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Since his 2015 Night School debut E.P. Nouveauree, James Donadio - aka Prostitutes - has been traveling stages and rigs from Los Angeles to Berlin, from prestigious festival slots to slimy Glasgow basements, burning his own path through the modern techno and electronic scenes. On Aluminum Garage, Donadio is at his most playful, laying down unmistakably mid-tempo BPM early-electro jams indebted to early sampling before crashing the soundsystem with frantic, detourned Gabber. Unlike his previous LP for Spectrum Spools or indeed his Night School debut which rankled with austerity and minimalism, here Prostitutes is instinctive, multi-layered and unashamedly, brilliantly borrowing from myriad genres.

In past 3 years, Donadio has racked up critically praised releases on labels like Diagonal and CGI, refining his wares into a precise, bludgeoning toolkit that surprises and develops with each release. Aluminum Garage creeps into life with Born Wanderer, before a sub-heavy kick and bongo pattern blasts into a heavy break that feels like the earth moving from under your feet. With the utmost clarity, the track builds disparate layers - a white noise solo, warped sample piano chords straight from 1986 - into a Rave-o-matic climax, holding steady with the BPMs and immeasurably funky. Jah Elegant further blows apart any image we have of Prostitutes' music as austere' with a loping intro based on teased drum samples and a ghost MC. The Jungle break comes in by stealth before the heavy drop blasts the music into Drum + Bass momentum. It's both blistering fun and undeniably cheeky, a driving track that cuts up Remarc on a dimly lit table in suburban Ohio.

On Side 2, Errant Seagull takes the genre mess into techno territory though put through a heavily distorted grinder. Built around a skeleton of sampled bass guitar and thumping kick, the track layers drums upon drums, building in saturation until a searing synth strafes the criss-crossing rhythms. The effect is dizzying, insuring both a propellant, heavy forward motion and a grimey, angst-ridden climax. Before we're at the end of the track, the stereo field is so filthy with distortion and analogue muck the listener is desperate for a palette cleanser. Final track Shroud of Cellophane however, doesn't let up. With a ramped up BPM we're in a Cyberpunk Gabber club, nothing but 160 beats per minute, layers of frequency-tweaked noise and the light at the end of the tunnel racing towards us. It's sweet oblivion and we've earned it.

Making his debut on the label, Spanish producer Kuo Climax is welcomed to the Hot Creations fold. A solid two track release that has already been heating up dancefloors across the globe, the talented artist showcases his distinct style and proves why he is hotly tipped for 2018.

The EP opens up with Whyte, a pulsating track with a warped bassline and oozing synths. Two and a half minutes deep it disperses into a breakbeat-esque breakdown that dives back into the familiar 4/4 beat. Title track Nacrem is a smooth roller with an underpinning bass and intergalactic vocal stabs. The EP highlights the Spanish producer's ability to bring balance to his output, providing music perfectly attuned for the floor.

Born in Malaga and now residing in Barcelona, Kuo Climax has released on respected labels such as Knee Deep In Sound, Solid Grooves and VIVa MUSiC. 2018 will see the producer launch his own vinyl-only imprint, LFOFL, that aims to recognise the progress in technology without losing the essence of true dance music.

Goshawk returns for Hudd Traxx 60th release with Erik Rico supplying the vocals. Get Up 2 Get Down is a peak time groover with plenty of funk to boot accompanied by some seriously soulful lyrics. Art Of Tones picks up the pace on the remix with a heavy bass line added with open hats to take things up a notch. Flip for the B side and find The Love Has Gone, a brilliantly made house track made for the dancefloor. Goshawk closes things out with a laid back deep house dub on B2.

Canadian production duo Potatohead People are back on Bastard Jazz with their 3rd single from their upcoming sophomore album.

"Do My Thing" features harmonized vocals from Kapok - out of Vancouver - and verses from frequent collaborator Illa J, over swelling chords and a funky bassline.

On the B-side, "Returning The Flavour" highlights the synth chops of Dutch producer Trian Kayhatu in a danceable, beat-heavy jazz instrumental.

'Nick & Astro's Guide To The Galaxy' will be released worldwide on May 11th on Bastard Jazz.

LYBES DIMEM is a project by visual artist and musician Lukas Rehm. With a focus on digital sound-de- sign, elaborate beat structures and the use of error, the music plays with cognitive phenomena and abstraction while maintaining an emotional refuge. LYBES DIMEM is presented in formats ranging from spatial sound experiences to sy- nesthetic shows complementing the auditive layers with visualiza- tions of real-time data, computer graphics and moving image. Lukas Rehms installative art, and compo- sitions have been internationally presented and awarded with multi- ple emerging arts prices.

SYNCLEFT CHRONEM is the first album released by LYBES DIMEM in both digital and vinyl format and accompanied by a moving image artwork. The title reflects the pro- jects interest in the potential of difference, cognitive frictions and exertion: sync = variability in the processing of auditive and visual signals, syncleft = the synaptic cleft, which is a crucial empty spa- ce in biological neural networks, chronem = the chroneme as a the- oretical unit to measure the time of

an articulated sound. Mathemati- cally clean sounds juxtapose pat- terns and transitions familiar from the realm of organic acoustics. Multi-layered noise textures ex- plore the simulated space. A tem- porary continuity is provided by percussive and melodic elements, right until the next escalation, eventually awaiting a concluding resolution.

