontman of the Braty Hadiukiny band. After a long pause in his musical career and a life-changing period abroad, he unexpectedly switched to electronic music production.

He passed away in 2009 without releasing these tracks, and only a very limited number of people ever heard them in his studio. His productions include eclectic house, progressive trance, and downtempo tracks we discovered thanks to his former wife, who kept Serhii’s artistic heritage throughout the years.

10th year anniversary reissue of Iggy Pop's Après cover album with a bonus track, Sacha Distel's La Belle Vie and new artwork, and an exclusive poster. Originally released only in France in 2012, Après is being reissued for the first time and is now finally available outside of France.

More than a decade after the release of ´Land Lines', the mythical Humboldt County, California based duo of Brian Pyle and Merrick McKinlay reappears seemingly out of nowhere with 'Atheistsaregods'. With past releases on such cult-like labels as Root Strata, Weird Forest, Blackest Rainbow or Digitalis, Starving Weirdos were an indelible part of a sprawling and loose network of artists in Northern America whose DIY work ethic and extreme activity revolved around shoestring-budget constant touring, numerous limited editions on CDR, tape and vinyl and a relentless drive to push the boundaries of genre.

Out of that cauldron, Starving Weirdos stood out as one of the most persistent and visionary acts, developing a mind altering body of work that went from warm soundscapes through droney digressions, freeform improvisation and raucous noise summoned from a myriad of instrumentation and low budget processing - vocals, keyboards, violin, flute, percussion and an assortment of less identifiable sound sources. 10 years on their legacy remains a timeless and wildly under-appreciated one, but hopefully this new album will shine a light on their idiosyncratic approach. As time itself was never a constraint. This is music suspended outside of it.

Right from the start with the echoing percussion, dissonant keys and processed vocals of 'Haiku Nagasaki', 'Atheistsaregods' draws a continuous flux of psychedelic elevation that goes from the gloomy electronic motifs not unlike the early Cluster vibes of 'Invocation' into the dank percussive maze of the appropriately titled 'Barulho do Samba'. The self titled track induces a sense of post-apocalyptic vertigo via hallucinatory scraps of voice, suspended synth tones and reverberating field recordings, connecting into the droney mystics of 'Dudukahar (Reed Prayer)'. Coming full circle, 'For Vinny' brings back the echoing percussion amidst hypnotic cello lines until it drifts off into the unknown. With the same palpable sense of urgency, Starving Weirdos feel as vital as ever. And even if we didn't realize it we were in need of them. Welcome back.

‘The Nature of Nature’ is the debut LP by Hanegi Koen, the Japan-based creative duo composed of British ¦lmmaker Sam King and Canadian label head Sean Mallion (ADSR Collective). Picking up where they left off with their 2021 EP ‘Well Worth A Visit’, this album continues the legacy of spaced-out ambient guitars and driving analog beats the band nicely cued up for us. It has continuity from their previous work, going even deeper this time, further de¦ning the contours of their sound. As the title suggests, Nature was a big influence on the record. Many of the track titles are from the season they were recorded in – for example, ‘Hanafubuki’, when the cherry blossoms fall, ‘Tsuyu’, the rainy season, or ‘Kaminari’ which was written during a crazy thunderstorm. The sights and sounds of those times are reflected in the tracks, with ¦eld recordings helping to supplement the atmosphere. Hanegi’s founding ethos of only using analog instruments and drum machines to compose and perform, minimizing the need for the computer as an interface, is alive and well in this album. The tracks got tested in front of an audience and improved on, based on feedback from playing them live, leading to a psychedelic, synth-rich, analog journey. “We like all things analog. We both use computers and digital screens a fair amount in our day job, so it’s nice to give our eyes a rest from that and allow the music to be created from everything we have on the table.
Similarly vinyl records, ¦lm photography, and simply walking around outside in the forest – all these things are a way of slowing down and escaping the digital world.”

Greatly influenced by the wild contrasting outdoors of their home in Japan, the mountains, forests, and ocean, ‘The Nature of Nature’ is an open invitation to unplug to reconnect, a feeling that Hanegi Koen want to share with you. Released on August 18th, on vinyl and digital via Subtempo. Credits: Written and composed by Sean Mallion and Sam King Mixed by Aoki Takamasa Mastering by Manmade Mastering Album art by Laine Butler Design by Rocco Tyndale

Carved out from between the cracks of life over a 2 year period, Low Flung presents his eighth full length album ‘The Wheel’. Together, the 11 tracks provide a space to process and sit with difficult change. This takes the form of microscopic minimalist landscapes. Presented in both audio and physical form as micro grooves on a 12” vinyl.

