bestsellers
LUSSURIA
American Babylon (Gatefold Vinyl Edition)
HOSPITAL PRODUCTIONS
2LP // £16.99
Cat. Number: HOS-383-LP
*One of the most crucial despatches from the mighty Hospital Productions yet - deluxe gatefold 2LP, initial copies pressed on clear wax with a master and cut by Matt Colton at Alchemy* Hospital Productions present a very necessary vinyl edition for one of the most affective industrial/ambient collections in their catalogue, and one of the label's most sought-after. Over the course of three cassettes (limited to just 99 copies) issued in 2012, Lussuria ("Lust" in Italian) drip fed these eight tracks of opiated, phantasmic SM atmospheres into the musical bloodstream, du… Read more
UPWARD ARROWS (^^^^)
Cotton Goods
CD // £16.99
HOME LISTENING / MODERN CLASSICAL / AMBIENT
Cat. Number: FOLIOFILE001LP
**Hand-numbered edition of 100 copies heralding a new series of releases for Cottong goods. CD packaged in a bespoke oversized fold-over jacket with art insert inside a string-fastened outer** Cotton Goods' new Folio series just rolled in from the hills. Featuring new work from John McCaffrey, aka Part Timer, aka Upward Arrows, it's a perfectly understated yet gorgeous marriage of music and presentation. 'The Sad Truth' revolves four pieces sounding like broken machinery and attempted EVP recordings rubbed to tape and left to dry rot in a Lancashire cottage. 'The Sad Truth About Good Intent… Read more
Visionary DJ/selector and sonic theorist Steve Goodman aka Kode 9 mans what is inarguably Rinse's most crucial mix CD to date. With mercurial sleight of hand he blends 37 tracks spanning the rhizome of techy, contemporary, bass-rooted funk and leaves most other selectors for dust. Bridging tempos, styles and patterns from myriad sub-strains of house, garage, hip hop, grime and footwork, he sums his intentions thusly; "This style has emerged out of me trying to fit all the stuff I want to play in a set… Generally these sets start relatively simple rhythmically and then get more f*cked-up as the mi… Read more
Koreless returns with his first proper offering of 2013, an EP on Young Turks. Less club-focussed than last year's 12" on Jacques Greene's Vase, the Glaswegian seems determined here to prove there's more to him than nicing up the dance. There are certainly some good moments: opener 'Ivana' affects a nice Vangelis synth-glide but is compromised a little by its glottal, percussive vocal edits, which persist on into 'Sun', another trancey, string-led number which, despite a dressing of sub-footwork drum patter, is effectively beatless. On the EP goes, laying the stargazing synths on thick, never quit… Read more
Pearson Sound shares four lean, moody and experimental riddims on his eponymous imprint. Up front he unleashes the strafing, darkside synthlines and fractured steppers flux of 'REM' and a daedly body swerve entitled 'Gridlock' laced with proper subbass pressure and almost Anthony Shakir-style percussive edits. Down town, 'Figment' figures Mr. Kennedy at his most reflective, jettisoning the beats in place of Popol Vuh-style chorales and piquant synth sparkle, and almost acting as an intro for the rugged, filtered 'ardcore tessellations of 'Crimson (Beat Ritual). Really strong twelve...
This week's selection sways from wistful drone pop to gauzy ambient and modern compositions; collecting 14 songs with an elemental, folksy awareness which share a rarified, surreal atmosphere. We've picked those with a timeless sense of romance and an elegant, breezy feel for space, spanning the work of preternaturally gifted vocalists such as Liz Harris aka Grouper, Turkey's Ekin Fil and L.A. nightingale Julia Holter, and boundary-pushing experimenters AGF or Chaines, plus gorgeous, chamber-like pieces from Loren Connors, Lee Noble, and Dirty Beaches alongside the wides… Read more
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**A killer set from Morphosis, a must for fans of Sun Ra, Dariush Dolat-Shahi, Alice Coltrane** Exploratory Lebanese imprint Annihaya presents a stunning debut album opus by Rabih Beaini (aka Morphosis) under his birth name. As Rabih was born in Lebanon (but now based in Berlin and with strong ties to Venice, Italy) it is fitting he shares 'Albidaya' - meaning "The Beginning" in Arabic - with a label from his home country, who provide acute context for its mixture of electronics, psych rock, folk and jazz with their previous releases from Raed Yassin and noted Arab-o-philes, Sun City … Read more
Various Production twyst-up with future junglist torque on this one-off bomb. Flighty quick-step rhythms are subject to a tonne of high pressure atmospheric disturbance, churning up far-away chants, disembodied duppies and splintered breakbeats in its cyclonic force. We never know where Various are going next, but we always wanna go there. Tipped!
