Cerca:offset

Danny Daze presents a brand new alias for Slacker 85 first solo artist EP - D33 is a long-gestating alter-ego through which the Miami DJ & producer plans to explore a more house-leaning output.

The Operator EP sees the Omnidisc label owner channeling his multi-genre, Miami bass-infused sound into a quartet of stripped-down machine jams tailored for house DJ sets, with the fidgety title track issued in two flavors, the D33 ‘Wet Mix’ and Danny Daze ‘Dry Mix’, while on the B-side the heavy kick and evil bassline of ‘Azuca’ is offset by the hypnotic Jonny From Space collab ‘C’mon’.

“D33 is an alias I’ve had floating around in my head for years. It leans more towards my house music side and allows my head to dig into simpler production of dance music. My D33 production and DJ sets purposely feel a bit more laid back. Now I have the time to give out a crazy amount of hugs in between tracks while DJing… :) ” - Danny Daze aka D33

Australia post-punk duo The Native Cats - bassist Julian Teakle and singer and electronics operator Chloe Alison Escott (who released solo album Stars Under Contract via Chapter in 2020). Spiritual forebears to the current wave of speak-singing post-punk a la Dry Cleaning and Sleaford Mods, The Native Cats have grown a sizable cult following from their home in Tasmania (Australia's remote and chilly island state) since the late 2000s. Their minimal bass and drums rumble is offset by Chloe's lyrics which twist, confound and linger. The band have toured the US and played Memphis' legendary Goner Fest, been written up by the likes of Stereogum, NPR and Brooklyn Vegan, and performed at the Sydney Opera House. In 2020, they were riding a growing wave of recognition and admiration following their best run of records to date, culminating in killer double A-side single Two Creation Myths. But the pandemic and Australia's extended lockdowns brought with them a period of intense loneliness, isolation and despair. Chloe's confidence as a lyricist, singer and performer was at an all-time low. Even in those low times, the apparition of Native Cats LP #5 just kept on calling out. Julian never stopped recording instrumental demos and emailing them to Chloe. Chloe never stopped writing, and even began revisiting lyrics that had previously felt too raw or revealing to include.. Small moments of inspiration grew into more substantial ones. The band committed to weekly songwriting sessions, started to accept invitations to perform again, and had crowds fall instantly in love with their new songs. Recorded with producer Ben von Fürstenberg, The Way On is the Way Off takes a meticulous, painterly approach to the band's heavy, scorching songs. Every element is chosen for its thematic resonance and emotional impact. Chloe's lyrics arise from deep-rooted trauma and identity issues she is finally facing head-on, as well as reflections on post-punk history and lineage - the title of the album is drawn from the rules and principles David Thomas wrote for his band Pere Ubu. With the setbacks and self-doubt now a distant memory, The Way On is the Way Off is everything The Native Cats believed it could be when its completion seemed impossible, and everything they have been working towards since the day they began.

"Super Slimey", das am 20. Oktober 2017 veröffentlichte gemeinsame Mixtape der Rapper Future und Young Thug, ist zum ersten Mal auf Vinyl erhältlich. Darauf zu finden sind der Track "Patek Water" featuring Rapper Offset, "All da Smoke" oder auch "No Cap"."Super Slimey",

Keita Sano is a prolific Japanese producer who has released on revered labels such as Mister Saturday Night, Lets Play House, Morris Audio and 1080P. His fusion of dark, distorted, acidic textures and crunchy disco beats gives his produc tions a unique sound which works perfectly for Delusions Of Grandeur and the label is proud to welcome him for his debut DOG EP entitled Love Is Emotion.

The title track comes on like a proverbial runaway train with heavy, pounding beats and bassline forging things ahead while the most twisted, tripped out FX rise and fall creating an absolute juggernaut of a track which takes no prisoners. A decept ively simple DJ tool which is loaded with drama for maximum impact on the more left of centre dance floors.

Up next we have Violet which takes a low-slung deep house approach but with the grit and dirt that Keita always brings to the party. The first half of the track teases with tension-building chords and syncopated bassline which bounces around a massive four on the floor kick drum. Things fall away in the middle of the track to reveal a beautiful, heartwarming piano part, setting the scene before things get truly epic with orchestral strings bringing a touch of the film noir to proceedings.

I’m A Man picks up the pace again for an intense acid work out which pushes the sonic boundaries to the limits with seriously warped FX creating mayhem around a simple, percussive disco groove. As secret weapon DJ tools go, this is right up there.

Closing out this mind-bending release Keita remains in experimental mode on Love Is Emotion offsetting melodic arpeggios and sweet chords with off-kilter sonic madness ensuring things remain dark, dirty and deep.

Italian legend Walter Del Vecchio aka Quiroga pays tribute to the acid house era on Hell Yeah with a new package that comes with two originals, an ambient mix and a remix from cult hero DMX Krew.

Quiroga released his last sublime album Passages on this label and it came as the latest entry into a discography filled with beauty and detail. He is a talented musician from Naples who has his own left-of-centre take on the Mediterranean sounds of the city, as he shows once again here with a house-leaning outing.

Quiroga has teamed up with cult musician Dario Bassolino and called upon Whodamanny's mixing skills for these new tracks. First is 'Once Again', a punchy and chunky house cut with skewed bass spraying about the mix. Its rough analogue edges are lit up by searing acid lines that never quit and will turn any party into a cauldron of intensity. The Ambient Version is a full-flavour downtempo workout that keeps the wild acid lines, adds in some FX, old-school piano chords and a yelping female vocal next to a blissful breakdown. 'Once Again' (DMX Krew Remix) is then a bumping acid-electro monster with fat drums and the manic 303 offset by serene chord work to make for a perfectly emotional dance floor delight.

'Freak The Funk' is a second original cut, as rides of crisp snares and snapping drum breaks blend with a warm bassline and smeared cosmic chords up top. It's a classy peak-time house cut with magical pixelated synth melodies.

Alongside superb artwork from PlanetLuke, this is another essential package from Hell Yeah.


DJ Support:

Sean Johnston (ALFOS), Kristian (AME), Fango, Front De Cadeaux, Sinchi Collective, Phat Phil Cooper, Balearic Gabba Sound System

Hellfish and Bryan Fury, the Axe Gabba Murda Mob, are two of the biggest innovators in hardcore techno. Both have been pushing the genre in all kinds of directions for over two decades providing the pulse for thousands of parties around the globe. So with this in mind, we are honoured to present 'Baby Eaters', an earth shaking joyride to the very edge of the human psyche and beyond.

The eponymous A-side strikes terror into the hearts of men, splitting brain cells like atoms with destructive chain reactions of radical distortion and soul-stripping screams. Pure demonic catharsis, sound frequencies don't get more violent than this. The B side 'Acid Abyss' is an LSD stained hardcore techno anthem where eerily cold voices are strangled by crunchy bellowing kick drums and bleeding 303s. Despite still being cranked up, the precision of the fills in this track offsets the chaotic kicks of the A-side, coming off almost subtle in comparison.

This single is for connoisseurs coming lovingly housed with artwork by the wonderful Jim'll'Paint it, depicting the deadly duo conducting some rather grizzly research in their underworld studio.

