Suche:sonic hug

Beyond Space And Time is the new record label from Japanese music festival, Rainbow Disco Club (RDC). RDC has been welcoming music loving people to Japan for over a decade. Throughout the festival's history, RDC have been fortunate to constantly encounter performers and DJs who've collaborated with them in establishing a beautiful dance floor year in, year out. These relationships have lead RDC to start their own label, and now gives them the opportunity to reveal one of the best-kept secrets: What is in a DJ's record bag?

This time around, festival regular DJ Nobu kindly opens up his collection and shares the music he loves with us all. On visual duty we welcome Senekt - his representational yet contemporary drawing illustrates the emotion we feel from DJ Nobu.
We have much more music to come in future from artists that we trust and respect.

▼ DJ Nobu describes 10 tracks this way ▼

A1. Laurent Garnier - Water Planet
Highly respected French DJ/Producer Laurent Garnier has been releasing tracks for decades capturing the very essence of Detroit Techno and Breakbeat. He always manages to create something truly emotional. This is not his biggest hit, but it's my favorite.

A2. Mono Junk - Beyond The Darkness
This track represents the very early days of Techno with it's ravey atmosphere. It has a primitive feel, and the obscure mixdown sounds almost unbalanced. That said, this one really stands out when DJing. Very cool.

B1. Psychick Warriors Ov Gaia - The Valley
It was always my intention to include this track in a compilation if were I ever to do one. It has a fat underlying groove, with some indigenous spices thrown in. The whole thing is put together beautifully. No complaints!

B2. Melody Boy 2000 - Plenty Of Love
I wanted to include a track that had Jacking feel to it - that is my definition of dance music. This track mixes well in both Techno and House DJ sets.

C1. Drax Ltd. II - Amphetamine
This is my all time favorite track by Thomas P Heckman. It asks questions and strikes down all the boring 'wanna be cool' techno tracks. It is obviously a well known tune already, but I include it here because I'm often asked for it's track ID from new kids in the game. This is a classic that should be passed down.

C2. Dan Curtin - 3rd From The Sun
Curtin's refined synth grooves and bass lines make this a true timeless classic. It do not get tired of listening to his rhythms and melodies - he always gets it just right.

C3. Front 242 - U-Men.
The originator of Electric Body Music. Their husky vocals, hard rhythms and strong synth basslines made the group very popular at the time, and they are still to this present day. To me, this track represents what the Belgian New Beat scene is all about.

D1. The Prince Of Dance Music - E3 E6 Roll On
This is the track I played the most up until around 2006. It is a genuine house track that cuts through trends in music. A hidden floor killer.

D2. Pan Sonic - Lähetys / Transmission
Electronic music has existed for decades, and if you are to choose some of the best from all scattered & hidden places, Pan Sonic's 'Lähetys / Transmission' must be considered. The track emerges beautifully - breaking structures and transcending the past. Every layer of the piece is produced with such delicacy and care, that as a whole it magically drags you into the world of the unknown.

D3. Burial - Archangel
This track merges melancholic emotions with technological prowess at the highest level, and deeply impacted the dance music scene on it's release. I recently played this track at the end of my set at the forward thinking Terraforma Festival in Milan. It faded out to huge applause from the open minded crowd. A moment to be remembered.

Thousand Knives Of Ryuichi Sakamoto's Landmark First Solo Album From 1978 Issued On The Better Days Label And Featuring The Synth Classics "plastic Bamboo," "end Of Asia" & "thousand Knives" Is Reissued Outside Of Japan For The First Time In Decades.

Wewantsounds is proud to announce the release of Ryuichi Sakamoto's first solo album originally released in 1978 on the soughtafter Better Days label. Sakamoto was a member of Yellow Magic Orchestra at the time but the group hadn't released their first album yet. Featuring Sakamoto on a wide range of synthesizers and keyboards programmed by Hideki Matsutake, and accompanied by a few musicians including Haruomi Hosono and Pecker, "Thousand Knives" was a blueprint for the YMO sound and includes cult classics that were to become live favourites. Save for a small-scale release in 1982, this is the first time the album is being released on vinyl outside of Japan. Remastered from the original tapes by renowned producer and engineer Seigen Ono, the LP edition comes with original artwork including OBI and 4p insert with new introduction by Paul Bowler. 1978 was a key year for Japanese music. Haruomi Hosono, one of the country's most innovative musicians had just formed Yellow Magic Orchestra pursuing the sonic experimentation he had started with his solo album "Paraiso." The album, credited to "Harry Hosono and The Yellow Magic Band," had been recorded between December 77 and January 78 and featured both Ryuichi Sakamoto and Yukihiro Takahashi. Hosono quickly invited both musicians to form YMO but before the group could release their first album, Sakamoto entered the Nippon Columbia studios in April 1978 with a plan. Sakamoto had become an in-demand session musician after studying composition at the Tokyo University of Art and had played in many key albums of the time: Taeko Ohnuki's "Sunshower" and Tatsuro Yamashita "Spacy" to name just two famous albums. This led to an invitation by Hosono to feature on "Paraiso". A penchant for avant-garde and improvisation had gotten Sakamoto interested in Electronic Music early on and with “Thousand Knives”, he decided to get Hideki Matsutake on board as he had mastered the art of synth programming following a stint with Electronic Music pioneer Isao Tomita. “Thousand Knives” took several months to record as Sakamoto would be busy during the day with his session work and would only record at night. Named after Belgian-born poet Henri Michaux’s description of a mescaline experience, the album is a reflection on how synthesizer technology might come to change the face of music. The first side conceived as a long suite opens with the title track and a recitation of the Mao Zedong poem "Jinggang Mountain" filtered through a vocoder, before morphing into a mid-tempo synthpop instrumental. It is followed by "Island Of Woods", a ten minute track buzzing with insect-like synth sounds reminiscent of the tropical exotica of "Femme Fatale" on “Paraiso” (also featuring Sakamoto). Side one ends with "Grasshoppers," a beautiful acoustic piano melody underlined by a subtle synthesizer soundscape. Side two opens with "Das Neue Japanische Elektronische Volkslied," acknowledging the influence of the German sound spearheaded by Kraftwerk. The track features a mid-tempo metronomic beat skilfully intertwined with a Japanese folk sounding melody. The album ends with two catchy uptempo synthpop tunes in the form of "Plastic Bamboo" and "The End Of Asia," which both became staples of YMO’s and Sakamoto's live shows. Although "Thousand Knives" sold modestly upon release, it was hugely influential in setting the agenda for what was to follow. YMO's sound included various influences from its three members but there is no denying “Thousand Knives” paved the way for the group's Computer Music sound. Thousand Knives remains a fascinating insight into the making of a music revolution.

After years of mythology, misinterpretation and procrastination Nurse With Wound’s Steven Stapleton finally chooses Finders Keepers Records as the ideal collaborators to release “the right tracks” from his uber-legendary psych/prog/punk peculiarity shopping list known as The Nurse With Wound List, commencing with a French specific Volume One of this authentically titled Strain Crack Break series. Featuring some Finders Keepers’ regulars amongst galactic Gallic rarities (previously presumed to be imaginary red herrings) this deluxe double vinyl dossier demystifies some of the essential French feee jazz and Parisian prog inclusions from the alphabetical “dedication” inventory as printed the anti-bands 1979 industrial milestone debut.

