Beats News

The frontier for French electroacoustic mystical music has traversed much ground since Pierre Schaeffer shuffled on the past and laid out a map without borders or designated ground. Seventy years in this land of the fried we hear a plethora of Ideas and ongoing potential coming from all corners of the globe. Inheriting the wisdom of past masters whilst forging a signature style of his own Kassel Jaeger sists as one of the premier explorers of these unknown worlds today. Comprised recently recorded tracks Kassel Jaeger presents a work of revisits and reworkings, one which acts as a hinge in both closing this particular chapter whilst opening up the windows to new sound world to come. In Aster we have a rich deep music replete with dark ambient sonorities swirling amongst intense buzzing tones.

Often chilling and ominous this is a fearless music with abstracted corners and dynamic leverage. Unafraid to embed itself in the ongoing whirlpool of sonic progress. Jaegers output remains a thrilling body of exploration and ongoing transformation..

One of the most important artists in the development of the Horo sound, Astral Projection is the first full length ASC album for the Horo label. Astral Projection follows on clearly from ‘Imagine The Future’ with the development of the Grey Area sound progressing and becoming intrinsic to a large majority of ASC’s current work. But this LP is not a Grey Area addendum, Astral Projection is a luminous artistic statement from a sonic perfectionist who the term ‘sound designer’ was made to define. An accomplished and much respected ambient producer, ASC weaves his talent for soaring emotive soundscapes with his undeniable rhythmic prowess across a cohesive 12 track sonic voyage that again accomplishes a rare goal in todays electronic music landscape - a commanding listen from beginning to end. Very few artists are as prolific and consistent as ASC, but we are confident Astral Projection will be revered as one of his finest moments in years to come.

**EXTREMELY LIMITED RUN OF 150 - BEAUTIFULLY PRESENTED WITH HIGH SPEC SILVER AND BLACK MARBLE VINYL**

Diasiva return to Irish label Acroplane Recordings with another collection of uncompromising, bass-heavy, tales of the world decaying.

Diasiva is a collaboration between Monolog (Ad Noiseam, Murder Channel, Hymen) and Swarm Intelligence (Acroplane, Voitax, 47). As Diasiva they have previous releases on Ohm Resistance, Arboretum, Instruments of Discipline, Subtrakt and Acroplane Recordings.

Joni Void & N NAO are the respective monikers of surrealists Jean Néant and Naomie de Lorimier from Montréal, Québec - who found each other in 2016 through a poetry-reading/performance by Naomie in Jean’s home at the time, a DIY loft-venue known as The Plant. This would lead to numerous events involving both, there and in many other Montréal underground spaces, until both finally worked on a collaborative piece for Joni Void’s album “Mise en Abyme” released in 2019 on Constellation Records, and began performing together as a duo following that. Nature Morte is their first collaborative album, where voice, tape samples & field-recordings meet montage & electronic production to form a collage of sorts, an abstract puzzle that unfolds both artists’ sound-worlds.

Recorded between December 2017 & July 2020 in Montréal, Québec. Mastered by Simon Lancelot. Artwork by Albarrán Cabrera. Design by Sprflxgrfzm.

In 2016, the Japanese Duo Tenniscoats (Saya and Takashi Ueno ) visited Munich for the first time to play at the Alien Disko Festival, invited by the band the Notwist. In the japanese-bavarian bar Nomina Saya and Ueno listened and joined the acoustic brass-string-combo Hochzeitskapelle (Markus Acher and his brother Micha are also members), who use to play in between people in restaurants, on the street, on boats, etc ...but only on a real stage, if they have to. Inspired by this evening, Saya founded the brass-band Zayaendo back home in Tokyo, together with her friend Satomi Endo, who plays the soprano-saxophone. They started to play in parks, forests and bars, and many friends joined, making them a collective with up to 20 musicians. Some of the members are also composers and contribute their compositions.

In 2018, the collective came to Munich, and joined the Alien Disko festival. In 2019, they invited the Hochzeitskapelle to play with them on a 2-week-tour to japan. When they returned to Munich after this for the 2019-edition of the festival, their Munich friends organized a welcome-surprise-party for them, playing one evening only cover-versions of Zayaendo-songs. Taking part were the Hochzeitskapelle joined by Kofelgschroa-acoordion-player Maxi-Pongratz, the experimental duo Schnitt, who play with a vinyl-cutting-machine, trumpet and bass-clarinet, joasihno alias Cico Beck (Notwist) with his music-machines, the duo of Munich-based Japanese pianist Sachiko Hara and clarinetist and composer Christoph Reiserer, and a school-big-band led by g.rag-trumpet-player Alois Schmelz, who excited everybody by beautifully singing one song in Japanese. They played Zayaendo-compositions from the album „Zayaendo Music“.

Every band had recorded their cover-versions at the rehearsals ... just to give as a souvenir to the Zayaendo-members... but as this is such a wonderful and special compilation and just beautiful songs, we decided to make a small, limited vinyl-edition of this as well for others to hear. And traditionally, this has of course to be housed in a screen printed jacket by master Señor Burns, numbered and individually colored.

For this volume, Sydney duo Andy Rantzen and Jochen Gutsch team up with Brisbane-based Lawrence English to create a new trio work, themed around the ideas, life, and personality of a German philosopher, poet and thinker, Arthur Schopenhauer. Based on Rantzen’s spoken words and English’s haunting sine waves, Gutsch structured the piece by adding piano, trumpets, wailing guitar, and thumping percussion, arranged as the original composition “On the Completion of My Master Work”. On the flip side of the tape, comes the reimagined version of the title piece. Both pieces appear as reflections to each other, maybe challenging each other, making conversations and questioning each existence.

