Downbeat | Electronica | Leftfield 272 Items

An essential collection of represses from Tricky"s catalogue available in colour. "Calling it Adrian Thaws is saying you don"t really know me," says Tricky, explaining the title of his 11th album. "So many times people have tried to put a finger on me and every album I go to a different place."

Through the course of time, DSR Lines (David Edren) never loses his intimate and profound connection to the universe of modular synths. These recordings made during 2014 in a residence at the Cem/Worm studio in Rotterdam, represent a further magical compendium of his Organic Electronic Music. In particular, here he draws from his expressive arsenal the cosmic and galactic potential of the Arp 2500, which happily floating throughout. A rigorous magician of vaporous, oscillating patterns, sidereal frequencies, nebulous dust; an explorer of inter-zonal paths, he unveils new dreamlike dimensions en route to unfold planets. Between Kraut-Kosmische accelerations and a personal approach of gentle minimalism, he always forges rare atmospheres of rhythmic pulsation, full of enveloping, spherical and spiralling sounds, luminous and radiant in their hypnotic aura, or magnificently ecstatic and ascending. Originally released by Ultra Eczema.

Ikue Asazaki is a veteran japanese traditional music singer and Yoisura Bushi is a traditional music in Amami Oshima(small southern island). I think Yoisura Bushi is most emotional music I have listened to in my life. There are not the words to describe how beautiful it is. The Kuniyuki remix is simply amazing,i think it’s his best work.

Tomorrow Was the Golden Age is an album length composition by minimalist ensemble Bing & Ruth. Written and conducted by pianist David Moore, Tomorrow Was the Golden Age is a halcyonic journey to a neverending place, where music waxes, wanes and drifts imperceptibly from silence to grand, glowing sound.

LP includes download card!

For the past ten years, all roads Shepherd has followed have been slowly leading to Elaenia - an album with roots deep in his formative years, and one that draws upon everything Shepherd has done so far. An album that provides context to the music that Shepherd has been making to date. Every DJ set he’s performed, every talent he has produced, every composition he has written are thought of as precursors to Elaenia - a dazzling score which puts Shepherd in the spotlight as a composer who has produced an album that bridges the gap between his rapturous dance music and formative classical roots. Drawing inspiration from classical, jazz, electronic music, soul and even Brazilian popular music, Elaenia - named after the bird of the same name - is the epitome of the forward-thinking Floating Points vision in 2015.

Still in a zone of its own, ‘The Neurobiology of Moral Decision Making’ is the result of Mark Fell’s trip to Budapest in 2014, where he and his acolyte, Gábor Lázár practically unravelled the vernacular of contemporary computer and club musics and re-stitched them into brilliantly new & devious designs. Decimating elements familiar to 2-step, footwork, electro, flashcore and f*ck knows, they arrived at a mutual conclusion of sleekly turbulent minimalism in 10 jawdropping permutations that dance in the integers of rave music. In the process they effectively re-programmed limbic and motor systems in-the-moment with a wickedly diffractive sense of rhythmic anticipation and shockingly crisp sound for a pinnacle of modern experimental dance music. With benefit of hindsight, we can now hear this album as a watershed moment for both artists, and this style of production. Since its release, Mark has notably moved away from the sound to work with acoustic instrumentalists, while Gábor has firmly picked up the baton and run with it on the likes of 2018’s ‘Unfold’ album, and more recently ‘Boundary Object’ with Planet Mu. It’s not hard to hear it as a logical peak of Mark’s practice in this mode, solo and with SND, as much as a springboard for Gábor’s future work, while also catalysing a new wave of operators ranging from Rian Treanor to Kindohm, Kirk Barley’s Church Andrews, and Rhyw, who’ve all harnessed these sort of energies to their respective wills. No doubt the tunes still scare the shit out of DJs with their spasmodic flux, but brave cnuts will recognise the genius on show and let instinct kick in, finding proper club shockers in the slippery 2.1 step whorl of ‘Track 2’ and the scudding dancehall accelerationism of ‘Track 6’, while advanced adventurers will get theirs in the greased straightjacket laser-intensity of ‘Track 7’ or the devilish dexterities of its closing 12 minute zinger. It’s all just blindingly strong stuff for insatiable ravers and computer music neeks alike, properly future-proofed by its makers’ unyielding tenacity and visionary ingenuity.

