Buscar:then

Two voices at the frontier of deep, hypnotic and experimental electronic music converge with four-track split EP that moves between first light and subsurface dark.

Lost Few’s productions inhabit the hazy threshold between ambient and dancefloor music - textured, atmospheric productions built around mood and motion. On the A-side, Broken Dawn opens with a sense of slow emergence: layered pads and rhythmic pulse conjuring beauty before sunrise, when sound feels closer to dream than waking. Light Before The Haze deepens the journey; a longing, weightless piece that traces the diffuse glow that precedes full light — melodic, restrained, and deeply felt.

Dino Sabatini needs no introduction; his productions have bolstered the underground electronic music scene while sculpting a new narrative for deep, modern electronic music. On the B-side, Subsurface Light is characteristically Sabatini: a hypnotic descent into pressurised depths, where rhythm becomes ritual and texture carries the weight of ancient resonance. He then reimagines Lost Few's Light Before The Haze as a closing meditation — pulling it further inward, slowing its pulse, and casting it in the particular deep-techno shadow he has made his own.

Together, the four tracks form a coherent arc from the pre-dawn quiet of Lost Few's introspective electronics to the subterranean intensity of Sabatini's world — a release that rewards both patient listening and late-night movement.

2026 Repress

Dial Records boss makes a welcome return to Smallville in March of 2024 with a fresh four-tracker EP ‘Gravity Hill’. Peter Kersten, better known to most as Lawrence, has been at the forefront of underground house and techno for decades now. His Dial imprint, co-founded alongside Carsten Jost, has grown to become a north star for many seeking out raw, emotive and understated electronic music and Lawrence’s own productions follow a similar path, finding a home on many beloved labels beyond Dial such as Kompakt, Mule Musiq, Ghostly
International, Giegling, Pampa and of course Smallville, that he co-founded together with Stella Plazonja and Julius Steinhoff in 2005.
Title-track ‘Gravity Hill’ opens the project and perfectly sets the tone with Lawrence’s distinct atmospheric haze of keys, chords and pads billowing atop swaying bass tones and crisp drums. ‘Beaver’ follows next and edges into dubbed out realms with expansive stab delays, rounded subs, modulating percussive flutters and a robust rhythmic drive.
‘The Swamp’ then leads the B-side, diving into a deeper territory via airy Rhodes melodies and subtly unfurling pads, intertwined with organic percussion and a jazz tinged bass line. ‘Stargazer’ then concludes the package and shifts back to a more straight, dance floor- oriented feel via a twitchy acid bass, circling resonant synth licks, hypnotic textures and a swinging drum groove.
Smallville 62 artwork by Stefan Marx as always and it's the first 12“ Smallville cover in full colour ever after 61 black/white releases.

2026 Repress

Snad is back on Smallville.

Shyam Anand is a long-term friend of Smallville and an MPC wizard with a wide-open heart. We are super happy to finally present a 12“ that is fully his own.

After an amazing contribution to Smallville 49 (check out Exerpts!), Snad aka Spandrel aka Shyam Anand presents a full 3-tracker on Smallville, packed with his irrisistible grooves, the usual unexpected twists and an overall magical atmosphere. Growing up near Philadelphia, then moving to Chicago and later exploring the global underground scenes of Berlin and Mexico City, among others, Snad is a busy man. He runs his own imprint Spandrel, co-runs We R The Aliens and has an impressive back-catalogue of contributions for several favourites like Running Back, Courtesy of Balance, Kimochi, Long Vehicle, 20:20 Vision, Phonica and many more.

On this 12" the A side belongs solely to Bubblescope - 14 and a half minutes of mesmerizing Ensoniq DP/4 Vocoder driven modular spheres, an endlessly deep bubbling piece of art that builds an intense feeling that could last for hours.
The B side sees Snad staying deep – Lukewarm Lava explores the broken beat world before taking you on a ride. The beloved B2-spot goes to Tanni - an integral part of Julius' warmup-sets since forever and thus a special one to finally put on wax.

Bubblescope comes with a Full Cover Artwork by Stefan Marx.

No Home is the new album by Lane Hartley, releasing October 23rd 2026 on Royal Oakie Records. Produced in collaboration with David Hartley of The War On Drugs & Adam McDaniel (Animal Collective, Angel Olsen, Geologist), the album was recorded at Drop of Sun Studios in Asheville and features contributions from North Carolina’s tight knit music community–including Mary Lattimore, Seth Kaufman of Floating Action & Dream Sitch, David Hartley, Jack Victor Johnson, and more.

After recording his debut album Naming Horses, Lane left Los Angeles and returned home to the Carolinas, eventually landing in Asheville. It wasn’t too long until the songs started flowing and Lane found himself reaching out to Adam McDaniel at Drop of Sun Studios–a vaunted space that’s been at the heart of indie-rock the past few years, bringing to life recent albums from MJ Lenderman, Wednesday, Fust, and more. McDaniel introduced Lane to David Hartley, and what originally started with discussions to record one song quickly turned into a plan to track a whole album live with a six piece band. Once in the studio, co-producer McDaniel encouraged the group to lean on intuition–“All of the players on this record really brought it to life in such a cosmic way. They instilled so much childlike wonder and fun into the making of the album. It inspired me to keep going” says Lane.


Lyrically the album is a collection of vignettes about people who’ve become alienated from their deepest desires of connection, belonging, intimacy, and autonomy–inspired both by Lane’s own life and the lives of people he’s loved. The unique character of the album emerged when Lane made the decision to pair the dark lyrical content with bright & lush arrangements, inspired by Gene Clark’s No Other, Neil Young’s After the Gold Rush, and Amen Dunes’ Love. In Lane’s words, “The content of the songs got way darker, and my reaction was to make the songs catchier, and to lean harder into the music that influenced me. I wanted each song to feel like a room in a haunted house, with a beautiful garden growing outside”.

Album opener “I Am Not Ashamed” was inspired by the anti-memoir of actress Barbara Peyton, a 1950’s Hollywood starlet who met an untimely end; “It’s about knowing that whatever you’ve done to survive, you still deserve love” says Lane. “Mother” pairs lyrics about ancestral trauma with the sunshine-pop influence of Colin Blunstone, featuring backing vocals from Lane’s sister Barrett Hartley. “It's about coming to terms with the fact that the people meant to protect us are dealing with their own trauma…”

Meanwhile, “All Of This Is Yours” and “Tone Poem” form the spiritual center of the album, an attempt to transmute anger & pain to bittersweet acceptance in the wake of a breakup. “I feel like on the surface this is essentially a breakup album, a lot of these songs are about mourning the end of a relationship and reflecting on what went down. I was falling in love and getting my heart broken, then waking up and driving across the country and doing it all over again.” “Love Is Not A Song” was inspired by Margo Guryan’s Love Songs, pairing bright piano with playful lyrics about an old man who’s been beaten down by life but still believes his greatest love is yet to come. Last but not least, title track “No Home” sums up the album’s key theme of alienation, “It all goes back to this feeling of wanting to belong to someone or somewhere, wanting to belong in your own body.”

“Negative Music / The Poorest! If they still know silence at all, then only as holes in the continuum of noise…” — Günther Anders, 1965

Editions Mego presents GETGETGET, a new release by Thomas Brinkmann which serves as an inquiry into silence, code, and the limits of perception.

The title GETGETGET references the trilogy of ‘Get’ lp’s made by Rehberg under his PITA moniker; Get Out, Get In and Get On. The music is based on material by Rehberg and Brinkmann morphing these two identities into a third colour, a disappearing color.

Emerging from a live performance at the label’s 30th anniversary in Berlin, the work unfolds as both sonic artifact and conceptual system: a study in what remains when sound is reduced, extracted, and reconstituted.

Taking inspiration from Günther Anders’ notion of “negative music”—composition through absence—Brinkmann’s approach aligns with Heinrich Böll’s idea of “collected silence”: silence not as void, but as a material framed against the constant pressure of noise. In GETGETGET, pauses are not gaps but structural elements, cut from a continuum and reinserted as signals.

The two side long tracks weave a dark abstract and ‘twisted’ presence where the ghosts of the machines and their operators fuse into a fantastical whole. One can hear traces of both Brinkmann and Rehberg logic which seems to fuse in a hallucinatory manner.

Brinkmann’s work reflects a broader condition: the translation of material processes into informational ones. As images detach from bodies and code separates from matter, sound too loses its fixed resonance. What remains is circulation—of signals, of data, of meaning—within systems that increasingly define perception itself.

GETGETGET is an album where absence is equal to presence, a metaphor with suggestive tones of the influence Rehberg had and continues to have in the world of the radical experimental electronic avant garde. The “zero” is not empty; it is what makes everything else work.

