Beats News

Given the quite overwhelming success of the previous 140 ALLSTARS Vol. 1 and 2 it seems like this VA DUPLOC series will regularly appear on our label! :) Once again we carefully put together some of the hottest 140 bits for your sound system.

The long awaited second instalment of our 4 part VA series.

Opening track ‘Dub Free pt.3 (Rose line mix)’ is a masterfully produced and mixed dub techno groove by Hiss Is Bliss. With skills at this level, there’s clearly more to come from this French artist.

On the flip, USA born Bukkha, digs into the deep dub techno trenches with Dub Envelope. Situated at 115bpm, a tempo with much possibility, Bukkha hits the nail on the head with ease and exposes a different side to his usual output.

Closing out this carefully curated 3 track 12” - Bristol talent Somah signs off with a dreamy dub break titled Knot Up.

Veslemes (aka Felizol) makes his debut on Invisible Inc with this astonishing new album that comes hot on the heels of last year's ground-shaking I Know Where You Live Vangelis!.

With Apolithoma film director Yannis Veslemes takes us further into the dark crevices of his psyche.

The album's themes are inspired by the dystopian sci-fi of JG Ballard's The Drowned World and The Crystal World: both novels eerily prophetic in their dystopian visions of an irradiated Earth over which a bloated, blinding sun makes living as we know it bearable only within a few hours around dawn and dusk. Sea levels have risen and cities that are not wholly flooded are overgrown with emergent new flora adapting to this new and hostile environment.

In more remote locations, overgrown jungles and forests are exhibiting signs of a strange crystallisation: entire swathes of jungle petrified, calcified, crystalized, fauna included...and stories of missing explorers rumoured to themselves have crystalized!

An allegory for our times, for sure....but more importantly, the album is as adventurous musically as it is conceptually. Where on the surface we have stories themed around an external dystopian world, the music, like the rising floodwater, presents us with a lens through which to look at the internal world: on one hand a distorted prism into what lurks beneath, yet at the same time a perfect reflection - a mirror into the psyche.

At times dark, at times playful, unreservedly psychedelic, the album's wildly different musical styles all capture an atmosphere that is as profound and mystical as it is unique. It's clear too that Veslemes' background in film and OST production has a strong influence making the whole album seem like an imaginary soundtrack to a film that never was. Several of the pieces are strongly reminiscent of the early works of Barry Adamson...but where these faux soundtracks were solely dark and brooding (in particular the classic Moss Side Story) Apolithoma adds mystique, profundity and light which balances the music perfectly.

Featuring an assortment of guest musicians on saxophone, clarinet, vibraphones, oboe, guitars and other instruments not often heard in partnership with electronic music, the resulting collection of songs is up there with the best of Invisible Inc.

Repress

Shadowax's debut EP on TRIP Nikolai Reptile is a fun-filled package of effervescent techno and mutant bass jams.

Top-Sampler mit den Tracks der vierteiligen ZONEZ 1-4 Mixtape-Serie der Produzentin, Songwriterin, Komponistin und Performerin Suzi Analogue aus Miami. Ihr musikalischer Prozess umfasst elektronische Experimente mit modernster Musiktechnologie und Synthesizern, um einen weltweiten Sound zu kreieren. Ihre globalen Gigs umspannen Kontinente wie Afrika, Asien, Europa und Amerika. Sie ist eine energische Pionierin der neuen Welle von Produzentinnen in der elektronischen Musik und darüber hinaus. Suzis Arbeit ist kulturprägend. Limitierte Erstpressung auf violettem Vinyl mit doppelseitigem A2-Faltposter und DL-Card.

Genetic Code' is the new EP from BC natives ColtCuts and Abstrakt Sonance... both DDD veterans. As a result of their tinkering and experimentation in the laboratory we have four mutated tracks which will splice themselves neatly into your set.