Left of centre experiments from the Dutch underground of yesteryear. Muziekkamer was the name of the home recording studio that gave birth to the twelve tracks on 'Popmuziek', an intriguing document of sketch arrangements and primitive, fairytale sampling wave cuts. This is music which excels due to its inherent naivety; the limitless ambition of 'Black Box' almost sounding like a precursor to the 90s ambient techno of Likemind or Stasis. On 'Being Home Tonight' we can hear an early form of what the likes of Tolouse Low Trax have been bringing to the forefront of contemporary club culture whilst the erratic art-rock of 'Walkman' mirrors what Leven Signs & co were doing over the pond. In trying to create something which represented 'intrusiveness' as a contrast to an earlier ambient tape the trio incidentally blurred the lines between various musical fashions to come. An amazing snapshot of time and place!

It's been over a year since we at Suction Records last raided RX-101's archives, but far be it from a lack of quality material. In fact, we've been holding back this special batch of melodic, chilled out techno and electronica for 'Dopamine,' RX-101's first full-length vinyl LP. Dopamine (suction047) is a cohesive body of work with clear references to Aphex Twin's 'Selected Ambient Works 85-92', Polygon Window's 'Surfing on Sine Waves', and Warp Records' 'Artificial Intelligence' series.

For those of you new to the story, RX-101 is Dutch producer Erik Jong, who recorded hundreds of top-tier AFX/Rephlex-style tracks to cassette tape from 1997-1999, but never sent out any demos ('I didn't think my own tracks were good enough, or feel the need to share my tracks with others. I simply wanted to make music without any pretension or specific purpose'). Suction Records discovered RX-101's output via Erik's Soundcloud page, which had been much discussed on Aphex Twin fan forum We Are The Music Makers, where many speculated that Erik was in fact a secret Richard D James alias. We were blown away the vast treasure trove of golden era '90s electronics in Erik's archive, and began work on an ongoing campaign to release the music of RX-101.

Although Erik was initially driven to electronic music production through the influence of house and techno, especially Detroit-area heavyweight labels Underground Resistance, Plus 8, and Transmat, it should be clear to anyone who listens that RX-101's primary influence is the work of Richard D James. While RX-101's output to date has been like an overview of many facets of the AFX/Rephlex catalog, from Caustic Window-style crunchy techno, to Bochum Welt-style synth pop, to Universal Indicator-style acid, the focus of Dopamine's sound palette is firmly guided by the slow, funky and crisp 808 patterns, warm analog basslines, and evocative chords of Aphex Twin's landmark 'Selected Ambient 85-92' LP. It's an immersive listen from start to finish - 13 tracks of armchair techno of the highest order.

Like many Canadians, Joseph Shabason and Ben Gunning like to untangle themselves from urbanity and disappear up north a few times a year. Unlike other cottage-goers, Ben and Joseph don’t while away the ur-time on jet-skis and lounge on docks reading pulpy mysteries. Instead, they bring a car full of synths, drum machines, saxophones, guitars, samplers, effects, and recording equipment to jam the days away in a cabin-fever inducing haze of wood smoke, cedar musk, hot wires and jazz sweat.

Muldrew, recorded on the northern Ontario lake by that name, is the culmination of several years of this collaborative tradition. Resisting their penchant for composition and arrangement, the duo embarked on this project with only an open framework that encouraged restraint. The result is a sparse and improvisational album, hung on enough structure for each song to evoke a distinct, albeit ambiguous mood. Space is paramount and even the most digital elements breathe with the resonance of the room and mingle with creaking floors. The resulting album is steeped in the placid stillness and northern ambience of a lake at dawn, and the emotive expanse of a forest at dusk. Imagine an ECM cottage-series, or Jon Hassell and John Martyn scoring a Bela Tarr film set in rural Canada. This is the future-proof music of metropolitan polyglot minds invigorated by nature’s mute refusal to follow a click-track.

DMM Pressing. Limited Edition of 500.

SLEEPERS POETS SCIENTISTS is the compilation of 9 female Georgian artists. It showcases works by Natalie Beridze's students at the CES (Creative Education Studio), where Beridze teaches song-writing and music production. Natalie Beridze is an international well-established artist with releases on Max Ernst, Laboratory Instinct, and Monika Enterprise, through live performances, theatre and movie soundtrack works, as a member of artists collective Goslab, and collaborations with Ryuichi Sakamoto, Thomas Brinkmann, Gudrun Gut, Nikakoi – to name but a few. "This compilation is the backbone of what I try to persuade as a lecturer and as a person, who endlessly loves the music-making process. "Sleepers, Poets, Scientists " is the embodiment of intelligent, benevolent, dedicated, talented and beautiful women, who I believe have a bright future as female composers in Georgia and this album is a significant step towards it."

The retro cover is a nod to the famous group shot from the 1927 Solvay conference, which brought together physicists like Albert Einstein, Erwin Schrödinger, Marie Curie, and others. With this in mind, the name Sleepers, Poets, Scientists rings like a call to action for today's brightest minds, to wake up and save our chaotic, troubled world.

Trinovantes is a new collaboration between old friends Franz Kirmann and Stuart Bowditch, who originally met in 2007 at the Multivitamins events in Shoreditch.

