Search:the cut

DJ support: Gilles Peterson, Zakia Sewell, Heels & Souls, Sam Don, Nonna Fab

Dangerous Goods return to I Travel to You with Wish, two Street Soul inspired versions of a 2001 R&B hit.

Both synth-driven takes were recorded over the summer. The A side grooves over a popping Juno bassline, tight 808 drums, and a fresh vocal. The Deepest Dub mix was re-recorded then cut to tape and pitched down, influenced by the breaks and bass heavy productions of the late 80s and early 90s.

Gospel melts into Soul in this dazzling collection of sides originally released by the Chess subsidiary.


Devised by the same team supporting the likes of Muddy Waters and Etta James at Chess, the vintage of Checker Gospel celebrated here is distinguished by its expertly raw, rugged, live feel — thumping bass and pounding drums, bluesy guitar and horns — and its keen engagement with contemporary realities and politics, with an underlying, unwavering commitment to the Civil Rights movement. Not forgetting its sheer, startling, richly diverse soulfulness.

Key architects of the Chicago Sound and Motown are amongst the scores of contributors: Charles Stepney, Gene Barge, Eddie Kendricks, and Leonard Caston Jr. are in the house… Morris Jennings, drummer on Curtis’ Superfly and Terry Callier’s What Color Is Love… Louis Satterfield from The Pharaohs and Earth Wind & Fire… Ramsey Lewis’ guitarist Byron Gregory… Phil Upchurch… Laura Lee…

Producer Monk Higgins joined Checker in 1967, bringing his experience of R&B and Gospel hit-making for the labels One-derful and Satellite, together with a loyal cohort of musicians. A protege of Willie Dixon, engineer Malcolm Chisholm set up the Ter Mar studio as if preparing for a live gig, carefully teasing measures of bleed into the microphones. With Ralph Bass from King Records running A&R, they knew exactly what they were after. ‘I’m using horns and an R&B sound in gospel recordings,’ said Bass. ‘We have no charts. All the musicians are given the chord changes. I want the cats to think when we’re cutting. I want spontaneity, and that’s what we’re getting.’ And: ‘There is more to gospel than just finding solace in the church. This follows the same message of Martin King, who was fighting for a new way of life. Kids are tired of hearing Jesus Give Us Help. They want a positive message.’

Focussed on the late sixties and early seventies, the twenty-five recordings here are all killer no filler, but try these four, random entry points: the heavy funk ostinato of the Violinaires’ Groovin’ With Jesus, working itself up into a post-James-Brown brass frenzy, sure to knock your socks off; Cleo Jackson Randle’s title track, for those who like their Gospel straight-up and hard-core; Eddie Kendricks’ achingly timely choral call-to-arms, Stand Up America, Don’t Be Afraid; the East St Louis Gospelettes’ heart-stopping, fathoms-deep rendition of Bobby Bland’s I’ll Take Care Of You.
A beautiful gatefold sleeve; a full-colour booklet with excellent notes by Robert Marovich; top-notch sound. Another knockout selection by Greg Belson and David Hill.

A shoo-in for soul compilation of the year.

Roberto Musci, born in Milan in 1956, studied guitar, music and electronic instruments. From 1974 to 1985 he traveled the world studying African, Indian, Arabic and Oriental music, recording ethnic music “in the field,” studying and collecting ethnic musical instruments from all over the world. His self-produced debut album, “The Loa of Music,” is a seminal work of staggering originality and extraordinary beauty in which field recordings, musique concrète, electronics, synthesis and instrumentation are interwoven, drawing on the countless musics from around the world that he has recorded. The subsequent “Water messages on desert sand,” composed with Giovanni Venosta, was nominated for a Grammy in the UK in 1987. In the 1980s and 1990s he broadcast ethnic and electronic-experimental music from Rai and Radio Popolare radio stations. He has also composed and played music for videos, commercials, dance, poetry, theater, composed soundtracks and accompanied silent films live. From 1980 to the present, he has played with many Italian and European musicians: Giovanni Venosta, Claudio Gabbiani, Walter Prati, Giorgio Magnanensi, Massimo Cavallaro, Massimo Mariani, Moni Ovadia, Roberto Zorzi, Chris Cutler, Jon Rose David Moss, Steve Piccolo, Elliott Sharp, Keith Tippett and the Third Ear Band.

The theme of travel, ethnicities and mysticism are a pivotal point in this new album of his as well, demonstrating once again how music needs absolutely no sharp lines of demarcation. The music is one.

It goes from the search for deep meanings in a time spent in a Hindu monastery (Ashram) listening to mantras and studying Buddhist philosophy (The Principle Of Things) to space explorations and human settlements on the Moon or Mars wondering how man will live and what he will bring to the new worlds imagining that Sufism, an Islamic mystical religion, will accompany him in the discovery of new worlds (Derviches On Mars). In Goodbye Monsters, harmony and peace are sought. Memories Of A Piano Player is a tribute to Keith Tippett, a great pianist (King Crimson , Centipede, Mujician) with whom he played in several concerts and with whom I spent evenings talking about music, food and Italian wine. Quantum State focuses on how quantum mechanics is creating a revolution in the way of thinking and dividing reality into infinite Parallel Worlds. Panthalassa is the vast ocean that surrounded Pangea and blends South American marimba music and traditional Chinese music. Burn The Shadows is a tribute to the fascinating Indonesian shadow theater, from the stories told and the atmosphere created during the long plays told in the sacred Indian texts of Ramayana or Mahabharata. Shadows are also more or less pleasant memories to which one is attached, and to burn them is still to move on with one's life.

Torajan Funeral Chant: The Toraja are a people living in Sulawesi (Indonesia) who have a special worship of the dead. Funerals are festivals that last several days, the corpses are protected by Tau-Tau (small dolls that watch over cemeteries), and over the years, they exhume the corpses of their relatives and keep them in their homes with them for a time to remember them.

