Beats News

Slow Glass is not only the debut release by Le Frère it is also a very personal diary of the last two years of his life. All four tracks are based on recordings, samples and ideas he collected while travelling the world. With the concept of 'Slow Glass' in mind Le Frère tried to catch moments of his life without stripping them of their dynamic and evanescence.

The EP starts with lots of positive energy and light but already reveals glimpses of the shadows that slowly emerge throughout the following tracks. 'Nice' is a lightly humming version of an (almost) innocent summer morning. It's a collage of field-recordings, synth-pads and manipulated guitar sounds. 'Candid' is a light and open dialog between a simple guitar theme and a playful synth-arpeggio. 'V1b1n'' creates the dense atmosphere of a rainy Caribbean afternoon dominated by field recordings and everyday noises. 'Nttt8'sets a counter point to the previous three tracks as the energy of Le Frère's travels cumulates in 'Nttt8', making it a more dance-floor oriented piece carried by a dark and heavy bass-line and almost rave-sirens.

The historical Power Electronic founders duo remixed by two of the infamous artists of this new industrial/noise scene. Parrish Smith, also know as Sige Bythos and Volition Immanent, already appeared on labels as Nation, Contort Yourself and Knekelhuis, made a smashing track, slow and heavy, distorted and electrically powered.Black Seed, already appeared on DTLS SND and Sign Bit Zero signed a syncopated track, with tribal influences and bouncing sounds that will turn your brain into a whirpool.
Procreation and Religion... let's think about that.

Príncipe kick off 2018 in a big way with the remarkable début by P. (as in 'Producer') Adrix, a 22 year old artist originally from Lisbon, now based in Manchester, who is equally adept at crafting full tilt, teched-out bangers as effervescent electronic soul music. His first release, Album Desconhecido is a supreme example of the innovative scenius in Angolan-Portuguese music, ratcheting the thrilling dynamics of Lisbon's ghetto bass sound with deadly edits and pressure highly compatible with the UK's jump-up jungle, drill or soca grime vibes.
Building on ground-breaking work forwarded by producer/DJs Marfox, Nervoso, Nídia and Lycox in recent years, Album Desconhecido is jaw-droppingly fresh, even by Príncipe's up-to-the-second standards. And like Lycox, who hails from Angola and Lisbon via France, it's fair to say that P. Adrix's relative detachment from Lisbon has also led him to break the kuduro mould in scintillating new ways, effectively mapping out and recombining a glowing flux of ideas circulating the Black Atlantic diaspora.
Delivered in 9 short sharp stings between the seasick drill of Zelda Shyt and the laser-guided trance lixx of Viva La Raça, Adrix trades in a mix of virulent, adrenalised energy and soulful rollige that sets fire to any 'floor across the breadth of Album Desconhecido. It's clear and present in the turbulent, rug-pulling subs and febrile polyrhythms of Bola De Cristal, and to blinding degrees in the high-wire tension and bone-freezing edits of 6.6.6, whereas the zipping flutes of Ovni bind roots and future with breathtaking, needlepoint incision, leaving Sonhos to provide a dead sweet, even romantic contrast with the melancholic meditation of Tejo for fine measure.
After encountering Album Desconhecido, there can be little doubt that Adrix is making some of the most exciting dance music in the world right now - a boldly expressive and immediately effective sound that drives listeners to a rare but timeless sort of rave ecstasy - thrillingly synthetic and infused with an unmistakeable lust for the dance.In the right hands, it's dangerous stuff. You've been warned!

