MUSIC

RGL is a Tokyo-based producer known for his lo-fi house productions and analog-textured dance music, with releases on labels such as Diskotopia and Breaker Breaker. His new work, Untitled, showcases a wide-ranging sonic palette: alongside rhythm-driven tracks, the release also features abstract drone pieces with little or no discernible beat. The result is a work that crystallizes RGL’s distinctive sensitivity to sound and texture. ---------------- Bio: RGL is a Tokyo-based producer and DJ. He is a member of the producer collective COSMOPOLYPHONIC and co-hosts the radio program COOL RADIO with fellow member RLP. In 2025, he released his debut album, Touzan, on the London-based label BREAKER BREAKER.

This is the first album by Teno Afrika, a hot project led by Lutendo Raduvha, a 21-year-old young musician who is one of the most important figures in the latest "Amapiano" movement born in South Africa, where homegrown jazz, boogie, Afro-house, kwaito, etc. are rapidly being revived. This is the first album from Teno Afrika, a project led by Lutendo Raduvha, a 21-year-old young musician who is a key figure in the latest Amapiano movement emerging in South Africa. Born in the townships of Gauteng, South Africa, Teno Afrika has rapidly gained momentum over the past five years, evolving into a nationwide mainstream genre of "amapiano," a new genre influenced by kwaito. Having spent most of his life moving back and forth between Johannesburg and various townships in the suburbs of Pretoria, Gauteng, he has incorporated the influences of these areas into this exciting new collection of Afro-dance tracks.

Coming in October. A groundbreaking compilation album showcasing Japanese techno-pop for a new era—『TECHNO KAYŌ VOL. 1 - JAPANESE TECHNO POP 1981–1989』—compiled by none other than Dubby, one of Japan’s most renowned record diggers and the mastermind behind the influential record shop ONDAS (a key force in the post-obscure revival alongside Organic Music and Revelation Time), and Antal, head of Rush Hour. From the neo-classical/mutant funk gem “Last Battle” by Kazuo Ōtani (of SHOGUN fame), originally featured on the obscure film soundtrack Koiko no Mainichi, to the balearic house anthem “MicroWave” by Kyōko Koizumi—culled from the now-revered cult LP KOIZUMI IN THE HOUSE—this album masterfully weaves post-balearic and obscure city pop perspectives. A curated deep dive into the rich and underrated legacy of Japanese techno-pop, brought vividly to life in the context of 2025.

Kuniyuki Takahashi's debut album, We Are Together, originally released on CD in 2006.

"Nearly two decades later, the album is finally seeing a vinyl release to commemorate the 300th title from mule musiq."

Back in 2015, Japanese deep house pioneer Soichi Terada stepped back into the limelight courtesy of Sounds From The Far East, a Rush Hour-released, Hunee curated retrospective of material released on his Far East Recording label in the 1990s and early 2000s. Buoyed by the positive response and renewed interest in his work, Terada went back into studio to record his first new album of house music for over 25 years, Asakusa Light. Developed over 18 months, Terada tried to recreate the mental and physical processes that led to the creation of his acclaimed earlier work. Those familiar with Terada’s celebrated, dancefloor-focused sound of the 1990s – a vibrant, atmospheric, and emotive take on deep house powered by the twin attractions of groove and melody – will find much to enjoy on Asakusa Light. “I tried to recall my feelings 30 years ago, but when I tried it, I found it super difficult,” he explains. “I didn’t even know what I thought about myself five years ago, and the mental metabolic cycle seems to be faster than I thought. I tried different methods, including digging up my old MIDI data and composing by remembering old experiences. With the help of Rush Hour, I found some of the light from my heart that I had 30 years ago. I nicknamed the light I found in my heart, ‘Asakusa Light’.” Produced using the very same synthesizers and drum machines that powered his 1990s work, the album is a joyous, colourful and life-affirming collection of timeless house music that not only recalls Terada’s own impeccable back catalogue, but also that of similarly celebrated contemporaries such as the Burrell Brothers or Ben Cenac (Dream 2 Science, Sha-Lor). Terada, who has spent much of the last two decades writing video game music, has always had a gift for combining warm, undulating synthesizer basslines and perfectly programmed machine drums with stirring chords, smile-inducing melodies and mellow musical flourishes. It’s this immersive, sun-kissed and tuneful trademark style that takes centre stage on Asakusa Light, an album for the ages. The set begins with the alien-sounding chords, soft-touch percussion and dawn-friendly warmth of ‘Silent Chord’ and ends on a high via the bouncing string stabs, starlight chords and thickset grooves of ‘Blinker’; in between, you’ll find a deluge of effortlessly feelgood music that’s the aural equivalent of a dopamine rush at sunrise. There are subtle variations aplenty throughout the album – see the 8-bit lead lines and pulsing electronic textures of ‘Takusambient’, the vintage Tony Humphries flex of ‘Diving Into Minds’ and the effortlessly funky ‘Marimbau’ – but it’s the uniquely atmospheric, vivid and tactile nature of Terada’s loved-up sound that resonates. After well over 30 years in house music, the light in his heart is shining brighter than ever.

