Beats News

This three tracks Ep features an ambient, downtempo recording taken from Kicks Experimental Boat Edition event on Thursday, 8th of June 2017. In this special performance, alongside Dasha Redkina, the duo created textures and soundscapes in real time with as much gear as they could bring on board a boat riding Berlin's Spree.

This is a comp of Peter's work from the 80s and 90s with some material never released on vinyl.. More info soooon!

A stand-out track from the Bleep:10 compilation released earlier this year, Untold's incredible 'That Horn Track' finally sees a 12" release.

After being premiered on Pearson Sound's excellent Resident Advisor mix, the track gained further play from Mary-Anne Hobbs, James Blake and Tessela on their respective BBC Radio shows and residencies.

If that was not enough, Berlin techno royalty Marcel Dettmann remixes the track for the flip side of the 12". Marcel transforms Untold's hectic original composition into a slow-building sublime exercise in dread-techno production and pummeling drums.

Press support from: Pitchfork, FACT, XLR8R, RA, Groove, Clash
DJ support from: Pearson Sound, James Blake, Mary Anne Hobbs, Tessela

21 shades of freak from the illuminati of lost sides, Light Sounds Dark.

For its ninth release, Italian label Spazio Disponible looks to countryman Marco Shuttle for a first full length. 'Systhema' comes three years after his last album on his own Eerie label and finds him again focussing on an absorbing ambient techno style across eight enthralling cuts. Shuttle layers sound in subtle ways and has a meticulous attention to detail that results in a cinematic techno style that is cavernous and hypnotizing. Always operating in a region where ambient, techno and heady soundtracks become one, with this album Marco Shuttle once again confirms he is one of the finest sonic sculptors out there.

Living legend Phew follows up her brilliant Light Sleep album with another masterwork - Voice Hardcore - comprised entirely of her iconic, instantly recognizable voice, twisted, folded and layered..

The fourth release on Trevor Jacksons Pre- Label is by SKULL. A visceral journey into experimental noise and no wave avant grade beatscapes
The last SKULL release 'SNAPZ' appeared on Jacksons own Output Recordings label in 1999. A seminal collection of tracks that had previously featured on the first two legendary Mo wax 'Headz' compilations (also featuring Autechre, Beastie Boys, Air, and DJ Shadow) as well as tracks that had also appeared on Kevin 'The Bug' Martins notorious Macro Dub Infection albums during the mid 90's.
Reactionary sonic statements aimed at the coffee table world of Trip Hop, fuelled by his dissatisfaction and dissillustionment with Hip Hop of the time, Trevor pushed himself into uncomfortable and far more extreme areas than he had before, areas he felt unable to explore with his Underdog productions, which were mainly being utilised for major label remixes at the time.
Influenced as much by the industrial pioneers, post punk and new wave of the past as the burgeoning post rock scene in the mid 90's, This new set of previously unreleased recordings originally produced between 1996-2000 are equally as intense and visceral as the early releases. Dusty samples, raw beats, tape loops, and primitive effects combine to sound as relevant now as when they were initially created.

Absolutely unknown and amazing gem from former Yugoslavia! Digger's specialty! Find out why Psychemagik were astonished at this record and why Electronic Beats called it "almost impossible brilliant prog masterpiece

The Oval Language is an autonomous art project founded in 1987 in Leipzig, East Germany, by Klaus-Peter John and Frank Berendt, and continued to this day by John. Its fields of activity are multifaceted and have included sound-noise performances, conceptual works in open spaces, installations, land art projects, photography, etc. The Oval Language has collaborated extensively with various artists, among others Nicolai Angelov, Koyo Axel Guhlmann, and Guido Hübner of Das Synthetische Mischgewebe.

Around 1991, the then members of the group - John, Berendt, and Peter Schüler - were exploring the irrational impact of the Monument to the Battle of the Nations (Völkerschlachtdenkmal) near Leipzig and presented the tri-media project "Hibernation", based around their attempts at approaching the undercurrents that are conserved within the imagery associated with the monument. Hibernation comprised live performances at the Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig (Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst, HGB) and at the Museum of Ethnography, an event sculpture in front of the monument which involved the burning of large amounts of straw, and an installation at the briquette factory Zechau near Altenburg.

