MUSIC

Dedicated to the memory of Sean Edward Stewart (6.2.81 - 18.3.10) Produced by HTRK Mixed by Nigel Yang Mastered by Denis Blackham at Skye Cover wave image by Trent Mitchell Polaroid by Eulalie Fumond Halperin-Katz, Paris 2009 Sleeve design by JCS Thanks: Mark, Gloria, Tia, Andrea, Conrad, Jeremy, Max, Julia, Andrew ℗​ 2011 Blast First Petite (UK) | Mistletone (AU) | Ghostly International (US)

Fog is Marija Rasa’s debut album on Short Span as emer, and her first cut to wax. It follows a single featuring Ugnė Uma for Stroom and a wonderful debut tape for the now cult (I hope!) incubator label Lilerne Tape Club. It’s for dreamers. Very dub. Soul. Ambient too. A bit of Detroit-like post industrial imagining. You can read it is as a new and different version of a very classic dub technique from the producer in many ways - Marija at the mixing console and effects desk, conjuring a new versioned music through radical restructuring and an instinctive reshaping of space + melody + lyric in studio experimentation. Tracks are pinned down by thick and enveloping bass while other elements float in and out, fleeting narcotic or hypnagogic notes of fantasy and song form bob in and out of focus. Scant colours and disorienting voice and melody sit suspended, occasionally coalescing and breaking out into moments of radiant beauty and slowly burning manifestations of warmth and presence shooting through the heart and gut.

Enigmatic label/collective life is beautiful fully establishes its lore on a colossal 3LP sprawl: 39 tracks of whimsical outsider biz arcing from lo-fi strums to asymmetric pop, jazz improv, poetry, noise, abstract hip-hop, spoken word and whatever else captures the thing, from artists you'll know and a fair few you won’t, featuring Bianca Scout, aloisius, VOICE ACTOR, James Massiah, Kenichi Iwasa, THE NARRATOR, Isaiah Hull, Pretty V and many, many more. A self-styled gesamtkunstwerk, life is beautiful was established by aloisius in 2022 as a radio show, before turning into a collective, a series of live performances, and then inevitably a record label a year later. Their first comp makes some attempt to pull all their various strands into something cohesive, but like many of the best collectives - Mica Levi’s Curl crew for example - so much of the beauty and joy comes from following the breadcrumb trail deep into wherever they take you. This is a label, after all, that dumped their demos and experiments ("resources and inspiration") on a file exchange portal on their own site, so you get the idea that nothing is quite fixed, and there are no easy answers - just the pleasure of tagging along for the ride. The set opens with tracks from each of the founders, who establish the label's core sound. NWAKKE begins with 'i need you in a positive way', a cloudy hypnagogic R&B marvel that juxtaposes cool-headed vocal runs with tape-fucked field recordings and piano. Then, the mic's handed to Amber Joy, aka THE NARRATOR, who also serves as the label's artistic director; on 'SUDDENLY', she oozes a skittish post-everything collage that chops cheap synths and choral vocals into a dreamy modern hymn. aloisus' 'you are god' runs out of its stuck groove as if it emerges from the very same thought, blurring gospel moans across LinnDrum loops. Bianca Scout hands us a taster of her collaborative work with London's Cajm on the hypnotic 'Welcome to Hello', while poet Isaiah Hull teams up with y+Your for the wonked 'vampire money'. Basically there's a whole record of music from the crew before 'veneration...' even begins in earnest, and it only gets better from here, running through aesthetic experiments from multi-instrumentalist Kenichi Iwasa, self-styled "beat wizard" psychedelic ensemble. (who's one half of Brum's Everything is Psychedelic with Tony Bontana) and Thom Dehli before we reach the compilation's crown jewel, a 21-minute live jam from okk70 ensemble. We can't tell you exactly who's playing, but it's worth the price of entry alone, a squirming slo-mo jazz side that gets to the roots of the life is beautiful sound - like some cross between ’87 era Prince and Oren Ambarchi’s Ghosted Trio, except deep in the basement. Elsewhere, there's a chewably eccentric solo moment from Bianca Scout ('superscribe 24'), a phenomenally moody collaboration between VOICE ACTOR and aloisius ('24'), a spirited, lo-fi transmission from London's josiane pozi and a deeper than deep jam from orchestra379, aloisius' "collective improvisation project" that's featured artists like Ben Vince, Kenichi Iwasa and abi asisa. Label comps are often a slog but this one's stuffed to the gills with genuinely creative experimentation from some of the scene's most interesting outsiders, the sprawl really does come close to harnessing the vibe.

