Downbeat | Electronica | Leftfield 235 Items

Special coloured edition excluviely avialable through HHV Records - limited to 100 copies only.

Windows 96 is an electronic music project by Brazilian composer and producer Gabriel Eduardo. Combining the sound of synth/vaporwave, psychedelic, VGM and more.

This new album is the third album Fundamental Records release from Rhys Celeste aka Microlith in last three years. "We always tried to release all the tracks Rhys sent to us as best as possible and this new album follows the same concept, design and the same quality standards, the best." Fundamental Records has the authorization and full support of the Rhys family to release this third album on Fundamental Records and also the first three albums that Rhys composed during the years 2015 and 2016, three albums that never were released in vinyl format before. "We can proudly say we made all we can to keep the music of Rhys alive and available in vinyl record format at the best possible quality. All tracks for the four albums have been thoroughly mastered for the best possible sound in vinyl record format." This is the last project that will be released under the Fundamental Records label. As you can imagine they wanted to say good bye with something really special. Limited to 300 copies. No re-press.

The fifth album by Rhys Celeste aka Microlith on Fundamental. "We always tried to release all the tracks Rhys sent to us as best as possible and this new album follows the same concept, design and the same quality standards, the best." Fundamental Records has the authorization and full support of the Rhys family to release this album and also the previous albums that Rhys composed during the years 2015 and 2016, albums that never were released on vinyl before. "We can proudly say we did all we can to keep the music of Rhys alive and available on vinyl in the best possible quality. All tracks have been thoroughly mastered for the best possible sound quality." This is the last project that will be released under the Fundamental Records label. As you can imagine they wanted to say good bye with something really special. Limited to 300 copies. No re-press.

The fourth album by Rhys Celeste aka Microlith on Fundamental. "We always tried to release all the tracks Rhys sent to us as best as possible and this new album follows the same concept, design and the same quality standards, the best." Fundamental Records has the authorization and full support of the Rhys family to release this album and also the previous albums that Rhys composed during the years 2015 and 2016, albums that never were released on vinyl before. "We can proudly say we did all we can to keep the music of Rhys alive and available on vinyl in the best possible quality. All tracks have been thoroughly mastered for the best possible sound quality." This is the last project that will be released under the Fundamental Records label. As you can imagine they wanted to say good bye with something really special. Limited to 300 copies. No re-press.

Botany Department' is an analogue voyage made of a cohesive collection of instrumental textures and sounds, an LP full of originality. Rui Maia is a musician and producer of kaleidoscopic ranges. Based in Lisbon, he's also internationally known under the Mirror People cover, having released on labels such as Bear Funk or Permanent Vacation.

Design - Ed Bidgood Produced and Written by - Matthew James Brewer Mixed by – Matthew James Brewer and Gareth Metcalf Mastered by - Matt Colton @ Metropolis Studios

Ever since Actress hinted at a new album back in May 2019, we have been waiting with open ears and arms, for Karma & Desire to arrive. With a single 49-minute track '88' uploaded on Bandcamp earlier this year, it was a palette cleanser for what is to come. For this new record, we see Darren Cunningham returning in true Actress form, alongside the now revealed list of mystery collaborators - Mercury Prize winner Sampha, singer and songwriter Zsela, Aura T-09, pianist and conductor Vanessa Benelli Mosell and vocalist Rebekah Christel.

Several of the tracks on Karma & Desire find Darren Cunningham leaning into the sort of hazy, slightly hypnagogic synthscapes which have cropped up repeatedly throughout his output as Actress. Cuts such as ‘Gliding Squares’ have a quality about them which is pitched between dreamy reverie and something more unsettling. It is a sound which means that Karma & Desire can count both Dean Blunt and David Lynch as points of reference. When house and techno beats enter the fray they almost emerge out of these synthetic fogs - even the more lively joints still crackle and hiss with an alluring softness. In this manner, Karma & Desire harks back to previous Actress LPs such as AZD, though there is often a wintry quality to the more beat-driven tracks here which mark them out as unique to this LP.

