MUSIC

7154 products

Showing 97 - 120 of 252 products
View
252 results
Yetsuby - 4EVA (LP)Yetsuby - 4EVA (LP)
Yetsuby - 4EVA (LP)Pink Oyster Records
¥4,696

大人気ユニット、Salamandaの片翼!韓国・ソウルを拠点に活動するプロデューサー/DJ、Yetsubyによる最新アルバム『4EVA』が、UK新興レーベル〈Pink Oyster〉の第1弾として登場。ブレイクビーツ、フットワーク、ジャングル、IDM、アンビエント、クラブ・ミュージックを自在に横断しながら、デジタル/アナログ/アコースティックの音響を緻密に編み上げた全10曲。遊び心溢れるサウンド・デザインと、内省的かつ親密なムードが共存する、Yetsubyのソロ作品として極めて完成度の高い一枚です。限定300部。

Ata Kak - Obaa Sima (LP)
Ata Kak - Obaa Sima (LP)Awesome Tapes From Africa
¥2,784
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.

Round Two - I'm Your Brother (12")
Round Two - I'm Your Brother (12")Main Street Records
¥2,983

originally released on Main Street Records in 1994, and repressed in 2025.

First Choice - Let No Man Put Asunder (Ron Hardy Edit 12")
First Choice - Let No Man Put Asunder (Ron Hardy Edit 12")Salsoul
¥3,487

フィラデルフィア・ソウルの名門〈Salsoul〉より、Ron Hardyによる伝説のリエディットが正規復刻。ディスコ〜ハウスを越境して愛され続けるFirst Choiceのクラシック「Let No Man Put Asunder」を、シカゴ・ハウスの先駆者Ron Hardyがよりフロア志向に再構築!ミニマルなループとグルーヴの増幅によって、原曲のエモーショナルなソウルが陶酔的なダンス・ナラティヴへと変貌。ディスコ史とハウスの系譜を繋ぐ重要盤です。〈Salsoul〉による正規12インチ復刻。

Cola Ren - Hailu Remixes (12")
Cola Ren - Hailu Remixes (12")AMWAV
¥4,794
Guangzhou-based producer and DJ COLA REN released her debut LP, 'Hailu' in June 2023, a fulsome ambient, balearic, and downtempo brew with a gorgeous sense of melody and spirituality that offers a soothing escape. To celebrate the release, we have invited 8 talented musicians to the enchanting realm of ‘Hailu'. This remix compilation serves as a metaphorical exploration akin to the "Chakras," symbolizing the diverse energy centers within the human body. Through the collective reinterpretation of Hailu's original composition by 8 musicians, each imbuing it with unique hues and symbols, the remix reflects varied spiritual essences and elemental qualities.

Moskito - Idolar (LP)Moskito - Idolar (LP)
Moskito - Idolar (LP)Awesome Tapes From Africa
¥3,369

In the vibrant streets of Tembisa, South Africa, amidst the sprawling urbanity connecting Johannesburg and Pretoria, the story of Moskito began. Formed in 2001 by Mahlubi “Shadow” Radebe and the late Zwelakhe “Malemon” Mtshali, the group first emerged as a powerhouse of pantsula dancers. However, their undeniable passion for music soon led them down a new path—one that would cement their place in kwaito history. Spending countless hours on the street corners of their township, where they were born and raised, Shadow and Malemon danced and sang with an infectious energy that attracted crowds. It wasn’t long before the duo decided to channel their talents into a kwaito group, and after adding friends Patrick Lwane and Menzi Dlodlo, Moskito was born.

(Pantsula dancing emerged in the 1950s among Black South Africans in townships and continually evolved until it became intertwined with kwaito music culture. The stylized, rapid foot movements and characteristic low-dancing became associated with kwaito as it took over South African urban culture into the early 2000s.)

With limited resources, the group displayed immense creativity, recording demos using two cassette decks and instrumental tracks from other artists. They would rap and sing over an instrumental playing on one deck while the second deck records their performance. Their determination paid off when they submitted their demo to Tammy Music Publishers, who were captivated by Moskito’s style.