CARTER TUTTI
Conspiracy International
MP3 Download // £1.70
FLAC Download // £2.10
Cat. Number: CTIDD045
Chris Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti have spent the last couple of years absorbed in collaboration (chiefly with Nik Void in Carter Tutti Void) and laying the body/ghost of Throbbing Gristle to rest, so it’s really good to have them back functioning as a self-contained duo, the well-practiced configuration that’s yielded so much distinctive and prophetic material in the past. ‘Coolicon-A’ is brilliant, a dense, Fourth World technoscape that reminds us of late Clock DVA and early 90s, heatsick cyberfunk offerings from Richard H Kirk, Dean Dennis, et al, but rendered in a more sophisticated, in… Read more
**Upfront Exclusive** Deft dancefloor excursions from Laurel Halo, instrumental all the way and taking inspiration from UK club gear, continental techno and digital dancehall. ‘Throw’ sounds like a Bok Bok production routed through Jammy’s studio circa ‘85, irie piano chords peeling off a grimy snare attack, all extraneous crenellations sanded off for maximum club impact. ‘Uhffo’ is on a kind of introspective, quasi-tropical house tip, daubed with glassbowl percussion and deep blue comedown synths; this wouldn’t have sounded out of a place on an Irdial B-side back in the day… Read more
**Mighty side of electro-acoustic guitar doom featuring Peter Rehberg and housed in jacket designed by Stephen O'Malley** Blackest Ever Black's deep furrow of new releases in 2013 hits a huge rock in the soil courtesy of Viennese trio Shampoo Boy's fearsome 'Licht'. Combining the uncompromising talents of Peterlicker's Christian Schachinger and Peter Rehberg (Pita, boss of Editions Mego) with Christina Nemec (Chra/SV Damenkraft), 'Licht' manifests an excoriating blend of nerve-shredding noise and choking doom atmosphere evoking the intensity of Rehberg's aktions in KTL with Stephen O'Malley, or the… Read more
Amazing return from Alex Zhang Hungtai's Dirty Beaches; a sprawling double header opus of labyrinthine darkwave pop, knackered electronics and chamber experiments. We're usually impressed by his work but this one is really something else, feeding forward the traces of dilapidated rockabilly, blues and garage that informed his brilliant 'Badlands' into a deeply captivating new sound more akin to Suicide, Andy Stott or Loren Connors. Crafted over the course of winter 2012 while living between Montreal and Berlin, it's leaden with heartbreaking gravity and existential self-r… Read more
Ships in 12 days
*With Download Code Redeemable from the Label* A1. Gemini A2. Reach For The Dead A3. White Cyclosa A4. Jacquard Causeway B1. Telepath B2. Cold Earth B3. Transmisiones Ferox B4. Sick Times B5. Collapse C1. Palace Posy C2. Split Your Infinities C3. Uritual C4. Nothing Is Real C5. Sundown D1. New Seeds D2. Come To Dust D3. Semena Mertvykh
Review to follow shortly…
Mike Paradinas, boss of the sprawling Planet Mu imprint, does what he does best with his first new µ-Ziq material in over half a decade. 'XTEP' is flush with the sort of nostalgic melody, rave romance and charm that endeared him to so many in the first place. It's an unashamed return to his roots, from the bubbling pastoral melody and proggy chimes of 'XT' to the happy-as-larry piano house of 'Ritm' and 'Pulsar''s nEuro-electro futurism, while the footwork-style drum flux and swooning, emotional melody of 'Monj2' and the bluer swing of 'New Bimple' concede to current trends but not at the expense of his integrity.
