Search:spr

Repress!

A MAJOR EXPLORATION OF TOKYO'S CUTTING EDGE 80S SOUND THROUGH THE MUSIC OF CULT JAPANESE LABEL NIPPON COLUMBIA AND ITS BETTER DAYS IMPRINT, SELECTED BY BRITISH RADIO PRESENTER AND DJ NICK LUSCOMBE.

‘Tokyo Dreaming’ is a superb selection picked from the highly collectible Nippon Columbia label and its Better Days sub-label. For the occasion, we’ve teamed up with journalist and Japanese music expert Nick Luscombe who was granted rare access to the much-guarded Nippon Columbia's vaults for a masterful selection encapsulating the fascinating sound of Tokyo in the late 70s and 80s. The selection mixes electro, synth-pop, funk and ambient and features such artists as Ryuichi Sakamoto, Mariah, Shigeo Sekito, Juicy Fruits, Hitomi "Penny" Tohyama and Yumi Murata. The tracklist includes many sought-after rarities and hidden gems which have never been released outside of Japan and the set has been newly remastered by Nippon Columbia. The album has been designed by famed London-based designer Optigram and is annotated by Nick.

Nippon Columbia, one of Japan's oldest music labels is also one of its most collectible thanks to its sub-label Better Days which, in the late 70s, became a hotbed for Tokyo's new generation of pop artists eager to experiment with ambient, electro and funk. Armed with a string of new Japanese-made synthesizers and drum machines that would soon take the world by storm, they made cutting-edge music, which has since become highly sought-after by a new generation of Japanese music lovers. Nick Luscombe, who has long been a leading advocate of Japanese music from this era, has handpicked a selection of some of the sharpest music released on these labels at the time.
According to Nick, “Tokyo Dreaming is a look back to an incredible era of Japanese music, that still sounds and feels like the future. It was a moment when brand-new music tech from Japan helped forge new ideas and experiments that permeated pop, soul and jazz and helped create new forms of music including electro and techno. The perfect meeting point that would help create a new soundtrack for modern living.“
?The selection starts with "The End of Asia" by Ryuichi Sakamoto from his 1978 ground-breaking debut "Thousand Knives Of" (reissued last year by Wewantsounds). The track became a staple of Sakamoto's and YMO's live shows and was even re-recorded by the group for their 1980 album 'X Multiplies'. The track is followed by Mariah's cult Armenian folk flavoured synth pop classic "Shinzo No Tobira" (1983), which first spread outside of Japan when the Scottish DJ duo Optimo started playing the track regularly at their shows.
?Chika Asamoto's "Self Control" (1988) and Jun Fukamachi's "Treasure Hunter" (1985) are perfect songs in the synth-pop canon, while Yumi Murata's rendition of Akiko Yano's "Watashi No Bus" and Hitomi "Penny" Tohyama's "Rainy Driver" both from 1981, move closer towards the slicker, funkier sound of City Pop.
?'Tokyo Dreaming' superbly showcases the breadth of 80s Japanese music and the way electro pop was a playing ground for musicians to experiment with many styles, as showcased by Akira Sakata's dub-enfused "Room" from 1980, Kazumi Watanabe's discoid "Tokyo Joe" (1980) and Juicy Fruits' "kawai" robotic Techno pop song "Jenie Gets Angry".
?The selection flows effortlessly between many shades of synth and ends with two cult classics in the form of Yasuaki Shimizu's "Semi Tori No Hi" and Shigeo Sekito's ambient-jazz masterpiece "The Word II" from his highly sought-after album "Kareinaru Electone (The Word) Vol.2" which, although recorded in 1975, perfectly announces the synth revolution to come. Tokyo Dreaming showcases the groundbreaking sounds of a city turned giant sonic lab which was restlessly inventing the music of the future.
Nick Luscombe is a highly respected and in-demand music influencer who discovers great music from all over the world and shares it internationally through his many radio shows and DJ sets. He has been in charge of music selection for various radio programs since 1999, and from 2010 - 2019, was the DJ for the popular BBC Radio music program "Late Junction”. He has also curated and presented music shows for Monocle and British Airways radio stations. He has worked as both Chief Music Editor at iTunes and Director of Music at London’s Institute of Contemporary Art, and is the founder of MSCTY.

It’s 2020, the year Pop Ambient turns twenty-one years old, a spritely young adult waltzing out of its teenage joys and tears. Pop Ambient has always stood for a certain classicism and elegance, a kind of beatless music that’s diaphanous and hazy, gossamer and glittering. It’s a music that’s no less inviting for its slow pace and becalmed nature, with a different kind of tension bubbling under the surface. For twenty-one years, KOMPAKT co-founder Wolfgang Voigt has curated a series of peerless compilations that repeatedly find refreshing answers to a simple question – What happens when the dancefloor is empty, and everyone’s home to drift away?

As with many other Pop Ambient compilations, Pop Ambient 2021 offers a welcome platform to contributions from both old friends and new faces. It opens with the gorgeous, slo-mo drift of “Of A Vessel”, from new Kompakt signings Blank Gloss. Sending their music out into the world from their home in Sacramento, this duo makes music that’s featherlight and luscious, the muted chime of a guitar over here, the steady hum of a halatial drone over there; everything in its right place, and nothing overdone. The poise is all. Neozaïre (Tobias Sawitzki aka Noorden) and Seventh World (Juho Hietala aka Blamstrain) are our other two new voices, the latter closing (the CD version of) Pop Ambient 2021 with a long, lambent dreamsong, Neozaïre offering us two gaseous, morphing driftworks, “Vor den Toren Europas” and “In Verschwenderischer Fülle” (CD only), etched across with bell-like arpeggios.

