Hip-Hop News

NoCorner and Stone King proudly presents the first official collaboration between Ossia and Andy Mac. Both are fresh off a series of high-profile releases and projects - Ossia with recent releases on Berceuse Heroique and Blackest Ever Black, and Andy with his new Deep Street label and the 2nd Diving Bird 12 that just came through on Idle Hands.

Featuring three tracks written & recorded between 2015 and 2017, the record sees Andy & Ossia's mutual love for Jamaican and African rhythms, dusty records and a tape-saturated approach to guide a fresh, dubwise production process involving a battered old Roland Sampler and Ossia's infamous half-broken analogue Trident Mixing desk.

A Side Soup Riddim serves itself up as a hybrid slab of dancehall, dub and perhaps even the looser stylings of house - a fresh twist with an eternally-universal emphasis on space, and the movement within it. On the flip, Cado leans even further into negative space, allowing a gorgeous piece of samplism to drive the rhythm all the way to its conclusion in the blink of an eye, with the soft insistence of the percussion playing with the listener's sense of time. This feeling intensifies in the final track, Linguine Loop. A shapeshifting low-frequency hum underpins a hypnotic melodic loop that develops, delays and distorts into a dizzying crescendo of feedback and noise. The final minutes serve as a final reflection on what came before as the melody slowly re-filters into the mix as a ghostly, half-there form of itself, drawing the reductive conclusion to this EP, a triple version excursion of far-away sounds.

Edition of 300, six times (at least) hand-stamped, in kraft sleeve.
Mastered and cut by Lewis at Stardelta.

Bonobos "One Offs Remixes & B-Sides" Album enthält ab sofort nicht mehr den Amon Tobin Remix.

Few artists can claim to have their own distinctive 'musical voice': a style of composition and production that listeners instantly recognize. For starters, it takes years of experimentation to perfect, and most people simply don't have the patience, talent or skills to pull it off.

Ali Kuru is one of those rare producers whose music sounds like nothing else around. The Istanbul-based artist has spent the best part of a decade honing his trademark style - a fragrant and intoxicating aural brew that combines a myriad of influences with atmospheric field recordings and snaking, mind-altering Middle Eastern instrumentation - via releases for the likes of Luxa Flex, Kalisah, Sound Architecture and, most recently, Leng.

It's to the latter label that the publicity-shy producer returns with his most ambitious release to date, Egzotik. 15 tracks and 70 minutes deep, it's not so much a debut album as a statement of intent. From start to finish, it feels like a humid, sweat-soaked saunter through the winding streets of Istanbul in the company of a musician who draws more inspiration than most from his immediate surroundings.

Those surroundings come to the fore on opener 'Bazaar', where tipsy horns and gently strummed electric guitar passages slowly rise above the sound of a harbourside market.

They're present, too, within the souk rhythms and cascading pianos of 'Zorba The Greek', beneath the gentle throb of 'Lost Bedouin', inside the spaced-out, stargazing pulse of 'Hiyar', and around the chiming melodies and mournful strings of hushed ambient closer 'Adios'.

Kuru's genius lies in his ability to take familiar musical tropes and twist them into unique, Ottoman-inspired shapes. So, while 'Tangerine Dream' doffs a cap to the stretched-out hypnotism of the legendary krautrock band of the same name, its reliance on backwards drum hits, locked-in grooves and psychedelic sample loops is a far more contemporary proposition.

Some may hear the influence of Detroit beatdown in the slow and dubby house grooves of 'Le Voyage De Space', while others could describe the drowsy 'Ashoka' as being Weatherall-esque. Yet none of these tracks, layered as they are with traditional Balkan, Persian and Arabic instrumentation, sound like anything other than Ali Kuru productions.

The result is an album that surprises and enthralls in equal measure. Highlights come thick and fast, from the bubbling, dub-house psychedelia of 'Mount Damavand' and haunting deep techno humidity of 'Sacred Vallley', to the Augustus Pablo-in-Ankara shuffle of 'Jungle Flower' and potent hookah hit of 'Return to Paradise', where sampled voices rise above a typically tactile groove.

Romare veröffentlicht großartige Live-Versionen der besten Songs seines letzten Albums auf 12inch! Romares letztes Album "Love Songs: Part Two", welches im November 2016 auf Ninja Tune erschien, entwickelte und erweiterte die lässige Brillanz seines gefeierten Debütalbums "Projections". Vom DJ Mag zum "Album des Jahres" gewählt, erhielt es begeisterte Kritiken auf der ganzen Linie. Es wurde von Größen wie Bonobo, Four Tet und Annie Mac unterstützt und etablierte Fairhurst als Produzenten, den man gesehen haben muss. Es scheint, als nehme er diesen Druck recht gelassen hin. "Love Songs: Part Two" zeigte eine Erweiterung, Entwicklung und Vertiefung seiner Techniken. Mit der Anfang November erscheinenden 4-Track Live-12 Inch verfestigt er seinen Ruf als einer der spannendsten, selbstsichersten und unverwechselbarsten Produzenten elektronischer Musik und beweist mal wieder eindrucksvoll sein musikalisches Geschick!