There are several moments on Karma & Desire where Actress follows his nose to end up in electronic terrain that is difficult to name. The rhythms on ‘Loose’, for instance, draw from juke and ‘Pulse X’-era Eskibeat, but the way in which strange clouds of sound are created from keyboards and Rebekah Cristel’s faraway vocals means that the track is only really comparable to the experiments of Inga Copeland. Furthermore, the points where the piano is played, frequently deliver some of the most beautiful moments here, be they the sparse ‘Public Life (feat. Vanessa Benelli Mosell)’ or the soulful lilt of ‘Walking Flames (feat. Sampha)’.

Karma & Desire brings a surreal beauty to Actress’ typically innovative brand of electronic composition.

Counterchange presents 'Eigenlicht' by Portuguese-German multi-instrumentalist, producer and award-winning film composer John Gürtler. Gently teetering between krautrock-influenced synth mantras and saxophone improvisations, down-tempo electronica, sound design experiments and moments of rich ambience, 'Eigenlicht' is a diverse album of electro-acoustic music. The 11 tracks were recorded between two studios and on location at Berlin's infamous Teufelsberg, the abandoned Cold War era US spy-radio and radar outpost named 'Field Station Berlin', surrounded by forest to the west of the city.

Romare—real name Archie Fairhurst—returns with his new album “Home”, marking his 3rd on Ninja Tune and first full length album since 2016’s critically acclaimed “Love Songs: Part Two”. It follows the recently released ‘Gone / Danger’ 12”, his most direct dancefloor record to date, which Resident Advisor described as “An engrossing eight minutes of cinematic house music”.

Romare’s music has always sat comfortably in both the dancefloor world and a more relaxed environment, “Home” being no exception. With euphoric, uplifting moments on ‘Sunshine’ and ‘Heaven’ through to more meditative and melancholy moments on ‘Deliverance’. “For me, the sweet point in music is when happy and sad come together” comments Fairhurst, “when they meet in the middle, that’s what I try to create”.

The release of “Home” comes after a lifetime of being on the move for Fairhurst, he spent his childhood travelling constantly with his family as his parents moved around the world for work, before finally settling in the UK. This nomadic lifestyle would continue with his burgeoning career as a musician taking him off touring the world (playing over 150 shows in the last 2 years alone). Which brings us to “Home”, The new album marks a new chapter in Fairhust’s life with a move out of London to the countryside and starting a family, a move which has “given me peace and quiet” he comments. The new addition of his own home-built studio adds to this feeling of being content and settled, having worked from various bedroom studios in the past.

This series of musical and visual self-portraits explores death and transformation. Not only physical death but also psychological death, which is usually accompanied by fear and resistance. In times of crisis and despair, we celebrate youth and look to overcome the many challenges posed by life itself. It is natural that we sometimes break down, due to the pressures of society, but fortunately we do stand up again, and create even greater art.

They say we are a product of our environment, you are what you eat and you reap what you sow. But what happens when you can no longer dig the earth and your food is toxic? Amselcom has forever been near the forefront of change, exposing new ideas and giving insight through music and creativity. Our goal was always to bring the world closer by removing barriers and letting sounds and rhythm demonstrate humanity’s true, loving nature. That is why a transformation has taken place and with this latest release we hope to give back and contribute without the shallow, meaningless compensation that feeds the music industry.

The Duke Of Rave and The God of Electronic Music (depending which time of night it is) drops us into the Collapse EP. Offering exhilaration, instantaneous and life-affirming abundance, high hats and sauntering arrangements, brain-scrambling noise and much much more

This September the Collapse EP will hit your ears, fall into its wonderment!

Regular edition.

Volume 1 of Munster's in-depth survey of synth music created in Spain during the 1980s.
From chart-friendly techno pop to obscure experimental acts, these 20 tracks reflect a
fast-moving decade and music scene.

"The Loa of Music" is the debut recording project of Milanese composer and musician Roberto Musci inspired by Voodoo Religion; Vever (the magical voodoo paintings) and Loas, the dark and magic spirits. The deep charm of non-Western music has led him to travel for many years across Africa, India and Asia, studying rhythms, scales, performance and interpretation of the most varied traditional and indigenous music, as well he make many field recordings and collected ethnic instruments that would then be combined with synthesizers and electronics in The Loa of Music.