“Kwaito was the thing ‘in’ at the time. If you did music you did kwaito. We wanted to fit in and actually it was easy,” says Radebe. “We didn’t have engineers in the group, so the first time in a real studio was with Percy and Thami to record Idolar.”

That same year, the group released their debut album, Idolar, under Tammy Music. The album was an undeniable success reaching gold status selling over 25,000 units and earning them a devoted fan base across South Africa and neighboring countries like Botswana, Swaziland, Namibia and Zimbabwe. Moskito collaborated with industry legends such as Chilly Mthiya Tshabalala, who was known for his work with Thiza and Spoke ”H.” They drew inspiration from Thami Mdluli a.k.a Professor Rhythm, who had dominated the disco scene back in the 80s and 90s. Mdluli helped with musical arrangements and executive produced the album and signed on producer-engineer Percy Mudau, while Shadow and Malemon took pride in composing most of their songs. Like many of the rising kwaito artists of the time, they didn’t have music production or engineering backgrounds so they required support from engineers together their ideas down on tape.

They were inspired by South African kwaito icons like Trompies, Mdu, Mandoza, and Arthur Mafokate, alongside international heavyweights like Snoop Doggy Dogg, Dr. Dre, 2Pac, and R. Kelly, Moskito created a sound that was uniquely theirs—a perfect blend of local flavor and global influence.

Various Artists - Echoes Of Italy Vol.2 - Early 90's House Vibes - The Birds Of Paradise (2LP)
Various Artists - Echoes Of Italy Vol.2 - Early 90's House Vibes - The Birds Of Paradise (2LP)JUNGLE FANTASY
¥5,978

It is a human and artistic adventure made up of craftsmanship, passion, and continuous exchanges between high culture and pop tensions, that of Italo-House. A story of laboratories, sound workshops where the fascination for new technologies and the infinite possibilities they offered, is often mixed with the rigour for classical scores, the result of academic studies at the Conservatory. A story that is then intertwined with that of the balere, the places for dancing and socialising, where dance was not only an opportunity to stage a whirlwind pursuit of hedonism, but was born out of the desire to make a community, to meet, to discover a new family, that of the night, often more welcoming than the original one. It is also the concretisation of a dream, that of being able to ‘reconstruct’ an identity that did not taste of belonging, but of exoticism, of gazes turned towards the Afro-American culture, the one that derived from funk, soul, r'n'b, lived at times with the Salgarian spirit of ‘travelling without moving’.
Italian house was the first, anticipating the irruption of the digital scenarios that have forever changed ‘making art’, to redefine, to redraw a map that did not exist, that of the ‘young’ sound that shifted its creative trajectories from the megalopolises overseas (with all their urban poetics) to the Italian province, inside recording studios where a group of young maniacs of machines, mixers, synths, appropriated a language that was not their own and declined it by opening their minds, demonstrating, that indeed, anything is possible. They studied patterns that came from afar, they applied to those patterns the natural force of moving with sensuality, they showed that they knew perfectly how to build what rappers, a few years later, would call ‘The Perfect Rhythm’. They sought it out in the endless nights of discotheques, of dance halls, from the glitziest ones that would set the standard for Ibizan nightlife to the after-hours clubs on the outskirts of small towns. They succeeded in defining a syntax that, shortly afterwards, would mark, with its influence, the advent of what would become ‘club culture’. So many theme songs, often created for the occasion, rhythmic and melodic sequences packaged with the awareness that there are codified rules that can enhance ‘body language’. Sequences that, often, with their authors, would then fly to New York in search of the splendid voice to hire for a turn in the recording studio, to give the song that definitive and planetary dimension that has, with great ease, spanned the decades.
Authentic musicians, for the most part, those of the Italian house wave, often masters of the orchestra, other times electronic experimenters who were more familiar with the obscure and very, very underground rock clubs of new wave, with the distortions of post-punk, which had opened the ‘doors of perception’ in sound, rather than with the glittering clubs of the ‘original’ disco.
Music of mixture, in short, the representation of an aspiration, as one would say a few decades later, ‘glocal’, the maximum of localisation meets the maximum of globalisation. The airy crystalline openings, the national romanticism, the song that is tinged with black atmospheres, that wanders through the unfrequented streets of the ghetto and comes out with the strength of sentimentality that, in its best expressions, succeeds in making the liberating joy of dance a tactile experience. 

