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Small Great Things / Small Great Beats returns with a shiny yellow vinyl by Quadrakey - the Summer Vibes EP.

With SGB003, Small Great Things delivers a warm and groove-driven vinyl release from Quadrakey, featuring four carefully crafted cuts designed for both late-night dancefloors and sun-soaked daytime sessions.

The EP opens with A1 Good For You, bringing uplifting, feel-good house energy driven by a steady groove, playful details, and a warm bassline that instantly sets a positive tone on the floor. A2 Feel Alone follows on a deeper and more emotional tip, exploring hypnotic rhythms and moody atmospheres, perfectly suited for intimate club moments and late-night transitions.

Flipping to the B-side, B1 Dancing With You delivers a smooth and infectious flow built around rolling rhythms and subtle melodic touches, balancing elegance with dancefloor functionality. Closing the record, B2 Summer Vibes lives up to its name with sunny chords, relaxed grooves, and an effortless open-air feel, ideal for daytime sessions and sunset sets.

From hypnotic grooves to feel-good summer moods, SGB003 showcases a refined and confident production style, staying true to the Small Great Things philosophy: quality music, pressed on vinyl, made for DJs who value depth, groove, and longevity over short-lived trends.

A solid addition to any record bag, SGB003 captures the essence of modern house music with a classic touch, simple, honest, and effective.

Riva Starr returns to Rekids with the ‘Shine A Light’ EP

The Snatch! Records boss follows up 2022’s appearance on the label with Mark Broom as Star B.

Italian producer and DJ Riva Starr returns to Rekids with the ‘Shine A Light’ EP, arriving 27th March 2026. It marks his solo debut for Radio Slave’s flagship label, succeeding his ‘Love Will Remain’ EP together with Mark Broom as Star B in 2022. Active for more than two decades, Starr has been a consistent force within House music, known for building infectious loops, weighty basslines, and hook-led vocals into timeless club records. His catalogue spans his own Snatch! Records alongside labels such as Hot Creations, Cajual, Crosstown Rebels, and Factory 93, with releases regularly topping digital charts.

Riva Starr’s ‘Shine A Light’ EP starts with 'Can't Stop The Feeling’, setting the tone with a bold, elastic House groove, driven by funky bass, smart filter work, and diva-style vocal stabs designed to lift the room. ‘Shine A Light (On Me)’ follows with even greater impact, pairing wall-rattling drums with belting vocals that bring gospel intensity to a hands-in-the-air anthem. ‘Tryin’’ digs deeper, keeping the pressure on with a sleazier bassline underpinning male vocal cries and smooth choral touches built for peak-time reactions. Closing things out, ‘Can’t Stop The Feeling (Beat-A-Pella)’ strips the groove back, rounding off a high-impact, emotionally charged EP of modern house craftsmanship.

It’s 5 AM, the world is still quiet as dawn begins to rise. While most are asleep, a few of us are in the final stretch, finishing last edits or easing into the day, surrounded by scattered notes in the living room with a sleepy cat nearby.

5 AM Study Session is a tribute to the early risers and the night owls. This collection of 34 tracks carries early-morning focus and momentum, guiding you through the quiet and setting the tone for the day ahead. Sunlight slowly peeks in as the melodies play, creating a soundtrack for productivity and peace.

The physical edition captures the warmth of a fresh cup of coffee: pressed on double "Morning Latte" marble vinyl, the swirling beige and brown tones mirror the cozy, studious atmosphere of the artwork. A tangible reminder that the best work often happens when the world is still.

Slip on your headphones, pour a hot drink, and let the sunrise guide your workflow.

Al Wahem (“The Illusion”) is the new full-length release by PRAED, the Swiss–Lebanese duo of Raed Yassin and Paed Conca. Recorded between Beirut and Berlin, the album returns to the group’s central aesthetic: a rhythm-driven weave of Egyptian shaabi, electronics, improvisation and the gritty pulse of street-level sound. Nearly twenty years into the project, PRAED have distilled their approach into four pieces that subtly shift the listener’s bearings, reordering grooves and fragments until familiar elements take on new identities.
The twenty-minute title track sets the tone. A tightly interlocking two-drum foundation from Pascal Semerdjian and Ayman Zebdawi shapes a structure that expands steadily: synth figures branch outward, clarinet and bass lines act as internal guideposts, and brief vocal calls from Yassin and guest singer Mayssa Jallad sit inside the texture rather than leading it. PRAED’s shaabi keyboard language is present, but the duo stretch it outward, building tension and movement through patient accumulation.

“Al Hathayan,” at 4:46, tightens the focus. Conca’s clarinet moves between melodic arcs and clipped rhythmic gestures, threading through electronic loops that surface and disappear. Zebdawi’s percussion adds a raw, tactile quality, placing acoustic patterns and electronics in direct conversation. The piece acts as a bridge between the album’s two long-form compositions.
Side B begins with “Al Maraya,” a thirteen-minute piece that relies on electronic, bass and clarinet interplay. The atmosphere nods to the breadth of PRAED Orchestra!, but remains anchored in the duo’s rhythmic foundations. Rather than building mass, the layering creates a sense of depth, as if new spaces were opening inside the groove.
The album closes with “Assarab,” featuring keyboardist Amr Said. Semerdjian and Zebdawi again form a dual percussive axis, while synths hover between melody and pulse, and themes recur in widening circles rather than building vertically. The porous boundary between electronic and acoustic sources — processed clarinet mistaken for a sequencer, rhythmic figures springing from live drums — is where the album’s theme of “illusion” shows itself most clearly.

Al Wahem follows a long arc: early releases on Annihaya, a key appearance on Ruptured Sessions Vol. 5 – Live at Radio Lebanon (2013), later albums on Akuphone, and the large-scale PRAED Orchestra! documented on Morphine Records. This new Ruptured/Annihaya co-release brings the duo back to a concentrated format, reorganizing their familiar materials with renewed clarity and intent.

Like its cover, Nicolas Remondino's Hìeratico plays in the rich shades of crepuscular spaces. A night-tuned, percussion led album where prepared drums are accompanied by flickers of spoken word, acoustic instruments and muted electronics,

The title translates to 'hieratic', for Remondino a "black and gold" term laden with dualities and complex connotations. A sense of teetering between sparkling light and richly coloured darkness imbues the music, the compositions simulating a sense of heightened acuity as they convey us through a spooky elemental soundworld. The opening title track begins with a metallic shimmer, a drum skin activated in a way that sounds like it's being smelted. A cushioned rhythm enters, a smothered timbre akin to hearing something lurking around the garden. On "litho non-danse", percussion cracks like branches and dried foliage under foot.

Remondino recorded initial outlines for the pieces at Giuseppe Ielasi's studio in Milan, before fleshing out these ideas with his own additional instrumentation and contributions from a globe-spanning network of collaborators. On "blue hymne", chiming percussion equal parts jubilant and sinister heralds spoken word from Limpe Fuchs. "Tombal" opens with Massimo Silverio whispering in the Carnic dialect, a minority language from the Carnic Alps. Around, Marco Baldini, Pierre Bastien and Remondino construct a somber soundscape that cranks and sighs in the crevices.