At times the sound wanders and walks, other times it remains still, clear and precise. The omni-present artifacts found in ‘The Wheel’ are left to breathe a different life during each listen. Drones act like familiar trails losing their path as space transforms like a breeze over a table of sand. Hyper focused spores evolve around blurred waves of time. Electronic tones are captured flowing to the rhythm of a decaying natural world.

‘The Wheel’ is a patchwork of sonic experiments made using modular synthesis, fixed architecture synthesis, Buchla Music Easel (replica), outboard effects, cassette manipulation techniques, samplers and field recordings taken along the texturally rich and historically questionable eastern coastline of Australia.

The tracks have been composed with a materiality that embraces the acoustics of different listening environments. Much like mood, this means each listening experience is unique due to the natural acoustics of your listening space. The sounds on this album embrace this phenomena, creating a rich, visceral listening experience that slowly scratches away at discrete moments of time

Rather than attempting to traverse new sonic fields of experimentation in ‘The Wheel’, the album touches on the various spaces Danny has explored over the past ten years as an Audio Visual artist. Although technically eighth, it would be more fitting to say this album draws a clear line from ‘Blow Waves (2018)’ to ‘Outside The Circle (2020)’ to become the third and final chapter in the expanded non linear, unintentional landscape series. Serendipitous that each was conceived over 2 year periods of time.

While the key focus is sitting with difficult change, this album is also a celebration of any moment you might find yourself in. Good, bad, easy or hard, this album is an attempt to help with feeling content wherever you are along your path. With each cycle a new context.

A new perspective is coming from the beaches of Acapulco bay.

Colourful shirts and sensual moves in the shade of palm trees. Presenting the new extravaganza duo “Acapulco Heat”. Comprised of none other than Felipe Valenzuela and new wonder boy, Ossios. 3 tracks to embody different moments and occasions for a set full of mindfulness and unique vibes. Serious but not so serious, futuristic but present, “Intellectuelle EP” will make you surf your inner self. Direct hit for the body with an innovative consistency. Undeniably timeless music to keep in your mind and in your record bag. Extra bonus remix by american producer Titonton Duvante.

"Pablo's Eye is the science of studio pressure, when engineer becomes artist. Appropriating left and right as well as front and back, Pablo's Eye uses the mixing desk to examine and exhaust the possibilities of moments. Pablo's Eye is a record of that examination and exhaustion, but it is also a record of its own inner space. By means of depth placement, psychoacoustics and spatial fug, Pablo's Eye is experienced in the deeper reaches of the body, bypassing the conscious part of the mind entirely.

Pablo's Eye is the turning of recorded music inside out to show its seams. It interrogates a song, stripping down the body of the song to reveal its bones. Pablo's Eye is in the interstices of music, it plugs the gaps, fills the holes. Pablo's Eye seeks out the concealed mechanisms, it is a song's hidden agenda.

For this compilation, it was decided to present the softer air-beatings of Pablo's Eye. More than anything, Pablo's Eye is a temporary atmosphere, like a taste or a dream..."

David Byrne & Fatboy Slim’s acclaimed 2010 album Here Lies Love receives its first-ever vinyl release to coincide with a new production opening on Broadway this summer. Here Lies Love is a double-disc song cycle – improbably poignant, decidedly surreal, surprisingly thought provoking – about the rise and fall of the Philippines' notorious Imelda Marcos. It was conceived by David Byrne; composed by Byrne and DJ/recording artist Fatboy Slim, AKA Norman Cook; and performed by a dream cast drawn from the worlds of indie rock, alt country, R&B and pop. Byrne's taste in collaborators is as imaginative as it is impeccable, including Cyndi Lauper (who recounts, to lighthearted disco beats, Imelda's courtship with Ferdinand Marcos), Steve Earle (as the power-hungry Ferdinand), Dap-Kings vocalist Sharon Jones (recalling Imelda's introduction into New York society) and Natalie Merchant (as spurned Imelda confidante Estrella, anticipating the onset of martial law). Along with vocals turns from such stars as Tori Amos and the B-52's Kate Pierson, Byrne works with rising indie rockers St. Vincent and My Brightest Diamond; New York chanteuses Nellie McKay and Martha Wainwright; and dance-music divas Róisín Murphy and Santigold. Byrne himself appears as the voice of imperialistic America on ‘American Troglodyte’, a send-up that wouldn't have seemed out of places in Talking Heads' True Stories.



