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1999…after the global supremacy of Oasis and Blur, the world is looking for some musical freshness. Some artists such as Daft Punk and Air have already contributed to globally popularise what the English called the “French Touch", a new term that refers to a large musical French movement. The first album of Cassius is one of the key pieces of this growing genre, and demonstrates once again the variety of the trend. Indeed, after have cooperated for a long time with MC Solaar, one of France’s 90’s best rappers, the hip-hop influence of both Cassius members had to have an impact on their personal concept, and it did seduce a lot of listeners hungry for new musical flavours: more than 250 000 units sold worldwide and numerous unconditional fans…Before the release of their new album Ibifornia coming out this summer, we’re taking you back to basics with a new release of Cassius’ first album, for the ones who didn’t have the opportunity to hear it, or for those who only have the CD, and would like to get themselves the vinyl edition !

HHV and Too Good are happy to present this exclusive color run of 1000 red copies of Tommy Guerreros 2014 album "No Mans Land". Back in print for the first time. Only at HHV. As a special treat you can pick up the poster with the artwork of this album in our bonus section.

Childhood Intelligence’s 18th release by ADSR aka. Todd Nickolas & Dominic Paterson from Toronto, Canada. The 2x12” album presents mostly tracks written and produced by Todd, with A1/D1 being in collaboration with Paterson. "Give a teenager in a rural Canadian setting an analog synthesizer, a drum machine and a four-track cassette recorder and feed him a steady diet of 80s EBM, Post-Punk, Synthpop, Electro, Dub, Acid, Hip Hop and House, and you’ll get the kind of genre melding electronic-based music that Todd Nickolas has been known for since his early days of writing and producing." The end result is a versatile one, with “Passive Articulation” presenting abstract Techno - House - Electro visions, and fusing all the elements of vintage Intelligent Dance Music that we cherish so much: warm basslines, beautiful chord progressions, diverse and surprising arrangements infused with haunting melodies, hypnotic cyber sounds, detached vocal cuts and dubbed percussion.…Overall fresh & timeless classiness for the present, past & future.

Recorded various locations New Hamburg, Kitchener-Waterloo, Ottawa, Toronto, San Francisco and Los Angeles. ADSR greatly thanks those who were there from the start, those who joined along the journey and those here now.

Sen Am is an enduring and tender album, rich and beguiling and generous in a quiet way. Over the last few years, I find myself returning to it, listening and absorbing, reflecting on the voices and working through the multiple layers of feelings and themes it announces with confidence and equanimity. Notions of care and contradiction, expressions of joy and desire and the underlying feeling of unease and turmoil; there is an urgent appeal to the listener for generosity, to strengthen our capacity to hear multiple voices simultaneously, to exist in multiple places at once.

Duval Timothy’s music was dropped into our world from another realm sometime in the spring of 2017. We received the call and we answered it. The rhythm and spirit was transmitted via London’s NTS Radio on the Do!! You!!! Breakfast Show with Charlie Bones and a short while later we were listening to the first vinyl edition of Sen Am in our living room in Berlin. The record got a lot of plays (at home and at some shows, before and after performances). It was like sunlight filtering through a cracked window and remaining there for a moment, dancing. Blue music emanating from a liminal zone, an in-between space, somewhere on the outskirts of Freetown, or rural Sierra Leone, or the outer edges of South London, or Bath, UK, or some undisclosed orbit, unfixed location. The music is soaked in diasporic experiences. It refuses to settle but still invites us to enter and stay awhile in that zone, where multiple forms exist (all) together with jazz, hip-hop, various strands of expressive electronics and experimental music all breathing together and moving around. It is a portal to a place of possibilities, a space for building and repairing possible and lost connections. But life in that liminal zone is precarious; it is life under duress; under pressure – not merely the pressure to produce a presentable, categorizable, and salable body of work, but the pressure that compels us to experiment and create new concepts and things that will help us imagine a different existence, a way out of the turbulence.

Freetown is a marvellous and sometimes sad place. It is one of those unmistakable locations inscribed diasporic memory; a place that touches you, a place that holds you and demands you bear witness: witness to pain, poverty, joy and desire. You remember the voices and the eyes of people even in momentary encounters. In Sen Am, you hear not only Duval’s recollections and sounds of Freetown, you hear family and friendship, people coming together and forming bonds, creating surrogate families. Forging community wherever you go is a practice, and community is at the core of this music. It’s in all the voices, from Emmerson and 6pac to Aminata and Aruna. It opens up a space for Black voices, for Sierra Leonean voices, and those voices extend through the succeeding projects, the 2 Sim EP and the album Help, and all that radiates from Duval’s Carrying Colour imprint.

Thank you for the invitation to write about the album Sen Am, on the occasion of its re-release which also coincides with the release of the exquisite double 7” Smɔl Smɔl with cktrl — a wonderful piece which calls on the listener to play both records at the same time to hear the music or play them separately and hear different versions. Duval is strengthening us, encouraging us to feel comfortable with discomfort, with incompleteness, with the hard-to-understand. This is a beautiful thing.

A new duo launches by the name of Ghost Vision. Joining forces with an introspective, uplifting debut slice on Kompakt, the pair are two well-known figures Thomas Gandey aka Cagedbaby, member of Matom alongside Matt Edwards, and Daniel McLewin, half of UK-based production duo Psychemagik. Fruit of these blissful moments when no imaginary wall obstructs the vision and the stream of consciousness gives up to the entrancing magic of the creative flow, 'Saturnus' is an upright mano a mano between two musicians and their gear, unchained from all preconceptions and biases; real (machine) talk as the hip-hop heads would say.

A download code is included. Musically and emotionally, Superpitcher’s third full-length studio album, The Golden Ravedays is a one sound autobiography that exhibits the skill, feeling and depth of style that the artist has honed over a period of twenty years, musically, and forty-plus-years, emotionally. The Golden Ravedays is an epic album of 24 tracks that was released in January 2017 and is stretching over 12 respective chapter albums during a one-year period by record label, HippieDance. We are thrilled to bring you the third chapter of The Golden Ravedays saga, released in March 2017. Number 3 of the series introduces two further tracks of the haunting sound adventure that Superpitcher is taking his fans on during 2017.

As the years go by, the ranks of Degiheugi's fans continue to swell: each time a new solid-gold disc is added to their already impressive discography, the result is a unique and impressive work in the French beatmaking landscape.

Endless smile, the sixth instalment, once again proves to be a great vintage, immediately limpid, but above all long in the mouth, charged with intense melodic persistence and loops that take the ear hostage.

And what a variety of aromas in the art of sampling: languorous strings, oriental flutes, bouncy brass, exotic percussion, intimate piano, samples of antediluvian blues or forgotten French chanson. This Grand Ouest varietal finds its perfect balance in a classic, timeless hip-hop spirit that runs like a red thread throughout the album.

When other beatmakers give in too quickly to the sirens of the dancefloor, Degiheugi always transports us back to his first hip-hop loves, for the pure pleasure of the “beautiful loop”. And he knows how to surround himself with the right people: his guests, whether faithful compatriots (Ghostown, Andrre, Astrid Van Peetersen) or newcomers (Ceschi, Josh Martinez), join in the party with high-flying featurings. The album title sounds like a prophecy: smile eternally as you listen to Degiheugi.

/ industrial lies

No Hype Crew is a new collaboration project between two of Source Materials main stays - Nonentity and Ole Mic Odd. United by their love of hardware, the four tracks here have been created through bouncing ideas and building on live jams between their studios in Aberdeen, Scotland and Los Angeles. This one dives deep into the emotive side of electro whilst still holding onto that raw edge you would expect from both artists solo work.

Old school Hip-Hop-infused Electro. High speed madness.