Pop Ambient has always felt like a field for play for the KOMPAKT cognoscenti, and 2021 is no different, with Joachim Spieth collaborating with Pepo Galán on the sidereal visions of “Libration”, while Leandro Fresco teams up with Thore Pfeiffer on the lovely “Abejorro”. Pfeiffer also contributes two lovely solo miniatures of abstract longing. Yui Onodera calls in again, long distance, for their fourth Pop Ambient running, with the refracted, glinting lightscapes of “Cromo 5” and “Monochrome”, while there are also star turns from Max Würden, both solo and in Reich & Würden (with Luis Reichard), and Morgen Wurde, who drops by with the ‘ethereal drama’ of “Mittsommer”.

Pop Ambient gets the balance right: visions and soundscapes, long-distance communications and intimate asides, sweetness and light, drama and dreaming, all wrapped up in floral abstractions – a most beautiful distraction.

Wir schreiben das Jahr 2020, das Jahr, in dem Pop Ambient einundzwanzig Jahre alt wird – das entspricht etwa einem lebenshungrigen jungen Erwachsenen, der gerade aus den letzten Teenager-Freuden und Leiden herausgewachsen ist. Pop Ambient steht seit jeher für eine gewisse Klassik und Eleganz, beatfreie Musik, die, transparent und leicht verschwommen, zart und glitzernd leuchtet. Musik, die trotz ihrer Langsamkeit und ihrer sanften Natur unter Spannung steht, weil hier immer etwas unter der scheinbar ruhigen Oberfläche brodelt.

Einundzwanzig Jahre lang hat KOMPAKT-Mitbegründer Wolfgang Voigt diese einzigartige Compilation-Reihe kuratiert, die immer wieder neue Antworten auf eine einfache Frage findet: Wie füllt man die Leere nach dem Club?

Wie viele andere Pop Ambient-Compilations bietet auch Pop Ambient 2021 eine Plattform für die musikalischen Beiträge von alten Freunden und einigen neuen Gesichtern. Es beginnt mit dem wunderbaren Slo-Mo-Drift von "Of A Vessel" von Blank Gloss, einem neuen Kompakt Signing. Das Duo stammt aus Sacramento in Kalifornien und sendet von dort seine überaus leichte und sinnliche Musik in die Welt hinaus – ein zartes Zupfen an einer Gitarresaite hier, das gleichmäßige Dröhnen eines prunkvollen Soundscapes hier; alles ist hier am richtigen Platz und passiert ohne übertriebene Betonung. Gelassenheit ist alles. Neozaïre und Seventh World sind zwei weitere Neuzugänge. Hinter Seventh World steckt der finnische Produzent Juho Hietala aka Blamstrain, der (die CD Version von) Pop Ambient 2021 mit einem epischen, flackernden Traum names “Light The Waves Before Dawn“ beschließt, während Neozaïre, ein Seitenprojekt von Tobias Sawitzki aka Noorden, zwei gasförmige, sich immer wieder morphende und abdriftende Tracks abliefert: "In Verschwenderischer Fülle" (CD only) mit seinen glockenartigen Arpeggios und “Vor Den Toren Europas“.

Pop Ambient fühlte sich immer schon an wie ein Experimentierfeld für eingefleischte KOMPAKT-Künstler, und auch 2021 ist das nicht anders: zum Beispiel Joachim Spieth’s Kooperation mit Pepo Galán ("Libration") oder Leandro Fresco, der mit Thore Pfeiffer das liebevolle "Abejorro" produzierte. Pfeiffer steuert mit “Grape“ und “Center“ zwei weitere Solo-Miniaturen voller abstrakter Sehnsucht bei. Der japanische Klangkünstler Yui Onodera meldet sich mit den gebrochen-glitzernden Lichtlandschaften von "Cromo 5" und "Monochrome" bereits zum vierten Mal auf Pop Ambient zu Wort, während Max Würden sowohl solo, als auch als Teil von Reich & Würden (mit Luis Reichard) ebenso wie Morgen Wurde schon zu den Stars dieser Compilation gehört.

Trends come and go, but our SPEICHER series has never been shy of releasing futuristic, renegade TRANCE. Though the hallowed grounds we inhabit may be on pause, we are always slaves to the rave.

Welcome the debut from SYCUM. An alias from a legendary Berlin musician who needs to remain faceless in order to let the music speak first. So let us dive in….

“The Dream” whispers to the early days of UK rave. Ecstasy encoded transmissions are sent via a galactical groove, set out to space amid a constellation of euphoric sounds that make shapes. “Decoded” is built on the foundation of relentless progression – layered with synth built sorcery of the most profound kind.

Trends kommen und gehen, aber unsere SPEICHER-Reihe hat sich nie davor gescheut, futuristischen, abtrünnigen Trance ans Tageslicht zu bringen. Auch wenn die heiligen Stätten, die wir normalerweise unser Zuhause nennen, zurzeit geschlossen sind – wir bleiben dem Rave Untertan.