If you dig deep enough into the internet's lower depths, you'll find a shaky video shot on a camcorder. In 43 seconds, we see a makeshift drum kit built out of backyard Ostbahnhof trash, hear distorted vocals, and feel the anarchic energy of band and ravers dissolving into each other. It's now been twenty years since Bonaparte played their very first show at the legendary Bar25 on Berlin's Spree river. The ringmaster of this unhinged musical theater was Tobias Jundt then, and it's Jundt again now bringing the Bonaparte extravaganza back to the stage. New and nostalgic sit close together when the party's been going this long. Or, as they put it: "PARADISE IF YOU CAN STAND IT."

From late October through mid-November, Bonaparte will tour Germany, Austria, and Jundt's native Switzerland at full intensity, the full lineup - band to burlesque. Since their 2006 debut through their supposed farewell in 2019, Bonaparte played over 800 shows in 28 countries. Bottom line: "Too Much" isn't enough to properly celebrate a body of work like this. And the new songs from "PARADISE IF YOU CAN STAND IT" are far too significant not to bring to the stage. The lo-fi trash-punk of Bonaparte's earliest records has been built out with added layers, in production (largely alongside British avant-garde electronic artist HELiX) and in the songwriting itself.

The world certainly hasn't gotten any simpler since 2006. Tracks like "EVERYBODY PRESiDENT," loosely riffing on Zoe Leonard's poem "I Want A Dyke For President," and the corrosive "BRAiN ROT" mirror the social chaos we find ourselves in 2026. "OBEY (THERE iS STiLL A RiOT GOiNG ON)" is just as furious, though here the principle of hope still holds, as a multigenerational choir concludes "everything will be okay." Jundt speaks across generations again on "i LOVE YOU (MORE LATER)," dedicated in equal measure to his parents and his daughters: "Let the echo chamber bleed - from here into eternity."

The reconciliation and hope Bonaparte allows for and tends to, amid violence and all that noise, make "PARADISE IF YOU CAN STAND IT" a singular document of an artist grown wiser. Separation and grief don't cancel out love and vitality - they depend on each other. Ultimately, the album is a record of searching for and finding a home. To arrive, you have to let go.

And what better place to let go than in step with Bonaparte's wild, hedonistic party circus, finally back to gently terrorize our cities?

Australian label sense. debuts its vinyl-only imprint with a limited first release from none other than Romanian-born Alin Crihan.

Alin delivers three stripped-back, dark, atmospheric rollers guaranteed to become instant mood-setters for underground dance floors, while rewarding patient and attentive listeners.

We are then treated to an enchanting, eclectic ambient piece that feels truly cinematic, an absolute must-listen. Close your eyes and let your mind wander…

sense. is a project focused on timeless music over trends, creating a platform that aims to inspire and open the ears of its local audience through carefully curated musical experiences, connecting the Australian party scene with international artists deeply rooted in the minimal genre.

COLLECTING ORDERS FOR REPRESS

For our 14th release on OCD we welcome Italy’s veteran producer Niki IL B, an artist whose career in electronic music spans decades. Active since the mid-90s, he established himself as an important figure in the early-2000s progressive house scene. Since then, he has crafted a very personal sound that is refined and distinctive, shaped by a long and diverse journey across genres and driven by a deep-rooted dedication to the craft, emerging from a generation that lived electronic music as a true way of life.
This EP is a showcase of Niki’s ability to confidently move through different moods and to draw inspiration from various genres.

If the name The Midnight Hour isn't immediately familiar, the music almost certainly is. Ali Shaheed Muhammad is a founding member of A Tribe Called Quest, one of the most beloved groups in hip hop history. Adrian Younge is the Los Angeles-based composer, multi-instrumentalist, and producer who has shaped the sound of some of the most critically admired records of the past two decades. Together, they have been architects of the sound that serious listeners point to when they try to describe what great music feels like.
The music they had been making together had a life of its own. By 2018, it had become The Midnight Hour: their self-titled debut album, recorded to tape with a live rhythm section and a full orchestra, and released to widespread acclaim. In 2020, the duo were deep into sessions for a second album. But then the world shut down, the recordings were shelved. The album never came and remained unfinished and unheard. But now, via their Jazz Is Dead label, The Lost Tapes have been unearthed

If the name The Midnight Hour isn't immediately familiar, the music almost certainly is. Ali Shaheed Muhammad is a founding member of A Tribe Called Quest, one of the most beloved groups in hip hop history. Adrian Younge is the Los Angeles-based composer, multi-instrumentalist, and producer who has shaped the sound of some of the most critically admired records of the past two decades. Together, they have been architects of the sound that serious listeners point to when they try to describe what great music feels like.
The music they had been making together had a life of its own. By 2018, it had become The Midnight Hour: their self-titled debut album, recorded to tape with a live rhythm section and a full orchestra, and released to widespread acclaim. In 2020, the duo were deep into sessions for a second album. But then the world shut down, the recordings were shelved. The album never came and remained unfinished and unheard. But now, via their Jazz Is Dead label, The Lost Tapes have been unearthed

2026 Repress

Donato Basile AKA DJ Plant Texture always wants his music to tell a story, and with his debut EP on Tresor Records, entitled Life, he’s now trying to tell the biggest story there is. According to the artist, “Life is about the fear of growing up”; both the anxiety itself and acknowledging and moving past it.
This narrative seems to have struck a chord with those who have heard the track, “People want to reflect themselves in the music; something personal. Lots of people have been in touch after hearing it; I guess they feel something melancholic in it. Personally, I imagine the track is like the life of a person; going from being born through childhood and youth and onwards, so perhaps they hear this?”
Having used an MPC since the early 2000s, Basile feels an intuitive connection to the hardware he uses, and so the creative process is very spontaneous: “I know where everything is so the music is made immediately. I make everything in the first ten minutes; after that if it’s not right then I just abandon it and start something else.” This immediacy, and familiarity with his equipment is apparent on the A-side, where Basile’s previous life as a drummer comes to the fore and tracks like Cycles and Ripetivo display his native understanding of groove but also how to stir things up - the three A-side tracks find classic techno rhythms seemingly falling apart only to snap back into place even stronger. The B-side finds Donato exploring more of his melodic side with WTT and the aforementioned title track showing Plant Texture’s love of breakbeat and classic techno.
The three digital bonus tracks continue this exploration of melody and syncopated beats - The EXP Days echos the wistful feeling of Life, as Basile meditates on the times spent at EXP, his record shop in Bari, which functioned as a meeting place for electronic producers in the area.

With his last three records all landing within a calendar year (2024-25), enigmatic Swedish producer Civilistjävel! (aka Tomas Bodén) is on a hot streak of releases, his singular vision increasingly ambitious and expansive. There are few artists working at this level so consistently right now, reinventing, revising and continually developing their language. Following on from 2025’s radically re-worked ‘Versions’ (of Mayssa Jallad’s ‘Marjaa…’), Bodén returns to break further fresh ground with his new album, ‘Älvgång’. Featuring contributions from Soccer Committee, Carrier and guest (aka Jabu’s Jasmine Butt), ‘Älvgång’ foregrounds a more brittle and insistent rhythm-based sound, whilst comprising his most broad-ranging collection of material to date.


‘Älvgång’ grew out of a series of sketches made from late ‘24 and throughout the whole of ‘25 at Stockholm’s renowned EMS Studios, which gave Boden free rein to its extensive collection of vintage analogue equipment and rare modular synthesizers such as the Serge and Buchla systems. As a loose framework of tracks began to take shape, so did a reflection of sorts, on family and foundations, underpinned or influenced by sounds that drifted into Tomas consciousness around this time - ancient Swedish pastoral music, Georgian lithurgical chants, gongs, chimes. An idea settled into place, a dedication to his Grandfather, as the earlier release Fyra Platser (tr. ‘Four Places’) was to his Grandmother. Älvgång is grounded with the sense of time and place of an old family photograph, with the tracks over each side bearing one of two names that are more or less the same location - Strinne was the old name for a this loose collection of villages. These days it is more commonly known as Bjärtrå. Metaphorically speaking, the river runs through both.


Civilistjävel! conjures so many adjectives and descriptors, ‘glacial’ and ‘ambient’ frequently among them - but while not altogether untrue, such terms belie the tension and drama so often present in Tomas’ music. Listening to ‘Älvgång’ is not a passive experience. The eight tracks here feel like a patchwork of memories that bathe in the same ethereal, otherworldly glow of Tarkovsky’s polaroids’.


The machine pulses that dominate this landscape are reigned in and tempered by a human hand; lithe, untethered coils, breathing in and out. ‘Strinne Ett’ sets out with purpose, sensing awe and wonder through the murk, but as the final tone unfurls like a question mark, another chapter begins, unfolding/building like a Tarjei Vesaas novel. These lyrical, abstract miniatures combine to reveal a wider context, fragile humanity standing alone against nature.


