Techno / House

2nd wave dub techno staple Stephen Hitchell meets new wave producer Federson in a back ’n forth of timeless originals and versions. San Francisco’s Chris Kelly, aka Federsen’s Alt Dub label hosts this passing of the baton/torch with CV313 and Echospace figure Hitchell a sits 2nd release after the ‘Positive Charge’ EP christened the vessel in earlier ’24. Federsen fronts the session with a smoky, night-driving dub of CV313’s ‘Skycrossing’ in properly classic Maurizio style, especially that scooping bassline, whilst shutting it down with the more air-stepping levity of his dusted congas and distant dub chords to ‘Skyway’. CV313’s original ‘Skycrossing’ places his mastery of constantly shifting, ever the same, dynamic within its unfurling envelopes, alongside a remix of ‘Skyway’ that plunges upward, outward into billowing electro-acoustic dub techno dimensions.

Long before becoming the global techno mastermind that he is today, alongside his F.U.S.E. alias for Warp's recently reissued Artificial Intelligence series, Richie Hawtin was also best known for his Plastikman project, amassing a huge, era-defining body of work. Now an undisputed classic Sheet One was the first Plastikman album to surface, originally released in 1993 and now resurfacing as ever on Mute's own electronic and dancefloor focused subsidiary, NovaMute for a much needed 30th anniversary remastered reissue. The album makes fine use of prominent Roland 303, a staple on the acid house scene, and utilised in exemplary fashion alongside laser-cut minimalist structures and driving echo-box acid lines. Long before Richie Hawtin became the global techno mastermind that he is today, he was best known for his Plastikman project initially defined by debut album and now undisputed class Sheet One.

'Science, Art And Ritual' is a story of ‘process'. Growing up in Harrow (a then quiet suburb of London) in the 70’s and 80’s from the age of about 10, Kingsuk Biswas aka Bedouin Ascent's ears opened up to sound as he scanned the airwaves. The undeniable righteousness of 80’s dub via David Rodigan’s Roots Rockers shows was the first prominent influence he received, and with punk roots —and his burgeoning record collection— became exposed to the breathless post punk experimentation that followed in the early 80’s sweeping up free jazz, noise, dub and much more. Throughout though, he maintained his fascination with Indian Classical music which was a mainstay in his parent’s house and spoke with the same infinite space as Joy Division's 'Unknown Pleasures', and King Tubby’s Studio dispatches. Through those teens he assembled and de-assembled, knocking about with fellow travellers —punk bands, garage, space rock, noise. Something was happening. On-U Sound, ECM, Factory Records kept him plugged in and sane. At that time Kingsuk's core studio setup revolved around his vintage Gretsch, Fender Jazz, Moog, TR-606 and rudimentary FX. He added congas, folk instruments, pipes, hand percussion, gongs, and jammed out shards of funk, noise, jazz fusion, electro and ambience into his hungry Tascam Portastudio. By 1987 these had morphed into what we’d now refer to broadly as techno, but the genre didn't exist beyond the reverberating walls of his bedsit, and he hadn’t yet plugged into the global conversation. 'Science, Art And Ritual' was released in 1994 by Rising High Records and was presented as Bedouin Ascent's debut album, although 'Music for Particles' (released in 1995, again on Rising High) was recorded even before —'SAR' sessions span from 1992-1993, whereas 'Music for Particles' were earlier from 1989-1992, with some older 4-track references from about 1986 too. Weaved in throughout the album are subconscious references to music that Kingsuk heard in the past that still remained within sight as companions. The opening track "Ancient Ocean III", referencing the extinct ocean Tethis, unapologetically channels Tackhead, Colourbox, Mantronix and Lee Perry. The style was also deliberately juxtaposed to the prevailing sound in techno at the time, which had locked onto a rigid form of symmetrical kicks and light snare drums. Elsewhere 80’s soul and funk are frozen and captured in fragile glass lattices. Electric pianos resound throughout, such as in "He Is She", probably a half-memory of 70’s MOR radio from childhood sleepy night drives. A duel between kick drums from three generations of Roland drum machines —TR-808, TR-707 and R-8— is a central theme in "Transition-R", all in conversation, calling and responding. These were not just machines to Bedouin Ascent, but part of an extended family, with heart and soul. Three decades after seeing the light, Lapsus is proud to present a special 30th anniversary reissue of this left-field techno gem in a repackaged and redesigned edition. All pressed on a deluxe 3LP marbled vinyl and including a limited lithographic insert print of the original album cover. All tracks have been restored and remastered directly from the original DAT tapes, and the album also features previously unreleased tracks such as "In the Clouds" and "Thru Water" —regularly performed live at that time and produced in the same period as the album sessions in 1993. 'Science, Art And Ritual’ may refer to esoteric traditions in Indian philosophy, but equally embodies the collision of the science, the art and the ritual that is at the core of being immersed in a deep musical journey.

