Warp Vinyl, CD & Tape 167 Items

Dom Maker and Kai Campos have always known how to masterfully synthesise their talents into one singular yet ever changing vision. Since beginning in 2009, their work has morphed from their distinctly British sound of dubstep and techno to the boundaryless and densely packed collaborations of Love What Survives. Five years after that scintillating record, the two take their talents as Mount Kimbie to new extremes by splitting them in half entirely.

Having walked separate paths musically and physically in the world over the years since Love What Survives, Dom and Kai took a literal approach to their latest record, separating it into two distinct, independently produced albums - but linked through shared senses of sonic haziness and melody. Die Cuts shows Dom Maker at a collaborative peak, interspersing vocal cuts, samples, and urban sounds in swiftly stitched vignettes with a slowed down, lo-fi flair. Meanwhile, the chugging beats of City Planning mimic train tracks, as Kai Campos’ album contains rhythmic paintings of urbanity with detailed sonic architecture. These two sides of Mount Kimbie are as different as day and night, yet they inform each other greatly, speaking a simultaneous message from separate locations.

The opening track ‘dvd’ on Die Cuts features a mystical siren song fading in, before slowthai and Danny Brown’s expressive vocals cut through on ‘in your eyes’, trading bittersweet and apoplectic verses. An eerie alarm echoes on ‘heat on, lips on', subsiding with punchy beat and skittering keys, and a scathing, mercurial spoken word spiralling to jazzy loops depicting intimate struggles. City Planning in similar fashion shifts from tense, burrowing bass rumbles to fluttering synth droplets forming rivers of sound. The molten underground beat of ‘Transit Map (Flattened)’ lurches and groans, with piano notes sprawling like the many-coloured intersecting lines of a subway map.

Even when split in two, Mount Kimbie provide yet another total upheaval of their sound, combining their individual strengths for a roaringly creative album on MK 3.5.

Hudson Mohawke makes a powerful statement by pairing together both the sacred and the profane. Cry Sugar is a portrait of our time, as well as the state of club music in 2022, in that the truest art is that without boundaries. That said, when you put everything aside, what you’re ultimately left with is yet another LP full of titanic productions. Which may be its biggest most salient point of all.

Recorded in his adopted home of Los Angeles, Cry Sugar continues Hudson Mohawke’s recent mission to create aspirational music from the tools of the club, but with an even keener eye towards optimism and sustainability. Cry Sugar also includes even more of Hudson Mohawke’s push-pull between high and low culture: allusions to Stravinsky, Schoenberg, and John Williams rub up against the huge swinging bass of the “trap music” he (deliberately or not) helped codify on his earlier records. That battle of motivation is also played out thematically within the songs themselves. Tracks like ‘Stump’, ‘Expo’, and ‘Some Buzz’ nod towards environmental disaster while ‘3 Sheets To The Wind’ revels in debauchery. Who’s to say which mode is more important to focus on.

Hudson Mohawke is prioritising health. He’s still out at 7AM with the ravers mind you, but he’s grilling food next door to the club to hand out to exhausted punters as they emerge into the sunlight following an all-nighter. True story or not, he had made a habit of a different kind of early morning session by giving back to the dancers, the nightlife warriors, the people who make dance music culture so enveloping. That spirit of revestment and of paying tribute to the lifers is reflected throughout his new LP Cry Sugar.

Comes with a download card.

Warp & LuckyMe unite for a mixture of minimal, bass-bleeding hip-hop beats!

‘Beautiful People’, the lead track from Mark Pritchard’s latest and critically acclaimed album ‘Under The Sun’ gets a 12" relase!

Just over eighteen months on from the visionary success of 2018's Safe In The Hands Of Love, Yves Tumor pushes visceral sonic boundaries with his new full-length studio album Heaven To A Tortured Mind.
In a sense, Heaven To A Tortured Mind occupies the anthemic soundworld of the androgynous underworld that was explored in Safe In The Hands Of Love. Offering up a dozen pieces of vivid avant-pop (the days when he would fill an album with painterly, semi-concrete ambiences, as he did on 2017’s Experiencing The Deposit Of Faith, appear to have passed).

