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Weymouth punk band Weatherstate are back with a bang in 2021. Since releasing their debut album ‘Born A Cynic’ via Failure By Design Records in 2019, the band have been busy playing gigs (both IRL when that was allowed and on the internet when it was necessary) and continually working on new music. Their hooky, melodic riffs, 90s throwback feel with a modern twist and hard-working DIY ethic caught the attention of awesome independent label Rude Records, who are set to release the band’s second album in 2021. Led by vocalist and guitarist Harry Hoskins, Weatherstate’s line-up is completed by guitarist Callan Milward, Joe Hogan on bass and drummer Toby Wrobel. They’ve risen to the challenges that COVID has posed and, whilst the pandemic threw a bit of a spanner in the works, the band have been working with Four Year Strong’s Alan Day to produce new songs with them, albeit remotely. “I feel Alan really taught us a lot about how to approach a song and see the potential in having an open mind on songwriting,” enthuses Callan about the process and connection. “We really wanted to level up and evolve as a band. I feel the first single we’re releasing - ‘Hangar’ - is evidence of that. He's a super talented dude and has great vision in the potential of new music.” “It goes without saying but doing everything remotely has been a massive challenge and an interesting obstacle to overcome,” continues Callan. “Especially for us, as we have been pretty traditionalist when it comes to writing. I feel we handled it in the best way we could, considering the international side of things too. With pre-production, we had to have some late nights because of the time-zone differences. Neil Kennedy at The Ranch really nailed the engineering and Alan smashed the mix over in the States. All I can say is that you can work miracles over Zoom these days.”

Capping off a busy year as producer, DJ and label owner, Rory Hamilton provides a quick follow up to October's ‘Think About Me’ EP with the third release on his Italo Hiits imprint.

Once again arriving on coloured 10” vinyl, ’Strangeness’ takes the label's twisted disco sound into new territories that draws on both the genre’s darker hedonistic side and its more nostalgic leanings. The two-tracker will arrive on opaque green 10” vinyl & digital formats in November 2021.

The longstanding DJ comes through with a brand new album for the modern times, keeping the tradition alive through a stacked tracklist of heavy hitters. With an extension of the popular posse cut, “Rolling 25 Deep,” DJ Kay Slay ups the ante with an 18 minute anthem, “Rolling 50 Deep,” featuring the likes of Benny The Butcher, Bun B, Styles P, Ghostface Killah, Raekwon and more. He further adds to his track record of pairing together artists for hit records with cuts from Ghostface Killah & Busta Rhymes, Conway the Machine & Sheek Louch, and Juicy J & Jim Jones.

