Search:the sound system

Erol Alkan welcomes Joshua James to Phantasy for his debut release 'Coarse' featuring The Bunker NY producer Justin Cudmore on remix duties.

A fixture of London's dedicated queer club scene, James maintains a trio of distinct residencies, including XOYO, the notorious 'Savage' parties, as well as fortnightly on Rinse FM. On this unapologetic and upfront track, the DJ-turned-producer instantaneously captures the raw energy and sexuality that underpin his life by night, backed by a remix from a key figure in the US underground, Justin Cudmore.

Designed with sweatboxes and serious sound-systems in mind, 'Coarse' wastes no time in establishing its rude intent; hammering jack-bass, orgasmic cut-up vocals and larger-than-life synthlines flirt expertly from the off, before the track descends into outright sleaze in the spirit the of gnarlier edge of acid-house. Only a series of breathless gasps indicate you've safely reached the other side... A personal weapon for James each week behind the decks, as well as for Phantasy founder, Erol Alkan, 'Coarse' is a powerful dancefloor paean with only one (well, maybe two) things on its mind.

Having turned heads with his own uncompromising acidic perspectives on labels such as The Bunker NY, Phonica White and Honey Soundsystem, New York-based DJ and producer Justin Cudmore unfurls 'Coarse' in a trippier, deeper direction, nonetheless still bumping in a style that subtly recalls the peak-time sound of classic 90s NYC clubs like The Tunnel.

Demon Music presents a narrated full-cast TV soundtrack adventure starring William Hartnell as
the Doctor, in an epic quest to defeat his arch-adversaries, the Daleks.
In this classic 12 part 'lost' adventure, first shown on BBC TV from October 1965 to January 1966,
the Daleks threaten to destroy the fabric of time itself. In their quest to control the Solar System,
they have taken possession of the devastating Time Destructor. Determined to stop them, the
Doctor (William Hartnell) steals the core of the weapon. He and his friends are thus pursued
across Time and Space by their ruthless, powerful nemeses...
Presented across 7 x Heavyweight 180g Blue translucent pieces of vinyl, this narrated TV
soundtrack evokes a classic Doctor Who adventure in all its aural magnificence. From the eerie
sonics of Ron Grainer & Delia Derbyshire's theme tune, and the familiar 'wheezing, groaning' of
the TARDIS, through screaming jungle worlds and an array of spacecraft, the story is alive with
weird and wonderful sound.
Written by Terry Nation and Dennis Spooner, this is the longest single Doctor Who adventure ever
made for television. Linking narration is provided by Peter Purves (Steven) and the cast includes
Kevin Stoney as Mavic Chen, Nicholas Courtney as Bret Vyon, Jean Marsh as Sara Kingdom and
Peter Butterworth as the Meddling Monk. The film recordings of all but three episodes of this
story are lost from the BBC archives.
The prelude episode Mission to the Unknown is presented on its own single-sided disc with a
unique Dalek (standard edition) or TARDIS (exclusive edition) etched reverse.

Born Marian Himburg, Causa has been on the rise for several years now, with a tight and impressive discography on labels including Crucial Recordings, Infernal Sounds, and J:Kenzo's Artikal Music UK. Known for carefully focused cuts that marry dub sensibilities with dubstep weight, his debut for ZamZam is exactly what you'd hope: heavy 140 wares for deep dances.

'Space Dub' is an orbiting station of decaying delays and insistent bleeps that resolve into an absolutely massive riddim that causes pure murderation on the floor. Machine sounds and lasers spar over dread, lurching bass, while thick snares cut through the reverb haze to reveal the cold, starry cosmos beyond.
'Concrete Dub' works with a similarly industrial sound palette in the service of a minimalist, skanking steppers that drives hard into the heart of sound system. Disembodied voices, growling-deep horn stabs, a single piercing flute note, and a myriad of other sonic signifiers emerge and retreat, as if being pulled under by the unrelenting force of the primordial sub & kick attack. You've been warned!

Sometimes you produce a track with nothing but a dancefloor and a good sound system in mind. "Twelve Inch Jams" is offering you just that - strictly two A side tunes for the floor cut at 45 revolutions per minute. Jazz & Milk pays tribute to this classy release format with their new 12" vinyl series. Each record comes in a hand silk-screened printed and stamped sleeve!

The dreamteam of the highly successful first installment (JAMS001) teamed up again to share their love for raw and sample-based house music tunes produced on the MPC. Label artist Sam Irl and the man behind Jazz & Milk, Dusty never fail when it comes to layering colorful sample fragments and enriching them with raw beats and deep synthesizer chords.

"Broken Spell" starts off with a super moody atmosphere that slowly opens up until it reaches its energetic peak with bright synth stabs and a smooth bassline before colorful arpeggios are drifting the track into other spheres. "Love Prelude" has a rather dreamy vibe but its deep chord progressions and rough bass drums and claps create a truly unique contrast and a hypnotic atmosphere on top of it, while a later incoming bouncy bassline and dubby sample parts eventually pull you in cosmic dimensions!

Sinking Into A Miracle is the debut album by Glasgow's AMOR, a quartet of musical travellers exploring the sonic open-ended-ness of dance music. Following two critically acclaimed 12-inches, this is a fully developed treatise on ecstasy and transcendence. Here, Richard Youngs, Michael Francis Duch, Paul Thomson and Luke Fowler are more honed, razor sharp in focus and timing, testing their instrumental prowess on condensed song structures and new, enlightened feelings of expansive hope and bliss. From the outset, it's an ambitious yet ultimately inclusive journey. Recorded to 24-track tape at Chem 19 and mixed by Paul Savage and Richard McMaster (Golden Teacher), this full length retains the elastic grooves of Paradise and Higher Moment, the group's previous singles, but relinquishes the classic Philadelphia International-tinged sound in favor of looser rhythmic patterns. There are new depths to the compositions: a more free-flowing approach to percussion and deft experiments in hybridity make for a full and rounded, emotionally tinged record. Indeed, there are times when AMOR sound like the lost house band from David Mancuso's Loft parties: Richard Youngs' uplifting, gospel-tinged lyrics talk about moving beyond, universal truths, sailing through the horizon. It's a wideeyed optimism Mancuso would perhaps have approved of and which is embroidered with spectral details that begs to be auditioned on large, tweaked out sound-systems.
Fantastic cover art by Robert Beatty.