Co-produced by Justin Raisen (Sky Ferreira, Ariel Pink, Charli XCX) this selection also comes off as slicker than its predecessor, less prone to rupture and seemingly more comfortable with its poppier impulses. There are even moments here which present as a kind of variation on the neo-soul sound that has been turned murky and swampy at Tumor’s mephistophelian hand. As such, along with Tumor’s disruptive contemporaries like Dean Blunt.

Heaven To A Tortured Mind finds Yves Tumor growing into his position as an outsider popstar. The result is a beautiful, forthright LP from a supremely unique talent.

Yves Tumor shows the world that it's Safe In The Hands Of Love with his debut album for Warp.

Released into the wild with no fanfare or prior warning, Yves Tumor makes good on the audience following astonishing singles 'Noid', 'Licking An Orchid (feat. James K)' and 'Lifetime'. Whereas each of these showed a different side to his sound, one that arguably wasn't afraid to immerse itself in the close running interests of skinny-jeans 'n' all indie, heartfelt romantic ballads and soulful RNB bangers, Yves Tumor's seeming refusal to be creatively pigeonholed is the most vital and compelling cog within his musical identity. Walking a tightrope between being on the one hand, one of the most seductive, soulful musicians of modern times, while also being a serious aficionado of harsh n0!se, as made evident with his recent years' live sets which have become something of a legendary experience/assault for each audience that has entered into the high-intensity sound-field that his on-stage presence creates.

Safe In The Hands Of Love captures each and every side of Yves Tumor's musicianship with an elegant mix of pop numbers and more "experimental" de-constructions. With the spirit of Danish noise/synth/punk/tekno institution Posh Isolation running through the lifeblood of the music, so much so that in a perfect bonding two of the Posh Isolation crew's finest Loke Rahbek and Frederikke Hoffmeier both appear on the album in solidarity with Yves' vision. The recordings are uncharacterizable as anything other than Yves Tumor music. From the gothic cloak 'n' dagger cyberpunk punishment of 'Hope In Suffering (Escaping Oblivion & Overcoming Powerlessness)' featuring Oxhy & Puce Mary, through to the 'Economy of Freedom' produced with Croation Amor and moving along with all the sludgy heaviness of a thousand broken hearts, the feelings explored upon offer a kaleidoscopic union of classic songwriting and lobotomized sound experiments. Chapters like 'Recognizing The Enemy' and 'Licking An Orchid' capture a sense of near blissful introspective blues, sounding like Yves is rushing into the deepest moments of winter while his words that are seemingly spun out of tears, begin to freeze in the cold night air. Before 'Let The Lioness In You Flow Freely' could be the Whitehouse and Steve Albini post-rock record that never materialized back in the 1990's, while 'Recognizing The Enemy' further explores the gothic soundscape rock 'n' roll (original and authentic shades, slick back and leather jacket) of 'Noid', ensuring that his stadium-sized approach to crafting earworms is well and truly represented.

Repeatedly carving out a new path within the diamond cut musical trajectory of Klein, Dean Blunt, Radiohead, Coil and Kevin Shields, Yves Tumor's Safe In The Hands Of Love builds upon his recordings for PAN while setting the stage and informing anyone still unsure that Yves Tumor is truly one of the most visionary and singular artists of his generation.

While Cosmogramma is a monolithic convergence of 20th and 21st century musical forms, high in concept and wide in musical collaboration, Pattern+Grid World pulls the focus back to Steven Ellison and his machines. These machines are speaking (and possibly looking as well, judging by the EP's cover) from the go, as "Clay" introduces itself in a fog of synth and vocoder and gives way to one of the many surprises here, the schizophrenic ping-ponging electro of "Kill Your Co-Workers". Drenched in alternating melodies, it's a synthetic counterpart to the grand string and harp arrangements of Cosmogramma, making acclaimed illustrator Theo Ellsworth's subtly psychedelic cover image of vision-through-noise all the more intimate.

