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The sensational contribution of the Roman project Fire at work, risen over the millennium end, delivers the next 12 release of the label.
The sounds and visions of the two producers are coming directly from the most radical electronic counterculture's pot, the industrial dimension and the radical sound choice seem to be the best and right way to tell the story of a dystopian reality, a meaningful choice useful to criticise humans and their civilisation. The complex of the Fire At Work production represents an act of cultural resistance, therefore Monolith Records seems to be the right and natural follow up of a long multidisciplinary journey. This release is the meeting point of two generations sharing a similar electronic countercultural background, in the middle of the ruins of a modern world which is nothing but a ripped-off planet, a consumed scenario where the radicalisation of the exclusivity leads the beings to the recurring Post-humanistic alienation. The music journey develops through cuts deliberately violating the borders of genre and style, leaving to the dark decaying soundscapes the duty to shape coherence. The overall dimension of this work floats in a tension between the mental form of the synths and the implacability of the concrete drumming asset, that alternates straight and broken beats merged by the same obsessive character. In order to consistently remark the intention behind the production, the Remix by hypnoskull for 'Re_Sample The Future', a tool shaped by an heavy distorted timber that brings lyrics to clarify the common denominator of the EP: a totalitarian vision of reality involving the rejection of the status quo, together with the roles and the scopes of a totally dehumanised system. The 2.0 Man is unarmed and similar to a cadaver, and his desires and senses are reconciled by a perpetual stream of information, a data replacement of reality. The one way direction streaming can be interrupted by noise, as the element able to distort meaning the unexpected element occurring in the middle between the matrix of the message ed his audience. Given such conditions the style choice becomes part of the concept itself, and it is far from any kind of 'induced' choice.

Genre: Electronic, World (Arabic). 180gram vinyl includes 12'x24' art print poster + 320kbps DL card. RIYL: Matar Mohammad, Pauline Oliveros, Nadah El Shazly, Lucrecia Dalt, Chino Amobi, Sote, Arca, Fatima Al Qadiri, Tacita Dean, Stan Brakhage. Jerusalem In My Heart (JIMH) returns with Daqa'iq Tudaiq, the third full-length album from the Montréal-Beirut contemporary Arabic audio-visual duo, following the acclaimed 2015 release If He Dies, If If I f If If If (ye ar-end li sts at The Wire (#39), The Quietus (#24) and A C loser Listen (Top 10), among other accolades).
Featuring voice, electronics, buzuk and other instrumentation from composer-producer Radwan Ghazi Moumneh (Matana Roberts, Suuns, Big Brave) and abetted by the 16mm analog film work of Charles-André Coderre in live performance, JIMH continues to expand the horizons of its profound conceptual and aesthetic engagement with Arabic/Middle-Eastern traditions. Daqa'i q Tudaiq translates as 'minutes that bother/oppress/harass'—which presumably needs no further explanation—and features two distinct album sides of music. Side One realizes a long-held dream of Moumneh's to record a modern orchestral version of the popular Egyptian classic 'Ya Garat Al Wadi' by the legendary composer Mohammad Abdel Wahab. JIMH assembled a 15-piece orchestra in Beirut, enlisting the celebrated Montréal-Cairo composer Sam Shalabi (Land Of Kush) as arranger and musical director for the session. Anchored by the stately hypnotic pace of mallet and percussion instruments (riq, santur, derbakeh, kanun), the piece unfolds with lush, languid, reverb-drenched manoeuvrings through virtuosic Maqam shifts (Oriental scales). Moumneh's melismatic lead vocals and electronic production sensibility pay homage to the genre's documented historical recording traditions, while pushing things subtly and respectfully into new territories of sonic distortion and noised, artefact-laden transmission.
The song's original title (with lyrics penned in 1928 by the poet Ahmad Shawqi) translates as 'Oh Neighbour Of The Valley', but JIMH takes a different line from the original lyric as the new title for its orchestral-electronic re-interpretation. 'Wa Ta'atalat Loughat Al Kalam' (' The Language Of Speech Has Broke Down') is an expression of wordless love and transcendent communication between two lovers' eyes in Shawqi's poem; JIMH re-titles the song with this line, exploding the sentiment with more complexity, tragedy and socio-political meaning - also prefiguring the formal aesthetic ruptures JIMH bring to the piece itself. Love in a time of politics, politics in a world conspiring against love, and the specificity of Arab diasporic experience in our brutish 21st century. Side Two comprises four tracks of non-ensemble 'solo' material by Moumneh which push rupture and decomposition/recomposition of tradition further into avant-garde territory - voice, buzuk and electronics take the lead on a suite of emotive and evocative songs, including the percussive loopdriven instrumental 'Bein Ithnein' ('Between Two' ) and the stunningly unsettling processed vocal track 'Thahab, Mish Roujou', Thahab' ('(The Act Of) Departing, Not Returning, Departing'). Daqa'iq Tudaiq is a masterful, mesmerizing artistic statement and confirms Jerusalem In My Heart as one of the most engaged and forward-looking avant-Arabic projects at work in contemporary music today. Thanks for listening.

Pete Cannons first EP on Kniteofrce did stunningly well. His old skool sound, created the originl way using an Amiga and Akai samplers, obviously hit the sweet spot to become one of Kniteforces fastest selling releases to date. His follow up EP will not disappoint. If anything, it takes the feel of his first N4 project and expands it to a whole other level, retaining his unique traditional sound, but upping the ante and bringing even more old skool energy to the mix.

Club / DJ Support
Billy Bunter, the Fat Controller, Glowkid, Slipmatt, Dj Jedi, Dj Luna-C, Dj Brisk, Clayfighter, Jimni Cricket, Bustin, Sc@r, Doughboy, Saiyan, Dave Skywalker, Ponder and many others

A mythical and misplaced masterpiece of lost soft rock and acidic folk funk by a one-hit wonderer lost in the wilderness for four decades. From the producer of Margo Guryan, writer behind Wool, Gerry Mulligan collaborator, Tarantino soundtracker and Wendy & Bonnie confidant, Paint A Lady now emerges from folkloric obscurity, to bring a wash of soft psychedelic colour to your vinyl collection and quench the repeat requests of a thirsty new found audience waiting for the rain.

Within certain record collecting circles, especially those who gather under the umbrella that covers fragile niches like 'acid folk' and 'soft rock', it's difficult to imagine a time when the legendary Susan Christie album didn't exist. When Finders Keepers Records first shared the unheard 60's songs like Paint A Lady, For The Love Of A Soldier and Echoes In Your Mind with a wide-eyed audience thirsty for organic soul and festival friendly acoustic funk, Susan's new found fan base instantly felt like they had known these songs all of their lives, and with a single needle drop we saw the birth of what could rightfully be described as an 'instant classic'. Which is why it's hard to believe that the music on this lost 60s acetate was only pressed 12 years ago. As our lucky seventh release in an international discography that now surpasses the 100 mark (and one of a small clutch of English language recordings on the label) Paint A Lady has slowly become one of our most requested re-releases, and with this 2018 edition it is technically accurate to say that this pressing is the first-ever reissue of this elusive and essential LP.

The oft over used term mythical applies to this album on many levels. Perhaps it's the woozy nostalgia found within the pop craft of Paint A Lady that has led to false rumours that original 1960's copies used to exist on the collectors market, or the bizarre claim that songs like the head-nodding title track, and the acid-drenched sound effects on Yesterday Where's My Mind were just a product of a contemporary studio band trying to create a fake folk funk red herring. As a result Susan Christie and her producer and husband of 40 years, John Hill have happily taken the repeat phrase 'unbelievable' as a compliment to their songwriting skills and foresight. In all fairness, with a decade to ponder, the original 1969 song titles alone do seem custom-built for the nostalgia market... No One Can Hear You Cry might lament the unrequited yearning for a record deal which never quite followed Susan's won one-hit wonder novelty hit I Love Onions; similarly When Love Comes might allude to the subsequent 35 year wait for the right label to eventually come along. Echoes In Your Mind and the aforementioned Yesterday... could easily allude to the haunting melodies that sat in the can on John Hill's studio shelf while his projects for Margo Guryan, Wool and Pacific Gas & Electric sat proudly in record racks before benefitting successful French cover versions or making their way on to Quentin Tarantino soundtracks. The track Paint A lady itself, complete with it's future-proofed sample-worthy rhythm section, seems like the perfect title for a mock rock pseudo psych contender - at which point you eventually step back and see the bigger picture. These guys were simply one drop too far ahead of their time; a family force of experimental pop perfection that late 60's America simply wasn't ready for. It is just over 12 years since champion record rustler Keith D'Arcy (who you'll meet on the inside sleeve) stumbled upon one of the original acetates that led to the final release of Paint A Lady, and it's almost a longer 50 years since Susan and John added their final touches to these recordings which tragically went into hibernation for over four decades.

