Downbeat | Electronica | Leftfield Tape 413 Items

C76 cassette, ltd to 120 copies. „In Macrospace“. The monolithic album debut by Hamburg-based DJ x producer x electronic music activist baze.djunkiii, the essence of 25+ years on the scene and continuous research in sonic fields reaching far beyond your regular club music. A dark and threatening journey through the realms of brooding DeathAmbient, cold, hostile sci-fi atmospheres and an innate feel of darkness, doom, desolation and industrial wastelands covered in toxic fumes and the aftermath of a nuclear apocalypse. Generated solely and exclusively by a process of extensive vocal synthesis the ten tracks on „In Macrospace“ represent a sonic manifestation of vantablack dystopia and mind threatening, braincell eroding claustrophobia, an ode to both minimalist sound structures as well as a maximized psycho-acoustic impact that might overwhelm even those used to stare into and listen to their innermost void for extended periods of time. Not for the faint-hearted. Listener discretion is advised.

"Meth.O.Tapes' catalogue opens up on a programmatic framework in the form of Gil.Barte's first LP. Developped as an experimental exploration rather than a narrative, this object called « R.S.F » is a recollection of intriguing sonic pictures. Tracks neither really start nor they finish, pieces of an apparently unreasolvable puzzle like pages of a fantastic bestiary long forgotten.

Full of dreamy textures and languid melodies, Xoomin is a soundtrack for drifting off into the abyss, but in the hands of Alloy Sea (a.k.a. Mor Elian), that journey feels downright playful. Although the Berlin-based producer is best known for her dancefloor-focused creations, 2020’s Petrichor (a 50-minute composition that officially debuted the Alloy Sea project) showcased an unexpected talent for abstract soundscapes and arrhythmic jitters, hinting at ambient techno but ultimately offering something much more adventurous.

Xoomin—an album that was specifically written for Paralaxe Editions after label founder Dania Shihab reached out to Elian about working together on a new Alloy Sea release—ventures into similarly ethereal waters as Petrichor, but it’s also brighter and more colorful than its predecessor, its gleaming FM synth improvisations flanked by scuttling rhythmic bursts and the occasional wonky bassline, not to mention celestial snippets of Elian’s own voice. It’s not pop, but it’s not quite ambient either, floating instead in a nebulous (and sneakily fun) zone that borrows from new age, IDM and the weirder corners of bass music.

L/f/d/m, aka Richard Smith, makes his debut on Osàre, exploring the more delicate side of his intoxicatingly abrasive sound. Gold Like Glass is razor-sharp and elemental, with each track cast from long passages of synth dissected into heavy edits. According to Smith, this composition process is akin to printmaking, where the ink on a series of images deviates from the original stencil, becoming looser, softer and increasingly ghostly. ‘After Whitney’ is haunted by peak time rave energy; the drums are disembowelled, leaving a rolling climatic melody, utterly euphoric and disorientating. The track is followed by ‘Blood Byze Leech,’ a thunderously jagged affair, and ‘Delicate Push’ that fizzles like an electrified spinning-top, its frozen melodies accompanied by a lolloping beat. Turning over to the B-side, ‘Plute’ winds its way into dark psychedelia while ‘m-two nine’ descends into the realm of mutant de-accelerated bleep techno. Combing the ciphers of hardcore, its cruxes and suspense, with the serrated edge of minimal synth EBM, Gold Like Glass presents an
alchemical fusion of deeply danceable and cerebral noise.

All Else Fails is a stimulating odyssey to anyone listening. Harmonically dense, arcadian glistens seep throughout the ten tracks, each complementary to the next. Bask in the wistful iridescence and you won't be disappointed. Also featured remixes by John Beltran, Heathered Pearls and more.