One of the most beautiful albums of this decade gets a re-issue on 2-vinyl – in 2014 the Swedish duo Gidge released their debut: Autumn Bells. “The very beginning of I Fell in Love are the most passionate and emotional couple of notes i have heard.” “An incredibly organic listen from start to finish, ‘Autumn Bells’ is the season’s distilled feeling put in song. Gidge successfully captures microscopic moments of decay and beauty within the framework of pop and ambient-inflected techno.“ “An utterly captivating piece of work. Each new listen only enriches the songs.” “One of the finest, most enjoyable electronic albums I have heard in recent times. Every sound is so well thought out and sculpted, some seriously head-tingling music.“

Sam Binga returns to drop his debut EP for Critical Music. Inviting back the infamous Redders for vocal duties, picking up where his trail blazing single AYO and the much loved 'Lef Dem' from Critical's 'Underground Sonics' LP left off. A deft combination of low slung beats and bass with a nod to the jungle tradition.

Piano meets minimal electronics.

Our Love is formed around a mixture of digital pop production, hip hop inspired beats, muted house basslines and a love of shuffling garage that can be traced all the way back to the time of Start Breaking My Heart which are, of course, all filtered through Dan's own unique perspective. The warm analogue sounds of classic soul should not be overlooked either, for they weave themselves most intensely into the records DNA. In fact, Our Love is probably Caribou's most soulful record to date, chock-full of heartfelt lyrics and organic nature which cuts through bubbling synths and blissful euphoria of their synthetic constructions. It's not all downbeat of course, whilst some thoughts linger on mortality, loss and letting go, there is always an element of celebration.

Swedish producer HNNY (real name Johan Cederberg) releases his debut album 'Sunday' on Omena Records, a label set up by Tobias 'Tooli' Lidstrom. The ten track debut album continues an ongoing partnership between HNNY and Omena Records that started in April 2014 when the 12" 'Always' was released which also marked the starting point of the label. Sunday is released as a 180 g vinyl edition in gatefold sleeve.

Highly anticipated follow up LP to her two EPs! Janet Jackson meets The XX meets Massive Attack.

Floating Points’ first productions emerged in 2008 and 2009, around the same time that he moved from Manchester to London (where he, fairly famously, studied neuroscience). He collaborated with early supporter Alexander Nut on Eglo, a label that has housed music by Fatima, Funkineven and Floating Points himself. Eglo has remained the main home for Floating Points’ music, though he’s also released on Planet Mu, Ninja Tune and Border Community. He also played a key role at now-closed London club Plastic People, as both a resident and a sounding board for its set-up.

For Elaenia’s artwork, Floating Points “built a harmonograph from scratch to create the artwork for Elaenia, the end result created by using it and 2 fibre optic cables of 0.5 and 1.5mm diameters, which were connected to light sources responding to bass drum and white noise percussive sounds from the album track ‘For Marmish’.”

The album features various contributors, including Tom Skinner and Leo Taylor (drums), Rahel Debebe-Dessalegne and Layla Rutherford (vocals), Susumu Mukai (bass), Alex Reeve (guitar), Qian Wu and Edward Benton (violin), Matthew Kettle (viola) and Joe Zeitlin (cello). Floating Points also contributes vocals.

Concept: On this new album for Ghost Box Records, The Advisory Circle (aka Jon Brooks) explores darker territory than on 2012’s more pastoral As The Crow Flies. This time Brooks hints at a Wyndham-esque science fiction story, where bucolic English scenery is being manipulated and maybe even artificially generated by bizarre multi-dimensional computer technology.