2018 played host to a bumper crop of sounds from some of Philly's grittiest, including Great Circles mainstays M//R and Chaperone. To close out the year that was, we are pleased to present Heckadecimal's 'Murder Tape.'

A Minneapolis-based producer and acid auteur, Heckadecimal has been a fixture within the vibrant Midwestern electronic music community for nearly 20 years. Founder of the legendary 'Anti-human' events and co-curator of the ever-prolific Always Human Tapes imprint - alongside Ryan Wurst and Peter Lansky - Heckadecimal's reputation is one of unrelenting creativity and tireless advocacy for sonic experimentation. His work has found its way to light via a slew of pseudonyms and stage monikers, including The Worm, noface and Wonder Sirens.

In short - Heckadecimal lives and breathes the sonic matter that he leaves pouring out of studio monitors, busted bar systems and finely tuned rave stacks, wherever his travels take him.
Live performance lies at the core of Heckadecimal's practice. When he stormed through Inciting HQ in Philly earlier this summer, he took command over an arsenal of hardware that reminded us of how Octave One or Shawn Rudiman might show up. These were machines that he had lived with; touched with custom modifications, hand-drawn stickers and pockmarks incurred in battle, one got the sense that the gear was a personal extension of the artist.

Perhaps it's a bit maudlin, but we feel a certain kinship with this project. Indeed, these tracks at times feel very much of a piece with the gnarled tonalities in which our stable typically traffics; all low-slung riddims that reach at equal lengths towards mutated IDM aesthetics and post-Packard Plant techno extrusions. These are future perfect grooves that glide along under the vast Midwestern sky, providing a fertile communication conduit with the City of Brotherly Love.

Give thanks for acid. Great Circles will see you in the New Year..

Tikita return with more of their deep and groovy techno, this time from Lapien, who is one half of Artefakt and a master of deep voodoo sounds. His 'Brumal' EP includes a remix from label mainstays natural/electronic.system. that completes a deep and powerful three track disc.

Lapien s 'Brumal' kicks off with deep, swirling pads and punchy drums. It s soft and atmospheric techno with a dubby bottom end and cosmic moods that is soothing and warm. The natural/electronic.system. remix of 'Moonset' is simmered down into an absorbing ambient soundscape with rolling, rubbery drums deep down below. It s thoughtful mind music to get utterly lost in. Last of all, the original 'Moonset' is another richly layered and spacious techno groove, with gentle percussion over underlapping drums and synths smearing out in all directions. It s brilliantly expansive music for intimate dance floors.

You might know Peter Matson as the founder, frontman, and guitarist of NYC-based breakout band Underground System, who recently released a debut album of otherworldly global-dance anthems (on Soul Clap's self titled imprint) and have been touring their live show at venues around the US. Matson's roots, while nestled in worldly live sounds, also firmly grip deeper dance music styles, though they manage to still pack a refreshingly eclectic energy.

His debut EP 'Short Trips' for Brooklyn's Bastard Jazz connects the dots between his time moving bodies in the club as a DJ, as well as in his group as a guitarist and producer, though this record is better suited for a woozy club floor. "Roma Norte" kicks off the wax with its soulful cocktail of latin-house styles and hypnotic basslines that would elevate the opening hours of any club night. Deep house legend and Freerange Records boss Jimpster provides an ethereal, creative remix that delves into afro-house territory. "3AM to Sete" is a warm and bubbly deep house tune that sounds like something you might hear late-night in a South London nightclub—it's all warm bass vibrations and subtle synth explorations. Matson's seasoned instrumental skills shine on "126," another breezy synth jam with just enough punch to make you move, eyes closed, of course. 'Short Trips' sounds like the work of someone not interested in where one scene ends and the other begins, but instead, where they connect.

Domestic Exile are proud to present the devastatingly deplorable and malevolent recordings (that are sure to corrode yet electrify your ears) by Glasgow's very own KLEFT.

KLEFT aka Vickie McDonald is rooted in and has actively propagated the underground DIY radical queer punk and feminist movement here in Glasgow. Their projects have included the skull crushing sludge doom of Cartilage, the unflinching and infamous multi- membered hard core stars that were DIVORCE and the sacrificial, druid drone glitch of MOURN. Alongside these projects they have uncompromisingly disrupted, motivated and facilitated collective endeavors to take down the capital power structure of the dominant system of patriarchal club venues and abhorrent fuckers in this town.

For this record 'H+ Sexualis', KLEFT explores the neo-modern space where flesh is left behind. Negotiating, analyzing and tearing to shreds the relationship and balance between flesh and technology. KLEFT's expansive and palpable sonic offerings delve into themes of transhumanism and body hacking and seep into our collective skin begging the question; can flesh ever be created digitally. Does a lack of physicality alienate human experience in a post transhumanism society Are we all destined to be skinless yet digitally connected Will the body become superfluous Toward "the utopian dream of the hope for a monstrous world without gender," as stated on Donna Haraway's essay ''A Cyborg Manifesto.'

From the opening track 'Ossein' the listener grasps a foreboding lethargic build up, lurking out of the spatial ritualistic shadows into a sea of suffocating nothingness. A void where there is no gravity. Skeletal and brittle shattering rhythms which echo DMZ / Skull Disco dubstep alongside the more frozen, glacial ominous explorations of grime are often felt proving KLEFT is an artist whose inspirations run deep and wide and generally exist in the darkest recesses of our subconscious. These fearful, disjointed rhythms are set against weightless atmospheric oscillated synths, as if roaming through bleakly opaque, claustrophobic narrow corridors on a first person survival horror video game such as Resident Evil.

Moving through to 'CMBR', KLEFT's dissonant, degrading soundscape ferociously ascends. The resilient kick drum is propulsive and pulverizing akin to 'ardcore tekno - or intense gabba if you have the guts to adjust the tempo up to +8 - aesthetics that overwhelm and agitate finally revealing it's grotesque biological / amorphous bio structure. Elevating the repetitive 4/4 kick to a destructive, distorted banger of a track as layers of converging atonal noise and sound design simultaneously further enhances the sense of imminent radioactive contamination.