Felipe Gordon is back on Shall Not Fade with his new album Tezeta and f*ck is it special. Felipe Gordon is SNF label mainstay... (we released his triple repressed debut album "A Landscape Onomatopeya" in 2022 as well as 7 x 12" EPs on SNF over the years plus an extra 12" on Lost Palms)... so given his consistent and exceptional output on our record label you'd probably forgive some complacency with this write up, you might even afford us license to assume we're preaching to the choir and allow us to rest easy knowing that at this stage Felipe Gordon's records sell themselves.... Well none of those things are happening here because when an artist makes a record this complete, this good, you have to try to find the words. You use words like "timeless", "complete and "special". Words that can carry the weight. Because when you've listened to an album dozens of times, and not once, in any part, on any listen in any way has it fatigued you, you need to say. When a record felt so wonderfully familiar from the first listen and just kept on giving you the same feels ever since, you need to say. When a record makes you think about you how you feel about certain Air & St Germain albums (even when you know what it means to put that in a press release), you need to say. So here we are, saying these things.. Tezeta is a special record, one that exists in the rarefied air. A proper album. A record that every time you press play you will immediately remember why you own it and why you love it. A record that your subconscious will know so well that if shuffle is on you will know in an instant. An album that when it's in your collection and the first track starts you get a twinge of annoyance because you didn't listen again sooner and when the final track stops you stop too. Given paint and a canvas we can most of us paint a picture, but only those that are gifted can paint something that makes us feel. Tezeta makes you feel. Feel familiarity when it's playing, yearning when its not, and absence when it ends. This alone would be enough to make the argument as to why this album is special and justify the gushing opening paragraph of this press release. But we're not done yet. We don't really have a word in english for what Felipe Gordon has created with this album and how it makes you feel. "Tezeta" that word. Tezeta is a one of four musical modes within the traditional Ethiopian modal music system known as Qiñit. Mulatu Astatke, the father of Ethio-jazz, frequently uses this mode, often translating it as "nostalgia" or "longing". Gordon says Mulatu's own tezeta recordings convey to him "feelings of melancholy and longing from a point of affection". This is exactly the feeling Gordon has captured. It is what he has woven through every recording on this album. Tezeta is the prime ingredient. It's the base note in recipe, it's sprinkled over the signature jazz-sampled house tracks. It powers the vast array of synthesizers Gordon deploys. It underpins the explorations into trip-hop. It's present in Gordon's varied vocal deliveries and it tunes his guitar. It's in the running order. It's the flow. Tezeta is tezeta in electronic music form, with 4/4, breakbeats, samples and synths. Gordon says a big part of what differentiates this album from from his previous albums is that is was recorded in a period where he allowed himself to create music without the constraints of time or self-pressure which coincided with a moment of heavy personal growth which allowed him to reflect deeply on his work. There is a word in Portuguese "Saudade" that Gordon says has a similar meaning to Tezeta - Saudade is defined as a deep, sometimes bittersweet, longing or nostalgia for someone or something that is absent or lost. But here at SNF we think that in Tezeta nothing has been lost. Quite the opposite. Through Felipe Gordon's artistic explorations we have all gained something very special indeed.

An inspired coming together of musical minds. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of In A Space Outta Sound, George Evelyn aka DJ E.A.S.E has handed over the tapes to dub maestro Adrian Sherwood to go on a heady version excursion with eight tracks from the original record, in the spirit of the reggae and sound system roots that informed the original album. The result is a fresh take on a much-loved classic, in the lineage of albums such as Massive Attack’s No Protection and Spoon’s Lucifer On The Moon. Features bold new re-works of iconic tracks such as “You Wish” (appearing here as “You Bliss”) and “Flip Ya Lid” (mutated into “Flippin Eck”). As well as his trademark mixing desk wizardry, Sherwood has also brought in some of the core On-U Sound players to add additional instrumentation and turn this collaboration into something which is much more than the sum of its parts.

