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Record Store Day 2015 will see a special release from Gene Hunt directed and selected by label boss I-Robots.

The two track vinyl EP features unreleased material produced in the early years of the famed Chicago artist's career in the 80s and is dedicated to musical legend Frankie Knuckles who appears on the artwork in a rare picture with Gene Hunt from back in the day.

Gene has regularly produced and remixed for the label before now (including remixing Klein & M.B.O. 'Last Call' and on forthcoming I-Robots project 'Dirty Talk' ft. Donna McGhee) and has already assured his place in house history as a DJ headlining clubs like Warehouse and the Music Box as well as playing with the likes of Ron Hardy and Larry Heard.

As a producer he has been on top of his game for three decades and has released on legendary imprints such Rush Hour, Svek, Djax and many more, so is a true house icon.

His first cut here, 'Drive Yourself Nuts' is a classic bit of Chicago jack with prickly percussive patterns staying busy on top of punchy drums. Wonky bass, physical grooves and coarse claps all make this one a standout banger for the peak of the night.

On the flip of this special package, 'Wildside D Dubb' is a slow building, mania inducing tune with a lead synth line slithering about over dusty metallic drums. Eventually some acid bleeds into the mix and pans all around, adding a sense of scale to this heady, freaky, dance floor smasher. As ever, Opilec Music show others how it is done with this real and rare bit of true Chicago house history.

2015 Vinyl reissue incl CD

A1, "Capitulo 4". We find Gregor surprisingly accepting of his new reality: far from going crazy, he has serenely discovered in his new self everything he didn't know and didn't perceive as a human being. "Capitulo 4" is an incredibly precise description of the awakening of the new Gregor. Shadows, fog, sinuous silhouettes that are impossible to identify. In one word: confusion.
B1, "Capitulo 5". Vertigo starts to ease, we can hardly feel the anguish and the heartbeat is gone. We are in a new reality and although it seems a done deal, every movement he makes tells Gregor that understanding this new world and his perception of it will not be easy. Chapter 5 demands our everything while we listen: our full dedication and attention to the last minute detail that reveals a new horizon and its new colour, or lack of it. A horizon that, nevertheless, is more perceptible for Gregor, because he can now capture all sorts of colours and emanations.
B2, "Capitulo 6". Light. Gregor still ignores that most domestic insects have a strong aversion to intense light, but his human conscience is still intact and it will take him a long time to reprogramme certain habits, instincts and automatic behaviours, like a preference for lit environments. The painfully intense sensation that his antennae convey to his tiny brain when faced with light is an effective path to learning: little shocks that Reeko reproduces in this track, surrounded by an oscillating and changing ambience that redefines itself each time we listen to it.

Speedy Ortiz is proud to announce their sophomore album, Foil Deer, which will be released via Carpark Records on April 20th.

'Major Arcana' released in 2013 won them glowing reviews , features and several UK tours (highlights below):

- 4 PAGE NME FEATURE

- 9/10 LEAD REVIEW IN NME: 'One of the reasons 'Major Arcana' works so well is because it's addictive and fun. The guitars and bass sound incredible, like the last Deerhunter album without the Yankee Doodle Dandy'

8/10 Drowned In Sound : ' Speedy Ortiz are way too euphoric and glorious to suffer for their artfulness. Stripping away the frills, at heart Major Arcana is a mournful treasure that asks to be celebrated.'

*NME RADAR FEATURE: 'What's miraculous, though, is that Major Arcana doesn't sound at all self-pitying; it's torrid Slint-meets-Pavement rattle bolsters Sadie's relished words so that yelling along is an exercise in gleefully exorcising your own demons'

8.4 ON PITCHFORK: : 'There's the squalling, guitar-on-guitar carnage of Archers of Loaf, the grungy mysticism of Helium (Dupuis lifted the title Major Arcana from a book she was reading on black magic), and of course the deadpan wit of vintage Liz Phair ('I was never the witch that you made me to be,' Dupuis tells a burnt-out old flame on 'Plough', 'Still you picked a virgin over me').

Standard LP is gatefold, single black LP with chapbook, plus digital download card.
Deluxe LP Is as above but with metallic gold coloured vinyl, and sticker.(200 ONLY FOR UK)
CD comes in digipak with a folded poster approximating the chapbook in the LP.

Speedy Ortiz said they would get the flowers themselves. What a lark! What a plunge!

