Downbeat | Electronica | Leftfield 270 Items

“4 Tones to facilitate travel through time.” So begins the listeners’ journey into what has become one of the most treasured and revered pieces of Coil history ever released.

Each of the four pieces on Time Machines is named after the chemical compound of the hallucinogenic drug that they were composed for, and the album was meticulously crafted to enable what John Balance referred to as "temporal slips" in time and space, allowing both the artist and audience to figuratively "dissolve time".

Inspired by long form ceremonial music of Tibet and other religions, where the intent is to lose oneself in the music – to meditate or achieve a trance state – Time Machines became Drew McDowall, John Balance, and Peter Christopherson’s “electronic punk-primitive” answer to this tribal concept.

Starting as a rough demo tape recorded solely by Coil member Drew McDowall, Time Machines started to take full form when McDowall enthusiastically delivered these demo recordings to Balance and Christopherson as sketches for a new Coil project with the primary goal of shifting Coil’s sound further into a more conceptually abstract direction. Largely recorded in 1997 using single takes with minimal post production, these four drones contain every intended fluctuation and tone, along with every glitch of the original – “Artifacts generated by your listening environment are an intrinsic part of the experience.”

Simon Green aka Bonobo returns with his fourth, most eagerly-anticipated and most accomplished album to date, the magnificent Black Sands on Ninjaaa Tune!

With his single SW 9 9SL / Planet in August Four Tet gave us a hint he has New Energy for a new album which will be released in October.

Dark Entries and Honey Soundsystem Records have teamed up once more to release the final volume of gay porn soundtracks by San Francisco-based musician and producer, Patrick Cowley. One of the most revolutionary and influential figures in the canon of disco, Cowley created his own brand of Hi-NRG dance music, “The San Francisco Sound.” Born in Buffalo, NY on October 19, 1950, Patrick moved to San Francisco in 1971 to study at the City College of San Francisco. He founded the Electronic Music Lab at the school, where he would make experimental soundtracks by blending various types of music and adapting them to the synthesizer.


By the mid-70’s, Patrick’s synthesis techniques landed him a job composing and producing songs for disco superstar Sylvester, including hits like “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)”, “Dance Disco Heat” and “Stars.” This helped Patrick obtain more work as a remixer and producer. His 18-minute long remix of Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love” and his production work with edgy New Wave band Indoor Life were both of particular note. By 1981, Patrick had released a string of dance 12″ singles, like “Menergy” and “Megatron Man”. He also had founded Megatone Records, the label upon which he released his debut album, “Menergy”. Around this time Patrick was hospitalized and diagnosed with an unknown illness: that which would later be called AIDS. Throughout 1982, he recorded two more Hi-NRG hits, “Do You Wanna Funk” for Sylvester, and “Right On Target” for Paul Parker, as well as a second solo album “Mind Warp”. On November 12, 1982, he passed away.


In 1979 Patrick was contacted by John Coletti, owner of famed gay porn company Fox Studio in Los Angeles. Patrick jumped on this offer and sent reels of his college compositions from the 70s to John in LA. Coletti then used a variable speed oscillator to adjust the pitch and speed of Patrick’s songs in-sync with the film scenes. The result was the VHS collections “Muscle Up” and “School Daze” released in 1979 and 1980. “Afternooners” is the third collection of Cowley’s instrumental songs, recorded in May 1982. These recordings were culled from two 23-minute reels in the Fox Studio vaults. All songs were originally untitled, so we’ve used the titles from Fox Studio’s 8mm film loops. This compilation also includes three bonus tracks found in the archives of fellow Megatone Records recording artist Paul Parker and the attic of teenage friend Lily Bartels. Influenced by Tomita, Wendy Carlos, and Giorgio Moroder, Patrick crafted a singular sound from his collection of synthesizers, percussion, modified guitars, and hand-built equipment. The listener enters a world of forbidden vices, evocative of Patrick’s time spent in the bathhouses of San Francisco. The songs on “Afternooners” reflect the advances of the equipment available at the onset of the 1980s. Cowley's unadulterated electronic forms are stripped down and dubbed up. Lush electronic percussion, soaring synthesizer riffs and low slung funk grooves comingle on these magnificent soundscapes.


