quête:dark lo

About Alec Pace’s “Respiro 22:16”
Breath as rhythm. Breath as memory. Respiro 22:16, the debut album by Alec Pace, is a world suspended between intimacy and impact — where personal confessions are carried by low-end frequencies and fragile melodies are shaped into physical space.
Written, produced and mixed between London and Turin, this record reveals Alec Pace not only as a producer but as a storyteller through sound. Layer by layer, his voice, guitars, piano, synthesizers, drum machines, samplers, and field recordings converge to form a sonic diary — one that whispers, cracks, shimmers and erupts.
The album moves fluidly between dream pop, modern UK bass, breaks, jungle, and club music, yet its essence lies in emotion: love, memory, anticipation, release. Each track is a breath, an exhale, a fragment of something lived.
“The30th” opens with nostalgic warmth, darkness and breaks; “For You (Hello)” captures the tender rush of a love song over a drum & bass heartbeat; “Venus Winds” floats in a balance of techno pulse and harmonic light. “Angular Invariance” reshapes the floor beneath your feet, while “Respiro” pauses to listen inward — piano and air, fragile and close. “Anticipation” closes it all with a forward surge: emotional, propulsive, unresolved.
Respiro 22:16 is not just a collection of tracks, but a portrait of an artist learning to breathe out loud.

Alec Pace said:
“This album is about putting myself out there — letting every sound, chord and rhythm breathe,” says Pace. “Respiro is both a personal archive and a release.”

“Respiro 22:16” is available across all platforms on Friday 6th March 2026.

Saxophonist and producer Ben Vince announces the release of his sixth album, Street Druid, the first in almost six years via AD 93.

Street Druid merges acoustic, manipulated and electronic sound and it has saxophone, synth, voice, guitars and drum machine, and features drum kit from Moses Boyd. It features artwork by Byzantia Harlow. It is at once tender, psychedelic and fierce. It is not interested in genre or category. It lasts just under 45 minutes.

A prelude for the future, hands join to cast a peace spell. Consciousness is vast water seeking divine essence and meaning where colours merge and refract. The street druid walks through the night, a benevolence in the darkness, guiding you home. Immersed in noise, life can feel empty, like hollow vessels, a sentient interlude. At times we are found in Gaia’s rhythm, kinetic and rebuilt, transcending through the impact of sound on the body. Every moment is a new change, a new challenge, a new life, we must ride the wave if we are not to be caught adrift or drown. Trying to keep hope intact, we must not retreat into fear, recognise we all live here in Longville and stop the fire before it engulfs us all.

Winding through cavernous and dark meanders, amid gurgling water, rustling sounds, low and deep pulsations, incisive and impactful sound masses, floating waves, crystalline drips, sudden rays of light, electronic spirals, and unexpected openings onto almost soothing soundscapes and quiet environmental stasis, Rod Modell paints musical textures that are apparently abstract and contemplative, but in reality charged with pathos and drama, taking advantage of a spectacular, enveloping and surprising sound quality, in which every nuance and every small detail makes the listening experience even more intense and engaging. A new exciting masterpiece by Maestro Rod Modell.

With Severance, IGLO returns to Figure with a focused yet exploratory EP that reflects his open-ended approach to contemporary techno. The release moves fluidly between restraint and expression, combining functional structures with subtle, unconventional elements that give the tracks a distinct sense of character. Rather than settling into a fixed formula, Severance highlights IGLO's curiosity and willingness to push his sound forward while remaining grounded in precision and control.

Connection opens the release with a restrained, heads-down groove. A firm low-end foundation and sparse percussion lock into a steady momentum, while understated melodic elements add depth without breaking the track's linear drive.
On Kauriraris, the energy tightens. Nervous synth motifs and crisp rhythmic details create a sense of urgency, pushing the track forward through constant micro-variation. It's a lean and effective tool built for sustained pressure.
Flipping the record, Blink Twice moves into darker, denser territory. Murky textures and a weighty groove unfold gradually, building tension through repetition and space. The track thrives on its slow burn, making it well-suited for late-night transitions.
Alive introduces a more open and flowing feel. Warmer tonal elements and a subtle swing soften the edges, while the groove remains firmly anchored and forward-moving.
Digital-only track Forlornly closes the EP with a spacious and introspective mood. Reduced rhythms and airy melodic layers create a calm, drifting atmosphere that rounds off the release with control and restraint.
With Severance, IGLO delivers a tightly structured EP that emphasizes clarity, tension and functionality - a confident addition to the Figure catalogue.

ALBUM Obongjayar's forthcoming sophomore ‘Paradise Now’, is an ambitiously fresh global prospect, with roots grounded in his own wide-ranging world of influences. It’s everything from pop to punk, dance to Afrobeat, funk to folk, refracted through a thrilling new perspective. “I wanted an album that I could listen to from start to finish on a night out.” But he still considers it something of a Trojan Horse. Recorded between London and LA with UK alt-rap mainstay Kwes Darko ( Pa Salieu, John Glacier) and Grammy-winning production trio Beach Noise (Kendrick Lamar, Baby Keem, Bakar), the record is as emotionally complex and broad as Obongjayar has ever been, even within its contagious candy coating.

Black Moon Mother blends light and heavy soundscapes that pull from elements of Psych-Rock, Pop, Doom Metal and Shoegaze. Formed out of a Nashville music collective in 2017, the band put together a demo EP that became their live set, kickstarting their musical journey. At the beginning of 2018, Black Moon Mother began writing new material and continued the show-a-month ritual, while adding a new song to the live set one by one. January 2020 brought Black Moon Mother to Dark Art Audio in Madison, TN where they worked with engineer and producer Mikey Allred. Their newest album Illusions Under the Sun showcases an expanded musical depth and songwriting maturity, while exploring themes of nature, purpose, and perspective.

Nia Archives returns with Emotional Junglist, an album about love – but not just the shimmering romantic parts. Written throughout 2025 – a year that saw Nia fall in, and horrifically back out of, love – each track will encompass something of the experience.

