Beats News

Recorded as part of Station to Station, which crossed North America by train from Atlantic to Pacific over 24 days in 2013.
A project by Doug Aitken
Produced and Mastered by Justin Stanley
Designed and Printed by Fraser Muggeridge studio & friends

Almost 30 MEDi 12" releases later, Jack Sparrow returns to DEEP MEDi MUSIK

Two years on from the release of their second RocketNumberNine album MeYouWeYou, London-born brothers in synth-and-drum Ben and Tom Page announce their return to the live improv fray with a crisp new black-and-white Split Vinyl 12' for Border Community: the James Holden-produced live take recordings of two track 12' 'Two Ways'.

A-side 'Two Ways' couples Tom's afro-tinged percussive melodics with Ben's beefy driving bass component to gradually build to an urgent, wild and joyful free jazz crescendo. On the flip, the complementary yet contrasting 'Balance of Imbalance' powers ahead noisily at the behest of Ben's insistent rave stabs, aided and abetted by the frenetic rattle of Tom's vintage Slingerland kit and the odd judiciously positioned atonal metallic clang.

A lost relic from the 80's Detroit underground. This "demo" recording is from a cassette found in a dusty box of donations left at a second hand shop. There is no info as to who, when or where this was recorded. What is it Post Punk Disco (Not) Disco Sleaze Wave or Mutant Surf It doesn't matter because its fucking incredible whatever you want to call it! A glimpse into what could/should have been a very important band had they gone further than this one track demo. 7' with original mix and an edit from FIT on the flip. Artwork by Stallone The Reducer. Made in collaboration with Lo and Behold Records in Hamtramck, MI. 200 copies for the world.

Now for something entirely different.. Peter Scion has been a bit of a pet project we've been working on for the past two years. After hearing this strange synth-folk music on an Cold Wave mix, by French DJ Clement Meyer for our site, we carried out a bit of detective work and finally tracked down the creator to Borås in rural Sweden. To cut a long story short, having turned up at his door almost 15 years after this music was made, we are very happy to present Peter's first proper release - besides a few CDR's distributed in his homeland at the time - his music is finally available to a wider audience. The vinyl release includes an exclusive insert designed by Anna Kraay, which details the full story into how we discovered Peter - and what that felt like for him to be 'discovered' many years later.

Mostly from cassettes, Douce Torture and Aut Aut and Relazioni Asintotiche, each limited to twenty-five copies, originally self-released in the early 2000s by Vincent E.F. from Turin. 'A mixture of hardware electronics, guitar and musique concrete-style sampling techniques, recorded on everything from minidisc to VHS tape. With its roots in vintage dub, Krautrock and Italo-Industrial artists like Maurizio Bianchi and Mauthausen Orchestra... and yet strikingly original.'

London based italian producer Giordano Fiacchini, also known for his alter-ego Luruout on Nervous Horizon, drops his second ep under the Bangalore moniker on OOH-sounds, a new label from Florence run by Backwords and Andrea Mi.

Artistically born and raised under Burial's vapor trail influence, Bangalore assembles his new effort Here Comes the Rain' proceeding on 7 fictional music trails that move through an abstract jungle buried in digital haze. It's an organic tale, a kind of ship's-log that use a sonic pallette built on contrasts to picture Bangalore's vision like a sort offuture nostalgia'. Organic vs digital, light vs dark, solid vs liquid, abstraction vs concreteness, present vs past. Being a drummer and a big metal fan in his early teens, Bangalore then skillfully lays these humid and hazy soundscapes on solid clear-cut drum beats, sculpting rhythmical patterns to shape a sort of modern primitivism. The whole is topped randomly by pitched voices and dreamlike melodies, like lost tribal chants that seem to flourish out of tropical plants. All this define an ep that feels mature, articulated, structured, and affecting.

Opening is Storm a beatless and lysergic prologue that alternates dramatic movements to rainy plant life scenarios. Second is Rolling in the mud which focuses on a more song-like form introducing solid drums and melody lines by Hymenia, where her charming voice is processed and pitched to perform the weirdest gender somersault. Lost and desperate vocal bits go with a moving melancholic piano melody in Fog whileRough Lover's colored noise nostalgia reminds of Forest Swords debut on Tri-Angle.Under the Rain and Broken Heart are both centered on a tribal andamento, shaman-like voices and organic riffs that repeat to enchant. Killing Time drives us into a dreamlike dusk and its long and distended finale takes us back to the beginning of this trip to prelude a future sequel...

It grabs you and turns you round. Resistance is futile. Fall into it gleefully because the darkness has been lit, there is a chill in the air and you feel as taut as a bow.

Laurent Pastor and Marc Lapeyre (FKclub) are responsible for Décadanse where 'Ice doesn't hurt anymore' according to the whisper in the title track. The label head was convinced by his partner to start production in a basement studio to create a sound using guitars and synthesisers.

The coming together of these 2 strong (id)entities has culminated in an EP which is cinematic (Train in Vein, Easy Drive), distinguished post-punk (Plan B) and electronic (Décadanse). And when Susuma Makai ventures into the meandering 'Ruin', he delivers a mind-blowing version.