Second Circle are excited to welcome another new artist to the label, ISOR29, with a six track mini-album titled ‘Moon Phase Gardening’. ISOR29 is a new project from Colombian musician Tomas Garcia Station and follows on from his highly regarded 2020 debut release under the ‘Irie Nation’ moniker. The title ‘Moon Phase Gardening’ (also referred to as Gardening by the Moon or Planting by the Moon) draws upon the idea that the lunar cycle affects plant growth. Just as the Moon’s gravitational pull creates the tides of the oceans, it also creates more moisture in the soil, which encourages growth. Evolving out of forced time off, individual confrontation and the love for someone close, ‘Moon Phase Gardening’ was recorded in the living room of an old flat in Lisbon during the first lockdown. Using only a microphone, computer, Korg MS20, hang drum and a field recorder, ISOR29 channels Tomas’ musical vocabulary via electronics to reflect an immersive and self-reflective story bound to a uniquely powerful time and space.

and the novelty goes on: mule musiq welcomes another fresh producer to its vast catalogue of music from all around. this time andro gogibedashvili aka saphileaum. he is coming from tbilisi, georgia and already released an impressive body of work, considering he just publishes music since 2016. countless eps and albums, digital, on tape, documenting his feverish creative urge on labels like not not fun records, good morning tapes, diffuse reality, or vodkast. they cover a comprehensive stylistic range from ambient and downtempo to tribal, house, and techno nuances. a deeper shade of soul, precisely fashioned, growing from different playgrounds of inspiration. he was born into a musical family. as a kid he studied georgian folk. in his school rock band, he sang, and the guitar was his love. then electronic music called the tune, and techno hit his heart. in the midst of it all the 26-year-old never lost contact with his spiritual home. “i find deep inspiration in georgian myths and legends, occultism and esoteric teachings, lost civilizations, earth, unity, truth, information, and the secrets of the universe. these things, to name a few, inspire me daily and help me create the music I make.” saphileaum reveals. “exploring together”, his debut album for mule, navigates all these elements through a merry-go-round of gentle driven rhythm zones. fourth-world spheres, balearic tropes, field recording zones, tropical downbeat, tribal percussions, trancing sounds, balafon hums, mallet airs, hooky house – it’s all there, circling the eavesdropper into a dreamland of melodic undercurrents. “my loops come from tribal and cosmic inspirations. tribal, as below, and cosmic as above. the combination of these two, is very interesting to me”, he clarifies, while joking “but, to put it super simply, loops are super handy for djing”. which brings us to the final promotion of “exploring together” - it’s playability. its vast. multifunctional. spiritual. made for gatherings, were all dance time away. lost in music actions, only touched by the hand of rhythm and sound. his ten tracks are created for such flashes, wide spreading a musical narration of illuminating durability. “cosmic, relaxing, fun, tribal, and mystic.”, as saphileaum declares.

In the body of work of Cologne artist Wolfgang Voigt – who, like few others, has informed, shaped and influenced the world of electronic music with countless different projects since the early 1990s -, GAS stands out in particular as a saturnine sound cosmos based on heavily condensed classic sequences. Even after nearly 20 years, the sound of GAS doesn’t seem to have lost any of its luster, as shown by the commanding success of Kompakt’s fall 2016 re-release of the essential back catalogue as a 10xLP/4xCD box set.

The overwhelming feedback from a loyal international fan community and worldwide media outlets attests once again to the sheer timelessness of GAS. Which is why it will feel like hardly a day has passed since the release of the last official album “Pop” nearly two decades ago, when Wolfgang Voigt resumes this specific creative path with the upcoming new full-length NARKOPOP.

