Buscar:magnetic

“Depas strikes a fine balance between raw energy and subtle melodic hooks.” (DMY) “Throughout the pounding track Midnight Ride, the Italian beat smith expertly blends lush synths with intricate rhythmic components and gritty bass.” (EDM com)

“Depas' approach to techno is a veritable melting pot of influences, blending sounds from the 80s and 90s with contemporary symphonic and cinematic elements.” (Magnetic Mag)

Following his recent ‘Rave The Planet’ EP at the end of February, Milanese hard techno producer Maike Depas is back with a brand-new release on well-renowned label The Innovation Studio. His newest EP is named ‘The Age Of Chaos’ and features a five-track banger arsenal – including a special remix by Italo-American producer Matasism, which was also included in his recent BPtich Control mixtape.

“This EP is the result my own experience throughout an inner dystopic reality, where energy-ridden sounds and epics all collide into a very personal version of the hard techno legacy I’m devoted to.”

‘No Redemption’ is a proper big-room belter, with explosive drop divided by a big break and a statuesque vocal that feels like a claim: “Techno is my only drug”. Same goes for ‘Tesseract’ and it’s rave-like atmosphere and hypnotic hook. ‘Dystopia’ is pure groove and makes the listener dive into a distorted and futuristic metaverse, while ‘Cyber Attack’ and its remix include synthetic vocals tha aim to symbolize an artificial imposition: man against machine, fiction against reality.

‘The Age Of Chaos’ will be available from April 19th via The Innovation Studio.

Strong Electro 4 tracker from Zeta Reticula aka Umek, incl. Sound Synthesis remix!

New 3N0 record release by OTIS includes four cuts blending techno, acid, trance, electro cuts made in his berlin studio from 2020 and 2023, showcasing some of the most dark and rough sides of the producer.

The Cat's Miaow return to World Of Echo with Skipping Stones: The Cassette Years '92-'93, their second compilation for the imprint, and the fourth in a loosely defined series of reissues associated with the group (also including The Shapiros' Gone By Fall: The Collected Works of The Shapiros and Hydroplane's Selected Songs 1997-2003). It's a smart selection of songs by one of Australia's finest independent pop music groups, whose initial run, across the nineties, was as mysterious as it was bewitching. A generous double album featuring thirty-five songs drawn from The Cat's Miaow's history, Skipping Stones lets listeners in on a bunch more secrets. The four cassettes that Skipping Stones draws from - Little Baby Sour Puss, Pet Sounds (both 1992), From My Window, and How Did Everything Get So Fucked Up (both 1993) - were released or assisted by Toytown, a Melbourne cassette label of rare taste, savvy and intelligence. Diving into that two-year period, Skipping Stones is full of surprises, rich with unexpected and inspired detours, while reminding everyone just how clear and distinct The Cat's Miaow's music was from the very start. Looking in from the outside, they always felt like a group that knew just what they were doing, but intuitive as they are, they weren't forcing anything: these songs always sound exactly what they need to be, rough edges, playful moments and all. The Cat's Miaow may have been bedroom dreamers, but their songs were richly informed, with the sweetest of girl-pop moves sashaying into walls of tremolo-d and distorted guitar, jangling six strings tangling with melodic bass that's pure Peter Hook/Naomi Yang, while the gentle trickle of a drum machine or the earthy twitch of brushes on drum skins provided the spine for Kerrie's and Bart's lovely, unforced singing. This double LP on World Of Echo feels like the very core of the thing - some of the most heartbreakingly beautiful, effortlessly lush and deeply moving pop music you're likely to hear. RIYL: Hydroplane, The Cannanes, Magnetic Fields, Belle and Sebastian, Jesus and Mary Chain

UMR/Mercury are pressing phase two of Metallica’s studio album back catalogue on limited edition custom coloured vinyl, for the first time for World ex North America; following the 2021 Walmart exclusive coloured vinyl series in the US. Phase one saw their first 5 albums releasing one a month from November 2023 – March 2024. Phase two includes Garage Inc., St. Anger, Death Magnetic, and Hardwired…To Self-Destruct, releasing April – July 2024. Metallica’s ninth album, St. Anger (2003), will be pressed on 140g ‘Some Kind Of Orange’ limited edition coloured vinyl.

repress !

Christina Kubisch’s Stromsänger finds this legendary sound artist at the top of her game mixing electromagnetic wave recordings with a score for six voices, creating powerful results. Stromsänger is based on a collaboration with the Norwegian vocal ensemble Trondheim Voices and on a special experience while researching and recording electromagnetic waves in the city of Trondheim.

“The general theme of the composition is the idea of sounds which travel. During a tram ride from the city up to the hills with an old tram I discovered not only stunning views of the surrounding landscape but as well a special soundscape. Wearing a custom made induction headphones, I could hear the normally hidden electromagnetic fields of the tram, which were so impressive and musical to me that I immediately decided to base my piece for Trondheim Voices on this discovery.

As a start, a series of pure vocal recordings were produced by Trondheim Voices while listening to a choice of electromagnetic tram sounds and following score instructions. This material was mixed in my Berlin studio and afterward was played back through a multi-loudspeaker setup into the room of the Elisabeth Church in Berlin and was instantaneously recorded. The emerged recording was played back and recorded again. The process of playing back the previous recording was repeated numerous times, generating numerous “re-recordings”, until the voices sounded aethereal and abstract. The last one of these recordings became the very beginning of the Stromsänger piece.

Part A is based on the electromagnetic sounds of the waiting tram and previously recorded voices. The singers come on stage and start to sing together with their recorded part which slowly fades out while the live singing takes over: a kind of choral for electrical tram waves and voices.

Part B is based on the actual tram ride with strong and intense electromagnetic sounds. The single recordings were treated electronically and were divided into six channels. Each singer has chosen one of these files and improvises with the magnetic sounds as a soloist or in duos or trios.

Part C is based on the itinerary of the tram ride to Lian, where a pilgrim's path starts. The names of the single stops, which have very beautiful and poetic names, are performed together as a kind of "sound poetry". The singers walk around on stage and/or can choose special positions for their performance. The recording of the word "Lian", the final stop, was recorded beforehand and played back and re-recorded several times in the open Norwegian landscape near the final tram stop. The voices slowly disappear and fade out.”

Christina Kubisch, 2024

Stuck in the depths of a dark alley, blocked by yet another breeze, hitting a stone wall, road sign ahead: Dead End.
Impasse. "Cul-de-sac".
Hip‐hop. The original, some would say, official music of the late 20th Century Bronx.
Some say it has endured it's fair share of distractions, detractors and defectors. Some say it has murdered itself, having been abandoned by its so‐called best men, those who have gone off in other directions, or who have, simply, just beat‐retired. Yet, there are plenty of Soldier Monks still out there, prepared to sweat it out in the Temple of Machinery and Mics.
Low Cut honored this cause four years ago, with his MPC crafted minimalist version of NY Minute and he's back to ring the bells and unsheathe the samples!