The new opus on Macadam Mambo is a very special double LP by the Italian artist Oltrefuturo. Inspired by the Adriatic Sea where he is coming from, Valerio (Oltrefuturo) composed 8 tracks in between Ambient, Dub and Downtempo full of emotions reflecting his environment. The Music is gorgeous with special vocals and atmospheric lines, and very cool down beats. It’s an album to listen at home but it can easily be played in the club at the right moment (check the tracks “Die Kosmmische Trance” and “Ritmo Tre”). 8 long tracks specially pressed on 2 vinyls for a louder sound. TIP!

Dave Huismans (ex_libris, A Made Up Sound) presents In Transit, a self-titled LP of arresting downtempo vignettes, with origins dating back to over a decade ago.

Renowned for some of this century’s most notorious rhythmic advances, the work of Dave Huismans (fka A Made Up Sound and 2562) continues to provide a blueprint for new generations of innovation-obsessives. After a long hiatus from releasing original material, he returned in 2025 with two beloved EP’s as ex_libris. Now he returns to FELT as In Transit, following up on his remix of Civilistjävel! from 2023.

Borrowing its name from the closing dialogue of a novel by Dutch author Hella S. Haasse, In Transit was written in just two weeks in the summer of 2013 on a Korg ESX sampler. Since then, he has patiently refined its constituent parts.

Over the course of 38 minutes across six tracks, In Transit maps out an absorbing vista. The music shimmers with a celestial quality, underpinned by rhythmic stamina and creeping intensity. Tangential to Huismans’ previous work, the beats here are decentred and further scattered, acting as buoys to the constantly evolving and intricate narratives of layered textures.

In Transit marks a fascinating new addition to Huismans’ sprawling catalogue, a truly remarkable racket to be crafted with such humble means, finding a suitable context within FELT’s continued venture into parallel sounds.

A leading light of neo-ambient takes their maiden bow on Glasgow’s stealthily expansive co:clear label after cherished turns with the sferic and Stroom labels. The International Billionaire’s Love Child, or tiblsc for brevity, is the avatar of a Leipzig-based artist in possession of a distinctive, world-building ambient purview that has clearly stroked a nerve for listeners chasing the modern ambient zeitgeist, especially their couplet of ‘Delusive Tongue Shifts - Situation Based Compositions’ (2021) + ‘Hypertranslucent’ (2022). Those albums’ careful bends of pulpy sentiment and intricate, immersively dreamlike architecture is now echoed in ‘City of Something’, where her tender feel for compression and blends of HD and lo-fi tones fosters a gauzy sense of depth perception and sonorous emotional resonance. More so than her previous work, the eight tracks here are laced with a flickering pop spirit that riddles the album’s finely meshed dimensions, calling to mind aspects of Perila that are whisked to its most elegant frisson in ‘Resting Bitch Face’, or catching breathy contrails of an airspun pop song in ‘The Sun Really Is Something Round’, whilst tickling private parts of the imagination with the compressed artefacts of ‘You Just Want’, edging on Shinetiac’s take on smudged sheogaze trip hop in ‘Scare Me’, and teasing the most elusive urges on a secretive, quietly restive closer ‘Until the End of Time’.

It is often said that we find it hard to stare at the light, however, the universe never lights out. This first premise from As Above, So Below is the base point for the setting of what follows. A group of rabble-rousing guerillères from the commune decide to go bowling. They had entered the forest, followed its winding paths, and emerged blind after staring at the universe for too long. No longer able to find their way by observing the stars, they now have to climb on the houses and feel the vernacular roofing to find out in which direction they’re heading. They get to the bowling alley all amped up. The punters insist on lighting their cigarettes - they’re not interested in matches but rather in the cardboard cover that attaches them. The only striking going on is the sound of the skittles getting scattered, syncopating with saturated basslines, mixed vocal techniques, heavy fx, and feeding into an arsenal of bells and percussions. They start stomping on the alleys as if this was a housewarming party and they had to break in a newly laid wood floor. Moving in circles, they eventually fall through it and end up in a room where the light has been swallowed. A band including none of its original members is performing, they can only hear a warm yet throbbing hum. They soon realise the massive rolling sub is getting louder and louder and adjusting its pitch. The dust their feet was lifting is slowly sweeping around the floor and gathering in patches and lines, drawing out the Chladni figures they had seen in their dreams, experiencing the same thoughts at the same moment, they inscribe them on a loquat leaf.

