Beats News

Visages continue on their trajectory with this multi-tempo EP. Featuring lead single 'Lunar Eclipse' with see's Manchester's Strategy bounce his lyrics from 174 to 140, making it a DJ's favourite weapon. Title track 'Hagakure' calls on the help of fellow label mate Drone while Monty also joins in and adds his touch on 'Familiarity.'

After more than two decades flexing his muscles on the local underground scene and gaining a legendary cult status on his Tenerife home turf, the island’s most famous postman, as he’s affectionately known by his consorts, Tomás de la Rosa aka Postman breaks radio silence to bulldoze his way through the canyons surrounding his hometown of Santa Cruz into an unknown and unsuspecting world. We present thus, Postman’s first ever album of original bangers, micro chopped two steppers and rage induced breakbeat anthems.

Constructed over the course of global confinement, Seeds of Light marks a return to creative activity from the man who regularly delivers your post (its not just a random artist name). Postman aka Tomás de la Rosa has taken his time, compiling sketches and unfinished songs, rummaging through the deep ends of his hardrive, stitching early production sketches with recent compositions, revising, reediting and rebuilding with a more mature and concise attitude, eventually completing, almost unintentionally, the perfect self referential retrospective album. Far from being just a compilation album, Tomás managed to create an explosive document, suspended in time, in which styles are intertwined regardless of fashions and fads – letting go of the ‘modern’ or ‘up to date’ burden - so common these days in electronic music.

It is not an easy album, like many of his previous work it demands extra attention to experience the full crystallization of his complex sound structures. We find ourselves in front of a truly surgically precise work of art whose result comes as a waterproof war machine, refined and incisive, resonating deep with soul and groove.

Postman develops his sound palette throughout the album from very basic sound snippets into a concrete dance world of synthetic sounds eventually creating a parallel reality where J. Dilla could be living in Chemnitz instead of Detroit and releasing records for a label called Raster-Throw. Glitch sampladelics!

Incursions into Grime are also abundant with nods to the ineffable East Man, reunions with his beloved Funkstörung or many other stimulating revisions of lifelong genres and breaks populate this multidimensional sound space, see soul, dancehall, breakbeat, two step and the UK hardcore continuum.

Special mention to the magnificent fluid artwork by the very talented Catalan visual artist Alba de Corral. A still photo from one of her kinetic AI systems programmed directly in code, which matches perfectly the essence of Postman's brutalist alien sound.

Vinyl limited to 200 copies

Coltcuts debut EP on Wheel & Deal Records.

Chapter four in the line of vinyl releases on Cue Line Records is also the beginning of something new. 'Elements Part 1' is the first piece in the Various Artists series on the label called 'Elements'. Driven by an urge to explore how elements can form something greater together, and the other way around, how anything can be broken into its elements, every single track on the V/A is by multiple artists. 100% collaborative content. RDG x Cessman, Gaze ill x 3WA, Binary x Zygos, Murk x Shiva ft. Rob. Nine minds, four tracks, one piece.

Jemek was never easy to read: Is he serious or is it all a
joke
With his new album »Jemek Jemowit is Doktor Dres« the one-man
band, DJ and conceptual artist that is Jemek Jemowit moves
between old-school rap, Southern trap and EBM, skillfully
mixed by the infamous hardcore techno legend Marc Acardipane.
Jemowit's anarchistic-dadaistic and often quite explicit
lyrics (there is a sticker on the front of the vinyl record
warning the listener of »swear words«) the, to quote the
artist, »post-patriotic« Jemek sings in Polish, the language
of his parents and in German, the language of the country he
grew up in, he studied in and in which he lives today.
On his last »hyper-patriotic« (Jemowit) EP »Tekkno Polo«
which came out on the Polish Label Oficyna Biedota in 2012,
Jemowit focused on Polish culture in Poland. On the Polish
market the Pole with a German passport, presenting music that
was recorded in Italy and which had used the Polish sub-genre
»Disco Polo«, the Polish equivalent to »Euro Dance«, as
template was an exotic. Subjects Jemowit touched were
national dishes like bigos or bizarre figures of Polish pop
culture. Was he serious or was it all a joke
Until today Jemowit finds it »remarkable«, without taking
sides, that Poles in Germany »so easily adapt, they seem to
merge into German culture so quickly«. On his new album
»Jemek Jemowit is Doktor Dres« which is released on the
Berlin-based label »Martin Hossbach« Jemek embraces the role
of the Pole in Berlin. In Polish, peppered with new word
creations and grammatical mistakes, he states that his alter
ego »Doktor Dres« (Dres is the Polish word for tracksuit)
leads a better live in Berlin that he used to do in Poland.
He often switches into the German language, too. In an
interview with label founder Martin Hossbach Jemowit said:
»I'm the perfect Pole in Germany who goes shopping at the
most expensive warehouse in West-Berlin, the KaDeWe, without
reproach and my German is pretty good, too!« He has now
become the person that »Tekkno Polo« reacted against with its
»hyper-patriotic« approach. Germany is now the sacred land
and on album track »Oryginalne Adidasy« he invites his fellow
Poles to come and visit him, he who »grew up between The Wall
and Moschino«, in Berlin and have Polish dumplings (pierogi),
made by Gucci at KaDeWe. »Endlessly bragging / Style without
class / Deutsche Mark / Oryginalne Adidasy« - this is Doktor
Dres' slogan and the read threat for Jemek Jemowit's new
album.