Hìeratico is an album of hybrids. Diverse voices, accents and dialects deliver its lyrics, the instrumentation underpinning it crosses idioms. The drumkit at its core is modified to amplify its resonant tones and harmonics. Inspired by natural substances and phenomena: stone, wood, wind, earth, metal, grass, rain, clouds and bark, Remondino explores how percussion could evoke their materiality, treating drums as lucid textural instruments as much as rhythmic timekeepers. It gives the album a finely shaded depth and clarity as it conjures the vibrancies that reside in darkened corners. Hìeratico dwells in a sensation that crosses borders, the speckles of light in the oblique night sky. Listening is an aural equivalent to stepping into a pitch black forest and waiting for your eyes to adjust, a lightless void turning into a spectacular tableau of shadows and glows. Daryl Worthington

35 Years of PROJECT PITCHFORK – The legendary debut ‘Dhyani’ returns! There are albums that make music history. And then there is ‘Dhyani’. For the 35th anniversary of PROJECT PITCHFORK, the debut album of the German electro-industrial pioneers is celebrating its triumphant re-release. Back in 1991, ‘Dhyani’ marked a milestone: a work full of energy, innovation, and dark beauty that revolutionized the scene and forever shaped the sound of PROJECT PITCHFORK. With this album, band founder, creative engine, and visionary Peter Spilles proved impressively that electronic music can be far more than dance beats. It can tell stories, unleash emotions, and connect generations. Now, 35 years later, ‘Dhyani’ returns in new splendor. For this special anniversary, the album has been carefully and expertly remastered by none other than Robin Schmidt (24-96 Mastering). Every tone, every nuance has been meticulously refined to preserve the timeless character of the songs while revealing fresh details that make the album feel even more powerful and vibrant today. ‘Dhyani’ is more than a debut. It is a testament to Peter Spilles’ creative force—an album that created sonic landscapes still captivating to this day. For fans, collectors, and new listeners alike, this re-release is a unique opportunity to experience a piece of music history in its purest form. Immerse yourself in the world of ‘Dhyani’ and feel the power that began 35 years ago and remains unbroken to this day. - Classy black vinyl - 2x180g 12” vinyl - All discs newly remastered for vinyl - Audiophile vinyl – German pressing - Sturdy cardboard sleeve - Printed inner sleeves containing all lyrics

Luke Alessi launches Coffee Cola with ‘Yes Empress EP’, a crispy first pour that sets the tone for the label’s mischievous, high-energy ethos. Channelling late night momentum with razor-sharp percussion driven grooves, Luke balances playful experimentation with driving, club intent! Built for the peak-time moments and after-hours alike, Yes Empress makes it clear his label isn’t here to play it safe. Coffee Cola is for people who like their music caffeinated and their decisions questionable.

DJ Support: Louie Vega, Dave Lee, Mousse T, The Brothers Macklovitch, Folamour, Bellaire, Moonboots, DJ Spen, Terry Hunter, Michael Gray, Dr Packer, JKriv, The Shapeshifters, Moplen, Melvo Baptiste, Saucy Lady, Tedd Patterson, John Morales, Maurice Joshua, DJ Minx, DJ Dove and DJ Disciple.

Big Love return with EP 7 in the A Touch Of Love vinyl series. Label head Seamus Haji kicks off proceedings with his popular ‘Disco Dreams’ feat Chicago legend Mike Dunn on vocals given a fresh new lick by Toronto’s jackin’ house master Hatiras. Shawn Christopher‘s 90’s house classic ‘Don’t Lose The Magic’ gets a sublimely soulful update from Chicago’s Emmaculate. On the flip side we have 2 French House veterans with Art Of Tones serving up the Chic inspired disco beauty ‘Hoping For Another Chance’ followed by Yass feat the vocal powerhouse Michelle Weeks on the disco driven gospel stormer ‘Hallelujah’.

Following “The Red Pill” and “Suicide Neighborhood”, VHS Horror Tape marks the next chapter in the sonic universe of Dutch synthwave wizard Adam Tristar. The album expands on his signature sound with darker tones, gritty analog textures, and a strong cinematic horror influence, evoking late-night VHS aesthetics, neon-lit nightmares, and retro-futuristic suspense. It’s a haunting journey that blends nostalgia with menace, pushing his synthwave style into deeper, more ominous territory. Presented in ONE-OFF truly limited edition of 300 copies lacquered pressed on 180 gr. high quality solid BLACK viny. All tracks have been specially remastered and mastered for vinyl by Daniel Hallhuber at Young and Cold Studios (Germany).

2026 Repress

French DJ/producer Mathys Lenne's artistic vision is rooted in his deep connection to rhythm. Telling stories with his sounds while drawing inspiration from poetry and cinema and blending hypnotic textures with raw intensity, his music is widely supported across the scene via labels like Mord, Hayes and more. Across five vinyl cuts and three digital bonuses, the four-deck wizard keeps it deeply atmospheric with his label debut on SHDW's Mutual Rytm imprint, combining elements of psychedelic rock, unique voice samples and saturated synths to create a sound that feels immersive and unrestrained in contrast to the fast-paced, visceral techno he has become known for.

'Detlev' opens up with hefty kicks that demand you quicken your step, while industrial effects and creepy design brings the detail that makes the track pop. The classy 'Natural Born Killers' rides on firm kicks with loopy percussive details tightly coiled, ensuring you are forever on edge as the drums march on. 'Choose Your Pill' is a stripped-back and pulsing deep techno cut with deft synths that peel off the groove, before 'Untidy Echo' delivers a cavernous sound with sparse hits and low-end rumbles that place you in the centre of an underground cavern. 'Enfer ou Ciel' featuring D.E.S brings a sense of melancholy in the occasional string sounds and watery droplets that float over more frictionless, meditative beats - while the trio of digital bonus cuts brings moody subterranean rollers ranging
from snaking and dubby to more drum-led and eerie tones.

NUTRIA Sounds proudly welcomes Leo Kal to the family with his debut EP, The Roots EP (NUTRIA 004). Across five tracks, Leo Kal delivers a deeply musical statement—grounded, expressive, and rich with intention—perfectly aligning with what NUTRIA Sounds continues to cultivate: organic sound, essential rhythm, and soulful movement.

The Roots EP showcases Leo Kal’s true musicianship, blending groove, harmony, and texture into a body of work that feels both timeless and forward-thinking. Each track is driven by feel and craft, emphasizing connection over excess and allowing the music to breathe naturally on the dancefloor and beyond.
Celba opens the EP with an uplifting, bouncy groove—light on its feet yet firmly rooted, setting a joyful and inviting tone.

Station Verlaine soars effortlessly, carried by smooth, flowing keys that glide across a warm, rhythmic foundation. Roots, the EP’s title track, shines with warm piano lines and earthy percussion, embodying the spirit and intention behind the project.

Round 50 delivers the EP’s most club-friendly moment, channeling a spacey, late-’90s feel with a modern, refined touch.

Second Eyes closes the EP on a downtempo, junglesque note, wrapping the listener in texture and atmosphere while leaving them wanting more.