Byrne originally envisioned this as a musical theatre piece, to be mounted in disco and nightclub settings, reflecting the globe-trotting Marcos' taste for such velvet-roped spots as Studio 54 and Regine's. In 2006, he performed work-in-progress versions to enthusiastic audiences at New York City's Carnegie Hall and the Adelaide Festival in Australia. While plans for a US theatrical production continued to evolve, he delivered this unique recording. The award-winning theatrical production eventually premiered at The Public Theater in New York in 2013, travelled to London’s National Theater for a sold-out run (2014–15), and was remounted at the Seattle Repertory Theater (2017).



Here Lies Love has an effervescent disco feel, redolent of Fatboy Slim's own dance-floor anthems, with warm undercurrents of the Latin rhythms that have percolated through Byrne's recent solo work. The sunny arrangements act in counterpoint to the reality of the Marcos' increasingly repressive regime, reflecting the imagined inner life of the glamour-obsessed Imelda. Explains Byrne, "For me, the darker side of the excesses are, for the most part, a matter of record. A lot of the audience is going to come with that knowledge already. What's more of a challenge is to get inside the head of the person who was behind all of that, and understand what made them tick." Byrne offers no judgment and avoids the obvious – there is no mention of Imelda's infamous shoe collection.



Many of Byrne's lyrics are, astonishingly enough, constructed from actual Imelda quotes, including the project's title, the words that Imelda, now returned to the Philippines from US-assisted exile in Hawaii, would like to have inscribed on her gravestone. In addition to his new liner note, Byrne illustrates the story with archival photos. In a detailed preface, he reveals what drew him to this subject and the bumpy route he took to launch the project and, ultimately, record this album. The booklet is indeed a page-turner, just as Here Lies Love is a wonderfully old-school album that rewards start-to-finish listening. Once again, Byrne – beloved as musician, thinker and bicyclist-about-town – reveals the breadth and singularity of his vision.



The new production of Here Lies Love will premiere at the Broadway Theatre in New York City. Performances begin June 17, ahead of an official opening night on July 20. Tony Award winner Alex Timbers (direction) and Olivier Award nominee Annie-B Parson (choreography) reunite with Byrne (concept, music, and lyrics) and Fatboy Slim (music) to bring Here Lies Love to Broadway, continuing a ten-plus year collaboration on the project. Tom Gandey and J Pardo contribute additional music. Here Lies Love is produced on Broadway by Hal Luftig, Patrick Catullo, Diana DiMenna for Plate Spinner Productions, Clint Ramos, and Jose Antonio Vargas. The staging at the Broadway Theatre will transform the venue’s traditional proscenium floor space into a dance club environment, where audiences will stand and move with the actors. A wide variety of standing and seating options will be available throughout the theatre’s reconstructed space. The producers of Here Lies Love said, “As a team of binational American producers – Filipinos among us – we are thrilled to bring Here Lies Love to Broadway! We welcome everyone to experience this singularly exuberant piece of theatre. The history of the Philippines is inseparable from the history of the United States, and as both evolve, we cannot think of a more appropriate time to stage this show. See you on the dance floor!”



David Byrne’s recent works include the launch of Reasons to be Cheerful, an online magazine focused on solutions-oriented stories about problems being solved all over the world (2019); Joan of Arc: Into the Fire, a theatrical exploration of the historical heroine that premiered at the Public Theater in New York (2017); The Institute Presents: NEUROSOCIETY, a series of interactive environments created in conjunction with PACE Arts + Technology that question human perception and bias (2016); Contemporary Color, an event inspired by the American folk tradition of color guard and performed at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center and Toronto’s Air Canada Centre (2015); Here Lies Love; Love This Giant, a studio album and worldwide tour created with St. Vincent (2012); and How Music Works, a book about the history, experience, and social aspects of music (2012).



Byrne curated Southbank Centre’s annual Meltdown festival in London in 2015. A co-founder of the group Talking Heads (1976–88), he has released eight studio albums as a solo artist and worked on multiple other projects, including collaborations with Brian Eno, Twyla Tharp, Robert Wilson, and Jonathan Demme, among others. He also founded the highly respected record label Luaka Bop. Recognition of Byrne’s various works include Obies, Drama Desk, Lortel, and Evening Standard awards for Here Lies Love; an Oscar, Grammy, and Golden Globe for the soundtrack to Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor; and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with Talking Heads. Byrne’s work as a visual artist has been published and exhibited since his college days, including photography, filmmaking, and writing. He lives in New York City. In addition to 2019’s cast album for American Utopia on Broadway, Nonesuch has released eight other David Byrne records since 2003, including 2018’s American Utopia studio album and two versions of his musical Here Lies Love.



















q C6. Please Don't feat. Santi White Santigold

Next up on Toolroom’s 4-track vinyl sampler series is another tasty collab from label founder, Mark Knight with legendary House DJ and producer Todd Terry and the Darryl James & David Anthony Project. Diving straight back into that classic 90’s House sound, Mark Knight delivers a taste of his finest production to date after unearthing Todd Terry’s edit of ‘Buddah’ by Darryl James & David Anthony Project, shaping up a seriously killer reworking of this gem fresh for the dance floor in 2023.

