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This Is DJs Choice Vol. 4 brings you a great selection of Funk, Soul, Latin and Hip Hop.

Five years after the last installment of the series, Volume 4 is compiled by Gu, a long-time friend and DJ partner of Unique label founder Henry Storch, and the tracks represent the two decades they have known each other and played records together, as well as the music they enjoyed.

All choices are originally 7 Inch records from Gu's crates put together like a DJ-Set for you to enjoy: The Soul of The Sweet Vandals and Carlton Jumel Smith, the Deep Funk of Naomi Davis & The Knights Of Forty First Street, The Supersonics and Sharon Jackson & The Soul Destroyers, the Latin sounds of Diesler and Eli Goulart E Banda Do Mato and the Hip Hop grooves of Jay Are (aka J.Rawls and John Robinson), The Bamboos featuring Ohmega Watts and Daddy-O of Stetsasonic.

This compilation is a celebration of music from beginning to end.

About This Is DJs Choice:

The series started as a friendship project by Henry Storch, who wanted to immortalise friends and allies from the DJ scene, who picked vinyl as their format of choice. The genre didn't matter, as long as the vibe was right. In 2008 Vol. 1 featured a selection of organic Club Sounds and Break Beats put together by Soulinus & Pun, followed by Keb Darge & Lucinda Slim and their favorite Rhythm & Blues, Rockabilly and 60s Soul tunes on Vol. 2 in 2009. In 2019 Les Intouchables aka Marc Hype and DJ Suspect presented a variety of funky and soulful music with an addition of the occasional Boogie, Reggae and Hip Hop track.

About Gu:

Gu is a DJ, musician, label owner, producer, writer and producer from Northern Germany. His dedication to music started in his pre-teens in the late eighties and he is playing vinyl ever since. Over the years he has worked with a number of his favorite DJs and artists like Keb Darge, Andy Smith, Snowboy, The New Mastersounds, Osaka Monaurail, The Sweet Vandals, The Allergies, Andy Cooper of Ugly Duckling, Daddy-O of Stetsasonic and Chuck D of Public Enemy to name a few. His DJ career took him all over Europe again and again.

In 2005 he started Our Label Records with his brother Tom to release new Funk music on 7 Inch vinyl and added the Hip Hop 45 imprint Origu in 2015. Since 2009 and he is on air every week with his radioshow Home Diggin', which was also picked up by Chuck D's Rapstation in 2019. Additionally he is lead singer/rapper for the Songcore duo Sorry We're Closed and the Hip Hop outfit Alder Ego. He also does readings of his book of one-liners and competing on Slam Poetry stages.

After the incredible interest in the KOSMONAUCI debut album, we created a dedicated version for the Japanese market. "Japan Edition" has an insert translated into Japanese. The vinyl is black (180g). The label also has Japanese markings. Each record also has a special Japanese OBI.

U JAZZ ME is a boutique label rooted in U Know Me Records.

"Sorry, nie tu"is the debut album of the boys band KOSMONAUCI. The album consists of original compositions by the band members that were created over several years and evolved with the artists. The music of the Cosmonauts derives from jazz and improvisation, but over time the musicians have developed many new ways and possibilities to draw from many other, seemingly distant musical genres. Songs characterized by improvisation and rhythm of drum & bass or hip-hop are one of the characteristic features of the album "Sorry, nie tu". The music of the band KOSMONAUCI is stylistically extensive and at the same time very coherent, thanks to the combination of beautiful lyrical melodies with catchy and often surprising polyrhythms or bold improvisations. KOSMONAUCI have been playing together since high school, which can be heard very well in the chemistry of the whole band and the emotions flowing from the album. On March 21, 2024, the premiere of the debut album entitled "Sorry, nie tu" will take place. The album will be released by U Jazz Me, a sublabel of U Know Me Records. It will be the inaugural sublabel album.

KOSMONAUTS– a boys band originating from jazz traditions, which in its musical language draws onhip-hop,drum & bassandimprovisation. The instrumentarium, which includes saxophone (Miłosz Pieczonka), bass (Bartłomiej Lucjan), vibraphone (Tymon Kosma) and percussion (Jan Pieniążek), creates a unique style of the group, balancing between emotional melodies and polyrhythmic structures. The roots of the band's music go back to the jazz traditions of the 1950s to the 1990s. Their current sound, on the other hand, is much more varied by the search for ideas in genres such as hip-hop, drum & bass, alternative pop or the contemporary London Yass scene. KOSMONAUCI have been playing with each other since high school and have known each other since elementary school. They went to school together, to the concerts and grew up together in the field of music as well. The artists have classical and jazz education, which gives them a wide range of possibilities in the field of improvisation, performance and composition. Each of them has an individual style and different inspirations, which find a common denominator in the band, allowing them to create a unique style of playing and sound. Despite the fact that they have been active on the music scene in Poland and abroad since 2018. Their first album is released in 2024. Over the past few years, KOSMONAUCI have had the opportunity to perform at renowned jazz festivals, collaborate with renowned artists and learn from the best artists in Europe. The resultant of all these factors is the band's debut album "Sorry, nie tu", which will be released on the sublabel of the U Know Me label - U Jazz Me.