Repress


Colón Man is the exceptional debut album proper by visionary Jamaican dancehall artists Gavin Blair (Gavsborg) and Jordan Chung (Time Cow) plus their extended crew, aka Equiknoxx - once again for Demdike Stare's DDS label. Where their widely acclaimed Bird Sound Power primer compilation, issued on DDS in 2016, brought the rest of the world up to speed with the music produced between late '00s and 2015, their first album now brings a 2020 sound into sharp, technoid focus thru a baker's dozen steely, heat-seeking riddims galvanised with clinical electronics and a Midas Touch approach to sampling.
The record's title, Cólon Man refers to a Jamaican tale (and song) about a mysterious character, whom, like Marcus Garvey, was one of over 100,000 Jamaicans who returned from working in Cólon on completion of the Panama Canal - regarded among the greatest feats of engineering known to humankind, physically connecting the greatest bodies of water on the planet. In context of the album, Gavsborg and Timecow take the story as a metaphorical foundational for a roots and future sound, acknowledging the vital groundwork of previous generations of producers, whilst soundly contextualising their mutant new advancements of
Jamaican Dancehall.
Recorded between December 2016 and June 2017, the results of Colón Man form a stark, stripped down and conceptually blinding record. In tone and texture, the duo favour far colder, more abstract sounds, crucially lit up with sparingly used samples that lend the record its dissonant, harmonic colour and bittersweet hooks, stylishly feeding forward their playfully weird sense of humour into a rugged, nutty and even noisily imagineered set.
Bookended by the gauzy, Detroit-compatible synth looks and acid hall grind of Kareece Put Some Some Thread In A Zip Lock, and the mesh of Motor City sleekness with Far Eastern strings on Waterfalls In Ocho Rios, they distill and diversify their bonds in myriad ways across the album. There's a killer dancehall/trap hybrid in the percolate chorales and man trills of Plantain Porridge, along with the secretive dub-into-dancehall transfusion of Addis Pablo's melodica in the belly rolling Melodica Badness, while Ceremonial Eating Dog and the hyaline designs of We Miss You Little Joe - a tribute to their pal Alty Nunes - are arguably the most fwd Jamaican riddims you'll hear in 2017, and Enter A Raffle... Win A Falafel uncannily recalls the clockwork mechanics of Haruomi Hosono's Alternative 3, from his S-F-X (1984) LP.
No matter what electronic box or boxes you subscribe to, Colón Man is a hugely inventive, compelling album for the ages, a remarkable iteration of Black Secret Technology for 2017 and far beyond.

Culross Close follow up their 2016 debut album HOME with a potent offering entitled MOMENTS. The
quartet (a moniker of K15) meld fusion and future grooves to create a captivating ride through some of their recordings. From the opening MANIFESTO, the listener is thrust into a world of purpose and understanding. SLOW YOUR STROLL is where the record begins to unfold, as floating synths and
percussion carry the groove. What follows next is the hypnotic INNA TRICE, the rawest of all the
recordings where snares and sincerity collide. The record closes with UNISON (a future groove if there
ever was one), a number that showcases the quartet's ability to truly explore their moments.

Limited to just 60 copies on transparent orange vinyl with download/bonus remix EP

HUNTERS MOON is the debut album by All of Them Witches, a one-man operation run on the imagination and nightmares of Gary Dimes. He steps into the musical world of 70s and 80s horror cinema and stitches together musical motifs and Gothic melodies that wouldn't be out of place in stories told by Argento, Romero, Coscarelli, and Carpenter. 11 tracks blending synth driven ambient electronica and brooding dark tales.

It was chance that brought about the release of One/Three, Dabrye's debut album. Early demos were tucked on the B side of a cassette Tadd Mullinix passed to Sam Valenti in 2000 while working at the Dubplate Pressure record shop in Ann Arbor. Mullinix had spent the late '90s producing jungle, techno, house, hip-hop and more using the All Sound Tracker software as a primary instrument. Each style pulled from a similar sound palette as Mullinix used limitations to define the contours of di-erent musical personalities. Dabrye was his hip-hop wildstyle, a captivating collage of sparse instrumentals inspired by the laid back vibes of midwestern hip-hop and east coast boom bap, the futuristic funk of Umma-era Jay Dee, and the calculated subtlety of Detroit dance music. Released in 2001 as the first in an intended trilogy, One/Three announced Dabrye's arrival with an unavoidable contribution to Detroit hip-hop. Ghostly International is reissuing the album in 2017 for the first time, including a long overdue vinyl edition.

On its release One/Three was the rare album that appealed to both fans of Slum Village's smooth yet rugged hip-hop and enthusiasts of the distinct American IDM released by labels like Schematic. Over the following decade, the inadvertent demo submission turned into a body of work that placed Dabrye alongside innovators such as Prefuse 73 amid the cannon of a new generation of producers. Today, One/Three remains a concise and intriguing study in instrumental hip-hop that helps join the dots between J Dilla and Flying Lotus.

One/Three is a record that says much with little. There are no obvious hip-hop tropes. Instead Mullinix captures the ingenious minimalism of '90s hip-hop instrumentals to build tracks both supple and hard, joyous and melancholy, full of sharply angled rhythms and warm rubbery basslines: 'The Lish' throws a sickly sweet saxophone against digitally fragmented melodies, 'How Many Times (with this)' draws you in with an irresistible, clipped guitar groove, the rhythmic stutter of 'Smoking The Edge' makes your head spin with pleasure. Playing with his inspirations, Mullinix injects omitted downbeats for imagined rhymes and repurposes the intricacy of ragga jungle for breakdowns.

But what really defines One/Three is the rhythmic sensibility and metric modulation of Detroit's school of hip-hop production, which Mullinix was a fervent student of. The beats feel like they're constantly escaping a rigid tempo grid even though they are, in fact, pretty tight. A lot of it is nuance,' Mullinix explains. I've been known to say that I'm not impressed by spectacle. I think that nuance is what really captivates people.'

