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Groggy, engrossing new work from Ulla under their newly minted U.e. tag, riffing to the sublime on a set of (mostly) acoustic reveries that tap into the kind of smokey vapours favoured by the likes of Vincent Gallo, Voice Actor, Jonnine.

A new year, label, album and handle for Ulla, a multifaceted artist who has draped our pages with wonder, under numerous aliases and collabs, for almost a decade. On ‘Hometown Girl’ they distill transience and flux into a quiet set of chamber works subtly resembling the room recorded nuance of their ‘Jazz Plates’ side with Perila - here taken a step further into more elusive, low-lit dimensions.

In a mode that’s wistful and melancholic, listening to the album’s dozen discrete pieces feels like leafing thru a journal of hand-written notes, reflecting on the feelings that come with separation from loved ones and displacement from familiarity. Ulla performed and recorded all of the instruments themselves, lending a tangible tactility to layered arrangements of woodwind, keys, strings, drums and voice, lightly speckled with electronics and perfused with open window field recordings.

They locate a crackling frisson of personality in the voice notes and day-dreaminess of their mottled inscapes, gauzily demarcating lines between past and present selves. In that aesthetic and approach we can also hear similarities to Jonnine’s blue-skied ‘Southside Girl’ or crys cole’s poetic sensuality, often leaning into the domestic surreal.

A frayed, opening salutation ‘Good Morning’ signals a delirious half hour in Ulla’s company, variously swaying to the downstroked jazz swing of a ‘Lavender (NF)’ spritzed with clarinet, whilst ‘Froggy Explorer’ stirs the air like Jan Jelinek on a barely-there tip. The Basinski-esque fritz of degraded loops really snags the imagination along with a twinkling nightlight ‘Ball’, as the album opens out into its most fully resolved songs with a closing couplet of disarming wonders ‘Drawing of Me’, and a blurry ‘Mute’ that feels like Ulla 〜almost〜 reveals too much before retreating back into the shadows.

‘Clyppan’ is an Old English verb meaning “to embrace” or “to clasp.” It also referred to an ancient ritual in which people gathered in a circle, singing together around a sacred shrine. It’s a fitting title for the latest release from Newcastle’s Smote – a visceral document of the band’s electrifying live set, captured within the walls of London’s Bear Bites Horse recording studio.
Following the release of their acclaimed 2024 album ‘A Grand Stream’, Smote embarked on an intensive tour schedule, refining their live performance along the way into something transcendental – a full-spectrum psychic voyage. Anyone who caught them at Supernormal, Supersonic, or this year’s Roadburn Festival can attest: Smote are an unforgettable sonic presence, a near religious experience.
Recognising the urgency and potency of the band’s current live form, Rocket Recordings encouraged Smote’s founder and sonic architect Dan Foggin to document their live set in the studio. It was a sound too powerful to be left undocumented – it was something that needed to be clasped for future generations.
On January 22, 2025 – the day before their thunderous performance at London’s ICA alongside labelmates Teeth Of The Sea – the four members of Smote entered Bear Bites Horse studio. With producer Wayne Adams at the controls, they laid down a live set brimming with raw, elemental power.
What emerged is ‘Clyppan’ – four drone-and-repetition driven incantations, distilled from the primal essence of Smote’s sound. These tracks channel something ancient and urgent, summoning spirits and revelations in their wake. It’s music as ritual, as invocation – pure aural sorcery.
So gather together. Form a circle. Join hands. And embrace the ecstatic, untamed energy of Smote in their most untethered and primal form.

Mike Cannon – Best Of (LP) Limited Coloured Vinyl

Die neue Best Of-Collection von Mike Cannon präsentiert die stärksten Titel und begehrtesten Versionen der Italo-DiscoLegende in höchster Klangqualität. Mit dabei ist natürlich auch „Voices In The Dark“, der weltweite Megahit, der Mike Cannon unsterblich gemacht hat und bis heute auf keiner echten Italo-Disco-Party fehlen darf.

