quête:space bass

Work of Art is not merely a sophomore album; it is a victory lap run with the precision of a master artist. Following the stratospheric global ascent of his debut, Mr. Money with the Vibe, Asake faced the kind of pressure that usually demands a pivot. Instead, he treated that intensity like clay, sculpting a project that feels at once more expansive in scale and more intimate in spirit. Released in 2023, the album serves as a definitive statement on Asake’s sonic identity, deepening his signature fusion of Amapiano, Fuji-inspired percussion, and Afrobeats while moving with a newfound sense of deliberate poise.

If his debut was a high-octane sprint to introduce his sound to the world, Work of Art is a confident stroll through his own creative museum. Anchored once again by the masterful production of Magicsticks, the album serves as the perfect architectural space for Asake’s erratic, infectious flows. The record feels richly textured—brimming with pulsating log drums, soulful samples, and the specific, ecstatic chaos of Lagos nightlife. Asake successfully bridges the gap between traditional Yoruba heritage and the deep, percussive basslines of South African Amapiano, resulting in a sound that feels simultaneously ancestral and futuristic.

The project thrives on a unique duality: it is introspective, yet undeniably club-ready. Tracks like "Amapiano," featuring Olamide, provide the anthemic energy his fans crave, while cuts like "Basquiat" showcase a lyrical swagger that frames his life as high art set to a relentless four-on-the-floor beat. By leaning into his "Mr. Money" persona with added vulnerability and a clearer focus on the craftsmanship of his vocal delivery, Asake avoids the dreaded sophomore slump entirely. He proves that he isn't just making pop songs; he is curating a moment. Ultimately, Work of Art captures the feeling of an artist standing at the peak of his powers, looking out at the landscape he has helped reshape, and confirming that, indeed, he belongs there. It is not about reinventing the wheel—it’s about proving that the wheel he built is a masterpiece.

Swedish composer and multi-instrumentalist Gustaf Ljunggren invites listeners into the quiet, reflective world of Along the Low Road , an ambitious solo album that balances delicacy with depth. Following the success of Ljunggren s 2022 release Floreana , this new release offers a gentle, dream dream-like musical journey, shaped by two of the Nordic scene s most imaginative and intuitive musicians. Balancing sparse acoustic instrumentation with sprawling affected soundscapes, the album moves with patience and clarity. Ljunggren s compositions provide a foundation for subtle interplay, where every note and gesture is attentive to the music s unfolding. Featured guest Icelandic bassist Skúli Sverrisson s bass provides warmth and grounding, supporting Ljunggren s guitar, ukulele, and multi multi-instrumental textures. The result is a sound that is at once intimate and expansive, inviting reflection and connection. The tracks draw inspiration from nature, landscapes, and personal experience. Lille Skotland " evokes the rocky coast of Bornholm with gentle, melancholic flow, while Stevelen " captures the quiet power of cliffs and open skies. The title track, Along the Low Road," traces a contemplative path, its cyclical melodies and ambient layers offering perspective and calm. Letters Melting " twists a classical chord progression into a reflective polska, while Summer Passing Letting Go " balances warmth and transition. Brief, hymn hymn-like pieces such as Tillfrisknandet " provide moments of repose, and playful minimalism in Nine Again " captures the wonder of childhood at the cusp of youth. The album closes with Here And Not Here," a meditative reflection on perception and presence, leaving the listener in a quiet, suspended space. Ljunggren and Sverrisson have long been celebrated for their generosity, sensitivity, and courage as collaborators. Their work together on Along the Low Road continues this partnership, offering music that listens as much as it plays. Drawing from jazz, minimalism, Nordic folk, and early music, the duo s sound combines melodic clarity with a sense of freedom, revealing subtle emotional depths in each composition. In concert, Ljunggren and Sverrisson reimagine these pieces in the moment, allowing the music to unfold with a sense of shared discovery. Whether recorded or live, the album is a testament to the duo s enduring musical dialogue and the quiet, immersive beauty of their Nordic sensibility.

In a patchwork of IRL sound fragments, humming ambience and sub bass brushstrokes, Bobby Ingham debuts on Sneaker Social Club with a social-realist inversion of soundsystem music that relishes negative space while telling a street-level story.

Bobby Ingham is a 24-year-old multidisciplinary artist whose creative practice across film, music and sculpture was shaped by formative experiences in his native Leeds. Having started to experiment with spoken word, poetry and electronic sound production, he sharpened his focus after moving to London. Homesickness moved him to recreate the sensory impression of his hometown through sound, using snippets of his every day experience with his friends and family as well as archival recordings online related to Leeds. The particular lilt of regional dialect became central to the character of his work — a direct portal into a personal world that could only be rendered by someone who has lived it.

Ingham’s work chimes with that of SSC’s own Low End Activist. Where LEA has repeatedly taken us around the Oxford council estate he calls home, on Angel of the North Ingham lets us stay a while on the streets and in the houses that made him. It’s intimate from the very start — opening track ‘Lynne’ features Ingham’s own grandmother, while ‘I Feel So Good I Swear I Could Fly’ finds Ingham voicing his own poem as he retells personal experiences in a disarmingly mythological manner.

‘1st Memory Of Love For DRXSJKFL ft. Pretty V’ invites Wakefield, West Yorkshire-based artist Voldy Moyo to lay down a spoken word piece that evokes the dehumanising nature of military service and those left behind by it. Where there are no words, Ingham instead speaks with brittle machine rhythms and blocks of texture, swooning synthesised beauty and any emotional shade you care to mention in between. It’s a work that takes you right into the heart of the artist — someone committed to telling an honest story from a viewpoint that seldom gets a second thought.

Drumcode returns with its flagship A-Sides series, led by a huge new Adam Beyer single that highlights the 20-track compilation.

If you want a snapshot of techno in any given year, look no further than Drumcode’s annual A-Sides compilation. The release broadly charts the evolution of the genre, while giving a platform to standout demo’s Adam Beyer has received across the course of the year with many emerging artists finding their music on Drumcode for the first time. Case in point – Wehbba, Charles D and Raxon who all debuted on the label via a track on the A-Sides series and have gone on to become regular contributors to Beyer’s influential labels.

This year’s compilation features an exciting mix of established heavy-hitters, alongside a slew of new faces set to make their mark on the genre. ‘We Don’t Say Please’ – is emblematic of Adam Beyer’s sound in 2025 – fresh, experimental and thriving on cross-genre pollinations, as elements of bass music, rap and techno collide, underpinned by a distinctive UK vocal. The results are inspiring.

Elsewhere, the 20-track compilation brims with highlights. HI-LO’s ‘NYC to Amsterdam’ has inflections of New York house fused with driving techno elements. Nicole Moudaber returns to DC in cahoots with the rising ZLATA for the super-charged ‘Report to the Dancefloor’. Oscar L & Charles D mint a new collaborative partnership with the immersive, spacey cut ‘Lift Me Up’. LUSU continue their red-hot run following the recent ‘Move 2 the Groove’ EP, and craft a straight-up mind-mashing single ‘LIKE THIS’. Mark Reeve is in trademark strong form with hypnotic ‘My Mind’, which comes to life via a massive synth led. The fantastic Kaufmann shares her ‘People are Strange’, a nod to a classic vox, re-contextualised for a modern techno audience.

As is tradition, a troupe of ascendant producers land on Drumcode for the first time. They include Uruguay’s Enzo Monza, who delivers the crisp ‘Late Night’ – a favourite of Beyer’s; Mattia Saviola, whose ‘Parallel Dimension’ is a powerful cut with fantastic sound design; Romanian artist Tao Andra, who shares the celestial ‘Unity’; and long-time industry stalwart AdamK, who makes a richly deserved Drumcode debut in partnership with Vikthor feat. MC Stretch on the stunning ‘Silence + The Sound’.

One year on from his first Samurai release, Vardae returns to plunge even deeper into his mesmerising strain of hyper-mobile drum mantras and textural intrigue. Cédric Arnous' prolific run over the past few years has rapidly positioned him at the forefront of a scene between scenes where the rhythmic intrigue of drum & bass collides with modern techno's hypnotic linearity. On The Energy Of Presence he relishes the flexibility afforded by this intersection to deliver four distinct, high-impact workouts made with his ever-evolving live set in mind. 'Grounded Attachment' leads with the sonar strafe and broken beat pulse readily associated with the Vardae sound, threading twitchy percussion and steely brushstrokes around the bedrock of low-end pressure. It's the slowly emerging drone sweeps that round out the character of the track, betraying a warmth encased within the metallic overtones that deepens the emotional weight immeasurably. By contrast, 'Magnetic Flux' swerves towards a more direct thrust with its high-tempo 4/4 undercarriage and a limber, acidic lead line that helps join the dots between Vardae's modernist sheen and the roughneck days of free party tekno. This is still charged, atmospheric dance music, but it has no problem showing its teeth, too. 'Electric Feelings' is similarly sprightly in its tempo, but as ever Vardae runs a tight game with the weight of his drums, finding lightness and dexterity even at 170BPM while the transcendental wormhole opens up around the rhythmic force at the centre. Ensuring there's no space for predictability on this release, 'The Energy Of Presence' plies its own trade in sumptuous dub techno chords and angular groove designed to make you move on a different kind of downbeat. The consummate title track, it's the most roundly melodic offering on the record, served as a crescendo to the whole listening experience comfortably nestled on the B2 of the physical edition. Capitalising on the hypnotic codes etched into the dub techno sound, Vardae dials up the delay feedback for a psychedelic release at the end of a record that covers a lot of ground without losing focus.