Unreleased Hip Hop demo from unknown NY production duo - 95/6 we think. .Images from Ego Trip photographer Sue Kwon!
So this is how the story goes..a long long time ago in a galaxy far away, that is to say pre internet, 1995 or 1996 to be as exact as we can, all city co founder Splyce found himself on one of his regular record buying sojourns to NY. Approached outside Fat Beats by two guys, who had heard he was a DJ from out of town who were eager to spread word of their production work outside their homeland, they gave him a mix tape / demo of their beats. Named The Midnight Eez, from the Bronx, they were one of thousands of budding production units on Manhattan Island. The tape came only with a name and pager number and after finding the tape when moving house recently beeper number goes unanswered - we decided to put it out as it deserves to be heard. Hopefully this release will see them get some belated but deserved shine!

Danish born/Stockholm based house producer, Anders and serves up his debut release - Love on 12 vinyl. This marks the first physical output for Brown Fat, a fresh new label out of Stockholm. A rich patchwork of influences have made up his exotic sound, along with the artists' experience in living and studying in London for 7 years, where he developed a raw style that fuses complex jazz, African drumming and blissed out ambient grooves together into something refreshingly original - it's no wonder why he is considered to be one to watch in 2017. The Love mini album takes you on a journey through a range of musical timbres, meticulously arranged acoustic samples into complex blends of sound, with surgical precision yet raw and rough production methods. The artist has re-contextualised lost snippets of gospel and soul within this record, with a keen interest in expression through rhythm and organic percussion - giving it the perfect vibe for a sultry summer's evening. The album has been influenced by everything from primal ethnic music, jazz and soul, through house and techno, all the way to textural ambient. In this album, Anders and displays his skills of dissonance and tension as a way to bring more energy and emotion to music - resulting in an uplifting, warm and grandiose expression of love through his sound. Vital Sales Points: - Already played by Mall Grab, Will Lister, Bradley Zero, Axel Boman - Radio appearances on: Radar radio, Balamii radio, RTR FM - Stockholm and London shows with support from Will Lister, Alexander Nut & Judah

MIKE is an 18-year-old rapper from the Bronx, New York. Emerging from a new wave of DIY underground hip hop in the city, he couples hazy bars full of personal narrati ve and skewed observati ons with gritt y, sample-heavy

beats that feel kindred with some of the genres' greats including J Dilla, MF DOOM and Madlib. After a string of low-key releases including the acclaimed 'May God Bless Your Hussle', which brought much praise from the likes of Pitchfork, FADER and the New Yorker, MIKE presents this new enti rely self-produced ep 'BY THE WATER' - his first release with House Anxiety. a unique and fresh voice that provides a shock to the whole rap system'

Baker's Dozen ventures to Japan to welcome our next featured producer, Budamunk. I started listening to Hip Hop in the 90's. My interest grew slowly until it became a collection of records, CDs and taped VHS. This then evolved into experiments, sampling and chopping WAVs on free versions of WaveLab. In 2003 this became an MPC 2000XL. I was living in Los Angeles at the time so I had started going to shows and hanging out with people who shared similar interests. We all began to gather and learn together. Records became beats which became freestyle sessions, songs, laughter and much coughing. After several years I returned to Tokyo and it's been 10 years since I have been back. I still make beats the same way. Going off of feeling I would get when I hear a record. The selection of sounds has changed slightly in accordance with my current environment. Still mostly sample-based but adding new and old tools have become part of my process. Just continuing to create music my body and spirit needs to feel good.'

These sampler is dedicated to all humans. We didn´t believe in
diferences, hate or fear. We believe in love and the endless power of music. The company is an open house. We know where we come from: other earth!

Slowly And Surely Greatest Heats is what u get when ever you thought what could happened with the instrumental parts of the 90's rap. This is also the way to fill the subjectively perceptible gap in the current beat music tendencies. SASGH is a kind of vision of the future of the past in the context of the present, related to Frank Ohara's poetry. Metaphorically, this is a B grade, sci-fi movie from the late 20th century, dealing with the everyday (favorite rapper's theme before they moved out of the blocks). The eclectic character of the beat tape is not only the selection of samples, but also the attempt to devote attention to a wide spectrum of sensations and situations. Appeal to Black culture is intertwined with the storytelling of the necessary minimum to revive the imagination and to create visual tales. The title is a celebration of constant expectation, which by its active form is not so pleasant as necessary to maintain a balance of life, but also highlights the compilation character of the mini album.

Produced in limited run of 100 yellow cassettes with artwork designed by Polish illustrator Michal Loba. Each item includes a free digital download code.

