Electronic & Dance CD 360 Items

Sounding simultaneously from the past, the present, and the future, the debut album 'mlde' by Marxist Love Disco Ensemble seeks to eradicate both the trite from disco and the sobriety from political music. Half poetic, half tongue-in-cheek, this stunning compact eight-track album is influenced by Eastern European and Mediterranean 70s disco records. In the words of band member Paolo, ''it was written in response to hearing 'I love America' by Patrick Juvet. The song prompted the question: why does disco, a genre originally created by oppressed minorities, eventually become synonymous with American capitalist excess?" Mlde seeks to break this connection.

Merging disco, post-disco 80s pop, and boogie into the fold, 'mlde' was recorded using only analogue instruments, giving it warmth and space. Recorded on cassette, ¼ and ½ inch tape, this gives moments of lo-fi abstraction between the beats of an aggressive, tight drum kit. Instruments used for this recording range from saxophone, trumpet, harpsichord, guitar, and rare analogue synthesisers. The bass sound is shaped by early 80s boogie records, whilst the influence of artists such as Hamlet Minassian can be heard in some of Mlde's more driving-disco outings, such as 'Hues of Red'. In the tradition of Soviet vocal group records, which the band has studied, some songs are sung by a vocal quartet in homage to this tradition.

Tracks such as '1905' and 'Brumaire' have a greater pop aesthetic, with Paolo's vocal style on these more pop-driven songs evoking early 80s bands such as Orange Juice and Chas Jankel.

The format and message of pop and disco are commonly viewed just to entertain and move bodies around a dancefloor; however, lyrically, the subjects range from dialectical and historical materialism, class struggle, Marxist theory and praxis, as well as the concept of Marxist disco music.

Adding the icing to the cake, mastering don Joker aka Liam McLean dusted the album with his magic, giving the songs space where the room is needed, as well as the kick and punch demanded by the modern dancefloor.

Yes, this is a press release, and they are always full of hype, but we were blown away when we heard this album, and we hope it enriches you too.

Definitive career-spanning anthology
Includes previously unreleased tracks, inspired collaborations, and material from Leslie’s groundbreaking 1990 solo debut, Witch
Featuring musical contributions from Jon Hassell, Helen Terry, Jah Wobble, Renegade Soundwave’s Karl Bonnie, Christophe Van Huffel, Jay Glass Dubs, Mari G. Mooney, and Diamond Version, amongst others
Newly remastered by the GRAMMY®-nominated engineer John Baldwin
24-page booklet featuring a new, extensive interview with Leslie and liner notes by acclaimed author, critic and compilation co-producer Wyndham Wallace, along with an essay by award-winning writer and scholar Louis Chude-Sokei
Cover collage by renowned British artist Linder, featuring photography by Mondino, and design by designer Christopher Shannon

“The definition of a hidden gem” – John Peel

“The world seems finally to be catching up to Leslie Winer, whose startling intelligence and singular vision shine through her copious recording life.” – Max Richter

“She might just be the coolest woman on the planet!” – Boy George

Light in the Attic is ecstatic to announce When I Hit You—You’ll Feel It: a 16-track anthology that celebrates the extraordinary work of musician, poet, and author, Leslie Winer. When I Hit You—You’ll Feel It spans Winer’s three-decade-long musical career: from her groundbreaking solo work in the early ‘90s to her latest inspired projects. Featuring musical contributions from Jon Hassell, Helen Terry, Jah Wobble, Renegade Soundwave’s Karl Bonnie, and others, the collection also spotlights Winer’s diverse collaborations, and unearths previously-unreleased recordings.

Newly remastered by the GRAMMY®-nominated engineer John Baldwin, When I Hit You—You’ll Feel It will be available in multiple special 2xLP editions, on CD, and across digital platforms. The album includes a new interview with Winer, captured by the compilation’s co-producer, acclaimed author and critic Wyndham Wallace. Rounding out the package is an insightful essay by the award-winning writer and scholar Louis Chude-Sokei and an original cover collage by the renowned British photographer and artist, Linder, featuring photography by Mondino, and design by designer Christopher Shannon.

MORE ABOUT LESLIE WINER….

Musician, poet, iconoclast, model, artist, enigma. Leslie Winer is many things.

Born to a teenage mother and sold for $10,000 in a black market adoption when she was just hours old, Winer has always lived an uncommon life. She grew up in Boston with a voracious appetite for music and the written word and embraced the city’s lively jazz and folk scene in the ‘70s. Moving to New York for art school, she gravitated towards a vibrant crowd of intellectuals, artists, and radical thinkers—or perhaps they gravitated towards her.

There, Winer formed an unlikely friendship with writer and artist William S. Burroughs and lived on-and-off with Jean-Michel Basquiat. In London, where Winer began her musical ventures in earnest, she was a regular at Leigh Bowery’s underground club Taboo, where she met many of her collaborators, including filmmaker John Maybury, Kevin Mooney (of Adam and the Ants), and Boy George, who once declared that Winer “might just be the coolest woman on the planet!”

Winer’s striking looks also attracted fashion designers and photographers. Throughout the early ‘80s, she was an in-demand model—appearing in campaigns for Valentino, Christian Dior, and Yohji Yamamoto, and serving as a muse for a young Jean-Paul Gaultier, who later dubbed Winer “the first androgynous model.” She posed for Helmut Newton, Irving Penn, and Pierre et Gilles, and graced the covers of The Face, French and Italian editions of Vogue, and Mademoiselle.