Next up, renowned German selector Eddie Thoneick makes a label debut with his club orientated big room weapon ‘Take It Back’. Taking it back straight through to the dance floor, Eddie Thoneick has become a name synonymous with high quality productions, providing remixes for Armand Van Helden, Steve Angello, Bob Sinclar and David Guetta. Eddie’s chunky production style shines through on ‘Take It Back’, offering up a slice of raw Tech House with deep, rumbling bass lines, metallic percussive elements and a resonating hook which will cause uproar in any club its played in.

Up next is another heater from DJ, producer and Toolroom Academy tutor Pete Griffiths who drops what can only be described as a House anthem in the making, with his brand-new track ‘Get Together’. A peak time record that sees Pete Griffiths dive deep into the sound of 90’s nostalgia, dropping a seriously well-produced and classy House banger. Also featuring on the record is American R&B, Gospel vocalist Ann Nesby, formerly the lead vocalist of the Sounds of Blackness ensemble who brings her powerful vocals to the forefront, elevating this release to anthemic status.

Last but not least, Hungarian duo Muzzaik return to the label with StadiumX on their collab track ‘Echoes’. Together, Muzzaik and StadiumX bring their signature sound to Toolroom with ‘Echoes’, a record that’ll command any dance floor it’s dropped on. Featuring a toughened-up groove, rolling bass line, and chopped vocal cuts mixed with just the right amount of edge.

Met trots presenteren Rosa Ana, Nosa en Soulution het album “GOLDEN HOUR”. Het album telt een zevental tracks, waarvan er geen één onder de drieëneenhalve minuut komt. Waardoor je volwaardige tracks kunt verwachten. Het is een bijzonder muzikaal project met kwetsbare onderwerpen die de drie bezig gebben gehouden. Producer Soulution heeft letterlijk alles uit de kast getrokken om zijn gevestigde sound (als vaste producer van Fat Windjacks en zijn internationale projecten met onder andere Edo G, Talib Kweli, Bahamadia enzovoort) te ontwikkelen.

J Hus is back with his highly anticipated third album ‘Beautiful And Brutal Yard’, preceded by the raucous street track ‘It’s Crazy’ which charted Top 15 and ‘Who Told You’ (featuring Drake) which debuted at #2 with the 3rd highest UK week 1 singles sales of the year and Hus’ highest single chart to date.

‘B.A.B.Y.’ is the follow-up to his chart-topping album ‘Big Conspiracy’ which earned him the Best Male Award at the Brits and his Top 10 platinum debut ‘Common Sense’ which won an NME award and was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize and Best Album at the Brits.

Fans have come to expect a range of influences and musical styles from Hus’ albums and they will not be disappointed. Across ‘B.A.B.Y’ Hus incorporates elements of afrobeats, drill, R&B and bashment, all delivered in his inimitable lyrical style. The album includes features from Drake, Burna Boy, Jorja Smith, Popcaan and Naira Marley as well as from UK up and comers CB, Villz and Boss Belly.

Having not played his own live shows since 2017 J Hus is announcing a UK Arena tour on Thursday 29th June.

Water Machine is an office romance between Hando Morice (they/them), Flore de Hoog (she/her), Jimmy Gage (he/him) and Goda Ilgauskaitė (she/her). An unassuming supergroup formed out of Glasgow institutions including Goth GF, Passion Pusher, Brenda and Soursob, their sound careens between punk, country and alt-rock underpinned by the unique quality they call “Raw Liquid Power”.
Following last year’s self-titled demo tape on Gold Mold Records, and fresh off of shows with the likes of Holiday Ghosts, The Cool Greenhouse and The Orielles, as well as a rollicking Viagra Boys afterparty, the four-piece will release their highly-anticipated first studio effort ‘Raw Liquid Power’ on Upset The Rhythm on August 4th.
The EP opens with a menacing, modulating synth melody. Gage’s guitar enters with a mighty bend before breaking into the chugging rhythm of ‘Water Machine Pt. 2’. This timely reminder to refill your water bottle - “don’t be late, hydrate!” less a wellness mantra than a threat - builds to a spacey outro with flashes of the art-punk weirdness of Suburban Lawns. ‘Stilettos’ marches on indignantly with a spiky riff punctuated by Ilgauskaitė’s cowbells. Staccato talk-singing tells a playful tale of stray cats following you home, but belies a darker subtext as the breakdown gives way to paranoid duelling guitars evoking The Fire Engines.