Yuri Suzuki, the sound artist and designer known for creating works that explore the realms of sound through exquisitely designed pieces, has become completely captivated by that silver box. Toting that infamous box and relentlessly diving deep into the swamp of Acid House, he drops a new album after nearly six years in LP format. On this record, Suzuki's finely honed squelchy old-school 303 sound, tightly mastered by the sound alchemist Rashad Becker, unfolds with precision and points toward another possible tomorrow. Each track is a sketch, carrying you through a timeless landscape of rhythm and texture and reaffirming Suzuki's unique command over sound and space.

Swiss unarchivers WRWTFWW give vinyl wings to a cult, 1999 Japan suite of jazz-spurred techno and shine-eyed electronica balanced between Warp’s AI comps and A.R.T.’s future jazz styles A lot of Japan-o-philes will be made-up to see this one on wax after more than a quarter century as a CD only curio and, since ’22, on download formats. All the material is duly given room to breath over 2LP, spinning the ‘Bug in the Bassbin’-era Carl Craig vibes of Missing Project’s ‘Poisson D’avril (Da’ Future Given a Deep Soul Mix)’, thru it soaring ‘Galaxy Dub’, via chunky house wigglers from Virgo, a slow-rolling groove by Tensor, early Black Dog feels in Penance’s ‘Cure of Soul (Fossil Mix), and low-slung trip by Led-M.

The musician and DJ Ken Ishii sits right at the pinnacle of techno's most noteworthy, but although a game changer for the artist personally - and for Japanese electronic music in general - his 1994 album 'Reference to Difference' is something of an unsung gem today. Now reissued and remastered, released to mark the 30th anniversary of Musicmine / Sublime Records, and available on vinyl with its original track-list for the first time, this stunning, lesser-known classic is ripe for rediscovery.

Third volume in Dave Huismans' stellar ex_libris series, further exploring the outer edges of deep house and leftfield music across three cuts in a total runtime of 25 minutes. The A-side offers up a rough-around-the-edges, spirited 4/4 beatdown epic, while the B1 & B2 venture into equally vivid world-building and fluttering wildlife curiosity. Limited edition - once again housed in lovingly hand-stamped, full-color sleeves. Design by Bernie van Vlijmen. Mastered and cut by Anne Taegert at D&M.

Compiled by Hunee, 'Sounds from the Far East' features highly sought after material by legendary Japanese house producer Soichi Terada and fellow producers Shinichiro Yokota, Manabu Nagayama!

Soichi Terada is an adventurous multitalent and over all a good sport. He was born in the sixties, and as a child he loved to play on his fathers’ electric organ. Terada majored in Computer Science and Electric Organ and after he graduated, he founded his Far East Recording in 1989, because he couldn't find a label for his compositions at that time.

The sound of Far East Recording is very much inspired by early nineties US deep house. Soichi Terada went out to parties in the late eighties, were he was equally influenced by house and hip-hop. A few years later, Terada took on producing music by using digital sampling. In the early nineties he occasionally DJ-ed with a DAT player and some reel tapes, instead of using records and turntables.

"Sounds From The Far East" shines new light on Soichi Terada's label and consists of material that was originally released in the early nineties. Next to Terada's music, Hunee also selected a few tracks by fellow artist Shinichiro Yokota for this compilation, as well as 'Sun Showered', a track based on the incredible Paradise Garage gem called 'Sunshower', by Terada and Nami Shimada.

Ata Kak's cassette Obaa Sima fell on deaf ears when it was self-released in Ghana and Canada in 1994. The music on the recording - an amalgam of highlife, Twi-language rap, funk and disco - is presented with the passion of a Prince record and the DIY-bedroom-recording lo-fi charm of early Chicago house music. The astute self-taught song craft and visionary blend of sounds and rhythms has made the album a left-field cult favorite among adventurous listeners worldwide. Awesome Tapes From Africa founder Brian Shimkovitz found the tape in 2002 in Cape Coast, Ghana - one of only a few ever pressed - and later made it the inaugural post on the Awesome Tapes From Africa blog. Hundreds of thousands of downloads, YouTube views, music video tributes and remixes, as well as years of mystery regarding Ata Kak's whereabouts, culminate in this remastered release featuring rare photos and the full back story of one of the internet age's most enigmatic musicians.