Diese Veröffentlichung ist ein absolutes Muss für alle internationalen Italo-Disco-Fans und bildet gleichzeitig den Auftakt einer brandneuen ZYX Italo Disco Serie. Jede Edition erscheint sowohl als CD als auch als farbenprächtige VinylAusgabe – ideal für Sammler und Liebhaber des Genres. Freu dich auf weitere kommende Highlights der Serie, unter anderem Duke Lake, Alan Ross und Roy.

Ein hochwertiges Sammlerstück und die perfekte Gelegenheit, die Magie von Mike Cannon neu zu entdecken!


Mike Cannon‘s new Best Of collection presents the strongest tracks and most sought-after versions of the Italo disco legend in the highest sound quality. Of course, it also includes ‘Voices In The Dark’, the global mega-hit that made Mike Cannon immortal and is still a must at any real Italo disco party today.

This release is an absolute must for all international Italo disco fans and also marks the start of a brand new ZYX Italo disco series. Each edition is available on both CD and colourful vinyl – ideal for collectors and lovers of the genre. Look forward to more upcoming highlights in the series, including Duke Lake, Alan Ross and Roy.

A high-quality collector‘s item and the perfect opportunity to rediscover the magic of Mike Cannon!

Yes, after a hiatus of 15 months, The ReMix Collection makes a highly anticipated return as Yotto steps up to take on the Shakra Mix of Power Circle’s ‘Garden Of Peace’.

Originally released in 1993, the track was an immediate Renaissance anthem, finding favour with all their key DJs. However, it became synonymous with one man in particular, namely, John Digweed, who cemented the track’s legendary status when he included it on his Journeys By DJ compilation the following year. Even today he’s been known to slide it into the mix, most recently episode 10 of his legendary Bunker streams. And the track has other contemporary fans too; a certain Mr. Plex was heard dropping it in 2020.

In short, it’s one of those records that’s stood the test of time and grown in stature year on year. Now, its evolution takes yet another step as it joins the ranks of Renaissance’ flagship ReMix Collection series.

Yotto’s modern interpretation is a high-octane juxtaposition of thunderous bass, rising pads and THAT vocal. ”Garden Of Peace is a record I missed first time around as a kid and had only heard on a mix, never knowing what it was, so when Renaissance approached me about a remix there was a strange sense of familiarity,” he explains, “The original is full of classic progressive house mystery and, while I took the whole thing apart, I wanted to keep that emotion with my interpretation.” On the B-side there’s a re-mastered cut of the original Shakra Mix, which isn’t released digitally and remains exclusive to vinyl only.

With her new album, Spira (Sprout), Olof Arnalds has found her joy in writing songs rekindled. In many ways it harkens back to her debut: it is exclusively in Icelandic, the arrangements are markedly stripped back compared to her last two records, and it is mostly recorded in single takes in the control room of Sundlaugin, much like Vio og vio. Although a classically trained singer and violinist, Olof has been an active practitioner of popular music for thirty years, the watershed moment was the 2007 release of her debut solo album Vio og vio (Now and Again, wider international release in 2009), produced by Sigur Ros' Kjartan Sveinsson in the band's converted swimming-pool studio Sundlaugin. It seemed to appear fully formed out of the ether, and became a local classic almost overnight, winning accolades such as 'Best Alternative Album' at the Iceland Music Awards, named 'Record of the Year' by Iceland's principal daily newspaper and recognised as one of the decade's 100 best albums by eMusic. Spira is produced by Skuli Sverrisson, who also contributes bass and guitar. His mind-melting resume includes musical direction for Laurie Anderson, recordings with Blonde Redhead and work with artists such as David Sylvian, Jon Hassell, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Bill Frisell and Arto Lindsay. Davio por Jonsson contributes piano and guitar to the record-much as he did during Olof's busiest touring schedule nearly fifteen years ago when the two of them toured the world for months on end. There is hardly a jazz musician in Iceland he hasn't played with but lately he is perhaps best known for his close collaboration with Ragnar Kjartansson, one of this century's most celebrated visual artists.

