Suche:through

Kicking off 2020 – Great Circles takes a step away from the dance floor with the release of the monolithic new work from Philadelphia-based artist Radere, ‘I Do Not Want What I Have.’ This long-in-gestation set of slow burning electronics and shadowy drones is part of the label’s growing selection of releases dedicated to deep listening, following on from the 2017 Prefix Moniker LP.

Radere is the ongoing project of Carl Ritger, who has worked under the nom de plume since 2009 and has deep ties to the Great Circles family. He played some of his earliest shows at Inciting HQ, the recently shuttered, label-affiliated venue, and invited Justin Gibbon AKA Westov Temple and Great Circles label founder to contribute to some of his earlier recordings. While he started out as a more straightforward ambient guitarist, Ritger’s work developed into more experimental textures as he explored modular synthesis and processed found sounds.

Ritger’s releases from his time spent living in Denver, CO c. 2011-2018 are marked by a particular strain of east coast nihilism and an angular aesthetic that keeps the listener off balance. Now back in his native Philadelphia, the two long-form pieces that comprise ‘I Do Not Want What I Have’ represent a perhaps more nuanced meditation on pain and loss. “Spitty Kisses,” the 15-minute album opener, takes aim at the listener with a brutal salvo. It is almost sadistic in its sonic intentions – acerbic modular sound and abrupt stuttering in the material leave a listener personally affected. “You’ve Been A Ghost Your Whole Life,” on the flip, delivers a salve for the A-side’s wounds and resolves its masochistic tones.

Written through a period of intense personal trauma as a means to seek comfort and solace through creative action, it’s clear that the puerile humor of nihilism is gone and grown out of in Ritger’s work.

FFO: taking long walks off of short piers, the legend of the monk Kelpius living among the trees of the Wissahickon, traditional creation and destruction stories in polytheistic faiths, and John Coltrane.

The record is accompanied by a digital-only series of remixes by friends of the artist and regular collaborators, including new works from Borne and Shivers, as well as Great Circles alums Westov Temple, Chaperone, and WOLF DEM.

4TRK-029 sees label head Dj Hyperactive team up with Jason Patrick for the Inflexion EP. The release kicks off with, “Shadows Of The Underground” a stripped down acid Techno track that builds in a mutating fashion with it’s 808 cymbals, filtering shakers, and pitch bent synth stabs Mississippi Mud Hound gets underway with a growling bassline that morphs throughout alongside additional synth elements and percussion bits. On side b, “Harrier Env” provides a jacking feel that manages to also have stutter step bass groove in conjunction with 909 percussion, a spacey drone, and a mysterious melody. Closing out the release is “Bandaid On A Bullet Wound” an atmospheric stripped down track with powerful bass, sci-fi bleeps, and a lead synth riff that pushes and pulls in intensity throughout the track.

unperson’s forthcoming ‘The Ghosts That Gave’ EP will be released digitally and on 12” vinyl via Negative Space Ma, kick-starting a new chapter for the enigmatic producer as he glides between ambient, techno, breakbeat, footwork and UK funky with unquestionable prowess across 6 varied but inter-woven tracks.

The EP is framed around the concept of juxtaposing moments of euphoria and melancholy found within club music, delicately expressing intricate textures and emotion for the quiet corners whilst maintaining a dance-floor sensibility.

“Ultimately, I wanted to build a body of work that explores and extends upon various corners of the Harcore Continuum. Through the juxtaposition of fleeting moments of euphoria scattered amongst twisted, melancholic soundscapes, I aimed to express fluctuating emotions which denote the spirit and energy of the club/UK sound-system culture”. unperson

We are a vinyl-only label based in Miami, FL.
Our first release comes from label boss, Feph.

Steady rhythms, captivating grooves. An ebb and flow of energy throughout every track.
Catered to DJs and meant for the club.
Extended DJ tools that will serve a place in any record bag.
300 copies

Limited edition clear LP 500 copies worldwide. No Repress!

Record Kicks is proud to present the Instrumentals from 2019's critically acclaimed album "50 FOOT WOMAN" by Hannah Williams & The Affirmations. Recorded strictly on tape at ATA Records and mixed and produced by Shawn Lee, this album captures all of the visceral power of The Affirmations. Hannah Williams turned heads worldwide when the hip-hop superstar Jay-Z sampled her heart-stopping vocals on 'Late Nights & Heartbreak' for the title track, '4.44' on his 2017 album. With the new album 50 FOOT WOMAN, released last October 18th on the Milan based imprint Record Kicks, Hannah and her exemplary, Bristol-based band the Affirmations delivered a definitive career statement.

WRWTFWW Records is too happy to announce the much anticipated official reissue of Japanese duo Inoyamaland’s quintessential ambient/environmental/electronic album Danzindan-Pojidon, produced by Haruomi Hosono and originally released in 1983 on his Yen Records label. Available outside of Japan for the first time, the new age classic comes as a limited LP with liner notes by band member Makoto Inoue.

With Danzindan-Pojidon, Yasushi Yamashita and Makoto Inoue created what they describe as "a special place where the kingdom of summer vacation never ended". Playful and magical, it’s a sonic landscape defined by tinkling synths, floating minimalist melodies, pastoral excursions, and mythical overtones. The 10-track adventure takes the listener on a joyful audio exploration of unknown but friendly territories, like childhood memories of an imaginary island where everything is vibrantly alive and peaceful.

The original recording sessions for the album took place in an apartment filled with Inoyamaland’s "favorite things and friends" and the wonders that came out of them were handed to master Harry Hosono who added his undeniable genius touch. And thus Danzindan-Pojidon was born, an absolute must-have, sitting in the pantheon of all-time 80s Japanese ambient greats alongside Midori Takada’s Through The Looking Glass, Hiroshi Yoshimura’s Green, and Satoshi Ashikawa’s Still Way - and holding that mysterious power of "music that makes life a little easier and happier".

‘Rejoice’ is a very special collaboration between Tony Allen, the legendary drummer and co-founder of Afrobeat, and Hugh Masekela, the master trumpet player of South African jazz.

Having first met in the 70's thanks to their respective close associations with Fela Kuti, the two world-renowned musicians talked for decades about making an album together. When, in 2010, their touring schedules coincided in the UK, the moment presented itself and producer Nick Gold took the opportunity to record their encounter. The unfinished sessions, consisting of all original compositions by the pair, lay in archive until after Masekela passed away in 2018.

With renewed resolution, Tony Allen and Nick Gold, with the blessing and participation of Hugh Masekela’s estate, unearthed the original tapes and finished recording the album in summer 2019 at the same London studio where the original sessions had taken place.

‘Rejoice’ can be seen as the long overdue confluence of two mighty African musical rivers – a union of two free-flowing souls for whom borders, whether physical or stylistic, are things to pass through or ignore completely. According to Allen, the album deals in “a kind of South African-Nigerian swing-jazz stew”, with it's roots firmly in Afrobeat.

Allen and Masekela are accompanied on the record by a new generation of well-respected jazz musicians including Tom Herbert (Acoustic Ladyland/The Invisible), Joe Armon-Jones (Ezra Collective), Mutale Chashi (Kokoroko) and Steve Williamson.

On their second release, Filament descends into the club with a three-tracker that guides you gently through the entire night. Full-fat grooves, rolling baselines & floating synths, it’s all there. Ride along with Kito Jempere, Lovvlovver, Donald’s House & Carrot Green and you’ll find yourself never wanting to leave. “As a wise man once said, you can find me in da club.”

Max Graef and Julius Conrad are Ratgrave. ‘Rock’ is their
second album - ongoing transmissions of Electronic PFusion from Earth. It follows a stellar debut on Funkineven’s imprint Apron. The duo’s sound palette draws inspiration from 80's funk, soul, rock and electronic but through a contemporary lens from two versatile multiinstrumentalists.

 In their own words: “Rock is the essence of energy and
vibration we felt in different styles of music, almost like a
parallel component connecting all things we like. In the
process of recording the new album we kept coming back
to this essence no matter what style the original idea was.
There was the raw and brutal energy of Jazz-Rock, a lot of
video game influences that somehow adhered this essence
just as well as quieter Pop and Psychedelic passages that
we recorded. Among other things we absorbed a lot of
heavy music during the time of the recording like Blue
Cheer, Black Sabbath, Frank Zappa or Jimi Hendrix and
realized while writing our own music how much impact
they had even on quieter songs. This is why ‘Rock’ felt like
the perfect title although the music ranges from P-Funk
and Spiritual Jazz to various styles of Pop and beyond.”

 Max Graef has previously collaborated with Glenn Astro on
records for Ninja Tune and both artists have previously
released on Tartelet.

 This marks the fourth official album on Black Focus, a
London label founded by Kamaal Williams.

 4pp digipack. 180g vinyl LP in reverse board printed sleeve
with 3mm spine and digital download card.

It's been a long, winding road to Hailu Mergia's sixth decade of musical activity. From a young musician in the 60's starting out in Addis Ababa to the 70's golden age of dance bands to the new hope as an emigre in America to the drier period of the 90s and 2000s when he mainly played keyboard in his taxi while waiting in the airport queue or at home with friends. More recently, with reissue of his classic works and a re-assessment of his role in Ethiopian music history, Mergia has played to audiences big and small in some of the most cherished venues around the world. With 2018's critical breakthrough "Lala Belu" Mergia championed himself and consolidated his legacy, producing the album on his own and connecting with listeners through the sheer creative power of his version of modern Ethiopian music. His subsequent performances revealed an artist who is in no way stuck in the nostalgia for the "golden age" sound. The press agreed, including the New York Times, BBC and Pitchfork, calling his music "triumphantly in the present" in its Best 200 Albums of the 2010's list. Mergia's new album "Yene Mircha" ("My Choice" in Amharic) encapsulates many of the things that make the keyboardist, accordionist and composer-arranger remarkable_elements that have persisted to maintain his vitality all these years, through the ebb and flow of his career. The rock solid trio with whom he has toured the world most recently, DC-based Alemseged Kebede (bass) and Ken Joseph (drums), forms the nucleus around which an expanded band makes a potent response to the contemporary jazz future "Lala Belu" promised. "Yene Mircha" calcifies Mergia's prolific stream of creativity and his philosophy that there is a multitude of Ethiopian musical approaches, not just one sound. Enlisting the help of master mesenqo (traditional stringed instrument) player Setegn Atenaw, celebrated vocalist Tsehay Kassa and legendary saxophone player Moges Habte from his 70's outfit Walias Band, Mergia enhances his bright, electric band on this recording with an expanded line up on some songs. Mergia produced the album which features several of his original compositions along with songs by Asnakesh Worku and Teddy Afro. An artist still reinventing his sound every night on stage during his marathon live sets, this 74-year-old icon refuses to make the same album twice. The album feels as urgent and risky as his concerts can be, pushing the band to the outer limits of group improvisation and back with chord extensions during his exploratory solos. "Yene Mircha" captures this live experience and fosters an expansive view of what else could be in store for this tireless practitioner of Ethiopian music.

‘Visions’ is a new collaborative album from BADBADNOTGOOD co-founders, Matthew Tavares and Leland Whitty. The Grammy Award winning, multi-platinum producers have been performing and writing music together for 10 years. They have achieved international acclaim with BADBADNOTGOOD and Tavares’ recent solo single ’Self-Portrait’ has been championed by tastemakers such as Gilles Peterson and Benji B. ‘Visions’ is the latest upshot of their incredibly fruitful partnership.

Recorded in Toronto, it was produced by Tavares and Whitty - with Tavares also mixing the album and arranging strings. After a three-week writing period it was played in its entirety in one continuous studio session; almost all the tracks on the album are the first take. Tavares is on piano and guitar, Whitty on saxophone and flute. The rhythm section of Julian Anderson-Bowes on bass and Matthew Chalmers on drums completes the players. They make an impressive collective and are performing at the peak of their powers.

Conceptually the album is a canvas for a combination of composition and group free-form improvisation. Tavares and Whitty are the sole composers, but with some tracks collectively improvised, there is also a group dynamic running through the album. The outcome is a sublime melting pot of modern jazz, impressionist classical music and Arthur Verocai-esque arrangements. It is a sound that is hard to date; it is certainly of the now but is also reminiscent of a lost classic. Similar to the process of its creation, the optimal listening experience for ‘Visions’ is in its entirety. As a coherent body of work it draws the listener in with waves of intensity and crescendos that release back into tranquility - there is both darkness and light in the album’s narrative arc. There is also rawness and honesty to the music, which makes it feel like an intensely personal and intimate offering.

