Search:voices from the dark

Presenting a collection of stone-cold classic breakbeats and b-boy jams from the sunkissed vaults of Miami's legendary TK Disco label!

NYC in the late 70's and early 80's saw a nascent street subculture fully evolve, a movement with it's own language, art, aesthetics, dances, fashion and way of living.

What would become what is now globally known as 'hip-hop' was in its infancy, with it's own legends and history being forged on an almost daily basis across the city's Black and Hispanic neighbourhoods. Music was central to hip-hop, the DJ was king and at the hands of people like Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash, Grandmaster Flowers, Mean Gene, Jazzy Jay, Afrika Bambaataa, Charlie Chase and numerous other groundbreaking DJ's of the era, music took on a whole new meaning that would reverberate through popular culture for the rest of time.

The breaks - minute sections or breakdowns of a record where we get to the unadulterated groove and the band on the record cut loose - is what it was all about! Unlike the discotheque DJ's who favoured the long mixes and blends in their club scenarios, hip-hop DJ's were amassing huge collections of records that had these magical sections on them, often x 2 copies of each, so that they could elongate the best part of the record ad infinitum by cutting them up live - all killer no filler! These special on the fly mixes and edits were then unleashed in the local parks of their neighbourhoods, on gargantuan DIY sound systems for all of their friends and neighbours to party on down until the wee small hours. These breakbeat segments also gave the MC's space to address the gathered masses without their voices colliding with lavish string arrangements or vocals underneath. A clear, concise, stripped back slab of funk on which to put forth their ideas, feelings and rhymes for all to enjoy.

Collected here are some of those most infamous breakbeats, all from the TK vaults. These records were studied by these young DJ's, coveted, covered up, hunted down, whispered about in darkened corners by those who needed and obsessed over the freshest of beats. There's a good chance you will have heard these records in some form or another as they have been covered, sampled, recreated and spun in clubs across the galaxy for over 4 decades. These are the very building blocks upon which popular culture and club music have been built, and here they are all in one place for your listening enjoyment!

Released with love and respect by: Above Board and TK Disco, Miami FL. 2020.

'Prole Art Threat' is producer Anthoney Hart's second LP for Planet Mu under his East Man alias, after 2018's well received debut 'Red White & Zero'. It brings together a set of MCs from all over London, Darkos and Eklipse from East London and Lyrical Strally from near Feltham who were on the first album, Ny Ny and Mic Ty also from East London, Streema and 'Vision Crew' member Whack Eye from Lewisham plus Fernando Kep, an MC from the burgeoning Brazil grime scene. They work across a cohesive set of tight riddims forged from thoughtful amalgams of grime, dancehall and drum & bass. The album takes its name from a Fall song/mission statement of the same title, the band being self-consciously working class and led by a brilliant autodidact in Mark E Smith. East Man relates that the title is to be taken as “a reflection of working-class creativity and how the establishment marginalise us and (perhaps on a subconscious level) see us as a threat.” Les Back, author of 'The Art of Listening' and 'Out of Whiteness: Color, Politics and Culture (with Vron Ware)' contributes liner notes to the record: East Man understands the force and the democracy of the mic. Listening to Prole Art Threat is like being at a dance. As the mic is passed between each of the MCs, a different tale is ‘elevated... off the map’ as Ny Ny puts it. We hear instalmentsfrom Forest Gate, Lee, Lewisham and Manor Park as these ‘lyrical gaffers’ and ’top boys and girls’ tell tough stories of life under the scrutiny of the ‘Feds’ in a brutal and divided city. The bars and rhymes document what it means to live here; from the double standards applied to the sexuality of young girls and boys to the corrosive violence of everyday life. All this is dissected without compromise. This is not just aLondon story though, the inclusion of Fernando Kep from the burgeoning Grime scene in Brazil is evidence of the outernational reach of the music. The tracks on East Man’s album explode the wilful ignorance of those who see ‘the working class’ in contemporary London as code for whiteness. This is the sound of a proletarian urban multiculture, made from Caribbean and African influences, sound system culture, pirate radio and the inexorable rhythms of Grime, Drum & Bass, Techno and Dancehall. It is the stirring of the "white" & "black" working classes who are living together and coming together on their own terms in sound. ‘Making music because you love it... what the fuck else could you do?’ as East Man says. The tracks and voices you are holding in your hands are, as a result urgent, vital, as hard nails and twice as sharp.

Puzzlebox Records Classic Electro / Techno Label Returns. Label owner Keith Tucker aka K-1 is back with his own Brand of Electro Funk with infectious bass lines and unmistakable vocals from one of the genres hardest working artist and label owners.

Over the years Tucker has done it all from visuals for live shows , label art work, dj’ing all over the world to also touring as a founding member of Aux88.

His new release is “Modular World “side A is an electro banger with Tuckers amazing arpeggiator work reminiscent of his great Optic Nerve techno alias. Modular World has a hypnotizing arp and Funky bassline that hits your soul and quickly programs your mind to
dance mode. The haunting Vocal and electronic vocoder work is unmistakable K-1 at his best. Listen to the way he combines his
voices to form his own distinct sound.

Side B. “Schematix” brings this special two track ep to A thunderous boom with a more retro bass styling that shows his programming skills, K-1 is able to manipulate his mixes to showcase his intelligent techno side with the street funk of Detroit. “Schematix” dark sci-fi drone vocals kick off the k-1 mix to get any crowd to run to the dance floor.

Electronic / acoustic wonder band KUF deliver a special surprise for their third album: eleven sizzling hot takes on tracks drawn from the Macro label's stellar catalog, as originally crafted by some of today's most respected artists in electronic music. KiNK, Patrick Cowley, Peter Kruder (of K&D), Stefan Goldmann, rRoxymore and more get the treatment. With a nod to the label's previous highly original compilations and mixes from the Macrospective and Vinylism series, Re:Re:Re captures more new ground.

KUF's previous albums presented an astonishing inversion of the typical extended electronic set up, in that they paired a plethora of disembodied, sampled voices with acoustic real time interaction on bass, drums and keys. Re:Re:Re shifts the focus of sampling altogether to scanning entire tracks and compositions which are then reimagined with the band's singular approach. Neither just remixes, nor faithful reproductions, KUF engage in careful sound archaeology. From re-programming key sounds to holistic granular deconstructions, the originals's sound palettes are reproduced to serve as a springboard towards entirely new instalments. The resulting tracks range from intimate ballads to full power dance floor movers, spanning a highly engaging arc of sheer listening pleasure.

Ryan Crosson takes care of the fifth EP on tastemaking Detroit label My Baby Records with a fantastically forward-looking four-track vinyl offering. Ryan Crosson is a complex artistic creature who has roamed far and wide in his storied career. His always innovative music has come on groundbreaking labels including Wagon Repair, M_nus, Spectral Sound, and of course his own Visionquest. Each time he explores a new sound world and draws on things as diverse as musique concrète, Downtown New York funk, and East African jazz. Now he cooks up more beguiling brilliance on this fresh new EP. Opener ‘Speaker Dubs’ is a deep, bubbly rhythm track with dub chords rippling out to infinity. It’s a stylish track full of far-sighted reverence and supple groove that locks you in a trance. ‘Ogilvie’ is a piece of absorbing ambient with found sound recordings of muffled voices that sounds like you’re in an underground station. B-side opener ‘FutureTheory’ is another minimal masterpiece with glitchy sound design and eerie chords peeling off a tight, kinetic groove. Ghoulish voices add more late-night atmosphere and the whole track grows ever darker and more consuming as it unfolds. The excellent ‘OortCloud’ takes you back to the heart of a dance-floor with futuristic menace: the smooth drum loops are militant, the voices are dehumanised and the searching synths speak of a desolate landscape. It’s heady, brilliantly bleak stuff that is utterly infectious. This is another hugely inventive EP from one of the underground’s most consistent talents

