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One year on from his first Samurai release, Vardae returns to plunge even deeper into his mesmerising strain of hyper-mobile drum mantras and textural intrigue. Cédric Arnous' prolific run over the past few years has rapidly positioned him at the forefront of a scene between scenes where the rhythmic intrigue of drum & bass collides with modern techno's hypnotic linearity. On The Energy Of Presence he relishes the flexibility afforded by this intersection to deliver four distinct, high-impact workouts made with his ever-evolving live set in mind. 'Grounded Attachment' leads with the sonar strafe and broken beat pulse readily associated with the Vardae sound, threading twitchy percussion and steely brushstrokes around the bedrock of low-end pressure. It's the slowly emerging drone sweeps that round out the character of the track, betraying a warmth encased within the metallic overtones that deepens the emotional weight immeasurably. By contrast, 'Magnetic Flux' swerves towards a more direct thrust with its high-tempo 4/4 undercarriage and a limber, acidic lead line that helps join the dots between Vardae's modernist sheen and the roughneck days of free party tekno. This is still charged, atmospheric dance music, but it has no problem showing its teeth, too. 'Electric Feelings' is similarly sprightly in its tempo, but as ever Vardae runs a tight game with the weight of his drums, finding lightness and dexterity even at 170BPM while the transcendental wormhole opens up around the rhythmic force at the centre. Ensuring there's no space for predictability on this release, 'The Energy Of Presence' plies its own trade in sumptuous dub techno chords and angular groove designed to make you move on a different kind of downbeat. The consummate title track, it's the most roundly melodic offering on the record, served as a crescendo to the whole listening experience comfortably nestled on the B2 of the physical edition. Capitalising on the hypnotic codes etched into the dub techno sound, Vardae dials up the delay feedback for a psychedelic release at the end of a record that covers a lot of ground without losing focus.

For the 9th release Primordial State welcomes "Scheermann" to the family. He delivers a raw, driving techno EP, crafted for the dancefloor.

The borderless, tropical band “of Tropique,” whose core sound blends funk and rock-infused exotica, releases a 12-track full-length album on vinyl LP!!
This work maximizes their core lineup as a guitar-less trio, featuring a diverse array of 14 guest musicians to construct a rich sonic landscape.
This landmark release in the history of domestic exotica and tropical music features Mutsumi Kobayashi of the Minyo Crusaders, Rockin' Enocky of Jackie
& The Cedrics, to global talents like Joshua Camp of CHICHA LIBRE and MIRAMAR, the standard-bearer of US new wave Latin bands, and more!
It's a masterpiece that delivers the full thrill, excitement, and pleasure of encountering unknown music.

With the launch of Flirt, Alarico distills the essence of his current techno vision while sketching its next phase.
This is techno stripped to its most instinctive form: rolling basslines, teasing vocals and seductive rhythms with hints towards deeper and more melodic realms.

DIFF007 Distributed by One Eye Witness.
All tracks Written & produced by Autokinetic in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.
Mastered by Tangible Air.
Designed by Felix Lücke.
Stickered cover.

Zum ersten Mal seit Jahrzehnten erscheinen DJ Shadows legendäre Mo’Wax-Singles wieder offiziell – in einem umfassenden 8-teiligen Vinyl-Set, das mehrere Stunden bahnbrechender Musik enthält.
Die Aufnahmen wurden in den Abbey Road Studios von Miles Showell halbspeed-remastered und klingen so klar und kraftvoll wie nie zuvor. Die Box enthält zahlreiche bisher unveröffentlichte Mixe und Edits sowie eine exklusive Bonus-LP mit den ursprünglichen Demos von vier Tracks – ein einzigartiger Einblick in die Entstehungsgeschichte des Shadow-Sounds.
Abgerundet wird das Set durch neue Fotografien von Brian Cross (B+), DJ Shadows langjährigem visuellen Wegbegleiter.
Ein essenzielles Sammlerstück für Fans, Vinyl-Liebhaber und alle, die die Wurzeln moderner Beat-Kultur feiern wollen.

"This box wasn’t made for the casual listener,it was made with the hardcore fan in mind. I’ve always felt, if something is worth doing, it’s worth doing right, and every step of the process was
made with this philosophy firmly in mind. I had fun locating and resurrecting these songs, some of which still feel close to my consciousness as though they were made yesterday.”
-DJ Shadow

Jim O'Rourke and Jos Smolders teamed up again after their first collaboration, Additive Inverse from 2021. Over a period of three years, both artists worked in sessions of a day, each in their own studio.
The result is sometimes like a warm cloud of sounds, suddenly breaking up into a rhythmic, irregular pattern, after which it dives into introverted mindsets. The music is in constant flux
The project followed the same workflow, but this time Jim took the lead and kicked off with a salvo of sounds that he extracted from his Kyma System. Both Jos and Jim were quite interested in the spectral character of sounds. Jim applied Kyma algorithms while Jos granulated his basic recordings. That way, textures are built, quite slowly moving from warm to gritty, from hard surfaces to deep sonic wells.

As with the band’s 2023 release of the same name, Refreshing Part 2 is a decisive and fierce collection of percussive techno that nonetheless travels its path with a heightened level of funkiness.
The Italian duo describe the concept behind this collection as being “not about resetting, but about balancing. Refreshing means reconnecting with the present and with the future…focusing on one’s own way in order to prevent the flow from becoming automatic, uncontrolled, and
without orientation. It is more a direction than a path.”
The four tracks on the 12” are hypnotic dives into a full spectrum of club music: the rhythms and sound design guiding the subconscious into visions of past, present and future intermingled, a reminder that all moments co-exist simultaneously.
Side A passes from the stripped-down intensity of The Way through to Elisir (Elixir), which manages to pull off a trick of feeling light and floaty while maintaining the power of its predecessor. The flip side opens with the forceful drive of Activate before making way to the
percussive elasticity of Family Tree, a track which closes out the EP by recalling, in both name and sound, how that which came before deeply affects the now, though often in ways only subliminally perceived.
Digital-only track Fixed in Flux continues this concept, and the overall themes of Refreshing Part 2, with further evocations of intent and movement; remaining present in change, without resisting it, yet without dissolving into it.