Recorded in 1983, the project originally had 80 minutes of music but only half was released on original LP. SOAVE has pressed for the first time the Complete Recording Session from original tapes of this phenomenally ambitious masterpiece that entirely refuses the well trod path - distilling a remarkable range of sonic reference and reality. A work of field recording, musique concrète, electronics, synthesis, and instrumentation, pulling from countless musics from across the globe, the result is nothing short of brilliant and stunningly beautiful. A near perfect work - an egoless gesture, which rather than attempting to find consensus, offers every voice equity and cohabitation - harnessing the history music, with all of its cultural diversity, as a vision for a more ideal future. Geographies and their sounds intertwine, while Musci’s interventions and instrumentation thread a path. Ambiences ripple, sounds and voices converse in a vision of unity that may only exist within sonic realms. Unquestionably seminal, and one of the most important works to emerge from Italy in the last 50 years. Never before issued on vinyl since it’s original release, and surely not to be around for long, this is one not to miss.

Officially re-mastered & reissued for the 2009 season!

The record that started it all is back for a 4th pressing! Available for the first time ever on Neon® Green vinyl. Made from the same master as the 2017 2xLP release with 200% Electronica, this version does not contain any of the digital-only Bonus Tracks listed below, and ends with "Kill You In Bed". Limited to 500 copies.

"Dialogues and Shadows" by Goncalo Almeida & Pierre Bastien invites you on a transcendental musical journey, rising above mere notes and timbres. With mechanical instruments and rich harmonics, their music sparks a conversation where listeners may actively participate. Surprises unfold as melodic phrases emerge from diverse sources, including Pierre Bastien's pocket trumpet and Goncalo Almeida's double bass, along with custom-made instruments.

Marcy is a DJ who has blessed many music scenes from being a part of The Rye Wax family to regularly appearing on Kindred radio, her sets span intricate realms of focused left field landscapes.

MI:EL’s energy is effortlessly impactful. This mix is emotionally heavy, blending bass interludes with spoken word snippets and ambiences.

Pasta Kebab is a true genre-bender with eardrums that love all things dubbed-out with wonkykicks and eclectic melodies. Pasta Kebab spreads her ears across the world, although there is always hints of the distinct UK sounds.

Scar is an artist who also runs record shop, book shop and radio station Kindred. She brings us Aird tapes as an amalgamation of the art and sound world she exists in - this mixtape a journey of ambient terrain.

Monochord are Vienna-based musicians Bernhard Hammer and Jakob Schneidewind, two
thirds of Elektro Guzzi, though Monochord paints a different picture. Electroacoustic
experiments and filmic elements define the music that develops instinctively yet irrevocably,
a sense of forward motion setting them apart. Compositionally minimal, their tracks
maximise their inherent potential all the way through to their logical and even illogical end.
Referencing electronica, ambient, shoegaze and at times modern classical harmonics,
Monochord builds and unbuilds in a slow heartbeat. Introspective and filmic, its quiet and
non-confrontational nature makes Monochord move in the interzone between various
spheres. Their music escapes definition and that is its truest definition. Its subtle pulse and
evocative and drony feel invite and inspire.

"Pulso de la Madera" comes as the definitive official reissue of the first album by the legendary band, along with previously unreleased remastered material, on a double LP with extensive liner notes and previously unseen pictures of the band. Essential to revisit the work of a band that inspired fourth world and organic ambient as we know it today; these tunes sound immersive and still contemporary.

On their short but influential career, Finis Africae proposed an informal and decentralized model of creativity that was decades ahead of current practices linked to technological advances; they explored unknown worlds and imagined landscapes of the “fourth world” apart from their present; they neither affirmed nor denied any of the labels they were to assign to them (“New Age”, “ethnic music”, “world music”, etc.); they recreated, used, and nourished foreign cultures without fear.

And most importantly - they shaped a sound “finis”. Your own space. Where there were no rules. A dimension in which the collective was submerged in long sessions of improvisation; where they could be goblins and magical entities; a place where they could imagine scales and structures unreal; where they could play any instrument in the known world; where they could tour the Mediterranean, Africa, and the Middle East in a blink of an eye; where they could be themselves without caring about anything that happened outside.

The unreleased tracks come as a careful selection of a deep-dive over hundred tracks and demos, compiled by Urba and Glossy Mario. The license comes from Juan Alberto Arteche's family.