Whether this album has been on your wish-list for what seems like a lifetime, or you are taking a plunge into this deep puddle for the first time, when the needle drops on the first track you'll find that Susan Christie, John Hill and Finders Keepers have been saving up for a very rainy day.

This project is conceptually based around George Orwell's classic novel, 1984, backed with a remix from Perlon trio Wareika.
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The original mix of 'Thought Crime' opens the package with murky atmospheric textures, skippy hat patterns and shuffled organic drums grooves driving the composition before the focal stages see the introduction of eerie piano chords, spoken word vocal samples and acid tinged bass which ebbs and flows within the depths. 'No Fear' follows next, laying focus on a bumpy drum groove, modulating synth swells, ethereal tension building pads and a snaking sub bass groove to create a dynamically unfolding, hypnotic cut.

Perlon's Wareika step up to rework 'Thought Crime' opens the flip-side, as always from this trio shining light on chuggy bass grooves and jazz tinged ever-unfolding drums whilst stirring in the original's eerie voices and choppy pianos to create a frenzied, dynamic feel throughout. 'Since 1984' next to round out the release, an interlude of sorts featuring a bubbling arpeggio, dreamy piano melodies and an amalgamation of swirling, dubbed out echoes spiralling amongst muted kicks.

James Baldwin was an unparalleled master of the written and spoken word. He was best known for his brilliant essays, plays and novels that shone light on his insights into race, sexuality, spirituality and humanity. Baldwin was an incredible orator who commanded the power of words. Whether on the pages of his books or in speeches and debates, he was passionate, compelling and powerful. This EP is the second half of a project that is a tribute to Baldwin. It features extracts from the audio portion of a documentary film shot of a discussion led by James Baldwin and Dick Gregory at the West Indian Student Centre in London in 1968.

Peabody & Sherman is a partnership between Phillip C Hertz and Curtis Ruptash - drummer and bass player respectively. They share common interests in dub, afrobeat, funk, jazz, ambient and improvisational music. They have long histories of the employing 'studio as instrument' approach to recording. The foundations for this EP was P&S rhythm tracks recorded at the Wayback Machine Studio in 2011. Supplemental instruments were layered on to create the final product. The same original sessions were also the source for their James Baldwin EP released in 2012. That EP featured remixes by Area and Afrikan Sciences.

The same concept is applied here, with remixes being contributed by Waajeed and BusCrates. Waajeed is a Detroit producer known for inventive and genre-defying music. He is background includes his work with Slum Village through to the Platinum Pied Pipers and to his work with his own Dirt Tech label today. BusCrates is a Pittsburg based producer known for his inventive use of electric and vintage synths to create deep layers of analog goodness.

'Sometimes it's hard to say how you feel,' says songwriter-vocalist
Jade Vincent. 'These songs are vulnerable stories for me to tell -
they're things I couldn't say out loud. But I found that I could sing
them. And then I closed my eyes when they would listen.'
Listening to Vincent's songs were her partner - producer/composer
Keefus Ciancia - and DJ and producer/composer David Holmes.
Together, Vincent, Ciancia and Holmes make up Unloved, the musical
project that evolved out of a late-night Hollywood bar in 2015,
releasing a stunning debut album the following spring and this year
crafting the soundtrack to Phoebe Waller-Bridge's acclaimed new
series 'Killing Eve'.
Introduced to Ciancia through soundtrack work, Holmes found
himself invited to DJ one night and to curate other nights at the
Rotary Room. To invite Holmes to DJ is to unleash a kind of whirling
dervish of musical enthusiasm but through those nights the trio
discovered a shared love for 60s girl groups and French pop and film
noir soundtracks, Brigitte Fontaine, Shuggie Otis, George 'Shadow'
Morton, Bruno Nicolai, Lee Hazlewood and Jack Nitzsche, along with
a tremendous desire to work together.
Their debut EP - 'Guilty Of Love' - and the full-length, self-titled
album that followed in the spring of 2016, offered a quite remarkable
thing: a sound at once hauled out of the silty depths of the past and
simultaneously wholly modern. There was the soft hiss of a lo-fidelity
recording - the murky crackle of sample, beats and half-remembered,
long-lost favourite tunes. However, much of the songs' success
belonged to Vincent's sublime voice and lyrics, both possessed of an
aching, rich-smoked tone of loss and love.
Unloved's second album, 'Heartbreak', is about love. The album plays
out each song like a vignette of nothing but love. The songs that rose
up were in some ways surprising, but also felt insistent. 'They're real
feelings and real experiences that I had the guts to finally say, but
always ambiguous, this is very important to me,' she explains, 'and
always about love, one way or another.'
LP pressed on red coloured vinyl with digital download code.

BELLADONNA GRAVE is a new solo project from L.A, California. Past august 2018 has been released 2 mindblowing albums at the same time, 'Behind Despair' and 'Spiritual Death'. This double EP put together the best of the best of those majestic works. At ORACULO RECORDS we strongly think that we are more than probably in front of the cold synth / electronic record of the year. It arrives on ultra deluxe 2×12 EP format and produced in a ONE-OFF truly ultra extra limited edition of 200 copies lacquered pressed on 180 gr. high quality solid black vinyl, including inner big postcard with tracklist and a POSTER of BELLADONNA GRAVE's scan/copy based art. All tracks have been specially remastered for LONG CUT vinyl by Eric Van Wonterghem.

Domestic Exile are proud to present the devastatingly deplorable and malevolent recordings (that are sure to corrode yet electrify your ears) by Glasgow's very own KLEFT.

KLEFT aka Vickie McDonald is rooted in and has actively propagated the underground DIY radical queer punk and feminist movement here in Glasgow. Their projects have included the skull crushing sludge doom of Cartilage, the unflinching and infamous multi- membered hard core stars that were DIVORCE and the sacrificial, druid drone glitch of MOURN. Alongside these projects they have uncompromisingly disrupted, motivated and facilitated collective endeavors to take down the capital power structure of the dominant system of patriarchal club venues and abhorrent fuckers in this town.

For this record 'H+ Sexualis', KLEFT explores the neo-modern space where flesh is left behind. Negotiating, analyzing and tearing to shreds the relationship and balance between flesh and technology. KLEFT's expansive and palpable sonic offerings delve into themes of transhumanism and body hacking and seep into our collective skin begging the question; can flesh ever be created digitally. Does a lack of physicality alienate human experience in a post transhumanism society Are we all destined to be skinless yet digitally connected Will the body become superfluous Toward "the utopian dream of the hope for a monstrous world without gender," as stated on Donna Haraway's essay ''A Cyborg Manifesto.'

From the opening track 'Ossein' the listener grasps a foreboding lethargic build up, lurking out of the spatial ritualistic shadows into a sea of suffocating nothingness. A void where there is no gravity. Skeletal and brittle shattering rhythms which echo DMZ / Skull Disco dubstep alongside the more frozen, glacial ominous explorations of grime are often felt proving KLEFT is an artist whose inspirations run deep and wide and generally exist in the darkest recesses of our subconscious. These fearful, disjointed rhythms are set against weightless atmospheric oscillated synths, as if roaming through bleakly opaque, claustrophobic narrow corridors on a first person survival horror video game such as Resident Evil.

Moving through to 'CMBR', KLEFT's dissonant, degrading soundscape ferociously ascends. The resilient kick drum is propulsive and pulverizing akin to 'ardcore tekno - or intense gabba if you have the guts to adjust the tempo up to +8 - aesthetics that overwhelm and agitate finally revealing it's grotesque biological / amorphous bio structure. Elevating the repetitive 4/4 kick to a destructive, distorted banger of a track as layers of converging atonal noise and sound design simultaneously further enhances the sense of imminent radioactive contamination.