2x12"

Circle Vision proudly presents the anticipated debut album of Copenhagen producer and label head RDG aka. Ruben Nielsen.

"Planetary Sound Fiction" marks the Danish label's 10th release with a subbed-out panoramic trip deep into the current state and future of bass music, with sound allies Killa P, Rider Shafique, K Man, Ill Chill, Monti and Yaa Aisin all complementing the hands and ears of the accomplished Danish producer throughout the album.

Drawing on experience from decades of DJing, musical production, sound engineering and intergalactic excursions, RDG has thoroughly matured his undeniable skill of orbiting and perfectly blending the dimensions of jungle, dubstep, techno, DnB, experimental, leftfield and downtempo music into a coherent and captivating sonic journey.

Following more than 25 EP releases over the past 10 years, "Planetary Sound Fiction" is by far RDG's most exhaustive work to date and presents a sound, encompassing anything else released by the Danish producer so far.

white vinyl

Desroi cuts his unrivaled skill to combine power and pace into four new tracks again. "Vermillion Border" draws from a dazed palette of concise and forceful sounds and thus raises the bar on his lasting run of EPs.

Tightly oscillating and resoundingly austere, the EP has its moments of stormy brutality that punctuates the mesmeric synth cycles to inspiriting elation. "Bright Blood" and "Gauze Covers Flaw" appear tethered at the base by cavernous low end and heady drum machine programming which drives the work.

Closing track "Empty Eye" might present Desroi's most funky work to date, rounding the EP off with a single warping synth motif shifting through sonic spheres.

- Ursprünglich als EP zwischen den ersten beiden Bon Iver Alben veröffentlicht, enthält Blood Bank einige der beliebtesten Songs der Band - Erstpressung auf farbigem Vinyl - mit 4 brandneuen, exklusiven Live-Aufnahmen der EP-Titel, die auf der Tournee 2018, 10 Jahre nach der Entstehung der Songs, aufgenommen wurden - Bon Iver 2020 live in Berlin, Köln und München // Die "Blood Bank" EP wurde ursprünglich Anfang 2009 veröffentlicht, kurz nach dem geliebten Album "For Emma, Forever Ago". Die EP war der Vorbote eines neuen Sounds für Bon Iver: eine Bewegung weg von der akustischen Gitarren-geführten Instrumentierung des Debüts und der Beginn einer Erkundung der experimentellen Klänge, welche die Entwicklung von Bon Iver seitdem mitdefinieren. Die Neuauflage dieser bahnbrechenden EP ist gekoppelt mit brandneuen Live-Aufnahmen aller EP-Titel. Eine Reflexion über die Blood Bank EP von Ryan Matteson: When I reflect on the songs that make up the Blood Bank EP, I am drawn to mantras, both musical and lyrical. The driving and pulsating rhythm of the title track is held steady by the repeated refrain, I know it well, before it eventually yields to a beautiful array of guitar distortion and noise. These moments are significant through all four songs. When the steel guitar makes its entrance on "Beach Baby," it's transportive. A blissful, breezy feeling sweeps into the room and that puts you within the moment. Close your eyes and you can feel it. "Babys" follows perfectly. A piano guides your mind to the new beginnings that come with the changing of seasons. The awareness of time passes and makes way for another day. Then there's "Woods." A flawless finale. Foreign and new. Not just a new direction but a new beginning entirely. A place where boundaries don't exist. It was a signal change of things to come, laying the groundwork for new collaborations. A decade later, the song says so much in just three lines. Most significant to me are the words, "I'm building a sill to slow down the time." Time doesn't slow down, it races.

Clear Vinyl

Detroit Underground label head Kero returns to his sonic roots with the first of the Detroit Map Series originally featured on the limited DUTT-181 Series functional record player designed by Neubau Berlin. As a kick-start, Kero reveals Highways—a 5-track extended player of (abstract) electronics that is cleverly pulled together with a downbeat flow and tracks aptly sub-titled as major freeway arteries of the Motor City.


"Davison" commutes through glitch bits, bobbles, and broken beats flickering back and forth as it eventually opens midway through the traffic jam and hopscotched potholes with a synthesized melodic stream. Fisher displays its minimized techno flurry and rumbling low-end growl tempered by subtle blips'n bleeps and clinical precision. Southfield busts apart with modular maneuvering and heavy percussion showcasing an opportunity for Kero to cruise in the passing lane as the piece gradually mutates into a crunchy experimental electro epic. Lodge ebbs and flows with The Detroit Escalator Company-styled minimalism felt many miles away from its source. Chrysler expands and contracts with its 7-minute acid-electronic sprawl—here we see Kero carefully downshift to allow an ambient undercurrent to traverse a moonlit sky in the late night hours creating perhaps the finest soundtrack to (minimal) Detroit-inspired techno of yesteryear with a thumping heartbeat. ~PDS

The latest album in the series of "Beats and Knowledge" from Marc Mac. This episode focusing on the thousands of Black soldiers who fought in the Second World War, their efforts and stories hidden and forgotten for a lifetime. Marc's style of soulful Hip Hop beats are woven through the dialogue setting the scene for this mixtape style long player. Part six in the series of albums and limited to 400 vinyl copies worldwide.

For the first release of the new decade we are honoured to introduce LA-based Oxóssi who has conjured a captivatingly sinister sonic palette for his debut EP on the label.

Sama
A scorching 8-bar intro catapults us straight into 'Sama', the first track of the release, where abandoned-jungle-ruins atmospheres meet threatening wooden flutes and weighty wobs - Oxóssi is not messing about. The narration proceeds with a melody sung by a penetrating laser-beam-like synth, which adds a space layer to this organic banger, getting more and more detuned throughout the track while kickstarting a call-and-answer march between the flute and synth-wob melodies. Don't expect to uncover the secrets of 'Sama' at a first listen, this intricate creation will keep revealing itself listen after listen.

Saut Dans Le Vide
An alluring pad harmony and a hidden inspirational message from the artist introduce the fascinatingly titled 'Saut Dans Le Vide', a masterful arrangement of unrelenting piano chords, subtle choir stabs, dreamy flute leads and compellingly staggering drums. Elements keep artfully alternating throughout this convoluted composition which arouses a pensive, melancholy-nuanced hopefulness.

Undead
It's time to get glitchy here, as 'Undead' makes its entrance. Shimmering melodies rain down in a glittery shower of eerie purple confetti, surrounded by rattling white noise strikes and playful-yet-mighty bass hits. As the story evolves, an 8-bit synth lead briefly takes us to a post-apocalyptic landscape before we momentarily wake up from this psychedelic daydream, just in time to take a breath and dive back in for round two.

Inspired by artists such as Steve Moore and Aphex Twin, the producer develops a sound that is both brooding and nostalgic, mixing expertly influences ranging from German techno to vintage horror and sci-fi soundtracks. To celebrate the 5th anniversary of his EP Hotline Miami II, Das Mörtal released a limited-edition vinyl of the EP on Record Store Day (April 13th) 2019 with three previously unreleased songs featured on the album. The object is eagerly awaited by the artist’s fans and its copies will disappear quickly.

Beyond the Mikrosector, passed the Love Quadrant and over the Intersect lies another reality that exists in contrary to our own. This is where we now find Mr. 8040, the Space Dimension Controller, on a planète contraire, a world very much like our own, but one that runs in opposite to the norm. Here he toys with intergalactic Detroit funk and sequenced machines, creating celestial signals of minimalistic, atmospheric boogie. It’s a new course of interconnected, cinematic electro that exists outside of time and yet is apt for moments of timelessness.

Within the world of astrophysics there are select scientists out there that believe space-time gradually loops in on itself. Within this infinite realm of time and space, we can find ourselves once again living our past lives. It’s in this eternal domain that the Space Dimension Controller returns once more, applying his knowledge from the planète contraire to his absorbing palette of C-beams, moon-lit orchestrations, and graviton beats. Matured from his time cavorting through the core of the unknown, the Space Dimension Controller’s sound becomes more focussed, filled with the knowledge of the worlds his visited.

On the A side, Mr. 8040’s strain of progressive and unequivocal deep-space disco lends towards his studio competence, creating lush melodies that will have even the geysers of Enceladus erupting in time along with the symphony of syncopated drum machines. On the flipside, the prodigious Jack Hamill, aka. the Space Dimension Controller, flexes his machine savviness once more creating a timeless electro-funk rhythm for a timeless, time-travelling pioneer.

Max Essa completes a trio of terrific releases on Hell Yeah with The Great Adventure EP. It's packed with more grown up dance floor dynamite and later in the year will be collected together with the first two parts to make for a full album.

By now you will know that Essa is part of the UK's Balearic mafia. He's served up big tunes on Is It Balearic?, Aficionado, Music For Dreams, and his music always acts as a sonic raft that floats you out to sea and leaves you bobbing up and down in a state of pure bliss.

Opener 'Tombolo' starts as acoustic music and the sound of a muffled crowd but soon awakens into an uptempo affair littered with toms, guitar licks and claps that are driven by bumping drums. There are elements of old school, Italo and classic house but somehow it feels completely new and fresh as it takes you ever higher.

'The Great Adventure' is masterfully sun kissed disco with crisp 80s drums, love struck chords and a yacht rock feel that is pure joy, something like topless dancing with sand between your toes and umbrellas in your cocktails.

Closer 'Fool in the Pool' sinks into gentle tabla drums and unhurried chords. It's horizontal and thoughtful - the sound of a lazy afternoon somewhere on the Mediterranean coast, gazing at glistening seas through the romantic lens flare in your sunglasses.

This EP is already great feedback from the DJ dons who have been giving it early plays, so act now to snap up your first summer sounds of 2020.

Following on from releases by the likes of Whitesquare, The Cyclist, DJ Octopus and Daniele Baldelli & Dario Piana, Tropical Animals head honcho Ricardo Baez steps up to provide a three track EP of refined, richly textured, deep and brooding cuts.

Undulating synths, introspective chords and a tapestry of rhythms flow from the Florence native, at times moving through the depths of lo-fi, crunching house at others delving into the realms of acid.

Three years after their critically acclaimed and sold out Abrada LP the great and joyful Japanese afro groovers Ajate are back with their much awaited brand new album Alo!

Ajate is a Japanese band who plays a unique blend of afro-groove dance music mixed with Japanese traditional festival music called "Ohayashi". Formed in 2011 by the band-leader John Imaeda, Ajate consists of 10 Japanese musicians.

Another unique feature of the band is the use of hand-made bamboo instruments as well as traditional Japanese percussion. The "Jahte" is a bamboo-made xylophone or balafon with a piezo pick-up mic attached to each key, connected to a pre-amplifier to obtain a loud sound and to add some touch of dirty distortion to its warm and natural acoustic sonority.

The "Piechiku" is also a bamboo-made string instrument inspired by the west-African "Ngoni" or Moroccan "Guembri" instruments. The Piechiku uses strings of the Japanese traditional "Shamisen". This instrument is also played through a pre-amplifier and John sometimes adds some wah-wah effect to it. All these bamboo instruments are designed, made and named by John Imaeda himself.

On Alo you will also be amazed by the exceptional sound of the Japanese Shinofue flute, which was not on the previous Abrada LP. Now, add to this unique sound some well-crafted Japanese female and male singing and you get a killer mix of Afro-Funk flavored grooves with traditional Japanese music!

Since the release in 2017 of their Abrada LP on the 180g label Ajate has toured Europe twice and has played a memorable concert at the world famous Trans Musicales festival in France in 2018, which has been followed by another great KEXP Live session.

Here is some music you will not be able to hear anywhere else, by one of the most joyful Japanese band to hear on record and to listen live!

Two giants of Brazilian music back-to-back!

Jorge Ben can do it all - vocalist,songwriter, musician, producer and to many their ‘all-round’ favourite Brazilian artist. Jorge has had an amazing career, involved in music from the early 60's through to the current day, writing countless classic songs for him and other artists.

