Beats News

2023 repress - Splatter Vinyl

Ende September 2017 veröffentlicht Iglooghost sein Debütalbum 'Neo Wax Bloom', zwei Jahre nach seinem Einstand als Teenager, der - Chinese Nü Year' EP, auf Flying Lotus' Brainfeeder Label. Darauf dokumentierten vier Tracks die abenteuerlichen Zeitreisen eines wurmartigen Wesens aus Gelatine namens - Xianhjiao'. Diese Geschichte wird nun auf 'Neo Wax Bloom' weitererzählt: zwei gigantische Augäpfel prallen unerwartet auf die mysteriöse Welt Mamu. Über die elf Tracks baut Iglooghost einen typisch intensiven, hysterischen und vollkommen durchgeknallten Soundtrack auf, bei dem er neue Charaktere in seine fantastische Welt einführt und außerdem seine alten Freunde Mr. Yote und Cuushe zurückholt.

the debut release of shanghai based producer “knopha” on mule musiq.
we loved his release “nothing nil” on eating music.
our friend yusu introduced him to us and he sent us very beautiful musics.
it’s an oriental beautiful new age music.
kuniyuki made a magical remix.
hope you like it

Kübler-Ross is a minimal synth/wave/industrial three-piece from Glasgow, Scotland, featuring Craig Clark, Katie Shannon, and veteran electronic producer and remixer producer Dave Clark, best-known for his Sparky moniker, and as one-half of the production/remix team Optimo (Espacio).

First emerging in 2015 with a couple of compilation appearances, Kübler-Ross released their debut, self-titled album in 2020. Originally released as a limited-edition cassette on the Glasgow label Akashic Records, the album — now resequenced and released on vinyl via Suction Records’ minimal synth sublabel Ice Machine — is a collection of tracks recorded over a three year period in a variety of studios, rehearsal rooms, and gigs, documenting the musical variety and ferocity of their incendiary live performances. The Akashic tape, despite being low-key, under-the-radar, and released in limited quantity, managed to earn them a Long List nomination for SAY (Scottish Album of the Year) for 2020.

Standout cut “Bridges”, first released in 2015, is synthpop perfection — sitting comfortably alongside classics from the first wave of UK electronic classics by Thomas Leer and Robert Rental, John Foxx, and even early Depeche Mode. It’s not the only synthpop track on the record, but the album is dominated by a more tough, raw, and punk spirit, featuring aggressive female vocals, live drums + bass guitar, and judicious use of crude analog synthesizers and tape delay fx. Think Liaisons Dangereuses meets Suicide, and you’re beginning to get close…

Available digitally, and on limited vinyl LP in a reverse-board jacket, and includes a Bandcamp download card inside.

“Together” is the third collaborative album by Frederik Valentin & Loke Rahbek, following 2020's “Elephant” and 2017's “Buy Corals Online”. The album was originally conceived in response to a commission by the Danish documentary festival CPH:Dox to create an alternate soundtrack to Chris Marker’s sublime documentary travelogue from 1983, “Sans Soleil”. Lo-fi vignettes of guitar and field recordings are presented alongside electroacoustic experiments, as enchanting invitations to rhythmical synthetic worlds, with each finding poise about Marker's meditation on the nature of human memory. With acoustic instruments treated digitally and instrumental performances reinterpreted, “Together” travels the lush path of their earlier works to new destinations. The album unfolds like a series of postcards, its colours bleached by the sun and its stories told with blurry fragments. Behind the details, the ruling stories are seamlessly enjoyed if not intimately entwined. On bike in the city, swimming in the harbour, birch trees, kissing, first teenage acid trip, experiencing the oneness of life in a messy adolescent apartment. Stargazing eye-to-eye, every face seems familiar. Colourful blankets, being broke, feeling joyous, sandals, a fountain, flowers. Preteens high on soda with joy-blushed skin. Like Marker, Together travels in time to revisit lost emotions. The inner cosmology of Valentin & Rahbek's work is that of naturalistic reportage just gently sprayed by the crashing tide of psychedelic curiosity. “Together” is about finding the miraculous in the ordinary. It's about trying to find composure in a world where suffering and ecstasy live as next door neighbours. It's about how we are dying even as we tremble with as much life as we've ever felt. Valentin's long wake of solo works and collaborations include his productions with Yung Lean (as Jonatan Leandoer127) for the album “Nectar”, as well as their joint commission for Sweden's Cullberg Ballet, and most recently includes last year's exquisite double EP “0011001/ 0011000” for Posh Isolation. For more than a decade, Rahbek has been making electronic music as Croatian Amor and a wealth of other monikers. He has been running Posh Isolation with Christian Stadsgaard since 2009. The cover features the work of Copenhagen-based photographer Halfdan Venlov, portraying the city's youth in a cemetery in central Copenhagen, and forms part of his ongoing series “Under Heaven”. The sunny meeting against unkept headstones and weathered memorials is an evocative companion to the blissful details “Together” encloses.