Next is 'Writhe, Squirm, Broken' continuing the convulsive, nauseating permutations of the prior track but reconfigured like a mangled, gruesome Cronenberg-esque parasite that has infiltrated an open wound, excruciatingly feeding off of the inner anatomy of it's hosts body from within. Repulsively reformulating the shape and dimension. The intro is akin to a panic stricken bouncy ball contracting and expanding, the spring reverb building momentum and traveling further away in distance and speed.

'Hackfleisch Deluxe' is a muuurrderous stomper and is one of the more grime / bass orientated tracks that deconstructs and disrupts the tempo familiar to sub-low producers on Black Ops / Jon E Cash / DJ Dread D. The crawling, plummeting frequency of the synth is a nauseating rush of coagulating blood to the heed; a deep throbbing sensory depravation in sharp, paradoxical contrast with the driving harmony layered on top which proves to be infectiously addictive. Furthermore are splintering programmed vocal samples that gives a sense of artificial disorientation, mind over matter, a possible hint at our evolving sentient cognition within a nightmarish simulated, augmented reality

Second to last we have 'Keratin' which is filled with the near fatal dissolving thud of Djax-Up acid that gives the impression that you're a biologist peering through a microscope into a petrie dish and witnessing the rapid and furious genetic cellular replication of bacterial and viral organisms.

Culminating in 'Bruised and Bleeding Hands' where the squashed density of a deflated and depressurized helium filled balloon and elastic umbilical cords, barbed wire and copper wires grind n' coil around the lens of a zooming camera. Taking no prisoners, this is a punishing grime weapon. A phat, surgical kick drum bulldozes its way thru causing carnage, syncopated punching snares after every rave stab and dizzying third beat. It won't be long until ye hear this on Silver Drizzle's youtube channel in the near future.

This record transports us to the hyperkinetic mutation scene on the cult cyberpunk film Tetsuo The Iron Man where the organic flesh / mechanical rust of the Iron Man metamorphoses with the Metal Fetishist during the rebirth sequence and we say 'LONG LIVE THE NEW FLESH!''.

ad ass a-side with this long progressive tune of acid cheap kick... that can sound really good on a sound system, but soudns so low-fi on a HiFi^^... The flip offers 2 jewel of minimalItalian hardtek. A rising style that gonna boost the dancefloor up to crazyness ! MASSIVE IS THE LAST TUNE !! SOLID SHIT BABY !!

Perhaps one of the most unique and unlikely exponents of the highly collectible genres of ambient electronics, experimental tape-music and PINA (Private Issue New Age), this English-born Jamaican- raised sound designer, artist and existentialist furrowed his own unblinkered path through lesser chartered electronic fields for many moons before eventually teaming up with Bill Laswell (with Material) and Daevid Allen in New York to bring self-taught synthesis to Gong during their most oblique periods.

Creating two impossibly rare self-pressed vinyl LPs of conceptual inner-visionary outer-galactic angular tonal-dronal alien-art soundscapes in the process, the man known under figure shifting guises such as Dennis Wise/Denis Weise/Dr. Wise etc, combined a culture of sound system circuitry and radiophonic trickery adding Tea-pot poetry and sci-fidelity future- folk to his magnetic mesh.

Presented here as the first ever dedicated Wize Music collection this record combines compositions spanning 1979-1984 in both a solo capacity as well as small- group projects featuring members of the Emerald Web band.

Imagine a comic book where a Funkenstein monster called 'Laraaji-Scratch Perry' invaded your record shelf while Komendarek and Holger Czukay kept lookout... Dr. Dennis might be the only one Wise enough to outsmart all of them with his powerful amorphous anaesthetic.

Korean IDM/Electro 12" from the local Duo IRT2000 & Unreg Alien out on Seoul's very own outsider electronics imprint, Braindance Records. Touching on political grounds THAAD get us an insider look of Missile interception system's soundscapes. All Realisations Approved by the Comity of Inter Air Control, Rhythms created to fit any Infra Red testing Program

Invoking imagery of condensed, interstellar warfare - Dayzero takes command of the controls for Sentry Records' eighth release. Based in Japan, the acclaimed producer follows up on his substantial outings for Wheel & Deal and Hatched Music among others - having continuously refined his highly effective compound of Dubstep with vocal support from the scene's vital tastemakers. Now joining the Sentry roster with two monumental armaments, the newest signee shows us how it's done. Enrichening the sound system music scene with a no-nonsense production style as well as his innovative, experimental approach - all killer, no filler.

Taking off to another dimension in 'Sunday on Spaceship', listeners are met with feigned lo-fi soundscapes, carved out of analogue noise and detuned echoes. A state of overt tension dissolves into Dayzero firing up the heavy weaponry with stripped down sub bass tremors and meticulously crafted off-kilter groove. Amongst granular, apocalyptic percussion reverberating voices of days past flicker. Diverse drum instrumentation and supple distortion keep it lively, a no-questions-asked onslaught and guaranteed way to light up any dance.

Flipping over to the B-Side, we're placed on the receiving end of another ton of musical napalm. Finding ourselves being churned through bare concrete, laced with psychedelics. 'Down By Law' oozes of sonic variance, as industrial plucks shine through the cracks - furthering the aberration alongside narcotic staccato arpeggios. Subtle use of eerie harmonies and surging feedback wails is firmly kept in check by brute-force kicks and snares - ceremonious pressure underneath. Venting high-pressure 808's amidst supremely crafted breaks, leaving us yearning for more. A pair of mean-spirited sound-bwoy murder tracks on a twelve-inch platter - enough said!