This awesome samba-disco-funk joint 'Waimea 55.000’’ is a lesser-known production, taken off a 7” B-side released on Som Livre in 1978. This is a gem which needed to be dusted off and given the
wider audience it deserves.

Baby Consuelo with her distinctive voice is one of Mr Bongo’s favourite Brazilian singers. The only female founding member of the mythical group Os Novos Baianos, Baby is a real innovator andpioneer, changing her persona and musical styles over the years, but still staying unique.
Here we have Baby at the start in raw psychedelic hippy mode,
giving a powerful vocal delivery where she manages to sound simultaneously badass and lovable. This early song was released in 1970 on RGE records on a compacto 7” credited to Baby Consuelo and additionally featured on OsNovos Bahianos’s debut album 'É Ferro Na Boneca!’ in the same year (re-issued on Mr Bongo in 2019).

Ionisation is the first LP by Italian poet Adriano Spatola. Born in Yugoslavia in 1941, by the age of 23 he became a major force in the Italian avant-garde. “Towards Total Poetry,” Spatola’s critical study on the state of modern poetry, spells out his position: “to become a total medium, to escape all limitations to include theater, photography, music, painting, typography, cinematographic techniques, and every other aspect of culture, in a utopian ambition to return to origins.” Graphic poetry (cut-up zeroglyphs), volatile and beautiful prose (particularly his books The Porthole and Majakovskiiiiiiij), and of course sound poetry, represented here for the first time. Spatola was the editor of many underground publications: Baobab (a legendary audio-cassette magazine), Tam Tam, and Edition Geiger. Each of his pursuits spread the margins of the format, all done with a relentless, piercing curatorial eye.

Spatola has dark, drunken wit in spades. In his sound poems, an even more saturated persona is conjured. A desperate humor sneers through this LP, a humor that has surrendered to the severe joke of life long ago - lashing out on syllables and ingrown word games. Particularly, his classic “Aviation/Aviateur” (akin to his “Seduction/Seducteur,” & “Violacion/Violateur” etc.). Read by lesser performers, these pieces would falter and float by in the trough, though Spatola’s bull-like confidence tears through. “Poker Foundation” features the poet hysterically singing “the play of the words” over a classical radio piece, mocking and squawking against the string swells. Steve Lacy plays scissors, knife, and saxophone on “Hommage à Eric Satie,” a piece originally recorded for the luxurious Cramps LP boxset Futura. Collaborators Gian Paolo Roffi and Paul Vangelisti are also featured across the collection.

The LP concludes with the titular work “Ionisation,” recorded just days before his premature death in 1988. Feeling his sinking health, his belly in the quicksand, he prefaces the piece, “a funeral march for my body.” He proceeds to scrape and pound the microphone on his chest, face, and clothing. This thick pumping of Adriano’s torso rapping across the speakers abruptly stops after two minutes. A piercing moment.

I was born the day after Adriano died, which has some poetic meaning to me, naturally. I am indebted to him, his sickly sweet manner. The opportunity to publish these largely unknown sound works is an honor which brings a warmth to my torso. Much appreciation goes to Giovanni Fontana (poet and dear friend of Adriano), who helped produce this edition with me. “Every single word has been a tempest of gestures.“

Sean McCann, January 2020

Soma welcome the debut album from the ever-growing roster of youthful talent as Lewis Fautzi drops The Gare Album, named in homage to The Gare Club, Porto, where Lewis made his discovery of Techno. A bold 4 track single debut gave rise to the album process midway through 2013 and under the careful supervision of Soma, Lewis has provided a definitive peak in his sound cultivated on the back of years of studio work. A collection of deep, dark and twisted techno awaits.

A definite maturity in production shines through on this fantastic LP from Fautzi as he creates a cold and calculating output, clearly focused on the future. The Gare Album has allowed Fautzi to express himself fully through electronic music, a task that he has taken to whole-heartedly.
The Gare Album will be released on limited double LP.

In 1985, after five studio albums and two live albums with her band, Toyah decided to go solo, and signed to Sony’s Portrait label. Produced by Christopher Neil, “Minx” is Toyah's first true solo album and includes writing collaborations with her band members as well as with Simon Darlow (“Slave To The Rhythm”), and two UK hit singles in “Don’t Fall In Love (I Said)” and “Soul Passing Through Soul”, as well as covers of Alice Cooper’s “School’s Out” and Rare Bird’s Sympathy

Issued on vinyl for the first time since 1985, the album is pressed on 180 gram translucent red vinyl

After the first classy, deep and aetherial 12" back in May 2019, B2 Recordings is back with it's second release, and here we see the labelowner Bengoa move things forward with a three-track EP of all original material following a five-year hiatus. Title-cut 'Forest Law' takes the lead with robust, organic percussion at its core while wandering subs, airy, circling synth lines and vocal chants ebb and flow throughout the groove to create a rolling, hypnotic groove. 'A Little More' opens the flip-side next, embracing a dub leaning feel with choppy stab echoes, crunchy drums and bumpy bass hits before 'Corponation' rounds out the release, laying focus on expansive voice murmurs, airy atmospherics and an acid tinged bass hook alongside loosely shuffling, jazz tinged drums.

La Sabbia is a group of friends who share the passion for music. In the last five years we succeeded in building and developing our own studio, where nine people are working and researching. We see music as a universal language to connect people, telling stories and creating new life shapes and patterns accessible to everybody, without boundaries of any kind.

Voltage Controlled Fingerz is Alessandro Paolone's first album, the synthesis of his trip in the various forms of electronic music. From the obsession for the Yamaha DX7's and Roland 707's raw sounds, through the complexity of jungle drums and poly-rhythm, to an almost maniacal analysis of the '70s progressive rock scene, you will taste these classic ingredients mixed in the new recipe of Doc Pavlonium.

A unique album of outtakes from the classic ‘Songs
Of Praise’ and ‘In Pursuit Of Shashamane Land’
albums, compiled by On-U archivist Patrick Dokter
from the original tapes and expertly sequenced to
work as an immersive listening experience. A
companion piece to the acclaimed ‘Return Of The
Crocodile’ set from 2016 that took the listener on a
version excursion through the early years of the
group.
 These are the dubbier and more out-there
experiments mixed down whilst Adrian Sherwood
was shaping the sound of the albums. Bubbling
percussion lines skitter across the stereo spectrum,
ghostly voices echo inside the machine and
mangled guitar riffs beam down from Mars, whilst
staying rooted in the tough tribal rhythms that
form the bedrock of the AHC sound. This is music
for the head and feet, take heed!
 Mastered by King Kevin Metcalfe. Comes with
digital download card for full contents plus doublesided poster insert containing an extensive new
interview with African Head Charge mainman
Bonjo Iyabinghi Noah, telling the story of his early
life.

For our second 12" vinyl release we invited electronic jazz duo Error Subcutáneo to tell their story on our imprint. Hailing from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic they have blessed us with an outpouring of rhythm and creativity for their eponymous debut album.

An experiment on syncretising Afro-Dominican rhythms with field recordings, jazz tempos, and modular electronic aesthetics, their personality is deeply embedded across the LP through ear-crawling textures, synesthetic imagery, and floor-moving sound. Cacophonous as they are graceful, their rhythmic dexterities come into play with every groove they get their hands on, deconstructing polyrhythms on the fly while still managing to dive on the beat with ease. Space, time, the need to shatter previously conceived notions; these motifs seem to be burrowed along the way for the listener to recall within their own memory.

These two twenty year-olds will surely get you following their careers up-close after listening to this inspiring collection of works, we sure know we will.

Limited to 300 copies only.

The big new project for 2020 is the long awaited collaboration Vibronics meets Weeding Dub called "Note fi Note / Dub fi Dub". Two of Europe’s highest regarded and most active dub producers joined forces for this unique project and throughout 2020 there will be a series of 12” vinyl releases, each featuring different vocalists. First up is the opening release featuring Nia Songbird & Madu Messenger we will be touring together mixing dubs live on stage as well as releasing releasing more tracks with some amazing vocalists. This 12” record comes in a beautifully designed & printed full colour sleeve.

'CYAN’ is the third full length LP from San Francisco Bay Area-based band The Seshen. Taking its name from a colour that is both strong and soft, the LP unravels the progression that has been made since 2016’s ‘Flames and Figures’, both as a band and as individuals; “Since ‘Flames and Figures’, a lot has been taking place both internally and externally.” Lyricist and vocalist Lalin St. Juste recollects, “we were on tour for the last album during the 2016 US election. There was an intense heaviness, a familiar one, one that extends generations and it just sunk in even further.”

The battle to overcome this heaviness, felt as a result of political and social issues and through Lalin’s own experiences with combating depression, fuels ‘CYAN’. “I was at the edge of myself,” she confesses. “This album is about pulling back the layers of who I am in order to push through sadness and grab onto what’s underneath”. From the opening lines of the LP on “Take It All Away”, these ideas are displayed - “I think it’s been too long that I’ve been your puppet / Cut these strings, I don’t want any of it”, she sings. Led by exposed yet bold musical endeavours from bassist/producer Akiyoshi Ehara, the album sees The Seshen delve into uncharted eclectic realms; “I think that there’s a lot more rawness on this record” Aki muses.

Anchored by Lalin’s sly, silvery vocals (which draw frequent comparisons to Erykah Badu) and cerebral yet playful rhythms from producer- bassist Aki, The Seshen’s music pulls from a deep well of electronic influences, R&B, and indie rock. Drummer Chris Thalmann, keyboard/synth player Mahesh Rao, percussionist Mirza Kopelman and sequencer Kumar Butler make the music three-dimensional, blending live and digital instrumentation for a mercurial, transportive sound. Since 2012, the Seshen’s live show has earned them critical acclaim and a dedicated fanbase on multiple continents, as they’ve shared stages with the likes of Hiatus Kaiyote, Petite Noir, tUnE-yArDs, and Thundercat.

Limited edition 180g 12″ record featuring 5 bangers. Comes with high-quality gloss sleeve featuring Gobsmacked skull artwork.

Taking influences from underground spaces and dark clubs, the GOBSMACKED! 12” series kicks off with a bang, dropping a five track vinyl from Diarmaid O Meara. The Irish producer describes himself as “trying to push the boundaries of electronic noise” and he couldn’t be more right. It’s just 30 minutes long and hugely pulsing, but packs more punch than a gym full of heavyweight boxers. “While working on new tracks in the studio, I’m always trying to create my own personal rave, and when I find myself in the middle of a dark and twisted sound, then I know I’m on to something,” he says of the creative process in his Berlin bunker studio.

The 12” includes a number of previously released digital singles by Diarmaid O Meara, which have been his chart topping and most widely played tracks, that have not yet made it onto black gold until this point. Featured as multiple Beatport number ones, peak time festival big room sounds, countless Boiler Room recordings, the 12” is a collection of club belters, tried and tested over countless sound systems and DJs.

At Diarmaid O Meara’s touch in the studio, the technotic sounds released from his control become alive, while dark vibes take a stormy ride through intense rhythms. Track titles like ‘Selfish Bass’ convey the vibe of music that chews up and spits out razor-sharp techno and rave fusions that race to tempos upwards of 140BPM. There are playful techno tracks like ‘In Your Head’ next to euphoric rave ups like ‘Live In The Night’ and bass contortions like ‘Ripcord’ that are masterfully concise but utterly devastating. Not to mention the ever hypnotic, chugging sounds meets massive crescendo of ‘Improbable Strip’.

“Whenever something crazy emerges through a rig, enough for you to you hear people screaming in ecstasy, and you know the production has delivered”, he says. And it is exactly this momentum that GOBSMACKED! wants to deliver – it sounds loud and obnoxious but also fun that draws on real appreciation for dancefloor destruction as well as countless hours of studio work. Therefore, it is no surprise that the artwork for the series also features the style of the well known Gobsmacked bunker parties run in Berlin venues like the infamous Griessmuehle, where said music has probably been overplayed to crowds with goldfish length memories. .

Nastia Reigel’s long-awaited sophomore EP on Dustin Zahn’s ‘Enemy Records’ has finally arrived! Disarm to Surrender demonstrates a perfect balance of artistic taste and technical ability.

The EP starts off with the heaviest track "Horses".