Wir heißen das Debüt von SYCUM willkommen. Es ist das Pseudonym eines legendären Berliner Musikers, der gesichtslos bleiben muss, um zuerst die Musik sprechen zu lassen. Tauchen wir also ein…

"The Dream" flüstert von den frühen Tagen des UK-Raves. Ecstasy-codierte Übertragungen werden über einen galaktischen Groove gesendet, der sich inmitten einer euphorischen Klangkonstellation in den Weltraum begibt und dort Form annimmt. "Decoded" steht auf dem Fundament unerbittlicher Progression – Schicht um Schicht baut es sich auf einer Synthesizer-Zauberei der tiefgründigsten Art auf.

Leo was born in 1972 and at the age of 15 discovered his passion for electronic music creating his first loops thanks to his Commodore Vic 20 and 64, spreading his own sound in the city when it was impossible to find in Rome any trace of electronic beats.
Soon after he became a true collector of analogue synthesizers with a serious approach in the study of modular synthesis which led him to develop unique skills as we have recognition of them from his early works for ACV records: Attack Random, Riders Of the Future, Noise Generation, Muta, Cannibald and Aeon are still a milestones for nowadays electronic music aficionados.
1989 marked the birth of The Sound of Rome, when Leo met Lory D in a small garage bringing life to a universal and alternative music movement who diffused Techno Music in Rome and all over Italy, pushing these two wizards behind the decks playing along the like of Dave Clarke, Joey Beltram, Robert Armani and UR among others.
In 1995 Leo decided to cut his relationship with ACV records and moved to Rephlex, Aphex Twin’s record label, starting touring with the Rephlex group after the Void album. Ten years later Leo recorded his first single for a new project: Cannibald Records. Back to Life main target is to focus on house and techno classics reissue, and the mission continue with the official reissue of 1991 Leo's Noise Generation, a true special record that snaps an unforgettable highlight in the rave scene. BTL004 will be available with a special insert, black version and very limited white press to delight every serious vinyl collector.

Leo was born in 1972 and at the age of 15 discovered his passion for electronic music creating his first loops thanks to his Commodore Vic 20 and 64, spreading his own sound in the city when it was impossible to find in Rome any trace of electronic beats.

Soon after he became a true collector of analogue synthesizers with a serious approach in the study of modular synthesis which led him to develop unique skills as we have recognition of them from his early works for ACV records: Attack Random, Riders Of the Future, Noise Generation, Muta, Cannibald and Aeon are still a milestones for nowadays electronic music aficionados.

1989 marked the birth of The Sound of Rome, when Leo met Lory D in a small garage bringing life to a universal and alternative music movement who diffused Techno Music in Rome and all over Italy, pushing these two wizards behind the decks playing along the like of Dave Clarke, Joey Beltram, Robert Armani and UR among others.
In 1995 Leo decided to cut his relationship with ACV records and moved to Rephlex, Aphex Twin’s record label, starting touring with the Rephlex group after the Void album.

Ten years later Leo recorded his first single for a new project: Cannibald Records. Back to Life main target is to focus on house and techno classics reissue, and the mission continue with the official reissue of 1991 Leo's Noise Generation, a true special record that snaps an unforgettable highlight in the rave scene. BTL004 will be available with a special insert, black version and very limited white press to delight every serious vinyl collector.

Caiphus Semenya, AKA Mr Letta Mbulu, is a South African legend and Streams Today… Rivers Tomorrow, his second solo LP, is perfect. A ten out-of ten album if ever we heard one. It’s also incredibly rare, especially in good condition, so Be With is delighted to present this reissue.

Now a revered composer, musician, and arranger, Caiphus left apartheid South Africa in the 60s for self-imposed exile in Southern California together with his wife, Letta Mbulu. Settling in Los Angeles he started working with the likes of Hugh Masekela and Miriam Makeba and other exiled and semi-exiled South african artists, as well as, of course, his wife Letta.

Caiphus also found himself working with and composing for a broad range of jazz and pop artists, including Lou Rawls, Nina Simone and Cannonball Adderley. His facility with both jazz and African forms served him well. His LA stay also the beginning of an ongoing collaboration with Quincy Jones, the fruits of which can be tasted in Caiphus’s African compositions for the scores to Roots and Spielberg’s adaptation of The Color Purple.

Originally released in 1984, Streams Today… Rivers Tomorrow is not just a musical masterpiece, it is also the soundtrack to the life of many South Africans - both then and now. Fusing the US-heavy sounds of boogie, disco and funk with Afrobeat and traditional African elements, it’s truly a spectacular listen. Jabu Nkosi handles keyboards on the album, with synths by Caiphus and Craig Harris. Sipho Gumede is on bass and Condry Ziqubu is on guitars.

The Afro-Cuban grooves of “Mamase” open the record. Continuing where Listen To The Wind left off, this is another horn-heavy call-and-response ode to a positive life. Life as an invitation to party, to take part, to “get involved”. But only if you’re willing to let in the transcendent power of music. “There’s gonna be a Mardi Gras, there’s gonna be a carnival; there’s gonna be a jamboree, there’s gonna be a bacchanal”. Who can resist that? Vibrations everywhere.