Four tracks of juicy, cheeky breakbeat action with an underlying hint of skippy two-step synchopation going on, overlaid with elements from the more musical end of house and the most dancefloor-slanted side of P-funk. 'Giftig', with its Bollywood string flourishes, is the most exotic beast among the pack, while 'Cllosing Time' boasts searing 80s disco stabs and some neat tickling of the Hammond very much in jazz funk style. That said, it's all action across all four tunes, so get stuck in.

12“ TRANSPARENT BLUE VINYL + POSTER + DOWNLOAD

Continuing its tradition of genre bending output, Veyl comes forth with one of its most innovative releases to date. 'Still III' is a collaboration between Supreme Low (Jerome Tcherneyan of Years of Denial) and New York-based MC, Sensational, who has been pushing hip hop’s boundaries for over 30 years. Tcherneyan first saw Sensational in France in 1999 while meeting in New York in 2001. The two quickly connected and kept in touch throughout the years when they finally got the chance to record material together in London in
2016.
With beats created mainly using an SP1200 (a sampler associated with hip hop golden's age and raw Techno), Fuzz/Distortion pedals and dub units like Echoes/Spring Reverb, psychedelic modulations such as Chorus/Flanger/Phaser and a modular synth, Sensational’s rhymes were totally improvised on the spot in a 3 a.m. studio session under heavy influence. The result is a powerful fusion of sound and style that shatters all expectations and delivers an audio vehicle bridging past, present and future.
While not lending itself to categorisation, 'Still III' packs Narcotic beats, llbient, Dub, Noise Rap, Bass terrorist, Freak Style, Raw poetry and more into an 8 track release which is unlike anything out right now.
Joining on the release are Tcherneyan collaborators Broken English Club, who appears on the ominous opener, 'Doomed' as well as Years of Denial co-conspirator Barkosina, who, as always, mystifies with her
vocal presence on 'The World'. Also appearing, Meanad Veyl remixing 'Everybody Ready' and Belgian pioneer hypnsokull finishes off the release in perfect fashion with a remix of 'Raw Shit'.

Clarity returns to the fore with the stunning Basalt EP on UVB-76 Music. Four tracks split across two tempos, bound together with a signature clinical precision and prowess commonly associated with Clarity’s work. Title track ‘Basalt’ and ‘Different Ways’ lurk at a moody 130 bpm, while ‘You Alright’ (alongside label mate Holsten) and ‘Drifter’ are prime 170 bpm drum & bass fare.

Emerging from beneath the Seine, Parisian outfit EZEPH resurface with their debut release. The French duo are no strangers to working under heavy pressure: after a long expedition spent submerged and isolated, they are finally ready to showcase their unique sound to those at surface level.

Title track Observance features a solemn sermon on the direction of society, delivered over a deep, shuffling dub techno riddim. On the flip the vocal is cut, leaving a raw chugging, high pressure version.

After we carried Ice Rave back in 2019, Sneaker Social picks up more coded sequences from Filter Dread’s outpost and transmutes them to wax for the good of the dance.

From obfuscated tapes of post-rave skits to slick and grimey bangers, there’s something slippery about the way Filter Dread operates, and it’s led to a highly individual discography that spans 10 years and labels like Ramp, Unknown To The Unknown, Fresh 86 and No Corner. His sound has a stark immediacy that revolves around sampling – just watch him work a live set on his Digitakt and you’ll understand everything. Through simple approaches comes the flexibility to glide between styles, displaying a virtuoso affinity for grime, jungle, dancehall and plenty more, with the means to put his own stamp on everything he touches.

On this new 12” we get six new slabs which slip between rave touchstones with poise, marrying up garish square wave womp with something akin to electro, slipping down into a more overtly grime-licked swerve, nodding to the early sublow days on ‘Asid 88’ and generally doing mad things with gargantuan bass and tuff, deadeye drums, It’s moody in a truly UK, spliff-friendly tradition, but it’s also plenty playful, with enough freakiness to get limbs loosened and a little heat up inside the place.