With Dispersion, Loom & Thread return to the volatile architecture of the expanded piano trio - and quietly fracture it from within.

Daniel Klein (drums), Tobias Fröhlich (double bass) and Tom Schneider (keys, sampler) remain the sole agents on stage and in the final recording. The triangle holds. And yet, the field has expanded. For their second studio album, the trio fed their improvisations with the timbral signatures of guest saxophone and vibraphone players - not just as additional voices to be featured, but also as material to be absorbed, atomized and redistributed. The result is not augmentation but thorough refraction.

Where the debut album explored the recursive labyrinth of Schneider's live sampling of his own piano, Dispersion introduces an external grain into the feedback system. Breath and metal. Reed turbulence and struck resonance. The trio sampled extended improvisations by saxophone and vibes players: Victor Fox, Asger Nissen, Volker Heuken, and L&T's own Daniel Klein; dissected their attacks, overtones and decay curves, and integrated these fragments into the trio's internal circuitry. What emerges is a play of presences without bodies - instrumental ghosts circulating through the dense weave of rhythm and keys.

At first, one might hear the familiar relational tension: Klein's polyrhythmic elasticity interlocking with Fröhlich's tensile double bass figurations, Schneider poised at the hinge between tonal field and percussive impulse. But soon, the surface splinters - again. A vibraphone shimmer appears, yet no mallets are visible. A reed multiphonic surges through the texture, bending space between bass and drums. These events are neither quotations nor overlays; they are redistributed energies, dispersed across the trio's grammar. A digital multidimensional interplay ensues.

If the first album unfolded as a two-tiered game - live phrase and sampled reflection - Dispersion adds a further axis. The sampled materials from other improvisers are stripped of their erstwhile two-way interaction and reconstituted as malleable particles. Signifier detached from origin, resonance detached from gesture. The trio navigates a constantly shifting topology in which acoustic memory and electronic manipulation are indistinguishable.

Crucially, the album never abandons the physical urgency of three musicians reacting in real time. The additional timbral layers do not thicken the texture into opacity; rather, they introduce stark points and arrows of diffraction. Density opens into prismatic clarity. Lines splinter and regroup. What seems like a quartet or quintet collapses back into three bodies negotiating an expanded field.

Dispersion is not about addition but about distribution - of agency, of timbre, of temporal perspective. It is an album in which the trio setting becomes a site of multiplicity without surrendering its immediacy. A dissolution not only of the divide between present experience and memory, but between inside and outside, self and other.

Three musicians. Countless vectors. A music that fractures in order to cohere.

CREDITS:
Tom Schneider: piano & sampler
Tobi Fröhlich: double bass
Daniel Klein: drums & percussion

sample sources:
Victor Fox: tenor saxophone
Asger Nissen: alto saxophone
Volker Heuken: vibes
Daniel Klein: vibes

Recorded by Martin Dressler at Bauer Studios, Ludwigsburg.
Mixed & mastered by Martin Ruch.
Artwork by Viet Hoa Le.

Drumcode returns with its flagship A-Sides series, led by a huge new Adam Beyer single that highlights the 20-track compilation.

If you want a snapshot of techno in any given year, look no further than Drumcode’s annual A-Sides compilation. The release broadly charts the evolution of the genre, while giving a platform to standout demo’s Adam Beyer has received across the course of the year with many emerging artists finding their music on Drumcode for the first time. Case in point – Wehbba, Charles D and Raxon who all debuted on the label via a track on the A-Sides series and have gone on to become regular contributors to Beyer’s influential labels.

This year’s compilation features an exciting mix of established heavy-hitters, alongside a slew of new faces set to make their mark on the genre. ‘We Don’t Say Please’ – is emblematic of Adam Beyer’s sound in 2025 – fresh, experimental and thriving on cross-genre pollinations, as elements of bass music, rap and techno collide, underpinned by a distinctive UK vocal. The results are inspiring.

Elsewhere, the 20-track compilation brims with highlights. HI-LO’s ‘NYC to Amsterdam’ has inflections of New York house fused with driving techno elements. Nicole Moudaber returns to DC in cahoots with the rising ZLATA for the super-charged ‘Report to the Dancefloor’. Oscar L & Charles D mint a new collaborative partnership with the immersive, spacey cut ‘Lift Me Up’. LUSU continue their red-hot run following the recent ‘Move 2 the Groove’ EP, and craft a straight-up mind-mashing single ‘LIKE THIS’. Mark Reeve is in trademark strong form with hypnotic ‘My Mind’, which comes to life via a massive synth led. The fantastic Kaufmann shares her ‘People are Strange’, a nod to a classic vox, re-contextualised for a modern techno audience.

As is tradition, a troupe of ascendant producers land on Drumcode for the first time. They include Uruguay’s Enzo Monza, who delivers the crisp ‘Late Night’ – a favourite of Beyer’s; Mattia Saviola, whose ‘Parallel Dimension’ is a powerful cut with fantastic sound design; Romanian artist Tao Andra, who shares the celestial ‘Unity’; and long-time industry stalwart AdamK, who makes a richly deserved Drumcode debut in partnership with Vikthor feat. MC Stretch on the stunning ‘Silence + The Sound’.

Are You Alien's first vinyl missive, a compilation style affair showcasing the work of four label affiliated artists, is genuinely packed to the rafters with cuts designed to be played loud on "deep dancefloors and late-night transmissions". HearThuG kicks things off with 'Relax', a post-punk/dark disco inspired slab of early morning hedonism inspired by DFX's 'Relax Your Body' (which itself borrowed heavily from the KLF's 'What Time Is Love'), before Light Blue File charges towards darkened warehouses on the tactile tech-house/stab-happy rave fusion of 'Guante El En Mic'. Over on side B, Briki opts for squelchy acid bass, trippy vocal snippets and spacey sounds on 'Droppin The Pressure', before Ahmet Mecnun adds spoken word vocals and French Touch flourishes to a deep tech-house groove.

Polyamore presents “Ritmo Magnetico EP” by Disco Strummer, a vibrant blend of disco, funk and Italo grooves. The title track delivers deep basslines, bright keys and uplifting energy made for the dancefloor, while “Stardust” takes a cosmic turn with space‑disco atmospheres and hypnotic synths. Together, the two tracks celebrate movement, freedom and Disco Strummer’s signature blend of sunny groove and cosmic flair.

For almost two decades, Igor Škafar has honed a own unique sound. Warm and nostalgic, the Slovenian artist melts unctuous analogue tones with subtle percussive patterns. This palette is at the heart of Ichisan’s fifth appearance on Bordello A Parigi. An undulating and understated introduction ushers in “Erotika,” the cosmic gazing sounds of the 1970s and the turquoise waters of Balearic flowing as one. Swirling space synthlines are countered by punchy beats, fudgy basslines balanced by the gently rippling melody. The break offers new directions, drum patterns scatter before regrouping around those sunkissed scaling chords care of Škafar’s impeccable craftsmanship. The beats take on a disco snap for “Midnight House,” a smouldering snaking synthline unfurling itself to glorious heights. Bongos and toms support the sci-fi dipped keys of this seven-minute journey into the musical mind of Ichisan. Two tracks that offer a deep dive into the sounds of a truly singular artist.

In Mikey’s own words, ““Myths of the MediterrAlien” is a high-octane voyage through a universe where ancient cultures collide with futuristic visions.” For him “the MediterrAlien is a hybrid character who drifts between mythology and outer space, carrying fragments of both history and hyperspace into the club.” Across four explosive tracks, the EP reimagines deconstructed club and experimental bass through a fast, hyper-energetic lens. Each piece feels like a different chapter in the MediterrAlien’s journey, spiralling through cosmic turbulence, touching down on ancient shores, and refracting tradition through the intensity of a distant galaxy.

Designed for the late-night fringes of the dance floor, Myths of the MediterrAlien is both a personal mythology and a sonic wormhole—bridging the universe where Jensen Interceptor’s comes from with where his imagination is heading next.

All tracks written and produced by Jensen Interceptor. Master by Carlos Nascimento at Qualia Audio Lab. Artwork by Conhecido João & Diogo Vasconcelos

Time To Get On Board A New Black Universal Express.

With each new recording Anthony Joseph presents an imaginative, personal vision of contemporary black culture, and The Ark is yet another compelling album by the award-winning Trinidadian poet and musician. This second part of a sequence of two albums launched with last year’s Rowing Up River To Get Our Names Back, finds Joseph giving full vent to his desire to explore many thought-provoking themes. However, there is a specific thread running through the glorious offering of sounds.