It’s followed by the joy of “Aida”. Gleeful, dayglow keys and synths *just* on the right side of mid-80s sleaze are accompanied by a killer bassline, slick, skipping drums and proud horns. Infectious funk.

The tempo is taken down a few notches for the powerful “Nomalanga” and the lamentations of a heartbroken man who must leave his wife Nomalanga and their children to join the fight against apartheid. It’s an emotional song, no question, but it doesn’t bring you down. The uplifting music and optimistic vocal delivery from Caiphus and his backing singers in the second half offer hope.

Breezy drums and contemplative keys act as a backdrop for the stunning backing vocal harmonies in the intro of “Moshanyana”. This gives way to stuttering beats, a bassline to die for and Caiphus giving it his all, over guitars, marimba and synth strings. Another slo-mo winner.

Side two opens with “Dial Your Number”, an uptempo English-language boogie-funk workout, complete with mid-song cutaway to a random telephone call. Whether or not this propels the song into “key track” status, we’ll let you decide.

What’s not up for debate is the brilliance of “Matswale”. This was a hit in South Africa in the mid-80s and you can still hear why. It might just be our favourite Caiphus hit. Wow. This is some damn fine breezy, beautiful, emotional pop. The restrained playing, the guitar licks and the gentle keys are out of this world. The beats? Thundering, direct and slick. The singing? It’ll give you goosebumps. As for the sentiment? This is Caiphus singing to his in-laws about their daughter’s adultery, begging them to intervene and help him save his marriage. Not your typical pop single story-telling!

The ferocious “Ndi-Kulindile” closes the set with a nod to the coming sound of the States. The hard-edged, electro-influenced drum patterns and bouncing, elastic bassline are something of a departure from the album’s predominant sound, yet one wonderful constant, Caiphus’s exceptional delivery and his sparring with his backing vocalists, is satisfyingly present and warmly deployed.

With Simon Francis handling the mastering of this Be With edition, you know it sounds as fantastic as ever. The stunning sleeve has been restored, with its painting of a dream-like cosmic vista, as a lone figure takes in a scene that’s part distant planet, part urban sprawl. One listen and you’ll be transported.


Caiphus Semenya, AKA Mr Letta Mbulu, is a South African legend and Streams Today… Rivers Tomorrow, his second solo LP, is perfect. A ten out-of ten album if ever we heard one. It’s also incredibly rare, especially in good condition, so Be With is delighted to present this reissue.

Originally released in 1984, Streams Today… Rivers Tomorrow is not just a musical masterpiece, it is also the soundtrack to the life of many South Africans - both then and now. Fusing the US-heavy sounds of boogie, disco and funk with Afrobeat and traditional African elements, it’s truly a spectacular listen. Jabu Nkosi handles keyboards on the album, with synths by Caiphus and Craig Harris. Sipho Gumede is on bass and Condry Ziqubu is on guitars.

One listen and you’ll be transported.

HOUSEWAX welcomes Barry Christie aka Milton Jackson to the family!
We are very happy to have him on board for the 30th edition of the main HOUSEWAX label! "Sunset in A Frame" will be out 1st of June. Highly recommended House Music!

Info Milton Jackson:
Released his first EP aged 19 on Solemusic's Tronicsole imprint. Known for his dark, almost techno influenced deep house music. Milton Jackson tends to fuse straight driving beats with eclectic, techy production styles. His debut long player, 'The Bionic Boy' was received well by critics and the house fraternity and it spawned the Pepe Bradock influenced 'Sunlight'. After having mainly appeared on Glasgow labels such as Solemusic and Glasgow Underground, 2006 sees Milton spread his wings with EPs due out on Freerange, Silver Network, Urbantorque and Luke Sardello's Icon Recordings.

He has also recorded under a variety of pseudonyms, even venturing into the down-tempo domain as Napoleon Solo. His Bear Trax imprint released Mylo's first vinyl release when the pair recorded as 'The Pretty Boys'.

Driving anywhere in Texas can cost you half a day, easy. For example, it'll take you over four hours just to get from R&B singer Leon Bridges' hometown of Fort Worth down to Houston, where the psychedelic wanderers in Khruangbin hail from. The state is vast, crisscrossed with rugged expanses of road flanked by limestone cliffs and granite mountains, forests of pine and mesquite, miles of desert or acres of sprawling grassland, all depending on what part you're in. And it's all baking under the Texas Sun that lends its name to Bridges and Khruangbin's new collaborative EP. "Big sky country, that's what they call Texas," Khruangbin bassist Laura Lee says. "The horizon line goes all the way from one side to another without interruption. There's something really comforting about that." On Texas Sun, these two members of the state's musical vanguard meet up somewhere in the middle of that scene, in the mythical nexus of Texas' past, present, and future-a dreamy badlands where genres blur as seamlessly as the terrain. It calls equally to the cowboys boot-scooting at Billy Bob's in Fort Worth, the chopped-and-screwed hip-hop fans rattling slabs on the southside of Houston, the art-school kids dropping acid in Austin, the cross-cultural progeny who grew up on listening to both mariachi and post-hardcore out on the Mexican borders of El Paso. All of these things, overlapping in a multicolored melange, purple hues as vivid and unpredictable as one of the state's rightfully celebrated sunsets. A journey through homesick reminiscences, backseat romances, and late-night contemplations, the kind of record made for listening with the windows down and the road humming softly beneath you. Like the highways that inspired it, Texas Sun is guaranteed to get you where you're going-especially if you're in no particular hurry to get there.