The visual language explores dif- ferent phenomena and techniques of cognition inspired by the rhe- torics of big science (computer graphics, discontinuity of materi- al, pop cultural references). Both the moving image artwork and the graphic design of the release pay tribute to the multi-layered appro- ach of the music. The design of the vinyl cover by studio BNAG.cc uses subtractive colour synthesis to interchange between abstract for- mality and representationalism.

SYNCLEFT CHRONEM is the first release by LYBES DIMEM on SVS Records following a first encounter at the SVS residency at the 4D Spa- tial Sound Institute in Budapest.

Cause we love Vinyl..... Here is the first Vinyl from the Label JACKFRUIT RECORDINGS, a new label founded in 2017. Label Owner is the Berlin based Artist, DOMPE, known for good arranged House Sounds. He releases a lot, a real creative mind. Four handmade tracks can be found on the Vinyl. THE JOKER: Do you need a Joker Deep and warm Techhouse-Bassline So who is you favourite Buffoon now Risky grinning attitudes sounds you have to hear loud. After that bomb it's time for an new experience: It's time to Boogie. 1,2,3,4 what are you waiting for Move your Body to the Groove. CRY: snappy sounds, a necessary amount of percussions and a beat that makes you teeter along. FREE BIRD: Here are some very new House Beats for you! It is really time for some spring feelings, so the sounds go fresher! And it feels like hearing the bird singing, sitting in the sun meanwhile. Real Groove comes through your Speakers - turn is loud! Percussions make you hooo. So shake your body once again and dance until the spring is coming. JACK BROWN: Hey Sweetheart you are such a hot fruity! Another brilliant cooperation between AGENT! and DOMPE and as it is common: never change a winning team! These both guys living in Berlin are not only Friends; they got a perfect match with their sounds and ideas. Soundaholics with playful whims in their heads. There is a rumour that JACK BROWN gives his Name to JACK FRUIT. Not really just kidding. JACK BROWN makes you dance, drags u to the middle of the floor. Charming Bassline, Vocal and a direct urge for snipping your fingers.

Late Night Detroit House From One Of The Originators.

eturning with renewed force after Henning Baer's unbreakable debut LP, MANHIGH's sixth release comes from a name already well-known in techno circles. Sciahri is the Italian producer whose luminous 2014 debut on the celebrated Ilian Tape's ITX experimental series immediately announced his presence, followed by another on the label and two EPs for the highly-rated Black Opal offshoot of Opal Tapes by 2016. He was simultaneously occupied with his ambient-leaning UNKNOT duo with Emanuele Porcinai, better known as WSR on Samuel Kerridge's Contort label. 2017 saw the launch of his Sublunar imprint and a tripartite release from him featuring a more streamlined sound than the craggy broken-beat style familiar from Ilian Tape. Sciahri's MANHIGH EP opens with 'Demur', showcasing his most dour, industrial sounds, scraping metallic highs against the unrelenting impacts of reverberating kicks and subbass drone. 'Forbidden' holds its forces more in reserve, the cycling, mechanical soundscape maintaining a spacious, ambient aspect, worked against a broken rhythm more implied than explicitly stated. Returning to full intensity for 'Reliance', he tightly coils the core elements around deftly-deployed percussion and a militaristic, pounding rhythm in the bass and kicks. Henning Baer's reinterpretation of 'Demur' saves little from the original apart from its overriding tension, instead adding a layer of nearly-tonal pads and an unremitting acidic bass throb pushing forwards inexorably.

The anonymous underground figure of Phoboz is associated with one colour - black. Not only is his online presence a mystery, with alternative stage names such as Doghead, Phaseliner, and Parseq. He is also connected to the well-respected Motorlab label, whose releases from the outset have been devoid of portraiture, biographic information, or textual support. Black covers, a few silver symbols of factory hardware, and nothing more.

Nonetheless, one Russian venue online has referred to Phoboz's earlier work as 'digital music for sentient people.' There's a vague connection between darkness, industry, and Russian feelings of late. Actuality is black.

These same emphases define the newest release by Phoboz on Resonance Records, entitled 'Flow' and overseen by Moscow's techno kingpin Nikita Zabelin. Forty minutes of resonant, insistent beats, straight from the gut of some abandoned factory. A heavy, even thunderous tradition fades to black, leaving the echo of prior decades to repeat itself, over and over. Even the titles of this release speak of something lost in the dark: 'Forgotten Planet' or 'Shifted Bias.' One tradition has evanesced; a future equivalent remains vague.

Phoboz gives voice to that shift from erstwhile desire to present-day drive, from industrial progress to post-industrial flow. The sounds of a forgotten culture.