Ryley Walker currently resides in New York City. But his latest LP is a Chicago record in spirit. The masterful Course In Fable, the songwriter’s fi@h solo effort,
draws from the deep well of that city’s ferCle 1990s scene, when bands like Tortoise, The Sea and Cake and Gastr del Sol were reshaping the underground,
mixing and matching indie rock, jazz, prog and beyond.
Walker spent his formaCve years in Chicago, absorbing those heady sounds and finding ways to make them his own. Even though he emerged at first in folkrock
troubadour mode, it makes sense that he’s arrived at this point; each LP has grown more intricate and assured, his influences disClling into something
original and unusual. To put it simply: Course In Fable is Walker’s best record yet, full of acCve imaginaCon and endless possibiliCes.
Last October, Ryley went straight to one of the primary architects of the Chicago sound to make the LP. John McEn:re, Course In Fable’s producer/engineer/
mixer, can rightly be called a legend for his work with Tortoise, Stereolab, The Red Krayola, Jim O’Rourke and countless others over a prolific career that now
spans more than three decades. Seeing his name in an album’s liners is preVy much a trademark of quality.
Another Windy City exile, McEnCre is based on the west coast these days, working out of the Portland, OR studio he’s dubbed Soma West. On the seven songs
here, he delivers the signature shimmering and prisCne sonics he’s become known for over the years. But McEnCre was also inCmately involved with Course
In Fable’s overall creaCve process. “I told him to take the mixes and have at it,” Walker says.
The result is a rich, immersive affair — a headphones record if ever there was one. Course In Fable’s songs are twisty, labyrinthine things, stuffed full of ideas
(Walker half-jokingly calls it his “prog record”). But no maVer how complex it gets, the album is never overwhelmingly busy. Wiry guitars melt into gorgeous
string secCons (arranged by Douglas Jenkins of the Portland Cello Project). Tricky Cme signatures abound but feel as natural as can be. Melodies o@en dri@ in
unexpected direcCons but remain downright hummable. Like Walker’s beloved Genesis, the pop element is never too far from the surface even when shit
gets weird. (And speaking of weird, Ryley says that in addiCon to Genesis, much of the album’s inspiraCon comes from “Australian extreme scooter riders on
YouTube and balding gear heads on Craigslist.” Go figure.)
To help put together these various puzzle pieces, Ryley assembled a band made up of several longCme collaborators. Bill MacKay (another Chicago mainstay)
and Walker have made two excellent instrumental duo records of interlocking guitars and warm give-and-take — a rapport very much in evidence
throughout Course In Fable. The freakishly talented drummer Ryan Jewell has performed with Walker for years now in a variety of seangs, from
straighborward song-centric sets to blown-out improv extravaganzas. Bassist Andrew ScoJ Young (Tiger Hatchery, Health&Beauty) has logged many miles on
tour with Walker; he and Jewell are frequently astonishing, a buoyant-but-always-locked-in rhythm secCon, able to navigate someCmes dizzying turnarounds
with apparent ease. Listening to the interplay between Walker and these musicians and you might be fooled into thinking they’d spent a year roadtesCng
Course In Fable’s songs. But it all came together relaCvely fast, thanks to demos, rehearsals and the kind of musical empathy that comes from years of
playing together.
Beneath the wondrous interplay, you’ll find some of Walker’s most personal – if sCll typically crypCc — lyrics, hinCng at some of the trials the songwriter has
been dealing with in recent years. Balanced with necessary doses of dark humor and oddball poetry, Course In Fable feels most of all like a life-affirming
record, fresh air in the lungs, sun on your skin. “Fuck me, I’m alive,” Ryley sings at one point, a moment of both disbelief and pure joy.
Walker has released his albums on a who’s-who of independent labels over the past decade — Tompkins Square, Dead Oceans, Thrill Jockey and Drag City
among them. This Cme around, he’s doing it DIY-style, puang Course In Fable out on his own Husky Pants imprint. You’re in good hands. This is an album that
sounds great (mastered by Greg Calbi), looks great (artwork by Jenny Nelson and design by Michael Vallera). It probably even smells great. Whether you’ve
been onboard since the beginning or are new to the Ryley Walker universe, you’re in for a treat.

When Lindstrom and Prins Thomas get together, expect the unexpected. The Norwegian production duo's third album III is also their first outing together in eleven years, since II from 2009 and as ever, Lindstrom and Prins Thomas have crafted their own unique sonic world between the two of them. This is expansive, luscious electronic music rich with texture and intricacy, patiently revealing every eccentricity while constantly pulling the listener in. Getting lost never sounded so good. Since the release of II, Lindstrom and Prins Thomas have remained more than busy with their respective solo careers, but work on III was taking place behind the scenes the whole time - slow and steady by sending files back and forth. "There's a different process with every album," Thomas explains. "With the first two albums, we had a door between separate rooms in the studio, so I could open my door and play him something. We also toured together a lot after the first album, and after that experience we realized that we work better together at a distance. We're doing our best work by not worrying too much about what the other one of us is doing." Eventually, the bulk of III came together over the last year, as Lindstrom and Prins Thomas teamed up to craft a lush and lovely work that recalls the hazy atmospherics of Air, the loose-fit jazz of Lonnie Liston Smith, and the genreresistant electronic music that both artists have made their name on over the course of their impressive careers. "Our partnership is very democratic "we never turn down each other's ideas. And if it goes wrong, we blame it on the other guy," Thomas says with a laugh. "The tracks that Lindstrom sent me this time were almost like standard house tracks. I already had an idea of what I wanted to do, so I forced those tracks into new shoes and dresses." Above all else, III is a testament to the adventurousness of Lindstrom and Prins Thomas when it comes to soundcraft. Both artists have established separate careers on bodies of work that feature infinite twists and turns, thrilling their audiences with the suggestion of where they've been and where they're about to go. Together, they've crafted what might be their most beguiling and inviting work yet, a jeweled box of electronic music ornately crafted but never losing the sense of playfulness that so many have come to love from them.