For fans of: Venetian Snares - Bloody Fist

Svitlana Nianio has been active in the Ukrainian and Polish underground music scenes since the early '90's both as a solo artist and a prominent member of the now disbanded avant-rock outfit Cukor Bila Smert (Sugar White Death). Her music draws on aspects of modern composition and traditional Slavic music, with songs and experiments from that early period culiminating in the 1999 album Kytytsi (Koka Records, Poland). Prior to that in 1995, Nianio recorded Lisova Kolekciya (Forest Collection) live in a simple home studio setting with Olexander Yurchenko and Konstantin Nazarenko.

Less indebted to folk tradition than Kytytsi, Lisova Kolekciya was performed using Casio keyboards, electronics, and voice, positioning itself more inline with Terry Riley's Shri Camel in its otherworldly reinterpretation of the ancient through modern means. Retaining aspects of traditionl music in its use of spare instrumentation and haunting vocal melodies, this largely unknown album pushes at the edges of what folk music might be, resulting in music previously described as being "deeply rooted in primeval myths, creating a world of magic realism, in which the temporal dimension and the other world constantly move and permeate."

Issued here officially for the first time after an extremely limited private cassette edition handed out to friends in 1996 - where the recording was twinned with the album Znayesh Yak Rozkazhi (Know How Tell Me) - Lisova Kolekciya comes packaged in a full colour offset printed sleeve featuring artwork by Svitlana Nianio and is limited to 300 copies. 100 copies are housed in a special edition sleeve handmade by Faraway Press and are only available to order direct from the label.

repress !

Striking back the way we like it.

With a primitive approach the duo Fractions initiates this ritualistic 12" with a hyper-disco trance induced big room smasher.

As it follows Lars Huismann burns it with a tune that could be directly extracted from a 2000's mighty label like Primate, danger funk alert.

Heavily influenced by the present music the hit of this record has a name, She Won't Make Me Sad. Jheal Bashta pushes once again the limits of the urban music transforming this trap track into a unique piece of dance floor techno music not easy to forget. Sang by his brother Metal Fence.

Closing the issue Kontain's Paradox, will melt the heart and the shoes of those who can still on the dance floor (one of the tracks that I've been playing in the last parts of my sets lately the most).

Discoteca Neanderthal for disc-jockeys and collectors.

Here our first reference with tracks by Pergo, Glenn Wilson, Jheal Bashta and Crystal Geometry. In which we can find that each track faithfully represents the style of each artist. Pure and Real techno.

Lime green (yellowish?) vinyl LP Finnish noise rock duo NYOS deliver a clairvoyant Celebration of the present, written at a time when that present was shimmering just like the feathers of the cover art courtesy of animal photographer Zac Herr. Combining the danceable grooves of Battles with Sonic Youth - infused noise bursts and the yearning electric melodies of And So I Watch You From Afar, Celebration is a defiantly joyful, loud, and festive affair. A promising cure for the drudgery of the times we live in. Recorded by Brooke in his own Tonehaven Recording Studio, Celebration is the latest testament to the undeniable synergy these musicians have built over the past seven years. With the material largely written before the advent of corona, Celebration is a reflection of life before lockdown, filled to the brim with infectious grooves and glaring melodies. "We tried for something upbeat this time to contrast the times," explains Tom Brooke about the recording process, which in turn did take place during pandemic life. "We always love it when people can move to our music, so a big focus for the record was to embrace the dance vibe and go for it." This collection of eight colourful, jarring tracks is rife with small nods to dance music throughout the world. Take a song like "Light" with its complex syncopated drum pattern that recalls the Amen Break so typical for drum and bass music, but listen closely and the song reveals an off-beat skank that flips over into experimental reggae territory. Similarly, a track like "Tucano" recalls the experimental IDM of Bristol-based producer Vessel, while "Gold Vulcan" offsets a gnarly gyrating guitar riff with Latin- American and oriental melodies. The attention to detail on Celebration is phenomenal. The album contains some of the band's most layered compositions to date, but it is also the first NYOS record to feature improvised live recordings, the aptly named "First Take" as well as the celestial "Cloudberry". These musical sketches show two musicians at the apex of their connectedness. Every time that one of them appears to be taking a somewhat questionable turn, you'll find yourself carefully and respectfully readjusting your own interpretation of the song's intention - and what NYOS are all about.

 Blasting off higher than ever before, Metro Boomin proudly presents his anxiously awaited blockbuster new album, HEROES & VILLAINS, out via Boominati Worldwide/Republic Records through Island in UK. Assembling an Avengers-level guest list, the album also notably boasts the likes of John Legend, Future, Chris Brown, Don Toliver, Travis Scott, 21 Savage, Young Nudy, Young Thug, Mustafa, A$AP Rocky, Gunna, and the late Takeoff. It notably serves as his first solo LP in four years and the follow-up to his 2018 full-length debut, Not All Heroes Wear Capes. The latter bowed at #1 on the Billboard 200, picked up a platinum certification, and housed the triple-platinum “Space Cadet” feat. Gunna, platinum “No Complaints” feat. Drake & Offset, platinum “Don’t Come Out The House” feat. 21 Savage, triple-platinum “10 Freaky Girls” feat. 21 Savage, platinum “Overdue” feat. Travis Scott, among others.

Beautiful, soulful jazz record by Jimetta Rose and The Voices of Creation, a Los Angeles-based community choir, a mainstay of the local scene. Highly recommended!!

The Voices of Creation are a community-based choir led by vocalist, songwriter, arranger, producer and mainstay of the Los Angeles scene Jimetta Rose. Made up of a multigenerational group of mainly non-professional singers backed by some of the city’s finest musicians,their music marries hip strains of gospel with layers of jazz, soul and funk. While aspects of their music might recall Kamasi Washington, The Staple Singers or Sly Stone, Jimetta’s unique vision has resulted in new spiritually-charged forms of music whose whole-hearted embrace of love, joy and peace act as sonic healing balms for the soul.

For Jimetta - whose resume includes collaborations with Miguel Atwood Ferguson, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Sa-Ra Creative Partners, Angel Bat Dawid, Shafiq Husayn, MED and Blu - the very act of creation was part of a healing process: “I was very low at the time and I wrote most of the songs going through hardship. But I found comfort in the songs and a way to adjust my mindset to where things got better. So I thought ‘if this music works for me, maybe it will work for other people’ I believe that every person has their own voice and their own note and that we can use our voices to heal ourselves. That’s the intention behind creating the project.”

After putting out a call on social media for people interested in joining her choir she was met with a sea of replies. Members were chosen in less-than conventional fashion: “I recruited people based on their interest in healing themselves and others, not necessarily on their musical experience or being seasoned performers” she says. Among those accepted into the ever-evolving collective, which was begun initially as a community choir, were the likes of Sly Stone’s daughter Novena Carmel, better known as a radio DJ for KCRW’s flagship breakfast show. Jimetta’s upbringing in the Pentecostal church, where she was a youth choir director, fed into her otherwise intuitive teachings of her songs and arrangements to the inexperienced members with help from the group’s seasoned organ player/co-musical director Jack Maeby.