Samuel Rohrer CONTINUAL DECENTERING
With his Arjunamusic label and a growing catalog of categorydefying releases, Samuel Rohrer continues to quietly, yet confidently, make a name for himself as a genuinely unique Gigure within the European electronic music realm. In the current era, talk of blurring boundaries between musical genres and attitudes is more the rule than the exception, but not always something done with any degree of success. Rohrer is one of those rare alchemical explorers to have truly created a hybrid which is all his own, one that does not just exist to melt distinctions for its own sake, but is a natural result of years of experimentation with both the determination of electronic music and the ludic spirit of ‘free improvisation.’ On his newest offering, Continual Decentering, this vision is applied to a set of mostly in real time (live) performed explorations. 
In keeping with his many years’ worth of fruitful collaborations, the tonal palette on this new record is one that is expectedly rich for those familiar with his work, yet still surprising in terms of how exactly the differing tonal colors come together. Representative tracks like Spondee and The Fringe are brimming with dub pulses, noir shivers and blooming timbral variations that are in many places carefully isolated / focused and in other places blended together in vivid fusions. In terms of the emotional atmosphere created here, the pensive and questioning tone hearkens back to the ‘wide open’ state of electronic music in the mid-late 1990s, yet with a greater clarity and maturity of vision that makes this music feel like a possible answer to aesthetic questions being raised at that time. As with Rohrer’s most recent solo work, like the Range of Regularity LP, Continual Decentering showcases the artist’s skill in turning the drum kit into a lead instrument. While the term “lead instrument” denotes a kind of exuberant “Glash,” or a clear separation from the rest of the voices in an ensemble, we can take the term to mean something different throughout this listening program of 13 short vignettes: that is to say, everything else within the audible environment exists to complement the character of the percussive playing rather than to stand apart from it. It helps that Rohrer has, in fact, developed a unique and complex hybrid system in which drum hits trigger modular synthesizer processes, the use of which makes for an incredibly fluid response time between distinct sonic events. In contrast to the previous Range... LP, this new offering is propelled less by interlacing threads of intensity and more by a shared sense of deep listening. As displayed on pieces like All Too Human, there is a profound sense of attention to silences or thoughtful pauses that maybe hints at another crucial aspect of Rohrer’s style: over the course of this program, we tend to hear the player not only playing but listening, an activity which makes perfect sense given the sense of instrumental dialogue already mentioned. All of the above come together to give Continual Decentering a “live”-ness that will easily translate from recorded document to dynamic performance.

The newest solo work by Roger Eno in nearly a decade. This Floating World holds rustic and melancholic piano works, as grey and mossy as a country cottage. I hear the LP chiming from the dark corners of a pub, soaking in the damp wood like spilled ale.

I first fell in love with Roger's music with his 1985 debut album Voices, which cradled many rainy and caffeinated mornings when I was living in San Francisco years back. He played on the infamous Apollo, Music for Films vol. 3, and recorded a theme for the Dune soundtrack. Pad-keyboards and veils of reverb pour through those processed tracks.

I later rediscovered Roger Eno in a different light with his 1997 album The Music of Neglected English Composers. A playful and beautiful album of chamber pieces guised as the works of forgotten (and fabricated) composers from the past century. His compositional sensibilities remind me of my favorite recent English composers... Hobbs, White, Bryars, Skempton, etc.

This Floating World feels like a hybrid of these two styles, a melding of both his ambient and 'prelude'-esque compositions. Warm and feathered furniture music. An antique on the shelf gifted from an a cherished relative.

In our communication Roger has been a real charmer, ending every email with Roger and out.' A curious fellow, with a knack for tracing the understated beauties of this world.

In addition to the lovely LP, Roger wrote some brief stories which are set in a 12-page booklet alongside his photography.

Clear Vinyl.

Raime explore exquisitely honed rhythmic instincts with scintillating results on the 2nd release on their RR label.

Where the London duo’s 2018 EP and RR debut ‘We Can’t Be That Far From The Beginning’ evoked a meditative mood from the info overload of their home city that left acres of space to the
imagination, the ‘Planted’ EP rejoins the dance with four tracks that icily acknowledge strong influence from Latin American and Chicago footwork styles in a classically skooled mutation of hardcore British dance music.

In four fleetingly ambiguous dancefloor workouts they carry on a conceptual theme exploring the digital subconscious with persistently invasive, alien ambient shrapnel - half-heard voices, aleatoric prangs, and tag-covered signposts - woven into and thru their tightly coiled and reflexive drum programming.

UPTOWN, ’Num’ flexes tendons and hips like a Leonce riddim that danced all the way from NOLA and ATL to the wintery dawn of a LDN warehouse, while the lip-biting tension of minimalist 160bpm jungle/ footwork patterns and jibber-jawed vocals in ‘Ripli’ suggests the Alien film’s protagonist lost in a mazy rave space, chased by H.R. Giger-designed face huggers (or gurning energy vampires).
DOWNTOWN, ‘Kella’ then catches them on a grimy dubtech bounce, cocked back and straining at the harness, before ‘Belly’ shuts down the dance with invasive, demonic motifs exploding over dark blue chords and palpitating jungle subs with impeccable darkside style.

Klein's offbeat singular vision continues to defy classification. Her acclaimed, self-released records – Lagata, Only and CC – along with Tommy for Hyperdub and her theatre musical Care, have allowed glimpses into Klein's uniquely spirally perspective on vocal abstraction, disarming experimentalism and pop culture wonderment. Yet these chapters have also served as masks to conceal the artist's own personal crises of self-belief, misrepresentation and belonging.

An 18-month writing process led to her new album Lifetime. It's an unexpectedly literal body of work which Klein compares to "giving someone your diary." Lifetime embraces the inevitable cycles of existence, phasing through moments of brutality, vulnerability, estrangement and unexpected fortitude. Lifetime embraces the inevitable cycles of existence, phasing through moments of brutality, vulnerability, estrangement and unexpected fortitude. Every sound in Lifetime is intentional, every influence—from 'King of Gospel Music' composer James Cleveland, to early 18th century tonalities in the b side, the work of 'race film' pioneer Spencer Williams, the residue of the religious experience is deeply personal. The 12 songs of the album are pieced together like a puzzle; seamless transitions connect each of its compositions in a reverse chronology, while every chord from every song is echoed someplace else.

What's been hinted at in Klein's live performances is now realised in full for Lifetime. Less vocal work allows her to be even more expressive, and in eschewing a tendency towards brief, truncated sketches, each song serves as its own long conversational piece, committed to realities of a lived experience. The artist who once grappled with self-doubt has set about breaking the cycle of insecurity for others like her, while mindfully chipping away at the conventions of classical music.

Like its artwork, Lifetime addresses intersecting life cycles: the inner and outer selves, hypermodernity versus history, living nightmares and dream states, while seeking the light and darkness in both. Part 1 opens with unmistakable Klein flourishes on the title track. Gusty pads, anxious, frayed-edge static arcs, and craters of deep negative space, all of which melt down to the clean slate of "Claim It," which is a tribute to embracing one's own blessings. "Listen And See As They Take" and "Silent" form their own microcosm, as the sound of crackling kindling burns backwards into imposing structures of distorted strings and disembodied marching drums, before returning to heat and ash again. "For What Worth", in collaboration with sound artist and saxophonist Matana Roberts, explores the kinship between two artists whose shared exploration of lineage leads them both toward uncharacteristically sweet clarity.

Part 2 is further steeped in black expressive styles of the past. "Enough is enough" links the Lifetime narrative to the broader diasporic black experience, inhabiting every chamber of a harmonica with ghostly notes of the present and past, as fragmented gospel chords reflect spiritual bonds between self and the divine. "We Are Almost There" begins the journey with nothing but the looped structures of multitude of voices. The drums and dischord of "Never Will I Disobey" wordlessly create the conditions for "Honour," a near 10-minute composition where crossed boundaries and crossed wires are exposed in real time, and sharp expressions of hurtfulness, accountability and corrupted expectations are rendered beautiful in representational form, via sustained synth tones which hum, jab and flit in natural disharmony. The interlude "Camelot Is Coming" draws on the choir tradition to prelude the spoken word recounts the cycles of trauma and death that form "99." Lifetime closes with the dystopian swirl of "Protect My Blood" a composition which details an excruciating rift, before blooming into serenity as it draws to a close.