When Steven Stapleton, Heman Pathak and John Fothergill’s anti-band Nurse With Wound decided to include an alphabetical dedication to all their favourite bands on the back of their inaugural LP the notion of creating a future record dealers’ trophy list couldn’t have been further from their minds. By adding a list of untravelled European mythical musicians and noise makers to their own debut release of unchartered industrial art rock they were merely providing a suggestive support system of existing potential likeminded bands, establishing safety in numbers should anyone require sonic subtitles for Nurse With Wound’s own mutant musical language. Luckily for them, the record landed in record shops in the midst of 1979’s memorable summer of abject apathy and its sound became a hit amongst disillusioned agit-pop pickers and artsy post-punks, thus playing a key role in the bourgeoning “Industrial” genre that ensued. On the most part, however, the list , like most instruction manuals, remained unreadable, syntactic and suspiciously sarcastic... As potential “real musicians” Nurse WIth Wound became an Industrial music fan’s household name, but in contrast many of the names on The Nurse With Wound List were considered to be imaginary musicians, made-up bands or booby traps for hacks and smart-arses. It took a while for the rest of the record collecting community to catch on or finally catch u

Since then, many of the rare, obscure and unpronounceable genre-free records on The Nurse With Wound List have slowly found their own feet and stumbled in to the homes of open-minded outernational vinyl junkies, D’s and sample hungry producers, self-propelled and judged on their own merit, mostly without consultation of the enigmatic NWW map. But, to the inspective competitive collector’s chagrin, one resounding fact recurs, NWW got there first! Via vinyl vacations, on cheap flights and Interrail tickets, buying bargain bin LPs on a shoestring while oblivious to the pending pension worthy price tags after their 40 year vintage, Stapleton and Fothergill, even if you’ve never heard of them, were at the bottom of the pit before “digging” became paydirt. And NOW at huge international record fairs that occur in massive exhibition halls (or within the confines of your one-touch palm pilot) amongst jive talk acronyms such as SS, PP, BIN, DNAP and BCWHES the coded letters NWW have begun to appear on stickers in the corner of original copies of the same premium progressive records accompanied by a customary 50% price hike to titillate/coerce the initiated as dealers extort the taught. Like “psych” “PINA” or “Krautrock” did before, “NWW” has become a buzzword and in the passed decades since its first publication The List has been mythologised, misunderstood and misconstrued. It’s also been overlooked, overestimated and under-appreciated in equal measures, but with a growing interest it has also come to represent a maligned genre in itself, something that all members of the original line-up would have deemed sacrilegious. Bolstered by the subtitle “Categories strain, crack and sometimes break, under their burden,” all bands on the inventory (many chosen on the strength of just one track alone) were chosen for their genre-defying qualities... A check-list for the unchart

Forty years after Nurse With Wound’s first record, Finders Keepers Records, in close collaboration with Steve Stapleton remind fans of THIS kind of “lost” music, that there once existed a feint path which was worn away decades before major label pop property developers built over this psychedelic underground. As long-running fans and liberators of some of the same records, arriving at the same axis from different-but-the-same planets, Finders Keepers and Nurse WIth Wound finally sing from the same hymn sheet resulting in a collaborative attempt to officially, authentically and legally compile the best tracks from the list, succeeding where many overzealous nerds have deferred (or simply, got the wrong end of the stick). Naturally our lavish metallic gatefold double vinyl compendium would only scratch the surface of this DIY dossier of elongated punk-prog peculiarities hence out decision to release volume one in a series which, in accordance with Steve’s wishes, focusses exclusively on individual tracks of French origin, the country that unsurprisingly hosted the highest content of bands on the list. Comprising of musique concrète, free jazz, Rock In Opposition, Zeuhl School space rock, macabre ballet music, lo-fi sci-fi, and classic horror literature inspired prog, this first volume of the series entitled Strain Crack And Break throws us in at the deep end, where the Seine meets the in-sane, introducing the space cadets that found Mars in Marseilles.

Like the Swedish flat-pack record shelves that attempt to house the vast amounts of vintage vinyl that goes into a multi-volume compilation like this, its time to prepare your own musical penchants and preconceived ideas about DIY music and hear them slowly strain, crack and b

Ivaylo is next up on his Bogota Records imprint with a pair of fresh new cuts that come complete with a remix from Hugo LX. Bulgarian native Ivaylo is based in Oslo, and has vast experience of the dance music industry, having continuously proving himself as an essential DJ and producer, most recently his release on Cassy's Kwench Records 'Ae Way'.

He delivers again here with Hausa, a deep roaming tune with a bassline that immediately lifts your energy. It makes for a back room track that is super tasteful and filled with warped synths and deft percussion that gets under your skin. Hugo LX serves up a tripe remix with tiny little sonic details, a spooky sense of late night mischief and neon melodies that really standout.

Last of all, House Moult is a busier, more bristling cut with jostling drums and underlapping bass, an inventive sense of musical warmth and plenty of fresh ideas that are finished with an anthemic vocal that will get the crowd on their toes.

This is another standout EP from all concerned, and another great chapter of Bogota Records.

The vinyl-only DJ-oriented A&R Edits makes a return with a new 12” EP ‘Disco Mondo’ / ‘In The City’. Following releases from Henry Greenwood, Derek Kaye, Sophie Lloyd, Fingerman, Peza and Twisted Soul Collective between 2013-15, the label stayed on the backburner for four years as other projects took precedent. Now re-emerging with the tenth vinyl release in the series, combining the GW & Henry reworks of El Coco’s smooth grooving esoteric disco cut ‘Mondo Disco’ and Marshall Hain’s brooding Balearic treasure ‘Dancing In The City’.

Courtesy of the influential Rinder & Lewis production team, ‘Mondo Disco’, originally issued in 1975, became a firm favourite with underground DJs and disco lovers, this playful yet purposeful rework boosts the track’s drive with an eye on the contemporary dancefloor.

Marshall Hain’s hazy/lazy ‘Dancing In The City’, a much-loved memento of the summer of 1978, was a huge UK hit, reaching #3 on the singles chart. Offering a perfect soundtrack to sun-kissed beaches and blissed-out festivals, this rework breaths a new lease of life into this sonic delight.

Coming out of London and the South West of England, Hey Colossus are one of Europe's great live bands. Since 2003 the 6-piece has been driving around the continent with their “pirate ship” backline of broken amps and triple-guitar drang, elevating audiences in every type of venue imaginable; a doctor’s waiting room in Salford, an industrial unit in Liege and a vast field next to a river in Portugal. Wherever they may roam.

Four Bibles is their twelfth studio album and the first to be released by London label ALTER, whose sole proprietor (the electronic producer Helm) encountered the group at their first gig in 2003. Recorded by Ben Turner at Space Wolf Studios in Somerset, it's their most direct album yet and follows a well-documented trajectory of evolution that began (in the truest sense) with 2011’s RRR for Riot Season and continued across three albums for Rocket Recordings. Lead vocalist Paul Sykes sounds more in focus than before, dialling down the effects and using reverb / delay to carry his lyrics rather than smother. The band has also fine-tuned to leave some room for extra depth. Piano, electronics and violin (by Daniel O'Sullivan of This is not This Heat / Grumbling Fur) all find a way in amongst a familiar mesh of interlacing guitars, wrapped round a taut rhythm section. Like every other Hey Colossus record before, the line-up has altered and the sounds reflect this.

From the weight of “Memory Gore”, to the subtlety and swag of “It's a Low”, via the sonic extremes of “Palm Hex/Arndale Chins” this is exactly as the band are live; raging & rail-roading but somehow in control. Grooves for those who want to dance or for those who want to hug a wall and nod...bleak dystopian imagery submerged in relentless rhythms and low-end rattle. The songs breath life and soul - Hey Colossus have never sounded fresher or more on point.

Picture Vinyl "A balance between things that you know people will like and things that you think people will like" is what John Peel had to say on his BBC homepage about Apparat's music programming concept. Apparat then appeared at the Peel Session in May of 2004 substituting like with die for in JP's statement. Indeed, it's sad but true: John Peel passed away a few months later to a heart attack while vacationing in Peru. Apparat could only find a more fitting farewell mood with the rerecording of his session: a sonic dedication to the huge mentor John Peel from Shitkatapult and their people.

Apparat is known as a fluctuating mood-maker by way of his computer companion. In this case he leaves his garb behind. Apparat swings the composer's stick with emotion to give yearning its segway by conducting pieces of lonely melancholic beauty with godly discretion. New strings are thanks to the violin and cello of Kathrin Pfänder and Lisa Stepf aka Complexácord, whose soul-drenched expression lets your mind sway.

The trio harmonizes with dream-like perfection. It reminds one once again of the experimental modus operandi combining classical instruments with electronic music. Singer Raz Ohara and clarinet/sax player Hormel Eastwood find their chosen virtuous and emotional space on this promising cloud. What remains are warm dark drops of elegiac pop the pour down the back of your heart.