Featuring 70 minutes of music never before released on vinyl. All songs have been remastered by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, CA. The vinyl is housed in a gatefold jacket designed by Berlin-based artist Gwenael Rattke, featuring black and white photos of Patrick in his studio that opens to a full color array of x-rated scenes from the Fox Studio vaults. Included is a fold-out poster featuring a handmade collage using photography and xeroxed graphics of classic gay porn imagery and an essay from Drew Daniel of Matmos. For Patrick’s 67th birthday, Dark Entries and Honey Soundsystem Records present a glimpse into the futuristic world of a young genius. These recordings shed a new light on the experimental side of a disco legend who was taken too soon.

Gorillaz strike back, this time feat. Snoop Dogg, Kano, Mos Def, Lou Reed, De La Soul & Bobby Womack!

Ethereal Icelandic goddess Björk new album, Utopia.
It features artwork by Jesse Kanda, who has previously designed cover art for FKA Twigs and fellow Björk collaborator Arca.

Ten years after his first release, UK artist Lone is putting out his first ever commercial mix CD. His entry into the celebrated DJ-kicks series lands on 29th September and features four of his own new and exclusive tracks.

The world is already fallen and the temples are all new again.

Originally released on limited 10" double-pack in 2017, 'Luxor Necropolitics' was once again produced by Joshua Eustis of Telefon Tel Aviv, and includes a super rare remix from Female of Sandwell District fame.

It's been 20 incredible years of psychedelic sound surfing with Shpongle and now we finally arrive at the magical maestros' 6th studio album, a visionary volume entitled Codex VI Codex VI is a cosmic collection of mystical music from Simon Posford and co pilot Raja Ram in which their elucidation of hallucination reveals once again, a seemingly effortless mastery of inter-dimensional audio. Simon and Raja are known and loved all around the globe for creating the ultimate psychedelic soundtracks to our lives and Codex VI is a fantastic further instalment in the epic audio adventures of the Shpongle story. After decades of virtuoso voyaging, Shpongle have delivered what is undoubtedly their finest masterpiece yet.

We invite you to share the inner secrets of the Codex VI formulae and get a direct download of illuminated inspiration which will leave you seriously Shpongled ! ‘this music should be put in a capsule and fired into space, as a show piece of how creative human beings can be’ iTunes

From the creator of Deep Reggaeton and the hit record "¡Estéreo Bomba! Vol. 1", DJ Python, returns with the first masterful full length album "Dulce Compañia". Comprised of eight ethe-real, banging hits of the most unique and thought provoking calibre - mixing Deep House, Shoegaze, Trance, and of course, Reggaeton - these songs-not-tracks slide over the Dembow in the unique way only Python can dream up. Rated E for Everyone.

On 11 October 2010, Brainfeeder released the debut album by a 23 year old ex-skater, painter and music producer from Chino Hills called Teebs (real name Mtendere Mandowa). The title 'Ardour' means great enthusiasm, love or passion and was a fitting descriptor for his inherently warm, lushly textured beats. It’s an undisputed classic in the Brainfeeder canon and more widely considered an essential chapter in the ever-evolving puzzle of the global “beat scene”.

Brainfeeder and Teebs are celebrating the 10th anniversary with a limited special edition reissue of this landmark record. Pressed on deep pink 2LP and housed in a beautiful gatefold sleeve with artwork by Teebs himself, the new edition features six previously unreleased bonus tracks.

With roots at the ‘My Hollow Drum’ collective, Dublab and Low End Theory, Teebs has been a staple in Los Angeles music. “My creative family in LA is so important,” he explains. “It’s a part of who I am when I step outside and how others in LA view me. I love the feeling of community and trying to understand how I can be useful in it.”