The experimentation goes all the way to modern Artificial Intelligence that 'interrogated' to create something new by inserting conflicting inputs joins them together but nonsensically creating interesting insights; hence A.I. In Confusion. Pangea, named after the continent that contained all the land that emerged between 540 and 200 million years ago, in the Paleozoic and Mesozoic periods, imagined as inhabited by man without divisions created by borders, wars, religions or ethnic groups, is also a tribute to Steve Reich, one of the fathers and a great musician of minimal music. Prophecies, a reading of sacred texts and religious songs from evangelical sects in the United States filtered into granular synthesis with percussion music from South India, closes.

This Summer The Florentian Cabaret showcases his sound once more as he explores new creative avenues with the launch of his own eponymous label. The label will give the thriving Italian talent a chance to showcase the full spectrum of his sound with no boundaries, sharing all of his refined tastes, and influences he has absorbed over the years. The “Space. Time. Gravity.” EP features four classy cuts, timeless trips inside the mind of The Florentian Cabaret.

Playful drum patterns lead the way in the title track, conversing in harmony with the nostalgic 80s synths, teasing you down an animated path of disco leaning house energy. Emotional textures crafted for the dance floor moments. “Stairs On Mars” is built upon an underground energy of time gone by, slick hi-hats drive the track in combination with a raw and rugged bass, nodding towards the heydays of rave. Distinct and progressive peak time movements steering the release into an alternative direction.
“Rocket’90 leads you down a pacey path of low end paradise, in combination with spaced infused acid tones. A transition track for when you want to switch things up, and steer the dance floor to new heights. Hypnotic as it moves, progressing into classy peak time action as the atmosphere continues to simmer. Next up we have the aptly named “Stars”, as this pulsating and driven track will take you exactly there. Nostalgic drums maintain a steady and transcending groove, conversing with the mechanical pads and synths which spiral around the heart of the track. Constructed for the rave, and the tastemakers of modern dance music!

Leo Gibbon debuts his first solo release, as the first release on his own Mudline label with Happy Lovers, a four-track EP that immerses listeners in a sonically rich exploration of love’s complexities. Weaving a tapestry of sounds that seamlessly blends deep cuts, hard-hitting drums, and weighty low ends, creating an engaging landscape for both dancefloor enthusiasts and reflective souls alike.

From the opening track, you can feel the infectious rhythms that draw on a diverse range of influences. Glitchy house elements flirt with the raw essence of street soul, while nods to 140 UK rollers add an irresistible pulse. Each track unfolds like a chapter in a modern love story, capturing the tumult of falling in and out of love, all while maintaining a groove that keeps the crowd moving.

The EP’s production shines, showcasing a meticulous attention to detail. He masterfully balances emotional depth with dancefloor energy, making Happy Lovers not just a collection of tracks, but a coherent narrative that resonates on multiple levels. Whether you’re seeking introspection or an escape into sound, This Mudline debut offers the perfect backdrop.

In Happy Lovers, Leo Gibbon has established a strong foundation for his musical journey, inviting listeners to experience the highs and lows of love through an expertly crafted sonic lens. This is a compelling start for both the artist and his new label, one that promises exciting avenues to explore in the future.

Take cover! It's impossible to get rid of the now legendary Stupeflip Crou (="crew"). Like a two-taste chewing-gum that's been stuck under your trainers since 1994, King Ju is back in force with Sons2ouf!!, an album meticulously selected from hundreds of unreleased tracks and alternative versions accumulated over the years. Always on the fringes of a bloated Game, Ju takes us on a tour of his strange cabinet of curiosities. Far from being a simple collection of sounds, the album is a real creation in its own right in the Stup discography. 'Mock-ups are often better than the final sound, like a sketch that's always more alive than a finished painting,' he explains. Here we find that first draft, bits of stuff not yet digested by the industry. Some of the nuggets are antediluvian, but they sound extremely lively, as if they had been written the day before. In Stupeflip's parallel world, time doesn't exist. We find the themes dear to Crou: childhood, rage, non- violence, the passage of time, a passion for music and nostalgia. As usual, the beat is cut with a meticulous flow, there's no time to take a breath, the Stup just does what it wants, churning out one bullet after another in a fusion of genres and styles that's as distinctive as ever. Specially dedicated to aficionados, the album celebrates 30 years of Le Crou! The Holy Grail for every Stup fan!

DJ Support - Wehbba, Ilario Alicante, Marco Faraone, Paco Osuna, Cristian Varela, Mauro Picotto, Adam Beyer, Richie Hawtin, Luigi Madonna, Joseph Capriati, Eli Brown, Marco Carola and Charlotte de Witte.

Joseph & Indira's ‘Mantra’ is another testament to ARTCORE's ever-increasing weight in Techno and global electronic dance music and features a duo of racy cuts laden with signature sonics from both artists, kicking off with 'Ananda' and its potent classic Techno feel, with a prominent Capriati core of thumping kicks, crisp percussive drive and progressive energy shifts and playful twists, laced with Indira's hypnotic exotic vocal chops and gritty LFO shots.

'Mantra' rounds off the release with an inverted sound transition, leaning heavier into the 'Psy' sound that has seen Indira's notoriety skyrocket. Flooded with undulating low-end movement, creative off-beat flare, shifting rhythmic patterns and uplifting musicality, its immersive blend of darker sounds and spiritually utopian nuances makes for an undeniably unique statement track.

Whilst famed for his endless spree of unforgettable mainstage performances and international club shows, including standout residencies in Ibiza, Joseph Capriati's studio productions have been carefully selected and rare in recent years. With the emergence of their latest studio productions, Joseph and Indira's ‘Mantra’ release serves as a stamp of approval from one of Techno's most respected tastemakers and an insight into the potential of ARTCORE's indelible impact on global dance music.

The long awaited 12” classic from Ariwa 1983, Gautrey Road, Peckham!