After the creation of his own label and four EPs (Intuitive, Blend, Exil, Singles), here is Thylacine with a first album called Transsiberian, named after a recent trip to the other side of the world.

In the spring of 2015, William left for Russia with a video crew. The goal: to get carried away by the famous Trans-Siberian, which connects Moscow to Vladivostok, and stop at the option of fixed and impromptu meetings with local personalities. Time is divided between intense encounters and long train journeys where William locks himself in his cabin to compose. At the option of these stops which, over the days, nourish William's inspiration, he has the right to a concert offered as a welcome by the old ladies of the native village of the graffiti artist Artemiy, polyphonies in Irkutsk, a bell ringer of bells, a traditional musical trio in Kazan, surfers in Vladivostok. A shaman welcomes him in his yurt on the shores of Lake Baikal, with his two little daughters, Aikhai and Mandukhaï. All can be found on Transsiberian, a concept album that places the taste for travel and his curiosity about others at the heart of his contemplative songs. Evolving in the world of contemporary art, for which he composes regularly, William sees an album as a work where performance counts but also emotion and, above all, manner of doing things. "The process of creation matters as much as the end," he says.

Repress!

Intangible Records and Soundworks presents another great re-issue!
This time it's the the Master Terrence Parker himself alias Seven Grand Housing Authority with "Love Speading". This record came originally out in 1999 and it will be now re-released with a bonus track. Terrence Parker found an unreleased version which will be included - a must have for all Detroit House lovers!

For its second installment, Tresydos presents ‘Description’, a selective, four track EP from US producer Matt Anderson. Normally working and releasing on the label Wex, he has shared with us a unique EP, a dive into the flavors and varied tastes he is inspired by.

Leading off on A1 is the title track ‘Description’. With an emotive melody & pushing jungle bass, this tune is a mixed and mangled, psy-hypnotic, peak time bouncer. A2 follows with ‘Small Talk’, which holds a smooth and liquidy touch, sprinkled with notes of jazzy bends & spacey arpeggios. On the flip side for B1 is ‘Gangsta.vox’, a playful tune, varied between a 4/4, acidic zooming, & airy, euphoric breaks. Last up is ‘Inside A Neutron Star’, a chugger that offers an acidic, yet smooth psychedelic theme to carry you on.

WAREHOUSE FIND

Nick The Record & Dan Tyler return with the fifth mission...

Hardly surprising these celebrated EPs are consistent best-sellers and enduring staples in any expertly packed crate.
Always built for the floor, and assembled from the finest secret ingredients, not to mention thoroughly road-tested - Record Mission drops another essential EP !

Sprung Disco bass work, dubbed out arrangements, tough rhythm sections and more funk than George Clinton's sparkly tour socks.

Enjoy! .

Infinity is the new release by Melbourne-based Leo James, and the second Patience production. Leo scratches a longstanding itch and delivers two sidelong excursions that inhabit a similar sonic space but spin off in opposite directions on the continuum.

Desert Nightflower hums with vitality in a seemingly lifeless landscape. Impressionistically tracing the lifecycle of a flower’s bloom in the desert night – from the searing afternoon sun through dusk’s chill, the midnight blossoming and symbiotic relationship with travelling bats, through the blue hour comedown to first light – Leo employs vibrant, buzzing electronics, plaintive strings and levitating clarinet to illustrate beauty’s brief conquest of nature’s harshest environment, with vividly evocative and deftly moving results.

After Desert Nighflower floats completely off the grid, an ever-present kickdrum drives Infinity’s near 20-minute trip into timelessness. Sharing Side A’s subliminal synthesised hum and free-form clarinet, Infinity moves fast and firm down a dub techno dirt road towards the end of time. As elements drop in and out of the mix, Infinity builds momentum to a pulsing, cathartic peak of poignant piano, ethereal keys and lucid clarinet expressions.

As an avid nature enthusiast, spatial awareness looms large in Leo’s work. His solo releases on Berceuse Heroique, Neubau and his own label Body Language have been inspired incarnations of techno, EBM, industrial and wave.

Patience is a new outlet for exploring further beyond the break than usual. Inspired by the music perpetually on rotation at HQ – with E2-E4 representing the format’s high tide mark – each release will be one artist’s deep dive down one inspirational wormhole spread across two sides of vinyl, or two side-long sojourns making full use of a round 12” piece of plastic. Set and forget, zone out to tune in.

Inventing Importance - With its third vinyl release CLIKNO starts the MAT editions, which brings together contemporary art with profound texts and deep techno music equally, a conceptual and collectible series for heart, soul and mind - conceived by Dr.Nojoke.

music - Dr.Nojoke throws in three tunes in his unmistakable style hitting the dancefloors of a parallel universe. Stomping beats with gravitational bass-lines are folded with deep textured moods, dub delays and a plethora of subtle sounds and strange loops all in an intricate and organic production build from diverse noises and field recordings. This music aims as much for the dancefloor as it is enjoyable at home.

art - "You Brew Stew" is a digital painting by Denver-based artist Jonathan Canupp. The painting was created in 2018, took 25 hours and is made of 28,000 strokes, original size: 24" x 24". Jonathan is a multi-faceted artist also working as sound designer for video games and films and producing music under diverse monikers such as Ten and Tracer and Petrichoir.

text - Over the course of the MAT editions, philosopher, actress, director and performer Marianne Kjaer Klausen will contribute writings about humanity, society and freedom. Sample from MAT ed.01: "The owl of Minerva spreads its wings only with the falling of the dusk. The paradox, to know when she has landed, would be one true turning point for the wisdom of humanity."