With this release, NUTRIA Sounds continues its mission to highlight nutrient sounds for the soul and the feet—music that is honest, rooted, and deeply connected. Leo Kal’s debut stands as a confident and inspired entry into the catalog, reinforcing the label’s commitment to artistry, balance, and musical integrity.

Transmitting from deep in the Finnish underground, Nazar sends out a signal of mysterious, synthetic auras and shadowy, skittering sequences. From smoky outsider techno to rainy-day electro abstraction, the label’s emphasis is on expression and intrigue as each release reaches across the energetic spectrum of moody machine music.

The first release on Nazar presents a cast of protagonists from the Helsinki scene who share precisely the kind of nocturnal tendencies the label is seeking out. Seasoned duo General Electrix open up the A side with ‘Redshifter’, a silken web of 606-powered electro and warmly haunted synth work that nods to the early years of Autechre. Making an early step out into the public domain, Asyx follows up swiftly with the exquisitely detailed machine funk of ‘kVelorum ‘, where a vivid tapestry of noise, squelch and bleep techno gets smartly woven between airy pad tones and a rock-solid rhythm section.

On the B side, Helsinki mainstay Kaiunta brings a dramatic flourish to mid tempo creeper ‘Phantasm’, matching a densely packed rumble of live drums with sweeps of nervy atmospherics and a murky inversion of the classic gated trance lead. 53X rounds out the Nazar mission towards broad BPMs and fresh ideas with a crunchy swerve towards sample-heavy downtempo laced with a generous dose of psychedelics and angular noise.

NAZAR001 is the kind of record that yields surprises and slots into unexpected moments depending on when and where the needle drops, providing versatile moments for adventurous selectors and continuing the fine tradition of outsider electro and techno from Finland.

Groovy, functional and elegantly reduced Micro House. AFRV008 brings Dubfound for a tight, late-night or early mroning leaning 12" on Aforisme. Freak Love EP moves with that signature micro-house precision: crisp drums, warm low-end pressure and hypnotic groove shifts that keep the floor locked without ever overdoing it. On the A-side, “Freak Love” sets the tone with elastic rhythms and a stripped-back, forward-driving pulse. Flip to “Hold Me Up” for a deeper, more rolling mood, minimal elements arranged with maximum impact. Maher Daniel closes it out with his remix, adding extra swing and a refined, spacious touch that feels made for long blends and after-hours moments.

IZIPHO SOUL is thrilled to release the epic “HIGHER POWER”- better still these are unearthed and unheard versions, especially commissioned for this 7” release.

Paul Tillman Smith wrote, produced and assembled the cream of Bay Area musicians - Featuring the legendary late greats - Freddie Hughes, Pharoah Sanders and Calvin Keys.

Freddie Hughes powerful tenor voice is ’Dripping with soul’ and at it’s captivating best - the warm tones of Pharaoh Sanders’ tenor saxophone intertwines with the harmonic richness of the backing vocals, making this an immense piece of music!

There’s a special kind of feeling when everything falls into place - when the drums bounce easy, the bassline rolls steady, and a bright guitar line cuts through the warmth of tape. That feeling became the heart of the FULLNESS, from Marcus I meets aDUBta. The sound of FULLNESS is built on simple, living elements: real drums, deep bass, a warm sound, and melodies that leave space to breathe. It moves between Early Reggae, Rocksteady, and Roots - sometimes straight and solid, sometimes stretching out into Dub and Echo. With its voice, from singer and lyricist Marcus I, FULLNESS carries the message about gratitude, love, freedom, and the small moments of everyday life. While Marcus’s singing style nods to the great singers, he stays grounded in his own experience, which perfectly complements aDUBta’s production, giving him space to shine. This LP is a complete, warm, balanced, and uplifting experience from start to finish.

FULLNESS grew from a steady musical exchange between Marcus I and aDUBta - two people on different sides of the Alps (Marcus I in France and aDUBta in Germany), finding a shared rhythm. What began in early 2022 with a few Riddims sent back and forth soon turned into a regular flow of songs. Every week brought new ideas, new words, and new melodies. When they finally met in person at aDUBta’s Attic Roots Studio in Bavaria, Germany, it all fell naturally into place. Most of the instruments were played by aDUBta, and the whole LP was mixed live on his Tascam 388, keeping that raw, handmade feel. With several friends helping bring even more color into the music, aDUBta brought in Viti Sanchez to lend his expressive saxophone and horn lines, Michael Salvermoser with his warm trombone tones, and members of the Black Oak Roots Allstars - King HuHa and Jannis Klenke on bass and guitars, along with Morry 'Da Baron' (Dub Inc.) on bass. FULLNESS means the fullness of music, of life, of friendship, of gratitude. It’s what happens when music becomes more than a project - when it turns into a shared space where things just flow.

2024 repress

Lars Huismann makes a quick return to SHDW & Obscure Shape's newly minted Mutual Rytm imprint as he delivers a medley of classic, groove-driven techno productions via his "Sounds From The Past I" EP.

With recent releases via labels such as Slam's iconic Soma, Berlin-based DJ and producer Lars Huismann is quickly growing to become a familiar name of note within today's modern techno landscape. Having featured as one of the artists on the label's debut V/A release in February, with the German set to feature as a regular across the imprint in coming months, he unveils fresh shades to his sound palette on his return to Mutual Rytm with a combination of six slick techno cuts across his "Sounds From The Past I" EP.

The powerful, rolling dynamics of "Surge" open proceedings as Huismann quickly sets his stall, while "Collison" veers into slick, looping territories as the energy and tension are kept tight and high. Next, "Echo" ups the pace as tough kicks meet zipping melodies, filtered chords and looping vocal interjections amongst a medley of flurrying percussion licks, before "Funk Shed" takes cues from its title and showcases a classy blend of classic Detroit-influenced sonics guided by sweeping synths. Title cut "Sounds From The Past I" brings with it flashes of serenity and peace, before erupting and spiralling effortlessly into infectious and captivating drum grooves, before closing the show via the rich yet muscular tones of final offering and digital bonus track "Jackin".

Lars Huismann "Sounds From The Past I" EP drops via Mutual Rytm in March 2022.