Glitch in the Colors” is the debut full-length vinyl release by Useless Idea, aka Italian artist and producer, Cesare Bignotti. Useless Idea debuted on Suction Records in 2021, with a limited-to-300 12-inch sampler (alongside Bignotti’s alter-ego Seven Nights Alone), which Bleep.com named as their “EP of the Week” upon release, writing “Useless Idea’s widescreen array of hazy synthesized atmospheres, intricate samples and processed recordings … conjure thoughts of a fictional past in another dimension.” With previous under-the-radar cassette album releases on WéMè Records (2018’s “Acid Hologram”) and Eves Music (2020’s “Xa Peh”), Useless Idea has been quietly recording his own brand of inventive, playful, and melodic IDM/braindance for more than 20 years. We’ve been slowly compiling Glitch in the Colors for several years now, and the result is a varied, yet cohesive, collection of instrumental electronic beat-scapes recorded over the span of 13 years, with influences ranging from the classic braindance sound of Aphex Twin and Cylob, to the hazy hip-hop electronica of Boards Of Canada, but with a depth of programming and sound design that is all his own. From the melancholy, orchestral hip hop of the title track, to the videogame symphonics of “Yster Know”, to the delicate piano-house reductionism of “Moon Dog”, the scope and variety found on Glitch in the Colors is a revelation. 2x12” vinyl LP is limited to 500 copies, with 100 copies on pink-vinyl, and adorned with the artist’s own original artwork (Bignotti is an accomplished, and highly sought-after, visual artist). Comes with a Bandcamp download card.

Dublin-based producer Moving Still further blends both his Saudi Arabian and Irish heritage on 'Kalam Hub', a triumphant new EP that marks the fifth release on CWPT/Cooking With Palms Trax. Following a series of 12” edits and original productions that have put his sounds in the record bags of DJs including Hunee, Nabihah Iqbal and Esa Williams, 'Kalam Hub' presents an ambitious expansion of the Moving Still sound, delving into his identity and background to open up imaginative, universal new corners for club culture.

This potent musicality is immediately evident from the first notes of 'Kunafa King'. Taking its title from a traditional Arabic dessert, analogue midi sounds deliver a skewed take on the traditional Saudi rhythms of the artist's youth, before expanding into a wistful diversion for any self-respecting dance floor. It's a trick Moving Still pulls off again on the pulsing 'Hayati 89', which transforms from a traditional aesthetic into a blistering, neon-tinted Italo banger, the kind of track designed to compliment an accelerated spin in the car gracing the eye-catching cover of ‘Kalam Hub’, a collaboration with the artist alongside Manchester-based graphic design studio, Dr. Me.

Concluding the record's A-side, the rhythms take a trippier turn for the duration of 'La Titasil Feeya'. Translating to “don't call me!” and making sonic reference to teenage years immersed in rock, metal and general angst, it unfolds as something akin to Middle East-tinted techno with a formidable kick drum, before exploding in colourful, organic breakbeats. Immediately on the flip, the sense of wonder returns in a sonic mirage for 'My Bosa Is For You', weightless rhythms blending with an electric organ and charming, lightly psychedelic breakdowns.

Further sonic tricks fall from Moving Still's delicately-tailored sleeves on 'Haram Odyssey', where an almost impossibly tight bass line provides the function for contrasting synthesis and unpredictable percussion, drawing parallels between the sometimes confusing aspects of the artist's dual-cultural life as a child, through to the music he makes as an adult. Fittingly, the record concludes with ‘Kalam Hub', a triumph of minimalist percussion and traditional instrumentation that pays tender tribute to the Moving Still's grandmother, translating simply to “Love Talk”.

White 140 G Vinyl, 33 rpm, printed 3mm spine Sleeve made of recyclable Bagasse carboard (made of sugar cane,linen & hemp) , black dust inner, cello, 60mm circle front sticker. E.VAX - the project of Ratatat’s Evan Mast - announces his new, self-titled album via Because Music,. Performing as half of Ratatat for more than the last decade, Mast’s music has reached an enormous audience with its bombastic merge of rock and electronic music, as well as through his parallel work as a hip-hop producer for artists such as Kanye West, Kid Cudi, and Jay-Z . His new solo album, E.VAX is a collection of instrumental songs, dolloped with moments of exploratory dialogue, disembodied moments that are equally disorienting and moving. The throughline between the songs on his new album is not a certain signature sound, but Mast’s feel as a producer. Though one song may lean heavier on snappy drums and another on the coo of an organ, they all share a similar sensibility. The songs are sincere, playful, inviting, curious, and contemplative—all characteristics of Mast himself. For this album, Mast loosened his attitude towards production, looking to capture some of the excitement of creation. He recorded at home, and then midway through the pandemic he spent time in Montana, recording in a friend’s art gallery. The blank space and isolation after so much studio time in close quarters allowed for a new looseness. He’d play songs at the wrong speed to see how it changed what he heard, or deliberately leave a melody untouched for months and then improvise over it after playing it anew for the first time. Unable to get lost in real life, he got lost in music. “I used to be way more precious,” Mast says about the album.

After his successful debut album Super Vato (CÓMEME CD LP 01) from two thousand eleven, his highly praised mix CD Momento Drive (KOMPAKT CD 117) from two thousand fourteen, and all-around mayhem during his adventures as one half of the Pachanga Boys, Xalapa's finest Rebolledo returns with his second solo album Mondo Alterado: a recollection of moments and experiences from recent years, colorful mnemonics encompassing the brightest and the darkest.

Jean-Baptiste de Laubier, aka Para One, has always been an hyperactive guy. He first started as no-nonsense hip-hop producer in the mid-nineties, making beats for undeground rap artists. His recording studio was actually his one-room apartment in Southern Paris, where MCs were coming on a daily basis, crammed around a mic, an MPC and a battered convertible.

At the turn of the century, he began producing his own instrumental tracks and soon got in touch with the TTC people, then at the core of the burgeoning French indie rap scene. This was the beginning of a new exploration in sound for him : from traditional rap, Para One switched to IDM and techno-infused beats, fizzing with 8-bits FX and deconstructed grooves.

After TTC’s first LP Ceci n’est pas un disque, in 2002, for Ninja Tune’s rap sublabel Big Dada, Para produced L’Atelier’s (an indie rap supergroup) album for seminal Parisian label Institubes, with his boy Tacteel, whom with he also started a live electronic project named FuckALoop.
In 2003 came the massive « Beatdown EP », and then TTC’s 2nd album in 2004, Bâtards Sensibles, two records that definitely proved how rap attitude and electronic wizardry could be melt into one single sound – an idea many people didn’t quite buy at the time. In 2005, Laubier graduated from the FEMIS film school, and found the time to start working on his first solo LP, the critically acclaimed Epiphanie, that came out in 2006 on Institubes.

"Unklevon announces debut ‘UN1C’ LP on Boysnoize Records.

The album consists of 11 tracks and features collaborations with Boys Noize, Alina Pash, Maral, Vel and DJ MELL G

The title track of Unklevon’s ‘UN1C’ album starts with a steady snare-heavy beat, foreboding atmospherics and a futuristic vocal. It introduces the France-based producer’s Detroit-inspired electro LP and also marks his debut full-length, landing on Boysnoize Records, a label Unklevon’s been affiliated with since 2022.

For the second track on Unklevon’s ‘UN1C’ LP, the International Chrome & Nechto artist is joined by Maral for ‘Bag Secured’, adding her sensual vocals to a raw cut featuring rough synthlines and racing rhythm. ‘Science Club’ then continues with infectious and hypnotic energy driven by a deep, earworm vocal before ‘Speed Chains’ picks up pace with speedy basslines and rhythms shot through with bleeps.

Ukranian singer Alina Pash infuses Unklevon’s ‘High Key’ with fantastic modern hip-hop flair, with ‘All 4 Homies’ returning to the club with cut-up sampling and tripped-out electro sonics. Boysnoize Records’ Boys Noize also teams up with Unklevon for ‘Spa8cid’, a menacing dancefloor heavy-hitter which eases into the acid madness of ‘Miami South Express’ which follows.

Next up, Unklevon and Vel drop the aptly named ‘Transed About U’, a true peak-time roller boasting hypnotic trance-like gated vocals, with German electro superstar DJ MELL G joining him for ‘Wizard Snakes’, taking a more classical approach with rich synth lines and crisp drum work. Closing out this fantastic first album from a promising name in the global electro spheres is ‘Call Me Von’, another amped-up, bass-laden track ready to rock the warehouse."

Limited 4LP in gatefold sleeve with OBI strip. Semi-fast cut by Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios. Includes MP3 downloads. Photography by Miguel Atwood-Ferguson. Layout by Adam Stover.

Miguel Atwood-Ferguson lives in his hometown of Los Angeles and is one of the preeminent musicians, orchestrators, arrangers and composers of our time. "Les Jardins Mystiques Vol.1" is his long-awaited debut album. It presents us with a passionate declaration of love and a realm of beautiful possibilities.

