Froid Dub continues to explore its synth-lined slowed down digi-dub cave flooded with waves of echoes and acid bleeps. From begging to end, bass lines and flanged delays sail over deep waters, seemingly barely disturbed by the minimal pump of the synth-wave track Not Loved.
Glasgow’s Seated Records return with more archival Scottish New Wave material; this time, in the form of Pop Wallpaper’s disco-not-disco interpretation of the Shuggie Otis classic, ”Strawberry Letter 23”. The Edinburgh band first released ”Strawberry Letter 23” in 1986 as a double A side 12” alongside original song, ”Nothing Can Call Me Back”.
Brussels based master tastemaker & DJ (and producer), soFa deliver his first ever solo EP “All My Friends Are Witches”, tipping Planet Trip records into double digits. Take a head first dive down the wormhole of soFa’s dubbed out triiips made even more special with incredible vocalist collaborations with Saeko Killy, Ank and Nyati Mayi, plus a mind bending remix from fellow PT extended family Mogwaa to close out the EP. Recorded by soFa & friends during the first covid lockdown at Rocket 23 Studios Molenbeek – Brussels.
The word datasal paints inner pictures for most people growing up in Sweden during the 1990’s. The datasal (a classroom for computers) was an ordinary classroom with few changes to fit the school’s 10 newly leased computers. The room represented the change of times in Sweden during this period: the fixed institutions and the awaiting digital flood wave. The music of Datasal sounds captures the feeling of printing a downloaded picture of your favorite hockey player or music artist or the expectations building up as you wait for the modem to log in to interact with the thousands of users of the internet in 1995. The two tracks on this release manifests the excitement but also the bit of fright you felt connecting to the world in the mid 90’s – a time when the internet still was fun. The sound is built around repetitive sequencer loops and programmed beats where electric bass, electric guitar and flute improvise around a theme, creating a sound that is best described as cosmic flute house. Datasal is an harmonic reminder of a time where digital progress seemed less harmful than today.
Mysterious Echo Ltd. continue to distil dub techno into what can only be described as it’s very minimal quintessence. Here, however, on their fifth release, they go above and beyond by niftily combining tropes from 4×4 dub techno with traditional dub – most tracks on this curious little mini album features an acoustic snare on every third beat of the bar.
Belgrade’s Tapan debut on Offen with an EP that has been a long time in the making but finally arrives in grand fashion. It is an exotic and intoxicating take on Balearic music with ‘Missing’ defined by snaking and hypnotic synths and tumbling drums. There is brilliantly loose drum programming and tons of echoing hits on ‘Samo Prolaznost’ that make it impossible not to shake your limbs to and ‘Rain Dance’ is a ten-minute slow-motion workout. ‘Novi Svet’ closes with more crashing drums and intense dance floor feels.
Förslag På Musik is back for his third strike on Sunken Rock Recordings in the format of a proper 7” inch double sider. In his charectaristic breezy style the A side moves around somewhere in between reaggae and dreamy synth vibes while the flip takes you on dubbed out excursion filled with heavy bass and drums.
Fortuna Records presents a post-punk shuffler from 1981, by Tel-Aviv-Brussels band Minimal Compact. The 12” includes an unreleased instrumental version plus a spaced-out extended dub mix by the living legend, Mad Professor.
Höga Nord Rekords kindly welcomes Tecwaa back to the label, following up his last full length-album “Beyond the Altai” with “Elysian on Moon Lake”. He is still exploring the intersections between house, electro, techno and dub and once again he manages to harness the analogue electronics in his machines to produce modern psychedelia. “Elysian On Moon Lake” is rawer, less airy and not as sparkling as his last album. This is a tighter, and slightly darker experience than Tecwaa’s previous work, maybe caused by being in quarantine for extensive time during production, letting some of the dreaminess aside for the harsher reality in a pandemic world. Still, you get a mind-altering experience in a lot of tracks since the album starts off in a lighter tone than how it later develops. Switching from the A- to the B-side works as a rite of passage going from dusk to night; the sun rays through the blinders are replaced by neon light dancing on the walls and ceiling.
Something special on Nightwind Records: Last December Danny Wolfers met up with Japansese digital dub legend Taka Noda aka Mystica Tribe to produce this Far East style heavy digital dub album. Custom made lo-fi oozing echo effects transform synthesizers and drummachines into a comforting mist of arcane sludge, laced with Taka Noda’s enchanting melodica playing.