Last spotted on production duties for Yungwesbster’s ‘II’ as well as turns for Nostalgians and Dj Loser’s Magdalena’s Apathy.. Seattle-based Jaqueline Lawson aka Matryoshka shows serious emotional range on her debut album, channeling Burial, Shinichi Atobe, Space Afrika, Malibu and Surf Gang, seemingly all at once…. Matryoshka has already built a reputation as a producer for DJ Loser's Magdalena's Apathy imprint as well as work for the Nostalgians, an under-the-radar ambient rap collective featuring Yungwebster, Mdb, tnotsobad, Nopaprr and ogpra1. Her musical roots - dubstep, trance and hard dance - tell some of the story here, but she transmogrifies those influences into haunted, Basinski-esque memories like the gaseous traces and decelerated remnants of the club. On album opener 'Lifelover’, Burial's hazed interludes spring to mind, or perhaps the 4am cityscapes of Space Afrika's now mythical 'Somewhere Decent to Live’. Background ambiance simmers below Lawson's pensive FM pads, but once she establishes the mood, things take an unexpected turn with a pitch-bent bassline that might have been lifted straight from a 6LACK loosie, and a rhythmic pulse that traces the thin red line of Shinichi Atobe. If it's dub techno, it's a strand that hasn't been codified quite yet. 'Surface Tension' uses deep, Maybach Music-coded bass womps to twist through her skittering slow rhythms and sadcore pads. But it’s Matryoshka’s harmonic instinct that stands out; if you heard the airy 'otr' or 'fantasize' from Yungwebster's 'II' you'll know exactly what we mean, and she takes it even further here, weaving cinematic, languid harmonies that bridge the gap between Steve Roach and Future. Check 'Where the Dancers are Spinning' with its levitational, almost orchestral sweeps that Lawson counterbalances with thudding subs, or the brief title track, an Akira Yamaoka-style save room loop that dissipates into a dreamy, dissociated fog, for further proof. Then there's the second side's centrepiece 'Parted by the Sea', where a ratcheting Chain Reaction-style rhythm builds to a tense crescendo only to get splintered unrecognisably in the second half, its broken pieces pillowed by Lawson's billowing time-stretched chords.

