Bakongo comes proper with two stripped back drum workouts for TRULE’s 10” series. UK Funky pioneer Roska has been making great percussion tracks under his Bakongo alias for some time now. On Thirteen/Level Cowbell he continues this with two rugged, skeletal drum tracks with minimal bass and the faintest trace of texture in there that absolutely demand to be moved to.
Over the past year or so I have watched as the releases on Holding Hands got more and more intense. Don’t get me wrong, I love it. Intense and straight to the face was always the plan for the label. At the same time I do have slightly more varied taste and I had been getting sent a decent amount of incredible music that didn’t quite fit on the original outlet. My first love when it comes to electronic music is dark, eyes down, bass heavy and so it seemed like now was the perfect time to create a label with a slightly deeper angle to accommodate this sort of thing.
Yosh was one of those people who had sent me some serious fire. I had been chatting to him here and there on Instagram over the last year but I hadn’t heard any of his music. Finally, on a whim I asked him to send me some and boy am I glad he did! I completely fell in love with his vibe and it seemed to perfectly encapsulate the sound that I wanted to push on Holding Hands Submerged. Don’t for a second think that this is some lounge listening ambient business. These are club weapons firing on all cylinders. It’s just that the cylinders make you keep your eyes down and your stank face on at all times.
On top of being a sick producer, it turns out Yosh is also a total legend. I’m so happy that I get to release some of his music and that I’ve got to know such a lovely guy.
OK enough of my blather. Go and listen to the damn things yourself and decide if you like them, rather than trying to work it out from reading a bloody press release you weirdos.
All four tracks are produced and sculpted for the club. They want big sound systems and dark rooms.
Close your eyes, hold hands and experience transcendental space flight...
Budget Cuts is excited to share Portland, OR based experimental composer Bardo:Basho’s second full-length album Alinea. Alinea is meant to evoke the idea of a non-linear history. “a” meaning not/without and “Linea” a feminine embodiment of linearity. The concept is derived from a personal history and identity which feel fragmented and this motif is reflected throughout the album. Alinea incorporates eclectic compositional and timbral styles held together by ethereal vocal performances. Expansive, intimate, and hypnotic, Alinea is a meditation on vulnerability. Kirsten Thom started performing as Bardo:Basho while studying music at the University of Puget Sound. Bardo:Basho’s work fuses classical structure with experimental signal processing to create boundless otherworldly soundscapes that range from drone to techno. Bardo:Basho has shared the stage with visionaries like Jlin, Laurel Halo, Actress, and Yu Su while performing at festivals like Decibel and Upstream or at Kremwerk’s influential Research club night.
Gallegos is one of my all time favourite producers. Absolutely no question. He has a completely unique sound that to me sounds like it comes partly from his incredible sample digging as well as his one of a kind drum sampling. It’s hard to say for sure what it is but all I know is that I can hear one of this tracks from a mile out. There is an incredible balance of weird shit mixed with super catchy motifs and big time grooves. I wish every day was a Gallegos day!
OK enough of my blather. Go and listen to the damn things yourself and decide if you like them, rather than trying to work it out from reading a bloody press release you weirdos.
All four tracks are produced and sculpted for the club. They want big sound systems and dark rooms.
Close your eyes, hold hands and experience transcendental space flight...
Linkwood's debut album System from way back in 2010 finally gets a timely reissue on his own imprint Night Theatre.
Fresh with a new two colour screen printed sleeve and a couple of track changes, the album (in his own words) 'is how it should have looked and sounded the first time around'; occupying an important transitional space between the highly collected early Firecracker 10"s and the crafted Linkwood sound of today.
For release number three on Syntax Error, there's a harder distortion laden track of label owner Louk which Paul Mac manages to turn into something musical (fair play!), and two excellent tracks from Rotterdam DJ & producer combo of Erik Pijl and Stephanie Noordermeer.
a1. Louk - Brake Fluid (Paul Mac's 6 AM Remix)
a2. Louk - Brake Fluid
b1. Erik Pijl & Stephanie Noordermeer - The Funhouse
Deviation Classics celebrates the legacy of the legendary London club night and record label created by Benji B and Judah in 2007. Famously "one of London's most aurally audacious nights”, Benji B’s Deviation is a name synonymous with music and at the forefront of London’s culture scene and within music internationally.