Blargh! We are back with a EP from Marius Mane, with features by Stockholm royalty Dr. Echoe & Natty Silver. This 27 minute record will break your looping mind into pieces, it will make you sing soothing songs in someone’s ear and force your body into movement. You better just surrender to the feeling. GET IN THE GAME!

For his twelfth studio album, Pianissimo, Matthias Vogt (re:jazz, Motorcitysoul) makes a clear political statement in symbiosis with his well-placed notes and the stylishly experimental and pronouncedly eclectic electro-jazz sound. Pianissimo does not only mean playing very softly but also playing very intensively. It is definitely not an album to skip through.

Matthias Vogt combines great music with current socio-political attitudes and issues for this new album. He conducted interviews on topics like “climate change” with people from his circle of friends and acquaintances - creatives, artists, activists and musicians who tick similarly to himself and with whose voices he could give expression and form to his own thoughts. With this material, he created this hybrid piece of music and socio-political reflexion.

His companions are Demian Kappenstein (ÄTNA & Massa) on drums & guitarist Daniel Stelter (Sing mein Song, TV-Total Heavytones). Vinyl incl. the outer packaging will be produced on a completely recycled basis by INFRACom! which starts its 30 years celebration with this release.

Peter Saville says of Sub-Culture "LABEL ONLY was specified in 1985 due to time pressure around the original release and as a consequence, a sleeve design for the re-release has no actual precedent. However, exploring the principle 'the solution is in the problem’ has led to the subliminal evocation of a sleeve that is still LABEL ONLY”.

20 years in the sound system game, 20 years of musical back-catalogue, 20 years setting fire to dance floors and elaborating their unique dub sound heavily soaked in reggae and bass music. Since the 70s, much like reggae, dub has been through non-stop mutations leaving its impact on the course of music evolution, and O.B.F Sound System are spearheading the genre’s recent growth; a style born from the underground that has discretely influenced the development of electronic music. Straight outta the French Alps, stemming from the core of Geneva’s alternative scene, one of the most warrior sound systems of the continent has established itself as an irresistible magnetic phenomenon.

On “LAVA” O.B.F continue their sonic ascension. Reaching a new milestone in their endless quest in dub music, unmistakably forward-thinking and bursting with modern influences. At the crossroads between contemporary urban sounds, bass music, club music and dancehall, LAVA's dub is heavy, undiluted. No half-stepping, O.B.F demonstrate how they whip up sound matter, how they fry up music in order to make big sound systems smoke.

‘LAVA’ is the O.B.F crew in fusion; consisting of its stellar team of MCs and renown solo- producer Rico; together concocting spontaneous studio eruptions. It’s the raw energy of a tight-knit family, a collection of 16 tracks of pure volcanic matter slapped onto wax. One after another or as a duo Belén Natalí (Argentina), Charlie P (UK), Sr. Wilson (Spain), Junior Roy (France) and the late great dub poet Nazamba (Jamaica) take turns blowing fire into the microphone. English, French, Jamaican Patois and Spanish collide, affirming O.B.Fs transnational identity.