MAT 01 is a strictly limited vinyl-only release with a 12" x 12" inlay in a thick transparent PVC sleeve.
Artwork and text are reproduced in an offset print on offset paper for a premium look and feel.

Schenkelspreizer Vol. 10 – High Spreiz! The 12” contains two
more hidden A + B sides!

The sixth and final part of Eel Behaviour is here. Opening up with the pacy, acid-tinged power of Panmella Calix's "Tip", you could be forgiven for thinking that this dancefloor destroyer out of Scandinavia was made in the mid-nineties (and you could be right!). Suneel Shark's "Blunt But Fair" got lost in the Irish Sea many times before we finally reeled in the DAT on a fishing trip close to Portmarnock. The Arctic Ocean resident sprung out of the water on this one, in naturally fast and slippery style.

On the flip, French techno supremo Zadig delivers an acid-rave-breakbeat combo on "Red Eye", recalling the early era of labels like UR, Missile and Synewave, and creating a massive bomb in the process. That then brings us to Jon Hussey, who wraps up the record with an expert slice of bubbling, trippy acid. "Engine Brood" and its hypnotic properties transport us to another dimension, and the end stop on our Eel Behaviour journey. As ever, artwork is from Adult Art Club's Jonny Costello, with this one coming on clear vinyl.

'World' is the debut album dreamt up by Barcelona based DJ / Production duo Memorial Home. Comprising of Paul Roux (France) and Jeremy Pinchasi (Belgium), 'World' is the exciting result of their shared desire to push the limits of their own brilliant musical foresight. It's an ambitious 20 track longplayer which effortlessly showcases the incomparable sonic space shared between both musical masterminds.

Sitting somewhere just to the left of Nicolas Jaar, Radiohead, Massive Attack, Mike Dehnert and Ostgut Ton, Memorial Home has managed to craft an album absolutely unique to their sound, impossible to categorise and sure to catch the attention of music lovers of all shapes and sizes. Techno without a dancefloor, experimental electronica fit for the warehouse raves. It's an exciting, perfectly confusing album which simply works wonderfully.

Heavily textured in incredible atmospherics, dub effects and crisp, clear percussion, 'World' spreads over an excellent array of individual tracks full of groundbreaking musical magic. Incorporating a stunning fusion of live instrumentation and electronic craftsmanship, 'World' is an audio adventure into emotive soundscapes, with a clear focus on the subtle saturation of melancholy. It's a soundtrack for a dystopian film yet to be written. A sonic painting for the coming winter months where the trees are all but dead and frozen; and the ground a thick layer of glowing white snow.

Memorial Home are the founders of the independent label Rapid Eye Movement, which has seen a breadth of incredible EPs riding the balance between experimental Techno and introspective electronica. They first met by random chance in their newly adopted home of Barcelona, Spain. This unexpected encounter quickly developed into a full-fledged musical kinship through their shared interest in crafting cinematic, experimental techno music. Each release from the label and duo showcase their clear passion to unearthing sounds beyond the expected. With their debut LP about to drop, the future is looking certain for the duo, the label, and the changing face of modern day electronic music.

We were waiting for it and it is for the 17th release of Rutilance Recordings that Dj Steaw offers us a complete album with 9 original tracks in different styles passing from hip hop to funk, from house to techno. This album is not ready to be forgotten.

Time to celebrate the Detroit's talent Javonntte who won in short time the deep music scene. 3 brilliant tracks on this Ep called Makes Me Feel.spread love, all over the world!

Montreal's Minimal Techno veteran Pheek offers up a milestone vinyl release for the onset of this Spring Season. Lumo EP offers four vibrant dance-floor compositions, each delving into its own labyrinthine mindscape, leaving no stones unturned in an ethereal garden of listening. Lumo invites us into exotic, sprawling atmospheres- crafted with excessive care and the unmistakable studio-finesse that Pheek has become known for. Lovers of drums will be assured troves of bass-heavy, broken-beats and skittering, jazz-infused patterns which delicately tease and tantalize as they appear and flicker out. Seasoned prowess in sound-design allows Pheek to convey eerie, forgotten landscapes with periodic, lushly rising elements to bath the listener in unexpected lightness and thrilling serenity. Lumo will surely tantalize even seasoned listeners as it melts heavily saturated layers of depth over unexpected arrangements. The result is a stunning interaction at the crossroads of Minimal House and Techno, nudging the listener toward sturdy grooves while simultaneously introducing new pathways on the way to ever-increasing depth.