A Profound Non-Event, the debut album by Sydney-based three piece Daily Toll, comprises 11 songs traversing three years of forged friendships, collaborative experimentation and a shared love of growing through words and song.

Those attuned to the ever-vibrant Australian underground may already be well familiar with Daily Toll, their consistent live presence since their inception in 2021 embroidered by a handful of (mostly) home-recorded, (mostly) digital self-releases that have steadily accumulated an appreciative following. Initially the project of self taught musician, poet & artist Kata Szász-Komlós(they/them) and Jasper Craig-Adams(he/him), and expended to a three piece with the more recent addition of friend Tom Stephens(he/him), Daily Toll represents the union of three unique creative dispositions, of relationships blooming through the push and pull of creative practice. Mapping the band’s existence through their recorded output is to bear witness to the flux of three people learning to respond to one another and gently ossify into a collective vision that at once calls to mind folk song intimacy, post-punk dynamics and the artful poeticism of an adjacent Flying Nun legacy.

If those earlier recordings reflect a band imagining themselves into being in real time, A Profound Non-Event observes a clear shift in both conviction and approach. Recorded in just three days with Alex Bennett at the purely analogue Sound Recordings studio in Castlemaine and holing up at night in the century old cottage situated beside the studio, sheltering from the late-June wind and rain within walls littered with instruments and microphones, lighting fires to stay warm. Kata describes the experience as defined by “candle light and creative camaraderie”, an idyllic account of a collection of songs that glide with an undeniably warm, easy charm, evidenced in particular in the record’s second half as the tone turns increasingly introspective, the very sound of a cold evening’s drift into night. When contrasted with the moody swirl and sing-song bounce of the opening trio of tracks, there’s clear evidence of a band not simply in the process of becoming, but committed to finding their truth in that process.
Still, if Daily Toll display a reluctance to be wholly defined, then album centerpiece ‘Killincs‘ (positioned in the middle for a reason) might just be their Rosetta Stone. A verbose rumination on unsettled feelings of isolation and longing, exploring the challenges in making peace with one's decisions amidst the uncertainty of an often harsh world and the realisation that some things remain best unresolved - “I have the keys still, but I’ve buried the path”.

Originally released in 2008 on Ezekiel Honig’s own Anticipate Recordings, Surfaces of a Broken Marching Band finds the artist refining a compositional language rooted in the methodologies of musique concrete, ambient, and beat research. Working from a palette of environmental recordings, instrumental fragments, and soft electronic treatments, Honig pushes the source material into an array of sympathetic forms ranging from pillow-soft, lowercase ambient to diffuse downtempo and minimal house. For its reissue on Keplar, the album has been remastered by Kassian Troyer (D&M), bringing a new clarity to its intricate, low-lit architectures.

Throughout the record, serving almost as audiographic guideposts, are faint but insistent gestures toward propulsion, an abiding and recurrent 4/4 pulse that guides the music laterally and instantiates a slow negotiation between its various elements. This music invites close listening precisely by not revealing itself all at once, allowing small collisions of timbre and subtle shifts in emphasis to carry the weight. The traces of lived environments that remain embedded in the mix - distant crowds, sounds of transit, the indistinct acoustics of interiors in flux - expand the frame without breaking its intimacy, creating a potent dislocation between the nearness of the sound and the scale of its sources.

Rather than foregrounding any single voice, this is music that distributes attention equally across its materials, allowing background details to assert their presence as much as melody or rhythm. Honig presents listeners with an astute practice that’s concerned less with building from the ground up than with uncovering what happens when disparate textures and structures are brought into close contact with one another. (Alex Cobb, 2026)

With over 20 years of intense production work and prestigious collaborations, Irie Ites Records has established itself as one of the most respected reggae labels on the international scene. In 2025, the label continues it's strong momentum with a brand-new volume of it's flagship series: Cream of the Crop 2025. Following the success of the previous editions (2022, 2023, and 2024), which each reached several million streams and gained strong visibility in reggae media and playlists worldwide, this new release stands as a must-have for all roots & culture reggae lovers. True to it's reputation for excellence, Irie Ites Records has once again teamed up with some of the finest musicians and producers in reggae: Mafia & Fluxy, Bongo Herman, Earl "Chinna" Smith, Lone Ark, Naram, The Ligerians, King Jammy, Willy William, among others. All tracks were mixed at the Irie Ites Studio (France), ensuring a warm, powerful, and authentic sound. To conclude the album, four exclusive dub versions add the final touch to this outstanding compilation.

The union of Antwerp synthesist David Edren and Tokyo minimalist Hiroki Takahashi is a fit so natural as to feel preordained. Both traffic in subtle shades of contemplative electronics, marked by patience, space, and poetic restraint. And both have rich histories of curation and collaboration – Edren in the duo Spirit & Form alongside Bent Von Bent, and Takahashi as proprietor of the Kankyō record shop, as well as one fourth of cosmic ambient quartet UNKNOWN ME. Mutual fans of one another’s work, they began sharing stems in the latter half of 2020, which slowly blossomed into a collection of multi-hued compositions inspired by notions of connectivity and impermanence, translated for east and west: Flow | 流れ.

Opener “Dusk Decorum | 黄昏 礼節” maps the mood of what’s to come, elegantly pirouetting and percolating through an expanding vista of looming stars and half-light horizons. Takahashi describes Edren’s arrangements as evoking “a strange feel, something we haven't heard much of before.” The sensation is one of “in-betweenness,” a restless current whispering beneath the beauty, like seasons seen in time-lapse footage: flickering but infinite, transience turned permanent. Takahashi’s signature sculpture garden tones plot spiral patterns over which Edren cascades dazzling pointillist synthesizer coloration. The pieces veer between delicate and dilated, micro and macro, their aperture forever softly in flux.

