Beats News

Rua Sound is very pleased to welcome Sun People to the roster, with a four-track EP taking in 160 kicks through to dubbed-out space exploration. Building on last year's Serenity EP for UK footwork label Modern Ruin, These Days is the Austrian producers most accomplished work to date: footwork influenced 160 bass music par excellence, glowing with dancefloor energy. These days EP is out on 12" vinyl and digital formats on 22 November 2019.

Introducing Cutcross, created to champion the melting pot of bass-centric sounds teetering around 140 bpm. Heading up the concept is Sicaria Sound, a DJ duo who since their inception set out to explore and expand on the possibilities of these sounds whilst spotlighting underground artists. Cutcross is therefore their next step in supporting the forward-thinking music that they've drawn for when curating sets.

"CXT003: With The Pulse" is the second themed compilation from the label, this time with distinctly percussive driven sounds formulating each track. Originally curated with dancefloors in mind, the current global standstill means for most of us these tunes are to be enjoyed from local settings - and that's not to their detriment. Each track offers something different sonically to get you moving, regardless of where you are right now.

The first Subaltern release of 2022 sees three outstanding producers coming together to deliver a bass-blessing for all connoisseurs of the finer frequencies.

Raw
The name says it all here, a rough and raw slice of sub science.

No Runnin’
This time Ome teams up with Berlin-based Busted Fingerz to conjure a heavy roller that’ll have you running for cover.

Talkin’ Mathematics
For the second collaboration of this EP Ome invites Yoofee for the ride, and it’s a bumpy one! Get ready for some serious sub equations.

2023 generic sleeve repress

Out of the dark, into the spring with Gantz's colourful 12" EP.

The combination of exotic instruments, deep off-beat rumblings and Rider Shafique vocals, deliver an almost hypnotik journey through Gantz's mind.

New Zealand-based, award-winning duo TRUTH are champions of contemporary dubstep. Back with their first studio album in over 4 years, TRUTH unveil the second and final single taken from Acceptance. The mystical title track from the LP “Acceptance” is due for release Friday, July 2 via Deep Dark & Dangerous.

Following a long, quarantined year and a string of heavily-trafficked Twitch streams, TRUTH is now back in full effect with ‘Acceptance’ - their 5th album. Combining their razor sharp synchronization and innovative flair, this 13-track opus is a dreamlike journey through lush basslines, eerie rhythms, and vintage synths. At the heels of “Pages,” the widely-celebrated lead single from the album, TRUTH unveils the album’s namesake and title track “Acceptance.” A brilliant follow up to its predecessor, “Acceptance” is at once technical, ethereal, and deeply affecting. A psychedelic musing that encompasses the kaleidoscope fractals of sound that make up the album, “Acceptance” is a cornerstone of the project it belongs to.

New Zealand-based, award-winning duo TRUTH are champions of contemporary dubstep. Back with their first studio album in over 4 years, TRUTH unveil the second and final single taken from Acceptance. The mystical title track from the LP “Acceptance” is due for release Friday, July 2 via Deep Dark & Dangerous.

Following a long, quarantined year and a string of heavily-trafficked Twitch streams, TRUTH is now back in full effect with ‘Acceptance’ - their 5th album. Combining their razor sharp synchronization and innovative flair, this 13-track opus is a dreamlike journey through lush basslines, eerie rhythms, and vintage synths. At the heels of “Pages,” the widely-celebrated lead single from the album, TRUTH unveils the album’s namesake and title track “Acceptance.” A brilliant follow up to its predecessor, “Acceptance” is at once technical, ethereal, and deeply affecting. A psychedelic musing that encompasses the kaleidoscope fractals of sound that make up the album, “Acceptance” is a cornerstone of the project it belongs to.

On 'Models', Lee Gamble liberates sonic spectres to inform a suite of illusory anthems, subliming vulnerable, half-remembered fragments of dream pop, Soundcloud rap and trance in the process. Sung by cybernetic voices in an almost wordless language, his widescreen memories reverberate across the last few decades of pop history, smudging Elizabeth Frazer's surreal poetry into disembodied diva cries and Lil Uzi Vert's abstract, AutoTuned mumbles. Extracting haunted fragments of synthetic corrupted chatter and indecipherable non-words to sculpt dreamy pop simulacrums, Gamble takes the concept of the pop producer to its logical extreme; examining how intonation and language is engineered to monopolise our attention, his magical inversion of pop playing like a bewitching symphony of earworms.

Repress!