Deep Heads in association with Dubstar records are proud to present the 2021 Remaster, Vinyl edition special, of the seminal album ‘My Sound’ by Dubstep legend Kromestar.

Originally released in 2009, with high critical acclaim, the record is no doubt one of Kromestar’s most celebrated and recognised albums he’s ever created. An absolutely timeless collection of music, the album was groundbreaking at the time and still holds up as a quality album from start to finish in 2021.

Plate 1 from Kromestar's remastered My Sound LP on Deep Heads.

...

Deep Heads in association with Dubstar records are proud to present the 2021 Remaster, Vinyl edition special, of the seminal album ‘My Sound’ by Dubstep legend Kromestar.

Originally released in 2009, with high critical acclaim, the record is no doubt one of Kromestar’s most celebrated and recognised albums he’s ever created. An absolutely timeless collection of music, the album was groundbreaking at the time and still holds up as a quality album from start to finish in 2021.

Plate 3 from Kromestar's remastered My Sound LP on Deep Heads.

...

Deep Heads in association with Dubstar records are proud to present the 2021 Remaster, Vinyl edition special, of the seminal album ‘My Sound’ by Dubstep legend Kromestar.

Originally released in 2009, with high critical acclaim, the record is no doubt one of Kromestar’s most celebrated and recognised albums he’s ever created. An absolutely timeless collection of music, the album was groundbreaking at the time and still holds up as a quality album from start to finish in 2021.

Whether it’s bouncy UK garage styled beats, deep dubstep excursions, skippy house, trip hop or even footwork stylings, his vision is set firmly on creating music which takes the sounds of genres like dub, downtempo, dub-techno and early dubstep in different directions but together and cohesively.

The echoes of Stillhead’s previous alias DFRNT seem to get louder here as he takes another foray into the world of deep electronic music.

Since his days of releasing deep post-dubstep as DFRNT, Alex Cowles has been crafting his sound in multiple genres and since 2014, his Stillhead moniker has carried that torch over 4 albums and a number of EPs. His newest album “Restraint And Reverb” will be landing on 12th August on double heavyweight coloured vinyl. Released on his own Brightest Dark Place label the full 12-track album will be available in both physical format and digitally.

Reissue

Three slices of unashamedly old skool (two) stepping action from the Above Sound label and 2Step2 (squared) aka DJ Ruby and Jo Public, that'll transport you back to the Sunday scene and UKG's earliest days. On this EP's lead track 'Give Me Some Of That' the duo perfectly catch that intersection between rave elements - the wispy, eerie synths and pitch shifted vocals - and the sophisticated shuffle of American garage. 'Drop The Bass (2022 Remaster)' leans slightly more towards the hardcore flavour, its choppier beats more evocative of the inspired syncopations of breakstep,, while 'What's Gonna Happen' is the trippiest and most optimistic sounding of the three while still packing plenty of rhythmic punch.

Electro Spanish label Mars Frequency Records celebrates 10 years of life with a limited edition vinyl with new tracks from previously released artists: Mike Ash (United Kingdom), Robert Cosmic (Spain), Downrocks (Spain), Enigmatic Astronaut (Spain) and Fleck Esc (Japan).