Behind the healthy noise of the current 140 scene lays the innocent, unearthly sounds of Kodama. Nestled in the sun kissed streets of Barcelona, Kodama has sparked many an emotion across his growing body of work, from 'Cronauer' EP on Subaltern Records to most recently, 'Clear Your Head' EP on Infernal Sounds. Although he enjoyed a couple of features on two of their compilation projects last year, the one imprint Kodama has been destined to grace his presence with is Rarefied.

The long-awaited project of the Green King Cuts Journey so far is the King of the Seas Lp featuring 5 producers from all around the world and 2 singers from the UK, all coming with an iconic track each, that all glue together for a complete sound system essential for the collection. This Lp represents the sound we want to push to the world and we are very proud of this work, which took over a year and a half to puzzle this together and we are thankful for this moment to release to the world on 12" 180-gram Black Vinyl press with Artwork sleeve.

semi-clear red marbled vinyl

We are extremely happy to welcome another talented artist in the Moonshine Recordings family. EchoBoy previously known as Riddim Tuffa is a Czech based producer that is about to mashup the todays reggae dubstep scene in the upcoming months. His first moonshine release will drop on May the 6th on beautiful marbled hazy red vinyl.

We're very happy to present you a new 12" record which is comin' from non other than the mad talented producer duo Smalltowndubz from Austria. For the My Garden EP them got some cool international dub artists, who joined forces to bring you this heavyweight soundsystem smasher. The main tune My Garden comes in a hot dubwise style and features Tenor Youthman on the microphone, who brings down some hot lyrics. Another sure shot for any selection. On top we have a deep Remix from the man called Jah Schulz and Tribuman plays the horns - you just have to feel this wonderful combination.

We continue the vibes on the B-Side with two original productions by Smalltowndubz, which shows the variety of their musical style. Mad Thing is an UK inspired steppers killer, that you have to listen on a big soundsystem. The other track is called Rooted and features our family member Hazel Dub on melodica. This one is a deep and heavy bass bomb, which enters your mind and instantly wants you to play that record on repeat.

For next level pressure, we hooked up again with LXC to do that heavy mastering on all tunes.

Reissue

DJ support from: Alix Perez, Caspa, Sir Hiss, Distance, Sicaria Sound, N-Type, ENiGMA Dubz, ALXZNDR + many more.

The hottest sounds of the DMV (DC, Maryland & Virginia)!! Neighborhood Watch Volume One featuring local legends NativeSun x JamesBangura, Sami, Juana, DJ Technics, Max D & THE KHAN!! Jumbo slice approved!!

#evildubs #ballroomflex #liquidbooty
#emotionalclub #burnouttek #deconstructedtrap

A late night conversation about the past and future of dance music elicited this surprise left field collaboration from Justin Jay and Claude VonStroke. Justin’s mission was simple: push VonStroke to the fringes. Being no stranger to disruption, Claude loved the idea of challenging creative expectations. The result is five intricate and leftfield landscapes, featuring a special remix from Pearson Sound.

‘Oh’ is an EP with influences from UK jungle, Detroit electro, Chicago juke and the deconstructed hip hop that shaped much of the early Dirtybird sound. The tracks differ radically but are strung together with a sense of excitement embedded in their polyrhythmic drum patterns and dynamic arrangement.