2026 Repress

since his first ep tips' on luciano's label cadenza in 2007 producer and dj petre inspirescu emerged into one of the key figures of the romanian electronic music scene.

so far he released music on labels such as vinyl club, lick my deck or amphia. together with his buddies rhadoo and raresh he also launched in 2007 the label (a:rpia:r) -  a platform where he, his two friends and many producers from romania and abroad released detailed grooving house and techno, that stands out with delicate structures and one-of-a-kind grooves.

both of his more dance floor oriented solo albums intr-o seara organica...' and gradina onirica for (a:rpia:r) are enlarged with melodies, sounds and harmonies that go beyond the usual characteristics of a dance album.

furthermore his love for classic musicians like mily alexejewitsch balakirev, alexander porfiryevich borodin or or nicolai andrejewitsch rimsky-korsakow can be felt in the album padurea de aur (opus 2 in re major) and two more eps that he released under the alias pensemble on the romanian label yojik concon in order to unite classical spheres with analogue electronic music production.

in february 2013 he also released his highly acclaimed fabric mix cd that only features dance floor leaning music produced by himself. with talking waters' he published in late 2014 his first 12inch on mule musiq that is now followed by the full-length album vin ploile' which he produced without the intention to entertain with easy to hook up rhythms, melodies and harmonies.

even tough he established himself as a internationally playing house dj that regularly performs at all major clubs, festivals and other party destinations around the globe: as a musician petre inspirescu always tries to enter new territories to explore with a heartfelt human touch the infinite space of sound.

for his latest album the man that originally comes from the eastern romanian town braila stepped away from his former experiments of melting classical spheres with electronic music. instead the 36-years old man from bucharest only used some piano, string and wind instrument elements and analogue electronics to arrange a gracefully deep ocean of sound.

all slow grooving tracks spread the atmosphere of live improvised sessions that are edited, tweaked and mixed to perfection. in-the-moment moods of strange and unusual analogue synth sounds groove in a fluid quality with subliminal bass shapes, latinate percussions, jazz rhythms and acoustic melodies.

together they create a gaseous kinetic atmosphere full of tangible rhythm patterns, delicate chords and ghostly modular synth pads - all mixed subtle to create space for the tones between the tones.

you can call it a hypnotic after hour album for after hours that are dedicated to a deep listening experience. you can tag his arrangements as brilliantly textured and musically super-charged ambient, which goes beyond the usual definition of the genre.

all nine suspenseful compositions seduce with a deep melodic sensibility, harmonic adventures and an overall rhythmic ambiance of freshness and laidback enthusiasm. together they represent a challenging auditory experience that will resonate in your mind long after the music has finished. 

Longtime friend of the label Eraserhead returns after over a decade away from producing music due to his surreal MS Paint work as 'Jim'll Paint It' becoming an unexpected cultural phenomenon. With his debut full-length, 'Violence', Eraserhead presents a truly eclectic electronic LP featuring collaborations with established producers such as Om Unit, Enduser, and Brain Rays, as well as the vocal talents of Nadia Rose, Beans (of Antipop Consortium), and Cadence Weapon. An album held together by theme and tone rather than style or tempo, 'Violence' is the culmination of a bitter wave of inspiration, initially conceived in the wake of a personal tragedy that quickly grew into a broader polemic about the state of the world.

Originally linking up with Love Love in its breakcore netlabel infancy with his refined, breaks-heavy breakcore/gabba, Eraserhead's flair for tight, intricate productions was evident in his finely tuned tracks of controlled chaos. This time around, his work is a darker, more expansive evolution of his sound, with the scale upsized and the stylistic scope massively broadened, remaining unfaithful to any single genre, but with firm nods to Breakcore, Grime, Drum & Bass, Techno, Rave, Dubstep, and Footwork, all chewed up with a hard industrial edge and cinematically framed by a backdrop of apocalyptic synths.

Opening with the cold tech-noir of 'Shining Brainless Beacon' to set the tone, the album quickly locks in with the blistering spoken-word headrush of 'Hurricane With Teeth' alongside rapper Beans, before Om Unit lends his expertise on the sharp groove and clinical bass blasts of 'Operation Hardtack'. The album shifts and morphs constantly throughout the runtime, moving from the raw and urgent acid techno of 'Crowd Control' to the crunching military march of the Gore Tech collaboration 'No More Worlds' and the tribal sci-fi footwork of the Brain Rays collaboration 'Night Visions'. 'Monolith' provides a final burst of catharsis, channelling Underworld by way of Nine Inch Nails, complete with writhing screams from Amée Chanter of sludge-punk-noise-rock duo Human Leather, before the heart of the album is laid bare with the painfully bleak closing dirge of 'Animal'. In its final moments, 'Violence' leaves the listener suspended between devastation and awe - an unflinching portrait of an uncaring world.

Longtime friend of the label Eraserhead returns after over a decade away from producing music due to his surreal MS Paint work as 'Jim'll Paint It' becoming an unexpected cultural phenomenon. With his debut full-length, 'Violence', Eraserhead presents a truly eclectic electronic LP featuring collaborations with established producers such as Om Unit, Enduser, and Brain Rays, as well as the vocal talents of Nadia Rose, Beans (of Antipop Consortium), and Cadence Weapon. An album held together by theme and tone rather than style or tempo, 'Violence' is the culmination of a bitter wave of inspiration, initially conceived in the wake of a personal tragedy that quickly grew into a broader polemic about the state of the world.

Originally linking up with Love Love in its breakcore netlabel infancy with his refined, breaks-heavy breakcore/gabba, Eraserhead's flair for tight, intricate productions was evident in his finely tuned tracks of controlled chaos. This time around, his work is a darker, more expansive evolution of his sound, with the scale upsized and the stylistic scope massively broadened, remaining unfaithful to any single genre, but with firm nods to Breakcore, Grime, Drum & Bass, Techno, Rave, Dubstep, and Footwork, all chewed up with a hard industrial edge and cinematically framed by a backdrop of apocalyptic synths.

Opening with the cold tech-noir of 'Shining Brainless Beacon' to set the tone, the album quickly locks in with the blistering spoken-word headrush of 'Hurricane With Teeth' alongside rapper Beans, before Om Unit lends his expertise on the sharp groove and clinical bass blasts of 'Operation Hardtack'. The album shifts and morphs constantly throughout the runtime, moving from the raw and urgent acid techno of 'Crowd Control' to the crunching military march of the Gore Tech collaboration 'No More Worlds' and the tribal sci-fi footwork of the Brain Rays collaboration 'Night Visions'. 'Monolith' provides a final burst of catharsis, channelling Underworld by way of Nine Inch Nails, complete with writhing screams from Amée Chanter of sludge-punk-noise-rock duo Human Leather, before the heart of the album is laid bare with the painfully bleak closing dirge of 'Animal'. In its final moments, 'Violence' leaves the listener suspended between devastation and awe - an unflinching portrait of an uncaring world.

Silicon Scally and Fleck E.S.C. need no introduction at this stage. Both artists are veterans not just of Sheffield's Central Processing Unit label but of modern electro as a whole, with the pair having decades of skin in the game at this point. Their new release, a four-track EP entitledSlipwhere Silicon Scally handles the first half and Fleck E.S.C. the second, carries itself with the adventurous confidence of a record made by masters of their craft.

Slipopener 'Phased Array' is exactly the kind of top quality machine-funk tackle you'd expect from this meeting of minds. The beat programming is deliciously tactile from the off, hissing and clanking like machinery in an old Detroit factory. The feel of 'Phased Array' is altered, though, when the chords come in, a series of alternating floating sounds which give the track an altogether eerier feel. When all of this is coupled with the otherworldly synth blurts that periodically force their way to the front of the track, the overall effect is a piece of real depth assembled by an expert practitioner.

'Phased Array' is followed up by 'Stax', another brilliantly propulsive number. Here we find the drum beat - one which is a little reminiscent of that Kraftwerk tune about the numbers, no less - once more offset by some decidedly more shadowy synth work, all while arpeggiated keyboard licks work against an intricate web of basslines, chords and unidentifiable flying synth tones.

