* Includes a DIN A2long poster inside the 12" sleeve with edition number and music download code
* Rogue Style 1 EP is an international homage to b-boy culture, where the worlds of breakbeat music and breakdance collide. Sinistarr (USA), Kiat (Singapore), Kabuki (Germany) and HomeSick (Canada) are connected in many ways, now they lay bare their hip-hop roots and give something back with a fresh take through the eyes of drum & bass and juke/footwork. Here is what they have to say:
Sinistarr: "As a teenager I grew up as a b-boy, dancing anywhere I could: schools, parks, festivals, you name it, my crew was there with cardboard and a speaker. I eventually got deeper into DJing and making music and learned to bring a sound that's not just for the crowds and the purists, but also for all the dancers!"
Kiat: "Hip Hop has taught me to keep evolving, to explore new forms in all my art. Progression is the key to evolution. -- I met Sinistarr online thru myspace and we had a musical connection which led to our first collaboration 'Black Diamonds' which is still one of my personal favourite tunes I've been fortunate to be part of it's creation. With Kabuki, i've always been a fan of his work since his 'Makai' alias on No U-Turn, despite meeting him only recently thru the label.I've always known him to be constantly progressing his ideas in his music which I respect alot."
Kabuki: "B-boy culture has always been a strong influence on how I pursued my art, mainly because of its DIY ethos and attitude of perfecting your craft. Incidentally these were also the aspects that drew me to Jungle when I first discovered it in the nineties. -- I'm happy to rub shoulders with Kiat, Sinistarr and HomeSick on this release, as I'm a fan of their music foremost, but also because we became friends through the music."
HomeSick: "I was only a child in the 90s and as a result I feel like my understanding of b-boy culture was experienced second hand thanks to 90s/early 2000s hip hop music. I appreciate the parallels I can see with footwork culture, particularly the similarities to the community mentality of break dancing. -- I know Sinistarr through booking him for our local party night in Alberta, Canada called Percolate. Our city must have left an impression on him because a year later he made the move here from Detroit. Had the pleasure of hosting him as a room mate for a little over half a year, the home was a very potent creative space during this time. Kabuki hit me up a few years ago and we very quickly got to sharing tracks and collaborating together. Mans a master of production and a super important part of the global scene."
The idea for a reminiscence of b-boy culture stem from label owner Booga:
"Why am I interested in this so much I grew up in East Germany and as the movie "Beat Street" premiered in 1985 over here I was age 13 and blown away by the energy, the music, the wit, the style - everything in this movie was better than everyday life in Leipzig. So I started saving for a cassette recorder and taped music shows from West German radio and prepared tapes for school disco gigs to the hope somebody would do the "robot" to Arthur Baker "Breaker's Revenge". Unfortunately that never worked out hahaha. But I was hooked since then and as the wall came down in 1989 I travelled to West Berlin just to buy the Beats, Breaks and Scratches 1-4 vinyl box by Simon Harris. The fascination for breakbeats never stopped and before I discovered Jungle around '94 I was down with the British cut up house thing from the likes of Marrs, Krush and Coldcut as another form of breakbeat music. The "do it yourself" spirit from hip hop culture inspired me to start a local website called breaks.org in 2000 to locally promote the drum and bass scene with emerging producers, djs and mcs for a wider audience and I threw in some interviews with Storm, Kabuki, Rob Playford, Klute and John B. That turnt into a multi author blog called itsyours.info in 2004 which still exists - that is where I had the pleasure to introduce Kiat and Ash in 2007. All these years I was listening and playing drum and bass tunes when the occasional "bboy tune" came up, some were obvious like Alex Reece "B-Boy Flavour", Lemon D "B Boyz", Commix "Change" and some were not so much self-explanatory like Digital & Spirits "Phantom Force" and the remixes by T-Power & Codeine or Fracture's Astrophonica Edit - but I felt the hidden force of breakdancing nevertheless. With the Rogue Style series I have the first class opportunity to ask established and new Defrostatica artists to present a current interpretation of b-boy culture. This is a dream coming true."
Suche:true
Farron continues the course of Shaw Cuts with his 'Legend Of The Bat' EP, following in the footsteps of Chu Liu Hsiang: the journey to Bat Island.
The voyage begins with 'C.I.T.G', its relentless break-beat fundament combined with coarse synth lunacy to wipe out the first dark shapes - moonlit slaughter.
Joining forces with rivals, Chu Liu Hsiang is no longer alone as he advances on Bat Island. 'Semi-Final Thoughts' accompanies the newly-formed crew to the mysterious ground - a melody of warm synth and light churned by industrious oldschool drums. But who to trust
The fleeting harmony ends when several combatants unveil their guise and true motives. Loyalties revealed, massacre ensues. 'Unlimited Mind' pulsates, its bassline and sharp percussions decapitating those who dare to deceive.
