House News

No longer one of Denmark's best kept secrets, Holtoug's talent is firmly out of the bag as he touches down on hafendisko with the yearning 'Stay In Love' - a tune worthy of comparison in feel and tone to Âme's smash 2012 remix of Ry & Frank Wiedemann's 'Howling'. Marrying the drive and energy of dance music to the singer-songwriting sensibility of his indie roots, it's a delicious mélange, intense yet featherlight, booming yet ethereal: an intricate and playful soundworld characterised by breathy pads, deft percussive flourishes and a swooping, swooning bass that basks in all its glory on the accompanying Instrumental version. On remix duties, hafendisko labelmate Yannick Labbé - best known for his work with Trickski and long association wth Jazzanova/Compost - gets all dark and menacing, adding harsh, machine percussion, vibrating subs and a discombobulating counterpoint of eerie, sustained tones. Meanwhile, Martin Gretschmann (The Notwist), operating under his Acid Pauli pseudonym, mutates the vocal into a cooing, howling, wah-wah as playful intertwined synth lines dance and bounce off each other gleefully. Perpetually inventive, otherworldly stuff!

There aren't many artists that can lay claim to having put out records on labels as divergent as Rough Trade and John Talabot's Hivern Discs. Perhaps this is because few artists express such genuine diversity in their musical tastes and creative explorations as David Kitt. Since the turn of the decade as New Jackson he has mined a seam of driving, ghostly house to run parallel with his solo strand of ambient folk electronica. His debut release in 2011 The Night Mail on Pogo channeled early record collection heroes Aphex Twin and Orbital through to Drexciya and Projekt PM but had one foot firmly in the 21st century beaming in like some futuristic cyberballad. On the flip side Hussle Free had that mix of house and boogie sensibilities with dark and dusty synths and vocoder that would become a signature. This was followed by acclaimed releases on Hivern, Permanent Vacation, Major Problems, Apartment and most recently Cin Cin. His debut album set for release on All City in May was recorded in Kitt's bedroom studio overlooking Dublin bay, its nocturnal hues very much a product of the nightshift often working on headphones with the rest of his housemates fast asleep. It takes full advantage of the scope of the LP format, ebbing and flowing between deep house club ready gems and more restrained and meditative beatless moments for the morning after. The recording process yielded many eureka moments with Kitt finally nailing sounds that had hitherto proved elusive.

The 2nd Limited Vinyl Only release from Belgian label Muzik & Friendz features a timeless EP from leach and lezizmo calling on the vocal prowess of heleen desmet and the remix talents of Llars lb (Deeper Shades Of House).

Only 300 copies packaged in recycled environment friendly sleeves will be available.

With the haunting voice of Heleen soaring beautifully over the expertly crafted beats of Leach & Lezizmo this package is sure to grow the number of A-list admirers already gathered from the first release. )

A1
The Sunburst Band's lush "In The Thick Of It" has been a big club and radio hit throughout the summer, one that has even won praise from diehard fans of the Brenda Russell original.
Now Sweden's Opolopo (hot from his Gregory Porter '1960 What' rework) gives the track an 80's boogie/proto house rework.
Squelchy stabs and funked up synth bass make this a sure fire winner for both the muso's and dancefloors.
Yes, there are quite a few boogie influenced house tracks but most of them are based around big samples, where as this contains none.

If you prefer things a little less vocal then check the boogie body land dub, the grooves along without any house clichés.


DJ Reactions:

Dimitri From Paris - Now, that's what I call music, fantastic remixes
Ashley Beedle - A lovely set of mixes from that man Opolopo. Big support
Justin Winks aka Casio Social Club - This is hot, seriously HOT
King Britt - Fantastic rework and Opolopo always represents.... Big ups to Joey for making it happen!
Danny Krivit - Very cool
Johnny Fiasco - I just humped my speakers...
Jask - Nice funky boogie vibes
Dave RedSoul - Very nice!
Robert Owens - Nice mix
Hed Kandi - Dope
Glenn Underground - Nice for a change of feel (Dopeness) in that 80's persona
Richard Earnshaw - Love it
Sean McCabe - Hot synth-bass driven groove from Opolopo. Very nice re-touch
CJ Mackintosh - Great Remix
Kiko Navarro - Super ultra funky biznezz!
Cherokee - GOLD! This is my kind of Music!
Dario d'Attis - Wonderful vocals
Martin Ikin - Love it
Terry Hunter - Opolopo Kills another song and I mean that in a good way! Great remix
ATFC - Very cool!
Jazz FM - Loving that groovy moogie bass
Graeme Park - Oh joy, oh joy, oh joy. Glorious! Full support from me