From the oscillating orchestral lullaby of “Stalactime | 鍾乳石時計” to the sweeping, sparkling dream sequence closer, “Shift Register | シフトレジスタ,” the album achieves the elusive goal of being more than the sum of its parts. This is music of rare air, elevated and amorphous, shimmering just out of reach. Though Edren and Takahashi have yet to cohabitate the same room in person (a fact that should be rectified soon by an astute festival booker), their palettes and poise are perfectly paired, twin fragilities woven into seven radiant and regenerative vibrational states. The cover design of a beatific, beaded leaf rippling on the surface of a hidden pond aptly captures the record’s muted majesty. Takahashi’s quiet pride is justified: “We are very happy with this time-consuming and carefully crafted work.”

Tilaye Gebre is one of Ethiopia’s most soulful saxophone giants, with a musical legacy that’s hard to surpass. A founding member of the Equators, later renamed the Dahlak Band, he was a key figure in Ethiopia’s vibrant hotel music scene and a sought-after musician and arranger for artists like Aster Aweke, Mahmoud Ahmed, Tilahun Gessesse, and Muluken Melesse.

Tilaye — still going strong — was at the epicenter of the Ethiopian music scene during one of the most turbulent periods in the country’s history. Tilaye’s musical trajectory, regardless of the forms it has taken over the decades, is simply ceaseless. The road to a musical career spanning six decades started out winding, and the first steps came almost as a fluke.

With the Dahlak Band, Tilaye had managed to secure a musical residency at the legendary Ghion Hotel, where they honed their skills and developed their musical expression to unparalleled levels. From the late sixties onwards, Dahlak Band lit up Addis Ababa with a mixture of James Brown and Wilson Pickett tunes, rhythm and blues, soul, funk, and the sound of the disco era — mixed with modern Ethiopian styles — serving up majestic concoctions with full-range instrumentation, featuring trumpet, keyboard, saxophone, bass, drums, and guitar. Through their hotel sessions, Tilaye developed further as an arranger, arranging fellow band member Muluken Melesse’s first solo album, Muluken Melesse with the Dahlak Band (Kaifa Records – LPKF 39), recorded during the turbulent years of 1975–1976, following the fall of Haile Selassie. Everything was in flux in this transitional period, but a constant was how Tilaye stood in the spotlight. On that record, there’s a loose vibe to the soundscape that lets Tilaye’s skills shine, while all the other musical contributions coalesce into a slowly cooking atmosphere where the groove at times fluctuates into psychedelic territory, making the music stand out from most contemporaries.

Most of their recorded output came from one-take live cassette recordings at the Ghion, or from music shops at that time — one microphone at the front, hit record: no EQ, no reverb, just some delay. Some of the Dahlak Band’s releases featured Tilaye as frontman, such as Tilaye’s Saxophone with the Dahlak Band from the late 1970s — typical of a rare groove on the Ethiopian scene — with excursions into reggae territory, including the band’s characteristic sound featuring Tilaye Gebre (tenor and alto saxophone), Dawit Yifru (organ), David Kassa (electric guitar), Shimelis Beyene (trumpet), Moges Habte (tenor saxophone), Abera Feyissa (bass guitar), Tesfaye Tessema (drums), and Muluken Melesse (cowbell). The Dahlak Band’s output was so prodigious that they simply couldn’t be pigeonholed.

No saxophonist in Ethiopia influenced the sound of popular music more than Tilaye in the 1970s, yet his recordings have been hard to come by for ages, which has meant that newcomers to the scene have gems to uncover in retrospect. Arguably, Tilaye shifted gears when he relocated to the U.S. to such an extent that his musicianship became even more renowned, accompanying the greatest of his contemporaries internationally. Tilaye is one of Ethiopia’s all-time greats, with a musical legacy — both as musician and arranger — that’s hard to surpass. It’s a wonder to be able to enjoy a recording like this half a century later.

In 1979, Neil Fraser (artistically known as Mad Professor) founded Ariwa Sounds, the longest-serving and one of the most influential independently owned Reggae studios and record labels in the UK. From humble beginnings set up in the front room of Neil's home in South London recording on 4-track and homemade equipment, Ariwa would go on to record and release over 300 albums including works from some of the most impactful and storied artists of their time in the genres of Reggae, Dub, and Lovers Rock

Whilst our previous release in collaboration with Ariwa captured the label's early sound, a shared performance with Neil in Osaka and regular visits to his South London studio inspired us to assemble this 15-track compilation, showcasing the label's output across 45 years. Our release emphasizes some of the label's greatest vocalists: Johnny Clarke, Sandra Cross, Kofi, U Roy, Sister Nancy, Queen Omega, Aisha, Garnett Cross, Abel Miller, Horace Andy and more — presenting the Motown and Stax influences in the Lovers Rock, but also provides a glimpse into the dubbier and more experimental side of the label, showcasing Ariwa's commitment to quality but also their personality, philosophy and their humour. Love songs, break-up songs, socially engaged songs, dub experimentations — this compilation is not a "best of" Ariwa but a diverse and honest celebration of the label through the lens of Melodies International.

The compilation will be out in July in vinyl 2xLP, CD, digital formats, mastered from the original tapes by Frank Merritt (the Carvery), pressed at Optimal, artwork created by Jason Evans with design and assembly contributions from Nevil Bernard and Will Sweeney, animated teaser by Nevil Bernard and Melozine designed by Mafalda Meireles.

Over the past decade, East London artist Kojey Radical has cemented himself as one of the most creative and unique voices in British music. His debut album Reason to Smile (2022) was released to critical acclaim, and saw him emerge as one of the defining voices in UK culture. Now, the 32-year-old readies to release his second album Don’t Look Down.

“I wanted to make this album more personal and more honest,” he says, “we have to be able to accept that the messenger has flaws and all.

16-tracks long, Don’t Look Down, set for release on 19th September 2025, is a musically rich and deeply introspective reflection on the shifting tides, lows and joys that have passed through his life since his emergence into the public eye.

Sonically, the album provides the most experimental and eclectic music of his career, with influences ranging from golden age Hip Hop to disco, grime to Indie, Jazz to Ska. Together, these strings combine to give a pertinent insight into Kojey’s inner world, and a timestamp documenting the feelings, emotions and experiences that arise when many reach the milestone of their 30s.