Sound: Brooks’ strong sense of melody and composition is still evident as are his renowned sound design and production skills. Consequently the album is a rich and rewarding experience that subtly showcases a wealth of musical experience. The usual analogue synth sound palette is augmented with found-sound from antique tape reels and Brooks’ ever growing tangle of home built electronics.

Rival Consoles is Ryan Lee West - a London based electronic producer signed to Erased Tapes who has his roots in rock music and is primarily a guitarist. His mission on his new album, Howl was to find the perfect balance between club music and something more personal to listen to at home. The album’s title track is made up from West’s experiments of wiring synths up to guitar pedals, the resulting noises were howl-like. These experiments also inspired a darker tone to the album. His less-is-more approach to composition fits in with the Erased Tapes ethos.

Oracolo is Skinshape's second full length originally released in 2015 and now remastered for 2020. The album plays out like the soundtrack to a psychedelic Spaghetti Western. 'Old Days' is one of a handful of vocal-lead tracks on the release that along with 'Summer' and the cinematic album title track, 'Oracolo' conjure references to bands like Can, The Bees or modern pysch pioneers Tame Impala. The instrumentals peppered throughout like the Quentin Tarantino-esque gem 'Mandala' and Motown reminiscing 'Rubber Gloves' highlight Dorey's superb talent as an arranger and composer. Don't let the vintage sound fool you either. All of his magic is original, without a sample in sight. Every instrument either played by Dorey himself, or his array of guest friend musicians. For the Oracolo artwork, Skinshape joined forces with acclaimed New York based artist Jared Buschang. This is one of Buschang's early pieces simply named 'Untitled'. The Picasco-esqe style makes the perfect visual representation for the music within.

Smart bomb alert! Senegalese Mbalax derivatives in approved Dub mode.

A 1994 tape by Ghanaian musician Ata Kak called Obaa Sima is being reissued by Awesome Tapes From Africa.

The release is the culmination of a 13-year story for Awesome Tapes From Africa founder Brian Shimkovitz, who bought a cassette copy of Obaa Sima from a roadside stall in Cape Coast, Ghana, in 2002. The tape was the subject of the first post on his Awesome Tapes From Africa blog in 2006—the blog spawned a full record label in 2011.

Shimkovitz began searching for Ata Kat and says "Google and endless phone calls provided no leads." It was eventually discovered the musician, real name Yaw Atta-Owusu, had recorded Obaa Sima in Toronto before moving back to Ghana in 2006.

The restoration of the tape proved challenging. Only about 50 copies of the original tape were produced, and Atta-Owusu's master DAT had disintegrated, so the second-hand copy purchased by Shimkovitz was used as the source for the reissue.

Don't be mislead from the name, the enigmatic M. Zalla, is one of the numerous alter ego of the italian maestro Piero Umiliani. Umiliani, during his period of fascination for psychedelic and electronic atmospheres, starts to compose a good number of musical portraits dedicated, as the title reveals, to the problems of his time. We are at the beginning of '70 and italians are worried by mafia, terrorism and social conflicts: so it has sense that the music choosen to represent this anxious problems has a sperimental nature; dark and disturbing a sort of unicum in the long and extremly productive Umiliani career.And if, in 2015, titles as “Mondo in Crisi”, “Problemi Sociali”, “Azione Sindacale” and “Mafia Oggi” sounds still sadly actual, it's even more surprising find that the music of “Problemi d'Oggi” (Today Problems) is projected on the future, sounding still alien and uniques.
The record presents various styles: from Pink Floyd atmospheres (or Braen's Machine if you prefer...) to compositions characterized by a great use of drum machines and synthetizer (MOOG and Sinthy). We just have to listen the begginning of the opening track “Produzione” to give sense to the words of Sean Canty (Demdike Stare) that defines the music the first techno/trance track of the history; but between the grooves of this vinyl it's easy to find intuitions that many other artist and musicians – from Residents to Aphex Twin and Four Tet – will be able to catch during their carrers.