Next is 'Writhe, Squirm, Broken' continuing the convulsive, nauseating permutations of the prior track but reconfigured like a mangled, gruesome Cronenberg-esque parasite that has infiltrated an open wound, excruciatingly feeding off of the inner anatomy of it's hosts body from within. Repulsively reformulating the shape and dimension. The intro is akin to a panic stricken bouncy ball contracting and expanding, the spring reverb building momentum and traveling further away in distance and speed.

'Hackfleisch Deluxe' is a muuurrderous stomper and is one of the more grime / bass orientated tracks that deconstructs and disrupts the tempo familiar to sub-low producers on Black Ops / Jon E Cash / DJ Dread D. The crawling, plummeting frequency of the synth is a nauseating rush of coagulating blood to the heed; a deep throbbing sensory depravation in sharp, paradoxical contrast with the driving harmony layered on top which proves to be infectiously addictive. Furthermore are splintering programmed vocal samples that gives a sense of artificial disorientation, mind over matter, a possible hint at our evolving sentient cognition within a nightmarish simulated, augmented reality

Second to last we have 'Keratin' which is filled with the near fatal dissolving thud of Djax-Up acid that gives the impression that you're a biologist peering through a microscope into a petrie dish and witnessing the rapid and furious genetic cellular replication of bacterial and viral organisms.

Culminating in 'Bruised and Bleeding Hands' where the squashed density of a deflated and depressurized helium filled balloon and elastic umbilical cords, barbed wire and copper wires grind n' coil around the lens of a zooming camera. Taking no prisoners, this is a punishing grime weapon. A phat, surgical kick drum bulldozes its way thru causing carnage, syncopated punching snares after every rave stab and dizzying third beat. It won't be long until ye hear this on Silver Drizzle's youtube channel in the near future.

This record transports us to the hyperkinetic mutation scene on the cult cyberpunk film Tetsuo The Iron Man where the organic flesh / mechanical rust of the Iron Man metamorphoses with the Metal Fetishist during the rebirth sequence and we say 'LONG LIVE THE NEW FLESH!''.

Lance Ferguson's Raregroove Spectrum is a collection of newly recorded versions of classic funk, soul, jazz and latin vinyl rarities, which features some of Melbourne's finest musicians across the album, including past and present members of The Bamboos, The Putbacks and Hiatus Kaiyote.

As the man at the helm of many musical projects over the years including Cookin' On 3 Burners, Menagerie & his solo project Lanu, Lance is no stranger to the art of imaginative musical re-interpretation, be the material soul, funk and jazz based or the works of James Blake, Roxy Music and Prefab Sprout.

For Raregroove Spectrum, Lance explains that much of the inspiration for the re-works comes from his experience as a DJ, "Some of these versions can almost be looked at as DJ re-edits, sometimes we're extending what may be a really short track into something longer, or teasing out the elements in a song that really make it work on a dance-floor. It's essentially what someone does with a club re-edit, except we went the extra step and re-recorded the whole thing with a live band".

In other cases, top-shelf classics have been re-imagined in different guises: James Mason's 'Sweet Power, Your Embrace' as a sun-drenched Samba, or Anderson Paak's sure shot tune 'Am I Wrong' given an 1980's style Boogie/Jazz Funk makeover. Stir into this musical gumbo stew the raw Deep Funk of 'Egg Roll', the swinging Mod R&B of Googie Rene's 'Smoky Joe's La La' to the epic, widescreen Jazz-Funk of Pleasure's 'Joyous' - Rare Groove Spectrum provides new perspectives on the obscure to the well-loved, from old-school to new sounds - this is rare grooves re-grooved... beautifully.

Samo Records is very pleased to introduce the debut EP from Russian Chandeliers, a new project by Julian Grefe (Pink Skull) and Fringe Society (formerly known as Quell). Berliners by way of Philly and Athens (Greece), respectively, the studiomates have perfectly fused the best bits of their signature styles to create a record that's equally suited for headphones and dancefloors.

"Worm In Worm Out" (A1) kicks things off with a chunky, chuggy rhythm that indeed worms its way into your brain, sprinkling vaguely psychedelic echoes throughout.

"Stay In Seattle" (A2) is a slow-burning charmer that layers bleeps and sizzles over a dark and mesmerizing bassline.

Zombies in Miami put a slightly spooky, frantic spin on "Stay In Seattle" for their mix (B1), turning the moody paranoia into a deliciously foreboding frenzy.

MR TC's take on "Worm In Worm Out" (B2) ups the psychedelia, tones down the bass, and gently hypnotizes you into the best kind of euphoric haze.

"Kosmonauten Aceed" (B3) is an immediately captivating slice of industrial-laced acid with just the perfect amount of krautrock drizzled in.

A doctor by day and a musician by night, Leon x Leon has been producing songs in his
Parisian home studio since 2013, where house, italo-disco and boogie are mixing. When he
was younger, he was immersed in music by taking jazz drum lessons at the conservatory,
and especially by seeing his father, a sound engineer, who had been building his own
synthesizers since the 1970s. As a tribute, he used one of these unique synthesizers on a
title of the disc.
After a remarkable remix of Cerrone's "Funk Makossa" and several tracks on various from
'Red Laser Disco', he released his project My Solar Brass on the same English label in
2017. Organizer of many Parisian parties, he also participated in the founding of the
publishing label 'Good Plus". With the release of Rokanbo on Cracki Records, Leon x
Leon signs a mature EP with the influence of different styles.
The first eponymous title is a manifesto mixing Acid, House and Zouk. As soon as we
launch the track, the pop & acid 80's sounds takes us to another world... A UFO from the
Islands! The other parts of the EP don't leave us in the lurch! 'Formant Sweep' delivers a
soft and groovy bass that responds to an endless, spatial synthetic takeoff. On 'Red
Footpath', the harder kick cleverly blends with an atmospheric blanket and a bright, lively
flute solo straight from an abandoned piece of bamboo on a deserted beach. After that,
'Jungle Juice' lets a crazy keyboard solo resonate in the middle of tropical fauna and flora,
and finally on 'Horizon', the EP ends in beauty with an airy atmosphere. This last piece
sounds like a beautiful sunset at the end of a long summer day.
Through all these tracks, Rokanbo EP offers us a clever contrast between synthetic notes
and the warmth of tropical groove, and places our gaze towards the horizon, seeking the
groove to disturb its line on the infinite sea.

Metric Systems is the name of a covert project of over 20 years duration. It has moved across multiple continents, under multiple names. The 8 songs that make up 'People in the Dark' were recorded between 2000 and 2016 in various locations across Sydney, Melbourne and New York. The bright-eyed sci-fi fascination of Australia's Clan Analogue collective intertwines with the more sinister facets of modern technology - echoed voices pepper the album like fragments of a surveillance tape collected by our digital panopticon. A pervasive sense of paranoia and unease winds its way through these 8 tracks that move between techno, downtempo and more abstract strains of electroacoustic experimentation. Fittingly housed in a striking sleeve by American photographer Trevor Paglen, whose MacArthur-winning work revolves around these same themes of omnipresent surveillance and data mining.

'People in the Dark' opens with the wordless vocals of 'Your Room', drifting over the unspooling synthesizer sequence that seems to swell and recede from the foreground like the ebb and flow of a lapping tide, lapsing into dreamy ambience before the drums come back in. The smartly programmed drums are the focus of 'Chinatown Warehouse', whose hip-hop swing gives a distinct 'nod factor' to the otherwise hazy mechanics of the track. On 'Laika', a 303 line weaves its way across the subdued mid-tempo groove, gently recalling the ambient-acid of Susumu Yokota's 'Ebi' project. The penultimate track, 'Stellarwind' starts with a dark, foreboding drone before shining pads arc over like a glimpse of light through the track's murky darkness, the tension between these two poles moving together as the song unfolds.

This record reflect just a small selection from a large archive of recorded materials. All songs written and produced by Kate Crawford and Bo Daley.