Errol the general - drums
Deuce - Bass
Pepper - keys
Errol Reid - synthesiser
Produced by Mad Professor

Parsley Sounds was the glorious debut album for Mo Wax by Parsley Sound. The album was one of the iconic label’s final releases before it closed in 2003 and locating a clean copy has been extremely tricky of late, unless you're flush enough to drop 150 notes on it. Mercifully, the Be With reissue, put together with invaluable assistance from the group, should remedy this situation. It's a lo-fi, bass-heavy, blunted beat treat, warped with heat haze and dreamy soft-psych and has been criminally under-heard for far too long.

As with most cult-like records, Parsley Sounds has many influential fans, far and wide. From Four Tet and Caribou to NTS's modern day breakfast hero Flo Dill, its reputation has only grown in stature. At the time, the notoriously hard-to-please Pitchfork garlanded it with a scarcely achievable 8.8 whilst, just recently, the Numero Group's Rob Sevier described it as a "visionary bit of proto-Salvia Palth (or Steve Lacy)" via a Ghostly International missive.

Parsley Sound comprised super-talented duo Preston Mead and Dan Sargassa. They released an early single (the perfect "Twilight Mushrooms", featured here) on Warp Records as Slum, before signing to Mo Wax. Hidden behind a wall of sound - fuzzy layers of beats, bleeps and symphonic synths - they were convinced they made mainstream pop music. And, in many respects, Parsley Sounds really is a beautiful pop album. It overflows with memorable, gorgeous melodies and inspired songcraft. As the contemporaneous Pitchfork review correctly had it: "Parsley Sounds is one of those rare records that manage to sound modest while frequently pushing the sonic envelope."

Killer opener "Ease Yourself And Glide" is a thing of aching, soft-psych, wonky beat-beauty. A melodic masterpiece, part Crosby, Stills & Nash, part proto-Koushik, it presents a melancholy falsetto, surging bass and blunted lead guitar. As it climaxes, gorgeous strings are ushered in to see us out. Sublime. "Twilight Mushrooms" is up next and it's an acid-drenched, strung-out acoustic-led campfire wonder. Amid layers of tape-hiss and beautiful, sun-dappled strings, its understated vocal track provides a haze of wistful innocence.

The breezy "Spring's Near" is a krautrock-inspired chiming instrumental of heavenly excellence, its warm, skipping, motorik groove and dreamy synths completely infectious. Another total highlight, the technicolour "Yo Yo" initially presents itself as a more abstract, bleepy offering but as it organically swells into ever more beautiful places, with the addition of a choppy insistent drum loop, flute bursts, horns and sweeping strings, it puts one in mind of early Manitoba and Four Tet releases. Shimmering, blissed-out greatness.

The celestial harmonies and glistening harps of the wonderfully beatless, serenely sullen "Ocean House" are very much in conversation with late-60s meditative psych whilst, closing out Side A, the jaw-dropping, lushly experimental effort "Find The Heat" comes on like Arthur Russell meets Brian Wilson. Yep, *that* good.

Side B opens with the warped, bleepy "Stevie", a brief but beautifully wonky, soulful and intricate instrumental. The more upfront vocals that propel the fuzzy "Platonic Rate" have a refreshing swagger to them, the heavy bass and neck-snapping in-the-red beats too much for any system to deal with whilst the guitars and strings have a sweeping, cinematic feel which just beguiles. The slow, urbane soul of "Candlemice" will stop you in your tracks, no matter what you're doing. It carries a delicate sadness, as does much of the album in that classic "down lifting" style we so love here at Be With.

The fuzzing, buzzing "Templechurchmansions" is a searing, soulful dubwise detonation. Heavily stoned with slow-burning jazzy snatches and a tense, moody atmosphere, it's a Tricky-adjacent gem. The album rounds out brilliantly with the ominous instrumental "Neon Breeze" before giving way to the propulsive, almost incongruous punk-funk / disco-dub of secret "untitled" track "Caution", a scratchy, smacked-out groove-fuelled workout with a female vocal dripping with 'tude. Just sensational.

Under the watchful eye - and attentive ears! - of Parsley Sound themselves, the audio for Parsley Sounds has been carefully mastered by Be With regular Simon Francis, with a few much needed tweaks here and there, according to the artist's wishes. Cicely Balston's expert skills have made sure nothing is lost in the cut whilst the records have been pressed to the highest possible standard at the always stellar Record Industry in Holland.

Preston and Dan always thought the colours on the first vinyl pressing looked a bit "washed out" vis-a-vis the original artwork which was way more vibrant. We feel we've got it popping back to the original intention with the restoration work here at Be With HQ. So with the audio and artwork now approaching completeness after 20 years, this long overdue re-issue could be considered its definitive vinyl release.

This is a repress of a highly collectable record that was originally released on A Guy Called Gerald’s Juicebox label in 1993. Over the years it increased in value, making it a holy grail within the hardcore rave/early jungle collector’s market.

But luckily Vinyl Fanatiks were already working with the producers on another repress – to be precise the SDR & Subsonic release of ‘Ideology/Abstrax’ which came out last year on the label. Both records were recorded by the same producers in the same year, under two different artist names.

Digital Pressure was an alias they created for Gerald, whilst the bulk of their output came out on their own label Shoebox.

A limited repress of 350 units on 180g heavyweight vinyl. Mastered by Dapz at Compound Audio and cut onto vinyl by the legend Beau Thomas at Ten Eight Seven, who is very knowledgeable about this sound as he was in the early 90’s groups The Genesis Project/Intense.

Watch Dis Space as this will sell out!

If you are looking for a witty all-around club record – it’s arrived.
Tripmastaz shows class on #09 of his self-titled label. Four cuts built to smack dancefloor fiends to their knees.

Big boy peak-time business on ‘Madd Rippz’ has been road-tested this year by the man himself, crossing various capacity clubs and festivals. An au fait organ riff keeps you in the loop, with slappy Tripmastaz-brand beats delivering as expected.
‘Seqund Lite II’ gives you a more minimal yet funky approach. No more to add—just nod your head twice.