There are plenty of ways to approach Miguel Atwood-Ferguson's music - and there are no limits to where it could take someone. As a composer, arranger, multi-instrumentalist and producer, he has worked on more than 600 albums and soundtracks for cross-genre artists:inside, including Flying Lotus, Thundercat, Anderson .Paak, Mary J. Blige or Seu Jorge. His sonic palette spans jazz, classical, hip-hop, electronica, avant-garde, pop and more. His acclaimed live and recording projects include the innovative orchestral reinterpretation of J Dilla's repertoire, "Suite For Ma Dukes" (2009), his prolific works with longtime friend and collaborator Carlos Niño, including the improvised album, "Chicago Waves" (2020), on International Anthem, and his groups such as Quartetto Fantastico and the Miguel Atwood-Ferguson Ensemble. "Les Jardins Mystiques" is a project that reveals and shares Miguel Atwood-Ferguson's musical universe. It has evolved over a dozen years, largely financed by himself, and showcases his distinctly elegant musicianship (on violin, viola, cello and keyboards, among others) and free-spirited dialogues with more than 50 instrumentalists. Volume 1' is only the first part of a planned triptych that will comprise a total of ten and a half hours of original and refreshingly expansive music. Atwood-Ferguson connected with his guest musicians in a variety of ways: through convivial studio dialogue, through long-distance communication during the pandemic, and through the energy of live performances in his hometown, including at the Del Monte Speakeasy (the delightfully invigorating piano-accompanied "Dream Dance") and the Bluewhale (including "Ano Yo" with the spirited alto sax of Devin Daniels and the cosmic harmonies of "Cho Oyu"). Bennie Maupin, the legendary US multi-wind instrumentalist whose repertoire includes Miles Davis' fusion opus "Bitches Brew", plays bass clarinet on the ravishing opening number "Kiseki". Throughout his illustrious career, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson has worked with artists such as Rihanna, Ray Charles, Lana Del Rey, Lady Gaga, Anderson .Paak, Dr. Dre, Kamasi Washington, Mary J. Blige, will.i. am, Big Boi, Arthur Verocai, Bonobo, Lianne La Havas, Kaytranada, Moses Sumney, Seu Jorge, Common, The Roots, The Cinematic Orchestra, Jamael Dean, Shafiq Husayn, Adrian Younge & Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Carlos Niño, Bilal and many more.

Originally released on the Sprüngkartellwachs label (and highly sought after) now comes as a rerelease on Mat Carter’s own Varial label.

A four track track ep striding electro, techno, down beat and new wave flavours. ‘Raspmutal’ kicks things of with spaced out techno flair, offering a mutating analogue mover, constructed with large systems in mind. Driving dancefloor fodder laden with spiralling dub-wise effects. ‘Downturn’ follows with a finely tuned piece of liquid electro. Stripped down and turbo-charged this twists and turns through fragmented beats and lush melodies, creating a sublime and fluid mix.

‘Fullow Street’ is a bundle of down tempo leftfield beatism inspired by hot humid nights in huge cities. A blissed out journey through hazy hip-hop beats and lush, glistening electronics. ‘Process’ completes the ep with dancefloor delight that has more than a nod towards the timeless, analogue sounds of experimental new wave and electrodisco. Beats build into a shimmering eighties-tinged workout, with wave upon wave of gorgeous keys.

/ dub version

Picture disc close to NM. Generic protective sleeve with sticker

Modern Power electronics...TIP!!

Philipp Matalla lives and works in the triangle of Halle, Leipzig and Berlin, in Germany. He has previously released music on labels such as Optimo Music, Kann and Kashual Plastik. His new album on Meakusma delves into some of the themes that have so far defined his work, this time increasing the tension between moments of musical harshness and flickers of introspection, ease and downright beauty. Matalla aims not for perfection, instead deploying the listener's sense of imagination. His work toys with the notion of abstraction in electronic music, often going as far cutting short melodic and other ideas, making for a confrontational stance unafraid of leaving his material in a state of difficult to define rawness, based on versatile ingredients equally rooted in rural and urban territory. Stakes is a gorgeous and gorgeously far out album, integrating elements of psychedelic rock and dub, blending in melodic ideas that are at times abstracted, at times soothing. It is pastoral music for the digital age, where raw bursts of noise and energy dislocate and set the record straight. There is even a croonerish feel to some of its tracks, croonerish from a distorted future that is. Stakes is an experience in eclecticism and musical logic. It dissolves structures and ideas and turns musically recognisable elements on their head.

Arkada records is excited to announce our 4th release - forthcoming split vinyl EP featuring the sounds of ADJ & Adrien d’Elzius.

We are very happy to present the first part of the EP with the unique sounds of one of the pioneering artists in the UK underground Electro scene, the label owner of Pyramid Transmissions - ADJ

ADJ originates from and is based in London. He has been playing Underground Electronic Music for over 35 years as a DJ, starting in the days of Early Electro and Hip Hop. He has also been producing and releasing music for 25 years, releasing over 200 tracks in this time on a plethora of labels including Touchin Bass,For Those That Knoe, Another Perspective, Ai, Outside, Cultivated Electronics,Yellow Machines, Crobot Muzik, Diffuse Reality, Netlabel ,Digital Distortions and more...has done remixes for Flint Kids, Scanone, LASynthesis, Carl Finlow, Fleck Esc, Arsonist Recorder , Paul Hierophant to name a few.

He has run the Pyramid Transmissions Record label with label partner Pathic for 20 years and also ran the Analogique record label for 5 years from 1995-2000 releasing Techno, Electro and Electronica as 3 Elements. ADJ also performed his first Live set in a few years in March 2020 Mutabor in Moscow.

As a DJ, he has played at many festivals including a Bloc residency, Glastonbury For Bloc, Bestival, Shambala, Infiltrate at WMC Miami. 2019 saw another tour of the US with Silicon Scally,Ben Milstein, Evac, Ion Driver and 214. He also runs the Dodo Club and Frequency Resonate(with Errorbeauty) nights in London and Berlin aswell as playing in Lille, Kiev, Moscow, St Petersburg Berlin,Zagreb,Athens, Napoli, Brussels, Budapest, Vienna, Valencia, Sofia, Paris and many more..

Second part of our EP presents the futuristic glitched-out sounds of the one of a kind Belgium producer Adrien d’Elzius also known under his allies HosmOz.

Adrien d’Elzius was born in the gloomy south of Belgium spending his youth hanging around in a camping and listening to Hip Hop, he started his life in a mess of paradox. At 10, he learned to play drums under his punk’s brother regard, and experimented different kind of rock until 18. That’s where someone showed him a track of Aphex Twin, who blew his mind and made him believe he had finally found the music that suited him. From there, he compulsively spend hours playing around with his computer and slowly made himself a place in the very small community of underground music lover of Brussels under the nickname hosmOz after winning a contest. From his melodic and acidic drill’n’bass beginning, his sound slowed down and got darker, challenging himself to try to create something he couldn’t before. He recently re-released his Lp on Diffuse Reality that make it available on physical form and also his debut album on Burial Soil with remixes by Umwelt and Lloyd Stellar.

Jealous Hours is the first full-length LP by the Tel-Aviv based DJ & producer Lily Haz. Featuring nine genre-bending tracks in her affirmed electro-dub style, Lily takes us for a tour in her obscure, ethereal universe where hip hop’s supremacy is undisputed. Flirting with the club realm while fearlessly determined in her style, each of one of her core influences is essential to this parallel universe. Out there, pitched-down rap verses top obscure beats and rolling liquid jungle drums ; extended intros and outros riffle through the whole spectrum of human emotion.

The story of IDM in the USA begins in Miami’ - Fact Mag

Control Freak Recordings are thrilled to be launching its new reissue sub-label with Soul Oddity’s Tone Capsule - a seminal electro/IDM classic from mid-90s Miami.

Originally released as a series of 3 EPs, the reissue compiles these into an album, newly remastered by Keith Tenniswood (Radioactive Man) - available digitally and, for the first time, on 2x12" LP album.

Soul Oddity marked the first outing for a pair of musicians who were instrumental in bringing the UK's post-rave IDM scene to the US. Having bonded over a love for the Warp output at the time, the pair fused this influence with the sound of their native Miami, where hip-hop, breaks and bass soundtracked a lively party scene.