Part II The title of the project is: "An Intermediary Plane of Existence", an in-between world, a shadow zone, two universes, the place between the entrance and exit of a portal. Most electronic music producers probably know the feeling where they, after producing and recording a track they are extremely content with, are suddenly overcome with a slight fear: "what if my computer crashes, what if the file of the recording gets lost somehow and the music gets lost, it's gone forever...". That feeling and the fact that all music, ever written and even the music that has yet to be written, is "somewhere" when it's not
being played or made. It's either written down in notes, stored in
someone's mind, cut into a piece of vinyl, recorded on tape, converted into 0's and 1's hiding somewhere on a hard drive, a cloud, a CD or a USB stick. It's been taken form the place it was before it was made and stored in another place, in an intermediary plane of existence, waiting to be played, to come back to life and listened to again. We wanted to do this various artists album not with just any talented artist, but with people we've met the past years who became our friends and people we admire for their music and personalities. Friendship is also something that most of the time resides in an intermediary plane of existence. When a friend is not in the same room, city or even country it doesn't mean the friendship is not still there. If you've never even met
someone in person, it doesn't mean you can't be friends. Even if you haven't spoken to your friend for a long period of time, it doesn't mean the friendship doesn't exist anymore. The same goes for love I believe.
Some people you will never stop loving, alive, or dead. Both owners of P-RT-L lost their fathers within a week from each other last year, but I also know people who haven't seen or spoken to their dads or moms in over a year, yet somehow it feels completely different not seeing someone for a long time if you know a person is still alive, even though it's not sure you will ever see him or her again. Their dads went back to the place they were before they were born and they will never come back the way they knew them. Just like all music that went lost before we as humans had the ability to write it down, store it on a medium or pass it on otherwise. That exact music, just like their dads, is lost forever. I know this will probably sound a bit too philosophical for some of you readers, but it's something that keeps me awake at night, sometimes. This albums is a way for us to celebrate the fact that the music on it, will never be lost because we as humans have found a way to store and contain it in a place where we can easily reach it, for ever. We hope you will enjoy the music! P-RT-L Featuring artists: Alex Bau ,AnD,Anouk De Vos, D-Leria, Daniel Kane, Dasha Rush, Frame Six Micol Danieli

After two solo releases on Lovefinger's ESP Insitute, and two more 12" as Greenvision (his collaborative project with Trent) Juan Ramos graces Berlin's Cocktail d'Amore Music with a new outstanding EP.A'Incorporeality' and 'Liquid Sky Drone' are both vibrant, hallucinating, trance inducing tracks. Full-on sonic layering and unexpected drum patterns compose these two bangers. Multidimensional is the right term to describe Ramos' music. His futuristic approach, yet full of references from the past, is gaining a strong reputation within the contemporary electronic scene.AMelbourne-Berlin based Kris Baha is on remix duties. 'Liquid Sky Drone' becomes an industrial ballad - cinematic and romantic, at the same time bouncing and synthetic.AArtwork by Boldtron, virtual reality artist based in Barcelona.

Big news on the Apparel Tronic side. We're here to celebrate another step forward of our newest label introducing the 7th release on the catalogue & 2nd on vinyl, by an artist we really admire and we're delighted to have on board with us: Julian Habib aka Inkswel, on this project with his alias 'That Dude Inkswel'. The man himself created an 8 tracks LP which truly represents our spirit of experimentation, this time round steering towards a more jazzy influenced hip-hop, shaped up staying true to the sound we love. 'The Sound' LP features dope collaborations such as the Detroit vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Brownstudy singing on the opening and title track, the amazing progressive artist Maia Von Lekow giving her voice for B1 track 'Mother' alongside Mista Monk, the superb Han Litz's flute and Trujillo on Kellin' it & also Divine Species on 'Galaxies' and Mr. Shem rapping on A3 track 'Dedicated to Mr. Schem'. This work is a bold and captivating selection of different styles belonging to the same soul orchestrated by Inkswel and his musical mastermind, listening to 'The Sound' is like jumping on a caravan for a journey where every track is a different stop: crunching beats, deep bass lines, psychedelic melodies. The ingredients for this amazing recipe are all coming from different parts of the planet, a place that Inskwel seem to have written on his palms seen his capability of bringing different music influences under the same roof, where he finally invited Apparel Tronic to hang for a bit.
racks such as 'Snooker Club' and 'Viejos' delve into more caliginous, IDM territory. The result is a rich and varied collection that demonstrates Apparel Music's unwavering ability to continue to keep listeners guessing.

'String Figures Remixes' is a series of remixes released on December 14th 2018 following the previous-ly highly acclaimed LP String Figures by Zoe Mc Pherson. (Watch her Boiler Room live show)

Remixers for this EP include Ben Vince (Hessle Audio co release w/ Joy Orbison & Where To Now solo album where collaborators include Mica Levi & Rupert Clervaux), N1L (Opal Tapes & UIQ), Hester-1, Bartellow (ESP Institute, Public Possession) & Sukitoa o Namau (First Terrace Recordings).

The EP is pressed on transparent vinyl & comes along with transparent sleeve.

When asked why Zoe chose each artist for her remix album she writes:

Ben Vince is my mate since he opened for my release in London last April and he was really excited about making a remix. Which I think is even nicer is that he only remixed and did not play saxophone. He actually properly very much remixed all the elements, all recognisable, which is a delight to listen to when you know all the parts seperately. The only thing he did is making it a UK club banger track !!!! :)


N1L is a friend whom I admire totally for his capacities of producing incredibly wicked tracks in no time. He's got 10 000 collabs going on ( abit like Ben). I don't know how he does it, but damn his remix is also one of these that are a delight to listen to when the samples are re organised in a very cool way which is his own.


Hester -1 is also a friend, violinist and producer from Antwerp. She is a nerd, her style and projects are developing, we jammed together, and I wanted her to be on the original album, so now she is in the remixes and made a very dark piece and now I'm thinking she should meet N1L :)


Bartellow is also a friend, behind SVS, and he was the first one to make a remix in 1 hour on a flight I think actually even before the album came out!!!! He had already made a proper groovy banger, as he always does, with his style.


Sukitoa O Namau I've been chatting with since a while, she's an incredibly inspiring artist, releasing on First Terrace records, she used to be a dancer and is an explorer of sound and of many things. She basically fucked up my track, by changing the rythms into no rythms and purifying it very much which reveals other things. Only keeping rough elements of it and I think it's absolutely brilliant.

[A] A1 | Sabotage Story (Ben Vince's Perculator Mix) 2) The Gate

Santo Sangre is a project by San Francisco-based artist, producer and DJ Gonzo Manuel. On its first release, Quetzal, perhaps a reference to the central-American bird with bright, ornate plumage Gonzo taps into a Latin-accented, tribal feel that is ably carried on rolling, syncopated percussion with an organic essence, a birdsong-like chant, sporadic and light bursts of actual song and haunting string chords that cut across the sound spectrum, adding dark energy and urgency to the track. This one will sit nicely out on its own, bringing a hybrid organic/robotic essence to the dance or would work equally well rinsed around in the mix, with all its elements appearing and disappearing at just the right time as a transition ascends and peaks.
Oakland producer Indy Nyles remix builds on the tribal theme by enhancing the syncopated aspect of the percussion. He augments this further with a pretty and drifting melody line composed of glassy keyboard sounds. The sense of drama this creates is boosted further by a breathy and repetitive voice sample. This concoction drives along nicely until around the 5 minute mark when Nyles drops a menacing, snaking thread of 303 bass, stabs of icey strings and echo and delay effects that amplify the shadowy, seductive allure of his remix. Its a new sounding track but the acid line and syncopation bring to mind some of the psychedelic, breakbeat classics of San Franciscos halcyon, rave era.
Rounding things up is the Slope 114 Remix. Here Dmitri Ponce and partner
Elise Gargalikis take the track on a house journey that is, like Indys mix, brand new sounding but possessed by the spirits of the classics. Elises vocal flourishes bring to the mind the Latin house, tribalist dynamism of Louie Vega and Indias River Ocean numbers while Dmitri nudges the bassline from chunk and funk to acid and massive without sacrifcing the subtlety of the maneuver. The subtle aspect being that a techno, a tech-house and a straight up house heads will be able to bounce this one to the box without leaving her generic comfort zone: the true mark of a classic.
This release is a strong start for this new artist, look out for more fire from this Bay Area talent

Lost Futures is a new label that explores experimental and often radical approaches to dance music from the past. In a musical landscape that increasingly claims to seek and reward new forms and ideas, Lost Futures delves into the recent past to revisit forward-thinking, optimistic projects that, owing to the social, musical or outright political climate, perhaps struggled to find an audience. Allowing only time to re-contextualise these leftfield, sometimes misunderstood and ultimately human bodies of work, Lost Futures taps into the inherent idealism of rave.