Hell Yeah call upon their merry crew of grown up groove makers to revisit key tracks from Quiroga's widely acclaimed Passages album, with Whodamanny, Jazz N Palms, A Vision of Panorama and My Friend Dario all stepping up.

The original album was noted as Piccadilly Records' Best Balearic Album of 2019 and a year on is still providing solace for us in these strange times. First to add his own spin to it is Periodica associate Whodamanny from Naples, whose magical take on 'Martinica Feelings' made it onto the excellent recent Buena Onda compilation, which is out now. It is a big hearted vocal reinterpretation filled with stomping kicks and twisted synths that bring the funk next to withering sci-fi effects and happy piano chords.

Then, up steps man of the moment Jazz N Palms, a resident at the cult Ibiza venue Pikes and regular at London's Ronnie Scotts. He has recently started his own self titled label and here offers a mad Latin jazz take on 'Africa Addio' that brims with energy and sunshines. The busy percussion will make you move your ass and the whole thing has a sexy 70s vibe.

Saint Petersbourg's very own balearic legend A Vision of Panorama is hailed as the king of the modern balearic sound thanks to EPs on labels like Omena. He takes care of 'The Zoist' with sentimental melodies and sunset grooves to die for. His arching pads speak to the soul and melt the heart.

Last of all, Hell Yeah's very own discovery My Friend Dario (who soon has an EP coming on NuNorthern Soul, recently remixed Calm and Gallo) tackles 'Chiaia Sunset'. The result is a laidback and cathartic track that slowly unfolds on tumbling drums and wooden hits as synths leave vapour trails high up in the clear blue sky above.

These are four more high class remixes that will keep the summer vibes alive long into Autumn.

It’s been a busy eight months since Dampé’s debut on Dirt Crew Recordings. That time has seen the producer hold down monthly slots on Rinse FM, contribute a downtempo electronica/jazz edit to the S3A ‘Pages Remixes” EP as well as open big rooms for the likes of Surgeon and Blawan.

The intervening months have also seen the producer set up camp in the Rhythm Section studio in South East London, and the result of new access to studio gear can be heard all across ‘Garden’. Compared to the debut ‘Peach Shuffle’ this is a far more machine-led and darker listening experience. Snatches of acoustic instruments and space remain, but it’s never long before the disembodied vocals and oversaturated classic drum kits return reminding you this is music best enjoyed in the club.

‘A Basement, 10 Years Ago’ started just there. A bass line dimly recalled from a long-lost 6am jam is sequenced on a weighty analogue keyboard, while syrupy R&B vocals dance around mbira and gangsa, all slowly building and building together. ‘727 and Arp Breaks’ is a love letter to two of the producer’s favourite instruments from the studio. A TR-727 and an Arp Odyssey collide across dubbed out stabs to form some very rolling breaks.
Sunday Night Machines’ sees Dampé tame the box-of-physics that is the Arp Odyssey again with a sprawling meditation on two repeating arpeggios.

‘Garden’ is the one for the dancers. Four variations play with the same melodic theme in distinct sections, with the second variation being the deepest and most floor-ready the whole record gets. ‘France’ is a warped dub-come-hip hop beat that manages to conjure both Lil Jon and Yusef Lateef. We approached Liverpool’s finest ASOK (Lobster Theremin, M>O>S Delsin) for remix duties and to close out the record with a twisted bang. He turned in a propelling weapon that brings a whole new texture to the track listing. It’s very 90’s, very ravey and very raw, in a true IDM style.

With this eclectic mix of sounds we are entering another chapter of the Dirt Crew story and we hope you dig it as much as we do!