Hiss Is Bliss - Nope / Abbadia (7")
Hiss Is Bliss - Nope / Abbadia (7")ZamZam Sounds
¥2,756
ZamZam 95 is a link with the enigmatic French producer Hiss Is Bliss. We’ve been fans since the very first drop on their 777Hz label and these two sides drive straight to the heart of the dub techno galaxy. Little is known about Hiss Is Bliss beyond the fact that they hail from France, are steeped in esotericism, and create tunes as masterfully grounded in roots reggae as they are in techno and related strands of electronic music. Their releases are utterly free of hype, beautifully crafted 10” vinyl plates that let the singers and tracks speak for themselves. At the risk of being cheeky, “Nope” is absolute dub techno bliss. The 808 kick propels the track relentlessly forward, saturated washes of color streak the night sky, while syncopated hi hats and warm, soulful chords bring life- dare we say funk- to a style too often stiff and clinical, too in thrall to the past to truly step forward. Matching Hiss is Bliss in mystery, Ras Lys’ vocal brings a Dread perspective on music and the sometimes shady business of music, a grounded contrast to the deep inner space explored by the tune itself. The B-side version “Abbadia” splits musical atoms through the desk, focusing squarely on the stripped 4/4 elements and gloriously distorted pads that echo and cycle like tides in a darkly shimmering sea.

Ron Trent -  Lift Off (2LP)
Ron Trent - Lift Off (2LP)Rush Hour
¥5,426

After five years spent largely confined to the United States, Ron Trent is set to return to global touring in 2025. To mark the occasion, he’s partnered with Rush Hour to release Lift Off, a brand-new album of music recorded at different points over the last decade.

Arriving almost 35 years since he wowed the world with his game-changing debut, the Afterlife EP, Lift Off was inspired by Trent’s desire to ‘let the imagination speak for itself’ while exploring the diverse influences that have shaped his unique musical perspective. A departure from his previous album, 2022’s downtempo masterpiece as Warm, What Do The Stars Say To You, the 10-track set features a mixture of epic instrumentals, inspired collaborations and vocal cuts whose music was written with certain singers in mind.

While Lift Off features music that ripples with Trent’s familiar aural trademarks –rich rhythms, warm chords, impeccable instrumentation, inspired arrangements, and lashings of heady hand percussion – it sees the long-serving producer explore a variety of sounds and tempos, in the process blurring the lines between dance music’s past, present and future. In his words, it’s a vision of what dance music can become, where nods to new wave, alternative and slow jams sit side by side with up-tempo dancefloor workouts rooted in R&B, jazz-funk, house and sunset-dance.

Presented on two double vinyl albums and a single digital download release, Lift Off contains some of Trent’s most magical and sonically detailed music to date. For proof, check the lilting synth-strings, enveloping chords, samba-soaked percussion, vibrant electronics, elongated organ solos and starry synths sounds of ‘Woman of Color’, the Wally Badarou-inspired ‘Hot Ice’, the alternative Balearic love song ‘And Fly Away’, and the alternative 80s/New Order-influenced ‘Just Another Love Song’, where his own hazy vocals catch the ear.

From the start of the project, Trent wanted to create music with musical collaborators and hand-picked vocalists in mind. Two regular collaborators make an appearance, with fellow Chicagoan (and Jungle Wonz member) Harry Dennis delivering a delightfully poetic spoken word vocal on the incredible ‘Her’ – a subtly Latin-tinged epic that’s amongst Trent’s most picture-perfect concoctions to date – and fellow Rush Hour artist Lars Bartkuhn adding virtuoso jazz guitar solos to the equally inspired ‘Street Wave’.