Never Sleep charity tape series lands in the Athens on Spree for an era defying multi genre workout from 2005. Prototype Reaktor methodologist Errorsmith blows the dub techno expectations away with a mix released on his website and limited CDR that aligns itself as much with early Jackmaster or Diplo sensibilities as much as it does "Ron Hardy - Live at the AKA" purist panache. Recorded rapid fire Errorsmith sets the trends with liquid gold Dancehall, Jitterbug club, Grime and acidic Ragga. Challenging any Traxsource ambassadorship, complex concordance for the Soulseek pundit. Covalent bonding tones with granular paced blends, mystical loop rearrangements, combilising genre metamorphosis and "DANCE ON THE KITCHEN TABLE" NRG. Errorsmith switches gears, sets the expectations high and flows like the river Fuldas on a summer's evening A beautiful nano moment that allowed Berlin to breathe from a different musical atmosphere and dance to a less fixated rhythm. Errorsmith is known for his solo material, collaborative works as MMM / Smith & Hack, creator of the software RAZOR and is well known for MMM anthem Donna. A highly regarded futurist in the Germanic music industry and a beloved producer in Dance music's hierarchical pantheon. All proceeds go to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) who provide humanitarian care in crisis situations across the globe.

Gabber Eleganza’s Never Sleep serve a prime slice of ’94 house in effect: an hour and a half of soulful, strutting, haughty party momentum captured live at Cocoricò; a legendary club housed in a glass pyramid outside Rimini, Italy, with Matteo Sorbellini on the mic. “Never Sleep charity tape series breaks towards Riviera Romagnola with an early 90s live recording from the most revered. Insula Romana activist DJ Ralf segues generational bliss with a masterclass of Balearic, Hi-NRG, Ballroom and Disco. A literal lesson in how to command a DJ set and hosted by Matteo Sorbellini. Omitting a sumptuous as Culatello di Zibello technique, hypnotic, deeply human and showboating the longest of blends. Utilising all vinyl rotary magicianship, pulsating drums and flawlessly complex acapella fades . Ralf tears the dancefloor up with shapeshifting vocal arrangements, quantified maximalist piano harmonies and late night / early morning "pick me up" textural rapture. Recorded at the world famous Cocoricò club in the heyday of 1994 this audio document showcases the hedonistic sounds of the era. DJ Ralf is known for his community work, political activism and DJ work across the globe."

Yokota's most upbeat and playful release on the Skintone label.

Will heralded a disarming, groove-based return to deep house. A wild melange of bumping beats, freestyle samples and esoteric goodness. Recorded over the same period as Grinning Cat this anomaly within the Skintone catalogue was seen as a way to circumvent the swirling politics of his club-oriented releases elsewhere.

In itself Will was a reminder of Yokota’s ability to deliver a complex array of sounds within a more recognisable format.

The elusive Shin Watanabe, gives us an insane 13 track double lp of absolute deep house mastery. When talking about deep house here, we mean along the lines of greats like Master C+J, Quest, Burrell, or Blue Jean to name a few. Late night mid-tempo dark house sleaze for the corners of the club. Total old school deep cuts in the truest of traditions. Not to be missed. Housed in a disco sleeve.

Will Long returns to Comatonse Recordings with Acid Trax, a double album of minimal trax conjuring the best of the early days of Chicago acid house. While there has been a resurgence in acid house from the UK and Europe over the past few years, it is almost always of the hyped up and overproduced techno-rave style. Long responds by turning the tempo down to classic house vibes, and bringing things back to basics with a simple setup of rhythm composer percussion and 303 bassline. Drawing upon his decades of minimalist ambient production as Celer, and his sparse take on house music that debuted here on Comatonse in 2016 with Long Trax (look out for Long Trax 4 coming soon on Will's own label), the result is over two hours of queerly evolving trax that remind us of what the acid genre really had to offer. DJ Sprinkles also drops in as a guest collaborator with percussion edits on "Acid Trax S," and takes things further into deepness with remixes of "Acid Trax N" and "Acid Trax B."