Guest appearances on Civilistjävel! records have become a regular occurrence (including recent collaborations with Mayssa Jallad, Laila Sakini, Cucina Povera, Thomas Bush, Eldon + Withdrawn), but are used sparingly and with increasing precision. On ‘Strinne Tre’ Mariska Baars’ (Soccer Committee) voice feels like a balm, a clearing. But as her simple, three-word incantation drifts further into fog, the meaning changes, and her words seem to curdle. Carrier’s beats widen the parameters on ‘Strinne Fyra’, a skittering promise that builds tension then refuses to release it; all false starts, Photek gongs, and trinkling modulars. Jabu’s Jasmine Butt pulls all the threads together for the final track, Thomas Tallis’ ghost walking over offset machine impulses, that work against their own symmetry.


Side two begins inquisitively, scanning bleached, alien surroundings, its sparse pads recalling Aphex Twin’s ‘Selected Ambient works Vol 2’. 'Bjärtrå Två’ picks up the baton from ' Strinne Fyra’ with a ruptured Simmons SDS200 analogue drum synth set free from its shackles, the rhythm eventually slotting into the spaces that were hiding in plain sight. What follows seems like an epiphany; ‘Bjärtrå Tre’ is achingly beautiful, a euphoric, winding ascent that leads to devotional plainsong. ‘Bjärtrå Fyra‘s final unheralded shift feels both tragic and haunting.

It’s rare for a hardcore punk band to make four full-length albums, and rarer still for the fourth album to be the band’s masterpiece. Yet Paratiisi, the fourth album from Helsinki punks Kohti Tuhoa, stands as the undeniable coup de grâce of a catalog overflowing with classic hardcore punk. If you’re already a fan, it’ll comfort you to know Paratiisi leans heavily on the strengths Kohti Tuhoa has possessed since their earliest releases: a timeless sound that combines UK82 drive and hooks with dramatic metal flourishes; a captivating vocalist with the perfect balance of grit and clarity, who can both howl like a banshee and carry a tune; and a particularly Finnish way with a driving, medium-fast tempo. But for all the continuities with Kohti Tuhoa’s excellent previous records, Paratiisi almost feels like the work of a new band. The riffs and choruses that anchor the album are impossibly catchy; Paratiisi bulges with huge moments that practically force you to air guitar and sing along (even if you don’t speak a word of Finnish), the band’s peerless chops and the rich and clear recording driving these climaxes to dizzying highs. But while the hooks are memorable, there isn’t a moment on Paratiisi that feels dumbed-down or overly familiar.

In fact, the album feels notably ambitious, pulling influences from across punk’s historical and aesthetic breadth and digesting them seamlessly into Kohti Tuhoa’s distinctive sound. The lyrics (don’t worry: English translations are included!) meet the same high bar as the music. They’re direct, assertive, and punk, but they’re also subtle and insightful, whether they’re tackling huge issues like microplastics or sharing a very personal account of a sexual assault and its aftermath. And then there’s Paratiisi’s most unexpected moment, “Eliitin Psykopatia,” a free punk freakout in the tradition of “Why (Reprise)” and “L.A. Blues.” If Kohti Tuhoa’s brief foray into free jazz tries your patience, though, don’t worry, because after three minutes of building tension, they reward you with what is bound to be the best riff of 2026, a clash of chords potent enough to blow holes through walls the world over. Paratiisi is the sound of one hardcore punk’s most exciting bands at the height of their powers.

Following the success of the inaugural all-Jiri Jiri edition, Batov Records returns with the second instalment of its Give Me Disco series, once again curated by label co-founder and globe-trotting selector DJ Kobayashi. Rather than revisiting familiar disco classics, Give Me Disco Vol. 02 digs deeper, bringing together four dancefloor discoveries from across Europe and Asia, including two previously unreleased tracks available here for the first time.

Spanning Portuguese jazz-funk, Norwegian cosmic oddities, Japanese-inspired psychedelic disco and cinematic groove, the EP reflects the breadth of Kobayashi's record bag - a carefully assembled selection of tracks that have soundtracked his DJ sets for years alongside exclusive material rescued from the vaults.

Opening the record is The Bam Jam Band's brilliantly understated "Theme", a soaring slice of jazz-infused disco from Portuguese musicians Sérgio Alves and Pedro Tenreiro. Originally released only as a now long-sold-out 7 inch on Mad About Records, the track has become one of Kobayashi's trusted secret weapons, championed by discerning selectors including Darryn Jones and Red Greg. Built around Alves' dazzling synthesiser work, "Theme" finally gets the wider audience it deserves. The EP's first exclusive arrives courtesy of D. Apal, instrumentalist and member of Norway's Flammer Dance Band. His only solo release, issued on the band's Lysketrekk Records, has become a cult favourite among adventurous record collectors. Batov now unveils the previously unreleased "60 Meter'n (Rytme)", an extended instrumental dub that strips away the vocals to let the handclaps, cavernous bassline, dub effects and wonderfully eccentric synthesisers breathe, transforming an underground favourite into an irresistible dancefloor weapon.

Side B opens with YĪN YĪN's "Tokyo Disco", taken from the band's acclaimed third album Mount Matsu on Glitterbeat Records. Long-time admirers of the Dutch quartet, Kobayashi has championed them since first hearing the breakthrough pairing of "Dis ̄ kô Dis ̄ kô" and "Dion Ysiusk" on Bongo Joe. Since then, he has hosted the band twice on Soho Radio and supported them live in London. "Tokyo Disco" perfectly captures YĪN YĪN's distinctive blend of Japanese-inspired psychedelia, Southeast Asian influences, post-punk funk and shimmering disco grooves, making it a natural fit for the Give Me Disco series.

Closing the EP is another exclusive from Jiri Jiri, whose contribution helped launch the series on Vol. 01. Ahead of their forthcoming album later this year, the duo unveil the previously unreleased "Spaghetti Western", a wonderfully off-kilter fusion of Morricone-esque cinematic atmosphere, taut funk rhythms and the soulful modern groove of SAULT. Equal parts soundtrack and dancefloor curveball, it provides a fitting finale while offering another tantalising glimpse of what's still to come. With two exclusive cuts sitting alongside two carefully chosen modern classics, Give Me Disco Vol. 02 is another lovingly curated snapshot of DJ Kobayashi's musical universe: borderless, groove-driven and unapologetically built for adventurous DJs, discerning collectors and open minded dancefloors alike.

The third and final full-length, double album from the Elephant 6 Recording Co. co-founders. Their first record in 27 years from the Athens, GA band. A legend is a heavy thing to carry. It has been 27 years since the last album by The Olivia Tremor Control. In that time, they have influenced countless bands, been the subject of documentaries and biographies, and now, finally, improbably, there is a third Olivia Tremor Control album. In the 1990s, The Olivia Tremor Control released two albums of experimental and psychedelic pop genius, Music from the Unrealized Script: Dusk at Cubist Castle (1996), and Black Foliage: Animation Music Vol. 1 (1999). As founding members of the Elephant 6 collective, they redefined the US underground scene, injecting bright paisley colors and sonic adventure into a scene weighed down by grim irony and a fear of pretension. Work began on the album as far back as 2005 but progress was slowed by other projects, other responsibilities, but in 2010, the band of Hart, Doss, John Fernandes, Pete Erchick, Eric Harris, and Derek Almstead began to record. By 2011 The Olivia Tremor Control had reemerged as a fully active band and added AJ Griffin to the lineup as well as touring members Scott Spillane and Robbie Cucchario. The band was now recording constantly and were fast on their way to completing the album. Then in the summer of 2012, Bill Doss suddenly, tragically passed away. With everyone still in shock and grieving, work on The Same Place came to a halt. Every attempt to resume the project stalled until 2023, when, after watching the Elephant 6 Documentary, Athens producer/musician Jason NeSmith came on board to help. In 2024, with the album nearly finished, Will Hart unexpectedly passed away. Drawing on Will's extensive collections of notes, The Same Place was finally completed by the surviving band members, the broader Elephant 6 community, and producers Derek Almstead, Jason NeSmith, and Ron Kwasman. The Same Place does everything The Olivia Tremor Control ever did well. It also does it better, and goes further, than anyone could have imagined was possible.

For more than two decades, Vidmantas ?epkauskas has occupied a singular position within European underground culture. As the driving force behind Opium Club and gallery 1986 in Vilnius, founder of Ant Bangos, Alfavilnius and OLE festivals, curator, label owner, promoter, DJ and artist, he has spent much of his life creating the conditions for other people's music to be heard.
It makes sense then that he has no shortage of friends and collaborators in play. Across ten tracks, V presents shades of Italo, krautrock, post-punk, minimal synth, industrial pop and neon-noir romanticism, arriving somewhere between the dancefloor and a dream-state. The cast of collaborators both contextualize and help sharpen the vision.
First and foremost, much of the album was crafted alongside Frankfurt's Philipp Lauer, whose friendship with V grew through marathon studio sessions. Curses lends his unmistakable blend of dark romance and theatrical energy to "Is This What You Want?", Australian cosmic journeyman Dreems joins for the kaleidoscopic "Blitz Disc," Domenique Dumont brings their unmistakable emotive touch to "Avventura," while Lithuanian artists Noyus and Ruta MUR, both distinctive voices from the country's queer scene, whose vocals add another dimension to the record's emotional palette. As V puts it, "These are the people I've been vibing with."
That he finally delivers a full-length LP with such elusive qualities is more than a clue to his character. The title itself, a nod to Magritte's famous paradox and his years living in Brussels, suggests that any attempt to define V through a single image is destined to fail. At once playful and philosophical, 12:55 (Ceci n'est pas une V) questions ideas of identity and artistic value while marking the closing chapter of the musical persona that followed ?epkauskas' earlier success as Vidis. Neither retrospective nor statement of intent, it feels like a connected set of reflections spanning a lifetime of influences.