The anti-anthem ‘At the Drive In’ skewers joyless DIY crowds, reminiscent of much-missed Glasgow punks Breakfast Muff. Water Machine’s irrepressible sincerity can’t help but shine through in the final moments though, as jibes about “late night trade potential” give way to plaintive vocal harmonies. Morice tears public transport a new one on closer ‘Bussy’, a First Bus diss track bemoaning precarious employment amidst crumbling infrastructure. “That’s why I’m not on time!” they roar over de Hoog’s frantic, pounding bass, bringing the record to a skidding, screeching halt.

Sounds Of The Universe | The 12" Singles, a deluxe collector's
edition box set, contains seven 12" vinyl discs presenting
singles--including Wrong, Peace, the double A-side Fragile
Tension/Hole To Feed--alongside B-sides, remixes, dub
versions and other recordings contemporaneous to Depeche
Mode's 12th studio album, Sounds Of The Universe, originally
released by Mute Records in April 2009.
Sounds Of The Universe | The 12" Singles offers a full range of
ear-grabbing mixes--radio, club, dub and more--of Depeche
Mode originals with three discs (Discs Two, Four and Seven)
newly compiled for this collection, bringing together B-sides
and mixes first released across CD and maxi-singles
contemporaneous to the album's release.
When it came time to record the Sounds Of The Universe
album, DM's classic core (Dave Gahan, Martin Gore, Andrew
Fletcher) returned to the studio to make their second album
with producer Ben Hillier, whose intuitive contributions to
their previous studio album, 2005's Playing The Angel, had
created new sonic possibilities for the band expanding
Depeche Mode's vision and repertoire while continuing their
tradition of issuing monumental 12“ singles.

Nomada Records proudly welcomes Detroit's legendary House and Techno producer Gari Romalis with "Detroit Hustle EP"; a four track release where we can enjoy the distrinctive and slinky Deep House and Techno energy that characterizes Gari Romalis' sound.

The A-side starts with "I'm Wonder Luc" a heavy weight opener where Gari catches us with punchy drums, warm pads, infectious sub basslines, catchy vocal samples and deep piano stabs. The following track is called "Floor Anthem (Ghost Mix)"; a nostalgic deep house beauty with Lush chords, chunky beats and catchy melodies.

On the flip Gari goes more deeper and techy with "Float On"; the hypnotic arp and chrod progression, the strong bassline and punchy drums make the perfect track to destroy dancegloors this summer. The B-side closses with the sey deep house sampled track called "Detroit After Dark".

Italian DJ and producer Sourires (aka Andrea Antognoli) joins the Samosa stable for his debut with an explosive release that will take your breath away.

The EP kicks off with the title track, Pampasosa - a furiously groovy number which gets up right in your face from the get-go. Like an unstoppable train, Pampasosa hurtles along at 127bpm with its horns blaring and furnace blazing. De Gama is on the Re-Groove here, expertly applying the bells and whistles to this all powerful locomotive stomper.

A2 brings us ‘Liam’, which sounds like a track very close to Sourires heart. Think of glorious evening sunshine after the rain for this emotionally charged piece of music. The bass has you hypnotised, the strings make you soar and the vocal haunts your dreams. It bares its soul to you and you can’t help but love it for that.

On the B-side, ‘Keep Rolling’ (De Gama Re-Groove) gives no illusions as to what its intentions are. A rolling, bass-driven start builds to filtered vocals and punchy brass - we’re in house territory but it’s so much more than that. A prime-time fist pumper of a tune, this will have dance floors offering their souls to Sourires in exchange for good times.

Finishing off this four tracker is ‘Flavor’ (De Gama Re-Built). At 124bpm, it sneaks past you and taps you on the shoulder. Continuing the house vibe, Sourires brings us a swinging beat accompanied by dreamy vocals and subtle filtered keys. Strings and delicate guitar licks build to a glorious breakdown which reveals itself in full technicolour. Summery, sassy and sexy stuff.