But music was Winer’s true passion and, at the turn of the ‘90s, she would unknowingly help invent the massively popular genre known today as trip-hop.

On her debut, Witch, Winer masterfully blended the uninhibited sampling of early hip-hop with dancehall basslines and programmed beats, while weaving mesmerizing—and coolly-detached—spoken-word vocals into her ambient tracks. It was unorthodox in the most delicious ways.

The album was a bold experiment by the self-taught artist, who enlisted a number of talented musicians in the sessions, including Culture Club’s Helen Terry, Karl Bonnie of Renegade Soundwave, former Public Image Ltd. bassist Jah Wobble, and Kevin Mooney, as well as Marco Pirroni and Matthew Ashman (both of Adam and the Ants, among other acts).

While Witch was finished in 1990, it wouldn’t be released for three years, due to the whims of Winer’s label. In the meantime, several tracks made their way out into the world as early as June 1990, thanks to BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel, who later referred to Witch as “the definition of a hidden gem.”

Opening with the laid-back dub beats and soft, sing-songy chorus of “He Was,” Witch features such highlights as the up-tempo “Skin,” the hypnotic, bass-heavy “The Boy Who Used 2 Whistle,” and the album’s closer, “Dream 1,” in which waves of reverb-soaked vocals bounce from one ear the other.

While sonically, Winer was breaking new ground, she was also bringing a fresh, incendiary take on what it means to be a woman in the music business, as embodied by her composition “N1 Ear,” in which she delivers a scorching, feminist manifesto, borrowed from the Women’s Liberation Broadsheet: “If I get raped it must be my fault / And if get bashed I must’ve provoked it / And if I raise my voice I’m a nagging bitch / And if I like fucking I’m a whore…And if I ask my doctor too many questions I’m neurotic and need pills / Because I still can’t get a safe birth control while some fucker’s roaming the moon.”

Winer had every right to vent her frustrations as a woman in music. Despite her fierce demeanor and steadfast focus, she was consistently disregarded and typecast by the industry. Many of her early collaborators failed to credit her work, while others simply overlooked her influence. Witch, for example, was so delayed that by the time the album saw the light of day (released under the pseudonym “©”), trip-hop was gaining mainstream traction via acts like Portishead, Massive Attack, and Madonna. Although Winer eventually gained wider acknowledgment (prompting the NME to give her the dubious distinction of “The Grandmother of Trip-Hop”), Witch initially went sorely unnoticed.

Following the disappearance of Witch, Winer continued to record, undeterred by the elusive nature of mainstream success in the modern music business. Her network of inspired collaborators continued to grow and expand, yet her influence remained largely a secret except to those in the know, such as Grace Jones and Sinead O’Connor, who would cover her songs.

Today, Winer stays busy on new musical projects in the French countryside, where she has spent the past two decades raising her five daughters. A prolific writer, she has also published two collections of poetry and oversees the literary estate of Herbert Huncke, a defining member of the Beat Generation.

In the modern era, one is hard-pressed to find an artist who continues to push the creative envelope as much as Winer does. And yet, three decades after her revolutionary debut, her work remains just as startling and fresh.

Winer’s influence might best be summed by the award-winning composer Max Richter, who offered the following thoughts to Wyndham Wallace for his extensive liner notes: “The world seems finally to be catching up to Leslie Winer, whose startling intelligence and singular vision shine through her copious recording life. A visionary commentator on the relationship between individuals and society in the mould of Blake or Woolf, Leslie Winer knows things that the culture at large just doesn’t understand yet, and she has never been afraid to let us know that.”

Note: With THE Purchase OF THE Vinyl OR THE CD YOU Will GET THE Single MP3 Files AS Well AS A Continous MIX VIA E-mail. With the cover artwork for Pop Ambient 2022, longtime Kompakt graphic artist Veronika Unland has once again outdone herself. Following the almost baroque, blood-red and jet-black, extremely physical sculptures of Pop Ambient 2021, which emerged from a dark, floral sea like bodies erect for dancing, the front of 2022 is adorned with a pastel-white form, intertwined, folded many times and crisscrossed with delicate shading, which seems to float on a pale pink background; soft, gentle waves woven from Venetian colors that leave the viewer puzzled: Is it a flower, a coral, a mollusk?

Again, the current edition of the tradition-steeped compilation series curated by Wolfgang Voigt is about the persistent and ever-necessary definition of beauty, of reduction, of electronic music of heavy lightness and light heaviness, of ambient's eternal promise of a state of physical and acoustic weightlessness and Pop's of redemption. And about the question why a never arbitrary combination of soundscape, drones, samples and loops, put together in a certain way, can create this feeling of warmth, depth and space, - something three-dimensional, where the imagination feels at home as a fish in the water or a bird in the sky. A key aesthetic stimulus that sends all the senses into a slow glide and drift, after which your synapses feel like they've been bathed in essential oil. Next to Soul, Ambient is probably the most effective musical healing plant of mankind.