“When you’re younger, certain ages seem so grown,” he says, “you feel like you’re supposed to have your life together and all figured out by 30. Then especially when you're in the spotlight you feel extra pressure to have it figured out because so many people are looking towards you.”

Don’t Look Down follows debut album Reason to Smile (2022). A critical success, it landed at No.11 on the UK Album Charts and was nominated for the Mercury Prize as well as two MOBO Awards. In the following year came a nomination for Best New Artist at 2023 BRIT Awards and Best Contemporary Song at the Ivor Novello Awards. He toured across the UK, as well as hitting the festival circuit.

This sense of growth was not limited to music. Kojey was tapped by the British Fashion Council to host the 2023 and 2024 editions of The Fashion Awards as his stock in music and wider culture continued to rise.

The album he says, is a reflection of “the experiences I’ve had over the past few years. That shaped the direction I took going forward. It’s given me the opportunity to tell new stories from newer perspectives. It was liberating, and it was very necessary to keep me in love with the process and to keep making music.”

The result is his most innovative album yet, a project where a sense of profound personal interrogation and introspection dance in union with the rich musical tapestry. Don’t Look Down is a story of purpose lost and then found, of what happens in the aftermath of achieving your childhood dreams, and the ranging flux of emotions that rise to the surface once the music stop

Brixton Heights Records proudly presents the brand new single ‘Am I the Same Man?’, a soulful roots-reggae gem featuring a heavyweight all-star lineup including: Mafia & Fluxy on drum and bass respectively, the Ital Horns on brass, Gussie Clarke on mastering and Gaudi on falsetto vocals + BVs, dub mixing, piano and co-production alongside The Brixton Heights Orchestra.

Drawing inspiration from the timeless instrumental groove ‘Soulful Strut’ by Young-Holt Unlimited, the track channels vintage soul through a deep lovers-rock lens. A fresh and earnest reinterpretation of Barbara Acklin’s 1968 classic ‘Am I the Same Girl?’, this version flips the narrative with an adaptation on the lyrics voiced by none other than Gaudi singing in falsetto, resulting with a smooth, dub-infused love song that combines classic soul and international reggae into a modern masterpiece.
Gaudi is not stranger to falsetto-singing and backing vocals, in fact he has lent his distinctive vocal talent to albums by reggae giants such as Steel Pulse, Horace Andy, Lee “Scratch” Perry, Don Letts, Johnny Clarke, Mad Professor, Hollie Cook, Michael Rose, Creation Rebel, Africa Unite, Awa Fall, African Head Charge, Lion D & Capleton.

Mixed and co-produced by Gaudi at his Metatron Studio in London UK and mastered by Gussie Clarke at Anchor Studios in Kingston Jamaica, ‘Am I the Same Man?’ is more than a cover version, it’s a heartfelt transformation that captures the emotional core of the original song while creating a whole new vibe that speaks to today’s lovers and soul seekers alike.

The B-side presents a meticulously crafted dub version by Gaudi, produced exclusively with analogue equipment and vintage studio hardware. The mix brings forward the intricacies of the original instrumentation and enhances the lyrical elements through spacious delays and warm, analogue textures. Last but not least, in order to maintain the highest level of authenticity and an organic sonic texture, all recordings were done at 432Hz, tuned to resonate naturally.

Chalice Sound next release as a music label is ready!

Following the six tracks previously released under the project MAFIA & FLUXY "MEETS" CHALICE SOUND, it's time for a brand new 7” record with Dean Fraser & Matic Horns. 4 Reggae Legends unite in this new instrumental song.

In addition to the riddim makers that are the backbone of this project; Mafia & Fluxy, this time we have 2 of the greatest Reggae Horns that exist: Dean Fraser on the saxophone & Matic Horns on the trombone.

On the B side we’ll find the track on its Riddim version, a Sound System hit for the best sessions.

A song standing for freedom in this times of war and tribulations; music against slavery & oppression, against racism & inequality.

After years of work, the two labels established by members of the Spanish sound, Cosme Deyah Productions and Infini-T Music merge together for the creation of a series of releases available on digital platforms and some vinyl singles:

Mista-T (Infini-t Music) and Cosme Deyah (Cosme Deyah Productions) have been working together for many years and now by joining efforts, Chalice Sound (est. 2000) is ready for its first releases as a music label.

This project include singles and their dub versions, having all riddims composed by the legendary Reggae musicians Mafia & Fluxy, arrangements by Maga Lion (Emeterians) and mixed by Mario Olivares (Daddy Cobra) at Cobra Studio, Madrid, Spain.

DYSTORTION
Extrawelt's Latest and Longest-Brewing Album Lands This December on Cocoon

In this beautiful world marked by rising chaos, sometimes the simplest way to escape its troubles is through sonic relief. Germany's renowned electronic duo Extrawelt will offer exactly that with their 5th full-length album, DYSTORTION, via Cocoon Recordings this December.

For over two decades, the humble duo behind Extrawelt, who shy away from making music for clicks, have been a steadfast presence in electronic music. Known as serious studio and tour-focused artists who craft timepiece albums, each a work of enduring craft, that go on to create atmospheric, out-of-the-box live acts, they've been shaping and redefining electronica since their first release.


DYSTORTION is their most diverse and evocative album to date. Imagined over six years and shaped by a world in flux through COVID, political upheavals, social media, and AI, it reflects the contrasts and twists we've all felt while offering surges of serenity and hope. From brooding tension to playful relief, it moves through different states in an evolved Extrawelt manner.

The album's opening credit, "Grand Départ," as if a cinematic prelude, invites us into a world of creeping bass, an explicitly Extrawelt sound that's synonymous with the "anti-genre genre" they work within. The album's second track, "Clapland," sees Extrawelt joining forces with Jimi Jules, a name synonymous with excellence in electronic music, creating a rare collaboration that is felt in every note. Soon, the mood shifts into softer melodies as heard in "Surrounded By Miracles," "Hope Sounds Good," and "Sir Stringalot," which bring bright euphorics to balance the darker moments in an album echoed by industrial influences. Later, as "Dystortion" (the album's title track) unfolds, we're drawn into something few electronic artists can create: raw emotion. This is a gritty landscape as reflective as it is pulsing, glitchy, intense, and richly textured.