“My introduction to “noise” came from a record shop in Lake Worth, Florida ran by a musician named Kenny 5. Kenny had left Detroit sometime in the mid nineties and had begun selling used records and CD’s from the downtown strip of this tiny southern Florida city in a humble shop sandwiched between a deli and a dog grooming business. Kenny previously was on labels like Amphetamine Reptile and timeSTEREO, and the records and videotapes that would be on repeat at his shop were a vast sonic expanse that spoke to the eclecticism of his experience as a touring musician participating and adjacent to American noise culture through the early to late 90’s. In 1998, I was eleven years old and I would order a pizza with him and watch VHS tapes of Japanese noise and deathmatch bootlegs, as well as any other sonic and subcultural rarities that far outstripped my age to comprehend (notably the RRR “Journey Into Pain” compilation and various Vanilla Tapes videos). This widecast net of information formed an introduction to a reality that did not fall deaf on me, but it took many years later for me to reorient the specific freedoms of what this dense and cathartic sound culture had imparted on my life and would continue onward to.

What does this have to do with this selection of choice recordings from the Secret Boyfriend catalog for the enmossed label? For the uninitiated, Secret Boyfriend is the long running moniker of Ryan Martin, North Carolina musician and label proprietor of the Hot Releases imprint. For over a decade from this writing I have watched Secret Boyfriend, and Hot Releases by extension as a curatorial and archival effort, embodying the multiplanal capacity that noise loosely functions from as an umbrella ideology and formalist avenue for sound creation. For anecdotal purposes, from (before) 2006 until roughly 2023 the East Coast of the United States showcased a vibrant network of eclectic regional festivals that saw wide swaths of artists addressing and negotiating the notion of what qualified “noise” from a conceptual and ideological perspective. Some festivals honed in on particularities in aesthetics and tropes, and others had a kind of “catch-all” implementation that allowed for a salvation of the sort of alienated and singular artistry that was amassing throughout these territories. While clear guidelines had been set from regional predecessors as to how noise with a capital “N” should maneuver, Secret Boyfriend is emblematic in the spirit of fluidity that was either implicitly coupled to the notion of the genre, or grew to evolve towards or devolve from.

Within Secret Boyfriend performances, I have seen and admired a mirroring from a ravenous appreciator of this culture at large back towards itself. Typical of a Secret Boyfriend set is an interchangeable narrative arc wherein blistering feedback laden scrap metal improvisations are forayed into naive ambient or “pop” songs, or skipping CDs, or mixer feedback play, or delayed Roland 707 drum workouts all at once and in a unique hegemony. Secret Boyfriend's stylistic mastery of each endeavor is at once an homage to a history of loving listening and enacting, while a brave step into the realm of actualizing the unique fluidity of his own practice. In performance and the action of network engagement, Secret Boyfriend operates a survey of that which he sought to hear and that which he cultivates around his work. His operations are mirrors, and the project (alongside his other peers) is a reflection on the ethos of his time.

Conversely his recording practice narrows in on these moments and allows for a different kind of intimacy or alienation for the non live listener. This record of selected “pop songs” (let's call them that) is particularly poignant at a time when the culture Martin mirrors is at a strange crossroads with itself. The aforementioned festival networks necessarily change and shift. The onlookers become the artists, the artists find new horizons, and the spaces for these cycles fade into locales of a distant memory. It seems, from my perspective, that audiences currently yearn for a more bottlenecked experience, searching for some ontologically vetted manifestation of an idea, of a sound and less for an experience that functions in opposition to our collective banalities. This makes sense in the face of general global catastrophism that plagues us. We need certainty of what something is somewhere, don’t we? Noise as an idea has expanded and contracted to so many iterations of itself it is hard to tell what it even is, and it is particularly difficult to identify in the absence of solid network activations a moment to reflect on its own complexities and nuances. In the face of so much change, I argue that the language of noise culture at large has on one hand become increasingly didactic and predictable, and laughably inclusive and non linear on the other. Probably has always been this way, but now we are in the midst of a moment of extreme access and indexicality, which somehow cauterizes expansion and naivety and chance.