If you like your beats with a dash of class, do not miss this. An essential purchase of the highest order.' -BBC

- First time all tracks from the original 2001 release appear on vinyl.
- Remastered by Daddy Kev
- Standard weight black vinyl is inserted in to 3.5mm matte finish vinyl jacket.
- Download card includes free download of the Payback EP

When Ann Arbor's Tadd Mullinix began exploring hip-hop under the name Dabrye 20 years ago, he soon honed in on a startling vision of what the genre could be: ingenious, refined, daring. This vision came to life across two albums for Ghostly International — 2001's One/Three and its 2006 follow-up Two/Three— with each record further positioning the quiet Michigan producer as one of his generation's best, equally comfortable creating minimalist instrumental meditations or sharp rap salvos. In the late 2000s, following critical acclaim and accolades from both peers and inspirations (including the late Jay Dee with whom Mullinix collaborated before his untimely passing), Mullinix put the Dabrye moniker on ice and dedicated himself to other genres and ideas. All the while the influence of his work on a new generation of electronic musicians continued to make itself felt in subtle but meaningful ways.

All this changes in 2017 as Dabrye makes his long-awaited return with Three/Three, a razor-sharp rap album that brings to completion a prophetic trilogy. Mullinix's incisive productions provide the backdrop for equally acute rhymes that run the gamut from intergenerational observations and being your best self to back alley deals and having fun in the ride. Guests include indie rap legend DOOM, whose previous collaboration with Dabrye remains a point of reference for many, Wu Tang storyteller Ghostface Killah, L.A word fanatic Jonwayne, and Long Island's rugged surrealist Roc Marciano. Most importantly Three/Three is, much like its predecessor, an unfettered celebration of Detroit-area talent with Guilty Simpson, Phat Kat, Kadence, Quelle Chris, Danny Brown, Shigeto, Clear Soul Forces and more all lending their touch to Dabrye's return.

The blend of American and British dance music, hip-hop sampling, and Jamaican sound clash energy that underpinned Two/Three remains a quiet, guiding principle. At the same time Mullinix rejoices in a refreshed perspective, having had time to incubate ideas and find clarity in the distance between albums and the evolution of scenes.The beats are looser and less angular, more embracing of repetition. Organic techniques inspired by soul and jazz round off some of the harsher sonics. The resulting broad palette of tracks reflects both this evolution and the range of the Dabrye persona: relaxed headnod ("Tunnel Vision"), nervous, slow-motion electro ("The Appetite"), glacial motifs ("Emancipated"), jazzy, cut-up funk ("Sunset"), minimal brutalism ("Electrocutor"), intricate layering ("Culture Shuffle").

Three/Three marks the return of an innovator after close to a decade of silence. Despite what the title might imply, the album isn't the end of the story but rather the completion of a creative arc. Expect more Dabrye in the near future. The game is far from over.

- Final installment of the /Three series, started in 2001
- Guests include Ghostface Killah, Jonwayne, Doom, Danny Brown, Shigeto, and more.
- Media support from: The Wire, FACT Magazine, The Detroit Free Press, Pitchfork, XLR8R
- Past collabs with Jay Dee (J Dilla), MF DOOM, Beans & more
- Vinyl is housed in a matte jacket with black hot foil and includes 24-page zine designed by Michael Cina.

Brock Van Wey (bvdub) revives his cult Earth House Hold alias for A Strangely Isolated Place, with his slow-burning, House-music-inspired, long play, 'Never Forget Us'.

A Strangely Isolated Place, and label founder, Ryan Griffin has long sought a partnership with Brock, with many believing it may one day materialize in his suitably infamous ambient output known on labels such as n5MD, Glacial Movements and Quietus. But after their relationship grew, Brock and Ryan realized a mutual respect and passion for the classic sounds of house music - the roots and inspiration of Brock's Earth House Hold project.

Whilst followers of bvdub and ASIP may be surprised to hear the two teaming up on this specific alias of Brock's, Never Forget Us opens us to a new expression of ambient-inspired music, pushing the many boundaries, forms and genres it can evolve into or indeed, evolve from.

A noticeably deeper and more evocative evolution from the first Earth House Hold release, Brock has built an album focused on progression, starting with deep, slow-churning ambient cuts, gradually introducing House elements as the album evolves. Using only instruments and sounds from the early House-era, as is the ethos of Earth House Hold, Brock builds an effortlessly sequenced collage of deep, mystifying, and emotional pieces, combining his signature ghostly vocals with rumbling off-kilter bass-lines and slowly rising atmospheres.