When considering Massachusetts' Speedy Ortiz, that line from Virginia Woolf comes to mind. Not only for the obvious echoes to DIY, a form and function that's characterized the band's nascency, but in the proto-feminist undertones driving much of their sophomore album, Foil Deer. "I'm not bossy, I'm the boss," Sadie Dupuis sings on "Raising the Skate," invoking in spirit one half of the Carter-Knowles clan and echoing the other's wordplay. And wordplay makes sense, considering Dupuis-the band's songwriter, guitarist, and frontwoman-spent the band's first few years teaching writing at UMass Amherst. She's drawn to the dense complexity of Pynchon, the dreamlike geometry of Bolaño, the confounded yearning of Plath-all attributes you could easily apply to the band's 2013 debut Major Arcana, which fans and press alike have invested with a sense of purpose and merit uncommon in contemporary guitar rock.

The group, including Mike Falcone on drums, Darl Ferm on bass, and new addition Devin McKnight of Grass is Green on guitar, have spent the last year on an almost endless cross-continental touring jag, tagging along with the likes of The Breeders, Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks, and Thurston Moore. That shift into full-time musicianship brought with it an attendant reordering of priorities when it came to songwriting, and the band members' lives in general. They would get the damn flowers themselves.

Dupuis wrote much of Foil Deer at her mother's home in the Connecticut woods, where the songwriter imposed a self-regulated exile and physical cleansing of sorts, finding that many of the songs came to her while running or swimming alone. "I gave up wasting mental energy on people who didn't have my back," she says. "Listening to our old records, I get the sense I was putting myself in horrible situations just to write sad songs. This music isn't coming from a dark place, and without slipping into self-empowerment jargon, it feels stronger." Many of the songs deal with a similar sense of starting over, editing out the unnecessary drama. "Boys be sensitive and girls be, be aggressive," she sings on "Mister Difficult."

And while their debut album was recorded on the fly, Speedy Ortiz spent almost a month in the studio on Foil Deer. Falcone's drums are taut, mechanistic; Ferm's bass ranges from the aggressive rattle of an AmRep classic to smoother, hip-hop inspired lines. McKnight, meanwhile, lends spacier, textural riffs to complement Dupuis' wiry, melody-driven guitar style. "The demos for our songs have always had tons of small details and production experimentation, but we never had any money to pay for more than a couple days in the studio, so the songs came out very live-sounding and guitar heavy," Dupuis says. It was recorded and mixed at Brooklyn's Rare Book Room with Nicolas Vernhes (Silver Jews, Enon, Deerhunter), with the record mastered by Emily Lazar (Sia, Haim, Beauty Pill), lending a more polished sound and a pop sensibility that will stand out to existing fans and new converts alike. For all the lyrical complexity and guitar-based excursions Speedy Ortiz have built their reputation on to this point, Foil Deer has a sense of light-footed fun. What's the point of doing things yourself if you're not going to enjoy the trip

Standard LP is gatefold, single black LP with chapbook, plus digital download card.
CD comes in digipak with a folded poster approximating the chapbook in the LP.

He is not so easy to find. You have to follow the kilometres of pipes down and along a labyrinth of corridors, to enter in the basement den of Romain Turzi. This once cavernous space has been metamorphosised into a recording studio for the purpose of creating and completing the A & B albums trilogy with the latest LP release: C. Closed off from the world, without natural light and water supply, but full of consoles, synthesizers and old guitars, Romain cocooned himself here for several months to perfect his music and sonically construct the soundtrack that is C, with tracks entitled by nine types of birds, to glide you through this treasure hunt through the complexities of his musical mind.
After Turzi's sophomore album: B, recorded under the Corsican sun, the change of conditions is quite radical. Closing off from the world in a place where you can only do one thing, make music, Turzi was able to gain the greatest luxury within this process: time.

Mutual fans Sherard Ingram and Mariska Neerman join forces to present four essential tracks spanning the breadth of contemporary electro on this second release from Bleep43 Recordings. The first side sees Ingram exploring the edges of his famously unique blend of intricate yet relentless electronics, simultaneously touching on Autechre's metallic abstractions while sounding the depths of bubbling oceanic vents. Mariska answers with two tracks of melancholy machine music that embody her talent for melody and arrangement and promise to make their presence felt on dancefloors across the spectrum.