The starting point of Dead End's production remains the 90's boom-bap, but the will to carry it even further brings it to its destination. By decorating it with rich samples flushed out after digging through vinyls pressed several decades ago, it is guided by a compass pointing deposits to the East. With sound quality inherited from a fastidious composition and mix works, using inspiration rather than just being a copycat, Dead End celebrates it without setting it up as a museum piece.

Picturing the beatmaker stuck in the depths of a dark alley, ended with a brick wall, is easy. But far from isolated in his Parisian basement, Low Cut has rung phones in New York, Baltimore and Detroit, rounding up the faithful. He magnetized the hidden but sharp forces, and gained attendance of legends. The casting of Dead End : Ruste Juxx & Nutso, Dirt Platoon, Guilty Simpson, Torae, Rasheed Chappell and the stainless Masta Ace, among other beat crushers. Also starring DJ Duke, Nix'on, Topic and Ordoeuvre with their DMC titles crates, for a deep beatfight on bars scarified of scratches.
Heavy atmosphere, martial beats and street soul, Dead End is also the final episode of the projects initiated by Low Cut, based on the model of a producer inviting various MCs.
He will then replace his turntable needles, refresh his sample banks, and settle the BPMs of his productions on more abstract frequencies.

In 2023, Irène Drésel, an electro artist between Vitalic and Solomun, became the first woman in history to win the César (French Cinéma Award) for " Best Original Score ". Her colourful techno music is as sensual as it is upfront inspired by a rich, magnetic, sonic and visual universe. After two consecutive EPs, "Rita" (2017) and "Icône" (2018), her debut album "Hyper Cristal" was released in Spring 2019. It was followed by a second album, "Kinky Dogma" in 2021, which Libération (French National Newspaper) describes as "an accomplished work of techno, ambitious but not pretentious, since it never loses sight of its author"s objective: to provoke irresistible joy in the listener". And now is the time for "Rose Fluo", her brand new album!

Die Band The Reds, Pinks & Purples aus San Francisco bleibt auf ihrem einmal eingeschlagenem Pfad und kündigt ein neues Album an, das im April erscheinen wird. RPPs Gehirn Glenn Donaldson hält es düster - wie könnte es anders sein - mit Titeln wie "What's Going On With Ordinary People", "We Only Hear The Bad Things People Say" und "Dead Stars In Your Eyes". Die DIY-Pop-Titanen The Reds, Pinks & Purples kristallisieren auf "Unwishing Well" den tragischen, sich selbst feiernden Reichtum der glücklichen Versager, der falschen Helden und der Menschheit mit all ihren romantisierten Sich-Wundern - und nehmen die Fäden der Hoffnung mit ungebremster Hingabe ins Visier. Das Album, das sich über 10 wunderschöne Stücke erstreckt, ist ein weiterer Beweis für Glenn Donaldsons makellose Beherrschung des intimen, aber dennoch ausladenden, niedergeschlagenen Pops. In den letzten fünf Jahren haben The Reds, Pinks & Purples sechs Alben, mehrere EPs und zahllose Singles veröffentlicht, die sich alle dem Ziel verschrieben haben, dem Independent-Guitar Pop neues Leben einzuhauchen, der die düsteren Teenager, College-Radio-DJs und Plattenladenangestellten der 80er und 90er Jahre animierte. Vorbilder wie The Go-Betweens, The Smiths, Magnetic Fields, Felt und andere sind offensichtliche Inspirationen, aber Donaldsons unermüdliches Talent für Stimmung und Melodie hat praktisch ein eigenes Genre geschaffen, und "Unwishing Well" ist dessen bisher reinste Verkörperung. Die erste Single des Albums ist ein großartiges Beispiel für die Weltanschauung von RPP, ein Blick auf die Zugeständnisse des Popstars durch die Augen eines Ausgestoßenen mit dem Titel "Your Worst Song Is Your Greatest Hit". Über verträumten, grauen Gitarren- und Synthie-Waschungen beklagt Donaldson: "Deine erste Idee wurde verwässert" und fügt hinzu: "Nur die schlimmsten Teile konnten gefunden werden." Weißes Vinyl und/oder CD, für Freunde von The Field Mice, Blue Boy, The Clientele, Cindy...

DIY tape manoeuvres, sending esoteric dub waves down from the magnetic north.

Straight from the studio in Glasgow. Everything done in-house. Hand stamped body. Printed the covers etc

Weirdo dubs from ambient to drone with experimental electronic cuts that occupy some frighteningly smoked out alleyway between the club and the cemetery. With a sweet spot of obscure but inclusive dub, with the kind of ambient bits that sound like ancient mythology.

Proudly presenting a new series of Mr Bongo reissues exploring the incredible back catalogue of Sonny Lester’s iconic Groove Merchant record label. First up, the spellbinding funk-fuelled, soul jazz album ‘Simba’, by guitar maestro O'Donel Levy.

Baltimore-born, Levy was already well regarded as one of the best up-and-coming jazz guitarists at the time of Simba’s release. Having toured with George Benson and Jimmy McGriff, as well as featuring on McGriff’s Black Pearl album on Blue Note, he went on to sign with Sonny Lester’s Groove Merchant. Produced by Lester himself and recorded over two back-to-back days of sessions in 1973, Simba features a who's who of ‘70s session players. The album features the legendary studio drummer Steve Gadd, Cecil Bridgewater on Flugelhorn, bass by Tony Levin and arrangements by Manny Albam.

A masterclass in tight yet effortlessly funk-driven rhythms, the tracks showcase these musicians at their zenith. Album opener 'Bad, Bad, Simba' wouldn’t have been out of place on a Lalo Schifrin ‘70s car chase soundtrack. Levy's playing is brilliant, bright and slick, with an infectiously exuberant energy that is complimented perfectly by Gadd's supreme drumming. ‘Playhouse' serves up another vibrant offering, Wah Wah guitars, horns and flutes duelling it out in a fast-paced fashion.

The cinematic thread continues throughout, yet with the tempo taken down a notch. 'Sierra Lonely' and ‘Sad, Sad, Simba’ head into lush ballad territory, with superb arrangements by Albam and beautiful playing by Collins and Bridgewater on Flugelhorn. Here Levy shines without taking any limelight, as the players synergize to a relaxed perfection. ‘Nigerian Knights’ closes the album flawlessly, showcasing once more Levy’s understated yet magnetic flow on the guitar.