Elon Katz (White Car, Streetwalker) aligns perfectly with Diagonal in a prickling debut vocal
release, The Human Pet; his first original solo issue in four years, containing an intensely personal,
puckered perspective on electronic dance music and experimental pop.
Structured around a schizoid yet coherent juncture of EBM, IDM, curdled rock music and art school
techno-pop, The Human Pet is riddled with idiosyncratic notions on 'cryptic topics like rebirth,
nullification in stream speed adaptivity, dependence and wealth inequality' to portray a unique
intellect and sonic vocabulary operating at the crux of his expressive powers.
The project began circa 2012, around the time of Katz's relocation from L.A. to art school in
Chicago, and cocks a canny snook, both thru candid lyrics and obsessive edits, back towards the
megatropolis where he was born and spent much of his youth. It can therefore be considered an
attempt to better understand himself in relief of big city manias by channelling and parsing his
own stubborn outsider personality from the madness.
To our ears it feels like a concise dissection of Chicago's industrial history and Californian digital
psychedelia; probing at their twisted, fluoro guts with the inquisitive nature of a mad scientist
or psycho-analyst between the yelping, warped and hyper-piquant yacht boogie of The Rhino
Powder of New Sensitivity and a heavily affected dislocation of harmonised pop hooks and
whirring body mechanics in Clean Crash.
It all occupies a strange perch between introspective and exuberant, veering from mid-'90s
AFXian pop rephlexion in You Are Alone, to signature Diagonal tackle in the gas-chugging EBM-pop
force of The Human Pet, whereas Unarmed twists into fractal phantasia, all of which maintain a
thread of logic that belies the record's vintaging period of refinement and distillation.
There can be little doubt that this is one of the most complex, rigorous and distinctive in Diagonal's
catalogue. Closer attention is required. File amidst records by Luc Van Acker, Aphex Twin, Savant,
Powell...

TRAP turntablism project ! 2 long skip proof scratch tools, plus 2 trap mixes to play with plus 2 locked grooves bonus tunes !

Repress!

Casting a self-reflexive lens over his roots via the medium of crushing, future-rushing soundsystem sonics, Low End Activist returns to Sneaker Social Club with a full-length of monumental proportions.

When the Low End Activism 12” ignited on Sneaker in 2019, it paid tribute to the Blackbird Leys estate in Oxford, UK, where LEA originates from. In the shadow of social inequality and strengthened by the unity of the multi-ethnic community, Blackbird Leys still imposes a powerful influence on LEA’s work, even as he’s stepped out onto Seagrave for last year’s Game Theory album and notched up the first couple of releases on his own self-titled label.

On this new album, Hostile Utopia sums up the conflicting emotions attached to memories of home – how it’s possible to feel nostalgic for the griminess of urban and suburban Britain, its ordinary tales of bitterness and frustration, but also its intrinsic passion and solidarity. At a time when social division is actively engineered by Machiavellian forces, real conviviality at street level feels like an impossible dream.

LEA communicates these tensions through a style which is becoming his signature – dynamic bass torsion and chiseled, fractalised rhythms slugging around the 130 mark. It’s moody like a UK-themed record ought to be, but it’s not morose. There’s fierceness in every snap and rumble, as the legacies of hardcore, jungle, dubstep and grime pour into the casing prior to the gunpowder lighting.

On previous LEA releases, the MC roll call has pointed to some of the most vital voices touching the mic in the present day. Flowdan, Sikka Rymes and Trim all had something different to impart over the riddims, and now Hostile Utopia expands on that with the most extensive show of lyrical strength yet. Mez lights up the woozy, abstract grime swerve of ‘Mercenary’ in a musical style. Emz brings a ruthlessly sharp verbal steez to ‘GetGet’, Killa P gets busy toasting over ‘DFRNT STYLE’ and ‘Superhighway’ carries the dexterous hip-hop flow of Cadence Weapon.

In between those standout tracks, LEA expresses just as much in the production. Tracks brimming with stories to impart, laden with symbols masquerading as samples and draped in aural garb that firmly places Hostile Utopia in a place, a mood, that could only belong to the UK. It’s a hybrid sound just like the society it sprang from, and therein lies its power.

Blawan - “sick!”
Bruce - "ah yeh fkn nawty bizness as per from LEA. bigups Jamie u absolute don!"
Mumdance - "Enjoyed all of these, respect"
Clouds - "christ man unreal"
Barker - “Awesome tracks.. look forward to give a proper listen but sounds v fresh indeed..
Thanks!"
Laksa - "killer grime n bass showcase"
Hodge - "killer"
Judaah (BFDM) - "dope tunes"
Violet - "dope dope dope incred thanks"

Burial finishes 2022 (digitally) with a follow up to ‘ANTIDAWN’, the sublime three-track EP 'Streetlands'.

NC4K has launched a vinyl only series “NC4KDUB” in 2023. First one in the series is Stones Taro's two side 12 inch cut. One side is a 2-step track with 90's beautiful samples and a sick bassline. Another is a deeper breakbeat style track.

