Downbeat | Electronica | Leftfield 328 Items

Recorded (mostly) remotely between 2020-2022, but mired in a mutual interiority, their sublimely
smoky venture bridges strains of spoken word, strung-out country folk, jazz and etheric
kosmische with a timeless control of mood and atmosphere that amounts to one of the finest
episodes in either’s oeuvre. In a properly enchanted blurring of identity, they almost entirely
dispense with digital tools in favour of more pastoral and timeless energies; guitar, sax, jazzy
brush drums and a Rhythm Ace FR-3 drum machine, a sort of precursor to Roland’s simmering
CR-78.
It’s that sax that takes you places though, daubing accents of blushed romance over walls of guitar
in various formations, all of which sidestep the widescreen cliché in favour of something more
nuanced and unusual. This ain’t the open road of Lynch and Badalamenti, more the careening
trailblaze of Conny Plank & Holger Czukay, Angela Conway & Bruce Gilbert, The Jesus & Mary Chain
and Hope Sandoval’s Stoned & Dethroned, like a melted Venus in Furs, soft, and fritzed.

At only 19 years old, Dar Es Salaam's DJ Travella represents a new wave of singeli producers who are driving Tanzania's breakneck dance sound into fresh, innovative spaces. Unaffiliated with any of the well-known studios like Sisso and Pamoja, Hamadi Hassani's music points singeli's fusion of taraab and techno towards the stars, locating a cyber-singeli style that's dense, kinetic and unashamedly sexy.Hassani started producing at 15, and a few years later his debut is a jagged set of hi-nrg dance music that pulls influence from across the globe, folding together elements of dembow, rave, R&B, and trap. But nothing's straightforward: opening track 'Crazy Beat Music Umeme 2' juxtaposes grinding 200bpm rhythmic intensity with urgent plucked strings, sounding like Timbaland conjuring a Thunderdome soundtrack for a Tanzanian street party.'Crazy Beat Music Umeme 4' is even more barbed, with neon rave synths and hand-jammed percussion that's one part 808 Mafia and one part DJ Diaki. On 'London Bandcamp', Travella meshes hi-speed singeli backbeats with downtempo dembow kicks, squeezing out unexpected sleaze in the process, while on 'London Uwoteeee' there's an almost romantic sparkle, with ethereal vocals draped across woodblock cracks and whistles.But Travella sounds most nimble when giving the nod to Atlanta, and his merging of earworm synth hooks and neck-snapping East African rhythms on tracks like 'London Jomon Beat' will leave no doubt that the young producer is capable of bending singeli completely to his will.

Bartosz Kruczy?ski, also known as artist Earth Trax, is arguably among the leading names in Poland's current electronic music scene. Based in Warsaw, his music is deeply emotive and explores a wide-ranging sonic palette that is complemented by well-defined artistic concepts. He has already featured on labels including Phonica Records, Growing Bin, Into The Light and Shall Not Fade -with whom he released his acclaimed debut album in 2020-. His Lapsus release 'Closer Now', takes a different trajectory to his previous album 'The Sensual World' [Shall Not Fade, 2022], fundamentally an energetic and high tempo club record. In contrast, 'Closer Now' focuses on fresh and disparate ideas, with tracks that could typically be classified as more?unrestrained?B-sides that deconstruct sounds aimed at the dancefloor. 'Closer Now' is influenced by liminal spaces and cultivates surreal and dreamlike qualities. Conversely it also possesses a sense of strength and grit, highlighted by moments where electronic distortion bares its teeth. It is an album that both refers both to IDM and chill out rooms.

Guiding weary travelers through an enchanting interdimensional odyssey, Work The Peripheral’s debut long player ‘Like Lava’ finds a treasured home on Companion. Building on the foundation of four exceptional self-released EPs, WTP continues his exploration into the world of ambient trance. ‘Like Lava’ unfolds across nine tracks that expand and contract through imagined astral landscapes, showcasing WTP’s deft ability to create deep and absorbing techno trips. Hypnotic in manifold ways, ‘Like Lava’ is a release made for getting lost in. Each track referencing the next, this hour-long journey glides through blissful realms of trance, ambient techno and house - deep basslines, muted breaks and spacious subdued percussion are unified by WTP’s characteristic ubiquitous and sparkling atmospheres.