Every track on ‘Simba’ is a winner. As with CTI Recordings of the same era, the feel and textures of Sonny Lester's productions have that pre-emptive, hip-hop aesthetic, which later producers would rework and reimagine. This album is expertly balanced, deftly arranged and magically executed, ebbing and flowing with a cool buoyancy that just grooves and grooves.

Mesmerizing and exuberant Argentinian La Yegros, probably the most magnetic artist on the South American continent, is back with a new album!

The undisputed Queen of "Nu Cumbia" has not rested on her laurels. Surrounded by the same accomplices who have supported her for the last ten years, but eager to renew herself, she has set about recording her fourth album, which stands out from her discography. Although her personal folklore is still rooted in South American folklore, La Yegros is now absorbing contemporary, global music, while tackling intimate, often melancholy and even painful subjects, which she overcomes with the same resilience that drives her in concert. Nothing stands in the way of this Argentinian whirlwind, all the more fascinating for the fact that personal considerations are now surfacing beneath the veneer of the party atmosphere she sets alight.

La Yegros returned to the stage in 2022 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Viene de Mí, her single hit from the self-titled album, released in 2012 in Argentina and then worldwide in 2013, which catapulted her to international fame. We then discovered a singer who had grown up in the traditions of her country. Her parents come from Misiones, a province bordering Brazil and Paraguay, where balls are filled with the sounds of chamamé (a mix of polka and Guaraní music), Carnavalito (Andean folklore) and Colombian Cumbia. But she herself is a native of Buenos Aires, whose nights are enlivened by the bass of Dancehall and electronic music.

These influences have merged in two further successful albums, Magnetismo (2016) and Suelta (2019), followed by high voltage tours during which La Yegros has been able to display her generous nature, inexhaustible energy, exuberant personality and infectious enthusiasm.

To record her new album entitled 'HAZ', La Yegros has put her faith in the same team that has worked with her since Viene de Mí. On one hand, producer Gaby Kerpel (also known as King Coya), a pioneer of synthetic experimentation applied to traditional music, who has remained her faithful accomplice for over twenty years. On the other hand, composer Daniel Martín, who knows how to come up with melodies to dream about and hymns to sing along to. Inseparable and complementary, the trio continues to concoct this mesmerizing mixture where acoustic instruments meet samples and the rolling of machines. But the new productions don't rely on a tried and tested formula. Generally co-produced between France and Argentina, they break away from over-defined genres. La Yegros knits together new rhythms and incorporates sounds that are unheard of in her country, derived from the latest urban trends, as well as echoes of reggae and funk. As for the lyrics, signed alternately by the trio, they are embodied by La Yegros whose charismatic voice questions a period of her life tossed by waves of love and lovelessness, joy and sorrow, euphoria and anguish, indulgence and resentment.

The album is open to a wealth of musical styles. You'll hear funk guitar and Andean flutes, melancholy accordion and rolling drums, Tuareg blues enhanced by brass, house and electro Cumbia loops, and the bassoons of a chamber orchestra. The folklore 2.0 of La Yegros, nourished by its colorful inspiration, at times tender or exalted, has been imagined as a hymn to love and the contradictory feelings that come with it. As always, it has also been conceived with the stage in mind. Hatching in a storm of overturned emotions, the album is all the more explosive for the strength of the live show that accompanies it. In addition to the usual line-up of guitar, accordion and percussion, a musician handles synthesizers and machines to boost the electronic turboshaft. In any case, you can count on the singer to assert her increasingly clear-cut character with each new project. And, above all, she won't give up. L.a Yegros is back and her batteries are fully charged.

MASA 006 delves deep into the sound of Leipzig resident HAL and includes two additional collaborations with his long-time friend & studio partner Perm. It's an elegant selection of tracks produced between 2018 and 2023, some of them recovered from long-lost hard drives and carefully remixed with the help of T I N's keen ears.

An always-present groove, magnetic synth-scapes, and saturated ambiance set the pace throughout the EP while the warm and fuzzy sound makes for timeless joy, blending throbbing techno with deep house and dubby nuances, giving every beat a distinct texture.

Circus of Desire is the much anticipated third studio album from Grammy-nominated folk singer-songwriter Olivia Chaney. Worked up over five eventful years, this collection of lovingly wrought songs was recorded in NYC with long-time collaborator, producer and musician Thomas Bartlett (David Byrne, the Magnetic Fields, Sufjan Stevens, The National, St. Vincent, Father John Misty)

Consisting of ten originals and one cover (a revoicing of Dory Previn’s haunting ballad ‘Lady with the Braid’), this album is Olivia set free. Taking their departure from real life experiences, these songs strain towards the universal. The title track blends the carnivalesque and meditations on ancient wisdom with an anthemic, dancy refrain. ‘Calliope’ is a tribute to Olivia’s daughter, named after the Greek muse of music and epic poetry, picturing this little life as part of the ever-revolving cosmos. ‘To the Lighthouse’ tells the story of her sister who left the capital to live on a remote island. Like ‘Mirror, Mirror’ and ‘Why’, a pair of tracks about erotic love, this song reflects upon our capacity to flee and transcend inherited trauma. ‘Zero Sum’ is a setting of a metaphysical number poem by Olivia’s grandfather, a mathematician and poet. ‘I Wish’ - the album closer, is the ultimate breakup song.

Whilst staying true to her folk roots, Olivia enters new musical territories with Circus of Desire, venturing into the realms of pop and dance. The record features cameos from a number of friends, including string arrangements by Nico Muhly and banjo and guitar from Sam Amidon. The result of this rich blend of musical influences is an album that looks honestly, sometimes despairingly, but primarily hopefully at the carnival that is life - ‘we’re in a dance with death, with fire…we’re all in a circus of desire’.

Circus Of Desire by olivia Chaney, released 22 March 2024, includes the following tracks: "Why", "Galop", "Bogeyman", "Mirror, Mirror" and more.

This version of Circus Of Desire comes as a 1xLP.

Das Londoner Electro-Pop-Duo Strange Boy präsentiert - nach bemerkenswerten Kollaborationen mit Terry Riley, Nils Frahm, Clark, Squid, Jeremy Deller und Aurora - auf seiner Debüt-LP 'Love Remains' eine Welt voller Symbolik, Erhabenheit und Verbundenheit, entstanden aus den kühnen Erzählungen von Sänger/Songwriter Kieran Brunt und den atmosphärischen Klanglandschaften von Matt Huxley. Die intim-reflektierende Art des Geschichtenerzählens wird in der lofi-Vocalproduktion mit üppigen Streichern, 'November Skies' feat. Anna B Savage, deutlich, während Blunt seine Liebe zu James Blake, Anohni & The Johnsons und The Magnetic Fields mit einer Coverversion des Kultsongs '100,000 Fireflies' unterstreicht, die er in einem einzigen Take aufnahm und über gefundene Tonbandaufnahmen legte, die er mit halber Geschwindigkeit rückwärts abspielte.