Behind the aural test tubes, the who's who of Pop Ambient is once again at work, led for the first time by the highly trafficked Californian duo Blank Gloss, whose debut album "Melt" this year was certified by The Guardian as nothing less than "heartaching beauty". Yui Onodera's "Chrome" as well as "Kari", a cooperation of Markus Guentner and Joachim Spieth, could also be imagined in the score of Denis Villeneuve's new film version of Dune - however, colleague Hans Zimmer managed that quite well without the three. After such wonderful and stylish contributions by Reich & Würden, Triola and Thomas Fehlmann, the ear then lingers a bit longer on the ghostly "Weiht" by Morgen Wurde feat. Maria Estrella, a track like a temple of sound, a deep electronic immersion in a Japanese onsen. In this sea of unnameable time you could sink forever, but with the tracks of Andrew Thomas, Thore Pfeiffer and Max Würden & Pepo Galán the journey slowly comes to an end.

During the later stages of 2020, Damien Duque (City of Dawn) and M Cody McPhail (atop) decided to begin writing a collaborative album together. Their styles, although different, compliment each other extremely well and it became apparent that this project would end up flowing out of them with ease. They shared wav files and recording parts individually at each other homes over a few months. City of Dawn's smooth reverbed tonal compositions mixed with ATOP's rougher and meandering synth lines gives the Starwind lp its expansive and cosmic qualities.

Lasse Marhaug and Jon Wesseltoft have collaborated in a variety of projects over the years, but started the Tongues of Mount Meru duo back in 2008 as a collaboration to pursue their shared interest in sustained and closely calibrated sounds, and the phenomenological impact they have on the act of listening. They started recording a session each year from 2008 to 2011 in Oslo utilising harmoniums, organs, shruti boxes, oscillators, and computers and accumulated a large pool of material. Some of that material wound up on tapes and vinyls over the years, but they kept the hour-long pieces with an intended major future release in mind. These pieces are now collected in this monumental 4 disc box set.

Clocking in at the total of over 4 hours, with over 10 years in the making, this music was crafted with a clear intent to influence its listeners sense of time and mental colour analogous to the music’s stringently, and at times claustrophobic, unfolding narrative. Slowly blooming clusters of wave interference kaleidoscopic blending together with lower frequency binaural pulse patterns. It is as if light has been pitched down, and its oscillating and shimmering coating of gradually shifting overtone cycles opens up and crashes down again into the ocean of waves continually churning around its own time axis.

Drawing upon their joint interest in minimalism and long-form music, raga theory and electro-acoustics, Marhaug and Wesseltoft conjures up a focused power of both beauty and unease to deeply establish a state of hypnotic attentiveness. The result is a hallucinatory and intense set of finely tuned and tectonic long-form pieces, and is a must for anyone even remotely interested in any form of sustained sounds, and its impact on the mind.

Pressing info: 200 copies, black cardboard box set with embossed gold print

Turning the mirror on herself, Marie Davidson arrives on Ninja Tune with Working Class Woman”, an album that is sure to be heralded as one of the most self-reflective recordings yet from the Montreal-based producer.

Building on the dancefloor-minded trajectory of her breakthrough LP Adieux Au Dancefloor, released via Veronica Vasicka's Cititrax imprint circa 2016. With “Working Class Woman”, Marie Davidson proves that once again that she can roll acidic new beat basslines and sleek, sexdrops tekno laced with sharp-edged vox like no one else. This super strong selection is sure to take pride of place within the collections and listening habits of anyone into DFA and Regis, Not Waving (with whom she recently collaborated) SOPHIE and GAIKA.

Working Class Woman reshapes Marie Davidson's sharp-edged Italo Disco, proto-industrial and electro influences into new modes of cyberpunk coldwave control, proof that looking inward can project a more expansive vision out into the world.

In 2016 they released their debut album ‘Brainsugar’ via acclaimed independent label Anjunadeep. Accumulating over 40 million streams, the album won praise from Mixmag, Resident Advisor, Consequence of Sound and DJ Mag, who described it as “a startlingly accomplished debut” in their 9/10 review.

Originally an electronic duo comprised of Dutch producers Ariaan and Peter, Cubicolor became a three-piece band with the arrival of British singer-songwriter Tim in 2015, after collaborating on breakthrough single ‘Falling’. A published poet and playwright, Tim’s musical upbringing was rooted in playing guitar and listening to Nick Drake. Combined with Ariaan’s encyclopedic knowledge of electronic music and Peter’s love of late romantic classical, created what Clash described as “a beautiful, haunting fusion of ideas.”

In 2018 the band delivered, and then shelved, their second album…

“It had twelve tracks, a different name, all the artwork was done and a date was set for it to be released.

We got home and listened to it, then called each other and decided to drop the whole thing. The next week we went back into the studio and started again.

We loved the record we made but for some reason, it didn't feel right, so we didn't keep anything, we shut ourselves on the boat in Amsterdam where we work and didn't stop until we'd written a new album.”

A year after going back to the drawing board, the trio now presents ‘Hardly A Day, Hardly A Night’. Inspired by the cycles of time, and the cyclical movements of the planets, the new 12 track record weaves together themes of loss, hope, and acceptance.

“There were a lot of moments when we weren't sure we'd ever find what it was we were looking for. On the way, we lost friends, lost loves, battled health issues, lost an album, lost each other and came back together again. It feels like a lifetime has passed but the world keeps spinning and I guess we knew we would eventually find our strength and make the album we wanted to make.”