"Hibernation is about the Monument to the Battle of the Nations near Leipzig. We don't look at it through the historical prism of the 1813 Battle of the Nations, though. We are concerned with the monument as a Gesamtkunstwerk, as a manifestation of irrational German thinking in previous times and its impact on today's generation." (The Oval Language)

This LP reproduces the sound layer of Hibernation and includes a recording of a live performance at the HGB, made in 1991. Printed inner sleeve with photos of each stage of the project and texts. Edition of 300.

Tonaliens is a Berlin-based group investigating the inner dimensions and outer limits of Just Intonation. It was formed in 2014 by Amelia Cuni (voice), Werner Durand (invented wind instruments), Robin Hayward (microtonal tuba), Hilary Jeffery (trombone), and Ralf Meinz (live sound, electronics).

The group came together shortly after the release of the software version of the Hayward Tuning Vine, an interface for exploring microtonal tuning that allows for direct and intuitive interaction with the pitches normally hidden between the keys of the piano. Coming from diverse backgrounds, the musicians were eager to explore this harmonic space, and thus the tuning vine "acted first as a catalyst, then as a map, and finally as a spaceship" (Hayward) that enabled them to navigate those areas that largely remain obscured.

The music of Tonaliens has so far been focused on a very specific area within the microtonal space that was discovered by mapping out the first three harmonics of three tubes of Durand's self-invented Pan-Ney instrument. They named this area the Tonaliens chord, and both recordings on this double LP - two live performances from 2015 - are based on it. Sides A and B are recorded live in a church in Amsterdam, the Vondelkerk, during the Sonic Acts Festival. Sides C and D contain a contrasting, more intimate performance made at KuLe in Berlin for the Labor Sonor concert series. Amelia Cuni appears only on the Amsterdam recording.

Edition of 300 in full-color gatefold sleeve with liner notes by Robin Hayward, and detailed photos and screenshots. Black poly-lined inner sleeves.

This EP was first released in 2006 and is the first stonedwave release. It is a white seven inch, containing of two tracks by Robert Chudoba aka Kungfoo.

A. 'Undead And Real (Kungfoo´s ectoplasma remix)' is the result of a remix context which was organized at the erutufon website using a samplepack by CHIP TRONIC. The theme is Undead and Real and describes the atmosphere in a HP Lovecraft short novel where an undead person is roaming around at night.. Kungfoo processes the samples of the track which was created by chip tronic with own built Reaktor ensembles and one of the first ableton live versions. The result is a funky wonky electro tune with a lots of bleeps, modulations and which is still a lot of fun to listen to. Timeless funk!

B. 'Rock Me' is a wonderful science fiction like glitch techno track with very elaborated breaks and an awesome groove. Like a whirl of satin.

2017 Remastered and fully authorized edition !
.
On the original 1965 The Magic City LP, issued on Saturn, the monster 27-1/2 minute title track sprawled across side A. Ra customarily supervised the Arkestra's improvisational process via keyboard cues or hand signals. He was always in charge—hence critic Simon Adams describing the title track as "27 minutes of controlled freedom." "The Magic City" was never performed in concert, saxophonist John Gilmore said it was "unreproducible, a tapestry of sound." Although shorter in scope than side A's magnum opus, the four works on The Magic City's flip side reflect the same improvisational approach, spatiality, and lack of structure.
One session outtake, "Other Worlds," an alternate version
of "Shadow World," is included as a bonus track on side B.
First-generation Saturn pressings of The Magic City were monophonic. A full stereo version had been issued on Sun Ra's Thoth subsidiary label sometime after 1969, however, it suffered from a technical flaw that prevented many copies of the LP from tracking cleanly through the first cut on side B. A 1973 gatefold LP reissue on Impulse featured reprocessed stereo. For this definitive reissue, Cosmic Myth Records used stereo sources which are superior to the Thoth pressing.

For this definitive edition, historical and technical notes are provided by noted jazz historian Ben Young, who restored and remastered the album with his Triple Point Records partner Joe Lizzi. Both men have been recognized for their extensive work on the Grammy Nominated Albert Ayler boxset, released on Revenant records in 2005.

Cosmic Myth Records issues recordings under license from Sun Ra LLC. The series is being co-produced and supervised by Irwin Chusid (Raymond Scott, Esquivel, Langley School Music Project) and Michael D. Anderson, who maintains the Sun Ra Music
Archive, the world's foremost collection of original Ra session masters.