Welcome to Nicolini’s wonderful world of surprise – Penni’s Palace. Here you will find zebra-chairs and matchbox countachs, colourful tv-screens and Penni the cat presiding over proceedings. You will also find Nicolini, hunched over his MPC or Casio keyboards, sweeping the EQs to make the sounds move, jamming out his songs in heavy microdoses. They are the sounds of machines and the city – Amsterdam centre to be precise – brought to life with volts of electricity. These songs started out as a live show on the terrace of Garage Noord nightclub, and over the following months Nicolini tweaked and re-recorded them into the collection of tracks you have before you. Bristling with energy, these live jams have a loose, almost mystical feeling – you never know quite what’s around the corner. Sounds jump out of the speakers at you, from car engines to reverb crashes. Opposites face off against each other – the mechanical meets the organic, and the cold emptiness of the city contrasts with the warm timbres of tropical climes.
Swaying & icy electronic dub compilation straight from Delodio Studio Sessions. Programmed and produced by F.M. Cut and compiled by Fa_Fane.
Research Records continue their voyage into Elite Beat’s extraordinary back catalogue with their second compilation Selected Rhythms Vol. 2. The chosen tracks are lifted from the Portland collective’s three-part cassette series Casual Rhythms; a treasure chest of meditative and genre-defying instrumentals where percussion and dub accents prevail. Remastered for the first time on vinyl, Selected Rhythms Vol. 2 adds to the immersive and interstellar tapestry of Elite Beat. The compilation delves deep into the healing and hypnosis that characterizes the collective.
New release on Notte Brigante, the label, radio and party from Lyon, run by HLM38 aka Julien Viallet. This is the second release from the label and comes with a track by Julien’s new project General P.D.C, with a remix from Beesmunt Soundsystem one the B-side. It’s about dubby/tribal vibes, with some 90’s UK breakbeat in it.
Originally pressed on a now very hard to find 7”, this gem crosses over the dub with disco with the rock and the wave. More Talking Dreads than Heads. Dug out for MFM by Satoshi Yamamura. Comes with original Dub mix and new remixes.
Solar Phenomena continues with a new one release from Mystica Tribe – the musical alias of Tokyo-based producer, Taka Noda. Here he draws on everything from dub, soul, bass music, rhythm and blues and will always freak you out with his unusual sounds. This excellently absorbing EP starts with Love Is All Right, a fusion of Asian percussion and reggae drums that is high tempo and funky. The bright steelpan sounds offset the razor sharp percussion and make for a sunny dub that will get any crowd going. The same fusion vibes continues but in more blissed out and slow motion fashion on ‘Lawn Track’, the beautiful cosmic psyche-out that is ‘Ash’ and supple space journey that is ‘Voyage’ with its intoxicating melodies and loose, tumbling percussion. This is unusual but essential music from an exclusive talent.
The first in a series of compilations by Jura Soundsystem is a blend of Dub, Ambient, Downtempo, Boogie and Proto House with a focus on music never before released on Vinyl, sought after out of print titles and some special versions edited specifically for the album. The intention with this project was to delve deeper into the reissue pond and unearth some lesser known tracks and artists. Highlights include Smackos (AKA Legowelt) Ambient epic ‘We Can Watch Alf In The Hotel Room’, never before released on Vinyl, the Dub / Psych hybrid of Minus Group’s ‘Black Shadow’, Kash’s sought after ‘Percussion Sundance’ and special edits of Ken Dang and Tabou Combo. The end of the album includes some soothing Ambient tools.
Editions Gravats kick off the club-ready “Les Disques De La Bretagne” series with 8 tracks by Low Jack, a re-working of tracks from “Glacial Dancehalll 2” (split tape with Time Cow from Equiknoxx).
Jeremy Campbell and R. Zanzibar return as Out 2 with their debut full length, Showcase. Following their recent Moving EP, the duo expand their mix of New York off-kilter pop lyrical poetics riding over percussive desk-dub funk grooves.
Limited edition lathe cut 7″ featuring 2 booming dub filled tracks laced with Melodica and loaded with heavy rhythms by Mystica Tribe.
The Hipodrome Of Music 