Galvanised by a passion for soul, jazz, funk, folk, and Brazilian samba, Judith Ravitz's Bolerio (in Hebrew, Yehudit Ravitz - ) brilliantly reimagines the music of the Brazilian legend Jorge Ben. Increasingly sought-after, housing as it does her seminal take on 'Dia De Indio' - often re-edited and sampled, bootlegged but never bettered - it's a uniquely thrilling LP in its own right. The year is 1983, and Ravitz discovered that Jorge Ben was touring Israel with his crack backing band A Banda Do Zé Pretinho. After joining her in the studio, the ensemble reinvented a selection of Ben's killer tracks that the band regularly performed. On Bolerio - 'come to Rio' - Ravitz handed them equal billing as they aided a recontextualization of Ben's music for an audience that was barely aware of him. These versions are by no means straight re-treads. Far from it. The highlights are many and memorable. The aforementioned 'Dia De Indio', a strutting, electronic samba-funk with stabbing bass and fluid arrangements, sounds so current and fresh that it's hard to believe it's now 35 years old. Its vibrant ambience has been likened to the wiry dubbiness of King Sunny Ade's Synchro System and it's easy to see why. Indeed, the electro elements add a futuristic feel that the original could never comfortably possess. Undeniably rocking more furiously than Ben's versions, the album begins with a throbbing take on 'Boiadeiro', the opener from Ben's Salve Simpatia.

For half a decade, Doncaster deejay Parly B has been a fixture of the UK and international sound system scene. His first album on Glasgow's Scotch Bonnet Records, Lyrics Spree, builds on 2016's EP 'This Is Digital'. Blessed with a voice as deep as Bounty Killer's, a crowing gimmick reminiscent of the great Dennis Alcapone and a bottomless bag of verbosity, Parly is the complete microphone talker. He rides a shopping trolley load of digital rhythms by likeminded producers - including Danny T & Tradesman, Stalawa, Interrupt and Mungo's Hi Fi - ranging from upbeat celebratory skanks to sweltering body winds. Tracks include the exuberant 80s vibes of the title tune, the brass-driven UK sound of You Mi A Look featuring fellow Mungo's mic man Charlie P, and the moody reality chant Skylark. Lyrics Spree is infectious, verbally dexterous dancehall, spraying lyricism in your direction

2018 played host to a bumper crop of sounds from some of Philly's grittiest, including Great Circles mainstays M//R and Chaperone. To close out the year that was, we are pleased to present Heckadecimal's 'Murder Tape.'

A Minneapolis-based producer and acid auteur, Heckadecimal has been a fixture within the vibrant Midwestern electronic music community for nearly 20 years. Founder of the legendary 'Anti-human' events and co-curator of the ever-prolific Always Human Tapes imprint - alongside Ryan Wurst and Peter Lansky - Heckadecimal's reputation is one of unrelenting creativity and tireless advocacy for sonic experimentation. His work has found its way to light via a slew of pseudonyms and stage monikers, including The Worm, noface and Wonder Sirens.

In short - Heckadecimal lives and breathes the sonic matter that he leaves pouring out of studio monitors, busted bar systems and finely tuned rave stacks, wherever his travels take him.

Live performance lies at the core of Heckadecimal's practice. When he stormed through Inciting HQ in Philly earlier this summer, he took command over an arsenal of hardware that reminded us of how Octave One or Shawn Rudiman might show up. These were machines that he had lived with; touched with custom modifications, hand-drawn stickers and pockmarks incurred in battle, one got the sense that the gear was a personal extension of the artist.

Perhaps it's a bit maudlin, but we feel a certain kinship with this project. Indeed, these tracks at times feel very much of a piece with the gnarled tonalities in which our stable typically traffics; all low-slung riddims that reach at equal lengths towards mutated IDM aesthetics and post-Packard Plant techno extrusions. These are future perfect grooves that glide along under the vast Midwestern sky, providing a fertile communication conduit with the City of Brotherly Love.

Give thanks for acid. Great Circles will see you in the New Year..

For the last 20 years London-based author and party organiser Tim Lawrence has dedicated himself to excavating the history of New York City party culture and bringing some of the most powerful aspects of that culture to London's dance scene, from where it has ricocheted around the world. Having conducted the first set of major interviews with David Mancuso, Lawrence started to put on Loft-style Lucky Cloud Sound System parties with David and friends in London in June 2003. In early 2004 he published Love Saves the Day: A History of American Dance Music Culture, 1970-79, which tracked the influence of the Loft on the wider New York DJ, dance and disco scene. In 2009 his biography of the iconic musician Arthur Russell became the first book to map the wider downtown music scene. These beautifully written and politically insightful histories have educated, inspired and celebrated the previously overlooked foundations of contemporary dance music.

Lawrence's most recent publication, Life & Death On The New York Dancefloor, 1980 - 1983, published in late 2016, shines a light on 'one of the most dynamic and creative periods in the history of New York City'. Falling between the more regularly celebrated sounds of disco, house and techno, the period produced a uniquely hybrid series of sounds that never acquired a settled name. This led them to be largely ignored by historians and even DJs, yet the power of the period's music and the scenes it birthed, Lawrence argues, remains undeniable. Met with a rapturous response, Life and Death On The New York Dance Floor saw Lawrence on the road for most of the next year as he spread the word about the characters, the records, the clubs and the bands that shaped the post-Disco, post-Punk, and burgeoning Hip Hop landscapes of New York City during the early 1980s—a period when freedom still ruled.

This, the first of a 2-part sonic tribute to the 1980 - 1983 era as well as a musical companion piece to Life & Death On The New York Dance Floor sees recognised musicians (David Byrne of Talking Heads) nestle up alongside the belatedly recognised (Arthur Russell's Dinosaur L and Loose Joints, and Suicide's Alan Vega) and the downright obscure (Gray, 2 Teens Kill 4 and Tuxedomoon). An indication of what's to follow, Dinosaur L's original album version of 'Go Bang' has been dramatically overshadowed by the definitive François Kevorkian remix yet received regular play by David Mancuso and remains an enthralling experimental Arthur Russell jam.

Lovingly curated across 2 slabs of vinyl, the album introduces listeners to a stunning array of sounds, styles, vibes and feelings that encapsulate this most fertile and forward-thinking era, when music, fashion, sound system innovations, leaps in music technology, a DIY attitude and a freedom from corporate politics combined with extraordinary expressivity. All music contained within this album has been hand-picked and programmed by Tim Lawrence. It represents a selective yet rich introduction to one of the most extraordinary periods in New York City's epic musical history.

This is the first release on Reappearing Records, a label led by Tim Lawrence and distributed worldwide by Above Board distribution. Licensing courtesy of Tracksuit Music. Mastering by Optimum Mastering, Bristol UK. Artwork & design courtesy of Atelier Superplus. 2018.