This Apparat John Peel Session was remastered by Bo Kondren at Calyx Studios in February 2019 incl. the digital bonus track - Komponent as Telefon Tel Aviv Remix.
The physical appears as picture disc featuring the wonderful original design by Hanna Zeckau & Carsten Aermes on vinyl.
The original release from 2005 (Strike 153) also contained more Remixes by Bus, Rechenzentrum and Apparat himself.

Legendary artist Mick Harris (Napalm Death, Painkiller, Scorn…) kicks off his 2019 with this EP of tar-black, bass heavy sonic violence. This EP features 4 reworks of “Salford Priors”, one of the heaviest tracks from his return-to-form album “Over Depth”, the first by Mick Harris himself, and 3 more by his longtime collaborators in the production guises of Fausten, Stormfield, and Monster X. The EP begins with an apocalyptic, dubbed out violent rework by the man himself, creeping in with a cold, calm eerie drone that quickly goes from zero to 100%, blasting into a full force attack of artillery percussion and strafing, shrapnel textures atop the landmine subs and characteristic Harris snarling mono-bass.

Julien Caraz has caused much distress over the years with the sheer rage and precision sonic assaults of his Monster X project. Here he eschews his usual frenetic tempos for a solid 130BPM, a sleek techno destroyer built for giant spaces and huge soundsystems in mind. The Combat Recordings boss has worked audiovisually with Mick since the Scorn AV at Bangface Weekend in 2011, touring with Fret AV in 2018. Here he switches back into audio mode to rework Salford Priors into a hard electro assault for the Stormfield remix.

Fausten is the shadowy, twisted collaboration between Monster X and Stormfield.
Having released a staggeringly twisted album on the legendary Ad Noiseam, Fausten
went into hibernation as the pair pursued their own projects, with only a few sporadic tracks surfacing over the years. The pair have been putting together an album’s worth of new material for 2019, beginning with a powerful remix of Salford Priors. Taking Fret back into it’s aquatic, fathoms-deep sonic territory, this remix is a behemoth work that moves at quarter-step tempo, allowing for more physicality and dynamics, the profound pulse of each profoundly deep bassdrum like an underwater volcanic explosion, with skittering percussion the resonates in the stillness.

For the second release on the Galaxiid imprint, a label of electronic music archeology and quality, we are transported to the strange sonic world of an elusive 90s pioneer. Solar X's 1997 album X-Rated will be released for the first time on vinyl, as well as reissued digitally, with new artwork by the Japanese artist Keiichi Tanaami. Two worlds connecting sonically, visually and culturally.

Solar X enjoyed a burgeoning career in post-Perestroika Moscow making playful, low-tech electronica from Soviet analogue instruments, which he masterfully configured to forge animated compositions and dancefloor rarities. Fascinated by chaos and complexity, his music explores the ways in which our minds can be manipulated by structure - an endeavour quite plausibly linked to his other career as a lecturer and researcher of AI, information theory and cognitive science, his interest in which was in turn triggered by his young experiments in computer music.

Solar X gained international attention at a time when Russia was (quite unfairly) seen as a vacuum for electronic music, but was exploding in the period of piracy, poverty and freedom following the collapse of the USSR. Young Russians had benefited from the soviet education system and there was a strong DIY computer programming and music scene, fuelled by hackers, gear freaks and party animals. Viewed from today, the album is reborn at a time of further political and social strife, which many see as fuelling the huge creativity and radical thinking of modern Russia's young creatives.

X-Rated treats tempo and form as fluid concepts, administering sudden changes to its sonic landscape with disorienting effect, underlain with a subtle dose of humour and experimentation. Downtempo trip-hop sits alongside frenetic IDM and blistering electro, all bound together by peculiar melodic inflections and lively distortions. Warm, trippy harmonies and robotic synths are offset with angular drums, shifting erratically through moods and genres with cunning intent. Much like his contemporaries from the era, it's his ability to breathe life into a humble production setup that makes his music so compelling some twenty one years later.

The track titles are from a book of call girl cards in London phone booths, that reached the artist in Moscow in 1995. "I liked the titles from these cards, which were self-promoting and offering pleasure (e.g. "Mistress awaits you"). So, I thought since my tracks also offered some kind of pleasure, they might as well advertise this through their titles.'

Label head Nina Kraviz was introduced to the work of the 83 year old sensei Keiichi Tanaami by Ukawa Naoshiro, founder of Dommune in Tokyo, one of the brightest figureheads for the arts in Japan, responsible for the graphic design of the cover. In September 2017 Nina played for the opening of Tanaami-san's first exhibition in Moscow at Gary Tatintsian Gallery. Nina performed a live sound palette, to accompany the looping 7 minute animation, of experimental music from the Soviet Union, Russian pioneers of electronic music like Species Of Fishes and SolarX, Soviet-time pioneer Lev Termen, Kuryochin, avant-guard rock mixed with some Stockhausen and just pure abstract sounds, as well as treasured artists like Biogen.

Tanaami's illustrative work has strong sexual elements, so out of the five art pieces Nina selected and commissioned for Galaxiid, the first fits perfectly for 'X-rated'. The vertical line of text on the left is the traditional form for Japanese covers of foreign releases. The cover, together with the accompanying poster and sticker, are printed in Japan to ensure the highest print quality and purity of the colours.

* Dom & Roland Productions, the label, has gone from strength to strength since its conception in 2006.
It Features Dom's new solo work and his collaborations with other visionary artists such as Noisia, Hive and Amon
Tobin. The label has continued to push sonic boundaries whilst staying true to it's ethos of 'not selling out'.

* BEACH BUM - DOM & ROLAND

There's someone on the beach playing a catchy picked out guitar riff. The waves are lapping. A surfer walks along the beach carrying their surfboard, their hair is blowing in the wind. They are thinking about how powerful and awesome the ocean is in it's contrast to the serene and quiet sunset beach, They like the guitar a lot!

* DRED SOUND - DOM & ROLAND

Big Sound! In a large warehouse in Kingston Jamaica, a kid turns up with his laptop and a keyboard full of playable samples. The kid's twisted some funk era breakbeats into gigantic proportions and is trying out song structure ideas whilst listening back on the the huge sub bass system. There are a lot of people sitting around, everyone stops to listen, they never heard anything like this. It's raw, and powerful, and they like it!

moogmemory is the latest album from multi-award winning pianist and composer Matthew Bourne, who has turned his considerable talents to the world of analogue synthesizers.

Very much in demand as a collaborator and co-conspirator, Bourne has his fingerprints on a huge number of projects, having worked with artists as diverse as John Zorn, Annette Peacock, Nils Frahm, Nostalgia 77, Amon Tobin and Broadway Project.

Growing from spontaneous improvised live performances, the album took shape in the studio as Bourne explored and moulded the vast sonic possibilities of voltage-controlled oscillators, creating beautiful, brooding landscapes of thick impasto and translucent sunbursts.

The seed for this project was planted when Bourne acquired an uncooperative 1982 Memorymoog, having it painstakingly modified and upgraded by Rudi Linhard in Germany .

Created without the use of computers or sequencers,Moogmemory is the first album to be recorded using only the Lintronics Advanced Memorymoog.

Bourne will tour moogmemory in collaboration with brilliant visual artist Michael England, who has worked with Autechre, Bola, Leila, Demdike Stare and many more.

The album will be available on CD and as a limited edition LP (with CD) in an intricate embossed sleeve designed by England.

Album press release written by Bourne fan Graham Massey (808 State).

The album follows the critical success of Radioland: Radio-Activity Revisited, a visceral live audio/visual experience created to mark the 40th anniversary of Kraftwerk's seminal album, with Franck Vigroux and video artist Antoine Schmitt.

Bourne's first solo studio album, Montauk Variations (The Sunday Times' Leftfield Album of the Year in 2012), was celebrated for its sense of stillness and serenity, marking an important musical turning point in his career and the beginning of a new creative direction.

Tracks from Montauk Variations have appeared on compilations by Bonobo and Needwant.