‘Oh’ is pressed on a simple whitelabel disc, shedding expectations and kicking off a new series of alternative genre records at a label that's always been about breaking the mold and not taking itself too seriously.

After vocal-led 12”s featuring the likes of Razor and Sikka Rymes, Low End Activist pivots back towards purely instrumental territory for further explorations in the hybridised hardcore sphere. There’s an over-arching air of introspection to the five tracks assembled here, as LEA’s signature bass ructions and jagged, roughly-hewn drums offset with a widescreen line in melancholia.

The 9th release on Foamplate's imprint 'Plantpower' comes from Panix. A combination of 2-Step & Dubstep.

Adayofthesun’ is Veezo’s second EP released on May 2nd 2021 (digital). This concept release blends cinematicatmospheres with a lo-?hip hop?avour. The EP shows o?the artist's pedigree - choppy vocal samples meldwith wobbly pads, and Veezo's warm wandering Rhodes grooves tying everything together.
B-Side Etching

Always surprising sound... Deeply influenced by the nowaday Bass-Music styles... but still Electronica/Synthwave in the mood.

BIG alubm full of creativity and musical skills.

needed !

Throwing hi-def sounds into three-dimensional space and rendering bass in increasingly uncharted waters, Walton arrives on Sneaker Social Club with a future-leaning EP of dance wreckers for the tough crowd.

Even his earliest releases were pushing things forwards as the weightless grime thing gathered momentum, but Walton always swerved the rest of the pack and simply approached grime-rooted club music with his own experimental instincts. His mammoth body of work takes in totemic labels like Tectonic, Hyperdub and Ilian Tape, and as time has passed and music has moved on from micro scenes to a generically fluid individuality, so Walton has grown as an artist. Recent drops including his Maisie By The Sea album have started to embrace more experimental spaces alongside his familiar twist on grime, and this mini-LP for Sneaker continues that level of progression.

On the A side, long time Walton fans will be more than happy with the intensity of ‘PJD’, which is as fierce as we’ve heard Walton go to date. As ever, his beats are never a simple matter, with every hit embellished with needlepoint sound design. The sound zips around the stereo field, but never at the expense of the track’s impact. Still, there’s space for other vibes too, as on the deep, sweeping pads and electronica twitch of ‘Quasar’.

By and large, Walton keeps the pressure up. ‘Rush’ is a bludgeoning instrument and ‘Dread’ teases with a jerky, stop-start demeanour which lands heavy blows when it kicks in. But shorter cuts ‘Detach’ and ‘Shots Fired’ also allow space for other aspects of Walton’s craft to come through. It’s these cuts which add to the overall listening experience and show just how much he ahs to offer as a producer.

PDD are super excited to welcome Only Child to its ever growing label roster.

Alex Burkat returns with his first vinyl release in 3 years on New York City / Philadelphia based underground record label.

The Spiral Island features the best of his unreleased material from when he was living in Flatbush, Brooklyn NY from 2010-2014. Expect meditative ambient, classic downtempo dubstep, and hypnotic drone.

Early Support

King Britt, Eamon Harkin

The Bristol-based composer and producer FFT signs to Numbers for Disturb Roqe and an album to follow in 2022.

Disturb Roqe is out on vinyl & digital on December 3rd, 2021. The EP presents three meticulous, spacious tracks that channel bass-heavy tendencies, with whirring details that showcase masterly sound design in a controlled yet aggressive delivery.

Josh Thompson has released music dispersed across a number of labels, including The Trilogy Tapes, Low End Activist’s Bruk Records, his own Super Hexagon imprint and more. Through transmitting under a series of obscurant aliases, he composed and created while leading a nomadic life between houses, cities, occupations and attractions.

His body of work demonstrates an impressive, evolving artistry, exploring harmonic and textural sounds underlined by a powerful devotion to computer-based production. It’s a focus captured by his artist name FFT, short for Fast Fourier Transform, a process by which signals can be converted from temporal or spatial to frequency domains, or in the other direction.