Backed by hypnotizing chopped-up vocals, the track hammers through steadily with no compromises. Trace follows in a more restrained and minimalistic fashion but manages to retain perfect tension. The B-side starts off with Natural Desires. It’s equally as hypnotic as the A side but more spatial and groove-focused,
making it an ideal candidate for warming up or winding down.

The titular track Disarm to Surrender completes the EP in a more abstract way. The track hints at the noise and post-punk leaning influence found in her alternative project, Rosa Damask.

Support from Marcel Dettmann, Luke Slater, DVS1, Truncate,
James Ruskin, Dustin Zahn, Perc, etc.

Mavericks of the musical landscape, Brooklyn’s finest genre-defying duo Dave + Sam release their anticipated debut album ‘No Shade’ on Classic Music Company this spring, a thirteen-track narration of the 21st century experience, told through the eyes of vocalist Dave Giles II and production maestro Sam O.B. With the aim to package love, empowerment and socio-political commentary into a collection of tracks that never compromise on groove or soul, this enchanting album never loses sight of its message as it journeys from deep Chicago house and otherworldly melodies to funk-laden jams and adventurous studio experimentation.

Hinged tightly by the soulful nuances of Moodymann, Mos Def and Gil Scott Heron, Dave’s captivating spoken word delivery is purposeful and considered, as Sam weaves rhythms and grooves so deep you can get lost in them – the two musical narratives working in perfect harmony. Impassioned cuts like ‘Facts’, ‘Worth It’ and ‘Sauce’ leverage hip-hop’s tradition of battle rap against white supremacist rhetoric, a message that remains ever more relevant in today’s political climate. Title track ‘No Shade’, ‘Day One (Oh Baby)’ and ‘Can’t Get Enough’ allow stories of love and loss to unfold to the listener, while the stripped-back grooves of ‘Round The Way’ and ‘You Da Shit Girl’ add another dimension to the album. Featuring a number of collaborators such as Chicago legend Mike Dunn, powerhouse vocalist Ramona Renea and fellow Brooklyn natives Cor.Ece and LATASHÁ, ‘No Shade’ is an evocative, powerful and joyful experience when played in its entirety.

Recorded in Brooklyn’s Bedford Stuyvesant, a neighbourhood bearing the scars of over-policing and encroaching gentrification, the vibrancy of the community and its unyielding history of creative expression shines through on the album’s entirety. As products of such environments, Dave + Sam’s music is resilient, revolutionary and organic in equal parts. An homage to their mutual reverence for early Chicago house and the golden era of underground parties in New York, ‘No Shade’ is a riveting body of work ready for you to lose yourself in.

Bristol-based multi-instrumentalist producer Memotone returns to Diskotopia for the stunning full-length LP Invisible Cities, undoubtedly his most accomplished work to date, effortlessly joining the dots between Martin Denny, Yasuaki Shimizu, Nurse With Wound, and Mark Isham…

Memotone is the principal alias for Bristol-based multi-instrumentalist, composer, and producer William Yates. As a solo artist, he has released on labels such as Black Acre, Bedouin, Project Mooncircle, and Brownswood either as Memotone or under his other alias Halfnelson. In addition to doing composition work for film and television, he works as a session musician for the likes of Dmitry Evgrafov, Connie Constance, and Phaeleh. He's also part of the Avon Terror Corps project helmed by Bokeh Versions, Giant Swan. Noods et al., and is a member of ATC-affiliated Pheasantry Society. His music has been championed on the radio, a key influential medium for Yates growing up, by the likes of Gilles Peterson, Mary Anne Hobbs, Tom Ravenscroft, Nick Luscombe, and more.

Drawing from Bristol's own sonic history, from the late 80s to the present, as well as the writing of Italo Calvino, Yates has put together 10 tracks on Invisible Cities that sit somewhere between neo-classical, ambient, fourth-world exotica, and post-krautrock. The mix of different timbres of live string and wind instruments, astute synthesizer touches, and skittish drum machine strokes creates an organic and ethereal energy deftly manipulated into a delicately interwoven narrative through Yates's production prowess. Already garnered support from the music press and radio DJs, the album will strongly appeal to a wide range of music lovers and fans of Ryuichi Sakamoto, Dorothy Ashby, Alberto Iglesias, Labradford, Delia Derbyshire, Peverelist, Toshifumi Hinata and more…

“All heads realize, recognize. Real heads on the rise, recognize. You better recognize”.

Another milestone of Hip Hop's Golden Era gets an official 45 rpm on 7" vinyl release to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Smif-N-Wessun's debut album "Dah' Shinin” .

Representing Brownsville & Bed Stuy Brooklyn, rap duo Smif-N-Wessun, Tek and Steele, first appeared on Black Moon’s debut album Enta Da Stage in 1993. Adding relentless rhymes to tracks "U da Man" and "Black Smif N' Wessun," the pair paved the way for the Brooklyn Supergroup Boot Camp Clik.

25 years later, the raw and gritty sound of Da Beatminerz productions cut through the noise that is often found in the present day music industry, and was selected as one of The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums of all time.

The Devonns dust off the golden age of Chicago Soul.
Straight from the streets of Chicago, Illinois, The Devonns (pronounced "De vaughns") are the brand new soul outfit and the latest addition of the Record Kicks' family, whose self-titled debut album that drops April 06, is an assortment of influences taking us back to the heyday of soul. "Tell Me" is the 1st single from their anticipated full length and sees the lights on limited edition 45 on March 06 and digital. Drawing influences from bands such as The Dramatics, The Isley Brothers and Leroy Hutson, yet bringing in their own unique modern twist, influenced by artists such as Jamie Lidell and Raphael Saadiq; singer Mat Ajjarapu explains how unintentionally, the rich heritage of Chicago's history with soul music influenced him. "The city was at the epicentre of a lot of good music back in the 50's all the way to the 80's, a lot of the labels specialising in soul were based in the Chicago and we even had our own sound known as "Chicago soul". Through several years of crate digging it surprised me how many songs I loved were recorded in this city, for example one of my favourites is this great little song by The Natural Four, produced by Leroy Hutson 'Can This Be Real', and released via Curtom Records." The band started in 2016 after multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Mathew Ajjarapu dropped out of med school and found himself unemployed and drifting. Listening to music constantly at the time, he found inspired to put a band together and create his own music. Pairing up with some of the best musicians Chicago has to offer, he founded The Devonns: the rhythm duty is entrusted to Khalyle Hagood (bass), Ari Lindo (guitar) and Khori Wilson (drums).
Originally he wanted to focus on 50s style doo-wop, similar to The Flamingos; rich in reverb and vocal harmonies, but in the first initial practise they had it was evident the band clicked on their love of soul music from the 70s, so their music took a natural turn towards that sound, with tracks such as the Wilson Pickett-esque single 'Tell Me'.
The release took almost two years to complete as Mat explains "I am a perfectionist, I had a very specific vision in my head about how it should sound and I wasn't going to rest until I achieved it." "This is a definitely a throwback soul record, as well as being drawn to lush and intricate arrangements of Motown, I was also inspired by the more lo-fi works of smaller labels such as Chess and Capsoul, and I wanted to capture the magic they had in those recordings in our record, as everything feels too precise nowadays" clarifies Mat. It was thanks to his engineer Mike Hagler, who introduced him to Paul Von Mertons (Mavis Staples, Paul McCartney, Elton John) who arranges and conducts for Brian Wilson's live touring show and after a 45 minute phone conversation about what Mat wasn't keen on, on the album, he realised Paul totally understood where he was coming from. After a few months wait for Paul to get back from touring they entered the studio with "Paul's players" and as soon as they hit record, Mat explains "I was getting chills up my neck, it was one of the happiest days of my life, and finally we had nailed it!"

Originally released in 2011 as CD and digital exclusives on Ikebe Shakedown's debut self-titled album, "Asa-Sa" and the B-side "Pepper" are both horn-driven, heavy, Afro-influenced slices of funk best-served on the 7" format. 'Ikebe Shakedown' has kept their signature funk, tight horns and impeccable rhythm through several releases including their most recent album "Kings Left Behind" on Colemine Records which made it to #2 on Billboards Jazz chart.

Following on from Myele Manzanza's acclaimed 2019 jazz album, 'A Love Requited', we have a 2020 addendum to that project; an EP of remixes by a set of diverse musicians from all corners of the globe.

Detroit legend Theo Parrish starts off the proceedings. Theo & Myele have previously worked together on various projects over the years, such as with live outfit, The Unit, whilst Myele's 'Surgery Session' of Theo's track 'Moonlight' was picked up by The Vinyl Factory last Summer as well. On his remix of 'Itaru's Phone Booth', Theo maintains the tempo & structure of the original track, whilst tempering the horns and adding some spaced-out keys & a little low end theory to the equation, making this a flip seasoned with Theo's unique flavour.

Mark de Clive-Lowe follows with the most uptempo track on the EP, a delightful bruk refix of 'Big Deal'. Fellow New Zealander, regular collaborator (notably on Manzanza's sophomore album 'OnePointOne') and hugely respected musician in his own right, MdCL delivers a hefty groove direct for the clubs; heavy drums & sci-fi synths lead the way atop of the original's powerhouse horns, switching up with some MAW-esque 4/4 tribal business to close out.

Cardiff's finest, Earl Jeffers & Don Leisure, aka First Word label-mates Darkhouse Family, kick off the flipside with their take on the appropriately titled 'Family Dynamics'. Fresh from their solo & combined projects (producing for Kamaal Williams, running house label Melange, and creating beat-tapes like Halal Cool J & Shaboo), the duo turn out some punchy boom-bap vibes which pulsate throughout the track, accompanied by some sweet vocal hooks, transposing the original into a plucky heads-down neo-soul tinged stomper.

Borrowed CS is another New Zealand artist that's been bubbling away in the underground NZ electronic scene for several years now, as a DJ and a musician. He ends this selection of remixes, taking the original jazz components of 'Pencarrow' and transforming it into a synth-boogie lead piece of brooding broken beat - a 'Clear Path Depiction' even.

Released on Worldwide Award-winning UK label, First Word Records, the original album was also co-produced by another antipodean label-mate, Ross McHenry, who released a new album recently.

The son of a Congolese master percussionist, Myele Manzanza's roots in jazz and African rhythm are well established. Adding his long-time influences of hip hop and dance music into the mix, this EP exemplifies his approach to fusion, and his persona as an ever-evolving artist, drummer & composer. Since his days as part of Electric Wire Hustle, he had his debut release on BBE, has released three solo albums, and done tours & collabs with folks like Jordan Rakei, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Recloose & Amp Fiddler. Since moving to London from New Zealand late last year, he has already shared stages with Hiatus Kaiyote, The Bad Plus & Alfa Mist, rocked The Jazz Cafe & Ronnie Scott's, and ably demonstrated his DJ side-hustle chops at stations like Soho Radio, Worldwide FM & NTS, as well as behind the decks in a few danceries across the capital, and behind his drum kit daily.

Already hard at work on brand new material, expect to catch Myele Manzanza live at various shows & festivals across the UK & Europe this coming Summer.

'A Love Requited - The Remixes' is available on 12" vinyl & all digital outlets from March 6th 2020.

Iron & Wine performed and recorded an absolutely captivating live set of songs in the Blue Room venue at Third Man Records in Nashville. Armed with spartan set-up of a guitar, microphone and his minimal backing band in front of a soldout audience, Iron & Wine’s Sam Beam ambled through his discography, on touchstones like Naked As We Came from classic album Our Endless Numbered Days, The Trapeze Swinger from Around the Well and Winter Prayers from Ghost on Ghost. It was a heartfelt experience without sacrificing any charm, personality or gestalt crowd connection.