Fleck E.S.C. opens theSlipB-side with 'Good Ride', a number where the nudge-wink title is borne out by a track built around looped snippets of sighing vocals. That said, with a bassline that sounds like a blurting old landline telephone, a ghoulish synth lead and all manner of motion-sick breakdowns, the 'ride' in question could just as well be aWipeout-style whizz through hyperspace as anything more suggestive. 'Good Ride' also sets itself apart from the other joints here by showing off a swaying halftime breakdown.

'Intox Remedy',Slip's closer, wraps the EP in a manner which continues some of the trends of the record's earlier tracks - richly tuneful chords, precision-engineered broken beat drum programming and a wide palette of delightfully unusual synth tones are all present and correct. However, there is also something about the chords here which pares back the eeriness of previous joints for a bit more of a wide-eyed, stargazing feel, and as such 'Intox Remedy' sees the record out by placing the listener firmly back in the cosmos.

Tough enough for the dancefloor and intricate enough for home listening, theSlipEP is a fabulous collaboration from two of the most respected voices in the electro game.

The latest in Field Records' run of essential vinyl pressings revisits Stephen Hitchell's 2009 masterpiece under his Variant alias, The Setting Sun. As part of Echospace and also celebrated for his productions as Intrusion and Soultek, Hitchell is considered a leading light in dub techno, with the versatility in his sound to range from rhythmic, physical pulses to purely tonal, abyssal drone. His work as Variant, which debuted with The Setting Sun, capitalises on this scope to deliver a compelling ambient-with-teeth set richly deserving of a proper vinyl pressing.

The Setting Sun first emerged on Echospace as a download-only release. Hitchell was at pains to map out the tools that went into the sound on the album — field recordings of storms in Berlin, Germany and train rides in Narita, Japan, outboard synths and samplers. Crucially, he declared no computers were used, and it shows. When The Setting Sun was recorded, in-the-box production was largely dominating electronic music and the technology had yet to replicate the warmth and character of analogue equipment. Hitchell's looming chords come baked with harmonic overtones, surface noise becomes another essential layer and fragments of distortion add to the narrative of these glacial, monumental pieces.

Hitchell threads his dub techno tendencies in subtle ways, from the kick pattering underneath 'As Time Stood Still' to the quintessential metallic delay ripples that define 'A Silent Storm'. 'Someplace Else' has a defined, albeit delicate, rhythm section guiding its lighter shades of pads and chords. However, drums are never a dominant aspect of the music, simply another layer in an intentionally coagulated whole. At times, flickering tones hint at space where percussion once stood, since muted to leave the wet signal setting a new course for the sound, somewhere far beyond drum duties. The hushed ceremony of tracks like 'Adrift' are the perfect scenario in which to absorb these microfibres of detail, where the genius of Hitchell can truly be savoured.

In line with the limitations of record pressing and Hitchell's proclivity for long-form tracks, 'The Setting Sun' is reserved for the digital edition of this reissue. It's a logical move, as the sound palette widens to encompass tangible, organic instrumentation evolving over the best part of half an hour. The presence of piano keys feels stark in the Variant sound world, but Hitchell ably folds these coded elements into his process bathed in the same curious luminosity that lingers around all his work. Evolving at a painstaking pace, the plaintive humanity in the cascading keys and plucked guitar strings renders one of the most personal expressions in Hitchell's considerable canon — a unique piece that holds its own space comfortably, while also adding to the overall weight of The Setting Sun as a profound benchmark in a stellar discography.

DJ Support: Phil Mison (Cantoma/Ambala), Charlie Bones (Do!You!!!), Frank Booker, Trujillo, Alice Palace, CIAN, DJ Aficionado, No Plastic, Jad & The, Leon D, Moe, Sadeedo, Longboss (Strangelove), Tom Kutsche, Marian Tone, Andy Pye (Balearic Social), Soft Rocks, Wrekin Havoc, Alfresco Disco, Manuel Darquart, Tom Bolas, Danny Russell, Craig Christon (Passport to/Beyond Paradise)
Many Hands - Basement Versionz #2, continuing from #1 with further excursions into Basement Balearica. From Bunker to Beach: Wiggy Dread Italo, Rebel Disco Reggae, Thai Boogie Funk and freshly creased 80s Steppers to help clever selectors get out of, or into trouble.

Glasgow, Scotland duo Thomas + James deliver their silky-smooth dub laced sounds for Federsen’s Alt Dub with the four-track ‘Realtime’ EP.

Thomas + James are a Glasgow-based DJ and production duo whose sound reflects a deep immersion in electronic music. Raised in the city’s west end and shaped by early exposure to techno pioneers like Luke Slater, Slam and Jeff Mills alongside the atmospheric legacy of ’90s drum & bass, their productions lean into a dub infused, forward-looking aesthetic.

Drawing equally from house traditions via influences such as St Germainand Laurent Garnier, the pair blur the lines between dub techno, deep house, acid and minimal.

Their new EP onFedersen’s Alt Dub captures that hybrid vision with a maturity that belies their years, being born in 2006,marking them out as a quietly compelling new voice from Glasgow’s next generation.

Leading the release is the original title-track ‘Realtime’, setting the tone with a sturdy yet pared-back rhythm section, oscillating synth flutters, bouncy sub-bass and hazy textures that subtly shift across the arrangement.

Label boss Federsen steps in next with his interpretation, reducing the track to its deepest foundations and recasting it as a delicately drifting soundscape of evolving spatial echoes, weighty low-end pressure and restrained, muted drums.

On the flip, Thomas + James return with ‘Armonia’, an ethereal, dub-leaning deep house cut propelled by billowing pads, delayed vocal chants, fluid dub chords and a heavily swung, minimalist groove.

The EP closes with ‘X-Intense’, further highlighting the duo’s groove-driven signature sound as reverberant, airy stabs weave through breathy vocals and shuffled percussion to bring the release to a hypnotic conclusion.

Ashley Tindall, AKA Skeptical, returns in peak form with Blimp EP — the fourth release on his Rubi Records imprint — delivering four meticulously crafted cuts of uncompromising drum & bass.

Opening with the title track, Blimp sets the tone with a deep, steppy wobbler that nods subtly to the title track from his second Rubi Records release, Capsize EP. All the signature Skeptical hallmarks are here: hypnotic, pared-back metronomic drums and shimmy-inducing, undulating subs that demand movement. Yet this time there's a noticeable shift — warm, underlying melodic pads bring an unexpected emotional depth. It's not dreamy, but it is more introspective than we're used to, showing another layer to his sonic palette.

So Good flips the script entirely. A dark, cinematic growler, it leans into ghosted vocal fragments and a futuristic film-noir aesthetic. Tense, claustrophobic rhythms and sinister textures create an unsettling atmosphere — tailor-made for those lights-out, pressure-heavy dancefloor moments.