s i n c e h i s f i r s t e p t i p s o n l u c i a n o s l a b e l c a d e n z a i n 2 0 0 7 p r o d u c e r a n d d j p e t r e i n s p i r e s c u e m e r g e d i n t o o n e o f t h e k e y f i g u r e s o f t h e r o m a n i a n e l e c t r o n i c m u s i c s c e n e . s o f a r h e r e l e a s e d m u s i c o n l a b e l s s u c h a s v i n y l c l u b , l i c k m y d e c k o r a m p h i a . t o g e t h e r w i t h h i s b u d d i e s r h a d o o a n d r a r e s h h e a l s o l a u n c h e d i n 2 0 0 7 3t h e l a b e l [ a : r p i a : r ] - † a p l a t f o r m w h e r e h e , h i s t w o f r i e n d s a n d m a n y p r o d u c e r s f r o m r o m a n i a a n d a b r o a d r e l e a s e d d e t a i l e d g r o o v i n g h o u s e a n d t e c h n o , t h a t s t a n d s o u t w i t h d e l i c a t e s t r u c t u r e s a n d o n e - o f - a - k i n d g r o o v e s . b o t h o f h i s m o r e d a n c e f l o o r o r i e n t e d s o l o a l b u m s " i n t r - o s e a r a o r g a n i c a . . ." a n d " g ra d i n a o n i r i ca" f o r [ a : r p i a : r ] a r e e n l a r g e d w i t h m e l o d i e s , s o u n d s a n d h a r m o n i e s t h a t g o b e y o n d t h e u s u a l c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s o f a d a n c e a l b u m . f u r t h e r m o r e h i s l o v e f o r c l a s s i c m u s i c i a n s l i k e m i l y a l e x e j e w i t s c h b a l a k i r e v , a l e x a n d e r p o r f i r y e v i c h b o r o d i n o r o r n i c o l a i a n d r e j e w i t s c h r i m s k y - k o r s a k o w c a n b e f e l t i n t h e a l b u m " pa d u r e a d e a u r ( o p u s 2 i n r e m a j o r )" a n d t w o m o r e e p s t h a t h e r e l e a s e d u n d e r t h e a l i a s e n s e m b l e o n t h e r o m a n i a n l a b e l y o j i k c o n c o n i n o r d e r t o u n i t e c l a s s i c a l s p h e r e s w i t h a n a l o g u e e l e c t r o n i c m u s i c p r o d u c t i o n . i n f e b r u a r y 2 0 1 3 h e a l s o r e l e a s e d h i s h i g h l y a c c l a i m e d f a b r i c m i x c d t h a t o n l y f e a t u r e s d a n c e f l o o r l e a n i n g m u s i c p r o d u c e d b y h i m s e l f . w i t h "t a l k i n g w a t e r s" h e p u b l i s h e d i n l a t e 2 0 1 4 h i s f i r s t 1 2 i n c h o n m u l e m u s i q t h a t i s n o w f o l l o w e d b y t h e f u l l - l e n g t h a l b u m " v i n p l o i l e" w h i c h h e p r o d u c e d w i t h o u t t h e i n t e n t i o n t o e n t e r t a i n w i t h e a s y t o h o o k u p r h y t h m s , m e l o d i e s a n d h a r m o n i e s . e v e n t o u g h h e e s t a b l i s h e d h i m s e l f a s a i n t e r n a t i o n a l l y p l a y i n g h o u s e d j t h a t r e g u l a r l y p e r f o r m s a t a l l m a j o r c l u b s , f e s t i v a l s a n d o t h e r p a r t y d e s t i n a t i o n s a r o u n d t h e g l o b e : a s a m u s i c i a n p e t r e i n s p i r e s c u a l w a y s t r i e s t o e n t e r n e w t e r r i t o r i e s t o e x p l o r e w i t h a h e a r t f e l t h u m a n t o u c h t h e i n f i n i t e s p a c e o f s o u n d . f o r h i s l a t e s t a l b u m t h e m a n t h a t o r i g i n a l l y c o m e s f r o m t h e e a s t e r n r o m a n i a n t o w n b ra i l a s t e p p e d a w a y f r o m h i s f o r m e r e x p e r i m e n t s o f m e l t i n g c l a s s i c a l s p h e r e s w i t h e l e c t r o n i c m u s i c . i n s t e a d t h e 3 6 - y e a r s o l d m a n f r o m b u c h a r e s t o n l y u s e d s o m e p i a n o , s t r i n g a n d w i n d i n s t r u m e n t e l e m e n t s a n d a n a l o g u e e l e c t r o n i c s t o a r r a n g e a g r a c e f u l l y d e e p o c e a n o f s o u n d . a l l s l o w g r o o v i n g t r a c k s s p r e a d t h e a t m o s p h e r e o f l i v e i m p r o v i s e d s e s s i o n s t h a t a r e e d i t e d , t w e a k e d a n d m i x e d t o p e r f e c t i o n . i n - t h e - m o m e n t m o o d s o f s t r a n g e a n d u n u s u a l a n a l o g u e s y n t h s o u n d s g r o o v e i n a f l u i d q u a l i t y w i t h s u b l i m i n a l b a s s s h a p e s , l a t i n a t e p e r c u s s i o n s , j a z z r h y t h m s a n d a c o u s t i c m e l o d i e s . t o g e t h e r t h e y c r e a t e a g a s e o u s k i n e t i c a t m o s p h e r e f u l l o f t a n g i b l e r h y t h m p a t t e r n s , d e l i c a t e c h o r d s a n d g h o s t l y m o d u l a r s y n t h p a d s a l l m i x e d s u b t l e t o c r e a t e s p a c e f o r t h e t o n e s b e t w e e n t h e t o n e s . y o u c a n c a l l i t a h y p n o t i c a f t e r h o u r a l b u m f o r a f t e r h o u r s t h a t a r e d e d i c a t e d t o a d e e p l i s t e n i n g e x p e r i e n c e . y o u c a n t a g h i s a r r a n g e m e n t s a s b r i l l i a n t l y t e x t u r e d a n d m u s i c a l l y s u p e r - c h a r g e d a m b i e n t , w h i c h g o e s b e y o n d t h e u s u a l d e f i n i t i o n o f t h e g e n r e . a l l n i n e s u s p e n s e f u l c o m p o s i t i o n s s e d u c e w i t h a d e e p m e l o d i c s e n s i b i l i t y , h a r m o n i c a d v e n t u r e s a n d a n o v e r a l l r h y t h m i c a m b i a n c e o f f r e s h n e s s a n d l a i d b a c k e n t h u s i a s m . t o g e t h e r t h e y r e p r e s e n t a c h a l l e n g i n g a u d i t o r y e x p e r i e n c e t h a t w i l l r e s o n a t e i n y o u r m i n d l o n g a f t e r t h e m u s i c h a s f i n i s h e d.

Synthesist and composer Emily A. Sprague bridges intuitive sonic structures and expressive songwriting, yielding expansive terrains that are immediate and immersive. From early experimentation with guitar and keyboard as a teen, Sprague went on to form indie band Florist in the early 2010s, gaining a devoted audience, before expanding to environmental / ambient compositions under her own name in 2017. Her releases include several albums across both projects, most recently Florist’s Jellywish and Cloud Time in 2025, and now, the Double Moon EP. Limited edition 7” includes the exclusive bonus track “Dusk (How to Fly)” and a dub of “Double Moon” by Andras.