The songs of Jules de Corte are condensed, folky gems with an almost effortless charm. Poised between the intimate and the universal, between lightness and darkness, they touch on religion, love, loss, and the small dramas of everyday life. Yet they resist easy translation. Packed with wordplay, de Corte’s signature alliterations, humor, and local cultural references, the songs inevitably lose something in another language. Still, when a Belgian quartet of improvisers takes them on, joined by American songwriter Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, the songs are reborn rather than merely transposed: literal fidelity gives way to interpretation, and what is lost in words is often gained in spirit.

Even without tracing every change, their overall effect is fascinating. Songs are slowed down, often doubled in length, and filled with unexpected musical intrusions. They gain fuller arrangements and are placed in an entirely new context. Replacing de Corte’s piano with guitar can create a radically different vibe, as in “Mariska.” An added solo can heighten the contrast between childlike perspective and the almost matter- of-fact brutality of “Little Anita.” In “The Stranger,” another use of contrast unsettles the everyday harmony, transforming it with a subtle, disorienting twist.

Ultimately, these performances show that interpretation is not successful simply because it is literal. With the groundwork laid by Linus, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy further liberated the songs from their original versions. Lyrics and melodies become malleable, shaped by his recognizable cadences, timbre, and personal quirks. Like his collaborators, he allows himself the freedom to bend the material to his own approach. There is no radical break between this performance and his other records. Listeners familiar with the originals may be puzzled at first; for those new to de Corte, it is a wholly different experience.

Does it really matter that the original “Little Jesus, Mighty God” is a 100-second nugget combining playful naivete with biblical fervor? In the hands of these five explorers, the song becomes an intriguing contemplation, with subtle musical shades and a recitation in which every syllable carries a maturity that offers a new perspective. Then there is “The Outsider,” which feels as genuine as any original American folk song. The musicians’ process is more than reinterpretation—it is reimagination, bringing new musical compatibility and emotional depth. Whether that depth was there from the start, waiting to be uncovered, or created in the process is beside the point. What matters is that Linus and Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy have made the essence of these songs their own, paying homage yet dancing to their own tune.

Linus is the Belgian duo of guitarist and banjo player Ruben Machtelinckx and reedist and synthesiser player Thomas Jillings. Across five previous albums — Onland (2014), Linus + Skarbø / Leroux (2015), Felt Like Old language at the crossroads of folk, jazz, minimalism, chamber music and free improvisation. Their music is adventurous, shaped by a particular sensitivity to texture, timbre and the subtle interaction between musicians.

What began as a duo gradually grew into a flexible musical world, bringing Linus together with musicians such as Nils Økland, Ingar Zach, Niels Van Heertum, Øyvind Skarbø and Frederik Leroux. Yet each new constellation has remained recognisably Linus: music in which carefully considered forms leave space for intuition, interaction and the unexpected.

For their sixth album, Linus takes a new step by moving into the world of song and text. Inspired by a shared love for the late Dutch songwriter Jules De Corte, the album is a reimagining of De Corte’s unique repertoire. More than simply interpreting De Corte’s songs, they absorb and reshape them, bringing them into dialogue with their own musical language. In keeping with this open approach, they are joined by celebrated vocalist Bonnie “Prince” Billy. With albums such as 1999’s I See a Darkness appearing on several greatest album lists, Bonnie “Prince” Billy is a cult figure in the alternative folk scene, and his highly intuitive way of singing seamlessly matches the subtle interplay Linus has developed over more than a decade.

Melissa Weikart and her piano have proceeded through life in step, from her early classical


training to the experimental practice that defines her work today, a blending of sounds and forms that has never been so clear—and so fully realized—as on her new album, Contact. Across twelve shifting and evocative tracks that examine the connective tissue binding us to ourselves and others, the Franco-American musician’s voice and piano navigate personal and emotional terrain with clarity and nuance, forging a rich dialogue between artist and instrument, artist and self, and artist and listener.


Winner of the 2022 Nancy Jazz Pulsations emerging artist award and the instrumentalist prize at the 2023 La Défense National Jazz Competition, Weikart has released two EPs and an album as a solo artist, and one EP and an album—Surprise and Secret—with her electronic duo Beatrice Melissa. A student of jazz and ’70s folk-pop, and a keen lover of improvisation since her time at the New England Conservatory in Boston, Weikart has always conjured the confessional candor of the singer- songwriter in her music, even as she dispenses her lyrics across rich, shifting, dreamlike tableaux.


On Contact, written and arranged entirely by Weikart (aside from “New angles”), she pushes her sound further than ever before. The album is animated by a pressing need for connection, observing what brings us together and what drives us apart, and the life-saving revelations that emerge along the way. The album’s opener, “Crash,” is a dreamy telephone-hour ode, a message in a bottle, to connections new and old. On the wistful “Mesurer le vent,” Weikart conjures Debussy or Ravel, layering contrasting sounds like an Impressionist painting. The title track begins as a showcase of Weikart’s frank lyricism, a splice-reel of missed connections and wasted time, then glides into a hazy, euphoric galaxy of pleas, circling around her thesis—“I wanted to make contact”—that ushers us into “The Intersection,” a song that recalls her the beginning of her career, when it was just Weikart and her keys. “Appétit.e” is built around a sample of her down-the-hall neighbor’s drumming—another subtle, affecting gesture toward proximity and connection—while pulsating synths reminiscent of Air lend the track an unsteady atmosphere. On the Carpenters-inspired “Expectations,” Weikart muses on the relationship patterns, universal and specific, that have always been a hallmark of her songwriting.

The psychedelic “L’amour de construit” is a slow-motion fall down the rabbit hole, as Weikart
considers the way her own emotions are captured and commodified by the confining ways we think about love. The interlude—“L’amour pt. 2”—finds her near the end of that trip, shouting into the void as a last-ditch effort to rescue herself from the fall. The drums near the end of the interlude warn us that there may be no cushion for, until she is saved, again, by the power of revelation, on the confident, resilient “Not Right”—on which a show-stopping, frenetic conversation between singer and piano is gracefully interrupted by a rush of transcendent strings, lifting her back up.

On solid ground anew, “New angles,” featuring Manu Delta, creates a percussion-less groove that relies on experimental synth sounds. The 11-o’clock stunner “Catching up”—composed in a church—meets the singer in a state of ecstatic confession, bringing her to the formative memory that propels “Bicycle,” the album’s closer. Younger, more wide-eyed, she reflects on her move from Boston to Strasbourg, those early days, when Weikart had no other companion than that loyal hunk of scrap metal that took her to the shores of her own soul. She seems to suggest, on “Bicycle,” that a backward-glance is not always troublesome, not always anxiety-producing, but can be grounding: a reminder of where we come from, so that we can keep moving forward.

2026 Repress


DJ Koze's 2013 album opus Amygdala has continued to bewitch all who encounter it since its release. Tipped as his own personal Sgt. Pepper, the sublime long-player revealed a fully-realised and personal body of work, complete with a classic songwriting at its core, House in its heart, and veins coursing with psychedelic color. La Duquesa' was the album's dreamy single standout, a journey into deep, tropical ecstasy. XTC' begins in the same spirit, and captures the all the blissful allusions of its name, but its initial gentility belies the deep intensity to come. Floating pads glow with celestial ambience as a kick drum is gradually coaxed into solid form, and the introduction of spoken text begins the second act. Many people are experimenting with the drug Ecstasy,' it says, ...is the drug like the lie and meditation the truth Or am I missing something that could really help me". XTC' then transforms: sweetly imploring tones become demanding, gentle gradients between chords turn hard-edged, and sharp hi-hats cut through the haze. Complete with Koze's signature percussive quirks, it drives towards the track's final pay off: an undeniable, all-consuming, irresistible high. Knee On Belly' recalls Koze at his most tongue-in-cheek and overt, it is bright, bold and literally brassy, using cut-up horns of all shapes and sizes to patchwork together his own unique arrangement. With the highs and mid ranges accounted for, Koze adds in a swollen, thrumming bass line to mix to bring this floor-filler to life. Knee on Belly' recalls a raw, filtered and funky approach to groove, with a nod to disco house and the art of artful sampling, as it orbits between its own neon highs and simmering lows.