A masterpiece of machine-driven, emotionally abstract storytelling, Tone Capsule rivals some of the best of 90s leftfield electronica. Twitchy beats and gloopy synth-funk are melded into jams that make for a seriously otherworldly listen - as forward-thinking now as it was in 1996.

This record kickstarts our new reissue sub label Capsule Freak - marking the beginning of our dive into the rich past of dance music history which has brought the scene we love to where it is today. We can’t think of a more fitting time capsule to begin this journey with - over two years in the making, we hope you find this release as wild and intriguing as we do.

All tracks written and produced by Romulo Del Castillo and Joshua Kay Originally released on Astralwerks [1996] Remastered by Keith Tenniswood (Radioactive Man)

Licensed courtesy of Universal Music Operations Limited All tracks published by Light of Man

Over the past decade, Vienna-based Florian Stöffelbauer – also known as Heap, has built a consistent reputation as a skilled DJ, producer and Neubau’s label head.

Isla is proud to present his latest effort “False Hope” which explores the intersections between industrial, electro and dark wave – all with a leftfield twist.

As diverse as it is powerful, the 7 tracks featured here almost feel like nocturnal tales, chalking out Heap’s observations wandering through the streets of a silent city, with cigarette smoke permeating the air and sirens ringing in the distance. The cinematic essence of the release emerges from the very beginning, with the atmospheric beauty “Diall” transporting us straight into some late-80s scenery of Kraftwerkian nostalgia. In “Jetzt Oder Nie” a sharp knit of drums is placed on top of the grave frequencies of the bass: it’s indeed “now or never”, the moral imperative of the release, requiring us to take action. Throughout the whole album, hypnotic sounds punctuate the dark space, bouncing between the polyrhythmic and uplifting energies of “Inner peace” and “No Palm Too Big”, a sneaky slow-burner with a nocturnal groove and Gayna Rose Madder’s robotic voice reciting the stream of consciousness of this urban wanderer.

“Trist” rises slowly yet powerfully thanks to its mystical synths covering the ground and preparing us for what comes next. The title track “False Hope” holds the unique charm of a creature effortlessly floating in between dualities. As obscure as it is airy, as delicate as it is forceful, this hybrid composition is rich in details and plot twists.

At the end of this journey, “Losing time” reminds us of the urgency to take action expressed at the beginning of the album. In a rarefied canvas, an off-kilter solitary sound comes in, starting off as insistent as a car horn in rush hour, and evolving into a beautiful instrument arpeggiating the melody.

Here Heap concludes his narrative for now. We like to imagine him walking away, a shadow fading in the smoke of the city as the first lights of the day appear.

Bristol don Nicky Soft Touch makes his eagerly awaited return with the follow up to his last TIN release, Lonely City Sampler. Set for release almost exactly one year on, Lonely City Cuts sees Soft Touch continue in his deft explorations of sampling, chopping and rearranging beats using cuts from helter skelter and sidewinder tapes. Much like his previous release, as well as the self-released projects he's shared in the meantime, the LP is centred around a DIY aesthetic, making intimacy and introspection two of its defining features.

Conceived during a stint living in London, the series is imbued with a sense of place. Delivered via raw production techniques, voice recordings and off-kilter, broken garage beats, this positions the release amongst the moody, urban landscapes which provide the backdrop for Burial and Actress' music. On Volume One, this sounds like narling basslines that ricochet around swung percussion, and plaintive ambience that immerses you in its shadowy worlds. On Volume Two, like hip hop interludes, deep house grooves and hyper referential skits.

Alex "landy" Hill's musical journey began in the early 80s with the DJ collective Control Crew, performing live DJ sets & rap shows at the birth of turntablism in Oakland California. Alex was the one guy who had two technics 1200s, a costly investment for any teen at that time. In 1982 Alex and high school friend Marcus Thompson formed Timex Social Club. Alex wrote the 1986 anthem "Rumors", a song often cited as the precursor to New Jack Swing. Shortly after high school, Alex would already have a #1 hit on the Billboard R&B charts with Timex Social Club, and tour dates with RUN DMC, Beastie Boys, and LL Cool J, performing at Madison square Gardens, Twice! Alex went on to produce music for Jay King / King Jay Records, Club Nouveau, LaRue, and Michael Cooper. Aside from music, most of landyhill's fans and followers are from his time as an avid blogger in the 90s, remember Mr. Blunt's Hip Hop Homepage??

Welcome to Bm-18 the biokinetic realm created by Dana Kuehr, a lush audio environment where organic and synthesized matter coalesce. As we float disembodied above this verdant pixel plain, Dana offers us shifting repetitions and sequences in disguise, each track a landscape within a world created in the utmost detail, from the minute bleeps and chirps to the enveloping and bumping bouncy basslines. Flickering drums explode like dandelion seeds in a breeze, searching for a place to lay, grow, and flourish. Sounds are captured (fingers tapping, rain patter, Belgian parakeets released from a '70s zoo, vocal oohs and ahhs) and hybridized with patterns, samples, and musical manoeuvres (jungle breaks, west coast hip hop, layered drums, IDM crunch and twinkle, reverb, delay, '90s R&B, underwater video game soundscapes). As in any imaginary sphere, there are characters who exchange and converse: rivers, coasts, clouds, lakes, echoes of dolphins, and peaceful frogs. Amidst their complex chatter, the sounds of Bm-18 extend an invitation to dance, to feel our bodies alive and present, to acknowledge the impulse of movement and the pulsing heartbeats of each track. An ode to the Taoist consideration that all creatures live together in mystic unity, co-evolving and feeding each other, Dana brings together cloud ethereal with earth pounding, and like an orca's tail upon a restless sea, it slaps!!! All tracks written and produced by Dana Kuehr between April 2020 and November 2021 in Brussels, and mixed by Dan Piu at Checkpoint Charly Studio in Zurich between November 2021 and March 2022. Mastered and cut by Stefan Betke at Scape in Berlin. Original artworks by Camiflage and text by Ailsa Cavers. A1 was first digitally released on Ojoo Music. Dana thanks Michiel, George, Jakob, Camiel, Ailsa, Tania, Victor, Jill, Karen, Daphne, Arne, Oscar, Joe, and Gwenan for the love and inspiration. True voyage is return!

Record has some hairlines and a few superficial scratches.

Orthogonal Eigenstates is the title of the new full-length album by Quantum Collapse aka Eduardo de La Calle where the author definitively moves away from dance music and starts a new period of exploration strongly influenced by the English Glicht IDM trends from early 90's and styles that goes from Soundtrack to Experimental Jazz ,Cinematic Electronica or Abstract Hiphop

Lunatika, The Hague's latest 'trap' or 'drill' rap sensation, for all heavy 'banteng' soldier man-boys' (and, sure, all the lady-boys too!) man drill and bass, whipping and kicking and booming, 'all dem a' Holland's 'Dirty Mud West Coast Sound' incl. quite some reggae dub and N.O.L.A. bass influences, I dare say, 'respect due to all'... Part 1/2. Mastered by Guy Tavares.

Rising St Petersburg producer Meowsn purrs onto Roob for the Running Out Of Steam sub-labels inaugural release, bringing the producer's trademark choppy hip-hop, sleazy hip-house and nostalgic radiance on a killer debut. There's a free jazz spirit that flows through Catmousegame2; the dusty smell of an underground speakeasy can almost be felt on the EPs opener - 'DrunkCat' - a bouncing cut of NYC influenced hip hop that inspires images of large concrete buildings and greetings on the street. Appropriately named, this might be what those jazz-cats in Aristocats would be making had the movie not been for children. The subterranean spirit of hip hop is alive still on 'Wistleman'; an improvised jazz cut that is simple and effective, before heads begin bopping with a little more conviction on the low-swing and vibrant soul of 'Ganksta'; infectious hip-house that can't help but be moved to. The A-side completes with an alternative listening experience; subdued and experimental it encapsulates the energy of a lowly-lit after hours joint, before the dub-peppered vibes and let-go-for-a-walk basslines of 'Cashflow' invite you back to the dancefloor, 'Ladies You Know' maintaining that same scratch-influenced nostalgia that just feels oh so warm. Rounding off the B-side is 'Winter Swapping'; cold winds whip up a storm as snowflakes slowly invade the windows while we're wrapped up warm and cosy inside with phat beats and friends.