Produced by Mario Caldato Jr. (Beastie Boys, Seu Jorge) and his wife Samantha Caldato the results show the incredible sense of togetherness and communal spirit that the group had built up over time in the rehearsal sessions. The six tracks of their debut album, a mixture of originals and rearranged covers, are performed in a wide-eyed mix of styles that reflect Jimetta’s vision for borderless music: “It’s new black classical music,” she explains. “It’s all the hodgepodge of being an African American but also with creativity and vision for the future. It has a taste of what is to come and what we can do. What we have gone through and who we are now.”

The group’s propensity for warm and buoyant sonics finds representation on album opener Let The Sunshine In, a sparkling rework of the Sons and Daughters of Lite’s deep jazz classic. Their version finds the group’s dynamic group harmonies offset with Allakoi Peete’s nimble afro-percussive touches and plenty of soul- drenched keys courtesy of pianist Quran Shaheed and organ player Jack Maeby. A similarly uplifting take on Rahsaan Roland Kirk’s choral jazz classic Spirits Up Above follows, with Maeby’s groove-laden organ lines inspiring some gorgeous group harmonies as well as prime solo turns from the likes of Kellye Hawkins, Zavier Wise, Tamara Blue, and Khalila Gardner.

Another Sons and Daughters of Lite cover follows as Jimetta leads the choir in the groove-drenched ode to self-affirmation Operation Feed Yourself. Written as a series of mantras for everyday living, the Jimetta-penned composition How Good It Is harnesses the full transformative power of music to generate a stirring and joyful ode to positivity - it’s chanted declarations bringing out some of the group’s most deeply-felt and affecting vocal performances over some superlative piano and organ accompaniment with a surprise feature vocal from Novena Carmel.

Jimetta’s talent for re-imagining songs in her own light is highlighted in Answer The Call, her vivid re-telling of Funkadelic’s Cosmic Slop: “When I listened to the original song, the Mom in the story was really going through it. I thought of how I could turn this into a song that can encompass the glorification of all mothers and I thought of the Egyptian cosmic goddess Nut. To that mother we’re all the seeds planted in the garden. Answering the call in your life is literally that. Finding out exactly what you’re here for through your heart.”

The album finishes with the standout original gospel number Ain’t Life Grand. Over swaying organs and clapped percussion Jimetta’s lyrical mantras serve to emphasise the good feelings that come to those with a grateful heart. Good feeling is an apt descriptor for the mood of the album as a whole. Its shining positivity provides a welcome ray of light in an increasingly dark world. “It’s a shortcut if you will to the better feelings” Jimetta says. “The hope that we need to keep pressing forward. We are saturated and inundated with images of chaos and destruction, death and hatred. There’s so much we can witness. So, I want to make sure that there is a representation sonically of the other parts that are still there to witness so that we can continue to build those things. So that the systems we support actually reflect what we want to experience. So it’s like: “Don’t give up and Let The Sunshine Into You” and then find out what your purpose is and answer the call.”

Omni AM presents the long-awaited reissue of “Can We Get / Keep Doing That.” This timeless record sent dance music in a new direction. Euphoria Record’s vaults are open and finally, for the first time since 1997, this seminal tech-house classic is available to everyone for the very first time in over 25 years. This 1997 indie record was Euphoria Records second release – and their first international record. Whether you agree with it or not, many people consider this one of the pioneering records of American Tech-House. Both sides and several mysterious alternate versions have graced the decks of DJs like Evil Eddie Richards, Terry Francis, Derrick Carter, Tyler Stadius, and Magda. The list goes on.

We were lucky. Curve Pusher lovingly remastered the original four tracks from the 1997 studio masters. Then, he went a step further, and remastered some previously unreleased versions – including a live version in Chicago that encapsulates what Omni AM was back then: ambient house. There’s a bit of Chicago, a bit of London, a bit of New York, and a bit of Tokyo in every second of these classic, genre-defining tracks.

A1.
“Can We Get” happily sits with the finest works of Ron Trent, Chez Damier, and Mood II Swing – and goes further, as Omni AM has never feared genre definitions. It opens with classic deep house chords, floating synth pads, and sparse vocals. The bassline is deep and warm. Marky Star and Adam Collins expertly work the percussive effects but always keep the theme simple and clear. Everyone knows this is a classic house track because it hypnotizes you.

A2.
“Keep Doing That” continues the theme with another classic late-night killer. However, this one is totally different – almost industrial, yet clearly housey and ambient. It drives deep into a tough groove that just builds and builds. The dub-influenced bass line gives way to a more angular synth riff that both offsets and adds to the track's forward thinking sound design. It’s dark and dirty, yet terribly sexxxy at the same time. It was and always will be mesmerizing. Once again, musical magic by Marky Star and Adam Collins.

B-Sides
The flip side features two remixes of “Keep Doing That” by UK tech-house legend Mark Ambrose. His bubbly, psychedelic take on the track pumps up the percussive Chi-town groove while going in a distinctly London afterhours direction. Trippy, for sure. Fun for all, for sure. These remixes are guaranteed to make your afterhours weird.

KSI’s first official full length album Dissimulation was an international smash debuting in the TOP 10 in 11 countries! Jam packed with top level features including Offset, Lil Pump, Trippie Redd, Lil Baby, Rick Ross, Smokepurpp, Jeremih, Rich The Kid, S-X, AJ Tracey, and many more. A limited pressing of 1,500 vinyl units have been made and will be released on 14 April.
KSI recently scored not one but TWO KO’s in his second boxing event! KSI is currently a TOP 5 artist in all of the UK, as well as one of the biggest YouTube personalities in the world. KSI launched the highly successful sports drink PRIME with LOGAN PAUL, which just recently became the OFFICIAL SPORTS DRINK of the UFC.

Dismantling the acoustic to feed the electronic, Editions Mego presents Telepath, the new album by Material Object. Born out of a single improvised recording session with a lone Violinist, Telepath is a startling album of future electronic music, resulting in an LP of unique and timeless tracks that reimagine a classic sound for an endless future.

Boldly departing from his previous canon of largely 'ambient' work, Material Object's Telepath renders itself out as something much stranger, something more spacious, more subtle and gradual. Moments of bouncing minimalism meet moirés of delayed pure tones phasing in and out of resolution, giving way to a series of strobing foreground gestures arranged and offset in disorienting landscapes which scatter themselves asymmetrically amongst crystal pools of reverb.

Revelling in the creative dismemberment of the original source material, Material Object slowly and patiently induces the violin to undergo every category of torsion, pressure and rupture. Its vivid acoustic qualities pass over and across the event horizon of the digital domain. Shattering then crystallising into points and coordinates, intersections, disjunctions, planes and reverberant figures. An uncanny geometry perceived only between the ears, at once dissolving and reconstructing itself.

Not to be missed here is the essential, but bonus only, add-on (available with all Bandcamp purchases) "Auxiliary Apparition", a hallucinatory expanse that traverses the same liminal geography as the LP proper but as some refracted, ghostly counterpoint. More nocturnal, overpowering phantasms looming out of a droning noise floor before fading away. A hypnotic and time-dilated recapitulation of what's gone before as if looking back from beyond a mirror. When it finally resolves in the closing moments and returns you home, you realise you haven't really moved at all.