Debut Album, absoluter Kultstatus im Doom Metal, mit ehemaligen Mitgliedern von Tiamat, Therion _

SORCERER wurden 1988 im schwedischen Stockholm gegründet, lösten sich aber vier Jahre später nach zwei Demos auf. Diese gelten als wahre Klassiker des Doom Metal und erschienen 1995 auch auf CD. 2010 kehrte die Band fürs Hammer of Doom Festival in Deutschland zurück, und ein Jahr später spielte sie auch auf dem Up The Hammers Festival in Athen. Beide Shows wurden äußerst begeistert gefeiert, und der Gedanke reifte, ein neues Album in Angriff zu nehmen. Letztlich dauerte es zwei Jahre, um es zu schreiben, zu arrangieren und aufzunehmen, doch das Ergebnis ist nichts weniger als reiner, Heavy Epic Doom Metal. Die Arbeit alle Teile zusammenzufügen und zum Mixen wie Mastern vorzubereiten, oblag Schlagzeuger Robert Iversen, der auch ein bewanderter Tontechniker ist und sozusagen als Spinne im Aufnahmenetz fungierte. Die Scheibe wurde von Jens Bogren (Opeth, Amon Amarth, Devin Townsend) gemastert. Mit jahrelanger Profierfahrung und erstklassigen Fähigkeiten an ihren Instrumenten sind die Mitglieder von SORCERER des 21. Jahrhunderts entschlossen noch sehr, sehr lange epischen Doom Metal zu bieten – auf Platte wie auf den Brettern der Welt!

There is something singularly unique and peculiar in the degree to which seemingly unsettling themes and extreme taboos have been explored, most notably in the medium of film, in the land of Nippon. Free from the constraints of reality, notions of grotesque brutality, torture, fetishism, and sadomasochism, to name a few, have oftentimes served as driving motifs in the examination of the true nature of violence latent in the most repressed reaches of the human mind. Concurrently, in the realm of electronic music, many Japanese producers have often been able to cultivate and harness a daring yet distinctly refined and inimitable form of organized sonic chaos, one almost instantly recognizable to the occidental ear. The music of Tomohiko Sagae, and in particular his latest contribution to Furanum's catalogue, The Spurt of Blood, is perhaps a quintessential example of the confluence of the former themes and latter medium.
At the outset of the record, the beholder is faced with the 'Vacant Eyes' of a staggering monstrosity, a subdued and subjugated automata in the midst of a bleak dystopia, nearly lifeless but for the grudgingly conceded advance of its death march. As a battery of gratuitous aural violence led by a dominant synth is rapidly unleashed in the subsequent composition, a growing malaise transforms into fractured bone and psyche alike, with no distinction made anymore between the tearing of metal, flesh, or the fabric of the mind. Culminating in 'Severe Pain', with limits of endurance breached and descent into madness the only seeming form of respite, relentlessly rolling drums and hauntingly sublime howls provide the context for the dawning realization of pain as a virtue in and of itself, when a demented pleasure and the exhilarative liberation that lies therein begins to emerge. In the final act, reinterpreted by Furanum stalwarts Uncto, roles are tellingly reversed as the vacant eyes of the victim become that of the oppressor. With cold-blooded precision, the original is reengineered into a force of merciless domination, its elements machined and recalibrated for pure power.Words: PSD

Federsen returns to Fifth Interval for another sublime instalment of dance floor friendly dub-techno. Dewpoint is an altogether tighter affair when compared to the label's first release, Point Reyes.

The drums are taut and razor-sharp, propelling the listener effortlessly through a dense fog of ferric clouds, swelling to fill the outer-reaches of the echo chamber. A highly polished metallic production style that can be compared to some of Andy Stott's early and classic works.

Tomas Rubek remixes Dewpoint for the B-side, remaining faithful to the original track's structure but viewing it through a tinted lens. Dewpoint's chords become iridescent, kick drums fall into a straighter pattern and are backed by further dusty percussion, shifting the original into spheres inhabited by the likes of Rod Modell and Fluxion.

12" 180g vinyl with printed sleeve.

Mastered by Lewis at Stardelta.

"Original mix is dope." - Brendon Moeller (Beat Pharmacy)

"Really digging this remix. It's been on repeat this morning." - Silent Season

"Full support, I will play it, love Federsen's work!" - Fingers in the Noise

"Played on BBC Radio" - Steve Barker (The Wire)

After 14 years working with a huge spectrum of D&B greats, London based Irishman Cian McCann has long since established his place in the scene. From his early days in Dublin with the Bassbin label to working with the likes of Calibre, 4 Hero, Klute, Alix Perez, Rockwell and Noisia, he has never stood still. 2008's Cheap Shots LP for Total Science's CIA Records was a high point, with lead track Walk Away bringing vocalist Steo to the worlds attention. Also a noted remixer, he has retouched artists as diverse as Dillinja, Slam, Rolo from Faithless, Sabre, Lemon D and Lenny Fontana. Zero T's discography shows the diversity that his DJ sets have always shown, ranging from full vocal smoothness to darker, more technical styles. You are as likely to find his music on labels like Subtitles and Shogun as on Soul:r or Signature. 2010 saw two milestones reached; the Launch of Footprints, Zero T's own label, and compiling and mixing FabricLive052 for the esteemed London venue. After a short period away from the scene, 2014 sees the return of Zero T as a producer and DJ. Watch out for his collaboration with long-time cohort Beta 2 coming on Metalheadz Platinum soon and a follow up EP to the Roxy Music EP on Dispatch Recordings. Now The Prestige Music Group is proud to announce, 'Roundwood / Hurricane Charlie' due out in late September or early October