DYSTORTION is a reflection of a complex, divided world, carried through dramatically with Extrawelt's signature techno tension. Like the world right now, it is full of contradictions, surprises, and moments of introspection, an essential listen for fans of mature electronic music that may or may not need a reminder of why, after 20 years, we're still listening.

“Everything flows – nothing remains, there is only an eternal becoming and changing” is a well-known formulation of the river theory of the Greek philosopher Heraclitus, also known as panta rhei (ancient Greek: πάντα ῥεῖ, “everything flows”). This teaching states that everything in the universe is subject to constant change and that nothing stays the same forever. The metaphor of the river illustrates this: You can't step into the same river twice because both the river and you are constantly changing. The water is constantly flowing, but the river stays in one place. Thus, reality is constantly changing, even if sometimes perceived as constant.”

„Same Same but Different.“ Always different – always the same. Chill-Out DJ Heraklit

For the 26th time, the most consistent of all ambient compilations, in a constant flux of static change, is released on Kompakt. Joining good friends from the early days and reliable confidants are some new additions to the non-hierarchical charts of contemplative rapture culture.

Leading the way is Micå, a Japanese electronic musician whose finely chiseled, graceful musical style has made it onto the new collection with two pieces. Also making his debut is Richard Ojijo, a seasoned sound engineer known, among other things, for his long-standing collaboration with the artist Marcel Odenbach and the Cologne-based label Magazine. Oskø aka Max Hytrek, a multi-talented newcomer to Kompakt and the music scene, debuts with his rapturously ecstatic piece "Ar Vag." He's followed by Sebastian Mullaert, appearing for the second time—this time teamed up with Sebastian Lilja aka Hush Forever. After his surprise return last year after a 20 year hiatus, we are delighted that Tetsuo Sakae aka Pass Into Silence is back again this year with one of his distinctive sound gems. As are Dirk Leyers (Closer Musik) and Mikkel Metal. 18 tracks are featured on this CD. "Erlösung" (Redemption) is the title of Segensklang's closing track. A kind of ambient bolero into infinity. Or at least until next year...

And what would Pop Ambient be without the iconic, artistic cover design of Veronika Unland, who once again, in her unmistakable way, says through the digital flower: The eye always listens...

Building on the foundations of his Braindance Records label (2017–2020), Korean musician Go Dam now presents the second release on Stellar Systems. The Digifuga Series: Stellar EP finds him in interplanetary hyperdrive, charting trails blazed by pioneers from Hashim to Mad Mike to Gerard Hanson.

The four tracks were written in the studio Go Dam built with his own hands in Eulji-ro — once Seoul’s printing district, now a hive of small businesses. That same meticulous, artisanal approach runs through all of his work, whether composing film scores, producing K-Pop for online personalities, or fine-tuning sound systems around the city. The EP opens with the irrepressible electro funk of 'Fevernova', its slapping beat driving growling bass and wide-eyed synths. 'Dream Powder' is a stormy banger, surfing waves of filtered acid and noise before breaking into light. 'Chrono Flux' sustains the high energy, like the soundtrack to an anime motorbike chase at sunset, while 'Quasiverve' drifts into deepest night, its sinuous leads creeping over a stalking bassline.

Blending heavyweight vintage hardware with sharp digital tools, Go Dam conjures an epic widescreen sound that nods both to the sci-fi optimism of early electro and techno and to today’s fractured, machine-mediated music economy.

Sunny Crypt reaches double digits on their release catalogue with a fully remastered new edition of the now sought after debut EP from Most Significant Beat. M.S.B. is an electronic music project active since the early 90s, formed by Maurizio Martinucci and Saverio Evangelista; their first record - originally released by Marco Passarani’s Nature Records in 1994 - is a masterclass in hypnotic patterns, pulsating rhythms and mind-bending leftfield techno. While “Heart Thinks Wide” and “A Flux To Follow” on A side give more breath to lushy textures and classy, dreamy pads, B side
reflects more carefully another aspect of the duo’s background with a rawer, electro leaning, percussion driven sound palette; in fact, both Martinucci and Evangelista have deep roots in the industrial and experimental music scenes. Martinucci has been a member of Clock DVA since 2010, while also working on a wide array of projects including The Anti Group and his solo Pragma alias. Evangelista, on the other hand, has been a core member of the cult industrial outfit Esplendor Geométrico since 1990.

Fetter’s Body of Noise erupts at the threshold between ravey hypnosis and avant-pop experiment, slithering through the hinterlands of unconscious desire. Nine shape-shifting tracks conjure haunted landscapes where beauty refuses clarity and dancefloor logic warps underfoot. Vocals swoon, drift, and demand—stacking into fragments that multiply and weave through saturated pulses and shimmering, snarling synths.

Opening track "Like a Rose" traces a dreamer’s transition into the unstable physics of a perplexing but familiar dream world, where they gradually become lucid. “Beast” follows up humming with shadowed urgency, threading a path through self-sabotage and metamorphosis. “Spathiphyllums” drifts a while in a lush lostness, aching for something new before fracturing into wild, cathartic collapse. Side B’s “Do I Exist? (D.I.E)” and “The Longing” spiral into existential wonder, searching for a human origin story—both personal and collective—against a backdrop of uncertainty, while “Headache” thrusts forward as an absurd and insistent manifesto to stay the course and harness one’s own power within the madness.

Body of Noise is crafted not only for sweating bodies in motion, but for distorting time and opening psychic portals, where surrender becomes strategy and uncertainty transforms into ecstatic navigation. Rooted in all-hardware improvised production and shaped by Fetter’s years of boundary-blurring visual and performance art, their debut LP feels alive and in flux. Reminiscent of a spectral pop chorus trapped in a loop of broken machinery, or a lost broadcast from a dancefloor in a parallel realm, Body of Noise is a journey into chaos, transformation, and a bold refusal to be contained.