Following 'Ardour' (2010), Teebs released 'Collections' (2011), 'Estara' (2014) and, after a 5 year hiatus, his most recent album 'Anicca' in 2019, with the help of a host of musical friends including Panda Bear (Animal Collective), Sudan Archives, Ringgo Ancheta aka MNDSGN, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson and Anna Wise. Universally acclaimed, Pitchfork gave 'Anicca' a glowing 7.8 review hailing Mandowa’s “effortless, shape-shifting tracks that make time stand still.” Meanwhile, FADER described the record as “deeply atmospheric... cool-headed and uncanny.”

2018 Repress limited to 500 copies in gatefold sleeve.

Patterns Of Consciousness is the powerful second full length from analog synth composer Caterina Barbieri. Highly recommended to fans of Alessandro Cortini and Eleh; Barbieri can be seen/heard/felt live at major electronic music events across Europe and beyond.

"I’ve never met Rod Modell (Deepchord) in person, but we have met through music. He found an obscure cassette of Chi music (from ’86), sent it to Astral Industries and paved the way for the release (30 years later) of ‘The Original Recordings’ in 2016. Since then, we’ve exchanged ideas and good music. I sent Rod a preview of ‘The Kallikatsou Recordings’ - he really liked it - and here came the idea for a remix of ‘Lanterns’. I started working on some random, lo-fi samples from Youtube, using Audacity, perhaps the simplest way of producing loops and samples. It’s the only computer based system that feels like the tape recorders I used to work with. I sent the first sketches to Rod on Facebook, but they ended up in the wrong inbox. I forgot about them, but months later he came back saying he loved them. I decided to go back to working on them, maintaining the lo-fi approach. I began manipulating the samples: time-stretching, tempo and pitch-shifting, mixing different layers and adding old-school monophonic “old speaker” effects, delays and loops. I used a few field recordings, voices and samples from my early ambient cassettes, and they matched. Ario from Astral Industries got involved and the experiment turned into a plan - a vinyl release - ‘Red Lantern at the Kallkatsou’”.

S>>D aka Sean Dorris from Belfast delivers his debut album 'Co Intel Pro' on CPU. Refined sampling alongside hip hop influenced breaks sees S>>D operating in a similar dimension to VHS Head. Reminiscent of 1980s sci-fi soundtracks interwoven with IDM-tinged electro, haunting atmospheres prevail throughout with hints of a genre that has yet to emerge. Presented over 2x12" vinyl at 45rpm for superior sound quality.
Fans of Pye Corner Audio, Gescom or indeed anything on Skam will certainly dig this.

Decadent Yet Depraved, the debut album by Belief Defect, finds shelter and complicity in Raster as home and label. Familiar with the underground music scene and how its skeptical nature can also be an obstacle to overcome, Belief Defect abandon any claim or credit in an attempt to transcend the limits authorship imposes, avoid the boundaries or expectations earned or self imposed and find the clearest, most direct path to their music for themselves and the listener. At the core of the album is the music that inspired them, the conclusion of countless recordings listened to in their formative years that ultimately result in a life-long devotion to electronic music: from dance floor to primal anger and self-annihilating noise, to transcendental, ambient escapism and intense self-reflexive sonic layering. The result is a soundtrack for this apocalyptic time, an uncompromising reflection on the state of mankind and its uncertain future, underscored by a sense of religious and secular demise referenced in track titles, samples, and soundscapes scattered throughout the album. Yet, more than a political statement Decadent Yet Depraved is an introspective journey, turning each listener into a spiritual soul-seeker staring into the abyss, reaching for some kind of cathartic truthfulness.

A download code is included. This is a limited edition of 500 copies on transparent red vinyl. "Signum" was initially released more than twenty years ago on cd format and became a larger-than-life cornerstone of P.A.L's discography as well as a historical document in industrial music. recorded over a three year period from 1993- 95 this album displays the past & present face of this artist's sonic variety ranging from sweeping minimalistic soundscapes and powerloaded percussion-driven floorburners to heavily distorted harsh power noise attacks presented as a unified front. the industrial anthem 'Gelöbnis' is a truly fine example for the combination of crystal clear mastering and the selective, inspired implementation of samples which was always an important factor for p.a.l and became a trademark of his works.