With releases on a slur of top labels including Invisible, Critical, Metalheadz, Subtitles & Dispatch, 2014 sees Hybris release his debut album on Noisia's Invisible imprint.

Entitled 'Emergence' the new album is set to cement Hybris as one of the most forw

As one of contemporary alternative music's most elusive figures, Dean Blunt returns on Black Metal and delivers his most assured and ambitious record to date for Rough Trade. An album of two halves; the crestfallen baritone on Blow is juxtaposed by the inner-city sermonising of Grade, just as the melancholic strumming of 50 Cent gets rattled by the unrelenting stagger of Mersh. With ominous narratives of hunger and loneliness rumbling underneath the gloomy surface, Black Metal is a moonlit cruise through Blunt's cloudy metropolis. There's no telling where he'll go next, but this is one of his finest trips to date

After a 12 year break the UK Techno label Solid Groove is back.
Kicking off with a collaboration with New York artist and Metroplex label manager Kimyon Huggins.


A1: Track one Sandy is a Detroit influenced track with noises recorded live by the man himself from hurricane sandy.
A2: Aubreys windy city remix is a more peacetime mix of the original with twists and turns and a dark groove throughout.
B1: Aubrey-Dust storm salsa, is a atmospheric journey with a hypnotic groove and has been tested at Panorama bar at peak time by various DJ's to great success.
B2: Kimyon's remix, taking a more dance floor feel with harder beats and driving metallic sounds.

Mit weltweit über 3Mio. verkauften Einheiten & 10 Studioalben hat die schwedische Modern Metal Band In Flames ihr Genre nicht nur neu definiert, sondern sich auch weit über dessen Grenzen hinaus etabliert. Nach der Gründung durch Jesper Strömblad 1990 gelang ihnen mit ihrer 2. LP "The Jester Race" der Durchbruch und gleichzeitig ein gefeierter Genre-Klassiker.
Nach ihrem mit Gold ausgezeichneten letzten Studioalbum "Sounds of a Playground" kündigt die Band jetzt ihr neues Album "Siren Charms" an. Dieses dokumentiert ganz genau, wo In Flames 2014 stehen.
Die LP wurde in den legendären Berliner Hansa Studios eingespielt und bietet neben der ersten Auskopplung "Rusted Nail" 10 weitere Tracks, die sowohl alteingesessene Fans begeistern werden ("In Plain View") als auch Crossover-Potential haben ("Through Oblivion").
"Siren Charms" sichert In Flames die Stellung als Metal-Band, die niemals still steht, und es ist zweifellos eine Band, die immer wieder Risiken eingeht, Grenzen überschreitet und sich selbst ebenso herausfordert wie ihre Zuhörer. Dass die Hindernisse die Band nicht umgebracht haben, ist offensichtlich - aber die Frage ist, ob In Flames jemals so stark gewesen sind

Great music extends father than your ears can hear. Listening to resent recordings of Peder Mannerfelts music is listening to recordings of a complete creative flow. Superb tracks created inside of Peder Mannerfelts Villa Nellcôte.
Opener "Rhythm Inflection" is similar to a heartbeat but rebuilt using a parade of machines and biting ice-cold sounds that implies a climax that never comes.
Repetitive thuds are the wrecking ball of "Technology As Apathy" while saw waves continuously crunch until your ear are obliterated on "Failed Grammar". "Titled" is the centerpiece, however. Its sonic gears grind into hollowed-out spheres. A voice from the heavens echoes "Reset, reduce, turn up, repeat" until the words lose all meaning and are battered into the metal walls by distilled rhythms.
EP2 is the last ashes of a manuscript that's been waiting for ages to be turned into dust. It is the final nail in the coffin of his past that began with EP1 and Lines Describing Circles. Peder Mannerfelts music is gradual and always on the move, the process spans over the whole production.

Optimo Music is usually known as a 12" label, but occasionally something rare and dangerous comes our way that compels us to release a full length album...