LF001 trips back until the early nineties to revisit the alternative scene emerging from the Dutch city of Utrecht. Here, three young men - DJ Zero One (Sander Friedeman), TJ Tape TV (Arno Peeters) and DJ White Delight (Richard van der Giessen) - joined forces to form 'The Awax Foundation'. Inspired by the transcendent and revolutionary electronic music arriving on their shores imported from Chicago and Detroit, combining their knowledge, gear and ever-expanding vinyl collection allowed additional freedom in paying sincere tribute to these intoxicating sounds, while also developing their tastes in a more personal, eclectic direction.

The musical flavours of Awax initially leaned toward acid house and the roots of techno. However, with three different mindsets in the mix, their tastes were rarely fixed. One thing each shared in common was a devotion to collecting rare sounds, specifically more adventurous and international samples than those emanating from the increasingly-hard, masculine dance music emerging from the Netherlands during the period. Inspired by the cross-over global sound of bands like Suns of Arqa, or 'World Music', as it was perhaps patronisingly termed at the time, the trio became interested in the idea of making techno with 'ethnic instruments'.

Of course, this being 1992, none of The Awax Foundation had access to such instruments, instead, they had a vast, collective library of samples from all over the world. There were no collaborations and no clear plan. Instead, they set to work using a Yamaha TX16W sampler, the legendary Atari 1040ST computer, a cheap mixing desk and a couple of low-end synths and FX machines. When Richard mentioned the project to his friend, Akin Fernandez, the London DJ and owner of cult label Irdial Discs, Fernandez was intrigued enough to invite the trio to record a one-hour show for his 'Monster Music Radio' series on London's then-burgeoning Kiss FM.

Forced to come up with a name, 'CultureClash' seemed like the obvious choice, even if the members of Awax were only creatively sparring among themselves. Along with the term 'ethno-techno', slightly dubious to a hopefully more conscious Western audience in 2017, these were the only guiding principles to the quietly ambitious project that soon combined cutting-edge machine rhythms with samples sourced from everywhere from Bolivia to Togo, and inspired by everything from Ravi Shankar's epic soundtrack to the Oscar-winning movie Ghandi, to the technical limits of their own setup requiring a dazzling degree of cut-and-paste work. Some tracks even emerged out of academic studies within the ethnomusicology department at The University of Amsterdam.

The show aired on October 2nd, 1992, recorded in one blistering take and without any rehearsals, traversing a huge variety of tempos and styles. If the performance wasn't seamless, it was undeniably thrilling, fresh and ambitious. As such, several labels, including Fernandez's aforementioned Irdial Discs expressed an interesting in commercially releasing CultureClash, while another imprint proposed a series of twelve-inches and an album. But the sheer complexity of the project meant that it never saw the light of day, while the trio embarked on different journeys ahead, both creative and personal.

Twenty five years later, and the original CultureClash lineup and founding members of The Awax Foundation provide the sound of the first release from Lost Futures. An otherworldly, ambitious and optimistic compilation, accompanied by extensive sleeve notes from the trio, CultureClash is a timeless ode to experimentation in dance music's ever-overlapping culture.

D-Leria returns to the scene more than a year after debuting on Berlin-based label Delirio, releasing a collection of work produced between 2014 and 2018; ten tracks which mark a new beginning for this young Italian producer, sweeping between heavy ambient excursions to hypnotic/ tribal techno, modernized and polished off in his own way.'Driving to Nowhere' is the summation of an extended journey; a year-long hiatus due to unforeseen health concerns allowed time to meditate and consider his past experiences in Italy's various underground electronic music scenes, and the potential directions inspired by thriving Berlin.
From 2014 to 2017 he released several EP's, each developing upon this new style, until joining the young label Delirio as both a musician and a manager. With Delirio he has hosted artists such as Stanislav Tolkackev, Roberto Bosco, Plaster, Retina.it and more, with a unique agenda to record precisely produced music live, instead of laboring in the studio to achieve over-polished audio. His first album inaugurates the beginning of the new DLP catalog, which will be dedicated to LPs, albums and other projects released on 12-inch vinyl. Through these 10 tracks D-Leria experiments with various production methods, as in 'Makumba' where he precisely combines the kick drum with a tight bass line in a 12-step sequence, making the track fluid and never predictable. 'Reborn' is an even more ambitious undertaking, initially recorded on tape before being sent back to the mixer via Hi Fi stereo, D-Leria modulated the cassette coil with a bic pen to create a unique 'detune' effect. 'From the Ground' and 'Driving to Nowhere', both made through the same setup, combine tribal voices and moans, combining an ethereal ambience with drums and analog percussion, connecting the rhythm directly to the soul. The opening track 'Libero' is dedicated to himself, while 'Her Smile' and 'Uragano' are both dedicated to the person that was closest to him in his last period of stop and realization of the album, where he expresses his most deep moments in the first, and more difficult in the second.
Just like in most of the EP already released on Delirio, Giuseppe Tillieci aka Neel took care of the mastering of the tracks, while the artist has taken care of the smallest details from the production, to the mixing, to the graphics and also to the titles of the tracks, which refer to personal thoughts and events that happened during this long journey to nowhere.

Known for a broad swath of genre-obliterating club tracks on crucial labels including Critical, Exit, and 50Weapons, Sam Binga approached us earlier this year with a radically different kind of project, a collaboration with Welfare, true junglist and label boss at D&B bastion Rua Sound. The result of their team-up is Conamara Fieldworks. Its unique inspiration and patient process are best described by the duo themselves:

"In early November 2016, we set off through the bleakness of an Irish November into the wilderness that is Conamara, County Galway, Ireland, with about half an idea of what we wanted to do. Our friend Laney had been kind enough to allow us the use of a 300 year old cottage overlooking the sea, itself belonging to her family through generations which she was bit by bit restoring to its former glory. The isolation was perfect - very little in the way of creature comforts, no network coverage, but plenty of turf for the stove and Guinness for the belly.

Our routine for the next few days consisted of trudging the length of the rugged coastline in search of interesting sounds we could potentially process into usable elements for some kind of dub/dub techno-inspired composition...This took us inside tidal caves and abandoned ruins, across sheep fields, up and down mountains and winding country lanes, in and out of the odd pub, under upturned boats and (carefully) across huge washes of seaweed-covered shoreline. Using our handheld recorder (shouts Danny Scrilla for the lend) we assembled a palette of varied noises, constantly battling with the peaking and distortion created by the incessant Atlantic gusts.

Each evening, following some intense huddling around the stove and vital Irish home cuisine and stout, we'd examine and dissect what we had collected that day, sometimes discovering the most interesting material firmly planted in the background of the soundscapes. A certain amount of (but not too much) processing later we had the bones of a few short loops of each sound which made some kind of musical sense when played alongside each other.

Binga suggested staying true to the craft and keeping the rawness to the foreground by attempting to develop the loops into full compositions via live desk mixing, arrangement and effects. We said our goodbyes to Conamara and a month or two later said our hellos to the Dubkasm shedio. Following a crash course from the dynamic duo, we set to work for the day, learning as we went along and enjoying to the full the unpredictability, intuition and sheer vibes a dubbing session can bring, particularly in a studio kitted out with some fine analogue gear which undoubtedly helped us to keep that damp, saturated feeling that Conamara had sown."

The resulting collection of music speaks for itself, and does so in its own language. It is meditative, deeply textural, and richly saturated, with awesome sound design, generous bass weight, and dubwise finesse. Referencing ambient, concrete, and dub techno while never letting any genre dictate its path, Conamara Fieldworks is a deeply rewarding and intensely involving listen. A restrained yet transporting remix from the one Ossia completes the set.

Continually illustrating his diversity, Elliot Projects Frazer Campbell finally puts some of his funkier sample heavy tracks onto wax for Counterfeit SOUL. Volume 2 sports four unforgettable dance floor swingers with his signature swing & groove. Recently he released another timeless collab on Mosaic with Steve O Sullivan so no suprise that these are also stacked with driving percussion, huge chords & smooth elating strings. This is a must for all bags ! Daytime, night time ....anytime! Volume 1 is floating around on limited TP's so keep your eyes peeled for that one.