Ghost Dubs, real name Michael Fiedler, aka Jah Schulz, announces a rebirth with 'Damaged', his first album for The Bug's PRESSURE label..

Having recently dropped two criminally overlooked, experimental dub LPs, with his 'Dub Over Science' series, the German producer/bass specialist, now stretches his own parameters of outwardness still further, with these twelve fresh explorations of dub deviance. For those who feel the fusion of dub techno and ambient drone had creatively ended with the demise of the short lived, Berlin based Chain Reaction label. Ghost Dubs now upgrades, and extends that legendary blueprint's abstract methodology even further and deeper, floating away upon a wonderfully warm sea of hiss and static bliss. This is dub so atomized that it disintegrates within your eardrums. Its music, where the machines take over and virtually all traces of humanity are erased. But thankfully, the warmest soul still oozes seductively from the pores of Fiedler's robo riddims. Relentlessly hypnotic, seriously sedated, 'Damaged' celebrates the point of departure within it's mesmerising low end grooves. Album opener 'Chemical', provides an opiated slo-mo skank, which sounds like Plastikman's 'Consumed' era pulsations drenched heavily in sub aquatic fx. A triumph of surface noise surfing and sub woofer testing relentlessness, it provides the perfect intro to this compellingly immersive album. For batty shakers and headtrippers alike, there's added thrills aplenty, as Ghost Dub's richter scale tremor rhythms remain impressively massive, and the atmospheric depths of 'Damaged' appear tantalisingly oceanic. Throughout the duration of the dreamy selection, there is an obsessive balance of bewitching ambience and heavyweight bassbin shaking. The lead single 'Thin Line' itself provides a missing link between African Headcharge's early percussive body probes and Rhythm & Sound's addictive radiance, with the slightest hint of Burial's doomed romantic hauntology added for good taste. Alternately, and no less gracefully, 'Dub Lobotomy' bizarrely resembles Miles Davis 'Get Up with it' chopped, screwed, and relocated to a futuristic Kingston Town. Impressive indeed, Fiedler's mastery of live dubbing on his mixing desk shines accross the duration, and gives the album an improvised edge, and sense of peripheral chaos. Elsewhere, spooked steppars('Hot Wired'), haunting house ('True to life') and 4th World psychogeography('Undone'), combine to ensure there is a forever changing mixture of flavours percolating within the admirable consistancy of the overall sound.

With a tip of the cap, and nod of the head to Pole('Second Thoughts'), its no surprise then that PRESSURE would then turn to the great, Berlin based producer Stefan Betke, to master/cut this collection at his infamous Scape mastering room. And a fine job he did too, as high quality sound and levels are definitely maintained throughout.

If you like your melodies submerged, your dub narcotic, your basslines obese, and your beats evaporating, 'Damaged' provides the perfect prescription and entry point into Ghost Dub's spectral soundworld.

2026 Repress
Temudo - Meteora (FUSE06) by Noah Hocker

A leader of the Portuguese wave in techno co-founding Hayes Collective while boasting acclaimed releases on Klockworks, Blueprint, and Soma, Temudo grabs the reins to take club music back to its days of audacity and risk taking. A more than promising up-and-comer turned modern reference, Temudo defends his reputation with a release showcasing depth in his various sonic universes and a deep understanding of his music's history. For its seventh release, Temudo's 'Meteora' is a logical next step for the club's direction - a sweet spot between dancefloor efficiency and enduring aesthetic.

Combining the intrigue of mental soundscapes with the reliability of imposing rhythm, 'Meteora' finds itself collected, expressing effect through restraint. The title track, claiming the EP's A1, is just that - a force of interweaving sound design and powerful micro transitions. Some believe the best techno records are able to express emotion and attitude despite its dissonant and machinelike nature; if that's the case then Temudo has mastered the craft. 'When I Grow Up', however, puts the focus back on the body. What sounds like warbling tape modulation over a percussive lead makes this record an addictively delirious ride from start to finish, fitting in with the track before while shifting to different priorities. Proving his versatility, 'Vrthng' at first seems reminiscent of the minimal Berlin style with a higher pace, but quickly progresses into something intensely euphoric. With experience and measure, an out of the box approach can really pay off, and the added emotion in 'Vrthng' is certainly a turning point in the EP. This mindset is clearly carried over in the project's conclusion : 'It's Always Past'. A surprising use of harmony and storytelling, this final chapter ends with Temudo sealing his style with confidence. The track is mystified by its chords, ending 'Meteora' with a question mark that leaves us in anticipation for what Temudo dares to do next.

2026 Repress

Multi-faceted artist Calibre today shares his sixteenth studio album "Feeling Normal". The album is out now to pre-order on Vinyl, CD and on digital platforms via his own independent imprint Signature Recordings.

The record is his first bonafide 140bpm record and a staggering body of work that shows the genius levels of one of electronic music's most respected auteurs. Across the 13 tracks, he transcends through space and time, creating music that will take the listener on a weighty sonic journey. The album announcement is accompanied by two dub versions "Bad" and "Badder" deconstructed from the track "Badman" with DRS from Mark Ernestus available via his Hardwax store January 29th and Bandcamp February 12th. "Getting to work with Mark Ernestus is a real honour, I collected Basic Channel, Rhythm & Sound and his other work for many years and still do. It's hard to avoid the influence of this guy in electronic music across genres and so it is a real pleasure to have him do his thing with the Badman tune which I think sounds closely related."

All of the tracks on the record have been road-tested in Calibre's DJ sets over the last 2/3 years with many of them being sought-out by his hardcore fans. It was only a matter of time then that he put them out for all to consume. With a nod to the dancefloor, the clear idea for the album came about following the release of his most personal album to date "Planet Hearth". "It still works in the headspace but ultimately it's been written for the sweaty club experience we miss now, also after an album like Planet Hearth it felt very liberating to do," he remarks. When writing albums, he often just puts it down to the general chaos of life, not citing any one influence but generally just waits to see what comes. With one of the tracks on the album written 7 years ago on the island of Valentia, It became a project that he spent the intervening years collecting tracks for, not really knowing when he was going to put it together as an album. "The whole album is special to me, everything on there has import and meaning beyond for me, I have spent much time on all these and hope they are special for other people too."

Belfast-born, Berlin-based Calibre - AKA Dominick Martin - shows no sign of slowing down. As a producer, DJ, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and painter, he is one of the most unique and inspiring living artists. With a career spanning two decades, his ability to remain underground whilst being one of the most-respected is testament to who this enigmatic artist is. To this day, he has never been remixed and has a seriously impressive amount of unreleased music under wraps. With everything on hold and gigs on the backburner, this record is exactly what the world needs right now.

Ma Ze Music is just seven releases deep but is already overdelivering on expectations. This latest offering is a second from Yanuka, which is the solo project of acclaimed keyboardist, composer and producer Tomer Zuk. Here he hooks up with Elran Dekel on 'Where Is My Love' for a gently psyched-out and global soul and downtempo fusion that pairs textured guitar riffs with cartoon boings, conscious vocal musings and a blend of romantic and heart-aching moods. It's warm and intimate and then Ma Ze's regulars UV & Nenor take care of the flip with 'Where Is The Dub' which strips the original to a hazy, slow-motion dub.

Function has long since cemented his legacy in the underground world but it's always worth reminding yourself where an artist's story began. In David Summer's case, that's with this EP, which dropped on Damon Wild's Synewave, who now reissue it in full, 30 years on. It's an impressively fully-formed sound for a debut: 'F1' is a jacked-up techno rhythm with a fat bassline and frazzled synths that bring it to life. 'F2' is a more experimental and beatless piece with modular pulses, echoing frequencies and decaying sine waves then 'F3 rides a dreamy dub rhythm that undulates gently amid some gorgeous sustained pads that recall Thebes of Detroit. 'F4' comes with more Millsian-style minimal that fires up your brain.

You know the pattern: someone calls their album "Balearic," and you immediately expect chill-out terraces, pan-flute samples, and the umpteenth return of the Café del Mar sunset. Devi G. refuses this reflex almost maliciously. The title is a trick—an invitation to disappointment for those hoping for postcard exoticism. What is actually being negotiated here is erosion, but that of the body itself: the abrasion one inflicts upon oneself in the excess of the night, when partying turns into wear and tear, and a rush becomes a graze that only becomes visible in the morning. No backdrop, then, but a wound one has voluntarily acquired.

Instead of the usual Ibiza xylophones, Devi G. digs into the rift between idyll and wear. The result reads like a séance—less José Padilla, more as if Kevin Martin had re-recorded a Manuel Göttsching record on a dying four-track deck. The target area lies somewhere between the waterlogged ambient sketches of Huerco S. and the faded dub-afterglow of Actress, but Devi G. remains consistently on his own, grainier frequency.