Perhaps more headline-grabbing is the inclusion of legendary disco-boogie vocalist, producer and arranger Leroy Burgess, who accepted Trent’s invitation to write and perform vocals on an instrumental he’d written with him in mind, ‘Let Me See You Shining’. Combining Trent’s usual spacey synths, rolling grooves and ultra-deep musical sensibilities with nods to his guest singer’s synth-heavy boogie and proto-house works of the early to mid 1980s, the track features a typically expressive and soulful lead vocal from the New York great – a genuine musical meeting of minds that’s worth the admission price on its own.

Effortlessly soulful, atmospheric, musically on-point and bursting with vivid aural colours, it offers a neat summary of the sonic delights littered throughout Lift Off – a killer collection of sophisticated and forward-thinking music for the head, heart and feet.

Moskito - Idolar (CD)Moskito - Idolar (CD)
Moskito - Idolar (CD)Awesome Tapes From Africa
¥1,942

In the vibrant streets of Tembisa, South Africa, amidst the sprawling urbanity connecting Johannesburg and Pretoria, the story of Moskito began. Formed in 2001 by Mahlubi “Shadow” Radebe and the late Zwelakhe “Malemon” Mtshali, the group first emerged as a powerhouse of pantsula dancers. However, their undeniable passion for music soon led them down a new path—one that would cement their place in kwaito history. Spending countless hours on the street corners of their township, where they were born and raised, Shadow and Malemon danced and sang with an infectious energy that attracted crowds. It wasn’t long before the duo decided to channel their talents into a kwaito group, and after adding friends Patrick Lwane and Menzi Dlodlo, Moskito was born.

(Pantsula dancing emerged in the 1950s among Black South Africans in townships and continually evolved until it became intertwined with kwaito music culture. The stylized, rapid foot movements and characteristic low-dancing became associated with kwaito as it took over South African urban culture into the early 2000s.)

With limited resources, the group displayed immense creativity, recording demos using two cassette decks and instrumental tracks from other artists. They would rap and sing over an instrumental playing on one deck while the second deck records their performance. Their determination paid off when they submitted their demo to Tammy Music Publishers, who were captivated by Moskito’s style.

“Kwaito was the thing ‘in’ at the time. If you did music you did kwaito. We wanted to fit in and actually it was easy,” says Radebe. “We didn’t have engineers in the group, so the first time in a real studio was with Percy and Thami to record Idolar.”

That same year, the group released their debut album, Idolar, under Tammy Music. The album was an undeniable success reaching gold status selling over 25,000 units and earning them a devoted fan base across South Africa and neighboring countries like Botswana, Swaziland, Namibia and Zimbabwe. Moskito collaborated with industry legends such as Chilly Mthiya Tshabalala, who was known for his work with Thiza and Spoke ”H.” They drew inspiration from Thami Mdluli a.k.a Professor Rhythm, who had dominated the disco scene back in the 80s and 90s. Mdluli helped with musical arrangements and executive produced the album and signed on producer-engineer Percy Mudau, while Shadow and Malemon took pride in composing most of their songs. Like many of the rising kwaito artists of the time, they didn’t have music production or engineering backgrounds so they required support from engineers together their ideas down on tape.

They were inspired by South African kwaito icons like Trompies, Mdu, Mandoza, and Arthur Mafokate, alongside international heavyweights like Snoop Doggy Dogg, Dr. Dre, 2Pac, and R. Kelly, Moskito created a sound that was uniquely theirs—a perfect blend of local flavor and global influence.