After a brief wander 'round the garden, Chilean-born Ricardo Tobar returns to the ESP Institute bearing earthly delights. With 2017's Liturgia, he introduced his creative point-of-view—instantly substantiating a sense of rhythm that was deliberately complex yet slightly rough around the edges, while touching upon his musical origins from the guitar-driven corners of psychedelia— however with his debut 2xLP Continuidad, he leaves us gobsmacked and seeking shelter as he leaps from dancefloor comforts and descends into absolute chaos (in more ways than one). Emotionally, the artist has crossed all previously self-imposed and subconscious thresholds, putting his true imagination on display and exposing an unwavering attraction to all things loud, orgasmic and transcendent. He's not subtly hinting at a fetish, but opening his arms wide with conviction, abandoning genre taboos and personally inviting everyone to join his enchanted caravan. Sonically, his appetite for intensity is clear throughout—epic chord changes, ascending peaks in arrangement, accumulating layers of grit that build into impenetrable blankets of distortion and feedback—a kind of aural hedonism that translates visually into the potent video abstractions our Mario Hugo has summoned for the album's packaging. This follow-up single surrounding the Continuidad album boasts the dirty little secret Bailemix of album track Recife—we wont go as far as uttering the 'T' word, but this is unbridled merciless tops-off festival gear for the massive. The flipside is another exclusive non-album cut Cuatro Meses De Verano, a rhythmic build-up that breaks into a low-slung funky stomper, Tobar's idea of a warm-up weapon.

After a brief wander 'round the garden, Chilean-born Ricardo Tobar returns to the ESP Institute bearing earthly delights. With 2017's Liturgia, he introduced his creative point-of-view—instantly substantiating a sense of rhythm that was deliberately complex yet slightly rough around the edges, while touching upon his musical origins from the guitar-driven corners of psychedelia— however with his debut 2xLP Continuidad, he leaves us gobsmacked and seeking shelter as he leaps from dancefloor comforts and descends into absolute chaos (in more ways than one). Emotionally, the artist has crossed all previously self-imposed and subconscious thresholds, putting his true imagination on display and exposing an unwavering attraction to all things loud, orgasmic and transcendent. He's not subtly hinting at a fetish, but opening his arms wide with conviction, abandoning genre taboos and personally inviting everyone to join his enchanted caravan. Sonically, his appetite for intensity is clear throughout—epic chord changes, ascending peaks in arrangement, accumulating layers of grit that build into impenetrable blankets of distortion and feedback—a kind of aural hedonism that translates visually into the potent video abstractions our Mario Hugo has summoned for the album's packaging. This might all sound like a warning for Hurricane Ricardo, but fear not, listeners will still find some security in the album's rhythmic underpinnings, and although this foray into primitive, ritualistic bang-the-drum percussion is significantly more dangerous than his previous programming, its the imperfection in his passionate studio performances that imbue Continuidad with something remarkably human.

Double LP on heavyweight 180 gram audiophile black vinyl in a wide spined sleeve with new artwork layout. Re-mastered by John Rivers at Woodbine Studios especially for vinyl release. Includes a bonus track not on the CD version and new artwork design. Never has a record been so aptly titled, or so perfectly descriptive of a band's particular vision of the universe. For all that, the original appearance of Taking Drugs was in fact a bootleg on the semi-legendary/semi-notorious Father Yod imprint in 1990, later supplemented with contemporary outtakes and cuts for the Bomp reissue in 1994 and one further song for the Space Age version in 2000. The original seven tracks, dated January 1986 and the first recordings to feature Pete Bain on bass, are collectively known as the Northampton Demos, understandably named for the recording location in a studio outside said English city. Both Sonic and Pierce have been on record as long preferring these takes to the eventual versions that surfaced for the most part on Sound of Confusion. Certainly it's a fine set of performances, showing a definite step toward the more familiar sound of the group and away from the rougher takes on For All the Fucked Up Children of the World. "The Sound of Confusion," aka "Walkin' With Jesus," rips along with fierce energy, Pierce's singing and the rampaging, primitive wail and rumble of the band just wonderful. "Losing Touch With My Mind" takes things to an even higher level, a huge wallop of feedback and beat (Natty Brooker's drumming in particular delivers just what the doctor ordered), Pierce delivering the lines with a flat, cutting drawl. On the slightly lighter tip, "Come Down Easy" is more or less fully in place (aside from singing about it being 1986!), possessing a more upfront but less vocally distinct feel than the Perfect Prescription take. The tracks that surfaced on the later reissues come from a variety of different sessions, including the original take on "Feel So Good" and a good live version of "Things'll Never Be the Same," one of several cuts featuring Brooker's drumming replacement Rosco.

At 83 Years Of Age, Lee Scratch Perry Is Proud To Present To The World His Next Full Length Solo Album (with Dub Versions) , Continuing His Inimitable Roots Reggae Legacy.

Lee's Brief For The Album, Was To Blend The Vintage And The Obscure, During The Sessions Lee Referred To The Sound And 'black' And Wanted Space, Light And Darkness In The Songs And Their Respective Dub Versions.

The Result Sees Lee Having Mixed Up An Analogue Concoction Of Ultra-rare Effects, Sonic Wizardry And Deep Heavy Roots Rhythms.

Over 2017 and 2018, Lee Scratch Perry re united with Producer and Mixer Daniel Boyle, to start work on their second Solo album project for Lee.

Picking up where their last efforts ''Back on the Controls'' left off. Lee wanted to continue the raw analogue sound they had cultivated together over multiple past releases, and take it to the next level with new effects devices to create another sonic signature.

They entered the studio in 2017, to begin to put together ideas for the tracks, which were then taken to RAK studios in London with their ever changing Rolling Lion All Stars session band; to lay down the rhythm versions.

Using strictly vintage analogue equipment, they employed Neuman valve and RCA Ribbon microphones, and RAK's early model vintage API desk to record, the 'sound' for the album was sculpted in these sessions. Vintage, but punchy, which was then blended with Lee's choice of super rare and custom analogue effects. Ursa Major Space Station and Stargate delays and reverbs, old choruses, Plate and spring reverbs, and tape delays were used to create a tight vintage feel but retaining the rawness of the 'Low Fi' roots sound Lee was aiming for.

With the music coming together, the vocal sessions were held in Abbey Road studio 3, again using vintage RCA ribbon mics, over driving their EMI TG console and Fairchild compressors to create a pleasantly distorted Lo Fi vocal sound.

Lee and Daniel then returned to Daniels Rolling Lion Studio, to mix and Dub the album, live, on the mixing console.

'Rolling Lion All Stars' Musicians: Vocals: Lee 'Scratch' Perry Drums: Ed West Bass & Guitar: Hughie Izachaar Keys: Robbie Lynn Additional Keys: Calvin Bennion Percussion: Daniel Boyle Kete Drum: Mathias Liengme Hurdy Gurdy: Brian McCoy Horn Section: Rory Sadler, Robert Landen Melodica: Puraman Backing Vocals :

Heady, astute, deep techno and ambient from Blue Veil, a new musical project from Danny Clancy. Blue Veil's debut EP reveals gorgeously textured techno on tracks like 'wherethetimegoes' and 'Citizen Score', as well as crafting some tender ambient passages on cuts like 'Night Czar' and 'A Kind Of Adventure'.
The EP will be released on Dichotomy Records, a new imprint, dedicated to refined electronic music. The label's ambition is to allow artists to explore dichotomies through their work, as they span sonic landscapes from pure ambient to techno, and other abstract dance sounds in-between. There will be a strong attention to the visual presentation of the label, with all artwork and photography also created by label boss Danny Clancy.
With the next release lined up from Ahu, and more to follow from there, the agenda for Dichotomy Records looks hugely promising indeed.

* Breaking into a new century, following last months 100th release on the label, Ishan Sound collaborates on 2 killer tracks with Bristol-based Hodge and Alex Hughes aka Muttley.

* 'C5' refers to cold explosives and makes for a perfect title for this stark, cold rhythm. A circling melodic synth line sets a moody context before the floor drops out and an industrial strength sub drives things forward at 130bpm. Deep, hard, dark, original. Exceptional quality from Ishan Sound and Hodge.

* Flip for a 140bpm excursion from Ishan Sound & Muttley, melding elements of trap, grime and dubstep meticulously to form an engaging sonic that is both fuel for the dancefloor as well as providing introspective qualities for bass weight meditation. 'Still Smoking' sums it up appropriately.