Klein's Lifetime is laid bare, from the end to the beginning, and cycled over again. From her place within her family, to their place within her, to viewing the fragility of culture through the lens of memory. It's a lifetime, an embodiment of young livelihood, and an end as much it is a beginning.

Casino Times? aka Nicholas Church and Joseph Spencer
from London have been betting against the house for
close to 10 years already, winning big with releases on
Wolf Music, Needwant, Omena and their own Casino
Edits label. The pair also hosts the radio Show “What’s
My Derivative?” on Bloop Radio.
Since Mireia Record’s big cheeses RSS Disco have been keen to gamble with the Time’s
music, routinely lighting up dancefloors with it, a loose connection and mutual admiration
formed over the years and eventually lead to this fine record here.
RUSH & KAWAI
Casino Times demonstrate their cunning yet natural and flowing sound with two originals:
“Rush” and “Kawai”. Both tracks are a proper trip of its own, psychedelic pinball machines
that’ll catapult you to the further edges of the known sphere.
An arpeggiated melody line leads the “Rush”, while a rock solid foundation of hard hitting
drums keep you steady. The melody filters into acidic fringes and a strange voice guides the
traveler to the core of this outer-body experience.
By intertwining a pulsating E-Bass with sharp percussions and a brazen guitar chords,
“Kawai” steers the travels even further out of world’s reach. A whole ensemble of sirens and
vocal fragments warn of imminent rapture. After this, it’ll be hard to return to the mundane.New Release Information
KAWAI (Conga Fever’s Belgian Fries Remix)
Leading the string of three remixes is Mireia’s Conga Fever. Known by now for impeccable
and inspired productions he might just have outdone himself again with this interpretation
of “Kawai”.
Taking cues from Belgian New Beat while sounding unconditionally modern at the same
time, Conga Fever has crafted a bona fide festival anthem. After confidently building up
tension and taking his time in the breakdown, the remix manages to release an incredible
amount of energy. We’ve seen people out of their minds and literally stage dive to this one.
KAWAI (Rigopolar Remix)
A new face and dream cast to the label: Rigopolar aka Menio Brown. The Brooklyn-based
producer and DJ has been on our radar for some years with a string of captivating releases
for Tom Tom Disco, Nazca Records and an upcoming EP on Duro. Especially “Sun Of
Lemuria’s” hypnotic brittleness turned our heads.
Adding a new high point to his repertoire, Rigopolar’s take on “Kawai” is an expansive, dark
journey into the void. Powerful lasers and strobe lights appear to lead the way, emergency
broadcast voices beckon the dancers to the floor. The clobbering bassline and twitching
melody help to reach previously unseen heights.
RUSH (Filburt Remix)
Working his signature slow-burn magic on his remix of “Rush” is Filburt. More than happy to
welcome him back to the label. The O*RS label head, DJ and producer is responsible for
some of our favorite material in the past and does not disappoint with this remix either.
Lush pad sounds oppose salient drumming, slowly tightening the atmosphere while a robotic
voice evokes a melancholic mood. The whole night’s rooted on this fervid bassline and it’ll
carry you into next Monday

It's a welcome change to see the dance music industry shift from a sausage fest to a decidedly more diverse scene of artists and DJs, one where challenging and marginalized voices can be heard.

MISS REPRESENTED has such a voice, raw and fearless, an educated woman of experience, who has lived her life on the dark side of Scotland's acid house scene, where she has found plenty of food for thought.

Co-produced by Thomas Von Party of Multi Culti, who enlisted the talents of Kris Baha and Matt Karmil to mix, and brought in the elusive UK-underground legend Johnny Aux to rough up the already rugged Crack That Habit into an extended house banger.

If there's one thing dance music is guilty of, it's escapism. A refusal to confront reality. None of that here. Calling out a culture of lies, empowering female sexuality, facing the perils of addiction, and speaking of the resilience of the human mind, this is heady stuff for the rawest of parties.

Moustache Records 039 is made by a Moustache brother from the first hour "El Cubano" Danny Daze. This obscure techno acid electro EP contains 4 dark Club bangers for the floor. A1 Trumpet track ft. Johnny Superglu is the EP action starter. Crazy Loud Kick drums, a distorted trumpet played by the notorious Johnny Superglu on Acid. Retard synths, a dark vocoder shout and topped off with razor sharp snares. A2 track is called "Late night snack" a song about a boy on its way to the nightstore to get a coca cola. There he lost his way on LSD around the corner of his own house, a pure club banger with weird kiddo lunatic samples. B1 "Wandering aimlessly in NY for 4 hours" 4x4 monotonous building up acid tune. Do you remember that waiting before that new space journey? B2 is the EP tittle track "El Cubano" pure raw oldskool bunker strobo acid with robot vocoder voices and rolling drum section. Mentalism is not a crime!

Returning for his third appearance on Frigio, Maurizio Martinucci (aka TeZ, Most Significant Beat and permanent member of Clock DVA since 2010) introduces one of his darkest works to date. Forged in his studio/lab in Amsterdam, the Italian artist casts three works of industrial paranoia with none other than Clock DVA delivering a very special remix.

The same intensity, the same fevered energy that permeated Dusk, is plain to hear in this production. Pulsating drums are pierced by metallic groans and choking voices for the alienating assault that is “Amna.” Clock DVA take on this factory floor demon, soothing and reworking the original. Keys cascade against throbbing basslines and stuttering rhythms, vocals by Adi Newton taking the form of a poem that circles and swoops in a track of brimming with a primal force. Stalking chords introduce “Dene.” A lancing beat lashes a lone string, static and resonance building as layers of machine noise make their inhuman presence known. The end comes from the hull of an abandoned ship, or so it sounds. Aquatic echo swirls around a spread of sunken snares, shrieks and slicing through the crash and squeal of wrought iron. Primordial music from the mind of Pragma.

Copenhagen’s Echocord welcomes YWF onto its roster this June with the ‘Replaced’ EP, backed with remixes from Berlin’s Freund Der Familie. YWF is a Copenhagen based Techno producer and DJ, most notably known for his output on the Freund Der Familie imprint, the founders of which step in to remix his work here, and Baum Records, the label run by Resoe, a good friend of Echocord label boss Kenneth Christiansen and with whom he forms the group Pattern Repeat. It seems it was only a matter of time before YWF became a part of the family. Title-cut ‘Replaced’ opens the package via a sturdy rhythmic foundation, wandering synth licks and winding modulations before ‘All Is Temporary’ embraces a cinematic aesthetic, edging in elongated sub drones, emotive strings and delayed percussive hits. Freund Der Familie take control on the latter half of the package, delivering two interpreations of ‘Cutoff’, first up is ‘Fdf’s Reshape’, employing an airy asmtopheric feel amongst fluttering low-end and dustry drums while the ‘Days Of Doom Remix’, as the name would suggest takes a darker approach, laying focus on menacing bass, expansive delays and menacing voices alongside heartbeat like pulses of low-end drums.

As a winemaker hailing from the Palatinate, Florian Hollerith understands a thing or two about vintage. It's something that also comes through when you sample his music - rich, full bodied with just the right level of acidity. 2018 was already a good year with Ohrenzirkus featuring on both Sven Väth's Sound of the 19th Season mix CD as well as this year's Dots and Pearls vol. 5 compilation. Florian certainly announced his arrival on the scene in style, so it's only fair that he gets the chance to demonstrate his full range of skills on his very own Cocoon Recordings release. 2019 however, has a darker, more complex flavour...

Florian certainly knows a hookline when he finds one. On the EP's title track Perlas, he's working from the inside out with complex layers creating a vortex of sound. This dense sonic mesh is playful yet dangerous, with ethereal voices and jagged chants adding to the disorientation of the opening exchanges until the congas and skipping bassline give us something to hold onto. The dance floor melts under our feet as a raw, tripped out groove takes hold before the bass suddenly morphs into a brassy acid line that spreads its wings and soars. It's music for the headstrong, a celebration of the timeless tribal ceremonies that have come to define us.