The body of work on Hidden Codes employs a new approach. Songs by metal bands were interpreted by algorithmic functions into MIDI. The extracted data was then edited and played through a variety of software and synthesisers to generate warm, ambient layers that, whilst removed from the original songs, retains a sentiment of the original ideas. The layers were then arranged and further processed to form new pieces.

John Frusciante releases the first instrumental electronic album under his own name on Aaron Funk's Timesig label. The record is dedicated to his cat Maya who recently passed away, a fellow traveller in his otherwise solitary music making sessions. 'Maya' is inspired by John's favourite music: '91 to'96 UK breakbeat hardcore and jungle. It’s a varied and personal take with sophisticated, authentic production balanced against John’s acute sense of melody, an inspired blending of machines and samples infused with a joyful energy. "I don't have that interest in singing or writing lyrics like I used to. The natural thing when I'm by myself now, is to just make music like the stuff being released this year. I really love the back and forth with machines and the computer." The fun he’s having on 'Maya' is infectious.

Mort Garson’s road to cool cultural caché and the sublimity of Plantasia meant a decades’ long journey through an underworld of sophisticated, international, string-laced dreck (i.e., your great-grandparents’ record collection) to arrive at Music from Patch Cord Productions, this set of queasy-listening you now hold.

Music from Patch Cord Productions shows that Garson’s knack was to exist in both worlds, super-commercial and waaay out. He cut delirious minute-long blasts for commercials (as to whether or not they were actually ever aired remains unknown) and spacecraft-hovering études. Were there really account managers out there in the early ’70s that gave the greenlight to these commercial compositions which seemed to anticipate everyone from John Carpenter to Suicide? What were these campaigns actually for, Soylent Green? Regardless, Mort’s jingle work laid the groundwork for the future. As Robert Moog himself noted: “The jingles were important because they domesticated the sound.” Via Garson’s wizardry, the synthesizer transcended novelty to ubiquity and dominance.

Other curios and questions abound. How did Garson’s arrangement work for Arthur Prysock’s satiny body worship album This Is My Beloved transmogrify into the body-snatcher pulses of “This is My Beloved”? Are the two pieces even related? What is the IATA code for the airport of “Realizations of an Aeropolis”? What denomination is the “Cathedral of Pleasure”? If “Son of Blob” sounds like a hallucinatory melted ice cream truck theme, what on earth does Blob’s father sound like? Every sound wrangled out of that Moog by Garson pushes things further and further out.

Of course, these are all questions that may never get answers, as Garson wasn’t the most organized modern day composer, busy as he was conjuring strange new realms with his circuit boards and synths. He worked and wrote right up until his death in 2008, his daughter and Sacred Bones still going through all of the material left behind. He wouldn’t live to see it, but his renaissance was just around the corner, the seeds that had been scattered in record bins around the world suddenly coming to bear fruit. Take a bite!

Can You Smell What The Sock Is Cooking?!

Sock It To Me steps up with their first release. Three club-focussed collaborations from Alec Falconer & Desert Sound Colony with a Harry Wills remix.

Optimo Music Digital Danceforce is the digital label of Optimo Music, an internationalist musical outlet designed to get dancefloor focussed music out there without the long delays that vinyl manufacturing often entails. So far this has been a very satisfying project and the first half dozen or so releases (with many more in the pipeline) have been very well received.

There will be a series of best of OMDD 12's taking a track from each release and compiling it on a various artists 4 track 12', cut loud for maximum club impact. Here is volume 1 featuring tried and tested club hits from Belgium's Strapontin, The Netherland's Perdu, Morocco born Bergsonist and Italy's Tamburi Neri.

Nick Klein delivers his final album recorded in the USA and his first for Joachim Nordwall’s iDEAL, marking the start of a close working relationship with the totemic Swedish institute ‘Actor-Network Theory’ is a puckered kiss-off to NYC, delivered in the manner of Nick Klein’s volley of slow bangers for the likes of L.I.E.S., Alter, and Ascetic House since 2013. In five parts he drills into out a signature style of sourest synths and machine rhythms that revel in the thrill of grinding
dissociation, seething with a seat-edge tension that sets Klein’s sound out from the crowd with its jolts of rawest electronic expression and bruxist bite.
The thrumming velocity that took Klein up to 2018 feels tempered and chiselled into some of his deadliest, most unyielding work here. Punctuating his time spent in NYC, before starting a new chapter in the Netherlands, the tracks betray a palpably pensive nerviness to his typically bullish styles in a way that has begun to bleed into his most recent releases on Psychic Liberation and Viewlexx.
Pummelled groover ‘Tail Eating’ and the fierce traction of ‘Every Move Move For The Monitor’ are countered with keening choral voices and serotonin-depleted strings of opener ‘Choking On Ice’, while the sparing strokes of ‘Pear Brandy’ casts a long shadow of midnight blooz guitar, and bony flutes creep over the stygian flow of ’Spider In Brown Powder’ in a salty balance of his patented, dissociative dryness with more esoteric, emotive urges.

on the quest for non linear grooves - pure, explorative, outsider rhythm jams

CAIN closes out his Fine Grains triptych with a vivacious EP of signature bass shuddering, polyrhythmic drums. ‘High Call’, his first 12” on the now Amsterdam-based label, offers 6 original tracks and a remix by Japanese producer Jun Kamoda in homage to the revelatory spirit and pre-medieval origins of carnivals. Artwork by Dutch/Scottish artist Roos Dijkhuizen created through ink and water drawings.

