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With every album project comes a proper remix pack. Marco Bailey has invited some of his most respected colleagues in modern day Techno to come up with an interpretation of two of Temper's
toughest cuts. ''Planet Mad'' is being reworked by Marcel Fengler and Andre Kronert. Fengler's rework is an adventurous take on the original and has a strong emphasis on rhythm.
Without loosing with the original idea, Fengler builds the rhythm section into a wash of bold drums and rich percussion.
Andre Kronert's take on Planet Mad pushes the track's idea into a different direction. Kronert yet again proves to be a craftsman when it comes to textures and builds.
While the recognizable bass sound of the original keeps thumping, atypical bits of FX are added to build on an unusual but very soothing atmosphere.
For the B side, ''Naga'' is being reshaped by Croatian master of electronics ''Petar Dundov'' and Rotterdam based fast riser; Koen Hoets.
Petar Dundov comes up with an esoteric take on ''Naga''. Whilst respecting the form of the original, Dundov goes one notch deeper with his wide array dub elements and feral hat sounds.
Koen Hoets delivers a more demure take on ''naga''. Whilst the rhythm section might not be suitable for all club situations, this is adventurous techno at it's best. Noteworthy fx and soul touching
strings that float throughout.

The second track is here the masterpieace... XP techno mental with a space kick and many creative surroundings sounds

Marco Bailey's 5th full-length album, one that he personally claims to be the best overall representation of his sound. With seventeen tracks comprising almost an hour and a half of music, he has ample room to stretch out and to give listeners an excellent portable version of his potent live show.

By maintaining a consistently high-quality output that does not merely ride the wave of current trends, multi-faceted producer Marco Bailey has managed to survive through decades of mercilessly shifting adjustments to popular taste in dance music. From his beginnings in the late '80s spinning eclectic sets comprised of everything from punk to old school hip-hop, to his present interest in pure unadulterated techno, the Belgium-based DJ and producer has won over audiences with his keen knowledge of how to squeeze the greatest physical and emotional impact out of a few well-placed elements, along with his instinct for seeking out the most innovative and resilient kindred spirits (his impressive number of professional friendships includes artists as diverse as Markus Suckut, Jonas Kopp, Alex Bau, Edit Select, Speedy J, Steve Rachmad and many more). These combined talents have led to his formation of several different labels: MB Electronics in 2001, the 'limited edition' label MBR in 2013, and lastly the new Materia Music label begun last year. His similiarly named event series, Materia, has also been a truly worldwide 'state of the art' summit for advanced techno artists.



The full-length personal releases by Marco Bailey, which stretch back to his mid-'90s period as a trance producer, have been gracefully arcing and anthemic affairs composed of individual tracks that follow that same blueprint. He is now about to drop his 5th full-length album overall, one that he personally claims to be the best overall representation of his sound. With seventeen tracks comprising almost an hour and a half of music, he has ample room to stretch out and to give listeners an excellent portable version of his potent live show. Of course, an epic running time alone is not the marker of a great audio experience, but an epic running time in which one loses track of time completely is - Bailey accomplishes this feat by never rushing the payoff; by organically building up each track until listeners are fully immersed in his alternate universe.



This skill can be heard on banging, sweat-saturated tracks like 'Ash', 'Genetix' and 'Hasai,' but also on comparitively gentle pieces like 'Klauth' (which straddles the line between disciplined electro and something more dreamlike and weightless), or the blissed out 'Suoh,' which feels like a fresh snowfall in audio form. Low-key cuts like 'Rex,' driven by echo FX and other windswept sounds, form natural counterparts to busier tracks like 'Ruth,' with its spring-loaded sequencer attacks, or 'Reboot That Device,' which is ingeniously driven by a psychedelic organ whose sound evolves with various filter settings. Minimalist vocals are occasionally injected into the mix - i.e. on the 'The Darkness' - to impart a subtle message of constant, ongoing expansion into unexplored galaxies without and within. It's as good a definition of the artist's musical mission as any.

Nasty Temper Records comes up with a dub and groovy 4 tracker by Argentinian duo Alchemyst, including Arnaud Le Texier Remix.

Linval Thompson is one of the great roots vocalists that ruled the dancehalls of Jamaica in the mid 1970’s. His distinctive vocal style and roots lyrics, that spoke of the struggles that faced the Rastas, hit a chord with the people of Jamaica, and provided a string of hits for him in the dancehalls. This in turn, would set a tone that he carried on through his musical career and future production work. Linval Thompson (b.1959, Kingston, Jamaica) was actually raised in Queens, New York. He cut his first record there at the age of 16 ‘No Other Woman’ with future Third World singer Bunny Ruggs. He also cut a couple of tracks for a US producer E Martin ‘’Jah Jah Deh’and ‘Weeping and Wailing’. In 1974 he returned to Jamaica and cut ‘Mama Say’ and a version of D Brown’s ‘Westbound Train’ for producer K Hobson which got Thompson noticed by producer Phil Pratt. Pratt took him to Lee Perry’s Black Ark studio’s where he cut ‘Kung Fu Man’. Thompson’s friendship with fellow singer Johnny Clarke led to a meeting with producer Bunny Lee. His first track cut for Lee was ‘Don’t Cut Off Your Dreadlocks’ and it became a big hit in Jamaica. Bunny Lee was the producer of the moment and Linval added to his long list of hit singles with ‘A Big Big Girl’, ‘Cool Down Your Temper’, ‘Ride On Dreadlocks’ and the title of this compilation ‘Jah Jah Is The Conqueror’. He seemed to hit a musical height working for Bunny Lee (who as he has done with many of his singers) encouraged Linval into production work himself. Which has led to another chapter in Linval’s story. Working with an array of artists including, Freddie McGregor, Johnny Osbourne, Barry Brown, Rod Taylor and many more. But it is his singing career that we focus on here and that great period in reggaes history the mid 1970’s where Linval delivered a string of classic hits that we have compiled for you here. Hope you enjoy the set.

brique rouge is celebrating 5 years of great existence

The mighty U Roy is the originator, the man who put the DJ phenomenon on the map and made it an artform. From Kingston Jamaica to the corners of all the Dancefloors, Clubs and Sound Systems across the world. U Roy (B. Ewart Beckford, 1942, Kingston, Jamaica) began his musical career spinning records for Doctor Dickies Sound System way back in 1961. The mid sixties saw him working for Sir George The Atomic before moving in 1967 to the man who best shaped his sound King Tubby on his Home Town HI - FI. Tubbys work in the dub field, dropping out vocals on his versions for the Sound Systems allowed U Roy to voice over these spaces adding to the excitment of the Dance!!!

U Roy moved into the recording arena firstly cutting two disc's for Producer Lee Perry 'Earths Rightful Ruler' and 'OK Corral' and then following this with 'Dynamic Fashion Way' and 'Riot' for Producer Keith Hudson. Producer Duke Reid seeing the protential in this new found form brought U Roy to his Treasure Isle Studios to voice over his back catalogue of Rocksteady Hits. His first three releases for Duke Reid 'Wake The Town', 'Rule The Nation' and 'Wear You To The Ball' held the Top 3 positions for 12 weeks in early 1970's.

We have compiled some of U Roy's best loved cuts from his mid 70's period when all were still looking at him for guidence.  The opening cut Call On Me sees him working over Delroy Wilson's 'Got To Be There'.  You Never Get Away gets U Roy answering Delroy Wison's 'Keep On Rocking'. Johnny Clarke's 'Time Gonna Tell' with rootsy bassline turns into Every Knee Shall Bow. Cornell Campbell the Gorgon himself gets his 'Check Mr Morgon' turned into Gorgon Wise. Johnny Clarke's Hold On gets reworked. Jeff Barnes 'Blowing In The Wind' tuned into Number 1 and alongside King of The Road which sees Lennox Brown blow his saxophone over the instrumental 'In The Swing of Things', was one of U Roys first releases. Linval Thompson's 'Let Jah Arise' is versioned to Joyful Locks. I Originate which lends us to the title of this compilation, says it as it is, a classic built over Dave Barker's 'Shocks of Mighty'. Linval Thompson again provides the backbone with his Cool Down Your Temper cut for U Roys version. The mighty Burning Spear's Creation Rebel although providing our next track, it is Johnny Clarke's version that gets worked over. Leo Graham's 'Birds of A Feather' turns into Stick Together. Soul Syndicates instrumental 'Goliath' grows into Riot. A big hit for Max Romeo Wet Dream sounds great under U Roy's new rendition.

Two extra tracks for the CD release of this album sees the great voice of Slim Smith on his 'Let's Stick Together' becomes ‘Ain’t To Proud To Beg’ and Cornell Campbell's 'Stand Firm' works with
U Roy to sign us off with ‘I Shall Not Remove’.  A fine collection i hope you agree to the Daddy of all DJ's who in his own words ''I Originate, so you must appreciate, while the others got to imitate'' says it all really……

Front Left represents a very special corner in a very special spot on this planet. Every week the front left people gather together to celebrate music.

Music is what brings us together.

This label brings the productions of the front left people to the world.

Bunny 'Striker' Lee's standing in the Jamaican recording business has remained unassailable for over four decades.Known by many aliases including 'Gorgon'.
The legend of the Gorgon originated in Greek mythology some three thousand years ago and has become a common image in art, literature and in Jamaica...Music.
The name actually derives from the ancient Greek word gorgos which means 'dreadful' ,appropriate when one considers that the avalanche of Gorgon inspired records came as a direct result of the influence of the Rastafarian movement on the Jamaican musical mainstream and the dread locked hair of the Rasta brethren was likened to that of the Gorgon sisters.
''About her shoulders she flung the tasselled aegis, fraught with terror...and therein is the head of the dread monster, the gorgon, dread,awful....'' Homer

Palms Trax returns to production with his first release since 2019. The first single off his upcoming 2 track EP 'Soft Trance, Hard Gossip' is a journey through bold basslines, ear tingling acid lines and hopeful synth lines. It feels measured in its temperament for a listen on the bus home whilst punchy enough to earn its place across festival and club sets this summer. The title track Keys To A Printed Garden captures him at his best, moving deeper into a lush, melodic setting that stretches beyond the dancefloor while never fully leaving it behind. The track is built around warm deep house grooves, hazy nu groove textures and subtle IDM notes. The record unravels with a dreamlike smoothness. Swirling synth work, jazz-inspired saxophone lines and soft lo-fi textures give the record an immersive, almost weightless quality, while moments of glitch and ambient drift push it into more experimental territory. Even at its most reflective, steady percussion and rolling grooves maintain a subtle club-rooted pulse, balancing emotional depth, introspection and atmosphere with movement, rhythm and understated precision.

Armoonia is the work of Armooniaman, also known as Lele DJ, together with Mattia Fabbri. It sits between tech house and acid house, and it keeps everything smooth. The grooves are easy and fine, nothing pushes hard, everything rolls. Travel at 6 am and Botta open the first side, Bass again and Temperament follow on the second. The record moves from tech house toward acid house without breaking its flow. On a floor that means a steady, groovin line that lets the room settle in rather than forcing it. Four tracks, one mood, and a smooth way to keep a night moving.