Marking her biggest sonic leap to date, her alt-jungle sound honed alongside James Ford (Arctic Monkey’s, Blur), Ethan P. Flynn (FKA Twigs, David Byrne) and Julia Michaels (Lady Gaga, Sabrina Carpenter), will see her flirt with everything from dewy-eyed indie pop and nineties electronica, underscored by the syncopated beats and thudding basslines of her jungle roots with a tracklist that features Jorja Smith and Sampha.

The motif for the album is a shell – tough on the outside, but through pressure, maturation and resilience, something precious is built within. Nodding to the female form, the spiral chamber also symbolizes growth and self-development.

VA – BLIS002 is a four-track sonic journey into the heart of mood-driven dub techno, curated by BLACKINSTOCK with a focus on emotional depth, spatial exploration, and stripped-back intensity. Featuring contributions from Noosa Sound System, Mac Rattana, and Chain Selector, this EP weaves together atmospheric yet rhythmically commanding cuts—perfect for immersive listening and nuanced set-building.

A1. Noosa Sound System – Trope (Build 2) opens the record with melancholic elegance, where dub textures are sculpted with warmth and restraint, setting the tone for inward reflection. A2. Noosa Sound System – Allways Rains follows with a shadowy, slow-burning progression—equal parts heavy and hypnotic, layered with raw emotional weight that feels both intimate and expansive.

Flipping to the B-side, B1. Mac Rattana – Om introduces a more buoyant, acid-tinged energy. Its pulsing low end and fluid motion give it a meditative yet tactile quality—inviting movement while maintaining a contemplative core. Closing the EP, B2. Chain Selector – Techno Dub delivers a deep, cavernous excursion—dark, refined, and uncompromising in atmosphere. With its textured delays and mounting pressure, it stands as a statement piece for those who crave depth over flash.

At once bouncy, raw, and emotionally resonant, BLIS002 is crafted for listeners who embrace dub techno as a language of feeling and form. Deep, suspenseful, and sonically purposeful—this is a release designed not only for the club, but also for the introspective spaces between.

BLACKINSTOCK is a division of MixCult Records

Limited edition

Gold Vinyl Represss

*A MODERN JAZZ REINTERPRETATION OF THE MUSIC FROM THE LEGEND OF ZELDA*

WRWTFWW Records is happy to announce the release of Casimir Liberski ReTRio's The Z Suites, a full-length jazz album reinterpreting the music from iconic Nintendo video game series The Legend of Zelda. The epic Z-Jazz journey is available in the following formats: limited edition 180g half speed mastered vinyl double LP housed in a heavyweight sleeve with obi, digipack CD with cavalier, and digital.

Casimir Liberski reimagines the golden era of video game soundtracks with jazz versions of Zelda favorites The Legend of Zelda (1986), A Link to the Past (1991), Link's Awakening (1993), and Oscarina of Time (1998) - plus a few Easter eggs! Dancing between nostalgia and avant-garde, the Brussels-born pianist and composer crafts a sonic world of pixelated folklore where melody and improvisation coexist in harmony.

Music critic Arthur Meurant perfectly explains:

For many video games are a journey of the mind. Since its inception - dating back to the early seventies - this avant-garde artistic medium has nourished the imaginations of a digital age. Casimir, like many others, has been fed a steady diet of pixels from an early age. From simple squares to cultural cornerstones they have become the trail on which playful travelers of the mind retrace the steppes of history. A shared universe, familiar yet endless, of pocket-sized mythology. Its name? Hyrule. Its goal? To amaze. In these few tracks - selected with care - the Casimir Liberski ReTRio invites you, finally, to visit a space which does not exist yet holds us all. A land where all feel welcome. Where all are happy. But also... to rediscover under another timbre the classical compositions of Master Composer K?ji Kond?. A man who, unbeknownst to him, composed our dreams as well as music. That single noble pursuit, where an artist gives soul without losing his own, is yet again a statement of humanity in its purest of forms: art as that which brings us together and makes us whole in a world eroded by modernity. Pick up your key. Gather your maps. Open the door. Adventure calls.

Long live Hyrule jazz!

FLO are leading the modern revival of the British girl group — and doing so at a scale not seen in over two decades. With over half a billion global streams, the trio have delivered the highest-selling tour by a British girl group in more than 20 years, becoming the first since the Spice Girls to reach that milestone. They are also the first British girl group to receive a Grammy nomination in two decades, alongside three MOBO nominations in 2026, cementing their status as both a commercial and cultural force. Rather than simply revisiting the past, FLO are reshaping the possibilities for what a contemporary girl group can be.

Comprised of Renée Downer, Stella Quaresma and Jorja Douglas, FLO’s story is one of intention, craft and deep-rooted connection. The trio had long been aware of one another through theatre school circles, social media and shared creative worlds before coming together as a group in 2019. That early familiarity quickly grew into a sisterhood, shaped behind the scenes through years of studio work, vocal development and trust. Raised by strong single mothers and immersed in performance from a young age, each member brings resilience, emotional intelligence and discipline into the group — qualities that underpin both their sound and their dynamic.

Individually, FLO’s balance comes from contrast. Renée is the group’s compass: composed, business-minded and creatively precise, grounding the trio with clarity and vision. Stella is the spark and the glue — sociable, emotionally intuitive and collaborative — shaped by a childhood between England and Mozambique where music was communal, expressive and felt. Jorja is the fire: outspoken, instinctive and vocally commanding, with a natural ear for harmony and arrangement. Their roles shift and evolve, but together they form a unit built on mutual respect, honesty and shared authorship.

That chemistry is central to FLO’s music. Drawing from classic R&B and soul while pushing it forward through modern production, their sound centres vocal harmony, emotional nuance and storytelling that reflects the realities of young womanhood. FLO reject the idea that strength requires emotional distance; instead, they explore power through vulnerability, confidence and control. From independence and self-worth to intimacy and desire, their writing is direct and unapologetically theirs. As Jorja puts it, FLO are “the brains, the heart and the soul” behind everything they do.