Already fifteen years that Cléa Vincent has been stepping on stage with that childlike fervor, that passion for pop and its elasticity, from her early days in Parisian bars to last year’s show at the Bataclan for the release of her third album Advitam Æternamour. You could say she needs no introduction, her name being inseparable from some of the most exciting work to emerge in contemporary French independent music. From the very beginning, she asserted her taste for spontaneous, candid, sunlit music, turning her songs not only into spaces of introspection but also into small capsules for dialogue. She collaborates constantly, with Kim Giani, Jeanne Balibar, Alison Wheeler, Jacques, NUSKY & VAATI, João Selva, Les Clopes…driven by a desire for sharing, for visions that meet and collide across genres. Alongside her work as a composer, she dedicates herself to giving a voice to the artists around her, notably through her show Sooo Pop, broadcast on YouTube in 2018 and 2019, where she welcomed guests as varied as Christophe, Moodoïd, Mathilde Fernandez, Katerine, and The Pirouettes. Like others of her generation, she claims the influence of francophone pop from the 1980s, but rather than being a successor to Jacno, Cléa draws from everything that shapes her era, fully plugged into the present, its faces, its energies, its collisions. She travels too, a way of reshuffling the cards of her inspiration, and her discovery of South America, of bossa nova and samba during her tour dates, became the catalyst for her series of EPs Tropi-Cléa.

For years, Jackson C. Frank was as ghostly a legend as they come. Even the relatively few record collectors who revered his work were usually only aware of the lone album that he released in his lifetime. For all most listeners knew, Frank put out a celebrated LP and vanished, despite that record having been produced by Paul Simon.

1975 Mekeel Sessions features six tracks recorded in the mid-'70s at a studio in Lake Hill, New York about five miles from Woodstock where Frank was living at the time. Only discovered in the mid-'90s, these recordings still hum with the same mysterious warmth that defined Jackson at his peak. His guitar work, alternating between strummed and fingerpicking, is consistently adept. His stark and somber voice more weathered than the lighter tone heard on his 1965 debut.

The Mekeel tapes were intended for Frank's sophomore album (titled Marlene), but alas it never came to be. What one hears is not a singer-songwriter fading out of view; it is a singular artist who never stopped trying to build his own world, even when no one was watching. For fans of everyone who Jackson influenced: from Nick Drake, Sandy Denny, Bert Jansch and John Martyn to more contemporary acts like Elliott Smith and Iron And Wine who surely used Frank's sparse approach as a template.

Reggae cover of Donald Fagen and Richard Marx's classic is now available on 7"!

"I.G.Y." is Joey Johnson's soulful rendition of Donald Fagen's swingy 1982 AOR classic 'The Nightfly,' which opened the album and became a milestone in AOR history. Right Here Waiting" is a reggae arrangement of Richard Marx's 1989 ballad that retains the weepy melody. The original song topped the charts in the U.S. and Europe when it was released, and Monica had a revival hit in 1999. It is considered the most played love song on Spotify in the UK.

Multi-platinum, BRIT Award-winning, and GRAMMY®-nominated global pop visionary MIKA ushers in a bold new era with his seventh studio album, Hyperlove. Produced by MIKA alongside Nick Littlemore (Empire of the Sun) , with additional production by Peter Mayes (PNAU), Hyperlove is a vibrant and emotionally charged collection that embodies MIKA’s signature fusion of theatricality, honesty, and irresistible melody. The album captures the sound of an artist forever redefining and transcending pop on his own radiant terms. Written almost entirely by MIKA, Hyperlove also features select co-writing collaborations with Nick Littlemore, Renaud Rebillaud (GIMS), Matthieu Jomphe (Billboard) (Madonna, Dua Lipa, Ariana Grande), and Amy Wadge (Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud”). Adding a distinctive cinematic flair, Hyperlove includes narration by the legendary American filmmaker John Waters, bringing his unmistakable wit and presence to the album’s world. With Hyperlove, MIKA continues his lifelong mission to craft pop music that is as bold and heartfelt as it is timeless, a celebration of emotion, identity, and imagination in their most vivid forms.