Comprising producer-engineer Joel Krozer ((Clark (Warp), Smerz (XL Recordings), When Saints Go Machine (Escho)) and Brian Della Valle (singer-songwriter of Of The Valley) the Copenhagen based duo got together when Joel heard Brian recording in the studio below his. Their encounter led to a series of late-night recording sessions, together with collaborator Søren Holme, that quickly became the cornerstone of their partnership and the formation of Fluqx. Monolith is the exceptional debut album of Fluqx and offers state of the art production and highly creative Electronica tracks with that special something. The sound of Fluqx is distinct - a merging of deeply warped synthesizers, swirling textures and Brian’s affecting vocals. There is a versatile range of sounds and atmospheres across these twelve tracks - from the delicate arpeggios of ‘Carvings’ and ‘Ephemeral Objects’, to the massive drum sounds and cutting synth leads of ‘Monolith’ and ‘Hanami’. Della Valle’s warm falsetto navigates through this dynamic landscape with ease and hooks the listener in on tracks like ‘Feather’ and ‘Staring At The Sun’, whilst providing space to breathe on tracks like ‘Here‘ and ‘Golden Hour‘. Elsewhere, ambient, droney textures are at the forefront on ‘Mojave Booth’ and ‘Diamond Dust’, maintaining the dreamy, otherworldly nature of the Fluqx sound

Third time is a charm they say. But if the first 2 times were already so memorable, what more can you ask for?
Nebraska comes in with a bang for his third release on Heist after ‘Soften the Wireless’ EP in 2016 and ‘Metaphor to the floor’ in 2017. It’s hard to believe it has been 3 years since his last appearance on Heist, but with ‘Y’miss me baby?’, Nebraska takes back center stage with another releasefull of disco flavored electronics. Italian disco man-of-the-moment Giovanni Damico comes along for the ride and delivers a stunning 80’s flavoredremix.
It’s not to say that Nebraska (Alistair Gibbs) has been sitting still since 2017. He’s launched his own label ‘Friends & Relations’ where he explores his cut-and-paste style even more with some seriously cool disco dubs and other sonic adventures. Furthermore, he made a guest appearance on Aaron Dae and JKriv’s Razor ‘n tape Reserve. Apart from his regular musical explorations, he has also published a book (Surprise party every week) where we get a glimpse of how Gibbs sees the world.
His view is one of humor and positivity and one of creating new meaning through rearranging context. This is certainly true for his music and this new EP on Heist. The title track ‘Y’miss me baby?’ oozes funk with a clever combination of samples from different contexts put together to create something altogether new, yet familiar. The track has a real 80’s disco vibe to it and the vocoder adds even more to the ‘Zapp & Roger’ flavor of things. It’s a laidback track that feels like it was recorded on a gloomy Sunday evening with no pressure on anything and just room for fun.
The vibe takes a complete left-hand turn with ‘Dip and Flip’, a high energy house track that rattles, loops and bleeps into a full-on disco frenzy.
The b-side kicks off with Italian disco wizard Giovanni Damico remixing the title track. He’s had a great run recently with releases on Lumberjacks in Hell and more recently on Star Creature, where he’s found a home to explore his own view on modern day boogie. His ‘jam’ remix flips the track into a freeform arrangement where guitars, disco claps, delays and retro synth licks all work together for a great taste of Italian boogie.
The EP finishes off in true Nebraska style, with yet another curveball. ‘Xia long bao’ sounds like a lost Nick Holder track from the 90’s with its loopy island style Rhodes and lazy chanting. The choice of samples along with the catchy groove makes this a signature Nebraska track and a quality closer for this single.
We are super happy to have Nebraska back on Heist and with this amazing EP, you are certainly going to create smiles on your dancefloor of choice.
Yours Sincerely,
Lars & Maarten

On his third and album, Rainbow Doll, the New Jersey house mystic Joey Anderson speaks to us. Of course, like everything Anderson does, the message is encoded. On tracks like "Beside Me" and "Cindy," his voice rings out in dream incantations-on the latter, he repeats a Mark Hollis-like mantra over a perfect, minimalist house loop while the former sounds like the late, great Ron Hardy taking the razor-and-tape to Ike Yard.

It's his third record for the Berlin-based label Avenue 66, and graciously illuminates the dream logic introduced on his debut for the imprint, the 2013 leftfield classic "Above The Cherry Moon." While Rainbow Doll satisfies those outre impulses, the album's core comprises what are perhaps Anderson's most indelible dance tracks to date, like "Bounce With It," a jacking anthem which sees him at mission control, sending widescreen synth lines soaring through the atmosphere.

With the aforementioned vocals punctuating five of the eight tracks, Rainbow Doll is Anderson's most personal work to date. It's his first album in four years, but also his shortest, most concise full-length. Even with a more direct approach, the elusive, dreamlike quality which has made his work so intriguing remains intact. He speaks of dreams throughout the record, even as his uncanny methodology comes into focus. More than ever before, we understand the materials Anderson uses to construct his Escher-like tracks. We hear his fingers on the keys, the sturdy east coast house beats he learned to dance to. The dreams have become lucid. As he puts it deep in the album, they "seem so real."

Stap me! When you think you've heard it all, someone comes up with more earth shattering music, restoring your faith in humanity (well, almost). Back in the early 2000s, after locating those first Moondog 78s, and adding them to the mix at Honest Jons, assembling the compilation that became The Viking of Sixth Avenue, was a kind of musical cloud nine - a voyage of discovery, attempting to chart the worlds that Moondog had created. Now it's Spring again - as winter encroaches - and Mississippi expose us to some never before heard material. It's killer grade, recorded by yet another genius, Tony Schwartz, the pioneering Folkways field recordist, the first man to record Louis Hardin, aka Moondog, who in the 1950s also recorded a day in the life of a dog canine variety and a New York cab driver, among many others.

Behold! A survey of Moondog’s earliest recorded works - many of them unreleased until now - through a collaboration by Mississippi Records and Lucia Records. From 1954 - 1962 field recordist Tony Schwartz frequently checked in with Moondog, his favorite street musician. Tony Schwartz made recordings of Moondog’s earliest compositions as they were coming into focus. Sometimes these recordings were made right on the street as Moondog busked, sometimes they were made in Schwartz’s studio, and sometimes they were made on NYC rooftops. The resulting recordings, many of which had never been released, were deposited at the Library Of Congress as part of the Tony Schwartz Collection in 2006 when Schwartz passed away, and this record was culled straight from these original tapes.

Side one kicks off with an unreleased version of Moondog’s classic composition “Why Spend The Dark Night With You?” followed by the first ever complete recording of his “Nocturne Suite,” a beautiful piece of classical music performed with members of the Royal Philharmonic. The side ends with the complete “On The Streets Of New York” 7” EP, which was released on Mars records in 1955 and subsequently re-released by Honest Jon’s Records in 2004 on their excellent Moondog anthology. Side B features sketches of Moondog compositions never released, many with the man himself howling and chanting over his homemade percussion set.

Moondog’s music is as universal as it gets - part classical music, part Native American, part European folk, and part something completely unique. Moondog is one of the towering figures of 20th century music. This record comes with liner notes featuring never before released interviews with Moodog by Tony Schwartz and is housed in an old school “tip on” cover. All tracks fully licensed from the Library of Congress.

"Regeneration" is the new EP by Marcelus, back on the Out-Er label with a 4 track EP consisting of loopy, hypnotic but driven techno. As you progress through the record you experience the different sides to Marcelus' current sound, from tribal focused and stripped back dance music to complex beat patterns, deep psychedelic grooves and IDM style computer noises. The EP is a true testament to the style that Marcelus has cultivated up until now, and fits neatly alongside Out-Er's back catalogue.

Fabrizio Lapiana's Attic Music label reaches release number 20 on the main series with a new EP from the boss himself: Collective Chaos features remixes from fellow Italian techno luminaries Neel & Laertes.

Rome's Lapiana has been a vital voice in the global techno underground for more than 10 years now. His Attic Music label has played a key part in that, while his own evocative techno soundscapes have come on the likes of M_Rec ltd, Figure Jams, ARTS and Out-Er. This is his first outing of 2020 and is a superbly stylish techno trip.

Opener 'Crystal' is deep, drawn out techno with perfectly smooth and supple drum programming that soon gets you in a state of hypnosis. Subtle synth loops rise up through the mix as things grow more urgent, and once the percussion joins you're utterly locked. The title track is a more turbulent and edgy affair that sound tracks a dystopian urban wasteland - the synths are riddled with static, the hurried drums are punchy and there is an urgency in the molten synth lines that keeps you right on the edge of your seat.

Sound sculptor Neel runs Spazio Disponibile with collaborative partner Donato Dozzy and has an impeccable knack for sound design. Here he links with Laertes (half of Modern Heads with Dino Sabatini), a Mental Modern and Concrete Records associate who produces artful techno. Together, they remix 'Collective Chaos' into a dark and moody techno roller with glitchy textures and high speed synth lines that sweep you off your feet.

Closing out this terrific trip is 'Koyuk', a Millsian adventure into an intergalactic techno future, with polyphonic synths rippling above a rubbery drum line that is both propulsive and pensive.

This is high grade, perfectly distilled and meditative techno from some of Italy's finest exports.

It has been a LONG time since Bushwacka! released any music on his original label, Plank Records. Its apt that the label started 25 years ago, and now, for its 25th 12 inch release Bushwacka! has delivered a killer 4 track EP, pushing boundaries of time signatures and paying homage to his rave breakbeat days as well as turning up the heat with the electro cuts.

A1. All Night in Heaven actually started out as a rave house track, with the killer breakbeat drop in the middle, but Bushwacka! changed the arrangement specifically to play the track at the Return To Rage event at Heaven, where he first went raving every Thursday from 1988 to 1992. The track sounded so massive on the dance floor that he decided to keep the breakbeat vibe throughout the track and release it on his Plank Imprint.

A2. It’s The Five O is a piece of music that defies gravity. Its a fusion of percussive assault, tribal chanting frenzy, and a bassline from the depths of Hell… but the magic of the track is its 5/4 time signature. Incredibly challenging to mix in and out of, yet so unique in its rhythm that people bust shapes they didn’t know their bodies were capable of.

B1. Feng Shui is a piece of filthy Electro Breaks that pulls you inside out and upside down. Bushwacka! has his signature Plank sound all over this, with raw rhythms and deep melodies and twisted warped sounds.

B2. Whiplash was written three years ago in Bushwacka’s Ibiza Studio. Its a cross between Electro and 4/4 dance music, with a beat so powerful the floors feel like an earthquake has hit them. This is the most pure of the tracks in its direct line to the early 80s Electro sounds, yet sounds like it was made yesterday. It has been destroying the clubs in his sets since 2017 and now needs to be shared.

Plank Records has had a devoted cult following and second hand the tracks have been changing hands for big bucks, and many vinyl labels have been re releasing some of the cuts. It’s so exciting that the label is launching again for 2020, with a sound often imitated, yet never replicated.

Mirror Glaze Lavish” is Marc’s latest effort in trying to depict his cynical and disillusioned view of the present-day music scene, seen through a sonic magnifier that emphasizes its greatest controversies, by juxtaposing different electronic languages as a challenge to the current levelling artistic trends. The artist personality is nullified, standardized to a state of placid non-critical thinking. Everyday’s emptiness emerges as the structure of reality and only the cracks in it still lead to life. “Great souls suffer in silence”, once said Friedrich Schiller, but what if silence becomes an audible, danceable image? As if all these electro cuts, differently permeated with a balanced mix of playful darkness, were populated by eerie animals that cannot find peace with their habitat and keep dancing relentlessly until the very end of their miserable existence. Seen in this context, each of Marc’s tracks must be interpreted as an irreverent and poignant act of self-assertion vis-à-vis his contemporaries. Morah’s reinterpretation of “Celexxa” adds value to the original track, taking us for a dirty ride on a psycho-electro-charged rollercoaster.

After a false start or two, Ess O Ess have finally joined the Kinfolk stable with a thunderous release featuring Laura Lee of Khruangbin fame.

Totem is the name and four versions is the game.

Starting off, the original mix is a wailing guitar-heavy psyche rock out that sees Laura Lee's vocals carrying it across a peyote-filled landscape.

Saul's Swamp Crawl version sees the slow 'n' heavy rock elements kept in the mix but with added electronic flourishes. Head nodding is an optional extra.

The Hardway Brothers decided to tune in with the spirit of Johnny Jenkins and haul it through New Orleans via a pit stop at John Carpenter's desert holiday home.

Otologic bring up the rear with an altogether different take by donning their finest digi dub garb and take it as far away as they can from it's psyche out beginnings

The label is delighted to welcome Kris Baha with his first 12" for Especial. After killer remixes of Sfire and Red Axes for the label, his name as an artist, with his darker take on dance music, has risen and risen.