A2
The general consensus has been that "The Secret Life of Us" CD is the strongest album yet from Joey Negro's Sunburst Band. Recently managing to top the Solar Sweet Rhythms chart, Starpoint Soul Chart, Amazon Dance chart, now we start to see some of the cuts in extended remixed form.

The brassy disco funk jam "Take It To The Top" gets an extended beefed up treatment from Joey Negro. As always with Sunburst tunes the instrumentation is top notch, while Noelle Scaggs vocals ride beautifully over the top.

For those who like things a bit more electronic Andreas Saag delivers a brilliant remix that retains the jazziness of the original but underpinned by a crazy syncopated bassline.

DJ Reactions:

Dimitri From Paris - Always top notch production
Lovebirds - Saag remix is huge!!
Deetron - Andreas never let's us down, great remix!!
CJ Mackintosh - Joey Mix for me...lovely!
Danny Krivit - Great remix
Ralf GUM - Nice remix and good original. Will play for sure
Glenn Underground - This is major, especially the Joey Negro Extended Mix
Richard Earnshaw - Just love getting this vibe in the inbox!! Lovely stuff!
Leftside Wobble - Love the original and Andreas Saag's remix brings just enough twisted electronic funk
Jazz FM - 2 top notch remixes, Andreas has a slight advantage from these ears, lovin the broken jazzy disco vibes
Graeme Park - Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, YES!
DJ Jeroenski - Wicked stuff indeed...!
David Scally - A summer smash... Loving the Joey Ext funk!!! Andreas has more four to the floor appeal. Two cracking mixes
Jask - This is very nice. both mixes:)
Shur-i-kan - Great Saag mix!
Rocky - Lovely. Saag mix is the one
Soulmagic - Both the Extended and the Andreas Saag remix works for us
Hernan Cattaneo - Excellent stuff
Roog - Great stuff!
Casio Social Club - Yet more wonderfullness from the Z camp
Bill Brewster - JN mix very jazz funk, nice early 80s Rhodes work, like it
Martin Ikin - Both mixes are great, love the vibe on the saag remix
Sean McCabe - Sublime remix by Andreas Saag! Both tracks are smokin hott!!!
Alex Niggemann - Nice music, as always. Big thx.
Fred Everything - I'm a big fan of Andreas Saag and I love everything in his remix
Matt Bandy - Niceness....
Gregor Salto - Joey is boss! I wish people were more open to that sounds nowadays
Kiko Navarro - Very nice musical arrangements on Andreas Saag remix plus a super funky extended from the man

David Keno meets Noir - a great combination with catchy vocals and
deep grooves - Remixes are coming from Robosonic (Off Recordings,
Stil Vor Talent) and Gorge (Plastic City, 8Bit).

Bus Vipers is the moniker of Canberra-bred, Sydney-based multi-instrumentalist and producer Daniel Ahern. A new signing to Future Classic, Bus Vipers comes fresh with a new live band and EP, Federal Highway. Sounding like a mix between Unknown Mortal Orchestra and Silversun Pickups, this indie rock project is prone to hooky vocals, punchy drums and strong guitar riffs. In 2013, triple j Unearthed ranked him #20 in the '50 Most Played Artists' of that year.