Showcasing their remarkable production techniques and textured sound design throughout the album, Cubicolor continues their unconventional rise to the upper ranks of the electronic music world.

The band will celebrate the album release with a listening event in London in February 2020, before taking their live show to festivals around the world in the summer.

Finally back in Stock! Some classic Theo from the early 2000's. ESSENTIAL!

The meaning of dreams usually stays hidden in stacks of abstract layers, obscuring their essence in surreal and bizarre imagery. Exploring the depths of our subconscious, they lead us from stories of lighthearted innocence to our most gruesome ghastly fantasies, making us live through multiple scenarios each and every night. While in sleeping-state, we are at our most vulnerable and at a total loss of control over mind and body. At the same time, we feel most free and safe during REM, with none of our worldly worries breathing down our neck while our minds find ways to cope with exactly these worries.

For his debut full length “Too”, My Panda Shall Fly decided to collaborate with a variety of singers from all over the globe to explore their subconscious anxieties and fears together. Giving away control over the songs himself, he was only amazed by the results of this process that took over more than a year until final realization.

Just like in Ursula K. Le Guin‘s classic sci-fi novel “The Lathe of Heaven”, you can shape your dreams by becoming aware of the inner forces that invisibly guide you every day.

‘Too’ comes out worldwide on limited 2LP red vinyl, CD, MC (including download code) and digital.

Late night music from the back seat. ‘Are You Anywhere‘, sophomore album from Tokyo based UK native submerse blends early 90’s slow-jams and instrumental hip hop wrapped in smooth DX7 keys hybridized with his own unique sound. ‘Are You Anywhere’ is the second full length release from submerse on Project: Mooncircle with features from fellow Tokyo based beat maker fitz ambro$e.

A darwīš is a religious monk dedicating his entire existence to the advancement of faith and meditation. Although he believes in Allah, he can be described predominantly as a mystic. Refraining from any form of material wealth and even societal appreciation, holy enlightenment is his true aim.

After finishing up their semester at University, Nicolas and Jonas – or Parra for Cuva & Senoy – decided to pack all their gear into their camper and go on a road-trip down to the eastern coast of Spain.

The car filled with all kinds of gear, from synths to speakers, guitars, and percussions amongst other tools and toys, three creative weeks ensued, creating music with a view out to the sea.

While taking everything in and doing daily trips, the two were able to create enough song ideas in three weeks to spent the rest of the year at home in the studio to finish all arrangements and mixes.

Inspired by the Spanish way of life in a small and historically rich port town, a stark contrast to life Berlin, and soaking up diverse musical influences, the individual titles are highly personal and reflect on specific emotions or intimate experiences.

During the arrangement of the title-song, the percussion track was accidentally dragged to infinity, which resulted in a trance inducing meditative sound that gave them the idea for the title. Watching turkish dervish dancers while listening should therefore enhance the listening experience.

This compilation brings together many different artists from across the globe that are here to get heard and make a predication through their music. Tracks like “Barn Burning” from Mat Young (Bully Rec.), “Brava” from Paten Locke (Therapy) and “Why’d You Lie” from John Robinson (Lil’ Sci) are more like statements from the mind. Mr Cooper brings a new track in the style of his recent album “What Else There Is”… Carlo (Bully Rec.) contributes “Trapped In The Attic”, 40 Winks give “At The Lunar Bar (Live)” and Simon of Jahbitat brings the organic sound from the canopy of the Barcelona night with “Timber (An Ode To Trees Gone)”. Political lyrics & real Hip Hop come from Miami with the group Intifada… Other artists include MF Doom, Aether, Inner Science, The Q4 with Arts The Beat Doctor and many more. All tracks are exclusive… This is the sound of Project Mooncircle for 2009. Speak with your mind, think with your soul & change with your heart! We aim to stop the destructive elements of the music business and bring music back to the people.

Artists: Inner Science, Escher, Therapy, Carlo, Mat Young, Jahbitat, John Robinson aka Lil’ Sci, MF Doom, Aether, 40 Winks, Mr Cooper, Dday One, The Q4, Glen Porter, Lambent, Intifada, Mathematik & more…

Artwork By Gordon of Beta Bodega Coalition Europe for Project: MoonCircle.
Letterings By La Mano Fria of Beta Bodega Coalition.

Limited 500 copies only!

Berlin producer Robot Koch is back for his third full length release, “The Other Side”.

Although Robot Koch has an international reputation as being “One of Europe's finest producers of the beat generation“ (Low End Theory), he is much more than just a beatmaker… “(Post)-dubstep infused Electronic Hip Hop“ is far too constrained a label to understand what this producer is all about. Instead of following the sound of his previous albums “Death Star Droid” (“Essential listening” – Bobby Friction BBC) and “Songs For Trees and Cyborgs“ (“Music for a modern age that has rarely sounded so good” – Boomkat), Koch takes the genre defying ingredients from these previous records to another level. There still are some of those “Galactic ten ton beats and space age melodies“ (Dazed and Confused) that made the previous albums staple drops in the playlists of Mary Anne Hobbs, Starkey, Daedelus and Gaslamp Killer to name a few, but there is a new dimension to Koch's production and songwriting that didn’t show on his previous records.