視聴-Acid Trax N (All Alkalis are Bases but All Bases are not Alkalis) remix by DJ Sprinkles
視聴-Acid Trax B (Acid Dog) remix by DJ Sprinkles
視聴-Acid Trax A
視聴-Acid Trax H
視聴-Acid Trax S (w/DJ Sprinkles) 

Canadian producer Dylan Khotin-Foote has kept his Khotin alias going for the better part of a decade; the impressionistic electronic project shifts with the movements in his life. Sometimes it leads, like when the club-friendly grooves of 2014’s Hello World immersed him in the heart of Vancouver’s underground dance scene, and sometimes it follows, like 2018’s Beautiful You, a downtempo salve for DJ fatigue. His melodic sensibility and playful ear for atmosphere remain the rippling core of the project’s fingerprint; whether beat-driven or ambient, a foggy smear or a dusted and pristine print, a Khotin track has a distinct and instantly recognizable swirl. During and after the 2020 release of Finds You Well, his second LP on Ghostly International, Khotin-Foote settled back into a slower vibe in his hometown of Edmonton. Even before the pandemic, his pivots to softer production, and away from DJing, left him with fewer opportunities in Vancouver and club bookings overall, and as a self-identifying introvert, he was fine with that. But the change of pace did open space for Khotin-Foote to grapple with concepts of adulthood and career. At his lowest, he almost walked off this musical path altogether; instead, he doubled down on the craft — the tone, pacing, and dynamism of new material — arriving at a definitive full-length. With Release Spirit, Khotin releases himself from the pressure of expectation, fusing and refining everything we know about his music. The warmth and familiarity of Khotin’s dreamy, dulcet style meet new ideas and frameworks, a natural progression, a modest revelation; Khotin confirms it is okay to move slowly and he’s never sounded better doing it. The album title borrows from the “release spirit” mechanic in the video game World of Warcraft. When players die, they are prompted to release their spirit and return as ghosts to find their corpses and come back to life. Khotin sees it as a worthy metaphor for the impending change his return home presented and the resulting process of purging artistic expectations to find his creative self again. On this go-around, he is freer, more playful, and more intentional within his palette of warped synth, breakbeats, and piano sounds — including the classic Casio SK-1 presets he’s used since the start — mingling with wistful samples, field recordings, and other abstract snippets. For the first time, he enlisted Nik Kozub to do the mix and assist with sequencing. Khotin-Foote has long worked with the Edmonton-based musician and engineer in the mastering phase, as well as their days co-running the label Normals Welcome, and this time was able to involve his ears earlier given their newfound proximity. “I think it’s my best sounding record to date.” We begin on “HV Road” or Happy Valley Road, where Khotin-Foote spent time during a family vacation in British Columbia’s Okanagan Lake. His plans to record crickets at night are quickly foiled by his younger siblings; the cute exchange orients the listener to a core memory of sorts, setting the tone of universally understood warmth and wonder that has defined some of Khotin’s most transportive tracks. Hazy percussion takes hold, and we are swept further into the wisp of “Lovely,” a grooving, melodic standout built on the interplay between the beat and human voice-like hums. Khotin knows this zone well; equally suited for a reverie or a club warm-up. The bubbling atmosphere and absurdity of “3 pz” offer a cosmic/comic interlude and also speak to reflections on his family’s move to Canada two generations ago, and the audio tutorials they used to learn English. “I can only imagine my grandparents repeating some of the bizarre phrases.” “Fountain, Growth” finds Khotin in collaboration with Montreal’s Tess Roby (Dawn to Dawn) for the project’s first-ever vocal track. Roby’s soft cadence echoes atop spiraling air pockets of rhythmic production, lending a breezy, almost shoegaze pop feel. Throughout the single and the album, wind gusts between the compositional layers, akin to the roaming spirits of its namesake, curving around the birdsong of “Life Mask” and seamlessly reaching “Unlimited <3.” The latter bumps in slow motion; disembodied whirrs from his Casio collide with 808 drums and sub-bass for a vibe that teeters on trap and instrumental hip-hop. Release Spirit rests in a dream sequence. Oscillating synth lines dance around the heartbeat of “Techno Creep,” a hyperactive REM state before the digitized ambient sprawl of “My Same Size.” In the final pass, Khotin imagines transcontinental travel from the glow of his screen. He recorded “Sound Gathering Trip” to soundtrack a genre of YouTube videos he’s taken to that follows train routes through Europe and Japan. The scene is serene and moving; piano keys warble as static-filled sound design shimmers off the rails, from cityscapes to the countryside, an introspective ride through a world beyond his bedroom. It doubles as an apt parting image for Khotin’s project as a whole: dreaming big but happiest when riffing on the details, shaping environments from the inside out. Over the last decade, he has stretched from his core in Edmonton, leaving a trace in Vancouver and beyond; but when all signs point home, he loops back to see it all from a different vantage, revitalized, refined, and free.