An uncontrollable crew that controls the dance, their unity, clashes, sweaty sound system sessions are all put together into one project. O.B.F paint their vision onto a range of musical canvases; "LAVA" brazenly portrays new facets of one of the most exciting dub sounds in existence: the O.B.F Sound. Ah O.B.F ting dis!

A collection of loops recorded between 2016-2021.

The first full-length vinyl collection by Tokyo-based producer Zefan Sramek aka Precipitation crystallizes his evolving synthesis of new age ambience, tape hiss, and house music into a riveting suite of motion and mirage: Glass Horizon.

Conceived and recorded between two formative trips to Sado Island in the spring and late summer of 2020, the album feels both insular and infinite, threading paths through wet grass, along isolated coasts. Field recordings of tidepools, birds, and cicadas crossfade into fluid mandalas of bass, keys, and drum machinery, while synths glide and glisten, rising like heat off sand.

Sramek speaks of themes of escape and estrangement, solace and desolation, visions of azure waters lapping empty shores. Weeks spent sleeping in a hammock attuned him to the extrasensory; melodies and memories materialized from the foliage, suffused with ocean air and placeless melancholy. All seven tracks swoop and swirl with patience and precision, grid-mapped golden dawns and gradient sunsets mixed live and captured on cassette. This is dance music as portal and pilgrimage, spiral environments for a refracted age.

Live electronics duo REKK&KUTOBOY provides raw electronic manipulations, femme noise, and off-kilter dance extravaganza for a self-titled EP on Attention Management.

Katya Rekk and Ilya Kutoboy have been playing live shows for years and cut their teeth on the local improv, noise, and experimental scene in several projects and collaborations. Ranging from unholy fx-scape crackers to haunted lullabies but mostly striking as kinetic grooves, the band embodies a heavy, amplified synth sound, sitting somewhere between machine sequencing, processed vocalizations and use of DIY electronics. The enfant terrible of Katya's grrrl high-energy and improvisational tactics paired with Ilya's mutant beats blends into an idiosyncratic sonic realm that empowers you in its own way.

Blurb:
A confident, two track release, cut loud to a split 12” from Meat Beat Manifesto & ScanOne
Following on from featuring together on the Yellow Machines BLE-EP series.

Bleeps, Breaks, Space and Bass.

Meat Beat Manifesto's ‘Into The Sun’ kicks off pulsing techno and IDM spasms against evocative NASA samples, the track evolves into a frenzied and unstable tower of wonky jungle break edits and heavy sub sweeps threatening imminent collapse. Weaving the contrasting rhythms with a narrative of eerie analogue pads and incidental atmospherics, Jack Dangers delivers a striking and fresh piece reminiscent of mid 90s left field rave acts such early Plug, Bedouin Ascent, and Law & Auder crew, both in their worldly experimental stylings as well as their forward-leaning progressivism.

ScanOne’s track ‘Secondary Loop’ is a seven minute galactic adventure of a slightly less hectic pace, and a brighter array of scenery. With a firm thematic nod to that 89 / 90, pre-hardcore sound exemplified by the likes of 808 State, FSOL, and Orbital, the voyage is signposted by chunky, shuffling breaks, glowing invigorating rave pads and sparkling arpeggiated sequences, built for those peak dance moments, light and dark, sundown or sunrise.