Basement ready house gear from George Fitzgerald for his spiritual home, Hotflush. Both sides are built to move; 'Thinking Of You' following a trancey/dubstep-y course of builds and drops with a chunky tech-house palette; 'Nighttide Lover' working with whirring, bubbling, swinging drums for the shape cutters.
Review to follow shortly…
Geir Jenssen (aka Biosphere) presents two ultra vivid and dynamic field recordings of the "Lighthouse of the Mediterranean" - an active volcano on the northern coast of Sicily. Made on July 19th 2012 at 9:30pm by the edge of Stromboli's crater, 924m above sea level, both pieces ironically sound as though they were captured underwater, but in fact document the active volcano spitting molten rocks and ash into a night sky against a gentle breeze. This surreal feeling of elemental, geological motion and morphosis is emphasised further in a swirling B-side Dub where the famed sound desig… Read more
WILLIAM BASINSKI
Temporary Residence Ltd.
CD // £11.99
HOME LISTENING / MODERN CLASSICAL / AMBIENT
Cat. Number: 2062.1201
'Nocturnes' is William Basinski's first new solo recording release in four years. It comprises two typically sanguine, extended compositions; 'Nocturnes' written between 1979-80 during his post-grad period in San Francisco, and 'The Trail Of Tears' recorded in 2009 for the Robert Wilson opera, 'The Life and Death of Marina Abramovich'. If there's any one way to measure the efficacy of his music, it's by how drowsy one feels after consumption. We could either do with a snooze or a strong coffee after initial listens, and we mean that with the utmost respect. The first piece revolves recording… Read more
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*30 minute EP follow-up to Miles' recent 'Faint Hearted' album for Modern Love, mastered and cut by Matt Colton, initial copies on transparent wax* An addendum of sorts to his recent 'Faint Hearted' album, Miles' returns with a half-hour EP more squarely aimed at the floor with four darkened, robust variants. 'Blatant Statement' is up first, slowly emerging from a rough alignment of metallic percussion and abrasive stabs not a million miles removed from the kind of racket you'd most likely associate with Vatican Shadow, before the almost-clipped rub of those super-warm bass stabs shifts the perspect… Read more
Conrad Schnitzler's one and only album with his sohn, Gregor, is a truly remarkable blip on the history of electronic music. Created and originally released as a private pressing in 1981, it touches down from the austere space music of Conrad's '70s period, making concession to both the NDW and Industrial waves crashing in from his own country and the rest of the world. This is almost certainly due to the influence of his son, Gregor, who is credited with creating at least half the album and all of the bonus tracks (which aren't on the cheeky Creel Pone bootleg I own!), but you get the … Read more
**Includes download code redeemable from the label** 'La Chimie' sees the return of the mighty él-g, collecting nine avant oddities from rare releases and a radio show . Equal parts rhythmic electronics, vocal lunacy, field recordings, pop and (inner)space music, the logic behind these pieces remains brilliantly elusive and yet instinctually in-touch. Proceeding last year's wonderfully beguiling 'Mil Pluton' LP for Lorenzo Senni's Hundebiss Records, 'La Chimie' collates four tracks from Èl-G's cassette for Newcastle's NO=FI Recordings including the warped, para-dimensional collage 'Good Service', alon… Read more
Following last year's one-off hook-up with Blackest Ever Black, which showcased storming versions from Regis and Monoton, Desire Records go it alone on their second volume of Ike Yard remixes. Tropic of Cancer get top billing with their take on the NY post-punk minimalists' 'Half A God': they offer up a cold-to-the-touch, marbled slab of sepulchral, introspective dub, Camella Lobo's phantasmal vocal presence and reverbed guitar beckoning you into a colour-bled zwischenwelt; deadly sparse and unforgiving, at times it sounds like it could be a lost instrumental sketch from Hannett… Read more
Deft dancefloor excursions from Laurel Halo, instrumental all the way and taking inspiration from UK club gear, continental techno and digital dancehall. ‘Throw’ sounds like a Bok Bok production routed through Jammy’s studio circa ‘85, irie piano chords peeling off a grimy snare attack, all extraneous crenellations sanded off for maximum club impact. ‘Uhffo’ is on a kind of introspective, quasi-tropical house tip, daubed with glassbowl percussion and deep blue comedown synths; this wouldn’t have sounded out of a place on an Irdial B-side back in the day, and we mean that as a com… Read more