With his last three records all landing within a calendar year (2024-25), enigmatic Swedish producer Civilistjävel! (aka Tomas Bodén) is on a hot streak of releases, his singular vision increasingly ambitious and expansive. There are few artists working at this level so consistently right now, reinventing, revising and continually developing their language. Following on from 2025’s radically re-worked ‘Versions’ (of Mayssa Jallad’s ‘Marjaa…’), Bodén returns to break further fresh ground with his new album, ‘Älvgång’. Featuring contributions from Soccer Committee, Carrier and guest (aka Jabu’s Jasmine Butt), ‘Älvgång’ foregrounds a more brittle and insistent rhythm-based sound, whilst comprising his most broad-ranging collection of material to date.


‘Älvgång’ grew out of a series of sketches made from late ‘24 and throughout the whole of ‘25 at Stockholm’s renowned EMS Studios, which gave Boden free rein to its extensive collection of vintage analogue equipment and rare modular synthesizers such as the Serge and Buchla systems. As a loose framework of tracks began to take shape, so did a reflection of sorts, on family and foundations, underpinned or influenced by sounds that drifted into Tomas consciousness around this time - ancient Swedish pastoral music, Georgian lithurgical chants, gongs, chimes. An idea settled into place, a dedication to his Grandfather, as the earlier release Fyra Platser (tr. ‘Four Places’) was to his Grandmother. Älvgång is grounded with the sense of time and place of an old family photograph, with the tracks over each side bearing one of two names that are more or less the same location - Strinne was the old name for a this loose collection of villages. These days it is more commonly known as Bjärtrå. Metaphorically speaking, the river runs through both.


Civilistjävel! conjures so many adjectives and descriptors, ‘glacial’ and ‘ambient’ frequently among them - but while not altogether untrue, such terms belie the tension and drama so often present in Tomas’ music. Listening to ‘Älvgång’ is not a passive experience. The eight tracks here feel like a patchwork of memories that bathe in the same ethereal, otherworldly glow of Tarkovsky’s polaroids’.


The machine pulses that dominate this landscape are reigned in and tempered by a human hand; lithe, untethered coils, breathing in and out. ‘Strinne Ett’ sets out with purpose, sensing awe and wonder through the murk, but as the final tone unfurls like a question mark, another chapter begins, unfolding/building like a Tarjei Vesaas novel. These lyrical, abstract miniatures combine to reveal a wider context, fragile humanity standing alone against nature.


Guest appearances on Civilistjävel! records have become a regular occurrence (including recent collaborations with Mayssa Jallad, Laila Sakini, Cucina Povera, Thomas Bush, Eldon + Withdrawn), but are used sparingly and with increasing precision. On ‘Strinne Tre’ Mariska Baars’ (Soccer Committee) voice feels like a balm, a clearing. But as her simple, three-word incantation drifts further into fog, the meaning changes, and her words seem to curdle. Carrier’s beats widen the parameters on ‘Strinne Fyra’, a skittering promise that builds tension then refuses to release it; all false starts, Photek gongs, and trinkling modulars. Jabu’s Jasmine Butt pulls all the threads together for the final track, Thomas Tallis’ ghost walking over offset machine impulses, that work against their own symmetry.


Side two begins inquisitively, scanning bleached, alien surroundings, its sparse pads recalling Aphex Twin’s ‘Selected Ambient works Vol 2’. 'Bjärtrå Två’ picks up the baton from ' Strinne Fyra’ with a ruptured Simmons SDS200 analogue drum synth set free from its shackles, the rhythm eventually slotting into the spaces that were hiding in plain sight. What follows seems like an epiphany; ‘Bjärtrå Tre’ is achingly beautiful, a euphoric, winding ascent that leads to devotional plainsong. ‘Bjärtrå Fyra‘s final unheralded shift feels both tragic and haunting.

IGNEA explores nostalgia on their upcoming album, Monumental (October 23, 2026, via Napalm Records). The Ukrainian four-piece navigates through unique facets of the past—from the grandeur and ambition of Cold War space dreams to the melancholy of urban decay and forgotten modernist structures, all the way to the emotional weight of personal and collective memory. All lyrics on Monumental were written by vocalist Helle Bohdanova. Mixing and mastering were handled by Grammy Award-nominated producer Jacob Hansen (DELAIN, Amaranthe, Volbeat, Amon Amarth, Arch Enemy, and more). Monumental is IGNEA’s second full-length that was written during the full-scale war in Ukraine. The recording process mostly took place in the winter of 2025-2026, during icy temperatures and long power outages in Kyiv.

1957 was an important year in the career of John Coltrane, one of the jazz world’s most influential and dynamic innovators. By the age of 31 the tenor saxophonist had already made an impact with a powerful, yet still evolving style. While more excitement lay ahead Coltrane, the first record made under his own leadership, shows a confident, commanding presence tempered with a willingness to work as a team player with his fellow musicians. The result is an album that embraces all the virtues of the hard bop school of modern jazz. Cleverly wrought arrangements, hypnotic themes, intense moods and creative soloing are underpinned by the time-honoured pulse of swing, always a satisfying staple ingredient.

“Cue Blue”, the latest and fifth studio recording from Australian down under, gritty jazzfunk grooves ensemble Kerbside Collection sees a return to a more classic, stripped back, meat-and-potatoes, home-cooked, quartet formation sound of guitar, bass, drums and brass.


A sound formed on previous, recent recordings (incl. Golden Rules compilation tune “Fleet Streak” etc), seemingly harking back to the approach of the group’s first recordings (2013’s “Mind The Curb”, “Night in Tunisia” etc), whilst embodying inspirations from more ‘true school’, classic, bluesy New Orleans funk and soul groove flavours à la early Meters, Boogaloo Joe Jones, Melvin Sparks, Billy Butler etc. But it’s not all completely ‘retro’ and ‘looking back’, the album definitely taps into some of the current exponents and leaders of the contemporary deep funk sound – The Greyboy Allstars, Eddie Roberts, The New Mastersounds, The Mighty Mocambos, Breakestra and fellow Aussie funksters Cookin’ on 3 Burners, Lance Ferguson and The Bamboos etc.


The lead single and first tune “Shivers” gives us a clear, picture and definitive opening statement to the record with all the characteristics you’ve come to expect from the Kerbside gritty jazzfunk sound: silky guitar line phrasing, rubbery bass-lines, tight crusty drum breaks, and sweet brass arrangements. Then it’s straight into a frenetic, jangly, mod-funk workout complete with Northern Soul & Motown inflections in the surging B sections. “City Park Avenue” conjures up classic New Orleans funk flavours with its strutting brass, slinky guitar and swinging tambourine groove. There’s classic, b-boy funk territory covered in “Coffee Grinder” (a breakdance move) with its razor-sharp drum break groove and chunky riff complete with sizzling trombone solo. Before the pace of the record changes up with the finger-clicken’, hand-clappin’ boogaloo, reminiscent of early 60s Harlem x Puerto Rican Bronx sounds (à la Willie Bobo, Mongo Santamaria, Ray Barretto) loaded with a scintillating baritone sax solo from long standing part of the collection ‘Papa Joe’ Roberts.


“Sittin’ On The Porch” cools the temperature down even more, delving into slight Southern Louisiana Delta blues territory, while suggesting some of the hot and muggy atmosphere and imagery of their home town location in suburban Brisbane Australia, complete with kooky Casio percussion representing familiar yard sounds such as sprinklers (spinning lawn watering devices) and ‘mozzies’ (mosquitos), passing cars indicated by trombone, and guitarist TC Tyler, channelling some bluesy John Lee Hooker, R.L. Burnside guitar flavours - you can almost feel the humidity on your skin.


Then it’s time for a stroll down memory lane, with their version of a People Under The Stairs hip hop classic “San Francisco Knights”, bringing the tune full circle back into band mode, also with another tasty guitar solo. The album then enters its final stages with a mesmerising, soulful, jazz ballad “Shimmer”, complete with Elliott Parker’s sultry upright double bass, and trombone taking the melody for a gentle stroll down the street. The album finally closes and arrives at its title “Cue Blue”, a classic blue-eyed soul number (penned by bassist Parker), emitting the scent of true school, vintage R&B and soul (à la Donny Hathaway, Marvin Gaye).


An album of funky arrangements and refined compositions, mostly penned by recent new-ish member, guitarist Tyler (for fans of Tower of Power & John Scofield guitar playing) taking the ensemble through their paces with all the usual characteristics of the Kerbside sound, on top a groove that will take you round-the-block-and-back :P Gritty jazzfunk and rustic soul grooves with definite bluesy overtones, some classic 60s, 70s flourishes and down-home funk flavours.

Mysticisms’ explores the previously unknown Dub House, Digidub and electronic Street Soul of Manchester émigré Andrew Fitzgerald aka Atone on a 6 track EP, shape shifting from dark basements to summer fields, the music is wide-screen dreams, mixing psychedelic temperaments with ecstatic memories.

Dub Dats is a compendium of a life around or making music, beats, dubs; menageries of sound that encompass a love of reggae mixed with the influences of youth. Growing up in Thatcher’s then declining Manchester housing estates, Fitzgerald found escape first as a young roadie, just aged 15, sorting ‘cigarettes and alcohol’ for visiting bands. Rubbing shoulders with the likes of The Buzzcocks, Ian Dury and The Slits, was a great way to learn the ropes, while avoiding becoming another juvenile delinquent.

A love of Bowie, Kraftwerk, Motown, film scores and the emerging electronic and industrial bands like Throbbing Gristle led to a first studio, featuring the unique and faithful DR-55 Dr. Rhythm, soon followed by Sequential Circuits Pro One, Juno 60, Roland 303 (x 2), Roland 808 and Space Echo.

Working on music solidly, a release finally appearing on Robs Records, before losing all the equipment in a robbery. Manchester was shifting, gangs and “Gunchester” meant it was time to move on and when ‘an out’ appeared, Fitzgerald was landing in Sydney and settling into a new life.

Hooking up with Ali Omar, who he’d met while doing a stint in Brixton, London; the two worked solidly on music, gigging continuously, hanging with the likes Severed Heads and living a good life of that post acid-house party era. The loss of Ali to cancer, still young, hit hard and period “quite liked the madness” ensued. Rehab and starting again, Atone has been gaining some interest.

With 2 EPs of early works recently released on Tonal Oceans, Dub Dats looks deeper, with the dubbed house grooves of title cut, Dats and, the intriguingly named, Somewhere In France With Eric Random. Complimented by the electronic dub of Keep On, the soulful, slow breaks torch song, I Be There, the sample heavy Sound Of Soul and closing, trippy Unlike You, this is a multi-genre producer of considerable capability and talents.

Finally getting his due, Dub Dats perfectly fits the Dubplate Series, broadening its soundscape, while also standing out as its own, sonic release.

Atone the mystery.

Tony Price returns with NAME?, a new LP on his Maximum Exposure label delivering 10 tracks of red-hot house music realness.

Following two releases in 2025, the brutalist cybernetic jazz reveries of Requiem for the Ontario Science Centre and the ferocious machine funk of Street Theatre, NAME? keeps its crosshairs aimed straight at the dancefloor.