This record highlights the Secret Boyfriend that obscures didacticism by highlighting output that opens up for more challenging catharsis and emotive signal processing. It provides an entry to the materialism of a cultural field full of ecstatic complexity and beautiful inconsistency. In these muted moments Secret Boyfriend has given us over his career we have an argument for evolving languages that further challenge our notions of what is supposed to happen and how it is supposed to be presented. In his more song oriented expansiveness, we can punctuate the ability to think in new modalities. Listening to these recordings reminds me of the polarity of sitting in the record store as a kid and understanding that His Name Is Alive is on 4AD and (gasp!) timeSTEREO. This trite early impression that nothing is really as different as our imaginations might want them to be, and that we can do whatever we want mostly within the creative realms we work through is an important filter to look through Secret Boyfriend as a project and a vessel. If we can achieve abandon and vulnerability through our artistic endeavors, then we have a sound model for, maybe, new potentialities. If that’s too much projection, or just complete liberal bullshit, I am fine with that. Secret Boyfriend's oeuvre at best offers us moments of reprieve to ponder these complexities, or at least a moment to zone out on a drive through North Carolina Highway 54.

You have one pocket of life that you must do whatever you want to inside of. Secret Boyfriend does it affectionately, in a variety of forms, and always with deep sentimentality. These recordings are a wonderful set of songs to begin further investigation from. Thank you Ryan for allowing as many avenues as possible to continue a broad cultural exchange and conversation that intersect and refract while being the kind of artist that is brave enough to not phone in the effort.”

- Nick Klein , May 2024

Moody cacophonies, sonic dispatches from Japan, crystalline breakbeats that are more environment than rhythm: Jake Muir’s enmixed, described by Muir as a “(re)mixtape,” is a mind-bending deep dive into the enmossed archive. Besides reflecting the history of the label, Muir’s mix is a production in its own right. A Los Angeles native based in Berlin, Muir is a DJ and field recordist who “sees mixes as a vehicle to explore narratives outside of the album format.”

In Bathhouse Blues (2023), where Muir sampled various sources to explore gay cruising culture and sensuality, his more expansive, conceptual approach to the form is illuminated. Mixes are not just a linear succession of tracks with transitions—they’re excavations that also result in the creation of new audio artifacts. Inspired by the psychedelic impulses of illbient, Muir uses DJ and sound engineering techniques to melt down genre distinctions and create alien atmospheres.

From the enmossed community, Muir pulls from artists like bad lsd trips, Angelo Harmsworth, Nick Klein, Tetsuya Nakayama, and Patrick Gallagher to coalesce a super-compendium of the global sonic underground, all viewed through his own unique lens. Muir takes major liberties with processing and effects automation to carve new worlds from the soil of these preexisting works. Some of the tracks and material on enmixed are heavily edited, emphasizing specific harmonics or bass frequencies, and some portions contain three or four layers, putting artists in direct conversation with each other.

This heady approach—using the tools of both mixtape and remix—results in a super textual and dense palimpsest of the enmossed catalog. “Because mixes are more open- source,” Muir says, “it’s easier to express some ideas since there is more material to pull from.”

- Rob Goyanes

Silver foil printed j-cards on heavyweight iridescent ('Lapis Lazuli') recycled paper Duplicated at a carbon-neutral facility

KNTXT, Charlotte de Witte’s label imprint, has the pleasure to introduce Alignment’s upcoming Time EP that will be released in April. After Monoloc’s “Left The Planet EP”, Alignment is the third artist to appear on the label aside Charlotte de Witte, that debuted with the Chris Liebing collaboration EP “Liquid Slow”.

“Alignment is easily one of the most promising artists that I’ve encountered in a long time, so it feels incredibly good to welcome him to the KNTXT family!” de Witte says. KNTXT has always aimed to be a breeding ground and safe haven for the unique talent’s that it loves and respects. With this upcoming Alignment release, we hope to further introduce the world to this unique talent and create a platform for his boundless creativity.

“Charlotte started supporting my music from very early on, so it feels great to be making my debut on KNTXT so early on.” Fancesco Pierfelici a.k.a Alignment says. “It took me some time to find the right spin on these tracks, but now I feel really confident about the result.”

“With the this EP I wanted to make recordings on the subject of time and space” Alignment explains. “I’m a firm supporter of Alignment’s unique ravey sound, flanked by deep bass lines and pumping kicks. We’re very eager to share this upcoming release with you all, feel like this is going to be a big one!” - Charlotte concludes

Album was made in two version (with two different covers). Classic black vinyl and limited (hand numbered 100 copies) with color vinyl. Both versions has 180g vinyl records.

Himalaya Collective is probably the biggest crew of beatmakers in Poland (more than 30 official members). Collaborations are the theme of this third album for U Know Me Records, resulting in a multi-genre album that showcases Himalaya Collective's strength in all its glory.

"After two years since "Latawce", we are back with our third vinyl album released by U Know Me Records. We have been working on a unique, fully collaborative project for over a year. Each track is a result of cooperation - without restrictions on the choice of artists and collaborators.

The idea was simple: each member of the collective was to enrich their track with the vision of another person. They could be producers, vocalists, instrumentalists - both from within the collective and from further corners of the world. This is how a network of artistic connections was created, which reflects the way in which Himalaya Collective has been growing since 2016 - as a team united by passion, inspiring each other and involving other exceptional people in cooperation.