As with many of Brock's productions, 'Never Forget Us' is an ode to some of the many memories and experiences that helped influence the producer he is today. From his trademark ambient epics, to his unique brand of ambient house, each reflecting his history, forever lingering in his years DJ-ing ambient chill rooms and deep house basement affairs beginning nearly thirty years ago . With the return of Earth House Hold, the story is told not only through the reflective nature of the music, or the collage of original pin-hole photographs taken by his good friend Mamii, but the mutual appreciation for a sound from years gone-by, brought to life again, yet living its own life, in a way only someone like Brock could.

It's Karchello's turn now. He's the guy who saw the future. Welcome in our little OF Lauterborn World. Zentrale lässt grüßen!

BleeD release a second EP of the year in the form of a third solo outing for label head Volte-Face, who also records alongside Daniel Avery as Rote. Recently featuring on Semantica's latest Nonnative compilation, 'You Bury Me' sees Volte-Face further refining his hypnotic, atmospheric approach to techno.

The A1, 'Shirime', is dark and trippy, with a brooding atmosphere throughout. Iori's remix on the A2 recontextualises the core elements of the original track with a broken-beat. The B1, 'You Bury Me', features a grindingly anthemic synth-line and marries it to a Gothic ambience. 'Dead Cat On The Dinner Table' rounds off the EP, an unapologetically straightforward beat underpinning some outrageous and unpredictable sounds. Early support from DJ Nobu, Svreca, Daniel Avery, Tripeo and Etapp Kyle.

GALACTIC SOUNDS is the new album by Swedish artist Retep Folo - aka Peter Olof Fransson. Peter has been involved in the Gothenburg underground music scene since the late 1990s, firstly in experimental electronic duo Exhadley, then the more theatrical project Ester Elster, and is currently in 60's psychedelia inspired 'The Owl Report'. The former two notching up releases on Swedish underground label Psychic Malmo¨ and British label Reverb Worship. As his Soundcloud account testifies his solo out put is prodigious, much of it unreleased gems, in 2016 he self released the lathe cut 'Music for Cats'.

It was around the age of six on family trips to his Uncles house in the suburbs of Gothenburg that Peter first started to be intrigued by stars, galaxies and 'other worlds'. In the evenings he and his cousins would play around with a short wave radio, searching the intervals in between stations for odd noises and voices, then pointing torch lights to the heavens, hoping that that they might receive signals from 'alien' life forms.

GALACTIC SOUNDS steps off from this period of joyful childhood star gazing. Conceived from its inception as "head phone music" - meant to encourage the listener to close their eyes and travel to a far off place. It was recorded with a limited pallet of instruments from his collection, a vintage Farfisa Professional Organ, an old 1966 East German Klira Bass Guitar, a 70's Japanese Glockenspiel and an Elgam Carousel - a rare analogue preset type rhythm box. Inspired in part by 1970s library music and Czech Cartoon sound tracks Peter has created a magical tapestry of space age sound, that glides the listener from track to track, on an intergalactic journey through the starry skies.

The album is accompanied by two videos made by Peter that hint at the cut up collage and mixed media style of his paintings, which he creates with re-appropriated vintage magazines and acrylic paint. To see more of his art and to listen to some of his other music check out his website.

Repress

This is deeply personal and sensual music. The listener is allowed to enter the inner zones of the private and artistic relationships between Frederikke Hoffmeier and Jesse Sanes. It is something beautiful, rare and very intimate that is communicated through words and restrained electronic experimentalism. It is almost violent in its openness. "Loyalty" is more than reading someones diary. "Loyalty" is more like reading someones mind.

JH1.FS3 is a special collaboration between Los Angeles-based Hoffmeier (Puce Mary) and Jesse Sanes (Liebestod/Hoax). They have released a couple of hard to find tapes and this is their debut album.

Repress

Ideal throw a total curveball with Vanligt Folk's doomdub body music mutations on Palle Bondo, where the Oslo/Gothenburg trio drop their punk leanings in favour of a stark sound lodged somewhere between Mika Vainio, CS + Kreme, Fever Ray, Toresch, and even Autechre. The origins of the record are a bit cryptic and personal, which perhaps prompted the abrupt switch from their earlier styles to this, a more grown-up and pointed set of songs that vent their worries in a coolly gripping and cryptic style - not least because we can't translate their Swedish lyrics

Gauss is a collaborative studio project that has been active since 2014. Individually, Chicago native Natan H has released on labels as respected as ManMakeMusic and Finale Sessions, while Maltese producer Owen Jay has been spotted on Underground Quality and Minuendo to name but a few.

Independent from their accomplished solo careers, Gauss has a strong identity all of its own which taps into the immersive mood of Ornate Music while coming at it from a fresh direction. Building on the foundations of their self-released 12" series and appearances on Contrast-Wax and Hizou Deep Rooted Music, the Maximum Entropy EP finds the duo in formidable form.