Corroded Spiral is Iggor Cavalera (Sepultura, Petbrick) Dwid Hellion (Integrity, Psywarfare) and Cardopusher (boyznoise, Arca). Two legends of metal and hardcore come together with one of electronic music's most highly regarded collaborators, and the results are suitably dense, textured, brooding and gnarly. There are (good) hints in the project name and sound, to more binary industrial cues such as Coil or Nine Inch Nails, but actually, this music is more akin to thumping body music of Nitzer Ebb, acid techno, and the monolithic power electronics of Whitehouse or Merzbow. A really killer debut EP! Vital new supergroup Corroded Spiral - comprised of Sepultura co-founder Iggor Cavalera, Venezuelan electronic producer Cardopusher, and Dwid Hellion, founder of early hardcore trailblazers Integrity - announce punishing debut EP Ancient Nocturnal Summoning.

Corroded Spiral’s debut release crosses the boundaries of black metal, hardcore, new wave, industrial and EBM, a sum of decades of experience and powerful musicality from bona fide giants of their respective fields. Its three members contribute not just stylistic influence but three unique voices and a boundless ocean of abilities.

Ancient Nocturnal Summoning captures the intensity, horror and supernatural dread of its title. Its darkness is more creative and more demanding than distorted riffs or blastbeats; but instead is raw, spiritual, apocalyptic, and occasionally illuminated with sparks of melody that shimmer within a suffocating blackness. A seething tension that excavates deep, dark fissures of the soul.

Color of Time is a long distance, ambient and drone project featuring Kevin Sery (From Overseas) and Nick Turner (Tyresta). Created with guitar, synthesizers, Mellotron and effects, their music focuses on themes of impermanence, loss and the impact that humans have on each other and the planet.

In Late 2023, Om Unit and Marta Pang were invited to perform a special performance at the Caixaforum in Barcelona. The invitees being ‘Lapsus’ who brought the pair together for a performance of 'Acid Dub : Redux’ as part of their Dnit series of events.

This cassette is a complete recording of the 45 minute session which consists largely of ‘ambient takes’ on some of tracks currently released from Om Units ‘Acid Dub Studies’ series, as well as some new material specially prepared for the show which featured live visuals by Marta Pang. Some clips of the visuals can be found in the 6-Panel full-colour J-Card booklet which accompanies the cassette.

‘Acid Dub : Redux’ is an unexpected tangent of Om Unit’s ongoing exploration of the 303-in-dub and features a more minimalist approach to the concept, using more of a sense of space to accompany the visual elements.

We hope you enjoy the recording as much we enjoyed performing it!

An assorted mixtape-style collection of recordings from Constantin Brăiloiu's World Collection of Folk Music archive, originally broadcast on NTS Radio in July 2017, issued as part of DINTE's 10th anniversary series.

Comprising field recordings made by the pioneering Romanian ethnomusicologist of English, Irish, Gaelic, Norwegian, Breton, Japanese, Italian, Swiss, Basque, Fulah, Sardinian, Estonian, Georgian, Greek, Turkish, Judaeo-Spanish, Portuguese, French, Chinese, Russian, Hausa, Tuareg, Indian, Corsican, Ethiopian, Romanian, Walloon, Flemish, German, Kabyle, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Bosnian and Caribou Eskimo folk songs & dances.

Side A was recorded live at The Old Hairdressers in Glasgow on 22nd April 2023. Side B was recorded live by Murray Collier at La Chunky in Glasgow on 2nd June 2023. Mastered by MHM at RAD.

G Version III from Kyoto Japan arrives on Digital Sting via a correspondence going back a few years that grew out of mutual musical connections and a deep appreciation for the Jamaican soundsystem diaspora. G Version grew up with a love of Hip Hop, R&B, and Reggae and had a musical revelation at a Lake Biwako sound clash event as a teenager that was formative in spurring a deeper dive into Dancehall and soundsystem culture. After some time spent studying in the UK and returning to Japan, working at Jet Set records along with meeting heavy weight producer Element the beginnings of her future musical output began to take shape. Downtime during the pandemic provided the time to concentrate on production. G Version's sound has a retro futuristic feel, equal parts Dancehall history and esoteric dub leanings, particularly in tune with the more experimental branches of 80's-90's UK Dub and Steppers. Influences being stated G Versions sound is thoroughly distinct and imaginative, not content to conform to any obvious genre tropes. Also included in this release are two dubs of G Version tracks by Digital Sting mainstays Feel Free Hi Fi.
G Version III- Scenery From Double Glazing DS008 Digital Sting Records

Celebrating our tenth release, we proudly present "Feeling Everything, All At Once" - a compelling VA compilation featuring music from our current label family and introducing some talented debutants from Scotland.