The success of their debut album marked a defining moment — not only for FLO, but for British pop more broadly. It confirmed the appetite for harmony-led, female-fronted groups operating with creative agency, and propelled FLO onto global stages, from sold-out headline tours to major festivals and international television. Along the way they have earned respect from R&B legends and peers alike, performing during Grammy Week for icons including Mariah Carey, Brandy and Chaka Khan, and showcasing their vocal chemistry on NPR’s Tiny Desk — a moment that further underlined the trio’s technical precision and emotional depth.

With their next chapter, Therapy At The Club, FLO expand this emotional honesty into a fully realised creative universe. The concept reimagines the club not just as a place of nightlife, but as a site of release, confession and self-possession — encompassing the moments before, during and after the night out. From mirror affirmations and pre-game chaos, to late-night Uber conversations, dance-floor catharsis and the clarity of the morning after, Therapy At The Club captures how women process desire, heartbreak, confidence and healing in real time, together. It is both fantasy and reality: cinematic, fashion-led and emotionally raw, grounded in sisterhood as a form of survival.

Sonically, the new music leans into dark, euphoric R&B and pop with sharper edges, built on vocal mastery and diaristic storytelling. Lead single “Leak It” sets the tone for the era — playful, charged and unapologetically self-aware — exploring what happens when desire spills over, secrets surface and control is reclaimed. Across the new songs, FLO move fluidly between intimacy and euphoria, turning the club into a space where vulnerability is power and feeling everything is the point.

As a trio built on discipline, joy and deep creative trust, FLO represent a new model for the British girl group: one rooted in authorship, harmony and cultural impact. Balancing softness with strength and ambition with authenticity, they are shaping the future of R&B and pop on their own terms. FLO are not looking backwards — they are setting the standard for what comes next.

Bézier ripples their way back to Dark Entries with Decompose, an LP of doomed spa music. Multi-instrumentalist Robert Yang has made numerous appearances on Dark Entries for more than a decade, with releases spanning the stylistic gamut from hi-NRG disco floor-fillers to lush ambient epics. Decompose, Bézier’s second LP, is perhaps his most introspective work yet. It is an album almost ten years in the making, a deep investigation of life, loss, and the struggle of knowing oneself. If one were to pull a tarot deck for this album it would be the Nine of Swords. The album honors the lives of the fallen victims of Pulse Nightclub. It honors lives lost or suffering through the ongoing genocide in Gaza. The title track takes the form of a Buddhist chant, a brooding synth-driven meditation that scales steadily until breaking into John Carpenter-esque arpeggios halfway through. Tracks like “Egg,” “Marionette,” and “A Fading Citadel Atop Black Sand Bluffs” build on this soundworld, one in which intricate melodies and cavernous reverb induce in the listener feelings of both claustrophobia and free-fall. The album’s dancefloor-leaning moments, like “Codebreaking” and “Split a Path Towards the Thicket” are spartan, tunnel-vision techno tracks speeding towards ego-death. Decompose chronicles Yang’s journey to find peace with himself, as a gay Asian American. During this process, they learned to “repot” long-lost parts of their identity so they could grow forth in wholesome fashion. The sleeve for Decompose was designed by Eloise Shir-Juen Leigh, and features a photograph by Frankie Casillo of Robert laying on a bed of rocks in savasana pose, resembling an ascetic, evocative of the monastic vibes of the record.

Disco legend Sylvester comes to Dark Entries with Private Recordings: August 1970, an intimate collection of vintage jazz, blues, and gospel. While Sylvester is best known for his chart-topping collaborations with producer Patrick Cowley, such as “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real),” this release reveals his passion for the sounds of the 30s and 40s. In 1970 a 22-year-old Sylvester had moved to San Francisco and found himself involved with the Cockettes, the infamous psychedelic performance art troupe. Among this milieu was Peter Mintun, a pianist and record collector living in a commune devoted to retro culture. According to Mintun, “We were like hippies who lived in the twenties. We lived in a house that didn’t have anything modern in it. Nothing in it was made after World War II.” Mintun and Sylvester bonded over their love of Black singers of yore and were allotted a slot during Cockettes performances reviving the music of the Prohibition Era. One afternoon, Sylvester and Mintun recorded a number of their shared favorites using a high-end microphone a friend had acquired. Private Recordings features 9 songs from this session, including standards like “Stormy Weather,” “Happy Days Are Here Again,” and “God Bless the Child.” Sylvester’s unmistakable falsetto brings depth and a dash of camp to these familiar tunes. The recordings are casual and intimate, even capturing banter between Sylvester and Mintun; their brief rendition of “When My Dreamboat Comes Home” has the duo working out a melody in real time. In addition to their sonic explorations of decades past, Sylvester and Mintun also staged photographic shoots in vintage couture. Private Recordings comes with a 16-page booklet on firm cardstock featuring images from these never-before-seen shoots as well as liner notes from Mintun detailing his friendship with Sylvester and their experiences recording. All this is housed in a metallic silver sleeve designed by Eloise Leigh featuring a 1920’s Art Deco aesthetic. The record will be released on September 6th which would have been Sylvester’s 76th birthday, and all proceeds from Private Recordings will go to the two charities that Sylvester left his royalties after his death: Project Open Hand and PRC (formerly AIDS Emergency Fund). This essential release documents the earliest known recordings from one of disco’s greatest talents.

Dark Entries returns to the steam room with Coatshek’s Sound Bath. For their SoundBaths series, now-defunct poppers brand Double Scorpio commissioned artists to make mixes for an imaginary queer bathhouse. When asked to contribute, San Francisco-based artist Coatshek aka Sheki Cicelsky took the opportunity to create original compositions. The resulting album, Sound Bath, serves as a masterclass in slow and sultry ambient techno. Taking inspiration from Pink Floyd, Manuel Göttsching’s E2-E4, and his friend’s DJ mixes (particularly Nick Moss and Matthew Paul’s for “Por Detroit”), Coatshek landed on 107 bpm as the optimal speed for sauna sex. With just a few synths, his Telecaster, and “lots of delays, reverb, and weed,” he sculpted stunning cuts like the effortlessly grooving “Softest” and the psych-laced “Triple Virgo.” The cover for Sound Bath was designed by Coatshek’s fiancé Nate Sprecher, and features photographs by Luke Kraman taken at The Ever Afters campout. The album also includes an insert featuring the Double Scorpio SoundBaths series artwork by Blake Wright. Equally hypnogogic and sexually supercharged, Sound Bath situates the bathhouse as a liminal dreamspace of unbounded erotic potentiality.