With releases on Bahnsteig 23, CockTail d'Amore and Pinkman, Baha has become a respected artist in just a few years. Building analogue equipped studios in Melbourne and Berlin, DJing, producing and mixing have all led to atonal ear, where success came through dedication.

Following his debut album Palais, Barely Alive acts as release from these years of sweat. A call to all in this modern world, the song exemplifies a move from club music to a freedom in sound and song, as vox crash against 808 and Arp 2600. Remixes start with Timothy J Fairplay a name synonymous with Especial. Here TJF laces his trademark echoplexxed wash for a cold wave mover. Next prodigy Job Sifre builds on his acclaimed debuts with a remodel that goes straight to 'that' basement, mixing his love of electro, new wave and industrial. To close, the legend of Das Ding creates a re-alternate remix, fusing his unique fuzz with Baha's ode for a brittle finale.

Tripeo collaborates with fellow Dutch artist Cadans on his self-titled imprint with three original cuts entitled ‘Non Perfect Drone Replication’.

Over the years, Darko Esser aka Tripeo has become a truly respected figure within the techno world. Widely known for helming his acclaimed Wolfskuil Records, BALANS and self-titled label where he’s released an array of his own impressive productions, Darko continues to edge out a corner of the techno sphere through a regular gig and release schedule that’s been of consistent quality for over 20 years. ‘Non Perfect Drone Replication’ marks Tripeo’s first release of the new decade seeing him link up with Dutch producer Cadans who has releases on Clone, Neighbourhood and Hardgroove (when not producing drum and bass as Icicle).

‘Drone’ begins with tense atmospheres and haunting leads underneath the humming percussion and oscillating synths that surge as the track progresses before ‘Non PC’ employs energetic rhythms underneath wavering modulations and spectral tones that keeps this peak-time cut enticing through till the end. To finish, ‘Perfect Replication’ offers up an electro cut that’s peppered with a nostalgic yet modern feel through breaky grooves, alleviating pads and stabbing tones.

10” clear vinyl) Five years on since their last joint outing in Stroboscopic Artefacts Monad series, Speedy J and Lucy team up again as Zeitgeber on 'Seventeen Zero Four', a new three-tracker descending deep into the filthy, tenebrous outskirts of club music.

Five years on since their last joint outing in Stroboscopic Artefacts Monad series, Speedy J and Lucy team up again as Zeitgeber on 'Seventeen Zero Four', a new three-tracker descending deep into the filthy, tenebrous outskirts of club music. Torchbearers of techno as a life-affirming vehicle for human expression, as can be experienced through their multi-dimensional back catalogue of solo records and shared live performances at some of the finest clubs and events including Concrete, Goa Club and London’s E1, it's safe to say Jochem and Luca share a certain taste for taking things off the beaten path and into new perspectives. True to their bold approach towards production, 'Seventeen Zero Four' proudly continues the pair's tradition of chiselled floor-focused shifts and divagations outside the ringfenced domain of no-nonsense 4/4 mechanics initiated on their self-titled debut album in 2013.

Drawing first blood, the title-track 'Seventeen Zero Four' submerges us in a state of amniotic solitude as hell's all set to break loose around. Sonar bleeps drip and dissolve across invisible plateaux as thunder rumbles and roars in the distance, mirroring and shattering all linearity between the bars. 'One Zero Five' then implements a further straightforward groove, sequenced hats and kicks carving out a more familiar scenario for the dancers to appropriate, whilst maintaining that oddball, slightly off kind of minimal, dubbed-out blur. Rounding off the package, 'Twenty Zero Two' throws further jazz into the mix, letting its sine curves hula hoop into the upper layers of the outer-audio-space as a shrewdly engineered industrial swing drops the hammer for an epic last stretch.

Laurine Frost's debut album 'LENA' reinterpretates Dostoyevsky's surreal novel and presents an utopistic self-revelation that leads to an exquisite musical journey. A weird collage of jazz and dub-fusions as an extension of wonky polyrhythmic patterns and the organic abstraction of bass-heavy drums, breaks and percussions. Call it as electronica, IDM or techno – anyhow, you are wrong. This album doesn't seem to fit into any genre. Laurine Frost tends to master his story-telling skills by inviting the listener to 13 imaginary scenes that can be approached, heard and understood from different points of view. A living and stirring masterpiece that is independent from time and actual trends.

Bringing glitch aesthetic into the new decade, Aaron Spectre (aka Drumcorps) gives us Computorr, a look into digital dystopia through eyes of jungle, punk, noise, & rapid-fire sampling. This energetic EP features Aaron's signature cut-up yet concise beats, and unites several subcultures at their roots.

Artwork for this record was also made by Aaron, using analog video synthesizers & old CRT televisions, for the medium is the message. Vinyl is top quality and hits hard, its clear highs and powerful bass mastered and cut by Keith Tenniswood, and comes in several different color varieties.

Germany's JAHMONI are on release and distribution duties via Rubadub UK, hot on the tails of their diverse multi-genre releases by DJ Marcelle, BELP, and Summer of Delete.

Grimes releases her long awaited new album “Miss Anthropocene” on 21 Feb 2020 on 4AD. Includes the singles” So Heavy I Fell Through the Earth” & “Violence” and featuring collaborations with 潘PAN & i_o.

Colored LP

'CYAN’ is the third full length LP from San Francisco Bay Area-based band The Seshen. Taking its name from a colour that is both strong and soft, the LP unravels the progression that has been made since 2016’s ‘Flames and Figures’, both as a band and as individuals; “Since ‘Flames and Figures’, a lot has been taking place both internally and externally.” Lyricist and vocalist Lalin St. Juste recollects, “we were on tour for the last album during the 2016 US election. There was an intense heaviness, a familiar one, one that extends generations and it just sunk in even further.”

The battle to overcome this heaviness, felt as a result of political and social issues and through Lalin’s own experiences with combating depression, fuels ‘CYAN’. “I was at the edge of myself,” she confesses. “This album is about pulling back the layers of who I am in order to push through sadness and grab onto what’s underneath”. From the opening lines of the LP on “Take It All Away”, these ideas are displayed - “I think it’s been too long that I’ve been your puppet / Cut these strings, I don’t want any of it”, she sings. Led by exposed yet bold musical endeavours from bassist/producer Akiyoshi Ehara, the album sees The Seshen delve into uncharted eclectic realms; “I think that there’s a lot more rawness on this record” Aki muses.

Anchored by Lalin’s sly, silvery vocals (which draw frequent comparisons to Erykah Badu) and cerebral yet playful rhythms from producer- bassist Aki, The Seshen’s music pulls from a deep well of electronic influences, R&B, and indie rock. Drummer Chris Thalmann, keyboard/synth player Mahesh Rao, percussionist Mirza Kopelman and sequencer Kumar Butler make the music three-dimensional, blending live and digital instrumentation for a mercurial, transportive sound. Since 2012, the Seshen’s live show has earned them critical acclaim and a dedicated fanbase on multiple continents, as they’ve shared stages with the likes of Hiatus Kaiyote, Petite Noir, tUnE-yArDs, and Thundercat.

Royal Torrence aka ‘Little Royal’, was the half brother of the legendary James Brown as they reportedly shared the same father and were close bothers throughout their adult lives. Both singers shared a vocal talent that drew music lovers to them. Little Royal grew a following in soul music from the 60's and 70's and made waves with the hit ‘Jealous’ in 1972 reaching #15 in R&B chart. ‘Razor Blade’ is also another highlight that created a mini dance craze and has since been sampled by Ice-T and J Dilla.

“The combined forces of Frederik Valentin & Loke Rahbek first found a way into the world in 2017 with the album 'Buy Corals Online'. Together they now present 'Elephant', an eight-track album that composes an inquisitive space with it's parts.

The economy of movement across Rahbek and Valentin's new collaborative album makes for a gentle transmission of its abstract intimacies. This presence, which we caught glimpses of on their previous work 'Buy Corals Online', is shaped by the delicate interplay between acoustic instrumentation and synthetically rendered sounds. Hauntingly melodic at times, the album feels like a suite of uncanny lullabies that grant access to realities that can only be found in dreams.

Rahbek and Valentin are always leading us somewhere and showing us something—one piece of the scene at a time, coming and going with different parts of a puzzle that eventually settles into a complete form. And through all this we perceive an inviting restlessness on their behalf, encouraging us to stray further and further into the private space of 'Elephant'. Valentin is perhaps best known for his work in the exquisite atypical pop group Kyo, though his widereaching music and videography practices covertly underpin his flagship projects.

Most recently, Valentin has been working with Yung Lean as both producer on his 'Nectar' album as Jonatan Leandoer127 as well as on their commission for Sweden's Cullberg Ballet. As Croatian Amor, Rahbek has made similar forays into unworldly pop and his work with Christian Stadsgaard as Damien Dubrovnik has been as critical as their cofounding of Posh Isolation.

Modest interventions from processed field-recordings and semi-erupting synths invite you to zoom in enough to hear the human hand. An attention to listening, to how sounds cradle the small movements and gestures that naturally accompany the playing of guitar, piano, and viola, is acutely developed by Rahbek and Valentin.

It's in this way that 'Elephant' persuades us that even small stories unfurl into the most intricate and tremendous of sagas"

At the turn of the 80's, a new generation of musicians appeared who saw synthesisers not as dehumanizing machines but as musical instruments that could be coaxed into creating modern, beautiful and decidedly emotional music. It was almost as if the musicians were intentionally creating this music to prove the doubters wrong. 

Compiled by Saint Etienne’s Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs, “The Tears Of Technology” celebrates this brief period when scruffy synth duos from the provinces broke through and took over British pop. Like mellotrons before them, synths could project a strange and deep emotion; listen to OMD’s ‘Sealand’, or the Human League’s ‘WXJL Tonight’, and it was clear that something in the wiring had an inherent melancholy.

In the 60's and 70's, the synthesiser had mostly been regarded as either a novelty or a threat. Tomorrow’s World warned us that the cold, heartless synth would soon make orchestras redundant. But by 1980, Korgs, Moogs and Rolands were becoming affordable for all, and post-punk had created a safe place for new groups to experiment with these new toys.

The influence of Kraftwerk – who had made a landmark appearance on Tomorrow’s World in 1975 – is all over this collection. Big names rub shoulders with obscurities by Turquoise Days, Electronic Circus and Illustration, all highly prized recordings among ‘cold wave’ and ‘minimal synth’ afficionados. There are pioneers like John Foxx and Thomas Leer, alongside unexpected synth sadness from Simple Minds and the Teardrop Explodes.

“The Tears Of Technology” celebrates an era of electronic melancholia, synthesized intimacies and insights – even Tomorrow’s World didn’t see that coming.

"No Secrets" - Carly Simon (voc, g, p); Jimmy Ryan (g,b); Bobby Keys (ts); Lowell George (g); Kirby Johnson (el-p); Peter Robinson (p); Bill Payne (org); Klaus Voorman (b); Andy Newmark, Jim Keltner (dr); a.o. & orchestra & backing vocals.

Carly Simon’s unquestionably best album, "No Secrets", was also her commercial breakthrough. It topped the Billboard charts for over five weeks, thus quickly gaining gold status, as did the single release of "You’re So Vain".

This song determined the album’s flippant tone, with its sexually unashamed autobiography (»You had me several years ago/When I was still quite naïve«) and its observations on the lifestyle of the jet set. But Simon’s sincerity also meant that her lyricism was double-edged. Now that she thinks she has found true love, she expresses her joy over her relationship to James Taylor with "The Right Thing To Do", another top ten hit.

On the other hand she was just as willing to recognize her own mistakes and regretted pointing her finger at other people. It was not just Simon’s frankness that made the album a success, but also Richard Perry’s simple, elegant pop-rock production, which lent Simon’s music a vitality it never known before.

Perry was mindful in particular of Simon’s vocals, making them more perceptive and stirring than in her other productions. And of course her fellow musicians, such as Paul and Linda McCartney, Mick Jagger, Klaus Voormann, Lowell George, Bobby Keys, Jim Keltner as well as her ex-husband James Taylor all contributed to the success of the album, which was awarded official platinum status by the Recording Industry Association of America.