Even in the here and now, the unmistakable vibe of GAS immediately hits home, taking the listener on an otherworldly journey with the very first sounds, drawing him or her into an impervious sonic thicket, down to the depths of rapture and reverie. From wafts of dense symphonic mist emerges a floating and whirling feeling of weightlessness, before the listener steps into an eerily beautiful forest of fantasy, pulled in by the allure of a narcotic bass drum.

While earlier GAS tracks were often based on the hypnotic effects of looping techniques, the 10 new pieces on NARKOPOP unfold their magic in a more entwined manner, sometimes with the sonic might of an entire philharmonic orchestra, sometimes as subtle and fragile as the most delicate branch of a tree with many. A main characteristic of Voigt’s oeuvre, the coalescence of seemingly contradictory stylistic aspects such as harmonious and atonal, concrete and abstract, light and heavy, near and far is also a decisive feature of NARKOPOP.

In accordance with the transgressive spirit of his collective work, Voigt carries the aesthetic conceptions of his music over to the realm of the visual. Based on his abstract forest pictures, the GAS artwork addresses Voigt’s artistic affinity to romanticism and the forest as a place of yearning. For the first time, a closer look at the cover of NARKOPOP reveals signs of architectural fragments which hint at another, maybe parallel world behind Voigt’s forest. Truth is the prettiest illusion. 

A milestone in the history of ambient music! GAS, a very popular ambient project by Wolfgang Voigt of the famous KOMPAKT, released their masterpiece album "POP" on Mille Plateaux in 2000. From the depths of the ocean to the heavens... GAS's mystical ambient sounds move powerfully in a microcosmic soundscape with deep reverberations, a milestone album that fully demonstrates a solitary view of nature.

the debut release of shanghai based producer “knopha” on mule musiq. we loved his release “nothing nil” on eating music. our friend yusu introduced him to us and he sent us very beautiful musics. it’s an oriental beautiful new age music. kuniyuki made a magical remix. hope you like it

'Shardcore' is the debut full length from Myriad Myriads, aka Bass Clef, a return to the dancefloor refracted into ten thousand kind shards, revolving. "Those waves! Soon I'm going to try once more to draw something wavelike. But how can you simplify something as complicated as a wave in the open sea to something comprehensible?" Escher Recorded in The Hague. Elektron M:C and M:S / FMR audio RNLA and RNC.

The 006 on the imprint is "Versions Vol. 2" a new mixtape written and produced by NPLGNN Messing around with a big bunch of samples NPLGNN chops, resynthesizes and assembles them in a no-nonsense sonic collage flux 100% Sound-System fuckery Around 42 mins through MCs toasting, pitched amens, dub glitches, screwed recordings and moody red-eyed interludes

Originally released in 2018 in a very limited series of 50 cassettes the 003 of the Japanese legend Yousuke Yukimatsu is now repressed and restyled for a 2024 150 units edition. Six years later Yousuke has skyroked and now known all around the world for his amazing DJ skillz and unique music taste. We told you so back then and we are so happy to see that happen. --- 2018 press release: Founder of Zone Uknown, Dommune selector and recent affiliate of Asian Dope Boys, Yousuke Yukimatsu (Osaka, 1979) is a key figure in the Japanese electronic culture. If you see him playing is impossible to don't get caught by his unique and somehow visceral style of DJing. For MBE series he recorded 90 minutes of music made strictly by Japanese artists offering us an extraordinary wide-eyed perspective on the far east electronic culture. Imagine to be in Osaka or in Tokyo in an overcrowded obscure underground small cave listening to some sweating freaks playing distorted noise, or sitting on a bamboo mat in a machiya while Shigeo Tanaka is playing the yumi, or being in the Hozen Ji temple reaching the ascension with the chants of the priests, or getting lost into a cyberpunk scenario with DJs spinning dark techno into a foggy warehouse with just a low strobe light on.. well you can just get a glimpse of what this tape is.

Juan Atkins and Moritz von Oswald – the two indispensable protagonists of the Electric Garden – plug back into the wilderness. ‘Transport’ – the full length effort brings together a set of studio-refined sequences aimed at colonizing some of the dark energy that pulsates through those areas that are thoroughly electrified, even if not ‘on the grid’. The Detroit-Berlin axis triangulated to a third point which, like the atomic particle that lives in two places at once, flickers between a form of techno-charged ambience and a futuristic club-jazz which cannot be broken down into constitutive parts. Borderland remains caught in a state of enraptured stillness, invisibly moving between every imagined future for electronic sound making. The result: a font from which springs serene and exhilarating musical ideas that vibrate with refined energy for sixty seconds in every minute.