NAME? showcases Tony’s undying affinity for the sound of New York City and New Jersey house: Tony Humphries’ cybernetic gospel dubs, the crude, Todd Terry-style 12-bit hip-hop explosives, the cracking garage swing of early Strictly Rhythm, Mood II Swing and Masters At Work, the psychotic bleep-funk bombast of the Bomb Squad, and the deep, ecstatic machine soul pioneered by the likes of Blaze and the Burrell Brothers.

Produced in his Greektown studio in Toronto using an array of drum machines and samplers, these recordings are pure Tony: rude, crude and elemental. House music stripped down to its core principles and defining primordial textures. No nonsense, no junk, no varnish, no nothing. Just the funk.

John Weldon "J.J." Cale was an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Though he avoided the limelight (being temperamentally averse to celebrity), his influence as a musical artist has been widely acknowledged by artists like Mark Knopfler, Neil Young, and Eric Clapton, who described him as one of the most important artists in the history of rock.

J.J. Cale is considered to be one of the originators of the Tulsa Sound, a loose genre drawing on blues, rockabilly, country, and jazz. Cale unfortunately passed away in 2013, but his legacy lives on. Number 10 is Cale’s 10th album and contains another wonderful and laid back/mellow collection of typical J.J. Cale tunes. "Traces", "Artificial Paradise", "Low Rides" and "Jailer" are considered part of his best 1990s songs.

Number 10 is available as a limited edition of 1000 numbered copies on turquoise vinyl, and includes an insert.

Balaise was the original title of Vers le Nord’s debut album. In French slang, balaise means something in between badass and flamboyant. The word keeps popping up throughout the record, like a teenager’s graffiti scrawled on a bus shelter after a few drinks. Balaise robots. Balaise ghosts lurking in the shadows. Balaise is the barfly who fantasies about becoming a street vigilante. In many ways, Matthieu Pellerin's new solo project is entirely contained within that word: a gigantic piece one man against the world cobbled together, a monument shaped by hand using layers of synthesizers sounding like cathedral organs cast in concrete.


Stitching this type of freak together took time. Five years, or what sounds like forever in an age obsessed with career trajectories and content strategies. But for Matthieu Pellerin, it was never about career plans or taking the easy road. Or he would have dug up the rotting corpse of Oi Boys, his now-defunct band, whose brief existence and explosive popularity once united sullen skinheads, gothic street punks, and old school punks alike. Or he would have fully embraced the Metz scene, now that the Great International Triple Alliance of the East (Noir Boy George, The Dreams, The Feeling Of Love...) and rising solo acts like Tune Zitoune, Josy Bazar, Fantôme Josepha, and Tony Gerrano have somehow transformed this sprawling open-air heroin camp into an unlikely capital of cool. But Vers le Nord doesn't point East, and it is as a lone rider that Matthieu Pellerin can fully reveal his songwriting scope.


With Le Seul Élément, his first solo project, the Lorraine native had already shown a rare gift for crafting worlds. Picture vast sonic masses stretching like industrial zones, noise-filled fog pierced by pale neon lights and landscapes caught somewhere between the gnarliest dive bar and a doomsday bunker. And slipping through the soul-crushing slowness and fractured blackened atmospheres, one could perceive a throwback to his years plotting in black metal-tinged Loth and Bishop.

Vers le Nord populates those landscapes that once were rough sketches. Damaged characters reign supreme, with a plethora of exquisite mutts brought to life, rather than outcasts committed to the cause. Where Nuits Blanches —his new supergroup featuring members of Rixe, Lion's Law, Headbussa and La Femme— pulls no punches with raw confessions, Pellerin switches gear for tales of robot apocalypses, vagrants and fam-seeking school shooters, delivered with William Sheller-esque rhymes and striking images. Yet even within fiction, he manages to create something deeply intimate, almost defining, showing very little effort: he is a natural. All in all, à l’aise (at ease). Songs resonate deeply with the listener, perhaps because of Pellerin’s odd way or always addressing someone without ever really naming them, a floating, obsessive and inescapable “you” calling us out.


Despite all of the darkness, Vers le Nord stirs deep emotions. There is something of Type O Negative or Anna von Hausswolff in its constant collision of the ludicrous and the epic gothic, its bleak romanticism that never tells a sordid tale. While the vocals remain rooted in a distinctly French punk lineage—think No Class, La Souris Déglinguée and OG Bérurier Noir—the reactor core is hidden somewhere else. Oneohtrix Point Never feels like a closer relative with his ultra-emotional music made of cold synths and disembodied anthems, swallowing and regurgitating forty years of icy, contemplative new wave across ten songs. It comes as no surprise that Lila Ehjä and Aimable, two rising specialists in lowering the temperature below seasonal norms, appear on “Enterrez-moi bordel” (“Bury Me, for fuck's sake”), a grandiose, spectral and magnificently arrogant finale. And in the end, Vers le Nord starts where the original idea was hiding all along: somewhere amid the ruins, definitely balaise and yet somehow, completely à l'aise.

Originally released on Flying Nun in 1983, Fall In A Hole is a double LP of an especially incendiary Fall show at Mainstreet Cabaret in Auckland, NZ in August 1982. The second of a two-night stand, this would be the band's final concert of its successful first tour of Australia and New Zealand. Recorded by longtime Flying Nun associate Chris Knox – who also made the striking cover artwork – Fall In A Hole follows the release of earlier live albums Totale's Turns and A Part of America Therein, 1981.

Besides capturing The Fall onstage during one of its most feral and exhilarating periods, Fall In A Hole is historically significant for several reasons. It heralds the end of Marc Riley's tenure with the band, an era considered by many Fall fans to be the group's peak, and showcases the two-drummer lineup heard on 1982's Hex Enduction Hour, with both Paul Hanley and Karl Burns sharing drumkit duties onstage. With Riley and Craig Scanlon on dual guitars and Stephen Hanley on bass, The Fall was stepping out in its final iteration with a majority of personnel rooted in their late '70s lineup.

The setlist is peppered with a mix of singles and album tracks old and new – including several that had yet to be released. Rarities like "Fantastic Life," "Backdrop" and "Solicitor In Studio" are given epic, feedback-drenched airings, while fan favorites like "Hip Priest," "Prole Art Threat" and "The Classical" radiate with lively, raucous energy.

Superior Viaduct's edition is the first time that Fall In A Hole has been reissued on vinyl. Includes liner notes by Roy Montgomery. Digital transfers made from analogue master tapes in the Flying Nun Collection and Chris Knox Collection held at the Alexander Turnbull Library (National Library of New Zealand).

2026 Repress

Originally a massive hit from D.A.V.E. The Drummer and The Geezer on Cluster, 'Mosquito's Tweeter gets an up to date dark techno mix from new school scene leader A.P.
A.P returns to one of most loved tracks which originally appeared on Cluster 80 with a tough energised remix.

Ruf Kutz reaches release twenty-two with something close to heart...

Mike Kee is a face from the early days - red-lit rooms of the Bodega mushroom squat parties in Sydney. This is a second release for Mike Kee on Ruf Kutz since 'Seeing Crystals' on RK2 in 2010.
Recorded in the rainforests of Bundjalung Country (northern NSW, Australia). Making good use of a Fender Rhodes and a JX-8P synthesiser.

WHITE CLOUD PLACE is a destination that doesn't exist. Glimpsed once on a street sign, filed away in the imagination and allowed to bloom into an imagined geography of warmth and weightlessness.
The music is lush dream house that elicits euphoria out of the speakers and into the body. Mike Kee has been chasing this feeling across his music and here it lands cleanly.

Flip the record and the temperature ratchets up. BANANA MOON is one for the dancers - shuffling congas push the pace while Rhodes chords and those big analog synth strings hold the whole thing aloft.

Where the A-side invites you to float, Banana Moon keeps it pitched up and jazzy.

The fourth release on Samurai Music sublabel SAIBAI comes from Spanish techno mainstay Reeko. True to his long-standing reputation for hypnotic sonics and rhythmic precision, Juan Rico builds on a recent run of activity on Samurai to offer up a densely packed, evocative pair of 160/170 BPM soundscapes. In keeping with the spirit of previous SAIBAI releases, Rico emphasises exploration on both sides of this new record as he draws out continually morphing textures that land between melodic expression and percussive impact. It's instantly clear there's a free tekno undercurrent buried beneath 'Gathering 1' that defines the energy of this latest transmission. The difference is how Rico wields that energy, artfully submerging the kick drum propulsion and letting three-dimensional sonic sculpture beat a path towards the dance. Layers of arrhythmic delay ripples loosen the valve, but there's a constant pressure pushing at the edges of the production from start to finish. There's a more immediate urgency to the mixing of the rhythmic elements on 'Gathering 2' as Rico teases a gabba-like intensity tempered by misty clouds and textural sweeps that soften the attack without sacrificing the thumping energy of the track. Measured and meticulous, bristling with micro-details on top of the imposing presence, both 'Gathering's reaffirm Reeko's current hot streak working outside his usual field of focus.

The Temptations Get High on Psychedelic Soul: Cloud Nine Soars with Ambitious Arrangements and Production, Features Standout Vocal Performances and Instrumentation by the Funk Brothers

The Temptations’ Cloud Nine announced that Motown — and “The Sound of Young America” — would never be the same. Influenced by the emergence of cutting-edge rock and pop currents, as well as increasing sociopolitical turmoil, the album broke down barriers between rock, psychedelia, and soul while heralding the arrival of visionary arrangements and production techniques. Bookended by traditional R&B numbers, the 1969 record sent the Temptations in bold new directions and signaled the advent of psychedelic soul.

Sourced from the original master tapes, strictly limited to 3,000 numbered copies, pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing, and housed in a Stoughton gatefold jacket, Mobile Fidelity’s 180g 45PM 2LP set presents Cloud Nine in audiophile sound for the first time on a domestic pressing. This collectible reissue bestows Norman Whitfield’s extraordinary production with the grand-scale dynamics, natural tonality, expansive openness, and low-end weight it deserves. The timbre of each of the five members’ voices is readily identifiable — even within the group harmonies — bestowing a realism never experienced outside the recording studio.

Making its debut on 45RPM, the album further benefits from the wide groove space by playing with greater separation and more realistic presence than prior editions. Everything from the brassiness of the horns to the dry snap of the snare comes across with reference-grade clarity and positioning. And since Motown’s renowned Funk Brothers backing band plays on many of the cuts, you’ll want to savor every note. The imaging, soundstaging, and organic bloom-and-decay of the notes make that possible.

Amid Cloud Nine, the instrumentation and architecture stand out as much as any element. Never before had a Motown album contained such ambitious patterns and complex passages. Seemingly conscientious of the departure from their past methods, the Temptations and Whitfield bunched together the tracks that mark a deep dive into psychedelic territory and counterbalance them with seven sterling soul cuts that dovetail with Motown tradition drenched with heartfelt vocals, swelling strings, and finger-snapping beats.

On the original 33RPM release, traditional Motown soul — laden with heartfelt vocals, swelling strings, and finger-snapping beats — occupies Side Two. These songs reveal an ensemble still very much on top of delivering pristine pop-soul material graced with romantic sweetness, persuasive insistent, and soaring highs. Re-energized after the departure of lead singer David Ruffin, who was fired for a variety of reasons in June 1968, the Temptations seamlessly meld with his replacement, Dennis Edwards, on one melodic gem after another.