This Speakers Corner LP was remastered using pure analogue components only, from the master tapes through to the cutting head.
All royalties and mechanical rights have been paid.
Recording: September-October, 1972 at Trident Studios, London by Robin Geoffrey Cable. Production: Richard Perry.

Hailing from Cluj-Napoca, Heion is a producer, DJ, songwriter, music production teacher and label head of Redolent Records. Throughout a career spanning nearly a decade, he’s shared bills with the likes of David Morales, Ray Mang, Session Victim and Kraak & Smaak, performed with the Hungarian Opera Orchestra and always stayed committed to being a true dancefloor eclectic.

Heion’s latest release is Make Believe, an energetic four tracker on his own freshly launched imprint. It blends a variety of meandering synth solos and quirky analog licks, all wrapped up in the programmed yet deeply organic rhythms that have come to define Heion’s sound.

The release also marks the birth of Redolent Records, a label dedicated to being a true home for sonic excitement while pushing boundaries and inspiring deliberate, well-rounded creations. It aims to pay homage to artists that paved the way musically and to the ones that still inspire across soul, funk and disco.

Four synth-heavy jams explore everything from gratitude and creative doubt to the bittersweet joy of balancing out different influences. Solid grooves and chunky basslines drive each emotionally colorful tune forward, whether it’s heard during a starlit night drive or a thumping warm-up in a large, darkened room.
Heion has spent the past three years composing and recording in several studios, all the while exploring new instruments and gradually leaving his comfort zone behind; you can hear the fruits of this labor in a swirl of modern funk, soul and disco that leaves you feeling refreshed and optimistic.

Welcoming, 'Come Together' - a five track various artists EP drawn from our network of associates locally and internationally. With artists hailing from Japan, Italy, the USA and Australia the 12" features the sounds that bring our families together on dance floors around the globe.Italy's Matisa opens the record with a designer italo-house trip "Garbadine", armed with punchy drums, a warped guitar loop and hypnotic bass line. Melbourne group Polito's "Wallis Axiom" juxtaposes this with a guttural, gurgling outsider-techno piece. Frenetic percs and crunchy distortion collide with alien FX and bleepy modular synthesis for a dark journey.On the flip, New York City master producer Physical Therapy jumps into the deep end with "10000% Pure Love", a raw, hard hitting club weapon. The Allergy Season boss distils the pure, unbridled energy of a sweaty dance floor through a woozy bassline and manic cowbell action. Slowing the pace slightly, Berlin via Japan producer Yuzo Iwata delivers "Acid House" a rugged, growling beast which trips and chugs along as a monstrous 303 weaves in an out of the penetrating vocals "ACID HOUSE". The mysterious Serpent finishes you off with "In The Garden" a syncopated drum workout imbued with a ritualist, primitive energy by the heavily layered percussion and flickering synths.

Following the labels theme of reaching beyond the conventional record label by combining music experimentation, short narratives, true stories, and illustrations – Jujuka 002 pushes into new territory with the Split EP “Raw Reflex” featuring founder Julia Govor on the A side followed by the first recordings of EMIT. Julia reaches into her imagination to find Soviet Union enthusiasm met with an American punk drive to add to her signature vibrant arrangement. Behind the EMIT alias is the intricate and vivid musician / producer – Kamran Sadeghi. EMIT read backwards is ‘time’ – the continuum of experience in which events pass from the future through the present to the past. The project is guided by the literal and musical use of time. A culmination of styles unravel within each track, encouraging listeners to discover their own path through the rhythmic and tonal patterns. The music belongs to every-body and no-body.

The first Be With foray into the archives of revered German library institution Selected Sound is one of our favourites on the label - the super in-demand Japan from Victor Cavini, originally released in 1983.

Rare and sought-after for many years now, this is one of those cult library LPs that never turn up. With Daibutsu the giant Buddha of Kamakura’s presence gracing the hefty front cover, this is a record bursting with dope samples for adventurous producers: it’s koto-funk madness!

Victor Cavini was the library music pseudonym of prolific German composer and musician Gerhard Trede. He was known for exploring instruments and styles from around the world (he played over 50 different instruments himself) and Japan is
his collection of 14 musical sketches painted with traditional Japanese wind and string instruments. These are the sounds of traditional Japanese folk music re-interpreted through Western ears, with the occassional contemporary twist. Contemporary for 1983, of course.

These “Pictures of Japan” are hypnotic, sometimes frantic, but always beautiful. The first twelve tracks offer airy explorations of koto and flute, with other strings and percussion being added and then given their own space. Indeed “Pictures of Japan XII” is just drums.

And then “Pictures of Japan XIII” seems to come out of nowhere. But the subtle sleaze of its full band sound still doesn’t quite prepare you for the towering climax of “Pictures of Japan XIV”.

This is Japan’s undoubted standout piece, completely and wonderfully at odds with the rest of the album. It’s the reason this has become such a must-have record. It keeps the traditional Japanese instruments but combines them with shuffling funk breaks, electric bass high in the mix and a Godzilla-sized psychedelic fuzz guitar sound that might actually be a traditional reed flute pushed to its limits. Whatever it is, it sounds awesome.

Recalling both Rino de Filippi’s Oriente Oggi and Giancarlo Barigozzi’s Oriente, the track’s a real head-nod groove for b-boys and b-girls alike that sounds straight out of a late 70s Yakuza film. Indeed, if you were told The RZA or Onra had cooked this up in the lab this century, you’d be convinced. It’s crazy that this dates from 1983.

The audio for Japan has been sensitively remastered for vinyl by Be With regular Simon Francis to keep all the character of the original recordings. Richard Robinson has handled the careful restoration of the original Selected Sound sleeve. Essential.

“Soul is My Salvation is a collection of dance friendly gospel songs. The mission is to simply uplift your spirit through music and word. Dance floor’s around the world mirror the reactions of Churches from the 70’s and 80’s when experiencing these recordings.” - Tone B. Nimble.

Released as a series of eight limited vinyl-only 45, when assembled together the covers reveal a beautiful design courtesy of designer Charlotte McCrae. A true collectors item.

Chapter 2 features a DJ friendly Al-Tone extended mix of the gospel boogie cut ‘Look Up’ by Moments Of Faith Singers, along with Lamont Butlers’ Ungodly War.

The 11-track album titled “Needledrop” provides a suite of both uplifting and easy-listening moments, refined and understated individually yet cohesively crafted with the honest musicianship and inarguable credentials that we know of production duo Session Victim.

The German pair of Hauke Freer and Matthias Reiling are no strangers to releasing quality long-format albums and while rising through a discerning community of DJ’s have previously released three consecutive albums on tastemaker label Delusions of Grandeur culminating in 2017’s “Listen To Your Heart”.

Their latest and fourth studio album via the label Night Time Stories (the London based sister label to the coveted LateNightTales) marks a notable move towards the home listening dynamics of their career counterparts such as Nightmares on Wax and Portishead that have played such a strong influence in Session Victims variety of output over the last decade.

As accomplished producers, Session Victim have been intent on delivering a characteristic body of work for uninterrupted easy listening and with Needledrop have landed with significant inspiration from the engaging jazz and soul compositions that found their way into early 2000’s trip hop.

Fusing downtempo beats, smooth tones and hedonistic grooves via their intuitive sampling sessions, Session Victim’s fourth album succeeds in actively engaging the listeners mood and intellect in equal measure.

The albums clear stand out is "Made Me Fly” which presents a soothing yet expressive live vocal performance by singer songwriter Beth Hirsch, best known for her collaboration with French duo Air on their 1998 album Moon Safari.

As self-confessed semi-reclusive studio geeks, Session Victim have turned their 2020 album focus towards a large arsenal of dusty influences which has inspired them to rediscover the intuitive and playful side of their production personalities while also demonstrating their cherished music knowledge.

Having released his last fantastic EP Melodius Hubbub a year previous, ED1999 is back with his newest project, named Moving Glow on Porpax records, illustrated by Graphic Designer Oliver SPERL, representing Belgiums best talent. Remaining serious in sentiment but developing his sound, ED1999 uses elements of light to contrast with the dark. As his previous EP followed the theme of interpreting pathways, this EP isn’t all too much different, as it captures the autonomous and excitable nature of light. Even though the speed of light is the fastest most constant definitive, ED1999 manages to bend, warp and interpret light itself through each track’s alternate paces and elements.

That makes it no surprise that Beam of Light starts us off with a full-body feeling of suspense. His classic momentous techno beat with a gratifying and anchoring kick drives the track the entire way through. Then, as the title foreshadows, the glimmers of light - in the form of synthesisers - manage to push their way through the cracks and eventually bleed out until they’re completed absorbed by the beats and become one.

Unknown Luminescence is nothing short of a fun, intense and gyrating episode; in true groovy techno fashion, it’s designed to get any listener’s shoulders swinging and body’s sweating. The repetition of the light ambient melody throughout gives the sense of a far off signal call, drawing in techno lovers from far and wide to enjoy the experience in synchronicity.

Darker again with more sinister undertones, Flamboyant Ray is an assertive approach to techno, yet cloaked in mystery thanks to its muffled kick drums and reverbs. As a more consistent track meant to maintain intensity, it’s style and confidence hardly alters throughout its duration.

The final track on the EP, Photonic Energy, embodies the environment of electrical currents swimming through dark and damp corridors; reacting and gurgling as electricity meets moisture. Distant murmurs give the effect that the space is alive and every inch of existence is thanks

Widely and rightly regarded as one of the best ever soul and funk bands, the now legendary Average White Band tore-up the rule book and conquered the US, UK & International charts with a series of soul and disco hits between 1974 and 1980. AWB’s repertoire has been a source of inspiration and influence for many R&B acts and they are one of the most sampled bands in history, remaining relevant today, continuing to reach new generations of younger audiences. Snoop Dogg, Fatboy Slim, Ice Cube, Puff Daddy, TLC, Rick Ross, will.i.am and Mark Ronson amongst countless others, have all borrowed sections of their grooves. ‘Person To Person’ is the 5th album by AWB, originally released at the end of 1976. The Double album was recorded live during their Sold-Out US Tour at Tower Theater and The Spectrum, Philadelphia and at The Syria Mosque, Pittsburgh; The Coliseum, Cleveland. It was produced by Atlantic’s legendary producer, Arif Mardin and reached #28 in the USA. ‘Person To Person’ includes an 18-minute funk/jam of ‘Pick Up The Pieces’ and a 9-minute extravaganza in ‘I Heard It Through The Grapevine’.

Nairobi, Kenya, 1978. In the Phonogram Ltd. music studio, the popular Congolese Rumba band Les Mangelepa is finishing a session. Things are going well: they have recorded all the music they planned and still have an hour to kill before giving back the studio keys. How about improvising one last song on the spot? And this is how “Nyako Konya” was born. An incredible 9 minutes hypnotic jam, that’ll eventually become one of their biggest tunes, earning them a Gold record and international acclaim throughout Africa. Meticulously restored and remastered by French engineer Nicolas Thelliez, the original version is featured here together with remixes by three talented producers: French House/Disco producer extraordinaire Yuksek and his wall of sound skills, Netherlands’ Afro lovers and world famous studio maverick Umoja delivering a space dub Lee Scratch Perry style, and last but not least, the trademarked syncopated stabs from Brooklyn’s Uproot Andy.

New year, new you, new crew! Another rising star from France, Marina Trench, joins the WOLF Music family, following up an inaugural EP on DJ Deep's highly acclaimed Deeply Rooted with this accomplished and diverse four tracker of house goodness.

Absorbed by house music from an early age Marina Trench is already proving herself to be a humble, yet highly talented, force to be reckoned with. Waterside EP is case in point. The title track is summertime ecstasy through and through. Undeniably catchy and packed with a club-ready punch, Trench sets off at pace, revolving the track around a pinging techy bassline as layers of percussion, echoing pads and delicate vocal refrains from Marina herself glide on through. Peak time, earworm business that bangs.

Get up, ‘Get In’. Moving through the downright ethereal to some tough, dancefloor darkness. Sweeping pads and glitching arps ease you in before the breakdown leads to an unleashing of brooding bass chords and reverberating top end counterparts that marry with a mean acid bassline. Tough, tactile and firmly focused on the club.