"saturated! The various artist series on vinyl has proven to be the epitome of curation in bass music since its inception. The whole package is curated such that each track perfectly flows into the next. Each volume is carefully hand-picked and serves as a snapshot of bass music at that moment, Saturate! has earned its spot as the first choice for those seeking fresh sounds from established and emerging artists. and has been leading the way in all thing's bass heavy, breakbeat, experimental, glitch, hip-hop, psychedelic and trap for years now. They have a track record of propelling artists to the next level. Their roster includes some of the scene's biggest names. These compilations present A weird, wonky and wonderful journey through the raw attitude of the blistering beat driven electronic music scene. Get it now!"

Saturated! the various artist series on vinyl has proven to be the epitome of curation in bass music since its inception. The whole package is curated such that each track perfectly flows into the next. Each volume is carefully hand-picked and serves as a snapshot of bass music at that moment, Saturate! has earned its spot as the first choice for those seeking fresh sounds from established and emerging artists. and has been leading the way in all thing's bass heavy, breakbeat, experimental, glitch, hip-hop, psychedelic and trap for years now. They have a track record of propelling artists to the next level. Their roster includes some of the scenes biggest names. These compilations present A weird, wonky and wonderful journey through the raw attitude of the blistering beat driven electronic music scene. Get it now!

Founded in 2016 by Alex La Foudre and R-o-g in the basement of the artist run space “Les Ateliers Wonder” and after releasing several K7s, Topless Records is coming back with the second volume of their compilation: “Mono To Kini”. Eclectic, athletic and dark, this EP delivers a syncretic vision of alternative electronic music. Between techno, indus, electro and noise, the 7 tracks directly drawn from the underground studios frequented by the crew, capture and release a singular energy. The 300 vinyl copies come with Obi Strip style stickers and hand stamped white labels. The EP starts with the track “Bugsy dubs” by Hustle White which tries to reconnect with the Russian world through low tempo Volca’esque arrangements. Alex La Foudre carries on with “Opal Light” and its ghetto tek vibe “à la française”. Sam Reverse aka Fred from Serendip Lab finishes the A side with a hybrid track between Atari’s melodies and FM synthesis. Paul Jean Robert, specialist of Lo Fi Sci Fi, relaunches side B with an ultra percussive UFO gathering hip hop and electro/techno indus with a freshness that the Ipcc would need. R-o-g and its 100% analo touch invokes the depths of the oceans on a background of lacerated rhythms, watch out. Armand Bultheel, half of Agar Agar, talks about the RSA at high speed in a very psychedelic concept track. The conclusion is for the duo Piste Noire and its glitchy, catchy and amazing weird track.

Originally released in 2017 under his pseudonym No Quantize, Bird Syndrome, the first album of the french artist NxQuantize, is now being reissued with an additional remixed version. As a symbol of a new beginning, the talented musician and producer based in Marseille changes his alias and joins the Omakase Recordings music label to give a rebirth to his trip-hop opus tainted with jazz and electronic music. For this occasion, several artists who come from a broader musical spectrum have reinterpreted the Bird Syndrome’s nine tracks through a series of hip-hop, ambient, electronica and dance music remixes. The richness of this expanded release reflects the production process of NxQuantize next album, currently in progress. Download code for album and digital remixes included.

On July 1st Ploy's ascendance continues with 'Unit 18' – a new EP dedicated to his record label and club night Deaf Test's spiritual home – Venue MOT Unit 18 in Bermondsey, South London. With an already loyal following and fabled atmosphere, the parties inform Ploy's productions and vice versa. "These are three rave tracks, all influenced by sound system culture, with my take on different styles, made for various times of the early hours in our sweaty venue", he comments. Maintaining the floor-focused approach of his previous, acclaimed 'Rayhana' EP, here Ploy brings more organized chaos. Sound waves blast away cobwebs with gale-force power, and jolt you awake, like an intravenous shot from the mains. These forthright, no-nonsense workouts appear simple, but are incredibly well-made, revealing discreetly clever touches likely to provoke 'how did he do that?’ scrutiny from other producers. With ten-ton-kickdrum pressure, snares like booted dustbins and an intense build of energy, on 'Stinky' a soundclash turns into a back alley brawl... with lazers. Influenced by drill bass lines, UK bass music and soundsystem culture, the 'stink and perspiration’ lyric will be surely be apt, especially with a July release date. Imagine the scene: whilst a deranged, malfunctioning robot MC yaps and undulates, vampires chase their victim through a packed rave, before feasting on flesh. Ravey and riotous, with horror flick tropes and a touch of electro, the 138bpm wallop of 'Ninety One' is an ode to his year of birth, when magpie like, sample heavy tracks made for innocent, nonoverthought, but compelling anthems. Grimey like the dance after which it's named, title track ‘Unit 18’ is a 155bpm half-time stomper, with nods to bounce, 00s hip hop, UK drill and dubstep. Combining flying congas, wookie moans and a classic DMZ stye flute line, this low slung, personality filled throbber will stand out and turn heads

A download code is included. Continuing its tradition of genre bending output, Veyl comes forth with one of its most innovative releases to date. 'Still Iii' is a collaboration between Supreme Low (Jerome Tcherneyan of Years of Denial) and New York-based MC, Sensational, who has been pushing hip hop’s boundaries for over 30 years. Tcherneyan first saw Sensational in France in 1999 while meeting in New York in 2001. The two quickly connected and kept in touch throughout the years when they finally got the chance to record material together in London in 2016. With beats created mainly using an Sp1200 (a sampler associated with hip hop golden's age and raw Techno), Fuzz/Distortion pedals and dub units like Echoes/Spring Reverb, psychedelic modulations such as Chorus/Flanger/Phaser and a modular synth, Sensational’s rhymes were totally improvised on the spot in a 3 a.m. studio session under heavy influence. The result is a powerful fusion of sound and style that shatters all expectations and delivers an audio vehicle bridging past, present and future. While not lending itself to categorisation, 'Still Iii' packs Narcotic beats, llbient, Dub, Noise Rap, Bass terrorist, Freak Style, Raw poetry and more into an 8 track release which is unlike anything out right now. Joining on the release are Tcherneyan collaborators Broken English Club, who appears on the ominous opener, 'Doomed' as well as Years of Denial co-conspirator Barkosina, who, as always, mystifies with her vocal presence on 'The World'. Also appearing, Meanad Veyl remixing 'Everybody Ready' and Belgian pioneer hypnsokull finishes off the release in perfect fashion with a remix of 'Raw Shit'.

After learning his craft in his hometown of Saarbrücken, a pivotal move to Berlin at the end of 2016 proved to be the ticket that would catapult hentzup deep into the music universe. Five years later Chris has made a name for himself as a multi-instrumental music producer and versatile audio-engineer. With three LPs and several EPs under his belt, hentzup is known for his classic and clever production style of jazz-infused hip-hop compositions. Needless to say that we are buzzing to announce this soulful eight-tracker from the franco-german producer.

Solo Gemini "Utwory Wybrane" (sprk003) is an amalgam of Polish cultural texts of the second half of the 20th century. Among the skilfully blended lo-fi rhythms of hip-hop, house and dub we can hear echoes of songs from the years 1960-1990, often accompanied by fragments of old radio recordings, concerts, films or literary texts (Baczyński's Drogi nocne in Droga Przez Las [Road Through the Woods], Gombrowicz's Ferdydurke in Pupa) and even a touch of memetic, quite contemporary classics (an embittered resident of a certain block on Marymoncka Street in Nie Ma Ciszy [There Is No Silence]). Solo Gemini set itself the ambitious task of combining all these source materials and transforming them into a completely new form - accessible, modern and functional. 'Utwory Wybrane' is a selection of dance sounds (Nie ma Ciszy, Majka), but also radio plays (Nigdy Więcej, Za Chwilę Dalszy Ciąg Programu). These are productions that can be successfully played in a club, but also allow you to sit comfortably in an armchair in front of your home HiFi. Additionally, Solo Gemini presents (just like on the paintings he paints) the whole gamut of emotions - from "the desire for joyful creation" from Wprowadzenie to "don't look for that time you might regret" from Droga Przez Las. Welcome to the world of Solo Gemini!

Packed Rich is on fire, this time joining forces with IROCC for Pacced Rock. Blast these loud and move yo ass!

