Garage | 2Step | UK Funky | Bassline 32 Items

The Streets’ first two albums ‘Original Pirate Material’ and ‘A Grand Don’t Come For Free’ helped to make the UK hip-hop/garage scene a force to be reckoned with on a global scale, and established Mike Skinner as a lyricist with a gift for delivering insightful observations about everyday life. Long out of print, both albums will be repressed and released on double vinyl on March 30th.

‘A Grand Don’t Come For Free’ emerged two years after their breakthrough debut album and The Streets had already become an international phenomenon. This time around, Mike Skinner constructed an album with an on-going narrative that was by turns hilarious, touching and energising. ‘Dry Your Eyes’ became The Streets’ first #1 single, while ‘Fit But You Know It’ and ‘Blinded By The Lights’ both hit the Top 10.

On his latest full-length, Low End Activist swerves towards weightless grime and suspended hardcore miniatures to tell a very personal story. The UK-rooted producer continues his habit of zeroing in on a distinct approach for each release, leaving a logical breadcrumb trail of soundsystem science in his wake as he channels decades of bass absorption into 14 atmospheric cuts that prize patience and precision over obvious club functionality.

Municipal Dreams plays out as a semi-autobiographical tour through the Blackbird Leys estate that the Activist grew up on. It’s a lived reflection on inequality and the ripple effect it has in working class communities, using the sonic palette to set the mood and scattering pointed samples throughout to spell out the story.

In sampling the exhaust of a stolen Subaru Impreza, ‘TWOC’ looks back to the recreational car theft which was standard entertainment for the kids in his community. There’s an underlying idea that this ‘council estate sport’ wouldn’t have been so prevalent if there were public services and opportunities presented to the scores of disaffected youth looking for somewhere to direct their energy and frustration.

In ‘Just A Number (Institutionalised)’ LEA alludes to the shattered juvenile detention system, growing up seeing friends and family members locked up at ease with little to no support on being released back into society, just meant that the same cycles of behaviour would play out over and over.

‘Violence’ samples from a short film shot by the drama division of the Blackbird Leys Youth Club to evoke the physical threat which formed a background hum to life on the estate. The industrial mechanics of the local car factory, which served an integral role as a workplace for many in the community, gets sampled in ‘They Only Come Out At Night’ while the ‘Everyone I look up to are either junkies or criminals’ sample in ‘Broke’ looks to a lack of positive role models.

Municipal Dreams isn’t a one-note indictment of life on the estate, ‘Innocence’ captures the simplicity of a child at birth before their environment has time to shape them. The Hope interludes cut through the grim honesty of the longer tracks while a subtle thread of wry humour finds its way into some of the talking heads cutting through the signature LEA murk.

But honesty is the operative word here, and the message feels all the more meaningful at a time when the UK’s social divisions are laid bare in the wake of a devastating stretch of austerity. Returning to Blackbird Leys to shoot images for the photo-zine and album cover, the Activist found the local community centre being demolished. The local pub stands derelict, its faded Welcome sign a grimly ironic portent of the options facing children of the estate in the wider world.

Funnelling his memories, hopes and fears into a singular twist on the bass weight tradition, LEA captures evocative scenes that land somewhere between kitchen sink realism and rave futurism.

Uvb-76 Music presents Mesmerism a new 2 x 12'' LP produced by Lucid Dreams aka Overlook This release will transport listeners into a realm of hypnotic beats and atmospheric soundscapes, showcasing an experimental take on Overlook's signature style.

Live artist Innellea dropped his limited vinyl deluxe album. ‘The Belonging’ including two bonus tracks, poster and colored vinyls. The LP forms part of a conceptual storytelling project. The album features focus track ‘Shelter’ w. CamelPhat & Monolink, along with diverse and significant collabs with Grammy winner Flowdan, Swedish indie singer/songwriter Karin Park, live musician Juan Hansen. Additionally the deluxe vinyl album includes Innellea´s feature with Paris Paloma 'under Earth'.