The debut release for Kalyma on connected - The Brixton / Berlin based label
A1 'LayDown' original Kalyma teams up with his friend, singer and songwriter Peter Stanowsky. The song was written during a relaxed and loose jamming session in late summer time at their home studio.The vocal performance is surrounded by a groovy and very percussive beat. After a long, calm intro a hypnotic bass melody kicks in together with more percussive elements in order to get up to full speed. The catchy bass combined with the repetitive vocals gets the listener in a driving,
rhythmical, dreamy mood 'Lay Down' was made to enable smooth transitions in the dynamic range of a diverse house DJ set, without loosing energy and create a special intimate, percussive vibe
A2 'LayDown (Florian Busse Mix) A hypnotic ping pong tom groove that gets heavier with the introduction of a lazy distorted bassline.
Provides an easy ride for the vocal to entwine with as the music elevates with the rise of snake-like synths B1 'LayDown' (Aaaron Vinyl Exclusive Mix) With whiffs of Kraftwerk-like electronics and a rolling percussive underscore , Peter's vocal bounces across the ever changing groove helped by rhythmic stabs and mysterious drones as the groove gets minimal and sequences motor to the end .
B2 'LayDown' (Aaaron Mix) A driving ,solid, nailed to the tracks club groove with exotic sounds peering through the sonic picture in a deep subtle carnival celebration.
The vocal talks to us without interrupting the movement as bass synths juxtapose to the rhythm and electronic percussion punctuates the atmosphere,absorbing us into the tune.

An early 1990s bittersweet House anthem & Terrence Parker joint too - Essential!

Phonica Records Special Editions in association with Play It Again Sam is delighted to present the incredible Quiet Village remix of Agnes Obel's 'Stretch Your Eyes', lifted from the Danish born, Berlin based singer songwriter's critically acclaimed 3rd studio album 'Citizen of Glass' .

Obel was at an early age guided into music by the influence of her parents, who would play and listen to a blend of the classical greats, folk music and contemporary pop. She learnt to play piano as a child but it was her move to Berlin in 2006 that prompted her to take her music to the next level. Her debut Philharmonics was released in 2010, a quiet phenomenon that spent seven consecutive weeks at number 1 and sold in excess of 100,000 copies in her homeland alone. The release of 'Aventine' in 2013 cemented her status as a household name across Europe and as an icon to piano players throughout the world.

Quiet Village are the British duo of long-time record-collector and DJ Joel Martin and Matt Edwards, the house and techno producer known as Radio Slave and the head of the Rekids label. They came to our attention with a series of highly sought after twelves on the DJ Harvey-related Whatever We Want label from New York, alongside excellent remixes of The Osmonds, Toby Tobias, Black Devil Disco Club and Francois K before releasing their acclaimed album on K7 Records in 2008. After a break from using the Quite Village name, the duo are back with a bang and recently graced the Phonica White label with a fantastic techno 12' 'Social Music' / 'Change'.

Needless to say, Quiet Village were the first producers Phonica thought of when looking for remixes for this project and their slow, dark, dub-heavy atmospheric groove perfectly compliments Agnes's vocal, with echoes of Massive Attack's timeless 'Teardrops' coming to mind. It's one of the finest remixes we've heard in recent memory and we're proud to present it as a limited 12' on the Special Editions label.

In defying the laws of tradition, Los Angeles based music sound designer
Mono/Poly (born Charles E. Dickerson) has managed to outstrip the
logics of multi-genre producing. Known for his distinct madness of face
melting bass, paired with his dreamy astral soundscapes of glitch-based
hip-hop, Mono/Poly has proved himself to be a natural phenomenon.
The new six-song self-released 'Union' EP produced by Mono/Poly and
featuring stunning soulful UK vocalist Alyss includes the awe-inspiring
singles 'Footprints', 'Violet Ray' & 'Golden Light', as well as the stand-out
track 'Choices'. Out now on digital download, with instrumentals due out
in October and the limited-edition metallic gold & black colored 12' vinyl.

Blue Hawaii's Tenderness searches for the meaning of closeness in our highly-connected world. Central to the record is the contradictory power of technology: people are at once alienated and brought together by its use. With immediacy of communication we can feel close without ever having to be truly tender to each other.After taking a 4 year break from writing and producing with each other, Ra and Agor rekindled their creative fame in 2016, writing music about an unrequited relationship Ra was experiencing with someone mostly online, constantly battling these contradictory feelings of distance and closeness. As record fows from one song to the next with skits, phone calls, acoustic demos, real life samples and quiet left-turns, she discovers that happiness is derived not from others but from something immaterial within herself. She fnds validation without the need for the other—a valuable lesson whether in real or virtual reality.