About Fetter:
Fetter makes clubby self-destructing noise pop to dance and weep to. Oscillating between ethereal and pounding, their all-hardware, largely improvised live sets take listeners through a foggy wilderness of saturated rhythms and menacing synth lines, a golden voice guiding the way through. Fetter is the stage moniker of multimedia artist Jess Tucker. Their performances take place in clubs as well as galleries, often incorporating video, installation, and interactive performance art elements to create other-worldly surrounds of mesmerizingly unhinged bodies and faces.

The formative years of Hunter Thompson’s music as Akasha System were seeded and shaped by the shrouded meadows and wet woodlands of the Pacific Northwest: Sea Glass, Shadow Self, Echo Earth, Geomind. But pandemic flux flipped the script, prompting a migration to the monsoon tropics of Tampa. Heliocene ushers in a fresh chapter in the Akashic record, recasting the project’s precision synergy of cellular melody, holographic pads, spiral tribalism, and eco-futurist swing for a new solar age.

The album’s eight songs were recorded across 2023 and 2024, inspired by explorations of the many sanctuaries hidden in Florida’s ragged paradise: singing towers, ancient grottoes, emerald lagoons. From vortex house (“Purity Vector,” “Sun Particle”) to mirage electronica (“Haunted Planet,” “Soma Totem”) to hand drum divination (“Terraform Dream”), the sides flow, glow, and gleam, dialed in but dreaming out, tracing radiant waves of the eternal now.

“This album is a meditation to experience where and when you are, fully and wholly, regardless of where the path leads.”

In 2047, amidst the deafening yet oh-so-familiar soundscape of the Movement Festival in Detroit, we met again: I, pdqb, and Scape One, known as two of the most respected electronic music composers worldwide. The air pulsed not only with the latest beats but also with a barely perceptible energy only the two of us knew. We hadn't simply flown in; we'd arrived with our fantastic "Diskmind" time-travel machine, an incredible invention, capable of effortlessly catapulting us through the centuries.

"It's unbelievable, isn't it?" I shouted over the bass, eyebrows raised. "A machine that lets us travel through all of history, and there isn't a single song that honors it! Not one!"
Scape One nodded vigorously, his gaze sweeping over the stage lights. "That's absurd! How can such a revolutionary invention remain unsung? It's almost an insult to music history itself."
We looked at each other, a silent understanding in our gazes. The mission was clear: The "Diskmind" needed its anthems. And who, if not us, who used and loved it, should create them?

And so, we decided to become the musical chroniclers of the "Diskmind," ready to tell the story of our time machine across four different eras...

For Synaptic Cliffs, it's an extraordinary honor to present these three Scape One variations of the original song 'Diskmind' (first released on The Electrifying Dojo, 2025). Each masterpiece was recorded in different future decades of the 21st century (of ourse with the help of the Diskmind time travel machine) and reflects the corresponding trend in electronic music. A1: A timeless, pristine Electro composition from the year 2035. A2: An IDM marvel from late summer 2075, recorded in the Zero gravity of Space Station 775. B: An Experimental Electronica symphony recorded at pdqb's Studio 577 on Mars Outpost 47A. Only musical equipment that doesn't currently exist was used for this release

Death Is Not The End release a second part collecting pre-partition film music, compiled by Gary Sullivan of Bodega Pop.

As the 1940s began, South Asian cinema entered a transformative phase. Playback singing, still a new idea in the previous decade, quickly became standard practice. Actors no longer had to sing, and singers no longer had to act, opening the door to a wave of dedicated vocal talent that redefined the sound of the industry.

Voices like Noor Jehan, Shamshad Begum, and Suraiya rose to prominence, becoming household names across the subcontinent. Behind them, composers like Naushad, Anil Biswas, and Ghulam Haider were expanding the sonic palette of film music, blending ragas with Western orchestration, folk tunes with jazz-era instrumentation. Harmoniums, sarangis, violins, accordions, and clarinets filled out increasingly complex arrangements, while ghazals and qawwalis continued to influence mood and structure.

Although the post-Partition years are often considered to be Bollywood's "Golden Age," thanks to filmmakers like Raj Kapoor, Bimal Roy, and Guru Dutt, the music started its peak just before the divide. By 1947, Naushad and others were producing some of the most emotionally rich and musically intricate work in the industry's history, compositions that would prove challenging to surpass in the decades that followed.

Yet this high point came during a time of immense upheaval. The Second World War, the Bengal famine, and the crumbling of colonial rule all loomed large. Film songs often reflected the uncertainty, sometimes mournful, sometimes romantic, sometimes defiant. And when the Partition finally came, it fractured the world that had created this music. Artists became refugees, studios were split, and careers were thrown into flux. Noor Jehan, who would go on to become Pakistan's most iconic singer, recorded many of her most beloved songs in Bombay. Khursheed, another major star, faded from public life after migrating. K.L. Saigal, a towering figure of the 1930s and '40s, died in Lahore just months before the split.

This collection spans those final years before Partition, a time of creative flowering and looming catastrophe. Like Part 1, these songs were sourced from immigrant-run music shops in New York and New Jersey. They are fragments of a vanishing world, each one a snapshot of the art, longing, and resilience that defined this extraordinary era.

Im Sommer 1968 traf sich der 18-jährige Genesis P-Orridge (damals Neil Andrew Megson) mit Freunden in einem bescheidenen Dachgeschoss, um mit Klängen zu experimentieren. Das Ergebnis war "Early Worm", eine Sammlung von Aufnahmen, die die aufkeimende Kreativität eines Künstlers einfing, der später eine Schlüsselfigur der Avantgarde-Musik werden sollte. Diese Sessions, die 1969 auf ein einziges Acetat gepresst wurden, zeigen eine furchtlose Erforschung von Geräuschen, Improvisationen und Tonbandexperimenten, die Einflüsse von Psychedelia, Fluxus, John Cage und Beatnik Bohemia widerspiegeln. "Early Worm" ist ein Zeugnis für P-Orridges frühes Engagement, musikalische Grenzen zu überschreiten. Die rohen und ungefilterten Klanglandschaften des Albums bieten dem Hörer einen seltenen Einblick in die Gründungsmomente, die schließlich zur Gründung von COUM Transmissions, Throbbing Gristle und Psychic TV führen sollten. Remastered und in einer limitierten Vinyl-Pressung, mit Linernotes geschrieben von Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, die den Zeitgeist des UK Undergrounds der späten 60er Jahre in Erinnerung rufen. "If nothing else, (Early Worm) revealed that P-Orridge's approach to music was defiantly left-field from the start: noise, improvisations and tape experiments that sounded a little like a more chaotic version psychedelic folkies the Incredible String Band." . The Guardian