The name Hugo Mari might not ring a bell just yet, but we've got a feeling this is about to change real soon. He's released a handful of EP's under his former alias Books on Omena and XVI including his own edit series on the latter label (check out his killer track 'in the groove or his jazzy deep house collaboration with Zodiac called 'Feel it in my Bones'). Considering he's also remixed well known artists like afrobeat legend Dele Sosimi and grime master Trim, you might share our view of this amazingly talented and versatile producer. His 'Change ur ways' EP for Heist is soulful, jazzy, deep and energetic with three varied originals and a classic soulful house remix by man of the moment, NDATL label head Kai Alcé.

'Get Loose' features the silky-smooth vocals of Zodiac, some lovely solo work on the Rhodes and a 'free jazz' vibe on the horns. There's a constant funk bassline looping throughout the track to keep the energy going while the loose arrangement as well as the drum programming give the track that care-free feeling of a never-ending live jam. With that, 'Get Loose' is a great club track that crosses the boundaries between funk, jazz and house.

The title track still has that jazzy feeling but moves towards a quirkier territory with some 'Frits Wentink' style harmonization, detuned piano's and loosely chopped samples. There's a definite gospel feel to the track, thanks to the choice in vocal chops, which is complemented perfectly by a filtered disco bassline. The percussion layer and rhythmic elements are full of energy without ever crossing the line where of subtlety that makes this track so catchy.

On the flip, there's 'Feel ur senses', the most straightforward deep house track of the release, that gets its mood from an ongoing tremolo on the Rhodes pads. Space bleeps, bells, a hidden arp and 'reverbed-out' hits give the track an almost balaeric sound that will certainly put a smile on your face.

The B side is complemented with a vocal and instrumental remix of 'Get Loose' by Kai Alcé, who has been throwing out one killer tune after the other, remixing Volcov's Isoul8 project (one of our favorites of the year), as well as kicking out releases on his own NDATL label. Kai goes for a full-on soulful house vibe, giving his own chord progression center stage along with a set of rimshots. He chooses to leave the horns out, and instead work the vocal, Rhodes, and cowbells from the original to great effect, adding a little solo work of his own on a bell-like piano where he freestyles happily throughout the track and copies the vocal for added harmonies.
The instrumental version is perfect for those moments where you're done with all the vocals and just want a tight soulful groove.

We couldn't be happier with this release so play it loud and get loose!

Yours Sincerely,

Maarten & Lars

john Yancey' Is The Second Album Illa J Will Release On Jakarta Records, Following The Successful
Release Of Home Last Year. The Project Is The Second Collaboration With Los Angeles
Based Producer Calvin Valentine, Who Once Again Contributed All Of The Production For The Long
Player. While home' Was Largely Inspired By Illa's Native City Of Detroit, john Yancey' Now
Focuses On His Time In California.
(this Album Is) Definitely More Personal Than All Of My Projects, Nothing Specific, But I Basically
Talk About About The Ups And Downs Of All My Relationships Over The Past 10 Years, Still Grieving
About My Bro, Etc. This One Is Trippy Because The First Single Comes Out A Day Before My 32nd
Birthday And The Original Title Was 32 Because This Is A Special Year To Me Because My Brother Died
At That Age So It Had A Lot Of Meaning. But It Makes Sense That It Ended Up Being Called John
Yancey Because For So Long In My Career I Felt Like I Was Tryna Be Me And My Brother, And I'm Finally
At Peace, Like I'm Not J Dilla's Younger Brother Illa J, I'm James Younger Brother John.'
While The Story Of The Album Might Have Changed, There Are Certain Continuities As Well, Built
Around The Strong Foundation Of The Combination Of Illa's Voice And Calvin Valentine's Soulful
Sample Based Production. The Previous Album Already Saw Illa J Incorporate More Singing Into
His Raps And He Goes Down This Path Even Further: i Wanted To Emphasize The Singing But Use
More Of My Natural Singing Voice, As Well As Rap More Than On Home.' In Regards To The Music,
Calvin Wanted To Make The Project Sound a Bit More Polished Where Home Was Purposely
Rough Around The Edges.' Still, The Production Remains Soulful And Rich With Layers To Leave Things
Interesting For The Listener, The More Spins You Give The Record.
The Cover Was Created By Robert Winter, A Cologne Based Photographer Who Was Also Behind The
Visual Appearance Of Home.

Last February, We Had The Delightful Surprise To See Dominique Dalcan On The Victoires De La Musique Stage (main French Musical Award). The Elegant Singer Received The Award For The Best Electronic Album For His Project Temperance, An Album In English Full Of Reliefs, Dense And Splendid. We Are Delighted To See Today That Dominique Publishes A Second Volume Of Temperance. The First Albums Of Dominique Dalcan Came Out In The Early 90's, Especially On The Belgian Label Crammed Discs. He Is Considered One Of The Ambassadors Of The New French Pop, Combining Electronic And Orchestral Arrangements. At The Same Time, Under The Name Of Snooze, He Immerses Himself In Electronic Music And Creates Soundtracks For Cinema And Contemporary Art. In 2013, He Switched To The English Language And Adopted A New Artistic Identity: Temperance.

The Project Moves Away Freely From The Format Of The Song To Dive Into A Vast Electronic Palette. In Temperance 2, We Hear Contemporary R & B Ballads Full Of Artificial Strings, Collisions Of Textures, Even Balinese Sounds But Nothing That Never Steals The Show With Dominique's Voice And Lyrics. The Temperance Repertoire Addresses The Confusion Of The Human World And A Wild Nature. There Is Also A Question Of Fusional Love With Pop And Soul Songs. This Gives An Album That Rushes Against Each Other Joy, Fury, Despair, Desire Or Pleasure, Without Them Ever Contradicting Each Other, And That Moderates With Art And Temperance, In Short.

A trio of guitar, bass and drums, Elektro Guzzi overcome the boundary between analogue versus digital, performing techno live with the drive of a machine and the sonic detail of an instrument - without any computers or loopers. For their upcoming album Polybrass, Elektro Guzzi have drastically expanded their sonic repertoire: both in the studio and on stage, they are joined by an ensemble of three trombonists, opening up a whole new realm of possibilities. With Hilary Jeffrey, Daniel Riegler and Martin Ptak, the band are joined by three brass heavyweights, each of them well renowned for both their solo ventures as well as projects such as The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble, Sand and Zeitkratzer. By treating the three trombones not simply as a set of extra instruments but rather as one coherent body of sound on its own, Elektro Guzzi dissociate the brass instruments from their conventional use and repurpose them into something completely different: a modular synthesizer, with each trombone representing one oscillator. In doing so, Elektro Guzzi add new layers of depth to their music, emphasizing a more cinematic side of their music: like the soundtrack for a movie, Polybrass is bigger, darker, more dramatic, more intimate. Warm and fuzzy textures float weightlessly above fragile soundscapes and complex sonic fragments. At the same time, the band's signature sound runs distinctly through the entire album: solid percussive grooves, stripped down to the absolute minimum it takes to make your body move. Hypnotic repetition, building tension and suspense up to a point where the energy of the music gets so intense you feel like you can physically touch it with your hands, interlaced with organic patterns of sound, constantly changing and evolving, pulsating and oscillating. Vinyl: heavy sleeves + heavy printed inner sleeves, 180g vinyl with download code.

I Conceived 'darkly' In 2015 As A Piano Album. I Was Fascinated By This Instrument And Couldn't Think About Electronic Music At All. I Spent A Lot Of Time In Front Of The Instrument Before My Fingers Could Play What Was Needed. And At Some Point, I Got A Few Solo Piano Tracks, But They Sounded Very Raw And Unfinished. Almost At The Same Time, I Was Getting Back Into Experiments With Electronic Music And Focussed More On Recording Piano In An Electronic Context. Paying More Attention To Different Textures And Multilayeredness. I Was Working On Soundtracks For Films By Noir Films And This Helped Me Finish Two Compositions, Which Later Determined One Of The Directions Of The Album And Served As A Bridge Between The Solo Piano Compositions I Recorded At The Beginning, And The New Electronic Tracks. At The Beginning Of 2018, I Got Back To The First Solo Piano Tracks To Give Them A Finished Form, Adding The Missing Elements That I Could Not Hear Three Years Earlier. I Wanted To Make A Piano Album, But I Got The Album Which Was Formed By Itself And Became A Result Of My Experiences, Worries, And Events Of My Life That Occurred During These Few Years. I Dedicate This Work To A Human, Which Shares This Life With Me, Supports Me And Believes In Me Like Nobody Else! I Dedicate It To My Wife.