Das französische Duo Lilly Wood & The Prick, bestehend aus Nili Hadida und Benjamin Cotto, prägt seit 2006 die Pop- und Indie-Szene. Bekannt wurden sie zunächst durch ihre Mischung aus Folk, Pop und Elektro, bevor der internationale Durchbruch mit dem Robin-Schulz-Remix von Prayer in C gelang - ein Welthit mit über 1 Milliarde Streams und Diamant-Auszeichnung. Für ihr Debütalbum Invincible Friends erhielten sie den Victoire de la Musique-Preis als "Publikumsentdeckung". Es folgten erfolgreiche Alben (The Fight, Shadows, Most Anything) und weltweite Tourneen, von europäischen Festivals bis nach Australien. Mit CHRISTINA, ihrem fünften Studioalbum, schlagen Lilly Wood & The Prick ein neues Kapitel auf. Produziert von Myd, steht das Album für klare Beats, elegante Hybrid-Sounds und eine kompromisslose Richtung. Der Titeltrack Christina ist mehr als ein Song: Er thematisiert Schönheitswahn und Selbstinszenierung im Social-Media-Zeitalter - verpackt in hypnotischen Electro-Pop. Weitere Highlights wie Swear zeigen die neue Energie des Duos: direkter, moderner und voller popkultureller Wucht.

Buddy Holly (1936–1959) was one of the most influential figures in early rock ’n’ roll. Known for his pioneering songwriting, distinctive vocals, and innovative use of studio techniques, he helped shape the sound of modern pop and rock music. With classics like “Peggy Sue,”

“That’ll Be the Day,” “Everyday,” and “Oh Boy!,” Holly’s legacy inspired generations of artists, from The Beatles to Bruce Springsteen.

Though his career was tragically cut short, his impact on popular music endures to this day.

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Grammy Award winner Louie Vega has the unique ability to spotlight and highlight the most essential elements of classic dance tracks and remix and recreate them to create something just as powerful for today’s audiences. Currently in the midst of putting the finishing touches on his forthcoming album, Expansions In The NYC, Louie took some extra time to gather together the original members of the seminal New York – based disco funk band Unlimited Touch and collaborate with them at Log Cabin Studio in Manhattan and his own Daddy’s Workshop Studio in New Jersey to produce the 2020 edition of “I Hear Music In The Streets.”

Unlimited Touch consists of Audrey Wheeler (lead singer), Phil Hamilton, Tony Cintron, Sandy Anderson (RIP), Stephanie James and Lenny Underwood. “I Hear Music In The Streets” was originally released on legendary imprint Prelude Records in 1981.

Growing up in the Bronx, from an early age Louie had an affinity and love for all the various musical genres that were bubbling up in New York during that era defining creative period. It is that passion that has stayed with him during a career that has brought him Grammy’s, several worldwide hit records, and a status as one of the world’s most sought after DJs. It was especially fulfilling for Louie to work with the original members of Unlimited Touch, He quickly realized that their talents were still as strong as ever as they performed musical and vocal elements from the original song, and that they had the vision to see how the song could be re-energized by having Louie add his unique production elements to this seminal tune.

Louie is in the midst of an especially prolific and productive period. In 2016 he released the Grammy nominated Louie Vega Starring….XXVIII full length album; 2018 saw the release of the widely acclaimed and chart topping NYC Disco 2 X CD and 4 X vinyl album on Nervous Records. Known universally as “The Maestro” due to the standards of excellence he maintains in his productions, DJ Performances and live appearances with his Elements of Life Band, Louie Vega is now ready to unleash another gem to add to one of the music industry’s most remarkable body of work.

At the end of the Sixties, the production of soundtracks for small and big classics of Italian cinema is now joined by another business which has proved to be less profitable but more creative and, in best case, free from the constraints imposed by clients on duty: the composition of music libraries. Almost all of the artists for the eighth art have finalized at least one or more music libraries. Names famous and not, old and young composers, real outsiders and meteors, usually hidden behind pseudonyms: this is the case, for example, of Braen and Peymont. The first needs no introduction, it was the one adopted by the former arranger, multi- instrumentalist, singer and composer Alessandro Alessandroni. The second is closely linked to the mysterious American composer, but resident in Italy, David Hoyt Kimball. The two are authors in different measure of an interesting album with an experimental background, “Paese Sotto Inchiesta” (1971), originally published by Flirt Records.