On the flip, ‘Train Call’ is a chopped jazzy deep house roller. Heavyweight piano stabs intertwine with deft twinkles as crisp hats dance around thumping kicks before ‘Straight’ eases you off into the depths of the night. A sumptuous little slice of deepness - meditative, trance-like calls from the ocean and pensive pianos provide a perfect soundtrack for the early hours.

Any botanist will extol the virtues of cross-pollination, and musical hybrids are a Growing Bin speciality. For the latest release Parisian outfit Maât splice jazz with Balearic, dub, house and Afro to create a free thinking LP dedicated to world fusion fore-runners Codona.

If Singu found calm amongst the chaos of Tokyo for ’Siku’ (GBR017), then Maât map out a Sunday stroll through the sun dappled streets of the Parisian banlieue on ’Solar Mantra’. Humming reeds converge into a pre-dawn chorus before dewy sequences and drifting syncopation signal sunrise over La Vilette, a perfect place to start ‘The Walk’. Skirting the Périphérique, the Parisian ensemble pick out a street percussionist by Boulevard d’Algérie then detour to Pré-Satint-Gervais to draw a bassline out of the Metro Area, adding an Environ cool to the uptempo ‘Jaki & Bryn’. With icy bells, brooding guitars and melancholic vocals, ‘Feuglace’ transports Miko’s garten to the 20th arrondissement while the polyrhythmic patter and micro-tuned guitars of ‘Solar Mantra’ see out the A-side with a fourth world hymn.

Chakras cleansed and ready for a B-side rebirth, Maât take us dancing through Père Lachaise via organic house bomb ‘Quetzal Pacino’, an emotive exploration of rhythmic mallets, dreamy pads and propulsive bass, which moves like the Innerzone Orchestra re-arranged by Jon Hassell. Rest comes with the soothing pianos and swelling sine waves of the pastoral ‘Clarière’, a hazy homage to the noon sun on a clearing. Circular motifs, limber grooves and dubby bass mean we’re on the move again, slipping into Montreuil with the echo-drenched scat and firm back beats of ‘Mount Beuvray’, before ‘Llomé Dub’ takes us home in time for a cool beer and much needed smoke on the balcony. Acoustic guitar, lilting piano and a gorgeous female vocal ride the punchy bass and clattering drums to perfection, keeping us company until the day fades into a contented haze.

Patrick Ryder

Music Mania and Indica Dubs is proud to present the 16th release: Dubs Convention LP. This killer LP was originally released in 1996! This joint album features UK Dub legends; The Bush Chemists, and The Dub Organiser.

This gem shows the true 90s Dub vibes through the raw mixing skills used throughout the album. From the lightening sounding reverb on the snare, to the phasing phaser on the chords; this is the sort of original sound that shaped the Dub scene into the “steppers style” that it is today!

The original artwork of the cover and labels have been maintained to keep the authentic look of the original pressing from the 90s. As well as the original master tapes to keep the audio at the best quality possible!

'A product of living in an age where texture can make you dance, and popular music innovates for an audience with ears wide open' NPR
Nearly two years have passed since Niklas Paschburg presented his critically acclaimed debut album 'Oceanic' in February 2018. Niklas' musical ideas have crystalized and become cogent through a combination of extensive live performance - playing over 100 shows in the last two years - and experimentation in his Berlin Studio.
Written between 2018 - 19, his second album 'Svalbard' will be released in February 2020 via 7K!.
Niklas' use of the piano; electronics (synth and computer) and his Grandfather's piano accordion allow him to communicate via a number of musical traditions and languages. This versatility has allowed him to work on a variety of projects ranging from an inspired reinterpretation of Bach's Preludes in C Minor ("Blooming"), to well received remixes for pop artists such as RY X and Asgeir.

”Are you ready to take your turn now?” asks a mischievous voice at the beginning of DJ Marcelle’s new album. But by this point you don’t have a choice: you better buckle up for a joyride through the wild, unpredictable imagination of a true electronic music auteur. ‘Saturate The Market, Now!’ is stuffed with the kind of raw, rhythmic workouts and playful humour we’ve come to know and love from the long-serving Dutch artist. Let’s start with the music: Marcelle pinballs between pumping outsider house, brilliantly weird acid and musique concrète experiments where anything could happen at any given time. Then there are her famous track titles, which take another aim at nightclub patriarchy (‘Technicians And Their Light Effects’, the successor to last year's 'Technicians And Their Smoke Machines') at the same time as displaying a keen sense of satire (‘I Fell In My Own Cesspit!’) and revealing a difficult relationship with the sour, massive rock that for her is ‘German Bread’. With artwork featuring a collage of puppets found in her Amsterdam house and Marcelle’s own on-the-road photography, this is yet another album that sets her a mile apart from the paint-by-numbers dance music producers - or “accountants” as she’s witheringly described them.

Marcelle arrived via punk, post-punk, avant garde and dub and lives by the independent, forward-thinking spirit inherent in those scenes. A sense of freedom is imbued in her work, unsurprising given that this album was written in two weeks and was made entirely on her own collection of machines (save a few choice vocal samples). It’s Marcelle’s eighth vinyl-only release for Jahmoni Music from Munich and follows on from last year’s ‘One Place For The First Time’ which swiftly sold-out and is now onto a repress. The vinyl is released alongside a 10” featuring extended and dub versions of triumphant album-cut ‘Everything Not Yet’.

So are you sitting comfortably? Well Marcelle would prefer if you weren’t. Because this is music for misfits to move to. The very opposite of business techno. A missive from a cult DJ with an enviable record collection and a fearless artist who couldn’t give a flying fuck about dance music norms. Saturate the market with pure energy – let’s do this!Seb Wheeler, Mixmag

Calum Gunn has spent the past few years becoming a key figure in the European electronic avant-garde. As well as releasing his own music through labels like Entr'acte, FLUF and Tsuku Boshi, the Berlin-based Gunn also helms Conditional Records, one of the most forward-thinking computer-music imprints to emerge in recent times.

Gunn's Addenda EP, his debut drop for Central Processing Unit, contains some of his most dynamic work to date. While his commitment to experimentalism remains, these four tracks represent a clear shift in focus for Gunn - namely that, for perhaps the first time in his career, he is making music that is club-friendly. A whole host of dancefloor innovators are recalled when listening to Addenda - particularly Autechre, Analord-era AFX and several of Mark Pritchard's projects as well as Gunn's contemporaries Rian Treanor and Renick Bell.

These tracks never sit still, their rhythms constantly evolving and turning themselves over. Addenda's first two cuts use metronomic hi-hats to keep these ever-changing grooves in check. With its thwacking kicks and snares, opener 'Esephony' enters the fray with the heft of an early Wiley riddim. Atop these drums we find squeaky half-melodies interlocking and breaking apart, meaning that the overall effect is not dissimilar to the tweaking beats that Pritchard came up with as part of Africa Hitech. 'Esephony' is followed by 'Moebu', another track that harks to grime through its fluttering lead synth. The way that this single-note line snakes above a slow, steady drum pulse pitches 'Moebu' halfway between Last Japan and rRoxymore.

Gunn increases the tempo in Addenda's second half. 'Ternenmarz' introduces itself with more blarts of bass, but whereas these were steady on 'Esephony' they now jump around unexpectedly. Gunn holds the erratic kicks in place with twittering hats and snares - indeed, when you factor in its gnarly synth lines, 'Ternenmarz' steers closer than any other cut here to the high-grade electro drops that CPU has made its name with. Closer 'Pins' supercharges the snap of 'Esephony' to 145 bpm before Gunn softens up the track with reverb-drenched synths that nod to the sombre post-grime of Mr. Mitch's Gobstopper Records.

With the Addenda EP, Calum Gunn has achieved something that proves elusive to so many producers - making club tracks that are at once innovative and immediate, their experimental tendencies serving to elevate their dancefloor impact.

RIYL: Rian Treanor, Africa Hitech, Autechre, Renick Bell, Brainwaltzera

"The two Portuguese-speaking African islands of Sao Tomé & Principe, located in the Gulf of Guinea, created an unique music called Puxa : a refined mixture of various musical components from both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. A blend of Semba, Merengue, Kompas, Soukouss, Coladeira patterns, often pushing forward with a voodoo-like energy, solid bass lines, delicate melodies and backing harmonies of the rich Sao Tomean melodic traditions. Very first compilation focusing on the golden age of these island’s sounds, the 16 tracks selected will surely set fire on all dance floors !

Léve-Léve is the first ever compilation devoted to music from São Tome and Principe, two small islands situated off the coast of Gabon in central Africa. The album unravels a story of liberation where the music of Africa, Europe and the Americas unify with a carefree spirit personified by a phrase the islanders use all the time: “léve, léve” (“take it easy”). With echoes of Angolan semba and merengue, of Brazilian afoxê, of coladeira from Cape Verde and dance music from the Caribbean, it is a sound fiercely proud of its island heritage, sung in local dialects and using distinctive local rhythms.

On this record you can hear the cultural and social history of São Tome and Principe, and how live music represented its beating heart. Once known as the “Chocolate Islands” (remarkably, these two tiny islands were the largest cocoa producers in the world, though now this title acts as a reminder of its colonial past), through the years leading up to independence from Portugal, music would be a fundamental voice of liberation and conviviality. Os Úntués were one of the first groups to make an impression, releasing a couple of 7 inches in Angola – the litmus test of success for any of the islands’ groups. They united unique rhythms and dances like socopé, puita and dança-congo – borne from the islands’ largely slave-descendant population – with the sound of pop music beamed in on the radio from Europe, even adding in a little bit of soukous and Brazilian instrumentation. Their main rivals were Conjunto Mindelo, who fused São Toméan rhythms with rebita, an Angolan style, to create high energy puxa, a truly original island rhythm.

From the mid-1970s, coinciding with independence from Portugal in 1975, the islands’ groups featured an even stronger African influence and nowhere was that more apparent than with Africa Negra. They would listen to the latest records from Gabon, Zaire and Cameroon, taking inspiration and trying out phrasing from the greats of Central African guitar playing, developing a devoted fan base off the islands, as well as on. A score of other bands would follow a similar musical path, with a few getting their dues overseas in Angola, Cape Verde, Portugal and across Africa.

Os Leonenses (led by the iconic Pedro Lima), Conjunto Sangazuza, Sum Alvarinho and Conjunto Ecuador were just some of the other bands that formed a lively home-grown music scene that lit up the islands’ bars and open-air shows from the 1950s through to the mid-90s. Regardless of class or age, they were responsible for keeping the population entertained come the weekend, with Sunday matinee shows the highlight of the week, the music not stopping from midday until midnight.

As a Portuguese island colony that was for many years populated with slaves brought from Africa, São Tome and Principe has much in common with other Lusophone countries and boasts a richly complex and idiosyncratic musical DNA. Whilst the musical tapestries of Angola and Cape Verde are well known, São Tome and Principe’s secrets were assigned to the islanders themselves. Until now."

“Blank Mind founder Sam Purcell returns to Blank Mind following a production mix for Blowing Up the Workshop and SMX collaborations.

'Studio Pads' thumps through at a bossy 117bpm, a sound system march that takes cues from early Chicago house as much as contemporary UK bass. Built on a gnarly two-note main riff, peppered with horn blares, it's minimal and primed for strutting and skanking.

On the B-side, 'Murmur' provides a sweet, pastoral contrast, the warmth of sun on skin. Dropping the tempo, birdsong recordings play back sidechained to a sub bass groove, Detroit chords refract through tight delays, and everything is kept in the pocket by syncopated hi-hats.”

Adam ‘Adred’ Baker is an imperative part of the US drum & bass scene, providing a home for its fans amongst the cultural hub of New York City. Alongside his work as a promoter for ‘Natural Selection NYC’, he’s also dropped music on labels such as Metalheadz, Soul:R and 31 Recordings, proving that he’s as multi-faceted as they come.

This is something which shines through on his forthcoming LP ‘KIM’ set to be released on Goldie’s Metalheadz; named after his late father whose Fender Rhodes features prominently in much of Adred’s music and is a central part of his inspiration.

The album is an introspective look at the producer’s history and one which will identify the elements which have made him both such a successful artist and drum & bass event host.