* The second in Joker's trio of special releases to commemorate 10 years of his Kapsize label is to release this coming May.
* Over the past decade, Kapsize has put out some of Joker's most defining work, including the iconic 'Purple City' (produced with Ginz) — a track widely recognised as ground zero for Joker's purple dubstep aesthetic — and 2015 album, 'The Mainframe', as well as early records from Asa & Sorrow and L-Wiz.
* To be released both on special edition vinyl, A-side 'Marching Orders' features legendary grime MC and producer, Footsie, who goes hard over Joker's monstrous instrumental — think relentless, hyper-distorted club hydraulics — even acknowledging him on the hook; 'Oi Joker this beat's sick, crazy'.

* On the flip, B-side 'Polka Dot' is equally as tough, despite the dizzying melodies and gentle tones of the track's opening throws, landing as a crunching melee of textbook Joker sounds.

Ein 44 Minuten starkes Instrumental-Album inklusive eines Akere Vocal-Features.

Es ist Ansichtssache, ob ein Antlitz unfassbar schön oder besonders verstörend sein kann, sodass der bloße Anblick den Betrachter seiner Handlungsfähigkeit beraubt. Man sollte sich jedoch nie einzig von einer Erscheinung erstarren lassen.

Also heißt es:
Augen schließen und die Schönheit einer Mischung aus zeitlosen Vibes, warmen Klängen und verschobenen Rhythmen irgendwo zwischen Trip Hop, Boom Bap und G-Funk auf sich wirken zu lassen. Die Reise führt durch Höhen und Tiefen, beeinflusst von Musik aller Himmelsrichtungen und Sonderbarkeiten verschiedener Genres.

L One´s Medusa ist durchaus in der Lage den Hörer in den Bann zu ziehen. Jedoch ergibt sich dadurch keine langfristige Betäubung, sondern vielmehr ein Moment, der sämtliche Wahrnehmung der äußeren Welt an einen Ort unendlicher Möglichkeiten lenkt. Wo es hingeht und was passiert, bleibt jedem selbst überlassen. Quasi ein Mythos!

Medusa ist nach der Farska LP bereits die zweite Zusammenarbeit zwischen dem jungen Münchner HipHop Produzenten und dem jungen Münchner Label Beat Art Department und erscheint in Kooperation mit dem renommierten HipHop Label 58Beats, dem Label der Band Main Concept.

This is the only album from The Tutt Band known to ever be recorded. The ultra rare and sought after boogie-funk LP on Spoonful Records out of Phoenix, Arizona was released in 1988, but style-wise it sounds much more like being recorded in 1983 or 1984. It contains ten very solid and good tracks - both club tunes and slow jams - that all hit the required spot. There's also some treats for all Roger Troutman and vocoder lovers. Head straight to the ultra dope tracks 'Get It On' and 'She's Got It Going'. In retrospect The Tutt Band has been one of the little known but essential groups whom created the funky and beat heavy new jack swing sound that dominated American r&b from the mid eighties and early nineties.

Mount Liberation Unlimited strikes back! After releases on Tim Sweeney's Beats In Space label and everyone's favourite oddball house institution Studio Barnhus, the swedish duo, consisting of Tom Lagerman and Niklas Janzon, land on planet Permanent Vacation.

"Body Language" is the fifth release for MLU and you can feel that they have been places and come some ways, since their debut ep in 2014: This Ode to dancing sees Lagerman and Janzon heading into more pop-y territories than before. "The Swedish Version" is a full on pop disco track with rich instrumentation and infectious vocals that underline MLU's status as one of the best disco and house live acts around these days. While the "Mouth Mix" is the Swedish interpretation of Chicago House and gets even more physical with its drum-heavy beats and computerized vocals. For your Karaoke party and to round up the package, we also included the instrumental of the "Swedish Version". Rocka Din Kropp!

"A heavy selection of mod-rockers, garage and psych-funk tracks," runs the sub-title of new compilation series, Down In The Valley from Perfect Toy, encapsulating in a nutshell the multifarious pleasures on offer.

And what better way to open such a set than with Van Broussard's banging titty-shaker Mojo This is followed by The Little Bits' screaming garage-soul cut Girl Give Me Love (recorded when the band members were all between nine and twelve years old!) and Frozen Sun's Jamm Pt.1 - a monster psych-soul number secretly laid down in the lobby of radio station KTKT (in Tucson, AZ) on a Sunday after midnight and about as aptly named as a track can get. Phlegethon's You're No Good provides cover song thrills by getting heavy-psychedelic on the Clint Ballard-penned classic, while yet more garage-soul delights are locked down by offerings from The Chapters, The Looking Glass and The Four. Closing the set is Pump's previously unreleased Ashtray Candle 6:33 - a slow-grooving psych masterpiece.

Once again, Chan the Man - previously the guiding light for Perfect Toy's Down & Wired series - was the driving force behind this project. It is his incredible knowledge, combined with the network of record collectors, DJs and vinyl nerds that he has established over the past few decades which have made it possible to come up with such a high-octane selection of super-heavy and extremely rare tracks. Accompanied by detailed liner notes and never-before-seen photos of the artists, Down In The Valley 1 sets the bar high for future volumes.