Balearic Abrasions (title track) opens without haste, demanding almost without impatience: no motif, no rhythmic handhold, just a slowly tilting balance between warm texture and rough surface. The grain never feels forced—it is not a lo-fi costume, but an integral part of the statics themselves. Where other ambient producers strive for perfection, Devi G. consciously seeks the breaking point. Rhythm remains a tool, never an ambition. Those expecting quick resolution will be disappointed; those willing to listen will receive a depth effect that is rarely this vivid.

Exit Through Thee Gift Shop tips into harder territory: dub-techno reduction meets industrial edge, carried by a stoic kick drum that knows no mercy. Metallic textures slice through the sub-bass, while repetitive chords hypnotize like a defective loop. Central to this is a rare Terence McKenna recording, which functions less as spoken-word ornamentation and more as a disruptive spirit between memory and media archaeology. The title—Banksy reference included—turns this into a biting punchline: radical electronic abstraction positioned against the hyper-commercialized art world.

Morning Depth pushes the claustrophobia further, somewhere between post-industrial and deep-sea dub. The track refuses any peak-time logic, preferring to disintegrate into itself, subcutaneously, methodically. At the end, a casual, almost banal vocal sample (“i defiantly prefer chocolate”) breaks into the cool machinery—a small, profane fissure that makes the coldness of the rest of the piece all the more apparent.

Desiré Algorithmic is the album's most calculated moment: a stoic, repetitive bassline as a foundation, topped with fragile melody fragments that flash like glitches in faulty code. The title reads like a promise from nightlife—a figure that suggests much and delivers nothing, because behind the façade there is simply nothing, only simulation. The track carries exactly this principle: promise without substance, desire without body, just rendering. Only in the final third does a melancholic saxophone break into the sterile structure—organic, imperfect, and for that very reason more credible than everything before it. It is the moment in which the real briefly flashes through the surface of the dummy before it closes again.

All-inclusive Residue concludes the album as sedimentation rather than dramaturgy: dub-techno remnants, industrial patina, salty ambient surfaces that settle rather than compose. The refusal of consumption as a sonic principle—brittle, stubborn, with a gravity that lingers long after.

Verdict: Balearic Abrasions is not easy listening with a sea view, but an exercise in patience and friction. The restraint with which Devi G. avoids climaxes will frustrate some—for everyone else, that is exactly where the record's strength lies. No sunset. Rather, what remains on the rocks afterward.

In the early ‘10’s the WPH Summer Special was a yearly tradition: a stamped vinyl only releases featuring lost tracks, one-off collabs, dreaded digital only gems, etc. Some summer specials were so hot we released them in the winter to battle the cold…

Guess what? It’s back! Four killer tracks on one slice of vinyl. Satoshi Fumi remixing Ian O’Donovan to devastating Detroit-styled effect, Red D taking things deep with some dreamy deep house magic, Fabrice Lig going from ‘Border 2 Border’ on vinyl with Red D & Lady Linn and then Uit De Hoogte teaming up with Lefto for an oldskool house jam that will only be available on this release.

If this doesn’t get your heat up…

Ame: Thanks for ‘Border 2 Border’

Frankey & Sandrino: Great music in here, thanks!

Ben Sims: Ian O’Donovan one…asap!

Axel Boman: The dancefloor is open indeed.

Terre Theamlitz: Thank you for ‘Sweet Synthie Pauline’.

Simon Caldwell: Lovely E.P. of reminiscence!

Satoshi Fumi: Cool pack J

Red Rack’em: Love the Satoshi Fumi remix.

Severino Panzetta: Grooovy!

Jimpster: I can imagine the Ian O’Donovan working nicely. Classy stuff!

Harri Subclub: Play and support from me.

Massimiliano Pagliara: Great tunes!

French producer Yse Saint Laur'ant is exactly the sort of artist you want to hear from as the sun begins to shine more often. He's a master of escapist, beauty, classy grooves that marry disco and Balearic into pure magic. 'Space Ride' does that on a bubbly groove with a cosmic edge and 'Saint Tropez' brings loose-limbed funk and boho percussion to a Provencal sound. 'Monaco' is bathed in sunlight and made all the more classy with some gorgeous stings and mellifluous chord work then 'Esplanade' shuts down with a dubby, flute-led sound with a whimsical charm. Twenty First release on the much sought after Vinyl Only label.

Dark Entries helps Suzanne Ciani come out of the closet as Steve! Legendary composer, sound designer, and Buchla maestra Suzanne Ciani has a staggering list of accolades and accomplishments, from scoring Hollywood films to releasing influential new age records to literally designing the Coca-Cola bottle-opening sound. In the late 70s/early 80s, Ciani, while living in New York, acquired an Eventide H 949 harmonizer, which offered high fidelity pitch-shifting. In her words, “When I adjusted the pitch of my voice to 0.80, my natural voice became re-invented as what was clearly a gay man, who I called Steve. I became Steve; and Steve expressed himself as only he could.” Ciani adopted the male persona and collaborated with Peter Baumann of Tangerine Dream on “Steve Goes to a Party.” The track features Ciani-as-Steve adlibbing in decadent and delirious fashion alongside Baumann’s robotically funky beats. Steve would emerge again a few years later at George Louvis’s Stardust Studios in New Jersey, to create “Steve Saves the World,” an absurdist and ecstatic proto-house groover complete with a gospel-esque chorus from the Stardust All-Stars. This EP is rounded out by a birthday wish to Ciani’s then-boyfriend Alfred on “Steve Happy Birthday Wishes” featuring Suzanne. Steve’s Out of the Closet perfectly captures the delirious techno-poptimism of the 1980s downtown avant-garde, with parallels in Robert Ashley’s Perfect Lives or Lynn Goldsmith’s project Will Powers, responsible for the track “Adventures in Success.” The Steve sleeve was designed by Eloise Shir-Juen Leigh, and the record also includes a birthday card with liner notes from Ciani.

Cold, Bold & Together (CBT) CBT was founded in Bellingham, Washington in 1971 by percussionist Tony Gable and musicians Solomon Harris, Keith Hooks and twin brothers TC & Jamar Jenkins. It soon became evident that Bellingham was not a particularly welcoming environment for R&B music, so they moved to Seattle to try their luck and plumb the rich supply of venues, which they successfully did until disbanding in 1978. They spent their early Seattle years playing a combination of covers and originals in clubs, later becoming the "go to" opening act for various nationally known artists, such as Ohio Players, Kool and the Gang and Earth, Wind & Fire. While they were paying their club circuit and opening act dues, they squeezed in recording sessions whenever they could and released their own material, which was well-received and got strong regional airplay. However, because of the feudal nature of the music business at the time, they just couldn't break out, and like a lot of Northwest bands with great potential, they inevitably broke up and went their separate ways. Upon disbanding, they left behind a collection of original recordings at Seattle's legendary Kaye-Smith studios.

Unfortunately for CBT, the studio passed through several owners and at some unknown point in time, one of them did the unforgivable and destroyed the storied studio inventory of two-inch tapes and quarter-inch masters. Unknown to the band, a copy of their masters was smuggled out by their producer who added them to his legacy collection of cloned quarter-inch masters. After several years and many moves, he became concerned about the tendency for magnetic tape to deteriorate over time.

He sent the tapes to a Seattle lab to be restored and digitized, with the hope that perhaps, some day, they might be made available for the listening pleasure of R&B fans. The hoped-for day has finally arrived. Russell Paine and Super Disco Edits has pressed two of the Kaye-Smith CBT tracks: "Go For It", a jazz-influenced instrumental, featuring Kenny G, and "Unity", sung by the group en masse with Tony Gable singing lead. The musicians on these tracks are: Tony Gable, leader, vocals and percussion Harry Alexander, drums Kenny Gorelick (now world-renowned "Kenny G"), sax, flute and horn arrangements Chris Ishi, trumpet Michael Young, Trombone Jamar Jenkins guitar, vocals TC Jenkins bass, vocals 1 Philip Woo, keyboards Footnotes: CBT gave legendary saxophonist Kenny G his start in the music business. Kenny was still in high school when he was recruited to play sax and write horn arrangements. Kenny co-wrote, arranged and played sax and flute on the instrumental "Go For It." He rips a smoking tenor sax solo in the middle, which showcases his already masterful technique and solidifies his R&B bona fides. He went on to have a spectacular career recording for Clive Davis and Arista Records. Before his untimely passing in 2016, Tony Gable went on to found contemporary Jazz group, "Tony Gable and 206" (206 being Seattle's then only area code). With songwriting, performance and production help from Kenny G.

Culoe De Song brings ancestral rhythm to his Crosstown Rebels debut EP, ‘Moonhound’.