Mark Barrott is the man behind International Feel, Roca, Future Loop Foundation, as well as being a founding of the Balearic boy-band 'Talamanca System' alongside Gerd Janson & Lauer. Nature Sounds of The Balearics is Mark's debut LP on Running Back Incantations.

The new album from Danish electronic trio System is a special kind of collaborative effort with piano magician Nils Frahm. His purpose-built improvisations on synth, organ and piano served as source material for the members of System (Thomas Knak, Anders Remmer & Jesper Skaaning), who merged his warm acoustic tones with their minimalist digitalism and set out to translate their distinctive clicks 'n' cuts electronics into vivid soundscapes. Over two years in the making, the resulting nine tracks are as sonically intriguing as they are touching. Ranging from the mellow bliss of the title track to echoes of 90's and 2000's electronica and ambient sequences frequented by mesmerizing movements and sounds. The blending of piano and digital tones and noises into emotive pieces might instantly recall the work of Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto, though System and Frahm come to quite different results.

Thomas Knak met Nils Frahm at one of his concerts in Copenhagen. They stayed in touch, exchanging thoughts and ideas. Two years later, Anders Remmer was also introduced to Nils. From then serious ideas for a collaboration formed. As Nils was a fan of System's self-titled debut album (released in 2002 via Pole's Scape label) their talks centred around Dub and minimalism, elements that constitute most of System's music as well as their side and solo projects. This in mind, System began producing sketches and brought them to Nils´ Durton Studio in Berlin in December 2015, where they recorded ten hours of him playing keys and effects to their drafts. Back in Copenhagen, they decided to change direction. - As Nils had told us about his fascination with our debut album, we tried to rediscover this minimal clicks 'n' cuts era. But hearing Nils playing to our rhythmic beds, we felt the need to scrap those beats and instead head in a more cinematic direction.'

So they started building new pieces from the Durton recordings, maintaining some of the minimal and static quality while new layers of synth sounds and noises created a richer and more organic quality compared to older System albums. The solo projects of Thomas (Opiate), Anders (Dub Tractor) and Jesper (Acustic) always relied on steady beats or rhythmic material, so the productions of 'Plus' with their focus on acoustic and melodic elements, ambient layers and cinematic moods, sees them pushing forward into new areas.

This way, the trio avoided copying what they had already done years ago, when they built a reputation as Denmark's prime originators within electronic music in the 90's and 2000's. 'Plus' is a triumphant example of collaborative experimentation and may be the dawn of a new era for System: - For us it was really satisfying to focus more on actual sound rather than rhythmic aspects. There is a lot of potential in this field, so it would only be natural for us to pursue this, maybe as a series of collaborations with other people who's music we admire.'

* New 7' from ultra-cool Helsinki-based roots, dub and reggae label / sound system Intergalaktik Sound.
* Featuring the vocals of the legendary Sandeeno who sadly passed away in September of this year.
* Produced by IGS Riddim Force, mixed, voiced and dubbed up by Dougie Conscious.

Planet Battagon are innovators in Droid Jazz. Electronics, jazz and outer-national sounds ain't no new thing. But following in the extra terrestrial sounds and cosmic mythology of Sun Ra, Planet Battagon are not reaching for the cosmos but simply made of it. Droid consciousness is the starting point but what's consciousness got to do with it. The droid's need culture, music and art and of the highest and most experimental of that lies Droid Jazz.

Originating on Lord Battagon's home planet the group are documenting the folklore and jazz stylings of the Trans-neptunia neighbourhood out on the edgelands of the solar system. This debut release follows on from a Lord Battagon outing on the Atlantic Jaxx label. 'Who's out on Quaoar' is taken from the Ltd Ed 12' 'Battagon Symphony', part one of 'The Rough Guide to Trans-Neptunia'. The release also features 'Salacians of Neptunia', a homage to the early droid cultural pioneers and the chant like 'Moon of Dysnomia' that is played ceremonially to temper the erratic saline tides of the aforementioned moon especially during its retrograde period. Droids and saline do not mix well and OntheCorner are releasing these 'Rough Guides to Trans-Neptunia' after intercepting distressed transmissions prior to a
devastating saline tide.

The Noise Droids of Planet Battagon are:
Jack Baker - Acoustic Drums
Martin Slattery - Bass Clarinet,Alto Sax & FX
Oli Savill - Percussion
Mickey Ball - Trumpet
Nathan Curran (Tugg) - Synth Bass, Syn Drums, FX & Conductor

ABOUT THE 'LIBRARY TOOL KIT' SERIES

The new sub-label from WNCL Recordings features 12 short 'tools' per release, for use on discotheque sound systems and home stereos alike. Released on 10' vinyl with digital to follow at a later date

ABOUT THIS RECORD

EKOPLEKZ contributes to the Library Tool Kit series with 12 unique transmissions, live and direct from his radiochronic workshop.

Following the recent 'Aset Forever EP' by label bosses Dusky, 17 Steps announces its next release in the form of the 'Off Peak EP' by innovative Russian duo Formally Unknown.

The three broken beat originals will be familiar to anyone who has seen label owners' Dusky DJ recently.

Lead track 'Off Peak' offsets a breakdown of deep, Detroit-nodding chords with thunderous bass, modular bleeps and broken percussion that will test the outer limits of any sound system.

On the remix, Warehouse Music's Mella Dee flips the original with 4x4 kicks, spacey pads and layered percussion that glides in and out seamlessly, providing the EP with a hazy, dubbed out techno gem.

Industrial broken beat jam 'Burnin' again blends atmospheric chords with chopped samples to create a carefully crafted leftfield trip that feels like the perfect soundtrack to an industrial How It's Made video.

Closing things off 'Arp Three' brings things to a darker, stripped back close in a panic alarm buzz of broken bass and twisted FX - with distant rave divas crackling through the mix.