It's not exactly a dance album, although there is music you can dance to on it. It's more filmic in nature, with gads of references to wonderful directors like Kubrick and Carpenter that will enthrall a film buff, particularly if they're interested in electronic and dance music. There's a sleazy and unsettling feel to much of the tracks ("Tina Weymouth" is a sleaze-floor monster groove...), but we hope it will intrigue and delight!

The film references are directly relevant as Felizol and The Boy are film directors Yiannis Veslemes and Alexandros Voulgaris, who live in Athens, Greece and have composed music for numerous feature films. They also perform live in house clubs, heavy metal dungeons and hippy-friendly festivals...

They have this to say about their release: "We had a loose concept for this album and we compiled tracks that we've recorded the last 3 years that have to do with the cannibalism. Literally but also as a metaphor for the blessing and the tyranny of paying homage and influenced from music and films (and directors and musicians).

So these are songs about the agony of creating something new and personal when so much information and influences are fused in them."

Limited Red Vinyl Pressing!
Kenneth Christiansen & Dennis Bøg presents Pattern Repeat part 7. After a litle break Pattern Repeat is back with a new EP. This time Pattern Repeat delievers 2 very powerfull Techno Tracks with heavy chords and dubby elements. Kenneth is also running the labels Echocord and Echocord Colour, and Dennis is known from his Baum Label, and his Resoe releases. Its still all about dub-techno but with a heavy metallic sound that defines the project Pattern Repeat. This one will be in Red Coloured vinyl. Both tracks will be perfect for the peaktime hour.

REPRESS! 'Sonic Mass' is a dark, grandiose & utterly monumental' KKKK Kerang, 'Heavy, tribal, rumbling rhythms meet searing anthems...one of the uk's greatest ever bands' 9/10 Metal Hammer, 'Captures the intesnsity only matched by Neurosis and Killing Joke' - Terrorizer, 'a masterful work' - Zero Tolerance, Sonic Mass comprehensively re-establishes Amebix's innate ability to rip your head from your shoulders' The Quietus
Color Vinyl + Pic Sleeve

In the wake of Blocks & Escher's recent outings on Metalheadz, Critical, and Zomby's Cult Music, Narratives present the first solo
excursions on the label from one of its founders, Blocks. Varied, emotive and beautiful, the Séance EP is innately Narratives Music in sound and yet unlike anything the label has delivered previously. The Séance EP fleets between ethereal vocals, forlorn strings and analogue bursts of glassy synths, while drum machines dance with live kits that would be fitting of 90s Mowax records. Bass lines loom heavy throughout, simple and driving rhythms that bed the delicate keys and story telling harmonics above. As immersive as it is succinct, Blocks has created an extended player awash with feeling and juxtaposition; again displaying why Narratives Music has been lauded across electronic music from the likes of Goldie and
Com Truise to Zomby and Rob da Bank. Forming the veritable gem of the collection, is the vocal laden 'Haven', a collaborative piece between Blocks and the hugely talented Jennifer Hall. Live instrumentation of bowed strings and bass provide canvas for the heart wrenching tones of Hall. Doc Scott describes the track as 'Deep, deep blues'. More akin to a personal reflection of the artist than the frenetic speed of a club, more Twin Peaks meets Portishead than dance floor energy; this is music at a Drum & Bass tempo by a producer that doesn't want to be caught in a debate on style or subgenre. In essence it seems to emphasise a recent quote by Blocks, 'Drum and Bass is anything you can get away with'. Label support from Goldie, Kuedo, Doc Scott, Rockwell, Benji B, Paul Woolford, Zomby, Friction, ASC, Jubei, Teebee, Pedestrian,
Rob Da Bank, Midland, Kasra.

Fokuz Recordings, founded early 1999 by Dreazz and Drum Origins, has been through a lot over a long, winding road. Thanks to the boundless dedication of our talented artists and the loving fans, we can now celebrate our 15th anniversary! Expect six 12'' records and a double CD packed with tracks by some of the most upfront names in present day drum & bass. This is 15 Yearz Of Fokuz - Episode 1.1.

On the A-side we find the mighty Lenzman on remix duties! With an album forthcoming on Metalheadz he's one of the major players in drum & bass today. Exactly the reason why he delivers effortlesy with this fresh, smooth take on 'Rock Steady' by Command Strange.

On the flip London based outfit Reds come correct with 'Meraki'. Their diverse production makes them stand out from the pack although this particular track leans more towards a more classic liquid funk sound. It contains gentle piano keys and tight drums that roll along nicely for the duration. Add a warm sub bass that shines through from below, little edits adding interest and you've got something exciting!