‘Terre Promise’ is the debut album of the French electronic artist Blutch. Between nostalgia and melancholy in his native Brittany, a journey to the borders of electronica, breakbeat, house and IDM. Following in the footsteps of Rone, James Holden, Four Tet or Bicep, Blutch affirms with this manifesto his ability to draw meditative landscapes as well as dancefloor escapades, syntheses of multiple influences crossed over the course of a faultless career, from his first love, hip-hop and abstract beats, his house vinyls released on the Barbecue label remixed by the cream of the genre’s guardians, from the American legend Terrence Parker to the more confidential Red Rack’em and Strip Steve, or the adventurous new chapter he has begun to write on Astropolis Records since 2020 with ‘La Cité des Étoiles’, remixed by the great Michael Mayer.
‘Terre Promise’ continues his unique trademark: smooth and inventive textures, vocals that caress and embrace you, percussive and contemporary rhythms with an immersive sound design and those catchy gimmicks he’s known for. By immersing us in his memories, Blutch opens the doors to the landscapes of his childhood and dreamed views, through a plural sound palette: UK dance music heritage (‘Cobalan’, ‘River’), contemplative tracks (‘Les Bois’, ‘Terre Promise’), contemporary IDM with pop contours (‘Poplar’, ‘Rosko’, ‘Eussa’), or crossovers with other instrumentalists (Mirabelle Gillis’ violins on ‘Choices’ and ‘Cobalan’, guitar and drums on ‘Phoenix’ or the piano on ‘Poplar’) and danceable odes (‘Floatin’, ‘Les Sables Blancs’ or ‘Remparts’ with Maxime Dangles).
A promising debut album, as atmospheric as it is frenetic. Driven by the desire to bring people together and reconnect with the earth, Blutch invites you on a deep and spiritual introspective journey, where the listener can easily imagine the producer intention. And if not, just attend the a/v live accompanied by the sublime visuals of motion designer Romain Navier for an electrifying experience, between coloured or abstract 3D and images of landscapes captured in Blutch’s North Brittany. A live show that has already enchanted Panoramas in Morlaix, Clujotronic in Romania with other dates to come (Astropolis, Paris, ...).
Full of emotions, this beautiful, sincere and intense album is enough to send Blutch to the top of the electronic music scene in France. The impressive list of collaborations and remixes around the album is proof of this, with major artists of the French electronic music scene such as Jennifer Cardini, Maxime Dangles, Lauer, Madben, Maud Geffray or Mézigue, emerging artists such as Malcolm (Global Warming Records), or from acoustic music such as violin player Mirabelle Gillis.

Hailing from downtown Los Angeles, Nuklear Prophet, aka Erik Villalpando, is heavily influenced by West Coast Hip Hop and Electro. Winning multiple DJ awards, including 3x World Records DJ Competition under his DJ Dope-E alias, Villalpando cites his inspiration as coming from some of the most influential Los Angeles DJs of his childhood, including Tony G, DJ Joe Cooley, Julio G, and DJ Aladdin.
With releases on Urban Connections, Abseits Recordings, Diffuse Reality and Bass Agenda Recordings as Nuklear Prophet, the LA-based DJ/producer readies his full-length album 'Prophecies 11:21' for Utrecht-based U-Trax. Formed of an eclectic and energetic collection of gems mined from his overwhelming archive, the album takes in genres such as Electro, Hip Hop, Footwork, Juke, and beyond. Leading the release is the 808 luminary Egyptian Lover's remix of 'L.A. Rockz', featured on the recently released 'L.A. Rockz' EP, kicking off the LP with his trademark 808-infused sound. A nod to Detroit-flavoured Electro is presented via the dark and brooding tracks 'Nuklear Prophet' and 'Compton', with the lighter atmospherics of the genre covered on 'Solar Winds'. The pounding electro killer '808 Plague' sounds like it came straight from the sewers of The Hague. 'Everlastin' Bass', 'Back Up Off My Tip', and 'The Train Ride To Coconino' offer Footwork inspired bangers, with the latter previously featured on the Legowelt curated U-Trax compilation 'U R Here!' earlier this year. Moving across a spectrum of tempos, styles, and moods across the album, exemplified on the sluggish trip-hop of 'The Mars Goblin', Nuklear Prophet expertly touches on a range of bass-driven genres, displaying his widespread influences and knack for hard-hitting production throughout.

Les Mystères de Lorient remixes After the release of their first album, Il Est Vilaine ask to artists and friends to deliver a series of high-flying remixes: Tolouse Low Trax, Krikor, Khidja, Marvin & Guy, Golden Bug, Rubin Steiner, C.A.R… Tolouse Low Trax opens the ball with a destructured version of Yvré- L’évêque while keeping the darkness of the track. We can hear a nod to the track “Holland Tunnel Dive” anthem of the Salon des Amateurs. For the eponymous track Khidja were inspired by the sounds of the land of the rising sun which is a good thing to accompany the song of Narumi Hedgehog! A bright version and influenced by YMO’s era Sakamato. Golden Bug & In Field proposes an alternative just as trippy as the original version of Marilyn Drum, a trip between neighborhood hospitals and crazy guru. Another version of Yvré-l’Evêque this time Krikor takes care of it and takes out his sampler for a digi-dancehall version that only he has the secret, Faya ! Rubin Steiner delivers a version back to the roots of Bar à Gwin mixing deep house texture and 80’s-NY-hip-hop/electro. The two Italians of Marvin & Guy bring out the hits, the guitars and the arpeggios for an epic version of Mystères de Lorient. To close the album, we find Narumi Hérisson at the controls of her piano for a dreamy and sensitive version of Phare Ouest where her voice and that of Yula Kasp are mixed in the greatest harmony!

Two numbers referring to the year 1972. And in two numbers, everything is said. The project is simple and ambitious, it is the soundtrack of life passing by, of our lives, of theirs: those of two boys who became two men, both born the same year. 1972. And contrary to its commercial destination, the “tm” sometimes af fixed to these two letters appears here rather like a real mental tattoo, if not a purely aes thetic gesture, as if to tell us: these sounds, these feelings, these immaterial emotions, were deposited in the dark recesses of these two brains, these two minds, before passing through their bodies, passing through their fingers, then through the keyboards, the ins truments, to transform themselves, to turn into sounds, which, themselves, through the alchemy of creation, become music. And this music is the soundtrack to these two lives: Benjamin Cohen. Ulysse Genet. And these two lives which at one point crossed, met. And from this crossing was born 72. From these two experiences, from these memories, from the memories of the two artists, music is revealed. Four tracks for the moment, instrumental, mixing the reminiscences of hip hop, the echoes of the ‘ambient’ created by Brian Eno, the techno vo lutes of Detroit, and more particularly those of Carl Craig. Without forgetting the roots of what has been called the French Touch… this unique musical adventure revealing France abroad in a singular way, in which Benjamin Cohen has actively participated.

4 years after the release of his EP ‘Nights’, Taos is back with a debut concept album ‘Reflection’, against the tide of an industry reserving this format for artists whose fame is well established. Above all, it is an overflowing creativity and a raw talent that animates Fabian, Taos, and which draws him to the heart of ‘Reflection’. An instinctive mix of genres between electronica, abstract hip-hop and jazz, stories in the story and without worrying about labels and trends.

With "Broken Land" Daniel Nitsch presents the first album of his latest project "Hounah" - and thus grants a deep look into his feelings and thoughts. Pieces like "Sorrow", "Fairbanks" or "Norton Bay", which invite you trace inside, are accompanied by those that present Daniel's personal views on very political and generally relevant issues, presented in songs like "Revolution", "Guilty State" or "Cash For Your Home". They cover topics like racism and gentrification, deal with the burden that imperialism places on us. Ask for what a future could look like - and how it could successfully happen at all. Thus, Hounah is not a feel-good project, "Broken Land", the title suggests it, a profound, here and there even painful inventory, which wants to stimulate reflection and further thinking. Very diverse, thematically as well as musically – and created with great attention to detail. Listening closely allows light bulb effects in terms of content, but also in terms of sound, lets us walk in the footsteps of downbeat, hip-hop, trip-hop, ambient, electronica and jazz. Hounah quickly reveals here that they are not afraid of breaks, but are also capable of soulful fusions in sound collages. The circle of friends behind Hounah, consisting of producer Daniel Nitsch, pianist Johann Blanchard, singer Lena Schmidt and guitarist Marten Pankow, came together for the album "Broken Land" in order to immediately try out further alliances: two of the songs on the album were created in creative cooperation with A-F-R-O, the internationally known rapper from Los Angeles. And so it is little surprise that each song creates a new world of sounds and thoughts – and one suspects already after the first tracks that there is more waiting for us, that "Broken Land" will not remain Hounah’s last work.