When Flying Lotus records hit their stride, all buttons labeled "pause" and "stop" disappear, and this one is no different. "Pie Face" is led by icy keys that could almost be mistaken for classic grime, before the stoned plastic marching band steps in. "Time Vampires" amazingly lands somewhere between vintage DJ Premier and Lee Hazelwood, while the stripped back bass and drum explorations of "Jurassic Notion/M Theory" are as shamanic and ceremonial as anything you're likely to hear come out of California. If "Camera Day" brings to mind a certain crew of dungeon-dwelling ATLiens, it won't come as much of a surprise that Killer Mike found its syrupy bounce recently inspiring.

Much of the messages surrounding Cosmogramma's release as well as reportage on the world's ever-emerging beat scenes has painted a picture of Flying Lotus as a patriarchal figure blazing the trail for scores of young artists with new conceptual notions of what can be done with a drum machine and a dream. While this notion is certainly not inaccurate, it sometimes overshadows the fact that FlyLo is also an incredibly singular entity. However, as "Physics For Everyone!" stutters to a close, if you listen closely you might just make out the sound of another kid in his room somewhere in the world, anxiously tapping out his first beat.

After scoring one of the most critically acclaimed film scores of recent history Uncut Gems in 2019, artist and producer Daniel Lopatin is back with his new album Magic Oneohtrix Point Never.

Named as a reference to a misheard play on words of Boston’s Magic 106, it is a nostalgic reference to radio landscapes. Loosely structured on radio's journey from day into night, it is interspersed with digital hallucinations that appear as ghosts between the dials. Collaging together "archival recordings of various American FM station’s “format flips”, in which detourned DJ sign-offs collide with advertisements and self-help mantras to form darkly humorous reflections on American music culture."

The album’s opening ‘DRIVE TIME SUITE’ is Magic Oneohtrix Point Never’s appeal in microcosm. Curtain-raising vignette ‘Cross Talk I’ crams hypnagogic infomercial sounds and uncanny, Holly Herndon-esque vocal manipulations into a mere twenty-two seconds, its sharp aural left-turns prefiguring the FM radio-style shifts which periodically break up Magic Oneohtrix Point Never. ‘Auto & Allo’ subsequently expands this aesthetic, its halcyon electronics and twisted echoes of baroque-pop landing somewhere between Sophie and Actress. The balladic elements which lurk in ‘Auto & Allo’ are brought out further still on the following number ‘Long Road Home’, a track where Lopatin’s robotified vocals are accompanied by Caroline Polachek and set against a hyperreal chamber-pop instrumental.

Magic Oneohtrix Point Never is another thrilling, boundary-pushing record of electronic compositions from this multi-faceted artist. It amalgamates his rich history of production work, his chamber-pop songwriting of his previous albums and his earlier explorations of plunderphonics, into a record that is as much of a reference to the artist's past, as Lopatin dialling inwards into his sonic world of 0PN, creating a parallel universe for the listener to exist in, during these tumultuous times.

Artwork by Robert Beatty

Praise A Lord Who Chews But Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds) takes us beneath all the bedazzled glam stardom as Yves journeys through the limbo of life and love, escaping toxicity to get higher and holier. From the raw, unapologetic drawl of 'God Is a Circle' comes a mercurially shifting tracklist where Yves picks apart their psyche, discerning lovers and enemies both spiritually devoted to. 'Lovely Sewer' captures the incendiary spark of love, heart racing to the red flags under sunset coloured new wave guitars; a total flipside to the later sultry sighs and strong shuffles of 'Echolalia', where heat rises from the spiralling synths and funky dance grooves.

Leader of the punk-rap awakening, Wu-Lu pulls inspiration from personal hardship and the underrepresented on his latest for Warp entitled 'loggerhead'. Miles Romans-Hopcraft based his artistic moniker on the Amharic word for water, “wu-ha”. True to his fluid sound and nature, he decided to change it to something that felt more liquid. He ended up with Wu-Lu, a name he has been using since 2015. His first record Ginga opened the floodgates to a career that would take him to various places, people, and genres. From breaking bones at skateparks as a teenager, to DJing as one of the original members of Touching Bass, and eventually getting signed to Warp in 2021.