The collector’s box will include four 12” vinyl including 20 carefully selected tracks, many of which have previously been unavailable on vinyl or hard to find and all capturing those key moments from the past 13 years. The compilation will also be accompanied by an exclusive mix curated by founder Benji B marking the end of this chapter for Deviation, the mix will be available to purchase on CD and streamed or downloaded on Bandcamp and all major digital platforms.
Spanning all genres of music, the compilation comprises tracks from Moodymann, James Blake, Joy Orbison and Flying Lotus and many more from across Deviation’s impressive roster of guests. Though several of the tracks went on to become hits, all of them became part of Deviation’s regular playlist and are now considered to be part of the Deviation DNA - a club night that has its own sound, its own hits and its own classics. The tracks highlight how the best club residencies can hone and shape their own identity, where reactions from the dance floor can influence which tracks make it into the resident sets to become future classics, and how a single tune can conjure the nostalgia of an era, venue, place and time.
Including regular staples from Benji B’s resident sets, the DJ comments: “This album showcases the tunes that got the biggest reactions month after month, drawn from my sets at Deviation over the years. They would not only be my choice, but also the choice of the Deviation regulars. Not all of these were necessarily big tunes outside of the club night – some would go on to be, but some could be 12-inch B-sides, album cuts or unreleased dubplates that went off when dropped for the very first time, and then became our own classics: all certified Deviation anthems in their own way”
A1. Alice Smith - Love Endeavor (Maurice Fulton remix)
A2. Rick Wilhite - Ruby Nights (Gilb'r Solo Flight remix)
B1. The Detroit Experiment - Think Twice
B2. Zomby - Tarantula
C1. Langenberg - Times (Manuel Tur's Ground Glass Reflex)
C2. Carl Craig - Sandstorms (C2 2011 Version)
D1. Lil Silva - Seasons
D2. DJ Spen presents DJ Technic - Gabryelle (D-Malice Re-Fix)
D3. Kingdom - Stalker Ha
E1. Mala - Lean Forward
E2. Martyn - Vancouver
F1. Joy Orbison - Hyph Mngo
F2. Pearson Sound - Stifle
G1. Baron Zen - Burn Rubber (Dâm-Funk remix)
G2. Wajeed - Tron
G3. Flying Lotus - Melt!
G4. 00Genesis - No Shoes Trampoline
G5. Dorian Concept - The Fucking Formula
H1. Azymuth - Morning (Manha)
H2. K. Frimpong & His Cubano Fiestas - Kyenkyen Bi Adi M'awu
Imagine the opposite of a snake shedding its skin: a body slithering among the debris of 21st-century music; a porous, viscid body, its skin an adhesive, lodging onto itself bits and pieces along the way. Some are scraps, rusted, discarded parts. Some are the jewels of crowns, unglued and fallen from grace, now re-attached on this makeshift contraption. Where does a body end? Does it end where these prostheses begin?
Jay Glass Dubs’ Soma (“body” in Greek) is a palimpsest. Look closely and you can find all sorts of DNA microarrays on the body’s skin – Bristol voices, Detroit electro hums, the amen break, the all-encompassing dub haze – but, as with all palimpsests, they are simultaneously one and a multitude. The body lives, its prostheses live. The body moves.
ANMON was born from the collaboration of French producers DJ Saint Pierre and Tenebre. Through rearranged recorded live jams, their music is a series of fast-paced experiments at the fringe of the techno spectrum. Built for the stage and trance-induced listening experiences, Anmon summons a renewed tribal spirit - an unexpected resurgence of the sonic aesthetics of freeparties via their very own interpretation.