Equally abstract, haunting and daring, Material Object’s Telepath is a singular work that abandons all notions of genre. Erupting with a tension of opposites that unfolds as a truly unique story, told in four dimensions and draped in deafening colour.

"Hello, my friends. It's a big honor for me to release this EP on YUKU because I sincerely love lots of releases of this label and follow them practically since the day they started. I've created 5 tracks specially for this release.

They turned out to be very diverse, quite different, but at the same time cohesive.
5 tracks - like 5 variations and 5 stairs of my life. The cover by my friend, Kyiv-based artist Bohdan Burenko, perfectly outlines the mood of this EP. It shows 5 faces, 5 characters, and 5 stories.

I should mention that some demos for these tracks I wrote back in 2018, when I lived in California. And the basis for 'The Wall' I wrote in the suburbs of Los Angeles in a small town Walnut. This explains the song title. Back then, I listened to a lot of old-school Metalheadz tracks, and I guess this music had a big impact on the atmosphere of this track. Same story with 'Runnin' Out' - I made the demo in US, then finished it when I was preparing the release for YUKU. 'Offset Range1' is my personal favorite. I wrote it in Kyiv, when I had Covid and was tweaking knobs on my sampler and automation on my synth. 99' is my nostalgia for good ol' breakbeat and 'Vezhlivy Otkaz' has the most unusual drop I have ever written. Of course, it's an honor for me to have a remix by Tim Reaper on board, because I'm his fan.

I'm writing this text now in Kyiv. Because of Russian invasion, I'm not sure what my future will be like, but I don't see any reason to postpone this release. All the profit from this EP I'd like to send for the charity & restoration of the infrastructure of Ukraine.

Big thanks to YUKU team for understanding, professionalism and support."
Igor (Hidden Element)

If you find the time, please come and stay a while in abracadabra’s beautiful neighbourhood; a magically wonky wonderland where strangers leave as friends to a block party soundtrack as eclectic as it is infectious. The California duo’s album shapes & colors is a dazzling collage of psych-fuelled synthscapes and contemporary Baroque-pop of anti-capitalist movements and escapism, precisely pieced around their own working lives in a blue-collar town.
In the heart of Oakland’s industrial Jingletown above a former auto-repair shop in what was once a mechanics’ break room where poker rounds ensued, Hannah Skelton (Vocals, Synthesizers) and Chris Niles, (Bass, Synthesizers) constructed the angular 80s-tinged anthems (think John Hughes montages to Talking Heads) of their new album, to positively offset the pandemic’s amplification of dysfunctional society. “It reflects our current reality: a huge mess that is systematically broken but isn’t entirely lost,” Hannah tells. “We’re inviting listeners to conjure up every drop of hope and willpower left inside them, pour that into the giant vat of anger and frustration bubbling inside us all, and with this potion collectively enact the necessary change to bring love and light into this dark space.”
When Covid forced Hannah from her salon in San Francisco to become a backyard mobile hairdresser, what she saw inspired them both and the lyrical foundations for their new record. “I’d drive to mansions and people would complain about how hard the pandemic had been next to their swimming pool and tennis courts.” First meeting after the album’s co-producer Jason Kick (Mild High Club, Sonny and the Sunsets) recruited the pair for a Halloween band covering Eurythmics’ art-rock debut ‘In The Garden,’ the pair hit it off and shapes & colors is a product of the years that followed. It combines Chris’ own rhythmic demos following years on the road touring and opening for Amon Tobin, Matthew Dear and Generationals in Maus Haus with Hannah’s lyrical musings honed from project Cassiopeia, so even when topics are as heavy as the beats, they’re met with luminously positive arrangements of hope and warmth.
The by-product of a psychedelic New Year’s Eve escaping a monotonous 2020 reality, the title track itself captures fireworks over East Oakland as viewed from the pair’s couch whilst listening to Mort Garson’s Plantasia for 6 hours straight. The daydream collage of ‘inyo county’ is “a little souvenir taking me back into the bottled-up essence of a slow lazy morning, waking up in bed far from home,” Hannah tells recalling those enforced stay-at-home days. “It fell out of me because I was craving that blissful flavour.” Meanwhile ‘dawn of the age of aquarius’s new parallel reality evolved from a happy accident when their demos had reset to a drone which Jason reworked into a Laurie Anderson-esque breathy vocoder effect. Even bloops and beeps from a forgotten recording session at the Vintage Synthesizer Museum in Emeryville can be heard, where the pair used Mini Moog, Fairlight EMI and ARP 2600 to arrange their sound into shapes whilst distortion and dirt from mixing on 1979 Neve 5313 Console added to the recordings’ color.
Casting a brighter rainbow still, in all its pastel-hued glory, Hannah, also illustrated a self-portrait of the band for the album artwork. “It reflects our makeshift recording studio to encapsulate all aspects of that time and space,” she shares of their abode where, over an intense two-week period and fuelled by the aroma of fermenting vino from the winery below, their single chord, bass and drum-heavy, groove-first momentum took them on an unexpected journey whilst the next-door couple would fire pizzas in their yard and a grandfather across the road would sweep the street clean. “We’d drink coffee and start the day, consistently working, without interruption,” Chris tells of finding their flow. “The loft is a cool space with skylights, tall ceilings and no shared walls so we could be as loud as we wanted to be.”
Just as well. Diving into decades of electronica and crunchy sound effects, field recordings and animal sounds, blended with an infectious Latin influence, shapes & colors is bolstered by live percussionists Greg Poneris (drums), K. Dylan Edrich (Vocals, Percussion: congas, bongos, chimes, cow bells and wood blocks, tone drum and tri-tone whistle) and Tom Smith (Guitar, Synthesizers, Vocals).
NIMBY crews grab those earplugs now. abracadabra is your new noisy neighbour, and there’s no turning this party down.

Mum No Hands’ - an assured four tracker that draws on Bristol bass, footwork, jungle and broken techno to create something fresh and upfront. A certified stalwart of the Bristol scene, Yushh (aka Jen Hartley) is already well on her way to becoming a household name. Over the last few years she has toured extensively across Europe’s festival and club circuits, landing sets at Freerotation Festival and HÖR along the way. Her label, Pressure Dome, is known internationally as a go-to outlet for various offshoots of forward-thinking, soundsystem-ready UK techno, with a roster that includes Sputnik One, Caldera, Ido Plumes and Cando. So far, she has only teased her production skills with a string of one-off drops and remixes, including features on Rhythm Section, Banoffee Pies and All Centre. On ‘Look Mum No Hands’ she finally lays out the blueprints for her unique, club-honed sound. The title track skips along at a nippy 160 bpm, driven by a slow/fast halfstepping beat and monster bassline that places it somewhere between DMZ and Teklife. ‘Same Same’ drops the tempo down to 130 bpm, with loungey keys and a skippy vocal chop offsetting a cavernous low-end. On the flip, ‘Close Fall’ squeezes darkside d’n’b sonics into a chugging 95 bpm beat template, while ‘Self Couscous’ takes an intricate, glitched approach to jungle/broken beat reminiscent of mid 00’s Planet Mu. Genre: Dance / Bass