The collective tackles five songs co-written by the legendary Motown team of Barrett Strong and Whitfield. Not the least of which are the smooth, shuffling “Why Did She Have to Leave Me (Why Did She Have to Go)” and deceptively simple, horn-spiked “Gonna Keep on Tryin’ till I Win Your Love.” On these tracks, as well as on a lush rendition of the ballad “Love Is a Hurtin’ Thing” and pleading, tender send-up of the Gerry Goffin-Carole King classic “Hey Girl,” Edwards and Paul Williams take turns on the lead with the estimable Eddie Kendricks, Melvin Franklin, and Otis Williams providing backing support.

All five vocalists trade-off leads on the simmering title track, a groundbreaking composition shot through with wah-wah-pedal effects, liquid funk, deep bass lines, Cuban percussion, saturated reverb, and gang choruses. Whitfield mines each member’s natural vocal range with spectacular results, keeps time with cymbals, and channels both the heated temperatures and escapist desires of a society embroiled in war, conflict, and experimental drugs.

Amazingly, the Temptations top themselves on the similarly revealing “Run Away Child, Running Wild.” Nearly 10 minutes in length, the song explodes R&B parameters and harbors a cinematic scope. Urgent pianos, distorted guitars, stripped-down percussion, steamy Hammond organs, minimal bass motifs, five distinct voices narrating the tale of a boy who fled home and now finds himself amid the scary, unforgiving external world: They combine to give the urgent tune a walls-closing-in atmosphere where fear and desperation reign. Bolstered by an extended instrumental section that precedes a climactic return of the singers’ voices, “Run Away Child, Running Wild” equaled the success of the record’s title track, with both reaching No. 6 on the pop charts.

There was nothing in contemporary music like Chris Isaak’s Heart Shaped World when it hit shelves in June 1989. More than three decades later, the singer-songwriter’s third album still sounds unique — and claims a backstory nearly as fascinating as the retro-leaning material and standout performances that propelled it to sales of more than 2.5 million copies. Home to the Top 10 smash “Wicked Game,” the set remains a masterful mood piece that invites you to pour a late-night drink, sit in a dimmed room, and relish Isaak’s elegant albeit raw ruminations on love, relationships, and questionable decisions.

Sourced from the original master tapes, pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing, strictly limited to 3,000 numbered copies, and featuring the bonus track “Diddley Daddy,” Mobile Fidelity's UltraDisc One-Step 180g 45RPM 2LP box set of Heart Shaped World unearths the staggering inner details, saturated tones, and brilliant atmospherics of the crisp production. It brings you up close and personal with Isaak’s spectacular singing — impeccably controlled, tense, brooding, steamy, smoldering, haunted — situated amidst stripped-down backdrops that allow every note to fully bloom and decay.

While Isaak’s ever-steady baritone remains the anchor, the contributions of his trusty backing band, the aptly named Silvertone, come across with just as much cool, command, and realism. The indispensable playing of guitarist James Calvin Wilsey particularly emerges with superb clarity and dimensionality. The character of his 1965 Fender Stratocaster, shivering twang of his spring-coiled fills, and his signature use of reverb, delay, and vibrato seamlessly match Isaak's patient deliveries and the band’s unhurried rhythms. Experienced on UD1S with ultra-black backgrounds and a nearly invisible noise floor, Heart Shaped World is in every regard a demonstration disc.

The premium packaging of this UD1S pressing befits its elevated status. Housed in a deluxe slipcase, it features foil-stamped jackets and faithful-to-the-original graphics. Aurally and visually, this reissue is for discerning listeners who desire to immerse themselves in everything involved with the album, not the least of which is the cover art depicting a lost-in-thought Isaak staring ahead and sitting in what appears to be an efficiency apartment. The image epitomizes the record’s lonesome temperaments and pensive themes.

Of course, if not for director David Lynch hand-picking two cuts from Heart Shaped World for his 1990 film Wild at Heart, the record would’ve probably suffered the same fate as Isaak’s prior efforts and gone unnoticed by the mainstream. Despite receiving raves from outlets such as NME, Chicago Tribune, and Rolling Stone upon its original release, the album stalled in the lower quadrants of the Billboard charts and, after a few weeks, dropped off.

Cue the ear of Lee Chesnut. Then the music director for a large Atlanta radio station, Chesnut heard the instrumental version of “Wicked Game” on Lynch’s soundtrack and started airing the album rendition at all hours of the day. Aided by a sensual video featuring Isaak and supermodel Helena Christensen, the song found its way into the public consciousness by early ‘91 and helped make Isaak a most unlikely mainstream star in an era where his techniques had little to nothing in common with popular tastes.

Despite its vintage vibes and shared DNA with legends such as Roy Orbison, Chet Baker, and Glen Campbell, Heart Shaped World transcends nostalgia, rockabilly, and throwback tropes. For all the melodrama and sadness at hand, Isaak’s gorgeously transparent singing dives deep underneath emotional surfaces. He mines subtleties that indicate his feelings go beyond heartbreak and anguish, and occasionally suggest frustration, menace, and anger. You can hear it in his quivering falsetto, and the slow and methodical ways he allows delicate whispers to break into shadowy phrasing that crosses over to the darker sides of romance and desire.

That approach bolsters the title track, which suggests calm yet moves on ominous currents — its simmering pace and snare-drum snappiness foreshadowing Isaak raising the volume and urgency during the coda. The southwestern-tinged “Wrong to Love You” plays with similar concepts of hesitation, unease, and discord, Isaak careful never to fully erupt and give anything away. His poised deliveries offer a master class in the art of insinuation and hurt on “Nothing’s Changed,” sent up with a wordless backing chorus and crackling guitar lines straight out of a Memphis blues joint.

Heart Shaped World further boosts its merit via its abundant stylistic variations, from the upbeat country-and-western trot of “I’m Not Waiting” and Spanish acoustic shimmer of the jazz-based ballad “Blue Spanish Sky” to the swinging horn-accompanied grooves of “Don’t Make Me Love You” and desert smokiness of the understated “Kings of the Highway.” On the latter, Isaak comes across as resigned and absolute. His singing and pain worm their way into your soul, and echo akin to the way the music prepares to strike when you least expect.

“Trouble going 'round,” Isaak croons right as the album begins. “Trouble going down.” Damn straight.

Ricardo Villalobos runs wild on Mohammad Reza Mortazavi’s Persian tombak hand drum actions, expanding a 4 min kernel of inspiration into 24 minutes of mesmerising polyrhythmic traction. From an original ‘Swamp’’ piece that practically recalls Ricardo’s style of slinky minimal techno sorcery to begin with, the Chilean-German maverick derives a more driving tract of rough hewn rhythmic grit bound to hypnotise ‘floors for the duration. Accentuating the undulating bass and dialling up the volume whilst retaining the frictional grind of the original, Villalobos gets right inside the groove with typically obsessive tekkerz, plucking out additional string
motifs and tempering the flow with signature, taut but sinuous, loosey goosey flex that cross-pollinates cultures and gets right under the skin of the thing.

Ricardo Villalobos (b. 1970, Chile) is a pioneering figure in minimal techno, celebrated for his hypnotic and groovy approach to rhythm. Raised in Germany after his family fled Pinochet’s regime, Villalobos was drawn early to percussion - he began playing congas and bongos at eleven, developing a tactile relationship to rhythm that would later inform his distinctive production style. Immersed in both Latin American folk traditions and the emerging house and techno scenes of late-80s Europe, he began DJing and producing in the early 1990s, quickly achieving cult status within global club culture. Mohammad Reza Mortazavi (b. 1979, Iran) is a virtuoso percussionist known for his groundbreaking work with the tombak and daf, traditional Persian drums that he has radically redefined through new playing techniques. Mortazavi began playing the tombak at the age of six. By nine, he had already outpaced his teacher and won Iran’s national tombak competition - a distinction he would earn six more times. By his early twenties, he was widely regarded as one of the foremost players of the instruments. Since then, his music has continued to evolve, embracing new forms beyond tradition.

Fausto returns to the Carpet family, this time with three tweaked out jams perfect for the Circuits series. Spread across the A-side, the 9-minute ‘Moonland’ evokes its title with driving acid and cosmic Detroit atmospherics. On the B, ‘Nacho’ is a classic mood builder, tempering its own acid lead with expansive bass and a rolling groove. The EP closes with the stepping ‘Nirvana’, perfect for closed-eyes reverie at the afters.

For thirty years, Alden Tyrell has been at the forefront of electronic music. This analogue alchemist has concocted heady grooves that transmute genres: acid, disco, electro, house, italo and techno; no style left unturned. Under his Tyrell Corporation moniker, he returns to the Bordello with a sound forged for dancefloors. Midnight Machines is a warm embrace that melts electro‑disco with star‑gazing synthlines. “Midnight Machines Pt. 1” balances robust melodies and incising snares with soulful undercurrents and joyous breaks. Past energies are re‑channelled. Arpeggiators rumble as beats throb. Beneath it all, there is a greater consideration of the interplay of elements.

This focus pulsates through speaker cones on the needle‑drop of “Love in Decay.” Elated key changes and bright shifts are tempered by bittersweet moments, early‑morning light piercing fresh mists of grey. Tempos rise on the flip with “Midnight Machines Pt. 2.” Sci‑fi‑scored disco lifts ever higher as scaling notes untether themselves from the floor and soar above vibrant rhythms. Coy and alluring, the bright “Romance Obscura” closes the record. Cowbells and bending wavelengths open into an expansive, intoxicating melody where keys search the horizon as arms fold around celestial bodies.

2026 Repress

Quickly building a following as purveyors of some of the very finest edits around, Samosa Records announce the 7th release since their debut just over a year ago.

Back for his 3rd appearance on the label is none other than big boss De Gama, dropping off a truly tropical package with the 'Back 2 Afrika' EP.

Whether he's showcasing the true warmth and joie de vivre of the continent soca-style on 'Tropical Boogie', or setting off into the organ-and-horn-fueled delirium of 'Cosmic Safari', De Gama is on a mission to turn up the temperature.

And with a fresh, remastered edit of the best-selling dancefloor destroyer that is 'AfrikA' on the flip, winter 2018 might just go down in the books as the warmest one on record.

Guy From Downstairs brings a deeply human touch to the machinery with the Brighter EP.
It opens with "No Fun," where a dry, stripped-back rhythm plays hard to get, anchored by an emotive, raw vocal that cuts straight through the tension—it is a smirk with actual soul behind it. Just as that mood settles, the title track cracks the window open, letting in an unpretentious, genuine warmth that completely changes the temperature of the room. "Beat Street" picks up the pace, locking into a tough, street-level stride, before the EP bows out with "Untitled," a hazy piece of 7 AM introspection.
This is a record that doesn't just play; it breathes with you.

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.