The first reissue in the World Building catalog! An under-the-radar white label gets a second chance at life! One Man's Quest released Smiling Faces 95' on their own Vandal Records label in (you guessed it) 1995. It would end up being the only release on the label & never properly distributed. Produced by Bon Vega & Douglas Johnson, One Man's Quest give the Motown classic a unique 90s spin w/ both house AND r&b versions. Kinda rough, kinda smooth & very essential!

HITTING YOU HARD AND DEEP!!!

Excerpt from Dance Trax column in Billboard Magazine (Jun 10, 1995): "The single kicks a thick and spare house groove, coated with a simple organ line and a worldly lyrical reading that hangs onto the brain long beyond its moments on the dancefloor.' - Larry Flick (Dance Trax)

One Man's Quest is a Brothers' Vibe production. In memory of Bon Vega!

The immaculate Omar S resumes his Side Trakx series: released on his own Detroit imprint FXHE Records that he has been running for more than a decade now, Side Trakx Vol 4 is comprised of three rather soulful pieces.

Spin your ears back to 1989 and enjoy the debut album of Coldcut once again! The bouncy good-time cut-up party people got started with What's That Noise, a particularly lively swirl of breaks, acid house and hip-hop. The guest vocalists on the album includes Lisa Stansfield, Queen Latifah and Mark E. Smith. Reissued by Sony.
11 track album on standard black vinyl with download code insert

Barry Adamson was an original member of post punk legends, Magazine, and a founder member of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.

Love Sick Dick Remixed features brand new remixes / reworks from Manchester icons - A Certain Ratio, Jimi Tenor, Gazelle Twin and ADULT.

LP + mp3

Cloaked generation-now Londoner Eye, back around for his most spaced out, kaleidoscopic and epic trip to date, roaming freely and morphing throughout. One-sided, with smart hand painted sleeves.

Producer and visual artist Myke Forte brings us 'Lessons' his progressive future-funk inspired instrumental EP. Proud winner of numerous beat battles, featured on Adobe website and a collaboration with Samsung x HYPEBEAST Myke has partnered up with world renowned illustrator Daniel Isles (Dirty Robot) to bring the audio/visual project 'Lessons' to life

Myke showcases his silky production skills displayed on the recent remix with prolific DJ/Producer Chris Read and Chicago MC Pugs Atomz released on UK Record Label BBE earlier this year. From tracks like "The Lightbulb" to "Fallen Star" Myke creates glistening, synth-driven electric-soul with each melody on this 9 track EP.

Lessons started out as a reminder that no matter what life throws at you, good or bad there is a lesson to be learnt. Myke has captured that from the titles of the tracks to the dynamic soundscapes featured on this contemporary and imaginative piece of work.

MAX ESSA - Love this! A deeply satisfying experience beginning to end. From the languid beauty of 'Cherry-Skin Blanket' and 'Fixing The Shadows' to the nocturnal throb of 'Canyons of Lower Manhattan' I look forward to playing this for many nights to come.'

LAURENT GARNIER- WWFM & MEUH "Lovely atmosphere, beautiful deep chilled funkiness. A Great album. Perfect for late summer..'

PHIL MISON - CANTOMA - A beautiful piece of work by Steve Cobby. There's something on this wonderful album for everybody.

PAUL MURPHY - CLAREMONT 56 -Really lovely album. Fixing The Shadows is the track for me. I'll be playing this one for sure.

JUSTIN ROBERTSON - Lovely album. A couple of these numbers definitely contenders for my Temple Of Wonders show.

SEAN JOHNSTON - Steve Cobby has to be the most criminally under-rated producers in the UK. This is magical and deserves to reach a much wider audience.

GRANT WILLIAMS - ECLECTICS -The production and high quality of this Album is truly remarkable, the work of one man Steve Cobby. Steve's wealth of musical influences are all over this, the laid-back Jazz Funk-Trip Hop vibes of 'Candle for the Moth'. The Organic Drum and Bass break in 'Rick James dwells in the Abyss'. 'Cherry-Skin Blanket' gives us Balearic Electronica where as 'Babylon on the Hudson' is pure Dub all the way.... "The Track for me is the heady dreamlike affair which is 'The Canyons Of Lower Manhattan'. Saturday nights, Sunday Mornings, Sunsets to Sunrises all bases are covered in this Curious, exceptional and Impressive Album.

PETE HERBERT - MUSIC FOR SWIMMERS - DISCO DEVIANCE - Loving this album from start to finish. I'll slot something into my show on Sonica.


TRISTIAN B WWFM - MAIN MAN AT WORLDWIDE FM & BILERE ROOM -This sounds dope. I would love to play it on Worldwide FM.

LEO MAS - I love Steve Cobby. A beautiful album as always. The first four tracks are my favourites and will fit into a lot of my end of summer sets.

CHRIS ORR - ORRIGINAL - Yeh I really rate Steve works.

COYOTE - TIMM SURE Some lovely moments on this LP. The mellow atmospheric musings of Fixing the Shadows and the digital dub delight that is Babylon On The Hudson being the stand outs. Top productions all round.