- Coming off Transmission, Death in Vegas's critically acclaimed 6th album which saw the band collaborating with Sasha Grey, are three unique remixes by Silent Servant and Rudolf Klorzeiger.

- Silent Servant delivers two stunning mixes of You Disco I Freak. In his first remix he elevates the discordant melody in You Disco I Freak and adds a sense of menace with a new sequence, taking the track in a more sinister direction. With his second version, he takes the heat up a notch with a brutal workout synonymous with his signature abrasive sound.

- Dopplereffekt, Drexciya, Arpanet, Der Zyklus, Japanese Telecom, Heinrich Mueller, Rudolf Klorzeiger: Death in Vegas are huge fans of Gerald Donald in all his forms. He choose to 'reproduce' Metal Box, keeping certain elements of the original field recordings, the sounds of the Steel Factory opposite Drone's studio, the incessant drones from the planes landing at City Airport and the dial tones of the studio's VHF radio and layered over these with his own sonic tapestry.

- Printed Inner Sleeve and Heavy Weight Outer

The now legendary ' Abbey Road' version of 'the Isness' was the originally conceived version before last minute wholesale changes resulted in new tracks , different mixes and/or edits appearing in a wholly different order for the commercial release of 'the Isness '  in 2002 . The 'Abbey Rd 'version had been initially promo'd to ecstatic reviews, receiving an unprecedented 6/5 stars from Mixmag 'it's like a beam of white light from heaven'. 
This is the first time the Abbey Road version has been officially and commercially available .The band themselves ' the Amorphous Androgynous ' ( a psychedelic supergroup conceptualized and produced by the Future Sound Of London ) are said to have always regretted the last minute changes to the album ,the creation of which took five years from 1996-2001 post production of the FSOL album ' DEAD CITIES' and marks an important chapter in the production duos history and 5 year disappearance where rumours of madness and disbandment were rife among fans of the band only for them to finally appear with this radical new vision and what is now considered something of a psychedelic masterpiece which along with subsequent albums ' Alice In Ultraland ' ( on Harvest Records ) and their 'A Monstrous Psychedelic Bubble  ( Exploding In Your Mind )' Dj series ( which chronicle and redefine the history of psychedelia from the 60s to the present ) did much to activate a third wave of global psychedelic sonic revolution .
The Isness is a vast samplerdelic sonic galaxy where a huge range of instruments ( from sitars and numerous eastern instruments to flutes, banjos and conventional rock n roll instrumentation)  and countless musicians are employed ,collaged and twisted using the studio as instrument ( much in the tradition and lineage of the Beatles and other 60s exponents) to form a startling new vision of cosmic space music and to redefine the possibilities of what ' the song ' could be in the new millennia with its by turn : cosmic , wildly surreal , absurdist lyrics on epic songs such as ' the Galaxial Pharmaceutical ' ' the Mello Hippo Disco Show ' ' Divinity ' and many others ! 

Limited Edition Clear Vinyl

Includes 12' Vinyl and Deluxe CD album, 30 page hard back book

Now that I've been to Nashville,' Kylie Minogue says with audible affection, I understand. It's like some sort of musical ley-line...'

Golden, Kylie's fourteenth studio album, is the result of an intensive working trip to the home of Country music, a city whose influence lingered on long after the pop legend and her team returned to London to finish the record: We definitely brought a bit of Nashville back with us,' she states. The album is a vibrant hybrid, blending Kylie's familiar pop-dance sound with an unmistakeable Tennessee twang. It was Jamie Nelson, Kylie's long-serving A&R man, who first came up with the concept of incorporating a Country element' into Kylie's tried-and-trusted style. That idea sat there for a little while, with Minogue and her team initially unsure about how to bring it to life. Then, when Grammy-winning songwriter Amy Wadge's publisher suggested Kylie should come over to collaborate in Nashville, a city Kylie had previously never visited, something clicked. You know when you're so excited about something,' she recalls, that you repeat it an octave higher and double the decibels I was like that. 'Nashville! Yes! Of course I would!'. I hoped it would help the album to reveal itself. I thought 'If I don't get it in Nashville, I'm not going to get it anywhere.''

Kylie's Nashville trip involved working alongside two key writers, both with homes in the city. One was British-born songwriter Steve McEwan (whose credits include huge Country hits for Keith Urban, Kenny Chesney and Carrie Underwood), and the other was the aforementioned Amy Wadge, another Brit (best known for her mega-selling work with Ed Sheeran). It was then a truly international project: Golden was mainly created with African-German producer Sky Adams and a list of contributors including Jesse Frasure, Eg White, Jon Green, Biff Stannard, Samuel Dixon, Danny Shah and Lindsay Rimes, and there's a duet with English singer Jack Savoretti.

However, the album's agenda-setting lead single Dancing was, significantly, first demoed with Nathan Chapman, the man who guided Taylor Swift's transition from Country starlet to Pop megastar. If anyone knows how to mix those two genres, Chapman does. Nathan was the only actual Nashvillean I worked with. He's got a huge studio in his house, which is probably due to his success with Taylor... there's plenty of platinum discs of her, and others on his walls.' There's something of the spirit of Peggy Lee's Is That All There Is, of Dylan Thomas' Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night, even of Liza Minnelli's Cabaret about Dancing, a song which not only opens the album but sets out its stall, providing a microcosm of what is to come. You've got the lyrical edge, that Country feel, mixed with some sampling of the voice and electronic elements, so it does what it says on the label. And I love that it's called 'Dancing', it's immediately accessible and seemingly so obvious, but there's depth within the song.'

The experience of simply being in Nashville was an overwhelming one, before Kylie had even arrived. Once I knew I was going to Nashville, people talked about the place with such enthusiasm. They said without doubt I would love it and, I would come back with songs. They were sending lists of restaurants, coffee shops and bars. It really was a beautiful and genuine response and it felt like I was about to have a life changing experience and in a way, I did.' The reality came as something of a surprise, when she found a far more modern metropolis than the vintage one she'd envisaged. I thought it would be like New Orleans: little houses and bars, with music spilling out onto the street. It reminded me more of Melbourne: apartment blocks going up everywhere! The main strip, Broadway, where the honky tonk bars are, that's where the street was filled with music and it was just amazing.' Mainly, Minogue remembers the heat and humidity. It was 100 degrees. It was like it was raining with no rain.' She also relished the chance to wander around unrecognised, visit a few venerable music bars and soak in the atmosphere. I didn't get to the Grand Ole Opry or the music museums but I managed to go to a couple of the institutions there like The Bluebird Cafe and The Listening Room, and just by being there, through some kind of osmosis, you get this rejuvenated respect for The Song, and the writing of The Song. There's no hoo-hah around it. There's a singer-songwriter there, talking about the song and singing the song, to an audience who are there to listen. Although, I have to confess I was guilty of starting to clap too soon during a long pause at the end of one of the songs. The guy made a bit of a joke out of it and got a laugh from it, but I thought 'Of all people in the audience, no...''

It's probably no coincidence, therefore, that every track on Golden is a Kylie co-write, making it arguably her most personal album to date. The end of 2016 was not a good time for me,' she says, referring to well-documented personal upheavals, so when I started working on the album in 2017, it was, in many ways, a great escape. Making this album was a kind of saviour. I'd been through some turmoil and was quite fragile when I started work on it, but being able to express myself in the studio made quick work of regaining my sense of self. Writing about various aspects of my life, the highs and lows, with a real sense of knowing and of truth. And irony. And joy!'

The songwriting process allowed Kylie to get a few things out of her system. Initially, she admits, it was cathartic, but it also wasn't very good. I think I was writing too literally. But I reached a point where I was writing about the bigger-picture, and that was a breakthrough. It made way for songs like Stop Me From Falling and One Last Kiss. It also meant I had enough distance to write an autobiographical song, like A Lifetime To Repair, with a certain amount of humour. The countdown in that song: 'Six-five-four-three, too many times...'. I don't know if that will be a single, but I can just imagine a girl with framed pictures of past boyfriends, and kind of going 'Oh god, when am I going to get this right'' When she listens back to Golden, Kylie can vividly hear the Nashville in it. It is, she'll agree, probably the first time that a Kylie album has sounded like the place it was made. You wouldn't normally relate my songs to the cities. Can't Get You Out Of My Head sounds more like Outer Space than London. But Shelby '68, for example, was written in London but it was done with Nashville in mind. It's about my Dad's car, and my brother recorded Dad driving it! I don't think I'd have written a number of the songs, including Shelby '68 and Radio On without having had that Nashville experience.'