With an intrigue for a particular niche of old UK hardcore which takes cues from Sheffield bleep ambience, heady rave futurism and soft, almost new age synth pads, Blank Mind presents ‘Lost Paradise: Blissed Out Hardcore 91-94’. Though the records gathered for the compilation span a short three-year period and bridge the gap between scenes, the collection manages to find a sweet spot where the influence of Warp’s Artificial Intelligence, back room chill out sonics and the nascent jungle boom meet with elements of Italian piano house and slower breakbeat cuts. Opting to focus on atmosphere to highlight shared connections; in this case the duality of often serene and calming soundscapes with frenzied breaks and bass (see Hedgehog Affair’s ‘Parameters’ and Luxury’s ‘Twirl’ respectively); Lost Paradise is a formidable collection of tracks plucked from a thriving time for British dance music experimentation. The general themes of ascension and escapism channelled through digital samplers are also inescapably linked to a turbulent time in politics, beginning in the post-Thatcher years and culminating in the year the harshest anti-rave Criminal Justice Act came into force. Initially building the compilation around DJ Mayhem’s track ‘Inesse’, Blank Mind label founder Sam Purcell and Amsterdam based producer Tammo Hesselink began a process of swapping favourites and deep cuts to spread across this 2x12” doublepack. The compilation avoids any obvious centrepieces through masterful sequencing, allowing for moments of refrain and tempo changes in a way that helps add to their overall vision of what this music is and can be; “We wanted to frame hardcore in a different light, looking at this idea of ecstasy through the traditional meaning of the word and exploring that symbolism”. By drawing from what some might consider the softer edges of the movement, the pair offer a look into the relevance of these tracks in the contemporary era, where the past years have seen both an explosion in popularity of old ambient/new-age music and a certified jungle revival.

Putting a pigeon amongst the cats we are back with that good shit. An out of step, incidental artifact of peaceful sophistry: YS - Brutal Flower (2 x “12 LP). A no airs and graces piece of cool future-proof ambience. A modern ballad for brave young clubbers, local pubbers, slipstream warriors, and emotional doggers. The distinctive aesthetic hallmarks of YS are all here: slabs of urban flavor from emotional interior; raw data straight from the interface. ‘Untethered’ and ‘Down’ are chopped-up cuts of searching R’n’B - jaded jams of lustful erasure. On the flipside, blunted desire lingers in ‘Fading Memory’. Both hopeful and mourning: this is the lay of the land in Brutal Flowers sharing that rare strain of underground synesthesia best located in dark undercurrents of early Mo Wax. The orchestral ambience of ‘Autumn Ost’ is a potent stupor of end credit cinematics. Coming up for air. It feels young in an ancient sort of way: pure as first snow. And from here in the album unfolds with the patience, tranquility and the expansive poise of a work that is for now and always. Pulsating gently to assured ending with ‘Be Together’ - a flickering skyline, swarming with warm memories. In between there’s flashes of heartbreak reminiscent of Beltran's Ten Days of Blue and Blunt’s Stone Island (‘Look Up’ feels like a sort of spiritual successor to ‘Wake up’), that being said, when push comes to shove it only it ever flirts with its own reality. An aesthetic reflection of a creative process that is delicate and restless. Created in the edges, where long distances, fast cities and global melancholia are wrought large. Burning the midnight oil Berlin-Singapore style: from real to reel. A sentimental exercise of modern faith by old friends. With a nudge and a wink, Brutal Flowers is a (de)coded map of memories wavering with familiar intrigue. Patient listeners and the already initiated will be rewarded on re-visits - as playful & profound as you please, as deep as the heart. The scathe that cuts is clean and deep. There are no sleight of hands to be found in this opus, only hearts are worn on the sleeve here. A hill we’d gladly die on. Pace & luv,

Chrome-plated sound design and bristling textures frame the latest speculative sci-fi experiment from Xao, meshing sonic concepts inspired by Rabit, Visionist and Lotic into the cybernetic scapes of Hyph11E or Algorave proponent Renick Bell.

Xao has been working alongside the C.A.N.V.A.S. label since the beginning, and his second album builds on the promise of 2019's Astral Black-released "Eternal Care Unit", by burying some of his most recognisable inspirations into an algorithmic shimmer of vaporous sound design and cyborg percussion. The roots of ‘Wirehead’ can be traced to the mid 2010s obsession with shaping global club echoes and videogame FX into music that accurately scored our descent into digital dystopia, but Xao makes a clear link between those ideas and the brain-fried cyberpunk vistas of William Gibson. His guiding theme is the idea of the contemporary digital attention economy with its algorithmically-powered tidal wave of content, and the mental states that follows - employing procedural and algorithmic compositional methods to shatter this status quo, reaching in the direction of a proposed "digital spirituality" in the process.