First compiled as a double CD in 2002, Moon's Milk (in Four Phases) is a suite of four EPs that Coil released seasonally via their in-house Eskaton imprint across 1998. The line-up for these sessions were John Balance, Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson, Drew McDowall, and William Breeze. Recorded primarily at their home studio in Chiswick, London on the eve of a permanent relocation to the small seaside town of Weston-Super-Mare, the collection has long loomed as a pivotal and pinnacle work in the group's discography, but has never been officially reissued, or repressed on vinyl. Time has only ripened its tapestry of regal strangeness. Arranged sequentially in tribute to the equinoxes and solstices, Moon's Milk captures Coil at a revelatory crossroads, leaning deeper into improvisation, spontaneity, and sound design. "Moon's Milk or Under an Unquiet Skull" initiates the proceedings on Spring Equinox, a two-part netherworld organ séance woven from vocal drones, cathedral keys, seasick strings, and opiated undertow. From there, Summer Solstice skews lighter but no less incantational, with Balance embracing his voice-as-instrument across lucid dream torch songs ("Bee Stings"), purgatorial spoken word ("Glowworms/Waveforms"), sultry chamber pieces ("Summer Substructures"), and falsetto ravings ("A Warning From The Sun (For Fritz)"). Autumn Equinox exudes more of a pensive and twilit mood, from the Rose McDowall-sung folk ballad "Rosa Decidua" ("I hear your voice sing near to me / I've put away the poisoned chalice (for now) / And lie down amongst the flowerbeds") to hall-of-lords hallucination "The Auto-Asphyxiating Hierophant" to the liminal string-plucked classic "Amethyst Deceivers," featuring excellent alien guitar by Breeze layered with Balance's oft-quoted couplet: "Pay your respects to the vultures / For they are your future." The album's final chapter, Winter Solstice, is its most swooning, remote, and ceremonial. Opener "A White Rainbow" stirs strings, layered choral vocals, and shivering rhythm into an imploding burial hymn. "North" oscillates bleakly, a ghost in the machine murmuring opaque prophecy ("This black dog has no owner / This black dog has no odour"), while "Magnetic North" is its inverse, a guided meditation of gently flickering software and surreal chakra poetics ("Red rose filling the skull / Yellow cube in the lower pelvis / Silver moon crescent below the navel"). The suite fades to grey with a traditional English carol ("Christmas Is Now Drawing Near"), rendered like an executioner's song by Rose McDowall's doomed, beautiful voice. The Dais box set includes the entirety of the rare Moon's Milk Bonus Disc CD-R / 2019 Threshold Archives Copal CD, which includes three collaborations with Thighpaulsandra. This material is as rich and intoxicating as the previous four phases, ranging from electro-acoustic singing bowl rituals ("Copal") to dissonant electronic recitations of visionary Angus MacLise poetry ("The Coppice Meat") to ominous classical melancholia ("Bankside"). Once again, Coil confirm the vastness of their confounding, infinite alchemy, explored and refined across decades of experimentation - both sonic and bodily. From postindustrial to post-everything, theirs is an art untethered, in the wilds of its own design.

Susana Baron Supervielle was born in Buenos Aires in 1910, but she lived in Brazil most of her life. Creation with electroacoustic means represented one more step in her search for renewal and a new articulation of her triple cultural horizon articulated between São Paulo, Buenos Aires and Paris. The results open a new dimension in the interstices of the sound montage. Susana had been a follower of Pierre Schaffer and his peers in the Groupe de Recherche de Musique Concrète from Paris since they began in the early 1950s.


Baron Superveille’s catalogue of works, as selected by the artist herself, shows nine compositions for magnetic tape. With one exception (1977’s Continuo variante), the pieces are in the personal archives of the composer filed in the Archivo del Instituto Nacional de Musicología “Carlos Vega”, in Buenos Aires, which depends on the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Argentina. This edition on Wah Wah Records is a coproduction with the Instituto Nacional de Musicología “Carlos Vega” and recovers all the available electroacoustic works composed between 1974 and 1980. While most of the collected works premiered in both Buenos Aires and São Paulo on dates close to those of their composition, there are not any previous known releases of these recordings, so this LP is not only an exception, but also a novelty.

With his Disco Deception album, Prince Fatty (who links up with Shniece for the occasion) delivers a captivating blend of disco-infused reggae and soulful grooves. Each track resonates with his signature low-end energy, and is fuelled by Fatty's impeccable production and Shniece's soul-stirring vocals. From funky basslines to shimmering horns, the album captures the essence of classic dub and ska while infusing it with modern flair and plenty of hooky horns and melodies. Shniece's dynamic range and emotive delivery elevate each song to really create a magnetic atmosphere that keeps listeners engaged from start to finish, all with character to spare.

Italian hard techno DJ-producer MAIKE DEPAS announces EP "Rave the Planet" (out 29 February) ahead of MAIKE DEPAS 2.0 audio-visual makeover

"Depas strikes a fine balance between raw energy and subtle melodic hooks." (DMY)

"Throughout the pounding track Midnight Ride, the Italian beatsmith expertly blends lush synths with intricate rhythmic components and gritty bass." (EDM com)

"Depas' approach to techno is a veritable melting pot of influences, blending sounds from the 80s and 90s with contemporary symphonic and cinematic elements." (Magnetic Mag)

Upon the return from the dark and dreamy regions of his previous EP "Euphoria", Milanese hard techno DJ-producer MAIKE DEPAS (Michelangelo De Pasquale) announces new EP "Rave the Planet", out 29 February via The Innovation Studio, ahead of MAIKE DEPAS 2.0 audio-visual makeover. Sending tremors through the electronic underground scene, Depas joins Kobosil and In Verruf in carrying the torch of uncompromising Berlin techno while keeping his feet firmly planted in the melodic 1990s trance of Push, Jam & Spoon, and Cygnus X.

Introducing his new heavy-duty fusion of face-melting techno and trance carrying "Go Hard or Go Home" warning sign, Depas makes the crowd grind their teeth with a behemoth of an opener "Heartbreaker" only to fill the dancefloor with dread on the shiver-inducing "Vortex", a power move designed to set the scene for the title track"s fervent rave sermon delivered in a cyborg voice by Depas, followed by the erotic undertones of throbbing closer "Float Together" including the blistering remix by the Italian DJ Amstra.