First re-issue album from the Skintone Edition Volume 1 Box Set

Magic Thread is Susumu Yokota’s deeply soothing and delicate debut release on the Skintone label. With a spartan palette of sounds and textures, Yokota taps into a fundamentally human need to fuse and connect disparate fibres, magically forming work which glistens and pulsates with life.

Magic Thread originally came out in 1998 as a limited-edition CD release of 500 copies. Initially intended for the Japanese market, it came without any artwork in a standard transparent CD case adorned only by a sticker containing essential album information and a quote:

‘Somewhere in the process of evolution, the spinning and weaving of thread became possible for humankind. How did this come to pass? It can only be that the thread is possessed of magical properties.’ – Yokota, 1998.

Mndsgn (born Ringgo Ancheta) grew up in south New Jersey, raised with Gospel music at church, and B-Boy culture at home. Experimenting with beat-making, he befriended fellow producer Knxwledge and the two formed the influential Klipmode collective (along with Devonwho and Suzi Analogue). Mndsgn's music flourished when he moved to Los Angeles, catching the attention of Stones Throw who released Yawn Zen (2014), an LP of introspective and mostly instrumental beat creations, punctuated by vocal cuts.

Body Wash is his second album for Stones Throw, a full set of realized songs that were only hinted at on Yawn Zen. Influences here include the likes of early SOLAR records material, Leon Sylvers III, Kashif, and Dave Grusin. These artists, Mndsgn says, "embodied that potent feeling in the early 80s boogie/funk/soul/jazz/fusion wave." He adds, "I was also digging back into some early 90s R&B sounds and started really imagining what it would be like if I had mashed the two eras together." He explains Body Wash as "a soul record that plays with nostalgic elements in a very dynamic & positive way. Think about it as a box of crayons for you to draw emotions with."

The album was built around a backstory, a loose narrative thread through which he could filter his unformed ideas. In the narrative, a homeless man encounters a mysterious woman who gives him shelter. She instructs him to bathe with a very peculiar body wash. As he soaks and sinks deeper in a thick lather of this unknown solution, the man finds himself transported to an alternate dimension. Mndsgn describes the story as a vessel "that would allow me to speak on topics that were universally relatable … The story actually became a true outlet for me to address worldly issues with Self." The resulting album also represents a dynamic step forward in songwriting. Without explicitly relating its plot or characters, the album as a whole turns on the story's key theme, the psychedelic, transformative power of love.

Released in 1998 as Massive Attack’s third studio album, this work is regarded as their masterpiece. Unlike the soulful and jazzy atmosphere of their previous albums Blue Lines and Protection, it deepened the trip-hop sound while strongly incorporating influences from post-punk and industrial, resulting in a cold and heavy sonic landscape. Issued by Virgin Records as a 180-gram double LP edition.

Brothers Dana and Alden McWayne, along with a troupe of multi-instrumental artists, come together to create jazzy melodies with indie sounds inspired by their unconventional upbringing in Eugene, Oregon. Following the success of their debut full-length album and it’s lead track “Dragonfly” (which tracked 300,000 TikTok creations, and over 10 million streams) the band recruited fan of the band Jared Solomon (Sza, Remi Wolf, Teezo Touchdown) to produce their sophomore LP, Coyote, You’re My Star. Melding vintage sounds with the aesthetic and experience of existing in Gen Z and the digital age, the new LP has already been met with rousing approval with airtime on the Zane Lowe show on Apple as well as playlist covers like Spotify's State of Jazz. The band is also set to tour North America and Europe across festivals and headline shows.