Have you ever wondered what would happen if the Spice Girls smoked crack and joined forces with the Power Rangers on acid? Meet Beatfoøt. These punk-infused electronic poltergeists and big-beat acid trio are Udi Naor, drummer and founding member of electronic duo Red Axes, Adi Bronicki (who also fronts Israeli garage-punk-folk band Deaf Chonky) and ace of all trades guitarist Nimrod Goldfarb. The band have been launching warped stoner-acid-pop out of Tel Aviv with maniacal intent and are producing post-punk rave bangers that will scorch every dance floor with a huge lethal smile. Beatfoøt are a DIY supergroup who describe themselves as sitting somewhere between Aqua, Beastie Boys and The Prodigy. Their music endeavours feel akin to being hurtled through a kaleidoscopic waterslide, overflowing with the spirit of 90’s youth culture. The radioactive trio are DJ’s, musicians, songwriters and producers with a diverse range of individual projects and talents, their combined sonics map your journey across the hazy astral spectrum of hip-hop, big beat and rave music. Morph these radioactive pieces with the no nonsense attitude of punk-rock and the venomous spitting flow of golden-era rap and you might just come close to fabricating the freakish sound of Beatfoøt. The band’s self-titled debut is set for release on 17th September on Manfredi Romano aka DJ Tennis’ Life and Death. Founded in 2010, the imprint curates soulful dance music with a post-rock aesthetic. This refreshingly original and experimental LP from Beatfoøt marks a new direction for Life and Death this year and beyond. “Beatfoøt” takes unsuspecting listeners on a wild ride of unprecedented musical madness (firmly without seatbelts).

John Frusciante releases the first instrumental electronic album under his own name on Aaron Funk's Timesig label. The record is dedicated to his cat Maya who recently passed away, a fellow traveller in his otherwise solitary music making sessions. 'Maya' is inspired by John's favourite music: '91 to'96 UK breakbeat hardcore and jungle. It's a varied and personal take with sophisticated, authentic production balanced against John's acute sense of melody, an inspired blending of machines and samples infused with a joyful energy. "I don't have that interest in singing or writing lyrics like I used to. The natural thing when I'm by myself now, is to just make music like the stuff being released this year. I really love the back and forth with machines and the computer." The fun he's having on 'Maya' is infectious.

Label cover.

A download code is included. Rnxrx returns to Veyl for his debut album, ‘Impreciso’. No stranger to the label, the artist first made an appearance on ‘Previously Undisclosed Rituals’ and then again with ‘Sigil’, a collection of B-sides which act as the perfect prelude to this offering. Derived from an alchemy of inspiration, the album is the result of endless nights unearthing samples, vinyl oddities, effects databases from a bygone era and the artist’s own post-processed vocals - imprecise components which all combine perfectly to form this LP. Unconstrained by genre, ‘Impreciso’ journeys through strains of body music, psychedelic rock, soundtrack and more, delivering electronic experimentations which expose the artist’s darkest tendencies while revealing a long admiration of post-punk, hip hop and science fiction’s finest. Twelve tracks falling somewhere between homage and reinvention, ‘Impreciso’ operates with 80’s circuitry, throws back to 90’s beat nostalgia and drills into a cyber-verse for a familiar yet unexpected trip perfect for this moment.