ANDY WILSON - SONICA IBIZA - Been a fan of Steve and his beard for many years , buying loads of Pork releases , and this sounds like the best thing he's done in ages .

PIET BLANK - BLANK & JONES - What a great album...love it from the first to the last note! Will feature on our radio shows for sure.

ROBIN LEE - FAZE ACTION - I really love the title of this album. Quite ironic as it's nice chilled vibes.. not too many fast notes hehe. Babylon on the Hudson and The Canyons of Lower Manhattan are early favourites.

JUSTIN PENNEY - GRAFFITI KINGS - What a great album, showcasing his diverse take on all things laid-back. Jenkem is a real favourite. I shall be giving these play on both of my radio shos. I've always been a fan of Steves work since Pork Recordings days.

BEE SHIVER - SIZE DOESN'T MATTER -What a superbly and well crafted album. The man knows what he's doing. Spiritland for me this week and a lot of other places I am sure.

SCOTT FERGUSON - Superb EP from Steve Cobby. All tracks are brilliant. Very hard to me pick a winner.

GORDON KAYE - Loving Steve Cobbys new album as I have his last 2 albums recently. Babylon on The Hudson is dub bliss, but the whole album is astonishingly good. Steve is major talent, who can turn his hand to many styles, which is very unusual. Jenken is also ace but the Canyons of Lower Manhattan is to of the pile.

TIM RIVERS - KINFOLK - A truly beautiful album and hard to choose to a favourite. My radio show on Brighton FM will be really suited to the style of this album. Looking forward to play it!

ANDY SIMMS - SOFT ROCKS - Wonderful stuff as always by Steve , Especailly like Babylon on the Hudson and Heure D'or.

After releasing his debut album "Paradise" earlier this year to much critical acclaim, B. Bravo has swung back around for yet another trip to this island of cosmic delights, tapping into some of our favorite producers & extended fam for a special 12" to accompany the digital of "Paradise Remixed". The A-Side kicks off with Fool's Gold producer Sammy Bananas turning the squelchy funk of "Freak It" into a filtered French & Italo inspired funky house monster, perfect for peak time on the dancefloor, while Los Angeles' XL Middleton deliver's a low slung G-Funk & boogie inspired take on the album single "I'm For Real". On the flip, UK producer SMBD (better known as Simbad) turns "Lay It On The Line" a classic 80s synth beast that's been tried & tested around European festivals all summer, while Grandfeather (aka Anton Borin) comes through with a spacey & deep downtempo funk reversioning of "Can't Keep My Hands Off You". Los Angeles-based Adam Mori aka B. Bravo adds a touch of love to every soulful groove he gets his hands on. His signature sound, connecting outer space g-funk, r&b, and dance music has made him a name in the electronic music scene as well a key player in the worldwide modern funk movement, being hailed by the likes of XLR8R, FACT Magazine, Gilles Peterson and many more.

10 yrs have passed since this one first hit stores. Hud Mo and Mike Slott were right in the middle of lively and formative beats scene that linked Glasgow to Dublin to London to L.A. to Tokyo to Vienna to Sydney to ..... the Myspace era. Still a big TIP on this one!
2007 Press release:
Great new record by Mike Slott and Hudson Mohawke aka Heralds of Change. Six productions with killer drums, fresh programming and clever vocal chops, going from banging boombap sort of tracks like 'Work that', serious head-nodders like Winery' or 'Asswank' and deeper excursions like 'Future' or 'Amuse'. Tip!!

We are very excited to present the new collabo release between Cosmic Compostions and Jitwam's selftitled album " ".

Born in Assam, Gauhati, in Northeast India, but currently based in New York's storied borough of Brooklyn, Jitwam spent his formative years in New Zealand and Australia, before living in monasteries in Thailand, orphanages in South Africa, and washed out apartments in London. Of everywhere and nowhere, his music draws influence from a litany of iconoclasts including, but not limited to RD Burman, Moondog, The Velvet Underground, Yayoi Kusama, Jay Electronica, Jay Dilla, Moodymann, Leon Thomas, Madlib and Asha Bhosle.

Across " (selftitled)", he utilizes knowledge acquired through years spent digging through dusty crates, and talents honed as a multi-instrumentalist, producer, and vocalist. A series of stumbling, jazz/soul-rooted beat sculptures, each buried beneath a haze of fuzzy psychedelia, broken microphone blues, and articulated through a freestyled process he describes as "first thought, best thought", " (selftitled)" solidifies Jitwam's spot as a major emerging talent.

Recalling the fourth world dreamscapes explored by oddball songwriters like Connan Mockasin, Clarence Clarity, Jai Paul, Silicon, and Unknown Mortal Orchestra, it represents a time of transition and remembrance for Jitwam, while still fulfilling the core qualities he looks for in song. In his words, "Music is a refuge. A shelter from the storm. A place you can go to close your eyes."