Robin Ball's Memory Box builds on the success of early releases with a big new outing that features two of his own tracks and one from the legendary Luke Vibert. Memory Box is a party that has hosted Derrick Carer, Trevino and A Guy Called Gerald among others, and is a place to hear proper acid house. Ball himself is a master of the genre and most often released on his own Groovepressure label, having been making music since his teens. Now his latest labour of love is once again reaffirming his status as a vital voice in the UK scene. Luke Vibert has a rich history that makes him a key part of the UK's dance counterculture over the last 30 years. His always animated music is wild and inventive and comes on greats like Mo Wax, Warp and Planet Mu. Here he offers 'X to C', a wild melange of warped synth tones, grizzled basslines & acid flashes. It will twist and turn the dance floor inside out. Robin Ball's excellent 'Gripper' is a corrugated bit of electric house music that never sits still. Pensive pads in the background are offset by a busy lead synth line and old school stabs that make it a perfectly timeless, energetic fusion of moods and grooves. Lastly, Ball serves up 'The Edge,' a brilliantly brash cut with stepping acid sequences, raw drum work and warped bass that distills decades of UK music into one essential track. These are three devastating club cuts that expertly draw on the past, present and future of acid.

Seth Troxler & The Martinez Brothers' Tuskegee Music welcomes Chicago legend K- Alexi Shelby for a new EP that features some essential solo cuts as well as two great collaborations with Tony Lovlesss.K-Alexi is a genuine Chicago great. He's been at the core of the scene since the eighties and releasing his raw grooves on DJ International, Trax and Transmat, as well as his own K Klassik label. He has recently remixed for Seth Troxler's other label, Say It Play It, but is now back serving up the sort of engaging originals that have made him such an enduring star.
Excellent opener 'Cherry K Moon' is a raw slice of deep and soulful tech. The driving bassline melts your mind as afro percussion and driving drums make for a solid groove below. It's one for the late-night hours that will twist and turn any crowd inside out. The superb 'Dark Smile' is less tense and more house oriented in nature, with preacher style vocals up top and busy kicks down low. Live, chattery hand claps bring an organic feel and synth stabs inject looseness that will get hands in the air.
The pressure then builds through the manic Tony Lovlesss collab 'Anal Probe', a powerful techno track with hi tech drums and taught synths freaking you out as they ride up and down the scale. Their second track together 'Fly Shit' is more playful with radiant synths opening it up to the skies and lively, funky drum programming bringing a real sense of a sun kissed terrace party. Last of all, the standout 'Run With Jackals' feat. A.D.M is another heavily percussive track with rattling toms, vocal chants and hammering hits all adding up to a compelling afro-house rhythm. These are all innovate tracks that explore various different moods and grooves with a real sense of quality.

(180 gr) Mark Barrott steps away from the Balearic sound he's become synonymous with to take a journey back to the territory he first explored with Bepu N'Gali. The Pathways Of Our Lives is a joyous, life affirming piece of 70's Afro Soul with amodern twist, continuing Barrott's love affair with African Polyrhythms and 70's Philly Strings.
It's also the first time since 2014's aforementioned Bepu N'Gali release that he has worked with a full band and sees The Grünewald Quartet return to string duties after collaborating on Barrott's Sketches from an Island 2 album last year.

The Bside, Music for Santoor, Bansuri, Tanpura y Sarod is another track recorded live during one of his spring meditation sessions in Northern Ibiza, with India's Vishnu Quartet performing a 2 hour piece with Barrott directing and later editing it down into the form you hear today.

After a busy and productive first half of 2017 in which Barrott released his Music for Presence EP and two Talamanca System releases, this summer sees Mark Barrott step into high gear with his work at La Torre in Ibiza, where he is sunset resident and has compiled the second edition of their compilation
series (last year's debut charting high in best mixes of the year by Resident Advisor).

Pathways invites the listener inside Barrott's mystical world, where stillness and meditation are the foundations, non-attachment and non-judgement are the windows, and through the music he mindfully sketches a vista into the next chapter in his career.

Pitchfork calls International Feel's "Pathways Of Our Lives" incredible. Hell of a track.

Dance floor taskmaster REINHARD VOIGT is at it again,

dropping a new set of raw, willful techno cuts that follow his much-acclaimed solo release REISEN & SPEISEN (KOMPAKT 338) and a stirring split EP effort with Michael Mayer on TIME IS RUNNING (KOMPAKT 328). He even found time in his busy Kompakt schedule to throw in a rare remix for El_Txef_A on rising underground imprint Forbidden Colours. Voigt's latest outing KONTRASTE fits snugly in the artist's tradition of powerful, minimalistic techno with a headbanging twist: oscillating between pure movement,

and monolithic, abstract riff, the a side's THE SINGING SAW interweaves several rugged synth motives around a stoic, empowering bassdrum, while b side jam TRUST takes the scenic route, building its simple, yet highly effective lead sounds up into a towering grinder with a touch of silkiness. As we've grown to expect from REINHARD VOIGT, the whole is always greater than the sums of its parts, with these new recordings again proving his mastery of all things banging.