DJ Sprinkles x Will Long - Acid Trax - EP 3 ("12)
DJ Sprinkles x Will Long - Acid Trax - EP 3 ("12)Comatonse Recordings
¥3,989
Tokyo-based artist Will Long, widely known for his ambient works under Celer and the Meditations best-seller Long Trax, returns with the third installment of the Acid Trax EP series. Featuring a remix cut from the 2024 album Acid Trax, this release also includes a new co-produced track with iconic deep house figure DJ Sprinkles a.k.a. Terre Thaemlitz. The A-side delivers a sharp and emotionally nuanced production built on the relentless interplay of 909s and 303s, while the B-side shines with Sprinkles’ signature spatial sensitivity and mellow atmospheres. This is intelligent, immersive dance music that subtly reimagines the acid house format from within—a quiet document of aesthetic clarity, perfectly suited for the after-hours floor. Mastered and cut by Rashad Becker.
DJ Sprinkles x Will Long - Acid Trax - EP 2 (12”)
DJ Sprinkles x Will Long - Acid Trax - EP 2 (12”)Comatonse Recordings
¥3,989
Tokyo-based artist Will Long—well known for his acclaimed ambient works under the name Celer and his best-selling Long Trax series on Meditations—returns with a remix cut EP from his 2024 album Acid Trax, featuring none other than DJ Sprinkles a.k.a. Terre Thaemlitz, the iconic figure of artistic deep house explorations. Side A delivers a hypnotic, minimalist acid track running over 11 minutes, evoking the spirit of Phuture and early Plastikman, with razor-sharp 909 rhythms and acid-laced 303 lines. On the flip, DJ Sprinkles brings their unmistakable touch to the remix, sculpting a deeply immersive experience with intelligent arrangement and emotional depth—deep house at its most refined. A sublime slice of after-hours introspection and floor-ready elegance.
DJ Dadaman & Moscow - Dollar Kagaza (LP)DJ Dadaman & Moscow - Dollar Kagaza (LP)
DJ Dadaman & Moscow - Dollar Kagaza (LP)Nyege Nyege Tapes
¥4,345

南アフリカ出身のDJ DadamanとMoscow Dollarによる最新作『Kagaza』が、ウガンダ版〈PAN〉な大名門〈Nyege Nyege Tapes〉から登場。本作では、バカルディ、クワイト、アマピアノ、ハウス、シンセ・ポップといった様々なジャンルやスタイルを横断した全6曲を収録。ミリタリスティックなスネア、プロト・アマピアノ/ポスト・クワイトのベースライン、ハウス風のM1ピアノ・フレーズ、曲がりくねったシンセ・シークエンスが特徴的。バントゥー語のXitsongaで歌うMoscow Dollarのヴォーカルが、タウンシップの生活を生き生きと描写していきます。南アフリカの豊かな音楽の歴史を伝えると同時に、未来を予言するようなサウンドが詰まった一枚!

cv313 -  beyond starlit sky [remastered] (12")
cv313 - beyond starlit sky [remastered] (12")Echospace
¥2,978
10 Year anniversary edition of cv313's Beyond Starlit Sky on Echospace. Out of print for a decade, now newly remastered, ‘beyond starlit sky’ is archetypal dub house crafted in the image of Berlin’s MvO & Ernestus as much as Detroit’s Infiniti. The nine minute studio original weaves iridescent melody thru deftly convected clouds of static noise fidelity on tumescent bassline with starry-eyed effect. The live mix alters the atmospheric physics to let the bass billow outwards under storm-brew clouds of gaseous swill, subtly teasing in the harmonised dub chords until they properly pay-off deep into the 2nd half. !

Mr. Fingers - Mr. Fingers 2016  (12")
Mr. Fingers - Mr. Fingers 2016 (12")Alleviated Records
¥3,321
Alleviated Records is proud to present the new Mr. Fingers EP. After many years of the moniker being dormant and a long journey trying to get back into a creative mindset, we have a new offering. First up, "Outer Acid" delivers up a Minimal-Space-Acid flavor. Next, "Qwazars" continues the Space motif with a Minimal-Tech touch. "Nodyahed" moves toward a Dark Club Bounce with a dash of Tribal flavor. "Aether" offers up a more late-night Ambient-Space-House flavor. Hope you enjoy these selections at the club and at home for a long time to come.