"darkly" Comes Out On Limited, Double, Grey Vinyl (including Download Code)

The latest release on Arma comes from Dutch legend and devoutly deviant underground operator Ruud Lekx, aka Rude 66. With a legacy that reaches back to the early 90s and the rough and ready Dutch electro sound of Bunker Records and The Hague, he's maintained a distinctly non-conformist approach that touches on acid, Italo, techno and more besides, all finished with the punky attitude that sets him and peers like Unit Moebius and I-F apart.

The tracks gathered together on The Witch Trials EP come from throughout Lekx's career. As the artist himself says, 'tracks from wildly different eras and sessions suddenly can combine to form one coherent EP. It's almost like the A-side tracks were waiting for 20 years to be combined with the B-side tracks.'

The overriding theme that binds together these timeless machine excursions is that of medieval witch trials - a global phenomenon that peaked in the 15-1600's. Considering the suspicion, propaganda and mass moral panic involved in this strange curio of distant history, Lekx points to the parallels with the current age, 'of political polarization and fake news accusations flying all over.' The EP title is also a tribute to two records close to his heart: The Fall's Live At The Witch Trials, and the one-off Witch Trials project by members of the Dead Kennedys, Adrian Borland and Christian Lunch.

'Werewolves & Poisoners' and 'The Crusade Against Idolatry' are both archive tracks from the 1994-5 period when Lekx made his first albums for Bunker Records. The first track's charging arps, rugged kicks, nagging acid lines and discordant paranoia all speak to that trailblazing period, while 'The Crusade...' revels in canny programming of interwoven synth lines feeding into an unhinged, psychedelic rampage that reflects the righteous fervour and spiritual confusion of the EP concept.

'The Absence Of Diabolism' opens up the B-side with a different tone, having been produced in 2016 and demonstrating the deeper acid undulations Lekx has become known for in more recent years. Still delivered via the same trusted tools he was using in the 90s, the sound feels like an extension of the Rude 66 vision rather than a separate entity. 'Envious Are All The People, Witches Watch At Every Gate,' a cut from the late 90s, closes the EP out in a spacious, snarling exploration of broken acid electro laden with cinematic sweeps of synthesizer and a constant sense of unresolved tension.



Across these four tracks, Lekx displays the scope of his craft as Rude 66 while also proving that timeless music can make sense in any context, and that the threads of inspiration in an artist's journey can be followed, explored and even resolved 20 years later, when you least expect it

We head into the final quarter of the year with a very
welcome return to First Word from London producer,
musician, engineer and DJ, Eric Lau. Following on
from his acclaimed early 2017 album, 'Examples',
we proudly present the second volume - another
delectable 28-track beats opus.
'Examples Volume Two' is Eric's fourth
instrumental album, and ably continues where he
left off with an assortment of sonics, ranging through
hip hop, jazz, funk, soul & Brazilian beats. An
elaborate sketchpad of ideas and grooves, this again
gives a taste of the genius production skills of 'The
Commissioner', Mr. Lau.
A mixdown perfectionist, his services have been
drafted into service on a number of albums over the
past few years, including Yussef Kamaal's 'Black
Focus', Mansur Brown's 'Shiroi', The Playlist's
'Chasing Goosebumps', DJ Jazzy Jeff's 'M3',
Masego's 'Lady Lady', and Kaidi Tatham's 'It's A
World Before You', released on First Word recently.
It's through these recent collaborations that we have
a few unique ingredients peppered through this
project, the track 'Jeff's Piano' is based on a sample
taken from Eric's iPhone, capturing a moment when
Kaidi was teaching Masego a few chords at Jeff's
studio. Both integral players to the Playlist Retreat,
Eric and Kaidi have also provided remix duties for
Moonchild, Omar and Leon Ware, and Kaidi Kat also
lends his key playing talents to a few tracks here.
Eric has also worked as a producer for artists like
Oddisee, Guilty Simpson, Dego, Tawiah, Rahel and
Fatima, whilst his DJ skills have seen him tour the
globe with luminaries such as Erykah Badu, Robert
Glasper and Questlove. He's received props over the
years from tastemakers across the world, including
Rich Medina, 9th Wonder, Bobbito, Dam Funk, Phonte, Gilles Peterson, James Poyser (The Roots) and Ali Shaheed
Muhammad (A Tribe Called Quest).

Invigorating, skewered electronica and bristling, off-kilter techno drive the first release in 15 years by Dublin electronic duo Ambulance (Sunken Foal & Dave Nuremburg), delivering the first EP on the Open Ear label, the latest adventure in sound from the eponymously-titled Irish music festival.

Previously of Planet Mu and Front End Synthetics, the Ambulance project had been put on hold in any capacity this decade until 2017 when they were invited to close out the 2nd edition of the Open Ear festival, Ireland's leading experimental & alternative electronic music festival. Inspired by this performance, the pair returned to the studio and the first fruits of this labour make up the Combover EP. This also marks the first release by Open Ear on it's label which, like the festival, will serve as a platform for experimental dance floor & avant-garde music from the Irish underground.

Kickstarting with the sprawling, ever-evolving, glitched funk of "Caitríona Chéile", the tense, paranoid techno of "Douche Noir" then takes over with the following "Luxury Crackers" keeping the unsettling atmosphere pitched up before it opens up to reveal aslightlygentler side. The EP closes with the *Greasy* title track, a collage of shimmering synthesisers, jittery, free-wheeling drums and oddball sampling, all reaching for air at the same time.

The Storied Music Producer Readies His Sophomore Solo Album For Release, Ten Years After His First Album, The Gemini Principle. The Ten-year Gap Between Solo Albums Has Seen Dbridge Releasing Landmark Collaborations And Projects As Part Of The Autonomic Movement, Module Eight, Heart Drive And Exploring Other Bpms As Velvit.
Dbridge's Journey Within Electronic Music Has Seen Him At The Front And Center Of Electronic Music Culture And Then By Design, As The Seasons Change, He Has Retreated To His Own World To Work On His Next Statement.
A Love I Can't Explain Is The Sound Of Dbridge Making Music For Himself. As A Man He Finds Himself In A New Phase Of His Life- In Love, Married And A Father That Is No Longer Concerned With Previous Constraints And This Has Led To A New Freedom In Creation. An Artist Looking At The Same Sculpture But Now From A New Perspective.

After a long time in making music, Alexander returned to the stage in the role of iO (Mulen) and co-owner of Mulen Records. Despite on absolutely non-commercial music format, project is attracted attention almost from the first days of existence, as or..

After a long time in making music, Alexander returned to the stage in the role of iO (Mulen) and co-owner of Mulen Records. Despite on absolutely non-commercial music format, project is attracted attention almost from the first days of existence, as originality and professionalism. Leaving aside the trend peak-time sound, iO is explores a deep flows of house music. Jazz reefs and an abundance of syncopation, samples and unhurried rhythms, gives a tribute to the traditions of the classical sound, but at the same time don't without futurism. Due to the inventive production, iO have especially recognizable groove, and therefore deservedly valued of underground music lovers.

Sex Tags Amfibia presents Norwegian/Sami multi-crafted artist Geir Tore Holm's landmark sound piece "Writing in snow" - a typically poetic, funny and down to earth approach to nature, sound and every day reflections in the artists trademark style. Holm has since the early 90's been part of breaking down the established notion of ruling institutional qualities in Norway with countless projects involving sculptures, food, installations, farming, photography, video, sound & music (also incl. on AMFIBIA 10 - Sørfinnset Skole/the nord land 10"). This piece is feat. on a one sided flexi disc - an easily transportable and physical presentation of a sonic piece - outside the galleries and museums, and rather in peoples homes.