”I was especially interested in the idea of using Afrofuturism as a means of using the future in order to correct the wrongs of the past,” explains Joseph. “And so a lot of lyrics reimage or imagine an alternate black history. At the same time there are elements of autobiography.” The aforesaid cultural phenomenon, a view of the black experience through the prism of science fiction and ancient Egypt and Africa, as mapped out by visionaries from music and literature such as Sun Ra, Parliament-Funkadelic and Octavia E. Butler, has previously inspired Joseph. His 2006 novel The African Origins Of UFOs was a multi-hued work, and the new music shows how Joseph

has, much like all significant artists, gone on to broaden his conceptual palette, creating beguiling new stories and images set to startling rhythms and tones. Tracks such as ‘James’, with its taut, crisp bass and dubbed-up brass, and ‘Transposition Of Space (Glissant)’, a potent evocation of the influential Martiniquan theorist set in a haze of jazz guitar and ambient synthesizers, are marvels of text-sound painting.

As for ‘Baron Samedi’, shaped by a languid, almost wounded guitar line and slow rise of horns that frame Joseph’s journey to the ‘mountain of fire, almost touching the sky’ it is an epic blend of commanding vocal delivery and dramatic sonic tapestry.

Joseph led the Spasm band in the early 2000s and recorded well-received albums such as Bird Head Son and Time, in which songs were largely based on spirituals or chants enhanced by improvisation. But his musical curiosity has naturally led to collaborations, and the new work is produced by Dave Okumu, the prodigiously talented guitarist-vocalist-composer known as the leader of Mercury Music Prize-nominated The Invisible, and who was also a member of the seminal band Jade Fox.

Having first performed together at a show curated by influential saxophonist-flautist Shabaka Hutchings at the storied Total Refreshment Centre In London during lockdown, Joseph and Okumu struck up a rapport that further developed when the former guested on he latter’s album. With the connection made Joseph knew Okumu was the ideal producer for this latest project, which has a freewheeling, almost black psychedelic thing. After sifting through demos and loops the guitarist made on pro-tools the poet started to live with the music. Many months later words began to take shape. Joseph then went into the studio with Okumu’s band and set about creating a magnum opus. Boasting a stellar cast such as vocalist Eska Mtungwazi, trumpeter Byron Wallen and keyboardist Nick Ramm, The Ark is a highly intricate musical mosaic framed by simmering funk grooves, wily jazz improvisation and haunting dub effects. Through the use of many genres the music has simply become its own genre.

The Ark can be perceived as a vessel or means of transport to new worlds, along the lines of Sun Ra’s Ark or Funkadelic’s Mothership, and the material it contains is a unique blend of who Anthony Joseph is and how he sees the world and society in these stimulating, challenging times. “It balances the personal with the universal in a much more vulnerable, accessible way than on previous albums,” Joseph explains.

“It has become less about a personal experience and more about a collective, communal experience in which the artist is conduit, messenger, urban griot.”

Australian composer-performers Judith Hamann and James Rushford have worked together in countless projects for two decades, perhaps most notably in Golden Fur, their trio with Sam Dunscombe. Black Truffle is pleased to announce Midmeste, their first work as a duo. Its title is Middle English for ‘the middlemost point’, alluding to how the piece builds on the points of overlap between the highly personalised musical languages Hamann and Rushford have developed in recent years. Performed on cello and a variety of pipe organs, Midmeste is a spacious, sometimes unsettling exploration of their shared interest in alternative tunings, psychoacoustic phenomena, the physical properties of their instruments, and the usually peripheral sounds generated by the performing body.

Beginning with a sequence of austerely vibrato-less harmonics from Hamann's cello, trailed by Rushford's whistling portative organ tones, the music soon expands into a slow-moving melodic wander, pausing at times to linger over an uncomfortable harmony or particularly resonant cello tone. Hamann and Rushford have long histories of engagement with pre-Classical European musical traditions, having in past projects performed and radically extended the work of Solage, Louis Couperin, Johann Conrad Beissell and other composers. Here they use a 15th century song by John Dunstaple, ‘O rosa bella’, which returns throughout the piece, distorted, aerated and splayed into new forms.

Developed while the two shared residencies at Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart in 2020 and La Becque on Lake Geneva in 2023, Midmeste integrates recordings made (at at the invitation of the Biennale Son) on the organ of the Basilica St Valere in Sion, Switzerland—the world’s oldest playable organ, built in the early 15th century. Played by both Rushford and Hamann, the instrument’s idiosyncratic features, including bellows pumped manually using massive wooden beams, are integrated into the music through amplification. Creaks and thumps locate the music physically both in the performers’ bodies and the specific site of its making. Moving through a series of distinct episodes across its forty-minute span, Midmeste makes space for near-silent duets of high harmonics and hissing air, moments where twittering high tones and rumbling sub-bass could be electronic, and static fields that unexpectedly blossom into almost Romantic harmonies.

Listeners familiar with Hamann and Rushford’s work will find many familiar features here: the stunningly rich cello tones, their patient sustain allowing heightened awareness of the inner life of sound and its interactions with the environment; the care with which acoustic space is activated, becoming at times a third instrumental voice; the attention to fragile, unstable sonorities that sometimes have a comic edge. A major work from two key figures in contemporary experimental music, Midmeste synthesises rigorous exploration of fundamental questions of sound and performance with an unapologetic embrace of beauty.

At the time, Mikio Masuda was frequently mentioned as a Japanese jazz musician on par with the soft-and-mellow crossover sound of artists like Bob James and Ramsey Lewis. With a supple sensibility that moves effortlessly between jazz and rock, he stands as one of the defining figures of the 1970s. Now, one of his essential masterpieces, "Moon Stone", has been confirmed for reissue as the fifth installment from SPIN THIS NOW!

Electric Piano, Organ, Clavinet, Synthesizer - Mikio Masuda
Drums - Hideo Yamaki
Electric Bass - Motohiko Hamase
Electric Guitar - Kazumi Watanabe
Electric Guitar, Vocals - Kazumasa Akiyama

Shaped from fragile, emotionally charged piano motifs that distort, disappear and transform into dense, cinematic textures, 'CANALS' is a debut that's finely matured, the result of years of friendship and growth. Italian artist Vanja Sturno and Montréal-based Belgian-Spanish composer Pablo Geeraert (aka Sanea Ima) have worked together extensively on various projects up until now, but 'CANALS' is their first official release as a duo. Having both studied music academically, the pair were eager to work more intuitively, so applied their well-honed set of skills to sound that, instead of fitting into a conceptual box, reflected more personal experiences.

Back in 2023, Geeraert travelled to Rome to support his friend at a difficult time and, during the trip, received some bad news of his own. The complicated feelings unconsciously surged through a series of delicate Ryuichi Sakamoto-inspired piano improvisations and a new project began to coalesce. They didn't realize it at the time, but once the record was finished, Sturno and Geeraert began to understand that the entire process had been a form a joint catharsis - a release of pressure. They were able to function so effortlessly and swiftly because they had already provided the space for each other to resonate emotionally and the music flowed from that point.

So the album's title, while remaining ambiguous, suggests its formation: a sequence of eight interconnected channels that feed a creative whole. On the first segment, Sturno and Geeraert's initial recordings can be perceived most nakedly, the melancholy, Satie-like phrases floating peacefully for a moment before the tranquility is agitated by stormy distortions and swelled into thick waves of harmony. The piano provides the record with its emotional anchor, offering focus and clarity as multi-dimensional noise wells up around it before inevitably dissipating, leaving gentle, unadorned sounds once again.

And the familiar instrument is reshaped into a wheezing artificial organ on the animated 'CANALS III', punctuated by percussive, tape-warped pitch fluctuations that seem to bite into its very essence. Gauzy acoustic granulations snowball into a powerful, bass-heavy crescendo on the fourth part, setting the tenor for the album's second half. But after the crushing 'CANALS VI', possibly Sturno and Geeraert's heaviest track, a brief tremolo-heavy vignette that ripples through experimental rock and ambient music's braided history, the duo clear the air with a jazzy diversion, introducing soft woodwind blasts as a palate cleanser before an epic, widescreen finale.

It's an album that's best absorbed as a whole, a vortex of ritualistic, rhythmic repetitions that Sturno and Geeraert appropriately refer to as "spiral listening".

Entering the abandoned warehouse full of haze and blinded by the strobe lights, you feel the rush when the bass kicks in. You have no idea if the year is 1996 or 2026, but it doesn't matter as long as you are alive.

Indeed, another batch of forgotten and previously unreleased radioactive acid techno has surfaced on the anonymous, vinyl-only Kilotoni imprint — possibly their strongest release so far.

A1 The peak of acid techno is perhaps found in its most stripped-down form. As the bass line throbs your breath out, you try to chase the kick drum in a game of hide-and-seek until complete exhaustion. It's something you play after the copies of Betty Ford and Sync In start to melt during a nuclear reactor accident.

A2 A ravey or hard-techno-oriented approach is applied to the acid techno formula here. The squelching, pulse-width-modulated synth makes for an eerie yet irresistible call to the dance floor. The snare rolls might just be your guilty pleasure.

B1 The flip side opens with funkier techno that the Voyager probes could bump to in outer space a million years from now. A wild acid line is accompanied by playful chords and beats. Detroit influences meet Nordic melancholy.