Thank you for your patience, see you again."

Album was made in two version (with two different covers). Classic black vinyl and limited (hand numbered 100 copies) with color vinyl. Both versions has 180g vinyl records.

Himalaya Collective is probably the biggest crew of beatmakers in Poland (more than 30 official members). Collaborations are the theme of this third album for U Know Me Records, resulting in a multi-genre album that showcases Himalaya Collective's strength in all its glory.

"After two years since "Latawce", we are back with our third vinyl album released by U Know Me Records. We have been working on a unique, fully collaborative project for over a year. Each track is a result of cooperation - without restrictions on the choice of artists and collaborators.

The idea was simple: each member of the collective was to enrich their track with the vision of another person. They could be producers, vocalists, instrumentalists - both from within the collective and from further corners of the world. This is how a network of artistic connections was created, which reflects the way in which Himalaya Collective has been growing since 2016 - as a team united by passion, inspiring each other and involving other exceptional people in cooperation.

Thank you for your patience, see you again."

Following his recent EP, The Circle of Life, on Pushmaster Discs, Milan's rising techno star Maike Depas returns with a brand-new release on his renowned The Innovation Studio Records. Titled “Sexy Devil Horse”, it is a powerful 10-track collection, featuring many iconic international artists from the Hard Techno space such as Etruria Beat’s headmaster Luca Agnelli, Dutch-based sensation OGUZ and the “Demon of hard techno” also known as Michael Katana, as well as Southern Italian talents CHRS and Gianni Di Bernardo.
This release marks a pivotal moment in Maike Depas’ journey to become one of the highest rated talents in the Hard Techno scene. It will also be followed by a key paradigm shift his label’s business model in 2025. For this occasion, Maike has lined up an amazing group of artists to celebrate those who have shared his musical vision along the way.

The title is meant to be provocative and captivating, just like its content: catchy and fresh enough to attract ravers and clubbers from around the world. Its artwork was created by the master Luden Works. It features a plastic female figure with an undefined appearance, yet with sensual curves and a powerful surge of energy, like a wave enclosed in a sphere, representing Maike’s and The Innovation Studio Records’ logos.
From the galloping rhythm of “Sexy Devil Horse” and “Hear The Sound” to the groovy and elegant “Ce Soir” there is an immediate feel about the artist’s singular touch and eclecticism. Same goes for the tangible contrasts which make a key element of this release, where the minimalistic mood of “StarKiller” and its maximalist counterpart “Dark Serenade” carry the listener through a full-spectrum emotional rollercoaster.
Hard Techno and Psy Trance vibes go hand in hand with ‘90s Trance and Rave echoes, creating a blend of recognisable and innovative samples that can resonate with many different types of audience and like-minded artists. This aspect is fundamental in the direction Maike and his team have decided to take.

It all comes from afar: starting with a classical musical background – playing the piano at Conservatory level for many years, including Berlin’s own Funkhaus. This theoretical and practical knowledge, mixed with a long-time passion for electronic music, made it easier for Maike to shape and cultivate his authentic sound since a very young age.

As part of its evolution, The Innovation Studio Records will officially open its doors to new talent and renowned artists starting in 2025. The team’s vision is to create an international reference point for quality and innovation, shaping a brand-new artistic movement based on combining the modern vision of our generation with our cultural heritage from the past, thanks to the team that we put together, both in terms of approach and technique.
It'll be a structure built from the ground up, combining the best of analogue technology in a modern workflow with the highest level of music hardware, audio monitoring and studio design. In their view, there are two types of productions: those that stay ‘inside the box’ and those that get into your heart.

The desire to unite instead of dividing, to join forces instead of competing, is the key to Maike’s success and a real drive to turn the studio lights on every single day. Despite playing a lot with dystopic, cyberpunk-like atmospheres throughout his artistic journey, music doesn’t feel like a means to escape reality for Maike. In fact, it’s quite the opposite.

The definition Maike uses the most to describe what The Innovation Studio Records wants to become is “a mysterious display cabinet”: a place where an artists will never know what emotion will arise or what direction will be taken next. Although hard work, professionalism and common inspiration will ultimately still be its main fuel, a true sense of community and empathy will be crucial to shape the future Maike and his team have in mind for it.
In a very romantic way, the idea is to re-create the same atmosphere from the Italian Renaissance masters’ workshops. Places where different artists - with opposite backgrounds and styles - could all mingle and inspire each other, in order to foster the creation of something unique. A collective effort for a greater good.