The pieces were created as structured improvisations using a monophonic synth (primarily) along with a Yamaha DX7 (borrowed from a friend) and possibly a guitar. Recording was made on an older Otari MX-5050 1/2' 8 track. Mixing was done on a Tascam M-50 console and a Revox A77 1/4' machine.
.
"I recall the project happened in two bursts: I did half of it in September '85, then I finished up and edited the album together in December '85. I don't really recall making copies for anyone. I think I played it for a dozen people and that was it. Just forgot about it. I remember Jeff Ament from Pearl Jam (Green River back then) came by while I had it playing on my home stereo. He asked what it was and said he liked it. Surprised me a little. With regard to overall aesthetic: I like the sound of machinery, but I enjoy the fragility of human error and human instinct. I like to put things into motion then climb aboard and drive. I can't play an instrument (in the classical sense) for the life of me, so I've always just played things that are mostly choice rather than a convolution of style and technique. I guess you call that the Brian Eno school of rock."

Idle Hands continues its quest to support new talent coming out of Bristol with a fresh 12" from local beatsmith Crump. Up to this point, he's been quietly slipping out razor sharp reduced house cuts on various artist releases for Extended Play and Banoffee Pies, but it's high time he had a 12" of his to truly showcase his sound.

The two tracks on this single tap into a consistent thread on Idle, fusing the minimal sensibilities of contemporary European house music with a swung, dub-weighted presence fit for soundsystem consumption in the fair city we call home. Much like previous releases from Leif, Christian Jay and Matt Karmil, this is a demonstration of stripped down music loaded with swagger.

"Ice & Spheres" pivots around an ear-snagging 2-step shuffle that cuts through any mix, but there's scores of subtlety woven in between the drums to reward the attentive listener. Snatches of vocal, distant field recordings, low-blowing synth licks and other unidentifiable sonic matter lurk quietly in the mix to cast a spell on the sleep-deprived twitcher and warm-up head-nodder alike.

Sporting a brighter disposition thanks to the sheen of its chords, "Mechanisms" provides a different vibe on the flip. The beat throws down with a rugged nod to West London broken styles while still tapping into that aforementioned continental 4/4 sensibility, injecting a refreshing variation into the densely populated minimal house landscape while maintaining the meditative qualities that keep the genre close to our hearts.

300 10" Pink Marble, hand stamped, individually numbered records, single press only.

For us (Rubadub that is), Hank Jackson has been behind some of the most inventive techno to have left NYC in recent years, releasing music on his compadre Anthony Naples label, Proibito and Mister Saturday Night. If you're after a twisted NYC take on classic Chain Reaction and Monolake, then this is strongly tipped.

The sound is short and dry, like a fist colliding with leather or other flesh, but the repetition and reverberation transcend such violence and lead the listener to a heightened state by the time the parade is cancelled. A point of consideration. Stick around because at least a few folks will still march and it could be a gorgeously lonely thing to witness...
This Make Noise Records release was Digitally Mastered by Shawn Hatfield at Audible Oddities
Analog Mastered and Cut by DC at PLUSH/
Pressed to 12" Clear (140gm) vinyl and inserted into a black inner dust sleeve and Matte Jacket w/ photography by Moe Espinosa and layout by Sean Curtis Patrick..

* Concept and composition by Ryoji Ikeda
* Co-produced by Eklekto Geneva Percussion Center, Ryoji Ikeda Studio and La Bâtie Festival de Genève.
* Percussionists (Eklekto): Alexandre Babel, Stéphane Garin, Lucas Genas and Dorian Fretto
Ryoji Ikeda
Japan's leading electronic composer and visual artist Ryoji Ikeda focuses on the essential characteristics of sound itself and that of visuals as light by means of both mathematical precision and mathematical aesthetics. Ikeda has gained a reputation as one of the few international artists working convincingly across both visual and sonic media. He elaborately orchestrates sound, visuals, materials, physical phenomena and mathematical notions into immersive live performances and installations.
Eklekto
Eklekto is a contemporary percussion collective founded in 1974 in Geneva. Constantly seeking to reinvent percussion music, the group collaborates with living composers and contemporary artists through concerts, multimedia projects and artistic events that question the listener's expectations towards new musical forms. Eklekto has premiered over 100 new works and performed hundreds of internationally acclaimed shows.
TRACK LISTING

Live recorded on 2 Track Revox at KOPROD Studio Zürich in 1982 Chapter 3 of Mr. Thoma having fun with the Serge Modular Music System and TMS Synthesizer, accompanied by Knut Remond on drums. Proto-Techno monster LP.