The Dubplate series comes to the label’s spiritual home of Hackney, the stomping ground of the Douglas “Dougie” Waldrop and his Conscious Sounds label with the spin off Dub meets Funk project, the music of the Dub Specialists are presented with extended re-edits by label owners Piers Harrison and Stuart “Chuggy” Leath, alongside rising DJ star Millie McKee and studio boffin Matt Bruce (Vanity Project). Formed in 1989, the Conscious Sounds label and Conscious Music studio have been mainstays on the UK Digital Roots scene to this day, working with the likes Bush Chemists, Johan Dan, Kenny Knots and Pablo Gad. The Dub Specialists was a project created by Dougie to put aside studio sessions and explore a new interest in samplers, working with friend Chris Petter (Love Grocer) and his interest in Jazz and Funk. Using the Atari 1040 running Cubase, with a Soundcraft mixer, drum loops and Reggae basslines were played over Funk samples and layered with Petter’s chords to create a series of short tracks for DJ play. Releasing 3 albums between 1995 and 1999 on the sub label Crispy Music, they have more recently been gaining cult status. The tracks chosen all come from the first and increasingly sought after LP, Dub To Dub Break To Break and have been extended, stretched, looped and dubbed by the label family to form a club friendly EP. From the dance floor jams of Dub De Funk and Funkin’ Dub to the deeper Movin Ya and Murderous Style this is a unique fusion of Funk and Digidub that fits perfectly the ideals of the Dubplate Series.

Light as a feather and colorful as the autumn and spring: the new album of Kuniyuki Takahashi, sometimes known as Koss, is an affair of the heart. It spreads love while revealing that the man from Tokyo is one of the finest Japanese producers at the frontier of classic, jazz, house, ambient, and electronic songwriting. One thing all his artistic expressions have in common: they are loaded with tones and rhythms straight from the heart that filter and modulate human emotions without losing their natural source. Until today he released five full length albums and countless Eps on Mule Musiq. And this with an artistic progression from an electronic producer to a musician that melts organic instruments with electronic sounds while showing his love for free spirited rhythms and bittersweet melodies. He is also a man of collaborations and already worked together with such one off a kind artists like Innervisions jazz house icon Henrik Schwarz . Under his second nom de plume Koss he also produced beside lots of albums and EPs a jazz infiltrated ambient trip together with the Swedish Minilogue boys Marcus Henriksson and Sebastian Mullaert. His new album features now again guests like Bugge Wesseltoft, Anne Clark, or Henrik Schwarz – just to name a few. They all play with and not for him! A quality that attributes to Kuniyuki’s way of sharing music and to his rich diversified knowledge about it. Because beside his work as a musician he breath sounds all day long and listens to tons of possible musical expression from all decades to keep his consciousnees wide open. This openess is inscripted in „Feather World“ all over the place. The album opens with „Before Creation“ – a slow ambient intro enriched with a sweet piano phrase, strings, and a clandestine loop driven rhythm. Then comes „Inner Groove“ - a composition in which Norway’s terrific jazz pianist Bugge Wesseltoft jams playful to an airy rhythm arrangement that reminds partly on Herbie Hancocks spiritual „Rain Dance“ and that grooves with a Jaco Pastorius funk bass coolness. Thereon Kuniyuki travels to Africa, drops an earthly rhythm and let the singer Sona Diabaté from the West African Republic of Guinea hum soulful together with a wild but noble touching African guitar melody. All those who are familiar with Kuniyuki’s work know about his passion for house music made by such heroes like José „Cochise“ Claussell. With the track „Shout“ he assures this love while using electrifying percussion beats that dance around deep melancholic saxophone melodies played by Tetsuro Kawashima, one of Japan’s most famous saxophone players. That followed the guitar mojo ambient composition „The Big Wall“ which functions like a little bridge that ease the listener before entering the second part of the album. This starts with the dancefloor bomb „The Session 2“ – which Kuniyuki produced with his longtime buddy Henrik Schwarz. A house track full of stirring jazz flute madness and rhodes driven chords that got everything it takes to put a smile on the lips of dancers who like to enjoy jazzy mood experiments. Subsequent with „Between Shadow and Lights“ he continues to keep his eyes on the dancefloor – this time with a more minimalistic foggy arrangement to which the legendary New Wave spoken word queen Anne Clarke chants with her incompareable androgyn cold chilling voice. It is not that last time that Kuniyuki features extraodinary vocals on „Feather World“. In the very last quite part of the longplayer also Joyce Bowden, known for her heartfelt contribution to the Arthur Russel compilation album „Another Thought“, hums to a folk influenced slow rythmn track that waves the listener a goodbye from a freethinking album to which he will return to forever!