The cinematic vibe of tracks like “Nitesky”, the quirky and moody feel of “Bugs” and the electricity of “Tapedeck” show how Koch more than ever manages to create intimate and timeless pieces of music that are soulful, deep, mysterious and that will appeal to fans of cutting edge Electronica and modern pop music alike. This is the most personal record of Robot Koch to date. Instead of going for big name features Koch teamed up with lesser know artists like Kansas based vocal talent John LaMonica, long time friend and theatre composer Nielson and mexican singer/songwriter Graciela Maria to find the right voices for his compositions. John LaMonica infuses his whimsical and heartfelt melodies that breathe an air of darkness and nostalgia with Koch's fresh and forward thinking instrumentals to create something that fans of Radiohead, The XX and Jamie Lidell should not sleep on.

After the release of the John Robinson collaboration album (“Robot Robinson” – Project Mooncircle) earlier this year, it seems surprising how extensive Robert’s output is, but don’t be mistaken, this album is a longer term project than just releasing the songs Koch made in the last year. Some of the songs found on “The Other Side” were made seven years ago.

Mexican Singer/Songwriter Graciela Maria has been singing since she was a little kid. Having livied in Mexico City for many years, she was part of the mexican electronic music scene and made music with local producers signal deluxe.

In 2009 she met berlin based producer Robot Koch in New York at his show at Coco66 in Brooklyn.
They started making music together and Grace was featured on Robot's album “Death Star Droid” as well as on the Ep “Listen To Them Fade”. 2009 marked the beginning of a journey both musically and geographically for Graciela, as she moved from Mexico City to Berlin and started playing shows wolrdwide with Robot Koch.
They played everywhere from the Sonar Festival in Barcelona to some obscure art festivals in Bulgaria and Tunesia.

With Many Places, Graciela Maria's stunning debut album, she steps into the light as more than just a featured vocalist on Koch's electronica and dubstep driven compositions: Her own music breathes the vibe of classic singer/songwriters like Tim Buckley and Elliot Smith, with the music and the production being even more organic and live sounding than on the previous Koch tracks. The songwriting took place all over the world, as Graciela traveled and lived in many places recently, accompanied by her little notebook and her digital camera, which she uses to record song ideas on all the time. The topics she deals with are both surreal and personal and leave it up to the listener to be interpretated.

Producer Robot Koch teamed up with friend and fellow musician Sneaky (Fingathing / Ninja Tune) to create this organic and retro futuristic sounding album, that incorporates Double Bass, Live Drums, Cello and other String instruments and well as a subtle touch of cutting edge electronic production which Robot Koch is know for. The track "Many Places" features a string arrangement by Fiora Cutler.

Graciela Maria is an artist to watch out for in the future as she proves to create timeless pieces of music that are appealing to Indie/pop listeners and lover's of electronic music alike.

Out of the Netherlands now comes forth a new generation of Dutch Masters: The QuadraphoniQuartet = Arts The Beatdoctor, Sense & STW.

"Smoothness Extract (Deep Night At Ishigaki)" is Lambent's third full-length album, and his first on the Project Mooncircle label. Whilst his earlier work was rooted in Ambient and Electronic music, this record presents his sound in the context of Instrumental Hip Hop, with strong elements of Electronic music still present. You could group this record with the recent wave of Dilla inspired Hip Hop, but equally you could group it with Autechre when they're at 90 BPM.
The record came about after Project Mooncircle heard some of Lambent's tracks and feel in love with the calmer and smoother pieces of his often intense sound. Hence, Lambent compiled these seventeen extracts from the smoother side of his repertoire.
This album is made as his dedication towards a small Japanese island, "The Isle of Ishigaki". Lambent is originally from Japan (although he has lived in Berlin for many years), but he has never visited this place... The album is the sound track to a summer time night trip around the Island, visiting the many different aspects of the scenery, nature, feelings, emotions, sights and sounds as Lambent imagines them.

The diabolical rhyme dynamics of Teknical Developments lyrics paired with beats cloaked in a blue cheese fog of THTC from Hey!zeus dwell and celebrate in the time of A.M. A time which reveals the full existence of the human cypher in its entirety, From the crooked corrupt cloaked by its shadows to the optimism of dreams and a new days break.
TO.AM is a dedication to the time
FREE.AM is an experiment in the freedoms of the infant hours
Two separate organism from the same body of concept naturally evolved from late night studio sessions all past the hour of midnight.

———————————
All Tracks Produced By Hey!zeus
All Tracks Recorded & Mixed At RDL Studios by Hey!zeus
All Tracks Mastered By Mr Cooper
Artwork & orginal paintings by Gordon of PMC/BBC.

LIMITED edition: ONLY 400 copies, worldwide!!

The brand new album after the top seller "Amongst Strangers"! The sound of the album can be described as a mixture of Hip Hop, Dubstep, Ambient and ‘electronic music’. The record is darker, harder, faster and more tenuous in the array of sounds used than previous work. CD version with gold stamped letterings!

40 Winks are known for their laidback atmospheres and vibes. However, after 5 years of looking for the perfect beat, they decided to break free from the usual mold and dive into the unknown for this project. Having reached listeners in different scenes and parts of the world, they decided to incorporate all those genres and styles into their own, to create an instrumental hip hop album in which the traditional boundaries of rhythms, tempos and sampling techniques are wildly stretched. Instrumental hip hop aficionado or not, music lovers are bound to find a treat in this one!