B2 The kick drum keeps pounding its way through while a lonely TB-303 is traveling in its own space and time. Influenced perhaps by the Midwest acid techno style, this could be a mid-90s DAT-tape lost inside the transatlantic postal system on its way to the Analog Records USA headquarters.

Following his debut appearance on HABITAT in 2024 with his standout ‘My Eyes Are Failing’ remix, Echonomist returns to serve up his ‘Dominator’ EP - a five-track release that captures the Greek artist’s unmistakable tension, groove, and analogue character, paired with high-caliber remixes from Fango and Toto Chiavetta. With previous releases on Innervisions, Exit Strategy, TAU, and Kompakt, Echonomist has steadily built a reputation for fusing raw emotion with forward-leaning sound design. His prolific output and effortless ability to experiment with various styles have long made him a respected figure within the global electronic landscape. Now, with his ‘Dominator’ EP, he brings that creative force back to Mind Against’s imprint in commanding form.

Opening with the title track, ‘Dominator’ immediately sets the tone: bustling energy, driving drums, and siren-like synths cut through a deep, Detroit-leaning atmosphere. ‘Modulator’ follows with a pulsing, oscillating bassline and rattling percussive breaks that coil around warped vocals. On ‘Use Your Illusions’, the pace becomes chuggier as he combines raw industrial drums with a thudding kick, dubby chords, and fizzing synths. The package is then elevated by two heavyweight reinterpretations, with Fango’s remix of ‘Dominator’ pushing the cut into a more intense, pressure-driven space, upping the ante with amplified rhythmic density. To close, Toto Chiavetta delivers an electro-laden rework, sculpting the track into a dense, atmospheric journey that prioritizes ever-evolving groove and textural depth.

Echonomist 'Dominator’ EP drops via HABITAT on 10th April 2025.

The long-overdue revival of Bim Sherman’s catalog begins here. These essential recordings will become widely available again for the first time in decades, opening a new chapter in the appreciation of one of Jamaica’s most distinctive voices and representing a major moment for reggae and dub aficionados around the world. This reissue series will not only preserve his legacy but will also offer listeners the chance to experience the depth and timeless resonance of Sherman’s work in its full glory.

Bim Sherman—born Jarret Lloyd Vincent, in Westmoreland, Jamaica—holds a unique place in reggae history. Emerging in the mid 70s, his ethereal, haunting vocal style quickly set him apart from his contemporaries. He was soon collaborating with the top producers and musicians of the era, including Adrian Sherwood and the On-U Sound collective, bridging the gap between roots reggae and experimental dub and laying the groundwork for the fusion of Jamaican sounds with the vibrant underground scene in the UK. His career, from Kingston to London to Mumbai, was marked by an artistic daring and spiritual intensity that has earned him enduring respect across generations.

The centerpiece of this reissue campaign is Ghetto Dub from 1988, a record that distills Sherman’s artistry into its most potent form. Originally released in a limited number, the album embodies the stark yet soulful beauty of dub production. With its reverb-drenched drums, cavernous basslines, and echo-laden atmospherics, Ghetto Dub transforms Sherman’s various tracks into spectral presences that drift in and out of the mix. The arrangement and production—minimal yet profoundly textured—captures both the raw urgency of Jamaican street culture and the forward-looking experimentation of the UK dub scene. Each track unfolds like a meditation, balancing grit with grace, density with space. Ghetto Dub is more than an album; it is an immersive soundscape that reaffirms Bim Sherman as one of reggae’s most otherworldly and visionary figures.

Returning with his first artist album in 13 years, revered techno innovator Mike Parker continues to shape out his explorations around 170 with his latest work for Samurai Music, Echo Disintegrator. Transcending genre lines with his unmistakable sonic stamp, the seasoned US producer crafts an extended trip through his exacting, lithe frequencies and brutalist rhythms. As evidenced on recent EPs Envenomations and Sabre-Tooth, Parker can comfortably slip into a hard-stepping D&B structure and make it his own. 'Earth Energy Imbalance' leaps forth with precision and purpose, wrapping atonal synth shapes around the stark beat in staggering high definition. 'Positronic Tentacles' finds a similar rolling momentum, even threading ruthlessly trimmed vocal snatches into the lyrical pulse of the lead tones. 'Radiative Force' teases its own mutant funk out of the envelopes shaping the molten sonics coursing through the middle of the frequency range. Elsewhere, Parker explores a variety of accented grooves around typical D&B tempos, remaining reliably broken while dipping into half-time space on 'Lunar Nocturne' and finding a low-slung swagger in the carefully deployed pressure of 'Ghost Rain' and 'Echo Disintegrator'. 'Beat Activator' pivots on a dense bed of bass with a crooked, off-beat slant before 'Dragon Bravo' casts a similarly dembow-informed beat into a dense tapestry of cyclical machine shrieks and snarls. There is a ruthless consistency to Parker's approach across Echo Disintegrator, riding the loops without flinching and forcing the focus deep into the minutae of every sonic element. Both brilliantly functional and profoundly subtle, there's a visceral, physical quality to the sound design that makes it a listening experience like no other.

Returning with his first artist album in 13 years, revered techno innovator Mike Parker continues to shape out his explorations around 170 with his latest work for Samurai Music, Echo Disintegrator. Transcending genre lines with his unmistakable sonic stamp, the seasoned US producer crafts an extended trip through his exacting, lithe frequencies and brutalist rhythms. As evidenced on recent EPs Envenomations and Sabre-Tooth, Parker can comfortably slip into a hard-stepping D&B structure and make it his own. 'Earth Energy Imbalance' leaps forth with precision and purpose, wrapping atonal synth shapes around the stark beat in staggering high definition. 'Positronic Tentacles' finds a similar rolling momentum, even threading ruthlessly trimmed vocal snatches into the lyrical pulse of the lead tones. 'Radiative Force' teases its own mutant funk out of the envelopes shaping the molten sonics coursing through the middle of the frequency range. Elsewhere, Parker explores a variety of accented grooves around typical D&B tempos, remaining reliably broken while dipping into half-time space on 'Lunar Nocturne' and finding a low-slung swagger in the carefully deployed pressure of 'Ghost Rain' and 'Echo Disintegrator'. 'Beat Activator' pivots on a dense bed of bass with a crooked, off-beat slant before 'Dragon Bravo' casts a similarly dembow-informed beat into a dense tapestry of cyclical machine shrieks and snarls. There is a ruthless consistency to Parker's approach across Echo Disintegrator, riding the loops without flinching and forcing the focus deep into the minutae of every sonic element. Both brilliantly functional and profoundly subtle, there's a visceral, physical quality to the sound design that makes it a listening experience like no other.

,,Hologramm" is the new EP by Schwefelgelb.

Remix contributions by Nastia Reigel and Norbak make it a 5 track Techno heavyweight.

An intriguing combination of positive, joyful atmosphere and gritty, pushy sound aesthetic spans all over the record. "The Show" and its euphorigenic rising stabs appears like what could be transformed into an Euro Dance anthem easily.
Yet the aware and well curated production holds it firmly in the zone of Techno and House underground. Speaking House, here's "In Mein Glas" - a sportive track with an irresistible bounce foiled by a lackadaisical vocal line, which gives it a comic twist.
As "Fieber" keeps the bounce we're getting a little more aggressive again: a delicate distortion, a dominant bass and a groovy drive. In all these 3 original tracks it's the melange of melodic motives, vocal highlights, crispy production as well as versatile creative details, which creates this specific sound that gets you hooked. It is lightness however wrapped in an Industrial musical language.

That said, the remixes proof how a new energy can be revealed by more minimal re-interpretations. Nastia Reigel, getting hands on "The Show", pushes drums and a fresh rhythmic play of vocal chops into the foreground. A sparse break followed by a powerful drop adds a strong climax. Norbak's approach on "In Mein Glas" takes the melodic motive and embeds it into a dubby space, not giving up on the hard-hitting kick.

"Hologramm" will be released on 140 g colored vinyl and digitally, April 10th, on n-PLEX.

Since debuting his Black Eyes project on Lost Control 2097 back in 2022, Matthew Jesus has developed his own trademark take on deep house - a suitably aquatic and psychedelic affair that he calls 'Hydro-Trip'. Elements of that sound can be heard on his Selections label debut, alongside nods to Motor City deep house and more soulful flavours. For proof, check gorgeous and tactile opener 'Honeyfish' and the even more soulful warmth of 'Motor City Surfin', which doffs a cap to the likes of Alton Miller and Rick Wade. 'Seaweed Tongue' is a more drowsy, jazzy and immersive deep house workout with more sampled vocalisations, while 'Trippin' In Waves' pairs rubbery drums and P-funk bass and plenty of spacey electronics. Haf S reworks the latter via his 'JEEPMIX', a dreamy, hypnotic and spaced-out sunrise-ready delight.

Geoglyph is the new duo project by Alohn and Khey Mysterio, a convergence of two deeply singular practices into a single subterranean signal. Their debut album arrives as the eighth reference on Organic Signs, not as a collection of tracks but as a carved artifact: six inscriptions pressed into vinyl, mapping a sonic territory where time, rhythm and texture are no longer linear, but layered like geological memory.