Efficient Space is honoured to share the little-heard recordings of three Yolngu songmen from Northeast Arnhem Land - Bobby Bunnungurr, Jimmy Djamunba and Peter Milaynga (d. 2007) - working in collaboration with Victorian musician Peter Mumme. Yolngu are the indigenous peoples of Arnhem Land in Northern Territory, Australia; their clans are the Marangu and Malabirr, the languages Djinang and Gannalbingu. Their songs are of instruction, story and ceremony.

A connection first initiated by Yolngu actor David Gulpilil, Waak Waak Djungi's mid-90s recordings were preceded by years of respectful sharing of culture. Mumme explains that 'the aim was to produce something that is new, not in the sense of a breakthrough, but what emerges from the combining of existing ideas'. What developed was sonically unique - sprawling vocal/electronic soundscapes and field recordings that reimagine the traditional songs of black crows and white cockatoos, sharing, creation spirits and of leaving and returning home to country. Spacious and patiently durational, the songs resound in a big land with a big story to tell.

On the 1997 Waak Waak Djungi album Crow Fire Music, these interpretations were assembled with traditional recordings and additional material from Sebastian Jörgensen and Sally Grice. Falling short of generating public interest, it became well known in the Yolngu homeland. Nearly two decades later, a CD copy filed away in the 3RRR FM library would prompt a three year investigation to meet the people behind the music.

Waak Waak ga Min Min (Black Crow, White Cockatoo) combines the previously unreleased Gandi Bawong with five contemporary versions from the original album, with a new cover painting by Bobby Bunnungurr. Tracing 1997 back to many millennia ago, this is a captivating window into the richness of Aboriginal culture and collaboration.

B From E, an uncommon name but surely soon to be know. This young Danish/Mexican talent has already released a successful Ep on Copenhagen Underground Posse, but now heads for 2018 with a rock solid 3 track Ep at Traxx Underground! B From E delivers a classic and very melodic house sound, in a fusion of US Garage and Soulful Deep House. He is pointing for the stars and ready to spread love, all over the world!

Cause we love Vinyl..... Here is the first Vinyl from the Label JACKFRUIT RECORDINGS, a new label founded in 2017. Label Owner is the Berlin based Artist, DOMPE, known for good arranged House Sounds. He releases a lot, a real creative mind. Four handmade tracks can be found on the Vinyl. THE JOKER: Do you need a Joker Deep and warm Techhouse-Bassline So who is you favourite Buffoon now Risky grinning attitudes sounds you have to hear loud. After that bomb it's time for an new experience: It's time to Boogie. 1,2,3,4 what are you waiting for Move your Body to the Groove. CRY: snappy sounds, a necessary amount of percussions and a beat that makes you teeter along. FREE BIRD: Here are some very new House Beats for you! It is really time for some spring feelings, so the sounds go fresher! And it feels like hearing the bird singing, sitting in the sun meanwhile. Real Groove comes through your Speakers - turn is loud! Percussions make you hooo. So shake your body once again and dance until the spring is coming. JACK BROWN: Hey Sweetheart you are such a hot fruity! Another brilliant cooperation between AGENT! and DOMPE and as it is common: never change a winning team! These both guys living in Berlin are not only Friends; they got a perfect match with their sounds and ideas. Soundaholics with playful whims in their heads. There is a rumour that JACK BROWN gives his Name to JACK FRUIT. Not really just kidding. JACK BROWN makes you dance, drags u to the middle of the floor. Charming Bassline, Vocal and a direct urge for snipping your fingers.

Argentinian veteran Jorge Savoretti has been djing for more than 20 years, and his first release for Esperanza Records traces back to 2005. In this time laps he has produced 2 albums, 20 EPs and a great number of remixes, on labels such as Raum Musik, Visionquest and Ilian Tape. His debut on Cadenza is a crisp breeze of graceful music for dancing. Side A starts point-blank with 'Bou Gei' bouncing shuffle, driving bass line, lively cymbals, sparkling band-passed chords, summing-up Jorge´s true dedication to nightclubs and nightlife. With no reprieve, 'Ruth' suspicious pads lurk behind a funky swinging rhythm spruced up by a continuous surfacing of snare rolls and giggly stabs. On the B side, 'Sensu Dub' explores without hesitation darker textures and resonances, leaving no concessions to leave the dancefloor. Finally 'U-Fonk #04.01' dives into sweating hotblooded late-time hours, with am hypnotising deep-toned coil, soaked of greasy riffs and gloomy fumes.

Australia's Nightime Drama welcome Steven Tang and label associate Trinity for a new collaborative EP that comes with two originals and remixes by Basic Soul Unit and Daniela La Luz.
Tang has long been serving up space age techno sounds on his own Obsolete Music Technology and the likes of Smallville, and Trinity is a DJ, live act and producer from Sydney who plays key clubs around Europe and releases on Counter Pulse and Coincidence as well as this one.
Innermost Search opens the EP with supple and rubbery drums carrying you off into the cosmos as spaced out pads bring real scale and emotional depth. It's a cinematic house track with vivid imagery. Then comes a remix from Dekmantel's Toronto mainstay Basic Soul Unit that is much more busy and robust. A wide lead synth line sprays about above drums which are much bigger and heavier. It's prime warehouse material to get people marching.
Tang & Trinity's Adrifting Voyage then slips back into a deep, cerebral house groove with oodles of reverb and dubby chords cut though by icy hi hats and transcendental pads. Last of all, Berlin's Daniela a La Luz (who has released on the likes of Cocoon and !K7) remixes this one into a lively, nimble house track with curious melodic riffs and tough drums appealing to both head and heel. It rounds out a fresh and powerful EP of futuristic house music.