Nach dem 6-Track-Minialbum "Math Ilium Ion" Anfang 2015 veröffentlicht der Osloer Produzent André Bratten, der neben Todd Terje, Prins Thomas und Lindstrom, zur Cosmic-Disco-Speerspitze des Landes gehört, nun sein zweites Full-Length-Album. "Gode" ist ein eher dunkles Werk, auf dem er Einflüsse von Arvo Pärt, Brian Eno oder seinem Landsmann Biosphere verarbeitet, aufgenommen mit Bandgeräten und unterlegt mit Field Recordings, modifiziertem Piano, Stringarrangements und sogar Vocals (von Susanne Sundfor).

ASC returns to Horo for a muscular technoid rhythmic workout as we lead into his new LP for Samurai Red Seal 'Imagine The Future'. Limited edition marbled 12" vinyl only.

Nachauflage des vielgepriesenen, ersten Warp Albums des britischen Elektronic-Produzenten Bibio aus 2009. Ein Meisterwerk aus Lofi-Gitarren und Jazz-Akkorden auf einem beatbasierten Klangteppich, mit eingewobenen Einflüssen aus Brazil, Folk und Hip Hop. Schwarzes Doppel-Vinyl inkl. DL Code.

Radikalmoderne Schlagermusik. Elektrifizierter Kuschelpunk. Neue Deutsche Welle 3.0. Austropop ohne Austro. Nennen Sie es wie sie wollen: die Rückkehr von Minisex auf die Bühne und in die Record Stores des deutschsprachigen Raums ist nichts weniger als eine kleine Sensation. Denn schon einmal, Anfang der achtziger Jahre, schaffte es die Formation um Mastermind und Frontkämpfer Rudi Nemeczek, den Geist von Pop mit der Widerständigkeit der Hitparaden zu versöhnen. Mit Songs wie - Du kleiner Spion', - Ich fahre mit dem Auto' oder - Eismeer' - 1984 auf Platz 2 der Ö3-Charts - schrieb man Musikgeschichte. Anno 2014 wagt man aber einen wirklichen Neustart: - Reduziert' ist nicht einfach ein weiteres Album der langen Band-Historie, sondern eine komplette Re-Definition. Mit an Bord: Christopher Just, Gerhard Potuznik und Patrick Pulsinger. Jenen, die mit der Historie der Wiener Elektronik-Blase ab dem Beginn der neunziger Jahre vertraut sind, muss man diese Protagonisten nicht näher vorstellen - allen anderen sei gesagt: es handelt sich um das denkbar hochkarätigste, im Umkreis von ein paar hundert Kilometern auffindbare Dream-Team angewandter Musikexpertise.

12' schwarzes Vinyl (180g), 500 Stk. limitiert, inkl. CD

Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe has been through many shifts in his musical career , from playing with influential Chicago rockers 90 Day Men and forging haunting vocal drones as Lichens all the way to becoming a member of transcendent rockers Om and collaborating with Lucky Dragons and Doug Aitken, and 'Timon Irnok Manta' marks the beginning of a brand new stage in his process. Recorded under his full name and based on fabled British science fiction series The Tomorrow People, the record establishes Lowe's format perfectly, with a single mantra-like piece followed by a 'version' in classic dub fashion. 'M'Bondo' follows closely in the footsteps of Lowe's recent slew of highly limited private-press releases, taking tumbling electrified rhythms and setting them up against slowly modulating analogue patterns, gradually building into something even more revenant. A far cry from the maximalist synthesizer music that has come to represent the norm, this is bass-heavy and precariously stripped bare, leaving only skeletons of influence and form. On 'M'Bondo (version)' we are given a closer look into Lowe's wide range of influences as he touches on Aphex Twin's 'Selected Ambient Works II', early Popul Vuh and Rhythm and Sound in one fell swoop. The basic building blocks of the original track are still present, but graced with Lowe's unmistakable voice and punctuated by warbling tape hiss and chilling echoes. This is a brave step from one of the most compelling voices in experimental music, and the beginning of what promises to be a very rich musical seam.

Do Hipsters Love Sun (Ra) - A title that condenses the almost conceptual nature of this album: on one hand, a tribute to Sun Ra, one of the most profound and revolutionary characters in the history of music, capable of giving a new meaning to the word cosmic, a messenger who came from outer space to bring new spirituality and vision. On the other hand the word hipster - to this day a synonym of naught and superficiality, but with deep socio-political and aesthetical roots: Jack Kerouac, for example, described hipsters as (people) rising and roaming America, bumming and hitchhiking everywhere (as) characters of a special spirituality'. Hipsters were innovators in the first place, cultural explorers driven by the desire for novelty and experimentation.

All of this finds its place in Do Hipsters Love Sun (Ra): a soundtrack that condenses cosmic elements, the desire to explore and discover and the ability to imagine and dream. Existentialism, experimentation, spirituality: here's the homage to Sun Ra, an influence more conceptual than musical on this record.