Through Geoglyph, Alohn and Khey Mysterio convey a message from below, or beyond. A pulse engraved from forgotten times in the basement of reality, reactivated by abyssal basses, vibrating layers and fractured textures. Exhumed from the subterranean strata where psychedelic dub, mineral techno and fractal dubstep fuse into raw energy, their music becomes a point of contact: every beat, every silence, every oscillation acting as a coordinate toward another perception. What unfolds is not simply sound design, but an invocation, rhythms as sigils, timbre as gnosis, signals that seem to arrive already charged with intention.

Across the album, Alohn’s guitar notes fall like cascades through the mix, dissolving at times into controlled feedback and crystallizing into melodic fragments that hover between tension and release. These organic gestures are interwoven with Khey Mysterio’s dense low-end architectures and rhythmic frameworks, creating a constantly shifting terrain: from weightless transmissions and ritualistic voices to moments of overwhelming propulsion where the music suddenly breaks open with tectonic force. The record moves fluidly between meditative suspension and explosive motion, never settling into a single state for long.

A strong undercurrent of what has come to be known as “druidstep” runs through the album, a term coined within the 95 Open Tabs universe to describe a form of dubstep untethered from genre convention, rooted instead in bass as ritual, in groove as invocation. Here it meets dub-techno pulse, psychedelic echoes and high-velocity 4×4 pressure, drawing subtle influence from underground bass cultures without ever becoming referential. The result is a body of work that feels both ancient and forward-leaning, cyclical rather than linear: a living geoglyph that reveals different meanings depending on how (and where) it is read.

As the final movement accelerates into its closing phase, the album releases its energy outward, with frequencies stretched toward their limits, leaving behind the trace of a completed ceremony. In this sense, Geoglyph’s debut stands as a defining moment within the Organic Signs continuum: a record that unfolds rather than explains, offering an experience to be entered, absorbed, and carried. With this release, the label continues to explore new sonic spaces, evolving and expanding while giving deeper meaning to its own essence. A message from beneath the surface, waiting for those willing to tune in.

Más de este género

Sindh presents the Vagali EP, a striking continuation of his tunnelling, futuristic take on techno. Growling synths, driving basslines, alien atmospherics and finely tuned percussion define a sound that feels unmistakably his own.
Following his Komudo series — which has built a devoted following since its debut in 2024 — this latest release leans further into his signature sound design, pairing hypnotic sequences and menacing synth lines which feel right

Enter the debut LP of the now Spatial regular Chronicle - Expect a joyous, varied blend of old school brand new atmospherics from one of the scene’s most talented producers. A1 - 20th Century Man Straight into the beats for the deliciously cheery opening, 20th Century Man encapsulates so much of what Chronicle does best - old school breakbeat sensibilities delivered with an inimitable atmospheric charm, strongly reminiscent of that peak Good Looking era we all adored. Incredible synthwork and analogue drums layered with danceable 2-step breaks and melodies take your mind exactly where you want to be. A2 - Terraformers Seminal synths and birdsong effects prepare us for an impossibly crisp breakbeat and 808 bassline to drive this track along, coloured by a myriad of subtle blips and bleeps, delicately flecked across a detailed and optimistic soundscape. Very DJ-friendly from the first to the final bar, the purity of Chronicle’s approach to atmospheric drum & bass is once again at its best here on Spatial. B1 - Boundless Space Playful twittering birds, gentle hi-hats and panning synths introduce Boundless Space, a blissful, serene treat for the senses which soon kicks into flourishing life with the timeless Circles break. Vocal samples punctuate the soothing breakdown with exquisitely programmed effects dotted here, there and everywhere, completing a stunning composition that both reflects on the past and looks forward in equal measure. B2 - Ephemeral Style A light, delicately calming pad-laden intro with echoing melodies opens Ephemeral style, soon punctuated by a sublime 808 bassline preceding the drop. Chronicle showcases his dancefloor breakbeat prowess with an energetic 2-step break pattern, expertly programmed and riddled with detail and density, creating a wonderful collage of sound and a perfect addition to any era-spanning atmospheric set. C1 - Modular Expansion Eerily reminiscent tones harking back to the golden, ultra-classic Good Looking era introduce us to Modular Expansion, a track which quickly adds layer upon layer of original identity to the vibe with crisp breaks, a wonderful metallic backdrop snare and subtle vocal samples. The joyously retrospective breakdown complements the energy of the track beautifully, capping off another gem for the record box. C2 - Limbic System Chronicle introduces Limbic System with swathes of swirling pads and synths, straddled with a subtle yet enigmatic melody carrying us through the drop, where we are treated to a lusciously constructed old school break pattern with a modern twist. Enter the breakdown and the keen ear will spot sampled quotes from Total Recall, which fit the vibe perfectly. “You went to Recall?” - yes, we sure did. And we enjoyed the trip! D1 - Non-Euclidian Continuing the blissful retrospective atmospheric tone of the album, Chronicle serves up Non-Euclidian which opens with a wonderfully synthy intro flecked with old school break samples and an earworm melody, before the onslaught of layered breaks provides variety as well as a thoroughly danceable pattern to unleash on the discerning dancefloor. Trademark dotted effects punctuate the track throughout. D2 - Deep Thought Capping off the LP we have Deep Thought, setting a calming and quietly brooding vibe before impossibly crisp beats kick in and elevate proceedings nicely. Chronicle effortlessly leads the listener through the drop with an analogue punch, earthy basslines and fluttering effects with the kind of flair we’ve come to love from such a vastly experienced and talented producer - perfectly complementing the vibe here at Spatial. Words by Chris Hayes (Spatial / Red Mist)

Baby T is a space away from her work as B.Traits in which Brianna Price can lean more into the junglist, drum ‘n’ bass and hardcore sounds which she loves so dearly. With BSHEE02, the second drop on Price’s own Banshee label, Baby T delivers a darkside masterclass of an EP. This record is a quartet of system blowers which doesn’t let up for a single second from start to finish.

Opener ‘Times Up’ is urgent from the off - the initial strains of this joint find sirens wailing in the monitors over a twitchy kick/drum/hats combo. From here on it’s distilled raver perfection, the drums taking us on a wild Wipeout-style ride as the subbiest of bass skulks at the bottom of the mix. Imagine a more technoid take on the classic breakbeat freerides of Skanna and you’re not far off the ‘Times Up’ sound.

A remix of ‘Times Up’ from man like Aloka leans with devilish glee into the murky underworld that lurks beneath Baby T’s original. Aloka’s version is extremely eerie in a manner which makes you think of the darkest corners of a DMZ party. When things really kick into gear, driven by an irresistible kick dembow, the effect is hypnotic - think the dubwise junglism of the UVB-76 cohort.

BSHEE02’s B-side kicks off with ‘Coercive Control’. This is a cut which delivers on its title in spades, putting the listener in a trance with an interplay of low-slung bass, whirligig synth tones and more of those perfectly executed broken beats. The acid starts to kick in around the minute mark, and it turns out to herald a total earworm of a lead melody.

There’s plenty of dimly-lit malevolence to BHSEE02 closer ‘Dense Dickwood’s grinding atmospherics and gurgling bass throbs. However, Baby T opting for a half-time drum break here gives the cut a vibe not dissimilar to the weightiest jams of classic Massive Attack - that is, until an absolutely remorseless switch-up occurs halfway through, delivering volley after volley of intense drum hits.

Baby T is a space away from her work as B.Traits in which Brianna Price can lean more into the junglist, drum ‘n’ bass and hardcore sounds which she loves so dearly. With BSHEE02, the second drop on Price’s own Banshee label, Baby T delivers a darkside masterclass of an EP. This record is a quartet of system blowers which doesn’t let up for a single second from start to finish.

Opener ‘Times Up’ is urgent from the off - the initial strains of this joint find sirens wailing in the monitors over a twitchy kick/drum/hats combo. From here on it’s distilled raver perfection, the drums taking us on a wild Wipeout-style ride as the subbiest of bass skulks at the bottom of the mix. Imagine a more technoid take on the classic breakbeat freerides of Skanna and you’re not far off the ‘Times Up’ sound.

A remix of ‘Times Up’ from man like Aloka leans with devilish glee into the murky underworld that lurks beneath Baby T’s original. Aloka’s version is extremely eerie in a manner which makes you think of the darkest corners of a DMZ party. When things really kick into gear, driven by an irresistible kick dembow, the effect is hypnotic - think the dubwise junglism of the UVB-76 cohort.

BSHEE02’s B-side kicks off with ‘Coercive Control’. This is a cut which delivers on its title in spades, putting the listener in a trance with an interplay of low-slung bass, whirligig synth tones and more of those perfectly executed broken beats. The acid starts to kick in around the minute mark, and it turns out to herald a total earworm of a lead melody.