(Limited quantity/Includes Japanese obi/Includes Japanese commentary)Richard D. James, a.k.a. the Aphex Twin, released "Selected Ambient Works Volume II" in 1994 at the age of 22, a major ambient album that has gone down in music history. This monumental work, which was also the first album for the Aphex Twin after they moved to WARP, is now being released in a new expanded edition with additional material to mark the 30th anniversary of its release.

This album, which includes the two latest tracks under the name Basic Rhythm, which has maintained a strong dedication to UK Bass, is a masterpiece in which the aesthetics of an underground pirate radio DJ OG are incorporated into an atmospheric and ravy Jungle/DnB sound. In recent years, he has continued to develop a fairly consistent musical style based on influences from Jungle, DnB, Grime, Rave, etc., as well as industrial sound design, and those who like him will be hooked.

Om Unit releases his first solo EP of 2024, once again self-released as part of his ongoing series of 'off-label' output which began with titles such as 'Submerged' and 'Atlantis'. An 8 track mixed-bag of breaks-laden treats in various forms, 'Fragments' consists of material taken from various studio jams from recent months with varied BPM"s and feels throughout. This release is a selection of material that once again demonstrates the art of deft cross-pollination with elements of dub, breaks, techno, jungle and even bmore infused into the project, complete with a remix of 'Citrus' courtesy of Klasse Wrecks very own Mr Ho.

Hold tight for a double-sized drop of ruff n’ tuff jungle variations as Dead Man’s Chest and King Kutlass throw their weight around with six seismic slammers built for the shockout section. We previously welcomed Bristol’s Western Lore doyen Alex Eveson to Sneaker Social Club alongside Posse back in 2019, and now he returns with King Kutlass in tow for a 2 x 12” of heavy duty, darkside rollers. The Western Lore remit has always been to push at the limits of the jungle template, embracing distinctive twists without losing the fundamentals of the sound, and that comes through loud and clear on this searing workout. From the compression chamber, stepped breaks of ‘Ride The Storm’ to lurid rave game-ender ‘We Control’, this is not club music for the feint hearted. There’s even space for nightmarish 4/4 thrust n’ stabs on ‘Heart Of The Sun’, pointing to the liminal zone where breakbeat hardcore, techno and rave all crossed paths en route to more fully formed stylistic conventions. That’s the vibe which runs throughout this EP, where the rules feel a long way off and the madcap sample layering is heavily tipped towards psychological annihilation under the stuttering glare of the strobe light.

Few names shine as brightly in the cosmology of dubwise bass music as that of V.I.V.E.K. From releasing absolutely ground-breaking tracks for the better part of 20 years primarily on his own System and VIVEK imprints, to curating and hosting his legendary System nights, to bringing so much rising talent to light, it’s honestly difficult to imagine the last two decades of UK and global sound system music without him. For ZamZam 96 V.I.V.E.K went straight to the bedrock of sound system music and delivered a power-stepper of galactic proportions. “Illusions Dub” opens with starkly heavy valve bass and a punishing kick, leaving little doubt where this journey is headed . Richly adorned with neck-snapping percussion, industrial snares, post-punk atmospherics and a gorgeous melodic figure, the tune employs classic 90s digi-dub principles while feeling like a message from a gloriously human -or post-human- future. “Illusions (Raw Dub)” runs rugged through the desk in fine style, with barely restrained feedback, phasers, and deep space echo and reverb ripping open shimmering holes in space-time for a truly cosmic Part 2.