‘4eeba’ is a jacky early 2k number that was originally recorded more than 10 years ago but mixed to crunchy perfection.

And finally, ‘Rule 4080’ is a bumpy house track that sends off some sense to the ones who know what the title means.

The artwork side is covered with the handwriting of one of New York’s finest tattoo artists, Nobu Umezu.

Special loud cut by Mike Grinser @ Manmade and the dynamic force of Tripmastering wrap up this baby neatly.

Saturne is the new project from ASC & Sam KDC. It came to life a few years back, as a non-specific genre approach to writing music. The first outing from the pair under this guise focuses on Grey Area compatible deep hypnotic techno cuts. 'Trace Elements' shows the pairs intent to deliver intricate, atmospheric, genre-fusing tracks of a standard that has come to be expected for their output over the years.

EBY is an acid house artist who has more than made his mark over the years. 40 years, to be exact, and to mark that rather notable occasion he is back with a special release on Foxbam Inc called ACID Thing and it comes in various different formats. This is a grey vinyl version that celebrates the classic acid sound while infusing it with a modern twist and plenty of big basslines, squelchy synths, and potent rhythms. The standout 'Acidanus' includes MC Soph who made her debut on Acid Indigestion Pt4 at just eight years old and now returns at 25. The EP also features a remix of 'Eggtrip' by renowned Belgian producer Outlander who you will likely remember from his iconic cut 'Vamp.'

Underground house heavyweight **Enzo Siragusa** is back with a fresh offering, his highly anticipated new EP *Odyssey*, set to drop on **fabric Originals** this month. This marks another standout release for Siragusa, coming hot on the heels of his recent contribution, "Last E," to the *fabric Selects V* compilation, which landed earlier in October.

*Odyssey* features three meticulously crafted tracks that showcase Siragusa’s signature fusion of classic rave elements, deep grooves, and stripped-back house aesthetics. The title track "Odyssey" is a masterclass in his deep production style, while "95 Variant" leans into the artists UK influences. Perhaps the standout cut is "Listen," a nod to the golden era of speed garage, effortlessly blending bass-driven energy with Siragusa’s refined touch.

The EP is a natural evolution of Siragusa’s sound, one that continues to command respect across the underground scene. Known for his ability to channel a range of UK rave influences while remaining firmly forward-thinking, Siragusa’s work is consistently pushing the boundaries of what modern house music can achieve.

In support of the release, Siragusa will be returning to fabric with Enzo Siragusa Invites, where he’ll take control of the decks alongside a curated selection of top-tier talent. The event is set to be a fitting celebration of the new EP and promises to be an essential date in the London clubbing calendar.

Welcome to the click house, where machines and computers will be your perfect allies. After two years of computing, Yamen & EDA are back with 5 cuts which will bring you on a journey through the world of clicks.

Velvet, from JNJS (Jay Nortown & Jacobo Saavedra), is dedicated exclusively to dacefloor music, designed for maximum club impact. Alexis Cabrera brings three cuts of pure sexy house, perfect for any party time. Harmonically dense, advanced beats... pure Alexis Cabrera.
To finish the EP, JNJS remix Distopian, to give his take on the dancefloor bassline.

Drumcode welcomes another debutant to the label, as Metodi Hristov unveils his stunning ‘Build to Destroy’ EP. The Bulgarian DJ/producer has been building a solid body of work stretching back a decade, releasing quality drops on labels including Terminal M, Octopus and Filth on Acid, meaning he’s long been on Adam Beyer’s radar. Drumcode, in turn, has always been a goal label for Hristov to release on. He explains: 'I’ve always wanted to release on Drumcode, but it was not a fixed plan till October last year when I fully embraced the idea and nailed it with my heart and mind. I ended up in a long three-month studio session from which I extracted some of the best productions I’ve made in my career.' He wasn’t wrong. The EP leads with ‘Flatline’, a straight up sexy techno track with bags of groove and charisma, driven by dreamy synth lines and an arresting vocal, while balancing silky and punchy elements with a deft ease. ‘Build to Destroy’ is a bulldozing beauty that fires out of the starting blocks with plenty of low-end energy, before moving into a succession of atmosphere-laden bass stabs and effects of varying rhythms and intensity. It’s a dynamic cut that piques interest to the end and a very solid addition to the Drumcode discography.

Elektorni, based in Oulu, Northern Finland, lands with their second release, this time with three original cuts from the singular Finnish legend Mesak (Klakson, Orson) and a mesmerising remix from Århus-based Picture (Help Recordings, Kalahari Oyster Cult), who you might know from many different aliases as well.

The a-side opens with Mutella, a slapping electro track dripping with gothic emotion and powered by a growling bassline. Next up is Ei Damagea, a smooth slice of electrohypnotism calling to you from an otherworldly dimension inhabited by floaty rhythms and quirky synth stabs. Flip the record, and Mesak flexes his versatility with the 155bpm piece Musantropia, cruising top down and top speed somewhere between IDM, d&b and electro. Fresh! The journey ends with Picture’s remix taking Musantropia deep into an eight-minute techno meditation reminiscent of Basic Channel material, but with an Århusian take on the sound.

A bass heavy record with intricate detail, this is a release as ready for the club as it is for your home hi-fi system.

Spanish duo Los Suruba have done it all over the last 25 years, captivating dancers with their blend of House, Minimal, Electro, psychedelic, and deep vibes.

They have established their own network of record labels, with almost 250 releases, Nazca being the latest addition. They’ve also released music on labels like Crosstown Rebels, Diynamic, and Get Physical and have been remixed by international artists such as Solomun, Adriatique, Clarian, and Okain. They describe their music as "Memories of the Future," the motto of their brand Nazca.

As DJs, they’ve performed at the world’s best clubs and festivals, bringing their unique sound across the globe, holding residencies from Ibiza to London, and creating countless underground hits.