The titles of the tracks appear in connection with the socio-cultural climate of Italy after 1968 and can be relocated as a background for journalistic-like images. The latter is a hypothesis not supported by facts, but some titles seem to be referred to the perception of a subsisting economic backwardness of the southern regions compared to the other ones; to a situation of collective tension, thanks to the global revolutions; in addition to the new concerns with an ecological background. Overall, the seventeen tracks on the album are mostly 'dirty', characterized by an even atonal setting, with long repetitions in a noisy key, more fundamental reverbs and echoes for the different keyboard instruments. In a few words, abstract sounds, some guitar notes, echoes of Gruppo Di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza, flute melodies and proto- ambient intuitions. Composers like Alessandro Alessandroni and David Hoyt Kimball deserve to be rediscovered.

*Following the essence of the work, for this press, MPI release a 100% recycled vinyl that reduce waste, minimize environmental impact and support the planet*

Rising multi-media artist Shaboozey intends to build his own world.

Determined to carve his own lane in the Alt-Country / Hip-Hop space; he crafts a sound that pays homage to a cast of traditional Western influences, such as Bob Dylan, Lead Belly, Johnny Cash, and Leonard Cohen, while looking into the future of what the two genres have yet to introduce.

Remaining true to his Virginia roots, Shaboozey hopes to continue the region’s long-standing tradition of producing some of the most prolific creatives of the new millennium. This time through elevating the scope of contemporary hip-hop and introducing a modern Americana culture to a global audience.

Fresh off of his inclusion in the groundbreaking Beyonce album, Cowboy Carter, of which he was the only featured artist to appear twice, Shaboozey is set to release his own album, Where I've Been, isn't Where I'm Going. An album that has been years in the making, it includes standout singles “Let It Burn,” “Vegas,” “Anabelle,” & the infectiously fun singalong anthem “A Bar Song (Tipsy).” Millions of streams later, and appearances on esteemed programs such as COLORS and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Shaboozey is set to become the new face of modern American country music.

A student of the Weatherall school of DJing, Asa Tate has showcased an astonishingly mature approach to production over the years that belies his age. You’d be forgiven for thinking these 4 tracks had been discovered from a dusty DAT tape, locked away in the vaults of a northern Italian club and rediscovered after 30 years....Listen more closely and you’ll notice the contemporary production flair and more recent influences that make this EP a perfect reinterpretation of the mid 90s house sound: sitting somewhere between dream house and Morales finest work under the red zone moniker.

The EP wastes no time in setting it’s intentions with the A1 Title Track, “Replica” - after a brief and floaty progressive house intro the refrain “ E-e-e-e-e-e-e-ECSTASY” echoes loudly over sampled vocals, euphorias piano chords, throbbing lead synths and a bouncy tech house bass line.

“89” is a sultry deep house cut featuring rising Spanish star, Dariam Coco on Vocals. It floats like a butterfly, but stings like a bee, as the soft chords are interrupted with huge drum fills deftly transforming an after party jam to a peak time moment.

We continue to “ Unknowns” - a masterclass in building tension and holding it - this track simmers with restrained intensity for almost 6 minutes. It’s trademark Asa Tate production at its most understated and classy. We round of the EP with the fittingly titled “Last Dance” , a wistful composition that brings us back down to earth slowly, safely and gently; always grooving but never pushing - this one is the soundtrack to the end of a long summer day and reaffirms Asa Tate’s claim to be a modern master of Deep House.

NDATL Records continues with the return of Detroit legend Reggie Dokes with his new 12", The Alkebulan EP—a deep, spiritual, and sonically adventurous record that finds Dokes fully in his element while pushing into new emotional territory.

Side A opens with “Unknown Valley,” where shimmering chords and a haunting vocoded voice glide across a hypnotic groove, setting the tone for an EP rich in warmth and mystery. Dokes follows with “Still Exist,” an excursion into his darker instincts—moody, driving, and steeped in the grit that has defined his most revered work.

Flipping the record reveals Dokes in a more expansive, jazz-inflected mindset. “Soul Searchin” stretches into expressive harmonic territory, showcasing his ear for introspective, cinematic sonics. The journey culminates with title track “Alkebulan,” both featuring longtime collaborator Skip Pruitt, whose saxophone floats and weaves through Dokes’ musical landscapes, forming a Psychostasia blend of jazz, deep house, and spiritual energy the dancer simply cannot resist.