15 tracks by Seven Star, Climber, Mr Cooper,Soarse Spoken, Epstein, Rumpistol, Induce, Set in sand, Calm, Manuvers, XNDL, Betties Blues, Glen Porter, and many more... incl. promo video track ...

R&B from Godha on Dawn

Hajj's Dawn label returns with a limited CD drop from Modern Collaspe Recommended if you're into Youth & Bfdm.

Where to Now? are proud to present the debut LP from Peru based and born Areliz Ramos. ‘Frio’ seeks to explore the common reality of isolation and melancholy which exists when stepping away from our roots towards a solo global exploration of culture and place. Recorded between spells in London, Berlin, and Lima, 'Frio’ attempts to soak up experimental & electronic subcultural scenes within these environments, resulting in a body of work which seeks to connect, longs to feel, and yearns to regain a sense of belonging.

Previously recording under the moniker ‘Milkshlk’ (Female Pressure, Napp), Areliz’s sound shuffles all over the place - from occupying the same deep haze, ethereal, smudged, and downtempo space championed by the likes of Boards of Canada, Odd Nosdam, Seefeel etc, to carrying an unassuming boom bap sensibility and confidence at times, to stepping back and opening widely to experimentation, extended field recordings and tonal subtleties.

The LP begins with title track ‘Frio’, an orchestral and meditative movement in which inaudible, hushed conversations flicker in and out of focus, before the playful piano samples of ‘This Track Is For You’ swing into motion, with a prolonged sampling of a loving ‘pep talk’ from father to daughter welcoming jazzwise flutters and swirling melodies, eventually collapsing under a wave of distortion.

‘Euduvin’ switches focus to what we can only assume is a nod to the warmth and belonging felt for Areliz’s native Peru home, where a long form field recording captures distant nature, environment, and hushed intimate conversations, floating below a swell of warm ambience. All this is intentionally juxtaposed with the start of the next piece ‘Sang’, instantly evoking anxiety and dread, signifying the disconnect between the comfort of ‘home’ and the disconnect felt when moving on… ‘Samos’ develops into a melee of dizzying underwater bass and percussive experimentation, before returning to a wandering dread.

‘Emails’ tells tales of the heart and communication breakdown over what could be a lost cut from Los Angeles era Flying Lotus before we hear the most unnerving cut on the record ‘Kabal’, again conveying isolation and unease via it’s shards of sharp tone and off kilter rhythm, building into a emotive, heads down clash.

‘Driller 1’ sees the return of Areliz’s more exuberant side, where dense, straight faced ambience skittishly flips to sudden joyful bass dives and unpretentious sample phases. ‘Ava’ rounds us out with the hum of Cicada’s, drifting throughout the album’s closing 8 minutes, becoming buried under layers of hopeful texture, and serene warmth.

Wrwtfww Records and MEG Museum (Geneva) are ecstatic to announce a new full length album by celebrated Japanese percussionist Midori Takada (Through The Looking Glass), in collaboration with Buddhist monks belonging to the Samgha group of the Shingon school of Koya-san, led by Reverend Syuukoh Ikawa. You Who Are Leaving To Nirvana is available on half speed mastered vinyl LP, housed in a 350gsm sleeve, with OBI, and liner notes, as well as on digipack CD.

Recorded at The Premises Studio (London) and in Tokyo in 2019,You Who are Leaving to Nirvana is a majestic work combining a suite of six Buddhist liturgical chants and a musical creation by Midori Takada. The Buddhist chants come from three types of repertoires: shomyo ("Teisan", "Unga-Bai", "Sange", "Taiyo"), but also goeika ("Kannon-Daiji") and mantra ("Hannya-Singyo").

After supervising the recording of the Buddhist chants, Midori Takada added her own compositions, with subtle layers of percussion and the melodies of her beloved marimba, giving full life to the sacred texts.

Reverend Syuukoh Ikawa explains: "Shomyo is a form of declamation of sacred esoteric texts, inherited over many generations. The power of words goes far beyond their mere pronunciation. I think there is something that words alone cannot really convey. If I recite prayers in a musical way, the feeling transmitted will be even stronger than if I say it normally, in everyday language. I think that the musicality of a work carries a hidden power that cannot be expressed in words alone. The setting of the music has an additional power for you and for those around you who listen to it. The words of a song are not just words set to music. They carry an additional hidden power that cannot be expressed in any other way. Listening to Midori Takada's musical performance, the words truly seem to come alive."

Original recordings of the Buddhist chants are held in the International Archives of Folk Music (iafm) at the MEG Museum in Geneva. The album sleeve features an artwork by famed Japanese sculptor Katsura Funakoshi selected by Midori Takada. You Who Are Leaving To Nirvana is released in conjunction with Midori Takada's Cutting Branches For A Temporary Shelter, also available on LP and CD on Wrwtfww Records.

Panos Kyveleas a.k.a. Biomass returns to Modal Analysis after his debut EP "M.D.O.F. in 2015, in collaboration with Italian performers R.O.M. 'B-Trade' is his first album since 2009, debuting also the CD catalogue of the Athens' label. Focusing on instruments like Cretan Lyra and Violin, this is an ambient/drone cinematic album of 12 tracks by the Greek musician credits.

UXY Dosing© (ud) is a maximalist genre of electronic music that refers to sound productions that make for a radical succession to the minimalist genre, regardless of style and aesthetic practice though mainly associated with the field of sound arts.