Matching breezy, Bossa nova-tinged sophistication with softly spiralling psychedelia, Testbild! arrive in the Quindi lounge as though they've always been there. On their 12th album, Bed Stilt, the Swedish collective cast their attention back to the earlier days of their 25-year trip through sweetly mysterious pop-not-pop rendered in warm tones and shot through with surrealism. It's tricky to get a precise fix on the story and structure of Testbild! The project was spearheaded by Petter Herbertsson in his hometown of Malmö in the late 90s, although the story on their website credits the inspiration and source material to a chance meeting and unpublished manuscript from a retiring scientist. The collective's evolution since then is a tangled web of facts and fiction spun by a revolving cast of collaborators including Siri af Burén, Katja Ekman, Rikard Heberling, Douglas Holmquist, Mattias Nihlén and Petter Samuelsson. Along the way, their music has touched on chamber pop, post-punk and modern jazz with the elaborate harmonies and catchy songwriting charm of the Canterbury scene. The tracks which make up Bed Stilt were in fact track recorded in Malmö back in the mid- 00s, lying in wait for the right opportunity to be brought to light with some delicate overdubs and finishing flourishes in the here and now. The core musicians working on the record were Herbertsson and Douglas Holmquist on a similarly expansive list of vocals, guitars, bass, synths and keys, Siri af Burén on lead vocals and Mattias Nihlén on synths and additional mixing. Meanwhile Tomas Bodén - better known as Civilistjavel - lent some additional synth work as well as mastering the record. Musically, Testbild! stay true to their idiosyncratic approach on Bed Stilt with six immaculately rendered sojourns through lilting harmonies and brushed rhythms, feeling nostalgic but beguiling in equal measure. Theirs is a luxurious sound, not least on the opening strains of 'The First New Years Eve,' which purrs to life draped in silky Rhodes and chiming vibes. Behind this comfortable veneer the enigmatic lyrical themes unfurl through Herbertsson, Holmquist and af Burén's vocal harmonies like fractalized puzzles waiting to be solved. The finger-picking delicacy and languid harmonica of 'Streams' strike a pastoral mood neatly countered by the elegant slide into dislocated ambience for the track's final stretch. By contrast, 'And Her Eyes Are Red' surges with a big beat urgency which plays beautifully with the mellow jazziness of the chord sequences, boldly toying with song structure to dart down curious tangents without losing the immediate impulse of a great pop record. Somewhere in this tension between clarity and chaos we can understand the addictive charm of Testbild! - a band steeped in the considerable craft of making accomplished and unconventional music so very easy to sink into. If that doesn't make for a perfect addition to the Quindi catalogue, we don't know what does.

You know it's a guarantee when we welcome back the legendary Breakbeat Junkie to represent the 14th installment of the Toxic Funk series that things will be all about the Party rocking Breaks!

The Breakbeat Junkie has been around since the early nu funk days as a solo producer and as part of the dynamic duo Second Hand Audio, who has dropped various classic releases on both BBP and the Ghetto Funk label.

Toxic Funk Vol. 14 features 2 golden funky cuts from the beat master, which will be sure to get the party rocking anywhere its dropped.

Lately The Breakbeat Junkie has been stable with his bootleg jams on Craig Charles Funk and Soul show on BBCand we know these cuts will go down perfect with the big jams played on this show.

Another timeless 7- inch donut that will be going quick so get it while you can and look out for more Toxic Funk coming very soon…

Following their first album in 2016, The Pilotwings are back – having gone from two to three members - with the LP « Les Charismatiques » on the infamous Brothers From Different Mothers label.

As witty and sparkling as ever, the trio’s given birth to a 2020 millesime that dares to oscillate from synth-pop to digit dub, psych-rock and new-age ; combining acoustic sounds with traditional music, all tainted with an 80s summer-hit influence…

As whacky as it may sound at first listen through its melting-pot of personal anecdotes and dated corporate speeches, the album does succeed in avoiding the totally-offbeat ; by adjusting sensibilities and altering the way one listens to music these days, these tracks transcend and fly. Guided by anti-conformist synth-sounds, « Les Charismatiques » embarks on the path towards the gilded light of remission and spiritual rebirth !

New collaborations have also emerged on this album from long-lasting friendships but also impromptu meetings, with HAJJ firstly, the Dawn Records’ boss who needs no introduction, but also with their Lyon friend Amélie Arcuri alias Bigoudi, half of Schmilblick ; or more surprising, with the cult underground figure of Robert Lapassenkoff, crooner and singer from the 80s band of the same name who’s been recently re-issued on vinyle before joining the Pilotwings on tour.