The Afro house veteran delivers a three-track excursion, featuring remixes from Manoo. One of South Africa’s most storied house exports, Culoe De Song, lands on Crosstown Rebels for the first time with ‘Moonhound’, a three-track EP fusing organic, electronic textures around a minimal core. His take on deep, Afro-house has carried him from a breakout year in 2008 to an acclaimed run of albums via labels including Innervisions, Mule Musiq and his own De Song Music. With a career spanning more than fi fteen years, he has shared line-ups with the likes of Black Coff ee, Seth Troxler, Louie Vega, Carl Craig, Âme, and, in particular, label boss Damian Lazarus, at some of the world’s most renowned festivals and venues. His arrival this August feels like a natural convergence of two paths that have long run in parallel, less like a debut and more like an overdue reunion that channels percussive rhythms into a stripped-back, hypnotic core.

Title track ‘Moonhound’ eases in slowly, layering organic textures over brooding rhythms as whimsical, drifting elements and soft synth lines pull it into a steady ebb and fl ow. ‘The Spiker’ follows, driven by a punchy bassline and animalistic vocal calls and chants, before crisp percussion builds and breaks down into panning melodies for a blissful close. With releases on MoBlack, Classic Music Company and Deeply Rooted, French house mainstay Manoo brings his instinct for groove to ‘The Spiker’, with his ‘Abstrakt Remix’ showcasing a hypnotic rework that stretches the original’s key elements into a tone-setter for the evening ahead. He then doubles up via his ‘Club Remix’, a digital-only addition that trades the ‘Abstrakt’ interpretation’s slow build for echoing synths and syncopated rhythms, bringing a heads-down, functional cut built squarely for the club.

A.P. and Rowland The Bastard provide 2 tough warehouse techno tracks each for the iconic Cluster label. A.P. gets slightly funky on City Fever but then pounds hard on You Are What You Are, whilst Rowland delivers sinister grooves on Barabas, and more straight ahead dynamic power on Overlab Sub Stab.

NIX doesn’t do compilations very often. They’d rather focus on artist EPs. But every now and then a track comes along that deserves to be released, even if it doesn’t quite belong anywhere else.

NIXW006 brings together a handful of those tracks - some of their favourites, finally finding their place.

“Cue Blue”, the latest and fifth studio recording from Australian down under, gritty jazzfunk grooves ensemble Kerbside Collection sees a return to a more classic, stripped back, meat-and-potatoes, home-cooked, quartet formation sound of guitar, bass, drums and brass.


A sound formed on previous, recent recordings (incl. Golden Rules compilation tune “Fleet Streak” etc), seemingly harking back to the approach of the group’s first recordings (2013’s “Mind The Curb”, “Night in Tunisia” etc), whilst embodying inspirations from more ‘true school’, classic, bluesy New Orleans funk and soul groove flavours à la early Meters, Boogaloo Joe Jones, Melvin Sparks, Billy Butler etc. But it’s not all completely ‘retro’ and ‘looking back’, the album definitely taps into some of the current exponents and leaders of the contemporary deep funk sound – The Greyboy Allstars, Eddie Roberts, The New Mastersounds, The Mighty Mocambos, Breakestra and fellow Aussie funksters Cookin’ on 3 Burners, Lance Ferguson and The Bamboos etc.


The lead single and first tune “Shivers” gives us a clear, picture and definitive opening statement to the record with all the characteristics you’ve come to expect from the Kerbside gritty jazzfunk sound: silky guitar line phrasing, rubbery bass-lines, tight crusty drum breaks, and sweet brass arrangements. Then it’s straight into a frenetic, jangly, mod-funk workout complete with Northern Soul & Motown inflections in the surging B sections. “City Park Avenue” conjures up classic New Orleans funk flavours with its strutting brass, slinky guitar and swinging tambourine groove. There’s classic, b-boy funk territory covered in “Coffee Grinder” (a breakdance move) with its razor-sharp drum break groove and chunky riff complete with sizzling trombone solo. Before the pace of the record changes up with the finger-clicken’, hand-clappin’ boogaloo, reminiscent of early 60s Harlem x Puerto Rican Bronx sounds (à la Willie Bobo, Mongo Santamaria, Ray Barretto) loaded with a scintillating baritone sax solo from long standing part of the collection ‘Papa Joe’ Roberts.


“Sittin’ On The Porch” cools the temperature down even more, delving into slight Southern Louisiana Delta blues territory, while suggesting some of the hot and muggy atmosphere and imagery of their home town location in suburban Brisbane Australia, complete with kooky Casio percussion representing familiar yard sounds such as sprinklers (spinning lawn watering devices) and ‘mozzies’ (mosquitos), passing cars indicated by trombone, and guitarist TC Tyler, channelling some bluesy John Lee Hooker, R.L. Burnside guitar flavours - you can almost feel the humidity on your skin.


Then it’s time for a stroll down memory lane, with their version of a People Under The Stairs hip hop classic “San Francisco Knights”, bringing the tune full circle back into band mode, also with another tasty guitar solo. The album then enters its final stages with a mesmerising, soulful, jazz ballad “Shimmer”, complete with Elliott Parker’s sultry upright double bass, and trombone taking the melody for a gentle stroll down the street. The album finally closes and arrives at its title “Cue Blue”, a classic blue-eyed soul number (penned by bassist Parker), emitting the scent of true school, vintage R&B and soul (à la Donny Hathaway, Marvin Gaye).


An album of funky arrangements and refined compositions, mostly penned by recent new-ish member, guitarist Tyler (for fans of Tower of Power & John Scofield guitar playing) taking the ensemble through their paces with all the usual characteristics of the Kerbside sound, on top a groove that will take you round-the-block-and-back :P Gritty jazzfunk and rustic soul grooves with definite bluesy overtones, some classic 60s, 70s flourishes and down-home funk flavours.

The word classic is a much overused one, but in the case of this much in demand 1999 four tracker, it's no exaggeration. There has been much conjecture over the years over the identity of the producer - or producers - behind the mysterious Clint Foster name, but our lips are sealed, we ain't no grasses. All we will say if you like your techno seriously laced with acid, tough and sinewy but equally funky then then you'll love this. Opener 'Indium' is pinned down by machinefunk handclaps, a gloopy bassline and a synth line that coasts pretty majetsically. 'Patterns' is faster, harder and dubbier, not a million miles in its rhythmic shuffle from Carl Craig's 'My Machines', while 'Throughway' is the truly hypnotic one, big on the atmospheric scale. 'Afterdark' closes things, airy synths swelling and hovering over an addictively chunky beat. No names, no packdrill, just four essentially fantastic bits of classsy techno that haven't dated in all the years since. Essential.

The seminal psych-rock classic The Evil One by Roky Erickson And The Aliens is reissued by Fire Records in a deluxe 15-track edition, restoring the original front cover from San Francisco’s 415 Records release for the first time since 1981. Presented across two LPs cut at 45 rpm for maximum sonic depth and clarity, the release brings together the complete recordings from the legendary 1978 and 1979 sessions. The package includes a collector’s booklet with liner notes by acclaimed Austin music journalist Joe Nick Patoski, who attended a recording session for The Evil One in 1979. Alongside rare photographs and archival images from the collection of Roky’s then manager, Craig Luckin.

Following his release from Rusk State Hospital in 1974, Erickson formed The Aliens and channelled his experiences and fascination with horror and science fiction into a singular new sound. Moving beyond the psychedelic garage blues of the 13th Floor Elevators, the band created harder, more ferocious rock built around jagged guitars, strange melodies and a propulsive rhythm section.

Produced by Creedence Clearwater Revival bassist Stu Cook, The Evil One includes some of Erickson’s most celebrated recordings, including ‘Two Headed Dog’, ‘I Walked With A Zombie’ and ‘It’s A Cold Night For Alligators’. Erickson’s unmistakable voice and surreal lyrics, populated by zombies, demons, vampires and atomic monsters, gave the album a character unlike anything else in rock. Both the LP and CD editions feature rare photographs and images from the archive of Erickson’s then manager and the sessions’ executive producer, Craig Luckin.

The Evil One has since become a landmark of cult rock, with its songs covered by generations of artists and its influence extending across punk, alternative and psychedelic music. As Craig Luckin recalls, “Roky considers The Evil One to be his favourite album that he ever recorded. He really loves that album.”

Austin music journalist Joe Nick Patoski, who attended one of the album’s 1979 sessions, contributes a new essay to the LP and CD packaging, exploring Erickson’s extraordinary career, enduring influence and place in Texas rock history.

More than a standalone reissue, this deluxe edition of The Evil One opens an exciting new series honouring Roky Erickson’s extraordinary body of work, with Gremlins Have Pictures and Don’t Slander Me to follow in 2027.

The seminal psych-rock classic The Evil One by Roky Erickson And The Aliens is reissued by Fire Records in a deluxe 15-track edition, restoring the original front cover from San Francisco’s 415 Records release for the first time since 1981. Presented across two LPs cut at 45 rpm for maximum sonic depth and clarity, the release brings together the complete recordings from the legendary 1978 and 1979 sessions. The package includes a collector’s booklet with liner notes by acclaimed Austin music journalist Joe Nick Patoski, who attended a recording session for The Evil One in 1979. Alongside rare photographs and archival images from the collection of Roky’s then manager, Craig Luckin.