They say you should never meet your heroes, but for Mike, meeting the legendary Adrian Sherwood has been a transformative experience, leading to creative collaborations that have benefited both of them. Nearly 30 years after first being mesmerized by OnU Sound’s releases, a cheeky bit of radio ripping serendipitously led to Mike helping Pats Dokter, the label’s official archivist, with his work restoring master tapes, and eventually to him creating visual content for Adrian’s live shows. A while after this collaboration began, Adrian offered to remix some of Mike’s music, either Misled Convoy or Pitch Black, and it’s four cuts by the latter that grace this heavyweight platter. From the dreamy dub of Transient Transmission to the rolling rhythms of A Doubtful Sound, our originals have been re-arranged and dubbed to $%># in Adrian’s signature style, with fluid melodies, pounding basslines and vocal samples awash in a wall of effects. Trumpets by David “Ital Horns” Fullwood bookend the release, haunting in the first track and celebratory in the last, while Doug Wimbish (Living Colour/Tackhead) added an extra bassline to the heaving version of 1000 Mile Drift, which now features the voice of the iconic Lee “Scratch” Perry. Reflecting on the collaboration, Mike says, “the whole experience has been slightly unreal, from working on Adrian’s videos to being in the OnU studio and watching him dub-mixing the tracks I’ve made, something I could never have imagined happening!” Mike isn’t the only OnU fan in Pitch Black, as a pivotal moment for Paddy was “watching Adrian mixing Tack>head at the Powerstation in 1995 and seeing the cause-and-effect of what he was doing and hearing the unbelievable sounds coming out of the speakers. It was the first time I’d ever seen somebody dub mix like that.” The cover of Echoes of the Night is based upon an original artwork by our long-time collaborator (and fellow OnU aficianado) Hamish Macaulay, while the vinyl has been pressed using a 100% recycled compound known as eco-mix, making each record totally unique as the colours change across the pressing run (most appear to be green-ish).

 

 

On "SHAME", producer 2K88 (Przemysław Jankowiak, fka 1988) invokes the era and spirit of PL SOUND, a local genre inspired by British soundsystem music but infused with the social, urban, and sonic themes that developed during Poland’s post-communist transformation. "SHAME" is a progressive, bass-fueled transmission built from scraps of hip-hop’s past; it’s a cinematic vision of Y2K Polish rap that’s in constant flux, where every detail is just as important as the whole structure. Sampling the Polish canon of beats from the low-rent districts of the nineties, 2K88 plunders tracks already based on samples and channels the experiences of the generations that grew up with those sounds, struggling and celebrating with them. And just as he did with his previous projects Etamski and 1988, 2K88 draws out, processes, and ages his elements in an echo chamber, asking questions and formulating answers. Jankowiak works on the fringes of genre: traces of ambient, dub, rap and jungle flicker into low-lit urban rhythms, chunky nightclub basslines and paranoid production touches. This is in keeping with his new, futuristic handle, 2K88. Not for a second does he succumb to today’s omnipresent nostalgia, instead putting reconstruction before deconstruction — he finds whole worlds in his scraps, and in the long-gone turn-of-the-millennium period, whose liminal qualities feel like a precursor to the unease of the present moment. The end-of-the-20th-century paranoia has only intensified in the past 30 years, and paranoia, as Philo Gant once said in the 1995 sci-fi film "Strange Days", is “just reality on a finer scale”. By that logic, 2K88 offers a picture of the grittiest reality blown up to truly awe-inspiring proportions. ______________________________________________________________ 2K88— fka 1988, aka Przemysław Jankowiak — is a music producer, graphic designer, and audio director raised in the Poland of the 1990s and on the pioneering rap records of that time. The rawness, chunkiness, and paranoia he took from this period have always been an integral part of his music. They were there when he made his first homemade beats and stayed with him when, in the following years, he distanced himself from hip-hop, going deeper into the world of sampling experiments and the post-genre avant-garde. Later, he and Robert Piernikowski created the universe of the duo Syny - an irreal spectral/ontological phenomenon built out of memories, dreams, and bass, rap, dub, and smoke. Since the end of Syny, Jankowiak has let loose his beatmaker impulses on a collaborative record with Warsaw’s legendary MC Włodi, created the album Ruleta [Roulette] with over 30 featured guests, and struck up a dialogue with the electronic soundsystem work that’s fascinated him for years on the Ring the Alarm EP. He’s also created chart-topping avant-pop with Brodka and a mimetic soundtrack to “Splinter”, but it is SHAME that is the album we might call his sonic résumé.

The KLF's 1990's great album that created ”Chill Out” zone and grew up ambient techno.