After what seems like an aeon of anticipation, Yugen Blakrok returns bolder than ever with The Illusion of Being, a raw, fearless exploration of emotion and resilience. This album is a call to triumph. Through poetic lyricism and experimental soundscapes, this project offers the listener a journey into the heart of uncertainty and the power of perseverance. Created and recorded in a world in flux, The Illusion of Being reflects the artist's evolution as a storyteller and resonates directly with the era that shaped her. Driven by incisive lyrics andsoundscapes blending grunge, trip-hop, and 90s spirit, this project tests the boundaries of alternative hip-hop. Here, rhythm speaks louder than reason, and the acceptance of "Being" becomes the thread that ties each track together. This album captures a bold new chapter in Yugen Blakrok's discography. While rooted in the lyrical mastery and poetic precision that fans cherish, it marks a departure from the familiar, embracing a more unfiltered and experimental approach. The collaborations seem purposeful, and match this intensity: Sa-Roc delivers combative and sisterly energy,Cambatta brings his visceral urgency, while Hannah Allen offers a touch both delicate and impactful. Instrumentally, the arrangements dare to break new ground: wailing electric guitars,enchanting flutes, and hypnotic beats create a striking sonic alchemy. As described by Yugen in three words: Free. Involved. Anti.Free from convention. Involved in the fight. Anti-establishment. In many ways this album is a sonic manifesto. Each track resonates as a call to rebellion, an anthem for those who refuse to bow down. The Illusion of Being is not just a work of art; it’s a statement: for freedom, for community, against oppression. A mirror of our collectivestruggles and a light for those who keep moving forward. It promises its listeners a deeply personal connection, offering a glimmer of hope amidst despair and a soundtrack for their fight.

LIVE AT OBLICUO is a label of Abstract Electronica, experimental, downtempo releases. It's a collection of live concerts which takes place at Barcelona's OBLICUO HIFI Bar.

The Easy Mountain Listening album Live at Oblicuo records the performance at OblicuoHIFI in Barcelona on January 5, 2024

The atmosphere is densely populated by a crowd of gentle ghost sounds where uncertainty empowers tranquillity. Music to crack meanings of a deeper sea where broken textures need no repair. Its like Squarepusher in slowmotion is being sucked by Oval most hidden layers. There are no beats, and no easy way out in each these four adventures in the spatial self. Synthetizers sounds like blades floating underwater and the Phoenix will return again after seeming to disappear.

The musical project is called Easy Mountain Listening, and it features Warren Walker on Eurorack and Francesco Geminiani on the Buchla Easel. They both come from the jazz saxophone world, and one summer day in 2023 they got together for the first time to experiment with synthesizers. They recorded for a few hours and that first session, completely improvised, was magical. Something really fit, and that recording became their debut album, published on Foehn Records in June 2024.

Warren Walker
Tenor Saxophonist, synthesist, composer and producer Warren Walker comes from Grass Valley, California before moving to Paris, France in 2007. He operates in an effervescent musical universe that is in constant flux and infuses jazz with widescreen inspirations.

Francesco Geminiani
Tenor Saxophonist, electronic musician and composer Francesco Geminiani comes from beautiful Verona (IT) before moving to Switzerland, NYC and Paris. An endless musical curiosity drives him across styles and melodies, sharing the stage with great human beings across the New and the Old World. Inspired by the masters, he embraces impressionism to connect with the curious listener.

The album from an association of Ukrainian artists called Noneside brought musicians and painters together under the famous words of the writer Taras Shevchenko and his poem "Make love, o dark-browed ones..". The painting by contemporary figurative artist Iryna Maksymova frames the trance and tech house music of such performers as Shjva (Warning, Terra Magica, Viscera), Lostlojic (Secret Feta, Infinite Pleasure, Deeptrax), Saturated Color (Neptune Discs, Nerang), Peshka (Visionquest, Re.Face, Banoffee Pies) and Yevhenii Loi. Mastered by Taras Bril, also typefaces of Ivan Tsanko-Khlibovych used in design. First of all, this is the music of love and unity, wherever you are - at home in the kitchen or on the big festival dance floor - common feelings will unite you and spin you in a crazy rhythm, and will make you understand that we are not strangers. Together we dance for a better future!

LIMITED POSTER EDITION (inclusive stickers)

Get ready for The Electro Guilde V on Zodiak Commune Records, featuring:

Robodrum - Call Me Bitch: Sharp electro beats, electrifying basslines and Commanding vocals.
RedJack - Call The Monster: Dark, ominous basslines to awaken the beast in you.
Baka - Flux: Smooth, futuristic grooves that pull you in.
Baka - Androids Hate Marching: Electrifying beats and razor-sharp rhythms.

These tracks are set to dominate the dance floor-don't miss them!

Since his early days at Chain Reaction, K. Soublis (Fluxion) has carved his own unique style, combining elements of dub, ambient, techno, score, textural, and even jazz elements, all glued together with his distinct production aesthetic.

Haze is a broad selection of pieces that was recorded between 2023- 2024. The music is moving from more slow cyclic compositional pieces on Life Motif, Nexus, Desiderium, to ambient dub pieces, on Magenta and Touch, on to more euphoric and uplifting ones on Footsteps, Berlin and What Tommorow Brings, reflecting on artist's need to tell stories. As a whole Haze showcases the artist's versatility on moving and combining different genders with his own distinct crafted sound, bringing a bold always fresh unique view, making the album an indulging and intriguing listening experience as a whole.

Fluxion has managed to constantly adding to his sound through the years always evolving and Haze is a testament of his restless nature and the artist's need to move towards more uncharted territories without alienating the listener.