Following their 2023 LP Presents, Nathan Nelson's American Cream Band bring the Twin City heat back to Quindi with an album rooted in duality. From the yin and yang party-starting A side and meditative B side to the dual-attack boy-girl vocals, the nature of opposites and equals steer the expansive, artful strain of rock n' roll that spill out of this wholly unique Minnesotan export. For the ever intriguing Quindi, it's a strident step into Spring after the frosty introspection of Roudi Vagou & Läuten der Seele's Taghelle Nacht. While the world burns and injustice prevails, Twin is a celebration of unity and radical expression-all the more urgent against the backdrop of authoritarian overreach and righteous protest that has whipped through Minneapolis in recent times.
Twin continues Nelson's drive at the helm of American Cream Band to draw in a colourful cast of players to feed into his orgiastic sound, meshing the trance-induction of krautrock with the irrepressible funk of the post-punk-new-wave explosion. But principal among the cast of characters and forming a central tenet to the identity of this album is Liz Buhmann, lead vocalist and a formidable, playful foil to Nelson's own Midwestern twang. Around the electric spark between Buhmann and Nelson, a heavy duty ensemble wrangle guitar, bass, sax, a cornucopia of synths and a battery of percussion into all manner of sonic forms.
The double-sided concept manifests throughout Twin. On 'Call Me' Buhmann sings in French to contrast Nelson's English, while the strident strut of the NYC disco groove is offset by an inherent dreaminess that turns the track into a more cosmic kind of dancefloor workout. 'Ethical Vampire' is a spiky cut with a garage rock patina that spirals into a psychedelic, synth-soaked get-down. 'Don't Burn The House Down' is a loose and limber roller that captures Can at their funkiest along with the hypnotic vibe of other such esteemed long format jammers, but American Cream Band boils that energy into a hook-laden art pop sensibility before a gentle, drawn out landing.
Even the more pensive moments on Twin find space for friction. For all its tender, smoky temperament, 'Leda and the Swan' lets the electric piano and guitar fray at the edges and bleed into the red while Mat Heinrich's tumbling drums lurch with pent-up intensity on the one. 'No Funeral Necessary' skirts around the mellow pools of new age but prefers to let liberally doused Tape Echo tweak out Alex Meffert's honeyed sax inflections and Buhmann and Nelson's disparate sermons.
Nelson describes Twin as "an oppositorum coincidentia" - a reference to the mystical Latin concept of the coincidence of opposites that suggests contradictory ideas 'fall together' in a higher reality. Beyond the sound of the album, this idea also manifests in the cover photography by Sho Nikado and the swans on the LP labels by Autumn Garrington. As freewheeling and wide-open as American Cream Band feels, nothing appears by accident. The end result feels like a nourishing whole - rich with substance and nuance, deep enough to be explored and absorbed yet also so brazen and immediate you can't help but feel its surface charms from the first thrusts of 'The Hive Is Pissed' to the last ripples of 'We're Not So Sinister'.

From Wisdom Teeth’s recent compilation nagoyaka na kaze / 和やかな風 (quiet wind)—which cast a spotlight on the Japanese city of Nagoya—emerges “2++”, a new label launched by abentis, who curated the compilation alongside Facta and K-LONE as a central figure in the scene. Conceived as a series introducing facets of Nagoya’s underground electronic music to the world on vinyl, its inaugural release is abentis’ debut album, Dim Grow.

Across the album, intricately designed electronic mallet sounds—created using Ableton Live’s physical-modeling synthesizer—take center stage. Fresh and percussive like marimba or kalimba, yet simultaneously carrying an otherworldly, unreal quality, these tones form the core of the record’s sonic identity. In moments of near-silence, a crystalline resonance poised between glass and metal shimmers with subtle shifts in temperature, giving the album its distinctive texture.

While resonating with the sonic sensibilities of fellow Wisdom Teeth affiliates such as K-LONE, Tristan Arp, and Salamanda, abentis’ uniquely strange palette can be traced back to one of his strongest influences: Haruomi Hosono. In particular, Hosono’s mid-’70s tropical-infused solo albums — Tropical Dandy (1975), Bon Voyage Co. (1976), and Paraiso (1978) — serve as a key reference point. Symbolically reflected in Hosono’s marimba and vocal performance at a 1976 live show in Yokohama Chinatown, the marimba functioned as a central instrument for constructing imagined exotic landscapes inspired by Martin Denny and Hawaiian music.

For abentis—who worked at a local jazz bar before becoming active as a hip-hop beatmaker—the language of “tension chords,” a harmonic vocabulary rooted in jazz and R&B that hovers ambiguously between brightness and darkness, forms a consistent grammar throughout Dim Grow.

Behind the album’s core theme of “mallets + tension chords” lies a broad musical lineage: the harmonic sensibility of Claude Debussy, who anticipated the tensions of jazz; the proto-minimalist spirit of Erik Satie; the marimba-centered structures of Steve Reich; their continuation in Japan through Mkwaju Ensemble (with Midori Takada and production by Joe Hisaishi); and the subsequent branches into post-rock, electronica, and ambient music.

Growing up in Nagoya—an industrial city where creative independence is deeply valued—and being rooted in punk and hip-hop counterculture scenes naturally fostered abentis’ affinity with these predecessors. His practice between genres, combined with an encounter with the highly cross-pollinated musical perspective cultivated around Wisdom Teeth, provided the framework through which his own musical language crystallized. Dim Grow stands as the natural culmination of that journey.

'We Fell In Turn' is the solo debut from Brooklyn-based trombonist, composer, and quartet leader Kalia Vandever. Vandever, who plays with Harry Styles and Japanese Breakfast, “sculpts her trombone’s golden tones into dazzling compositions” (Pitchfork), writing music that tends to “dip you into a feeling or a pattern or a breathing speed, and keep you there” (The New York Times). In 2022, Vandever released Regrowth, an album that “features the ecstatic, brilliant melodies that have become Vandever’s signature sound” (Bandcamp). This spring, Vandever brings contemplative reflection to We Fell in Turn, a brave and understated work from an ascending voice in American jazz.

Recorded over three days in upstate New York, 'We Fell In Turn' is improvisational — a stark palate of solo trombone, voice, effects, and little more. “My solo process has always been heavily rooted in improvisation,” says Vandever. “I wanted the process to feel similar to the way I perform. Lee Meadvin, who engineered and produced the album, had a heavy hand in the creative process as well. He would dictate prompts before I started improvising and those pieces ended up shaping a lot of the imagery that comes up throughout the record.”

Connecting the dots between Jeff Parker’s 'Forfolks', and early releases from Grouper, 'We Fell In Turn' is a study of space and patience, embracing vulnerability in its sparse adornment. At times, the album is reminiscent of Patrick Shiroishi’s 'Hidemi', both in its familial inspiration and solo instrument study, while sharing the ineffable feel of William Basinski’s 'The Disintegration Loops' — the traces of her trombone folding in on themselves in an organic loop. Emotionally generous throughout, Vandever acts as a torchbearer for jazz’s historical yearning for connection.

On 'We Fell in Turn' Vandever draws inspiration from childhood memories — events that shaped her approach to love, community, and partnership, and her maternal homeland of Hawaii. “We were exploring childhood memories, earliest experiences with disappointment and pain, and my Hawaiian roots,” says Vandever. “We Fell In Turn came after I titled the track "We Wept In Turn". Both come from the intangible feeling of waking up from vivid dreams, particularly the experience of falling right before waking up or waking up in tears.”

Through this exploration into her heritage, Vandever also found guidance. “In Hawaiian mythology, ‘aumākua are known as ancestral spiritual guides that manifest in different forms, whether physical or intangible,” says Vandever. “My ‘aumākua visits me in my dreams, usually with a reassuring hug or a reminder of my past. Memories and early experiences seem to escape me, but find their way back in dreams.” And now they’ve found their way into 'We Fell in Turn', Kalia Vandever’s stunning solo debut.

"I think I have never met anybody, with the exception of Brazilian guitarists Baden Powell and Toquinho, as connected to his instrument as Agustín Pereyra Lucena" – Vinicius de Moraes

Far Out continues its exploration into the singular catalogue of Argentine guitarist and songwriter Agustin Pereyra Lucena with a special Record Store Day edition of his most celebrated album Ese Dia Va A Llegar.

Agustín Pereyra Lucena was one of South America’s outstanding guitarists. Hailing from Buenos Aires but obsessed with the music of neighbouring Brazil, Agustin abandoned his architecture studies to pursue music full-time, earning friendship and collaborations with Brazilian music's greatest figures including Vinicius de Moraes, Baden Powell, Toquinho, Dorival Caymmi, Maria Bethania and Chico Buarque.

Originally released in 1975, the album has been better known in some parts of the world as Brasiliana – a title repurposed by Agustín's European record label in the 70s to exoticize the sounds of South America for the continental market. It finds Agustin and band—which includes key collaborators Guillermo Reuter on contrabass, and Carlos Carli on drums and percussion— at their most blissfully laid back. The album features idiosyncratic renditions of classics by Antonio Carlos Jobim, Vinicius de Moraes, João Donato and Agustin’s personal hero and friend Baden Powell, alongside Agustín's own works which ooze with captivating mystical wonder.

The analog warmth of the recording is such that it feels like you’re there in mid-seventies Buenos Aires, on a balmy late night session at Estudios Audión, with a group of phenomenally impressive musicians. The heat generated is offset only by the cool temperament of everyone involved. On the handful of vocal tracks on the album, Agustin’s gentle voice is responded to by the liquid smooth vocals of Laura Hatton, Luis Maria Cosenza and Patricia Scheuer.

Agustin’s unique position in the annals of his continent’s musical history has been lovingly maintained by Agustin’s nephew Jose Luis Pereyra Lucena, who has entrusted Far Out Recordings to preserve and re-release Agustin’s works. The music has been professionally remastered at London’s Metropolis Studios, using multiple copies of well kept original vinyl.

Reissued worldwide for the first time under its original title and cover as Agustin originally intended, Ese Dia Va A Llegar will be presented in a limited edition obi-stripped gatefold replica sleeve.

Mit seinem neuen Doppel-Album "Baroque Colours" präsentiert Martin Stadtfeld eine einzigartige Palette farbenreicher Werke des Barocks. Und das in einer ganz besonderen Form: Für den ersten Teil wählte er 19 wunderbare kleine Originalstücke aus, u.a. von Bach, Rameau oder Händel, aber auch von weniger bekannten Komponisten wie Johann Kuhnau oder Joseph-Nicolas-Pancrace Royer. Für den zweiten Teil hat Stadtfeld einige seiner Lieblingstücke des Barocks ausgewählt und für Klavier neu bearbeitet. So gibt es aus Vivaldis berühmten "Vier Jahreszeiten" die mitreißenden Melodien aus dem "Sommer" und dem "Winter" neu zu erleben - als kurze, wunderbar klingende Piano-Stücke. Oder den berühmten "Kanon" von Johann Pachelbel in einer neuen Fassung für Klavier zu vier Händen, die Martin Stadtfeld mit der Pianistin Lilian Akopova eingespielt hat. Diese ist auch seine Partnerin bei den vierhändigen Fassungen des ersten Präludiums von Bach sowie der "Passacaglia" aus Lullys Oper "Armida". Ein Erlebnis sind auch die Klavierfassungen von Purcells Musik aus der Oper "Fairy Queen". Nahezu meditativ klingen Stadtfelds Improvisationen über Themen von Bach (u.a. das berühmte "Air" und "Menuett"), über Werke von Arcangelo Corelli sowie über das Kirchenlied "Ach bleib mit Deiner Gnade". Aufgenommen wurden die insgesamt 45 Stücke mit einem modernen Steinway mit einem sehr nahen und warmen Klangbild, so dass sich die Farbenpracht und Intensität unmittelbar auf den Hörer überträgt. Es ist, als ob man vor einem farbenreichen barocken Gemälde stehen würde und dabei immer neue Farben entdeckt.