Dark Purple Vinyl

**Hardcore, FWD dance music from two leading sound artists. Edition of 500, Mastered and cut by Matt Colton** Mark Fell and Gábor Lázár ratchet the game with their razor-sharp debut collaboration, 'The Neurobiology of Moral Decision Making'. As promised in the wake of Gábor's acclaimed vinyl debut, 'EP16', the duo have colluded on a full set of ten tracks, ranging from short synapse bursts thru to an uncannily emotive 12 minute masterpiece on the closing side. As the 10th release on The Death of Rave, it demonstrates the distance travelled since the early '90s paradigm shift of original rave culture, effecting a radical recalibration of meter and tone conventions in electronic/dance music, and by turns, acutely probing our perception of time and space. Essentially it's incredibly "funky", if "funk" is taken to mean syncopation or a play on tension-and-resolution. By utilising the grid-morphing potential of Max/MSP software, they unlock mutant ballistic patterns cleanly weaving between and recoding the tendons and ligament of techno, garage, footwork and hardcore with muscle memory-reprogramming impact. Kicks, claps and visceral chromatic stabs land at irregular, blind-spot junctures, acutely rewiring our sense of rhythmic anticipation and offering a thrilling new freedom of expression and dancefloor discipline in the process. It's a masterful step forward from Yorkshireman, Mark Fell's Sensate Focus output and SND classics, and, likewise, a logical leap from Budapest-based Max whizz, Gábor Lázár. If you're into Mumdance, Errorsmith, Lorenzo Senni, Autechre, Actress or SND; we'd say it's as essential as they come.

Sub Signals Vol.2 is a deep dive into underground bass, guided by artist and producer Gaudi. Featuring predominantly unreleased originals and versions by some of the biggest names in the worldwide dub collective, it intricately combines analogue elements with digital grooves to stunning effect.

Much more than just a compilation, the Sub Signals series is a celebration of the evolution of the sound of dub, from its original roots in reggae to its fusion with a much wider spectrum of sounds and influences. Gaudi curated the first volume back in 2006 for the cult Canadian label Interchill, sourcing tracks and dubs from High Tone, Zion Train, Manasseh, Almamegretta, Noiseshaper, Creation Rebel, Greg Hunter, Dubadelic and more.

15 years on, Gaudi has created the second volume, blending contributions by established reggae names Steel Pulse, Dennis Bovell and African Head Charge with next generation dub producers Alpha Steppa, Radikal Guru and Paolo Baldini Dubfiles, headline acts Groove Armada, Dub FX and The Orb with underground artists Deadbeat, Pitch Black and SUBSET, to create a seamless 75 minute mix.
“With Volume 2, I wanted to create a deep vibrational experience by shaping an aural trajectory that encompassed the many aspects of dub and its related sub-frequencies. To achieve my goal, I reached out to the artists I regularly work with to ask for contributions, in some cases digging in their archives to find what I was looking for.”

As a solo artist, Gaudi has recorded over 20 albums, while as a producer he has hundreds of productions under his belt. He has worked with legends of the reggae and electronic music worlds including Lee "Scratch" Perry, Horace Andy, Dub Pistols, Hollie Cook, Youth, Mad Professor, Prince Fatty, Lamb, Trentemøller and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.

Dedicated to the sound of dub in its many forms, Gaudi’s latest excursion of his Sub Signals series is pure bass therapy, designed to excite your eardrums and worry your woofers.

WAREHOUSE FIND!: OZY is an electronic musician and dj from Reykjavik. In the early years of his career, OZY released a series of influential records on the Icelandic dub techno label Thule Records, paying homage to the Berlin dub sounds and the abstract shuffle rhythms of Cologne techno. In 2002, the legendary Force Inc./Mille Plateaux label released OZY's debut album Tokei, bringing Ozy to the attention of a wide international audience. Orignialy released in 2000 The release "No Undo" is yet another step further, in fusing techno with new and fresh elements of drum&bass music, making the music incredibly dark and funky. The outcome is a wicked concept of futuristic tribal techno, designed strictly for the dancefloor:

"Emotional Response is delighted to present Benoit B's new project Terra Utopia - 8 tracks of atmospheric breaks that unfold across ambient, beats and drum and bass.

This debut offers the artist a new direction, connected to feelings of an intangible warmth, where empty urban expanse and latent stillness meets a Mediterranean azure of sky and sea, oscillating, ethereal.

The music was created in a short time frame; short pieces, linked around a laconic structure flowing as if across some imaginary astral void.

An invitation, where time slows, days stretch, cloudless nights lead to a romantic dawn, the narrative to allow the listener the space and choice to dream.