About MAIKE DEPAS
Young hard techno DJ-producer Maike Depas (born Michelangelo De Pasquale) has seen the future of music and it’s called metaverse: “In the future it will blow up,” he predicts. “And it’s going to revolutionize the way we experience music.” Bowled over by Skrillex and Martin Garrix by the age of eight, and DJing at smaller Milan clubs by the time he was eleven, Depas went on to study composition and piano at the prestigious

Milan Conservatory before learning ‘life- changing” lessons from the best in the business at Catalyst’s 4-week Advanced Sound Design course in Berlin’s Funkhaus . His production gets inspired by huge 90s trance synths as much as pounding hard techno from artists such as Kobosil, In Verruf and Amelie Lens.
2024 marked the launch of MAIKE DEPAS 2.0, a tectonic audio-visual shift that entails a wide array of content from DJ sets livestreamed from Berlin’s Teufelsberg and other dystopic locations around Europe to cyberpunk-inspired outfits designed by Demobaza, a cyberpunk-inspired casual couture brand best known for their sustainable Dune X Demobaza collection. Over the course of a developing metamorphosis from a flesh-and-bone individual to a mysterious CGI character, Depas is another step closer to revolutionize the dance music scene through the metaverse.

A few years ago, Angel Olsen quietly formed somethingscosmic, a new imprint and a home for Olsen to have “the flexibility to release when and how I want to with the help from my longtime partners at Jagjaguwar.” Somethingscosmic’s second release, ‘Cosmic Waves Volume 1’ is a compilation reimagined as a dialogue; side A features artists chosen by Olsen, with each artist choosing their own song for the collection. Side B is a collection of songs from the same artists, but chosen by Olsen and recorded by her. Each song, unsurprisingly, illuminates a new artist Olsen finds spectacular. Hearing Olsen refract the artists’ songs back to them reveals the depth of Olsen’s imagination, while spotlighting multiple exciting artists at work.

“As someone that emerged into the music scene through a small tape label,” says Olsen, “I’ve wanted to continue the spirit of discovery and of my debut release, ‘Strange Cacti’, while supporting and collaborating with artists and friends whose music I have been moved by. I feel there is something unique and special about covering another artist's song,” she continues. “We all make it our own, or we try to, but I personally always learn something new about the process when I’m engaging someone else’s words and melodies in such a close way. Time and again I find that putting myself into various different styles of songs can lead to new ways of thinking and creating.”

The artists on “Cosmic Waves Volume 1” draw from a sprawling, myriad sounds, eras and inspirations. Poppy Jean Crawford’s magnetic growl and guitar-god heaviness; Coffin Prick’s reckless, psychedelic fuzz; Sarah Grace White’s hypnotic voice and melody; Maxim Ludwig’s expert minimalism; and Camp Saint Helene’s beautiful, big sky folk. “Thank you for listening and supporting this experiment,” Olsen says. “If you like what you hear, please support these artists by buying some of their music, merch, a ticket to their show, or telling your friends about them. It goes a long way. Love, Angel”

Launched in 2020, Big Saldo’s Chunkers draws on the sensibilities of classic US house music, crafting unique dancefloor cuts that don’t compromise on quality. It is label founder Sally C’s deep passion for the golden era of hip house and the sounds of 88’ - 98’ that has really shaped her raw and chunky style and inspired her productions and eponymous label Big Saldo’s Chunkers. A homage to the era she’s so obsessed with.

What started off as a self-release series is now a home to showcase and support talented artists. Inviting artists to put their own twist on Chunkers has been a natural next step in the evolution of this growing label, as it continues to push boundaries and open doors.

BSC006 marks the sixth release on Big Saldo’s Chunkers. The 4 track EP showcases both the first time Sally has collaborated with another artist and the inaugural remix of a Sally C track by Blitz Munich resident, BASHKKA.

ISOxo & Knock2 have been building towards the release of the forthcoming 4EVR album since the duo sold-out an historic four (4) consecutive headline performances at the Shrine Expo Hall in Los Angeles in November 2023. At the beginning of the year, the duo announced their Coachella debut and a select number of “ISOKNOCK 4EVR” headline events in Seattle (2X WAMU Theater) and Brooklyn (Under The K Bridge) – selling out 10,000 tickets per market in a matter of days. ISOKNOCK also will be headlining the North Coast Music Festival in Chicago. ISOKNOCK debuted at Coachella to a packed-out Sahara Tent with intricate, multi-tiered, live production from Production Club. Many of the songs from the forthcoming 4EVR album were first teased at this performance. Each of the subsequent ISOKNOCK shows in Seattle and Brooklyn had unique production – with special guest cade clair popping out in Seattle to perform forthcoming album focus track “4EVR”. In April 2024, Knock2 and RL Grime co-headlined Ultra Music Festival with a special back-to-back DJ set. During this performance, ISOxo popped out for a special guest appearance and the trio debuted the collaboration “SMACK TALK” to the roaring crowd. In support of the 4EVR album, ISOKNOCK will be producing a narrative short film that embodies the tagline of the album – “Pain is Temporary, ISOKNOCK is "4EVR” On the eve of their highly-anticipated collaborative album 4evr, ISOxo & Knock2 will present the 4EVR Gallery – a tribute to the DIY ethos, uncompromising vision, and longstanding partnership of the two artists who are pushing the boundaries of dance music and reshaping it in their own image. From their humblest beginnings in San Diego to dominating the world’s most prestigious festival stage at Coachella, the 4EVR GALLERY will give fans a rare opportunity to share space with artifacts of history-in-the-making.