Following his release from Rusk State Hospital in 1974, Erickson formed The Aliens and channelled his experiences and fascination with horror and science fiction into a singular new sound. Moving beyond the psychedelic garage blues of the 13th Floor Elevators, the band created harder, more ferocious rock built around jagged guitars, strange melodies and a propulsive rhythm section.

Produced by Creedence Clearwater Revival bassist Stu Cook, The Evil One includes some of Erickson’s most celebrated recordings, including ‘Two Headed Dog’, ‘I Walked With A Zombie’ and ‘It’s A Cold Night For Alligators’. Erickson’s unmistakable voice and surreal lyrics, populated by zombies, demons, vampires and atomic monsters, gave the album a character unlike anything else in rock. Both the LP and CD editions feature rare photographs and images from the archive of Erickson’s then manager and the sessions’ executive producer, Craig Luckin.

The Evil One has since become a landmark of cult rock, with its songs covered by generations of artists and its influence extending across punk, alternative and psychedelic music. As Craig Luckin recalls, “Roky considers The Evil One to be his favourite album that he ever recorded. He really loves that album.”

Austin music journalist Joe Nick Patoski, who attended one of the album’s 1979 sessions, contributes a new essay to the LP and CD packaging, exploring Erickson’s extraordinary career, enduring influence and place in Texas rock history.

More than a standalone reissue, this deluxe edition of The Evil One opens an exciting new series honouring Roky Erickson’s extraordinary body of work, with Gremlins Have Pictures and Don’t Slander Me to follow in 2027.

This is the sound of dream Texas, the cinematic Texas conjured in film and 20th century literary and art myth… big dark blueing horizons swallowing the infinite distance, a lonely poetry of sound, but also a stock taker of the iconoclastic, psychedelic, art rebel side of Texas… the cracked rock music side of Texas, the avant-garde in concrete cracks, the recklessly used, mind expanding drugs Texas, the dripping eastern swamps, the Houston house parties with the sounds of records blasting down the block and becoming musique concrète in the hot summer night.

Chrome Chasm’s debut album Interpreter is ambient, minimal in feel, maximal in texture, beautifully disorienting, vastly spacious— until it isn’t. It's a naturalistic shapeshifter, taking majestic form in the aforementioned elements and then dissolving back to raw genetic material to form anew. Spiritual jazz overtones, pedal steel moans and buzzing, noisy ambient visions are upended by grey-folded psychedelic unveilings. Interpreter’s three expansive tracks present a most detailed performance by its three deft musicians and the outcome often feels like a gorgeous collage in real-time.

Chrome Chasm was formed in 2024 by three of Houston’s brightest underground stars: Mlee Marie (Hearts Of Animals) on alto saxophone, flute and voice (whose long-form experimental sax performances helped inspire the formation of the band), Will Adams (Lower Dens/ Ka-Nives) on pedal steel, synth, percussion and voice, and Tom Carter on guitar. Carter has been casting a long shadow over Texas psychedelia and American underground music for over 3 decades, most notably with the Houston based Charalambides, a powerful creative force of the pre-new weird America era of experimental and avant psychedelic music, and most notably since with his solo guitar magnum opus Long Time Underground (which was deemed among the best experimental albums of 2015 by Pitchfork).

Interpreter’s opening track “The Star,” recorded almost completely live in one room and one take, is a 16-minute manifesto on ‘Dream Noir.’ An astute scholar of cross-genre connectivity and the through-lines of kosmische and spiritual-leaning sonic realms can hear echoes of Cluster, the skronk and beauty of Rahsaan Roland Kirk, and the architectural ambient flow of Harold Budd and Philip Glass in the tidal lapping of distorted guitar, mantra-like saxophone and pedal steel flow. From its deconstructed, pastoral opening moments to its proto-electronic center that crests into a bombastic polytonal climax, Chrome Chasm never neglect narrative arc for experimentation and avant technique. In fact, as a group, they effortlessly control, open, fill and contract space in abeyance to emotional vibration. “The Star,” and indeed the album as a whole, feels more like a communion or extended poem, in direct communication with the listener, than it does a ‘captured experience.’

Across the three longform tracks of Interpreter, Chrome Chasm conducts a masterclass in fusing real time performance energy with an abstract, cut-up master’s reimagining of the literal. They demand the listener meet their music with dream logic and then, like the best dream peddlers, they present a labyrinth to fall into and experience, a place where explanation and conclusion become obsolete, and engagement and immersion become sublime.

Spain's celebrated deep house outlet Mate comes correct again here with an EP that deals in rich musicality and mature emotions. HITTO aka Alberto Alba is the Mallorcan producer behind the music and his childhood love of jazz really shines through. Opener 'Beyond Words' has singing synths that speak to the soul with lovely ambient chords. Then, 'Take Me Away' brings groovy percussion and cosmic synth transmissions that make it feel all the more profound. Glenn Underground is the perfect remixer to dial up the sunshine with his astral rework of 'Beyond Words' before 'Swish' shuts down with a mix of smeared chords that radiate sun over a grittier bassline. Four accomplished cuts.

Ian Pooley's 'Roller Skate Disco EP' Returns with Digital Debut and Vinyl Repress

Definitive Recordings brings back one of the label's early house gems with a remastered reissue of Ian Pooley's 'Roller Skate Disco EP'. Originally released in 1994, the EP returns for the first time as a digital release while also receiving a new vinyl repress. Alongside the original material, the reissue expands the package with the previously unreleased track 'Unity' and the Bandcamp-exclusive 'Never Give Up'.

For more than three decades, Ian Pooley has been one of house music's most respected producers and DJs. Emerging from Mainz, Germany, with a deep love for the sounds of Chicago and Detroit, he has built a career defined by subtle artistry, impeccable groove, and timeless musicality. His acclaimed albums 'Meridian' and 'Since Then', remixes for artists including Daft Punk and Jovonn, and releases on labels such as Plus 8, Innervisions, Rekids, and his own Pooledmusic have established him as one of the true masters of deep and soulful house music.

The title track, 'Roller Skate Disco', immediately captures the uplifting spirit of classic 90s house. Built around an infectious disco-inspired sample, funky guitar loops, and a warm, rolling house bassline, the track is complemented by a looping female vocal that gives it an unmistakable feel-good energy. 'Sure!' follows with a groove driven by crisp TR-909 drums, deep synth chords, and a playful TB-303 sequence, while a repeated female vocal ties the arrangement together into a hypnotic club workout.

'The Brückenkopf at 7 AM', named after the legendary club in Pooley's hometown of Mainz, moves into deeper territory. Dreamlike synth textures, a memorable deep house piano motif, and another signature 303 sequence combine to create one of the EP's most atmospheric moments. The previously unreleased 'Unity' continues this journey with a hypnotic groove, deep house aesthetics, and another beautifully woven acid line, making it a natural addition to the original release. Completing the digital edition, 'Never Give Up' arrives as a Bandcamp exclusive, pairing playful M1 organ sounds with a rolling 303 sequence and an effortlessly flowing house groove.

More than thirty years after its original release, 'Roller Skate Disco EP' remains a perfect snapshot of Ian Pooley's early sound and a testament to the timeless appeal of classic house music. This expanded edition celebrates one of Definitive Recordings' defining releases while introducing it to a new generation of listeners.

For Luca, Cuylan’s new album of elegant modern classical, globally informed folk and gentle electronic music, is in part a tribute to his dearly departed dog. Luca came into Cuylan’s life like a key unlocking a door, leading to experiences and experiments simultaneously new and familiar. Back then the Turkish-born musician was living in LA with his wife, leading a busy creative life, writing and recording scores for films and Netflix series, and suddenly with the adoption of Luca here’s this bouncy, furry being demanding constant attention. Cuylan accepted the responsibility like a father welcoming a child. He grew closer to his wife. He started psychoanalysis. He returned to acoustic guitar, his original instrument, waylaid for 20 years in favor of synthesizers and electronics, pulsing post-rock and skittering jazz. Luca was there in the studio when Cuylan recorded his first solo album, 2021’s No Such Thing As Free Will, which The Guardian said “seems to invent new languages for the guitar.” Without a doubt, Luca the dog made Deniz the musician more expressive and more vulnerable. Better at his craft. Better at his humanity. Luca was just five years old when bone cancer struck. He exited far too quickly, a comet of joy passing into the dark, unfathomable universe. Cuylan found his absence very hard to process–he was just right here! It took a couple years, but inevitably Luca, the catalyst for Cuylan’s current chapter, inspired new artistry after his death–from Cuylan, and from a host of collaborators from around the world who contributed to For Luca. All of them share an abiding compassion for the more-than-human creatures with whom we share this planet–dogs, cats, whales, ants, trees. The entire menagerie, humankind’s kindred. The album is a collective meditation on–and celebration of–their immeasurable essence. It was born not from despair but from a transcendent love that burns all the brighter for its brevity.