From Ernst Thoma's secret vaults. Originally recorded in 1983 at Koprod Studio Zürich, Mr. Thoma having fun with the Serge Modular Music System and TMS Synthesizer, accompanied by Knut Remond on drums. Proto-Techno monster LP.

All tracks on this record have been selected from the cassette series Oscar's X-mas Carols, originally released on Christmas Day 1984, 1985 and 1987 by Oscar Smit's imprint Noel Tapes in Holland. Edition of 400 copies. Laminated translucent sleeve, hand stamped (12'x12'). Complete with dossier including liner notes by Oscar Smit, band bios, photos and download code !
.
The story behind X-mas Card From Outer Space' by Oscar Smit himself:

I've had a thing for Christmas music ever since I heard Phil Spector's Christmas Album in the late 1970s. Through the years I've become a massive collector of every genre of Christmas songs. Each year, I can't wait for December, when I can play Christmas music again.

In the 1980s I worked for Vinyl, a Dutch monthly magazine. A lot of music at that time was released on cassettes. A significant number of cassettes were sent to Vinyl, from both the Netherlands and abroad, so many in fact that I began writing a separate column, Dolby, to discuss them. For some years, my Dolby page was a meeting place for fans of cassette music. In addition to Christmas music, I was also a big fan of experimental sounds, and I soon noticed that very little electronic Christmas music was being produced. That's when I got the idea of creating a cassette myself, featuring adventurous and original Christmas numbers. I was in contact with a lot of musicians because of my work at Vinyl, and I invited a large number of them to record a holiday number especially for my Christmas cassette. The production and distribution were in the hands of Ed and Ignit from the Ding Dong label. The first edition of Oscar's X-Mas Carols was released shortly before Christmas 1984, on my own Noel label. I never received any payment or sales figures from Ding Dong, so I have no idea how many copies of that first edition were sold. That's one of the reasons why in 1985 I decided to take on the distribution myself. Plus, I'd just gotten hold of a rubber stamp that was suitable for stamping serial numbers. That gave me the idea of producing a limited-edition, numbered cassette. I'd package the cassette attached to a picture frame containing a beautiful black-and-white photo of my sister's hand, holding some of my parent's Christmas ornaments. My friend Theo Kamphuis not only took the picture, he also had to develop it 350 times, because that was the edition's print run. We spent two evenings assembling the 350 packages, each containing a framed photograph plus a cassette. The artistic-looking result disguised the fact that the project was a financial catastrophe. I barely recouped half of the 4000 guilders in production costs. I had well and truly learned my lesson and decided to stop producing cassettes. However, in 1987 I started to get the itch again, so I invited a large group of international and Dutch artists to send me numbers for my third Christmas cassette. This time, to cut costs, I did everything except the cover design on my own. The cover was mimeographed, and I reproduced the cassettes myself. And so, Is That You Santa Claus was created, in a limited and numbered edition of 100, made for approximately one-tenth of the production costs of its forerunner.

In 1988 I got a full-time job and had little time for my Christmas label. Subsequently, cassettes lost more and more ground to the encroaching CD format. A fourth cassette would therefore never materialize! It wasn't until 2010 that Oscar's X-mas Carols volume 4 would be released, in the form of a CD entitled Christmas Cover Up. The songs on that CD were covers of not-so-well-known Christmas numbers, performed by such artists as Hunter Complex, Jaap Boots, Eddy de Clercq, and Kaat Hellings. The music, however, was much less experimental than on the cassettes.

Now, in 2017, there's a vinyl version of Oscar's X-mas Carols. For this album's tracklist, its compilers Jordi Serrano and Oscar Smit made a personal selection from the three previous cassettes. In this, they were unfortunately hindered by the limited playing time available on a long-playing record. Of the fifteen tracks on this LP, seven come from the Netherlands. I've remained in contact with many of the original artists and was able to track down the rest on Facebook. Welcome to the digital era. I wish you much listening pleasure with these tracks from the previous, analog century!

Merry X-Mas
Oscar Smit (Music journalist / DJ)

Edmondo Giuliani - "IL MARE: Musica Con Strumenti Elettronici", originally released in 1972 on the micro-label Dischi Egede. A Mega-Rare Italian Electronic Underwater music Library production - recorded for an obscure documentary on sea from the early '70s. Infectious and trippy Abstract Experimental music that plumbs in the sea depths with abyssal echoes, sound iridescences and marine electronic themes. Addictive record out for our Underwater Library tryptych release. Another great vinyl obscurity is filed and published on our label with amazing renewed artwork.