"Rave the planet / Stay together / In techno we trust / Rave the planet" - MAIKE DEPAS, Rave the Planet

At its core, "Rave the Planet" is Depas" personal paean to the true spirit of the original rave culture as represented by Lukas Havlik"s (Ludenworks) Luis Royo-esque artwork of a pulsating cybernetic planet of complex, interconnected nerve fibres wrapped around the Depas globe logo. “As a raver, you feel this sense of unity with community and it"s similar to a religion we"ve had for thousands and thousands of years,” Depas compares. “We are the planet, we are the culture, so both are the reflection of ourselves in the wider world.” For Depas, the concept of solidarity runs deep within techno culture. Coming right from the heart, Depas is driven by the opportunity to bring people together for one thing and one thing only: “Just for the love of techno and to celebrate the music in a club.”

"As a raver, you feel this sense of unity with a community similar to a religion we"ve had for thousands and thousands of years." - MAIKE DEPAS

"Rave the Planet" is released in conjunction with MAIKE DEPAS 2.0, a tectonic audio-visual shift that entails a wide array of digital content as varied as DJ sets live streamed from Berlin"s Teufelsberg and other dystopian locations around Europe as well as enhanced PR-photos featuring cyberpunk-inspired outfits designed by Demobaza, a cyberpunk-inspired casual couture brand best known for their sustainable Dune X Demobaza collection. Over the course of upcoming metamorphosis from a flesh-and-blood individual into a mysterious CGI character, Depas is another step closer to revolutionising the dance music scene through the metaverse.

Following a first iteration which set the tone for our newly-minted Heimat series in explosive fashion, here comes the much anticipated second batch of our zeitgeistian take on today's scene's, its current potential and destination. Showcasing productions from artists keen to roll up their sleeves and sail into the impassible status quo, this new number packs the kind of red-hot hammering and cutting-edge punch we've been so adamant to push and defend over the past decade. Berlin-based French producer Arkan steps in first with a proper magnetic depth charge. Dwelling the darker layers of our ocean floor as its name suggests, 'Submarine' is pure hypnotic material geared up for heavy-duty boogie in the warehouse. Filling its ballast tanks with a hefty deluge of muscular bass onslaughts, sonar-like bleeps and untamed cascades of loopy arps, this one rolls and pitches like a haunted ship on predator mode. Adding his dynamic pulse and mind-bending spin to the A-side, Frameworks & Untertwegs bossman Decka cuts a path of straight mental obliteration as he smashes the doors of the club wide open and parades all guns blazing with the unapologetic crusher that is 'Circumvent'. A no-holds-barred workout for the strong stomachs, churning out fiery bars of kick-drum/squelchy bass contrast with in-your-face swagger. Switching on to the flip side, there's Manchester's Yant cruising with the ebulliently dynamic (no shit, Sherlock) tune, 'Moving'. A multidirectional concerto of pong-like modularity and racing synth arpeggios flying off like coloured bricks in a Tetris game gone absolute batshit. The kind of hi-intensity burner that'll awaken any lukewarm mid-set flow with its bouncy unpredictability and ruthless forward-pushing thrust. Rounding it off on a further minimal note, Amsterdam up-and-comer Hitam treats us to an inch-perfectly engineered finale with a stripped-back - yet, absolutely not hollow - bomb, 'Venusian Winds'. Gutsy that one sure is, with its metronomic step ticking at near-cyclonic speed and cleverly arranged, subtly FX-coated funk keeping things both suspenseful and focussed thru and thru. A sleek combo of pared-down brutalism and masterly executed analogue tailoring altogether. All dressed in clear purple marbled wax for the occasion, "Heimat II" shall please both the techno purist and visual aesthete in you with its velvet touch and effortless chic.

Formed in 2017 by the frontman OLLY RIVA. The Magnetics sound is a mix of vintage Jamaican sounds including SKA from the 60s, Rocksteady, early Reggae, but all in a Soul and Rhythm N Blues setting.

This 7" include Queen's cover "Love of My Life" and original ska tune "Genie of The Lamp".

Planned in the early 90's executed in the early 20's: »The Arctic Salon.« Another Cranioclast Expedition, this time to the Pole. A long time between planning and execution, but much shorter than the time between the first fake reports of having reached the North Pole on foot across the ice and the first expedition that really made it without motorization. But also a long time in which things in the Arctic and Antarctic got worse and worse and continue.

Like a complex optical illusion perceived as a banner over the sea horizon, where sight is significantly distorted and changes rapidly, unlike any other ordinary mirage, a true Fata Morgana comprises several inverted and steepled illusions, stacked on one another, showing alternating compressed and stretched sonic lands.

The term named after the Mistress of the Fairies of the Salt Sea, King Arthur's half-sister Morgan le Fay, encapsulates the hallucinatory prowess of the seduction myth, a symbol of incantation and sensorial catharsis among the pleasure and the pain meanders.

Musically the 5 track EP presents an uncharted lysergic soundscape unfolding with hallucinatory electro-glitter and gritty fat notes (Wickbush), evolving like the poisoning stages of a vividly cosmic intake- dub acid darkness (Acid Tears) conveying a magnetic grip, a true obsession which turns to be a spell (Una y Otra Vez), steadily building up a hypnotic subtle theme that takes you as high as an astral trip (Mirage) and slowly descends from the alternate consciousness state on the latter, March 3rd as a premise of the deepen future journey blazing ahead.

MASA 006 delves deep into the sound of Leipzig resident HAL and includes two additional collaborations with his long-time friend & studio partner Perm. It's an elegant selection of tracks produced between 2018 and 2023, some of them recovered from long-lost hard drives and carefully remixed with the help of T I N's keen ears.

An always-present groove, magnetic synth-scapes, and saturated ambiance set the pace throughout the EP while the warm and fuzzy sound makes for timeless joy, blending throbbing techno with deep house and dubby nuances, giving every beat a distinct texture.

Brand new album from the Seattle cult band. Filth is Eternal's Find Out is the triumphant reawakening of one of Seattle's most energetic and committed bands. The new testimony whips forward with the force of a breakthrough and is a clear commitment to their own genesis with a deep awareness of themselves, their audience and the shared history
between them. The basic rules of the band: the immediacy must be in the foreground. The songs should have the power to ignite a pit in less than thirty seconds

Brand new album from the Seattle cult band. Filth is Eternal's Find Out is the triumphant reawakening of one of Seattle's most energetic and committed bands. The new testimony whips forward with the force of a breakthrough and is a clear commitment to their own genesis with a deep awareness of themselves, their audience and the shared history
between them. The basic rules of the band: the immediacy must be in the foreground. The songs should have the power to ignite a pit in less than thirty seconds

Brand new album from the Seattle cult band. Filth is Eternal's Find Out is the triumphant reawakening of one of Seattle's most energetic and committed bands. The new testimony whips forward with the force of a breakthrough and is a clear commitment to their own genesis with a deep awareness of themselves, their audience and the shared history
between them. The basic rules of the band: the immediacy must be in the foreground. The songs should have the power to ignite a pit in less than thirty seconds