Twenty years ago, Jan Jelinek’s debut album Personal Rock was released by Source Records. Under the pseudonym Gramm, it brings together eight tracks that have not been available on vinyl since their original release. Faitiche is very glad to announce the re-release of the album: Personal Rock will appear as a double LP featuring the original cover artwork. What people wrote about Personal Rock two decades ago: “Situated somewhere between Jelinek’s much loved Loop-Finding Jazz Records, Farben, Move D’s Conjoint project and Atom Heart’s most immersive work for Rather Interesting, it’s a late night album full of subtle production tricks and melodic House structures that belong to the pre-millennial IDM heyday, but which transcend its overly-masculine templates.” (Boomkat) “Though many producers have pushed forward the clicks-and-cuts style of experimental ambience developed by German experimentalists Oval (among others), few have been able to match their knack for making abstract cuts into pieces of undeniable beauty. Jan Jelinek’s first LP as Gramm is one of the precious few, and it’s obvious from the opener.” (AllMusic) “Organized in organic structures and minimal movements, the tracks get into utopian states and super-desirable moods, offering superior contentedness and dependable taste of the kind seldom sustained for a whole album. (...) Subway-Escalator-Soul.” (Spex)

This is the first full-length album in two years from NY-based genius Madteo, who has released strong titles on prestigious labels such as DDS, Sähkö Recordings, and Hinge Finger. The album is the first full-length album in two years, and it is a collection of unorthodox sounds, dub-wise memories, sweat, and blood. This is a huge album that is sure to attract fans of Actress, Demdike Stare, and Theo Parrish!

Strut present the first ever official compilation bringing together the complete in-demand reggae / disco singles of Risco Connection between 1979 and 1980.

Drummer “Drummie” Joe Isaacs had already created history as the house drummer at Studio 1 in Jamaica on countless pre-reggae classics before moving to Canada in 1968 and is credited with slowing down the fast pace of ska during the rocksteady era. With Risco Connection, Isaacs released a series of choice reggae / disco covers, from ‘Ain’t No Stopping Us Now’ and ‘Good Times’ to ‘I’m Caught Up (In A One Night Love Affair)’ and ‘It’s My House’ as limited 12” singles on his own Black Rose imprint. “Arriving in Canada, we were one of the first set of musicians out of Jamaica coming here,” explains Isaacs. “With Risco Connection, we wanted to try something new, songs that would have a crossover between disco and the rocksteady feeling and the right lyrics. We had trouble getting them well distributed widely at the time but people still picked up on the sound.”

Recorded at Glen Johansen’s small studio Integrated Sound in Toronto, musicians included Jamaican, US and Canadian players with Isaacs on drums and percussion, bassist Clarence Greer, guitarist Tony Campbell and keyboardist/singer Glen Ricketts. Isaacs also called on a number of great independent vocalists including Terry Hope (‘It’s My House’), Merlyn “Lorna” Brooks, (‘Caught Up’), Otis Gayle and Juliette Morgan (‘Bringing The Sun Out’ and ‘Sitting In The Park’) and Tobi Lark (‘Good Times’). The biggest hit of all the singles was Risco’s dynamite cover of McFadden and Whitehead’s ‘Ain’t No Stopping Us Now’. selling over 5,000 copies in Toronto and New York with the dub version becoming a firm favourite of David Mancuso at his famed Loft parties.

‘Risco Version’ brings together all of the vocal versions, dubs and extra tracks from the singles. Both formats feature an interview with Joe Isaacs and liner notes by journalist Angus Taylor. Audio is restored by Sean P and fully remastered and cut loud and proud by The Carvery.