Since he first shared his music with IZWID Records boss Kutmah at a Brainfeeder afterparty in London, Jitwam has released through Leaving Records, Cosmic Compositions, and The Jazz Diaries (the label he co-runs with Casey Van Reyk and Nigel Mphisa). He's also written with Inkswel (BBE) and Paul White (R&S), featured on Moodymann's K7! "DJ-Kicks" compilation and been championed by Gilles Peterson, Alexander Nut, Andrew Jervis (Bandcamp), and Funkineven. Mainly mixed and mastered by Matthewdavid at Stones Throw studios in Los Angeles, " (selftitled)" will be available on vinyl and digital formats.

For anyone preparing to battle a bout of seasonal-affective disorder, producer Martin Brew, otherwise known as Manchester's sonic-maestro J-Walk, is all set to shine a little limelight through the dark with eight deep cuts that shimmer on the brand new LP Limelight Nights.

'I started on Limelight Nights during the spring and it was very much inspired by the nice weather at the time which also seemed to galvanise me into making something 'summery' in feel,' Martin explains. 'It's all about light, time, seasons and how certain points in the day or year can invoke a certain feeling or mood...from melancholy to joyfulness and all the other places in between.'

Serving as a precursor to J-Walk's debut LP A Night On The Rocks, which captured the feel of a night-time world, Limelight Nights is inspired by what happens prior to that. The moment when twilight descends, the sun sets, the stars begin to sparkle and all the wild and wonderful anticipation, expectations and excitement it brings.

With 12 years between J-Walk's debut and sophomore release, fans waited whilst J-Walk took a break after touring, remixed Baaba Maal, Rae And Christian, Kings Of Convenience, and Nitin Sawhney, then took some time to recharge when 'life just kind of took over' but Limelight Nights was written in just 12 months. Surprising, given that J-Walk now plays the role of all members of a fictitious band, writing, playing and recording all instruments himself. 'I now record my guitars to my computer rather than tape and have to think like each separate member of a band to play that particular instrument. It means the process takes longer than a band writing and playing together,' Martin says.

One thing that hasn't changed is the influence of Manchester. Whilst the city centre buckles under the weight of change and lines the pockets of the already rich, Limelight Nights takes a fresh new stance; 'I live just outside Manchester and see it every day! It's a dynamic city with all the development that's still going on, but it's now the fringes of the city where the interesting stuff happens... in the old run-down industrial arches and warehouses; in the hinterlands that are probably an embarrassment to the council... this is where the young and hungry creative energies can be found that I find inspiring.'

Wiping off the raindrops and peering in from the outside, each track is shot with serotonin and brings a voyeuristic positivity to the changing northern landscape. Since the days of the project's incarnation after using one of New Order's old Akai S900 samplers - an artefact that no longer works, but still takes pride of place in Martin's home ('I can't let it go as it's a little piece of history and very special to me!') J-Walk's musical influences and passions have once again been given the treatment they so brilliantly deserve with a body of twisting sweeping synths for a deeper dance vibe.

The seductive French vocals of 'Aimons Toujours' and infectious West-Coast groove of 'Twilight' draw inspiration from producers and artists such as Bibio, Peaking Lights, Jaakko Eino Kalevi, and MGMT plus The Durutti Column, Tom Tom Club, Sly & Robbie, and the Style Council. There's even a nod to local legend, the late Rob Gretton. 'Rob gave me my first break and released my first record...something I'm eternally grateful for,' Martin recalls. 'He was warm and brilliantly sharp, and always took a keen interest in the music I was making. I miss him and still think about him lots - in many ways he defined Manchester for me since my teens and still does, because that musical legacy and the city are inseparable.

The vital thing, however, Martin says, is to keep looking forward and keep it light; 'As an artist it's important to develop and push yourself further all the time. I've been DJing since my teens, and have been buying records religiously since I was 13, so in a sense it's my job to keep up to date with what's happening. I'm very proud of the music I have made, and am currently making - it's all part of the journey and the overall oeuvre.'

Sampled by Drake ( Jungle') and G-Eazy ( Running'). Instrumental versions of Gabriel's Stones Throw Records debut Jardín now available on limited edition wax. Gabriel Garzón-Montano's formidable skills have come to fruition on Jardín in his Stones Throw debut. This album came out of wanting to make music that reminds people how beautiful life is and how delicate their heart is,' he said. I've always wanted to make music that is healing, comforting, and funky. I named the album Jardín hoping for it to create a space for healing when people put it on. A garden is full of life, growth and beauty,' Gabriel said of choosing that unifying image as the title for his new album. It makes me think of green and white and all the colors as they appear in different flowers.' That vivid spectrum bursts forth on Jardín itself and the album contains references to fruit of all sorts, sour mango, juicy tangerines and sweet peaches. From the heartache and aching vocals that float over the dusty drums of Crawl' to the stutter-step thump of Bombo Fabrika' to the high falsetto he nails on Octave,' Garzón-Montano proves himself to already be one of 2017's biggest breakout talents.