Oro Azul - Water Seeds (12")
Oro Azul - Water Seeds (12")Mood Hut
¥2,974
Oro Azul is a new collaborative project from Michael Red and Ultima Esuna. Water Seeds takes us through 4 shades of an aquatic garden. Dembow floats underneath the waves while woodblock melodies bubble up through the weeds. Sub bass shifts the tide. Some sounds are mosslike, a protective balm. Other tones come through as minerals and metals, shining in the refracted light from above.
Anthony Naples - Take Me With You (LP)
Anthony Naples - Take Me With You (LP)ANS
¥3,545
A repress of a classic that was ranked among the RA Best 2018! Originally released on cassette as a post-party (or pre-party) chillout with friends, it follows in the footsteps of the current ambient crowd in the club vein, such as Huerco S. and Terekke, with a deep mix of free-form ambient, house, and dub. This album delivers an experimental sound with a very pleasant cosmic deep electro that is perfect for embedding. It is a perfect representative of his work.
Round Three Feat. Tikiman - Acting Crazy (12")
Round Three Feat. Tikiman - Acting Crazy (12")Main Street Records
¥2,837

originally released on Main Street Records in 1996, and repressed in 2025.

Round Two - New Day (12")
Round Two - New Day (12")Main Street Records
¥2,837

originally released on Main Street Records in 1995, and repressed in 2025.

Seahawks - Time Enough For Love (LP)Seahawks - Time Enough For Love (LP)
Seahawks - Time Enough For Love (LP)Cascine
¥3,468
In the fall of 2022, celebrated UK chill-out institution Seahawks landed in Los Angeles for the first time in their 15-year history, with plans to record a sweeping new age downtempo “exploration of visionary California.” Instead, they immediately fell ill with flu (Fowler collapsed next to a taco truck; 911 was called), and were bedridden for the better part of a week. Upon recovering, they resituated at the synthesizer sanctuary of Brian Foote (Peak Oil, Kranky, Leech), channeling their post-sickness psychedelia into one of the band’s lushest and most elevated creations to date: Time Enough For Love. Inspired by the “groove and mood” of Harry Nilsson demos, as well as its wider 70’s wavelength – Rhodes, Wurlitzer, wood paneling – Seahawks transposed their classic post-rave ambient exotica onto a warm and woozy Golden State palette. Buoyed by the liquid touch of English maestro Kenny Dickenson on keys, the results rank high among the duo’s smoothest and most multi-sensory voyages. “Sail Across The Moon” delivers on its title, a simmering, phaser-smeared cruise through the beauty of the night. “Messengers” echoes the cosmic lounge of Air’s Moon Safari, shuffling, weightless, and ethereal, while “Falling Deep” reaches for the stars, pure cascading bliss, the ecstatic moment writ large. The album skews steadily more astral as it progresses, drifting towards jazzy, galactic outer reaches. “Like A Grain Of Sand” opens with a spoken sample by the celebrated late American poet Rachel Sherwood (“The children watch, breathless / with the birds / They feel an emanation / from this shuddering place”), before taking flight on a Balearic trip through island house, PM Dawn gold dust, upright bass meditation, and kaleidoscopic light. A remix of the title track by Chicago trio Purelink closes the record in a suitably subdued and skittery state of mind. Time Enough For Love radiates color, complexity, and positivity, infused by the “life enhancing” nature of the band's time in Los Angeles – sunsets, sound systems, and sativa, framed by coastlines and cloudbanks, the city’s mystic sprawl glittering beneath purple dusk.

DJ Sprinkles x Will Long - Acid Trax - EP 1 (12")
DJ Sprinkles x Will Long - Acid Trax - EP 1 (12")Comatonse
¥3,785

The long-awaited DJ Sprinkles reworkings of Will Long’s Acid Trax finally arrive on vinyl, beginning with this first instalment in a three-part EP series via Comatonse. Mastered by Terre Thaemlitz and cut by Rashad Becker, EP 1 features DJ Sprinkles’ ‘Acid Dog’ remix – a resoundingly trippy, sensual 11-minute journey of padded subs, shimmering percussion and richly layered 303 tones. One of the most immersive entries in the Sprinkles catalogue, it’s club music with both emotional depth and hypnotic power.