Spider Taylor crawls over to Dark Entries with Surge Studio Music, an album of archival gay pornographic soundtracks. James Allan Taylor was born into a working-class family in Los Angeles in 1951. Nicknamed “Spider” by his father due to his frantic energy, Taylor was a natural-born guitarist, gifted with perfect pitch and a voracious musical appetite.

Throughout the 70s, he expanded his musical repertoire, playing in bands ranging from country to post-punk, like his outfit Red Wedding, while always looking for new sounds and styles to explore. During this period, Taylor also partnered with his soulmate and musical collaborator, Michael Ely. They were part of a wave of bold, young, gay couples living openly together in the years immediately following the Stonewall Riots. In the early 80s, while working at the West Hollywood gay sex club Basic Plumbing, Taylor met Al Parker, the legendary pornographic actor and director, who recruited Taylor to produce the soundtrack for a film he was working on. Parker’s partnership with Steve Scott running Surge Studios produced some of the most popular all-male films of the era. Spider’s music was a natural fit for Surge, and throughout 1985 and 1986, he composed the soundtracks for five films produced by the iconic studio. Assisted by engineer Steve Conrad and armed with a drum machine and some synths, Spider’s compositions for film veer from the expansive, reverb-drenched “Rainforest” to the Miami Vice-esque chugger “Tech.”

While Spider thought of this work as little more than a gig, tangential to his real craft, enthusiasts of VHS-era nostalgia and vintage erotica will be brought to bliss. Surge Studio Music will be available on both LP and CD, the latter of which includes a 20-minute version of “Strange Places…Strange Things!” as a bonus track. The album’s cover art was designed by Gwenael Rattke, and features stylish images from Surge Studios releases. Also included is an insert featuring liner notes by Will Lewis, a longtime friend of Spider. The music is released from Spider’s estate by Michael Ely, Spider’s partner of 43 years. The shadow of AIDS lingered over Surge; Steve Scott passed from AIDS-related illness in 1987, and Al Parker succumbed in 1992. In 2014, when it became legal for same-sex couples to marry in Arizona, Spider and Michael finally became wedded. Spider would pass away from liver cancer six months later.

Nervous Gender’s legendary synthpunk LP Music From Hell burbles up from infernal depths to resurface on Dark Entries. Confrontational, unhinged, and unabashedly queer, Music from Hell is an unholy grail for fans of the strangest underbellies of post-punk, minimal synth, and early industrial music, and is presented here newly remastered and on expanded double LP.

Nervous Gender (de)formed in LA in 1978 at the hands of Phranc, Gerardo Velaquez, Edward Stapleton, and Michael Ochoa. Phranc, the androgynous embodiment of the band’s name, left in 1980. Following her departure, a wide cast of LA freaks would find themselves drawn into the band’s orbit, including Alice Bag of the Bags, Paul Roessler of the Screamers, the Germs’ Don Bolles, and an 8-year old drummer named Sven Pfeiffer. In 1980, Nervous Gender appeared on the seminal Live at Target compilation alongside Factrix, uns, and Flipper. With the band’s notoriety cemented, Music from Hell followed in 1981 on Subterranean Records (as no LA label would touch this material).

Side A, dubbed “Martyr Complex”, presents a more punk-forward sound with live drum salvos and slabs of aggressive synth. These twitchy, unsettling shockers ooze with the kind of snotty misanthropy that will endear them to fans of the Screamers or Crass.

Side B, known as “Beelzebub Youth”, is a live performance the band labeled "an electronic bruto-canto dissertation on the banality of spiritual transcendence." Mutant melodies cede way to synthesized clangs, whirs, bleeps, manipulated tapes, and howls of despair.

In addition to all the material from the original LP, we’re treated to a full disc of the band’s demos, the material from the Live at Target compilation, and early live recordings. Included are unrecognizable covers of Carly Simon and Lou Reed, and the Sex Pistols that are so despairingly skewed they fall into the void. This reissue of Music From Hell includes a 36 page lyric booklet, foldout poster, and gatefold sleeve with photos, flyers, and news-clippings designed by Eloise Leigh. Tackling taboo issues like sexual kinks, mental illness, drug use, and childhood molestation, Music From Hell is still surprising – even shocking - over 40 years after the album’s release. Nervous Gender stand as one of the most genuinely anti-establishment outfits in underground music, a colossal fuck you to social norms from religious strictures to gender essentialism.

Savy Records celebrates its fifth year with Lumo, a new vinyl-only series built around the darker corners of the dance floor. The first edition gathers four artists whose productions move naturally through the night -- from tension and space to drive and release. The record opens with Andy Martin, a Mexican-Jamaican artist whose dub-infused ''Wicked Tune You Know'' nods to UK bass influences, with a percussive undertow and an addictively off-kilter synth line. Finnish favourite Sansibar makes his return to the label with ''Innerwelt,'' a twisted electro cut laced with acid paranoia and washed-out vocals, slightly unsteady but always in motion. On the flip, IDA -- fellow Finnish export and SAVY label founder -- keeps things tight with ''Electrostatic Rest,'' a straight-up electro roller built on clean drums and a classic electro bass, one to lock in the dancefloor groove with. Lewski closes with ''Glakk,'' a machinated, bass-heavy analogue banger, driving up the tempo as it heads up the peak time. Lumo presents a darker, deeper side of Savy: one that nods to the underground, and cut for purpose as a vinyl-only release.