From low-blowing electro drums to shimmering pads, rugged, snaking house grooves to hypnotic, metallic chords, on this record Gauss have carved out a cohesive sound world that channels the spirit of classic dub techno. It's this common thread that brings the four distinct tracks together into a truly engrossing exercise in deep-diving electronic music.

To celebrate this landmark release each record includes a limited edition printed insert featuring the label artwork from the 1st 25 releases cataloguing the story so far.

Benjamin Kilchhofer is not new to the world of recorded music, yet he doesn't seem to fit into a particular scene or group. As an outsider he is, however, fully immersed and melded into his own universe. He mentally escapes to a parallel world and weaves an alternate reality. Kilchhofer avoids the spotlight; isn't really visible in today's culture of ever changing content and social media. This is where Marionette steps in, to attempt to shed as much light as possible on this unique artist.The Book Room is Kilchhofer's musical diary. His library of emotions. It is an imaginary place shaped by exotic cultures, an escape from modern society, a collage of real and imagined experiences. Influences abstracted from a wide number of musical approaches: the story-telling nature of folklore music, conflicting rhythms of tribal drums, melodies and pads reminiscent of classical minimalism and microtonal experimental music, the freeform approach of early electronic music and krautrock, and, buried deep within the tracks, some hints of dance and club music.Drawing principally from minimalism, ambient, and krautrock, Swiss producer Benjamin Kilchhofer's latest is a deeply immersive timbral and tactile experience.' Philip Sherburne, Pitchfork

Hidden Operator playing along to tribal drum music Exploring the outer limits of dancehall. In dub.

Electronic Leatherette is the new label from Riga based producer Dmitry Distant. After years of making electro and wave music he decided to create a new story and run his label. With a first release label provides a series of 4 basic nature elements. As a fundament of everything this release is dedicated to element Earth and can bring you though atmosphere of esotoric electronic music within guides from Vessel in Distress, Heinrich Dressel, Franck Kartell and new comer name from same planet MSRG. Enjoy your travel and sound scape.

Gacha Bakradze returns to Transfigured Time June 2nd with a new EP, titled 'I Can Still See You'. The EP includes five original tracks.
Photos on the cover is by a Georgian photographer Andro Eradze.

[B] A2 | Tick Of The Clock (Visione's The Stroke Of Midnight Edit)

NHK yx Koyxen walks at any speed and on any surface he desires to trance-scend. His "Parallel Tempo EP" takes a mindful plunge into layers of rigorously murmuring gestures. Speed is relative to size. As they are streched and bent, the planes engage in parallel movement. This is an exploded drawing, unlocked from time.

The Japanese artist and producer NHK yx Koyxen contiunes to unveil his unique vocabulary, as the "Parallel Tempo EP" builds on a series of releases for L.I.E.S., Diagonal, DFA and The Trilogy Tapes. Publishing drawings and music alike, NHK yk Koyxen aka Kohei Matsunaga offers playful and sometimes unexpected glimpes of the "almost common". Performing on electronic music's timeless DNA, he offers those who step in a resonating space, in which loose objects are bound to embrace each other.

Seven songs by Rully Shabara and Wukir Suryadi, rootsily mystical and vividly al fresco, spiralling from peripheral sites beside rubbish dumps and rice fields, into a busy market at the heart of Yogyakarta, from dawn till dusk.

Immersive listening music from Vakula, created in the hidden depths of the Ukraine.

Go! Finger returns to the vinyl grooves again! And this time showing a more dramatic and darkest side. Holland's underground legends Das Ding and DJ Overdose, join forces, for the first time, to deliver "AM/PM". A puzzling split release composed of two pairs of gloomy, sinister and hard to classify gems of the finest west coast electro. Absolutely remarkable. A delightful and state of the art chiaoscuro of today's freshest dark electronics.

Following their massively well-recieved debut release with Moroccan musician Majid Bekkas, Banana Hill return with music from slightly closer to home. Manchester-based drummer, DJ & producer Contours joins multi-instrumentalist XOA for a collaborative 12" of deep, percussive afrocentric house grooves. "Too Much Talking" is a cosmic dancefloor heater, with dubbed-out synths, vintage guitars, fat live bass and as the name suggests, a talking drum that underpins the whole track. Things head a little deeper on "Express" with rolling percussion, heavy sub and subtle influences of afrobeat & jazz.