An Island In The Moon is the perfectly conceived minimal ambient project from Italian composers Pier Luigi Andreoni (Doubling Riders, ATROX) and Silvio Linardi. Andreolina being a mix of the names of the two musicians who were both deeply involved with the label Auf Dem Nil on which the album was originally released in 1990.

The duo stick to a disciplined and simple palette using only two synthesizers and a Roland S50 sampler. They are joined by fellow electronic journeyman Riccardo Sinigaglia who contributes piano and samples on two tracks. Taking influences from Italian minimalism while adding some jazz hints Andreolina sprawls, weightless instrumentals that never stay soporific for too long on this singular rare album.

Auf Dem Nil or ADN was one of the most adventurous Italian record labels of the 80's and early 90's with releases by De Fabriek, Riccardo Sinigaglia and Pierre Bastien. Leaving their mark on the experimental music scene back than and influencing musicians worldwide up until today.

In line with the release of Blackfilm's new album "Zero One Seven", Denovali release the 2010 collaboration masterpiece "Along the Corridor" with Eraldo Bernocchi for the first time on vinyl.

"(...) From its heavy stone dropping bass to cinematic orchestration, beautiful piano melodies, and progressive dowtempo electronic beats, this collaboration between Eraldo Bernocchi and Blackfilm is an amazing find. Designed as a soundtrack for those lonely nights, walking through abandoned streets and skeleton buildings, Along The Corridors will keep you on the edge of your seat, with your imagination as the only projector for the cinema of your mind.

Italy's heavy dub producer Eraldo Bernocchi is not a new face to the scene. Starting out his career in the 90s, Bernocchi produced under many aliases. ... But it is the works under his real name that deserve the most attention. In 1999 he released Charged recording with Tashinori Kondo and Bill Laswell. In 2005 he appeared alongside Harold Budd in Music For 'Fragments From The Inside' on Sub Rosa. And in 2007 he recorded Manual together with Thomas Fehlmann for 21st Records. There are also numerous EPs with Bill Laswell under Apollo's Re-charged series....

Blackfilm, who continues to remain anonymous, is a Hungarian artist that was first introduced to us through his self-titled debut on the now defunct Spectraliquid Records. Since then, the album has been picked up by Denovali Records and repressed in 2010 on compact disc and vinyl. His dark atmospheric soundscapes and a bricolage of modern classical samples and instrumental hip-hop beats reminded me of my favorite works by Amon Tobin and Future Sound of London, for a brooding soundtrack enveloping your mind with heavy fog of penetrating sound. Since the release, Blackfilm has relocated to London where he has embedded himself with the heavyweights of dub and even darker journeys in the underground ..." Headphone Commute

Soundway present something completely different, they are pleased to announce another Dutch artist to their roster, Felbm.

Having previously released more electronic music under the moniker Falco Benz, the multi-instrumentalist Eelco Topper moves towards a more acoustic, instrumental and sketch-like approach with the Felbm project.

The two-part project is being released as 2 separate digital EPs ("Tape 1" and "Tape 2"), the first of which will be released on 21 September. The second digital EP "Tape 2" will be released on the same date as the vinyl, 26 October.

Recorded direct to two cassettes, which comprise each side of the vinyl album, the cover art also reflects this - with both sides of the sleeve acting as separate front covers.

Batida is to release his new album "Dois" via Soundway Records.
Strands of Afro-House, Kuduro, Benga, Semba, samples from old Angolan movies and Afrobeat tracks, African MCs and musicians from all over the world are all deftly mixed together by Pedro Coquenão.
Inspired by the multicultural hotbed of his home city of Lisbon and trips to Nairobi and Luanda, 'Dois' was predominately produced in his own garage-studio over a two-year period.
In 2012 Batida's explosive self-titled debut came out on Soundway Records. Mixing the syncopated rhythms of Kuduro with elements of 1970s Semba and Congolese-influenced guitar licks, Pedro Coquenão won fans for an album that "demanded movement" (The Line of Best Fit) and "gave a view of the old and new, the West and Africa." (The Guardian)
Much of the remix and sampling spirit from the first record remains but 'Dois' also features live instrumentation along with a host of different guests.
English, Portuguese, Quimbundo and Zulu languages all feature on 'Luxo' with Spoek Mathambo (South Africa) & his crew contributing the lyrics together with Angolan MC Sacerdote and a guitar riff by Duncan Lloyd (Maximo Park). On 'Céu' Coquenão pushes things in a deeper direction, dis-assembling and reforming elements of the Francois & The Atlas Mountains studio sessions of the track 'Les Plus Beaux' .
His widely acclaimed live show, featuring dancers, MC's, visuals and live electronics has seen him perform at Africa Express and on the Ten Cities project, live on the Boiler Room and all across Europe at some of the biggest festivals.

Lithuanian based label Sodai started its journey in 2016, making it a label still in it's infancy but making a big impression. Owned by artist Gardens Of God, who started the label to create his own 'no limits' plat-form for his experimental sounds and projects. While at the same time a platform to give other artists the chance to also have freedom with art and music.

With releases from Raxon, Few Nolder and Third Son under their belt, the label shows no sign of slowing down, next in line is Italian producer Alex Schaufel (Suara, Diynamic) who is welcomed to the label with a his heavy hitting four track EP entitled 'Roots'.

By now, the story of how Jlin went from working in a steel factory in Gary, Indiana to being one of the most widely appreciated electronic musicians is well known. 'Black Origami' was one of the most reviewed and lauded albums last year. Seriously prolific and seriously hard-working, she has toured constantly since its May 2017 release and despite being involved in a wide range of projects, still manages to find a balance and 'do some personal healing and growing.'

Here we are over a year later with 'Autobiography,' the score for her collaboration with renowned British choreographer Wayne McGregor arranged by Unsound. This isn't technically her third album (that's due to arrive in 2019 or 2020), but the soundtrack stands up on its own with all the emotional peaks and troughs of a well-sequenced longplayer.

For Jlin, making music for dance is the fulfillment of one of her lifelong dreams - and remarkably, Company Wayne McGregor's performance was the first show she'd ever seen. She describes the process of working with Wayne: 'We first met face to face in October 2016 in a downtown Chicago hotel, talking for about a solid two hours. Immediately, I saw Wayne was very friendly and energetic. He's brilliant, witty, and knows exactly what he wants; an absolute gem to work with. Before I even started composing for Autobiography, Wayne told me so gently that he trusts me completely with my direction of creating the score. That was the best feeling in the world. I would wake up at two in the morning and work until six in the evening until I completed all the pieces. We were both very happy with the outcome. Creating the score for an impeccable piece of work such as Autobiography changed my life as an artist.'

'Autobiography' is a highlight in an evolving and growing career. During the last year, Jlin has also become an in-demand remixer, securing her place among a roster of music heavyweights. Unsurprisingly, given her positive and outgoing nature, she also developed friendships with the artists she has remixed such as Björk, Max Richter and Ben Frost.

Jlin will be touring with Company Wayne McGregor performing 'Autobiography' this year in addition to completing a commission for the Kronos Quartet titled 'Little Black Book.' She still approaches every performance 'with the same attitude of doing my best to execute a good show, no more, no less. Doing my best is what's most important to me.' She also still lives in Gary, Indiana, which keeps her grounded. She notes with her typical humility, 'The local community is a little more knowledgeable of me now. But I don't mind my community taking its time.'

As Hans Peeman's side project next to his Junktion moniker, New Franklin Theory returns to Outplay with a very personal project. Five carefully produced songs in the form of a mini-album of sorts, which showcases his journey into more melodic synth heavy work. Starting off, 'Andromeda Beach' eases you into the spacey atmosphere of the record with dreamy rhodes supported by his distinctive percussion and bass work.

Following, 'Homeward' introduces melancholic synth lines grounded by an infectious bass line for a Balearic inspired feel. 'Afterburner' ups the tempo with warm arpeggiated Juno sounds and saxy disco samples, which will remind you of his previous work. Space-funk-synth-boogie, that's what comes to mind when listening to 'In Orbit'. Instant groove with a solid beat interspersed with brief vocal samples and dreamy rhodes chords. As the closer, 'The Holtzman Effect' (award for 2018's most nerdy song title, look it up) sets you off floating away on warm chords and bass together with characteristic space bleeps.