Return of the UK producer Allen Saei aka Aubrey on the mighty Barba label is another bold statement in the discography of this well-versed artist. Building on the relationship with the Burek/Barba/Pomalo family established through remixes of Information Ghetto's "Inspiration" track (Burek 2013), DJ Stingray's "Communication System" (Barba 2015) and his solo "Clock Funk EP" (Barba 2017), for this record Aubrey presents us with a continuation of his previous Barba release, simplistically titled "Clock Funk 2" EP. As is to be expected from a guy who's been spending time in the studio for better part of the last three decades, this 12" is pure techno, in the best sense of the word. As mature and consistent as the previous record of the series, we have Aubrey building on that ground and expanding the range into more abrasive and rough on one side, and even more subtle and humane on the other. A1, titled "Clock Funk 2" is among the subtle ones. Beautiful cascading keys, glitchy synth bleeps and lead lines intertwine into a gorgeous composition grounded by a driving bassline and counterpinted with distorted ride cymbals. Uniquely sounding track which draws influences from many corners of the planet. A2, titled "Sel Moulo" sets a point for the other side of the spectrum. The heaviest and roughest, it locks the frame in which this EP works. Direct, abstract and firmly aimed towards the dancefloor, this cut is for the peak moment of the night when its combination of jacking beats and trippy leads will just push the craziness off the edge. B1, the most humane and gentle track on the EP, "Triads" is a perfect match for the A1 cut, although slower and calmer. Again, the similar approach is used, where the perfectly tuned combination of small synth and keys elements form a complex image which will stay ingrained into anyone's mind once you play it in the right moment. Again, it's hard not to reach for the word "beautiful" when describing this one. B2, Ghost Mist, is on the other hand a match for the heavy A2, but also not as intense. A repetitive affair, with abstract synth lines and disharmonic pads serving as an emotion injection just when they're needed. Common thread moving through all four cuts is an infectious groove intertwined with synth lines that would not be misplaced amongst the best examples of space-influenced techno music firmly grounded on the floor. All that, pressed onto a heavy duty 180 gram vinyl and beautifully packaged in an original artwork by local artist EmaEmaEma.

After a break of 6 years, Atlanta based electronic musician, producer and sound designer Richard Devine returns with a new album 'SortLave' on Venetian Snares' Timesig imprint. Recorded between 2016 and 2017 using Richard's custom built Eurorack modular system and two Nord G2 Modular units, SortLave features 12 tracks of intricate electronica that ranges from abrasive percussive experiments such as 'Revsic' to 'Astra's dazzling juxtaposition of sounds and onto the radiant ambience of the album's closer 'Takara'.

Talking about the album's genesis Devine explains 'I've been using modular synthesizers since I was 17, but have never written complete tracks using these newer systems. This was my first experiment to see if it would be possible and I probably spent about 5 years building up the systems that I used on this album.' 'I wanted the record to sound very different to my previous works which had been more cold, digital, clinical even, and had all been made using computers. The aim here was the complete opposite, to create something that felt very organic, detailed, spacious, big and warm and just as importantly, a record that you could put on and play all the way through that flowed in a seamless way.' This new approach was to prove fruitful and enabled Devine to create music in an entirely new way. 'I really wanted to break free from timeline-based music creation and do things with my hands on the fly,' he explains. 'So the tracks are more like captured snapshot performances where I could experiment and play around with the idea of probability-based sequencing for every patch, string multiple sequencers together that would feed other sequencers to come up with interesting rhythms and melodies. It was really fun coming up with new sounds this way too, I felt like I created several I haven't heard before with this album. Some of the tracks on the album were complete accidents and evolved from something that happened spontaneously. In the end I feel this is one of the best records I have released to date, so I'm very excited to share it with the world.'

Making his debut in 1995, Devine's releases for labels including Schematic, Warp Records and Detroit Underground have established him as one of the leading figures within the electronica community. In addition to his musical productions, Devine has enjoyed a lengthy and successful career in sound design, developing patches for many of the world's leading music technology businesses and working with companies such as Google and Nike.

Bizz O.D. is somewhat of a mystery.
A known fact is that she released noisy hypnotic acid-house tracks on Force Inc. and Smile Communications back in 1993-1998. 'Warship The Speakers' was taken very literally when Detroit was kneeling in front of their sound- system praying to the allmighty bass drum. 'I'm Coming Out Of Your Speakers' went heavy rotation with Junior Vasquez at Sound Factory NYC. A collaboration with Jimi Tenor for OZON Records in 1995.
A few live shows have been proven to be Bizz O.D. herself. She would send someone, kinda anybody, to play her trademark Casio RZ-1 drum-machine and tweak her TB303 acid-lines. The vocal loops coming off some defunkt Dictaphone. So she's never been really seen or photographed. Bizzi has ZERO social media except the mentions on Discogs and some up-loads on YouTube.
'The New York Push' is two previously unreleased tracks. Fetish club, distortion and newyorican-soul all in one. Set aside some pretty bizarr promo pictures that will add to the mystery.
It's House, New York House with a Latin-Industrial subtext. Ok, whatever!
P.S. Bizz O.D. live shows this year in Berlin, her new home since 2017. The 'T' a monthly tea-dance with Eric D. Clark of Whirlpool Production fame at Paloma/Berlin. Catch her if you can!

First single taken from the forthcoming Miniman's album "Digital Harmonies". Miniman, a true-to-the-roots French producer and live artist. Fierce proponent of sound system music for more than two decades, the veteran is at it again in full force. Full album to be released on the 16th of November 2018 by Moonshine Recordings. This 7" vinyl contains two exclusive mixes that will not be included on the album. Limited to 300 pcs!

Boofy hails from Bristol's fine heritage of progressive bass music producers. Having made a name for himself as part of the Bandulu crew and his own Sector 7 Sounds imprint, as well as dropping killer releases on Innamind Recordings and No Corner.

Lucky for us, he's saved some of his deepest, heaviest hitting cuts for Tectonic! This 4 track EP is a masterclass in minimal effectiveness, with rhythms ready to set the dancefloor off that reveal ever deeper subtitles on repeated listens.

'Back In The Box' sets the pace with swinging hats, thumping kicks and a bass line that will sound like an earthquake on the right system! Follow up for 'Herbie' which takes things in dissonant direction, before dropping hard and with authority.

Flip then for the EP title track, an exploration around the paranoid edges of a creative mind, stretched to capacity. Finally the EP closes up with 'Perfunktion', a rolling rhythm with a lighter mood, somewhat reminiscent of Mala circa 2006. Quality stuff from an excellent producer who is going from strength to strength right now.

