House News

Right on time once again, the fifth outing on Punctuality welcomes Irish producer Drua to the fore. In typical Punctuality fashion the release draws influence from the canon of golden era late 90s and early 2000s dance music with an entirely modern production aesthetic, engineered for big rigs and sweaty dancefloors alike.

Nightfire is a fully realised vision of Drua’s sound that could best be described as contemporary hard house. All four tracks are laden with punchy, rolling basslines, detailed low end, vibrant stabs, sultry vocals, undulating rhythms and sprinklings of quintessential club sparks.

The nouveau handbag styling of UP kicks off the EP. Stuttered vocals, M1 organs and solid grooves are fused together with clever sampling that is sure to make this one a hit for the festival season of s/s ‘25, as early support from the likes of Roza Terenzi, Confidence Man, Spray, Sally C and Maara would indicate.

Job 2.3 has all the elements of a Punctuality anthem and maintains the big tune mood of the EP: skippy bass notes, low end wubs, subtle breaks, catchy vocal hooks and precise drums nail the brief in executing this prog-hard-house hybrid heater.

On the flip, Nightfire nods to classic leaning deep house through a peak time lens. Introspective pads make way for pulsing subs, sensuous vocal chops and hip catching basslines. This is one of those tracks that can shift the arc of a DJ set to the next level. Big tip here.

The EP concludes with Arch In Ur Back which has all the elements to work a dancefloor: multiple grooves, rolling breakbeats, party starting vocals and the modern sound design that punctuality has gained worldwide notoriety for. An all killer no filler EP in the form of four well rounded club tools from Drua that are sure to be mainstays for discerning DJs and Punctualists

Facta returns to Wisdom Teeth with ‘GULP’: a zippy, hi-def mini-album full of scrambled vocals, blown-out basslines, dripping synths and spring-loaded grooves that together map out his playfully psychedelic corner of contemporary club music. Written in a quick creative burst in late 2024, the record brings together a range of the producer’s distinct creative strands into a sharp, cohesive whole. Sitting snugly within the stylistic niche carved out by his A&Ring and DJ sets (alongside label co-founder K-LONE), we hear the influence of 00’s minimal, tech house, UK soundsystem music, ambient electronica, dub and more rubbing shoulders in a way that feels effortless and personal. Many of the tracks began life as sketches penned on the road - dotting between festivals, European club shows, and on tour in Japan - and so the record carries with it a sense of movement and forward momentum, and feels populated by voices, memories, people and places.

The Londoner’s characteristic approach to sound design and genre interplay are on full display here. Generative vocal hooks melt and warp into strange fluid forms, while synths stretch, detune, bend and dissolve into space before snapping back into shape again. Keyboards mirror human vocal formants, forming melodies that feel at once organic and alien. Basslines warp and distort, as if being re-moulded out of different synthetic properties.

Across the record there’s a commitment to expressing simple or familiar ideas in new and unexpected ways, whilst experimentations and innovations are presented clearly and intuitively. Cherished genre references are lovingly deployed as personal touchstones across the record - bleeping minimal- and tech-house; breakbeat dubstep and funky; Chicago house; dub techno - yet sounds and influences are combined and meshed in unexpected ways. Each track is tightly engineered and reduced down to its key elements, which are then manipulated, flipped, warped and pushed to breaking point. As is typical of Facta’s music, uncanny contrasts are worked throughout the music in unexpected ways. Warm, balmy moods come laced with seams of tension or uncertainty, whilst the record’s darker moments are handled with a light, playful touch.

With 15 years experience writing, DJing and A&Ring under his belt, ‘GULP’ is testament to Facta’s love of creation and curation - of seeking out, absorbing, experimenting, and channeling new sounds to create your own sonic world. A record borne of playful experimentation and happy accidents, ‘GULP’ shines bright with a simple, pure energy - a testament to writing quickly and intuitively and, above all else, enjoying the process.

The album’s artwork features photography by award-winning Boston-based photographer, Pelle Cass, whose complex time-lapse composites present hyperreal yet impossible tableaus of seemingly simple everyday scenes - an approach that parallels the record’s blurring of the familiar and the unfamiliar. Cass’s work has been widely exhibited, collected, and published, including solo shows at Gallery Kayafas, Boston, the Photographic Resource Center, Boston, and the Houston Center for Photography, and in collections such as the Fogg Art Museum, the Peabody Essex Museum, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. He was twice a Critical Mass Top 50 photographer and has received two fellowships from Yaddo and one from the Berkshire Taconic Foundation.

Repress at the end of the year

Gojnea76/G76 unveils his very own record label called FUTURE ELECTRONICS.

On the first input we have 4 dancefloor bangers created by Gojnea and Zefzeed, and released under the GEF moniker. On This EP will be available exclusive on 180g heavyweight black vinyl.

Specially curated Houdini tracks released for the first time on vinyl taken from their 1994 Limited Edition CD album on the Fax +49-69/450464 label. 'Strange' but intriguing.

CHAPTER 002

Orli's musical experience continues.

180 gr - Vinyl Only

Accented Measures Series presents Prime Cosmo, a new alias and concept formed over a year ago focusing on early 80s electro, big beat and melodic sequences.