Ronen Sabo aka Nenor has dropped his rough and ready blends of soul and house on labels such as Moodymann's Mahogani and UK powerhouse Defected. Having already found his way into top-level record bags with the first volume of this series on Fossils, he is now back on new label Mumtak with more fully re-imagined interpretations. 'Klock It' is a humid and steamy house sound with a throbbing low end and exotic vocals, while 'Clayers' rides on lovely claps with breezy vocal sounds, ensuring a smooth cruising vibe. 'To Be Free' is a jazzy laced and late night sound with dusty drums and scruffy samples adding up to something loveably rough around the edges and 'El Gato' then brings a more freewheeling sound with big percussive hints and darker bass.

HI-LO returns for another elite EP on Drumcode, ‘REESE’, with the title track a tribute to Kevin Saunderson’s iconic bassline sound. The Dutchman never misses. Following acclaimed EPs HI-LO has released on Drumcode including “‘DIZZY’, ‘CRESCENDO’, ‘WANNA GO BANG’, and ‘HYPNOS”, the HILOMATIK boss brings his A-Game for the stunning ‘REESE’ EP, his anticipated annual release on Drumcode. ‘REESE’ epitomises a producer at the top of his game. The title track is a peak-time headrush built around a moreish bass riff and silky chords. A masterful balance of darkness and light that’s been building since Ultra WMC and also featured in Adam Beyer’s Essential Mix. 'FLORESTA FUNK' is a punchy percussive jam that shows his range.

After the last release ‘Innocence’ with Nathan Cable gaining support from John Digweed on his renowned Apple Music Compiled & Mix Series, we bring forth one of the remixers for his own single release ‘Snake Altar’.

Richie Blacker Northern Ireland’s progressive house & breaks prodigy who’s seen releases on Sasha’s Last Night On Earth, Scream’s Of Unsound Mind, Franky Wah’s Shen, Armada, Anjuna Deep and so many more including his own imprint Mess Express. We were super excited to sign the original breaks mix of ‘Snake Altar’, an amazing ethereal & euphoric progressive breaks track with its haunting ethnic vocals we just knew who could step up as the originator (this time) to remix the third Break-The-Future project.

Ray Keith delivered his signature sound system Jungle / Drum & Bass sound to which we think you’ll absolutely love, just oozing in class. The way it flows from euphoric to his heavy hitting signature darkness to deep jungle roots and back is exactly what we wanted from the big man himself and absolutely buzzing to have Ray on the label for our third release.

To finalise the package Richie Blacker delivered a 4x4 mix, now the lead track and to close off the release a beatless mix & acapella giving you some serious tools to work with… THIS IS ESSENTIAL!

Cindytalk has remained a majestic proposition over the decades, one marked by a continued process of disintegration and regeneration. Change has been a constant for Cindytalk, as has been the presence of the Scottish musician Cinder, who has fronted the project since the early '80s. The first Cindytalk albums embraced a dark theatricality of post-punk dissonance and abject rock deconstruction that coupled industrial dirges with Cinder's beatific vocals, these same vocals that were once plied to the earliest This Mortal Coil and Cocteau Twins recordings,forever binding Cinder to the 4AD lore. But even on those albums, Camouflage Heart and In This World, Cinder was pushing the band to embrace the studio as a tool for further abstraction of sodden drones, cobwebbed dark elegance, and decayed textures.

By the early aughts, Cinder had reimagined Cindytalk through the granular processes of digitalia with a handful of equally celebrated works of glitch-born expressionism for Editions Mego. Cinder explains that "those elements were growing roots under our sound and had started to organically change the shape of what we were doing. The fucked-up rock music was in retreat and the electro-acoustic abstractions were becoming apparent. Fast forward to the early part of the 21st Century and my first laptop. It seemed natural where I needed to begin that part of my new sonic journey. To further explore those and new territories. Sunset and Forever is intrinsically connected to what came before."

Sunset and Forever is a labyrinthine opus, one that returns to the themes of the sacred and profane that have rippled through all of Cindytalk's recordings, albeit in various guises. The opening track "Embers of Last Leaves" is a haunted piece of undulated, cyclical tones that entwine into a sorrowful chorale with Cinder's own voice. Thumps of electronic drum kicks and bass drops dot the apocalyptic menace of "Tower of the Sun" but serve not as a rhythmic grid, but as painterly noises that further disrupt and disturb the machined dissonance. A cinematic radioluminescence blooms from the tempered electronics within "For Those Eyes, Shadows Of Flowers." The finale "I See Her in Everywhere" bookends the opening number with a seemingly human chorus build from electronic tones cast in cathedral reverence. Sounds throughout may appear adjacent to those of Fennesz, Holly Herndon, or even Lovesliescrushing from time to time, but Sunset and Forever remains purely Cindytalk.

Cover designed by Chris Bigg, known for his iconic design work for 4AD. Mastered by James Plotkin.

Made across 2024 between London and Amsterdam, WITH A VENGEANCE (or WAV for short) is the sound of uptempo catharsis, of SHERELLE making sense of a turbulent and difficult moment in time in her personal life. Determined to write one track a day, the studio became a safe space for SHERELLE to channel anger and feelings of betrayal, her hard and fast club tracks turning darkness into the cerebral joy of overcoming adversity. From those intense daily writing sessions has emerged a sharp, finely-crafted 10-track LP that is powered by fierce feminine energy and reflects the hard/soft and light/dark dualities of the dancefloor and life itself.

WITH A VENGEANCE is also a rally cry for the 160 scene, designed to push the tempo in new, exciting and as yet undiscovered directions. Inspired by SHERELLE’s foundational influences such as Kode9, Scratch DVA, Machinedrum, Lone and SBTRKT as well as the soundsystem-shaking groove of grime’s R&G sub genre, the album is designed to change perceptions of what 160 can be. But don’t get it twisted: this isn’t a concept album. WAV is for the dancefloor, delivering shades of London, New York, Detroit and Chicago in ways that are guaranteed to raise gun finger salutes.

Accepting the darkness can be a liberating experience. Realising, and struggling with just who we are and what world we live in requires it. By further complicating the fractured sense of beauty found on his droning 2022 release, ‘I dreamt we found a way’, Bristol-based composer, Rob Winstone creates a language that encapsulates the lifelong reach for our own personal heavens, along with the darkness and fear on which those foundations are built.