This is an expert expression of the Companion ethos. By drawing inspiration from the likes of Robert Leiner, Speedy J and Index ID, WTP wields the language of tripped out 90s electronica to allow spellbound listeners the time to contemplate, space to travel and a place to dream.

Sonically, Midnight Garden has explored older sounds to create something new, breathing new life into old keyboards and machines to create an uncharted, otherworldly atmosphere, while trying to anchor the listener in something familiar, with pop influenced rhythms and lyrical themes.

The Inventor of Exotica/Cocktail Music goes Electronic/Moog. First time ever reissued. Originally released in 1969. ‚ Exotic Moog‚ starts off our reissue campaign of Martin Denny classics coming out in 2020. Audiophile pressing at RTI.

Fatal Morgana was formed in the ghetto’s of Amsterdam at the end of 1988 when Mr. Fact and E. Smidt started to experiment with their equipment and get released their first single “I Believe” on the Belgium label Antler-Subway (home of Klinik, Poesie Noire, A Split Second, The Overlords…). From that point things started to take off very fast. Their mutual ideas ended up in a new maxi “Attention” (club-charting in several countries) and the debut album “The Destructive Solution” in 1990. This album was composed in their own FM-Studio and showed another side of the band. Darker than before. You can find danceable EBM stuff together with some atmospheric and orchestral tracks. All songs contained their view on matters like politics, environment, oppression, etc.

The Philly hip-hop veteran RJD2 will return with a new album this spring. Titled "Dame Fortune", it features guest vocalists including Son Little, Phonte Coleman, Blueprint and more. According to the press release, the album’s centerpiece is an orchestral composition inspired by Ferguson titled ‘PF Day One’ (PF standing for ‘Post-Ferguson’).

Remastered from the original tapes, 180g vinyl!

180g vinyl!

Jay Ka presents his new project Jim ka Ray, a mix of breaks, deep house and hypnotic, soaring sounds. Includes remix from I:CUBE , Aardvarck , Stefan&chair.

Sounds From The Northern Hemisphere' is a collection of live-recorded takes, registered between 2021 and 2023. The Icelandic extraterrestrial scenery was the main inspiration for this work. Similarly to the nature of each landscape, every composition was crafted with a genuine and spontaneous approach, entirely avoiding digital instruments. A methodical sound research was enacted, exploring the analog behaviours of classic and modern machines. The result is a minimalistic and intense merge of sounds: simple, but meaningful.

Scottish experimental/electronic musician Drew McDowall's lifelong interestin an elegiac solo bagpipe style called pibroch (ceòl mòr in Gaelic) has beenan inspiration for much of his previous work (including Coil's legendary TimeMachines). This form, often traditionally used for laments and for tributes tothe dead, fuses modal drones with flickering dissonance and plaintive melodyevoking an ancient, solemn mood.His latest work, A Thread, Silvered and Trembling, both incorporates andtransforms these elements via exploratory electronic processing, weaving anelectro-acoustic tapestry of strings, shudders, voids, and voices, alternatelydisembodied and displaced. Co-produced with engineer Randall Dunn atCircular Ruin Studios in Brooklyn, the collection's four pieces captureMcDowall at his most elevated and elusive, in thrall to "the ineffable - thatwhich refuses to be spoken."McDowall's palette here is unusually eclectic, sourced from a dynamicorchestral ensemble arranged by Brent Arnold and comprised of cello, viola,violin, harp (Marilu Donovan of LEYA), and french horn. Ebbing betweenshrouded electronics and enigmatic, sometimes spectralist orchestration, thealbum moves with a seething, simmering energy, surging into elegant, uneasycrescendos. The first two pieces are inspired by a liberatory hijacking andinversion of a grim biblical story (and by a cryptic and strange UK simplesyrup branding). Opener "Out of Strength Comes Sweetness" shivers withshort echo and resonant pads, before shifting into the album's centerpiece:the 14-minute saga "And Lions Will Sing with Joy." A murmuring electricalstorm of keening strings and disorienting drones gradually grows darker anddenser, until suddenly there's a crack in the clouds, revealing mutated choralvoices and sparkling harp. McDowall describes the track as "an incantation tohelp usher in a break, and a new beginning."The record's latter half evokes a deep untamed animism shot through withspiraling radiance. "In Wou...