There’s plenty of dimly-lit malevolence to BHSEE02 closer ‘Dense Dickwood’s grinding atmospherics and gurgling bass throbs. However, Baby T opting for a half-time drum break here gives the cut a vibe not dissimilar to the weightiest jams of classic Massive Attack - that is, until an absolutely remorseless switch-up occurs halfway through, delivering volley after volley of intense drum hits.

Maybe it was inevitable that Vilhelm Bromander and Fredrik Rasten would find each other. A symbiotic musical alliance of suggestive combinatory magic that stretches back to the interstitial two day space that separates their dates of birth and manifests here as the movement between ‘perfect’ or ‘just’ intonation and the ragged, psychoactive energy of the slippages from and towards that togetherness that render otherwise simple patterns or generally understood repetitions as wildly other and alive.

Astral Twins shares ‘twin’ works by each composer. The patiently unfolding real time retuning of Fredrik Rasten’s guitars on the a-side’s Sojourns and Vilhelm Bromander’s quickened steps and spry looping melodies on the flip’s Partially Dancing.

Both artists have history of going deep into the aesthetic and acoustic impact of intonation (how you think about what is ‘in tune’). Where their first LP (...for some reason that escapes us, 2019, Differ Records) shared a gorgeous set of sustained tone colour fields, this time they lean more explicitly into the folk music traditions of Scandinavia and further afield, whilst echoing the zoned minimalist atmosphere of Arthur Russell’s classic Instrumentals.

Recorded up close and in real time at Fylkingen’s soon-to-be-abandoned temporary location in Stockholm’s southern suburb of Bredäng, Astral Twins sings with the possibility that one plus one can equal more than two.

Fredrik Rasten:
 Sojourns explores the live retuning of guitar and double bass in a sequence of just intonation harmonies. A guitar ostinato runs throughout the piece where the retuning becomes an integral part of the composition. The slow pace reveals every detail in the transition from one harmonic arpeggio to another — how interfering waves emerge and disappear as the tonal interactions settle in electric clarity. The double bass shadows the guitar's process and comments with occasional pizzicato tones and register jumps, at times providing a low foundation for the sound and sometimes soaring together with the guitar. This is music that is deeply listening; experimental and at the same time humbly inviting many kinds of being with sound.

Vilhelm Bromander: 
As the title suggests, this song has a partially dancing character. The title also has a double meaning with reference to the partials and harmonics that dance together. The basic idea was to write music in just intonation that instead of being drone-based is reminiscent of a lightly dancing folk music, where the joyous feeling of just being in the music — “musicking" — is allowed to lead the way.

The double bass plays repeated overtone double stops in an open harmonic progression with subtle modulations that is inspired in equal parts by Steve Lacy's persistent repetition of phrases as east-asian khaen music. The guitars and mandolin have a freer role, with plucked retuned strings that enhance the bass's modulations and provide forward movement. The music invites to both melodic and spectral listening, suddenly halting so that other focal points can reveal themselves. For example, a chord sequence suddenly transitions to a more spectral part where Fredrik is playing a bowed guitar with a chain, several plucking guitars, voices, and pitch pipes. I wanted to make something ‘orchestral’ with just two people and no overdubs: a dance of overtones and open resonant strings, where we seamlessly take turns standing in the foreground.

Building momentum around his moody, alchemical breakthroughs in the techno-bass laboratory, Buckley lands on Sneaker Social Club with a punchy quadruplex that marks him out as an innovative talent in the next generation of low end producers.

Manchester-based Elias Buckley first came to light with a lathe-cut drop on ec2a, followed up over the past two years with outings on Well Street, Dimeshift and S.P.E.C. That sets the tone for exploratory zone Buckley is operating in, and he maintains a forward-thinking slant to his physical, dynamic club weapons on this latest EP.

'City Dweller' rests on a creeping mid tempo 4/4 pulse, all the better to carry slithering layers of sound design that slide off the undulating sub bass throb. Minimalism is the order of the day here, but his approach is shot through with gully zaps and rude swagger that makes this a positively UK- centric affair. 'Carl's Floorboard' makes a sizeable swerve towards brutalist grime mutation, letting the space in the mix swallow you whole around the dislocated bass womps and whipcrack snares.

On the B side, 'Gawy' hits the mark squarely between techno propulsion and soundsystem swagger, plying slippery sound design to the bass blasts and working an offbeat groove designed for maximum lock-in. Making sure there are no doubts about his range, Buckley saves one of the deadliest joints on the record for the closer, whipping up a wide-as-you-like UKG bounce on 'M.O.B.S.O.T.' while maintaining the lean and mean sound that binds the EPs any angles together.

repressed !

It's been a busy 3 years since Danny Berman aka Red Rack'em released on his own Bergerac imprint.

Since then he's toured relentlessly, released a whole album of live music based disco/punk funk for Sonar Kollektiv as Hot Coins, managed to completely update his biggest track 'In Love Again' to make it a hit the second time around plus released spaced out, wonky party smashers on Wolf Music, Phonica, City Fly and Telefonplan.

While all this was going on Bergerac was largely on ice but now Berman is turning his energy back to the label with a vengeance.
Wonky Bassline Disco Banger is accurately titled. An uplifting intro breaks down into a slamming disco house number and just when you think you know what's going on...
Then the trademark Red Rack'em wonky bass drops in. 150% Guaranteed party smasher... Jazzy House Extension is super vintage Red Rack'em from around 2004 - something for the jazz heads out there - cracked out piano and far too loud double bass come together to birth a euphoric yet banging snapshot of a producer learning his chops. Destined is a slightly demented leftfield house number featuring mangled, pitch shifting fretless bass and vocals samples discussing someone's destiny.
A woozy end to the EP.

Emotional Rescue returns after a much-needed year hiatus, refreshed and ready, as it moves into its 15th year, to further explore the environs of oft-forgotten musical secrets and present them to new heads and minds.

To celebrate, the label looks back to one of its favourite collaborations, the music of French ‘Ethno-Industrialists’ Vox Populi! in presenting a truly unique EP of “In Dub”, inspired remixes by 4 fellow Paris based artists of today in Full Circle, Froid Dub, Krikor and Shelter.

“In Dub” takes a selection of songs from the series of albums reissued or compiled on Emotional Rescue and sister label, Platform 23, and gives the Master tapes to this talented ensemble to offer their own, unique dub reworks. The project explores the on-going advances in technology offered, mixed with pure talent and a respectful homage.

Formed by Axel Kyrou and including wife Mitra, as well as long-term music and art partners Pierre Jolivet aka Pacific 231 and Francis Lafont aka FR6 Man, they forged a path from obscure, drum and drum-based cassette releases on to fully realized albums and compilations on their now cult Vox Man Records.

Alexis Le Tan and Joakim’s Full Circle project starts, with their electronic dub remake of Soleyman Dub from the ‘Alternatif Réalisme’ compilation (ERC079). With releases on Good Morning Tapes, Offen and their own “Released” label, their plaudits as master diggers and producers of dubby tripped-out inspired electronics – releasing slowed Trance some 10 years before anyone else – is inspired. Tuning in and turning on the original dub into a mantra style slow-breaks (Digi)dub is the perfect experimental flavour.

Jube Man is next, a twisted, psychedelic dub out by rising stars Froid Dub. The stand-out from the ‘Magiques Creations’ release (ERC052), an album that explored Vox Populi’s furtive post-industrial period of 1984 to 1988, Jube Man was the perfect selection by the duo of François Marché and Stéphane Bodin.

Froid Dub have steadily developed their “cold” Digidub style to acclaim –

releasing a steady flow of dub inspired electronics on their own label Delodio, as well as recently appearing on sister label Emotional Response’s 10th year anniversary collection, ‘All Trades’. Their haunting, shuffling and murky acid / piano dub, with the drifting “Space Echoing” of Mitra’s vocals from the live desk mix, creates a ghostly version to effect.

Next, master mixer, producer and engineer Krikor serves a steppers remake with his “OverDub” of Zen-Dub. With a career that spans releases on Tigersushi, LIES and Soul Jazz, his sound has developed from Electro, House and Techno, to Acid, Bleep, Dancehall, Dub and touches of Gabba.

Taken from Vox Populi!’s master-opus Aither (ERC030), the first of our reissues dating back to 2016, Zen-Dub’s pacey, lo-fi dub experience is transformed and overdubbed into an incessant sound system throb, a true bass quaking “steppa”.

To close, Micro Climax is put through Shelter’s increasing avant dub exposition. Appearing on the likes of Growing Bin, Emotional Response and his own Protopost, as well for – and being in-house designer – on the much-missed Séance Centre, Alan Briand aka Shelter productions have developed from Balearic, Edits and House to explore Avant, Raga and live Dub productions.

Appearing on the recent ‘Ethniques Pyschedeliques’ compilation on Platform 23 (PLA032), in original form Micro Climax is a sprawling 10-minute ethno-dub of whispered vocals, drone and sub bass. Shelter strips it back, keeping background effects, adding live bass and percussion to create a wonky, slow, shuffling ska-lite excursion to complete a true “In Dub”.