The second instalment from London Odense Ensemble digs deeper into the group's vision of what modern psychedelic jazz should sound like. Cut from the same sessions as Jaiyede Sessions vol. 1, released last summer, vol. 2 presents a more nuanced approach to the material. On this set the ensemble focuses on shorter, layered pieces - travelling from deep spiritual jazz grooves to gorgeous free-flowing minimalism to full-on acid jazz. There's echo-drenched flutes being absorbed into layers of analog synth pads and guitars, bossa beats and double bass sequences merging with electronics. It’s an intoxicating mélange of sounds and styles, spanning wide temporal and geographical distances. London Odense Ensemble came together when two of the finest exponents of London's flourishing jazz scene, flautist and saxofonist Tamar Osborn and keyboard specialist Al MacSween, came over to Denmark to explore new sounds with Causa Sui's Jakob Skøtt and Jonas Munk, as well as local bass player Martin Rude. For two days the group laid down grooves and ideas and experimented in the studio, and later the best segments were edited and mixed by Jonas Munk, who took a somewhat liberal approach to the mixing process, often dyeing the material with external effects and synthesizers. Jaiyede Sessions are the kinds of records that defy genre-terms, yet have its own instantly recognizable fingerprint. It carries a unique shared vision between the players of what modern psychedelic jazz sounds like. bios: Tamar Osborn: Saxophonist, composer and multi-wind instrumentalist is the creative force behind modal jazz ensemble Collocutor (On The Corner Records). She is a member of the Dele Sosimi Afrobeat Orchestra, performs and collaborates regularly with Sarathy Korwar, Jessica Lauren, Emanative, Ill Considered and DJ Khalab. Al MacSween: Keyboard player & founding member of Kefaya. Collaborations include American jazz legend Gary Bartz, Syrian qanun master Maya Youseff, London Community Gospel Choir, Palestinian jazz singer Reem Kelani & kora player Kadialy Kouyate. Martin Rude: Multi-string instrumentalist & lead singer in Sun River & Edena Gardens with members of Papir & Causa Sui. Jakob Skøtt: Drummer in Causa Sui with a slew of side projects on El Paraiso, including Chicago Odense Ensemble, as well as being responsible for the label’s visuals. Jonas Munk: Guitarist in Causa Sui & studio wizard on most releases on El Paraiso. Also works with a wide palette of electronic music.

Part 3 of tech house pioneer Terry Francis’ All & All compilation of seminal UK Acid tracks is here.

Of the highest quality, these tracks are now officially remastered and reissued for this exclusive release, so no more eye watering Discogs prices.

A very rare chance to get Terry’s most sought after tracks that won’t be reissued again anytime soon.

Life might be a predominantly linear affair, but when lived right, it’s nevertheless a turbulent experience. It’s a system of trial and error, ebb and flow, order and chaos, action and reaction. And paradoxically, this system somehow still feels balanced amid all this turmoil. In fact, the same can be said about Keope’s second longplayer for Bigamo. Easily.

Keope might be a duo consisting of Marcus Rossknecht and Toni Bruna, but they actually sound like a collective of rather nomadic - and heavily gifted - musicians on their ever-present quest to reach different musical spheres. Everything is in motion, everything is in constant flux. Everything, everywhere, all at once. Their previous record “Triangulo“ already provided the audience an idea of their elaborate rhythmic vocabulary, but it’s the cryptically titled “Flikka Flokka“, which sees their multilayered compositions bloom into a fully-formed, new musical Esperanto.

You can immediately sense that Keope must be a phenomenal live act because the twelve tracks on “Flikka Flokka“ sound as if they were born from endless jam sessions fueled by a whole variety of influences. As a result, the work of Rossknecht and Bruna presents itself as a prime example of sound in motion that responds solely to its very own pulse by taking the aforementioned influences and making them completely their own. Now, let’s dance!

More than a decade after the release of ´Land Lines', the mythical Humboldt County, California based duo of Brian Pyle and Merrick McKinlay reappears seemingly out of nowhere with 'Atheistsaregods'. With past releases on such cult-like labels as Root Strata, Weird Forest, Blackest Rainbow or Digitalis, Starving Weirdos were an indelible part of a sprawling and loose network of artists in Northern America whose DIY work ethic and extreme activity revolved around shoestring-budget constant touring, numerous limited editions on CDR, tape and vinyl and a relentless drive to push the boundaries of genre.

Out of that cauldron, Starving Weirdos stood out as one of the most persistent and visionary acts, developing a mind altering body of work that went from warm soundscapes through droney digressions, freeform improvisation and raucous noise summoned from a myriad of instrumentation and low budget processing - vocals, keyboards, violin, flute, percussion and an assortment of less identifiable sound sources. 10 years on their legacy remains a timeless and wildly under-appreciated one, but hopefully this new album will shine a light on their idiosyncratic approach. As time itself was never a constraint. This is music suspended outside of it.

Right from the start with the echoing percussion, dissonant keys and processed vocals of 'Haiku Nagasaki', 'Atheistsaregods' draws a continuous flux of psychedelic elevation that goes from the gloomy electronic motifs not unlike the early Cluster vibes of 'Invocation' into the dank percussive maze of the appropriately titled 'Barulho do Samba'. The self titled track induces a sense of post-apocalyptic vertigo via hallucinatory scraps of voice, suspended synth tones and reverberating field recordings, connecting into the droney mystics of 'Dudukahar (Reed Prayer)'. Coming full circle, 'For Vinny' brings back the echoing percussion amidst hypnotic cello lines until it drifts off into the unknown. With the same palpable sense of urgency, Starving Weirdos feel as vital as ever. And even if we didn't realize it we were in need of them. Welcome back.

La Monte Young was a primary influence on Minimalism, the Fluxus movement and performance art through his legendary compositions of extended time durations and the development of just intonation and rational number based tuning systems. With wife and collaborator, artist Marian Zazeela, they would formulate the composite sound environments of the Dream House. Seeing reissue for the first time since its initial 1969 release, Young and Zazeela's first full-length album is often referred to as »The Black Record« due to Zazeela's stunning cover design, complete with the composer's liner notes in elegant hand-lettered script.