· Album presentation live @ Camden Assembly London, 13th June
· Genre-spanning UK jazz artist who has worked with the likes of Craig Charles Fantasy Funk Band, Nightmares On Wax, The New Mastersounds, and Rae & Christian
· Follow-up to the debut and highly credited La Sombra from 2017
· Features guest UK trumpeter Matthew Halsall on 'The Mirage'
· La Sombra made Gilles Peterson's 'Best albums of 2017' list, with a track included on Brownswood Bubblers 12
· Part of the Matthew Halsall live band and toured with Dwight Trible

Recorded in Madrid in July 2017, Shamal Wind combines Chip Wickham's globetrotting, spiritual jazz expeditions with hard-won schoolings in the funk. Following his critically acclaimed 2017 debut, La Sombra, the record draws on spiritual jazz influences like Yusef Lateef and Sahib Shihab, and rests on Chip's many-sided experience as a musician, spanning left-field beat experiments to hard-hitting funk heavyweights.

After the Latin and flamenco whispers on La Sombra, Shamal Wind adds some Arab-influence percussion to the mix, most notably on the title track. Elsewhere, 'Barrio 71' sees him nodding to Shihab: high energy, lyrical and absorbing, with sax and the vibraphone taking the lead. 'Snake Eyes' taps into the meditative exaltations of modal jazz, while 'Soho Strut' nods to the jazz fusion, funk-influenced side of Chip's playing.

Like the Persian Gulf winds referenced in the album title, which often mark the shift to a new season, this album signals a new chapter for Chip, opening up a newfound energy and inclusiveness in his music, and further expanding on what he achieved in the past year. "Shamal Wind" is a heavy record, built on strong foundations.

Over the past 3 decades Chip Wickham has worked, written, recorded, and toured with the likes of Rae & Christian, Fingathing, The Pharcyde, Jimpster, Nightmares On Wax, Graham Massey, Roy Ayers, Nat Birchall, The New Mastersounds, Lack Of Afro, Craig Charles Fantasy Funk Band, Matthew Halsall, and Dwight Trible.

On "La Sombra":
"This is coming from the outside, I was like whooooa, easy. Blowing hard - they got it right! Gilles Peterson
"I'm becoming convinced that Chip Wickham is a genius" Craig Charles
"An impressive solo debut" London Evening Standard
"Majesterial and electrifying stuff" 9/10 Blues & Soul Magazine
"Tonally and melodically elegant and with a distinct 1960s/1970s vibe" Scotsman

After putting out Kito Jempere's well received Sea Monsters album last year, Hell Yeah now serve up another selection of remixes of it. Accomplished musician Jimi Tenor, plus Miskotom and Max Essa all contribute before a 7", also taken from the album, lands later in summer. First up is Jimi Tenor, the legndary Finnish musician who has released on Warp, collaborated with Tony Allen and has his own band as well as occasionally playing sax with Kito Jempere Band at live gigs. He flips Puzzled into five minutes of stripped back and moody electronics with plenty of his own flute playing in the track. Busted drum sounds, spooky sci-fi synths and scattered hits make it woozy and late night and utterly absorbing. Miskotom—a newly emerging pair made up of Mik and his wife Andra, both based in Vilnius, Lithuania with credits on Pleasure Unit and Balearic —then reimagine 'Ampa' as a beatdown but of deep house with trudging drums staying low and shimmering synths drift out in all directions. Crunchy hits bring a subtle sense of funk and reverb drenched vocals bring a heavenly feel to the soul drenched grooves and summery keys.
Then comes Max Essa, the Japan based Brit who is a regular on this label as well as the likes of Is It Balearic. His first remix is a huge one that is sure to soundtrack many a boat party this summer. It's a gorgeous rework of 'Ampa' that puts achingly blissful vocals front and centre as low slung bass and slowly turning drums sink you into a pan-pipe laced reverie. Secondly, Essa offers a Dub Reprise that removes the vocals and places all the focus on his churning drums and new age grooves.
This is another perfect package of masterfully electronic horizontal sounds.

Anklepants Introduces His Brand New Album For Detroit Undergroud, A Collection Of Ten Cuts, Made With His Very Own Arsenal Of Digital And Hardware Toys, Most Of Them Self Made And Customised For His Purposes. This Multi Faceted Artist Creates A Blend Of Twisted Ryhthms, Synthetic Melodies And Weird Textures And Noises, Yet Danceable Stuff But With Heavy Focus In Experimentation And Risk.

Pollen Opens The Release With A Weird Arabic Style Riff And Arpeggiated Clean Synths Over A Simple Beat, Until More Melodic Layers Complete The Equation.

Chowsey In Upstyled Onesy Minor Follows With Sampled And Morphed Traditional Instruments, Laying Over Destructed Beats And Rythms.

The Perfect Adult Man Relies On Atmospheric Stabs, Four Four Kick And Analogue Bubble Bassline, Dark, Grey And Melancholic.

'lé Cavé_isnt It Funny To Think Once Apon A Time People Thought The World Was Blue White Flat And Squaré' Is Made Of Twisted Samples, Asymetrical Grooves, Organic Instruments Decimated And Multiple Sound Layers.