Kyle Hall back on Hyperdub for our 10th Anniversary? - Yes please. In fact this is more or less a long delayed EP from the vaults, recorded around the same time as his 2010 ‘Kaychunk’ EP … which just goes to show how ahead of the curve the young Detroit producer is. Starting with 'Girl U So Strong', the track riffs on a distorted arpeggiating bassline, seasick organ and a dubbed out voice, and a flicking metronomic note, starting slowly before shuffling drums give the track some rhythmic focus. Soon a warm melody builds over some happy arpeggios, and the whole track feels like a product of brilliant spontaneous energy. 'Take Me Away' works an 8 bit bassline, bleeps and throbs into an off beat shuffle over a pulsing bass drum, loose and happy, dosed with sunshine and space.

Limited edition for Record Store Day 2014

- Limited Edition of 2,000 copies- First time ever on vinyl- Remastered from original recordingsOriginally released a year after the increasingly iconic The Disintegration Loops, a decade later Melancholia still stands as William Basinski's second most beloved album. To commemorate its 10-year anniversary, we are honored to present the first-ever vinyl edition of this otherworldly piece of music. Remastered from the original recordings and pressed onto audiophile-quality 100% pure virgin vinyl, this limited-edition vinyl reissue is packaged in a stunning gatefold jacket featuring all-new artwork. It is truly a sight and sound to behold. Like many of Basinski's most soul-stirring works, Melancholia began as a series of short tape loops captured in the early 1980s. Basinski then stored them away for decades, revisiting them at a different time in his life, at which point they took on a stunning new sound all their own - one that many consider to be among the finest of the past decade. "Melancholia is probably the best of Basinski's records until now, even if this is hard for me to say given my love for each one of his releases. This music is so beautifully delicate and sad in its auto-reflective moods, it stands right there with everything ranging from the usual suspects in the 'ambient' field, to a distorted damp ghost of Claude Debussy or Maurice Ravel put into a time machine." - Touching Extremes

Now-Again Records has enjoyed a long and creative partnership with Munich-based multi-instrumentalist JJ
Whitefield, creative force behind the Poets of Rhythm, Whitefield Brothers and Karl Hector & The Malcouns.
Rodinia, his latest project, is quite different than anything that’s come from his oeuvre to date, but follows in
the line of the Poets of Rhythm’s great Discern/Define, as it reaches back to Krautrock’s experimental heyday
but pushes its boundaries with a post-hip-hop approach.

That’s to say that everything you read in the header above is true, but the ambient sound Whitefield and his
Rodinia collaborator - saxophonist and keyboardist Johannes Schleiermacher – reached for found itself
morphing over the course of a year. What was originally recorded in a two-day studio lock-in, which found
Whitefield and Schleiermacher hooking up “all our vintage synths (Korg MS-20, Moog Prodigy, Roland Juno
60, Jen SX 1000, Korg Polysix), triggering everything with a vintage Korg rhythm box, absorbing some mind
altering substances and jamming out,” was later turned into two, side-long suites, with over-dubbed reeds,
drums and guitar, and self-made Moroccan field recordings introducing the project on its Drumside.
The result is as winsome and exploratory as those from their forebears, but respectfully distanced from the
past’s trappings. With original artwork by Jason Jagel (DOOM’s Mm Food, Operation DOOMsday).

2023 official repress of the EP originally released in 2015 by the swiss/german production team "Jack Pattern". Electronic music with italo-disco influences at the highest level.

1972. His First Steps is a forerunner of Golem, the legendary 1974 album from the cosmic and psychedelic genius that is Sand. After the split of P.O.T., the early Sand submerged as a threesome in the basement of Claudiusstrasse and built up an alchemical assembling shop, where they resurrected the archetypical Golem. Sand considered themselves as an exile community in a fascinating area - full of distinctly bizarre energy.
Cover painting by Babs Santini, 2009.

Compuma, a.k.a. Koichi Matsunaga, reaches back through time to 1970s Hawaii to perform a mind meld, his old-school Roland drum machines and present-era compumagic vulcanizing and reshaping Haku's original home-grown analog synth madness. Not merely a remix, this a synergistic reconstruction, a transformation at the molecular level in which Haku's source-code DNA is reborn in 2015.