Following two stunning singles, prodigiously talented producer and composer Frederic Robinson is set to drop his debut album,
'Mixed Signals', on Blu Mar Ten Music on 14th October. The album is the culmination of over a year's work and a lifetime of musical
obsession for Robinson, comprising of a series of intricately crafted and delicately emotive tracks exploring a forward-thinking
electronic vision, which he describes as "music for the listener with a broad horizon and a short attention span'.
Over its eleven tracks, 'Mixed Signals' gives Robinson the canvas to showcase the full breadth of his talents like never before.
Amalgamating the many influences that inform his productions, from drum & bass and electronica to contemporary classical
composers, 'Mixed Signals' is a brilliantly crafted and coherent artistic statement that draws upon his talents as a classically trained
multi-instrumentalist as well as an electronic producer. Filled with light and shade, impact and intricacy, 'Mixed Signals' is much more
than a drum & bass record or a collection of club tracks; this is an album in the truest sense of the word.
"So far, this album is my biggest musical project and my greatest achievement. I worked on it for about a year and went through many
different creative phases in that time, all of which are represented somewhere on the LP. It is a summary of my current talents, skills
and interests. It marks the end for some ideas and concepts and the beginning for many others." - Frederic Robinson.
Built from a collage of acoustic and electronic elements, Robinson's music is a dense patchwork of skittering rhythms, found sound
and lush instrumentation, which harnesses a compelling emotional draw as much as it does an undeniable dance floor energy. Both
immediate and nuanced, 'Mixed Signals' is a brilliant balance of contrasts.
The sweeping drama of previous single 'Theme Park' opens the album, remaining as fresh and brilliantly unique as ever, while 'Off
Topic' and 'Bloom' featuring Stray both also provide familiar touchstones, exploring esoteric manifestations of 170 bpm's outer
possibilities. Three vocal tracks are scattered throughout the tracklist, with the soft, otherworldly tones of Melanie Robinson providing
an entry point to Robinson's world of broken percussion and wandering melodies.
Elsewhere, 'Vamp Till Ready' balances rich string orchestration against a wave of skittering percussion and 'Shut' offers an expansive
beauty in its naïve, dreamlike melodies. 'Particles' showcases an innate understanding of drum & bass constructs, warping tight
breaks and deep bass against bold blasts of colour while the eponymous track explores a playfully off-kilter and delicately nuanced
downtempo vision, before the album is played out on wave of hazy melodies and light-footed rhythms with closer 'Static Float'.
'Mixed Signals' provides the broad canvas that Robinson thrives in painting with his sprawling musical influences and complex
arrangements, and the results are phenomenal. The album is a masterpiece in dance floor escapism from a talent whose career is
undoubtedly in the ascendant.

Soul Jazz Records new ‘Life Between Islands’ collection coincides with the launch of Tate Britain’s exhibition of the same name. This landmark exhibition explores the links between Caribbean and British art and culture from the 1950s to now.

Soul Jazz Records album, sub-titled “Soundsystem Culture – Black Musical Expression 1973-2006,” focuses on the most important Black British musical styles to emerge out of the distinctly Caribbean world of sound systems. The album features an all-star line-up including Dennis Bovell, Shut Up and Dance, Cymande, Digital Mystikz, Brown Sugar, Funk Masters, Janet Kay, Ragga Twins and more.

The album is a lightning-rod journey across Roots Reggae, Jungle/Drum & Bass, Jazz-Funk, Lovers Rock, Jazz, Dubstep and more. Much of Soul Jazz Records’ catalogue comes out of these genres and this album is partly an overview of some of Soul Jazz’s earlier releases (including Digital Mystikz’ long-deleted groundbreaking and now highly-collectible single, ‘Misty Winter’) alongside some choice rare and classic tunes that span over 30 years of sound system culture.

Many of the tracks represent how Black British artists defined their own identity with songs such as Brown Sugar’s righteous ‘Black Pride’, ‘I’m In Love with A Dreadlocks’ and Tabby Cat Kelly’s powerful ‘Don’t Call Us Immigrants’. Aside from being musically rooted in the distinctly Jamaican-born phenomenon of the sound system, much of this identity is also shaped by the triangular relationship of being British-born, of Caribbean heritage, and with an equal love of African-American Jazz, Funk and Soul, as evidenced with many Lovers Rock tunes reggae covers of American soul tunes (such as those of Jean Carn, William de Vaughan and Rose Royce featured here). This stateside influence can also be heard in groups such as the Funk Masters, a group formed by reggae radio DJ Tony Williams, whose jazz-funk music successfully crossed over into New York’s clubland, as well as the great Cymande, whose unique street-funk became staple material for numerous US hip-hop artists in the years that followed.