Originally released on CD in 1999, Astral Industries present a first vinyl issue of Monolake’s much-loved Gobi, licensed from Imbalance Computer Music. Set to the backdrop of the Gobi desert in eastern Asia, two shimmering vistas plunge the listener into a vast and deeply hypnotic nocturnal soundscape. The perennial hiss and rattle of insects float along the fresh night air in soft waves. The desert thrives with quiet activity as a westerly wind skitters across moonlit dunes, granulated folds dancing like sheets of thin silk. Tectonic plates murmur beneath the shower of stars overhead, their millennial cycles whispering of aeons past. Vividly textured and enticingly synthetic in its sound design, Gobi succeeds as a stunning piece of minimalism.
a1. Safe From Harm a2. One Love a3.Blue Lines a4. Be Thankful For What You've Got a5. Five Man Army b1. Unfinished Sympathy b2. Daydreaming b3. Lately b4. Hymn Of The Big Wheel
DJ Swagger returns to Nerang Recordings with ‘Bass Hysteria’ this January. Following releases on E-Beamz, Natural Sciences, and Who’s Susan, the German-based DJ Swagger returns to Nerang after appearing on the label’s ‘Freaky Friends Volume 1’ compilation earlier this year, bringing yet another bout of high quality, high energy output to the table.
Merging influences from Dance Mania through to UK Garage, ‘Bass Hysteria’ sees the DJ Swagger at the top of his game. ‘Atomic Fear’ galvanizes the pure energy of early DJ Funk, with air raid sirens and glitched out hi-hats punctuated throughout, while ‘Drybones’ nods towards early dubstep and UK flavours, with gurgling basslines and skippy drums bubbling throughout as occasional glimmers of gorgeous synth work allow the listener to come up for air.
‘Trail of Destruction’ encapsulates golden age electro, with effected vocals, crisp percussion, and gritty basslines coming together for a late night groover. ‘Noseblunt’ is a fast-paced whirlwind, aimed for fog-filled dance floors, perfectly wrapping up the eleventh release on a label pushing diverse sounds from artists around the world.
DJ Swagger ‘Bass Hysteria’ lands on Nerang Recordings in April 2021.
London-based record label Wisdom Teeth kicks off 2021 with something close to home: Blush -the playful, dynamic debut LP by label co-founder, Facta. Recorded unusually quickly over a short stint in early 2020, the record is the product of a period of refreshed and unfussy creativity. It’s an innovative and distinctly contemporary album that moves a good few steps beyond the artist’s workto date -loosely rooted in UK dance music but taking added influence from ambient, modern classical, dreampop, Balearic, folk music and beyond. The result is a lush, ornate record populated by aqueous pads, bleeping arps, wandering melodies and sparse broken rhythms; acoustic instruments that play out alongside FM synths, all processed with a pristine UV sheen inherited from modern pop music.
The record opens with ‘Sistine (Plucks)’ -a crystalline synth piece with a stumbling, shifting metre revolving around an odd-ended MIDI harp loop, coloured through with washed-out pads and snatches of found sound. This breezy mood follows through to ‘On Deck’, where an FM vibraphone rings out on top of woozy, warping chords and a subby soca groove. Moving forward the record moves cohesively through a range of shifting moods and hues. The machine jazz of ‘Brushes’ is tense and coiled, with nods towards Burnt Friedman, Photek and Eli Keszler. ‘Iso Stream’ sees a rich, colourful sprawl of arpeggiated synths and dissociated vocal chops unspool slowly to form pooling, lowlit melodies.
Title track ‘Blush’ is a forlorn Autonomic love song built from clicks-n-cuts -like dBridge & Instra:mental reduced and reinterpreted by SND. Throughout, bold, broad melodies take centre stage, and the tracks build likecompositions rather than loops or club tools. There are echoes of the dancefloor -particularly in the slo-mo bruk of ‘Verge’ and the glacial subs underpinning ‘Diving Birds’ (a collaboration with friend and Trilogy Tapes regular Parris) -however the end results find us somewhere far off. ‘Blush’ is the second long-form release to come from Wisdom Teeth following K-LONE’s 2020 debut album, ‘Cape Cira’, which was widely ranked as one the best LPs of 2020.
UK based producer Hugo Massien has been slowly but surely making a name for himself over the past few years. Metamorphosis marks Hugo’s debut LP on the E-Beamz Record label.