Acclaimed musicians Nitai Hershkovits and Daniel Dor will release their highly anticipated album, “The Garden Suite”, on Circus Company. Following their previous collaboration on Daniel Dor’s debut album, “Four Petals”, this new project sees the duo exploring uncharted musical territory with an innovative, Moog-based sound.
Inspired by the groundbreaking work of synth pioneer Malcolm Cecil, “The Garden Suite” marries electronic textures with the richness of orchestral sound. Drawing from a vast range of influences, including the works of Benjamin Britten and Fredrick Delius, Hershkovits and Dor meticulously composed each track, layering Moog synthesizer melodies to emulate various instruments from the orchestra - from French horn to percussion, guitar, brass, and woodwinds. The result is a sound that is lush yet light, deeply textured yet not dense.
“The Garden Suite” marks a significant evolution in the partnership between Hershkovits and Dor, with their new compositions shifting from the rhythmic focus of “Four Petals” to a more texture-driven approach. The album showcases their ability to create genre-defying soundscapes, blending Daniel’s rhythmic system, “The Flower,” with lush, ambient layers of sound created on the Moog.
Nitai Hershkovits, known for his extensive work in jazz and classical music, began his musical journey as a clarinetist before transitioning to piano at the age of 15. His early passion for improvisation and jazz earned him several jazz competition awards in Tel Aviv. Nitai’s career highlights include his fiveyear tenure with the Avishai Cohen Trio, and his numerous projects as a solo artist, including work with ECM and his band Apifera.
Daniel Dor, a drummer and multi-instrumentalist, was born into a family of musicians in Tel Aviv. He began exploring rhythm at the age of 10, building his first drum set out of household objects. His innovative rhythmic method, “The Flower”, gained attention with his debut solo piano album, “Four Petals”, which led to his collaboration with Hershkovits. Daniel has performed with notable artists such as NOA, Avishai Cohen, and Chano Dominguez, and regularly lectures on rhythmic symmetry and music.
With “The Garden Suite”, Hershkovits and Dor offer a unique listening experience that challenges traditional genre boundaries. Their seamless fusion of rhythm, melody, and texture creates a soundscape that is as experimental as it is captivating.

Teatro Del Metapresente is the debut album by La Nuit Je Mens, a duo hailing from the Parisian suburbs and southern Italy. Now based in Rome, the two artists have crafted a striking sound that merges their DIY ethos with raw, unfiltered energy.

Driven by synthetic, minimalist rhythms created on a fleet of analog machines, the seven tracks pay homage to the sound of the '80s – yet entirely forward-looking and embracing the dancefloor modernity.

Blending genres such as EBM, synth-pop and minimal-cold-wave, paired with French vocals, the album delves into themes of underground activities, the slow decay of the club scene and the depths of emotional yearning.

Released on the Berlin-Basel-based label Reach Another System, Teatro Del Metapresente follows the previously released 7” and reinforces the duo's own sound and unique identity.

This album is a gritty yet sophisticated journey through life’s harsh realities and ultimate triumphs. Hailing from two vastly different worlds, Fashawn and Little Vic bring unique stories and sounds that blend the raw with the refined. Fashawn, raised amidst the gangs and struggles of Fresno, California, brings an unapologetic realism to his verses, detailing the roads that took him from survival to success. Meanwhile, Little Vic’s roots trace back to Long Island, New York, where he grew up with the influence of the Orena family’s notorious reputation. Known for his lyricism and mastery of the MPC, Vic’s production is the perfect companion to Fashawn’s storytelling, layering gritty boom bap beats with live instruments that add richness and texture.

The theme of the album is like a fine dining experience—a nod to elegance—while peeling back the layers to reveal the raw, often darker realities simmering behind the scenes. Little Vic’s production flexes between hard-hitting rhythms and delicate, soulful sounds, creating a soundscape that mirrors the rags-to-riches journey both artists represent.

Brought together on the East Coast by executive producer Ricky Grey, Fashawn and Little Vic spent an intense week creating this project, crafting a work that feels as alive and textured as the streets that shaped them. Each track is an experience, serving up an unfiltered taste of both struggle and success, designed to leave listeners both stirred and inspired.