Love Summer adds a contemporary twist to the melodic joys that drenched the early nineties in pure ecstasy. The soulful vocals soothe the mind as horn stabs punctuate the sensual groove, generating power and passion in equal measures. It's a straightforward approach, revolving around a familiar yet eminently seductive riff that just keeps on rolling, propelled forward by the force of its own momentum. There's no need to fuss when you hit on a winning formula like this.

More retro futurism abounds on Electro Indianer as arpeggiated bleeps usher in another vast, sprawling soundscape designed to induce a collective trance on the dance floor. Whistling, circular effects wash back and forth increasing the tension notch by notch as we're led deeper into the wormhole. Finally, the track deconstructs slightly, creating enough space for classic Casio-style bleeps and percussion to embellish a beautiful blissed out ending that trails off into the sun rise, as ancient Native American pipes pick out a haunting melody in the distance.

When John Selway brought his dancing hands to the keyboard to begin work on his first full EP on Serotonin Records since ‘Zoids Vol 2’ in 1998, he channelled cosmic soul to create the next generation of intergalactic funk. His EP ‘Light Language’ surfs the solar winds to the space between breaks and electro where his musical adventures are free to explore the frontiers of dance. ‘Light Language’ permeates with the angelic voices of our true selves. The voice is the primary and complete musical instrument. When John was not yet born his mother sang to him in utero. A musical soul so innate it resonates celestial tonalities. All captured here on this twelve inch disk delivered by the galaxian voyager and pressed for human kind by Serotonin Records.



John Selway became an indispensable element of the history of the New York sound by virtue of building an extensive catalog of high quality releases spanning almost three decades and multiple genres of electronic music. From his first success in the techno world as part of the seminal New York duo Disintegrator to the most successful of his collaborations, Smith & Selway, and his deep and minimal techno label CSM; from the intelligent electro-funk of Synapse and Serotonin Records to his darker explorations as Semblance Factor, Selway has created one of the richest bodies of work in the world of electronic music.

Virtuoso compositions, subtle synthetic atmospheres, voices oscillating between pure intentions and dreamlike fantasy, a confusion of feelings and desires, time and space...Garden of Love, the 3rd album by electro duo Scratch Massive makes an impression from the first moments that you hear its enigmatic beauty. Like a ghost train moving along a tightrope - between shadow and light, failure and redemption, violence and melancholy - this fourth studio album reaffirms the Parisian DJ/Producer duo style/vibe with their hybrid sounds and sensory experiences. For 15 years, Maud Geffray and Sebastien Chenut have maintained artistic and aesthetic control as they participated in the 'revolution of the dancefloors'. In the early 2000s, 'Made in France' electro became known for its hedonism and as the savior of an entire techno generation ready to fight (or at least on the dancefloor!) for a future that was increasingly frustrating and hypothetical.


On first glance, Garden of Love, appears to be an invitation to love and peace, however, nothing is ever that simple, as the album cover evokes a multitude of interpretations. The lyrics speak to the depths of the soul, covering a range of emotion from love, emotions, and fears ... Garden of Love is for our hearts and bodies to become receptive again: the disenchanted poetry of the Last Dance, the sumptuous opening track set against a backdrop of electro-pop murmured in the light and shadows as painful caress; the psychedelic scent of Sunken (a duet recorded with the complicit and poisonous voice of Léonie Pernet); and the dark-tech shores of "Fantome X" with the evanescent and hypnotic pop clarity of Feel The Void (both magnified by the vocals of Romain Thominot of the Reims pop band Grindi Manberg). Scratch Massive draws the outline of an electronic music in search of redemption - reinventing their icy grooves and confronting it with a naive elegance and a disillusioned romanticism that embodies our time.

In folklore, the witching hour or devil's hour is a time of night associated with supernatural events. Creatures such as witches, demons and ghosts are thought to appear and to be at their most powerful and magic is thought to be most effective at this time.

It is also the time when we are at Underground parties, this is considered the main time of the party before it tapers off into the ethereal realm of translucent soundscapes and marionette dance moves. This is when we feast on sound intoxication and our parallel daywalker skins are shed into ancient dances and rites of sacred drums.

The witching Hour takes our souls back to our ancient pagan rituals of music and dance till the cleansing of dawn, this is where revelations happen and where groups of like minded people form a coven of sorts and bond in non verbal communications thru the expression of movement.

This is a new label project from Jay Tripwire and TJ Mc Au, they will be presenting underground minimal sounds specifically designed for the dancefloor and for the DJ.

This EP features Creepshow and Klangtone. Creepshow is a dark bassy roller with an eerie underground atmosphere that holds the groove but it also designed for mixing and layering. Klangtone features a percussive groove, voices from the Tikuna rainforest tribe and a haunting modular flute line with a massive sub bass that is sure to rattle bassbins. This is classic Tripwire with modern production but still keeping the his roots of his trademark sound.

Metric Systems is the name of a covert project of over 20 years duration. It has moved across multiple continents, under multiple names. The 8 songs that make up 'People in the Dark' were recorded between 2000 and 2016 in various locations across Sydney, Melbourne and New York. The bright-eyed sci-fi fascination of Australia's Clan Analogue collective intertwines with the more sinister facets of modern technology - echoed voices pepper the album like fragments of a surveillance tape collected by our digital panopticon. A pervasive sense of paranoia and unease winds its way through these 8 tracks that move between techno, downtempo and more abstract strains of electroacoustic experimentation. Fittingly housed in a striking sleeve by American photographer Trevor Paglen, whose MacArthur-winning work revolves around these same themes of omnipresent surveillance and data mining.

'People in the Dark' opens with the wordless vocals of 'Your Room', drifting over the unspooling synthesizer sequence that seems to swell and recede from the foreground like the ebb and flow of a lapping tide, lapsing into dreamy ambience before the drums come back in. The smartly programmed drums are the focus of 'Chinatown Warehouse', whose hip-hop swing gives a distinct 'nod factor' to the otherwise hazy mechanics of the track. On 'Laika', a 303 line weaves its way across the subdued mid-tempo groove, gently recalling the ambient-acid of Susumu Yokota's 'Ebi' project. The penultimate track, 'Stellarwind' starts with a dark, foreboding drone before shining pads arc over like a glimpse of light through the track's murky darkness, the tension between these two poles moving together as the song unfolds.

This record reflect just a small selection from a large archive of recorded materials. All songs written and produced by Kate Crawford and Bo Daley.

Rise black - Agressor EP Moustache Records 038 delivers us 5 tracks from the dark side of Spain! The first is named: "Black snake" this is a dark pumping electro track with 808 snares topped off with some evil voices and other trippy scapes.The A2 track: "Jack in the box" is where the true mental madness starts, a drum minimal groove electrobass track that could go on forever and ever till the loony house. On the flip side B1 "Sulfrico" deadly acid electro for the retards. B2 Mythos is the sound from Sparta Greece 100 v.c. Distorted kicks and snare drums that could deliver you a bloodnose. The last EP track is the title track of the EP called: "Agressor" this song is a story about the sheeps of Satan, very raw noisy percussion drum sounds, space bleebs and other aggressive electro sounds. Let the magic and madness begin... Welcome to the Moustache Records family. Rise Black is rising..

* 13 tracks featuring the likes of DRS, Serum, Riya, Cleveland Watikiss, Lorna King, L-Side, MC Fats, T.R.A.C and Sofi Mari.and many more.

* Colourful, effervescent, and energetic, the Brazilian drum & bass scene has given us some of the most distinctive production voices in the game. Including São Paulo's Level 2 and DJ Chap or, as they're known collectively, Alibi.

* 'In each of the songs, we expressed our feelings and each song carries a unique message. The album itself talks about life. We all go through times where we fall and get hurt. Then we get up and we recycle. In every single situation: we learn.' - Alibi

* Alibi signed exclusively to V Recordings at the end of 2015, and this LP shares the characteristics held dearly by both the duo and the label. Weaving together threads from the duo's shared funk, soul, reggae, and hip-hop influences with the drum 'n' bass tutelage of shared heroes like S.P.Y., Calibre, D-Bridge and the late Marcus Intalex, this is set to be the most complete statement of their musical vision so far.