Sourires has deliverdd a modern classic with the Pampasosa EP. This has to be in your record box for the summer - just watch the dance floor go!

Following on from the successes of their first two LPs, "Kalba" and "Small Small", Isaac Birituro & The Rail Abandon return with the "Kontonbili EP". A collection of seven tracks that trace the traditional West African roots of their sound whilst adding their unique touch, largely courtesy of Isaac's xylophone, Sonny Johns' folky embellishments and the vocal prowess of powerful Ghanaian songstress Wiyaala.

The lead single "Hado Deeli" roughly translates to "My Rival" and is a vibrant discussion between two rivals, one of whom is always making a fuss about anything and everything, even when things are all good! "Gargar", with its collaboration of xylophone, whistles, Wiyaala's effervescent vocals and relentless groove represents, quite literally, the band's "joining together" for this EP. In contrast, "I Know" sees Sonny Johns takes over lead vocal duties to lament the breakdown of a relationship accompanied by muted horns and Wiyaala's soothing backing vocals. "Nimmbalia" continues in a mellow and reassuring tone before emerging as one of the most uplifting and simultaneously fierce cuts on the EP! The traditional version of "Bawa" - the original take of which can be found on last year's "Small Small" LP - strips things back a little, before culminating in a battle of xylophone, whistles and choir. "Yeri Villa" has a wonderfully laid back, sun drenched feel with some truly beautiful vocal refrains, and finally - only available on the digital version - comes the deeply percussive and trance inducing "Darpeny", rounding off a rather stunning EP from this cross continental outfit.



All tracks feature Ghanaian singer, song-writer, model and actor, Wiyaala. With a strong fanbase in Africa and beyond, "the lioness" made her mark on Wah Wah 45s and BBC 6 Music last year when she featured on the A-listed "Senye", described as "perfection" by Annie Mac and "pure joy!" by Tash LC.





e 05: Bawa (Traditional) feat. Wiyaala

Last summer saw youANDmedelivered his “Diva 2022” mix of "PPPPP" a track that would ignite dancefloors across Ibiza and become one of the smashes of the summer in the process. The label was always certain the record was a hit and the response that followed justified their faith.

The track went on to be championed across the globe by the likes of Ame, Dixon, Matthias Tanzman and Pete Tong (Radio 1) leaving a succession of dancefloors demolished in its wake. Fast forward to 2023 and the Cult brings in a smorgasbord of house music’sfinest to breathe fresh verve into what is rapidly becoming a future house classic.First, comes the unmistakable dancefloor call of the “Diva” mix, with its fierce retro vocal and contagiously looping house sound. Its raw undeniable groove shook dancefloors for a reason the first time around and here it is to do the damage all over again. Next, house music legend Ian Pooley hops on board to serve up a delicious slab of fat analogue deepness.


A rework for the real house heads, it drenches the original vocals in reverb and creates a tough sub-laden groove bound to work deeper floors. House music’s producer of the moment Cinthie delivers a red-hot reinterpretation that ups the bpm count and zones in on the drums. The Berlin-based producer creates a colossal house-breaks crossover that is bound to tear apart dancefloors. Reese subs fill out the lows while organs deliver the original rave flavour and take the track into orbit.


Finally, Tel Aviv’s Yotam Avni turns out a remix that delivers shades of the pure old-school house with piano stabs sitting alongside deep chords before he puts his tougher-edged modern techno stamp onto it. Rhythm Cult is on a roll now returning with one of the most hyped tracks of 2022. This package delivers the goods with fresh remixes for 2023 from some of the best in the industry who are now added to the label's impressive roster.

As it celebrates its 50th anniversary, Bill Withers' Still Bill remains true to its title – and stands as the greatest male-fronted soul album not made by a singer named Marvin, Al, Sam, James, or Ray. Though the saying "keeping it real" did not exist in popular parlance when Withers released his sophomore effort on Sussex Records, no words better capture the music's approach, mindset, and value. Every facet of Still Bill radiates honesty, truth, and emotion.

These characteristics – along with Withers' strong singing, hybrid arrangements, and deceptively simple songwriting – have allowed the album to endure to the point where it sounds as fresh today as in 1972.

After rising into the Top 5 of the Billboard Album charts and attaining gold status within a year of release, Still Bill has long been evaluated not by sales – but according to its merit, spirit, and agelessness. Included by The Guardian on its "1,000 Albums to Hear Before You Die" list (2007) as well as in Tom Moon's 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die book (2008), its contemporary standing as one of history's most venerated soul efforts eclipses the positive reception it enjoyed in the early ‘70s.