Hard-nosed yet playful experiments with dancefloor rhythm from Japan's Aoki Takamasa, recommended if you like Mark Fell, NHK, etc. Despite its forbidding exterior and opaque, joyless track titles ('Rhythm Variarion 01', 'Rhythm Variation 02', etc), Takamasa's computer constructions are very lush indeed, with luminous, melodically advanced synth patterns and skippy, club-ready rhythms that variously invoke Skam's North-West b-boy roll, Sensate Focus's juddering Chi-house-derivations and, on the awesome 'Rhythm Variation 04', a space somewhere between hip-hop, techno and 2step garage. 'Rhythm Var… Read more
VARIOUS / 14 TRACKS
14 tracks: techno techno techno
Boomkat / 14 Tracks
MP3 Download // £6.86
Cat. Number: bundle_249
We're well up for a techno session this week. Girder-strength pounders to serpentine rollers; 14 pieces that run the gamut of dancefloor techno currents from Marcel Dettmann, Moerbeck, Paula Temple, J. Tijn, Sleeparchive, Mike Parker, Orphx and more. There are new school entries from Untold's new Pennyroyal pickup J. Tijn with the searing 'Jack 2' and a bellicose missile from Parisian producer Marcelus, plus a noisy beast from Scots duo, Clouds, while Berliners, Moerbeck and Xhin impress with more sinuous, lip-bitingly dark and sexy sound design. Experience counts… Read more
THEO PARRISH
Space Station / Going Through Changes
Sound Signature
MP3 Download // £1.70FLAC Download // £2.10
Cat. Number: SS035
*An Omar S co-production* Proper head jamming gear from Theo Parrish unleashing one of the most exciting Soul Signature tracks in years on the amazing 'Space Station' backed with a typical Theo soul cut on 'Going Through Changes'. So a little close attention reveals that the mind melting A-side is actually produced in conjunction with Omar-S, who is credited with "Sound Selection Arrangement & Engineering", with the "Written & Produced by" credits going to Theo. It's basically a proper club stunner, riding in with a scene setting intro before deploying a restlessl… Read more
DELTA FUNKTIONEN
Sun Storm / Onkalo (Karenn Remix)
Delsin Records
MP3 Download // £1.95FLAC Download // £2.50
Cat. Number: 99DSR
Delta Funktionen returns to Delsin for the first time since last year’s Traces LP, supported with a remix from the increasingly ubiquitous Karenn. A side ‘Sun Storm’ is solid DJ gear attempting to reconcile the intimate, sweaty basement jack of Larry H’s ‘Washing Machine’ with big-room techno dynamics, while the other Delta original, ‘Challenger’, is moody, night-drive-thru-atlantis electro that nods to Drexciya’s Grava 4. Blawan and Pariah do their Karenn thing on ‘Onkalo’, a properly rough-and-tumble, heavy-industry techno banger that can’t really be argued with - it’s at once their grottiest, most degraded production to date, and the hardest-hitting.
MALA
Changes (James Blake Harmonimix)
Deep Medi Musik
MP3 Download // £0.99FLAC Download // £1.10
Cat. Number: MEDI069
James Blake’s uncommissioned Harmonimix of ‘Changes’ finally gets an official release courtesy of Mala’s own Deep Medi, three years after it first started getting heard and turning heads at dances. It remains one of Blake’s most effective and affecting productions, sticking close to the trudging halfstep lean of the source material but placing most emphasis on the bombastic brass, strings and vocal samples that figure only as scene-setters in the original. What starts out as minimal, discombobulated dancehall, nudged along by eski drum clicks, swells to a rousing, quasi-sympho… Read more
GOLDFFINCH
MINDSET014 (w/ Digital Bonus Track)
Mindset Records
MP3 Download // £2.95FLAC Download // £3.50
Cat. Number: MINDSET014D
**Includes a bonus track** Mindset come with three lean and funky tech-house trax by Goldffinch. Stealthily evolving the styles heard on his Numbers and Audio Culture aces, the Belgian producer squares the tightly tucked, swinging and rolling torque of 'Digital Dysfunction' on the A-side, and gets down to a tuffer techno style almost reminding of Marcel Fengler with the concatenated drive and late night pads of 'Pixel Perfect', while '828' delivers a payload of pendulous subbass swing and minimal percussion reminding of Wolfgang Voigt's Studio One classics.