808 Frapé Is An Homage To The Classic Drum Machine, Electro Shaped Drum Patterns, Floating Sounds And Crispy Metalic Glitches Dance With Random Sequences And Bleeps In A Robotic Exercise.

Reecard Farche The Torture Of Credo Mutwa And The Theft Of The Necklace Of Mysteries_noel Goes Again To Weird Random Bleepy Fields, Alien Grooves, Heavy Sound Processing And Glitched Details.

Industrial Kingpins Und Drachoen Is Dark, Obscure Number, Clear Rythms, Strings And Resonant Bassline Collide, The Groove Transforms To Broken Beats After The Break Bringing New Life To The Overall Feel.

Sharkblood, Sure The Sharks, Repeats This Phrase In Different Pitches Over A Solid Kick Pattern While More Vocal Layers Are Added Progressively In A Voice Madness.

Golife_refracto Relationé Again Plays With Samples In A Mad Style, Altering Every Parameter, Creating Granular Efects, Destroying The Audio Files Creating An Asymetric Tune.

Attila's Own Photos From The Shoot It's The Epilogue, In A Relaxed Mood, Sound Textures, Various String Samples Melting In Different Pitches And Crunchy Atmospheres.

Eight years after releasing his renowned Narrominded Split LP with Legowelt, Garçon Taupe returned with the acid drenched EP 'The White Spider' that came out on Enfant Terrible sublabel Gooiland Elektro in 2017. It sold out at the head quarters within three months and is now followed up with 'Kiklop EP' through his home base Narrominded. Stylistically, Kiklop EP follows the tracks of the Split LP with it's typical mix of electro beats, eighties synths and acid. The B side offers some serious dance floor material with Dok, followed by the slower and dirtier title track. The record will appeal to fans of DMX Krew, Ceephax Acid Crew and the Westcoast Sound of Holland. Mastered by Ma Spaventi.

Since '87 a 13 year old Jan Svensson AKA Villa Abo has been the back bone of Swedish electronic experimentalist group Frak and behind one of the biggest inspirations for Butter Sessions, Borft Records. As always, Jan keeps pushing the boundaries on this 4 tracker.

' Kicking it off, 'Just a 309' is a stripped-back rough and ready house track in true 90's Borft style.
On 'Mission Just Pam Pom' we are blasted with space zaps and bizzaro chords melted together with an irresistible beat and SFX from tomorrow.

The weird-o-meter is stepped up a few notches on the B Side with the sluggish yet hypnotic burn on 'Separated Together'.
A bonus collaborative effort on 'Pony-Flute' by Jan and another Frak member Duo J encapsulates us with a dramatic introduction of flute like synths and dark atmospheres taking us into the underworld...

Exhumed Tapes I is the first in a multi-artist series of cassette releases on the Modern Cathedrals label. With label art featuring small details of 'important graves,' the series will dig into eery, broken beat techno with gritty textures. The first cassette begins in a natural place: with Altstadt Echo crafting four works presented with an image depicting the grave-side rubble of his often-referenced inspiration Albert Camus. It will be limited to 50 hand-numbered physical copies.

Transparent Vinyl

Label boss Scalameriya is back! The Serbian behemoth delivers a must-have, 4-track EP full of epic synths, heavy beats and dramatic breakdowns.

One of the most exciting artists to emerge in techno circles in recent times, Drumcode is excited to present the label's first EP from Boxia. Over the last 12 months the UK artist has impressed with his classy take on techno that mines two decades of rave.

Last year's 'Colour Sequence' EP on We Are The Brave marked one of 2017's standout releases, before being tapped by Maya Jane Coles to remix a track from her latest album 'Take Flight', while B.Traits also shone the spotlight on him for a Future 12 residency on BBC Radio 1 throughout September.

Boxia first came into contact with Adam Beyer when he opened the Car Park at Tobacco Dock for LWE's NYD event in 2016, and since then the pair have spoken regularly sharing similar tastes in music and DJing. He dropped his first cut on DC during the summer of '16, with 'Revolution' that featured on A-Sides Vol. 5, making him primed and ready for his first full length EP in 2018.

The four-track work lives up to his growing reputation for crafting beautiful, nuanced and ultimately very powerful electronic music. The EP opens with 'No World Order', a deep transcendental slice of techno propelled by a wicked acid line and vocal that leads to a galloping finish.

'Only Human' is drenched in atmosphere and old skool wonder, a brilliant composition of punchy multi-layered drum work, catchy synth lines and cutting acid that reveals its tender side with emotive broken beat interludes. 'Unreal' is a big peak time belter, raising the tempo to sweaty palms level, as a propulsion of acid and a memorable riff fill the techno sphere.

The title track 'Ethereal Education' closes out the work, a beautiful chord-driven vocal cut that evokes images of the classic dance that characterised Boxia's earlier years and makes a fitting outro to this outstanding EP.

Radical Connector was originally released in 2004 and is now fnally back on vinyl. This re-issue is pressed on mixed splatter color vinyl and presented in a high gloss jacket with free download card.