Tokyo deep house master Soshi Takeda returns with a long-awaited six-song sequel to 2021’s landmark Floating Mountains, surfing deeper into mystery, motion, and liquid dreams: Secret Communication. Recorded across 2022 and 2023 at his home studio with a unique assemblage of 80’s and 90’s hardware, the tracks cruise through a latticework of skyways on lush pads, bubbling bass, and blissed BPMs, dusted in sunrise acid and cosmic piano. His is a dance music of idyllic emotions and inner worlds, yearning for new horizons. Dramatic events overlapped with the album’s creation: “Wars broke out. On the other hand, my child was born. There were sad and beautiful moments in my life.” Secret Communication contains vistas, valleys, glimpses of lives unled, swirling above the grey noise of the city. From the jazzy daydream of “Can Imagination Transcend Distance?” to the sleek starlight house of “Rainstorm” to the farewell ecstasy of the title track, Takeda’s music touches and transports, a portal to places beyond. Fantasy and feeling, intention and inspiration, all become one: “When I listen to beautiful deep house, I feel a mysterious atmosphere. Dreamy scenes come to mind. I aim to create that sound."

Farmer and deep house producer Hiroyuki Tanaka aka Charles A.D. has been quietly cultivating his crop of live hardware dub techno and devotional acid since debuting with the 熱い海 (‘Hot Sea’) EP on Austria’s Dream Raw Recordings in 2017, followed by two long-form classics for Tokyo’s Umé label in 2019 (Inception) and 2021 (Dry Flower). His latest, West Pontoon Bridge, further refines Tanaka's composite of rhythm, repetition, and vanishing point electronics, shaded in what he calls “characteristic sadness.” Schemed and tracked across a half decade of studio explorations, the album moves through gradient landscapes of twilit trees, mossy waterfalls, and hidden temples shrouded in ocean mist. Named for a nearby Japanese landmark of boards laid across boats at the river mouth in place of a permanent bridge, the collection unfolds in a similarly improvised and panoramic sweep. Lean percussive systems crosshatched with bass, haze, liquid loops, and spatial FX, the album subtly accelerates as it advances, spiraling softly towards a strobing dance floor in a sacred grove.

In 1992, Autechre first gained attention for his participation in Warp's "Artific ial Intelligence" compilation, which presented a new way of thinking about techno music, and made a strong impression on the scene with his first album "Incunabula" in 1993, followed by "Amber" in 1994. In the 2010s, when IDM/electronica underwent a further metamorphosis, Autechre has remained an isolated artist and a representative of IDM/electronica ever since, releasing Oversteps (2010), the 2-CD set Exai (2013), the 5 CD set "elseq 1-5" (2016) released on their own website, and the 8 CD 12 LP blockbuster "NTS Sessions." (2018).

In contrast to "NTS Sessions.", which lasted over 16 hours and was considered a "single work", this album is the essence of the current Autechre in 11 tracks, and is called "SIGN The album is called "SIGN".

In an age when pop music has become more accessible and has retreated into the background music of daily life, Autechre continues to encourage the listener to have an active listening experience. Outeka has never stopped the evolution of sound, and they have never changed in their thorough defiance of the consumption of music. SIGN" is the latest result of this work, and a credit to man's continued active engagement with music.

Warodjah is the musical collaboration between Andrea Rausa (A.K.A. Afreak) and Massimiliano Troiani. The two Italian DJs and producers crossed paths in Rome, where they started sharing the mixing console and co-hosting parties in the Italian capital. They soon found a deep connection through their mutual passion for African music and electronic dance music. On the A side, the title track, presented in both full-length and radio edit versions, pays homage to the rich heritage of African music and the storytelling tradition of African griots. Special guest Zouratié Koné, hailing from a Griot family in Burkina Faso, takes us on a sonic journey. With his masterful handling of a self-crafted Kora, he weaves dreamy melodies that dance freely above a progressing tapestry of drum patterns and ethereal piano chords. On the flipside, a sumptuous house remix by DJ Fett Burger. Renowned for his diverse and eclectic productions with a lot of personality, delivers here 14 minutes of pure joy and bliss. Playing around with the original theme, and adds full of surpassing and groovy elements that draws you to the dancefloor and keeps you there! A fusion of hypnotic euphoric rhythm play, delightful melodies and a touch of house music as a feeling. A remix dedicated to the true era of the art of remixing! Original, creative and groovy!