Brand new album from the Seattle cult band. Filth is Eternal's Find Out is the triumphant reawakening of one of Seattle's most energetic and committed bands. The new testimony whips forward with the force of a breakthrough and is a clear commitment to their own genesis with a deep awareness of themselves, their audience and the shared history
between them. The basic rules of the band: the immediacy must be in the foreground. The songs should have the power to ignite a pit in less than thirty seconds

A real soul gem from 1970 on the James Brown affiliated Deluxe label, the first and only album by this mysterious singer: Marie Queenie Lyons.
It is perhaps apropos that Queenie Marie Lyons’s best known song is titled ‘See And Don’t See.’ For all the acclaim that song has accrued, and all the times it has been compiled, reissued and, yes, bootlegged — for all the times it has been seen — Queenie herself has somehow remained unseen. How did a singer from Ashtabula, Ohio record one of the great female-led soul albums and then simply fall off the map, never to record or perform again? Queenie was a natural performer and a gifted singer. At the age of fifteen, she was doing three shows a week at a local venue. In early 1962, Queenie moved to Queens and was soon playing gigs across the city — an early engagement was with Gene Krupa at the famous Metropole Café in Times Square — as well as touring with established acts like Fats Domino and Ray Charles. The following year, Queenie made her debut recording, for a subsidiary of RCA called Groove, credited to an entirely fictitious “Shelley Shoop and the Shakers.” It remained Queenie’s only presence on wax until early 1968, when a Nashville-based label called Sims gave her her first accurately attributed single, “A Minute Of His Goodtime / Good Soul Lovin’.” Although the 45 is now a highly collectible part of the Northern Soul and Lowrider Oldies pantheons, it made no impact at the time, as Sims was focused on more typical Nashville sounds. A few months later Queenie was back in New York City, performing R&B and pop covers with her band when a man passed her his business card at a performance. The card read James Brown Enterprises. James Brown “was my idol,” she says, and someone whose business acumen and stage presence she strove to emulate. Although Queenie ended up on tour with James Brown for only a month or so, when the group reached Cincinnati in mid-’68 she entered the King Records studio there to record what would become the
album you hold in your hands. The songs were a combination of covers, some of which she’d been doing in her live shows, like ‘Fever’ and ‘Try Me,’ and originals written by producer Henry Glover and pianist Don Pullen, who was the bandleader on the session. The album opener, ‘See And Don’t See,’ was also recorded by the veteran R&B singer Maxine Brown, but Queenie’s version blows hers away. “Soul Fever” is a supremely funky and soulful affair, with Queenie’s powerful and captivating voice magnetically attractive, with an urgency that is impossible to ignore. ‘Your Thing Ain’t No Good Without My Thing,’ ‘Your Key Don’t Fit It Anymore,’ and ‘I Don’t Want Nobody To Have It But You’ are as funky and soulful as the best of Tina Turner and Aretha — a statement not to be made lightly!
The album was critically acclaimed — the October 10, 1970, issue of Billboard listed it as their sole “four star” pick in the Soul category — but perhaps due to the tumult at Starday-King, whose stewardship had turned over several times in only a few years, it never seemed to be able to break through to a larger audience.

Seven Steps to Heaven arrived at a crucial junction in Miles Davis' career. Recorded at two separate locations in spring 1963, it served as Davis' first release in more than a year – a layoff that was then unprecedented for the jazz visionary who had issued at least one LP a year since debuting in the early '50s. Equally notable, Seven Steps to Heaven marks the point at which the core of Davis' Second Great Quintet started to assemble. The twice Grammy-nominated effort is also Davis' final studio record to blend standards with originals. And it happens to be one of the expressive, well-played albums in the jazz canon.

Sourced from the original master tapes, pressed at RTI, and housed in a Stoughton gatefold jacket, Mobile Fidelity's 180g SuperVinyl LP of Seven Steps to Heaven adds yet another step (or more) towards the bliss suggested by the album title. Playing with standout clarity, detail, tone, and balance, this audiophile reissue pulls back the curtain on the instrumentalists. Afforded the tremendous advantages of SuperVinyl – including a nearly inaudible noise floor, dead-quiet surfaces, and superb groove definition – this numbered-edition version presents Davis and Co. amid a wide, deep soundstage whose dimensions and solidity help bring the record's historical importance and musical merit into focus. Warm, organic, and present, the SuperVinyl LP of Seven Steps to Heaven is what great-sounding hi-fi is all about.

And there's nary a passage on this 1963 landmark that isn't great. That Davis manages to make it feel so cohesive and seamless is a testament to the inspired performances and engaging compositions. Davis didn't draw it up the way it unfolded. No matter. He held trump cards that stayed up his sleeve for the next three decades: A drive to be nothing less than superb, a refusal to settle for mediocrity, and standards to which nearly no other composer or player could match. "The toughest critic I got, and the only one I worry about, is myself," Davis wrote in the liner notes. "The music has to get past me."

Davis' demanding approach partly explains why he switched up his band between the first and second sessions – and underscores how fast his mind was racing with new ideas. Seven Steps to Heaven acts as the stable bridge between the transitional period that followed the dissolution of his First Great Quintet and formation of the Second; without it, Davis perhaps doesn't invite then-23-year-old Herbie Hancock and a still-teenage Tony Williams into the fold. The trumpeter not only got his men – he preserved in amber for the only time (well, magnetic tape anyway) the chemistry and vibe he achieved with pianist Victor Feldman, drummer Frank Butler, tenor saxophonist George Coleman, and bassist Ron Carter.

That line-up gels for half of the six songs on Seven Steps to Heaven. Captured in Los Angeles April '63, the quintet stretches out on a luxurious reading of the late '20s New Orleans staple "Basin Street Blues"; lays on the romance for a candlelit stroll through the '40s standard "I Fall in Love Too Easily"; and explores the rounded contours and melodic crevices of the early blues "Baby Won't You Please Come Home." The performances are refined, elegant, emotional; the band lets the feelings linger and gives the listener time to absorb the colours and textures.

A month later, Davis returned to New York City with Coleman and Carter, and partnered them with Hancock and Williams. Tellingly, the quintet tried its collective hand at the title track and "Joshua" – Feldman-penned songs already recorded in Los Angeles – as well as the yearning "So Near, So Far." Those are the tunes that comprise the other piece of Seven Steps to Heaven, with the revised quintet's liquid pulse, articulate dynamics, and timing shifts a harbinger of things to come.