7 years after the last Zhark Vinyl Release, Heavyweight Techno Nihilist & Labelhead kareem opens up another
chapter of advanced technoid NOIZCORE with his 11th full length EP on Zhark.
After a few years of silence kareem had just reemerged with releases on Foundation Sonore (FS 01) ,
PORTO RONCO on Death of Rave or MESMER on Zhark Digital but is now threatening to inspire more
uncompromising percussive hostility. Let this just be the beginning:
Whereas Side A emphasis on a very distinguished DANCE FLOOR groove concept of Machine Funk embedded
in metal Layers Side B leaves room for a less formatted approach building up tension which is leading to a free
firezone of depravity.
While methodic differentiations can be discovered on each side, the listener is continously confrontated
with haunting sonic extremism.

Nomine's third release on Tempa, following last year's spooked-out Nomine's War, is Enma / Zen Circle / Mindfulness. Containing his most expansive and exploratory music to date, pushing his already intricate and varied sound to new depths of atmosphere and intensity.
As their titles attest, the three tracks here are intense meditations as much as they are club firepower. Drawing equally on his love of UK sound system music and formally experimental composition and sound design, they further highlight Nomine's status as one of the most adventurous new producers operating in electronic music today.Lead track 'Enma' blasts from the tracks in flurries of metallic drums and plucked sino-grime esque melodies, an atmosphere heightened further on 'Zen Circle' whose reedy pipe motifs stalk through the mist like figures through a haunted forest. 'Mindfulness' rounds the EP out with shadowy, delay cloaked digital dub, riding out atop clustered kickdrums and roughly effected drums.

Cute Heels is the solo project of Bogota´ born, experimental producer Victor Lenis. Since the early 2000's Lenis has been working on a myriad of electronic projects, including the management of the labels Black Leather Records and Romance Moderne, in his current home of Brussels. Drawing on the influences of the radical punk scene that surrounded him growing up in Columbia while nurturing his passion for synthesizers and drum machines, Lenis developed the broody, gloomy brand of electro-techno that is Cute Heels. Deemed by Juan Atkins as ''the new blood and spirit for the next step in techno music'' Cute Heels has released various digital only releases over the years, as well as his first vinyl release, an EP on Gooiland Elektro. His debut album Spiritual, rides the line between cold electro-techno and left field electronic body music. Inspired by equal parts Liaisons Dangereuses and Drexciya, Spiritual takes the listener on a journey over 8 tracks and 40 minutes of music. Listening to "Spiritual" you can see why. The songs on this full length reveal a sublime influence from Detroit techno, early Chicago house and new wave; advanced electronics for the dance floor, pumping and sophisticated. The album was recorded and mixed by Victor at Sensorium Studio in Zagreb, Croatia in November 2013. Each song has been mastered for vinyl at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley by George Horn. Each LP is packaged in a custom-made jacket by our in-house designer Eloise Leigh and incorporates the geometry of analog synthesizers and celestial rose patterns. 

MF DOOM is the man in the iron mask. The most mysterious figure in hip-hop has also become one of the most popular, supplying beats and rhymes for Gorillaz, De La Soul, Madlib, Danger Mouse, and Wu-Tang Clan, and drawing praise from heavyweights like Just Blaze, Nas, and Mos Def. Since 2002, DOOM has released numerous volumes of Special Herbs, one of the longest-running instrumental series in hip-hop history. Now, volumes three and four of the acclaimed series are available on vinyl for the first time in years. With obscure loops and dusty samples galore, Special Herbs Vol. 3 & 4 is a must-have for any DOOM fan or hip-hop head. Also includes a limited-edition bonus 7', featuring two beats from DOOM's days as a member of 90s hip-hop trio KMD.

It's now almost two years since German producer Sawlin made his debut on Ann Aimee, but now he is back for a third EP on the Delsin sister label. Entitled 'Niedertracht', it features four more tracks of searing techno in truly uncompromising Sawlin style.

'Kontraktion' goes first with heavy metallic hits, lots of industrial machinery found sounds and thumping kick drums. It's lumpy, mechanical and stiff stuff that is slow and purposeful. The surface of 'Padjam' is then covered in squirming, scratchy little effects as syncopated drums swing deep down below. Eventually the thing gets fleshed out with some malfunctioning melodies and slurred vocal stabs yet still it sounds like no other techno out there.

'Niedertracht' takes up the b1 with a spangled techno track that has gurgling synths and fizzing drills all encased in a ravey arrangement of horns and windy howls. The broken sounding 'Weißhaupt' is made up of metal loops, punctured drums and rasping synths that sound like factories in melt down. This is truly inventive electronic music that's laced with a very real and unmistakable sense of industrialism, and proves Sawlin is one of the day's most exciting producers.