2x12" Brown Marbled Vinyl 2026 Repress

A foray into deep, organic, cinematic dance music. Subterranean bass, intercepted alien transmissions, and stripped down dance-beats meld with sheets of sounds that roll over the listener like waves lapping up on the shore. Shimmering, watery, brain hemisphere synchronization tones caress and melt stress away. Dance floor friendly tracks that work equally well in one s private listening space. Immersive music with a distinctive aquatic quality. Inspired by Detroit & Berlin s dance genres, but tempered by more ambience / atmosphere than one would expect from those genres. Music without harshness or rough edges. Fuzzy, out-of-focus, soft-sounds that slip in and out of the listener's consciousness. Uniquely melds current dance rhythms with lushness and spirituality. Synesthetic sounds that trigger sensory experiences in cognitive pathways other than hearing smells of perfumes, thoughts of colours, and altered perception of time and space. Psychoacoustic, cerebral, electronic listening music for those wanting a different experience than the current harsher, darker dance trends are offering. Responsibly made gentle music designed from the ground-up to have a positive effect on the nervous system and leave the listener invigorated and recharged. Chi-building sonic balm. Timeless, exotic dance tracks for a new school of electronic music enthusiasts who are searching for beautiful sounds, crafted with a higher purpose in mind.

Legendary trax from the DUB MASTER himself, freshly compiled for MOOD GROOVE MUSIC! The bass is heavy, the drums are crispy and the vocals tell a story we all hear differently. Fans of JEREMY SYLVESTER, TODD EDWARDS and SMACK take notice. Full color sleeve, limited pressing.

Cindytalk has remained a majestic proposition over the decades, one marked by a continued process of disintegration and regeneration. Change has been a constant for Cindytalk, as has been the presence of the Scottish musician Cinder, who has fronted the project since the early '80s. The first Cindytalk albums embraced a dark theatricality of post-punk dissonance and abject rock deconstruction that coupled industrial dirges with Cinder's beatific vocals, these same vocals that were once plied to the earliest This Mortal Coil and Cocteau Twins recordings,forever binding Cinder to the 4AD lore. But even on those albums, Camouflage Heart and In This World, Cinder was pushing the band to embrace the studio as a tool for further abstraction of sodden drones, cobwebbed dark elegance, and decayed textures.

By the early aughts, Cinder had reimagined Cindytalk through the granular processes of digitalia with a handful of equally celebrated works of glitch-born expressionism for Editions Mego. Cinder explains that "those elements were growing roots under our sound and had started to organically change the shape of what we were doing. The fucked-up rock music was in retreat and the electro-acoustic abstractions were becoming apparent. Fast forward to the early part of the 21st Century and my first laptop. It seemed natural where I needed to begin that part of my new sonic journey. To further explore those and new territories. Sunset and Forever is intrinsically connected to what came before."

Sunset and Forever is a labyrinthine opus, one that returns to the themes of the sacred and profane that have rippled through all of Cindytalk's recordings, albeit in various guises. The opening track "Embers of Last Leaves" is a haunted piece of undulated, cyclical tones that entwine into a sorrowful chorale with Cinder's own voice. Thumps of electronic drum kicks and bass drops dot the apocalyptic menace of "Tower of the Sun" but serve not as a rhythmic grid, but as painterly noises that further disrupt and disturb the machined dissonance. A cinematic radioluminescence blooms from the tempered electronics within "For Those Eyes, Shadows Of Flowers." The finale "I See Her in Everywhere" bookends the opening number with a seemingly human chorus build from electronic tones cast in cathedral reverence. Sounds throughout may appear adjacent to those of Fennesz, Holly Herndon, or even Lovesliescrushing from time to time, but Sunset and Forever remains purely Cindytalk.

Cover designed by Chris Bigg, known for his iconic design work for 4AD. Mastered by James Plotkin.

FUSE11 - Rosati - Divina Nostalgia

For Fuse Imprint's eleventh release and the first of 2026, Rosati unveils 'Divina Nostalgia', an ode to vibrancy in dance music through four truly euphoric tracks. The Italian artist focuses on the enduring power of vintage production with a much-needed spotlight on techno's optimistic underbelly, resulting in a sound that is both charismatic and electrifying.

'Division' sets the tone of the EP with playful percussion and bright synth work that unravels as the track progresses. Rosati utilizes the full character of the 909 for the flair that drives the record: rides, claps, and open hi-hats thunder through the arrangement in celebration of each transition. The artist then zeros in on 'Echoes', tightening the energy with an unflinchingly analog bassline and lush pads that round out the harsher edges of the percussion. This serves as a more linear approach for immediate effect; where the track favors minimalism, it provides maximum impact.

Gradually turning up the energy, 'Orbital' jumps through toms and filtered chord stabs to emphasize the record's extroverted nature. The synths dazzle along the rolling drums for a track that possesses house's temperament but techno's insistence. Finally, the title track 'Divina Nostalgia' concludes the EP in a moment of pure release. If you wondered where jazz comes into the picture, just ask Rosati. Organs, Rhodes, swing, and sustained tension slice through to a victorious finish line that highlights dance music's command of the present moment.

Flanked by a team of collaborators - including Nick León, more eaze, Ultrafog and Kissen - Ben Bondy captures the Kwia-pop zeitgeist on 'XO Salt Lif3', sluicing down dappled emo and downtempo grooves with log drum thwacks, tempered field recordings and sandblasted shoegaze guitars.

Forget what you think you know about Ben Bondy; like Naemi's fuzzy 'Breathless Shorn', ‘XO Salt Lif3’ is a decisive shift away from the ambient world and towards contemporary underground pop. Last year's amapiano-tinted loosie 'Bend' serves as the album's opener and is the best taster, its slick DSP squelches, granulated drones and sub rumbles immediately swapped out for breezy acoustic guitar riffs, tuned log drum hits and Bondy's own Autotuned vocals. When Bondy turns down the temperature a little, letting the orchestral synth arrangements slip into fuller view on 'Halfmoon', a collaboration with Nick León and Aussie producer Lovefear, it's tempered by low slung emo riffs and mumbled sweet nothings.

By the time we hit 'Dreamseed', Bondy's in full swing, offsetting slow breaks and multi-tracked vocal harmonies with full-spectrum shoegaze power chords that cut into the mix like a chainsaw, with crunchy amp crackle foreshadowing the Bark Psychosis-like drop. Bondy hits a cruise when More Eaze helps out on 'There Is A Place'. Maurice's unmistakable pedal steel draws us in, used by Bondy to add an Americana accent to his euphoric fusion of amapiano and indie pop. It's music that'll make perfect sense if you've caught one of Bondy's notorious DJ sets, where you might hear anything from American Football and Jessica Pratt next to Gwen Stefani, Skinny Puppy or Sneaker Pimps. It’s this chaotic, open-hearted approach - which also plays a part in the Shineteac material - that makes 'XO Salt Lif3' so effortlessly enjoyable.

Glimmers of a missing link in the connective tissue between the hardcore continuum and Dub-Spectrum arts. A tome all its own, as if one is sifting through an archeological dig in aural form, hearing layers of the past, present, and future.

Global Pulse returns with a new EP from label head Rosati. This record is hand crafted with an effortlessly flowing sound that channels the early 2000s Techno energy to the fullest, infusing a fresh Amsterdam breeze and an Italian temperament. Lights down EP features 4 dance floor uplifting cuts , packed with warm chords and a solid dose of Chicago flavour.

Scoville Records keeps the temperature rising with it's third release, this time welcoming in Melbourne's own Dashiell. Coming in hot with a 4 track EP that channels classic old-school tech house essence with a tribal progressive touch. This one is sure to bring extra spice to your record bag, handle responsibly.

With their musical roots deeply immersed in the fertile soil of Afro-American music, the Buttshakers have found a new direction for their nostalgia-heavy soul music. With Lessons In Love, their third album on Underdog Records, their early heartaches and furies have faded in favor of a more composed harmony – a sound enveloped in love and soaked in the blues. Guided by their singer Ciara Thompson, the Buttshakers have taken a more intimate path, whose compass, in the chaos of emotions and the modern world, points only in one direction: the light.



Seen from the sky, the view appears limitless. Accentuated by the sun, the ochre and sandy hues of the open road only reinforce this feeling of immensity. The sky stretches and the green stands out in striking contrast. In lighter tones, a road is drawn -- without bends or contours. This is the worn and weary road of soul music, which The Buttshakers explore on each album in new and unique ways. Soul music – a rare place to find a French band.

Vast, the musical direction could have taken them to lighter pastures. Yet the Buttshakers chose to evolve in a different way; to take a heavier load. Two paths – one sparked by social unrest, the other purely sentimental, Lessons In Love explores the deep roots of soul music, in the steps of Curtis Mayfield or Al Green. It is here that the heart and mind cross paths, merge, and become one. A weary road -- that brings together the agitation of a world where good intentions never rise above the level of digital outrage, and a faith in love which, however it manifests and expresses itself, remains the only truth that never loses its power.



Less rage and more compassion, it is through the haunting words and now tempered inflection of Ciara Thompson's voice, which opens to distinct emotions and perspectives, that the listener is guided. With its gaze fixed on the horizon, the acoustic guitar of Gotta Believe invites us on an intimate stroll through the open plains, while Dream On carries us away with a clavinet riff and a possessed saxophone; reconnecting the electric heat and neurosis of a city full of dreams. The senses are moved by the conjuring potion of the guitar which distills throughout Troubled Waters; the body is brought back into a visceral dance by the keys and brass section that are put to the test by Sure As Sin and its irrepressible rhythm. Passing through clouds of dust and sand has left a bluesy imprint on their groove: the miles travelled became hundreds, then thousands.



All of this leaves the listener bewitched by the halo of resilience that now surrounds Ciara's performance, as the ten tracks let the light fade. But certainly not hope in a better day. Like the sunflower that always lifts its head towards the sun’s rays, the Buttshakers continue to resource their sounds in the deep roots of soul music. Into the rich layers of African-American music of the 60s and 70s, The Buttshakers capture the spirit as much as the musical aesthetics of the epoch. A sound that reaches into the meanderings of the soul, bringing light to dark places and hope for all. A sound for the most parched of hearts, living in a damaged world, Lessons In Love confirms that even the tiniest beam of light can illuminate one’s path.

On Biotope, Valentino Mora ventures even further from the dancefloor, delving into a rich, psychoacoustic realm shaped by modular and spectral synthesis. Built primarily around the Rossum Panharmonium, a module that analyzes and re-synthesizes audio into evolving harmonic clusters in real time, the album conjures an imagined ecosystem, where sound behaves with the logic and fluidity of organic life. Eschewing traditional field recordings, Mora instead sculpts textures and gestures that feel deeply natural yet are entirely synthetic. Inspired by elements such as soil composition, air, humidity, light, temperature, and the chemical properties of both land and aquatic environments and the living creatures that inhabit them, the soundscapes emerge as a kind of sonic biology. The result is a collection of slow-moving, tension-laden compositions that blur the boundaries between physical sensation and abstract design. Biotope unfolds like a closed ecosystem: modular synthesis treated as a breathing entity, shaped by resonance, friction, and organic motion. It embodies a kind of mystical biology, where textures mimic living forms, and frequencies pulse with intent. This is music to be felt as much as heard, Biotope invites you to listen with your skin, not just your ears.