Abstract jazz, cosmic funk, instrumental hip-hop: Do Hipsters Love Sun (Ra) contains all the features and influences typical of The Dining Rooms' sound, but also a strong cinematic element that sticks its roots in the world of library music and Italian motion picture soundtracks. The reinterpretation of those atmospheres is the other theme of the album, an undercurrent able to instill those legendary soundtracks charm into this record tracks.

From this fit collaborations: Jessica Lauren, space woman par excellence, and the Italian sound nouvelle vague, bound to that cinematic attitude, Antonio Gramentieri and Francesco Giampaoli's Sacri Cuori, Bruno Dorella (Ronin's guitarist among others).

Here is an (almost) conceptual album: it's about radiance, irony, the meaning of life referred to movement and especially to our floating in space. A soundtrack without images, among real and imaginary planets, that meets Sergio Leone on an asteroid and gives us an appointment on Mars, grazes hipsters and beatniks on the devil's moon - because, as Herman Poole Blount wisely said, Space is the place'.

I like it very much! Original old school TDR style!' (Michael Ruetten, Soulsearching)
Questa musica apre possibilità per infiniti ritorni' (Teho Teardo)
Great return of The Dining Rooms, love the atmospheres throughout the whole album' (Volcov, Neroli)
Ottimo album con un'altrettanto ottimo concept: mi sono immerso nel mondo etereo della spiritualità spaziale con piacere' (Luca Roccatagliati / Dj Rocca)
I love this record because it explores new ways to blend jazz and electronic sounds. It's warm and organic, perfectly shaped and with a cosmic twist' (Andrea Mi)
A really enjoyable ride...particularly love the way it all unfolds. Music to lose yourself to!' (Nick Luscombe, BBC Radio 3)
Amazing concept album. romantic, groovy, conscious!' (DJ Khalab)
Not sure hipsters really dig Sun Ra, but I do dig this! Cinematic grooves galore' (Tommaso Colliva, Calibro 35)
Sounds good!' (Shawn Lee)
Flash-back Futuristic Noir' (Astrud Steehouder, Paper Dollhouse)

City of Brides is the third full-length album by En, the Bay Area-based duo of multi-instrumentalists Maxwell August Croy and James Devane. It was recorded over the last few years in a variety of contexts and follows upon 2012's well-received Already Gone, further developing the diverse palette of that record. Across four sides, the pair presents exotic, transportive and richly detailed pieces that toe the line between ecstatic, long-form ambience and elegant, structured electronic composition.

As always, Croy's koto is a focal point, its distinctive tone ringing out amidst the hazy guitar, vocal and synthesis environments that surround it. The material ranges from moody to celestial, from cool to white hot. Pieces such as 'Blonde Is Back' and 'Mendocino Nature Rave' merge sizzling modular synth lacework with plaintive, familiar drone clouds to rapturous ends, while the two-part 'Songs for Diminished Lovemaking' sequence charts a more minimal and nostalgic course.

Students of Decay present En's most realized and defining statement to date, a welcome addition to the ever-expanding and fertile topography of American West Coast drone music.

Youth isn't usually associated with wisdom, or depth or complexity for that matter. Most 22 year-olds are still figuring out how a washing machine works but in the case of Howes (the solo project of Manchester-based John Howes) he's making electronic music that is operating on innovative and experimental levels one might expect from a hardened career musician hitting their stride. Having released a more House-oriented 12' on Melodic a couple of years ago, his debut album proper is a record that is as expressive as it is cohesive. It's a release that floats between nocturnal stillness and insomniac driven intensity. The shift, Howes Says, 'Comes from the forced and narrow nature of a lot of electronic music. Most modern electronic music to me is too safe in terms of ambition, sound design and intention.'

The aforementioned middle of the night quality is hardly surprising, given the creative process behind making the record as he points out, 'Most of these tracks come from finishing work on Friday, going home and starting a patch, working on it till the sun rises, sleeping a couple of hours, waking up and working on it all day and through the night until Sunday night. By this point you've honed down all the madness into something you understand and control in real time. Then I record live to a cassette machine I've had since I was a kid. There's only two tracks on the record that have any editing and overdubbing, the rest are just recordings of the cassettes.'

The referred to patches come from Howes' experiments with modular synths, 'I used to struggle making stuff on a computer, you can do anything, sound like anyone, but there's nothing the computer gives back. To get around it I started making my own software to make tracks on, then I got into modular stuff and building my own bits of proper kit. I wanted to have a setup that works like my head and the only way to do it was to start making these bits myself, I'm not into the fetish of modular stuff and analogue this, vintage that, I just like the way I approach these things I've put together myself.'

Howes' work method has resulted in a record that feels at times personal and melancholic, charged with emotion and humming with a warmth that comes from such a labour intensive and solitary work routine. By not doing any editing or overdubbing Howes admits that 'Its pretty hard to listen to because I can hear the shortcomings' however, it's a process he's overall very pleased with, 'There's other bits that make me really proud. I like the fact there's nothing to hide behind, you can hear mistakes, you can hear me tweaking notes till I find the few that emotionally resonate with me, its like trying to put people in the room with you.'