Trance-derived melodies, murky industrial grooves and all-consuming harsh noise attacks, created and recorded in transit between New York, Seoul and Berlin between the fall of 2016 and the winter of 2017. Over 23 minutes, the EP shifts from densely layered textures to subtle piano notes and hard-hammering beats, seemingly mirroring the drastic changes of the times in which they were conceived.

Mount Kimbie's new album Love What Survives arrives four years since their Warp debut Cold Spring Faultless Youth. Produced mostly on just two vintage synths, a Korg MS-20 and a Korg Delta, and featuring a vast wave of friends and collaborators: Micachu, James Blake, Andrea Balency and King Krule, Love What Survives is a bold statement that takes you on a journey through a motorik post-punk landscape, a vivid dream within this singular band's newly formed sound.

Mister Mellow moves further away from the synthesizer-heavy sounds of the recent Washed Out releases and more band-driven sound of his work on iconic labels Sub Pop in America, and Domino in Europe. On Mister Mellow, Greene draws from the experimental collage techniques of musique concrète and plunderphonics artists such as The Residents. Combining styles as diverse as free jazz, house, hip-hop and psych together with interlude-esque voiceover samples, often pulled from anonymous YouTube vlogs, he creates a busy, chaotic, and caricaturish mix that mirrors the claustrophobic, hyper-stimulated psyche so familiar to young adults.

As he continues to carve out his innovative sonic identity, influenced by the world around him but unafraid to buck trends, it’s fitting that Greene has partnered with legendary hip hop label Stones Throw Records, long a home for beat-loving musical rebels. His approach to releasing music is every bit as individual, too: in an environment where compiling singles into an album format or working with a single video director are the norm, Greene has chosen to commission eleven different artists to bring the visual aspect of his fully-realised album project to life.

On Mister Mellow, Washed Out steers clear of emotion to empathise with the minutiae of the world around him. “I’ve been much less interested in sentimentality and emotion for the past couple of years,” says Greene, “In some ways, I think its a reaction against getting older and having more responsibilities. Maybe I’m just nostalgic for a time in my life where I could just relax and block out the world for a moment.” Though Mister Mellow is an intensely personal album, its ideas and observations speak to the lived experience of so many young adults, an experience that we come to see as both funny and sad.

Carpenter Brut is a French electronic music artist whose real name is Franck Hueso. Little personal information is known about him aside from his French nationality. His anonymity is a deliberate artistic choice in order to place more importance on the music itself rather than the identity of the musician behind it. To date he has released three EPs, which were collected together and released together under the title "Trilogy" in 2015. He has also contributed original music to a variety of soundtracks. He started writing music as Carpenter Brut with the intention of mixing sounds from horror films, metal, rock, and electronic music. He has toured the United States and Europe, and in 2016 he toured the US with the Swedish heavy metal band Ghost. He performs live with a guitarist and drummer.

Biosphere is the main recording name of Geir Jenssen, a Norwegian musician who has released a notable catalogue of ambient electronic music. He is well known for his works on ambient techno and arctic themed pieces, his use of music loops, and peculiar samples from sci-fi sources. His 1997 album Substrata was voted by the users of the Hyperreal website in 2001 as the best all-time classic ambient album.

The Petrified Forest mini-album is inspired by the movie of the same name, released in 1936 and directed by Archie Mayo.

3xLP vinyl version comes with a CD version of the full album and a vinyl-only bonus cut and it includes a 24 pages booklet. Nearly two decades after the last official GAS album release, Wolfgang Voigt returns to his iconic Ambient project with a brandnew full-length. Narkopop continues the classic GAS aesthetic of symphonic scope and subtle variation, taking the listener on an otherworldly journey to the depths of rapture and reverie.

Limited edition for Record Store Day 2017!
Following the release of Prender el Alma (2015) and Nicola Cruz’s quick rise to stardom, the young Ecuadorian called on a crop of producers for remix duty. Serendipitously, Quantic, one of Nicola’s inspirations, answered the call in his signature way with a bass-heavy, jazzy and psychedelic display of genius that will move any dance-floor that thrives on Global beats.
The release comes on limited edition 180g 12” vinyl - the b-side lovingly etched with original artwork.