Informed by all the sub strains of UK Bass music and the Hardcore Continuum, Analias’s hazy sound straddles both poles between melancholy and euphoria, with an underlying greying hue in the center where all the disparate colors of the underground meld into one. Preferring to let the music speak on his behalf, (You will not find him on social media) Analias’s already substantial discography is an accomplished body of work that deserves all of the attention and praise soon to come his way. LGHPS is incredibly happy to help amplify this phenomenal artist to the world.

Drenched in mournful atmosphere and longing tones, all four cuts hold an emotive, introspective motif with subtle drum work that holds back the bubbling aggression of the punching 808 B lines brooding underneath. “Falling Falling Falling” loops sensual yet familiar vocal chops into a hypnotizing hook while the drums and bass step with enough weight and grit to make this the perfect set opener. “Cardio” up’s the tension to the boiling point with undulating strings churning the waters before unleashing a monster B line tidal wave. The sun ray’s break through the clouds on “Pass Me By” as the pummeling bass is tempered by lively Rhodes keys. The mood ascends further on the playful stomp of “Again n Again” using morphing 303 melodies and upbeat handclaps with Mood II Swing club sensibilities.

co:clear is overjoyed to welcome Jonnnah to its fold, with a new long-form 12” edition. Featuring Pavel Milyakov (aka Buttechno) right off the bat, ‘Me, With You’ is an album that grips its listener tight with gleaming electronica, off-kilter trip-hop and swampy bass.

With past offerings to Soleil Rouge and Second End Records – a label which he heads – there's a thread that laces all of Jonnnah’s work. Although never sticking to a definable bracket, the Lyon-dweller effortlessly floats through various tempers, peddling impeccable electronics as equally suited to colossal sound systems, as they are to solitary early morning walks in headphones. It's ambient for the foreground that surprises with flurries of two-step and amen breaks – present-day sonics that doff their cap to what’s come before.

Out on limited edition 12” vinyl & digital, 30th May 2025. Limited to 200 copies.



Credits:



Written & Produced by Pierre Paumier

Featuring Pavel Milyakov

Mastered by Ike Zwanikken

Lacquer cut by Pitchcraft Mastering

Artwork by Conna Haraway

Distribution by Rubadub

Bordello A Parigi welcome the prolific Kirill Junolainen into the fold. He debuts under his Konerytmi alias with four tracks that join the dots of disco, italo, synth pop and wave.

The title piece, “Super Ekstaasi”, is an analogue rollercoaster of emotive lyrics and sparkling synthlines shot through with distant melancholy. The frosty “Klassikkoelokuva” follows. Contrasting its predecessor, this glacial work of electro cuts crystalline chords with crisp claps and bending basslines. Temperatures rise on the flip. Slow and sci-fi inspired, the thoughtful “Hirvijarvi” explores the cosmos through searching synthlines and probing percussion. The gamut of Konerytmic is on display with the finale being no exception. “Uusiaalto” is both brittle and bold. Refracted computer chirps are draped in soaring strings, pinpricks of drum piercing the stern samples that break the delicacy of the track’s composition. Super Ekstaasi through and through.

We all remember with mixed feelings the past two years of domestic isolation: a temporary anomaly in which the world had to adjust to a new routine, a new rhythm. In these daunting yet precious circumstances, Italian producer Markeno has found his rhythm back, dusting off old records and re-approaching his past musical love affairs that he believed to be long forgotten. Here, in the fertile limbo that connects past and future, “Dock lown (exploring)” is born: a 3-tracker release with a chameleonic nature and an undeniable groove, in which Markeno is able to tactfully combine different genres such as indie, post-rock, African mu- sic, electro and funk.

In the contemporary music scene, overly saturated with catchy melodies and seductive lyrics, it is refreshing to encounter a composition like “Fase 01”, which starts from a purely percussive structure. Just when the ear is settled and well inserted into the tangle of drums, here comes the melodic twist, no less than at the fourth minute, injecting an unexpected groove and chalking out the contours of a track with multiple personalities: a little esoteric, a little synth-wave, quirky and badass. The temperature rises with “Zona Ros- sa”, in which the electro hint sketched in “Fase 01” becomes more pronounced, opening the doors to a dense psychedelic scenario. A shamanic loop accompanies the electric bass and escorts us through the smoke of the bonfire, veils swayed by the wind and colored lights that sparkle in the night. The ritualistic humming of ‘’Zona Rossa”’ is still hearable, floating in the rarefied atmosphere, while the last track “Limbo” makes its entrance and confirms once again the poliedric but congruous essence of this release, whose percussive attitude lures you in and whose hypnotic and groovy body makes you stay. At least for one more dance.

Sara Berton

Like the morning sun penetrating a Winter sky, a shimmering frost flecks the brightness of “Message to Nowhere”.

The four tracker showcases the sound of Ruben Benabou’s Hyperstellar nom de plume, a sound that draws inspiration from sci-fi soundtracks and the warmer currents of electro. Refracted bleeps introduce the title piece, shorn beats cutting through glowing synthlines as the EP takes flight. Tight terse drum patterns are the launchpad from which melodies sail and swoop in “Words in a Void”, bittersweet strings and warbling pads bending and shifting above juddering basslines. Fellow Frenchman, and all-round electro virtuoso, The Hacker remixes “Message to Nowhere”. Pulling the track toward the centre of the floor, scissoring snares slice through echoing notes and silken shrouds in this machine funk remake. Temperatures rise for the close. Bold key changes and snapping rhythms gather in “A Thousand Nights”, a lively late evening close to a quartet of sheer quality.

Building up a head of steam, Ace Vision returns on the heels of his Raising Awareness EP.

For Shaped Mind, the Italian artist is exploring new musical avenues. While his musical essence, glow and style remain, a darker dancefloor palette is employed on the release. Polyrhythmic patterns race in the sample strewn “Second Phase”, rumbling waves and warehouse echoes tempered by swirling stabs. A bouncy liquid groove ushers in “Nu să Chan”, rasping beats shrouded in smoky bass while bars bend around an assortment of textures and tones. “Katana Cut (Trance Mix)” conjures up images of dancing bodies waiting for the dawn. Melodies circle percussive layers, meandering undercurrents of acid bubbling beneath shimmering synthlines. The finale comes with “Mixage Électronique.” Steady kicks and crisp cymbals give way to juddering chords, clean keys and snare rolls countering to a close.

Michael Mayer albums don’t come round too often, which is one of many reasons why his fourth collection, The Floor Is Lava, is a genuine event. It’s been eight years since his last one, the collaborative & released on !K7; its predecessors, Mantasy (2012) and Touch (2004), took their sweet time, too. It’s no real surprise, given the many hats Mayer wears – globetrotting DJ, revered remixer, inveterate collaborator, and boss of both Kompakt and Imara – that his solo productions are relatively sparing. But this also speaks to their quality: Mayer’s name on a record sleeve is a sign of quality, of music that’s both looking to the future and calling back to the past, that balances the imperatives of the dancefloor and the loungeroom, that’s as exploratory as it is functional.

On The Floor Is Lava, Mayer seems to be taking the temperature of both the music that surrounds him (past and present), and the ides of the industry he works within. There’s that iconic album title, for a start. “The album’s mindset,” he says, reflecting on those four words together. For Mayer, it’s partly a critique of the way the industry boxes in both producer and listener, focuses them on genre, on market, on the next new thing: “Being a free minded spirit that transcends genres has become an uphill battle.” A battle worth fighting, though, and with The Floor Is Lava, the result is an album that’s varied, quixotic, idiosyncratic, charming, and deeply, addictively listenable.

Throughout, Mayer finds thrills in exploration and juxtaposition, allowing unexpected things to blossom and giving them their life, their platform, throwing the listener exciting curveballs: “It’s a DJ album by a DJ that’s easily bored.” Either easily bored, or endlessly curious, The Floor Is Lava is rich with ideas. It opens with “The Problem”, which looks back to look forward, embracing the rickety way early house productions threw samples together with gleeful abandon. Mayer mentions Pal Joey, and the scene around Rockers Hi-Fi and their Different Drummer imprint, as reference points, and you can hear that freewheeling spirit throughout.

It’s followed by “Vagus”, a slinky, sensual minimal house number that Mayer describes as his “musical catnip”. The flow of these two opening cuts defines the dynamic of The Floor Is Lava, defining the dialectical drive at its core: thesis and antithesis leads to synthesis, but with a welcome prickliness that means you’re always excited, always engaged. It’s also productive in the way it derives energy from rubbing genres and sounds against each other, in unexpected ways, for maximum musical frisson. There’s psychedelic techno on “Feuerstuhl”, more minimal techno with “Ardor” (Mayer mentions ‘Immer 1’ era 90s minimal as inspiration), slippery, Shepard-tone breakbeat through “Sycophant”, a lovely, lush vocal turn on the poppy “The Solution”.

The album closes with the melancholy “Süßer Schlaf”, where Mayer sets a poem by Goethe to one of his most haunted, moving pieces of music yet, in abstract tribute to a lost friend. It’s one of the most affecting moments on The Floor Is Lava. There’s also an update on 2020’s wild Brainwave Technology EP, with the surrealist glitter-stomp of “Brainwave 2.0” (check out those handclaps!),where Mayer’s thinking about the socio-political precipice of the now: “I’m reading with great interest about this whole complex of how humanity is about to cross so many lines and the implications that the resulting financial and educational inequality will bring.”

That’s The Floor Is Lava: then and now, brainwaves and nerve structures, problems and solutions, genres on fire; the real, the unreal, and the surreal. An album for the easily bored and the endlessly curious. Mayer has the last word, telling us all you need to know about the album’s spirit: “Burning for the cause, being zealous, being addicted to the heat of the night, the exuberant powers of music.”

Michael Mayer veröffentlicht nicht oft Alben, was einer von vielen Gründen ist, warum ‘The Floor Is Lava’ ein echtes Ereignis ist. Es sind acht Jahre vergangen seit seinem letzten Werk, dem Kollaborationsalbum &, das auf !K7 erschien; seine Vorgänger, Mantasy (2012) und Touch (2004), ließen ebenfalls auf sich warten. Es überrascht nicht wirklich, da Mayer viele Rollen gleichzeitig erfüllt – weltreisender DJ, vielbeschäftigter Remixer, unermüdlicher Kollaborateur und Chef von sowohl Kompakt als auch Imara – weshalb seine Solo-Produktionen eher sparsam ausfallen. Doch das spricht auch für deren Qualität: Ein Album mit Mayers Namen auf dem Cover steht für Qualität, für Musik, die sowohl in die Zukunft blickt als auch auf die Vergangenheit verweist, die das Gleichgewicht zwischen den Anforderungen des Dancefloors und des Wohnzimmers hält, die genauso erforschend wie funktional ist.