* Each track from the album stands as an example of their impeccable production, starting with 'Debris' which is filled with cinematic textures and a sub-low reese typical to their sound. The album plays home to a handful of other lighter atmospheric pieces, including 'Recycle', 'Destiny', and 3 other tracks with Riya, Cleveland Watkiss and Lorna King, all gracing the booth with their vocals. The duo can effortlessly skip between sub-genres, shown by the tracks on the LP that would be more suited in a dark club at 5am, such as 'Smash Through The City' with Serum, L-Side & T.R.A.C., as well as the floor shaking 'Scuffed' - there's a style to cater to everybody.

* With V Recordings celebrating their 25th anniversary, there really is no better time for Alibi to cement themselves as one of the crown jewels of the label and the scene as a whole.

In 1990, raising their voices over the sound of Neuropolitique's 'Mind you don't trip' Sebastian S. and Mike DMA (Direct Memory Access) met, breaking the ice by swapping opinions on LFO and 808 State. They later went on to create the first live configuration of BWP Experiments (Bad Woofer Posse Experiments, for more info see basicmoves), and produced dozens of tracks together which, for the most part, were live takes and remain unreleased. Only
a few made it out into the world, and to this day have stayed well under the (discogs) radar:
Our Techno Theory' was put out on an 8-tracker cassette by Research and Development,
while only two productions 'Escape' and 'Pay your taxes' were pressed on vinyl for the same
imprint. Now Sebastian S. (aka Caustic 14) returns to the label with two previously unreleased tracks
found in his personal archive. 'Excalibur' was produced in tandem with Mike during the last
session the pair ever did in Sebastian's studio (Z'ha'dum) in 1996. It's a vibrant hommage to
their common passion outside of music: Sci-fi. This track refers specifically to the series Babylon
5 , which was a revolution in the genre, and the first tv series to outdo Star Trek (the intergalactic
reference since the early 1960's). The idea of being 'united against darkness' was key to the
series, and the motto remained essential for Sebastian, Mike and Deg's music productions,
collaborations, live shows and dj sets. The influence of what had been a passion since
childhood can be felt in their sound: unconsciously they had dreamt up the soundtrack to their
own space journey. The second track 'Cliffhanger', a solo production by Sebastian S., is a dig from several years
earlier (1994). The Detroit influence is strong here, yet the signature Caustic 14 "space opera"
melodies hold their ground and shine out.
We are very proud to propel this Belgian electronic music heritage out into the world.

In memory of Matt Cogger.

walrus & islas , September 2018.

David Holmes was drawn to DIE HEXEN by their 'magical sensibility that has both shades of dark and light, which is something that always appeals to me in music'. After featuring in his edition of the famed Late Night Tales compilation with a take on the original suicide song 'Gloomy Sunday', DIE HEXEN returns to expand upon their dark ambient journey towards transcendence with an eagerly awaited debut album.

DIE HEXEN's genre eschewing synth driven compositions draw inspiration from the disturbing beauty of Hieronymus Bosch's artwork and several brushes with death, evoking a spirit who traverses realms of the underworld to bring forth knowledge of an Ancient past and in doing so, to reveal the not so distant future.

The Garden of Unearthly Delights transports the listener through strange visions of darkness, beauty, creation, destruction, death & rebirth. An exorcism of body, gender, tribe towards a place of ultimate transcendence.

Somewhat of a polymath, DIE HEXEN has already shown their prowess with live performances part music/part performance art spectacle, as an avant-garde filmmaker and as an award-winning multi-instrumentalist, sound designer and film scorer.

DIE HEXEN's divergent interests from Japanese Butoh theatre to Wiccanism, Shamanism, celestial mysticism and time travel informs their method, as they explain themself; 'The compositions I write are not written, at least not by me. They appear to me as audio/visual hallucinations. I can hear, visualise, and feel the whole composition before me. My hands know instinctively what notes to play and like a stream of consciousness, voices emerge. Having suffered severe head trauma that resulted in a heightening of the senses, the theme of death is an increasingly present theme in my work. With this, my perception of death and what is beyond changes as I contort between this world and the next physically and mentally, musically and visually. Working with music or film, my vision is one. The calling to express these auditory hallucinations is inevitable'.

The final single in a series featuring regular Ghost Box artists, special guests and one-off projects. This time our guest artist is folk singer, Sharron Kraus with a remix by Belbury Poly on the B side.

'Something Out of Nothing' is a beautifully simple yet profound baroque pop folk song. Kraus sings, plays guitar and synth and is ably assisted by a studio band comprising: Jenny Bliss Bennett on Viola de Gamba & Fiddle, Nick Jonah Davis on Slide Guitar, Neal Heppleston on Bass, Oliver Parfitt on Synths, Nancy Wallace on Backing Vocals and Guy Whittaker on Drums.

Sharron Kraus is a singer of folk songs, a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose solo work and collaborations offer a dark and subversive take on traditional music. As well as drawing on the folk traditions of England and Appalachia, her music is influenced by gothic literature, surrealism, myth and magick.

In addition to eight solo albums, Kraus has recorded an album of traditional songs 'Leaves From Off The Tree' with Meg Baird and Helena Espvall (Espers, Beautify Junkyards) written an album of songs to celebrate the seasons of the year, 'Right Wantonly A-Mumming', which was recorded with some of England's finest traditional folk singers including Jon Boden, Fay Hield and Ian Giles. She has also recorded and performed with Ex Reverie's Gillian Chadwick as Rusalnaia, with Tara Burke (Fursaxa) as Tau Emerald and with Irish free-folk collective United Bible Studies.

Jim Jupp, co-founder of the Ghost Box label, records as Belbury Poly. His melodic, folk inflected electronica references 70s library music & TV soundtracks. It's music that's both light and weirdly unsettling.

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

'Bound to shake your walls and rattle your windows' Max Reinhardt, BBC RADIO 3 "The first bit of evidence that Elizabeth Bernholz's next album Pastoral - due out in September - could be her best to date". THE QUIETUS "Will likely be one of the year's very best records.' CLASH 'What species is this What century' Forged in a rural idyll in Middle-England, the new album Pastoral, by Gazelle Twin, exhumes England's rotten past, and shines a torch over its ever-darkening present. Told through a troupe of multi-gender voices, in vernaculars old and new; from the shrill echo of folksong to tabloid-tinged jaunts, the artist aka Elizabeth Bernholz, presents the notion that 'there is horror in every idyll, and danger lurking beyond the 'quaint' '. The village square - once host to centuries of public torture - becomes a floral framed postcard, dolled-up for the Summer Fête. A sunny, afternoon walk over the hills unsettles a cloud of angry flies feeding from unidentifiable remains. Bigoted vitriol gently murmurs amidst tearoom chatter, as the neatly framed pastoral picture dissolves into a solemn ennui. Four years in the making, amidst life-changing events, including a move far out of the city, Pastoral will be the first major release by the artist since her widely acclaimed LP UNFLESH (2014, Anti-Ghost Moon Ray) and is seamlessly on-theme, together with Bernholz's J.G. Ballard-inspired A/V show 'Kingdom Come' (soundtrack released November 2017, Anti-Ghost Moon Ray) - a fascism-infused hellscape, this time set in deepest Old England. As its sole creator, Gazelle Twin 'The Composer, Musician and Producer' has crafted an album overflowing with a frenzy of traditional and contemporary musical tropes; from early music instrumentation - the harpsichord and the humble recorder, fed through myriad electronics - to the compelling, ritualistic application of found sample-looping. Beyond Bernholz's signature choral-infusions, here reverberating like a warped Sunday Service, there are even shades of '90s house and the once-thriving rural rave scene, albeit recalled as a watery, second-hand memory. In its consummation it is an album that feels pan-century, even pan-species. Set against a verdant backdrop of hedgerows and steeples, Gazelle Twin 'The Artist and Performer', constructs an eccentric and commanding visual embodiment of all-of-the-above - a costume fit for a court Jester of the 21st Century. The colours of Neo-Nationalism. Coke cans, and DANGER. 'It' (not 'she') hints at folkloric traditions with a footy mascot twist. The 'Ye Olde' and 'The Everyman' of the English cliché. Brandishing a sneer and a hobby horse. A riddle and a recorder. A jeer and a square dance in red, Adidas Gazelle's, and a mad, fixed GRIN - first glimpsed in the single, 'Hobby Horse' (22 June, Anti-Ghost Moon Ray). A deranged, absurd reflection of deranged and absurd times.