“Produzione”, originally released in 1973 on Piero Umiliani’s LP “Problemi d’oggi”, is an amazing mix of acoustic percussion and electronic experimentation, considered by some as the first example of techno / trance music ever recorded. This song, along with “Attività”, another excerpt from “Problemi d’oggi”, has been ‘reworked’ by Gerardo Frisina, who cleverly extends the original content by mixing it with contemporary electronic sensations. The result, packaged in an artwork inspired by the original 1973 release, are two tracks in which the ’70s avant-garde and today’s music blend with surprising ease.

Gorillaz strike back, this time feat. Snoop Dogg, Kano, Mos Def, Lou Reed, De La Soul & Bobby Womack!

The most anticipated … what more can we say? Double gatefold vinyl with printed innersleeves!

Svitlana Nianio has been active in the Ukrainian and Polish underground music scenes since the early '90's both as a solo artist and a prominent member of the now disbanded avant-rock outfit Cukor Bila Smert (Sugar White Death). Her music draws on aspects of modern composition and traditional Slavic music, with songs and experiments from that early period culminating in the 1999 album Kytytsi (Koka Records, Poland). Prior to that in 1995, Nianio recorded Lisova Kolekciya (Forest Collection) live in a simple home studio setting with Olexander Yurchenko and Konstantin Nazarenko.

Less indebted to folk tradition than Kytytsi, Lisova Kolekciya was performed using Casio keyboards, electronics, and voice, positioning itself more inline with Terry Riley's Shri Camel in its otherworldly reinterpretation of the ancient through modern means. Retaining aspects of traditional music in its use of spare instrumentation and haunting vocal melodies, this previously largely unknown album pushes at the edges of what folk music might be, resulting in music previously described as being "deeply rooted in primeval myths, creating a world of magic realism, in which the temporal dimension and the other world constantly move and permeate."

Issued by Skire officially for the first time in 2017, after an extremely limited private cassette edition handed out to friends in 1996 - where the recording was twinned with the album Znayesh Yak? Rozkazhi (Know How? Tell Me) - this second edition of Lisova Kolekciya comes packaged in a full colour offset printed sleeve featuring artwork by Svitlana Nianio and is limited to 300 copies.

Recorded in Kiev, Ukraine, 1995. Svitlana Nianio: Casio Mt-200, voice, texts. Olexander Yurchenko: Casio Ctk-200. Konstantin Nazarenko: recording engineer, sound effects. Digital master by Sean McCann, 2017. Artwork by Svitlana Nianio. Design by Andrew Chalk and Tom James Scott. Special thanks to Sergii Khotiachuk.

Rapping at the window / Crying through the lock / Bells and running water / Influence on dusk.

Re-release of Blue Chemise's debut LP, which originally appeared in 2017 as a limited private release of 105 copies. Baadm make this much sought-after record available again on both physical and digital format, with remastered sound by Christophe Albertijn and updated artwork, all true to the original intentions of, and in close collaboration with, the artist.

‘Influence On Dusk’ forms an idiosyncratic cycle of fourteen mysterious, sometimes uncanny electroacoustic compositions, a personal and subdued eruption of 'melancholy of the healthy kind’, suddenly here and suddenly gone…

This is the second release on B.A.A.D.M. by the Australian artist Mark Gomes, following his equally atmospheric but more romantic 'Flower Studies' from 2021.

Folk unit originated in the Swedish underground Enhet för Fri Musik -- featuring members of Sewer Election, Ättestupa, Neutral, Makthaverskan, and Blod - continually re-inventing what music is about through free improvisation and lengthy folk meanderings.

Embedded in the ever exciting Swedish underground scene Enhet För Fri Musik continues the quest for innovation numerous legendary Swedish bands started during the 70s, Pärson Sound, Trad Gras Och Stenar, Arbete Och Fritid. Taking the ideas of communal music craft and experimentation, on this album the group comes to a unique combination of Jandek-like atonal guitar, organ, tape effects, field recordings, saxophone and Sofie Herner’s amazing loner voice running over it. Adding another inspiring document to the world of open-minded music.