Trying to place a label or genre association on this record is like trying to keep hold of an oiled snake, the second you think you have it, it wriggles away from you. Which, as it turns out, is exactly what Howes intended, 'I don't really think in terms of genre, most of the tracks are from self generating patches which sometimes come out with elements of house/techno but are mainly stripped back to the point where they can't resemble any established music form, maybe ambient but that's a cop out. I'm more into getting lost in something and not knowing what it is I'm making, getting stuck in a trance all weekend and then recording the last 5 minutes.'

Youth isn't usually associated with wisdom, or depth or complexity for that matter. Most 22 year-olds are still figuring out how a washing machine works but in the case of Howes (the solo project of Manchester-based John Howes) he's making electronic music that is operating on innovative and experimental levels one might expect from a hardened career musician hitting their stride. Having released a more House-oriented 12' on Melodic a couple of years ago, his debut album proper is a record that is as expressive as it is cohesive. It's a release that floats between nocturnal stillness and insomniac driven intensity. The shift, Howes Says, 'Comes from the forced and narrow nature of a lot of electronic music. Most modern electronic music to me is too safe in terms of ambition, sound design and intention.'

The aforementioned middle of the night quality is hardly surprising, given the creative process behind making the record as he points out, 'Most of these tracks come from finishing work on Friday, going home and starting a patch, working on it till the sun rises, sleeping a couple of hours, waking up and working on it all day and through the night until Sunday night. By this point you've honed down all the madness into something you understand and control in real time. Then I record live to a cassette machine I've had since I was a kid. There's only two tracks on the record that have any editing and overdubbing, the rest are just recordings of the cassettes.'

The referred to patches come from Howes' experiments with modular synths, 'I used to struggle making stuff on a computer, you can do anything, sound like anyone, but there's nothing the computer gives back. To get around it I started making my own software to make tracks on, then I got into modular stuff and building my own bits of proper kit. I wanted to have a setup that works like my head and the only way to do it was to start making these bits myself, I'm not into the fetish of modular stuff and analogue this, vintage that, I just like the way I approach these things I've put together myself.'

Howes' work method has resulted in a record that feels at times personal and melancholic, charged with emotion and humming with a warmth that comes from such a labour intensive and solitary work routine. By not doing any editing or overdubbing Howes admits that 'Its pretty hard to listen to because I can hear the shortcomings' however, it's a process he's overall very pleased with, 'There's other bits that make me really proud. I like the fact there's nothing to hide behind, you can hear mistakes, you can hear me tweaking notes till I find the few that emotionally resonate with me, its like trying to put people in the room with you.'

Trying to place a label or genre association on this record is like trying to keep hold of an oiled snake, the second you think you have it, it wriggles away from you. Which, as it turns out, is exactly what Howes intended, 'I don't really think in terms of genre, most of the tracks are from self generating patches which sometimes come out with elements of house/techno but are mainly stripped back to the point where they can't resemble any established music form, maybe ambient but that's a cop out. I'm more into getting lost in something and not knowing what it is I'm making, getting stuck in a trance all weekend and then recording the last 5 minutes.'

Jetzt auch als Instrumental LP erhältlich! Hinter King Midas Sound verbergen sich The Bug, Roger Robinson and Kiki Hitomi! Nach ihrem gefeierten Album "Waiting For You" (2009) auf Hyperdub veröffentlichen sie nun auf Ninja Tune den ersten Teil ihrer Kollaborationen-Serie! "Edition 1" entstand in Zusammenarbeit mit dem österreichischen Klangkünstler Fennesz!

LACK is the solo project of Philip Maier of Carrboro, North Carolina. Maier has had previous releases on Morphine, Break World Records, Tone Log and his own labels, both solo and with Sagan Youth. He is currently the proprietor of GROVL, a small-press cassette label.

Tone Log is operated by the same crew that runs All Day Records and Nightlight.

'Each song in this suite was constructed from one drum loop, four attempts to collapse time & remove death-fear, to embrace each moment & expand consciousness, to deepen roots & widen branches. Not an isolating atemporality, but an expansive one. At this point, I would question many of composition techniques & research that went into its production - which owed much to bridging modern physics to emotional/bodily/universal connection. But here it is...' - LACK

'The name refers to a scarcity that is not only time, but earthly, vivid, a kind of primordial fog in which molecules ambient, dub, techno polymerize and then combined with each other indefinitely. The sounds are pulverized and scattered until it is recoagulated in atemporal entities, precisely, which are the four tracks that make up the EP.' — Vice Italia.

Brainfeeder's de facto New Age guru and all-around production wizard Matthewdavid returns with a sophomore full length for the label, an all-inclusive mindflight entitled 'In My World'.
Unlike prior album 'Outmind', a largely ambient and inward journey, 'In My World' expands exponentially to a multitude of lavish sound worlds liberally punctuated with 'Low End Theory'- approved doses of speaker-rattling sub-bass.
Whether rapping or singing, the producer's vocals are pushed forward as the centrepiece of this album. Rightly so - with a freshly minted marriage and the recent birth of his first child, the Los Angeles-based Dublab resident and head of Leaving Records has an abundance of wonders to vocalise.
- Fans of Matthewdavid include Flying Lotus, Nosaj Thing, Jonwayne, Gaslamp Killer, Thundercat, Peanut Butter Wolf, Dam-Funk, Machinedrum, Baths, Knxwledge, Onra, Benji B, Gilles Peterson, Mary Anne Hobbs, Stones Throw, Alpha Pup, Low End Theory, Anticon, Teebs, Ras G, Sun Araw and many more.