More precisely, it designates that which embraces heterogeneity and allows for complex systems of juxtapositions and collisions, in which all outside influences are viewed as potential raw material. However, UD relies more on singular experimentation rather than the addition of musical characteristics attached to specific genres. Subsequently, UXY Dosing© gives birth to MDM (Maximal Dance Music) which, beyond a sole matter of genre, remains linked to the high consumption of dextrose associated with milk, which de facto shares the same acronym as MDM (Maximal Dextrose & Milk). Read : Dextrose, energiser or poison?

A showcase of individual tracks from A Strangely Isolated Place's 2021 label releases and a special continuous DJ mix by todos. For last year's label compilation, I mentioned how I hoped to invite a guest DJ to compile the next edition, and here we are. Of course, it just had to be our long-term musical companion, a good friend of mine, and well-respected DJ, todos. I was first introduced to todos through his well-respected Kilchurn Mix series. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, they remain some of my favorite mixes of all time (listen to them all on the Asip site when you get a chance). His ability to craft a narrative, manipulate samples and respect the grey area between ambient and electronic music, is second-to-none.

Octobers’ other new Polytechnic Youth release represents something of a curveball for the label’s fanbase. To release any album exclusively on CD wouldn’t ordinarily place high in PY head Dom’s thought processes. But, such is the current grave situation within the vinyl pressing world, that when the opportunity arose to get out not just one, but two LPs- and package them together for a tenner in a fraction of the time and price it takes to do one vinyl instalment, of course he leapt at it; and when the music is this good- it begs to be unleashed earlier rather than later…. ‘The Prison of Winners’ is a brand new project consisting of David Mason of Listening Center and Martin Jensen of The Home Current. Between them, they have issued a range of acclaimed releases for labels such as Polytechnic Youth, Castles In Space, Ghost Box, Deep Distance and Woodford Halse, to name but a few. The collaboration’s two volume set contains a selection of music that came to life through a long-distance work routine back and forth across the Atlantic (David resides in New York and Martin is based in Luxembourg) between 2020 and 2021. Having been fans of each others’ work for years, it was only natural that they should eventually pool resources. “Volume 1” had long been earmarked for a vinyl release with PY, but with the aforementioned problems of world vinyl production currently being on its knees, and with a boom in lockdown recording seeing “Volume 2” quickly materialize; all parties quickly realized that a super value-for-money, lavish 2 x CD set might just come together perfectly. Thus, the double disc set is released late October in a beautiful sleeve featuring artwork from acclaimed photographer Geneviève Cygan and David Mason. Both volumes lean heavy on the pairs’ previous wonderful electronic experiments, minimal DIY pieces intercross with more uptempo synth workouts, which the artists themselves reckon “inhabit a space somewhere in between feeling lost in car parks and hazy memories of nights out clubbing, in what feels like a lifetime ago.”

Diapason Rex is the second LP by Oakland-based producer Brogan Bentley on Leaving Records. Picking up right where Bentley’s 2014 LP The Snake left off, Diapason Rex’s songs evoke the geography and spiritual energy of the west coast while showcasing the producer’s growing confidence in both carefully crafted dance productions and expansive sonic arrangements. Bentley states, “It’s been brewing for a long, long time and it holds so much information. This is the crowning burst of harmonious song for me, my opus, my cosmic regal song.”

Haunting, swelling album-opener “Ecstasy” sets the record’s tone, where a bed of meditative pads are confronted by a driving breakbeat, heavy layers of soulful vocals and hard-edged synths. Almost defying categorization, the sound of Diapason Rex is bracingly personal. Bentley states, “I’m so particular in so many aspects, and I’m so certain of what I want things to sound like, that I’ll go after it with everything I’ve got. Between the two places of pure experimentation and total intention, is where this album was born from… I really feel like every single song is a crystal.”

Club-ready tracks like the stuttering, sample-slicing “Work” and the elegant yet pained “Phantom” highlight Diapason Rex’s production value. Bentley’s attention to sonic detail is deep-seated; according to the producer, “For me, music is my teacher, and specifically bass.… This stuff is really supposed to acclimate the energy centers in your body.

Diapason Rex is thematically heavy, with late album cut “The Keeper” occupying a special place for Bentley. He states, “’The next day I found out that my friend had gotten hit and killed by a drunk driver. I think it was my friend showing me stuff from the other side about where we go… I sat with this piece of music for a year and a half, writing and producing it. I recorded that the day after my grandma died - I can hear the tears in my eyes from when I was recording those vocals. . It’s stuff like that. For that song to have such a connection to the afterlife, I couldn’t have imagined that going into it. I wasn’t thinking, ‘I’m going to make this song that describes being guided into some eternal space by some all-knowing hand,’ but that’s kind of what comes through when I hear this stuff now, because I’m just a human. We’re stuck down here on this mortal plane, but through music, something spiritual and sacred and timeless is transmitted.”

Brin is a strand of rhythmic audio expressionism for the online world through the lens of LA-based artist Colin Blanton. Homescreen Glow, the full-length debut on Leaving, is a collection of solo & collaborative explorations refined to a focused sound world of leafy-chimed blooming digital gardens, layered inner-clock zero grid beats, and buoyant cloud smears w. toasted edges.