Mary Anne Hobbs premiered Commodo's 'Deft 1s' track. Crack Mag playlist inclusion. Radio play from Gilles Peterson on WWFM & Mo Ayoub on Reprazent. Commodo returns to his spiritual home of Black Acre with more genre busting grimy basswerk. Here he delves into an unexpected 90's punk guitar sound palette, rubbing shoulders with Fugazi and Mudhoney without losing any of the gravity altering production skills. These are 140bpm rap instrumentals excised from the burning embers of the Dischord Records back-catalogue patiently waiting for Jello Biafra's vocals. Rap collides with Punk and Dubstep to scream into the void.

After unearthing the deep, mechanical world of Reso in ALBION006, the imprint returns to its 4th instalment; Glume, FLO & Mr. K embellish Thug with jewels and blue fire. The fledgling label have ceaselessly explored new territory, lighting the torches of dub, trap, grime and more. This, and Albion collective's dedication to signing both rising talent and certified pioneers, means that their movements are unpredictable, yet highly anticipated. Already announcing their 2nd release of 2019, acceleration is under way. With Glume sending 30hz across the 140 scene, Thug's return to the limelight is auspicious. Mysterious, Far-Eastern flute-work rarefies the air. Second-late 808s send tai-chi blasts to the chest. In the depths of the concrete jungle, Thug is zen.

Experimental musician and performer Moss Kissing debuts on vinyl for Lisbon collective Vilamar. Thick layers of ambience and intense bass weight form a canvas for plaintive melodies and brooding dance rhythms. These latter range in tempo and gait from dubstep to techno to jungle and back again, summoning contrary moods often within the confines of a single track. This freedom with form arises from Moss Kissing’s background in noise guitar and his current focus on dynamic improvisation led hardware jams, which have gained him notoriety around his chosen city of Lisbon. The British connection is unmissable, though, as the Pass Through LP is haunted by many of the spectres conjured by FSOL, Autechre and Burial before it. As with their previous releases, Vilamar bring to light an artist playing with the boundaries of dance music without ever losing sight of what’s at its core: the physical texture of bodies and minds in space, moving, seeking connection.

Mum No Hands’ - an assured four tracker that draws on Bristol bass, footwork, jungle and broken techno to create something fresh and upfront. A certified stalwart of the Bristol scene, Yushh (aka Jen Hartley) is already well on her way to becoming a household name. Over the last few years she has toured extensively across Europe’s festival and club circuits, landing sets at Freerotation Festival and HÖR along the way. Her label, Pressure Dome, is known internationally as a go-to outlet for various offshoots of forward-thinking, soundsystem-ready UK techno, with a roster that includes Sputnik One, Caldera, Ido Plumes and Cando. So far, she has only teased her production skills with a string of one-off drops and remixes, including features on Rhythm Section, Banoffee Pies and All Centre. On ‘Look Mum No Hands’ she finally lays out the blueprints for her unique, club-honed sound. The title track skips along at a nippy 160 bpm, driven by a slow/fast halfstepping beat and monster bassline that places it somewhere between DMZ and Teklife. ‘Same Same’ drops the tempo down to 130 bpm, with loungey keys and a skippy vocal chop offsetting a cavernous low-end. On the flip, ‘Close Fall’ squeezes darkside d’n’b sonics into a chugging 95 bpm beat template, while ‘Self Couscous’ takes an intricate, glitched approach to jungle/broken beat reminiscent of mid 00’s Planet Mu. Genre: Dance / Bass

Melancholy, the feeling, is often associated with darkness and deep depression. For Dutch artist Stefan Vincent, within the experience of melancholy there’s beauty to be found. “Decay and loneliness can serve a purpose. Depression can teach you things.

To feel deep sadness also means the ability to feel profound emotions.” he says. For his debut on MUSAR Recordings, “Pre Melancholy” EP, Vincent channels these notions of Melancholy into three tracks that draw on darker moods but also reflect beauty in their intricacy and the atmospheres they create. This EP acts as a precursor to his forthcoming album on MUSAR, “Post Melancholy” which is due in September.


“Mono No Aware” and “Yonghegong Lama Temple Exit F” are both taken from the LP, placed side by side with “Agent of Distraction”, an exclusive track from Vincent for this EP only. We’re also pleased to have Montreal-based musician Priori on the remix of “Yonghegong...”. His rework draws further emotion from that of Vincent’s by slowing the pace and bringing delicate melodies to the forefront; it’s one for introspection.

DE-TÜ return to Infernal Sounds for their 5th outing and this time lay siege to the bootleg/white label XXX series. The follow up to their sold out 'Tried By Tu / Waiting For Jah' which featured as XXX002 back in 2019 features two heavy hitters.