'Derby' epitomizes the tension of the final showdown with low rolling tones, echoing chords and heavy percussion weaving the air like the rival in pursuit. With teamed forces and clever combat the traitor is annihilated from head to toe - bloodbath and game over...
UNKR enslave dust-coated synthesizers, dilapidated drum machines and rusty FX boxes to craft 4/4 tunes for their impatient overlords. Their vision is clear - they will make techno, they will make house, they will make electronica, and you will listen and dance. It's not yet clear if BUNKR is the work of one frenzied human or many lazy individuals but we do know one thing - the ringleader is one James Dean, who previously released as Lost Idol on labels such as Pork Recordings, Nature, Final Frontier and Cookshop. Following a prolonged spell of writing music at slow tempos, Dean initiated BUNKR as a reactionary desire to speed things up. Too much time had been spent just sitting around - it was time to stop sitting and start dancing. True to their vision, here we have 'Cloud Chaser', a bubbling jam backed with a huge remix from Shan, who flips the mix with dramatic strings, sprinkles of magic dust and massive amen breaks. No less impressive is 'Juno's Revenge', a track you'd turn up on your headphones while taking a nice afternoon stroll on the moon, on a sunny morning after a long interplanetary rave. Igor Tipura delivers the rework, complete with a marching percussion workout and acid chemtrails that will send you right back to 1993.
After spending a year on the road, experimenting with new sounds and production methods, Abstract Division returns to their home imprint with the release of the 'Activated EP.' Fashioned true to their well known unique balanced style, this three track EP presents its listener with a powerful blend of deep tools and peak-time grooves. A real must-have for every selector, these tracks will cary any dance-floor deep in to the night, and far beyond.
Undefined is back and extending the legend saga with the highly experienced, creative genius Todd sines.
Todd began creating music in the late 80's, ranging from post-punk and industrial, to techno and house. While digging through his material on Discogs, one can easily notice the great variety of sounds he has developed throughout the years, using multiple aliases like .xtrak and Enhanced.
Todd kicks off this EP with 'Coast', easily recognizable by it's complicated drum patterns, vocal snippets and deepness. Shcaa did an amazing job on the remix as well, using some of Todd's elements to form the core of a true minimal pumper. The breaks are scary as hell and will certainly result in a perfect dark atmosphere on underground dance floors.
On the flipside Todd again shows diversity, as he delivers Throwback and Waves of love. Both of them are house oriented and have energetic acid basslines, fitting together perfectly.
Having come up with an annual-ish drop of 12's since 2010, Even Brenden AKA Chmmr set aside the spring of 2016 to challenge himself to a new format: a full-length album. A true nostalgic, he uses Compass Point-era and early Italo sounds for inspiration and attempts to simulate these styles. This makes for a melodic, chuggy and graphic album that belongs a little more in the living room than on the dance floor. With 10 tracks of dusty rhythms and the honest, naive and spacious themes that is Brenden's signature, it's a record designed to signal that today's technological future may not be as different as yesterday's. Features a nice-looking cover painting drawn by the late Harold Cohen's AARON program - automation at its finest. Hidden behind his Chmmr moniker is Even Brenden, whose summery debut found its way into the world via Norwegian psych-disco label Luna Flicks in 2010. The record became somewhat of a soughtafter item and after making pit stops at Relish, Dødpop and Untz Untz Records, he landed on Prins Thomas' Full Pupp in 2014 and have stayed put ever since, all the while enjoying a steady habit of record jocking and the occasional keyboard duty in Telephones' now-defunct live band. Even resides in Oslo makes odd waves without vowels.
After kicking off the year with Body Reflections pt.1 on Tresor, Berlin-based, Bournemouth-born Ben Thomas aka BNJMN is back with new label Tiercel. As an outlet for floor focused tracks he kicks off the imprint with "Paean" - 2 slabs of atmospheric, hypnotic, sci-fi Techno plus an ambient excursion in true otherworldly BNJMN fashion.
The A1 track "Mass Conductor" solidifies BNJMN as a producer who can take the mood in any direction, creating layer upon layer of dense sonics which build to a pulverising climax. "The Greater Void" is a jarring beatless soundscape which takes you to the edge of the earth and finally the title track "Paean" is a song of worship - smooth yet hard, manic yet playful; taking you on a journey of paradoxes and sonic mysteries.