Blue Hawaii's Tenderness searches for the meaning of closeness in our highly-connected world. Central to the record is the contradictory power of technology: people are at once alienated and brought together by its use. With immediacy of communication we can feel close without ever having to be truly tender to each other.After taking a 4 year break from writing and producing with each other, Ra and Agor rekindled their creative fame in 2016, writing music about an unrequited relationship Ra was experiencing with someone mostly online, constantly battling these contradictory feelings of distance and closeness. As record fows from one song to the next with skits, phone calls, acoustic demos, real life samples and quiet left-turns, she discovers that happiness is derived not from others but from something immaterial within herself. She fnds validation without the need for the other—a valuable lesson whether in real or virtual reality.

Electric Purple Vinyl Repress

Chromatics turn the night into a woozy slow-mo disco ball twirl, and the titles say it all really: 'Tomorrow Is So Far Away', 'Let's Make This Moment A Moment To Remember'. The culmination is 'Tick Of The Clock', a quarter of an hour slowed almost to a stop. A flanged beat box ticks and a dense howl of organ chords crawls over vinyl crackle until eventually nothing is left but a slowly reverberating bassline. The night is over. After leaving the nightclub, the chill of the morning air is refreshing but still sends a shiver down the spine. - 4/5 Resident Advisor

Moonrise Hill Material is a record label based in France, founded with love by Folamour, Ethyène, Kaffe Crème & Okwa.
Focused on poetic house music, from the one that you can't stop dancing on to the one that you want to keep for yourself, the label defends the preciousness of every musical journey and the sensibility through beautiful stories.

The 1st release will be a limited 300 copies (180gr) edition with a special surprise: a kit to build your own Apparel Wax goggles.
Supported by Délicieuse Musique, Folamour, Moony Me, St Paul, Voyeur, Ponty Mython, Kian T, Kisk and many others. After 7 years in the game, Apparel Music strikes again in style with a brand new concept. The main ingredient of this recipe called 'Apparel Wax' is quality music, without any compromise or distinction. Apparel Wax is the aka of an unknown/unanimated artist, brought to life by many talented international ghost producers who, from now on, will be pulling Apparel Music's strings. Curated by Giuseppe D'Alessandro, mastered by Lopazz, vinyl cut by Schnittstelle, R.A.N.D. Muzik manufacturing, licensed by Sac A Pain Ltd

Early support by: Claptone, Danny Tenaglia, Felix Da Housecat, Riva Starr, Purple Disco Machine, Richy Ahmed, Franky Rizardo, Huxley, Denney, Mihalis Safras, Mat.Joe, Miguel Campbell, Mark Knight, Superlover...

House hit makers MOTHER RECORDINGS are back with another tight two track package. This one comes from the label boss NHAN SOLO, a real house talent with plenty of great singles and EPs in his back catalogue, most often on his own great label.

Opening the release is SHOW ME LOVE, a deep and groovy number with nice piano chords rolling over slick house groove. Power female vocal add fuel and emotion to the fire and the whole thing really casts a spell on you.

BROTHERS KEEPERS is on the flip and is another kicking house tune with sleek metallic drums, great percussive tension with smart kills and filters, and clipped vocals that inject real warmth and soul. Both cuts carry on in this Berlin based producer's fine tradition and are sure to get plenty of dance floors on their toes in the coming months.

finally repressed !! incl, Henrik Schwarz Remix !!

Soul Has No Tempo are proud to present 'The Self' - the new album from London-based drummer/producer Richard Spaven.

Richard Spaven is one of the most sought-after drummers in progressive and contemporary music. Drumming for the likes of José James, Gregory Porter, Guru's Jazzmatazz, Flying Lotus, The Cinematic Orchestra, TY and more, he has gained international recognition, both on stage and in the studio. Richard is an influential, genre-defying musician - the result of working closely with a diverse range of artists, combined with his own rich musical taste. Gilles Peterson said it best - "there's much more than just rhythm with this man".

His debut album 'Whole Other*' (2014) touched on many musical palettes and bridged the gap between jazz and electronica. With 'The Self', Richard introduces us to his personal journey. The moment in time where a jazz drummer affirms his love for club culture, delivering an album that travels from drum & bass to broken beat, dubstep and more, all seen through the lens of a drummer. The club culture influence is apparent in the way Richard wrote and produced this album - sampling his own drums on the Photek cover 'Hidden Camera' and collaborating with Metalheadz MC, Cleveland Watkiss to recreate the London sound system vibe so integral to his background.