DJ Support from: Kahn & Neek, Mala, Tubby, RSD, Joker & many more

The New York Downtown Producer/Composer Returns With His First New Album In 3 Years

EIGHTEEN: the year of release, 2018. EIGHTEEN: the age at which I first used a synthesizer.

In creating EIGHTEEN I worked independently in the studio, initially building up tracks with synthesizers and found sounds recorded in my daily comings and goings. After working with the tracks over a period of months,I shared them with a few musicians, who added their own instrumental layers. Though working independently, we all shared a similar working process: working in our personal recording spaces, as opposed to larger recording studios.

The musicians are: Gabe Gurnsey (drums) of Factory Floor, with whom I collaborated on the Beachcombing EP and performed live at London's ICA. I appear on Gabe's newly released album Physical;

Larry Saltzman (guitar) has played in my Love Of Life Orchestra since the 1970's. Well-known for his work with Arthur Russell ('Kiss Me Again', Flying Hearts), he is in high demand in NYC by acts such as Simon and Garfunkel;

Paul Nowinski, (bass) has played with LOLO since the 1980's. Paul has an impressive list of credits, including Les Paul, Keith Richards, Bernard Purdie and the Boston Pops; Matt Mottel, (electric piano), is the newest addition to the Love Of Life Orchestra. He is half the duo Talibam!, a leading act in the noise jazz scene; Lewin Barringer, (guitar), is a talented guitarist and producer in Philadelphia.

After mixing the final tracks, I brought the mixes to Berlin. There I worked with the brilliant mastering engineer Mike Grinser who helped to give the album a unified sound.

I think of this album as electronic music. It was created in my home studio, using analog and digital synthesizers, found sounds recorded on my phone, and instrumental parts contributed by friends. Finely crafted melodies and harmonies are set against subway noises, street construction, and distant foghorns. Sometimes there are sustained clusters, generated by my leaning against the keyboard. Deliberateness paired with randomness: this is what guided the artistic process.

This album is atypical for me as I am not playing saxophone. (I do play one reed instrument - a harmonica.) I grew up with the sax as my primary instrument. Yet my father was a radio journalist so the reel-to-reel tape recorder was a ubiquitous presence in the family home. From an early age,

I experimented with the tape machine: recording, overdubbing and splicing tape. I learned about Varese from Frank Zappa liner notes; I read John Cage's 'Silence.' Electronic music was on my radar.

My first exposure to an actual synthesizer came when I recorded my first single at the fabled Sound City Studio in Van Nuys, CA. The studio had a custom Neve board, but it also had a firstgeneration Moog modular synthesizer sitting unused in the maintenance room. I asked and they kindly let me experiment with it. Soon, I enrolled at the University of California - San Diego after I discovered they had separate studios for their Moog and Buchla systems. These large modular synthesizers were affordable then only by institutions and rock stars. But these would be soon eclipsed by smaller, cheaper synths in the 70's and early 80's. In the same way, recording studio technology became accessible in the 90's. . And thus the personal computer and digital audio allowed studio quality production in the home studio. Electronic music had become democratized.
Handmade music by way of digital technology: this is the music of EIGHTEEN

Studio One Freedom Sounds Is The New Collection From Soul Jazz/studio One Focussing On The Intense Period In The Second Half Of The 1960s When Studio One's Vast And Unbeatable Output Of Ska, Soul, Rock Steady And Reggae Made It Literally One Of The Hottest Musical Empires In The World.
During This Highly Successful Period, Clement 'sir Coxsone' Dodd Released Hundreds And Hundreds Of Superlative Singles Seemingly On An Almost Daily Basis, In The Process Making Huge Stars Out Of Jamaican Singers Such As Alton Ellis, Delroy Wilson, The Wailers, Slim Smith, Jackie Opel And Many More.
Powered By The Finest In-house Musicians Working In Jamaica, Whether It Was The Skatalites, Jackie Mittoo's Soul Brothers, The Sounds Dimension Or The Soul Vendors, Studio One Functioned As Hit Factory On The Scale Of Motown In The Usa, Shaping And Defining Reggae Music For Decades To Come.
Singlehandedly Studio One's Founder Clement Dodd Was Able To Create The Most Successful Vertically-integrated Record Company That Jamaica Had Ever Known With Pressing Plant, Printers, Studio, Shops, And Sound Systems All Running At Once, With Over 50 Employees And Hundreds Of Artists Working With Studio One During This Time.
Studio One Freedom Sounds Tells The Story Of Studio One In The 1960s With A Stunning Set Of Ska, Soul, Rock Steady And Reggae Killer Tunes As Well As Informative Sleevenotes And Track-by-track Info By Noel Hawks. The Album Is Released As Heavyweight Double Vinyl (+ Free Download Code), Deluxe Cd And Digital Album.

- Spectral Decay' is a collection of musical reflections about the paradoxical contemporary state of humankind, whereas its own technological, social, cultural and economical development seems to entrench the possible points of a structura downfall. The narrative of - Spectral Decay' starts with heavy, mesmerizing industrial vibes. Due to the notable sound design techniques of Japanese artist Tetsumasa, his hefty piece - Nex' evolves into a harsh but still amazingly cinematical music sculpture.
Subsequent mid-tempo composition - Onzour Shayatini' by Meer dynamically follows the dark, experimental path of drone and noisy structures. Violent accents smoothly lead to the deconstruction of drum & bass patterns and turn into strident 90s metal riffs. The track progressively penetrates obscure subterranean abysses and becomes a perfect introduction to the next theme by Yuji Kondo - - Hades'. In Greek mythology Hades was the ancient god of the underground kingdoms, darkness, death and metals. Therefore, Kondo's music piece turns into an infernal portrayal of the underworld where tenebrous layers of bass frequencies, raw textures and Drexciyan sounds build up an enormous and lasting tension.
Side B begins with the track - Anthropocene' produced by Arboretum co-founder - Mogano. The whole composition refers to the present geological epoch we live in, characterized by environmental pollutions, depletion of fossil fuels and accelerated urbaniza- tion of the world. It is a deeply conceptual soundscape of a powerful system, that incorporates both - the destructive forces of technology and the infinite energy of the whole universe, that interweave in a devilish dance of post-techno, breakbeat and dub tones.
Thereafter, ~Raw in his piece - Poly Bios' pictures the interference of human structures in the nature. Creating a mosaic from indus- trial and tribal, organic sounds, he tells a mystical story of fear, hope, escape and primeval instincts.
The narration concludes with an atmospheric composition of NWRMNTC - solo project of Ana Quiroga from experimental ambient duet LCC. - Beyond' is a boundless, spectral reflection on collective human consciousness, where haunting vocals evoke a recon- dite, ineffable pain, leaving the listeners in a profoundly meditative state.
Laura Polan´ska