Though reference points like Daft Punk and Prince have rightly been thrown around, Radical Connector is in fact a strange album that doesn't sound like much else.' - Pitchfork

Mouse on Mars is recognised as one of Germany's most defning and versatile electronic music projects. With their
anarchic mixture of sound that oscillates between uncontrollable chaos and meticulously arranged structures,
Jan St. Werner and Andi Toma have forged a unique musical language, which is readily decomposed by the
unpredictability of its myriad mutations. Free from schools of thought, genre conventions, and from the constraints
of the music establishment, they have worked under the Mouse on Mars alias for 24 years, mapping their own
idiosyncratic trajectory through a no man's land between pop, art, club music, and the avant-garde. - Jan Rohlf

Sexy robot vocals slip and slide all over juicy squeals, raindrop plops, and jungle-thick beats.'
- Entertainment Weekly
Stirring songs drift out of its frantic aural mishmashes, fnding a controlled center amid all the dizzy spin.'
- AV Club
Mouse on Mars have a gift for making electronic bleeps and buzzes sound like tangible objects that bounce,
bend and collide in physical space.' - Rolling Stone

A thrilling 9-song set, Murmurations is as perfectly pitched for headphones as it is for clubs, named after giant cloud formations of starlings and themed around the stunning emergent behaviors that appear within them. To mirror these movements in the sonic landscape and visuals of Murmurations, SMD's James Ford and Jas Shaw collaborated with the celebrated Hackney-based vocal collective The Deep Throat Choir, as well as creative directors Kazim Rashid of ENDLESSLOVESHOW (Aphex Twin, Flying Lotus, Hudson Mohawk) and Carri Munden.

Finding time in between Ford's work as a producer and Jas' club gigging last year, the duo arranged a session in Shaw's countryside studio. Via an introduction from a friend of Ford's wife, The Deep Throat Choir's director Luisa Gerstein and SMD began swapping some production and melodic ideas. They decided to bring the whole East London-based choir into the studio to experiment, and the results were intense. Jas says, 'Listening to them moving their voices around a tone, altering the timbre, making chords, was like working with an incredible new synthesiser.' Rashid and Munden explore related ideas centered on kinetic energy and communal movement throughout the visuals of Murmurations. Rashid says of the collaboration, 'We were both having discussions around the purity of collective human experience and how transcendental this can be. Techno and the dance-floor is one of the last true expressions of this euphoria.'

From the beat-less introduction 'Boids' onwards you can hear uncanny patterns and sounds rising up from the sea of voices -- not traditional chords or harmonies, but complex interference patterns that play tricks on the mind and merge perfectly with SMD's distinctive synth tonalities and instinctive dancefloor nous. At times you might hear hints of Bulgarian choral music, or Cocteau Twins, or avant-garde composers like Iannis Xenakis or Pauline Oliveiros - but really, thanks to the creative freedom of SMD's working methods, it is a sound completely of its own, something all too rare in an age of retro and reference.

Ford and Shaw still have the same love of pure sound, human harmonies and electronic possibilities that they did when they first met at university, and it's clear that their career path has allowed them to nurture this love and express it as vividly as ever before.

First Word Records is very proud to present the triumphant return of the UK's finest Hip Hop Soul duo, Children of Zeus, with a double-header of brand new material.

Since the release of 'The Story So Far' EP in 2017, Konny Kon and Tyler Daley have proceeded to draw in the attention of tastemakers across the world, receiving big ups from Hip Hop, Soul and dance music royalty, such as US legends Jazzy Jeff & DJ Spinna, and UK heavyweights Stormzy & Rag'n'Bone Man.

In addition to relentlessly rocking stages and studios all over Europe, Children of Zeus have somehow found the time to write and produce their debut album proper. This is the first taste..

'Slow Down' is a sure-shot Summer anthem, with a twist. A deceptively soulful slow jam that lulls you into a false sense of filtered smoothness, before a floor-shaking beat & trill hats drop in from above, as if thrown in via a thunderbolt from Zeus himself. On the flip, we have the uptempo boom-bap steppa, 'All Night'. Konny sets this one off on some straight b-boy isht, riding a rhythm that's guaranteed to make grown Hip Hoppers reminisce, before Tyler's sweet swing-tinged vocals glide into play to keep you firmly steppin' - this one again illustrating the Mancunian duo's craft of creating timeless Hip Hop Soul music.

Manchester has been riding a wave of immense creativity & musical prowess in recent years. Children of Zeus exemplify the heart and soul of Manny's now-movement - but don't get it twisted - the vibe is universal, and they definitely ain't new to this. Two decades on from the inception of Broke'N'£nglish and Hoodman, Tyler and Konny have consistently persistently held their corner, stayed true to the music they love and nurtured their own unique sound. It's almost time to drop that album... But for now, here's more future classics.

Sent from a nearby star system, from one world to ours. Wondering the streets with misguided importance. How du is new to our planet, but does not yet know why he is here, only that he must heal himself and all those he meets in order to find his home. An inherent feeling that he has arrived to protect and serve others from the deepest patterns of evil overwhelms him. Evil that spreads through the mind in conscious frequencies of the brain. Areas we call the Shadow Realms of oneself. Unable to communicate in the correct language his correspondence with Earth people can only be transmitted through sound and melody. Music is his language and his tool. This is the Landing.
Deep Garage with a minimal spin and a broken beat format. A story in sounds. Best served on the rocks. Shouts to the bristol crew. Banoffee x

AZZUR owner, Melokolektiv returns on Galaktika with his first solo vinyl Ep on the imprint 'Where Are You Earth '.