Colours emerge from the dark, glowing torches and fire embers flicker through the night. ‘Caapi’ warmly draws you into proceedings, an alluring tease of soothing chimes and preview of the infectious shuffling drums that will follow. From ‘Apsara’, Cain sets us on the front foot. A pounding, stuttering rhythm ignites the track, as spinning chord sounds echo and a haunting, hallucinatory vocal lead us on. The carnival is fully alive in ‘Gundon Night’, a sinister and menacing broken track steered by Cosssack warrior chants. High on the mountain we reach the pinnacle of ‘High Call’, a triumphant lead track with CAIN’s recognisable warm and driving, rhythmical drum patterns. The otherworldly psychoacoustic melodies of ‘Taiyi’ and slower-paced triplet drums structures of ‘Zetwal’ make these tracks the outliers of the EP, but they also complement and help to complete the picture. Jun Kamoda’s zany turned up marching techno take on the lead track signs out ‘High Call’ in playful, multi-coloured order.

After the reissue of Iury Lech - Musica Para El Fin De Los Cantos, Berlin based Cocktail d'Amore Music is proud to present a collection of remixes and reinterpretations of the mighty album. Japanese rising star Powder is first up to deliver her take on Barreras. The minimalist dreamscape catches its rhythmic reshape, becoming an underwater deep-house/deep- techno dance floor experience. On the same side Suzanne Kraft contributes with a rather cinematic vision on Cuando Rocio Dispara Sus Flechas. Hatchback opens up the B-side with an evocative version of Posmeridiano. The Californian producer gives a touch of sunshine and open air to the landscape of the original song. Closing the EP Ukrainian producer Zavoloka reinterprets Ukraina with a vortex of three-dimensional sonic layering.

Slick jungle, low-slung broken beat and even a deep house banger, 'Interlocked' assembles 8 tracks of some of the purest old-school vibes by a veteran of the scene under a brand new alias for a frustrated and precarious (post)-lockdown summer. Tapping the drama and energy of the largely pre-generic party days of '91-94 - a halcyon time of transition in which Drumskull himself, as a life-long skater otherwise stoked on the the raw energy of 80s skate video soundtracks - to Black Flag, JFA, Minor Threat, Stupids et al, to Primus, Gang Starr and Meat Beat Manifesto, made the passage into syncopated machine funk, to sub bass, time-stretched breaks and automated beat production.

Physically drumming in a couple of skate punk bands in the early 90s, exposure to hardcore and early jungle tapes in '93 by DJ Dimension and DJ Rob (Leeds Orbit, UK), amongst countless others, inspired an archetypal move to sell his drum kit so as to land a set of Technics 1210s. Spinning techno and jungle on the local free party scene and clubs as part of a DJ collective from '94-96, crafting early tunes on Amiga ProTracker software, and shortly after running club nights in mid-90s London with Mo' Wax and Ninja Tune artists, Drumskull expresses the eclecticism of the era across 8 big tracks of previously unreleased material. Evoking all the energy and excitement of being involved in those early years of dance culture, 'Interlocked' powerfully yet playfully connects then to now, reveling in a sense of timelessness, mutation and hybridity.

Album photography by Amir Zaki from his book with legendary Skateboarder Tony Hawk and author Peter Zellner 'California Concrete: A Landscape of Skateparks (2019). Graffiti lettering by original UK stylemaster and beatmaker REQ TDK.

a t (Lena Platonos) is a Greek musician, pianist and music composer. Her third solo album, 'Lepidoptera' was produced in 1986 and reissued by Dark Entries in 2018. Inspired by a scientific book on butterflies she found in a trashcan one day, the compositions follow minimalistic motifs and carefully-staged soundscapes. Lena narrates each song in deadpan fashion, skillfully reciting her surreal Greek poetry.

We've recruited 4 contemporary Greek producers to remix their favorite tracks from 'Lepidoptera'. First up is 'Cyaniris' remixed by Anatolian Weapons who delivers an enchanted late-night journey through the New Wave forest. Next is 'Araschnia Levana' remixed by Pasiphae who speeds up the pace with machine driven melodic electro pulses. On the B-side we have June remixing 'Cyaniris' twirling the track into a complex deep sea dive with lush drum kicks and pads. Closing out the EP is a remix of 'a Gee´a ´ Aporia Maturna' by Morah who leads us to the underworld of Hades via sinister squelches and full-on apocalyptic rave breakdown. All songs have been mastered for vinyl by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. The jacket is a reinterpretation of the original 'Lepidoptera' cover, isolating the illustration of the butterfly/woman designed by Eloise Leigh.

We're proud to announce Intrusion (cv313/echospace) reworks of Phase90's, "Infinitati" an album Boomkat hailed as, "a place to dip your toes in Deepchord/Echospace's oceans of sound, this is it." A night time walk on the wrong side of the street, creepy and ominous in nature as a result of the possessive quality of supernatural textures, field recordings and found sounds conducted at the Calvary Cemetery. Utilizing the original 1/4" tape recordings and individual sounds, Intrusion builds on the foundation steps further, using the mixing board as the primary instrument as well as, tape splicing, 12 bit loop stations and other audio wizardry. The material on this 12" ep can be interpreted as sinistral--dark,, heavy due to the hardware and its currencies emitted by its source--the phase 90. An acidic dream residing somewhere in the ether. Absolutely essential listening and horizontal grooving for the ages!