MASK unveil the final entry in its untitled release series.
Berlin-based label MASK records has become known for releasing a string of vinyl-only EP’s by unnamed producers which have seen the support of respected artists such as Jimpster, DJ Bone, Ben Sims,
Santiago Salazar, Laurent Garnier, Ryan Elliot, Marcel Dettmann, and the Blessed Madonna amongst others. Now, the tenth and final instalment of the series consists of an eclectic collection of techno and house cuts, all recorded on tape during an analog live session in the artist’s studio.
The A1 eases you into the record through glitchy textures, swelling synths and broken beats before the A2 gets you into a rapturous tracky groove offset by lo-fi vocals and dreamy pads. The A3 takes a darker turn through hypnotic drums and a droning bass, readying the listener for the B-Side which continues this raw energy.
The B1 picks up the pace with energetic drums and clean ride cymbals while the B2 incorporates floaty arps and a tantalising repeating vocal. ‘B3’ closes out the release with a retro 80s synth feel, putting a wrap on yet another incredible vinyl EP by this exciting underground label.

Flaminia’s first solo release on 47 features four mesmerizing techno rollers. London-based artist Flaminia makes her solo 47 debut with four sophisticated techno tracks that perfectly balance brooding intensity with dreamlike atmospherics. A producer with EPs on Samurai Music, VSK Series and her own label, Metempsychosis Records, Flaminia builds on her canon of previous work with 47033, adding to the label roster’s growing arsenal of expertly honed dance floor releases. On the A-side, two four-to-the floor heavyweights—”Pure” and “Burn Loudly”—offset bone-shaking kicks with plangent melodies that make these tracks uplifting despite their ferocity. The B-side takes a darker turn; “Back To Zero” is an icy broken beat that shines in its stuttering rhythmic complexity, while the closer, “Dissolved,” is just as foreboding: synths scrape and shatter like shards of glass against a spare and crunchy kick while Flaminia’s voice reverberates in the background. The entire package will be

Belgian artist Melawati steps up to Ellum Audio with an arresting debut album, Artimia. Produced with an array of modified machines and modular synths, it is a testament to finding beauty in chaos.

Martijn Ravesloot aka Melawati makes music out of mistakes. He comes from an indie background but has always admired Aphex Twin while playing in bands such as The Subs and working in theatre. He has a love of experimenting with soundwaves that gives rise to his complex, experimental and improvised sounds. He first met Maceo Plex while jamming and that session turned into the track 'Daliah' which dropped on Ellum Audio and was remixed by Tale of Us.

After that, Melawati wrote this most absorbing and beautiful album during the pandemic in a dark studio attic in the heart of Brussels. He set about recording live experiments on analog synths and then deconstructed and reconstructed them into the tracks presented here. The angelic tones of guest vocalist Lisa Jane feature on two tracks though the pair have never met, and Melawati is now set to take his impressive live show to Tomorrowland. His life has changed since writing the album, he now has two children and lives on a farm, but the power of this music where organic and alien worlds intersect remains utterly compelling.

Opener 'I Just Want To Go Walking' pairs a heavenly vocal with celestial chords and a bustling broken beat that strikes a powerful emotional note right from the off. The excellent 'Riddles' showcases more majestic synth work and molten melodies that suspend you in mid-air while 'Slow Pulse' is an intense layering of drones and heavy drum tumbles that again offsets light and dark, tension and release. 'Red Herring' rests with beautifully pensive synth patterns that twinkle, warp and melt before your very ears and 'You And I' takes off on a rubbery groove overlaid with heart-aching keys and shimmering, wordless vocals. 'Somebody' is brain-soothing synth bliss with lush patterns and icy drums that gently unfold to get you in a trance and the gorgeous 'Radiate' then offers a widescreen and cosmic ambient interlude. The heartbroken synths of 'Let Your Love Wash Over Me' speak of the end of a cosmic love affair and 'Violent Thoughts' rebuilds on smooth arps and smeared pads over downtempo drums. The final trio of tracks offers rousing breakbeats on 'New White Noise', uplifting synth catharsis on 'Pain And Pressure' and a melancholic lullaby on 'Stellar'.

Artimia is a beautiful mix of harmony and dissonance, of real emotional power and improvised musical elegance.

Augen zu und durch und Du wirst schon sehen...das Leben geht weiter!" Ja klar, aber wenn man dazu noch die richtige Musik als steten Begleiter hat, lebt es sich gleich noch um einiges entspannter.Gerade in diesen nicht ganz einfachen Zeiten kommt die neue Scheibe von Emscherkurve77 genau zur richtigen Zeit und meistert diesen Anspruch so treffsicher in Lyrics & Sound dass wir öfters beim Hören innehielten und dabei ertappt fühlten, woher Jemand weiß, was so in einem vorgeht. Die Ruhrpott-Institution ist zurück und was mit "Buch des Lebens" und "Brandgefährlich" schon in Punkto Weiterentwicklung, Maßstäbe und Ansprüche an sich selbst abzusehen war, schlägt trotzdem die Erwartungen um Längen!Doch das wichtigste zuerst: Emscherkurve77 sind und bleiben eine Punkband! Und ähnlich wie seinerzeit Green Day mit "American Idiot" darf Punk auch fernab des üblichen Schema´s mit 3 Akkorden und 3 Minuten die üblichen Wege spielerisch erweitern ohne abzubiegen.Genau das tut "Augen zu und Durch"! Unverkennbar Emscherkurve77 aber 4 neue, exklusive Lieder, die nicht mehr aus der Kurve kommen, sondern Ecken und Kanten mit jeder Menge Lebenserfahrung haben! Meilenweit vom oftmals weinerlichen Emo-Punk entfernt und mit Songs wie "Wieder Zwanzig sein", "Pirat" oder "Am Boden" oder dem Titelsong nicht kalt lassen! Rückblick - nach Vorne sehen - (das Leben) genießen! Wie ein gutgereifter Wein, der im Regal neben einem Sixpack Craft-Bier steht! Ein großartiger Vorbote auf den in 2023 erscheinenden neuen Longplayer "Stimmen der Stadt"! Halbclear in lumi-blue mit black angemischt wird sie durchlässig und gibt das weiss gedruckte Motiv erst richtig preis! Dazu ein 350gr. inside/out Cover, Inlay und ein Schmuckstück in dem Plattenregal.Offset printed B-side LP

solid white vinyl

After 11 long years Pohjola reignites it's furnace to bring a new release by a (let's pretend he's) young Serbian producer Lag. Finding a common language in pursuing the unsaid parts of techno, labelboss Rivet aka Grovskopa and Lag turned their long, meme-and-trolling-fueled friendship into a gorgeous-looking record (art by Trudy Creen, additional design work by Dejan Ilic). The music it bears is as offset as it is functional: offering a palette of both straight and broken beats driven by vocal snippets, genre-defying arrangements and, most importantly, scream-inducing club moments. Trust us, we tried them in the wild.