In the early 1990s, jungle and drum and bass artists took the essence of reggae’s soundsystem culture – MCs, dubplates, crews – and applied them to their own music, applying heavy reggae bass lines to intense double-speed drum breakbeats. At the forefront of this new movement were the duo Shut Up and Dance, working closely with The Ragga Twins, aka Deman Rocker and Flinty Badman, both MCs for North London’s infamous Unity reggae soundsytem. In the early 2000s, dubstep, spearheaded by Digital Mystikz, became the latest instalment in this ever-evolving soundsystem culture.

After the self-titled album on Tokyo-based label Diskotopia, Beats Unlimited (Doc Sleep & Hypno Discs) follow up with two dubbed out, bass-heavy companions for the Hypno Discs label. Heavy on the low-end, easy on the wallet.

ENiGMA Dubz has been pushing the boundaries of bass music since he burst onto the scene more than a decade ago. On new album Awakening his sonic palette has expanded to include liquid drum & bass, trap, downtempo electronica and future garage - alongside the dubstep with which he made his name. The result is an extraordinarily accomplished and rewarding album from an artist with unaccustomed talent and vision.

Released on Morii Records this spring, Awakening is a phenomenal accomplishment. Even if you think you know ENiGMA Dubz the sheer scope of musical ideas is likely to take your breath away. And if you’re a newcomer to his music, prepare to be blown away.

"Awakening is my fifth album under ENiGMA Dubz, and it’s a moment in my career to truly showcase where I’m at as a bass music producer."

UK label Wisdom Teeth closes out 2021 with a synchronised double drop from label heads Facta and K-LONE.

K-LONE’s Zissou follows on from where his 2019 EP Sine Language left off, bringing together the four corners of his broad yet coherent style. The title track is a ruthlessly efficient Baltimore club tool driven by duelling vocal chops and rolling sub-heavy kicks. Next up, Airtight is bustling and bright, with a winding bossa melody rolling out on top of a wildly syncopated percussive groove. On the flip, K-LONE continues his exploration of UK garage and proto-dubstep styles with Deluxe - a warping, hi-tek 2-step banger that reimagines the early Tempa sound with a newly refurbed hi- spec gloss. To close, Softie contrasts vast dubtechno chords with a bone-dry woodblock beat and nimble microhouse edits.

A welcome repress of Mount Kimbie's debut EP 'Maybes' from 2009!

Joining us for the 5th instalment of the Lost City Archives volumes is the one and only Main Phase. Going from strength to strength in the UKG scene. He's put together this EP showcasing his versatility over an array of styles.

Two ruffneck jungle dance floor killers, an Eski 2 step edit & for good measure a piece of 140 reminiscent of early DMZ. Safe to say this one will fly out

Uncompromising soundsystem advancer Mars89 is the kind of artist who reframes the rave tradition with every release. That makes him the ideal candidate for Sneaker Social Club, where we love slinging bassweight sonics into the far reaches as often as possible.

Based in Japan and active beyond the confines of his studio, Mars89 has made a sizable impression in just four years of releasing a handful of records. Bokeh Versions carried his first releases, while he’s gone on to soundtrack a VR experience for the label more recently. He’s also collaborated with Jun Takahashi’s Undercover fashion label, appeared on Flore’s POLAAR label and played an important role in coordinating protest raves in Shibuya.

There’s a stark, stern heaviness to the Mars89 sound which leaves its mark from the first surge of dread bass. It hits with a primal urgency which calls to mind early grime instrumentals, but there’s also a touch of industrial clank and subliminal avant-garde notes lurking behind the foreground pressure. ‘Night Call’ stalks on a thunderous kick and pitch-black string stabs, while ‘Vigilante’s nervous refrain is underpinned by massive subs and an 808 cowbell turned into a musical instrument. On the flip, ‘North Shibuya Local Service’ ups the angular intensity with an interlocking barrage of claps, snaps and lock-ons, and ‘Aeropolis’ edges towards outright rave with its slithers of squashed breaks, 4x4 kick runs and a disheveled synth hook.

Even on the more forthright B side though, Mars89’s palette is so lean you can pick out every individual element. There’s no fat to be found anywhere on the record, ensuring every part lands with presence and purpose. You can somehow link the sound back to UK soundsystem culture, but there’s a necessary individuality at work here, which we’re beyond proud to platform and press up for the dance.

Extremely limited edition of this rare Vinyl release from Synkro. Originally pressed in 2008.