Third comes the undeniable monster of the EP, Technology. Trademark "stink-face" Skeppiness is in full effect from the first bar. Disjointed sci-fi stabs and eerie pads collide with clinical, almost militaristic drum programming, all anchored by a devastatingly weighty bassline. Movement isn't optional — this is pure Skeptical, uncompromising and lethal.

Closing the EP is Bad Generation, a sound system–influenced weapon that finds Skeptical operating at his dubwise best. Fusing minimal D&B with heavyweight, roots-inspired rhythms is no easy task, but here it's executed with effortless authority. It's equally suited to shelling down a rave or getting lost in a deep, eyes-closed session.

Four tracks. Four distinct moods. 100% Skeptical.
Blimp EP confirms once again that his sound continues to evolve — sharper, deeper, and more refined with every release.

Support: Ben UFO, Joy Orbison, Gilles Peterson, dBridge, Break, DLR, Doc Scott, Mefjus, Kasra, Kings of the Rollers, Alix Perez, Jubei, Dub Phizix, Flight, Tasha, Loxy, Lens.

Gregor Tresher is finally back on his own imprint with a track that once more showcases his impeccable songwriting skills and even though he manages to deliver a song that fans will recognize as a Tresher production, it's not a repetition of his earlier works in any way, but another step forward in his ever evolving sound.. "Sleeping Giants" has been a secret weapon in Gregor´s DJ-sets, often dropped as the closing track if the night was really a special one. It's a journey driven by arpeggios and layered drumming that culminates just before a mysterious vocal sets the tone for the second coming. Gregor is obviously back on top of his game. And well, then there´s the B-Side: A world renowned DJ and producer, and a dear friend of Gregor and the BNS family delivered a remix that can only be described as pure perfection. It forces the original track on to the most massive warehouse floor you can imagine. Mr. Enrico Sangiuliano invites you to witness a true masterclass in remixing by delivering nothing short of an absolute peaktime monster, while keeping the vibe of the original respectfully intact. Ladies and Gentlemen, we give to you: Sleeping Giants!

Solid Red Vinyl Edition - 10@ Mini album. Originally release in 2025 in a painfully limited 2x7" + Book edition.

"Dream of the Egg" is the debut solo album by Tomo Katsurada, known for his work with the Japanese psychedelic band Kikagaku Moyo. This project is a unique fusion of music and visual art, inspired by the Japanese 1920s children's book “Yume No Tamago (Dream of the Egg)”. It reveals a deeply personal journey, reflecting Tomo's dreams and the numerous rebirths experienced in 2024—a year marked by profound new beginnings in every facet of his life.

This mini album was driven by a passion for raw and immediate expression. Every song was crafted and recorded with only the materials available to him at the time, embracing an organic and handmade atmosphere. By eschewing rhythm clicks and standard instrumental tunings, a spontaneous sound emerged, capturing the essence of both uncertainty and immediacy. Adding to this distinctive sonic landscape, guest musician Jonny Nash (UK) contributed ethereal guitar sounds on the first and final tracks, enriching the record's dream-like quality.

The journey begins with the opening track, "Moshimo," which means "If..." in Japanese. Here, Jonny's guitar weaves seamlessly with the vocal melody, creating a harmonious dialogue. The first half of the album concludes with "Zen Bungalow" a cover of Gabriel Yared's “Bungalow Zen” from the soundtrack of the film “Betty Blue 37°2 Le Matin”. This particular track is his partner’s favourite song to listen to every morning and left a profound impression on him. One day, he heard a song in his dream that combined both of these tracks and loved how they blended together. This experience inspired him to create a new arrangement, "Zen Bungalow," which has become a central piece of the “Dream of the Egg” album.

The third track serves as an interlude, printed on a flexi disk attached to the middle of a picture book. This interlude transitions the listener into"Inner Garden," a bittersweet folk song that explores themes of love. The EP's narrative spans 20 minutes, culminating in the final title track “Dream of the Egg”. This piece features a delicate session between Tomo & Jonny, combining cello and guitar to create a spectrum of tones that evoke the imagery of a rainbow. The focus on smooth dynamics and meticulous play reflects an intent to convey a sense of physical trembling. This track sounds like the beginning of a new dream; as if the egg of one’s dream is about to hatch, bringing a sense of anticipation and wonder to the listener. Throughout the album, a variety of instruments come into play, drifting between notes and embracing the beauty of imperfection. By incorporating free-form sounds in a highly technological age, the record aims to reconnect listeners with the tangible, human-made quality of sound.

Special Thanks
Jonny Nash – Guitar

Active in London’s electronic underground since the late 80s, Paul Hierophant has long worked in the space between techno, ambient, and dub, preferring atmosphere, tone, and slow-burn tension to obvious dancefloor tricks.

The Elder Gods finds him further out on the fringes of electro, where the synths loom large and the delay and reverb units are given a proper workout. The result is widescreen, ominous, and immersive.

The title track is a monolithic slab of rhythm where corroded synth pressure and ritualistic percussion feel less like a groove than some ancient machine grinding slowly back into life.

Titans stalks forward on a cavernous half-step pulse, all foggy bass weight and fractured metallic vocal echos, like dub techno that has wandered into darker mythological territory and decided to stay there.

The Hydra coils around a lurching low-end spine, its tentacular FX flickering and mutating while the groove stubbornly regenerates.

Works and Days rounds things off with a standout alien vocal loop drifting through pulsing bass and drums, lending the track a meditative feel that works just as well for late-night headphone sessions as it does in the deeper end of a DJ set.

This is an EP for selectors who like their electro expansive, slightly strange, and built for proper sound systems.

Bruce Hornsby’s newest album, Indigo Park, is a concept album of sorts, an extended multi-dimensional inquiry into the nature of aging and memory, often with a lightness of tone – the ways certain scenes linger placidly while others balloon into imagined catastrophe, the ways we remember and the ways we forget. Throughout, Hornsby contemplates moments from his deep past, sometimes trying to “resolve” them, other times looking for clues about his present-day outlook. “It's just an old bastard looking back, while hopefully pushing forward to adventurous and new musical & lyrical areas,” Hornsby says of his new songs, with a smile of characteristic self-deprecation. “To be honest, I've found a way, a path to….grow old gracefully, with help from some newborn friends of mine.” The album is produced by Tony Berg, Will Maclellan and Bruce Hornsby with contributions fro

Mathias Kaden announces the ‘Three Decades’ LP on Rekids, releasing 3rd April 2026, with single ‘Fyutr’ featuring Zoë Xenia and a remix from the legendary Dennis Ferrer available now. His third full-length, following 2009’s ‘Studio 10’ on Vakant and 2015’s ‘Energetic’ on Freunden Am Tanzen, ‘Three Decades’ spans nine tracks and celebrates Kaden’s 30-year career as one of Germany’s most enduring House and Techno figures.

The ‘Three Decades' album opens with a title intro, in which Mathias Kaden expresses gratitude to those closest to him before moving into his signature deep, emotive House sound. Tracks like ‘Keep Balance’ set the tone with sub-heavy bass and crisp, driving drums, occasionally punctuated by vocal snippets, while ‘I Got You’ features Cassy for a high-energy, soulful dancefloor moment. Reminiscent of Kaden’s work as Mathimidori, the dubbiness of ‘Getting Closer’ sets the stage for ‘Inner Signal’, which leans into wiggy electro territory, before the second record shifts gears with ‘Next Wave’ and ‘Shelter’, returning to pacey, piano-fuelled rave energy.