The Alkebulan EP is both a celebration of lineage and a forward-moving statement—classic NDATL quality with Reggie Dokes’ unmistakable fingerprint.

The incredible story that began with The Most Mysterious Song on the Internet (TMMS) now enters an exciting new chapter: Skyscraper, the debut album by FEX.

Skyscraper features ten original tracks recorded in the early to mid-1980s-carefully re-transferred, remastered, and brought back to life. The album cover, designed by Darius S., brings the story full circle. Darius is the very person who preserved the now-iconic track Subways of Your Mind by recording it from NDR radio in the mid-80s. Without him, FEX may never have been discovered.

FEX's debut opens with its namesake, Skyscraper-a brooding, previously unreleased track the band once described as part of their "psychedelic phase." With haunting synth-helicopter textures and deep guitar riffs, it immediately sets the tone and raises tension.

The release flows naturally into the energetic and fully remastered studio version of Subways of Your Mind. This version of the TMMS - re-discovered on the "yellow label tape" by Reddit user Marijn-was long believed to be from a smaller home studio, but was actually recorded in November 1984 at Hawkeye Studios in Ganderkesee, near Hamburg.

Goldrush, first teased in raw form on FEX's YouTube channel, bends toward mechanical rhythm and shimmering synths, a snapshot of the band's experiments with programmed drum machine sound. Rückwardt's lyrics point to greed and criticizes materialism, and while the music leans toward pop sensibilities, it carries a raw, fractured edge.

Heart in Danger and I've Got My Eyes On You offer contrasting experiences-one rooted in classic post-punk tension, the other floating in melodic synth layers. The latter in particular feels like a fragment from a parallel radio history: a precise and one of a kind synth pop love song with a progressive touch.

From a rehearsal tape comes Dirty Slapstick, its urgency intact. Missing keyboard parts were later reconstructed by Michael Hädrich using his original DX7 synthesizer-recovering lost elements without rewriting the past. The lyrics take a wry look at forced optimism. Also included are the songs Talking Hands, Jenny and Strange Feeling, the latter being a slower blues-tinged cut, revealing yet another facet of the band's reach and Rückwardt's songwriting diversity.

The album closes where the legend began-with the original radio recording of Subways of Your Mind from Darius' cassette. This version of The Most Mysterious Song features alternate vocal effects, contributing to the track's enigmatic aura. Digitally transferred using a high-end Revox machine and carefully remastered, it now has its long-deserved official release.

The cover features a photo of the Eichenberg Bunker in Kiel-one of FEX's original rehearsal spaces and a symbolic monument to their sonic legacy.

Before he turned 20, Lô Borges released one of the most captivating albums to come out of Brazil's rich musical landscape - a record that somehow flew under the radar at the time but has since become a cult favorite for listeners around the world. Recorded in the same whirlwind year as the legendary "Clube da Esquina" - the groundbreaking collaboration with Milton Nascimento and Beto Guedes - this self-titled solo debut finds Lô Borges in full creative flight. Pressured by Odeon Records to deliver a solo project, Borges responded with a burst of youthful brilliance, sometimes writing a song in the morning and laying it down in the studio that very night. The result? An album that's spontaneous, heartfelt, and sonically stunning. From the shimmering guitars of 'Você Fica Melhor Assim' to the dreamy melodies of 'Cançao Postal' and the jazz-infused groove of 'Calibre,' the album blends Brazilian popular music with rock, soul, and subtle psychedelic touches. It's got the intimate spirit of a bedroom recording, but with the musical sophistication of legends - with collaborators like Toninho Horta, Tenorio Jr., Nelson Angelo, and of course, Beto Guedes helping bring Borges' vision to life. Fans of Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, or early Nascimento will feel right at home here - but Lô Borges brings his own voice, at once tender and electrifying, to every track. The guitars are fuzzy, the harmonies rich, and the songwriting nothing short of magical. Though it didn't make a splash in 1972, "Lô Borges" has only grown in stature over the years. It's the kind of album you discover once, then return to again and again - a timeless treasure from a young artist who helped redefine Brazilian music from the ground up. If you're into warm, soulful songwriting with a touch of experimental edge, this record is waiting for you. Give it a listen - and see why "Lô Borges" is considered one of Brazil's most underrated masterpieces. Reissue on 180g vinyl.