Still Bill walks the same hallowed ground as What's Going On, Call Me, Night Beat, and Genius + Soul = Jazz. Like those landmarks, Still Bill plays with a mix of consistency, effortlessness, and complexity that rewards repeat listening and transcends categorization.

In combining four of the era's predominant styles – Philly soul, sweaty funk, Southern-reared blues, acoustic-based folk – and melding them with standout production borrowed from both minimalist affairs and sophisticated singer-songwriter albums, Still Bill occupies a distinct universe.

Its rhythmic fare is equally laidback and invigorating; relaxing and rollicking; eloquent and muscular; soft and tough. Withers' calm, self-assured voice hovers above it all, doubling as a warm blanket that adds comfort and grace to lyrics steeped in maturity, perspective, and compassion.

Withers' balanced outlook on human desires, needs, and situations stem from his own existence as a former blue-collar employee who believed his time as a musician would soon end. That grounding forever separates Withers from other contemporary soul greats – and stamps Still Bill with a conversational nature and egoless approachability.

"I mean look, I'm really a factory worker," said Withers in 1972. "That's a real job." There's that word again: real. The songs on Still Bill are tethered to modesty and actuality, wedded to a belief in simplicity, and connected to universal truths that link us all – independent of our economic or social standing. No track better exemplifies those principles than "Lean on Me," a feel-good paean to brotherhood and community that hit No. 1 on the pop and R&B charts en route to becoming a mainstream staple.

Withers approaches the plainspoken insight on "Lonely Town, Lonely Street" and heartbreaking vulnerability of "I Don't Want You on My Mind" with similar sincerity and straightforwardness. His proclivity for authenticity extends to the record's other big hit: the sexual, funk-laden "Use Me," which reached No. 2 and reflects the singer's everyman persona. It's an identity couched in keeping it real, the very inclination that ultimately led Withers to retire in the mid-'80s rather than bend to industry pressures or risk credibility.

That commitment to truthfulness and realism helps make Still Bill feel as unaffected as the air we breathe. Looking back on "Lean on Me" years later, Withers said it seemed like "something that was there before I got here" – the kind of song that could be 100 or 10 years old, or one we encounter anew 10 years into the future. The same can be said for every note on Still Bill.

Portage Garage Sounds is proud to present the label's first LP, "Capturing Animals" (PGS 017) by Charles Trees. Recorded over a two year period, Capturing Animals preserves the isolation and individual atomization experienced by all over recent years as well as the jubilance of humanity's reconnection.

The 11 track album presents itself as an interconnected work--the listener is guided through the album's narrative and sequential structure effortlessly by Trees' arrangement and showcase of his production and composition talents. The album offerses glimpses of early Detroit techno, flashes of EBM, drips of acid (and full-on doses in "FRQDNK"), stripped-down electro, UK RNB, prominent vocals (as heard in "Stave I" and a Sophie cover), and composed works of live strings.

Capturing Animals is a high point for Trees' and Portage Garage Sounds. The raw talent and dedication is unmistakable. The artist and the label are moving onto higher ground and reaching upwards.

Originally released on Island Records in September 1998, the soundtrack to the box-office smash film, written and directed by Guy Ritchie, quickly became a must-own album, and is frequently cited as one of the best movie soundtracks of all time.

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels redefined the British gangster film and established Guy Ritchie as one of the greatest directing and writing talents of his generation. Using a frenetic mixture of filmic styles, humour, violence, breakdown of the fourth wall, narration, and vast amounts of swearing, it is hard to imagine a time when this film and its influence was not around. It made a star of the-then unknown Jason Statham, and, amazingly, hard man footballer Vinnie Jones, who as Big Chris, had several scene-stealing moments. Taking his cue from Quentin Tarantino, who had been meticulously curating his film soundtracks since the early 90s, Ritchie made the music to his film tell its own story, complete with memorable snatches of dialogue between many of the tracks.

It offers a beautifully eclectic selection of songs from the preceding three decades, plus then-current artists providing some of their best material, such as Hundred Mile High City by Ocean Colour Scene or E-Z Rollers' drum'n'bass masterpiece Walk This Land. Of the heritage tracks, Dusty Springfield sings her sultry take on Spooky; James Brown appears twice with The Boss and The Payback; The Stooges with I Wanna Be Your Dog, and two versions of Pete Wingfield's masterful one-hit-wonder 18 With A Bullet; in its 1975 original and a contemporary cover by Lewis Taylor and Carleen Anderson. And this is only half of it.