Pioneers of electronic experimentation in Venezuela, Musikautomatika is one of the best kept secrets in Latin America's experimental sound scene. They were formed in the late 70s by Luis Levin, Alvise Sacchi and Stefano Gramitto, and counted on the complicity of Mirella López and Gabriela Gamboa. They issued four albums (Musikautomatika -1983, Boston Tape - 1987, Kuba - 1987 y Frecuencias en peligro de extinción - 1993), which are nowadays highly sought after pieces among collectors from all over the world. Free improvisation and cosmic electronic music defines the path this collective of sonic travellers took.'
For fans of 60s-era INA-GRM concrète, electro-acoustic free-improv ensembles, Jean-Claude Eloy, Maurizio Bianchi and even the kind of melodies Tom Dissevelt and Kid Baltan explored on Song of the Second Moon.
1983s Musikautomatika is at last available again on a gorgeous limited edition that features a booklet with plenty of photos and text written by Luis Levin plus an interview with the band made by Luis Alvarado (Cazar Truenos blogzine / BUH Records).
Echoe returns for its first outing of 2017 and fifth release since starting in earnest last year. ECHOE005 marks the first remix package in the label's discography, offering up four stellar remixes of Francesca Lombardo's "Remembrance" song. A clear stand-out in the label boss's inimitable repertoire, "Remembrance" has been given the rework treatment by house and techno stalwarts: Cassy, Laura Jones, Jade and La Fleur.
Cassy offers up the first remix, focussing her reinterpretation around an enormous and insistent bassline, murky and dense in equal measure, that rolls from start to finish. Undulating hats inject further energy, doubling in pace strategically whilst complimenting the 4/4 groove. Utilising the originals' emotional resonance, Cassy creates soft textures and refined arpeggiated patterns, adding a further dimension to the track's impassioned narrative.
Laura Jones's remix comes in the form of a low-slung, jazzy drum work-out, adorned with sub-heavy kicks and a snarling low-end that offers much of the track's sonic weight. Gentle bell-like keys float alongside modulated synth stabs that filter in and out of focus, whilst Jones's drum programming becomes progressively more and more frenetic.
Jade's reimagining sees a broken beat take the reigns, leaving space for soft percussive rhythms and an earth shaking low-end that pushes the song into ghetto house territory. Hi-hat pick-ups and jittery vocal cuts provide further momentum before the groove lands on sturdy 4/4 terrain. Jade's deftly arranged breakdowns, punctuated by panned drum fills and granular FX, adds welcome tension to the track, making a return to rolling drum-patterns and buzzing bass-sequences all the more rewarding as they come back in.
The final remix comes courtesy of La Fleur who delivers the most peak-time, club focussed material on the package. Staying true to the original's hook, La Fleur brings melody to the fore, whilst deploying snappy drums alongside chilling atmospherics and tech heavy stabs, set to keep dancers moving into early hours and beyond.
Schmer-007 "Smoking is Still Bad for You - Volume 1" is here and contains old school and new cool tracks from all the original Schmer culprits plus some loops from our new friends. Dietrich Schoenemann and Prototype 909 dug their tracks out of their vast archives of unreleased originals. DJ RX-5 and BPMF delivered some hot new Schmers to get us moving again.
For the last 20 years we've all been tormented by the great issues facing mankind and most vexing among them of course was "When will the next Schmer record finally come out" I am happy to say that the answer, my record distributing friend, is NOW!
Prototype 909 demands that you ( redacted ) ... "The Volume"! A track recorded in 1997 and finally getting released for the first time here. Prototype 909 was a "group" from "New York" that made "techno" in the "90s". Since then, the three members of this group all went on to do things. #TrueFacts
Dietrich Schoenemann has been so busy being one of the last men cutting all the records in the world that he hasn't had time to organize his catalog of unreleased gems. I distracted him with the old "look over there" trick and stole "8 Feet" from him while he wasn't looking. ( Hopefully he didn't recognize it while he was mastering it )
The last Schmer vinyl was DJ RX-5 "A Taste for Crap EP" from the then Moscow based very underground DJ Compass Vrubell. Nina Kraviz thought it was so crappy she put a track from it on fabric 91: Nina Kraviz; so I asked Alexey to make some more crap. He did it His Shway and this is the result. ( PS He still has all the patterns for the RX-5 from the original release so remaster, remixes and rereleases are in Schmer's future, HUZZAH!)
BPMF - The original Schmer artist had nothing better to do so he kommt back and gave us this track.
We love to torture the engineer so we just had to include some loops:
Rhizome is the alter-ego of Moscow wunderkind Nikita Zabelin.
Philly based Hero/Victim has been victimizing soundsystems up and down the East Coast with his mad live performances.