An EP from Carla dal Forno containing four new, obliquely confessional dispatches from the edge zones of feeling. It marks both a refinement of the dub-damaged, inward-looking bedsit pop essayed on her 2016 debut album You Know What It's Like, and an evolutionary leap. While there is warmth and intimacy to come, The Garden opens with a cold hard stare: 'We Shouldn't Have To Wait', an unexpectedly confrontational companion piece, or response, to her own 'Fast Moving Cars'. This is not a dazed reverie, but forceful, fatalistic, void-chasing drone-rock led by a stalking, venus-in-furs bassline that levels everything in its path. No longer gazing from afar at fast moving cars, but behind the wheel of one, driving pretty recklessly. No particular destination in mind, but impatient to get there. 'Clusters', then, is the sound of (unexpected) arrival in something close to paradise, and slowing down the better to take it in: a bright, imagistic, electronic pop fantasy in the tradition of Stereolab, Broadcast or Saint Etienne, with lyrics plucked and rearranged from the pages of a National Geographic article. dal Forno's voice, newly prominent and minimally accompanied, sounds close to contented, but also worldly-wise and not a little suspicious of her surroundings...the only problem with paradise is the people in it. 'Make Up Talk', written last summer in Melbourne, is a tense, awkward unpicking of a dysfunctional relationship (aren't they all), its murky sound design, thrift-store percussion and lyrical starkness pegging it as the closest relation to You Know What It's Like, and perhaps also the closing of that particular chapter. The EP's title track - and its clear climax - pays tribute to Einsturzende Neubauten's song of the same name, but shifts the action to nighttime, and brings an acutely female perspective to bear on it: here the garden is a place of beauty and refuge, sure, but also one of hidden menace and threat...things that lurk. dal Forno has never sounded so emotionally eloquent, and at the same time 'The Garden' is without doubt her most subtly psychedelic production to date. Her glissando bassline and understated synth-work powerfully evoke the moonlight, the dew and the dark boughs, while her cut-glass vocals - still romantically inclined but freighted with adult self-knowledge, adult fear - summon the Tracey Thorn of Eden and Massive Attack's Protection, but have their own character, occupy their own space in the aether. What makes The Garden so satisfying is how decisively it moves away from the post-punk/lo-fi sensibilities of You Know What Its Like, without vacating them entirely. You could still call this a DIY record - dal Forno wrote, played, arranged and recorded every note herself. And you could still call it a bedroom record - that's where it all happened. But in calling it either, you'd be doing a disservice to the musical and technical accomplishments of dal Forno's flawless, fully-realised dream-pop. The Garden is a compact masterpiece from a remarkable artist who - frighteningly, excitingly - has only just begun to hit her stride.

Electro-dub pioneers Dreadzone were formed from the ashes of Big Audio Dynamite and over their two decade plus career have been championed by the late John Peel, signed to the legendary Creation Records and Virgin before finally securing their independence by founding their own Dubwiser record label. 'Dread Times'is their 8th studio album from the band and the 3rd release on their own label. Their old skool dread sound comes bubbling to the surface on the album and it digs deeper into their dub and reggae influences whilst still managing to keep the beats fresh and the textures electronic. Conscious lyrics, social ills, matters of the heart and mind merge with 21st century dubwise flavour.

Alongside core members Greg Dread, who produced this 12 track album, Leo Williams, Chris Compton, Earl 16 and Spee, Dread Times introduces younger blood into the mix. Newest member Bazil bringing an edge to the sonic process and Greg' son Marlon expanding the musical range further. Don Letts also returns with lyrical contributions, as does Lena Cullen on vocals for one track, with 90s ragga duo Louchie Lou and Michie One guesting on another. Recorded again at Mick Jones'Bunker Studio, arranged at Dread Central and mixed by fellow founder Tim Bran, this is classic West London Zone with an updated edge. Dread music for an unpredictable world, these are Dread Times.

Here's a glorious selection of 12 bright and sun-drenched moments destined to be heard daily at the world's coolest beach clubs this summer and inevitably soundtracking a million gorgeous sunsets in Ibiza. This edition features exclusives aplenty. There are two album-only tracks; Tommy Awards gets an Ambient remix from Balearic's Jim Breese. Then The Madrigal blasts off with 'Ride To The Moon,' a completely unique track that's refreshing to hear. three tracks were previously unavailable digitally, including the debut from Nancy Noise, Olefonken's spacey remix of Hubbabubbaklubb, and Steve Cobby's tropical-jazz remix of Penelope Antena's Tradewinds. Other highlights include Cantoma's 'Abando,' plus an incredible, modern interpretation of the 80's classic Southern Freeez from Paul Murphy.
BALEARIC 3 captures the ineffable spirit of Ibiza - perfectly accompanying that unique moment when the golden sun meets the gleaming sea. It's destined to be a classic, go-to album you'll reach for again and again.

The EP is a limited edition of 100 black vinyl copies which were made to accompany the special 10 And vinyly records made on clear vinyl containing Kits ashes produced by his family for his family and very close friends in rucking memory of Kit

All tracks are previously unreleased except for Buzzy Bee which appears on 'This is Ruckno' Beetroot records and was included on this vinyl as one of the tracks chosen by his family.