Using the Yamaha RX15 sonic possibilities were pushed to the limit with 2 original jam rollers on the A-Side and for the B-Side featuring 2 beefy, thundering & chundering Italo-Style megamixes from Nila's Quest TopBoy, TOBI.

For its sixth installment, Mr.Banger escorts you to some unknown dimensions with Rokko. The Slovenian artist delivers four cheerful tracks filled with sweetness.

Our third release of the year is coming from Nantes based & Distant Waters co-founder Sans Sucre! The Coral Break is a four tracker blending electro, breaks & house with a nice funky breeze. This one is perfectly crafted for your warm summer nights!

Another debut on Chat Noir Tools! Sunaas is up next with his Master Blaster EP, a powerful blend of electro, house, breaks & downtempo with touches of 80's movies samples. The young producer follows up the CNT mantra with amazing dancefloor weapons.

Unknown minimal slammers from mysterious Berlin based hero The Wolf.

The Revivis-run Santo Tomas label is back for its second outing via its offshoot edits label. Number two follows suite with more reworks of less obvious, forgotten house and prog gems from the 90s’.

Hypnohouse strikes back! After a short delay due to the (ongoing) war in Ukraine - the label’s 4th release is finally available for sale. This time around, Hypnohouse offers four solid tunes from four Ukrainian musicians of various backgrounds.

The A side jumpstarts the dance engine with two wicked earth shakers from Yaroslav M. (a.k.a AC130) & Victor B. (a.k.a Vybukhivka). These two locals share a distinct flair and style that will leave listeners pumping from side to side for a strong while.

The B side demonstrates an after-hour, alternate reality excursion through hypnosis with two warping grooves from Vlad S. (a.k.a Hopper Field) and Count Orlok (DJ 69 & AC130). Both artists are highly capable of inducing their listeners into an uncanny state of consciousness through music - don’t miss!

On the A-side, infectious beats and stabbing organs with waves of progressive nostalgia, on the B-side the exploration of breakbeat realms and soundscapes, interspersed with 80s electro elements. Elephant Moon returns !

Digging deep to discover new talents has always been at the core of Chat Noir Tools. We’re thrilled and proud to observe our Tool Boys growing up and assert themselves as established DJs & producers. For our seventh release we are delighted to welcome again Vitess, Occibel, Jo’Z, Noiro & Sunaas for the first volume of our Chat Noir Tools All Stars series. From fast-paced banging house tunes to downtempo delights & 6am anthems, welcome to the Chat Noir Tools sound.

The ever growing Picnic Records crew are back, this time with a tasty VA showcasing talents close to them.

Picnic are back with another VA spesh, just like they know how best to do !

Liquid Memory Records return from their power packed debut release with another VA affair featuring a familiar core of artists. Elroi, Ori Raz and Serenity Now all feature here again alongside newcomer WhereIsFenix joining the gang. As with the first release, expect dancefloor rhythms coupled with some deepness and dub thrown into the mix.

To survive the AI’s purge, humanity encoded its memories into sound and launched them to the farthest corners of the galaxy. Planet Boom is one such archive. A world made of dreams, memories, and fractured timelines, reassembled through sonic fragments.

Planet Boom is the arena. The Serpent has issued a challenge: four warriors, one chance to shift the balance of power through sound alone. Each codebreaker brings their weapon. Sweater with his nimble footwork and striking rhythm combos. Reyer with a crushing, tactical onslaught. Poten with cerebral unpredictability. Lukey with a flowing, adaptive style that reads the room like an open circuit. Only one will decode the final key. The rest will be echoes. Planet Boom is the battleground. Let the soundclash begin.

Art Gang Records launches with Orlando Valencia aka Volen an LA based producer who's recent release on UFO created some buzz and brought his highly energetic, raw and intergalactic sound to the label. With three original tracks best suited to a dark-lit room it's left to Markus Sommer to come up with a double-dropping re-interpretation of the title track. Ping ping !

"Way Out West" is the debut studio album by the English electronic music duo Way Out West, released on 1 September 1997. The album peaked that same year at # 42 on the UK Albums Chart. It features four singles: "Ajare," "The Gift," "Domination," and "Blue." Several tracks incorporate samples from other music. Most notably, "Blue" includes a melody loosely based on the theme from the film "Withnail and I," while "The Gift" samples Joanna Law's cover of "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" (titled "First Time Ever"), and "Ajare" features a sample from "Do Your Dance" by Rose Royce.

Under-the-radar and majorly overlooked Glaswegian label Beluga Records, founded and run by Lorne Walton operated mainly in the mid 90's and released a sleuth of music ahead of its time. Recording and performing as Western Alliance he released two recently acclaimed EP's and it's there where we turn our attention to with their 'Atalanta EP' from 1996. Featuring four no-nonsense, stripped back, groovy, dancefloor rammers it's music that seems now more relevant than ever. Serious gear.

Chat Noir launches its new series in full force with a four tracker EP by Lviv producer, DJ & label owner Yaroslav M. Taken from his live set, these tracks are definitely rooted on the dancefloor and sit on a thin line between a housy touch and darker territories lining to a more progressive sound.