The Wise Caucasian is a pseudonym for some super famous London based producer and label owner, or at least that's what he claimed when I picked up his bar tab.
the label say: What is soul really The answer to that is a various as the music that claims it. We here at WPH HQ do not know the answer either, but we do know an exceptional piece of music when we hear it. Enter Fabrice Lig, Belgian techno legend with his roots in our little country and his ears definitely in that place called Detroit.
Respected by his techno peers and his Detroit inspirations alike, Fabrice's music is always full of funk and emotion. These two qualities are very much in demand in WPH circles, so it was only a matter of time before Fabrice joined the family.
On 'Border 2 Border' Fabrice brings us two tracks, the title track funkin' and swingin' like nothing else and with a big dose of Motor City chords, making for a true mental dancefloor anthem. Word has it that label boss Red D wrote lyrics on the spot when he heard this one out loud...so who knows what's coming in the near future... On the flip side 'Ocean Rising' goes for arpegiatted bliss and a bass line to rumble you out of your bras or pants. Welcome to WPH Mr Lig!
Born on Chicago's southside 1970, Robert has an expansive Musical career that started at the age of 14 with Djing and remixing from the age of 18. In his cellar Robert started organising parties that became very popular in his neigbourhood. Some of the diehard visitors of Robert besement parties were inspired by him and became also DJs, amongst them was DJ Rush others became Rapstars like R Kelly. Robert was going to become a police officer up untill he spun abroad in Italy and realized his true passion. It was actually in Italy where his female fans named him Armani because of his designer clothes he loved to wear. Robert's Influences include Armando, Mike Dunn and Frankie Knuckles. He sees his music sticking with old styles and doing whatever comes to mind'. Producing with labels including Dance Mania, Pushpac, AVC, BML, High Octane and many more Armani has captured the ears of fans and promotors all over the world . He has played many international parties givig people his hard Techno fell. You name the place Armani has played there from Chicago to Japan.
Skudge White returns with Finnish legend Mono Junk who delivers three tracks that together spans 23 years.
Onto 2017, Skudge White returns with Finnish legend Mono Junk, who has been around since the early 90's. Continuing in his own established tradition, he delivers three tracks that together spans 23 years.
First off on A1, a 14 minute journey takes us to the far depths of electronic music. Made in 2016, this beast of a track has all the true, vital ingredients of atmosphere: rolling and thundering beats and perfected synth work - one for the specialists!
Turning the 12" around, we find two pumpers from the archives. Dusted off in perfect harmony with the current musical state of affairs: Mono Junk, in collaboration with Pete Salone, showcases a true spirit and heartfelt blizzard of a tune, where 'Disillusions' resembles the forgotten experimental touches of Techno's early days.
'Melody Boy's Melody' goes into a sing-a-long (in the right way) appeal, with enchanting rhythms and a perfected melody, this is a heady piece with IDM resemblances
- A1: Break A Day (Original Mix) (Feat. Doppia Erre & Sky 189)
- A2: Break A Day (Kid Stretch Remix) (Feat. Doppia Erre & Sky 189)
- A3: Break A Day (Funky Boogie Brothers Remix) (Feat. Doppia Erre & Sky 189)
- B1: Break A Day (Dubra X Arteo Remix) (Feat. Doppia Erre & Sky 189)
- B2: Break A Day (B-Side Remix) (Feat. Doppia Erre & Sky 189) (Clip)
- B3: Break A Day (Quincy Jointz Remix) (Feat. Doppia Erre & Sky 189)
Breakbeat Paradise Recordings has teamed up with The Chosen Few Records to proudly presents the latest escapade of TURNTILL & MERLIN: "BREAK A DAY". This tune is dedicated to all the b-boys and other funkateers worldwide that love the drumsound and the funk. The MCs on the song are DOPPIA ERRE from Apulia, Italy and SKY 189 from Capetown, South Africa.
Both are true Hip Hop heads that love the art of breaking! In the hook you hear the sweet, catchy voices of Stella Baraldo and Dominique Bouvier. A real powerful b-boy anthem and club joint alike, which is interpreted in five additional versions on a six track 12" vinyl release.
Guests on the A-Side are DJ KID STRETCH (Greece), FUNKY BOOGIE BROTHERS (Belarus) who is giving the tune a new flow in the oldskool b-boy direction. On the flip side we have invited some of the very best from the Ghetto-Funk scene to give the tunes an injection of electro vibes and big basslines. For this job we called upon the dream team DUBRA X ARTEO (Latvia) and ghetto funk superstar B-SIDE (United Kingdom) who are always armed to the teeth with big beats and electro basslines. Last but not least we sent for a true veteran and pioneer in the Nu Funk scene QUINCY JOINTZ (Germany) to do his thing on the electro side of this vinyl release.