Back to the year 2000 with this one-off album produced by the electronic project Timestretch Paradise released via the former Cologne-based label Hotel Lotte.

Recorded on the island of Crete Timestretch Paradise is the collaborational effort of Dr. Walker of Air Liquide- / Djungle Fever- / Liquid Sky Berlin-fame, LL Nino, Wulfmanson and legendary guitar guru Craig Anderton of Gibson Guitars which explores the fine art of Nuskool TripHop, BigBeats, twisted ElectroPhonk and Advanced Breakbeats for all lovers of psychedelic, fkkd up music.

One year into his music production career, WHB' is the startling debut release from Brooklyn's Kellen303. A unique hybrid, the tracks are inspired by goth rock/industrial, footwork and vogue music. It's perhaps a happy but unlikely accident that they also fit into Keysound Recording's dark, rolling UK sound. Across five tracks, four cut to vinyl, Kellen303 maps out his unique but bleak vision. The title track, a relentless volley of thunderous kicks, samples a phone interview Kellen303 held with a grime MC close to Keysound's hearts. 'What's Happening Brotha' is titled such because these songs were made at a very dark time in my life,' he explains. I decided to turn my anger and frustrations into music.' There is also a visual/thematic component to my music. Specifically, within the world of 'Planet X.' Where 'Planet X' is a song about going war, the Interstellar mix is song about traveling to that war in suspended animation. The song take place in a dream state where thoughts, emotions and images from the day are passing in and out of the subconscious.' As his thoughts suggest, Kellen303 is also an intensely visual person: outside DJing, he's a filmmaker and screenwriter. He also co-founded Transit FM, a vibrant American web radio station. The EP also features a vocal from Bronx based Afro-Dominicano MC, Rainey.

When we're young, the lines we draw are rough. They represent big emotions we can't quite explain. Later in life, we mourn feelings lost to time. But you can fill in the parts you can't remember - patching together sentiments floating in the ether, reminiscing on things you haven't lived. In the process, new flowers bloom. Wildflower is all original work, written and performed by Pax from his base in the Bay Area. With big dusty walls of sound and a free-spirited melodic bend, it tells a story of growing pains in dreamy strokes, aimed straight for your gut with a crisp, autumnal charm that practically begged to be pressed to wax.
Wildflower encompass the dexterous range of Pax, the clear-eyed precociousness and smiling audacity with which he swallows everything saccharine, chews up the parts and spits out something exquisite and joyful - at times spectral, and bitterly sad, too.

Phono Ghosts (alias of producer Neil Scrivin - also behind Meatbingo) returns with his long-awaited second album released via brand new imprint Fonolith. Building upon the cassette-raiding, micro-sampling methodology and varied sound landscape of 2013's Chrome Position on Skam Records, Solar Dream Reel is a journey through summery funk, mangled radio jingles, evocative atmospheres and anthemic edit-stomp, all filtered via the shimmery analogue lens of the compact cassette. A sonic exploration of that borderland between the waking world and sleep - a place everyone has been to but few remember - Phono Ghosts comes back to reality with a selection of vivid Polaroids and cassette memories from his visits to the hypnagogic hinterland of the collective unconscious and presents these pure distilled documents for you on four beautiful sides of vinyl. Something may have come back with him...

LIVE 2002 captures an inspired performance at BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art in Newcastle by three revered, influential and like-minded pioneers, Ryoji Ikeda, Alva Noto, and the late, great Mika Vainio.

This recording marks the only ever concert by the trio and its release serves as a tribute to the much-loved Vainio. Mika was not only a friend and collaborator, but also an inspiration for my work as an artist. This is a celebration of his contribution to our work', says Carsten Nicolai, AKA Alva Noto.

Minimal but highly effective, the performance builds throughout with deep sub bass, sleek, spacious sound design and high voltage, inorganic ambience. The inherent noise floor in studio equipment is pushed-up to take center stage. This is sound of electricity, the hum of the engine room and of technology operating almost independently, only gently coerced with artistic finesse by expert human hands. At points static is used decoratively with an ornate, delicate intricacy. At points it becomes rhythmic, like the innate repetition found in machinery. The sonic spectrum later opens up, evoking a rush with laser-like beams of audio light and a barrage of colossal, synthesized waves.

CARTSEN NICOLAI was born in Karl-Marx Stadt, Saxony in former East Germany and studied architecture and landscape design before pursuing art and music, when his interest in David Toop's ideas on the structural and spatial qualities of sound inspired his own endeavours. In 2000, Nicolai adopted the pseudonym Alva Noto for his growing experiments in sound and music, to distinguish them from his visual art, for which he uses his own name. His extensive catalogue and diverse musical projects include collaborations with Ryuichi Sakamoto, Ryoji Ikeda, Mika Vainio, Scanner, Björk, Iggy Pop, Tarwater, Michael Nyman and Blixa Bargeld from Einstürzende Neubauten.