The latter, she says, is about music being the one to save you.' Throwing herself into the making of the record, she says, crystallised that idea. If there's one love that will always be there for you, it's music. Well, it is for me, anyway.' That song, in particular, carries nostalgic echoes of the golden age of Country, as heard through Medium Wave transistors and tinny home stereos in the distant past. Like any child of the Seventies, Kylie had a basic grounding in Country music, mainly absorbed from older family members. My Step-Grandfather was born in Kentucky and though he lived most of his adult life in Australia, he never stopped listening to his beloved Country artists.' If there's any classic Country singer whose imprint can be heard on Golden, it's Dolly Parton.

Kylie saw Dolly live for the first time at the end of 2016, at the Hollywood Bowl. It was like seeing the light,' she beams. It was incredible. Everyone, whether they know it or not, is a Dolly Parton fan. When I was in Nashville, I did pick up a T-shirt that said 'What Would Dolly Do' Maybe that should be my mantra.' And, whether consciously or otherwise, there's a timbre and trill to Kylie's vocals on Radio On that is distinctly Parton-esque. My delivery is quite different on this album,' she says. A lot of things are 'sung' less. The first time I did that was with Where The Wild Roses Grow. On the day I met Nick Cave, when I recorded my vocals, he said 'Just sing it less. Talk it through, tell the story.' This album wasn't quite to that extreme, but a lot of the songs were done in fewer takes, to just capture the moment and keep imperfections that add to the song. I remember on my last album, a lot of producers were trying to take out literally every vibrato they heard. And that's not natural to my voice. I mean, I can make myself sound like a robot, but it's nice to sound like a human!' Working within the Country genre also gave Kylie permission to write in the Nashville vernacular. Because we were going there, I wasn't afraid to have lines like 'When he's fallen off the wagon we'd still dance to our favourite slow song', 'Ten sheets to the wind, I was all confused', 'I'll take the ride if it's your rodeo'. The challenge of bringing a Country element to the album made the process feel very fresh to me, kind of like starting over. I started to look at writing a different way, singing a different way.'

If ever Kylie lost confidence in the Country-Pop concept, and found herself pondering This is great, but back in the real world - my real world - how will this work', Jamie Nelson was there to badger her into sticking to the path. We found a way to make it a hybrid with what we'll call my 'usual' sound. It had to stay 'pop' enough to stay authentic to me, but country enough to be a new sound for this album. The closer we zoomed in, and the more we honed it, I knew Jamie was right. We sacrificed good songs that weren't right for this album, because we wanted it to be as cohesive as possible. The songs that were hitting the mark were these ones, so we decided to be strong, and that's how we wrapped up the album. What he said, that stuck with me, was that 'I'd hate to get to the end of this and really wish we'd gone for it.'' Having worked with Kylie for so long, Nelson was able to put this latest shift of direction into perspective. He said 'You've traditionally done it throughout your career. You had your PWL time, then you did a complete turn when you went to deConstruction, then another complete turn with Spinning Around, and R&B dance-pop, and then another turn with Can't Get You Out Of My Head, icy synth-pop, and this is another one.' He was right. It felt like the right time to have a change sonically. New label, new stories to tell, and a new decade almost upon me.'

Kylie Minogue will, it's scarcely believable, turn 50 this year. This looming milestone is partly behind the album's title, and title track. I had this line that I wanted to use: 'We're not young, we're not old, we're golden' because I'm asked so often about being my age in this industry. This year, I'll be 50. And I get it, I get the interest, but I don't know how to answer it. And that line, for my personal satisfaction, says it as succinctly as possible. We can't be anyone else, we can't be younger or older than we are, we can only be ourselves. We're golden. And the album title, Golden, reflects all of this. I liked the idea of everyone being golden, shining in their own way. The sun shines in daylight, the moon shines in darkness. Wherever we are in life, we are still golden.' One of the album's shiniest moments is Raining Glitter, an exuberant banger which ventures closest to Kylie's traditional dance-pop comfort zone. Eg White, who is one of the producers and writers and a great character, was talking about disco one day. I said 'I love disco, but you know the brief.' We needed to be going down the Country lane, so to speak. But we managed to bring them both together. When I wrote it, I was thinking about the Jacksons video for Can You Feel It where they're sprinkling glitter over everyone. And I think there's a Donna Summer record that's got that feel to it. I think that's my job: I basically leave a trail of glitter after every show I do anyway.'

Kylie is looking forward to the challenge of incorporating the Golden material into her live shows. Mixing these songs in with my existing catalogue is going to be fun. And it could be fun to do some of those songs with just a guitar. It'll make my acoustic set interesting...'Her incredibly loyal fans - to whom one Golden song, Sincerely Yours, is intended as a love letter' - will, she believes, have no problem with her latest stylistic shift. My audience have been with me on the journey, so I shouldn't be afraid that they won't come with me on this part. I've had fun with it, and I'm sure they will too.'

The time spent making Golden has, Kylie says, been a time of creative and personal renewal. I've met some amazing people, truly inspiring writers and musicians. My passion for music has never gone away, but it's got bigger and stronger.' And if there's an overriding theme to the record, it is one of acceptance. We're all human and it's OK to make mistakes, get it wrong, to want to run, to want to belong, to love, to dream. To be ourselves.'

I was able to both lose and find myself whilst making this album.'

A multi-platform production that explores the overlap between the digital and the organic through field recordings of Inuit throat singing may sound, on surface level, to be something that is a rather niche. However, Zoe Mc Pherson's exploration of this world on String Figures is a deeply rhythmic, immersive and forward-thinking piece of electronic- leaning music that remains just as danceable as it does experimental.
The album is fundamentally one of duality, exploring the traditional and the contemporary, organic and electronic, audio and visual, history and the future. Rooted in this duality is also a core theme around string being one of the most ancient and playful art forms and the seemingly infinite possibilities it offers in terms of shapes, structures and figures lines up with this as a trans-global art project. One that over time will involve video art, choreography, 3D motion design, macro film, instrumental and electronic sound. Although for now is being presented through an AV performance, films and a record with Mc Pherson collaborating with director Alessandra Leone.!
Over the seven tracks (which are laid out as chapters) the record explores glitchy electronics, dub-tinged grooves, polyrhythms, and a huge array of instruments that takes in quiet blasts of atonal sax alongside wonky synths. This of course cross-pollinates with the throat singing and experimental field recordings to create an utterly inimitable sonic sphere. For Mc Pherson it's about mixing worlds, histories and timeframes and she uses a 1991 quote from Laurie Spiegel to hit home how she has elaborated upon this original thought of history and future overlapping. 'Folk music is considered anonymous common property in a culture and that's what a lot of computer music and other kinds of music data may end up becoming.' However, there's also a purer reason for the exploration of these worlds and colliding them together. 'Basically I thought that electronic music that is only digital is a bit boring and as I'm connected to jazz music for many reasons, I wanted it to sound organic: real instrumentation, field recordings.'