Musical conversations shape-shifted during the making of Homescreen Glow, from passing samples via email, to live recording sessions at CalArts, sunny living rooms, & La Tierra de la Culebra in Highland Park LA. Collaborations across these works include Matthewdavid, Dustin Wong, Brian James Griffith, Raays, and Sick Whips - all mastered by M. Geddes Gengras.

Once the new world arrived with the pandemic, Homescreen’s organic beginnings required a format change to isolated completion lost in the glow of the computer screen.

* Unreleased album by Japanese ambient pioneer * Recorded in late 90’s.

Fumio Miyashita’s unreleased last recording is finally here.

We are honor to receive the master audio of Waterfall Symphony from Fumio’s family last year and finally ready to release on both Vinyl & CD."

Vanguard captures the iconic Bristol Sound. The early days of the iconic Bristol Sound are captured in a new album including an exclusive re-release of the very first track from Massive Attack and tracks from Smith & Mighty, Purple Penguin and more. The curated tracks are also linked in that all were originally released with bespoke original covers from legendary Bristol street artists, including Banksy and Will Barras, tying its release toVanguard’s current exhibition Bristol Street Art: The Evolution of a Global Movement at M Shed, Bristol, running until October. Compiled by DJ Boca 45 (Scott Hendy), Vanguard brings together the seminal tracks that defined the rebellious era which saw the birth of the Bristol Sound for the first time. Featured tracks include an exclusive re-release of Any Love - the first ever track by Massive Attack released on Massive Attack Records in 1988, Smith & Mighty’s breakout hit Walk On, Purple Penguin’s downtempo classic Memphis and other trip hop classics. The LP celebrates the globally recognised Bristol Sound whose experimental breakbeat rhythms and influence still dominate the scene today. Along with classic tracks from the ‘90’s into the ‘00’s and beyond, the album uncovers lesser known cuts by some of Bristol’s pioneering musicians such as One Cut and West Country hip hop’s finest Aspects. The explosion of the Bristol Sound coincided with the boom in UK street art which led to fruitful collaborations between artists and musicians. Finding inspiration in each other’s work, street artists frequently designed rave posters, logos and cover art while DJs provided the beats to accompany street artists’ clandestine painting. Vanguard The Album pays homage to these relationships with a beautifully put together gatefold LP featuring iconic cover art designed by some of the biggest names in street art such as Inkie, Dicy, Will Barras and Nick Walker. These early works capture the boisterous energy of the era and confirm Bristol’s status as an extraordinary cultural melting pot. The double vinyl record also features extensive sleeve notes written by Bristolian writer and curator Jamie Hombre as he reflects on these ground breaking cover art collaborations.

“A seed is the basis of life: a tree, food, a baby, conception, a thought, an album, a band,” says Arp Frique around the title and narrative theme of his latest album. “A seed is growth from almost nothing to everything.”

It’s also linked to a track by Stevie Wonder that he often covers with the band live - 'A Seed's a Star/Tree Medley.' Arp Frique has an inherent understanding of funk and a flush-tight connection to the groove. This was apparent on his debut Welcome To The Colorful World of Arp Frique, via its fusion of disco and funk interwoven with Caribbean and Cape Verdean sounds, and it continues even more so here. If anything, the album plunges deeper into Arp Frique’s love of rhythm and groove. “I went deeper into my love for synths and drum machines from a dance floor perspective,” he says of the album. “This one has more of an electronic vibe.”

The result is an album that feels potently alive, sonically exploring the globe via a concoction of sounds that takes in disco, synth boogie, funk and the sounds of the Caribbean, West and East Africa. The album radiates the feeling of a lost gem, the kind that a crate digging aficionado may find in some far flung place that ends up with a re-release. Whilst Arp Frique expresses a real fondness for such classic sounds - “honestly I wouldn’t even know how to make modern stuff, I am stuck in the 70-80-90s and I love it there” - a tired exercise in retro nostalgia this isn’t. Instead, the album feels more like a fresh take on sounds that once ignited dance floors across the world.

On top of having the dance floor in mind, the album is also a deeply personal one. “I wanted to make this one even more personal and have the lyrics go deeper,” he says. “The lyrics on the album reflect the times we live in: the confusion, hope, despair, rebellion, unity, upgrading consciousness and divinity.” The creative process - despite benefiting hugely from guests that include Americo Brito, Mariseya, Orlando Julius and The Scorpios - is also a personal and intense one for Arp Frique. “I always think in terms of sound and emotion, the two most important aspects of music,” he says. “Every layer that I add needs to add emotion and amplify the sonic palette. It’s a very deep process that I need to do on my own - there is no other way for me. I connect to a higher level of consciousness during these sessions and all external influences need to be cut off in order for this to have maximum effect.”

The theme of the seed that runs through this album, and the connotations of a life cycle, is linked to parenthood. “My daughter, now 5 years old, is my everything and the main drive for everything I do,” he says. “I dedicated this album to her and because this album means so much to me and reflects so much, I also have a full movie almost ready to be released together with the album.” Much like the album itself, the accompanying video will touch upon the tones and styles of bygone decades. “It’s a mixture of a road movie of me and the live band, mixed with a semi-fictional autobiographical story with the album as a soundtrack, all in VHS. Think Holy Mountain meets Sun Ra movies meets Purple Rain but on a low budget with a VHS-cult vibe to it.”