France, 1990. Fun Radio, NRJ, Skyrock set a new pace, and their crushing hegemony irrevocably marks the end of the free radio utopia. The giants become vital in the hit industry and carry on fuelling France’s greatest invention: la variété. A quintessentially French version of British dance pop with a very specific tang to it, too coy to emulate trendy clubs’ and rave parties’ music, europop cautiously tests the waters of what will soon turn into a tsunami : house music. Is house the soundtrack of the 90s? In Europe, it gave steam to comeback bands just as much as to the most memorable formations of the decade, while in France it paved the way for the global success of French Touch. “Real” house music emerges in early 80’s Chicago (where the Warehouse club, which allegedly gave its name to the genre, closes down in 1983). England’s acid house and Belgium’s new beat, its European offshoots, fed the cravings of tabloids in 1988 and 1989. The house music we’re interested in though, the type bound to soon overwhelm European charts, is already pretty far away from the afro-american music born in Chicago. So far away it inherited a new name: dance music. Just like it had been the case with disco a few years back, house and techno aren’t exactly in the good books – acid house and new beat even less so. And it’s precisely the genre’s mainstream iteration this compilation focuses on; the house en français, which strives to get on board the running train in 1990. The house which sports the all-over jean look, bandana, cap, chewing gum, peugeot 205 complete with snazzy beats on the radio. The big deal big fuss type, miles away from the original, underground house. It might not have been born in the nineties, but that’s clearly when house music became mainstream. What underpins house music might even be what is to define the decade to come: jingles and pin’s, megaclubs and clips. That and the hits. Very soon house is everywhere: on the air of the big radio stations and on TV, creeping in as far as kids’ programs. The French may not even notice, but they’re all listening to it. Meanwhile, music producers smell the gravy and, willy-nilly with the earnest, enlightened amateurs, propose their very own club versions, cross breeding French variété and house. The result: a chart and club ready ersatz that is to quickly seduce young audiences. Hits, that’s what we want – or tubes for the French, like in House Tube, one of the landmarks of this compilation. The tracklist, like the soundtrack to a club night that never happened, fictitiously reconstructs the fleeting moment when house made its arrival in France, bridging the gap between variété and eurodance. House quiproquo House music barges in like a UFO on European land. With the arrival of this repetitive, yet transgressive music, tabloids freak out, while widespread incomprehension over the genre inspires dubious misconceptions. The media are happy to suckle on the music’s popularity, though well hidden behind the veil of decorum: NRJ airs a remake of a famous new beat track, Rock To The Beat, in which, however, “ecstasy” is swapped for “fantasy”. Dechavanne, thoughtful as usual, calls fans junkies and nazis on his tv show, Ciel Mon Mardi – though the show’s theme song is nothing else than a house track. The footage became a classic, and the comments, sampled by producers, provided the vocals for a flagship new beat track (Dr. Smiley – L’Echo Dechavanne). The Dechavanne episode is representative of the general confusion surrounding this barbarian music; skepticism remained high, even (if not more so?) in the musical world. In fact, it’s the subject of the unequivocal House Tube: “House tube, bouse tube ; on n’aime pas vraiment le house tube House soupe, bouse soupe ; on n’aime pas vraiment le house soupe” That is: “House hits, house shit; we don’t really dig house hits House soup, shit soup; we don’t really dig house soup” The success of house music inspired many exasperated reactions, just like House Tube (the B-side of a deodorant ad’s theme). Laurent Castellvi, surprised that the joke-track he composed at the time still sparked interest, told us: “At the beginning of the nineties, house was all over the radio. It annoyed me a little that most tracks were based on the same two chords. House Tube is a joke, it’s me sitting at the piano playing two chords. And that’s what the lyrics say.” On the other hand and following up with the next track, Fred de Fred was clearly in the know. The Frenchman had moved to the epicentre of the English commotion, Sheffield, a few years prior to the arrival of house. That’s where Warp (Autechre, Aphex Twin) originated – and at the time Warp still went by the name FON, Fred already hung around in their studios. Robert Gordon, Fred’s pal and co-founder of the label, signs the remix of one of his 1989 tracks, Sous Sous. In 1991, he composes a record of songs, and when it comes to pairing a suitable club remix single, Fred knows what’s up. Je T’Aime En Amour, sleek rock, mutates into a syncretism of french chanson and nearly rave breakbeat (here provided in its “2020” version). Fred de Fred is exemplary of the variété-club crossover driving this record; his career started within the collective ZNR, he crossed paths with the likes of Alain Bashung and then the Stone Roses, was close to Warp, and ended up signing a record on Barclay. Studio sharks Electronic musicians are often referred to as “producers”. This emanates from the delimitation of roles in the making of recorded music, traditionally assigned as singer, songwriter and producer. The latter takes care of the recording per se; that is, he manages the project, rents the studio, hires the musicians (known as requins de studio – studio sharks – for accumulating studio sessions) and cashes in at the end. The artist in electronic music is the producer alone, who essentially combines all roles at once: totally autonomous in his home studio, he can do without musicians or singers. The moment we’re interested in is this transitory period in which the two types of producers coexist. On the one hand, the new producers, like Fred Rister with Everybody Dancing, who recorded in a shack on a 4-track recorder, according to the sound engineer. On the other, the revival of old brigade producers, always on the lookout for a hot deal. The producer behind Près De Toi is of the latter type – pursuing a long musical career though quick to forget Claire-An (and so did posterity). New beat’s heritage isn’t negligible : its pioneers fashioned the “new generation” producer formula, a one-man-band in his machine-filled home studio. They’re also the first to churn out major hits, hitting the floor of a few Belgian clubs and eventually making it to the European top 50. What seems like mad creative abundance (hundreds of tracks between 1987 and 1989) is in fact the work of a handful of Belgian producers, barely ten, hidden behind multiple aliases. Among them, Marc Neuttiens, Jack Mauer and Fabian Van Messen, who often work as a trio and produce some of the genre’s most iconic tracks. In the midst of which On Se Calme, produced under the name Bassline Boys, sampling none other than Christophe Dechavanne. It’s no coincidence then that Anne Zamberlan should knock on their door with in mind the idea of an antidrug track. She wants to make noise, they know how to make a hit. And the track has it all: proto-acid gimmicks, big beat, house piano, verses rapped with a hiphouse flow… It might have been great, but even a Virgin Megastore ad she appeared in two years later got her more success. À la folie, je danse This tale is also the one of the pioneers who brought house music to France, first on the radio, well before rave parties or Laurent Garnier’s nights in Paris. As soon as the early eighties, Robert Levy Provençal plays the edits of the young Dimitri from Paris on the airwaves of Radio 7. At the time they’re unusual: like one would use samples in hip hop, Dimitri loops soul, funk and disco tracks, creating extended mixes. He breaks down tracks, reducing them to a gimmick or a bass line, thus creating easy-to-mix tools for DJs and bringing them closer to the sounds of house and techno music. He soon becomes resident DJ on NRJ and hosts the popular show Hot Mix. Like his colleague RLP, Dimitri proposes a trailblazing selection, blending together French news and the odd new sound from the States. At the turn of the nineties, when europop wants in at the club, only these influencers master the dance side of things. There’s RLP, Bibi Fricotin, Dom T… And Dimitri, who becomes the assigned variété remixer, adapting dozens of songs that were never meant to make it into a club. The general tendency however is less to official remixes than to bootlegs: a “pirate”, unauthorised and often private remix – just like Jacques Dutronc’s Opium, stretched out into a nearly 7-minute-long mix. The nineties also set the stage for the first TV stars, the ones who become famous without anyone really knowing why. Take, say, Jordy, four years old. The kid, in his diapers, sings along a New York style, house piano production and somehow makes it to the top 50’s number 1. For years, Jordy plays out the role of the child star and demonstrates that dance music is a perfectly profitable affair: it fuels the radios turned juggernauts, and lands on TV, seeping through music programs… In 1989, Vincent Lagaf (a famous french TV host) dives in with Bo Le Lavabo. The pitch is simple: the TV host adapts a track well known overseas, Lil Louis’ French Kiss (without any direct reference), simply adding lyrics taken from a sketch. He’s rather clear on his intentions (“Well, that’s just how you make it to the top 50”) and has no mercy for a musical genre he clearly understands nothing about (“See? Easy.”). Single night stars The club is a democratic place where anyone can be a star for a night (a nineties remix of Andy Warhol’s famous saying, meaning to imply: never has fame been so near, yet so far). The ghost of stardom haunts all of these forgotten tracks… This is particularly true in the case of Techno 90, Fred Rister’s first band. The DJ hailing from Northern France takes part in the short-lived though seminal Maxximum radio and mixes everywhere on both sides of the Belgian border, quickly becoming a local celebrity. At the turn of the century, he starts collaborating with David Guetta – another DJ, slightly better known than Rister and a rising star of the Parisian club scene. Together they eventually co-sign a few global hits: Love Is Gone, When Love Takes Over, I Gotta Feeling. This tale is the story of French variété’s unforeseen encounter with the avant-garde, of DJs who rose to the status of pop stars and others who descended deep into the rave party scene. It’s all of these oddities our compilation seeks to recount, like a wacky TV show featuring anonymous stars, forgotten ghosts of a decade bygone (Jacques Dutronc, Jean-Francois Maurice) or yet to come (David Guetta), inspired though unlucky blokes plus a girl band. And somewhere in the shambles, the tracklist of our compilation, the B-side of dance music’s official story – what could have been France’s alternative hit machine.

Soundtrack of the radio play Gothrecht. Twelve songs produced by Stippenlift and written by Faberyayo and Stippenlift. Featuring vocals by Georgina Verbaan, Annet Malherbe and Firoza, as well a wide selection of the original score by Betonkust.

Prague based FM Label connects music, fashion and design. Established in 2020 by Uncalled 4, the label joins the flourishing scene of Prague with a vision of music in which the new revisits the old. The second release, Enough, comes from our very own Detente 2020 - the killer combo of Uncalled 4 and his studio partner and close friend, Universe Of Everything. Featuring NYC hip hop legend Afu-Ra and Charlie One on the vocals, the eponymous track Enough combines iconic 90's street rap with contemporary electronic sounds, presenting a scenic layer that provides a movie-like feeling. The EP also features the Czech Filharmony drummer Jakub Tengler, who jammed buckets, pots, pipes and any other unusual object at his reach to create the heavily percussive Bucket Tube. Norway's Fett Burger takes Bucket Tube on a ride through NYC with his 'Work Out' remix, providing the ever-astonishing impression of walking around the streets of the Big Apple. Olsvang?r remix of Enough is designed to smash the dancefloor. Heavily influenced by both the past and the present, his rework shifts between intelligence and sheer rawness. As a final touch, the release is accompanied by an acapella track that will also be found on future FM label releases. Enough EP comes in a special cardboard sleeve which can be reshaped into a vinyl display holder.

Prague based FM Label connects music, fashion and design. Established in 2020 by Uncalled 4, the label joins the flourishing scene of Prague with a vision of music in which the new revisits the old. The second release, Enough, comes from our very own Detente 2020 - the killer combo of Uncalled 4 and his studio partner and close friend, Universe Of Everything. Featuring NYC hip hop legend Afu-Ra and Charlie One on the vocals, the eponymous track Enough combines iconic 90's street rap with contemporary electronic sounds, presenting a scenic layer that provides a movie-like feeling. The EP also features the Czech Filharmony drummer Jakub Tengler, who jammed buckets, pots, pipes and any other unusual object at his reach to create the heavily percussive Bucket Tube. Norway's Fett Burger takes Bucket Tube on a ride through NYC with his 'Work Out' remix, providing the ever-astonishing impression of walking around the streets of the Big Apple. Olsvang?r remix of Enough is designed to smash the dancefloor. Heavily influenced by both the past and the present, his rework shifts between intelligence and sheer rawness. As a final touch, the release is accompanied by an acapella track that will also be found on future FM label releases. Enough EP comes in a special cardboard sleeve which can be reshaped into a vinyl display holder.

A mainstay on the label, Dresden-born / Berlin-based B-boy Worf is up there with Kiat as the most consistent and prolific artist in the collective since his ‘City Of Meth’ EPs in back in 2018. Following various appearances and cameos on the imprint since, his emotional, hip-hop influenced designs are back in the form of his most accomplished release so far.

‘Zones Of Significant Times’ fuses traditional Break beat Structures with suffocating sonic violence & darkness. 11 Gothinc-Industrial HIP HOP Instrumentals. Kareem, Founder of Zhark Recordings Berlin, has been presenting numerous vinyl releases in th eIndustrial Noise/Techno Spectrum. but has often explored Hip Hop terrain which lead to gloomy with artists such as Dälek, Shadowhuntaz, Audio 88, Paul St. Hilaire and Jaeda Glasgow (the Bonk)… Download code included…