'Y.O.U' is an emotive album of tripped out ambient hip hop instrumentals by FROM, written and recorded in the mid 90s under Trevor Jackson's infamous production persona The Underdog. Originally planned as a vocally-led, song-based project that should've surfaced between his production for The Brotherhood's legendary British hip hop album 'Elementalz' in 1996 and his acclaimed debut PLAYGROUP release in 2001, for multiple reasons it hasn't seen the light of day, until now.
Only Available as a ultra limited edition Vinyl and CD release, the LP consists of 11 tracks. Dream-like synth lines, ambient melodies, blissful guitars, raw beats and soft, fractured vocals draw you into a hallucinatory 12bit world. Drawing on Jackson's progressive and jazz rock influences as well as psychedelia and early electronics, the album closes with 'Belladonna'- a piano-sampled homage to the east coast golden age hip hop pioneers. NB: The CD features a longer version of 'Veratrum' not available on the vinyl version. All created on an Akai S950 mono sampler (limited to only 20 seconds sampling time), an Akai MG1212 12 channel mixer (which recorded on Betamax style tapes) and primitive outboard gear, Jackson honed his skills from his bedroom, where he produced the majority of his output at the time. With a huge collection of obscure vinyl, he dug deep into uncharted territories for samples and sound clips
- using material no one knew about (or would think about touching) in the mid 90s. The Underdog's initial releases were on Jackson's own Bite It! recordings label, which was started in 1991. A unique platform for UK hip hop with a visual aesthetic and ethos more akin to ECM and Factory
than other rap labels, its mission was to push artists beyond musical and cultural limitations prevalent at the time.
Home to artists like The Brotherhood, Scientists of Sound, Little Pauly Ryan and Lewis Parker (who later signed to Massive Attack's Melancholic label), Bite It! became a great success;
finally British rap had artists and releases that looked and sounded as good as their revered American counterparts. In 1993 Richard Russell (who had just started running XL recordings) asked Trevor to remix House of Pain, resulting in a top ten record, which helped launch Jackson's musical career via further remixes Massive Attack, Run DMC, U2, The Cure and countless others. Off the back of his remix success, The Brotherhood signed a deal in 1994 with Virgin Records. Their 'ELEMENTALZ' album was produced by Jackson and is still lauded by many as one of the finest British hip hop albums of all time.
Jackson continued to remix and produce as The Underdog until managerial issues forced him out of the project he'd been instrumental in instigating.
Soon after his close friend and manager tragically passed away - which when combined with the UK hip hop scene becoming increasingly volatile and the moral demise of rap culture in general - convinced Trevor to hang up his hip hop hat for good.
After leaving The Brotherhood he started Output Recordings. Internationally and sonically diverse, it gave Jackson a free reign to do as he pleased, with genre twisting releases from the likes of Fridge, Four Tet, Sonovac, Colder, his own PLAYGROUP project, The Rapture and LCD Soundsystem. With a non-compromising attitude, strong DIY aesthetic and consistently groundbreaking releases across its ten year life between 1996 and 2006, it became one of the most important and respected independent labels in the world.

Dark Entries and Serendip Lab have teamed up to release 'Prototech', the first vinyl retrospective by German electronic trio Hypnobeat, recorded 1984-86. James Dean Brown and Pietro Insipido formed Hypnobeat in 1983, but it was the addition of Victor Sol only a few months later that found the project reaching, as Brown puts it, "the desired level of technical sophistication." In time, Tobias Freund also lent his talents (and equipment) to this loose-fit sonic scheme, where the protagonists sought a new, electronic manifestation of mankind's tribal music roots. Two cassette releases surfaced - 1985's "Huggables", and "Specials/Spatials" the following year. By this point the Frankfurt-based group had already explored fiercely mechanical creative expression through various configurations of hardware and personnel, revolving around core ingredients such as the TR-808, TB-303 and MC-202. The project lived on in spirit as Brown activated Narcotic Syntax in the 90s. While a more modern, digital concern, rooted in the Perlon label family, NS still channeled the Hypnobeat concept of a "new tribalism", not least on their "Provocative Percussion" double 12" released in 2006. For all the punky veneer, there are instances where these tracks reach staggering levels of sophistication, not least on "Slash! Buffalo Eats Brass" with its intricately programmed 303 lines and nimble beats that sound a far cry from most machine music made in 1986. Prescient "Can God Rewind" is also dazzling in the complexity of its percussion and the richness of its synth lines in C as they throb out a bastardised version of acidic Disco straight out of the rhythm collider. Elsewhere, some tracks are more primal in their execution. Visceral opening track "The Arumbaya Fetish" was a cathartic venting of Brown's least favourite sound on the 808, the iconic cowbell, while the astounding proto-Acid miniature "Moon Jump" places limber 303 lead lines in a hail of thunderstruck patterns. "Kilian" has a stripped down quality that speaks more to the industrial era that Hypnobeat was conceived in, and "Mission In Congo" is a raw, reverb-soaked drum workout that captures the percussive-obsessive nature of Hypnobeat perfectly. Six of the seven tracks selected on this collection were primarily powered by two 808s. "I am amazed that the release sounds like we really had a plan back then..." states Brown, but this accidental magic is in fact the raison d'etre of Hypnobeat. They weren't the only ones prefiguring the next big revolutions in electronic music in the mid 80s, but there certainly weren't many artists stumbling across modes of expression that sound so relevant today.

All songs are remastered for vinyl by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. Housed in a jacket featuring cave engravings by Pietro Insipido of an archer and animal printed in a wallpaper pattern style designed by Eloise Leigh. Each copy includes an transparent insert of an x-ray photograph from 1984 of Romulus Cœurque holding the circuit board of a BOSS DR-55 rhythm machine.

First vinyl release for 10 Years Of Metroline Limited series - Produced by label bosses Octad and Phiorio

This release is one of round numbers. It's Metroline Limited release number 50. You may have actually noticed that we almost got to release 90 by now but number 50 was always kept behind for a collaborative release between the two men behind the label: Andrea and Gianpiero aka Octad and Phiorio. It took a fairly long time to put this release together, mainly because running a label with a DIY ethos is a time consuming affair and most of the time doesn't leave too much free time for sonic experimentations. We really hope it was worth the wait! And what a better opportunity to release Metroline number 50 like for the label's 10 years anniversary. So much has happened since 2007, we released a LOT of music, some of our tracks have been played in the best clubs and festivals and by some of our favourite dj's. We are not going to name names but we are extremly proud of what we have achieved in our 10 years history. We are also proud of the fact that we are still around with energy and enthusiam to keep on releasing new music, this time (finally) by our label owners and also soon by a lot more talented producers in the months to come. Music wise, in this EP you will find some of the syles that made Metroline music known over the years. The two tracks on the A side are produced by Octad. Missing Bits has Octad's trademark minimal groove with hissing hats and a huge sub bass. There is a clever use of percussive bits, dark stabs and vocals to create a sublime dark minimal techno builder. Synopsis of 8 keeps the A side atmosphere well dark. Andrea managed to create a solid machine funk dark and spooky techno number with metallic percussion and plenty of groove. Phiorio takes control ot B side with the opening

Cyclo is relaunching with an absolute classic track from its extensive back catalogue. Produced by Derrick Carter & Chris Nazuka the Chicago house classic Rednail Kidz "Do My Thing" was an underground smash when it was first released at the end of the 90's. Clubs nights such as Space at Bar Rhumba rocked hard to the incessant groove of this track. We have included a remastered original with 3 remixes:The Nacho Marco remix takes "Do My Thing" into big room territory. Nacho works closely with Roland and on this remix you can witness Big 303 lines and huge bass that will rock most discerning floors.Hallo Halo (Jon Dasilva & Jonas Nilsson) remix the track superbly and add their trademark warm tech sound.Mystic Bill creates a stunning, deep, Chicago inspired, sonic journey of a remix where less is, most certainly, more. Your Only Friend (AKA Tres Manos) adds some warm acid lines and some extra synths for his remix (digital edition only).
We hope you will enjoy these tracks as much as we are !

This is France in the Mitterrand years: fashions fleet as fast as governments. In the early eighties, the happy-go-lucky gather the nectar of each and every new release.
Believing in a bright future for videotex, and loosened up by the sexy talks broadcasted on the budding pirate radios, the new generation dreams of dance floors and holiday clubs. French Boogie, which preserves the spirit of these years of boodle and bunkum, is the ideal soundtrack to their dreams.

What the web now refers to as French Boogie is some synthetic funk reflecting the spirit of those days when nothing was impossible, or so it seemed. Its syncopated flow heralded the dawning of French rap. Often considered as some kind of post-disco, inspired as much by black music as by new wave, this carefree pop music with bawdy lyrics indulged in simple pleasures: holidays, swank and sun were recurrent themes. Totally in tune with its time, it incidentally glorified luxury, success, and a certain consumerism embodied, for instance, in Bernard Tapie.