Having first released in 2014 he quickly built a legion of fans who absolutely loved his bass heavy breaks, sometimes wonky beats, trance rave, and acid tinged sound. By 2018 he had released a winning string of EPs on various imprints including XL Recordings, Keysound, 17 Steps, Unknown to the Unknown and of course E-Beamz.
He now drops his debut album Metamorphosis which brings together all the best elements of Hugo’s creativity into one cohesive release.
The next release in our 'Perennial' series is from veteran producer Lee Norris, also known as Metamatics, the pseudonym under which he has spent more than two decades creating melodic IDM and sophisticated electro.
Norris is an artist who warrants his cult following with an extensive catalogue and countless monikers, including his main work as Metamatics and alternative projects Norken, Nacht Plank, Ishqamatics and Autumn Of Communion. This unflagging artist with an enviable track record behind him has released material on labels such as Delsin, Hydrogen Dukebox, Dot, Numbers and Clear, as well as running his own record labels Neo Ouija, ...txt, XTT Recordings and Nagual.
His seminal EP series '01', '02', '03' and '04' was originally released between 1997 and 1998 on the now defunct but influential Clear label. Compiled as 'A Metamatics Production', the tracks breathed fresh air into the global IDM scene and were comprised of crystal clear futuristic sounds, flirting with complex and funky drum & bass that carried both UK and Detroit influences, a true masterpiece.
More than twenty years since its original release, Lapsus Records is proud to present the British producer's original debut album 'A Metamatics Production', released in full and on vinyl for the first time. All tracks on this special collectors double-pack colour vinyl release have been remastered and will include a limited edition insert.
Adam is as quintessential to the label as it gets. His first two EP's were full on baskets of dynamite and number three is no different. He has three variations on a theme in A Minor, and the theme is...absolute slammeroos. Remix duties come from great friends of the label and Slam Jams 1 gang, Tape Fear. They've come correct with an absolute hound dog of a 2-step take on Variation 1. Turn the subs up and dive on in...
Multi-faceted artist Calibre today shares his sixteenth studio album "Feeling Normal". The album is out now to pre-order on Vinyl, CD and on digital platforms via his own independent imprint Signature Recordings.
The record is his first bonafide 140bpm record and a staggering body of work that shows the genius levels of one of electronic music's most respected auteurs. Across the 13 tracks, he transcends through space and time, creating music that will take the listener on a weighty sonic journey. The album announcement is accompanied by two dub versions "Bad" and "Badder" deconstructed from the track "Badman" with DRS from Mark Ernestus available via his Hardwax store January 29th and Bandcamp February 12th. "Getting to work with Mark Ernestus is a real honour, I collected Basic Channel, Rhythm & Sound and his other work for many years and still do. It's hard to avoid the influence of this guy in electronic music across genres and so it is a real pleasure to have him do his thing with the Badman tune which I think sounds closely related."
All of the tracks on the record have been road-tested in Calibre's DJ sets over the last 2/3 years with many of them being sought-out by his hardcore fans. It was only a matter of time then that he put them out for all to consume. With a nod to the dancefloor, the clear idea for the album came about following the release of his most personal album to date "Planet Hearth". "It still works in the headspace but ultimately it's been written for the sweaty club experience we miss now, also after an album like Planet Hearth it felt very liberating to do," he remarks. When writing albums, he often just puts it down to the general chaos of life, not citing any one influence but generally just waits to see what comes. With one of the tracks on the album written 7 years ago on the island of Valentia, It became a project that he spent the intervening years collecting tracks for, not really knowing when he was going to put it together as an album. "The whole album is special to me, everything on there has import and meaning beyond for me, I have spent much time on all these and hope they are special for other people too."
Belfast-born, Berlin-based Calibre - AKA Dominick Martin - shows no sign of slowing down. As a producer, DJ, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and painter, he is one of the most unique and inspiring living artists. With a career spanning two decades, his ability to remain underground whilst being one of the most-respected is testament to who this enigmatic artist is. To this day, he has never been remixed and has a seriously impressive amount of unreleased music under wraps. With everything on hold and gigs on the backburner, this record is exactly what the world needs right now.
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