'Y.O.U' is an emotive album of tripped out ambient hip hop instrumentals by FROM, written and recorded in the mid 90s under Trevor Jackson's infamous production persona The Underdog. Originally planned as a vocally-led, song-based project that should've surfaced between his production for The Brotherhood's legendary British hip hop album 'Elementalz' in 1996 and his acclaimed debut PLAYGROUP release in 2001, for multiple reasons it hasn't seen the light of day, until now.
Only Available as a ultra limited edition Vinyl and CD release, the LP consists of 11 tracks. Dream-like synth lines, ambient melodies, blissful guitars, raw beats and soft, fractured vocals draw you into a hallucinatory 12bit world. Drawing on Jackson's progressive and jazz rock influences as well as psychedelia and early electronics, the album closes with 'Belladonna'- a piano-sampled homage to the east coast golden age hip hop pioneers. NB: The CD features a longer version of 'Veratrum' not available on the vinyl version. All created on an Akai S950 mono sampler (limited to only 20 seconds sampling time), an Akai MG1212 12 channel mixer (which recorded on Betamax style tapes) and primitive outboard gear, Jackson honed his skills from his bedroom, where he produced the majority of his output at the time. With a huge collection of obscure vinyl, he dug deep into uncharted territories for samples and sound clips
- using material no one knew about (or would think about touching) in the mid 90s. The Underdog's initial releases were on Jackson's own Bite It! recordings label, which was started in 1991. A unique platform for UK hip hop with a visual aesthetic and ethos more akin to ECM and Factory
than other rap labels, its mission was to push artists beyond musical and cultural limitations prevalent at the time.
Home to artists like The Brotherhood, Scientists of Sound, Little Pauly Ryan and Lewis Parker (who later signed to Massive Attack's Melancholic label), Bite It! became a great success;
finally British rap had artists and releases that looked and sounded as good as their revered American counterparts. In 1993 Richard Russell (who had just started running XL recordings) asked Trevor to remix House of Pain, resulting in a top ten record, which helped launch Jackson's musical career via further remixes Massive Attack, Run DMC, U2, The Cure and countless others. Off the back of his remix success, The Brotherhood signed a deal in 1994 with Virgin Records. Their 'ELEMENTALZ' album was produced by Jackson and is still lauded by many as one of the finest British hip hop albums of all time.
Jackson continued to remix and produce as The Underdog until managerial issues forced him out of the project he'd been instrumental in instigating.
Soon after his close friend and manager tragically passed away - which when combined with the UK hip hop scene becoming increasingly volatile and the moral demise of rap culture in general - convinced Trevor to hang up his hip hop hat for good.
After leaving The Brotherhood he started Output Recordings. Internationally and sonically diverse, it gave Jackson a free reign to do as he pleased, with genre twisting releases from the likes of Fridge, Four Tet, Sonovac, Colder, his own PLAYGROUP project, The Rapture and LCD Soundsystem. With a non-compromising attitude, strong DIY aesthetic and consistently groundbreaking releases across its ten year life between 1996 and 2006, it became one of the most important and respected independent labels in the world.

Originating in a New York apartment and completed in a garage in suburban Sydney, Jonti's new album Tokorats is out on Stones Throw Records on 3rd November 2017. Following on from 2012 releases Twirligig and Sine & Moon, Tokorats is a psychedelic, harmony-rich dream-hop journey. Recording for the album began in 2013, and four years and up to 100 versions of each song later, Jonti is finally ready to invite you into his Tokorats universe.

Amazing Italian Library Electronic and Underwater gem originally released in 1974, which has remained totally obscure until these days and absolutely impossible to find - Bewitching Underwater music trip made through analogue synthesizers and sophisticated Electronic Lounge mood music especially recorded for TV sea documentaries - for sure one of the finest examples we had of Italian Underwater Library music. Delicate marine themes alternate with hypnotic and abyssal vibes with droning effects, elegance reflected in crystal clear waves. A little jewel for fans of early Electronic music and Library junkies.

Renewed artwork by painter Stefania Casagrande. Back sleeve liner notes by music journalist Marco Ferretti. 180 gram vinyl. Limited edition of 500 copies.