Gatekeeping' kicks off the A side with a familiar intro, before thrusting you into a frenzy of sample slices, mid-range melodies and a real face-scrunching low-end fusion. It's a classic dance floor destroyer and one that'll be doing the rounds for years to come. 'Mojigao' on the B side takes things in a completely different direction and is more reminiscent to the DE-TÜ sound we all know and love. Textural dubbed out tones and building vocals lead into the drop, before you're plunged into an ocean of reverberating bass, and a progressive synth pattern. You're completely submerged and washed with smooth and soothing bass, while the track takes an even more progressive step to really switch things up. It's trademark DE-TÜ at it's finest.

As with the previous XXX series, the release is vinyl-only (never to be released digitally) and will not be repressed.

Label head honcho Alix Perez teams up with fellow New Zealand based producer DJ Headland on their mini LP 'Hellion'. Delivering 8 heavyweight cuts that have been damaging sound systems across the world.

Extra-early jump-in on this one as news reaches us today that it's just gone under the lathe at the Berlin cutting room of Dubplates & Mastering. No upfront sounds are available yet, but as long as you've been paying attention the last couple of years you'll already know how to react to a new Jahtari release without the need for an audio assist. And when that release is a collection of all new, previously unavailable joints by a line-up of such bone-melting bass wave pressurisors as is on patrol here, click your eager-anticipation dial up a few notches and wait for your circuits to be flooded with dub. 13 tracks, highlights including two solo tunes from Jahtari head-chef Disrupt, two new Dizza productions vocalled by El Fata and Soom T, Rootah in the mix on a fresh Solo Banton / Maffi cut, exclusive deep heat from Black Chow ("outed" since their incognito debut for Hyperdub's 'Five Years' collection as two-thirds of King Midas Sound, Kiki Hitomi & Kevin Martin). Then there's Tapes, Illyah & Ltd. Candy, Clause Four (creator of the Jahmiga 'Whiskey Bar' mash-up 45), Pupajim, and finally longtime Jahtari associates Ras Amerlock and John Frum (aka Type's Julien Neto), certifying the must-have status of 'Jahtarian Dubbers Vol. 2' with emphatic assurance.

Pointillist club rhythms and dense, porous dub clouds encircle the Wrecked Lightship as Laurie Osborne and Adam Winchester set sail for phantom islands once more. The nocturnal boatswains chart a course guided by pronounced percussive impulses, using physicality to navigate the looming atmospheric pressure that has become their signature style.

Opening tracks ‘Arial’ and ‘Third Law’ speak to the roots of Osborne and Winchester’s respective work as Appleblim and Wedge, dealing in dancefloor abstractions where techno, electro and dubstep once stood, but there’s much more at play than simple genre tags could ever express. ‘Third Law’s electro-static interference calls back to Winchester’s work in Dot Product, while the twitchy urgency and gnarly bass echoes Osborne’s ALSO project with Second Storey.

Wrecked Lightship is an anchorless concern, free to drift into experimental waters if the currents surge that way, and so ‘Kill Mirror’ and ‘Hydrotower’ head away from forthright structures to play around with sound design and full-frequency manipulation. It’s too kinetic and jagged to be considered ambient, even if it willfully shirks the dancefloor. But for every starboard swerve there’s a prevailing wind, and the likes of finely-tuned club weapon ‘Take It Back’ whip ahead with laser-eyed focus.

Nailing their split interests between immediacy and the avant-garde to the mast, Wrecked Lightship deepen the reach of their project on their second album. Whatever shape a specific track might take, Oceans & Seas serves as a paean to the art of sonic manipulation and spatial processing.

Written and produced by Adam Winchester and Laurence Osborne
Artwork by Chloe Grove
Layout by Takashi Makabe
Text by Oliver Warwick
Mastered and cut by Simon at The Exchange

No More Mailouts label boss Sir Hiss, provides the latest release on Innamind Recordings.

Infernal Sounds return with their DIGIV series and with this instalment they focus on the catalogue #005 - 008. Hypho, Abstrakt Sonance and the vocal wizardry of Rakjay kick off the release in fine style, hitting you with the rough and tough VIP sounds of 'Take It Or Leave It', before the release takes a more surreal and somber twist with one of the standout tracks from the DIGI series from last year, 'How Do You Know' by Darkimh. 'Lighthouse' by Sordez provides you with a slice of 2-step, shaken with garage flavours and a pallet of punchy flavours. Substrada rounds things off with the rambunctious 'Daka' - a track that's been battering dancefloors for the past year, giving you the perfect balance of bassweight and percussive notes.

blue vinyl / 180 grams

When it comes to Grime instrumentals on the vinyl format, there are few labels that can compete with the quality of Dream Eater's output. The label has been graced with tracks from stars such as Scratcha DVA, B:Thorough, Kromestar and many more.