Scions are a new innovative experimental ensemble. The group features members from the award-winning minimalist chamber-jazz quartet New Hermitage, the Polaris-nominated drone-hymn duo Joyful Joyful, and the acclaimed producer and composer Michael Cloud Duguay. Their collaboration began at the Sappyfest music festival in Sackville, New Brunswick, in August 2022. During this event, New Hermitage and Joyful Joyful connected for the first time and teamed up with Duguay for a spontaneous improvisational performance based on his song writing. The enthusiastic response, capped by a standing ovation, solidified the ensemble's decision to pursue the project further, with Duguay deftly shifting from front-person to producer and musical director. After being awarded a Canada Council project grant in early 2023 the group took residence in Hotel Wolfe Island on Wolfe Island. Over a week the seven core members lived and worked together, culling material from sunrise improv sessions and collaboratively shaping it into a unique body of work that would later become To Cry Out In The Wilderness. In June 2023, the ensemble, now joined by double bassist Gabriella Ciurcovich, recorded their debut album in Halifax’s north end. Led by Duguay’s distinctive approach to site-specific production, the recording took place in the sanctuary of St. George’s Round Church, with engineering by Jake Nicoll, known for his sustainable recording methods using a solar-powered, mobile control room. The resulting album, To Cry Out In The Wilderness, finds the ensemble expertly exploring and powerfully combining their skills in jazz, devotional, classical, drone, folk, ambient, metal, improvisational, minimalist and avant-garde music. The project culminated in a week of production, with contributions from numerous artists from Halifax’s creative music community. Scions then presented their work live, performing on the opening night of Halifax’s Everyseeker festival of experimental music, where they shared the spotlight with the renowned Sun Ra Arkestra. Speaking on the narrative of To Cry Out In The Wilderness vocalist and lyricist Cormac Culkeen said: "When we came together to make this body of work, we started from a narrative seed; a post-apocalyptic humanity relearning and recreating itself, after a total ecological collapse." Speaking on "Fight Song" they add, "“Fight Song” became the song we thought the last of us might need. It is sung for an imagined last stand. It is a rallying cry to wholeheartedly fight a losing battle. So it is for us now, in this time of great dismay and unease. The axe must be disobeyed.

Well-versed in vintage vernaculars, Oakland-based producer/musician Mike Walti is about to return with his sophomore offering under the Organi moniker – as new album “Babylonia” follows 2020’s “Parlez-vous Français?,” a landmark in vibe acquisition ever since.

Wyldwood Studios is a portal. It’s a secret gateway to analog spheres. Cross the threshold and you’ll feel the difference: you can pick any ol’ time, any place, any tongue or vibe, in fact. Hit the dancefloor in 1967, feel that plushy loveseat in the early 70s. It’s a welcoming place where better, saner vibes are still within reach. Fueled, at least in part, by those long-classic 12”s on the walls – just imagine the sepia-tinted countenance of Melody Nelson alongside actual Birkin sans wig, right next to Shadow’s immortal crate diggers, forever blurred –, and channeled through ancient time travel devices such as the MCI 416B only to arrive on classic 2-inch tape (MM1000 aka Ol’ Bessy), it’s a haven for all things organic, for all things imbued with that warm élan. Built and run by Oakland’s own Mike Walti, countless artists from many different genres have felt that flair, creating sonic spheres and moving back and forth along the malleable axis that is space-time. Capturing magic.

Emerging from this unique portal back in 2020, Walti’s aka Organi’s first studio album was a stunning answer to its titular question – “Parlez-vous Français?” It was a soothing, somewhat psychedelic trip so magnétique and alluring that it immediately brought back those bits of Franglais you never knew you remembered. Whereas the debut LP indeed felt like a spontané voyage to the French Riviera ca. 1968, its follow-up “Babylonia” is so much more than linguistic confusion and ancient Akkadian Rhythms. Using that hidden portal near Alameda’s finest port to access all kinds of remote regions and sonic spheres, it’s super tight and feels, well, decent, even though, just like the ol’ Babylon, it’s full of surprising tongues and dreams, schemes and melodies.

“Where do we go from here?,” someone asks in opening “Organii-“ – all majestically cinematic boom bap, buoyant bass, sick strings. A fittingly massive opener that feels like cracking open a cold one after long weeks at work (that ecstatic “ahhhh”), it perfectly sets the tone for another half hour of pure time traveling, globe-spanning bliss. Whereas that certain prédilection pour all things French makes “La Rockette” so tempting and tantalizing (think MalMalNonBien), the sophomore album’s Berlin-based guest singer Nana Lacrima soon takes us elsewhere: title track “Babylonia” spins ever so softly, like a magic lantern, with images of dreamier Stones Throw funksters or Savath y Savalas looming over the steady flow of an arrangement that washes you clean like an ancient, unpolluted River Euphrates or Brazil’s actual Amazon. A sexy Portuguese-flavored anthem, occasional guest singer Alix Koliha also enters the scene to add yet another layer of French chic to this Brazilian landscape. Next, we’re back at the Riviera, but the “Italiano” version of it, splendido sunsets and bell towers in the distance, the ragazze laughing and shaking it up, perhaps even some Portofino Gin so you can really feel that “me ne batto il belin,” as your fingers align form some half-serious “ma che vuoi?”