* Back with the heat, Chicago native DJ Jana Rush kicks off Objects Limited's 2017 with her debut album 'Pariah'. Jana Rush received attention for her mind-bending drum acrobatics on last year's 'MPC 7635' EP also released by Objects Ltd. Jana started djing aged just 13, releasing her first record on Dance Mania back in 1996 but having a hiatus from music between 2000 to 2013. With 'Pariah' she has created an album rooted in Chicago's footwork sound, but with a myriad of influences, such as jungle, acid, soul, jazz and house, developing her sound on from 'MPC 7635'. By popular demand from a kickstarter, now on vinyl!


* We kick off with 'Midline Shift' whose breathy, clipped erotic vocals intertwine with a pulsing bass and dry 808 rims creating a shimmering robotic effect. Moving on, the frantic 'Beat Maze' confuses the mind with white noise rushes and interlocking snares. Changing the scene, 'Divine' is sweetly soporific and charming, a beautiful, almost eerie track. The pace picks right back up with ' ', whose warbling jazz clarinets cut into a juke bounce. The stripped back beats of 'Break It' give one room to breathe before the croaking bass and distorted acid of 'No Fuks Given'. 'Old Skool' is exactly what you'd expect, its sample syncopated around a feverish rhythm throughout. Both 'Rapid Fire' and 'Acid Tech 2' are bangers, hitting you deep in that sweet spot. Jana brings it back down with 'CPU''s computer noises and sub bass hits. 'Chill Mode' gives time for reflection after all that fire, but its no ambient track, theres still that Chi-Town vibe. We finish with 'Frenetic Snare' whose Amen breaks will have Brits thinking of jungle, but it's a different beast altogether.

* Japan native JUN KAMODA has been a long been a key creator, lending his hand to many segments of the local scene across the past 15 years. Following his last funk spirited release, 'Blind Disco', on BLACK ACRE, JUN KAMODA returns to the seminal Bristol imprint with a killer new EP, again ramping up the carnival vibes.

* KAMODA's latest offering, 'THE DISTORTED HAUNTED BALLROOM EP' offers three fresh tracks from the colourful artist - BODY & SOUL, ( ( (BYE) ) ) and DOPEY FORESTS - a tripped out, twisted journey. 'THE DISTORTED HAUNTED BALLROOM EP' drops 24th November 2017. A man of many talents, Jun has produced art under his Illreme moniker, as member of Hip Hop trio, Baleine 3000, and as cartoon illustrator (Usca.) His forays into music have lead to work with revered global labels, think Mister Saturday Night, Black Acre, Mall Grab's Steel City Dance Discs and more.

* Opener and lead track, BODY & SOUL is a raucous jam. Killer, frenzied percussion, short riffs and vibrant erratic trumpets fuse industrial elements with far-flung balearia, teasing between warehouse rave and rainforest ravine.

* Second track ( ( (BYE) ) ) is a hazy, hypnotic cut, BODY & SOUL's wild elements rolling into a tug of war between arcadian bleeps and lawless euphoria. DOPEY FORESTS offers up a less frantic but still slamming dance floor ready slice of dreamlike vocals paired with driving percussion. A mesmerising, final jaunt to round out 'THE DISTORTED HAUNTED BALLROOM EP' with an ethereal, spooky stomp.

* 2016 saw KAMODA garner global attention with 'The Clay EP' Dropping on revered NYC Imprint, Mister Saturday Night. That killer cut, Physical Graffiti, was a glimpse of what's to come. Affiliated with Berlin's Dirt Crew Recordings, Mall Grab's Steel City Dance Discs and Black Acre - Jun has caught the attention of the dance floor elite with his playful, yet experimental grooves. This release sees the return to BLACK ACRE, with 'THE DISTORTED HAUNTED BALLROOM EP' nodding towards his previous video-game soundtrack productions, while showcasing the club ready oddities with which he is synonymous - infectious and immaculately produced. Undeniably an ideal fit for forward-thinking Bristol based imprint, BLACK ACRE, who celebrate their decade in the game this year. Rejecting genre constraints, BLACK ACRE focuses on championing talented artists pushing boundaries - working with the likes of Romare, Clap! Clap! Rocks FOE, Connie Constance, Prayer and more across recent years.