On opening track 'Bone Theory', he burns fragments of death metal into warped airlock club stumbles, welding evocative, clanging sound design to tempered forms of weightless grime and gravel-throated trap. 'Aqua Tofana' is more fucked, sounding like a frosted-glass take on Autechre's latter day post-electro rhythms, or an algorithm-warped AI rendition of Lanark Artefax's 'Touch Absence', while 'Hyperfixate For Me' stutters barely-audible vocals beneath cracked Vladislav delayed percussion and the corrupted data throb of guitar noise and loopy synthesis.

The rest of the album plays like a Johnny Mnemonic-style braindump: the last few years of underground electronic music melted into a frayed patchwork of textures, rhythms and sonic signifiers. It comes to a head on 'I Wed My Shadow', when opera singer Marie Requa Gailey's voice just about cuts through the static like a candle in the dark, making the escape route from the techno dystopia just about visible. Moments later we're exposed to the corrosive 'Ophanim Plushie' - all jazz clatter and anodised rolls, accompanied by drones and squashed breaks that barely make it off the surface. By the time we reach the album's final track 'Threnody for the Child of Omelas', it’s all repair and recovery, twisting beatless echoes from strangled neural networks into blankets of aesthetic warmth.

Wirehead is a smart album that fits well into the deconstructed club/post-club lineage, deploying hyperkinetic sound design and a whelming flux of feelings echoing contemporary classics in its progressive field by TCF or Lee Gamble or indeed the same algo-powered artificiality as James Ferraro, or even the hyperpop set, fused with nu-metal and dembow somewhere between Arca and Oxhy.

A second instalment of the best-selling UKG compilation of all time, returns with a stunning stack of high value collectible classics on DJ friendly vinyl.

Pure Garage Collectible Classics Volume 2 is jam packed full of funky UKG flavas from legends of the scene including Zed Bias, Anthill Mob & Scott Garcia remastered and cut to two slices of heavyweight black vinyl.

The platinum selling compilation brand needs no introduction and these first ever exclusive boutique vinyl releases are truly something very special.

Kicking off this compilation is a collaboration between Zed Bias & KC, the Let Me Know (Zed Bias Remix) is a pumping UKG stomper featuring a catch vocal hook & succulently squelchy analogue bassline. Taken All My Time by Industry Standard features the soulful vocals of Abi, this is the DJ Deller Mix, copies of which have been selling for three figure sums on the resellers market!

The flip side opens with another high value sought after track, Strictly Dubs with Realise. Followed by a tune that received an extremely limited release back in the UK Garage heyday of 1997. I Need You Baby by Underground Solutions is selling on reseller sites for as much as £70!

Anthill Mob come with the goods on side C with Blinded, a must for any UKG DJ set, backed up with Special Request from DJ Double G.

We keep up the pressure on side D with Groove Committee’s track Heat + Soul, a prime example of UK Garage with pumpin' vocal snippets and funky sampled loops. Finally, this release closes with a Waiting by Scott Garcia which previously got a very limited vinyl release back in 1997.

A solo project from Cairo underground fixture Youssef Abouzeid (aka Captain Solo and Yzeid), PanSTARRS is described as a "sensitive synthwave" project and comes across like a fluffed-up Suicide or an Arabic-language answer to Cold Cave.

Multi-instrumentalist, producer, effects pedal designer and the founder of Cairo's avant garde artspace and label Hizz, Youssef Abouzeid mutates into a new form on "Batee2", feeling his way thru a coarse set of reverb-drenched darkwave/no wave jams that nod to Suicide, Das Ding, and more modern proponents like Cold Cave and Lust For Youth. Singing in Arabic, Abouzeid avoids traditional song forms in favor of more punkish expressions, squealing forcefully over rolling analog synthesizers and blown-out drum machines.

PanSTARRS has been a prolific project for Abouzeid in Cairo, and his workshopping of these tracks has helped make the album feel completely coherent and unified. There's a distinct, hyper-saturated sound to each song that removes Abouzeid a step or so from his influences, giving him a space to work in that feels fertile and kinetic. It's a pleasure to absorb.

Record has some hairlines.
Label cover.