Josh Butler joins Kerri Chandler’s Kaoz Theory imprint with the ‘Piranha’ EP, featuring a collaboration with Josh Daniel and two further original compositions.

Northern England’s Josh Butler has been at the forefront of the contemporary house scene over the past decade, racking up releases for the likes of Defected, Rejected, Solid Grooves, Hot Creations, Crosstown Rebels, MÜSE and many more. Here though we see Josh returning to Kerri Chandler’s Kaoz Theory following 2023’s ‘Sunday Club’ with some fresh, dub house leaning material.

Opening the release is ‘Be There’, a collaboration with Josh Daniel, laid out across five and half minutes with dubbed out piano chords, crisp drums, a bouncy bass line and Daniel’s soulful vocal stylings.

A dub mix is offered up to follow, laying focus solely on the groove. On the flip side we have ‘Piranha’ up first, a hazy journey through dubbed out synth swells, airy vocal chants, skippy low-slung percussion and snaking sub bass tones.

‘Chess’ then rounds out the EP, laying down heavily swung minimalistic percussion, fluttering low end pulsations and ethereal atmospheric textures to create a subtly unfurling, cinematic dance floor groove.

DJ Feedback:

Junior Sanchez – Dope freshness!

Dennis Quin – Nice EP, feel the tracks

Lele Sacchi – All good deep rollers

Alexander Maier – Superb deepness in all

Ruff Stuff – Great EP! Love it!

Danny Howells – Loving this, all four tracks totally worth of support

Milos – Amazing EP, great tracks

Chris Brennan – Supremely smooth tunes, lovely lovely

Mr V – Straight fire

Two mavericks, out on the weekend, trying to make it pay...

"Maverick was the word that came to mind when I listened to this music. A slightly wayward independence of spirit and outlook. The word originally referred to an unbranded male calf that had become separated from the herd (because Texan rancher Sam Maverick was so negligent in his branding - ‘if it ain’t branded, it’s a Maverick’). But Sam’s grandson Maury Maverick gave it a different twist in his short but stormy Congressional career as the only liberal member of the Southern Democratic caucus. Maury was so out of step with his own folks that he not only voted in 1937 to make lynching a federal crime, he even addressed the House to condemn the practice as barbaric. His attempt to ban racist mob murder sadly failed, but it’s that refusal to march in step which distinguishes the two ‘mavericks’ who made this record.

Who would attempt to combine cunning ethnological forgery, Scottish folk songs, claw-hammer guitar, untutored horn-tootling, elastically relaxed drumming and garage electronic fuckery? Only Greg and Stefan, high on sea, sunshine and mis-judged micro-dosing – that’s who. ‘Don’t drown’ was offered as practical advice during the self-described ‘Yellow Submarine’ phase of making this record. And while they managed to avoid literally doing so (phew), they sound here like they got pretty ‘deep in’ to an Octopus’s sound world all their own. This surprisingly clear analogue recording has just enough Bikini Bottom grit to ensure traction. The tunes are inviting, and the sonic disruptions are too good-natured and goofy to upset even the most delicate digestion.

The sessions have had a couple of years to marinate, courtesy of some pandemic, and are here offered in that most Archducal of vinyl formats, the double ten inch. What are you waiting for, a side of Crabby Patties? Get your water-wings and dive in (unless you’re tripping)!" - Bruce Russell (The Dead C)


Pumice is the long-running, endlessly inventive project of New Zealand native Stefan Neville (1974), whose shambolic music is equally reminiscent of Kiwi pop groups such as The Clean and Tall Dwarfs as well as the country's experimental noise-rock bands like the Dead C. Largely recorded solo by himself on junky equipment, his songs typically feature blown-out guitars, wheezing chord organs, and vocals disguised by tape hiss and static.

Greg Malcolm (1965) is a guitarist from New Zealand who has played everywhere on the globe and with all most everyone, including Rosy Parlane, Toshimaru Nakamura, Tetuzi Akiyama and Bruce Russell, as well as solo releases on his own label, Corpus Hermeticum, Kraak and Celebrate Psi Phenomenon.

After her first releases on TC80's Sequalog Records and Bobby’s Pleasure Club, B.ai lands with her 3rd solo EP on System Error's sub label, Fresh Tunez. The Chengdu, China based artist has been an integral part of the Chinese Underground years for the past years, playing regularly in the local scene and touring China's small but well connected electronic music underground scene.

With this release consisting of tracks produced over the course of the last 4 years we take a peek into her artistic development and range as a producer with dance floor weapons to more dreamy but driving tracks. A powerful EP showcasing her very own signature sounds.