Red010 marks a powerful statement of intent as we look to the next five years and beyond whilst reflecting on our achievements so far, what we aspire to accomplish and how we can continue to push the sounds that resonate with us. Although it has taken time to reach this milestone, our commitment to quality over quantity remains unwavering.

This compilation serves not only as a collection of club-ready tracks but also as a longform piece suitable to more passive listening. With a total of 14 tracks, it stands as our most extensive release yet, expanding our label family to well over 20 artists. The digital release will be complemented by a physical cassette, perfect for playing in the dusty tape deck of your mate's Vauxhall Corsa as you head to that mad rave in the countryside everyone is talking about.

We are thrilled to announce our collaboration with the Scottish Action for Mental Health (samh) on this project with all the profits being donated to this cause. Both Lewis & Ethan have their own personal experiences with mental health difficulties and strongly believe that Samh is absolutely vital in facilitating the provision and promotion of mental health care, support & information.

A massive thank you to all those involved in making this happen and their generosity in donating their time and talent to the project.

The second part in a collection encompassing Akan blues, palm wine and early guitar-based highlife music, with recordings dating from the late 1920s through to the end of the 1950s.

The music included here can probably all be said to have all stemmed from a style that initially took root in the Fanti region of coastal southern Ghana. Fusing local percussion instruments with the introduction of western (most notably Portuguese) guitars that had made their way to the Fanti region of southern Ghana via the Kru seamen of Liberia, who are said to have pioneered the distinctive two-fingered style of playing while sailing the high seas.

Mingling amongst the Kru as well as with other sailors and local working-class people during the 1920s & 30s, the guitars infused with the traditional Akan seprewa harp-playing technique, creating a style known as 'odonson' or 'Akan blues' - a rootsy highlife style also commonly referred to as palm wine music, so named after the palm wine bars where the music was commonly performed. Western record companies such as Zonophone, Columbia, Odeon, HMV, and later Decca/EMI's West Africa imprint, released much of the recordings included here - with the earliest inclusions appearing courtesy of George William Aingo, Nicholas De Heer, Edmund Tagoe & Frank Essien, and Jacob Sam's Kumasi Trio (all recorded in London during the late 1920s). The form would become a key element in the popular development of both Ghanaian & Nigerian highlife, as well as the maringa of Sierra Leone, the juju of western Nigeria, and the Congolese "dry" guitar music of central Africa.

With thanks to John Collins and the Bokoor African Popular Music Archives Foundation.

Written during a month-long residency with Intonal Festival in Malmo in 2019 and later recorded at The Glue Factory in Glasgow, Dappled Shade is Total Leatherette’s fourth album.
The tape comes in a limited edition of 50 Smokey Grey Hub Tapes with a Risographed paper sleeve. Recorded by Richard McMaster and mastered by Sam Smith.
If your favourite word is ‘harder’ then this one is for you

Earthtones is the musical identity of Serge Bandura, an electronic artist, former jazz musician, meditation teacher and ritualist based in LA. Kevin Nathaniel channels sound as a universal healing force through traditional African instruments and is a former student of legendary master musicians such as Ephat Mujuru and Chief Bey K. Sending files back and forth during the pandemic, the two artists deepened a musical friendship and began a dialog between the Mbira Nyunga Nyunga, the Kalimba and analog synthesizers. Their music is offered in the spirit of peace + healing for all.

Laila’s side was recorded live at A Colourful Storm and Jolly Discs presents Thomas Bush, Princess Diana of Wales and Enchante at Cafe Oto, London on 10th July 2022. Thomas’s side was recorded live at Felt presents Laila Sakini and Thomas Bush at Ideal Bar, Copenhagen on 2nd March 2023.