Following the critical success of last year’s ‘Cold Feet’ LP, producer, DJ, and multi-instrumentalist Alek Lee returns to Isle of Jura with his most introspective work to date, the ‘Blue Bird’ album. Across eight tracks, the Athens-based artist explores what he describes as a "Peculiar state of minds & Dub Orientated Feelings," blending his signature guerrilla style production with deep, organic soul. The album’s centerpiece and title track, ‘Blue Bird’ features the haunting vocals of singer-songwriter Keren Ilan. It is a raw, heartfelt exploration of the aftermath of a breakup. The lyrics speak of a "desert heart" and a "loss that grows tall and loud," eventually finding a path toward healing as the "blue bird sings the dawn." Musically, the track is anchored by hazy, sun drenched guitars, a central instrument that weaves a consistent Balearic thread throughout the LP. The journey through ‘Blue Bird’ is one of shifting shadows and unexpected textures. ‘Treasures’ is a standout instrumental, leaning into a grit-flecked, bluesy "twang" reminiscent of Duane Eddy, while ‘The Beach Road’ sees long time collaborator and ‘Shame On Us’ bandmate, Yovav, lending his magical bass and guitar work to a track that feels like a slow drive toward the horizon. Side B shifts the energy toward the dancefloor and the sophisticated leftfield pop of the 80s. ‘First Rain’ is a subtle house leaning gem underpinned by a kick drum and lush, synth heavy emotive chord progression. ‘Thanks to Sade’ is a seductive downtempo groove with epic guitar lines shifting through, while ‘Remember the Good’ brings a subtle reggae skank and a French-influenced organ sound into the mix. The LP comes full circle with a smoked out Dub version of the title track ‘Blue Bird’. A 180 gram pressing in a 3mm spine full colour sleeve and sticker designed by Bradley Pinkerton. Pre-Order now with an estimated ship date of 17th April.

Yep, it’s a compilation. A marker for the first year of Short Span and a road map into the future maybe. Featuring a mix of artists already heavily involved in the label who’ve had releases out this year. As well as those with future material prepared and awaiting careful hands plating them to metal under the shadow of ski village in Sheffield and then wax in East Lothian some time in 2026. Plus a wider net of friends and admired artists making contemporary music that feels closely connected to the label right now.

There’s a lot of different narratives, meanings, and histories backwards and forwards contained on these two discs and its tempting as the compiler to dig deeply into those and write an accompanying essay...

About how the entire compilation was born from Conna sending over his tune that had started as a playful chop and screw of a Mammo track from General Patterns. How the a.m.p tune has Ben from Purelink loosely playing the keys over it during a party session.

That the Klaus and Mount Kimbie one has been sat travelling from hard drive to hard drive for years with the hope it could be released one day at the right moment. That intermountain is a freshly minted alias for IS and the False Aralia ecosystem. That I reached out to caitlin c harvey after being introduced to her wonderful music via the inspiring Submerge Sessions compilation, which recently collected work from a new school of Detroit music formed in community and tutored by some of the Underground Resistance crew…

But in sum total its just Short Span setting out its table and focusing in on publishing new music. Interesting music. Dialling in on dub and ambient and techno in different forms and qualities that hope to catch the ear and the heart. With some of the most interesting and exciting artists and tune-makers of the moment featuring in here. And a couple of geographic focal points of creativity and shared musical language coalescing in amongst that.

Two discs, two sequences you can listen through in entirety or split into listening sessions. I tried to sequence things so that it flows nicely and suits different moods. A bit of a mixtape.

Open Space is proud to present our first ever full-length LP by LA’s newest chillout band, Puli. Some words from our dear friend Matt McDermott below: In recent years, a cadre of musicians from the east side of Los Angeles have reestablished the city of angels as the first city of Balearica. Alex Ho’s “Move Through It” followed in the lumbering footsteps of Project Sandro’s “Blazer.” Now, there’s a new landmark for the floating west coast sound. Swirling, the first album from LA supergroup Puli. If you’ve got your ear to the ground you know the names involved here. Drummer and producer Damon Palermo’s pedigree stretches back a good 15 years or so, starting off with dub punks Mi Ami. Phil Cho is one of the busiest DJs, musicians and advocates for the deep stuff in LA, throwing legendary hillside parties under the Third Place banner. John Jones, the preternaturally talented guitarist and electronic tinkerer, records as AV Moves, is a key member of the Suzanne Kraft and Baba Stiltz live configurations and plays in The Trilogy Tapes-affiliated act Geo Rip. But this listing of personnel and credentials puts too fine a point on it. Puli are three close friends who go to parties, DJ and get tacos together, repairing to their Chinatown studio a few times a week and coming out with remarkably textured, idiosyncratic downtempo jams. Building off the solid foundation of their 7-inch of heavyweight dubs for Melbourne’s Constant Delay, Swirling is an exploration of new horizons in chill out. “Ramona” acts a statement of purpose—with halftime/double-time dub-tinged rhythms, hazy yet bright synth motifs and atmospheric guitar from Jones, not terribly far from the expansive approach of Japanese dub aesthetes Pecker. “Cloudy,” meanwhile, is a sort of deconstructed and bittersweet Balearic pop featuring Cho’s ethereal vocals. “Bongo Springs” is steppers’ house not far from close LA peer Benedek or the Mood Hut crew up north. But what truly sets this record apart is the space and layers in the production—while it’s nominally an electronic record, Puli is a band that has slowly crafted these songs in the rehearsal space. “Havana Jam” cruises along a sliding roundwound bass guitar take with dubby chords and textural guitars. Palermo’s hand drums and live percussion enmesh perfectly with icy pads on “Leech Seed Dub.” Cho is back on the mic for the gorgeous closer, “C.S.B.”, underpinned by breakbeat and trunk-rattling sub bass. Puli doesn’t sound like anyone else, and is ultimately reflective of the city itself. Listening to Swirling feels like navigating a warren of side streets in the eternal sunshine. Take the drive and dive.