Tim Maia-penned “Padre Cicero” (1970) deals with the stunning transformation of the titular hero – “De reverendo a lutador,” and what a soaring, sensual hook –, and Organi’s take on Elephant Memory’s “Old Man Willow” (now an “Old Man Waltz”) perfectly underlines what Walti’s Wyldwood endeavor is all about: Easy-Going Experimental Dream Pop, fueled by Gainsbourg, Broadcast, Stereolab, etc.

Later on, even though something seems to be tres complique in “Remembering Anna,” it all sounds carefree like a spontaneous Friday afternoon with a bottle of fine wine. Right before the outro, key album guest Yea-Ming Chen (of Yea-Ming & The Rumors) returns to the mic, adding her dark and dusky trademark timbre to melancholy anthem “Pictures Of Your Face”. Reminiscent of Nico and Trish (rip & rip), it’s a track that’s both dark and strangely propelling, hypnotic and hip-shaking.

A third generation Bay Area native, Mike Walti aka Organi has been running Wyldwood Studios in Oakland CA for some 15+ years (recording artists like Tommy Guerrero, Spelling, Why?, Latyrx, Del, Dan The Automator, and Big Freedia, to name but a few). A multi-instrumentalist who’s obviously in love with the 60s/70s, he loves to work with analog equipment (“We just love us some analog!” “Just listen to those relays purr…”). Recorded and mixed by Mike Walti at Wyldwood, “Babylonia” will be released on vinyl/digital by Alien Transistor.

Releasing now for well over a decade - Neue Grafik: known to friends as Fred, has successfully transplanted from Parisian rookie to one- man London Institution. Beginning as a solo producer and DJ,Fred spread his wings upon relocating to South London - at first with his Neue Grafik Ensemble and later with his now iconic twice-weekly Orii Jam - the latter of which has given agency to an entire new generation of musicians; spawning an aesthetic, nurturing a unique sound and becoming a launchpad for countless artists.

Dalston Tape Volume 1 is Fred’s attempt to fall back in love with beatmaking - taking it back to the roots of
where the project began. I say “attempt” because he’s simply learnt too much and made too many friends
along the way to make a mere DIY beat tape. Since his early MPC-led productions on Parisian label, Beat
X Changers, Fred has learnt to play the keys to a concert hall standard, he has become proficient in double bass and built up a dense network of collaborators who he has composed, recorded, engineered and produced for both at home in SE London and in the iconic Total Refreshment Centre Studios in Dalston.

This experience adds unavoidable dimensions to his toolbox - resulting in something more akin to a miniature-magnum-opus than a simple beat-tape.

Yes, we hear the influences of Pete Rock, Mad Lib, J Dilla and Al Dobson Jr but we also hear the musicality of D’Aneglo, James Blake and live contributions from an ever growing army of young graduates of the Orii School.

Warehouse Find!

Janeret makes his FUSE debut as the Paris-based talent serves up a selection of cuts across ‘Quasar’.

When it comes to artists at the forefront of France’s rich house and minimal scene, a name at the top of most people’s lists would have to be Janeret. A core figure at the heart of Paris’ electronic landscape and a key part of the Yoyaku family, a flag-bearer of the country’s now globally renowned minimal landscape, the Joule boss has grown and evolved to bring his unique take on the genre to the masses with a selection of diverse releases via the likes of Up The Stuss, Berg Audio and Rutilance Recordings. Having featured on line ups for London mainstays FUSE while also playing for their sister label LOCUS, March welcomes the Frenchman’s first music on the label as he makes his debut with five slick productions across his expansive EP, ‘Quasar’.

Title track ‘Quasar’ is a bumping peak-time affair as skipping drums meet sweeping pads and echoed vocals, while ‘Elevated’ brings a warping, tunnelling bassline accented by breaks-influenced drums and spiralling electronics for yet more energy-charged output. On the flip, vinyl-only effort ‘Murk’ is driving late-hours effort armed with punchy kicks, further vocal interjections and hefty low-ends, with tight drum and fluctuating synths guiding the groove of ‘Spire’. Closing proceedings, digital exclusive ‘Pitch’ showcases signature Janeret sonics old and new, merging snaking grooves with dubby chords for a rich and peppy journey through soundscapes.

Following the debut Eyeball release of Crystal Shards, comes Protector, an ethereally nuanced collection of tracks wholly engineered and produced by blackwinterwells, and featuring a guest
collaboration with 8485 on the track "paber plane " While the album infuses the electronic elements found in previous blackwinterwells releases, these compositions are built with a unique wall-of-sound
noise. formed with symphonic song-writing in mind. In a world filled with artists making individual songs to capture the most plays, Protector offers a refreshingly patient body of work that sounds best
when absorbed as a full album.