"Friendly Bacteria" ist das erste reguläre Studioalbum von Mr. Scruff seit dem 2008 erschienenen "Ninja Tuna". Mitte Mai wird das Album via Ninja Tune erscheinen und am 31.05. im Londoner Roundhouse mit Freunden und Gästen inmitten eines besonderen Abends präsentiert. Gestärkt und erfrischt durch seine lange Studiopause, zeigt "Friendly Bacteria" den weltweit hochgeschätzten Platten-Afficinado, DJ und Produzenten in einer eher reflektierenden Stimmung. Sein Album beschreibt er kurz und bündig als "tough, sparser, less samples, more bass. More vocals and collaborations and shorter tunes". "Render Me", der erste Vorbote aus dem Album, ist exemplarisch für die Atmosphäre auf "Friendly Bacteria". Ein schleichender und gefühlvoller Groove unterlegt die Stimme von Denis Jones. Scruff traf Jones vor etwa fünf Jahren, während dieser Amp Fiddler in Liverpool supportete. Nach diversen Treffen und einigen Jam-Sessions wurde beschlossen, dass der Singer/Songwriter und Multi-Instrumentalist Denis Jones einen erheblichen Beitrag am Album leisten wird. Desweiteren kann das Album mit hochkarätigen Gästen aufwarten, darunter House-Legende Robert Owens und Vanessa Freeman!

Where To Now records are proud to welcome back Space Afrika, following their long sold out debut release 'Above / Below the Concrete'. This four track 12' 'Primrose Avenue' can be seen as a continuation of the themes and ideas explored on that debut, but pushes the Manchester duos palette of scorched inner city soundscapes, considered field recordings and rolling dubbed out techno dread further than ever before.

The record opens with 'Contemplation', the glassy surface you break through to reach the murky, sub-merged depths of 'Primrose Avenue'. 'Contemplation' stands as a shimmering and immense, mentally purifying preparatory reboot process.

'Resolutions' warm and spacious pads suspended, looping in the mix would be soothing if set apart from the swung beats and exhalations of gaseous metallic tremors. It's the music of a landscape that is simultaneously urban and aqueous, where odd melodic enquiries are posited through a pulsation of sound that possesses the curious ability to evoke both spiritual engorgement and utter desolation.

On 'On The Way' Home that strange shuffle Space Afrika create using percussion laden with lingering, hissing reverb wraps around a more upbeat pulse. The bass worms under a seriously jazz touched chordal workout that chimes with a similarly soul-hugging vibe sound as before. These elements, combined with the filters applied to the beats, give the production a quality that sounds like a preterit form of Drexciya's atmosphere-focused application of Techno.
The pace of 'The Sudden Walk' is set to beats that live by an irregular heartbeat and digital-sounding sideswipe, where generously mixed cymbals cut through haunting, fx shrouded concrete. This sonic architecture intrudes on the trancelike rhythm of the mechanical & robust drums, processed sounds of the city interrupt its interplay with the bell-like orbs of low-ringing chimes, perhaps signalling the final undoing of the cleansing process experienced at the record's beginning. Reboot required.

Zehn Jahre nach dem Originalrelease auf dem kleinen Indielabel Mush Records veröffentlicht Warp das Debütalbum des britischen Electronic-Produzenten Bibio in neuer Auflage. Inspiriert durch Steve Reichs "Electric Counterpoint" ist "Fi" ein exzellentes Lofi-Werk aus Gitarrenkompositionen, die schichtweise in elektronischen Klanglandschaften eingebettet sind. Ein Frühwerk, das es zu entdecken lohnt.

On Monday 23rd September 1996, Fatboy Slim (Norman Cook) released his debut album 'Better Living Through Chemistry' through the renowned independent dance label Skint Records. It was the starting point of a roller-coaster journey that has gone on to include massive hit singles, multi-platinum selling albums, three Brit Awards, a Grammy, an Ivor Novello, 10 MTV Awards, the 2012 Olympic closing ceremony­ and worldwide DJ superstardom which continues to this day with a hectic schedule of DJ performances and festival headliner shows.

This album celebrates where it all began - the brilliant original album - a seminal dance music moment in history, and expands on the story with a whole disc of bonus tracks including recordings from the Fatboy vaults that have never been released before. The 2CD expanded edition includes sleevenotes from Skint label founder Damian Harris.

2016 has seen an incredibly busy schedule for Fatboy Slim, he's taken on his first Ibiza residency at Cream, Amnesia throughout the summer, he's appeared as the festival headliner for Snowbombing(Mayrhofen, Austria), Lost Village Festival (Lincolnshire), We Are FSTVL (Upminster), Riverside Festival (Glasgow), We Are Electric (Netherlands), Sónar Festival (Barcelona), Glastonbury, Bestival (Dorset), Belsonic (Belfast), and Creamfields (Liverpool).