One of Yokota's most loved releases that explores the intersection of jazz, new age ambience and a world of found sound and samples.

Grinning Cat confounded devotees of Sakura with a far more complex set of tracks. A landscape of ambiguous emotional resonance within an album of measured extremes. Sentimental without being schmaltzy, joyful without being saccharine, Grinning Cat sees Yokota at his most playful and experimental, channelling moments of transitory wonder and jubilation, and opening up a sonic environment in which we can romp and play.

For the very first time on vinyl, Jah Wobble's 1997 extraordinary descent into downtempo and world beat science. Released on his now-defunct 30 Hertz label, »The Light Programme« showcased an excellent cast of musicians. On board are historical Can drummer Jaki Liebezeit – with more of his African-induced rhythms – multi-instrumentalist - and The Wire contributor - Clive Bell, conga player Neville Murray, guitar and synth player Mark Ferda and the exceptional harpist Zi-Lan Liao. If you enjoyed »My Life In the Bush Of Ghosts« you’ll fall in love with »The Light Programme.«

A dream-within-a-dream sequence of chopped & screwed cumbia that occupies a very specific spot on our shelves somewhere between The Caretaker and DJ Screw - Debit’s new album for Modern Love is a history lesson, hallucination and ghost-dance all in one, a vault of lost memories that’s intended neither for the club, nor as furniture music - but for full contemplative immersion.

Desaceleradas is Debit’s love-letter to the sounds of Rebajada - half speed cumbia pioneered by Sonido Dueñez in the early 1990’s and recently featured on a pair of first-time tape reissues. As the legend goes, Dueñez had been playing cumbia at a club in Monterrey when his turntable's motor overheated and slowed down to half-speed, turning the dance into slo-mo delirium which the crowd unexpectedly loved - cumbia rebajada was born.

Over the next few years, Dueñez dubbed a popular series of mixtapes, hawking them at the flea market on the dried-up Santa Catarina riverbed beneath El Puente del papa, the bridge that links downtown Monterrey with Independencia. These woozy archives became the stuff of legend, poetically but subconsciously shadowing DJ Screw's series of epochal cassettes that appeared over the border in Houston - and which have now inspired this latest concept-driven masterstroke from Delia Beatriz, who incidentally grew up in that same bustling city in the north of Mexico.

Beatriz uses Dueñez's first two tapes as the starting point for 'Desaceleradas', entering into a dialogue with time, culture and geography as she recalls the sonic ecosystem that surrounded her decades ago, long before she emigrated to the USA. If 2022's acclaimed 'The Long Count' was an attempt to recover concealed pre-Columbian history in the face of colonisation, 'Desaceleradas' jumps forward, figuring out how memory and shared celebration can resist a more contemporary form of cultural erasure.

In Beatriz's hands, cumbia rebejada is sculpted into a symphony of psychedelic breaths and dreamy gestures as the tapes are re-voiced with her ARP 2600 and re-played on her mother's accordion before being pulverised by her careful granular processes. "The goal was not to sample," she explains, "but to engage in conversation." And from track to track, the slowed down sonics, that follow the lead of scratchy sun-baked wax dragged across cheap hi-fi needles and stretched tape winding over busted heads, make salient connections to electronic music's tangled web of subgenres, from dub reggae in Jamaica to vaporwave and its TikTok-friendly "slowed + reverb" progeny.

On 'La ronda y el sonidero', cumbia's familiar syncopated 2/4 shuffle is ground down until its street corner sway becomes a cloud of ruptures and distortions. She pays respect to Monterrey's tape culture on 'bootlegs', introducing her impressionistic harmonies with crackle, and gives a nod to Monterrey's Cholombianos - groups of cumbia fans who dressed in brightly coloured baggy clothes, slathering their long sideburns with gel - on the wistful 'Cholombia, MTY'. By harnessing her memories and casting Sonido Dueñez's legacy in amber, Beatriz provides a space for listeners to hear history itself: to wander down 'El Puente del papa' and breathe in the atmosphere of Monterrey. It's an archive with a pulse.

KILN return with an opulent new display of hue and swing on Lemon Borealis, a sumptuous gallery of dazzling motifs that display a finely hewn concoction of visual tones and vital pulse.