'Bound to shake your walls and rattle your windows' Max Reinhardt, BBC RADIO 3 "The first bit of evidence that Elizabeth Bernholz's next album Pastoral - due out in September - could be her best to date". THE QUIETUS "Will likely be one of the year's very best records.' CLASH 'What species is this What century' Forged in a rural idyll in Middle-England, the new album Pastoral, by Gazelle Twin, exhumes England's rotten past, and shines a torch over its ever-darkening present. Told through a troupe of multi-gender voices, in vernaculars old and new; from the shrill echo of folksong to tabloid-tinged jaunts, the artist aka Elizabeth Bernholz, presents the notion that 'there is horror in every idyll, and danger lurking beyond the 'quaint' '. The village square - once host to centuries of public torture - becomes a floral framed postcard, dolled-up for the Summer Fête. A sunny, afternoon walk over the hills unsettles a cloud of angry flies feeding from unidentifiable remains. Bigoted vitriol gently murmurs amidst tearoom chatter, as the neatly framed pastoral picture dissolves into a solemn ennui. Four years in the making, amidst life-changing events, including a move far out of the city, Pastoral will be the first major release by the artist since her widely acclaimed LP UNFLESH (2014, Anti-Ghost Moon Ray) and is seamlessly on-theme, together with Bernholz's J.G. Ballard-inspired A/V show 'Kingdom Come' (soundtrack released November 2017, Anti-Ghost Moon Ray) - a fascism-infused hellscape, this time set in deepest Old England. As its sole creator, Gazelle Twin 'The Composer, Musician and Producer' has crafted an album overflowing with a frenzy of traditional and contemporary musical tropes; from early music instrumentation - the harpsichord and the humble recorder, fed through myriad electronics - to the compelling, ritualistic application of found sample-looping. Beyond Bernholz's signature choral-infusions, here reverberating like a warped Sunday Service, there are even shades of '90s house and the once-thriving rural rave scene, albeit recalled as a watery, second-hand memory. In its consummation it is an album that feels pan-century, even pan-species. Set against a verdant backdrop of hedgerows and steeples, Gazelle Twin 'The Artist and Performer', constructs an eccentric and commanding visual embodiment of all-of-the-above - a costume fit for a court Jester of the 21st Century. The colours of Neo-Nationalism. Coke cans, and DANGER. 'It' (not 'she') hints at folkloric traditions with a footy mascot twist. The 'Ye Olde' and 'The Everyman' of the English cliché. Brandishing a sneer and a hobby horse. A riddle and a recorder. A jeer and a square dance in red, Adidas Gazelle's, and a mad, fixed GRIN - first glimpsed in the single, 'Hobby Horse' (22 June, Anti-Ghost Moon Ray). A deranged, absurd reflection of deranged and absurd times.

Planet Mu are excited to announce Ital Tek's 'Bodied', the follow up to his acclaimed 2016 album 'Hollowed'. Stepping in a different direction from that album, It's as if Hollowed's detailed world has been fleshed out and filled with the spectre of human voices.

As on his last album, the sounds on 'Bodied' are highly designed, but this time barely a whisper of dance music remains. Instead it's built around acoustic elements and ghostly choral arrangements, refracted and transformed into atmospheric, alien forms which are given the time to settle and transform. Rhythm is used only as a tool to give his world a sense of dark, mechanical momentum.

Alan explains; "After completing 'Hollowed' I had over a year away from writing any of my own material. I was working, composing music for a video game and a number of different projects. I needed to find a way back in and I rediscovered the joy of music being a release as opposed to a job. I was getting up really early and sketching out lots of ideas very fast, squeezing in quick bursts of writing at the beginning or end of long studio day spent working on other musical projects."

"It was important for me to define the world that the album was going to inhabit before taking it any further, so I put a much greater focus into the sound design and palette than I had before. I wanted to make the music sound very physical, geometric, and monolithic, as if it inhabited a physical space."

"On 'Bodied' the music focuses on the interplay between the minuscule and the vast, beauty and brutalism. With this album I was much more concerned with dynamics and the discipline of holding tension; the use of space and silence to provide a counterpoint to the intensity."

"Most importantly, I was keen for there to be a human acoustic foundation, so I did a lot of live recording of cello, violin, harp and guitar - anything I could get my hands on. I was certain that I wanted there to be a greater vocal presence - nothing lyrical or at the forefront but to give it an underlying organic quality - to impart some humanity into the music."

As Ital Tek moves further from his roots, he's creating new sounds and spaces in which his music can exist. It's up to the listener to decide what kind of world 'Bodied' evokes, but it's certainly one that's beautiful and rewarding to spend time in.

Beware of the blazing sun when she's orange and transparent.
Overwhelmed with the ecstacy of flight, Icarus soared into the sky like a bird, or rather a god. Drawn by desire for the heavens, he ascended higher and higher towards the sun. When the heat melted the wax on his wings, he fell from the sky and vanished into the dark blue ocean, where feathers, still today, ride the waves of the Icarian Sea. Aimed at dancefloors in sleazy bathhouses, seedy basements and soiled warehouses, Icarus Traxx' first offering takes us back to the mythical days of anonymous, muscular power house. Delivering no less than three takes of 'Commandment' (plus two acapellas), the 12 inch, starring the enigmatic voices of Jesse B. Simple and Charlotte B. Good, supplies a choice cut for every disc jockey.
'Jack 88 Tape Mix' starts things off with a vigorous kick, prosperous strings and the spirited voice of Jesse B. Simple. The oracle proclaims celebration times. Addicted to Jesse's vocal delivery The acapella will guide you through your most ecstatic moments.

The lights go out on 'Get Your Life' just before it wakes you up with a slap to the face. Again, it's Jesse in the vocal booth, groaning his mantra to 'dance, jack and get your life to this' on a bed of erratic kicks, jittery acid and vexed rave stabs.

On the flipside, the celestial Charlotte B. Good glides into the room. Her sensual Spanish stanza gracefully inhabits 'Spanish Fly Reprise', made for horny, high as a kite early mornings. Charlotte alerts you that your time to snatch up your one true love on the dancefloor has nearly expired.. Like a siren, she lures you into her universe with sweet lamenting whispers. Better think twice before you follow.