Featuring guest artists from diverse backgrounds - Jordan Rakei, Jameszoo, Kris Bowers, MC Cleveland Watkiss and Richard's established partner in crime, guitarist and composer Stuart McCallum, 'The Self' is masterfully combined with Richard's unique production and showcases his trademark drumming style of precision, creativity and finesse.

Like a memory you can't remember having, surely lost to the past but resurfacing at the hit of the first steady note. So sudden and unexpected it curiously scratches the shell of your inner self. As he himself states: Kerala Dust makes music for a desert he's never been to.

Once again, we have a new addition to the family, once again, like finding the piece of a puzzle you didn't know was missing - three pieces to be more precise. Carefully crafted music from the head and hands of this one plus two project, completed by a mesmerizing remix from the walking understatement DWIG.

Welcome home, Kerala Dust.

Brian Tennessee Claflin, aka Prix, was a radical and fiery figure who worked on the intersecting fringes of Berlin's art and nightlife scenes since he moved there in 2006 up until his tragic death in 2014 at the age of 33. He ran the notorious Sunday soirée PORK at Ficken3000, and left behind a small but very powerful body of art; developing a cult following of friends, family, and fans in a brief but intense period of frenetic activity. Between 2009 and 2013, Brian and his friend, the American cum Berlin musician and producer Snax, produced music and sound collages. All these productions met somewhere at the intersection of dance, voodoo, bitchiness and punk and several were used for Brian's performance pieces. The Brian Tennessee Claflin Foundation and Snax's Random Records are very proud to finally release two tracks from these sessions, as well as remixes, digital and as vinyl EP, in a limited edition of 500 hand-numbered copies. The first track showcased on the PRIX EP, entitled 'Don't Get All Upset", addresses the politics and hypocrisy Brian confronted while working in the world of nightlife. Taken directly from his experiences as promoter of the notorious PORK party at Ficken3000, Prix lambastes anyone who dares to challenge her while Snax supports it all with a tense and strutting funk. B- side 'Spritz It' is nothing less than an electro monster from the underground. Just how much damage, pleasurable and otherwise, can one inflict on the erogenous zones Prix's gender fluid party anthem shows one the way.

Main House Music Tracks included in this double CD !!! 20 House Tracks, all unmixed, extended & original versions !! Incl. DJ Antoine, Fuzzy Hair, Bingo Players, Sander Van Doorn, Felix Da Housecat, ... and many more !!!!

TFBM004 is a special joint venture release with Rebirth Records to release some stuff we really care about
the orginal mix of Stop featuring Kaysand, now available on vinyl, a special 13 mins rework by our beloved Swayzak, and a remix of Right Now by Freaks vs Robert Owens that really could not stay any longer in our hard drives!

Soulful house music w/an electronic edge f/ the vocals of Raneen, from a promising young talent from Bordeaux, who met PTA when they played at the legendary Bootleg Club in 2013. Upon hearing the sketches of these tracks they signed them immediately.

Eye of the Storm seduces your mind w/words while filtered melody wraps itself around your body. "Unveiling You" & "At Your Discretion" have enough energy for the early dancers and the ones that stay all night.

We're going to have Forever carrying us through our morning commute, drifting through the last hours of sunlight in the afternoon and soundtracking our nights' - Wonderland Magazine

Alluring, Beautiful, and Packed With Lust' - Noisey

A soulful and spectral collection of airy, softly glimmering slow-jams' - Gorilla vs. Bear

After a successful string of festival appearances in North America including SXSW and POPMontreal plus a show at Berlin's infamous Berghain with ABRA, Forever's single 'Heaven's Mouth' shot into the Spotify Viral 50 charts at #29. The track was premiered by Phil Taggart on BBC Radio 1 and has been streamed over 300,000 times on Spotify.