On the flip, Long’s original takes a more minimal approach, delivering a meditative groove that floats raw drum machine rhythms and restrained 303 sequences in wide-open space. Both tracks embrace the ascetic, introspective aesthetics that define this project.

Note: The correct tracks on this 12” are ‘Acid Trax N’ and ‘Acid Dog (DJ Sprinkles Remix)’ – centre labels are incorrect.

Artwork by Terre Thaemlitz.

Hieroglyphic Being - Dance Music 4 Bad People (LP)
Hieroglyphic Being - Dance Music 4 Bad People (LP)Smalltown Supersound
¥3,633

“I’ve been partying since 1984,” says Jamal Moss, the living Chicago legend known by his dedicated cult following as the one, the only, Hieroglyphic Being. “40 years later, it’s drastically different - everybody’s angry!” So sets the stage for Dance Music 4 Bad People, the artist’s first album for Smalltown Supersound. Tapping back into the same cosmic frequencies responsible for the prolific house virtuoso’s most vital work, the album sees Moss coaxing nine anthems for those up to no good from out of the ether. With driving drum machine workouts and low-slung synth sexuality, Hieroglyphic Being pays homage to human fallibility, drawing focus on the revolutionary potential of house music and club culture that is so often lost to the chaos of the present. “I have yet to walk into a club and see everybody hug and say: Let’s forgive each other, let’s move forward and make the world a better place,” he levels. “With all these conversations about sexuality, ethnicity, politics, whatever, when you walk into an environment with the music, you are supposed to celebrate all of that. Let it be and come together.” As the tongue-in-check title suggests, Moss looks to the eternal quality of his art to throw moral compasses into disarray, speaking truth to the evil energies that have permeated the club industrial complex of today while challenging black and white notions of good and bad that are so easily instrumentalized for the persecution of those at the fringes. For Moss, this is a tension he has observed since he started hearing the sound pioneered by Ron Hardy at the legendary Muzic Box, back when Chicago house music was born. “Back then, especially during the Reagan era and the police brutality of the so-called crime and crack epidemic, the one thing I noticed in my community was that house music actually helped us escape from all that negative stuff and make everybody in the environment support each other more.” Experiencing house as a great leveling force, the origins of the cosmic dance prophet the Hieroglyphic Being would become can be traced back to the club as an essential site of acceptance. “If there was anybody of a certain walk of life, politically, sexually, ethically, financially, we didn’t care,” he asserts. “We were just there to be free of all that shit.” It’s this loose vitality that Moss understands to be in severely short supply in the dance music scene today. “Festivals and clubs profess to propagate safe spaces, but you’ve probably seen it firsthand: you look around and a good percent of people in the club are not happy.” Taking aim at the entire ecosystem, from the malaise and malcontentedness of modern audiences to the false solidarity and commodification of minority positions within the commercial entity of dance music, Moss offers up the raw, unrefined power of the tracks collected on Dance Music For Bad People as an antidote to these evil forces. You can hear this negativity fleeing in fear from the surging drums of ‘U R Not Dying Ur Just Waking Up’ and ‘Dispatches From The B4 Life,’ or teased into submission by the sensual low end gurgle of ‘The Secret teachings Of The Ages’ and the ambling bassline of ‘Reality Is Not What It May Seem.’ On the dense cacophony of ‘The Art Of Living A Meaningless Existence,’ Moss sounds ready for spiritual war, armed with restless sequencing and bursts of high voltage static. But it’s Moss’s ability to capture fleeting moments of transience that provide us insight into the esoteric knowledge hinted at by his track titles. The lysergic tempo change of ‘I Am In A Strange Loop’ stretches out its rippling organ to revel in its celestial detail, while the nervous, metallic twangs of ‘Awakening From the Daydreams’ are gradually tempered by soft, crystalline flourishes. This same shimmer shines through the blown out wall of sound of ‘The Map Of Salt & Stars,’ illuminating the shade with stark clarity. These are glimpses of a master at work, constantly tweaking his sound towards a purer feeling and his thought to a higher understanding. As the American empire crumbles, the Hieroglyphic Being strides forward with a clear vision to broadcast a sage warning. “If you let other people dictate to you how you are supposed to feel about someone else, it goes into a dark space, especially when there’s nothing good you can say about them,” he says. “Get out of your comfort zone and reach out to people so you can learn more about them.” Though this temptation to judge can be irresistible, Moss believes in the primordial power of the Chicago house sound. Rather than condemn some as bad and others as good, Dance Music 4 Bad People helps us all to recognise each other through the smoke and strobe light. The Hieroglyphic Being speaks through the sound with a message of optimism and hope. “Everybody should be loved, adored, respected, no matter the path you take.”