‘Viral’ follows with tough drums and excellent stab work, before the album closes on ‘Fyutr’, Kaden’s collaboration with Zoë Xenia, already supported by Honey Dijon, DJ Deep, Laurent Garnier, and more. Active since the mid-90s, Mathias Kaden quickly became one of the artists at the forefront of Germany’s flourishing rave scene. He began releasing music in the early 2000s, first collaborating with Marek Hemmann on a series of EPs for Freude Am Tanzen, before establishing himself as a solo artist with more than two dozen EPs on labels including Desolat, Watergate Records, Pets Recordings, Diynamic, Ovum, and Cocoon. Since first appearing on Rekids in 2019 with the ‘Control Your Mind’ EP, Kaden has released multiple projects on the label and remains a regular contributor to its catalogue.

Alongside his own productions, he has remixed artists such as DJ Koze, KiNK, Monika Kruse, Trentemøller, and Sven Väth, while under his Mathimidori alias, he has explored more spacious territory with releases on Mule Musiq, Ornaments, and Freund der Familie, including an additional album, ‘Akebono’, on Echocord.

I wrote this album in prison. I went to the music room every week to play on their keyboards. I studied different styles of beat patterns and sound recording to be a recording engineer. I wanted to create this new sound, so I took go-go, hip-hop, house, and drum and bass to blend up a new pattern of beats with a DJ sway. So I rapped on it. I need a perfect mix sound so I used a reverb gate, small room because I was in a small room. I used my moms blankets to trap the sound waves in the room. I use a digital mic from radio shack and was rapping with a blanket over my head to trap the sound waves. I played my keys in F flat to deepen the tone. I put tom toms on it to fill the spaces with handclaps to have that snap. Then I put a reverb gate on every instrument to get the lo-fi audio sound. I mastered it with all knobs on zero. Equalizer on zero. I mastered my own sound by tweeking and listening with cheap headphones. So that's why I call myself Mix-0-Rap because I master my mix and DJ rap style with a touch go-go rapping. Thank you for supporting me and my music, I hope you enjoy this.

Costas Music returns with its third release after a period of silence, delivering a timeless club-oriented EP from label head Costas, with remixes by Baldo and Youandewan.

It's Me Again sets the tone with rolling 90s-influenced drums, groovy basslines and subtle acid touches, driven by a raw dancefloor energy and atmospheric pads in the breakdowns. Barcelona’s Baldo steps in with a powerful remix, reshaping the track into a peak-time club weapon.

On the flip, Waterphone dives into hypnotic territory with evolving textures and stripped-back grooves built for late-night floors. UK underground favourite Youandewan delivers a distinctive reinterpretation, injecting his signature trippy swing and deep rhythmic flow.

Closing the EP, Drako drifts into cinematic soundscapes and immersive atmospheres, offering a deep and reflective ending to the record.

Deep, acid-tinged underground house with strong 90s influences — crafted for modern dancefloors.

Venus Flux is a new four-track EP by Lord Of The Isles on Amsterdam’s Far Blue label. The record opens with Mushroom Talk, a beatless ambient piece built from slow-moving analog tones, inspired by the honesty of altered states. Two live-improvised dub techno tracks, Betuladub and Pedaldub, form the core of the EP, shaped by intuition and in-the-moment connection rather than fixed arrangements. The closing track, Venus Flux, is an electro piece that feels reflective and unresolved.

Following the massive success of Torment, Bidoben returns to Sciahri's Sublunar with a new EP titled Jett, a record that showcases his distinctive and forward-thinking sound design, cementing him as one of the strongest figures of the new generation.

The EP opens with Jett, a powerful and melodic cut marked by Bidoben's unmistakable sonic identity, followed by Voltage C, a refined and minimal piece with a subtle epic touch. The A-side closes with Tormented, a fierce reimagining of the atmosphere that defined Torment, demonstrating the artist's ability to evolve and expand his expressive range.

On the flip, Hypernature sets the tone with captivating grooves and cosmic melodies, leading into Ashley Origami, a solid, floor-oriented tool designed for peak-time tension. The journey concludes with Edges of Normal, the most mystical track of the release, lighter in tone but no less engaging.

Spectral Bounce’s latest offering comes direct from Norway, courtesy of Anders Hajem — co-founder of Boring Crew Records. To date, the Oslo producer’s previous releases have been vessels for the exploration of myriad dance musics, seeing the artist fluently turn his hand to soulful house, dub techno and 2-step.

SPEC07 — the Myr EP — is a much more focused affair, finding Hajem in techno mode across 4 potent cuts typified by undulating drums and swelling echoes. Despite its emphasis on percussion, atmosphere has not been sacrificed for rhythm: vivid FX and meticulous attention to detail bring these tracks to life beyond the context of the dancefloor. This is music that can be stepped into and explored, productions that reward repeat listens.

Opening at full throttle, “Myr” is a jackin’ percussive workout, harnessing punchy drums for maximum effect. Its pulsating low-end runs in tandem with trembling synths that perpetually reflect and refract in the stereo field. Atop its rolling drums, hardgroove-inflected “Sprett” utilizes timestretched vocals, cavernous reverb and ecstatically quivering tones, elevating this 2000s-era framework to new heights. “Existence” brings things to a deeper and more hypnotic place: delays are turned up, siren calls reverberate and timbres ebb and flow. Hajem goes more chasmic still on “Concussion”, hitting the brakes for a much slower cadence and allowing space for a truly expansive listening experience. Heady and mystical, entrancing and otherworldly — listen close enough; beneath the dizzyingly shifting pulses and rattling drums you’ll hear incantations, while bass tones pulse in the depths.

SPEC07 — immerse yourself!

Credits:
Art by Susanne Janssen
Mastering & Cut by Marco Pellegrino @Analogcut
Words by Cameron Leaf

One of the UK’s rising talents in recent times, J6 continues his upward trajectory with an enormous four-tracker on underground fan favourites, Locked In Dam. The party starting crew go hand in hand with the refined J6 ethos, as he delivers a dynamite selection of tracks for your record bag. His familiar low end driven sound, combined with tinges of acid and futuristic textures moving between house and modern electro, shapes the ‘Devil Baby’ EP into a cohesive and powerful statement.

The title track is built upon powerful drums and squelchy, spaced-out tones, combined with trippy vocal stabs from Martina, who features on the record. This is prime J6 territory and not to be underestimated. Next up, ‘Biohazard’ introduces mysterious synths that create a transcending atmosphere, shifting the dance floor into the next gear with further twisted acid movements. On the flip side, the Manchester based beatmaker teams up with Ben Gough for ‘Time Capsule’, delivering pacey energy that never lets up, driven by nostalgic tech house drums and icy hi-hats. Rounding off the EP, ‘Emergence’ simmers with an emotive dark energy throughout; if we weren’t dancing with the devil before, we certainly are now.