Fear no more, the heat of the sun. "

‘London-based Baroque Sunburst and Milanese XCPT serve DJs and systems a zinger in this collabo. Four urgent tracks, uptempo and half-beat, fearless and immersive, shades of techno, bulging basslines. Amidst the echoes of 90s dub, a whiff of industrial, post-punk shamelessness rears its head. Soundboys beware.’

Audio experiments from Active Research.

ONE-OFF truly limited edition of 300 copies lacquered pressed on 180 gr. high quality solid black vinyl. All tracks have been specially remastered for LONG CUT vinyl by Daniel Hallhuber at Young and Cold Studios (Germany)

Returning with our first release of 2022, we are delighted to welcome Soreab to the label. 5 cuts bridging the gap between UK bass, European Techno and early IDM. As well as a weighty remix from the formidable Pugilist.

150 copies, hand stamped.

For the first release of the 10” series, we welcome Design Default to the Dome with an EP that effortlessly orbits a beautiful yet precisely constructed world. The release encapsulates the atmosphere of his previous ambient works with the energy of his left of centre club releases demonstrating the depth of output this Parisian producer is capable of.

On the A-side, we dip into his distinctive approach to sound design with glistening melodies, flourishing through an array dreamy soundscapes on Eta Aquariids. We welcome back PD favourite Sputnik One whos rework ups the energy levels with a flip certified to move the floor while maintaining the euphoria and bliss of the original.

On the B, we are again transported to unexplored worlds on the uplifting journey of Kagura where fragmented particles collide on the backdrop of uplifting otherworldly atmospheres. Takama-ga-hara reflects the lofty sacred world from which the name implies - weaving through a haze of influences giving us something beautiful, engaging and unique and following on from a tough couple of years, a positive look into the future as we move towards more freedom, connection and positivity.

The singer and composer makes his debut on Illegal Alien Records with a fantastic Album titled ‘Mercurio Rosa’ and we are extremely happy to be the platform to release this Masterpiece. ‘Mercurio Rosa’ will be release on a limited double 10′ Vinyl, Cassette Tape edition and Digital format.

DJ support from: J:Kenzo, N-Type, Ternion Sound, ENiGMA Dubz + more

Noah grew up in Hokkaido. Japan's northernmost island, it's an idyllic, snowy place—and a wild, harsh one, too. But it wouldn't be long until, after a stint of living in Aichi Prefecture, found herself living in the tangle of urban centres that is Tokyo. Her production has always been experimental, everchanging, drawing influences from a wide range of styles resulting in a sound that is uniquely her own. Whether it's an R&B feel or the lo-fi magic of vaporwave, her tracks resound with energy and beauty. And, always, her voice weaves like a phantom, emotive, through these exciting soundscapes. Noire is Noah's latest full-length release since 2019's Thirty. Since her debut on FLAU, she has garnered praise from dozens of blogs and media outlets including Dazed & Confused, The Guardian and NYLON, to name just a few, and has worked with producers such as SELA. and kidkanevil.

Directly helping Noah to hone the sound which eventually became 2019's Étoile, her most recent album Noire is a collection of past tracks created between 2015-2020. Through jazz-inflected piano loops and a lo-fi vaporwave sound, alongside carefully considered beats, Noah's latest album showcases the joy of finding freedom in staying up late into the night, and the introspection that comes with it.

This never-before-heard work from Noah is the sound of an artist finding themselves, a maturation. The minimalist tracks—a cocktail of late-night jazz meets Portishead—feature gorgeous space for Noah's crooning vocals to breathe among sprinklings of sampled piano, flute and saxophone. From the emotive line, "The things I've left behind…" on 'Shadow', to the sleepy, far-off sounds of opener 'Twirling', the album showcases a lightness and a sensitivity to self: the joy of night twinned with the inevitable introspection that comes with staying up while the world sleeps.

New dog in the 777 pound! Join the "Low Poly Life (Level 1)" by Dogpatrol and experience some deep quirky percussive leftfield treats!