Toronto’s Ducks Ltd. (formerly Ducks Unlimited), the bright jangle-pop duo of Tom McGreevy (lead vocal, guitar, bass, keyboards) and Evan Lewis (guitar, bass, drum programming), accomplish the impossible. The pair craft songs that play to very specific inspirations without drowning underneath them—immediately evidenced on their critically acclaimed EP, Get Bleak, and sharpened on Modern Fiction, their debut LP. “The Servants, The Clean, The Chills, The Bats, Television Personalities, Felt,” Evan rattles off. “Look Blue Go Purple is one I reference a lot with our production.” Echoes of ‘80s indiepop abound, but they never overwhelm. This is not a nostalgic record, after all, nor is it a derivative one. Instead, across 10 cheery-sounding songs, Ducks Ltd. explore contemporary society in decline, examining large scale human disaster through personal turmoil (hence the title, taken from a university course called Gnosticism and Nihilism in Modern Fiction, influenced by Graham Greene novels. Bookish indie fans, look no further.)

Writing the album was intimate. Tom drafted the nucleus of a song on an unplugged electric guitar and brought it over to Evan’s apartment, where the pair sat in his bedroom, placing percussive beats from a drum machine under nascent melodies, passing a bass back and forth, adding organs and bridges where necessary. “It’s computer music trying extremely hard not to sound like computer music,” Tom jokes. Fearful that limited and expensive studio time would kneecap the project creatively, eroding their charming naivete, the pair re-recorded the album in a storage space owned by Evan’s boss. Ornamentation through collaboration followed: there’s Aaron Goldstein on Pedal Steel in the Go-Betweens’ “Cattle and Cane”-channeling interlude “Patience Wearing Thin,” Eliza Niemi on cello (“18 Cigarettes,” a song loosely inspired by a 1997 Oasis performance of “Don’t Go Away”), and backing harmonies from Carpark labelmates The Beths (on an ode to friendship at a distance, “How Lonely Are You?,” “Always There,” and on the sped-up Syd Barrett stylings of “Under The Rolling Moon.”) While in his native Australia due to covid-19, Evan worked closely with producer James Cecil (The Goon Sax, Architecture in Helsinki) on Modern Fiction’s finishing touches—at one point, in the mountains of the Macedon Ranges in Victoria, recorded a string quartet (featured on “Fit to Burst,” “Always There,” “Sullen Leering Hope,” “Twere Ever Thus,” “Grand Final Day.”)

It’s danceable, depressive fun, with some relief: in “Always There” and “Sullen Leering Hope,” Modern Fiction’s faithful heart. “There’s a tendency in my writing, because of my world view, to be very bleak.” Tom explains. “A quality I don’t always see in myself and really appreciate in others is the courage to go on.” And yet, the record manages resiliency—enough for pop fans to fall in love with.

Moondata’s little-known sole single, 1984’s decidedly Balearic, jazz-funk/boogie fusion gem ‘Let The Moonshine In’, is a very important record to the Rotation Sound System crew. It has become a familiar favourite at their annual Rotation Garden Party micro-festival and formed the centrepiece of their first compilation, summer 2025’s superb Everything You’re About To Hear Is True Volume 1. It’s increasingly rare these days for an artist from the 80s to still have their master tapes but even rarer still for them to have the multitrack tapes too. This is something of the holy grail when it comes to licensing old music so when it happens the opportunity to remix and create new versions needs to be grabbed with both hands.

The original record, a genuine rarity beloved of synth-loving crate-diggers, had an unusual gestation. Originally recorded in demo form by musician Jean-Marie Gogniat, it was turned into a finished single by a group of German musicians with a little help from lyricist and vocalist Joe Mwenda, and a crew of backing vocalists whose number included a locally based American singer – a pre-fame Jennifer Rush. Fittingly, the pre-vocal instrumental mix, which has sat unreleased since 1984, is included as a bonus track on the digital edition of this new remix package. The Rotation Sound System crew’s mixes, headed up by long-serving producer Dean Meredith, sprinkle 21st century magic across Gogniat’s one-off masterpiece while retaining core elements of the original and offering nods aplenty to club-focused sounds of the 1980s. They are, in effect, the versions the track deserved – but never got – back in the mid 1980s.

To begin, Meredith reunites with long-time production partner Andrew Meecham for the pair’s first remix as Chicken Lips in three years – a typically sparse and spaced-out ‘Malfunction Dub’ with delay-laden synths, vocals and guitar snippets sit over a sparse post-electro beat and bass guitar. Meredith then joins forces with fellow Rotation Sound System member Ben Shenton for takes under their two bestknown aliases. First, they don the T-Kutt guise for some dubbed out, funky bass guitar-propelled boogie-meets-proto house action that rocks out a killer, Clavinet-expanded groove while spinning in talkbox and backing vocals.

The pair then re-emerge as Mind Fair, famed for their releases on Golf Channel Recordings and their own Rogue Cat Sounds, and deliver a warmer, deeper and more organic-sounding take that’s as languid and tactile as it is warm and saucereyed. To round off the vinyl version of the EP, Rotation Sound System’s other core members – Rob J, Rich Hall and Stuart Robinson – don the now-familiar Wrekin Havoc guise and re-invent the track as a raw, analogue-rich shuffle through 1980s electro – all squelchy synth-bass, stabbing, cut-up vocal samples, chiming synth melodies and echoing beats. The expanded digital download edition of the EP contains a trio of additional bonus rubs. Alongside instrumental versions of the T-Kutt and Mind Fair mixes, we also get a full vocal T-Kutt rework that adds back in Joe Mwenda’s beautifully delivered verses. These additional DJ tools round off a beautifully rendered set of re-imaginations of a genuine cult classic. Gogniat, the man who started it all way back in the summer of 1984, certainly approves.

The Zurich rooted duo H:B:E:M (Antinio Di Benedetto & Alfonso Bianco) deliver a deep and hypnotic journey on Moto Music 22, blending raw techno energy with emotional and atmospheric depth. The opening track “In Orbita” sets the tone with a driving bassline and a subtle oldschool hit sample, perfect for dark peak time moments. The talents from Prince De Takicardie take things into proto trance territory on his remix of “Jupiter Love”, injecting a warm, nostalgic and uplifting vibe. The original “Jupiter Love” dives into mental, melodic deep techno with an addictive bass and immersive flow. Spacetravel delivers on B2 a smooth and atmospheric reinterpretation of “Interstellar Overdrive”, keeping things hypnotic and refined, while the closing track explores breaky ambient textures with swirling rhythms and a dreamy, cinematic feel. A versatile and classy release built for both the floor and deeper listening.

Music springs eternal. Recognising the enduring power of timeless albums to guide us through life, Forever Records is a reissue series dedicated to rediscovering lost musical treasures from across the spectrum of head-feeding, heart-rending electronic music.

Established by Rush Hour co-founder Christiaan Macdonald and Delsin founder Marsel van der Wielen, Forever Records places heartfelt faith in a carefully curated sequence of seminal, largely forgotten records from disparate eras, scenes and spaces within electronic music history. Tipped towards the mellow and introspective, these are albums that stop time when the needle hits the groove, stirring only when it's time to flip over before you sink back into the experience. That's what albums were always meant to be about, back then, right now, always and forever.



The Release:
Striking the sweet spot between sampledelic downtempo and earth-rooted deep house, Fila Brazillia's Old Codes New Chaos is a maverick patchwork of grooves and soundscapes. Crafted in North East England in the vibrant period before chill-out was co-opted by advertising, Steve Cobby and Dave McSherry's sharp-eared funk formula remains a cult classic suite of exquisite productions spanning deep house, broken beat and ambient shot through with wry humour.
Last physically released in limited quantities in 2002, Forever Records are revisiting this 1994 gem with an extensive reissue led by a triple vinyl pressing. As well as a new LP edition of the album, there will also be a uniquely numbered, limited edition housed in a gatefold sleeve that comes with a bonus 10" featuring two previously unreleased tracks.

'Chemistry' and 'Rankine', plus an exclusive print of Catherine Brennand's watercolour painting that graces the front of the album. All editions also features liner notes by veteran music journalist John McCready.

Press response to Old Codes New Chaos:
"The album that made the world finally sit up and take notice of the avant funk grooves coming from Hull's immaculately stoned tech funk magicians." Frank Tope, Mixmag, UK 1994.
"This album… stands out a mile from most of its peers as a work of untouchable genius." Bill Brewster, DJ Mag UK 1994.

"Fila works because they fit into that no man’s land, the space in your record collection where ambient seems too much like wallpaper and house seems just too braindead for your bedroom " Frank Tope, Mixmag, UK 1994.

"Having already created the perfect desert island disc, "Mermaids" and explored the darker side of sub bass on the 17-minute extravaganza "Fila Funk", Fila Brazillia have just unleashed their moving debut LP, "Old Codes New Chaos", and to be quite honest, you'd be fool to miss out this time around." Mandi James, Melody Maker, UK 1994.

“Where Cobby and Man rip up the rulebook on the four to the floor and probably make the greatest afterhours house album in the word”. Tony Marcus, Mixmag, 1996.

Music springs eternal. Recognising the enduring power of timeless albums to guide us through life, Forever Records is a reissue series dedicated to rediscovering lost musical treasures from across the spectrum of head-feeding, heart-rending electronic music.