Zeb Wayne returns with a majestic and scintillating song titled 'Wulfman', featuring a trio of top tier remixers including Alva Noto, Calibre and Radio Slave.
Following the release of 'Float' on Rekids last year, 'Wulfman' is a beautiful song that demonstrates how musically versed Wayne is as a producer, blending a serene vocal by Ziwi, with intricate sounds to create a truly beautiful song from start to finish.
Alva Noto, who composed the film score for The Revenant alongside Ryuichi Sakamoto, as well as being the co-founder of esteemed minimal imprint Raster Noton, is the first of three heavyweight remixers. The renowned German producer employs his signature elements of grit, static and glitch resulting in an inimitable melancholic cut.
Well respected for traversing numerous electronic music sub-genres, as evident in his recent album on Craig Richards' The Nothing Special, Calibre ups the energy in his remix using sultry synths, syncopated percussion and mesmerising effects.
Concluding the colossal package, Rekids founder Radio Slave creates a club-ready reinterpretation of his own, complete with fine-tuned kicks, looped vocals and a heady bassline.

There's not much to say about such a groundbreaking record such as this - the 1991 Dj Pierre-produced classic is a fine song in its own right featuring the vocals of Paula Brion but it was the Wild Pitch mix (Pierre's first) which laid the blueprint for a particular sound / mix / track development which was much copied.....the instrumental is a great mix too.....still sampling "The Power" from Snap (well, it is Jocelyn Brown originally)! Accapella too.

With this EP Best Works Records would like to pre-sent a new artist - Luis Junior. No stranger to the game!
Madrid-based Luis Junior has been a DJ and music producer for more than 20 years. In 1993 he re-leased his first 12-inches starting to build a disco-graphy of genre-defying music that pushes forever forward, designing new stylistic frameworks and breaking new artistic ground with each successive production. Luis has grown into one of the most cut-ting edge and inspiring artists in Spanish electronic music.
His versatile production skills are clearly displayed here from soulful and folkloristic influences to techno. The first track on the EP "Don't Give Up On Me" fea-tures singer Sobi Thurairatnam with sultry vocals and a stong pop-appeal.
D-Nox and Beckers tranform it into a club burner for the early hours. Floidos on the back-side is more of techno-orientated banger and with Pasion Luis Junior manages to integrate some Spanish Flamenco sounds without getting to obvious.

After forging a formidable collaboration on the album FUTURE RETRO with songs such as DO BETTER, TELL ME NOW & BRING ME JOY, THE LAYABOUTS & PORTIA MONIQUE link up again with a brand new single for 2013.
COLOURS OF LOVE is the fruits of their labour and offers us everything we have grown to love about the partnership. The classic feel good soulful production that has now become the signature of THE LAYABOUTS mixed with the warm and sultry tones of PORTIA MONIQUE gives COLOURS OF LOVE the right formula that will keep us warm over the Winter months ahead.
On the flip REEL PEOPLE are delighted to present the new single LIVE WITHOUT LOVE by IMAANI. Produced by REEL PEOPLE, the new single is another heart felt song written and performed by one of the UKs most natural and beautiful artists, IMAANI. IMAANIs career has been quite a journey for this country girl from Derby who jumped on a train to London at the age of 19 and never looked back. Nurtured by the legendary JOCELYN BROWN, IMAANIs talent was soon discovered with cousins CARLEEN & JHELISA ANDERSON & TALKIN LOUDs URBAN SPECIES all taking her on tour. British Soul Institution INCOGNITO was IMAANIs next port of call as she became a permanent fixture on their perpetual live show and on numerous albums. Another highlight and in her own words 'the biggest night of my life' saw IMAANI perform to well over 100 million people and finish second in the 1998 EUROVISION SONG CONTEST. Moving into the dance world, IMAANI teamed up with COPYRIGHT, delivering the anthems WIZEMAN, BRING ME LOVE & NOBODY, all on DEFECTED RECORDS. In the last 3 years another blossoming partnership has been that of IMAANI & THE LAYABOUTS, firstly through the boys remix of her single FOUND MY LIGHT and latterly with FEARLESS & TOO LATE both songs featuring on the album FUTURE RETRO.

Second 12 off the "From Night to Night" LP features the charming slow jam - Put the Love In It. A finely crafted pop pysche tune that sounds like it could have come straight off a PPU reissue rounded off with sax and woodwinds from Ben Castle. Reaching into his bag of unreleased bits, the tempo gets upped on the vocoder boogie bounce sound of "Let the Freak Come Out At Night" and Peaking Lights Aaron Coyes is on hand for remix duties to complete the 12 adding his brand of cosmic West Coast dub-kraut-groove to really space the title track out.