Born and based in Cape Town, South Africa, Gonubie is an interdisciplinary artist with a background in fine art, landscape architecture and urban design. A classically trained musician and flautist, her debut album, Signals at Both Ears, acts as a personal sonic exploration of the notion of space and ideas surrounding the making of home. On Signals at Both Ears, sonic elements are combined organically through a process akin to painting. Incorporating the movement of synthesisers and percussive drumming with expansive chords, the compositions aim to immerse the listener in a world where sound is the primary tool for navigation and finding refuge. Profits from physical album sales will be donated to Bridges for Music, South Africa, a non profit organisation focused on empowering young talent from under-served communities. Recently highlighted in DJ magazine (djmag.com)

Far Rainbow is the London-based duo of Emily Mary Barnett and Bobby Barry. The Blue Hugeness begins with bubbling sounds which Barnett’s cymbals splash through, taking on a gait somewhere between Jack DeJohnette and a leaky pipe. Later, flickering drones emerge that seem more electrical than instrumental – which might be true as previous releases have seen Barry credited with playing electric toothbrush and various small motors. Submerged in it all are eerie field recordings, the most beguiling sounding like a baby cooing in the distance. It’s seldom clear where any sound comes from on this tape. Even where the drums begin and end gets a little hazy, while the lush reverb that glistens off everything is a source of intrigue in itself. It’s a spooky and hypnotic zone, one where machines seem to live in ghostly spaces. Every sound on ‘The Blue Hugeness’ is a riddle, slipping along the boundary between familiar and unfamiliar to find an alluring place in the in-between. - THE Quietus

Two Form a Click (DJ Snaffy, Wretchen Redspiders) collide with Horatio Pollard to deliver two sides of beautifully coalesced psychedelic synthesis, heavy with dub's production values and freed from the grid of analog electronics.

These recordings weren't intended for release, they aren't even demos, but rather exercises – process tracks in an attempt to mirror the influences of an aspiring artist as they oriented their emerging work. Most of the tracks were constructed in single sittings and recorded to cassette at home in Glasgow through a Philips Aw-7694 boombox. That they feel finished, even iconic amid the shortlived confluence between Detroit techno and intelligent dance music, is a testament to what was materialising, but also to our collective nostalgia, revisionism, and thirst to understand how we've arrived here and why. Übungen has that youthful and pre-internet utopian aura, without being tethered to the phony maxed-out optimism ricocheting across the Atlantic in a 4G pollution. That I first came to Dave Clark's earliest work in the anxiety-ripening stage of the pandemic while I was becoming chronically sick – a time when it was all too easy to glide through dystopian nightmares and realities alike – only speaks to the work's presence and its allowance to dream, ahistoricism or splice into the affect of histories, and to dismantle the contemporary, not in an arsy or nihilistic way, but to appreciate (questioningly) the passage of time.

Sitting somewhere between an EP and a full-length, these six pieces predate Dave's other archival release – Sparky's 94Archive2/8 [Rubadub, 2015], which also features cassette transfers originally recorded in stereo without overdubs. As a sound archivist myself, it was a welcome experience first listening to Dave's transfers on headphones while walking around the canals of Maryhill rather than handling the digital captures in a studio. I've been enamored with the music ever since and despite the original utilitarian intention, shifting contexts and the chance to listen afresh decades on allows for clearance (dare I say recuperation). It is, for this reason, and the sardonic re-opening of archival material perverted into something on the ground, that's not merely dog shit, that I am very pleased to finally share this collection.

Each of the titles provides the recording year and is initialed by the respective influence: Carl Craig, Aphex Twin (you'll recognise the shimmering hi-hats), Yellow Magic Orchestra, Black Dog, Polygon Window, and Drexycia.

All music was produced by Dave Clark, except "1993cc" produced by Dave Clark & Graeme Slater, and "1992pw" produced by Dave Clark & Roger Elliott.

Nico Niquo’s ‘Esperanto’ sees the Australian artist return to Orange Milk Records six years since his album ‘In A Silent Way’

Shmu (aka Sam Chown) has spawned back and drops an updated cartridge of exploratory and vibrant, gamified electronic music.