Der Superstar unter den DJ-Produzenten veröffentlicht sein neues Album "Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 2". Die erste Single "Potion" mit Popstar Dua Lipa und dem Rapper Young Thug hat bereits über 70 Millionen Streams erreicht. Die Liste der Featurings ist beeindruckend: Pharrell Williams, 21Savage, Snoop Dogg, Justin Timberlake, Halsey, Charlie Puth, Busta Rhymes, Swae Lee, Pusha T, Jorja Smith, Tinashe, Lil Durk und viele andere. Le DJ producteur superstar au monde présente son nouvel album « Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 2 ». Le premier extrait « Potion » en featuring avec la popstar Dua Lipa et le rappeur Young Thug cartonne déjà et cumule plus de 70 millions de streams. Pour ce second volume, on retrouve une liste de featurings impressionnants, puisque se croiseront Pharrell Williams, 21Savage, Snoop Dogg, Justin Timberlake, Halsey, Charlie Puth, Busta Rhymes, Swae Lee, Pusha T, Jorja Smith, Tinashe, ou encore Lil Durk.

The Discomfort Of Evening is the incredible and original soundtrack by prolific Belgian composer Michiel de Malsche to 2020 International Booker Prize winner The Discomfort of Evening by Marieke Lucas Rijneveld. Visceral and virtuosic, Rijneveld's novel follows Jas, a girl growing up in a devout Christian family that runs a Dutch dairy farm, whose brother dies in an accident after she wishes he would die instead of her rabbit. Lost in grief, her family falls apart as she becomes consumed by increasingly dangerous fantasies.

Michiel de Malsche has captured the atmosphere and spirit of Rijneveld's book perfectly, moving through moments of confrontation and introspection, sinking into spirals of despair, stasis and subtle hope and change. Brooding ambient basslines, driven by droning murmurs, are offset with melismatic electro-acoustic pieces that embody the novel's haunting and dissonant world, whilst also incorporating manipulated field recordings such as animal sounds and a church service, allowing for a full manifestation of Jas’s world in a completely new way.

De Malsche achieves this by rallying an unusual combination of acoustic instruments (16 in total) played by top-of-their-field musicians, creating a truly unique sound world and tonal palette, including an Ondes Martenot, a 7-stringed Chinese instrument called a guqin, a marimba, a string 6-tet, a toy piano and a bass flute.

De Malsche always confronts all emotional levels of his source material head-on, making his soundtrack into much more than just a fever dream. It is a precise description of, and accompaniment to, a devastatingly impactful book.
Michiel De Malsche is a Belgian composer, multi-instrumentalist and sound designer. He studied classical composition at the conservatories of Rotterdam and Ghent. His music has been performed all over the world and he has composed and produced dozens of soundtracks for contemporary dance, theatre, movies and documentaries.

Besides his work as a contemporary classical composer, he is active as a studio musician and producer in the world of electronic music.

Welcome to Retropolis! Known for the inimitable Can’t Stop with Coloray, an unhealthy obsession with vintage music machines, a baroque style in the use of synthesizer melodies and a forewarn-looking approach to the past, Chris Barratt’s music as Eagles & Butterflies can be as fun-loving as melancholically beautiful. For his long overdue debut on Running Back, the english man dishes out a bit of both in a healthy bowl of broth.

Retropolis is not only the direction giving title, but bold and bonny at the same time. That its working title was Italo should tell you all you need to know. Suitable for big rooms, major moments, minor miracles and sophisticated car chase scenes alike. Faster takes off in another direction. Imagine two people falling in love during a bumper car ride – heartfelt vocals included.

On the flip side E&B follows a similar state of equilibrium. Like the highs and lows and ups and downs in a John Hughes movie, it also showcases the characteristics of two synthesizer classics: the exuberant piano version of Juno Ninja (please look at the digital release for a version devoid of it) offsets the poignant and plangent vibe of CS-80. In summary: made with lots of synthesizers and for fans of keyboard music. And always keep in mind: the future sounds and looks better than you think!

Clear Vinyl

Laila Sakini and Lucy Van’s sought after 2017 EP Figures resurfaces on a newly expanded and remastered edition, deploying taut poetry and creeping electro-pulses for an alchemical suite of slowly encroaching trip hop x dub-pop.

Long before releasing her slow-burn classic ‘Vivienne’ and last year’s compelling Princess Diana of Wales album, Laila Sakini was at work with acclaimed poet Lucy Van for an impromptu session for a local noise and spoken word night in Naarm, Australia. Those initial ideas marinated and eventually resulted in ‘Figures’ - an EP that was originally released on tape via Purely Physical Teeny Tapes, offseting Sakini’s minimal production against Van’s text, spoken in a carefully enunciated dialect lifted and wrapped around Sakini’s nocturnes. It’s the sort of thing that reminds us of Tin Man & Rashad Becker’s ‘Wasteland’ sessions, fused with the spirit of the contemporary Naarm/Melbourne scene.

For all those references, Sakini and Van’s songs are displaced from the contemporary wellspring too. The dusky blue waltz of opener ‘Those Who See’ comes off like a lighter Leslie Winer or melodic, early AFX, as Van dryly intones “...all my enemies in an orgy, of IQ to body ratio,” while ‘Deep End’ sees them nudge into more claustrophobic introspection, before shoring up a dank sort of trip hop sleaze with the title song, slithering with a similar energy to early 90’s Autechre as the narration echoes to a blur.

The three previously unreleased songs flesh out the release into the full album it always should have been, cut of equally rare, hand-spun fabric. With its post-Sleng Teng B-line and noctilucent chords, ‘What You Need’ feels like an Eski rhythmic bump accompanied by sub-aquatic synth bass, and the opalescent, gumtree-shaking shimmer ‘Rough Desires’ secretes its intimations with an absorbingly hypnagogic slow-burn that pools into the perfect curtain closer; ‘Trees Make Me High’.