As an artist, Wu-Lu seems concerned with feeling and communicating the full spectrum of human emotion. Throughout his varied discography, he touches on disparate themes and sounds, straddling a divide between blissed-out beats and grungy guitar dirges, and often mixing both into one amorphous, unclassifiable sound of his own.

On ‘'loggerhead'’, Wu-Lu hones his unique sound. On ‘Take Stage’, a despondent spoken word intro opens with sombre strings and underlying bows dragged delicately across them. Then the lights flicker to life on ‘Night Pill’, and the mosh pit with them - the bassline approaches like a hungry shark and the guitars snarl with a homemade 90s grunge energy. This grunge drawl and punk spirit is peppered with dry old-school drum sounds of classic hip-hop, with laid-back beat-oriented tracks are spread amongst those with intermittent growls, scratches, and shrieks. Sonic elements are constantly rearranged and juxtaposed throughout the album, like on ‘South’ where the fluctuating pitch of squealing guitars and screaming vocals is contrasted with the steady flow of Lex Amor.

Listening through the album you are constantly greeted with about-turns, and through the element of surprise and deft use of contrast 'loggerhead' sits at an exciting point in Wu-Lu’s genre-defying artistry.

One of Warp’s tenured signees, Nightmares On Wax is back yet again, only this time it's some of his fellow travellers trying on the Nightmare blend of jazz, soul, dub, and electronic styles. Seeking some refuge after a decade out on the road, the pandemic lockdown proved a unique time for a passion project of George Evelyn’s: a remix record. Teaming up with talent both young and old(er), Remixed! To Freedom… sees some brilliant takes on two tracks from 2021’s Shout Out! To Freedom…

Osunlade takes Wonder's hypnotic chorus refrain and dips us deep beneath the surface of aquatic House depths with a duo of complementary Soul/Club retakes and Tucillo shakes up the same vocals and Shabaka Hutchings timeless sax leads into a Loft ready mover. Meanwhile Mala's call to arms remix molds 3D Warrior via the bass Don's unmistakable infrasound flex, doing deadly damage by reducing the track down to the sparsest of elements and flipping wigs with nothing more than a perfectly placed percussion element and twisting and distorting Hutchings reed work into a simmering, bristling loop. Paul Woolford (aka, rave assassin Special Request) moves us into 4x4 anthem territory, with the 7min Garage House mix that would make NYC legends Masters at Work proud. All of these sandwich an extended Nightmares On Wax cut of 3D Warrior in the middle, drawing the track out further into mesmerising full capacity.

Essential reissue incl. download code!

Normally, an artistic shift for a creator is signalled by a withdrawal from the rat race, a monkish retreat to a simpler environment where a mind can ponder the elusive creative progress. But for artist and producer Julie Campbell aka LoneLady, the jump from Manchester’s crumbling outskirts to set up a new studio in an 18th century shooting range in central London had the inverse effect. Despite the metropolitan bustle outside, her third album Former Things comes off as an LP of isolation; without backing band and without intrusion. Remarkably, it’s also LoneLady’s most unapologetically pop-minded release to date.

The taut, acerbic skronk of Campbell’s Telecaster still scrapes Former Things with embellishments of no-wave sensibilities, but a new-found fascination with hardware, drum machines and synthesisers opens a whole new realm of possibility for the musician. ‘(There Is) No Logic’ leads the LP with a sequencer-laced, alt-disco flare, akin to an art-pop era Scritti Politti track, propelled with endless forward motion by a wiry funk spirit. The detail of each pin-sharp sample, crisp-dried digitised snare hit and squelching bass drop invokes an industrial electro edge to the likes of ‘Threats’ and ‘Terminal Ground’, as Campbell’s soul-via-punk vocal delivery brings to mind nothing less than the natural charisma of Prince and David Bowie.

Former Things boldly updates the forgotten sonics of 1980s art-pop, and LoneLady shows exactly how to make them sound brand new again.

2LP with download code and poster!

13 tracks, that's a hell of an EP! Vinyl comes with download code!