Winstone’s instrumental palette continues to reach out far from behind his keyboards, however the sound of ‘sifting through heaven’ is stripped back and pared down, putting melody front and centre. 'postcards and loose tea', a love song written for Winstone’s partner during a period coming to terms with health difficulties had previously self-released with heavy spectral and granular manipulation from the artist. Here Winstone re-presents the original: “the stripped back recording I made in my old damp and cold studio that was in a building that has since been demolished”. It reflects the composer’s own journey, doing away with veils and histrionics, and embracing emotional bliss wherever it can be found, warts and all. Even the rumbling dark ambience of ’hospital corridor’ - where distant chimings, groans, and droplets synthesized from field recordings made nervously in a hospital waiting for test results coalesce - harbours a sacred-seeming beauty and aseptic warmth within its very bleak sense of dread.

There’s no better way to describe Winstone’s method than ‘sifting through heaven’. The hymnal organ chords, sketched out acoustic guitar phrases, scattering drum thuds, and meditative field recordings may flit between tenebrous to incandescent, but his focus is always on the embrace of love; “a view of life that embraces positive growth, yet doesn't deny immense suffering,” as he puts it. The album is bookended by two of Winstone’s most outright peaceful moments, summarising his core message: 'in spite of it all...' '...love finds a way'.

Bristol's Pessimist returns to UVB-76 Music with four tracks, zero filler and no wasted space. He is one of drum & bass's most distinctive voices and shows why once more here. 'Pess One' opens with clinical precision - pin-sharp drums where every element earns its place 'Pony Boy Club' drives harder, laser bleeps piercing cavernous reverb and kicks that never quit. 'NRG-97' reaches back into a nostalgic palette with dread-filled bass and dark percussion. Closing track 'Under Surveillance' is the moodiest of the lot - a claustrophobic, paranoid and unsettling world of Terminator terror.

With Dark Matter EP, Rambal Cochet continues his exploration of the fringes of electronic music, where ritual, cosmic and hypnotic sounds create a soundscape between mysticism and science fiction. The EP moves naturally between rhythms, atmospheres and synthetic lines from a lost rave futurism.

Each track has its own journey in a single narrative, with deep bass, percussive patterns oscillating between trance, downtempo and global influences, and a melodic sensibility that is both distinctive and accessible.

Dark Matter EP is a work that celebrates the visionary and cinematic side of Rambal Cochet, mixing mystery, spirituality and club pulsation for the dance floor and listener.
Perfect for seeking emotional intensity and imagination, or for an immersive, timeless listening experience.

Molekul sub-label.

Filtrack brings a breath of fresh air to Loud Pressings with a signature sound at the forefront of modern techno. He develops his ultra-minimalist techno style through a highly technical approach, blending textured sounds, refined percussion work, and dark yet elegant atmospheres.

The result is a two-track EP that is sharp, effective, and impactful in its purest form.

Night Prologue POW001
Panthers on Wax kicks off its catalogue with Night Prologue, a VA that dives head-first into the night from the dark pulse of the club to its most intimate afterglow.
Bringing together four defining voices of the contemporary French underground, the release unfolds like a nocturnal tale in two acts.

Side A hits with two floor-focused weapons:
P.O ignites LA VOITURE DE LA POLICE, a raw mechanical surge « It doesn't matter who did it as long as it burns. »
N2O pushes deeper with DISTO PIA, where distortion fractures, breathes, and rebuilds « Darkness dances, the heart cracks, and the night puts its pieces back together. »

Side B shifts into emotional territory:
PAGENTY delivers LE VENT CHUCHOTE TON NOM, a nostalgic synth drift « The nights are endless oceans in which I search for you. »
LORYN wraps the record with GINI, a glowing synthwave shimmer « More than a soda, Gini holds a forever echo »
From new beat and electro to techno and synthwave, Night Prologue carves out the Panthers on Wax identity, nocturnal, hybrid, and driven by narrative.

Rhiza Semar presents its fourth chapter with Yildizlara, a four-track odyssey shaped from shadow, rhythm, and elemental texture. Crafted as both visceral tools and introspective journeys, the record navigates between ominous density and luminous release, guided by a deep awareness of space, myth, and matter. As an artist, Hitam paves the way for a new sound emerging from his burrows to build bridges between electronic subgenres while shaping a landscape unmistakably his own. Orb Weaver opens the cycle with jagged IDM rhythms that coil and release like threads of a web pulled taut. Originally composed for the graduation project of fashion designer Tim van der Plas, who's collection was inspired on climbing out of depression, its atmosphere is dark and ceremonial, with textures scraping against silence until catharsis emerges from the tension. A confrontation between inner turmoil and release. On Vanishing of the Anasazi, cavernous reverbs carry traces of lost structures, percussion echoing as if across ruins. A relentless drive holds the ghost of ritual processions, summoning a spectral energy that feels at once monumental and hollowed-out. The track suspends itself between presence and absence, architecture and collapse, leaving the listener in a space where echoes become the only surviving form of memory. Mesh Grip plunges downward into subterranean force. A thundering groove rumbles like minerals being unearthed, goblin-like figures at work in hidden shafts, chiseling away at stone in endless rhythm. From this pressure, a sudden swell of melancholy pads rises, reframing the heaviness with emotional resonance as if the whispers of angelic guardians seep into the caverns, transforming extraction into elegy. What begins as pure drive of endurance evolves into an introspective meditation. Closing the release, Yildizlara unfolds as an epic ascent. Layered rhythms rush forward with urgency, intricate yet propulsive, while chopped vocals bring back a sensual human element, scattering like signals across the night sky. Animalistic atmospheres dart through the mix as spectral cries and furtive movements, adding a primal dimension to the drive. What begins as erratic and untamed slowly converges into warmth and ultimate catharsis: a cosmic tale inscribed in sound, both intimate and monumental, familiar yet born of hidden memory. Yildizlara is both innovative and ancestral; a release where turbulence becomes ritual, and where rhythmic complexity unearths fragments of hidden memory. Beneath its dark and erratic surfaces lies a strange familiarity, like echoes of a primal past resurfacing through sound, reminding us of worlds once known but long concealed. Words by A. Veyra