What started out as a simple email exchange between a young, hungry beatmaker and a seasoned player in the worlds of jazz and midwestern indie hip-hop, has resulted in a vibrant record nearly a decade in the making. On one side of Let It Out sits Miles Bonny, a long time musical collaborator who spent his youth soaking in powerful musical moments in NYC under the tutelage of his trumpet-slinging father, Francis Bonny, and later as a teen immersed in New York's busy indie-hip-hop scene. As he grew up Miles cemented himself a niche in the Midwest, most notably in Lawrence, Kansas where tireless forays into beatmaking led to the founding of the much-loved INnatesounds Crew and record label, as well as a series of solo releases and collaborative projects.

Eventually shifting his focus to his own vocal stylings, it wasn't long before Miles caught the attention of the international music community, including the young, curious ears of the at time unknown, soon-to-be future R&B sensation Ta-Ku. Through a series of emails and conversations, Ta-Ku asked to send Miles beats and the two planned to work on a series of tracks. From there the pair developed a friendship that was built upon mutual encouragement and a creative admiration between two artists both navigating their own personal and professional responsibilities.

The Let It Out EP, released on Brooklyn's Bastard Jazz Recordings, acts as the culmination of such an intimate and organic journey. Recorded by Miles in Kansas City during a time he was experiencing the oft-turbulent tasks of true adulthood, the record focus on the life of a young father, underpinned by how we often bottle up difficult emotions and creativity when the pressures of today's complicated world reach fever pitch. Brimming with emotive, intimate lyrics from Miles spread amidst Ta-Ku's soul-drenched beat work and syrupy future grooves, the EP will hit close to home for anyone whose daily lives calls for a much needed dose of personal reflection and chilled-out decompression.

It's been four years since Zach Saginaw, aka Shigeto, returned home to Michigan from a stint in Brooklyn, NY, and since then, the multi-faceted musician has become a part of the fabric of Detroit's music scene. While always having a personal approach to his projects, Saginaw's influences for his third album, The New Monday are more about the community of Detroit than anything else. Named after a weekly DJ event called Monday is the New Monday that Saginaw does at the unassuming Motor City Wine with a group of friends, The New Monday is the result of Saginaw diving into the city's deep record culture, where there legacy of artist's of the past help Saginaw embrace his own contributions.

It's focused on a couple things and they all kind of come together to represent different things,' explains Saginaw. My time back in Detroit, back living in Michigan and spending time with a lot of kind of original people who have always been here, learning from them, hearing stories from them, being influenced by them, and inspired by them.'

While, in the past, projects like Lineage or No Better Time Than Now were rooted in strong personal messages, family and relationships respectively, The New Monday represents a communal eort where solidarity is the key. Going for a simplified approach of just trying to make good tracks, The New Monday is diverse in its styles leaning more into a dance music direction - new ground for a Shigeto project. A new air of confidence in Saginaw has expanded his horizons since his return to Detroit, but traces of his past work will continue to be present.

I don't want people to think I'm leaving anything,' says Saginaw. I'm still me. It's a result of me being immersed in the culture, and inevitably making music that is influenced by that culture whether it be house, techno, jazz, rap. It doesn't matter. It's all coming from what I love about Michigan.'

While The New Monday still features the jazz textures long associated with Shigeto projects, the varied elements that make up the album cohesively come together to show the distinct inspiration that Saginaw has drew from since his return home to Detroit. Like on Barry White', which features Detroit hip-hop artist ZelooperZ (a member of Danny Brown's Bruiser Brigade crew who Saginaw also has a side project with called ZGTO), Saginaw captures everything he's been doing all on one track. As much as it's hip-hop influenced, it's a mutant that encompasses elements of dance music, jazz, and ambient sounds

Throughout The New Monday, Saginaw poignantly references the musical influences that have either always been with him or newly discovered. It is Saginaw's interpretation of Detroit's rich culture of innovative artistry, but done so with respect for the history and to contribute, not disrupt.

I think over the past four years, I can confidently say that I found my place here,' describes Saginaw. I'm happy here and I feel that I have the respect from the people I need respect from, that I want respect from. It's all of the result of embracing it and embracing, not Detroit, but embracing community, embracing family, being closer to my parents, being closer to my oldest friends.

- Shigeto's third full length, his first album since 2013's No Better Time Than Now
- In between has remixed Anna Wise, Hundred Waters, Su-an Stevens, U.R. etc.
- Media support from BBC Radio, Pitchfork, Stereogum, Fader, THUMP, Resident Advisor,
- Vinyl is housed in a matte gatefold jacket with purple foil

'We Are Vinyl' reissue - a 10 track double vinyl on 140 gm black vinyl with download code.