The Night Rave Before Christmas
To see the year out with a bang, Fatboy Slim will be hosting two giant shows in spectacular arenas. On December 9th he'll take over The SSE Hydro in Glasgow, and on the 17th he'll take over The O2 in London. The shows are 'in the round' which according to Fatboy himself will mean '360 degrees of smiley sound & vision'.

Dekonstruiert und rekonstruiert: Die futuristische Industriewelt des Jahres 1975.
Zum 40. Jahrestag von Kraftwerks fünftem Album "Radio-Aktivität", das ursprünglich im November 1975
veröffentlicht wurde, riefen der Komponist und Klangkünstler Franck Vigroux, der Jazz-Pianist und Komponist Matthew Bourne sowie der Installationskünstler Antoine Schmitt das Projekt "Radioland" ins Leben. Dafür vertonte das anglo-französische Trio die Originalstücke von "Radio-Aktivität" erneut. Jedoch weder als Coverversionen noch Neuinterpretationen, daher auch der Zusatz "Radio-Activity Revisited". Die Kraftwerk-Tracks stellen vielmehr Startpunkte dar, von denen die Künstler zu Entdeckungsreisen aufbrechen, ähnlich wie das John Coltrane bei "My Favourite Things" (Rodgers & Hammerstein) tat. Sie speisen vorhandene Melodien, Klänge, Rhythmen und Töne in ihre analogen elektronischen Geräte ein, verkabeln diese neu und lassen die Maschinen arbeiten. Was diese als Ergebnis ausspucken, ist ein Sound, der exakt so von Kraftwerk stammen könnte. Auch deshalb, weil zahlreiche 90er-Jahre-Vintage-Synthesizer zum Einsatz kamen. "Radioland" wurde zunächst als audiovisuelles Experiment präsentiert. In die Läden kommt das Album als CD mit 20-seitigem Hardcover sowie als Vinyl im Deluxe-Klappcover inklusive CD-Beilage. Beide
Editionen sind streng limitiert und mit einem Begleittext von David Stubbs ausgestattet, dem Autor von "Futur Days".

We're happy to introduce to you a brand new project from two
exceptionally talented German producers going by the name of
Clavis. Manuel Tur, well known for his releases on Freerange, Mild Pitch and more recently Running Back has joined forces with Adrian aka Urban Absolutes of Paskal & Urban Absolutes fame and their debut release the Banza EP is the result of this fruitful
collaboration.
The title track brings some serious heat with both producers'
influences shining through and the end result being a dynamic and unique slice of percussion fueled, atmospheric deep, electronic house.
Mirzoza's Dream once again creates an expansive, widescreen mood with a simple piano riff providing the rhythmic drive punctuated by a cross-rhythmic bass note. Precision production and minimal approach to the arrangement will ensure this one sounds perfect on a big system.
Kuniyuki has been making amazing music for the last 15 years on
labels such as Mule and Sound Of Speed and we're happy to finally have him remix here on Freerange and with a seemingly perfect project for him to add his special touch. His remix of Mirzoza's Dream sees him stretch it out to an 8 minute 30 reconds of deep and twisted rolling analogue tricknology. Keeping the subtle mood of the piano riff in place, Kuniyuki expertly cranks up the energy by fattening the drums and building on the crazy synths, chartering his own course through a meteor shower on this intergalactic space journey!

Die Form is a French post-industrial and electronic band formed in 1977. The name 'Die Form' means '(the) form/shape' in German, like the Bauhaus diary and is a play on the English homonym 'deformed' and on the French homonym 'difforme' (deformed). Die Form is the primary project of electronic musician and multimedia artist Philippe Fichot. He began by recording a number of experimental cassette releases in the late 1970s and formed the Bain Total label to release these early cassettes and various side projects including Krylon Hertz, Mental Code, Camera Obscura, Eva-Johanna Reichstag, Hurt and Fine Automatic.

In 1982 Die Form released their debut vinyl album, 'Die Puppe' in a limited edition of 1,000 copies. These are the first esoteric electronic experiments, often improvised, from what would become the sound of the project. Underlying themes of eroticism, death and other 'taboo' subjects are apparent in both the music and the album artwork, which Philippe also produces. The album was recorded with entirely analog equipment (Roland MC4 Micro-Composer, TR-808 Rhythm Composer, ARP 2600, Kawai 60F, Revox B77). Songs range from hypnotic, minimalistic proto-IDM to pure, daring experimental sound manipulation. Unable to fit into any genre, 'Die Puppe' is in a class of music all its own.