Robohands, das Projekt des Londoner Schlagzeugers/Komponisten Andy Baxter, gilt mit seiner experimentellen Erkundung des Jazz, Krautrock, Ambient und cineastischer Soundscapes als aufstrebender Name der internationalen Jazz/Ambient-Szene - mit über 10.000 verkauften LPs seiner fünf Alben und Auftritten bei den London Jazz, Montreal Jazz und Waking Life-Festivals. Die neue LP "Oranj" ist eine Hommage an die Pioniere der analogen Aufnahmetechnik mit Röhrenverstärkern, einem 1960er Fender Jazz-Bass, Fender Twin Reverb-Verstärkern und einer Vintage-Hammond-Orgel. Die Tracks vereinen die Wärme der 1960er/70er Jazz-Fusion und Soundtracks der Spät-1970er/80er mit modernen Einflüssen von Boards Of Canada bis Robert Glasper. Frenetische Uptempo-Nummern balancieren mit besinnlichen und experimentellen Momenten. Teils auf Tonband für zusätzliche Klangsättigung aufgenommen, ist es das bisher rohste und spontanste Album von Robohands.

Hearts and Minds is a new vinyl-only label founded in 2025 by house-head Rich Carrick, named after his Northern UK club night of the same name (co-founded with DJ partner Rayees), and dedicated to showcasing the finest underground artists old and new who have influenced him over the past 30 years. First up is a hero of the scene who carries on his tradition of making 'sublime, sophisticated machine music' with something a little different, in the form of two deep chuggers that will sound equally as good on more discerning dance floors, or on home systems. Lead track 'Acid Cry' brings to mind the menacing, string-laden intensity of Underworld's 'Dark and Long', while the flip-side 'Feel That Vibration' is an uplifting euphonic workout reminiscent of a Spirit Catcher composition. The quality is, unsurprisingly, high, and there are more exciting releases planned for the near future. Definitely one to watch!

Vohkinne is the alter-ego of Craig McWhinney, close associate and one of Southern Light’s foundation artists. The Way Of All Things is his first album in six years and provides a dystopian sonic journey into contemporary and modern techno that few artists can match.

Internal Collapse is an opening statement of intent; drone-infused and heavily cloaked dark ambient techno. Falling Knife is a chilling half step creation, providing a sense of murky sonics raining down from above. Unearthly Lights shifts gears as it traverses a more linear and magnetic path, while Disintegration diverts again with darker, squelching breaks.

C h r o m e s t h e s i a slows down the tempo but the morose and opaque feel of the album remains ever present, before War Paint is unleashed with a sense of urgency and high-octane intensity. Between Lives continues that intensity by unleashing its dark hypnotic breaks, before closing with the title track, perhaps for the first time on the album revealing a ray of hope amongst the dystopian energy that prevails on the album.

The Way Of All Things is more than a collection of tracks; it’s a look inside one artist’s view of the world, distilled into a singular and expansive archetype body of work.

Strut proudly presents the debut album from producer, songwriter and multiinstrumentalist, Momoko Gill. Fresh from her critically acclaimed collaboration Clay recorded with cult electronic artist Matthew Herbert, Momoko steps forward in her own right for the first time with her remarkable debut solo album. Momoko has long been one of the UK electronic and jazz scene’s best-kept secrets.

A self-taught drummer, producer, songwriter, and vocalist, she has brought her unique touch to collaborations with Alabaster DePlume, Matthew Herbert, Coby Sey, Tirzah, and Nadeem Din-Gabisi (her musical foil in An Alien Called Harmony). Extensive touring behind the drum kit, at the keys and in front of the mic have honed her compositional and production instincts. With Momoko, Gill emerges into the spotlight with an album that is entirely her own. Throughout, you can hear the stylistic flavours of jazz musicians as much as singer-songwriters, experimental artists and electronic producers. Though Gill rejects imitation, sculpting her sound through feel and expression rather than tradition. Based in London and having grown up in Japan and the US, Gill channels her breadth of perspective through her musical ideas and storytelling, with a unique voice developed through instinct, collaboration and solitary study.

The album’s eleven tracks take in a wide spectrum with the jazz-infused groove of ‘No Others’ and harmony-drenched, reflective ‘Heavy’ contrasting with the dark, confrontational sound of 'Shadowboxing' leading into an eerie left-field instrumental beat, ‘Test A Small Area' and the impressive 50-person choir on ‘When Palestine Is Free’ (which includes heavyweights Shabaka Hutchings, Soweto Kinch, Alabaster DePlume, Coby Sey, Marysia Osu and more). It is a deeply personal and poetic recording and showcases the full uncompromising range of Momoko’s vison, presented in her own voice. Momoko was produced by Momoko Gill, recorded at Total Refreshment Centre, mixed by Matthew Herbert and mastered by Alex Gordon at Abbey Road Studios.

Label welcomes Tunisian-based artist Ahmet Mecnun to the label for the first time with open arms and with sincere hope it is not the last due to high level admiration for his artistic output. Ahmet has crafted M.E.S.S.A with dark flavour oozing throughout the EP that has unified the audio trips together in a complete story. The remix duties of the A-side track have been taken by none other than Uruguayan mastermind Marcos Coya who has provided his take on this matter and has done it flawlessly so. The synergy between the two artists from different backgrounds and cultures but same ideology of music has resulted in M.E.S.S.A to take the shape it has now. The dark times are coming so it is best to go into the loop state of mind to avoid or to welcome psycho override depends on the mood and current feeling one might be going through.

BRIAN ELLIS' "IN THE DARK" back in print for the first time in over a decade, contains 8 synthesizer manifestos that offer a glimpse through ELLIS' imagination. This repress celebrates the infinite throwdown post- sundown and is truly a classic in the modern funk world.