Fantastic electro drill breaker weapon !
Super 2x12", with a plenty splendid printed sleeve.
Artist autoprod.

A magestuous double vinyl ! ENJOY !

Vol. II of our compilations called “The Spacy Saga” comes with 6 original mental mind missiles from five truly underground rising composers - check it out.

“Lucky Veil” is Al Pagoda’s first mini album to be released via Bigamo Musik, October 30th. Seven songs built out of layering luminous synth melodies that sound strong, iconic, like a childhood memory that’s long been dormant.

Al Pagoda, originally from Valencia, Spain, settled in Berlin in 2015, where he started working as a composer for movie soundtracks. During these years he experimented with new sounds and recording techniques. In 2018 a colleague of his, who had witnessed some of his free-form experimentation sessions, asked him to play at Loophole, a small club in Neukölln, Berlin. He accepted and came up with a few songs for the show. After this, the album would crystallise in no time.

Al Pagoda's cinematic approach can be felt throughout his music; his songs unfold like stories that take us to the crux of an inescapable revelation. Built from short snippets recorded in his phone over the years, Lucky Veil was put together during a winter in Berlin, in a room with no windows.

Machinedrum (aka Travis Stewart) wird sein neues Album „A View Of U“ am 9. Oktober 2020 bei Ninja Tune veröffentlichen. Es ist das neunte Soloalbum des in L.A. ansässigen Produzenten in einer glanzvollen Karriere, die seinen Ruf als „einer der größten und hellsten Sterne der elektronischen Musik“ (DJ Mag) gefestigt hat. Es zeigt eine unglaubliche Besetzung von Gästen wie Drum’n’Bass-Legende Sub Focus, Counter Records-Produzent Chrome Sparks, Father (Awful Records), Mono/Poly von Brainfeeder, Tigran Hamasyan, Jesse Boykins III, Rochelle Jordan, Tanerélle und, last but not least, der derzeit wohl heißeste Rapper da draußen, Freddie Gibbs.

„A View Of U“ ist ein wahrhaft karrierebestimmendes Album für den in North Carolina geborenen Produzenten, das seine charakteristische Fusion aus IDM, britischem Rave, Jungle und Bass-Music mit unzähligen regionalen US-Hiphop- und Club-Musikstilen verbindet - diese kraftvolle und meisterhaft ausgeführte Verschmelzung erinnert an das Tempo, die Wärme und den Groove, den man auf seinem vorletzten Album, „Vapor City“ zu hören bekam. Vom klappernden „Kane Train“ mit Freddie Gibbs über „Spin Blocks“ mit Awful Records-Gründer Father bis hin zu den tiefen und tödlichen Subbässen von „1000 Miles“, einer futuristischen Liquid-D’n’B-Hymne in Zusammenarbeit mit Sub Focus, und „Sleepy Pietro“, das zusammen mit dem gefeierten armenischen Jazzpianisten Tigran Hamasyan entstand: die Tiefe und Qualität dieses Albums ist schlicht erstaunlich.

Childsplay presents The debut EP from mod-r. A 4track summary of the emotional state of youth 2day. equal parts breaks, acid, electro and angst. If you don't like it JUST FUCK OFF

Birthed from a radio show and event series with iconic Los Angeles radio station DUBLAB, SOS MUSIC’s goal is to provide a platform for diverse and forward-thinking electronic music, with a keen emphasis on womxn talent from around the world. In conjunction with Berlin-based !K7, the label’s debut release, SOS MUSIC Vol. 1 is a 14-track eclectic compilation showcasing dance music from some of the best producers working at the moment including rRoxymore, Violet, Nightwave, Umfang, LCY & Minimal Violence - lovingly curated to uplift and celebrate the global electronic community in a time of deep uncertainty in the music industry. SOS MUSIC Vol. 1 is international to its core, drawing on in?uences from the artists’ respective backgrounds including the UK, US, Serbia, Spain, Japan, Slovenia, Portugal, Germany & Canada.

SOS MUSIC was founded in Los Angeles by Maddy Maia (UK) and Tottie (Spain via the UK). Maddy has a long history in independent music, and is currently VP A&R in the US for famed British indie label Ninja Tune. Tottie is director of events and special projects at DUBLAB, and curates music, art and cultural programming that re?ects the diverse landscape of the city and beyond.

A shared love of underground music and culture, Maia and Tottie’s bond started strong via throwing events and later with hosting a monthly radio show; The SOS Music imprint is a natural next step in the pair’s progression as curators and its goal will continue early principles the duo stuck to- to seek out diverse underground talent and amplify their voice or community, whilst championing diversity on all sides of the industry. Maddy and Tottie’s music in?uences and styles span wide across the spectrum of experimental dance music, ranging from left?eld house, orchestral ambient sounds, not forgetting a nod to their youth growing up in the UK rave scene.

Our next 12-inch venture is a superb Techno fuelled remix from Bart Skils of the world-wide smash hit Universal Nation. We all know the story of Universal Nation and that of its creator. There has been a plethora of remixes over the years, taking the original sound into new territory, new genres. Each and every effort has its own merits and we couldn’t be prouder of the impact this has had on electronic dance music history. This release will be in collaboration with Filth On Acid who will be releasing Bart’s remix in digital format. Dutch DJ and producer Bart Skils is the man of the moment, delivering the goods in a brand-new twist in the legacy of this mighty classic. A highly respected artist in Holland and beyond, Skils’ DJ sets are celebrated by Techno lovers as forward thinking and well-constructed. He is part of Adam Beyers’ leading Techno imprint, Drumcode Records and he’s churned out quite a few releases on several other labels. He is very much in demand and his passion for music takes him to various locations around the Europe. With this solid remix we’re delighted to have him on board.