All songs have been remastered from the original master tapes for vinyl by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. The jacket is an exact replica of the original 1982 edition designed by Philippe Fichot, with a photograph of a porcelain doll holding a syringe. Each album includes two post cards with never before seen

Darkjazz/ Experimental/ Electro. This split consitutes an exciting collaboration of these two French experimental/avant-garde/dark jazz acts. In mutual respect and appreciation, both DALE COOPER QUARTET and WITXES selected a track of their split companion and created a fundamental and independent rework of around 20 minutes length. Based upon parts of Witxes' ""The Apparel"" -- from the last album ""A Fabric of Beliefs"" -- and afternoon summer recording sessions, the DALE COOPER QUARTET's ""Le Strategie Saint-Frusquin"" contains the classic sounds of the Quartet: ambient soundscapes, lazy jazzy rhythms, drone and distorsion guitar and a deep saxophone breath. Being mostly instrumental, the deep tone of Ronan Mac Erlaine's voice comes to ease the stormy start of the music piece. A grainy and blissful track that resembles music coming through of a 50s radio speaker, letting dark jazz flooding the room. ""Pisces Analogue"" is a new WITXES piece based on ""Nourrain Quinquet"", a track from ""Quatorze pieces de menaces"" by Dale Cooper Quartet & the Dictaphones. In five movements, the track explores the interstices and cracks of the dark, minimalist, lurking, cycle-evolving original piece. It offers to take a look at some of its nooks, focus on a few of its endless micro-universes and jump from one to another in a flash. Just like swimming in a puzzling dream. If there is anything in common with previous Witxes output, it is a strong sense of motion as well as narration to be seized by the listener. Though this piece uses heavily processed instruments takes from ""Nourrain Quinquet"" as well as a few typical Witxes field recordings, it is Witxes most synthetic work to date. It was written, recorded and mixed in 3 weeks during summer of 2014 in Lyon and co-produced by Michael Mysak. CD: digipak, Vinyl: thick gatefold sleeves, 180g vinyl, different colors, free download code.

New single from Mella Dee on Lobster Boy Records. Two brand new tracks

There was chaos and violence, a collision of dark matter and heat. In the maelstrom, a legacy was created and a new moon born. She left something here forever. But amongst infinite black depths, Theia rages on.Depicting the legendary impact of the planet Theia, Pop Ambient pioneer Markus Guentner returns to vinyl, with a highly anticipated full-length LP on A Strangely Isolated Place.The evolution of a historic astrological moment is brought to life through a dramatic, evolving soundscape that only Markus could capture. Drones build upon swathes of light, cut by an ever-present sense of fear. The distant shine of stars puncture a pitchblack canvas, as a force gathers momentum and intensifies. Theia's tortuous movement slowly builds in front of you, and the inevitable moment of impact creeps closer and louder. The destruction is desolate, dramatic and beautiful all at once. Markus has become synonymous with this unique style of ambient music over the years, stretching between intensely layered, looping rhythms, and subtle rolling dubtechno. His early releases on Kompakt set the tone for the respected Pop Ambient sound, through genre defining tracks such as Express Yourself. Markus went on to release albums with Sending Orbs, Ware, Affin and most recently Moodgadget, as well as a Places Series EP for A Strangely Isolated Place (Talking Clouds) and remixes for the label's debut LP, Uncharted Places.This is Markus' first dedicated vinyl release since 2006, and with it comes the care and attention to detail deserved of such a return. Mastered by Rafael Anton Irisarri at Black Knoll Studio, RAI also lends his hand to one track, manipulating an entire soundscape with nothing but his signature guitar. Pressed on transparent vinyl allowing the artwork to shine amongst the void, ASIP creative talent Nick Brzostowski has turned the artist's vision into a piece of art, with his meticulous custom design.

Tommy Guerrero continues to expand his horizons while upholding his San Francisco Bay heritage. Starting from the Bones Brigade skate team in the 80's, he has gone on to make movie appearances, design for Levi's in Japan, Vans shoes worldwide, Sutro eyewear (among others), sign a skateboard contract with Converse, co-found Real Skateboards and 40's Clothing and become art director for Krooked Skateboarding, along with maintaining a prolific recording schedule.

Nach ihrer hochgelobten "Conscious Cunt" EP veröffentlicht die schweizer-nepalesische Produzentin, Vokalistin und Labelbetreiberin Aisha Devi ihr Debütalbum auf Houndstooth. Während sie traditionelle Klangformate mit experimentellen Techniken sprengt und aus ihren Vocals Stürme von geisterhaften Sounds entfacht, behandelt sie thematisch die Entkopplung von Materie und Geist in der heutigen Gesellschaft, kommentiert Medien und Konsumismus, und versucht durch kollektiven mentalen und spirituellen Widerstand den innen Frieden wiederzufinden. Ein hochspirituelles, darkes Electronica-Album, das auf CD und 180g Doppelvinyl erscheint.

Neue Vinylauflage der neuen Ausgabe der Amorphous Androgynous (aka Future Sound Of London) Compilationserie "A Monstrous Psychedelic Bubble". Die der Cosmic Music Australiens gewidmete Ausgabe "The Wizards Of Oz" enthält als LP 16 der insgesamt 33 Tracks von Künstlern wie Tame Impala, Cybotron oder Russell Morris. Klares Vinyl.

If you heard Obsidian last year, you already understand. On his sophomore album as Baths, Will Wiesenfeld fully shed of his sonic influences with a staggering work of graveyard beauty. Contrasts to the other artists became null. Giving it a 8.6 'Best New Music,' Pitchfork hailed it as a 'subversive work that gets uncomfortably close to pop, confronting closed minds with what they don't want to believe.'