Following last year's one-off hook-up with Blackest Ever Black, which showcased storming versions from Regis and Monoton, Desire Records go it alone on their second volume of Ike Yard remixes. Tropic of Cancer get top billing with their take on the NY post-punk minimalists' 'Half A God': they offer up a cold-to-the-touch, marbled slab of sepulchral, introspective dub, Camella Lobo's phantasmal vocal presence and reverbed guitar beckoning you into a colour-bled zwischenwelt; deadly sparse and unforgiving, at times it sounds like it could be a lost instrumental sketch from Han… Read more
CARTER TUTTI
Conspiracy International
FLAC Download // £2.10FLAC Download // £2.10
Cat. Number: CTIDD045
Review to follow shortly…
Review to follow shortly…
**White vinyl in clear poly sleeve** James Blake 'fesses up a steppin' dub and exclusive new tune on 1-800-Dinosaur - the new imprint coined by him and his manager, Dan Foat. His 'Voyeur (Dub)' cuts a sharp line for the 'floor with driving 4/4 rhythm and plush, dramatic harmonic rendering giving way to wobbly electro bass while streamling synthlines light up the sky crimson. The exclusive B-side, 'And Holy Ghost' affords room for Blake's more avant and experimental tendencies - those that we first fell for and which have since been pushed back in favour of pop ambition - dallyin… Read more
LUBOMYR MELNYK
ERASED TAPES
LP // £25.99
HOME LISTENING / MODERN CLASSICAL / AMBIENT
Cat. Number: ERATP048LP
**Extremely Limited Clear Vinyl Edition - 250 copies only for the world** Erased Tapes illuminate the sorely overlooked work of Continuous Piano Music pioneer, Lubomyr Melnyk, on five pieces in collaboration with the label's stars, Peter Broderick and Nils Frahm. As reputedly the fastest piano player in the world, Melnyk conceived and developed a signature style of rapid notes and note-series, sustaining speeds of over 19.5 notes per second in each hand, and also holds the record for most number of notes played in one hour with 93,650 individual notes. Of course, that's imp… Read more
Just shut your eyes and imagine that you're stood at that Shibuya crossing at midnight...
*One of the most crucial despatches from the mighty Hospital Productions yet* Hospital Productions present a digital edition for one of the most affective industrial/ambient collections in their catalogue, and one of the label's most sought-after. Over the course of three cassettes (limited to just 99 copies) issued in 2012, Lussuria ("Lust" in Italian) drip fed these eight tracks of opiated, phantasmic SM atmospheres into the musical bloodstream, duly hailed by many as one of the most crucial set of tracks released that year. Reflecting the ritualistic appeal of late '70s and early '80… Read more
COLLEEN
Second Language Music
MP3 Download // £6.99FLAC Download // £7.99
HOME LISTENING / MODERN CLASSICAL / AMBIENT
Cat. Number: 5052442004240
Each of the French artist’s precious LP offerings have represented a further deepening and refining of her craft, getting closer to some kind of spiritual essence. On a so-so day, she makes music that you feel privileged to hear, and on a good day she makes music that cleaves your heart in two. It’s been a long wait for new material - her last album, Les Ondes Silencieuses, is now six years old - but 'The Weighing Of The Heart' doesn’t disappoint, despite a considerable burden of expectation. The oneiric shimmer of her music has its contemporary analogs in the likes of Grouper a… Read more
James Blake’s uncommissioned Harmonimix of ‘Changes’ finally gets an official release courtesy of Mala’s own Deep Medi, three years after it first started getting heard and turning heads at dances. It remains one of Blake’s most effective and affecting productions, sticking close to the trudging halfstep lean of the source material but placing most emphasis on the bombastic brass, strings and vocal samples that figure only as scene-setters in the original. What starts out as minimal, discombobulated dancehall, nudged along by eski drum clicks, swells to a rousing, quasi-symphonic,… Read more
ROMAN FLüGEL
Clone Jack For Daze Series
MP3 Download // £1.70FLAC Download // £2.10
Cat. Number: CJFD18
Legendary house bod, Herr Flügel gets loose and freaky on two tracky, Chicago-style jams. Up top, 'Even More' carves out a stripped-down and bumpy swing from natty organ hook, silvery cowbells and early Relief-style bass bang, but if you've got a party to fuel look no further than the incredibly pendulous B-side 'More & More & More' for an irresistible combination of infectious vocal, daft melody and booty-churning bass. Sounds like he had a lotta fun making these!