*Another UK roots reggae treasure unearthed by Partial Records in the shape of
Mikey Mystic's` Burial' which originally appeared on the CD version of Mikey's `Warzone'
album on Roots Records in 1994.
* Produced by Nick `Manasseh' Raphael, who back in the 90's was running Manasseh sound system and also the label Riz Records, along with Gil Cang.
* First time on 45 for this gem, backed with a Manasseh dub cut.
* Tracklist:

* A 90s sound system classic produced by Riz All Stars aka Nick Manasseh and Gil Cang (Tuff Scout) with Time Unlimited member Orville Smith on vocals.
*Originally released on `Themes From Riz' LP in 1992 and remixed for Orville's 'Walking on Tightrope' set in 1996.
*Featuring two previously unreleased mixes.

Terence Fixmer's path through the changing techno landscape of the past 20 years has been anything but direct. Indeed, the French born producer, musician and Planete Rouge label founder has long been influenced by the periphery of continental European dance music subgenres from electronic body music, new beat and acid, before combining them into his own pioneering hybrid of futuristic, EBM-inflected techno with classic releases such as 2001's Muscle Machine or the collaborative Between The Devil LP with Nitzer Ebb's Douglas McCarthy as Fixmer/McCarthy. While the sound in recent years has been rediscovered and recast in diverse contexts by a new generation of producers, Through The Cortex sees Fixmer gravitating toward a different kind of industrial-tinged electronics, led as much (or more) by analogue sequencers, melodies and ultra-saturated sounds of synthesizers than drums and percussion. Across eight tracks at a compact but varied 40 minutes, the LP touches on an aesthetic hinted at in recent Ostgut Ton releases (2016's Beneath The Skin EP and 2017's Force EP), revealing a sonic narrative through noisy, screaming synth/vocal riffs with a jagged, guitar- like post-punk sensibility. Through The Cortex is techno with a voice - or rather multiple voices - guiding listeners through hypnotic, space- and social-themed terrain as a kind of dark soundtrack to darker days. The result ranges from the slow John Carpenter-inspired Escape From Precinct 13 funk of 'Expedition' and the patient yet muscular stomp of 'Fury' to the mesmerizing Suicide-like pop of single 'Accelerate', where Fixmer, using his voice as an instrument, chants the track's ambiguous title in an invocation of systemic change/collapse. Elsewhere, the story is told with more abstract and wailing vocals like on 'Shout in A Black Hole', or in the warm, entrancing chords floating across the stereo image in ostensibly changing time-signatures on 'A Halo Somewhere' - the LP's uncharacteristically kosmische musik come-down. The track, and Through The Cortex as a whole, reflect what can be described as Fixmer's idiosyncratic take on both techno subgenres as well as the larger pool of electronic music in general. This broad approach translates into a sound that is not only difficult to pin down, but also one that lends itself to multiple listens.

About The library Tool Kit' Series The New Sub-label From Wncl Recordings Features 12 Short tools' Per Release, For Use On Discotheque Sound Systems And Home Stereos Alike. Released On 10' Vinyl With Digital To Follow At A Later Date

About This Record Jane In Palma (the Artist Previously Known As Don Froth / One Half Of Bato Bato) Graces The Tool Kit Series With A Selection Of Jazz And Latin Cuts And A Flip Side Full Of Live Conga Jams

The real Hardcore zone from nowadays England Heafuk Sound System is really strong. Banging and changing all the time. Like a surprise after a surprise after a surprise... Efficient !!

*Repress*

The Future Sound of London's long and varied history stretches back almost 25 years and as such a vast amount of unrealised material exists in the FSOL Archives.
 
1988 to 2018 - 30 years of recorded history
 
Archived 9 brings further treats from the mammoth FSOL archives - this time ranging from early 90s right up to recent times.

14 unreleased tracks woven together to form over 60 mins of mind bending sound experiments 
From light to darkness from forests to deserts
onwards............ 
 
Did you know - The Future Sound of London were the first band to distribute their music via the internet, in 1994
 
Did you know - The Future Sound of London were the first band to use ISDN technology to transmit their music via the internet and also to radio stations across the world - a system that has now been adopted by the radio industry worldwide

There are some tunes that rock around so hard... like Ascender did, or like Popof And Noisebuilder did ... A long time ago CYB-X Sound system did a pure jewel of a tune... but this one, from another member of the sound is just a blaster... At a even higher level ! This EP also offers 2 remixes from Brent Brain and FML 010 : one in a tribe hardfloor acid way and one in a Hackney Hardest way... 165 to 175 BPM fiull-on record ! MUST HAVE !

This is a long overdue collaboration and we couldn't be more excited to present a brand new EP from our man, Jena's mad scientist funk freak himself, Metaboman. A stalwart veteran of the legendary Musik Krause camp, which has been a kindred spiritual sister label of sorts of ours since the millennium-turn heydays, being fellow purveyors of bold and raw dance floor music, still brimming with new ideas galore and bucket loads of soul. Here with the Wireless Dancer EP we have Metaboman in top form offering nothing less than his finest work: 'Doppeldenk' starts things off with some classic Krause bump that brings to mind the heights of the Duo at their peak but updated, like an STL banger turned up to 11 with sinewy melodic lines and that special Thuringen twist. 'Hanno' follows up with a guest spot by jazz saxophone master Thomas Prestin, and guarantees to bring down the house with a storm of swinging stabs, rough riffs, and fresh-as-it-gets drum work. On the flip, 'Splitit' does exactly that, whether referring to wigs, legs, or that last drink ticket - where dusty blues vox chops and a rolling percussive smack down will revive any fading floor faces. And finally, 'EchterG' rounds it all out nicely with the illest of atonal trips and subsonic bass tones that the finer sound systems out there will fully indulge. Much love from Jena & Paris to the World!