5 years later the Pilotwings are back on BFDM with an album that seems ripe for tasting, like a fine wine with a mouthful of flavors.

Following the success of Special Touch - Garden of Life, Heels & Souls Recordings kick off their 12” reissue series with an EP of digger delights from Frankfurt’s under-the-radar production trio of Manfred Holz, Michael Buchner and Jürgen Blömke.

One side contains the instantly absorbing, late '80s electro nugget, 'Steal It An' Deal It', from the aptly named The Soundstealers. Cruisin the slow lane at 100BPM, an idiosyncratic blend of samples, sound effects and percussive flourishes, underpinned by chest rumbling bassweight, guarantees dancefloor bedlam whether drawing for the dance or dub mix.

On the flip, you’re treated to obscure acid chugger ‘Amazonia’. Originally created for the opening credits of a ‘90s German nature documentary ‘Wunder Wildnis’ (seriously), the breakbeat-driven dance mix stomps through the undergrowth, acidic arps and pan flutes fizzing across the forest canopy. Heels & Souls pass the baton to London’s Good Block for the home stretch, the tropical twosome reworking the bassline and sprinkling some synth wizardry for a remix that grooves off over the horizon.

These hard-to-find, pricey gems have been fully licensed from the trio, with weighty remasters courtesy of Cicely Balston. 20% of profits from Heels & Souls Recordings and Prime Direct Distribution will be donated to Papyrus, a UK charity dedicated to the prevention of young suicide.

Tim Sweeney - Love this one!

Luke Unabomber - Reminds me of new beat vibes which I've loved for 32 years !!!!! Wonderful stuff

Mr Scruff - Sunshine EBM/new beat/art of noise styles, nice!

Eamon Harkin (Mister Saturday Night) - Keep up the good work!

Charlie Bones - Nice work on the charity stuff, good choice.

Yu Su - I've been loving that Amazonia track and wow there is a rework version!

Paramida - They all sound great!

Millos Kaiser - nice pick! love this one too

Bianca Lexis - i love these tracks :)

Jimpster - That Good Block remix is great

Max Essa - Fantastic!

Selvagem - Nice! Love that Soundstealers track

Dar Disku - Such an awesome release!

Willie Graff - This second release does not disappoint either! Had my eye on The Soundstealers release for a while, so its great this gets another life. Great new beat style sound...Can only imagine how people would of danced to this one at Glory's in Ibiza. I've been playing the original of 'Amazonia' also, such a great tune. The Good Block boys did an amazing job in transforming it too. Absolutely love it!

Oyvind Morken - Great stuff guys

Dave Harvey - These are wicked!

Moving Still - New release is fire!!!! Cant wait to lob this out on radio

Repress

Tricky returns with his 13th album, Ununiform, out in September on his own label False Idols via !K7 Music. It's a delicate, storming, intricate album that sees Tricky take perhaps his most radical step yet - a journey into happiness and contentment. It's a record that shows the legendary British producer confront his legacy, history, family - even death itself. And in all of this, he finds the strangest, least familiar thing - peace. Full world tour to support release.Appearance in FKA Twigs recent Nike campaign. Features first track with Maxinquaye famed singer Martina Topley-Bird since 1995.

2024 Reissue

Steadfast in its ideals, Repertoire has never strayed from its roots, and today goes from strength to strength as jungle's golden age influences a new generation.

We've tasked some of the most influential producers on the jungle circuit with re-imagining classic tracks from our back catalogue.
This is Repertoire 10/20.

Featuring remixes from scene trailblazers such as Dead Man's Chest, Sonar's Ghost, Double-O, Friske, AU & Jesta, and more.