Nachtbraker is back! It's been a huge year for the Amsterdam deep house juggernaut who returns to Dirt Crew with his all new and colorfully titled "Really Ties The Room Together" EP. Constantly on the move, he's found time between touring throughout Europe, Asia and South America to continue to push his a-typical house sound forward with this year's HEIST release and his quirky jam "Busy Bee" that was featured on our "Deep Love 100 Compilation. This three tracker is jam packed with bouncing club tunes and a whole lot of flange. Things kick off with the title track "Really Ties The Room Together". It twists and turns over an unconventional but irresistible groove, shimmying shakers, brass stabs and a serpentine riff work together creating a super tight dance floor cut. "Rew" begins somewhere in deeper territory, suspense building beneath the clouds, a rumbling bass rolls in from over the horizon before a glorious funk guitar blows the whole thing wide open, letting the sun's rays burst through and that familiar Nachtbraker good time energy shine in. The rerub of "Rew" is something altogether new from our deep house protagonist, a break beat and casual groove guide gently towards an ever intensifying acid trip. Don't be fooled by the lovely deep chords, things get nasty in the end. It's best to expect the unexpected from our adventurous resident producer, and this EP is no exception.

Collecting Eddie Ruscha's cassette recordings over two compilation albums has been one of the highlights of the
label, so it seemed right to hand over the choice tracks to a set of his contemporaries from the City of Angels.First up is rising star Suzanne Kraft. The alias of Diego Herrara, very much a young man to watch. With releases for Running Back, Young Adults and Noise In My Head, as well as possibly EP of the year already as Dude Energy, while holding down being a member of The Pharoahs (ESP Institute / Not Not Fun) and not forgetting, one half of Blase with Mr Ruscha himself, he's a busy man so getting this remix took some effort! However, it was all worth
it, as Diego takes the crazy afro-stylings of Afrobotics and pulls it towards the danceflor, adding percussion and sirens, forging the originals vibes in to a ethno-beat club jam that is all about that heads down moment. Next up is the quirksum individuality of The Samps. The project of one of LAs fiest, but hidden musicians,
Cole M.G.N. Working with Nite Jewel, Ariel Pink and Puro Instinct is cool enough, but his solo Samps project is another level, with a mind-altering exploration of funk warped electronics. Sure enough then, his take on Shockers is just that, a mash of beats, bass and sample cut ups. This is pyschedelic dance music for the mind.
Flipping things completely is LA's Mr Funk himself, Tom Noble. Taking the laid back grooves of Underdogs, Tom does his trademark good time, party vibes with a killer boogie style remix. Letting the groove do the work, keys and a good deal of wiggle just led it all ride home. Finally then is something Emotional Response is all about, highlighting producers the label is fans of, but letting them explore alternate spheres. While Cameron Stallones' Sun Araw project has become one of the names in
modern psychedelic experimentation, little is known of the alter-ego Aristrocrat P. Child. With just one cassette of warped disco edits to his name, here he closes the EP with exactly that, a re-edit of cut up irreverance, twisted and looped to distraction - an ethereal experimental and modern musical genius...just like Mr
Ruscha.

After last years Hyperdub debut with the popular 'Set The Tone' EP, Ossie's been busy building a name for himself, as a DJ and a producer with both Ossie and Black Orange Juice releases. He comes back to Hyperdub here with the 'Ignore EP', sporting two catchy, housey, broken beat bombs. 'Ignore' features the vocals of Tilz, singing about the game of winding up the opposite sex, over bouncy, broken drums, neat stabs, and a bendy acidic bassline, with wave-like chords building up and down as if in reflection of the cat and mouse antics of the lyrics. 'Find It' on the B-side makes good with layering some roughly cut up female vocal samples, Todd Edwards-style, but twisted and dubbed into strange shapes, incorporating sloppy, dusty drums and a bassline that sounds like Wiley's early eski beat melodies, keeping the track rolling along and sounding mischievous and chunky. This release continues Ossie's building reputation as a house producer with a very British sound.