A side brings three amazing original tracks to the table made of synthetic melodies, spacey beat and acid basslines. "Control the Night" and "How to be Drawn" will, with no doubt, pleased the dancefloor while "Where are You Earth" presents something deeper and melancholic.

On the B side, we are happy to welcome two of our all time favorite producers.

First, Langenberg, who offers us a sublime reinterpretation in the line of his deep and organic releases on Liebe*Detail, Drumpoet Community and Poker Flat.

Then, UK legend Mark E who delivers a functional, raw and hypnotic reinterpretation. Definitely something which will please Dj's. Timeless!

My Vinyl Weighs a Ton is the first solo album by American hip hop producer and disc jockey Peanut Butter Wolf. It was released in 1999 on his own label, Stones Throw Records, in conjunction with Copasetik Records.

Born in 1990 to a truck manufacturer in Nara Japan, Youtaro was attracted to HIPHOP early on. First engaging with the culture through break dancing and then by making beats by 2010. In 2012 he began to release his MPC2000XL beats on Bandcamp -beats with heavy basslines and rough samples, described as a CHILL that intoxicates.

To the beat of the drum! Contrary to its predecessor, the second volume of Rhythm Trainx only features only one drummer and one drummer only. Said drum is by courtesy of Ketiov (the brain child of Catz ‚n Dogz' Voitek Taranczuk) and what was initially expected to be just a contribution to a various artist compilation, mushroomed into a six-track exercise in bonus beats and rhythm tools, with propelling percussions, murky bass lines and tribal thrills. Channeling the heroes of the past with the means of today, Ketiov balances functionality with interestingness. Impressively crafted, brilliantly executed and perfectly pounding. Even deaf DJs could spice up their sorry lives with two copies of this. Blow your whistle!

Japanese sound sculptors Steven Porter (aka Katsunori Sawa and Yuji Kondo) sign two striking productions to Kynant, with a pair of remixes completing the 'Reservoir' EP. 'A Need For Distance' on the A-side is abrasive and hard-hitting but not without moments of melody. Fellow Japanese purveyor of tripped-out techno Iori mines a lean, highly-effective groove on the remix. 'Romance Tip' takes a slower, endlessly-detailed approach with sharp percussion and mindbending atmospherics; Max Durante, who recently released his debut LP on Kynant, contributes a broken-beat workout to finish the record. Mastering by Giuseppe Tillieci aka Neel

From Hip Hop to Soul, then from Soul to Beatmaking, Sly Johnson never really changed universe. Today, it's immersed in the mechanics with processors and printed circuits that we find him, under the alias of TAGi, producer-beatmaker who, for the occasion, has joined the services of Steven Beatberg. It's together, in artistic autarchy with the only presence of softwares, samplers and sequencers, that they have built their pieces in the light of their computer screens.
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After three EP dominated by instrumentals, the duo finally chose to realise their dream: to craft a multi-voice album where customized production for each guest would guide the creative process.

Rapper Big Pooh, the former member of the Little Brother group (With Phonte & 9th Wonder), the contemporary soul of Lisa Spada, but also the rapist #madeinfrance Pumpkin (worthy descendant of MC Solaar, Fabe ...), multi-faceted Georgia Anne Muldrow, the MC Finale, the new rising wave of artists of the Hip-Hop scene in Detroit. Tiemoko from Paris, Saga an MC who follows the pure tradition of the New York Hip-Hop, the very smooth-jazzy Elodie Rama and Dilouya, the producer of the previous record of Sly (The Mic Buddah), are of this casting where men and women share the roles and where TAGi as soon as the mic presents itself to him, becomes again Sly Johnson for some refrains, choruses or solo rereading of the sublime "Retrograde" of James Blake.

Guided by Hip Hop since the 90's until today, worked in great detail, YOUARESURROUNDED highlights vintage keyboards on granular rhythms, injecting a lascivious Soul, P-funk, electro futuristic or melancholic in black and white touches on 13 tracks that are as atmospheric as they are emotional.

proper mixed bag this one.. soothing, grinding, banging, and disturbing!
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New York City by way of Miami, Alex Suarez delivers his debut lp the eight track "Autogolpe" for L.I.E.S. Autogolpe, is a term for military coup initiated by a dictator to take control of an existing government and Suarez uses this loose idea to create the sonic equivialent of the pain, strife, oppression, isolation, and joyous freedom associated with said act. Musically he expands on his prior releases for Bank and Primitive Languages as heavy industrialized sonic beatings sit next to somber passages, oil drum slow beat tribal clangers provide a back drop for screams shooting out of the dark. Musically it paints a distorted picture of world in decline, an exile from another land and arrivial to anothers in chaos or the clinging hope of something better on the other side.