They are in top form once again with this latest journeying EP, where Los Suruba and their label Nazca return to vinyl releases, featuring two new remixers for this vinyl edition of the ‘+33 EP’.

Innovative opener 'Dial Banger' is a wonky house sound with wet claps and a gurgling bassline that gets ever more wild. It's a playful cut that teases and pleases in equal measure as the low-slung grooves, string stabs, and unhinged leads keep dancers locked.

'Elegancia La de Francia' is a more experimental house affair with eerie synth leads and freaky filtered vocals, making a dark and menacing atmosphere.
Warm melodies infuse the track with soul and make it perfect for the late-night hours.

First remixer Cristina Lazic launched her own label La Zic, earlier this year. It's a platform that looks to uplift and mentor exceptional female talents next to the Italian's own blend of minimal, deep and tech house sounds. Her fantastic take on 'Elegancia la de Francia' is stylish and stripped back with supple minimal drums and the muted synth sounds bubbling away over punchy kicks.

Romanian artist BRYZ has a refined minimal sound that has established him in the European scene over the last decade. He deals in intricate melodies, pulsating rhythms, and atmospheric textures on labels like Storytellers and Esente Records.

His version of 'Elegancia la de Francia' is silky and deft, with sustained pads locking you into a trance while gurgling bass and trippy melodic motifs add great detail to the rolling minimal house grooves.

In the world of electronic dance music, Âme stand apart. Since 2003, the duo of Frank Wiedemann and Kristian Beyer have cut a singular path through techno, house, minimal, ambient and more with their anthemic singles and mixes. But 2018 reveals their finest achievement yet, their debut full-length album Dream House. It both sounds unmistakably like Âme and unlike anything you've ever heard from the duo, an evocative home listening journey enacted after 15 years spent crafting dancefloor weapons.

Repress!

There was huge demand on the first issue - now released in a standard edition. Limited. Be Quick!

Hot double LP of beats and scattered rhymes (JPEGMAFIA, Retro X & Jeshi feature) from this highly inventive producer. Having gained notoriety for his work with Frank Ocean and Travis Scott among others, Only Diamonds Cut Diamonds is overjoyed, heady and nervous at once. It offers a proper introduction to the massively imaginative sound of Vegyn.

DJ Support: Chicken Lips, Kelvin Andrews, Bill Brewster, Eric Duncan, Wrekin Havoc, Alice Palace, Andy Taylor & Mind Fair

Hot from his Magic Wand releases Baz Bradley gets busy on the edit block for Vol 3 taking in Proto house boogie, obscure European chanting pop, and punk funk freak-outs, plus a tasty MF bonus cut with new wave funk leanings. Don’t miss the boat with this one limited vinyl only folks!

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.

Cuttin' Grooves series return on TNT Records. Mental and raw reissue of some of the
best tracks from master Todd Terry. Ultra-Rare Old School stuff!

For its landmark 20th anniversary, Apnea Records proudly presents XX, a double 12" compilation that chronicles the label's journey from its inception to its current cutting-edge form. Featuring both original innovators and fresh talents from its recent relaunch, this release is a sonic time capsule and a forward-looking statement. Spanning from deep techno to Detroit-infused house, Jamal Moss's abstract house, electro, and E.R.P.'s signature machine funk, XX dives into the label's broad sonic spectrum. With contributions from Alex Under, Damian Schwartz, Jamal Moss, E.R.P., Dopplereffekt, Thomas Brinkmann, and Kyle Hall & Kero, this collection serves as both a reflection of Apnea's past and a bold vision for the future.

First Word Records is very proud to bring you the 10th anniversary edition of Tall Black Guy's debut LP '8 Miles to Moenart'!

It includes two brand new jazz interpretations ('From Home To Work, And Back' and 'Running The Motor'), recorded with a live band, as well as a new intro cut ('Black Detroit'), and an alternative mix of the single 'Mon Amie De'troit', previously only available on 7" vinyl.

The original vinyl LP release was a one-time limited edition pressing; this being the first time this project has been available on wax since then, and also includes entirely new artwork and photography.

From humble origins in Detroit, raised on a healthy diet of Motown, jazz and hip hop, Terrel Wallace (aka Tall Black Guy) has become a standard bearer for the hip hop beats scene. Through a steady stream of soulful productions filled with incredibly clever sample flips and deft production chops, he has won fans across the world, including Gilles Peterson, Benji B, Don Letts, Lefto, Tom Ravenscroft, Lord Finesse, Huey Morgan, Anthony Valadez and countless others, along with sessions for Boiler Room and more.

'8 Miles To Moenart' literally brought Tall Black Guy full circle, and proceeds to do so once again. Detroit was where he started making music, and it's to his hometown he took inspiration for this debut album. Taking in low-slung hip hop, downtempo house and jazz-tinged street soul, it's a record of rare focus. It encapsulated the musical heritage of Detroit, through the looking glass of Tall Black Guy's own signature sound.

Follow up releases included his sophomore First Word album 'Let's Take A Trip' (which also featured the likes of Masego, Daniel Crawford, Miles Bonny and Moonchild), and records on Ubiquity, Bastard Jazz and Street Corner Music, to name a few, along with a steady slew of limited self-released edits amd productions, most recently with his #7DayVaults series.

He's worked with a number of formidable artists worldwide, including recent extensive work with Zo! (Little Brother), Ozay Moore, Deborah Bond and Dee Jackson (80's Babies), as well as collaborations with 14KT and First Word label-mate Allysha Joy, to name just a few. He is also an integral player for DJ Jazzy Jeff's infamous PLAYlist Retreat sessions, along with more First Word family, Kaidi Tatham and Eric Lau, as well as artists like James Poyser, Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Questlove, and he was a core contributor to First Word's 'Nothing Leaves The House' series, along with Eric, Mr Thing and kidkanevil.

Tall Black Guy has firmly established himself to be one of the most influential producers working today.