Third round of material approved by QC

Back in 2011, the REPITCH label debuted with "REPITCH 000", a brief compilation that featured tracks from the three originators: Pasquale Ascione (Ascion), Davide Carbone (D. Carbone), Nino Pedone (Shapednoise). Since then, the imprint has been a key player on techno's experimental fringes, pushing music that joins the dots between industrial, noise, bass, and hard dance. In ten years, they've released music from artists like Sote, Zenker Brothers, AnD, Sleeparchive, Regis, and VTSS, and to celebrate their anniversary, REPITCH has fittingly assembled another forward-thinking selection of tracks following on from 2017's acclaimed "Dys Functional Electronic Music."

"Dys Functional Electronic Music X" is a state of the union from Ascione, Carbone, and Pedone that highlights not only their label's scope but its intentions for the future. Ten years in, the trio are just as motivated by broadening club music's horizons as they are filling dancefloors, and that's never more obvious than on opening track 'Mastice Riddim (VIP Mix)' from Shapednoise and Gabber Eleganza. The two producers meet at the exact intersection of their styles, with Pedone splitting Alberto Guerrini's fictile trance arpeggios using his patented hi- definition sound design and trunk-rattling drill rhythms.

TSVI and Randomer excavate a similar mid-point on 'Overbite,' following on from 2021's "Reflex" EP with a booming, mindboggling fusion of warehouse techno and cybernetic dancehall. Pasquale Ascione's contribution 'Plugged (Heavy- Rotation Mix)' is a disarming future-retro cut, distorting vintage breaks with psychedelic bleep techno synths, while Carbone's 'Hypnotic Experimental Dance' does precisely what it promises, blotting grinding hardstyle kicks into dissonant waves of psychedelic electronics. Los Angeles ravers Baseck and Aura T-09 throw shades over the Cali sunshine on 'Angelz', losing gabber rhythms in tweaked DSP fizz but never dropping the crucial momentum.

On the flip side, Italian mainstay DJ Plant Texture turns in a breakbeat slow- burner that sounds like Sheffield via Rotterdam but never dips into empty nostalgia. Russia's versatile Buttechno, meanwhile, brings a weightless sensibility to progressive minimal, layering cauterized harmonics over driving warehouse kicks and dreaming gently of the big room. The compilation switches gears at this point, centering a pair of rave-ready hard dance constructions from fwd-thinking Greek producers DJ Loser and MarcelDune, before grinding to a halt on sci-fi-tinged closer 'Digital Hoarder' from Low Income $quad's Strahinja Arbutina.

Hugging the bend and blowing kisses since 2012, Antinote has been a vessel of choice for lovers of left-of-centre dance music and retro-laced boogie. Covering a supremely wide range of styles, the Parisian outlet has carved out a musical lane truly its own by putting on a nonstop celebration of electronics’ inexhaustible power of enthralment. A pledge of quality-driven curation and never-ending search for the next thrill that’s proven untiringly relevant throughout the years and opens onto its second decade of existence with equal panache.

Toasting to its ten years splashing the game with continuously reasserted outsider bravura, label captain Zaltan has bottled some of the finest expressions out Antinote’s versatile vaults of sound to form the present “X” compilation, “ten years of loving notes and foolin around 2012-2022". From totem animal IUEKE’s oddball musique concrète (“fiano-church") to the candid synth-pop of Lithuanian outfit Domenique Dumont (“La Dolce Vita"), via Feminielli’s outré mix of ghetto-house and ominous croon (“Nobody’s Boy”) and Tel-Aviv vibist Alek Lee’s signature synth-splattered 80s wave (“Different Plans”), it’s a smorgasbord of colours and vibrations that prepares to avalanche across your sound system.