Established by Rush Hour co-founder Christiaan Macdonald and Delsin founder Marsel van der Wielen, Forever Records places heartfelt faith in a carefully curated sequence of seminal, largely forgotten records from disparate eras, scenes and spaces within electronic music history. Tipped towards the mellow and introspective, these are albums that stop time when the needle hits the groove, stirring only when it's time to flip over before you sink back into the experience. That's what albums were always meant to be about, back then, right now, always and forever.



The Release:
Striking the sweet spot between sampledelic downtempo and earth-rooted deep house, Fila Brazillia's Old Codes New Chaos is a maverick patchwork of grooves and soundscapes. Crafted in North East England in the vibrant period before chill-out was co-opted by advertising, Steve Cobby and Dave McSherry's sharp-eared funk formula remains a cult classic suite of exquisite productions spanning deep house, broken beat and ambient shot through with wry humour.
Last physically released in limited quantities in 2002, Forever Records are revisiting this 1994 gem with an extensive reissue led by a triple vinyl pressing. As well as a new LP edition of the album, there will also be a uniquely numbered, limited edition housed in a gatefold sleeve that comes with a bonus 10" featuring two previously unreleased tracks.

'Chemistry' and 'Rankine', plus an exclusive print of Catherine Brennand's watercolour painting that graces the front of the album. All editions also features liner notes by veteran music journalist John McCready.

Press response to Old Codes New Chaos:
"The album that made the world finally sit up and take notice of the avant funk grooves coming from Hull's immaculately stoned tech funk magicians." Frank Tope, Mixmag, UK 1994.
"This album… stands out a mile from most of its peers as a work of untouchable genius." Bill Brewster, DJ Mag UK 1994.

"Fila works because they fit into that no man’s land, the space in your record collection where ambient seems too much like wallpaper and house seems just too braindead for your bedroom " Frank Tope, Mixmag, UK 1994.

"Having already created the perfect desert island disc, "Mermaids" and explored the darker side of sub bass on the 17-minute extravaganza "Fila Funk", Fila Brazillia have just unleashed their moving debut LP, "Old Codes New Chaos", and to be quite honest, you'd be fool to miss out this time around." Mandi James, Melody Maker, UK 1994.

“Where Cobby and Man rip up the rulebook on the four to the floor and probably make the greatest afterhours house album in the word”. Tony Marcus, Mixmag, 1996.

Rawbeats Records returns to its main catalog with a heavyweight release from Mar del Plata’s own Juaan. Meticulously crafted between 2020 and 2022, these four tracks are essential peak-time weapons already backed by the scene’s biggest names.

A1. "Decihden" sets a relentless pace right out of the gate. It's built on a foundation of heavy, punchy kicks and a rolling, infectious bassline creating a high-energy, club-ready tool.
A2. "Fui Do Por", which shifts the EP into a slightly more hypnotic and spaced-out territory. Syncopated rhythms layered with dubby, atmospheric chords, create a solid tension that perfectly bridges the gap between warm-up and peak time.

B1. "Knt" goes straight for the business, heavy production, driven by raw drum work, acid-tinged squelches and underground flavor. Mixes into a perfect dark, constant, piece designed to lock the dancefloor into a pure trance-like state.

Closing things off is DC Salas Remix of KNT, Diego steps up to completely reinterpret the original, injecting a distinct percussive bounce and twisting the core stems into a darker, expansive journey. It serves as the perfect cerebral closer to a heavyweight EP.

Charm are back from the depths of Berlin. Following three successful releases, they are now presenting their new EP on Flaneurecordings. The EP comprises three tracks that captivate with their warm atmosphere, profound soundscapes and driving basslines. In doing so, they create space for the sound to unfold and invite listeners to an intense listening experience. With their music, Charm succeed in striking a balance between depth and movement.

Now into its sixth year, NuNorthern Soul’s Summer Selections series has become a popular annual fixture. Like its predecessors, 2026’s edition showcases a variety of Balearic dancefloor workouts, sensual soundscapes and tracks tailor-made for poolside sun-down sets.

As usual, Summer Selections Six is a vinyl-first affair, offering wax enthusiasts a chance to cop killer cuts set to feature on a swathe of forthcoming NuNorthern soul releases – including some that would otherwise be unavailable on physical formats.

To begin, is It Balearic? label regulars and Rotation Sound System crew members Wrekin’ Havoc turn their attention to NuNorthern Soul favourite B.J Smith’s 2014 cover of Outkast’s ‘Prototype’. Their take, which will be featured on a forthcoming collection of reworks of Smith’s NNS material, places the long-serving producer’s beautiful, beguiling vocals atop lo-fi 80s electro beats, moody pads, squelchy synth sounds and far-sighted electronics.

Up next is label newcomer Sasha Foam, a fast-rising Lisbon-based DJ/producer whose Memoria EP is set to land digitally soon. ‘Curios’, his contribution to Summer Selections Six, is a propulsive and ear-catching affair, with joyful synth melodies, rushing piano riffs and cheerful TB-202 style acid tweaks rising above a crunchy, drum-machine driven mid-tempo groove.

Rounding off side A is ‘Call To Wind’, a rootsy, warming and sun-baked slab of Balearic dub gorgeousness from Strictly Dub Records founder Saimon AKA Roots Artefact. The track, which marks his first new material since last year’s NuNorthern Soul debut Different Perspective, is one of the many highlights set to be featured on the Estonian’s forthcoming Rocking Boat EP.

Turn to the flipside and you’ll find three more inspired, immersive treats. Dan Dub Lounge, Muzka and Simon Sheldon being their Visions of Light project back to NuNorthern Soul with the borderline genius ‘ReBorn Slippy’, an exotic, intoxicating and sitar-laden slow-motion instrumental cover of the Underworld favourite taken from their soon-come collection of ‘mild pitch’ takes of dance and electronic classics.

To complete another stellar Summer Selections 12-inch label founder Phil Cooper platforms two recent additions to the roster. First is Potteries-based producer Andrew Wright AKA Lonely Deckchair. Wright offers up ‘Adaflo’ from his forthcoming debut album. Atmospheric and magical, ‘Adaflo’ is a simmering, slowly unfurling fusion of poignant pianos, minimalist beats, shuffling bass and tumble-down chords.

Then there’s Aussie artist Perth Lewis, whose first two self-released albums (Moments In Time and Distance Between) were recently reissued by NuNorthern Soul. The Sydney-based producer is set to release a new EP, Cherry Moon, soon, and ‘Monolith’ is taken from that collection. Deep, dubby and beguiling, it sees Lewis pepper a head-nodding, effects-laden beat with spacey sonics, cascading piano motifs and some seriously sparkling synths.




[d] B1: Visions of Light -

‘Warm Waves’ first appeared in 2020, ten years after Turn On The Sunlight’s debut self-titled album was first released in Japan. During that decade, Turn On The Sunlight’s Jesse Peterson and Mia Doi Todd welcomed their first child and co-founded a music venue in Los Angeles. When performance spaces were required to close at the start of the pandemic, Jesse’s focus shifted back towards home recording. Since ‘Warm Waves,’ five more Turn On The Sunlight albums have followed (including ‘Drives To The Beach,’ also on Tokonoma Records), all of which can be seen as an expansion of the musical direction set forth on this album.

The group heard on ‘Warm Waves’ consists of musicians who Mia and Jesse were regularly playing with at the time - Sam Gendel, Mitchell Brown, Andres Renteria & Gabe Noel - joined by Laraaji, Arji & Luis Pérez Ixoneztli, making their first recordings together.

The group’s blended signal was routed through Mitchell’s tape loops and modular synthesizer, which contributed to the unique communal sound of these recordings. Further extending this approach, Carlos Niño then reprocessed and reimagined ‘Passing Rain’ with Jamael Dean for his Elemental Beat Mix.

Originally released one week into the official lockdown period, some listeners found the warm, collective sound well-suited for the time of introspection and shifting priorities that followed. Now, in 2026, ‘Warm Waves’ returns on vinyl to once again encourage peaceful contemplation and open-hearted togetherness, in echo of the spirit of its creation.

Credits
Sam Gendel: Saxophone & Electronics on A1, A2, A3, B1, B2, B3
Laraaji: Voice & Zither on A3
Luis Pérez Ixoneztli: Bird Sounds on A1, Aerophones & Water Drums on B2
Mia Doi Todd: Voice on A1, A2, B2, B3; Piano on A3
Jesse Peterson: Guitar, Bass, Organ & Bird Sounds on A1; Organ on A2; Guitar & Bass on A3; Wooden Whistles, Guitar, Ukulele & Piano on B1; Ice Breaking on B3
Andres Renteria: Percussion on A1, A2, B1, B2, B3; Marimba & Percussion on A3
Mitchell Brown: Synthesizers & Magnetic Tape on A1, A2, A3, B2, B4
Gabe Noel: Bass on A2, A3, B1
Arji: Bells & Shells on A3
Carlos Niño: Production / Remix on B4
Jamael Dean: Additional Keyboards on B4

Produced, mixed & recorded by Jesse Peterson
Except B4, produced by Carlos Niño