Terrel says "I made the bulk of this album back in Detroit around 2012/2013, before I relocated to the UK. I've been back living and working in the States for a while now, and it's great to look back on this project. But while it's nice to reminisce, it's important to look forwards, so I wanted to include something new here to represent my progression as an artist, so there's some new versions included, that I created with the help of some jazz musician friends of mine."

'8 Miles to Moenart' (10th Anniversary Edition) will be released on digital & vinyl on October 18th 2024.



c 03: Funeral Biz / Welcome to Detroit (Interlude) feat. Malice & Mario Sweet

e 05: Mon Amie De`troit (7" Version) feat. Ozay Moore

We’re teaming up with ELUCID and Fat Possum for a limited edition of 300 copies of a Rush Hour black ice coloured edition.

E L U C I D, one half of the illustrious duo Armand Hammer, is here with the full-length follow-up to 'I Told Bessie'. Further experiments in the sonic, expanding on the 'live' side of music paired with the embracing of chaos. Something you haven't heard, or not so for a very long time. E L U C I D is here to reveal the bleakness of reality.



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''There is never time in the future in which we will work out our salvation. The challenge is in the moment; the time is always now.''
James Baldwin

A raw, crackling urgency runs through rapper-producer ELUCID’s new album REVELATOR like an underground power line. There is no space here for sepia-toned reminiscences or indulgent self-mythologizing. Intellectual rabbit holes have been filled in with concrete and rebar ; there is nowhere to hide and no off ramp from the audio Autobahn that ELUCID has fashioned—a renegade Robert Moses with gold fronts, bulldozing the homes of the powerful and the complicit. REVELATOR brims with the energy of now, with a refusal to look away. Carpe diem in a murder one mask.

Born in Jamaica, Queens, ELUCID has been on the cutting edge of New York’s underground scene since the mid-2000s. From the beginning, he has defied both convention and expectation. He ran with Okayplayer darlings Tanya Morgan, but his own music eschewed their throwback charm for glitchy noise experiments and bass-swamped culture jamming. His 2016 debut studio project Save Yourself (re-released in a deluxe edition last year) announced him in earnest. But in recent years, his Armand Hammer releases with partner-in-crime billy woods have received significant attention and acclaim. Serving as a followup to his last solo album—2022’s comparatively balmy I Told Bessie—ELUCID hoped to “re-distinguish” himself with REVELATOR, setting himself apart amidst the increasing attention around the music he and his friends are making together.

For ELUCID, this meant setting bold new challenges for himself. One of these was diving further into live instrumentation than ever before—”getting my Quincy Jones on,” as he puts it. The testing ground for this approach was Armand Hammer’s most recent project, 2023’s We Buy Diabetic Test Strips’ Möbius strip soundscapes, warmed with instrumental flourishes and skin-shedding beat progressions. With REVELATOR, though, ELUCID strove to create an atmosphere of chaos, embracing experimental electronics and atonal sample bursts. He worked on much of the album with co-producer Jon Nellen, who comes from a background in avant-garde and Indian classical music. “I wanted to get as freaky as I could at this moment. I wanted people to hear things, maybe for the first time, or in a way they haven’t for a long while,” the rapper explains.

ELUCID arrived at the studio with a collection of noise sources: non-referential samples, glitches and noises. Together he, Nellen, and others created forms out of them and, as ELUCID recalls, “just started playing drums with it.” Their fried, distorted sound was directly inspired by Miles Davis at his most uncompromising—specifically, the tone-clustering funk track “Rated X” from his 1974 double LP Get Up With It. At times, the pairing of rap with avant-fusion sounds also brings Emergency! from The Tony Williams Lifetime to mind, perhaps in an alternate timeline where the late drummer was listening to Ice Cube’s AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted.

“The World is Dog,” REVELATOR’s lead single, functions as the album’s aesthetic thesis statement. Like the Davis track, the textures are punishing, the tonality is in free-fall, and the driving breakbeat of a groove cuts in and out unceremoniously. Avant-jazz bassist Luke Stewart, who appears throughout the record, holds the whole thing together just long enough for ELUCID to tightwalk over the beat. This tension is exactly where REVELATOR sets itself apart; in a time of drumless loops, and safe soul samples, this is a high-wire act with no safety net. Similarly, the song announces the themes of the album within just a few phrases, evoking the way societies accept and adjust to new levels of debasement and brutality while suffocating under the weight of history: “Can’t clock the kill, all a mystery/Forced past will eating everyone eventually/The world is dog.”

Many of the songs on REVELATOR grapple obliquely with dissolution and disenfranchisement in America and across the world—the grim realities of our domestic sociopolitical climate and our involvement in foreign conflicts. “Much of my artistic and political sensibility comes from the Black arts movement here in New York,” ELUCID explains. “Recognizing the interconnected global struggles against oppression, artists and thinkers created works and actions in solidarity with freedom movements in South Africa and Palestine.” ELUCID cites intellectuals like Amiri Baraka, Kwame Nkrumah, Audre Lorde, Sonia Sanchez, and Nikki Giovanni among his heroes. (One track on the album is specifically inspired by Lorde’s work, “SKP,” citing the scholar’s paper “Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic As Power.”) Songs like REVELATOR’s insistent closer “ZIGZAGZIG,” find ELUCID applying up-to-the-minute messaging, making explicit reference to the conflict in Gaza: “Feed a war machine…from river to sea, in lieu of peace.”

Despite ELUCID’s preference for cacophonous system overload here, the rapper also provides moments of respite. Recorded at The Alchemist’s Los Angeles studio, the laid-back, wheezing “INSTANT TRANSFER” is a collaboration with billy woods, which crystallizes their shared sense of creative determination. “With much momentum behind us and even more on the horizon, I knew a purpose, and that every step was ordered to that purpose,” ELUCID said of the experience. Meanwhile, the jittery “HUSHPUPPIES” is a playful anomaly on the track list, providing a snapshot of ELUCID watching his grandparents in the kitchen while preparing for Friday night fish fry dinners.