A certain tip for the tastemakers amongst us, these are four dynamic dance floor cuts to be shared deep within the dark realms of the night.

Black Truffle is thrilled to announce Dalbergia Retusa, an extensive double LP selection of the solo guitar music of Hans Reichel, compiled by Oren Ambarchi. Last heard on Black Truffle as one quarter of the joyously anarchic Bergisch-Brandenburgisches Quartett, Hans Reichel (1949-2011) is one of the great figures of experimental guitar music. Though perhaps lesser known than peers like Derek Bailey, Fred Frith and Keith Rowe, Reichel’s rethinking of the instrument was in some ways the most radical of all. Early on, he dispensed with existing guitars to build a series of his own that explored the use of additional strings and fretboards, moveable pickups, extra bridges, special capos, and other innovations documented in the extensive booklet accompanying this release.

Reichel was a long-term resident of Wuppertal, the small Western Germany city that became an unlikely centre of European free jazz in the late 1960s, also home to Peter Brötzmann and Peter Kowald. His solo debut Wichlinghauser Blues was an early entry into the FMP discography and began a relationship with the label that stretched into the 1990s; all the solo performances heard here were first released on FMP. As Reichel says in the charming archival interview with Markus Müller included here, he was ‘always a cuckoo’s egg at FMP’, a label that began as an outlet for roaring European free jazz. What strikes the listener right from the opening selection on Dalbergia Retusa—‘Return of the Knödler show’, from 1987’s The Dawn of Dachsman—is the extraordinary beauty of Reichel’s music, at once alien in the shimmering sonorities and unconventional pitch relationships made possible by his invented instruments, and deeply lyrical, even romantic in its harmonic content. Growing up in West Germany in the 1960s, Reichel’s formative influences were mainly British and American rock bands, a background that shines through in many of the pieces included here: ‘An old friend passes by’ is haunted by the ghost of Hendrix’s rhythm guitar, and the wild closer ‘Heimkehr der Holzböcke’, taken from a rare 1975 7” and the only piece to use overdubbing, layers errant hammer-on and slide tones over a Canned Heat boogie chug.

Reichel was an important source for the development of Oren Ambarchi’s own extended approach to the electric guitar. Appropriately enough, his selection opens with the very first piece by Reichel he ever heard, on a flexidisc included with a 1989 issue of Guitar Player magazine. Though Reichel collaborated with others extensively in many settings and also performed on violin and his other major contribution to instrument invention, the daxophone, his music for solo guitar remains at the core of his oeuvre. Focusing exclusively on solo pieces recorded between 1973 and 1988, the 23 pieces on Dalbergia Retusa showcase the range and consistency of Reichel’s work, allowing the listener to see how his performances developed hand-in-hand with his instrumental inventions. On a piece from his very first LP, played on an 11-string instrument (partly strung with piano strings and using a schnapps glass a slide), we hear his intensive exploration of fret-hammering to create zither-like, chiming tone, which Reichel would hone further in later years with a double fretboard guitar specifically designed to be hammered rather than fretted and picked. On a piece from 1979’s Death of the Rare Bird Ymir, Reichel uses two steel-string acoustic guitars at once, with beautiful results: ‘some even say too beautiful’, he jokes in the interview included here. Many of the pieces from the 1980s make use of varieties of the ‘pick behind the bridge guitar’, instruments of uncanny harmonic richness primarily designed to be played on the ‘wrong’ side of the bridge. At times the unexpected behaviour of attacks, resonance, and decay can almost seem electronic, conjuring up the technology-assisted work of Henry Kaiser or even Fennesz, but realised solely through Reichel’s unorthodox techniques on his invented instruments. Extensively illustrated with photos and Reichel’s own plans and drawings of his instruments, Dalbergia Retusa is an essential introduction to the unique world of Hans Reichel. Rarely has music been at once so strange and so beautiful.

Sexyrecs 'Third Base' marks a new chapter for the label.

Dutch producer Khas delivers a grounded and more restrained take on techno, built on organic structures, subtle tension and contrasting bleeps that slowly pull you in. It's a toned down approach compared to earlier releases of Sexyrecs, but the groove and sensuality are still very much there.

Berlin duo LYRIC take the remix deep into the details, stretching and reshaping the sounds until they become hypnotic and immersive, adding a darker and more introspective layer to the EP.
Less rush, more control. Still sexy.

Brooklyn Sway's 8th installment arrives from outside with more unexpected debuts and riotous returns to form. Experienced Barcelonian Larry Lan's epic 10-minute opener 'WTNG' is minimal goes post-punk, repurposing well-known, undisguised lyrics into an aggressive take on early Perlon and explanation enough for his recent album drop on Cadenza. BKS vets N/UM return with 'A Free Woman in Queens' showing off a reduced side of their sound adjacent to mid-00s minimal with plenty of character, its stripped intro giving way to a fuller, dubbed-out second half, with the cheeky vocal and instrumental touches joined by a swelling pad. Featuring spoken vox from Mari Blue and the debut of BKS co-head Asha Jasz alongside DeWinter and Jay Prouty, 'Acid in Your Coffee' takes the dirtier route, with layers of zapping electronics, an insistent single-note acid bass, and synths drifting between tones and textures all veering off like its vocals before eventually returning to center. LA/Bucktown scallywag $coe brings it home with 'The Devil is a MF Liar', an acid jam whose profanity-laced vocal samples don't require divine intervention to decipher. Bookended by a pair of interludes, the first on the power of repetition and the last in memoriam BK legend Big Sexy in his own words, and again featuring striking artwork from notable NYC street artist Fumero, BKS keeps that Sway from going astray.

reActive Lab proudly unveils its first vinyl release, marking a defining moment for the label's evolution. reActive Lab Collective 001 brings together four of the label's core members - Chrivu, Dragne, Flavius, and Pattern Tusk - to craft a 12" that perfectly captures the collective's sonic DNA: deep groove, subtle minimalism, and timeless house energy. The record opens with Chrivu - "Cell Division", a vibrant house piece driven by a confident bassline and crisp percussive motion. Built with clarity and flow, it sets the tone for a journey anchored in groove and precision. Dragne - "Get Funk" follows with playful rhythm and low-end warmth - an irresistible combination of swing, bounce, and character designed for the dancefloor. On the flip side, Flavius - "The Interview" introduces a more introspective dimension - stripped-down yet immersive, balancing atmosphere with emotion through delicate textures and steady rhythm.

Closing the release, Pattern Tusk - "We Went On" blends soulful depth with minimal intricacy, offering a smooth, driving finale that resonates with both feeling and functionality. reActive Lab Collective 001 stands as more than a debut - it's a declaration of artistic identity. A 100% in-house release from reActive Lab, crafted with authenticity and intent. A promising first step in what's clearly a long-term commitment to sound, craft, and community. Short Description: reActive Lab makes its vinyl debut with reActive Lab Collective 001, a powerful VA featuring Chrivu, Dragne, Flavius & Pattern Tusk. Four deep and groovy house cuts blending energy, warmth, and minimal precision - a pure statement of the label's identity.