We welcome back long-time First Word family, Souleance, with 'Bamboule', fresh from their respective cut-ups for our sister label, Excursions, and their recent 'Raw Funk' set, we have a 5-track EP containing something for all the family, crafted with love once again by France's Fulgeance & DJ Soulist. A truly eclectic collection, comprised of afro grooves, tropical vibes, b-boy rhymes, head-nodding shakers and intensely hype floor-fillers. A seriously fun selection.

It kicks off with 'Partay', a mid-tempo slice of bouncy tropical boogie that does exactly what it says on the tin. An effervescent synth-bassline rides on top of a delectable disco shuffle, complete with classic reggae chants.

Title track 'Bamboule' is a seriously energetic afro-funk beast. A truly infectious percussive rhythm track, laced with an immense bassline, vocal chops and synth rides, this one is 100% guaranteed to entice any dancefloor into a trance-like state of bugged-out body moves.

'That Guy' is some uptempo piano-rolling hip hop business, enlisting the help of Brooklyn MC, Von Pea, from the crew Tanya Morgan, who've been making noise on the independent hip hop scene for over a decade, as well as recently collaborating with GUTS.

We dip down to around the 85BPM mark for 'J'aime Marcher', a lounging boom bap bumper with sloppy drums, jazzy rhodes and vivacious horns.

Closing the EP is 'Brown Bags', an almost Dilla-esque cut-up, complete with rolling neck-breaking drums, sweet soul samples and stabs of prog rock. An abundance of variety, we think you'll agree.

For those that don't know, the Parisian duo hooked up just over a decade ago, and haven't stopped to rock & shock parties, clubs and festivals globally since, building a fan-base of solid party people and revered selectors along the way. As always, the wonderful Alice Dufay provides the artwork, making this an essential package for you and yours.

3 John Tejada produced tracks for Just Another Beat.

Funeral Balloons is the new album from acclaimed producer & NYC fixture Blockhead (real name, Tony Simon). Funeral Balloons is as bold and irreverent as the title suggests, from the uplifting and energetic mood of Bad Case of the Sundays' to the spaced out airy grooves found on UFMOG' all the way to the 1970s car chase anthem like Escape from NY', the songs never stop in one place. While, at its core, Funeral Balloons doesn't stray far from the kind of music Blockhead has been making since his debut Music by Cavelight, his evolution as a producer is on full display, exploring different avenues and sounds with every new release and continuing to forge his own lane between the worlds of hip-hop and electronic music.

Reginald Omas Mamode IV follows last year's self-titled debut album with 'Children Of Nu', set for release on 3rd November 2017. The 20 track album draws influence from the world around us, everyday life. As we witness rising poverty, global events, political and ethnic divisions - these factors prompt some of Reginald's themes and call for humanity to recognise we are all interconnected. We are all related. We're all brothers and sisters with common ancestry, common history and a common origin regardless of race, geographic location or belief systems. Love and compassion are universal feelings/practices we all should embrace and apply to all aspects of our lives, our interactions and our relationships, regardless of the kinship'. - Reginald Omas Mamode IV Children Of Nu' encompasses Reginald's musical and sonic influences - Afro Roots music through to jazz and soul. It draws from Africa as much as the west, an attempt to make a record that can exist in many contexts, the present, the future and past.Recorded with freedom - most tracks remain from the first take - the process of creating 'Children Of Nu' was an open ended development from a natural, intuitive, starting point. Made with minimal thought of how tracks would end up, the music was led through the creative process. Born of a moment, each track
is an attempt to capture that instance, mood, feeling or subject.
Last year's self-titled debut album was warmly received, collecting critical success including Mojo ( A brand-new-retro delight'), Mixmag ( Peckham beat brilliance'), Record Collector ( Equal parts D'Angelo to J Dilla'), The Wire ( Soul music turned all the way inward') and a Bandcamp Album of the Day ( Breathing
lifeforms that are equally steeped in hip-hop, funk, soul and jazz'). It was also nominated for 'Album of the Year' at Gilles Peterson's
Worldwide Awards 2017.Along with Mo Kolours, Jeen Bassa, Henry Wu, Al Dobson Jr and Tenderlonious, he's helped forge in the 22a co-operative that The FADER calls a kaleidoscopic patchwork of hip-hop, house, and groove investigations bound by one thread: a timeless belief in rhythm as a universal language'.