Across its 12 cuts, this collection utilizes a fresh process of condensing immersive sprawl into compact, punchy and colorful sound. Using aspects of live performance, beatmaking and waveform sculpting, the troika of Kevin Hayes, Kirk Marrison and Clark Rehberg III create evocative and invigorating dioramas, continuing to surprise and enchant listeners after over thirty years into their collaboration.

Deep in waves of Hi-meets-Lo Fi, KILN delivers a panchromatic daymark arranged to biochemically align and stimulate your personal syntax, forging a tapestry of sonic reveries ranging from the aquarium-on-fire radiance of DrnkGrlfrnd, a garden groove of field-recorded percussion in Maplefunk Diptych, to the sizzling guit-noise whiteout of Deacon Rayhand.

Their eighth album, and first for A Strangely Isolated Place, on Lemon Borealis, KILN expands upon the long-explored themes of mosaic texture, subtle melancholy, eroded consonance, and vivid cadence to reveal yet another aperture to their unique magnetic universe.

Lemon Borealis will be available on 12” Transparent Yellow/Ochre Smoke vinyl and digital on July 18th. Lacquer cut by Andreas Lupo Lubich, and featuring artwork by KILN.

The album opens at dusk with an imagined final stop before departure, a roadside gas station just as daylight fades. This introductory scene, conceived as “Last Gas Station Before the Horizon,” places the listener amid passing cars, distant seagulls, and the low hum of anticipation. The idea is to frame the record as part of a radio program, potentially guided by a radio announcer’s voice drifting in and out of the soundscape. From there, the journey moves fully into night. Tracks progress like signals picked up along the drive, calm, reflective, and gently nostalgic, until the album’s closing moment. “Peaceful Blue” represents arrival at the final destination at dawn, when the sky shifts into a deep blue and the listener waits quietly for the sun to rise and a new day to begin. Transcoastal Night Drive is an album about motion, atmosphere, and memory, less a narrative than a feeling, inviting listeners to settle into the drive and let the night pass by.

Stroom’s Swedish recruit channels the saucer-eyed spectres of early ambient techno - HIA, Biosphere, FAX - thru a frosted lens of isolationist detachment, with well weathered results akin to Civilistjävel! or 1991.

A prevailing breeze of ‘90s ambient sentiment fills the sails of ‘Maidstone’, the Velv.93 debut for Stroom. His follow-up to a series of more club-edged turns, solo and with Acronym for his Velv label and mutism, notably sheds the rolling grooves in favour of letting it all drift quietly outwards across an hour of contemplative airs blessed with nuanced harmonic resonance.

The spirits of the elders are sifted for salient, flickering filaments that endure in the modern day, teasing out pads and acidic synth lines into soft tissue structures. In procession from the fluttering motifs and choral keen of ‘Lobelia’ to the crankier ambient noise of ‘Naked Eye’ we hear the glow of ‘90s ambient and its descendants in decay with a declension of energies.

Knackered pulses nudge the icy melody of ‘True Blue’ into what feels like a screwed 1991 on ‘Star Grain’, and echoes of Swedish organ minimalism on its title piece, with ‘Medway’ lighting a lone beacon of obfuscated shoegaze, and ‘Aging Cycle’ perhaps best betraying that sunken bridge between OG ‘90s ambient and where it’s shored up decades later.

In late 2024, Oakland-based artist Jerod S. Rivera released his second full-length project, Dot-Dash, featuring a collaboration with Cat Lauigan on the track “Seamstress Clock,” which fuses Rivera’s Buchla experimentations with Lauigan’s vocals and spoken word. From there, Rivera and CST reached out to friends across different scenes and cities, shaping those connections into a carefully curated remix 12”.

The mysterious dub/techno/leftfield mastermind behind False Aralia dives further into territory explored on iri.gram, uptempo and dancefloor-ready in a more maximal Perlon-ish way while still embracing a half-time dub feel. Philipp Otterbach (Music from Memory, Offen, RIO) goes deeper into the guitar zone he’s been exploring, channeling Earth 2, Boris, and the like for some heavy drone. Oakland duo DJ ML and Wonja adopt their Motoko & Myers moniker (Future Times, Soda Gong), zeroing in on some choice vocal snippets that mesh perfectly with a live drum break and bassline for a Seefeel-esque version that could have come from a 90’s UK studio. Slowfoam embraces the more experimental elements of the original with a remix that starts sparse and minimal but builds into a glitchy rhythmic climax. The release is rounded out with a bonus remix from Jon Carr, unleashing heavy, industrial-sludge rhythms.