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**Limited to 500 copies only, pressed on white vinyl. Comes with a free download dropped into your account free of charge on Monday, 20th May** Public Information collect diverse reinterpretations of F.C. Judd's pioneering electronic music from Leyland Kirby, Pye Corner Audio, Chris Carter, Peter Rehberg, Bandshell, Ekoplekz, The Boats, Mordant Music, Holly Herndon and many more. The groundbreaking, experimental originals are chopped, sliced and refried into wonderfully abstract shapes in keeping with F.C. Judd's vision, ranging from instrument builder Ian Helliwell's fra… Read more
**Includes digital download code redeemable from the label** Amazing return from Alex Zhang Hungtai's Dirty Beaches; a sprawling double header opus of labyrinthine darkwave pop, knackered electronics and chamber experiments. We're usually impressed by his work but this one is really something else, feeding forward the traces of dilapidated rockabilly, blues and garage that informed his brilliant 'Badlands' into a deeply captivating new sound more akin to Suicide, Andy Stott or Loren Connors. Crafted over the course of winter 2012 while living between Montreal and Berlin, it'… Read more
*30 minute EP follow-up to Miles' recent 'Faint Hearted' album for Modern Love, mastered by Matt Colton* An addendum of sorts to his recent 'Faint Hearted' album, Miles' returns with a half-hour EP more squarely aimed at the floor with four darkened, robust variants. 'Blatant Statement' is up first, slowly emerging from a rough alignment of metallic percussion and abrasive stabs not a million miles removed from the kind of racket you'd most likely associate with Vatican Shadow, before the almost-clipped rub of those super-warm bass stabs shifts the perspective to a different kind of environment … Read more
Yes Fit!!! One of Detroit's most exciting current imprints pulls up three deeply Afro-futurist grooves from Howard Thomas aka H-Fusion. The keen-eared jocks and D-heads might well remember Howard's 'Experiment #1' 12" released on Sound Signature back in 2005, surely one of the strangest, most compelling records to emerge from the motor city of the last decade. Well, it's was no fluke, and Howard's not easing up on the oddness here, playing relatively straight yet sickeningly hypnotic groove 'Wicked Bitch Witch' with Marcellus Pittman on the A-side, before really cutting loose with the noisy,… Read more
Walton waves his debut album on the horizon with the teched-out and deadly R&Bass functions of his Brandy-sampling 'Baby' and the Zomby-esque trap lean of 'Can't You See'. As one of Hyperdub's youngest and possibly underrated producers he more than proves his place with both cuts; 'Baby''s a pedigree slice of dynamic feminine pressure, nuff vocals for the gyal, shuddering robot sounds for the blokes and a straight up killer groove for anyone who can't be arsed with those daft stereotypes. Whilst not quite as anthemic, his 'Cant See You' B-side has the touch of a killer beat-builder in the m… Read more
Visionary DJ/selector and sonic theorist Steve Goodman aka Kode 9 mans what is inarguably Rinse's most crucial mix CD to date. With mercurial sleight of hand he blends 37 tracks spanning the rhizome of techy, contemporary, bass-rooted funk and leaves most other selectors for dust. Bridging tempos, styles and patterns from myriad sub-strains of house, garage, hip hop, grime and footwork, he sums his intentions thusly; "This style has emerged out of me trying to fit all the stuff I want to play in a set… Generally these sets start relatively simple rhythmically and then get more f*cked-up as the mix goes… Read more
Chunky, swinging UK house issued by London's club/label ManMakeMusic. Laszlo Dancehall debuts three cuts ranging from organ-heated garagehouse ('Gave Up') to more driving 4/4 bang ('Ain't No Time') and strutting, Detroit beatdown-inflected groove with Arthur Russell edits ('Manley Harrison').
Review to follow shortly…