“Love still rules over on this side,” ELUCID says. ”I’m raising a family. We are making meaning and finding joy in the midst of all the fucked up-ness of everything around us because the alternative is cowardice and slow death. We remain rooted. We celebrate our people and our wins. Struggle is necessary.”

“IKEBANA” is one of ELUCID’s strongest statements of purpose on the record, blending the record’s heaviest themes with its most hopeful sentiments. supported by a shoutalong refrain and an urgent prog-funk groove. Breaking away from images of dissolution and crumbling societal systems that populate REVELATOR, ELUCID notes that the only way to navigate life’s bleakest landscapes is to cling to love and believe in those around you—to look forward toward something better that may or may not be possible. For the rapper, one of the album’s most trenchant lines comes during a centerpiece of a beat drop: “Being alive/I must look up.”

“The lyric ‘being alive I must look up’ is important especially in the context of this album. Much of the album imagery is harsh and reflects the actual doom some of us experience. But still I/we exist,” ELUCID explains.

Every artist is, in one way or another, the product of their time, bound by life’s leaden gravity to operate within the space of that which is already known. But there are some who are able to shake free of these ties, to shape the culture as it unfolds, to make the present their own.
Revelation, as a concept, points to the scales falling from people’s eyes—something that has been hiding in plain sight becoming clear. “The revelator relates to things that have been talked about, things that have been forecasted,” ELUCID adds. “And now they’re really here, and everyone sees it. And there’s no escaping.” REVELATOR plays out with the unmitigated power of those storms, laying waste to any genre conventions in pursuit of a certain physicality. Here, ELUCID develops a wholly distinctive musical language to explore our fractured modernity.

REVELATOR's packaging was designed by longtime Armand Hammer / Backwoodz art director, Alexander Richter.

in the middle of it we instantiate false aralia: a series of recordings growing in all directions, cataloging the work of a group of north american collaborators centered around the studio practices of izaak schlossman (of aught, s transporter, loveshadow etc.) and facilitated by brian foote (of peak oil, kranky, etc.). with this outlet we hope to provide useful tools for dance and avenues for intentional listening.

the first release, ‘zero key’, explores valences of an idea as it slips, as would a thought or a cloud, into something else entirely across its four tracks of recursive microhouse rhythms and hallucinated dub spatializations. foregrounding its most melodic state, its most percussive, and two points between, the versions cut an indeterminate and continuous process into discrete objects that invite repurposing, layering, and other nonlinear methods of evaluation. played through, it may be interpreted as an emerging, or a coming-to-light, as a soft vocal figure develops a tougher rhythmic architecture that eventually occludes its prior form entirely. each of zero key’s facets spurs a parallel investigation into its internal logic of patterning and form.

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.“

Born and raised in the Swedish province Dalarna, Stockholm resident Jo Bubbles (aka Jonas Dahlström) has previously released music on Parkway Records and put out several selfreleased titles, most recently on the cassette venture Makemake tapes.



On his first outing on Västkransen Records, Jonas opens his toolbox of subtle grooves and tweaking melodies. A journey into electro, dub and italo-infused house, “Hidden Place EP” features three original club cuts and a mind-bending DnB remix from Stockholm’s hardware veteran Parallax Deep. As one of the tougher releases in Västkransen’s catalogue to date, this record doesn’t just offer solid dancefloor material, but a genuine musical treat.

The Label CROWD is back with a new release that's not to miss. CROWD004 is here and it's packed with four explosive tracks from rising techno star 'Luc'. If you're looking for the next big sound, this EP delivers in every way. Luc's unique style is on full display, blending raw energy with cutting-edge rhytms that are sure to lift up the dancefloor. From the intense opener "I Don't Get Down Like That" to the commanding "Do As You're Told," each track hits harder than the other. On the flip side, "The Cold" takes you deep into a dark, mesmerizing atmosphere coming with an OG vocal feature, while "Freak" keeps the energy sky-high, making this 12" heavyweight vinyl an absolute must-have. Dropping on August 30th, CROWD004 is set to make waves in the techno world. Whether you're spinning it at a club or vibing out at home, this EP is the real deal. Don't miss out--pre-order your vinyl now and catch "Do As You're Told" streaming on all platforms. And for those who want to experience it live, join us on August 31st at Denver's Club Vinyl, where FJAAK and Luc will be lighting up the night to celebrate the release!

More brutal sounds from the thriving UK scum/noise rock underground.

LOUSE: purveyors of the finest cellar-dweller scum rock since 2020; a disgusting cocktail comprised of 4 parts Foot Hair (Box Records) and 2 parts The Shits (Rocket Recordings), served over a capsized cruise-liner.

Described as wielding “damp and sticky instruments”, being “rotten from the inside” and sonically “stinking drunk, shirtless with no shoes, crawling around in your head”, LOUSE gleefully pummel one riff into oblivion, deranged howls & punishing buzzsaw guitars growl over driving disco beats and slide bass. A carnival in an open sewer.

Creep Call – LOUSE’s debut LP, after various tapes, live recordings and a split 10” lathe cut with The Shits – is a true statement of intent. Presented by the magnificent Riot Season, the record is the result of a (wasted) life’s work honing and toning the platonic ideal of single-riff noise rock, all wrapped up in a grindhouse, Giallo-flick package.

Briefly elevated from the basement, Creep Call was recorded with James Atkinson at The Station House Studio in 2023 and mastered by S. Bishop, so the carnage has never sounded better. Perfectly balanced ugliness drenched in feedback, pumped up with Stooges keys and sax (honk honk) - the closest thing to experiencing the deafening, goofy, beer-soaked-undergarment chaos of a LOUSE show first hand.

Creep Call features wholesome ruminations on perpetual home invasion, road-side pornography addiction, perfecting a cannibalistic diet, and an unmistakable cowboy/line-dancing anthem. Do the wrong thing, and answer the call.