Rian Treanor re-imagines the intersection of club culture, experimental art and computer music with ‘A Rational Tangle’, his debut quartet of glass-cut, 150bpm hyperprisms for The Death of Rave.

Galvanising and accelerating garage and techno with cuttingly crisp tonal diction and pointillist percussive palette, ‘A Rational Tangle’ demonstrates Treanor’s adroit and finely-nurtured rhythmelodic instincts through a quicksilver syntax of kerned, polychromatic 2-step patterns and whipsmart, emotive jit music.

Functionally titled A1 thru B2, the EP’s four tracks vacillate ping-pong ballistics and recursive melodic motifs constructed in Max/MSP, dancing from pendulous, aerobic minimalism to taut, synthetic tabla grooves with grid melting nous, whilst also taking in gamelan-esque hypeR&B through wormholes of smeared and curdled harmonics, plus one dead lush section of Detroit-via-Yorkshire styled hi-tech funk.

The production is stainlessly dry and future-proof whilst his arrangements are considerately efficient, yet it’s all blessed with a pop or ‘floor-ready turn of phrase that reveals new kinks, fills and twysts with each return listen.

Whichever angle you view it from ‘A Rational Tangle’ forms a rewarding introduction to the work of a very promising and distinct new voice in electronic music.

Rian Treanor (b. 1988) is an artist and producer based in the North of the UK. His practice references the dynamic cut-ups of Fluxus and Dada as much as UK dance music to present an insightful and compelling musical world of interlocking and fractured components. He has formerly studied with Lupo at Berlin’s Dubplates & Mastering, besides years spent running the Enjoy artspace in Leeds.

Part of a series of single-sided etched translucent 12” records, each with their own unique etching and die-cut ‘Vulnicura’ wound sleeves, designed by M/M, Paris. “Mica is someone I have been following growing since 2008, like a proud aunt, I might even have been at her first concert? Sooo exciting to witness her grow into a full on composer and carry the weight of such things as ‘Under The Skin’... And I still adore her upbeat stuff withTirzah too !!!” - Björk. “I did a karaoke version more than a remix, because I love her string arrangements
and thought it would be an opportunity to draw attention to them. I hope Björk isn’t
offended that I took her voice out, [but] you can hear it in your head - or sing
along.” - Mica Levi

Part of a series of single-sided etched translucent 12” records, each with their own unique etching and die-cut ‘Vulnicura’ wound sleeves, designed by M/M, Paris. “Krampfhaft is someone I have been listening to for few years adoring his hyperbeauty, orchid techno I nickname it in the
vein of plaid and others: brave enough to take joy on in the often rather apocalyptic
environment of electronic music” - Björk. “I was very honoured to be part of this, although it was a pretty daunting task to
rework a song with such an intimate topic! As the original is very stripped down, all
I could think of doing was adding in [even more] tension and drama. So I layered the
whole track on to a bed of heavily compressed cloth movement and gradually built up
the tension from there.” - Kramphaft

With his friendly and sometimes melancholic manner, DJ Koze is one of the most remarkable players in today's club landscape and one of the few internationally active DJs who are also relevant outside of dance music. For his 70-minute journey for the anniversary edition of the "DJ Kicks" series, "Kosi Kos" manages to give the mix its own timbre despite the various styles represented: be it the pared-down hip-hop of Madlib, brutal Berghain techno, timeless songwriting, flowing indie pop and tracks that oscillate between absurdity and melancholy. "I didn't want to shine with knowledge," Koze says, "but rather bring together some gems that make sense to people who aren't necessarily music nerds." It should fit together harmoniously: "The idea was to create the impression of a radio show, like John Peel used to do. A huge cosmos of music rushing through my filter." For fans of DJ Koze, Recondite, Mount Kimbie, Four Tet, Caribou, Matthew Dear, Simian Mobile Disco, Apparat, Efdemin.