Originally released in 1994, MSD - Moonboom is a true cornerstone of Irish dance music and one of the defining dancefloor anthems of the '90s. Fusing Techno, Progressive House and raw 303 energy, it became a staple on floors across Ireland and beyond, a track whose power has only grown with time. Now beautifully remastered and repressed on the newly launched CeltTribe label, Moonboom returns sounding bigger and sharper than ever. Created by Fintan McDonald alongside Dublin DJ Liam Dollard, with Paul Clifford and Peter Coss present during the original mixdown, the track was produced on a Tac Scorpion desk using Akai S1000 and S950 samplers, capturing the raw, hardware-driven spirit of early '90s dance music. Originally released on the Inner Conscience label, this reissue celebrates Ireland's underground dance heritage and is expanded with a strong set of 2026 remixes. The "Love Will Save the Day" Remix delivers a piano-led '90s House groove with nods to New York and Chicago, reflecting the deep Irish house sound loved in Cork and Waterford. The Lanzatech Remix is a tribal, acid-fuelled slammer driven by reworked piano, 303 lines and Detroit-inspired synth pads. Collie's "Midnight" Dub dives deeper into jazzy, hypnotic territory, while Ian's Techno Mix pushes Moonboom into darker, harder underground space with reimagined piano and vocals. A timeless Irish classic, respectfully reimagined!

Holy grail of Memphis Boogie Funk! Subway Featuring Wave is an absolute gem of a mini Lp and is reissued for the first time ever on Past Due Records. Original copies are known to fetch in the thousands...
Produced by Lee Moore with Stax musicians, including guitarist Michael Toles, keyboard player Lester Snell, and drummer Willie Hall, all members of the Isaac Hayes Movement. He also hired bassist Ray Griffin who recorded numerous sessions for both Stax and Malaco Records.

Grace & Raffaella is the first collaborative release by ML and Vittoria Totale. Over nine tracks, the album strikes a deceptively minimalist tone, taking in a ton of musical as well as literary references. An elegy on a journey back to the present, with all the hushed intensity of an informed fever dream, Grace & Raffaella has a magic-realist feel. Its vocal parts serve as loopy self-fulfilling prophecies. Cut off from the sun, the gorge grows darker. Using an electroacoustic sense of spacing, as well as abstracted current-day club influences, with scraps of background noise fading in and out, this album's use and treatment of a snippet-like narrative is its core aesthetic. A digital gleam drenches the spoken bits into instances of subtle surrealism. Like a kitchen sink drama stripped of all deadweight. We are on the edge of relinquishing all control here. Rip up your diary and let go of the language of the old ones. Grace & Raffaella is a seductive slice of modern hyper-pop that defines its own intentions over and over again.

Were FEX the Wildest & Weirdest German New Wave Band in 1984?

Few cult mysteries in modern music have captured the internet's imagination quite like "The Most Mysterious Song on the Internet." Eventually identified as "Subways of Your Mind" by the elusive German band FEX, the track became a viral sensation decades after its creation-and even made its way into a recent Hollywood blockbuster (Black Phone 2).

Now, two more lost FEX recordings have emerged from an old demo cassette: "Dead End" and "Sarah." And they're every bit as electrifying as the legend suggests.

On both songs, guitarist and main songwriter Ture Rückwardt joins forces on lead vocals with his former wife and musical partner Ilona Rückwardt, forming a vocal pairing that channels raw energy and eerie chemistry. What they deliver are two of the most urgent, adrenaline-fueled post-punk artifacts you're likely to hear this year-even if they were recorded more than forty years ago.

Opening with a sharp, melodic guitar solo, "Dead End" bursts forward with uptempo drive-catchy, fierce, and full of momentum. Apparently inspired by Orwell's 1984, its lyrics depict urban desolation-loneliness, homelessness, hopelessness-yet still shimmer with defiance in lines like, "Truth is amazing - hoping is like waiting."

The second track, "Sarah," dives even deeper into darkness. Mixing post-punk intensity with psychedelic textures, Rückwardt tells an imaginary story of a couple lost in drugs and spiraling through a bad trip, only to wake and realize that sobriety offers little comfort-the real world itself can be just as brutal and offers no easy escape.

Neither song makes the slightest concession to commercial trends. Instead, they feel utterly uncompromising-wild, strange, and defiantly timeless. In a world obsessed with polish and playlists, "Dead End" and "Sarah" sound like transmissions from a different planet.

Both tracks were originally recorded as demos in 1984 in the band's rehearsal room, with Hase engineering. The newly restored versions preserve the raw spirit of the original tapes while adding subtle layers to enhance their atmosphere without losing the authentic 1980s sound. FEX hint that the untouched demo versions might surface later, possibly on a second volume of their archival

Sublunar is proud to present Pareidolia IV, the fourth chapter of the saga written by its founder Sciahri.

With this new LP, the journey continues and reaches its most complete sonic expression to date a statement of evolution, depth and identity, featuring a special collaboration with Temudo.

The record opens with "Just 30 Seconds", driven by powerful low-end foundations balanced by warm, enveloping textures that immediately pull the listener in. "Groundbound" follows, deep and immersive, built around a memorable synth and arrangement designed to linger in the mind.

The voyage continues with "2014", a melodic and transportive track that drifts effortlessly into "Silent Embers", where raw power and mysticism merge into a uniquely intense atmosphere.

The second half opens with "Anime", propelled by a massive rumble beneath a delicate groove and finely crafted stabs. "Essenza" dives into darker, hypnotic territory, defining its own distinct mood and tension.
The only collaboration on the LP, "Encontro", sees Sciahri and Temudo blending their respective visions into something truly memorable, where both styles converge naturally and with purpose.

The journey closes with "Offset", a reflective and emotional piece that encapsulates a sense of travel and quiet melancholy a final moment designed to resonate long after the record ends.

Data Music proudly presents Various Artists "Levitate EP" - the label's first-ever vinyl release!

Staying true to the core vision, we've carefully selected four deep and atmospheric drum & bass cuts from the label's key artists and close friends.

"Levitate EP" embodies the diverse identity of Data Music - a perfect soundtrack for home listening, long journeys, and dark, smoky dancefloors alike.