In popular clubs such as La Main Bleue in Montreuil, or L'Echappatoire in Clichy-sous-Bois - where Micky Milan could be seen behind the decks - an enthusiastic audience discovered this new sonic wave, influenced as much by French pop as by Sugar Hill Gang or Kurtis Blow. The artists who first launched the movement engaged in it wholeheartedly, but as often the case with new music trends in France, humour and casualness quickly became a decoy to impose a new style. This explosive mixture, in which startling and typically Frenchy French lyrics go along New-York-style tunes, is sometimes reminiscent of the kinky comedies directed by Max Pécas or Claude Zidi. On this prolific scene, partly originating from the Jewish community, everybody was looking for success, trying to hit the jackpot with what was to hand. Famous media personalities, one-hit wonders or John Does in quest of fame, all had a go at French Boogie - more or less successfully. Apart from « Vacances j'oublie tout » by Elégance, « Un fait divers et rien de plus » by Le Club, or « Chacun fait ce qui lui plaît » by Chagrin d'amour (produced by Patrick Bruel), very few songs became hits: the story of funk in France is that of a half-baked robbery.

In this myriad of new musicians, the very young François Feldman and Phil Barney pioneered a fresh and hybrid style. Other well-known artists like Gérard Blanc from Martin Circus (Attaché Case), Richard de Bordeaux (Ich), or Jean-Pierre Massiera (Anisette, Pirate Scratch Band, Mandrake, Scratch Man...) added an eccentric touch to this sound-wave, making it often entertaining, and sometimes showy.

Capture d'écran 2015-10-26 à 12.55.43Singers like Agathe (the author of 'La Fourmi' and of the hit song 'Je ne veux pas rentrer chez moi seule') were far more than just window dressing. They even tried to give an ironic and subversive twist to this rather harmless genre. The very vindictive rebel Gérard Vincent shared in this spirit, but as a whole, French Boogie became associated with nonchalance and sauciness. Thus, Stéphane Collaro, Gérard Jugnot, Alain Gillot Pétré and other TV clowns would clumsily contribute to this French variation on funky sounds. In a few but intense years, French Boogie gave all the tips to party with style.

If some hits made it possible for the happy few to get a real house under truly exotic palm trees, the wave actually ebbed away very quickly, leaving quite a few musicians stranded on the shore. Whether they were sincerely motivated, or simply opportunistic, they had failed. In 1984, French Boogie was already breathless, and got merged with other genres: on the one hand, rap and breakdance adapted its flow to a more urban world, especially with Sydney's show, H.I.P.H.O.P, and Dee Nasty's broadcasts on Radio Nova; on the other, italo, new beat and house began to rule over dance floors, even more strongly asserting the will to develop music for clubs.

Squeezed in between the age of disco and that of modern electronic music, French Boogie was a transitional phase, but it remains an amazingly refreshing testimony to the intermingling of pop and underground cultures. The genre was hastily categorized as anecdotal in spite of its pioneering synthetic groove and matchless bass lines. An attentive ear will discover the poetry of the ephemeral beyond the eccentricities of the genre, as well as a certain unexpected avant-gardism. At the origin of major music trends, always cheerful and catchy, French Boogie is what you need to party.

My Panda Shall Fly AKA musician and visual artist Suren Seneviratne, is set to release 'Tropical' It's a brand new 6 track vinyl release.

A kaleidoscope of rainbow textures and rhythms disperse into the exotic soundscape of 'Tropical'. Electronics, real folk instruments and noise-making objects feature here generously on this six-track concept album, blending together a sonic palette influenced by a rich variety of music, people and places.

The material was initially written over the course of a few months during what Seneviratne called "a beautiful burst of inspiration". Working with veteran producer Asier Leatxe Ibanez d'Opakoa (Electric Lady Studios, NYC), Seneviratne then set about disassembling all the songs and re-working them meticulously, enriching the sounds by adding a huge range of live instrumentation, before processing the audio through vintage analogue studio gear.

Suren Seneviratne, born in Sri Lanka before settling in London in 1996, first caught the attention of the music world with a remix that featured on Pitchfork back in 2010. Since then he has released a plethora of diverse records, gaining support from the likes of Clash Magazine, The Fader, Mixmag and Dazed Digital, as well as regularly touring internationally. He has also remixed the likes of The Weeknd, Stay Positive & Little Boots as well as appearing at festivals like BBC Hackney Weekender, Outlook Croatia & Glade as well as performing at prestigious venues such as The Design Museum, Tate Modern & Barbican.

With the release of 'Tropical', My Panda Shall Fly has yet again set himself apart as one of the most unique contemporary electronic musicians around today.

ZOV ZOV is a collaboration of Oliver Ho and Tommy Gillard - the culmination of almost 10 years of unreleased sound experiments. The two artists have worked on building up a vault of music that holds hours and hours of material.

This debut release signifies the first step of compiling this huge archive of material into reduced and distilled installments. Ruin Lust holds four sonic excursions, which further define the boundary-challenging aesthetic of Shifted's emerging sub-label Mira.

ZOV ZOV, a new word to describe something unknown, something ancient and deep inside that floods from the depths of the earth.

Idiot Savant Masterpieces is the 3rd release and the first full solo EP by Amir Alexander on the Vanguard Sound record label. On display is Amir's somewhat off kilter take on U.S. dance music. An approach so different that one critic described the work of Amir and his crew as Idiot Savant Masterpieces. All bases are covered, acid, deep, big room, and banging techno with a little hip house thrown in for good measure. Vanguard Sound is quickly establishing itself as a label to watch so serious collectors should buy this one on sight!


The Realest of the Real! - An acid/ hip house hybrid banger that draws influence from the classic acid and hip house vibes. With vocals written and performed by Amir himself, this track combines 303 808 and 909 sounds with Amir's "street chants" to create a vibe that looks back to classic Chicago while pushing it forward and into the future.



Sonic Weaponry! - An insidious techno groove that grabs you by the neck on the first note, and never lets go. Tough banging drums combine with a staccato analog synth passage that charges like an advancing army. The rubbery bass line joins the fray to incite utter madness as this deceptively minimalistic track whips the floor into a mad frenzy.



Rebel Music (Version One)! - A big room Banger lead by a phrenetic sine wave bass line that never lets up. Deliberate, yet, stuttering percussion anchors the track. The accompanying synth ostinato continuously shifts as huge lush chords blow through like gale force winds. Black Panther's H. Rap Brown and Stokely Carmichael drop science about the nature of rebellion in the U.S.



Who are You - The "Deepest" track of the four opens with a beautiful ascending/ descending flute like synth passage that instantly sets the soul adrift. The hard and jumpy kicks interplay with a throbbing rhythmic bass that bubbles like a boiling cauldron. About halfway in a driving synth ostinato comes in to push the track forward. In the middle there is a dreamy

After two in as many years, low-key German producer Yør returns to similarly low key Dutch imprint Purple Maze for his third full outing on the label in the form of the 'Sublimation EP'. Across the four tracks Yør continues to explore the same frayed and decayed, abstract electronics as he has in the past, with distant kins like Kassem Mosse and Morphosis still resonating.
The opener and title track is an intense and moody, nerve jangling affair where huge searching synths pan in the background of grinding drums and dense percussive clatter before 'Gravity', with its heavyweight and churning drums, trudges on through sonic scuzz and lo-fi blizzards as a backlit melody keeps things from growing all too dark and abstract.

The many different contrasting surfaces and counterpointed moods make Yør's sounds as arresting as they are. The dystopian, tortured industrial funk of 'Parallels' with its slapping claps and decaying percussive lines are proof of that, where through chaos comes beautiful order.
Closer 'Trust' holds its head a little higher, more spiralling synths and bleepy fax machines tones add a sense that the apocalypse is coming and machines will take over, but there's enough organic beauty in the deeply hidden melodies to keep the track from being all too hostile.

If there was one secret weapon to win a war for real techno music it is
Realmz out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After a series of digital only releases on Sonic Groove over the past three years, the timing for Realmz to hit with a 4 track EP on black wax is now with Sonic Groove's huge 20th anniversary event and label celebrations