Mit seinem dritten Album als Peel Dream Magazine lockt Joseph Stevens in eine fabelhafte, zickzackförmige Welt, die er selbst entworfen hat. Auf Pad verzichtet er auf die unscharfe vorherige Glorie seiner Indie-Pop-Vergangenheit - hier zittert erst ein Vibraphon, stehen Streicher ebenfalls im Mittelpunkt. Der Vorhang hebt sich für einen opulentem Kammerpop und gibt den Blick frei auf Banjo. Glockenspiel. Farfisa. Und als er im Titeltrack des Albums ein Stöhnen ausstößt, wird klar, dass dies kein gewöhnlicher Auftritt ist. Pad ist ein konzeptionelles Werk über das Sich-Verlieren, wenn man nur noch sich selbst hat, und deutet auf eine aufregende neue Zukunft für Stevens' Pop-Song hin, indem es seine eigene Existenz neu interpretiert. Als Nachfolger des erfolgreichen Agitprop Alterna aus dem Jahr 2020 stellt Pad eine bedeutende soundtechnische Entwicklung für den 34-jährigen Songwriter dar, der im selben Jahr mitten in der Pandemie nach Los Angeles zog. Drumcomputer und Synthesizer aus den siebziger Jahren sind geblieben, aber er hat seine schnarrende Offset-Gitarre gegen eine Nylonsaite ausgetauscht und sich für einen sanften Barock-Pop-Sound entschieden, der von Bossa, Folk und seiner eigenen unheimlichen Mystik durchdrungen ist. Neben Vorbildern aus der Mitte des Jahrhunderts wie Burt Bacharach greift Stevens auf die kultisch geliebten Basteleien der Beach Boys aus den späten 1960er Jahren zurück und bietet eine surreale Melange aus alten Orgeln und gefundener Percussion sowie Harry Nilssons Songteppich The Point!von 1970. Pad klingt zwar wunderschön, hat aber auch eine gewisse Dunkelheit. Stevens spricht unsere generelle Ambivalenz gegenüber der Zukunft von allem, was wir kennen, an, teilweise beeinflusst durch seine Zeit in New York zu Beginn der Pandemie. In "Hiding Out" klagt er: Ich wandere an der Vernon Mall vorbei und hinauf zur Queensboro Bridge. Man gibt mir das Gefühl, zwei Fuß klein zu sein, aber das ist keine Art zu leben. Letzten Endes verfolgt Stevens einen Ansatz, bei dem der erste Gedanke der beste Gedanke ist, und lehnt sich an die fantastischen Elemente seiner eigenen Lebensgeschichte an. Pad ist ebenso archetypisch wie seltsam und verwischt genau die Grenzen, die es zu definieren versucht. Die Kunst ahmt das Leben nach, aber das Leben ahmt auch die Kunst nach - und die Ergebnisse können manchmal unvorhersehbar sein. Für Freunde von Sterolab, Beach Boys ca. Smile, High Llamas, Broadcast, The Lilys

Carlita’s meteoric rise through the electronic music space continues with her impressive new ‘Bon Trip’ EP and also marks her first-ever vinyl release.

The EP kicks off with the title track, a spacey slice of progressive house drenched with a classic-era piano line - it’s exactly what you want to be listening to when the sun rises and sets at your favorite outdoor party. Next, ‘Run Run Run’ immediately kicks into high gear with an irresistible bassline that offsets Duddha’s spiritual, leftfield vocals which help make the track quite the trip. The package is rounded out by two remixes - Krystal Klear offers a punchy, electro-interpretation of the title track while Red Axes dips ‘Run Run Run’ into a vat of acid for their 303-inspired version of the song.

The “Bon Trip EP” comes on the heels of Carlita and DJ Tennis’ incredible remix of Diplo feat. Jungle “Don’t Be Afraid”.

Kicking off with direct, subtle and in-tune basement dust, Skudge has managed to capture two weekend modes. This is a soundtrack for either those apprehensive moments, where things start to fall into place and the crowd is rest assured that this will be a time to remember. But Soundworks is also the soundtrack for those areas that turn party-goers into altered silhouettes, captured between strobe light flashes. All-in-all, what we have here is a return to form for Skudge, with a capital S.

The good thing about techno is that you can reach the most diverse states. The possibilities are almost endless, the machines multifaceted and the imagination knows no boundaries. Just this joy
of experimenting with melodies and equipment is one of the specialties of Berk Offset aka Echowolf, which he brings to bear again in his latest release on Snork Enterprises "Dreieinigkeit".

Weird rhythms and twisted sounds develop in the end to a harmonic overall state.

The three new tracks, which all run under the title "Zustand" (the German word for “state” or “condition”) only with different numbering, are complemented by a brilliant rework by Headless
Horsemann. In full honor of his name, he enhances the wonderfully weird techno tunes with a mysterious ambient style that not only sounds but also feels like a mighty acoustic shadow.

Berlin talent Joplyn is next up on Crosstown Rebels making her debut release on the label titled We Will Forgive Ourselves featuring remixes from prolific producer MK and label-head Damian Lazarus. Serving up two remixes in the form of MK’s Dub and Damian Lazarus’ Re-Shape, it acts as another milestone release for the near twenty-year-old imprint.

We Forgive Ourselves is the perfect musical metaphor for Joplyn’s inspiration. The track opens proceedings with elegant drum pads which are paired beautifully with quaint hi-hats. A gentle, healing vocal, followed by a deep heavy bassline creates a profound juxtaposition. Galactic-like sounds fizz in and out, fusing everything together to create a real sense of utopia that truly embodies Joplyn’s vision.

Brimming with a signature MK sound right from the offset, we’re treated to six-and-a-half minutes of perfectly executed contemporary deep house. Warming, subtle and inherently groove-led, soft kicks open into Joplyn’s haunting vocal offerings before rhythmic hats coalesce alongside, forming a modern dance anthem that is sure to light up many a club setting this summer.

Damian Lazarus’ Re-Shape comes next. Shimmering with an ethereal quality, the nine-minute piece undulates between moments of spiritual bliss to pummelling, acid-laden danceability. Whirring synths help create a galactic quality, as we travel between feelings of introspection, euphoria and everything in between.

Roy Mills readies a whirlwind trio of bass-bin-rattling tracks for his Local Knowledge label.

This is the third full solo release for Roy, who turns in a set of genre-spanning, sound design heavy cuts - channelling his twisted, thrilling take on dance music.

Leading the A1 is ‘Chinchilla’, a weighty tripped out stepper with mind-bending basslines, bubbling synths, and sharp stuttering drums taking charge.

Following is the low slung mutant ‘My Safeword is Dolphin’, a tongue in cheek break up song that serves up wonky percussion, vocal chops, and uneasy bleeps, fragmenting between dance floor tension and prog-matic might.

The 10 inch release settles it’s vibrations below the surface, ending with ‘Aquatiqué’. Gentle, reverberated drums work in tandem with spacious, considered sound design for a comparatively calm but no less club relevant closer to the EP.

The record comes complete with an AR interactive 70 x 48cm Offset printed poster, printed inserts, stickers + special treats.

Keep The Peace™ 2022


Includes AR Interactive 70 x 48cm Offset printed poster

Includes Printed Inserts

Includes Roy Mills ‘Mascot Sticker’ + special treats

Includes Poly-lined Paper Sleeve for Safe Storage

Mind Eclipse completes Deetron’s triptych for Running Back. After Body Electric and Ego Rave, it’s the missing part in a tale of youthful exuberance told by a seasoned raver and transported into the here and now. Taking the essence of the carefree energy of those days, its warehouses and fields minus the (sometimes!) aural clumsiness, Deetron delivers four studies in the transformation of said emotional states.
Mind Eclipse aka Trancehouzztool does exactly what it says on the tin: big synths, swirl and twirl during an extra long break down for an uproar – serotonin shower included. HG acts like an umbrella to that. Almost melancholic in its presence and meandering between highs and lows, it’s the perfect counterpoint and offset.
On the other side, Phoenix sounds like a lost Border Community hymn that found its way near a Roland 909 for peak time purposes, before The Shore closes the book in a hybrid state between electro and disco or the soundtrack to IDM supporters in a gym workout (also available in an alternative version digitally for those who like their beats straight).
It won’t eclipse your mind though that Deetron knows what he does in the studio, so expect finest artistry, crafty tricks and technical expertise. „’Til the sweatshirts are falling down of us…“