Always a gifted musician, Baths became a fully conceived artist: a songwriter of uncommon sensitivity, a whimsical and romantic spirit, and a lay-me-gently-down falsetto. Think of his Anticon EP, Ocean Death, as a companion piece—the Dia De Los Muertos to Obsidian's Halloween. It's title and the eponymous opening track existed before a single note of 2010's Cerulean had been recorded. Darker in tone, they were always targeted for a sophomore album, but wound up a different cut of gem.
Ocean Death is the exquisite setting. Just five songs and a shade over 20 minutes, the idea was to avoid over-thinking. Songs were perfected not embellished. The subject matter remains dark-tinted pop. 'Ocean Death' reclines in the aquatic seabed. The lyrics are simple and bleak, but the effect is celestial. The 3 a.m. introspection and heart beat pulse are almost reminiscent of Four Tet or Pantha Du Prince. The pulse is almost minimal techno, but it's suffused with maximalist emotion.
A small part of Ocean Death was recorded in a hotel room in Spain, but it was mostly done at a friend's home in LA, the same place where Obsidian was completed. Both records traverse similar terrain: morbid lyricism, direct vocal melodies, a felicity in subsuming electronic experiments into pop songs. It's about death, apathy, and loneliness. It sounds like a final love letter to a chapter of life that has already ended—and maybe it has. Songs are currently being theorized for a third full-length, and the direction is vastly different.
It's not normally in Baths' nature to rehash old ideas. In a sense, Ocean Death was an experiment to animate these beautiful but discarded fragments. We're lucky they survived. Baths has a rare gift for cloaking melancholy with gorgeous arrangements. The emotions are raw, but the musicianship is refined. Guitars are scraped and processed. Vocals are clipped and layered, drowned and resurrected. But what lingers are the songs themselves; ideas fully formed and immortalized, built to haunt forever.
* The follow up to 2013's critically acclaimed Obsidian LP (Pitchfork Best New Music)
* Limited pressing of multi-colored vinyl
* Includes download code

Das Debüt-Album von Goldfrapp nun in einer neuen Auflage in weißem Vinyl. Die LP ist seit einiger Zeit vergriffen und wird unlängst für hohe Beträge gehandelt. "Felt Mountain" gilt für viel Fans und Kritiker bis heute als das beste Werk der Künstler. Mit den Singles "Lovely Head", "Human", "Utopia" und "Pilots" setzen die britischen Künstler Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory ein musikalisches Ausrufezeichen und wurden dafür u.a. mit dem britischen Mercury Prize belohnt. Bekannte Musiker wie Adrian Utley (Portishead) und Alexander Balanescu arbeiteten an dem Debüt mit und halfen den eleganten Synthie-Pop mit Streicher-Arrangements zu vervollkommnen. So entwirft das Album eine Stimmung, die sich vom Trip-Hop dieser Ära deutlich absetzt und bis heute nichts von seiner Faszination eingebüßt hat. Alison Goldfrapp, die zuvor auf Stücken von Tricky und Orbital sang, wurde mit diesem Album über Nacht zur Pop-Ikone.

- Die LP erscheint als weißes Vinyl, 180g + Downloadcode

Lopatins präziser Ansatz an Komposition und Kreation hat ihn zu einem der einflussreichsten und prägnantesten Persönlichkeiten moderner, elektronischer Klanglandschaften gemacht. So arbeitete er für viele Künstler, Regisseure, Musiker und führende Kunstinstitutionen: von Sofia Coppola bis Ariel Kleiman, von Antony & The Johnsons (dessen kommendes Album er produzierte) bis Nine Inch Nails, von der Tate Modern (London) bis zum MoMA (Museum of Modern Art, New York). Da dem Künstler Oneohtrix Point Never auch immer etwas Geheimnisvolles anhaftet, läuft seine Teaserkampagne mit einer Serie an abstrakten Interviews, Trailern und Soundfiles - so kamen bereits erste Materialschnipsel als MIDI-Dateien in Umlauf.

Revered by the music press and respected by his peers for his work as sound designer at the Pompidou Centre, Pierre Lefeuvre - the Parisian producer better know as Saycet - doesn't seem to have quenched his thirst for bright, dreamy, cleverly constructed melodies. Indeed, the extended version of Mirage is positive proof of his continued curiosity and creativity. Firstly, because it oscillates between abstract and orchestrated, animated tracks such as 'Météores' and 'Half Awake', one of the EP's high points recorded with Yan Wagner and Phoene Somsavath, now sporting its own music video. Secondly, because this new version - finally available on vinyl - contains a track from the Volcano EP ('True Love (Part.3)') and two new tracks taken from the Mirage B.Side EP, released on 16th October - the gentle 'Cherries & Memories' and a new acoustic version of 'Mirages' with vocals from Juliette Armanet, whose recent signing byUniversal and support tours for French pop deities (Sébastien Tellier, Brigitte, Julien Doré...) leave little doubt regarding her talents of seduction. All of which announces a host of exciting new directions for Saycet's music.

Pralles Machinedrum Remix-Package für die Dancehall-Acts SK Simeon und Yaw Faso! Insgesamt vier Mixe von u.a. "Doper Than Dope" und "All Of Mi Life". Nuff said!