Bart Skils adorns the A-side with his remix and he notches up quite a treat for us which will grab a lot of attention. Pounding kick drums lead the way alongside deep rumbling basses that dominate the low end. The infectious Universal Nation melody filters in, teasing us with snippets of the wide-open synths. Before long we’re locked in as the melody in all its glory is unleashed. On the break we find the original robotic vocals as the melody builds along with a snare roll taking us to the climax and back to full-on mode for the duration.

As an added bonus, on the flip, we have the original masterpiece that never ever disappoints.

repress !

Now for something different! After a string of releases with dancefloor intent, Barcelona based MOM returns to its more experimental side with NO MORE WHITE PRESIDENTS. For this, Modern Obscure Music welcomes Black Meteoric Star (LCD Soundsystem/DFA) aka Gavin Rayna Russom to the label. NO MORE WHITE PRESIDENTS is an experimental film directed and soundtracked by Russom. This 12' contains 3 choice excerpts from NO MORE WHITE PRESIDENTS. The soundtrack was originally self-released by Gavin on cassette, but this is the first vinyl outing. The artwork on this release is by Marc Monguilod. At the start of 2017, Russom came out as a Trans-Woman and her transition is one of the themes explored in NO MORE WHITE PRESIDENTS, as well as broader topics such as capitalism and death. Gavin Rayna Russom has been releasing music since 1997 under her own name and a string of aliases. Gavin collaborated with Delia Gonzalez on the acclaimedDays Of Mars in 2005, where they explored keyboard hypnotics. Russom was the driving force behind The Crystal Ark with Viva Ruiz, and for the last few years has been an integral part of LCD Soundsystem. The music of NO MORE WHITE PRESIDENTS is dark and claustrophobic yet exciting. As far as the dancefloor goes, it is suitable only for the darkest of clubs. Stealth Technology features jarring oscillating synths, angular beats and waves of acid. Three Trains is a short track where tape hiss drifts over a tough rhythmic section and a dark bassline. Coffin Maker finishes the release with punishing beats, oscillating acidic synth lines and a growling bass. Not for the faint hearted!

limited Obi strip/White vinyl edition

''Ruyzdael presents Writers on Wax Volume 1: The Sound of Graffiti, a compilation album with 8 exclusive, primarily electronic tracks by producers from four different countries who are more (in)famous as graffiti writers than as musicians.''Letters on a wall, letters on a train. When you take it back to that essence, it?s really not so strange that graffiti writers call themselves and each other writers. With just a few letters ? a word, a name ? they write their mythology for a general audience. No huge vocabulary needed, just imagination and a need for expression. It can come as no surprise that those qualities extend to other disciplines as well. Graffiti has long been associated with musical styles (hip-hop, punk) that contain an abundance of imagination and expression. Less well known is the fact that graffiti writers have embraced the DIY approach of electronic music. Writers on Wax Volume 1 is a group exposition of beats and basslines, imagination and expression. Sometimes using a lot of words, usually none or very few. The dance floor has its own myths.

Red Translucent Vinyl, Gatefold, Photo Book Cover

limited red vinyl/gatefold edition ''Ruyzdael presents Writers on Wax Volume 1: The Sound of Graffiti, a compilation album with 8 exclusive, primarily electronic tracks by producers from four different countries who are more (in)famous as graffiti writers than as musicians.''Letters on a wall, letters on a train. When you take it back to that essence, it?s really not so strange that graffiti writers call themselves and each other writers. With just a few letters ? a word, a name ? they write their mythology for a general audience. No huge vocabulary needed, just imagination and a need for expression. It can come as no surprise that those qualities extend to other disciplines as well. Graffiti has long been associated with musical styles (hip-hop, punk) that contain an abundance of imagination and expression. Less well known is the fact that graffiti writers have embraced the DIY approach of electronic music. Writers on Wax Volume 1 is a group exposition of beats and basslines, imagination and expression. Sometimes using a lot of words, usually none or very few. The dance floor has its own myths.

The project began as an experiment. Haley switched digital audio workstations, rebuilt his palette of sounds, and tasked himself with simply trying it out. The exercise freed him of expectations and permitted a process that echoed the tones of more immediate external environments. A gravity had seeped in; resulting material shifts between bleakness and sublime suspense, awe at the expanse of existing, in looking back and letting go. “It’s a sort of sad smile and a wave goodbye but at the same time hello, a 'welcome to your life’ moment,” Haley says. Take the storm pattern sequence from “Gaussian” to “Ultrafiche of You”: a queasy, contemplative vignette rests on a single soft-synth cloud before the latter’s percussion ripples across the sky. With trademark stutters and swells, the composition conjures the sensation of searching in the afterglow. “It’s a love song, and I don’t write many of those.”