Take the esoteric shoegaze of Epsilove, Shelter and Thomas Riguelle (“From The Spaceship in My Room”) and prepare to move upstream a river of saturated guitars and all-engulfing reverbs; let Low Jack’s jagged floor aggressor drill a hole in your head (“Feel 2020”) or opt for further ankle-breaking UK-bass-influenced riddim traction from DK & Geena (“BelleTech One”). A further cosmic-friendly epic, Chimère FM (I:Cube!) embarks us on a ride near Saturn’s belt (“La Genèse du Monstre à Suze") whereas former Antinote apprentice River Yarra snipes a hail of Italo-informed arpeggios and giallo-esque bass murk to compelling effect (“Blooms”) and L.I.E.S. head honcho Ron Morelli goes all in with a formidable, old-school dusty house chugger (“Tribute”).

There’s obviously more to "Antinote X" than the sum of its parts, and Jean Luc’s post-Plantasia jazz hybrid (“La Truite”), Arabica’s decadent, anti-colonial spoken number (“Multo Storia") or fellow Antinote in-house visual designer Nico Motte’s vintage disco churner (“All The Money In The World”) are there to attest. Not to forget Panoptique, up with a lashing, dissonant treat for the senses (“Un Licenciement”), Leo Martelli under guise as Sammy Patanegra with a tribal jacking weapon (“Maria”), Pont Levis floating into emotional hyperspace (“L’Espace et le Coeur de L'Âme”), Trigger Moral in with a marvel of a hip-hop gem emerged from some retro-futuristic wormhole (“soul assssn”) and Laporte rounding it off downtempo, modular ambient style for good measure (“Sleepers”). Ten years on, Antinote still leading the pack.

Superb Sound design... bass minimal dancefloor beats for electro to drum& bass temps !Birlliant sound as well as brilliant dj tool !!

Superb ambient Drum & Bass oldschool tekstep on some point... FINE STUF !!

Electro-Bass minimal music... Leftfield Dubstep ?

After his remix for Keita Sano's 'Legacy For Leyton' EP in 2022, Tokyo-based Dayzero is back on Row with a four-track EP. Drawing inspiration from his urban surroundings, the ‘Lurking in the City’ EP is a multi-tempo’d playground for dynamic rhythms and effects. This EP sets another highlight in his growing discography, including releases on Livity Sound, ZamZam, Vomitspit, Sentry Records, the Chikara Project, and Nostrohoodsystem.

Dope On Plastic a fresh new name in the jungle scene hauling from New York, but already making big waves among labels and DJ's across the pond in UK and Europe, with their ruff oldskool sounds and absolutely mental break choppage!
Definitely one to watch out for and happy to have their first release be on the Ruff 'N Tuff label.

Greg Foat is a London-based keyboardist, composer, bandleader and DJ. He claims his life-long love/hate relationship with the piano began at age 3, when he fell off a piano stool at his aunt's house. He started composing around age 11, and at 15 attended a jazz workshop with Jeff Clyne, Olaf Vas, Trevor Tomkins and Nick Weldon, igniting his obsession with jazz music. He furthered to study jazz at Middlesex University, and then studied for 6 months in Sweden on an Erasmus grant. He played his first professional studio session there at 21, and has been working as a professional musician ever since.

Snake Plant Shuffle and Spider Plant Blues are inspired by the the plants on Gregs bedside tables - which periodically move around the house dependent on his mood. The plants provide a good source of oxygen in the room and create a calm soothing atmosphere for Gregs musical projects. Together the tracks feature live drum kits by Ayo Salawu, Fender Rhodes and a plethora of Vintage Synthesisers.

Snake Plant Shuffle has had radio plays in Gemany, Poland and Canada, as well as being heavily featured in Amazon Music's Jazz playlists, including 'Fresh Jazz', 'Coffee Shop Jazz' and 'Café Jazz'. Both tracks are featured in Apple Music' 'Jazz Scene: UK' and 'New Latitudes' playlists.

Young LA star, Justin Jay, has already caught the ears of DJs and fans worldwide and released on the likes of dirtybird and Culprit. Last year, Jay shared an EP of deep house gold on Shall Not Fade sister label Lost Palms. Now he returns on their bass-oriented sublabel Time Is Now.