It's also worth mentioning that the interpretations of the bounding "Seven Steps to Heaven" – a showcase for Davis' trumpet – and interlocking "Joshua" netted considerable radio airplay and attracted the attention of other contemporaries who covered the songs. Keeping Carter and Williams as the rhythmic engine, and Hancock as the anchor between solo flights and structural motifs, Davis would soon soon welcome Wayne Shorter into the family and transform jazz. Again. The aptly – and, in hindsight, perhaps prophetically titled Seven Steps to Heaven – is how he got there.

Taking the 2nd half of 2022 to start setting this album up, BILL released singles like "Once Upon A Time In Canarsie", "Leviathan", "Smarten Up", "Root For The Villain", and "Time To Go". The album boasts features from the likes of Vinnie Paz, Kool G Rap, Rittz, Immortal Technique, Nems, Sick Jacken, Slaine, Lord Goat, Tragedy Khadafi, OT The Real, Q-Unique and more.

NOTON IS PLEASED TO RELEASE RAY COLLECTOR - A LIMITED EDITION VINYL FEATURING RECORDINGS SOURCED FROM TAPES PRODUCED BY CARSTEN NICOLAI' FOR HIS 2023 SOLO EXHIBITION STRAHLEN/RAGGI AT FONDAZIONE MODENA ARTI VISIVE.
IN FEBRUARY 2022, CARSTEN NICOLAI DISPATCHED TEN PARCELS FROM BERLIN TO VARIOUS DESTINATIONS. EACH PACKAGE CONTAINED A BLANK MAGNETIC TAPE CASSETTE, AN ILFORD DELTA 3200 ISO 1000 BLACK-AND-WHITE FILM, AND A KODAK ISO 800 COLOR NEGATIVE FILM. ALL PARCELS WERE ADDRESSED TO THE SAME RECIPIENT, MR. NEMO, THE UNFORGETTABLE CAPTAIN OF THE SUBMARINE NAUTILUS IN TWENTY THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA. THE IDEA WAS FOR THE RECIPIENTS TO RETURN THE PARCELS TO THE SENDER. EACH PACKAGE HELD MAGNETIC TAPES AND PHOTOSENSITIVE FILMS THAT WOULD BE EXPOSED TO ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES AND RADIATION DURING THEIR JOURNEY. UPON THEIR RETURN TO THE SENDER, THE LATENT IMPRESSIONS WERE DEVELOPED, DIGITIZED, AND THUS MADE BOTH VISIBLE AND AUDIBLE.

Limited Edition Vinyl Reissue mit 8-seitigem Songbook mit Texten und Akkorden, den 68-seitigen Locas In Love Winter Chronicles / Tour-Diary + Foto-Druck.



Ende 2008 veröffentliche die Kölner Band Locas In Love ihr drittes Album „Winter“ als Follow-Up zum Überraschungserfolg "Saurus" (2007). Geschrieben und aufgenommen wurde es innerhalb von zwei Monaten im Sommer 2008, es sollte unkompliziert, schnell und unmittelbar passieren und konsequenterweise wurde "Winter" als erstes komplett selbstproduziertes Album der Band in Wohnzimmern zwischen dem Kölner Gereons-Viertel und Brooklyn, NY produziert. Durch das titelgebende Thema ist es nach wie vor das geschlossenste ihrer Alben, und es ist das Dokument einer Freundschaft.



Anlass für das Vinyl-Reissue ist nur in zweiter Linie das 15jährige Release-Jubiläum oder die Tatsache, dass das Album lange vergriffen war, sondern vorrangig der unerwartete Tod von LD Beghtol im Jahre 2020. Den New Yorker Ausnahmekünstler lernten Locas In Love als Fan seiner Musik (u.a. als Mitwirkender und Sänger der Magnetic Fields auf "69 Love Songs") kennen. Auf „Winter“ trat er als Quasi-Mitglied und Co-Producer in Erscheinung und kann so auch zukünftig von neuen Musikfans u.a. mit seiner meisterhaften Song-Miniatur "Packice" entdeckt werden, dieser herzzerreißenden Mischung aus Winter-Blues und Kryogenik-Science-Fiction.



Und so erscheint nun beim Berliner Label Staatsakt (das soeben sein eigenes 20jähriges Bestehen ausgiebig feierte) das luxuriös ausgestattete Reissue. Die handnummerierte Limited Edition samt neuem Artwork von Stefanie Schrank enthält das von LD Beghtol gestaltete Scrapbook, das auch der Erstpressung beilag, ein 8-seitiges Songbook mit Texten und Akkorden, sowie die 68-seitigen Locas In Love Winter Chronicles, in denen Tour-Tagebücher und andere Texte aus der Zeit mit einem aktuellen Selbstinterview der Band zusammengefasst sind. Im umfangreichen Bonusmaterial geht es weniger um Mythen oder kleinteilige Schreib- und Aufnahmeprozesse, sondern darum, was es heißt eine Band zu sein, mit einander und der eigenen Musik zu leben – und zu altern.

Two previously unreleased collages for magnetic tape, both realized at the Studio di Fonologia Muisicale RAI in Milan. These pieces are precious testimonials to Aldo Clementi's intense and ongoing interest in electronic music in the 1960s. The electronic composition »Collage 2« from 1960 was his first experiment with electronic music. »Collage 3« dates back to 1966. It's an electronic collage on »Michelle« by The Beatles.

The composer wanted to replace old concepts and clichés which had become popular and common, through the use of "natural wells of timbre, live and organic, springing from a world of symmetry and fixed blocks." This original idea underwent a drastic transformation when the RAI (the Italian radio) commissioned Clementi to write a longer work. To his initial desire to start from scratch was added the problem of a longer duration. It was only when Clementi had almost completed the piece that he gave it its final title of "Dies irae," owing to the extreme tension that accompanied its composition.

Milanese techno shaman MAIKE DEPAS travels from the dark to the dreamy side of the dance floor on his EP "Euphoria" (out 24 November on The Innovation Studio)

"Techno emissary Maike Depas storms back onto the scene with 'State of Techno', a bold fusion of past and present influences set to reshape dance floors in 2023." (Magnetic Mag)

"State of Techno is the Milanese producer's visionary work fusing 80's and 90's sounds through a modern lens creating an exhilarating release weaving through 30 years of underground club music." (The Brvtalist)

On the back of the breaky Grand Prix 2049 anthem "Midnight Ride", Milanese techno shaman MAIKE DEPAS (Michelangelo De Pasquale) travels from the dark ("We Move", "Inner Voices" and "Techno Appeal") to the dreamy side ("Midnight Ride" and "Green Hornet") of the dance floor on his EP "Euphoria", coming out on 24 November via The Innovation Studio. One foot in stoic Schranz techno of Chris Liebling"s CLR, the other one in eschatological goa trance of Dragonfly Records, never going under 134 BPM, Depas strikes the perfect balance between dystopia and utopia. "This is my idea of what the ravers want to listen inside the club's Depas reckons.