Alien Ensemble's trombone man Mathias Goetz caused quite a splash when he released his eponymous debut LP under his Le Millipede moniker back in 2015: The multi-instrumentalist's initial offering was clearly something else, impossible to grasp, a musical vessel beyond genre, beyond style or era, seemingly beyond space and time even, a vessel that carried an almost cosmic kind of song-craft - music with no fixed stamp of origin, though it did somehow feel like an Alien Transistor release. Followed by remix album Mirror Mirror, which comprised reworks by 1115, Protein, LeRoy, Olaf Opal, and Saroos, to name a few, it's now time for album #2: The Sun Has No Money.Let's face it: There's nothing as majestic as the sun. At least not in our world. If it runs out of juice one day, it's game over: The End. Light's out. For everyone. At that point, it wouldn't even matter if you're rich or poor. We're all equal under the sun. Same level. And yeah, this might not be major news, but then again... we're talking about the sun. The sun! Guess it's about time to acknowledge its power and superiority, right In fact, you can feel it on your bicycle: pedaling at night, when it's on duty in other hemispheres, and you're working hard at the dynamo, sweating, you can actually feel how powerful it is. In the end you get off the bike all recharged, a tune on your lips - and somehow feeling like a miniature version of the sun yourself. And whenever you feel like that, that's exactly the right moment to grab a melodica and get to work.Following an initial warm-up round sans electricity, this new album soon begins to glow: Mathias Goetz aka Le Millipede doesn't need pedals, he boosts circulation by single-handedly* playing tons and tons of different instruments - it actually feels like thousands, easily. And thus begins a show that has countless levels to it: There are various sonic illusions... and yet Le Millipede doesn't hide anything: He's also willing to show the inner workings, the actual recording process and everything else. In short: he goes meta. Makes songs about making songs. That's right: why not use all these beautiful means to address the issue of money It's not the sun that casts shadows, all it does is recharge, fuel: growth & thriving, that's the sun's area of responsibility. And yet there came a man whose plan was simple: steal the fruit from your garden, only to sell it right back to you, for money. We can hear the sea gulls crying in the distance, as somebody is throwing breadcrumbs up into the wind that carries their voices...It's not the sun that casts shadows - all it does is radiate light. And yet there came a time when someone blocked those rays of light. Now if you're some kind of Diogenes, you'll simply say, Move at least a little out of the sun.' But if you're a teacher, you'll maybe light up your pipe and use that to lighten up. What matters is that the percussion parts, in this case, resemble some serious musique concréte. The sun doesn't know shadows - all it knows, is itself. And yet somebody entered the picture and built an entire city. A city full of streets, so that houses can cast shadows into these avenues. Plus, there's music in the streets, music originally written inside the walls of said houses.One of those streets is known as the Tin Pan Alley: a place that got its name from a music writer who compared the sound of so many pianos to the banging of tin pans. That sound: that's one side of the road that is this album. Some of these melodies appear to be shadows of earlier tunes, dating back to, say, 1898 or even before that, melodies that were first registered in the Tin Pan Alley publishers' offices back in 1912 or 1917. We actually get to see this Alley at that point in time. We see the ropes, the workings. How things come together, the actual act of creation. Suddenly, we can hear the shadows!
Okay, so one side of this street is America. The US of A. The opposite side: Russia. And smack dab in the middle: Europe. A pothole in the center. All the back-and-forth that occurs between these two poles ultimately depends on the movement of the sun. Night and day, taking turns, commuting in and out of sight. We get to meet Prokofiew's and Scriabin's ghost, among other spirits, reframed and published by Le Millipede's own imaginary label imprint on the historic Tin Pan Alley. Indeed there are moments on this album when Le Millipede seems to be playing Scriabin's clavier a` lumie`res (tastiera per luce), when his performance seems to be based on synesthesia, a wild cross-pollination of colors and sounds. In case you didn't know this: In the States, Prokofiew goes by the name Brian Wilson, and Scriabin's also known as Sun Ra - yet another guy who's usually broke, but gets to spend a lot of time out in the sun. Together, these assorted protagonists ask the people of the Antilles for Mutabor dance-tokens and send postcards to Moondog in Germany, right back into the darkness. On the postcards you can see people dancing the Biguine...Firing foreign fossil fuels from all pipes (Brennelementsteuer!), Le Millipede controls the very center of this hustle and bustle: going as far as to employ some southern Chopped & Screwed styles, he's 100% current and zeitgeisty! Houston, we've got a problem: there's some kind of myriapod, centi- or millipede on the loose! Well, give me another sip of lean, sizzurp, dirty Sprite, and on goes the journey in the Pullman coach. Let's follow the sun! Keep on moving, keep things motorik! Here comes the Trans-Eureka-Express. Cherish the backpacking days! A piercing rhapsody of sound (bohrende Rhapsodie), we'll remember them fondly! And thus things move on, the sun, the days, the earth: rise, set, action, round and round... onwards eternally. The sun: the biggest loop known to mankind. As if it was some kind of sonic Rube Goldberg contraption, time seems to be stretching out while listening to that hmmm. After all: time is a lot (a lot!) more than just money. And yeah, the sun is the real big shot on (or rather: above) Planet Earth. Le Millipede's live line-up also includes Markus & Micha Acher (The Notwist etc.), Nico Sierig (Joasihno), and Manuela Rzytki (G. Rag & die Landlergschwister, Kamerakino etc.).
*sole exception: Evi Keglmaier (Zwirbeldirn, Hochzeitskapelle) plays the viola. Words/sun worship: Pico Be

Restive Plaggona recently released a brand new studio effort - a full-length album featuring 10 original tracks and a
remix from Ancestral Voices, with a dark and melancholic twist, as the title of the project might imply. Connected by a commonality of despair, nostalgia and desolation, Restive Plaggona elevated these elements into its maturity. At its core, each track has a soul-stirring significance, and is embalmed by titles that fringes on a political dimension.

* Opening number 'Intimacy is Violence' does a remarkable job capturing the vibe of the album, serving as a great
introduction. The track has a very industrial tone, with a strong cinematic feel to it. The following track, 'Rote Zora,' follows suit with a more percussive and colorful arrangement, with a more substantial focus on rhythmic patterns.

* 'Cut Off From Modern Society' its combination of dark atmospheres, lush melodies, and glitchy beats. 'Sudden Burst of Safety' is another excellent track worth mentioning, due to its stadium-sized drums and saturated sounds, adding an
aggressive feel to the music. All in all, the album is a real sonic journey, begging to be enjoyed from start to finish!

* Set for release in both physical and digital formats on December 15th, Silently Hopelessly marks Restive Plaggona's first LP for Swiss-based record company Thrènes (which takes its name from the Greek word for funeral lament) and are a label dedicated to the release of tenebrous electronica and techno.

Text: Masscomm & Andrea Caccese

* Making his debut on Subaltern with SUBALT014 is Estonian producer Bisweed, famous for his trippy and intricate sound design and original take on bass music. A psychotropic journey into the weald, this is a typically dark and surreal release from the well-established Subaltern imprint.

* Shelter
Sinister sounds welcome the listener to the journey as we enter the weald. Dark synths lead into weighty bass-lines, embedded in driving percussive elements and a spine-chilling atmosphere. Tasteful orchestral elements accompany before reaching a climax of tribal percussion and pure bass. Bisweed's musical sensibility and dance-floor know-how blend symbiotically to create this heavy yet soulful bass music masterpiece.

* Swamp
Going deeper, haunting textures guide the listener into a pulsating implosion of low frequencies, which is bound to shake up the dance as well as your expectations of a quiet night in. Rumbling and chopping wobbles complete a captivating piece of sound system music. Tread lightly so you don't sink in too deep - the swamp might just consume you.

* Dolmen feat. Mentha
Like stepping into a clearing, Dolmen lightens the mood - but only ever so slightly. Chanting voices hail the listener, as wide planes of sound unfold into a bass-heavy yet deep stepper. Subtly and slowly, Bisweed is masterfully transitioning into a soothing and melodic vibe, featuring label head honcho Mentha on Guitar.

With this album Cypress Hill turned towards a more tranquil, sedate, slower, spooky sound with beats. The dark mood of this album reflects the strife within the band during this era, when member Sen Dog temporarily left the band to pursue other projects.
On this album both Wu-Tang Clan members RZA and U-God make appearances on "Killa Hill Niggas". Also notable was track "No Rest For The Wicked" which ignited the feud between Cypress Hill and rapper Ice Cube, who they claimed, stole material from the band.
At the time this album was well received by critics worldwide.

Q - 4 Stars - Excellent - "The production is sophisticated, incorporating Indian sitar and sloping, almost psychedelic bass grooves to create a vaguely threatening ambient hardcore."
Melody Maker - Bloody Essential - "...resonates with freakish cheese-wire paranoia...a gobsmacking paradox of expansive claustrophobia.... The funk patters like an erratic heartbeat, the voices are stretched to bursting with menace and loathing and mockery..."

(Locked Groove, Nuno De Satos remixes) Something Happening Somewhere and Mary Go Wild combine their forces for a very special record, containing two cuts by Presk and remixes by Locked Groove and label honcho Nuno dos Santos.