Hypnotized EP is a fun, breaks heavy romp featuring rave powerhouse trio Denham Audio and a remix by jungle mainstay Tim Reaper. From the off the energy is high, the title track rolling out pitched vocals and dramatic drops. "I Know" is ever more frenetic, breaks cascading over one another to a fever pitch, while Denham Audio collab "Swarm" brings out 303s and dramatic sub bass wobbles for a tour-de-force of hardcore dance vibes. Rising lofi house producer Angelo Jsn gives a euphoric, breathless edge to "Burgundy", an emotive space age trance number. Tim Reaper's untameable refix of "Swarm" keeps the heart racing to the end.

Butterflies go through a four-staged life cycle: egg, caterpillar, pupa (chrysalis) and then adult as a butterfly. The transformation from caterpillar to butterfly happens in the chrysalis where the caterpillar body dies to give life to a new, beautifully winged body. This album is an ideal soundtrack to this amazing phenomena, a representation to inner transformation and deep evolution.

The new LP by Krefeld-born, Berlin-based artist Philipp Otterbach entitled 'The Dahlem Diaries'.

Recorded in a little-visited corner of the German capital, 'The Dahlem Diaries' is a convergence of ideas, sketches and tracks, both old and new, most of which were produced between 2020-2022. Whilst eerie atmospheres, electronics and drums have played a pivotal role in Philipp’s earlier releases, his latest is a rather more introspective affair, in which the guitar takes a leading role. A role Otterbach uses to quietly bring light and hope to his music.

Speaking about his writing process, Philipp explains that, based around his original compositions, “Friends were nice enough to contribute additional parts on their instruments which I then reworked, put together and re-contextualized. The recordings encapsulate a very specific moment in time, one that would have sounded perhaps very different the day before or after.”

Combined with a strong use of effects and field recordings, 'The Dahlem Diaries' feels somewhat like a scene or fragment from a story, in which the narrative remains undefined. It is a playful album that is something of a blurred underwater adventure, sounding as bright as it is hazy, even psychedelic at times, yet with an almost melancholic positivity. In Philipp’s own words: “It could be an album about friendship and being at one with myself, whilst at the same time bringing a certain seriousness to my music, but not necessarily to myself; there is also a playful humour hidden in there. ”

Outsider ambient soundscape by two musicians from the Paris alternative : Désiré Bonaventure & Zach.

An enchanted yet psychedelic dream-like ballad recorded in one take in an ephemeral delirium; borrowing from dub, drone, IDM & techno, reflecting singular inter-worlds and inviting us to join them.

--

Rue des Garderies is a distillate produced by the spontaneous collaboration of Désiré Bonaventure and Zach, two musicians evolving in the Parisian alternative scenes and so named in homage to a former local hotspot of other-music Rue des Gardes - now bygone - where this improvisation took place. Accustomed to exorcising time and space with the multidisciplinary collective †een▲ge g:-)d, Zach has also been evolving in various frequencies - beatmaking, mastering - for over 15 years. Désiré Bonaventure, on the other hand, is a member of the duo Euphonic Alliances Ltd. and R.A.F. Soundsystem.

Rue des Garderies was recorded in one take, using samplers and effects, amidst a tangle of cables, with eyes closed, as dawn approached, in anticipation for another moment of the present. Here, Désiré and Zach delve into the in-between worlds (musical, but not limited to), immersing themselves in their cracks, folds and emanations, attempting to narrate them to us.

From this material they shape a new alchemy lasting over 1h30, akin to a prolonged journey into psychedelia, drawing from various currents (such as ambient, drone, IDM, dub techno, and the English electronic scene of the 1990s), rich in organic and analogue textures that overlap, stretch, fold and expand.

The result is a grand and ethereal fresco, with shifting colours and textures, evoking astral projections and sporadic rhythms; a whole other world, populated by shapes, hues and new lives, forming a complex but enchanting sound essay.

Born of a fragile chaos, Rue des Garderies is an ephemeral harmony that accompanies moments of existence; a dance without tangible movement.