Keysound Recordings presents a weightless album from label boss Blackdown. 'Those Moments' is his first solo LP, features fellow 'Margins Music' contributors Trim, Dusk & Farrah and, like the imprint's Rollage sub series, is centered at 130 bpm. Each of the tracks is a distillation of a fleeting moment. The tracks and LP itself are short and constrained, relying on only voices, synths and sub bass. The album came about in a quick intense burst and many of the tracks represent snapshots of brief instances - a bitter-sweet moment of inflection, a moment of positivity, digital over stimulation, awe, loss, intensity, anger, nostalgia, regret, honesty, relief and joy. 'I'd had a tough 6 months...' explains Blackdown. 'I'd had to hold it together and not lose my nerve. Early on in the months I'd so nearly had a massive, positive life change but... it slipped out of my grasp. I was so focused on holding it together, I couldn't allow myself to really write music. Then, when things resolved themselves, and I'd figured out this new weightless way of working, 'Those Moments' just came flooding out. I'd heard other musicians talk about this - but that had never happened to me.' Recent releases from Rinse FM's Blackdown include a contribution to the #SaveFabric CD, three 4 track 12's of the new Rollage sub series ('WDYM!', 'Keysound Sessions Anthem' and the 'C-Troit' EP) and a remix of Jamakabi & Terror Danjah's 'Juicy Patty.'

Emotional Rescue and Malka Tuti join forces to bring a collection of the music of C Cat Trance. Drawing on the rhythms and melodies of Africa and the Middle East to produce a World Beat across some 6 EP and 4 LPs, here drawn together on a special double LP compilation.

From the legendary Shake The Mind to the percussive, ethnic meets club inspired songs like Sudaniyya or the previously unreleased Some Day Soon, the album highlights a project that stood out from the post-punk haze with striking scales and time signatures to develop a unique sound.

Formed by world music fan and multi-instrumentalist John Rees Lewis upon leaving post post-funk pioneers Medium Medium, the group retained the intensity of the former, but in a considerable new direction. Teaming up with fellow ex-band member Nigel Kingston Stone, together they formed the backbone of the band around a continual stream of guest players.

Exotic, dense, tribal rhythms propel a mixture of club, pop and world music, creating an atmospheric fusion that can be heard across the 12 pieces. The alt-industrial feel of She Steals Cars and Screaming With You is countered by avant-percussive Dalbouka and I Looked At You or the Balearic vibes of Take Me To The Beach and They Made Them Up.

Together they perfectly showcase a dark and moody world music with a shamanic spiritual underbelly that has gained admirers from collectors and latter-day producers. With that a set re-edits, remixes and reversions from latter day heads including Red Axes, Prins Thomas, JD Twitch, Khidja, Die Orangen, Jamie Paton and more will follow.

The New Backwards, created in 2007, was originally included in the Ape Of Naples box set released on Important in 2008 and was constructed by PETER CHRISTOPHERSON using material from the Backwards sessions recorded in the early '90s for a planned release on Trent Reznor's Nothing Records label. The New Backwards, like The Ape Of Naples, is an intense fan favorite and an essential part of the COIL catalog.

Felix Kubin (org, electr,sampler)
Milosz Pekala (vib, xyl, sampler, perc, effects)
Magdalena Kordylasinska (mar, perc, effects)
Hubert Zemler (glsp, dr, perc)

Music composed by Felix Kubin, tracks A1+2 together with Milosz, Magda and Hubert.

The pieces are soundtracks to educational and industrial 16mm films dealing with the subject of "work".

They were commissioned by NDR das neue werk (North German Radio).

Recording engineer: Robert Migas, Black Kiss Studio, Warsaw
Mix: Tobias Levin, Electric Avenue Studio, Hamburg
Mastering: Rashad Becker, D&M, Berlin
Production: Felix Kubin

Film archive: Metropolis Kino, Hamburg
NDR editorial department: Dr. Richard Armbruster

Artwork: Stephen O'Malley

Originally developed as a film score "Takt der Arbeit" is inspired by a handful of industrial and instructional films from the early 1960's until the early 1990's that portrait different forms of work. Felix Kubin is translating these historic documents into a musical poem of conceptual depth. "Takt der Arbeit" - the beat of work - is not only serving as a title but also as constructive element in this endeavour.

Being hunted down by the ever accelerated pulse of our reality is an omnipresent issue in capitalist societies of the the Western world. Living in times of constant exhaustion, it's not only our bodies that have been disciplined by and synchronized to the rhythms of working processes, but also our minds that rage in the tempo of our surroundings. Following an almost analytical effort, Kubin and an ensemble of 3 percussionists are investigating the different qualities and intensities of time that are catalyzed in working processes. While picking up precise temporal and motoric motives of the films, condensing paces and excavating rhythmic patterns, the ensemble is mapping out an animist choreography, shifting from a time when labour was still relying on bodily efforts to a time when machines and ticking clocks seem to reign and model our perception. While Side A is dedicated to procedures that are still based on manual and mechanical movement, Side B is inspired by the digital age, marked by invisible processes and subcutaneous pulses that we internalize.