Something Happening Somewhere and Mary Go Wild combine their forces for a very special record, containing two cuts by Presk and remixes by Locked Groove and label honcho Nuno dos Santos. The original A1 side has already been released on SoHaSo last summer on their SOMEWHERE compilation, but has now found a place on delicious black gold and is further enriched with a fresh B-side and aforementioned remixers delivering quality reworks.

2BXPRZD is an ode to the celebration of night life and the diverse spectrum of people that move within it. The club has always been a place where people from every background, religion and gender imaginable can meet and express their being through Dancing. It doesn't matter in what way you move, only that it's authentic and respecting towards the fellow dancers around you. Presk provides all the necessary ingredients: the funkiness in the drums melting with the dark and sinister bassline and pitched vocal perfectly assemble the conditions for such an interaction to take place.

Locked Groove takes this celebratory dance and turns it into an even darker and hypnotizing affair. Stripping the original to its bare essence with a pounding kickdrum to lead the way. Pulsing atmospheres and emotive pads swirl around and behind, granulated in a way that they almost fall apart. This is further reinforced by the stream of voices that are processed to sound like a field recording from beyond the iron curtain in Soviet times, anticipating the unavoidable collapse that follows.

The B sides provides a little more uplifting environment with Starets, unsettling melodies and dissonant atmospheres propel forward before restraining the whole thing and letting broken chord stabs seep through the system. Again reworking the original material into a more skeletal structure, Nuno dos Santos adds a poignant arp melody that is typical for his melancholic style. Driving yet breathing with emotion, it's the perfect accompaniment for a night drive while floating through clear skies. This records proves a delightful combination, containing something imperative for every soul feeling the need to express themselves in a unique way.

Villalegre Recordings is back with his second release after an acclaimed debut ep, which is already found in some 'real deejays' " vinyl cases, namely Dj Garth, Stevie Kotey, Timm Sure, Richard Sen and Massimiliano Pagliara.Discómanos ep consists of 4 edits of unknown gems, masterly revisited by collectors and artists as big as Mike Burns, Rayko , the great Sagittarius and Christian Beetz aka Frwctrl. Once again, Jorge Moreira and Crew dig deep down into many underground scenes around the world, to come up with an ep you'll always want to have in your case.
Listen carefully to Jose Rico's mastering work! A unique sound, which brings back reminiscences of Tom Moulton, Larry Levan, Dany Krivit or the very own Ron Hardy's reel to reel edits. Exotic love (Frwctrl mix) The trip starts with a Christian Beetz opus, which edits and extends a wonderful and unknown antique Spanish disco-funk track, with chorus voices flying like eagles to drive the dance floor to a unique climax. Sweat and pleasure lead by a smashing funky guitar, synths which drive you from the beach to the darkest, most hedonist dance floor. For your Love (Rayko edit)
Rayko is an edit master; he has presented his productions on the biggest disco dance floors on the planet, and this work reconfirms him. 'For your Love' tastes like Paradise Garage and nights of freedom and love. An original track with first class drums and a bass guitar, that reaches straight to the heart. The message comes with violins, which create the perfect emotion to wrap up a disco music masterwork that later becomes house. I want your body (Mike Burns Edit)The original track is a treasure that's hard to get, edited by Mike Burns, one of the strongest artists in the European underground disco scene. Mike selects this cut with a killer bass line, crazy synth effects and organs to turn the original track into an extended cut, which not only shakes the dance floor, but also the cloakroom and toilets. Programa Sintético (Sagittarius 1983 Tribute Edit)Sagittarius edits in a sublime way a mysterious track, loaded with energy, synths and effects. A production work, which transforms the original track into a technoid cut with a frequency in tune with Ron Hardy's proto-techno edits and progressive European music.

Spanish techno master Reeko makes his mark on Detroit Underground with a release exploring the darker facets of humanity in mesmerizing fashion, with rhythm and drone taking equal importance. "Lovers and Bandits" sets side A off with a brutal broken march, hard kicks building slowly into caverns of sonic noise. "BDSM" twists the sounds of pleasure and pain into an endless dark delay, leading you to the edge and right into "Hard Sex Club", roiling with indecipherable voices and a hovering synth build that teases but never quite strikes.


Side B straightens the beat with "Slaughter", a searing background noise underpinning an evolving rotation of menace that pushes the beats forward into a pit of noise and sludge. "Sex With God" is a fierce techno rhythm, wet, crunchy, and percussive without the ubiquitous kick drum, building to a crescendo of heat and buzz. Finally, "Submissive Behavior" is a massive paranoid drone, prickly with hunger and menace. On "We Are Bandits", Reeko strips down his explorations of sound and texture to the barest essences, making for an unsettling and intriguing listen. Graphic design from The Designers Republic. This is the first release in a collaboration with tDR called DU-TDR/GRD with a grid font designed for 2016 - 2017 DU releases.

Synths Versus Me is a prolific duo formed by Vanessa Asbert and Nico Cabañas. They already put out a bunch of releases edited by Oráculo Records. Minimal Synth, EBM and Cold Wave from Lloret de Mar (Spain).

This 12' EP (ltd. 300 copies) includes two brand new tracks and two exclusive remixes. The original version of 1987' is an atomic bomb of pure vintage EBM in the vein of Signal Aout 42 and Front 242. The remix done by Dirk Da Davo from The Neon Judgement keeps the feeling of the track but adding some drums, guitar samplers and sequences trademarked by this Belgian legend. On the b-side there is the original mix of Aimless Device', an electro-pop tune with catchy melodies, analogic bass lines and female voices. The remix prepared for this track by the new american sensation Boy Harsher is a surefire dancefloor full of hypnotic beats and dark atmospheres. All tracks remastered by Eric Van Wonterghem at Prodam Studios (Berlin).

Italian rudeboy Ivan Iacobucci brings his brand of lowdown funk-influenced tech house to Apollonia with this sterling three-tracker. Over two decades of hard work and dedication to his craft has culminated in Ivan's untainted reputation and widespread respect within the underground from true heads like Zip and, of course, the Apollonia boys. His love of jazz in evident throughout this EP which is full of subtlety and depth, pulsating b-lines and smooth chords are interlaced with razor-sharp percussion and delicate keys. The first track 'Old In On' has a laid back, though driving, groove, pushing forward with a hefty bassline that is perfectly counterbalanced by the light twinkling keys and barely-there pads. 'Scris Frumos' encapsulates more of an ominous, tribal feeling with intricate effects trickling through every pore of its deep, dark exterior. Its atmospherics keep you intrigued, voices echo in the background and a few moments of softened chimes really intensify the already mysterious vibe. 'Mini Ass' channels more of that electro-funk that forms the foundation of Ivan's love for music, haywire radio pulses prance around stuttered beats, giving it a slightly cosmic feel, while pipes add a more organic nuance to the track. Absolutely masterful work from Ivan, and another inspired addition to the Apollonia catalogue.

Welcome back Mr. Quenum! It's been roughly two years now since the Geneve-based artist, DJ and producer released made his Upon.You debut with his single Rhyme' in summer 2013 and we're extremely thrilled to see his forthcoming three track 12 Trouble' causing serious dancefloor trouble again this fall. Getting started with Colour Pulp' there's no doubt that Quenum is in for some serious action here, fusing an uncomprising, yet minimalistic, hard pumping TechHouse foundation, well-tripping vocal bits and a highly percussive killer build-up sequence this tune is crafted for late nothing but late night abuse. The title track Trouble' also relies on Quenum's rolling trademark minimalism and obscured, morphing ethereal voices but adds a little bit of tribal seasoning here and there that perfectly floats alongside quirky synths and a steamy, fever'ish feel that keeps bodies pumping and palpitating through the night until the morning comes. Functional as functionality can get. Finally Geneve Never Sleeps' speeds up things on a darker, more technoid level where a dark'ish intro built from muffled bassdrums meets scattered, futuristic percussions before shrieking stabs and scarce, ghostly sounds take over and the unstoppable Techno engine starts to run. Proper machine music that is nothing but pure energy!