DJ Sotofett - Drippin' For A Tripp (Tripp-A-Dubb-Mix) (2x12")
DJ Sotofett - Drippin' For A Tripp (Tripp-A-Dubb-Mix) (2x12")Honest Jon's Records
¥3,623
Respekt! Sex Tags Mania, Karolin, Laton, Tage Tombola, Don Papa - The Genuin Of Moss Hip-Hop, Engvaal & The Rygge Family, Lene B., Kambo Super Sound & Family, The Endless Dynamic of Dynamo Dreesen, Brian Not Brian - Going Good And Axin' It Fo' Real - Salik Zia, SVN, Nupi & General Elektro, Bjørn Torske, L.A. Morillo, Fit Detroid, Skatebård, A-Bucci, Camila 575, Dåple-Pera, Benji, Atle, Vilunki 666, Queens Only - Madteo - Keeping It A Level Higher Than The Rest, Geir & Søssa, Rat Salad, Mor & Jerry, Eupraxia, Ringvold Gasta, Unit 6Q, DJ Gilb'R & Versatile Crew With I:Cube, Sähkö & The Keys Of House Life, Winklez, Peng! Ossia, Nell & The Dennis Bros., Roland Lifjell, Paleo & The Bhakti Crew, "70 CPS" Bailey, Bodhi Beats, Pyramide Phillips, Samir M'Kadmi, Thug Records, Audio-In Crew, King 909, Graff Et Grill, Paint House, 411, Nbm, Done, Pol, Sol, Yre, Culos, Kvam, Sau 2, Coats, Buba, 1999, Tmb, Crew - Skredderåsen, Moss! It's Not What You Play - But How You Play. Recorded and digitally edited at the 6th-EonMANIA-fract2 STD between 2012-2014. Original session for Side B recorded at Pyramide Studio, Frankfurt 2010. Vocals on Side C recorded at Inna Di Bu Studio, Moss 2013. Graffiti Can't Be Stopped
Mark Ernestus’ Ndagga Rhythm Force - Walo Walo (12")
Mark Ernestus’ Ndagga Rhythm Force - Walo Walo (12")Ndagga
¥2,841

Mark Ernestus’ Ndagga Rhythm Force lick another deadly shot of tumbling, tucked-up senegalese mbalax, making their 1st outing of ’16 and a 3rd 12” together in this line-up since 2015.

We’re all over the sloshing Walo Walo Version something rotten. It’s an utter joy to reprogramme yourself to its tangled syncopation, picking out and anticipating particular patterns with uncertain limbs, revelling in its wickedly stumbling, uniquely resolved meter. If, like us you’re nuts for drums, that lone, hingeing clap will leave you equally rapt, and then there’s a locked groove…

Flip side is also amazing: Ndiguel Groove resets the rhythm to a loping, shoe-laces-tied sort of house bustle sprinkled with lissom guitar and suspended in Mark’s mixing trickery, before turning up a denser original mix of Walo Walo Rhythm riding that Prophet 5 bassline and talking drums ‘aaaard.

Recently viewed