Berlin based Jens Dohle is a man of many talents. An accomplished composer and arranger for theatre productions across Europe, classically trained multi instrumentalist, explosive live drummer for YE:SOLAR, Munk, Hot Coins, Sado Opera. Longtime collaborator with Danilo Plessow aka MCDE and Noema from African Shakedown fame. Remixer for Jazzanova and 4 Hero. There's not enough room here to list his amazing work.

2018 ushers forth a new identity to his already enviable C.V with his first EP as James Dole (a jokingly anglicised version of his birth name). The 3 tracks here all showcase his ability to create a strong mood and use great splashes of melody and rhythm but without ever losing the groove. Written during a period of 'introspection' in deepest, darkest Berlin, each one tells a different story.

Ex is a moody monster of a track. It builds and builds into a pounding nightime symphony with a kind of epic-ness which hints at many years spent mining the highs and lows of music, love and life. Big room yet with a gut wrenching soul beneath the slightly flamboyant majesty. Made in East Berlin and well road tested in the cities debauched nightclubs.

Fantasia shows off Mr Doles jazz and broken beat background with rolling, funky drums sashaying with hip hoppy live jazz keys. Then those signature euphoric yet melancholic synths appear halfway through the track to create an emotionally halcyon mood. WIBES.

The EP closes with Grande. Super melodic yet cinematic with amazing synth work and a sophisticated arrangement showcasing James's well trained musicianship and artistry. An opus of melody and longing built for Italian arthouse films about unrequited love.


DJ Support from - Midland, Honey Soundsystem, Sandrino, Jimpster, Ame, DVS1, Shadow Child, Joe Goddard, Red Rack'em, Futureboogie, Soft Rocks, Domenic Cappello, Downtown Party Network, Danny Russell

Unterton kicks off 2018 sideways with three tracks of high-octane electronics by Mark. 0-160 BPM in 15 minutes. Previous EPs for A Colourful Storm had a conceptual focus: the destructive effects of tech start-ups on Berlin's cultural landscape. Sound-wise, they paired frenetic, experimental d'n'b with musique concrète. On his Unterton debut, Mark continues further down a path of dark and psychedelic beat science. At times tranquil and hypnotic, other times charging forward between cracked whips and whiplash left-turns. 'Comedy is the dog that walks out of the room when you call its name."

The "Perfect Illusion EP" opens up with "Never Can get Away", a steamy & dreamy cut that sucks you right in to it's lair of thick pads and trancy sequences, which are contrasted by a carefully programmed synth bassline and a stomping house beat.

Next the title track immediately evokes early Chicago warehouse jam feelings, with bass sequence, detuned chords and classic drum patterns all oozing of old analogue Roland machines.

"Running Number" starts as a no-nonsense house track, yet it transcends into 80s territory with the help of a deeply emotional chord progression that might just make you forget you're in a club.

Berlin Duo Longhair give "Running Number" the Luv-Remix treatment, really digging deep into that chord progression and building a melody and synth-bell infused Italo-house track around it that should make this year's festival crowd weep and rejoice alike.

One of Sonic Groove's longest standing label artists, Realmz returns with an infectious well rounded four cut extended EP entitled 'Mindfold'. Straight out of Pittsburgh the steel city capital of the USA Realmz has been involved in electronic music since the last decade of the 20th century. Growing up on a steadfast diet of Industrial/EBM/IDM/Detroit techno and Drum & Bass, Realmz has taken inspiration from these many underground forms of electronic music. In his signature style, the Sci-fi sound design on 'Mindfold' weaves it's way in an out of bleak futuristic overtones set across a multitude of uniquely written broken beat and 4/4 drum rhythms. This heavily thought provocative & extremely well produced, contemporary Industrial Techno EP is a must for any aficionado of the genre.

Glyn Bigga Bush has been producing electronic and sample-based music since the early 90s when he formed Rockers Hi Fi, going on to release numerous albums. Since the turn of the century he has produced and DJ'd as BiggaBush as well as various side projects such as Lightning Head (Sonar Kollektiv), the Dandelion Set (Buried Treasure) and the Magic Drum Orchestral (Tru Thoughts).

Bigga's latest project 'Sunken Foal Stories' represents a departure from much of his other work in that it is not primarily based on beats. Instead, his working method was to go with fascinating samples, accidental juxtapositions and irregular loops - inspired by pioneers of sound such as Faust and the audio experiments of Julian House as well as early stereo test records, soundtracks and library music.

The 21 concise tracks of Sunken Foal Stories link into two 15 minute segments on the LP. Bush explores the random elements created by overlaying disparate samples, where chimes of baroque psychedelia clash with ascending classical strings, or a haunting Eastern European folk song is looped into an eternal cadence of longing. Various voices float over the speakers, lost poets, disturbing therapists, dreaming vampires, chuckling cabaret singers. Sourced almost entirely from charity shops and carboot sales, the source material speaks of a forgotten yet relatively recent period, when stereo was something new and exciting, when home entertainment first came into its own and suburban homes thrilled to the exotic sounds of home organs, primitive beatboxes, LPs bought in unusual holiday destinations and 'glamorous' soundtracks.