Until recently, it was thought that we had heard all there was to hear from Saâda Bonaire. The German studio project's 1980s recordings had been compiled on the now cult-classic double LP Saâda Bonaire, released by Captured Tracks in 2013. Though the group had continued working until 1994, founder Ralph "von" Richtoven had firmly stated that all of their post-1986 work was lost. Released now for the first time ever, 1992 compiles the band's long-lost early nineties material. Produced between Bremen and New York City, the 12 songs presented here capture the group's attempts at steering their trademark fusion sound (reggae, afro-funk, Eastern music, and sultry German female vocals) into uncharted nu jazz, trip-hop, and house territories. It's no surprise, given both the time lapse and the fluid nature of the project, that these recordings differ sonically from the 1980s material. 1992 finds Saâda Bonaire folding new influences from the time (house, hip-hop, rap) into their eclectic sonic universe. Vocalist Andrea Ebert's soulful voice -the result of a church choir background and an early love of American soul and jazz music- offset Stephanie Lange's laid-back, more German-sounding vocals. This unique interplay bolstered the band's new direction - evident in their inspired takes on James Brown's "Woman" and Syreeta Wright and Stevie Wonder's "To Know You Is To Love You". The American influence was also made literal via contributions by renowned DJ Matthias Heillbronn and rapper Jimmy Lee Patterson, both of whom lent some stardust to the tracks at François Kevorkian's Axis Studios in NYC. Unfortunately, the demo recordings were considered too bizarre for 1990s record label standards, and as a result were never published. As with all things Saâda Bonaire, the discovery of these discarded recordings feels like a sort of magical impossibility. It's been nearly ten years since the release of the last compilation, and thirty since the recordings were originally captured. That they still manage to sound fresh and avant garde is a testament to Saâda Bonaire's flair for creating pop music for past, present, and future outsiders.

House and techno purveyor Ejeca delivers with a high-octane release, ‘Keep Climbing EP’ on Needwant Records, which celebrates 100 releases. The four-tracker is available on a limited run of vinyl.

From its inception, Needwant has focussed on pioneering the sounds of tomorrow, developing exciting artists in the world of crossover dance and electronic music including lau.ra, Kiwi, and Ejeca, who first released on the label in 2013.

The title track kicks off the EP with serious force; heavy kicks and a glitchy melody loops hypnotically before making way for the track’s commanding vocal which is equally entrancing. Like its title, ‘Keep Climbing’ builds and builds, generating full-throttle energy that is finally erupted after a euphoric piano breakdown. ‘Vader’ reduces the pace and deepens the mood with a deep humming bassline, twinkling chords, and eerie strings. A breakdown follows with Ejaca’s signature ravey piano-lines in combination with hooky top-line vocals that seamlessly takes the track into peak-time party territory. The track is dynamic, enthralling, and highlights the depth to Ejeca’s production.

‘Won’t Beat Me’ is colourfully uplifting from the offset with bright piano and arpeggiating pads shimmering in tandem. The vocal is contagiously catchy, topping the instrumentation with positive energy which is present throughout the track’s duration. ‘Won’t Beat Me’ is a peak-time club big-hitter. Rounding off the EP is ‘Zyfer’ which boasts uncompromisingly chunky kicks and raw industrial echoes, before cleverly switching to a contrasting sonic soundscape in true Ejeca style. 8-bit arpeggiating chords bubble before warping into a driving club melody which dances on top of the heavy-hitting kicks and groovy percussion.

The EP perfectly captures the ethos of Needwant; forward-thinking music with innovative ideas from an artist who contributed to the label in its early stages. 100 releases on and Needwant continues to push the sounds of tomorrow in slick style.

VINTAGE CROP serve to serve again. Over the last four years the Geelong group have become a burgeoning force in the Australian punk scene. Their burly, brusque yet supple songs have evolved from the garage rock of 2017’s ‘TV Organs’ album into the post-punk panic attack of last year’s ‘Company Man’ EP. Now they’ve sculpted their sound further, the barrage now offset with robust songwriting, their full-pelt bounce tempered with flailing guitar lines and sardonic commentary. Bringing to mind Wire tackling tracks from early 7”s by The Yummy Fur, it’s an inspired approach, both striking and effortlessly mirthful. Vintage Crop still dish-up plenty of commanding stomp, their lyrics remain as keen-eyed as ever, but now they’re unafraid to mess with the tempo and drive their point home.
‘Serve To Serve Again’ is Vintage Crop’s third full-length album. It was recorded by Mikey Young after a year of playing solid shows, including tours in Europe and the UK alongside Louder Than Death and URSA and some of the band’s biggest shows to date in Australia with Amyl & The Sniffers, R.M.F.C. and The Stroppies. This allowed Vintage Crop to nail the songs live before committing them to tape, pulling and pushing ideas, stretching them into new-found territories. ‘First In Line’ races off the blocks with its sawtooth riff and splintered beat, all jagged edges and ragged vocals. Quickly follow a pair of totemic bruisers in the guise of ‘The Ladder’ and ‘The North’, both brimming with a nigh anthemic quality, confident in their faculty to rouse the rabble. ‘Jack’s Casino’ is a lurching romp about gambling, ‘Streetview’ is similarly propellent, only choosing to meander and divert itself with cryptic trips around the neighbourhood: “He only moved to that side of town because the postcode is worth it’s weight in gold”.
There’s no better poised nod to frustration than ‘Gridlock’ - “the hustle and bustle of inner-city traffic is driving me nuts because the radios on static”. Guitar lines entwine and wriggle wildly free from the song’s pouncing rhythm and potent vocal, making for the most vigorous of rackets. ‘Just My Luck’ prowls with a shared thrumming verve, whilst ‘Everyday Heroes’ closes out the album with measured flair. Skewed and fervent, rangy at times yet always assured in its intent ‘Serve To Serve Again’ is long-legged leap for Vintage Crop into the delirious now. These songs strive to make sense of futility, they criticise the chain of command, question privilege and most importantly make us want more from life. Now all we have to do is turn up the volume!

Causa returns to Infernal Sounds for his debut solo release, after his previous two outings in collaboration with Shu (IFS003) and as part of the VA Crimson LP (IFS025). This time he presents two standout tracks, and a strong message to go alongside. With the world requiring more sustainability and less waste, this record has been created with the most measures possible to create a greener record - The 12" are made in a completely climate-neutral way, the material having been recycled, all unavoidable Co2 emissions have been offset, the cardboard/centre labels are either FSG approved or via recycled means, and even the artwork has been made with all of this in mind, using minimal ink work and a restricted colour pallet to limit the amount of waste throughout.

Not only that, but the two tracks on the 12" absolutely slap, radiating that trademark Causa swampy-sound. 'Haiy' kicks off the proceedings with a reverberating lead before plunging you into a frenzy of mid-range madness, and bass-curdling pressure. 'Untitled R V3 C' has been a long sought after dubplate, having done the rounds for a few years. It's a proper groovy, swinger, providing you with pure invigoration.

Light Blue Vinyl

Primarily produced and written by Rich Brian himself and with help from a few friends, the album proves the rapper from Indonesia is more than just an internet sensation. At 14 tracks, the album includes hit singles "Glow Like Dat," "Attention," & "Introvert." Features include Offset, and fellow labelmates Joji, NIKI, & AUGUST 08.