A year on from their self-titled debut, Bristol-based sound sculptors Dot Product are back with a follow-up that stays true to their experimental principles while offering up new textures and arrangements for their hard-won sonic content. It's been a busy year for Adam Winchester and Christopher Jarman, the pair behind the project. Following the release of Dot Product on Osiris Music in March 2016, they appeared at prestigious festivals such as Atonal and Simple Things. This spate of shows has fed back into 2080, a new body of work that feels distinct from its predecessor while retaining the unnerving, distorted finish that has come to define the Dot Product sound. It was largely created through studio-based improvisation as a natural response to the performance set up the duo had developed. Rhythm plays a significant role in the early strains of 2080, whether triggering static blasts or stirring up low frequency tones into a seductive waltz, but as the album progresses these rhythms give way to anchor-less drones, refined metallic shimmers and red-lining noise blasts. Even if such ingredients were present on the previous album, here they feel thrillingly out of reach. When occasional field recordings swoop into earshot as on Electric Flesh, it's hard to tell whether they might be a real-world mechanical manifestation or a visceral shard of sound design. Between the tonal lines lurks a narrative. Previously Dot Product concerned itself with a scientific approach, and such experimentation gave Winchester and Jarman the tools to define their venture. Now 2080 sees them applying these tools to a specific creative vision. That vision may be more implied than specified, but it's provided this intriguing pair with their next logical step on a journey into uncharted sonic waters.

Repress!

NX Records is a collaboration between Matthew Herbert's Accidental Records and the Department of Music at Goldsmiths, University of London.

In May 2013, the label launched with an introductory mixtape and live performances as part of the Puregold Festival launch at the Southbank Centre. NX Records has continued to release new, critically acclaimed music, host numerous events and run an annual pop up record shop.

The label's mission statement is to create a new model for the music industry, connecting exciting talent from the renowned creative hub of Goldsmiths - and the wider community of South East London - with the ever-experimental Accidental Records.

Our aim is to build connections between emerging artists, education, the industry and audiences. NX is a professional label that works alongside, not in opposition with, DIY artists.

The first in our series of experimental split 12"s focuses on instrumental electronic music.

Goldsmiths student and modular wizard Sam Hostettler evokes a daydream meeting between Vangelis and Burial, with his impossibly lush synthscapes shot through with dubbed out percussion. Meanwhile, La Leif's blend of crunchy, electroacoustic techno and outernational field recordings should hit the spot for fans of Karen Gwyer or Shelley Prior.

NX12X is out on Feb 1, with a launch party at The Glove That Fits on Feb 14. Come grab a copy of the vinyl, and have a dance...

It's been four years since Sweatbox Dynasty, the fourth solo LP from Pennsylvanian experimentalist TOBACCO. In that time, Tom Fec's project has toured with Nine Inch Nails, provided the theme song to HBO series Silicon Valley, and teamed with Aesop Rock for a collaborative album as Malibu Ken. He now returns to Ghostly International for Hot Wet & Sassy, a full-length album oozing with his most playful and approachable songs to date, which, conversely, express notions of antilove, self-hate, and disappointment in others. Pop impulses have always surged beneath the surface of his sound - blown-out bass, analog synths, drum machines, and Fec's unmistakable analog gurgle and hiss - here they've bubbled to the top. "I feel like it's the most I've been able to refine what I'm doing," says Fec. "For the past decade I've had this motherfxcker on my shoulder that makes me pick away at structure and melody. Purposely covering up moments because I can. That really came to a peak on Sweatbox. So I wanted the opposite this time. Write the songs without ripping them in half. I went from 'what would the Butthole Surfers do?' to 'what would Cyndi Lauper do?'" And what would Trent Reznor do? Fec found his answer straight from the source. Their collaborative track, "Babysitter," fuses their voices into one deranged presence: "I'm the new babysitter," they alert, before pivoting into a menacingly saccharine bridge. The track tumbles on a tom fill, then a punishing synth line rips into a cacophony of drums and feedback like a lawnmower gnawing through the living room carpet. "This was new for me, but I wanted to write a song that was everything I am and have been, and then like one notch further. Trent was the notch further," adds Fec. The collaboration is a work of alchemy seamlessly blending TOBACCO's trademarks with Reznor's industrial rust and sonic gore. Downcast, sincere, woozy, "Jinmenken" might be the closest Fec has come to a ballad. "Maybe you can find me down the line," his vocoded delivery bounces along the beat. "It's me trying to write a Jets song," says Fec. Album opener "Centaur Skin" presents the stylistic concoction that has been the TOBACCO MO from the beginning, crossing dreamy melodic shimmer with the sinister tones and slime. This has become easier to digest, but also far more potent. A motorik beat steadies the track's galloping arpeggio, acting as a springboard for Fec's dark ruminations as well as an uncharacteristically crystalline synth solo. "It's my feel good self hate anthem. Don't worry, I'm good. It was fun to write." TOBACCO hasn't been reinvented, but it has been refined and distilled. Brighter, sharper, and far more dangerous because of it. Hot Wet & Sassy is practically staring at the sun without shades and feeling those corneas roast. Everything looks good as your vision fades. The pop-forward structures exert their undeniable hooks with baneful precision, pulling listeners into their clutches; once there, sugary melody rewards submission.

Upstate New York artist Tor Lundvall's music often evokes a sense of soft-focus autumnal melancholia but nowhere is this atmosphere more explicit and evocative than his self-released 2006 holiday album, Yule, newly reissued by Dais Records. Inspired by childhood memories of “cold, dark evenings” waiting for his mother outside shops and supermarkets while seasonal songs drifted faintly on the frozen air, the collection feels appropriately hushed and hypnagogic, half-remembered melodies heard through falling snow.