He has contributed to compilations in tribute to Andrei Tarkovsky and Iannis Xenakis and remixed Björk, Hauschka, John Cale, Kangding Ray, Ludovico Einaudi, Pantha Du Prince, and Ryuichi Sakamoto. Most prominently - and alongside Sakamoto - Nicolai scored the music for Alejandro González Iñárritu's hit film, 'The Revenant' which won multiple Oscars, Golden Globes, BAFTAs and Critics' Choice Awards.

Nicolai started the independent label NOTON between 1994 and 1996. A collaboration with RasterMusic began the same year, and by 1999 the two labels had merged into Raster-Noton, which operated until May 2017. Now Nicolai runs NOTON separately, although all parties will continue with special collaborative projects and activities under the name Raster-Noton.

RYOJI IKEDA is one of Japan's leading electronic composers and audiovisual artists. He was born in Gifu, Japan and lives/works in Paris, France and Kyoto, Japan. Ikeda elaborately orchestrates sound, visuals, light, and physical phenomena into immersive live performances and installations, utilizing mathematical precision and aesthetics. He focuses on the essential characteristics of sound itself and his razor sharp music primarily examines sound in a variety of 'raw' states, such as sine tones and noise, often using frequencies at the edges of the range of human hearing. In addition to working as a solo artist, he has also collaborated with Carsten Nicolai (as cyclo.) and the art collective Dumb Type.

MIKA VAINIO was a Finnish musician renowned for experimental electronic music made under his own name, his solo project Ø, plus various other aliases and collaborations. Much of his output was released on Sähkö Recordings - the label ran by Tommi Grönlund. Most famously he was part of Pan Sonic with Ilpo Väisänen and initially Sami Salo. The group were known for recording everything live using home-made, modified synthesizers and effect units, samplers and an MPC2000 sequencer, straight to DAT. In addition to performances and sound installations in various high profile galleries and in museums worldwide, Pan Sonic played a gig in London's East End from an armoured car using a 5000 watt sound system - similar to those used by the police to disorient rioters.

Mika Vainio died on April 13, 2017 at the age of 53. Tributes to his envelope-pushing genius came from far and wide, including Holly Herndon, Animal Collective, NHK yx Koyxen and Nicholas Jaar. A posthumous MV album called 'Reat' and a reissue of the Ø album 'Konstellaatio' have been released this year. Noton will also be making two other collaborations between Vainio and Nicolai digitally available in early 2018, 'MIKRO MAKRO' by Ø + NOTO and 'wohltemperiert' by Ø + noto.

Swiss artist and veteran producer Ripperton contacted the ESP Institute out of the blue mid-2017 to share a gorgeous mix of self-produced material, a collection of pieces made without any agenda outside of representing the self, not geared toward the dancefloor or a specific environment but simply a bi-product of introspective exploration. We were floored, the mix was on constant repeat in our world for weeks, then was subsequently pulled apart into separate titles to form this beautiful double LP, Ripperton's debut with the label. The title Sight Seeing speaks of someone stepping outside their current reality to look in the mirror, as if to ground themselves and keep sight of who they are in a world of extreme highs and lows. Inspired greatly by expansive landscapes and views from airplane windows (imagine your commute flying over the Alps every weekend), Ripperton describes this collection as postcards to himself, messages from his subconscious recorded on tape (both conceptually and literally), melancholy soundtracks to the Mondays that follow weekend journeys. While musical genres tend to cycle through bandwagon moments, the ESP Institute strives to operate independently of these, and while Sight Seeing is undoubtably an Ambient album, we're simply proud to revel in the chance moment where an esteemed artist such as Ripperton spreads his wings in a beautifully unexpected mode of expression.

James Holden has announced his third album recorded together with his newly-expanded band, going under the name James Holden & The Animal Spirits. The Animal Spirits will be released 3 November via his own Border Community label. This will be the first full length release from Holden since 2013's critically lauded The Inheritors.
Let yourself be transported to a magical other world of instinct and intuition with this bold new set of synth-led folk-trance standards from electronics guru James Holden and his newly-expanded band of fellow travellers The Animal Spirits. A wild ride that unites the characteristic propulsive melodic vigour of his custom-made modular synthesizer system with an unlikely supporting cast of brass, wind and live percussion, the expansive and transformative psychedelic journey of The Animal Spirits is certainly eternal outsider Holden's most ambitious work to date - but surely also his most direct and accessible.

Double gatefold heavyweight vinyl includes MP3 download codes.