Released in 2016 on double splatter color vinyl (one is yellow and the other is light blue), this 15-song album is full of dubstep, EDM, & larger than life electronic beats. Includes "paracosm" with THE Glitch MOB. Stock due in 1-2 weeks.

The London-based producer has joined the likes of Mumdance, Batu and Bruce in redefining the traditional confines of UK Bass music. His forward-leaning experimentalism and unconventional take on grime takes a step forward in the realm of the dance floor, creating an abstract universe where no predictable structures seem to exist. Resident DJ on Threads Radio known for his eclectic selection of tracks and exclusives, working through an array of styles and influences that span from 90’s rave, grime, techno, drum n bass and odd ambient rarities. J-Shadow’s tracks have been played by relevant radio hosts such as Tom Ravenscroft, Sherelle and Anz.

"Following on our first EP, 'Collisions', we wanted to explore the use of modular synths, and also hardware, in more depth. Exordium was crafted from countless modular jams, passed back and forth between London and Liege, and polished into a piece of work that captures our love for club music, with an experimental edge. We wanted to get out for a moment from the 170 which we are a bit more known for. Hopefully you will enjoy this exploration into our shared sound and influences as much as we enjoyed creating it." - Fearful & Mtwn

Finnish producer Desto returns to Rwina to deliver his first full length album, ‘Emptier Streets’. As with his previous releases on the Dutch label, Desto strips the music back to its bare-bone essentials, fulfilling the album’s title with a sound that’s spacious and eerie, bleak and punishing yet still offers warmth in its apparent coldness. Stylistically the album is most obviously aligned with the aesthetics of Dirty South hip hop and the dubstep diaspora, deploying booming drums, rolling hats and cold synthetic melodies and voices inside cavernous sonic landscapes.

No one can doubt that Lightnin' Hopkins is the king of Texas country blues. P-vine is reissuing on LP for the first time in 35 years the classic album, which was originally released on Crown in 1961 and is a compilation of Modern/Kent recordings from 1950-51, one of the pinnacles of the Lonesome & Dirty Blues world. With its deep, withering vocals, which sometimes sounded even terrific, and a guitar that moved nimbly and uninhibitedly, this is one of Lightnin's top-class recordings in his storytelling style. No one can escape the devilish charm of these dense blues.

Vinyl with a couple of light scuffs, close to VG+. Stamped white label.

Small light scuff on side B.
Records are close to VG+

Still sealed, but cover has light ring wear.

Orange vinyl. Still sealed with hype sticker. Tiny corner wear.

Vinyl was made in two versions - black and limited to 100 copies black&white vinyl. Both 180g.

The debut album from our specialist in bass sounds from Wrocław - TVB. AAfter many bootlegs and two acclaimed EPs (including official Sam Binga remix), the time has come for the official cross-genres long play, where, apart from solo tracks, there are many vocal guests - Mila, Bryndal, Cheeba, Krzaquu, Marceli Bober and JupiJej. An amazing mix of experienced MCs with a new generation of artists.

"The Very Bass" LP is a fresh club sound inspired by the British wave of bass music, which resulted in a mix of 2step, UK garage, dubstep and drum'n'bass.

"Blue Lightnin'" is an album by legendary blues musician Lightnin' Hopkins recorded in Texas in 1965 and released on Stan Lewis' Jewel Records in 1967. This album has long been acclaimed as a masterpiece, capturing the aesthetics of Lightnin' Dirty Blues. Instead of the widely circulated jacket design featuring a colour photograph of Lightnin' himself, we now present it in a rare jacket design featuring another photograph which is now rarely seen, and is all blue. These little differences is one of the pleasures of digging reissue vinyls.

Nicknamed “The Sleeping Giant” by B.B. King, Lowell Fulson is one of the finest bluesmen to ever come out of Oklahoma. Tramp, his second effort from legendary blues label Kent Records, sees Fulson at his honey-toned best. The opener and title track “Tramp” is arguably Fulson’s most popular song - a funk blues cut which initially peaked at number five on Billboard’s R&B Charts before becoming a minor hit for Otis Redding and Carla Thomas (who would take it to number two on that very same chart) just a single month later. Across twelve tracks, Fulson’s playing is constantly funky, constantly bluesy, and constantly amazing. Don’t miss a single moment - reissued on limited edition monophonic vinyl, this record sounds simply fantastic.