The latest drop from Retrometro is not for the faint-hearted, as Germany's Myk Derill brings the metal machine music. You Are is a stomp and grind monster, with speaker-troubling kicks and torture chamber soundscapes. Zerone is a brutal, relentless Berlin warehouse workout, with deep reverbs, on-point percussion and a juicy roll on the low end. Alert brings yet more of the factory floor pump, with its white noise build-ups and decayed percussion. And the caustic rhythms and haunting synths of Between bring another dynamic to the EP! Bruising!

Blank Code start 2014 off strong with their latest EP Rituals of Submission, produced by Luis Flores, with remixes by Black Asteroid and DJ Hyperactive. The opening track Discipline starts off with a nice creepy atmosphere supported by a solid kick and just the right amount of percussion to hook you into the tracks core rhythm, which stays consistent while the supporting percussion keeps the intensity of the track in constant motion. Black Asteroid's Discipline remix gives the track a whole new perspective, while staying true to the original's excellent use of classic elements. The straightforward kick and up­beats work perfect with this track's industrial bassline, while cleverly programmed analog synths carry the track with slow triplet rhythms, and quirky stabs that drift off to space.

Luis Flores' second original composition, The Word, follows the same philosophy as Discipline, with many elements coming together to form one solid rhythm. This is a huge sounding track with intricate metal percussion and pitch modulated stabs that form a dark and inciting hook which is overtaken by filtered claps as the track progresses. DJ Hyperactive gets down to business with his remix of The Word and lets his Chicago roots shine through as hats on all fours and hard hitting claps are used to raise the energy sparked by the deep kick and well processed stab.

This is the year of Peder Mannerfelt's rebirth. After seven years he's laid The Subliminal Kid to rest. With this new 12", the chains have been locked in and the road map has been obliterated. EP1 is focused like a laser etching out intricate patterns in massive, humming machines. Mannerfelt's ideas have been reduced to a razor's edge and he balances these freeform compositions like a master.
This EP could be seen as a prelude to Peder Mannerfelt's debut album under his own name that will be released by Digitalis Industries in February and at the same time is the first part in a ongoing series of self released records by Mannerfelt.
Opener "Hook (end)" crashes like waves from a metallic ocean bearing down on the shore. The bass craters beneath, digging its way to the listener's core. Each idea is stripped down and simplified to the point of near exhaustion, resulting in tracks that are relentless and infecting. "Psalms and Songs and Voices" is propelled forward by crushing kick drums and rhythmic bass pounding. Somehow, though, Mannerfelt works unsuspecting hooks in between the peaks. It's incredible. "With Psalms and Songs and Praises," the final track on this 12", everything is pushed to the limit. This is absolute maximalism; an overload of the senses that cannot be escaped. It's the opposite of everything else on the EP, combining everything into a single, massive escape.
This is the sound of machines humming. This is the sound of the factory floor in rebellion. And yet, this is only the beginning; the first chapter of a novel yet to come. This is the sound of Peder Mannerfelt finding his voice.

Jose Cabrera and Fred P split the first installment of the Perception series. The Determinism EP sees JC and FP giving their slant on principles of quantum level events through sound. Raw and driving, this EP is a more than an adequate DJ tool, it's a formula for the transportation of the subconscious.

Determinism is a metaphysical philosophical position stating that for everything that happens there are conditions such that, given those conditions, nothing else could happen. "There are many determinisms, depending upon what pre-conditions are considered to be determinative of an event." Deterministic theories throughout the history of philosophy have sprung from diverse motives and considerations, some of which overlap. Some forms of determinism can be tested empirically with ideas stemming from physics and the philosophy of physics. The opposite of determinism is some kind of indeterminism (otherwise called nondeterminism).

Passarella Death Squad are back with an new EP and once again open up a world of brooding, twisted emotion brought to life by their unique sound.

Giant EP commences its twisted journey with French vocalist Emilie Albisser's style beautifully on 'Blue Lips' running in parallel across thundering basslines, and clipped layered synth sounds.

Title track 'Giant' leads with a Vangelis style combination of fear inducing sounds that entwine in perfect time with Emilie's ethereal voice, from a future where hope is dwindling.
'The Stars and Stripes' is an enigmatic homage to the home of electronic beats - Detroit. Where Drexciya channels 'Drone' in a fiercely uplifting mantra to the power of America.

Giant EP ends with 'Untitled' which aptly wraps off this musical journey using metallic sounds melded together taking you back to that Beijing smog with huge LED screens and too many people.