Steady muted rhythmic pulses wind through wintry landscapes of icy synthetic textures, glass bells, and distant metallic echoes, occasionally framed by Lundvall'ssoft, dazed vocals, narrating scenes of “slushy, illuminated train stations” and “the lonely trees of January, still entangled with blue lights long after the season has ended.” It's a music of barren branches, crescent moons, and willowy figures shuffling and shivering on their way somewhere, viewed from a fogged window passing by, or high above.

As with Lundvall's signature oil paintings, Yule's sonic vignettes are works of observation, poetic glimpses rendered in gradients of color and quiet. He has referred to his music in the past as “ghost ambient” and, although his songwriting here skews more foreground than background, the phrase aptly captures the haunted, half-light quality of these fragile tracks. 10 miniatures of wreathed streets and silent woods, of twinkling store windows seen from a distance, the sensation of being outside of life looking in –the sentiments that seeded Lundvall's vision remain undimmed: “There was a special melancholic beauty about these moments that has never left me.”

Commodo is back with ‘Stakeout’ — a standout three-track follow-up to recent EP, ‘Loan Shark’.

Out October 23, ‘Stakeout’ picks up where ‘Loan Shark’ left off, tapping back into the conceptual, crime-ridden Wild West first imagined across tracks like ‘Contraband’ and ‘Hot Pursuit’; “If anyone is working on a 22nd century film noir at the moment, this would make the perfect soundtrack” wrote Bandcamp back in June.

This sentiment echoes across the ‘Stakeout’ tracklist, which again details tracks that marry precision bass-weight and deft, nimble sampling techniques with nuanced flashes of genius; Commodo is no ordinary producer. From the swirling unease and sharp crackle of the title-track to the oddball, industrial swing of ‘Transit’ and menacing, Batman-style lurch of EP closer ‘Crooked’ Law’, ‘Stakeout’ forms the fascinating concluding chapter of Commodo’s latest Black Acre odyssey.

Molt assembles with DB1's opening redefinition of form & function in Late Night; a journey of spatial exploration and intricate drum work arranged for polyrhythmic bitempo hybrid territory, palpating into a spectrumrich environment topdressed with scything layers of percussion. Tone, DB1's beatless secondary o.ering introduces fluid, localised doses of low frequency synth work, developing into an exploration inside rich, vivid arrays of convoluted space. Vinyl copies of Initial Conditions include 10 infinite lockedgroove loops assembled by DB1 himself, covering 1 bar percussion arrangements as well as ambience and dronenoise terrain. These additions aim to channel functionality and provide creative tools for performance.

Flip over to uncover the masterful work of DYL in YDNTKNW:
A lesson in dynamics, donning swathes of industrial elasticity yet solidifying itself as a functional dancefloorworthy exercise. Rip roaring waveforms are barely suspended by the tension of cables buckling under pressure. Paragon delivers via Molt's first edition, Black Celebration (Stone Cold): a controlled descent into insanity in the form of textured sample destruction. Pitch bent, brash and broken; Paragon's drunken drum patterns dissolve into redux noise and drum confusion, conjuring a sleep paralysis inducing bed of imagery, advancing into a spiral of unconscious cacophony. The piece finalises as a crescendo of lockedloop noise.

Born and raised in South London, Hector Plimmer is a multi-faceted producer, composer and DJ whose sound is drenched in tribal rhythms and beautifully crafted bass. Influenced by beat-makers like Flying Lotus and Theo Parrish, but with the subtleties of the classic Metalheadz era drum and bass, his second album 'Next To Nothing' is released on 25th October 2019. The album features guests Ego Ella May, Emma-Jean Thackray, Andrew Ashong, Pie Eye Collective and Alexa Harley.

After featuring on Brownswood Bubblers 11, curated by Gilles Peterson, Hector proved his talent when he was selected as a winner of the PRS Steve Reid InNOVAtion award. At a performance at ‘Sounds Of The Universe’ Record store, Hector caught the attention of Albert's Favourites' label heads Adam Scrimshire & Dave Koor. A conversation was started which led to the transfer of almost a whole album's worth of material and resulted in his debut full length record ‘Sunshine’.

'Sunshine' was met with rapturous acclaim. The record went on to be awarded Gilles Peterson’s album of the week on his BBC 6 Music show and was championed by both Lauren Laverne and Tom Ravenscroft on the station as well as Jamie Cullum on BBC Radio 2. Its success on the airwaves transcended to streaming with the inclusion in the top 50 viral US chart on Spotify.

"This album has been a real labour of love. I spent the most part of a year trying to make music I thought would be fitting to follow my last album, whilst not actually knowing what that might sound like. 'Sunshine' had been received way more positively than I had anticipated and although praise is a lovely thing, it was the cause of much anxiety when the time came to start on this record. I put a lot of pressure on myself to produce music and kept going down routes that felt forced or just didn’t click for me, in hindsight I realise this was me making music not for myself, but for what I imagined other people might want to hear. In a way 'Next to Nothing' is my first real album, 'Sunshine' was more like a collection of four to five years worth of music compiled into the shape of one. This is my first dedicated attempt at creating a cohesive project, something that shows who I am right now and what got me here."
- Hector Plimmer

As a DJ Hector has a monthly slot on NTS radio. He has played alongside the likes of Gilles Peterson, Kutmah, Alexander Nut, MNDSGN, Onra, Dego, Kaidi, Max Graef & Glenn Astro; Hector finds himself in the good company of those talented selectors who play genres across the spectrum of Hip-hop, Beats, Funk, Soul, Disco, Afro-beat, House and Jazz.