For a short period in 1981 and with brand-new equipment such as Roland 808, SH 101, GR 500, we made some 8-track "just for fun" jam tapes. Mainly just to experiment for our own pleasure. From those sessions, only "White Horse" made it to a final treatment. The rest of the material was left behind, as our record company at the time found it too "different".

Richard Spaven is proud to present his new album 'The Self'.

DJ support / airplay - BBCR1 BenjiB, BBCR2 Jamie Cullum, BBCR6 Gilles Peterson, BBCR6 Mary Anne Hobbs, BBCR6 Recommends (Mary Anne Hobbs).

Richard has gained international recognition and praise for supplying the drums for many artists on stage and in the studio. Jose James, Guru's Jazzmatazz, Flying Lotus, The Cinematic Orchestra, TY and more recently Jameszoo.

Working closely with such a diverse range of artists, in addition to his own very rich musical taste has made him a genre-defying drummer.This really comes to fruition on Richard's previous album 'Whole Other*'. A record that touches on many genres and features collaborations with Blue Note trumpeter Takuya Kuroda, UK's Electronica underground sensation The Hics and the legendary Kutmah.

New album 'The Self' also features artists from diverse backgrounds: Jordan Rakei, Jameszoo, Kris Bowers, MC Cleveland Watkiss and Richard's established partner in crime, guitarist and composer Stuart McCallum. With 'The Self', Richard introduces us to a very personal journey. The moment in time where a jazz drummer affirms his love for club culture and delivers an album that travels from Drum and Bass to Broken Beat to Dubstep and more, through the very specific lens of a drummer. All combined with Richard's unique subtle take on drumming, which has made him a sought-after performer with the artists cited above and also at drum events and festivals around the world.

This club culture influence is also apparent in the way Richard wrote and produced this album. Sampling his own drums on the Photek cover 'Hidden Camera' and collaborating with Metalheadz MC, Cleveland Watkiss to recreate the London sound system vibe so integral to his background.

First single 'The Self' features the sublime soul vocals of young phenomenon Jordan Rakei. A bed of syncopated chords washes over the 140bpm heavy dubstep influenced drums. The chorus takes us to an atmospheric high while Jordan soars and the drums add intensity, and with that impeccable sound design, it definitely makes us want to hear more of this exciting and diverse album.

Another groovy Techhouse strike by the lovely label. Comes with remixes by Lula Circus and Dole & Kom.

2013 is set to be an incredible year for Ali Love. The London-based producer and vocalist has recently inked a deal with the legendary Crosstown Rebels label and is currently putting the finishing touches to a new album (the follow up to 2010's Love Harder). The first track to be taken from the album is 'Emperor', which features additional vocals from Kali. The single will be available on 12" and download and comes backed with remixes from Waze & Odyssey and Maceo Plex.

'Emperor' comes on the back of a creative purple patch for Ali Love. As a member of both Hot Natured (with Jamie Jones, Lee Foss and Luca C) and Infinity Ink (with Luca C Love has recently been part of two of the biggest club tracks of the last twelve months in 'Benediction' and 'Infinity'. This upward trajectory is set to continue with a Hot Natured making their debut live appearances with two headline shows at London's 5000 capacity Brixton Academy, and debut Hot Natured LP set for release later this year.

Ali Love's new album will be released later in 2013 on Crosstown Rebels. As one of the UK's finest electronic songwriters and vocalists, 2013 is set to see Ali deliver on all the potential he's always promised, and receive the recognition he deserves.

With Summer 2017 just around the corner, international trendsetters and globetrotters alike will inevitably find themselves at Nikki Beach soaking up the sun in over 15 locations worldwide including Thailand, Ibiza, Greece, Dubai, USA, France and Monaco. To soundtrack your hedonistic summer, the 2CD Nikki Beach 'Summer Vibes' compilation brings two exclusive mixes packed with some of the finest seductive tracks 2017 can offer. The first 'Day' mix on CD1 illuminates a more day time feel, while the 'Night' mix on CD2 satisfies a deeper club feel.