Almost exactly three years after the first, Redshape has readied his second Red Pack, due for co release by his own Present imprint alongside his frequent Dutch home, Delsin, in June.
Whilst the world is still enjoying the German's latest album "Square", the man himself has typically moved on once more. On Red Pack II he offers up six tracks new of hugely atmospheric and romantically industrial techno across two pieces of vinyl.

First up, 'Disco Marauder' has raw, jangling beats, traumatised vocal cries and plenty of sci-fi ambiance all coalescing into a filmic techno tapestry, before 'Path Dub' goes deeper and more streamlined with rattling claps peeling off taught synth cables in hypnotic fashion. The same track also comes in an original version, which is a much more jagged, roughshod and textured affair.

'The Source' is a track slowed to a crawl that almost seems to want to collapse under its own weight. Machines gurgle and gargle, the beats march on with a heavy heart and widescreen synths all that ever present sense of cinematism that makes Redshape such a unique producer.

Standout track 'Daft Mode' features a beautiful Reese bassline and rich layers of classic Detroit chords of the sort Inner City once championed. Redshape then pairs them with slicing percussion and loose limbed but tough edged beats and lets them roll on to a blissfully emotive oblivion... Fans of 'Mucky Bones' from the first Red Pack might see this track as a close relative. Last track 'Bulp Head' is one of Redshape's more euphoric tracks thanks to the glistening and pixelated melodies which rise up and up through choppy, metallic percussion. It closes out another release from Redshape that offers six more classic pieces that are as idiosyncratic as they innovative..

Here comes the first release lf the outstanding super disco stars HARD TON on our label! With A-side track RISE UP we have the first track with chart potential on our label we'd say. We love it anyway! : )
B1 track WORK THAT BODY shows off the heavier jacking side of HARD TON and B2 MONOTONE rounds up the EP with its uplifting house chords.
Not our average cup of tea, but we fckng love it.
Instead of boring you to death with just another info text, we copy these words from I-D Magazine about HARD TON:
HARD TON are the Italian duo with the larger than life disco sound and a surprising love of met- al. Fused together in 2008 from the musical loins of DJ Wawashi and heavy metal singer Max. Sylvester-styled falsettos conjure up memories of smoky dancefloors during the heady days of HI-NRG, which combined with a contemporary sound of accelerated beats and screaming acid basslines, shows a nod to the past can result in a slap across the face for the present. Using analogue and vintage gear, from the 303, 606, 707, Oberheim DMX, Korg Monopoly, MS20, Prophet V5, the music is as organic as synthetic music can be, their equipment living and dying by its own unpredictable rules. (i-D Magazine)

Raudive a.k.a. Oliver Ho heads home with two guilty dancefloor pleasures. Gritty surface, smoove bottom. For those damp, dimly lit cellar clubs: low ceilings, fog, smoke and all that. 'Ruins' runs a relentless groove against angular guitar overtones, blowing out the valves of its amplifier. Metal sheets, rusty strings, sweaty bodies. 'Visitor' is built on a naughty percussion sequence and is elevated by a morphed girl's inquiring voice straight out of a 1984 Shibuya version of Blade Runner. Kinky. Essential 2013.

In the great tradition of Count Ossie, four new grounation furies — hypnotic, thunderous, urgent, mystical — with dubwise repeta, funde and bass drums embedding the Light Of Saba veteran's gorgeous trombone classicism.
The opener is a rocking kumina rhythm, with ring-the-alarm metal percussion and exhortatory brass; Free The People swirls some apocalyptic reasoning into the foggy, thumping mix. Universe In Crisis is another emergency call, chuffing headlong down the grooves... before the beautiful, anthemic Chant takes a step back from the fire, closing with a sense of thankful, spiritual reconciliation, the expert drumming and lyrical bone-work in full effect.

Elon make with the DIY vibes on the smart EP. Fans of Live Jam releases, listen up! On the title track sharp cuts, tight bursts of sound and loose percussion combine into a complex rhythm that is kept in check by a nice tumbling bassline. Jazz breaks hit the speakers with Got Ya, Tiger! Like a night out in Soho in 1962 brought back to life on an MPC. The bruising bassline just shouts 'Dance Or I'll Kick You In The Guts". Alex Celler's Broken Circuit Dub of Got Ya, Tiger! ramps up that kicking a notch. All those bruising elements are still there, but the guy grinds those jazz breaks up in his big metal jaws and spits out a gobful of twisted future. And you're gonna like it! Elon team up with Stefny on Téo, which finishes the EP. And you can feel her effect - she clearly loves a cheeky little synth line, because there are plenty of them here... squalking, meeping and dooping in perfect harmony to create a nice trancey brainfeeder. Nice.