Moodena & Charles Levine drop ‘Badman’ on Rekids. Radio Slave and Cratebug remix the track, with the EP landing this October.

‘Badman’ sees Moodena & Charles Levine team up on Rekids this October, including remixes from label founder Radio Slave, and Cratebug. The vocal mix of Moodena & Charles Levine’s ‘Badman’ is up first, a high-energy dance track with classic house strings and an infectious bassline, telephone-like samples dialling the keypad, and a big vocal to top it off. Chicagoan edit royalty Cratebug steps up to remix ‘Badman’ first, turning the track into a hypnotic after-hours cut with plenty of dub echo, the original faintly shining through its rolling elements.

On the B-side, Moodena & Charles Levine’s ‘Badman’ is then remixed by Rekids’ own Radio Slave, who in turn transforms the track with a more low-slung vibe, cruising along with tripped-out sonics and traces of the vocals while bringing the dial-up sounds forward. Closing out the EP, there is also a dub which loses the original ‘Badman’ vocal but maintains the classy house heat.

Moodena has been active in the Disco and Nu-Disco scenes for over thirty years, earning accolades via releases on Midnight Riot, Nervous Records, and his own Tropical Disco Records. Following a twenty-year-long friendship, he collaborates with one-half of Soul Clap, Charles Levine, for the first time for the ‘Badman’ EP on Radio Slave’s Rekids. With Soul Clap, Levine influenced the House and Nu-disco scenes through varied tracks on labels like Defected and Crosstown Rebels while releasing tracks from artists like Jkriv, Josh Wink and DJ Rocca on their eponymous Soul Clap Records label.

analoque records presents the first release on their new 180g vinyl-only label: a three-track EP by Buzé, with a remix by Gathaspar—all crafted for the dance floor.


Tracks written & produced by Charly Buzé
Remix produced by Gathaspar
Mastered & cut by Manmade Mastering
Designed by meta-art-design

Emerging producer Très Mortimer dishes out eight huge heaters on the highly-anticipated ‘M1 City’ release, a dedication to the mighty Korg M1, coming to Seth Troxler’s Slacker 85 on 25th October.

Kicking off ‘M1 City’ is the simplistic, but refined and booth-rattling ‘Work That Body’. A crisp M1 stab is the main character in this, amplified by thunderous and high energy drums.

Then there’s ‘Secrets’, a house jam inspired by the likes of MK that utilises TR-909 drums, a subtle rolling bassline, intimately whispered and soulfully sung vocal shots, and, of course, classic Korg M1 synth stabs. Together with dramatic contemporary builds, a highly danceable house smasher is formed.

‘No More’ is pure gasoline for the dancefloor. Très pairs another barrage of clean M1 stabs with a rousing vocal sample that leads into, with the help of a rolling snare, another highly effective house drop. Following the extremely saucy ‘Big Daddy’ skit, we’re dropped straight into ‘One Of Those Nights’, a show-stopping track complete with cutting, sharp stabs, a bulging bassy synth and a West Coast-esque synth sound.

‘Bitch I’m From Chicago’ feat. Gleebz is, as the title suggests, a dedication to the city where house music found its name. Batting off all the poser cities like LA and Miami in the sassy lyrics, it embodies the spirit of Chicago with hefty kick drums and weighty chord stabs.

At the tail end of the release, ‘Let Me Go’ and ‘Love’ (featuring vocalist 7000 (7K)), bring things to a rousing emotive close. Both tracks see Très put clean vocals over piano riffs, giving off differing moods – the former is euphoric, the latter melancholic. Synths bubble beneath, and each track funnels their own respective house grooves, resulting in two tracks fit for both the dancefloor and headphones.

Très Mortiner explains: “The M1 sound is classic. It automatically transports you back to those timeless house songs that never get old. For me, house music is all about connection. People experiencing a little moment of euphoria together when they hear a riff that they all know on the dance floor. That’s what it’s all about. With this project I wanted to tap into that 90s rave sound and spirit. I wanted it to sound like the OG Chicago rave scene.”

“M1 City is my first project to be released on vinyl. I think vinyl is very much alive. It’s essentially for music connoisseurs now. I don’t expect people to have a vinyl collection when all music is always available to everyone on their phones. Nevertheless, I love the idea of some random DJ finding this record in a shop in 10 years. Who knows what I’ll be producing then?”

Très Mortimer is a key figure in Chicago's house scene, steadily building a strong following with his no-nonsense, dancefloor-driven sound. Drawing inspiration from his Polish roots, Trés has signed with major labels like Mad Decent, Insomniac’s IN/Rotation, and Ministry of Sound, while also launching his own imprint, Optics Records. He made his mark with a clever rework of Zombies' 1968 hit ‘Time Of The Season’ (1M+ streams). Standout releases include his downtempo collaboration with plumpy, "BAMBU," and his latest single, "At Night I Think Of You," which was recently given a remix makeover by Seth Troxler and Nick Morgan.

Slacker 85, launched in 2023, is the record label behind ‘M1 City’. Founded by Seth Troxler, it aims to give a platform to "oddball, esoteric and diverse sounds," positioning itself as a counter to the polished, refined dance artists dominating the scene. Troxler, upon the label’s launch, declared that he wanted to create something for "the anti-hero, the kids who could have done it but didn’t care to try”—essentially, "the slacker." So far, it’s delivered a range of releases from artists like Jackmaster, Danny Daze, Dan McKie, and Andre Salmon, offering tracks rooted in house music's past but evolving within its present boundaries.

‘M1 City’, this ode to a piece of gear that consistently finds itself at the heart of house music history, highlights Très Mortimer’s respect for and knowledge of the scene and its key gear. Trè combines this admiration and inspiration of house music’s greats with a modern sensibility, resulting in eight tracks worthy of today’s dancefloors and today’s ravers.