Auf The Floor Is Lava scheint Mayer sowohl die Musik um ihn herum (vergangen und gegenwärtig) als auch die Strömungen der Branche, in der er arbeitet, zu reflektieren. Da wäre zunächst der ikonische Albumtitel. „Die Grundhaltung des Albums“, sagt er, drückt sich in diesen vier Worte aus. Für Mayer ist es teilweise eine Kritik daran, wie die Industrie sowohl Produzenten als auch Hörer in Schubladen steckt, sie auf Genres, auf den Markt und auf das nächste große Ding fokussiert: „Ein freier Geist zu sein, der Genres überschreitet, ist zu einem steinigen Weg geworden.“ Ein Kampf, der sich jedoch lohnt, und mit The Floor Is Lava ist das Ergebnis ein Album, das vielfältig, eigenwillig, charmant und tiefsinnig, aber auch süchtig machend ist.

Im gesamten Album findet Mayer Freude an der Erforschung und Gegenüberstellung von Stilen, lässt unerwartete Dinge erblühen und gibt ihnen Raum, überrascht den Hörer mit spannenden Wendungen: „Es ist ein DJ-Album von einem DJ, der sich schnell langweilt.“ Entweder langweilt er sich schnell oder er ist unendlich neugierig – The Floor Is Lava ist reich an Ideen. Es beginnt mit „The Problem“, das in die Vergangenheit blickt, um nach vorne zu schauen, und die wilde Art, wie frühe House-Produktionen Samples mit fröhlicher Unbekümmertheit zusammenwarfen, aufgreift. Mayer nennt Pal Joey und die Szene um Rockers Hi-Fi und ihr Label Different Drummer als Referenzpunkte, und dieser freie Geist zieht sich durch das gesamte Album.

Es folgt „Vagus“, eine sinnliche Minimal-House-Nummer, die Mayer als seine „musikalische Katzenminze“ beschreibt. Der Fluss dieser beiden Eröffnungstracks definiert die Dynamik von The Floor Is Lava und den dialektischen Antrieb im Kern: These und Antithese führen zu einer Synthese, jedoch mit einer willkommenen Schärfe, die dafür sorgt, dass man immer aufgeregt und engagiert bleibt. Zudem gewinnt das Album Energie, indem es Genres und Klänge auf unerwartete Weise aneinanderreibt, um maximalen musikalischen Nervenkitzel zu erzeugen. Es gibt psychedelischen Techno in „Feuerstuhl“, mehr Minimal Techno mit „Ardor“ (Mayer erwähnt ‘Immer’ Ära Minimal als Bezugspunkt), gleitenden Shepard-Ton-Breakbeat in „Sycophant“ und einen lieblichen, üppigen Vocal-Auftritt im poppigen „The Solution“.

Das Album schließt mit dem melancholischen „Süßer Schlaf“, in dem Mayer ein Gedicht von Goethe vertont und eine seiner bisher eindringlichsten und bewegendsten musikalischen Kompositionen schafft, als abstrakten Tribut an eine verschiedene Freundin. Es ist einer der ergreifendsten Momente auf The Floor Is Lava. Ebenfalls gibt es ein Update der wilden Brainwave Technology-EP von 2020, mit dem surrealistischen Glitzer-Stampfer „Brainwave 2.0“ (hör dir diese Handclaps an!), in dem Mayer über den sozio-politischen Abgrund der Gegenwart nachdenkt: „Ich lese mit großem Interesse über diesen ganzen Komplex, wie die Menschheit dabei ist, so viele Grenzen zu überschreiten und welche Auswirkungen die daraus resultierende finanzielle und bildungstechnische Ungleichheit haben wird.“

Das ist The Floor Is Lava: Damals und heute, Gehirnwellen und Nervengeflechte, Probleme und Lösungen, brennende Genres; das Reale, das Unreale und das Surreale. Ein Album für die schnell Gelangweilten und die unendlich Neugierigen. Mayer hat das letzte Wort und sagt uns alles, was wir über den Geist des Albums wissen müssen: „Brennen für die Sache, leidenschaftlich sein, süchtig nach der Hitze der Nacht, den überschwänglichen Kräften der Musik.“

Balmat began our journey in 2021 with the release of Luke Sanger’s Languid Gongue. Now, three years later, we turn an important corner as the Norfolk musician rejoins us with Dew Point Harmonics, the first repeat appearance on the label. Sanger’s new album feels like a natural extension of his inaugural record for Balmat: It’s a bewitching collection of esoteric synth sketches that slips unpredictably between consonant repetition, poignant melodies, and gnarled bursts of noise that catch in the ear like burrs in hiking socks.

That natural metaphor is perhaps not accidental. Despite having been composed on Sanger’s diverse array of hardware and self-written software, many of the tracks were first conceived while Sanger was hiking in a particularly wild and isolated section of the Norfolk coast. The field recording that opens the album, on “6am Beach Walk,” was taken on one of his many early-morning walks there, in which he and his dog might go for miles without seeing another soul. The album’s title was inspired by the overnight condensation covering the long marram grass in the dunes, glistening in the early light (and drenching everything coming in contact with it) before evaporating in the morning sun. Indeed, the concept of dew point—the temperature at which water vapor condenses into a liquid—feels like the perfect metaphor for Sanger’s music, in which foggy ambience is distilled into glistening quicksilver orbs, transient spheres of perfection eventually absorbed back into the atmosphere.

A shapeshifting collection of richly detailed and deeply expressive electronic miniatures, Dew Point Harmonics is both a testament to the mysteries of transformation and an invitation to get lost in the wilderness of your own imagination.

We take the same and start again
A winter week at One Buck studio, 4 musicians. Ocman Dread and Ras Salam once again call on Jolly Joseph and Dr Charty to accompany them on guitar, bass, keyboards… The recordings of this session do not suggest the negative temperatures and the frost outside, the riddims are sunny and sound warm. Pinnacle Sound’s 5th album is in the wake of the previous ones, roots that make you smile.

Breath is life
The rest takes place at the Bat Records studio. The Dub Shepherds refine these takes where breath and grain mingle, in search of the authenticity that has made Pinnacle Sound special since its beginnings. With the help of vintage machines and magnetic tapes, the album takes shape and begins to take shape.

Many guests
Another Pinnacle Sound trademark, numerous guests behind the microphone are present on this disc as on the previous ones. We find the essentials: Marcus I and Jolly Joseph, to which are added new voices, like Payoh SoulRebel who opens the album with the unequivocal “Downpressure”: we are here to have a good time! Big news on this album, the presence of female voices! The trio The Steadies delivers the brilliant “Thank You”, and Nina Murple signs the ballad “By The Train”.

You will have understood, Pinnacle Sound unveils a rich and generous new album, 10 tracks from the most kitsch to the most profound, which will leave no one indifferent.

Four years ago, Francesco Strippoli debuted on Bordello A Parigi with Universal Oneness followed by the analogue rich Prison Planet EP. Once again, donning his Armonics alias, the Bari based producer returns with four tracks for Future Echoes. The synthesizer warmth that has characterised past releases is immediately present. At the heart of “Floating High” is Strippoli’s keyboard work. Beats are crisp and understated as waves of melodic murmuration bob and weave to perfectly complement each other. A steady kick introduces the textured title work. Warbling notes give way to bolder chords, chords that are blurred by shimmering arpeggios as layers of harmony expand and unfold. Nostalgia meets the needle on the flip. “Retrospectiva” blends subtle shades with brassy extravagance, the sun and romance of southern Italy radiating in tempered brilliance. The energy of “Music and Lights” closes. Throbbing keys are further fortified by swirling synth stabs, the intensity being ratchetted up to boiling point in this dancefloor delight. Quality through and through.

2025 Repress
Chontane delivers six dynamic techno cuts via his 'Sycamore' EP on Mutual Rytm.

A firm fixture of the VOLTAGE roster and a rising name originating from Ukraine making an impact, Berlin-based DJ and producer Chontane is quickly finding his feet following a string of EPs via ARTS, Lobster Theremin and Rekids Special Projects. Already playing key clubs at the age of just 18, blurring the lines between techno, breaks and electro with his growing trademark sound, his performances across Berlin and beyond have captured the attention of many as he showcases his up-front and powerful sound. Next, he heads to SHDW & Obscure Shape's Mutual Rytm imprint for the first time as he reveals his six-track 'Sycamore' EP.

Lead cut 'Preserved' is a rugged yet soulful opener, settling into a rolling groove guided by crisp hats and sharp stabs, while 'Arakis' propels into more eerie and menacing spheres as waling vocals emerge and disappear into the track's relentless dynamic. Opening the B-side, 'Sitka' fuses jacking drums with playful flute interludes for a production set to get dancefloors moving, while 'Laboe' keeps things fiery as a peppy track which launches into fiesta mode. Closing the flip side, B3 'After Images' reveals the most emotive production on the package,
balancing the hard-hitting kicks with soulful vocals and hazy melodies for a classy slice of techno.

Once again, digital purchasers are treated to an exclusive bonus with 'In Roots' raising the temperature and jumping right back into the action to serve up another energising anthem from a label and artist on the rise.

Here is a true delight for all ballet fans and music-lovers. This recording of what is probably Tchaikovsky’s most popular ballet, Swan Lake, by Ernest Ansermet and his orchestra in a masterly performance is now available as a new pressing in vinyl. The Russian composer’s first ballet is offered here on a double LP and although not a complete recording, this compilation (with a minimum of cuts) certainly comprises the most beautiful and expressive scenes, losing nothing in the process. “Ballet specialist“ Ansermet and his wonderfully balanced Orchestre de la Suisse Romande offer here a recording which you’ll want to hear again and again for it captures both the tragic moments of the fairy tale and the festive dance scenes. The precise winds in, for example No. 4, provide a marked contrast to the lively and exciting tutti (No. 5), while the gentle woodwinds blend charmingly with the dreamlike cantilena of the strings (No. 11). The various characteristics of the festive national dances (Polkas, Mazurkas, Hungarian Dance etc.) are performed with temperament, verve and rhythm, but it is the waltzes with their sweet dreaminess which invite the listener most of all to put on their dancing shoes and join in the dance.

Here is a true delight for all ballet fans and music-lovers. This recording of what is probably Tchaikovsky’s most popular ballet, Swan Lake, by Ernest Ansermet and his orchestra in a masterly performance is now available as a new pressing in vinyl. The Russian composer’s first ballet is offered here on a double LP and although not a complete recording, this compilation (with a minimum of cuts) certainly comprises the most beautiful and expressive scenes, losing nothing in the process. “Ballet specialist“ Ansermet and his wonderfully balanced Orchestre de la Suisse Romande offer here a recording which you’ll want to hear again and again for it captures both the tragic moments of the fairy tale and the festive dance scenes. The precise winds in, for example No. 4, provide a marked contrast to the lively and exciting tutti (No. 5), while the gentle woodwinds blend charmingly with the dreamlike cantilena of the strings (No. 11). The various characteristics of the festive national dances (Polkas, Mazurkas, Hungarian Dance etc.) are performed with temperament, verve and rhythm, but it is the waltzes with their sweet dreaminess which invite the listener most of all to put on their dancing shoes and join in the dance.