The funky beats and breaks has once again brought people together from all over the world to collaborate on this big release that not only tips the hat to the b-boy community but also pushes the limit to the new eras of funk music. Something we share the vision for and feel strongly about on both Breakbeat Paradise Recordings and at The Chosen Few Records.
Before starting work on the self-produced album, Owens, a 28-year old Londoner, turned her keen ear towards dance music after working with techno producer Daniel Avery in a London record store. Her voice and contributions can be heard on Avery's Drone Logic. Since then, she self-released two white label 12's, with the Oleic' EP to follow. Her debut solo album is first and foremost Owens' vision, a record that exudes a startling level of intimacy even in its largest-sounding moments - such as Arthur,' a percolating mixture of looped vocals and rustling rhythms that rides on a perpetual near-crescendo. The song is a tribute to the late iconoclastic musician and kindred spirit Arthur Russell. He wrote music and stayed true to his vision up until the day he died, ' Owens explains. He didn't compromise as an artist, and those are the kind of people I look up to - people who know what they want.' On S/T Owens translates that self-assertiveness into a record that explores a variety of moods - sadness, anxiety, darkly shaded ecstasy - with a trippy-eyed clarity and confidence that only bodes well for the future.In addition to Avery, who has a co-write credit on Kelly Lee Owens' ghostly Keep Walking,' Jenny Hval also appears on the album's lead single, Anxi.' It's a track that shifts from drifting tones and distant vocals to warm squelches and tunnel-vision club beats. It has been my most freeing and open collaboration so far, and my first time working with a female,' Owens says of working with Hval. "It was a very powerful experience for me, I felt she brought something strange and quite beautiful.'
FOUR313 is a Detroit group of Deejays, musicians and producers from the 1st wave of the Detroit techno dance movement. Blake, Eddie, Santonio & Thomas have joined forces as the unit FOUR313, a group name with meaning and purpose, and that is to preserve Detroit's "true" history in dance music and support the DJ culture through vinyl releases. The debut album of FOUR313 will be released with the launch of their new record label called "Ther Label". FOUR313 will collectively release special limited edition vinyl of brand new recordings starting at the beginnning of 2017.
Open returns to close the year with its third release on the growing UK based imprint. Italian Duo DNArt join the label and provide what can only be descirbed as an incredible old school house vibe illustrating their true passion for solid sounds and hardware. Having released on labels such as Anma and Shift Limited its great to hear their passion on this 'EP ONE'. Joining the release for remix duties are Nick Beringer and Frazer Campbell. Nick Beringer is an exploding artists with a full library of sold out releases and clear to see why with his drivey remix of 'Short Story'. Frazer Campbell of Open and elliot project remixed 'ZZYZX' with an unexpected percussive version to close off OPEN'S third release......
Fifth Interval gather together some of the most forward thinking minds in the dub techno sphere for this various artists EP. Those already acquainted with the label will be familiar with the likes of Federsen and Tomas Rubeck, who headed up the first and second releases respectively. They are joined by dub techno luminary Brendon Moller, aka Beat Pharmacy and Alessandro Crimi, for this four tracker of perfectly contrasting arrangements.
Federsen opens the proceedings with the sunset sequence of Bay Blues, cascading keys rolling through the gaps in a subtly broken drum arrangement, making for effortless and captivating listening. Beat Pharmacy contributes his first original material to the label after a brace of remixes last year. Showing true mastery of the board, chromed chord stabs are pushed and pulled around the mix in true dubwise style, drifting over a malleable bassline that packs a serious punch.
On the flip side, Tomas Rubeck crafts a tightly woven backdrop of constantly evolving, organic atmospherics and powerful drum work for IO, and this muscular workout is perfectly contrasted by the swung grooves and kaleidoscopic synthesis of Alessandro Crimi's Fractal Clouds, which closes the EP.
This is one of the biggest finds of the millenium for us here at Underground Music. Unreleased music by Grand Master Lenny Dee. Originally produced back in the early 90s, the master DAT has sat in a bottom drawer until it was unearthed by us. It's hard to put in to words the influence Lenny Dee and Caspar Pound had on the dance music scene. Witnessing Lenny Djing back in 1992 influenced the path Underground Music would take for the next 25 years. It's true to say this is very much a vanity project for UM. The fact it has incredible unreleased music on it too is a bonus. We've gone all out on a mind warping 12" printed sleeve with superb vinyl mastering by Shane The Cutter. Shanes work tops off these ground breaking seminal techno tunes from one of the planets finest artists to grace the scene. Limited to 300 copies.




