Since releasing his last album on Hypercolour in February 2016 ('You Exist'), DMX Krew has not for one moment rested on laurels, releasing two further LPs on the Ekster and Abstract Form labels, as well as EPs and singles for Central Processing Unit, Shipwrec, Revoke and more. Continuing to remain faithful to the roots of electro, IDM and the deeper shades of techno, and without compromise, DMX Krew cranks out emotive and brain scrambling electronica at a mighty rate, and never disappoints. 'Strange Directions' is album number 21 from DMX Krew, and lands once more on Hypercolour, the British label that continues to make heady waves in the music scene with genre shifting releases from the like of Matthew Herbert, Luke Vibert, Gary Gritness, The Cyclist, Outboxx and A Sagittariun in the last 12 months alone. You'll know what kind of ride you are in for from the first few bars of album opener 'Snowy Blue'; hypnotizing bass and spatial keys float over dusty micro breaks, produced with an infectious aesthetic that continues over the long player's fifty-five minute tenure. Experimental and expansive joints such as 'Odd Chill' and 'Strange Directions' sit comfortably alongside funkier techno jams such as 'Thin Hype' and 'Zero Sum', whilst the melancholic synth sensibilities of tracks like 'Hip Hopeless' and 'Axial Mode Beat' catches DMX Krew on fine form.

Step Time Orchestra was the collaborative work of producers Jori Hulkkonen and Toumas Salmela, who began producing music together in the nineties whilst studying in Oulu, Finland. Whilst all their friends would be getting up early to go to university, they would only just be going to bed, having spent the night listening to house records from New York, drinking Whiskey and programming their MPC 2000!

Step Time produced a slew of tracks during this time, some of which were licensed and pressed on 12" singles during the late nineties/early noughties on labels operating in North America and Europe, but not everything they made saw the light of day. Heavily influenced by labels like Ibadan and Spiritual Life Music at the height of the New York House Scene, 'Jazz Error NYC' and '2am in Africa' were never signed, not fitting the profile of their other releases at the time, they were left in the drawer and sadly forgotten!

Skip forward to Winter 2016, and FBNM's Lorenzo, whilst over on a DJ excursion, visits Jori in Finland. Keen to keep working together, he presses him for something uniquely special. Magically, the Ajos E.P jumps out of the drawer into Hulkkonen's hand, and as it turns out, it has aged with a rather remarkable grace. Written using a combination of MPC sequencing and an Atari ST powering vanilla Cubase for some midi programming duties, it features the sounds of the Italian made Siel Opera 6, an Alesis S4 Rompler and other vintage Roland, Yamaha and Kawai Synths. They went full out on this one, even finally learning to play keys for that jazzy piano action. It was recorded live through a soundcraft analog board with outboard Fx, creating a sound that transcended it's time to feel remarkably fresh today!

The Ajos EP is named after an area in their native city of Kemi, Northern Finland, which is where they wrote and produced it in 1999.

A collection of improvisations and loops from a 2 hour session @ the studio compiled into a limited edition beat tape....much love. Limited edition..TIP!

Repress of MNDSGN produced EP "Low Jams" which caused a little buzz on the net and deserves another vinyl re-release, including instrumentals by Stones Throw producer Mndsgn. Watch out for Ivan's new LP later this year!

"Ivan Ave manages to flow effortlessly over MNDSGN's jazzy but inventive instrumentals. Ave's flow is very reminiscent of Blu circa Below The Heavens, delivering thought-provoking rhymes in a very relaxed and soulful manner. MNDSGN continues to prove himself as one of the best producers in the game, with a collection of beautiful piano based soundscapes that flawlessly compliment Ivan's calmness." Earmilk

Photay's debut full-length Onism inherits the same historical tension in an age of climate change and social media addiction. It is also a reflection of personal conditions, a meditation on place, community, and its creator's own embodied history. The word 'onism,' invented by John Koenig, means the frustration of being stuck in just one body that inhabits only one place at a time. Shornstein contrasts spacious near-silence with bombastic saturated peaks. Fangled robotic tones ('Screens') meet with forest floor ambience ('Storm'), evoking visual designs for the built and natural worlds, while the overwhelm of metropolis ('Balsam Massacre') and the digital age ('The Everyday Push') is eased by the liberatory forests of Woodstock ('Outré Lux' feat. Madison Mcferrin) and assumptions into imagined realities ('Bombogenesis'). The demonic swing of 'Balsam Massacre' imagines the sounds of a tree's innards as it is felled with a chainsaw, while 'Storm' thunders distantly in triumphant reverie. On 'Aura,' Shornstein sings for the second time in his career ( Take the time to hear yourself'). The message hints at a common denominator to his meditations, resonating also as a warning to the world, an everyday push to the role of electronic music in storytelling the future of the global environmentalist movement. 'Onism' is pressed on 12' 140 gram clear transparent vinyl and includes a double-sided full-color 12' insert along with a digital download card.

The sixth heavyweight plate from the Banana Stand Sound crew comes full force with summer vibes to close out the warm months of 2017. The A side of this 180g vinyl features the musical stylings of US based Subtle Mind and Dillard. This collaboration is everything you would want from this pairing, featuring jazzy grooves and deep bass, reminding listeners that dubstep can be musical and still get the dancefloor going. The B sides, perfectly named Cubano Dub, is a real gem coming from Sam ULG. A truly unique use of samples opens a new door of experimental sounds unlike anything you've heard before at 140 bpm. These tunes are sure to keep you warm inside while the weather gets colder outside.