The combination of Todd Terry and Hard Times is synonymous in the world of House Music. The legendary DJ/Producer, a true pioneer of the genre, was among the first US artists to play at the intimate, vibrant gatherings in the North of the UK in the early ‘90s. Forever linked by "A Night In The Life," the live mix released in 1995 that set a new benchmark for mix-tapes, it is a collaboration that has continually blossomed, forging a bond that remains strong over 30 years later.

1995 also saw Todd Terry make his first impact on the label with the seminal club smash "Bounce To The Beat." Following his chart breakthrough with 'Can You Party’ in ‘88, the legendary 'The Unreleased Project’ series, which spawned club hits such as “Jumpin’”, and just a few months ahead of topping the charts with his remix of Everything But The Girl’s ‘Missing’, label boss Steve Raine seized the perfect moment to bring his friend on
board at Hard Times Records with the signing of Bounce To The Beat. "I can still remember pressing play, hearing those beats for the very first time and thinking we had big track on our hands" says Raine. "It was our second release on the label, but it would be the track that firmly placed us at the forefront of the scene, both here in the UK and globally."

Hard Times & Todd Terry now revive 'Bounce To The Beat' with a 2024 reimagining, featuring two of house music’s most exciting young stars, delivering two powerful remixes that promise to dominate dancefloors this summer and beyond.

Dutch producer and Up The Stuss label head, Chris Stussy, takes the track on a '90s- inspired journey, blending progressive strings, high-energy bassline and original vocal, for an exhilarating ride. "I remember discovering Todd’s productions back in the days when I started to dig for that 90’s sound. He’s one of the artists that inspired me massively. He has proven that he owns the art of making timeless music as his productions are still being played till this day all across the globe. To be remixing ‘Bounce To The Beat’ is something special for me personally and I tried to give it a 90’s touch with a modern twist." says Chris.

London’s own Dan Shake offers a fresh twist with a 2Step-inspired remix, featuring an Armand-esque bassline that pulsates and evolves, building to an epic crescendo that is set to ignite mass hysteria on the dancefloor.

"Bounce To The Beat was actually one of the first records I bought when I started collecting house music. So to come back 15 years later and remix this iconic track for the legendary label Hard Times was both surreal and very, very fun," shares Dan.

Two exemplary reworks of Todd Terry presents Sound Design’s 'Bounce To The Beat'. For Vinyl and Digital release on Hard Times alongside the Original and ‘Tee’s Freeze Mix.’

Melodies International’s next record features a previously unreleased collaboration between the Ariwa camp (Mad Professor’s label and studio) and rising UK R&B artist Abel Miller — a Lovers Rock cover of the classic 1960s Philadelphia soul track “Everytime I See My Baby” by The Delfonics.

A few years ago, Mad Professor teamed up with frequent collaborator and multi-instrumentalist virtuoso Black Steel — who regularly records bass, guitar, keys, and vocals for Ariwa Studios (“he can play anything” Mad Professor tells us) — to record a series of Lovers Rock covers of songs by The Delfonics. Mad Professor’s love for 60s and 70s US soul is no secret and shines through much of his production, but he realised he had never heard this particular song, originally written by Thom Bell and William Hart. For the session, they brought in Ashanti Selah on keys and Horseman on drums, with Abel Miller delivering the lead vocals. Mad Professor and his son Joe Ariwa recorded and produced the track.

Since their first reissue project with Mad Professor a few years back (Ariwa Sounds: The Early Sessions LP), he has occasionally performed with the Melodies crew — most recently on Floating Points’ Sunflower Soundsystem this past summer. At their Osaka gig a couple of years ago, he closed the show with this track, immediately blowing everyone’s minds. When asked what it was, he told the team that Melodies could release it!

The 7” single will be available in November, featuring the original studio version on one side and the live dub version Mad Professor performed in Japan on the flip (vinyl exclusive). Mastered by Frank Merritt at The Carvery, with printed sleeve artwork by Nevil Bernard.