The result is a critical and poetic reflection on the rhythms of our daily life and yet another example of Felix Kubin's skills as a composer, placing him in the field of orchestral music.

Finnish visual artist and filmmaker Hannu Karjalainen's music draws inspiration from ambient, drone, modern classical and dream pop. His first album Worms In My Piano was released in 2007 on Osaka Records and the second album, Hintergarten in 2009 on Simon Scott's Kesh Recordings. A Handful Of Dust Is A Desert, his third album - and the first under his full given name - arrives after a prolonged break.

Hannu Karjalainen's association with Karaoke Kalk started with his remix of Dakota Suite's The End Of Trying Part III on The Night Just Keeps Coming In in 2009 which also featured remixes by the likes of Hauschka, Deaf Center, Loscil and many more. Now, luckily for all concerned, Hannu is releasing a full length album on the label in the form of the exquisite record A Handful Of Dust Is A Desert.

The album opens with the track Angel which is a truly heavenly composition reminiscent of Boards of Canada's finest work. The Emigrant makes effective use of sinister synth-lines and delicate glockenspiel patterns to invoke a kind of science-fiction soundtrack atmosphere. Throughout the record, our ears are graced with truly sublime sound-scapes and transcendent textures.

The title track is actually the shortest tune on the album, but in no way less evocative. It's looped piano melodies are comparable with Susumo Yokota's later recordings in their minimalism and poise. A Year In a Day continues to walk the fine line between ambient and electronica - which is one of the albums great virtues: it shows how lively and eventful ambient music can be. Certainly ambient music benefits from having a strong pulse as Karjalainen demonstrates in various tracks on the album. The song Love Is A Black Lion features a sample from the afore mentioned Dakota Suite tune The End Of Trying Part III, and therefore somehow closes a circle.

This powerfully contemplative album comes to a controlled landing with the majestic Breaks My Heart She Aria, another in a long line of mesmerizing drifts, with a floating choral voice delicately enveloped in strings and pitched percussion.

A Handful of Dust Is A Desert is instantly captivating and for lovers of ambient music, dream listening. As an artist who trained in photography and is mostly active in the world of visual art, Hannu Karjalainen clearly enjoys a great deal of creative freedom in his music. This is the kind of desert you won't mind getting lost in and even take pleasure in roaming through the expansive sonic landscapes and horizons it embodies.

For the 9th instalment in DBA's Dubs series Ikonika and Big Strick square off head to head, following the Hyperdub artist's genre-defying Distractions LP earlier this year. Oral Suspension is an instrumental which switches rough-shod between a UK halfstep crunch and a Hoop Dreams era Chicago bounce. On the flip Big Strick brings his characteristic smooth groove to the table for the remix, which, though laidback, is nevertheless bound to energise the dancers.

Evading the ubiquitous pigeonholes, Ikonika has variously been known for her dubstep innovations, her uk funky experiments on Hum and Buzz and her post-urban sketches for Hyperdub. Meanwhile though an interest in techno and specifically the sounds of the Midwest have underpinned her work.

UnknownmiX was a band active in Zürich between 1983 and 1992. Their music is a mixture of free vocalism, new wave and industrial, they released five LPs and three EPs. Out of their discography Lux Rec selected four tracks, remastered from the original tapes, and presented as a sampler EP. Four tracks that fit perfectly to the label's tonal view. An ode to those Zürich days, when excesses and uncompromising choices were a badge of honour. And music was something to fight for, or fight with, or dive in and die.

Remastered vinyl with colour innersleeve + download code card. Originally issued by Crammed in 1987, this is one of the most sought-after releases in their legendary 'Made to Measure' series. Known for his numerous albums, soundtracks, and collaborations with the likes of Ryuichi Sakamoto, Van Dyke Parks, Pierre Barouh, Bjork and Elvin Jones, composer and saxophonist Yasuaki Shimizu wrote and recorded this brilliant and inventive collection of short pieces, initially conceived for Japanese TV commercials (and bearing sweet titles such as "Seiko", "Sharp", "Honda" etc). This album has achieved near-mythical status in the last few years, which have seen artists such as Oneohtrix Point Never sing its praise.