"Euphoria has two sonorities: the dark vibe, and the dreamy one. This is my idea of what the ravers want to listen inside the club's Maike Depas

With the complex arrangements of the past Depas-releases left out and the trusted workhorse a custom-made pitch black Roland TR-909 from 1983 responsible for doing the heavy lifting in the drum sections, "Euphoria" is a beat-heavy affair that draws its relentless drive and rhythmic richness from merging polyrhythmic patterns merged with streamlined melodies and nifty vocal samples such as the double entendre "quiero jugar una horas mas" (Engl. "I want to play one hour more") on the no-holds-barred hard trance number "Techno Appeal", and the riveting juxtaposition of mesmerizing female vocals and handclaps of roaring crowds in hypnotic "Inner Voices".

"These demoniac figures resemble human transformation and the idea of achieving euphoria through esotericism's Maike Depas

However, when it comes to Depas, there is always more to his music than merely being dead set on setting the dance floors on fire. The antler-wearing figures and witches" circles depicted in the artwork hint at Depas" invitation for the clubbers to let his music move them far beyond the physical world. "These demoniac figures resemble human transformation and the idea of achieving euphoria through esotericism's

Gombloh’s forgotten masterpiece

What if you have Brian Wilson and Bruce Springsteen rolled into one? And what if he came of age as an poor buskers in in Surabaya, Indonesia, but then summoned enough strength to record six albums that flew in the face of everyone in the country’s rock scene back in the early 1980s?

Genius, be they Brian Wilson or Soedjarwoto “Soemarsono” Gombloh, don’t conform to rules written for us mere mortals. They have their own way of doing things and in the case of Gombloh, writing music, conducting recording session and spending cash from his music, must be conducted on his own terms and his terms only. Studio time was expensive back in the early 1980s, yet Gombloh could be three-hour late for his session, and while engineers, session musicians and producers were jittery about the prospect of another botched session, Gombloh took his time for a nap before the recording begun.

Yet, some of his greatest works came into being in the wake of this napping session. Recording session for Sekar Mayang is no exception, despite the fact there’s foreboding sense of doom with Gombloh being unsure about the possibility of selling enough units to help his label break even. This is, after all, this is his last record with his band Lemon Tree’s. No one knew that Gombloh was operating with all his cylinders running and what came out of this Indra Record session, in the waning days of 1980, were some of the best compositions ever committed to magnetic tapes (to wax, if now you’re holding this on vinyl).

This is Gombloh at the peak of his creative genius. You can argue that his debut album Nadia & Atmospheer (what’s with the spelling mistake?) is the most sprawling and complex album (both sonically and thematically), but Sekar Mayang certainly had the best songs and I can make the argument that this album’s 10 songs are strong contenders for biggest hits in blues, country, psychedelic rock charts. “Prahoro & Prahoro” is one of those impossible song which appears to have sprung from a bottomless well of inspiration, encompassing King Crimson’s sprawling epic, Deep Purple’s deepest blues and Genesis’ most progressive tendencies. Or “Sekaring Jagat”, which begins as Lennon-McCartney lullaby before launching a thousand ships traveling to the end of the rainbow with children choir singing heavenly melodies backed by droning harpsichord and synclavier, while a buzzing Hammond B3 tightly locks with Gombloh’s guitar strumming.

For many of his fans, Gombloh is known as generous man of the people. A Robin Hood type if you please. He spent his royalty checks to buy foods for beggars and buskers and dish out some more to buy undergarments for Surabaya’s prostitutes. In Sekar Mayang, Gombloh went full Springsteen mode in “Mitra Becakan,” a social commentary that cut so deep you can end up with tears in your eyes and lump in your throat (even if you don’t understand any of its Javanese language lyrics). This is one the most devastating social commentary ever recorded for a pop song, and even if you discount the greatness of its musical composition, you chalk this up as a great social-realism poetry. His years of hanging out with pedicab drivers, street vendors and street-bound prostitutes certainly gave him enough insight into their (in)human condition.

Yet, a record this stellar was largely forgotten. First, this record was a flop upon its release in 1981. Indra Records reportedly only did one pressing on cassette tape and be done with it. For those who were lucky enough to have come across one of songs from this album on the radio were likely growing up in East Java, where Gombloh had a massive cult following early in the 1980s. Nothing was heard from this record again.

There were only a handful of cassette tapes from the first pressing found on second-hand market and I recently stumbled upon one online with a price tag of Rp 50 million (US$3,500). It’s no longer available now.

In Sekar Mayang, Gombloh harbours an obsession for a long-lost utopia, Java’s distant past, where farmers have their barn full of rice and corn, where blacksmith working around the clock making tools and children singing and dancing in their seminaries. Or the fact that he opens the song with stanza from Serat Weddhatama, arguably the most monumental poem in neo-classic Javanese literature, could be his pledge of allegiance. The question for him is should a modern-day Indonesia, rife with poverty, corruption and environmental degradation not be an anathema to that utopia?

In the end, you don’t need to be someone fluent in Javanese to enjoy this majestic record. And if this record turns out to be the last in Elevation Records catalogue and we shut down this label tomorrow, we will be very happy. Mission accomplished!

incl Kai Alcé Mix + Emanuele Inglese Rmx

GIM Records is back from the Moon bringing a new release "In The Music" signed by the Italian team "Groove In Mind" aka GIM Productions (Onda Records).

The original track is a dancefloor oriented anthem with a groovy bassline and a House vibe feeling, fueled by magnetic Rhodes keys and flute.

Included are a couple of very hot remixes by the well-renowned Kai Alcé (NDATL Muzik) and the Italian Dj Emanuele Inglese (Cocoon Rec).

Limited Edition 12 Inch - 140 grams standard black vinyl with generic jackets

Repress!

Since his first Submorphics release on The North Quarter, the Detroit native has tenaciously developed his unique brand of lo-fi, deep drum & bass. With his new six-track EP ‘Verona Highway’, the Den Haag-based producer has created what he calls “a late night Detroit to Chicago road trip aesthetic”. Rooted in the underground, this project is an assemblage of techno, footwork and soulful house influences fused with his own signature earworm melodies, deep minor chords and the modern North Quarter drum & bass sound. The result is an EP that feels emotive and nostalgic while maintaining a modern atmosphere.

'Verona Highway’ marks the return of Submorphics to The North Quarter, just over a year after his critically acclaimed Newport Magnetic EP. Reminiscent of night time drives and peaceful after hours, the EP is a collection of warm, dreamy and sentimental music and is the ultimate soundtrack for serene summer nights.