Plangent Records is happy to host the limited vinyl edition of Pantha Du Prince his The Triad Remixes. Including remixes by Efdemin, Shinedoe, Alva Noto, Solomun, Recondite, Ambarchi and Sprenger, John Roberts.

with his third album 'vin ploile' the bucharest, romania based producer, musician and dj petre in-spirescu captured a whole new audience in 2015 and reached out with minimal leftfield ambient sounds to music loving folks, that are not part of the world-wide dance music universe.
well known as one of the key figures of the romanian electronic dance music scene since his first ep 'tips' on luciano's label cadenza, inspirescu stepped away from club sounds that made him famous due to releases on labels like vinyl club, lick my deck or amphia.
also his two solo albums 'intr-o seara organica...' and 'gradina onirica', both released on (a:rpia:r), the record label he initiated with his buddies rhadoo and raresh in 2007, do not have much in common with the sound of 'vin ploile' - a mesmerizing deeply musical album that he only tuned in with some elements of piano, string and wind instruments as well as analogue electronics.
at the end of 2015 his nine slow swinging arrangements where celebrated in many polls and now, just a bit more than one year after the release of 'vin ploile' petre inspirescu delivers 'vîntul prin salcii' - another longplayer enlarged with seven, up to epic twelve minutes long arrangements, that continue where 'vin ploile' ceased.
they all listen to the name 'miroslav' and only differ numerically in their title. you can call them ambi-ent. you can call them minimal music in the sense of classic compositions by steve reich or terry riley. they groove - sometimes more, sometimes less. and they spread the sounds of flutes or saxophones, delicate piano figures, organic jazz drumming, arpeggiated analogue synth-lines, mesmerizing strings, choral singing, alienated looped vocals and spaced out new aged spheres.
what unites them all is the way, the melodies dance upon and in each single tune. their beautiful tex-tures ensnare and they are continuously engaged with experimentation. a mystical album full of evolu-tionary music to which each listener is able to paint his very own emotional picture. moody, dark and at the same time light-flooded shape-shifting compositions - made for those who love to surrender them-selves to a gentle dance between experimentation and attractiveness.
the cover artwork for petre inspirescu's album was made again by the illustrator and photographer julian vassallo, who's artistic works fascinate with a touching spirit of distance, that captures the truth in each single motif. just like petre inspirescu's music, only that his art grooves with notes that tell somehow: there is no truth. there is only perception.

Footwork label boss Jay Lumen is back on board with two massive Techno bangers."Warehouse Trip" is a rolling peak time ride with some nice old school elements.You can hear special dusty stabs in the break to add the right balance for the track."Search" is a chord oriented anthem with great bass synth sprays on a fat kick and bass line.It has a nice contrast and leads you to the dance floor step by step.

Koichi Shimizu's contribution to the Holotone Catalogue 002 sounds like journeys from a ticket that exploded. Self organizing bodies without organs laying the blueprint for a soft machine spreading and fizzling towards available spaces or trickling downwards towards new spaces through fissures and gaps, eroding what is in its way. Drawing the tonal line from a cube to a tesseract, entering the Holotone realm.

Reissue of the hot track Lava Lava by John Spring with two new version from Rydim, hot stuff vinyl only!

finally repressed !

Big with Maya Jane Coles, Round Table Knights, Homework, Claude Von Stroke, Robert Owens, Wildkats, Nhan Solo, Shir Khan,..Berlin-based Robosonic welcome the springtime with their first OFF EP. "Worst Love" uses an anthemic sample to create a groovy dancefloor burner with tight groove. Doctor Dru delivers a contemporary underground pop remix. Fritz Zander from the Suol collective made a "Panorama Bar 9 am"-styled remix for the real house-heads. And with "Thankful", Robosonic give us a 2nd original track, slightly more toolish than Worst Love.

Late Night Tuff Guy has sprinkled some magic onto Toto's track 'Africa' and given it to you super sized in a near 10 minute take of the original, also includes 'Not In Love Anymore', a solid slo-mo rework of Michael McDonald's 1982 classic 'I Keep Forgettin', last up Janet Jackson's 'Put Your Hands On' gets a classy LNTG rewerk

great new V/A EP feat. Gabe (SK Supreme, Sprout) Mucky Pups (Saved) - the new project from M.in & Jonas, Franksen & Tom Wax (BigCityBeats, Plastic City) and Alex Piccini (Bitten, Malatoid, Weplayminimal).

For the first time in its 27-year history, Defected compile its greatest hits, underground anthems and bonafide house music classics into a five volume triple vinyl collectors series.

Volume Two collects twelve of Defected’s most established and sought after releases. Featuring Dennis Ferrer’s anthem ‘Hey Hey’, CamelPhat & Elderbook’s huge ‘Cola’, alongside MK’s classic ‘Burning’, Oliver Dollar & Jimi Jules’s chart smash ‘Pushing On’, Defected’s first ever release; Soulsearcher’s ‘Can’t Get Enough!’. Plus Mike Dunn, DJ Gregory, Hercules & Love Affair and more.

An essential addition to your record collection.